A/N: The song for this chapter is Jambi by Tool. I don't know why but this is one of my very favorite songs by them so I knew I wanted to try and work it in somewhere.
Chapter 14: Up to My Neck
Here from the king's mountain view
Here from the wild dream come true
Feast like a sultan, I do
On treasures and flesh never few
But I, I would wish it all away
If I thought I'd lose you just one day
The devil and his had me down
In love with the dark side I'd found
Dabblin' all the way down
Up to my neck, soon to drown
But you changed that all for me
Lifted me up, turned me round
So I...I...I...I
I would...I would...I would
Wish this all away
Prayed like a martyr dusk to dawn
Begged like a hooker all night long
Tempted the devil with my song
And got what I wanted all along
But I...And I would...If I could...And I would
Wish it away...Wish it away...Wish it all away…Wanna wish it all away
No prize that could hold sway
Or justify my giving away my center
So if I could I'd wish it all away
If I thought tomorrow would take you away
You, my peace of mind, my all, my center
Just trying to hold on one more day
Damn my eyes! / Damn my eyes!
Damn my eyes if they should compromise the fulcrum
Wants and needs divide me then I might as well be gone
Shine on forever
Shine on, benevolent sun
Shine down upon the broken
Shine until the two become one
Shine on forever
Shine on, benevolent sun
Shine down upon the severed
Shine until the two become one
Divided, I'll wither away
Divided, I'll wither away
Shine down upon the many
Light our way, benevolent sun
Breathe in union
So as one survive
Another day and season
Silence, legion, save your poison
Silence, legion, stay out of my way
While Alex drove, Ty stared idly out the window, rubbing at her earlobe while she thought. She had a feeling that everything that was going on recently was all connected to this thing about Lucifer and the Seals: Lilith, Melchiresa, creepy-ass angels, bodies with their eyes burned out, all of it. What she didn't understand and what she felt was the key to figuring out their next move was what exactly the Seals were. From what Dean had related to them earlier, it sounded like they were some kind of wards that kept Lucifer locked away and since the first one had required getting John in Hell, it seemed like they weren't just physical objects, like locks on a cage. It seemed more like they were actions or events, maybe. But how could they figure out what they were ahead of time so they could try and stop them from happening? And how many were there anyway?
"Hey, Alex?" she asked, almost startling her partner after her long silence.
Alex leaned forward and turned down the radio a bit, "Yeah?"
"Dean said that the demon told him that if Lucifer gets free it's the end of the world, right?"
"Uh, yeah. Apocalypse now, I guess." Alex confirmed.
Ty nodded slowly and lapsed back into silent thought. Alex frowned, "What are you thinking?"
Rather than explain her half-formed idea, Ty asked another question, "You got a bible in the truck somewhere?"
Still confused, Alex gestured vaguely, "Yeah, somewhere. Try the glove box or under the seat. I hope you're not about to tell me our only hope is prayer or something."
Ty made a face at him, "Yeah, I'm trying to figure out what Jesus would do. No, you idiot. I'm thinking if we're dealing with the end of the world and we've already got bodies of angels and demons showing up, maybe there's something in Revelations that might give us a clue about the Seals."
"Oh. Huh. Yeah, good idea." Alex admitted. He dredged up his memory of Revelations while Ty looked for the book, "It does talk about signs of the Apocalypse. You don't think...could the signs be Seals?"
Ty's response was muffled as she was bent over awkwardly while she fished around under the seat, "That was kind of my hunch. God, when is the last time you cleaned your car?"
"I don't think you want to know." Alex answered honestly.
Ty reemerged from digging under the seat, an old bible in one hand, frowning at the mysterious sticky substance that had gotten on the other. She briefly debated wiping her hand off on Alex's shirt since it was undoubtedly his fault, but decided they still had too long to go before reaching Bobby's to start another fight. She reluctantly wiped her hand off on her jeans before cracking open the scuffed up leather bible. Ty scanned rapidly through the Book of Revelations until she found the section she wanted. She frowned as she read the passages. Of course, nothing was spelled out clearly, but it seemed like the general gist of this was more colossally bad news.
"So?" Alex asked after a few minutes.
Ty shook her head, "Not sure. We need to talk it out with Bobby, maybe compare a couple of translations, but overall I'm thinking...well, I'm thinking I hope I'm wrong."
"Great." Alex drawled sarcastically. He pressed his foot down a little more on the gas. He hoped that maybe Bobby would have the answers, but he also had a sinking feeling that even if he did, they wouldn't be good because they were up to their necks in it.
Meanwhile in the Impala, even with the music on, the silence between the brothers was practically palpable. Dean had considered breaking the silence and demanding Sam explain to him where he got off keeping something like this from him. But then he had stubbornly decided that if one of them should have to break the stalemate, it should be Sam since he was the one in the wrong. Similarly, Sam was stewing on his side of the car thinking that Dean was being a colossal jackass for acting like he'd done something wrong. To begin with, he wasn't lying when he said this was the first vision he'd had since that whole ordeal with the other "special children," no matter what Dean thought. Of course, he wasn't being completely honest with Dean about his powers, but it wasn't as if Dean didn't keep things from him all the time. In fact, Sam would hardly be surprised if there were things Dean was keeping from him even now for "his own good." So, if Dean was waiting for an apology, he could just keep on waiting.
The standoff lasted for hours. Winchesters were nothing if not stubborn, after all. But finally, sometime after they'd crossed the border into South Dakota, Dean couldn't take it anymore. The anger got the better of him and, before he even knew what he was doing, he jabbed at the stereo, shutting the music off abruptly.
"Okay, that's it. What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded.
Sam stared at him incredulously, "What?"
"You heard me." Dean snapped, "We're dealing with Lilith trying to set the actual devil loose, literally the end of the freaking world, and you think now is the time to pull a stunt like this?"
"Pull a stunt…" Sam repeated like he couldn't believe his ears, "I told you I haven't had any visions since..."
"Damn it, Sam!" Dean interrupted, in no mood to hear any more excuses, "This isn't just about the visions. You've been acting weird since...since you came back. First, you're teaming up with demons. Then, you're all gungho on killing people. Now you've got the freaky psychic stuff starting up again. So, what the hell is going on?"
Sam blinked in surprise at Dean's outburst and for a moment he saw himself in the mirror again, blood staining his face. He quickly shook his head, dispelling the memory. He reminded himself that everything he was doing was to protect his family, including keeping Dean out of it. No matter what Dean thought.
"Me?" Sam scoffed, deflecting, "What about you? You've been off since Dad died! Half the time you pretend like nothing's wrong, like you don't even care that Lilith wants you dead, and the other half of the time you're flying off the handle, like you're seeing red or something."
Dean bristled at the mention of their dad and almost snapped back at Sam, but caught himself, thinking better of it. He glanced over at him, then turned his eyes back to the road before he replied.
"Fine. We're both screwed up." he said, anger and frustration still heavy in his voice, "But I need you to promise me something."
"O...kay?" Sam replied hesitantly, uncertain about this new tack his brother was taking.
Dean glanced at him once more and the seriousness in his expression made Sam sit up straighter. He waited impatiently as Dean swallowed hard before he finally continued.
"I need you to promise me that you won't do anything stupid to try and save me this time. And I need you to keep Ty out of trouble, too. I tried to talk to her, but...well, it was a no-go." Dean shook his head, "Don't tell her about this, either. She...uh...she wouldn't take it very well."
Sam found he was actually speechless. He stared at Dean in disbelief. No wonder he'd seen Ty yelling and crying like that. That must have been when Dean tried to convince her to just let him get killed. Well, obviously she hadn't gone for that and there was no way in hell that Sam would either.
"No. No way, Dean. I'm not promising you that." he finally answered.
"Sam." Dean said firmly, "I'm not taking no for an answer. Dad made a deal for you. I'm not letting you throw that away."
"I'm saving you, Dean! Whatever it takes, I'm going to do it." Sam insisted.
"No, you're not." Dean growled back and, before he could stop himself, words he hadn't meant to share escaped, "'Cause if you think I want to still be breathing while you're not...no. I can't take that again."
"And what? You think I'm going to be fine without you? Dean, Dad is dead because of me. And now you want me to just stand by and let you go, too? That's bullshit!" Sam snapped, his hands balling into fists as if he was prepared to beat some sense into his brother if necessary.
"Well, tough, 'cause that's how it's going to be." Dean snapped back.
"God, you are so freaking selfish. Did you forget how you felt about that Reaper taking that guy instead of you, 'cause I was there. I remember. You were all twisted up about it. Now you and Dad are doing the same thing to me."
Dean just shrugged, "Okay, you're right. It's selfish. But I'm okay with that."
"I'm not." Sam replied stiffly, "And what, I'm supposed to just go along with this because you said so?"
"Yes, because I said so!" Dean yelled in exasperation. God, why had he thought Sam would be any easier to talk to than Ty had been? Why did they have to make this so hard? Couldn't they see that he was doing what was best for everybody? Even if Ty was right and they would have a hard time dealing with his death, it was still better to just lose him than all of them.
"Well, you're not Dad!" Sam growled. He was beyond pissed now. He was doing everything he could think of to try and save him and now Dean was acting like he didn't even want to be saved! And to top it off, he thought he could just bark orders at him like their dad did...well, he'd never been much for obeying orders even when they had come from John.
The brothers glared at each other silently for a moment before Dean continued fiercely, "No, but I am the oldest and I'm doing what's best. So you're going to let this go, you understand me?"
Sam continued to glare angrily at his brother, swearing in his mind that he might let the argument go, but he would never let Dean go. Resolved that he would just have to continue his efforts to save Dean in secret, he crossed his arms and turned back to face the passenger window.
Dean forced his hands to unclench from the steering wheel, figuring brooding silence was the best he was going to get from Sam. He tried to focus on driving, but then realized that somehow Sam had managed to derail their conversation from where it had started and he had never given him a halfway decent answer for what was up with him. There had to be a reason his psychic shit was starting up again. Maybe it had something to do with Lilith and the Seals, although he couldn't imagine how. Well, it was pointless trying to talk to him about it now. Grumbling to himself, he decided it was just another thing he'd have to ask for Bobby's advice on when they reached him. That in mind, Dean pressed down harder on the gas, anxious to get this road trip over with.
When the two pairs of hunters arrived at Singer Salvage Yard, there was already an older model GMC pickup with a camper parked in front. Ty eyed it curiously as Alex parked next to it. Alex caught her gaze and nodded towards the vehicle.
"Ellen and Jo," he explained, recognizing the vehicle from his time at the Roadhouse.
Ty nodded back her understanding and jumped out of the truck to head inside. She was anxious to see Bobby, to talk out everything they had learned. Right now it felt like supernatural problems were coming out of the woodwork (not to mention all the personal drama) and it felt so overwhelming it was hard to even wrap her head around it all, much less get a handle on what to do next. She needed Bobby's steady, pragmatic guidance to try and unravel it, figure out a plan of attack. Really, she just felt like she needed Bobby, period. He'd become such a steadfast, dependable figure in her life even when everything else went to hell.
"Bobby!" she called as she strode in the front door, "Your favorite wayward house-guest has returned!"
"You just missed him." Ellen answered as she entered the living room from the kitchen, "Left a few hours ago for Pittsburgh."
Ty froze in her tracks. As glad as she was to see the older woman, she'd been counting on being greeted by Bobby's surly countenance. She tried to cover her disappointment by asking, "Pittsburgh? Why?"
"Got a call from some professor he knows that needed help while we were on the job a few days ago. I guess he just got wind that the professor didn't make it. He went to check it out, but said we should stay here and wait for you." Ellen explained. She raised an eyebrow at Ty, "Apparently you lot have a knack for stepping in it."
"You can say that again." Alex agreed, moving past Ty and giving Ellen a hug, "Hey, Ellen. Good to see you're okay."
Ellen gave a rare smile and hugged him back, "Good to see you, too, Alex. I'm glad you weren't there. Lost a lot of good hunters at the Roadhouse."
Alex nodded somberly, but tried to lighten the mood by remarking, "Yeah, for once this one dragged me out of trouble."
"Hey." Ty protested indignantly, crossing her arms and glaring at her partner. Alex just grinned back.
"Ellen?" Sam asked as he entered the room.
"Sam." Ellen greeted, giving the tall, young hunter another hug, "Where's that trouble-making brother of yours?"
"Hey, I'm a delight." Dean protested as he joined them, also greeting Ellen with a quick hug, "Where's Bobby and Jo?"
"Bobby's on another job." Ellen said shortly. She gestured behind her to the kitchen, "Jo's got food. Figured with you boys showing up we'd better order something."
Alex immediately started for the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, "You're the best, Ellen. Tiger wouldn't even let me stop for snacks."
"Whatever." Ty grumbled, following him.
Everyone was soon gathered in the kitchen where Jo had multiple boxes of pizza spread out on the table. The room felt cramped with six hunters filling the space so Ty moved over to press close to Dean on one side of the room.
"Hey," she said softly so her voice wouldn't reach the others, "everything okay with Sam?"
"Oh, fabulous." Dean grumbled sarcastically, grabbing a slice of pizza and taking an aggressive bite.
Well, that was a clear indication that she shouldn't pry open that can of worms. Resisting the urge to sigh, Ty reached forward to grab a slice for herself, wishing that for once things could just be simple. Hell, at this point, she would even be happy with one less problem on their plates, but it certainly seemed like the universe was not inclined to indulge her. Frowning at that thought, her eyes wandered while she ate. But her roving gaze screeched to an abrupt halt when she caught sight of something strange.
'What is happening there?' she wondered, eyes widening in surprise.
It was subtle, but the way Alex was sort of grinning at Jo, his body language, the way his arm brushed hers when they both reached for a slice at the same time causing them to exchange a quick glance made her think that something was going on between the two. Unfortunately, before she could think too much about it, Ellen brought her attention back to the real reason they were here.
"So if demons hadn't just burned down my bar, I'd have said Bobby was being a paranoid bastard, but he insisted we don't talk about anything anywhere but in his warded bunker, just to be safe." she advised before anyone could say anything, "I'm sick to death of waiting, so let's get moving."
She didn't wait for a response, but started towards the basement stairs. The others only paused a moment before following. Ty followed Dean's example, grabbing a slice to go. She noticed Alex duck back into the living room rather than heading for the stairs.
"Alex?" she asked, "You coming?"
"Grabbing a bible." he called back to her, "Be down in a sec."
Ty nodded in understanding. In short order, they were all gathered again, but this time in Bobby's panic room. Ty glanced around at the space, unsurprised. She'd never been down here before and she hadn't known it existed, but it was just like Bobby to do something like this. The old codger probably had multiple secret underground bunkers he just hadn't told her about.
Ellen shut the heavy iron door, sealing them off, before she turned to face them, "Alright, what the hell is going on?"
Alex and the Winchesters explained everything they knew so far to the Harvelle women, but Ty continued wandering around the room, examining the contents, while her mind turned over everything the boys were describing. She again wished Bobby was here as she perused the things Bobby had selected to put in the room. The Devil's Trap across the floor, the sigils on the walls, the bookcase full of dusty, old tomes, even the messy desk were all just so Bobby. She supposed the poster of the woman in the swimsuit was Bobby, too, but for her own sanity she chose not to dwell on that.
Ty spotted a pen and some post-it notes on the desk and grabbed them, an idea popping into her head. She crossed the room again to an expanse of empty wall just as Alex was moving to lay the Bible open on the desk for the others to look at while he explained her hunch about the signs in Revelations and their relation to the Seals.
"But, you know, the Bible was written by a bunch of men so it's probably like 90% wrong." Ty cautioned absently from the other side of the room where she was scribbling on the post-it notes and slapping them on the wall, only half paying attention to their conversation while most of her mind was focused on the task in front of her.
The three men in the room straightened from their positions around the desk and turned to look at her, their faces sharing indignant expressions. Jo, on the other hand, grinned.
"I'm starting to like her." Ellen commented.
"What are you even doing?" Dean asked, brow furrowed as he looked at the growing mass of yellow squares clinging to the salted iron walls. He moved closer so he could make out Ty's neat, printed writing.
"Thinking." Ty replied simply, slapping another post-it up, then taking a step back to scowl speculatively at the wall.
Since Bobby wasn't here to help her sort this all out, this was the best alternative she could think of: jotting down all the major developments and trying to figure out how everything fit together. She had put up notes labeled "Melchiresa," "Lilith," and "Lucifer," then figured she needed to go back even further. Lilith (and Melchiresa) had escaped from the Devil's Gate and opening it had been a part of Azazel's plan, so somehow this traced all the way back to that Yellow-Eyed bastard. So, Ty had added two more notes labeled "Devil's Gate" and "Azazel" off to the left. Between the notes for Lilith and Lucifer, she added one that read "Seals." So, she now had a direct line between Azazel and Lucifer, but she still wasn't sure about how the rest of it fit in. It didn't seem like Melchiresa was working with Lilith so she had put the post-it for her off by itself. She also wasn't sure where the post-it labeled "Angels" fit in, although she was sure it was related to the Seals and Lucifer, so she had placed it in the vicinity of those two. She'd also added a post-it labeled "Plans for Sam?" just below the Azazel-Devil's Gate-Lilith-Seals-Lucifer line and another labeled "Bounty on Dean?" below that. Her final addition had been a note labeled "Visions" that she had stuck next to the one for angels. Overall, the shitstorm collage, as she'd internally dubbed it, looked slightly insane, but she figured at least she didn't have pins connected by string leading from one thing to the next.
'Course if I'd had pins and string…' Ty mused absently, before discarding the thought, focusing instead on her attempt to organize the chaos they'd found themselves in.
"Is this what the inside of your head looks like?"
Alex's voice behind her made Ty jump in surprise. She was further shocked to find that she had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed that everyone had walked over to look at her work. Frowning at Alex, she snapped back a little peevishly, annoyed that he'd startled her, "Of course not. This is way more organized."
Dean snorted in amusement, but Ty was distracted by Sam stepping forward to touch the note regarding his visions. He glanced from the post-it and its position in her creation over towards her, "You think the vision is related to the Seals?"
Ty shrugged, "Maybe. I mean, we know it's related to angels, obviously, and I figure the angels have to be related to Lilith trying to spring Lucifer so…"
"Huh." Sam said as he thought that over.
"Great." Dean chipped in, flippantly, "Maybe for the next one you could just get a list: these are the Seals and here's how to keep the demons from breaking them?"
"Yeah, sure, I'll work on that." Sam replied dryly.
Ty was about to interject before the brothers worked themselves up into another argument, but Jo saved her the trouble.
"Well, now we know why they took out Ash." she commented, "He's the only one I know who could figure this out and have a shot at cracking what the Seals are, or at least tracking demonic activity on that scale."
"Hey, that's not a bad idea." Alex nodded thoughtfully, "I mean, I'm no Ash, but maybe if we can find some kind of pattern or concentration of activity, it will give us a clue as to what to do next."
Jo smiled, brightening at the idea of something to do, "I'll help. I've listened to Ash's technobabble for long enough. Maybe something wore off."
Ellen, on the other hand, was frowning, her arms crossed over her chest, "I don't know. Doesn't seem like you'll get an internet signal down here and digging around into this is what got Ash killed."
Jo's eyes hardened a bit and her lips tightened into a thin line of annoyance at her mother's objection, but Ty had to admit Ellen had a point. The last thing they needed was to bring a demon storm down on Bobby's place. The target on their backs was big enough as it was and she had no desire to test the defenses Bobby had put around his home.
"If we keep the searches simple, like normal Hunter stuff, it shouldn't raise any flags." Sam mused, "We'll just have to keep all direct digging into Seals and Lucifer old school, off-line and only in the panic room."
"Alright." Ellen finally agreed, unfolding her arms and moving to the door, opening it back up.
The others started heading back upstairs, but Ty noticed Dean had been pretty quiet and was still staring at her post-it wall. She lingered behind with him, waiting until the others had all left the room.
"Something on your mind?" she ventured.
Dean glanced at her briefly before fixing his gaze back on the wall, but even in that brief moment she could see the anxiety in his eyes, the angry set of his jaw. It made her hands unconsciously ball into fists, like she wanted to punch whatever was making him feel that way.
"Tell me." she urged.
Dean heaved an aggravated sigh before he answered, "I just hate how we're ten steps behind without a clue. Just point me at the thing we need to kill already."
Ty nodded in understanding and slowly stepped closer. Since there was nothing she could fight for him just yet, and that was in fact the problem, she settled for sliding her arm around his waist and pressing gently into his side, hoping she could offer him some comfort at least, "I get it. It's driving me nuts, too."
Dean's lips quirked upwards a little and some of the usual humor returned to his eyes as he muttered, "Short drive."
Ty elbowed him in the ribs for the comment, but smiled, pleased and relieved to see him acting more like himself. She turned to head for the door, but paused to look back over her shoulder at him, "Come on. If we don't get back up there, Sam and Alex will eat all the pizza and I know you're still hungry."
"Good point." Dean agreed, following after her. But he paused once more before he left the room, his eyes going back to the post-its once more. An idea was forming in the back of his mind and he could already tell it was a colossally bad one, reckless and dangerous, probably in his top ten worst. He just wished he wasn't already certain he was going to try it.
