Author's Notes: So, as warned, I'm new at this story posting thing. I forgot to add spoiler warnings. It's set at the end of Season 7 but there are references to the whole series. Supernatural and the wonderful characters belong to Eric Kripke and the CW.
My goal is to be finished before the season starts in October, or it becomes AU.
I'm writing for my own enjoyment but constructive reviews, advice and ideas would be welcome.
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Chapter 1
It hadn't taken Sam long to figure out what happened to Dean and Cas. The shock wave as the leader of the Leviathans exploded, coating the lab in black goo, made it obvious the plan had succeeded. But killing Dick Roman and sending him back to Purgatory had opened a portal that had sucked Dean down with him. Sam had quickly run all the possible scenarios through his head, while he was setting the charges to blow up the lab, not that there were many. His brother was either dead or in Purgatory. He knew Dean wasn't dead, he just knew he'd feel it if he was. That meant Dean was in Purgatory.
Sam had retrieved the Impala from where Meg had crashed it into the sign in front of the building, cringing at the damage to her exterior but thankful it still ran. He could see the explosion lighting up the sky in the Impala's rear-view mirror as he left the SurcoCorp lab behind him. He spent a couple of days in the Omaha area, staying low and watching police reports, the news and checking the hospitals and morgue just in case he was wrong about Dean being dead. By Monday he decided to head back to the cabin in Whitefish and figure out his next move. He stopped in Sioux Falls and spent a day with Sheriff Mills. She had been a great help to him getting Dean back when he'd been taken back to 1944. He told her about Bobby's ghost staying to help them and his decision to then move on. He left out how close he came to becoming a vengeful spirit. Sam knew Jody and Bobby had gotten close in the last few months since he saved her from a Levi while she was in the hospital. After she had used her mom voice, he promised to stay in touch and she said she'd keep an eye on Singer Salvage. They had been so preoccupied with getting rid of Dick Roman, he hadn't thought about Bobby leaving everything to him and Dean.
It had been almost a month of futile researching for how to get his brother back. He'd try for Cas, too. But if there was a decision to save both or maybe not get Dean back, it would be an easy choice. He had few connections left in the hunting community. The recent years had been hard on the small collection of men and women who called themselves Hunters; between Demons, Angels and Leviathans on top of the usual hazards they faced every day, there weren't that many left. And many still held him responsible for the near-Apocalypse and some knew of the Winchester's failure to stop the release of the Leviathans. The few names left in Bobby or their notebooks who would talk to him didn't know or hadn't heard of any way to help Dean. The notes from Kevin Tran's translation of the Word of God tablet were about how to put the Leviathans back, not get someone out of Purgatory. Sam had tried to reach Charlie, but she hadn't been joking when she said she knew how to disappear. Or at least that's what he hoped. The possibility that she'd been taken by the Levis was not an option he was going to consider.
Without Bobby or Frank he had been reduced to try summoning Meg and Crowley for information. Meg wasn't, or more likely couldn't, answer. Crowley, on top of making snarky statements about the Leviathan weapon having 'a bit of a kick', had deliberately left out the dangers of killing the head Leviathan, and was completely ignoring his calls. He had heard Crowley's demons had been taking down Leviathans all over the globe. And who knew what he was doing with or to Kevin, the prophet? Help from the other end of the supernatural spectrum wasn't forthcoming, either. It was no surprise but he hadn't heard anything from the Angels. The Winchesters were never their favorites and the few left after Castiel's purging of Raphael's followers and the attacks by Leviathans had depleted their ranks. How had Cas put it, Heaven was empty, the entire garrison was dead or in hiding.
Researching how to open Purgatory to return Dean wasn't the only thing keeping Sam occupied. The news was filled with a lot of speculation on the disappearance of Richard Roman and reports of bombings of several of Roman Enterprises facilities. Sam knew more on the subject than all the TV pundits combined. There was small army of hunters, conspiracy-theorists and survivalists out there destroying the Levis research and manufacturing plants. Sam had started the destruction there at the SucroCorp lab. With the information about the first shipment of the ultimate food additive Kevin had managed to get to Sam before he had been taken, Sam had been able to stop the shipment to L.A. He had contacted Garth, Mackey and Lee Chambers to 'spread the word' that Dean had cut off the 'head of the snake'. That was probably the only useful thing Crowley had shared after Dick had been destroyed, "keep the remaining Levis from organizing".
It had taken weeks but millions of people were coming out of their Leviathan food additive stupors and wondering how they gotten the way they were. The last couple of years, and especially the last two months, had seen a lot of strange events. Well, not really so strange to Sam's perspective. The natural disasters Lucifer had inflicted on the world before Sam had taken him back to his cage. Cas' short, violent reign as the New God. The unexpected eclipse Death had arranged to send the Leviathans back to Purgatory The sudden disappearance of many of the world'sfamous and important people. Sam wished Frank was here to see he was right about all the celebrities he had thought were Leviathans. And then there were the radical changes in behaviors, and now vanishings, of their friends, families and neighbors. The disappearance of thousands of people over the last six months, people that Sam knew had been killed and eaten by Leviathans, was down-played by the authorities. Now, the rest of the world was questioning the meaning of all those events.
Uncertainty had led many people to seek "spiritual guidance". But because Cas had smote the leaders of so many religious and spiritual organizations, the Houses of God still able to hold services were over-flowing with those seeking hope, understanding and guidance. And already, new-age clergy and gurus were popping up everywhere and drawing huge crowds. Most were also raking in donations hand over fist, pedaling the same old 'enlightenment' as before but adding new phrases to fit the current crisis.
There was one, a woman from Spokane in eastern Washington that seemed to be different than the rest. News stories said she'd survived, well not just survived but rescued the other tenants, in the sudden collapse of a small apartment building. The other survivors had all described feeling a massive jolt, like a huge earthquake. Geologists reported there had been a large single spike on seismographs in that area. Actually, they reported there had been a few similar seismic anomalies all over the country. The list of places made the hair on his neck stand up, Providence, Rhode Island, two old cemeteries outside Lawrence, Kansas and in southern of Wyoming and Portland, Oregon….. and the list went on. They were all places where the barriers between dimensions had been broken. But the part that really got Sam's attention, the jolts were felt at the exact time Dean had killed Dick Roman, May 18th at 9: 56pm.
None of the residents of the collapsed building knew much about the heroic young woman that had rescued them. She had recently moved to town and into the building. They all described how, despite having an obvious head wound and being covered in her own blood, she had found them in their crumbling apartments and either led or carried them to safety, stopping to touch each one gently on the forehead before going back for more people. Reporters questioned the survivors and emergency personnel; they all said she didn't say a word either at the site or in the hospital. They had taken her to the Emergency Room assuming she was in shock. By the time they reached the ER, her head wound had disappeared. In fact, she appeared to be in perfect health. The EMTs also remarked how none of the tenants had anything but minor cuts and bruises, no broken bones and no internal injuries.
The hospital staff, interviewed the next day, stated how lucky it had been that there hadn't been any major injuries because a lot of their staff had not shown up for work or left very suddenly that night. Sam guessed that was because of Leviathans running for the hills before Crowley's demons could take them down. One nurse described how the woman didn't seem able to understand or speak English. Well, not just English, but none of the translators of Spanish, Russian, Chinese or any other language they tried had been able to get a response. She just sat there on the stretcher watching all the activity. After a couple of hours, the woman had stood up and announced, "I'm sorry my coming caused so much pain and destruction" and walked out of the ER. By the time security had tried to stop her, she had vanished in the night.
The Spokane police didn't have much more information according to their official statements. Her name was Amelia Stone, she was new to the Spokane area and they could find no family, there was a recently issued driver's license and Social Security number but no previous employment. Law enforcement spokespeople also made a point of saying the collapse of the building had NOT been a bombing or ruptured gas main and the cause was still under investigation. Sam was pretty sure he could enlighten them on the cause, not that anybody would believe him.
Sam didn't pay much attention to the survivor's stories of miraculous healing as she had helped them from the building. People in dangerous situations can get pretty hysterical. No, it was the numerous stories in newspapers and blogs in the month since that night. Amelia Stone had been spotted several times in since mid-May. At every place she had been seen someone claimed to have been healed or reported a spiritual awakening or getting a message from their long-lost hamster or their beloved, but dead, sister. One guy reported getting the recipe for his recently deceased mom's spaghetti sauce. Another said she told the funniest joke he'd ever heard and that it had stopped him from committing suicide. Farmers claimed dry wells now had water, ranchers stated every mare, cow, sow and ewe they owned was pregnant and a small forest fire had suddenly been rained out by 'clouds that seemed to come out of no where'.
She never asked for or accepted anything but food, water and a place to sleep for the night. Witnesses said she didn't appear to be hitch-hiking. She'd be standing at interstate ramps or rest areas or and somebody always just stopped and gave her a ride. A small group of people had started travelling behind her, documenting her "miracles". A few had figured the route she was taking, like Sam, and would be staked out in rest areas. Some called themselves followers but she never spoke to them. Amelia never even acknowledged their presence unless one of them was hungry, dehydrated or hurt.
Tracing her stops and small detours on a map, Sam could see she was travelling on an easterly course, starting along I-90 out of Spokane. Basically, she seemed to be headed for Omaha, the site of the SucroCorp lab where they had dispatched Dick Roman and where Dean had disappeared. Hunters, and especially Winchesters, don't believe in coincidence. He didn't yet know who or what this woman was but he knew he had to find her. Somehow, Amelia Stone was the key to bringing Dean home.
