The Second Garden
Chapter 11: Cost
Sam and Jael arrive at the bunker half a day ahead of Addison and her two angels. She had hoped Sam would take the opportunity to sleep or at least rest, but no. He immediately went to talk to Dean and now the two of them are arguing quite loudly in the library. She didn't know what else to do, being stuck in the kitchen and too uncomfortable to make her presence known to the feuding brothers, she makes herself a cup of tea.
"Jael."
She looks up to see a weary and worn angel before her. "Castiel."
He eyes the cup of tea with a raised eyebrow. "Peppermint?"
"I suppose. I can't bring myself to actually drink it."
"Then why did you make it?"
She shrugs. "It beats listening to them fight."
Castiel nods sadly. "They're not usually like this."
Jael wants to ask why they are angry with each other but realizes it's not her business. She's surprised when Castiel sits at the table with her and sets a book down between them.
"It's the Mark of Cain. It's...changing Dean."
Grateful to push the sharp scented tea away from her, Jael reaches for the book. "Why would Dean take the Mark?"
"To kill a Knight of Hell, Abaddon. Only the First Blade can kill a Knight."
"And?"
Cas looks down at his hands and then up to the ceiling. "He succeeded while you and Sam were monitoring Addison. He then carried through and fulfilled his promise to Cain to return and kill him as well."
Jael flips through the book and sees that is lore on Biblical weapons, the First Blade included. "Does he wish to get rid of the Mark?"
"I don't believe he does. Not with Metatron and Lucifer still out there. But if he dies while bearing the Mark..."
Jael nods thoughtfully. "He'll awake as the next Knight of Hell."
"Going into this meeting with Metatron, I don't want Dean there if he still bears the Mark. But getting to him sit on the sidelines-"
"It'll be just as impossible to get Addison to do the same."
Cas tilts his head in agreement. "I wonder if Gadreel can convince her to not go."
"If he hasn't had an aneurism by now, it's possible though doubtful."
"Addison is a handful."
"She's a Winchester, what did you expect?"
Cas smiles briefly but the sound of something breaking in the other room takes it away completely. "We need to get the Mark off of him."
Jael finds the passage on the Mark and reads through it. Apparently only an archangel would have the power to remove the Mark and destroy it for good. "Did you read on how to get rid of the Mark?"
"I did. Do you think Michael..."
She hates to be one to dash his hope but to encourage it would only hurt him more in the end. "Michael is too weak. The cage, it was a terrible experience for him and his vessel. It's going to take a while for him to regain the strength he would need to banish the Mark."
He looks so defeated when she tells him. The bond between Castiel and Dean is famous throughout Heaven but seeing it up close, seeing the cracks and flaws between the two of them, is much more painful than she anticipated. Being the class of angel that she was, it of course drew her to them and the situation. It put a desire in the very heart of her grace to find a solution to this problem. And she might have one.
"There's nothing in there that tells how much power the archangel will need to use to destroy the Mark."
"No, only that an archangel is the only one with the power to do it."
Jael takes off her glasses and folds them. "Castiel, how much do you know about me?"
His brow furrows. "You're a Rit Zien. You were the medic placed in charge of my garrison."
"Do you know anything about my history? When I was created? Who trained me to be a Rit Zien?"
He thinks for a minute and then shakes his head. "I have to admit, I never gave your unit of angels much thought. I was always grateful for your service but not exactly curious as to how you came to be."
"Raphael was the one that was placed in charge of training the Rit Zien's. Father created a small group, only ten of us, at first to see how it would go. Giving angels that extra shot of power to annihilate each other in a millisecond, it was a risk."
Cas raises one eyebrow. "And Raphael was the one that was placed in charge of them?"
"He didn't start out the way you knew him. Lucifer's betrayal is what hardened his heart and changed his mission. He was the Healer of Heaven, gentle and kind hearted. He was the one who trained us, the first ten Rit Ziens. Then when Father made more of us, we ten trained them."
"You were one of the ten?"
Jael smiles. "I was. I'm very old, Castiel, almost as old at the Archangels themselves. I have mostly recovered from the fall and have more power to tap than any angel in our vicinity."
"What are you saying?"
"I think I might be able to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean."
"Do it."
Jael and Cas both stand up in surprise. Neither one of them had heard Dean come into the room.
Sam drifts in slowly behind him. "What's going on?"
"Jael thinks she can remove the Mark," Dean tells him before turning back to Jael. "I told her to do it. This thing, it's making me into something I don't want to be. And we're going into a meeting with Metatron, we have a chance to end this angel mess on the ground and I don't want to be a runaway missile that screws it up for everyone."
Jael can appreciate the sincerity that's coming from Dean. It's easy to tell he's having a moment of clarity and the pain that is coming from him backs up his words. She nods. "I will do my best."
"What do we have to do," Sam asks.
Jael looks to Cas for help. "We'll most likely have to restrain him."
"The infirmary then," Dean says and walks out of the kitchen.
Sam, Cas and Jael follow him throughout the bunker. Sam comes up to Jael and leans over to whisper to her.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Not at all," she answers honestly. "But we have to try something. Besides, if something goes wrong, at least Michael and Gadreel will be here in a few hours."
"Goes wrong for you or for Dean?"
"Trust me, Sam, if anything goes wrong, it'll be for me. In order to destroy the Mark, I have to pull it from your brother, surround it with my grace and smother it into nothingness. Pulling it from Dean isn't going to be the issue. It's if I have enough grace to destroy it."
"And if you don't?"
"Then at least I can weaken it so he can have better control."
Sam reaches out and touches her arm. "And what'll happen to you? To your grace?"
She's surprised that he would even care what was going to happen to her with his brother's life on the line. But it shouldn't surprise her, not really. Compassion drives Sam the same way it drives the Rit Ziens. "I don't know what it's going to do to my grace. But we have to try. Especially if he's willing."
Sam nods solemnly. "Well, thank you."
"Thank me if it works."
Gadreel nearly misses the turn on the side road that leads to the bunker. Addy had been asleep for the majority of the drive and Michael had taken the opportunity to speak his mind. Gadreel is able to ignore most of the standard warnings of getting too close to a human when they're in an angelic charge but there was one question the archangel asked that he can not simply forget.
"So, who exactly is in love with her, you or the vessel?"
It had been an offhand comment, said with a slight smirk but it happened to be the one thing that replayed in Gadreel's mind. Taking a vessel is not as clear cut as he believed it to be. Joseph Sullivan had prayed for help, he had answered and it was a mutual beneficial possession. Joseph had been suffering from emotional trauma due to war so when Gadreel had taken over, he placed him in a dream of what Joseph believed to be the perfect life.
But every once in a while, Joseph would come to surface and Gadreel would let him. Now that Michael had put that thought in his head, Gadreel realizes Joseph had been paying more attention to the events unfolding around them since Addy had appeared. He thought back to the motel room, to being close to her, kissing her and tries to remember if Joseph had been present during that time.
He doesn't like to admit that Joseph had been very present and even more interested in the happenings surrounding Addy. Was it possible to be jealous of a vessel? Or was it possible to let the emotions he was feeling tangle with those of Joseph's and have both of them be happy eventually? Gadreel does know he cares for Addy, he wants to see her survive this and find her own happiness. But the desire to be close to her, to hold her and kiss her again, that very well could be Joseph's feelings bleeding through.
It's a thought he pushes away as he parks the SUV right outside the door of the bunker and Michael and Addy follow him through the side door that he had used as Sam on multiple occasions. But when they open the door, the bunker is completely dark. He flips on the light switch but nothing happens. The trio all sense that something is wrong and he hears the angel blades drawn as they move further into the bunker. But when they reach the library, Castiel greets them with a grim face illuminated by a flashlight.
"It's good to see you all."
It's not the greeting any of them were expecting but Michael recovers first and steps forward. "What's happened?"
"Follow me," Castiel turns and starts walking in the direction he just came from. "We found a text that gave us instructions on how to remove the Mark of Cain."
"Only an archangel can do that and I'm-"
"I know," Castiel interrupts. "Jael thought she could do it. The amount of power needed to dispel the thing caused the fuse boxes to overload."
"Was she successful?" Michael asks but Castiel doesn't answer.
"Oh no," Addy murmurs and grabs a hold of Gadreel's sleeve.
"What happened?" Gadreel asks.
They enter into the infirmary where candles have been lit so everyone can see. The scene isn't what Gadreel is expecting. Dean is standing, the darkness of the Mark no longer swirling around him but Jael is laid out on one of the hospital beds. He can't tell if it's the candlelight playing tricks or not but she didn't look like she was breathing.
In fact, he tries to gain a read on her but finds there is nothing there. No grace, no life. Whatever she did to remove the Mark had killed her. Addy makes a distressed noise and Gadreel puts an arm around her wondering if he should remove her from the room before she realizes the Rit Zien's state. But Michael makes the unwelcome announcement before Gadreel can decide what to do.
"She's gone."
"Can't you bring her back?" Sam asks.
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you're a friggin' archangel, man." Dean speaks up. "And she deserves better than this."
"Does she, Dean?" Michael lets his hand hover over Jael's head. "The vessel's spirit is gone too. If I bring her back, Jael will be alone in that body with no human spirit to help guide her. And that's if she hasn't already connected to the anchor. So who's going to help her with that adjustment?"
"I will," Sam answers without hesitation.
Michael shakes his head minutely. "Fine. Are you prepared to give me a day of recovery before we run off and deal with Metatron? Are you willing to put that mess on hold for this?"
Dean nods. "Absolutely. You know us well enough by now to know we respect sacrifice."
"That you do." Michael stretches out his hand and it only takes a few seconds before Jael sits up gasping for breath. Everyone seems to breath a sigh of relief except for Michael and Jael herself, who looks up directly at Michael.
"I can't...feel...hear..."
Michael regards her with distant eyes. "That's because you burnt out your grace destroying the Mark. You're human now."