Part Nine: Inner Demons

I'm nearly there, I'm so close, Robin thought to herself. She was in the forest, running, her legs aching from the speed her mind was pushing them. But she had to get to Lucas before it was too late.

As she approached her destination, she found herself slowing down even though her legs were still moving as fast as possible. What was happening?

Then suddenly she fell to the floor, her body smacking down on the hard, cold ground. Robin could feel all her energy draining out of her, leaving her with no strength to move so she lay on the ground, trying to catch her breath when she heard a voice calling her name. The soothing voice washed over her body and she felt herself slipping away until finally…

She was awake.

Robin stared up at her ceiling of the bedroom and wondered about her dream. What did it mean?

She rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock, it had just gone half twelve at night. As she turned over to check on Lucas, all she found was the full moon staring at her. He was missing.

"We're nearly there now," Lucas said, his breath heavy from the walking.

"Where exactly are we going anyway?" Sam asked, taking in the rocky surroundings.

"There," Lucas replied, pointing to a cave up ahead, "I found it with Robin."

Dean looked at the boy's final resting place and felt a shiver go up his spine. His resolution dimming with every step.

As they entered the cave, they found it was quite illuminated, as the roof of it had a massive hole which seemed to have been made to purposely let in as much moonlight as possible.

Lucas threw Dean's arm off and walked a couple of steps forward before collapsing onto his knees, his back to the brothers.

"Are you ready?" the boy called, balling his fists up, digging up his last memory of Robin in his mind.

"Turn around…I don't shoot people in the back," Dean said calmly, taking out the gun.

Lucas complied and shuffled around, his blue eyes illuminated by the light. He almost looked angelic.

"Do it."

And Dean brought the gun up and took a second to think over the events that had led him to this moment, led him to kill a man.

"Aim for my heart…if you can," Lucas murmured, closing his eyes readying himself for the next life.

Robin couldn't feel her heart anymore, she had searched the whole house and he wasn't there. Where had Lucas gone? Why hadn't she noticed?

The questions kept building but no answers were appearing, she was lost, she was drowning and she didn't know how to save herself.

Just calm down, just calm down, she thought to herself as she leant against a wall, letting her cheek feel the coolness of the wood.

Where would Lucas go?

Her mind flicked through the images of Lucas' favorite places in the world but he hadn't taken any money so he couldn't have gone to another city, he must have been somewhere close. But Lucas probably wouldn't go into public, would he?

Although Lucas wouldn't, that didn't mean the wolf wouldn't, maybe he'd had a relapse and he was running around the town, terrorizing people, hurting people…

No, don't think like that, she told herself, the police would have rung you.

So where else could he be?

The wheels of her mind kept turning faster and faster but she couldn't think of anywhere else, she couldn't remember anywhere.

She thumped the wall with her fist and she heard a sharp crack as a picture frame fell onto the floor. She swore under breath, and quietly walked over to where the sound had come from and picked up the photograph. It was a picture they had taken while Lucas and her had gone hiking around the mountains, the sky was so blue and the view behind them was magnificent.

Then it hit her, the cave. The cave they had discovered while walking, that's where he would be. The most private and serene spot in the world, Lucas had said.

Dean stared hard at his target, but his finger just wouldn't press the trigger. The messages to his brain weren't getting to his hand. Need to concentrate harder, he thought to himself as he shook himself, thinking that he was going to do it any minute now…

"Noo!" Sam screamed, grabbing the gun and wrenching it away from his brother.

"What the hell!"

"I'm sorry…but you can't do this. I can't let you…" Sam muttered, backing away from Dean.

Lucas opened his eyes again and stared at the two brothers, feeling his head getting light as if he were about to fall asleep.

"Give me the gun, Sam," Dean said forcefully, striding towards his brother.

"No! Don't do this. We can think of another way," Sam answered, taking a stand.

"I'm going to ask you one last time, give me the gun..."

"No."

And with that, Dean grabbed Sam's arm and twisted it, trying to force the gun out of his hand. But Sam held on as tight as he could, ramming his brother into the stone wall and hearing his cry of pain as he did.

As they continued to struggle, the gun passing between them, Lucas knew it was too late now. The beast was taking over and he looked down to see his nails growing longer and his palms start to get hairy. He had lost and now Robin would pay the price.

Robin started to run as fast as she could, battering through the low branches of the trees and the dark. She prayed that she wouldn't be too late, that Lucas would still be there when she got there.

After about 20 minutes of straight sprinting, she could feel her body start to slow down and ache. Her legs were becoming jelly and her breath was so hard, it started to hurt when she breathed. But still Robin wouldn't let herself rest, she couldn't, every second counted, every second was one more that Lucas could hurt himself.

And then it hit her like a ton of bricks, exhaustion, and she fell onto the ground with the loudest crack. Her face fell into a patch of wet soil but she didn't care, she couldn't move, she couldn't think.

Then in the distance, she heard it like a bell toll, a gun shot.

"Jesus, Sam!" Dean yelled, as the gun went off, it narrowly missing his leg.

"Sorry!" Sam shouted, taking a step back to catch his breath.

Dean shook his head; there were only 2 bullets left. But he would only need one, as he clutched the gun tighter in his hand.

As the two brothers rested, they heard a soft voice calling and they turned to find Lucas on the floor, huddled up in the foetus position.

"Crap," Dean swore, as he rushed to the boy's side, "are you ok?"

But the boy didn't answer, just lay still, his arms and legs locked tight around him.

"Lucas, can you hear me?" Sam shouted, trying to prise the boy open.

Still the boy didn't utter a word and the Winchesters looked at each other, looking for a solution.

Lucas could hear the brothers calling to him but he couldn't reply to them, the beast wouldn't let him.

"You're mine now, this body is mine now," the beast whispered to him.

"No!" the boy screamed in his head but no one could hear him and the beast wouldn't listen.

"I'm going to rip them to shreds and then I'm going to find your pretty wife….I think I'll kill her, very slowly. And you'll be there, watching it all, taking it all in, but not being able to do anything about it," the beast sneered.

"NO!" Lucas howled, so loudly that his voice echoed around and around the cave.

"Lucas?" Dean asked cautiously, as the boy suddenly leapt up out of his trance.

"SHOOT ME NOW!" the boy cried out, pulling Dean's hand to his head, the gun pulsing against his temple.

Robin felt her heart crack, as the gun shot faded into the night. Lucas was gone. He was dead. She had failed him.

She tried to get up but her strength still hadn't returned, so she started to drag herself across the forest floor. Even if she couldn't save him now, she could still bury him, see him one last time.

But as she pulled herself along, she could feel the hot tears of grief swamping her and the anger filling up every bit of her.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU WAIT? WHY!" she wailed, thumping the floor with her fists, feeling sharp stones scratching her skin.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" she carried on, rolling onto her back and staring up at the sky, thinking how easy it had been for Lucas. One shot and he was gone, he didn't have to deal with anything anymore. But what about her? She was stuck on this earth, with no one but her guilt.

"I HATE YOU!" Robin shouted again, her throat hurting from the effort.

"Now, now, dear…come on, don't say things like that," a strange voice said.

Robin rubbed her eyes as she looked over to her side, to find an old woman gazing down at her.

I must be going mad, the girl said to herself, shaking her head.

"You're not mad," the old woman said with an Irish lilt.

"What…who…are you?" Robin asked, studying the woman in front of her. She looked so familiar.

The old woman walked over to the girl and helped her up off the floor before looking into her eyes, "my name is Imogen."

Writer's Note: Pure, as always your support is much appreciated:-) And welcome to HI, thanks for reading. I'm glad you're liking it.