A/N: *Snake voice* Kept you waiting, huh? Sorry this took so long! I've been watching ShadyPenguinn's streams, playing Okami HD (I'm close to 100% guys! I just have one stray bead left to get before I enter the point of no return), watching Attack on Titan & Tokyo Ghoul: re. I'll try not to take as long with the next chapter (it's an in-game one. The next two are in-game chapters, just a heads-up). Anyway, hope you enjoy! (Side note: I almost cried while writing the ending.)
WARNING(S): Drug use (accidental/unknowing)
It had been a few days since they'd found Garth again, and there had been zero cases and no jumping back into Amaterasu's memories.
Speaking of, Aline had tried to get a hold of her mom just to try to get answers as to why does Rao look like me?
And there had been nothing but radio silence. She'd been tempted to try to reach out to someone else up there, but, given the fact that the only ones that would be able to hear her would be Metatron and the other angels, she knew that she wouldn't get an answer that way.
Now, she was leaning against the counter, coffee mug clenched tightly in her hands. She'd barely gotten any sleep the night before, dreams plagued by a red moon,shadowy tails, and bright red eyes. From the looks of it, Dean didn't sleep much either. That or he didn't sleep period. He was sitting at the table in front of his laptop with his head in his right hand,eyes locked on the screen.
Aline grabbed Dean's mug from the cabinet, poured him some coffee, and placed it next to his laptop as she sat down next to him. The moment he picked up his mug and drank some coffee, Sam walked in.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hey." Dean's voice was raspy, and he barely looked up from the computer while Aline nodded her head in greeting.
"You two go to bed last night?"
At that moment, it was really hard to believe that, days ago, they'd all laughed about Sam saying "stacked" and "melons". She knew this was the way things had to be until Sam could trust her and Dean again, but it still hurt her that the guy she called her friend (the Issun to her Amaterasu) was only treating her like a co-worker. She set her mug on the table and tightly grasped her pajama pants in her hands,swallowing hard as she answered, "Nah. Watched the Purple Wedding, then came out here and found him."
Dean cleared his throat. "What? Uh, no. No, 'Rudy' was on. 'Unforgiven,' and then I was too jacked to sleep, so...research."
Sam rummaged around the kitchen getting breakfast. "Gadreel?"
"And Metatron and the mark of Cain and whatever Aline's mark is and..." Dean looked up and realized Sam wasn't really paying attention. "Crickets for the first two, but I found out that Aline's mark literally is 'darkness'." He looked over at her, but she looked down at the floor. "Aline also found us a case."
"Oh, yeah?"
Aline nodded. "Yeah. Strange death in Stillwater, Minnesota. A competitive eater died after a hot dog-eating contest."
"So, what? Death by tube steak?"
"If only. He got attacked in his car, but, uh, get this—he shrunk from 300 pounds to 90."
"Witchcraft?"
"Or a heavy-duty laxative. You game?" Dean inquired.
"Yeah."
"Good. Looks like it's a whore's bath for me. I'll be ready in five." Dean got up to leave while Aline quickly finished the rest of her coffee, getting up to leave as well before Sam stopped them both in the doorway.
"You sure you two are okay?"
Aline shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure. Why wouldn't we be?"
"'Cause—I don't know you... This isn't about what I said the other day, is it?"
Dean and Aline shared a quick look before Dean answered for the both of them. "Oh, about that we're not supposed to be brothers? And that you and Aline aren't supposed to be friends? No, don't flatter yourself. We don't break that easy."
"Oh,good, 'cause I was just being honest."
Aline rolled her eyes once she was far enough away from Sam. "Oh, , we got that loud and clear."
Once she and Dean reached their rooms (which were directly next to each other), Dean looked over at her. "You should've told him, you know. About what you saw in your dreams."
Her shoulders slumped, knowing that Sam was far enough away to not see how she was really dealing with the practically cold shoulder. "He wouldn't care. We're...we're not even friends anymore. You heard him. So, please drop it."
"Ally..."
Her fingers white-knuckled the door, and she clenched her jaw. "Dee, please." With that, she yanked open her door and started packing. Her vision became blurry with tears, but she quickly wiped them away and grabbed clothes to put on after her own shower, along with her phone and speaker, needing something to distract her from her own head while she showered.
It was Sam's decision, his terms that both she and Dean accepted. Even though he didn't trust them anymore, didn't trust her anymore.
And why should he trust you? a treacherous voice questioned. You tried to get him to stop the trials, got him to say yes to that dickbag angel, all to save him. And for what? The douche killed Kevin while wearing Sam and who knows how many others. It's all on you because you couldn't let one man die.
Aline clenched her jaw, and she threw her shirt at the mirror in the corner of her room. She felt like throwing something else, anything, but she stopped short when she saw her reflection in the mirror.
Her eyes were crimson for a brief second before switching back to blue, brief enough for her to catch it with wide shocked eyes.
FBI was the disguise of the day, which meant suits and fake badges. They'd flashed the badges to the lady at the front desk and got the attention of the sheriff, Donna Hanscum. She'd given them most of the information they already knew, and were waiting for the coroner's report.
Now,the blonde walked over with two copies and handed one to Sam. "Thanks for your patience, agents. Coroner's report finally came in," Hanscum stated.
"All right, thank you. All right, let's see. Did Wayne McNut really weigh 300 pounds just moments before time of death?" Sam inquired.
"316 to be exact."
"And the official cause of death?" Aline asked.
"Cardiac arrest. But between you and me, that's just a guess. The vic suffered massive organ damage." She turned around and handed the other report to a girl at the desk. "Here you go, Jenny. Ruptured spleen,pierced liver, collapsed lung. Looked like everything was just sucked right out of him." She poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Like he'd been hoovered?"
"Yeah. Yeah, you know, I gotta be honest, fellas—hm?" Hanscum took a powdered donut and offered them one. Both Dean and Aline gladly walked over and grabbed one for themselves. "We're stumped. This type of thing just doesn't happen in Stillwater." The sheriff took a big bite of her powdered donut, and it covered her mouth and black tie with white powdered sugar.
Sam looked at the report. "Now, did Wayne have any enemies?"
"Hmm. More like an unfriendly rivalry."
Dean and Aline took huge bites out of their donuts, and white powder covered their lips and face.
"A guy named 'Slim Jim' Morgan. Like Wayne, he was pretty well-known in the competitive-eatin' circuit."
Sam looked up from the report and noticed both Dean's and Aline's faces. He tried to subtly motion for them to wipe their face. Aline wiped her face off with her hand, and Dean wiped the side of his mouth, taking off exactly none of the powdered sugar which earned a grin from Aline. Sam, however, tried to stay focused on the sheriff.
"Competitive-eating circuit? Is that a big thing out here?"
"Oh, yeah. You betcha. Folks take it real seriously—train for months. Eat all sorts of wackadoo stuff, you know, like, uh...Baked beans, buff wings, butter."
Aline almost choked on air in surprise. "Butter?"
"Yeah. Sometimes deep-fried."
Dean took another huge bit and spread more powder everywhere. "Hm."
"This year alone, Wayne won the Butter Bowl, the Wing Ding, and Shrimptasia. Anyhoo, point being, Wayne McNut was the only one Slim Jim couldn't beat in the whole Great Lakes region."
"So is he a suspect?"
"We checked him out, but Slim Jim was in the Hot Doggery at the time of Wayne's death, and we got 15 witnesses to prove it."
"Really?"
"Yah."
Dean, the sheriff, and Aline exchanged looks and then took simultaneous bites of their donuts and chewed contentedly.
"Slim Jim" Morgan stuffed a handful of lettuce in his mouth from the gigantic bowl in front of him. "Training," he explained with his mouth full. "When I gear up for a competition, I eat lettuce—stretches the stomach."
Aline cringed, grossed out. It was one thing when Dean talked with his mouth full (she could deal with that no problem), but it was another thing watching someone else do it.
"Yet another reason to stay away from salads," Dean said, clearly also grossed out.
"How well did you know Wayne McNut?" Sam questioned.
"Well, well enough to know he was a weasel and a cheat. I hate to say it, but, uh, karma's a bitch."
Dean looked away from the man and at the shelf next to him. "This is interesting."
Aline glanced at the shelf as well, noticing it was full of spell jars and funny shaped boxes.
"Mala's good-luck charms."
She looked back at him. "And Mala is...?"
"My old lady."
"Is your old lady superstitious?"
"Yah. She's Romanichal."
"Romanichal?"
"Gypsy," Sam responded.
"But don't call her that. She says it's reductive. But I think it's a compliment. I mean, gypsies are all the rage on TV—'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding,' 'Gypsy Sisters'... 'Keeping up with the Kardashians.'"
"Um." Sam cleared his throat. "You mind if I use your bathroom?"
"Yeah, go ahead. But use the one upstairs at the back. Mala's taking a shower in ours."
"Right." And Sam left, leaving Dean and Aline alone with Slim Jim.
The two hunters glanced at each other briefly before Dean asked, "Did you really lose the 'Wiener Winner' by one dog?"
"Yah."
Back at the motel, Aline picked up pieces of the hex bag on the was human hair and marbles and other weird things. Dean was sitting across from her, and Sam was sitting on the bed, laptop in front of him.
"All right, so, we got what appears to be Wayne McNut's hair and...a bag full of weird," Aline said, scrunching her nose.
"In Romanichal culture, the pouch is called a putsi bag. It's used for hexes," Sam stated, reading from his laptop.
"Okay, so, what? Mala's putting hexes on hubby's competition?" Dean guessed, and Sam shrugged. "I mean, what do we got ourselves? A 'thinner' sitch here?"
"Slim Jim might not even know."
"Hm."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. The trio exchanged looks, and Dean got up and drew his gun. He looked through the peephole and shrugged. He opened the door, and it was Mala. She smiled.
"Hi," Dean greeted.
"I believe you have something of mine," she stated.
Long story short, Mala's putsi bag was a dead end, made to bless Wayne instead of curse. Now they were back to square one with another dead body. This time, the crime scene was the gym. Dean looked at the body.
"Any idea what the vic weighed beforehand?" Sam asked the officer.
"165."
"So...180. Known fact—all women lie about their weight and age."
Aline cocked a brow. "You told that waitress the other day you were 29," she pointed out. She wasn't going to deny what he'd said, but she had to point out that he'd done the exact same thing.
"Mm-hmm."
"Need anything else, agents?" the officer inquired.
"Yeah, is Sheriff Hanscum around?"
"Sorry. She's out for the rest of the week. Hell of a time to take a vacation, right?" The officer walked away, leaving the Winchesters and Aline alone with the body.
"Okay, so, we have two victims, with seemingly nothing in common except, uh—"
"A love for eclairs. Check this out."
The trio bent down to look at the body, and Dean pulled up her shirt a little to reveal a large, circular red mark.
"What is that? A birthmark?" Aline wondered.
"Huh. So the weight had to come off somehow, right? What if it's a suction mark?"
"A suction mark? Okay. Uh, changeling?"
"Yeah, but changelings only take over kids. Neither of the vics had any."
"And we don't know if Wayne McNut had a suction mark."
"Unless we missed it."
Dean's eyes moved past both Aline's and Sam's shoulders. "Yeah. Well, we should, uh, split up. One of us should hit the morgue. The other two should stay here and question the staff."
Aline looked over her shoulder and saw that Dean was staring at a girl talking to an officer. "I'll stay." The girl looked to be Dean's type, making Aline's ears fall slightly.
"Me too," Sam volunteered, also noticing the girl.
Aline stiffened. She and Sam hadn't been alone together since Taka Pass,and that was inside Amaterasu's memories.
"Ain't gonna happen." Dean was adamant about it, clearly noticing Aline's reaction to being alone with Sam.
"Why?"
"Because you're weird around girls. Except for Aline, of course."
"What does that mean, weird?"
"You're awkward. You know, weird—Sam Weird," Aline supplied. "Your middle name might as well be 'Weird'. Sorry. Just...being honest." She and Dean then walked away. "Thanks for that, Dean."
Dean smiled warmly at her, making her heart speed up. "No problem,sweetheart."
Suffice to say, the same suction mark that was on the dead girl's body was also on the back of the gym girl's back and the back of Wayne's neck just below his hairline. It turned out gym girl took a couple of "me" days at Canyon Valley Spa.
Which was why they were there, being interviewed by the two people from the promo video, Larry and his wife Maritza.
"We were really, really moved by the online testimonials," Sam stated.
"Oh, yeah. That was some powerful stuff," Dean threw in.
"And you three are certified personal trainers?" Maritza inquired.
"Yeah. Yeah, me and him are personal training brothers. Kind of like Hans and Franz, but, uh, less German. And she's like Adrianne León."
"And you're certified in..." Larry questioned.
"Makin' people sweat! Yeah. Kickin' ass and takin' names!" Dean slammed his hand on the table, earning a barely held back chuckle from Aline. "That's how we do!"
"Uh...Uh, to clarify, uh, what my boyfriend's trying to say is, the three of us have a passion for fitness and helping people," Aline clarified,sort of stumbling over even calling Dean her boyfriend though it was just for undercover purposes.
Dean, of course, grinned at her, taking her hand in his. Her cheeks heated up at the contact, but she deflated somewhat when that treacherous part of her pointed out that he was just doing it for the act.
"Oh, us too. In fact, that's how we first met," Maritza stated.
"I was Maritza's first client back in Peru. I was on a student visa—homesick, stressed, eating my troubles away."
"Oh, he was the size of a casa."
"Oh, it's true! I was one empanada away from a heart attack. But then this...gorgeous godsend made me the lean, mean, fighting machine I am today." Larry went crazy with some kungfu fighting techniques.
"Ho! Oh..."
"But I digress. Now, the good news is, we are hiring. The bad news is,there's only one trainer position available." He looked at Dean and Aline. "How do you two feel about working in another department?"
"Huh?"
Lunchroom. She and Dean were working in the lunch room. Which meant hairnets, aprons, polo shirts, and serving healthy food. It was honestly a job she didn't want to do, even if it was for a case. And the healthy food? Looked about as gross at it smelled. There was also something else she could smell in the orange pudding that made her hair stand on end.
Silver lining? She'd also get to see Dean in a hairnet.
And, the moment she did, her heart skipped a few beats. Despite the fact that he didn't look too happy about it, Dean made it work.
Still, her nose scrunched up, desperately wanting to put a clothespin to block the smell.
"What? Does it smell bad?" he asked her, whispering in her ear.
She motioned toward the pudding that was in the back. "That stuff is. I don't know what's with it, but it smells...wrong."
Before he could say anything else, Sam walked up from the hallway dressed in a tank-top and workout shorts. Both Dean and Aline smirked at the sight, chuckling.
"Nice shorts," Dean snarked.
"Nice hairnets," Sam quickly shot back.
"Yeah, why do Aline and I got to be the lunch ladies?"
"Since when have you two ever complained about being around food?"
"Okay, this is not food."
That was when Alonso called out, "Hey, new guys. Quit flirtin' with the trainer and keep scoopin', huh?"
Aline glared at Alonso while Sam checked his watch.
"It's all right. My, uh...Ashtanga yoga class starts in five minutes."
That made her whirl around to face the younger Winchester. "How the hell do you know anything about yoga?"
"Dean's not the only one who's ever dated someone bendy." And he left, just as a man walked up to the counter.
"Hey, you have any oatmeal?"
Dean chuckled. "Yeah, I wish. No, but we have, uh, something that's tofu over there. I—what is that?"
Aline looked down at it. "It's a pancake. It's tofu."
Aline and Dean were in the kitchen, leaning against the counter while Dean was typing on his phone and Alonso was buttering some kale on a tray. Aline leaned her head back, just about ready to pinch her nose shut when a towel hit her arm and she jerked upright.
"Flojos. You got time to lean, you got time to clean, huh?" Alonso stated.
Dean looked about as annoyed as she felt while they both started to wipe the counters. "I'm starving. What do we get to eat?"
"Same as the clients."
Aline stopped cleaning, and her jaw dropped, the phrase You've got to be kidding me playing through her head on repeat. "They expect us to eat this rabbit food?"
"It's not rabbit food. It's super food."
The two hunters shared a glance. "I'm not eating it," they both muttered.
Alonso sighed and set a bowl of the orange-colored pudding in between Dean and Aline with a bunch of empty bowls, not even noticing Aline's cringe. "At Canyon Valley, we're supposed to lead by example."
"This is leading by example?" Dean asked.
"It's not for us, stupido. It's for the clients. They're allowed to have pudding on their spa day. It's like a—a last hurrah before the real work starts. Get to work." Then he walked off.
Aline sighed, and she and Dean started to fill the bowls with filling a couple bowls, Dean looked around to make sure no one was watching and took a small mouthful of the pudding.
"What are you doing?" Aline whisper-shouted.
"We are gonna try some pudding."
"But it smells...wrong. My danger sensors are literally gonna explode just at the smell of this.I don't know what it is, but..."
"All right. Then I'll try it. Maybe...maybe we can find a way to sneak you a Reese's or something, okay?" With that, he slipped a bowl of pudding into his apron.
"You're not eating that without me, okay? I-I need to be there when you eat it." She wasn't sure what it wasn't sure what it was about the pudding that scared her, but she knew she had to be there when Dean ate it. It smelled like regular pudding, except it also smelled dangerous and wrong and it made her heart stop at the thought of Dean eating it alone even if he had his phone on him. It also made her anxious.
"Okay. You'll be there with me when I eat it. I promise."
That made her calm down slightly. Only slightly.
They were hiding away in some small pantry. As he'd promised, Dean told her that he was gonna eat his contraband pudding in the pantry before leaving, and Aline had followed him seconds later, almost running to the pantry. Fortunately, he hadn't opened the bowl before she'd come in, making her a bit more relaxed.
They both sat down next to a bag of sweet potatoes, Dean with a spoon in his hand and Aline with her phone. Dean glanced at her phone.
"That bad, huh?"
She gave him a look. "Dude, I told you my danger sensors were going off. I mean, it smells like regular salted caramel pudding, but there's something else that's makin' my hair stand on end. Maybe we should just wait to get burgers or something."
Dean put his hand on her shoulder. "I trust you, okay? I'll go put this back, and we can just forget this ever happened."
She shook her head rapidly. "No way. Alonso will yell at you, and we'll lose whatever headway we made on this place if it has anything to do with what happened to Wayne and Carol. I just...we ran into one dead end, and how would we..."
"Hey, hey, look at me." Once she was (she didn't even realize that she'd looked away from him), Dean continued, "How about this. I eat it,and you got Sam on speed dial. If something happens, you call him,okay? If nothing happens, I'll give you a bite. Sound like a plan?"
She shook her head again and held her hand out for the bowl. "I'll...I'll eat it. I'd rather not have you eat something that's got my senses on high alert. Something happens, I'll still call Sam. You take the phone if I can't talk anymore, okay?"
"And you think I wanna put you in that type of danger either?"
Instead of saying another word, she grabbed the bowl out of his hand along with the spoon and opened the bowl. The smell of salted caramel along with something else hit her like a truck, making her brain scream at her to throw it at the wall or something else. Forcing herself to ignore it, she shoved the spoon into the bowl and, after scooping some up, forced it into her mouth. As she'd smelled, it was salted caramel (her ice cream flavor of choice on any given day, but this one made her skin crawl), but the other thing she'd smelled wasn't there. It made her think that, for the first time, her danger meter was wrong, and she finished the pudding.
Still, she counted to ten before attempting to stand up, Dean doing the same as he watched her warily. Suddenly, she felt dizzy, her body swaying sideways before everything went black. The last sound she heard was Dean calling her name.
Aline woke up in Dean's arms, her phone in her hand. Dean was on the phone talking to Sam, and she called out, "Dean..." Her voice was slurred, like she was drunk. "L...lemme talk to Sammy."
He looked down at her before handing her the phone.
"Sammy."
"Aline?What's wrong with you?" Sam asked.
"I need your help."
"Where are you two? Aline?!"
She squinted at the bag next to her, reading the label. "Sweet potatoes! Sw..." Everything went black again, and Dean's phone dropped to the floor.
[ Dean quickly picked up the phone again. "We're in the pantry, Sam. One of the hallways in the back. Get here now!"
"I'm on my way. What happened?"
"I'll explain when you get here. Just hurry!" And he hung up the phone. He was honestly terrified when she turned pale before falling. He was glad that she'd insisted on being there, but his fear increased as she slipped in and out of consciousness.
It seemed like minutes passed before he heard Sam yelling, "Dean? Aline? Dean! Aline! Dean? Dean!"
"In here, Sammy!" he yelled back, and the door slammed open, Sam bursting in to see his brother and friend sitting on the floor. "What took you so long?" ]
She woke up to Dean slapping her shoulders. "Wake up. Sammy's here."
"What the hell happened?"
Aline groaned. "I was drugged, that's what happened." She still felt loopy.
"Dru—what?"
"Pudding," Dean answered. "It was supposed to be for the clients, but I couldn't resist. Aline could tell something was wrong, and she insisted on being here when I ate it but..."
"...but I ate it instead."
Sam picked up the bowl and smelled it. "What, salted caramel?"
"Best of both worlds—salty and sweet."
"Right. Uh...All right, you stay here."
Aline shook her head. "No, no, 'm gonna come with you."
However, Dean stopped her before she could even start. "No way. You're staying here, sweetheart. You're all hopped up on some kinda drug."
She puffed out her cheeks but nodded anyway. "Every party needs a pooper that's why they invited you," she mumbled under her breath while Sam left.
"What kind of supplements?" Aline inquired. She was sitting up, leaning against the sweet potato bag. And she had a monster headache. Dean was sitting next to her to help support her in case she fell over again.
Sam handed her an energy drink which she opened and drank. "Here. Hey. To boost metabolism, per Larry and Maritza." He handed Dean the supplement bottle.
"These aren't 'supplements', they're roofies," Dean stated, looking at the bottle.
Aline stiffened. That was what she'd smelled in the pudding, and her jaw clenched in anger.
"What? How do you know what roofies look like?"
Aline looked up at him. "How do you not know? You think I want to end up in a hotel bathtub with my kidney carved out? In Chechnya? And I smelled that thing!" She groaned. "Find anything out in the yoga?"
"Yeah. Yeah. 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers.' Every single person in class had one of those freaky-ass suction marks."
"What the hell's goin' on here?"
"Cupping"was the process Canyon Valley used to get rid of excess fat. That was what Hanscum called it, and the process left behind the same suction marks that were on Wayne McNut and the girl at the gym.
And the one in charge of said process?
Maritza.
Now, Dean and Aline were in the kitchen, Dean with his gun drawn and Aline with Tsumugari held tightly in her hand, waiting for the Peruvian woman to show up.
Sure enough, she did, opening the fridge and taking out container after container of human fat and dumping them in the trash. In unison, Aline and Dean slowly and silently walked up to her before Dean cocked his gun. Maritza startled and turned around, eyes wide at the sight of the two hunters. She didn't look too surprised about the gun, moreso Aline's glaive.
"Okay," Aline began, "I'm no health nut, but that is just wrong."
Seconds later, Maritza was tied to a chair.
"All right, talk."
"This isn't what you think. I'm not a killer," Maritza explained.
"Well, then, what are you?"
"I'm a Pishtaco."
Dean and Aline shared a confused look before looking back at her, Aline's head tilted to the side. "A fish taco?"
"A Pishtaco. It means 'Peruvian fat sucker'."
Aline clutched Tsumugari tighter. "Never heard of it. So, what, you're like vamps with a sweet tooth for cellulite?"
"Vampires kill. We're just...Parasites."
"Oh, well, in that case—" Aline leaned forward, baring her fangs and flashing Tsumugari threateningly.
Martiza's eyes moved to the glaive before looking back at Aline. "Look, I would never hurt anybody! Okay, this—this is why Larry and I started Canyon Valley. We could help people lose weight, and I could feed. It was a win-win."
"Yeah, except for the two you dysoned to death."
"That wasn't me."
"Well, then who was it?"
"Alonso."
Dean and Aline glanced at each other for a second. "The dude from the cafeteria?"
"He's my brother."
Long story short, Alonso killed Larry, and Aline & Dean killed Alonso. The coroner's gurney rolled by, and Sam, Dean, Aline, Sheriff Donna, and an officer stood in the entryway.
"We'll let you know if we need any other information," the officer stated. "Thanks for everything. Appreciate it."
The Winchesters and Aline walked away, but Sam noticed Maritza and went off to talk to her, probably to console her about her loss. Dean and Aline shared a look, something they'd both noticed had become more and more common ever since Dean got the mark and Aline let him see hers, and they both walked over to Sam and Maritza. There was only one thing left to do, and they both knew it.
"Can we steal you a sec?" Dean asked, and the trio walked out in the hallway. "Once this place clears out, we're gonna make this a family affair." He nodded in Maritza's direction.
"Wait. We're not gonna kill Maritza," Sam stated.
"She's a monster,Sam," Aline pointed out.
"Yeah, who saved our asses."
"You said that you wanted to keep things strictly business. Well, last I checked, we were in the business of killing monsters."
"I wanted to keep things strictly business between the three of us. But I still have a heart. What if I had crossed paths with a hunter back when I was possessed by Gadreel? I could've ended up dead, too. Would I have deserved that? Would I have deserved to die?"
Aline clenched her jaw, seeing that the argument was a losing battle.
"So, one-way ticket to Peru?"
They were back at the Bunker. Dean was sitting in the kitchen, drinking scotch. Aline was next to him with a bottle of root beer when Sam appeared in the doorway.
"I'm hitting it," Sam said.
"Yeah. Hey."
"Yeah?"
"About what you said the other day."
Sam had an "I knew it" expression on his face. "I thought it didn't bother you two."
Aline tightly clutched the root beer bottle, not even looking at Sam as she spoke, her voice soft. "You know, Sam, we saved your hide back there. And we saved your hide at that church... And the hospital. I...me and Dean may not think things all the way through. Okay? But..." She couldn't even finish speaking.
"But what Aline and I do, we do because it's the right thing. We'd do it again," Dean picked up.
"And that...is the problem. You two may think you're my saviors, the heroes. You both swoop in, and even when you mess up, you think what you're doing is worth it because you've convinced yourselves you're doing more good than bad... But you're not."
Aline looked back up at him, heart shattering and azure eyes blank.
"I mean, Kevin's dead, Crowley's in the wind. We're no closer to beating this angel thing. Please tell me, what is the upside to me being alive?"
"You kidding me? The three of us—fighting the good fight together."
Sam sighed in frustration and almost left before coming back into the kitchen and sitting across from Dean and Aline. "Okay. Just once, be honest with me. Both of you. You two didn't save me for me. You both did it for yourselves."
Aline felt confused as she stared at Sam. "What are you talking about?"
"I was ready to die. I was ready. I should have died, but you two... You both didn't want to be alone, and that's what this all boils down to. Not some bull about me being the Issun to your Amaterasu, Aline. Neither of you can stand the thought of being alone."
She drew back and stood up, unaware of the fact that Dean was doing the exact same thing. "All right."
"I'll give you guys this much. You both are certainly willing to do the sacrificing as long as you're not the one being hurt."
"All right, you wanna be honest?" Aline clenched her jaw. "If the situation were reversed and me and Dean were the ones dying, you'd do the same thing."
"No, Aline. I wouldn't." Sam spoke very softly, but it echoed loudly in Aline's head and bounced around as he looked up and met her eyes. "Same circumstances...I wouldn't. I'm gonna get to bed." He left, and Aline threw her empty bottle of root beer, and it smashed on the floor.