This chapter ended up being longer than I had anticipated. Enjoy!
Chapter Seventy
Hayley took a cab to the airport because like her big sister, she hated goodbyes of all sorts. Before she left, she held Marius hands in her own and they both said a prayer for Lana. He told her how proud of her he was and no matter the outcome, she should be proud of herself too.
Hayley's hands shook as she tightly gripped her suitcase and walked through the entrance to the airport. Upon standing in line to get checked in, she noticed that her flight was nearly two hours delayed. She couldn't bare the thought of sitting in the lobby waiting to only wait another sixteen hours on the flight. Following her three older siblings' example, she found the nearest airport bar and ordered a drink- whiskey neat.
As Hayley looked into the amber brown beverage, she couldn't help but to think that she should have gone with Lana from the beginning. Why hadn't she? It would have been easy enough to convince Lana to let her go.
"Hayley Whitman?"
Hayley looked to her side to see a young man dressed in a pair of slacks and a button down white shirt. She scanned over him and noticed his golden emblem ring, sporting the family crest of Dalca- a well known family in their Romanian circle. "Yeah?"
"Bunica ta m-a trimis să te recuperez. E ca și cum te-ai alătura acasă." (Your grandmother sent me to retrieve you. She'd like for you to join her back at home.)
Hayley stood up. "De ce?" (Why?)
"Îmi pare rău, nu mi s-a dat un motiv." (I'm sorry. I wasn't given a reason.) He handed her Marius' pocket watch. "So you know you aren't in danger."
Hayley took the family heirloom from the man. "What did you say your name was?"
"Adrian."
Hayley nodded.
Adrian took Hayley's suitcase from her. "I'm parked just out front."
Hayley looked down at the pocket watch and tried to keep herself together. Why would Anca send her to the airport only to retrieve her an hour later. "You know more than you're telling me."
Adrian led her outside and looked at her softly. "I'm sorry. My grandmother just called and asked me to take you to your grandparents' home as a favor to your grandmother."
"Was your grandmother in Romania recently?"
Adrian opened the passenger door for Hayley and waited for her to sit before he closed the door behind her. He didn't answer, but walked to the driver's side and did the same.
"Was she?"
Adrian started the car and turned to face Hayley. "Yes."
Hayley felt as if someone had kicked her in the stomach. She covered her mouth with both hands, dropping the watch in her lap. As her mind raced with thoughts of Lana's demise, she felt her nausea grow more and more intense.
Adrian had his hand on her shoulder, looking concerned.
Hayley pushed the passenger door open and instantly vomited on the pavement. Tears streamed down her face as she held her hair back.
Adrian waited silently for Hayley to expel what her body needed for her to acquire a more settled stomach. When Hayley closed the door and leaned back into the seat, he gave her a sympathetic look. "Can I get you anything?"
She shook her head and looked out the window. Her mind was already spinning with ways to bring Lana back to life.
Just two hours away, Dean, Sam, and Bobby set out to kill god. They had summoned and bound Death successfully and without much of a problem. When the trio had told Death that they wanted him to kill god, Castiel appeared. Castiel threatened to kill Dean, Sam, and Bobby, but with Death bound, not even god could kill them. Castiel's vessel was obviously degrading under the power of the trapped souls inside of his body. He promised he was cleaning up messes, but Death wasn't convinced. Upon the moment Death was about to end Castiel, Castiel removed the bind keeping Death Dean, Sam, and Bobby's "bitch" and disappeared. Death told the men that Cas had to return everything to purgatory with the help of a door that Death himself would create so that Bobby and the Winchester brothers could clean up the mess. It was a lot for the three men to take in, but they knew if no one else did it, it wouldn't get done.
At a motel across town, Sam and Dean sat down to have another glass of whiskey while Bobby was passed out on the couch.
"Dean…" Sam said with the glass in his hands.
"Not now, Sammy," Dean said.
"I get it, you don't want to talk about it-"
"No, Sammy, I don't. Because if I talk about it, I'm forcing myself to think about it out loud. And I ain't going to say it." Dean threw back the remainder of his whiskey. "Lana isn't dead. She's just not."
Sam followed suit and finished his glass and decided against saying anything else about the matter.
It wasn't as if he would have had time to talk to Dean further about Lana because in that moment, Castiel, haggard and bleeding, appeared in the doorway of the bathroom.
"Sam."
Both brothers stiffened and got to their feet. "Cas," Sam said.
"I heard you call." He grabbed onto the doorway. "I need your help."
Bobby stirred and came to, witnessing a very broken looking Castiel standing just a few feet away. "Well hell, let's get this damn thing started."
Sam and Bobby loaded up the Impala while Dean gathered the remaining needed materials for the upcoming ritual. Dean could barely look Castiel in the eyes, feeling guilty for trying to have him killed but also incredibly angry at him for killing people and wreaking havoc on the world.
"Dean," Castiel said as he tried to push himself off the doorway.
"Almost done here, Cas," Dean said zipping up a duffle bag.
"I'm sorry. I feel regret about what I did to you and Sam.
Dean's posture softened as he looked over at the angel. "Well you should. If there was time now, I would fix him." He paused to take a breath. "I just wanted to make amends before I die."
"Okay," Dean said.
"Is it working?"
"Does it make you feel better?"
"No," Castiel answered honestly. "You?"
Dean threw the duffle bag over his shoulder. "Not a bit. Now let's get on the road."
On the twenty minute drive to the location Death gave the Winchesters to complete the ritual, the three men and the angel rode in silence.
Dean drove, his mind racing with thoughts of saving the world, Lana's possible demise, Sam's delusions that could wind up killing him, and Hayley on her way to Romania solo. He couldn't figure out how they got here, but there they were.
As Sam rode in the backseat with Castiel, he was fighting off the disillusion that Castiel was actually Lucifer and about to pull him back to Hell in the cage. He shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to keep the thoughts at bay.
"It's go time," Bobby said as they pulled up to an abandoned factory.
"Get the ritual started," Sam said as Dean and Bobby helped Castiel out of the Impala. "I'm going to do a sweep to make sure we're alone."
"Well hurry up," Dean said.
Sam nodded and jogged along the outside of the factory, checking for unwelcome visitors.
Dean, Bobby, and Castiel made it into the room that Death had instructed and began the set up. Bobby painted sigils on the wall in blood that was provided by Castiel and Dean rearranged the random pieces of industrial furniture that were scattered across the room so to give them a clear space for the ritual and to hide weapons in case something went wrong.
"Where's Sam?" Dean asked.
"We don't have time," Bobby said.
Dean rubbed the back of his neck. "Alright." He knelt down and helped Castiel to his feet. "Hang tight," Dean said as he walked Castiel over to the wall where the sigils were drawn.
Bobby began to read the incantation and before any of them knew it, the sigils started to glow a bright yellow.
Dean's eyes widened, taking in the terrifying display.
Castiel turned to look over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Dean. I'm sorry I couldn't go to Lana when she prayed to me."
"Wait… what? When? When did she pray to you?"
"Two days ago… I… couldn't muster enough energy."
Dean wanted to ask Bobby to stop so that he could ask Castiel more, but in that moment, a gold light shot out through the sigils and entered Castiel's body. Seconds later before Dean or Bobby realized what was happening, Castiel was on the floor, his body limp and cold.
Bobby looked at Dean and then at Castiel for several seconds. "He's gone, Dean," Bobby said as the two men knelt over the angel.
Dean rubbed the back of his neck and felt his body become tense with anger and loss. "Damn it," Dean cursed getting to his feet. "Cas, you child. Why didn't you listen to me?"
Castiel opened his eyes and his body was restored to its former demeanor.
"Cas!"
"That was unpleasant," Castiel said as Dean and Bobby helped him to his feet. "I'm alive… Thank you, both of you."
Bobby shrugged with a mug look on his face. "We were mostly trying to save the world."
"I'm ashamed. I over reached."
"You think?" Dean asked annoyed.
"I'll find a way to redeem myself to you."
"One thing at a time."
Without warning, Castiel fell to his knees holding his stomach. "Somethings wrong!" He screamed. "They held on inside of me. Dean, they're so strong."
"What the hell?" Bobby said.
"Leviathan." Castiel body twisted in grotesque ways as sounds of screeches and roars radiated from him.
"Cas?" Dean said once Castiel had stopped contorting.
"Cas is dead. We run the show now," he said as he backhanded Dean across the room.
Bobby planted his feet, ready to fight.
In an instant, Castiel threw Bobby into the wall, knocking him out.
"Bobby," Dean said worriedly as Castiel made his way to Dean. "How many are you assclowns in there? A hundred? More?"
Castiel stood over Dean with blood dripping out of his trench coat.
"Your vessel is going to explode, isn't it?"
"We'll be back… for you," Castiel said before he walked out the door, limping and bleeding.
"That's a new one," Bobby said as he stood up.
Dean got to his feet and shook off.
"What the hell do we do now?"
"Find Sam," Dean said
Dean and Bobby rushed out the side door and made their way down the hall. Sam was only a few feet away, looking disheveled and horrified.
"Sam!" Dean said grabbing his jacket. "Hey."
Sam snapped out of the trance he was in and let out a deep breath. "Dean."
Dean wanted to know what was wrong with his brother, but there was no time. "Come on, we're getting out of here." '
Tracking Castiel proved to be easier than imagined since all the hunters had to do was follow the trail of blood that let out of the factory and outside through a small patch of wilderness to the city watering hole.
The water turned into a funnel in the center of the lake before a spiral of black exploded from where Castiel was last seen.
"Ah yeah," Bobby said when he saw that the lake was the public city. "If they're in the pipes, the Leviathan, then everyone is going to be exposed."
Castiel's trench coat washed up and Dean knelt down to pick it up. "Ah damnit, he's gone now."
Sam nodded slowly.
"Alright, let's do some damage control," Bobby said.
...
While the three hunters set out to handle the Leviathan situation, Hayley was on a mission of her own.
"You need to see her," Anca was saying to Hayley as Hayley sat cross legged in the sun room with a tarot deck in her hands.
Hayley shook her head. "She won't stay this way for long."
Anca knelt down next to her youngest granddaughter. "She's gone, Hayley."
Hayley shook her head. "No… she's died before and-"
"And my magic protected her against mankind. She didn't fall from the hands of a man."
Hayley turned to look at her. " How can you be so calm? We can save her."
"Do you think if I had that power that I wouldn't have brought back your mother?"
Hayley bit her lower lip. "You didn't have my power then. We didn't have Sam and Dean then either." She stood up. "I'm going to try Dean again."
Anca stood next to Hayley and put her hands on hers. "I'll get in contact with him."
"It should come from me."
"No, you don't need that burden."
Hayley looked at the materials she had gathered and she knew that time was of the essence, so she nodded, agreeing to let Anca call Dean.
"Hayley… the way Lana died… her life force went out. She used everything she had to try to help the vrăjitoare."
"Then where are they? They should be the ones bringing her back. Are you telling me that even the vrăjitoare don't have the ability?"
Anca put her hands on Hayley's shoulder. "Nepoata mea dulce, uneori moartea este într-adevăr sfârșitul." (My sweet granddaughter, sometimes death really is the end."
Hayley stepped back. "Sometimes it is, but not for Lana and not today."
Anca's brows furrowed with worry and instead of arguing with her granddaughter, she walked out of the sun room with no intention of calling the Winchesters. She knew Dean had every right to know, but if Dean were to come right now, Hayley would kill herself trying to bring Lana back. Without the never ending support of the Winchester brothers, Anca hoped that Hayley would realize how impossible this mission of hers was.
Hayley scanned her notes that Hayley and Lana had written when Dean went to Hell. Lana had done so much of the research that Hayley felt like the blueprint was already there. She simply had to figure out how to execute it.
The next few hours, Hayley poured her soul into the concept of bringing Lana back to life. She gathered the necessary ingredients that Anca had stashed around her home and garden, ranging from purified rosewater of a swamp to a feather of a Gruiforme. She had removed Lana's favorite aroma necklace, the one that Dean had given to her to replace their mother's that had broken, from Lana's neck. Before she could begin the spell, she would have to contact Lana's spirit. Hayley stood in front of Lana's body and looked down at her sister.
Anca walked in the room quietly, as to give Hayley a silent moment with her sister. "Hayley."
Hayley turned to look at her.
"Your grandfather is resting upstairs. He's had a breakthrough."
"Good." She wasn't enthused with this news, for her mind was too wrapped up in bringing Lana back from the dead.
Anca reached her hand out to Hayley. "Come into the Quarter with me before the wake starts."
Hayley shook her head. "I'm good here."
Anca wanted to insist, but knew it wouldn't do any good. Hayley had proved to be as stubborn as her sister. "I'll be back soon."
Hayley looked back at Lana and listened for Anca's departure. Once she was sure she wouldn't be interrupted, Haley set out candles around Lana's body and lit them. She pulled a large metal bucket from outside and filled it with the swamp water. Arranging the other ingredients for the spell took nearly half an hour as she was being more meticulous than required, making sure to get everything right. Once she was finished, Hayley stepped into the water.
"Voi care sunteți mâhnit, vedeți acum natura acestui jale: După cum știți acum întristarea mea. Vino la mine. Vino la mine. Vino la mine." (Thou who are mourned, see now the nature of this mourning: As thou knowest now my sorrow. Come to me. Come to me. Come to me.)
Hayley opened her eyes, expecting to see Lana's spirit or at least hear her voice. Hayley cleared her throat and repeated the same incantation. When that didn't work, she took out her knife and sliced her palm open. "Cu acest sânge care îmi trece prin vene și pe al tău, te chem pe acest tărâm." (With this blood that runs through my veins and yours, I summon you to this realm.) Again, silence. Hayley repeated the spell again, this time with more feeling. Hayley dropped the necklace into the water and squeezed her palm with her fingernails to make more blood run out of her wound and into the water.
"Lana," Hayley said softly. "Please."
Silence.
Panic began to spread through Hayley. She hadn't prepared herself for this moment. She hadn't thought that she wouldn't be able to bring Lana back to life. "You can't leave me." Frustrated and scared, she sliced open her other hand. "Cu acest sânge care îmi trece prin vene și pe al tău, te chem pe acest tărâm." With tears running down her eyes, she screamed the incantation for the third time. "Lana, please! Just talk to me."
Hayley let out a deep breath, thinking of giving up because she could feel her own energy beginning to drain at an alarming rate, but she knew Lana wouldn't give up if it were the other way around. Hayley took the knife and cut through her skin, from her palm to her forearm. Blood drizzled out of her left arm as she stood, swaying slightly from the amount of energy being used and the blood loss. She stayed in that same position, wavering from the Romanian incantation to pleas of desperation for another half hour. At some point, unbeknown even to her, Hayley cut open her other wrist and forearm. The amount of blood loss was too great and she collapsed, spilling the rose swamp water over her body as she lay unconscious on the floor.
...
Two hundred miles away, Dean, Sam, and Bobby took a breather. "We've should have heard back from Hayley by now," Dean said once they had gotten back to the hotel room.
They had tracked down the Leviathans to two people and handled it as quickly as possible. With Sam's hallucinations, the task was more difficult than any of them would have liked, but Sam promised he was getting a handle on them. Dean knew his little brother wanted to be better, but in situations like Sam's, wanting something didn't make it happen.
Sam nodded in agreement. "New Orleans is only a couple of hours away. Maybe Anca and Marius know something?"
"Yeah, maybe," Dean said clenching his jaw. "I don't have a good feeling about this, Sammy."
Sam put his hand on Dean's shoulder. "Then let's go find out what's going on."
Dean couldn't let his mind wonder as the two brothers made the two hour drive to New Orleans. His hands gripped the steering wheel tighter than normal and the music blared louder than Sam liked. He knew Lana leaving was a horrible idea, and now Hayley was gone too. The idea of not knowing where they were set a level of unrest through his body that he had never experienced before. It wasn't like him to be anxious and feel hopeless and he hated everything about it. Nothing would take those feelings of uncertainty away until he could hold both his little sister and his love in his arms.
Sam knew that talking wouldn't help Dean, so he let his brother sit softly in the silence. Sam watched Dean as he stared straight ahead, focusing entirely too much on the road. It wasn't like Dean to have both hands on the wheel and drive with the windows up on a nice day like this. But Sam knew that today wasn't like other days; instead of worrying about saving the world, Dean was worrying about something much more personal- Hayley and Lana.
Sam hadn't realized that his palms began to sweat and he recognized this symptom of anxiety instantly. After years of waiting to hear back from Dean and their father on hunting trips, Sam was well accustomed to feeling like this. Only it hadn't hit him this hard in a very long time.
Dean took the exit to Anca and Marius' place and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sammy, you got to do the talking. I'm…"
"I can do that," Sam said quickly, not needing an explanation.
Upon pulling up to Anca and Marius' home, Dean and Sam saw a handful of cars along the driveway. It wasn't usual seeing so many people at their house. As soon as the brothers exited the car, they observed two women wearing solid black sitting on the front porch swing with cups of tea in their hands.
"Did Marius pass?" Sam asked Dean.
Dean shrugged as they made their way to the front porch.
As if answering their question, Marius and Hayley walked out the front door both dressed in black.
Hayley made eye contact with Dean first and then with Sam. She had deep purple circles under her eyes from lack of sleep and both brothers noticed that her left hand was bandaged around her palms and up to her forearms.
"You finally made it," she said exhausted as she rushed to them.
"Made it?" Dean asked. "What do you mean?"
She looked at Dean sideways then at Sam. "Didn't Anca call?"
"No," Sam and Dean said together.
"Oh god," Hayley said covering her mouth.
"What? What is it?" Dean demanded.
Hayley wanted to be strong in that moment as she told Dean the news, the horrible, impossible news that Lana was dead. But as she stood in front of her big brothers, she felt her body give out. She had tried with every aspect of her being to bring her sister back, but atlas, she was unable to do so. Anca had found her moments before she bled out as was able to heal her enough to allow her body to fix itself.
Sam caught Hayley before she hit the ground. "Hails," he said worriedly.
Dean pushed pass Marius and the handful of people that crowded around Hayley.
"Dean!" Sam yelled.
Ignoring his breath, Dean pushed the door open with such intensity that it collided with the wall inside and shattered the picture hanging from stud. "Lana!" He yelled, his voice harsh and demanded immediate response.
Two women walked out from the sitting room, speaking to him in Romania.
"Where is Lana?" He asked them, ignoring their agitated tones.
"Dean," Anca said sternly as she descended down the spiral staircase.
"Where is she?"
Anca saw the pain and panic in the young man's eyes and she felt sympathy for him, but also years of harboring dislike for the Winchesters still flooded her thoughts. "Dean…"
He shook his head. "No, no, no."
Anca took his hand and led Dean into the back room, Lana's favorite room since childhood, and stepped aside so that Dean could see Lana.
She was lying on her back with her hands folded along her lower abdomen. On top of her hands were two tealight candles and two golden coins. She was wearing a white and lacy wedding dress that had belonged to Lana's mother. At the bottom of her feet was a crystal bowl filled with water.
Dean didn't notice any of that, but the fact that Lana was dead consumed every thought. "I don't understand how this happened."
"She's always been a stubborn girl," Anca started. "When she was a toddler, you couldn't tell her no once she had set her mind to it. As a young girl, she was her mother's confidant even when my daughter tried to turn her away because of the nature of her problems; Lana wouldn't hear of it. As a teenager, no one could tell her anything and she held the weight of the world on her shoulders. Marius and I had tried to help for years before we lost our daughter and after, but Lana wouldn't allow it. She was never one to accept help, until you came around, Dean Winchester."
Dean hadn't stop staring at Lana, but listened to what Anca was saying.
"She relied on you and it was her undoing."
Dean turned to look at Anca in that moment. "I told her not to go."
"When has Lana done what she was told? Hm?"
"This isn't Dean's fault," Hayley said as she approached them. "Lana's death was her pushing herself too an extreme." She paused. "How dare you lie to me."
"Pardon me?"
"You said you called Dean. You said he knew."
Anca folded her hands together. "The family needed time to grieve."
"Sam and Dean are my family. They are Lana's family."
"They were, sweet child," Anca said. "And look what happened. I'll be damned if I let the same happen to you."
"You can't tell me what to do."
"Stop," Dean pleaded. "Can I just get a minute with her? Please?"
Hayley felt guilty for starting an argument with her grandmother, but she was so angry. She was angry at Lana for leaving and even more angry at her for dying. Her rage was nearly blinding and every chance she got, she expelled it.
Dean walked further into the room until he was standing directly beside Lana. Her olive complexion had subdued slightly and her skin was moderately discolored. As he looked down at the woman he had loved so dearly, he began to feel weak. "Lana," he said softly as he stroked the top of her head. "I failed you," he said, his voice cracking. Tears began to form in his eyes as he spoke. "And for that, I am sorry. I guess that's what I do. I let down the people I love. I let Clara down. And now I'm supposed to let you down too?" Tears streamed down his eyes as he leaned over her. "What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?" He rubbed the tears off his face and looked up at the ceiling. "What am I supposed to do!" He yelled, new tears flowing down his face.
Hayley had been watching from the doorway and now she too was crying. She had thought that she didn't have any more tears left inside of her, but she was wrong. She rushed into the room and wrapped her arms around Dean. Dean pulled her into his chest and they both fell to their knees.
Sam had made his way inside and witnessed his big brother and baby sister's collapse. He stood in the doorway and fought back his own tears. He couldn't look a them t nor could he bring himself to look at Lana's lifeless corpse. He punched the doorway and let out a deep breath. "God damnit, Lana," he whispered.
Dean pulled himself off the floor, leaving Hayley weeping next to Lana's body. "I can't," he said to Sam as he brushed past him.
"Dean," Sam called out to his brother. When Dean kept walking, Sam turned to Hayley and knelt down beside her. He pulled her into his chest and rested his chin on top of her head as she cried. "We'll get through this."