TOWARDS A NEW AGE

Welcome to my Between the Darkness and the Light" sequel. First off, it's kinda neccesary to read/skim over that one first, otherwise you'll be wondering what the hell's going on here ;). As a little recap, though: this is an AU, which places the characters of Supernatural in the Babylon 5 universe and timeline.

This story takes place around two years after Between the Darkness and the Light, during season five of Babylon 5 and post-season 7 for Supernatural (don't expect me to follow much of the season 8 plot, though. I won't force my personal opinions as to the direction Supernatural took after season 7 here. The only thing you need to know is that I needed a different direction for my story.) That will become obvious pretty soon, though.

One more thing: plotwise, the story's pretty much finished and I know where I'm going with it. I do appologise, however, if, at some point, updates might become infrequent. Rest assured that will be only because I'm busy with other stuff and not because I've abandoned the story for some reason.

And now on with the story. Enjoy! :)

I still don't own Babylon 5 or Supernatural

Chapter 1 Of loss and discoveries

En route to Babylon 5

The ship flew at great speed through space. It had been a long time since it experienced such urgency. But Sam Winchester was in a hurry. He had to get to Babylon 5 that very day. Otherwise his plan – his last chance to see his brother – would fail.

After Dean disappeared in the explosion that took out the Leviathans, Sam felt as if his entire world had collapsed around him. For the first time in his life he did not know what to do with himself. He did not even know how to define himself anymore – and no wonder, since the last person who had known him for who he really was had gone. Sam was alone. And he found out that he could not be Sam Winchester anymore now that he was the last of his family.

For many days Sam had simply flown in the Impala, without no clear destination. He rarely landed anywhere, unless he needed supplies. He cut himself off from the few acquaintances still alive. He did not hunt. He did not even try. He knew he did not have the energy for the actions and thought processes a hunt would entail. He barely had the energy to drive the ship as it was. Most of the times, he left it on automatic and just allowed it to drift.

And the world changed around him. He could care less about it, though. Events that would have previously gotten him tremendously interested meant almost nothing for him. There was not much point in thinking about the success of the newly-formed Interstellar Alliance, if Dean was not there to argue with him on the strangeness of an alliance ruled by a human and a Minbari (not to mention about the quirks of mixing politics and marriage as Sheridan and Delenn were doing, Dean would have had a field day with that one).

Only one piece of news managed to shake Sam a little. Some days before, he heard rumours of the approach of a mysterious Brakiri festival called the Day of the Dead. There were a lot of strange things being said about that feast. The most notable was that the dead supposedly visited the living that night. Many people took that as a metaphor. The Brakiri took it seriously enough though – to the extent that they decreed no Hunter should be present on Brakir throughout the festivals. People who hunted ghosts for a living had no business taking part in such an event.

But Sam wanted to be there. He felt that he needed to be there. Because he knew he would remain stuck in this limbo he was now, unable to move on, unless he had some kind of closure. Unless he had a talk with Dean. One last talk, that was all he was asking for. He would see afterwards where he was supposed to go from there.

The only problem was, there was no way he could sneak on Brakir for the festival. He was famous enough among those that knew about the Hunting community. He would not be able to get to the planet undetected. He did not think he would succeed much even if he did tell the Brakiri why he wanted to be there in the first place. The Brakiri respected Hunters, but few actually held any sympathy for them.

If Brakir was out, there was still a place that Sam could reach. Sources told him the Brakiri intended to buy part of the Babylon 5 stations temporarily for their ceremony. It would be easy for Sam to sneak on Babylon 5 and get himself quarters in that part of the station for the night. By the time anyone who knew him would realise he was there, he would have probably accomplished his task. Afterwards…well, Sam was not really thinking too much about an afterwards. He only wanted to have this one thing done.

Which was why the ship – Dean's ship – was speeding towards Babylon 5 once again, almost as desperate as Sam to get there.

Babylon 5, Sam Winchester's temporary quarters

Sam managed to sneak on the station without too much trouble. Everyone was much too busy with the arrival of comedians Rebo and Zooty. Renting quarters in what was going to temporarily be Brakiri space also went off without a glitch, even though Sam narrowly missed being spotted by the Brakiri Ambassador. Sam knew Kullenbrak personally – he and Dean had saved his family from a shtriga some years back. Kullenbrak was still grateful to them, but Sam somehow doubted that gratitude would extend to having a Hunter anywhere near their Day of the Dead festivities.

Sam paced his quarters nervously. There was not much for him to do now, except wait for Dean to appear. Unless, of course, the whole Day of the Dead thing was indeed a metaphor and Sam was actually wasting his time. He did not know what he was going to do, if that turned out to actually be true.

Being on Babylon 5 again was difficult. It was not only that the last time Sam had been there, Dean was with him and he was reminded keenly of that – the only thing he was grateful was that he did not have now the same quarters as the last time, he did not think he could have handled that. There was also that fact that Sam was convinced their failed mission on Babylon 5 was what had led to Dean being gone in the first place. If Sam had not destroyed the talisman, Castiel would have been free to use it in his fight with Raphael. He would not have had to use extreme measures such as breaking open the door to Purgatory. He would not have accidentally freed the Leviathans. And, consequently, Dean would not have died in the explosion meant to take them down. There would have probably been other messes – that talisman, after all, would have been a dangerous thing to have around. But at least Sam would have had Dean at his side when he faced them.

Sam shook his head. He was sure Dean would not have seen it that way. There were a lot of other factors that led to Castiel opening that door to Purgatory. But Sam could not stop himself from thinking that it was during that mission on Babylon 5 that things had begun to go downhill.

"Sam?"

Sam spun round at the sound of the new voice. For the moment all he could feel was disappointment. It was not that the voice belonged to someone he did not care for. It was just that it was not the person he most wanted to see. His frowning eyes met the confused gaze of Bobby Singer and for a moment he did not know what to say.

"Hello, Sam," Bobby greeted.

"It's you," Sam declared and he did not have the energy to muster too much joy at the discovery.

Bobby's eyebrows went up.

"Expecting someone else?" he asked cautiously.

"Dean," Sam said quickly. "I was hoping to talk to Dean."

"Dean's dead?" Bobby asked puzzled.

Sam hesitated. Until then, he had been convinced it was so. There was no way Dean could have survived the explosion. True, Sam had found no bodies. But he had never once entertained the idea that Dean might not be dead, after all.

Not until now, when he was face to face with Bobby. Sam knew Dean. He knew that, whatever rules this Day of the Dead of the Brakiri had, if there was an opportunity to get to Sam, Dean would have done it. He would have defied every rule in existence to see Sam.

"If Dean was dead, he'd be here instead of you," Sam discovered.

"I should say so," Bobby agreed. "He'd also kick my ass all over the afterlife if there was this one chance to talk to you and I was using it instead of him."

"Dean's not dead, then," Sam concluded.

The surge of hope he felt at that was almost paralysing. For a moment, he could focus on nothing else but that. It was only a few seconds later that he started to feel concerned. Because even if Dean might not be dead, he still was not there.

"Where is he then?" he wanted to know. "The last thing I know he and Cas vanished in an explosion to take down the Leviathan."

Bobby looked sharply at that.

"You mean," he began, "to send the Leviathan back to Purgatory? Maybe that's where he and Cas went too."

Sam frowned.

"They're in Purgatory, you mean? Is that even possible? But, if they're there, how do I get them out?"

Bobby sat down heavily in a chair. Since he was there for the night anyway, he might as well spend it helping Sam with his problem. Just like old times.

"There were always rumours," he informed Sam, "About a place like Purgatory being well known in the alien worlds. And about some races even being aware of portals to that place. Portals that were supposedly less harmful than the one Cas opened."

"I've never heard any of these rumours," Sam said.

"Well, there was nothing concrete," Bobby pointed out. "At least, I couldn't find anything concrete on them. But I think I know someone who might. He's called Aiden the Strange for some reason. He's a Purgatory expert. Lives on Proxima 3 – or at least that's the last I heard of him."

"How come you never mentioned him before?" Sam wanted to know.

Bobby sighed heavily.

"We didn't exactly part as friends," he confessed. "We had a bit of a falling out – he'd never talk to me afterwards. No matter the stakes. To be honest, I'm not sure he'd talk to you, either."

"Oh, he'll talk to me all right," Sam said dangerously. "One way or the other, he's gonna tell me everything I want to know."

Bobby could see that Sam was indeed determined to go through with this. Not that Bobby was surprised or that he would not have probably done the same, had he been in Sam's shoes. But he could not help wondering whether Sam actually knew the difficulty of the task he was about to undertake.

"It won't be easy," he felt the need to remind Sam. "You'll have to travel to a lot of alien worlds – ask a bunch of unwanted questions. They might not be willing to answer you. You know how some of those League folks are. They don't trust humans. Hell, they hardly trust each other."

Sam knew that. He was a bit more optimistic than Bobby. For one, the situation had changed since Bobby died.

"A lot of things have happened to the galaxy since you left. The League's dissolved, there's an Interstellar Alliance now, which will make moving around easier. And I think I can get those I deal with to accept me. I think I can find a way."

Sam was actually already forming a plan in his mind. It was not going to depend wholly on him – but, if he could pull it off, he would at least have the chance to move around as he pleased and go anywhere he needed to in order to get Dean out of Purgatory. Because there was no question of him not rescuing his brother, now that he knew he was not dead. After all, the reason why Sam had wanted to take part in the Brakiri Day of the Dead was so that he could get a new purpose. And it appeared he had been given one. He had to get his brother back.