The Trouble With Demons, Epilogue

Epilogue

*This story runs during the equivalent of Season 3, with some skewing of timelines and information, as it is an Alternate Universe, based on the events of the television series. Canon parts are worked in with my own. More notes are at the end to help clear up the backstory.

“Look, I haven’t decided to just quit the Agency and Hunt. I just said I was considering it. I think we could do more good Hunting evil than running background checks on corporate employees.”

Two days later, the conversation had became a repetitive argument.

“Trixie, it’s dangerous. Why aren’t you hearing me?” Dean demanded. “Look, Sam and I were raised to Hunt. It’s in our blood. I don’t know any other way to live. But you do. You have a good life here, don’t mess it up!”

“I don’t think of it as messing up my life,” she retorted. “I think of it as helping out a worthy cause, especially considering my godchild is a target and one of my best friends was killed!”

“We can hear you shouting,” Honey and Sam walked into the kitchen, holding hands. “We just got Elora down.”

“Sorry,” Dean and Trixie echoed.

“What’s this about Hunting?” Sam asked.

Honey glanced at Trixie and spoke, her soft voice firm. “Trixie came to me with an idea for changing the Agency. Becoming Hunters.”

Sam’s eyes widened. “What? No, no.”

“What is with you men being opposed to this?” Trixie demanded. “I know there are female Hunters, you’ve told me so.”

“Yeah, most of who have been Hunting all their lives!”

“You saying I’m too old?” Trixie demanded. “How old was your Dad when he started Hunting?”

“Not the same thing,” Dean snapped. “He was a marine to start with. You two—well—”

Honey raised one eyebrow.

“You’re just untrained,” he muttered lamely.

Trixie’s eyes flashed and she put her hands on her hips. “So train us.”

Dean shook his head. “It takes months to be ready, and we can’t be in one place that long.”

“The demon knows Elora is here. It will be back for her,” Honey said. “We’ve already lost Dan; I don’t want to lose anyone else. I can’t actively Hunt because of the baby, but Trixie can. I can run the business end, headquarters, of sorts. Network to other Hunters.”

“Have you lost your minds?” Sam demanded. “Hunters don’t exactly have websites set up. We’re all underground, and other than Ellen and Bobby, we don’t hang out with them. Not since Gordon set them all on us. Rufus is just nuts, you don’t want to mess with him. And I don’t want Elora subjected to Hunting this early. Or anything having to do with it. I want her to have a normal life, until she’s old enough to decide what she wants. I won’t have her thrown into this life.”

Dean gave his brother a sharp look.

“Nothing is definite, it’s just something we’ve been considering,” Honey said soothingly.

“No,” Sam said firmly. “If my daughter chooses to be a Hunter when she’s old enough to understand what it means and what’s involved, that’s fine. But I won’t have her forced into the life the way we were. I don’t want you putting your life on the line all the time the way we do. If something happens to me or Dean, Elora will still have you two. If something happens to all of us, who does she have? Your parents know nothing about us, what we do, who we are. They don’t even know Elora is mine. How would they explain to her that her parents got ripped apart by a creature from a fairy tale or myth?” he demanded.

“You’re underestimating us,” Trixie growled through clenched teeth.

“Maybe,” Sam said, “but I don’t want Elora growing up without knowing all of her parents, and she’s already lost Dan. Believe me, it sucks, and you know it does,” he said to Honey. She nodded, remembering the first thirteen years of her life she barely knew her own parents.

“Nothing’s final yet,” Trixie said sulkily. “It’s just an idea.”

“It’s a bad idea,” Sam replied angrily. “You would have to be partnered with one of us for months, gone for long stretches of time; it could be years before you’re ready to take on your own cases. And trust me, traveling with him?” Sam pointed at Dean. “Not so much fun.”

The other factor in the equation was one neither brother dared reveal. Dean’s release from Hell had started a chain reaction of “seals” that were keeping Lucifer in Hell. Lilith, his prodigy, was now breaking seals as fast as she could, to release him. The boys had to stop her. There was no time to train the girls. It was possible Lilith was the demon that killed Dan. There was no way Trixie could take her on. Dean and Sam didn’t even know how to kill her.

Sam knew he had to put a stop to this. Trixie was grief stricken, she wasn’t thinking straight. She wanted revenge for Dan. But Sam needed her to be here, taking care of his daughter, because he couldn’t. They had to stop Lilith before she started the Apocolypse.

“What if we decide to do it, without your help?” Trixie challenged them.

“That’s just plain stupid,” Dean snapped, pacing the room. “Dad excelled as a Hunter because he had military training. We were raised Hunting. Bobby has spent over half his life as a Hunter, also a former Marine. You can’t just jump in knowing nothing. It’s not as simple as kicking in a door and shooting a salt gun!”

“Try giving us a little credit,” Honey said coolly.

“I give you two a lot of credit,” Dean said. “You are both smart and savvy. But what you encountered in that house of Trixie’s? That was child’s play. We encounter all sorts of things, with all sorts of powers. We routinely get beat up on and injured, we’ve been arrested numerous times, my car impounded, people die, and you’ve witnessed that firsthand. We lie constantly, we have to have to a cover story ready at a moment’s notice and make it believable. We’ve both been hospitalized, both d—it’s hard, Trix.”

He had almost said “died”, he realized. Sam gave him a warning look. There were things the girls could never know.

“It’s no life for you two. Especially not with a baby in the picture,” Sam added.

Trixie shook her head. “You’re wrong,” she said firmly. “We’d be good Hunters.”

“It’s not safe!” Dean exclaimed. “What happens to Elora if you both die? You think one of us can come and claim her? Sam isn’t on her birth certificate. Your father would make sure we never saw her. And then what happens when someday down the road, a demon comes knocking, looking for the child of Sam Winchester! It could wipe out your whole family, everyone you love, everyone you care about.”

The girls looked away.

“We still don’t know why the demon chose me,” Sam said. “We still don’t know why, after all these months, demons and Hunters are trying to kill me because they think I’m the Demon Prince or some such nonsense. Honey has demonstrated Empathic gifts. There’s no telling what out little girl will be capable of. I won’t put Elora or the people who need to protect in danger by letting them join this business!”

Trixie glared. “You don’t own us, Sam, or Elora. You can’t forbid us from doing this!”

“He has a point, Trixie,” Honey said softly. Her friend turned to her, surprised. “It’s already killed Dan. It could kill us. And then where would my baby girl be? My family will never understand. Daddy would absolutely keep Sam and Dean from her, even if I took legal precautions to prevent it. We can’t risk that. We have to keep Elora safe. I want revenge for Dan too, but we can’t risk Elora’s safety.”

Without Honey’s backing, Trixie’s enthusiasm deflated and her shoulders slumped. Disappointment filled her as she realized Honey had a valid point. No one else needed to die. “You’re right,” she conceded. But in the back of her mind, a tiny little voice protested.

“It wouldn’t honor Dan’s memory and everything he stood for if we were to put ourselves in danger, when he died trying to protect Elora,” Honey whispered.

Sam put one arm around her.

Dean eyed Trixie warily. He knew this conversation wasn’t over. Trixie didn’t just give in but she was ready to let it go for now. He knew this wasn’t the end of the subject.

Back Home

Author’s Notes
- a big “I am freakin' velvety smooth!”, to Donna and Mary, my fabulous editors!
- Some new notes along with a repeat of some lengthy notes here but they'll fill in some gaps on the Winchester boys!
- Rufus is another for military, current hunter. He's a little crazy and the boys have to take him a fifth of Johnny Walker Red if they need his help. - In Season 2, episode In My time of Dying, Dean was in a coma after the Impala was broadsided by a semi. John summoned Azaeal and traded his soul for Dean’s life. Dean has always carried that guilt.
- In Season 2, the boys met Gordon Walker, a supreme Hunter. But Gordon was hunting mostly vampires, as revenge for them taking his sister and turning her. When he heard Sam had psychic gifts, he spread the word to other Hunters, making Sam a target himself. Gordon caused the boys several episodes of trouble, finally meeting a grisly end in season 3 at the hands of Sam, after being turned into a vampire himself.
- At the end of season 3, Dean was killed by the Hellhounds who came for his soul, and he did to go to Hell. He was tortured for three months (the equivalent of 30 years there) and resisted the offer to be free of torture, if he would begin torturing others. He finally broke down and did so for ten years (1 month regular time). He continues to loathe himself for being weak and giving in. He was pulled out of Hell by Castiel, (an angel, in the Season 4 opener) to do God’s work, according to Castiel. Later, Dean was told that the first seal broken was himself, when he gave in to torture other souls. As he was the first seal, it was up to him to stop the breaking of the others; therefore, he was pulled out of Hell by the angels. Dean carries more endless guilt and self loathing than any other character.
- Season 4 had a running theme of the boys trying to stop this demon Lilith. There are several hundred seals keeping Lucifer in Hell; she only needs to break 66 of them. The boys are racing against time.
Repeated:
- Season 2, All Hell Breaks Loose parts 1 & 2, Sam was murdered by another ‘psychic kid’ that Azazel was using to open a gate to Hell (built by Samuel Colt to trap demons and protected by a private railroad- iron bars that demons can’t cross.) Dean made a deal with a Crossroads Demon to bring Sam back to life, in exchange for Dean’s soul. Instead of the standard ten years though, Dean was given one year before his soul would be claimed and he’d go to Hell. Which he did.
- Season 3, episode 3, The Kids Are Alright, Dean encounters a fling from 8 years prior, and her son is a mini-Dean. Lisa insists the boy is not Dean’s but he never quite believes her. In episode 8, Dream a Little Dream, Dean’s dream is revealed to have Lisa and Ben as his family.
- Season 4, episode 3, Back to the Beginning, Dean is given a chance to go back in time, and discovers his mother was a Hunter, unbeknownst to his father. John was killed and Mary made a deal with Azazel, the yellow eyed demon. In return for John coming back to life, Mary would give Azazel ‘something’ ten years later, when he returned. “Something” turned out to be Sam. Mary died trying to protect Sam (pilot episode). Azazel fled, and after Mary’s death, John began to realize there were darker things in the world. He never knew Mary was a Hunter when he met her.
- Dean was framed for murder on both occasions both times. One was a shapeshifter from Season 2, Nightshifter, the other he was found standing over a body in Season 3.
- Word Count, 3,519

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