Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 22. There is one chapter left after this chapter. I can't wait to start writing season 3. I think that Season three is going to be more of a wild ride than this one was. I do have some surprises for you. But I'm not going to reveal them. Not yet anyways. Because well… one is a shocking surprise and the other is a good surprise. But I think that you will like both. This is also going to be a sad chapter as well at the end. I'm not going to say anything about what is going to happen at the end of this. I hope that you enjoy this chapter. Without further ado chapter 22.

Chapter 22

"We should get something to eat." Aeron said, leaning forward looking at the two brothers.

Dean looked over at her with a cheeky smile. "Something to eat? You hungry Red?"

"Oh come on Dean. We have to eat at some point and we've been on the road for quite a while. Don't you think that it is time that we get to eat."

"Alright alright alright. We will get something to eat."

"Good." Aeron said with a smile.

Dean pulled up outside of Sunnyside Diner. "Hey don't forget the extra onions this time, huh?" Dean said, handing the money over to Sam.

"Dude, Aeron and I are gonna be the one to ride in the car with your extra onions." Sam complained.

Dean grinned as Sam got out of the car. "Hey, see if they've got any pie."

Sam glared at his brother shutting the door.

"Bring me some pie!" Dean chuckled to himself. "I love me some pie."

Aeron rolled her eyes. "Only you."

Dean looked back at her. "But you like pie too."

Aeron rolled her eyes. "Cobbler. That's different."

"Still pie."

The two of them looked at the radio that was becoming staticy.

Dean fiddled with it,but it turned off. Dean looked back up. Sam was not there.

The two of them got out of the car and ran into the cafe. They saw that one customer was dead at the booth. The two of them drew their guns.

"Sam?" Aeron yelled.

"Sammy?" Dean looked around and found more people dead with their throats slit. He went to the back door. "Sam!" He touched the door.

Aeron ran back towards Dean. "What is it?"

"Sulfur."

"Fuck."

The two of them ran out of the front door and towards the car.

"Sam!" Aeron yelled.

"Sammy!"

"Sam?"

"Sammy!" Dean rubbed his face.

"SAM!" They both yelled.

Aeron looked at Dean. "We got to get a hold of Bobby."

Dean nodded his head.

The two of them got into the car quickly.

Aeron dialed Bobby's phone number. She closed her eyes as Dean spun out of the parking lot of the diner that they were at. "Bobby… it's Aeron… Yeah um listen… we got a problem. A big one at that. Sam's missing. We need all of the information that you might have found in the past month. Demonic signs and omens… okay. We will meet you there. Thanks. Bye."She hung up her cell phone. "Bobby will meet us. He said you would know where to meet him."

"Of course." Dean said, nodding his head.

SNSNSN

Bobby, Dean, and Aeron were on the side of the road looking at the map.

"This is it. All demonic signs and omens over the past month." Bobby told the two of them.

"Are you joking? There's nothing here." Dean said rubbing his face agitated.

"Exactly."

"Well, come on, there's gotta be something. What about the, the, the normal, low-level stuff? You know, exorcisms, that kind of thing."

"That's what I'm telling you. There's nothing."

Aeron groaned. "It's not good."

Bobby nodded his head.

"Well, how are we supposed to look for Sam? What, do we just close our eyes and point?" His phone began to ring. He saw that it was Ash. "Ash, what do you got?"

"Okay, listen, it's a big negatory on Sam…"

"Oh, come on, man! You've gotta give us something. We're looking at a three thousand mile haystack here."

"Listen, Dean. I did find something."

"Well, what?"

"I can't talk over this line. Because this… What's up? What's going on? Not only does this almost definitely help you find your brother, this is huge. So get here. Now."

Aeron looked at Dean. "What is it?"

"I guess we're going to the Roadhouse. Come on."

SNSNSN

Aeron looked at Dean. "What did Asher say to Dean?" Aeron asked, looking at him from where she was sitting in the back. She was concerned about Ash because he was her brother figure since Darrel had passed.

"He told me that he would tell me when we got there." He turned the corner and they saw the Roadhouse. What was left of it. "What the hell?"

Aeron quickly got out of the car.

"Red!"

"No no no. Asher…"

Dean quickly got out of the car and so did Bobby.

"Oh, my God." Bobby said.

The three of them looked around.

"You see Ellen?"

"No, No Ash, either."

Dean bent down and saw a watch. He pulled on it and saw that it was attached to an arm.

"Dean?"

"Aeron, stay back."

"No." She moved forward. Her eyes widened. "No… No Asher."

"Bobby… get her out of here."

Bobby quickly grabbed Aeron and she latched onto him tightly.

"Damn it Ash." Dean said, looking back down at the watch. He heard Aeron's crying and whimpering. He knew that she was close to him. He knew that how they acted around one another they acted like him and Sam. Now he knew that she was going to be messed up because of this and they still had to find Sam.

"Dean we have to leave now." Bobby said, rubbing the small woman's back trying his best to soothe her.

SPNSPN

Sam was in one of the abandoned houses. He had found a knife and picked it up. He looked back at Ava. He noticed that she was massaging her head. "Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just… I don't know, I'm a little dizzy."

"Are you sure it's not some kind of…"

"What? Some kind of freaky vision thing? No, more like I'd kill for a sandwich. I haven't eaten since… Well, who knows? No, don't worry. I'm fine. Except for every single thing that's happening." Ava let out a sigh.

"You guys! I found something!" Andy yelled.

Ava and Sam joined Jake and Andy.

Andy held up two bags. "Salt!" He said with a smile.

"That's great, Andy. Now, we all can… where's Lily?"

"Lily?" Ava called.

"Lily!" Sam yelled.

They heard a little girl giggling.

The four of them ran outside and looked around. On top of the water tower Lily was hanging from a noose.

"Oh, my God! Okay, that's officially… Sam, she's dead! She's dead! You said we were chosen for a reason. That is not chosen. That's killing! Okay, we have to get out of here." Ava said, beginning to hyperventilate.

"Stop." Sam told her.

"Yeah, I second that emotion." Andy said, tearing his eyes away from Lily's body.

Jake put his hands in his pockets. "Not sure that's an option."

"What?" Ava asked, looking at Jake.

"Lily was trying to leave. The demon's not gonna let us get away that easily. We've gotta gear up for the next attack."

"Oh, gear up?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, well, I'm not a soldier. I can't do that!"

"Well, if you wanna stay alive, you're gonna have to. Let's go."

Jake patted Sam on the shoulder. "I'll get her down."

Sam nodded his head. "You know, I was just thinking about how much Dean and Aeron would help right now. I'd give my arm for a working phone." He missed his brother and the little strawberry blonde haired girl that had wormed her way into his life. He really cared about her and after this was over he was going to admit it to her. He didn't care if she turned him away. He would admit it to her and then at least he wouldn't be denying it any more. He knew that when he kissed her when he was drunk that he liked her then. He just didn't want harm to come to her.

Andy stopped. "You know, you may not need one. I've never tried it long-distance before, but do you have anything from Dean's or Aeron's on you? Like, something that they touched?"

Sam searched his pockets. He found something that was Dean's. "I… I've got a receipt. Would that work?"

"Yeah." He took it from him. He looked at the signature. "D. Hasselhoff?"

"Yeah, that's Dean's signature." Sam rubbed the back of his head. "It's hard to explain."

"Alright."

SNSNSN

"This is…." Bobby said, rubbing Aeron's back in a soothing motion to keep her calm. He knew that he needed to get beer into her and perhaps that it would help her out.

Dean rubbed his face. "What the hell did Ash know? We've got no way of knowing where Ellen is. Or if she's even alive. We've got no clue what Ash was gonna tell us. Now, how the hell are we gonna find Sam?"

Aeron looked at him with red tear filled eyes. "We will find him Dean." Her voice was hoarse.

Dean clutched his head in pain.

"Dean?"

Dean groaned and doubled over. He saw a bell very quickly and it was gone.

"What was that?" Bobby asked.

"I don't know. A headache?"

"You get headaches like that a lot?"

"No. Must be the stress." Dean chuckled. "I could have sworn I saw something."

"What do you mean? Like a vision? Like what Sam gets?"

"What? No!"

"I'm just saying."

"Come on, I'm not some psychic." Another vision comes back and Dean fell against his car. He saw Sam.

"Dean?"

"Dean! Are you alright." Aeron asked, moving towards him.

"Yeah I think so. I saw Sam. I saw him, guys."

"It was a vision." Bobby said in surprise.

"Yeah. I don't know how, but yeah. Whew. That was about as fun as getting kicked in the jewels."

"What else did you see?"

"Uh… there was a bell."

"What kind of bell?" Bobby asked, looking at him.

"Like a big bell with some kind of engraving on it, I don't know."

"Engraving?"

"Yeah."

"Was it a tree? Like, an oak tree?"

"Yeah, exactly."

"I know where Sam is."

Aeron looked at Bobby. "Cold Oak?"

Bobby nodded his head.

Aeron smiled a small smile. "That means we can go and get him."

"Do you have enough guns?" Bobby asked, looking at Dean.

"Yeah. I got our arsenal plus what Aeron has."

"We have enough Bobby." Aeron said with a nod of her head.

Dean looked over at her and saw a fire in Aeron's eyes that he had never seen before. This was something far more dangerous. And that something scared him. Perhaps it was the death of Ash that was pushing her to this.

SNSNSN

It had become dark out and Sam and Jake were in the barn trying to break some iron bars off of one of the machines.

Jake grabbed it and ripped the bar off with his bare hands.

Sam looked at him in shock.

"I'm not superman or anything. It's no big deal."Jake said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You were in Afghanistan when this started?"Sam questioned, looking at him.

"Yeah, I started getting headaches. And then there was this accident. This guy flipped his vehicle on a bad road. He got pinned underneath. I lifted it off him like it was nothing. Everybody said it was a fluke adrenaline thing."

"But then you did it again, right?"

Jake nodded his head. "Bench-pressed 800 pounds, stone-cold calm. I never told anybody, of course. It was just too crazy."

"Yeah. Crazy's relative."

"I'm starting to get that."

"Yeah."

"By the way, I appreciate what you're doing here."

"What am I doing?"

"Keeping calm. Keeping them calm. Especially considering how freak to hell you really are. I've been in some deep crap before myself. I know the look." Jake admitted.

Sam looked down thinking. Jake was right. He was pretty freaked out by what was going on, but this was not going to stop him from doing what he needed to do. He wanted to get back to Dean and Aeron safely. He also knew that he was going to have to be calm for them because they needed someone to be strong for them. "You wanna know the truth?" Sam swallowed the lump in his throat. "I got this brother right? And he's always telling me how he's gonna watch out for me, how everything's gonna be okay. You know, kind of like I've been telling them."

"Yeah?"

"I don't know if I believe it this time. I mean, the size of what's coming… it's bigger than anyone has ever seen. I mean, it's gonna get bad. And I don't know if…"

"If we're gonna make it? It doesn't matter if we believe it. Only matters that they do." Jake told Sam.

Sam nodded his head. He was just hoping that he would make it back. He wanted to continue fighting. He wanted to be with his brother and Aeron. That was the thing that was going to keep him going. Keep him fighting.

SNSNSN

Sam and Ava were busy lining the doors and windows with salt.

"My horoscope said I shouldn't have gotten out of bed." Ava said with a scoff. "How are you doing? Holding up?"

"I'm okay. What about you?" Sam asked softly.

"No, so okay. Why us, Sam? What did we do to deserve this?"

"Just lucky, I guess."

"If it wasn't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all. I just can't wait for this all to be over so I can just pretend it never happened. I just wanna curl up with Brady and watch bad tv." She saw Sam shift uncomfortably. "What is it? Sam… Do you know something that I don't?"

Sam let out a sigh. "Look, Ava… I'm sorry. I wish I didn't have to tell you this."

"Tell me what?" She asked, confused. What the hell did Sam have to tell her?

"When the demon broke into your house to take you… your fiance didn't make it. I'm sorry."

"No, that's… no!"

Sam held her as she sobbed. He really didn't want to give her the news like that.

SNSNSN

Andy looked at Sam. "Hey Sam, I have a question for ya."

Sam looked over at Andy. "What is it?"

"How's that girl that I saw you and your brother with?"

Sam knew what he was talking about. "You mean Aeron."

"Yeah. How is the firecracker doing?"

Sam chuckled lightly.

Jake looked at Sam. "You have a girl waiting for you?"

"She's more of a friend." Sam admitted.

Jake shook his head. "By the look on your face. She's more than a friend. Or you want her to be more than a friend."

Sam's cheeks flushed.

"Wait, that was the name you said when you had to go after your brother when you found out he was in danger. Is she nice?" Ava asked, looking at Sam.

Jake smirked. "Tell us more about this girl."

Sam's cheeks went even redder at the thought of the small strawberry blonde haired girl. "She's been working with my brother and I for almost a year now. I met her through my dad. She's one of those girls who doesn't want a man to protect her. She is one of those girls that can protect themselves."

"Sounds like you miss her." Jake said, leaning forward looking at the younger Winchester.

Sam thought about it for a moment. "Yeah. I do miss her."

"Man, when you get out of here. Do yourself a favor. Tell her how you feel."

Sam bit his lip. He was going to do just that. He hoped that he was able to live through this. He needed to keep these guys alive at least until Dean and Aeron got there.

SPNSPN

"Jake behind you!" Sam looked in confusion. Jake didn't hear him.

"Howdy, Sam." The yellow eyed man said with a smile.

"I'm dreaming." Sam said in realization.

"What do you say you and I take a little walk?"

Sam followed the yellow eyed demon out of the building.

"You're awfully quiet, Sam. You're not mad at me are you?"

Sam clutched his hands into fists. "I'm gonna tear you to shreds, I swear to…"

He chuckled. "When you wake up, tiger, you give it your best shot."

"Where's my brother and Aeron?"

"Quit worrying about Dean and little miss virtue. I'd worry more about yourself."

"Why? You gonna kill me?"

"I'm trying to help you. That's why we're talking. You're the one I'm rooting for."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam questioned him with narrowed eyes. He didn't trust this demon in the least bit. Hell he didn't even want to know the plans.

"Welcome to the Miss America pageant. Why do you think you're here? This is a competition. Only one of you crazy kids is gonna make it out of here alive."

Sam looked at him in confusion. "I thought we were supposed to be…"

"Soldiers in a coming war? That's true. You are. But here's the thing. I don't need soldiers. I need a soldier. I just need one."

"Why?"

"Well, I couldn't just come out and say that could I, Sam? I had to let everyone think they had a fighting chance. But what I need… is a leader."

"To lead who?"

"Oh, I've already got my army. Or, I will soon, anyway."

"You son of a bitch."

"Honestly, I'm surprised you hadn't guessed. I mean, why do you think so many children flamed out already? Max Miller and Andy's brother, what's his name? They weren't strong enough. I'm looking for the best and brightest of your generation."

"My generation?"

"Well, there's other generations, but let's worry about yours. That's why I'm here, Sam. I wanna give you the inside track. You're tough. You're smart. You're well-trained, thanks to your daddy. Sam… Sammy… you're my favorite."

"You ruined my life. You killed everyone I love."

"The cost of doing business, I'm afraid. I mean, sweet little Jessica… she just had to die. You were all set to marry that little blonde thing, become a tax lawyer with two kids, a beer gut, and a little McMansion in the suburbs. I needed you sharp, and the road, honing your skills. Your gifts."

"What about my mom?"

"That was bad luck."

"Bad luck?"

"She walked in on us. Wrong place, wrong time."

"What does that mean?"

"I wasn't about her. It was about you. It's always been about you."

"What?"

The yellow eyed demon looked at him. "Well… okay. You caught me in a charitable mood. I'll show you." He snapped his fingers. He had made them go to the nursery the night that Mary had died. "Look familiar? It should."

Sam watched his six month old self crying in his crib while the past yellow eyed demon stood over him.

"Relax Sam, this is just a hi-def instant replay. Enjoy the show."

Mary came into the room looking tired. "John?"

"Mom!"

"Is he hungry?"

"Shh."

"Okay." Mary said leaving.

"Wait, mom. Mom!" Sam yelled.

"What did I just tell you, Sam? She can't hear you. This isn't real." The yellow eyed demon told him.

Sam watched as the past yellow eyed sliced his own wrist with his nail. He watched the blood drip into his younger self's mouth. "What the hell are you doing to me?"

"Better than mother's milk."

"Does this mean I have demon blood in me?"

He chuckled.

"Answer me!"

Mary had come back into the room. "It's you."

"She knew you."

Mary began to walk closer and the past yellow eyes pinned her to the wall.

"No! No!"

"I don't think you wanna see the rest of things." He snapped his fingers.

SNSNSN

Sam jolted awake.

"Sam, wake up! Ava's missing." Jake told him.

Sam got up and followed Jake out of the house. "Alright. Meet back here in ten minutes, okay?"

Jake nodded his head. "Okay."

Sam walked away to see if he could find Ava. He wanted to find her and bring her back to the house and keep the others safe. Make sure that they got back home and back to their lives and he could go back to his own. Continue hunting with his brother and Aeron. He heard Ava scream and hurried inside of the building that they were in before.

"Sam! I just found him like this!" Ava said, pointing to Andy's body and crying.

"What happened?"

"I don't know!"

"How'd that thing get in? Where were you?"

"I just went to get some water from the well. I was only gone for maybe, like, two minutes!"

"You shouldn't have gone outside. Ava, we have to stay here…" He saw that the salt on the window had been tampered with. "Who did that?"

"I don't know, maybe Andy…."

"Andy wouldn't do that. Ava, that line wasn't broken when I left. Ava."

"What? You don't think that I…."

"I'll tell you what I think, five months. You're the only one with all that time you can't account for. And that headache you got? Right when the demon got Lily."

Ava looked at Sam with wide eyes. "What are you trying to say?"

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing!"

Sam stared at her.

Ava dropped the crying act and began to laugh a little. "Had you going though, didn't I?" She wiped her eyes. "Yeah. I've been here a long time. And not alone either. People just keep showing up. Children like us. Batches of three or four at a time."

"You killed them? All of them?"

"I'm the undefeated heavyweight champ."

"Oh, my god."

"Don't think God has much to do with this, Sam."

"How could you?"

"I had no choice. It's me or them. After a while, it was easy. It was even kind of fun. I just stopped fighting it."

"Fighting what?"

"Who we are, Sam. If you'd just quit your hand-wringing and open yourself up, you have no idea what you can do. The learning curve is so fast, it's crazy, the switches that just flip in your brain." She laughed. "I can't believe I started out just having dreams. Do you know what I can do now?"

"Control demons." Sam stated.

"Ah, you are quick on the draw." She put her hand on her head. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Sam. But it's over. You won't get to see that girl you like so much."

Black smoke returned to the window.

Jake appeared out of nowhere grabbing Ava and twisting her neck, killing her.

The demonic smoke disappeared.

SNSNSN

Dean stopped outside of the woods in the Impala.

"Well, it looks like the rest of the way on foot." Bobby said getting out of the car.

The three of them went to the back and got the gear out grabbing the guns that they needed.

"Let's go."

The three of them began their way into the woods.

SNSNSN

Sam and Jake left the house going outside.

"I think we can make it out of here now."

"But the Acheri demon…" Jake said, looking at Sam.

"No, no,no. Ava was summoning it, controlling it. It shouldn't come back now that she's dead. WE gotta go."

"Not we, Sam. Only one of us is getting out of here. I, I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I had a vision. That yellow-eyed demon or whatever it was., he talked to me. He told me how it was."

"No, Jake, listen. You can't listen to him."

"S-Sam, he's not letting us go. Only one. Now, if we don't play along, he'll kill us both. Now, I-I like you mean. I do. But do the math here. What good's it do for both of us to die? Now, I can get out of here. If I get close to the demon, I can kill the bastard."

"You come with me, we can kill him together."

"How do I know you won't turn on me?"

"I won't."

"I don't know that."

"Okay, look." Sam took the knife he had shown Jake it and put it onto the ground. "Just come with me, Jake. Don't do this. Don't play into what it wants."

Jake placed his own weapon down onto the ground as well.

Sam looked relieved. "Okay." He said letting out a sigh of relief.

Jake punched him, sending Sam flying across the field crashing into the ground hard. Jake walked over towards him kicking down the fence and learning over Sam.

The two of them fought against one another. Sam wasn't about to let himself die here. He kneed Jake a few times to keep him away from landing a blow on him. He then kicked him down. Sam grabbed an iron bar and knocked him out with it. He thought about using it on him and then changed his mind.

"Sam!" Dean yelled.

Sam turned at hearing his brother's voice. He clutched his arm and staggered towards Dean, Bobby, and Aeron. Oh god she was here. Thank god. He would be able to finally tell her. He walked towards them. "Dean!"

Jake woke up and grabbed the knife that Sam had put on the ground only moments ago.

"Sam!" Aeron yelled.

"Sam lookout!" Dean yelled, picking up his pace.

Jake stabbed Sam in the back with the knife.

Dean took off towards Sam. "No!" Jake twisted the knife.

Sam gasped, falling to his knees.

Jake jerked the knife out of began to run.

Aeron took off like a shot after him. She fired her gun at Jake.

Jake turned and threw the knife at her as she reloaded the gun while running. It hit its mark on her side causing her to go down.

Bobby who was right behind her saw this happen. His eyes widened. "Anne."

"Go after him Bobby." She said through gritted teeth. God at least it didn't hit any main part that she would bleed out.

"Sam! Sam! Sammy!"

Aeron turned her head. No… Sam couldn't. No. She could think that. Sam couldn't be dead.

"Sam!"

Bobby came back to Aeron. "He got away."

"Damn it." Aeron said weakly.

"Come on."

Aeron leaned against Bobby.

He wrapped his arm around her.

"Bobby… I think Sam's dead." She said weakly.

"Don't think like that."

"I heard Dean yelling…"

"We can't think that he is dead, Anne."

Aeron felt tears come to her eyes. She couldn't think that, but it was still a good chance that he was dead and she was so mean to him. She never got to admit that she liked him. But hell this was always the thing that happened. She would admit or get close to admitting something and the person died.

They came back and saw Dean rocking back and forth with Sam in his arms.

Aeron felt the tears fall from her eyes. It was true. Sam was gone. A sob was stuck in her throat. She was too late. She would never be able to tell him how she really felt about him. She felt her heart break.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This is the end of Chapter 22. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. It took me a bit to write the chapter out. I tried my best with writing it out. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Reviews help me keep going. I'm actually excited to write the last chapter of this story as well as start the next story of this series. Until next time.