*48 hours since the timer began - 3rd person POV*
"Yo, What do we got? Wendigo?" Garth asks playfully, but when he heard the frantic breathing on the other end of the line, he realized it was serious.
"Y/n? What's wrong?" he asks looking over to Sam and Dean who suddenly became alert at the mention of your name.
"Garth... I did something." you cry through the phone in uncontrollable sobs. "I can't stop it"
"Woah, Woah, y/n! What is going on?" He felt his own face pale as he continued to listen to your breathing. He had never heard you so panicked and it scared him to no end.
"I... I am at your place Garth. I am in the panic room Bobby helped construct. I can't control it. I can't control her."
"Who?" he asks feeling his breath hitch. He knew the answer, but he didn't want it to be true.
"Sparta"
"Y/n hold on I will be there as soon as possible"
"Please hurry" You cry as he hangs up.
Dean and Sam share a concerned look as they stare at Garth.
"Garth. You okay man? Was that Y/n? Does she need help?" Dean asks. He felt bad about pushing you away that day, he was just so... angry. So angry about how you and Sam both didn't come to rescue him, but he could also understand it somewhere deep down. He assumed you had moved on, maybe even got another boyfriend, but the way you looked at him when he told you to leave... it broke his heart. He even tried to call that last number he had from you to apologize, but no doubt you had changed phones once again.
"You don't look so good" Sam said as Garth leaned back against his truck.
"It's y/n... she..." He couldn't speak up, afraid that if he said it, it would become more real.
"Garth, what is it? Is she in trouble?" Dean asked as concern and urgency filled his voice.
Garth took a shuddering breath, trying to keep his composer. "She let her out... Her demon. And she can't get it under control"
"What does that mean?" Sam asks as his eyes swell with disbelief.
"It means that she is in big trouble... I have never heard her that scared, that upset, and y'all knows how she gets with her nightmares"
"Where is she?" Dean asks gruffly, pulling the keys out of his pocket and getting ready to sprint to the impala.
"My place"
"Then let's get going!" Dean yells, hopping into the front seat impatiently waiting for Sam to get inside the car. He even started driving before Sam even got his foot in, following on Garth's tail all the drive to his place. He knew it was bad, because Garth never would speed, yet was going 15 over the limit. Dean felt his emotions threatening to spill over. He felt guilty for pushing you away and worse for not taking the time to try and find you. He missed you more than he could ever express. More than he would ever admit to... because he loved you. He always had and always would. He hadn't even thought about being with another woman since the day he messed up with Lisa, and he never wanted to. He just wanted you. Even if it just meant just being friends, he wanted you in his life. The way he treated you was wrong and it was eating him up alive and Sam could tell. Sam knew how much his brother was head over heels for you. Especially from the change in habits since the day you both broke up. Dean even stopped watching porn or attending strip clubs because it would make him depressed. Dean was in love with you more than he would ever admit. More than he could ever express. And right now Sam knew exactly what was on Dean's mind... Fear. The fear of losing you forever.
*** Dean POV ***
Pulling up to Garth's shabby stakeout house I run to catch up to Garth as he begins to open the door cautiously. Garth had explained over the phone on the drive over that in all the years y/n had hunted with him and had developed a true friendship with him, she had never lost control like this except once, and even then she had partial control from the sound of it... he didn't go into much detail apart from that fact Y/n had gotten over it once it was over and that was that, but he had never heard her so scared. And it scared the hell out of me.
"Y/n?" Garth yells, cautiously walking into the house. He had his gun at his side, and it made my stomach curl that he would even consider shooting her. I would have been angry if I wasn't trying so hard to listen to our surroundings. Sam followed up behind me as Garth led the way down to the panic room. Garth opens the door to reveal a small room silimar to Bobbys. It had iron walls, a devils trap center, and all sorts of enochian symbols that no doubt y/n had helped paint herself. There was one chair, a bed, and one night stand in the room leaving the rest open. Y/n was curled up on the bed, burying her head in her hands crying. Her sobs broke my heart.
I wanted to comfort her like I used to, tell her it was alright, but Sam put a hand on my shoulder stopping me from moving and Garth put a hand up to signal for us to not go inside.
"Y/n?" Garth says calmly. He tried his best to keep his composer but I could hear the fear and sadness in his voice.
Y/n looks up at us with her big y/e/c eyes that caused a breath to hitch in my throat.
"Sweetheart?" I say gently. I was worried if I said it too loud it would break her. She looked so fragile, and I couldn't imagine what had done this to her.
"Sam? Dean?" She asks, wiping some tears away from her bloodshot eyes and puffy face. "Garth, what are they doing here?" she asks gently.
It hurt that she didn't even talk to me, but there were more pressing matters at hand.
"They are here to help. Are you?... You know..." He says awkwardly trying to stay composed.
"I don't know," she says as her voice breaks.
That's enough.
I walk slowly into the room, not letting my eyes leave hers. They were so beautiful. More beautiful than I could ever recall from my dreams in purgatory. My memory could never do her justice. I was kicking myself that I had pushed her away again, and seeing her like this? It had me angry at myself. I should have been there. I should have prevented it.
"Dean stay back" she says as more tears glide down her face but I continue forward anyways until I am only a couple of meters away.
"I said stay back" she yells. I could see the darkness in her eyes. Darker than I had ever seen them. She had so much pain, sorrow, and anger expressed in their depth and I could do nothing about it.
I stop and watch as she stands up, almost examining me as the room stays quiet.
"I don't want to hurt you" she says as tears continue to run down her face.
"You won't," I tell her while taking a step closer but she puts her hand out to stop me.
"I am sorry, y/n. I shouldn't have gotten upset at you. I didn't even give you a chance to explain. I was no better, hell, I was going to kill Mrs. Tran. Sweetheart, I never should have yelled at you. I never should have let you go." I explain as my own composer starts fading. I completely forgot about Sam and Garth in the doorframe. It felt like it was just me and her, and I couldn't have her push me away. Not now. Not after everything I did to her.
I grab her arm and pull her in close to me, nuzzling my head into her hair, letting her scent envelop me. She always did have that (your favorite scent) aura that had me intoxicated. I let her cry into my shirt as her nails dug into my back. She was crying harder than I had ever seen her cry, and I could feel her pain and anguish as her sobs filled the quiet room. She shook from the tears as she melted into my arms. All I could do was stand there and bury my own tears in her hair, letting her cry, attempting to comfort her. After a couple of minutes, her sniffling died down. As she gently pulled away I noticed the dry blood that coated her clothes, that was on her hands and knotted into her hair.
"Dean..." she said quietly while taking in shuttering breaths.
"You don't need to say anything sweetheart" I say rubbing my thumb over her cheek to wipe away some of the dry blood that got loose from the tears she had been crying. "Sam can you get her a water?"
I didn't even turn around to look, but I heard Sammy's heavy footsteps leave the room. I looked over y/n's composer. She looked like she hadn't eaten in a couple of days, and her pale face showed that she was haunted by something. The guilt eating her from the inside out.
She stared up at me, swallowing me whole. Her eyes growing deeper in color. In one swift move she pushed up against me, crashing my lips into hers and I eagerly accepted it, using my arms to pull her closer, deepening the kiss. Her kiss was urgent and needy- making my knees go weak. I had pondered over our last kiss before everything went wrong. I yearned for it and ached for the chance to have her back in my arms after all of my stupidity and here we were at last. Her taste was metallic and different than I had remembered and her lips colder. Just as she was pulling back for air, a sudden pain shot through my groin, making me drop to my knees and my vision blur from the impact. I couldn't tell what happened behind me, but the next thing I hear is a scuffle and shouts of a fight, some shattered glass, and then I see Sammy and Garth dragging y/n back to the bed, pushing her down as she struggled against the restraints they were putting on her.
"Dean, you alright?" Sam says coming over to check on me once y/n was taken care of.
"Fine" I puff out, but I still felt like the world was turning and the air hadn't quite made its way to my lungs yet. I slowly get up, being careful, and make my way over to the bed. Garth turns to me with an obvious swelling eye that will be bruised within the next couple of hours.
"Man, that looked like it hurt" he says trying to lighten the mood but I couldn't help but look at y/n who was writhing in anger. I had never seen her so angry, so emotionally distraught, and pained. I couldn't watch as Sam then tried to tighten the restraint he had on her hands that kept her tied to the bed. It was too much and I felt like I was going to break from seeing her this way.
I walk out of the room to catch my breath, letting a couple tears roll down my face, but quickly wiping them away. Soon enough Sam and Garth follow me out as we all sit down at a table Garth had in the main room of his basement.
"What do we do?" Sam asks. His concern for y/n was evident and I could tell he was trying to keep his composure for my sake.
"I don't know. It's not like we can exorcise her" Garth says looking down at the floor and playing with his fingers nervously.
"She gave you quite the shiner," I say, trying to chuckle but it came out forced.
"Yeah, she has always had a mean left hook," he says with a small smile.
"So do we just wait?" Sam asks.
"I think it is the only thing we can do" Garth replies, making my insides hurt worse than they already were. I felt anger rising inside me. Of course we can do something else. There has to be something we can do!
"Right" Sam says again, looking towards the panic room door.
It was quiet as we all sat there, but Sam eventually got up, saying he was going to go on a supply run to get dinner for all of us, and some ice for the injuries, leaving me and Garth there in silence.
"You know she was coming for you," Garth says suddenly.
"Well, that's not creepy," I say sarcastically.
"I mean" he continues. "She was devising a plan to go to purgatory to get you"
I stare at him, feeling my anger bubble up inside me. I wasn't angry at him, I was angry at me. I always assumed that she, like Sam, had just forgotten about me and moved on. I felt stupid.
"Last I had heard from her she just needed the last ingredient"
"Which was?" I ask, trying to show I was listening for once.
"Cerberus blood of all things," he says so casually.
I felt my insides curl. That's why she was there. She wasn't working for Crowley as I had supposed, she was there... for me. She was there to try and get me back.
"Wait, that isn't how to open purgatory. Sam and I were there when she collected the items the first time and that definitely wasn't on the list"
"She wasn't trying to open purgatory." He says matter of factly, causing my jaw to clench.
"Then how the Hell was she going to save me?"
"She was trying to go to purgatory. Permanently." It took me a minute to figure out what he was telling me, but it all clicked.
"She was-"
"Yep. Going to convert herself into a monster." He says leaning back against his chair.
"How could you let her do that?!" I yelled letting my anger boil over.
"You know how stubborn she is! Once she has an idea in her head it's hard to convince her out of it, and after she explained it to me and I told her I disapproved she shoved me out of her life and went on her own to find the ingredients herself."
I clenched my fists, angry that I had her all wrong. That I had just assumed so much and had not even given her a chance.
"But why would she do that?" I asked, feeling my voice quiver from the mix of emotions.
"Because she loves you, Dean."
It was quiet. I didn't even know what to say. Why was I so stupid. I didn't even tell her I felt the same. Why did I push her away when all this time all I have wanted was to be around her. Being with her. Protecting her. Loving her. And now, it seemed like I was too late. Fan-freaking-tastic.
"Y/n will come out of this. I know she will."
Just as I was going to ask something else, Sam came running down the stairs with bags in his hands. His face was one of shock and disbelief and I could tell that something was wrong.
"Guys. Look at the news" he says practically throwing the bags on the table and whipping out his phone. "It's all over the internet."
He turns the phone around for me and Garth to see the headline.
Family finds smalltown in Colorado Completely Mutilated
I look at it confused as Sam explains.
"Apparently some family was driving through this town and stopped at the gas station. When they head inside they find 3 dead bodies, all stabbed or ripped apart in one way or another. When they call the police dispatch tried so connect them to the local department, but when they weren't answering the husband ran over to the department to get help and found that the whole police crew, 16 in total, were killed in the same way. Before a neighboring police force could get into town the husband had checked the other two businesses nearby and found that everyone inside was killed. Once the police arrived they shut down the street access, called in the FBI, and apparently, the military came as well, and completely quarinteened the town."
"That's weird," I say, trying to comprehend what I am hearing.
"That's awful," Garth says, pain evident in his voice.
"They are not letting any new reporters in, and no one is answering questions aside from a few comments some local officers made before the FBI got involved" Sam continued. "They said, from what they could tell, the whole town was silent and every house and business was the same way. 148 people in total."
I was shocked. Confused. I didn't even know what to say.
"Do you think..." Garth started, swallowing a lump in his throat. "Y/n had anything to do with this?"
I stood up and glared into him. "Why the HELL would you suspect that?!" I yell, unable to control my temper.
"Dean-" Sam starts, but I wasn't having any of it.
"No. Just no. Y/n would never do that. Not ever. She would rather die."
"Dean, we don't know what happened" Sam continued anyway. "It can't be a coincidence that this just so happens to occur as y/n's demon goes rabid. It must be correlated somehow"
I listen to his words, and as much as I wish to deny them, he was right. Accidents don't happen accidentally.
I run my hand over my face and take a deep breath, sitting back down.
"So what do we do?"
"I would say we should check it out, but I don't know what we could pull off with all the publicity this is getting," Garth says. "I will see what info other hunters have about it"
I nod as he gets up and leaves the room. I felt empty and confused. How could I have let this happen? What even did happen?
"Dean," Sam says again, and I look up from the floor to meet his gaze. "Are you okay?"
"Just dandy" I reply sarcastically, looking back down to my hands that were still clenched.
"Dean, we don't know what happened, but we will ask y/n once she starts doing better"
"If she starts doing better" I correct him. I could hear him sigh.
"Y/n is a fighter. She will pull through this." He says but he didn't sound so sure, but I nod anyway. She has to make it through this. She has to get better. She can't leave me...
I love her.