ebonylovesdeanandsam: "and also love jensen and jared they are the best sexy men ever"- no arguments there bro.

Alisterine: Thank you! I'm so happy this story had that impact on you, and I'm glad that you found the characters are developing. Thanks so much for the encouragement!

KaterinePetrova-Winchester: I'm so happy you appreciate the change! I really wanted to change it up a little and found that it would be fun to give them different names. Glad that you like Cru Ella, and please keep reading!

I hope everyone else is enjoying this as well! Please leave reviews! I love them good or bad!

8

Where the hell were Zach and Dave? I must have been hunched over the twin-sized bed for hours before I heard the Impala pull in.

I had passed out and my body was so weak I couldn't move. While I was being branded, I had moved around a lot, trying to find something to grip to tolerate the pain. By the end of it, I had changed positions so much that I was hung over the left side of the bed so that I could actually see under it. That's when I had finally passed out.

With blood rushing to my head and limp arms hanging next to me, I thought I was going to fall over, but I slightly lifted myself up to hear someone talking to the brothers as they climbed out of the car.

"Señor?" A woman said, her voice sounding very familiar to me.

"What can I do for you?" Dave's voice asked.

"There was a something in your room." She said. "So I went inside, but I could not see what it was."

I thought I was hallucinating when I saw the housekeeper walk inside. She kept looking around to see what it was but obviously didn't find anything. I kept screaming though, and I thought she could hear me because she came right up to where I was but then I realized she could just smell my flesh burning. She left after spraying air refresher all over the room.

"Oh, right." Dave replied, giving a nervous laugh. He probably thought she could somehow hear me.

"What did you see?" Zach inquired in curiosity.

"Oh, I did not see anything." The woman replied. "I smelled some… some…"

Was this some sort of joke? This housekeeper was practically fluent in English and she couldn't remember this one word?

"You smelled something?" I heard Dave ask, puzzled by what the woman was trying to get at.

"Si! It was, a… " She kept stumbling, and she muttered something to herself.

"Wait, did you say humo?" Zach asked. "As in… smoke?"

"Si! It was a smoke!"

The next thing I heard were heavy pairs of shoes stomping their way up the wooden stairs and keys fumbling in someone's hand.

"Hang on Cru!" Dave called.

They burst through the door, unable to see me at first, with the other twin bed blocking their sight. Zach lifted me up from underneath my arms and lay me flat on the bed.

"Are you okay?" He asked, and I shook my head groggily. "Where is it?" He needed to know.

"Her neck." Dave said after lifting my head to set on his lap.

I felt Zach's fingers trace around the brand, as he leaned over my wilted body.

"We should have been with her for this." Zach said sympathetically.

"I know, it's my fault." Dave replied.

"There was no way we knew this would happen." Zach comforted.

"She's a kid," Dave said. "We shouldn't have left her alone."

With the miniscule energy I had left I used my arm to hit Dave's knee.

"Sorry." He muttered, pushing my hair aside.

I opened my eyes slightly to see Dave's green ones looking down at me. The obvious concern in them was almost comforting. I slightly lifted up my head to see Zach sitting on the other edge right beside me.

"I'm going to get the bandages and alcohol from the car," He said. "You hang in there." He got up and left, closing the door behind him, but leaving it unlocked.

"Sorry about that." Dave said.

I took a deep breath readying myself to speak.

"It's not your fault." I managed to say.

"We got here a little later than expected." He said. "Are you hungry, by the way, because we picked up some grub on our way back."

"I'll eat later." I replied.

"As long as you eat. I mean it's the least I could after making you stay behind."

I hit him again with my arm.

"It's not your fault." I repeated a little more firmly this time.

He chuckled.

"If you say so." He sounded convinced but I was sure he was anything but.

The thing about Dave Savage was that wherever he went, he carried some guilt on his shoulders, practically looking for reasons why he was responsible.

"You should stop blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong." I told him. "Sometimes bad things just happen and they're nobody's fault."

He stopped stroking my hair and didn't say anything for a bit.

"I wish I could believe that." He said.

"You can." I replied. "Because it's true."

Zach walked in carrying more than the necessary supplies needed to keep my wound clean.

"Extra precautions." He explained. "And we left the food we got for Ella behind when Lila told us about the smoke."

"Lila?" Dave questioned.

"Oh yea, and I got stuck behind talking to her. She's the housekeeper. She was so concerned about what happened so I just told her that we thought there was some fire or something." He said setting the things down on the table. "She's a nice lady." He added grabbing the alcohol and bandages.

"Did you manage to get her phone number?" Dave joked.

"Very funny," Zach said walking over to us. "Let's see."

Dave adjusted me so that Zach could see the stamp at the back of my neck while soaking a towel in the alcohol. He took a deep breath hunching over me with the towel, but all of a sudden retracting.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Zach gave a look to Dave.

"You should probably hold her down." Zach told his brother regretfully.

I didn't even get a chance to object before Dave's arms pinned mine down, and Zach readied himself again.

"Wait, wait!" I croaked.

"I'm sorry, Ella." Zach said continuing on.

"I don't need to be held down!" I told them. They paused. "Just do it." I said. "I won't squirm, and if I do, then you could just hold me down."

Zach looked at his brother for some sort of direction.

"Let us do it our way then." Dave said.

"What's your way?" I asked.

"Doesn't matter what our way is." Dave replied. "You have to do it that way regardless."

"Fine." I was in no state to argue…again.

Adjusting me so that I was on my side, Dave held my hair in the opposite direction in order to fully expose my neck.

"Ready?" Zach wanted to make sure.

"Yea," I weakly replied, as he began pressing the towel on to my wound.

I clenched my teeth and gripped the side of the bed so tight that I was certain my fingers would fall off.

"You'll be okay." Zach assured me. "Hang in there."

"Okay," I said exasperated.

Quickly, he bandaged me up, as Dave let my hair down loose again. I was about ready to turn back on the bed and fall asleep again, but Zach stopped me.

"Wait." He said. "I just want to check the brand on your shoulder blade."

I took a deep breath and rolled over, this time on my stomach.

"Uh, Cru?" Dave said. "You're wearing a t-shirt."

"So?" I replied. This was no time to be stating the obvious.

"Your brand is too low on your shoulder blade." Zach started to explain. "We…we can't pull your t-shirt down that far."

I took a deep breath before speaking.

"So you have to pull my t-shirt up, and expose my entire back, completely disregarding my severe issues with being unclothed?" I guessed. Their silence gave me my answer.

"Something like that," Dave muttered to himself.

"Do you mind?" Zach asked.

I buried my face in the covers.

"Medical reasons." I said.

"Right." He said lifting my shirt up, me helping as much as I could.

The cool air stung my otherwise clothed back. This more than sucked because my severe issues with being unclothed were pretty severe. I mean I never even went swimming because of the required garb. It was a whole other thing that led to my lack of a social life. Not to mention the Savage Brothers could see the back of my blue penguin and polar bear bra. Why? Why world why?

Dave held the shirt in position, while Zach slowly removed the tape that sealed the bandage on my skin.

"This is beyond strange." Zach said.

"Why?" I wanted to know. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Zach said. "Dave, do you see that?"

"I see it." He replied.

"It sounds like something is wrong." I told them.

"Seriously, Ella. Nothing's wrong. If anything it's… good." Zach sounded so surprised. "I mean usually it takes brandings three weeks to heal completely. But yours looks like it could be healed in two days to be honest."

"Yea, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I read something about this in that book thing Bobby gave me." Dave seemed to recall.

"What'd it say?" Zach asked.

"I think just that it heals pretty quick, since it's a brand of the Great Realm or something." Dave replied. "Does it hurt Cru?"

"Not really." I noticed. "Just a touch sore."

"Well, I'm putting alcohol on it just to keep it clean." Zach said pouring more onto the towel.

"Okay," I said feeling a little more relaxed.

There was no more than a little sting when Zach pressed the towel on my back. Without placing an additional bandage on the brand, he pulled down my shirt and readjusted me on my back.

"You should probably sleep." He advised.

"I've been lying here for so long." I told him. "I need to be doing something."

"You need to be not doing anything." Dave argued.

"Oh come on." I complained. "I can't be spending my magical quest in bed all day. Let me at least tell you what I found."

"Sure, why not?" Zach agreed.

"Well, most of it was really weird." I began to explain. "Lots of people were saying he was bound to his eyes, but the articles that I read all say they were… disposed of."

"What else did the articles say?" Dave asked.

I slowly adjusted my self to sit up.

"They weren't very graphic on the details of what happened to his body, but they all mention that the patients were attacking him with scalpels, and that's how his eyes were gouged out and that's how he died."

"Right, that's what his son told us."

"So, what if they cut something else out?" I suggested.

"Like what?"

"Like anything. He could be missing a body part and it could be left in the asylum." I said.

"Okay," Zach said getting up. "Why don't we go to burn the bones? When we do, we'll see if anything's missing."

"Right," Dave got up as well. "Well let's just hope it ain't something we can't see."

They both walked towards the door keys in hand.

"Wait!" I called. "I'm coming with." I sat up from the bed.

"No way." Dave said.

"You're not in good shape to come with us," Zach tried explaining. "It's probably best if you stayed here."

"I don't like staying here." I said folding my arms.

"Too bad." Dave replied. "It's going to be dangerous, and we don't want anything freaky pouncing on you now that it's dark out. What are you going to do there anyway? Hold the flashlight while me and Zach dig?" He paused. "That's actually not a bad idea." He muttered to himself.

"See?"

"No, no way, Cru." He said. "You stay here, get some food into your system, and then we'll get out of here once we deal with everything."

"So your idea of having me help you, is giving you information while you go off and save the day? I don't think so." I argued.

"Look, our job isn't to baby sit you, Cru." Dave said growing frustrated.

"I am not a kid." I hissed. "I can take care of myself."

"Hey, guys. This is no time to start fighting, so let's make a compromise." Zach tried mediating.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Me and Dave will go to the cemetery, figure out what it is that's missing, come back here, and we can all go to the asylum." Zach suggested.

"Right, so the ghost of a man who cut crazy people open can attack her?" Dave pointed out.

"I'm invisible!" I cried.

"Not to ghosts!" Dave hollered.

"I was invisible to those zombies why can't I be invisible to a ghost?" I said.

"No you weren't." He replied.

"Why do you think they didn't try eating me?" I asked.

"She's right." Zach said. "They only started coming after her when I was right by her."

Dave only looked at us dubiously.

"It would be helpful to have her around," Zach argued. "If she can do stuff and get away with it when we cant."

"Thank you." I said. "That's what I've been trying to say this entire time."

"Alright fine!" Dave said in resignation, clearly unhappy about it. "Just sit your ass down here and eat some goddamn food while we go unbury a dead body!" He opened the door and slammed it behind him, making Zach jump.

He turned to me.

"He's just—"

"Stupid." I finished.

"I should go." He said. He opened the door, giving me a, "Feel better, Ella," before shutting it behind him.

I sighed and took a seat in front of the fast food that they bought for me. I don't understand why Dave wouldn't just listen to me. Fine so I was almost ten years younger than him, but I wasn't the little girl that he painted me to be. I was fully capable of taking care of myself, and half the work was done for me considering I was already invisible!

Then I started to remember an episode that was in one of the later seasons. It was about this kid who really took a shining to Dave, and despite the fact that she was a nuisance he took a shining to her too. I think it was because she was such a nuisance that Dave really enjoyed her company. Her mom had gone on a hunt and enlisted Zach and Dave's help, and upon seeing the brothers asked for Zach's help on the hunt, and required Dave to stay behind and watch her kid. By the end of the episode, Dave was forced to save Zach and that woman, bringing her poor kid along.

I guess Dave liked having the kid around. I think having someone so innocent, that didn't know all of the bad stuff out there made him feel better.

That was a good episode.

I started to wonder if in this alternate universe there was an alternate TV show that mirrored this one. In the search bar of Zach's laptop, I began typing:

Show about two brothers.

Only a few things came up, and most of those were comedies. I refined my search:

Show about two brothers who fight the supernatural.

Again, almost nothing came up, except this weird low-key reality TV show that was about two friends who went on "ghost hunts". Not what I was looking for.

So there was no show that mirrored this one in this universe.

After eating, I took their advice and tried resting. It was useless, considering I had been resting earlier in the day for hours. Instead, I wanted to examine the brandings as best I could. It was going to be difficult, considering they were in places that were impossible to see without twisting my body around in ways I was too sore to.

I started digging in the drawers to look for some other mirror I could use along with the one in the bathroom. Luckily, I found one in no time, and made my way to the bathroom, holding the mirror so that I could see my branding. The one on my neck was easy to see, and since it was so fresh, it looked rather gross. It burnt my skin, turning it black, and looked just as intricate as the drawing in the book did, with little designs here and there that couldn't have been so simply made. No wonder it took so long. I put the bandage back on the wound before I could get it infected.

When I moved on to the one on my shoulder blade, I tried taking a look at it without having to pull my shirt up. I tugged at the neckline of my shirt, trying to extend it so that I could get a simple glimpse of the brand. Not only was it useless, but I also just wasted my energy bending my sore muscles. There was no way I could keep my shirt up without doing the same thing again to my arm, so I shut the bathroom door and took off my shirt.

The mirrors revealed a much different looking brand that resembled more of a healed scar. It was pinkish white, and when I put the compact mirror down to touch it, it was bumpy. I could tell with my fingers where the feather was because of the series of pencil thin lines that mimicked that of the drawing itself.

I couldn't help be so fascinated by it, and I lost myself for a bit until I heard keys outside of the bathroom. Quickly I put my shirt on and ran out into the main room to grab a pair of jeans, as Zach and Dave entered.

"You ready to head out, Cru?" Dave asked upon entering.

"Almost!" I yelled running into the bathroom again. I yanked off my shorts and jumped into my jeans. "Did you guys figure out what was missing?" I called from the bathroom as I pulled my hair back into a ponytail.

"Yea," Zach replied. "His left toes."

"Can you believe it?" Dave complained. "His freaking toes! How are we supposed to find those?"

I swung the bathroom door open.

"Okay." I said. "Now that I have pants on, I'm ready."

"Alright," Dave said as we left the room.

"I vaguely remember the toes now," I said. "I think I can find them, or at least help."

"Good to know, kid." Dave said with a smile.

"Right?" I replied enthusiastically.

"Oh sorry." He apologized.

I scowled.

"What for?"

Dave and Zach looked at each other and grinned.

"So you don't care if I call you kid anymore, huh?" He asked with a chuckle as we made our way into the car.

He started the car and began pulling out of the lot.

"I didn't even notice." I told him, completely surprised by myself.

"I guess it's like an older brother thing," Zach started, "to call younger siblings by names, right Ella?"

"I wouldn't know." I replied not meaning to sounds so upsetting.

"Right," He said. "Sorry."

I just stared out the window into the night, as we quietly drove to the asylum.