Author's note: Hi. That's all. Carry on.
My wayward son.
There'll be peace when you are done.
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more.
"Sam?" Elena looked up in surprise. She watched him walk into the room, and close the door behind him. He then at down opposite of her.
"Elle." His gun rested on his lap, and she could see the glint of a demon knife in his coat pocket.
Her eyes shifted to the color of black as she watched him, and noticed he was sitting in a way that he could attack her at any moment.
"Sam, Dean may not be here but I don't need him to protect me."
"I know." He said, and ran a hand across his face. "Elle. Why don't you stop so we can bring back Dean? Isn't that what you wanted? Doesn't it hurt you to see him like this?"
She smiled. "Sam, Dean and I suffered like you are now. Did it ever occur to you that we don't want to come back home? We were in pain, and now we feel nothing but pleasure."
"Did you ever once think you were hurting me?"
"Sam, that's the problem. You always think we're a perfect family but we're not. We never can be."
She stood, and Sam followed, pulling out the knife.
"That aside, how did you find us?"
"You think up wouldn't leave a trail? You've been killing people in a straight path down the country. I'm a hunter. Others have probably noticed too."
"And each one of them died. I don't want to kill you, and I have to restrain myself even now."
"Dean told me the same thing. He wanted to rip my throat out. With his teeth. But he didn't do it. I'm practically your brother, Elle."
"Practically." She said, emphasizing it. "You're his brother. So then why do you want to save me?"
He looked at her, cautiously stepping back as she approached him slowly.
"Dean!" She spoke.
Sam." Dean had blinked into existence beside Elena, and Sam's grip slightly tightened on the knife.
"Dean?" His heart was pounding, his brother standing before him, but he knew it wasn't really him, but a demon taking his place.
"Elle, go." Dean commanded, knowing he'd snap Sam's neck with a quickness if he didn't control himself. And for that he couldn't be focusing on protecting her.
She nodded once, and something behind her black eyes seemed to scream out to Sam as their eyes met. Her expression completely nullified the look, but Sam knew the human Elena was still awake and fighting.
"Dean. The human blood in you... When you created Elle, did you do it while the blood was still in effect?"
"Sam she's still a demon and you can't change that. Just like me. You're not going to go all hero mode this time" His smile was fake.
Sam didn't find it amusing. He frowned, and held the knife up. "Dean. You're coming back."
"Sammy, maybe I don't want to."
"You're coming back wither you'd like to or not. Dean, we can fix this. We will fix this."
Dean shook his head, and looked over to his younger brother. "If you could fix this, Sammy, it would have been done."
Sam shot at his brother, just as the demon raised his hand to send Sam flying. The bullet landed in his thigh, and he fell to the ground. White smoke poured from the wound, and Sam was standing without a scratch.
"What the hell?" Dean's fingers traced the wound and he looked up to Sam when it didn't heal. "What did you do?" He growled, his voice deep and guttural.
"I did my research. Holy bullets."
Sam kneeled next to his brother, chaining his wrist.
"What? So now I can't even move?"
"Pretty much."
He stated simply, and he sent a silent prayer to Castiel.
A hand touched Sam's shoulder, and him, Dean and the angel had traveled back to the warehouse they had started in.
Sam moved across the room, pulling up three syringes. He injected each one in succession to his brother's forearm. It pained him to hear his brother's yelling, knowing it caused him pain.
"Dean, I'm bringing you back."
Because of the pain and drowsiness the blood was causing, Dean didn't move or respond.
Castiel moved to Dean's side, healing the bullet wound.
The demon breathed heavily, shooting awake. His eyes shifted to black and a normal color repeatedly. "God damn it, Sammy. Give up."
"No."
This seemed to amuse the demon, even though his body was tense against the pain of the blood spreading in his bloodstream. "And why not?"
"Because you're my brother. And I've never left you behind, so I won't start today." He shot the blood into his brother's neck, and then continued with another.
Dean gasped against the pain, grinding his teeth together. In a pained voice, he said, "it doesn't matter anyways. Elle'll get me back and fix me. I trained her myself, Sam."
"Sorry Dean, it doesn't work that way. Cas, go find Elena"
Catiel nodded silently, not wanting to cause anything between the warring brothers.
"You're connected to her by blood now. She's you, but in another body." Sam said, placing another round of blood into Dean's veins.
Castiel felt for Elena's presence, searching with his own powers. He felt her in distress, and he soon found her, lying on the ground, screaming angrily in pain. He held her in his arms, and she seemed to pass out. When he got back to Sam, he saw the same had happened to Dean.
"What is this?" He asked Sam.
"They're connected by blood. Do anything that effects him, effects her." He nodded towards Elena's limp body. Castiel looked shocked and afraid, and Sam wondered why his statement had that effect on the angel.
"When they awake, will they be..."
He placed Elena on a chair beside Dean's.
"Human? Hopefully."
He sent a shot of blood down Elena's arm as well.
"That was the last one." Sam said, tossing the empty syringe aside.
Castiel grabbed Elena's and Dean's shoulders, and they both disappeared.
"Where'd you send them?" Sam asked.
"To a human hospital. They'll need it. I can't stay long enough to see them wake, but hopefully they can heal there." He left in a rush and Sam couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with the 'connected by blood' part.
Castiel left for heaven before Sam could argue that:
They had shot marks, making them look like druggies.
They could very well still be demons if Sam was wrong. He hadn't even gotten the chance to test it.
And Cas had sent them, teleported them, into a random room of a human hospital. If that wasn't suspicious, he didn't know what was.
Sam grabbed the Impala's keys out of his pocket; desperately hoping Cas had sent them to the nearest one.
Bright lights burned against his eyes as Dean woke. The strong scent of antiseptics and the cold let him know he was in a hospital. He sat up; his eyes wide open, breathing heavily. He snatched the IV out of his arm, rubbing where the needle had been, and looked around. A nurse entered the room, a while later.
" ?" She looked afraid, and full of sympathy. "You're awake?"
"What? What happened?" If there was one thing he was good at, it was reading people, and he could tell she was hiding something.
The nurse seemed afraid. "You arrived with a miss Elena, correct?"
"My girlfriend. Where is she?" He asked suddenly, noticing the bed next to him was empty.
The nurse told him to wait, and she rushed out of the room.
Good. He thought. That meant she was waiting out there for him.
A man in a suit came in, followed by the nurse. "This is him." She mumbled, then left.
"What is this?" Dean asked. "Who are you?"
The man in the dark suit sighed unhappily.
"I regret to inform you that Elena died under hospital care. She was physically exhausted, and when she seemed to be getting better, her heart came to a sudden stop. We did all that we could to help her, but she, unfortunately, was beyond saving. She's dead."
Dean's eyes were wide, and his breathing quickened. The heart rate monitor shot up, and he pulled the wires off his chest, annoyed.
"No. She's not dead. God damn it!" He shouted the last part, and slammed a fist against the bed's railing.
"Mr. Dean Winchester, since you are her only living 'relative', we expected you to be in charge of her funeral, but seeing as you were in a coma, we ended up holding a private funeral. Your brother Sam, and her friend Jimmy Novak showed up. We're sorry that-"
"I wasn't even able to go to her funeral?" He shouted. "Where the hell is Elena?"
"Century Cemetery, a few miles from here."
He stood from the bed suddenly, and found his bag of clothes. He tossed them on in the bathroom quickly, and then rushed outside. Sam had left the Impala in the parking lot. Dean reached under the hood, where Sam and him had agreed to leave the keys when the other needed them.
He pushed far past the speed limit, until he reached the cemetery. The tires screeched as he pulled to a stop, and cut the engine.
He sprinted across the graves, looking for any sign of hers.
He didn't think. He only acted, when he spotted her grave.
He dropped to his knees in front of it, staring disbelieving at the tomb stone. Nothing was engraved on it, except for her name.
Elena Winchester.
The thought that she died as a Winchester made his heart contract, and he could feel the pain in his chest as his eyes filled with tears.
Dean stared at her tombstone, not wanting to believe it. But he knew that when someone died, there was no reasonable way to bring them back.
"This is all my fault." He mumbled, just as he did every time. Everything was his fault. Everyone had always pointed out his flaws and the things he did wrong. No one ever told him what he had done right, and he knew it didn't matter. He felt like he had done no right. He had only made wrong decisions, and hurt everyone he cared about.
His hand brushed against the soil. It was fresh. Did Sam salt and burn her himself?
How long had he been in a coma? Months?
What had been his last words to her?
He had done this, he had killed her. She wouldn't have gone to Heaven, would she have? He remembered his painful years in Hell. What he had seen. It had split him and his brother apart.
"I'm so sorry Elle." He said, tears filling his eyes. He sat there, crying. He had screwed up her life just like everyone else's. One of the last people he cared about were dead.
And it was all his fault.
"Dean." Sam said, surprised. "They didn't call me to tell me you were out." He seemed worried. "Dean... You were in a coma, and-"
"I know." Dean stated, glaring across the room at nothing. His eyes were still gleaming from unshed tears. He didn't meet his brother's eyes. "Did you burn her?"
Sam looked down at his hands.
"I tried to Dean, I really did. I just couldn't do it..."
Dean sighed in relief. "So there's still a way to bring her back?"
Sam looked up suddenly. "Dean, no. Last time, after all that Lilith stuff... We can't do that again."
"Relax, Sammy. I'm not selling my soul."
He didn't relax. "Then what are you doing?"
Telling his brother that he planned to summon Death was probably a bad idea. Instead he settled on "Something." And just as his brother stood and tried to stop him, Dean left. He could hear Sam's pounding footsteps behind him.
"I'm not letting you go, Dean!"
"See you later, Sammy!" He called behind him, knowing he could run faster than his younger brother, even if he had slightly bowed legs. Their height difference had nothing on their speed difference.
He came out onto the motel parking lot, quickly starting up the Impala. He raced down the road, hoping it would take Sam longer to start his car.
He sped off, checking his rear view mirror occasionally. Soon, Sam's car fell out of sight, and Dean went back to the motel. The last place Sam would think to look.
He cut the engine, and climbed out of the car, heading to the back and opening the trunk. Inside, he pulled out a little bit of everything, knives, deadman's blood, chalk, pieces of bodily parts, and assorted other things, then headed into the motel, hiding the things in a duffel bag.
He raced up the stairs to room 209, where he and Sam were staying. He dropped the bag onto the bed after fumbling to unlock the door.
He opened up Sam's laptop, waiting for it to boot-up. When the desktop screen showed, he opened up the web browser and searched for 'how to summon death.' Sometimes Hunter research is simple.
Most information pages that popped up came with a dead body, but he had no intention of killing anyone. Finally, he found an article on the summoning of the four horsemen. Death was the second one down.
He skimmed through the paragraph. He had everything he needed here in the bag of stuff he had packed. He had grabbed things at random, and luckily grabbed all the things needed.
He unzipped the bag, and first took out the piece of chalk.
He squinted at the screen, trying to copy it exactly. He then traced over it in the deadman's blood.
The center of the symbol had a small star, and that one he traced with his own blood, using the silver knife he had brought.
Looking back at the screen, he dumped salt around the entrances to the room, and for good measure, put himself in a salt circle. Apparently bad spirits traveled with Death, and one or multiple could be summoned along with Death himself.
He stepped over the salt line to grab a box of cold pizza off of the coffee table. Hopefully this helped to persuade Death. Only two slices were left, and it was cold from sitting out all night, but maybe Death wouldn't mind.
He looked back to the screen for further instructions.
Candle? That he didn't think he had. He opened the door to the motel room, heading down stairs. He ended up in the central building.
"You got a candle?" He asked the man at the front desk.
"Emergency ones." He reached under the desk and handed him one. "What do you need it for?"
"To set the mood." He said sarcastically, and the man frowned at the sex joke.
He unlocked the door to the room again, and opened the door. He looked up, and Death was contentedly eating the pizza, which was steaming and looked fresh.
"Dean. I heard you were beginning to summon me, and I saw that you delightfully remembered my favorite food." He took another small bite and stood from his sitting position on the sofa.
"Now why was it you called me?"
Dean tossed the useless candle to the bed. It rolled off and onto the floor, but he didn't retrieve it. Instead he looked to Death.
"If you can revive a slice of pizza, then I need you to bring something else back."
Death seemed to be mildly amused. "Someone, you mean?" He looked at Dean pointedly. "I recently retrieved a new soul for down below. Are you interested in saving it?"
He nodded. "What will it take to bring back Elena Winchester?"
"Nothing at all." Death responded politely, but Dean couldn't tell if he meant he'd do it for free or if there was no way to do it. He waited for Death to speak again.
"If you mean the Elena that died in the Hospital-"
"Yes, that one." Dean had started to become annoyed.
"I wasn't finished." Death said calmly. "If you mean that Elena, which now I know you do, then you might want to speak to your angel friend."
"You mean Cas? Why?"
"You see, after I had dropped Elena off in Satan's kingdom, the angels had tried to heavily persuade me to steal her soul back. They wanted her, but I wasn't sure why. So, I went to retrieve her." He paused.
"And?" Dean asked, urging him to continue. "What the Hell happened?"
"That's exactly it. Hell happened. You see, the demons weren't excited to see her go. They tortured her far greater than they ever would have to someone of her morality. When I came to collect her, she was gone. I can't tell if the angels have her, or where she's gone. She's vanished."
He did a small explosion effect for emphasis.
"So that's it? She's gone?" The pain in his voice was visible on his face.
"Winchester, Dean. I almost feel sympathetic. Except for the fact that I can't. The only way I see to find her is through Heaven. They would know, and perhaps you can find out why they needed her? I am rather curious as to why it was so urgent."
Dean nodded slowly. Death disappeared as he mumbled a thank you.
"Cas. You there?" He said aloud, and waited. "Cas. I need you, get down here."
The angel didn't respond. "Cas?" He asked frantically. Was he hurt or dead? Maybe he was just ignoring him.
"Castiel? Get your ass down here!" Was the angel avoiding him? He knew this had happened before, when Cas couldn't come to him. But maybe...
"Hannah. Cas isn't coming. What's happening?"
"Dean Winchester."
A voice spoke from behind him and he spun, reaching for his jacket pocket, where he kept a knife. He relaxed when he saw it was Hannah. "Where's Castiel?"
She looked at him surprised. "Why?" She asked incredulously.
"Where is he?" He repeated.
"Castiel is gone." She said.
"Hannah, angels are the worst liars. You guys suck more than Sam does."
"Dean..." She said, sounding sorry. "Castiel is... I can't tell you."
"And why the Hell not?" He asked angrily.
"It's confidential." She stated simply, seeming to not notice his growing anger.
"Hannah, one last time. Where is he?"
"I'm sorry Dean. I really can't tell you."
She disappeared after that, leaving him in an empty room again.
"Damn it." He mumbled. He searched through the motel room, soon finding his phone. He dialed Sam's number, hesitating before he called.
"Dean?"
"Sam."
"Where the hell are you?" He asked worriedly.
"Sammy, relax. I'm back at the motel room."
"What happened, man? What did you do?"
"I summoned Death."
"And?" He asked, expectantly.
Dean sighed, and was silent for a while.
"Elena's gone."
"Gone for good? There's no way to bring her back?"
"No Sam. Gone. Like not in Hell where she should be."
"Is she in Heaven? Is she alive again?"
"I don't know, Sammy!"
"Well talk to Cas. Shouldn't he know?"
"I tried, he didn't respond, so I got Hannah, who didn't tell me anything."
Sam seemed to consider. "Do you think Cas knows something? Or maybe she's back on Earth?"
"Wouldn't she have come to find us though? She remembers my number."
"Dean... Did you ever think she wasn't too excited to come back?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well... No offense man but you were a total dick when you came back. All secretive about everything that happened down there. You grew really distant. Maybe the same happened to her?"
Dean thought about it. "But then why would Cas not respond?"
Sam was silent.
"Come meet me back here. I'm gonna try her cell." Dean said.
"We can always track it if we need to."
Dean nodded, even though he knew his brother couldn't see it. "See you soon, Sammy."
"Yeah. See ya, Dean."
He hung up and dialed Elle's number. It continued to ring until it hit the voicemail box.
'You have reached the voice mail box of-'
He hung up, and set the laptop up on the coffee table. He heard the door open and close, and soon Sam sat next to him. "What happened?"
"She didn't pick up. But her phone is still working."
Sam hooked Dean's phone up to the laptop, opening up the tracker program. He pulled up the latest call.
"Michigan?" Sam mumbled, typing away.
"Michigan?" Dean repeated. "That's where she is?"
"That's where her phone is."
"Isn't that where we met her?"
"Yeah. Same city, too."
"What is she doing there?"
"Isn't her family there?"
"Her family is dead, Sam."
"Right..." He mumbled, clicking away. "Well the call went to someone's house. Maybe she's staying with a friend."
He wrote down the address on a sticky note.
"1938 Rimelow Boulevard." He said, reading it from the screen.
"Good. Let's go." He stood instantly, grabbing his keys and packing up their stuff.
"Uh, Dean?"
"What now?" He asked, annoyed.
"We don't even know if this is her. This could be something possessing her body, or someone with her phone, or something. We don't know for sure if this is even her."
Dean looked t him, dead serious. "So?"
"So... This might not be her."
"Sammy, I don't care if it's not her. It's a lead."
Sam stood and helped his brother. As they were finishing up, he asked what had been burning against his mind. "So then how does Heaven tie into this? Why would Cas be avoiding us?"
Dean didn't respond. Why would Heaven need her in the first place?
"Death said something about Heaven wanting her even though she was dead, right? Why do you think they're involved with her at all?"
Dean considered. "A vessel?"
"Why would they need another?" Sam asked.
"True." But they both knew anything was possible.
They packed all their things into the Impala, and checked out of the motel. The manager cast a dirty look towards Dean for the candle incident, but they left without trouble.
When they were both seated in the car, Dean looked to Sam expectantly. "Well? Where to?"
Sam opened up the glove compartment box, pulling out a map of cities and states.
"Uh... Guess we just head north."
"Okay... Any other genius plans?"
"Not really."
"Good." He started the Impala and drove off.
The fire warmed her skin, and she closed her eyes, feeling the heat warming the night around her. The stench of the dead body burned against her nose.
When she opened her eyes, the body of the ghost was burning, the smell of gasoline disappearing. She collected the tub of salt and gascan, slipping the box of matches into the duffel bag.
She looked around her, making sure no one had witnessed the salting and burning of the body. She quickly shoveled the dirt back into the grave when the body finished burning. The smell of smoke was heavily mixed with fresh soil. She grabbed the shovel and her bag, carrying them back to her car. She tossed them into the back seat and drove off towards the house she was staying at.
Her friend greeted her as the door opened. "Elle, why do you smell like smoke? Was something on fire?" She looked out the window, expecting to see a smoke pillar.
Elena looked outside, and against her will, she secretly hoped that the Impala was out there. She brushed off the stupid wish immediately.
"Sorry Nicky. I... Uh my car broke down and there was a lot of exhaust..."
Nicole let it slide, knowing that car smoke didn't smell like that. She had been getting a lot of strange answers from her, and she knew Elena had something to hide. But she was her friend, and wouldn't force it from her. "Alright. Get dinner started, would ya?"
Elena nodded, glad for the distraction. When she looked outside again, her heart ached. That man across the street wasn't Dean. It was that one neighbor who walked his dog all the time.
She headed towards the kitchen, pulling out boxes of mashed potato mix and a can of green beans. Her cell phone rang and she looked down at it. Nicole looked over, curious.
Reading the caller ID, she fell to the floor of the kitchen, sitting. She covered her mouth, which was stuck in a silent scream.
The picture taunted her, the picture Sam had taken of her and Dean. They were holding hands, leaning against the Impala. His smile was bright, and so was hers. She let the phone slide from her hands and onto the ground.
He was calling her. He had the stupid nerve to call her.
She let out a small sob and Nicole rushed to her side. She sat next to Elena, hugging her tight. Elena sobbed into her shoulder, as she was struck with the pain of missing him but not being able to return to him.
Nicole took the phone from the ground, and looked to the caller ID.
"Was this your boyfriend? Did he break up with you? I'll tear off his jaw, I swear."
Her crying intensified, so Nicole fell silent. "Nicky... He's gone. I left him and now... I don't know how I came back... Now I don't know what to do... He hates me so much, and what if he's still a demon?"
Nicole didn't understand at all, but she hugged her tight.
"He didn't do anything. I did and he hates me."
"Oh, Elle. It's not your fault. Did he tell you he hates you?"
"No, which is worse. He pretends it's okay, that everything's all right, but it's not."
"Oh, Ella, you've been through hell."
Nicole didn't realize the truth behind her words. Hell had shown her things she never would have thought of. All the shit she put Dean through. Not to mention the 'present' Crowley sent her. Dean. The bad side of Dean. A piece of demon Dean was left in Hell, and he was used against her, telling her the true feelings Dean had.
The feelings Dean didn't care about. Those feelings he had abandoned and pushed back since she was family.
And now she believed those feelings still existed.
Every time she had hurt someone was replayed in her head and made a thousand times worse.
"I don't know what's real anymore."
Nicole hugged her closer, even though she didn't understand at all.
Elle was in this alone, even though Nicole was right beside her.
She remembered one of the worst parts of being down there. Dean, Sam, and Cas.
Sam held Dean in his arms, crying wildly. "You did this. You hurt us." Sam had kissed a demon that sat beside him, and he dropped dead, Dean coming back to cry over his brother
"You bitch!" He shouted angrily, knowing there was no way of bringing Sam back.
"I hate you. I never want to see your god damned face again!"
Castiel sat on the ground beside her, his back a bloody mess from the two wounds that ran down his back in a parallel V-shape. He looked scared, sad, alone, and afraid.
"You tore me from Heaven." He said, and those accusing words were enough to shred her heart. He looked so lost, so betrayed.
"Cas, no I didn't!"
"You tore me from my home, took away my family. I'm stuck in a human body, Jimmy Novak will never get his life back. All because of you. You might as well have torn my wings off then and there!" He was shouting now, and he was crying, sobbing. "I'm alone now. I can't find Sam or Dean and I'm stuck here alone with you, the one that caused this. Everyone in Heaven hates me! I'm a disgrace!"
Elena was clutching her head, screaming, her eyes shut. She came back to reality so quickly that she was confused for a moment, before the impact of her heart shattering hit her full force.
"What just happened?!" Nicole asked, freaked out. "Are you okay?"
Elena shook her head. "I'm fine." Her voice was weak with sadness and fear.
"No you're not! What the hell? You've been keeping way too much random ass shit from me! What's happening to you?"
Elena was tired and hurt. The yelling didn't help "I'm about to pass out." She mumbled, nausea and dizziness crashing into her like a wave.
She stood slowly, using the counter for support. Nicole crossed her arms, upset.
"Get some sleep, but in the morning you're telling me everything that's been going on."
Elena ignored her, knowing she wouldn't risk her friend's safety and sanity. She fell to her bed, cold, but not bothering with the covers as she fell into the world of nightmares, slightly more comforting than reality.