Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Fight or Flight ❯ Investigating ( Chapter 9 )

Anonymous/Mediaminer Reviewer(s):

 

Raven Black: Congratulations on the mom thing! That's so cool…kinda sucks about the moving, though. Or it would for me. I don't know about you. Anyways, thanks for reviewing, and I hope you like this chapter as much!

 

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“I swear this city is cursed,” Dean muttered irritably, his eyes glued on the road as the Impala raced along.

 

“Oh, yeah?” Sam replied absently, staring out at nothing, though he looked worried. “Why do you say that?”

 

“Because we can't leave!” Dean snapped, taking a turn without braking. “The damn place won't let us leave!”

 

“You're being a little dramatic, don't you think? We've only been here a few days, and I told you we'd be busy here…”

 

“Yeah, but that's not even it! It's the fact that every time we even say we're gonna leave, something happens. Every single time! Now, how is that possible?!”

 

“Coincidence,” Sam replied dismissively.

 

Dean shook his head. “That's not coincidence. I know a curse when I see it, and this is a curse.”

 

Sam rolled his eyes, but subsided with only a mutter of “Whatever.”

 

Dean seemed to take the hint and didn't voice any more of his complaints, but his scowl didn't lighten in the least, and the Impala only sped up. In desperation, Sam fell back on his old solution to this kind of problem: complete reclusion into his own thoughts.

 

It was sometimes a difficult thing to do, ignoring Dean, but not tonight. Tonight, he had actual thoughts on his mind, and it didn't take much work to lose himself in them.

 

He had a horrible feeling that his vision was finally beginning to come true. In the back of his mind, he'd been worrying about why it wasn't yet coming to pass, even as he hoped it never would, that what he'd Seen had just been some sort of cosmic mistake. But now Dee had gone missing straight out of a crowded hospital, and as well as he masked it, Ryo was scared.

 

What that had to do with his vision of Ryo being shot, Sam wasn't sure, but the feeling was strong, all the same. Something was wrong here, and it was more than just the fact that Dee had supposedly “run off.”

 

Run off, ha…and Dad's Ward Cleaver…

 

Sam hadn't known the two NYPD cops for long, but he'd always been a quick study, and he knew more about them than perhaps anyone realized. And he knew, for sure and certain, that Dee would never, not even for a second, consider disappearing without so much as a phone call to Ryo. He could have—as an NYPD cop he was probably more than able to sneak out—but he wouldn't.

 

And that left a very uncomfortable number of possibilities, each of which Sam now examined minutely.

 

Possibility one: Dee had been kidnapped.

 

Sam discarded that thought almost instantly, for the simple reason that there was absolutely no way to sneak an NYPD officer out of a crowded hospital unseen if that officer wasn't completely willing to go—especially one as stubborn as Dee obviously was.

 

Door number two: Dee had left the hospital of his own accord, and had simply been unable to reach Ryo.

 

That one was more credible than the first, but Sam ended up dismissing it, too, after a few moments of contemplation. After all, Dee was definitely an adult. Why not just check out AMA, instead of taking the trouble and time to sneak out? And also, Ryo seemed positively glued to both his phone and his pager—the latter for work and the former for personal use—so it wasn't likely that he had missed Dee's call. Plus, Dee had no car and no way to get home.

 

So, with those two ideas coming up zero, that left only one thing that Sam could think of—and it also happened to be the worst possibility of all.

 

There was a supernatural force at work here.

 

And if this was the event that would begin the chain leading to his vision, Sam had a good idea of what kind of force it was.

 

His worry—and his headache—doubled at the thought.

 

XXX

 

Dee kept his eyes glued firmly to the road, using the dangerous speed at which he drove as an excuse not to permit himself to look at his brother. He already had once, just as they were getting into the car, and he hadn't liked what he saw. Sam looked healthy enough, but his eyes had that distant, preoccupied look that said he was brooding—and worrying. And as Dean watched, he'd reached up to rub at his head like he was doing more and more often nowadays.

 

Dean had been trying not to worry about his brother. He really had, and for a long time now. He didn't like worrying, especially when it was about something he couldn't control. And he definitely couldn't control Sam's pain, or even do anything to help it. Hell, every time he mentioned it, Sam avoided the whole subject, and the fact was, Sam was already doing all that could be done, popping pills whenever the pain got bad, which it always did after one of the visions…

 

Dean's mind turned swiftly to that subject, which had been hovering at the back of his mind since they'd come to New York.

 

Usually, Sam's visions tended to work themselves through soon after they arrived in whatever place they were supposed to be, and sometimes before that. But this time…this time nothing out of the ordinary was happening. And ordinarily, Dean would have been grateful for that. But now…

 

Now, something was bothering him. Sam seemed…restless. Inside his head. The pain wouldn't seem to stop. It just got worse as more time passed between the night of the vision and now. Like the end of that pain was contingent on either the completion of the vision or the prevention of it.

 

So…yep, Dean was fairly useless in that area.

 

His eyes wandered over to Sam again, and before he snapped them back to the road he took more note of Sam than he had before.

 

He could practically see the wheels turning in Sam's head as his brother examined all of the whys and wherefores of Dee Laytner's disappearance. He himself couldn't make heads or tails of it, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be the same with Sam.

 

Why am I not more worried about this?

 

The question occurred to him suddenly and without warning. Why wasn't he concerned that a man he'd just begun getting to know had suddenly gone missing out of the hospital? He was curious, of course, but not exactly freaking out. In fact, he was feeling very little right now, except for the curiosity and irritation at the sheer amount of time they seemed to be spending here. God, he hated cities, ever since he'd met Morgan and Sari. He wanted out so bad…

 

Okay, I'm horrible.

 

But he couldn't bring himself to care. Lately, he couldn't seem to bring himself to care about much of anything, other than the job, himself, and Sam.

 

Not only that, but part of him actually rejoiced in that new freedom.

 

And that frightened him more than he cared to admit.

 

XXX

 

Ryo had obviously switched to officer mode by the time the Winchesters hurried through the double doors of the main entrance to the hospital. Sam spotted him instantly—he was standing in front and a little to the side of the front desk, talking to a nurse. He looked fairly steady—in fact, he seemed calmer even than that creepy serenity that had descended upon him after the explosion. He wasn't at all pale this time, and there was no visible shaking. Then again—maybe that made sense. After all, Ryo was an NYPD officer, and this was his thing. He was in his element right now, and that tended to have quite the steadying effect.

 

Sam reached out to grab onto Dean's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. He shook his head when Dean glanced at him, and they hung back, just out of earshot, until the nurse moved away—presumably to go back to her rounds—and Ryo beckoned them over with a tired half-smile.

 

“Hey,” he said when they came over. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Uh…you called us,” Sam said hesitantly.

 

“I did?” Ryo asked. “Did I say why?”

 

Sam felt a little stab of concern—maybe Ryo wasn't as okay as he looked. He sounded…wrong, somehow. “Uh…you just told me that Dee was missing from the hospital.”

 

“Did I ask you to come?”

 

“No, but we did anyway.”

 

“Huh…I can't figure out why on earth I would call you…I don't even know you, really…” Then he shrugged. “Well, anyway, thanks for coming.”

 

“No problem. Wanna tell us what happened?”

 

Ryo sighed heavily and leaned back against the wall, brushing a hand through his hair. “That's just it—no one knows. He was…fine…when I left, and apparently he was still fine five minutes later when his night nurse went on shift and came to check on him. But by her next check, the room was empty. No one saw him leave, and there hasn't been a trace since. He's just…gone.”

 

“Did you call your precinct?” Sam asked, and managed not to flush when Dean stared at him. Well, it's a valid question if we haven't completely ruled out an actual kidnapping…

“Yeah,” Ryo replied. “Drake and JJ will probably be here sometime in the next half-hour or so—they're the only ones at the precinct, so they'll have to get another team in before they can leave, which means finding a team that isn't out on some sort of date or something. And then they'll have to come up with a good bribe. They could be a while…”

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw his brother twitch at the first name, and he almost smiled. But he managed to hide it at the last minute, luckily.

 

“Okay.” Sam cut off the babbling, and then paused for a second, but no more, before he came up with a plan to make his plan work. “Dean, why don't you go…question…the rest of the staff?”

 

As Sam had expected, Dean picked up his real meaning instantly, and went off to ask the right questions, to eliminate one possibility or another.

 

“Oh…I should do that…not him…he's not licensed to carry a gun…” Ryo murmured, watching Dean go.

 

I don't even want to figure that one out, Sam thought. “No, it's okay. He's good at getting information. Come on, you should sit for a minute…catch your breath…”

 

“Okay…yeah, sitting's good…Barbara Walters sits…but only five minutes…then I should get…back to work here…”

 

Sam got him safely into a chair, then took the seat next to him. He didn't particularly want to do this right now, with Ryo sounding like he did, but there wasn't much for it, and Ryo wasn't telling him anything.

 

“Ryo…”

 

“Hmm?” Ryo asked distantly, staring down the hall in the opposite direction.

 

“Ryo…hey…eyes on me, Ryo…” Ryo's eyes wandered to him, and after making sure he had at least part of the man's attention, Sam went on. “Ryo, what aren't you telling us right now?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“About Dee. You're keeping something to yourself, and I need to know what.”

 

“But why? You're not a cop…”

 

“Yeah, I know. But you need to talk to me anyway. Trust me. It's important.”

 

“Really important? Like, really, really important?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Ryo sighed. “Everything?”

 

Sam nodded. “Everything.”

 

XXX

 

By the time their talk was interrupted by the arrival of Ryo's fellow cops from the 27th Precinct, Sam had extracted every useful bit of information from Ryo, and he felt quite satisfied that nothing more was being withheld.

 

However, before Sam could begin sorting through this knew knowledge, a loud, oddly-pitched voice rang through the corridor. “RYO!”

 

A second after the echo died away, JJ Adams ran up to them, followed by his partner, Drake. JJ began to babble the second he reached them, speaking so fast his words ran together.

 

“Ryowhathappened? What'sgoingon? Where'sDee? Haveyoufoundhimyet? Hasanyoneseenhim? What—”

 

“JJ, take a breath.”

 

The four quiet words from Drake did what hadn't before seemed possible. JJ fell abruptly silent and actually gave someone else a chance to speak. Drake smiled and put a hand on the thin shoulder, then took the reigns of the conversation himself.

 

“What happened, Ryo?”

 

So, Ryo explained, in as few words as possible, while JJ and Drake listened intently. So intently, in fact, that it seemed to Sam that he'd been forgotten entirely, which was perfectly find with him, since Dean chose that exact moment to return. Sam took another moment to make sure no one was paying attention, then slipped away and went to join his brother.

 

“Well?” he murmured in a low voice, as he reached Dean.

 

Dean replied in the same tone. “I talked to every nurse who was on rounds when Dee disappeared. At first they all said the same thing they'd told Ryo. But when I started asking them the other questions, they got these…looks. So I leaned a little, and they finally said they did notice something. They all felt this weird…vibe…whenever they went into Dee's room. Like someone was watching them. They all pinned it down to paranoia, but there is not that much paranoia to go around.”

 

Sam nodded in agreement. “But they didn't actually see anything?”

 

“Nothing…solid,” Dean said slowly.

 

“But someone did see something,” Sam hazarded from Dean's tone.

 

“Well, one girl said that as she was leaving Dee's room, she saw something out of the corner of her eye—this dark shape. She said it seemed…insubstantial, I think was the word she used.”

 

“Like…mist or something?”

 

“I dunno, sure. Anyway, it was gone by the time she looked, and she wrote it off. Used the whole `just a trick of the eyes' excuse. God, that gets so old after awhile…” Then she shrugged. “What about you? Anything?”

 

Sam glanced over at Ryo, who was still talking to JJ and Drake with an intensity that reminded him oddly of Dean when he was questioning someone, then looked back at his brother and nodded. “Mm-hmm. Apparently, Ryo and Dee had a fight right before Ryo left for Sister Maria's.”

 

Dean looked slightly interested, but not exactly spellbound. “Lover's spat, huh? Bad?”

 

“He insisted that it wasn't at first, but when I pushed him, he finally admitted that, yeah, Dee said some not-so-nice things. He wouldn't tell me what, but…it was bad, Dean.” As he said it, a wisp of a thought crept through his mind, but before he could pin it down and slid frustratingly out of reach and went to rest in the back of his mind, where he absolutely could not reach it.

 

“Why does all this seem so familiar to me…?” Dean asked, in an unconscious echo of his thoughts. The older hunter contemplated for a while, then let out a frustrated growl. “That's annoying.”

 

Sam sighed. “Yeah.” There was silence between them for a moment, then let out another, smaller sigh, just as Drake reached out to pat Ryo gently on the shoulder, and moved away with Drake. He seized the opening and headed for Ryo immediately, Dean following in his wake.

 

Ryo looked at him blankly for a moment before giving himself a slight shake and murmuring, “Drake and JJ are gonna take over…you guys should go…if you want to leave early you should get some sleep…”

 

Sam rolled his eyes and completely ignored the last half. “Okay, so they've got things well at hand, then. You should go home—” He waved a hand as Ryo protested, vehemently and almost angrily, and went on in a cool, matter-of-fact voice. “You're not gonna be much use in a little while, Ryo. You're in serious danger of keeling over whether you realize it or not. I'm not asking for a solid night's sleep, but just lay down for a couple of hours. You'll be able to help a lot more that way.”

 

He didn't want to talk to Ryo like that, as if he was a three-year-old, but this wasn't the time to mince words.

 

“Go home, Ryo.” This time he said it forcefully, which seemed to penetrate Ryo's shock-induced stupidity.

 

“Home? Bikky's at home…I forgot to call him…he's gonna be real mad…”

 

“Yeah…okay…so you'll go?”

 

Ryo turned and walked slowly toward the door without another word.

 

Sam leaned over and murmured to his brother, “Follow him. Point out doors and windows. I'm gonna go let Drake and JJ know I'm taking him home. He really shouldn't drive right now…anyway, just get him into his car. I'll meet you back at the motel.”

 

XXX

 

Ryo was seeing things through a pleasant haze as he walked into his and Dee's place fifteen minutes later, hoping distantly that he wasn't stumbling. Bikky looked up from the magazine he was flipping boredly through, tossing it aside and leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

 

“Where ya been?”

 

Ryo took hope from the flat voice that he didn't look like he felt, but it was crushed when Bikky took a more careful look, and frowned.

 

“Oh, hell, what's wrong?”

 

XXX

 

Sam turned off his laptop and closed it with enough force that it made a very audible click, but not quite hard enough to break it. He set the useless thing on the nightstand and got out of bed all in one smooth movement.

 

Dean slid the knife he was sharpening back into its sheath, and put it away. “Anything?” he asked, stretching lazily.

 

“Of course not,” Sam snapped as he headed for the bathroom. “Just the feeling that I have the answer, but it won't come!”

 

He was very loud at the end, and Dean raised an eyebrow. “This is really bugging you,” he observed.

 

Sam rolled his eyes. “Your powers of observation never cease to amaze,” he replied waspishly, ducking into the bathroom before Dee could reply.

 

He thought on the problem through his shower, while he brushed his teeth, while he assured Dean one more time that he was fairly certain there wasn't a curse on the city, and he was still thinking on it when he laid down to sleep after setting his alarm to wake him in five hours so that he could call Ryo.

 

This was one of the most annoying things he'd ever felt. All the answers to this mystery were in the back of his mind, curled up and asleep, and they refused to wake and form themselves into actual, worded ideas. He knew the answers, but he didn't know them….

 

But even the irritation of the feeling and the building pressure in his head weren't enough to keep him awake and alert for long. He was completely exhausted, and he still had to get up in four and a half hours and try to take care of them so he and Dean could get back on the road.

 

The thought only exhausted him further, and he sternly ordered his mind to keep silent so that he could sleep. It obeyed, reluctantly, and the inside of his head became mercifully silent, though the pressure didn't go away. Actually…didn't he recognize that pressure? It seemed like he should, but he was too tired to figure it out…

 

He was almost asleep when the vision hit.

 

It was a repeat of the vision he'd had a few days ago, which was just weird. It was exactly the same, only now he recognized the two people. He was back in that alleyway in exactly the same “spot” and as usual he was frozen in place, unable to move. He “watched” as the exact same thing happened as in the last vision, from Ryo's words to the moment the bullet left the gun, and he couldn't imagine why he was “back.”

 

And then his “eyes” were inexplicably drawn to Dee's face, and he felt a thrill of horror.

 

With no warning, he fell back into himself with a jolt.

 

The first thing he noticed was that he was on the floor, and he realized distantly that he must have fallen out of bed. He felt a firm, careful touch on his shoulders, and then he was being pulled into a sitting position and propped up against something straight and hard. The touch remained on his shoulders, and he leaned his head back against the wooden thing and breathed deeply, willing his head to stop hurting, and his mind to steady itself.

 

Once the images faded from his closed eyes, and once he was relatively sure that the ache in his head wasn't quite going to kill him this time, either, he opened his eyes.

 

He opened his mouth to speak as soon as he saw Dean hovering over them, his face impassive but his eyes holding a mix of anger and concern. “Dean—”

 

The older Winchester gave his shoulder a squeeze, then stood up and turned to rummage in the drawer.

 

“Dean—”

 

Dean still didn't answer, just turned back, and Sam saw that he was shaking two pills out of Sam's bottle, and having a fairly difficult time with it.

 

“Dean, forget those,” Sam said, but his voice sounded faint even to him, because God, he wanted those painkillers. He found himself taking the two pills and swallowing them before Dean could get him a water bottle. “Now will you listen to me?” he asked impatiently, fighting back the nausea that sometimes followed the visions. “Dean!”

 

Dean finally turned away from the bag he was rummaging through, looking for a bottle, and Sam took the opening and plunged into his explanation.

 

“Dean, I know now, okay? I know what this is…”

 

XXX

 

Bikky disappeared silently into his room after Ryo explained the whole thing to him. The telling of it had also been quiet, with Ryo talking flatly and calmly and Bikky listening without a word. Then, when Ryo had trailed off, he had simply said, “I'm gonna kill him.”

 

This was not what Ryo had expected, and he displayed his surprise openly. But Bikky remained stubbornly determined to murder Dee for disappearing again, and nothing could persuade him that Dee was anything less than a complete idiot for allowing it to happen. So finally, Ryo had subsided and wisely did nothing while his son continued to vent his anger and worry.

 

Finally, Bikky had finished swearing, and then he had turned and said, very calmly, “Are you all right?”

 

Ryo had seriously considered telling the truth then, had been sorely tempted to break down on someone else's shoulder for a change. And Bikky's concern was real—he seriously wanted a true answer. But…no. He forced the compulsion down with an inward sigh. He was an adult, and Bikky was his teenaged son.

 

Who's already seen more than you did before you hit twenty, you dolt…

 

Ryo silenced the inner voice sternly, and smiled wanly. “I'm okay, Biks. Thanks.”

 

But now, in the privacy of his own room, behind a closed door, Ryo lowered the shields, and allowed himself five minutes, and no more.

 

Once the shaking had subsided and the tears stopped, Ryo straightened, stepping away from the support of the wall, wiped his eyes, and headed into his and Dee's bathroom as calmly as he could.

 

By the time he finished showering and brushing his teeth, he was completely calm—on the outside. On the inside, he roiled and whirled and was altogether a mess, but the important thing was, he didn't show it, even to his mirror.

 

He let out a sigh as he turned off the bathroom light, and walked over to his bed. He probably wouldn't sleep, he reflected, sliding under the blankets, but Sam was right—he would be worse than useless if he didn't get some…

 

“AAAHHH!”

 

Ryo didn't scream loudly—he was about to, but everything in him urged him into quiet. But he still cried out, and scrambled out of bed, facing the opposite wall with wide eyes, at the man who was revealed only as a darker shape against the black of the room. Fumbling slightly, he reached for his lamp and flipped it on without taking his eyes off the figure.

 

Dee smiled at him, looking highly amused. “Gee, Ryo, are you surprised?”

 

Ryo just stared in silence. He wanted, so badly, to run across the room and fling himself at Dee, but something held him back. Something wasn't right…

 

“Well?” Dee asked. “What's wrong, Ryo?”

 

The voice…it just didn't sound like Dee. It was too smooth, too cool, too sardonically amused. And the smile that spread across Dee's face wasn't right, either. It held only more amusement, and no comfort. Nor was the posture the one Ryo knew—instead of the tension and vigilance that their lifestyle enforced, Dee showed only utter indolence as he lounged against the wall, arms folded. He looked absolutely and completely…posed.

 

In short, there was absolutely nothing of the man Ryo loved in this person.

 

“Ryo? What? Why are you staring?”

 

Still Ryo didn't speak. He couldn't.

 

What is happening here…?

 

“So you're not gonna talk to me, huh?” Dee asked. When Ryo still didn't answer, he gave an affected little sigh and pushed himself away from the wall, coming lazily over. “Don't you even want to know what happened to me?”

 

Ryo forced himself to remain absolutely still as Dee placed a work-roughened hand on his jaw, and a thumb traced across his cheek. But inside, he cringed away in revulsion. This felt so…

 

“Come on, lover. Talk to me.”

 

Wrong. Ryo shivered, but not in the way he usually shivered when Dee was this close.

 

The other man chuckled lowly, and the hand dropped to Ryo's shoulder.

 

“So you don't want to talk. Well, I suppose I can understand. After all…I'm not who you think I am. I never have been.”

 

And then, suddenly, the hands tightened in a vice-like grip, and Ryo found himself pulled into a rough and violent kiss that held absolutely no love or anything similar.

 

Before Ryo could gather himself to put up a fight, though, the lips left his, and a voice whispered next to his ear.

 

“Let the games begin, lover.”

 

Ryo had no idea what happened, but next second the man-who-wasn't-Dee was gone. The door didn't open, and neither did the window. He was just gone, with no trace that he'd ever been there.

 

He was still standing, stunned, in exactly the same spot when his cell rang ten minutes later.

 

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AN: Sorry, nothing conclusive here. This was more another set-up chapter than anything else. I hate them, but they're important. Anyways, we're approaching the end here, people! I estimate another 2-3 chapters before it's over.

 

Okay, you've done the reading thing. If things follow their natural order, one could conclude that it's time to review. Right? …Please?