Linking Lives / Book 12 / The Life Series / Supernatural Season 13

Bring 'em Back Alive

Aiden, Amara, Castiel and I were walking through the corridors of the bunker. I was carrying a tray.

"Sam, Dean and Brandon are in apocalypse world, alone?" Castiel asked worriedly.

"No, they're with Ketch, so they're not alone," Amara answered.

Castiel shook his head sarcastically in frustration. "Because that makes it so much better."

"Cas, they wanted to go without us," Aiden told him.

"And you let them?" Castiel asked.

"No," I answered. "They didn't give us much of a choice."

Castiel nodded in understanding. "Dean wanted the three of you to stay here to protect you."

"Yes," I answered. "Anyways, Dean's right. As long as they're over there, and we're here, we need to be taking care of Gabriel, getting him right again."

We walked into a bedroom that was in darkness. Castiel turned on the light.

"Gabriel?" Aiden asked.

Gabriel was huddled into a corner of the room. He was still in torn, bloody clothing, and his face was bruised and battered, not healing.

Castiel was in shock. "You didn't tell me it was this bad."

"Yeah, well, years of isolation and torture and Asmodeus draining his grace," Amara told him. "Come here. Help me out."

We walked over to Gabriel. I put down the tray I was carrying.

"Hey, Gabriel," Aiden told him. "Hey, pal."

Gabriel recoiled in terror.

"Mm, okay," I told him. "Oh, just... gonna get you to bed, all right? Let us, uh, help you up. It's okay. It's okay." We helped Gabriel onto the bed. Gabriel was trembling in abject terror. "It's okay. Gabriel, it's Ness Singer-Winchester. Do you remember me?"

"I don't think he does," Castiel told me.

"Sam and Dean Winchester, and my father Bobby Singer had a few run ins with you, too," I told him. "Faked your death for us a lot of times. And you used illusions of me to get to Sam and Dean while you were messing with them, remember?"

"Ness, he doesn't..." Castiel trailed off.

"I know he doesn't," I told them. "I'm just... trying to see if anything's going on in his head."

"All right, well..." Amara trailed off, lifting the lid of the tray to reveal a tube with angel grace in it. "Gabriel's grace. Ketch brought it. Maybe if he's juiced up, it'll help." She offered the grace to Gabriel. "All right."

Gabriel groaned, recoiling.

"Amara, I don't think he's gonna open up and let the choo-choo in," Castiel told her. We looked at him in disbelief. Castiel thought that Aiden didn't understand him. "A technique for feeding recalcitrant children. And... I think a little coercion may be necessary."

Castiel tried to hold Gabriel down, but he started freaking out, yelping like an injured animal, rushing to another corner to the room to try to get away.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," Aiden told him. "Hey. Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."

Gabriel was whimpering. Aiden, Amara, Cas and I were dismayed, startled by how Gabriel was reacting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, Cas called us back to the room. "Ness! Aiden! Amara!"