There were issues uploading this chapter (thank you so much TotallyChic for letting me know!), so I apologize for any technical difficulties, and multiple notifications for this chapter. Hopefully the others upload more smoothly.
A bit more gore. This is a shorter chapter, but the next one will be longer.
Once the ringing had stopped in your ears, you slowly sat up, blinking back the salt out of your eyes. Sam and Dean were standing in front of you, poised with their guns out, and Crowley was standing in the exact same place as before.
"Should've known that the woodland creatures would come," Crowley muttered. His eyes flicked over to your face and processed your confusion. "Y/N, this is Moose and Squirrel."
"Moose and… squirrel?" you repeated, your words feeling stuffy and overlarge in your mouth.
"They're nicknames that he thinks are funny," Dean said, staying perfectly still as though movement would scare Crowley away.
You moved backwards towards your mom, who took you protectively in her arms.
"You move, Crowley, and I'll stab your heart so quickly that you won't have time to yell," Dean growled.
"I'm not going anywhere," Crowley said flatly, looking mildly irritated. "I know the treaty just as well as you do." His words slowed slightly and he looked directly at you. "I can still do this." Crowley raised his hand in the same manner as before, and it was as though in slow motion.
"No!" roared Dean, jumping forward to stop Crowley's fingers from snapping, but it was too late; this time, however, a collective, sickening crack rang in your ears and your mom toppled like a rag doll onto the floor, flopping backwards with finality in her posture.
"No!" you could hear yourself screaming, and suddenly you were aware that your siblings' necks had been snapped too - they were on the floor. They were dead.
Dead.
Snapped.
Gone.
A chill ran up your arms and the screaming in your ears wouldn't stop; it took you a moment to realize that it was you making the sound, and it was cut off abruptly and tears spilled over your cheeks and onto your family's fallen bodies and broken necks.
You were barely aware that Sam was by your side, holding your shoulders almost protectively, and telling you something, but you either couldn't hear him or couldn't process his words. Crowley also seemed to be shouting at you, a look of desperation on his face, but you couldn't hear him either. The tears suddenly seemed to run out, leaving you sitting emptily on the floor, staring in shock at your family. The temperature in the room had plunged, it seemed, to freezing temperatures, but you didn't care. Your head felt as though it were spinning, and a wave of dizziness made the edges of your vision black.
"Hey! Y/N!" Sam was saying.
Dean was suddenly there too, leaving Crowley standing by the door. "Sam, we've got to get the hell out of here, in case he decides to change his mind-"
"Yeah. Let's go," Sam said, pulling you to your feet. You let them lead you forward, and only when you left the front door did you realize what was happening.
"I can't leave them!" you cried out, a sob escaping your lips. "They might still be alive - they might be okay - we need to call 911-" You tugged out of their grip but Dean caught your wrist.
"They're gone," he said quietly. "There's nothing you can do."
"No! They're fine, they're just…" You couldn't finish your sentence and broke down again.
"Keep going, go!" Dean said, running to the black car you had seen earlier today.
"I'm not going!" you protested, pulling away when Sam opened the back door for you to get inside. "I'm staying here! I need to - I need… my family… they're alive, they need help!"
"Y/N," Sam said, bending so that he was eye level with you. "I know that this seems like a nightmare right now, but you've got to come with us." His tone was soft but urgent, and you nodded, and the fact that you were getting in the car with two strangers didn't even faze you at all; the only thing you could think of was the cracking sound that had reverberated in your ears.
You had been riding in the car with Sam and Dean for at least two hours now, and you hadn't spoken one word. The brothers were speaking softly in the front seat, and they hadn't pressed you to talk at all. You could feel your hands trembling and you rested your head against the window, your cheeks bone dry since the shock of what happened had registered. Surprisingly, though you had no idea where you were going, you didn't care. It didn't matter if these two men were going to shackle you up in their basement and starve you to death - you found that you didn't care at all.
The bouncing of the car was unexpectedly soothing and the hum of the motor kept you awake, staring out the window yet not seeing.
Eventually, Dean cleared his throat, and you tilted your head slightly to see him looking at you through the rearview mirror.
"We're stopping for food. Do you want anything?" he asked.
You shook your head no. Dean steered the car into the lot of a poorly lit diner and shut off the engine.
"Stay in here with her," he muttered to Sam, as though he thought you'd have the spirit to run away. Only a black pit of despair was inside you right now, and the thought of trying to escape hadn't even crossed your mind.
Rain began to patter on the roof of the car and the ambience lessened the tight feeling in your chest slightly. Night had fallen an hour ago and only the twinkling of streetlights cast an orange glow into the car, but it was obscured slightly by the obstruction of raindrops gathering on the windows.
Sam cleared his throat slightly. "I know that this won't… make the situation any less horrible for you, but I know what it's like to have your family killed in front of you," he said quietly. "It seems like the end of the world, but I promise you that things will get better. Definitely not today, and maybe not even a couple months from now. But they will."
You didn't answer, afraid that any sort of response would come out choked.
"In the meantime," Sam continued, "if you want to stay with us, we've got a place - a bunker, actually - over in Kansas."
"Thanks," you whispered back, unsure of what else to say. "Why did Crowley… I don't understand. Why did he want me to go on that academic trip-?"
"It wasn't an academic trip. He wanted you to be on his side," Sam said. "There's a war coming, and it's going to be bloody. He thinks that you might be the game-changer."
"That's what you guys think, too," you said, meeting Sam's eyes for the first time.
Sam sighed. "We do, but that doesn't mean that you're just a pawn in this war. Crowley would treat you horribly, then throw you out like garbage. We're not like that."
The creaking of the car door opening alerted them to Dean's return.
"Here," he said, handing first a wrap to Sam and then a sandwich to you. "I figured you like grilled cheese." He pulled a burger out of the bag for himself and unwrapped it.
Startled, you looked down at the grilled cheese in your hands and then back at Dean.
"Thanks," you whispered again, blinking rapidly to avoid tears spilling again.
"We'll probably keep going for another hour or two," Dean said, starting the engine. "Then we'll stop at a motel for the night."
Tbc
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