What happened? The last thing Jack knew, he was angry with himself for being so useless and now he has fallen on the hard ground, face down and he feels the hit on his jaw. It was like somebody decided to kick him while he's down. But when he looks at the floor, he frowns. That isn't the bunker's floor. He looks up and sees Gabriel all scratched and bruised, probably from the same fall, crouching next to SSam, who had a painful expression on his face.
SSam too fell down, straight on his hurt back, and it hurt like hell. But when the first moments of sharp pain pass by, he sees a familiar figure looking at him with worry in his eyes, and just for a moment he thinks it's his father. When reality sets in, he closes his eyes, remembering what happened and he sighs deeply.
They all began to look around, trying to figure out where they were. It seemed to be remains of an old church, as it still had benches scattered around, half broken. There were no pictures of saints or angels, and every window was broken, but the big cross with Jesus stretched on it still stood behind an altar, as if the humans had only one god left to pray to. If he was even human too.
"I did it? I did it! – Jack exclamates joyfully, feeling proud of himself – I opened the rift." He remembers how Cass and the boys described the alternate universe where the apocalypse happened, and when the happy feeling tones down, he sees SSam and Gabriel hurt, and he starts to worry. What has he gotten them all into? They came completely unprepared, all of them half depleted. Even Jack felt his grace low, and he feels he must have used a lot to get them there.
"You shouldn't move – Gabriel says seeing SSam attempting to get up – you're still hurt, badly." SSam smiles as Gabriel yet again reminds him of his caring father, but SSam knew well that if he was here, he would have ordered him to stay down, and SSam would have no choice but to listen. As he gets on his feet, seeing the broken leg healed completely, he still feels pain on his back.
"I'm fine." SSam says, and it's as if someone was just waiting to hear his voice, a rattling sound comes from a busted part of the wall behind the cross. There was a big hole in the wall, revealing a small room in the back, and as they carefully approach it, they hear more rattling sounds and someone moan in pain.
For the second time since he has left the safety of Heaven, SSam's entire body trembles at the site. A human-sized cage was hanging from the ceiling, in it absolutely no room to move as it had sharp spikes, which would puncture the skin if the prisoner tried to move. The more the prisoner moved, the deeper the puncture.
SSam's eyes widen when he recognizes the woman locked in that dreadful contraption. She was nearly passed out, trying so damn hard to remain still, but the spikes still stabbed her, and after being strung up like that for a while, all Mary had the strength to do is moan silently. And for the second time, SSam feels a sharp pain in his chest, his legs threatening to give out on him.
Disregarding the pain in his back, SSam stretches his wings and instantly flies up to the cage. He looks at the chains holding it on the ceiling and then at the lock on the door. Quickly deciding the best course of action, he grabs the bars of the cage where the lock was, and easily busts it open. When Mary starts falling forward, SSam catches her, completely unaware he was holding his breath the entire time, and he lands and sets her on the ground as gently as he could.
She looks up at him, half delirious, and smiles so softly at him, and he feels tears coming on. He blinks trying to hold them back, but one escapes when he hears her voice "Sam... My Sam." She tries to reach for his cheek, but passes out, her mind knowing it is in safe hands and she could let go, to have some well deserved rest.
Both Gabriel and Jack stood aside silently observing SSam. They see him free Mary and hover over her for a few moments after she passed out. Deep down, a part of Jack was thrilled they found her. They both nod when SSam gets up, holding Mary in his arms and says "We need to get her out of here and some place safe." Gabriel is the first one to step out of the room when he is greeted by a group of angels wearing some poor soldiers as vessels.
Gabriel frowns at the leader and simply states "Zachariah." wanting more to warn Jack and SSam then to say he recognized the angel. When Jack feels SSam holstering his grace, he does the same before they step out of the room. They all stand their ground firm, waiting to see what the angel does.
"Wow. I didn't think I would ever see you again, Gabriel. – Zachariah says with a smirk – not after Michael killed you, that is." Gabriel smirks back as he replies "Can't keep me down." not really wanting to bother explaining he is not the Gabriel of this world. Zachariah stares at him, and he feels Gabriel's grace is low. He knows he won't go down without a fight, but seeing he is with two humans who he might want to protect, he decides it is worth the risk. If he is the one to bring rogue archangel to Michael, his leader would be pleased.
With a simple nudge of his head, he orders the other angels to attack, and they all pull out their angel blades. Seeing what's coming, Gabriel readies himself for a hands-on fight. Jack looks to SSam, his expression not asking SSam what to do, but rather with his eyebrows raised he is asking for permission. SSam was still holding Mary in his arms, not wanting this fight to happen, but he knew it was inevitable. When he sees the look on Jack's face, he welcomes the suggestion written on the kids face and he nods.
As the angels charge them, Jack lifts up his hand towards them, and releases the raw power of his grace, sending them all up against a wall. Some hit the wall hard and end up passed out, others look between Zachariah and Jack, not sure what to do. What the hell is this kid? And soon they all knew, or thought they knew when Jack releases his grace, and the angels feel Lucifer's presence. Terror written on their faces as they struggle to stand up. But Zachariah knew better. He has just left Michael's side, as his leader was extracting grace from the Lucifer to open the rift.
Zach's eyes widen when the realisation hits him. Lucifer's son. A nephilim. A creature forbidden from existence. An abomination more powerful than its creator. Horror covers his entire face, and he doesn't even give out a command, he simply teleports away. Following their leader, the other angels do the same, and both Gabriel and SSam sigh in relief.
Jack looks back at them, smiling and Gabriel couldn't help but comment "See, kid. You're not useless after all." and he slams his hand over Jack's shoulder, making Jack stumble forward. "Why did you do that?" Jack asks titling his head Castiel style and Gabriel rolls his eyes "It's a pat on the back. Means you did good. Take the compliment, kiddo."
And Jack smiles again, and his eyes sparkle feeling glad he can do something good if he really tries. He scurries after Gabriel and SSam as they leave the church. The sight in front of them was no better than the one inside the church. Stale air with a smell of burn to it, on their left a never-ending grey dessert, and on their right a dark forest, with plenty of scorched trees, and not a speck of green in sight.
The forest seemed like a better option. At least they could have some cover, and not be out in the open. They walked for miles in silence, trying to find a good place to lay Mary down, and for them to rest, and be somewhat safe. The only sound that could be heard was Mary's occasional moan. Finally, they reached what seemed to be an abandoned house at a foothill.
They stumble in, and SSam quickly moves through the rooms, trying to find a place for Mary. His back hurts, and he is afraid he might drop Mary and as soon as he finds a bed in the back room, he sets her down gently. Mary moans a bit in pain from the wounds of the spikes, but more from the pleasure of a comfy bed. He keeps his eyes on her, worried if he looked away or even blink, she would disappear.
But he had to look away. He had to raise his head and look up at the door when he hears voices coming from the front of the house. Voices of Jack and Gabriel and two strange men. Voices arguing. He was waging what to do, he didn't want to leave Mary all alone and unprotected, but he didn't want to abandon Gabriel and Jack. With a heavy heart he lifts himself from a crouching position just in time to hear a third voice shout louder than the others. "Cannit you idjits! You keep an eye on these two; I'll check the back to see if they're telling the truth."
SSam feels both worried and relieved to hear Bobby's voice. He thinks this world Bobby doesn't know the Winchesters, doesn't know him, but at the same time, he knows deep down any Bobby is a good man, and will do the right thing. His eyes are shy when they meet Bobby's, who frowns at him at first. Bobby's face soon turns to shock, as he recognizes the woman in the bed.
His eyes dart from who he knew to be Mary Campbell to a guy who walked through the rift with his brother a while ago. A moment later, he is rubbing his head, having lifted his cap, wishing an incoming headache away. "What the heck are you doin' here, boy?" He squints his eyes at him as he continues, putting his cap back on "Didn't you and your brother close that damn rift?"
SSam sighs and glances over at Mary for a moment before looking back up at Bobby. "She got stuck here. I had to find a way to save her... I didn't think it would be like this, but I'm glad I found her... Even though she is not really my mother." His mouth curve into a shy smile as he sees the look on Bobby's face. He rubs the back of his head, making his hair flap upward " It's complicated."
"Well, you better uncomlicate it for me, boy. I got a whole camp half a click away, with constant treats from those dicks, and I don't need more on my plate." Bobby replies and SSam proceeds to tell him everything. Cliff-notes version that is. SSam couldn't help but smile at Bobby's reaction and the single word that came out of his mouth "Balls."
SSam is usually a good judge of character and he just knew Bobby would be pissed, like any Bobby in any world be, but that he would also help the best that he could. "Alright. – Bobby said frowning – you can stay in our safe house for now. We'll see what to do next."
He looks at the bruised and bloody Mary on the bed, and he remembers his old friend who went down fighting. He sighs as he says "I'll see if we could spare some food for ya." and he leaves. SSam nods at him and his attention is back on Mary as he crouches down next to her again and frowns in worry.
At the same time the rift opened in the bunker to send an archangel and two nephilims to the apocalypse world, another one opened in the downtown L.A., and Lucifer came stumbling through, having just escaped the same world and a version of his brother.
He is enraged when a woman laughs at his face and he realizes he is low on grace, but at the same time, slight fear crosses his eyes, knowing full well what is to come next. So he falters forward, getting his hands on any angel, reaper or cupid he could find, stealing their grace, killing them in the process and empowering himself. But the fear in his eyes remains.