The Wheels On The Bus Chapter 30

Belphegor stares at the mass of nothing right in front of him. Well, the Shedim does. He stays in the backseat and peers through its eyes.

It’s a little weird - he’s gotten so used to having his own (albeit stolen) body that it feels like he’s playing a game in first person, seeing the world and interacting with it but knowing it’s not truly his body, or his world - that experience of being just slightly removed from everything and rends what he’s seeing as surreal.

Maybe that’s for the best, though. They could use it to their advantage. If, to everyone except Adam, he’s out of the picture, they may be able to blindside anyone else who’ll try to attack them. Adam himself’s passed out, but judging by Jack’s own input from the telepathic link, he’s healed up and fine, just asleep. No one else knows Belphegor’s alright and in a hivemind, so they’ll have the element of surprise if they need it.

Belphegor may be a coward, but he’s no fool.

“This is it?” Rowena asks.

“Yes,” the Shedim says. “The Cage.”

“Or what we can make of it, anyway,” Castiel says. A weird look crosses his face. Belphegor recalls a story that had gone around Hell eons ago, that he’d attempted to raise Sam Winchester out of the Cage and only grabbed his body but left his soul. He hadn’t believed it for a second.

Knowing Team Free Will now, though.

“Huh,” Rowena says. “A lot...Emptier than I thought it would be.”

Amara snorts.

In front of them is a blank sheet of nothing. Not an empty space in Hell, no, but a huge canvas of pure empty, like someone had shot the Haxon ring at the whole thing and now there was a whole lot of nothing where everything should have been.

Just pure empty blackness like someone had ripped the picture of reality open.

“A little unnerving to view the plane you exist in like a magazine with a torn page,” Rowena says.

“It’s unfortunate,” the Shedim says.

“I imagine we won’t be able to enter there without tearing ourselves to shreds?” Rowena asks. “Or at least, me.”

“There’s an entrance somewhere,” the Shedim says. “But it’s not here.”

Adam and Michael had to have crawled out somewhere, after all.

Before they can turn back and try to find another way, though, Amara steps forward. Belphegor feels the Shedim’s intrigue as he watches her approach the patch of emptiness and lift a hand towards it. Even Rowena says nothing. Castiel just watches, an eyebrow raised.

Her fingertips graze it. Slowly, she reaches further, until her entire hand has been swallowed up by the empty patch.

Nothing happens.

“Hm. Well, I’ll be able to enter here,” Amara says. “And I imagine my brother would be able to, as well.”

“That’s curious,” Rowena says. “That’s your Empty, isn’t it?”

Amara nods. “If he didn’t write out the Empty, I imagine he took some of its actual composition and put it here, for Lucifer’s Cage.”

“Funny man,” Rowena says, chuckling. Amara cracks a smile.

“If he’s able to enter freely then all we need to figure out is how to get him here in the first place,” Castiel says.

“And all the angels that we’ll have with us,” Amara says.

Belphegor knows she’ll probably be able to defeat him, but they can’t trust Chuck to not play dirty. He knows his sister is on their side. If he knows to send Zachariah, he knows exactly what they’re planning, and he’s not going to plan his own retaliation without taking into account Amara’s involvement. They’re not about to fuck this up royally by foregoing the backup.

“If we can somehow get Michael back to us - or to the Cage, we might be able to lure him there,” Rowena says. She purses her lips. “But I doubt he’d be stupid enough to do that.”

“That is true,” Castiel says.

They have to be able to do something with that. And Belphegor might be able to orchestrate something with that. Michael’s not with them, so if he can send a discreet message, Chuck won’t have any way of knowing by spying through Sam.

He feels the Shedim send him a burst of irritation. He tries to send back the image of a cheeky grin, as best as he can.

It’s either we work together, or we both die, Belphegor thinks.

I get it, but it doesn’t mean I hate you less, the Shedim thinks.

Sure thing, you can hunt me down after the apocalypse ends or something.

Doubt that’ll be in my options, but thanks for lying.

Belphegor doesn’t say anything. He knows the rest of the group plan on slamming the Shedim back down into Hell after this. Of course he does, he’s not fucking stupid. He doesn’t know what the Shedim are planning, doesn’t even know if they’d tried to negotiate in good faith, but he knows they’re not going to be allowed to walk the earth free.

Belphegor thinks of the sunlight, of the little town that’s now packed with ghosts just standing around, all under his control. He knows how some of the kids have taken to trying to see just how corporeal they are, and how a good chunk of them have taken interest in the supernatural in both the ‘I need to know how to protect myself’ and ‘This is interesting’ sense. He knows if there’s anywhere on Earth he can stay, it’ll be there.

The Shedim’s thoughts are bitter.

“Can this Empty and the actual Empty be linked?” Belphegor asks, steering his thoughts away from that and commandeering the Shedim’s body. It lets him, strangely resigned. Guilt wells up in his chest.

Amara looks thoughtful for a moment. “If they’re cut from the same mass, yes. Although, perhaps Chuck just replicated it.”

“Can you tell?”

“I can try,” Amara says. “My brother is childish, but he’s still smart. And still a perfectionist.”

“Oh, definitely,” Belphegor says, as he runs through their options of luring Chuck. If Michael can catch Chuck off-guard, he’ll probably be able to drag him into the Cage. If Chuck gets close enough and Michael moves faster, he can fly into the Cage and they can slam it close, and Amara will be waiting. They just have to time it well.

And they have to make sure Chuck doesn’t know. Again.

It’s been a long game of just trying to hide things from him, hasn’t it?

One of your siblings is still near Michael, right? Belphegor asks.

You’ve asked us to keep an eye on him, yes.

Send him that message for me?

There’s a tickle of amusement from the Shedim. You’re asking nicely?

I imagine this isn’t pleasant for any of you. I apologize.

Silence.

First time I’ve ever heard that from anyone in my existence, the Shedim says, after a while. Clarify the message.

We’re planning on luring Chuck to the Cage. Tell Michael if he has any ideas to do that, then send a message back with the other Shedim. If he doesn’t, ask him if he can let Chuck get close enough, grab him, and then pull him with him into the Cage as he flies in.

You’ll need to coordinate when that will happen if you plan to slam the Cage closed.

Belphegor thinks about the bingo card, tucked into the back pocket of the Shedim’s jeans. He’d asked the demon to fish it out of his unconscious body hours before. He’d been planning on using that to help him save Michael but…

We used to have our own mind link, Belphegor says. When he’s in range, he can send in a quick message, and I can take care of it.

You’re not going to tell the others?

I want to, Belphegor says. But Chuck’s using Sam as a spy.

You’re putting yourself on the bus again?

Belphegor smiles wryly. I’ll let them yell at me if it means we save the world.

You’re really committing to the role, huh? The Shedim asks. You’ve gotten attached to the world.

No, I’ve gotten attached to existing. Chuck’s gonna wipe everything clean if he wins, we know this, Belphegor says. And I mean, the world isn’t too bad.

Hm, the Shedim says. I wouldn’t know.

...yeah?

You were an angel before you were a demon, the Shedim says. We have only ever been the Shedim.

That means -

Presence of mind slipping for a moment, Belphegor puts a hand to his mouth - or, well, it looks like the Shedim puts a hand to his mouth, an expression of shock flitting about his face.

“Something wrong?” Rowena asks, noticing.

“They’ve been attacked,” Belphegor says, thinking quickly. “The B Team, I mean.”

“Ah,” Rowena says, looking unsurprised. Still, she does him the courtesy of saying, “That’s what that was.”

Castiel frowns in concern. “So it seems.”

“It seems like it worked out,” Amara says. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but, it’s calmed down, somewhat.”

Belphegor doesn’t tell them it’s because Adam’s passed out. Castiel is deep in thought, though, quiet. Maybe he’s talking to Jack. Belphegor’d thought he’d felt a few pangs of worry from the boy earlier.

“Well, the Cage is intact, from what we can tell,” Rowena says. “We can report that back.”

Amara nods, although she still hasn’t taken her hand out of the Cage’s nothing. A frown marrs her expression as she concentrates on something.

“Amara?” Rowena asks.

“I’m trying to figure out if this is the same Empty I’ve given to this universe, or one synthesized by my brother,” she says. “And it seems to be but…”

“But?”

Amara’s frown deepens. She stares at the nothing in front of her, which doesn’t seem to be doing anything.

Belphegor feels his control be wrenched away from him as the Shedim shoves him back. The demon takes several steps backwards, away from the Cage.

What are you -

The ground begins to shake. Amara pulls her hand away from the Cage, sharing a look with Rowena. Castiel steps forward their team protectively, angel blade already at the ready.

“Amara,” he says, and Amara nods and makes her way back to the group as Hell begins to shake.

That’s not supposed to happen.

It shouldn’t happen. Hell doesn’t get earthquakes.

Yeah, duh, I doubt this place has fault lines, the Shedim says.

Oh, shut the fuck up, Belphegor says. What is it?

Bad news, the Shedim says. I can smell their kind from miles away.

Belphegor only takes a second to know exactly what he’s talking about.

Unfortunately, within that second, a mass of bodies burst forth from the empty of the Cage, angelic light bright and gleaming, as the once-dead of the Heavenly Hosts advance towards them, swords at the ready.

Belphegor feels himself trying to curl up inside the Shedim’s head, cursing the fact that he can’t physically run since the demon just stands there, watching everything happen.

Son of -

-

In the infirmary, Dean Winchester sits up, eyes wide and frantic like he’s just woken up from a nightmare. His voice cuts through the silence of the room, startling everyone within hearing radius.

“Son of a bitch!”