The One He Brought Back

The Alyssum Flower

     Max needed air. It had been a week since they had returned from heaven and she had been a mess ever since. She had talked to God himself, she was going to be the end of this world and the beginning of the next. It was crazy, almost too much so to actually believe. And when things got crazy, Max did what she knew best, nothing. Not like the content normal. nothing. No. It was a conscious goal to do nothing. To not speak, to not eat, to not sleep, to not breath. Nothing.
     Jack had been so nice to her, asking her questions about what was going on. It was obvious he didn't want to cause her any pain, but they all needed to know. Maybe they could fix it, he would reason, but Max and Cas would share a tired glance and walk away. She was completely gone, and now here she sat, atop a cliff, looking out into the blue abyss of the world. At first, she had tried a waterfall, thinking the rushing water would shout loud enough it could drown a thought, but found that it didn't help. Instead, her thoughts floated in the tranquil river, polluting it. Here was better. This was something she couldn't alter. She couldn't hurt it, couldn't take it. It wasn't hers, and she loved it. She screamed.
    She screamed so loud the ground couldn't take it and whispered back at her what it couldn't absorb. Her whole life she wanted this feeling. She wanted to express it. She wanted to show it on her face. Pain. She screamed again louder, listening for the whisper back and relishing in it, collecting it to shout it again. She grabbed a nearby rock, chucking it off the cliff face, then another, then another until she felt it. Pain. hopelessness. Welling from her eyes and pouring out. She tried to laugh and it came out a choked sob. 'So that's why they cry', she thought, 'cause my body couldn't physically deal with this pain any more'. She picked up one more rock, chucking it off the cliff before curling up into a ball and sobbing. Releasing the tears she was allowed to have.
    Everything was black around her closed eyes. Everything was silent behind her tears. She thought she was there alone until a hand touched her back and she tensed up all over. Stopping her sobs and snapping her head up to see Jack looking back at her questioningly. He had come to check on her, to ask what was wrong. He could hear her crying in his ears. But at this moment he knew she couldn't answer him. Still, she tried, croaking, opening her mouth only to be cut off by her own hickup.
    Jack knelt to the ground, picking up her upper half and holding her head under his chin. This is how to comfort someone. It seemed to be working, she was still trying to talk, 'to apologize', he thought. Knowing her. "It's okay. We will talk later." He whispered, careful about his words, saying them slowly. It was obvious he hadn't planned the sentence beforehand.
      She stayed there. At first not wanting his presence, but after a while, he had become her only shallow grip on reality. She had planned it all in her head. What would happen when this happened and so forth. It's what had gotten her to this point, to begin with. Because in any plan she could ever think of, it was her fault and she was to blame and she had to stay away from it and send someone else to fix it. It made her feel small. Atop the world's highest cliff that's secluded, she felt tiny. she wanted to feel tiny. Now she could only think about trying not to bother Jack too much. Slowly her tears stopped spilling and she was able to speak. "How did you find me?" She sniffled uncontrollably but got through the sentence. "I heard you crying," Jack said, "I was going to ask why, but you couldn't tell me." Max sat up, sitting across from him. "I'm sorry." There was a long pause.
      "Maxine. Something's been wrong lately, what happened?" Max looked up at him, wiping away a tear and sniffling once, "I uh..." she trailed, everything she had in her held tightly to her tears, but they weren't strong enough to hold back everything. She took a breath, shakily letting it out, "I am the apocalypse." She said pausing for a moment so she wouldn't squeak. "I am supposed to be the end of everything and there's nothing anyone can do about it. It's, a universal rule." She looked down at her black jeans, to hear it out loud hurt her. She couldn't bear looking at Jack, to whom she had just sentenced to death. Not only him, but his world, her world, everything. She was its end. She was the purge of everything.
    
     Jack wanted to question her, to make sure he heard right, or she knew what she was talking about but he settled with just gazing around him. He knew Max wouldn't say something like that without knowing it was true. Finally, he decided on a move to make, reaching up to touch her shoulder gently, "let's go home." Max shook her head, silent tears still falling, "they'll worry if they see me like this." Jack smirked at her pride, "We can go back to your room." Finally, she agreed and the two left the massive cliff top, appearing in her bedroom just by the door.
    
     Max was exhausted, she kept hearing frantic voices in her head that almost couldn't be shut off for some reason. She didn't care though, she started walking towards her bed.. Jack felt sort of awkward, seeing Max like this was just unusual. She stayed normally pretty happy, he thought maybe he should have given her space, glancing at the door, his feet started moving when he heard a small mumble. "Please stay here," it was muffled slightly but he heard her thought through the words and checked just to make sure. It got a bit louder, the words less blurry as Max continued, "I mean if you're busy it's fine I swear but if your not I would really appreciate it."

     This rambling probably would have continued if it hadn't been for the fact that Jack had already come into Maxes view, standing next to her as she lay her head on the pillow. "Where do you want me?" He asked awkwardly and Max smiled a bit, grabbing his hand and tugging it gently towards her until Jack got the message and lay down with her. She rested her head on his chest and curled up next to him tightly. Through the night, Jack eventually found his arm wrapped around her as he slept.

     It was three in the morning when Castiel couldn't take the prayers of his brothers any longer and decided to go ask Max if she was even hearing them and what she had done to cause such an uproar. He opened the door to her bedroom, finding that the lights were off and she was asleep for the first time since they had come back from heaven. It didn't bother her to not sleep, she had a weird trait for a supernatural creature. She was made to look human, to act human and so she could mimic human behavior, even getting a sense for what it felt like. But sleeping was something she enjoyed and did so most nights, for her to not sleep was something out of the ordinary.

    Castiel smiled a bit before he noticed someone else there. He moved forward slowly, until another face came into view, Jacks. Cas felt a pang in his stomach and he involuntarily flapped his wings, appearing in Dean's room. Dean was asleep, but only barely. Cas' sudden presence mixed with his failed attempt at whispering, "Dean!"
    Dean grunted, rolling over to the side trying to force sleep back with his pillow, "What the hell Cas?" He mumbled. Cas took it as Dean's permission to continue, "You need to go in there and tell your kid to get off Jack." Dean laughed, "What did you walk in on them?" He was awake at this point laughing. "No Dean! They're like, sleeping... In the same bed!"

      Dean lost it at this point, laughing out loud at Castiel's ridiculousness, "Friends do that Cas."
"No! This is different from Dean, there was like... this thing that was in the air and it's Max' fault so you need to fix it."
"I'm telling you, they're just best friends. Just like you and me"
"Dean we have a profound bond, it's different."
"So what if they have a profound bond?" Dean was nearly crying at this point from laughter.
"No. Jack can't have profound bonds," Cas said crossing his arms, trying to look intimidating.
"So he can't have sex?" Dean laughed, he did it mainly to make Cas uncomfortable but also to get a better understanding of what a 'profound bond' means.
"Dean we don't have sex."
"So what makes you think they are."
"I didn't say that!"
"So does Jack not deserve love?"
"He has my love," Cas says giving up. Dean smiles widely, finally calming down and getting up from his bed, pulling Castiel into a hug.
"They're just best friends is all. Like we're just best friends."
"Dean, that's not helpful." Cas chuckled burying his head into Dean's neck.
"It means they're not hooking up," Dean shrugged making eye contact with Cas, their faces only inches apart.
"He's a Nephilim and she's a Belial, for all we know holding hands is their version of 'hooking up," Cas used hand quotations for the phrase.

     Cas looked up at Dean for a moment with questioning eyes and touched his forehead, bringing them both to Max' room where Dean found out what Cas had jumped at. A little girl standing in the corner of the room. Her hair long brown with a somehow naturally looking blue blended into it, flowers littered her hair,  cheeks perfectly flushed and her eyes a hazel color. She couldn't have been more than ten years old. What are you doing here?" Dean yelled a bit harshly at the girl who looked scared at first, but quickly gained her composure and brought a single finger to her lips. Looking at Max, "You might wake her." Cas looked at Dean with wild eyes, he could see her wings, her grace. New and brilliant and only a few days old, "Dean, she's... an archangel."