I own nothing. All the characters belong to the CW.
"Promise me you will teach him everything he needs to know…"
Kelly's voice was low and soft, but strong, careful not to betray the feeling of fear and anxiety she had pent up inside her. Her eyes, ever resilient, pleaded with the Seraph. In the short span of less than half a year she went from having a very well-paid job and being the President's secret lover after his wife died to pregnant with an archangel's child sitting in a cabin bed after a series of kidnappings by a series of creatures that only the Bible could offer insight into.
The Nephilim's power would be of unprecedented measure. There was no telling just how powerful the child would be when he would be born, much less when he fully matured. Lucifer was terrifyingly powerful in his right. He was a primordial entity, God's second creation, his abilities awe-inspiring and absolute. If Nephilim have enhanced angelic powers because of their human soul, then the child's grace could tip the balance of the world. Lucifer had a range of power that could obliterate Castiel, and if this child would have everything Lucifer had in exponential terms, there was no way that Castiel could possibly teach the child everything he needed to know to control his powers.
There just wasn't.
Castiel could only teach him so much. Castiel's instruction could only reach a certain point until the Nephilim's needs surpassed what he could teach. Yes, his careful tutelage would be excellent, but only up until the rank of a Seraph, Archangels were in a separate class by themselves. Only four beings in existence could possibly teach Jack how to properly restrain his grace and two were supposedly dead, one was insane in Hell's most secure prison, and the remaining one was just out of the question. Castiel knew that Gabriel would've readily agreed, Raphael would've acted non-interested until he met the child, and the old Michael would've offered a fair solution and maybe even training. But even then, the four Archangels had different abilities, the oldest being the most powerful. The only Archangel that could properly teach Jack how to handle his powers the most accurately would have to be the Archangel from which the Nephilim was sired….
He pushed those thoughts from his head.
He knew he it was a promise he couldn't keep.
Castiel's voice was the exact opposite: confident.
"I promise."
"Jack is nothing like Lucifer…right, Cas?"
Sam's voice was firm, but it still gave away the uncertainty the hunter felt about the Winchester's new ward. Up until now, Sam had been the only one out of the two brothers to show Jack some kindness and understanding. Dean was a bit more skeptical, but he would come around in time. Samuel Winchester had been the Devil's earthly pre-destined vessel, and then had been tortured by him personally, as well as fought him many times. Sam knew Lucifer, his personality, his bitterness, his hatred, how guarded he was. Sam also knew Jack, his personality, how forgiving he was, how loving, how open.
Even with all that, Sam had his doubts. The hunter hated himself how he was thinking that way- that's why he decided to approach Cas in private.
Castiel wished he could negate any link between the Light Bearer and the Nephilim.
He wouldn't tell Sam about how one time when Cas and Jack were training that Jack was practicing making objects move.
Castiel would just hear frustrated grunts from the young man, until…
"Cas! Look at what I can do!", Jack excitedly called out to the angel. Castiel turned around to see Jack lifting an empty Coke can into the air and with a snap of fingers, pulverize it into smoke and dust.
A snap of fingers…
"Jack", Cas started, "where did you learn that?"
"Huh? Learn what?", Jack asked, snapping his fingers again.
"The—aa-that." Castiel looked on, pointing at Jack's fingers.
"Oh! This!", Jack said, snapping his fingers once more, now pulverizing a tree stump. "Oh, just something I came up with. It makes me feel way cooler.", Jack said proudly with a smile that soon dropped. "I can stop if -if - you want…"
"No, go on. Do what makes you feel best."
No, we wouldn't tell Sam about that.
Most of the time he saw Kelly. When Jack smiled, when he answered a question, when they all went grocery shopping, or helped Mary with the cooking; that was all Kelly.
But he wouldn't tell Sam about the time he caught Jack with snow in his room because he "liked it cold".
Or the time Castiel witnessed Jack pick up an array of instruments and play every single one perfectly. Castiel thought there was no connection between that and Lucifer being the former angel of music.
Or the time Castiel caught Jack muttering to himself in old Enochian, a language only Primordial Entities were rumored to understand.
Or the time that Castiel saw Jack create his own little star at night to supposedly "match what the fireflies were doing" and be super interested in astronomy. Castiel thought there was no connection between this and Lucifer meaning "Morningstar" because he had created all the stars in the sky.
He certainly wouldn't tell Sam about the time he was explaining to Jack what happened to his uncles.
"So… Michael is in the Cage, and Gabriel was killed because of Lucifer, then how did Raphael die?"
Castiel's mouth went dry.
"An- an accident, Jack. Raphael was killed by an adversary in an accident in a civil war in Heaven.", Castiel answered.
At that time, at that specific moment in time, when the light came in from the wrong direction and Jack's head was titled at just the wrong angle that Castiel saw Lucifer. That look that the Prince of Darkness had given Castiel when he knew that someone wasn't telling the full truth. Jack lowered his gaze and locked his eyes, jaw tight. He knew he was being kept from something.
The look was gone just as quickly as it had come.
"Oh, ok.", Jack said quietly, fully trusting his father figure's every word.
No, he wouldn't tell Sam any of that.
Castiel's voice was the opposite: weak.
"No, Sam. They're nothing alike."
"How do you know that he won't go dark side, Cas? Huh? How do you know that after meeting Daddy Jack won't want to join him in the world domination and destruction gig? Huh? Cas! Can you guarantee that? "
Dean's voice was brash, accusing, but worried. It was evident that behind the cold exterior the senior hunter had shown the Nephilim, Jack had grown on Dean and elder Winchester obviously cared about the boy. Dean had lost close to everything at the time of Jack's birth and since Dean wasn't exactly the poster child for anger management and handling his feelings, Dean had vented and coped with it the best way he knew how: with alcohol and a hard demeanor to whatever or whomever he thought was responsible for his misfortune.
There was no way he could possibly hope to guarantee it. Castiel knew that.
Yes, Castiel was Jack's chosen father. Jack never believed anything other than that.
But there was the issue of his grace.
Castiel knew that Jack and Lucifer had the same grace. They shared it, the same way that human children share the same eye color with their human parents. Jack was basically uncorrupted Lucifer with a human soul.
Castiel also knew the rumors that used to circle Heaven when there were more Nephilim running around. How they hated their angelic parent for abandoning their mothers, until the Nephilim met the angelic sire. He would hear the reasoning behind why Nephilim and their angelic parents would become inseparable: because the grace in each recognized itself and wanted to become one.
But Jack and Lucifer were a different case.
Jack's grace was pure and untainted, Castiel could feel it, sense it. Lucifer's, on the other hand, was corrupted, tainted, twisted. Lucifer stunk of Hell. Jack bubbled with innocence.
That left one of two choices.
He knew that Jack and Lucifer would eventually meet, it was bound to happen. Nothing he could do about it. Their respective graces, although being the same, could behave differently. Maybe they would repel each other. Jack's grace not wanting to get close to something so disgusting and Lucifer's grace cringing away from something so virginal.
Or…
The alternative was unthinkable.
Or…the graces recognizing each other as being the same. Jack's grace would be attracted to Lucifer's because it wanted to heal it, fix it. And Lucifer's grace being attracted to Jack's because it wanted to recuperate.
The two would become inseparable, even against their own will.
Like moths drawn to the flame.
No way to know. No way to tell.
Castiel's voice was the exact opposite: almost resigned.
"First of all, Dean, Jack is my son. And no, I know he won't join Lucifer."
"Castiel?"
Jack's voice was quiet, still groggy from sleep, careful not to wake up any of the other residents in the Bunker.
It was late in the wee hours of the morning. This was probably their favorite time of the day. This is when Jack and Castiel could have their father/son bonding time. Jack, although being young, was already whizzing through the Harry Potter series and binge watched The Chronicles of Narnia while binging on whatever snacks the Winchester Bunker had hidden from the Nephilim with a sweet-tooth, all the while Castiel would listen patiently to Jack's comments. Dean had once jokingly suggested that Jack should start on Blue's Clues, and much to his surprise, Jack answered him that Dragon Tales and Scooby-Dooby-Doo was much more interesting and that NatGeo Kids! was his personal favorite. Around the same time, Jack had asked permission to watch Game of Thrones with the brothers and Mary.
All four adults said no.
It was moments like these that Castiel cherished. He looked over from the couch to the other side and saw Jack with a mouthful of M&M's because Sam had said that it was time for Jack to try another brand of candy, watching the full Spiderman trilogy with X-Men coming up next, gleefully watching because Castiel knew that Jack saw himself in Peter Parker.
Castiel was lost in his own happiness when he was interrupted from an outside voice.
"Castiel?", Jack's voice was soft. His blue eyes looked at him directly, his sock-covered feet up on the table because Mary wasn't watching and wearing the pajamas that she had bought for him.
"You care about me. You love me, right?", Jack's voice was full of longing.
Castiel smiled. It felt good to tell the truth after a while.
His voice was the exact opposite: full of acceptance.
"Yes, I do, Jack. Of course, I do."
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