Sam was still reeling from the revelation that he had a twin. It's not the sort of thing you find out every day. To find out it was the hunter that Dean had befriended? That Sam was befriending? That was crazier- and almost too big a coincidence, if you believed in those.
Not only that, but the conversation he'd just had with her was mind boggling too. Raven had told Sam about her sister, Ivy. The girl who had died- that Raven considered her own blood- Sam knew personally that nobody compared to a sibling. No replacements. It wasn't fair to anyone involved to replace a sibling with someone else... To hear that Raven was coming to accept the idea...it actually was something good to look at after months of darkness.
He hung up on Raven- silently telling himself to call her back in a minute. The other phone number calling had no ID- none that Sam saw after a quick glance. "Hello?"
"Sam, is that you?"
Sam tensed in attention. "Dad?" He climbed out of bed, tossing off the sheets. "Are you hurt?" That was just an instinct- it was always why John had called when Sam was growing up.
John seemed to understand the question. "I'm fine."
"We've been looking for you everywhere." Sam told John, feeling age old anger stirring in his gut. The last time they spoke, still hovering in the back of his mind. "We didn't know where you were, if you were okay."
"Sammy, I'm all right. What about you, Millie, and Dean?" John asked.
Sam visibly tensed at the name drop. In the other bed, Dean awoke. "Dean's fine. Raven too." Sam replied in a more cold voice than before. "Dad, where are you?"
"Sorry, kiddo, I can't tell you that." John informed with a weighted sigh.
Sam nearly huffed in annoyance. Yep. There it was. The famous John Winchester avoidance- especially where his kids were concerned. Nevermind that one of them had come back. Or that John somehow knew that. "What? Why not?"
"Is that Dad?" Dean asked.
"Look, I know this is hard for you to understand. You're just gonna have to trust me on this." John explained.
"You're after it, aren't you? The thing that killed Mom and took Raven." Sam reasoned.
John paused before answering. "Yeah. It's a demon, Sam."
"A demon?" Sam repeated. That couldn't be right. A demon killing Mary Winchester and kidnapping Millie/Raven Winchester? What sense did that make? "You know for sure?"
"A demon? What's he saying?" Dean asked, trying to get any information. He grabbed a shirt, throwing it on.
"I do. When I heard from Missouri that you boys had found her- I thought it was too good to be true. Twenty years of not seeing my baby girl- thinking she was dead." John let out a sigh of relief that had been there since Missouri had told him the truth. "Listen, Sammy, I, uh…I also know what happened to your girlfriend. I'm so sorry. I would've done anything to protect you from that."
Sam bristled at the mention of Jess. "You know where it is?"
"Yeah, I think I'm finally closing in on it." John replied.
"Let us help." Sam insisted.
"You can't." John instructed. "You can't be any part of it."
"Why not?" Sam snapped, the embers of fury in his stomach burning brighter.
Dean knew where this was going to go if he didn't step in. Lucky for everyone that Sam and John weren't in the same room. "Give me the phone."
"Listen, Sammy, that's why I'm calling. You and your brother and sister, you gotta stop looking for me." John explained. With no explanation, as if they would change anything. "Alright, now, I need you to write down these names."
"Names? What names, Dad-talk to me, tell me what's going on." Sam demanded.
"Look, we don't have time for this. This is bigger than you think, they're everywhere." John explained. Actually that's a lie. He wasn't explaining a damn thing. "Even us talking right now, it's not safe."
"No. Alright? No way." Sam argued.
"Give me the phone." Dean repeated. It was going to get worse if they kept going.
"I have given you an order. Now, you stop following me, and you do your job. You understand me?" John ordered. "Now, take down these names."
Mount Sam was about to erupt.
Dean could see the flames crawling up his brother's throat. He snatched the phone, walking steps away to keep Sam from snatching it back. "Dad, it's me. Where are you?" Dean asked. Sam couldn't hear whatever it was John said, so he just accepted the orders that came. "Yes, sir. Uh, yeah, I got a pen. What are their names?"
Mount Sam was tamed...for now.
==DG==
As they were driving, Sam was holding Raven up on speaker phone. Well on the dashboard. He was driving- that wasn't safe.
"Let me get this stupidity you idiots are dragging me into straight." Raven complained with a resigned tone. Sam wholeheartedly agreed. "You got a call from John, no explanations, just more instructions? And we're following it?"
"Yes." Sam replied. He gave Dean a look. The hunter ignored it, going over the information he'd gathered over the day. "Alright, so, the names Dad gave us, they're all couples?"
"Three different couples. All went missing." Dean reported.
"The only similarity is that they're all missing and young?" Raven added in. "Different states, different towns?"
"That's right. You got Washington, New York, Colorado." Dean went on. "Each couple took a road trip cross-country. None of them arrived at their destination, and none of them were ever heard from again."
"Well, it's a big country, Dean. They could've disappeared anywhere." Sam pointed out.
"Usually I would agree-" Raven began. "-except if it got on John's radar then it's not a coincidence. Oh I've got a bad feeling. Dean was this an annual thing that happened?"
Dean pointed a finger gun at the phone. "Got it in one. Each one's route took 'em to the same part of Indiana. Always on the second week of April. One year after another after another."
"Ugh. Great. Now there's a time limit."
"This is the second week of April." Sam remarked.
"Yep." Dean nodded.
"So, Dad is sending us to Indiana to go hunting for something before another couple vanishes?" Sam reasoned.
"Yahtzee." Dean cheered in a deadpan. "Can you imagine putting together a pattern like this? All the different obits Dad had to go through? The man's a master."
Raven made no noise from the phone. Let the record show her thoughts were: Dean is trying to sell John as a father. Shame that I've read the reviews on that product. A+ parenting, John, A+.
Sam hadn't read those reviews.
He'd written them.
He pulled off the Impala to the side of the road.
"What are you doing?" Dean asked.
"Is something happening?" Raven asked.
"We're not going to Indiana." Sam told them both. "Raven don't drive that way."
"We're not?" Dean questioned.
"I'm...not?"
"No. We're going to California. Dad called from a payphone. Sacramento area code." Sam revealed.
"Sam." Dean warned.
"Dean, if this demon killed Mom and Jess, if this demon took Raven way back when, and Dad's closing in, we've gotta be there. We've gotta help." Sam stated.
"A demon?!"
"Dad doesn't want our help." Dean reminded his brother.
"I don't care." Sam countered.
"He's given us an order." Dean added on. Raven snorted over the phone.
"I don't care." Sam repeated, more firmly to get his point across. "We don't always have to do what he says."
"Sam, Dad is asking us to work jobs, to save lives, it's important." Dean warned.
"Orders don't go that well with me." Raven supplied.
"Alright, I understand, believe me, I understand." Sam explained. "But I'm talking one week here, man, to get answers. To get revenge."
"Alright, look, I know how you feel." Dean replied.
"Do you?" Sam countered. Dean reeled. "How old were you when Mom died? Four? Jess died six months ago. Raven has been missing my entire life. A twin I never knew I had until a week ago. How the hell would you know how I feel?"
"Sam-" Raven began.
"Dad said it wasn't safe. For any of us." Dean excused, cutting Raven off. "I mean, he obviously knows something that we don't, so if he says to stay away, we stay away."
"I don't understand the blind faith you have in the man." Sam scoffed.
"I swear if you two make me the third wheel in a bitch fight-"
"I mean, it's like you don't even question him."
"Yeah, it's called being a good son!" Dean snapped.
Raven's deadpan remark was cut off by Sam grabbing the phone. He clapped it shut on his way to the trunk.
Dean followed after him. "You're a selfish bastard, you know that? You just do whatever you want. Don't care what anybody thinks." Dean scolded.
"That's what you really think?" Sam scoffed.
"Yes, it is." Dean stated- ignoring how the words tasted like ash in his mouth.
"Well, then this selfish bastard is going to California." Sam threw on the last of his belongings over his shoulder. He walked back the way the Impala came.
"Come on, you're not serious." Dean asked. He did a good job of hiding the startling feeling breaking in his chest. The same feeling that came the last time Sam left like this.
"I am serious." Sam replied.
"It's the middle of the night! Hey, I'm taking off, I will leave your ass, you hear me?" Dean warned. Because giving warnings was better than admitting he was terrified of being without his brother.
Sam paused in his walking. He turned around. For a single second, Dean thought there was hope. "That's what I want you to do."
Dean stared at Sam.
Sam stared back- an unspoken threat lying in wait on his tongue.
You walk out that door, don't you come back.
Dean heard the echo of that in his mind. It made that pain in his chest double. "Goodbye, Sam." He slammed the trunk shut, storming the driver seat. Being a Winchester meant cutting off emotions even when it would be better to talk.
Sam dialed up Raven again as the Impala drove out of sight.
"...so I need to pick you up?"
"What?" Sam glanced at the phone. "Huh. Yeah."
"Got it. Text me where you are."
Sam nodded. He hung up the call. He hesitated just a moment. A part of him wanted to turn towards the Impala and Dean. He wanted to see if- maybe- Dean had drove back. But he knew his brother-knew his family- they don't turn back.
==DG==
The sun had risen. Still, it was a mild day so there wasn't a hot sun beaming down on him.
As Sam walked along the highway he came across another soul. He tapped her on the shoulder. The woman jumped up, startled.
She pulled the headphones out of her ears. "You scared the hell outta me."
"I'm sorry. I just thought you might need some help." Sam admitted.
"No, I'm good, thanks." She replied.
There was an awkward pause. "Uh, so where you headed?"
The woman smiled. "No offense, but no way I'm telling you."
Sam smiled back in faux offense. "Why not?"
"You could be some kind of freak." The woman teased. "I mean, you are hitchhiking."
"Well, so are you." Sam countered.
The woman laughed.
"Hey Sammy-bear!"
Sam winced. He looked- sure enough, Raven had pulled up in a green Jeep.
She honked the horn. "Get in the car before I run you over with it!"
Sam shook his head, laughing. He turned to Meg. "Want a ride?" He offered.
The woman glanced at the car, then at Sam.
Raven honked the horn.
Sam rolled his eyes. He went off towards it. "Thanks Raven." He opened the trunk, dropping in his bags.
Raven made a noise of disinterest. "Hey. I'm the only one with a brain cell in this family."
Sam laughed. He climbed in the passenger seat. The woman walked up.
"Hey. Could I get a ride?" She asked.
Raven stared at the woman for three seconds. Sam was starting to think she'd be rude when Raven finally answered "Sure."
"Nice car." Sam gave Raven a look, while the woman opened the backseat.
Raven grinned. "It's great. Got it real cheap." Raven glanced in the mirror to Sam's guest.
==DG==
None of the radio stations had anything good to listen to- and she couldn't use her AUX cord to play songs from her time. Raven shut it off twenty minutes into the drive.
To fill the sudden void of silence she glanced in the mirror at Meg.
"Just checking-which way am I driving you?" Raven asked.
"California." Meg replied.
Sam looked over his shoulder. "Really?"
"Yeah." Meg replied. "Why?"
"We're headed to California." Sam stated. He missed Raven's eye roll.
"Sacramento." Raven added.
"Why? What's in Cali that's so important?" Meg asked.
"Just something I've been looking for. For a long time." Sam answered.
"Well it'll have to wait another day." Raven remarked. She looked at Sam, silently asking if he was sure on this path he was taking.
For a second, Sam doubted.
Raven had just come into their family. Sam was dragging her out of it. To go hunt down the demon that took her away in the first place. If people's lives were at stake, in that yearly cycle...maybe it wasn't something Dean could handle on his own?
"Well, then I'm sure it can wait one more day, right?" Meg commented. Sam chuckled, breaking out of his doubt.
Raven grinned falsely. "Forgot to ask. What was you name, again?"
"Meg."
"Meg! Ah. That was gonna be my third guess." Raven commented. "Right after Savannah or Taylor."
"Sam." Sam introduced himself.
"Raven." She introduced, copying 'Donkey!'. "I'm gonna try the radio again."
==DG==
Believe it or not, the Winchesters were not killing machines. They needed to stop for nutrients. Meg- that's debatable. Raven pulled off for something to eat. Sam chose a bar.
As they ate, the conversations continued. Raven wanted very much to ignore it, to drag Sam back to the car then towards Dean. But- well- Meg. Raven had no idea what Meg would do if she and Sam fucked off.
"So, what, are you on some kind of vacation or something?" Sam asked Meg.
The demon (unknown by Sam, known by Raven) chuckled. "Yeah, right. It's all sipping Cristal poolside for me."
Sam laughed, with all the laughter of a joke that had been told at a dinner party. Raven laughed like she thought she'd be killed if she didn't.
"No. I had to get away from my family." Meg admitted.
"Why?" Sam asked.
"I love my parents. And they wanted what's best for me. They just didn't care if I wanted it. I was supposed to be smart. But not smart enough to scare away a husband." (Sam smiles.) "It's just…because my family said so, I was supposed to sit there and do what I was told. So I just went on my own way instead." (Sam stares at her.) "I'm sorry. The things you say to people you hardly know."
"No, no, it's okay. I know how you feel. Remember that brother I mentioned before, that we were road-tripping with?" Meg nodded. Raven held tighter to her bottle of beer. "It's, uh, it's kind of the same deal."
"And that's why you're not riding with him anymore?" Meg asked. Sam agreed. Meg turned to Raven. "But you ditched first, huh?"
"I ditched because they were both being idiots." Raven supplied. She tucked at the label of the bottle, scraping it off piece by piece. Sam made a face of offense at her answer. It turned to shame on her next. "I came back because...well...they're better idiots when they're together."
Sam looked down at his bottle.
Meg saw the look on his face. While a normal person might say something else, change the topic, Meg was a demon. She wanted to convince Sam to avoid his brother, for Raven to do the same.
"Here's to us." Meg toasted. "The food might be bad, and the beds might be hard. But at least we're living our own lives. And nobody else's."
Sam toasted with her, hesitantly. Raven kept picking at her label.
==DG==
They'd gotten a motel room. Just as they needed nutrients, sleep was required. Raven had discovered that need after hours of research- humans haven't evolved to stop needing sleep. What a waste.
Meg had fallen asleep. Sam and Raven had stayed up to talk with Dean. The brother had called them in a fit. Apparently he'd almost died. Sam and Raven were leaning closer together, Sam holding the phone between their heads on speaker. They were trying not to wake Meg.
"The scarecrow climbed off its cross?" Sam repeated.
"Yeah, I'm tellin' ya. Burkitsville, Indiana. Fun Town." Dean snarked.
Raven snorted. "Yeah, Shame we're missing it."
"It didn't kill the couple, did it?" Sam asked.
"No. I can't cope without you, you know." Dean snarked back. Geez, you'd think escaping death would make a guy mello.
"So, something must be animating it. A spirit." Sam pondered.
"No, it's more than a spirit. It's a god. A Pagan god, anyway." Dean corrected.
"What makes you say that?" Sam asked.
"No, I can see it." Raven agreed.
"The annual cycle of its killings? And the fact that the victims are always a man and a woman. Like some kind of fertility right." Dean explained. "And you should see the locals. The way they treated this couple. Fattenin' 'em up like a Christmas turkey."
"The last meal. Given to sacrificial victims." Sam reasoned.
"I'm sold. Pagan God for 200, Alex." Raven commented.
"Yeah, I'm thinking a ritual sacrifice to appease some Pagan god." Dean mused.
"So, a god possesses the scarecrow-" Sam began.
"And the town sends it two stuffed pigs, ripe for the taking." Raven added.
"And for another year, the crops won't wilt, and disease won't spread." Dean finished.
"Do you know which god you're dealing with?" Sam asked.
Dean sighed. "No, not yet."
"Wait I have an idea." Raven reaches into her bag. She shifted through it got a moment. She seemed to find what she was looking for.
Sam read the title. "Norse Mythology? You just carry that around?"
"Norse Mythology rocks- shut up. They're so metal it's insane." Raven opened the book, she searched it for a quick moment. "Dean. Did the scarecrow look like this?" She took a picture of a page, texting it to Dean.
There was silence for a moment. Dean checked the text then went back to call. "Yeah. Yeah a lot like that."
"Aha!" Raven cheered. She slapped the page in delight. "Vanir! It's a Vanir statue."
"Vanir?"
"Part of the Nine Realms Under the rule of Odin All-Father." Raven reported. "Their Norse gods of protection and prosperity. They kept the local settlements safe from harm, if the settlements remembered to build effigies to them along with ritual sacrifices of one man and one woman. Though that bit is more of a settlement-by-settlement basis. But most of the effigies were made by a sacred tree."
"What would happen if the tree was torched?" Dean asked. "Think it'd kill the god?"
"I think it's a good bet." Raven stated. She started to grin.
"Huh. And here I was, on my way to a local community college cause I didn't have my trusty sidekick geek squad." Dean noted.
Sam laughed. "You know, if you're hinting you need our help, just ask."
"I'm not hinting anything." Dean lied. "Actually, uh-I want you to know...I mean, don't think-"
"Yeah. I'm sorry, too." Sam replied.
"Sam. You were right." Sam startled at the remark. Raven glanced at Sam, then the phone. "You gotta do your own thing. You gotta live your own life."
"Are you serious?" Sam questioned.
"You've always known what you want. And you go after it. You stand up to Dad. And you always have. Raven you've been doing that as long as I've known you. Hell, I wish I- anyway...I admire that about you. I'm proud of you, Sammy."
"I don't even know what to say." Sam admitted.
Raven leaned in. "Dean are you sure the scarecrow didn't get you?"
"I'm sure." Dean chuckled, a sad undertone to his words. "Say you'll take care of each other."
"I will." Sam answered.
"I'll keep him not-dead." Raven replied. Emotions were very icky.
"Call me when you find Dad." Dean told them.
Sam visibly drooped. Raven tried to figure out then origin before realization came to her. "Okay. Bye, Dean."
"Bye." Raven added.
Sam hung up the phone. Raven reached up to his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
In her bed, Meg sat up. She looked towards the twins. She easily spotted the phone in Sam's hand. "Who was that?"
"M-Our brother." Sam corrected.
"What'd he say?" Meg asked.
Sam hesitated. "Goodbye." He turned to Raven. She understood the emotion in his eyes. Looking back at him as if they really were twin images of each other.
==DG==
Sam was awakened by a loud alarm blaring. He winced, sitting up. Meg did the same. Raven was dashing about, packing up the meager items stacked around the place.
"Sam. Go to the car." Raven instructed. "Megana-"
"Just Meg."
"Megana, deepest apologies, but it looks like you'll have to catch a bus to California. I checked earlier- closest one leaves in thirty minutes." Raven explained. "Sam. Come on. Get to the car."
"What? No. Why?" Sam asked.
Raven stared at Sam like he'd just asked if lava was hot. "Sam. We gotta go." She explained to him. Her amber eyes were full of a panicked distress that made Sam's heart clench. "He needs us. You know he does."
She was right.
Sam instantly understood every remark he'd ever heard about older sisters. It was annoying that she was right. But...there was no other way about it. Dean needed them. Even if Sam hated following Dad's orders, he needed his brother.
"We gotta go." Sam agreed.
Raven finally smiled, relieved. She went back to packing. Sam grabbed his backpack.
"Go where?" Meg asked.
"Burkitsville." Sam answered.
Meg's eyes widened. "Sam, wait."
"No. I've been trying to call Dean ever since I woke up- nothing." Raven stated snippily to Meg. "He wouldn't ignore calls for this long. It's just voicemail."
Sam darted towards his phone. He dialled Dean's number. He was sent straight to voicemail. He turned to Raven, who had an expression of 'see?' on her face. "Straight to voicemail."
"Well, maybe his phone's turned off." Meg guessed.
"No, that's not like him." Sam answered. Even with his goodbye call the night before, Dean would always have answered a call. If Sam had ever called from Stanford, Sam thinks Dean would've picked up without a second thought. "He might be in trouble."
"What kind of trouble?" Meg asked.
"Megarula you're going to miss you bus." Raven stated. She grabbed the car keys, walking towards the door.
"But I don't understand." Meg walked to block Sam's path. Behind her, Sam could see Raven glaring at the back of Meg's head. "You're running back to your brother? The guy you ran away from? Why, because he won't pick up his phone? Sam- come with me to California. You don't need to go back just because she's too weak to walk away."
Sam's expression hardened. "I can't. I'm sorry."
"Why not?"
"We're family." Sam stated firmly. He walked around Meg, towards Raven. "Hope you catch your bus." He said over his shoulder.
Raven grinned as she threw the door open for them.
When they were in the car, Sam turned to Raven.
"Think the scarecrow got to him?" Sam asked.
"I think Dean took away their sacrifices, so they've decided to make the best of a bad situation." Raven stated. She drove as fast as she could without getting pulled over by a cop. "Ritualistic killers don't care about the who as long as the deed is done."
Sam shifted in his seat, anxious now for Dean.
==DG==
It had been a long drive to Burkitsville- despite all the speed limits Raven broke to get there. Raven and Sam were walking into the orchard. It hadn't been that hard to find the only orchard in this area. Even easier was finding the Scarecrow's sacrificial lambs.
"You don't have a plan, do you?" A female voice asked as Raven and Sam came close.
"I'm workin' on it." Dean replied. Raven snorted at his reply. Sam visibly relaxed at the proof of life. "Can you see?" Dean asked.
"What?"
"Is he moving yet?"
"I can't see." The woman replied. But she tensed the closer Raven and Sam got. "Oh my God." Raven walked to the girl's tree. Sam walked towards Dean's. "Oh my God!"
"Dean?" Sam asked. He walked into their sight. Both of them were tied to trees, strung up like scarecrows themselves. They looked relatively okay, except Dean was spouting an impressive black eye.
Raven popped up beside Emily. "Trust me- no exhibition kink is worth this."
Dean laughed in relief- not even taking Raven's comment in before laughing. "Oh! Oh, I take everything back I said. I'm so happy to see you. Come on."
Sam began untying Dean. Raven pulled out her switchblade, using it on the ropes on Emily.
"Really Dean? We leave you alone for a few days, and you become a sacrifice." Raven teased, clicking her tongue.
"Yeah- guess you'll have to stick around." Dean joked, but was actually really super serious. "How'd you get here?" Dean asked. Cause he knew Sam had to hitchhike, but he wasn't sure about Raven.
"We, uh-we stole a car." Sam admitted.
"Haha! That's my boy!" Dean grinned Raven's way. "And you- hey you! You're awesome!"
"Don't I know it!"
"And keep an eye on that scarecrow. He could come alive any minute." Dean warned.
Raven paused. She held the discards of rope in her hand. "Ooh...you're not gonna like this."
"What scarecrow?" Sam asked, immediately growing concerned.
Upon realizing the scarecrow was nowhere in sight, all four twenty-somethings began rushing out of the woods.
"Alright, now, this sacred tree Raven was talking about-" Sam began.
"It's the source of its power." Dean confirmed. He had told them as they were running about the apple tree that Emily had told him about. The one everyone in the town just loved- treated it like a god.
"So let's find it and burn it." Sam stated.
"I still have the grenade launcher!" Raven offered.
"Nah, in the morning. Let's just shag ass before Leather Face catches up." Dean decided. Which was actually a good idea.
But before they could get far, the pathway was blocked by the Elders of the town. Two of which were Emily's aunt and uncle. They had been the ones to tie Dean and Emily down. As far as Raven was concerned, they were only slightly better than Petunia and Vernon on the 'bad aunt/uncle scale'.
"This way." Dean stated. He turned their group, only to be met by the town sheriff and the other town Elders. The Elders were all shining lights on them, calling attention to them for the Scarecrow.
"Please. Let us go." Emily begged, tears in her eyes.
"It'll be over quickly, I promise." Her uncle promised.
"Please." Emily pleaded.
"Emily, you have to let him take you. You have to-" Her uncle pleaded back, as if he wasn't condemning her to a needless death.
In a sense of cosmic justice, the Scarecrow appeared behind him. The Scarecrow pushed his sickle in her uncle's back.
Emily and her aunt screamed. The other Elders scattered. The Scarecrow grabbed Emily's aunt, clutching her to his chest. It stuck the sickle through her uncle's ankle, dragging him behind.
Sam, Raven, and Dean knew to get the hell out of dodge. Emily pushed herself into Dean's arms, crying out in fear at seeing her relatives die. The four rushed off when they had the chance.
When they reached the road, the scream of Emily's aunt stretched out into the night.
==DG==
None of them got any sleep that night.
They'd gotten a carton of gasoline some point in the night. It hadn't taken much search to find the only apple tree in the orchard marked with Vanir writing.
Sam poured the gasoline out over the tree. Dean lit a switch on fire. Raven pushed up any brush around the tree.
"Let me." Emily took the switch from Dean's grip. The tip was lit in flames.
"You know, the whole town's gonna die." Dean told her. This wasn't a choice any normal person wanted on their conscience.
"Good."
Dean let her take it.
Sam and Raven stepped back from the tree in time to avoid the switch.
The tree quickly caught up in flames. The four of them watched until the entire tree was nothing but ash.
==DG==
The Winchesters watched Emily walked onto a bus. She waved at Dean, who waved back.
"Think she's gonna be alright?" Sam asked, as they walked towards the Impala.
"I hope so." Dean admitted.
Raven shuddered, sliding her hands into her jacket pockets.
"And the rest of the townspeople, they'll just get away with it?" Sam asked.
"Well, what'll happen to the town will have to be punishment enough." Dean replied.
"Yeah. Guess it'll have to be." Raven added. She glanced once more at the bus as it drove off before looking at the lovely Impala that she had grown to miss. The backseat may be the backseat, but it had leg room.
"So, can I drop you two off somewhere?" Dean asked.
"No, I think you're stuck with us." Sam stated.
"You're a cheaper ride." Raven agreed.
Dean turned to them. While the answer was what he'd been hoping for, it still surprised him that they said it. "What made you change your minds?" Dean wondered.
"I didn't. I still wanna find Dad. And you're still a pain in the ass." Sam stated. Dean nodded in acknowledgement. "But, Jess and Mom-they're both gone. Dad is God knows where. Raven-Millie-whichever. You and Raven and me. We're all that's left. So, if we're gonna see this through, we're gonna do it together."
Dean paused. "Hold me, Sam. That was beautiful." He reached for Sam's shoulder.
Sam knocked it off. He couldn't help the grin on his face.
All three laughed.
"Raven, what about you? What made you change it?" Dean asked.
"Oh I knew you two would get back together." Raven snorted. "As much as you two say otherwise, I don't think you two know how to function apart."
Dean barked in laughter.
"You should be kissing our asses, you were dead meat, dude." Sam challenged.
"Yeah, right. I had a plan, I'd have gotten out." Dean flat out lied. He knew well and good he would've died if not for Sam and Raven.
Sam snorted. Raven chuckled from deep in her throat. "Right."
All three exchanged a smile before climbing into the Impala.
==DG==
AN: Am...am I actually keeping to a writing schedule for this fic?! Holy shit I think I am!
Thanks to beulah2013 for favoriting and following