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notsoobviousfangirl · 7 years ago

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Wanted Dead or Alive

Summary: In order to allow Faith to decide her fate, Cas takes her to the future that’s set to happen. Things are not as happy as they seem when things when things turn ugly, showing Faith the impact of her decision.

Other parts of the Meet the Winchester series: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Warnings: descriptions of a shooting and the consequences thereof

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY @annapropaganda!!!! I’m sorry this is late (I suck I know). My computer was being dumb and adding Swedish(?) characters and trademark symbols instead of quotations so I had to go through the enTIRE THING AND FIX IT BY HAND ON A SHIT LAPTOP. But I digress. Here it is. Let me know what you think!

Anna shook her head. "No. This isn't happening." She grabbed Faith by the shoulders and began to shake her. "Faith, get up. Don't do this!" When she received no response, she began to tear up. "Please, Faith!" Another moment passed and there was still no response. Tears in her eyes, she pleaded with Cas, "Fix this."

"How can he fix it?" Sam asked curiously.

"I could try slipping into her subconscious and see what's going on," the angel suggested.

"Could that really work?"

"I don't know. I've never tried it before."

Anna laughed wryly. "Oh, he's never tried it before. That's just great!"

"Do it," Cassie said firmly, speaking up for the first time since the group returned bloody.

"What?" Anna gaped at her friend. "How can you even think to let him poke around in Faith's head? He doesn't know what he's doing! He could make it worse or-"

"-or he could save her life," the blonde commented. "What other choice do we have? We can't just let her die." Cassie's voice cracked as she finished her sentence, sniffling as she took a breath.

Gillian nodded, holding back tears of her own. "She's right. We need to try something."

Anna processed the words told to her. Shutting her eyes, she took Faith's cold hand in hers. She took a shuddering breath, tears slipping down her face. "Fine," she sniffed. "Just... Bring her back. Please. I can't lose her."

"I will do my best," Cas told her, his blue eyes shining with the utmost sincerity. He didn't make Anna move as he bent over, placing his hands on either side of Faith's face. A minute later, the angel dropped to his knees as most of the tension left his body. Within moments, Cas was spiraling out of the real world and into Faith's mind, leaving the others to sit and wait for something- anything- to happen.

It was all up to Cas now.

*****

It was a blank slate, her mind. Everything was black; the walls, ceiling, and floor that gave Faith's mind a shape were the same shade of deep black. As Cas explored the area, his footsteps echoed in her mind. He didn't have to walk very far before he found Faith. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Her clothes were a contrasting bright white and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She looked normal, serene even, as she stared ahead; her back to him.

"Faith," Cas said to gain her attention.

Faith turned around, slight surprise showing on her face. "Cas? What are you doing here?"

"I came to bring you back. Your body is healed. Come on. I'll show you the way." He held a hand out for her to take.

She shook her head. "I'm not going. I can't."

"Why not?"

She turned around, bringing her knees to her chest. Her brows furrowed as she tried to search for the words to explain it. "I just... I'm not wanted there. I know I'm not wanted there. It's easier to just stay here and wait to drift away than to go back out there and be with people who only tolerate my presence. I make their lives worse by being there."

"You have to know that's not true," Cas told her.

Faith shook her head. "You don't know them like I do. I can tell what they're thinking. It..." She teared up. "It breaks my heart to do this, but it's just easier this way. I've been thinking about this for a while and now I have the excuse."

Cas just stared at her, searching deep within her eyes. "You truly believe this, don't you?" Faith looked away, unable to answer him nor meet his gaze. It was in this moment that he realized conventional methods of convincing her she was wrong wouldn't work. He'd have to use the Winchester method. "What if I could prove to you that you were wrong about that? Would you come back with me then?"

She thought for a moment then replied, "If you can prove to me beyond a reasonable doubt that my presence doesn't destroy my friends' lives then I'll go back with you." Her hand came up as she added, "But if you can't, you let me go. You tell them whatever you need to in order to make them feel better about it. Understood?"

Cas nodded. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet, shutting his eyes.

*****

Moments later they appeared in the living room of a nice, but modest home. The house was neat and organized; the surfaces were rather immaculate- with a shiny, wooden coffee table and oak flooring- and the entire room followed a clear color scheme of blues with accentuating whites and blacks spattered throughout the room. The early morning light from the windows illuminated the walls which were covered in photos. Most pictures contained two people: a man with long, dark brown hair and gray-blue eyes and a familiar looking black-haired woman. "Anna," Faith breathed as she ran her fingers over a picture of her and the mystery man kissing in wedding attire. She looked beautiful in her white dress and he looked rather dapper with his hair cut short and gelled back. "Where are we?" she asked Cas.

"I've taken you seven years into the future that's currently set to happen. The future where you don't exist." Cas explained.

Before Faith could question further, she heard the sounds of two people coming down the stairs. "Shit!" she exclaimed in shock. "Should we hide?"

"No. They will be unable to see us."

"Who's they?"

'They' proved to be Anna and her husband, both of whom were deep in conversation as they appeared. "Has she called you back yet?" the man asked as they descended the last of the stairs.

"No, Bucky, she hasn't. And she's really starting to piss me off," Anna replied, resting a hand on her slightly swollen belly.

"I thought you passed pissed off a month ago when she refused to help you plan the anniversary dinner." The man- Bucky- questioned.

"You're right. I'm about ready to murder her. How can she do this to us?" Anna stormed into the kitchen and went to the fridge, immediately pouring herself a glass of orange juice, the unseen Faith and Cas following behind them. "Cassie acts like Faith wasn't her friend for seven years before she-" She cut herself off, overcome with emotion. "Why is it fair that she gets to cut herself off while we're stuck here to remember?"

"It's not." Bucky came over and wrapped a comforting arm around Anna. "I didn't know Faith, but from what you described, she sounds like she was a great friend. Now I don't know Cassie very well so I can't exactly tell you what crawled up her ass and died, but I'm sure if you two talk it about it-"

"There's no talking about it with her, Buck. We've been trying to 'talk about it' for the last seven years, okay? If she wanted to talk about any of this, she wouldn't have left us when Gillian and I needed her the most."

Bucky sighed. "Look, I wish I could tell you things with your friend were gonna work out. It sounds like you still really care about her, but let's not stress about things you can't control. It's not good for Faith." He moved his hands to rest on her stomach as he said this. "Stress and babies don't mix, you know."

Anna's hands placed her hands on top of his. "You're right. I should focus on something else." Her eyes roamed to the clock on the wall. "Like getting to work on time." She gave him a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too, doll. I still wish you wouldn't work. Working with those kids all day-"

"Is stressful?" Anna gave him a look. "I'm five months pregnant. I'm not dying."

"I know, but-"

She put a finger to his lips to stop him from talking. "It may be the twenties, dear, but it's not the 1920s. Times have changed. As long as I feel like I can work, I'm going to keep working." She transferred her juice to a to-go cup as she said this. Turning around, she grabbed her purse off of the kitchen counter along with her car keys. "Now I have to go. I'll see you later." With one last parting kiss, she headed for the door. "Don't you be late either, mister!"

"Love you too!" Bucky called in reply as the door shut behind her. A goofy smile came onto his face as he shook his head before he headed upstairs, presumably to get himself ready for the day.

Faith stared at the spot where they were for a moment, processing the conversation she just witnessed. "Why would you show me that?" she questioned sadly.

"To prove to you that you matter. That your presence impacts the lives of your friends," the angel responded.

"Looks to me like having me gone improved Anna's quality of life. I mean, a good home, her dream job, a hot husband, and a baby on the way? That's a pretty good life. If my dying secures that for her, I'm willing to-"

Cas, looking at her with his brand of incredulous stare, as he interrupted her train of thought. "Did you pay attention to anything they said in that conversation?"

"As a matter of fact, I did. I don't know about you, but-"

"Anna is clearly still not over you dying," he stated bluntly. "She may have built a good life for herself, but your death deeply scarred her."

"Deeply scarred her? What the hell are you talking about? Look at her! She's moved on."

"She's naming her daughter after you!" He exclaimed. "She's naming her child after you to honor your memory. If that's moving on, then you and I have very different interpretations of the phrase."

"A lot of people name their children after dead people. They do it with their dead relatives all the time. It's not a big deal," Faith countered.

"Most people don't name their children after their dead friends. It is a big deal. Don't act like it isn't."

She huffed a sigh. A moment of silence passed before she decided to change the subject. "What was all that business about Cassie? She left?"

"A few months after you died, she decided to pursue her dream of making it in the music industry. She continued trying to get her teaching degree for a while, but soon she realized it was holding her back."

"So she dropped out of school?"

Cas nodded. "Her parents weren't happy about it. They stopped sending her money to help out with payments. By then she'd signed a contract to be a part of one of the biggest opera companies in the US. Anna tried to talk her out of it, but it didn't work. It caused a rift between them which eventually widened as they stopped communicating as frequently."

Faith looked at Cas in shock. "So Cassie decided to pursue her dream because life was too short. Anna tried to get her to see reason but Cassie didn't like that. Now they're in what basically amounts to a Cold War because neither of them is just is smart enough to just talk to the other?"

He thought about her words for a moment before nodding. "Essentially, yes."

"You're saying my death is the catalyst that ruins their friendship?" Faith sounded like she almost didn't believe her words.

"If you don't remember, they didn't always get along. They had their arguments. You were always there to serve as a buffer. Without you there to mitigate their disagreements and to serve as a neutral third party, they never got past anything."

"What about Gillian?" she asked.

"Your other friend?" Faith nodded. "From what I've observed, she didn't have as much patience for their antics as you did, making her a less helpful mediator."

She just shook her head. "I don't get it. Cassie would never do something as impulsive as quitting school."

"You underestimate how much you mean to your friends. When you lose someone you love, it's... a game changer, as Dean puts it. There are many reasons why someone would do that, but I can't say for certain why Cassie made that decision."

Faith looked around at the house again, still struck by how well her friend had established a life for herself. She couldn't help but feel a sense of pride radiate from within her. She always knew Anna was capable of success. She was glad to see her leaving hadn't held her back.

A moment later she was broken out of her thoughts by the feeling of a hand on her shoulder. "We should get going."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Go where?"

"You'll see." With that, they disappeared from the kitchen.

*****

They appeared in the hallway of a school; a middle school judging by the size of the lockers and the signs posted all over the walls. Currently the hallways were empty, but they could hear the sounds of class going on behind the closed doors. Faith looked around to get her bearings. "Why are we here? I'd prefer not to relive my middle school days." She asked.

Cas didn't say a word, only grabbing her by the arm. Walking a few doors down, he stopped in front of door and pointed through the small, rectangular window that allowed them to see into the classroom. Judging by the posters on the walls, it was a history classroom. The few students they could see were staring attentively as their teacher gestured to the SMART board and gave her lecture. That teacher was Anna.

Faith watched for a moment longer before turning her attention back to Cas. "What is she doing teaching at a middle school? She hates middle schoolers."

"It was the only job in the area she could get. It was lucky she did enough schooling to keep her options open," Cas replied.

The class broke out in laughter. "Sounds like they like her," Faith noted. Anna walked over to her desk, continuing to talk. She grabbed her phone off of her desk and looked at it. Looking up from the device, she tapped the screen to answer the call she was getting and said something to her class before approaching the door.

The pair moved out of the way as the door opened and Anna entered the hallway. "Hey, Gillian. What's up?"

"Gillian?" Faith leaned back and decided to listen to the conversation, hoping to gain some insight.

"What? No. No! Cassie's already not coming. I need you here. I need someone here who understands this." Anna let out a sigh and rubbed her temples. "How delayed is your flight?"

Gillian's answer was drowned out by an announcement over the speakers. "Attention, staff and students. We are implementing a full lockdown. Please act in a calm and orderly fashion. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."

Anna was immediately on the move, Faith and Cas following after her. "I have to go. I'll call you later." She hung up as she entered her classroom and shut the door, locking it quickly and testing the knob for assurance. "Everyone get in the back, left corner now." In one fluid motion Anna shut off all of the lights and made her way over to the corner where the students now sat in a blob formation, looking rather nervous and a little terrified at what was happening.

"Let's jump forward. Let's go somewhere else. Show me what Gillian's been up to," Faith said, not able to stand looking at their fear.

"No." Cas was firm.

Faith looked taken aback. "No?"

"You need to see this."

"See what?" Her heart was hammering in her chest as she was met with silence. "See what, Cas?" When she was met with even more silence, she exclaimed, "Castiel, answer me!" It was then the sound of gunfire was heard followed by screaming. Faith paled as she saw the group flinch and cover their mouths in fright. "Cas, what the hell is going on?"

He didn't answer as he watched Anna try to calm the kids. "Everything will be fine," Anna whispered to them. "Just stay quiet and listen to me, and you'll be okay. I promise."

Faith was getting more desperate by the minute. "Cas, do something!" He was an angel, for crying out loud! He could do something, so why wasn't he?

Cas shook his head solemnly. "We can't interfere. Remember that."

"Why do I need to remember that?" Faith asked nervously.

Anna shook her head. "You can't stay here," she said to the kids quietly. She carefully stood up, holding her hand out behind her telling the kids to stay there. Quickly and quietly she walked over to the windows of the classroom, thankful she was on the first floor. This could work. Now to pray they open like normal windows. "Yes!" Anna whisper-shouted in victory as she jimmied one of the windows open. She turned to the kids and gestured for them to come over to her. As soon as the first child reached her, she ordered, "Climb out, get safe, and get help. As soon as you get outside, run and don't look back."

"What about you, Ms. Barnes?" one of the girls asked their teacher.

"Don't worry about me. Now go." She began helping the kids funnel through the window. A handful of kids in and someone began trying to get in, but they were stopped by the locked door for the moment. As the jiggling of the knob got more aggressive it was accompanied by a banging. Heart pounding, Anna encouraged them to go faster. The last of her students was scrambling out when whoever was on the other side broke through the rectangular window in the door and stuck their hand through it, trying desperately to get the door open as they banged ferociously on the door. Anna looked terrified as she watched them try to get in through the door, and... there was something else on her face. Some other expression on her face that Faith had only seen in movies and TV before.

"Cas." Faith turned to look at him. "Please stop this."

"You know I can't. The future is set. You can't change it this way."

It happened quickly after that.

The door burst open to reveal a man in his twenties. Young, stupid, armed, and scared. Eyes wide, the man raised his gun to Anna. She raised her hands up. Her own brown eyes reflected the terror she felt in that moment. She didn't let it get the best of her as she tried to reason with him. "Don't shoot. Please. You don’t want-"

Maybe it was a twitch. Maybe it was an overreaction or an instinct. Or maybe it was a purposeful movement of his index finger. Regardless of intent, the result was still the same. The gun went off. The bullet flew across the room ten feet before embedding itself in Anna’s chest. She fell to the floor in a gasping heap as her hands went to the hole in her chest.

Faith let out a scream as her hands flew to her mouth. She watched as the man realized what he'd done. He stared at the gun for a moment as it smoked in his hands. He heard a yell from his friend in the hallway, telling him they had to go and now. Scared, he turned and ran, not giving it a second thought.

"Anna!" Faith ran over to her friend, not caring she couldn't hear.

Cas tried to grab her to stop her but was unsuccessful. "Faith, stop. This isn’t helping."

"No, you aren't helping! That’s what’s not helping!" she snipped as she kneeled next to Anna. "I need to get control of this bleeding if she’s going to survive long enough for an ambulance to get here."

"It's not going to work. You can’t affect anything in their world. Even if you touch her, it's not going to do anything."

"Shut up, Cas!" Faith located where the bullet had hit- just a little to the left of dead center. She placed her hands on top of the oozing wound, applying a lot of pressure.

As soon as she placed her hands on the wound, however, she felt a chill run down her spine. It was a cold shock, like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over her head. Faith was confused by the feeling, which wasn’t at all relieved when Anna made eye contact with her. Anna’s eyes widened and she looked ready to cry as she gasped out, "Faith?"

Faith met her friend’s eyes and asked, "Can you see me?"

"Y-Yeah." Realization dawned on her. "Oh god. I’m dying. This is me dying, right? I’m dying an-and you’re here to guide me to the... other side or whatever."

Turning around, Faith locked eyes with Cas. "She can see me. Why can she see me?"

Cas examined her, a puzzled look on his face. "I'm not sure."

"Who-Who're you talking to?" Anna asked, her words beginning to run together.

Looking between Anna and Cas, it clicked in her mind. "You can't see him?" Faith looked at Cas. "She can't see you?"

"S-See who? Faith, what’s... what's going on?" Anna was starting to lose consciousness. The blood coating Faith’s hands told her she didn’t have long before she was out completely.

Faith took a moment to process how to answer that. She could tell her the truth and confuse her all to hell in what could be her dying moments, or she could lie and save her friend the trouble. "It's... hard to explain. I’m here now. That’s what you should focus on. That and not dying."

"I am... focusing..." Anna trailed off as her pale eyelids slid shut and her breathing became almost nonexistent.

"No, no, no, no!" Faith checked for a pulse and when she found none she began CPR. As she rhythmically compressed her friend’s chest, she said to Cas, "You know now would be a really good time to step in and- oh, I don’t know- help!"

"I can't," he simply said. "You know I can't." He blinked at her in befuddlement. "I'm not even sure how you can."

She glanced up at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you shouldn’t be able to resuscitate her right now. How that interaction between the two of you just happened is something I can’t recall seeing before."

"Couldn’t you do this though?"

He let out a huff. "I can, but you can't. Or at least you shouldn’t be able to. I’m an angel. You’re a human. Humans can’t break the wall between this plane of existence and the one we’re in."

"I don't-" Faith’s train of thought was interrupted when police entered the scene, guns pointing right at Faith as they yelled at her to put her hands up. She complied, but not without yelling, "Don't shoot! I’m trying to save her. She has no pulse."

The police, determining that the bloodied and clearly unarmed woman in front of them wasn’t a threat, lowered their guns. One of the officers rushed forward and took over CPR. "Call in the paramedics," he ordered his men before turning back to Faith. "How long has she been down?"

"A few minutes."

Another officer butt in and asked, "Where's the shooter? Did you see them?"

"I don't know where the shooter went," Faith replied. "I didn't get a good look. I was too busy helping the kids get out." Okay, so she lied. What was she supposed to tell them? That she saw the man who shot her best friend but did nothing to stop him because up until about seven minutes ago she was on another plane of existence and dead? Yeah, because that would have been an acceptable answer. Besides, who knew how much longer she’d be here. She had a feeling this experience was like A Christmas Carol; she was supposed to realize the error of her ways and make a change so this future wouldn’t happen.

Faith knew this. She just wasn’t sure if this would be enough to make her decision for her. As the paramedics rushed in and tended to Anna, she thought that it would be okay. They had her. She was going to make it to the hospital and she would be fine. Even her infant counterpart. It was as the paramedics took Anna away that Faith felt a familiar hand on her shoulder and they were gone.

*****

They popped into a rather spacious hospital waiting room. Looking out of the windows, Faith could see it was pitch black outside. That combined with the fact that the waiting area was empty except for Bucky said that it was late. Bucky looked ragged. His eyes were clouded with weariness and worry as he ran a hand through his hair.

As Faith looked around the room, she asked Cas, "How did this happen?"

Cas watched her and wrinkled his brow in confusion. "What do you mean? She was-"

"No. I meant... You took Dean to the future before. He could interact with his environment and the people in it, yet you’re saying I shouldn’t be able to. I don’t understand. Why shouldn’t I be able to?"

He sighed. "I was much more powerful back then. I could let that happen. Now, however, I lack the necessary power to allow you to interact with this plane. Sending us here as it is jeopardizes us both."

"So then why can I-"

"I don't know."

Out of the corner of her eye, Faith saw a woman in scrubs walk out and approach Bucky. She turned her body so she could pay attention to the conversation. The woman took off her scrub cap and looked at Bucky with sad eyes. His face crumpled. "No. Please, no," he said as his eyes watered.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Barnes. Your wife lost a significant amount of blood and it put tremendous strain on her body. It caused her to go into cardiac arrest and we were unable to revive her," the doctor informed.

"What about the baby?" Bucky looked at her with hope.

"We were able to save the baby by performing an emergency c-section. She’s in the NICU right now. You should know with a baby this premature there is a possibility for complications. Many of their organ systems are underdeveloped, especially the respiratory system. Your daughter will likely have to stay here for a while."

Bucky let out a sigh of relief. "Can I see the baby?"

"I can take you right now. Follow me please." She turned on her heel and led him to the elevator. "You should prepare yourself. Your daughter is quite-" The conversation was cut off by the shutting of the two massive, wooden doors.

Faith stood there in shock after having watched them go. She let out a shaky breath as she spoke. “What just... Anna... She died?” She looked at Cas with her watery green eyes. "She's dead?" Her chest was suddenly tight as she fought to keep her cool. Anna was gone. Just like that. All she’d done was go about another day in her life, doing what she loved, and to be taken away too soon by some idiot dickbag with a gun? It was just... unfair. Wrong and unfair.

Cas went to put a comforting hand on her arm at the sight of the pained expression on her face. "Faith-"

"You brought me here to watch my friend get murdered! Why would you do this to me?" She was crying now. "Why would you bring me here to watch my friend die?"

"Because this is the course of history you’ll set in motion if you don’t wake up. You will send her to an early grave by choosing to give up," he told her bluntly.

"I'm sending her to an early grave? I’m not the one who shot her!"

"But you are the one who set these events in motion. You are allowing this to happen." He gazed at her intently. "You say this decision you’re making is selfless- that you’re doing all this for them- but you’re really doing this for yourself."

Faith was taken aback by the statement. "What?! I am not-"

"Yes, you are. You’re scared of what your life has to offer. You’re allowing the things that have happened to you influence how you see what your future could be. You think you’re saving everyone from yourself, but what you’re really doing is depriving the world of the things you could do to make it better. You’re not giving your friends the choice to get rid of you. You’re making the choice for them without all of the information. It is selfish. You are doing it for yourself. You can’t tell me that’s not what’s happening here."

Faith shook her head and started to cry. "Cas... What do I do? I can’t just... Can I?"

"That is up to you. I’ve told you all I can. Now it’s time for you to make this decision. You can't do anything for this Anna, but you can still help your Anna. You just need to choose to live." He gestured to the space around him. "I need you to decide now. I can’t stay here much longer and I fear you won't be able to come back without my help."

"So you’re saying I have to choose right now whether I live or die?"

"Yes."

There was silence after that. What was she supposed to do? Did she go back on her decision and give life another try or did she stay in this cozy afterlife bubble? Did she give up on a future or strive for a better one? Did she stay or did she go? Did she go back and answer all of her unanswered questions or did she let them forever remain a mystery? How the hell was she supposed to make a decision like that?

The longer they stood there, the clearer it became. She knew what choice she had to make, even if she didn’t necessarily like it. As she held out her hand to Cas she realized two things; she owed her friends too much and she couldn’t just leave those questions left unanswered. She was too young and too many things were up in the air to give up now.

Smiling, Cas took Faith’s hand, happy with her decision.

*****

Back in the living room in the present, Dean was pacing the floor. He spared worried glances to the pair of unconscious individuals. Anna and Gillian were staring at them, willing them to wake up. Cassie anxiously picked at her nails, switching from looking at her raw nailbeds to looking Faith and back to her nails again every few seconds. Sam was the only one who looked anywhere close to calm. He had taken to reading a book, knowing that worrying about them wouldn’t make the process go any faster.

"It's been too long," Dean stated as he stopped his relentless pacing. "They should be awake by now."

"They should?" Cassie asked worriedly, feeling that all-too-familiar pang in her chest.

Sam shot Dean a glare. "We don't know that. Cas knows what he’s doing. He’ll bring Faith back."

Dean just shook his head. "You don't know that."

"You have to believe that they will."

He rolled his eyes. "Because believing hard enough really got us places before."

"Stop," Anna said firmly. "We're not arguing about this. We’re not arguing at all. No one is going to say another word about anything until they wake up."

The room fell back into worried silence once again. The quiet didn’t last long, however, as a few minutes later Faith and Cas jolted awake; their eyes wide and gasps escaping their lips. Cassie all but fell out of her chair at the sudden motion. Anna and Sam were on their feet as Gillian stared wide-eyed at the pair.

"Oh my god," Gillian said with awe. "They're back."

"Faith?" Anna was by her friend’s side in an instant.

Dean soon came to join them. "Cas, buddy, talk to me. You there?"

"Yes, Dean, I am here. You can clearly see I’m physically here," Cas responded tiredly, wiping the blood away from his nose.

The older Winchester rolled his eyes. "He's fine."

"Faith, come on. Say something." Anna didn’t like the silence. Faith being quiet was never a good thing. She knew from experience.

Faith didn’t say anything as she pulled Anna into a tight hug. "I love you," she whispered to her friend.

Relieved, Anna hugged Faith back even tighter. "I love you too." They hugged for a moment longer before pulling away. Anna then smacked her on the arm. "Don't ever do that to me again!"

Faith rubbed the spot on her arm where she was hit. "Wasn't planning on it."

Sam then spoke. "I guess we should goto bed. It’s been a long day and we have to head out in the morning."

"No," Cas stated as he, too, stood up, albeit shakily.

Dean was there to steady Cas. "Sam is right. You should get some rest. You nearly killed yourself going in there."

"No, Dean. What I mean is we can’t leave yet."

The Winchesters looked at the angel in confusion. "What do you mean we can’t leave yet?" Dean asked. "We have to track down the demons that did this to Faith and figure out what they want."

"No, we need to figure out what Faith is."

Gillian looked at Cas in confusion. "Okay, now you’ve lost me."

"What are you talking about?" Sam questioned. "Faith is human, isn’t she?"

"She did something while we were in there," Cas told them. "Something she shouldn’t have been able to do."

Dean looked at Cas with skepticism. "Are you saying what I think you’re saying?"

"I'm saying she's-"

"He's saying I'm not human," Faith interrupted to clarify things for everyone. She looked down at her hands, still able to feel Anna’s blood on her hands.

#part of meet the Winchesters series #supernatural fanfiction #spn fanfiction #supernatural #spn #castiel #OFC: Faith #dean winchester #sam winchester #OFC: Cassie #OFC: Anna #OFC: Gillian #tw: shooting #trigger warning: shooting #happy birthday Anna!!

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notsoobviousfangirl · 8 years ago

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MIA

Happy (very) belated birthday @mnoperalover! Hope it was worth the wait! Thanks to @annapropaganda for proofreading this for me.

Long overdue sequel to Meet the Winchesters

Summary: When something terrible happens, Cassie is forced to be the rational one for once. That job isn't made any easier when Anna decides to call in some friends to help with the situation.

Cassie gave a friendly smile as she handed the balding, middle-aged man his change. “Have a nice day,” she said as cheerfully as she could manage. When she got no response whatsoever, she let out a sigh. “Well, he was cheerful.” Noticing no customers in sight, she checked the time on her phone. A genuine grin made its way onto her face as it was time for her break.

She closed up her register and headed back to the break room. The best ten minutes of her shift weren’t going to be wasted. The sooner they started, the better. As she plopped down into the chair, making it squeak, she felt her phone buzz. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw it was a text from Anna.

She opened it, seeing it read: Hey. Have you heard from Faith?

Furrowing her brow, she was quick to respond back, No I’ve been in class and at work all day why???

A trip to the fridge later and Cassie had already gotten a response from Anna. She just hasn’t responded to any of my texts in a while. I was wondering if you’d heard from her.

She sent back a quick nope before opening up Tumblr and scrolling through it, having nothing better to do.

As she finished a fanfic and her break came to an end, she saw the notification that signaled another message from Anna. She switched over to the messaging app and read the message, Let me know if you hear from her. I’m going to see if Gillian’s heard from her.

K was the quick response Cassie sent back to her friend as she tucked her phone away and exited the break room. Back to hell, she thought as she pulled her dirty blonde hair back into a ponytail. The whereabouts her friend, while nothing she was too concerned about, were still quietly stashed at the back of her mind to deal with after work.

*****

I need you to come over. Now.

That was the cryptic text Cassie received from Anna a day and a half later. Making a quick stop at Starbucks, she bought three drinks; one for each of her friends and one for herself. A couple of streets and two flights up the apartment’s murder stairs, Cassie was pulling out her keys to open the door to Faith and Anna’s apartment.

“Wife, I’m here!” Cassie yelled in greeting as she knocked the door closed with her foot. “And I have coffee!”

Anna walked out of her room, her cell phone clutched tightly in her hand. Her black hair was disheveled, like she hadn’t brushed it that morning, and her face was tight with emotion. Emotion Cassie was having trouble identifying. Before she could ask her friend what was wrong, Anna spoke first, asking, “What’s that?” She gestured to the drink carrier that contained the three caffeinated beverages.

“I bought drinks. One for you, one for me, and one for Faith. Is she up yet? It’s almost eleven. She’s usually up by now, isn’t she?” Cassie replied, setting the cardboard carrier down on the table before grabbing Anna’s drink and holding it out for her to take.

Anna’s eyes began to water as she took a deep breath to steady herself. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Cassie tilted her head, confused. “Coffee?”

“No!” Anna snapped. “Faith!”

“What about her? Is she alright?” She set the drink on the table and approached her friend, now extremely concerned. She’d never seen Anna like this. She’d never seen her this upset. What had happened?

“I don’t know,” her voice broke.

“What do you mean you don’t know? How can you not know? You live with her.”

“Because I haven’t seen her in two days. She won’t answer my calls. It’s like she’s fallen off the face of the planet!” Anna’s voice rose in hysteria with each sentence as her panic was finally revealed.

“Anna, calm down,” Cassie said as she sat her friend down on the couch. “Did you talk to Gillian?”

“Do you think I’d have called you over like this if Gillian had heard from her?” Anna stated rhetorically, her expression revealing her frustration.

Cassie could feel her own worry rising as she asked, “Okay, what about her boss?”

“Cassie, I’ve talked to everyone and no one’s heard from her since I have! I think… I think something happened to her,” her voice fell quiet as the weight of her realization hit her. “She’s never gone this long without responding. It’s just not like her.”

As much sense as that made, Cassie was determined to be the calm one, as her friend was clearly not going to fulfill that role this time around. “Are you sure? Have you tried calling her?”

The strength of the bitch-face Anna gave her was overpowering. “Of course I’ve tried calling her. I called her on my way home from classes Tuesday and after work last night. I got voicemail both times."

Cassie was grasping at straws now. No, nothing could have happened to Faith. "Maybe-”

“No, Cassie. I know something is wrong!” Anna was as close to crying as one could get. Her voice was tight and thick with repressed emotion as she tried desperately to keep herself together. “We need to go to the police. We need to do something.”

She tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear before going to her purse and pulling out her phone. “How about I give her a call before we do anything like that?”

“Cas-”

“Just let me try. It can’t hurt, can it?”

A sigh escaped the black-haired woman. “I guess not. Just hurry up.”

Cassie scrolled her contacts and found Faith’s name, pressing the call button and holding it up to her ear. After the first ring, she heard a sudden and loud vibrating noise coming from nearby, causing her to jump.

“What the fuck?” Anna muttered as she stood up from the couch, indicating she’d heard it too. She stood there momentarily, tracking the noise, before getting to her knees to reach under the couch. Cassie watched her silently as she listened to the monotonous ringing on the other line.

Suddenly, Anna’s movements stopped. Her face paled as she stayed unmoving on her knees. “No,” she breathed. Cassie didn’t even need Anna to pull the familiar cell phone out from under the couch to know what she’d found. Faith’s phone, the screen of which flashed the notification of thirty-three text messages, four missed calls, and a plethora of unchecked emails. Faith’s phone, which had been under the couch for two days. Faith’s phone, which wasn’t in her possession.

Anna had been right. Something was wrong. Horribly wrong.

Cassie felt the familiar tight pain in her chest as she kneeled next to her friend to stare at the blinking light on their friend’s phone. Swallowing, she said in a quiet voice, “Okay. I think we should call somebody.”

Anna didn’t even make a joke, a quip of which she’d have at the ready in nearly any other situation. Not this time though. Instead, she rose to her feet and grabbed her own phone and looked up the number for their local police department. Cassie moved slowly to the couch, sitting there silently as she tried to wrap her head around what had just happened.

Faith was gone, missing for two days, and they hadn’t the slightest idea of where she was. She could’ve hurt somewhere, bleeding in a ditch. Or dead in a ditch. She could be held captive somewhere by some serial killer in the making.

It was at this moment Cassie wished she had never watched any of those crime shows her friends did. It made her imagination run to possibilities she didn’t even want to consider. Closing her eyes, she tried to clear her mind of all thoughts as she heard Anna say, “I’d like to report a missing person.”

*****

Cassie was sure Anna had lost it. She’d seen Anna obsessed, but this was a whole new level. The apartment was a mess; piles of papers riddled the coffee table in the living room, the garbage can was overflowing with empty Starbucks cups, and on the far living room wall was a thought map akin to something out of a crime noir film. The map contained copies of what little information the police gathered during their investigation, along with several other key pieces of information Anna had found pertinent to Faith’s case.

Watching her friend spiral into madness was heartbreaking. Cassie relied on Anna to be the sane one, to go along with her crazy ideas. With a string of frustrated protests, of course, but willingly nonetheless. But seeing her now, grasping at ideas as flimsy as cheap tinfoil and holding onto the idea that she herself could find Faith, was devastating. It seemed Cassie had to be the rock, the strong one.

She needed back-up. She’d texted Gillian, the fourth and final member of their friend group, about the situation but had yet to receive a response. Gillian must have been having a hell of a time on vacation to not even send a response to something like this.

It had been four days since they’d reported Faith missing, and Cassie decided to stop watching her friend self-destruct and step in. She walked into Anna’s room, unsurprised to see her vigorously typing away on her keyboard. She stood in the doorway for a moment, taking in her disheveled friend and gathering the confidence to speak. After a few moments, she forced the words from her mouth, making them come out rather hesitant but still holding conviction, “Anna, I think maybe you should take a break.”

The black-haired woman jumped rather violently, making her already messy hair fly in a seemingly new direction on top of her head, surprised by the new presence in the room. Realizing it was only Cassie, she relaxed, her eyes dimming back to their state of alert exhaustion as the sparkle of adrenaline left them. “Nah, I’m good. Thanks, though,” she said with finality.

Cassie wasn’t about to give up that easily. “You haven’t slept in three days. You need to sleep. Let the police handle this.”

That was absolutely the wrong thing to say, as Anna abruptly spun around in her chair to look at her friend, a scowl on her face. “You mean the same police who said that, because it’d been past forty-eight hours, they weren’t going to look for her? You want me to let those incompetent dickbags handle this? Yeah, even if they were working on it, I would still be working on it from here.”

“What do you mean they’re not working on it? How would you even know if they weren’t?” Cassie asked, confusion written on her features.

Anna gestured with her head toward the screen. “I hacked into the local police database to see if they had any active cases that would take priority over Faith’s. They have a burglary at the jewelry store on Forest Road and a missing dog. They have all of these resources and they can’t spare any of them because some family pet ran away and the disgruntled employee stole his paycheck in fake diamonds.”

“Wait- you hacked into the police database?” She ran up to get a closer look at the computer screen and gaped when she saw the town insignia in the upper right corner and police station name in headlined letters across the top. “Do you how illegal this is? And how do you even know how to do that?”

“A friend taught me.” There was a knock on the door, which stopped Cassie before she could ask anymore questions. “That might be them. Go get that for me, would you? I’m finishing something up here.” Anna turned around before Cassie could protest.

Letting out a sigh, Cassie turned around and walked toward the door. She twisted the handle and opened the door to find three rather attractive, rather tall men on the other side.

It seemed they were just as confused by her presence as she was by theirs because the shortest of the three men suddenly said, “Who are you?”

“Who am I? Who are you?” Cassie asked.

The man looked about to say something, when the tallest of the trio gave the man a hard look. “Dean,” the tall man said to the shorter one, “be nice.”

“I am being nice, Sam,” the first man, Dean, bit back. This caused the two to bicker, leaving Cassie and the third man, who had yet to speak, to make awkward eye contact.

Not being able to stand the awkwardness any longer, Cassie decided to do something. “Anna! There’s three random dudes at your door!” she called back into the apartment.

“Let them in,” was Anna’s absent minded response. Clearly she wasn’t thinking if she was about to let strange men come into her space without at least knowing their names. Definitely weird for Anna, Cassie knew.

“I guess I’m letting you in.” Cassie gestured aside and stepped back to let them in. As she shut and locked the door behind her, she asked cautiously, “So how do you know Anna exactly?"

It was the tall man, who towered over Cassie in a way that reminded her of a sasquatch, answered, "She and Faith helped us out a while back. We just ended up staying in contact after that.”

“So you’re friends?”

“You could say that,” Dean chimed in as he made himself at home on the empty couch.

Before any more questions could be asked, Anna came bounding into the room with a relieved smile on her face. “Thank god you’re here! I’ve been going nuts trying to work this thing by myself.”

Sam and Dean’s eyes widened at Anna’s appearance. She shouldn’t be surprised by how shocked they were. Anna did look… well, shocking. Dressed in a pair of sweats and a loose fitting t-shirt, her body, while moving quickly, betrayed her in its exhaustion; her shoulders sagging when she stopped moving. Her normally lively eyes were dull and surrounded by dark purple rings. The mop of black hair on her head might as well have been an actual mop with how unkempt it looked.

“God,” Dean practically gasped, “you look terrible, kid.”

Sam didn’t even scold his brother for his normal lack of tact, choosing only to look at Anna with sympathy. He’d been there before. He’d reacted the same way plenty times when something had happened to Dean and it broke his heart to see someone else self-destruct in such a way. “Anna, when was the last time you slept?” he asked gently, trying to steer her toward the couch and get her off her feet.

Anna waved her hand dismissively. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is that Faith has been gone for almost a week and nobody’s made any headway.”

“I hate to break it to you, kid, but it does matter,” Dean stated. “You’re not gonna help any if you’re too tired to function.”

“I’m not too tired to function. I’m fine,” Anna said, her tone now more annoyed than it had been before, showing her dwindling patience. “Now, I’m going to go get my research. That way we can all start on the same page.” She turned and quickly made her way back to her room.

With Anna gone, the third man spoke for the first time since Cassie let him in. “This is the girl who patched you two up on the ghost hunt a year ago?”

“No, that was her friend, though Anna did help. She took us in and let us stay here for a couple days,” Sam explained.

“Is she usually this… frazzled?”

“No, Cas. I think she’s just taking this really hard.”

“That’s an understatement,” Dean snorted as he looked around the apartment, noticing it’s messy state. “This place was spotless the last time we were here, and now it looks and smells like a dump.”

It was then something crossed Sam’s face, a look of realization, as he sniffed at the air. “Yeah… it does,” he mused distractedly as he continued to sniff the air, seemingly searching for something.

Dean was instantly on his feet and trailing after his brother as he walked over to the front door. “What is it, Sammy?”

Squatting down, Sam moved to examine under the small table situated by the front door. It was then he spotted what he was looking for: a scattered pile of yellow powder. He picked up a bit of the fine dust and sniffed it, his nose curling at its smell and confirming his suspicions. He thrusted his hand to his side for Dean to see.

At first confused, it only took a few moments for the older Winchester to put the pieces together. “Please tell me that’s not what I think it is.”

“It’s exactly what you think it is,” Sam said gravely.

“Well, what does he think it is?” Cassie asked, making the men jump at her sudden appearance just a few feet behind them.

Dean put a hand over his heart in his surprise and took a deep breath. “God, you’re almost as bad as Cas,” he muttered.

“Well, what is that?” Cassie questioned, gesturing to the substance on Sam’s fingers.

“Sulfur,” Sam answered.

“Sulfur?” Cassie’s expression turned confused. It was then Anna came back into the living room, stacks of papers in her hands. “Anna, did Faith bring her science experiments home again?”

Anna looked even more befuddled than Cassie had as she answered, “No? Why?”

“Because we found sulfur by your front door,” Dean chimed in.

Anna’s face went slack and the papers in her arms crashed to the floor. She shook her head. “No… No. She wasn’t- no.”

“Anna, what else would explain the sulfur?” Sam asked in an attempt to reason with her.

She was silent for a moment, though the sudden panic in her eyes said plenty. She was floundering for something- anything- that could explain this sudden break in the case. “She could have brought a science project home.”

“You just said she did not,” Cas stated, startling Anna.

At her confused look, Sam introduced them, “Cas, Anna. Anna, Cas.”

“Hi…,” she greeted, eyeing him suspiciously. “I don’t remember, and who knows with Faith. Her science class does weird stuff.”

Dean knew this wasn’t going anywhere, so he stopped being gentle in his annoyance, “But you said-”

“I haven’t slept in four days. There’s a lot I don’t remember.”

“Anna,” Sam began, ignoring her previous comment, “you and I both know that’s not what happened.”

She fell quiet after that, her eyes starting to water as she let the news settle over her. Cassie, on the other hand, was looking between the men and Anna, very much confused. Going over to Anna, Cassie wrapped her small arms around her in a vain attempt at comfort. “What is it, Anna?” she asked.

“They found sulfur,” she wailed.

“And?”

“And? And? That’s not good for Faith!”

“What does sulfur have to do with Faith?” Cassie asked.

“Because it means demons took her, Cassie!"

Cassie paused as she processed what she heard. Surely Anna hadn’t said demons took their friend because that wouldn’t make sense. Demons didn’t exist, or at least she was seventy-five percent sure they didn’t. "Honey, I think you’ve been up too long. You just said demons took Faith, and I think we’re all pretty sure demons don’t exist.”

Anna looked to her friend, eyes wide as her four day old mascara ran apart in small clumps down her cheeks. “But they do! They do exist!” She pointed to Sam and Dean as she explained, “And they hunt them. They’re like Ghostbusters, only they’re brothers and there’s less science involved.”

“Really, Anna?” Dean sighed in exasperation as he and Sam suddenly stood from their crouched positions, shocked at having their secret blown by someone who was practically incoherent.

“Brothers?” Cassie questioned as the men continued to look at Anna with an expression that screamed ‘what the fuck’. “I did not get that vibe at all.”

“Really?” Dean raised an eyebrow at the short woman in front of him. “That’s what you’re choosing to focus on?”

“Dean, do you really want her to focus on the other thing?” Sam asked. “Then we’d have to give her the talk and-”

Cassie interrupted, “I’m pretty sure high school health class covered that talk.”

Dean elected to ignore her, now very much annoyed with situation. “I gave the talk last time, so it’s your turn this time.”

Cassie shook her head, “My turn for what? What’s going on?”

“Everything you think you know about the world is a lie,” Cas stated.

Her face contorted into an expression of complete and utter befuddlement. Her hands came up and gestured ineffectually in front of her as she sputtered out yet another “What?”

Dean and Sam stepped toward Cassie, with Dean clapping Cas on the shoulder as he passed by him. “That was real helpful there, champ,” he muttered as he and his brother sat Cassie down to begin what would be a very long conversation.

*****

“Do you have any questions?” Sam asked, having finished telling her about the dangerous beings in the world. “I know this is a lot to take in, especially with what’s going on.”

Cassie just sat there, eyebrows almost touching in a way that visibly showed how hard her brain was working to process the information given to her. After another solid minute of silence and awkward eye contact, she finally spoke, “So… every make-believe thing ever thought up is actually real?”

“Most things, yes,” Sam answered.

“And everything in every religion is also real. Like gods, and angels, and demons, and all that."

Dean nodded, vocalizing it with a "Yep.”

“Huh…” Cassie was quiet again, shifting her body so she was now sitting cross-legged on the couch. “Why haven’t I noticed anything before? I mean, most of the things want to kill people right? So why haven’t I seen anything?”

“People believe only what they want to believe,” Sam explained. “They try to… use logic to make the unbelievable something more believable.”

“Besides that,” Dean began, “most of these monsters are pretty good at covering up their tracks one way or another to avoid being noticed. It’s how they survive.”

Anna, who had been leaning against the wall throughout this exchange, came forward to instead lean on the back of the couch. “See? Don’t worry, Cassie,” she said. “It’s not just you being your normal, oblivious self.”

When the black-haired woman spoke, the older Winchester immediately flicked his gaze over to her, his expression turning to one of frustration, “Why are you still up?”

“Because I am?” Anna replied sarcastically.

“Go to bed,” he commanded, pointing in the direction of her bedroom.

“Make me.” She crossed her arms, determined to stand her ground.

“We’re not doing this right now,” Sam grumbled, sick of the useless squabbling, as he got to his feet. “Faith is missing, and, if you expect to help us, you are getting some sleep. And now.”

Anna knew exactly what he was going to do. She pressed herself against the wall with a “No.” He ignored her, instead choosing to pick her up, flinging her over his shoulder in one swift movement. Anna squealed and began to squirm in his grip, hitting his shoulder blades with her fists as she yelled, “Put me down, sasquatch! I’m not going to sleep.”

“Yes, you are,” were the last words Sam said on the matter as he disappeared down the hallway towards the bedroom.

Cassie just looked on in disbelief, shaking her head as she said, “I’ve never seen her like this."

"It happens to the best of us,” Dean told her.

“What does?” she asked curiously, unsure of what he meant.

Dean looked as if he had a hard time finding the words, though whether it was because he couldn’t actually explain it or his emotions wouldn’t let him was unclear to Cassie. Cas, who had remained silent throughout this exchange, seemed to sense Dean’s discomfort and spoke up. “Grief,” he said simply. “The rage and absolute sadness one feels when they lose someone close to them can be overwhelming.”

“That’s… deep. And depressing,” she responded. The trio sat there in silence for a few moments longer, seemingly absorbing the situation for what it was. Faith was missing, most likely in the hands of demons for reasons they don’t know, and- to top it all off- Anna went off the deep end and nobody was sure if she was going to be able to get herself out of it.

Not wanting to dwell on the state of things any longer, Cassie stood, asking, “So… Who wants lunch?”

“You cook?” Dean asked.

“No, but I have a credit card and there’s a good pizza place down the street that delivers.”

“Good enough for me.” He gave her a shrug as he pulled out his wallet and handed her a twenty for himself and his brother.

*****

That’s how Gillian found them when she arrived at the apartment the next day. She took in the messy apartment, complete with empty pizza boxes and three men she didn’t know camping out on her friend’s couch.

A look of befuddlement crossed her face as she made eye contact with one of the men, Sam. “Hi…,” she greeted, staring at him as if making intense eye contact with this stranger would reveal his secrets to her.

“Hi,” Sam responded in equal amounts of confusion.

After a full two minutes of staring, Cassie emerged from the kitchen. Noticing her friend’s sudden appearance she smiled as she said, “Hi!”

“Cassie, who are these guys?” Gillian wasted no time in asking the question at the forefront of her mind.

“Some friends of Anna and Faith,” the short blonde replied simply. “Sam, Dean, Castiel, this is Gillian. Gillian, this is Sam, Dean, and Castiel.”

“Okay…,” Gillian sighed, frustrated that her friend seemed to completely miss the point of her question. “But why are they here?”

“Did you get my message?”

“Why do you think I’m here?” she countered with a question of her own.

“That’s why they’re here.”

“Wait… So they’re helping us find Faith?”

“Well, they’re here to help us get her back,” Cassie said.

Gillian put her hands up in a ’T’ shape as she processed the situation. “So you know where Faith is and you haven’t told the police yet?"

"They can’t help us, Gillian.”

“And why not?”

“Because Faith was taken by demons,” she tried desperately to explain the severity of their friend’s circumstances.

Dean and Sam nearly flew over the back of the couch in their shock. “Tell the world, why don’t you?” Dean griped quietly as he put his head in his hands. What the hell was Cassie thinking? I thought they hit the 'Don’t tell anyone ever’ point pretty hard earlier.

Gillian simply laughed, though it was of those concerned laughs people gave when what someone said was simply too ridiculous to be true. “Cassie, Faith wasn’t taken by demons,” she told her friend gently. “When was the last time you slept?”

“That has nothing to do with this. It’s true! And those boys are going to get her back.” Cassie pointed to Sam and Dean, who looked like they didn’t appreciate being pulled into this conversation.

“Uh-” came Dean’s input into the conversation.

“Cassie, if you don’t go to sleep right now, I will not hesitate to put you to bed myself,” Gillian said firmly.

“Gillian-”

“Gillian?” Anna’s voice interrupted Cassie’s protest as she entered the living room, her hair now even more askew from her nap. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on vacation.”

“You think I could stay on vacation when one of my friends is MIA?” the redhead asked rhetorically.

“Fair point.” Anna came and joined the boys on the couch. It was then she realized that she’d forgotten to introduce them to the newest arrival. “Oh, Gillian, these are-”

She waved off Anna dismissively. “I know. Cassie introduced us. Now will somebody please tell me what’s going on?”

“Faith was kidnapped. By demons,” Anna stated grimly.

Gillian shook her head. “Oh god, not you too. Is anyone sane around here?”

“I know it sounds crazy-”

“It doesn’t just sound crazy. It is crazy! You’re just… you’re grieving,” she rationalized. “You’re scared, so your brain is coming up with these insane fantasies to deal with the fact that Faith is gone.”

“You’re not listening,” Anna said, clearly aggravated. “I’m telling you the truth. Faith really was taken by demons.”

Gillian sighed, trying to think of a way to get her friends to listen to her. A thought came to her a few moments later. “Prove it. Prove to me, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Faith was kidnapped by demons.”

Anna and Cassie looked to the boys, who in turn looked at each other asking the same question: How do we do that?

“We know a guy that could do that,” Dean shrugged.

Sam gave his brother a shocked look, “You can’t be serious.”

Cas nodded. “Sam is right,” he stated. “Are we sure that is a good idea?”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Dean asked rhetorically.

*****

“I’ll ask again. Are we sure this is a good idea?” Cas asked the brothers as they finished setting up the necessary steps to summon a demon.

“I kind of have to agree with Cas,” Sam said. “Are we sure this is a good idea?”

“Only one way to find out,” the older Winchester replied as he lit the match and dropped it into the bowl.

“That was my good china,” Anna muttered as she crossed her arms in a pout.

The group stood in silence as they waited for something to happen. It was Gillian’s turn to cross her arms. “What was this supposed to prove?” she asked skeptically.

Before anyone could answer, a new voice sounded from behind Anna and Cassie. “You rang?” the man said, his voice holding a twinge of an accent and more than a twinge of discontent and sarcasm. Cassie and Anna both jumped; Anna letting out a small scream while Cassie let out a low groan at the new presence. The man said, his voice holding a twinge of an accent and more than a twinge of discontent and sarcasm. Cassie and Anna both jumped; Anna letting out a small scream while Cassie let out a low groan at the new presence. The man stepped out from behind them, revealing him to be covered head to toe in black. He raised an eyebrow at the girls, “Pleasure to meet you. The name’s Crowley. The Winchester’s resident demon.” His voice held copious amounts of sarcasm as he turned around to face the boys. “What do you nitwits want?”

“Okay, very funny, guys,” Gillian said after getting over her shock. “Where’s the trap door?” She walked around the couch, where Crowley had popped out from, and began inspecting the area for any hidden doors or hides-holes the man could have concealed himself in.

Crowley seemed to put the pieces together from that. “You brought me here to do a few magic tricks, did you?”

“Crowley-” Cas began in a tone of warning.

“Don’t worry, wings. I’ll be gentle.” He then turned around to where Gillian was now tearing up the couch cushions. “Are you done yet?”

“Where did you come from? What’s your secret?” Gillian asked, wanting to know how this trick had been so skillfully executed.

“This.” Crowley’s eyes flashed black, eliciting small, startled squeaks from Gillian and Cassie.

“What the hell?!” The redhead backed up as far as she could, causing her to be pressed all the way up against the wall.

“I second that,” Cassie said meekly from behind Anna. “What are you?”

“I just told you, sweetheart. I’m a demon,” Crowley’s smirk was prominent on his face as he blinked his eyes back to their human counterparts. He turned to the brothers, where his smirk promptly fell and an annoyed furrow came to brow. “And apparently the Winchester’s personal dancing monkey. Any other useless party tricks you want me to perform?”

“No, but we do have questions for you,” Sam stated.

The demon sighed, knowing all too well what that statement usually meant. “Please tell me you two didn’t start the apocalypse again.”

Cassie eloquently got out a startled “What?”

“The apocalypse?!” came Gillian’s exclamation.

“What does he mean by again?” Anna asked, her eyes going wide.

The boys ignored the cries of the women as they moved forward in their conversation with Crowley. “No,” Dean said. “You know all of the chatter going on downstairs, right?”

“They don’t call me the King of Hell for nothing,” Crowley responded.

Dean rolled his eyes. “What do you know about the demon activity in the area?”

“You mean the demon activity in Nowheresville, Middle America? Practically nonexistent.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Sam griped. “All of the evidence points to a demon being behind this.”

“Behind what?” When the boys didn’t answer him, Crowley let out a long suffering sigh. “Look, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”

“Like you’re gonna help us anyway,” Dean muttered.

The demon was quickly getting frustrated. “Do you want information or not?”

Sam and Dean shared a look before they came to a consensus. Turning back to Crowley, Sam told him, “A friend of ours was kidnapped recently. We have no idea why or where.”

“I need more specifics than 'a friend’. Give me a gender, a description, something. Then I can ask around and see if anyone knows anything.”

“Our friend is a she,” Dean stated. “That’s all your getting.”

“Such faith you have in me.” A sigh from Crowley and then, “Fine. I’ll see what I can find out. Don’t be surprised if you get a lot of false tips.” He turned so he was facing everyone in the group. “Ta-ta for now.” With a snap of his fingers, he was gone.

After the initial shock of Crowley’s sudden entrance and exit went away, Anna asked, “Now what?”

“Now we wait,” was Dean’s response.

“In the meantime, we have plenty of research to do,” Sam said. “Faith could be part of a pattern. We need to start looking at old crimes and other strange incidences in the area and go from there.”

“Good thinking, Sammy.” Dean clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Why don’t you go grab some books, then you and Anna can-”

“No, before we do any of that, someone is going to tell me what’s going on,” Gillian stated, looking absolutely bewildered. “What was that? Since when do demons exist?”

The older Winchester was quick to read the situation. He was not having that conversation two times in one week. “You know what, Sam, I think I’ll come with you.” He grabbed his keys and pulled Sam and Cas toward the door with him. “You girls have fun with that. We’ll be back later.” The door practically slammed behind them in their haste to get out of there.

Anna, cursing Sam and Dean under her breath, guided Gillian to the couch with the help of Cassie. “Okay,” she began as she plopped down on the couch, “What do you want to know?”

“Everything,” Gillian stated.

The dark haired woman let out a sigh. Wonderful.

*****

About a day later, they were given the lead they’d been waiting for. Crowley had come through, and- after wading through hours worth of irrelevant tips- they got to the one that mattered. A blonde woman was taken by a rogue group of demons for purposes unknown even to the ruler of the untamable. It seemed these particular individuals had stumbled upon some sort of information they thought they could profit on.

“Demons betraying other demons to help themselves. That’s something I haven’t seen before,” Dean mused sarcastically as he loaded up his supplies. “You figure out where that warehouse is yet, Sammy?”

Sam scrolled on his laptop before answering. “It’s on the edge of town. About 15 minutes away.”

He nodded at his brother before turning to Cas. “You stay here with these three-” he gestured to women in the room “-and make sure nothing happens.” Cas nodded in response. Dean then turned back to Sam and told him, “Get ready to go. We leave in five.”

“Okay,” Anna and Sam responded at the same time, standing to go. The brothers looked at the younger woman in confusion. She returned the look with one of her own. “What?” She asked them.

“What are you doing?” Dean questioned.

“Getting ready to go. What does it look like I’m doing?” Anna stated as she went to grab her jacket off the table.

“Oh no, no, no.” The older Winchester shook his head. “You’re not coming with.”

Anna took on the expression she gave the kids she taught when they were being little shits: calm, but with eyes that screamed 'Don’t fucking test me’. “Oh and why the hell not?” She questioned sharply. “I can hold my own in a fight, have some experience with a gun, and can use a knife. Give me one other reason I can’t go.”

“These people aren’t human, Anna,” Cas explained. “No matter how tough you are, you have never faced this kind of threat before. You have no idea experience fighting demons.”

“You can’t get experience unless you actually experience it, right?” Anna countered, aggressively putting on her jacket. “Now either you let me go with or I’ll just sneak out and follow you there. One option has me under protective supervision and the other involves me getting there by myself. Which one would you prefer?”

Dean looked exasperated. “Anna-"

"Dean.” She mocked his authoritative tone, showing she wasn’t backing down.

The room was silent as the two continued their staredown, no one wanting to get between two people with such strong personalities. After a solid minute of this, Dean finally gave in with a sigh of frustration. “Goddamn it!” He gave the black-haired woman a hard look. “Fine, but no funny business. You listen to me and Sam, and you don’t do anything stupid. Understand?”

“Don’t be you. Got it.” Anna grabbed her phone off the counter and put it in her pocket. “Let’s go then.”

*****

Cassie was sitting on the couch with Gillian as they watched whatever movie the latter had picked. Cas was seated by the window to watch the comings and goings of the apartment complex. Cassie wasn’t paying much attention to the film as she was too busy anxiously picking at the skin around her fingernails. Gillian glanced over when the channel went to a commercial and gently smacked her hand away. “Stop picking. You’ll make yourself bleed,” she stated.

Cassie let out a sigh. “What should I do then?”

“Watch the movie?” Gillian told her like it was obvious.

“How am I supposed to focus on a movie when one of my best friends has been kidnapped by demons while my other best friend is out there with two dudes I met three days ago trying to rescue her?” Cassie’s fear and worry were plain on her face.

Gillian sighed. “I know, but you have to calm down. It’s out of our hands now. We just have to sit and wait.”

“I hate waiting.”

“Your friend is right,” Cas said, suddenly standing behind where they sat on the couch.

Cassie and Gillian jumped. The former put a hand to her chest as she looked back in exasperated fear. “Don’t do that!” she squeaked.

“Sorry. Dean does say I have a tendency to startle people with my sudden appearances.”

“Really? I never would’ve guessed.” She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart.

Cas walked around the side of the couch to sit in the empty space on Cassie’s other side. “Would talking calm you?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

The angel gave another nod. “How long have you known your friends?” he asked, getting the conversation started.

“I met Faith and Gillian in middle school. I met Anna in high school,” Cassie responded. She smiled a little at the memory. “That’s actually a pretty funny story.”

He tilted his head in curiosity. “Tell me this story.”

“Alright,” Cassie shifted into a more comfortable position on the couch. “I had to take Anna home from this cast party late one night, and things got a little crazy.”

*****

“That happened one time, Gillian!” Cassie exclaimed in embarrassment as her friend finished telling a story from their high school days.

“It’s still funny, Cassie,” Gillian argued as she tried to stop laughing.

The mood had lightened considerably since Cas had started the conversation. The worry about their friends- while still present- was at the back of their minds. They had been soothed in their fears that the boys (and Anna) knew what they were doing and would be more than capable of bringing Faith home in one piece. This casual, lighthearted conversation had lasted for two hours when the door opened to reveal the return of the others.

Cassie should have known by the way the door slammed opened that things weren’t good. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, however, so she wasn’t aware anything was wrong until she looked up to greet her friends.

They were covered in splotches of blood. Anna’s hands shook at her side, looking as if she’d put them in a bucket of red paint. Except the horrendous, metallic smell told her it wasn’t paint that coated her best friend’s hands. In Sam’s arms, there was an unconscious body. Skin pale and clothes drenched with blood, the woman in his arms looked dead. Except the woman in his arms wasn’t just anyone. It was Faith.

“Oh my god,” Gillian’s voice, though a choked whisper, was deafening in the now silent apartment.

“Sam, get her on the couch,” Dean commanded, looking the most put together out of the newly arrived trio.

“What happened?!” Gillian asked, suddenly hyper-verbal.

“They knew we were coming,” the older Winchester explained gruffly as his brother set Faith on the couch and began to take her pulse. “They tried to finish her off before we got to her.”

Cassie could only stare at the couch, mouth open in shock. Her hands wrapped around her stomach as she tried not to cry. Now that she had a better look, Cassie couldn’t help but notice how terrible her friend looked. Cuts and bruises littered her body, but no injury compared to the fatal one on her torso. Across her stomach was a long slash that was still bleeding at a surprising pace. It reminded her of a fish being gutted. That thought alone made her stomach turn.

“Her pulse is barely there, Dean. If we’re going to try something, we need to do it now,” Sam stated.

Dean turned to Cas. “I need you to use your angel mojo and fix her.”

“Dean, she may already be too far gone,” Cas informed soberly.

“You need to try. We can’t just let her slip away without trying!”

The angel sighed. “Dean-”

“Just do it!” Anna screamed as tears leaked from her eyes.

Gillian and Cassie looked at Cas pleadingly. “Please,” Gillian begged, close to tears. Cassie was too busy crying to speak, overwhelmed by her emotions.

He was quickly swayed by the intense emotions in the room. Making his way forward, he put his hands on Faith’s stomach and focused his energy on healing her. A few moments later and the cuts and bruises had dissipated, leaving Faith’s skin as unmarked as the last time her friends saw her. While her pallor was still nothing to be desired, she looked considerably better.

The women sat in awed silence for a few moments before Anna spoke. “Is she okay now?”

Sam took her pulse again. “Her heart rate’s steadier.”

“It seems that she is physically okay,” Cas answered in response to Sam.

“When is she going to wake up?” Anna asked as she grabbed the nearby chair and scoot it closer to the couch to hold her hand.

“Most people wake up within ten minutes.”

“Will she be… normal?” Anna wasn’t sure why this concern popped into her head, but she couldn’t not ask once the thought had planted itself.

“She should be. I haven’t had anything happen before.” Cas stated, trying to be reassuring.

So the group waited. And waited. And waited even longer. It was around the twenty minute mark that the anxiety level in the room rose. Cassie, her eyes still on the rise and fall of Faith’s chest, asked, “Why isn’t she waking up?”

Cas’ brow furrowed. “I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean you’re not sure?” Dean’s tone was one of annoyed confusion.

“I mean this has never happened before."

"What?” The older Winchester looked about ready to flip a table.

“What’s happening?” Sam asked.

The angel shook his head, “I’m unsure.” Reaching out, Cas put his fingers on the side of Faith’s pale face and shut his eyes, hoping to figure out the issue. This tense, focused silence was broken when Cas pulled away. As he stared at the unconscious Faith, he said, “I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?” Dean jumped on him with his response.

“She’s fully healed. There’s nothing wrong with her physically.”

“Physically?” Gillian asked.

Cas shook his head again. “There’s something off about her mental energies.”

Dean crossed his arms. “What do you mean?”

“It seems as if part of her is refusing to wake up. Part of her is still dying and if we don’t fix it, she’ll start to deteriorate and she will cease to exist.”

Anna shook her head. “No. This isn’t happening.” She grabbed Faith by the shoulders and began to shake her. “Faith, get up. Don’t do this!” When she received no response, she began to tear up. “Please, Faith!” Another moment passed and there was still no response. Tears in her eyes, she pleaded with Cas, “Fix this.”

“How can he fix it?” Sam asked curiously.

“I could try slipping into her subconscious and see what’s going on,” the angel suggested.

“Could that really work?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried it before.”

Anna laughed wryly, “Oh, he’s never tried it before. That’s just great!”

“Do it,” Cassie said firmly, speaking up for the first time since the group returned bloody.

“What?” Anna gaped at her friend. “How can you even think to let him poke around in Faith’s head? He doesn’t know what he’s doing! He could make it worse or-”

“-or he could save her life,” the blonde countered. “What other choice do we have? We can’t just let her die.” Cassie’s voice cracked as she finished her sentence, sniffling as she took a breath.

Gillian nodded, holding back tears of her own. “She’s right. We need to try something.”

Anna processed the words told to her. Shutting her eyes, she took Faith’s cold hand in hers. She took a shuddering breath, tears slipping down her face. “Fine,” she sniffed. “Just… Bring her back. Please. I can’t lose her.”

“I will do my best,” Cas told her, his blue eyes shining with the utmost sincerity. He didn’t make Anna move as he bent over, placing his hands on either side of Faith’s face. A minute later, the angel dropped to his knees as most of the tension left his body. Within moments, Cas was spiraling out of the real world and into Faith’s mind, leaving the others to sit and wait for something- anything- to happen.

It was all up to Cas now.

#happy belated birthday Cassie!#supernatural #spn #supernatural fanfiction #spn fanfic #part of a series #part of the meet the winchesters series #dean winchester #Sam Winchester #castiel #castiel novak #ofc: Anna #ofc: Cassie #ofc: Gillian #ofc: Faith

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