[AU] two worlds, a lot of demons, and a new set of problems

[gavemea_45]

It's still hard to believe it's over; that the yellow-eyed demonic bastard they'd spent their whole lives hunting is finally dead.

Sam figures it'll sink in eventually. Given everything else -- right now he's still pretty numb.

He's also desperately tired, but that doesn't matter. There's something he needs to do, and he can't afford to delay.

He waits until they've settled in for the night, and then waits still longer. Once Dean's been asleep for half an hour, Sam picks up his messenger bag -- already stuffed with books and his computer -- and heads straight for the bar.

He orders black coffee and snags a table with a good view of both doors and the stairs, then pulls out the first of the old texts and starts to search through it.

There's work to do.

Comments

[gavemea_45]

It’s obvious she has no idea what he means. Wynonna hadn’t either, so he can’t say he’s surprised.

Sam leans down to relieve the waitrat of its burden and sets the tea in front of her before taking a sip of his coffee. “A demon hunter,” he clarifies. “Among other things.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Oh," Waverly says, then: "ohhhhhhhh."

Oh, that's... good? Is it good? She reaches for her tea, absently. "So I guess you and Wynonna realized you have something in common."

[gavemea_45]

“Pretty much. She said I had something in common with you, too,” Sam observes. “That you did a lot of the research.”

He nods to her bodiless companion. “So what’s the deal with the skull?”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"To be honest, I'm not sure."

She reaches to pick up the skull, her fingers splaying over the smooth bone, and turns it in her hand. "I found it after I deciphered a code from a poem my Uncle Curtis wrote for me before he died. He'd hidden it at Shorty's – the saloon he owned."

Waverly shrugs and holds it out for Sam's perusal. "There was a note with it that said I am now the keeper of the bones... whatever that means."

[gavemea_45]

“Oh, that’s not ominous at all,” Sam drawls. “Nice code breaking, though.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Well, it was either a really bad poem, or a halfway decent code," she says, laughing.

"The note mentioned the blacksmith. But I only just found it, so I don't know what she might have to do with it yet."

[gavemea_45]

After glancing at her for permission, Sam reaches to take the skull and examine it. “Anything unusual about it?”

[totalitarstupetballs]

Waverly shrugs. "It's a skull that was hidden inside an old piano in a saloon and that I inherited from my dead uncle," she says. "Does it need to get more unusual than that?"

[gavemea_45]

"Hopefully not," Sam drawls. He turns it over in his hands and runs his fingertips lightly over the surface, looking for anything hidden inside, any carved sigils or runes, anything unusual.

"Sounds like your family's as quirky as mine."

[totalitarstupetballs]

There's nothing beneath his fingers aside from old bone, yellow with age. Waverly rests her chin on her hand as she observes his study, then gives him a wry look. "Well, who needs to corner the market on quirkiness, anyway?"

[gavemea_45]

He can't find anything unusual about it, and passes it back to her.

Sam smiles a little, quick and bright. "It's probably not a great market, anyway."

[totalitarstupetballs]

She sets the skull aside and smiles at him, crinkle-eyed and warm. "Not so much," she agrees. "Although it is very cool to have a superhero for a big sister. That part, I don't mind keeping."

[gavemea_45]

“Superhero, huh?” Sam grins. “Now I have to introduce her to my brother. And you, too.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Superhero," Waverly says, firmly. However Wynonna might feel about it, she knows her big sister has what it takes.

Her smile brightens. "What's your brother like?"

[gavemea_45]

“A lot like Wynonna,” Sam says. “In his way, but still.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Sounds like a handful," she says, grinning. "Maybe we should compare notes."

[gavemea_45]

He grins back. “Works for me. So what’s it like in the Triangle with your sister?”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Honestly?"

She thinks about being kidnapped by revenants, nearly hanged, forced to confront her own envy of Wynonna. "I'm just happy she's back," she says, finally. "She left such a long time ago. I'd lift the curse if I could, but... I can't be sorry that it brought her back home to me."

[gavemea_45]

He’s pretty sure there’ll never not be a time when he doesn’t feel guilt for leaving the way he did, but Waverly’s words definitely cause a swell of it. “I can see that,” he murmurs. “Sounds like it’s a hard place to be, with the seventy-seven and all.”

He breathes carefully and adds, “And I know I’d miss Dean if he weren’t around.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

Waverly nods, her eyes full of wry sympathy. "I know why she left," she says. "It was hard for her, after everything that happened. But she didn't have to leave me, you know?"

[gavemea_45]

“If I had to guess,” he murmurs, “I’d guess she felt she couldn’t stay, and that you’d be okay without her.”

He shrugs. “Not saying she was right. Just saying I’ve been there.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Everyone was awful to her," she says. "And I know she felt so guilty. SO maybe it was easier for her to run away."

She gives him a wry smile. "I understand it. I just didn't like it."

[gavemea_45]

“I can see that.” Sam takes a swallow of his coffee. “She’s here, by the way.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

Waverly blinks at him. "What, like right now? Here, here?"

[gavemea_45]

“Upstairs here,” Sam clarifies. “This is a bar and a hotel, basically. Between worlds. It’s weird, I know, but you get used to it. Anyway, time doesn’t pass back home for most people when you’re here, so she’s catching a few winks before heading back.”

He decides to leave out just how much they’d had to drink.