Roads Untraveled ~ Sam Winchester

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Three - Jack In The Box

Back at the Bunker, Dean was leading Sam and Eden down one of the corridors, trying to make his case.
"I didn't want it to come to this, either. But now that kid's head's not right and Heaven has it's hooks in him..." Dean trailed off as the three stood in front of the door to the archives. "We don't have a choice."
"Come to what?" Sam frowned, holding out a hand. "What are you talking about?"
"Stopping Jack. Once and for all." The older brother replied.
"Alright. Fine. Say I agree." Sam huffed. "Dean, he can't be killed."
"We're not killing him even if we found a way. He's been led astray and taken advantage of. He needs our help, not a death sentence." Eden snapped.
"You're right." Dean nodded. "But, he can be contained until we find a way to do that."
"How are we supposed to do that?" The younger brother asked as the older opened the archive door.
It revealed a hauntingly familiar large rectangular object under a white sheet.
"That's not what I think it is, is it?" Eden raised her brows.
Dean walked over and pulled off the white sheet, revealing his homemade Ma'lak Box.
"Are we seriously talking about locking Jack in this?" Sam looked as surprised as Eden.
"We're seriously talking about not having a choice." Dean countered. "We can't kill him, even if we could, your wife-to-be would rain all Hell down on us for it."
"You're damn right I would." Eden mumbled still staring at the Box under her hands.
"This is warded to lock down an Archangel." Dean continued.
"Yeah... So, what? We just force him inside?" Sam waved a hand.
"How? No, he goes in here, it's gotta be his choice." The older brother replied.
"He's never gunna go along with that!" The younger huffed.
"Maybe..." Dean shrugged, walking around the box to face away from them. "But, he might. If he only has to be in this box long enough to prepare the spell to fix his soul."
"What bloody spell?" Eden frowned.
"Yeah, what spell? There is no spell." Sam added.
"We know that." Dean said gravely.
A look of realisation fell upon Sam's face, whereas Eden simply got angrier.
"So... You wanna lie to him?" The younger brother clarified.
"Well, no." Dean replied, turning around to face them. "I want Zepplin to get back together. But, what I need – what we need is to stop Jack. Big difference. But, here's the deal. We all gotta sign off on it. This might be our only shot and if he even catches a whiff that this is a scam, he's off into the wind."
"Exactly. How do you know he's not gunna think something's up?" Sam frowned.
"Because you two are gunna be so damn sincere-"
"Us?" Sam and Eden exclaimed.
"Why us?" Sam continued.
"Because you two have always be in his corner, alright? You're his go-to parents. Guys, if you do it, he'll reach out. If I do it? After what happened to mom? I could lose him." Dean explained. "I will lose him."
"No." Eden barked.
"No?" The older brother scoffed. "Eden, this might be our only chance. You don't even have to lie, technically. He can go in the box until you find Chuck and make him give Jack his soul back."
"And if that plan fails? What are we going to do? Just go back to the plan where we leave him in there under false pretenses?" Eden cocked a brow. When Dean didn't say anything, she scoffed. "I'm going to help Pigeon in Heaven. Don't wait up."
With that, she disappeared in a ruffle of feathers.
"Don't force her to do this, Dean..." Sam sighed. "You know how much she loves Jack and would protect him before anyone else."
"Anyone but you. You've gotta talk her into doing this, man. She's the only person I'd think to ask besides you." Dean pleaded.
Sam sighed.
"I'm not getting her involved with this. It would break her and we know what happened last time."
"We haven't got a choice. You two are our best bet for this plan to work." The older brother huffed, walking off.

When Eden reappeared, she was stood in the parking lot of the play park Heaven's gate was set in. Castiel was a few feet in front of her, noticing the sound of feathers.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Nice to see you, too, Pigeon. Thought I'd lend a hand with Jack." She shrugged. "Plus, I'm bored of Dean and his backstabbing plans."
"What plans?" Cas frowned.
"He wants to lock Jack in the Ma'lak Box under false pretenses. And he wants Sam and I to be the ones to give said falsities." She replied. "Now. Let's get Jack between the two of us and get this over with."
Cas simply nodded, clearly not in the mood to argue.
The pair approached the sand pit, where a homeless looking, middle-aged, African American man stood with his hands over an oil drum fire.
"Aramiel. Open the portal." Cas instructed, making the Angel turn.
"No can do, my brother." He said in an overly cocky tone. "Heaven is now closed."
"No, it's not. I was just there." Castiel replied, lifting a hand towards the sand pit.
"I'm sorry, I said that wrong. Heaven is closed to you. Orders." Aramiel smirked, pointing a finger at his fellow Light Angel before giving a filthy glance to Eden. "And Heaven is and always will be closed to scum."
"Aramiel, I am going to Heaven. And Eden is coming with me." Castiel countered.
Aramiel sucked in air through gritted teeth, tilting his head to the side.
"That's what everyone thinks." He uttered, taking his Angel Blade from his coat sleeve.
"Go ahead. I've got this." Castiel looked to Eden, who nodded, Vamp speeding to the sand pit.
She stood in the centre, watching as Castiel and Aramiel ran at each other, colliding just as the sand and white smoke consumed her in a slow tornado formation.