Desolation Comes Upon the Sky

Mommy's Little Helper

August 17th, 2010

Lebanon, Kansas

Alex blinked back into consciousness, groaning at the ringing in her ears and the pounding in her head. She was sitting up, slouched in a chair, but wherever she was, it was dark. Where was she? The ex-angel grimaced, straining her eyes to see in the darkness. The only source of light was a thin strip on the ground five feet ahead of her, clearly from a room beyond. She tipped her back to sniff at the musty air, and the young hunter groaned as she realized where she was.

The bunker's dungeon.

Alex let her head fall to her chest. "Dean?" she yelled, but it felt hoarse in her throat. How long had she been out? "Sam!"

The doors swung open, and Alex screwed up her eyes against the light. Two figures stood outlined against it, and the young hunter grimaced at the tightness in their posture. Great. She heard the two enter, their footsteps loud on the stone floor.

"Well?" Dean's voice sounded as the lights flipped on, and Alex looked up into his scowling features.

"Well what?" She spat out her response, the throbbing in her head making her temper run short. "Get me out of here." She tugged fruitlessly at her bonds as the Winchesters scoffed.

"You're not going anywhere. What the hell?" Dean's voice exploded in anger, and the young girl flinched away. "Working with Crowley? You know, you've done a lot of stupid things before, but this takes the cake."

"You don't understand, you idiot —" Pain shot through her face as Dean's fist connected with her jaw, and the ex-angel gasped for air. She could taste blood, but the blinding pain was too intense for her to even spit it out; all she could do was let it drip from her mouth as her head fell to her chest as Sam jumped forward to intervene.

"What don't I understand?" Dean's voice shook with uncontrollable rage as his brother pushed him back. "You betrayed us, and now Crowley has the First Blade! You lied to us, Alex, after you promised you weren't. What else have you lied about, huh?" The Winchester slipped past Sam, and the chair shook as Dean planted a hand against the back, leaning down until his face was inches from hers. Alex kept her gaze on the ground, and she flinched away when Dean's fist flashed past her head, pounding against the back of the chair with a crack. "What else!?"

"Dean, stop!" Sam snapped, dissipating some of Dean's rage as he turned to face his brother.

"We can't trust her, Sam. She played us, and for all we know she's been playing us for years. I mean, think about it — everything we know about her is what she told us, and we just took it on her word. How can we trust it now?"

"We've known her for — for years." Sam's gaze darted over to her, but the small hunter kept her eyes on the ground. "You're just going to throw all that away?"

"I'm saying we can't trust anything she's told us," Dean hissed in response. "I — I mean, how do we even know Alex is her real name, huh?" He turned back to the ex-angel, his eyes glinting in suspicion. "Well?" he snapped. "Is it?"

Alex lifted her eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to lie in the face of his rage, and she dropped her gaze once again. "Oh my God." Shock flashed across Dean's face, followed by fury, and he spun around and stalked out of the room.

Alex's bottom lip trembled as he disappeared from view, and she winced at the sound of boxes crashing to the ground as Dean took out his rage on the shelves outside. "You don't understand," she whispered, and her voice shook as her head fell back to her chest.

"What don't we understand?" Metal scraped against the ground as Sam pulled up a chair, and Alex closed her eyes. She could hear the disappointment in Sam's voice, the betrayal, and the pain of it hurt worse than Dean's blows. "Alex, why would you do this?"