Chapter 56: Magical connection

"Lionheart?" Bailey gasped, Sam yanked his hand away and held it close to his chest as he glared at the angel who seemed to be getting irritated with the pair.

"Duh, did you not know he was a Lionheart?" She asked, gesturing to Sam who looked from her to Bailey.

"But-- to who?" Sam spluttered out, "I think we've found all the kings aside from the Beast?"

"Yeah, we know almost all five kings!" Bailey added, looking more perplexed than she meant too as Hahasiah rolled her eyes at the pair as if the information was obvious. Dutch didn't say anything, simply placing a cigarette between her lips, flicking her lighter a few times.

"Six kings," Hahasiah replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Six?" Sam replied, jaw dropping at the others words. She looked at them both confused as if she couldn't understand why they didn't have that information.

"Uh, yeah? You know. Beast, humanity, Nature, medicine, angels and the king of kings,"

"Wait," Sam put his hands out, "Angels? King of angels?"

"Does...that mean there's a king of demons?" Bailey asked bewildered.

"I mean, probably!" She laughed, "That'd make sense, right? We only know about the kings that are on the angels side,"

"So how many kings are there?" Sam groaned

"Well, we have the main five. Than angel, so six, but there might be more with demons or something"

All the wind felt like it was punched through Sam's chest as he stared at the woman. He didn't know who she was, what she knew or why she was here and now she was dropping facts on them as if it were a widely known thing.

"Wow! You two really don't know a lot do you?" She laughed, Dutch nodded from behind her. Puffing smoke from the cigarette as she leaned on her girlfriend.

"We weren't exactly handed a manual," Sam retorted, Bailey shook his head.

"So we now know there's another king, possibly more kings? How do we not know about the other kings?" She asked, Sam could tell she was holding back her need to ramble as she tied her hair up into a messy bun in a nervous fashion. He noticed himself starting to do this as well and chuckled to himself, he was hanging out with everyone too much.

"Well," Hahasiah pulled out an old piece of cloth, running her hands over it a few times as she looked down at the angelic text. Dutch silently peaked over her shoulder, her poofy hair falling in her eyes as she tried to read.

"According to this prophecy--"

"You had it!" Bailey shouted, throwing her arms up "The entire time? You have the prophecy,"

Hahasiah frowned at the other, "I don't appreciate your tone," She snorted, "And I have a prophecy," She waved the paper at them, "Back when Faith was still around, oh boy, did she spit these out like crazy! Sure the girl was annoying, but she knew what she was talking about."

"What's it say?" Sam asked, looking down at the scrap of cloth.

"Oh no no," She folded it up and shoved it back into her jacket pocket. "First we open your chakras, the Lionheart of magic can't have a closed third eye,"

Sam and Bailey shared a look at the other's words, "Lionheart of magic?" He asked, she nodded to him.

"Wait," Bailey grabbed his arm suddenly, Sam knew exactly what was crossing her mind before she said it.

"Dean," They both said at once, turning and racing back towards the room they had just run out of. Hahasiah and Dutch both looked shocked as the pair made for the stairs, swatting the cobwebs away as they fell in sync before pausing at the steps.

"After you!" Sam said, gesturing to the steps

"Age before beauty," Bailey snorted, Sam shook his head at her giving a playful scoff.

"What about grace and beauty?" He asked, putting a foot on the steps only for Bailey to push her way in front of him.

"Oh that'd be me then!" She joked, trotting up the steps quickly before he could reply. Following her with a chuckle, "You can be age and beauty if you want!" Bailey called to him as she pushed into the entrance.

"Wow! This place is awesome," Buck gasped as the pair entered the room after them, she still smoked her cigarette as she moved. Standing very stiff as if she was afraid of letting her guard down. Hahasiah giggled behind her, leaning down to let her hand roll over the sigils on the floor.

"It's completely awesome, you know I'm the angel of magic," She said as she took a few steps around the sigils drawn on the ground by Sam.

"Oh? Are you?" Sam said in slight surprise,

"Yes I am, you know this place is covered in sigil's, right?" She asked with an arched eyebrow, leaning down and putting her hand to the floor. Pink light flickered under her palm sending a shockwave of grace through the wood. Like a Christmas tree sigil's started glowing vivid pink all around them. They covered every inch of the room and every side of the home, Bailey and Sam looked around themselves in shock as the glowing pink lights sent showers of glittering color around them.

Sam turned towards the others, he could feel Bailey's gaze on his face causing his skin to turn hot.

"This place is heavily fortified!" Hahasiah laughed, "Looks like hunters have been putting these here for decades. Explains why most of the paranormal can't seem to find you guys. I could see you though, sigils are kind of my thing. I think I even see a few of my own personal sigils hanging out in here,"

"So...I'm a Lionheart of magic?" Sam asked, not caring to reply to the other.

"Yeah! Funny we meet, must be destiny." She laughed, nudging Dutch who rolled her eyes and dropped the cigarette butt. Stomping it down before moving attention to the pair,

"You probably didn't know because your third eye's blinded. It happens with trauma," Dutch replied, glancing towards her girlfriend and nodding at her. The angel took a few steps forward,

"Give me your hand, it's gonna hurt, but if you want to stay alive in this war this'll help you."

Sam glanced at Bailey, hoping she'd know what to do but she looked just as lost.

"What are you going to do?" Bailey asked in a challenging manner, would Bailey fight an entire angel for him? He wouldn't put it past her.

"Look, it's going to hurt but a LionHeart of magic needs to have the third eye sigil, without it you can't use your King's grace."

"And I think I know who my king is," Sam whispered, rolling his eyes. Part of him was slightly disappointed, he loved Dean but he almost hoped this would lead to his soulmate. Not that his wife wasn't his soulmate, maybe the distance was straining their relationship? He turned to Bailey who was leaning against the desk beside her. Her hand on a hip, an eyebrow arched.

"Great! Where are they?" She asked, Sam raised his hand to gesture to the mirror only for Hahasiah to grab the other. He yelped in shock as she pushed her palm against his. Locking her fingers with his, not allowing him to yank his hand away.

"W-Wait!" He gasped out only for flaming hot pain to explode through his skull, he fell to his knees as the flesh on his palm started to burn from the angel's grace.

"What the hell! Stop it!" Bailey shouted, her voice squeaked with fear as she put a hand on Sam.

"It sucks I know, but it'll look cool!" Hahasiah laughed, not seeming to care that the other was in pain. He hissed out, feeling needles poke deep into his skin, blood rolled down his flesh. Sam clutched at his jacket from the agony, he never felt such a deep pain in his entire life. He felt Bailey grab his hand, he squeezed it tight as he let loose a low painful moan. A spark exploded from between his and the angel's palms, sending Sam backwards. Bailey caught him just in time, grunting as his weight hit her but she was able to keep his head from hitting the floor.

"W-What the fucking hell!" Sam gasped out, waving his hand as if trying to get water off of it. His body trembled from the agony, his entire hand was nearly black from the burn Bailey reached forward and lightly touched the charred flesh. He hissed from the touch, gasping as a few pieces of black skin fell to the floor.

"Hahasiah!" Dutch snapped at her girlfriend who rolled her eyes,

Sam could feel the panic attack race through his veins as he stared at his hand. Hahasiah's hands glowed, she took his hand once more causing him to wince. The pain slowly fell away, he let out a groan and relaxed. Bailey dropped his hand and sat up more, watching with a curious glint in her gaze.

The black heeled over a few times before leaving his skin nearly perfect once more, only this time a black, closed eye was seemingly burned into the skin on his right index finger. Sam pulled his hand away and stared at the closed eye with wide eyes, he turned his hand around to look at the palm. Bailey audibly gasped at the burn in his palm, it was a pentagram with a few odd symbols inside it and settled directly in the center of the star was another eye. This one was opened, staring into nothingness.

"What...the hell…" Sam whispered, his hand trembled. Bailey reached forward, putting her hand on the others and tracing her fingers over the healed burns on the man's skin.

"It's cool right?" Hahasiah asked, grinning brightly.

She held her hand out to Dutch who pulled a ring from around her neck and dropped it into the angel's open palm.

"It's a third eye sigil," Hahasiah said, "It'll help you use your King's grace as your own weapon. Pretty cool right?"

"If we can figure out who his king is," Bailey mused, letting her hand drop from the others.

"Come on, let's do this then," Dutch clapped into the air as she shut the door behind her.

***

"Hold it up like this!" The man said with irritation in his voice, grabbing the child's arm and yanking him hard forward so he could snatch the large shotgun from the child's small hands.

"If you don't get this right, demons will kill you! Kill your mom! Do you want that? Do you want to be responsible for your mom dying?" The man snarled, holding up the gun and pointing it towards a target that was attached to a tree deep in the swampy Marsh. Vines snapped as the bullet whizzed past them and exploded the wood of the tree. Shattering the paper target, a few other targets had been set up around but this one in particular the man seemed to hate the most. Having nailed a picture of an unknown man to the wood.

"I don't want that," the little boy whispered, looking down at the ground. His body shivered with cold, swampy water rose to kiss his knees and drenched his blue jeans.

"If you're going to be a king of Kings you'll need to protect your mother. Protect me. You understand?" The man said, staring intently at his son.

"What about Amaryllis? Will I be protecting her too?" The small child asked, shrinking under the other's cold gaze.

"Yes. But she will also protect you, when you rise to power she will be your lionheart."

The child nodded at this, he was afraid. He didn't know why he was picked to be a king but he didn't want to be, he just wanted to go home and watch cartoons. It was the only thing he seemed to be allowed to freely do without his father or mother shaming him for it.

"Daddy," he whispered as the gun was shoved back into his arms, he stumbled and fell back into the gross water. Pain flooded his body as a rock jammed into his leg, he let out a yowl of pain.

His father grabbed him by the arm once more, pulling him up with such force the child yelped in agony.

"Stop it, Cain!" His father sighed as if frustrated, looking over the cut on the boy's leg.

"Men don't cry out," he said as Cain sniffled, attempting to hold back the tears that threatened to overflow him.

"You're going to bleed out If you don't fix that," the man snorted as he nodded to the cut.

"I'm not mom, you fix that cut like a big boy,"

Cain shakily nodded, taking his backpack off and leaning the gun against a tree on a less wet part of the ground. He dug into the bag for his supplies, running through what he'd need in his head to fix the bleeding cut. He glanced at his father who eyed him with a dead gaze, a shiver passed over his body as Cherm giggled in his ear.

"Daddy," he whispered again, leaning against a tree as he started to clean his wound with a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Wincing at the pain but refusing to let his father see the tears in his eyes. Mostly, in fear, he knew the large man would berate him if he cried.

"What is it son?" The man asked, turning from his son and snatching the gun up. He held it up and shot again at the Target, causing the child to wince at the blasting noise.

"If I'm...going to be a king...will I have a queen? Like in the cartoons?"

The large man nearly laughed at this, his muscular frame seemed to jiggle with the humor in his gaze as his pale brown eyed ran over his son's puzzled expression.

"No, you will have a lionheart." He said simply.

"Why...not a Queen? Like in Cinderella? Whe--"

"Your mom's letting you watch that trashy shit again?" He scoffed, shooting the gun again causing a few birds to let out a call in shock.

"Sorry sir," Cain whispered,

"A Lionheart will protect you, you are above them. They will lay their life down for you, now a queen? They will want to rule with you. You my boy,"

He turned to Cain, pride flooding his gaze, "you'll be a ruler like no other! All will bow to you. You won't need a queen when you have the world at your feet,"

Cain hesitated, his father started to reload the gun. Laughing to himself at Cain's question as if his son had told him the most hilarious of jokes,

"What if...I want a queen?" He murmured, "someone who's loving and warm like mother and...who will watch cartoons with me!"

His father scoffed, "you want to give up everything for some slut?"

Cain frowned at this, "what's a slut?" He whispered, tying up his leg and packing his supplies up.

"A queen is a slut, women are whores. They're only good for one thing, sex," he snorted, "that's why your mother got rid of your sister. You ready to shoot again, son?"

His father handed him the large gun, Cain nodded as he readied himself with it. Attempting not to fall over from the weight, anxiety flooded his body. The kickback from the gun terrified him but he'd never admit it as his father pushed him lower into the water and grinned wide as a white rabbit came bounding out of the woods. It stopped to chew on some grass on the dry part of the land.

"Your next target," he whispered, Cain's eyes grew wide as he looked at the white hare and glanced back at his father.

"But it's a bunny! Like Babs and buster!" Cain practically shouted this causing the rabbit to freeze in its tracks.

"Not everything deserves to live and some day it'll be your job to figure out who lives and who dies," the man said simply, helping his son aim towards the animal.

Cain sniffled softly at this, he didn't want to hurt anyone or anything. Yet here he was, holding a gun in his hands with his father beaming down at him. The large man pulled his hands away from Cain, the child let out a shaky breath and shot.

The rabbit let out a loud, inhuman screech as its body was thrown to the floor. His father laughed loudly, punching the air. Cain watched the rabbit twitch on the floor, blood covered it's body and flooded the grass below. A large hole was torn through the middle of the animal's body yet it still fought to survive. Cain held back the bile in his throat as the world seemed to fade out around him. His brain became a fog as he followed his father to the corpse,

"S-should we put it out of its misery?" Cain murmured to his father who laughed louder at this.

"Fuck that," the man snorted, turning on his heels he sloshed back the way they came. Cain looked down at the rabbit with a lump in his throat, it stared at him with wide, fearful eyes.

"I'm sorry Buster…" he murmured, running his fingers over the bloody fur.

***

Cain's eyes opened to the waking world around him, he had found a small patch of dried surface to sleep on. Babs curled up against his chest, the rabbit's soft fur tickled his nose. He blinked the dream away a few times, sitting up and looking around him in frustration. It was so dark, the vines slapped him in the face causing him to swat at them.

Mishka entered his mind, she was all he thought about nowadays. Especially without the constant pressure in the back of his head from Cherm. He and Bab's started to explore again, he never felt hungry, or thirsty. Though he was often tired, he felt pain though and the pain in his feet was starting to grow. Pausing when his eyes spotted something shining in the neverending water. He sloshed forward, Bab's ears twitched as she watched him from the safety of his arms. He pushed his hand into the dirty water where the shine was the brightest, tugging out the metal golf club. He blinked in shock at it, attached to the clubs was a tarot card. It was tied on with a brilliant golden ribbon.

Pulling it off and looking it over,

"Sometimes things aren't what they seem." Was written on the card, it was the card he had tossed away though he didn't fully remember it now. He flipped it around a few times in his fingers, and pulled the golden ribbon off the club. There was gold etched into the silver on the side,

"Love Fran" was placed neatly in angelic writing with a heart beside it.

"Fran," Cain whispered, he leaned the club against the tree and looked over the golden ribbon. Sitting down on a tree trunk he tied the ribbon around the rabbit's ear, she didn't move as he made a bow and let it sit on her head. He lifted her in the air to inspect it in the small amount of light that filtered through the trees. It was then an idea formed, he stood up now and picked up the golf club. He placed Bab's on the floor and held the club tight, standing tall on the trunk he swung his club. The vines were ripped down from the trees, his eyes grew wide as a soft amount of light shone through the leaves.

He looked down at the golf club and back to the vines. His brother popped into his head, he held the club tight. He remembered his mother dying, recalled Abel pushing her. The sudden burst of anger he felt caused him to step back. Bab's let out a squeal of pain, his anger melted away he went down to the other and ran his fingers against its fur.

"Sorry," He whispered, picking the rabbit up and cradling it, he sat down under the small patch of sunshine. Taking in a few breaths to try to chase away the anger he felt, he thought back to the incident again. Running his fingers over the white fur, he replayed it a few times and let out a sigh.

He knew Abel, he tried to imagine what Mishka would have said if she were there. He wished she had been there. He sighed again, hugging the rabbit close.

***

Bailey watched as Dutch, Sam and Hahasiah all sat in a circle. The group all touched their knees together. They were communicating in another realm apparently but she couldn't help the anxiety that tickled her finger tips. Her eyes on Sam as he breathed in and out slowly.

"Just breathe slowly," Dutch whispered, the sigils around them started to flicker on as if they were made of light. The color ran from purple, to pink, to orange. She held her phone up, recording everything in case Abel wanted to see it. Sam hissed, orange light started to spark from his forehead.

"It hurts," Dutch whispered, "But think of what you love, it will open the eye easier,"

Bailey watched impatiently, the more light that sparked from Sam's forehead the worse the king felt as she walked in a slow circle around them now. Setting her phone up so she wouldn't have to hold it up but could still record, she pulled Sam's pocket watch from her jacket. Eyes traced over it a few times before she flicked it open, she looked in shock now. She could see them in the mirror, they were all standing behind their body.

Sam was on the floor, clenching the ground. Tears raced down his cheeks, Bailey could see a door behind him but couldn't make out what it said on the front. The same symbol that had been etched into his palm was now on the front of the large orange stone, she moved the mirror to look at Hahasiah and Dutch who also had doors behind them. Hahasiah's pink door stood tall against Dutch's purple one, she moved the mirror towards Dean who was standing on the opposite side of it all. She could hear him shouting something but couldn't seem to hear it, all she heard was the soft sound of breathing, the tick of the clock.

"Bailey, stop watching,"

Dutch's voice caught her so off guard she nearly dropped the watch, scrambling with it for a few seconds until catching it tight to her chest.

"Sorry," She whispered in embarrassment, feeling her cheeks heat up.

She waited, the lights came and went as the hours dragged on. The room didn't have a signal, causing the King to get restless as she waited. That was until Sam gasped loudly, painfully his eyes shot open. They were a vivid orange that glowed bright in the dark room, an eye similar to the one of his hand opened slowly on the man's head. Bailey quickly grabbed her phone, taking a quick picture just before he shouted in agony and the light fell from his eyes. His head dropped, he sucked air in a few times before Dutch and Hahasiah started to move as well.

"What happened?" Bailey asked, running over to her friend and placing a hand on his back. He coughed a few times, waving a hand in the air.

"I'm okay," He whispered though his voice was hoarse as if he'd been yelling for hours.

"He opened his third eye! And it only took five hours," Hahasiah laughed, "Must be because you're a Winchester, huh? Royal blood line and all,"

"What? Royal bloodline?" Sam asked, Bailey raced her hand up and down his back absentmindedly as she looked towards the angel.

"Oh yeah, you know. Winchester is a direct descendant of the first King of Kings, and the first apocalypse,"

Sam and Bailey looked at one another in shock and confusion before looking back to the angel who shook her head and laughed.

"Have you guys not done any research?" She asked, getting to her feet and putting her hands on her hips. Dutch held a hand up, the angel helped her to her feet and kissed her cheek a few times causing the redhead to snort out a laugh.

"Excuse us for not having all the up to date angel literature," Sam snorted, flexing his fingers. Bailey tilted her head as she looked over the closed eye on his index before moving them towards his black nail.

"What's up with my nail?" He asked, holding up his hand. Hahasiah shrugged at this, shoving her hands into the pockets on her skirt.

"Not sure," She admitted, "It's different for everyone,"

Bailey rolled her thumb over the nail a few times, a soft warmth flooded through Sam's chest but he shoved it back.

"We need to find Dean," He whispered to her, she glanced up at him and nodded.

"It's odd," Hahasia said as she made her way to the door, glancing back at the two.

"Why would a King of angels need a Lionheart of magic?"

"What do you mean?" Bailey asked, tilting her head. Hahasiah shrugged, shoving her hands into her pockets again and twirling a bit.

"Well," She started, "Magic wasn't made by angels, it's made by people. I adopted the angel of magic title, but people were the creators of it. I watched them learn to use the powers of the worlds all around them,"

Silence followed this for a few heartbeats until the angel snapped her fingers again.

"Oh, right" Hahasiah laughed, "Silly me, I almost forgot the ring!" She grabbed Sam's hand and shoved the ring onto the other's finger. The top of the ring covered the eye that was easily visible to anyone looking at the top of his hand.

"The eye on your finger needs to be covered, hates the light. Only" She grabbed Sam's wrists tight, "Only take the ring off if you're using the power of the third eye. If you leave it off it can mess with your head,"

"W-What does that mean?" Sam whispered.

"It's an eye, Sam," Hahasiah laughed as if she had expected Sam to understand, "It see's things!"

Sam and Bailey turned to look at one another and turned back to the woman. Dutch rolled her fingers through her long, shaggy hair

"Hey Bails, hate to do this, but this place is the most protected place we could find. Mind if we sleep here the night?"

Sam arched an eyebrow at the other, glancing down at Bailey who caught his eye and looked back to the other.

"Sure! Go talk to Norma, she'll find you a room,"

"Perfect!" Hahasiah said with a laugh, moving the picture frame and pushing from the room, trotting down the steps. Dutch followed close behind her, grabbing her hand as they went.

"You got some weird friends," Sam said to Bailey, glancing down at the burn on his hand.

"If they stay the night maybe we can pick their brains more," Bailey mused, taking his hand in hers and running a finger down the middle of it.

"I didn't know angels could do this," She whispered softly.

"Yeah, this...is only a little of what they can do, of course, I've never had anything like that happen before." He mused, Bailey nodded at this and shook her head. She leaned against the desk behind her, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared down to the floor as if she expected to see the hidden sigils.

"What now?" Bailey whispered, "Wait! The prophecy!"

"Should we go get her?" Sam asked, ready to make for the door but Bailey stopped him with a hand.

"No, she doesn't forget. She avoided telling us," Bailey whispered, "Hahasiah doesn't seem to understand why she can't blurt out whatever's on her mind. So…" She trailed off, rubbing her forehead.

"Yeah I figured that out pretty fast," Sam said with a soft chuckle as he leaned against the desk beside her.

"I think I get what you mean, she'd have told us what it was if it wasn't important,"

"Exactly!" Bailey said, snapping her fingers. She nudged the other with a grin,

"You really did go to college!" She teased, Sam snorted at her and nudged back.

"Someone's gotta be the brains around here," Sam replied with a lopsided grin. She giggled at this and rolled her eyes, there was a small pause of silence between them. Sam couldn't understand why he paused, he felt a touch of nervousness in his bones.

"Sam, Bailey!" Baal called from the steps, Sam could hear his heavy boots. Bailey dropped the hand that was on Sam's arm, he hadn't noticed it till the warmth of her palm was gone.

"I was just asked to join a couple of hippies in a threesome but I figured you two might need me more," He joked, hopping into the room.

"Hey! How'd it go?" Bailey asked as Baal pulled off his purple jacket. Sam felt a sudden sense of distance between him and Bailey as she took the man's jacket from him to inspect a rip on the sleeve.

"Want the good news or bad news?"

"I don't care," Bailey replied, standing back and putting her hands on her hips as she inspected the other's frame for any more cuts or bruises.

"Did they figure out you were a spy?" Sam asked as he walked towards the two. Baal shook his head, running his fingers through his hair.

"No, but I wont get that lucky again," He said, pulling out his phone to read the notes he took.

"So what's the news?" Bailey murmured,

"Apparently a new king was crowned," Baal whispered, glancing at Bailey than Sam.

"A new king? Please tell me it's the king of Beasts,"

Baal glanced at them both before holding up his phone to show a picture of a man with a glittering Adinkra around his neck. His fuzzy pink slippers looked dirty and stained.

"Apparently, we also have a king of demons,"

"Who's...his lionheart?" Sam whispered, Bailey caught his eye. Fear flooded his body, a panic attack jumped into his throat, he felt Bailey push herself against him.

"I'm not sure," Baal murmured, "Keep your eyes open for a Lionheart of magic,"

***(Sam Winchester/Nathan Lancasters sigil: https://www.deviantart.com/burnin-dove/art/Nathan-Lancaster-Hand-Sigil-888844867 )