Spoiler Alert: 13.17

Trigger Warnings: Physical Abuse, Trauma

Gabriel was confused. Why was he alive? He reached for his angel blade- Gabriel didn't carry an archangel blade anymore- but it wasn't there.

He looked up to see Asmodeus grinning at him with a lighter in his hand. Gabriel glanced down just in time to see the horribly tiny circle of holy oil on the floor before it burst into flame, but not fast enough to escape. His six beautiful wings were tucked in as close as he could get them, but all of his flight feathers were getting painfully scorched anyway.

He looked up at Asmodeus, who was now grinning in sickening satisfaction.

"Why are you doing this?" Gabriel demanded.

Asmodeus crossed his arms and tapped his heel. "And he speaks," he drawled. "Looks like I've caught myself- an ahk-aingil."

"What do you want?" asked Gabriel sourly.

"Oh, I think you'll find out soon enough," Asmodeus continued. "For now, you'll do just as I say. Now are those wings of yours gettin' scorched enough, ahk-aingil?"

Gabriel glared at him. Asmodeus was doing this to him on purpose.

"Any of my brothers will kill you for this," Gabriel argued.

"Oh, I think when I've finished with you, anybody will want to kill me- except when I manage to kill Lucifer."

"NO!" Gabriel screamed. "I will not. If you even think about using me to kill Lucifer, I'll scatter you into a million pieces, you-"

"Shhh," said Asmodeus. "That's enough, little slave. You don't speak that way to your Master." He snapped his fingers and sewed Gabriel's lips together.

"MMMMmm," Gabriel yelled, but with his lips sewn together, he couldn't say anything.

"Now, I think it's time to let you stretch a bit," said Asmodeus, fake being nice, which was even creepier than when he was being creepy. "Don't want all that pretty grace of yours lightin' on fah-er."

Asmodeus snapped his fingers again. Gabriel flinched, and suddenly he let out a muffled scream of horrible pain as a circle of flat metal fell from the ceiling, scraping his already-scorched feathers as it fell toward the circle of holy fire and extinguished it.

"Shhhhh," said Asmodeus softly. "Now, I know you feel like runnin', but you cain't. If you'd like to just go easy-like into thet thur cell yonder, I shore won't stop ya."

Gabriel backed away slowly, yanking his burnt feathers out from under the circle of metal with a squawk of pain, and tried to escape from Asmodeus.

Asmodeus raised his voice. "Now, that weren't the way I raised my little ahrk-aingel, Gabriel."

Gabriel really wanted to blast this guy. He glared angrily at Asmodeus, unable to convey his full wrath with his mouth all sewn up.

"MMmm," Gabriel stated defiantly. Asmodeus backhanded him.

"I said don't speak that way to me," he shouted, out of control. "Get in the cage now!" He shoved Gabriel into the tiny cell and rained blows on him until he bled. Then he left, shutting and locking the door behind him, and left Gabriel alone in a cell so small he could barely move his wings.

The next time he came, Gabriel tried to strangle him. Asmodeus hit and kicked Gabriel into submission, then took out a weird syringe and extracted some of Gabriel's grace, which he swallowed in front of Gabriel. Then he left.

Asmodeus came again. Again, Gabriel was ready for him. He slammed Asmodeus' head into the wall four times and then stumbled out of the cell. He didn't get very far before Asmodeus grabbed him by the wings and shoved him onto the floor. He ripped out most of Gabriel's grace and captured it in a vial. Then he took a little bit more for himself and shoved Gabriel back into the cell so hard that his head hit the wall and he passed out. The door shut on one of his wings and broke it.

Between the wing bleeding grace and Asmodeus taking some for himself, Gabriel was losing a little more grace than he was growing back. His bruises weren't healing, and his vessel was getting skinny from lack of food. Every day, Asmodeus beat him and stole a little more of his grace, until Gabriel was more human than angel. His head felt like it was about to explode, and his body was so tired. Everything hurt, but especially his broken wing.

One day, Asmodeus seemed to take a long time beating Gabriel up. Gabriel didn't know why. He hadn't tried anything in weeks. After taking a little more grace, Asmodeus yanked Gabriel out of the cell and hauled him into some huge room. He shoved Gabriel into a chair and bound him to it so Gabriel could only move his head.

Then he left. Gabriel heard him whistling and picking out another fancy white outfit.

Later there were voices. Asmodeus' and someone else's. A man, but who? His vessel sounded younger than Asmodeus'.

Then Gabriel heard the clanging and knew they were coming to where he was.

"Meet the ahk-angel Gabriel," Asmodeus drawled self-importantly. The younger man stared at Gabriel. Gabriel stared back, terrified, desperate, maybe a little crazy. Was this man here to beat Gabriel and steal his grace, too? Or would he let Gabriel go? It looked like maybe neither. They left quietly.

The next couple of days, Asmodeus seemed obsessed with the new guy. Gabriel found out that his name was Ketch. They seemed to fight a lot. Ketch apparently thought he worked freelance, and Asmodeus disagreed. He would argue with Ketch, beat up Ketch, and then take more of Gabriel's grace. He became unpredictable: some days he forgot about Gabriel entirely, and other days he beat Gabriel for almost an hour before stealing more grace.

Finally, Asmodeus and Ketch got in a huge fight. Ketch came to Gabriel bloodied and beaten. Something gleamed in his hand- Gabriel's archangel blade. Gabriel screamed and tried to scramble back into his cell.

Ketch was saying something, but Gabriel was too weak, scared, and exhausted to understand. He opened the cell and yanked Gabriel out, still talking.

Gabriel didn't know when they got to the Winchesters' bunker. He cowered, hoping Sam and Dean wouldn't hit him, too. They were much stronger than he was now; they could do what they liked.

"…archangel for a spell," Ketch was saying.

Okay. The Winchesters needed Gabriel, that was okay, he would do whatever they made him do, and maybe they would let him go.

"We need his grace," said Dean.

Gabriel squawked desperately and tried to get away from Sam and Dean. Ketch put his hand on his shoulder and said something gently, and Gabriel settled down a little. Maybe they weren't going to hurt him just now. He stared at everybody desperately, terrified that they would hurt him, hopeful that they might let him go or even just stop beating him. His grace could grow much faster if they didn't beat him. He could let Sam and Dean drink some. They couldn't be as bad as Asmodeus, could they?

Ketch threw the archangel blade and the vial of Gabriel's grace on the table. They talked some more, and Dean and Sam put down their guns.