FantasiesDreaming: Hello, my favorite people! Guess what? I'm FREEEE :D
Finals: Is she allowed to be happy now?
School: Hmph... You're over... so technically she's not under our control anymore. For the moment.
FantasiesDreaming: AHAHAHA TAKE THAT! I'M GONNA WRITE ANOTHER CHAPTER NOW!
School: *narrows eyes* We're not done here... We'll get you next semester. *Ominous laughter
Til then, enjoy! This is where the big plot is introduced and things get interesting :)
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"So we've ruled out angel, demon, wendigo, wraith, shifter… Anything we haven't crossed off the list?" Dean asked tiredly.
Sam pushed away a large stack of thick books on his desk at the hotel and sat back. "Nothing," he replied. "Which means that we're dealing with something we've never seen before, and we have no idea how to kill it."
Dean let out a bitter chuckle. "Awesome." His phone vibrated and he picked it up, and a few moments later said, "Hey, check it out. Arya says here to go to 'Best Burritos' at 1:00 today and to pick up something she'll leave on her table. And uh, 'no eye contact'." Dean flashed one of his big, happy smiles at his brother. "Looks like things are looking up! We're gonna get burritos for lunch!"
30 minutes later, Dean bit into his burrito and closed his eyes with satisfaction. "Naw thish," he spluttered with his mouth full, "isha guh burrituh."
Sam raised his eyebrows, and said, "Can you not do that? It's kinda disturbing." The sound of the door of the mini restaurant opening made him turn his head. "Oh look, there she is." He quickly looked back at Dean so that it didn't seem like he was staring at the teen. "How many are there?"
"Jush huh an-"
"Dean. Seriously."
After a magnificent swallow, Dean continued on. "Just her and, uh," - he did a quick count – "seven other friends. Damn, they're loud."
"Yeah. No need to keep their heads down and look over their shoulder, I guess," Sam replied wistfully. After a few moments, he said, "Kinda makes you wonder what kind of life she's living." He looked at Dean thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked, confused. "A normal life with lots of friends and a nice, normal house. We've seen enough of others like that."
"No, not exactly. The people we see either know the supernatural and fight or don't know. She's just… in the middle," Sam said.
"Like Charlie?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah, but 15 years old."
Dean shrugged. "I don't know man. She finds her middle zone, that's great. She's the only kid I know crazy enough to want to learn about all this supernatural crap."
"Yeah, after her encounter." Sam glanced quickly at the rambunctiously loud teen throwing chips at the guy next to her, laughing. "Whatever that encounter was."
Another 30 minutes later, the group of teens shuffled out of the chairs, slowly making their exit. As she got up, Arya expertly dropped something from her jacket in a way that no one else in the store could see but Sam and Dean. Dean gave a slight whistle as the kids left, and whispered to Sam, "Seriously man, where the hell did she learn stuff like that? Even I can't do that smooth of a drop." After all, the Winchesters had had a lot of experience with having to "accidentally" drop something so that the other brother could pick up a trail.
Sam shrugged, got up, and walked towards the soda machine to refill his drink. As he came back, he stumbled and placed his hand on the empty table to steady himself. He neared Dean and muttered, "Got it. Let's go."
Back in the hotel, Dean said, "Ok, let's see what we had to pull a whole Mission-Impossible-meets-Spy-Kids stunt to get." Sam took out a small note from his pocket. "'Forgot and thought you might want this. Picked it up with gloves, found by flashing light and dead kids and animals,'" he read off of the note. He unfolded it, and inside was a tiny case filled with ugly, thick, black goo.
"Well, this might have been very helpful to know 24 hours ago!" Dean exclaimed. "What is it, hectoplasm?"
"No…" Sam had already opened it and was gazing at it intently. "It's too thick for that…"
Sam reached out to touch it, when suddenly Dean was hit full-on with a very bad feeling. "Sammy, wai-"
Sam's whole body went rigid the moment his finger came into contact with the goo. The case dropped to the floor as Sam keeled over, his face tense and frozen with fear and pain. "Sammy!" Dean cried. "Sammy, talk to me! What's going on? Sammy!" It was no use. Sam was lost in another world of hurt and his eyes were glazed over.
Jess was right there. She walked into the bedroom late at night, and sat gently on the bed. No, Sam thought. No, Jess! Get out of here! You're not- She screamed as she was dragged onto the ceiling, and the whole place smelled of burning flesh, and Sam's tears wouldn't stop, and he screamed himself hoarse to help her, but he couldn't. Suddenly, the scene changed. He was with Jo, and he was hurting her. He was pushing her down and his eyes gleamed black. Stop, Sam thought, broken. But he couldn't. The demon was controlling him, he could not move himself. And deep inside where he was raging a losing battle against it, it told him, See? There's nothing wrong with this. You like this, it said triumphantly. No! he yelled at himself, and the scene changed again, and Lucifer loomed over him and smiled confidently, saying, It had to be you, Sam. It always had to be you…
No, Sam sobbed internally, because he couldn't speak, he couldn't see, he didn't know where he was, and what was that light glaring into his eyes, why was he suddenly in a hotel room and why was a man in a trench coat staring at him? He blinked a few times and the room gradually came into focus, and he suddenly remembered who he was and where he was, and he immediately looked around to make sure Dean was ok.
"Sammy? Sammy! I'm here." Dean sounded relieved. "Damn it, Sam, why the hell did you touch that thing? You should know better than that!" Dean choked on his words and swallowed down his fear of losing his only brother, and Sam could tell he wasn't really angry.
"N-not hectoplasm," Sam said weakly. Dean snorted as Sam looked up at Cas, who was standing by him and looking worried. "Thanks, Cas, for… whatever you did."
"You're welcome," he replied in his gruff voice. "You are lucky. If Dean hadn't called me and I hadn't reached in time, you would probably be dead. Whatever you experienced was literally tearing you up from the inside." Dean looked at Sam sharply, who murmured, "I, uh, I saw some… some things." Dean narrowed his eyes but knew not to push it any further. Cas looked at both of them, obviously puzzled about what they were thinking, and then bent down and picked up the small case of goo.
"What is this?" he asked.
"I was hoping you could tell us," Dean replied, confused. "That's what Sam touched when he went all wacko right now."
Cas held it up to the light and examined it carefully. After a few moments, he told them, "I've never seen anything like it. It's not hectoplasm."
"Yeah, we know," Dean said, slightly exasperated. "Hectoplasm doesn't make you have a little hell fit the moment you touch it."
"It's incredibly… old," Cas continued, as if Dean hadn't spoken. "The only thing older than the things I've seen that matches this is… No, it can't be." He placed the case on the table and turned away, looking troubled.
"What?" Sam asked. "What can't it be?"
Cas faced them and said gravely, "There's only one thing that is this old and leaves this venomous substance every time it strikes. Well, it's not really a thing," he added. "More like the most powerful entity that has existed since the dawn of time, before humans or even I was created."
"Wait," Dean interrupted. "So you're saying, whatever this is is older than you? You're like, what, 2000 years old!"
"Older than me, older than God, and a hundred times more powerful than all the angels and God are combined." He paused as he took in Sam and Dean's incredulous expressions. "I know this must be… surprising," he added unsurely.
"Surprising?" Dean asked skeptically. "You just told us that this... this thing has more mojo than anything, and that it's existed forever, and nobody knows? Pretty damn surprising!"
"Well, it should be, given that he was locked up this whole time," Cas continued. "Chaos – that's what this entity calls itself, Chaos-"
"Wonderful. I like him already," Dean said sarcastically.
Cas glanced at Dean curiously. "After seeing what his venom did to your brother, I'm surprised that you can bring yourself to actually like this-"
"No, no, Cas, that's… He's being sarcastic. Keep going," Sam said quickly.
Cas broke off his gaze, still confused, but continued. "Chaos was locked up by the Seeker. The Seeker is the only person with power strong enough to rival Chaos," he added after seeing the confused looks on the Winchesters' faces. "The Seeker was actually a spirit – not ghost-like, but just a spirit – and every 100 years it found the wisest and kindest person living at the time – always a wise old man – and resided in him, giving him all of its power and temporary immortality."
"So…" Sam said slowly. "If this Seeker matches this thing - Chaos - in power, what you're saying is that the one guy it chose had… what did you say? 'A hundred times more power than all the angels and God combined'?" He gave Dean a questioning look.
"And this never blew up in the Seeker's face?" Dean finished for him. "I mean, I'm sure they all started nice, but that kind of power never ends well for a guy, does it?"
"You're right, it didn't," Cas agreed. "God managed to make an alliance with the Seeker many centuries ago, and… What was it?" The angel scrunched up his face trying to remember. "I'm sorry, this was so long ago I find it hard to recall," he admitted.
"That's fine, Cas," Sam said kindly. "Just tell us what you can."
Cas thought a while longer, and then he grunted. "God held open the gates to… to Purgatory, and the Seeker fought an exhausting battle and managed to trap Chaos in there. That way humans could progress without being killed off by Chaos and… oh." Cas stopped and stared at his large shoes.
"What?" Sam asked.
"That's why Chaos is free again. It's… it's my fault. I freed him when I opened the gates," he said, disheartened.
"Come on, Cas, this isn't on you," Dean said, his instinctual compassion kicking in. "Besides, that was a couple years ago. It doesn't make sense that he'd start attacking only now."
"No, actually, it does," Cas stated. "He would need some time to recuperate. He was in there for over 3000 years," he said factually. "And now he is up to full strength… It does make sense."
"So he's making people confess to their crimes?" Dean asked incredulously. "That doesn't seem too bad."
"That isn't him," Cas said as he shook his head. "Everything else though, the rabid animals sensing when he's nearby, and the car crashes, those are his work. Although why he is resorting to very trivial accidents is beyond me. Chaos has the capacity to wipe out the world just by thinking it. Perhaps he is simply starting small."
Sam looked at Dean worriedly. "Well, what about the Seeker?" he asked Cas. "Can't we get his help? Get him to trap Chaos again?"
"No," Cas replied sadly. "Like Dean said, without anything to fight and use his abilities on, the Seeker grew abusive of his power until the spirit left him to die. Since then, there has been no need of it to inhabit anybody, and nobody worthy of it anyway. No one, not even me, knows where it is now."
"So then… Is there any way to kill Chaos? Or trap him without this… this Seeker?" Dean asked.
"No. Chaos can not be killed. He is immortal. I will have to look for another solution for trapping him in Purgatory without the Seeker's aid. And I should warn you, he doesn't just kill," Cas said gravely. "He creates chaos in many forms. He causes misunderstanding and violence and sews seeds of distrust amongst people. Then he feeds off of the chaos and sorrow he created, and eventually finishes off the people he has manipulated, growing stronger each time he strikes. And he leaves this," – he gestured at the case of black venom – "wherever he goes to harm those who stumble upon his victims after."
There was an awkward silence as the boys took all of the information in. "Well, this is just wonderful," Dean grumbled finally.
Cas looked at him as if he was growing a horn out of his forehead. "I do not understand how this is wonderful. In fact, it's as far from wonderful as-"
"Cas, he's not… just let it go."
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Phew! So... got the big bad wolf introduced! What do you think? Please review!
