The Wheels On The Bus Chapter 2

A lot of this is very inspired by the plot I'm using for ALFG because I'm rechecking and outlining the plot for that since I'm working on it again. I just really love,,,universe stuff,,,but also narrative,,,,

“So how’d it go?” Belphegor asks. He's not really concerned, he just likes being cheeky. It's fun watching Dean try to stop himself from throttling him. Cas has mellowed out ever since Jack got kicked back down to earth. 

“Fun as always,” Dean says, throwing a duffel bag onto the table. “How much of the bunker did you wreck?”

“Adam tried to make pancakes,” Jack pipes up. Adam swats his arm. Jack just grins and takes a step away, holding a hand up to block away the swatting. “He dropped a whole egg in the bowl.”

Belphegor winces. “A whole egg. Shell and all.”

The three musketeers turn to them, slowly, pausing in setting their things down. The moments where Belphegor feels to be on the same wavelength with them are rare, but this is one of them. 

Sam turns to Adam, who throws his hands up.

“I forgot how they were made, let it slide!”

“He thought you put vinegar in it,” Belphegor says. Dean makes a face and a disgusted noise. 

“Yeah, whatever, bullying hours are over,” Adam says. “I've read all my books, by the way.”

“Yeah, we'll take them back, uh, soon. Soon-ish,” Sam says, absentmindedly. Belphegor glances at Adam, who shares a look with Michael, who shares a look with Jack. 

Something’s up. 

“Anything interesting happen?” Belphegor asks. 

“World’s gone to shit, that's as interesting as it gets,” Dean says. He shrugs off his jacket, covered in dirt and blood, and stops as his phone buzzes. 

He grunts, throwing the jacket to the couch. He takes his phone and answers the call. “Hey, Rowena, how'd it go?”

Belphegor takes a few steps back so he can stand closer to Jack and the others. He folds his arms behind his back. 

Michael gives him a discreet look, motions his head towards Dean and then towards the hallway. Belphegor nods. 

He feels a weak pulse of power pierce the air.

Michael's listening in on the conversation. Cas’ power has been waning lately, and it seems to be weak enough that he doesn’t notice this.

“We're gonna go make actual pancakes, you guys seem busy,” Belphegor says. He grabs Jack's arm and tugs him along, giving him a meaningful glance. The boy seems to get it and follows along, Michael and Adam behind them. 

As soon as they round the corner, Michael links the conversation into their heads. Belphegor winces at the initial high pitched whine ringing in his ears as soon as the connection hits. 

Rowena is talking. 

“- the barrier was successful.”

Michael sends out another pulse of power. They all hear Dean’s voice like they’re still in the same room with him. 

“Ow,” Jack mutters, starting to topple over from disorientation of the connection. Belphegor grabs him before he can fall.

“Good, good,” Dean says. The four of them walk just a bit further, turning to hide behind a wall before sitting down. “How soon do you need to redo it?”

“Tomorrow, for good measure. I'll try a stronger spell, since I appear to have underestimated just how many ghosts are inside the barrier,” Rowena says. She pauses. “Dean?”

“Yeah?”

“You realize this is a temporary solution, yes?” she asks. “We’re trying to block a bomb while worsening it in the process.”

Dean doesn't answer right away. Belphegor imagines him looking to Sam. 

“We know,” he says, eventually. “We're working on it.”

It's Rowena's turn to pause. She sighs. “Let's hope we find something soon. I don't know how much longer we can keep refreshing the barricade.”

The call ends. Michael unlinks the connection with a sharp tug. Belphegor clutches his head and winces, his ears ringing again. 

“Oh, I hate that,” he says. “Let's never do that again.”

“Hopefully, we'll never have to,” Adam says. “Kitchen. Quick. Before any of them walk past.”

-

There seems to be a problem at the refuge center that the hunters have set up outside the rift zone, so after the boys clean up from the hunt, they leave again. Cas tells Jack and the others to behave. They give him varying responses that amount to yes. 

As soon as the door closes, Belphegor sits up from where he’s been lying down on the living room floor for the past thirty minutes, waiting for the Winchesters to leave. They’d all moved after pretending to fight over the fact that no one could use the kitchen properly.

“Finally. I hate waiting. That was too long. This is too long. Anyone else think this whole thing's pacing is abhorrent?”

“It's a play, but we are still existing from day to day, Belphegor. We don't get to skip scenes,” Michael says. 

“I hate it.”

“At least we have the place to ourselves now,” Jack says, moving to sit at the meeting table.

“Scoot over,” Belphegor says. Jack does. Belphegor links his hands together like he's about to give a business proposal. “Okay, so, we're on the bus. Thoughts?”

“We need to keep an eye on what the Winchesters are doing to be able to make a plan running alongside it,” Michael says. “We need to push the story offbeat from the sidelines, but we need to know where to hit.”

“They're trying to contain the ghosts and everything else coming out of the rift,” Adam says. “When Hell opened, everything opened, right?”

“Yeah,” Belphegor says. “Although whatever demons got out probably immediately got as far away as possible before the barrier first went up. Whatever's still inside should be stuck, but we didn't see anything in there aside from me.”

“Hell only truly had one horror,” Adam says. 

Belphegor nods sagely. “Your ability to make pancakes.”

Michael ducks his head and puts a hand over his mouth. 

Adam glares at him. “Traitor.”

“I didn't say anything,” Michael says.

“Whatever,” Adam says. “If there are demons inside the barrier, could the barrier contain them?”

“It was more of a spells for ghosts,” he says. “Otherwise, I can’t get in or out.”

Adam nods. “Jack, could you try to find out if there's been a rise in demonic activity anywhere? Anywhere in the world?”

“On it.” Jack snaps his fingers. His laptop suddenly finds itself on the table. It's quite surprised since Jack rarely really gets lazy with moving around, but the spacewarp travel is cool. 

“If the demons are out, then the ghosts aren’t our only problem,” Michael says. 

“Is the Heaven option still out?” Belphegor asks. 

“Well,” Michael says. “We'd need people to hold down Heaven in the first place.”

Jack sits up. 

“Already?” Adam asks. 

“No, no, just - The Empty.”

“Last I heard, they were a bitch to work with,” Belphegor says. 

“I mean. I can't say anything. They sent me here,” Jack says. shifting. “But, they sent me here for a reason, right?”

“Fix it, or something, right? So you said.”

“Yeah. I can ask for their help,” Jack says. “All the angels who die end up in The Empty.”

“You can re-fill Heaven again,” Michael says. “Reverse all the damage that has been done.”

“And then get them to help with the apocalypse,” Belphegor says. He points to Michael. “And you're here, they'll listen to you.”

Adam glances at Michael. Belphegor's not privy to what it means so he doesn't bother trying to figure it out.

“I...can,” Michael says. “Certainly.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Belphegor says. “Provided you brief them on what's happening.”

“I don't know what's happened in the time I've been gone,” Michael says. 

“I can ask Cas,” Jack says.

“You've been topside the longest, is there anything you already know that can help?” Adam asks. 

“Uh.” Jack looks down. “My… father was around. Uncle Gabriel was too.”

Michael turns to him. 

“He was prisoner for a while, I think. In Hell,” Jack says. “After he got out, he helped get me and Mary out of apocalypse world.” He motions to Michael. “There was another version of you there. An evil version. Killed Lucifer.” He plays with the hem of his sleeves. “I killed him.”

There's a beat of silence. 

“Well,” Belphegor says. “Fair enough, I'd gladly killed our Michael if he gave me a reason to.”

Adam gives him a flat look, but Michael just smiles.

“Apocalypse world,” Michael says. “I've heard mentions of that once or twice, but no one's really explained that.”

“It's another universe. A version of the universe where Sam and Dean were never born,” Jack says. “I got stuck there with Mary for about a year. The angels had won. They turned earth into a hellscape.”

“Sweet irony,” Belphegor says. 

“The Michael from that world got bored with his universe,” Jack says. “Tried to take over ours. He was working with monsters. Dean trapped him in his head but he got out.”

“You had to kill him,” Michael says. 

Jack nods. “I burnt out my soul for that.”

“Then you got sent to the Empty,” Belphegor says. “Unless it’s that you had enough for the Empty?”

Michael starts to say: “Souls aren't infinite resources, but nothing in the universe disappears into a vaccuum. Everything -” But Adam interrupts him before it can get too far. “Okay, we're getting off-topic. Continue. The Heaven idea?”

“If we can get all of the angels back into Heaven, we might have enough of an army to take on all the ghosts and demons from Hell,” Jack says. “That's basically it.”

“I would be the one to lead them,” Michael says. “And while we might not have a way to seal the rift, we’ll have enough manpower - “

“Angelpower,” Belphegor coughs. 

“ - to make sure that nothing gets out while we try to seal the rifts.”

“What exactly is the nature of these rifts? We gotta know so we know what to do, right?” Adam asks. Jack resumes typing on the laptop, continuing his search, but still listening to the conversation. “Explain it to me. Are these just holes in the earth or?”

“Imagine two balloons,” Michael says. “They're very far away from each other. In fact, they don't exist in the same room. In this scenario, the rooms are the entirety of the realms of existence these balloons are in on, so they can travel as much as they'd like around it, but never reach the other.” 

Michael holds up a hand. There's suddenly a pencil between his fingers. On the table, two red balloons, floating just above the table, right across each other. 

“Now imagine something with enough force tearing right through the walls and the balloons and thus creating this direct connection to them.” Michael flicks the pencil away, only it doesn't fling itself towards the balloons. It disappears instead. Belphegor turns to find it embedded right between the red balloons, each end in either of the balloons. “That's what happening.”

“We've got to close the bridge, then,” Adam says. 

Belphegor reaches out towards the balloons. Jack looks up from his work, watching curiously. 

“This looks very unstable,” Belphegor says. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but the way I know it, reality is a framework that relies on everything that makes it up so that it can continue to exist without collapsing on itself, right?”

“Correct,” Michael says.  “Every single piece is crucial. That's why Heaven is failing.  The angels holding it up are lacking.”

“And now there's this.” Belphegor takes the pencil between his fingers. He tugs slightly. One balloon slowly deflates. 

“Hm,” Adam says. “Don't like that.”

“We can't just close the bridge, we have to patch up the tear and restore everything,” Jack says. “Right?”

“Put simply, yes,” Michael says. 

“If you patch the rifts, the bridge is still there. If you take away the bridge, the rifts are still there. You gotta deal with both at the same time,” Belphegor says.

“While dealing with what's come out of Hell,” Adam says. 

“Sam and Dean might be able to find something to fix that, so we need to keep an eye on them,” Michael says. 

Belphegor raises an eyebrow. “You have that much faith in them?”

“Well, they have proven to be foolhardy multiple times, and it seems to work,” Michael says. “And remember, every reality relies on everything that makes it up so it doesn't collapse in on itself. The very purpose of this version of reality was because Chuck wanted to tell a story, thus placing innate importance to the existence of Sam and Dean.”

“Talk slower.”

“This universe was built for the Winchesters,” Michael says.. “And this universe, if you think about it like that, is the Winchesters’. If this was a building, they're two of the pillars holding it up while being the leads of the play, essential to both the creation of the universe formationally and narratively.” 

He starts motioning with a hand, which Michael rarely does, so Belphegor makes a point to listen. 

“And because they are a fixed point of the universe and a huge piece of why it exists, they will, time and time again, be assisted by it and assist it,” he says. “Let's go back to our analogy. This is a play. But the play isn't scripted. Sure, the obstacles are there, but choice is still a factor. Meaning, the Winchesters’ actions are never predetermined unless directly influenced and manipulated.”

“So they're not destined to always find the cure to everything,” Belphegor says. He snaps his fingers as everything connects. “But they do anyway, because every reality is self-regulating, just like every organism’s immune system.”

“I'm lost,” Adam says. 

“A game isn't a game without a main character. A play cannot proceed without a lead,” Michael says. “This analogy works for if we think about everything in the context of a story. But think of it in the sense of how the universe exists. Every reality is held together by everything that makes it up.”

“Like the building you said,” Jack says. 

“Yes. But it constantly moves and shifts to work within its own rules,” Michael says. “Because it needs to continue to exist, that’s how it was natural created, to do everything in its power to assure continued existence. Why do you think time is so malleable and why timelines must always be corrected if they go wrong? Or why Nephilims cannot and should not exist in multiples? The balance of everything is fragile.”

“That's why the Empty got so mad, isn't it?” Jack asks. “When Cas woke up.”

“Exactly, there's forces out there that have to work to hold this whole place, and everything outside and connected to it, together,” Michael says. “It's a whole system. But, sometimes the system is a lot more subtle than it is angels manipulating everyone and the Empty keeping all the dead angels and demons asleep as latent energy.”

“You're telling me,” Adam says. “That Sam and Dean are literally helped by…inevitability.”

“Say it,” Belphegor says. 

“No.”

“Say it.”

Adam pretends to spit on him. “No.”

“It's not fate. Again, free choice,” Michael says. “It's more like chance. Sam and Dean have a bigger say in the working of the universe in that everything they need will fall into their lap if it serves the continued existence of the universe.”

“Plot convenience.”

Belphegor starts laughing so hard his voice goes high-pitched.

“I...suppose,” Michael says. “In a way.”

“They’re literally given plot convenience because a universe wants to keep existing by moving around everything within it to make sure this happens,” Adam says.

“Which falls apart if Chuck starts controlling everything,” Belphegor says. “But so far he hasn’t. Hopefully he never thinks of that.”

“Don’t jinx it,” Adam says.

“But at least we have something to work with. We can ask the Empty for help, we can rely on Sam and Dean’s natural plot convenience-ness to find a cure because the universe is apparently not above committing blasphemy, and we have Michael to lead the angels if they get restored,” Belphegor says. “Once we get the angels and Michael to lead them, we can round everything and everyone who does not belong to earth, and then have Sam and Dean do their thing. Problem solved.”

“It’s a plan, but we’d be idiots to stake everything on that,” Adam says. “We’ll keep it in mind. We still need to follow exactly what the Winchesters are doing. I’m going to try to ask - ”

“Guys,” Jack says, and he says it with such alarm that the entire room seems to go dead silent. 

“What is it?” Belphegor hazards.

Jack turns the laptop around so that it faces them. There are multiple windows open on the screen. Belphegor only needs to take one look to realize that all the headlines are essentially the same.

“I don’t think we’re dealing with just one rift.”