Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Criminal Minds.
"I don't know why I felt the need
To drag it out for all these years.
All the pain I caused you,
The constant flow of all the tears."
Lily Allen, Go Back to the Start.
When I was sixteen, I went on my first hunt.
It wasn't anything planned. I didn't train especially for it, except from the basic defense knowledge of hunting John and Bobby made sure I would know. But it all started when Dean and Sam stopped by Bobby's place.
"Sammy!" I called happily when I saw the black car parking and my brothers exiting it. "Dean!"
"Diana!" Sam called, running towards me and jumping into my arms.
I lifted him into my hug and spun him around, enjoying his laughter. He was already twelve years old and it was significantly harder to do it than the last time I saw him, but the look of pure joy on his face as I put him down was worth the extra effort.
I looked up from him to see Dean casually leaning on the Impala and smiling at the sight of the two of us. I walked towards him and he pulled me to a hug so tight one would have thought he was certain I would disappear the moment he let go.
"I missed you," he whispered into my ear.
"I missed you, too," I told him.
After what felt like a lifetime, we reluctantly broke apart.
"I've got so much to tell you two," I said excitedly. "We missed each other's birthdays – you wouldn't believe what Bobby promised me and I can't wait to hear everything you've been through –"
"Dee," Dean cut me off. "That's not why we're here."
The dark look on his face made me stop in my tracks.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Dad sent us here," Dean told me. "Well, not here. He sent us on a hunt."
"'Us' being…?"
"Sammy and I."
My hand flew to my mouth, covering it with shock. "But…" I muttered. "But… But he's only twelve!"
"I know," Dean said darkly. "That's why we're here. Dad doesn't know," he explained, "but I couldn't let him join yet. I'm leaving him here and going."
"Alone?" I asked. "You can't!"
"I don't really have much choice, do I?" he questioned.
"You do now," I said determinedly.
"Dee…" he started.
"Don't," I said harshly. "I'm not asking for permission. I'm coming."
It was a simple case of salt-and-burn. It took us a day to get to the small town, and another two days to investigate and find the remains. We headed back straight away, arriving the Salvage Yard around noon.
We didn't expect John to be there, too.
"I told you to take Sammy on a hunt," he told Dean. "Not Diana. Do you have problems hearing?"
"No, sir," Dean said.
"Then I don't understand why you overlooked a direct order!"
"I'm sorry," Dean mumbled. "It was unjustified."
"Like hell it was!" I called, annoyed. "It was completely justified! Sammy's only twelve! There's no reason he'd go on hunts!"
"I was talking to Dean," John said. "I'll deal with you later."
"You weren't talking to Dean," I huffed. "Talking is when the other side gets a say, as well."
"I told you to be quiet," John said.
"And I chose to ignore," I retorted. "Why are you here, anyway? If you didn't have anything better to do, why didn't you just joined Dean on the hunt and all of this mess wouldn't have happened?"
"I planned to spend some time with you, since I didn't see you for months!" John called. "I missed your birthday and I thought maybe after Sam and Dean came back we could celebrate it for the both of you but I guess that won't happen since you disobeyed me!"
"We're not soldiers, John!"
The kitchen at Bobby's house fell into a silence so thick I could hear Bobby and Sam's breathing as they eavesdropped from the other side of the door. The look on John's face was heartbroken and Dean looked at me with disbelief at what I just did.
"Dee…" he said carefully but I cut him off.
"Don't," I said. "He lost every right for me to call him 'Dad' when he decided to leave me here alone for weeks – months at a time."
"I am still your father," John said.
"Only by blood," I told him. "And if I could've changed that, trust me, I would."
There was silence again until John spoke.
"Dean, pack your things and get Sammy," he said. "We should get going."
That day was the beginning of the rift between my father and me. The rift that would eventually lead to my departure, two years later.
I loved hunting – the adrenaline running through my veins and the satisfaction you get even at the smallest cases, knowing you saved people. But hunting has its toll. It has a price.
Sometimes, it's the thought of the people you couldn't save – a civilian who was turned into a vampire before you could reach him or a spirit's victim who would have lived if you figured it out a day sooner. Usually, it's easy to push it to the back of your mind, telling yourself you did everything you could and moving on.
But sometimes, you can't.
I barely managed to drive back to the small cabin I lived in, right outside the town Dean lived in. I spent the last year here, only leaving to deal with other cases when I knew it had to be done by me – cases of dead Unsubs returning as vengeful spirits.
I just came back from a case like that. A case that ended up being terribly horrible.
Somehow, I managed to get hold of my phone and called the number that was saved on speed dial more as a habit than as anything else. I didn't call it since last year and I changed my number more than once during that time, but he picked up immediately.
"Reid."
"Spence," I muttered, no coherent thought managing to stay in my head other than the fact I desperately need help.
"Chessi?" he asked, a hopeful and worried tone to his voice. "Are you okay?"
"No," I replied. "I… case… bad, bad case…"
"What happened?" he questioned.
"Need help," was all I said. "Penny… to track…"
He kept talking at the other end of the line but dark blurred already started filling my sight and I fell to the floor.
"Don't tell the others," I said right before I passed out.
When I woke up, I was laying on the small bed in the cabin I started to see as my home for the past year. My head hurt and my throat was sore, and it took me a couple of moments to understand how I arrived here until I remembered.
And just as I did, Reid spoke.
"What the hell were you thinking to yourself?" he questioned. "You disappeared for a year. A year, Diana! And then you call me in the middle of the night – while I'm on a case, mind you – and I need to tell Garcia to track your number and then find a way to get here as soon as I can because god knows what you've gotten yourself into. And after all the mess and the lying and the hiding, I find you unconscious on the floor, looking like you've had a car crash and almost overdosing? Explain."
"I was on a case," I said. "I was stupid the past year, been going on cases alone. I thought it was just a simple salt-and-burn."
"What was it?" Spencer asked.
"A salt-and-burn," I said. "But it wasn't simple. The… the ghost… it attacked with… and I… I should've known."
"You know," Reid said, looking as if he would have been amused if he wasn't so angry at me, "using full sentences can help."
"Tobias Hankle," I muttered. "The ghost – it was Tobias Hankle. Charles was killing people. He… he drugged me and I had to run. Barely managed to finish him off."
Reid sighed, annoyed. "How many times will he come to hunt you?" he asked.
"Too many," I muttered. "Between him, his ghost and Raphael… it's the fourth time I meet him."
"Fourth?" Reid asked, confused. "When was the fourth?"
"The night Jenna and Daniel died," I replied, and a sad look crossed Reid's face. I was confused for a moment until I noticed how broken my voice sounded as I spoke.
"It still doesn't justify your actions," he said. "You know how we were during the months you were missing – and I know that it wasn't on purpose but this time was."
"I needed a break," I said. "And I had to protect Dean."
"What does Dean have to do with you being here?" Reid asked.
"The town, not far from here, is where he lives right now," I explained. "He's there with Lisa and her son. I had to protect him, to make sure he wouldn't get hurt." A concerning thought crossed my mind. "How long was I out?" I asked.
"Three days," Spencer said. "That's what I get for coming to find you – three days of sitting here, not even knowing if you were going to make it."
"I'll always make it, Spence," I smiled. "You won't get rid of me that quickly."
"I don't need to get rid of you, you're doing that to yourself!" he called. "You keep lying, keeping secrets. Every time I think I've got it, it just gets worse."
"What do you want me to say?" I asked.
"I want you to tell me why you kept hiding things away from me after you told me you grew up as a hunter!" he said. "Why did you lie? You kept telling me I'm your best friend, but you didn't tell me anything about you!"
"You want me to tell you about me?" I asked. "You want to know everything I didn't tell you after you found out I was a hunter? Fine!" I called angrily. "I have a Guardian Angel. His name is Castiel and I fell in love with him. If that wasn't enough, I cheated with him on Daniel and then he got me friggin' pregnant!"
"Chessi –"
"You wanted to know!" I nearly screamed. "After he got me pregnant, I told him to get the hell away from me and then he died. I resurrected him – found out I have powers along the way – and started preparing because the Apocalypse was happening! I was thrown five years into an Apocalyptic future, thrown back, trapped in TV Land, got into labors, travelled twenty years into the past and got stuck in an alternative universe where I was never even born!"
"Why didn't you tell me all of that?" he asked.
"Because there's more!" I told him, tears in my eyes. "Because when I finally find my way back I'm at my house, Daniel is possessed, there's a huge battle and Raphael kills both him and Jenna. And me. Then, Satan brings me back, kidnaps me, and tries to start the battle of Armageddon before my eyes, when my baby brother and half-brother are the vessels. Cas died, again, and so did Bobby and nearly Dean. And after all that, I have no choice other than to throw my baby brother into the cage!"
"And then you came back only to leave again!" he called. "Why did you even bother coming back?"
"Because of the letter," I said, crying. "I had to give you the letter. I had to… to explain. As much as I can. I couldn't just leave you in the dark."
"But you did," Spencer said, hurt finally surfacing above his anger. "Everything I found out I knew only because of Chuck's unpublished editions. You didn't tell me anything. You could have died during this year, Diana. You could have died, and I wouldn't even know."
"I would have called you if anything serious happened," I said. "I did call you."
"When you were half-dead," Spencer said. "And I bet that's not the first time something like that happened this year and you didn't call me before. So why did you bother this time?"
"Because of the Dilaudid," I said honestly. "It was in the air, and I breathed it, and I needed you. You're the only one who understands."
Another sigh escaped Spencer's lips and I started getting the feeling it wasn't voluntarily.
"I saw alcohol here," he finally said.
"I only use it when I'm wounded and Cas is busy," I said.
"And how often does that happen?" he questioned.
"Sometimes," I said. "I don't always work alone. I found some… long-distance relatives and did a couple of jobs with them."
"And do you trust them?" he asked.
"With my life? Yes," I said. "But not with my secrets."
Finally, a smile formed on Reid's lips. "You're an odd one, Diana Chess," he said, leaving me to fall asleep once again.
I woke up when a knock was heard on the outside door of the cabin. It had the main room, in which were three doors – bathroom, bedroom and the main door, leading outside.
I got up from the bed, ignoring the pains, and silently marked for Spencer to go to the room I was in just moments ago. He silently obeyed and closed his door just as I opened the front one.
"Diana," the man who stood at the doorway greeted emotionlessly.
He was a bold man with average weight and height, though he had a fair amount of muscles, hidden under his shirt and a slight fat layer. His bold head was slightly sweaty, and if one knew where to look, they could see his tense muscles.
I knew where to look.
"Samuel," I greeted back, just as coldly. "Do you need my help on a case?"
"I'd have called if I had," he replied.
"So what are you doing here?" I questioned. "I told you to stay back. You know this area is under my protection."
"Doing a shitty job at it," he said, and for the slightest moment, his eyes darted towards the room Spencer was at.
He must've seen the car, I realized.
"Let's take this outside," I said and he nodded. Once we were out, I looked at him again. "What happened?" I asked.
"Vengeful djinns."
I looked at him for a moment, struck with shock. "I'm sorry," I said, "did you just say vengeful djinns?"
"They're after revenge," he explained. "And, because someone has gotten sloppy, they reached Dean."
"No," I mumbled with fear. "But I was just…" Then, it hit me.
I was out on the Hankle ghost case for two days, and then I was unconscious for three more. Five days without anybody watching over Dean – I messed up.
"D'you at least have a reason?"
I looked at Samuel. If anybody were looking at us, he would have thought it was a conversation between a father and his daughter, both because of the age difference and the way he was talking to me. Besides, the fact that he was my grandfather and that I looked just like my mom also affected our relationship.
There wasn't much love there, as every look at me reminded him just what he had lost.
"I was two days away on a ghost hunt," I said.
"Why didn't you just call another hunter?" he asked.
"I'd never give a regular hunter to hunt a dead Unsub," I said. "I caught them once, I can catch them again. Besides, between my connections and Dave's, there aren't many of those."
His mouth became a thin line as I mentioned Rossi's name, almost as if I said a foul word. Almost, because we both knew he couldn't care less if I was using bad language.
"This isn't the work of two days," he said. "You had to be off for at least four for something like this to happen."
"It was a hard case," I said. "The ghost used a drug to kill the victims and I nearly overdosed."
For the first time, a shadow of real concern crossed Samuel's face. "You're taking too many chances with all these solo hunts," he said.
"Do you tell the boys they're taking too many chances on solo hunts, too?" I asked.
"The boys work alone maybe once every couple of months," he retorted. "You work with backup maybe once every couple of months."
"I do well alone," I said. Then, with a determined attitude to change the subject of the conversation, "So what's going on with Dean?"
"Sam found him," Samuel said.
"Sam?" I asked. "You mean the creature-Sam?"
"He's not a creature," Samuel sighed as if he was repeating an old argument. We both were. "We checked. Not a Demon, a shifter, a vamp, a werewolf –"
"Not Sam, either," I said. "I know my brother."
"You should really get the sister-of-the-year pin for your scouts," Samuel muttered.
"For this year, I just might," I replied. "So Dean knows Sam's back. Am I right to assume he's gonna go back to hunting?"
"Most likely," Samuel said. "But I could have told you all of that over the phone. Or, better, sent someone else to talk to you."
"What is it, then?"
"I found a case close to your home," he said. "Demons and possibly Angels interfering."
"How close to home?" I asked.
The grim expression on his face told me all I needed to know.
Reid and I headed back the next morning. He kept asking me questions about the man who came to visit and I kept avoiding answering, using "Another hunter" whenever he pushed. I also didn't tell him what made me decide to come back to Virginia, but I did inform him I don't know if I would be back on the team.
I knew that, eventually, I would, but Hotch must be pissed at me, as well as Rossi, and I didn't think going back to the team wouldn't be easy. Besides, I needed time to sort myself first.
During the past year, I didn't touch any of my money. It was too easy to trace – approximately ten seconds for Garcia – and I wanted to stay hidden. Instead, I hustled pool and pickpocketed people on the street to pay for my food and occasional alcohol.
That meant that all of the money I had before I disappeared, both Daniel's and my own, was now available for me to use.
My first stop in Virginia was my old landlord at the apartment I stayed at before I married Daniel and moved to my own house. He was nice as always and agreed to resume our old contract starting the first of the next month, which was two days ahead.
Then, I drove to a motel and paid for two days in advance, using legit money for the first time in too long. I threw my bag on the bed and a silvery knife peeked out from it. Intentionally ignoring it, I took a shower and then read the file Samuel gave me about the case I was handling.
Around eleven pm, I finished the file and decided to drop for a visit at an old friend's house.
As I approached the door, I could get the feeling that something was wrong. I neared it carefully before reaching out a hand and knocking. There was the unmistakable sound of a gun being loaded and I sighed.
"You know that the things that are after you won't react to a normal gun, right?" I called through the door.
It flung open almost immediately and the figure on the other side of it looked at me with shock.
"Chessi?" she asked.
"The one and only," I said, walking into the apartment and looking around. "Nice place," I commented. "Kinda empty."
"I redecorated recently," she replied coldly. "What are you doing here? You were gone for a year."
"And now I'm back," I said. "There were some… new developments."
"What kind of new developments?" she asked.
"You already know," I replied. "Selling your soul for a Demon Deal? What were you thinking?"
"That it was worth it."
"That means you've never been to Hell," I said coldly.
"And you have?" she questioned.
"I reached about as close to it as possible," I said. "And do you know what it's like? Every moment of every second, you are in agonizing pain. You're being tortured in ways you didn't even know were possible, muscles and bones torn apart… no matter how bad you think it is, it's worse." I finished, locking eyes with her.
"I had my own reasons," she said through gritted teeth.
"I know you did," I said. "They were noble, selfless ones, too. And that is why I'm going to help you."
"Help me?" she laughed bitterly. "Nobody can help me now. The only question is who would reach me first – Hellhounds or Ian Doyle."
The marks on Emily's face were never as noticeable as they were that moment. You could have seen how all the years of working undercover and later at the BAU affected her, no matter how much she tried to hide it.
"Prentiss," I said slowly, "you sold your soul to save the life of the son of the terrorist you put in jail."
"Nobody downstairs cares about that," she retorted.
"But I do," I said. "And I have contacts both downstairs, upstairs and here."
She frowned in confusion. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I need you to tell me everything you can about the Demon you made the deal with. That way, we can go after your contract, and once we have the contract, we can work on making your soul yours again."
"It's not gonna work," she said.
"Couldn't hurt trying, though," I said. "We've got three months for that."
"He was kind of short," Emily said. "Chubby, with a perfectly tailored suit. British accent. I think he told me his name… Rowdy? Rowley? Something like that."
My eyes widened in shock. "Crowley?" I asked.
"Yeah," Prentiss said, rubbing circles on her temples. "What does that means?"
"It means that it could work entirely in our favor just as much as it could work entirely against it," I said. "But if none of us would do anything stupid, we could fix it within a month, maybe two. And then… we move on to deal with Doyle."
A/N: I was really sure yesterday's Saturday! It's just that where I live, Sunday's a weekday, and I had it off yesterday so my entire week messed itself up...
Anyways... that was the first chapter of "A Threat on the Black Queen", third part of my Chess series! I need to warn you in advance, I will stop updating regularly on Wednesdays because I'm starting an exam period that will end at July, so I won't have much time. However, if I do have time and the next Sunday's chapter, I'll give you a treat from here and there.
So tell me what you think about it, Reviews are always welcomed, and thank you for sticking with me :)
