Shattered: The Sequel to Mirrors

A Knight of Hell and an Archangel

Gabriel was sitting in a chair in the corner of his shared room, watching Sam sleep. The youngest Winchester was cuddled into the blankets, hair tossed this way and that. He was sleeping peacefully, and that was calming to Gabriel. He rested his chin against his knees. Sam had attempted to get him into the bed. He had tried to cuddle with him, tried to kiss him. Hell, Sam had even offered a pre-sleep round of sex. But Gabriel had turned it all down. He had done it gently because he didn't want to hurt Sam.

Being happy just didn't feel right. And Gabriel couldn't close his eyes without seeing it. If he hadn't let Raphael get the upper hand...that angel blade was meant for him. It was supposed to be him that was dead, not Lucifer. Not his jerk of an older brother who had taught him everything he knew. Not the angel who had taken him and Cassie in, who had insisted that Gabe was on his own and still came to his aid over and over again.

Gabriel rubbed as his tear filled eyes. He had just finished up helping Cassie with his wings. Pulling off the feathers of his wings had been horrible. Castiel had cried the whole time, partially from pain and partially from grief. Gabriel had done his best to help him, but when Castiel had seen his reflection...bare wing bones without a single feather, the angel had all but fallen apart.

Gabriel was trying not to think about how helpless he was with both of his brothers when the door opened a little. Dean stood in the light shining from the hallway, face filled with concern. And another thing to feel guilty about. He shouldn't have snapped at Dean like he had. He knew they were all going through a lot. He climbed to his feet and stepped outside of the room, staying quiet as to not wake Sam. 

"Hey, what's up?" Gabriel asked, shutting the door softly behind him. Dean gestured down the stairs. 

"Michael has a way for us to get Ash. Maybe deal with this demon thing once and for all," Dean explained. Gabriel nodded. 

And we aren't bringing Sam?" Gabriel asked. He could imagine how pissed off the moose was going to be. But after Lucifer, Gabriel was pretty sure he couldn't handle the stress of having Sam at his side. 

"Yeah, we'll leave him here. Same with Cas," Dean said. Gabriel nodded. 

"Look, about earlier..." Gabriel started. 

"Don't worry about it, man. We can talk later, " Dean said. "We're cool." 

"Great. Let's go kidnap the witch back," Gabriel said, heading down the stairs. 

It was a castle, more or less. Gabriel ran a hand through his hair and glanced at Michael who was chewing on the inside of his lip. Alfie was shifting his angel blade from one hand to the other. Dean was on Alfie's other side, almost as if he inteded to stick by the youngest angel's side. Knowing Dean, he probably was. 

"You all ready?" Balthazar asked. Crowley nodded, looking at the castle with mild irritation. 

"You do realize you guys probably won't be able to get in, right?" Michael asked the angels. Gabriel didn't like the idea of it. He didn't like that there was a likelihood that Dean, Michael and Crowley would be the only one's who could get in. So that meant that they would have to deal with the warding somehow. 

"Easiest way is for you two to deal with the warding so that we can get in and help. Which means you're going to have to sneak in, instead of just going in guns a-blazing," Gabriel offered. Michael nodded. 

"Which means we should probably split up," Michael said. Gabriel tried to avoid thinking about the flash of conflict in Michael's eyes when he glanced over at Dean. Gabriel made a mental note to make sure, no matter how much of a douche Dean was, he wasn't going to let anything happen to Dean. He didn't think Michael and Cas could take another blow. Much less Sammy.