Back at their car they engaged in silence. This was it. There weren't any more clues they could follow. Anathema and Adam seemed nice enough, but their information's weren't really helpful. It was interesting that their stories painted an extremely different picture of Crowley. Who would have thought that the closed off, cunning, controlling and short-tempered king of hell once had a nicer side to him? What had happened that changed everything? To leave all these people behind and chase the throne? It just didn't add up with all they thought they knew about him?

Everything seemed to be connected to the angel. There was a lot to investigate when they returned. One way or another, Crowley had to answer their questions if they were to find the principality for him. Furthermore, the duo hoped to finally get some insight on this matter from Castiel. They could really use some good news.

Well... maybe they had manifested it a bit too hard, at least the part with the news.

They were halfway to the airport, when Castiel popped in, sitting in the backseat without a warning. "Hello Dean, hello Sam...", he said in his monotonous voice.

Cursing the older hunter grabbed the steering wheel harder to prevent it from warping. "JESUS CASTIEL! DON'T DO THIS!", he cursed. The angel would seemingly never learn to pop in out of nowhere in the worst situations. He had wished that he would appear soon, but this was a bad joke.

Taking a deep breath his eyes wandered to the rear view mirror, meeting Castiel's Puppy dog eyes full of innocence. He just couldn't be angry with him for a long time. His gaze wandered to Sam who just shrugged the shock off and had turned back to book their plane tickets. Sighting again, Dean fixed the road. "Anything new Cas? Did you find something? We could really use it..."

He could hear the angel shifting in his seat. "I'm not sure. There is a lot going on. I couldn't find anyone who had knowledge about him. It seems that his mission was highest priority and he only reported to the archangels and some specialists. With Michael, Gabriel, Zacharia and Uriel gone I don't think there is anyone with this authorisation left. I found some Files with photos that weren't sealed", he reports, handing Sam a batch of papers, "The folder was labelled as observation file of the Principality Aziraphale. Some of the pictures have writing on the back. Like traitor, consulting with demons, Crawly and so on."

Humming Sam skipped through them. It was definitely the angel they were searching. He recognised him from the ones on Facebook. They show him in front of the bookshop or even throughout different time periods and on most of them was the other figure they saw online. The unknown demon. The writing on the back of one really said Crawly and if all their intel was right this was just a synonym for Crowley. He squinted strained at the picture to see a little better in the dim light. This man and the king of hell they knew looked different as day and night. A tall, punchy guy with red hair and sunglasses and one quite small, more rounded with dark hair and beard. The only thing they had in common was quite the good fashion sense and a love for the colour black. However, that didn't have to mean a thing for demons. He could have simply changed his meatsuit.

Rubbing his eyes, the younger hunter put them away. A glance at his brother was enough to know that he was also concerned, but didn't want to discuss it. He couldn't blame him, it had been a bad day and the prospect of a long flight was gnawing at him. A glance at his brother was enough to know that he was also concerned but didn't want to discuss it. He couldn't blame him, it had been a bad day and the prospect of a long flight was gnawing at him.

Silence settled over the car. Everyone was stuck with their own thoughts. Yet it wasn't long, before Castiel spoke up again. He seemed quite unsure to address the topic, his gaze was moving between he two hunters and the backseat next to him. Finally he asked: "I don't want to question you, but why is there a kid in your car?"

Hitting the breaks Dean shot around. "WHAT?" Blinking twice he focused on the backseats. There was a weird feeling, but Cas was right. Next to him in the footrim of the car sat Adam Young. The fucking Antichrist was hitchhiking in his car. How hadn't he seen him before in the rear mirror?

Now he was angry. Adding 1 and 1 he quickly figured what was going on. "Listen here kid! I don't like it when we are lied to and then someone uses Magic on us. So maybe you want to think really hard about your defence, before I forget myself."

At this moment Sam stepped in before things could escalate. "Dean! He's is still a kid and he hasn't done anyone harm. Nonetheless I would be interested in your reasons a well." Now all 3 pairs of eyes settled on the boy. Squirming a bit uncomfortable he glanced up to Sam. He seemed to be the most understanding. "I really want to help you finding Aziraphale. I'm sure I can help! Maybe if we find him they come back... I want things to be like they were before... I miss them" To the end of the sentence he got quieter, nearly whispering, before speaking up on again. This time eyes focused on Dean. "And I'm sorry for using my powers, but you're wrong. I didn't use them on you. I just distorted myself so you wouldn't pay too much attention to me, so I could go unnoticed. It's nothing harmful..."

He was nearly even better with the puppy dog eyes than Castiel. He really knew how to make the innocent kid face with his unruly locks. Resting his face in his palm Dean grumbled inaudibly. The witch would so kill him when she found out... And he was sure that se would find out one way or the other, but he could see the kid's point. He was dead set on finding his lost friends and he was the antichrist for fucks sake. He wasn't all powerful anymore but it looked like he knew what he was doing with the rest of his powers. What, by the way, wasn't reassuring the hunter about his intentions and taking a kid to a hunt wasn't something he liked doing. He clearly remembered the false bravado and the horrible situations from his childhood and swore to never let any kid ever experience the shit he had. But looking at it from a different angle it was only a search operation until now, without a lot of risks. He could get the kid to step back early enough when things got heated. Scrunching up his face he sighed. He was really considering it wasn't he?

Looking up and fixing the boy his eyes wandered him up and down. He knew the kid was old enough to make his own decisions and had been through shit before, but this didn't mean he knew what he got himself into. Nonetheless Dean nodded in agreement. "Okay kiddo, you can come..."

Adam cheered in happiness at the victory, while Sam looked at him bewildered. Before anyone else could interject, he continued:

"Don't get too exited! You only help us search and maybe you can get Crowley to talk. BUT as soon as things look like shit is going down soon you listen to us and stay where we tell you to. You are not risking your life! You don't play hero, because even with your power's things can end bad. You are not invincible. Capiche?!"

The kid seemed to consider what the older just told him, his head leaned to the right side. It didn't take long for him to start grinning and saluting. "Yes Sir! Understood. You won't regret taking me with you."

At this words Dean flinched, trying to cover it by moving a bit back. His thoughts were to close to a bad place he didn't want to go right now. They had a job to do after all. So he just turned the music up and started the motor.
"Don't call me Sir ever again, okay kiddo? But that's the spirit! Let's get rolling! Sammy seems like you have to book one more ticket." His eyes flickered a moment to the back, but Cas had vanished sometime during the discussion. Letting out a long breath he focused back on the street. He could only hope that things wouldn't go up in flames this time.