Chapter 18

"What was Lucifer talking about earlier?" Mary asks after a few minutes. Michael has already returned, so it seems likely that Lucifer won't, and there's no danger in talking.

"A lot of things," Dean replies.

"He mentioned Samuel and Deanna," Mary recalls. "Who were they?"

"Your parents," Dean tells her. He knows that if he doesn't, Lucifer will find out and he will tell her instead.

"But he said you got them killed. You weren't there."

"I was," Dean replies. "Michael erased the memory later."

"What?" Mary says in surprise. "Why?"

"To make sure you died in Sam's nursery," Dean answers.

"What are you talking about?"

"Ooh, I love this story!" Lucifer says excitedly as he bounds into the room, Gabriel not far behind him. Dean groans when he sees the older angel, who only laughs at him.

Gabriel walks up to Sam, returning to his spot from earlier. Sam is about to ask him what happened, but Gabriel shakes his head slightly, indicating for him to stop. Gabriel will probably tell him later, but he'd rather keep it between them and avoid any eavesdroppers.

"Lucifer, shut up," Dean says.

"Lucifer, don't shut up," Mary says.

"So many choices!" Lucifer says jokingly.

"Mom!" Dean says in surprise, ignoring the archangel.

"It looks like that's the only way I'll get the full truth," Mary says with a shrug. "Anyway, you were saying?"

"Right," Dean says, but he's suddenly less excited to tell the story, which he didn't even know was possible. It's not because he was going to lie to his mom, but because he can't tell her everything. That would take too long. Now Lucifer is going to make sure that she knows every bad thing that happens.

"So, back when he worked for Heaven, Cas sent me back in time to try to stop you from dying," Dean begins. "I found Dad, and I convinced him not to get that ridiculous van."

That gets a slight chuckle from John as he remembers the car he was going to buy.

"Then I found you and Dad and you jumped me, and that's when I realized you were a hunter. Your bracelet. So I went to your house and met your parents, used Dad's journal to get help from you and Samuel, and we tried to stop Yellow Eyes. He possessed Samuel, who stabbed himself to kill your dad, and he killed Deanna."

"And John!" Lucifer adds.

"I'm getting there," Dean snaps, though he really wasn't. "Anyway, I found you where John took you and Yellow Eyes was already there. He picked up your scent on a hunt earlier. He killed John, and you know the rest. I got there too late to stop it."

"I ?" John repeats.

"Yes, sir," Dean replies.

"And I made a deal with Azazel to bring you back," Mary adds. "I didn't realize it at the time, but he was going after Sam."

"Oh my god, guys," John groans, processing everything he's been told today.

"Besides, it's not like that's the only bad thing that happened to you when Dean got sent back in time," Lucifer adds.

"What are you talking about?" John asks.

"Dammit, Lucifer! That's not even the same story!" Dean yells.

"You've got to explain the lack of memory," Lucifer says.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Mary asks. "Well, an angel named Anna was going to kill you guys before Sam could be born, so Cas brought us back there again and we tried to stop it. Sam ended up dying and Dad got possessed by Michael."

"I was possessed by an ?" John repeats.

"Yes, sir."

"You were my only vessel besides Adam in a long, long time," Michael tells him. "Which is why yours is the body I appear in now."

"I thought you looked familiar," John admits. "I just didn't realize it was me."

"Hey, let's tell more stories!" Lucifer says excitedly. "Like when you guys tried to kill me with the Colt? That was fun!"

"That was not ," Sam replies. "Ellen and Jo ."

"Exactly. And what did you get again? Oh yeah. Nothing."

"Yeah, but us humans, the bad ones," Jo says sarcastically.

Lucifer shoots her a glare, his eyes flaring red for a moment before he decides she's not worth the effort.

"Jo, stop annoying Lucifer," Dean advises her. "He'll kill you without a second thought."

"No, he won't," Jo says confidently.

"I think you overestimate my mercy," Lucifer says.

"I think you underestimate your dad," Jo replies.

"He can't hold us here forever," Lucifer says. "And the first thing I do when he stops controlling me is kill you, slowly and painfully."

It's clear by his tone that he's not joking, and a look of fear passes over Jo because she knows that he can, and he won't hesitate to. She hides it quickly, not wanting him to get the satisfaction of seeing her fear.

"Lucifer, stop threatening people," Michael says in a bored tone.

"Since when do you care if I threaten people?" Lucifer asks, annoyed.

"Since we got stuck here with them."

"Fair enough," Lucifer agrees, though he's unlikely to do it again. Lucifer looks around the room, just now realizing something is off. "Where's the punching bag?"

"What punching bag?" Gabriel asks.

"Adam," Michael says, knowing immediately what Lucifer means.

"And Meg and Red are gone, too," Lucifer observes. "And Adam's angel. Alfie, or whatever."

"I didn't see any of them leave," Sam says, confused.

"They probably snuck out while we weren't looking," Dean says, and he's correct.

~~

"See?" Samandriel says with a smile, sitting with Adam in an empty bedroom. He flew them out while everyone was watching Gabriel leave, and if anyone noticed, they didn't mention it. "They didn't hurt you."

"They're different," Adam observes.

"Different? How?" Samandriel asks curiously.

"They fight each other. They didn't fight each other in Hell."

"Really?" Samandriel says in surprise. "I would have thought they'd be tearing each other's throats out."

"No, they worked together," Adam tells him. "After Sam left. They would work together to hurt me, every second of every day until Michael finally broke down. After that, Lucifer left him alone and just went after me."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Samandriel says sympathetically.

He's glad Adam is finally opening up with him, and he's glad that Adam is able to talk about the cage now. He just doesn't know how much Adam is willing to share, so he doesn't want to push. If Adam wants to keep talking, he can.

"They're very different," Adam says. "Michael, he would throw me around the cage. It hurt, a lot, but it was bearable. At least, compared to what Lucifer would do. He loved to throw me around too, but he's also mess with my mind. Make me see things that weren't there. Make me believe things that weren't true. Usually they were bad things, things I didn't want to see. But sometimes they were nice, and I was happy. And then he'd shatter the illusion, and I'd be back in the cage. It was worse than anything Michael did.

"Michael liked physical torture, but Lucifer liked mental torture. His was true torture. He always knew exactly what to do to break me. It was almost better with both of them together, because Michael would get his fun, and it meant Lucifer couldn't do anything elaborate because Michael wanted his punching bag back.

"That's all I was to him; a punching bag. I was there for him to take out his frustrations on. Sam was his for a while, too, back when Lucifer had to readjust to the cage. But by the time Sam was gone, Lucifer was ready to get creative, and Michael was ready to help.

"Michael broke my soul, and Lucifer broke my mind. I know that. I know I'm different, broken. I wish I could fix myself, but I can't. I'm not strong like Sam and Dean. I may have been born into the Winchester family, but I'm not like them. I wasn't raised like them, trained like them. I wasn't prepared for this type of life. I just want it to be over, you know?"

Adam looks at Samandriel, suddenly regretting saying all that. What if the angel thinks he's being ridiculous? But it's clear he doesn't. Samandriel looks back at him with sorrow in his eyes.

"It's okay," Samandriel assures him. "You've been through a lot. You're stronger than you know, Adam. Not a lot of people would be back to talking already, not after that long with two angry archangels."

"But I can't talk to people," Adam says. "Besides you, I can barely talk to anyone."

"Then I guess I'll just have to stick around so you always have someone to talk to."

~~

"What are we doing?" Charlie asks softly as Meg pulls her away by the wrist.

"Getting out of here," Meg replies quietly.

Charlie follows her, not that she has a choice, until suddenly, Meg pulls her into an empty bedroom and shuts the door.

"Much better," Meg says with a smirk.

"Why?" Charlie asks cautiously, not wanting to get her hopes up.

"Because when we're out there, someone would interrupts me when I do this."

Charlie doesn't have time to think about all the bad things this could mean before Meg pushes her against the wall, kissing her. Charlie kisses her back, quick and wild. She can feel Meg smile against her lips, and she has to smile back. She had her doubts when she came back to life, but this right here makes it totally worth it.