"What do you mean, let it go?" Sam asked, his voice almost shaking in his anger as he looked over at the pale angel, his eyes alight with the rage that he had felt for the creature. His hands tightened, and although he saw the glowing wings of Lucifer, they made no move to get any closer, "Gabriel. It's trying to kill you."

"And it has every right to," Gabriel interjected, causing Sam to freeze as he stared at the man with furrowed brows. Gabriel stared back, just as broken as Sam felt, and he tried to move, but Sam saw the chains that bound his hands and feet to the ground, barely allowing him enough movement to even shift.

"Gabe..." Sam trailed off, his hands clutching a bit tighter subconsciously around the armor that protected the monster's neck, "Why?"

A bark of laughter left Lucifer's voice from the entrance of the cave, and his eyes glowed red with enjoyment as he stalked towards Sam, his wings unfurling and raising above his head almost intimidatingly. His hand glowed red, and Gabriel let out a sharp protest, but it did nothing as Sam was left frozen, his body not moving despite his efforts as Lucifer picked him up by his shirt as easy as a ragdoll, removing him from the creature as his teeth bared in a feral grin.

"He deserves to die," Lucifer growled, slamming his palm into Sam's forehead, the force of the fallen angel's grace throwing him into blackness and blanking his mind.

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

Screams of terror filled Sam's ears as he looked around the tunnel he stood in. The smell of burning flesh reached his nose, and he blanched, pulling his hand to his nose and covering it as he continued farther down the tunnel, towards the entrance to the cave he had just been in moments before. He almost missed the faint golden glow as he passed another tunnel, turning his head and coughing against the acrid smoke that came from farther down.

Still, he pressed forwards into the tunnel, eyes watering and obscuring his vision until he stumbled over a form, looking down and seeing the corpse of a Maneluctus, its eyes burned from its skull and its mouth ripped open and hanging limply from the bone that protruded from its mouth and shattered the armor around it.

Another scream brought him away from the disturbing scene below him, and he hurried towards it, his shirt having been pulled up so he could breathe a little easier as he rounded the corner, freezing when he saw the golden wings of Gabriel folded along the man's back.

Another creature laid in front of the angel, its armor ripped from its face and exposing a hole in the creature's face, the contents within it liquefied and sloshing from its mouth and onto the ground. Gabriel turned, and the dead, dark look in his eyes took the breath from Sam's body as he strode past, not even noticing Sam as he continued on his hunt, passing right through him.

Sam found there was nothing he could do except follow the angel, his heart sinking as he heard soft cries coming from the tunnel ahead of them, letting out a soft plea in hopes that Gabriel would hear him, but to no avail. Another corner turn, and Gabriel stopped, and Sam was left with a rising sense of horror.

It was a Maneluctus, its eyes wide in fear and its arms spread out, hiding little forms of the creature behind it as they cried in fear. They were children, that much was for sure, as their armor was barely there, poking out and still growing, and some of the smaller ones had no armor at all.

Sam felt like vomiting as Gabriel only spared them a second glance before jabbing his hand forwards, going straight through the adult creature's chest and tugging it back out with an odly shaped organ, long and a corkscrew shape, watching as it pulsed the same liquid that he had seen on the other Maneluctus. The creature let out a soft cry and fell forwards, and the little ones' cries of fear grew louder.

Gabriel placed his palm on the edge of the wall, his hand glowing as cracks formed in the rock around them, and he jerked his hands, sending large chunks of rocks raining down on the children creatures until they were buried under rocks as big as Sam was.

Sam couldn't help but feel the tears run down his face as he saw the almost bored look in Gabriel's eyes as the angel turned to leave. He tried to slam his fists into Gabriel, but they passed right through. He tried to pull the rocks off the little ones, to save them, but there was nothing he could do.

Yet, both of them froze when he heard two little wails of fear from underneath the stone.

Gabriel turned, and Sam begged the little creatures to be silent as Gabriel's hand glowed brighter, the rocks lifting and revealing the two littlest ones who had taken refuge under the adult Maneluctus' body, holding onto each other and crying trails of gold down their faces.

Gabriel didn't move for several long moments, the dead expression still on his face, but Sam saw something different, something change just a little in the twitch of the angel's lips, and Gabriel set down the rocks gently, away from the little creatures, and turned, his wings wisking him away.

Sam barely had chance to fall to the ground in relief before the blackness swamped over him again, and he was thrown back to the present.