When Things Take Their Toll, Just Sing Some Rock And Roll

"You alright?" Crowley asked Michael as he played with Jasmine's necklace. It was black right now, the result of an angel and demon being in the same room.

"No."

"She means the best for all of you." Castiel told them and Calum mumbled something. "Excuse me?"

"We know." He said louder and looked at them. "She's our best friend. I'm worried about this blowing up in her face... in our faces."

"I can assure you-"

"I don't want your reassurance." Calum snapped at the angel, shutting him up quickly. "I don't want you to assure me, to promise me something."

"What do you want?" Crowley pressed, looking at them expectingly. "What do you want from us?"

"To leave us out of this shitstorm you call a life." Calum said and the others agreed with a nod of the head. "Angels? Demons? Witches and hunters? We didn't ask for this! This isn't what we wanted."

"You think this is what Jasmine wanted? Sam? Dean possibly?" Crowley asked and he just got blank stares. "You think they asked for this life?"

"Well they do it-"

"They do it because it's in their blood, it's all they know, and leaving it frightens them." Castiel added. "Their parents were hunters, most of their friends are hunters, they can't get out."

"Sammy tried. He couldn't do it because he and Dean are the only family they have. They clash and they burn, they hurt and they bleed, but at the end of the day, they stay here because this is what they know and this life you call a shitstorm, is how they live, and will forever live, until the two die from it." Crowley said and Cas nodded.

"I don't understand why they even started." Ashton said numbly, burying his face into a pillow. "This is crazy."

"Can I tell you boys a little secret?" Crowley asked and they didn't reply. "Anyways... Jasmine and Dean, they were raised in this life by their family-"

"Jasmine's parents were hunters." Michael said and nodded. "They taught her and her brother how to hunt, what to hunt. She says it's what he family does, hunt things and saving people."

"Dean says that too." Castiel told him and nodded. "Maybe that's why they fit so well together. They know."

"What happened to her brother?" Luke asked Michael. She never spoke about him. Whenever the topic came up, she'd snap at them and shut the conversation down

"He died." Michael said, remembering the late nights she spent with him, gelling him he had nothing to worry about.

"How?"

"Jesus Luke, want a fucking biography of him?" Michael snapped and Castiel told him to calm down.

"He just asked a question Michael." Castiel said and Michael rolled his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I'm scared okay?"

"We all are Michael-"

"You don't understand." He said pathetically, clenching his fist around the necklace. He felt like it'd break under his grip. "None of you would understand."

"You won't tell us anything, how can we understand?" Ashton asked and set a hand on his shoulder, feeling his best friend tense up and yank himself away from the comforting touch.

"I need some alone time." He said and Crowley really wished all of this emotional shit would stop.

Michael stood up and left the back of the bus, laying down in his bunk and shutting the curtain. The small light in the tiny compartment flickered on after and he looked at the necklace in his hand.

He clipped it around his neck, messing with the small crystal. The hot pendant rested against his clothed chest when he dropped it, his eyes pricking with tears.

He felt cold, unsafe, and anxious. It's like the world was changing right before his eyes. He felt like everything he once knew was a lie, a cover up on the ugly truth. Everything he learned and seen up until a handful of days ago was all a ploy to hide the fact the world was full of monsters.

What hit him the hardest was that you couldn't even tell these people were monsters half the time. They were dressed as humans, lurking and hiding until they found the perfect moment to strike and reveal who they really were.

He couldn't understand why the world was like this. He didn't understand why these "fairytales" and "myths", "legends" even were all coming to life. He couldn't fathom why they had to take the shape of people just like himself.

His confusion and realizations were making him anxious and stressed. It's not like he wanted to know demons were real. It's not like he wanted to know witches existed and could turn your best friend into a fucking bird.

A small sob escaped his lips, the heavy feeling of reality settling down on him as he buried his face into his pillow. His hands clenched into fists, aching when his uncut nails dug into his palms in anger and irritation.

"Hey," he heard a familiar voice and the curtain to his bunk opened. "Michael, are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?"

"Well no." Cas said and looked at the crying boy. "Do you want to maybe talk about it?" He asked and Michael looked at him.

"You wouldn't understand." He said and sniffled, smearing his tears in his face with the back of his hand.

"I can try."

"Everything feels like a lie." Michael said and looked at him. "Like it was fake. Like the world is a lie with monsters hiding everywhere. I'm scared and anxious and paranoid."

"Nothing was a lie Michael. You just did not know about this. Most people do not." Cas said and Michael shook his head.

"I don't even care. I don't know what's going on at this point." He said and shook his head. "I hate this."

"You don't have to like it, you just have to put up with it for a little while longer." Cas told him and Michael shrugged, an empty feeling in his chest. Almost like he was just a hollowed out shell of who he used to be.

"Okay..." He trailed off, having no doubt in his mind that he wouldn't be adjusting to this anytime soon.

-

"He is really close to you." Castiel said to Jasmine as she ran a hand through Michael's hair. He had his head between her legs, soft snores escaping his lips.

"He's like my brother." She said, her voice soft as she felt eyes on her. Crowley and his mother went out with Ashton's father, so it left the hunters, band, and angel all in one room.

"What happened to your brother?" Luke asked, his voice gentle. He didn't want to anger her, or sadden her. He was just curious.

"Died while hunting." Jasmine said in a monotone voice, her memory racing. "A vampire got him. We were in a nest, the first time ever being caught in one, and we were teenagers. Maybe sixteen?"

Her voice trembled, and Dean told her she didn't have to continue if she didn't want to. Luke agreed, regretting ever opening his big mouth.

"I didn't see him because I was surrounded. He just yelled my name and threw his knife at one behind me before he was... gone. He was gone. They tore him apart." She stammered, eyes tearing up as her blood ran cold.

Sam didn't speak, none of them did. They couldn't fathom losing their siblings like that. They couldn't imagine being in her place, sixteen and caught in a nest. Sure Sam has lost Dean a couple of times, more than a couple maybe, but Dean's always come back. Her brother hasn't. Her brother wouldn't.

"I'm sorry." Luke said, feeling more than just guilty.

"Don't be." She said and leaned back, looking down at Michael. "I'm just sorry that I couldn't save him."

"Don't say that." Sam spoke up and she looked at him with tears blurring her vision. "It's not your fault."

"It is." She said and smiled. "Why do you think I went out of my way to save you both? I didn't want you going through that, even you both died a million times each."

"It's not about us. It's about you." Sam said and Dean looked at her, watching as the walls she built up so high tumbled down into nothing but rubble and debris, leaving her vulnerable.

Someone wrapped their arms around her and she tensed rather than relaxed. "It'll be okay. It'll get better." She heard Ashton's voice and she laughed, unamused and cold.

"Things don't get better, you just stop being a little bitch and learn to suck it up." She retorted and a shiver ran up everyone's spine as how malicious she sounded. "Things don't change. Your attitude is what changes."

"Michael reminds you of him?" Luke had the balls to speak up once more, and she nodded her head.

"Yeah..." She confirmed and looked at the boy, her fingers tangled in his hair. "Feels like family almost."

"What about me?" Dean asked, a small smile on his lips and a gleam in his eye. He wasn't trying to sound selfish, just trying to make her crack a smile.

She didn't.

"You don't have sex with your family in the back of their car." She replied bluntly and he laughed as he shook his head, a little more hurt than he let on because shouldn't he be more than the dude she fucked?

"No filter."

"Jas."

They all looked as Michael, seeing the boy shake and stir in his sleep. Sweat beaded his forehead and she slightly began to shake him. "Jas please."

"He seems distraught." Castiel spoke up, seeing Michael's forehead crease, as it would when he was worried or afraid.

"Jasmine don't leave us." He begged, his hands curling into fists as he thrashed around. "Please."

"Michael, I'm right here." She soothed, shaking him gently to try and wake him up. "Mikey."

"Please."

"Michael." Castiel spoke up, leaning down to shake his sleeping body in attempt to wake him up.

Michael's body jumped at the feeling of the angel's cold hands on his warm skin, sitting up and backing up against Jasmine. "What the f-"

"Calm down Mikey, it's just me. I'm right here." Jasmine hummed and Michael relaxed visibly. "I'm not leaving. It's okay."

"Are you alright?" Sam asked and he nodded. "You sure?"

Michael nodded, leaning into Jasmine and letting her hold him as he tried to calm himself down. His dream left him shaken, and he didn't want to talk about it, everyone could see it. So no one questioned.

Luke looked around and cleared his throat, hoping that what he was about to do would help lift the mood.

The lyrics to an Aerosmith song escaped his lips and Calum joining in, visibly raising the mood as Dean smiled and Sam chuckled as his brother joined. Ashton followed, and the other four just sat quietly, listening to them sing.