Reality Crisis

(takes place shortly after the Bruce/Bane confrontation)

The zombies were gone and still, Bruce was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't unusual for him to go off on his own for hours or sometimes days at a time. But it was unusual that he wouldn't check in at some point. Especially after something like the dead rising and declaring war. She was trying not to worry. She really was.

She decided that it was time she checked the cave. There was a good chance that he would be there. He might have lost track of time, or he might have something pressing that needed time alone to deal with. She hoped that was all it was. She didn't worry too much about interrupting whatever quiet time that Bruce might need because she felt a little like it was her job to make sure he didn't retreat too far within himself. Especially when he didn't have Alfred there to keep an eye on him and give him a little bit of company.

The snow was starting to melt so Dinah trudged through a mixture of slush and mud on her way to the cave. By the time she got there, her boots were caked in it, but she was there without incident. Knowing Bruce, he probably knew she was coming by now. If he was there. She was sure he'd set up some sort of alarms for when people were on the perimeter of the cave.

Once she'd gotten past the entry, she headed for the living quarters first.

"Bruce?"

She tried not to think about how much she really hoped to hear an answer. Tried not to think about what might be going on if he wasn't here and wasn't in Sanctuary or anywhere else she'd looked.

Aidan had thrown his bag over the wall in order to not raise too much suspicion about his leaving. He didn't want questions asked, and he thought he might be slightly too high profile for Belia to let go of easily. His work in the hospital had surely made him known to her, so while he still hadn't met her face to face, he could feel her eyes.

It wasn't until he was outside himself that Aidan realized night might not be the best time to try to cross the ruins to get to New Troy. He'd only been once, which was a great way to get lost. Adding to that the amount of unknown creatures out there and his lack of knowledge when it came to Netvors and dog packs as to their habits at night, he found himself turning to the fae forest.

He knew there was a settlement within, Sanctuary. There was a chance he'd be able to find help within. Maybe a place to go. The idea of being so close to die Festung sat badly with him, however. Going somewhere where he might relive this entire ordeal in any way didn't appeal to him in the least, either. New Troy was where he needed to go. A place with vampires who didn't hide. A place where he would be mocked for trying to sustain human life instead of accused of taking it actually sounded good. He knew John there, and Pam. He had no idea if their sire, Eric, would accept him, but he had to try.

So the only thing to do was find a place to be for the night. He might have laughed at that, a vampire trying to bed down while the moon was up, if he'd had any trace of humor left in his body. Currently he was sitting in the numb denial phase, his brain refusing to play back the trauma of his encounter with Dean, staunchly refusing to accept that it had actually happened despite the fact that he was standing outside the wall of his home, trying to figure out where to go.

The yellow bag dangling from one hand was heavy not because of the things shoved hastily into it, but because of the meaning it carried. Aidan stood staring at it, unmoving, blanking out entirely to everything around him.

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.