Chapter Fifteen

Mark was still coming to grips over the news Celine had sprung on him. He wanted to believe it so badly that the possibility that she might have been lying never occurred to him. Maybe because deep down, he knew. Amy had been acting differently recently, he had noticed. Because she hadn't been Amy.

Dark had killed Celine, not Amy.

Amy was alive.

Mark brought his mind back into focus. He forced himself to his feet, not bothering with dusting himself of. He looked around and saw both Dark and Celine distracted by something unseen. And then Castiel, who was going to use that distraction to his advantage.

Getting rid of Dark was the last thing on Mark's mind now.

"Cas!" Mark said, getting the angel's attention. Castiel seemed intent on killing Dark still. Mark walked over to Castiel, taking the angel blade away from him. "We have to get Amy." He glanced at Dark and Celine.

"She's trapped in the mirror," Castiel said. Was that the reason they wanted to find the mirror so badly? How long had Amy been trapped?

"Then we need him," Mark said, talking about Dark. He hated that he had to say it, but Dark was the only way Mark would get Amy back. "Just until we get her back."

"Easier said than done," Dark said. Him and Celine were both facing Mark and Castiel now. "She's no longer trapped in the mirror."

Mark's first instinct was to not believe him, but Dark actually looked worried about something. "What's the part you're leaving out?" he asked.

Dark looked at Castiel. "You tell me," he said. "It's something powerful and it's now got Amy." He sounded concerned for Amy, which made Mark hate him more. Knowing something had happened between Dark and Amy was bad enough. Seeing signs of it was worse.

"Something powerful..." Castiel murmured as if something was dawning on him. "It's not Dark." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Now he was going to call Sam and Dean?

"What's not Dark?" Mark asked. "What's got Amy?"

"Thousands of years ago, a dark power surfaced," Dark said. "It created an army then was beaten back and trapped in another world to keep this one safe."

"When It passed into this world, we gained It's knowledge," Celine explained. That was what they had been distracted by.

But that wasn't what Mark cared about. He looked from Dark and over at Castiel. "That dark power...is controlling Amy?" he asked.

Castiel had obviously gotten in contact with Sam and Dean and had confirmed Mark's fear. "We thought it was Dark," he said. "If we had known..."

"You couldn't have stopped it," Dark said. "She destroyed the World Between Worlds. I'm stuck here." He was angrier than usual. At least that anger wasn't directed at Mark.

It troubled Mark that that anger was now directed at Amy even if she wasn't Amy.

"You stopped it once before," Celine said, speaking to Castiel. "I can read that much off of you."

"We stopped it before it was able to procure a vessel," Castiel said. "What we learned about It was that It'd be more powerful with one."

"More powerful as in unstoppable," Dark said. It sounded like he was blaming Celine for what had happened.

Celine got the same feeling, obviously. "If it hadn't been Amy, it would have been me," she said.

"Exactly!" Dark said. "If it had been you, It wouldn't have gotten a vessel."

Celine hadn't thought of that. "You helped me," she whispered then vanished.

"That's right," Dark screamed at the sky. "Run away, bitch! That was all you were ever good at!" When he turned back, he froze. Mark had handed the angel blade back and Castiel was now standing there with the blade at Dark's throat.

Mark stood behind Castiel. The look Dark was giving him now was that he knew Mark was in charge. Dark could easily fight back, Mark knew, but now they both had something in common.

They both wanted to save Amy.

Mark stepped forward. "I'm not sure how you feel about Amy anymore," he said since Dark had left her trapped in the World Between Worlds. "But you did care about her. She's in danger and you're the only one -"

"You didn't feel her power," Dark said. "I can't go up against that."

"You're not going against It on your own," Mark said. He didn't have to ask to know Castiel would help. The same with Sam and Dean. It was the reason they were even here, after all. Though, they had thought it would be them against Dark.

Dark laughed. "You're just as crazy as him," he said, talking about the Mark that had stolen Damien's body.

"Maybe," Mark admitted. "But I won't make the same mistakes he did." He was trying to make Dark an ally in this. He really was crazy. But all that mattered to him now was rescuing Amy. "Will you help us?" he asked then rephrased the question: "Will you help Amy?"

Dark hesitated at first as if he was trying to deny that he still felt anything for Amy. "Fine," he growled. "But only for Amy."

"That's all I'm asking for," Mark said. "Once Amy's safe, we can go back to hating each other."

Dark looked at Castiel, who was still holding the angel blade to his throat. "We're working together now," he said. "Be nice."

Castiel glared at him but lowered the angel blade, cutting a thin line across Dark's neck in the process. Mark expected the worst, but Dark chose not to react. Castiel put the blade away and Mark gave a quiet sight of relief.

"We should meet up with Sam and Dean," Mark said.

Dark rolled his eyes. "I'll get them."


As before, Sam had everything prepared to summon Celine. And unlike last time, he was able to use the items to summon her. When she appeared, she didn't look bothered by the summoning. She actually looked relieved.

Sam turned to fetch Dean, but his brother was already walking into the room. "That was Cas," Dean said, explaining the phone call he had gotten. "I told him about Amy. He's keeping a close watch on Dark." He looked at Celine.

"I know what I told you," Celine said, picking up on their mood. "I wouldn't have been able to stop it from happening."

"How did it happen in the first place?" Dean asked. "It was your little 'plane of existence'! Shouldn't you have noticed the big bad sharing your space?!"

"It was trapped," Celine said. "No one knew about it. The only explanation I have is that someone who did know planted the idea and woke it up after sensing that."

"So we're the bad guys," Dean said. "We aren't the only ones who spent time in that world. It was probably one of the Marks you've had trapped in there."

"Mark..." Celine started to protest, but then stopped.

"The dreams," Sam said, remembering the Mark that had been with Amy in the mirror. "He was there."

"Mark?" Celine asked. "My Mark?" Sam nodded. "He was there and we didn't notice... He woke It up. And probably gave Amy to It."

"I'm not dealing with another Mark," Dean said.

"It only talked about Amy," Sam said, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"He's gone," Celine said after a few moments of silence. "That's what I felt when I felt It enter this world. Loss. She killed him."

"At least we don't have to worry about him anymore."

"Dean!" Sam gave him a look. Dean just shrugged.

"I mourned his loss a long time ago," Celine said. It sounded like she wasn't over it yet. But she still had to accept the fact that he had been there without her noticing. "I want to help you stop her."

"I don't know how much help a ghost would be, but sure, join the team. Why not?" Dean said. "We gotta meet up with Cas. They're -"

Before he could finish, the three disappeared then reappeared in front of Castiel, Mark and Dark.

Dean looked at Celine. "It wasn't me," she said. He then looked at Dark, who just smirked.

"I didn't know he was going to do that," Castiel said.

"Better than taking the time to go there, I guess," Mark said then looked at Sam and Dean. "So what's the plan?"