Not Until We Are Lost

The snow had been nice, and Sam might have slipped in a little puppy dog time while he was at it. It was a little silly, but who didn't need to be a little silly sometimes?

The sun felt strange on his skin. The warmth wanted attention as much as it began to lull him back to sleep. His arms tightened around the body near him, and his eyes widened to stare at the blond hair in his face. He was naked again, with some random woman?

He didn't move for a few moments; he did take that time to sniff. He also realized that he wasn't completely naked, just barely dressed. Pair of pants and some sleeveless shirt; the body he held seemed to be dressed as well. There was a soft laugh when he knew who he held in his arms.

"Betsy?" He hoped that it was her. He didn't have any reason to doubt his senses.

He woke up naked.

Again.

Evan very carefully assessed his surroundings before he decided to move. There didn't seem to be anyone nearby, and there was no overwhelming smell of blood indicating that he'd slaughtered poor, innocent petting zoo creatures again. He slowly sat up and had a look. His nose filled with the scents of others. Other animals that were just animals, but other animals who were more along the lines of himself. A quick glance informed the new wolf that he'd been left with absolutely nothing.

Slowly, he stood. Slowly, he brushed himself off. He was waiting for some kind of trap to be sprung, if he was completely honest with himself. Or for somebody to come out of the foliage, laughing and holding a video camera. Allowing his senses to do their thing, he eventually realized that he was alone in the immediate vicinity.

The only thing to do, then, was walk. And walk he did. He passed a strange sign in Latin that gave him some information that made him more than a little uneasy. It rolled through his head again and again. Why would anybody do that? What was the point? Was he a zoo animal now? He hoped they got fed regularly.

A breeze lifted up and two peculiar scents. They were mixed up in with human things. Evan guessed that they had to be like him somehow. They were close by. Evan, quite boldly, stepped into the path so that they could see him.

Sam stretched and stopped as he felt...naked.

The shifter sat up to look down at his very naked body in the middle of an area he did not recognize. It had mixing smells, none of which filled him with a happy feeling. They were familiar in that he could name them, but unfamiliar in that they didn't have that special distinctive individual smell that identified person, place, and thing.

He stood slowly and dusted himself off a little but soon stopped when he realized just how ridiculous it was to dust off his bare ass. With a soft sigh, he started walking. Being someone who often woke up naked in the middle of a so-called wilderness, Sam's feet were used to barefoot walking. He sniffed at the air, hoping this wasn't some Naked and Afraid thing. He wasn't afraid, but he really didn't want to be walking around on anyone's tv in his birthday suit, even if it did get fuzzed out.

There was something in the air that finally smelled familiar. Because he didn't know what sort of place he'd actually landed in, he opted to stay potentially embarrassingly human. Now, was the scent he followed who he thought he'd find?

He walked a few more feet to find a pathway and a sign. His head tilted much like his canine self might in confuse. It was a nature reserve meant for those seeking a more natural way of life. For the mutant speciem, alia figura, animalis autem homo, lupus hominis, etc.

At least she'd gotten used to the bouncing around from planet to planet enough to not freak out and elephant all over the place now. So when Betsy woke up to a new environment, she was able to keep calm and assess the situation. She still found herself wishing for Brian. Her twin was the world to her, and she'd not seen him in a very long time now.

The room was nice, and she found clothing in the closet and drawers that was acceptable. The note was not really important to her one way or the other. Betsy hoped that Jo was here, Jo was about the only friend she had. She knew it was partly her own fault, she hadn't exactly opened up to a great many people.

Looking out the window, Betsy thought that she might like it here. The note said all the trouble was on the other side of a wall. So all she had to do was stay on the right side of it, and nothing bad would happen. Which meant that hopefully she could swim without fucking fish eating her.

Betsy checked her hair in the mirror and dabbed on some tinted lipgloss before she left the room. The air was nice and warm, and the staff she passed were friendly enough - though she didn't pay much attention to them, really, they were staff, after all. Admittedly, she was a little afraid of looking for Jo, because she might not be there. Betsy had no idea how she would handle things if it turned out she was all alone again.

As much as she liked to be independent, Betsy hated being alone.

While she walked she munched on some grapes that she'd found in the dining room, popping them into her mouth thoughtfully. She'd spied people here and there, and had ducked away before she could be seen in return. Betsy wanted to get a better idea of the facilities before really settling in. She wondered if they had a spa. A massage would be awfully nice.

It delighted Betsy to wake up on the ship, though she'd been afraid at first. The initial coming-to had been in something of a medical facility. The strange instruments had frightened her until she'd been assured they weren't for her, and that most of them were not quite as deadly as they appeared to be. She was told by a strange creature with porcelain skin and big black eyes that they would be happy to make her sleep while she continued to heal if that would help her feel better, and Betsy had taken up that offer without hesitation.

When she awoke again, she was in a room that had a very large feather bed and elegant draperies. And that's when the delight came in. It was her bed. The room was big enough to house an elephant. Within it were all the beautiful things that she had come to collect over the different planets. This, then, was her home. She had the idea that whatever she gathered on the places they put her, it would all be here. She no longer had a worry that she would never see certain things again. Indeed, here was the jewelry box filled with vintage 40s items that her suitors had purchased for her.

Betsy took her time getting ready, finding all her makeup in place and playing with colors as if it were the first time she'd ever done so. She showered and dressed herself in a playful 40s knee-length dress and some heels that the 40s had never even dreamed of. Her hair was curled and her lips were red.

Then and only then did she leave her room to explore the rest of the ship. The circular hallway with doors that matched hers did little to pique her interest. So she pressed the button for the door that was different and was delighted to find an elevator. It only had two buttons. She guessed that she was up, so she pushed the other. Indeed, it took her down. When the doors opened, Betsy was introduced to a breathtaking scene. People she had met and... aliens. She stood for a moment, taking it all in.

Carnivorous fish.

That was the stupidest thing that Betsy had ever heard. Ever. People couldn't cross to the other island because of a bunch of fucking fish? It was only a mile! She could see over there and tell that people were wandering around. She could even hear them shouting to one another sometimes, trying to get information. But nobody was going. Then she heard somebody talking about flesh eating flounders.

Stupid.

Betsy decided that if anybody was going to ford this, it would be her. Not only was it a well known fact that elephants could swim, but her skin was definitely thick enough to withstand a few little lovebites from some goddamned fish.

She waited until nobody else was around and then hid her clothes in the lush greenery near the beach. She transformed into her bigger self and cockily sauntered out toward the water. Fish were not going to stop a Braddock.

Not pausing to test the temperature or anything else, Betsy waded into the depths. She was feeling very confident. Especially after the first nip. It was a gentle thing, almost. Like she'd been poked with a stick in a particularly annoyed manner. She thought that she could take that for a mile. Get to the other side. Rescue people. Or ... something.

But it wasn't a poke with a stick, it turned out. It was a test to see what they were up against. She didn't get much further before there was another bite, harder, deeper, and then another. And another. Betsy trumpeted and turned back toward the beach, swimming as fast and hard as she could. Trying to get away from the fish. And trying to not be mad at herself for running from fish.

She got herself back onto the beach and stood in the sand. She wasn't sure what would happen if she went back to her human body. If the bites would be bigger. If she would bleed more, and possibly die. Her trunk carefully inspected her wounds one by one. Prodding gently at them, a sad grumble in her throat. She needed somebody to help her.

Jo was getting a little sick of sequins. It didn't matter that she couldn't see what color they were. She could tell that every one of the stupid dresses that she had to wear were garish and over the top. She definitely couldn't hunt in them.

She didn't mind dressing up every so often, but she wanted a better reason than literally singing for her supper. And that wasn't really going to happen here. Or anytime soon anywhere really.

The one good thing about Jo's job was that it came with room and board. She was living in a house with all women-all performers who were aspiring to something grander, whether it was break-out stardom or a rich husband. Jo stuck out a little bit in that respect, but that was okay. She didn't expect that she'd be here all that long. She could ignore the backstabbing and cattiness as the women tried to one-up each other in search of jobs and husbands. Some of them were nice, especially once they realized that Jo wasn't a threat.

But mostly, Jo was thinking about the others who had shown up in that diner with her. She really needed to seek Mary out, but she was a little scared to do so just now. She also needed to find Dean and they really needed to talk, but she wasn't sure she was ready for that either. And she definitely wasn't ready to face the reality of possibly diverting the future that enabled Mary to exist. There was a lot of guilt about that, even if she knew logically that the future had already been changed when they'd all been abducted.

Her mind was heavy with all of those things as Jo made her way back to the boarding house after her latest gig. She really just wanted to grab a snack and maybe sneak one of the bottles of illicit liquor that she'd stashed in her room and go to bed early. What else was there to do here, really? Certainly not hunting. And a woman out on her own raised a lot of eyebrows and Jo didn't have the patience to deal with that just now.

She'd just cracked something of a joke to Jo, though she'd also meant it a little bit. If her roommate had given her the go ahead, there was high possibility that Betsy would have done just what she'd offered. Her temper was hair trigger enough on a good day, but when she was abducted by aliens, it was a whole new level of fucked. Jo had said something about not doing it, though, and then a guy had joined their little group.

But she wasn't in that house anymore.

Right away, Betsy recognized it as a diner. One of those really old school ones, back when diners were just hitting their stride. Except, she got the feeling it wasn't just a reproduction. The people who were filling up tables and booths - those that weren't the people she'd been at a meeting with - weren't greasers and rockabilly kids. They were wearing actual 1940s style clothing, not merely modernized versions.

Glancing at herself, Betsy saw that she was also wearing the style. She took a moment to appreciate the dress she was in. It was very cute. It hugged her curves nicely, but not in a trampy way. Her shoes were stylish and comfortable. The one thing that was a little bothersome was that everything was in black and white. Betsy would have liked to know if she was at least wearing a color that suited her.

Luckily, the suddenness of the change and new surroundings hadn't triggered her panic, and she felt no overwhelming elephantine transformation coming on. She supposed that being moved around without her say so was old hat after the first time it happened. Or second, technically.

"Well." She said, looking around. "Could be worse."

Eventually, Piotr decided that enough socializing had gone on. People knew that their friends and loved ones were here with them, and that was a good thing. They could catch up further later, however. If he didn't interrupt, the meeting would go on far longer than anybody wanted it to. He'd provided some snacks, but no actual food. There would be a need for actual food at some point.

He cleared his throat to get the attention of everybody present.

"We are all here right now for the same purpose." Piotr's voice wasn't loud, but it was demanding. His accent cut through everything else easily. The edges of it were sharp, the middles heavy. He wouldn't, couldn't be ignored. "All of us were brought to this place, world or dimension, and we have all been seeking answers since we woke up. It is time to share what we have found."

He smiled a little at Mary, at Cas, then at Rob, still not giving up his position.

"I will do this in the most orderly manner that I can, so we can get the information and compare notes as needed."

Piotr turned to Castiel, who had spoken up first.

Jo didn't remember her dream, beyond that it had been unsettling. She woke in a bed that she didn't remember, in a room that was a lot nicer than the typical seedy motel room. Worse than that, she woke alone. That wasn't entirely unusual, but there was no sign of Dean in this room. His clothes weren't on the floor. His guns weren't in the corner like usual. There were no wrappers from burgers or bags from diner food take-out. No hint of his scent hanging in the air.

Everything about this was very, very wrong. This wasn't where she'd gone to sleep. Jo fought off the panicked thought that maybe she'd missed a few months again.

None of those worries seemed to matter when she heard something crashing around below. She fumbled through the room before finding a gun. At least some of her weapons seemed to be here. Shotgun in hand, she made her way out of the bedroom and down the stairs in search of the source of the noise.

She moved through a well-appointed living room and dining room before she stopped just short of the kitchen area. Her mouth fell open as she took in the sight before her eyes.

"What the?"

New York was the place of Betsy's heart. She loved it there. It was vast, with many sorts. High fashion. Elegance. There were dirty parts, of course, but she generally ignored those. She had enough money that it really didn't matter. Anything that Elizabeth Braddock did not want to acknowledge as living just didn't get any attention. It was a spoiled way of living, and she didn't give a shit.

She'd been holed up in Magneto's shithole for too long. Betsy might have stayed on indefinitely if she'd had Brian there to keep her in line. But he was missing. Off somewhere doing... whatever he did when he wasn't with her. Betsy didn't really like to think of Brian doing anything without her. There shouldn't be a life if the two of them weren't side by side.

But she was on her way to him now. The phone call she'd received had been odd. Even without the mystery behind it, Betsy would have gone, because Brian was calling for her. The fact that she didn't know the whole story just worried her. It also made her a little angry, honestly. Worry stood above it, for Brian. For her twin.

"Bets. ... gotta come down he... you'll never bel... seriousl..."

"Brian? I can't hear you, you're cutting out. Where the fuck are you? Brian?"

"... azing things ... I've see... I need you to ... please, Betsy..."

"If you're telling me to come pick you up, Brian Braddock, you had better not be drunk."

"...ebeth... I need you to fin... eas... ets... I'm in ... tric City..."

"Brian? BRIAN? You're seriously cutting out. Please. I can't hear what you want!"

"Electric City, Betsy. Come find me."

The silence on the line after his last words, not just the tone of a phone that had been hung up, but the white noise emptiness, had worried Betsy. The monotone of his words. Brian had never sounded like that when he'd spoken to her. Not ever. There was always something in his tone, even when he didn't particularly want to speak to her, she knew that he cared. This was so alien sounding, so different.

Betsy had not even left a note for the others. She'd just hijacked one of the cars and began to drive. Where the fuck was Electric City? In all her years at school, not one map had ever shown her such a place. Of course, she'd failed geography and had only ever put effort into memorizing about half of the US capitals. So she wasn't really the best gauge of what cities might or might not really be in America.

Her plan was to drive until she needed gas, then ask for directions when she stopped. She would get to Electric City, however. Or a lot of people were going to see just what happened when Elizabeth Braddock got angry.