Weeks went by, weeks turned to months, which turned to years, and Anna kept moving. She never stayed in one place for more than three days. She had gotten better at hunting. She still couldn't spot a pattern until it slapped her in the face and she had added a few scars to her body but these were different from the ones Robbie had given her. She earned these scars and they were badges of honour. She could recount how she had gotten each of them and usually they were testaments to her progress. The scar that ran across her chest was where a vampire had gotten the upper hand for a second in their brawl; the small marks on her ankles that looked like little bite marks were from little leaches that made their home in a haunted riverbed. She had countless others but she was still breathing, Anna called that a win.
It had been three years since she had seen Sam and Dean but not a day went by that she didn't think about them. Despite how short their time together had been, that had gotten so close and been through so much that it was hard to forget them. She found herself comparing her work to what Sam and Dean would have done. She was sure that they would have taken out double the monsters in half the time. That was if they were even still alive, Anna had to believe that they were still alive because imagining any different made her genuinely sad. They might not have gotten on well enough to travel together long term but they were some of the closest friends Anna had in the world.
Every year on December 27th Anna would make the trek to Nebraska. It didn't matter how long the journey was, it didn't matter if she was in the middle of something else, all that mattered was that she made it to Henry Cho's tombstone by noon on the twenty-seventh. She would place a small wreath of snow-white Christmas roses by the picture of the smiling man. She would sit there for as long as she could stand the, often below freezing, weather and she would tell him about all of the awful things she had done, everything she had seen, everything she hid from the rest of the world.
Anna didn't like to stay around much after that. She would be filled with some need to do something. She toyed with the possibility of tracking Sam and Dean but she knew she wasn't good enough at tracking and they were too good at hiding for any good to come from her efforts. And then she was faced with the question, what would she do once she found them?
Maybe she would tell them what she had been through after she left them but she doubted it. It was her fault for leaving in the first place. Sure, Dean had given her the first push but she had flung herself out of that nest. She had made the conscious decision not to involve them in any of her decisions.
In the days after she visited Henry Cho she would bounce around from town to town drinking more than too much and picking up questionable bed mates. January tenth would roll around and she drank until there was nothing left to drink. She didn't take home any men that night, not after the first year. She had left with a man from the bar, not because she really wanted to but because it felt like a task, her trying to act like everything was all right when it really wasn't. The second she had gotten back to her motel room she started fighting with him.
Anna had thrown anything that wasn't bolted down at him. He screamed, she screamed, ultimately he left in a huff and Anna cried for the better part of the evening. Now she knew better, she just cut out the middleman and cried for the loss of her sisters.
She wasn't a good person. That much she knew because she could live with herself, she could be proud of herself for the people she killed. She knew good people would have turned themselves in, or at the very least they would have felt guilt. But Anna felt happy that she had killed Robbie, that wasn't marked by her abuser anymore, the monster that killed her sisters didn't threaten her.
Life went on, she had heard grumblings from other hunters about the two boys that had opened the gates of hell, the boys that couldn't stay out of trouble. They were famous; Anna had no idea just who she was dealing with when she had first stumbled upon them in Nebraska and at that point in her life she didn't much care, but now she would hear whispers about them when she strolled into a hunters bar.
To say she was the same woman that she was back then would have been a lie. She had seen more and her eyes were dark, haunted by the nightmares she fought. Her arms were covered in thick designs, painstakingly painted on every morning and left to dry, protection symbols. Some that she had been told by others in the same profession, most gleaned off of old books she had managed to dig up in the various libraries she had visited. Her vibrant auburn locks were tamed into one long thick plait down the middle of her back, tied off at the end with a leather cord. From experience she had learned that trainers weren't always the most logical choice of shoe. Boots tended to be more practical, they covered her ankle and protected her foot from anything sharp in a way sneakers didn't.
Anna had just stepped into a bar that she knew hunters tended to congregate in; she was trying to see if she could lend herself to a job. She currently wasn't working on anything important and she still found the best way to learn was to watch someone else. There was a hunter in the corner that looked familiar, Anna had pulled a job with him a few months back but his wandering hands had turned her off from working with him again. She walked up to the small bar and ordered a whisky sour and a beer before she looked around. A young man sidled up to her, his shaggy blond hair covering most of his eyes.
"Step away." She warned in a low tone that most people would have been terrified of. "You don't want to mess with me kid."
"Of come on! Let me buy an old friend a drink!" The man laughed as he beckoned the bartender over to her.
"Look kid, I don't know who you are but you need to step off." She turned to look at the boy; he must have just turned twenty-one if even that.
"You really don't remember me?"
"Look if we slept together once or twice, I mean you have to know it wasn't serious." Anna looked confused as she slung back her whisky.
"I can't believe you don't remember me." He laughed. "Well I guess I'll see you around, Ma." He shook his head and waved before walking away.
Anna almost spat out the sip of beer she had just taken.
"Hang on! What did you just call me? Wait!" She called but he had already disappeared out the small side exit.
Anna was still looking at the door when she heard two men talking over the blaring rock music.
"- That's right dead." One man nodded his head as he spoke. "And then the older one made a deal with a crossroads demon, nasty creatures, took one down a while back, cunning if you don't word everything just so. But any ways he made a deal, he would get his brother back in exchange for his soul."
"Nah you're just pulling my chain again, like that time you told me you took down that nest of vampires in New Orleans all by yourself." The younger of the two tried to play it off with a grin.
"I did take down those vamps in the French Quarter singlehandedly, there were twenty at least." The older one argued.
"When you first told me that story there were five and you had help."
"Damnit Eric!" The older one yelled as he walloped the boy. "I'm trying to tell you what happened. John Winchester was one of the best and he raised his sons the same way but look what's happened to them. Take it as a word of warning and get out while you can."
"Come on Stan, you and I both know there is no out to this life!" Eric argued. "You do this long enough and you end up on the hit list of some beast and he takes you out. Acting like there's an out is a delusion old men sell themselves."
"Excuse me, Gentlemen." Anna walked towards them. "My daddy told me there was nothing sadder than a girl drinking alone. Would you care to join me?" She pushed her chest out and let her wrist turn out to expose the carefully designed protection sigils. Silently she told them she was in the know, that she was one of them.
"And who are we to say no to a pretty little thing like you?" Stan pushed Eric off of his stool to the one next to him and made room for Anna.
Anna had to hide her anger at his antiquated words.
"Thank you." Anna took her spot and gestured a bartender over with a smile. "So, I couldn't help but overhear some of what you said." She admitted with a well-practiced false bashful shrug.
"Eavesdropping." Eric seemed less enchanted with her than Stan.
"Only on accident." Anna smiled. "I heard the name Winchester. We used to be pretty close but we had a falling out a few years back."
"No way, were you close with the idiots that opened the gates to hell." Eric looked sceptical.
"I was, we travelled around together for a little bit but I left before they could fuck up the game for the rest of us too badly."
"Well it sounds like the older one won't be around to screw anything else up for much longer. I heard the demon only gave him a year, the man is living on borrowed time."
"A year?" Anna echoed feeling like someone had just punched her in the gut. "I thought ten was the usual going rate." She had never come across a crossroads demon but she had heard about them.
"It is but come on, a Winchester has to be a hot commodity." Eric snorted and Anna sent him a glare.
"Have you seen them recently?" She tried to keep her tone light even though she was freaking out a little that Dean had gone and sold his soul.
"Not me but a buddy of mine was talking about how Bobby Singer's taken them in. The old kook, he's one of the best in the game, a real loner."
"I don't think I've heard of him. But I'm relatively new to the game and I tend to like to keep to myself." She admitted.
"Yeah, the old man lives out in South Dakota, runs a junk yard. He's not the most friendliest of men." Stan shook his head.
"I know people that would say that about you!" Eric laughed at the old man and Anna smiled as she thought about the information she was given. "But that younger one, that Sam, he's dangerous. I heard he's not even human." Eric continued and Anna's scowl darkened but she bit her tongue. "He's a freak! If he were my brother I would have killed him." Eric looked over at her like he thought that line was going to work with her. "His brother traded his soul for his brother and a year but his brother is a monster that needs to be put down, what a waste of a good hunter."
Anna had heard enough. Stan was an old idiot but he was fine enough, his friend made her angry and she didn't want listen to it anymore.
"Sam Winchester has more integrity and respect in his pinkie toe than you have in your whole body." Anna defended without getting up from her seat. "And he's a better hunter than you could ever dream of being."
She finished her drink and excused herself as she walked back to the motel she was staying at. A year, that was almost no time at all. Anna opened the door to her room and looked around at the messy stacks of papers and books lying on the table and bed, clothes and old food wrappers littered the floor. A beaten old travellers map was pinned to the wall with tags decorating different cities. Some were places she had been, others were towns she had read about having strange occurrences. A shiny silver laptop sat on the bed, she wasn't a genius at the computer thing but she was getting better. It helped when she knew what she was looking for. It had taken her a week on her own to realise that if she wanted anything done she would need access to police reports. So she went out and bought a 'hacking for dummies' book.
Hesitantly she opened her computer and started looking for Bobby Singer. It took her days to find him and track down where he was. Weeks if she counted the time it took her to actually find the small town on a map and get out there.
For the first time in her life she cursed her car. It was too slow and it drank patrol, the seats were uncomfortable and the shock absorbers were shot. A ride that should have taken a day or two took her almost five days because of the frequent stops. Anna pulled up to the junkyard she had identified as Bobby Singer's and parked the car.
"Jesus Christ." Anna muttered as she looked at the faded rusted out sign. "This would be the kind of place they call home." She pushed her sunglasses onto her forehead as she walked through the piles of old rusted out cars.
She kept walking but the place was starting to give her the creeps. It was so quiet, the yard looked as if at one point there were people working on it. She paused as she let her fingers brush against the grip of her gun. She didn't expect to need it but it was comforting to know it was there, just in case. There was a house in view that looked as dilapidated as the yard. Slowly she pulled her gun out, creeping forward, unable to deny that her heart was beating a little faster as she rounded the last small bend. That was when she heard it, the familiar click of a shotgun being loaded. Anna scrunched her eyes at her own stupidity and slowly raised her hands in the air, exposing her weapon.
"There's a no trespassing sign back at the gate." A gruff voice stated. "You should have listened to it."
"I'm sorry, I was just looking for a friend, and I heard he was here. I didn't mean any harm." She slowly bent over and placed the gun on the dirt path next to her.
"Some friend." Anna turned around slowly, careful not to make any sudden moves. "Coming into my home, armed." The middle-aged man snorted his disapproval.
"Well in all fairness, you are pointing a shotgun at me." She smiled weakly with her hands still raised. "Is it safe to assume you are Bobby Singer?"
"Who's asking?" he cocked an eyebrow at her question.
"My name is Anna Fulton, I'm a friend of Sam and Dean's I heard they were in a bit of trouble. Some guy named Stan told me I could find them here."
"What's that on your wrist there?" He asked, still not answering her questions and not lowering the shotgun.
"Some idiot in a bar told me it would keep the creepy crawlies out." She answered.
"Won't do you much good." Bobby lowered his shotgun and walked towards her. "It's upside down. It don't work if it's upside down." His hillbilly accent was actually rather endearing in an odd way.
"Of course it doesn't." Anna grimaced as she realised the thing she had been counting on for the past two and a half years was nothing more that a complicated bit of artwork. "So you're Bobby Singer, are the guys here?"
"Come inside." He passed by her before he collected the gun on the ground and kept walking towards the house. "No guns."
"Okay, I guess that's fair." She agreed after a minute, she followed after him as she shoved her hands into her back pockets.
"So Stan told you the boys were here?" Bobby asked as they walked inside. "What made you come looking for them?" His questions were guarded; he was trying to protect them.
"I really just came to return Dean's shirt." She lied because she wasn't exactly sure what made her look for them. "I left in a hurry the last time I saw them and I accidentally took his shirt." She dug in her bag for the flannel she had been using as a sleep shirt.
"Well if you want to leave it here I'll make sure he gets it." Bobby cleared a place on the table, scooping up empty Chinese food cartons and dumping them into an overflowing trash bin. "If that's all you got you better be getting a move on."
"I heard Dean was in a bit of trouble, is it true?" She asked unable to hide the worry in her voice.
"It's not going to happen, I ain't going to let it happen." Bobby looked at her for a second before pulling out a bottle of beer from the icebox.
"Oh, okay. I guess I better go then." She pointed towards the door. She had taken one step before she turned back around. "How's Sam?"
"He needs Dean to make it." Bobby finally answered
"Yeah, did he ever find the thing that killed his girlfriend?" She might have left them but that didn't mean she had stopped caring.
"That's how this whole mess got started."
"Damn, but their father helped them right. He's going to help get Dean out of this mess." Anna was grasping at straws. She had no idea that things had gotten so messed up in the past three years.
"Their father's dead. Been dead about a year and a half now." Bobby looked at her like he wasn't so sure about all the questions. "I'll make sure Dean gets the shirt but they ain't here and it's time for you to go." He was brisk and she got the picture.
"Okay, tell him I'm sorry about the smell." She pointed to the shirt. She knew it smelt like the strawberry lotion he had complained smelt like his mother. "It was nice meeting you. Can I get my gun back?"
"Yeah." Bobby walked over to her and handed her the gun along with the flannel she had just given him. "He's mentioned you a couple times. They called a few days ago; they're on a case in Michigan, a town called Ypsilanti. You can give it to him yourself."
"I don't know." Anna started as she looked at the shirt. "I'm supposed to be in Nebraska in a couple of days."
"He needs someone and it ain't me." He looked at her with a glare. He reminded her of her father in a way that made her uncomfortable.
"Okay." She nodded. "But we didn't part on the best of terms, I can't say he wants to see me."
"He doesn't know what he wants. He's content to just let himself die in six months, someone has to make him fight, has to remind him exactly why he needs to live."
"I'm not his reason."
"Then pretend you are!" Bobby roared and Anna reared her head back. "He needs to remember just what the hell life is about. Remind him!"
Anna looked at him for a minute before almost running out the door. Bobby scared her, he cared about Sam and Dean far more than anyone had ever cared about her and that scared the crap out of her. People with love that deep would do anything for the people they cared about.
Once she made it back to her car she let out a huge breath. Her hands gripped at the padded steering wheel until her knuckles went white.
"What the hell am I doing?" She asked herself as she reached for the beaten and torn copy of the road atlas. She found the pathetically small town and turned on the engine before pulling a large and sloppy U-turn and heading back on the highway. "Come on baby, let's go freeze our asses off."