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The Youth of Yesterday
Chapter 1
Summary: When Sam wakes up younger after a hunt gone wrong, the brothers need to figure out how to fix it, but finding and getting a cure might not be so easy when the provider has other plans for Sam.
A/N: I have finally decided to try my hand at writing during season 2. Spoilers up to Episode 11. Playthings
The silence of the wilderness around them was unnatural and unnerving and the shorter was keeping pace with the taller now, both walking simultaneous strides matching almost perfectly, their feet making no sound as they moved over ground.
‘Sam any idea what we’re looking at?’ Dean spoke quietly, turning his beam on his younger sibling as he asked.
Sam shook his head, dark hair fell from where it had been pushed back and out of his eyes, the strands covering his forehead and falling into hazel eyes.
‘Great, I thought you researched?’ Dean hissed turning his beam to direct on the surroundings.
‘And I told you Dean, all I could find was that the four adult bodies were found at the bottom of the ravine and two children’s bodies were found washed out further up the river...that’s it. No signs of activity, no sightings, and no past events that could hint as to what it could be.’
‘And the children’s remains were found in a completely different direction from the adult bodies?’ Dean brushed a hand frantically through his short brown hair as he walked into a cob web, the silken strands coating the hair giving it a grey and aged appearance. ‘Dammit, now I’ve got crap in my hair.’ He slapped at his head several times, before turning his beam back on his brother with a frown, shaking his head at a tickling sensation. ‘Urgh!’
The taller man was grinning, brushing through his own mop of dark hair. ‘What’s the matter Dean? You scared that a spider might be in your hair?’
Dean stepped forward to thump him when a crack was heard behind them, both span, a shotgun held in each of their hands, the cobwebs forgotten, their barrels pointing in the direction of the noise, weapons held with an almost born skill, showing that the two had been handling weapons for a long time.
Dean put his hand up and moved ahead, with Sam covering him from behind. ‘So any idea how the children end up out here?’ He whispered as they scanned the seemingly empty area around them, his green eyes watching a thrush suddenly take flight, as her nest was disturbed.
‘Nope.’
‘How old again.’
‘One was estimated to be about two years old and the other was estimated at about four years old.’
Dean turned to look at his brother and he rubbed at the bridge of his nose. ‘And no one has reported their kids missing, I mean, how the hell does a two year old go missing and turn up in a fucking river….were they related to the four adults?’
The sound hadn’t been heard again, assuming it to be a bird or small creature the brothers exchanged looks before they began walking along the path they had found weaved through the deep grass, guns held by their sides, but hands tensed and ready to flick them up if they were needed. ‘No children have been reported missing in the last year alone, but there have been at least a dozen missing people ranging from the ages of seventeen to forty two.’
Dean let out a low sigh. ‘So where did the children come from? And the people found, the four adults. They accidents or-’
‘D’ya see that?’
Dean turned as Sam whispered urgently to him, cutting him off mid-sentence. ‘See what?’
Sam broke away from his brother and headed back the way they came, ducking as he reached the cob web his brother had broken through.
‘Sam!’ Dean grabbed his arm and pulled him, stopping him from walking forward. ‘Sam, what was it?’ His voice was low and demanding and he fixed the younger with an intense stare that could be translated as a ‘and don’t you dare try and lie’.
Sam pulled his gaze from his and looked back out towards the area he had seen it. ‘I’m not sure, maybe a light.’ Sam lifted his beam and scanned the darkness behind him, but the small beam didn’t highlight more than several feet either way of them, the light sparse any further than that.
‘A light? As in a window or as in a flashlight?’
‘I don’t know….Let’s just keep moving.’
‘So the ravine is to the west of us right?’ Dean cast a concerned gaze towards his brother, the younger, to the relief of Dean, missing the look as he kept glancing back behind him. ‘Sam!’
He stopped his persistent staring and sighed. ‘What!?’
‘The ravine?’ Dean snapped, but as Sam’s eyes moved behind again he softened his tone, sensing whatever they had seen was bothering the younger. ‘You still see it?’ He looked around them, his green eyes not seeing anything other than dark, trees and dirt.
‘No. Yeah the ravine is that way…you wanna head over there first?’ Sam asked, as he pointed his thumb to the left of them. ‘Or where the children were found?’
‘Children first….that way right?’ Without waiting for confirmation he crossed in front of Sam and headed off down another trail.
Sam glanced behind him one last time and this time he saw a bobbing light, the white glow like that of a lantern moved between the trees ahead, it moved back and forth before coming to a stop, directly opposite Sam.
‘Dean.’ He hissed. ‘Dean?’ Looking over his shoulder he caught site of Dean’s pale light and the shadow of his form from behind as he moved further away. ‘De-’ the light began bobbing again and started moving off in the opposite direction. ‘What the hell is that?’ He murmured to himself.
Clasping the shotgun tightly in his hand he bent low and followed after the light, which seemed to increase in pace the closer, he got to it. The light seemed to swing almost hypnotically and the young hunter followed with earnest, eyes transfixed on the glowing orb that continued to swing and dance lazily ahead. He faintly heard his name being called; he glanced behind him quickly before turning back and following after the glowing orb that was waiting for him to follow.
The light had stopped ahead of him and Sam frowned as he watched it waiting for him, wanting him to follow, leading him away from wherever he had been walking to, the golden white orb dancing and weaving up and down, from side to side, the light enticing. His phone rang in his pocket and he reached for it in an almost robotic fashion, tugging it from his hooded brown jacket.
The light bobbed and moved further back, swinging back and forth in the air, and it reminded Sam of an old Lantern that Jess’s parents used to keep on their veranda, which used to swing in the soft breeze above the swing bench, they had spent New Years Eve curled up on together.
Sam frowned and bought the phone to his ear, clicking the connect button. ‘Hello.’ He grimaced as the phone beeped and a voice told him that the number he was calling was unavailable. He lifted his head warily, pulling the phone from his ear and holding it in the same hand as his flashlight, raising the gun with his other hand at the same time. The light did nothing more than sit there, swinging lazily from side to side.
‘Who are you?! Show yourself!’ Sam finally snapped from whatever trance he had previously been held in and he called out.
The light merely increased in it’s swinging before heading away. The light filled his eyes and for the second time curiosity seemed to overwhelm him and he followed the light into the dark, the flashlight falling from his hands to fall with a dull thud to the muggy earth beneath.
Then suddenly it went, the light simply snuffing out and plunging Sam into complete darkness. ‘Crap.’ Stepping forward he tapped the ground experimentally before planting his feet totally flat. He heard something shift loose beneath his feet and swaying he grabbed something that was beside him. Holding to the tree tightly he put a foot out and his hold tightened as there was nothing under his foot, bringing it down and back he found an edge just in front of his toes, putting his foot on the edge he dragged it across and tried to determine if it curved at all. The line remained straight and as he shifted sideways he kept a hold on whatever he could find, foot still dragging along the edge of what he though was part of the ravine.
‘Okay so going sideways is okay...turning around without falling…’ Sam let out a dry chuckle and shook his head. Holding tightly to the tree beside him he started to move around it, using the tree as a support pole. Satisfied he was facing away from the ravine; he tested the ground and with a smile started walking back.
Pulling his phone from his pocket he scrolled through the numbers until he found Deans, suddenly thankful for the small blue light it emitted once a key was pressed.
It rang only twice, before Dean answered.
Sammy! Where the hell are you!?
Sam scratched the back of his head and replying softly he said, ‘Uh…I don’t actually know.’
Fuck Sam, why’d you walk off….we have no idea what we’re hunting here, you don’t just leave without telling me….and then ignore your phone….
‘Sorry…I-’
Sam?
Sam held the phone to his ear, standing less than a few feet away was the bright light and this time as the light swayed he could see a small pale figure standing behind it, the figure flickered in and out, but he could still make out the child sized form.
Sammy! Answer me dammit!
‘I’m here.’
He could hear Dean moving and he started walking forward, eyes on the swinging light that was trying to lure him back to the ravine.
What’s happening? Can you tell me where you are?
‘Uh I don’t know what happened…I think it was the light, it did something…I followed-’
You followed! Where are you Sam? What can you see?
Sam sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. ‘Just trees and the light-’
Well whatever you do don’t look at it…now landmarks? Anything?
‘The ravine…It tried leading me off the ravine…Must be what’s ki-’ The rest trailed off with a yell as the ground beneath him gave way, and his hands flung outwards.
His phone hit the earth with a dull thud and Dean’s yells echoed out the receiver.
Swimming forward, as best as possible with the weighty cast on his right hand, he tried to find the waters edge. ‘Where the-’ He started coughing again and dipped below water, taking another mouthful as his chest heaved with the coughs. He waved his hand as he came up and to his immense relief his hand hit rock, knuckles grazed as they rubbed against the hard surface.
Grasping the rocky ledge he began pulling himself up and onto it, coughing and gagging. He sucked in a lungful of air and gagged a second time before throwing up, a watery bile splattering the rock.
‘That’s disgusting.’ He pushed himself up, casting a disdainful eye at his now ruined cast, Dean was gonna kill him, the last thing they needed was another trip to the hospital to replace it, especially now the cops were on their asses.
Lifting his head he squinted until his eyes suddenly grew accustomed to their surroundings. The steady drip of water from somewhere behind him echoed eerily in what Sam thought to be a large cavern. Turning he swayed, then frowned, his eyes taking in the rippling lake behind him, the water would have been pristine and a glistening blue in the day, but from what he could make out in the dark, the pool was a still black lake that rippled now and again as water and loose dirt from the hole he had opened further dropped into the centre.
Moving over to the wall he put his left hand on it and started walking, his hand sliding alongside him to act as a guide, so he knew he was carrying on in one direction. The wall started to curve and he planted both hands on the wall until he hit a bump and he spread his hand out, there was a wall here, but no way out. Turning around he tried moving to the opposite side and his breath quickened as he came upon dead end after dead end. The underground cavern had no way out.
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