Riley dropped to the ground on the other side of Sydney, not long after Aoife.
"You wretch." The creature growled.
Sydney gave it a sly smirk, "You are trapped."
When she blinked, she used Aoife's energy to bind it within her mind. It disappeared and she sank into a trance.
"Son of a bitch!" The boys heard Riley's voice yelled the curse word. They watched Sydney's grey eyes flash with intensity that only their white/blonde haired Witch could muster. Even they had to admit that it was weird how this whole thing worked. All three women were in some sort of...trance. Aoife looked high, her eyes were glazed over and she sat stock still. Her right hand gripping Sydney's while her left hand held Riley's. Riley, herself, was out she didn't move, didn't react and the only way the boys knew she was alive was her deep breathing. Dean stayed standing behind the white/blonde haired woman's body. Every nerve in his body wanting to wake her up. This shit was just to intense, both of the brothers could feel the magic being used.
"where the hell are you?" Riley's voice come from Sydney once more.
Riley stood in the middle of the school's cafeteria peering at every entrance way, "Where the hell are you?" She yelled loudly. clenching her fist she felt it heat with magical fire. She had to make a choice; stand here and yell or go look for the bastard.
*Think Riley,* The witch jumped at the sudden appearance of the voice/body. It didn't look as solid as it usual and it mirrored how Riley herself looked instead of some goofy outfit, *Just close you eyes and feel with your magic.* She raised an eyebrow but did as the voice/body said, Closing her eyes she shut off her mind and just let herself feel. A tug from her inside her stomach pulled her left but she kept her eyes closed and just followed the direction. Her footsteps were slow and steady she begun to move with her magic. Then the ground begun to shake around her and Riley almost lost her footing. Her eyes sprang open and widened as she noticed the change of scenery. She wasn't in the high school anymore; instead she stood in the middle of a maze. The walls were black marble, almost an onyx shade and so smooth she could see her reflection. Reaching out to touch the surface a blue spark lit up her finger tips and sent a shock through her.
Gasping, Riley yanked her hand back and looked at the marble structure up and down, "Sydney your mind is one fucked up place." A laughter rang around Riley and the woman's ears perked at the high noise. She knew that laugh...taking off after the noise the witch took to many wrong turns. A left here, a right there, but still he got stuck at a dead end. Her temper begun to rise until she remembered what the voice/body told her to do. Closing her eyes Riley let her magic lead her to the origin of the laughter. She felt another tug and followed it; a quick right, long left, a right, another right and then three left turns before the tugging finally ended. The laughter enveloped her as she opened her eyes once more and felt her stomach drop.
A young Sydney swung from a tire swing attached to an oak tree as a young Aoife moved her hand in a back and forth motion. Both little girls laughed with pure innocence and long forgotten happiness.
"Riley!" Young Aoife smiled a cheeky smile at Riley. The witch stared at her in confusion before the memory came back to her.
"I remember this day," She stepped forward and watched as young Aoife stood up and ran away from the young Sydney. The child psychic jumped from the swing before running after Aoife as both girls headed towards a large lake. Riley followed the young guls, her memory already telling her what was going to happen next.
"Riley can swim, can't you Ri?" Aoife looked at Riley with admiration.
"Totally, Ef," Riley said the word that her past self had said.
"But...you couldn't," A silky smooth voice broke through the lake's water. The with almost fell backwards as a near perfect replica Sam Winchester stood in the middle of the lake. Near perfect because he had stormy grey eyes instead of his sweet, hazel eyes.
"Sam..."
You couldn't swim could you Riley? You jumped into the lake and nearly drowned yourself," Young Aoife and Sydney begun to scream at the top of their lungs. Both young girls to afraid to jump into help their dear friend. Riley watched as her younger self fought for air, her small, toothpick arms struggling to keep herself above the muddy water.
"I-"
"It was the one time in your life when you couldn't help yourself. When your life was almost taken from you and you were actually scared to lose it." 'Sam' spoke to her in a voice that sent chills down her spine.
"I don't understand your very first love, technically, the other man you loved other than-,"
"Shut up!" Riley lifter up her hand and threw fire at 'Sam.' it just fizzled out before it could ever touch him.
"Save your power, Riley, I just came to ask if you still wanted to go on." The witch didn't answer just glared at the Sam look alike, "Very well," He touched her forehead again and the soul retching pain engulfed the woman once more.
Dean walked out of the room, his knuckles white as his fists clenched tight. He couldn't keep hearing her scream...
"You okay, son?" Joe was standing by the kitchen sink a cup of...something in his hand, "Whiskey." The older man lifted the cup once before taking a drink from it.
"Do you mind?" Dean motioned to the cup and Joe shook his head. He poured Dean a glass and watched as the eldest Winchester slugged it back.
"You had to get away from the girls," Dean didn't make it a questing but the older man responded with an answer anyway.
"Listening to Riley scream...not knowing whats going on...I couldn't do it." He took another swig of whiskey.
"Same here," Dean poured himself some more and leaned back against the counter.
Joe looked at the hunter from the corner of his eye, "You care about my niece don't you?"
"Of course, sir, I care about both of them," Dean took another swig.
"Not what I asked. You love my Riley," The Winchester nearly choked on his alcohol. He gave the older man a wide eyed look, "I know these things. Just like I know that angel of y'alls and Aoife love each other and Riley loves you." Silence fell round the two men as Riley's voice let loose a string of profanities.
Castiel felt the crashing blow of magic before Sydney's body convulsed and Aoife gasped. The woman's body stayed sill as they continued the trance, but Castiel could see Riley's body changing. Not really her body, but the woman inside it, her soul. The angel's eyes looked over her as the youngest Winchester paced.
"Anything change?" Dean asked as he re-entered the room and crouched at Riley's side. He touched her shoulder and shivered, "I can feel the magic."
"I hope she's beating the fuck out of the creature." Sam muttered.
hurting me." She pushed against him but couldn't get him to move. Pushing against Dean Winchester was like pushing against a wall.
"You hurt me all the time," He pulled her from the wall then slammed her back against it. Her head rebounded off the plaster, sending stabs of pain through her skull. Her vision grayed around the edges, her knees going weak, but she pressed her hands on his chest and said the stunning incantation. Dean doubled over in pain; his screams hallowing Riley's stomach.
"Dean..."
"Bitch." The Winchester cursed. The witch's eyes narrowed before she leveled a kick in his stomach. He groaned but tried to pull himself up. Grabbing at Riley's legs as she sent a punt to his skull. Falling down, the hunter groaned and Riley bent down to him, "What fear are you? Huh,"
"Riley," Dean's mouth was covered in blood.
"What torture do I have to go through? What does that "Sam god" and Sydney's fucked up mind want me to go through before I can reach the creature," The dead before her barely managed to pull himself upward. He leane against the wall ang coughed up more blood. The blue-eyed woman winced at the crimson colored fluid and the look of pain on his face.
"Riley..."
"What do I have to do." The weakness in her voice was evident. It shook her own person more than the bugs and clowns. Dean's deep green eyes held Riley's deep blue one; a cold air brushed down the witched back.
"I love you." Dean coughed. She couldn't respond to him. Those words caused an uproar of unwanted emotion inside the woman. Untouched desire lit up inside her heart as she reached forward and wiped a line of blood from his chin.
"What do I have to do."
"I love you,"
"What do I have to do," Dean closed his eyes once before opening them to look at the floor next to her. Dropping her eyes, she saw a knife. A simple one with a black grip and a ridged edge, "Dean..."
"Do you love me Riley?" Another cough and something tore inside the witch, "Do you..."
"Dean..."
"Tell me Riley, Do you love me?"
"I-"
"Sam" materialized next to them; she looked up at him. His grey eyes bore down on her with a cold, emotionless stare. Bending down he grabbed the knife and Riley's hand and placed the handle in her palm, "What-"
"What's the one thing you love more than Aoife? What's the one thing you would kill yourself to a voice..." Dean coughed and screamed as he grabbed his ribs. Riley's eyes shot back to Dean, "I-"
"Riley," "Sam" curled her fist around the knife. Dean screamed her name again as more blood flowed out of his mouth.
"I...I can't...I want-"
"He's suffering because of you, Riley. Because you did this, because you can't admit your biggest fear. Do you Riley? Do you love Dean because you're the one that did this." "Sam" spoke ever word in a dry monotonous voice, his words tearing something inside Riley once more. She held the knife up to her eye level, watched as "Sam" disappeared and cringed as Dean screamed once more. The soul retching pain started in her stomach as she touched the blade's tip against Dean's heart. His deep green eyes bore into tear pooled blue orbs, "Riley."
"I love you, Dean." She plunged the blade into his heart and screamed as Dean cried out one last time.
A door appeared before Riley, a simple wooden door with a black Victorian knocker and a peep hole. Her shoes squished from Dean's blood and her body ached, pulsed, poundedbut it still caught her legs. She fell to the ground with a loud crash, her sickle falling from her hands and landed a good foot away.
She reached for it, but the creature grabbed her arm. It put its weight on top of her, letting its body pin Riley to the ground. She started to say, "Repel," when a fist slammed into her ribs and she felt them give. Pain exploded in her chest as the taste of blood filled her mouth.
"Bitch," The creature cursed. Riley coughed and tried to move, "I will kill you...using your own magic." It slammed her ribs again, causing the witch to cry out. It lifted up at the cry and lifted its arm, "This'll be fun." It cooed before plunging its hand into her chest.
The creature's hand twisted inside her chest, its fingers gripping her heart, "I'm going to burn your heart, Riley Lightmen." Its mask faded and that horrible dark face grinned wickedly. She felt it begin to warm, felt her lungs start to close in on themselves as her heart began to heat under the creatures hold. Despite the agonizing pain, her eyes began to droop. Her vision went grey, and black dots danced in front of her. She could feel her life leaving her and guilt bubbled in her stomach.
She was going to die, after everything they'd been been through...this was how she would die. Aoife would be killed by the angels and Sydney discarded back to her life. Gramma and Joe would have to bury her body...the Winchesters would go back to savage hunting. She would fail everyone she loves simply because it was using her power against her. Her own magic...Wait! Her own magic... Willin the sleepiness to leave her mind. She closed her eyes and, through the pain, felt the magical tug.
"What are you doing..." She let her mind think of Aoife and Sydney, let her magic search for theirs inside this mind trap. The creature growled and tightened its grip, her eyes watered and a whimper left her, but she still pulled her sister and best friend's magic to her. She felt the friends magic to her. She felt the shock that the maze walls gave her travel from her fingertips to her heart.
"Ah!" The creature tugged its arm out of Riley's chest, but the witch caught it and held it there.
"Y...ou bastard," Her voice shook, "You fucking twisted freak of n...ature," The creatures eyes widened, "Die, you douche-ass-bitch!" She let their combined magic flow through her, her vision turning white as it was released from her and the creature yelled in rage.
Aoife was the first to wake up from the trance. She fell backward and gasped for air, her hands falling from her two friends'. Gramma and Cas were at her side, helping her sit back up. Sam brought her a glass of water. Sydney was next, awakening with a loud, "Vagina!" and deep breaths. Sam dropped to her side, handing her her own glass of water and wrapping an arm around her shivering shoulders.
"I saw it die," Aoife spoke in a hushed tone. Her chocolate eyes fell on Riley, who was still out. Joe was pressing a hand to her ribs, Dean rubbing her hair. The petite woman noticed that she wasn't breathing...
"Riley!" She cried out. She rushed to her sister's side, Sydney following after. Joe's face was grim as he moved so Aoife could sit by her sister, "What's wrong?"
"Her ribs are broken...right before you came back, she stopped breathing." Dean's voice was husky as if he had been crying, but the witch saw no tears, just red eyes.
"I can feel a heart beat," Joes murmured. Aoife touched Riley's chest and felt for a heart beat. It was there, but barely.
"Let me do it," She muttered.
"I can-"
"Josef," Gramma leveled a look at her husband, "Aoife's magic is stronger." He was reluctant, but he dropped his hand from his neice and allowed the mahogany haired woman to heal her sister. It wasn't as strenuous as the gunshot wound, but it did cause Aoife to waver. She held strong though until Riley gasped for breath, then cried out and curled in on herself. She watched as the toughest person she knew curled into a ball and cried like a baby. Her body convulsing with tremors of pain.
"Riley." Sydney was crying as well. She touched her shoulder and the crying ceased, "I put her tosleep." She said once before falling against Sam and falling to sleep herself.
Joe lifted himself up, "Dean, carry my neice to her bedroom, please." He left before Dean could answer and they all heard a door click.
Gramma kissed Riley's cheek, "I'm gunna go console him. I'm happy it's over." She left the room and a silence fell over the group. Sydney's deep breathing settled over everyone, and Riley's struck a chord inside them all.
"It's really over." Aoife spoke. Castiel came to her side and touched her shoulder, she turned into him. The angel didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around the petite woman. Dean lifted Riley into his arms and made his way to the stairs.
"Dean." Aoife stopped him. He turned to look at her, "Yeah."
"Don't leave her alone tonight, I'm going to crash on the couch and Sam will carry Sydney to my bed."
"Will do." He felt a weight drop in his stomach. He carried the tall bed, stripped to his boxers, then laid down beside her, "I love you." He said so low that not even the wall heard him. Riley turned in her slumber and buried her face in his chest. He flicked off the lamp, closed his eyes andfell asleep.