Chapter Text
The Maw rocked ever so slightly, never once being dislodged from the bottom of the sea, waiting ever so silently for the next batch to visit. The Hanging Man’s Room, as the children of The Maw took to calling it, was silent as well, but eerily different from how it was before. The room was dark as always, little to no light entering from the vent on the left and under the door on the right. The mattress below the vent was still sitting there, waiting to be used again, and the chair the Hanging Man had been theorized to have used in his last moments still stood beneath the swaying body of the tall man. The only thing on the floor, aside from the chair and mattress, was a letter. A letter that was thought to have held his reasons for such an action.
I look around the small room, which clearly isn’t the bunker. Running a hand through my short dirty blonde hair, I let out a heavy sigh.
“Where the Hell am I,” I say to the dimly lit room. My chest tightens at the realization that my brother and angel weren’t here.
“Castiel? Sam? You guys here?” I call out.
The memory of being in the middle of a hunt flashes back to me, the witch’s knife plunging into my flesh. Startled, I feel my stomach, feeling to see if the blood-soaked through my shirt or if the knife was still there. Nothing. I was healthy.
A child slid out of the vent, bouncing off of the mattress before glancing around and freezing. She, or at least it seemed like a young girl, stared at the blond. “Friend or foe,” she asked in a hoarse whisper.
“Uh, friend?” I gulp, trying to hide the uncertainty in my voice. “H-how did you-? Why were you in a vent?” I stutter, confusingly pointing to the vent the girl slid out of. I stand up shakily onto my feet, my boots echoing softly against the silver metal.
The girl looked him over, silently criticizing every detail. “Hiding.” She walked up to the door and jumped to reach the handle, it was set a few feet above her head, but she was unable to reach it. Humming, she started to drag the chair over.
“I can help.” I offer, stepping toward the door. I grab the door handle and twist it, hearing a faint click. “Besides, I need to get home to my family… Where are we anyway?”
The girl stopped dead in her tracks as the man opened the door.
“Are you alright?” I ask, taking a cautious look around the hallway outside the door. I don’t have a good feeling about this place at all. “Do you know if there are other people like me?” I turn around to face the little girl. Squatting to her level so she doesn’t feel scared of me, I soften my gaze and relax.
“A tall man with brown long-ish hair, and a shorter guy with a long trench coat and bright blue eyes?”
The girl pulled out a lighter to illuminate the darker areas of the new room, revealing the wooden floorboards to have some sort of black ink. “No,” she responded. “Monsters, though. Like nightmares.”
“What kind of monsters?” I ask, looking around the newly lit room. “Like, vampires? Or like demons?”
The girl shrugged, not wanting to speak any longer, and moved on. The ink eventually led into a trail of footprints and a broken refrigerator, two handprints on the front of the appliance. In the back of the room was a large fan, like the ones found in vents. The girl looked at the man, obviously still wary of him, before opening the door. A shadow moved behind the fridge, moving to the right from where they stood, and the girl slowly followed, ignoring the creaking of the fridge door and the flickering light from inside it. After a moment, she sighed. “The Maw.”
“That’s where we are?” I ask, raising an eyebrow to the fridge.
With a nod, the girl slipped through a small crack in the wooden wall. A moment later, she returned with a small grey creature following her. It had a cone head and seemed to be made of clay. Turning back around, she hugged it and shooed it away.
“What on Chuck’s green Earth was that thing?” I ask, tilting my head in the direction it left in.
She smiled and mouthed “Gnome” before turning to the fridge. “You first,” she told the man. The little creature clicked and chittered from in his little hideout, making no move to leave.
“Okay then.” I breathe. I take a step toward the fridge and climb on top. Nothing seems to be comforting about this place. Why would a little girl even be here? “What’s your name, if you don’t mind me asking.” I hold out a hand to the little girl below.
The girl weighs her choices, eventually jumping up and grabbing onto the offered hand. She quickly holds up six fingers before climbing onto the broken ceiling and hoisting herself up to the higher room. She then returns the gesture of holding out a hand. “Six, the number,” she says as if she wasn’t clear enough with just the fingers.
“What kind of parents name their kid after a number?” I state, taking the girl's hand and climbing into the room. “You deserve a better name that isn’t a number.”
Six shrugged. “Named myself. Never knew my parents.” The room seemed to be a hallway of sorts, but this part of the room was falling apart more than the room below it. Pipes and fans were able to be seen a little more clearly, and there was another ink puddle on the ground. The girl put her lighter into her raincoat and turned to face him. Though it was still mostly devoid of natural light, it wasn’t as dark as before. “Your name?”
“My name’s Dean,” I say after a moment of silence. “Why the name Six? Why not…” I stop and think a little. “Charlie, Rose, or Emily?” I list, thinking of people that I knew.
“Nobody here has a name,” Six said matter of factly. “Titles or numbers. No names.” She stopped, though. “Rose sounds nice. No roses on The Mainland. Nor here.”
“Well, you look like a Rose to me.” I nod. “Is it alright if I call you that? Better than Six in my opinion.”
Six, now Rose, nodded. Though her raincoat hood was up, her bob cut hair swayed gently with the motion. “Age?” she asked him before turning back around.
“M-my age?” I ask, startled by the question. Shit, how old was I again? “I’m 30.”
Rose stared at him before sprinting off, leaping over a gap in the floor. Something black fell in front of Dean, moving ever so slightly with a squelching noise. Rose continued to stare at him from across the gap, contemplating whether she should return or leave.
“What is that?” I call after Rose, walking around the black blob. I jump over the same gap Rose passed and stand in front of her. I pull out my silver knife and the Colt, contemplating if they’ll even work. “How do we kill these things?” I ask Rose, turning my head slightly.
Rose stared at the weapons before staring at the blob. Bringing out her lighter, she revealed that the blob was a leech of some sort. “We don’t. They can’t jump, let's go.” She started back down the hallway, her lighter illuminating the area so that the duo could get past the other Leeches safely.
“You can’t kill those things? Why not?” I ask, jumping behind you.
“Annoying.” Rose slid into an open room, one door open, and the other a mechanical door. A switch was on the wall, with a small table that Rose could climb.
Was she talking about me? Or the blob-thing.
“Now what?” I ask, taking a deep breath. Leaning against a wall to collect myself, I catch my breath. “I wish Cas was here…. Actually, no, I don’t.” I wipe a hand over my face to wipe off any sweat.
Rose climbed the table and jumped onto the switch, her weight pulling the switch down. The closed-door opened up and she hopped to the ground, glancing at Dean as she walked out.
“What’s wrong? Was it something I said?” I call after Rose, following her through the door.
Rose shook her head. “Making sure you followed.” She ran and lept, crossing another gap. Above them, curled around a pipe, was another Leech.
“These things are everywhere,” I say, disgust lacing my voice. Now I’m wishing I had exercised with Sammy more.
Rose giggled. “Let’s leave.” Running ahead, she led Dean to a dead end. Or what seemed to be a dead end. The door in front of them had wooden planks hammered onto it, to prevent anything from coming in.
“Great. Just great. A freaking dead end.” I groan, pulling on the wooden planks. “Any ideas,” I ask, kicking the lowest board on the door, then turning around to face Rose. “I could see if Cas could get here. But I’m not a hundred percent sure he’ll hear me.”
Rose smiled and nodded, getting to work at the boards to loosen them even the slightest bit. “Call your friend,” she told the adult, pausing for a moment. “I’ll take the boards off.”
“Alright” I nod, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. This might not even work, but it’s worth a damn try. Besides, I don’t even know where I am.
“Hey, Cas. It’s been a hot minute, or whatever since we’ve seen each other. Hopefully, things are alright up in Heaven... Um. We could use your help here. I-I don’t know where we are, or If Sam’s here too. Just, get your feathers down from heaven and help us.” I stop, gathering myself before finishing, “Please Cas.”
I open my eyes and look around. No angel in sight. I pull myself from the wall I was leaning against, and grab a board from the door.