there are prizes all around you if you're wise enough to see

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[abad_influence]

[The gun comes up immediately when Dean turns, gritting his teeth as he holds his stance steady, but not ready to shoot, not yet.]

Ah-ah. Don't go yet.

[Sam does put himself between the gun and Elena, drawing his own weapon to add to the Mexican standoff happening, but Lucas just darts his eyes between the two of them, wanting to see if he can figure out where the attack will come from first.]

Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on.

[cholesterol]

( Dean flinches, feeling his brother beside him, but keeps his hands up. He steps closer, too, to fully block Elena behind him and Sam. )

You tell me, Quickdraw.

( he squints, though, one hand still wrapped around the call he hopes is answered some time soon. )

Where'd you even come from?

[abad_influence]

Fuck if I know. I woke up in the back, and all that was here was a body on fire and she's bleeding which kind of screams ritual to me.

[He glances between the three of them, and he tries to reprocess the previous conversation before Dean turned around.]

Did you say Sullivan before?

[cholesterol]

Not our ritual, buddy.

( But, this guy is in the know, so it means maybe they can find common ground. Narrowing his eyes, he weighs his options. )

Michael. Sullivan.

( He keeps back Evelyn for now. )

Why? ( Wait a second. There's a family resemblance there, between Evelyn and Michael and Cooper. ) What's your name?

[abad_influence]

[There's a moment where he's thrown because his father shouldn't be here. His father wouldn't have done this. Not the man who browbeat into them their entire lives that no life was worth a demon deal.

Lucas was dead, he was supposed to stay dead, that's what dead things do. He glances from Dean to Sam to Elena, poking her head out from around the corner and they all seem sincere.

He relents, but he doesn't lower the weapon.]

Lucas.

[Sam's eyes widen in recognition. "Shit."]

[cholesterol]

( Dean looks back at Sam. )

You think Sullivan and his wife relived his death, too?

( he shares a look, 'what do you think is waiting in the other tunnel. is it possible? do they have marks, too' he regards Lucas again. )

My name is Dean Winchester, this is my brother Sam. My girlfriend, Elena. Our dad and I worked with yours when you were young. He's here with your mom. There's a twin tunnel going in the other direction. We can take you to them.

[abad_influence]

My mom's here?

[It comes out of him involuntarily. He should probably try and play it smarter, but it's been a long time since he's seen her, and she's also the last person he expects to be considering.

He's also realizing that he stole a gun off a Winchester, and he probably should just be grateful he hasn't gotten shot yet.

Elena, on the other hand, is doing the math, and when two and two eventually gives her four, her eyes widen. "Oh, god."

And she turns and takes off down the tunnel, trying to find her way to the other side.

In the meantime, Sam will be the smart hunter and fish out the holy water silver flask and toss it to him. "You know the drill."]

[cholesterol]

And your dad. Not your brother.

( Because he does know your brother. Tried to step to him, but, he's a good kid. )

Sam.

( Dean knows the drill, too, but he'd bet money it's more complicated than shifter or ghoul - and either way, Sam will get his gun back because Dean turns tail and follows behind her. )

[disputable]

( Sam and Lucas make it out of the first tunnel as Evelyn darts out of theirs. She stops short, briefly, at the entrance, because it's her son, and he's alive, and standing there. She laughs, tears welling up under her eyes, as she closes the distance between them completely and she holds her first born close.

Her laughing cascades into a cry as all of her emotions crash out at once. )

[abad_influence]

[Sam tested to make sure he was human and once it was settled that they were on the same side, he gave Sam Dean's gun back. Sam wasn't likely to let him keep it, even if they don't seem out of the woods yet.

He doesn't like it, feels a little naked without a single weapon on him, but then they round a corner and his mother is right there, in front of him, just like Sam said she was.

His breath hitches and he can barely get a word out before she pulling him in, and he can't but melt into it, feelings that he has no idea how to process surging to the surface as he buries his face in her shoulder.]

I'm sorry, Mom.

[disputable]

( she gains her composure back, because he's in her arms. she turns her head, giving him another squeeze before leaning back. )

No. You have nothing to be sorry about. You hear me?

[abad_influence]

[It kind of feels like he does. That he was stupid and got himself in a situation that ended in his death - that feels like it should be his fault. He promised her he would come back and he didn't.

You should apologize when you break a promise to your mom, even if it's one he didn't have control over whether or not he kept it.]

Is Coop okay?

[He remembers slipping his brother the address because something just didn't feel right but if he got Coop killed too ...]

[disputable]

He's okay. He survived, he wasn't - I don't know everything, only that he saw it happen. But, he's good. He's good now. He's doing really good. He misses you. We all do.

( she can get into his personal life later. and they need to tell him. )

And nobody blames you.

[abad_influence]

[Lucas nods at that, not really sure what to say, or how to even process if this is real. He feels like he's trapped in some kind of fever dream, and you're not supposed to have those when you're dead. Instead, he just looks back at Sam, because he's the only objective party in the room.]

What next?

[Sam takes a deep breath. "I'm going to check and see if we need to obtain another car, and we're going to get the hell out of here." He then nods to the space behind Evelyn. "And you're going to see your dad."

Lucas isn't sure he wants to see his dad right now, but it's too late and Michael rounds the corner, laying eyes on his son and finding himself frozen in his tracks, not sure what to do next.]

[disputable]

( She steps aside. )

Go.

( She watches as Lucas manages to make it over to him. In the meantime, she has amends to make, so she finds Ezra leaning against the wall between the two cave openings.

"I owe you an apology," she admits.

"It's okay. I understand," he makes sure to add. "I've been slapped before," he says, brushing it off. Evelyn then moves forward. He flinches before being embraced. Oh. Okay. That he can, do. And he pats her back. )

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam also steps away to give Lucas and Michael some privacy, and as he looks over the car options they have, he tips his head towards Evelyn with a frown.]

How many can you seat in your truck?

[disputable]

( Evelyn sniffs, wiping the her nose with the back of her hand. She rubs it against her jacket, clearing her throat. Right. )

Three in the front, up to five in our truck bed if we were on the backroads of Texas. Not across state lines.

[imnot_likeyou]

[He nods because yeah, this going to be a tight fit. Sam then pauses, and turns a curious expression back to Ezra:]

Do you have a spell that could ... make more room?

[Can you make a TARDIS car? Curious minds would like to know.]

[praevaricatio]

( He's heard stories of Dean's codependency to his car, but, this is a real spell, Sam.

He could also clown car the Sullivan's truck, but, this feels more like a thing. )

I could clown car the Impala.

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam takes a deep breath, before glancing back to the entrance of the caves and looking for any sign of his brother.]

Let me talk to Dean.

[By which he means let's see if he can talk Dean into this.]

If not, I'll see if Mary's close by.

[praevaricatio]

( Evelyn rolls her eyes, stretching each arm across her elbows. She's a little too stiff for her own comfort from the past twenty minutes and she likes to remain loose at all times. Limber. But, before she bounds away to her husband and now alive adult son,

"If Dean won't, we will. If your clown car spell works on three-seater trucks."

If not, guess it's Mary or bust? She leaves Ezra with Sam for the moment as the other group makes their way through the dark passage with Dean's flashlight.

Ezra regards Sam. )

Elena's parents are alive.

[imnot_likeyou]

Yeah.

[Sam isn't going to be the person to gauge how she's feeling about that, but he knows she's definitely rattled by it all. Especially given who Grayson Gilbert was before he died and all the things he doesn't know about what happened to Elena.]

Do you know anything about how? There has to be some kind of catch, right?

[praevaricatio]

I think the catch is, Hernandez has made three new bodies, should anything happen to hers.

( It's the only explanation as to the two other bodies disintegrating into nothing. )

That spell is meant to act as a mirror. I've never seen it used like this, but, it claws at someone lost to the subject. Sometimes, with no more consequence than, this'll distract 'em. And sometimes, with a mission in mind. Do I think they're double agents and don't know it, no. But, I told Elena, I'll do all the diagnostics I can. First thing I would check? Their backs.

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam nods.]

We'll get them back to the bunker, and then we'll see what we can learn.

[And he'll ... probably text Rowena on the drive, tbh. She's going to be sick of him by the time all this is said and done.]

It's a long drive but we're not really going to have any privacy until then.

[praevaricatio]

( Rowena could never be sick of her Samuel. )

Nor is this a first person, Impala's gone wild, so, with you there.

( And because this budding friendship still needs several years of time, probably, everyone is interrupted as Elena and her father help her mother out of the second passageway with Dean not far behind. )