December 2nd - December 5th, 2014
Dean went out to pick up some groceries and came back to join Sam and me at the cabin a little while later.
"Hey," Sam said when Dean walked in.
"Hey," Dean said and set down the groceries on the counter.
He was pale and looked slightly in shock.
I furrowed my brow. "Are you okay?"
Sam turned his attention to Dean and could clearly see what I was talking about. "You look like you've seen— Well, I was gonna say, you look like you've seen a ghost, but you'd probably be stoked."
Dean nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, I'm cool. What's up?"
I furrowed my brow, not totally believing him. "Well, we found a story about a kid that went missing from a preschool."
Dean nodded. "That sucks. And?"
"And at the same time he vanished, a surprise tornado hit, lasted maybe twenty seconds, then, uh… shazam," Sam said, "Back to perfect weather."
Dean shook his head. "Hmm. And they poo-poo climate change."
Sam and I chuckled as Dean put the beer in the fridge.
Sam sighed. "Well, similar wackiness has happened over the past few weeks in other places… uh, Tulsa, a bus driver vanishes, and a river gets overrun with frogs."
I nodded. "New Mexico… a mailman disappears, the earth splits open."
"All right. So, uh, you thinking demons?" Dean asked.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, possibly, but… I mean, this stuff was major. These folks have nothing in common… no religious affiliations, different hometowns, all ages. Why would demons want them?"
"Why do demons want anything?" Dean asked and lightly slapped Sam on the shoulder. "Uh, so, we on this?"
Sam and I nodded. "Yup."
We drove to the preschool teacher's house that was with the little boy at the time of his disappearance. Sam knocked on the door, and when she opened it, she was hiding behind a chain lock. We held up our FBI badges.
"Mrs. Hagar?" Dean asked. "Agents Roth, Malloy, and Cherone. We want to speak to you about Aaron Webber's abduction."
She looked at us nervously, still hiding behind the chain lock. "Like I told the police, one minute I was taking Aaron to get cleaned up, and the next minute… I woke up in a park three blocks away."
"And you have no memory of what happened?" Sam asked.
Mrs. Hagar shook her head tearfully. "No. He was just gone."
"Can you think of any reason why somebody would want to harm him?" Dean asked, "Um, any enemies?"
"Enemies?" she asked, confused. "He's five."
Sam turned slightly away from us and started speaking into his phone. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus…"
"Excuse me?" Mrs. Hagar asked, confused.
"It's, uh, code for your own safety so that you can't reveal anything under enhanced interrogation," Dean said.
"Now, when you woke up on the floor, were there any signs of a struggle?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No."
Sam put his phone away and turned back to her. "Smell like sulfur?"
She looked at him, stunned. "How did you know that?"
Sam chuckled. "Lucky guess." He cleared his throat. "Thanks for your time."
She nodded and then closed the door, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Then we turned and walked down the stairs.
"No reaction to the exorcism," I said.
"Yeah, not possessed at the moment. But I'm willing to bet a demon got ahold of Aaron Webber," Sam said.
In the middle of the night, I woke up to Sam talking.
"Dean?" Sam asked, "What's going on? Are you all right?"
I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Sam was just getting out of bed, and Dean was staring out of the window.
"Everything okay?" I asked sleepily.
"I don't know. I just saw something," Dean said, sounding a little on edge.
"Uh, you saw what?" Sam asked as he made his way over to Dean.
"Cass," Dean said.
"Cass?" I asked as I clicked on the lamp next to me.
"Where?" Sam asked.
"Right there." He nodded out of the window. "And— And— And earlier, on the road. I feel like I'm seeing him."
"That's… not possible," Sam said, "I mean, you said it yourself. You made it out, and he didn't, right?"
Dean shook his head. "I tried so damn hard to get us the hell out of there." He turned away from the window, looking distraught.
"We know you did," Sam said encouragingly.
Dean sighed. "Ya know, I could have pulled him out. I just don't understand why he didn't try harder."
"Dean..." Sam took a few steps closer to him. "You did everything you could."
Dean turned to face him. "Yeah, but why do I feel like crap?"
"Survivor's guilt?" I asked.
Dean nodded. "Hmm."
"If you let it, this is gonna keep messing with you. You got to walk past it," Sam said. He clapped Dean on the shoulder and then walked toward the bathroom.
I laid back on the couch and watched Dean stand there, clearly dwelling in his guilt for a moment, and then finally, he walked away, and I drifted off to sleep again.
The following day, Sam and I sat at the table researching more about the missing people.
"Hey, so it's not just Americans who are vanishing," Sam said, finally breaking the silence. "Uh, this guy, Luigi Ponzi, disappeared walking between two subway cars in Rome. And right above ground, there was a freak hail storm."
"So, are we going to Rome now?" I asked.
Sam chuckled.
Dean nodded from the bathroom as he washed his face. "Wouldn't be too shabby."
I gasped as Cass appeared behind Dean in the bathroom. I put my hand on Sam's arm and nodded toward them. He turned around to see what I was looking at.
"Hello, Dean," Cass said.
"Cass?" Sam asked, shocked.
Cass walked out of the bathroom and sat down at the table with us. "Hello, Sam, Maddison." He nodded at each of us.
His beard was long, his clothes were tattered, and he was covered in dirt. We all just stared at him in awe for a moment. Dean joined us, looking both freaked out and astonished.
"Unbelievable, man. I— I cannot believe it. You're actually here," Sam said.
Cass nodded. "Yeah, I've been trying to reach out, but for whatever reason, I wasn't at full power. So I couldn't connect with you."
I looked at Dean. "Must've been why you kept seeing him."
Dean nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, uh, I got to be honest. I— I— I'm thinking, how the hell did you make it out?" He looked at Cass. "I mean, I— I was there. I— I— I know that place. I know how we had to scratch and claw and kill and bleed to find that portal and make it through it, and it almost finished me."
Cass just sat there listening to him.
Dean shook his head and scoffed. "So, uh— So how exactly are you sitting here with us right now?"
"Dean, everything you just said is completely true. And that's the strange part. I…" Cass shook his head. "Have no idea. I remember endlessly running and hiding from leviathan, and then I was on the side of the road in Illinois. And— And that was it."
Dean nodded. "And that— that was it?"
"Yes," Cass said.
We sat in silence for a long moment.
"Oh. I'm dirty," Cass said.
"Yeah, well, Purgatory will do that to you," Dean said.
Cass stood up and walked to the bathroom as we all stared after him, completely in shock. Dean stared after him for a while longer.
"Dean?" I asked.
Dean finally snapped out of it. "Huh?"
"You all right?" I asked.
Dean walked over and sat down at the table with us. "You do see something… severely wrong here, right? Guys, I remember every second of leaving that place." He shook his head. "I mean, I remember the— the heat, the stink, the pain, the fear. I have that whole ugly mess…" He tapped his head. "Right here, and he says he has no idea how he got out? I— I'm just not buying it."
"So what, you think he's lying?" Sam asked.
I shrugged. "Why would he lie, though?"
Dean shook his head. "I'm saying something else happened. I saw the shape that he was in. I mean, there was no way he was fighting his ass out alone. No way."
Sam nodded. "All right. So, who… or what got him out?"
"Exactly," Dean said.
Cass walked out of the bathroom, wearing a fresh suit, tie, and trench coat. He was now clean and freshly shaved.
"Better?" Cass asked, spreading his arms wide for our opinion.
We smiled at him, and then Sam and I looked at Dean, a little concerned for him.
Sam and I sat at the table doing more research while waiting for Dean to get back from the store with some food. Cass sat in front of the television watching cartoons. I tried to focus on our work, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Cass. I was worried that Dean was so freaked out by his return, and I couldn't stop thinking about it.
Sam nudged my foot lightly with his. "You're staring," he whispered.
I sighed and looked back at the research. "I know... sorry."
A moment later, Dean walked in with groceries and set them down on the counter.
"What's the latest?" he asked.
"The latest is… nothing," Sam said, "It's like it all stopped. No freak disappearances linked to any freak natural events."
Dean set a beer down on the table for Sam and leaned over his shoulder to look at the laptop. "So how many have we got? Seven?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah, uh, Luigi, Justin, Aaron, Maria—"
"Maria, Dennis, Krista, Sven," Cass said without taking his eyes off the TV. "I missed television."
Sam, Dean, and I exchanged looks.
"Wait, Cass. How did you know those are the names?" I asked.
Cass glanced at us for a moment as if we should've known how he knew. "Well, they're prophets."
"Prophets?" Dean asked.
Cass nodded, still staring at the TV. "Yeah, angels instinctively know the names of every prophet… past, present, and future."
"So this list is the name of every one of 'em that exists?" Dean asked.
"Yes, until the next generation is born," Cass said, "Plus Kevin Tran, of course. The other seven are future prophets, since, uh, only one can exist at a time."
"Uh, but how is Kevin a prophet if Chuck is a prophet?" I asked.
Cass shook his head. "I'm not sure what happened to Chuck, but, um… he must be dead."
"So, the next one comes off the bench if Kevin goes down?" Dean asked.
Cass nodded. "Exactly. And they have no idea who they are, of course."
"Crowley," Sam said suddenly.
"Insurance," Dean said, "Boy, he's getting desperate."
Sam nodded. "Explains all the weird phenomena. Lower-level demons nabbing heavy-duty cargo. The vessels of God's Word… boom."
Cass turned off the TV and walked over to us. "I get the feeling something's going on."
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Sam answered his phone. "Hello?" (…) He sat up straight suddenly. "Mrs. Tran? Well, where the hell have you—" (…) "What?" He stood up and lowered the phone. "Crowley's got Kevin."
We were waiting on the side of the road for Mrs. Tran to meet us, but it was getting late, and Dean was getting antsy.
"Where the hell is she?" Dean asked.
"She'll be here. Uh, mile marker ninety-six was kind of the halfway point," Sam said.
Dean was silent for a few minutes, and then he glanced over his shoulder at Cass. "Cass, can I talk to you outside?" He opened his door and stepped out.
Cass got out and walked over to Dean, but Sam and I could hear everything they were saying since the windows were down.
"What?" Cass asked.
"Exactly," Dean snapped. "What? What the hell happened? Back there? Purgatory? I told you I would get you out. We were there! It was like you just gave up. It's like you didn't believe we could do it. I mean, you kept saying that you didn't think it would work. Did you not trust me?!"
"Dean—" Cass started.
"I did everything I could to get you out— everything!" Dean shouted. "I did not leave you."
"So you think this was your fault?" Cass asked.
Suddenly, a car approached us, and Mrs. Tran stepped out. Sam and I got out of the Impala and walked up to her with Cass and Dean.
"You can do this, can't you? You can get him back?" she asked.
"How did Crowley find you?" Dean asked.
"Oh, I hired a witch, and she ratted us out," she said.
Sam furrowed his brow. "A witch? Why'd you hire a witch?"
"To make demon bombs, of course! These are Kevin's notes." Mrs. Tran handed Sam a thick notebook.
"You have any idea where Crowley took him?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No. But, uh…" She opened her trunk. "This guy might."
Inside laid a demon, tied up, and wearing a black suit. She had a devil's trap painted on the inside of the trunk lid.
Dean walked up to him. "Oh." He pulled out the demon blade. "Let's talk."
I put my hand on Dean's arm. "I can make this a lot easier." I smiled.
After getting what we wanted out of the demon, we made our way to a large warehouse in Atlantic, Iowa. As Sam parked, Mrs. Tran moved to open her door, but Sam grabbed her and handcuffed her to the steering wheel of her car.
"Sorry, Mrs. Tran," Sam said.
"Wait! What?!" she shouted.
I stepped out of the car and met Dean and Cass as they were opening the trunk.
"This it?" Dean asked.
The demon peered out of the trunk. "Yes."
"My son is in there!" Mrs. Tran shouted from within the car.
Dean stabbed the demon in the chest, causing him to light up a bright orange and then fall limp. Then Dean slammed the trunk shut.
Sam joined us once he was done talking to Mrs. Tran.
"Oh, come on!" she yelled at us as we started making our way into the warehouse entrance.
We walked down a couple flights of stairs. There were rusty pipes and old metal basins all over the building.
Suddenly, Dean gestured for us to hide, so we hid behind a wall. A demon walked out from around the corner and looked around, turning his back to us. The moment he turned, Dean stepped out and stabbed him in the back. We joined him when the demon dropped.
"All right. We'll check that way," Sam said as he nodded at me.
Sam and I split off from Cass and Dean, walking down a long hallway. As we made our way down another set of stairs, Sam turned to me with his finger to his mouth and then pointed to a group of demons just below us in the distance. I nodded, and then we continued down another hallway until we met up with the group.
The demons turned to face us with black eyes.
"Winchesters," one of the larger men said.
"Looks like you guys got us," Sam said.
As the demons moved to approach us, Sam took a deep breath and threw the demon bomb he had put together before we left for the warehouse at their feet. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of fire, and we both shielded ourselves into each other. We heard them scream, and when the heat died down, we turned to see that they had all been burned. All that was left were their black silhouettes left on the wall behind them from their ashes.
"That was awesome." I smiled at him.
Sam smiled at me and nodded. "Come on." He put his hand on my back, and we continued through the warehouse.
After taking a few more stairs and a couple more hallways, we were met with a dead-end and a locked door. Sam reeled back and kicked the door open, and we hurried inside.
We found ourselves standing in a seemingly empty room with a bloodstained octagonal table.
"Oh, no," Sam said as we approached it.
Then a few heads started popping up around different hiding areas. All of them were covered in splashes of blood and looked completely terrified. One of them was a young child, who I could only assume was Aaron Webber.
"Hey. Uh… we're here to help," Sam said.
After bringing the prophet's outside, Dean and Cass joined us shortly after with a bloody and battered Kevin. They explained that they stopped Crowley from taking the tablet, but it was broken in the process. Crowley was able to escape with half of it.
Mrs. Tran took her time, cleaning the blood from Kevin's face while Sam called the police and I called Garth. Then Sam and I rejoined Kevin and Mrs. Tran.
"Cops are on their way. They're gonna pick up the prophets. Um, they'll all be heading home," Sam said.
"What about us?" Mrs. Tran asked.
Sam nodded. "Maddi called a friend of ours... Garth. He does what we do. Well… in his own way. He'll keep an eye on you guys. No more going off on your own."
Mrs. Tran rolled her eyes.
"You get that it was hiring that witch that got you into all this, right?" Sam asked.
She gave him an annoyed look and then turned back to wiping Kevin's face.
Sam turned his attention to Kevin. "How you holding up, Kev?"
"You kidding?" Kevin asked. "I want to seal those bastards up forever." He held up a bandaged hand. "Took my finger."
I nodded. "Cass thinks he might be able to fix that."
I put my hand on Kevin's arm with a small reassuring smile. I healed him enough to at least stop the pain, but there was nothing I could do about lost body parts.
"In the meantime, just lay low 'til we get back to you, okay?" Sam asked, and they nodded.
Sam and I turned and walked up to Cass and Dean standing by the Impala. They looked like they were in the middle of a heated discussion.
"Hey. Everything okay?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Cass said, "Just, uh… setting a few things straight."
I nodded. "Good." I glanced at Dean, not fully believing Cass. "Garth is gonna lay low with the Trans until we can track down the other half of the demon tablet."
Dean nodded, but Cass didn't respond.
"You're with us on this one, right, Cass?" Sam asked, but Cass just stood there looking at the ground. "Cass, you, okay?"
"I'm— I'm fine." Cass nodded. "And, yes, I'm with you…" He looked at Dean. "If that's all right."
Dean nodded hesitantly, and then Cass walked off toward the Trans.
Sam turned to Dean. "It is, right? You two are good?"
Dean nodded, looking down at the ground. "Yeah."
Sam and I exchanged concerned looks.