Archive of Our Own ^beta

Before today, Jack couldn’t have imagined choosing to say goodbye to Sam and Dean and knowing it might be forever. They’re his family, and even now, he feels like he hasn’t spent nearly enough time with them.

Time, however, is something that he’ll never run out of. Not ever again. And Jack has work to do. Even though he can see that Sam and Dean don't want him to leave - and it's new, being able to sense such feelings with such ease - he leaves them because it's the right thing to do.

Sam and Dean are going through a lot, of course, but Jack knows that they’re going to be okay. He'd brought Eileen back, along with all the others Chuck vanished, so he knows Sam will go find her right away. Dean, he’s sure, will split off to tell the humans gathered in Donna’s cellar what happened.

Jack doesn’t bother to tell them that he intends to bring Castiel back, too; he doesn’t think he needs to. Castiel is his father, even more so than Sam and Dean – they must know that he won’t just let him stay in the Empty. The thought of leaving him there doesn’t even occur to Jack.

Castiel isn’t his first priority, though. Jack is still getting used to his new powers, and the omniscient knowledge is unlike anything he’s ever experienced. It’s overwhelming and all-encompassing, thrumming through every cell of his being and making it impossible to focus on any one thought without using a little bit of his power to draw it out. Later, he thinks he’d like to turn the knowledge down to a dull hum, the sort of feeling that he can tap into whenever he needs to without it always being right there, but for now, all he can do is follow his instincts.

His instincts are telling him that his first stop is right back where it all ended and began at once. Just because Sam and Dean likely already forgot about Michael's death doesn't mean that it didn't have consequences beyond the power it emanated. Jack hadn't quite gotten the chance to know Michael's vessel, Adam, but the very acknowledgment of his existence is all he needs for the knowledge to fill itself in - Sam and Dean's illegitimate half-brother, the son of Kate Milligan, who'd been stuck in Lucifer's cage for a decade in Earth years, who seemed to have a peculiarly intimate relationship with the angel inhabiting his body.

Bringing back most of the humans with no memory of vanishing had been simple. Of course, most humans’ bodies hadn’t been ripped apart by Chuck with a personal vengeance.

That’s how he finds himself back at the lake. Chuck couldn’t have made it far, not in his current state and with no mode of transportation, but he’s far enough that Jack can’t see him without tapping into the omniscience. Right now, all he sees is Adam’s soul.

It’s not something he would’ve been able to see quite so easily ever before. His soul is there now, though, as clear as the water he’s floating over. It seems, Jack muses, that he’d successfully brought back all the souls Chuck vanished, but Adam’s hadn’t had a body to return to.

Rebuilding bodies is an intricate process. He’s never done it before, but his omniscience comes with the innate knowledge of what he must do and a tinge of frustration that Chuck had felt every time he’d done it. Jack pushes the frustration aside; Chuck’s actions are not his fault, but they are his responsibility now. Undoing them is honest, necessary work, the first of many things he knows he’ll have to do. It’s refreshing to feel like he has a purpose again, one that doesn’t involve sacrificing himself.

It takes several minutes and a lot of concentration, and he has to push all the never-ending thoughts to the far corner of his mind, but Jack successfully rebuilds Adam's body and is positive that it's the coolest thing he's ever done with his powers. He reaches out toward Adam's soul, guiding it toward the body until they're joined together, and Adam wakes up with a gasp.

“Hello,” Jack greets him, raising his arm to wave. Adam looks up at him, fear shining clearly in his eyes. He’s not afraid of Jack, though – he’s afraid to be alone. Jack has never been especially skilled at reading people, and it’s strange yet relieving to now be able to read emotions without even having to think about it.

“Where’s Michael? What happened?”

Jack had sensed that the questions were coming. He can see everything – how Adam had woken up lying on the ground with no memory of the past several days, no idea that he’d been gone, only to see the boy he vaguely recognized as Castiel’s apparently-not-dead son. He’s tired, and hungry, and cold, all these human sensations that he’d grown so unfamiliar with after living so long with Michael inhabiting his body, and most of all, he’s terrified that something happened to Michael.

“Michael is dead,” Jack says, keeping his voice calm and crouching down to sit on the ground next to Adam. “You were dead, too, sort of. More like vanished out of existence. Chuck got rid of every living creature in this universe, all except Sam, Dean, Michael, and me. We worked together to try to defeat him, but Chuck brought Lucifer back to try to take his death book, which contained the secrets on how to kill him. Michael killed Lucifer before he could get away with the book, but he couldn’t stand to know that his father had chosen Lucifer over him, so he told Chuck about our plans. At least, that's what Sam and Dean assumed, but I can see now that his jealousy of Lucifer was only part of his reasoning.”

“How do you know?” Adam asks. Jack can hear the note of panic underneath, and he resolves to get to the point as soon as possible. He’s sure now that Adam is going to ask him to bring Michael back, and knowing what he knows now, he thinks that it’s only right.

“I took Chuck’s power. He’s human, now. That’s how I knew to come here and find you.”

“So you can bring him back? Michael?” Adam doesn’t ask whether this makes Jack the new God, but he can tell the thought flashes through his mind just from the widening of his eyes.

Jack smiles. “Of course I can bring him back,” he says. “I see now that he wasn’t only hurt by his father choosing Lucifer over him. He was angry that you were gone, scared of what would become of your soul since you weren’t properly dead. He would have done anything to get you back. And besides that, he didn't know what to do without you or his father in his life, so he panicked. That’s why he went back to Chuck’s side, even if it was foolish. But it all worked out in the end. Chuck killing him was necessary for me to absorb the energy and gain enough power to defeat him.”

“I’m sure you could have found another way,” Adam says, narrowing his eyes. Jack doesn’t take the anger personally. “You’ll bring him back, though?”

“Yes,” Jack says again. “I am sorry for what happened to Michael, but he will be okay. What matters now is that Chuck is powerless. And I can bring Michael back.”

He stands up again, closing his eyes to concentrate. Even without being able to see him, he senses that Adam stands up, too. Jack thinks back to his time in the Empty, focusing on the sight of it, the sounds of it, the complete nothingness enveloping every aspect of his being. It doesn’t take long for his power to enter it, somehow, even as he’s sure that Chuck was never supposed to be able to do that. But Jack isn’t Chuck. The Empty is awake still, and before it can get out a word, Jack puts it back to sleep.

Then he thinks of Michael. Jack has never seen his true form before, but with his newfound knowledge, he has no trouble envisioning it – a towering figure enveloped in fire and light, with so many limbs and so many eyes that even Jack isn’t quite sure how to perceive them in his current state of mind. With a little bit of willpower, he feels a presence flying back to Earth and right into Adam in so little time that he knows Adam’s yes had been instantaneous. Jack gives them a moment to orient themselves.

"Thank you," Michael says at last through Adam's body – their body, Jack is sure. He doesn't bother to explain himself, being perceptive enough to tell that Jack already knows. “I won’t forget this.”

“I know,” Jack says. “You can stay with Adam and enjoy your free will now, if you’d like. I’m going to bring Castiel back and rebuild Heaven. You’re welcome there anytime.” He doesn’t bother to ask if Michael would like to help; he already knows he needs time to process the upheaval of all he’s ever known.

Michael nods. “Thank you,” he says again. “For now, I will stay with Adam here on Earth.”

Jack nods, not at all surprised. "I'll be around," he says as he had to Sam and Dean not long ago. "You'll find that I'm much more hands-off than Chuck, at least after I handle a few more glaring issues. Take care, both of you.”

With that, he flies to Heaven.

-

It seems only fitting that Heaven should be the place he brings Castiel back to. It had been there that Castiel had given his life for Jack, even if the payment didn’t come until later, and for that he’ll forever be grateful.

He reaches into the Empty again, seeing that it's still asleep, and maneuvers carefully as he searches for Castiel to be sure that it doesn't wake. Once he finds him, Jack pulls him out and is relieved to see that his vessel is still intact.

“Jack?”

“Hello,” Jack smiles at him. “I brought you back.”

“I see that,” Castiel remarks. “This is becoming a pattern for us.”

“Hopefully for the last time,” Jack says. “Chuck is powerless.” He fills Castiel in on everything, just as he’d done for Adam, and by the end, Castiel pulls him in for a hug.

“I’m so proud of you,” he says to Jack. “Your mother would be, too. She knew you were destined for this.”

“I remember,” Jack says. “I’ll need to see her, too. But first, I thought we could rebuild Heaven together.”

“Rebuild it?” Castiel asks. “In what way?”

“Well, remember when I was here the first time, and I was able to travel to my mother’s Heaven? That was unusual, but I don’t see why it was such a big deal. Love is what makes humans so strong, in their own way, so why should they be separated? Heaven is supposed to be blissful, a place to celebrate that love and everything that was good in their lives. Shouldn’t the souls be allowed to come together?”

Castiel nods, considering. “You do make a great point,” he says. “I know Sam and Dean would agree. They felt the same way the first time they went to Heaven.”

Jack hadn't been alive at the time, but now that Castiel mentions it, he can think back to what happened, how the angels had tortured them as a ploy to get Dean to say yes to Michael. It all seems so distant, and if Jack didn't have the omniscience, he'd find it hard to believe there was ever a time that Michael cared so much about Dean, or that his father – Lucifer – cared to play nice with Sam.

Another flash of a memory that isn’t his takes its place at center stage, too – Castiel’s death, the words he’d said to Dean to summon the Empty.

“You need to see Dean, don’t you?”

"I will in time," Castiel replies. "But I think the souls of Heaven have been waiting far longer than Dean has. You already know that I've reconnected with my faith thanks to you, and now that you have this power… Jack, I will do everything I can to help you."

Jack looks at his face and can read the words he doesn’t say: I need to make up for the failures of my past. I need to remember what it is to be an angel.

“Okay,” he says, giving Castiel the chance to divert the conversation back to the topic at hand.

“What do you have in mind?” Castiel asks.

“Maybe we should just make it open,” Jack considers. “Sort of like Earth, but even more vast. We could even build cities for those who prefer to be so close to so many others, and keep lots of countryside for those who desire more privacy. And there’s so much more we could do. We could draw from the scenes that already exist in the souls’ personal Heavens, and arrange it so that everyone is near those who they knew in life but still able to meet new souls as well.”

“Heaven’s magic already draws considerably from the souls’ desires,” Castiel adds. “It’s how the personal Heavens are built. We could redirect that magic to a community world rather than keeping it confined in the small spaces.”

Jack smiles. “Let’s get started.”

-

Jack had thought that rebuilding Heaven might take a long time, but with Castiel’s help, it only takes about three weeks of Earth time. In Heaven, he’s deduced, time typically goes faster, though it varies for individuals. Once Dean makes it there – and he hasn’t yet, but Jack knows that he’ll die before Sam – time will go about as fast for him as it possibly can as he waits for Sam to join him.

"It's perfect," Castiel says to him as they step back to admire their work. They're in the central garden now, along with most of the remaining angels. During the rebuilding, Jack had brought some of them back to ensure that Heaven would continue to run smoothly, pouring some of his own energy into it as well. He could create new ones, of course, but his energy will never be exactly the same as Chuck's. In some ways, these new angels would be different, and Jack thinks that while the time may come that he needs to create new ones, that time is not now.

“Thank you for helping put my vision into place,” Jack says. “And thank you for everything.”

“Of course, Jack,” Castiel says. “You’ll still be around, won’t you?”

“Yes,” Jack replies, smiling back at him. “I’ll be everywhere, in everyone, in everything. And I’ll pop in to say hello sometimes. But I’m going to be hands-off.”

Castiel nods in understanding. “I see.”

“Why don’t you go talk to Dean?” Jack asks.

“Ah, yes, that…” Castiel trails off, blushing, even as it shouldn’t be possible for an angel to do so. Jack has restored his grace and his wings, but Castiel has always been a little more human than the other angels.

“Speaking of Dean,” Jack continues, “it seems as though he’s died on a hunt. It’s been a few months of peace for him, though, and he indicated that he doesn’t wish to be resurrected this time. Something about him having defied death enough times already. I thought I would honor that wish. You’ll find him near the Roadhouse, of course. I allowed his father to stay nearby too, but I can move him back to Hell if one of you just says the word. I know his relationship with his sons is… complicated.”

“Thank you,” Castiel says. “You’ve already done so much, and I know you’re not done yet. I’m so proud of you.”

Jack smiles as Castiel flies away, and in a moment, he moves on to find his mother.

-

Kelly cries at the news, and Jack hugs her, a move of comfort even though he knows they’re happy tears.

“I knew you would do great things,” she tells him. “Beyond great. Jack, you’ve reshaped the entire world, made it so much better than it was, and – and – you’re not even technically an adult, by human standards, are you?”

“No,” he laughs softly. “No, I’m not. My work isn’t done, but once it is, I’ll leave the world to rule itself. That’s what is best for it. I can see it now.”

“I’m so proud of you,” she says, not for the first time today. Jack hugs her again.

And if he spends longer with her than anyone else, nobody has to know. Sure, he can visit anytime now, but he never did get to spend much time with her before.

-

When they finally part, Jack decides that it's time to leave Heaven, and he may as well go straight to Hell. He doesn't anticipate that this trip will take very long since he already knows that Rowena has everything down there handled.

He doesn’t need to search long to find her. He’s never been to Hell before, but his body has – and the knowledge of Belphegor’s time in his body had been quite the shock upon receiving all omniscience. Intuition guides him straight to the throne room as if he’s a regular there. Rowena stands up and smiles as she greets him.

“Hello Jack,” she says. “It’s been some time, hasn’t it?”

“Hello Rowena,” he replies, waving.

“Oh, my dear, I've been so busy handling the rogue demons down here. Being the queen is hard work, you know. Say, I've heard some talk of Chuck vanishing all the souls on Earth, but we’ve gotten a few new ones in the past few weeks, so I presume that’s been resolved?”

“Yes,” he smiles. “I took Chuck’s power.”

“Ah,” she nods. “I thought you seemed stronger. Is Chuck dead, then? I would think his soul would fall under my domain.”

“One day, perhaps,” Jack agrees. “But he’s still alive. Sam and Dean thought it was best to let him live out his days as a human, powerless and alone.”

Rowena laughs. “I daresay it’s what he deserves. What brings you here, then?”

“I just wanted to see Hell for myself,” he replies. “A sort of tour of the universe. I’ve never seen it before, though I have the knowledge of it now. I know you’re handling things well here, and I wanted to see you again. I just finished rebuilding Heaven entirely, with Castiel’s help, and I’m nearly done with the changes I needed to make.”

“What will you do next, then? You know, if you ever want help learning how to rule, I have a wee bit of experience now.”

“I’ll let the world run its course,” he says. “Take myself out of the story.”

Rowena’s eyes widen. “You’re leaving, then?”

Jack shakes his head, moving to clarify. “I’ll be around. I’ll be everywhere. I just won’t be manipulating anything, not like Chuck always did.”

“I see,” she nods. “That sounds wise. I know the world is in good hands, my boy. Better than it ever has been.”

“Part of that is thanks to you,” Jack says. “But if you ever need anything, you know that I’m around.”

-

Having seen the Empty, Heaven, and Hell, Jack knows that the last logical place for him to go is Purgatory. He’s never been there, either, but he knows that it’s a realm of chaos. He knows, too, that many of the monsters there were once human.

He thinks back to a time when he hadn’t been born yet, when Dean had been here in Purgatory with a vampire named Benny. Another memory surfaces, a more recent one of Dean and Castiel in Purgatory, searching for the blossom that Michael had told them about, being told by a Leviathan that Benny had been killed more permanently.

Of course, that had been a lie. Jack doesn’t take long to find Benny, and he puts up a force field to give them some privacy from the monsters circling.

“Hello,” he says, waving. Benny looks skeptical.

“What are you?”

“I am Jack,” he says. “I’m friends with Sam and Dean. More like family.”

“Dean Winchester?”

“Yes,” Jack says. “You’re Benny, yes?” He knows the answer, of course.

Benny nods. “How do you know me? Did Dean send you? How did you even get here?”

Jack tells Benny about Chuck and all that he’d done in the past year, waiting him out through the initial denial that they could ever have been so involved with God himself, ending with the story of how they defeated him.

"Dean told me about you once, and I knew he would want you to move onto Heaven. I'm here to send you there, if you'd like, along with everyone else here who deserves to be somewhere else. I already rebuilt Heaven alongside Castiel, and a dear friend of mine rebuilt Hell. I say it’s time to rebuild Purgatory, too.”

Benny is silent for a moment, speechless as he gathers his thoughts. Jack knows that he didn’t think he’d ever make it out of here, didn’t think anyone other than Dean and Castiel ever could.

“I would love that, if you think it’s right,” Benny says. “You aren’t sending everyone to Heaven or Hell, are you?”

“No,” Jack confirms. “Only the ones who have souls resembling humans. Vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters – most of them, really. I’m going to redo Purgatory’s magic so that any monster who would have arrived here will go the same way they would if they were human.”

“That sounds like a swell idea,” Benny says. “It’ll mostly be Leviathan in here, I suppose.”

“Yes,” Jack agrees. “Dean is already in Heaven, you know. You could see him right now, if you’d like, or I could take you to a more private spot.”

He’s sure that Benny wants to see Dean, knowing that it’s been so long, but he waits for him to say it.

“Take me to Dean,” Benny says. “Please.”

-

Jack doesn’t stick around for the reunion, figuring that that’s private. He could tap into his omniscience if he wanted to observe, but he’s been getting better at controlling his access to it, so he decides to leave the knowledge dormant.

There's still one more place he needs to visit on Earth, one more soul he needs to help. He's never met Kevin Tran, but he's heard Sam and Dean talk about him, and he knows now that he was once a Prophet of the Lord. Jack won't have much of a connection to him, given that he didn't have these powers when Kevin was alive, but he can still find him. He knows that Kevin was once in Hell and that it prevented him from claiming his rightful place in Heaven, and he knows that he's the only one who can change that.

He takes a brief moment to change that rule, too, though he can’t imagine there will be many more souls who find themselves in such a predicament.

Kevin’s been wandering the Earth for several months now, far from the only ghost to do so, but he hasn’t lost his grip on his sanity yet. It isn’t hard for Jack to find him.

“Hello,” he says, waving at the space where Kevin hovers. They’re on a beach on the east coast. Kevin isn’t visible to humans, though Jack can see him if he concentrates.

“Uh, you can see me?”

“Of course I can,” Jack says. “My name is Jack. I’m friends with Sam and Dean, but more like family. You remember what Chuck did to the world, yes?”

“Yes,” Kevin responds. “I know he started to fuck things up, anyway.”

“Indeed,” Jack agrees. “I took his powers. He’s powerless and human now, no longer a threat to anyone.”

“So you’re – God?”

Jack shrugs. “Sort of. Not exactly. In power, I suppose, but I’m really just Jack.”

“Wow,” Kevin nods. “Okay. Does that mean – could you send me to Heaven?”

“Yes,” Jack smiles. “That’s why I’m here. I just wanted to see you first. Dean is already there, you know, and so is your mother. I could send you to either of them.”

Jack already knows that he’s going to choose his mother, so he summons the knowledge of Linda Tran’s location in Heaven to prepare himself.

“My mother,” Kevin whispers. “Please. I – I need to see her.”

“Of course,” Jack says, sending Kevin’s soul there with a brief flash of white.

-

Having made all the changes he needed to make, Jack figures that it’s time to step back. Castiel has already reunited with both Dean and Sam, Dean in Heaven and Sam on Earth, and he’s told them both about the changes Jack has made. Jack knows that Dean is happy with where he ended up, and Sam knows it, too. That’s enough for him.

Still, he takes the time to check on them. Sam has moved in with Eileen now, and Jack knows that they will be together until the end. Dean hasn't done much yet in Heaven, choosing instead to speed up his time until Sam arrives, but he's at least taken the chance to speak to Castiel. Jack had been waiting for that conversation to happen since the day he’d been born, even if he hadn’t always known, and it’s a relief to know it’s finally happened.

He checks on everyone else he cares about, too, choosing not to make himself known to them. Jody, Donna, and the girls are doing well; Claire and Kaia have even moved out and started a life of their own. Michael remains on Earth with Adam, but he seems happier than Jack has ever seen him in both his own and Chuck’s memories.

He sees his mother again, too, and she’s the one who pushes him into doing what he’s known all along that he needs to do.

He hasn't seen Mary since he killed her, back when he was just a scared little boy without a soul to keep him from making horrible mistakes. His omniscience is enough to know that she doesn't blame him, but he's still wary of seeing her.

She’s rarely alone in Heaven, given that most of her loved ones – really, all of them but Sam – are dead at this point. He has all the time in the world to wait, though, and eventually, he finds her both alone and in the right mood to welcome company.

“Hello,” he greets her, voice quieter than usual.

“Jack,” she says, surprise written clearly on her face as she takes in the sight of him. “It’s been a long time. Dean told me about your new powers.”

Jack is hit with two warring sensations: relief at the sight of someone she had considered a friend and resentment that he had taken so long to come to her. He cuts off the influx of Mary's emotions, the already present guilt growing more potent at the invasion of privacy.

“I’m sorry,” he says, keeping his voice even despite his human tendencies wanting nothing more than to break down. "I'm so sorry for everything. I didn't mean to end your life, but that doesn't make it any better, and I understand if you never forgive me for it. And I'm sorry it took me so long to come here to say it."

“I know you didn’t mean to,” Mary rushes out, pausing to take a deep breath even as she no longer needs to. “I knew that right away. I’m not upset about it; I never belonged on Earth after so much time being dead anyway. And I wanted to see you, but from what I’ve heard, you haven’t spent much time with anyone.”

"I've been around," Jack says. "Everywhere, in everything. But I could have made the time to see you much sooner, and for not doing that, I am sorry."

“I forgive you,” Mary says with a warm smile, and Jack can tell that she means it even without using his powers.

"Thank you," he says, voice barely above a whisper. The human part of him thinks he should be crying right about now, but he chooses just to smile back.

“Just try to visit when you can, okay? I know you have a lot to do and a lot to see, but I miss you. Dean and Castiel miss you, too, and I’m sure Sam and your friends on Earth do too. You have all the time in the world to see everything, right?”

“I do,” Jack confirms. “I thought it would be best to stay out of the picture.”

Mary nods, pausing before replying. “I think that that is an admirable choice for you to make, as the one who holds God’s power,” she says. “But you’re not just the bearer of God’s power, not even just Jack – you’re Jack Kline, and you are loved by so many people. They miss you, you know – we all miss you. You can spend time with your loved ones without it having any effect on the universe as a whole.”

She has a point, and Jack knows that he’s known this all along. He hadn’t been quite sure how to handle the new power, especially not once he’d finished using it to fix the problems left behind in this universe.

With no real argument against it, Jack accepts Mary's words. "I'll try to visit everyone more often," he promises. "Not just to observe, but to visit." He thinks of Sam and his new son, who Jack's seen but hasn't had the chance to meet; of Michael and Adam, his uncles who he's only ever spoken to under periods of duress; of Dean and Castiel and how much happier they are now than they ever were in the past.

“Good,” Mary says, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad to hear that.”

He lets her pull him in for a hug, wrapping his arms around her in return. “It’s the right decision,” he says. “Thank you.”

There’s still work to be done – from trying to fix the worlds Chuck destroyed to bringing more angels back from the Empty and reassessing the need for new ones – but now that his greatest fear has been laid to rest, the tasks feel less daunting.

And first, he has family to visit.