The End | {BOOK 5}

49| Jack in the Box

"I didn't want it to come to this, either. But I know that kid's head's not right. And now that Heaven has its hooks in him, we don't have a choice," Dean stated.

Jack had made a pastor get cuts all over his body and worms had crawled out of them, then sent the pastor's congregation to Heaven to become angels. After we found out, Dean had gotten this crazy look in his eye like he'd made up his mind about something.

"Wait. Come to what?" Sam demanded. "What are you talking about?"

"Stopping Jack. Once and for all."

"Alright. Fine. Say I agree. Dean, he can't be killed."

"No, but he can be contained."

Dean grinned, the crazy glint getting brighter in his eyes. I studied him silently, chewing on my lip. Ever since the funeral, I could tell he was trying to be strong for my benefit, but I could see right through him. I was one of a limited few that had managed to get behind Dean Winchester's impenetrable walls he put up to block out his emotions, and because of that, I could tell what was usually brewing under the surface of his cold, hard demeanor.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Sam asked curiously.

"With this," Dean pushed open a nearby door.

Inside the room was the Ma'lak box he'd built when he thought that was the only way to deal with Michael. My breath hitched in my throat as I realized exactly what Dean was planning to do.

"Are we seriously talking about locking Jack in this?"

"No, we're seriously talking about not having a choice. We can't kill him, okay? And this is warded to lock down an archangel."

"Yeah. So- So, what? We- we just force him inside? He's never going to go for that, Dean," Sam shook his head.

"Maybe. But he might. He might if he only has to stay in there long enough for us to finish the spell to fix his soul."

"Spell? What spell? There is no spell."

"We know that," I stated, following Dean's line of thought.

Sam looked at us like we were insane.

"So you want to lie to him."

"No. Well, I mean, I want Zeppelin to get back together," Dean shrugged and I flinched a little. "But what I need- What we need is to stop Jack. Big difference. But here's the deal. We all got to sign off on it. This might be our only shot, and if he even catches a whiff that this is a scam, he's off into the wind."

"Exactly. And how do you think he's not gonna know something's up?"

Dean locked eyes with Sam, a look of resolve on his face.

"Because you're gonna be so damn sincere."

"Me?" Sam's own eyes widened in surprise.

"Mm-hm."

"Why me?"

"Because you've always been in his corner, alright. You're his go-to guy. Sam, if you reach out, he'll come. If Ellie or I do it, after what happened to Emilie and the kids... one of us could lose it. We will lose it."

⁘

Dean and I stood off to the side as Sam prayed to Jack. When he finished, he looked around, then turned to face us.

"Guess he didn't hear."

"I heard," Jack said, appearing behind him.

I tensed up beside Dean and he latched onto my hand, rubbing soothing circles on the back of it with his thumb.

"And I was so glad," Jack continued. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again. I've been working with the angels to purify the world. Oh, and making angels. Yeah. I make angels. But I really missed you guys."

"Yeah. Us too," Dean replied with forced calm so his voice didn't waver. "Right, Sammy? Tell Jack how, uh- how we want to clear things up, you know, between us."

"I know- I know things have been bad," Jack looked down. "A-and, if it helps, I regret it. The accident."

"The- the accident?" Sam stammered.

"What happened to Emilie, Maddie and Zep. Emilie kept talking about my soul, t-that I didn't have a soul, and she kept pushing."

"Oh, so she made you do it," Dean stated.

"No, it- it was me, but I didn't want this no-soul thing to become an issue between us. I guess I snapped. Before I knew it, it was all over."

"'It' being the accident," I translated, focusing on Dean to keep me grounded.

"I wish it didn't happen," Jack admitted morosely.

"Yeah, Jack," Dean nodded. "So do we. But w-we understand. And we forgive you. You know, for the, uh, accident."

"That's what you want, right, Jack?" Sam asked him. "I mean, you- you- you'd like that?"

"I'd like for things to go back to the way they were," Jack replied. "I knew you'd understand."

"So if we told you we were close to being able to fix your soul, we just need to keep you somewhere safe until everything is ready, you- you'd be okay with that?" I asked.

"Safe- what do you mean?"

"Well, you could hurt other people," Dean swallowed. "Have another, uh, accident."

"Oh."

"We- we want to keep you safe, Jack," Sam assured him. "That also means we- we have to keep you safe from yourself. You know, just so nobody else gets hurt, just until we get you better."

Jack nodded, following us down to the room with the Ma'lak box.

"Well, there she is," Dean grinned. "It's actually kind of comfortable. Uh, and it's best feature is that it's warded, so it keeps your powers below the meltdown level."

"Yeah, so you can't hurt anyone and n-nobody can hurt you," Sam added.

"I understand," Jack nodded again.

"So, uh- Okay," I gestured to the box.

"Um, do I just-" Jack looked at us questioningly.

"Just hop on in," Dean told him.

We watched as Jack climbed into the box, sitting up inside for a moment.

"Hm. Not bad."

"Hey. Told ya," Dean smiled a little.

"How long before I can come out?" Jack looked at all of us innocently.

"Not too long," Sam said. "Jack, we got this."

Trusting Sam's words, Jack laid back in the box and Dean sealed it up. The second it was, Sam rushed from the room, visibly upset. I let out a slow breath and Dean came over, wrapping his arms around me for a minute before we also made our way out of the room, shutting the door behind us.