Jet's Mind
Jet looked around at the space they were in, "I guess this isn't real, is it?"
"It's sort of real, but it's more of a safety bubble. Everything we need to get to is out there," Sam looked up at the spot he figured he'd fallen through.
Jet nodded, "Right." He closed his eyes and suddenly the world fell away from them as it shattered and a new one came forward. All of the happiness and things that Jet surrounded himself with to keep his mind calm and himself safe were gone. In their wake was a world that Sam remembered perfectly, he'd seen it in his nightmares more than once. It was a vast open room, a small rickety staircase far away to a door that was too high up for him to reach. He knew the vacuo was below them and for an instant Sam was watching from the outside. The same position he'd been in the first time, watching that impossible film shoot out across the room.
He refused to do it like that again.
In a rush of adrenaline and fear Sam found himself inside the barrier made, he could hear the frantic breaths and terrible shake in his limbs. And then he realized it wasn't him, it was Jet's memory. Jet was reliving it and Sam couldn't escape the awful suffocation and terror that engulfed his boyfriend in that moment. Jet let go of the safety and his mind immediately threw them into something that should have chased them right back in. It didn't, Sam was glad that they didn't descend back to the false cushion away from the world but that didn't mean Jet couldn't still be shaken. He wasn't even a solid being anymore.
What was even more strange was how Sam could be inside Jet's memory as if he were Jet himself, seeing the same thing as the real Jet next to him. He could see his boyfriend freeze up and knew he had to say something. The initial onslaught of images and memories would be aimed to break Jet apart, he couldn't let that happen.
"It's not real!" Sam shouted and started to pull away like he'd done before. His body stretched away from Jet's memory to become its own again, but instead this time he refused to lose contact with Jet. Sam separated from him but remained next to him, a hand clasped firmly in Jet's, forcing it to stay stable. "This is over!" He grabbed Jet's face and forcibly turned him to see, ignoring the pained look of horror that Jet held. "You've done this already, you've seen it twice. I need you to help me deal with what's new, I need you to snap out of it!"
Jet stared at him wide-eyed until he finally shook his head away and covered his eyes. "Not real..." He repeated out loud and again the area around them crumbled into darkness, all Sam experienced of that nightmare was the sound. They heard everyone's voices;
"Sam, go, I'll catch up." Jet had tried to sound calm, Sam remembered that.
"No. No you're coming with us now!" He almost hated his own voice, how weak and scared he sounded.
"We need to leave, now. I'm sorry Jet." Sometimes he hated how right Castiel was.
"NO!"
"We need to go, Sam!"
Then it cut off like it'd never happened. Jet lifted his head and looked at Sam who had now bowed his.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you." Sam muttered but didn't get a chance to wallow in that self pity. Jet wrapped him up in a hug and kissed him. Their lips touched for the first time in too long and Sam could have cried right there.
"You did everything you could, sometimes shit just happens."
"I missed this," Sam smiled quietly and looked around them, they were in the same open space as before, back to the darkness and calm. Jet's body hadn't reformed properly but he could concentrate enough to feel like he might've. "I missed you."
"I know," Jet kissed him again before he let go and stepped away, back to the incorporeal state, "So what was that?"
"It's a memory, your head's full of them and this thing's going to try and scare you so don't listen. Try to ignore what you see," Sam took his hand again and squeezed it, "And don't let go of me."
Jet was hesitant for a second; he watched Sam's face carefully and finally nodded. "You know, I've seen you in here so many times already." He said as Sam led him by the hand, never letting go.
"Did you? What was I doing?"
"You led me deeper and deeper inside myself," Jet smiled sadly, "it was nice, but it was a lie. Each time you were more convincing than the last and then… I just could leave. I couldn't find my way out and I would've been ok if you had stayed. But you didn't. I just had memories of you, so that's what I did. I watched memories."
"Well I'm here now," Sam assured him and squeezed his hand tighter, "I'm never going to leave you again."
Jet nodded and looked at him closer, "What if I left you again?"
"I'd follow."
"What if you couldn't?"
"I wouldn't care, I'd go anyway." Sam turned his gaze back on Jet, "So don't go anywhere I can't go."
Jet turned away once their eyes met, "What if there was no other choice?"
Sam stalled and pulled Jet closer, he watched as his boyfriend's face phased out into particles then reformed as Jet focused on it, "What do you mean? What's going on?" He tried to catch Jet's eye but the other wouldn't look at him. "Jet."
Jet bit his lip and lifted his gaze to see Sam's worried face, "The Imperator knows me, its gotten into every part of my head that it needs to and it knows everything about me. It can hear my thoughts."
"That doesn't matter, we're going to beat him-"
"That also means I can hear its thoughts." Jet interrupted him and Sam shut his mouth, "There's no way to get rid of the Void, there's a reason it was sealed."
Sam furrowed his brow and shook his head, "We'll deal with that later, we need to get you in charge of your body." He insisted on moving forward, "We don't have time, Cas is in big trouble over there."
"Why Cas specifically?"
"He used too much energy to get us both in here," Sam shook his head, "I'm worried about him, I haven't felt anything from his fights in the last few minutes."
Jet let him lead the way again without another protest, the further they went the more the area felt like it was crumbling apart. He cringed and looked at some of the damage being done, "They're destroying my brain, aren't they?"
"Not exactly you're brain, it's more like tearing down your mental walls."
"Oh." Jet made a face at that, "So... when I get control again I'm going to be bombarded by my own head/"
"Something like that? I'm not really sure, sorry." Sam glanced back at him, "But it's a small price to pay for getting yourself together again, right?"
Jet smirked, "I guess so."
The area around them slowly grew to be more damaged, scorched, scarred and generally broken up. Jet figured that maybe he should be worried but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Sam and the others needed him, if only to stop himself from destroying the world.
"There he is." Sam pointed ahead.
Jet followed his gaze and ultimately had no words to speak as he spotted Castiel, the priest was bleeding from the ears, nose, and mouth. Cas was crouched, unable to stand but shooting at something that was having just as much trouble moving as the high priest. Jet realized it was the Imperator, Cas wasn't losing just yet but his winning looked more painful than Jet thought it should have.
"Come on, we need to hurry." Sam tugged at him.
Jet nodded slowly and looked to the outer parts of him, where his mind could pay attention to what happened outside and the real world. He could see Dean; similarly to Castiel he was bleeding and bruised, hurting from a long fight but no less ready to continue. Dean's face pulled in a snarl as he charged his opponent again, knocking Jet down, destroying concentration. Every time the inside monster nearly regained its composure the outer creature in control lost its focus. It was like a tug-of-war between the conscious and sub-conscious minds, and Dean and Cas were somehow on the same side of that rope.
"Jet!" Sam urged him again but he really needed to take it in. They were fighting to save him, to save everyone but they wouldn't just kill him to do it even though it might've been a simpler task. They were risking their lives and the universe to save him? Jet couldn't believe it. In fact it was Sam's plan, it was Sam's plan and it was there to save his life. He followed Sam's lead to get to where he figured his core functions lied. Jet could feel an energy he hadn't felt in a long time, a want and need to live. It created a glow around him and every part of his mind started to stall and slow down.
The Imperator winced and looked to where the strange light was coming from. Horror struck its core when it realized that Jet was there again, that Jet wasn't just loose but now he was present. All of its plans had fallen through, the fail safe to keep the young man trapped in his own happy place gone and Sam Winchester stood at his host's side.
"NO!" The monster screamed and burst forward but Castiel was in the way, just like he always ended up being.
"I don't think so," the priest's voice was shaky as he took another shot at the monster's head and knocked it back again.
Jet's body snapped together like lightning, every separate particle fused to reform his soul the way it was meant to be. "You've over stayed your welcome, Rex." His mouth tugged upward on the left side in a smirk, "Thanks for the ride though."
"You miserable little brat, you don't know what you're dealing with!" The Imperator growled and pushed back. Their surroundings rumbled in the attempt to take control back but Jet stood firm. Again outside Dean shook its focus and the Imperator stumbled. Castiel fired another shot, it couldn't get close enough to Jet to stop him.
"I think you're the one who has no idea." Jet called back, "You think I'm fighting alone?"
The Imperator's face screwed up for a moment but it caught what Jet meant too little too late. A sharp light flashed through Jet's mind as Dean's next exorcism attempt worked its magic. "NO! NO!"
Their immediate area pulsated and froze in place, a dull thundering sound crescendoed until it crashed and tore through the air around them. Sam ran to Castiel's side and held tight to him, protecting the priest as everything was ripped from beneath them.
Angel Training World: Part 6
Dean heaved in another breath as he watched Jet's body convulse and them crumple down to the destroyed ground under him. He waited to withdraw his weapon, eyes fixed on the still form of his best friend as his chest tightened with anxiety.
Moments passed and then he saw at least one thing that made him relax, Castiel and Sam freed themselves from inside Jet's mind. They tumbled out to the ground, Cas' usual grace entirely gone and he lay in the dirt where he'd landed. "Cas?" Dean hurried to his partner's side, "Cas? Are you okay?"
Castiel looked up at him tiredly and nodded, "I'm just… drained." He sighed and leaned his head back again, "I'm sorry I wasn't a better distraction, you look like you've been hit by a freight train."
"You first," Dean smiled and kissed him, taking a few seconds to appreciate the fact that his boyfriend was still alive. "But I'm alright, you did just fine."
Cas' lips pulled up slowly as he took a deep breath and relaxed a little more.
Sam on the other hand rushed to Jet's side, his boyfriend a limp pile of limbs. Sam gently lifted him up into his lap, "Jet? Say something, are you in there? Are you okay?" He watched Jet's face, the calm and unmoving expression showed him nothing to be excited about. Panic gripped him and he involuntarily held his breath.
And then he heard a heartbeat echo. It was loud and for a second he thought he was still in Jet's head, but that couldn't have been true. Sam stiffened and looked up at the other two; Jet's body pulsed in his arms in time with the beat. It was eerie and unnerving, everything about Jet felt wrong and it was starting to scare him. But just as it started it ended. No hint that anything had happened, it just dropped off and went back to how it should have been. Sam swallowed thickly and fought back tears, scared that he'd see the Imperator looking at him again instead of his boyfriend. Scared that Jet was gone forever, that something went wrong.
Dean and Castiel both watched carefully, Dean secretly glad he'd left his makeshift handcuffs in place. But that thought took a back seat to the anxiety growing in him.
Jet's face twitched and his eyes fluttered open, a familiar brown staring up at the young man cradling him.
"Sam…?" Jet's voice tiredly muttered and nearly gave Sam an aneurysm, "Why do you look so freaked out?"
"I just," Sam hiccuped through a sob, he had to cover his mouth and squeeze his eyes shut to stop himself from falling into pieces. Jet was in his arms, Jet was there. Jet was there. "I love you." He wept into his hands and felt one of those strong hands pulling him down.
"I love you too, Sam." Jet smiled and leaned in to kiss him, despite tears and anything else that might've been on his face. Sam fell down against him and held on with all of his strength.
"We did it," he sobbed out a laugh, "We saved you."
Castiel exhaled in relief and closed his eyes, "Thank god…"
Dean couldn't stop the smile on his face as he watched them, "Welcome back Jet."
"Yeah," Jet looked over at Dean exhaustedly, "though did you really have to kick my ass like that? I'm sore, man."
"You were trying to kill me, what do you want?" Dean made a face and lifted a hand in the air as if to say 'what of it?'
"I want a medal," Jet mumbled with a grin, "of honour and shit."
"That'd be mine this time," Sam smirked and kissed him again, "The possessed guy gets no medals."
"Fair enough." Jet replied and was about to return the gesture when his body seized up. His breathing hitched and head fell back, "Something's wrong…" he strained to say and suddenly that odd pulsating came back. It came this time with a force around it, slowly with each wave sending Sam further away. The ground lifted away from Jet's back and he arched mid-air as the force increased and pulsating wave came faster.
"Jet!" Sam cried out to him but couldn't get any closer. He struggled to keep himself grounded let alone take a step forward.
Dean held Cas tightly and did his best to keep them in place, but even he ended up sliding further away from the rippling effect.
The same darkness associated with the Void started to circle around him and pounded with each wave of energy, more and more of it came and soon they couldn't see Jet at all. The only thing they could do was watch the swirling torrent of the Void and wait to see what came of it.