•~MARIE~•

We all stood in stunned silence in the alley just trying to grasp the complete and utter bombshell that had been dropped on us. There was not a sound to be heard except for distant traffic and the muffled bass of the music resonating through the bar's
walls.

This silent reflection didn't last for long. As I stood there, the throbbing in my shoulder increasingly got worse until I couldn't help but lay my hand on my left shoulder, lean against the wall, and let out a painful groan. The adrenaline that had coursed
through my body during our encounter with Adam had subdued some of the heat that now returned to spike through my shoulder.

"Marie, you okay?" asked Sam, his voice full of concern. Dean looked over at me as well.

"I'm just dandy," I grimaced as I pushed off the wall with my back and started to try and walk normally. However; when I tried to imitate my normal gait, extreme discomfort shot up my left arm and seemed to spread throughout my body. I stumbled and once
again placed my hand over my shoulder, wincing in pain.

"No, you're not. Come here," Dean commanded and motioned with his hand. But instead of having to wait for me to reach him, he just walked over to me himself. He inspected my injury and diagnosed me with a dislocated shoulder.

Sam came over to supervise as Dean proceeded to place a hand on my shoulder and grab my left wrist with his other.

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch," he confessed.

It did hurt extremely bad, but after getting my arm in the right position, my shoulder popped back into place and the pain all but disappeared.

"This is exactly why I didn't want you to come," Dean stated once I stepped back with a sigh of relief.

"Relax Dean, it's just a dislocated shoulder," I muttered, attempting to rotate my arm to get the kinks out of it.

"Yeah? Well, it could have been a whole lot worse."

"Hey, I'm not the only one who was injured. How's your wind pipe doing? Because it sounds like you just swallowed a frog."

Dean's face contorted into a slightly offended expression and he was about to come up with a retort, but a sound came from behind that made us turn around.

James had woken up. All three of us stared at him as he stood up and observed his surroundings. When he spotted his brother lying on the ground, he let out an inhuman noise and rushed to his side. His sobbing was audible even from where we stood; it was
truly heartbreaking.

I slowly walked over to him with a heavy heart and but my hand on his back.

"What happened here wasn't your fault, James. It was Ad- I mean the demon's; though I have a feeling you know what he did to you?"

I still had trouble admitting to myself that the demon was actually Adam.

"It possessed me and forced me to kill my brother...I'm not stupid. I know what demons are."

"Yeah, Robert mentioned that. I'm very sorry about your brother. We did all that we could, but the demon was just too strong."

James picked up his head and wiped his eyes with his hand. The expression on his face was one that you become accustomed to when your job involves hunting the supernatural and comforting the victims of attacks such as these, and that is one of pure grief.

"Thank you, but I'd like for all of you to leave. I'm gonna call the cops and explain that I was on my way out of the bar and found my brother like this. I'll make it sound like he might've been mugged. You don't want to be around when they start searching
the place."

I looked at him questioningly, curious to know how exactly he knew what to do after a situation like this. But instead of explaining, he held up the knife Adam used to kill Robert.

"You mind taking this knife with you though? It has my prints all over it."

I took the knife from him tentatively, while still regarding him with the same stare. He reminded me of someone I used to know down in Florida; someone I was hoping to forget.

Finally, in response to my silent question he said, "Our sister was killed by a demon and Robert and I learned the hard way not to go telling the truth about what actually happened."

I nodded my head, "I understand. In these situations, it's better to lie than to tell the truth. Even if it is to the cops."

I patted his shoulder, turned my back, and started walking in the direction of Sam and Dean who were both quietly listening in on our conversation. Before I could make it all the way over there I heard James call my name. I turned back and he was standing
over his dead brother with a look of severe determination.

"You're gonna hunt that son of a bitch down, right? Give him what he deserves?" He demanded.

I looked at him, unable to answer his question.

"We'll get him, don't worry," I assured vaguely, and resumed my walk towards the brothers.

The ride back to the motel was awkward, to say the least. The Impala seemed to be filled with liquid tension, and with each breath it would feel like I was drowning in it.

These boys had some explaining to do.

We didn't talk the whole ride back, but as soon as we walked into the motel room I spun around and asked the question that plagued my mind the whole ride here.

"Why is my brother a demon?"

The brothers looked at each other and appeared to have a silent argument with only facial expressions. Dean didn't seem to want to answer my question while Sam did. In the end, it was Sam who won the dispute when a look crossed his face that could only
be described as giving Dean puppy-dog eyes.

It occurred to me that Sam might have won a lot of arguments with that expression because Dean let out an exasperated sigh and turned towards me with a look of annoyance upon his face.

"We don't know for sure how Adam became a demon, but we know how he ended up in hell," he said.

"Please, do tell," I muttered, deeply irritated that they've kept this information from me for this long.

"Alright well, the first thing you need to know is that the Apocalypse was a serious problem and angels are real. They aren't feathery little cherubs that sit on clouds and play the harp either. In fact, we've come across plenty who are just plain dicks
with wings."

Honestly, I would have been more surprised about the revelation that angels existed and that the Apocalypse was a thing if it had not been for the whole I-just-saw-my-brother-as-a-demon ordeal. Plus, I had heard rumors while in Florida that something
earth shattering was occurring up North, but I brushed it off as the ramblings of a world-weary, windbag hunter.

"Okay, and what does this have to do with my brother?"

From then on, I had to sit down in the recliner to take in everything the two brothers had to reveal about what happened to Adam while I was away. I gotta say, some of the stuff that came out of the their mouths was hard to believe.

When they finished, we were all sitting down. I didn't move, but just sat there, thinking. I tried to wrap my head around all of the new information that was thrown my way. Once I recovered, I looked tiredly at my half-brothers.

"So let me get this straight," I pointed at Dean, "You were Michael's...vessel or whatever, but you didn't want to step up to the plate so he took Adam instead. How does that work?"

"Adam was still considered a candidate because he was still technically a brother to Sam, who was Lucifer's vessel. Michael and Lucifer are brothers, so their vessels had to mirror that. It wasn't ideal, but it met the criteria just enough to make it
work."

"'As it is in Heaven, so it must be on Earth,' or something along those lines anyway," Sam added.

"I guess that explains why they didn't come after me. Sexist angels," I muttered, though I wasn't really complaining.

I was quiet for a moment, then I glanced over at Sam, "So you and Adam were thrown into hell after you sacrificed yourself in order to trap the devil back down under. That is until y'all's angel friend, Castiel, pulled only you back out. Is there any
specific reason he couldn't bring back both of you?" It irked me that Adam seemed to be always left out of the equation.

"Cas wasn't even strong enough to pull me out of hell...at least not all of me."

"What do you mean?"

"He wasn't able to resurrect my soul along with my body. I was soulless for more than a year until Dean made a deal with Death and got him to dig it up."

A deal with Death...? Resurrecting a soul...?

One thing I knew for sure was that Dean and Sam were way more emerged in hunting life than I ever was. I didn't even know souls existed or that death could be in a physical form.

"And this so called Death couldn't raise my brother?"

Dean shifted uncomfortably and Sam looked down at his hands. I had a feeling we were leaning towards a territory they didn't feel like getting into.

Well, too bad. I wanted to know what happened to my brother.

I cleared my throat and Dean looked up at me with a face full of guilt.

"I had a choice. Death said I could either bring Sam or Adam's soul back from hell, and I chose Sam's. But I would have brought back both in a heartbeat. You have to know that, Marie."

"Oh," was all I could say in response.

I did feel a little resentful, but I knew it was for an irrational reason. I mean, wouldn't I have done the same thing? As much as I hate to admit it, if I absolutely had to choose between saving someone I've grown up with and cared for and someone I
barely knew, there would be no question as to whom I would pick. It was just the way things were.

"But both of you didn't give up did you? You kept on looking for ways to bring him back, right?"

Both Sam and Dean stared at me. The look that crossed both of their faces caused it to dawn on me that what Adam said about them could be true.

"You guys didn't even try did you? After Sam got his soul back, you moved on to bigger and better things."

"Marie, it wasn't like that-" Sam began.

"Well it sure seems like it," I stood up and my anger began to rise. Maybe I was being irrational, but I didn't care. I was sick of them keeping things from me. I felt a low rage bubbling up through my chest at the thought of how fast Dean and Sam left
my brother behind in the dust.

"We were going to try, but different complications arose."

"What kind of 'complications' could have been worse than having a family member still stuck in hell...with Michael and Lucifer no less?"

"Listen-"

"No, I'm done listening. All I'm getting from this whole conversation is that Adam was used against his will and then forgotten."

"If you would just-" Dean started.

"Forget it. I'm going for a walk to clear my head. Don't wait up for me; God knows you both need the sleep with what's about to come knocking our way."

And with that, I grabbed my coat and slammed the door on my way out into the still clear night.

A/N: Hello everyone! I really wanted to get this posted yesterday, but thanks to Hurricane Matthew, my internet was knocked out and I didn't get it back untiltoday:( Anyways, I hope you enjoy!