Adam had lived an eternity within the confines of the Cage.
Things were . . . better than they had been in the beginning. Not good, but certainly better. He was fully aware, for one, and he knew who he was. He knew who he was with.
How he got here.
It had taken over a century for Lucifer to put Adam back together, and almost two to soothe away the nightmares of screaming and charred flesh. He could think back on that horrible time now. He could think about before Sam was twice taken away, body then soul, and before Lucifer had put an end to Michael, all without drowning in panic. The memories were still raw and horrible, of course they were, but they no longer consumed him when his thoughts drifted to them. If his mind drifted a little too far it didn't take much for Lucifer to bring him back. A cool touch and a soft voice would usually do the trick.
Lucifer was kinder than Michael had ever been, and sometimes Adam wanted to cry at the irony.
When his memories began to return in a more coherent fashion, he remembered his resurrection, his deal with Heaven, his brothers. Anger had sparked within him. Hot. Furious. He wanted so desperately to hate the Winchesters, Dean for saying No, Sam for saying Yes, both for forcing heaven's hand and dragging him into the middle of it. For abandoning him after all they spouted about Family.
Lucifer didn't give him a chance to nurture that hatred. Cocooned within the Devil's icy wings, Lucifer would pull him close and whisper stories into his ear.
It was hard to hate the Winchester's once you knew them, and Lucifer made sure that he knew his brothers very well. He told Adam their story in it's entirety, from Mary Winchester's deal with Azazel to the plans that Heaven and Hell had laid out for them. Lucifer went into great detail, about the impossible odds stacked against them, and their loyalty to family. Their faults and flaws, and the quirks that composed them as a whole. He told him of the grisly way they had found out about Adam, body already cold and decaying, with the ghoul that killed him still wearing his face. He told how they fought to reach him before Michael got to him. How devastated they were when they couldn't.
The stories would sometime invoke a more recent memory, half hazy but real, of Sam drawing attention to himself, granting Adam a reprieve from Michael. Sam's screams had been the loudest then.
Sam.
He made me promise, Lucifer had said, unsteady and near hysterical in the wake of killing Michael. He left, but he made me promise.
Adam knew what that meant now. Sam's soul had been dragged away by Death himself, but not before he had made the Archangel promise to protect Adam as much as he had attempted to protect Sam.
Now there was something broken in Lucifer.
Granted, the original fractures had probably been there for millennia. Born during his rebellion, the resulting cracks spreading over time, growing as extensive and intricate as spider webbing. He was sure they got worse when Sam had grabbed all of them and tumbled them all in the cage.
Adam was certain that Lucifer had shattered the moment Sam had been stolen away. Keeping Adam grounded, healing him, had been the only thing keeping all those pieces from disappearing altogether.
Now that Adam was more or less whole and coherent he could see the Archangel more clearly, could see all the broken pieces and the coping mechanisms that he was using to keep himself there with Adam. He helped how and when he could, and found that the best thing was to get Lucifer to talk. Better still was when Adam could actually contribute and respond in kind.
Adam often wondered when Lucifer last had someone truly listen to him.
Lucifer worried about Sam often.
Adam and Lucifer have spent an eternity together but in the world above it has only been a matter of years. Adam has had time and the personal attention of an Archangel to aid his recovery. To keep him sane.
Sam didn't have that, and Lucifer worried.
His biggest fear, Adam learned, was Sam not remembering him. The real him.
Michael had favored mind tricks with Sam. He would twist and torture and burn, all the while wearing Lucifer's face. Whenever Lucifer managed to steal Sam back, his brother had screamed and fought and Lucifer had to convince him over and over what was real.
No one in the Cage had been safe from Michael.
In retrospect it had been a miracle that Sam had been taken from them during one of his clearer moments. Sam would never had begged for Adam's protection otherwise.
Adam wished he could thank him.
Instead, he tried his best to be the glue that Lucifer needed, to hold all his broken pieces together when Lucifer was unable to do it himself.
It was another eternity that passed before their whole world changed.
The eternally static and rigid walls of the Cage shifted. They didn't break, but they warped and stretched, and suddenly Lucifer was in a panic. He was clutching madly at Adam and chanting no no no and please don't make me over and over.
It was then, as Adam felt himself slipping from the Archangel's grasp, that he realized what was happening.
And he knew what it was that Lucifer couldn't ask.
"Yes!" Adam shouted. "Don't you dare leave me behind! The answer is yes!"
The light of Lucifer's being ignited like a solar flare, and Adam was swallowed whole, was housing a whole star.
When the summoning finished, they were still in a cage, still in Hell. But it was so very different. This cage was made of wards and dark magic, and was surrounded by holy fire.
This won't hold us, Lucifer assured him, as he rolled their neck, adjusting and settling himself more firmly in Adam's body.
He lifted their gaze to finally acknowledging the three standing beyond the wards, but all his attention fell only to one.
Sam.
Author's Note: Well. So much for this being a one shot. (Throws hands in the air)- Shadow