Part 25 – Jimmy

Jimmy wasn't always awake while Castiel was controlling his body. Considering Castiel didn't sleep or eat or take even a moment's rest, Jimmy had always thought of that as a blessing. He would have gone mad otherwise.

He wished madness was the explanation for what he was seeing now.

There was something inherently dark and terrifying about Lilith in the body of a little girl. The contrast. The sheer vulgarity of an innocent child, like Jimmy's own daughter, being forced to do terrible things, covered in blood. But the creature—or…god—that Lilith was becoming, was so much worse. Large and grotesque, but still tailored to the survivors, to the Winchesters, the creature bore resemblance to all of the other personal monsters Silent Hill had made for them.

It was wrapped in skin, faceless, not quite male or female, but still muscled and menacing. It didn't walk, it lumbered, and where it moved the Otherworld spread out like a disease. The floor gave way to metal and blood, bursting open with offered blades—for Dean's benefit, Jimmy imagined—and as the creature took up its weapons, oil dripped from its skin like blood, threatening to erupt in flames.

Even the demons holding Jimmy and the others captive gasped at the change, shifting uncomfortably, and their foolish distraction was all it took for Dean and Sam to act.

Jimmy felt paralyzed and useless, in awe of them as the brothers broke free and fought, regardless of the approaching creature Lilith had become. The weapons that had been taken from them weren't far, but knives and guns would do little good against demons.

Jimmy watched as Dean did the one thing that made any sense—he grabbed the demon grappling with him by the shoulders and threw him in Lilith's path.

The gruesome outcome of her transformed, larger feet crushing the demon like a bug was not quite as horrible as how quickly the encroaching Otherworld claimed what remained of him like a hungry animal, and he was soon part of the floor.

The demon fighting Sam broke away, backing up toward the gymnasium doors with a surprising amount of fear projecting out of his black eyes. Then the demon holding Jimmy, the last of them, finally let go, scrambling away to catch up to his companion. They might have made it to the doors too if the Otherworld hadn't gotten there first.

It seemed Silent Hill didn't care too much for playing favorites now that its god was free. The doors leading out of the gymnasium melted away to reveal mesh metal, rusted, that looked out into the hallway beyond…where the Pyramid Head creature was slowly approaching with his over-sized knife.

Jimmy felt Sam and Dean before he really saw them, grabbing his arms and pulling to get him to his feet. Lilith was almost upon them. Pyramid Head was breaking down the doors. The demons were shaking in fear for their lives.

Being immobile was hardly Jimmy's biggest problem, but he was thankful for Sam and Dean's rescue. Another moment more kneeling there in place and he might have been beheaded.

"Wh-what do we do?" Jimmy stuttered as they backed up rapid-fire fast to the other end of the gym. His vision wasn't entirely clear, still somewhat dazed from when that demon had smashed his face into the floor.

"She's slow, we can use that," said Sam, eyeing the creature gaugingly, with only a brief glance at Pyramid Head peeling back the metal mesh of the doors and grabbing one of the demons like a doll.

Jimmy looked to Dean, knowing the haunted look on the man's face well. He had been all too aware during their time in Silent Hill, more than likely because Castiel's hold had been so loose, so nearly human. Their connection had been strong enough for Jimmy to catch glimpses from Castiel's thoughts. Glimpses of what plagued Dean when he looked at that Pyramid Head creature. Glimpses of Dean when Castiel had wrenched him out of Hell, something even Dean didn't remember.

Jimmy shuddered.

"Dean!" called Sam, panicked when Dean offered no words of his own.

"Yeah…" Dean managed, shaking his head, "She's slow. And he's…busy. But the weapons…" Dean cringed looking at the spot where they had not retrieved their weapons, a small pile that Lilith had descended upon and crushed when she lunged for them. Not that any conventional weapon would necessarily work, or do anything to harm her.

"We can't just keep moving out of the way and hope for the best," said Sam, "There aren't any other exits. We won't be able to do anything against both of them once he's…done." Sam's lips twitched as he said that, and he turned away from the scene at the doors.

Sam and Dean both had to turn away.

Jimmy was glad he was looking at the Winchesters, and decided that if they couldn't stomach what they were seeing, he didn't want to look either.

As they stood there at a loss for how to defend themselves, Lilith was picking up speed, blades ready, monstrous form still leaking oil that seemed to cry out for a spark. If a fire started, they would burn faster than they could be crushed or sliced apart.

"Hey," said Dean, nudging both Sam and Jimmy to look at the line of bleachers along the wall behind them.

The bleachers were becoming metal too, with liberal smears of blood and sharp edges despite several missing benches. There was a panel on the other side of the room that looked like it controlled them, automating whether they were folded out or pressed against the wall.

Dean was grinning when he looked to them again. "Either of you ever see 'The Faculty'?" he said.

Jimmy wasn't even sure what Dean was referring to, but Sam looked somewhere between wary and strangely impressed.

"Good a plan as any," Dean shrugged.

"We better watch ourselves climbing through that thing," said Sam.

"Climbing…through…?" Jimmy gaped.

The brothers still had a hold of Jimmy's arms and started pulling him along behind them toward the rusty, sharp looking bleachers.

"Run…hide…you've already lost so much more than you know," came a voice that was and was not the little girl Lilith had been possessing. It echoed with something deeper, something older and not used to speaking. It made Jimmy shudder again, and he didn't want to look back and see how close she was. He didn't want to look ahead at where he was being dragged either, but somewhere in the back of his mind he was starting to understand what Dean intended to do.

Climbing through the metal bars was tedious. Falling amidst the mass of metal would slice them up as cleanly as Lilith or Pyramid Head's blades. Too firm a grip sliced Jimmy's hand clean open, but he was mildly comforted to be in the middle as they moved beneath the bleachers, somewhat shielded with Dean leading and Sam behind them.

Jimmy found himself crouching and crawling more than climbing, trying to avoid further cuts. He could hear Lilith following after them, hear the creak and crash of metal as she forced her way beneath the bleachers without a care to simple cuts. Their trek seemed endless, a labyrinth, and Lilith was gaining-somehow gaining despite being so large.

Jimmy saw when Dean finally reached the end, turning back and holding out a hand to help Jimmy free as well. The other side of the bleachers was a tight corner of the room, but from there they could reach the controls. Jimmy looked back through the bleachers to see that Sam was a ways behind them yet, having more trouble due to his extra inches in height.

Lilith was dangerously close behind him, her knives lifting above Sam's head and trying unsuccessfully to swipe downwards.

"Dean!" Sam called without looking back, "Do it!"

"But Sammy!"

"We don't know if it's even going to work! Just do it!"

Dean hesitated a moment more before lunging for the controls. There were two large black switches. Hands uncharacteristically trembling, Dean flipped one closed.

Nothing.

"Shit!"

Dean flipped both switches the other direction.

Nothing.

Dean flipped the switches back the other way and slammed his fist against the panel.

The shriek of metal was terrible.

Jimmy went nauseous at the thought of Sam getting caught, crushed by the bleachers like so much loose flesh, but when he turned back the taller Winchester was darting out of the bleachers and falling relieved against the wall.

Lilith and her overly large form was still crawling through the sharp beams of metal, the noise only growing more terrible as the bleachers began to fold up so quickly that it made Jimmy flinch and shuffle back until he ran into Dean by the controls. He exhaled when he felt Dean grab his arm. Lilith was too large to escape before she would be crushed.

"Come on!" Dean hissed, pulling Jimmy along-yet again-to get out from the corner of the bleachers. When they darted free, running until they were halfway to the other side of the gym, Dean stopped and Jimmy plowed into him, followed moments later by Sam crashing into them both. They steadied and Dean turned back to look, grimacing with such a potent expression, Jimmy wasn't really sure why he turned to look too.

With a final screech of metal, the bleachers were closed, as flat as they could be against the wall, and what remained of the god was so much more loose flesh than Jimmy had briefly imagined of a crushed Sam. There was blood and gore between every crack, pooling out onto the floor and mixing with the oil that had been seeping from the creature's skin.

And then, crawling out from amidst it all at the very end of the bleachers where Jimmy and the Winchesters had made their escape, was Lilith, the little girl, drenched in red but somehow uninjured.

Dean was still holding onto Jimmy, but made no move to pull him away this time. Lilith looked exhausted, like a human just recently vacated by a demon. Or an angel. Or any other invading thing. Jimmy couldn't help a small surge of validation in that—a demon finally feeling what it meant to be violated by something too powerful for them to comfortably contain.

Of course, Jimmy felt guilty the moment he thought of it like that, because he knew Castiel too intimately to blame the angel for needing him. He knew it wasn't the same. It was just incredibly satisfying to see Lilith looking so tired and beaten.

She couldn't move her body much further than pulling it free of the bleachers, collapsing right where she was and looking over at them with one moment of pure fury...before she grinned. Grinned, and it made Jimmy shudder deeply again. The metal had stopped shrieking, but a new sound overtook it as the little girl's voice rose in a scream and black smoke shot out of her mouth like a whirlwind.

"She's gonna be pissed," said Dean with something of a hoarse chuckle.

"Wait. Does that mean we won, or is the seal still broken?" asked Sam.

Jimmy sighed, knowing some remnants of what Castiel had learned about the seal before they entered the town. "It's safe," Jimmy said, "The seal only breaks fully if the god destroys the last of the people summoned here and moves beyond the limits of Silent Hill. Killing it should reset everything."

"Good."

After a moment, the black smoke was gone, Lilith was gone, leaving a limp body that Dean and Sam both flinched toward as if to save even though it was obvious the little girl could not still be alive.

"Dean," said Jimmy, tugging his arm that Dean was gripping so hard now it almost hurt.

"Sorry," said Dean, releasing him and grinning a little crookedly, "Guess I was returning the favor for how much you were dragging me around before. Well...not you..." he corrected himself, smile slipping and words fumbling for an apology, "I know you're not...the same, you're, you know, you, not Cas, I just..."

"Dean, it's okay, I-" And then Jimmy's eyes caught a glint of light, and he heard a renewed screech of metal. His gaze darted across the gym near the doors...where Pyramid Head was dragging his blade their direction.

"Oh fuck, I forgot about him..." gasped Dean, backing up on instinct, though the monster was a safe distance from them for now.

"Maybe we can get around him," suggested Sam, "He isn't much faster than Lilith."

"That blade has a pretty wide arch," Dean said stonily.

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't-"

"The...the sparks!" Jimmy shouted, but it was already too late by the time the words got out.

The sparks from Pyramid Head's blade being dragged along the floor ignited the oil still seeping from the beaten god. Even though most of what surrounded them was metal, still being in the Otherworld, everything the god had touched erupted in instantaneous flames.

"We have to go!" shouted Sam, "We can get around him!"

Jimmy was paralyzed again, and Dean was no better, staring wide-eyed at the creature that was and was not him. The supernaturally growing flames gleamed in his green eyes, making them look almost possessed with the bright orange tinge.

"Dean! We'll be trapped! We can run!"

The screech of Pyramid Head's blade was terribly loud, louder than the roar of sudden flames.

"Dean, please!"

Jimmy whirled on Dean, calling just as loudly, "Dean!"

Dean's enflamed eyes cleared and he blinked away the orange, looking back at Sam, and then turning to acknowledge Jimmy with eyes that were purely green. "He'd have to be light years faster to catch me," Dean said. He yanked Sam forward, pushing both Sam and Jimmy closer to the far wall and urging them to run.

They hugged the wall as they went, Jimmy trying his hardest to stay focused on Sam's back and the sound of Dean's feet behind him rather than look and see that Pyramid Head had noticed them and was lifting his blade.

"Just keep moving and when I tell you to duck, duck!" Dean shouted.

There was comfort in that too, in not having to make the decision, to think of anything other than running straight ahead and listening for Dean's voice. Jimmy didn't look at anything other than Sam's moving shoulders as they ran, he didn't think, he barely breathed-

"Duck!"

-and when Pyramid Head swung, the metal crashed against the wall just as Jimmy dove to his hands and knees as flat as he could get to the ground. He could feel Dean sprawled over his ankles, was toppled over Sam's legs himself.

"Move!" Dean's voice came again, and somehow Jimmy was able to listen, scrambling back to his feet as swiftly as Sam and Dean and continuing to run.

What remained of the other demons was a slippery mess of carnage in front of the busted open metal doors. Jimmy barely even paused. He leapt over the gore, following Sam through the doors and onward. There was only the sound of their feet, the sound of their breathing. The fire and Pyramid Head's dragging blade was growing fainter.

Then they were bursting out into the bright haze of ash before Jimmy had even realized that as the fire spread, so too was the normal world, spreading out and overtaking the Otherworld like some delayed reaction to Lilith's demise.

Jimmy didn't want to pass out. He didn't want to end up on the concrete only to wake and find that Pyramid Head or some other creature had a hold of them, or had cleaved him in two while he was sleeping.

He thought it must be adrenaline giving him just a small reprieve, and any moment he would fall, all of them would fall and be out, but the nausea and blackening of vision never came. The Otherworld was fading, parting like a curtain in front of them as they ran into the ash, just running and running down the street in the direction Jimmy knew the Impala was parked.

There had to be a way out now. They had to be able to leave. But Jimmy knew, knew from what he had learned from Castiel, how much higher the stakes really were. Maybe all they would find when they reached the car was that same drop-off cliff to nothing.

"Come on, buddy, keep up!" Dean called back, having surpassed Jimmy long ago and looking more relieved and carefree as he ran than Jimmy had seen in a long time, even running for their lives. It was as if being that close to the creature that was supposed to be him and not being overtaken had been all Dean needed to feel like he had won.

The ash was brighter when they passed the last building out of town, blinding by the time they could see the Impala forming out of the haze. It was so bright, Jimmy couldn't see.

He couldn't see anything.

And then he heard a familiar voice.

"Do you accept me back, James Novak?"

Jimmy was instantly filled with both a feeling of overwhelming relief and a small bit of disappointment. He had almost been looking forward to riding in the Impala, something simple and human. But he knew that what was needed of him was more important than his own desires.

"Yes, Castiel," he said, and as the angel took him, he thought he saw a flash of Sam and Dean's faces looking back at him curiously before his thoughts faded into dreams.

tbc...

With the multiple endings! Sorry this is going slower than I first planned, but at least it's getting done right? :-)

~Crimson