Traveling

Summary: After witnessing something not quite possible, even for their line of work, Sam and Dean end up having to put up with a tag along until they can find out a way to send him back home. After all, how hard can it be to send twenty year old Cal Leandros back through a portal to his alternate universe without risking both worlds crashing in on each other? Demons to left of them, Auphe to the right… and one very pissed off Niko desperate to get his brother back.

Disclaimer: This is written completely in fun and no infringement is intended. I own neither Cal Leandros or anything associated with the series, nor do I own Supernatural.

Warning for bad language.

A/N: This took longer than I wanted to update and I know you probably expect it to be Cal and the Winchesters, but I had to see Niko's side of things. So this is from his POV and I've been working on back to the others whilst writing this. Anyway, was with my previous chapter, I'm still scared as hell but I'm slowly finding my feet. Thank you so much for reading and for the awesome encouragement I have received so far. Leandros brothers rule! As do the Winchesters!

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Chapter 3

The first time I watched my brother disappear through a gate, he was being dragged through it by the things we once called Grendels – the monsters under our bed, outside our windows and in Cal's case, in his genes. We learned just over a year ago that they were also known as the Auphe. As old as time itself, they had once been at the top of the food chain until the humans came along, populating the planet and taking it over in the blink of an eye. That didn't mean the Auphe weren't still top of the food chain, it just meant that the ratio of human to Auphe was far greater. So naturally the Auphe wanted it all back – back the way things had originally been.

The second time had been when that bastard Darkling had slithered his way into my brother. All those years of running and they had finally caught us. Only they could have really caught us at any time. They were just waiting for the right moment – the moment that Cal physically matured. If they had been waiting for mental maturation then maybe we would have stood a chance. Part of me wishes I could forget those little run ins with Darkling – the way he had used Cal as a puppet. I still remember with pure clarity the warmth of Cal's blood on my hands and the way my blade had slid far too easily into him.

But he came back. As cocky and full of snark as ever. That was Cal all over – a hell of a lot stronger than he gave himself credit for. A hell of a lot smarter too.

First time he created his own gate, it scared me. But it got me thinking. If he needed it, an emergency exit could be useful. I changed my mind on that soon enough. Gates were dangerous… are dangerous. He agreed with me. Took his time to see that it wasn't worth risking his life but he got there eventually.

And now… now he had disappeared through another gate, one that was Auphe made. And I was too late to stop it. I waited for an hour for him to return. If he had slipped through to Tumulus, he could still travel back. He could make his own gate back here. No matter what anyone else would try to tell me, I knew he had to make his way back. He's my brother. My reason for being. I couldn't lose that. I can't…

When the time was up, I decided to take a more active approach. My feet pounded on the pavement as I ran full force towards a familiar setting – a small ice cream parlour. Maybe she wouldn't tell me. Maybe she would leave it to fate because that was Georgina. She told you the small things but when it came to the larger things that she thought couldn't be changed, she kept them to herself. I just prayed that she would answer me when I asked.

When he hadn't come back, I immediately thought of her. When Goodfellow had been in trouble, Cal had come to her in order to find where he was and she had told him - so she had to tell me where Cal was now. Because he wasn't… gone. He couldn't be gone. I would know if he was… I'd feel it. After all these years, I would know right?

"He's not here," she said simply when I pushed open the door and entered silently. The place was empty apart from Georgina and the old man that owned the place. I wasn't surprised, it was early yet. I had been pushing my luck by coming this early and yet here she was all the same, waiting for me. She had probably known before I did that I would come – such was the strength of her ability. But I had hoped all the same that she would be here – the place where people always came when they needed to see her, when they needed to ask her a question or have their minds eased. She never asked for anything in return, just simply suggested that her customers purchase something from the store. She was the reason the place was still in business.

"He's not there either," she went on, shaking her head gently before I could ask my question. I slid into the booth and studied her from across the table. Her brow was creased but her skin was warm and soft as she touched my hand, reassuring me. She didn't know where 'there' was. She didn't know that it was Auphe Hell. But she knew all the same that it wasn't where Cal was. Like I said, that was Georgina – simply knowing. "You'll get him back."

I felt my lip quirk only ever so slightly and allowed my eyes to drop a fraction. "I thought you didn't allow yourself to look at things like that."

"I don't need to look to know that you will get him back." She said it in such a way that I felt like pushing my luck just that little bit more and so I leaned forward, staring into her as I pleaded with my eyes and my words. She had to see how desperate I was. She had to know just how much this was tearing me apart. Losing him once was bad enough, twice had me wanting to join him and now this? She had to see that.

"It would help if you told me where he is." She looked away at that and I felt her hand go oddly still over mine. She wasn't going to tell me. I should have known better than to ask. But who else could tell me? Who else possibly have that kind of knowledge or power? I removed my hand from under hers and still I pushed. "This is Cal…" As if that would mean something to her. As if it would sway her mind completely. She knew it was Cal, the boy – the man – she cared so deeply about.

But Cal was right. She was too stubborn in her nature. It was why he had pushed her away. And it was why she wouldn't tell me where he was.

"I'm sorry, Niko." Her voice was so soft and gentle, so calm, that you wouldn't think she was saying no to such a desperate plea. I nodded and stood up without another word. The only thing that stopped me from breaking down and taking everyone with me was the knowledge that Cal wasn't in that place. And if he wasn't there, then I would be able to get him back. I had to be able to get him back.

"Thank you, Georgina," I said with my back to her, hand on the door to leave. It was strained and some might not have known why I was thanking her in the first place if she refused to help me. And whilst that was true, whilst I felt my chest aching knowing that she outright refused to just look and tell me, she had at least given me a spark of hope. And that was why I thanked her. It wasn't much but it was enough to allow me to go on.

It was enough to get me to Goodfellow's.

I could have gone to Promise. I know she would have had no quarrel with using her contacts in order to find Cal. She would have also been a lot more sober and the air of her apartment would not have been laced with the lingering stench of alcohol. But as much as I knew Promise would want to help, Goodfellow was more likely to know someone who knew a thing or two. He could wallow in self-pity after we had Cal back.

With my blade resting just below his chin, he grunted and pushed it away with a simple wave. I let him. If only because I knew it meant he would help. He knew what Cal was to me. He knew the lengths I would go to in order to save him. And as I was more than capable of wielding a blade, he knew that I was dangerous if pushed. I was dangerous even without being pushed but when it came to Cal, I saw no grey, no black or white… I simple saw red.

"He's well past needing a babysitter," he all but growled out, still so very angry and still so very much wallowing in mistakes he had made long before Cal or I was born – long before many of our ancestors were born even. "As am I."

"That being said, Goodfellow, he is my brother and he's missing." I lowered my blade and watched as he moved from the couch toward the kitchen. I followed closely, ready to grab the bottle from his hand before he had chance to pour another glass of alcoholic poison. Snatching it smoothly from his loose fingertips, I put it back down on the counter with a little more force than was probably good for the glass but aside from a hard thump, nothing was broken. "According to Georgina he is neither here nor there which makes no sense whatsoever and as you pride yourself on knowing people perhaps one of them could tell me what that means for Cal."

"Perhaps," he agreed as if I hadn't just taken the bottle from him. He reached for another and managed to pour himself some of, what was probably, the most ridiculously priced wine in the history of wine. I shook my head and looked away. "Or perhaps they would rather stick needles into their own eyes or use that weapon of yours to slice off their own tongues."

"I'm sure with some persuasion they would be more than willing to help." I raised my eyebrow at him, my emphasis on the word persuasion letting him know that I was not above using my methods on him even if he was a friend. He had seen what I could do with my katana firsthand.

With his lips touching the rim of the glass, he let go of a sigh. His breath fogged up the surface partly but it was clear again by the time he placed it back on the counter without draining a single sip. The cunning green eyes of a fox, that usually held as much mischief as the swagger he walked with, were dimmed and distant. Sad. It wasn't my threat that bothered him. Even drunk he could more than likely at least hold his own against me.

"To the Ninth Circle," he declared lazily with a lethargic punch of the air. The Ninth Circle being the bar that Cal worked at when he wasn't getting into trouble with the Auphe or complaining about our latest 'case' that Promise had handed us for our supernatural detective business. And considering how slow business was, we needed the extra money. It was a bar for non-humans and should a human accidentally walk into it, they had better be able to defend themselves.

I took a glance around the room at the numerous empty bottles before letting my steely grey eyes land on Goodfellow. "It's time to sober up, not restock."

He muttered something under his breath in a language old and foreign, no doubt a derogative remark aimed at me. His eyes met mine, some of the familiar sheen now once again seeping back in. "You have more in common with that uneducated brother of yours than you know sometimes. You want to know where Caliban is, right? Well, if someone is talking about it where better to listen in than at the Ninth Circle?"

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