I missed you guys! and hope I didn't lose it on vacation... I'll thread my tale on the board... but for now... please enjoy... I'm almost done with 12.
Wounds – chpt 11 – s.n. fic.
by: sifi.
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Laura looked around at the beautiful countryside surrounding her. It was South Dakota but it seemed the grandeur was squared. The hills in the distance seemed to sing to her, drawing her toward them. An avian scream sounded in the air from behind, and she turned just in time to see an enormous screech owl diving straight for her. She ducked and moved to cover her head with her arms when from her right a great raven flew straight into the owl, its talons extended as it gripped the owl's wing and flapped hard, flicking its legs back and dropping the owl off its prior course.
She straightened up and watched the bird circle overhead until the owl rose back into the sky and turned toward the hills. "Thanks," she nodded and cocked her head to the side as a sound of rhythmic thunder seemed to roll through the earth while human screams of terror and sorrow rent the quiet. Next came the sporadic 'pop'ing of weapons fire and she knew what was coming. She turned toward the sounds and stood still, letting the spirits of the massacred pass through her as they would, each one that touched her brought with it a particular flavor of pain and fear that it was very unlikely she would live to remember. Didn't I see this in a movie once? she thought as a cadre of blue suited white soldiers approached the rise, their flag flying in the breeze and their gun-barrels smoking from the powder. Wonder how hot those barrels are? a random thought sped through her head as she breathed and waited for the soldiers to pass her by so she could continue her journey. A 'crack' of broken air to her right drew her attention, heat spread over her abdomen and she didn't understand. That's not supposed to happen… she thought, feeling just a little unnerved as her hand touched her side and came away covered in blood, No! I have something to do! she wanted to cry out and thought perhaps she might have because in response she looked up where a half a dozen ravens and crows circled this tragedy ridden field, "Lay down! Now!" she heard in her head and let herself fall to the ground just as another crack sounded and she heard a ball whistle through the area her body had just occupied. "Stay down…" the voice urged until all the horrible, bloody history of this place had passed and a raven landed on the ground before her. It clicked its beak against her head until she turned and met its gleaming coffee colored eye and nodded. The bird took wing once more and she pushed herself to her feet, her hand on her right side as she allowed the siren song of the hills to guide her to her appointment.
--
In the chair she had provided for him Joe Red Bird sat and waited. When she left her body he'd straightened her out and laid her flat on her back, and when blood began to flow from her right side he bandaged the wound closed as best as he could.
And once again, he waited.
--
Dean fumbled through his jacket pockets and drew his gun out, his hand shaking furiously as he eyed whatever was inside his younger brother looking out.
Sam's face smiled gently and his hand wrapped around the barrel while a layered voice both his and not, spoke aloud, "You've no need of your weapons with me young Winchester…" he said not unkindly and tilted Sam's head to the side.
Sunlight shone through his eyes and Dean realized they were not the opaque black within black he associated with demonic possession. These eyes were dark, nearly black, but actually the color of coffee once the light shone through them. He could see the striations of deepest brown within them as well as a dark gray outer ring and he saw that they shone with benevolent intelligence. They were crows eyes.
"Cernunnos…" he breathed and felt his entire body seem to loosen while his nerves tingled.
Sam's head nodded once and his hand reached out to Dean's chest, coming up from beneath the brass pendant he wore. He set it to rest with barely a glance and smiled in a way Dean found he could not even begin to decipher, "You're a difficult human to get in touch with…Your love will die in a place the humans call Wounded Knee…"
"Wh…? Wounded Knee?...Wha?...No," Dean stuttered feeling as if the very breath had been stolen from his body. His mind swam and his heart thundered. He shook his head and wrapped his fists into Sam's jacket, "No! Fix it! I've seen you do it before… " he ordered into Sam's face.
"I can't… I'm not here…" the voices told him.
"No! You son of a bitch! Fix it!" he yelled while shaking Sam who blinked hard a couple of times and wrapped his hands around Dean's.
"Dean!… quit shakin' me! He's gone…" Sam barked wondering when the last time was that he'd felt quite this nauseous. He looked at his big brother, his usually enigmatic eyes wide with horrible belief, his hands were shaking and he couldn't seem to let go of Sam's jacket.
"No… bring him back! Make him fix this!" he ordered as if Sam could do those very things.
Sam grabbed Dean's chin and forced him to meet his eyes with one hand and thinking quickly used the other to put the Impala in park, shut off the ignition and grab the keys.
"Dean… trade places I'm driving… you'll either get us killed or arrested," Sam swallowed hard and slid out the door jogging quickly around the car and literally pushing his still stunned older brother into the passenger seat.
As Sam gunned the engine and pulled Metallicar back onto the highway, their destination and oddly enough a route set firmly in his mind, Dean sat in the passenger seat wondering what had just happened and unable to believe what he'd heard. Your love will die in a place the humans call Wounded Knee… No… that's not possible… she traveled halfway across the country with a silver spike sticking in her gut and that didn't kill her… she's faced gargoyles, demons, ghosts, poltergeists… everything we've faced and probably more because of your patronage and none of it's killed her! You can't let her die you son of a bitch! She's doing this for you! She's fighting this fight because… his mind stopped for a second while his body took a breath, because it needs to be fought, but still! She's yours! No, she's mine! I don't care if she gave her allegiance to you she's MINE you bastard… just like Sammy's MINE! So is she! You can't take her away from me…God Why did she leave us? Me? We, I could have protected her… maybe… Hurry Sammy… put the pedal to the metal little brother… get us there… God what if she's dead already?
--
"Find me here… and speak to me… I want to feel you… I need to hear you… You are the light that's leading me… to the place… where I find peace…again…" Laura sang softly, focusing her energy on forward motion and her mind on whatever it was going to take to save any innocents out there that this bitch was going to sacrifice for her little vendetta.
She hadn't been certain who it was behind these horrific events that had been brought into the mortal world, she hadn't been certain which of the hundreds in the pantheon of deities might want to mess with Cernunnos but it seemed there were certain signs she'd be hard put to deny, though several could apply to many, only all could be applied to one. She just had to prove herself right. This being the case she sighed around the song she couldn't get out of her head and focused on that mental picture that brought her so much peace. The morning she'd left him in Oregon, that 'ooh…a surprise in my head' smile he'd been wearing as she'd dressed.
"You are the strength… that keeps me walking… You are the hope… that keeps me trusting… You are the life… to my soul… You are my purpose… You're everything… And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you? Would you tell me… how could it be any better than this?"
Her feet tangled and she caught herself, her body numb beyond protesting. It seemed that in the ethereal realm perhaps distance wasn't quite what her body was accustomed to, and though she was in fair athletic shape… then again, it may have been the led ball in her side that was making it such a hard trek.
I don't even have any weapons…heh… oh well… maybe a heartfelt plea will get the bitch to change her mind and stop this before it gets out of hand… yeah… and I got a better chance of getting Dean to do a striptease to Pour Some Sugar On Me… than that happening!… she shook her head and continued the play loop of the chorus as she walked wondering when exactly the base of the hills was going to reach her feet.
--
The body it wore was tiring far more quickly than it had anticipated. Still, it walked the distance over the rolling plain from the chain-link fence at the Memorial proper to where the emissary and her "Guardian" were actually situated, deep in the heart of the site of the massacre, at the epicenter of the vortex itself. If it tried to, it could watch her progress toward the hills in the as they lay in the veiled realms, as well as grin at the site of her body bleeding in the grass, giving back to the earth as she'd once willingly given her blood in service to Cernunnos at a small pond in Arkansas.
Why he would betray me? We are part of the same circle he and I yet he would seek to undo my works no matter how just the vengeance be? That he would dare to shelter one he himself marked for all eternity? To take a just vengeance from my hand! Unforgiveable! it thought, And this one… a fitting end, bereft of love and family both… whatever shall be done, it will be by my hand and the soul shall not be pardoned! it thought and stood still, surprised by the speed of the old man who rose and leveled a pistol at its hosts heart.
"I know what you're here to do… I won't let you…" Joe cocked the pistol, this was no antique Colt or other civil war surplus six shooter as one might suspect, but it was a fully automatic .9mm loaded with his special bullets.
The face before him smiled and began to laugh.
--
Laura raised her eyes up to the hills and saw she'd covered just half again the distance she had to go. In the back of her mind she whimpered wondering why the distance was so great, where was she really going? Was she headed to meet her patron, find some answers, warmth and comfort as the siren of the hills promised or was she really headed into enemy territory. For the problems plaguing her for the last month alone she should've seen this possibility, But how could I have? All those doubts, all those recriminations, I've never had that kind of negativity before! Yeah well I'd never survived a wounding like that either then had to deal with the repercussions from it… gives me a whole new respect for surgical patients I'll say that for sure…now I understand why they'd get so… surly sometimes…course I'm betting most of them didn't have the horrible nightmares of persecution and stuff either… yeah that should've been a clue right there, but I guess I just couldn't see it… man it was insidious…perfectly done I'll say that much, but then again… that would be what it does… the thing I don't understand is Why? Why did it do this? Motive… hello? she shook her head, I suppose there won't be any harm in asking… and with that thought she began to smile and her pace seemed to quicken.
--
She paid attention to the wildlife in the area as the hills finally did seem to stretch out their fingers toward her feet. She saw fewer crows and did manage to spy an owl, perhaps the same one that had been thwarted earlier, circling lazily overhead. From what she understood, this was not normal behavior for owls. Yeah, but where to go within? she asked herself with the realization that the stony stronghold was filled with crags and hidey holes, and possibly caves. She had an idea of what she was looking for, it would either be a small grotto within a cave or one through a small hidden opening. That's how legends and lore spoke of the entrance to her 'Lair'. The guiding siren song was still there if she listened carefully but its lulling, drowsy-ing effect was dampened by the conflict Laura was experiencing. She could feel her spine tingling, her body wanted to turn and run as far and fast as possible. She didn't want to be here going up against, possibly THE Goddess of Vengeance, I'm only a human being, how can I go up against a Goddess? Especially one who's already got it in for me? then her heart would beat and she'd see the man she loved in her head, Because I could never live in peace if I run away, I couldn't ever allow myself to be with him…God what a terrible horrible revenge, how cruel! and I don't even know why! I'd rather die than to never see him, or feel him with me again, or hear him chuckle… God I hate being so weak! Why did you make me love you Dean? she wondered while trying to pin down the exact moment he slid her heart in to his pocket for all time.
He'd been no more than a fully aware slice of his own consciousness residing temporarily in her mind after she'd dipped into him in the ICU. She'd gone home after her shift with that slice of him in her head and begun to research the paranormal on the internet. Morgan had sensed him there, he'd heard Laura talking to the slice of Winchester in her head and he'd become antagonistic, much more so than usual. Dean, not really realizing at the time that he wasn't quite, 'all there', had made a move to 'talk' to Morgan and get him to lay off. Yeah, it was probably that moment right there…and that boyish enthusiasm when he realized I was going to get his stuff out of the car…Then an image of him on the gurney, fighting the EMT's and the rest of the staff as they brought him into her ER, struggling despite his grievous wounds to try and find his baby brother, how his eyes had pleaded with her, how open with his fear he'd been with just a look, No, that's when I fell in love with him. A literal case of love at first sight… man I'm so wonderfully pathetic…and she smiled and turned her body sideways to squeeze between two rock walls and enter the hill.
Passing that rock wall 'doorway' moisture in the air caressed her face, carrying with it a mixed scent of living wet and decaying green things. It wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but it told her everything she needed to know. She'd passed finally through the realm and was in the Goddess' grotto. The air alone told her, bringing with it memories of her first life, the one that had led interminable centuries later to the destiny she embraced with verve.
The grotto was everything she expected it to be, most likely because she expected it to be the way it was… a black shimmering pond of water surrounded by rushes and dark woods twisted and warped through vengeful energies. Eyes peered at her from those black shadows and though she could not see them, that she could feel them was enough. Lights moved overhead, shadows and star maps churning in the heavens as time and place began then ended, folding in and around on itself before stretching back out into the natural order of things.
"Aine! or are you going by Morrigan?" she asked, her voice resonating with a rush of warriors ferocity. "Why have you done these things?" she asked, wandering around the pond and trying to remember everything she could about Morrigan, or as she was later named through lore and legend, Morgause, and later mortalized by the name Morgan LaFey in Arthurian Legend. Uhm.. spiteful chick, duplicitous, bore a child by her own brother…eeew! and tried to steal Arthur's 'throne' from him through Mordred… yeah, I really need to get my head into some historical texts once in a while instead of waiting for the movies to come out… Okay shut out the Arthurian Legend, that's all just based on a Roman General stationed in the aisles anyway… Man I wish I remembered that far back! Or maybe I don't… might mean I'd be as crazy as Morgan…Okay… gotta think about what I know about Morrigan… she had a stone, that she didn't want anyone else to sit on and if they did she'd drive 'em crazy… oh great…Okay, no sitting for me… sheesh… that's helpful…she tried to sort her thoughts but found them a mad dervish virtually out of control.
Above her the heavens lightened to steel gray and shadows appeared to take on ominous shape if not full form among the twisted flora. In the branches eyes glowed, some gold, some brown, even some smoky blue, and she could swear the very trees themselves were watching her, and though she wasn't certain, and really had no desire to get any closer to find out, she was certain that one of the trees itself had glowing firey orange eyes and was somehow imbued with intelligence.
She was reminded of the two hobbits following Golem across the ancient boggy battlefield in the lovingly crafted movies based on the Tolkein books. She also felt the same kind of shivering and unease that she imagined they must've felt. She was out of her element and she knew it, but still she had to forge ahead and hope to accomplish her mission, stop the senseless slaughter of the innocents by this particular pair of extra hands, and ensure that her love was as protected as possible, considering the path he'd chosen for his life.
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tbc
Please R&R, need to know, did I lose it on vacation?
Thanks sifi