The Ingathering - Chapter 6 - Siblings

Jun 23, 2010 22:45

General Disclaimer & Note - See Chapter 1. Supernatural Disclaimer - See Chapter 5. Thank you for the reviews! This chapter did NOT want to be written! Yeesh! I may tweak it a bit more later, but I wanted to get it done and up so I could work on the next bit. Enjoy.



The Ingathering
Chapter 6 - Siblings

“Bullshit.”

The single word from the elder of the two men brought amused snorts from the three youngest women. Serenity lifted an eyebrow as her lips twitched. The older woman, who must be Ms. Moseley, planted her fists on her hips and glared.

“Dean Winchester, you watch your mouth in my house!”

As the two glared at one another, Serenity leaned against the wall and looked over the two men. The eldest, Dean, stood about six foot tall with brown hair and hazel eyes. With his narrowed eyes and hard mouth, he radiated a strong will and suspicious outlook. Letting her senses drift out, she could feel the tension vibrating around him. He had already been tense, long before they came along, but now he practically glowed with distrust. She was fairly certain that the beat up leather jacket hid at least one weapon.

“Dean, man, calm down.”

Her attention shifted to the taller, but younger brother. Ms. Moseley had called him Sam. Sam, then, looked to be almost half a foot taller than his brother. His shaggy, lighter brown hair fell into shadowed green eyes. Although he appeared more open, she could feel the sharp pain he held. He didn’t trust the situation much more than his brother, but he was willing to hear everyone out. While she doubted either of them lacked in brains, this one would be the sharper intelligence, ready to pick apart a discussion with logic. Dean would be more instinctive, trusting his gut above logic.

“C’mon, Sam, think about what she said! Dad would never have…hell, he’d have made sure there wasn’t a kid!”

She shook her head and huffed out a breath. Crossing her arms, she tilted her head and glared up at the ceiling.

“If this is supposed to be funny, I’m less than impressed with the timing.”

Both men frowned at her, but Sam shifted forward.

“Who exactly are you complaining to?”

“The PTB’s.”

“The who?”

“PTB’s - the Powers That Be. They’re being a bit heavy handed lately.”

Ms. Moseley shook her head.

“No, girl child, those meddlers aren’t responsible for this. It’s a friendlier power trying to get things in place for you.”

Serenity snorted.

“Friendlier? That’d be new.”

Dean cleared his throat.

“Excuse me? Back over here? Somebody want to explain what the hell is going on?”

Sam grimaced, but nodded.

“And the Powers That Be? Be what?”

The three women who had been quiet up to that point started giggling. Serenity glanced over at them and smiled. Shaking her head, she waved them outside.

“Kaci, Gabi, you two go spar in the backyard. Keep the noise down. Tai, go with them, but see if the folks back home have figured anything out. Oh, and lose the sign out front. It’s giving me the heebies.”

Ms. Moseley frowned, but Serenity shrugged.

“The sign tells people to come right in. Believe me when I say there are whole species that shouldn’t be invited in.”

Once the other three were out of the house, Ms. Moseley led her remaining guests back into her sitting room. Serenity perched on one of the chairs as Dean and Sam sat together on the couch. Her blue eyes examined them for a long moment. Finally, as they began shifting, she smiled.

“The Powers That Be…they’re meddlers. They play a great chess game with human lives, all in the name of keeping the balance - the balance between light and dark, good and evil. If evil is getting too strong, a Champion arrives to handle it. If good is getting too strong, some Big Bad hits town and shakes things up. They are pretty much a pain.”

“But what are they?”

“Who knows? They definitely think we are below them, but I sincerely doubt they’re angels.”

Dean snorted.

“Yeah, interesting, but lets get back to this other little issue. There’s no way Dad wouldn’t have taken precautions, so you seriously think you can come in here claiming…”

She threw up her right hand, palm out and fingers spread wide.

“Stop, just stop right there. Let’s get something straight. I didn’t come to this house looking for you two. Until Ms. Moseley there started talking, I had one topic to discuss and it certainly didn’t revolve around you. Now, first off, I didn’t claim anything - she’s the one that started spouting off. Second, unless you are older than you look, I believe I’m the eldest. Finally, there’s no reason to get ticky with me - I’m just the outcome, I had nothing to do with the conception.”

Both men gaped at her for a moment, before Dean snickered. Sam rolled his eyes. She gave them a quick grin. Dean shook his head, quirking an eyebrow.

“Well, at least you’re funny. Okay, let’s say she’s right. How’d this happen? Why didn’t Dad ever say anything?”

As both sets of eyes focused on her, she sighed.

“Please don’t tell me you need the lecture on the birds and the bees.”

This time, it was Sam that snickered. Dean pushed him over with one hand as he leveled a gaze on her. She tilted her head and lifted a single eyebrow. His gaze morphed into a pained look. Smiling, she continued.

“My mom was an art student, and one night she went to a party with some friends. Some military guys were there. They were on break, or finishing up, or whatever. One of them had brought a friend who was spending a single night in Los Angeles before heading to the heartland. Basic, first name introductions were made, beer started flowing, and fun was had. The next day, Mom went back to school and found out several weeks later that she had a present from that one night. When it came to the father? She only knew that he was a Marine and his name was John. She decided to keep the baby, and finally, months later, hey presto, congratulations - it’s a girl!”

The room stayed silent for a long few moments after she finished. She could see various thoughts and emotions shooting across their faces. They did not want to believe, but their instincts were reacting to her. She could feel it in her as well. There was something about both of them, something that pinged her radar. These men were hers, blood and bone; they were a part of her.

Ms. Moseley leaned forward.

“Boys, I know you’re confused, but I promise, she is telling the truth. There’s no hint of a lie on her.”

Dean leaned back, rubbing his eyes with his hands, while Sam leaned forward, arms resting on his thighs as he stared at Serenity. She remained quiet, wanting to give them an opportunity to think. Dean snorted, but continued looking at the ceiling.

“Don’t take this wrong, but this is not turning out to be my day.”

She actually managed a giggle.

“Oh, you should be having my week. I just found out I had brothers yesterday. Then, one of our people just happens to figure out there’s a problem here and we came to investigate. What happens then? Oh, we’ve got a house with an innocent family and one seriously nasty poltergeist. When we try and find some information? I just happen to trip over two men who just happen to be related to me. If the PTB’s aren’t pulling the strings, somebody is serious about their time frame.”

Both men had straightened during her speech.

“Poltergeist?”

“What house?”

Their words overlapped and she frowned at them. Her eyes narrowed.

“Let me get the others. We only want to go over this once.”

When she returned, the three younger women positioned themselves around her. The Slayers made sure they were in place to protect both her and Tai. She smiled at them before turning back to the rest of the room.

“You were at the house earlier today, or one of its neighbors. We saw your car.”

Dean frowned.

“Two-story house, SUV in the drive and an odd tree in the front?”

She nodded.

“That’s the one. Well, Tai and I could sense something dark, black and oily about it. Tai scanned it a bit deeper, and discovered that there is definitely a poltergeist. And it’s a nasty one - it wants that family dead.”

Tai took a deep breath and leaned forward.

“I could feel the spirit. It was drawn there. Something happened in that house. It felt like it was older, maybe twenty years or so ago. Whatever it was, it left a definite mark on that house, and it’s drawing darker things. We need to remove the poltergeist, but we also need to cleanse the mark. Otherwise, this will happen again.”

Pursing her lips, Serenity nodded.

“Did we hear anything from home?”

The small blond nodded.

“Yes, we’ll need some ingredients, but we can do this.”

Dean cleared his throat.

“We’ll do this.”

Serenity smiled at him.

“Of course, but we’ll help.”

After gathering the needed supplies, the group put together sachets of cleansing. Dean sniffed over some of the items.

“So, what is all this stuff, anyway?”

Ms. Moseley answered.

“Angelica Root, Van Van oil, crossroad dirt, a few other odds and ends.”

“Yeah? What are we supposed to do with it?”

“We’re gonna put them inside the walls in the north, south, east, west corners on each floor of the house.”

Serenity snorted.

“We’ll be putting holes in the dry wall. The mother’s going to love that.”

Sam frowned.

“And this will destroy the spirits?”

The older woman nodded.

“It should. It should purify the house completely. We’ll each take a floor. But we work fast. Once the spirits realize what we’re up to, things are gonna get bad. I’ll talk to Jenny.”

After convincing the family to leave, they split up to cover the entire house. Gabi accompanied Ms. Moseley to the basement while Tai and Kaci followed Sam upstairs. Dean and Serenity tried to do their job as quickly as possible. Finally, they had only one sachet left for the kitchen. Even as Dean knocked a hole in the wall, a drawer opened.

Both of them ducked instinctively, staring at the knife buried in a cabinet. Dean knocked over a table and they took shelter as more knives began to fly. She could feel the burst of panic and then the relief from both of the other floors as the poltergeist tried to stop them.

It always pays to have backup.

A sudden bright white light exploded through the house. When it vanished, everything went quiet. Slowly the group began to gather in the kitchen. Gabi looked around.

“Is that it?”

Sam shrugged.

“You sure this is over?”

Ms. Moseley nodded.

“I’m sure. Why? Why do you ask?”

He frowned and sighed.

“Never mind. It’s nothin’. I guess.”

Jenny and her children returned as they were cleaning the mess left by the poltergeist. Ms. Moseley went home, but the others felt restless. Something felt unfinished. Dean and Sam decided to stay in the car outside the house. The four women discussed it, and Serenity would stay with Sam while the other three did some patrolling near by.

In the car, Dean shifted around.

“All right, so, tell me again, what are we still doin’ here?”

Sam’s eyes flickered from Dean to the house and back again.

“I don’t know. I just…I still have a bad feeling.”

His brother looked at him.

“Why? Missouri did her whole Zelda Rubenstein thing, the house should be clean, it should be over.”

“Yeah, well, probably. But I just wanna make sure, that’s all.”

With a groan, Dean shifted again.

“Yeah, well, problem is I could be sleeping in a bed right now.”

Serenity snorted.

“Would you both please hush? I’m trying to get some sleep while Sam has watch.”

Before Dean could retort, Sam’s eyes locked on the upper floor of the house.

“Dean. Look, Dean!”

The three of them jumped out of the car and tore into the house. Dean ran to get Jenny while Sam went for the children. Serenity planted herself in the living room and focused all of her talent on the poltergeist itself. Poltergeists were a strange sort of spirit. They were the embodiment of the dark emotions - anger, pain, and fear. While she had little chance of dispersing it, she might be able to keep it busy until the others were safely out.

She could hear Dean hauling Jenny out of the house, and then Sam came downstairs with the kids. She could feel the spirit fighting her hold. Her gifts were not made for this type of situation. It was going to escape before too long. She listened to Sam as he spoke.

“All right, Sari, take your brother outside as fast as you can, and don’t look back.”

Even as the children watched, an invisible force lashed out and Serenity flew into the wall. It grabbed Sam and dragged him into another room. The children fled. Forcing herself to stand against the pain, she followed him. She could hear Dean banging on the front door, but she ignored him as she attempted to reach Sam. The poltergeist had pinned Sam up against the wall. He was unable to move.

Serenity moved forward only to be thrown back once again. Shaking her head, she wrapped an arm tightly around her ribs and went to stand. At that moment, another figure came into the room. Some sort of human shape, surrounded by fire, glided in. Here was the second spirit then. It began moving towards Sam.

At that moment, Dean tore into the room, rifle at the ready. Even as the fire figure drew closer, he raised the gun.

“No, don’t! Don’t!”

Both Dean and Serenity turned to look at Sam incredulously. Dean frowned.

“What, why?!”

Sam’s voice softened.

“Because I know who it is. I can see her now.”

The fire began to die down, and a human face slowly appeared. A beautiful young woman dressed in a nightgown was revealed, and Serenity reeled from the level of shock coming from the men. The ghostly woman moved first towards Dean.

“Mom?”

She smiled.

“Dean.”

She moved away from him, turning to Sam.

“Sam…I’m sorry.”

Sam smiled through his tears.

“For what?”

A sad smile touched the pale lips and then she turned away to look at Serenity. With a penetrating look, she nodded at her.

“Watch over your brothers. They’ll need you.”

With that, she turned away from all of them. Looking up at the ceiling, her voice hardened.

“You get out of my house. And let go of my son.”

The flames engulfed her again, reaching to the ceiling before disappearing. The force holding Sam to the wall was released. He walked over to Dean, and the three of them looked at each other, stunned. With a smile, Serenity realized that the last words of their mother had sealed everything for them. They accepted her now…or at least were willing to try.

AN - And another chapter down! Looking forward to the next! (By the way, Dean’s first line of this chapter? I’m going for the feel of Jim Kirk’s (Chris Pine) reaction in the 2009 movie when Spock Prime introduces himself.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

buffy, fan fiction, alternate universe, crossover

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