Roads Untraveled ~ Sam Winchester

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty-Five - Find The Darkness Inside You

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, Jack and Willow found themselves standing outside the community centre the victims had volunteered at.
"This is my first time going under cover without Sam and Dean. What do I do?" Jack asked.
Willow smirked, giving a breathy chuckle.
"You'll be fine. Just lie through your teeth, be friendly and keep your head down. If you struggle, then just follow my lead. You can be my shy big brother."
Jack nodded, opening the door for her.
They walked into a large room, its walls littered with posters and advertisements, a few tables littered around the place and a canteen against the far wall.
Across the room, they saw a Caucasian man with shoulder-length dark hair, speaking with an African American couple quietly about doing somethings in the memory of their lost peers.
To their right, sat a dark haired girl with a white bow headband at a desk, writing something on one of the various pieces of paper she had scattered around the surface.
"Hello!" Jack greeted her. "Where can I find the Kool-Aid?"
"What?" The girl narrowed her eyes, judgementally looking him up and down before Willow jumped in.
"Uh, he means we'd like to volunteer." She gave a crooked, awkward half smile. "My name's Willow and this is my brother Jack."
The Nephilim held out a hand for the girl to shake.
"Okay." She said, lightly shoving a clipboard with sign-up sheet into the awaiting hand before handing another to Willow. "Fill these out."
Jack turned back to where the man had been speaking with the couple, now talking with only one of them.
"Is that the Pastor?" He asked, turning his voice to a loud whisper. "What's going on?"
"It was a prayer dedication for... One of our members just passed away." The girl replied.
Jack nodded.
"Were you close?"
She looked down briefly, then moved to get up from her seat.
"Come find me when you're done with the forms." She said, walking away.
Jack looked around, sitting in a brown leather armchair behind him, Willow sitting next to him as Castiel walked in.
The pair kept their eyes on their forms, pretending to not notice him as he walked over to the Pastor, who placed a hand on the African American man's shoulder, bowing his head as he prayed out loud.
"Who do I put as my parents?" Jack whispered.
"I'm going with one of mom and dad's alias'. You can copy from me if you want." Willow replied.

Once done, the pair made it over to the canteen area, where the girl from before stood with one of her friends.
"We're all done with the paperwork. Now what?" Jack asked in his usual cheery tone.
"You can work with me." The friend smiled, taking the clipboards from the newcomers to hand to the other girl. "Your sister can man the coffee machine, make sure everyone's glass is full and stuff."
"People come here from all walks of life." The original girl stated. "Make sure you look them in the eyes, give them a smile..."
"Then hand them a bagged lunch and a water." The friend finished, doing all they had instructed to a elderly man who'd just come in. "Thank you! Next? We used to give out Bibles, but we stopped."
"How come?" Willow pressed.
"Like Sylvia said; people come in here from all walks of life – both religious and non-religious. People just took the Bibles and threw them out once they'd had their meal instead of just saying they didn't want one." The friend replied.
Jack turned to the first girl, now known to them as Sylvia.
"What I said earlier, about Conner..."
Sylvia instantly appeared panicked, turning to the person she was serving.
"Excuse me." She gave a faltered smile, quickly making her way to be anywhere else.
Jack decided to follow her, leaving Willow with the other girl.
"So Jack was right, then." The young Vampire sighed, looking to where they had gone to sit down. "Sylvia and Conner were close."
"They sorta dated years ago, remained friends..." The girl explained, getting sad, herself. "The three of us have been practically inseparable since we joined the church."
Willow gave a knowing nod, looking back to Sylvia and Jack speaking about their mothers – both of whom had passed, by what she heard.

"You not goin' in for a snack?" Sam asked his brother as they both perched on Baby's trunk, waiting for her to fill up on gas as snow came in harder.
"Saving room." Dean replied simply. "I got four hours 'till all-you-can-eat. I have a process."
Sam was looking down at his phone, giving a sharp hiss at what he saw on the screen.
"Ooh... Can your process last six hours? Lane closures, I-Seventy-Six."
"Damn it!" Dean growled.
"Pork rinds?" Sam offered, tucking his phone back into his jacket pocket.
"Pork rinds." The older brother nodded, pushing himself off the trunk to head into the gas station.
"I think we can do better than that." An unamused female voice said.
Dean stopped in his tracks when Amara appeared in front of him, wearing a pant suit in various shades of salmon.
Eden groaned as she pulled herself out of the backseat, recognising the voice instantly.
"Hello, Dean. Miss me?" The deity smirked, then saw Eden as she came into view. "My, my... Eden, my Angel. You're positively glowing. Not long to go now, I see."
She looked her creation up and down, her gaze lingering on Eden's heavily pregnant belly.
"Hello, Aunty. It's good to see you."
"Likewise." Amara smiled. "You headed somewhere fun?"
"Well, we were headed to you, actually." Dean replied.
"How'd you find us?" Sam seemed rather dismissive of the pleasantries.
"I smelled you. From two states over. And I caught wind of your friend Castiel's angelic APB." Amara stated, deadpan for a moment before she broke into a smile. "That and I kept hearing the latest creation of mine calling out to me. She's rather a force to be reckoned with... Just like her mother. All in all, I knew you were looking for me."
Eden frowned, placing her hands on her bump as she looked down at it.
"Jorden was calling to you?" She asked.
"Indeed." The deity hummed. "She's rather adamant that I help you all with something. Though, she was rather vague on the details. Care to fill me in?"
"We wanted to talk." Dean informed her.
Amara held out a hand to stop him from going any further.
"First. Lunch." She nodded between the boys, dragging their attention to a roadside billboard advertisement of 'Pavel's Deli', displaying a cartoon chef and text reading 'World's best Pierogis'.
"Pierogis..." Dean looked back to her.
"You're hungry, I'm hungry, I like new earthly experiences and I have never had a Pennsylvania Pierogi." She gave a small mouth shrug as she tilted her head in thought.
With that, she walked passed Baby and headed across the road to the diner, the Winchesters and Eden shortly following. 

In Minnesota, Jack and Willow had been summoned into some sort of prayer circle. All of the members of the group had gathered round, with Pastor Joe in the centre.
"Jesus. Allah. Yahweh. Buddha. Krishna. Gaeia. The Four Winds. God, you go by so many names. But it doesn't matter what we call you. It matters how we live." The Pastor started, turning to address each one of his constituents. "Come be among us as we provide for those less fortunate. And please help us in welcoming our newest friends, Jack and Willow."
There were a few utterings of 'welcome' from the small group, making Jack give a small smile and a nod.
He raised his hand in a still wave.
"Hello."
"Thank you, Pastor. Friends." Willow bowed her head slightly.
"It's custom here that someone give testimony during prayer. Though, Jack, Willow, as the two newest members of Patchwork, I invite you both to share your journey." The man continued.
Willow looked around the room with worry, wondering not only what she would share, but Jack, too, as her eyes landed on Castiel, who was watching from the corner of the room.
"I... Um..." Jack wore a frown as he thought of what to say.
"There's no hurry. Please, think on it for a moment." Pastor Joe said. "Willow, would you like to go first?"
With one last nervous look to the Angel, the young Vampire nodded.
"My name is Willow Clios. I'm fourteen years old. My life was ordinary. I had a mother, father... A little brother." She visibly saddened at the memory, pausing to try and get a grip on her emotions before she continued. "Something happened to me a few years ago and my family was taken from me. I joined a community in North Carolina. I had a father figure there, but... He's gone too now."
"I'm truly sorry to hear of your losses, Willow. That's a great weight to bare for someone of any age, most of all someone so young." The Pastor nodded solemnly.
"It's okay. That's where I met my mom and later, my dad, my uncle Dean and uncle Cas and finally, my brother Jack." Willow looked up at the Nephilim to her left, who gave her a small smile and took her hand reassuringly. "It's my fault my family are gone. But I'm glad that whatever Angel I had watching over me has chosen to give me a better life and an incredible family. I can help this way. I can do good things to try and repent for some of the bad... I've found my purpose."
"That was beautiful and very brave. Thank you for sharing, Willow." The Pastor smiled, then turned to the boy. "What about you, Jack? Would you like to share your story with us?"
Everyone looked to Jack; Willow and Castiel put back on edge as to what he may or may not divulge to the small group of Humans.
"May I?" Castiel asked, moving into the circle after noticing how terrified the Nephilim looked.
"Please." Pastor Joe beckoned him as he stepped out of the circle to stand next to Willow.
"My name is, um... Well, my name's not important. I do know what blind faith is." The Angel started, looking to each group member in turn. "I used to just follow orders without question, and I did some pretty terrible things. I would never look beyond the plan. And then, of course, when it all came crashing down, I found myself lost. I didn't know what my purpose was anymore. And then one day, something changed, something amazing. I... I guess I found a family... And I became a father, an uncle, a protector. And in that, I rediscovered my faith. I rediscovered who I am."
Castiel looked to Jack and Willow, giving them a subtle smile that was soon returned.
"I'm glad you were able to find that, Agent." Pastor Joe nodded.