"Where do you think she could be?" Dean asked Sam. "We already checked her apartment and all the normal teenage hangout places. Nobody knows where she is."
"I bet she's at the school," Sam said.
"Why would you think that?" John asked. Time was of the essence and Sam was always coming up with crazy theories that didn't pan out.
"Because she's actually going to raise that demon, right? Samhain is known for his love of heat. She'll want to be close to the hottest heat source in town and that's the kiln in the artroom."
"That's the best theory we have," Dean cut in when it looked like their dad was about to argue. "Let's go."
Dean grabbed the keys before John could and it felt a little bit more like old times with him in the driver's seat and Sammy sitting shotgun. Old times with the bonus of their parents in the back seat. He sped off towards the school.
They crept in the school and as they approached the art room, they heard chanting. They all pulled their guns and ran into the room. As they entered the floor was splitting and dark smoke was pouring out. "You're too late," Tracy gloated.
Dean shot her anyway. The only good witch was a dead witch as far as he was concerned. He walked further into the room and nearly tripped over the dead art teacher.
The smoke continued pouring into the room and went straight into John Winchester's mouth. "Crap," Dean said, as he fingered Ruby's knife inside his jacket. He couldn't stab his own father.
John/Samhain looked at everyone in the room and calmly turned around and walked out the door. He didn't need to bother killing these stupid mortal by himself. He was about to unleash the terrors of Hell on this town, on this earth. They would do his dirty work for him.
"Where do you think he's going?" Mary asked.
"Well, where would you go if you wanted to raise the forces of the night?" Sam asked.
"The cemetery," Dean and Mary answered in unison.
The three of them took off. "We can't use the knife on Dad," Sam pointed out.
"I know. We'll have to exorcise it."
"He's not going to stand still to be exorcised, Dean. We may need more than our usual weapons."
"Sam, no, you're not going to use your psychic whatever. Words will be enough."
"Dean, maybe he should try the other way," Mary said. She didn't want anything to happen to John. Sam seemed to know what he was doing the other day.
"No," Dean insisted. He had never even liked it when Sam had visions, and this was so much more. "Case closed."
Mary realized Dean was just as bossy as John. Sam must have had a real fun childhood.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
The demon headed down the steps of the mausloleum. There were a bunch of human kids congregating in one of the cells. He closed the gate and locked it.
"Hey!" one of the boys yelled. "You locked us in here." That was all he had time to do before the walls started shaking and people started crawling out of their crypts. The boy was dragged back into one to spend eternity.
Sam, Dean, and Mary clambered down the stairs. "Help them," Sam directed Dean and Mary.
"Dude, you're not going off on your own."
"Just help them," Sam insisted and went off after the demon.
"I'll go with him," Mary said and ran off after him before Dean could protest. More than anything he wanted to go with them, but he knew someone had to stay and save these stupid kids.
"Get back!" he yelled and shot the lock off the door. He herded the kids past him and went in to deal with the ghosts and zombies.
"Hey," Sam said as he entered the altar where Samhain was performing his ritual. The demon shot a bright, white light at him, but Sam kept walking at him. "That demon ray-gun stuff, it doesn't work on me. Omnis imundis," he began, but the demon ran at him and started attacking him. Sam was fighting back when Mary walked into the room.
"No," she screamed. This wasn't going to end well for her husband or her son.
The demon shoved Sam aside and strode up to Mary. He grabbed her. Sam did the only thing he could. He held out his hand and started exorcising the demon with his mind. He knew his family was going to be upset with him, but this was the only way to save his parents.
Dean walked in the room and saw what was going on. The demon was just spitting out the last of the smoke. John slumped to the floor and Mary fell down and knelt beside him.
"John, are you OK?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sammy, I saw what you did. I thought I gave you a direct order not to do that anymore."
"I know, but what was I supposed to do?" Sam asked.
Dean was torn. On the one hand that psychic thing really freaked him out. On the other hand, Sam had a point. If he knew how to do what Sam did and could do it, he didn't think he would have been able to not do it when it came to saving his family.
"You should have used that knife your little demon friend gave you. That kills demons right?" John asked. He had only seen it used once, but it seemed pretty effective.
"It also kills the host, Dad. In this case that would be you," Sam added unnecessarily.
"We had this same argument back in Missouri. I told you to shoot me with the Colt when the Yellow-Eyed demon had possessed me and you didn't do it. If you had, I would have died naturally, I wouldn't have sold my soul, you wouldn't have died so your brother wouldn't have had to sell his soul. Everything wouldn't have gotten so messed up."
"I'm sorry I've always been such a disappointment to you, Dad," Sam yelled.
Dean knew this was coming. He had been surprised they had managed not to fight for this long. Mary watched on in horror. Was this what their relationship had always been like or was this an aberration? And had John really expected Sam to kill him, either now, or the time he was talking about earlier? That was a terrible burden to place on one's son.
"OK, guys, separate corners," Dean placated. This was the only part of having his family together that he didn't miss. It was tiring always being the peacekeeper.
"That's a good idea," John said. "I'm not going to hunt with someone who can't follow my orders. Sam, you need to promise me here and now that you're never going to use your powers again, or you need to leave the family."
"Always with the ultimatums, Dad. Always so eager to kick me out of the family. I don't think I can keep that promise, so I'll be going."
"You're just going to send him out on his own?" Mary asked. This was her baby son. As far as she was concerned, he was a baby a week ago.
"He made his own choice," John said. "Mary, Dean, let's go."
Dean followed his father out. Not because he was being a good little soldier, like in the old days, but because this time he truly agreed with his father. If Sam was going to use his powers, he didn't think he could be around him. This was not the Sam he knew, the Sam he had practically raised. This was someone else entirely and Dean didn't want to lose the memory of his brother to this new being.
"I'm not going," Mary said.
"What?" John asked.
"I think you're being ridiculous. This is our son, no matter what he is or what he does. I won't turn my back on him, and I'm ashamed that you would." She was going to add Dean to that, but Dean was her son, too. She loved him and could never be ashamed of him. She realized that it was a tough situation, but she didn't want to leave Sam all alone. He seemed emotionally vulnerable as it was, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
"Fine," John said and stomped out. Once his mind was made up that was it. Mary wasn't the Mary of his memories anyway. He realized that he had romanticized and perfected her over the years. The real her couldn't live up to his ideal memories. Better to let her go.
"Be careful, guys," Dean said, with a tear forming in his eyes. Why could he never have his whole family?
The End
Again, I'm not going to leave it like this forever. I will write another story to get them back together, most likely, at some point. Either that, or maybe get Sam and Dean back together and Mary and John, or maybe switch so that Dean goes off with Mary and Sam with John, or maybe Uriel will just come and smite them all because he's mad I wrote him out of this story, but there will be more.