Chapter Two

~Kansas, 2018~

The files from Dr. Bates consisted mostly of things Sam had already learned about Darkiplier. Fan theories from the internet. Not all of which were true. But since Bates had spent time with Dark on a personal level, she knew a bit more than the fans did. And even with all she knew, she still followed him. If only she had known Dark would eventually betray her.

"She knew Crowley," Castiel said, breaking the silence. They had been reading through the files for nearly an hour. Sam had been surprised by the amount of information. "Apparently he sought her out, not Dark."

"He did say he knew Dark," Sam said, though they had known at the time that Crowley hadn't been telling the truth about Dark. "Crowley also said that he let Dark out into the world. Out of everything he told us about Dark, that rang the most true."

"If Dark has this World Between Worlds to travel with, how did he get caught by Crowley?"

"Always knew Crowley knew more than he let on," Sam said and left the thought at that. With Crowley dead, there was nothing more they could learn from him. It hadn't been important enough at the time after everything that been happening back then.

Sam looked back down at the papers in front of him and they read in silence for the next few minutes. Again, Castiel was the one to break the silence.

"There's more to those symbols than I thought," Cas said, sounding worried now. Sam looked up as Castiel came around the table with his papers. He placed them down in front of Sam.

The symbols Sam had seen in his dream stared back up at him. Along with a way to decipher it. Bates had added notes of her own, all in Korean. Sam picked up the papers, reading over it all.

"There's a lot more to Dark than we thought," Cas said. "Probably more than even he knows."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked. He looked up at Castiel. "Do you know what these symbols mean?"

Castiel nodded. "I didn't at first," he said. "This code hasn't been used in thousands of years. Only a handful of angels even knew it existed."

"But what does that have to do with Dark?"

"Thousands of years ago, a dark power surfaced," Castiel explained. "We originally thought it was created by Lucifer, but it was something that didn't come from our world. While it was here, it formed its own army of demons and fallen angels. They made up a coded language so no one could find them."

"So this dark power is Darkiplier?" Sam asked. "And he doesn't remember?"

"Crowley was right about it not having a vessel at first," Castiel said. "The angels knew that if it did find a vessel, we wouldn't be able to stop it."

"What happened?"

"God locked it away in another world when he saw that the angels couldn't stop it," Castiel said. "It was never seen again, so it was forgotten."

Sam remembered Celine talking about the house and the dark forces surrounding it. "It was locked away in an alternate universe?" he asked. Cas nodded. "What would happen if it found a vessel?" They both knew there was no if about it.

"It's not an angel or a demon, but can pretend to be either," Castiel said. "A vessel would help concentrate its full power. If Dark remembers who he really is..."

"We'd have to worry about him on top of everything else," Sam said. He leaned back in his seat, looking at the papers. "If we can decipher what I saw in my dream, it might help."

"But would it explain why you had that dream?"

"I hope so," Sam said then got to work.


~In the Mind~

Damien stood there, watching as Dark paced back and forth. The only question here was how Celine had been able to trap him in his own mind. And why? Surely she knew by now that "saving" him was out of the question. There was nothing to save because he wasn't in any type of danger.

"How did I let this happen?" Dark finally stopped pacing. He faced Damien. "She shouldn't have been able to touch me! It's my home!"

"But it isn't," Damien said. "It was just a cage. A cage we were left to rot in. Because of Mark." He could still remember the emptiness he had felt at the news of Mark's "death." And then the rage after learning who Mark really was.

I never thought he'd fall this far.

And we played right into his hands! He'd been planning this for years! And now that son of a bitch is out there, walking around in MY body -

Mark took everything from us.

"We were in this together, she said," Damien murmured. "But she's been feeding me lies, leading me away from him."

"She wants something," Dark said. "If she really believed there was any hope for redemption, she would have tried something by now."

"Would you give her what she wants?"

Dark was silent, but Damien knew what he was thinking. They were one and the same, after all. "I'll give it to her," Dark said. "And then destroy her with it."