[Based on 1x02 - Wendigo]
Edited: No
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~ Colorado ~
Mikayla and Declan were in the Riviera, Mikayla driving as the two had switched out a few miles back. They were a little behind the Impala but they could still see it.
"Look, all I'm saying is that Isobel could be helpful." Declan argued. The two had been debating for at least ten minutes now on whether or not to have a witch friend try and track John.
"Yeah, and what if my dad finds out she's trying to find him? He's not gonna stop and think that it's us trying to find him, he'll see her as a threat and kill her." Kayla countered, taking her eyes off the road for a second to glance at her best friend. He was rubbing his eyes, either tired or frustrated.
"Then she'll say that we asked her to! Hell, she can call us and prove it to him." Dec tried to reason, yawning at the end. Mikayla smiled despite the topic of conversation. What? He was cute when he yawned!
"Look, he won't even give her a chance. Alright? Good ol' Papa Winchester doesn't see in shades of grey. He sees human and not-human; not-human gets killed." She explained with a huff. However, when Declan started laughing, she snapped her head to him. "What?"
"Good ol' Papa Winchester?" He mocked through the laughter, clutching his stomach.
"Shut up!" She said, lightly punching him on the shoulder as a blush painted her cheeks.
Once he calmed down, Declan refocused on the task at hand. “Look, why don’t I call Izzy and then she can decide for herself whether she wants to help or not?” He suggested, watching as his best friend sighed and tapped her fingers against the steering wheel, clearly trying not to give in.
“Why? We’re literally heading to the coordinates he left. He’ll be there.” Kayla was grasping at straws, desperate to keep her friend safely tucked away in the mountains states away.
“You tryin’ to convince me or you?” There was a beat of silence. “Look, you tell me. You’ve clearly been to Blackwater Ridge before, whether it was an old case or something else, it clearly ended badly or else you’d be telling me about it.” He ranted, turning in his seat so his entire body was facing the huntress.
“Dec-” “Oh, I’m not finished!”
“Whatever you were hunting, is it so bad that the John Winchester would drop a woman in white case to hunt it instead? Is it that urgent?” He finished, watching Mikayla’s facial expressions closely.
“Call her.” She relented, her voice soft and quiet, riddled with defeat. “Put her on speakerphone though, I wanna hear her response.”
Dec whipped out his phone, pulling up the contact for Isobel Ferth. The witch picked up on the third ring and the call connected. “Declan Leadworth. What can I help you with?” She asked, her voice projecting from the small phone and throughout the Riviera.
“Hey Isobel, you’re on speakerphone.” The hunter let her know as he placed the phone on the dashboard.
“Let me guess, Mikayla’s there too?” Isobel assumed, although it wasn’t all that hard to guess considering she had met the huntress after Dec became her hunting partner.
“Hey Izzy!” Kayla greeted, keeping the majority of her focus on the road: the last thing they needed was a car accident.
“What sort of spell do you need?” Isobel steered the conversation back on track as she looked through a rack of herbs, some medicinal and some more… magical, on her end of the phone.
“We need a little help tracking someone down.” Dec admitted, not wanting to give too much detail as he knew that the witch was very cautious and attempting a tracking spell on a hunter such as John Winchester was very risky. Long story short, he didn’t want her to hang up and not even consider helping out.
“Who is it?” She questioned, Dec inwardly cursing.
Before the experienced hunter could either make up a lie or find a vague way of telling the truth, Mikayla stepped in. “My father.” She responded, a long moment of silence following.
“Let me get this straight, you want me to try a locator spell on John Winchester? Are you trying to get me killed?” Isobel fired, the Leadworth shooting his partner a ‘really?’ look.
“We know it’s risky. We’re teaming up with my brothers to find him, so we may be able to get by on our own. Just considering all our options.” Mikayla explained truthfully, sending Dec a pointed look back; she wasn’t going to lie to her friend.
“I’ll have a look through some grimoires, see what I can find. Chances are, he’s warded so we’ll need a hefty spell to find him.” The witch conceded, bringing a smile to the hunters’ faces.
“Thank you so much, Izzy.” Dec spoke, receiving silence afterwards. This unsettled the two.
“I wouldn’t thank me yet. It’ll be a big spell, I’ll probably need the DNA of a close relative, preferably their blood.” Izzy informed, the tapping of her nails on a surface carrying through the phone.
“If you can find a spell, I’m sure we can find an excuse to make a pit stop with you.” Mikayla agreed, giving her friend a warning look as she noticed the signs of smugness in his body language.
“Alright, I’ll call if I get something.”
“Thanks, Iz. Bye!” With that, the call was ended.
“She’ll be fine, she’s incredibly powerful and you know that.” Declan assured his visibly worried best friend.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." She sighed, her shoulders sagging slightly. "I just don't want anything bad to happen to her."
Dec smiled at that, admiring his partner's seemingly unending compassion. "C'mon, pass me your phone and I'll call Sam and see how far away we are."
Mikayla, without hesitation, handed him her phone as he called her younger brother in the car ahead of them. It wasn't long before the call connected.
"Mikayla, Dec, you're on speaker." Sam informed them, that hum of the Impala's engine in the background, telling them that they were indeed on speaker.
"So are you, Sammy. Just wondering how close we are." Kayla responded, becoming distracted for a second and almost missing a turn. Dec shot her a look for that, the huntress mouthing a "sorry".
"We're pretty close, just outside of Grand Junction. Shouldn't you know this? I don't know if you've noticed but you're driving a car, Kayla." Dean passed, causing both his sister and Declan to roll their eyes.
"We've been a little busy calling some hunter friends, see if they've heard anything about Dad." Kayla admitted, not telling the whole truth but not exactly lying either; Isobel did help them out on a lot of hunts.
"Hunter friends?" Dean quizzed, slightly suspicious but not wanting to sound like he was interrogating them.
"Yes, Dean, your sister and I have friends who are hunters. We work with them on occasion.” Declan mocked him, eliciting a chuckle from his best friend.
Sam cut in before an argument could break out. "You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon."
Dean let out a sigh before responding to his brother. "Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica-"
"We gotta find Dad first." Sam finished for him, sounding a little dejected which both of his siblings picked up on. Declan didn't as he was too busy trying to change the radio without getting his hand slapped.
"Look, Sam, Dad disappearing and this thing showing up again after twenty years, it's no coincidence." Kayla spoke, Sam and Dean listening intently when a loud thwack came through the phone.
"Ow!" Declan yelled, clearly having failed in his mission to change the radio.
"Stop messing with the radio!" The huntress scolded, her brothers struggling to contain their laughter on the other side of the phone.
Dean cleared his throat. "Dad will have answers. He'll know what to do." Mikayla rolled her eyes at her brother's blind faith but didn't say anything.
"It's weird, guys." Sam said. "These coordinates he left us. This Blackwater Ridge."
Kayla tensed slightly, gripping the steering wheel tightly. This didn't go unnoticed by Declan who desperately wanted to know what happened the last time the female Winchester was there but also knowing that she'd tell him when she was ready.
"What about it?" Dean pressed, not seeing the issue, but Kayla did. She had known from the beginning that the chances of John being at Blackwater Ridge were slim to none: this was a hunt. For the first time in a long time, she didn't mind being ordered to go somewhere.
"There's nothing there. It's just woods." The youngest Winchester explained, putting down the map he had been holding. "Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?"
Mikayla and Declan stayed silent as they drove past a sign saying "Welcome to LOST CREEK COLORADO National Forest".
~ August 2000; Lost Creek, Colorado; Ranger Station ~
A 19-year-old Mikayla Winchester entered the Lost Creek Ranger Station along with Nicholas Hart, a fellow hunter who had taken the rebellious Winchester under his wing upon meeting her six months prior. The two were quickly noticed by Ranger Wilkinson.
“Hi there. Can I help you with something?” He asked, approaching the duo who stood with friendly smiles by the door.
“Actually, yes you can.” Nick started with a charming grin that, 99% of the time, got him anything he wanted. “I’m Nick Harlow and this is my daughter, Kayla. She’s a student over at UC Boulder and she has a paper on…” He trailed off, looking to said huntress for help.
The girl’s eyes widened, evidently startled as she had no idea how to respond. “Biodiversity in Colorado’s forests.” She filled in, hoping it was believable as she came up with the answer on the spot.
“I was hoping to take her out to Blackwater Ridge, how exactly could I make that happen?” Nick questioned, turning back to Wilkinson, his intense brown eyes making it difficult for the ranger to see past his lies.
Ranger Wilkinson searched his desk, rustling through papers until he found what he was looking for. “I’ll just need you both to sign these.” He said, coming towards them with his hand outstretched, backcountry permits loosely grasped between his fingers.
“You got a pen?” Mikayla asked as she took one of the permits from him, looking it over quickly before raising her eyes to meet the ranger’s. He simply nodded before retreating from the supposed father and daughter to locate pens for them both. “That was surprisingly easy.” She murmured once he was out of earshot.
“Don’t jinx it.” Nick whispered, pointing a warning finger in her direction. The teenager jokingly raised her hands in surrender.
~ November 2005; Lost Creek, Colorado; Ranger Station ~
Once the quartet reached the ranger station, they agreed to pose as university students to get the information they needed before entering the small building. Mikayla still hadn’t mentioned her previous visit to the location but, to be fair, Declan hadn’t said anything about it either. Despite his curiosity, he didn’t want to argue with her.
They walked in, looking around. Mikayla smiled as she noticed that not much had changed since her last time there. She and Sam walked over to a 3D model of the forest, that part was new.
"So Blackwater Ridge is pretty remote." Sam pointed out, looking at the ridge labelled 'BLACKWATER RIDGE'. "It's cut off by these canyons here, rough terrain, dense forest, abandoned silver and gold mines all over the place."
"Dude, check out the size of this freaking bear." Dean cut in, he and Declan entirely distracted by the photos and decorations around the station. The two younger Winchesters looked over to see what he meant. They saw a photo of a man standing behind a huge bear.
Sam walked over, leaving Mikayla by the 3D map. "And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area. It's no nature hike, that's for sure."
That's when Ranger Wilkinson walked up behind them. "You boys aren't planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" His sudden appearance caused the three hunters to whip around, startled.
"Oh, no, sir, we're environmental study majors from UC Boulder, just working on a paper." Declan lied, not sounding as smooth as he had hoped to.
Dean grinned, raising his fist for effect when he said "recycle, man." Mikayla pinched the bridge of her nose between her forefinger and thumb, shaking her head.
"Bull." The three looked startled at the ranger's words. "Miss Harlow over there," he pointed at Kayla who did a small wave, "I'm inclined to believe she's here for a paper. How's the old man doing, anyway?" He asked the girl, detouring from the original subject.
Sam and Dean looked gobsmacked, not understanding what was going on. Declan was able to piece together that this ranger had been there the last time she was.
"He's not exactly doing cartwheels, but he's still rockin' around." Mikayla answered, walking over to the group with her hands in her pockets. "We both got some nasty scars, though."
"I can imagine, what're you doing here, kid? It better not include you going out into that forest." Wilkinson warned, genuinely concerned for the girl, ignoring the gawking Winchester brothers beside him.
"I left school after the accident, just started back this semester though and I have a paper to complete.” The huntress lied with ease, her previous visit helping her rather than making life difficult as it usually would. Upon seeing the look on Wilkinson’s face, one that indicated he was about to lecture her, she continued to speak. “I think I’ll just stick to online and archive research this time, though. I figured I’d drop by and say ‘hey’ before heading to the archives.”
“Alright, it was nice seeing you Kayla.” The ranger said before the huntress backed out of the situation with a small smile, leaving the ranger station. She stood out by the Riviera, taking a fake phone call as she waited for her brothers and hunting partners to exit as well.
Ranger Wilkinson turned his attention to the three men in front of him. “You're friends with that Haley girl, right?” He falsely assumed, eyeing the three before him oddly.
In the ranger’s defence, they didn’t exactly dress like the average locals. Dean with a t-shirt, shirt, jeans and his leather coat and Declan with a Henley, jeans and his black leather long coat; the two stuck out like a sore thumb. Sam, however, looked a little more local with a t-shirt, flannel, jeans and a coat.
Dean considered what Wilkinson had said, realising that it would be much more convincing if they just agreed rather than trying to argue their previous lies, seeing as they had already been called out on them. “Yes. Yes, we are, Ranger-” he looked to the ranger’s nametag, “Wilkinson.”
“Well I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?” Dean shook his head in response, suddenly interested in what had happened to the girl’s brother. “You tell that girl to quit worrying, I'm sure her brother's just fine.” Dean and Declan weren't so sure about that.
“We will.” Declan agreed, despite having the opposite opinion. “Well that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?” Sam stayed quiet, wondering why the two were looking into this when all they were there to do was find John.
“That is putting it mildly.” Ranger Wilkinson responded, clearly having to have dealt with Hayley’s worry a lot recently.
“Actually you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that backcountry permit.” Dean suggested, receiving a cautious look from the ranger.
Declan quickly caught on to Dean’s tactics. “Yeah, you know, so she could see her brother's return date.” He furthered with a gentle smile that visibly swayed Wilkinson, causing him to soften up a bit at the faux concern.
A few minutes later, the Winchester brothers and Declan walked out of the ranger station. Dean was holding a piece of paper and laughing.
“What, are you cruising for a hookup or something? Is Dec your wingman now?” Sam accused his older brother, confusing Mikayla who ended her pretend phone call as they approached.
“What do you mean?” Dean questioned, pocketing the copy of the permit.
“The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?” Sam questioned, exasperated and itching to find his father so he could get some answers.
“What’s going on?” Kayla mumbled to Dec as he stopped beside her, watching as Sam and Dean migrated to opposite sides of the Impala.
“Girl named Haley thinks her brother’s missing, but he wasn’t due back for a while so the rangers don’t think anything’s wrong.” Dec answered, talking low as to not interrupt the brothers’ argument.
The two tuned back into the conversation just in time for Dean to speak. "Since when are you all shoot first ask questions later, anyway?" The question caused the youngest Winchester to roll his eyes.
"Since now." Sam spat, getting in the Impala without waiting for a response. Kayla and Dec shared a look before moving to get in the Riviera.
"Hey," Dean called, getting the hunters' attention, "I didn't know you and Dad worked a case here."
Mikayla blanked, unsure of whether to lie to her brother or not. The pain in her chest and guilt in her veins was at the forefront of her mind. She didn't want to be here but she knew she needed to finish this, once and for all.
After realising her silence had gone on too long, she spoke. "I didn't." The huntress answered simply, before getting into the driver's seat of the Riviera.
Dean gave Declan a questioning look but the Leadworth was just as clueless as he was. He merely shot the eldest Winchester a shrug and a helpless look before he got into his best friend's car. Dean sighed in annoyance at the lack of information, getting into the Impala.
- - -
It was still light out when Dean, Sam, Declan and Mikayla made it to the house of Haley Collins. Sam was still annoyed and confused as to why they were checking this out; he was even more confused as to why Dec and Kayla were so eager to investigate, he assumed that they wanted to find John as quickly as possible so they could go back to hunting by themselves. Still, the youngest Winchester managed to force a smile as Dean knocked on the door.
The door opened to reveal a young brunette about the same height as Mikayla and with bright blue eyes. “You must be Haley Collins. I’m Dean, this is Declan. We’re, ah, we’re rangers with the Park Service and these two, Mikayla and Sam, are rangers in training. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. He wanted us to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy.” Dean introduced the quartet to the girl, although she still seemed hesitant to believe them.
“Smart girl.” Mikayla thought, keeping a kind smile on her face in hopes that Haley would allow them to talk to her.
“Lemme see some ID.” She said, causing Dean to rummage through his pockets until he pulled out a fake ID and held it up against the screen door. She looked at it, then flicked her eyes back to Dean who merely smiled at her charmingly. Finally, she opened the door. “Come on in.”
“Thanks.” Dean spoke before the door swung open, Haley catching sight of the unfamiliar Impala and Riviera parked out the front of her house.
“Those yours?” She questioned the group, all of them turning to see what she meant. Kayla and Dean smirked smugly when they noticed she meant their cars.
“Yeah, right one’s mine and left one’s his.” Kayla told the woman, jerking her thumb in Dean’s direction when referencing him.
“Nice cars.” She complimented the two before turning to lead the four into the kitchen where the youngest Collins sibling, Ben, was sitting at the table on a laptop.
Once they were settled in the kitchen, Sam began asking questions. "So if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?" He called out seeing as Haley had left the room
Said girl came back into the room with a bowl of food. "He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos - we haven't heard anything in over three days now."
"Is there a chance that he can't get cell reception?" Declan quizzed, talking softly so he didn't upset the siblings before him.
"He's got a satellite phone, too." Haley reasoned, making the female Winchester's stomach fill with dread. This case was beginning to look all too familiar.
"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow and causing Mikayla to swiftly drive her elbow into his ribs. The hunter grunted quietly at the sharp jab.
"He wouldn't do that." Ben exclaimed suddenly, shocking everyone slightly. Mikayla just smiled at him sympathetically, understanding what he was going through.
Dean raised an eyebrow at the kid, making him look away as Haley put more food on the table.
"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other." The older Collins explained to the for hunters, all of them immediately understanding why she was so worried, especially the Winchesters.
"Would you mind showing me and Sam the pictures he sent you?" Mikayla asked, her hands in her jean pockets as she hoped to prove to her little brother that there was a case here.
“Yeah.” Haley complied, grabbing the laptop and pulling up some pictures on it. She pointed to a man in one of the photos. “That's Tommy.” She went through a few more photos until she opened the latest video her brother had sent her and pressed play.
“Hey Haley, day six, we're still out near Blackwater Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow.” The man Mikayla assumed to be Tommy spoke, evidently in a tent.
However, something in the video caught her eye. A barely-noticeable shadow on the tent flew past, the huntress was certain that nothing human could move that fast.
"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing." Declan reassured her.
"Then maybe I'll see you there." She responded, slightly shocking the four hunters. "Look, I can't sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."
"I think I know how you feel." Dean told her, his eyes flicking over to his younger siblings who were still looking through photos on the laptop. The older Winchester had gone out of his mind with worry when Mikayla and Sam left.
"Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam asked, drawing everyone's attention back to him and his sister.
Haley seemed a little confused by his request but complied anyway, anything to help her brother. "Sure."
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- everythingunnatural9