Chapter Ten

Sam and Dean had gone off in search of anything that could be used as a weapon. Mark was pretty sure both of them had at least one gun on them, but Dark had already proved that gunshots didn't take him down. Mark could still remember how being shot felt since he and Dark had been sharing a body at that point, but Dark had been about to rape Amy so the son of a bitch had deserved to get shot.

Mark didn't go back to talk to Celine. She wouldn't help anyway, so he went back to the room he had been in when he got here. The same room he had been taken to when he accidentally brought Sam and Dean here.

He brought a chair with him and now placed it in the center of the room and sat down. He took a few deep breaths to settle his mind, letting his mind focus on the power surrounding this place.

If he had to guess, this room was the actual doorway to other worlds. Celine had told him she could get him into any other world besides his own, but had she really meant that if her intention all along was to use him to get Dark? If she hadn't lied about Dark blocking her, then maybe Mark could have trusted her. Instead, she had chosen to keep things from him.

"If you've been through something like this as many times as I have, you'd become closed off to people, too."

Mark didn't turn, waiting until Celine came around to stand in front of him. "You have every reason not to trust me," she said. "But you were willing to do something to get back home."

That moment on the tower now seemed like a lifetime ago. But he remembered what he had been willing to do: relive what Dark had put him through. He had believed she would use those memories to create a door to his world. Now that he knew she wasn't blocked, what purpose did those memories serve?

"I thought if you dug too deep you could end up paralyzing me," Mark said. Dark had messed with his memories, giving him those dreams about his accident, but Mark hadn't even thought about that in a while. He wasn't affected by it anymore.

"You have a purpose now," Celine said, feeling his thoughts again. "You were debilitated by those memories because you had lost all hope. But now that you brought the Winchesters-"

"And that you lied to me."

Celine paused, but otherwise didn't react to his words. "Getting back is now within your reach, so you have hope," she said. "But I still need you to do that one thing for me. Your memories of the accident can't affect you -"

"Why do you need me to do it?"

"You and Dark inhabited the same body for over a week," Celine said. "I need to see if there was any recognition of who you both were before. If you're HIM."

"And if there's not?"

"Then Dark will keep searching if you don't stop him here."

Mark hesitated for a moment then nodded, giving his assent. She brought a chair over and sat down in front of him and held out her hands. Calming his mind, he took her hands and closed his eyes, remembering back to the days he and Dark spent together, in this body.

There was nothing other than the fact that Mark had gotten the feeling that Crowley knew everything about Dark.

"You thought Dark was afraid of Crowley," Celine said once she was done sifting through his memories. She didn't let Mark respond to that. "If he was or not, Crowley's dead. I got that much from Sam and Dean's thoughts."

"So I'm not HIM."

Celine even looked disappointed about that. "There should have been some form of recognition if you were," she said. "After all, HE took Damien's body."

"And Damien...is Dark?"

"He was," Celine said, letting go of Mark's hands. "Damien may be just as lost as that Mark is."

"That won't stop Dark."

Celine shook her head.

They both got to their feet as the room around them changed then righted itself. Nothing had changed except one thing: Dark was standing there.

With Amy.


Everything was moving so fast. One moment, Amy and Dark were at the office, the next moment they were somewhere else, standing in front of Mark. She knew it was Mark only because Dark was still beside her.

Then Sam and Dean were there. Both of them had their guns out as they came in and spotted Dark.

But Mark was the first to react.

Amy didn't know what he did, but she was suddenly knocked off her feet by a force that sent Dark flying across the room and into a wall, knocking down a painting. She barely missed falling against a chair. She used it to get to her feet, looking over at Mark, who was just standing there, staring at Dark. Her brief soreness was forgotten as she saw the look in his eyes: darkness. His eyes weren't a solid black, but there was something dark inside him.

Dean had moved past and was yanking Dark to his feet, shoving him against the wall. "You son of a -"

Dark didn't lift a hand, but Dean was shoved away from him. Amy saw Mark tense for action. Sam was raising his gun -

Amy went over to stand in front of Dark. Everyone finally stopped. "We didn't come here for a fight," she said, though she wouldn't be surprised if Dark was looking for a fight as well as proving to her who Mark was. "A fight will just make everything worse."

"You're defending him." Mark's words told Amy that everything was already worse.

"I'm not," Amy said, feeling Dark standing closer behind her. By the look on Mark's face, she was obviously looking too comfortable with being around Dark. And Dark would be flaunting that.

He had said Dark was fading, but around Mark he was apparently coming back. Whatever Dark felt toward her would now be used against Mark. Dark was deadset on proving Mark was dangerous. What better way to prove that than to move in on Mark's girlfriend?

Amy moved to step away from Dark, but he put one arm around her waist and pulled her back against him, grinding up against her in the process. Mark started to intervene but stopped by Sam's hand on his shoulder.

Dean had gotten to his feet. He looked betrayed as he looked at Amy, then that look turned into anger. "Whether or not you're here for it, you're getting a fight," he said. Amy recognized what Dean now held in his hand: an angel blade. He had come prepared.

Dark laughed. "This is my domain," he said. "Do you really think you can do anything to me here?"

"I can." The woman who was standing beside Mark spoke up. "You know I can, Damien."

"Don't call me that," Dark said, the anger in his voice proving that Dark was no longer fading. Amy had gotten a glimpse of Damien, but now he was gone. "You trap me, you trap everyone else. You really think they're willing to pay that price?"

"I am," Mark said, but no one else said a word. He looked at the woman. "Do it."

Dark's hold on Amy tightened. "No one is as willing as you, Mark," he said, making Mark's name sound like a curse. "You want that burden on your shoulders?"

"You'll be stopped," Mark said. "I can live with that."

"But some of us can't," Sam said. Mark looked at him. "I hate to disagree, but we have responsibilities we can't ignore. If we do, it'll be worse than whatever Dark could have done."

"Dark can open doors to different worlds," the woman said. Amy immediately didn't trust her. "He can unleash -"

"He's ONLY after Mark," Sam said. "He's only ever been after Mark."

Dean started toward Dark and Amy, angel blade raised. "This can be settled -" He stopped, but Dark hadn't moved. Dark seemed surprised that Dean had stopped.

Dean strained against what was holding him back, but gave up after a moment. "I would've thought you'd want him dead," he said. He was talking to Mark.

"He's the only one who knows how to get out of here," Mark said. He had calmed down, but there was no way of knowing what else he was capable of. Amy didn't like thinking it, but she was more afraid of Mark than Dark right now.

The woman beside Mark started to say something, but didn't. Amy wouldn't trust anything that came out of her mouth anyway, but maybe that was just her jealousy reacting to her. She didn't like the idea of the woman being here as long as Mark had, but it was obvious she had been by the way they acted around each other.

But Amy did pick up on Mark's current distrust of the woman, which was good. But it didn't change the fact that there was still something between them.

Amy was now more aware of Dark's arm around her waist, his body against hers. A lot had changed in the last year. She hoped everything went back to normal after this.

If Mark made it out as Mark.