Thought I'd post this early because I felt like it. This is an AU one-shot tag to 5x19 "Hammer of the Gods". It was kind of one I'd thought about because the original idea was supposed to be a scene from my ridiculously long S5 AU story "Standoff" but it just didn't fit in and there was literally no more room for it so I just adapted the idea for a one shot. And because I wanted some of Cas taking care of Gabe :) It's kind of dark, and odd, but I hope you enjoy! I'm aiming for next friday to start posting my new S8 AU as well, so keep an eye out for that but there may be another one shot before that too :)

Light in the Dark

A Supernatural Fanfic

He probably should have seen it coming.

"I know where your heart truly lies."

But Gabriel still couldn't believe it when Lucifer spun around and drove his blade through his chest. And just when he had almost worked up the guts to kill his own brother for the greater good. But that was probably just wishful thinking. Gabriel had known in his heart that it was a very real possibility their confrontation would end like this.

Part of him was maybe even a little bit relieved. He had never wanted this, and now he wouldn't have to worry about it. But the other part of him realized that he was dying, and it was Lucifer holding the knife. And on top of it all, the world was probably screwed since he couldn't even handle one little thing like killing his big brother. Yeah. Life sucked.

Betrayal and hurt that had nothing to do with the blade in his chest washed through Gabriel and he erased his illusion double; it wouldn't do him any good now. His own sword fell from nerveless fingers as he reached out to clutch at Lucifer's shirt. He thought about pleading with him not to do this, but of course it was already too late for that.

Lucifer reached up to cup the back of Gabriel's head almost tenderly but only shook his head in disappointment. "Amateur hocus pocus," he scolded as Gabriel gasped out a pained breath. "Don't forget, you learned all your tricks from me. Little brother."

The way he said it was like a second knife to Gabriel's heart. This was so far from the brother he had known and loved once upon a time, when things were simpler, and Lucifer hadn't been so bent on defiance and ruling the world. When they had just been brothers, and of course Lucifer had been Gabriel's favorite; not as indifferent as Raphael, not as holier-than-thou as Michael. But the older brother he had always looked up to had just stabbed him in the chest. Gabriel figured that was a good enough indication that Lucifer wasn't exactly the same as he once was. And maybe he never had been. Maybe it had all been an act. Gabriel wasn't sure which idea hurt him more.

Lucifer suddenly released him, shoving him to the floor, as he slid his blade out of Gabriel's chest. Gabriel cried out as he collapsed to the ground, pain tearing through his vessel and his true form. He felt grace flowing from his wound and weakly pressed a hand to the hole in his chest to stop it. He looked up at Lucifer who was still standing over him, wondering what was in store for him next.

"I can't have you getting in my way, Gabriel," Lucifer told him, and he suddenly crouched down, and Gabriel flinched away, thinking this was it. This was where Lucifer finished him off. "You like tricks, don't you, little brother? You made yourself a Trickster. Well, if you'll remember, I like tricks too, so here's a few for you to play with."

Gabriel tried to crawl away as Lucifer reached out toward him, but he could barely move, and when Lucifer touched his forehead, pain seared through his body before his whole world went black.

It was dark when Gabriel came to. Dark and cold, and he was hurting more than he could ever remember hurting before. He tried to sit upright but couldn't. Pain ripped through his chest, and he fell back with a cry. He shuddered, chilled to the bone, and brought a hand to his chest, feeling the stickiness of blood before he remembered Lucifer stabbing him. But why couldn't he see? Why was it so dark? Had he lost his eyesight?

He heard footsteps, heavy, and deliberate, and then sensed someone crouching beside him.

"Who's there?" he whispered hoarsely.

"Oh, little brother, it's only me," came the voice in the darkness.

Gabriel flinched backwards, hearing Lucifer's voice. "Get away."

Lucifer tsked almost teasingly. "That's no way to talk to someone who is trying to help you, Gabriel."

"You stabbed me," Gabriel accused.

"No one ever said having family was easy. Now let me see it," Lucifer told him, and Gabriel felt gentle fingers probe his wound. His breath hitched and he flinched, but Lucifer wasn't hurting him on purpose…yet. At this moment, Gabriel wasn't willing to trust that this wouldn't turn into a torture session at some point.

"Hmm, I did quite a number on you. But I don't think it's too much to handle."

Gabriel gritted his teeth and hissed in pain. Lucifer put a hand on his shoulder, pressing him gently back to the ground. "Shh, shh, Gabriel. I'm going to look after you. It's okay."

Gabriel wanted to believe it, but he knew it was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. "No," he said.

"Hush," Lucifer told him, and Gabriel felt a hand cupping his cheek before loosening something from over his eyes. Gabriel realized then that he had been blindfolded the whole time. He blinked, but even then, it was too dark to really make out much of his surroundings.

But he saw Lucifer's red eyes glowing in the dark, illuminating his chilling smile. A flash of lightning illuminated the rest of his surroundings, showing the inside of a small enclosure.

"Welcome to the Cage, little brother," Lucifer told him. "We're going to have so much fun."

Gabriel stared in horror, as everything blurred, and his eyes rolled back into his head as everything spun together in a swirl of madness.

Gabriel woke with a gasp, jolting upright, before he could stop himself, his wound screaming in agony. Gabriel let out a half-strangled scream himself, curling over, head nearly touching his knees.

He looked around, seeing he was back at the Elysian Fields Hotel. The Cage must have just been a nightmare, nothing more than an illusion. Lucifer wasn't here.

Gabriel sagged at that realization, breathing heavily, before he decided that he needed to move. He reached over toward his angel blade and grabbed it, crawling in a very undignified manner for a few yards before regaining his feet. He had to get word to the Winchesters. Tell them Lucifer was out there still because he had failed to kill him. He staggered several steps before nearly crashing into a table. He used it to keep himself upright as he headed toward the door. His vision was blurring the whole time, the room looked like it was spinning—he would so not recommend this acid trip to anyone. The door seemed to get farther away the closer he got, but he finally managed the take a few final staggering steps toward it and grasp the doorknob. He turned it and then proceeded to practically fall out the door as it opened.

Outside the door the hall was a bloodbath.

Gabriel cried out, staggering back to prop himself upright against the doorjamb as he stared in horror at the carnage. Every last one of the pagan gods who had shown up to the meeting lay dead on the floor of the hallway. Blood flowed in impossible rivulets over the carpet, body parts lay strew around; it had been a total massacre.

Bile rose in Gabriel's throat as he took in the scene, unable to look away. It was all his fault. He had gotten them all killed.

"Not all of them, Gabriel."

Gabriel staggered around, and caught sight of Lucifer standing at the end of the hall. He was not alone though, for he had Kali held tightly in front of him, his blade at her throat. Gabriel had never seen her look more terrified.

"Lucifer, let her go," he said, holding up a hand, pleading with his brother not to do this.

Lucifer only smiled and raised the blade before plunging it into Kali's chest.

"No! Kali!" Gabriel screamed and lurched forward.

He didn't get far though, tripping over an unidentifiable corpse and crashing to the ground. The fall jarred his wound so badly, he screamed and curled up as the world spiraled around him again and plunged him into darkness.

Gabriel wasn't sure how it was possible, but he seemed to have gone back in time. There had been a fight earlier. He and his brothers had been sent to herd the Leviathans into Purgatory after Dad found out they liked to eat…well…everything. Of course, what they hadn't known at the time was that the ichor that was their blood was also poison to angels. But that was what Gabriel was good for; finding every possible problem in the book and somehow getting himself tangled up in it.

He was reliving the memory now, waking up after many days of agony and terror in Heaven's infirmary. His body ached in ways that he had never known possible, and his skin was chilled, making him shiver, though inside he was still burning, which made him sweat.

A cool cloth was placed over his forehead and a familiar grace reached out to touch his own, soothing him. He whined, wriggling uncomfortably in the bed as he tried to find a position that would keep his body from hurting, but the task seemed impossible. Just the act of anything coming into contact with his skin hurt.

"Shh, easy, little brother. You have to let it burn itself out. There's no other way."

Gabriel cried out as a particularly nasty tremor wracked his entire being, but a gentle hand settled onto the center of his chest, pressing him back and pushing some healing grace into him, dulling the pain a little.

"Just rest." Another hand stroked his hair, his wings, soothing in a way that only a beloved elder sibling could. Gabriel was glad that he had Lucifer with him through this agony. He would have felt so alone and helpless otherwise. But Lucifer being there made him feel that everything was going to be okay. It was going to be okay…

Icy coldness lanced through him, and Gabriel was torn from the warm memory, his eyes flying open. He blinked rapidly, hoping he was just hallucinating again, but it seemed real. It all seemed so real.

"Hey, bro," Lucifer said with a smirk. "Welcome back."

Gabriel stared around at the interior of the Cage, Lucifer sitting across from him, one knee drawn up to his chest. "It's not real," he whispered. "It's not real."

"Keep telling yourself that," Lucifer told him.

"It's not real! I know this trick!" Gabriel cried, trying to force himself upright but only resulted in hurting himself again. Lucifer was at his side in a flash, propping him upright against his chest. Gabriel held his breath as Lucifer brought up a hand and stroked it through Gabriel's hair before he wrenched his head back viciously, leaning in close to his head.

"Oh, it's real, little brother," Lucifer hissed. "Let me show you, erase any doubts you might have."

That was when the true agony began, and Gabriel's screams were ripped from his throat, but no one was there to listen. No one but the brother who had once cared for him on his sickbed, and this time, Lucifer was causing the agony, not trying to stop it.

Castiel stood outside the Elysian Fields Hotel indecisively. He really didn't have time to make stops like this, not to mention the fact that he was running out of money for traveling, but he knew he had to do this. He had to know for sure what Gabriel's fate had been.

He had woken up alone in the hospital after his—admittedly stupid—stunt with carving the banishing sigil onto his chest and then blowing himself to the four winds. It might have worked as he hoped, but it had taken what little grace he had left. He was, essentially, human.

But when he had called Sam and Dean to tell them he was alive, they had filled him in on what he had missed. They told him about how Gabriel had helped them, had let them escape while he stayed behind to face off with Lucifer, but they hadn't heard anything from him since, and they feared the worst.

Castiel wasn't sure what he feared. He knew that Lucifer wasn't dead. But whether Gabriel was or not remained to be seen. Perhaps he had just flown off again. Castiel would rather think of his brother as a coward than dead, but…no. Something felt wrong about that. Castiel might still be somewhat bitter about his brother leaving heaven back in the day, but he knew deep down that Gabriel wasn't really a coward. He also knew that Gabriel loved his brothers, no matter their sins, and he was pretty positive Gabriel wouldn't have been able to kill Lucifer unless pressed.

Lucifer on the other hand would probably have no compunction about killing Gabriel. And since they knew Lucifer was still alive, and Gabriel hadn't been in contact with anyone, Castiel could only fear the worst.

Still. He had to know for sure. At least find out the truth and put his wondering to rest.

The hotel was deserted when he got there, and he was glad. He had his blade—it had been on him when he had crashed—but his grace was so weak, in his practically human state now, he couldn't detect any demons or other supernatural entities in the area, and so he would rather not run into anything at all if he could help it.

But there didn't seem to be anyone around. The place was almost eerily quiet. Apart from a few overturned chairs and such, there was no real indication that there had been any kind of conflict there recently at all.

Until he got further into the hotel and came across the bodies.

Castiel stopped, horrified at the sight of the carnage. Sam and Dean had said that Lucifer had taken out several pagan gods without so much as batting an eye, but the brutality he had used made Castiel sick to his stomach.

He hurried past the bodies until he came to a room with the doors cracked. He was about to go past when he heard a sound coming from the room and he stopped, gripping his blade tighter. He waited a moment, and when there was no other sound, he figured it had been nothing, but he should probably check it out anyway.

He held his blade at the ready and pushed the door open completely.

The room was a disaster. Overturned tables, scorch marks on the floor, and blood.

Castiel followed the smears of blood with his eyes and his gaze landed on a figure curled up on the ground. He almost didn't recognize him at first, Gabriel had always been so full of life, of everything, that this pitiful bundle didn't register as the cocky archangel. He couldn't even feel his grace really, not with his own powers so low, but as he took several cautious steps forward, he recognized Gabriel's vessel, and knew this had to be him.

But was he alive?

There were no wing marks around him, so Castiel thought he must be, but he wasn't moving.

Castiel knelt and reached out a trembling hand to Gabriel's shoulder, preparing to roll him onto his back and try to see where he was wounded.

Gabriel suddenly cried out and flailed, knocking Castiel back to sit down hard, heart pounding in surprise. He quickly regained his senses though and crouched over his brother, pushing him flat so Gabriel wouldn't hurt himself.

"Gabriel, can you hear me?" he called.

Gabriel just continued to shudder and moan and Castiel caught sight of the blood on the front of his shirt. He carefully peeled the fabric aside and found a deep stab wound there. His breath caught in his throat. He needed to get Gabriel some help.

"Okay, Gabriel, hold on," he murmured and pulled Gabriel into a sitting position. Wrapping one of Gabriel's arms around his neck, Castiel managed to heave the archangel to his feet, though Gabriel was a dead weight, and Castiel had no angelic strength to help him. He grunted and shifted his brother to a better position, wrapping his arm firmly around Gabriel's waist to try and keep him upright.

Thankfully, this was a hotel, and Castiel found the nearest room, which looked pretty much untouched, and heaved Gabriel onto the bed. That was when he started talking.

"No, no, Lucifer, don't. Please, brother!" Gabriel struck out and Castiel was forced to catch his wrists and push them down to the bed. He should not have been able to restrain Gabriel so easily, and that worried him. The wound must be bad if the archangel was that weak, and Castiel didn't even possess the power to heal him. The realization grieved him, but he would just have to make do with what he could.

"Gabriel, it's me, Castiel," he tried, but the archangel didn't seem to hear him. Gabriel seemed to be stuck in some hallucinatory nightmare, and Castiel wondered if Lucifer had done something else to him.

"Please brother," Gabriel whispered again, then let out an agonized scream that nearly made Castiel jump out of his skin.

Unsure of what he could do for the nightmares, Castiel simply decided to do what he could, opening Gabriel's shirt to better see the wound, and patching it up the best he could. And once he had done that, he pulled the blanket over Gabriel, and pulled a chair over to the bed to wait for his brother to wake up.

If he could do nothing else, he could at least be there for him.

"Please brother," Gabriel pleaded for about the thousandth time, but it did no good. Lucifer only laughed louder as he conducted Gabriel's torments like a maestro.

Currently, demons were pulling Gabriel's feathers out and it was agonizing.

"Don't worry, little brother, I'll make you a pillow out of them so you can rest your weary head," Lucifer said.

Gabriel was never sure what was real anymore or not. It was all so hard to tell the agonies apart. Sometimes he was sure the pain he felt from Lucifer's torments were real, and other times he was sure that everything stemmed from the stab wound to his chest and there was no other pain to feel.

One second he was being burned, consumed in holy fire, and the other he was freezing in icy water. He didn't know. All he was truly aware of was Lucifer's continued dark chuckling as he watched Gabriel writhe in agony. And did nothing. And that hurt Gabriel the most. The brother he had looked up to, trusted, the one who had sat by his bedside many times when he was injured, had betrayed him. Left him to die and then did this to him. Gabriel didn't understand and it hurt. It hurt so much he couldn't stand it.

It was then he heard another voice as if from far away. He couldn't place it, but it made him frightened. Not for himself though, but for the one the voice belonged to. He couldn't stand the thought of anyone else he knew falling into Lucifer's clutches. He wanted to cry out, warn them, but all he could manage was a strangled scream.

The world was tilting again. Lucifer's red eyes shifted in the dark, and Gabriel watched them fade as he was once again consumed by the blackness.

Hands were holding him down. Gabriel fought them, yelling for all he was worth, but they didn't go away. Something cloying was pinning him down. He was burning, he was so hot he felt like his body was on fire—maybe it was. He wouldn't put it past Lucifer to choose that as his next form of entertainment.

Then he felt something icy cold press against his forehead. He gasped, jerking away initially before he realized how good it felt. It made a cold trail down his neck to his shoulders and Gabriel groaned in relief, wishing whoever was doing this would simply douse his whole body. Maybe that would put the fire out.

After a few minutes of the cooling ministrations, he felt fingers awkwardly carding through his hair. It was soothing and he leaned into the touch.

"Hush, brother."

The voice chilled him and he blinked his eyes open to see Lucifer. His head was resting in the fallen archangel's lap, and Lucifer was threading a needle. Gabriel tried to move away, but he couldn't. His whole body seemed to be paralyzed.

Lucifer put a finger to his lips and smiled wickedly. "Shh. Don't make a sound." Then he lowered the needle and thread and grabbed Gabriel's jaw firmly to keep his mouth shut before he started to sew his lips together.

Castiel practically threw himself on top of Gabriel as the archangel suddenly went into violent spasms. His eyes were rolled back into his head, and his whole body was shaking. Castiel had to hold him down with his own body so he didn't fall off the bed, and grasp his jaw to keep it closed so Gabriel didn't bite off his tongue.

Gabriel was burning up, and Castiel wondered if he was suffering from fevered seizures. He knew humans did, but did angels? He glanced toward the bathroom attached to the hotel room. It had a large bathtub in it. Maybe Castiel should try and force Gabriel's fever down?

He looked down at his brother again, seeing the suffering, and made up his mind. He ran to fill the tub, then rushed around looking for ice, and ended up raiding the mini-bars in several of the rooms. Once he had gotten the water ice cold, he went back to the room and heaved Gabriel up into his arms, carrying him to the bathtub and unceremoniously lowering him into the icy water.

Gabriel screamed and flailed as the cold water hit his skin, but Castiel held him down, getting completely soaked in the process, and eventually Gabriel's screams turned to whimpers and Castiel carded a hand soothingly through his hair as he waited for his fever to go down. His phone was ringing in the other room and he knew it was Sam and Dean wondering where he was, but he could call them back later. He had to take care of his brother right now.

He was sure they would understand.

Now he really was in ice. Gabriel felt utter cold. It was so cold it took all the breath from his body when it hit him. He flailed, trying to swim to the surface, but hands grasped his shoulders and pushed him down.

"Not so fast, Gabriel. This is for your own good."

Lucifer's grin met him when he looked up and Gabriel still fought, clawing at his brother's arms, but Lucifer continued to shove him further into the water, drowning him in the ice. Gabriel could feel himself giving up, letting go. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift, letting the water take him.

"That's better," Lucifer crooned, and Gabriel started, but the elder archangel had his arms wrapped around Gabriel now, a hand stroking his hair as freezing water still dripped from him. Gabriel shuddered and huddled against his brother for warmth, forgetting for the moment that Lucifer had hurt him—silenced him on purpose by sewing his lips together. He just wanted to feel like a fledgling again. Wanted to feel protected by his older brother. Wanted to believe the lie for just a little longer.

"There now, that's not so bad, is it?" Lucifer asked softly.

And Gabriel realized he couldn't feel anything anymore. His whole body below the neck was numb. Lucifer showed him an angel blade with blood adorning the tip, and Gabriel realized that while his brother had held him, he had severed his spinal cord, leaving him helpless. He collapsed limply to the ground when Lucifer shifted, and Gabriel stared up at him in horror.

"Now you'll have no choice but to do everything I want you to," Lucifer whispered.

The world blurred again, and Gabriel had no choice but to go with it.

Gabriel was back in the cage. His body was still limp, but it was now strung up, hands and feet attached to ropes like he was some sort of marionette puppet. Lucifer stood in front of him and grinned as he beheld his position.

"Now you see, Gabriel?" he asked, reaching up and tugging a string, causing Gabriel's left arm to move up and down. "Now you'll have no choice but to join me."

Gabriel tried to speak, but forgot his lips were sewn together.

"It won't be so bad, we always did get along, didn't we?" When Gabriel still made no indication of hearing him, Lucifer shook his head, pretending pity. "Poor Gabriel. Never could decide which way to go, which side to fight for, and now you're nothing but a puppet. The mighty trickster has been outplayed."

Gabriel watched his brother gloat, nothing but cruelty on his face, and a single tear slid down his cheek as he realized he would never get his brother back.

Once Gabriel's fever went down enough for Castiel's liking he pulled him from the tub and dried him off. He nearly dropped him on the floor in the process, but at least Gabriel wasn't struggling anymore. He had simply gone limp. Castiel stripped off his remaining clothing that were now soaked, and toweled him dry.

As he was doing so, he caught sight of a small red mark on Gabriel's shoulder, just above his heart. As he studied it closer, he realized it was a sigil, not a wound as he had originally thought, but something burned into Gabriel's flesh. Castiel wasn't entirely sure what it meant, as he had never seen this sigil before, but he had a feeling that it might be the reason Gabriel was suffering so badly. The sigil could possibly be a parting gift from Lucifer to keep him out of the fight. Though why he didn't just kill Gabriel, Castiel wasn't sure.

Before he took care of it though, he dressed Gabriel in a warm robe he had found and got him back into the bed. Gabriel was moaning again, and he twitched several times, but Castiel hoped that getting him cooled down had helped most of his erratic behavior. He didn't seem to be as hot now.

He opened the top of the robe again to view the sigil. Maybe if he broke it, then Gabriel would be able to recover. It might be keeping his grace in check, keeping him from healing. Castiel reached into his coat and pulled out his angel blade. He didn't want to cause Gabriel any more pain, but he knew this was necessary. He quickly cut across the sigil, breaking it.

Gabriel gasped slightly, and twitched, and then he seemed to calm a bit. Castiel watched tentatively, but there didn't see to be any adverse effects to breaking the sigil, so he set his blade aside and drew the blankets back over the archangel.

Once he got Gabriel settled he called Sam and Dean and told them what had happened. Though Dean was initially annoyed that he was taking so long getting back to them, he calmed down as Castiel explained, and told the angel to take his time. Castiel was grateful for their understanding. But no matter their opinion, he would have stayed with Gabriel.

Castiel thought about the last time he had met with the archangel. He had gone looking for the Winchesters who had been missing for over a week and stumbled into Gabriel's pocket dimension. Gabriel had then proceeded to do everything possible to keep him from getting to the Winchesters—and he would be lying if he said any of the diversions had been fun.

But Castiel had always been fond of Gabriel. It had broken his heart when the archangel had left Heaven. He had been one of the few elder angels who even cared about the fledglings and had been there while Castiel and his peers had grown up and started their training. Had sometimes even been there to deflect the anger of angels like Zachariah and Raphael, who were so rarely kind to the younger angels and never gave any leeway. Things had been better when Gabriel had still been in heaven, but when he had left…no one was there to stand up for the younger angels and Castiel had lost his protector, having to make his own way, and muddle through his own decisions which had landed him in trouble on far too many occasions, therefor making him one of Zachariah's favorite 'projects' for reeducation. Castiel shuddered at the thought. No, he couldn't blame Gabriel for that, but he still wished he'd had someone to support him.

Gabriel moaned again and shifted in the bed, breaking Castiel from his dark musings. He leaned over, closer to his brother, unsure of what even to do, feeling helpless. Gabriel seemed to be in pain again, head tossing from side and side and Castiel hoped that the fever wasn't coming back again. When he reached out to touch the back of his hand against Gabriel's forehead, he saw a sheen of wetness on his right cheek and with a start, realized it was a tear.

"Lucifer," Gabriel whispered brokenly and Castiel felt his heart rend in two. He understood that to be the tone of mourning, and by all rights, Gabriel should be able to mourn the brother he had once known, because Lucifer was not that angel anymore.

Castiel reached under the blankets to find Gabriel's hand and grasped it tightly in his. He felt Gabriel's fingers squeeze back after a while and sat like that for a long time, just waiting for Gabriel to wake up.

"The mighty Trickster has been outplayed."

The words echoed around Gabriel's head as the world became a strange swirl of images and pain again, while he floated vaguely half in, half out of his body.

And then everything solidified.

Gabriel's eyes opened, his vision sharpened and he was standing in a dark room with Lucifer, no more ropes, no more sewn mouth, just the two of them.

"No one outplays the Trickster," Gabriel told him. "None of this is real. It's just a pocket dimension." He gave a half-hearted smirk. "You may have taught me all your tricks, but I perfected them."

Lucifer smirked, and shrugged. "Hey, it was fun while it lasted, right?"

Gabriel glared back, raised a hand and snapped his fingers.

"Gabriel?"

Gabriel swam through blackness. He could feel a presence near him, just barely able to detect the grace of another angel, though he wasn't sure who it was. It seemed very faint. He wondered if they were trying to mask it, but why?

A hand touched his cheek, and he leaned into it, the fingers were cool and felt good and soothing. The only one who ever sat by his bedside when he was injured was Lucifer so it must be him.

"Lucifer?" he murmured.

Then fear suddenly struck him, and he jerked away from the touch, gasping as he felt pain tear through his chest. Lucifer. His brother had stabbed him, left him for dead. Now he was back, probably to try and coerce Gabriel into joining him.

Gabriel tried to get away but hands gripped his shoulders and tried to keep him still.

"Gabriel. Gabriel, stop," Lucifer was saying.

"Leave me alone!" Gabriel demanded. "I'm done with your games!"

"Gabriel, open your eyes!" the voice commanded.

Gabriel frowned. It didn't really sound like Lucifer. He tried to open his eyes, and found they were so bleary he had to blink several times to clear them. A figure loomed over him, coming slowly into focus, and he started at first, knowing he would see Lucifer, but then as his vision cleared, he saw someone else entirely. Dark hair, and a worried blue gaze hovering over him. Trench coat.

He furrowed his brow. "Castiel?"

The lesser angel sagged in relief and offered a small smile. "Gabriel, I'm here. Lucifer is not. How do you feel?"

Gabriel was still just trying to place where he was and what had happened. He figured that everything that had happened had been a hallucination, the one Lucifer had been so kind as to leave him with while he was bleeding out on the floor.

"Well, kinda like a crap sandwich," he said blandly.

Castiel must have seen his searching gaze, because he offered, "You're still at the Elysian Fields Hotel. The Winchesters told me what happened, so I…came to find you."

Gabriel looked up at him, surprised. Sure, he'd always been fond of the kid, but after the TV land thing? He wasn't sure Cas would ever forgive him for that and here he was, nursing Gabriel back to health. Go figure.

"Well, look at you, kiddo," he said weakly, his body still feeling so tired. He could slowly feel his wound healing, his grace stirring. He wondered if Lucifer had caused his healing to stop with the hallucinations. He frowned then as he studied Cas more closely. He could barely sense the kid's grace at all.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

Castiel seemed surprised by this question. "That's not important right now," he tried to protest.

But Gabriel persisted. "No, seriously. I can hardly feel your grace, what happened?"

Castiel's eyes slid downward as if in shame and he heaved a heavy breath before responding. "I did something stupid and in the process managed to become even weaker than I already was. But I lived, which was more than I had been expecting."

Gabriel gave him a stare, but was honestly too tired to press the younger angel further right now. Still… "We'll continue this conversation later."

Cas conceded with a look, then cast a glance toward a cellphone that sat on the bedside table. Gabriel followed the gaze, noticing now tired Cas looked. He looked about as bad as Gabriel felt and that was saying something. He also figured that Cas probably needed to get back to those Winchesters. Maybe those mooks were even worried about him. Stranger things had happened.

"You know, kiddo, I'm just gonna be sleeping here, recharging. You can go if you got somewhere to be. No need to stay on my account."

Castiel looked up at him, startled. He blinked, silent for a few seconds, before he replied firmly, "No. I will stay here with you until you are healed."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "You know there is an apocalypse going on out there, right? And thanks to me, Lucifer is still on the loose. Probably on his way to flambé your boys as we speak."

Castiel shook his head. "I know, but you're family. And I'm not going to leave you. The Winchesters can take care of themselves for a little bit longer."

Gabriel opened his mouth to come back with something snarky when he realized a lump had formed in his throat. He quickly clamped his mouth shut again, and tried to get a hold of his emotions. Damn, he really must be weak, but something in the way Castiel had said it: family. He could see in the younger angel's eyes that he felt the same way about it Gabriel had always felt. So few angels understood. Even Lucifer hadn't after a while.

Another stab of pain lanced through Gabriel's chest. No. He realized now that there was no getting the Lucifer he had once known back. It was too late, and he had wasted too much time running when he could have possibly had a chance to save his brother. But maybe now he could have a chance to do better with Cas. Cas and the Winchesters needed help in this war, and he had already chosen his side. Since he miraculously hadn't died, he figured the least he could do was help out.

And who knows? Maybe he could find family again himself.

He gave a small nod to Cas. "Okay, little brother," he said. "You do what you want to."

Cas smiled slightly at him and Gabriel saw something lift from his shoulders. "Then I'll stay here," Cas told him, then more sternly, "But you should rest."

"Normally I would argue, but…" Gabriel winced as he shifted slightly in the bed. "I'm gonna have to take you up on that one this time."

He really was exhausted. He was hurt by Lucifer's betrayal, and the torments he had left him with, hallucination or not, had rattled him. But he would shake it off like he always did, and this time, he wasn't alone.

Even as he closed his eyes and allowed his body to shut down into recharge mode, he felt Castiel beside him, and the thought of having family to care for him warmed him through to his core. He felt Castiel pull his blankets more firmly around his shoulders as he drifted off, and, though at any other time he would have protested, it was actually kinda nice to have someone take care of you.

The last thing he heard as he slipped off was, "Sleep well, brother."

And he did.