Everybody Loves a Clown.

CHAPTER THREE, THERE ARE WORSE THINGS THAN CLOWNS

a/n : y'all this chapter is LOOONG

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"You got to be kidding me—killer clown?"

Sam lets out a soft shudder. "Yeah, he left the daughter unharmed and killed the parents." He then tenses. "Ripped them to pieces, actually."

Sydney's hands were folded in her lap and she patiently drums them as Sam catches Dean up to speed on the case.

"And this family was at some carnival that night?" Dean questions.

"Right, the Cooper Carnival."

"How do you know we're not dealing some psycho carny in a clown suit?" Dean asks.

Sam shines a light across the words in the case file. "The cops have no leads, and all the employees were tearing down shop—alibis all around. Plus the girl said she saw a clown vanish into thin air."

"Cops are saying trauma, of course."

Dean then chuckles, "I know what you're thinking, Sam."

Sam pulls his brows together and looks at Dean.

"Why did it have to be clowns?" Dean teases.

"Oh, give me a break." Sam scoffs.

Dean laughs more than before and a small smile twitches onto his lips. "You didn't think I remembered, did you?"

"Come on, you still bust out crying whenever you see Ronald McDonald on television." Dean states.

"At least I'm not afraid of flying." Sam retorts.

"Hey, planes crash!" Dean snaps.

"And apparently, clowns kill!"

Dean rolls his eyes, "So, these types of murders—they ever happen before?"

"Uh, according to the file, 1981, the bunker brothers circus." Sam reads off. "Same M.M—it happened three different times, three different locales."

"If it is a spirit, it's usually bound to a specific locale—a house or a town."

"So, how's this one moving from city to city to carnival to carnival?" Sam inquires.

"Cursed object, maybe." Dean suggests. "Spirit attaches itself to something, and the carnival carries it around with them."

Sam scoffs, "Great. Paranormal scavenger hunt."

"This case was your idea."

Sam hums, "Actually, the case caught Sydney's eye."

Sydney tenses and sinks into her seat. Dean then lets out a dry chuckle. "Really? When was the last time you've been on a case?"

Sydney blows air out of her mouth. "Uh...it's been like 2 years."

"Huh." Dean exhales. "I figured it was longer."

Sydney's stomach twists and her face heats up. Despite Dean holding a conversation with her, she could hear the sarcasm in his voice. He wasn't really interested.

"Feels like it's been longer." Sydney says. "It was weird even looking at that case. It felt like I didn't know what I was doing."

"Well, you did great, Syd." Sam turns to her with a small smile.

Sydney returns a smile and softly thanks him.

"But you'll be able to keep up with us, right?" Dean questions. "You won't be an inconvenience or anything?"

Sam squints his eyes at his brother.

"No." Sydney says with her brows pulled together. "I'll be okay."

Dean frowns, "Good."

A heavy silence surrounds the three hunters. Dean shifts his eyes and looks at Sydney through the rearview mirror. "I get that Sydney found the case. But you were awfully quick to jump on the job."

Sam shrugs, "So?"

"It's just not like you, that's all." Dean says. "I thought you were hell-bent for leather on the demon hunt."

Sam glances back at the case file. "I don't know—I just think taking this job, it's what dad would have wanted us to do."

"What dad would have wanted?" Dean looks at Sam.

"Yeah." Sam pulls his brows together. "So?"

Dean frowns and shakes his head, dropping it. "Nothing."

☆

Dean's idea of remaining inconspicuous was finding jobs at the carnival. They just needed to also find Mr. Cooper, the man in charged.

Sam and Sydney follow Dean into the tent. A tall man was I already in the tent throwing knives and perfectly hitting the bullseye.

"Excuse me, we're looking for a Mr. Cooper." Dean says. The man turns around. "Have you seen him around?"

"What is that—some kind of joke?"

Sydney pulls her brows together. She looks at Sam—who shrugs just as clueless as she was.

Then the man takes off his glasses, revealing his eyes were fully grey. Sydney gasps and slaps a hand over her mouth. She quickly looks at Dean, whose jaw dropped out of shock.

"Oh, god, I'm sorry." Dean swallows.

"You think I wouldn't give my eyeteeth to see Mr. Cooper or a sunset or anything at all?" The man bites.

Dean then shifts his gaze to Sam and Sydney. "Want to give me a little help here?"

Sydney pulls her hand off her mouth and holds her hands up. "I'm sure I would just make things worse."

Sydney can hardly talk her way out of any other situations when it came to any awkward encounter. So, there was no possible way she was going to be able to help anyone else out with their own situations.

"Not really." Sam speaks.

"Hey, Barry, is there a problem?"

Simultaneously, the hunters all turn to the voice behind them. The three pull their eyes together from no one being behind them. Sydney then looks down and she raises her brows from the man in the red cape and shiny blue leotard.

"Yeah, this guy hates blind people." Barry snaps.

Dean's eyes widen and he looks back at the tall man. "No, I don't." He nervously chuckles.

"Hey, buddy, what's your problem?" The man in the leotard scowls.

"Nothing. It's just a little misunderstanding." Dean stammers.

The man in the leotard's eyes widen. "Little? You som of a bitch." He raises the cane that was in his hand up, readying to hit Dean.

Dean's face grows hotter by the minute and he holds his hands up. "No, no, no!"

Sydney's mouth drops open from this entire conversation.

"Could somebody tell me where Mr. Cooper is?" Dean begs.

Sam begins to laugh and Sydney lets out an astonished laugh.

"Please?"

...

"You three picked a hell of a time to join up." Mr. Cooper motions over to the two chairs. "Take a seat."

Sydney looks at the chairs. A small smile forms on her lips when she sees the clown-designed chair. Before Sam could even get to the chair beside the clown one, Dean sprints over to the seat and sits down. Sam grunts when his eyes look at the only empty seat. The clown chair.

"Hey, uh...Syd?"

Entertained by this, Sydney looks over at Sam with her brows raised. "Yes, Sam?"

"Do you, uh...you wanna take a seat?"

Sydney pulls her brows together and points at the chair. "You don't want to sit?"

Sam shakes his head.

"You sure? I mean, I'm good with standing. So, if you wanted to take a seat, then by all means--"

"Oh, my god. No, I don't want to sit on the clown's face." Sam blurts out with his face red.

Sydney breaks out into a cheeky smile and giggles. "Yeah, I know you don't." she lightly bumps his arm and walks over to the chair. She sits beside Dean in the clown chair.

Sam then stands beside Sydney, but she notices that he keeps his distance from the clown chair.

"A couple of folks got themselves murdered." Mr. Cooper states. "Cops always seem to start here first."

"So, any of you ever worked the circuit before?"

"Uh, yes, sir, last year through Texas and Arkansas." Sam answers.

"Ride jockeys? Pull shoot?"

The three hunters blink at the references.

"A-and S-Men?"

"A...little bit of everything, I guess."

Mr. Cooper looks from one hunter to the next then the next. His eyes were squinted. He exhales and leans back in his seat. "You three have never worked a show in your lives before, have you?"

Dean smiles, "Nope. But we really need the work."

"And Sam here's got a thing for the bearded lady." Dean motions his head towards his brother.

Sam's jaw clenches and he looks at his brother with a deadpanned expression. Sydney presses her lips together.

"You see that picture?" Mr. Cooper points at the photo on the dresser behind him. "That's my daddy."

"You look just like him."

"He was in the business—ran a freak show till they outlawed them most places." Mr. Copper pronounces. "Apparently displaying the deformed isn't dignified. So, most of the performers went from honest work to rotting in hospitals and asylums. That's progress, I guess."

Mr. Cooper continues. "You see, this place is a refuge for outcasts, always has been, for folks that don't fit in nowhere else. But you three...you should go to school, find a couple of girls—find a boy, have 2.5 kids, live regular."

Sydney knits her brows together. 2.5 kids? She was going to be thinking about what that meant all day now.

Dean opens his mouth to reply but instead, Sam steps forward. "Sir...we don't want to go to school. And we don't want regular. We want this."

Sydney nods her head. "What he said, sir."

Mr. Cooper looks at all three of the hunters and sighs. "All right, you can start today. Trash duty."

"Thank you, sir." Sydney stands up and shakes his head. "We won't let you down."

"It's just trash." Dean murmurs.

Sydney clears her throat and a heat of embarrassment rises in her cheeks. "Sorry." She pulls her hand from Mr. Cooper's and follows the brothers out of the trailer.

"Huh."

Sam looks at his brother. "What?"

"That whole "I don't want to go back to school" thing—you just saying that to Cooper, or were you, you know, saying it?"

Sam hesitates to answer.

"Sam—"

"I don't know." Sam admits.

"You don't know?" Dean repeats. "I thought that once the demon was dead and the fat lady sings that you were gonna take off, head back to wussy state."

"I'm having second thoughts."

That's when Dean and Sydney speak. "What?"

"Really?"

Sam looks between the two. He once again hesitates from their older sibling gazes. "Y-Yeah, I think...dad would have wanted me to stick with the job."

Dean's finger twitches once again from the mention of his father. "Since when do you give a dam what dad wanted?" He snaps. "You spend half your life doing what he didn't want, Sam."

"Since he died, okay?" Sam keeps his hard gaze on his brother. "You have a problem with that?"

Dean swallows. He then lets out a bitter chuckle, "No, I don't have a problem at all." He then brushes last Sam. Sam watches Dean walk away before he follows after him. Sydney watches both brothers walk away and she lets out a heavy anxiety filled sigh. She was really starting to regret her idea of joining them in the road.

☆

"So, what's up with Wilson?"

Sydney and Dean had been assigned to the same area of the carnival to pick up trash. She didn't expect any conversation to be had between them. In all honesty, she was fine with working in silence if it meant Dean's anger wouldn't be verbalized.

Sydney snaps her eyes over to Dean. "What?"

Dean takes notice in her being caught off guard by the question. "Your voicemail. You called yourself Sydney Wilson."

"Oh..." Sydney pulls her brows together. She forgot to change it. "It's just an alias."

Dean frowns, almost like he was dismissive with her answer. "Not really an alias if it's your real first name."

The end of Sydney's mouth twitches. She could feel her stomach painfully turn, but she ignores the feeling. "Right. I'll keep that in mind." She turns away from Dean and continues picking up the trash.

Dean keeps his eyes on Sydney's back for a moment and he thinks about what Jo said earlier. He has no idea what Sydney's been through these last 6 years. And he probably was just piling on. Dean slightly opens his mouth, "Syd, hang on a second."

Sydney tenses but she turns back to Dean. She tilts her head up at Dean and she raises her brows. Sydney was just now realizing how different they were in height now. Dean takes a moment to get his words together. He looks to the side and sighs. "I've been...hard on you."

Sydney blinks. "Uh, no. I hadn't noticed."

Dean deadpans and Sydney winces. "Okay, I noticed, but you have every right to be mad." She shrugs. "You don't have to apologize. Seriously."

"I don't know what you went through over the time you've been gone." Dean admits, he hangs his head low. "And from the way Jo spoke—"

"Jo. Jo, told you?" The color drained from Sydney's face and her stomach had dropped. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Sydney didn't even know that Jo knew the whole st—

"No, I mean. She just made me realize that there were things you went through." Dean clarifies. "She never told me what, though. I promise."

Sydney's mind clears and she lets out a small breath of relief.

"But...maybe you could talk to me about it. Whenever you're ready."

Sydney's eyes widen as Dean gives her a small smile.

A smile has ghosted Sydney's lips but she rolls her lips into her mouth and nods her head. The brunette felt her eyes begin to sting with tears. It was like a 500 lbs had been lifted off her chest. Maybe she didn't have to keep all of this in.

"Okay." Sydney breathes. A small fit of laughter escapes her lips and Dean had to admit, it made his heart skip as it did so many times when he was younger. "I'm actually glad that I can talk to you about this." Sydney admits. "Dean, when I listened to your voicemails. I wanted to tell you about—"

"Wait, wait, wait..." Dean waves a hand and closes his eye to process what the words that just left Sydney's mouth. She stops her words and watches Dean with her brows furrowed. Her eyes skim across his face, trying to read the confusion.

Dean opens his eyes again and meets Sydney's confused gaze. "You...heard—you listened to my voicemails and you just decided not to call me?"

Sydney rolls her lips into her mouth. Her guilt falling even heavier on her shoulders. And just from the nervous way she rubbed her lips together, Dean knew the answer. A dry laugh that was filled with nothing but pain comes from Dean. He then claps his hands.

"Wow! Okay. Glad to know that's where you stand after all these years." Dean nods his head.

Sydney immediately shakes her head. "N-No. No, Dean." She takes a step towards him. Her hands reach out to him but Dean was quick to stay out of her reach. "It's not that simple..." Dean then brushes past her and Sydney's defeated gaze follows his heaving body. Sydney lets out a desperate breath and she covers her eyes with frustration for herself.

☆

Dean had fallen asleep with his face against the window while Sam and Sydney watched the house closely. A heavy silence was stuck in the car. It made Sam not even want to speak. But he knew something was weighing on Sydney (more so than usual). Sam glances at his brother. Dean was a light sleeper, but there were times where he'd be out like a light.

"Hey, Syd?"

Sydney keeps her eyes glued on the house. "Yeah?"

"Mr. Cooper assigned you and Dean to the same area today."

Sydney bites the inside of her cheek. "He did."

"Did you two...talk?"

The brunette lets out a breath. Sam could sense her hesitance and fear. "He's sleeping."

Sydney's chest slightly un tightens. "Okay, well...we were going in the right direction with the conversation. He apologized for being short with me and even offered to legar me out on what I've been up to for the past years." Her throat goes dry. "Then like the idiot I am, I opened my big mouth and told him I listened to his voicemails."

Sam slightly opens his mouth and nods his head. "He was pissed you never answered him back."

Sydney presses her lips together. "Yeah, and I can't blame him I mean, you guys needed me and I just...abandoned you guys."

Sam turns to her. "Syd, listen to me,"

Sydney forces her eyes on his. Sam's eyes were soft and it allowed Sydney to relax. When she was younger Sam was always the one that could reassure Sydney with the smallest of smiles. So, it wasn't a surprise to her that he could do it now.

"you do not owe us anything." He tells her. "You left the hunting world—you got out. No one blamed you for wanting to stay gone."

Sydney keeps her eyes on Sam. She could've said the same thing to him. Her eyes grow teary about why Sam was back to begin with. "I'm really sorry about Jess, Sammy."

A painful lump forms in his throat. Sam couldn't think about Jess without thinking about his own guilt for even endangering her. He manages a small smile, "Thank you, Syd."

Through the window behind Sydney, the lights in the house flit on. Sam's jaw slightly slacks which causes Sydney to turn to the house. Her eyes widen, "You should wake Dean."

Sam quickly shakes Dean awake and immediately points at the house. Through the window, there was the little girl from earlier walking towards the back door.

The hunters stumble out of the impala and race towards the house. There was enough time for the three to sneak into the house while the little girl let the clown in.

Sydney had her back pressed firmly against one of the walls leading to the hall where the little girl was guiding the clown through. As soon as the clown came into their line of sight, Sam and Dean tackled him down. Sydney quickly scooped the screaming little girl into her arms and stood to the side. The brunette didn't bother explaining to the girl "everything was going to be okay" because she knew this was going to be traumatizing for her.

Sam took a step away from the clown and Dean aims his shot gun at him. "Hey!"

The clown turns to Dean and the older Winchester fires his gun, and the clown crumbles to the ground. The clown rises to its feet and makes its way over to the brunette. Dean could feel his heart pound harder than before. "Sydney, watch out!"

The brunette forces the kid behind her back when the clown stalks over to her. Dean fires his shotgun, forcing the clown to stumble away from Sydney. The clown then turns away from the hunters and jumps through the glass door, shattering it.

Sydney exhales a sharp breath and she quickly meets Dean's eyes, who was already looking at her. The brunette gives him a small nod. And before Dean could send her any motion back (she doubts he actually would) footsteps are heard on the stairs.

"What's going on in here?"

The three hunters turn to the parents coming into view. "What did you do to my daughter?!" The mom's voice booms.

Sydney raises her hands and opens her mouth. "It's seriously not what it looks like—"

"Get away from my kid!" The dad shouts.

Sydney nods her head. "Of course, I am so sorry about this really—"

"Time to go, Syd." Sam gently grabs her arm and leads her out of the house.

The three hunters sprint out of the house, not even bothering to look back.

☆

"You really think they saw our plates?"

Dean grabs the last duffel from the minivan and shuts the trunk. "I don't want to take the chance." He huffs. "Besides, I hate this freaking thing anyway."

Sam nods his head. He looks over at Sydney, who was talking on the phone with Bobby. She was trying her best to explain to him why they had to leave the car behind.

"She's probably getting chewed out right now."

Dean huffs, "Better her than me." He grunts as he readjusts his bags. Sam snaps his eyes over to Dean. "Dude—"

"I don't want anymore lectures about how I'm treating her, all right?" Dean brushes Sam off. "She listened to my voicemails and still never responded."

"She knew about dad being missing and she knew about Jess—"

"Have you thought even once about her?" Sam cuts Dean off. "About Sydney? The girl you loved—"

"I didn't love her." Dean's voice was stern. "That's why I broke up with her in the first place."

"You are out of your goddamn mind if you think you weren't in love with her." Sam laughs. "And you're out of your goddamn mind if you haven't thought about Sydney's reasons for not coming on the road with us."

Dean closes his mouth and grumbles.

"No, I know, Bobby." Sydney sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry, but if there was even a possibility that someone saw the plates."

"Be honest..."

Sydney looks down at her converse and digs them into the dirt. "Yes...?"

"Dean's happy as hell he's ditching the van, isn't he?"

Sydney hums softly and looks to the side at the brothers. "No."

"Liar."

Sydney smiles, "I really am sorry about the car, Bobby."

"Ah. It's okay. I'm just glad y'all are safe."

"Yeah..."

"You guys getting along okay?" Bobby asks.

Sydney swallows before shrugging a shoulder. "Yeah. We're good—okay."

"So, that's a no, then?" Bobby chuckles.

Sydney tilts her head to the sky. "I have so much to say to them. So much I want to explain, but...I can never get my words out."

"Maybe it's not up to you explaining to them." Bobby states. "They might just need time to figure out their feelings before being able to handle anything you have to say."

Sydney wraps one of her arms around her stomach and lets out a small breath. "Yeah, you're right...as usual."

Bobby laughs over the phone. "Damn right, I am."

"I'll call you after the case, to tell you how it went." Sydney says. "Thank you, Bobby."

"Anytime, kid. And I mean that. Don't be afraid to call me. For anything."

A lump of guilt forms in Sydney's throat but she quickly swallows it. "Most definitely."

She ends the call and looks at the brothers. "We ready to go?"

"Just waiting on you." Dean walks toward her.

Sydney could feel herself tense. Dean stands in front of the brunette, his eyes on hers. Sydney's chest tightens from the close proximity—she could hardly breathe being this close to him. "Here."

Sydney blinks the tension out of her eyes and looks at the duffel he was holding out to her. The brunette raises her brows. "Oh. Thank you." She grabs her duffel from his hand. Dean was quick to pull his hand away from her, keeping his fingers from brushing against hers.

Dean walks past Sydney and starts down the road. Sydney looks down at her duffel then at Sam who shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe he's taking a turn for the better?"

The end of Sydney's mouth twitches. "Maybe."

Sydney and Sam quickly catch up to Dean. Despite there being a cool breeze brushing against her skin, the sun was still out beating down on Sydney. She had to pull her hair into a ponytail to get the cool air on her neck.

"Hey, so...how pissed was Bobby on the phone?" Sam chuckles.

Sydney exhales sharply, "At first he was pretty upset. Then he calmed down a bit. Then...he figured Dean was happy about leaving the car behind and he got pissed all over again."

Sam laughs more than before.

"Well, Bobby always had a knack for being right." Dean huffs. "Well, one things for sure."

"What's that?" Sam inquires.

"We're not dealing with a spirit." Dean adds.

Sydney nods her head. "The rock salt hit something solid." Dean states.

"Yeah, a person, or maybe a creature that can make itself invisible?" Sam questions.

Dean raises his brows. "Yeah, and dresses up like a clown for kicks? Did it say anything in dad's journal?"

"Nope."

Sydney scratches the side of her ear. Dean looks to the side, noticing her small tic. He brushes it off and looks at Sam who was dialing a number on his phone. "Who you calling?"

"Maybe Ellen or that guy Ash will know something." Sam answers. He chuckles. "Hey, you think, uh...you think dad and Ellen ever had a thing?"

Sydney tenses. Over the past couple weeks of being with the brothers, she noticed how closed off Dean gets with the mention of his father. Obviously, the loss was still raw. But he got angry, even with Sam.

"No way." Dean replies, his voice low as if he was uninterested.

"Then why didn't he tell us about her?" Sam asks.

Dean shrugs, "I don't know. Maybe they had some sort of falling out." He looks to the side.

"Yeah..."

Sydney lightly touches the mini hoop earrings in her ears and looks at her bootcut jeans. She just needed to pay attention to anything else that wasn't this conversation.

"You ever notice dad had a falling-out with just about everybody?" Sam places his phone against his ear.

Sydney exhales sharply and shakes her head. Dean doesn't respond and Sam hangs up the phone. The brunette thanks Sam in her head. "I'm gonna call Ellen and see if—"

"Don't get all Maudlin on me, Man." Sam speaks. Sydney rolls her lips into her mouth and fumbles for her phone that was jammed in her jacket pocket.

"What do you mean?" Dean looks at Sam.

"I mean this strong, silent thing of yours." Sam states. "It's crap. I'm over it—"

"Oh my god." Dean scoffs.

"Silly slippery phone." Sydney nervously chuckles. "Let me just—ah!" She finally grabs it. "Here we go..."

"This isn't just anyone we're talking about. This is dad. I know how you felt about the man."

"You know what? Back off, all right?" Dean brushes his brother off.

"There's no service." Sydney exhales. "I'm gonna—you know, walk ahead and hopefully get some...connection." She speeds ahead, leaving the brothers to argue.

"Just because I'm not caring and sharing like you want me too—"

"No, no, no. That's not what this is about, Dean." Sam quickly cuts in. "I don't care how you deal with this, but you have to deal with it, man. Listen, I'm your brother, all right? I just want to make sure you're okay—"

"Dude, I'm okay! I'm okay!" Dean raises his voice. "The next person who asks me if I'm okay, I'm gonna start throwing punches. These are your issues. Quit dumping them on me." He stops in his tracks.

Sam slows his walking. "What are you talking about?" His voice was softer than before.

"I just think it's really interesting—this sudden obedience you have to dad." Dean spews. "It's like, 'oh, what would dad want me to do?'"

"You spent your entire life slugging it out with that man. Hell, you picked a fight with him the last time you ever saw him, and now that he's dead—now you want to make it right?" Dean's pent up anger was quickly becoming more intense with each word he let out. "Well, I'm sorry, Sam, but you can't. It's too little too late."

"Why are you saying this to me?" Sam's voice shakes.

"Because I want you to be honest with yourself about this!" Dean snaps. "I'm dealing with dad's death! Are you?!"

Sam doesn't reply to anything Dean said. But just from the look across his little brother's face, Dean knew he hurt him.

"Hey—hi. I'm sorry."

Sam forces his eyes away from Dean and looks at Sydney. She holds up her phone. "I...called Ellen."

Sam clears his throat. "What'd she say?"

Sydney looks at her phone. "Uh, Rakshasa."

Dean blinks and looks at Sydney. "What's that?"

Sydney shifts. She didn't feel comfortable even having this conversation. Not after all the yelling that was happening a few seconds ago. But, this was a good distraction for all three of them.

"It's a, uh, race of ancient Hindu creatures." Sydney answers. "They appear in human form, they feed on human flesh, they can make themselves invisible, and they cannot enter a home without first being invited."

"So, they dress up like clowns, and children invite them in." Dean says.

Sydney softly hums, confirming his words.

"Why don't they just munch on the kids?" Dean asks.

"Not enough meat on the bones, maybe?" Sam suggests.

"What else you find out?" Dean asks.

"Well, I know Rakshasas live in squalor." Sydney shudders. "They sleep on a bed of dead insects."

Sam snickers which causes Sydney to turn to him. "Stop it." Sydney whines. Sam laughs and holds his hands up.

"And they have to feed a few times every 20 to 30 years—slow metabolism, I guess."

"That makes sense—the carnival today, the bunker brothers in '81." Dean lists.

"Probably more before that." Sam adds.

"Who do we know that worked both shows?" Dean questions.

"Cooper?"

"Cooper."

Sydney scratches behind her ear. "Guess we're gonna have a chat with Cooper."

"How'd you know all this stuff anyway?" Dean asks. "Did Ellen tell you all that on the phone?"

Sydney frowns and bunches her shoulders. "No. I just, remember some information."

"Good for you." Dean sighs.

Sydney scratches the side of her brow from his sarcasm. "You kill Rakshasas with a dagger made of pure brass." She ignores his words.

"I think I know where to get one of those."

☆

"Fuck..."

Sydney walks beside Dean, following the blind man into his room. "Well, I've got all kinds of knives. I don't know if I got a brass one, though."

Sydney doesn't know how she got stuck with helping Dean find the brass knives. But she did.

"Check the trunk."

Dean walks over to the trunk and opens it. Sydney keeps her eyes on the blind man.

"Uh, Syd?"

Sydney turns to Dean, who was holding up a clown wig. The brunette's jaw goes slack and she turns back to the blind man. "You?"

"Me." The blind man pulls his glasses off, revealing yellow eyes. His face begins to stretch and Sydney's skin crawls.

"Oh, fuck." Sydney groans.

He then dissolves into thin air. Sydney swallows, "We should—leave. Right now."

"Way ahead of you." Dean quickly grabs the door knob and turns it, but it stops. "Shit."

"What? Shit what?"

"It's stuck."

Sydney's jaw goes slack. "Shit." Without even thinking, she reaches forward with her hands over Dean's. She begins to turn it with him and Dean groans.

"I don't need your help." Dean snaps.

Sydney turns to Dean, "Now isn't the—"

A knife is thrown across the room and hits the space between Sydney and Dean's faces. Sydney's eyes widen and Dean's face pales.

"Shit." The hunters chorus.

Sydney turns to look around the empty room. Another knife is thrown into the door and Sydney ducks.

"All right!" Dean barks. He rams his shoulder into the door, forcing it open. He stumbles down the stairs and Sydney follows after him. They both run away from the room, hoping to get far away but Sam calls out to them.

"Hey!"

Dean and Sydney stop in their tracks and turn to Sam.

"Hi." Sydney casually waves. "What's up?"

"So, Cooper thinks I'm a peeping Tom, it's not him. Sam sighs.

"Yeah, so I gathered." Dean exhales. "It's the blind guy. He's here somewhere."

"Well, did you guys get the—"

"The brass blades? No." Dean says. "It's just been one of those days."

An idea pops up in Sam's head. "I got an idea. Come on." He runs toward the funhouse.

Sydney swallows, "Hey! I don't like this idea!"

"Well, you can stay out here in the open, if you want!" Dean shouts before follow his brother.

Sydney looks back at the blind man's room and whines. She runs into the funhouse with the brothers. Sydney tries her best to stick with the Winchesters as close as possible so she wouldn't get lost. The last thing she wanted was to die in a funhouse maze.

As Sam is walking forward, a black wall rises—separating him from Dean and Sydney. The two immediately react and run toward the solid wall.

"Sam?"

"Dean!" Sam shouts.

Sydney presses her hands against the wall, it felt like cement. Dean rams his shoulder against the wall with a grunt.

"Guys, find the maze, okay?!" Sam shouts through the wall.

Sydney swallows and turns her head to the colorful yet dark funhouse. "Shit..." she then swallows.

Dean walks ahead of her, "Come on."

Sydney reluctantly follows Dean through the maze. From skeletons jumping out of the doors to her bumping into a two way mirror at some point, Sydney was over it.

"How do you know where you're going?" Sydney groans and rubs her forehead that was definitely going to be a dark red later.

"I don't know—I'm just paying attention." Dean grumbles. "Can you focus?"

Sydney's jaw clenches and she exhales. Her own frustrations began to rise the more Dean threw his passive remarks at her. Sometimes they weren't even passive, they were just flat out mean.

Sydney and Dean finally made it to a secluded spot where Sam was. He was pulling on steaming pipes with his back turned to them. "Hey."

Sam turns his head to the two and lets out a breath of relief. "Hey."

"Where is it?"

"I don't know," Dean holds his arms out. "Shouldn't we see his clothes walking around?—"

As soon as those words left his lips, a knife appeared out of thin air—flies across the room and cuts into Sydney's jacket sleeve, pinning her to the wall. Sydney lets out a gasp, "Holy—" another knife hits the same sleeve, pinning her wrist against the wall.

Dean's body tenses, he runs over to the brunette—his hands grabbing at the knives. As Dean tries to pull one knife out, Sydney tries the other. The brunette shifts her gaze to Dean, "Go help Sam."

Dean lets out a harsh breath. "Or you could stop talking and let me help you."

"You don't have to help me. The Rakshasa only incapacitated me and now you're distracted." Sydney explains.

Dean stops and looks across Sydney's face. She keeps her brown eyes glued to his forest green ones, hoping he would listen to her. Dean began to feel small under her soft eyes. He hadn't looked at her like this in so long. With a soft look of worry. Sydney honestly never thought she would see Dean look at her like that ever again.

"Dean, I'm not going anywhere." Sydney jokes. "Go help Sam."

Dean lets out a small breath. He takes his hands off the knife that was embedded into her sleeve. Dean hesitantly walks away from her and towards his brother, helping him pull one of the brass pipes from the wall.

Sydney watches as the Winchesters walk aimlessly around, trying to find where the Rakshasa was located. "Syd, where is it?"

Sydney looks around the hall, "I don't know!" She lifts her gaze to the ceiling and her eyes land on the red lever above her. The brunette reacno place, the steam stopping. Sydney yanks at the knife, forcing it out of her sleeve jacket. Then she pulls the other one with a soft grunt and drops it to the ground. Sydney inspects her jacket with a pout and looks at the brothers. They were standing over the Rakshasa's body. Sydney walks over to the two and lets out a breath from seeing just a pile of clothes.

"I hate fun houses." Dean scoffs.

Sydney raises her brows in agreement. "Sorry about your jacket."

The brunette turns her head and meets Dean's eyes. Sam raises his brows out of surprise. Sydney opens and closes her mouth, "Oh, it's okay." She clears her throat. "I can just sew these holes up. No big deal."

That was a complete lie. Sydney loved this jacket. And she's never sewed a day in her life. But it can't be that different from stitching wounds shut. She hopes.

☆

"You three did a hell of a job." Ellen sets three beers in front of the hunters. "Your dad would be proud of you boys."

Ellen shifts her eyes to the quiet brunette. Her eyes sadden, "Hey, kiddo."

Sydney lifts her eyes. "Your father would be proud of you too."

The brunette tenses, "You knew my father, Ellen." She softly speaks. "You know that's not true."

Sydney looks at her beer and a heat of embarrassment rushes to her cheeks. "Now, I've made things awkward. So, I'm going to walk away now."

The brunette stands up and raises her beer to everyone before leaving the bar area. Dean found his eyes following Sydney as she sat in a more secluded area. He felt his chest tighten from the way she stared longingly at her beer. Apart of him—the part of him that longed to be near her, wanted to sit across from her and ask her to talk about everything that was hanging over her head. That's all he wanted. But the other part of him—the angry, grieving side of him, looked back at his beer with a huff.

Soon, Jo walked over to the bar, joining the brothers. Sam looks between Dean and Jo, he soon realizes their expressions were screaming at him to "GO AWAY". So, he smiles and awkwardly walks away to the table Sydney was at.

"Hey."

Sydney presses her lips into a small smile. "Hi."

"How's your jacket?" Sam asks.

Sydney looks down at her sleeve that was stitched up with pastel purple thread. "Oh, good! I couldn't find any same color thread, so I just settled for this." She shows off the purple against her jean jacket. "Cute, right?"

Sam blinks. Sydney looked so proud of it, he wasn't going to say "no". So, Sam nods his head, "Oh, yeah. So cute."

After an hour, Sam and Dean were ready to hit the road. Although the brothers had already made their way out of the roadhouse, Sydney took her time to say goodbye to everyone.

"Do you really have to go?" Jo asks. "We've got room for you to stay."

Sydney sighs. "I'm sure. I don't know why, but I feel like I need to do this." She looks at Jo. "I need to be with them."

Jo presses her lips into a small smile. "All right, well call me if you need anything. And I mean anything."

Sydney pulls Jo into a hug. "Thank you."

"Of course, and Sydney?"

"Yeah?"

Jo pulls out of the hug and gives her a small smile. "Call your fucking sister."

"You better watch your mouth." Ellen seethes.

Jo exhales a growl.

Sydney raises her brows and opens her mouth. "Well—yeah, of course. I'll call her."

Ash makes his way over to the 3 women.

"Hey, so, let's say you stay for a little bit," Ash throws an arm over Sydney's shoulder. "drink and party with us. Just like old times."

Sydney hangs her head low and laughs. "No, I can't. I'm joining Sam and Dean on the road." She states. "Can't risk losing focus." She turns and looks at Ash.

Ash looks at the girl and Sydney pulls her brows together with a confused smile on her lips. The man had a look of pity across his face and it wasn't directed towards anyone but her.

"That guy really messed you up, huh?"

The question made Sydney's stomach turn to the point she had to put a hand over it to ease the pain. A thick silence settled around the four hunters. Sydney wished that Ash was referring to Dean. She wished that her breakup with Dean was the thing that made her this way. Hesitant. Broken.

"Ash, I'm gonna kick your ass." Jo grabs Ash by the earlobe. Ash gasps in pain "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

The blonde looks at Sydney and mouths "I'm sorry" before dragging Ash to the back.

Ellen keeps her eyes on Sydney before speaking. "Don't listen to him. Ash, doesn't think before he speaks. Hell, he doesn't think period."

Sydney looks at her water. "Ash is a genius, Ellen." She meets Ellen's gaze and softly smiles. "I'm sure he meant every word."

Ellen's eyes soften while Sydney stands up from her chair. "They're waiting for me outside. I really should get going."

Ellen pulls Sydney into a warm hug. Sydney's throat tightens and tears blur her vision. The hug warmed her heart despite the coldness she's felt. Ellen knew there was more to Sydney's story than what she's heard. She's seen the look Jo has given Sydney since Laura's told her. The woman just wishes Sydney would open up about it to her. Especially with her being back in the hunting business.

She was going to need people now more than ever.

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author's note.

I'm sorry I haven't updated, but hopefully yall liked this chapter. I'm trying to update each story I have rn, so I can give them each some love 🫶

words : 6915