Chapter Twenty-Eight

Season 13, Episode 2: The Rising Son – Sam and Dean argue about Jack while they take him back to the Bunker.

Harry woke up – an echo of a headache ringing in his head. It took him a second to remember where he was.

"Oh good, you're awake," came a voice a little distance away.

"Wha now?" Harry said articulately, head still fuzzy. When Sam and Gabriel had locked away his powers, it hadn't exactly made him not an angel anymore, but he found that his thinking was…slower. It was very frustrating.

"I'm glad to see you were awake. We were going to have you transported to the hospital because you passed out, but we got a call from the FBI saying that you are wanted and that you were, under no circumstances, to be moved anywhere. They are sending an agent here as we speak."

Harry caught about half of that. "F...B…I?" he questioned.

"Yeah. Look, they told us not to move you, but if you tell me that you need immediate medical care, I can't legally deny you that right. Feds or not."

"Did they give you a name?"

The officer raised his eyebrow. "Uh – yeah. It was real weird. Agent Gryffindork. That mean anything to you?"

It took everything in Harry to not snort. Yep, that would have to have been Sam or Dean. He had been pretty sure when the officer had mentioned the FBI, but that confirmed it. He briefly wondered if it was a new term being used by Hogwarts students that Sam had picked up during his time there or if Dean thought he was being clever again.

"We've had a couple of run-ins," is what Harry actually said. "Did he say anything else?"

"Uh – no. Just that you weren't to leave under any circumstance. He said that they were on a case in Washington but would be here as quickly as possible."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. If his brothers were on their way here, it meant that Lucifer hadn't killed them. It did make him itch to get out of here though.

"Well?" The officer asked.

"Well, what?"

"Do you require immediate medical attention?"

Harry shook his head. "No. But if you're offering, I could use a porterhouse steak – medium rare."

The man guffawed. "I guess he did also mention that you were a smartass."

Harry couldn't help but smile at that. Dean had to be the one who called then. He closed his eyes. He was exhausted again.

The officer left him in peace after that, which Harry was grateful for. He closed his eyes. A short kip wouldn't hurt anything…

III

"Harry is in prison?" Jack asked having overheard Dean's terse conversation with the police department in Nebraska.

"Yes," Sam replied, as Dean said, "What do you know about Harry?" sounding furious.

"I thought only bad people went to jail," Jack said. "My mom said that Harry would be a friend."

Dean huffed.

"Harry is your friend, Jack," Sam said. "As are we."

Jack frowned. "No. It was more than that. She said – she said that Castiel would be my protector. But she said that Harry would…"

"Your mom didn't know jack shit about Harry," Dean growled.

"Dean," Sam admonished. "Harry won't be in jail for long," he said, going back to their original conversation. "We're on our way to get him out now. It was just a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding of what we agreed to," Dean muttered.

"Oh. You're going to tell the police that he's really good?" Jack asked.

Sam and Dean exchanged a look. "Yes," Sam said, finally. "Jack – what exactly did Kelly say?"

Jack thought for a moment as if he was having trouble remembering. Which could very much be the case – honestly, Sam was marveling that he had the level of cognition that he did for being less than two days old.

"She said that he would…understand."

"Understand what?"

"Me," Jack answered simply, "she said that he was like me but not like me. I don't know how that's possible, but I would very much like to meet him."

"He ain't like you kid," Dean said. Because he's not evil, was the unspoken words that Sam heard. His frown deepened.

"Oh," was all Jack said.

"He's not…technically the same," Sam tried to explain. "He wasn't born a Nephilim. But he has the powers of one."

"He's not my cousin?" Jack asked. "I thought that he was related to Gabriel."

"No!" Dean said vehemently. "He's not related to Gabriel. Or you. He's our brother." Sam rolled his eyes at the possessive tone in Dean's voice. "Our idiot brother," Dean said under his breath.

After that, Dean decided that the time for discussion was over. He turned the music up loud, ignored Sam's sigh of annoyance, and hit the gas a little harder.

III

There was something odd going on with the man they had arrested. Officer Clay had never seen anything quite like it. Granted, they lived in a small town. The most they usually had to deal with were drunk and disorderlies. And seeing as there was really only one bar in town, it was pretty rare to even get those. Hell – even the speed traps they had set up to raise money for the department didn't catch the locals once they had gotten wind of them.

But this man was something else. Not only did he look like he had gone two rounds with a Mack truck and lost, he simply didn't exist. It wasn't just that he didn't have records, but he couldn't find so much as a school record or birth certificate. If there had ever been any evidence that this man was real – it had been wiped clean. Expertly.

And there was something…off about the man's fingerprints.

All of that was strange before the calls started coming in from police departments in other parts of the country and the Feds.

He was currently combing through the internet trying to find anything at all when one of the deputies who was supposed to be off duty walked into the precinct.

"Robbins," he greeted the woman. "Thought you were with the kids at the lake this week."

She ignored him. "Where's the Winchester?" She asked.

"The Winchester?" He couldn't figure out how Deputy Robbins would have any idea the name of the man that he currently had in their holding cell.

She snapped at him with a no-nonsense glare. "I know he's here. The third one." She started to push past him.

This all felt very wrong.

"Hey!" He said and tried to stop her from moving towards the back. He was pushed forcefully to the ground by an invisible force.

He moaned and started to get up off the ground when a cloud of black smoke surrounded his entire being.

III

Dean took the gasoline can and, without the care that the moment demanded, slung it everywhere. Kelly and Cas don't care, Dean thought bitterly. Because they couldn't care.

Jack and Sam watched from the side.

"You wanna say anything?" Sam asked Jack, seeing as his mother and chosen father were the ones they were burying. Of course, Jack was only hours old and couldn't understand what was happening. Couldn't process it. But Sam, having lost Mary when he was just six months old, knew what it was to mourn someone you didn't really know.

"I…" Jack seemed unsure. "What do you say?" He asked.

"Right," Sam said. Not an easy question. But he was used to saying goodbye at this point. "Thank you. You say thank you. And you say you're sorry. You hope they're somewhere without, uh, sadness or pain. You hope they're someplace better. You say goodbye."

Sam knew how inadequate all those words were. How empty. But they were better than nothing.

Dean finished putting fuel on the pyre and pulled out his lighter.

When Jack said nothing, he took over. "Well, goodbye, Cas. Goodbye, Kelly. Goodbye, Gabriel. Goodbye, Mom."

"Dean we don't know if Mom – or Gabriel…"

"Yeah, we do," Dean said, voice filled with resentment and anger. "We do, Sam. Gabriel was probably dead before we even crossed over. Lucifer killed Mom the moment he realized we trapped his ass. He killed her. You know he did. She's gone. They're all gone."

Dean flicked his lighter open and lit it, throwing it into the pyre and watching as the flames grew.

III

"Did you bring me that steak?" Harry asked lazily as he heard the door open again – not bothering to move from his position lying down on the cot that passed for a bed in this prison cell. If he hadn't known that Sam and Dean were on the way, he would have already picked the lock. But, as it stood, he didn't have a ride and he didn't fancy trying to hitchhike his way back to the Bunker.

There was no response.

He turned his head and immediately scrambled to sit up. "You're not Officer Clay," he said.

"'Fraid not," the woman said.

There was something…off about her, but he couldn't quite place it.

She tilted her head at him. "You're coming with me, abomination," she said nastily. "We have work for you in Heaven."

Harry stood so that he could defend himself. Not that it would help much without his powers. But he was hoping that she didn't know that. "And what makes you think that you can take me anywhere," he said, clenching his fists.

She glared. And let an angel blade fall into her hand.

Shit, Harry thought. He was defenseless. But he tried to not let that show on his face. "Look – I think that we can talk about this," he said, backing into the corner, desperately looking around to see if there was any weapon he might be able to grab.

"Talk? There's nothing to talk about. You are the Angel of Death. Even though you are dirty, you still have a place there. Where older and wiser angels can guide you to your…purpose." She started to move towards him.

"Older and wiser than Gabriel?" Harry shot back.

She stopped for a moment. "Gabriel's no longer on the board."

Harry's heart stopped. He had no idea what had happened with his brothers and Gabriel while they fought Lucifer, but he had thought because Sam and Dean were able to make their way back that Gabriel would be alright. They had said that they wouldn't leave a man behind.

"Oh, did they not tell you?" She asked with mock sympathy, as she used magic to rip the hinges of the jail cell door off. It landed on the ground with a loud clang. "So, you see that there is no point…" As she was about to come and grab Harry, an angel blade flew through the air and speared her in the chest.

Harry looked up, expecting to see Sam or Dean. He'd be relieved to even see Castiel, at this point. It was none of those. It was Officer Clay. But his eyes were black.

"You have these officers quite confused, Winchester," he said, his voice slightly higher pitched than the human he was possessing. "I'm taking you to Crowley."

Harry raised his eyebrows and eyed the angel blade embedded in the dead woman on the floor. If he could just…

"Don't even think of it," the demon said as he pushed the body away from Harry.

"What does Crowley want with me?" Harry asked, once again using the only weapon he had – stalling tactics.

"You'll have to wait and see," the demon said. "But the King of Hell successfully took down the Devil and that means that he's in power again. And I want his favor. When I caught wind that you were here: powerless, alone, and hurt, well…I had to act."

Harry's heart was hammering. With a couple of flicks of his hand, the demon had him pressed against the wall of the jail cell, a couple of feet off the ground.

"You gonna come easy or not?"

Harry might not have any magic but he could wiggle like the best of them. He did his best to move his body every which way as the demon approached.

"Not easy, then," the demon said. He took the handcuffs from the belt of the officer he was possessing. He removed his magic to lower the Winchester so that his hands were in easier reach. He yanked his wrists together in front of him.

Big mistake.

With as much strength as he could, Harry aimed an awkward, two-handed punch at the demon's head. It was strong enough to knock him back a couple of inches for a second, while Harry scrambled towards the angel blade. The demon growled in frustration. He thought this Winchester would be easier to subdue than his brothers. Perhaps he had underestimated him.

Harry managed to pry the blade out of the woman's chest and had it out in front of him. He gulped at the air, trying to catch his breath, but he wasn't about to go down without a fight.

The demon smirked.

"Oh, I'm so happy that you are giving me an excuse to hurt you," he said. "This way, when I bring you to the King, I can easily explain extra bruises." He closed the gap between himself and Harry and aimed a punch.

Even when he had been a scrawny kid, Harry had always been quick. He never thought that he would be so grateful for Dudley's "Harry Hunting." He quickly dodged out of the way. But that made him dizzy and he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

This is it, he thought to himself. This demon was going to kill him. He wasn't going to go down in any sort of noble fight. Just your run-of-the-mill minion demon.

"Are you done?" The demon asked.

No, Harry thought. Not like this. With a great grunt, he managed to get himself upright again.

"You know, you might actually want to come with me," the demon said. "Crowley has something that…"

A gunshot rang out, catching the demon in the back. Of course, that didn't kill it, but it was enough time for Harry to once again make a grab for the blade and plunge it into the demon's abdomen.

"Black…" the demon gasped out before dying.

Harry had no idea what that meant. Was it a warning that the person who had just arrived was also a demon? He curled his hand around the angel blade again, trying to mentally prepare himself to stand and fight. Once he could breathe again.

"Hey, you alright there?" A voice came from where he was losing his fight to stay conscious.

Harry's eyes snapped up. He wasn't going to make this easy on anyone. It was a blonde woman wearing a police uniform. He stood. And wobbled a bit before being able to right himself. The angel blade held just in front of him.

"Woah, woah," she said, holding her hands up to show that she wasn't a threat. "I come in peace!"

Harry's eyes narrowed but he wasn't deterred from starting to advance. He stumbled and righted himself.

"Teddy!" She exclaimed. "Teddy Lupin sent me. You are Harry, aren't you?"

That stopped Harry dead in his tracks. Not that he was getting far in the first place.

"I'm Donna. Donna Hanscum. I'm friends with Teddy. And Jody! And your brothers. I can hardly believe that Sam and Dean have another brother, although they are hardly the most forthcoming of men. Why, when I first met them, I actually believe…never mind. If that's what the Tedester says, I gotta believe him…"

Harry lowered his weapon, still breathing heavily. It may be ill-advised, but he didn't actually think that he could win a fight right now. He probably would have lost the last one if this woman hadn't distracted the demon by shooting him.

"Whew," she said. "I was scared that I was gonna have to take you down for a moment there and that's really not how I like to start my friendships. You look like you can hardly stand. Under those bruises, you're just as good lookin' as those brothers of yours, aren't ya?"

Harry was too out-of-breath to blush at that.

"Well, what are you waitin' for? Get on in here." Before he could stop her, Donna pulled him into a hug. That also prevented him from falling flat on his face.

Harry had heard that Americans were huggers but none of the ones whom he had spent a great of time with (his brothers) seemed inclined. He awkwardly returned the friendly gesture. Donna beamed when they pulled apart.

"Why don't we get you outta here? We can call Sam 'n Dean on the way. Teddy's awful worried about you, but we can let him know that you're safe and sound with me. And we'll also have some time to keep chatting. I wanna hear all about ya. Come on."

Harry nodded mutely and followed her out. All thoughts of what the dying demon said left his mind. There were more important things to worry about. Most importantly, making sure that Sam, Dean, and Gabriel were safe. He'd make Gabriel give him his powers back and the four of them could handle whatever the world had decided to throw at them this time.

III

Dean was driving the Impala, determined to get back to the Bunker, and Harry as quickly as possible. Sam was in the passenger seat, as always, with Jack asleep in the backseat.

"Hey, we still got probably twelve hours until we're home. You want me to drive?" Sam asked Dean, looking at him with worry.

"Do I ever want you to drive?" Dean shot back.

"Look…losing Mom and Cas, that's a lot to process, Dean, especially on no sleep. And the kid…"

"The "kid?"," Dean scoffed. "Come on, man, you know how this plays out. Look, when we try to bend the rules, pretend that the bad guys aren't so bad or that things will get fixed, that's when people that we care about get hurt. And we end up doing what we should've done in the first place, which is end the problem. So, this time, let's start with the obvious. Soon as I find a way to take care of…It."

"Dean, "the problem," might be our only shot at saving Mom. He's the one who opened the portal in the first place. And we can't just take care of him, not without…"

Dean slammed his hands on the steering wheel. Jack stirred but didn't wake. "I know," he said. "But if we can find a way to keep Harry alive and take care of…"

"That's a big if," Sam snapped. "And after all that we've already lost, I don't want to add Harry to that list."

"And you think I do?"

"I think you're too overwhelmed to know what you want. Which is why you should take a break."

Dean scoffed and didn't bother responding just ignored Sam and stared determinately at the road in front of him.

III

Mary hit the ground in Limbo with a great thump. She only narrowly avoided falling directly on top of the Devil, who, no doubt, would have grappled her from that position.

She quickly rolled as far away from him as possible.

He seemed as surprised by the sequence of events as she was.

They managed to both get to their feet at about the same time.

He looked ready to advance on her and she was ready to take off running. Where to, she didn't know.

But just as he was about to move, he was tackled from behind.

"Run!" Gabriel yelled at her.

She didn't need to be told twice.

III

Sirius paced the room that he had been placed in. He couldn't leave – he had tried everything. At least he wasn't chained up to a wall or bed. He shuddered to think of what this demon could do to him if he so chose. The room was decorated in a fashion opulent enough to please even his mother. Which disgusted him even more than the lack of windows.

The door opened and he tensed when he saw who it was.

"So, what, you're going to keep me prisoner?" Sirius demanded. It had been a while since he had seen the demon.

"God, I hope not," the man responded. "Can you imagine? You're annoying enough as it is. Are your accommodations not up to standard?"

"Yeah, Versace owled, he'd like his drapes back," Sirius quipped.

"You know, it was too bad that Gianni was a wizard," Crowley responded. "If he had been able to make a deal with me then maybe he wouldn't have died so tragically. We were friends, you know. So, I'll take the compliment."

"What do you want?" Sirius asked. It had been a while since he had had a verbal sparring with anyone. Not since Benny – he stopped that thought as soon as it came up. It was better not to think of it.

"World peace," Crowley deadpanned. "Or, at least, world status quo."

Sirius gawked at him.

"Never you mind what I want. We are under the unfortunate circumstance where you can make my life easier, so I need to house you for a time. But I don't want you blabbing to your overpowered bleeding-heart of a godson later that you were treated badly. So, your comfort matters."

"Are you scared of him?" Sirius asked, surprised. Gabriel had introduced this demon as the King of Hell. In his mind, Harry was still a skinny 15-year-old with anger management issues and a deep distrust of authority. Hardly the sort to frighten what he presumed was one of the most powerful demons in this dimension.

"Not when he's kept under control," Crowley lied. He would be foolish to not fear the Angel of Death, no matter the state of his power. And Crowley was many things, but foolish wasn't one of them.

"…under control?"

There was an opportunity here. Crowley had to play his cards right. He needed everyone involved, including Moose and Squirrel, in line. And the two men already hated Black. That was something he could use and even stoke the flames of hate a little on both sides. "Of course. Do you think that Sam and Dean Winchester allow anyone – even a brother they claim to treat as an equal – who is the equivalent of a nuclear bomb to walk around unchecked?"

Sirius felt dread start to settle in his stomach. He had thought that Harry was safe. Gabriel had said – well, Gabriel had also lied to him. He had met Sam and Dean. Yeah, Dean was a dick, but he was also friends with Benny and… Sam he had known for less time, but surely Harry wouldn't…

"And since you and his wizarding family were all dead," Crowley continued, noticing the wizard's growing discomfort, "he is so desperate for a family that he will do anything to keep them. Including allowing them to bind his magic."

"Bind his magic?" Sirius asked, horrified.

"Yeah. Turned him into a Muggle. Clipped his wings, so to speak. Personally, I think it would have been kinder of them to allow him to stay dead. But those boys needed a weapon against Lucifer and they were not scared to go above and beyond to get one. You should hear what happened to their other other brother, Adam. Now, that was a sad story… Anyway, Gabriel was trying to help poor Harry get out from under them, but you saw what happened to him."

"You let me out of here now!" Sirius hissed, unable to keep his rage down. Harry deserved better. He didn't think that his godson would need him anymore, but that was clearly not the case. "How dare they? Those…" he couldn't come up with the curse words strong enough for the emotion he was feeling.

As Sirius continued to spiral into anger, Crowley had to do his best to hide a smile. Do-gooders were just so reliable. He'd have this man eating out of the palm of his hand. The long game had always been Crowley's strong suit. Once they took care of their little problem in Limbo, he was hoping this would be enough to stop the Winchester trio from working together. At least for a bit, while he finalized his plans to prevent the doors to Limbo from ever being opened again.

III

"This is a bad idea," Dean grumbled as they entered yet another run-down motel room. "We should've just kept driving."

"Dude…you were hallucinating sheep on the road," Sam responded. "We need a few hours."

"This is nice," Jack said as Dean turned on the light.

Dean glanced around. It was a seedy dump. The kid was just trying to butter him up.

Sam ignored the dirty looks Dean was giving Jack. "Let's ward the room, get a bite, get a few hours of sleep, and hit the road first thing." He pulled out his wand.

"Really?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. It's a hell of a lot quicker," Sam said. "Watch this…" with a couple of swishes, the wards that they would normally spray paint on the walls appeared. "Better yet, I can remove them when we leave, so that there isn't a trace of us here, and we don't have to sneak out of here hoping that the motel management doesn't notice in time to not give us our deposit back."

Dean couldn't argue with that.

Jack was transfixed by the wand movements. "What is that?" He asked.

"This?" Sam asked, indicating to his wand, as he continued his work. They really couldn't risk being found by Heaven or Hell right now.

"Yes. My mom never said anything about those."

Dean chuckled darkly. "Hmm, she didn't say anything about wizards."

"No," Jack said. "Are you both wizards?"

Dean ignored the question.

"I am," Sam answered in his stead. "Dean is not." Seeing that his brother wasn't going to help with the warding nor keeping Jack from asking about a million questions, Sam stopped his work momentarily to turn the TV on.

That distracted the Nephilim, who was immediately mesmerized and sat down on the bed in front of the TV. "It's… wonderful," he said.

Dean scowled. "Hey. No," he said, moving towards the TV.

"But…" Jack protested. Dean paused for a moment to notice that the random channel that Sam had turned on was showing Scooby Doo. He was tempted, for a moment, to keep it on. But this kid had to learn that things weren't going to be that easy.

"No," Dean repeated, turning the TV off. "And you're on the couch, sport. All right? So, why don't you go over there," he indicated to the moldy-looking sofa on the other side of the room, "Sit down and…" he glanced around, before spotting what he was looking for, "here." He threw a copy of The Bible at Jack, who had moved towards the couch. "Read a book. We're out of here in a few hours." He smirked.

Sam once again paused what he was doing. "Jack, hey, I can take the couch. Why don't…"

"No, no, it's fine," Jack said, opening the book. Sam briefly wondered if the days-old kid could even read. But it appeared that he could. He went to finish the warding and sent Dean off to go get food. He'd have to have…words with his brother later.

III

"…and then I used the machete that Dean gave me to chop his head off and boy, didn't think that I had it in me, but it came clean off."

Donna was currently giving Harry a rundown of every interaction she had ever had with his brothers. It was impossible to dislike the woman. But she was completely exhausting and Harry was having a difficult time following what she was saying. Thankfully, that didn't seem to bother her, and she happily kept up both sides of the conversation.

"Have you ever killed a vampire?" She asked him.

It took him a second to comprehend that she was talking to him. "Um – yes. Although I didn't use a machete," Harry answered.

"Oh. How'd you kill it then?"

"Smote it," he said as if it was no big deal.

"You…smote it?"

"Yeah," he said he reached his hand out to demonstrate how he had done it.

Donna looked a little faint. "And how exactly did you manage that?"

"Hmm, I'm an angel," he said. "Sort of. I dunno, Sam and Dean did something to my powers, but I'm pretty sure that I am still, technically speaking, an angel."

"An angel," Donna said faintly.

"Yes," Harry confirmed.

"But Sam and Dean are your brothers? Brother brothers, not like a brother from another mother?"

"Same mother," Harry said unhelpfully. "Same father too."

"Oh, ok," Donna said, seemingly finally rendered speechless. Which was too bad. Harry liked her accent.

"We didn't grow up together," Harry said as if that explained why he was a supernatural being and his brothers were not. Although he wondered if wizards counted as supernatural beings. If they did, it meant that he wasn't the odd one out, Dean was. He was going to have to ask Sam – after a nap.

"You grew up…in Heaven?" She tried.

Harry laughed. "No. Surrey." She didn't say anything. "It's in England," he explained further.

"Right. That explains the accent, I suppose."

There was a momentary pause in conversation as Donna digested that she had an angel in her car with her.

"Well, Sam and Dean never mentioned you to me. I guess that Teddy failed to mention that you were an angel when I was helping Jody train him to be a hunter."

"Hm. He didn't know," Harry responded. "Not yet, at least. He thought I was dead, you see. I mean, I was. You know – you remind me a little of his mother."

"Oh? In what way?"

"She was always the cheerful sort – especially after she got together with his father. Also, she was a powerful witch and one hell of an Aur – policewoman." He corrected himself, but too late.

Donna's eyes were wide. "He was raised by a witch?"

"No…" Harry stopped. "Well, yes, I supposed. Tonks didn't get to raise him. That was mostly Andy – his grandmother. Ginny played a hand in it as well. And me, before I died."

Donna hadn't been sure that she had understood when he said earlier that he had been dead. "Your family is all a little wack-a-doodle, aren't they?" It was said without any malice or judgment, so all Harry could do was laugh.

"That's one way to put it."

"Well, let me tell you about this one uncle of mine…"

Donna continued to jabber on pleasantly, not asking any more questions. Without noticing he was doing it, Harry slumped down listening to her voice and fell asleep.

III

Jack was scarfing down a burger as if he had never had anything like it in his life. Which, Sam supposed was true. It was hard to think that the young man in front of them had only been alive for a matter of days.

"You can slow down, you know," Dean criticized. "That stuff's not gonna disappear."

"Have you ever seen you eat, Dean?" Sam asked with amusement.

Dean ignored him and opens the bottle of beer in front of him. Jack imitates him.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. How old do you think you are?" Dean asked, putting his hand over the top of the beverage.

"3 days, 17 hours, and 42 minutes," Jack responded happily. The literal response panged Dean a little – it was very much the way Castiel would have answered. He let him drink the beer. "This book," Jack said, indicating to the Bible that Dean had thrown at him earlier, "it mentions my father. Not Castiel, but Lucifer."

"Oh yeah," Dean responded. "Yeah, he's – he's big in the Bible. Lotta screen time."

"And you…know him?"

Sam and Dean exchanged looks.

Sam answered. "Well, he's not really an easy guy to know. He's um, he's kind of rough around the edges," he was trying to be as diplomatic as possible.

"He's Satan," Dean said, with far less tact.

"And that's…that's bad."

"Damn straight. See…he turned on his father, God."

Jack's face lit up. "God, he's in here, too. Is he famous or something?"

"Yeah," Sam said, taking the conversation back. "Um, God basically…created everything."

"Yeah, and then he skipped out, leaving guys like us to clean up his messes like Lucifer," Dean added.

"So, God's like my grandfather. He's family, and that's…That's good."

"Sometimes," Dean said.

Sam glared at him because now Dean was just being contrary to be an asshole. "Family is good, Jack. Even when they are very different from each other. Harry is like you and we are very happy to have him in his family."

"So, Harry is my family too?"

"In a manner of speaking," Sam said slowly.

"But you," he said, looking towards Dean, "said he was an idiot."

Dean snorted. "Because he is."

"Harry's not an idiot," Sam defended, feeling guilty that he hadn't corrected Dean earlier.

"Sure, he is," Dean said. "Look – I love the guy, he's our brother, but you have to admit that he doesn't really make the best decisions."

"We don't make the best decisions either! Are we idiots?"

"You are," Dean responded childishly.

Jack seemed to be thinking this all over. "So, you are all idiots that don't make the best decisions, but you still love each other?"

Sam grinned. "That's right, Jack."

Dean grumbled and put his foot up on the table. Jack copied him, just like he had with the beer.

"Ok, alright, will you stop?"

Jack put his foot down.

Sam decided to change the topic. Again. Choosing his words carefully, he decided to try and learn more about Jack. "So, Jack, we know Kelly taught you things before you were born. And obviously, you can, you know, make people or things move with your mind. But, um…what else can you do?"

"I…don't know," Jack said.

"Ok," Sam said, trying to take this all in stride. "For instance, say you wanted to – to be someplace else right now. Could you?"

Jack looked confused.

"Can you teleport?" Dean asked, impatient.

"Teleport," Jack repeated back.

"Yes. If you wanted to be on the other side of that door right this instant, what would you do?" Dean challenged.

Jack stood up, walked across the room, out of the door, and closed it behind him.

"What? Great," Dean said, annoyed.

Jack knocked.

"You know, it's possible that he's more human than we thought," Sam said, amused.

Dean hummed in disagreement.

Sam got up and answered the door. Jack was smiling on the other side.

"Like that," he said proudly.

"Come on," Dean said. "You're trying to tell me you didn't pick up anything before you were born? That your father never reached out to you?"

Jack stared off into the distance. Sam gave Dean a bitchface.

"What?" He demanded.

"Jack? Hey. You alright?" Sam asked.

Jack shook his head. "Yeah. Uh, good. I'm good."

"Alright," Sam said. "I say we, uh, get some rest. It's been a long day. We're startin' early tomorrow."

III

Sirius sat on the bed, deep in thought. As far as prisons went, this one was a far cry from Azkaban, but that didn't mean he wanted to stay here as a prisoner by the git who called himself the King of Hell.

Sure, he was being treated nicely. He hadn't needed to eat in – well, a very long time, but the food so far had been as good as what was served at Hogwarts. Crowley had given him detailed information on what was happening with Harry and those Winchester asshats. And he had thought that Castiel was the ultimate villain of the story. It made him uneasy that he may have gotten rid of the wrong threat to Harry.

Crowley had made one crucial mistake. He was allowing Sirius time to think.

He hadn't had time to properly think in years. Not since he had started to fight the status quo in Purgatory. He had been constantly on the run – always having to think on his feet and being unable to strategize ahead by more than a couple of steps. He suspected, that if he had been on the mortal plane, he would have crashed and burned long ago. But his very survival had required that he be vigilant at all times and when Sirius had a mission, nothing would stop him.

He had to let Crowley think that he trusted him. He didn't. He knew better than to trust a demon, of course. But that didn't mean that there wasn't a morsel of truth in what he was saying. And he knew how desperate Harry had been for a real family. He could only imagine how the Winchesters had twisted that desire into making Harry a weapon.

Well, not under his watch. There was no way, however, that he was going to put Harry's safety, or his own, in the hands of a demon. No, there was only one person who truly cared about his godson in this world, and that was him. (He couldn't help but wonder where Ron and Hermione had gone in all of this – but he would have to reflect on that more later.)

For now, he needed to concentrate on rescuing Harry from his brothers' clutches.

Sirius was back in his own world now. That meant that things would work the way he was used to again. Both Purgatory and Limbo had done strange things to his magic.

But that was no longer the case. Slowly, but surely, what he had lost in Limbo was coming back to him. He knew that he had to be careful and not let Crowley know about the wand up his sleeve and not enough of his magic had returned for him to do the very limited about of wandless, non-verbal, magic that he had been capable of in the past. However, he did think that there was one trick that he hadn't been able to use in ages that might work now.

It had been a while, but he concentrated and…

Yes. Padfoot lived!

Sirius quickly changed back into being himself, not wanting to be caught in dog form. Even though he wanted nothing more than to stay where things had always been easier and less complicated. It had always calmed his mind. Dogs were simple. Everything was a bit clearer when he was in his animagus form.

He had missed Padfoot. He felt like he had gained back an old friend.

And maybe that was the key to all this. Padfoot had been what had gotten him out of his last prison.

Unseen to Sirius, Crowley watched. It had taken the wizard long enough to start experimenting with magic. Really, he thought that he was going to have to drop some major hints to nudge the moron in the right direction. Thankfully, he had figured it out before Crowley had to show too much of his own hand. The sooner Sirius Black 'escaped,' the sooner that everything could start moving along the path that Crowley had laid out.

Any day now.

III

Mary's knees were bloody but she didn't let that stop her for more than a couple of seconds. This god-forsaken world was basically one big tropical forest, which meant that no matter what direction she ran, there were roots to trip over. She must have fallen more than a dozen times already.

She had no idea how long Gabriel would be able to keep Lucifer tied up. The friendlier of the two archangels had looked worse for wear from the brief glance of him that she had gotten. She knew that his death would hurt Henry greatly but she couldn't let herself dwell on that.

After falling, once again, she picked herself up. She was aimless. She had no idea where she was going, she just needed to get…away.

Mary started picking up the pace again, thinking that she should probably try to find a source of water sometime soon. Otherwise, she would collapse from dehydration.

She decided to slow down. Maybe if she walked for a couple of minutes, she could get her bearings. Plus, the constant falling was beginning to get old.

She wasn't going to stop moving but her jog became a power walk. As much as she could, she started to take in her surroundings.

It was lush – although the trees were unlike any that she had ever seen before. The leaves were a vibrant green that was…unearthly. Which made sense, considering that she didn't think that she was on Earth, strictly thinking.

Other than the impressive vegetation, there was a surprising lack of animal sounds. No bees were buzzing and she didn't think she had heard a single bird since she had arrived.

Which made the faint sound of water running more pronounced. She smiled a little and started to make her way through the undergrowth.

Mary walked about another fifteen minutes before she saw what felt like the most beautiful sight she had ever seen in her life.

A large river, flowing steadily. The water was clear blue – like what she had seen in pictures of the Caribbean Sea.

She fell to her knees on the banks and started drinking. At first, she tried to go slowly, but the water was sweet and she was so, so, thirsty. So, she took great big gulps. While quenching her thirst she committed the cardinal sin of being a Hunter. Her father would be ashamed. She stopped paying attention to her surroundings until it was too late.

She heard the crunch of leaves.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A voice behind her said.

She turned.

There was a man there, dressed in the tatters of what she assumed had once been robes. She carefully looked around her to see if there was an escape route.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said. As he finished the sentence, his eyes changed color. But not black, which she half expected. Not red or yellow either. No, this demon was something new. Something she had never seen before. His eyes turned an electrifying purple.

"Stupefy," he said. She felt herself falling and then…nothing.

Hello! I'm posting this a little early because I have after work plans tomorrow and I don't want to post late. We're only about thirty minutes from Friday here in the EST, so…I'm close. Thank you all so much for the warm welcome back. It feels amazing to be posting, even though I am super behind on writing. I'm hoping to really concentrate this weekend and catch up.

This and one other chapter are going to be the last SPN canon-compliant(ish) ones. For those of you who have gotten to Season 13, you know that I've already gone significantly off the rails.

Someone asked me about the final pairings for this fic, and, as of now, I really don't plan on any pairings for any of the Winchesters. Maybe a couple of romantic moments, but no lasting relationships – largely because they are all going to be way too busy to be focused on anything serious! I don't even think I'll have time to get the Teddy/Ben I've been trying to lead up to.

The insult, "Gryffindork" is 100% fanon, but I LOVE the idea that Dean made it up as one of his silly compound words that he loves so much, so I wrote that in. Think of how proud he must be of himself.

Anyway, thank you again to all of you who commented and reviewed I can't wait to hear what you think!