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"i'm just saying that it's urgent that we find him and tell him."
"cas....he's here." sam mumbled and castiel squinted in confusion, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked at the hunter, "what?"
jack was here? at the bunker?
when did he get here? well, he could've just flown here, its not that hard for him. has he been here for long? no, he couldn't have been, castiel saw him in heaven with duma.
did the winchesters just pray to him? and he came here? just like that?
"he's locked up...safe." dean spoke, breaking the silence as he swirled the whiskey in his glass, "he's in the ma'lak box." the man finished, as if it was the most casual topic in the world, and his words made castiel's blood run ice cold.
"no."
"and that's where he's gonna stay."
castiel turned to sam, hoping that the younger winchester was going to continue dean's statement, maybe say "until we do...." or "only for...." but he got nothing and more rage boiled inside of the angel.
the brothers, dean much more than sam, explained what there plan was and what they told jack; but this didn't help the anger rolling around inside of castiel and only caused him to go on a raging rant.
the seraph went on and on about what duma was making jack do, what castiel had to do to get her to stop, how everything was just jack being manipulated and taken advantage of.
and while sam got more and more uneasy as castiel spoke, dean barely showed any change in emotion.
"i said he's staying."
"even after everything i said, you wanna keep jack sealed in a living death?"
"he agreed to it, because deep down i think he knows its best."
"no, you are doing what duma-!" castiel cut himself off, taking a pause as he used every ounce of willpower in his body not to just use all of his grace to shoot dean into the fucking sun, "you are manipulating him!"
"cas--"
"what? you just wanna forget about him?"
"i wish i could forget about him! after what he did! and you know what he can do, this is our only play!" dean shouted and castiel took a deep breath, "no, no its not." the angel muttered through clenched teeth, looking down at the ground before reeling back and punching dean in the face, knocking the winchester down to the floor.
"you are just using the only play that you want!" castiel screamed, not paying the brothers any mind as turned around and raced down the bunker hallway, ignoring sam's calls for him as he desperately raced to the room that he knew they had stored the box in.
he stopped suddenly in the hallway, hearing a repetitive banging of metal and he listened closely as he jogged down the corridors, the banging only increasing as he reached the room that he was looking for.
"jack?" castiel called as he reached the door, not bothering to wait for an answer as he frantically unlocked the door and pushed it open, rushing inside and slamming the door behind him, locking it tightly and using his grace to keep it closed, his eyes landing on the slightly shaking box as jack kept hitting the top of it, desperately trying to escape.
"jack!"
"ca-as?!"
castiel's heart nearly fell through the floor at jack's tone, the nephil's voice shaky and tears were obviously being spilled, it taking the angel a couple seconds before his brain allowed him to move towards the box, "jack, you have to listen to me okay? stop hitting the box, i'm going to get it open."
"hu-urry! hurry, please, hurry!" jack begged, a sob escaping him at the end of his sentence and that only fueled the parent-adrenaline in him, his hands scrambling to undo the locks and the few seconds it lasted felt like an eternity, before he lifted the top, the nephilim practically jumping out of it and attacking castiel in a hug, sending both of them to the floor and the seraph fell with a grunt, but jack just cried.
castiel sat himself and jack up, the boy clawing at his back and bunching up pieces of his father's trenchcoat in his eyes, clinging to him and sobbing into his shoulder, shaking against him and hiccuping for breath, "i've got you jack, you're safe, you're perfectly safe."
"th-they told-old me that-at they w-were gon-onna fin-ind a sp-spell--"
"a spell for your soul, i know, but...but dean was lying, he was lying because he was angry and thought that hurting us was okay, but it wasn't."
"h-he told me th-that they hate me, tha-at they won't tru-ust me ever again-ain."
castiel gently pushed jack away, only enough so that he could see the boy's face, which broke his heart because it was flushed and soaked in tears, while he spoke; "who told you that, jack?"
"i-i've been seeing lucifer." the boy sniffled, wiping at his eyes with his sleeve before continuing, "i-i know he's not real, b-but it feels real and it hurts."
castiel felt like he was going to be sick, his memories of seeing lucifer and the verbal (and sometimes visual) torment he went through was some of the worst feelings he's ever had.
it was like a cold sadness that never went away but there was also a part of you that felt this was deserved, that all of the screaming and taunting was something that should happen to you.
when it shouldn't.
"for how long?"
"since....si-ince mar-ary."
"oh, jack." castiel cooed, sitting up on his knees and jack doing the same before the angel pulled his surrogate son to his chest, hugging him tightly and feeling him shake with tears, a hand going to his head and gently petting his hair, rocking him and softly shushing him.
castiel made a promise two years ago to kelly, that he was going to protect jack with all of him, and he had failed; but, now, he refused to let anyone hurt his son.
even if they were a winchester.