Steps to Madness

Darkness Falls On Her

Sam's POV

Gone.
Lilian was gone. I can't believe this. I couldn't stop thinking about her as another gulp of alcohol slipped down my throat. We were at a local bar, Dean had suggested it when we found the broken-into hotel room. Now we had our guns on us 24/7. Dean didn't want to risk it. I'll be honest, I don't want to risk it either. We've risked enough. How come I didn't know it'd come back to bite us. Dean was probably over somewhere picking up woman. Like always. I watched as Castiel made his way over to me.
"Sam..." He said, in his usual crackling voice. I looked up at him.
"Yeah Cas?" He looked down at me with his blue eyes, eyebrows furrowed.
"Deans worried."
"Bout' what Cas?"
"You." I looked behind him. Wow. Dean was sitting at a table by himself, watching us. Surprising.
"How come?" I knew the answer.
"Lilian's gone. You don't seem to be yourself." I chuckled.
"I'm fine. Really Cas."
"You don't seem it." I watched him, sighing before trying to take another drink of my beer, but Castiel grabbed it and set it back on the table.
"Sam." I looked back at him.
"What?"
"You should stop." I sighed.
"Cas-"
"Would Lilian want this?" I shut up at that, hesitating before nodding.
"Yeah, no she probably wouldn't."
"Exactly. Would Dean?" I sighed.
"No."
"Jack?" I looked up at the sound of the boys name.
"Probably not..." I looked down at my drink.
"I don't either." He said and I nodded.
"Yeah. Okay."

                      I got up and returned my cup to the bartender, walking over to Dean when I finished.
"Hey Sammy." He said.
"Hey Dean."
"You doin' alright?" I nodded.
"Fine, I guess." I wasn't in the mood for lying. He sighed.
"I found I hint." I looked up.
"What?"
"I found a hint to where Jack might be." So that's why Castiel mentioned Jack.
"Well?"
"'Where hounds howl and others growl. Trees grow tall and humans fall.' It was in my suitcase, and signed by Jack himself." My brows furrowed.
"But it wasn't there yesterday when I packed your stuff?" He nodded.
"Which means Jacky wants us to find him now."
"I guess so..." I combed through my hair, getting an idea.
"'Where hounds howl'... He means Hell Hounds." Dean nodded.
"Yeah. 'And others growl'. Other monsters?"
"'Trees stand tall, and humans fall.' I think I know where we need to go." He looked at me. "How? There could be millions of places with that description." I nodded.
"But he wants one major place to come into mind. Purgatory." Dean rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Oh why does it have to be purgatory..." He groaned. I shook my head.
"He knew we wouldn't go there, that's why he went there." Dean rubbed his face.
"Of course..." He said.
"Of freaking course."

           I sighed as I paced. We had gotten back claim on the bunker, nothing to big. There were just a couple demons we had to finish off. Dean watched me as I fiddled with the note in my hand. I stopped to look up at him.
"What?" He shook his head.
"Nothin' just haven't seen you this worried in a while." I chuckled and shrugged.
"We have to go into purgatory, again. Of course I'm kinda worried." He nodded.
"Yeah why'd the kid have to choose purgatory, of all the places!" I chuckled again at Deans exasperation. The paper in my hand, Jacks note, started to slowly get hotter, I was only noticing now. I winced and let go of it quickly. Dean, however, had gotten up quicker, and was now standing next to me, his hand on my shoulder.
"Hey, you okay?" I nodded, waving my hand around softly.
"Fine, but it- the note started to burn me." Dean crouched down, studying it. Then, he slowly reached his hand out, touching it slightly first. His face filled with confusion, he picked it up slowly. I watched him with my brows furrowed.
"But- I swear it-" That's when he turned it around, and if we weren't confused already then we definitely were now. The letters had changed. Dean read them out loud.
"Under a willow you will find, a shinning bright star with heart and mind. Sincerely, Jack." We traded expressions, looked up at each other.
"Jacks not leading us to himself..." Dean said wearily.
"No. He's leading us somewhere else. Or rather, someone else." Dean sighed and scoffed.
"Could have he just said it in normal words? Like, without all this cryptic bull-" He yelped as the paper fell from his hand and he rubbed his fingers softly. I picked it off the ground again and my eyes got wide at the new words on the paper.
"If I could then I would, but this decision to me is not given." Dean nodded softly, both of us slightly shook.
"Okay... so you can hear us?" He asked as I set the paper on the table so we could both see without getting burned. The words started to disappear as new ones seemed to be almost burned into the paper itself. When it finished we both looked over it.
"No matter where no matter far, words you speak in fact are." We had to fight back the small smile that was trying to creep onto our lips.
"Welcome back Jack."

Castiel's POV

I love flying right after dawn. The colors are so bright in the morning sun. Right now it's just me. Not Sam, not Dean, not-    A pebble hit me in the head from above. I swiftly change my position so I was looking up at whoever threw it, though I nearly fell from the sky when I saw who it was. The bronze hair, the constant smirk, the trickster. Gabriel.
"Brother?" He just chuckled, though I could see behind his laugh he was thinking of something.
"Yes Cassie?" I felt almost pearlized.
"How are you?"
"I've been back for a while, just in hiding." I nodded.
"Where?"
"Not important." It surprised me how swiftly he answered. We stayed in a awkward silence for a moment before he cleared his throat and spoke up.
"So. You lost a girl." Again, I was taken off guard.
"How do you know-"
"When you're her guardian you tend to know." I paused.
"You're Lilians guardian?" He nodded.
"I see." He hesitated.
"Do you have any clue where she went?" I sighed.
"Not a clue." He nodded before turning to me.
"Hey, can you keep me a secret?" I nodded.
"Of course brother. I promise." With that, he disappeared in the clouds.

I sat up in my bed gasping. Of course it was a dream. I sighed and got up when something fell from my blanket onto the floor. I felt my brows furrow as I reached down to retrieve it. A note. I unfolded the pieces of paper and my eyes grew wide at the sight in front of me. A single sentence was on it.

"Don't forget our promise."