chapter two

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THE HARDEST part of setting this plan in motion is trying to convince the people that it's a good idea. It's taken a lot of talking, convincing, promises of coming up with a plan to take down Michael.

Mack's chest suddenly aches with wishing Charlie was there to help. She had such a way with words– she'd be able to convince anyone of anything with the right tone of voice. She'd love this plan, a plan to safety. Charlie never cared about revenge, or winning. She just wanted the world to be safe.

"Hey, Chief?" She hears from behind pulling her from her thoughts. It's Bobby. He stands next to her, where she's sitting on top of an old car. "Can I ask you something?"

"'Course. What's up?"

He hesitates for a minute, then sighs. "What about the rest of the world?"

She knits her eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we have a plan. That's great, I'm all for it. But what about the rest of the world? There's not a whole lot of people left. How do we know Michael won't have slaughtered everyone left by the time we get back?"

"I don't think there's much more we can do."

"So, even if we figure a way to take him out, he still wins. All he wanted was to destroy the world. Look around, I think he's succeeded."

She slides off the car.

"That doesn't mean we have to give up."

"Is it really giving up if there's nothing left to fight for?"

She sighs. "I guess it's just a risk we have to take."

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DEAN SITS across the camp, trying not to stare at Her. He doesn't get her, why she's so angry at him. He understands her anger, sure. But he doesn't understand where it comes from.

And he's determined to find out.

"You should go apologize," Mary says. She came out of nowhere, Dean hadn't even noticed her until she spoke.

"Me? Why?"

"Dean...you have no idea what that girl's been through. She's lost so much. She has all this anger and resentment with nowhere to put it. You can't blame her for lashing out when someone says the wrong thing."

He watches her conversation with Bobby. He can't tell if they're arguing or not. "What did Lucifer do? In this world. Besides, y'know, the devil stuff."

Mary sighs and crosses her arms. "That is not my story to tell. If you want to know, you're gonna have to ask her yourself."

"But you know?"

She nods. "Believe me, she might actually shoot me if I told you."

"Think she'll shoot me if I ask?"

Mary chuckles softly. "You know, the two of you are a lot alike."

Now it's his turn to chuckle. "Yeah, I doubt that."

"Dean, just go talk to her. And, I don't mean, be sarcastic, or passive aggressive. Just talk to her."

He watches as Bobby leaves, and she leans against the car she was previously sitting on. She crosses her arms and stares at the ground, likely deep in thought.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Sam mocks as he sits on Dean's other side.

Dean scoffs and shoves him lightly. "Shut up."

He leaves his seat and crosses the camp, cautiously walking up to her. She lifts her head and rolls her eyes as she approaches.

"Look, I'm really not in the mood to fight with you, so if that's why you're here, you could've saved yourself the walk."

"Can we just talk?"

She looks him up and down. "Fine. About what?"

He copies her, leaning against the car. "Tell me about Lucifer. Your Lucifer, I mean."

She visibly stiffens at the name. "Why?"

"Well, I tried to ask my mom, but she wouldn't talk. Thought I'd come right to the source."

She stands up straighter, facing him. "And what makes you think I'd tell you?"

He shrugs. "You don't have to. I'm just asking."

"Don't take this personally, but it's not really something I know how to share with strangers." She climbs back to the top of the car.

"No offense taken," he mumbles. He can't tell if she heard him or not. They sit in silence for a while, neither knowing what to say.

Eventually, Mack says, "I don't understand why you're still here." Her voice is low, not accusing, just questioning. He turns his head to look at her. She's looking over his shoulder, at his mother and Sam across camp.

"Why's that?"

"I know I agreed to this insane plan of yours. I'm not backing out, trust me, but...you have your family. You could just...go. Forget about us, about all of this, and get back to your life. I don't understand why you're helping us. Why do you care?"

"What would you do?"

"What?"

"If you had to cross the universe to save your family, and you find a whole world that needs help, what would you do?"

She sighs. "I'd say...'sorry. It's not my problem.' And I'd get my family home. I'll always put my people first, but...I don't know. I guess it's kind of a complicated situation."

"You want me to be honest?"

"Please."

"If it were up to me, we'd already be home. It's my mom. She won't abandon you, your people. She respects the hell out of you."

She laughs softly. He realizes it's the first time he's seen her smile, and he suddenly has to look away. She says nothing more, and neither does he.

Right when he decides to leave, she says, just above a whisper, "You got him back."

He glances at her, and she's staring over his shoulder again. He follows her gaze, and she's looking at Sam, talking with Mary.

"Lucifer brought your brother back, and I can't figure out why." Her eyes are glassy, and if he looks at her with the right angle, there could be tears.

"He's a manipulative bastard, that's why."

She looks away, blinking furiously. "Yeah, well, at least you got yours back."

"What?"

She closes her eyes. Then suddenly she pushes herself off the car. "Forget I said that." Then she walks away, not giving him a chance to ask questions.

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"VOTES ARE in, Chief, Everyone's on board," Bobby tells Mack.

"That's great. I'll let everyone know."

Bobby nods and walks off. She sighs and finds Mary, standing alone under the tent.

"Everyone's in. And I mean everyone. You guys come up with a plan, yet?"

Mary sighs. "Uh, we're working on it?"

Mack nods. Then her eyes fall behind Mary, to the old bus at the edge of the grounds.

"Be right back." She starts towards where Bobby walked off to. "Hey, Bobby!" He turns to face her, and she points at the bus. "You have the keys to that thing?"

Minutes later, the bus is cleared of weeds and vines and she's inside shoving the keys in the ignition. It won't start, despite how many times she tries.

"All right, could you grab me some tools, Bobby?" She says as she saunters down the steps. He nods and turns as she circles to the hood of the bus. She has to climb up the top and use her entire body weight to get the hood open. Bobby comes back with tools, and she gets started trying to figure out what's wrong with it.

After a while, she hears, "Doing all right up there?"

She looks down, and Dean's standing there.

"Just peachy," she responds.

"You know about cars?"

"Yeah, well, I used to drive a really shitty Magnum. You learn a thing or two when it's your only option."

She hears him laugh, and it makes her pause. She doesn't know why. She shakes herself out of it and continues what she was doing.

She looks down and tosses her tool to the ground, then points at another one. "Grab me that, will you?"

Dean follows her gaze and grabs the right tool. He hands it up to her, and it sends a shiver down her spine when their hands touch.

"You need any help?" he asks.

"Actually, could you go inside and try and start it? Keys are on the seat."

She hears his heavy footsteps inside the bus, and she exhales slowly. She doesn't know what the hell that was, but it was weird.

Eventually, they get the bus started, and Mack leaves to start rounding people up. The camp is quickly cleared, everyone on or heading towards the bus. When she returns she sees Lucifer in the driver's seat.

Before she gets a chance to be angry about it, she notices Jack out of the corner of her eye, looking like he's about to leave. Sam's running after him, stopping him. She walks over, approaching slowly.

"Hey. What's going on?"

Jack looks between her and Sam. "I need to kill Michael."

She glances at Sam, then back at Jack. "Uh, what?"

"You know better than anyone what he's done. He needs to be punished."

"I– I mean, yeah, I get it, trust me, but now isn't the time."

"If I don't do this, more people are going to die."

"Jack, we don't have time right now. We have to go and come up with a plan. A smart plan."

Lucifer comes up next to her, and she instinctively moves to the side, accidentally knocking into Sam.

"Sorry," she mumbles.

"What's going on, son?" Lucifer says.

"I have to go kill Michael."

Lucifer hesitates, then sighs. He grabs Jack's shoulder. "Look, I know I've been encouraging you to take Michael out, but it won't be easy. I know you feel like you're doing the right thing, but sometimes it can go wrong. Now is not the time, 'kay?"

Jack looks at her. "My father makes a valid point."

Lucifer leads him away, towards the bus.

Mack sighs in annoyance. "Remind me why we're keeping him alive, again?"

"We need him, I guess," Sam says. "If it were up to me, he'd already be dead."

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THE DRIVE wasn't long. A little under forty minutes. Once they arrive, Mack stays behind to make sure everyone has gone through the door. It's an orange string of light that looks like it's minutes away from disappearing. Soon enough, everyone's inside. Dean urges her to go next, and she hesitates.

"Just go. You'll be fine," Dean says. She reaches out and touches the light, and suddenly she's being pulled forward through the door. She lands on her feet, in what looks like a library. People were spread out everywhere, and there was a red-headed woman sitting at one of the tables with books spread all around her.

The door flashes, and Dean comes through, then Sam. The door disappears, and Mack notices the obvious lack of archangels in the room.

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"WHAT HAPPENED?" Mack asks Dean and Sam.

"Gabriel sacrificed himself for us, so we could get out. We wouldn't have been able to if it wasn't for him," Dean responds. She nods, then her eyes fall to Sam.

"What about Lucifer?"

She pretends she doesn't notice what might be guilt in his eyes. "He's not a problem anymore."

She nods again, then takes a sip of her drink. She scans her eyes around the room, then notices Jack in a corner, sitting by himself. She sighs. "Excuse me."

She leaves the brothers and crosses the room, greeting and smiling and hugging people on her way. Eventually, she reaches Jack. There's an open beer bottle on the table next to him.

"Hope you're not drinking that," she says.

"It's not mine," he replies quietly. She jumps up on the table next to him.

"You alright, kid?"

He sighs and leans his head back against the wall. "Just...thinking."

"Wanna talk about it?"

He shakes his head gently. "Will you just sit with me?"

"'Course." She downs the last of her drink and sets down the glass, and they sit together in silence. The room isn't even remotely quiet, but they're in their own bubble, and it's enough.

After a while, Bobby climbs up on a table. "All right, listen up!" The room quickly goes quiet. "Well, we made it. Don't know much about this place, but it's a place without Michael, so that's a turn for the better. I don't want any of you goin' soft on me, because we are going to go home and set our people free!"

"Damn straight!" Somebody shouts in the crowd. Bobby spots Mack, and nods at her.

"Why don't you come say a few words, chief?"

She chuckles softly to herself. "Be right back," she whispers to Jack. She slides off the table and walks to Bobby, a little wobbly. It's been a long time since she's had this much to drink. He jumps down and helps her step up. Somebody hands her an open beer, and she takes it with a laugh.

She takes a drink before starting. "Uh, I'm not really one for speeches, and I'm a bit drunk, so I'll keep this short." She clears her throat. "In the midst of all this batshit-crazy-multi-universal travel, never forget what we're fighting for. This is for everyone who lost the fight, so we'd have a chance to win it. For them, and for us."

She raises her bottle, and the room erupts into cheers as she takes a drink. She nearly falls as she jumps down from the table, and she returns to her seat next to Jack. He grins softly at her.

"You're good with words."

She returns his grin. "Thank you."

They return to their silence. Jack shifts gently and settles his head on her shoulder. She closes her eyes and leans her head against the wall. She could easily fall asleep if she let herself. There's something comforting about the volume of the room, how this time, it's happy cheers instead of horrified screaming. Something she hasn't heard in a long time.

She tries to savor it as much as she can, and she prays that this isn't the last time she hears it.

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author's note !!

hi loves, thanks so much for reading <3

please leave votes and comments if you're enjoying, don't be a ghost reader!! they really make an author's day :)

-skye