Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural – if I did that crazy season finale wouldn't have happened like that. And I have to give my little sister credit for the title of this story because I wasn't coming up with anything, and then she was like "just call it this"... And so I did.
Edit Note: Also, for late-comers, please remember that this was originally written before Season 13 and after ever came out. While I am editing this as later seasons are coming out, I'm not changing how these characters were originally portrayed in this fic. Therefore, if some (namely Jack) doesn't seem like the canon version... well, that's because he really isn't.
Jackie Boy
Jack smiled at Sam Winchester. At least, he was pretty sure he was smiling. This was the first time he'd ever smiled after all. Was he doing it wrong? Sam looked scared. Was that the right word – scared?
Now Jack felt… Curiosity? Concern? Confusion? He wasn't completely sure this time. He was only born barely ten minutes ago after all. But he knew what emotions were. Just like how Jack knew lots of other things.
Jack was half human and half archangel. Kelly Kline was his mother, and Lucifer was the one who helped sire him. Jack did not have a typical soul – he had one that consisted of both soul and grace. A grace-soul, or soul-grace… He could figure out which one sounded better later.
Right now, Jack had to go find Castiel. Castiel was the one Jack had chosen to be his father. Castiel would be excellent in this role. Jack believed in the angel to do the right thing and teach Jack what the right thing was. Kelly had thought so too.
But… something wasn't right. Jack should have been able to feel Castiel like he had when he was still unborn.
Jack frowned, which – he noted – made Sam take a step back. He let his golden grace faded from his eyes, allowing them to return to their blue-gray hue (like his mother's eye color). He felt… offended? Yes, offended. Why was Sam afraid of him?
Then it dawned on Jack. Oh, right… Jack was technically Lucifer's son. And there was that human saying: like father, like son. But Jack didn't want to be like Lucifer. Lucifer had hurt Jack's mother. Lucifer had done a lot of other terrible things if he understood what he knew correctly. Lucifer was an ass-butt. Jack didn't like his archangelic sire at all.
That was why he'd had his grace open up that portal thing— so that Sam and Dean and Castiel might trap Lucifer on the other side.
Had Castiel been trapped on the other side when Jack closed the portal? Was that why he couldn't feel the angel? But no, Jack had felt Castiel come back through the portal just after Sam and Dean…
Lucifer had killed Castiel.
Barely twelve minutes into his life and Jack had already lost both of his parents. Both had died because of him.
No! Jack refused to let something as trivial as death take his family from him!
While Jack couldn't bring back his mother – Jack's birth had taken a toll on her soul, and Heaven was a good place (she would be happy there, right?) –, Jack could bring back Castiel. He had to. If he could make everything in that future he showed Castiel come true, then he could bring Castiel back from death.
Jack stood suddenly, startling Sam once more, but Jack didn't take offense this time. He was focused on finding Castiel's vessel. It would be a simple matter to heal the body, and then Jack would just have to figure out how to recreate Castiel's essence. How hard could it be? Jack's Grandfather could do it.
Jack was almost out of the house when he remembered about clothes. He was still naked, wasn't he? Maybe that was why Sam had looked away as Jack passed by. What did people his age wear anyways? Jack wasn't sure how old he looked right then, but he knew he didn't look fifteen minutes old. Kelly had influenced how old he would be after he was born. The world wasn't safe for a baby or a child; therefore, he would have to grow up fast. And so, he had.
Jack willed a loose black sweater and pants onto himself along with some shoes to protect his feet from the rocks he saw outside. He didn't think it was that the weather was too cold, but Sam had been wearing a jacket so the sweater would just have to do. Jack hoped that what he was wearing would be appropriate.
It didn't take Jack long to find Dean kneeling over Castiel's body, the shadow of wings scorched into the ground. The scene pulled at something in his chest— his heart? Was this pain? He couldn't find anything wrong with his body. Was it an inner sort of pain then?
"Dean Winchester," Jack said roughly. Oh. So that was what it was like to talk. Amazing.
Said human's head whipped around so fast that Jack was surprised Dean's neck didn't snap. There was a malice in the man's eyes as well as grief and shock. Castiel and Dean had been close. The Winchesters considered Castiel a brother. Jack briefly wondered if that made Sam and Dean his 'uncles', or would they become close enough for Jack to call them his other 'fathers' alongside Castiel? It was possible to have multiple unrelated parents, wasn't it?
"I'll ask you once to please move," he continued before Dean could respond. "After that, you'll just be in my way."
Jack was pleased to watch as a series of broken thoughts raced through Dean's head. That meant the human was listening to him at the very least. It didn't look like Dean was going to move, but then, begrudgingly, the human shifted off to the side. Jack quickly took the spot where Dean had been mourning Castiel.
"Will you go make sure you and your brother both stay inside? I don't know if watching this will hurt either of you. Father wouldn't want that," Jack said softly.
Jack felt the rage consume Dean before the Winchester exploded at him. "Your father-? Your dad killed my best friend! Your dad is the reason we were ever in this mess!"
"I accept none as my father except for Castiel, angel of the Lord," Jack cut in hotly, eyes flashing a light gold. "I might be the bastard child of Lucifer, but I refuse to call him my family."
That stopped Dean in his tracks. Jack didn't say anything wrong. He had spoken those words from his heart. He spoke his truth. Castiel would have liked that.
"Now, please," Jack started again after a moment, his voice once again taking a soft tone. "Go inside with Sam. I don't want to accidentally hurt you."
Jack waited until he heard the door close and footsteps pound up the stairs before he placed his hands over the stab wound that marred Castiel's body. Jack had seen death before. He had seen the reaper that had taken his mother to Heaven. He had been the one to make her more comfortable during the last few seconds of her life and fold her hands over her stomach once she had passed. He had even seen death in his visions.
Why was death such a peaceful looking thing if it caused so much pain?
Jack made quick work of the wound. It took barely even a thought. Trying to bring Castiel back took more than that though. Jack's face scrunched in concentration, and the light of his grace-soul filled the area, continually growing brighter and brighter.
He wasn't sure what finally made it work, but soon enough Jack was thrown flat on his back several feet away. When he opened his eyes, he got his first look at the stars. They were beautiful, awesome. But not nearly as wonderful as the sound of Castiel slowly regaining consciousness.
A smile broke out upon Jack's lips. "Father!" he cried as he threw himself onto Castiel, wrapping his arms around the angel in what he knew was supposed to be a hug.
He marveled at the sensation of warmth that flooded his senses. He felt safe like this. The sound of Castiel's steadily beating heart was music to Jack's ears. Jack knew that anywhere Castiel was would be a home for Jack. He had seen that. That was most often what he saw – the end results. The path getting there always came out distorted and choppy, but that just meant there was leeway to whatever path was taken. And Jack was fine with ending up like this.
Castiel tensed underneath the contact, but once he recognized the power next to him, he relaxed and returned the awkwardly positioned embrace. "Jack?" he asked hesitantly.
The boy nodded eagerly. The mere fact that Castiel had recognized him made Jack's grace-soul do joyous spins and twirls inside of him. "See, Father? I can do it. I brought you back!"
Several emotions flitted across Castiel's face, and Castiel was about to respond when Sam and Dean burst out of the house. "Cas!" they both shouted in unison.
Jack sighed at their arrival, reluctantly releasing Castiel from his hug, and got himself seated comfortably next to the angel. He would have to wait until he could be with Castiel more privately. But he could be patient. He had waited this long already. What was a few more hours, potentially days?
"Go," Jack told Castiel with a slight nudge to the angel's side. "I'm fine. Talk to them. They're worried."
His last statement was an understatement. Jack could feel the stress and a messy concoction of other emotions radiating off of the Winchesters. Were most humans like these two? It didn't seem that way when he had been unborn, but he could have been wrong. He found it slightly frustrating that even after all of his time with his mother he didn't understand humans yet.
And he was half human, so what did that make of him? He knew that Nephilim were abominations, according to the angels – but Castiel hadn't killed Kelly and therefore him. So Jack couldn't be bad, could he?
Perhaps there was the potential for evil, but that wasn't genetic. At least, Jack didn't think it was. And it wasn't like people were inherently good or inherently evil. There was a gray area to things. That was what his mom had been rambling to him about a couple weeks ago anyway. But didn't that mean that Lucifer wasn't technically all evil..?
Ugh, this was all so horribly confusing.
Jack pouted at the thoughts. He shouldn't be thinking about that yet. He put the thoughts under the Let Castiel Explain Later section of questions in his mind. Maybe Sam and Dean would be able to help Jack understand it too.
Jack pushed himself away from the sudden hand in front of his face. He made a discontented look at the hand before looking up to its owner. What did Dean want?
"You," the human started, jabbing a finger of the same hand at him. "You can control the portal you made, right?"
Jack blinked. Of course he could, but why would Dean be asking about the portal? Jack looked to Castiel for a moment before repeating his thought aloud to Dean and adding, "I don't recommend opening it again. I only opened it in the first place so you could trap Lucifer over there—"
"Yeah, well now our mom is stuck there, too," Dean snapped.
Jack's next thoughts died with the shock that ran through him. That nice lady was trapped with Lucifer? Lucifer would kill her just on the grounds of trying to keep him away from Jack. But obviously Mary Winchester had only partially succeeded in trapping only Lucifer if she had been dragged through the portal with him, which made it all the more likely that Lucifer would shred her to pieces.
Jack got up to his feet, determined to fix this. "How long ago did she enter the portal? An exact time, please."
"Two hours, thirty-seven minutes," Sam answered, looking down at his watch, right before Dean asked, "Why?"
"Because if I can open a portal right as the other one closed, then I should be able to pull your mother back to this side and close the portal I'm about to make before Lucifer can do anything to her," Jack explained, mentally keeping track of the time as he moved to where he could feel the residuals of the older portal.
Jack heard Castiel begin to continue the explanation as he focused on the alternate universe he wanted to access. Opening the portal hadn't been anywhere near as hard as it had been for Jack to bring Castiel back. The hardest part would be to open the portal, grab Mary Winchester and close it before Lucifer could follow.
That took precision – an accuracy that Jack didn't have with Dean's demanding voice berating his eardrums. The single thought shut Dean up. Jack would give him his voice back once he was done.
Jack raised his right hand out in front of him, centering the power of his grace-soul in his hand. With one fell swoop, Jack cut a hole in space-time. A bright, crackling rift came into being, beckoning passage and casting light onto a metal object on the ground.
"Stay here," Jack ordered, phasing Castiel's blade into a pocket dimension after a split-second decision, and then he stepped through.
Lucifer had been about to lay his hands on Mary when Jack knocked the archangel back with a blast of power. The nephilim put himself between his sire and the Winchesters' mother, keeping an eye on the archangel as he carefully pushed Mary towards the portal. When he felt her resist, he turned to face her.
"Go," he urged, once again pushing her in the direction of the slowly shrinking portal.
"You..." she whispered.
"We can meet and greet later— Now, go," he insisted more harshly. They were running out of time.
"Jack!"
Mary's warning had him spinning back around and catching the wrist of the arm that was milliseconds away from causing him harm. Jack grimaced at the force behind the blow he had just barely caught. He felt himself being pushed back an inch, and he glance warily at the fisted hand that was centimeters away from his face before looking back to his sire's face.
"Not a very good first impression, Dad," Jack spat, eyes blazing that light-gold color of his grace-soul.
Red met gold. Some of that force pushing at him lessened, but Jack refused to let his guard down. "Son—"
"Don't," Jack cut him off coldly, steeling his voice. "You're not my father, and you won't ever be my father. Not here. Not now. Not with the way you are."
Something changed in those eyes that stared Jack down. But Jack didn't let Lucifer act on whatever it was. An angel blade – glowing slightly from being infused with some of Jack's grace-soul – slipped down from Jack's sweater sleeve, and he rammed it into Lucifer's gut. The archangel let out a gasp and stumbled back when Jack pushed Lucifer off of him.
"That was for killing Castiel," he exclaimed.
Jack then ripped the blade out and shoved it into the side of Lucifer's neck. "That was for my mother." Blood gushed from the wound when Jack pulled it back out.
"And this," Jack hissed as he shoved the blade into Lucifer's heart, "is for everything you were going to do to me." Gold eyes blazed with fury. "I can see the future, you ass! Think about that when you finally figure out how to be a good parent!"
Jack waited until Lucifer dropped to his knees to kick him in the face, knocking him back onto the ground. Jack pulled the blade out once more, but this time he left Lucifer be. It wouldn't do to leave the blade here. Castiel would probably want it back.
He looked up and turned when Mary called his name. She was standing next to the portal waiting for him. With one last glance back to Lucifer, Jack hurried over, gesturing for her to go first. She left in a flash of light.
Something tugged on his sweater's sleeve, and he looked down to see a miniscule cloud of red smoke clinging to the fabric. A demon, he quickly realized, pausing. But not one of this universe's demons. Its red color meant it was a crossroads demon…
Jack frowned as he debated on whether or not to leave it here. It didn't feel malicious to him, and he could see the bright spot of pure soul in its core. It wouldn't be right to let something already on the path to redemption here in this hellhole. After a slight gesture to assure it that he wasn't going to hurt it, Jack cupped the demon in the palm of his hand and held it close to him so it wouldn't get lost when they crossed back over to their universe.
"I will find you."
Jack tensed at Lucifer's deadly tone but didn't turn around. Instead, he stepped through the portal and closed it behind him.
A/N: So this little plot bunny just came to me because I didn't want Jack to be the bad guy of season 13 [which he wasn't, but I didn't know it at the time]. It would just feel too close to season 11 with Amara, and that season 12 ending was way out there – my scattered mind needed me to come up with something that would sooth my soul. And this is what resulted from that.
And to be honest, Jack's character might be a little off [more or less OOC according to current cannon... or even his own character], but that was because I wasn't entirely sure how to characterize him as I was typing this out. Like, I was trying to take into account that Jack would only be, you know, a few minutes old at the beginning and then a few hours near the end. However, I feel like Jack was kinda sentient during his time as an unborn child in Kelly's womb. So I had it to where he knows things and whatnot, but he's not completely sure what to do with that information. And at the very end with Lucifer… I can't really explain that, but it was mainly to show that while I do have Jack as a 'good guy', he's not 'inherently good' like he was angsting about around the middle. Jack does have a bit of a dark side.
I am open to reviews – constructive criticism is great, but please be polite and don't trash talk me. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this story.
Edit Note [6/22/19]: Lol, it's been a while (at least a year) since I looked at this, but that's not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to a post-editing. To be fair, I've been meaning to come back to this fic and tweak certain representations of characters for a while now.
lucas45: So I haven't quite gotten to any more real plot with Castiel and Jack, but it's coming soon. I promise. I'm still trying to decide on a fluff-filled or angst-ridden ending.
Snovolovac: I hope you liked this chapter as much as the last!
Guest: Well, Jared and Misha have let it slip that Castiel will be in season 13, so we can only wait (impatiently) to see what's going to happen. Maybe it's too much to hope that it happens in some version that puts Jack that gray area.
Daninuyasha: I wouldn't bet on Jack seeing Sam and Dean as allies right off the bat. You never know – Jack might only put up with them because their friend of Castiel. But the Castiel resurrection is a must.
Aini NuFire: I'm just going to start with that I'm a fan of your works. I had most finished writing Jackie Boy when I read Ignite Your Bones, and I reading your work was what convinced me to post Jackie Boy (along with a slight nudge from my little sister). Regarding Crowley, I have a way of making it to where his being alive will still fit with Mark Sheppard leaving, though personally I would prefer to just give Crowley his meatsuit back.
Flying Through Clouds: Ever since the whole Nephilim crisis began, I was complaining to my mom (who loosely follows the show) about whether or not I was rooting for Jack to be good or evil – the main point being if Jack will be another Amara, which would be very 'been there done that' to me. Though, I'm still not sure about Jack's age. His actor, Alexander Calvert, is like 26 according to Wikipedia, but I guess he looks like he could be in his late teens.
cyenthia 30: The way you just trailed off without finishing your thought…
KyatsRani: I swear, I will further explore how Jack managed to beat Lucifer. Pinky promise. And really, my main reason for bringing Mary back was to help get Jack on Sam and Dean's good side. Only Chuck knows what putting Jack on their bad side would do. As for Crowley, I couldn't let my favorite King of Hell stay dead.
Alkaline: I haven't gotten any cookies lately, but my dad did bake brookies the other day. Even Gabriel would have a hard time resisting that dessert.
JocelynVG: Looks like I'll be writing a bit more for this work. Hello from the US of A!
Avenage99: "Far superior", huh? Okay, Mr. Flatterer, I know you love my stories and that you've finally caught up on all 12 seasons, but you've got to expand your horizons beyond just me. There are a lot of other amazing fanfiction authors out there – Aini NuFire (another reviewer to this fic) is just one of them, and her friend 29Pieces is another, and monkeygirl77 is the person you go to for all the fluffy feels and tickle fic, and I know several more who have written fics that stab you right in the feels – and I haven't even mentioned other fandoms.
Point is… there's more than just me. Go check out other people, and if you still really, really like my works, then that's cool. Your appreciation is appreciated.
Beachwishen: … I will see what I can do. (And now Crowley has a new vessel, though probably not what you were expecting – not what Dean's going to be expecting either when he eventually finds out).
charmedfan120: Great review ;-)