8-Phantom Traveler (I Was Born Without Wings For A Reason)
She wants a drink. That's what people do on flights when they're nervous, but you don't drink until the job is over with. It's a rule. One she really wants to break as the flight attendant passes her with calls to remain in their seats.
Justin notices her stiffness, one hand coming out to rest on her wrist, and she fights the urge to turn her hand over and cling to his, the little sister instinct telling her that he can fix it. "Just try and relax."
"Just try to shut up," she hisses back, keeping her eyes straight ahead, but her hand disobeys her orders to cling to the arm rest, flipping over and clutching at her big brothers larger one. She pointedly doesn't look at him and is grateful when all he does is squeeze lightly in reassurance.
Her breath comes quickly through her nose as the plane starts to take off, nails digging into the back of her brother's hand hard enough to cause him to flinch, and she curses this stupid phobia of hers that she can't even take satisfaction in the discomfort she's causing him. Her hand doesn't relinquish its hold as the plane levels off.
"I was wondering," Justin starts, voice low and head bent down to her level, "how it is that we're going to do this."
Alex half wonders if this is his way of trying to distract her, but they're going to have to perform a full exorcism in a crowded plane with no idea of who the possessed person is, and this is Justin. He plans.
"Not gonna be easy."
"We need to find the demon first." He glances at his right wrist, at the watch there, left still clutched in her hand. "We've got thirty-three minutes. Who's a good candidate?"
She forces her mind to focus, thinking of what she knows about demons and what kind of people they usually take over.
"This is Amanda's first flight since the crash. She's gotta be pretty stressed." It's a good lead, better than trying to find someone on the plane with a life controlling addiction, severe emotional distress providing the weakness needed by the demon to worm it's way into its victim. She glances over her shoulder, noting the blond haired woman in uniform standing near the back. "Think that's her?"
"Might be. We should test."
Alex nods, reaching for the bag at her feet, fear lightening slightly as the task takes her. She pulls it into her lap, still refusing to let go of her brother's hand as she awkwardly unzips it, hand reaching in and grasping one of the clear plastic bottles within.
"Or we could just say 'Christo' and see if she flinches," suggests Justin.
She shoots him a glare, noting his smug smile as she drops the holy water back in the bag and kicks it to her feet once more.
"Hate you," she hisses, yanking her hand away and standing quickly while he laughs, making her way to the back. The plane shakes slightly, and Alex suddenly wonders why she has to be the one to do this, pausing in the aisle to cling to the back of a redhead woman's chair. "Justin." Her voice comes out way too soft, her fingers digging into the fabric of the seat as she tries to pull her mind back onto the case.
A hand touches her back, and she jumps, head whipping around quickly to see her brother, a much less amused look on his face, his eyes soft with concern. She grabs his arm, fingers digging hard into the jacket as she begins to walk, pulling him behind her. Some guy three rows back snickers and mutters something about the mile high club, and she grits her teeth to stop herself from flipping him the finger. Better people think she's getting lucky than she's terrified and needs to hold her big brother's hand.
They make their way to the back, the small hallway the woman occupies cramped with her and Justin squeezing in.
"Hi." The woman smiles brightly at them, and Alex wonders if that's some kind of rule for working at the airport.
"Sorry, she's a bit of a nervous flier." Justin smiles back, warm hand coming up to rest on her lower back, forcing her to release his arm.
"Happens to the be-"
"Christo," she cuts her off, wanting this done and over with so they can perform the exorcism and get back to their seats.
The woman's eyes come together in confusion, looking away from Justin to stare at her for a second. "Excuse me?" The smile doesn't falter, and Alex curses under her breath.
"Are you Amanda?" Justin makes a noise at her blunt question, hand tightening on the back of Alex's shirt, a warning she ignores.
"Y-yes." She looks nervous, fidgeting with the cups on the cart before her as she looks between the siblings. "How did- Can I get you something to drink?" The smile is back to being fake and cheery, nervousness flitting behind her eyes as she tries to remain professional around what she obviously thinks are two insane passengers.
"Sorry, she overheard one of the other stewardess talking about an Amanda manning the drink cart and, well, like I said, nervous flier."
Alex smiles wanly, allowing Justin to sooth the woman before the plane gives another shudder. Alex automatically steps back into her brother, one hand coming up to clutch at his shirt.
Amanda throws her a sympathetic smile, and Alex resists the urge to make a snappy comment. "I'll bring you something as soon as I can."
She tries and fails to give her a smile as Justin releases her fingers from his shirt, clasping her hand in his as he turns and tugs her back to their seats. She kicks him in the back of the leg when she catches a muffled snicker, glaring daggers at the back of his head.
"Now what?" she asks once they're situated back in their seats, her brother having pulled a book from the bag at her feet, fingers lightly flipping through the pages as he scans them for something useful.
"Not sure, but I think I found an exorcism." His right hand absently comes up, finding hers as his thumb starts rubbing soothing circles on her wrist before he moves the book to an angle so she can see it too. "It's two parts."
Alex fights the urge to groan, instead focusing on his words and their meaning to help wash out the tension still coursing through her veins.
"The first part draws out the demon. Makes it manifest, which actually makes it more powerful."
"And we want that?" She shoots him a look, eyes narrowed as she tries to convey how much of an idiot he is.
"It can't possess anyone else in that state. And then there's the second part, it sends it back to Hell. Permanently."
She nods in understanding, hating that Justin is right. It's the reason she never really cared for demon hunting, preferring the other monsters of the night. It all seemed rather pointless, drag the demon from the host, send it back to Hell, only for it to crawl its way back out and possess some other poor bastard. Her eyes scan the page, taking in the difficulty level and silently cursing that it's not a ritual they'll be able to use on every demon possession. Too complicated, too many risks, and requires way too much energy from the exorcist.
"First things first, we have to find it." She pulls the bag back into her lap, careful not to disturb Justin's hand from her own as she searches through the bag, yanking out an EMF reader from within and grinning triumphantly at her brother. He rolls his eyes, obviously recognizing the one he made when he was sixteen. She yanks back as he reaches for it, eyes narrowed at him. "Get your own."
"That is my own." He looks frustrated, and she takes a moment to delight in it before standing, flipping the little switch on the side as she goes. The machine whirls to life, little row of red lights blinking at the top for a moment before settling down.
"Not anymore." If he had wanted it, he should have taken it with him when he left. She makes her way down the aisle, ignoring her brother's "what am I supposed to use?" behind her, arm swinging back and forth in front of her as she scans the other passengers.
"Ma'am?" She looks up from the device, seeing Amanda standing before her with little bottles of alcohol in her hand. "I've got that drink for you. Did you have a preference?" She looks at the different colored bottles, tempted to take one and down it quickly, but she needs her mind clear for this.
"Um, thanks. Not really." She turns, indicating back over her shoulder. "Can you put it at my seat? I need to stretch my legs." She gives a slightly shaky smile, playing up the nerves showing on her face, and Amanda nods, the two passing each other awkwardly in the narrow space.
A sweep up one aisle and down the other, and not blip from her EMF reader, the little red lights stubbornly remaining unlit. She jumps slightly when Justin touches her shoulder, the book needed to perform the ritual stuck under his arm and a question in his eyes.
She shakes her head, breathing out "nothing" as they both look down at the still quiet device in her hand. "Maybe it didn't get on the plane?" Her voice is hopeful, even as she knows that it's unlikely, and Justin shoots her a look, all reproach and "don't play stupid" written in his eyes. She opens her mouth to bite out a retort when a soft whirling noise cuts in, both sets of the siblings' eyes darting down to take in the now lit line of red across the top of the reader. As one, they look up, seeing one of the pilots of the plane just coming out of the bathroom a couple feet up ahead and cutting across their path.
"Christo," she breathes, her voice barely carrying across the space, but the man flinches, face twisting for a second in mild irritation, eyes flashing black for barely a moment before fading back, face smoothing out once more as he moves back into the cockpit.
Alex turns quickly, grabbing her brother's arm as she goes and dragging him behind her as she rushes them back toward their seats. "What now?"
Justin's thinking, his mind going a mile a minute behind his eyes, and she watches, impatiently fidgeting as she waits for him to come up with an idea. "We could break into the cockpit." He doesn't sound sure, eyes looking at her in no small amount of desperations. "But they have several preventative measures set up to make sure that no unwanted perso-"
"Amanda," Alex says, and Justin glances over his shoulder, expecting the young woman to be standing there. His sister just rolls her eyes. "No, stupid. I meant Amanda can help."
"Alex." Her name is a groan on his lips, her eyes glancing at him sharply. "We can't just pull someone else into this. It's not like she'd beli-"
She grabs his wrist, pulling the watch up so she can look at the face, briefly wondering once again why he can't buy a digital one. "Sixteen minutes. Think you can come up with something better and get the exorcism done by then?" She drops his hand, arms coming out at her sides and eyes wide as she dares him to give her better idea. He mutters something about "twelve actually" and her not being able to read a watch, but nods his head. And Alex is already turning around and heading back to the little nook where they found the flight attendant before he has chance to say more.
She breathes a sigh of relief when the blonde woman is there, replacing supplies on her cart and looking up with a cheerful smile when she sees them. "Did you enjoy your drink?" Her smile wilts slightly when Justin shuts the curtain behind his sister. "Can I help you with something?"
"Um, we really don't have time for the whole 'the truth is out there speech,' but we need you to listen to us-"
"We know you were on Flight 2485," Justin cuts in, and Alex feels a bit relieved that he knows how to handle this because they don't have a lot of time, and she's not sure how to convince Amanda that monsters, or at the very least demons, are real in ten minutes.
Instantly, the smile drops from her lips, worry coloring her features as she tilts her head to the side. "Who are you?"
Her brother ignores the question, carrying on like she hadn't said a word. "We've spoken to other survivors from the flight. We know something other than mechanical failure happened on that plane, and we need your help or it's going to happen here."
"I'm sorry, but I'm very busy. I need to get my cart restocked and-" She moves to go around them, head down and eyes refusing to meet theirs in obvious denial, and Alex catches her arm, pulling her back in and moving her head up to eye level with the girl.
"We're not going to hurt you." The woman shoots her a look, and Alex resists the urge to roll her eyes, fully aware that they're both approximately the same size and therefore, in Amanda's eyes, evenly matched. "But something is going to happen. The pilot for 2485 - Chuck - yeah, he's dead."
She pauses, eyes blinking at the dark hair girl for a moment as she processes the words. "He's dead. How?"
"Plane crash." Amanda's attention goes back to Justin, eyes a little wide as she tries to process the information. "Two plane crashes in two months. That's not normal."
She opens her mouth, shutting it when nothing comes out, her eyes darting away for a second before coming back to settle on the siblings.
"There was something going on on Flight 2485. Maybe you sensed it, maybe you didn't, but that something is going on on this flight as well."
Amanda stares at Justin, processing his words, and Alex feels her fingers flex on the other woman's arm in an urge to shake her. She might have if she didn't know that it would hurt their case and probably would have convinced Amanda they were crazy and that she needed to get the hell away from them.
Her eyes drop, glancing at the floor as she begins to speak, voice even and low, lacking the peppy cheerfulness it held before. "There was a man. He had these... eyes."
"Black eyes." Amanda looks at Justin, nodding her head and letting out a soft "yeah" before blinking and shaking her head, pulling up to full height as she extracts her arm from Alex's grasp.
"What do you need from me though?"
"We need you to get the co-pilot. Bring him back here so we can talk to him." She keeps her voice even, firm and watches as Amanda turns to her, confusion once again in her eyes.
"Why?"
"The entity that caused the passenger from Flight 2485's eyes to go black is cur-"
She rushes to cut off her brother, watching Amanda's eyes goes wide and unsure as Justin continued to prattle on. "We don't have time to explain. We just need you to get him back here."
"How they hell am I supposed to do that?"
"I don't know. Just do it. Whatever it takes, get him back here," Alex snaps.
"I could lose my job and-"
"You'll lose a hell of a lot more than that if you don't."
They stare at each other, Alex trying to convey the importance of the situation to the other woman as Justin fidgets beside her, looking down at his watch every few seconds.
"Ok, ok." She pushes past them, Alex letting her go this time, one hand reaching out to brush the curtain back temporarily as she goes through.
Alex shares a glance with her brother before they both turn back to watch Amanda make her way down the aisle, pausing before the cockpit door and knocking lightly. She opens it nearly immediately after, slipping inside and shutting it neatly behind her. She's gone less than a minute, the metal door opening once more to reveal the co-pilot behind her as they make their way back to the Russos.
The siblings move quickly, one to either side of the door way. Justin hands Alex a plastic bottle half-full of holy water and pulls the exorcism book from under his arm, flipping to the page needed within seconds and resting the worn cover on the fingers of his right hand. His left is curled around a roll of duct tape that Alex quickly snatches, giving him a glare as her head indicates the book.
Amanda comes in first, the pilot directly behind her, and they move, Alex grabbing his arm and twisting as Justin aims a kick to the knee, the soft pop as he goes down letting them know that he'll walk with a limp the rest of his life. Justin follows him down, legs landing heavily on the man's abdomen and knocking the wind out of him as Alex sinks to her knees, a piece of silver tape already ripped from the roll and placed securely over his mouth.
"I thought you said you were just going to talk to him?" Amanda's voice is horrified, and she's staring at the siblings as Justin tries to get the thrashing body beneath him to stay down.
"We are," Alex replies, unscrewing the top of the plastic bottle and flicking the water over the possessed man's chest, watching it smoke and sizzle as it makes contact with skin, the white material darkening with moisture. "Amanda," she snaps, tearing the young woman's attention away from the jerking man. "Go guard the door. Now."
She jumps, moving quickly to obey, and Alex feels a flicker of satisfaction at having her order so readily followed.
"Alex." Her brother's voice is strained, grit out through his teeth, and she goes back to flicking the water bottle in her hand, scattering droplets of holy water onto the struggling man. A couple land on his face, the skin reddening as it the liquid hisses on contact, leaving behind small burns. Her other hand moves forward, landing on the man's neck in an attempt to keep him from moving too much, and not for the first time, she curses her petite frame as her brother begins to read.
Latin words fill the room, the body beneath her brother bucking frantically as Justin reads. She pours more holy water, distracting the demon as best she can as it flinches and twists, fighting less to dislodge and more to get away.
Her brother's knee slips. The co-pilot's arm jerks out from beneath it and knocks the bottle from Alex's fingers, shoving Justin off. He lands on his side, words ending as he struggles to keep his hand around the book.
Alex begins to rise, thoughts of throwing herself on the pilot until her brother can get back to reading going through her mind, but an elbow to the stomach stops her, and the demon-possessed man rips the tape from his mouth.
"I know what happened to your girlfriend," he hisses, voice harsh and layered wrong, sounding inhuman to her ears. "Must have died screaming."
He's reaching for Justin who's paused in his search for the spot where he left off, eyes trained on the demon instead, and Alex reacts without thinking. She calls her brother's name as she launches herself at the man's back, wrapping her arms around his elbows in an attempt to lock them in place, despite her knowledge of the unnatural strength lent to him by the demon inside.
Her brother shakes his head once, gray eyes finding the page once more as he begins to read, the Latin coming out strong in the small space. The demon thrashes, throwing himself backwards so Alex's back hits the unforgiving floor in harsh thud. But she holds on, only moving her grip once Justin finishes the words, both of them wiggling and squirming their way onto either side of the man in an effort to pin him down as the demon is expelled from his body in a cloud of thick, oily smoke.
He collapses underneath them, his body going abruptly slack as they look up in time to see the demon disappear into the vent.
"Where'd it go?" She looks around, rising to her knees as she scans the small room.
"It's in the plane."
It's like his words are the signal for the plane to lurch, lights going out as Alex is thrown to the side, the adrenaline from the fight coming back as terror grips her. This is why she hates flying, because the plane is going to crash and burn, and she's going to die, and there's nothing she can do, nothing she can fight, nothing she can kill that will stop it.
"Alex!" The plane jolts, dropping suddenly as Justin's voice rings out, calling to her. "We have to finish this." He's suddenly before her, hand on her elbow as he tries to lift her up, and she turns, clinging to him without thought and burying her face in his upper arm, a small whimper escaping her lips as he settles next to her on the metal floor.
She can hear the screams from the passengers as she feels Justin's arm moving, her fingers tightening their grip as she moves closer, pressing her body against his side as best she can.
"Alex," his voice is soft, soothing as his breath brushes her ear, and she whimpers again. The muffled sound of pages turning reaches her ears, but she doesn't look to see what it is. Latin once again fills the air, her brother's loud voice shouting over the screams filling the plane, finishing the last line in a defining yell. "Glorium padre!"
There's a flash, like lightening suddenly filling the space, and Alex refuses to open her eyes to see what happened, the plane slowing and shuddering as it evens out, lights flickering back on and Justin breathing heavily against her. He sinks back against the wall, Alex going with him as she keeps her eyes shut tight, pressing her face more firmly into the area below where his neck meets shoulder and she tries to get her breathing under control. One arm comes up to weakly wrap around her, tucking her closer to his side as they recover, Alex remembering how much energy the exorcism was said to take out of the performer as she wraps her arms around her brother, hearing his heart beating rapidly under her ear as she turns her head to face the wall.
They touch down in some small town, pilots too afraid to try and make it to Indianapolis. The rumors are engine malfunction, probably what will be on the official report as well, but they're off the plane, back on land, and she's not going to worry about it. They did their part.
She grabs Justin's arm, indicating the exit with her head as soon as they're out the gate. He looks behind him, glancing over to where a man in uniform is taking Amanda's statement before turning back to Alex.
"Let's go," she whispers, pulling at his arm lightly. She doesn't want to stay, to have to give some made up recollection of events to an officer who will only half listen to what she has to say.
Justin nods, moving the arm under her hand up until his fingers catch hers. She rolls her eyes, thinks about yanking her hand back because they aren't on the plane anymore and she doesn't need a babysitter, but he's looking at her, eyes wounded and face clouded over in that all-too-familiar grief.
Her eyebrows come together, confusion coloring her features as they move away from the crowd, heading towards the exit.
"You ok?" She keeps her voice low, her head bent towards him as she looks around the airport, eyes casually scanning for any eavesdroppers or a payphone. Her cell died on the plane, and they need to call Max and tell him where they are.
"It knew. About Juliet." He's not looking at her, studying the ground before his feet like a sudden obstacle will pop up that he'll have to avoid.
"They lie," she replies quickly, half-way wanting to add a "stupid" after. Justin knows this, better than even she does. Demon's can scan your mind, pick up whatever it is you're thinking about. Hell, the really powerful ones can delve into the thoughts you aren't even considering at the moment. "Don't let it mess with you."
She can feel him stiffen beside her, see him straightening to his full height out of the corner of her eye, and she hides a grin. He doesn't like being reminded about something so simple from his baby sister.
He pulls his hand from her grasp, fishing his cell phone out of his pocket, and she frowns, staring at the device in his hands as he holds down the power button with his thumb.
"You actually turned it off on the plane?"
Justin gives her a smug grin, grief dissipated or at least buried, flipping the phone around so the screen is before her. "Rules of flying."
Alex rolls her eyes, teeth gritting as she cross her arms over her chest, but her brother ignores her, already hitting the speed dial for Max's cell, putting the phone to his ear and wandering over to a café.
She goes up to the counter, digging out Justin's wallet from her back pocket, not bothering to look at the barista taking her order. "Two coffees. One with five creamers, five sugars. Other black."
She hands over the credit card without a word, glancing back at her brother as he grabs a table, still talking to Max. She shoves the plastic back into the wallet, refusing the receipt as she picks up the drinks and heads over to join Justin.
"Ok… see you then." He ends the call with a quick press of the end button, sliding the phone into his pocket as she sits down. She hands over his beverage and receives a thankful smile. "He'll be here in about an hour."
She nods, taking a sip of the sweet concoction before setting it down on the little wooden table and kicking him lightly under the table. She grins cheekily at Justin when he looks up, and he smiles back before retaliating.
A/N: "Christo" is Latin for Christ.. according to Supernatural. I've never bothered to confirm.
I couldn't find the exorcism that Sam said, so I left it out. Ugg, I so wanted to add it but the perfectionist in my wouldn't allow the wrong one to be put in.
I'm a little behind on this fic due to taking a break for my birthday, but hey, I figure I'm excused. B-days are meant to be celebrated.
