"I'm so proud of you Ben. I can't believe what he was going to do to you." Said Dean, glancing over from the driver's seat.
Once they had got the spring water, Dean had insisted that Ben to stay near the small house while he moved Adam's body out of site. Normally, he wouldn't have been troubled at all. But something about seeing the guys crumpled form haunted him. He hadn't felt guilty at all stabbing the giant dog. The dog, he thought was most likely a hell hound, had dissolved after he had stabbed it with the metal pin. If it had been an actually dog or living animal, its body would still be solid. But when he heard Dean tackle the guy, he had peered back and watched as Dean took the same metal pin and brought it down on him. Turning his head, he hadn't seen it, but he had heard it. The crunch and finally the rasping breathing were loud in his head until it came to a wheezing halt.
When he was told he could come out from the house, he had discovered the body was nowhere in sight. He didn't' want to know what happened to it. Completely healed, he felt fine and joined Dean on the motorcycle. He hadn't noticed it until it was pointed out to him. From there, they made their way down what was most likely a bicycle path, and onto the main road. Surprisingly, they found they were only a few hundred yards from where they parked to get to Holy Hill. Shaking his head, Dean pointed out where Adam had tied him up to a tree. He had told Ben he didn't think he was on the same hill they were on, but was proved wrong.
He had been tied to the tree on the south end of Holy Hill, directly over a large ravine where a brook emptied into a swamp. He went on to complain how on earth a swamp could be so close to a rugged terrain like the hill. Dean had also said the slog through the swamp had to have been hundreds of yards. Having to fight off snakes and giant beavers just to get to the fence. But as Ben looked at the area he described, he bit back a laugh. The swamp was less than 50 yards in width, where no giant beavers or snakes would want to live so close to a human population. Not wanting to ruin Dean's heroic tale, he kept his mouth shut.
"You know, I don't know why I'm not feeling troubled by what just happened. I mean," he looked over, "he was going to rape me Dean. It doesn't bother me…I must be sick…" he said, disgusted with himself.
"No, Ben," he said softly, "you're not sick. Before Adam left me to go to you, he gave a speech."
"What kind of speech?" he asked, curious.
"Basically mad that I didn't save him from falling into hell. That and that I didn't try to retrieve him. He talked about how he was tortured and even though he had escaped, he could still remember and feel the agony of being there. All he wanted to do is forget…so he planned to drink from the spring to heal his mind. You drank the spring water to heal your ribs and anything else inside you. In doing so, I think it wiped that horrible event away." He said, sounding hopeful.
"I hope so. Shouldn't we contact Cass and tell him we got the-"he began
"Hello." Said a deep voice beside the door.
"Jesus!" cried Dean, causing him to steer the truck halfway onto the shoulder of the road.
"Wow." He said, grinning at the angel, no longer worried about him knowing what he was doing with Dean.
The angel smiled at him warmly, raising one of his hands and ruffling his hair affectionately. Returning the smile, Ben glanced over at Dean. Raising an eyebrow, Dean looked between the two and then turned back onto the road. Thankfully, the traffic was light and no one had noticed the erratic driving. Glancing at the clock on the console, Ben noticed it was just after nine at night. With the summer approaching, the light of the day was getting and had set just a short time ago. They had been wondering where to stay before their final push home tomorrow, and had decided on Scranton, Pennsylvania.
"I have information for you two." He said stonily.
Ben studied him. He had never seen the man like this. Not entirely certain, but he looked upset. Turning his head, he looked at Dean and nodded towards the figure. Frowning, Dean looked at Cass as well. The angel gave a large sigh and shook his head.
"Ask me to appear when you guys settle in for the night. This is something you need to hear when you're not driving." He said with a large sigh.
Dean met his eye and they turned their attention back to the empty seat beside them. Growling, Dean pushed his foot down on the gas. Ben smirked and watched the speedometer began to rise. It was a good thing there weren't any cops around. Well there probably were but somehow he didn't think they'd catch up with them when they were traveling at such a high speed. Grinning, he watched the needle creep past 90 mile per hour mark. What would have taken them almost an hour, it took only some forty minutes or so. Instead of looking for a great hotel, Dean pulled into the first one they saw. No sooner had they sat down on the bed when there was a flutter of wings.
"We were played." Said the angel, an ugly look on his face.
"Fantastic!" griped Dean, walking over and sitting down at a small table with two chairs.
"I don't understand." he said to the room, looking back up at Castiel.
The angel scowled, looking as if he didn't want to say more, but then went on.
"Dean, you were being watched from the moment Sam and Adam fell into the pit. They watched you walk into Lisa and Ben's life. Even after you moved, they watched. Though…"Cass smiled appreciatively, "they couldn't get near you at all. He knew you were in the general area, but nothing specific. Sometime right after you moved onto the new property, Adam escaped the pit. Unlike you, when he escaped he didn't have an angel's help. He turned bitter and compared himself to you. When he couldn't figure out why you were saved by an angel when….well let's face it…you're not the nicest guy in the world." Cass, the corners of his mouth twitching.
Ben gave a soft snort. Dean glared at them both for a long time.
"You were saved by an angel and even though he was Michael's new vessel…the righteous against the wicked…Lucifer…he still wasn't saved by an angel. Jealous, he watched you…every night his nightmares returning from hell. So…he tried to make a deal." Cass went on, scowling down.
Dean rolled his eyes. Hadn't the kid learned anything about their family? Deals were their fatal weakness. No good ever came from them, just more grief.
"He wanted a way to be rid permanently of his memories from hell. At the time, he was watching you from the edges of your property. Once he realized you wouldn't be going anywhere, and that when you did you always had someone with you. Knowing that when someone you cared about greatly was around, you'd fight to the death to protect them, Adam didn't want to go through that while he was so weak. When he heard about Lisa driving to her aunts' for an extended period of time, he thought that seemed the perfect opportunity to act. As soon as she left on her trip he contacted a demon asking if this could be used to his advantage. The demon, recognizing Adam, didn't want to give him a deal, seeing as Adam was once a vessel of an archangel. Instead, he hinted that Adam could give Lisa an incurable disease…except for one remote possibility of a cure. Somehow the demon knew about the Shakers springs healing power, which was the only way for the cure. The information I gave you about Ben being the only one to cure this was correct, but the cure could work for anyone, not just the person with the same blood. Adam needed Ben to go through the journey and retrieve the water himself. The closer the connection between the person getting the cure and the person with the disease, the greater the power the waters. Those memories of hell are intense and maddening. He wanted to make sure that the cure could wipe all the torment from his head, so he used the love of a mother and child to guarantee the effect." Cass said, sitting down across from Dean at the table.
Ben was looking at Dean, noticing how red his face was getting. Rage was building there, and he knew it wasn't going to be something he could just let go. He still didn't fully understand what Cass was saying. He wondered if he should tell Cass to pause so Dean could let out his anger slowly. When he opened his mouth to say this, Dean looked at him and shook his head. It seemed he knew exactly what Ben was going to say. Sighing, Ben shook his head and looked back up at Cass. After looking between them for a few moments he began to speak again.
"Adam wanted to keep an eye on Ben, he didn't much care for you anymore," he said to Dean. "So, with the help from his demon friend, he acquired an empathy link and gave it to Ben when he took the cast off his arm. Do you remember that Ben?" Cass asked him.
"You know, it's fuzzy but when I first got inside the small room, I remember him coming inside. He was…"he looked up at Dean bashfully. "really cute. He did something to the air and I started to get…excited and I had a feeling he wanted to do more, but someone knocked on the door. He looked really scary for a moment so I looked away. When I looked back, it was my regular doctor. I can't remember anything after that." He said.
"Well, once you had the empathy link, Adam could follow you anywhere. He could feel everything you felt. The only time you'd be aware of him is if he were feeling something so strong that it reached his battered consciousness where he couldn't control his emotions easily. At those times you'd be aware of him, and make you feel uncomfortable to a point you knew something was wrong." He explained.
"Like at the swimming hole…" he said, shivering as he remembered the feeling," and those multiple times in the city." He finished, realizing those times he felt someone was watching them during the day.
"Exactly." Cass said with a nod.
"You never said this to me anytime during the day in New York. Why didn't you say anything?" he asked, suddenly stern.
"If I did you would have insisted we go back to the hotel and do nothing. I wanted to see the city." He said defiantly.
"We wouldn't have done nothing…" he muttered, his ears turning a darker shade of tan.
Cass smirked looked back over at Ben.
"Adam had to make sure you made you made it to the spring. But first, how would you even find out about its powers? Well, Adam knew I was watching over you two and that you had asked me to search for a cure. Angels have infinite knowledge, mostly because of our father God. What we don't get from him, we pick up from our brothers and sisters. The four most powerful angels are the archangels Michael, Raphael, Uriel, and Gabriel. All four had knowledge of Raphael blessing the Shaker's spring, and knew of its potential. Michael killed Uriel, as you well know." He said to Dean, who gave a slight smile.
"You killed Raphael yourself, didn't you Cass?" he asked with a smirk.
"Indeed. So at the point when Michael and Lucifer fell into the pit, the only archangel left on the surface was Gabriel. Adam was still alive when he accepted to be Michael's vessel, so he retained the knowledge of the spring. He also knew that Gabriel knew of it as well, and that if I asked him knowledge of something that could cure anything, he would tell me. From there he could plan a way to remove those awful memories of hell. The problem was finding Gabriel, as he didn't want to be found. He was having fun with the identity as a powerful trickster to through off the idea of him being divine. It took a long time for me to track him down, but once I did, he hinted at what the spring could mean. Finally, I discovered the answer to healing Lisa. I never anticipated that it was all a long game just for the young man who had Michael's memories to be cured." He finished.
"So…"Ben said with a shaking voice, "Adam gave my mom a deadly disease just so I'd have to go through the hell of finding a cure that wouldn't be used on her, but on him?"
"Correct." He said darkly.
"He died too quickly." Dean growled.
"Neither of you, or even Lisa, were supposed to survive the ordeal. Dean was supposed to stay tied up, keeping him out of the way. He didn't plan on killing Ben directly, but he used that hell hound to pull him out of the house. He had to make sure Ben dropped that fountain stone into the spring for the healing powers to take effect. After that, I'm sure the dog was the one that would do away with Ben. Adam didn't want to kill a kid, but when Ben destroyed the dog, he realized his plans had fallen through and he panicked. He would have to kill Ben, but not before the stone was added to the spring. That was a lot more work than he had planned. There was a possibility that it would take too long, that you would escape, or that you could die before adding the stone into the spring. He didn't want to kill a kid, though he was prepared to kill Dean once you were taken care of. Still, he figured if he did kill you, the spring could wipe the torment of him killing an innocent kid from his mind. After that, Lisa would eventually die from the illness without the cure you had acquired for her. Never did he think his plan would fall through." He finished.
The room was left in silence. Ben stared blankly at his hands. He felt rage coursing through his blood. How could anyone do such a thing? His head hurt with the revelation of the new facts. Slowly, he pulled his shoes and socks off. Lifting his arms in the air he yanked his shirt off, glancing at the faint scar where his arm had been broken, and where the sick bastard had touched him. Face burning with emotion, he pulled off his pants and dove under the covers of the bed, feeling tears falling from his eyes. Poking his head out from under the blankets, he faced away from Dean and the seated angel. As the sound a soft deep murmurs reached his ears, he closed his eyes. It didn't stop the flow of tears from escaping from the corners of his eyelids. All he wanted to do was sleep, but was denied. A soft deep voice said good bye, followed by a fluttering of wings.
The bedside lamp was extinguished. He heard movement from behind him, shuffling of clothes as Dean undressed. The bed dipped as extra weight was added. Cool air rushed under the covers as Dean joined him. Dean scooted closer to him and reached out. A large hand was placed on Ben's chest and tried to pull him in. Not sure why, but he didn't want to be touched at the moment. Letting out a deep breath, he shook his upper body and scooted away from the warmth of Dean's arms. There was an intake of air and the bed bounced again as Dean moved to the edge closest to him. Feeling ashamed, he half glanced over his shoulder at the dark mass. He knew this wasn't Dean's fault in the least, but he couldn't help but feel a bit of resentment. He loved Dean with all his heart, but his mom had been targeted and given a deadly disease just because she knew him.
After what felt like hours, his mind calmed and he felt bad about the way he had treated Dean earlier. Glancing at the clock, he realized he'd been laying there for three hours without sleep. Sighing, he turned his body to face Dean. The faint light from the windows illuminated his outline. His body rose and fell slowly with slumber. Biting his lip, he suddenly needed to be held. Scooting over slowly, he rested his body against the larger man's. Shakily, he lifted his arm and pushed it through the gap between Dean's arm and his chest. The space opened easily as Dean stirred. Ben placed his hand over Dean's heart and hugged him fiercely. Leaning closer, he kissed the back of his neck.
"I love you Dean." He whispered, feeling tears running down his cheeks.