Your heart was racing as you made your way to the huge oak tree that stood just down the hill from the school. Dean had told you to meet him there, only saying he had something to tell you. You hoped it was something romantic. God, if it was, you'd be over the moon. You and Dean had been dating for a good two weeks now and although that wasn't a whole lot of time, you were madly in love with him. If he were to ask you for anything, you'd do it in a heartbeat. He was the bad boy type and you always seemed to fall for them, especially if they were older than you. Dean was nearly three years older than you but that didn't matter. Not when your sixteenth birthday was fast approaching, making the gap closer to two in your eyes. You practically skipped to the tree, your ponytail bouncing behind you and a broad smile on your face. Meeting Dean was probably the best thing in the world and you had butterflies in your stomach. As you approached the tree, you could see his dark, lean figure propped up against the rough bark, his face stern. Your heart skipped a beat as you slowed down and tried to remain calm as you sauntered over to him, desperately trying to hide your excitement. When Dean noticed you, he smiled a little and you could have sworn he looked sad. Of course, that momentary look soon passed and his smile was gone. His piercing green gaze sent chills through your body. "Heya Dean," you said, walking right up to him. He nodded to you.
"Hey Y/N," he replied, uncrossing his arms. You smiled breathlessly at him.
"So, what's up? You said you had something to tell me." Dean sighed and pushed himself from the tree and took your hand in his. Your stomach did a flip and you smiled wider, looking down to the ground as you blushed lightly.
"Yeah, about that. This isn't easy for me to say," he started. Your heart beat even faster. "You know I'm no good with feelings and stuff. But I think this is best for both of us. Y/N, you've been great and all, but I think it's time we broke up," he said. You swore you stopped breathing for a moment.
"What?" you said, your voice shocked as you looked up at him. His face hadn't changed from that stern expression.
"We should break up," he said again and you felt a sudden pain in your chest. You pulled your hand away from his, your expression one of hurt.
"What kind of joke is this, Dean Winchester?" you asked, your voice high pitched. He shrugged.
"I'm not playing any kind of joke. I'm being serious." You couldn't believe your ears. You turned from him, tears starting to prickle at the backs of your eyes.
"Why?" you asked, your voice quiet. You could hear the shrug in his voice.
"I'm leaving again. Don't want to leave any loose ends."
"You have a phone, don't you? You can call me. We can stay together even though you're moving," you said, desperate.
"Nah. I don't do long-distance. Too much hassle," he said, his tone indifferent. You had no words as tears spilled from your eyes and your throat constricted making it hard to breathe. You wanted to run away and keep running. "I'll see ya around." You turned to look at him but he was already walking away, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his leather jacket. You never ran home as fast as you did that day.
Years later, in a little college town, you found yourself working a job. You'd found hunting several years ago after an incident in your hometown. You didn't like to go into detail about it since your family had suffered the loss of your younger brother and it still pained you in some ways. There were clear signs of witches in the surrounding area and you'd been keeping an eye on the activity in the little college town. It was only recently you discovered it was witches but you had to make sure as soon as possible. When you entered the crime scene of what you assumed was that of a fourth girl, you went immediately to the law enforcement on the scene. Dressed as a young, newly hired reporter, you approached the lead police officer. "Good morning, officer," you said cheerily, a notebook already in your hand with a pencil at the ready. The middle-aged man tipped his hat to you.
"G'morning, ma'am. What can I help you with today?" You smiled at the man.
"I was wondering what you could tell me about what happened here. I'm Buffy Summers from the Sunnydale Press News. Now, was it another girl like the last three?" you inquired.
"Yes it was, Miss Summers. We found her just a few hours ago. Same situation as the other three."
"Found dead in a locked room again?"
"From the looks of it, yeah. There weren't any signs of forced entry neither, so we think it's another suicide," he said, adjusting his belt. You scribbled down the crucial details.
"And you didn't notice anything peculiar?"
"I didn't go in myself, but that was the report. You know, those two gentlemen over there just went in and inspected the crime scene. You could try asking them a few of your questions for the, uh...What did you say the name of this paper was?"
"The Sunnydale Press News. We're an up and coming paper. Thank you so much for your time," you said, flashing him another smile before turning your attention to two younger men in suits. They were both very tall and had a different way of holding themselves than the other police officers on the premise. You walked over, your heels clicking on the asphalt of the road. "Good morning, gentlemen," you said to them as you approached, smiling broadly. They both turned and immediately you knew they were hunters. They smiled pleasantly at you.
"Morning," said the shorter one, flashing you a friendly smile, one that was probably a little more friendly than you were willing to get with this man. His eyes seemed to wander a bit over you frame and you had to stop from outwardly sighing in disgust. The taller one nodded in your direction. "I'm Agent Tyler and this is my partner, Agent Perry," he said, gesturing toward the other. You smirked.
"Buffy Summers. I work for the Sunnydale Press News," you replied. "By the way, nice Aerosmith reference. I'm sure most don't catch it." Agent Tyler, as he called himself, looked at you in awe and appreciation. Agent Perry smirked.
"Buffy Summers was it? Yeah, I'm sure that doesn't tip anyone off." You chuckled.
"Hey, if I had the last name Summers, I'd name my daughter Buffy, too," you replied. "But let's cut the crap. I know who you are and why you're here." They both stared at you with looks of slight horror. "Relax, I'm not going to tell the cops. That's not how I roll. But I know you're both hunters and you're here for the same reason I am." Agent Tyler extended a hand to you.
"Then allow me to formally introduce myself. I'm Dean, this is my brother Sam."
"Hi, how are you?" said Sam. You stared at them quizzically for a moment.
"Dean and Sam? As in Dean and Sam Winchester?" you asked. Sam gave you a confused look while Dean's smirk broadened.
"I guess our reputation precedes us, Sammy," Dean said, that dumb flirty smile he used to wear even in his teens gracing his lips again. You couldn't think straight for a moment as anger boiled up inside of you, remembering the heartbreak that jerk had caused you. Without thinking, you drew back your fist and punched him squarely in the face, his nose crunching slightly under your fist. You withdrew your hand, the knuckles slightly red and hurting a bit but it was totally worth it when you saw his shocked, slightly pained face. You had been waiting to do that for some time. "What the hell was that for?!" he exclaimed, his hand shooting up to his face to check for blood. It came back slightly reddened and you found yourself slightly pleased with your handiwork.
"You don't remember? Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, you were the one who broke my heart and left me wondering what I'd done wrong. But that's to be expected from a lowlife like you, Dean Winchester," you said, your hands falling on your hips. "The name's Y/F/L/N. 10 years ago, remember? Under that damned oak tree at the bottom of the high school? You broke my heart and left me with the most bullshit excuse in history." A look of realization graced both their faces, though Dean's seemed to hold something else.
"I think you broke my nose," he muttered.
"Good." Sam couldn't help but chuckle a little at your comment. You cleared your throat and straightened up. "Well, I'd best be on my way. After all, I've got a witch to stop," you said, turning on your heel. You wanted nothing to do with those boys, least of all Dean.
"Hey! Wait a minute, will ya?" Dean said from behind you. You glanced over your shoulder at him.
"What?"
"You can't just punch a guy in the face and then walk off like that. That's just not right. And what do you think you're doing anyway? We were here first; you just got here." You turned fully around and marched right up to him. Even in your heels, you were still substantially shorter than he was but that didn't stop you from getting up in his his face.
"I don't know who you think you are, Dean Winchester, but I've been watching his case since the first girl. It's mine. Now, how about you stop cock blocking me and let me do my job," you said, your voice low and irritated. You were fairly sure you didn't scare this man, but you would be damned if you didn't let him know this was your turf. His eyes darkened slightly as he got ever closer to your face. You could smell whiskey on his breath.
"And what do you have on it, huh? There have been four deaths, Y/N. Four. And you haven't stopped one. Why don't you let the professionals handle this and you can go back to your day job," he said, his tone icy. You felt the need to punch him again when Sam intervene.
"Guys, calm down. We don't need to argue. Look, why don't we work this together? Then we can go our separate ways," he said, putting a hand on Dean's shoulder to calm him down. You stepped back from the both of them, restraining your fist and resisting the urge to scream. You stared at them in a silent rage before Dean spoke.
"Fine. But if she gets herself hurt, it's not my problem. And you better not get in our way," he said, directing the last bit at you. You scoffed and crossed your arms.
"Don't get in my way," you retorted, already mentally punching yourself in the face for the terrible comeback. "Okay, did either of you two find anything in there? Like a hexbag or something?" you asked, pushing your anger to the side and directing your attention to the less annoying brother.
"No, we didn't," Sam replied. You placed your hand on your chin thoughtfully.
"That doesn't make any sense. There were hex bags in all the other girls' dorm rooms. You must have missed it. Okay, how about we all meet up here tonight and have another look since we're working this hunt together. Maybe an extra pair of eyes might do us some good," you said, turning to leave again. You weren't happy about having to work with the Winchesters but there was no way of getting Dean to back down from this hunt without killing him, which was obviously out of the question. As you left, you briefly heard Dean mumble something to Sam but you didn't stop to listen, not caring what he had to say. In the mean time, you'd gather up everything you'd need to break into that dorm room and find the hex bag.
It was nearly ten o'clock when the Impala pulled up next to you. You'd been waiting for probably a good twenty minutes, which sort of pissed you off. It didn't matter at this point; at least they showed up. Out of the car came Sam and Dean, each looking to you. You nodded a hello before walking to them. "So, you ready?" you asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Dean replied.
"Yup. Let's do this," said Sam. The dorm complexes were set up in an odd fashion, but you three managed to find a way in through a window. You were the first one in the room, Sam helping you up through the window. The room smelled vaguely of death and you put a hand over you nose in disgust. Turning your flashlight on, you nosed about the room looking for the hex bag. The boys climbed through the window with ease and soon began to help you search. After a few minutes of coming up with nothing, you found the bag buried deep beneath the mattress in the room.
"Got it!" you exclaimed excitedly, turning to the boys just in time to hear someone unlocking the door to the room. Without a second thought, you quickly got down on the ground and rolled under the bed. You saw Dean jump into the closet on the other side of the room and Sam stash himself behind the door as it opened, soft candle light flooding the room. In came three figures, each holding a single candle and wearing hoods, their faces in shadow. You stared at them from beneath the bed before slinking back a bit, keeping out of the light. They settled in the center of the room from what you could tell and they began to speak in hushed voices.
"She's dead, then. Just like you said," said a voice, a woman's.
"Yeah, but, like, how?" asked another woman's voice. There was a moment of silence before the third figure spoke.
"Of course she's dead! You think I'd lie to you about this? I told you, those other three were no accident and neither was this one" spoke the last, a woman as well.
"Well, how did you, like, do it?" An exasperated sigh came from what you though must have been the last girl, the one leading all of them.
"That's why I brought you two here. To show you how I did it," said the leader.
"I don't much care how you did it. I'm more concerned as to why. They didn't deserve this. Ali especially. She was my friend, you know," said the first. A sharp sound pierced the air and you flinched a little in the darkness.
"How dare you! You think I'd just go around killing anyone I pleased? I did this for the good of the sorority, even if that leaves us with only three. They were going to tell everyone what we were doing. You of all people should be thanking me. If they'd have lived, everyone would know how you came by such good grades, Laura," said the leader.
"You know what, Autumn? I'm done with this crap. I don't need you bossing me around and killing off my friends. I'd rather be an idiot with shit grades than a murderer. I'll see you around," said the girl named Laura. Footsteps left the room and walked down the hall. There was silence in the room.
"We don't need her. She'll be next, that skank. I know how she is. She acts all high and mighty, but she'll expose us for what we are," said Autumn, the leader. The other girl stayed silent. "You'll stay with me, won't you, Tiffany? You've always been my favorite, my best friend."
"Yeah, Autumn. Whatever you say." You could almost hear the smirk in Autumn's voice.
"That's a good girl. Now, since you're the only one left, I guess I should show you how I did it. You'll be helping me with the next one," she said, chuckling slightly and moving to the bed. Your body stiffened underneath the bed as they drew closer. "I used a hex bag. You know what that is, right?" There was silence and you assumed Tiffany must have nodded her answer. "Well, I just put it right under here and...that's funny. It's gone," said Autumn, lifting up the mattress and finding the spot where the hex bag was empty. "It should be here. I put it right here yesterday. Where could it be?" Autumn began to search frantically for the bag, tossing pillows and blankets from the bed in her haste. Suddenly, jovial voices could be heard down the hall and all movement in the room froze. "We have to go. Come on." With that, the two girls fled the room, shutting the door quickly behind them. You felt the breath you didn't know you were holding exhale from your lungs and your muscles relax against the floorboards. Slowly, you rolled out from your hiding place and spotted Sam and Dean emerging from theirs. You could still feel your heart racing in your chest as you made you way to the window. With the hex bag stashed in your pocket, you three exited via the window, dropping down onto the grass.
"That was crazy," you said, leaning up against the building.
"Yeah, but we got exactly what we needed. Here, give me that hex bag," Sam said. You handed it to him and he made quick work of burning the damn thing. It burned a blue green as you watched it. Once the bag was reduced to smoldering embers, you started walking back to your respective cars.
"We've gotta stop them from hexing that other girl. We know where they'll strike next. It's just a matter of when," Dean said, opening the door to the Impala. You stood outside your car, listening.
"I agree. Meet up here tomorrow night around eight?," you suggested, unlocking your car.
"It's a date then," said Dean. You stared at him as you got into your car, you face probably a mask of disgust.
"No it isn't," you said as you pulled out of your parking space and drove off into the night.
The next day, you met the boys outside the dorms again. It was just getting dark and the plan was to catch the witches in the act. You had been keeping an eye on the dorms throughout the day, but they boys didn't know that. You were able to find where Laura's dorm was, a single like that other girl's, and you had monitored it for hours, making sure neither Autumn nor Tiffany had gone in. It had been terribly boring, but insuring this girl's safety was worth it. "Hey," you said, walking down from the building to meet them.
"You're here early," Sam said.
"Well, I figured showing up beforehand couldn't hurt, right? I've found where the next victim's dorm is, so we'd better get up there. I have a feeling those two from last night won't waste much more time. Come on," you said, leading them in. You passed nearly unseen through the throngs of people milling around in the lobby. There was apparently some huge party going on tonight, so the halls would be empty and anyone could easily move about without being spotted. You three found your way onto Laura's floor and hurried to her dorm room. You tried the door knob, but it was locked. "Do either of you two know how to pick a lock?" you asked. Dean nodded and bent down in front of the door, lock pick in hand. He made quick work of the door, smiling at his handiwork like a young child. You rolled your eyes involuntarily.
"I'll stay out here and keep watch," Sam said. He leaned up against the wall outside the door as you and Dean entered. You shut the door behind you quickly and peered about the room. It was dark and you couldn't see anything until a bright flash appeared in the center of the room. Your heart sank in your chest as you realized what you and Dean must have done.
"We've been waiting for you," said a voice from the darkness. Stepping to the center of the room emerged a hooded figure, one you could only assume to be Autumn. She withdrew her hood, revealing her face to you and Dean.
"Who are you?" you asked, your voice confident. She smirked.
"You know who I am. And I know who you are, Y/N," she said. Your blood ran cold as she said your name.
"How could you possibly know that?" She cackled, which was rather unsettling.
"Oh, I know many things. After all, you and your friends weren't exactly quiet last night after leaving Ali's room. I heard everything you said," she replied. Dean shifted behind you, trying to push you behind him in a protective stance. You elbowed his arm back.
"So, what do you want? Do you intend to kill us?" you asked, your previous confidence diminishing. She laughed again.
"Of course. I can't have you two getting in my way again, can I?" she said darkly. Suddenly, her hand shot up from her side and you felt your throat becoming constricted, her fingers curling into a claw-like shape. Though you didn't know much about witches, you hadn't thought they had such power. You couldn't breath and your hands desperately clasped your own throat. You fell to your knees and Dean was suddenly before you, gun pointed at her.
"Let her go," he said in a stern voice. You tried to choke out a reply to him, to tell him to stop being an idiot, but you couldn't. You felt your eyelids growing heavy as if you were going to pass out any minute. The lack of oxygen in your lungs was appalling and you found yourself panicking slightly.
"And why should I?" Autumn asked, slightly loosening her grip on you.
"Because if you don't, I'm gonna shoot your sorry ass," he replied, his tone as cold as ice. Autumn chuckled and let her hand drop, the grip on your neck released. You gasped and coughed behind Dean, air finally filling your lungs again.
"You make a convincing argument, Winchester. Unfortunately, not convincing enough," she said before raising her hand again, her grip on his throat this time. You saw as he fell to his knees as well, though his gun stayed pointed at her. He was about to pull the trigger when from out of the darkness came another hooded figure. Raising what looked to be a large porcelain cat above their head, they brought it down on Autumn, the cat shattering into many pieces and knocking the lead witch out cold. As you and Dean watched in awe, the hooded figure revealed themselves.
"Are you guys okay?" they asked. You both nodded. "I'm sorry if that was, like, bad or whatever. I just couldn't let her, like, kill you guys. That's just not right," said the girl, Tiffany, you assumed. Dean was up on his feet first, helping you up next.
"No, you did great. Thank you," you croaked out, your voice hoarse from Autumn. You suddenly heard banging from the other side of the door and quickly opened it, Sam rushing in with a worried look on his face.
"What happened?! I heard voices and was trying to open the door, but it locked behind you. Is everyone okay?" he asked. Dean nodded.
"Yeah, Sammy, we're fine. Just a little shaken up," he replied.
"Well, you guys can, like, go now. I can handle Autumn. I just gotta go get some stuff to revoke her powers. Then I'm disbanding this stupid sorority for, like, ever. I don't even know why I got involved with this witch stuff. But thank you guys for showing up when you did. She was totally gonna kill Laura if you guys didn't intervene. I'll be right back," Tiffany said, leaving the room. Sam followed after her.
"I'm gonna go with to make sure everything goes smoothly. You guys wait right here," he said, leaving the room and hurrying after Tiffany. Dean watched as he left and the door shut. He flipped the light switch on the wall and turned around to face you.
"What the hell was that?" you asked him, shoving his chest slightly. He looked at you perplexed.
"What was what?"
"You, jumping in front of me to save my ass. What the hell, Dean? I had that! I was fine!" He chuckled a little, staring at you with an incredulous look.
"You were fine? Y/N, you weren't even close to being fine. That bitch was choking you! I don't know what you think fine means, but that sure as hell wasn't it," he retorted. You sighed loudly.
"Dean, this whole time, you've been up my ass. What's with that? I'm a competent hunter! Why can't you let me do my own thing?"
"I'm not saying you're not a competent hunter! You are! Your instincts are some of the best I've ever seen but your life was on the line and if I hadn't stepped in when I did, she would have killed you! That would have been another on my hands and I will be damned if I let another person die because of me!"
"Oh my God! Since when do you care about me? You've been belittling me this whole hunt. From the beginning, you didn't want me here! So why all of a sudden do you give a shit about what happens to me? Tell me that, Dean! I deserve to know!" you shouted, your fists balling up at your sides. You were so angry, probably the angriest you'd ever been. He fumed in front of you, his mouth in a tight, hard line.
"I'm here to do my job and my job is to make sure these sons of bitches get taken out with as little death as possible. So if that means saving your ass to get my job done, then goddammit, I'm gonna do it. I don't care if you live or die, as long as your blood isn't on my hands," he said, his eyes piercing and his face hard. You would have cried right then and there if you hadn't been so angry with him. The old wounds you'd tried so hard to seal were opening up again and it was all his fault. You wanted to hit him, you wanted to hit him hard enough so that he could feel the pain he'd caused you, the pain he was still causing you. It was like having your heart ripped out again. After a few moments of silence, you spoke.
"So that's it? You don't care? Did you ever care about me? God, I think back to ten years ago and I can't help but think of what a fool I was, what an absolute jackass I was. Ya had me convinced you loved me. For the longest time, I could never wrap my head around why you did it, why you broke my heart like that. I still let it get to me, ya know. It still hurts, right here. Right here in my chest I can feel my heart just being ripped out again. And it hurts, Dean. God, does it hurt," you said.
"Hey, I was doing you a favor!"
"Oh, a favor?! Dean, how was breaking my heart a 'favor'? You doing that fucked me up. That. Fucked. Me. Up. Dean. I have not been the same since then. I know, it was ten years ago, but you can't do that to a fifteen year old girl who thinks the world of you. You can't do that to a twenty-five year old girl who thinks the world of you. You can't do that to anyone who loves you with every fiber of their being, who would do anything for you because when you do that, they break, and they don't ever get fixed again. I had so many problems as a kid and you made me feel whole again. Then you took that all away from me and made me half a person," you said, your voice soft. You could feel tears coming but you blinked them away. "I don't want to be half a person anymore, Dean. I want to be whole," you whispered. You shut your eyes, the tears not listening to you. Suddenly, his lips were upon yours and you couldn't think.
"Stop talking, please. Stop. I've loved you from the moment I first saw you all those years ago. You've been constantly on my mind these past ten years. I didn't wanna leave you. I wanted to stay by your side forever but this damn job, God, it's so dangerous and I thought...I thought being close to me would get you killed and I couldn't handle that. So I ran. I left you, hoping you'd forget about me, that you'd find some other guy that could give you the life you deserved. I never wanted any of this for you," he said between kisses and tears. You opened your eyes finally and peered into his glossy green ones. "I'm half a person, too. But I think I found my other half." You felt more tears spill onto your cheeks. You kissed him desperately, needing this comfort or you were going to fall apart. His lips were rough against yours, desperation pouring into the kiss.
"I've missed you," you said softly, breaking the kiss and burying your face in his warm chest.
"Me too," he said, hugging your hard and firm against him. It was then that Sam and Tiffany got back.
"Whoa, you guys need a minute?" Sam said upon opening the door. You quickly pushed yourself away from Dean and wiped at your face.
"No, it's fine. Come in," you said, your voice ragged from the yelling and crying. You were fairly sure your eyes were puffy too. Dean looked at you wistfully and slightly pained that you'd pushed him away. You looked back at him with the same sad look on your face as Tiffany entered and read from a large spell tome. The words were in Latin, you were pretty sure, but your brain was a garbled mess and you couldn't focus on what was happening. Eventually, Autumn came to, but she didn't remember any of the killings she'd done, or even that the sorority existed. She left the room in a daze and Tiffany said her goodbyes to the three of you. Once she'd left, Sam turned to you and Dean.
"Is everything okay? You both look like hell," he said. Dean punched him in the shoulder.
"Shut up, Sammy." He left the room, followed by you. Sam rubbed his arm and shut the door behind him but said nothing.
Outside, the cool air cleared your head a little. You walked up to Dean and wrapped your arm around his. "Did you mean everything you said back there?" you asked in a quiet voice. He stopped walking and looked at you.
"Every word," he replied. "Will you take me back, even after all the pain I caused you?"
"In a heartbeat," you replied, pulling him down for a kiss. For the first time in what seemed like ages, you felt like yourself. "I love you, Dean Winchester," you said, breaking the kiss. He smiled fondly at you and it warmed your heart.
"I love you, Y/F/L/N," he responded, kissing you again. You smiled into the kiss and took his hand in yours.
"Don't leave me again, okay. Promise?"
"Promise."