I heard Jack say" Is Hazel okay?"
Sam said" Uh... Haz, yeah, she'll be okay."
" She's angry... at me."
" She's angry at everyone, especially herself, she just needs time."
" Is she angry because she missed me?"
" Uh, she is angry because she let someone in and they got taken away."
" Me."
" Yeah, you, but it's not your fault."
" Will she throw something at me if I knock on her door?"
" Probably. But she'd do that to me, Dean and Cas too." I walked back to my room, sitting on my bed, I knew Jack would be knocking on my door soon.
Jack knocked on my door, then slowly cracked it open,
He said" I have cookies. Promise not to throw something at me?"
I said" Fine." He fully opened the door," I can't believe you! I felt you come back, and you stayed away! I tried to connect with you and you blocked me!"
" I had to, Hazel."
" No! No! Okay, no! I'm not watching you get killed again, Jack, I can't watch you get killed again!" My eyes glowed then turned black," I'll kill God my own damn self if it means you stay safe."
" You can't."
" I'd try!"
" You'd die."
" Then so be it. I'd go down swinging."
" I don't want you to die."
" I watched you die! I watch God smite you and all I wanted to do was cry, Jack! Then I watched a demon take over your suit as my body started to break on itself!"
" I'm sorry."
" You can't be sorry, Jack! I should have been watching you better, I should have done something. I should have grabbed you and cloaked us and disappeared the second I knew something was off!"
" None of this was your fault, Hazel." My eyes glowed, he looked at me,
" It was my fault! I can't protect anyone anymore!" I pushed his shoulder," You died!" I pushed again, I breathed heavily," I was right there and you died!" I pushed again and again till he was pinned to the wall, I got dizzy, and collapsed, Jack caught me in his arms. He lifted me up, and carried me to my bed, my eyes closed, I tried to open them," I-I can't... I can't see you die again, I can't see... I can't see-see anyone I love die again." I passed out.
——
I watched into the kitchen and saw Jack's eyes glowing, with Not Kaia. I sighed, they never should have brought Not Kaia here! I mean, I understand that she her Jodie, but Jack can't use his powers! I won't let him use his powers!
I followed Jack into the library,
Jack said" I'm saving Kaia."
Sam said" What?"
" I owe it to her. She's running out of time- I saw it."
" What, you- how? Now, wait a second. Did you dreamwalk?"
Dean said" Whoa. Hey. What?"
" Jack, what about Billie's plan?"
Jack said" I know, I know, but... saving Kaia, it's the right thing to do."
A woman said" You've gotta be kidding me." A reaper. My eyes glowed as I raised my eyebrow at Jack.
Dean said" Who the hell are you?"
" Name's Merle."
Jack said" She's a reaper- works with Billie."
Dean said" How did you get in here?"
She said" Piggybacked on the boy."
Jack said" She's been watching me."
" Yeah, I've been watching you screw up. One measly life on the line, and you're ready to risk it all? That's not just dumb. That's Winchester dumb."
Dean said" Hey!"
Jack said" I'm the only one who can do this."
She said" Well, try, and I'll tell Death."
" Okay." I leaned against the wall, yeah, sure, Jack giving up, he's spent far too long with us to do that." Go. In the meantime, I'll open a rift to the Bad place. I'm sure Billie will appreciate hearing about it after the fact when it's already too late."
" Okay. And how about I just stop you? Right now."
" You can try. Run to Billie. Tell her everything went sideways on your watch, and see how she reacts- what she decides to do to you. Or help us. Help us find the safest, smartest way to pull this off, and she never has to know."
" Now... this is Winchester stupid."
Dean said" But?"
" But there might be a way. The, uh... cosmic warding that Amara peeled off these walls that somehow you've all been too stupid to even try and repair..."
" Uh, we fixed that-"
" Oh, you fixed part of it. You slapped up some anti-demonic monster warding. You didn't come close to restoring the original, cosmic-grade stuff."
Sam said" Okay. Then, how do we restore it?"
" Well, you can't- not permanently. But I know how to get it back up- for a while. But it won't be enough. This good-enough warding, I'm gonna haver to juice it up, feed it. I'm gonna need to borrow your angel."
Dean said" And with all that, you think that'll keep us off of Chuck's radar?"
" Better hope so."
We were doing the spell,
Sam said" Magia, quae olim inhaeserat in his symbolis, nunc depletis, reducatur, reducatur." I watched symbols appear on the structures, walls, ceilings.
Once the spell was done, the warding back up... for now. We were getting ready to leave,
Dean said" How you feeling 'bout this?"
Sam said" Honestly? Feels like we're taking a big, probably stupid risk. Feels good. Disobeying cosmic entities, doing the, uh... dumb, right thing? Feels like we're back." We walked to the table, Merle and Cas placed their hands on a stone.
" Alright, Jack. You're up." I grabbed Jack's hand, my powers will block his even further, I raised my hand as he did and the rift opened. Not Kaia walked in, my brothers followed, I looked at Jack, keeping my hand in his.
Then They came out with Kaia, Jody hugged her, I sighed, Jack and I closed the rift.
I walked into the map room,
Kaia said" Miss Mary Mack. The nursery rhyme. My mom used to... um... doesn't matter." Jody walked in, she pat my shoulder," So... what do I do now?"
Jody said" Well, uh, if you want, come back to Sioux Falls, my home."
" Will Claire be there?"
" She will be. Soon."
" Thank you." They walked up the stairs, we walked into the library.
Merle said" If I cared for a second about saving that girl, I guess I'd say that was a victory."
Sam said" So you think the warding worked, kept us off Chuck's radar?"
" If it hadn't, we would all be dead, so I'd say, yeah, it worked." Then she was killed by Billie,
Billie said" Hello, boys."
Dean said" What the hell?"
" Bending the rules already, Jack?" I walked to Jack, my eyes glowing,
Jack said" Billie... I tried to call you."
" I know. I was busy. Can't say I'm not disappointed, though."
Dean said" Disappointed? You just iced one of your reapers."
" Merle had one job- keep you in line. She failed. We're playing a big game here, and we're only as strong as our weakest players. She had to go. That's the different between you and me. I see the big picture. I understand that one life means nothing in the grand scheme. That girl you saved from a dying world, you think hers was the only one? They're all dying. All the worlds- each and every world- but this one."
Cas said" It's Chuck."
" Mm-hmm. He's been a busy boy- extinguishing galaxies. Wiping the slate clean- for the end."
Sam said" Yeah, and what's your endgame, Billie? I mean, you lecture us about how important all this is, but we don't even know what you're doing. Jack's gonna kill God, right? Yeah? Great. Okay. How? What's your plan?"
" When I was a reaper, I believed in the rules. But then you killed me. And when I became Death, I inherited Death's knowledge... and Death's library. And in Death's library, everyone has a book. Even God."
Dean said" So God can die."
" Everything dies."
Cas said" I don't understand. Why would God write the blueprint to his own death?"
" He didn't. The books right themselves. After God made the world, he couldn't stop. He wanted more. But he needed to create a perfect harmony- a Swiss watch, so this world could keep tick tick ticking in his absence. He had no choice but to build himself into the framework. It's his only weakness."
Dean said" So Chuck doesn't know what's inside the book?"
" No one can read their books unless I let them."
Sam said" What about Jack? He's in God's book?"
" And so are you. I told you, Dean- you and your brother and sister have work to do. This is your destiny. You are the messengers of God's destruction."