Chapter 43: Mirror Mirror on the wall

A loud sigh fell from his lips, something he noticed he's been doing a lot more recently. Though his time with his family had been short it was nice to see them, his son would be the talk of his school no doubt with the fresh coat of ink on his arm. It took the hunter extra time to find an artist willing to tattoo someone who was hardly gracing high school but his sense of urgency seemed to work. The anti possession symbol would keep the teen safe from the darkness and that had been one of his biggest anxieties.

Now he stood in front of the terminal with his hands in his pockets as he awaited for Baal to come pick him up. The loud roar of planes taking off was ear shattering to the man who wasn't incredibly big on wearing headphones despite Abel's constant bellowing about how 'amazing' wireless earbuds were.

The sun was shining as people moved sluggishly around the tall man, his hair tied back in a messy ponytail to keep it from getting into his face as he tapped his foot in frustration. Baal was an hour late now, but he knew the demon was, more than likely, in some sort of crazy predicament. His mind moved back to the darkness that ate the lands below his feet, he could almost sense it.

"Are you waiting for someone too?"

The voice pulled Sam from his thoughts as he glanced over to an older man, his dark skin seemed to shine with the sunlight, grey dotted the tight, short curls on his head. His voice held a calmness to it that Sam felt deep within his bones, something about him was familiar but he couldn't place it.

"Oh uh, yeah! My friend was supposed to pick me up an hour ago, I think he got stuck in traffic," Sam replied smoothly, pulling his phone from his pants pocket to glance at the time.

"Traffic up here can be a nightmare," the man chuckled, "I'm currently waiting for my wife, she's been known to be a little late."

Sam smiled at the man, he had a warmth to him that reminded the hunter of a grandfather from an old show or movie.

"My wife's like that too," he chuckled, "I'm here visiting friends though. At least, I would be if they weren't so late."

The man nodded at this, his nice suit fit to his frame perfectly. He didn't carry a suitcase which confused the hunter but he didn't say anything about it, for all he knew the man was on a day trip.

"I'm Fran," the man said, holding out a hand. Sam took the hand with a sheepish grin, "Sam, Sam Winchester,"

"Winchester? Like the boy on the news," Fran said with a tilt of his head.

"That's...my nephew,"

He suddenly felt stupid saying his last name, before Abel showed up in his life he could say his full name without most people batting an eye but now the name was rapidly becoming infamous among the innocent as it was in the hunting community.

"Courageous young man," Fran chuckled, putting his hands in his pockets. A text message popped up on Sam's phone, narrowing his eyes as he read the texts before rolling them.

"Bad news?" Fran asked, Sam glanced at the other and shook his head.

"Erm, kind of. My friends are running behind," he said, attempting to keep the worry from his voice.

"Someone else is coming to get me,"

Fran's lip twitched upward as if he were attempting to keep himself from smiling, silence followed this as the older hunter watched the cars flashing by. The crowd wasn't as large as normal but he still felt a small sense of panic at the thought of his friends being in danger,

"I guess he's stopping in some town to help someone," Sam continued, not sure why he had the urge to talk to the other.

"I'm...a little worried about it,"

"If you're that boy's uncle that must mean you're in this stuff deep," Fran said, "my sympathies, it must be a hard thing to do. Saving the world."

"Yeah, it's uh, not exactly easy," Sam murmured, his mind flashed back to when he and Dean saved the planet a few times but this felt as though it was on a completely different level as he started to dig into his backpack for his Xanax, the panic started to swirl under his skin. He could already feel that clench in his chest as memories started to trigger into his subconscious.

He dropped his bag with a frustrated hiss as a few books flopped from the inside of the pack. Fran stooped down to help him collect the books, Sam tugged the bottle of medicine from the depths of the bag before standing.

"Ah, thanks, sorry. I'm uh, working on controlling my CPTSD," he whispered, feeling his cheeks burn as he snapped a pill in half and popped it into his mouth. The taste was terrible but it worked faster if he let the drug melt under his tongue. Taking the books from Fran, shoving them back into the orange backpack.

"Oh, there's no need to apologize, Sam," Fran chuckled.

"Sammy!!"

He rolled his eyes at the familiar voice of Norma who leaned out of her minivan, waving at the other.

"That'd be my ride," Sam said with a smile towards the man. "It was nice to meet you,"

Fran nodded, "oh! Before you go," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, golden pocket watch. He held it out to the other, Sam looked at it with a puzzled expression.

"Oh uh I--"

"Just take it, Sam." Fran laughed, "trust me, Dean would want you to have it."

Sam looked at the man in shock, he never mentioned Dean.

"How did--"

"Sam come on! I have a tart I need to finish baking!" Norma laughed out. Sam clenched his jaw, taking the golden watch.

"Thank you," he whispered, looking down at it for a few heartbeats,

"How did you know about Dean?" He asked, glancing back to Fran who had vanished from the spot he was in only seconds before. The hunter looked around with his jaw on the floor, eyes wide with confusion.

"Wh-- what?" He whispered as Norma pulled into the spot beside him, Sam blinked away the confusion. Popping open the passenger seat he climbed into the car, staring at the pocket watch. He didn't hear whatever Norma was going on about as he snapped the golden trinket open, his heart stopped.

The inside held a small mirror, on the front of the watch's face was a picture of Dean. He held a mug of beer up to the camera with a broad grin, a piece of pie sitting on the plate in front of him. It was strikingly similar to a picture he had taken of Abel not long ago which was set as the man's phone background in a collage with a few other pictures of his family.

"What's that?" Norma asked, giving him her usual dead panned smile.

"Oh, just...a gift from a friend," Sam whispered as his finger raced over the glass that covered the watch's face. Looking at the mirror and back to the photo, he wasn't sure why the watch had a mirror but he wasn't one to question it. Since meeting Abel the world seemed to fall on its head, so a person giving him a watch no longer seemed so odd anymore.

***

The sky painted itself in reds and pinks as the two drove down the highway, Sam was busy texting his wife who was adamant about moving somewhere safe for a while. Sam wasn't even sure where she could go, with the Supernatural showing no fear anymore cases of demon attacks, werewolves, and vampires were spiking up all over the place.

Their inbox flooded with the need for help, but the group felt trapped in New York as everything broke apart around them. Whenever he decided to leave or go elsewhere it was as if the darkness simply pushed him back to the big city.

His phone let out a loud ring in his hand which caused him to jump in shock. Bailey's name popped up on the screen, a picture of her flipping him off flashed in front of his eyes. He smiled at the picture, it'd been a long time since he felt a connection with another person and Bailey seemed to squeeze herself into being his friend beside Baal.

"Bailey, are you guys alright?" Sam asked, he could hear her talking to someone else for a few seconds. It sounded as if she was ordering food but he wasn't sure,

"Hey Sammy! Yeah, we're good." She said, though he heard an edge in her voice.

"So we have a situation," she started, "I think we found...some kind of ghost kid with black eyes?"

Sam frowned at this, he recalled his father mentioning black eyed children as a folk tale of some sort when he and Dean were younger but the memory was fuzzy.

"Do you think you have anything on something like that? Think you can do some digging" Bailey asked,

"You guys are okay, right? When are you going to be back?" Sam asked as he fiddled with his bag, attempting to open the slightly broken zipper.

"Yeah, we'll be back tomorrow," She said after a few silent seconds.

"Alright, I'm almost back at Norma's," he said, pulling open his bag finally and starting to dig for one of the many journals on the paranormal he had collected when he went back to see his wife.

"You said it was a kid with black eyes?" He questioned, wanting to make sure he heard the woman correctly. He moved the phone to the other ear as she started to babble on about the kids hair color, she was nervous. He knew her well enough to catch her anxious habit of going into a tangent whenever she wanted to avoid a question.

"Yeah, I know Bailey!" He laughed, shaking his head. Norma started singing quietly to the song on the radio,

"Anyways, it sounds like a black eyed child," he said, flipping through a few journals until coming to one that read 'Richard Campbell's hunting experience' going through the pages.

"Are they demons?" She asked, the sound of a glass moving could be heard, "I know demons eyes turn black."

Sam raced his finger through the urban legend section of the book, the Campbells we're big names in the hunting world even when he and Dean we're still actively trying to keep everyone safe. Though he never crossed paths with them, their books helped the brothers once or twice.

"No, they're more urban legends but I guess they're real. At least, now, maybe next we'll find mothman," he mused as his eyes danced over the picture of the giant moth before flipping a few more pages. The Campbell's were notorious for hunting creatures other hunters believed didn't exist besides the families insistence they did.

"How do we gank it?" She asked.

Sam flipped more vigorously now as he tried to find more information. Coming to the page he needed with narrowed eyes, a few pictures of the children were dotted over the book, information scattered in red and black. The red seemed more important as it circled and pointed to the many pictures. He let out another sigh, pulling his hair from it's bun and messing with the long locks.

"Probably the same as a ghost," he whispered as he flipped the page, only to find it had been ripped from the spine.

"It's kind of new territory. I'll make a few phone calls and see what I can find out though, right now just treat it as a ghost. I know that they're some type of spirit," Sam mused, closing the book.

The city fell behind them now as Norma's front gate came into view. Sam spotted Cain's car pulling into the driveway, he needed to talk to the man about his Adinkra, he'd found out more thanks to a few of the Campbell's books and the video Bailey had sent to him not long ago.

"Thanks Sammy, you're the best," She said into the phone, he heard her fiddling with something.

"Yeah," He sighed, "I know! Anyways, we're home. Cain just drove up too, I need to talk to him, I'll call you when I find out more. Keep your phone on!"

"Got it, Boss," She hung up, he pocketed his phone as Norma pulled into the garage. The sun had dipped away almost completely now, the full moon rose quickly.

The hunter thanked her, hopping out of the car and making his way to Cain. He waved the doctor down who paused, waiting for the other by the door. A haunted look in Cain's eyes but Sam decided against asking him about it. After all he was a doctor, he couldn't imagine some of the stuff the doctor must have seen in his time.

"Hey!" Sam called, Cain nodded. Something about the other gave Sam a chill but he chalked this up to his own anxieties.

"So I think you might be one of these-- king's," Sam started as they pushed into the home. He groaned suddenly, Norma coming up behind them.

"Hang on, I just thought of something, stay here," he said, pulling out his phone and calling Bailey back. He brushed his fingers against the red cushions of the couch as Cain sat himself down on the sofa. Typing away into his phone beside Sam,

"Sam? you already figured it out?" She asked, picking up the phone after the third ring.

"Uh no, I just thought of so--" His voice was cut off by the sound of a loud, eerie howling. Sam froze, his eyes moved to the stairs. His heart stopped, he recognized that noise but part of him wanted to ignore it.

"Sam? What was that?" She asked, though he hardly heard her through the roar of the blood in his ears.

"I don't know," He said

"I'm not going up there," Cain said, getting to his feet and glancing up the stairs. Sam held his phone out as the three remained silent, listening.

"Hello?" She said into the phone as the silence dragged on, the howl exploded around them again. Sam nearly dropped everything in his hands, 'Donnie!' he thought.

"I'm going to have to call you back," he said quickly into the phone. Hanging up on her the man pelted up the steps without another thought. Norma ran behind him as he made for the door and grabbed the handle, throwing it open with wide eyes.

"What the hell?" He shouted into the air.

Standing in the dark room was a giant, angry looking werewolf. His fur sat in tight curls, shades of black and red rolled down his frame. Yellow eyes glaring at the two as the door was flung open, the wolf roared leaping at Sam before the hunter had a chance to breathe, he let out a yell of shock. Sam scrambled away just in time to miss being bitten into. The mashing teeth are only a few short hairs away from the hunters neck.

Sam struggled to keep himself from falling, glancing at the wolf as it collided with the red couch below. Flattening it with a bang, the wolf stood over Cain now with a loud growl emanating from the depths of its throat. Sam was suddenly shoved by Israfil who threw himself against the banister, calling to the wolf, the hunter scrambled to keep himself from falling over by the sudden movement.

"Donnie, that's Cain!"

Sam watched in shock as the wolf glanced up towards the angel, for a few rapid heartbeats he could see the monster's eyes spark with agony.

"That's Donnie?!" Sam gasped out as the wolf took off running. It exploded through the front door. Showering the floor in splinters of wood as he vanished down the dark streets, Israfil raced past Sam and Norma. Ducking back in the room,

"Wait, Israfil! We can take the car!" Sam shouted but the angel was already racing past him with the guitar and bolting out of the home.

Cain looked up at Sam and Norma with a gasp as the angel of music vanished.

"Better return the couch," he said with a small glint of humor in his gaze, "it's got a lot of were and tear on it,"

Sam let out an exasperated sigh, running his fingers through his hair. Norma laughed at the doctor's terrible joke.

"I'm going to need a broom!" She giggled.

She trotted down the stairs, not seeming bothered by what just happened.

"Hey Sam,"

Sam glanced down at Cain, his mind suddenly reeling. He wished he could talk to Dean, his brother was normally right beside him helping him make the next choice even if it didn't end up working out.

"Yeah?" Sam asked, leaning over the banister.

"I think I'm going to head home, my mother wants me."

"That's fine, talk later,"

Cain nodded at this, turning on his heels with his face still in his phone. He simply jumped over the broken door frame and vanished into the night. Sam slumped against the wood, usually he'd have Baal to help him but the demon was with Bailey leaving a hole in the hunter's heart. Turning on his heels, he glanced into Donnie's room before taking a few steps inside. Placing a hand on the light switch it turned bright around him, he looked to and from with shock in his eyes.

The walls were covered in paper, designs, ideas, they hung from the ceiling, covering the walls and floor, scattered among the bed. Sam turned and closed the door behind him, nodding to himself as he spotted even more papers on the back of the wood.

"Damn," He whispered, letting his fingers dance over the paperwork. Words, numbers and letters he could only make half sense swirled on all the pages. He felt as if he walked into the liar of an evil genius in an old movie.

"Ink gun?" Sam whispered, pulling one of the papers off the wall, eyeing it.

'Ink gun: Shoots a perfect devil's trap anywhere, anytime, no mess!'

He pulled down another paper

'Salt grenade: Throw down, it explodes, perfect circle of salt!'

'Metal shoe plate: nothing can break it, flexible enough to run in!'

Sam chuckled, the ideas ranged from funny to actually pretty useful! He sat on the floor, looking through a few other pictures. His mind was still on Israfil and Donnie, but something was keeping him from leaving this room. Was it his curiosity? He knew Donnie never allowed anyone but Israfil into the room.

'Grandpa's idea, rehashed//Glass soul holder: holds the soul of anything'

Sam frowned at this, it was the last picture in the pile with a few red marks and a large question mark on the front. He folded it up, shoving it into his pocket. His hand brushed the watch, he had nearly forgotten about it in all the chaos!

He pulled it out from its hiding spot in his front pocket, the false yellow lights of the room shone against the gold in an angelic fashion.

"Fran, who are you?" He whispered, opening the front of the watch. Using the mirror to look at the front of his hair, fiddling with it a bit with a chuckle.

"Going to need Bailey to trim it," he mused, silently wondering if he should style it in a different way.

"Sam?"

His heart stopped, the voice came from behind him yet he knew it was impossible.

"Dean?" Sam whispered, at first he turned his body to where the voice came from but he was alone. An idea sparked in his mind, he held the mirror up so he could see behind him in it's reflection. Moving the mirror slowly only to freeze in his tracks. Behind him, in the mirror, was Dean.

"Sam! Can you hear me?"

Sam turned to his brother, but he wasn't there.

"Sammy! The mirror!"

Sam held the mirror up again with his eyebrows raised up, Dean laughed happily. His eyes bright, "I missed you," He whispered, smiling big at his brother. Sam felt tears start prickling his eyes as he spotted the other. His heart felt a mix of joy and pain.

"I miss you too, what are you...doing in there?" Sam replied, a hint of sadness in his tone.

"It's a long story,"

***

"I'll be back tomorrow," Mishka said into the phone, he could hear her mother in the background talking to someone.

He walked through the cold streets of New York, a coffee in hand as he did so. He needed to make a few quick stops before heading back to his apartment, picking up some book for his mother that she'd never read, a small gift for Mishka and now he made his way to his favorite grocery store. He needed a few very small things to bring back with him to Norma's, as much as he appreciated her feeding him she didn't have much of anything to snack on that wasn't dipped in some sort of animal fat.

"Are you coming back for a while?" He tried to keep the desperation from his voice. He found himself acting clingy towards her, always texting her or calling. He never experienced such warmth from another person in his life and now it was as if his heart couldn't get enough.

"Aw, you miss me, Sugar Cain?" She asked with a flirtatious touch on her lips. He heard another voice in the background, it belonged to a man now which made him stop walking.

"Just a little," He replied, trying to push the feeling of jealousy from creeping into his thoughts.

"Well I'll see you soon!" She giggled, he hesitated

"Who's the guy in the background?"

He asked, feeling a hint of anger flash into his voice. Mishka paused, he could tell she was analyzing his tone, she was far too smart and he was constantly reminded of this.

"His names Chance," She said after a few heartbeats, "he's my moms boyfriend,"

He felt relief swirl from his thoughts, tossing his empty coffee cup into a nearby trash can. He stood close to we're the homeless camp was, the street's still a little busy but it wasn't as bad as normal.

"Are you jealous?" She asked, he bit back the urge to get snippy at this. His eyes caught the face of another person that made him pause.

A man with rich, dark skin was unhooking the awning of a shop on one side, standing on a table with little care if his shoes dirtied the top; letting the fabric awning dangle. His ruffled clothes, short greying hair and broken shoes told the doctor that the man was possibly homeless.

"Cain?"

"I have to call you back," Cain said quickly, hitting the end button and making his way towards the other. For some reason the man stood out to him and he wasn't sure why.

"Are you supposed to be doing that?" Cain asked as he got closer, the man smiled down at him and hopped from the table.

Despite his age he seemed decently agile, he laughed softly at the others word, brushing his hands on his pants as if trying to get rid of unseen dirt.

"I suppose not," He mused, "But something told me I'd need to,"

"Something?" Cain questioned, narrowing his eyebrow in an attempt to keep the curiosity from crossing his features.

"I can hear the universe," the man said, smiling at Cain, "Would you like a card reading?"

Cain looked taken aback by the offer, glancing around him as if he expected to see an enemy before moving his hazel eyes back to the darker skinned man.

"It's free," The man pushed, Cain let out a sigh as he felt his phone buzz. Glancing down at the text from Mishka, he could sense she was irritated with him.

"...Sure," He finally whispered, pocketing the phone. Maybe it would give him a bit of time to make up an excuse for his sudden jealousy.

"Follow me," The man said, turning on his heels and making his way to the side of the building we're a large cardboard box sat. Its front was covered with an old blanket, it was pushed up against the dirty brick wall with a few trash cans settled beside it.

"I'm Fran," The man said as he put a hand on the box.

"I'm uh...not going in there," Cain said, grimacing at the man.

Fran chuckled, as if Cain said something funny. He pulled the blanket back, Cain glanced inside but it was so dark he couldn't make out the back of the cardboard.

"It's alright, Cain," The man said as he went down to his knees and crawled in, "It's perfectly safe,"

He blinked in shock, he didn't recall telling the older man his name. The adinkra around his neck glowed softly, lifting into the air as if guiding him towards the box. He hesitated, grabbing the golden object. It felt warm in his palm, as if he were still holding his hot coffee. Cain looked back towards the grocery store, it was only a few minutes walk now but he couldn't ignore the tug in his skin.

Swallowing back the urge to leave he got to his knees and followed after Fran, silently hoping that he wasn't about to meet his end as the darkness engulfed him. He crawled for a few minutes which confused him, he had seen the back against the wall. Was there a hole in the wall?

Just as he thought of this soft light twinkled before him ahead. He blinked a few times, it got brighter with every step until he crawled out of a long, thin tunnel. The room was large, opening up wide. Inside it was as if he were dropped into a galaxy, blues, pinks and purples colored all around the room with stars twinkling down at him. The floor under his feet glowed vibrant the second he stepped into the galaxy, he gasped as vivid light flooded under him. It started at his feet, moving to circle a large, orange mass beside him. Covering him in it's bright clouds of starshine.

He was standing on the rings of Saturn, at least according to his brain. Golden light sparked around him with every step, as if the rings were made of fireflies. Jumping up, dancing around his frame, tickling the bottom of his chin as he went.

There Fran sat, only a few steps away from him. A small table with a large golden blanket draped over it, in the middle was a stack of tarot cards. A large glass ball on an expensive looking stained glass bottom settled beside the cards, it twinkled in the light of the planet beside him.

Cain took a few more cautious steps to the other, sitting down at a small stool in front of the table. Fran's eyes reminded Cain of the milky way as they glowed in the rainbow of the sky.

"What are you?" Cain whispered, a halo of stars seemed to sit over the man's head as he shuffled the cards.

"You have a painful decision to make, Cain," The man said, ignoring Cain's question. He placed a few cards down in front of the other, the doctor had never seen these cards before. They all looked as if the front was made of stained glass, with beautiful pictures in the center and words carefully written on the bottom.

"Now," The man started, placing a hand on one card and flipping it over, Cain tilted his head at this. The card showed two swords, upside down and crossing one another. One sword had a crown around it while the other a set of thorns.

"The two of swords, you have two roads," He said, pointing down at the card, "One path," He started "Leads to the sun," His finger traced the path on the card that led to the crown then allowing his finger to dance towards the more dark sword that led to the thorns.

"This leads to the moon." He murmured, "You'll have a choice soon"

He flipped another card, "A choice of love, of hate, humanity," He whispered, nodding to the lover's card that was turned upside down. Cain narrowed his eyes, the man and woman on the card looked like him and Mishka, or maybe he was just thinking about her? His eyes moved back to Fran.

"A choice," he whispered as he flipped over a card that held a dark figure in the middle, hanging upside down. "To sacrifice," the figure reminded Cain of Cherm, with it's bright, white smile. Milky blackness emanating from it's being.

The man pulled a card from the top of the deck, flipping it over to show the brilliance of a sun. It glowed against the starlight, sitting upright. Fran pointed to the air, he pulled another card from the top and placed it beside the sun. He flipped it to show the moon, it glowed as well but it was upside down now. It's green hues are ominous against the brightest in the sky.

Cain remained silent as he waited for Fran to tell him what the cards before him meant but the man didn't seem to want to explain himself as he placed another card down. It was a golf club, held behind by a warrior that was covered in darkness.

"Justice," Fran whispered, "upright, it shines," he turned the card upwards to show the face of the warrior covered in gold with a crown up top of his head. The man turned it so it was upside down now, casting the warrior in a shadow of deep, angry holly green.

"But down, it's covered In shadow,"

Caine leaned forward to look over the green man on the card, the crown was the same but it had been washed in darkness. He reached forward, picking the card and flipping it over and up. It changed in color with every movement which sent a roll of dread through his body.

"What does that mean?" He murmured, eying the deck of cards beside the crystal ball. Fran sat back in the small chair he was in, letting out a low sigh.

"You're bloodline," He started, "Was split in the middle," The man put a hand on the crystal ball that sat beside him on the table. Cain's eyes moved to the middle of the ball where a bright light flashed, beating as if it were a heart.

"The blood of Judas, runs deep in your veins, Cain,"

Cain watched the ball but it didn't move, just continued to flicker it's light "But so does the blood of another," the doctor looked back at the other.

"Did...you just imply that...I have Judas' blood and Jesus'?" He whispered with wide eyes. Fran didn't reply to this as the light in the ball swirled softly, a rush of wind flashed from the crystal ball causing Cain to flinch. The cards scattered everywhere, the doctor looked in shock as they rained down around them and fell to the soft, starry light below.

Only two cards remained now, they both sat with the back up.

"A choice that will shape everything.," He whispered, flipping over the card that sat to the right of Cain. It held a large stained glass window with the sun shining around a brilliant golden crown.

He flipped the second card that sat to the left, it showed the same crown but the sun had turned to a moon. Casing cold, green light into the crown.

"What you choose will be the beginning of everything,"

Cain jumped back out of the stool as he watched words fade into the cards. The one with the sun held the word 'Winchester' while the one with the moon held 'Granjero' his eyes moved from one to the other.

"You're Adinkra," Fran said, "Will turn gold as the sun, or black as the night,"

Cain felt a panic attack starting up, his breathing grew rapid as he stared at Fran with fear plunged into his eyes.

"Do I have more of Judas' blood?" He whispered, but the man didn't answer. He always thought what he was doing was good, that he would rule all, make everything fair, that science would rule, but recently he wasn't so sure. Cain went to his knees as he attempted to breath, shutting his eyes hard against the light surrounding him. The world seemed to swirl under him, he had a choice? Did this mean he was a king? What about Abel? What did all this mean?

"Fran I--" He opened his eyes but Fran was gone, in fact the entire room was gone. He sat in a small, dirty old box with a few blankets scattered about. The smell of the trash beside the cardboard could be smelled now.

"What the fuck," He whispered, looking around himself quickly. He scrambled out of the box, almost running into a woman who glared daggers at him.

"What are you doing in my house?" She snapped, Cain got to his feet with wide eyes. He glanced around, almost expecting to see Fran but caught no view of the man.

"Well?" The woman demanded, Cain didn't answer. He turned on his feet and raced away with his mind troubled, he heard screaming from where he had just come from but this didn't stop him moving as his phone started going off again. His car was like a beacon in the night as he grabbed the handle, ducking inside. Feeling his panic calming as he drank the air, he noticed the lack of Cherm but was silently thankful.

"Okay, did I just hallucinate that?" He asked to the air, shoving a hand into his pocket in an attempt to comfort himself only to freeze. He pulled the Justice card from the depths of his jacket, flipping the card up and down and watching the colors tickle and change with each movement as if it were a lava lamp.

The panic set back in, glancing around him in terror. Was he evil? Was he Judas?

***

Sam dragged a large, golden mirror into the room. It was round and heavy but it was the biggest one he could find in the home, he shoved it against the wall with narrowed eyes. Moving it a few times until he saw Dean again who gave him a thumbs up, punching the air with a chuckle.

"So, you're in mirrors?"

"Yeah, but no one can see me, except you now." Dean laughed,

"How? Why?"

Dean held the Adkinra up, winking at Sam, "It's uh, man I don't remember what he called it? But some angel gave it to me, said I can see you."

"He...said you could see me? Specifically?"

Dean blinked at this, he hadn't seen that as an odd thing since Sam was his brother, "Well, I mean, yeah? I also saw Abel but that wasn't easy. I had to enter his forest,"

"His forest?"

"It's….a lot,"

"Wait, okay, go back to the Adinkra. Who gave it to you?" Sam asked, sitting down on the floor now. Dean followed this as well, lazily leaning on his open palm as it was set to the floor.

"I don't remember the guys name," He snorted, "wasn't a normal angel name, he had dark, curly hair, darker skin with these freckles an--"

"The nicest voice you've ever heard?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Was his name Fran?"

Dean blinked at the floor as he tried to think, glancing back up at Sam with a shrug.

"Yeah, actually, I think it was. How did you know that?"

Sam shook his head, was it possible Dean was a king? He wasn't alive anymore, how could he possibly be any sort of king?

"What does that Adinkra do?" Sam asked, ignoring what Dean said.

"Sammy, who's Fran?" Dean asked, "And I don't know! So far it's let me walk through...mirrors? Maybe the mirrors are a different universe,"

Sam looked back down at the mirror in his hands than to the picture of Dean on the watch's face.

"Like that crappy movie, God what was it called? Something like--"

"Abel, stop I--"

Sam paused, glancing up at Dean with a shocked expression, Dean also looked decently shocked.

"Did you just mix me up with my own son?"

"I might have...Dean, I don't think you understand how much he talks about movies. Everything is a reference," Sam laughed, shaking his head and rolling fingers through his hair.

"Chip off the ol' block," Dean mused, Sam sneered at his brother before nodding in agreement.

Dean flickered lightly, causing Sam to frown.

"Dean?" He said, getting up. Dean flickered again, looking confused before he vanished completely

"Sammy!" He yelled out but he was gone. Sam scrambled to his feet holding the small mirror up and moving it around the room. Tears burned his eyes as he desperately attempted to find his brother, feeling panic rise as he searched only to trip over a shoe and fall with a grunt to the floor. Tears continued to race down his cheeks, rubbing his eyes and taking in a few deep breaths as he attempted to ground himself despite the room feeling like it was spinning.

He had to remind himself that Dean's been dead a long time now, though for a few heartbeats he was back in his thirties. Trying to find his brother, desperate to get to him. The world stopped spinning in his vision as he got to his feet shakily.

"Dean?" He whispered, putting a hand on the large mirror. The sound of a loud, long winded howl snapped him back into the reality of the situation at hand. He bolted from the room expecting to see Donnie but all he saw was Norma, watching an old werewolf movie on her phone while she cleaned up the broken couch. The vacuum hummed softly as it ate away some of the smaller wood chips.

He rolled his eyes to himself, pocketing the watch and going down the stairs to grab his car keys. He was all alone now, he'd have to do this alone.

"Sorry Norma," He whispered, "I gotta go find Donnie,"

Norma waved at him, she continued to clean without a word. Sam frowned, something about her general lack of emotion never sat right with Sam. Even when he first met her at the wedding she seemed to only ever be smiling, happy. He turned and made his way out of the busted down door, stepping over the glass and wood.

His eyes moved to the garage that was beside the house, the Impala was sitting just outside of it. The windows steamed up, Sam blinked in shock. Was Cham and Abel? He made his way to the car, narrowing his eyes against the foggy windows and tapping the glass. He couldn't see anything.

"Now's not the time to be horny teenagers, guys," Sam growled, grabbing the handle and yanking it open. Smoke billowed out which shocked the hunter, he had expected to see the two in the middle of a heavy make out session but instead they stared at him, wide eyed, with a blunt and a lighter. From what he could see, it was possibly their second one.

"You two are hotboxing the Impala?"

"I was against the idea, but Cham threatened me with a knife," Abel yapped out, eyes glowing with laughter.

"Oh yeah," Chamuel snorted with laughter, "I threaten you at least three times a day and you don't listen!"

Abel grinned at the other with a smile so big it took up the whole of his face, "I listen, I just pretend I don't." He chuckled.

Chamuel laughed at this, Abel looked at the angel as if he were the most beautiful thing he'd seen which caused Sam to smile. The sound of police sirens in the distance brough the older hunter back to his train of thought,

"Oh shit, I gotta go guys, go help Norma patch up the front door," Sam called to them, turning and racing towards his car.

"What?!" Abel called after him, scrambling out of the car with Chamuel close behind him.

"Sammy, wait!" Abel called, "What's happening?" The two stopped by Sam's car as the hunter fiddled with the keys.

"Donnies a werewolf and he ran into the city, I gotta go find him,"

Abel and Chamuel shared a quick look, Abel grabbed the passenger seat handle.

"Oh no! I'm not babysitting, you two are stoned out of your minds,"

"We got this!" Abel reassured him, Sam arched an eyebrow at them.

"Come on, I'm good!" Abel continued, "Ask me to say the ABC's backwards,"

"Do it, Abel!" Chamuel hollered,

"A,Z, wait--"

Sam waved a hand at his Nephew, "Just get in, I don't have time for this,"

Abel clicked his tongue, giving Chamuel a thumbs up as the three piled into the small car. Sam pulled out of the garage, attempting to ignore the soft chatter between the two. Something good must have happened, because the pair practically glowed as they talked with one another.

"Did you see where he ran to?" Chamuel asked from the back seat, he was leaning forward so his arms wrapped around the neck of the passenger seat.

"No, I was a little busy not trying to be eaten," Sam replied, attempting to keep the frustration from his voice.

"Why are you two idiots high?" Sam asked with an angry flash in his gaze, "This isn't a game,"

"Trust me, Sam, I'm aware," Abel responded, a mix of pain and frustration flashed over the king's gaze as he looked towards the other.

Sam felt guilty suddenly, he was so amped up it didn't occur to him that Abel had been manipulated into an abusive and damaging relationship with a demon. He knew how that felt, the thought of Ruby flooded his mind before he shook it off with a quick flick of his head.

"It's just-- we don't know what's going to happen next," Sam continued, despite his brain screaming at him to stop.

"No shit Sherlock," Abel retorted, rubbing his head as if he had a hangover.

"Abel," Chamuel placed a hand on the other's shoulder, "Sam, we know, trust me...we know," Chamuel murmured, his voice sad as he spoke.

"Sometimes, it's just nice to feel...normal," The angel continued, Sam nodded slowly to this. He was silently thankful for the blonde's presence, being able to calm a tense situation wasn't something that ran in the Winchester bloodline.

The three drove through the city with their eyes open, traffic was terrible in some spots that night despite it being decently late. The innocent moved about lazily, hopping from bar to bar with all sorts of ride share cars covering the fronts of clubs.

"I got an idea," Sam finally said after an hour of driving, both Abel and Chamuel had remained silent leaving the hunter to his own thoughts.

He pulled into a mostly empty parking lot of a small school, parking the car and shutting the lights off.

"We gonna walk?" Abel asked, Sam shook his head as he reached into the back and pulled out a small backpack. He dug through the contents before tugging out a police radio, holding it up with a grin causing Abel to snort.

"Really?"

"What?"

Abel turned the screen on his phone on before pulling up his apps,

"There's an app, it's a lot better, doesn't cut out as much. Not to mention you can listen to any police station, not just the closest one," Abel explained, Chamuel leaned into the conversation from the back.

"You can also change languages,"

"What are you two? Traveling app sales men?" Sam scoffed, flicking on the radio and placing it on the front of the car.

"We're doing this the old fashion way, consider this a lesson from one of the best hunters to ever live,"

Abel and Chamuel shot each other a grin, "That's weird, Sammy," Abel snorted, Chamuel snickered.

"We don't see Bobby Singer in here anywhere," Chamuel finished, Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head at the two as they laughed. He had to admit, it was nice seeing them getting along again.

***

The police radio fizzled and popped from time to time, Abel dozed on the front seat as Chamuel laid in the back. Typing into his phone every so often, Sam also dozed as he leaned on the steering wheel. The police chatter was nothing of interest as the hour ticked by,

"You sure you're on the right channel, Sam?" Abel asked eventually, pulling up the app on his phone.

"It's a giant wolf, you'd assume the police would have seen it by now,"

Abel's phone lit up against the darkness, he glanced down at it in surprise as the older hunter plucked the police radio off the dash and started to mess with it.

"It's Bailey," Abel said, turning to look at Chamuel who shrugged.

"Hey Bails! What's cracking?"

"Hey Abe's," Bailey said with a smile in her tone, "got a question for you,"

"Oh yeah? Shoot!" Abel chuckled, Chamuel leaned forward to listen to what the other had to say. Letting his chin rest on the back of the chair, Abel held the phone up and turned the speaker on.

"So, it's less a question...more a problem," she was picking her words carefully.

"What'd you do?" Sam asked, the radio buzzed in his hand softly as he continued to play with the stations.

"Well, I'm sending you a text," she said, Abel waiting for a few heartbeats as the message came through. He opened it and stared at the picture in shock, it showed a man with soft dirty blonde hair grinning at the camera, the second picture looked as if it were torn from a magazine but Abel immediately understood it as an Adinkra.

following the picture was a video of the same man on the poster performing some sort of ritual to heal a burn victim.

"It...turns black too," she said, referring to the Adinkra, "when he uses it? It turns black,"

"So he has an Adinkra?" Abel asked, Chamuel and Sam shared a look of pure shock.

"Seems like it, he's using it to heal people." Baal grunted out, Abel groaned and ran his fingers through his long hair. 'what the fuck' he mouthed at Chamuel.

"That shouldn't be possible," Chamuel said to the speaker, "unless he's one of the king's I guess?" Chamuel gave Abel a puzzled expression.

"Cain used his own Adinkra," Abel pointed out.

"So...is he one of the king's then? Is Cain?" Bailey asked.

"Maybe, we're still trying to figure out the Cain thing," Abel mused, "I've never heard of an Adinkra being black though, you said it was gold until he uses it?"

"Looks like it," Bailey murmured, Abel's lip twitched with stress. Feeling the angel's hand roll down his arm sent a spark through his system.

"Well, I did hear that a pure soul can use an angel's Adinkra if the angel isn't dead, but...most of the time adults don't have pure souls. Just children," Chamuel whispered

"Or me," Abel grinned

"Abel, you actively showed me porn the other day because you liked the guy's haircut. There's nothing pure about you," Chamuel laughed, Abel grinned wide at the other.

"So...the theory is that a child could make the Adinkra work? And an angel has to be dead to pass on their Adinkra?" Bailey asked, she sounded confused but Abel didn't blame her. He had a hard time making heads or tails of the Adinkras and the only one who could really answer his questions was running around New York with a werewolf.

"That's the question!" Abel mused, "we can ask Israfil. He'd probably know--" his words got cut off as a large wolf tore past their car, a helicopter roared overhead as the monster took off down the streets.

"holy shit," Abel gasped in shock, shuffling to find his seatbelt.

"What?" Baal asked, Sam turned the car on with a roar, Abel quickly buckled himself in.

"We gotta call you back," Abel replied, hanging up the phone. Sam screeched out of the parking lot, taking off after the werewolf.

"Is someone on top of it?" Chamuel asked, eyes wide as they followed close behind, attempting not to get into the helicopter's line of sight.

"What do we do?" Chamuel asked Abel, glancing down at the king. The man looked to Sam and up to the helicopter. Just as he started telling them his thoughts the copter exploded. Sam slammed on the breaks as the copter rolled in the air, smashing into an apartment building beside them.

The innocent screamed from the impact. Abel didn't hesitate to throw open the door, his Adinkra shone bright the second he stepped out. The building started to burn bright as the copter caught fire,

"Shit!" Abel shouted, Chamuel leapt out despite Sam's protest. The two raced towards the apartment building as a small group of the innocent ran from the building.

"See that car," Abel said, grabbing one woman's arm. She nodded as he pointed to where Sam stood now beside the vehicle.

"Go to him! We have first aid kits in the car," she nodded, not questioning him as she raced past them.

"Goose, what's your twenty?"

Abel asked, pulling out his headphones and tossing the left to his friend. Chamuel smiled wide at the other as his eyes flashed to white.

"By your side, as always, Maverick,"