My Brother's Keeper

By Wanderlust Ethereal

Summary: Dean had angels, Sam had demons, but what if Adam wasn't a perfectly normal apple-pie life kind of boy, either? Adam-centric. OCs.

A/N: Erm... hi? I'm BAAAACKK! uh, PLEASE DONT KILL ME! MERCY! I REPENT! I'm trying to finish this, promise... Just, hit a very, very long snag. On the plus side, I'm almost done with the next chapters.

Oh, and Warningfor gore, blood and verbal abuse. Oh. And face-peels. Enjoy the show^^

Chapter Eight: True Colours

(Part Four of Four)

It takes a while for Adam to get his wits back together, but finally, he takes a deep shuddering breath, and sits up. He can't stay there forever, and he doesn't want to stick around to find out what Jet is up to, he has to get out of there. Fast.

The blonde takes out the pouch again, picking up the lock picks and working on his handcuffs. It's a bit tricky in the dark, but eventually, he manages, and a small click signals the cuffs springing open. Adam slips off the bed quickly, placing the lock picks back in the pouch and keeping his hand on the knife. He doesn't want to have to use it, but if Jet came back...

Adam gulps, hoping it won't come to that. He doesn't know what he'll do if he has to face Jet again.

Koryuu does not agree with this plan. It's a terrible plan that leaves too much unaccounted for and puts innocent people like Kate Milligan in danger. He doesn't like it, and the feeling rolling around his gut is too much like guilt for his liking.

"Thanks for staying with me like this."

He's snapped out of his reverie as Kate smiles at him and he tries to return it without making it look like a grimace. They're sitting at a bench at the park where Kate often drops Adam off.

With Koryuu's help, they've photocopied Adam's picture and set about posting it around town. He's only just managed to convince her to rest. Partially because she's exhausted, if the dark circles around her eyes are any indication, and partially because the day is slowly running out and Koryuu does not want to lose sight of her just in time for whoever took Adam to snatch her up too.

There's also the small matter that their moving around so much is making it hard for Jet to follow them discreetly, and while that does give him a certain amount of vindictive satisfaction. It's not gonna help anyone if the kidnapper comes while Jet's out of the area.

So Koryuu calls timeout and, reluctantly, tries to get Kate to talk about Adam, if only to distract her.

It works too well. To Koryuu's horror. He can swear he can hear Jet snickering.

Jet actually is snickering. The uncomfortable look on Koryuu's face is priceless, but that isn't why she's here.

The pale girl's mind is racing, something is missing, something that they have overlooked. The note. Supplies a random voice in her head. Ice Cream. Says another. The note has something to do with it, something important. Her mind replays the events of the last few days, from her meeting with Adam, to leaving him fast asleep in his room, then walking to the club. She remembers everything with frightening clarity – the sound of crickets, a warm breeze as she slips out through the window and flicks her fingers, locking it on the other side, the rustle of grass as she slips out, unseen.

No. She realizes. Not unseen! The time frame was too short. Someone had seen her there, had watched her leave and broke into the house right after. As soon as her back was turned... Jet bites her lip, thinking, thinking. Someone she might have seen – because Jet was hardly oblivious, she would have noticed something out of the ordinary, especially when she watched that particular house so closely.

But she hadn't. Everything had been in order. Right up to Mr. Gamble from next door, coming back late from work... Nothing out of the ordinary at all.

She blinks as the thought hits her. That was it!

It wasn't evidence that was telling, but the lack of it. A human wouldn't be able to do something so cleanly, wouldn't be able to fool Jet's senses so thoroughly. But... maybe, something supernatural...

Now, that narrowed things down. A creature capable of slipping in unseen. Ritualistic performance of a particular murder, almost to the point of obsession... Jet frowns, that narrows it down to a dozen, if she was being picky... but then. The note! Of course, what kind of supernatural creature would leave a note? It was too human a move. Something almost human, but not quite...

The dark-haired girl freezes. Eyes widening with realization. Mr. Gamble! That was it! The ice cream was the key! They didn't have to wait for the kidnapper anymore, and if Jet was right, and Jet was always right, Jet knew exactly where to find it.

Koryuu frowns as his phone suddenly blasts Honor Society's Here Comes Trouble, which he most certainly did not have on his playlist before. And sighs as he catches Jet's name flashing on the screen. He shoots Kate an apologetic smile and moves as far as he can without removing Kate from his line of sight.

"What?" he growls into the phone. Jet had better not be calling just to needle him about how bored she was...

A slur of excited gibberish assaults his ears as Jet launches into a long, rambling, and faster than he thought the human tongue was capable of explanation, of which he understood little, apart from that she'd figured out something important.

"Slow down!" He grits out, rubbing the bridge of his nose, and praying for patience.

"I know where he is!" Squeals Jet, "Get Kate Milligan somewhere safe, we don't need her anymore, give her some bullshit excuse or whatever. I'll text you the coordinates. Bring some silverware!" And with that she disconnects the call with a click while Koryuu gapes at the phone and whips around just in time to see Jet shoot out of some nearby bushes, twigs in her hair, and race down the path whooping gleefully, even as people jumped out of her way in alarm.

Kate looks up at the commotion and frowns at the swiftly disappearing girl, then shakes her head. Kids these days...

"Hey, uh… turns out I've got an emergency…" says Drake, looking sheepish as he puts the phone back in his pocket. Kate looks up at the redhead and smiles.

"It's okay, I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time." The doctor shakes his head and gestures towards the car.

"No, no, it's fine… listen, I'll just drop you off back at your house, alright?"

"Actually, I was thinking I'd just stay here and–"

"NO! I mean, no, we've… we've been all over town, you're probably tired and it's been a long day, I'm sure if anybody hears anything about Adam, you'll be the first to know? Right?"

"But…" Kate doesn't want to leave, but Drake does have a point, there's nothing more they can do here. She smiles at him gratefully. "Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right…"

The ride back is filled with small talk and a sort of prickling tension, and Kate feels bad for imposing on the good doctor when he so obviously has somewhere else to be. Come to think of it, he really doesn't have any reason to be here helping her out, but it's nice all the same, having someone looking out for her, almost like… Kate shakes her head.

But when Drake disappears around the curb, the idea hits her with all the force of a bullet, and before Kate can think about it, she's already pressed the little green phone button and it rings and rings and just when Kate thinks she should just cancel the call because it was a bad idea anyway, someone picks up and a gruff voice sounds out.

"Hello?"

And Kate takes a deep, shuddering breath, and tells John Winchester everything.

Adam blinks blearily at the sunlight, the sudden brightness almost blinding, but he stumbles out anyway. He has to get out of there, away, and hopefully back in town where he can find someone, anyone, that can help him.

His shoes crunch against broken pavement and overgrown weeds, an abandoned factory looming up behind him, and Adam's heart sinks, because he has no idea where this is, or how to get out of here. And the panic comes out in short, too-fast breaths and he has to calm down and figure out how to get home. But it's too much, this is just all too much for one eleven year old boy, and then a twig snaps, somewhere in the forbidding mass of forest surrounding the area, and Adam doesn't think, he makes a run for it… straight into the factory.

The doors echo too loudly behind him, and dried leaves crunch under his feet, giving away his position and then he hears footsteps and Adam ducks down underneath some rusted up machinery and tries to hold his breath in and crosses his fingers that his heart doesn't give him away because each beat sounds in his ears like the drums on a marching band.

Ba-Dum…

Ba-Dum…

Ba-Dum…

The steps draw closer, and Adam gulps and shuts his eyes and wishes, not for the first time, that he was at home, with his mom, and this had never happened.

Ba-Dum…

"Adam?"

The boy flinches at the sound of Jet's voice, only barely holding back a sob.

"Adam, are you there? It's me, it's Jet."

Black boots stop in front of him and Adam tenses.

"Adam?" A pale face appears in his line of vision, brow furrowed in confusion, and then she grins, "Found you!"

And Adam freaks, and he's flailing and kicking and Jet stumbles back with a curse, and the blonde takes off, but the girl gets back on her feet and the resounding shouts for him to stop, Adam, it's me echo through the corridors, but he can't stop because right now he doesn't even know anymore, and he just wants to go home…

"Adam!" the blonde skids to a stop, eyes wild as Jet steps out in front of him. Impossible, she was just…

"Adam!" Jet steps up cautiously behind him, "Adam, get away from her!"

"What?" says the other Jet, "No! Adam, get away from her! I'm the real one!"

"No! You have to listen to me, she's a shapeshifter! She's not human!"

"I'm not a shapeshifter… okay, I'm not human either, but that's kind of beside the point, she's the shapeshifter!"

"No, you are!"

"No, you!"

"You!"

"You!"

"Adam!" the shout in unison. "She's lying! She's the impostor!"

"Oh god, she's multiplied." Adam turns to stare at the red-haired man, who regards the scene with something between frustration and horror, "what happened?"

"Shapeshifter…" says one Jet.

"…been rolling around in an ice cream truck." Says another.

"…kidnapping kids, that's how they get around…"

"…remember the truck the other day? Bit fishy, don't you think?"

"…I mean, c'mon, an ice cream truck roaming around the playground when all the kids have gone home?"

"…picked it up on candid camera and traced it back here."

"…but it's shifted to me, that's how it got Adam."

"…Nice, though, real good choice. I mean…"

"…Oh yeah. Damn, girl, you're smokin'"

"…I know, right?"

Both Jets regard each other with a grin, and the man gives a frustrated sigh. Adam looks between the three of them in horror.

"I think I puked in my mouth a little." Says the man, with a small sound of disgust, "Well, whatever, one of you isn't real. And I'm gonna find out which."

And then one set of eyes flashes milky-white and makes a lunge for the other, Jet slips out of the way, grinning brightly.

"Ha! I knew I was the real one!" the man shoots her an odd look but she just skips happily and pulls Adam in his direction. "Get him out of here, I'll deal with this, don't worry, I know which one is me."

"You mean you weren't sure?"

"It gets confusing."

"God, you're such an idiot."

"Just get out of–" Jet cuts off as a dark blur smashes into her and they fall to the floor with a loud crash, Adam gives a shout of alarm, but the man pulls him out of the way, one hand drawing out a long silver knife, but his face looks uncertain. The two Jets grapple on the floor, neither of them getting the upper hand and the man looks between the two of them anxiously.

And then one kicks out and the other rolls out of the way, both getting to their feet and circling each other, warily. And then one of them grins and lunges for the man. The silver knife drops from his fingers, she snatches it up, drawing it to his neck. Adam steps back and Jet freezes.

"Well?" laughs the shapeshifter, pressing the blade to the red-head's neck. "Frozen? Thought so… Can't risk dear little Koryuu getting an owie, now can we?"

Adam looks up to stare at Jet, whose face drains of emotion quicker than water down a sink. And then she smiles.

"You really wanna play like that, honey? Because I don't lose."

The shapeshifter laughs. "Oh, you do, just too stubborn to admit it. You arrogant, narcissistic, little bitch. You'd sell them all out in a heartbeat if it got you what you want. And you, you want this."

Jet's smile gets pointed and Adam feels a shiver run down his spine, the air suddenly seems colder, more brittle. He steps back instinctively.

"It's a shame…" says Jet finally, "I'd hate to ruin that pretty face."

And then Koryuu grabs the impostors wrist, head snapping back and connecting with her nose with a crack, Jet lunges forward and Koryuu swings the fake Jet so that her face connects with the original's fist, but she jabs the knife at him and the man hisses as it connects with his forearm, blood spilling out, Jet grabs her by the lapels and pulls her away from the bleeding man, who stumbles back, and the two of them grapple with the knife and before Adam can think, there's a sickening squelch and both of them freeze. One of them falls down, blood seeping through her stomach, pale skin staining red, she makes shallow gasps, eyes wide and finally stops… dead.

"How…" starts Adam tentatively, stepping back. "how do we know it's the right one."

"Weeelll," says Jet with a laugh, shooting Koryuu a look. "I wouldn't die from a silver knife. Not that silver knife, anyway."

Jet crouches down beside the dead girl, hand hovering over her face, and then peels it off. She throws the strip of skin away with disgust.

"I'm the real." She says finally.

Adam pukes at the corner.

He takes a step, two, and finally it all catches up to him and the world turns black.

When Adam wakes up, he's in a hospital bed.

Panic runs through him, remembering the handcuffs, the Jet that was not-Jet, the knife, the red-haired man – and then he remembers that it's over.

The blonde turns over and sees the white hospital ceiling, an IV drip by his side and beside him – Mom! She's fast asleep, her blonde locks spilling messily over the side of Adam's bed, and Adam's hugging her before he even thinks about it. Kate starts awake, and then there is crying, and hugs, and Adam is sniffling and just so happy...

And finally, Kate wipes the tears from her face, and uses a handkerchief on Adam's, and they're both laughing with relief, and there's a shadow on the doorway and Adam tenses, but Kate turns around and there's a smile on her face as she takes the man's hand and brings him closer to the bed. Adam racks his memory thinking if he's met him before, but the scruffy looking man in the beaten jacket doesn't ring any bells and then Kate looks flustered and takes a deep breath and tells him.

"I know this is sudden, Adam." She announces, "I'd like you to meet your father."

A/N: OMG, I didn't know Adam was 12 when he first met John. Just found out from Supernatural Wiki. I'm two months early. Shit.