Reality Crisis

The entire group was halfway through their journey across the wilds when all hell broke loose, in a quite literal fashion. The temperature dropped quickly and snow started to fall at an alarming rate. On one end of the caravan, reality burst at the seams.

One of the trucks disappeared into the hole and the rest of the vehicles just barely stopped short. The ground started to vibrate and suddenly a loud roar could be heard nearby. A gigantic white mass moved from the direction of the hole in reality and started stomping around the caravan. Meanwhile, mounds of snow started forming into even more creatures that converged on the group and their supply trucks.

The largest of the creatures roared again, revealing a full set of snow-white teeth. The mounds of snow formed into dinosaurs that were about half the size of the largest dinosaur, ranging from the large Tyrannosaurus Rex formed out of snow to the smaller and faster Velociraptors.

A few screams rose up from the group below as people started to run in an attempt to avoid finding out if snow-dinosaurs could and would ingest them.

OOC: Just a little holiday crack!plot for you. Join in, create subthreads, and enjoy!

Once the battle with the creature was over, Michonne was up in her apartment and packing. She'd amassed a small amount of stuff since arriving in the city, but not so much that it couldn't be rolled up and fit into her bags. There was only one completely unnecessary item that she packed, and there was no way in hell that she was leaving it behind. Thankfully, it fit right on top of the clothes she placed in her backpack, the bag that held the things she was most concerned about keeping. The other two, well, those she could lose and still survive without, for the most part. It was all clothes, though normally food went in there too.

Food.

She had a few items stored, emergency rations, and she half-jogged to the kitchen to pull them out of the place where she'd hidden them. Instinct. There was a can opener, too, and this she placed in the backpack, as it would become an important key to survival. She'd learned that very quickly back home.

Michonne wanted to talk to Dean, she wanted to make him come, too. But he had Sam and Fred and his friend Aidan who he wasn't quite sure about. She didn't know if he would abandon them. Which is, if she was going to be completely honest, exactly what she was doing. But self preservation and survival was ingrained in her now so deeply that she couldn't physically do anything else. Sitting around and waiting for another fucking dragon to show up, or more things to vanish, or more people to die, none of it fit in with the way that she'd lived her life.

It did hurt her heart to be doing this. To be running. And it made her angry, too. To be so uprooted from a place that she'd made a home in again. Michonne had to pause in her retrieval of food to stifle a sob. She was glad that nobody was here to see her break down like this.

Most people didn't return to the building after the dragon started using the roof for a bed. Which meant that Sam had no way of knowing where his wife, his brother, or Cas were. Buildings and people had disappeared. Entire chunks of the city that had been a safe haven for them. It didn't sit well and he was fighting off panic as he looked.

He couldn't help but think that things had been too good before this had happened. Perhaps he'd gotten complacent. Perhaps he'd forgotten who he was for a little while. Forgotten that Winchesters weren't supposed to get happy endings. Particularly not the Winchester who had brought on the apocalypse and done so many things that were unconscionable. It didn't matter what his original intentions had been. As he'd once told Dean, it wasn't the road to Heaven that was paved with good intentions.

He finally decided to check some of the likely haunts for Fred and Dean, starting with the garage. If his brother was anywhere, it would be making sure that the Impala hadn't been swallowed up by one of the holes in reality.

Dean saw Sam now and then, sometimes on patrol or getting off patrol. Sometimes he'd see his brother with the blushing bride. Sometimes he'd see the pair from a distance, and he left them to their time together. At first, he was a little jealous, a little angry; it didn't make any sense because deep down he was damned happy for and proud of Sam. Funny thing was, he didn't drink away the pain, not this time; it wasn't a good pain, but it was one he was going to face.

Some part of him was healing. The slip of paper under his door and the lack of anger that came with it was a sign. He even let himself smile a little, knowing just what the stupid vampire was doing. Mostly. That gave him an idea. Or maybe it just gave him the courage to do a particular something. Sam with Fred, Aidan with Evey - even if he thought the second pairing was doomed to bloody - literally - failure.

The hunter grabbed up a package from the place he'd hidden it in the closet and headed out. He knew where his target would be, or a few places she'd be. He stopped by her place, knocked, but got no reply. Instead, he headed down the stairs to the lobby, knowing she'd be heading in soon seeing as she wasn't already.

Thankfully nothing came of the rustling. Fred would never say it, but she certainly thought it: something had been out there, but it seemed to be respectful of the moment. At least that moment anyway. No one stuck around to see if there was really something to fight.

Fred didn't force anyone to come to the party the brief yet very important ceremony - important to her anyway. She did mention that everyone was invited to come to a small reception back in the small town. Belia had been nice enough to give some local wine she'd been keeping; she understood as much as anyone that a wedding was a step in healing, even if it was a wedding among the Chosen. Dean had found a few bottles of hooch that wouldn't kill anyone's stomach, probably.

Fred hadn't mentioned that the card with the bottles of wine had also said something about the future, heavily implying children. While she thought Sam would have beautiful children, she wasn't ready for whatever large creature he would spawn inside her. The thought about it actually made her laugh and wince; she knew a good bit of his past after all.

She'd gotten a few donations of food and sweets to fill the stomachs of any guests. She didn't mind if anyone came from off the street. She'd even found a stringed instrument that looked like a guitar and someone to play it! So, it wasn't overly fancy or big, but it would do.

Now all the party needed was party people. She hoped people came and enjoyed themselves.

Back home, weddings might have taken months of planning and putting things together. Sam didn't much care for the idea of waiting. Not in a world that could just as easily rain death on you at a moment's notice. He loved Fred and he wanted to marry her.

She'd asked for a wedding in the fairy forest and while Sam didn't love that idea, she had a point about getting married somewhere that still looked alive and mostly untouched by the devastation that was everywhere you looked in this world.

They weren't too far in the forest. Just far enough in that they couldn't see the ruins, but not so far that they were in the very heart of faerie territory.

Sam had managed to scrounge up clean clothes that were nicer than his every day clothes. He hadn't found a suit, but he did have a nice button-up shirt, a jacket, and some slacks. Some of the locals had been excited to give clothes that had long since been forgotten in closets because they weren't practical. Weddings were a happy occasion and die Festung didn't get to see enough happiness.

Sam thought it was nice that even amidst all of the destruction, life still went on. That was why this day was important. Even if legal marriages weren't a thing anymore. Even if this was a symbolic ceremony, it was still important.

He loved Fred and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Even if the rest of his life was only a few more days or years, and even if it might be decades. He thought that it was important to stop and acknowledge that and celebrate it. Because this was the sort of thing that made it all worth fighting for.

Sam tugged at his collar as he stood in between Dean and Cas and waited for Fred to make her appearance. There was a little case of nerves as he worried that maybe the bride would have second thoughts and wouldn't show. He did his best to dismiss that paranoia and watched the small opening in the trees for any sign of his future bride.

Somehow, and Aidan still wasn't sure how, he'd convinced Dean to let him go to die Festung to check on everyone. There were people he was friends with that Dean wasn't, and it seemed like a pain in the ass to ask his friend to play any kind of telephone game. And that was if he could even track everyone down. He didn't know if Dean would be ready for any of that, but given the night spent on the couch, Aidan felt brave enough to ask.

When the permission had been granted, Aidan ran as fast as he could to leave word for Eric and the others, and hurried home to pack. He wasn't staying forever, he knew that. He wasn't even going to ask right now. He just wanted to pop in and say hi, make sure everyone was okay. Maybe spend one night. Then he'd head back to New Troy.

It would be good to see people again. Good to see that city again. He missed it.

And it would be good to see Evey again. Peter too. In a situation that didn't have to do with life saving. He wouldn't admit it, even to himself, but he was geared up to see his neighbor girl. To see her smile, hear her voice.

As they left the gates of New Troy, Aidan spared a glance back. He'd see it again soon. He knew that. It was just strange to be walking away from it, knowing where he was headed.

He was worried about people in die Festung after the quakes, but he'd made a promise to not go there until gave the go-ahead. Even in checking up on his friends, he might do something wrong just by showing up at the wall. It wasn't worth the risk, he didn't think.

Aidan busied himself as best he could at the hospital, listening in to what news filtered through the ruins to the people here. He wasn't really sure what of it was absolute truth and what was just rumor. And he didn't get to hear anything specific about anybody. He hoped that something real would come through soon.

After his shift, he decided to avoid everything else and just go home. He didn't want to talk to the other vampires, and he didn't feel like being social in any way. Aidan wasn't in the mood for being nice. Not to anybody.

Sam had spent the last couple of weeks sneaking into the lab when Fred wasn't in there to work with metal on a ring for her. He knew that she probably wasn't the jewelry type, but he also wanted to do that tradition for her. He wanted something tangible for her to wear.

So when the ring was finished, Sam headed back to the Chosen building as he mentally tried to figure out how best to present the ring to his fiancee.

Fiancee. There was a word that he never would have thought he'd have a reason to use.

Sam didn't have too long to wander down that line of thinking as he reached the door to the building and the ground started to shake. The building quivered and then the shaking became more violent. The ring that was in his pocket forgotten, Sam took off at a sprint up the stairs.

"Fred?" He shouted. "Dean? Cas?"

He needed to make sure that they were all okay. And he was pretty sure that getting out of the building or at least finding somewhere that was safer was the best thing to do right now.

The idea that she had helped to kickstart a future in which Dean Winchester lost two people who were really close to him had never quite gone away. It had caused Michonne to be broody. More than usual. Which was saying something, since that was generally her constant state of being. She secluded herself more often, rarely leaving the small apartment.

Though she did wonder once or twice about the dog.

It did seem to be too well fed to be a stray, but she couldn't help but consider every now and again if she needed a dog in her life. It might have just been because he was about the only social contact she'd had in a while. Or maybe because he'd been such a good listener, which was absurd, cause... dog.

She worried that she would see those two little girls, those sweet things, in her future, because of what she and Dean had done. She wasn't sure that she wanted kids again to begin with, and she sure as hell didn't want them as a substitute for something that was lost. She didn't want them based on the idea that the only way to have them was for Dean - or anybody else - to go through a huge tragic event.

But she had seen their beautiful faces, and she had felt her own love for them. And that was something that Michonne could not let go of, either.

While she wasn't really a drinker, and not usually one to go get wasted to escape things, Michonne decided that today was a good day to start being. Or a good day to make an exception. Whichever. She gathered her things - her sword never being far from her side - and left the apartment, keeping an eye out for the dog as she made for the front doors.

( Read more... )

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.

(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.

(Warning: Some sexy times involved; spoiler: they're not very angry sexy times either)

Dean stared down into the engine block. He'd changed the oil. He'd topped off levels. He'd checked and rechecked. He'd waxed the Impala, rubbed her down, and buffed her up. She shone. He'd cleaned the chrome. He'd made sure the leather interior was soft and supple. He'd cleaned anything and everything he could. He'd avoided going back to his place; he really didn't want to see Sam or Fred. Oddly, it wasn't anger that kept him away but guilt.

"She was hot though." He had to admit that. Often the little brainiac reminded him why she was a good fit for his little brother. They worked. Then his mind shifted to the dream. The guilt settled in, and he slammed the hood down.

"Shit." He wiped on the hood a little. "I'm sorry, baby. Just not thinking. I won't do that again." Sure, a little force might be needed to close her up, but he'd used too much. "I'll see you in a little bit, baby. I need some air."

He walked by the other mechanics; he'd already warned them about touching the Impala. And he might have hit at least one of them for getting a little too hands on with his baby, but he didn't threaten or remember to threaten any of them. He needed a walk. And maybe a drink. No food. Well, maybe something small to eat.

He didn't have any destination in mind, just some place with the basic requirements of drink and food. And noise to drown out the thoughts.

She was exhausted.

Life was full of many different things, and she felt like she was being dragged down. She glanced out the window to judge what time it might be, expecting somebody to be at the door any minute now. She could feel the weight of the anticipation, the eagerness. It wasn't something bad that she was awaiting, but something good. It was a strange feeling, knowing something good was coming.

Michonne looked around the apartment. It was a mess. There were things everywhere. Little person things. The sort of things that she hadn't seen since before the walkers. Well, she'd seen them, just not in a happy kind of situation like she was seeing them now.

She sighed.

"Hey!" She called out into the apartment. Somebody else was there, and she knew that for a fact. People that were supposed to be. She shared this place with others. Not just random strangers, but family. The thought of those that occupied this space with her filled her with a warmth that she'd never thought she'd know again.

"Hello! I'm talking to you!" Even though she was yelling, Michonne was smiling. "You need to come clean up after yourselves! There's crap all over my living room. Your dad is going to be home any minute, and I'd rather he not come back to it looking like a tornado blew through here."

Michonne stalked room to room, peeking in through doors, looking for the pair of little people that she knew were in here somewhere. Two tiny beings that were part of her and part of somebody else. She found them where they shouldn't have been, in the master bedroom, hiding under the bed.

"Okay." She put her hands on her hips and tried to look angry. "Sam, Aidan, you two need to get out from under there and clean the damned living room in the next five seconds, or it's going to be a spank for both of you."

The threat was real, the anger wasn't.

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.

(Takes place immediately after this thread)

Murphy liked Michonne, but she was still a bit leery of leading the woman with a grudge to Dean. It seemed like their talk had at least been able to help things a bit. All the same, the former policewoman and current Holy Knight wasn't going to leave those two alone. She had no problem sticking around as referee while Michonne said her peace and demanded her apology.

Luck was on her side, unless it was another case of divine timing though Murphy thought that something like this wasn't exactly in her job description. Dean was found at the first bar she tried. She glanced at Michonne and then nodded in the direction of the table where the hunter could be found, though she had a feeling that the other woman wouldn't have needed it pointed out.

She hung back and waited to see how Michonne wanted to handle this. She would shadow the woman and stick around until she was sure that there wouldn't be too much violence, but for now she was simply in chaperone mode.

Shock folded under denial, which stayed just long enough for her to get used to the lining of Aidan's jacket. Evey kept to herself for a couple days, which was just as well. She had plenty to read. But around the third day, Evey couldn't sit still in her flat anymore. His jacket still smelled faintly of spice and copper, and every time she flung it off, she went back and put it back on again, hating it, hating the draw, hating the foolishness, the wasted energy, the sense of utter uselessness! That uselessness, above all, had been closer to her than even the damned black jacket. She could feel it crawling under her skin, corroding any hope she'd been clinging to.

When pacing couldn't burn off her restlessness and reading started to make her eyes blur, Evey finally stalked out of her flat, intent on heading out into the city -- and away from this damnable place for a while. She tugged the zipper up close to her chin and turned the key in the lock, then shoved her hands angrily into her pockets. But her eyes caught on the numbers 702 instead.

She'd meant to walk away. She'd meant to walk right past the door. But instead, she was standing at the threshold, glaring holes into the numbers designating the empty flat. "A lot of good it did," she muttered at the chipping paint. "And for what?" she demanded, her voice raising just a little. But the door couldn't answer. The anger grew, at that, ridiculous as it was. She wanted answers. Explanations. No, not just that. Without a single thought, that anger kicked the door of apartment 702, then kicked it again. Then she pulled a hand out from her jacket (his jacket), and then she pulled the other out. One palm splayed against the spot where there'd been dried blood. Her brow creased. The knuckles of the other crashed into the door beside the stain she'd scrubbed off.

"You stupid fucking sod!"

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.

Dean sat in his living room, staring at the wall. He needed to get dinner going, but he wasn't in the mood to cook. He could hear the jokes now. Plus, he usually just went out for food, but he had a few steaks left; this seemed like a good reason for two of them. Two steaks and some real butter. He'd scrounged a few tuber like things, that resembled potatoes in most ways, save for the unnatural blue color. Sure, he knew about the purple potatoes back home, but these were blue, Superman blue. They ate well enough.

Why was he cooking? Well, because he was. He thought of calling Sam to share these bad boys with, but he opted for using them as a thanks to Aidan for going out to the library with them. Plus, he would feel bad to leave Fred out of the loop. He was sure she'd understand and not make a fuss, but he just didnt' want that.

Drinks, steaks, and all that was missing for a guys' night in - which was not at all weird - was the cigars and a game. Or cards.

He'd left the steaks on the counter after marinating them for a while; he'd put them on the small indoor grill set up he'd found. The butter had defrosted, and the potatoes scrubbed.

"I am the girl." He mumbled as he waited for Aidan to show up.