"…Sam?"

"Sam…?"

"…Dean!"

"…Sam!?"

Jack's calls for them made them tense, but Sam could see that there was little regret in Dean's eyes. Dean probably thought that… this… was justice. Sam wanted to hate his brother for what he made him do, perhaps he did, a little, but Dean was angry and grieving because Jack killed Mom.

You'd think that one would get used to death, but losing someone close, someone as close as her, stung. It had stung so much, and Sam has cried. He's cried and cried till he couldn't anymore. He knows Dean has too; he came back home with red, puffy eyes. Sam knew, and he knew that Dean would deny it, so he pretended not to notice, for the sake of them both. That didn't stop him from talking about her though. It needed to be said. He thinks he made it worse for Dean; but acting with the hostility he and Bobby and the remaining hunters held; it was no way to remember her, the foundation of her death could not be built on revenge. It was disgraceful to her memory and the three years they had together.

She had been resurrected from a fatal attack that occurred when he was a baby. It was only a matter of time before she was taken again. As much as he knew she loved them more than anything, loved Cas and Jack more than anything – after Dad had come back on that day, he knew that she wasn't happy here. She was at peace now. He would remember Mary Winchester as she was, and her memory would live on in her sons.

She wouldn't want them to lose themselves in fighting one of the boys she saw as a son.

"I'm doing this for you."

She wouldn't want Jack in the box. Not after he had spent so long trying to help her when she was trapped.

Dean said he was going to get a drink, the invitation clear in his tone. Sam simply nodded his head and walked to his room, closing his door with the energy he didn't have the will to hold on to anymore.

God, he thought. Tears began to well up in his eyes. What have I done?

He leant back against the door, and slid down its hard surface, inhaling loudly to cool off from the tears. He hated this. He hated Dean. He hated God. Why didn't he come and fix this?

Because it isn't his problem.

He thinks of Magda, the physic girl he saved. He's reminded that she had been executed for what she was. Before the end, she had a choice and she chose to be good. She had been locked away by her family and hated them for it, but she chose to be good. She chose to be kind.

For fuck sake, Dean. We had a choice and we chose to lock him in a fucking box!

This wasn't the way. God locking Amara away didn't work in the end. She got out and was filled with such divine hatred for her brother.

God had locked Lucifer away and it didn't work. Lucifer felt betrayed and angry and he was hurt by God's decisions and actions. Lucifer wanted to destroy the world.

Was history repeating itself?

He wouldn't let that happen. How could he have been so dumb? Why was he so quick to decide? You don't give up on your family. Dean didn't give up on him when he was going dark side, Dean saved him from that. When have they ever given up on their family? Jack didn't carry the burden of being the son of the Devil, being trapped in the apocalypse world warzone, and losing his grace just to be locked away because they had given up on him. It wasn't fair at all.

"He's killed people. He's got lots of blood on his hands." – "I don't care. He's family."

The worst part was the lying. Using the guise of family and love and hope and we forgive you to manipulate their son into a makeshift Cage. The Cage had been agony on him and Michael and Lucifer. Nothing good comes out of lying; Ruby, Cas and Raphael, the Mark, Gadreel, Amara. They only beat them all because they didn't give up on each other.

They promised Kelly to look after him. That he'd be safe and cared for and protected from the harsh world of monsters and demons and Satan. They weren't just betraying their Mom by doing this, but also Kelly.

"He's our kid!"

He refused to let Dean be locked away when he demanded it so. They found another way because they loved each other. Jack was their other way. He refused to let Jack be locked away.

So, he prayed.

He didn't know if Jack could or even wanted to hear him, but the kid needed to be ready for what he was about to do. He was going to break him out and run away. He did it before – he ran away from Dad and the hunting life. Now he was going to take his goddamn son and save him. Jack didn't ask for any of this.

I'm coming, Jack. Don't be scared. We're gonna run, just you and me, okay? What we did was wrong, and I'm sorry. But I'm gonna make this right. I promise.

Sam rubbed his eyes quickly, grabbed his emergency duffel and opened his door. Holding his breath, he looked both ways for any signs of his brother, only releasing it when he heard the hard clang of glass on the table in the kitchen.

He walked in the opposite direction of the kitchen. Towards the box that contained Jack. The boy he swore he would save from his heritage so long ago now.

He heard nothing from inside the room as he unlocked the door as quietly as possible. He didn't know if it was a good or bad thing.

It was only when he had fully entered the room that he heard it. Crying. Jack was crying.

Sam lunged to the box, Jack's cage, – Lucifer's Cage; slashing, skinning, flogging, the pulling of his entire being torn and frayed by his Keeper, his Owner, the Master of his soul – and tore at the locks and straps that sealed it.

"Jack! Jack, I'm here!"

"Sam…!" Jack sobbed; his response muffled by the cage.

The door opened, and Sam pulled Jack into his arms, holding his head into his shoulder as the boy sobbed and clawed at his back in a weak effort to get closer to him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Jack."

"I trusted you!" Jack's voice was now muffled by Sam's shirt.

"I know. I don't expect you to forgive me." Sam pulled away and held Jack's face in his hands, using his thumbs to wipe away the stream of tears. "I'm so sorry. You heard my prayer, yeah? We're gonna leave the bunker. We're gonna go, run from all this."

"Run from Dean?"

Sam nodded and returned his teary smile.

"Think you can fly us away from here?"

Jack sniffled as he glanced towards the door. "Where?"

"Anywhere, Jack." Sam grabbed his hand and pulled him up. "Anywhere you want."

dean makes me so angRYYY ugh. jack did not deserve to be tricked. he did not deserve to be locked away in the box. protect my son.