Purgatory Line

"i'm not much for cars, and i'm sick of fate. i'm done with praying."

"i'm not much for cars, and i'm sick of fate. i'm done with praying." - 67, cherry red - aaron west & the roaring twenties

content warnings: graphic descriptions of violence & blood, mention of death, descriptions of physical/mental/emotional abuse, mentions of parental death, manipulation, parental figure gaslighting, grief & guilt, dissociation

Chaos broke the fuck out almost immediately. Desmond fell back into Jude, crushing her against the table as Castiel manhandled him but then Sam was pulling them both away. Jude tried not to show that she was in pain, but it hurt so bad. She was going to have a bruise, later and it would probably cover most of her lower back and maybe even her thighs.

At the same time Ellen beckoned Jo to help her close the bar. Jude was thankful - prying eyes of the hunting community began to shuffle out as Castiel struggled against Sam's strong arms. Jude quickly skirted the edge of the room, settling her back against one of the large pillars holding the roof up. She slid her mask over her face with practiced precision as Castiel hissed in... Well, not in English. It was more harsh, heavier with emotion and raw power. Desmond scoffed in the angel's face.

"Ellen, are you going to stand for this?" He gestured to Sam and Castiel. "He attacked me." Ellen sighed, coming between Desmond and the struggling angel. Fear pounded everything in Jude - she had prayed for Castiel, and he came, but then he went feral. What was wrong? Where did she go wrong? What had Castiel seen in Jude's head when she reached out for him? Most of all, Jude asked herself why she had reached out for him in the first place.

As soon as Ellen broke the eye contact Castiel was holding with Desmond, he seemed to calm. Jude could still see the anger bubbling under the surface, but he wasn't struggling against Sam. "Desmond's right. Cas, you're going to have to go. I can't have angels attacking my customers like rabid dogs."

Jude, surprising herself, took several steps forward. "No!" Her voice broke the tension like a whip and she could tell she sounded desperate. "I asked him to come, I prayed for him." Desmond's eyes narrowed at her, and so did Dean's. She zeroed in on Castiel, as if she had any say in what happened. "Don't leave me here, Cas. Please." The angel nodded curtly.

"What are you talking about, Girl?" Desmond demanded, stalking toward her until nothing but a table separated them. Jude was shaking, staring down Desmond and knowing what would come if she left with him. She had become too bold, made too many mistakes in the few hours since the sun had risen. He was right - she had become too big for her britches. She had sealed her fate. "Answer me." Behind him, Castiel shook Sam off and began to right his trench coat. Ellen was still stationing herself between him and Desmond, but Dean and Jo had moved to flank Sam. All eyes were on Jude and her stepfather as they seemed to enter a final face-off.

"He's an angel, Desmond. I prayed for him to come, and he did. It's more than you've ever done for me." She jerked her chin, something in her eyes shifted. She hoped nobody would recognize it for what it was, and if they did they'd keep their mouths shut. Jude mostly thought this about Dean, because he was the one who had told her he understood those weeks ago. He didn't, she thought, not really. "I asked him to come protect me."

Desmond's neck ticked, and he seemed to roll his jaw forward. "Protect you from what? Ain't nothing here to need protection from." His eyes screamed at her, but Jude was done. She was sick of living the way that she had been living, and she was tired of being disappointed. Desmond was disappointing in every aspect of the word, and Dean had disappointed her in a way she hadn't thought was possible. Jude was simply done, ready to tempt fate in any way that she could possibly do so. So she did.

"From you, Desmond. I asked him to come protect me from you!" Jude confessed, her voice rising in volume. Ellen stepped back as if the girl had slapped her, but Jude wasn't done. "I asked him because after today you're never going to let me hunt on my own. You're never going to let me talk to Cas, or Sam, or anyone ever again. You're going to hit me so hard I won't be able to remember my own name and it's never gonna fuckin' stop. You askin' Ellen to kick Cas out 'cause he hit you is nothin' but the pot callin' the kettle black and you know it!"