Reality Crisis

Selina had been officially kicked out of the city of die Festung. She had never been kicks four of any place in her life. It was frustrating but she hasn't exactly been expecting the welcome wagon when she set out with the idea of starting a new colony burned into the forefront of her mind. She was determined, always had been, but she was exactly where she had been before she reached the city itself. She had basically made a sidestep instead of moving forward. Was creating a new colony worth the trouble? Perhaps things were better left as they were. She was now aware of the two colonies of people, ones in the smaller Sanctuary and now the bigger die Festung. She wondered if it was even worth the risk of competing blindly against Belia. Not that she saw the other woman as competition exactly.

Selina wondered what Jonathan would think if she went back to the hut they shared and told him about the city she'd found. Would he want to move? Belia had allowed Selina a return on the basis that she would be residing within the walls. Selina had a lot of thinking to do. She would stay on track for now and focus on the task at hand. Getting to know the land. At least if she knew the layout she could weigh her options. All of her options seemed to be pretty heavy. And she still felt so out of place. Would a city change that for her? She had skills that were completely useless. Her life was about stealth, stealing and getting away with whatever she wanted. Here it seemed that there wasn't anything of value to take. Whichever rendered her useless and she hated feeing like she had no purpose.

She leaned against the wall just outside of the gate of die Festung, not yet ready to make up her mind on what she ultimately would do. She knew she would have to go back to Jonathan at some point. That was only fair. Especially if she decided to relocate. She wanted to give him the option to come with her. If he wouldn't, then that was fine. She would do it alone. That was how she liked things anyway. Other people tended to complicate things.

She breathed out, arms folded together across her chest as she pressed her back against the weathered outer wall. Her chin was tilted upward slightly, so her eyes could look into the sky. Having options in a place like this was strange. But she had to focus. It was focus and have something to live for, or waste away into nothing. And she wasn't about to do that any time soon.

Sam was finally back on his feet. It was a good feeling, even if there was a small part of him that had enjoyed having Fred nurse him back to health. The much bigger part of him that always needed to be moving and contributing-that part was relieved to be back up and about.

Besides, Sam had news to share. Dean had been over to visit but Sam hadn't wanted to tell him in front of Fred. It wasn't that he was embarrassed so much as he wanted to protect her from whatever reaction his older brother might have at first. He thought that Dean would be happy in the long run, but his knee-jerk reaction might be less happy.

Sam wanted to start working on a ring for her. He knew that she might say that she didn't care, but he really did want to do that for her. The trouble was just finding time in the lab when Fred wasn't there. He didn't want to give her the chance to say no to having an engagement ring.

Once he was upright, he headed up to Dean's apartment with a bottle in his hand (one of the bottles he'd managed to spirit away from the stash of 'good stuff' in the basement) and knocked on the door.

Fred was starting to wonder if this was how it was always going to be. She would worry about the hunter boyfriend, and he would come back in bits and pieces. Some part of her thought it was romantic, but another small part wondered if maybe there was a better way to go about all this. There had to be, maybe one that didn’t end up with her boyfriend covered in his own blood. Other people’s blood as long as it wasn’t family or friends was okay with her, sort of.

She’d paced back and forth in the lobby, never roaming too far, just in case. Then when they showed up, she'd smiled. Dean had told her about Aidan, a living Aidan, or an undead one who wasn't dust. Well, that was a step in the right direction - if Aidan had been to help. She had helped get Sam back to their apartment, and she had let Dean play the part of big brother, for a little while anyway; she’d needed to go to the gate to talk to Aidan. Aidan told her what she needed to know, and she'd do her best to follow his directions because he was a proper nurse after all. Soon, she returned to shove Dean out, with the promise that she'd let him visit again soon; Dean had to get rest as much as Sam did.

Fred sat quietly beside the bed as Sam rested. They were lucky that Aidan had been around, for more reasons than one apparently. She had managed to find a comfortable spot, curled up on the chair. Her hand rested near Sam’s, and she’d slipped into a doze. She would be there when he woke up. She had a bottle of water and crackers nearby. See? She could look after a hunter.

( ----- )

(Continued from here.)

"Yeah, their mom, mother," Dean turned just in time to see one thing he never wanted to see again. Certainly not this way. Not as it took his little brother off. He moved quickly to pick up the flare gun, but he knew the damn beast moved too quickly for a shot to work. He needed to get it in its hole. Of course, knowing this didn't help anything. He also knew what Sam would see and feel. He knew what would happen back in the Wendigo's lair, cave, whatever the hell it would be call.

Calling for Castiel wasn't a bad idea at the moment, but what could the angel do? Plus, Dean and Sam had faced this thing down before. He could find it and kill it. He could handle it on his own. He would find his missing brother.

There was a small nagging at the back of his head. It told him that he couldn't do this. He couldn't save Sam; this was how he lost his little brother. This was why those little girls were named after dead men. This had to be it. This was when he lost the last of his blood relatives.

"Son of a bitch." The hunter growled, set his shoulders, and started in the direction he believed the Wendigo would go. There were rumors of large buildings with adequate basements. By now, the places probably resembled caves. That or there were some caves, underground, in the forest. Either way, he'd find Sam, and he'd save him. Sam would get to know his nieces, dammit.

Belia had a lot on her mind these days. Then again, that was normal for her, wasn't it? Whatever the case, things had gotten worse over the last year. The most recent concern was the blackouts that seemed to have occurred in all of her people. Some saw flashes of what seemed like the future. Others saw nothing at all. Belia had been one of those to see nothing. She had her suspicions about what that could mean, and they didn't make her happy. In fact, she was even more prickly these days than usual. She hadn't told anyone. What good would it do? If her suspicions were right, sharing that information could potentially cause a panic. She was angry at the prospect because her work here wasn't done. She hadn't done all that she could for her people. She didn't know what would become of them if she fell, and that simply made her want to lash out.

As it was, there were plenty of other things to distract her from worrying about something that could or come to pass. Her main concern at the moment were the strange disappearances happening outside of the walls. Her people had a lot of whispered rumors about what the creature looked like. About its speed and size. Some were more fantastic than others.

Belia had no trouble believing that some of the fantastic accounts were true. She even had her guesses as to what it might be. Which meant that she also had an idea of which of her Chosen would be able to put the creature down for good.

She called her guards and requested that they bring her the Winchesters. She told them to ask nicely, since she knew how stubborn the boys could be. She even told them to inform the brothers that their help was needed with something. She didn't give any further information, save to tell them that lives were at stake.

Once her guards had been dispatched, then she settled in to wait for the two hunters to make an appearance.

Fred had let Sam sleep, and she had every intention of speaking with Dean. Every single intention to give that hard headed jerk a piece of her mind. Only that didn't happen. Instead, she cleaned up the apartment downstairs, putting things away. She didn't stay there long though; she needed to do something productive that didn't remind her of failing. Failing in putting her mind to it.

She flopped again at the workbench. The room was warmer now that she'd set up a heater in the corner; it was a simple burning stove with a few Fredly additions to make it more the whole place, and she'd managed to swing some nice smelling wood to burn. There she sat staring at the most recent victim of her curiosity.

"Don't worry, I'll make you better." That was the plan, only that was not what happened.

( She woke... )

Sam's frustration with how stubborn Dean could be carried him up to the seventh floor and to the door of the studio apartment that he'd been calling home these days. He let himself in and stopped at the sight of several boxes on the ground.

"Fred?" Sam called out, eyes scanning the small space for his girlfriend. Or at least, he hoped that she was still his girlfriend and wasn't moving out without telling him.

He moved over to the refrigerator and searched for something frozen-ice, food, whatever. He found a few chips of ice and then found a towel to wrap them in.

Sam spent the entire way back from New Troy trying to figure out what to say to Dean about Aidan. There was a very good chance that this talk was not going to go well, but Sam had to be careful that it didn't give Dean too much indication of where Aidan was. He really wanted to keep his brother away from New Troy for reasons that went beyond Aidan's safety.

The one thing that gave him hope was that he believed that deep down, Dean didn't really want to see Aidan dead. Maybe deep, deep down. He was pretty sure that there were some death wishes due to what Aidan was and the lies that had been told but really, if Dean had wanted Aidan dead, the vampire would be already. Would have been as soon as he'd revealed himself.

Once he was back in die Festung, Sam didn't waste any time in seeking out his brother. There was always the chance that Dean had decided to go hunting on his own since Sam had disappeared. Time was short and the sooner he had this conversation, the better.

Sam started with Dean's apartment, though he would move on to the garage and the bars if the older Winchester wasn't home. He knew his brother's usual haunts after all.

Sam had received Dean's note which just brought more urgency to getting his own questions answered. He could appreciate his brother's need to end things, but he had to know the full story. He couldn't just let Dean kill the best friend he'd had in a long while-possibly ever-until Sam had made good and sure that Aidan really was simply a monster.

Sam left Dean a note of his own that said that he had one thing to take care of and then they could go hunting. He just hoped that the older Winchester would wait. Or at the very least, Sam hoped that he could find Aidan first.

He considered where a vampire on the run might go and while Sanctuary was closer, Sam thought that New Troy was more likely. It would be a lot easier to hide what he was, if he was trying to hide, in a place that had a larger population. And if he was simply looking for a food source, it would be a lot easier to find that too.

Despite the fact that this was a fact-finding mission, Sam still armed himself to the hilt. Since it was likely that vampires in this world could be different, he had the gamut of weapons that might work. From stakes and garlic to a machete and of course the typical gun with salt rounds and gun with silver rounds.

He was ready for the worst case scenario that involved things going the wrong way, but he was hoping that they didn't. He'd seen vampires before who were determined to fight their nature, who didn't want to hurt. If Aidan was that sort, then maybe Sam could convince Dean to leave him alone.

He made it to New Troy without incident and started to ask around. He was more than a little concerned at the fact that everyone directed him to the hospital. While it wasn't news that Aidan was a nurse, Sam did see it in a different light now that he realized that Aidan was a vampire working around people who were more helpless than usual. He found the hospital after getting directions and stepped into the waiting room, eyes searching for any sign of Aidan.

Fred didn’t pace. She didn’t even chew on her lip or scribble distractedly in one of her many notebooks. Sam wouldn’t just leave her. Sure, it happened, but he wouldn’t do that. Plus, when she last saw him, he was being whisked away by Cas. Things could be very bad, but he wouldn’t die without letting her know somehow. Maybe.

Instead of worrying too much over it, she decided to work on one of the smaller engines she’d found. She’d lugged, shoving it in a closet for when it was okay to pull out and work on. Taking things apart and putting them back together was calming, so that was what she did. It didn’t look as crazy as the other things she might do.

Her nose wrinkled as she wiped down one of the pieces. The build up was certainly not from a petroleum based fuel, and the ignition system...it was different. It wasn’t purely electrical, but it wasn’t what they were used to. The liquid burned like diesel, but it felt almost like gasoline. The parts of the engine were lighter than those in even the gasoline engines she knew back home. It didn’t make any sense at all.

( ---- )

Cas didn't know what to do with Dean. He'd been drunk and angry for some time now, locked away in the apartment, and though the angel had tried to give him space at first he'd eventually felt awkward enough standing in Sam's old room to avoid Dean that he'd gone out to ask what was wrong. Dean hadn't liked that at all, either, and after some rather harsh words the angel had left to find Sam.

He hadn't said much to the younger Winchester. After all, he didn't know much, so after popping up next to the human he'd simply said "Dean is in trouble" and teleported them back to Dean and Cas' living room.

He let go of Sam, then moved back towards a wall, putting his hands in his pockets and watching, waiting to see where and how he could help.

Sam was doing better these days though he still had his nights where the nightmares would become too much. On those nights, he wandered. Sometimes he stayed in the city, but sometimes he ventured outside the walls and did what he could to pick off some of the creatures that might be trying to get in. While he knew that there were safeguards around the wall, they could never be too safe. He didn’t trust the walls to keep the monsters out forever. And more than that, any monsters outside the walls could be a threat to those who might need to go outside the walls. Or for those who would arrive in this world without any awareness of where they were or what was happening.

On this particular night, Sam ran across a nasty pack of wolves that seemed supernaturally strong. Perhaps they were werewolves or some other sort of shifts, or maybe they were just super-charged wolf-type creatures. Whatever the case, he had won the fight but was worse off for it.

The wolves were dead and Sam set fire to the bodies. While the pelts might be able to provide warmth to those within the walls, they might also carry some sort of supernatural hocus pocus-a curse or some other sort of nastiness. He couldn’t take that risk.

Once the job was thoroughly done, he limped back to the wall and passed the guards. He made it back to the apartment and let himself in. There were angry red gashes that had sliced through his outerwear, his shirt and right down to the flesh underneath. Blood had matted around the tears in the fabric. His lip was bloodied and he was limping due to an ankle that might have been sprained. He didn’t think that anything was broken, but he was hoping that Fred was home to look him over just in case.

( Just a little TLC )

Sam had been uncertain about Dean's new friend. If he was being honest, it didn't have anything to do with Aidan himself and everything to do with the fact that this new guy had just popped up out of nowhere and was suddenly Dean's best friend, and supposedly had a thing for Fred too. It was difficult to shake the feeling of being Single White Femaled, though Sam supposed that he was probably just being extra-sensitive about the whole thing.

He hadn't wanted to take that resentment out on the guy in question because Aidan did seem like a decent guy. So instead he'd just kept his distance.

But after Aidan had had their back with the library demon and he'd kept them safe while Sam and Dean were both having an age reversal experience, Sam couldn't help but like the guy. At the very least, he wanted to thank him and try to extend the olive branch.

That was how he came to the door for Apartment 702. He took a moment and gathered up his nerves before knocking on the door. He had lunch in hand for the two of them, hoping that Aidan hadn't eaten yet.

There was music. She could hear music ahead up ahead in the center of town, and she could feel the cold nipping at her nose and bare fingertips. She liked the pinch of it on her cheeks. This was weather she got on occasion in Pylea, and oddly those cold harsh nights were some of her more favorite because they didn’t hunt humans then. They weren’t easy nights, but they had been hers.

“Will you dance with me, Mr. Winchester?” She peeked up at him, smiling. Yes, Fred was in a damn good mood. She smiled up at her boyfriend. “Maybe they have hot cider or cocoa? Or elephant ears.” Yes, her mind did often times go straight to food.

“Didn’t get much of this in LA or Texas. Kind of fun.” She giggled, fingers tightening on his. She was bundled as best she could be; the clothes didn’t fit perfectly, but they allowed for layering. Part of her was more than excited to see how long it would take him to get her out of them. While she’d been getting ready, she actually had mumbled something about tootsie pops and licks to the center.

“Did y’all see a lot of snow?” She tugged at him almost like a kid who wanted to get somewhere faster. Almost.

( ---- )

Aging back up from 13 hadn't been fun, to say the least. It had left Sam practically in the fetal position for the past day. Being forced to relive all of the memories as they returned in the course of minutes? Not exactly pleasant. He had worked so hard to try to find a way to get a handle on his sanity and this experience undid it in one fell swoop. He would find his way back again. He was determined that he was going to find a way to be more stable, for Fred and for his brother. Even if Dean seemed to have pushed him away to some extent, Sam still wanted to find a way to repair that relationship. They had issues, but what family didn't really? Their issues just seemed to fall more in the realm of 'Twilight Zone' than Dr. Phil. But then again, even with the crazed supernatural framing, Dr. Phil probably still had lessons he could teach them. Maybe.

Sam wanted to find a way to right things with his brother. They'd both found other people to focus on. Fred for him and Aidan for Dean in some sort of bizarre bromance way. But that didn't mean that family just stopped being important. At least not for Sam.

More than that, he knew what the sudden burst of memories returning had to mean for his older brother. Reliving all the crap they'd been through in their adult lives in one brief period wouldn't be fun for anyone.

So with his brother on his mind, Sam visited the apartment that used to have a room for him. He just hoped that Dean was in. If not, he'd check one of the bars next. Or wait until morning when Dean would have extracted himself from whomever he might have sought comfort with.

( O Brother, where art thou... )

Fred looked at the pile of bits and pieces in front of her. She was trying to rebuild a generator, or more redesign one. She’d taken a few apart and put them back together just fine. She knew how they worked, the simpler ones, and she thought she could make one of her own with the right pieces. Only...only she couldn’t get things to go together like she wanted.

She’d been absent from her apartment for a while. She’d actually let Sam know that she would be sleeping down in her “lab” for a bit because he was more distracting than he could know. As soon as they were back to “normal,” Fred had reminded him why she was cool to be around, or maybe she reminded herself. The angel was cool, but he wasn’t the one for her. Not that they’d done anything, but her feelings for Sam could explain why she kept her apartment door open. No parents meant no need to keep doors open and all that. Only, she’d felt very sure that she should keep the door open, and that she shouldn’t get too chummy with the angel. And that somewhere she had a boyfriend, which was more than a little amusing because Fred had never had a boyfriend before.

She’d been considering going to find Sam; she’d interrupted something possibly serious with a kiss when he came home earlier, all grown up - very grown up. She’d kept him busy, and they both seemed to enjoy it. So, she was about to set off to find him, when look who showed up with a slight frown - he’d been thinking or brooding - and a bag of edibles. Not wanting to wait for food or for serious, she preempted the talking with another very good long kiss. Yes, she did like remembering that she had a boyfriend, her very own Sam.

( ---- )

"You aren't here that often, and the damn angel isn't going to cause that many problems. It's not like he is going to write in them or something." The argument had been going for a while; Dean didn't know Sam would get this upset about having his room handed over to the angel. Why should he get that upset? Castiel was practically a brother to both of them, and Sam was getting his knickers in a wad?

"Dude, even when you aren't with her, you're not here. So, stop your bitching and deal with it." He wasn't trying to be an ass about things, but Sam was shacked up more with Fred. "It's an empty bed that the feathered freak can use. Worse that happens is you put his butt on the couch." He shrugged. They were family; this was what family did.

"Unless you have a reason to throw him out. He needs a place. We've got a place. Win/win." He shrugged, as if that was all they had to worry about.

The library hunt had gone by very quickly. Though in some ways, it had seemed to take too long while they all waited to see what their fate would be. Sam had been scared, very scared for everyone for a time there. Luckily, he had been able to keep his head straight even when faced with the flames that threatened to overtake all of them.

It was only afterward that he wanted to collapse in exhaustion. Instead, once he and Fred had made it back to her place, he grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace. He didn’t want to let go anytime soon. He might have lost her today. That reality had been ever-present in his mind, but now it was over and she was still here. In spite of the demon deal and the hunt, she was still here.

He found comfort in that. She’d become a lifeline to him in so many ways as he’d struggled with the memories brought about by taking down the wall.

Fred stared at the library as she stood before it. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want these people who were definitely doing the hero thing to be here. She didn't want any of this. The story she'd written down wasn't very good; she didn't really have much to hide. She'd never had much to hide.

The door was still slightly ajar from before; maybe it was a little wider; maybe it was wider. Her lips thinned as she imagined that more bodies were now piled up just inside. That they'd left the door open for more victims. Her arms tightened on the book she held close.

Maybe if she turned around, told them it was a joke, or said that she'd go in alone. Then, she knew it would never work. There were too many Champions along for the ride. None of them would just walk away, would they? She was going to get them killed, or worse. Fred was rather certain there was worse than death; actually, she'd seen worse than death.

"Libraries always cause trouble." She didn't really believe that, but she was getting a little tired of getting into fixes when she went into libraries, official libraries. Angel's didn't count, even if it did have some really interesting books, scrolls, and files.

Sam hung back after the meeting, hoping to catch Faith as everyone was leaving. He was pretty sure that he was close to answers with that demon and if they were going after an unfamiliar type of demon then they could use all the help they could get. Especially with Zatanna and John missing now.

He knew that he'd offended Faith the first time he'd met her, so he wasn't sure how she would take a request for help. He half-wondered if he should have asked Dean to ask for him, but he had a few guesses as to how that 'conversation' might end up.

Sam fell into step with Faith as the room started to empty out.

"Faith, could I have a word?" he asked.