Who: Cassie and Sam What: Random encounter while Cassie searches for the crystal skull When: Backdated to same time as Faye/Diana thread Where: The Nemeton Warnings: None
Cassie was out at The Nemeton again, retracing her and Diana’s steps for the thousandth time. They still hadn’t found the crystal skull since the night they dropped it, the night of the spell and more importantly, the night Bonnie had died. She still wasn’t sure how to even deal with that, Cassie had spent a lot of time crying, blaming herself and thinking about finding a way to bring Bonnie back. But honestly, she couldn’t do it without the crystal skull and she couldn’t do it without Diana and probably Faye. There was no way they would get Faye to help, not when it didn’t benefit her. Bonnie wouldn’t want that anyway and Cassie knew it, but there was this selfish part of her that just wanted her sister back. She and Diana had found Bonnie and discovered they had not only each other, but Bonnie too. Cassie had reveled in it, she and Bonnie had been very close and her death had been very hard on the blonde witch. She knew that Bonnie had done a lot of good too, bringing all those people back, giving her life for them to come back, but she was still dead and everyone still blamed her and Diana for it.
Trailing her fingertips along the wood of the tree, still faintly stained with Damon’s blood, Cassie closed her eyes and pressed her palm against the bark. The images of that night came flooding back and Cassie tried to stay focused, to see if she might find some clue of what could’ve happened to the crystal skull. They’d been looking for it and every time they’d scryed, it had only shown them it was in their apartment, probably because of the spell on it so no one else could find it. But they had to find it, it was too dangerous to be out there, it could fall into the wrong hands.
A single tear fell down Cassie’s cheek as she watched the events play out, her sister falling to the ground and taking her last breath. “I’m sorry.” She whispered. “God, I’m so, so sorry.”
Sam Winchester wanted to know more about The Nemeton, about its power and about the supernatural things it seemed to be attracting. Demons and other supernatural beings had been flocking to the tree and Sheldon had lost his life. It was enough to make Sam want to learn as much as he could about it, to keep others from suffering the same fate as Sheldon had. He had read a lot about it, but now he wanted to go out and see it for himself, to observe and see if he could find out more. He was approaching when he noticed the small, blonde girl with her hand against the tree and he stayed back, remaining quiet because he didn’t want to interrupt what seemed like some kind of moment. He heard her whispers of apology and wrinkled his brow in confusion before the realization hit him of who she was.
It was then Sam noticed a zombie staggering out of the line of trees, making a beeline for the blonde he thought he remembered as Cassie. Sam slowly pulled his pistol from the back of his pants and took aim, pulling the trigger. The silencer kept it from echoing into the woods and attracting more zombies and Sam gave Cassie, who had turned to look at him a sheepish shrug as he tucked his gun back into the back of his pants.
“Sorry, I uh, didn’t mean to interrupt.” He started, offering an apologetic look as he took a step closer. “You’re…Cassie right? I’m Sam.” He smiled. “Sam Winchester.”
Cassie had heard the shot, even with the silencer muffling it and her eyes had snapped open. Spinning around, she saw a very tall guy wearing a flannel shirt and it took her a second, but she vaguely remembered him from her many visits to the prison. “Yeah.” Cassie said with a nod, reaching up to wipe her tears away. “I’m Cassie. I’ve seen you. At the prison, I mean.” She smiled a little. “Thanks for the…” Glancing over at the zombie, she arched a brow and looked back up at him with a small grin. “Assist? I wasn’t…I should’ve been more focused, I was just…” Pointing at the tree, she shrugged, sadness filling her eyes again.
“Yeah.” Sam nodded, pressing his lips together. He knew the story and he also knew Bonnie was Cassie’s sister, from what he’d heard. “And hey, no reason to apologize, I’m happy to help. Just glad I was here.” A small smile touched his lips and he went quiet again, feeling a little awkward as he reached up to brush some of his way too long hair out of his eyes. “I uh, I can go, I just….I wanted to check out this…hey, wait, you’re a witch right? You probably know about this whole Nemeton thing right? I’ve been trying to learn more about it, but my research is only getting me so far.” He gave a slight roll of his eyes and laughed a little. “I was kinda hoping to find out more, I don’t suppose you’d be interested in maybe helping me out?” He’d brought all his notes and books with him in the backpack slung over his shoulder.
Cassie listened to him, a little surprised someone from the prison was actually being nice to her and not treating her like a murderer over Bonnie’s death. Her brow quirked as he asked her for her help on the Nemeton and it was kinda nice, maybe it would be good to take a break from the going nowhere search for the crystal skull. “You mean you don’t wanna….” She started, almost immediately stopping herself from finishing the sentence. “Nothing, never mind. Uh yeah, sure. I mean, I can probably help some. I could totally use a distraction. Do you…wanna go to my apartment or…I’m not really thinking the prison is the best place right now. I’m pretty sure I’m not all that welcome.”
“Actually….” Sam started, wrinkling his nose a little, that sheepish look returning. "I was kind of hoping we could maybe hang out here. I know, I sound crazy, right?" He chuckled a little. "But, I kinda wanted to observe things. I know it's been pulling in a lot of demons and stuff lately. I brought all my notes and some weapons and stuff, so we'll be safe. I mean, if that's cool with you?"
Cassie smiled, he was cute and he kind of reminded her of Adam in a way. "Sure." She shrugged. The sound of another zombie coming out of the woods caught Cassie's attention and she held up her hand, decimating it with her powers. "Yeah, I think we'll be safe." She teased, turning her attention back to him as he pulled the bag off his shoulder and started to pull out some of the books and his laptop.
"Alright then." Sam laughed, taking a seat on the cold ground, Cassie settling next to him. "Let's see what we can come up with."