Well, here it is everyone, the final chapter of 'eternal'. thank you all so much for the great reviews and for sticking with the story. i hope you all enjoy the final chapter.
ETERNAL
Chapter 17
Kerri leaned back against Dean, her energy finally failing, the blood still leaking down her arm, though the flow had thankfully lessened. She stirred a bit when Dean pressed another gauze against her wound, the older hunter holding her tightly, rubbing her arm gently with his free hand as he waited for her to still. They had made it back to the room in record time, Sam laying Kerri on the bed with Dean before packing up what few things they had. They needed help, and fast. Kerri could feel herself slipping away, feel the warmth leaving her body even as Dean wrapped Sam's jacket around her. And worst of all, was that she knew Dean could feel it, too.
She'd been shaking ever since Chetling vanished, the tremors only growing stronger as they made their way through the house. She was fighting, she really was, but she was just so tired. It was like running a marathon uphill, every muscle in her body ached, her lungs screaming for air, body crying out for rest. She just had to close her eyes, just for a moment, just long enough to catch her breath.
"Hey, hey, hey." Dean started behind her, pulling her back from the sweet darkness she had been falling into. "Come on, Ker, you gotta stay awake."
"Just a few second, Dean."
"No, you gotta keep your eyes open for me."
"But I'm so tired."
"Humor me."
"Dean." Sam broke in, scanning the room one last time as he shoved the laptop in a bag. "We're good."
Kerri could feel Dean move behind her, his grip tightening as he slid the two of them off the bed. She held on to both his arms as they stood, swaying while the room around her spun. All she wanted to do was lay down, just close her eyes and let the world around her drift away. She welcomed the darkness, welcomed the rest, the silent reprieve. Everything had just become so hard, all her life falling apart after Evelyn and Tom's deaths.
And, ever since that life altering day, Kerri had let herself fall into the comforting arms of a childish dream. She had thought, hoped, that everything would be better, everything would be right, if Sam and Dean just came back, just once. They had always made things seem so right when they were children, had always brightened up her days, made her feel like she wasn't the outsider she knew she was.
But then they did come back, fell back into her life actually, and it didn't change anything. There had just been too many years between them, too much growing up done apart, and Kerri wasn't sure she would ever be able to get back even the smallest bit of what she had before that terrible day.
She felt Dean's arms around her shoulders and knees, felt herself being lifted, her left arm snaking weakly around his neck, but her mind was miles and years away. She was back in Valley, back with her sister, just sitting in the warm summer sun, watching the clouds race by over head. She wasn't fighting a losing battle for her life, wasn't laying in Dean's arms as he raced against both fate and time to save her. No, in her mind she was young again, free again, whole again, and it was so much better than what hunting had left her with. She could feel the warm bricks of the patio against her back, feel the hot sun on her cheeks, the summer breeze wrapping around her, fighting off the chill of the mansion.
"Hang in there, Kerri." Dean whispered in her ear, pulling her back to the present, back to the dark and icy halls of the house, the storms still raging just beyond the windows.
But she just couldn't hold on any longer, couldn't fight the darkness that had been creeping in long before they entered the mansion. Everything was just so screwed up, her life nothing more than tattered pieces of what could have been, and she was just too tired to care.
"Why?" She mumbled, Dean's grip tightening the instant she spoke.
"Because I asked you to."
"Cheater." Kerri mumbled, forcing her eyes opened. Dean never asked for anything, whether as an adult or as a child. So, when hell froze over and he did finally request something for himself, she could never deny him.
"Hey, I work with what I got."
Kerri just rested her head on Dean's shoulder, too tired to talk, struggling to keep her eyes open. All she wanted was to be out of that house, to be in her own home, fading away into the past just like the rest of her family had. But apparently, Dean wasn't going to let that be an option. He had promised long ago to keep her safe, and that was a promise she knew he would never allow himself to break.
The halls were practically empty given the extremely late hour, the trio managing to get out of the house without seeing another soul. And, after that, it was nothing more than a race against time and the elements. She curled further into Sam's jacket while Dean went for the car, her freezing body trying to find warmth and comfort wherever it could. Sam tightened his grip on her when he felt her move, leaning over her, shielding her from the driving rain. It was miserable and cold, Kerri's little bit of energy draining away as she shook, listening for the car, waiting for comfort.
And, as though in answer to her prayer, the roar of the impala's engine broke through the heavy silence a few minutes later. It was the sweetest sound she had ever heard, because it meant that, finally, she was going home, or at least trying to go home. She was growing more and more tired by the minute, her body finally giving out. It had only been hours, but to the injured girl, it felt like days, or even weeks. She felt a little of her energy return after Bramhurst died, but it wasn't anything compared to the amount she had lost.
But there was nothing she could do about any of that now. What happened had happened, and there was no going back in time and changing it. If she lived, if she died, it was all out of her hands. All she could do was hold on and hope that Dean's strength was enough for the both of them. She was pulled back from the darkness once more by Dean, the older hunter helping her into the passenger seat, pulling the jacket around her again before moving to the driver's side, Sam climbing in back.
She didn't say a word through any of it, though, her mind moving too slow to really process anything that was going on, her energy so low that she couldn't even muster up the strength to speak. And so, she just laid her head against the cool, rain soaked window, hearing Sam and Dean as they spoke, but not really listening to what was being said. She let the hum of the engine lull her, let the warmth of the car's interior wrap around all her senses, calm her burning nerves. They were out of there, her soul no longer trapped inside the painting, and at the moment, that was all that mattered to her. That was, until she saw the line of cars parked along the drive.
"Stop." She tried to yell, her voice breaking with the strain. But, thankfully the radio was off, and both brothers heard her.
"What?" Sam began, looking around, scanning the car for some sign of distress. But Kerri just smiled and pointed out the window.
"My car."
"You made us stop for your car?"
"Yeah, go get it."
"No. You're bleeding to death, we need to get you to a hospital."
"What if the police show up and find my car. Someone's bound to notice that Bramhurst isn't there anymore."
"Well then I'll get it later."
"Sam." Dean broke in, his voice quiet, yet still full of force. "We better just get it now."
"Dean--." But Dean just raised his eyebrows, cutting his brother off with the look.
Sam huffed, climbing out of the car. "Thanks, Sam." Kerri smiled weakly, her eyes half closed and glassy.
"No problem." He tried to smile, though it didn't reach his eyes. "I'll keep close behind you two, call if anything happens." And with that he closed the door, leaving Dean and Kerri alone.
"You're lucky I have a soft spot for classic cars." Dean chided a few moments later, the impala cutting a path through the rain and mud, Sam and the firebird close behind.
"Yeah, I am." Kerri mumbled, still staring at the dark forest. She really was grateful that Dean stood behind her about the car. It was a stupid thing to worry about, she knew that, but it was her car, something her family had had since she was a baby, and she just couldn't bare to see it go. But, what was more, was that it was also Evelyn's car.
Tom had given it to her when she was younger, Kerri passing it up for her grandfather's old truck. It had made sense at the time, Kerri needed something she could haul her tools and windows around in, and the firebird just didn't cut it. But after their deaths she just couldn't bring herself to drive anything else, her truck parked in a shed nearly three years ago, and never touched since.
"I'm sorry, Kerri." Dean's voice broke through the heavy silence. Kerri closed her eyes for a moment, praying for strength before answering her friend.
"I've already told you that this isn't your fault."
"That's not what I'm sorry for."
"Then what?"
"I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry I never called to let you know how Sam was, I'm sorry I didn't come back sooner."
"You didn't really come back at all, Dean. At least not on purpose."
She immediately regretter her remark when she heard Dean pull in a breath, shifting in the seat before answering her, his voice quiet.
"I know."
"Would you have come back? You know, if Michael and Annabel hadn't stepping in, would you have eventually come back on your own?"
"I don't know."
Kerri laughed softly, though there was no real humor behind it. Ever since her family had been killed she's held onto a childish belief that Dean would find her, that he would come back and save her. But had it not been for a freak coincidence, the two would have never seen each other again.
"What're you laughing at?"
"Nothing."
"Kerri?"
"It's just. I waited for you, you know, after the second fire. I kept sitting around, listening for the impala."
"I meant to, I did. It's just--."
"Time got away from you."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
The pair road on in silence, neither really knowing what to say to one another as the impala lurched and slid its way along the rain soaked, but thankfully passable roads. Too many years had come between them, there was no other way to look at it. The last time they had seen each other they hadn't been hunters, hell, they hadn't even been adults. They were both sixteen then, and now they were nearing thirty. And they both knew that no amount of 'I'm sorries' could fix their tattered friendship. They had both just suffered through too much, lost too much, and somewhere along the line, they changed.
Kerri was barely conscious by the time they made it to the hospital, Dean pulling her from the car before the engine has even begun to cool. The emergency room staff struggled with Dean for a few minutes before giving up, allowing the determined man to carry her into the exam room, never leaving her side as the nurses checked her over. Her blood pressure was dangerously low, a fever climbing as she sat, but the blood flowing from her arm had lessened a great deal and, after reviewing her charts and x-rays the doctors declared her 'extremely lucky' and stitched her up.
But, "extremely lucky" didn't seem at all right to Kerri. Everything about her life was falling to pieces around her, the past she held onto so dearly eroding away, crumbling beneath her feet.
"You awake over there?" Dean asked, shooting a glance at her as she stared out the passenger window once more, the hospital staff telling her to take it easy and sending her home.
"Huh? Yeah."
"How're you feeling?"
"Like there's a big, gaping hole in my shoulder."
"I'm being serious."
"So am I."
"Are you tired?"
"A little."
"You think we need to go back and burn that painting?"
"I thought it didn't burn."
"Yeah, but, maybe it will now, you know, with Bramhurst gone."
"I'm fine, Dean."
"So, no soul sucking?"
"Nope, no soul sucking."
"Good…….. You hungry?"
"I guess a little. Why?"
"No real reason, Sam just called and said he was cooking dinner."
"Sam knows how to cook?"
"I'm not all that sure, actually. But, you know."
"No, I don't know."
"He's feeling guilty about letting you out of his sight--."
"Oh my god. The two of you probably hold places one and two in the record book for biggest guilts."
"Huh?"
"This isn't your fault, and it isn't Sam's. I went on a hunt, I got banged up on the hunt. End of story."
"Yeah, but--."
"Yeah, but nothing. And if you two don't stop killing me with kindness I'm gonna boot you both right out of my house."
"You'd never do that."
"Oh no. Why not?"
"Because we're rays of sunshine."
"I think that's an exaggeration."
"Besides, you can't throw us out, I've got twelve years of pranks to make up for. Does Tim Collins still live near here?"
"Dean?"
"Look, Kerri, you were right, if I hadn't been attacked by that spirit, I never would have come back here. But that's my fault, not yours. I should have called, I should have driven my ass back here, but I didn't, and I'm sorry. And I promise that I won't make that mistake again."
Kerri smiled, turning from the window to face the older Winchester. They had both screwed up, both let far too many years pass between them, but fate had decided to give them a second chance, and it was a chance that neither was going to waste.