Chapter Text
Sam's head jerked up as he heard a scream rip through the forest. It was his son; it had to be!
"They're here!" he called, getting to his feet. "Lucifer!"
"Follow me," Gabriel instructed. "The well isn't far away."
The trio had sat just out of eyesight of the well. They were worried that if Brighid spotted them, she'd take off with Lucifer. If she did that, who knew what would happen to him after that.
The three of them quickly darted off into the darkness. Even though it was only a hundred feet away, there was no sign of anyone at the well.
"Someone was here," Mary picked up a piece of disregarded rope.
Sam rushed to the well and looked inside. It was full to the top with water. A steady stream of water flowed from the structure and onto the ground. The water trail continued out of the clearing and into the woods.
"This isn't possible," Gabriel stuck his hand in the water trail.
"What?" Mary questioned. "What is it?"
"Il-Belliegha," the angel explained. "It's from Malta. It shouldn't be here. You've got to find Lucifer now. I'll stay here and see if I can stop the water flow."
"Mom!" Panic started to push through Sam. "See if you can find Brighid. I'm going to find Luci before that thing gets him."
Sam quickly took off, following the trail of water through the woods. He knew his son only had a little time.
-
Lucifer couldn't run anymore. His legs and lungs were burning from the effort. Finally, the child collapsed to the ground. He felt like he couldn't breathe. Luci felt a crushing sensation in his chest as if all the air had been sucked out of his lungs. It was almost as if he was suffocating. His heart raced as he tried to draw in a breath.
Darkness surrounded Luci, and it seemed like it was closing in on him. He felt a wave of Panic and fear wash over him as he realized there was no escape from the darkness. Lucifer was utterly helpless and alone in this dark void. Soon that thing would find him, and if he was lucky, it would kill him.
The once-dry ground was starting to get damp. That could mean the monster was getting closer. Lucifer wanted to scream out, but he couldn't.
"Daddy…" he managed to squeak out.
"Lucifer!" he could hear his father screaming his name in the distance.
"Da…" he moaned.
The child felt strong arms pulling him in and holding him close. It was Sam! It was his father. He couldn't believe it was him. Tears he'd been holding back started to fall and soak into his father's shirt.
"Are you alright?" Sam questioned.
“I…can’t…I can't…" he was wheezing and struggling to get the words out. "Breathe."
"I've got you, kid," The hunter turned his head rapidly around. He couldn't see anything through the darkness. There was no way he could fight this thing. But, on the other hand, Gabriel seemed to know what it was and how to deal with it. Were they just supposed to run until this thing disappeared?
The ground under Sam was getting wetter. It felt like his feet were sinking into the ground. They needed to get out there.
Sam held his son close as he took off through the woods. He had no idea what direction to go. All he could do was head for dry ground. That clearly left a trail of water behind. Dry ground meant safety. They needed to get out there. Lucifer was clearly having an asthma attack and needed medical care. Sam could hear his son struggling to breathe. Even if that thing didn't get him, he might die from the lack of air.
Suddenly the path in front of him came to a sudden end. They were surrounded on nearly all sides by tall angry looking trees. Sam turned around to go back the way he came when he saw water starting to rush toward him. He could see a white serpent figure crawling towards them. Despite its serpent form, it managed to have endless limbs, fingers, and toes.
They were trapped. Sam backed up as far as he could until his back was against trees. Then, he lowered himself to the ground and put his head down against his son's. It was only then that Sam realized Lucifer was talking, whispering to himself. Even though it was a struggle for him to get the words out. It sounded like Luci was fighting with everything he had to speak.
"Even…even though…I…walk…through the…valley," Lucifer gasped each word out. “Of the…the…shadow of…”
It didn't sound like Lucifer could get the rest of the words out, but Sam knew what he was saying. The child was praying. He knew they weren't going to make it out alive.
"I'm sorry, Lucifer," he apologized. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."
Everything Sam had head down, he knew that being was only a few feet away. It was going to kill them, and there wasn't anything he could do.
Suddenly a pain-filled scream echoed through the clearing. Sam jerked his head up to see the creature being sucked back toward the way it had come. The ground rapidly dried as it passed back over it.
Sam stumbled to his feet before looking at his son.
"Dad?" he managed to get out.
"I think we're alright," the hunter started walking the way he'd come, "I'm going to get you help."
Sam knew he needed to get to Gabriel and hope he was in a state to heal him. Lucifer was having one hell of an asthma attack and wasn't coming out of it. He followed the disappearing trail of water back to the clearing.
Gabriel was standing over the now collapsed well. It had been filled with rocks all the way to the top. He dropped to the ground next to the well. The angel looked pretty worn out. There was no sign of his mother or Lucifer's kidnapper.
"Is he alright?" Gabriel's eyes went wide at the sight of Sam carrying his brother.
"Gab," he said, kneeling down next to him. "Luci needs help. He can't breathe."
The angel took the human child into his arms and placed a hand on his back. He closed his eyes.
"Lucifer..." he said. "Take a deep breath for me. Nice and slow."
Sam let out a sigh of relief as he heard the child take a deep breath. After a moment, his breathing returned to normal. Lucifer opened his eyes fully and looked around.
"What happened?" he questioned.
"You outran death, little brother," Gabriel said, ruffling his hair.
Lucifer smiled and collapsed against his brother's chest.
-
Mary had Brighid tied up next to her van. His mother knew he'd want to have the honor of taking care of her. He held the angel blade in his hands as he approached her. Even though she was human, an angel blade would end her life.
The woman looked up at him with fear in her eyes. It was almost as if she knew what he would do to her.
"You messed everything up," she cried. "I was told the child could fix this. I was told I could get my baby back."
"You lost your child, so you decided to destroy more children and their lives!" he shouted. "That makes you no better than that monster in the well."
"You don't understand," she started to cry. "You don't know what pain I'm going through. My heart is ripped out every day that my child isn't with me. I couldn't kill the children it didn't accept. I couldn't do it. I tried my best to care for them and ensure they were safe. I didn't want to hurt anyone. I really didn't, but…I needed to try something. I'm sorry your son got caught up in all this. I never wanted this to happen."
Sam couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. How could she try to justify what she'd done?
"No one messes with my family," Sam raised the angel blade, ready to stab it into her.
"Daddy, no!" Lucifer yelled and darted over to him. "Don't!"
"What in the world?" the hunter turned to look at his son. "Lucifer, what's gotten into you? I'm doing my job. I'm a hunter. We kill monsters. This woman might be human, but she's a monster all the same."
"Daddy, please…" Lucifer wrapped his hand around his father's arm. "She lost a child. I know what she did was wrong, but…is killing her really the right choice?"
Sam frowned and looked back at her. Her head was down as if waiting for her sentence to be carried out. She seemed to have accepted her fate.
"Mom, take Lucifer," Sam instructed. "I don't want him to watch."
"Come on, darling," Mary tried to carefully remove Lucifer's hand from Sam's arm.
"Turn her in to the police," he begged, gripping his arm harder. Sam could feel his nails cutting into his skin. "This isn't a monster you have to kill. This one can see justice the human way."
Sam did feel a tiny bit of sympathy for her. She had lost a child, and he knew what that feeling could do to a person. Lucifer had only been out of his care a short time, and he knew he'd do anything to get him back. Would he risk hurting another child to get him back? He didn't think so, but the human mind was capable of many things when pushed to its limit.
The hunter made the mistake of turning his head to look into his son's eyes. Lucifer's eyes were wide and pleading.
"Please Daddy..." he begged. "For me?"
There was no way Sam could look into those eyes and deny him.
"Fine," Sam reluctantly dropped the blade to the ground.
Lucifer let out a deep breath that even he didn't realize he was holding. Sam picked up his son and looked out across the horizon. Even through the thick line of trees, he could see the sun rising. A new day was dawning.
"Let's just go home, Daddy," he wrapped his arms around his father's neck.
-
Lucifer was safe. He was fast asleep in his own bed. It wasn't until he had tucked the boy under the covers that Sam really felt like he was safe. His poor boy had been through enough sorrow to last a lifetime in one night. He couldn't understand why Chuck had delivered him to that woman. No one could. Of course, they assumed it was Chuck, but they didn't have any proof. The woman couldn't give them any name.
Sam stood at the doorway of the child's room, looking in on his sleeping form. The snow globe that Gabriel had given him was lying next to him. Whenever Lucifer was scared or sad, he ran right to that globe. The hunter walked entirely into the room and picked up the snow globe.
To him, it looked like a regular snow globe with a mountain inside. Sam really didn't understand why Lucifer was so fascinated with that thing. It seemed that his son saw something completely different when he looked into it, something beautiful and mystifying. He placed the globe on the bedside table and headed out of the small bedroom.
Most of the household had fallen asleep. A long insane night often did that to them. But, of course, Sam knew the angels would be awake, and he needed to speak to one of them. He knew he owed one of them a big apology.
After wandering around a bit, Sam found Gabriel lying on the couch. The angel was staring up at the ceiling and seemed deep in thought.
"Gab…" Sam started walking over to him. "I wanted to talk to you real quick."
"Come to yell at me again?" he asked.
"I'm sorry, alright," he sat down in one of the chairs. "I shouldn't have taken all my anger out on you."
"I did the best I could, Sam," he closed his eyes. "You have no idea how helpless I felt when he was just…just taken like that."
"I was just scared…" the hunter said. "Sometimes I forget that he might be my son, but he's still your brother. You still care. I forgot how much he means to you, and for that, I'm sorry."
"It's alright," Gabriel said, sitting up. "I know you weren't thinking properly. I saw what you did to that guy downstairs. Took a lot out of me to heal him before turning him over to the police."
His eyes were still closed, and he was rubbing his eyes like he had a headache.
"I still don't know why you didn't just kill those people," the angel said. "I know Lucifer asked you not to, but..."
Sam didn't really know how to explain his actions. He knew it was the wrong thing to do. Those people deserved death for what they had done, yet it was what Lucifer wanted. There was no way he could break his heart by denying him that.
"You ok?" he asked, avoiding Gabriel's statement.
"Yea," Gab opened his eyes. "I'm just worn out from tonight. I think I need to rest. Maybe some actual sleep would help."
"Sleep?" Sam questioned. "I didn't think angels slept.."
"We don't have to, but we can," Gabriel explained. "Sometimes it helps with recovering grace. I know Cas doesn't get tired, but sometimes I do. More So lately."
"Is that bad?" The hunter didn't like the sound of that.
"I don't know," the angel sighed. "I've spent more time with humans than any other angel I know. Maybe it's just a side effect of that."
"Gab… you're my friend. Actually, you're more like family. If something is going on, let me know, ok. I might not be able to help, but…who knows, right?"
"I'll let you know if it doesn't get better," Gabriel gave him a warm small. "I promise."
Sam watched as the angel walked out of the room and headed toward one of the empty bedrooms.
It was really at that moment that the truth hit him. This wasn't a one-off night that he'd never have to repeat. Sam would feel the pain that he'd felt tonight again. He was a hunter raising a child that wanted to follow in his footsteps. They would get caught up in things like this again. Other creatures would cross Lucifer's path. How often would his son be put in danger just for being his son?
What about when Lucifer got older and started to hunt on his own. One day planned to start running toward death. How could he, a loving father, put his son in that position? Sam felt a little sick to his stomach at the thought. For years he'd held a grudge against his own father for not allowing him to have an everyday life. Yet, now Sam was doing the same thing. Wasn't he? Lucifer wanted it, but only because he thought he needed to. Sam took a deep breath as he placed his head in his hands. Part of him wished Bobby was still with them. He'd know what to do. Yet, he knew that was impossible. Bobby was gone.
After a moment, Sam stood and headed towards his bedroom. Finally, it was time for much-needed sleep.