Hey everyone! Back with a brand new fic! This is my first official S13 AU though I'm sure there will be more eventually :P This was actually a requested plot idea from WhiteWolfPrincess95 who wanted Jack put into a position where he had to choose between Lucifer and TFW with, of course, some whumpage to certain members of TFW ;) I hope you enjoy this, and thanks for the prompt!
Some lines of dialogue in this first chapter are taken from 13x8 War of the Worlds, it also starts out in a scene from that episode.
Also, thanks to Aini NuFire for beta reading this one :)
Nature and Nurture
A Supernatural Fanfic
Chapter One
Castiel pulled the truck up to the familiar park and looked around the playground to see if anyone was there. He might have been the one to reach out to Duma in the first place, desperate for any information he could find on Jack, but he didn't truly trust other angels not to have gotten wind of his contact and followed her to earth. Angels who might not have been as on board with Lucifer's son being kept alive. He wasn't even entirely sure where Duma stood on the subject. She was simply one of the few angels left who didn't instantly hate him.
He glanced at his phone again to make sure that Sam and Dean hadn't found anything in the meantime, but there were no messages. He took a deep breath and got out of the truck, heading over to the sandbox where the portal to Heaven rested.
Duma met him there, and she smiled slightly in greeting.
"Duma," Castiel greeted. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. This is a matter of great urgency; it's imperative that I locate Jack."
"You mean the nephillim?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Yes. Do the angels have him?" Castiel asked, feeling sick to his stomach at the thought. If they did, he was sure Jack was no better off than if he had been taken by Asmodeus.
"No," Duma said certainly.
Castiel shook his head, desperate. "Are you certain he's not sitting in Metatron's old cell or—"
She shook her head. "If we had him he wouldn't be imprisoned. He would be put to work."
Castiel frowned. He didn't really like the sound of that. "What do you mean?" he asked. Were they planning on using Jack to raise the angels back to Heaven? Castiel hadn't truly thought about it before, but it did raise the question as to whether the boy was powerful enough to do something like that.
"Castiel, the angels…our numbers were greatly diminished after the fall. No one's made new angels since the dawn of creation." She looked at him almost pleadingly. "We're going extinct. We would need a powerful force to make more of us."
"You mean Jack," Castiel replied, the possibility expanding in his mind. He shook his head. "Even if he had that power…what makes you think he'd cooperate?"
"He may not have a choice," Duma said firmly.
"So, you're planning to enslave him for some kind of experiment," Castiel questioned, starting to see that his coming here had been a bad idea. The angels would be no help in his search for Jack. Not if they wanted to harness his power like…like some kind of…breeder. The thought made him sick.
"Castiel, he's not your pet," Duma said. "He belongs to all of us."
Anger flared through Castiel at her dismissal. Of course Jack was not a pet. "Jack doesn't belong to anyone," he told her firmly. "He is his own person and he deserves to have the choice of helping you. You can't just kidnap him and force him to help you."
Duma shook her head, looking somewhat regretful. "I'm sorry, Castiel, but we can't allow that. If there's even a possibility that he could help, we need to know."
The portal behind Duma opened with a glow of white light and two more angels appeared, walking out to stand on either side of Duma, looking at Castiel with steely determination. He began to step back.
"You did well, Duma," one of the angels said. "You delivered him as promised."
Her words chilled Castiel to the bone. This had been a trap all along. He should have known.
The same angel who had spoken turned to Castiel then. "We hear you have influence with the nephillim. He'll listen to you."
"No," Castiel said firmly. "I will not help you!"
"Ever the renegade," the new angel said blandly.
Duma stepped forward and reached out to take his hand. "Castiel, please, come with us."
He made his decision then, and shoved her back away from him, then let his blade fall from his sleeve into his hand. Duma stumbled back but the other two angels had already drawn their blades and Duma was not far behind.
The fight broke out in an instant and Castiel spun between the three of them, doling out hits, while trying to block the ones thrown at him, but it was three to one, and he was still feeling a little under powered since he had come back from the Empty.
Eventually, one of the angels slipped past his defenses and her blade pierced him right through the left shoulder. Castiel cried out in pain as the blade was yanked free and grace and blood pooled from the wound. He just barely got his blade up in time to block another blow, but Duma was behind him now, grabbing him by the back of his coat and pressing her blade to his throat.
"I suggest you cooperate, Castiel," one of the other angels said. "It will be easier for you if you just come quietly."
"Oh, come on, you should know by now that Castiel doesn't come quietly."
Everyone, Castiel included, spun around to face the owner of the voice. Gasps from the three female angels sounded as Castiel gaped at the newcomer.
"Lucifer," he growled.
"Hey," the fallen archangel said, digging one hand into his pants pocket, the other raised in a little wave. "That's right, I'm back…oh stop the slack jawed looks." He rolled his eyes, and flicked a hand toward Duma who flinched, and gripped the back of Castiel's coat tighter. "Do me a favor, Duma, and drop the blade. We wouldn't want you to accidently slip and cut poor Castiel's throat, do we?"
"Don't," one of the other angels told her quietly.
Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is this gonna be one of those 'make my day' moments?"
He rolled his shoulders, and Castiel saw his wings flare on the ethereal plane, before his eyes began to glow red.
That, apparently was enough to scare them off, because Duma let Castiel go and quickly retreated toward the gate with the other angels. There was a flare of light and they were gone.
Castiel slumped slightly, clapping a hand to the wound in his shoulder. It was deep and went straight through, but he couldn't let his guard down now, even if he was bleeding grace all over. Lucifer was back, and he was probably going to want to repeat their last meeting.
Castiel adjusted his blade in his hand. "How?" he asked.
Lucifer shrugged. "Long story." He put his wings away and blinked. His eyes went back to normal, but a cough exploded from his throat, startling him as much as Castiel. Lucifer thumped his chest a couple times, and bent at the waist before he shook himself. "I'm good," he wheezed.
"No. You're weak," Castiel said in sudden understanding, striding forward with determination, blade coming up.
"Whoa, whoa!" Lucifer said, holding up his hands. "I'm not that weak. Just took a little out of me getting back here. But that's not important right now. What's important is finding my son." All the sarcasm went out of his voice then, and his eyes took on a dark look. The Lucifer that meant business. "I heard what Duma said, that you have influence with the kid. That's why they wanted you, right?"
Castiel didn't say anything. He didn't let go of his blade either. If the opportunity struck…
"So, uh, you know," Lucifer shrugged. "I'd be stupid not to take advantage of that."
"I won't let you take him," Castiel said firmly, stepping forward again, and trying not to wince as even that small motion jarred his shoulder.
"Come on, Castiel, it's not like you have time to raise a kid, you or the Winchesters, for that matter, I mean…" he snorted a laugh. "You think I'd be a bad parent?" He pulled a face. "Yikes."
"He's not exactly an infant," Castiel said half-heartedly.
Lucifer raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? Kid grew up fast? What do you know, already an adaptor."
Castiel glowered at him. "It doesn't matter, you know. He doesn't want to see you."
"Oh, is that so?" Lucifer asked darkly. "Well, we'll see if he changes his mind when he finds out that I have his favorite babysitter captive and that I'll do anything I have to to you to make sure he cooperates."
"If you think that will turn him to your side, you are more of a fool than I took you for," Castiel grunted.
"Oh, I don't know about that," Lucifer said. "He is my son after all. I bet given the right…influence…he'll be just a chip off the old block."
"He favors the mother," Castiel said with some pride.
Anger flashed across Lucifer's face briefly but he hid it quickly. "It doesn't matter either way. He'll still do what I tell him to. I'm his father."
Castiel shook his head. "I can't let you do that."
"Well, I hate to break it to you, kiddo, but you're not gonna stop me either."
Lucifer lunged at him before he could react and grabbed his shoulder and the wrist of his sword arm. He dug his thumb into the stab wound and wrenched Castiel's wrist around until he dropped the blade with a scream of agony. He tried to headbutt Lucifer, kick him, but Lucifer only swept his legs out from under him and Castiel crashed to the ground, right on his injured shoulder. Pain lanced through him and he rolled onto his back with a groan.
Lucifer looked down at him, hands on his hips. "See? Always have to do it the hard way."
He raised a foot and kicked Castiel in the head. Everything went black.
Sam looked anxiously out the window as Dean pulled the Impala up to the rundown motel. Jody had sent them a tip someone had given her about a young man that fit Jack's description staying there the past couple days and when Sam and Dean had looked into it they found that Jack seemed to have been around town, talking to some of the locals. They just hoped he was still there.
Sam was the first one out of the car, but Dean swiftly got out after him and hurried around the car to grab his arm. "Sam—Sam wait," Dean cautioned.
"Why?" Sam demanded.
"We don't know what we're walking into here," Dean said. "I mean, as far as we know Jack hasn't killed anyone, but…"
Sam yanked his arm from his brother's grasp, glaring. "Jack left because he didn't want to kill anyone. He's not dangerous, Dean, we've been over this."
Dean bit his lip, but finally nodded, seeming to have found some reserve of faith inside of himself. "You're right. But still, if he's scared, he might react…badly."
"That's why I'm gonna go in first," Sam said and strode toward the door to the room Jack was supposedly staying in. Sam raised his fist to knock, but then stopped. If Jack was worried about talking to people he might just teleport away if he heard someone knock at the door. So Sam instead cleared his throat and raised his voice.
"Hey, Jack? Are you in there? It's Sam and Dean. We just want to talk, okay?"
There was a long silence. Sam couldn't even tell if someone was in there at all. He turned to share a glance with Dean.
"Jack?" Dean called then. "Come on, kid. Open the door."
"Please, Jack," Sam added.
There was another long pause, but then, finally, the sound of footsteps, and the door opened about a foot, and Jack looked out, a somewhat sheepish expression on his face mixed with caution.
"Hey, Jack," Sam smiled.
"How did you find me?" he asked.
"Because that's what we do," Dean told him. "You gonna let us in?"
Jack hesitated, but then finally stepped away from the door and allowed the Winchesters inside.
Sam looked around, surprised when he saw that one wall of the room had been covered with articles and newspaper clippings, just like they would normally do while working a case. Dean's eyes widened when he saw it.
"Huh, nice decorations," he said.
"Jack, what is all this?" Sam asked.
Jack sat down at the small table with a sigh, hands folded in his lap. "I just wanted to do something good," he said. "So I…tried to use the skills that you taught me to research."
"You're hunting?" Sam asked, eyebrows raised.
But Jack shook his head. "No. I was…trying to find a way to get your mother back."
Sam and Dean looked at each other with wide eyes before they turned to the nephillim sitting in front of them. "Jack, you…" Sam didn't quite know what to say.
Jack looked down at his hands again. "I haven't found anything yet. It's not as easy as you would imagine to find a way to open a gate to another dimension. Especially since I don't know how I did it the first time. Apparently more goes into it than just raw power."
"Hey," Sam said and reached out to touch his shoulder. "We can figure it out together, okay? But right now, let's just get you back to the bunker. Back home."
Jack's face scrunched up. "Sam, I…I left so I wouldn't hurt you. I can't…"
"Jack," Dean cut in. "You've been out here for weeks on your own and haven't hurt anyone. I don't think you're just going to accidently do anything to hurt us, okay?"
"We want you to come home," Sam said with a soft smile and coaxed Jack to stand up. "We missed you."
"You did?" Jack asked, looking skeptically between the two Winchesters.
"Yeah, kid," Dean told him with a curt nod. "You're family."
Jack's face slackened and he sagged. "Well, all right. I would like to come home."
"Good," Sam grinned and then stepped forward and folded Jack into a warm embrace. The young man stood stiffly for a second, surprised, but then he sank against Sam and wrapped his arms around him as well. When Sam let him go, Dean surprised both of them by stepping forward and giving Jack a hug himself. Sam smiled at his brother who shrugged back and clapped the nephillim on the shoulder.
"It's getting kind of late, and it's a long drive back to Lebanon," Dean said. "You wanna just go grab something to eat and stay here for the night?"
Sam shrugged, but nodded. "Sure. That okay with you, Jack?"
He nodded as well, but then frowned. "Where is Castiel?"
"Off looking for you," Dean said. "We thought the angels might have gotten you so he went to…make some inquiries." He pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I did leave a message telling him about this lead but he hasn't gotten back to me yet. I'll let him know that we found you. He's been really worried."
Sam noticed a worried crease in Dean's brow and he felt some unease himself. Cas had left yesterday when they did before Jody sent them the info and he hadn't gotten back to them. Of course, the angel wasn't the best communicator in the world, but he hadn't even checked in to say that his inquiries into heaven had been a bust. Sam knew what Dean was thinking; that any time Cas had anything to do with the angels things seemed to go sideways fast.
"I'm sorry I left," Jack said quietly. "I didn't mean to worry anyone. I just…thought it would be better."
Sam gave him a small wry smile and squeezed his shoulder. "We've all run away at some point. But I'm glad we found you. I think you'll realize in the long run that it's easier to have people who care about you around. It took me a while to figure that out, but, trust me on that one."
Dean gave him a look, then dialed Cas' number. He frowned more and more the longer it rang, and then finally shook his head as the voicemail kicked in. "Hey, Cas, Sam and I found Jack, and we're headed back to the bunker," he said. "Don't worry, the kid's fine. Just meet us there when you get this."
"Still not answering?" Sam asked.
Dean shook his head. "No. But he's probably still looking. Hopefully he checks his freaking voicemail soon." He nodded to the door. "Come on, I'm starving. Let's eat."
Blinding agony in his shoulder woke Castiel and he wrenched his eyes open, screaming hoarsely at the pain.
"Oops, didn't mean to wake you," Lucifer said, with a mock pout and wrenched on some chains that hoisted Castiel further up, hands stretched painfully above his head, his toes just barely scraping the floor. He gritted his teeth.
"Where are we?" he murmured.
"Oh, just a place I found. Out of the way, no one for miles to hear you scream," Lucifer shrugged.
"How did you get back out of the alternate dimension?" Castiel asked, genuinely curious and also trying to distract Lucifer from the torture for as long as possible.
"Oh, well, long story short, Alternate Michael is even more of a maniac than our Michael, and he wants to come here for a visit, so he figured up a spell, made a portal, but I escaped and jumped in. Luckily for all of us, it's kinda a one man deal."
"And Mary?" Castiel asked, holding his breath as anxious fear clutched at his chest. "Did you…kill her?"
Lucifer snorted. "Did I want to? Hell yeah, but did I actually break her pitiful, annoying, neck? Unfortunately, no. She proved more useful to me alive than dead. Was kinda planning on using her as a bargaining chip but I got you instead."
"Where is she?" Castiel asked breathlessly, relief singing through him that Mary was alive. He almost couldn't believe it. Sam had been right all along.
"Last I saw, locked up in Michael's dungeon," Lucifer shrugged then inspected the chains he had locked Castiel up with. "But that's not really important. What's important is finding my boy." He cocked his head to one side. "So, what's he like?"
"Jack. His name is Jack," Castiel said firmly.
Lucifer's eyes widened and he laughed so hard, he pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. "Oh my Dad, sorry, it's just…I guess I should have talked with Kelly about a name. I mean, come on: Jack? Not exactly the kind of thing you'd expect the son of Satan to be called, am I right?"
Castiel glowered at him, refusing to say anything more.
"So, what's he like? I bet he's a bruiser like his dad, right?" Lucifer asked eagerly.
"Actually, no," Castiel said. "He's very…thoughtful. Kind. He cares about people."
Lucifer scrunched up his face. "Well, don't tell me all the bad news at once. I think this is a little case of nature versus nurture. I guarantee you that given the right exposure—me—he'll grow up into a right little devil."
"Which is exactly why you're never getting your hands on him," Castiel said firmly.
Lucifer crowded Castiel, hand descending threateningly onto his injured shoulder. "Careful. He is my son, Castiel. Don't make this a custody battle."
"Don't pretend you care," Castiel snapped. "The only reason you got Kelly pregnant was as a power play. To prove to Father that you could create something too. It was selfish and petty—just like you. But I think you know the truth, and that's that you would be a terrible father. Just like him."
Lucifer drove his thumb into the hole the angel blade had left in Castiel's shoulder, causing him to cry out. "You know nothing about me! I would be a better father than him!"
Castiel gave a shuddering breath. "I know everything about you. That goes both ways when you share a vessel, you know. You're narcissistic, psychopathic even. There's no way you can care for anyone but yourself. Not really."
Lucifer slammed his fist into Castiel's face, then again and again, until his ears were ringing. Castiel spit blood at Lucifer's feet, but he had hit a nerve, knowing very well he had been right about the fallen archangel.
"It won't matter," Lucifer told him. "After this, Jack will be with me anyway. I'm going to make sure of that. I'm going to make sure he kills you himself."
"Good luck," Castiel grunted.
"First though, I need him here, so… want to give him a call?" Lucifer asked, raising an eyebrow.
Castiel shook his head. "No."
Lucifer smirked. "Was hoping you'd say that." He reached out and started to loosen Castiel's tie. He'd already taken his trench coat and suit jacket away before he chained him up, and now Castiel could only watch as his last protective layer fell away. Lucifer threw the tie on the ground and started to unbutton Castiel's already bloody shirt. "Now we get to have some fun…well, I do anyway."
Castiel steeled himself for the pain to come. Even if he did know where Jack was, he would never give him up to Lucifer. He just hoped that the young nephillim was okay.
