Author: MoiraShipper
Resume: After S12E23. Sam and Dean have a lot of things left for them to deal with, but several videos left by Rowena will change everything.
Dead Women Tell no Tales
Chapter 1
Hey, hey
Without you there's holes in my soul
Hey, hey
Let the water in
Don't forget about me-Cloves
Sam and Dean were in the bunker, feeling totally lost this time. Lucifer and Kelly's son, Jack, had fled shortly after his birth, at the size of a 5-year-old child, leaving traces of portals to other realities wherever he passed, and the TV was beginning to report mysterious disappearances all over the country and when Sam and Dean would arrive at the places, they'd only see traces of the newly closed portals, and now there was a huge golden line running through the sky and scientists were trying to get an explanation for the strange phenomenon.
But Sam and Dean knew what it was, they could feel the static that came from there, meaning that the Heaven should be facing some kind of problem with the birth of the nephilim, and with the line running through the sky, hardly an angel could get down to Earth.
Not only were they unable to locate Lucifer's son to try to save him and the people around him, but their mother, Mary was gone, stuck into another reality with Lucifer, and the other people who could help them had died during the battle. Rowena, Crowley, and finally Castiel.
The Winchester felt desperate and that didn't compare like the last battles, when they had been able to count with the help of the friends and the supernatural. Dean and Sam were strong and the best at what they did, but they knew that for that, they alone wouldn't be enough.
Not only they had lost friends and their mother and lost track of Jack, but there had been rumors coming from other hunters that a rebellion was happening in Hell now that both Lucifer and Crowley weren't there to take over, and the demons there were trying to reopen the doors.
"Sammy... we have to fix this mess, bring our mother back..." Dean muttered, running a hand over his tired face and ignoring the beer in front of him, feeling devastated by what had happened. "We can't let her sacrifice... Cass and the others's be in vain."
The pain of losing Castiel had been strong, just like losing his mother too, who had been brought back to life and started to rebuild a relationship with her sons. It hurt to know that when she had left some of her pain and suffering go with Dean's help to stay with her sons, she was stuck with Lucifer.
And Castiel, for the last 8 years had become much more than an angel to him and even if he didn't like it, he understood the reasons that made him leave him and Sam. Save the world for the brothers and try to save Jack, but Dean wished the angel had shared some of the burden with him. And now he had lost the angel and it hurt so much, physically and in his heart so more than ever he was focusing in finding a way to repair all this so he could keep the pain in the corner.
Sam stared at the ceiling of the bunker in his chair, thinking about what had happened two days ago. He couldn't believe they'd lost three friends and somehow their mother. It had been less than a year since Mary had returned to life and a week since she had recovered from what the Men of Letters had done to her, becoming a stronger family, and Sam had been happy to have the chance to live with his mother, whom he had lost when he was just a baby.
Castiel was part of this family too, always by their side in the good and bad moments and didn't deserve what had happened, after all that he'd done to save the world and Jack.
Even Crowley had shown at the last moment that deep inside he had a heart and Rowena... Sam couldn't help but feel sorry for her ending, he knew that the witch, even spiteful had helped them many times, but had chosen to stay away from the supernatural in the last months and was now dead by the violent hands of Lucifer.
Sam had to admit that in spite of his early turbulent partnerships with the witch, who had been always trying to trick them or change sides, he suspected she had a heart, just like Crowley, in the times she'd come to help them, and became fond of her, and even found the older woman attractive and talented with her spells.
And it was then, thinking of the magic that something had occurred to him:
"Dean, do you think there's a possibility Rowena hid the Book of the Damned in her house?" Dean looked at his brother for a moment, frowning, then shrugged, rising from his chair.
"Honestly, I don't know, but we have nothing to lose by looking for it."
When they reached a discreet house, away from the rest of the neighborhood and with a small garden in the front, the two Winchester wondered who had been the poor man who had fallen on Rowena's coup and bought her a house.
The brothers were wearing their suits in case someone called the police and then they opened the door with a clamp, being invaded by a smell of something burnt.
"Damn..." Dean cursed at the state of living room and Sam stood beside him, closing his eyes for a moment and saying:
"That bastard..."
The white walls were splashed with blood and there were several objects scattered all around the room like mirrors, lamps, and the couch, as well as items that were probably from some ritual the witch had been doing before she was killed by Lucifer, such as bowls, herbs, and small bones.
In the center of the room was a small table with Rowena's cell phone, intact and near it, in the floor, what remained of her body, which Dean and Sam stared at.
Her body was twisted and carbonized, though it was still possible to see parts of the long dress she wore, and her long, red hair, which she had been always so proud of, probably burnt because there was nothing left of it.
Dean shook his head, feeling a little sorry for the way things had ended for her, and then he looked away to the mess around them, going to see if there was anything that would help them.
Sam looked at the body for a few moments with a tightness in his heart, sad to see Rowena's body there, knowing she deserved to at least have a funeral.
He then saw something orange close to his body and bent down to pick it up. It was a lock of her hair that had been cut and he knew who had done that.
His blood boiled at the thought of Lucifer and what he had said he had done to her until she'd screamed to him and, also for killing Castiel. He held the lock tightly when Dean called him:
"Sammy? Are you okay?" Dean asked worried, stopping rummaging through the bookcase and staring at his brother.
"I'm... I just think we should at least bury her, she helped us in spite of everything." Sam said, getting up and leaving the lock beside the cell phone.
"I know, let's go find the book and then we'll bury her..." Dean sighed, understanding and agreed.
Sam then took her cell phone, trying his luck to see if he could find the contact of any witch that was alive or any clue of where the book was, when he came across several encrypted files and frowned.
"Dean, I found something." The older brother approached to see and Sam showed the files. "It must have 3 or 4 encrypted video files..."
"Can you open them?"
"I just need my laptop."
Sam took the laptop from the car and went to the kitchen that was untouched and soon Sam was able to open the videos and was surprised to see the image of Rowena, realizing that she had recorded a video for them before her death.