He had seen them.

The light had blinded him at first, but then he'd seen them. Crowley. Charlie. Sam. Even Gabriel, which brought Dean in a state of confusion. But most importantly, he'd seen the sky blue eyes of his soulmate. The trench coat, the messy black hair. The stiff posture of the man he loved had filled his heart with joy. He'd walked towards the light, towards his future...

He should have known it was too good to be true. Just before Dean could step into the light, the doors closed, and Dean was left alone with the darkness and his thoughts again.

The exhausted body of the green-eyed hunter protested while Dean tossed it against the door. He kicked, slammed and screamed. He was too tired to continue, yet he couldn't find enough strength to resist the urge to do whatever it would take to reopen the door. At last, after one final toss, he leaned against the giant doors, and fell onto the ground, exhausted.

Was it all an illusion?Dean thought. It felt so real, but Gabriel was dead, he knew that much. But the tired faces of his friends were not like any nightmare he'd ever had. If it had been a dream, they would've been happy and healthy. If it had been a nightmare, they would probably not be there at all. It had to be true. But how did they manage to open the cage?

The thoughts were spinning in Deans head while they made him forget the pain. The cage had been both a physical and an emotional hell for him. The darkness had eaten him alive. Happy memories were turned into horrifying nightmares, the cold chamber had made his limbs go numb. He'd lost control over his body, and soon, he would even lose his mind, his reason.

The cage had made him remember things. Not happy things, like the warm body of Cas against him while he would fall into a deep sleep, but terrible things. It started a few hours after getting trapped. He started seeing people he vaguely recognized, but couldn't remember. Dean knew he was alone, and thought he was just hallucinating. But there was something odd about the cage. He was lured into it by something, and the same strange feeling appeared along with the faces of the slightly recognizable people. After a while, the faces disappeared. At first, Dean felt even lonelier than before, but as the days went by (as far as he could tell, because there was no indication of time anywhere) he started to feel the strange force again. Although Dean recognized the force from his previous encounters, he noticed something he'd never noticed or felt before. This time, the force didn't feel like a immaterial power that surrounded Dean. It felt like a physical being, a shadow at least. It was there. It was physically present. And Dean knew he would miss the solitude soon.

Dean never saw or heard the physical force. He didn't touch it either, if that was even possible. But it was communicating with the hunter somehow. Every time he dozed off, or even closed his eyes, he could feel the shadow of the mystery covering his body. He dreamed of nothing else than darkness, despair and death, and Dean decided give the force a name. It would at least make it easier to think about. He gave the force the most obvious name possible, the only name that would actually suit its imaginary personality and surroundings: the Darkness, he called it.

Of course, Dean had encountered the Darkness before, when he was lured into the cage. But even then, the Darkness seemed familiar. Like it had taken control over him before. He spent most of his time from the moment he realized the strange feeling was familiar figuring out what it could be and where he could have felt this way before. But all his memories seemed to lack the presence of a force as dark as the Darkness, which made Dean come to a conclusion: he must have forgotten. Dean couldn't remember a single second of his time as demon. He did remember being one, but he knew nothing of his actions other than the things he heard from Cas and Sam. He must have recognized the Darkness from his former time as demon. It was the only explanation. The only thing Dean didn't know, was that the Darkness was waiting for him to figure this out. As soon as Dean thought of the conclusion, the flashbacks started. They were presented to the hunter like the people he once saw, but now, it was more like a movie. He could see the same people, but there was always something happening to them. It was demon-Dean, murdering, torturing, or simply harassing the people. Dean wanted to turn away. He didn't want to look in the eyes of the people he killed. He didn't want to remember. But it was like the images were stuck to his eyes. Even when he turned to look away, the images followed his eyes. When he closed his eyes, he could relive the memories more vividly. He could feel his fist breaking the ribs of an old man, and it scared him. He'd blamed himself for a very long time after he became human again, because he knew he had done unspeakable things. But Cas had made him see the goodness in him. He couldn't completely forgive himself, but he started to understand that he was not the one doing everything. His soul would never agree with such violence towards the innocent. He learned to understand that there was a dark force possessing him, making him do all these things. He just didn't know then that there really was a force. And although he knew that while looking at his forgotten memories, he started to blame himself again, and the spark of life that was burning inside him started to fade rapidly. It wouldn't be long until Dean would surrender to the Darkness once again.

But then the doors had opened, and Dean could feel that fading spark burn brightly while he had walked towards his freedom. But just as fast as the hope had appeared, it disappeared. Dean had lost. Team Free Will had lost. Dean was sentenced to a lifetime in his personal hell as protection from the terror Lucifer and Michael would unleash to let the prophesized Apocalypse destroy all happiness. Dean felt defeated, as he felt the Darkness grow on the other side of the cage, knowing it would consume him soon enough.

Dean.

Silence.

Dean is still in the cage.

The man could now hear the shuffling of feet around him.

I am here, and Dean is still in the cage.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and started to reclaim his body.

I failed.

Cas tossed the owner of the hand into the air, and started running- no, flying- towards the cage, towards the giant doors that separated him from the one reason for him to stay alive. "Dean!", he yelled, while slamming his fists against the door. "Dean!"

Tears were streaming down his face, he could feel his blood boiling out of rage. His heart started to beat like a maniac, while his mind was racing. He let his body control itself, and didn't even stop to see that his arm was completely mutilated. His screams could be heard from every corner of Hell. They were louder than the other screams that could be heard in the distance, and they seem to contain more emotion than the other screams could provide. He felt sweat dripping from his forehead, the drops multiplying as fast as the tears. Cas couldn't hear the screams of the people behind them. He couldn't hear them begging him to stop. He couldn't see his brother and brother-in-law running towards him. He couldn't feel the rough hands on his waist, pulling him away from the cage. His vision went black, his body stopped moving. He was hardly aware of the arms of his brother holding him, keeping him from hitting the ground with his head.

"Dean," he whispered, and the angel closed his eyes, remaining unconscious in the arms of Gabriel.

"He'll be fine, I promise," Sam said. They had brought Cas back to the research tables, and placed him on a table Crowley had provided. He was still unconscious hours after the worst day of their lives, and Gabriel was concerned. His little brother had lost control in his arms, and he couldn't even imagine what he'd been going through when he saw Dean was still trapped. He couldn't imagine how he would react if he would been separated from Sam, now that they were finally able to hold each other again.

They were in Sam's temporary room. Angels don't need to sleep, but the group had discovered that both Cas and Gabe were far more focused if they'd slept the night before. Now, Charlie and Crowley would work during the night, while Gabriel and Sam would work during the day. Even though the lovers were both exhausted, neither of them was able to sleep, not after the events of that day. Sam could feel the tension of Gabriel, and had said the reassuring words while placing his hand on the waist of the angel, who, as reaction, turned around to look at Sam. He hadn't stopped worrying about his little brother, but the voice of his idiotic tall teddy bear comforted him a little. He caressed Sam's cheek while looking into his beautiful eyes. He wasn't even fully aware of the soft pair of lips touching his, and kissed Sam back, passionately, but softly. The two men felt each other's pain, and the kiss became rougher, causing them to get closer to each other, until Gabriel's entire body was in contact with the body of Sam. Just like the first kiss, Gabriel asked Sam's permission by gently stroking Sam's lips with his tongue, and he didn't have to wait very long for a reaction. Sam's mouth opened, and Gabriel's tongue entered, making Sam's stomach burn with joy. The movements of the men became wilder every second, and Gabriel slowly started to climb on top of Sam. Sam barely felt the weight of his angel resting on his chest. The passion between them had pushed away everything else. They were only aware of each other, and that was the only thing that mattered. After a few minutes, Sam slowly moved his lips away from Gabriel, and stretched out his hand to grab something. Gabriel turned his head to the left to find the hand of Sam with a bottle of lube and a condom. Gabriel looked at Sam. This would be their first time. Sam always told Gabriel he wasn't ready. "Are you sure this is the right time?" Gabriel asked. Sam placed the objects next to him, and held Gabriel tighter than before. "I lost you twice, I don't want to wait anymore. There will never be a perfect time, but I want to take my chance before it's too late." These words startled Gabriel, and he needed a moment to process it. But when he'd finally taken in the words, he kissed Sam even more passionate than before. Sam was right. They had to do what they could before it was too late.

Gabriel had never actually had sex before. He knew what it was, and how it works, but he'd never done it. The many ladies he had kissed when he pretended to be a trickster could never turn him on. He didn't feel comfortable around them, either. They wanted sex, while he just wanted to hide his feelings. Yes, even back then he'd liked Sam. You could say it was love at first sight.

Although both men were new to the experience, they handled out of instinct. The wild kiss got interrupted by Gabriel who was trying to take off Sam's shirt. Sam decided he didn't like to be the only topless guy, and quickly removed Gabe's shirt before returning to the kiss. Sam's and Gabriel's senses started to sharpen, and they both started to be aware of the bulges pressing into each other's leg. They looked into each other's eyes before removing the last pieces of clothing. There they were, together, naked. Gabriel tried to grab the condom, but Sam was quicker, and helped Gabriel, while kissing his abdomen. When Sam was done, Gabriel teasingly grabbed the bottle of lube, and prepared himself, for what was said to be the best feeling of his life.

Sam was lying on his stomach, while Gabriel positioned himself. They were both nervous, yet excited. They had waited for this moment for so long, but it was scary. They both didn't know what to expect. But why would they wait? Sam shivered when Gabriel slowly pushed his heavenly dick inside him. Apparently, dicks can have dicks too. Sam smiled when he heard Gabe's voice in his ear. "You good?", he whispered. "Yeah, I'm good," Sam whispered back, and he felt his angel starting to move slowly. It was painful, but somehow, it also felt incredibly good. Gabriel noticed that Sam's moans became more pleasant after a while, and he started to pick up the speed. The moans became louder, and Gabriel almost thanked his father (he obviously didn't, that dick had left the angels alone so they could smash each other's heads in) for the soundproof walls, as he started moaning too. The two men became louder every second and it didn't take long for Gabriel to feel an orgasm coming up. He moved faster than before, and Sam screamed of pain and pleasure as Gabriel came. After catching their breath, Gabriel laid down next to Sam. He turned his head to face his hunter once more. Sam was still panting, and Gabriel could see his skin shining because of the sweat. "That's a new thrust exercise," he said, smiling. Sam rolled with his eyes and whispered: "It's trust exercise, you idiot." Gabriel placed his head on Sam's chest, while he felt Sam's arm curling around his body. This was the right time,Gabriel thought, while he dozed off, and fell into a peaceful sleep.

"You look far too happy, dude," Charlie said. Sam had just walked in with a giant cup of coffee and the biggest smile she'd ever seen. She hadn't heard anything that night, but the walls were probably soundproof, so God knows what happened in that room. "Can't a man be happy for a moment?" Sam asked, trying to get rid of the smile, but it seemed to be glued to his face. He felt too good to hide the smile, even though his legs felt terrible.

"Well, usually you are not even a little bit close to having that smile frozen on your face, and now, your brother is still stuck, the world is about to end, and you are happier than ever….. What was Gabriel like?"

"Wha- What do you mean?" Sam tried his best to sound innocent, but he knew that he couldn't get passed the all-seeing eyes of his geeky sister. Well, they didn't have the same blood, but she was basically a sister for Sam and Dean. And she acted like their little sister as well…

"Bro. I have seen you lie twenty times better than that, and I could still see you were lying. Why don't you stop trying to pretend nothing happened, and just tell me all the nasty details?"

"Because we don't have time for the soap opera of Moose and Lollipop," Crowley said, when he entered the room. Charlie looked at Sam, and when she saw him turning red, she used all her strength to prevent herself from laughing. She tried to look as serious as possible when she started talking. "Do you have any leads?"

"Yes I do. Some of my most trustworthy demons," (Sam almost spit out his coffee) "have done some research. Moose, you should learn how to drink, while Redhead and Lollipop are coming with me. We are going to hear what my demons have to say."

"Wait, why can't I come?" Sam asked.

"Of course you can come. Has someone shoved your brain up your arse?" Crowley said, annoyed. They waited for Gabriel to finally wake up, Sam greeted him with a kiss and a wink, they checked if Cas had woken up, and when they found out he was still unconscious, they left, hoping for a new lead.

"We have found a new method to open the cage," the demon said. When the team walked in, they were surprised to see a huge amount of demons just staring at books and computer screens. The only demon with glasses had come up to them, and had told them the good news. Well, was it good news? "Well, what do we need?", Sam said, ready to get his brother out of that damn cage. "It is not that simple. This is not a spell, or some other kind of child's play. This is an age old ritual, discovered by pagans. It requires a sacrifice. A sacrifice of happiness, to be precise."

It is very vague and it sounds so nice it's creepy,Charlie thought. She hated all this negative crap. She just wanted to kill some monsters, be the queen of her LARP kingdom, and at the end of the day fall asleep in her unicorn pyjamas and rainbow socks. Why did the world have to be so damn cruel?!

"So what exactly is this sacrifice of happiness?" Crowley asked. "We don't know sir, the book is quite vague. We will tell you if we made any progress."

The team left the demons again with something else to worry about. The only one who stayed positive, was Charlie. "At least we now have an indication of what we should be looking for," she said, while they walked back to their research centre.

"So, what's the plan now?", Gabriel asked. They had been searching for hours, but nothing could tell them anything about the sacrifice of happiness.

"Maybe we shouldn't be looking at the translation, but at the actual symbols," Sam said. "Fish represent happiness, but that's not all. They also represent femininity, good luck, and knowledge. And why is that plus symbol not translated?" Nobody seemed to know. "I do recognize it.." Sam walked to the table that was full of Celtic books. After some quick reading Sam pointed at the page. "Here. The symbol is called the Ailm, and it is used to represent the purity of the soul. I don't know exactly what that means, but I guess it means that the soul hasn't been touched yet by anything."

"But there are hundreds of people whose souls have never been touched! How are we supposed to find the one we need?" Gabriel asked, a little startled by the provided information.

"The ritual was performed every week, so there must be more people out there who qualify as 'sacrifice of happiness and purity of the soul'. We can always test it, of course. Let's first try to perform the ritual without the purity of the soul, and then we can see if it's really necessary."

They all agreed. Sam was supposed to be the sacrifice. Of course, he wouldn't be killed, he would just donate his blood to the bowl full of ingredients.

And with that in mind, they packed the ingredients, and went back to the cage.

"Crowley, can you do the spell part again?" Sam asked. They had prepared everything for the ritual, and they were about to test Sam's theory. The only one who was not so sure of the plan, was Charlie.

She's felt strange ever since she heard the demon with the glasses tell her about the sacrifice of happiness. Not only did it make her feel terrible, but she felt like she was drawn to the words, like they belonged to her. It made her wonder: would she qualify?

Nobody had ever touched her soul, thank you very much. But happiness? Of course, she was the positive kind of girl, but was that really enough? The femininity would, of course, fit. But would it work?

Crowley gave a quick nod as reaction to Sam's question, and started the ritual.

After a few spells, it was time for Sam's sacrifice. He sat down next to the bowl of ingredients. He was a little nervous, not knowing what would happen. He had held Gabriel's hand the whole time, and now rested his head against Gabriel's legs, who was still standing, but he quickly lowered himself to kiss Sam, for good luck. Crowley advised Gabriel to take a step back, but Gabriel didn't move. There was no guarantee that Sam would remain unharmed, and Gabriel wanted to protect him. He pushed his cheek against Sam's cheek and rested his head on his shoulder. Sam felt a little better, knowing that if this would end badly, he would be with the person he loved. And while he thought of Gabriel, he felt the knife burying itself in his hand, and he felt blood dripping out of the wound.

Charlie was standing a few steps away from the ritual. She had a bad feeling about this. These rituals could never be good. She looked into the fire that was burning in the bowl, and she suddenly felt something. No, she knew something. It would be enough. She could be the one qualified for this. Before she could even think about this for a moment, her body acted on itself, and she ran towards the fire. She quickly picked up the knife, and she could Gabriel standing up in the corner of her eye. She had to be fast. She pressed against the fresh wound, and she started bleeding like a maniac, while Crowley, who had his eyes closed to concentrate, said the final words.

Screams.

The cage began to shake.

Thunder.

Charlie started to fall onto the ground.

Lightning.

Cas woke up.

Panic.

The cage had opened.

All sounds stopped, and everyone looked at the cage. There he was, Dean, the man who almost lost to the Darkness again. The green-eyed hunter. The older brother.

He wasn't happy.

Dean ran towards Charlie. She was laying on the ground. Blood was coming from fresh wounds. Sam, Gabriel and Crowley began to run towards Charlie as well.

"Dean," she whispered, when he lifted her, and started running towards the hallway that would lead him to the research centre. The others followed him. When they arrived, Dean saw an empty table and placed Charlie gently on it. The others were confused. Where was Cas?

"Dean," Cas said from the other side of the room. He'd expected to see the happy face of his soulmate again, but instead, his eyes were watering. A tear slipped down the hunter's face as he turned towards Charlie again.

"You can't die, Charlie, we will fix this," Dean said, but Charlie shushed him while smiling faintly. "I did this for you. For my big brothers," she managed to say.

"I love you, Charlie," Dean said, now crying.

"I love you too, big bro."

Both Dean and Sam cried. She had a very honourable death, but they couldn't handle the truth.

Charlie Bradbury was dead, and they had just lost a sister.