Chapter Thirty-One: Come Undone

~I'll never love nobody fully

Always one foot on the ground

But by protecting my heart truly

I get lost instead of found

And it breaks my heart~

"You mind tellin' the rest of the class what's goin' on here, Gabe?" Dean huffed as he climbed out of the driver's side of the Impala. The archangel had snapped them all back into the bunker's garage with no explanation as to why. The hinges on the car door squealed as Dean's foot pushed the door shut whilst his hands were occupied with reloading his Browning. Dean made a mental note to oil Baby's hinges sometime in the near future.

"If I knew for sure then I'd tell you!" Gabriel replied as he moved towards the door leading from the garage.

"Well, what do you think is going on?" Sam asked with only slightly more patience than his brother, his long legs easily keeping pace with the much shorter archangel as he moved towards the door.

Sam was annoyed with Gabriel's behavior and subsequent accusation of the small black-haired girl he had become rather fond of over the last week or so. Although, for the life of him, Sam couldn't figure out what exactly irked him so much about the archangel's suspicion. Hadn't he himself been suspicious of her intentions not too long ago? What was it that made Sam change his mind? He couldn't seem to recall.

"I just told you, I don't know!" Gabriel snapped. Sam, Dean, and Castiel all stopped short as Gabriel reached the door. He paused before turning around to face the others. "What are you idiots waiting for, the bouncer? Come on!"

"Yeah, no. Not till' you give us some idea about whatever you think is going on here." Dean, for one, didn't believe any of the vague worries that had come out of the shorter man's mouth.

Marty was a kid. She was a scared kid trying to make herself seem bigger than she was just so nobody would see the shattered glass and Elmer's glue that held her together inside.

What could she do to them, really? The shrimp probably didn't weigh more than ninety pounds soaking wet. Jack could probably beat her in an arm wrestle without his angel strength! And that kid was a string bean.

So what if she was a little bit psychic? The poor thing wasn't diabolical! There was nothing in this world or any other that Team Free Will 2.0 - as Dean had dubbed them - couldn't face down and come out on top. This tiny girl grey-eyed girl was no exception. Nothing was threatening about Martina Linville, not as far as Dean could tell.

"We're not going in there blind, Gabe," Sam added, his eyes hard.

Gabriel knew Sam was an open-minded person by nature. But the gentle giant's strongest weapon would always be his 'No'. Dean had inherited his father's soldier-like efficiency, but Sam had inherited his father's will. It scared him sometimes, his will was stronger than titanium and made him fear that he might someday turn out like his dad. Though Gabriel knew that was impossible, seeing that titanium in Sam's eyes made it hard to deny the family resemblance. When Sam Winchester said 'No', that meant ' No '. That was why the archangel had always favored the younger Winchester. Sam was what Gabriel could never be. Sam was simply immovable.

"Alright, fine," Gabriel reluctantly agreed, "You're probably not gonna believe me seeing as you're all rather dim but please try to use all of your brains because, for once, I'm not kidding."

"What is it that has you so frightened, Gabriel?" Cas asked, tilting his head with his eyes at three-quarters squint-power.

"Look, that hobo-kid you guys got in there, I had a little talk with her this morning, and let me tell you, she ain't your ordinary kid. That girl is clever," Gabriel explained, seriously.

"Just how clever are we talking? Is she like Kevin Tran?" Dean asked, his expression held skepticism. The archangel scoffed.

"Little Marty makes that Kevin kid look like more of a joke than he already was! You guys accidentally adopted a child prodigy," He said.

"How high is her IQ, do you think?" Sam pushed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't know! Maybe 150 or higher?" Gabe exclaimed, rolling his eyes, "What? Did the word 'Prodigy' not mean anything to you guys?"

"I just don't see what's got you so worked up! The kid's smart, okay, whatever. What's the big deal?" Dean had never seen their sort-of-almost-friend so close to actual fear before. Yet, strangely enough, Dean couldn't seem to worry about it. He knew he probably should be worried, but he wasn't, and that kind of bothered him. The vertically challenged cosmic being rounded on the older Winchester, glaring.

"The ' big deal ', Dean-o, is that I am older than this planet yet I have no idea what that child is!"

"She's... human... Right?" Sam asked glancing at the others.

"You insult me, Gigantor. If she was human, I'd know," Gabriel said, annoyed.

"Didn't you, ya know, scan her brain?" Dean asked.

"Of course, I did!" He scoffed. "I got nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Blank slate. El Blanco. Nimic. Nichego takogo. How many languages do I have to put it in for you to understand that that's not okay!"

"Kay' geez, dude. Calm down."

"You know, I scanned your brain earlier too and I could have sworn you had one. Did ya lose it sometime between now and twenty minutes ago?" The shorter man mocked.

"Alright, Gabriel. That's enough," Castiel chided. Gabriel stuck his tongue out at Dean before focusing on Cas who sighed at his behavior. For being the oldest entity in the room, Gabriel sure was childish. "Do you have any ideas about what Martina could be? Any at all?"

"I've got three."

"What are they?" Sam asked.

"Bad. All of 'em. Very, very bad," Gabriel answered, darkly, turning around and opening the door.

"So, if you're right?" Dean pressed.

"Pray I'm wrong."

"But if you're not..." Cas's voice trailed off. The archangel chuckled.

"The three of you and my nephew think you've faced threats. Well, let me tell you - if that itty-bitty little girl is any of the things I think she might be - our entire reality is in for a world of hurt. You think you've faced threats," The cosmic being shook his head, laughing despite the fear clenching his chest like a vice, "Believe me. You don't know the meaning of the word."

Gabriel pushed his way through the door and entered the bunker leaving a very confused Sam, Dean, and Castiel in his wake. They glanced at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Sam was the first to follow Gabriel into the bunker, followed quickly by his brother and their angel.

"Alrighty. Where's the little creep?" Gabriel rubbed his hands together, quickly descending the stairs as if he hadn't just dropped a metaphorical bomb five seconds ago.

Dean listened for any signs of where the two children might be, they were always laughing when they were around each other, but now he met with only silence. The bunker was empty and quiet. Eerily quiet. Deathly quiet.

"JACK! MARTY! WE'RE BACK!" He called.

Nothing but nothing.

"Huh, weird," He said, growing weary. "I'll call her." Dean dialed Marty's number, straining his ears to hear the ring.

'DA, DA, DADADADA, DA, DA, CIRCUS! DA, DA, DADADADA, DA, DA, AFRO! CIRCUS AFRO! CIRCUS AFRO! POKA-DOT, POKA-DOT, POKA-DOT, AFRO!'

"Of course, that's her ring-tone," Dean sighed, gritting his teeth. Jack had been humming that song from Madagascar 3 for a week straight after watching it a few months back. The song still haunted Dean's dreams. The painfully annoying noise was coming from directly beneath them. Marty's phone lay ringing on the glowey table at the center of the war room, its owner nowhere to be found.

' DA, DA, DADADA-'

Dean hung up the phone.

"Um...Dean?" Sam called from the bottom of the stairwell.

"I know, Sam. I heard it." The elder Winchester didn't notice the waver in his brother's tone as he waved him off, descending the rest of the way down the stairs.

"No, I-I know. Not that." Sam stood frozen in his place at the foot of the stairs with Gabriel right beside him, staring through the doorway to the library. Sam grabbed his brother by his shoulder and pointed towards where he was looking. "Dean, look."

"Holy..." Dean's voice trailed off as he took in the sight before him.

The library was trashed, to say the least. Tables were flipped and chairs were splintered, books and papers were scattered across every surface, the lights that hadn't exploded flickered on and off, and shards of broken glass were strewn about in all the places most likely to cut one's foot open. But the newest and most notable feature of the room was the puddles of crimson blood staining the hardwood floor. There was quite a bit of blood, even by Dean's standards.

Gabriel let out a whistle that sounded like it was caught somewhere between sounding appreciative and sounding terrified. "Damn!"

Dean strode across the war room and into the library, taking a closer look at the damage. Now he could see the bloody handprints decorating the floor alongside the dark red puddles. He turned to others who had followed him, addressing Gabriel.

"If Marty is whatever you think she is, could she have done this?"

"Nah, don't think so." Gabe shook his head. "However, this one screams Jack to me, just sayin'. Don't shoot the messenger." He held his hands up defensively.

"Dean, remember what we heard when Marty called?" Sam reminded his brother.

"Yeah, you're right," Dean agreed. That explained the destruction and the lights. He pointed to the floor. "So... who's blood is that?"

Gabriel shrugged and bent down. Dipping a finger in a pool of blood, he examined it before sticking his finger in his mouth and licking the blood off. Sam and Dean cringed at the sight but, luckily for them, Gabriel spat the blood back on the floor instead of swallowing it.

"I have good news and bad news!" He announced, "The good news is - it's not Jack's blood!"

"Then who's is it?" Cas asked, his brows drawing together as he folded his arms across his chest.

"And that's the bad news! I have no idea."

"Human?" Cas pressed.

"Yup."

"B-but it's not Marty's right? Jack didn't, uh, hurt her?" Sam worried. Gabriel only shrugged.

"Well, unless you guys have a camera in here I don't think there's a way to know what happened," He said.

"Unless somebody else does..." Sam muttered under his breath.

"What?" Sam ignored Gabriel's question.

"W-well, Marty's brother! He would have been here right?" Sam asked the group. Dean could see where this was going.

"Sam, no. We can't trust that thing. He could be downright nuts for all we know!"

"Wait-wait. Brother? Are you guys an orphanage now, or what?" Gabriel was once again ignored.

"Shut up, Dean. He's our best shot."

"No!"

"ISAAC!" Sam shouted.

"Cut it out, Sammy!"

"ISSAC LINVILLE! ARE YOU HERE?" He tried again.

"What in the Sammy Hill is he doing?" Gabe asked, leaning over to Cas.

"Martina's brother is a ghost. He's bound to her in some way we haven't figured out," Cas answered.

"Oh... So, that's what that meant." The archangel nodded to himself.

"Yeah, he appeared to us once, but Marty says she can see him. Like, all the time." Sam said, taking, notice of the conversation.

Gabriel's face paled. "Damn it."

"Whoa, whoa, wait. What's ' Damn it '?" Dean asked, whirling to face Gabriel with wide eyes.

"You know what I said about having three ideas?"

"Yeah?"

"Make it two."

"Damn it."

"Where's Isaac?" Cas wondered, his eyes searching for a ghost in the library.

"I dunno," Sam shrugged before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting louder. "ISAAC? WE JUST WANNA TALK! ARE YOU THERE? CAN YOU-"

Without warning, a thick, heavy, red leather-bound book flew from one of the library's shelves and smacked Sam directly in the face.

"Ooh, straight in the schnoz," Gabriel hissed his sympathy. Dean simply chuckled.

"Guess that's a ' yes '," He laughed, shaking his head.

A thicker, heavier book then collided with Dean's stomach, sending him hunching over. Dan stopped laughing.

"Gabe, can you - I dunno - give Isaac a whiteboard or something?" Sam asked, pinching his nose to stem the blood trickling from it.

"Sure thing, Sammy!" Gabriel snapped and a whiteboard appeared on the only table left standing on its legs, a black marker sitting beside it.

It didn't take long for the whiteboard to rise into the air, facing away from them as if someone was holding it. The marker rose as well, un-capping itself with a quiet click. A squeaking noise came from the board as the tip of the marker moved against it, spelling out words letter by letter. The four men stood, waiting anxiously for what the ghost would write. After a few moments of writing, the ghost flipped the whiteboard around, revealing to them his answer.

KACHIGA , MY FELLOW DOUCHEBAGS

"Well, that's nice," Dean sighed, frowning.

The writing on the board was clear and easy to read. At least the kid, or whatever he was, had good penmanship.

I BID YOU GREETINGS IN THE WAY OF MY PEOPLE

Gabriel grinned. "I like this kid."

THANKS, YOU SUCK.

"Isaac? Is that you?" Sam asked, trying to be serious.

IN THE NON-COPREAL FLESH

"Do you know what happened here? Where are Jack and Marty?" Sam asked the ghost.

PROBABLY MAKING OUT IN THE WOODS SOMEWHERE
I DON'T KNOW

"That's just nasty!" Dean said, "Did anybody order a pedophile?"

"But wait, who's side would that be pedophilia on?" Gabe wondered.

BOTH

"I'm gonna throw up," Dean declared, actually looking a little green.

BIG MOOD

This conversation clearly wasn't going anywhere so Gabriel decided to step forward and ask the ghost a question of his own.

"So, Casper, did you hear me and your sister talking this morning?"

I HEAR EVERYTHING

"Well, that's cryptic," Cas muttered, off-hand. But the ghost wasn't done.

I ALSO HATE EVERYTHING BUT, YOU KNOW, NOBODY CARES ABOUT THAT.

Dean huffed, throwing his hands into the air. "Great, he's dead and depressed."

I MEAN ITS ALWAYS 'WHERE ARE YOU ISAAC ?' BUT ITS NEVER 'HOW ARE YOU, ISAAC?' LIKE, DOES ANYBODY EVEN CARE?

"Must be hard," Dean said, sarcastically. He turned to the others. "Told you guys he's nuts."

I LIKE NUTS!

"Good for you!" Dean replied, rolling his eyes. Gabriel snickered.

"So does Dean."

"Really, man?"

DATE ME!

"Okay, first off, I'm not gay."

I AM!

"Second, you're dead!"

AND READY TO MINGLE!

"Just stop."

CAN YOU FEEL IT MR. CRABS?

"You make me wanna die."

I KNOW I DO ;-)

"Could you get any more annoying?" Dean sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

YES

"Really? I dare you!" Gabriel challenged, enjoying the chaos.

The black marker squealed faster against the whiteboard.

ALRIGHT THEN.
LETS START WITH PLAID.

WHO WEARS PLAID? IT IS ONE OF THE GROSSEST INVENTIONS IN HISTORY. THE ONLY EXCUSE YOU HAVE TO WEAR PLAID IS IF YOU HAVE A FULL BEARD AND A HELLA BIG AXE. I MEAN, HAVE YOU EVER HAD A GIRL OR EVEN A GUY? OF COURSE YOU HAVEN'T, LOOK AT YOU! THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS EVEN THE SLIGHTESTDRIP HERE IS THE ANGEL GUY, AND HE DOESN'T EVEN WEAR HIS CLOTHES RIGHT! AT LEAST HE WEARS A TRENCH COAT...

"Whoa..." Gabriel was considering taking some lessons from this kid, but the ghost wasn't done.

AND WHILE WE ARE ON THIS TOPIC, WHAT IS WITH THE ANNOYING KID MY SISTER IS WITH? THE UNIVERSE COULD HAVE CHOSEN ANYONE TO CAST AS A WALKING APOCALYPSE AND IT CHOSE HIM? DAMN, MUST HAVE HAD A SERIOUS TRASH TV SERIES LEVEL BUDGET... I MEAN, COULD HAVE BEEN A HOT RYAN REYNOLDS OR SCARLETT JOHANSSON. BUT, NO. WE GOT THAT. THAT ! I MEAN, SERIOUSLY! LIKE, ' WHYHELLO THERE, TOOTH GAP!' COULD THE UNIVERCE HAVE CHOSEN A DUMBER LOOKING DORK? I KNOW MY SIS WAS BLIND MOST OF HER LIFE BUT SHE AINT NO MORE SO THE GIRL MUST BE PLAYIN' SOME GAME CAUSE I DON'T SEE ANYTHING THERE!

AND ANOTHER THING, IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE SUCH HORRENDOUS ATTACHEMENT ISSUES YOU COULD GET YOURSELF A LESS TRASH OR EVEN, GOD FORBID, A DECENTCAR THAT DOESN'T SMELL LIKE A WET SOCK THAT HAS BEEN WORN AEOUND FOR 12 DAYS STRAIGHT. YOU KNOW, I SMELLED BETTER A COUPLE OF MONTHS AFTER I DIED!

MAYBE INSTEAD OF NAMING YOUR CAR 'BABY' YOU SHOULD HAVE NAMED IT 'DONKEY' CAUSE IT SMELLS LIKE -$-$

"OKAY, NOW THAT'S TOO FAR! YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU SON OF A-"

A quiet voice interrupted Dean's rant.

"I heard shouting, is everything okay?" Marty asked, standing timid in the doorway to the library. Everyone in the room turned to stare at her and she shrank away from their gaze. "I'm sorry, I-I didn't know you guys were back," She said in a whisper, her eyes drifting to her feet.

"Martina, where is Jack?" Castiel nearly growled, pushed forward by the anger and worry flaring in his chest. Marty scrambled back a bit, frightens by his sudden hostility towards her.

"He-he's in his room! He's asleep!" She said, defensively.

"Oh, yeah?" Gabriel challenged. 'Go ahead, lie. I dare you.' His eyes seemed to say. Marty's face hardened a little and she stood up a bit straighter.

"He is. You can go check. But then again, you'd actually have to care about him to do that," She spat.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Sam asked, confusion written in the frown wrinkles forming on his forehead. The girl laughed but it was bitter.

"You know, for claiming to be his family, you guys really don't know anything about Jack," Marty seethed, shaking her head and growing more upset.

"Oh, and what? You do?" Dean scoffed.

"I do."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and you would too if you actually paid him just a lick of attention," She stated, glaring at him. Her eyes, which, Cas noticed, were already red from crying were now brimming with tears.

"What happened with Jack, Martina? Why are you crying?" Cas asked, speaking gentler now. Marty glared at him.

"Did you know that your surrogate son goes for a knife when he's sad? Because he does. Did you know that, Castiel?"

Cas couldn't speak. Sam and Dean were frozen too. Dean had only known about that first time. He hadn't even stopped to wonder if Jack had actually heeded his order to stop.

"Jack- H-he was gonna cut himself up 'cause of what he did. I stopped him." Marty's eyes drifted away. "He said he was evil. He said deserved to hurt!" Marty looked back up at the others, seeming, so small.

"Why would you let him think that?! How could you? And then you have the audacity to start accusing me as if I did something wrong. As if I'm the one who hurt him." Marty shook her head, her expression was one of sheer disgust.

"We didn't-" Cas tried to speak but Marty cut him off.

"You're right. You didn't. You didn't help him. You should all be ashamed of yourselves," She said before turning on her heel and rushing down the hall towards her room.

The white-board squealed.

WHAT SHE SAID

The cap clicked onto the marker and both objects dropped to the ground. Halfway down the hall, Marty threw her hands in the air.

"Well good for them!" She yelled. The others all knew who she was talking to. There was a pause as she continued towards her room. "Does it look like I care?!" Another pause. Then she threw her head back and laughed in an angry sort of way. "Uh, huh. Yeah, good luck with that one!"

Marty reached her door and threw it open before storming inside and slamming the door behind her.

Gabriel was the first to speak.

"You guys fell for that pretty fast."

Sam turned to face him, looking at the archangel like he was crazy.

"Still think she's some evil cosmic being there, Gabe?" He asked.

"I think that girl is taking you all for fools. When I talked to her, she was cold, calculating, and nearly emotionless. That? That was an act," Gabriel said. Sam shook his head and sighed, he didn't believe him.

"I'm going to bed," He declared, yawning. Then he turned and followed after Marty. Gabriel rounded on the other two, focusing on Castiel.

"You don't have to believe me, Cassie. Martina Linville is not what she claims. If anything about that kid rubs you the wrong way, anything at all, you tell me."

Then, with a nod, the archangel was gone again.

"I think we're gonna have to have a talk with our kid's in the morning," Dean sighed, patting Castiel on the shoulder before moving to follow Sam and Marty's path to bed.

"Dean, Martina is not ' our kid ' this was only temporary. We agreed on that, remember?" Cas called after him. Dean cast the angel a look over his shoulder.

"No, Cas. She was there for Jack when we weren't. She fixed him when we couldn't. After what she did for Jack - for us - I think that makes her family."

Then, Dean walked off to bed, leaving Castiel to stand there alone, torn between the two sides of his family.

~I'll never love nobody fully

Always one foot on the ground

But by protecting my heart truly

I got lost instead of found

And it breaks my heart~

Lyrics from: Fidelity by Jasmine Thompson