Last Resort
It was the middle of the afternoon when the cell phone rang. The caller ID would list itself as being from Ben’s phone. Of course, anyone could have that phone now, seeing that no one had seen Ben for almost a week now. But it was his ringtone playing. Alec had been lying sprawled out on the bed with a book. Jinx was lying next to him but by the way the dog kept shifting and sighing Alec though that maybe he’d been cooped up too long. When his cell rang he almost yelped in surprise. It felt like years had passed since he’d last been part of the real world. He pawed though his stuff until he produced it and then he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to feel pleased of disappointed by was calling. “Hello?”
“Alec?” It was Ben’s voice, sounding scared and alone. “Alec, man, where are you?”
“Ben.” He sagged down the wall and sat on his bag of clothes. “Tell me where you are and we’ll come get you.” He wanted it to be Ben so badly it hurt. But he just wasn’t sure, so he said Ben’s name out loud to give Dean a heads up and refused to give out their location. The tactician was to well ingrained in him to let things like that slip. Besides, if it really was Ben he didn’t think Ben would be well enough to travel on his own. Dean heard Ben’s name from the room he was in, and he turned on his heel and started to head towards Alec. He was pretty much worried sick at this point, and if this was some kind of grasp at hope, he was willing to take it.
“I don’t know... I just woke up and I was here.” There was carefully hidden terror as the voice on the other end tried to sound brave. “My head hurts...”
“We’ll take care of you.” This only confirmed that Ben wasn’t up to getting to them. “Can you tell me what you see?” Dean listened to Alec’s half of the conversation, trying to figure out what was going on and what he needed to do.
“Trees. Lots of fuckin’ trees and there’s some cottage about a hundred yards away rotting.” There was a pause. “I can see mountains.”
“Okay.” Except it wasn’t. He rubbed the heel of his hand hard into his eye. It was a brand new stress reaction. “Do you have a GPS chip in your phone?” And why hadn’t Alec thought of that before? At that, Dean made his way over to the computer, pulling the website up he usually used for locating phones, and waited for Alec to give him the go-ahead or not.
“Probably. Don’t most of them have that these days?” There was the sound of a train in the background. “What’s been going on, Alec?”
He nodded at Dean and then frowned at Ben. This wasn’t right. The sudden slight smartass tone didn't jive right with how he’d sounded when Alec had first answered the phone. “Not much.” Dean stopped slightly when he saw the frown, before turning back to the computer. Even if it was just Meg, at least they would know where she was and where to go.
Meg smiled from where she was perched on a bridge over a river. The train passed below her from her spot on the support beam. “How are you new powers?” The voice changed drastically since Meg knew he knew. It was now almost like a female purr coming from Ben’s male voice.
“Not bad, thanks for asking. Not as exciting at you promised though. Maybe there's some thing off with Ben's blood chemistry. He seemed a little iron deficient.”
“Don’t worry, sweetie, they will get better. But now you can see why I took Ben. So much better than yours.”
Dean watched patiently in the corner, letting the website do it’s job in finding the phone, while he listened to what Alec was saying to Meg and how he was reacting. “Oh, you are stupider than a box of rocks if you think you know what I’m capable off. But I’m glad to know that they’ll get better.” The smart ass grin could be heard loud and clear in his voice, but there wasn’t a trace of it on his face. That was all cold anger, fear, worry, and about a hundred other things that made him feel pretty crappy.
“Oh, but I do know Alec. I read it right out of your mind. What Manticore did to you. I even found all those memories that you thought Manticore took away from you. Memories of your twin brother, Ben? Did you ever wonder just why you feel such a need to save Ben Braeden... because you failed to save your real twin and you don't want to lose another one?” She talked as if she was soothing a child.
“Sweetheart there's nothing in my head that you could possibly know about that I don’t. And don’t bring Ben into this. He may have been my twin but he was never my brother. He was never my responsibility.” But she has him, and she may not be right, though he isn’t sure, but it hurts like a knife to the gut anyway. He leans his head back against the wall and squeezes his eyes shut. He hated himself for being vulnerable.
“Mmm, denial is such a wonderful tool. But if you don't want to believe me, that’s your choice. I do miss whispering in your head at nights. You have such wonderful little dreams.” She laughed.
“Personally, I think Benny-boy going bug shit was either your fault or your father’s. Which mean’s a good chunk of my life is your fault. We should sit down. Have coffee. Talk about it. Or I could just kill you. That’d be fun to.” He hoped Dean got a location soon.
“The only way to kill me is to kill Ben. And I don’t think you’re going to go there.”
Dean was working on the location, and as soon as the screen flashed the GPS location in front of him. He turned back to Alec and gave him a nod, before reaching for a piece of paper to write it down. “Nah. Killing Ben wouldn't even kill you. You’d just leave his body. I plan to do it after you’ve left him. I’m patient. I’ve got time." He went over to Dean and took a piece of paper and a pen and wrote out his question. ‘Want me to keep her talking while we travel? Pretty sure she's fucking with us big time.’
“Ah, but does Ben? I can feel Sam and Ruby coming after me. Sam won't hesitate to kill Ben to get rid of me.” She chuckled. “I hear Dean’s breathing. I’m assuming he finally traced the phone signal.”
Dean nodded, but he didn't know how much good that was going to do. For all the things that she was, Meg wasn’t an idiot. She would catch on to things eventually. Like right now. “Sam won’t hurt Dean like that.” He nodded at Dean and moved towards the door. Only to be herded back by Jinx. Because Jinx wasn’t going to let him go with out his meds.
“Dean always forgives him in the end. He’s done it before.”
Dean took care of that problem for them, grabbing Alec’s meds as he made his way out the door, calling the other cell phone company and trying to keep them following the signal in case Meg started moving-given she didn't ditch the phone.
“Yeah well, I think killing someone’s son borders on unforgivable. Just the thought.” He follows behind Dean, Jinx at his side.
“I guess we’ll see what happens.” Meg took a moment where she sounded like she was stretching. “Now why don’t you put Daddy on the phone? I’ve got a little surprise for him.”
“Hey, Dad? The body snatcher wants to chat with you.”
“Yeah, well, what else is new?” Dean grumbled, before trading Alec the cell company for Meg, placing the phone to his ear, and leaning back slightly. “Whadaya want, bitch? You know, other than my head on a stick.”
“Is that any way to talk to your son?” Meg smirked. “I’m actually curious on how far you are from me.”
“Not far," Dean said, gritting his teeth slightly. “We’ll be breathing down your neck before you know it.”
“Good. Because the next train comes in thirty minutes. You might want to get here soon, otherwise you might be short one less family member.” Meg knelt down and held the phone down. “Say hello to Dean... Bobby.”
Dean nearly dropped the phone. No. Nononononono. That wasn’t how this game was supposed to work. This thing was between her, him and Sam-not Bobby. Never Bobby. His throat tightened and he tried to talk but all he could do was start moving, almost running towards the car, needing to get there before that train did. “I’m gonna kill you, bitch. You hear me? I’m gonna fucking kill you. Doesn’t matter if Bobby lives or dies, I’m gonna fucking kill you. And I’m gonna make it hurt.” Alec was tight on Dean’s heels. What the hell had changed because he could smell the fear from Dean now. Alec wanted to know who Bobby was. And maybe if they could get proof that he was even there. Because Meg would bullshit them. And yeah he could hear large parts of what Meg was saying.
“Dean, don't fall for it,” Bobby shouted. “She just wants you -” His words were cut off as Meg slapped Bobby with the cell phone hard.
“Hope you like heights,” Meg said, then dropped the phone on the tracks next to Bobby. She knelt down and Bobby was staring into Ben’s blue eyes. “Now we’ll find out if Dean can fly. And maybe you’ll be lucky.” With that, she looked up at the top of the bridge’s framework and dissipated, only to appear up there a moment later.
Dean slid into the front seat of the Impala, turning back to Alec as he dialed Sam’s number and placed the phone to his ear. “You still got that address?”
Alec nodded and rattled it off. Then he crouched down in front of Jinx. “Hey. Think you can find Bobby?” He pet the dog and seemed to get some sort of affirmative. “You go find him and try to get him safe, okay? Don’t let Meg hurt you. I want your furry butt to be healthy when I get there.” He kissed the dog on the top of the head and then stood up as Jinx dissipated.
Sam was on the road when his cell phone went off. He grabbed it after moving Ruby’s arm off the console to reach down where it was charging. “Yeah?” No need for intro. Dean had his own ringtone so Sam knew who it was.
“Meg's got Bobby.” No need for preamble. Dean wasn’t going to beat around the bush on this one.
Alec slid into the front seat and closed the door. “I sent Jinx for him.”
“Fuck!” was Sam's response. “Where?” Dean would hear tires squeal as Sam jerked off to the side of the road, stopping.
Dean rambled off the address as he started the Impala and started to pull out into the street. “Alec sent Jinx. But send Ruby, send whoever, I don’t give a fuck who but have them get Bobby the hell out of there now, Sam.” He didn’t like asking his brother to do this, but demons moved faster than he did. And he wasn’t taking any chances-not with Bobby’s life. Alec didn’t know who Bobby was but he must people family somehow. No one else could send Dean into a panic like this.
Sam keyed in the coordinates on his GPS and pointed them to Ruby. “I need you to get there and find Bobby, Ruby.” He put the phone back to his ear. “Dean, I’m a half hour away. I’m sending Ruby ahead and calling for backup.”
“Alec and I are heading there now,” Dean added, hoping that the thank you was implied enough for Sam to get the message. “We’ll see you when we get there.” He hung up right after, needing to focus more on the road than he was in talking to his brother. Alec was not ready to be out and about. He’d managed to be comfortable in the closed environment of the hotel but the real world was a blinding kalidascope of light. It was dizzying. Even the Impala was encased in thin layers of power and old spells. He took a deep slow breath and focused on his own knees. Ready or not he was where he needed to be. He’d deal with the consequences after.
Ruby didn’t need to be told twice. She kind of had a bit of a soft spot for the old guy, and she knew what he meant to the boys, surrogate father or not. She was gone as soon as she got a look at the address, heading towards the bridge, knife in hand. When she arrived, she went charging for the railroad tracks, hoping that Meg wasn’t just yanking their leg and the train hadn’t come sooner than expected. Because Ruby was relatively sure that if Bobby died, it would kill those boys. And she wasn’t ready to have Sam break. Not yet. It wasn’t time yet, and while Meg would have no problem with that kind of thing, Ruby had plans in place that needed to come to fruition.
Meg was waiting on the top of the bridge. Jinx arrived first, sniffing at Bobby while the man was trying NOT to freak out at the sudden appearance of a HELL HOUND next to him. Rolling her eyes, she jumped down and held out a hand, throwing the dog over the side of the bridge towards the river that was far below. “That was a smart one Dean. Send the dog.”
Sensing Ruby approaching quickly from the opposite direction, Meg smiled. “At least Sam has the right idea in sending a bitch that's better to play with.” She turned around, her tongue playing with the fresh lip piercing as she waited.
After all, there was time to kill. The train wasn't due just yet.
Well-that was what you would call a makeover. Ruby watched Jinx go over the edge of the bridge, but brushed it off-he would be fine, more or less. Meg was the bigger problem. “You know, Meg-when Daddy said that you were one of his favorites, I was hoping that it wasn’t in that spoiled brat princess-y kind of way.” She twirled the knife in her hand between her fingers, looking the girl up and down as she did. “Apparently I was wrong-you are just as much a waste of space as I thought you’d be.”
She clucked her tongue slightly against the roof of her mouth as she started to inch towards Bobby. “Pity. You had so much potential.”
“Oh Ruby, you’re just as pathetic as you were when Daddy found you on the meat racks in Hell. Showing off those sad eyes and being the good little soldier, only now to your boy king. But you’ve had thirteen years to make Sam into the terror he’s supposed to become, and you still haven’t done it yet." She smirked. "So, my turn, just like it should have been all those years ago.”
“See, you don't know the value of patience,” Ruby said, rolling her eyes. “You never have and you never will. A good Antichrist is like a pot roast-you gotta slow cook it. You don't get it by possessing them and forcing it out of them.” She really should know better. You can’t have them make the choice if you’re forcing the way their hand moves. That just wasn’t the way things worked. “However, I will tell you this-if you let Bobby Singer die on those railroad tracks? Stick a fork in ‘em-Sam’s done. You’re dead. Then I get all the credit, and you're just another stupid demon who thought she could snake her way to the top by pissing of Sam Winchester.”
There was a tiny smirk of the lip, as if Meg knew something that she wasn’t going to reveal. “Oh, I don’t need a reason to piss the Winchesters off. That’s just fun for me.”
Oh look, the dog is back again. Meg rolled her eyes and sent him flying again. “And I’m not worried about them trying to kill me. They’ve already failed twice. And if Sam is able to, then my daddy's plan gets done finally, and with NO help from you.”
Okay, she really needed to stop abusing that dog. Because really-it was only just pissing Ruby off. “Or I could just kill you now, and let that be that. Either way-you’re still dead, whether I get credit or not. Which I think is a pretty good outcome for me, really. I’ve been wanting to see you dead for a long time.”
“Oh, you’re more than welcome to try. I’ve been wanting to test Ben's little white light powers out for awhile now.” The grin grew as she flexed Ben's neck, the decorative tattoo on his neck showing from behind the denim jacket.
“Fine,” she said with a smirk. “Catch me if you can.” It wasn’t necessarily a matter of her hiding, but she was going to play this her way. Meg wasn’t an idiot-everyone knew it. So Ruby was bringing her A Game on this one, especially considering she didn’t know exactly what Ben’s powers were. So she quickly dissipated from view, not going far, but just choosing to look at things from a different angle-or several. If she kept moving, it would be harder for her to get a lock on Ruby's location.
In the meantime-she needed back-up on the Bobby situation. That call was going out as well, only to specific people, and knowing that Meg could only handle so many at once.
When Ruby dissipated, Meg just rolled her eyes and then closed them, standing still as she focused on following Ruby mentally. She wasn't going to play the bounce around game - not if she didn't have to.
~You going to stop playing around? I'm not here to play a childish game of tag~ she projected the thought out, boredom tinting her words. She also picked up the words that trickled out of Ruby's head in the moments she was fully formed and chuckled. “What, you really that scared that you can’t handle me yourself, bitch?” she shouted, laughing.
For as laid back as he acted, Nicky was fast. Always had been, always would be, and really didn’t give a shit about how people felt when they were forced to go his speed. So dashing in, snatching up the idiot old man who had gotten himself tied to the railroad tracks and getting out wasn't really a problem. It was just a matter of doing it before Meg got a hold of him, and yes, he realized what Ben's abilities were-he was good enough to see them, but he wasn’t that good that he could stop them, and having back and forth orders between the two of them wasn't exactly his idea of fun.
Still, Ruby was Ruby, and he wasn't just going to turn his back on her when she needed him. That wasn’t his thing either. Shades firmly in place, he materialized for all of two seconds-long enough to grab Bobby by the collar and dissipate again to take the man with him-but he wasn’t exactly sure where he was going to take him. So he just kept running.
“Eavesdropping on other people’s conversations isn’t exactly polite, bitch,” Ruby said as she reformed, coming at her from Ben's left, knife blade out in the open. She wasn’t intending on going for the kill shot on this one-just a graze. She disappeared again, continuing to bounce around for a moment, before reappearing behind Ben’s back, one arm reaching to hold him in place, and the other driving the knife downwards towards the flesh of his shoulder.
Meg didn’t speak at first, sensing Nicky’s approach as she watched his quick appearance. At that moment, she was already working on her first victim.
Jinx.
She locked eyes with the hell hound as he appeared again at the end of the bridge. ~Sic him and bring the old man back~ she ordered the dog with intent, knowing that no matter how well trained the mutt was, he wasn't intelligent enough to resist her level of power.
Nicky on the other hand was not going to be as easy. So instead she just sent him a mental picture of hell, along with all the pain and suffering feelings that came from the underworld. That should at least make him stumble and slow down enough for the hell hound to catch up with him.
Now onto the blonde bitch, who managed to graze her arm with that damn knife and reappear behind her. She felt the arm go around her neck but grabbed the knife hand before the blade managed to do any more damage, and she stepped back, tossing Ruby over her shoulder before putting a hand out to hold her down against the train tracks. “Now that could have left a mark,” she taunted.
Nicky did more than stumble. Pain exploded from behind his eyes, and light that he couldn’t block seared through his corneas. He dropped Bobby almost right away, collapsing to his knees on the ground, somewhere miles from where they had originally begun, and it was taking everything in his power to not have him scream from the pain. Closing his eyes tightly, he reached over to where he had dropped the man, reaching forward to tear whatever ropes Meg might have used to bind him, before his voice rasped to life, gritting his teeth to bear down from the pain.
“Run, you idiot. Run.”
And that was right before Jinx caught him on the shoulder.
Ruby on the other hand, stared up at Meg. She didn’t know how far back Meg’s memories went, but there had to be some things she couldn’t access. She started sending out a mental S.O.S again, but this time in Gaelic, an old dead language that very few people still remembered, but that wasn’t exactly important at the moment. There was only one person she was looking to reach, and they would understand what she was saying.
Meg walked around her, hearing the call for help and while she didn’t know the words, she knew the intent. “You might want to rethink that before asking for help. It would be horrible if they happened to run into this...” She reached down to grab Ruby's knife, a sadistic pleasure reflecting in Ben's eyes.
Bobby, meanwhile, nodded and got up, starting to run. Jinx, however, made quick work of disabling Nicky before growling and appearing in front of Bobby, making the human start to back up away from him. After all, Jinx had sicced Nicky. Now he had to bring the old man back.
Getting chewed to pieces was not Nicky’s idea of a good time, but Jinx seemed to lose interest in him relatively quickly and move back on to Bobby. His head was spinning, trying to find a way to help the guy wind up not dead, but the only thing he could think of was imitating the voice of his master, giving him a slim to none chance that it might actually break Meg’s spell-whatever the hell she had done to him. He also really, really hoped that Dean and Alec sounded a lot alike, because Dean was the only one he’d really heard speak.
“Down, Jinx. Bad dog.” It was rough, raspy, and very much Winchester, so he figured it had to be worth a shot.
Ruby still continued to try and fight against the power pushing her down, wanting to get back up on her feet again and finish this fight face-to-face. Demons were cheap that way, always willing to take the easy way out and not get their hands dirty. Ruby loved to feel the grit of the battle between her fingers-maybe that was what made her different, and maybe it wasn’t, but it was enough to give her a small thrill of pleasure when she saw Felicia’s blade wrap around Ben’s neck from behind, blade pressing close to the skin, enough so that the slightest movement would probably nick him.
“Oh, trust me, darling,” Felicia purred, her free hand pushing Ben’s head back against her shoulder, leaving his neck open and bare. “You don’t want to run into mine either.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize this was going to be a coven meeting. So sorry I forgot my cauldron.” Meg smiled, which was funny with her position. “You’re going to want to rethink your actions, or can you not feel the reverb of your friend’s pain a few miles away?” ~Let me go~.
Jinx snarled, looking back at Nicky. The voice was right. But the face wasn’t. And he was supposed to only obey the one Sam told him to. It was that bit that got through to the hell hound and he stopped growling, then sat down. Now he remembered that Alec had wanted him to help. But why had he not?
Bobby just looked at the hell hound, then at Nicky. “Ok, what the hell is going on here?”
“Jinx-” Nicky rasped, starting to push himself to his feet. “Jinx was a gift from Sam. For Alec. After Meg kidnapped him the first time.” He pushed himself up, dragging his body back over towards the tree and propping himself up, trying to find the energy. “He’s supposed to protect the kid. But Meg’s got some kind of mind control bullshit going on, so the puppy just got a little confused.”
Felicia heard the command, and due to the level of power she was dealing with, she knew she would have to obey, but she did have enough power to know how to fight back. “You’re the one who failed to specify in what condition,” she murmured, before twisting the blade slightly, and started drawing it quickly across the boy's neck as she did, indeed, let go.
“Yeah, well next time remind me to tell Sam that pit bulls are a much better choice.” Bobby winced as he rubbed the back of his head. “Where is he anyway?”
They pulled up to the scene of the disaster at the end of ‘the nick of time’ and the beginning of ‘too late.’ Alec sometimes was damned fucking grateful for the X5 super vision. Sometimes it saves lives. Like right now. He didn't know what the sword held to Ben’s throat would actually do as he caught sight of it through the windshield, but anything sharp and pointing at his brother’s throat was bad. Especially if it had a nasty glow to it that was sharper than the blade it self. He didn’t wait for the car to even stop before he was out of it and heading toward Ben, moving so fast he was literally nothing but a blur.
Dean didn’t know what Alec had seen, but judging by the way he reacted it couldn’t have been good. He practically scrambled out of the car as soon as he could, grabbing the nearest shotgun and following Alec's lead, charging towards where Ruby, Ben, and the other demon were standing-and that was when he saw the sword slicing across his son’s neck. That was when his stomach dropped into his feet and he almost stopped right where he was standing, and his head started screaming Nononononononononono all over again.
Felicia spotted the blur coming, but she didn’t realize what it was. Confusion masked her features as she stopped, eyes trying to get a lock on what it was, but not removing the sword from Ben’s throat quite yet, waiting to see what would happen first. She didn’t know if this was Meg’s back-up or Ruby’s, and she needed to be sure before she continued.
Sam’s car screeched to a halt on the other side of the bridge and he also came barreling out, Colt in hand. The first thing he saw was Ruby on the ground, but Felicia stood over her, and while her back was to him, she must have had Meg because of the way the sword was being held.
Bobby was no where in sight and that made his stomach drop. But he could only pray for the best at this moment as he kept running. Maybe they could end this all here and now.
Meg, meanwhile, felt the sword slice into her skin and hissed, and she brought her hand up to push the blade away before it actually cut something that would kill Ben. She couldn’t afford for the boy to die, because if he was dead, then Sam and Dean would have nothing to hesitate against killing her. However, the fact that there were too many people here now made he lose her concentration enough that Ruby would be able to move again.
Holding Ruby’s knife with one hand, she brought the other to her neck to stop the bleeding. She also put her back to the bridge where a few miles below her the river rapids churned. “You should be more careful about hurting the merchandise, bitch,” Meg growled, taking in her odds. It was time to get the fuck out of here.
Oh, and there was a train coming. Five minutes or less. Which Bobby and Jinx worked to help Nicky out of the path of as they started to find someplace safe.
Alec halted directly in front of Meg-Ben and the other demon. With out pausing to give either of them time to react he simply yanked the bladed weapons out of their hands. He knew Ruby’s knife and the sword had the same glow to it, now that he saw them together. He didn’t want Meg having a weapon like that but he also sure as hell didn’t want some one else killing Ben with something similar. Then he backed away from them both. A knife he knew how to handle. A sword, not so much.
Sam skidded to a stop next to Ruby, the gun pointed up. He avoided looking at his brother at all costs... he knew that if he had to take Meg out, Dean would never forgive him. “Looks like you’re outnumbered, Meg. Where's Bobby?”
Meg smirked, looking at her bloodied hand before rolling her eyes at Sam. “Ask your watchdog. She had one of her friends take him away. Of course, it does depend on if the hound left anything of them to find.”
She took another step back, feeling her foot skirting the edge of the bridge. “Now the question is... you have me here. What are you going to do?” She turned her eyes to look at Dean a moment before looking back at Sam. “Because I really don't think you're going to shoot.”
No, Sam wasn't going to shoot. That was because Dean knew what he had to do within five seconds after Meg had said it. After all-this wasn’t about his family. This was about him, and what he needed to do to end this. And he wasn’t going to have the people he cared about suffering on his account any longer. If Meg wanted him, Meg was going to get him. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade, flicking it open and moving it up towards the tattooed seal that he’d had on his chest.
Ruby and Felicia both caught the movement, and then looked at each other. Ruby knew without even thinking it, and started to inch her way over towards Sam, while Felicia headed towards Alec, wanting to get her hands on one of the weapons in order to assist Dean in whatever way she could. Dean winced slightly as he sliced the knife across his skin and then looked back up at her.
“You want me, bitch? Come get me.”
“Dean no!” Sam shouted, making his way to push through. NO, this wasn't happening. Their father had done this, and they hadn't been able to kill the YED like that. And if Meg was in Dean, he knew he couldn't kill his brother.
Meg, meanwhile, tilted her head and smirked. Now this was tempting, and the conflicting thoughts that flowed off Sam to match were just too tempting. But there was that tiny worry that this was a trap. “I’m not stupid Dean. You being suicidal isn’t worth it for me.”
“Dad?” Like he couldn’t wrap his mind around this sort of stupid. “Dad, what are you doing?” He took a long step towards his father.
Felicia caught Alec around the waist as he started to move pulling him back away from the scene and starting to wrestle the knife and sword away from him. He may have been more than human, but she wasn’t human at all, and if she had to take him down the hard way, she would. This needed to be done. End of story.
“Read my mind, Meg. Read the mind if anybody here. Who’s going to have the chance to stick it to you once you’re in me?” Dean was gambling-he was gambling big time. But he really had no intention of killing her once she was in him. How was he going to? He was going to be possessed.
“He needs to do this, Sam,” Ruby muttered, taking the step between him and his brother. “You’ll deal.”
“Damnit Ruby get out of my way,” Sam ordered, pure pain in his eyes. Ruby had to know that if Meg was in Dean, she would win.
Meg watched and felt the chaos starting from the two Winchester men, and seeing the knife and sword fall to the ground. In the time it would take for the women to calm the men down enough to attack, she would be far gone... and in Dean Winchester to boot.
And if this was Ben’s powers... she would only imagine what Dean’s would feel like when they were activated.
“Deal.” And with that, she rushed out of Ben, the grey cloud of sulfur smoke aiming straight at Dean without a moment to give him a second thought.
Ben, free from Meg for the first time in almost a month, collapsed onto the bridge and looked up at his father with disbelieving eyes. The sounds of everyone's thoughts flooded his senses, but there was only one voice he was listening too.
A snarling growl crawled out of Alec’s throat, “Let me go.” It was an order. When she didn't respond immediately he took his feet up of the ground letting her hold all his weight. He drew his legs up, crooked his knees and slam both legs back with all the force as he had. He was not pulling the blow at all because she was going to let him go. Even if he had to splinter the bones in her legs to do it.
Felicia hadn’t been expecting that much force. Her legs gave out as the pain rippled through her, but the kitty cat wasn’t getting away that easily. She reached out, her powers grabbing him by the back of his collar and yanking him back towards her. He may have a lot of power, but she has experience on her side, and she knew how to keep people in line. Reaching forward, she got a hold of Ruby's knife and sent it scuttling across the bridge towards Ben, knowing that she was now out of the picture in that respect, and he was going to have to take it from there.
Ruby continued to stay between Sam and Dean, feeling the transfer from Ben to Dean. “Sam-don’t make me do this the hard way.” She didn't want to do it. She really didn’t. But she wasn’t going to fuck Dean’s plan-a good plan, for once-just because Sam was worried about losing his brother. As far as most of the underworld was concerned? Dean was overdue.
Meg settled into Dean’s shoulders, feeling herself start to adjust to the body. He wasn’t all that different from Ben in height and build, but he was filled out more, and there was more practice in the limbs, feeling the easy ache of experience and knowledge. Unlike Ben, Dean knew how to use this body. And that advantage wasn’t going to fail her. She turned to face Sam, licking her lips slightly as she blinked Dean's green eyes black, a self-confident smirk on her lips. She could just gloat a little bit before she was gone.
“Looks like I win.”
“I will kill you Ruby,” Sam snarled, but it was too late and he could feel it. He looked at the black eyes and knew that he didn’t even have enough focus to exorcise her. The Colt grew cold in his hand. It was an answer, but he just couldn’t do it.
Then Sam saw movement from the corner of his eyes. There was a flash of green spiked hair, and suddenly Ben stood up, Ruby’s knife flashing in his hands before he imbedded it deep into Dean's chest. “NOOO!”
Ben stared into Dean's eyes, a broken soldier following his father’s last order. The anger and pain Meg had caused him for over a month bled out in tears from his eyes as he sent the bitch to nothingness. His free hand wrapped around his father, holding him close as Ben searched Dean’s eyes to be able to see or hear him one more time.
Alec lashed out at Felicia one more time. He didn’t care where he hit her as long as it hurt. But then...it was over. The blood scent hit him and it smelled like family. He leaned forward quickly enough that he missed his own knees when he lost every thing he’d eaten in the last day. He hadn’t been aware of the fact that people had power just by virtue of the fact that they were alive. At least he hadn't realized until the light was gone.
For a long moment there was no thought in his head. Not one. He stared and the image cemented itself into his brain. He hadn’t thought much could match up with the hurt of Rachel dying or any of his siblings, but this got a place of honor at the top of the list. He stared and wondered why Ben was good enough for their father to die for but Alec didn’t rate enough for their father to live for. With that thought rage bubble up out of nowhere and he had to get out or there’d be more blood on the ground. He whistled sharply and then stood and calmly headed back towards the Impala. Jinx materialized at his side.
As soon as Jinx was gone, Nicky was stumbling back towards Felicia, watching her as she curled up in pain from the blows from Alec. He was doing better than he was earlier, but she was almost writhing. But she had kept the sword away from Alec, and that was all that mattered. He leaned forward, plopping himself down on the tracks next to her, sliding a protective arm across her waist. That train was still coming after all, and he was biding his time, saving up as much energy as he could for the last possible minute. Ruby was thinking a little faster, however, and made her way over to take them both away. The family needed some time together, and these demons weren’t necessarily part of that.
Dean didn’t have a lot of time between him and Meg, and he could feel himself slipping away even faster than he had anticipated. He didn’t want to die, not really-but he had dragged this out long enough. It was time for him to finally fulfill his end of the deal. There was a fleeting grasp of pride that Ben had done what he couldn’t, before he went limp against the train tracks, his eyes going blank just as quickly as Meg had disappeared.
“Dad no... please...” Ben knew it was futile, but he just clung to Dean’s shirt as he collapsed against him.
Sam had come over and fell on his knees next to Ben, his face crumpled in pain and loss. A hand went gently onto Ben’s back, knowing that the kid really had had no choice, and the other laced through Dean’s hair.
The sound of the train grew loud as it made it’s final turn around the bend. Sam looked up and he didn’t even need to raise his hand. He just glared at the train and there was a loud screech as he forced the train to stop, resisting the forward motion of the engine. The back cars derailed a bit... not enough to kill anyone but that train was NOT going to disturb them.
“Damnit, Dean,” Sam muttered, lowering his head again to rest against his brother’s. “You're not supposed to die on me...”
Alec stood at the passenger door of the car, face so calm that he looked cold. He heard the screeching of the train and just couldn’t bring himself to care. At all. His father was dead. The first person to ever really love him was dead. And it felt like maybe he hadn’t loved him enough if Dean could just…leave him that easily. Which wasn’t fair, and Alec knew it. He hated despair. He never knew what to do with it. His two impulses were either to kill himself or someone else. So this time he ran.
He waved Jinx into the passenger seat, the closed the door. He circles around and settled into the drivers seat and then pulled that door closed as well like he could trap the lingering scent of his father in there with him. For a long moment he rested his head against the steering wheel and thought about how he should be at least crying but when he couldn’t manage that he just started the car. They had left it so quickly that the keys were still in the ignition. Alec put the car into gear and hit the gas. He couldn’t kill and he couldn’t cry, but for once he could damned well run.
The sound of the Impala leaving made Sam lift his head. He just wanted to lay there and not move, but he knew he had to. And he had to get Ben somewhere safe. And get Dean’s body. “Come on, Ben. We have to move,” Sam said, trying to find some anger inside of him to use as strength. He stood up, grabbing Dean and putting him in his arms. He then shifted to carrying Dean's dead weight with one arm, taking the second to help his nephew up and towards his car. Ben was a mess, and when those people started to come off the train, Sam knew the kid wouldn’t know how to block his power.
Bobby was just coming around the bend by Sam’s car when he saw them and stopped. “My god...what happened?” he asked, looking at Ben cautiously before locking eyes with Sam.
“We lost.”
“Alec?” It was Ben’s voice, sounding scared and alone. “Alec, man, where are you?”
“Ben.” He sagged down the wall and sat on his bag of clothes. “Tell me where you are and we’ll come get you.” He wanted it to be Ben so badly it hurt. But he just wasn’t sure, so he said Ben’s name out loud to give Dean a heads up and refused to give out their location. The tactician was to well ingrained in him to let things like that slip. Besides, if it really was Ben he didn’t think Ben would be well enough to travel on his own. Dean heard Ben’s name from the room he was in, and he turned on his heel and started to head towards Alec. He was pretty much worried sick at this point, and if this was some kind of grasp at hope, he was willing to take it.
“I don’t know... I just woke up and I was here.” There was carefully hidden terror as the voice on the other end tried to sound brave. “My head hurts...”
“We’ll take care of you.” This only confirmed that Ben wasn’t up to getting to them. “Can you tell me what you see?” Dean listened to Alec’s half of the conversation, trying to figure out what was going on and what he needed to do.
“Trees. Lots of fuckin’ trees and there’s some cottage about a hundred yards away rotting.” There was a pause. “I can see mountains.”
“Okay.” Except it wasn’t. He rubbed the heel of his hand hard into his eye. It was a brand new stress reaction. “Do you have a GPS chip in your phone?” And why hadn’t Alec thought of that before? At that, Dean made his way over to the computer, pulling the website up he usually used for locating phones, and waited for Alec to give him the go-ahead or not.
“Probably. Don’t most of them have that these days?” There was the sound of a train in the background. “What’s been going on, Alec?”
He nodded at Dean and then frowned at Ben. This wasn’t right. The sudden slight smartass tone didn't jive right with how he’d sounded when Alec had first answered the phone. “Not much.” Dean stopped slightly when he saw the frown, before turning back to the computer. Even if it was just Meg, at least they would know where she was and where to go.
Meg smiled from where she was perched on a bridge over a river. The train passed below her from her spot on the support beam. “How are you new powers?” The voice changed drastically since Meg knew he knew. It was now almost like a female purr coming from Ben’s male voice.
“Not bad, thanks for asking. Not as exciting at you promised though. Maybe there's some thing off with Ben's blood chemistry. He seemed a little iron deficient.”
“Don’t worry, sweetie, they will get better. But now you can see why I took Ben. So much better than yours.”
Dean watched patiently in the corner, letting the website do it’s job in finding the phone, while he listened to what Alec was saying to Meg and how he was reacting. “Oh, you are stupider than a box of rocks if you think you know what I’m capable off. But I’m glad to know that they’ll get better.” The smart ass grin could be heard loud and clear in his voice, but there wasn’t a trace of it on his face. That was all cold anger, fear, worry, and about a hundred other things that made him feel pretty crappy.
“Oh, but I do know Alec. I read it right out of your mind. What Manticore did to you. I even found all those memories that you thought Manticore took away from you. Memories of your twin brother, Ben? Did you ever wonder just why you feel such a need to save Ben Braeden... because you failed to save your real twin and you don't want to lose another one?” She talked as if she was soothing a child.
“Sweetheart there's nothing in my head that you could possibly know about that I don’t. And don’t bring Ben into this. He may have been my twin but he was never my brother. He was never my responsibility.” But she has him, and she may not be right, though he isn’t sure, but it hurts like a knife to the gut anyway. He leans his head back against the wall and squeezes his eyes shut. He hated himself for being vulnerable.
“Mmm, denial is such a wonderful tool. But if you don't want to believe me, that’s your choice. I do miss whispering in your head at nights. You have such wonderful little dreams.” She laughed.
“Personally, I think Benny-boy going bug shit was either your fault or your father’s. Which mean’s a good chunk of my life is your fault. We should sit down. Have coffee. Talk about it. Or I could just kill you. That’d be fun to.” He hoped Dean got a location soon.
“The only way to kill me is to kill Ben. And I don’t think you’re going to go there.”
Dean was working on the location, and as soon as the screen flashed the GPS location in front of him. He turned back to Alec and gave him a nod, before reaching for a piece of paper to write it down. “Nah. Killing Ben wouldn't even kill you. You’d just leave his body. I plan to do it after you’ve left him. I’m patient. I’ve got time." He went over to Dean and took a piece of paper and a pen and wrote out his question. ‘Want me to keep her talking while we travel? Pretty sure she's fucking with us big time.’
“Ah, but does Ben? I can feel Sam and Ruby coming after me. Sam won't hesitate to kill Ben to get rid of me.” She chuckled. “I hear Dean’s breathing. I’m assuming he finally traced the phone signal.”
Dean nodded, but he didn't know how much good that was going to do. For all the things that she was, Meg wasn’t an idiot. She would catch on to things eventually. Like right now. “Sam won’t hurt Dean like that.” He nodded at Dean and moved towards the door. Only to be herded back by Jinx. Because Jinx wasn’t going to let him go with out his meds.
“Dean always forgives him in the end. He’s done it before.”
Dean took care of that problem for them, grabbing Alec’s meds as he made his way out the door, calling the other cell phone company and trying to keep them following the signal in case Meg started moving-given she didn't ditch the phone.
“Yeah well, I think killing someone’s son borders on unforgivable. Just the thought.” He follows behind Dean, Jinx at his side.
“I guess we’ll see what happens.” Meg took a moment where she sounded like she was stretching. “Now why don’t you put Daddy on the phone? I’ve got a little surprise for him.”
“Hey, Dad? The body snatcher wants to chat with you.”
“Yeah, well, what else is new?” Dean grumbled, before trading Alec the cell company for Meg, placing the phone to his ear, and leaning back slightly. “Whadaya want, bitch? You know, other than my head on a stick.”
“Is that any way to talk to your son?” Meg smirked. “I’m actually curious on how far you are from me.”
“Not far," Dean said, gritting his teeth slightly. “We’ll be breathing down your neck before you know it.”
“Good. Because the next train comes in thirty minutes. You might want to get here soon, otherwise you might be short one less family member.” Meg knelt down and held the phone down. “Say hello to Dean... Bobby.”
Dean nearly dropped the phone. No. Nononononono. That wasn’t how this game was supposed to work. This thing was between her, him and Sam-not Bobby. Never Bobby. His throat tightened and he tried to talk but all he could do was start moving, almost running towards the car, needing to get there before that train did. “I’m gonna kill you, bitch. You hear me? I’m gonna fucking kill you. Doesn’t matter if Bobby lives or dies, I’m gonna fucking kill you. And I’m gonna make it hurt.” Alec was tight on Dean’s heels. What the hell had changed because he could smell the fear from Dean now. Alec wanted to know who Bobby was. And maybe if they could get proof that he was even there. Because Meg would bullshit them. And yeah he could hear large parts of what Meg was saying.
“Dean, don't fall for it,” Bobby shouted. “She just wants you -” His words were cut off as Meg slapped Bobby with the cell phone hard.
“Hope you like heights,” Meg said, then dropped the phone on the tracks next to Bobby. She knelt down and Bobby was staring into Ben’s blue eyes. “Now we’ll find out if Dean can fly. And maybe you’ll be lucky.” With that, she looked up at the top of the bridge’s framework and dissipated, only to appear up there a moment later.
Dean slid into the front seat of the Impala, turning back to Alec as he dialed Sam’s number and placed the phone to his ear. “You still got that address?”
Alec nodded and rattled it off. Then he crouched down in front of Jinx. “Hey. Think you can find Bobby?” He pet the dog and seemed to get some sort of affirmative. “You go find him and try to get him safe, okay? Don’t let Meg hurt you. I want your furry butt to be healthy when I get there.” He kissed the dog on the top of the head and then stood up as Jinx dissipated.
Sam was on the road when his cell phone went off. He grabbed it after moving Ruby’s arm off the console to reach down where it was charging. “Yeah?” No need for intro. Dean had his own ringtone so Sam knew who it was.
“Meg's got Bobby.” No need for preamble. Dean wasn’t going to beat around the bush on this one.
Alec slid into the front seat and closed the door. “I sent Jinx for him.”
“Fuck!” was Sam's response. “Where?” Dean would hear tires squeal as Sam jerked off to the side of the road, stopping.
Dean rambled off the address as he started the Impala and started to pull out into the street. “Alec sent Jinx. But send Ruby, send whoever, I don’t give a fuck who but have them get Bobby the hell out of there now, Sam.” He didn’t like asking his brother to do this, but demons moved faster than he did. And he wasn’t taking any chances-not with Bobby’s life. Alec didn’t know who Bobby was but he must people family somehow. No one else could send Dean into a panic like this.
Sam keyed in the coordinates on his GPS and pointed them to Ruby. “I need you to get there and find Bobby, Ruby.” He put the phone back to his ear. “Dean, I’m a half hour away. I’m sending Ruby ahead and calling for backup.”
“Alec and I are heading there now,” Dean added, hoping that the thank you was implied enough for Sam to get the message. “We’ll see you when we get there.” He hung up right after, needing to focus more on the road than he was in talking to his brother. Alec was not ready to be out and about. He’d managed to be comfortable in the closed environment of the hotel but the real world was a blinding kalidascope of light. It was dizzying. Even the Impala was encased in thin layers of power and old spells. He took a deep slow breath and focused on his own knees. Ready or not he was where he needed to be. He’d deal with the consequences after.
Ruby didn’t need to be told twice. She kind of had a bit of a soft spot for the old guy, and she knew what he meant to the boys, surrogate father or not. She was gone as soon as she got a look at the address, heading towards the bridge, knife in hand. When she arrived, she went charging for the railroad tracks, hoping that Meg wasn’t just yanking their leg and the train hadn’t come sooner than expected. Because Ruby was relatively sure that if Bobby died, it would kill those boys. And she wasn’t ready to have Sam break. Not yet. It wasn’t time yet, and while Meg would have no problem with that kind of thing, Ruby had plans in place that needed to come to fruition.
Meg was waiting on the top of the bridge. Jinx arrived first, sniffing at Bobby while the man was trying NOT to freak out at the sudden appearance of a HELL HOUND next to him. Rolling her eyes, she jumped down and held out a hand, throwing the dog over the side of the bridge towards the river that was far below. “That was a smart one Dean. Send the dog.”
Sensing Ruby approaching quickly from the opposite direction, Meg smiled. “At least Sam has the right idea in sending a bitch that's better to play with.” She turned around, her tongue playing with the fresh lip piercing as she waited.
After all, there was time to kill. The train wasn't due just yet.
Well-that was what you would call a makeover. Ruby watched Jinx go over the edge of the bridge, but brushed it off-he would be fine, more or less. Meg was the bigger problem. “You know, Meg-when Daddy said that you were one of his favorites, I was hoping that it wasn’t in that spoiled brat princess-y kind of way.” She twirled the knife in her hand between her fingers, looking the girl up and down as she did. “Apparently I was wrong-you are just as much a waste of space as I thought you’d be.”
She clucked her tongue slightly against the roof of her mouth as she started to inch towards Bobby. “Pity. You had so much potential.”
“Oh Ruby, you’re just as pathetic as you were when Daddy found you on the meat racks in Hell. Showing off those sad eyes and being the good little soldier, only now to your boy king. But you’ve had thirteen years to make Sam into the terror he’s supposed to become, and you still haven’t done it yet." She smirked. "So, my turn, just like it should have been all those years ago.”
“See, you don't know the value of patience,” Ruby said, rolling her eyes. “You never have and you never will. A good Antichrist is like a pot roast-you gotta slow cook it. You don't get it by possessing them and forcing it out of them.” She really should know better. You can’t have them make the choice if you’re forcing the way their hand moves. That just wasn’t the way things worked. “However, I will tell you this-if you let Bobby Singer die on those railroad tracks? Stick a fork in ‘em-Sam’s done. You’re dead. Then I get all the credit, and you're just another stupid demon who thought she could snake her way to the top by pissing of Sam Winchester.”
There was a tiny smirk of the lip, as if Meg knew something that she wasn’t going to reveal. “Oh, I don’t need a reason to piss the Winchesters off. That’s just fun for me.”
Oh look, the dog is back again. Meg rolled her eyes and sent him flying again. “And I’m not worried about them trying to kill me. They’ve already failed twice. And if Sam is able to, then my daddy's plan gets done finally, and with NO help from you.”
Okay, she really needed to stop abusing that dog. Because really-it was only just pissing Ruby off. “Or I could just kill you now, and let that be that. Either way-you’re still dead, whether I get credit or not. Which I think is a pretty good outcome for me, really. I’ve been wanting to see you dead for a long time.”
“Oh, you’re more than welcome to try. I’ve been wanting to test Ben's little white light powers out for awhile now.” The grin grew as she flexed Ben's neck, the decorative tattoo on his neck showing from behind the denim jacket.
“Fine,” she said with a smirk. “Catch me if you can.” It wasn’t necessarily a matter of her hiding, but she was going to play this her way. Meg wasn’t an idiot-everyone knew it. So Ruby was bringing her A Game on this one, especially considering she didn’t know exactly what Ben’s powers were. So she quickly dissipated from view, not going far, but just choosing to look at things from a different angle-or several. If she kept moving, it would be harder for her to get a lock on Ruby's location.
In the meantime-she needed back-up on the Bobby situation. That call was going out as well, only to specific people, and knowing that Meg could only handle so many at once.
When Ruby dissipated, Meg just rolled her eyes and then closed them, standing still as she focused on following Ruby mentally. She wasn't going to play the bounce around game - not if she didn't have to.
~You going to stop playing around? I'm not here to play a childish game of tag~ she projected the thought out, boredom tinting her words. She also picked up the words that trickled out of Ruby's head in the moments she was fully formed and chuckled. “What, you really that scared that you can’t handle me yourself, bitch?” she shouted, laughing.
For as laid back as he acted, Nicky was fast. Always had been, always would be, and really didn’t give a shit about how people felt when they were forced to go his speed. So dashing in, snatching up the idiot old man who had gotten himself tied to the railroad tracks and getting out wasn't really a problem. It was just a matter of doing it before Meg got a hold of him, and yes, he realized what Ben's abilities were-he was good enough to see them, but he wasn’t that good that he could stop them, and having back and forth orders between the two of them wasn't exactly his idea of fun.
Still, Ruby was Ruby, and he wasn't just going to turn his back on her when she needed him. That wasn’t his thing either. Shades firmly in place, he materialized for all of two seconds-long enough to grab Bobby by the collar and dissipate again to take the man with him-but he wasn’t exactly sure where he was going to take him. So he just kept running.
“Eavesdropping on other people’s conversations isn’t exactly polite, bitch,” Ruby said as she reformed, coming at her from Ben's left, knife blade out in the open. She wasn’t intending on going for the kill shot on this one-just a graze. She disappeared again, continuing to bounce around for a moment, before reappearing behind Ben’s back, one arm reaching to hold him in place, and the other driving the knife downwards towards the flesh of his shoulder.
Meg didn’t speak at first, sensing Nicky’s approach as she watched his quick appearance. At that moment, she was already working on her first victim.
Jinx.
She locked eyes with the hell hound as he appeared again at the end of the bridge. ~Sic him and bring the old man back~ she ordered the dog with intent, knowing that no matter how well trained the mutt was, he wasn't intelligent enough to resist her level of power.
Nicky on the other hand was not going to be as easy. So instead she just sent him a mental picture of hell, along with all the pain and suffering feelings that came from the underworld. That should at least make him stumble and slow down enough for the hell hound to catch up with him.
Now onto the blonde bitch, who managed to graze her arm with that damn knife and reappear behind her. She felt the arm go around her neck but grabbed the knife hand before the blade managed to do any more damage, and she stepped back, tossing Ruby over her shoulder before putting a hand out to hold her down against the train tracks. “Now that could have left a mark,” she taunted.
Nicky did more than stumble. Pain exploded from behind his eyes, and light that he couldn’t block seared through his corneas. He dropped Bobby almost right away, collapsing to his knees on the ground, somewhere miles from where they had originally begun, and it was taking everything in his power to not have him scream from the pain. Closing his eyes tightly, he reached over to where he had dropped the man, reaching forward to tear whatever ropes Meg might have used to bind him, before his voice rasped to life, gritting his teeth to bear down from the pain.
“Run, you idiot. Run.”
And that was right before Jinx caught him on the shoulder.
Ruby on the other hand, stared up at Meg. She didn’t know how far back Meg’s memories went, but there had to be some things she couldn’t access. She started sending out a mental S.O.S again, but this time in Gaelic, an old dead language that very few people still remembered, but that wasn’t exactly important at the moment. There was only one person she was looking to reach, and they would understand what she was saying.
Meg walked around her, hearing the call for help and while she didn’t know the words, she knew the intent. “You might want to rethink that before asking for help. It would be horrible if they happened to run into this...” She reached down to grab Ruby's knife, a sadistic pleasure reflecting in Ben's eyes.
Bobby, meanwhile, nodded and got up, starting to run. Jinx, however, made quick work of disabling Nicky before growling and appearing in front of Bobby, making the human start to back up away from him. After all, Jinx had sicced Nicky. Now he had to bring the old man back.
Getting chewed to pieces was not Nicky’s idea of a good time, but Jinx seemed to lose interest in him relatively quickly and move back on to Bobby. His head was spinning, trying to find a way to help the guy wind up not dead, but the only thing he could think of was imitating the voice of his master, giving him a slim to none chance that it might actually break Meg’s spell-whatever the hell she had done to him. He also really, really hoped that Dean and Alec sounded a lot alike, because Dean was the only one he’d really heard speak.
“Down, Jinx. Bad dog.” It was rough, raspy, and very much Winchester, so he figured it had to be worth a shot.
Ruby still continued to try and fight against the power pushing her down, wanting to get back up on her feet again and finish this fight face-to-face. Demons were cheap that way, always willing to take the easy way out and not get their hands dirty. Ruby loved to feel the grit of the battle between her fingers-maybe that was what made her different, and maybe it wasn’t, but it was enough to give her a small thrill of pleasure when she saw Felicia’s blade wrap around Ben’s neck from behind, blade pressing close to the skin, enough so that the slightest movement would probably nick him.
“Oh, trust me, darling,” Felicia purred, her free hand pushing Ben’s head back against her shoulder, leaving his neck open and bare. “You don’t want to run into mine either.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize this was going to be a coven meeting. So sorry I forgot my cauldron.” Meg smiled, which was funny with her position. “You’re going to want to rethink your actions, or can you not feel the reverb of your friend’s pain a few miles away?” ~Let me go~.
Jinx snarled, looking back at Nicky. The voice was right. But the face wasn’t. And he was supposed to only obey the one Sam told him to. It was that bit that got through to the hell hound and he stopped growling, then sat down. Now he remembered that Alec had wanted him to help. But why had he not?
Bobby just looked at the hell hound, then at Nicky. “Ok, what the hell is going on here?”
“Jinx-” Nicky rasped, starting to push himself to his feet. “Jinx was a gift from Sam. For Alec. After Meg kidnapped him the first time.” He pushed himself up, dragging his body back over towards the tree and propping himself up, trying to find the energy. “He’s supposed to protect the kid. But Meg’s got some kind of mind control bullshit going on, so the puppy just got a little confused.”
Felicia heard the command, and due to the level of power she was dealing with, she knew she would have to obey, but she did have enough power to know how to fight back. “You’re the one who failed to specify in what condition,” she murmured, before twisting the blade slightly, and started drawing it quickly across the boy's neck as she did, indeed, let go.
“Yeah, well next time remind me to tell Sam that pit bulls are a much better choice.” Bobby winced as he rubbed the back of his head. “Where is he anyway?”
They pulled up to the scene of the disaster at the end of ‘the nick of time’ and the beginning of ‘too late.’ Alec sometimes was damned fucking grateful for the X5 super vision. Sometimes it saves lives. Like right now. He didn't know what the sword held to Ben’s throat would actually do as he caught sight of it through the windshield, but anything sharp and pointing at his brother’s throat was bad. Especially if it had a nasty glow to it that was sharper than the blade it self. He didn’t wait for the car to even stop before he was out of it and heading toward Ben, moving so fast he was literally nothing but a blur.
Dean didn’t know what Alec had seen, but judging by the way he reacted it couldn’t have been good. He practically scrambled out of the car as soon as he could, grabbing the nearest shotgun and following Alec's lead, charging towards where Ruby, Ben, and the other demon were standing-and that was when he saw the sword slicing across his son’s neck. That was when his stomach dropped into his feet and he almost stopped right where he was standing, and his head started screaming Nononononononononono all over again.
Felicia spotted the blur coming, but she didn’t realize what it was. Confusion masked her features as she stopped, eyes trying to get a lock on what it was, but not removing the sword from Ben’s throat quite yet, waiting to see what would happen first. She didn’t know if this was Meg’s back-up or Ruby’s, and she needed to be sure before she continued.
Sam’s car screeched to a halt on the other side of the bridge and he also came barreling out, Colt in hand. The first thing he saw was Ruby on the ground, but Felicia stood over her, and while her back was to him, she must have had Meg because of the way the sword was being held.
Bobby was no where in sight and that made his stomach drop. But he could only pray for the best at this moment as he kept running. Maybe they could end this all here and now.
Meg, meanwhile, felt the sword slice into her skin and hissed, and she brought her hand up to push the blade away before it actually cut something that would kill Ben. She couldn’t afford for the boy to die, because if he was dead, then Sam and Dean would have nothing to hesitate against killing her. However, the fact that there were too many people here now made he lose her concentration enough that Ruby would be able to move again.
Holding Ruby’s knife with one hand, she brought the other to her neck to stop the bleeding. She also put her back to the bridge where a few miles below her the river rapids churned. “You should be more careful about hurting the merchandise, bitch,” Meg growled, taking in her odds. It was time to get the fuck out of here.
Oh, and there was a train coming. Five minutes or less. Which Bobby and Jinx worked to help Nicky out of the path of as they started to find someplace safe.
Alec halted directly in front of Meg-Ben and the other demon. With out pausing to give either of them time to react he simply yanked the bladed weapons out of their hands. He knew Ruby’s knife and the sword had the same glow to it, now that he saw them together. He didn’t want Meg having a weapon like that but he also sure as hell didn’t want some one else killing Ben with something similar. Then he backed away from them both. A knife he knew how to handle. A sword, not so much.
Sam skidded to a stop next to Ruby, the gun pointed up. He avoided looking at his brother at all costs... he knew that if he had to take Meg out, Dean would never forgive him. “Looks like you’re outnumbered, Meg. Where's Bobby?”
Meg smirked, looking at her bloodied hand before rolling her eyes at Sam. “Ask your watchdog. She had one of her friends take him away. Of course, it does depend on if the hound left anything of them to find.”
She took another step back, feeling her foot skirting the edge of the bridge. “Now the question is... you have me here. What are you going to do?” She turned her eyes to look at Dean a moment before looking back at Sam. “Because I really don't think you're going to shoot.”
No, Sam wasn't going to shoot. That was because Dean knew what he had to do within five seconds after Meg had said it. After all-this wasn’t about his family. This was about him, and what he needed to do to end this. And he wasn’t going to have the people he cared about suffering on his account any longer. If Meg wanted him, Meg was going to get him. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade, flicking it open and moving it up towards the tattooed seal that he’d had on his chest.
Ruby and Felicia both caught the movement, and then looked at each other. Ruby knew without even thinking it, and started to inch her way over towards Sam, while Felicia headed towards Alec, wanting to get her hands on one of the weapons in order to assist Dean in whatever way she could. Dean winced slightly as he sliced the knife across his skin and then looked back up at her.
“You want me, bitch? Come get me.”
“Dean no!” Sam shouted, making his way to push through. NO, this wasn't happening. Their father had done this, and they hadn't been able to kill the YED like that. And if Meg was in Dean, he knew he couldn't kill his brother.
Meg, meanwhile, tilted her head and smirked. Now this was tempting, and the conflicting thoughts that flowed off Sam to match were just too tempting. But there was that tiny worry that this was a trap. “I’m not stupid Dean. You being suicidal isn’t worth it for me.”
“Dad?” Like he couldn’t wrap his mind around this sort of stupid. “Dad, what are you doing?” He took a long step towards his father.
Felicia caught Alec around the waist as he started to move pulling him back away from the scene and starting to wrestle the knife and sword away from him. He may have been more than human, but she wasn’t human at all, and if she had to take him down the hard way, she would. This needed to be done. End of story.
“Read my mind, Meg. Read the mind if anybody here. Who’s going to have the chance to stick it to you once you’re in me?” Dean was gambling-he was gambling big time. But he really had no intention of killing her once she was in him. How was he going to? He was going to be possessed.
“He needs to do this, Sam,” Ruby muttered, taking the step between him and his brother. “You’ll deal.”
“Damnit Ruby get out of my way,” Sam ordered, pure pain in his eyes. Ruby had to know that if Meg was in Dean, she would win.
Meg watched and felt the chaos starting from the two Winchester men, and seeing the knife and sword fall to the ground. In the time it would take for the women to calm the men down enough to attack, she would be far gone... and in Dean Winchester to boot.
And if this was Ben’s powers... she would only imagine what Dean’s would feel like when they were activated.
“Deal.” And with that, she rushed out of Ben, the grey cloud of sulfur smoke aiming straight at Dean without a moment to give him a second thought.
Ben, free from Meg for the first time in almost a month, collapsed onto the bridge and looked up at his father with disbelieving eyes. The sounds of everyone's thoughts flooded his senses, but there was only one voice he was listening too.
A snarling growl crawled out of Alec’s throat, “Let me go.” It was an order. When she didn't respond immediately he took his feet up of the ground letting her hold all his weight. He drew his legs up, crooked his knees and slam both legs back with all the force as he had. He was not pulling the blow at all because she was going to let him go. Even if he had to splinter the bones in her legs to do it.
Felicia hadn’t been expecting that much force. Her legs gave out as the pain rippled through her, but the kitty cat wasn’t getting away that easily. She reached out, her powers grabbing him by the back of his collar and yanking him back towards her. He may have a lot of power, but she has experience on her side, and she knew how to keep people in line. Reaching forward, she got a hold of Ruby's knife and sent it scuttling across the bridge towards Ben, knowing that she was now out of the picture in that respect, and he was going to have to take it from there.
Ruby continued to stay between Sam and Dean, feeling the transfer from Ben to Dean. “Sam-don’t make me do this the hard way.” She didn't want to do it. She really didn’t. But she wasn’t going to fuck Dean’s plan-a good plan, for once-just because Sam was worried about losing his brother. As far as most of the underworld was concerned? Dean was overdue.
Meg settled into Dean’s shoulders, feeling herself start to adjust to the body. He wasn’t all that different from Ben in height and build, but he was filled out more, and there was more practice in the limbs, feeling the easy ache of experience and knowledge. Unlike Ben, Dean knew how to use this body. And that advantage wasn’t going to fail her. She turned to face Sam, licking her lips slightly as she blinked Dean's green eyes black, a self-confident smirk on her lips. She could just gloat a little bit before she was gone.
“Looks like I win.”
“I will kill you Ruby,” Sam snarled, but it was too late and he could feel it. He looked at the black eyes and knew that he didn’t even have enough focus to exorcise her. The Colt grew cold in his hand. It was an answer, but he just couldn’t do it.
Then Sam saw movement from the corner of his eyes. There was a flash of green spiked hair, and suddenly Ben stood up, Ruby’s knife flashing in his hands before he imbedded it deep into Dean's chest. “NOOO!”
Ben stared into Dean's eyes, a broken soldier following his father’s last order. The anger and pain Meg had caused him for over a month bled out in tears from his eyes as he sent the bitch to nothingness. His free hand wrapped around his father, holding him close as Ben searched Dean’s eyes to be able to see or hear him one more time.
Alec lashed out at Felicia one more time. He didn’t care where he hit her as long as it hurt. But then...it was over. The blood scent hit him and it smelled like family. He leaned forward quickly enough that he missed his own knees when he lost every thing he’d eaten in the last day. He hadn’t been aware of the fact that people had power just by virtue of the fact that they were alive. At least he hadn't realized until the light was gone.
For a long moment there was no thought in his head. Not one. He stared and the image cemented itself into his brain. He hadn’t thought much could match up with the hurt of Rachel dying or any of his siblings, but this got a place of honor at the top of the list. He stared and wondered why Ben was good enough for their father to die for but Alec didn’t rate enough for their father to live for. With that thought rage bubble up out of nowhere and he had to get out or there’d be more blood on the ground. He whistled sharply and then stood and calmly headed back towards the Impala. Jinx materialized at his side.
As soon as Jinx was gone, Nicky was stumbling back towards Felicia, watching her as she curled up in pain from the blows from Alec. He was doing better than he was earlier, but she was almost writhing. But she had kept the sword away from Alec, and that was all that mattered. He leaned forward, plopping himself down on the tracks next to her, sliding a protective arm across her waist. That train was still coming after all, and he was biding his time, saving up as much energy as he could for the last possible minute. Ruby was thinking a little faster, however, and made her way over to take them both away. The family needed some time together, and these demons weren’t necessarily part of that.
Dean didn’t have a lot of time between him and Meg, and he could feel himself slipping away even faster than he had anticipated. He didn’t want to die, not really-but he had dragged this out long enough. It was time for him to finally fulfill his end of the deal. There was a fleeting grasp of pride that Ben had done what he couldn’t, before he went limp against the train tracks, his eyes going blank just as quickly as Meg had disappeared.
“Dad no... please...” Ben knew it was futile, but he just clung to Dean’s shirt as he collapsed against him.
Sam had come over and fell on his knees next to Ben, his face crumpled in pain and loss. A hand went gently onto Ben’s back, knowing that the kid really had had no choice, and the other laced through Dean’s hair.
The sound of the train grew loud as it made it’s final turn around the bend. Sam looked up and he didn’t even need to raise his hand. He just glared at the train and there was a loud screech as he forced the train to stop, resisting the forward motion of the engine. The back cars derailed a bit... not enough to kill anyone but that train was NOT going to disturb them.
“Damnit, Dean,” Sam muttered, lowering his head again to rest against his brother’s. “You're not supposed to die on me...”
Alec stood at the passenger door of the car, face so calm that he looked cold. He heard the screeching of the train and just couldn’t bring himself to care. At all. His father was dead. The first person to ever really love him was dead. And it felt like maybe he hadn’t loved him enough if Dean could just…leave him that easily. Which wasn’t fair, and Alec knew it. He hated despair. He never knew what to do with it. His two impulses were either to kill himself or someone else. So this time he ran.
He waved Jinx into the passenger seat, the closed the door. He circles around and settled into the drivers seat and then pulled that door closed as well like he could trap the lingering scent of his father in there with him. For a long moment he rested his head against the steering wheel and thought about how he should be at least crying but when he couldn’t manage that he just started the car. They had left it so quickly that the keys were still in the ignition. Alec put the car into gear and hit the gas. He couldn’t kill and he couldn’t cry, but for once he could damned well run.
The sound of the Impala leaving made Sam lift his head. He just wanted to lay there and not move, but he knew he had to. And he had to get Ben somewhere safe. And get Dean’s body. “Come on, Ben. We have to move,” Sam said, trying to find some anger inside of him to use as strength. He stood up, grabbing Dean and putting him in his arms. He then shifted to carrying Dean's dead weight with one arm, taking the second to help his nephew up and towards his car. Ben was a mess, and when those people started to come off the train, Sam knew the kid wouldn’t know how to block his power.
Bobby was just coming around the bend by Sam’s car when he saw them and stopped. “My god...what happened?” he asked, looking at Ben cautiously before locking eyes with Sam.
“We lost.”