The Wheels On The Bus Chapter 6

vi. 

The Winchesters get called away for something. Which is good, since it gives Adam and Michael more time to gossip around like they're not actually discreetely stirring up low-level panic, but it's also not a good sign because it means things are getting worse out there. 

Adam doesn't even know what's out there, aside from what he's heard. 

Michael, beside him - as they've both decided to sit down in the infirmary and take a break from running around - opens his eyes. He's been trying to tune in to the conversations around the building. 

“You got anything?” Adam asks. 

“Someone's gone missing,” Michael says. 

“Again?”

“They keep trying to get back into town, see what's really going on. The hunters haven't exactly said anything other than there’s a gas leak and that they're working on it. The civilians are finding it dubious.” He lifts a shoulder. “People will keep going back unless they explain the actual problem. I think they've been too busy. Sam's being stretched thin.”

“And Dean's having a crisis, not that I blame him.” Adam winces. Must be hard finally getting told to your face you're a guinea pig in an electric cage. “Anything we can do?”

“The plan is to spread the news of the rifts, I think we've done it,” Michael says. He motions to a man holding a tablet, hurriedly approaching a friend. “We've spread the news without blowing it up in their faces. They'll deal with the shock and the panic in their own pace instead of reacting to something sprung up on them. By tomorrow, everyone in the vicinity might even know.”

“Next step?” 

“We should regroup with Belphegor and Jack,” Michael says. “Ask them how they've been doing on their end. If they haven't found a way to convince The Empty yet, they should keep at it and we'll take over spreading the information to hunters.”

“Alright,” Adam says. “I cannot wait to be back in my regular body.”

“If Belphegor doesn't decide to be petty.”

Adam sneers into the air, imagining the demon's glee at being able to just pinch Adam’s face and baby-talk at him for fun. 

Michael chuckles. “Jack won't forsake you.”

“True,” Adam says. “Poor kid's gotta be roped into saving the world, huh, after he already got drafted into a war in another one?”

Michael nods a little too late. He hums. “And he lost everyone from there,” he says.

Adam sobers up. “I can't imagine the heartbreak from that,” he says. “Those people deserved better. And poor kid, he spent a year with them and fought with them, and just... “

“And nothing got easier after coming back here either,” Michael says. 

They both sit in silence for a while. 

“Do you think,” Michael says, hesitantly. Adam turns to him, because Michael rarely says anything hesitantly. “That if we defeat my father, it will all stop?”

“What will? The monsters?”

Michael nods. “The bloodshed. The… everything. This world was built around Sam and Dean and was created for the entertainment of one person. If that person is gone, then… does it stop? Do things go normal?”

Adam leans back on his hands. He looks up the ceiling for a bit, thinking. “Well, I mean, what's normal for this world?” he asks. "It was made to exist around two people and the story of those two people is that they fight monsters. Isn’t that also a fundamental point to a story? The conflict?”

Michael snorts. “Chuck is the conflict this time, isn’t he?” He shakes his head. “But you’re right. Even so, this universe is still real. Still affected by cause and effect - there’d still be monsters. Maybe the hunts will get a little more spaced out. Maybe it’ll get quieter. But there will always be monsters. They’ve got their own free will too, I think we figured that out a long time ago.”

“The whole ‘no free will’ thing was bullshit, yeah,” Adam says. “Free will’s always been there.”

He raises a fist towards Michael, who looks at it for a second, smiles, and bumps it with his own. 

“We’ll find a way around it, Michael,” Adam says. “We will. Sam and Dean will, most definitely, they’re this entire universe’s immune system and it’s gonna do its damn best to help them, isn’t it?”

Michael laughs. He nods. “Yeah,” he says. Then he pauses and lifts his head a bit. “Belphegor’s praying. Jack’s back.”

“Time to head back into the bunker?”

Michael nods. He grabs Adam’s hand. 

In the next blink, not that anyone is paying attention, neither of them are there.

-

“We have talked about this,” Belphegor says, pacing back and forth. 

“Yes, but,” Jack says, “What if it’s our only chance to fix it before it gets worse?”

“Then we find another way to seal the rifts without putting you in danger,” Belphegor says. He stops and then goes around the table, as Jack is sitting by it, and places himself on Jack’s chair’s armrest. He slings an arm around Jack’s shoulders. “Listen, Jackie-boy - ”

Jack wrinkles his nose. “I told you not to call me that.”

“ - do you think I want those rifts open? No, I don’t. There’s like several hundred demons out there that would kill me if they saw me and those rifts being open is making it easier for them to find me. Plus, if all those ghosts and demons get out, they’re likely going to ruin every diner on the planet because where else would you get a steady number of people to torture every day? They’re gonna ruin everything I love about this floating rock,” he says. He gets off the armrest so he can sit on the floor and point an accusing finger at Jack. “But you are not going to throw away the plan and give all our locations away by sealing those rifts yourself.”

“What if I do it alone, somewhere else?”

“Chuck will trace it back to us. The objective is to keep a low profile, Jack, we will not jeopardize the mission. We have one shot.”

“He’s also attached to you,” a little voice says. Jack turns to see Michael and Adam standing across the table from him. 

“You shut the fuck up, Milligan,” Belphegor says, swinging the accusing finger at Adam. Adam just raises an eyebrow.

“He did pray,” Michael says. “What’s this about jeopardizing the mission?”

Belphegor points back to Jack. “He - ”

“What if I closed the rifts?” Jack asks. 

Michael and Adam frown in perfect unison, heads tilting to the side together. “Jack,” they say.

“Hah!” Belphegor says, vindicated, dropping his arm in favor of leaning his weight back on it as he sits on the floor. 

“If you use your powers in direct interference against Chuck’s will and on that big a scale, you will attract his attention,” Michael says. “Which will put this whole operation in danger.”

“It’ll also put everyone in danger. Chuck might throw an even bigger temper tantrum,” Adam says, a little more soothingly. “I get what you’re feeling, kid, and I get where you’re coming from - closing the rifts would mean not putting the world in more danger of ghosts and demons crawling out of Hell.”

Jack nods.

“But it’s also going to put everyone in danger for the long-term,” Adam says. “If we blow this, we lose.”

Jack falls silent for a moment. Then he nods. “Okay,” he says.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he says. He smiles, a little strained, but accepting nonetheless. “No closing the rifts.”

“We’ll close them, but sneakily,” Adam says, sharing a conspiratorial grin. “Can you bring us back to our old bodies, though?”

“Oh, sure,” Jack says, and then pauses. “Isn’t that expending powers?”

“Not too much,” Michael says. “And Chuck is weak right now, he’ll hardly feel it. This is just biological modification, no more different from healing someone.”

“Oh,” Jack says, a little happier, and snaps his fingers. Michael and Adam, back to normal, stand in front of him, although they’re still wearing bigger versions of their kid outfits, so Adam still looks ridiculous. Belphegor snickers. 

“Shut your demon mouth,” Adam snipes.

“So how’d things go on your end?” Jack asks.

“Smoothly,” Michael says. “People have started looking for news of the rifts opening. By tomorrow, the whole school should be informed.”

“Nice,” Belphegor says.

“And yours?”

“The Empty, uh, saw my essay and handed it back with red marks,” Jack says, wincing.

“So no, but with corrections?” Adam asks.

“It said that if it helped, Chuck would feel it,” Jack says. “We need to find a way to be able to get its help without Chuck noticing.”

“We were thinking of bringing in really weak angels first, and then slowly building it up. If it’s discreet enough, we could try to make it seem like the energy spike is just from the rifts,” Belphegor says.

“Well, any chance of those rifts opening up further?” Adam asks. “If we can time an energy spike to coincide with a resurrection, we might be able to hide it.”

Belphegor and Jack share a look.

“Not a bad idea,” Belphegor says. “Michael?”

“It’s....possible,” he says, motioning with his hands. “The more the universe will start to break down, the more rifts there are going to be. On this earth, and on the rest of what makes up the universe.”

“...you mean to tell me there’s a possibility of the third of the stars falling from the heavens,” Belphegor says. Jack gives him a confused look. “Revelations,” Belphegor says.

“Yes,” Michael says.

“That sounds bad,” Jack says.

“It is,” Michael agrees. “So it will have to be a calculated risk. One, Sam and Dean both have to stay alive and out of danger, but I think Chuck will take care of that, at least until the story ends the way he wants it to. This universe revolves around them, their survival is key.”

Belphegor nods, pulling up the chair beside Jack to clamber onto it. It’s serious discussion time now. He leans forward, arms folded in front of him on the table, that if he’d spared a glance towards Jack, he’d see they were in the exact same position. 

“Two, for every time a rift splits just a bit wider, we bring back an angel so at least one end of the universe’s structure still holds up enough for it to keep existing.”’

“There’s no clean way to solve this,” Jack says, more in resignation that confusion.

Michael nods. “I’m afraid not. Not if we want to have a fighting chance against someone who’s able to manipulate and control the odds.”

“The Empty said something about maybe listening to Sam and Dean,” Jack says. “They’ve got, uh, inevitability - ”

“Plot convenience,” Belphegor says.

“ - plot convenience on their side, after all,” Jack says, and then tries to sound as sarcastic as possible. “It just wouldn’t have a choice if the hunters forced it to do something.”

Adam lets out a laugh. Michael gives the kid a wry smile.

“Perhaps as a last resort,” he says. “Involving Sam and Dean would mean that we’re putting ourselves - ”

Jack sits up, ramrod straight. He turns to Michael. “Dean’s praying.”

“Off the bus,” Adam says, looking up at everyone else.

Jack snaps his fingers as he puts the prayer on the celestial equivalent of loudspeaker for all four of them.

“Jack we need a little help here,” Dean says. “We’re outnumbered. We’re by the barrier right now and - ”

“Okay,” Jack says, and then snaps his fingers. In one moment, everyone’s at the bunker, and the next, Belphegor is falling on his ass onto grass as the chair underneath him disappears. Adam and Michael as quicker to regain their composure, spotting the pulsing barrier several feet away from them. 

There’s a terrified civilian right by Belphegor’s feet. He has a huge gash on his arm and is shaking hard, screaming when he notices that there’s someone right in front of him.

“Dean!” That’s Jack. Belphegor looks up to see the kid rushing into the barrier, one hand outstretched. A pulse of gold bursts from his hand and blows the specters surrounding the Winchesters into flickering out of sight. 

Both of them stop and look around, postures relaxing once they spot Jack.

Belphegor gets to his feet. Adam rushes over to help the civilian, who’s still trembling, sit up properly.

“It’s okay,” he says. “We’re here to help.”

Deciding to leave the healing to the actual pre-med student and the archangel who’s already making his way beside him, Belphegor steps around them and goes into the barrier, immediately feeling unsafe.

“Where’s Cas?” Jack asks.

“With Rowena,” Sam says, still breathing hard and covered in blood. “They’re fortifying the barrier.”

Jack nods, relieved. “Good.”

“What happened?” Belphegor asks, approaching with a skip in his step that he knows will infuriate Dean.

Judging by the irate look that flashes over the man’s face, it successfully does. Belphegor grins a little wider. “Someone tried to go into town again,” he says. “Tried to see what was really going on.”

Belphegor winces, forced-sympathetic. He turns to where Michael currently has a hand over the civilian’s injured arm, palm lighting in blue, while Adam, at the civilian’s other side, is trying to keep the man calm.

“Well, I guess he’s seen what’s really going on now,” Belphegor says.

Dean huffs. “He already saw what’s out here anyway, we’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t tell anyone.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t tell them what’s really going on?” Jack asks. 

Dean pauses. Sam does as well, and both of them share a look.

Dean clicks the safety off his gun. “It’ll likely just make them panic.”

“What if some of the ghosts and demons that didn’t get caught in the barrier attack the school?” Jack asks. “I know the hunters will protect them, but there’s still gonna be a fight, isn’t there?” 

Dean looks like he’s about to argue, but then stops himself. The kid does have a point, and Belphegor steps forward to back it up.

“You can’t make a soul that’s already passed on pass on again when it doesn’t have a tether to be destroyed,” Belphegor says. “You might as well arm them all.”

“We could cause a mass panic,” Sam says.

“Not if you explain it properly,” Belphegor says. He motions to the civilian, who’s shrugged off his torn coat to look at his arm in shock, fully healed, not a scratch. “You’ve got a witness.”

“And you have Cas, and me, and Adam and Michael and Bel,” Jack says. “And you’ve got Rowena, a witch.”

“Look, we know you guys have a strict policy about letting people live their lives and live it normally,” Belphegor says, waving his hands up as a gesture of goodwilled surrender. Jack has a sway with these people, but he doesn’t, so he has to seem more amiable than usual. “But this is the end of the fucking world, boys, and it’s not some isolated ‘the Winchesters will take care of it’ thing again. There’s no going back to normal from this.”

Sam looks like he’s caving in first, while Dean just stares down Belphegor like he’s trying to figure out what the demon’s getting out of this, which is a smart move, honestly, even if it makes this whole ‘save the world’ thing a little harder. 

“He has a point, Dean,” Sam says.

“We’ll talk about it,” Dean says. He motions to where Adam and Michael are. “Now let’s get back to the school - and by the way, why the fuck did all four of you come here? I just asked for Jack.”