Ch.7.1 Recap.
The Impala parked in front of the destroyed lab in the early hours of the day. Sam came down and looked around. It didn't take long for him to find the trail of his brother and Bobby going into the lab, so he followed it.
The road trip hasn't been easy for Sam; just being awake proved to be an arduous task. He was utterly tired; His mind was a haze, every passing hour feeling heavier than the last, but the thought of finding his brother kept him going. As he stepped down the car, the cold air stung his skin, a constant reminder of how close he was to collapse, but he couldn't afford to stop—not when his brother was out there, somewhere in that creepy lab, needing him.
After crossing the main gate, or whatever was left, Sam found himself knee-high in a field with bodies. How was the police going to explain that amount of dead was not Sam's problem at the moment. He walked straight to the main door. There was no need to sneak around; the place was obviously unguarded, and there was no one as far as he could see.
He stepped in and wondered where Dean and Bobby could be. But his question was quickly answered.
-Guys!- Dean and Bobby turned around to find Sam standing by the main door.
-SAM!- Dean ran to him – Are you okay? How are you feeling?- He held Sam by his arms and looked into his eyes.
-I am okay, Dean…I made it here -he weakly smiled- I thought you needed me, but… for what I can tell…- Sam looked around the main lobby, appreciating the disaster in the place, all the blood and stamped black wings going as far as the ceiling. He was suddenly pulled as Dean hugged him. Sam hugged him back.
-Sam!- Bobby came, and they reunited -wish we could take credit for this, but we didn't do anything…- he explained.
-What do you mean?-
-We were hit by a tornado…- Dean let go and tried to explain, skipping right past to the end.
-What?- Sam repeated, even more confused.
-Aby dropped us outside. She said that Castiel had summoned her and needed to go…- Dean started from the beginning.
-Well, he summoned Balthazar…- Bobby corrected.
-Balthazar?- Sam repeated, not understanding.
-Yeah, she hum…she hijacked his body – Dean said, amused.
-ghost can highjack angels?!- Sam was astonished and still confused.
-Of course not…Well, not that I know… before this…- Bobby grumbled - She was no ghost, to begin with…but somehow she possessed Balthazar – Bobby tried to explain, sounding even more confused than Sam.
-Wait…wait, recap please!- Sam requested.
Bobby and Dean glanced at each other. -Let's take a walk- said Bobby and they all moved back to the main laboratory.
-When you were unconscious, ghost Aby came to help you…- started Dean to recount.
-Not a ghost…- Bobby corrected. Dean rolled his eyes.
-help me?- Sam asked
-Yeah! She said she gave you a light to navigate the darkness in your mind- Bobby told him.
-Oh! That makes sense….I did see her while I was….hum-
-Yeah…-Bobby and Dean said simultaneously, understanding.
-Then she asked for us to wait for Balthazar, who was coming to take us here… Crowley's laboratory…- Dean continued.
-Where Castiel was…or he was supposed to be…- Bobby commented.
-Was supposed? What happened?- Sam asked.
-This is all we know, Sam: When we arrived, Aby said that Cas summoned Balthazar, she needed to go…- Dean explained.
-Not before she let us know that war was coming our way.- Bobby said
-Next thing we knew, this place was filled to the brim with angels, and a gigantic cloud of demons and even more angels was coming our way…-
-I guess as much…- Sam said looking around.
-The only thing we could do was to get the heck out of the way…- Bobby reminiscenced.
-That was…some epic fight, I mean, the way they both tear each other apart…- Dean's voice got lost.
-It was carnage…and we were in the middle of it like a couple of lost children…- Bobby stopped by the main lab doors. Sam could tell that both Bobby and Dean were disturbed by their memories of the event. He felt a chill as his own memories haunted him. The Supernatural can be hideously scary.
-Suddenly, everything went silent…- continued Dean.
-We found ourselves in that mess you saw outside…-Bobby sighed.
-Aby told us Cas was here – Dean pointed at the lab's door -We found the place and came to this, Sam…- Dean and Bobby opened the door – this place is seriously giving me the creeps…- Bobby said. Sam walked in.
Dust motes danced in the shafts of sunlight from the broken glass ceiling. illuminating the desolation of the abandoned place. Sam moved through the echoing emptiness, the silence broken only by the rasp of his boots on the concrete floor.
He found it right at the very back, where the shadows clung thickest. Etched into the concrete wall, a crimson sigil, ancient and intricate, stood ominous. Its lines, thick with dried blood.
-There is no one here…- Sam's voice echoed. Bobby and Dean stood right behind him.
-Exactly! This is how we found it…- Bobby replied.
-Maybe… the princess is in another castle?- Sam suggested.
-We thought of that- Dean replied
-So until just now…we swept the whole facility – Bobby continued.
-This whole place is dead empty…- Dean replied.- There is no one here…only us…-
They all fell silent.
Hours earlier, before Sam arrived, Bobby and Dean had scoured the building from top to bottom. They moved from room to room, their boots echoing in the oppressive silence. Each room was a tomb, covered in bodies, blood, and black wings plastered on every surface, except for the main lab, which was the one place that seemed like battle never touched.
The search brought no clues regarding the whereabouts of Castiel, Abaddon, or Balthazar.
While searching in the lab, Bobby did find something curious.
Nestled amongst the shattered glass and debris lay a perfect, round scale, shimmering with an iridescent sheen that shifted from emerald green to sapphire blue in the light. He carefully scooped the scale from the rubble, his fingers tracing its smooth, cool surface.
-This scale… looks identical to the ones on Eleonor -Bobby thought his heart skipped a beat. -So, Eleonor might have been here.- He slipped the scale into his pocket. Dean was on the other side of the room investigating. Bobby observed him for a moment while considering: There has been a monster amidst a battle of angels and demons, but why?
Abaddon saved Eleonor and then took her away with no further explanation. Did Abaddon have an already traced plan? Bobby felt the pocket with a scale; for the time being, he decided not to tell Dean about his finding.
After that, they decided to split up, each taking a different direction. Hours later, weary and empty-handed, they reconvened at the lobby. Bobby and Dean had just reunited when Sam found them.
The hunters finally left the place, a heavy silence hanging in the air. It felt like an empty victory; they had done everything they could, yet they left with nothing to show for it. Frustration gnawed at them as they drove away.
Dean glanced in the rearview mirror; Sam seemed to have fallen asleep in the back seat, his face pale and drawn. A wave of exhaustion washed over Dean, a stark reminder of the dangers they had faced.
Bobby, his gaze fixed on the blurring landscape, stared out the window, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts. His right hand, clenched around the cool, smooth surface of the scale, traced absentmindedly along its edges.
-We…we all reach the same conclusion, right?- Dean's raspy voice cut the silence. Bobby turned around at him – That place…it was sucked out clean…that is what we saw….right?- Dean's hands clenched to the steering wheel. His eyes fixed on the road.
-Yes…At least that is what it looked like…- Bobby answered slowly, still feeling the scale in his pocket.
-Nothing came trough….everything went in…right?- Dean tried to reassure himself.
Bobby paused, staring at Dean. He knew how Dean felt. He was feeling the emptiness of a victory they did not win, if any; there were a bunch of questions pressing their brains instead of a spirit of celebration.
-If anything did come through… I am pretty sure we would have been the first ones to know…- but Bobby's voice had a hint of uncertainty. He turned back at the window and remained silent. Dean sighed. Sam was awake, listening; he looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful clear morning. The sun shined, not one dark cloud on the blue above.
So, yet again, the hunters found themselves alone in the dark. The angels have left them behind. They had disappeared somewhere the hunters could not reach. Their only hope was that the angels would still be alive wherever they had gone.
Time moves on. The earth seems to be at peace, at least from major threats, but no one word from the missing angels ever came.
The hunters had tried every trick in their books to call them; they summoned Balthazar on several occasions, but he never answered, none of them did.
They started to fear the worst; whatever had happened in Crowley's laboratory left them with a dread of uncertainty that was really getting them.
They have been scanning carefully for any unusual news, but nothing so far that could be linked directly back to the lab. Sam and Dean had gone on several potential hunts, but nothing came out of them either.
After all that time, Bobby found himself sharing his house with a scary cat and the new drunkard of town; Sam would skit at everything, and many times, Bobby found him in full defense mode, staring at the air.
Also, Bobby had noticed that in those instances, Sam's eyes would gleam gold: He would pause, a flicker of something wild passing over his features, before slowly calming down, to finally emerge from whatever hell he was sent into every time.
Whatever the kid was fighting, there was still an angel watching over him, or so Bobby hoped. It gave him a sliver of hope that the angels might still be around.
Then there was Dean, living on his sofa: when not on a hunt, Dean would be at the local bar getting waste only to come back home at ungodly hours and crash on his sofa, too drunk to attempt to climb the stairs to the nice cozy room Bobby had prepared for him and his brother.
Several times, Bobby had been on the verge of kicking him out. But every time, he will give himself an excuse not to do so. He couldn't stay mad at Dean for long. Bobby knew this kid better than anyone. He knew that beneath the bravado, the cocky swagger, there was a truly caring soul.
Dean was clearly upset by Castiel's disappearance, and maybe… maybe he was even a little worried about Abaddon, though he'd never admit it. Balthazar could go to hell, as far as Dean was concerned. But Castiel… They departed in really bad terms, but Dean's refusal to talk about it, to acknowledge the fear and the grief, was creating a suffocating silence in the house, a tension that was starting to wear Bobby down.
Many times, Bobby had found Dean passed out on the couch, tears staining his cheeks. On other occasions, he'd caught him sneaking about trying to make contact with Castiel. And then there was that night... that night when Bobby heard Dean raging in the backyard, his voice hoarse with grief and anger. He'd considered going out there, but the raw, unfiltered pain in Dean's voice had stopped him. Dean was shouting at the sky, demanding answers, demanding that Castiel show up and let him know he was okay... or at least alive. It was a jumbled, incoherent outpouring, the words of a man drowning in grief, trying to cling to a fading hope.
Bobby had retreated back inside. This has broken him completely; he could see himself in Dean just a few years back when Rufus died, his best friend; there was nothing he was not willing to do in order to avenge his death, but what was left for Dean to mourn?
-NO! Castiel is not dead – Bobby reproached himself -It is going to be like those other times; he will just pop in out of nowhere, minding his own business like nothing, and then…- but Bobby could not finish those sentences.
Whatever happened at Crowley's lab seemed like a one-way ticket to purgatory. Like heaven or hell, only the dead have access to them. Only exceptional occasions could managed otherwise, and they were hoping against all hope their angels were the exceptional ones, but as time passed and memories started to fade, there was no indication they ever were.
That's how Dean started to get away with everything. Bobby didn't want to upset him, so he would say nothing to him, and that is how Bobby became the most patient dad ever. But tolerance was running thin, and patience could only be stretched so far.
That day, Bobby returned home only to find the brothers fighting over something. Their fights were now something of a routine, but that day, for some reason, Bobby just had it.
-Enough!- had shouted Bobby when he walked in with groceries in his hand and slammed them on the table. -You two cute act is getting old!-
-Bobby…- Sam was about to explain when Bobby interrupted him.
-I don't want to hear it!- he walked upset at Dean - Cas might be dead. He might have died saving our world or trying to forever doom it…we don't know…but what I know for sure is that the whole thing stinks… it's frustrating and hurtful, and there is NOTHING we can do about it, so enough! It's high time you put your shit together and stop wailing around like an old maid…- Dean backed up -And YOU – Bobby turned at Sam – Everything I turn my back on you, you are actively trying to kill air…with a knife like a mad man…What's going on Sam? You have to tell us, son; otherwise, how are we going to help you…?-
-It is really hard to help someone when that person is the only one who can see the problem…You know, imaginary friends are always such bothers, and Sam's imaginary friend is no other than Satan…so imagine that…-they heard a voice and turned around at Bobby's desk.
Sitting on his chair, leafing through a book, was Abaddon.
