My night had been spoiled by dreams. Not the same dream I knew Sam had last night. This dream was about what happened on the plane.
'This job must be getting to me.' I mused. 'If I'm already dreaming about it.'
Instead of doing something productive with my morning- getting coffee, walking, literally anything- I just popped my headphones on and listened to music. Sam was already gone when I woke up the first time. Dean was snoring enough to wake the dead.
I'd taken the couch- it was my turn. This wasn't the nicest couch I'd crashed on, nor was it the worst. It was a surprise to myself when Sam's loud cheer woke me up, once there was a sun in the sky.
"Morning, sunshines." Sam teased us.
'That's my line!' I snapped. 'No wait. It was Terra Two's thing. Huh. Must still be exhausted.'
"What time is it?" Dean asked, sleepily.
"Uh, it's about five forty-five." Sam answered.
"In the morning?" Dean asked.
"Yep."
"Nope." I fell back on the couch. "Wake me up in at...normal."
"Where does the day go?" Dean commented. "Did you get any sleep last night?
"Yeah, I grabbed a couple hours." Sam lied.
"Liar. 'Cause I was up at three, and you were watching a George Foreman infomercial." Dean accused.
"Hey, what can I say? It's riveting TV." Sam excused.
"Lucky bastard. I got no sleep." I grumbled. Curling under the sheet I was using, I groaned in sleepless agony. "Stupid nightmares..."
"You got nightmares?" Dean asked. The Mom-friend activated again.
"Yeah." I huffed, turning again on the couch.
"When was the last time either of you got a good night's sleep?" Dean asked the two of us.
"I don't know, a little while, I guess. It's not a big deal."
"It was a cold September night. I was six. Good times." I replied.
Dean didn't even snort. "Yeah, it is a big deal."
"Look, I appreciate your concern-" Sam tried to assure his brother.
"Oh, I'm not concerned about either of you. It's your job to keep my ass alive, so I need you both sharp." Dean joked. Sam didn't have anything to say to that. "Seriously, are you still having nightmares about Jess?" Sam walked away to his bed. He gave Dean a coffee, then myself a mug.
I grimaced at it- handing it back. Coffee tasted shit.
"Yeah. But it's not just her. It's everything. I just forgot, you know? This job. Man, it gets to you." Sam shook his head.
Dean looked over at me. "And you?"
"Huh?" I was about to nod off again.
"You got bad dreams?" Dean repeated.
"...yeah." I admitted. "Not about Jess."
"Then what?"
An airplane that you haven't even heard about yet.
"...other stuff. The job, like Sam was saying."
"You can't let it. You can't bring it home like that." Dean reminded us.
"So, what? All this it...never keeps you up at night?" Sam argued. Dean denied it. "Never? You're never afraid?"
"No, not really." Dean further denied it.
Sam pulled a knife from under Dean's pillow.
Dean took it back. I snorted at the look on his face. "That's not fear. That is precaution."
"Alright, whatever. I'm too tired to argue."
"I'm not to tired to watch you two argue." I chuckled
Dean threw a pillow at my head.
When the pillow made contact his phone rang. While I threw the pillow at Sam, Dean answered. "Hello? Oh, right, yeah. Up in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, the poltergeist thing. It's not back, is it? What is it?"
He looked up at Sam and I- who were tossing pillows back and forth at each other.
"Seriously?"
==DG==
Later that day, I was walking with the Winchesters instead an airplane hanger.
"Thanks for making the trip so quick. I ought to be doing you guys a favor, not the other way around." Jerry nodded to Dean, while looking at me. "Dean and their dad really helped me out."
"Yeah, he told us." I replied. "It was a poltergeist?"
"Poltergeist? Man, I loved that movie." A nearby mechanic laughed.
"Hey, nobody's talking to you. Keep walking." Jerry instructed. He huffed, continuing to walk. The four of us carried on without missing another beat. "Damn right it was a poltergeist, practically tore our house apart. Tell you something, if it wasn't for you and your dad, I probably wouldn't be alive." He turned to Sam. "Your dad said you were off at college. Is that right?"
Sam was surprised at being mentioned. He played it down. "Yeah, I was. I'm-taking some time off."
"Well, he was real proud of you. I could tell. He talked about you all the time." Jerry praised.
"He did?"
"Yeah, you bet he did." Jerry assured. He turned to Dean. "Oh, hey, you know I tried to get a hold of him, but I couldn't. How's he doing, anyway?"
"He's, um, wrapped up in a job right now." Dean half-lied.
Jerry huffed, more in good humor. "Well, we're missing the old man, but we get Sam and your new buddy, Raven. Even trade, huh?"
Dean laughed. I chuckled at the idea that I was worth the same as John Chuck-damned Winchester.
"No, not by a long shot." Sam laughed, shaking his head at the idea.
"I got something I want you guys to hear." Jerry walked us along towards his office.
==DG==
"I listened to this. And, well, it sounded like it was up your alley." Jerry showed us a CD before putting it in a player. "Normally I wouldn't have access to this. It's the cockpit voice recorder for United Britannia flight 2485. It was one of ours."
He pressed play.
"Mayday! Mayday! Repeat! 2485-immediate instruction...may be experiencing some mechanical failure-"
There was mostly static after that. However I heard the sound of a demon possessing its new host. Not a sound you want to serenade somebody with, or anything of the like. It wasn't a sound your forgot either.
"Took off from here, crashed about two hundred miles south." Jerry explained. He sat up in his chair. "Now, they're saying mechanical failure. Cabin depressurized somehow. Nobody knows why. Over a hundred people on board. Only seven got out alive." He began to wring his hands in front of him, elbows on the desk. "Pilot was one. His name is Chuck Lambert. He's a good friend of mine." He sighed. "Chuck is, uh...well, he's pretty broken up about it. Like it was his fault."
"You don't think it was?" Sam asked.
Jerry shook his head. "No, I don't."
"We're going to need a list of survivors, you know." I added. "Passenger manifest."
"Alright." Jerry nodded.
"And, uh, anyway we can take a look at the wreckage?" Dean requested.
"The other stuff is no problem. But the wreckage..." Jerry winced. "Fellas, ma'am, the NTSB has it locked down in an evidence warehouse. No way I've got that kind of clearance."
I grinned, smirking. Sam would later tell me Dean and I made the exact same pose.
"No problem."
==DG==
"You're joking."
"I'm not." Sam assured. I laughed, clapping my hands together. "I swear, Raven, it was the same. Like….more the same than either of you had the right to be."
"Well damn." Glancing at how he was leaning against the car, I copied him. "Now I gotta copy you."
"No you really don't." Sam shook his head. He sat up so I copied that. "Are you- stop it."
"No." Copying him again, I laughed at the look on his face. "Dude imagine how it's gonna freak Dean out-"
"He's not gonna notice it. Will you stop?" Sam pushed at me arm. It made me chuckle. He laughed too.
After a minute of that the two of us settled back against the Impala. Myself copying Sam's exact pose. He sighed in defeat.
That was when Dean walked out. He said hi to the lady walking by the copy store. He turned to us. He stopped. He looked between Sam and I.
"You've been in there forever." Sam pointed out.
"It's past curfew. We're not mad, just disappointed." I added.
Dean smirked, getting the joke. He held up the three fake IDs. "You can't rush perfection."
Sam took his. I took mine too, whistling.
"Homeland Security?" Sam read off. He looked up at Dean. "That's pretty illegal, even for us."
"Yeah, well, it's something new. You know?" Dean replied. "People haven't seen it a thousand times."
I climbed in the Impala. The brothers followed.
"You even got my birthday right." I mused once they shut their doors.
"Yeah?" Dean glanced at me from the rear view mirror.
"September 17, 1983." I read off. "Did I tell you?"
"Sometime after the third ghost tried to kill you." Dean answered. He turned to Sam. "All right, so, what do you got?"
"Well, there's definitely EVP on the cockpit voice recorder." Sam pulled it up on his laptop.
"Yeah?" Dean asked.
"Listen." He pressed play.
The tape played again. It focused on the demon's voice.
"No survivors!"
"'No survivors'? What's that supposed to mean? There were seven survivors." Dean pointed out.
"Got me."
"Sounds to me like there was a supernatural hit on that plane." I mused, toying with my new badge.
"You think so?" Sam asked.
"Well that's the only time I hear things like 'no survivors'. That's when there aren't supposed to be survivors." Pushing the badge in my pocket, I sat up in the seat. "Which could mean the actual survivors are in danger."
"So, what are you thinking? A haunted flight?" Dean asked me.
"Maybe. Too soon to speculate." I mused.
"Remember flight 401?" Sam guessed.
"It could be right. Ghost of a previous flight with no survivors reliving his final flight, making sure it's the same for everybody else on the flight." I recalled from the show. "Except while Sam was checking the tape, I called Jerry. Told him to check all the parts he had for anything."
"And?"
Held up my phone for them to see, a text from Jeff on the screen. "Nothing. The closest flight with no survivors was four years ago, in Georgia. The remains of the flight were too few or distorted to reuse in other planes."
Sam huffed. "Damn."
"Yeah, it sucks."
Dean sighed. "Alright, so, survivors, which one do you want to talk to first?" He asked, pulling the survivor list.
"Third on the list, Max Jaffey." Sam requested.
"Why him?" Dean asked.
"Well, for one, he's from around here. And two, if anyone saw anything weird, he did." Sam listed,
Dean looked up to his brother. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, I spoke to his mother." Sam admitted. "And she told me where to find him."
"You're gonna love this." I told Dean.
==DG==
We had arrived at the hospital. After showing the new badges, the staff told us where to find Max.
"I don't understand. I already spoke with Homeland Security." Max explained to us.
"Right. Some new information has come up." Dean excused. "So if you could just answer a couple questions-"
"Just before the plane went down, did you notice anything...unusual?" Sam asked.
"Like what?" Max asked.
"Just weird. You know like; strange lights, weird noises, maybe. Voices." I listed.
"No, nothing." Max shook his head.
We'd arrived at a table. The boys all took seats, while I pulled a chair away from a nearby table.
"Mr. Joffey-" Dean began.
"Jaffey." Max corrected.
"Jaffey." Dean amended. "You checked yourself in here, right? Can I ask why?"
"I was a little stressed. I survived a plane crash." Max reminded Dean.
"Uh huh. And that's what terrified you? That's what you were afraid of?" Dean asked.
"I...I don't want to talk about this anymore." Max decided, shutting his eyes as if that would get rid of us. Or the images from the crash.
"See, I think maybe you did see something up there. We need to know what." Dean stressed.
"No. No, I was...delusional. Seeing things." Max reasoned for himself.
"He was seeing things." Dean told Sam and I.
"It's okay." Sam leaned forward to take point. Dean rolled his eyes, turning to me. I shrugged my shoulders in a 'what're you gonna do?' way. "Then just tell us what you thought you saw, please."
"There was...this-man." Max began. His stuttering became worse the longer he talked. "And, uh, he had these...eyes-these, uh...black eyes. And I saw him-or I thought I saw him..."
"What?" Dean prompted.
"He opened the emergency exit. But that's...that's impossible, right?" Max reasoned. "I mean, I looked it up. There's something like two tons of pressure on that door."
"Yeah."
"This man, uh, did he seem to appear and disappear rapidly?" Sam asked. "It would look something like a mirage?"
Max stared at Sam, confused. "What are you, nuts?" He scoffed. "He was a passenger. He was sitting right in front of me."
==DG==
After a quick check on the manifest, we found the directions to the Phelps home.
"So here we are." Sam remarked as we pulled up. "George Phelps, seat 20C."
"Hmm. Man, I don't care how strong you are." Dean climbed out of the impala. I followed suit. "Even yoked up on PCP or something, no way you can open up an emergency door during a flight."
"So he's not human." I reasoned. "He's just something that looks it."
"Does that look like a creature's lair to you?" Dean asked me.
"It's not screaming terrorist to me either, so who knows what's inside."
Mrs Phelps had let us into the house. She was a breath away from crying by the look of it. I sat on the couch beside her, while the boys sat across.
Sam picked up a photo from the coffee table. "This is your late husband?" He asked.
The widow nodded. "Yes, that was my George."
"And you said he was a...dentist?" Dean repeated.
"Mm-hm. He was headed to a convention in Denver. Do you know that he was petrified to fly? For him to go like that..." Mrs Phelps sniffled.
"How long were you married?" I asked.
"Thirteen years." She answered.
"In that time, did George ever act...unusual? Or out of the ordinary?"
"Well...uh, he had acid reflux, if that's what you mean." Mrs Phelps answered, sounding more composed in that answer. Confusion does that.
So we left the house soon after, giving the widow some 'sorry for your loss' as we left.
"I mean it goes without saying. It just doesn't make any sense." Sam stated.
"And still you said it." I remarked.
"A middle-aged dentist with an ulcer is not exactly evil personified." Dean agreed. "You know what we need to do is get inside that NTSB warehouse, check out the wreckage."
"Okay. But if we're gonna go that route, we'd better look the part." Sam pointed out, meaning the flannel would have to go.
==DG==
The boys got their suits. I pulled one of my FBI duds from my Bag.
I changed in the back of the Impala. It made the suit a bit wrinkled but who cares?
"Man, I look like one of the Blues Brothers." Dean complained as he walked out.
I was fixing my sleeves.
"No, you don't. You look more like a...seventh-grader at his first dance." Sam teased.
Buttoning up the jacket sleeve, I opened the door to the car.
"I hate this thing." Dean grimaced in disgust.
"You wasn't in the warehouse, don't you?" I asked.
Sam and Dean stared at me, surprised.
"What?" I demanded.
They both coughed, looking anywhere but at me. I looked down at my short, expecting to see missing buttons or no shirt at all.
There was nothing wrong. It was just a simple white button up, blue jacket and pants. The boots were black, though not heels they still made me look powerful. I pulled my hair in a bun in the back of my head.
"You're being weird." I decided to tell them. "Get in the car."
"Yes ma'am."
==DG==
We made it past security with no problems.
Once inside the warehouse, Dean pulled out his EMF reader.
"What is that?" Sam asked.
"It's an EMF meter. Reads electromagnetic frequencies." Dean answered.
"Yeah, I know what an EMF meter is, but why does that one look like a busted-up walkman?"
"Cause that's what it is." I replied, matter-of-fact.
"It's homemade." Dean boasted.
Sam snorted. "Yeah, I can see that."
Dean's smug grin fell. I snorted, covering it up as a cough.
There was a loud beep a second later.
"Check out the emergency door handle." Dean instructed, waving the EMF over the emergency door. He scratched at the sulfur on the door. "What is this stuff?"
"One way to find out." Sam stated.
I pulled a plastic bag out of my pocket, holding it out for the dust Sam scraped off.
Once we had the dust we ran to the exit door. The guards were coming up the hallway. There was no time for anything else but running.
We made it outside. After checking that the coast was clear, we walked towards the gate. Unfortunately the alarm went off.
As we ran to the gate, Dean threw his suit coat over it. I still needed mine for work so I just climbed over the railings, mindful of the wire.
"Well, these monkey suits do come in handy." Dean remarked as he pulled the coat back down.
I laughed. Sam glowered.
==DG==
Jerry was looking at the sulfur in a microscope.
"Huh. This stuff is covered in sulfur." He told us.
"You're sure?" Sam asked.
"Cause that's weird."
"Take a look for yourself." Jerry suggested, just as a loud series of bangs came from outside followed by a worker swearing. "If you fellows and ma'am's will excuse me, I have an idiot to fire." He walked out of the office as Dean went to the microscope. "Hey. Einstein. Yeah, you. What the heck you doing? Put the wrench down-"
"Hmm. You know, there's not too many things that leave behind a sulfuric residue." Dean remarked. He pulled away, I leaned down.
"Demonic possession?" Sam and I replied. Sam a question, mine a statement.
"It would explain how a mortal man would have the strength to open up an emergency hatch."
"And the sudden shift to want to open the door." I added, standing up. "The no survivors thing? I think a demon would say that."
"This goes way beyond floating over a bed or barfing pea soup." Dean out his hands in his hips. I sat on the end of the desk. "I mean it's one thing to possess a person, but to use them to take down an entire airplane?"
"You ever heard of something like this before?" Sam asked us.
"Never." Dean answered.
"Nothing this big." I lied.
==DG==
So we were in the motel again. All in normal clothes (thank Chuck). Sam had covered the walls with articles and pictures of demons. Dean has added 'known' attacks. He was still reading research books.
I was on my laptop too, searching for the other flights that crashed.
"So, every religion in every world culture has the concept of demons and demonic possession, right? I mean Christian, Native American, Hindu, you name it." Sam listed.
"Yeah, but none of them describe anything like this."
"False." I held up a finger, reading off the article I'd found. "The Japanese believe that a certain string demons are the ones responsible for disasters. Things like wildfires and earthquakes, or airplane crashes and factory explosions."
"Seriously? Plane crashes?" He scoffed. "All right, so, what? We have a demon that's evolved with the times and found a way to ratchet up the body count?"
"Yeah."
"You know, who knows how many planes it's brought down before this one?" Sam asked. I nodded in agreement. A list of awful things it might've done formed in my head.
Dean snorted. He turned away from us.
"Dean?"
"What?" Sam asked him.
"I don't know, guys. This isn't our normal gig." Dean excused. "I mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. This is big. And I wish Dad was here."
"Yeah. Me too." Sam remarked.
'I don't.'
Dean's phone rang. "Hello? Oh, hey, Jerry. Wha-Jerry, I'm sorry. What happened? Where'd this happen? I'll try to ignore the irony in that. Nothing. Jerry, hang in there, all right? We'll catch up with you soon."
"Another crash?" Sam guessed.
I shut down my laptop.
"Yeah. Let's go." Dean instructed, as I slip my laptop in my Bag.
"Where?"
"Nazareth."
Not gonna lie, as I swung my bag over my shoulder I chuckled.
Except as we drove off, I saw the plane crashing everytime that I closed my eyes.
==DG==
After we checked out the plane, we brought more sulfur for Jerry to check.
Jerry let out a quick sigh.
"Sulfur?" Dean guessed. At Jerry's nod, Dean began to pace. "Well, that's great. All right, that's two plane crashes involving Chuck Lambert. This demon sounds like it was after him."
"With all due respect to Chuck, if that's the case, that would be the good news." Sam pointed out.
"What's the bad news?" Dean asked.
"No survivors." I reminded them. The Winchester's sighed. "Taking into account both flights lasted forty minutes, it's no longer a coincidence."
"Forty minutes? What does that mean?" Jerry asked.
"It's biblical numerology. You know Noah's ark, it rained for forty days." Dean answered. "The number means death."
"So I checked it out earlier. There were six plane crashes before now. All of them lasted forty minutes." I revealed.
"Any survivors?" Dean asked.
I shook my head.
"No survivors." Sam, Dean and I stated.
"It's going after all the survivors. It's trying to finish the job." Dean realized.
==DG==
"Really? Well, thank you for taking our survey, And if you do plan to fly, please don't forget your friends at United Britannia Airlines. Thanks." Sam hung up. "That takes care of Dennis Holloway."
"Yes sir. I understand sir. No sir, we won't be sharing your phone number to anyone. Sir this was only a survey-" He hung up. "Screw you too, Blaine Sanderson." Dean snorted. I whacked his shoulder. "Shut up."
"Raven?" Sam prompted.
"They're not flying, okay? They both said no." I huffed, stuffing my phone in my pocket.
"So our only wildcard is the flight attendant Amanda Walker." Dean reported.
"Right. Her sister Karen said her flight leaves Indianapolis at eight pm." Sam reported. "It's her first night back on the job."
"That sounds like just our luck." Dean snarked.
"Dean, this is a five-hour drive, man, even with you behind the wheel."
"Call Amanda's cellphone again, see if we can't head her off at the pass."
"Just tried. She's not answering. She must've turned off her phone."
"God, we're never gonna make it." Sam sighed tiredly.
Dean pressed his foot harder on the pedal. "We'll make it."
==DG==
Don't know how, but we made it.
I ran up to the departure sign. Dean ran to my side.
"There. Her flight."
"They're boarding in thirty minutes." Sam reported as he ran up.
"Okay. We still have some cards to play. We need to find a phone." After a quick scan of the area, Dean found the courtesy phone. He picked it up. "Hi. Gate thirteen…I'm trying to contact an Amanda Walker. She's a flight attendant on flight, um...flight 4-2-4..." There was a long pause. Dean tapped his foo impatiently. "Come on...Miss Walker. Hi, this is Dr. James Hetfield from St. Francis Memorial Hospital. We have a Karen Walker here...Nothing serious, just a minor car accident, but she was injured, so-" He stopped. "You what?...Uh, well...there must be some mistake."
At his guilty expression, I rolled my eyes. Sam tried to
"Guilty as charged...He's really sorry...Yes, but...he really needs to see you tonight, so-...Don't be like that. Come on. The guy's a mess. Really. It's pathetic...Oh, yeah...No, no. Wait, Amanda. Amanda!" He hung up the phone. "Damn it! So close."
"I wasn't listening, but I know you weren't even close." I remarked. "So I'm gonna get in line, buy us tickets for her flight. You two are going to get us luggage."
Dean's eyes widened. "Whoa, whoa, now just hold on a second."
"Dean, that plane is leaving with over a hundred passengers on board, and if we're right, that plane is gonna crash." Sam pointed out. "Raven has a good plan."
Dean grimaced. "I know."
"Okay. Let's go get the luggage, whatever will make it through security." San turned to me. "We'll meet you back here in five minutes."
I gave him a thumbs up. Dean shuffled in place. Anxiety written plain on his face.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked.
Dean winced again. "No, not really."
"What? What's wrong?" Sam asked.
"Well, I kind of have this problem with, uh..." Dean dragged off, looking the direction of the airplanes.
"Flying?" Sam guessed.
"Flying." I deadpanned.
"It's never really been an issue until now." Dean excused.
Sam snorted. I laughed under my breath. "You're joking, right?"
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Dean asked. "Why do you think I drive everywhere, Sam?"
"I thought it was because you loved the car." I admitted, shrugging.
Sam sighed. We exchanged a look, nodding. "All right. Uh, we'll go."
"Yeah."
"What?" Dean looked between us, trying to figure out what silent conversation we'd just had.
"Raven and me, we'll do this one on together." Sam clarified.
"Which makes sense, given that you're scared of flying." I added.
"Then what am I supposed to do? Stay down here and do nothing?" Dean pointed out, annoyed.
"You can drive the car to wherever we land! Everybody wins!"
"What are you, nuts? Sam said it, the plane's gonna crash." Dean argued.
I shook my head. "Not if Sam and I are onboard."
"Dean, we can do it all three of us together, or it can be Raven and me. I'm not seeing a third option, here." Sam countered.
Dean huffed. "Come on! Really?" Sam and I gave him a hard stare. He grunted in annoyance. "Man..."
"Three tickets?" I prompted.
"Yeah..." Dean sighed.
==DG==
The safety announcement was going on overhead. We'd gone through the airport security with no problems, if a little light on Holy Water.
"Just try to relax." Sam advised.
"Just try to shut up." Dean mocked back.
"Wanna lollipop?" In my hand were three bubblegum lollipops, that I offered to the two Winchesters. They'd given me the window seat- such polite boys. Dean sneered at the DumDums. "What? It helps with the ear popping."
Dean turned away, focusing ahead. Sam accepted one. He unwrapped it before popping it in his mouth.
"Bubblegum?" Sam remarked.
I popped the second one in my mouth. "My favorite flavor." Then I leaned forward to look at Dean. "Did you want cherry? I think I have a couple in here." Pulling open the Bag, I pushed my hand inside.
Dean sneered again.
Sam and I exchanged a grin as the plane took off. Dean was holding onto the armrests as if letting go would kill him before the demon did.
==DG==
Not long after we were in the air, Sam turned to Dean. "You're humming Metallica?"
"Calms me down." Dean answered stiffly.
Popping the lollipop stick out of my mouth, I leaned forward. "Showtunes for me."
"Yeah but you always sing showtunes." Sam argued. He had a point, so I let him have it. "Look, man, I get you're nervous, all right? But you got to stay focused."
Dean nodded, clearly not becoming more focused. "Okay."
"I mean, we got thirty-two minutes and counting to track this thing down, or whoever it's possessing, anyway, and perform a full-on exorcism." Sam went on.
"Yeah, on a crowded plane. That's gonna be easy." Dean snarked.
"And it's not like the demon can move from person to person." Was my helpful comment.
"It's usually gonna be somebody with some sort of weakness, you know, a chink in the armor that the demon can worm through." Dean reasoned, which calmed him down more than Sam's suggestion to calm down. "Somebody with an addiction or some sort of emotional distress."
"Well, this is Amanda's first flight after the crash. If I were her, I'd be pretty messed up." Sam agreed.
I grinned around the lollipop stick.
"Mm-hm." Dean turned to the approaching flight attendant. "Excuse me. Are you Amanda?"
"No, I'm not." She replied.
"That's Lauriel." I corrected, standing up straighter in my seat. "Don't know how anyone could forget a pretty face like your's."
Lauriel smiled at me. "Thank you, ma'am." She gave Dean a pointed smile.
"Oh, my mistake." Dean laughed awkwardly.
"Mm-hm." She walked off, not before winking at me.
Not gonna lie, my jaw dropped and stretched into a grin as I watched her walk up the aisle. 'She just winked at me. Damn Darcy was right. Flirting is so much easier than before.'
"All right, well, that's got to be Amanda back there, so I'll go talk to her, and, uh, I'll get a read on her mental state."
"What if she's already possessed?" Sam pointed out.
"There's ways to test that." He pulled up his novelty water bottle. "I brought Holy Water."
"Only six ounces." Came my reminder, holding up a flask from my Bag. Then I took his Virgin Mary bottle. "We need to make them count. Wasting them on Amanda won't get us anywhere."
"Well then what's your big idea, genius?" Dean snarked.
"I think we can go more subtle. If she's possessed, she'll flinch at the name of God." Sam suggested.
"Oh. Nice." He stood up.
"Hey."
"What?"
"Say it in Latin."
"I know."
"Okay."
"Oh, hey, make sure he remembers-"
"Right. Hey!"
"What?!"
"Uh, in Latin, it's 'Christo'."
"Dude, I know! I'm not an idiot!"
He walked away from us in a huff.
I leaned in towards Sam. "So...scared of flying?"
Sam let out a breath of air. "Yeah. It's...weird. Didn't expect it."
"Don't know what I expected." I remarked. "Like, everyone's scared of something. But flying?" Sam laughed in agreement. "I think I expected something like...one of the dad's of his hookups being a ghost, and killing him."
"That's specific." Sam chuckled. "I expected...someone painting the car pink."
I laughed that time. "Why do I get the idea you tried that?"
Sam shrugged. "May have. When it was still Dad's car. Got paint on it one summer, instead of washing it."
Grinning at him in shock, I lightly whacked his arm. "Sam Winchester, how dare you."
"I was terrified that Dad was gonna see it, but he was fine. What always got me was that it was Dean that was so pissed off. Dean's scared I'll do it again." Sam laughed fondly.
That got me chuckling, picturing a smaller Dean pulling his hair out because the Impala was pink, with a baby faced Sam standing there in shame.
That was when Dean came back.
"All right, well, she's got to be the most well-adjusted person on the planet." Dean complained.
"You said 'Christo'?"
"Yeah."
"So nothing happened?" Was my response.
"There's no demon in her. There's no demon getting in her."
"So, if it's on the plane, it can be anyone. Anywhere." Sam realized at the exact moment the plane started shaking.
"Come on! That can't be normal!" Dean complained, gripping the armrests.
"Hey, hey, it's just a little turbulence." Sam assured him.
Dean rolled his eyes. "Sam, this plane is going to crash, okay? So quit treating me like I'm friggin' four."
"You need to calm down."
"Well, I'm sorry I can't."
"Yes, you can."
"Dude, stow the touchy-feely, self-help yoga crap, it's not helping." Dean growled.
"Listen, if you're panicked, you're wide open to demonic possession, so you need to calm yourself down. Right now." Sam instructed.
So, Dean followed the instructions.
"Sam, find a ritual yet?" I asked Sam, while Dean did his lamaze breathing.
"I think I have." Sam opened John's book. "There's an exorcism in here that I think is gonna work. The Rituale Romanum."
"What do we have to do?" Dean asked, more composed than before.
"It's two parts. The first part expels the demon from the victim's body. It makes it manifest, which actually makes it more powerful." Sam explained.
"More powerful?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
"Well, it doesn't need to possess someone anymore. It can just wreak havoc on its own." Sam answered.
"Great. Why is that a good thing again?" I asked.
"Yeah. What she said." Dean added.
"Well, because the second part sends the bastard back to hell once and for all." Sam answered.
Dean huffed. "First things first, we got to find it."
==DG==
He pretended like he was doing his walking to calm down thing again. People bought it, thinking the EMF was just an old fashioned iPod. Well a modern iPod, they had weird tech this year. Sometimes I have to remember how out of date everything is compared to my time.
Sam and I walked up to Dean. He jumped when Sam tapped his shoulder.
"Ah! Don't do that."
"Anything?" Sam asked.
Dean let out an impatient sigh. "No, nothing. How much time we got?"
"Less than fifteen minutes." I answered.
"Maybe we missed somebody." Sam guessed.
"Well there are two people he hasn't checked yet." I stated. "One of which is really emotional compromised."
"Who? I checked everyone on this goddamn plane." Dean argued, keeping his voice low. The EMF spiked in his hand.
I nodded my head towards the front of the plane, just as the copilot walked out of the bathroom.
"Huh." Sam hummed. "She's right."
"Christo." Dean stated.
The copilot turned to us, his eyes black.
==DG==
"She's not gonna believe this." Sam argued as we were walking up the aisle.
"She will." I stated.
"Twelve minutes, dude." Dean reminded.
Once we made it to the back, I saw Amanda sifting through the cups.
"Oh, hi." Amanda cheered. She was more focused on Dean than us. "Flight's not too bumpy for you, I hope."
"Actually, that's kind of what we need to talk to you about." Dean began as Sam closed the curtain.
This did little to boost Amanda's confidence in us. "Um, okay. What can I do for you?"
"The copilot is possessed by a demon that's going to bring down the plane." I stated. The boys sighed in irritation, while Amanda gave me a look of confusion.
"I'm sorry?"
"You saw the eyes, didn't you? Just like Max Jaffey." I argued. There was no time for their floundering explanations. We needed hard facts if we wanted to save these people. I would be damned if I saw another crashed plane in my dreams.
Amanda's face dropped in recognition.
"I'm sorry, I-I'm very busy. I have to go back-" Amanda tried to walk past me, past the boys, but Dean stepped in her path.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Dean assured. "Wait a second. I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? But listen to me, uh...The pilot in 2485, Chuck Lambert. He's dead."
"Wait. What? What, Chuck is dead?" Amanda didn't want to believe it.
"He died in a plane crash. Now, that's two plane crashes in two months." Dean revealed. "That doesn't strike you as strange?"
"I-"
"Look, there was something wrong with 2485. Now maybe you sensed it, maybe you didn't. But there's something wrong with this flight, too." Sam threw in.
"Amanda, you have to believe us."
Amanda glanced away. "On...on 2485, there was this man. He...had these eyes."
"Yes! Exactly that." I leaned in closer. "This demon is not going to stop until you are all gone."
"I don't understand, what are you asking me to do?" Amanda asked.
"Okay. The copilot, we need you to bring him back here." Dean stated.
Amanda thinned her lips. "How am I supposed to go in the cockpit and get the copilot-"
"It doesn't matter how. Only that you do." I told her.
"Do you know that I could lose my job if you-"
"Okay, well you're gonna lose a lot more if you don't help us out." Dean pointed out.
Amanda understood. "Okay." She walked between the boys, walking to the cockpit.
Dean glared at me.
"What? I told you I'd get her to listen." I reminded him. Dean rolled his eyes. "When were you gonna tell her, then, huh? Before or after we exorcised the copilot in front of her-"
Sam hushed me. "They're coming back." Sam grabbed his holy water. Dean grabbed the journal. They exchanged their items. I pulled out my holy water, passing it to Dean. He handed me a roll of duct tape. I nodded in understanding.
The possessed copilot walked in from the curtain.
"Yeah, what's the problem?"
I punched him the face.
He flopped to the floor.
With him down, I hopped down to straddle his stomach. With him down, Dean poured the holy water on his face. The demon tried to throw me off, making me clench my legs harder against his sides. At the same time I tried to find the end of the tape roll so I could get it over his mouth.
"Wait. What are you doing? You said you were just gonna talk to him." Amanda argued, gasping in shock.
"We are gonna talk to him." Dean splashed more holy water down. The copilot's skin sizzled, leaving burn marks on the outfit. I grabbed the copilot's flailing hands, taping them at the wrist.
"Oh, my god. What- what is he?" Amanda asked in a panic. "You- you said demon!"
"Look. We need you calm. We need you outside the curtain." Sam instructed her.
The copilot bucked again- in pain. I'd finished putting duct tape over his wrists, so I added them to the spaces with holy water. It pushed the soak fabric against his skin. There was some muffled screaming so I added more duct tape to his mouth.
"Well, I don't underst-I don't know-"
"Don't let anybody in, okay? Can you do that? Can you do that?" Sam asked. She stood still. "Amanda?"
"Okay. Okay." She went outside the curtains.
"You know, Sam-" The copilot bucked once more. Dean poured the holy water on his face. "We can't hold him forever!"
"Regna terrae, cantate Deo, psallite Domino-" Sam recited.
The demon tried again to buck me off. My hands grabbed at his shoulders, grabbing what I knew to by the human pressure points. For now they would have to do against a demon. He growled at me. I punched his face. Dean held him down at the shoulders. The demon hit Dean with a headbutt which led to myself being slapped by the demon's fists.
The slap pushed me off his body. I nearly slammed into the back wall. The impact was blocked by flying into Dean.
The demon grabbed Sam. The tape on his mouth having flown off when he hit Dean. "I know what happened to your girlfriend! She must have died screaming! Even now, she's burning!"
Dean got up first, hitting the demon. Sam just sat there, stunned. I grabbed for the book, reciting the rest of the spell.
The demon spat Dean's direction. He turned to glare at me. "I hope you don't care about your sister! Because she's Hell's whore now!" He taunted me.
I ignored him.
As I read off, the demon writhed under Dean. It seemed to shake Sam out of his stupor. He held down the demon, keeping him from lashing out at me while I read off the spell.
Once the first part of it was finished the demon fled the copilot's body, flying off in the vent.
"Brace yourselves!" I warned to boy's. They were confused right up until the plane dropped. They bounced around the back cabin for a moment. My arm held tightly to the book, keeping the page in place while my other arm held onto the back wall.
Forcing the hair away from my face I read the next half of the exorcism. Dean's expression made it almost worth it.
A flash of light danced around the interior of the plane. Closing the book, I watched as the light sought the demon from all the places it could hide.
The plane went back on course soon after the light stopped.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Dean sank to the ground like deadweight.
Glancing at Sam, I saw he had wedged himself between the door to keep from bouncing around. I smirked at them both, tossing Sam the book. He caught it, holding it to his chest.
He refused to smirk back.
Dean however, shook his head at me with a flat expression. It made my grin wider in spite.
==DG==
The plane had to turn around, landing back at the gate.
The other passengers were being questioned by various members of the Initial Security. I wasn't going to bother figuring out who was what. There was only one thing on my mind.
Amanda- in the middle of her interview- glanced at us. She mouthed a 'thank you' for us. We nodded in respect to her.
"Let's get out of here." Dean suggested.
Dean and Sam head for the exit.
"You two okay?" Dean asked.
Sam paused. "Dean, it knew about Jessica."
"Sam, these things, they, they read minds. They lie. All right? That's all it was." Dean assured him.
Sam didn't look convinced, but he went along with it. "Yeah."
Dean turned to me. "Raven?" He prompted.
"Hell's Whore. It called her Hell's Whore." I recalled to him.
Dean made a pinched expression. Neither of the brothers had heard much about Darcy, beyond that she died and I tore the heart out of the bastard that killed her. They certainly didn't know what I thought about her being in hell. "Remember, they lie-"
I laughed, sadly. "My sister was a whore. Being Hell's Whore is like...her all time dream." 'Afterall, isn't Hell just Heaven for the bad people? The people like Darcy?' "If he was lying, I doubt my sister would stick to it for long."
His face changed at that explanation.
"My sister and me, we grew up warriors. We had outlets, for when it'd get bad. I had my books and movies, she had one night stands." 'Also murder but that's beside the point.' "I love her, Dean, but I also know what she's like. If she's in Hell, she's making everyone down there suffer more."
That made him smirk. "Come on."
So we left the airport, myself wondering just how much of that I believed.
==DG==
We called Jerry to let him know the problem was solved. He met us at his office.
"Nobody knows what you three did, but I do. A lot of people could have been killed." Jerry shook the hands of the Winchesters. "Your dad's gonna be real proud." He told them. He shook my hand too. "It was good meeting you, ma'am."
"Likewise." I assured.
"We'll see you around, Jerry." Sam told him, moving towards the car.
Dean moved towards the driver seat. "You know, Jerry."
"Yeah?"
"I meant to ask you, how did you get my cellphone number, anyway?" Dean asked. "I've only had it for like six months."
Sam and I turned to Jerry, because Dean had a really good point.
"Your dad gave it to me." Jerry answered simply.
Sam stood straighter in attention. "What?"
"When did you talk to him?" Dean demanded.
"I mean, I didn't exactly talk to him, but I called his number. His voice message said to give you a call." Jerry admitted, to the confusion of the boys. "Thanks again, guys."
The boys didn't respond.
When I climbed inside, I slammed the door to the back harder than necessary.
Damn you, John Winchester. Damn you to Hell and I hope Darcy finds you because she hated you too.
==DG==
After giving them their moment on the back of the Impala, I waited for them. This was their private moment and I didn't want to intrude.
My thumb brushed on the lollipop charm, thinking about Darcy.
She can't be in Hell
She deserved better than Hell.
Hope they at least gave her the Throne
It's the least they could've done.
As I shut my eyes tight, I felt tears burning. They left a scorching trail down my cheeks.
Please...please Chuck do me this one thing...don't let her be there.
Anywhere
Anywhere but Hell.
I sucked in a pained breath when the doors opened.
Putting on my biggest smile, I shifted so I was lying down in the backseat.
"So. Where to next, boys?"
The car started up without reply.
==DG==
AN: You wanna know one thing I haven't done a lot of in this story? Talk about Darcy. I wanna do more of that.
Thanks to G. , Lady Deebo, SylpheKuro, yukicarr, for favoriting
Thanks to G. , Lady Deebo, SylpheKuro, yukicarr, for following