Reality Crisis

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.

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.

"We need more space...because he's really big, and we could be closer to his brother without being on top of his brother." Fred's arms were full as she walked up the stairs to her floor. "No, that sounds like we're trying to do something dirty. It's not like I can mention Dean's other lodger. Probably shouldn't talk about him anyway. I mean what if someone hears, that could really start trouble. Pretty sure they don't want that getting out. Then again, pretty sure you shouldn't be talking to yourself."

The brainy Texan shifted the box with gadgets and doodads galore and tried to get at her keys. She thought she had them in one had, but seemed she had them in the wrong hand. Sure, she could open the door with either hand, but it was easier a certain way.

"You're nervous." She sighed, finally giving in and putting the box down on the ground to work the lock and key without little hinderance. "So, talk to yourself. It only really is something to worry about when someone hears you. Then again, you could say you're practicing, which is what you're doing." She nodded the groaned. "I'm. It's what I'm doing."

Fred wished that Sam was around, but she wanted to do this for him. They'd decided to get another apartment, one better suited for everything that was Fred and Sam, and she wanted to have it ready or at least acquired before he got back from the hunting trip. She had no idea how long he would be away, but she could do something more than just dream about a slightly larger place that would give him a room for his library and her more table space for her projects. It wasn't too much to ask was it?

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.

( ---- )

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 )

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.

( ---- )

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.

( ---- )

Castiel wandered through the streets of die Festung, visible to all and taking in the sights from as human a perspective as he could. Since he'd moved in with Dean he'd decided to try to act more like a resident of the City, instead of teleporting from outlook to outlook like he was used to. Belia and her guards could do nothing to him, really, so what was he worried about?

He noticed a few people walking around with what looked like granola bars. He paused, wondering why he hadn't seen them around before, and quickly located a vendor who was distributing them. With Dean's encouragement he'd been trying more different foods, never taking too much (since he didn't technically need it) but enjoying the experimentation.

Without asking he was handed a bar, and he looked at it. The wrapper promised energy, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, was it?

Walking a few steps away to avoid the crowd Castiel opened the bar and tasted the snack. It wasn't bad, and he finished the entire bar quickly, disposing of the wrapper in a nearby trash bin. He made it almost a full ten feet before an odd sensation swept over him.

For a moment he thought it might be the energy the bar promised, but before he could even really debunk that with the argument that as an angel physically he was incapable of being affected by so small an amount... something changed. He barely noticed, and all of a sudden he certainly didn't care.

He looked around, suddenly noticing a group of boys kicking around an old ball in a clearing. He hesitated just a moment, then jogged over, stopping and breathlessly watching them for a moment.

When they noticed him they stopped as well, and one of the older boys (he couldn't be much older than Cas was himself, right?), smirked. "What d'ya want, old man?" he asked. The others laughed. Cas frowned, confused. He wasn't old. Well, ok, maybe he was... but not really. Not just because of his vessel, right?

"Can... can I play?" he asked hesitantly. The initial mocking was hindering his earlier enthusiasm, and he felt nervous. What if they didn't like him? What if they didn't want him to play, thinking he was stupid or incapable or ugly somehow?

"Can you, in all that?" the boy retorted with a laugh, then turned and resumed the game. Cas blinked in confusion at the answer, and his hands went to his chest and he looked down, at the coats, the nice shirt, the tie and the shoes... everything. Why was he wearing so much?

The angel shrugged off his trench coat, then the suit jacket, pulling off his tie and then the white button up and carelessly dumping them on the ground in a pile. Now only dressed in a short sleeved undershirt, his pants, and dress shoes, the angelic youth jogged into the game, soon laughing aloud with the rest as he played keep away with the other boys.

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.

Brothers Winchester'd banged on a few doors and let people know things were about to get interesting. Whether or not they were going to show, they'd have to wait and see, which was what he was doing.

There may have been chips, jerky, beer, and juice set out for whomever showed up. He might have grabbed one and started on it as he waited. Dean didn't like waiting; he'd do it when he had to, but he didn't like it. Unless it was the rare watching of a strip joint or woman's gym? Not that he got much chance for that sort of thing.

"This is a good idea," he mumbled to himself. It had to be.

Sam had looked through one of the boxes of books in his room and still wasn't any closer to answers. While there was a part of him that didn't want to leave the books until he'd gone through each and every one of them, he knew that he'd gone wandering on Fred the night before and he also knew that she would be a help in the research.

There were things they needed to talk about too. Now that Sam knew how to transfer Fred's debt and take it for his own, he wanted to discuss it with her. There was the temptation to simply do what needed to be done and make sure she was safe. But Sam knew how it felt to have someone trade their life for yours, and he wouldn't do that to her. Not without at least talking to her. He still planned to do whatever it took to make sure she was safe, but not by going behind her back.

Dean had stuck around to help with reading through the books, though Sam suspected that his girlfriend would be more help than his brother. So when Dean decided it was time for dinner, Sam headed upstairs to Fred's apartment and knocked on the door.

Aidan had taken to going to sleep in the City with his hand wrapped firmly around the transport container filled with stolen blood. It was a paranoid reaction, but one that he couldn't stop himself from doing. He felt protective over it, and a little afraid to lose it. Already, he'd filled it up again when he'd come across the hospital, he might have done that a second time if he'd been able to find the damned thing again.

It was something he discovered he was very happy about, that absurd habit, when he woke again in the small apartment he'd taken in the building filled with the Chosen back in die Festung. A fact that he didn't even need to open his eyes for in order to deduce it. The smells of the apocalyptic world were much different than the smells in the City had been.

He groaned unhappily and lifted the container to be level with his eye, which was fairly easy since his face was planted on the mattress and his bed in die Festung wasn't that high off of the floor. Aidan sat up quickly and opened it up, looking inside. Still full. Maybe he wouldn't have to worry about things for a little while now.

Aidan got up, running to the kitchen to stash the thing in the pantry. When he opened the door, he had to pause. Seeing the box inside. A box that he hadn't placed there. He was about to open it when he heard a knock.

Fred hadn’t found him. Actually, she was certain he wasn’t on the planet anymore, and it hurt to think that. The other Fred had told her of her bad luck in the romance department, and Fred was a little nervous maybe they were jinxed. The other Fred had also told her about Wesley and Charles and...well, Fred really wished the other Fred had kept her mouth shut. Actually Fred wished she hadn’t gotten curious; that was a really bad trait.

The brainy Texan hoped that somehow, maybe, she could go out to the forest, make a wish, and get a fairy to help her. It was stupid, and she knew that wishes never came out like people really wanted. They weren’t supposed to. Wishes, fishes and horses - it just didn’t work out right. Not that anyone was complaining about fishes or horses.

But, she left the city anyway. Not permanently. She just needed to get out of civilization a little. She needed to not walk by his apartment door for a few hours, or be in her workshop, or be around anything that might remind her of him. Which was sort of hard with how the brain worked - associations were always there.

“Always something there to remind me...” She didn’t exactly sing it, just spoke it and hummed. “Lorne, could really use you right now.” Her nose wrinkled, and she sat down on a bit of broken wall to eat the small snack she’d brought.

( ---- )

Fred was worried. She was concerned, and she was busy looking for answers.

Sam hadn't shown up, but that wasn't new. He did actually sleep in his own apartment at times, so she'd gone down to see if maybe, just maybe, he was at home. It wasn't that she had to spend ever waking hour with him, or even sleeping hour, yet...

She'd woken up to no other Fred in her apartment. She hadn't questioned Sam's busy schedule because she'd been very busy with her other self. It was selfish perhaps, but it wasn't often she got to work with someone who didn't mind how her brain worked. She was a little jealous that the other Fred got to work with Dr. Hank McCoy though, even if he did seem a little...young?

So, Sam's not showing up for the night had made sense. When there was a Fred. She couldn't find her "City" counterpart at all, and with no Fred, she started to worry. Perhaps it was odd logic, but it boiled down to Fred needing to find those she knew, starting with Sam.

Sam hadn't been home. Neither had Dean. She stopped by Dinah's...again no answer. She might have missed them. She headed back upstairs, not wanting to bother him because he might have gotten in late from a shift? She knocked on Aidan's, and there was no answer.

Fred was worried. She was concerned, and she was busy looking for answers. She had many people to worry about, but she kept coming back to Sam.

Hank had been out walking in the City, for the first time in a good long while looking human once more. He'd finished his image inducer and was now taking it for a test stroll. It was a bit odd, not being noticed at all. He'd even rigged it so that his feet seemed a normal size. For once in his life, according to everybody else's vision, he was a perfectly average, if slightly geeky, young man.

He could have any face he wanted, too, but he'd elected to use the original. He'd never lamented his own lack of classic, rugged good looks, after all. Ok, maybe he'd neglected to leave in some old acne scarring, but that was the extent of the self correction beyond his feet. He walked down the street, thinking about things, then paused and looked up as the air suddenly changed.

He was someplace new.

The young mutant stopped and turned around, looking. He saw nothing around him that was familiar. There was no hint of the City he had started to become accustomed to, just run down buildings, sad looking people, and a stench in the air that was unlike anything Hank had ever smelled before.

He looked around, frowning, then looked up in the sky. He froze, staring at the alien looking mass hanging above the world he was on, then let out a shaky breath. "Honestly.... again?"

Sam had been doing his own thing for a while now. Supposedly, The City had it's reasons, and needed each and every individual for a specific purpose. Sam hadn't felt much sense purpose lately. He'd drifted. He'd considered and subsequently rejected the idea of going back to law school. After all these years, it wasn't really where he was at. He just wasn't sure where he was at.

In fact, he wasn't sure where he was, at all. He'd awoke in a motel, as usual, but it wasn't his usual motel. It wasn't the usual City. So there was only one thing that followed. Investigate.

But first, he wanted breakfast. He wasn't sure why his first thought in a new city was waffles, except that the last time he'd found himself in a new city, he had met a girl who was obsessed with them. But breakfast seemed like a good enough place to start.

It didn't take him much longer than stepping outside to realize that breakfast might be very different in this new world.

He woke in a place that was wildly unfamiliar, though for a moment he thought he was back in the war torn areas he had once fought in as a solider. His eyes showed him a dark, dusty old place and his nose spoke to him of battle, blood, tears and hunger. He wondered briefly if his whole life had been the dream of a man who wanted nothing more than to go home to his family, if there had been no Bishop, he was no vampire, and the only thing he had to worry about was not getting shot by the enemy. But his senses told him quickly that the sheets he was on did not smell of mold and were not the scratchy things that had been given them when they'd set out to do battle. His surroundings also felt far too real for him to think that he was currently dreaming.

One thing he was sure of, however, was the fact that despite the scrubs on his body, he was not taking a nap in one of the secret places set aside for such things at Suffolk County. He would have come awake if he'd been bodily moved, he was sure of it. So how had he gotten here? Aidan stood from the bed and felt his pockets. There was a ring of keys and a pair of sunglasses within, signs that he had just come in from a quick break to rescue Josh from the wilds.

The door was not so much a door as it was a flap of heavy cloth, and when Aidan pushed it aside, he was welcomed into a world that he didn't understand one bit.