Chapter 10: The road is paved with good intentions….
About seven months ago….
It had only been a week since Kevin's latest prophecy had come to pass. Yet, despite the initial relief of seeing the power source lying helpless and lost at his feet, Michael was fast running out of patience, again.
He rapidly realised that the nephilim was in fact Lucifers' son, but unlike his brother, the child behaved more like a human than an angel, never name archangel. As Michael initially searched and probed through Jack's mind and soul, he couldn't find any of the malice and pure evil that his brother had. Instead, the mind and conscience was full of doing good, almost child like. Michael could see the child's role models plain and clear. From his mother's teary 'I love you's and you're good and special' to Sam Winchester's encouraging remarks of 'you're good and pure and I know you're nothing like your father'.
It is Michael's thoughts about Lucifer and the Winchesters that sours his mood further. It had been months since Lucifer escaped and even longer since his vessel had visited. He had been relieved when the nephilim arrived, but he was unsure as to how the child had got there, never name how could they harness it's powers to open a gateway big enough for Michael and his army of angels to pass through.
Michael was pulled from his thoughts by the boy muttering. He focused on what Zachariah was doing. It was yet again another attempt of Zachariah's to break and control the nephilim and to date it had proved useless. He wasn't sure what the child was seeing, but he sensed the angel was trying to focus on using his fear but it wasn't working. Bored with just waiting around, he decided to 'piggy back' on Zachariah's mind tricks and he too entered Jack's mind.
Immediately, Michael could see and hear the nephilim's thoughts. Zachariah had him back in the Men of Letter's bunker. Michael recognised it from Mary's torture sessions. That thought brought a small smile to his face, but he returned his attention to the matter at hand.
Jack woke up. He was back in his room in the bunker. He sighed with relief. Sam and Dean had some how saved him. He could hear them talking to him about how it was great to have him home again. Then he set up quickly when he heard the bunker's alarm go off. The lights were dimmed and the only light came from the red alarm lights that were flashing.
Then Sam and Dean began to scream for help. Jack looked towards the door and he could immediately see smoke started to come through the bottom of the door. He jumped up quickly and made his way out into the hall. Running towards the shouts of his two father figures, Jack stopped at the door to Sam's bedroom. He could hear both brothers screaming for help. Jack looked down to see flames whipping up under the door followed by more smoke.
The screams became more frantic. Jack couldn't physically burst down the door, so he did what he knew he could and that was to use all his power on the door, but it still wouldn't budge. Jack was in tears as he recovered from being thrown back against the wall. He realised he was powerless and useless and he couldn't save his loved ones.
As Michael and Zachariah both looked on, the illusion began to break down and the cracks of reality began to shine through. It was at this stage that Zachariah withdrew from the nephilims mind. Michael had now moved so he was now standing behind Jack. "Zachariah, these mind games of yours, aren't working." Michael was beginning to loose confidence in his Lieutenant.
"We're close. I'll keep trying." With this comment, Zachariah moved away from the nephilim who still remained frozen in a trance. Michael walked around the boy, "are you sure this half breed is our ticket to the other side?" Though Michael had faith, he couldn't believe that something as small, imperfect and insignificant as the abomination in front of him could wield such power. "Yes. And not just a single one way ticket. It's not just a spell. This boy. He can open a rift big enough to march an army through. He has so much power. We just have to make him use it."
Michael was still not truly convinced, but he had limited options. "Then make him!" Zachariah turned away from Jack and looked towards his leader. "Yes, commander." Michael gave a curt nod as Zachariah continued, "if fear won't break him, I think I know something that will." Zachariah moved back towards him with a renewed vigour and Michael followed him.
Jack found himself standing outside overlooking one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. Straight in front of him were mountains and lakes. He then turn round to take in stunning landscape and all of a sudden, his other father figure, Castiel, was standing nearby. Castiel stepped up to him. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Jack smiled when he saw his father. "Castiel?"
His father stepped forward. "I wanted you to see the natural world before it was spoiled. Humans have good intentions but they never truly appreciate the gift they were given. Left to their own devices, humans,… well they would destroy everything." Jack found this strange. His father loved humans and humanity, why would he come out with something like this? So Jack looked a little closer at Castiel and tried to think further on his words. "Why?"
Castiel turned towards Jack and started to raise his hands to Jack's face, "you've been so sheltered, let me show you." Jack stood still as Castiel bombarded his mind with images of ice caps melting, oils spills, and a host of other depressing and distressing images. "Humans. They take and they take. They can't help themselves. So you, you have to help them." With this comment, Castiel removed his hands from Jack's face. He continued, "Jack. You have the power to save it all and I can guide you. I can teach you some miraculous things."
Jack looked at Castiel, "what about Sam and Dean?" Castiel smirked slightly, "If only they accepted you instead of teaching you to fear your powers." Jack was taken back by this, "my powers?" Castiel interrupted, "because they fear them. Now if you would just do as I say…" It was at this stage, that Jack realised there was something really off about the Castiel that was standing in front of him. His Castiel loved Sam and Dean and would never talk about them like this.
"No, that's not true. I remember. I was with Sam and Dean the last time I used my powers and we got separated and I. was. In. the. Other. World!" Jack then raised his eyes, he realised he was being tricked. "You're not Castiel. None of this is real." And as soon as he finished his sentence, the angel's grin in front of him widen as flashes of lightening tended to break through from the world around him and before Jack knew it, he was back in the interrogation room within the fortress.
As he was still coming round, Michael came forward from behind the other angel Zachariah, and as he moved towards Jack he declared, "so much for killing them with kindness!" Jack looked on, "You! Michael!" Michael looked directly at the abomination in front of him and without any warning lashed out and punched Jack so hard the boy flew back six feet and crashed into the wall. He fell to the ground. It was so sudden it caught Zachariah by surprise. "My lord?" Without further thought, Michael turned and angrily threw Zachariah at least ten feet back across the room. "We tried it your way." Michael started to walk towards Jack. Jack was now coming around and trying to make an attempt to sit upright never name begin to crawl away from the furious archangel. "Now, we do it mine!" Following this, Michael reached down and grabbed a very weakened jack by the shirt and pulled him upright.
After roughing up the nephilim to the point of unconsciousness, Michael was forced to stop himself before he destroyed his ticket to 'paradise world'. Though, beating and torturing was his favourite way of extracting information and getting people to do what he needed them to do, he felt that a different approach may be needed. It was then that he remembered Mary Winchester. The abomination had been searching for her in order to ingratiate himself with the vessels. He would do anything to please the Winchesters. 'You would do anything even cross to a different universe and take a beating wouldn't you? What would you do to save Mary Winchester? I knew there was a reason I kept her around.'
Without much more thinking, Michael lifted Jack and began to trail him out of the torture chamber and down the long dark hallways of the fortress. Michael took out keys and unlocked a cell door and threw the nephilim into the cells and without sparing a glance at the other captive, the archangel closed and locked the door.
As the door slammed shut and was locked, Mary looked over towards the new guest. Lying in a mess in front of her was a young man, no older than 17 or 18 years of age. He was beginning to come round and as he sat up he looked at her. "Mary?"
Mary was surprised that he would know who she was. After all no one knew her here. She didn't belong to this world, but here, straight in front of her was someone who recognised her. She looked closer and he did look familiar but from where? "I've seen you before." But before Mary could continue, the excitement of the boy won over. "Your sons, Sam and Dean. They sent me." On hearing these words, was suddenly filled with hope. "are they here?" But as quick as hope appeared, it disappeared as Jack shook his head and said 'no'. Mary sat back, somewhat in despair and closed her eyes and sighed. "Oh thank God!"
"My name is Jack." On hearing his name, Mary became more interested as surely this couldn't be the same one, could it? "Jack? Your mother… wasn't Kelly Kline?" As she finished the question, Jack got excited, "you knew my mother?" Mary was now piecing things together. "I was there when you were born… but she um.." Before Mary could finish, Jack finished, "died, I know."
Looking at him even closer she tried to rationalise what her eyes were showing her and what she was hearing. "you should be six months old." Jack smiled, "I am. Sort of…" Mary couldn't believe it. This shouldn't be possible, but then again, she was a Winchester, and weird shit is what they did, wasn't it? Then her thoughts turned more tactical as she weighed up the situation. "Jack. How did you get here?" Jack lowered his eyes in thought. "I opened a door."
"To another world? You can do that?" Mary was curious as to the extent of Jack's powers. "I, um., Sam and Dean… we were coming to save you and then something went wrong and now, it's just… me. And Michael,,, I… tried to fight him, but he was in my head. He's trying to get me to use my powers, but I don't know why?" But Mary deep down knew why. "I do. You say he was in your head, well he was in my head too. And I saw everything. He's going to bring an army to our world…" Jack interrupted, "he wants me to open a door and… I won't he, he can't make me. I don't care how much he hurts me."
With Jack's remarks and having had a little time to think things through, Mary realised why Jack was placed in the cell with her. She smiled and put her head back against the wall. Jack noticed and smiled as if it reminded him of something either Sam and/or Dean used to do. "He's not going to hurt you Jack. He's going to hurt me. Why do you think he brought you here? So we would meet. So we would talk. And then when he comes back. If you won't do what he wants, he's going to kill me."
As the extent of Michael's plan sunk in with both Jack and Mary, Mary moved over towards the window to reflect and think. She had another headache. In fact, she had been having many headaches since arriving at the fortress. At first, she had thought it was the stress of where she was and what was being done to her, but now, she wasn't so sure. As she looked out through the window, hopes died as the view was as barren as the landscape she had walked through, when she arrived here with Lucifer. All around was greyness and dust, illuminated by lightening every so often.
Turning back to Jacks she said, "when Michael comes back, you let him kill me." Jack was clearly not happy with the plan. "what?!" Mary moved to kneel down beside Jack. " Do not open that door." Jack refused to agree with the plan, there had to be hope. "NO. No, we're getting out of here." Mary admired his passion, but how? "we can't." Mary's remarks were quickly countered with a 'yes we can'. "I was strong. I should be able to save us both, but everytime I try and use my powers here I can't. Things I should know how to do, it's … all wrong.. it's just my head." It was clear to Mary that Jack was really struggling to concentrate. Something she knew about as her headache roared into life again. "It doesn't stop pounding." Mary understood and then something clicked.
"Your head hurts?" Jack nodded in agreement. "Mine too! I've had migraines ever since they locked me in here. I thought it was from the torture, but.. maybe.. maybe this place has wardings so strong even humans can feel it." Jack added, "you think that's why my powers are not working?"
Mary thought further about the wardings and remembered as she looked at the criss-crossed designs on the windows, of how she loved to stand closer to the window as that was the only time she seemed to get peace. Then it clicked. "My headache. I have it everywhere except right here. This is the only place it ever lets up." Jack queried, "because the wardings weaker!" Filled with hope of escape, Jack walked towards the window and placed his hands on the criss-cross design and begin to use his power. It seemed to be working and as the window slowly disintegrated in front of them, Mary and Jack looked at one another and smiled, as they were one step closer to freedom. It was the first time in months, Mary had real hope of getting out of this world alive.
Michael was not amused. He stood looking out at the barren dusty landscape and pondered at what happened to the window. It had been totally destroyed. Part of him was impressed that the nephilim was able to use his powers, despite all the wardings. Part of him was pissed, as he was standing in an empty cell, whilst his only way of getting to the other world was out there, doing heaven knows what!
Turning towards Zachariah "Find him and bring him back to me." Zachariah asked for clarification, "and the woman?" Without hesitation, Michael said, "kill her. In front of the boy and make her feel it." Zachariah understood loud and clear and stepped backwards away from Michael. But before he could totally make his escape, the dreaded sentence was uttered from Michael's mouth, " Zachariah, don't fail me again." With his orders delivered, Michael turned back towards the window and looked out and tried to use his gifts to track the nephilim. Behind him, his Lieutenant nodded and quickly departed to find them and redeem himself.
They were moving as quickly as they could. Their only thought, get as far away from the fortress and from Michael. Mary kept looking back, checking that no one was following them. It was already dark. They had been running for a few hours now. Mary's attention was focused back on the nephilim as he asked, "how far to we're safe?" "here? Is there anything… shssss." She stopped talking and raised her hand and looked around. As she took in her surrounds, Mary noticed that there was a burned out shell of an old care or truck up ahead and when she looked closer she could see a figure coming forward.
Mary pulled Jack back and behind a large oil drum as two figures came into sight. Both had their faces covered, so it was difficult to identify whether they were, angel, demon, human or something else. As they passed by, Jack sighed, "I think they're gone." But no sooner had he the words out, when Mary heard the sliding of a familiar noise that meant someone cocked a gun. Then from behind one of the masks, a voice asked, "are you angel, demon or human?
Mary just about screamed, "HUMAN" and both Jack and Mary raised their hands immediately and started to rise to their feet. "We're human". Mary thought it better to not elaborate any further about Jack, just in case. Then the voice seemed to stare more at them. "Mary Campbell? It's Bobby… Singer." Bobby moved to remove his mask and show his face. Mary was surprised, the man in front of her seemed to know her and was shocked that she was alive.
Then the name clicked with Mary. "Bobby, my boys, they told me about you." Bobby seemed confused. "Boys?" Mary knew Bobby needed more info. "Dean.. and Sam.. Winchester." Then the penny seemed to drop for Bobby. "Oh, I remember, the day trippers. Right?"
Mary seemed to pick up that he had called her Campbell and not Winchester. "You called me Mary Campbell. Do you know me?" The smile seemed to fade slightly from Bobby's face, "well, knew you. The other you. She.. well.. hell, I thought you were a damn ghost. It turns out you're from a whole other world, which is.. well, it's weirder, when you think about it." It was at this stage that Bobby seemed to realise that there was another person standing beside Mary. "Who's the kid?" Delighted to have an opening, Jack raised his hand to say hi. "I'm Jack." But before Jack could say anything else, Mary entered 'protective mummy mode' and interjected, " friend of the family!" Bobby seemed to agree and nodded, "well. That's good enough for me. You better come with us." Everyone began to move off and out of the wastelands.
A few hours later, the small party of travellers arrived in a survivors camp. Bobby turned to welcome them. "Well. Welcome to home sweet home." Bobby seemed to scan around the camp and take in the injured. Both Mary and Jack also looked on with worry as reality seemed to dawn on both them. It was the reality of what it was like to try and live and survive in a world were Michael ruled.
Jack was the first to break the silence. "what happened to them?" Bobby simply replied, "angels happened." Jack looked around and took in the chaos and destruction. "angels did this?" Bobby was obviously used to this type of life, "They've done worse. Two days ago. Angel dive bombed a colony in San Antonio. 400 people. Not a soul left alive. This aint war. This is an extermination."
As Bobby continued to take in his reality, it dawned on Mary that they were probably bringing death to these people by being here. "Bobby? Michael… they'll be looking for us." No stranger to death and the threat of it, Bobby replied, "don't worry, we've got protocols protecting us. Wardings. Look outs in the trees. A few other tricks up our sleeves. Besides, Mary Campbell saved my ass more than a few times. It'd be rude not to return the favour." Mary blushed a little and smiled as she watched Bobby smile and walk away. It was settled and she could rest easier without fear that they would be turned out into the wilderness.
Mary watched as Jack seemed to settle into camp life really quickly. As she stared at the young man, she tried to grasp the fact that the being in front of her was barley six months give or take a few days, old. He was really a child in a man's body, struggling with an age old power but with a mind of a being that was less than a year old. She smiled as she realised how quickly she was bonding with Jack. A sad thought hit her. 'What about her boys, her other sons? It seemed so unfair. She had only really re-connected with them, when fate was cruel again, ripping her away from her family. Why?'
She was shaken out of her thoughts by laughter as the children in the camp were mesmerised by the shadow shapes jack was creating with his hands. He was smiling away, proud to be showing off his skills. Mary's eyes moved to meet the figure of Bobby Singer wandering towards her with most likely some sort of coffee or alcohol treat. As he handed her the cup, he said, "go easy. I added a nip of whiskey." Mary smiled and accepted the gifted and hugged it in appreciation. As she sipped the rare and special gift, Bobby looked on the carbon copy of his old friend. "I don't mean to stare, it's just… God… you look just like her, give or take a year or two."
Smiling at Bobby's comment, Mary thought she would ask him what she was like. "Mary Campbell was a complicated woman. Very sad, like full of regret." Mary felt bad, "let me guess, she made a bad demon deal?" Bobby disagreed and shook his head. "opposite, she didn't make one. She lost the love of her life, never moved on." Bobby seemed sad. Mary realised the significance now of her deal. "And Dean and Sam were never born."
Mary raised her eyes and met Bobby's, "Bobby, I made that deal, and it,… I brought my boys a lot of pain, but what happened here in you world. Sam and Dean stopped that in mine." Bobby acknowledged what she said, "then I'd say you made the right choice." The magnitude of destiny was not lost on either Mary or Bobby as they stood and took in their own conversation. "Well, I don't know much, but I do know that you done good by your boys. They hadn't been here five minutes when they were trying to convince me to come back with them to their world." As Bobby finished, Mary said, "but you said no." Bobby stopped her, "Mary, your world's got your boys. This place… I'm pretty much all it's got."
Both hunters settled into a easy calm, entertained by the giggles and laughs of the children. At that moment it was hard to believe that merely miles away, angels plotted the destruction of their race, but in that moment of time Mary thought this could be anywhere on her own world. She smiled as the air was filled with ohhs and ahhs and then she looked towards the source of the entertainment and it occurred to her that Jack had upped his game and was using his magic. Bobby noticed the shapes. "What is he, a witch? A psychic?" As Bobby turned back again, Mary thought on how to explain this and decided it was time to tell the truth. "Jack's a nephilim."
Mary knew it wasn't good as she watched the change in Bobby's face. "Excuse me?" Mary quickly added, "he's half angel, half…" Bobby was furious. "I know what it means, but what I don't get is why you would bring one into my camp. You know what angels have done to us. I.. I trusted you! I want him gone by morning." Mary sighed, "if he goes, I go with him." Bobby looked sad. "well the, that's your choice." Mary nodded and agreed.
Bobby seemed guilty and tried to explain further to Mary. "Look Mary, when this all started. When Lucifer and his demon army rose out of hell, we thought the angels were on our side. Well one by one they turned on us. He will too. It's just a matter of time." Bobby looked around and his eyes fell on Jack. He was sad, but it was probably the only way.
Time seemed to fly. Mary barely slept that night. She was worried what would happen the moment they left the camp. She was struggling with how she would break the news to Jack. She knew that in the short amount of time, the nephilim had really connected with the camp. How was she going to tell him, he wasn't wanted here and that they had to leave?
As she walked towards a very happy and smiling Jack, Mary spoke up, "you really like it here." Jack grinned, "these people, everyone's so brave." Mary decided there was no other option but to get to the point, "but we can't stay." She was met with a quick, 'why not? Because of me'. Mary continued, "I'm sorry Jack. It's not fair…" But before they could continue, alarms started to go off all round the camp as fire balls began to fall towards them. Bobby shouted, "take cover, we've got incoming!" As a fire ball crashed just a matter of a few feet from them, all of them watched as a shadow rose out of the smoke and in a matter of seconds, Zachariah walked forward. The reply was simple from Mary. "RUN!"
Running as fast as they could, Mary and Jack bumped into Bobby. "You! This is your fault!" Bobby was mad, but Mary tried to calm him down. "What? Bobby continued, "he used his powers. That's how they found us." Realising his folly, Jack stuttered out, "I didn't. I didn't mean to." Bobby snarked, "well, aint that just gravy." Mary decided to be practical in her approach as getting angry wasn't going to solve the problem. "What can we do to help?" Bobby give Mary the gun and told her grab as many children as possible and make towards escape tunnels under the grain cellar. Jack wanted to make amends as he blamed himself for what was happening. "I'll come with you", but Jack's request was met with a glare and a cold 'you've done enough' remark. Mary felt sorry for him and tried to soothe the situation a little. "Jack. The angels. We can't let them find you. So just find some place and hide." Jack nodded and watched the hunters walk away from them.
Zachariah was on a mission to prove himself. He knew he couldn't come back empty handed. Michael had been furious and failure now was not an option. It had been hours since the special human and the abomination of a nephilim had escaped. It should have been easy to catch up with them, but for some reason he couldn't sense them. He soon realised that they must have managed to ward themselves against angels. That wasn't good, and the longer he was looking for them, then the angrier his commander and chief would get.
He was beginning to lose hope and was starting to contemplate a quick obliteration at the hands of the archangel, when he sensed the use of nephilim grace and power. He smiled as he homed in on it. He could trace the power to a clearing in the words about 15 miles to the east. Without hesitation, Zachariah scrambled some of his troops from his garrison and attacked.
Zachariah thought he would have a show of strength, so he decided to announce himself like his commander liked to do, by arriving via fire ball. So as he rose out of the debris and the crater, he came face to face with humans. It was time to follow through on his orders and kill Mary Winchester very slowly and painfully and let the child watch.
He moved with determination to seek out his quarry. As he finished strangling one of the human fighters, he barked out orders to his troops, "find the child. Kill the rest!" The two other angels spread out looking for the nephilim.
Mary was frantically trying to gather up as many children as possible. As she searched, she came across another child. "shusssh. I got you." As she was lifting the child and getting ready to make her escape, she turned and was met by a very angry angel. "Mary Winchester?" Mary knew if she was captured, she would surely die. Michael had stated he had no further use for her, but her memory was hazy as if there were large chunks of time missing. But she had to focus on the now. "Run!" The young child did not need to be told twice.
Mary pointed the gun towards Zachariah. "The half breed. Where is he?" As Zachariah barked out his demands, Mary provided the traditional Winchester reply of 'Go to Hell!' It was met with 'witty'. As Zachariah moved to destroy Mary, the object of his quest came into view. "Stop!" Zachariah smiled. " Perfect timing. Enjoy the show." As Zachariah moved closer to Mary, Jack shouted, "I said stop!" Immediately the nephilim began to use his power whilst Bobby watched on in awe. Literally within seconds the angel disintegrated before him. The angels demise was followed by the obliteration of two incoming fire balls one after the other, and all without the nephilim breaking a sweat.
It wasn't long after this show of strength that the battle ended. As Bobby made his way around the wounded, he then made a beeline to Jack and Mary. "Well I don't know what to say except thank you." Mary smiled. "Jack what you did was amazing." Jack was happy that he had made the right decision. Whilst running, it felt right to stop and try and fight and save as many people as he could. "I had to come back. Sam and Dean – they wouldn't run. They'd stay and fight. These angels know what they're doing and aren't going to stop. As long as Michael's out there, this war will never be over."
Bobby listened intently. "sooo, what are you saying?" Jack continued, "I have to kill him." As Jack finished speaking, everyone took in the sincerity and his seriousness. Jack had every good intention of making this his personal mission to take out Michael. Too much had happened and he would do whatever it took, no matter what the personal cost.