I Have Fallen

A young man stumbles through the double doors of an old out-of-date bar, a drenched cloak above his head. The bar lay empty and deserted except for the bartender who had been working hard to clean a stain out of the countertop, who now looks up to his sudden visitor in surprise. The man walks up to the counter and slumps into a stool.

"Grab something strong and make it quick. Not too bitter either." the man orders. The bartender rushes to make him up a drink. The man takes it all down in one gulp. "How much do I owe?"

"It's on the house." the bartender says, knowing something about this young cloaked gentleman stroke him as familiar but he just couldn't place it.

"Good." the man says, deserting the bar. The bartender scratches his head, his brown curls bouncing around. He shakes his head, slightly, and returns to his cleaning until it is clear enough to see himself. He stares into the countertop, his dark (almost black) eyes peering back up at him. They turn blue for a millisecond then back to their natural dark brown color. The bartender abandons his post, slipping out the back door. He finds his bike, tosses the helmet to the side, and takes off downtown. Finally, he stops in front of a Motel, peering into one of the windows. At a table, an attractive man of his forties sits in front of his laptop, his long hair blocking any view of his face. He's had a long day, that the bartender knew. In the background, another man around the same age with shorter hair paces while in deep conversation with someone on the phone, appearing quite tense. The bartender smiles thinly at the duo and speeds off before either of them ever noticed his presence.

"So... Any luck?" Sam Winchester asks his brother, Dean, once he hangs up the phone, having a feeling that things didn't go so well.

"No!" Dean shouts more aggressively than he intended but wasn't about to apologize. "God damnit, Cas! Where are you?!" And just like that, Castiel appears before him.

"No, I don't know where he is, Dean." Cas says, knowing precisely what Dean was going to ask him. Jack Kline had been missing for a few weeks and the trio of Team Free Will has had absolutely no luck in finding the young Nephilim. It is November 14th, 2031. By now, he would be fourteen which is still far too young for the Winchesters to be okay with him running around on his own. Castiel who has been lying to them about Jack's whereabouts, knows Jack feels otherwise and has been leading the poor brothers down the wrong path ever since Jack's departure.

"Well, go look again." Dean orders, harshly, his protective dad side taking the wheel from him.

"Dean." Sam says but it's too late. Cas has already left.

"Go away, Castiel." mutters Jack when his second angelic father appears behind him as he goes to hang up his soaked cloak.

"They're worried about you." This Jack has heard a billion times before. He rolls his eyes in response, sick of hearing it.

"I'm not going back." Jack announces for the zillionth time. "Especially, not after what happened."

"What happened?" Cas asks, dumbfounded.

"Don't you remember?!" Jack exclaims, disgusted. "The big show down?! Anna Lee?! Anything?!" Cas just stares, his head tilting slightly. Jack lets out a howl of disgust. "Don't pretend you don't remember! EVERYONE DIED! Even you."

"It was a dream, Jack." Castiel assumes, upsetting his son even more.

"It wasn't a dream! I don't sleep, remember?!" Then it hits Jack, harder than a fall from Heaven. Tears fill his eyes. "Why am I the only person that remembers?" He falls to his knees, tears slowly starting to stream down his face. Tears of sadness, tears of anger, tears of disgust... Tears of loneliness. As if he were the only one in the world. Cas tries to approach, unsure of how he's going to comfort Jack. "Go, Cas. Just go."

"What should I tell them?" Jack looks up at him, his face red from the anger and tears, looking as if he were without a soul.

"That I'm dead."