for the rest of us death will be a relief

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[decoys]

[Jo blinks because she doesn't know how to take that statement. She holds up her hands before tipping her head to the side, restudying her mother.]

Wait, wait. What do you mean "wasn't in this reality"?

[She feels an uncomfortable churning in her stomach, as though Ellen is trying to tell her something she doesn't fully understand.]

[demonhuntersquarterly]

( Ellen steels herself, and looks back at them. )

So, I see my boys still haven't figured out basic communication in their intervening years. ( She sucks in a big inhalation before turning back. ) Joanna, last I knew, you were in California, and I was in Sioux Falls, at Bobby's. In a reality created by a mischievous angel goin by the name of Balthazar. He saved some big hunk of ship metal goes by the name of the Titanic. Last I knew, he was going to reverse his big faux pas and I was looking at not existing. Not this me. And Castiel told me I don't exist on this Earth. And I know what that means, baby.

[decoys]

[In Sam's defense, he didn't know that this Ellen was the other Ellen.

But yes, blame the other two, they're terrible boys.

Jo takes all this information in and on the one hand it's a relief, to know that there's a world where her mother didn't die brutally and terribly. But then she immediately takes umbrage with that phrasing because:]

You existed.

[She takes a breath before looking down at the ground.]

We just ... died.

[demonhuntersquarterly]

( They mean well, they do, but they are walking headaches. And, she's about to curse their namesakes. Something is happening. But this is between her and her daughter. )

Well. ( What do you say to that? ) We both know there are no guarantees in life. ( And they know where their jobs could lead them. ) We go down, guns blazing?

[decoys]

[Jo nods, before swallowing.]

We were in Carthage, trying to help the boys make a run at Lucifer. There were hellhounds, and they cut me up pretty bad. But the boys set up some explosives, and we were going to have me lure in as many as I could. You stayed with me. We went out together.

[As they were always bound to. This is the life they chose, and they were always going to go out guns blazing.]

[demonhuntersquarterly]

Thank you for telling me. But, this ain't Carthage. And until we get real answers, I'm treating this like you should. More time with my daughter.

( But swap daughter and mother. It'll be time together. Mor time with Ellen and time with Jo closer than California. )

[decoys]

[Jo nods with a small smile, even if she can't help but feel like another shoe is going to drop.]

I'll feel better when I know that there isn't some terrible price waiting on the other side.

[Once they've confirmed that someone isn't dying on her behalf, she'll feel better.]

[demonhuntersquarterly]

We pay for it one way or another. ( She will kick someone's ass if she has to. ) That werewolf we left back in New Orleans, she wasn't kept well. She was weak. Stumbling. I can only imagine how others are showing back up. We're the lucky ones.

[decoys]

[Jo's brow furrows, trying to figure out what the difference was. Why she didn't show up with her shirt covered in blood and jagged holes in her? Is it because she remembers Osiris?]

Is she alright? The werewolf. Is she with safe people?

[demonhuntersquarterly]

Cas connected her with other wolves. I can't see him sticking her with a pack he doesn't trust. If not him, the boys. I'll check up on her.

( She'll get around to it. )

How are you? You off at all?

[decoys]

Other than having a heartbeat and occasionally forgetting to breathe?

[Which is off for her normal sense of things, at least from what she can remember.]

I could eat, actually.

[Now that her body has remembered she needs to fuel herself.]

Maybe the boys can take us through a drive through.

[demonhuntersquarterly]

Get something greasy under your gills.

( She's getting her sea legs back. )

I had dinner, but I could eat again. Dean!

( Finally, she brings him back into the conversation. )

We're hungry. What's the ETA on leaving this bloody menagerie?

[decoys]

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

[She turns to glance towards Dean, who seems frazzled and tired, so while Jo doesn't think she needs to sleep, she hopes he gets to soon.]

These witches are starting to give me the willies.

[demonhuntersquarterly]

You and me both, they're all so... organized.

( And being ordered around by the scary brunette with the bob.

"We got a few more things going here, but," Dean says, handing Jo the keys. "You can hang outside for the time being." )

[decoys]

[Jo takes the keys before nodding.]

Alright. We'll be there.

[And somewhere not there but close enough, Sam settles back into the car next to Allison and nods as he drops a pin for Dean, Jeremy and Stefan so they know where to come.

"Rooms are all booked, and I have the keys so once everyone gets here we can get everyone settled."]

[matriarchate]

( Allison sticks close to Sam, waiting for them to be away from the others to ask the pertinent questions. She sees there's pain in Jo's and her mother's return, but focuses on finding rooms for everyone. Between her and Sam, it's mostly Sam - her choices are closed or there are no vacancies, he gets enough rooms for everyone.

Allison has pushed herself onto the hood, laying back against the windshield.

They far enough away from commercial properties that stars illuminate her boyfriend. Only the glow of his phone shows his expression. )

Come up here with me. We have a little time.

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam nods before doing as he asked, stretching out next to her and taking a deep breath as he stares up at the stars. He's trying to relax, but his brain is buzzing with too many questions. He's worried about Jo, he's worried about a lot of things, and he wasn't kidding about pretending to sleep tonight.]

Have you heard anything about any of your people showing up?

[matriarchate]

Yeah, There's someone we knew back in high school, she was in New Orleans with Ellen.

( She doesn't need to speak ill of Derek out loud, because the story won't be kind to him. He tried to be the alpha for the wrong reasons in the wrong ways. Maybe Erica was a victim of that. And Boyd. But, she would never say it out loud, and doesn't even know if she believes it. )

And someone else in Beacon Hills, but Malia is being cagey about it. She told Cora to go with Stiles to the sheriff's station. Caroline's mom and Elena's aunt are also there.

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam nods.]

Seems like there's something for everyone. I just wish we knew how or why.

[That way they could either brace themselves or know whether or not there are further consequences coming down the line.]

[matriarchate]

We will find the answer, and because it won't be, druids, I'm probably not the person to talk about how or why.

( But, she's not on the hood of this car to talk about druids and emissaries. )

But, if you want, you can tell me about Jo.

[imnot_likeyou]

[He nods slowly, keeping her eyes on the stars.]

We met her and Ellen not long after my dad died. Apparently he and her dad used to hunt together and Dad was on the hunt that went bad and got Bill killed, but we didn't know that at the time. They had a Roadhouse out in the midwest which basically functioned like a hunter bar. People could drop in, swap information, gather backup for jobs, that kind of thing.

[He sets his jaw.]

Jo always wanted to hunt. And she was good, too. Her mom didn't want her to because of what happened to her father. She would sneak out to join us on jobs and we would get so much shit from her mom but she wanted to do the job. Do the research, solve the puzzle. But she got caught in the tidal wave of bullshit that was our lives at the time and ... it had an undertow most people don't really escape. Both she and her mom died trying to help us, and ... I don't know. The play didn't even work, so it's one of those things where it wasn't even worth trying. I would have rather kept my friend.

[He then shakes his head.]

That year was a bad one. It felt like we couldn't get ahead no matter what we did.

[matriarchate]

The deck was stacked against the both of you, it sounds like for a long time, even after that terrible year. Dean. And you.

( And that undertow brought everyone else in. )

And you didn't force her to help you. It was her idea, wasn't it, whatever... she didn't escape.

[imnot_likeyou]

She was dying anyway, at that point.

[Not the main plan, the main plan was all them.]

We were taking a run at Lucifer. He was doing some kind of ritual in Carthage. Murdered an entire town to try and summon Death. We had the Colt, a gun that was said to be able to kill anything. We were going to try and get him with it, and Ellen, Jo and Bobby were backing us up. We got pretty far in, but ... we didn't see the hellhounds.

[You can't see them. They're invisible, obviously.]

They cut Jo up pretty bad. She didn't have a lot of time left. Had a bright idea to lure in the hounds, because once they got your scent they didn't stop until you were dead. Had us build her a bomb that she could set off while we went after Lucifer. Ellen refused to leave her alone.

[He shakes his head.]

We made it to Lucifer, and Dean shot him. Got him right between the eyes. And then Lucifer just got up and laughed it off, and ... there were so many people in that grave next to him. An entire fucking town.

[It's no mystery, when he looks back on that year, why Sam eventually said yes. Why he realized that it was the only way out of the anchor that kept dragging him and Dean down. The real miracle is that Sam managed to do what he needed to do.]

He predicted exactly when I would say yes that night. Like it was inevitable.

[matriarchate]

( Her eyes find him as he tells the story, letting him finish it before she says anything else. )

He may have predicted when you'd say yes, but he wasn't right about everything. And he didn't win, even if he did then and there. I know there's a lot more and Lucifer kept coming back in one form or another, but he's gone now. And Ellen and Jo are back, whatever that means for them. Jo is a hero. And Ellen died with her daughter. Which was her choice. And Lucifer... got the last laugh then. But, not forever. For what it's worth, I'm really sorry, Sam. Everything I hear about that year... Everything was designed against you. Your failures. Your loopholes. Your last ditch efforts. And the people you lost. But, those people went on their terms. Jo. Ellen. If that isn't one big middle finger.

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam nods slowly, hearing what she's saying even if he can't say he feels it. He doesn't feel the guilt his brother does, his own suffering balancing some of those scales. But he can't say it doesn't suck all the same.]

Well, now they're back. And we have to figure out why, but they're them and they're not ghosts designed to fuck with us, so at least that's a step in the right direction.

[He nods.]

It's good. I know it is. I'll get there.

[Once the shock wears off.]