Chapter Text
It was December, winter break, and he was home for the holidays.
He hated college more than anything, but his mom wanted him to get at LEAST a bachelor's degree...and it wasn't all bad. Plenty of weed and women, right?
And he loved his mom, but there was one thing no one knew about Ben Braeden.
He hunted monsters!
...well, he studied monsters, but same difference!
There was something in his brain- since that car accident he got into with his mom…and it told him monsters were real.
Some nights felt like he unlocked secret memories, flashes of black eyes, and being told about salt and sigils. The feeling of holding a gun in his hand each time he practiced at the shooting range.
He wanted more, but he could never find where to start.
Something just told him that he was meant for it, though. Meant to hunt monsters and save people. It ran in his blood.
Which was why he wanted to find his dad, too.
Yeah, childish, but whatever. He hadn't been curious until he started to notice weird holes in his memories- forcefully blocked out by his mind like a burnt photograph. Ones he didn't understand but he knew he needed to.
His mom never believed him when he said he needed to find those memories, and find his dad. He knew she was scared, because she had the same thoughts, too.
It wasn't until he was doing deep diving in his room last year that he discovered a case- multiple people found dead in his city, with their throats torn out by teeth.
This was it. It had to be a monster.
When he went to investigate, he posed as an interviewer at the morgue for a newspaper...it just felt right to do.
Which was why he felt a jolt of fear at the sight of an FBI agent.
She was pretty, curly, blonde hair...soft face, and layers upon layers of eyeliner. She wasn't really his type, but she knew style.
He couldn't help but feel suspicious at the questions she was asking, though
“All these victims, they were tied up, yes?”
“Y-yes...the bruising on their wrists indicates a sign of being tied up.”
The girl snapped her gum. “Any teeth found in the skin?”
“N...no. Aren't you a little young to be an FBI agent?”
“You flatter me.” The blond winked at her. “Anything else of note?”
“N-no.”
“Thanks very much!” She snapped her gum again, and like that, she tucked out of the morgue.
Bens curiosity was never higher.
Once he followed her outside, he ganged up.
“Hey, girl!”
She turned around and glared at him, looking him up and down. She then gave a chuckle.
“Oh honey, I don't swing that way.”
“Wh- im not-“ Ben blinked. “In the morgue, why were you asking questions like that?”
She blinked, and let out a laugh.
“Son, you shouldn't be asking shit like that to an FBI agent.”
“You don't look FBI.”
She rolled her eyes, reaching inside her coat and taking out her badge- showing it to him.
...looked legit.
“Could be fake.”
“Kid, what do you want.”
“Hey! I'm probably older than you!”
“How old are you?”
“21.”
“Nice try. I'm about to turn 22.”
“HAH!” Ben perked up. “YOU'RE FAKING IT! FBI AGENTS NEED TO BE 23!”
The girl's eyes widened, and she looked around wildly before walking towards him.
“Shut up!”
“Not until you tell me why you were asking those questions!”
Then they just stared at each other.
“...how'd you get here, kid?”
“Uber, and stop calling me kid.”
She took a pair of keys out of her pocket.
“Come with me.”
“What?”
“Come with me if you want to live just do it you doofus.”
She strode over to the front of her truck, popping open the driver's seat. Ben assumed he was meant to go in the passengers, so he hopped in, and they both shut their respective doors.
She rustled through the glove box where he was sitting and pulled out a flask and a shot glass. Before he could say anything, she was pouring some out and handed him the glass.
“Take a fuckin sip.”
Ben's eyebrows went up. “It's only 2 pm.”
“Just down it, idiot.”
Ben stared at her and knocked it back.
...it was just water.
“...what was the point of that?”
“It's a test.” She trifled through the glovebox some more, grabbing a silver necklace. “Hold this.”
“Okay.”
He did. She nodded when nothing bad happened, and swiped the necklace away.
“Cool. One more thing.” She took out a small bottle of what smelled like soap. “Hold out your hands.”
“Okay?”
She squirted some... borax in his hands.
“Hmm, gross!”
“Okay, you're cool.” She closed the glovebox and turned the key in the car. Ben sat there holding borax still. “Let's roll.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Novak, Claire Novak. And if you turn out to be a cop, I'll be having pig roast for dinner.”
Ben was...still holding the borax in his hands. “I'd never be a cop.”
“Keep it that way.” She pulled out from the side of the road, now driving through the street. “You a hunter?”
“Hunter?”
“Yeah.”
“Uhh…” he clicked his tongue. “I shot a bird on accident with my bb gun...we took it to the vet, though, and it's fine.”
And Claire, the mother fucker, started laughing.
“So let me get this straight-'' she shook her head, focusing on the road. “You knew my questions were off, but you aren't a hunter?”
Ben blinked. “What do you mean?”
Claire turned to smirk at him at a red light.
“I'm hunting vampires.”
Since then, Ben has been busting his ass trying to study up and train. He wanted to kill monsters, he knew it was his destiny.
No matter how much Claire said it would ruin his life. That may be so, but he knew it would also give it purpose.
So here he was- 22 and busting his ass on another book about monsters. It was nearly Christmas, and his favorite thing to do was sit by the fire with another lore book while his mom brought them both hot cocoa.
“So what's the monster of the week, hmm?” She spoke as she set down his mug. Ben smiled back up at her.
“Demons- their lore kinda varies the most.” He looked back down at his book, turning a page. “I want to be precise with my knowledge.”
His mother let out a laugh, ruffling his hair.
“Whatever you say!” She smiled, walking over and sitting down on the recliner. “I remember when I bought you your comics about Cthulhu.”
“Yeah?” Ben laughed. She sighed lovingly.
“You had to be around 10 at the time- me and…” she trailed off, her eyes glazing over for a second. “I was at a comic store asking what was hot with the kids, and the guy pointed me towards Cthulhu.”
“Good choice, then,” Ben nodded. “He guessed well.”
“Yeah, he did.”
This was something frequent between them, they would trail off, suggesting an absent figure in their life, before quickly brushing it off. His mom pretended to not at all be bothered, but Ben was.
“Hey, mom?”
“Hm?”
“Have we ever tried to get me a DNA test?”
She eyed him. “You get a DNA test if you want, I'm not gonna bother.”
“Why not?” He furrowed his brows. “Don't you want to know?”
“Know what?”
“Who my dad is?”
She looked back at her mug of cocoa, silent for a moment.
“...Ben, I raised you by myself. I don't need to find out who to blame for it because I never minded it for a second.”
“But aren't you curious!?” Ben sat up, now, furrowing his brows. “It's my dad!”
“Whoever it is obviously isn't a father, because he didn't do jack to raise you!”
“Maybe he doesn't know!”
“So you want to bombard his life telling him you're his son!?”
“Yes!”
Ben stood up, laying his book face down and staring at his mother.
“Because I deserve to know!” He hunched his shoulders. “You may be able to forget about some one night stand, but it's what made me!”
She flinched, and Ben realized he was being too harsh.
“... I'm just gonna go read in my room, okay?”
She had her hand cupped over her mouth.
“Okay, Ben.”
Feeling guilt boil over, he grabbed his book and stormed upstairs.
Okay, yeah, he felt like shit, but he was right.
…
Claire chewed at the cap of her pen, blinking down at the paper splayed out in front of her.
A list of notes- cattle deaths, sudden disappearances...slit throats. All signs of demons in Cicero, Indiana.
She rubbed at her temples. This would take backup, which was exactly why she was at the bunker.
That, and she...was kinda worried about Dean.
It wasn't until she felt familiar, soft hands on her shoulders that a small laugh rumbled in her chest.
“You're overworking yourself, Claire.”
She looked up to see her face, a smile placed on it and curls falling over her sleepy eyes.
“Well, then why don't you distract me, Kaia?”
Kaia let out a laugh, laying her arms over Claire's shoulders and resting her chin on the top of her blonde little head.
“Cause I'm tired of you complaining while we kiss.”
“How can I complain when my mouth is on yours?”
“Cause you don't shut up.” Kaia sighed dreamily. Claire let out a row of cackles.
“You're a dickhead, you know that?”
“I'm aware.” Kaia kissed the top of Claire's head.
There were footsteps, and the two looked over to see Jack.
He put on a smile, sharply raising his hand up in greeting like he always did.
“Hello!”
“Heyy Jack.” Claire smirked at her brother. It was weird at first, the guy who was technically her brother was god, but once she got to know him, he was simply a weird little kid in an oversized body who desperately pretended not to have the ability to shatter the universe.
“Sup.” Kaia finger gunned. “You and Sam bring back McDonald's?”
“No,” said a bigger, rougher voice as the absolute giant moose of a Sam Winchester entered the library. “But we brought salad.”
Claire tilted her head back, Kaia backing up as she let out the biggest, most teenage-girl-esq groan she could muster. Sam simply replied with a laugh.
“Don't worry, I have ranch.”
“You're obnoxious.”
“Im healthy.”
Kaia sat down next to Claire at the table, and Sam set down the bags of food as Jack also took a seat.
Sam grabbed one of the boxes, clearing his throat a bit as he backed up from the table.
“Gonna go give this to Dean.”
Right...Dean.
Claire was worried about him. According to Sam, he was just getting worse.
When Claire heard about how Cas died, she felt more devastated than she thought- and even more than she would like to admit.
It wasn't like when her mother died...no, that was different. That was a foreign feeling, she already killed off her mom in her mind after she left her to rot.
No, this felt more like when her father disappeared.
Castiel was never a replacement for her father, but he was certainly a father figure- just like Dean. So she was grieving, too. She couldn't imagine the pain Dean was going through.
They were…”best friends” as they put it, but everyone knew it was more than that. No one said it out loud, but everyone knew the way they looked at each other was special.
Even if they were not romantic, they were joined at the soul.
Claire first lost Kaia when they barely knew each other and it broke her.
She can't imagine what it would be like to lose her now, and they've only been dating for 3 months.
Sam trudged off into the catacombs of the bunker, and Jack looked at Claire from across the table.
“So! What'd you find?” Claire tried not to smile at the way he said so, it was alike to Sam and Dean.
She cleared her throat, looking through her notes again.
“Cattle deaths, missing people, and two dead bodies found with their throats slit.” She clicked her pen against the table, laughing a bit as Kaia reached over her to grab her salad. “You know what that adds up to?”
“Um,” Jack furrowed his brows a bit. “Sam and Dean told me they've had cases where Cattle get their blood drinken by vampires.”
Claire shook her head. “Demons, Jack.” She splayed out her hands on the table, grinning. “Dude, you're literally god, how do you not know this?”
Jack blinked. “I don't like cheating.”
Kaia shrugged as she focused on her salad as she poured ranch on it. “Nothing wrong with it once in a while, that's how I got through school.”
“Sam says that's bad.”
“Sam is a nerd who doesn't have ADHD like me or Kaia.” Claire snatched the ranch bottle from her girlfriend. “Don't use it all! I want some too.”
“You're gonna drown your salad.”
“Soup!” Claire smirked, opening the bottle and letting fucking loose.
Jack stared. “Isn't that unhealthy?”
“Alex says that we still get nutrients- there's no such thing as reversing it. We still get the same health from salad, we’re just adding other stuff.” Claire retorted. Jack nodded.
“That makes sense! Can I have some after you?”
Claire finished drenching her salad until it was floating, and handed it to Jack.
“Knock yourself out.”
Jack smiled and copied exactly what Claire did.
And with that, the ranch bottle was empty.
Claire started laughing. “Ohhohooo… Sams gonna be pissed.”
Kaia snorted. “Serves him right for getting us salad.”
Jack was shoveling the salad into his mouth, eyes lit up.
“It's good!”
“Exactly!” Claire pointed at him with her fork and started digging into her own.
Sam walked back into the room and froze in place.
“...what the hell happened to all the ranch?”
Jack looked at him.
“Soup!”
…
Nothing but his pounding heart, and a cold chill in the air.
The only thing he could see was blue, misty eyes that shone with a feeling he dare not mention.
“I love you.”
He felt his jaws catch on fire as he locked them, his heart stopping.
“Cas-“
“Goodbye, Dean.”
With that, he was thrown to the side, and he watched the empty take him.
Once he was gone, Dean let out a guttural scream.
“CAS!”
No answer.
Nothing but empty.
“CAS!!”
Dean shot awake, seeing Sam in his doorway.
“H-“ he blinked. “Hey- are you...okay?”
Dean realized he was sitting up, drenched in sweat, and groaned, rubbing at his eyes.
“Mmhmm.”
“Are you...sober?”
“Barely.”
He didn't look to see what face Sam was pulling. He knew it would be disapproval.
“Well, I-I, uh, Jack and I brought you dinner.”
He set down the plastic container on Dean's bed, who scowled up at him.
“Salad?”
“I-“ Sam shrugged. “Dean I'm gonna keep giving you salad until you get up and make your own greasy food.”
Dean rolled his eyes. He wanted to argue im hurt, Sammy, but he knew that wasn't true anymore.
The hunting accident with those vampire mime things fucked him up pretty bad- broke his ankle, by avoiding a nail in the barn and letting the masked asshole step on him as he tripped, but that was two months ago.
He had a brace on his ankle now, nothing more. He was healing fine but he didn't want to leave his room.
Next to him, Miracle sat up, sniffing at his meal, and shaking out his fur in disappointment. Dean laughed a bit.
“Yeah, me too, buddy.”
Sam stood there, and Dean eyed him for a moment before clearing his throat.
“Thanks for bringing this to me,” he muttered. Louder, he then said, “How're the girls doing?”
“Claire and Kaia are reviewing notes right now as they eat.” Sam toyed with the door handle. “They could use your help, you know.”
Dean was quiet for a moment.
“I'll go out after I eat.”
“Really?” Sam perked up, actually surprised.
“Yeah, and if you say a word more about it I'm shoving a burger in your mouth as you sleep.”
Sam laughed. “Okay, uh, well,” he pursed his lips a bit. “I better go make sure the kids aren't...yeah.”
With that, he was gone.
…
Ben heard a knock on his door and perked up a bit.
He cleared his throat after swallowing the lump in it.
“Come in.”
His mother entered the room, and they eyed each other for a moment.
Neither of them ever really got into fights- when they did, both of them felt overbearing guilt.
She walked in, sitting down on the bed and sighing softly.
“Look, Ben,”
“I'm sorry for being a dick to you.” Ben interrupted, looking at his book. He wasn't reading the words. “I didn't mean to, I just…”
There was silence for a moment, and his mom shrugged.
“No, you were right.” She spoke. “...tell you what, Friday I don't have work. We can go get a DNA test then, okay?”
Ben snapped his attention to her, eyes wide.
“Really?”
“Sure.” She shrugged, smiling. “I care about you, and I want you to know that. I may be afraid of what to find, but this is your issue, too.”
Ben smiled back at her. “Alright, thanks.”
She wrapped her arm around his shoulders, holding him close.
“Of course. Anything for my little boy.”