Spooktember scribbles, dropping a bunch to kinda make up for missed days. Just Aerith getting ready to throw hands with the usual people like Don Corneo, plus some creeperfaced Ardyn. I won’t lie, if they tone down Aerith and make her all Soft Aesthetic for the remake I’m going to be so disappointed. Not surprised, because well, boys and their TOKEN WAIFUS, but very disappointed. She was one of the things that made that trainwreck of a game bearable.
Also been gone because I thought I was moving out this weekend! Turns out my roomie got invited on a mini vacation on Wednesday and is gone for the weekend and I’m watching their spootlet. To say I did not take this news well is a mild understatement but I managed to reschedule some of my friends helping me move to next week and requested an extra week at my job. Luckily my boss let me stay on another week or I’d have been…a lot more down about what happened than I already am. BUT ENOUGH ABOUT THAT have some spoops.
I have a Ko-fi page! If you like my art or writing, please leave a tip! I’ve had to push back my moving day, and every bit counts until I can find a new job.
Spooktember scribbles, dropping a bunch to kinda make up for missed days. Just Aerith getting ready to throw hands with the usual people like Don Corneo, plus some creeperfaced Ardyn. I won’t lie, if they tone down Aerith and make her all Soft Aesthetic for the remake I’m going to be so disappointed. Not surprised, because well, boys and their TOKEN WAIFUS, but very disappointed. She was one of the things that made that trainwreck of a game bearable.
Also been gone because I thought I was moving out this weekend! Turns out my roomie got invited on a mini vacation on Wednesday and is gone for the weekend and I’m watching their spootlet. To say I did not take this news well is a mild understatement but I managed to reschedule some of my friends helping me move to next week and requested an extra week at my job. Luckily my boss let me stay on another week or I’d have been…a lot more down about what happened than I already am. BUT ENOUGH ABOUT THAT have some spoops.
I have a Ko-fi page! If you like my art or writing, please leave a tip! I’ve had to push back my moving day, and every bit counts until I can find a new job.
Summary:After another disagreement with Sam about how the trio is handling John’s disappearance, the Winchesters set out to Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin to investigate the drownings.
A/N:just so i don’t disappear for a while without a word, i’m going to try to remain consistent-ish with my posts, but my grandparents both have COVID and i’m not super motivated right now. if things get worse, i probably won’t be on for a bit. please bear with me through it. as always, dialogue taken directly from the episode is in italics.
~ ~ ~ ~
You sat beside Dean at the counter of the small diner, looking through a newspaper while he read another. Your waitress walked over and stopped in front of Dean, smiling at him. She leaned in close to him and smiled.
“Can I get you anything else?” she asked. You circled an obituary a few times, shaking your head.
“Just the check, please,” you replied without looking up at her. Sam walked over and took his seat on the other side of Dean while the waitress walked away. Dean hung his head then looked over at you.
“You know, Y/N, we are allowed to have fun once in a while.” He pointed over at the waitress. “That’s fun.” You only rolled your eyes in response.
“Here. Take a look at this. I think I got one.” you pushed the paper towards him. He took it and placed it between him and Sam. “Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week, Sophie Carlton, 18, walks into the lake, doesn’t walk out. Authorities dragged the water—nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found, either. They had a funeral two days ago.”
“A funeral?” Sam asked, looking up from the paper. His disbelief was clear.
“Yeah. They buried an empty coffin for closure or whatever,” you replied with a shrug.
“Closure? What closure? People don’t just disappear. Other people just stop looking for them.” Dean looked over at you then turned the stool to fully face Sam.
“Something you want to say to us?”
“The trail for Dad—it’s getting closer every day.”
“Exactly. So, what are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. Something. Anything.”
“You know what? I’m sick of this attitude. You don’t think me and Y/N want to find Dad as much as you do?”
“Yeah, I know you do. It’s just-” Dean continued to talk over him.
“Me and Y/N are the ones that have been with him every single day for the past two years while you’ve been off to college going to pep rallies. We will find Dad, but until then, we’re going to kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?” Sam didn’t reply. Instead, the two of them stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. You rolled your eyes and stood up.
“I’ll be in the car when you two are finished,” you said.
“Y/N-” Sam started, but you cut him off.
“No. I’m sick and tired of this. Dean’s right, you haven’t been here. This is how we do things. Even you just said you don’t know what we should do. God, if you want to do things your own way, just shut up and go. As soon as this is over, you’re going to leave anyway.” You turned to look at Dean. “This is exactlywhat I warned you about.” You looked between the two of them once more, shook your head, and walked out. Dean sighed and straightened up in his seat, piling the papers together. Sam cleared his throat.
“Alright. Lake Manitoc. Hey, how far?”
~ ~ ~ ~
You followed Sam and Dean up to the door, standing behind them. You smoothed out your jacket and readied your badge while Dean knocked on the door. A man opened the door almost immediately.
“Will Carlton?” Dean asked. Will nodded.
“Yeah. That’s right.” You held up your badge at the same time Sam and Dean lifted theirs.
“I’m Agent Ford. These are Agents Hamill and…Fisher.We’re with the U.S. Wildlife Service.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Will led the three of you outside. His father sat out on a bench on their dock, and Will watched him for a few seconds before turning back to the three of you.“She was about a hundred yards out. That’s where she got dragged down.”
“And you’re sure she didn’t just drown?” Dean asked.
“Yeah. She was a varsity swimmer. She practically grew up in that lake. She’s as safe out there as in her own bathtub.”
“So, no splashing, no signs of distress?” Sam asked.
“No. That’s what I’m telling you.” Will replied.
“Did you see any shadows in the water? Maybe some dark shape breach the surface?” You were the one to speak this time.
“No. Again, she was really far out there.”
“You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?” you followed up.
“No, never. Why? Why? What do you think is out there?” Will’s eyes met each of yours, begging for an answer.
“We’ll let you know as soon as we do,” Dean answered. With that, he turned around and walked back to the car. You began to follow but stopped and looked back when Sam remained planted in his position.
“What about your father? Can we talk to him?” Sam asked. His eyes never left the older man’s shape. Will sighed and glanced back at his father.
“Look, if you don’t mind, I mean, he didn’t see anything, and he’s kind of been through a lot.”
“We understand.” Sam nodded. He finally turned away and followed you back to the car.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Now, I’m sorry, but why does the wildlife service care about an accidental drowning?” Jake asked, opening the gate on the side of the desk to let the three of you in.
“You sure it’s accidental? Will Carlton saw something grab his sister.” Sam spoke, the three of you following Jake into his office.
“Like what?” His annoyance was already made clear in his tone. He gestured to the chairs in front of his desk as he walked further into the room.“Here. Sit, please.” You pulled a chair over and sat beside Sam.“There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake. There’s nothing even big enough to pull down a person unless it was the Loch Ness Monster.”
“Yeah, right,” Dean said. You leaned forward in your chair slightly to exchange a look with him before sitting back and turning your attention back to Jake.
“Will Carlton was traumatized, and sometimes the mind plays tricks,” Jake continued, finally sitting down. “Still, we dragged the entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep just to be sure, and there was nothing down there.”
“That’s weird, though. I mean, that’s the third missing body this year,” you said, narrowing your eyes slightly.
“I know.” Jake’s voice was softer now, sorrowful. “These are people from my town. These are people I care about.”
“I know” Dean replied.
“Anyway…”Jake sighed, throwing his hands up as he leaned back in his chair..“All this, it won’t be a problem much longer.”
“What do you mean?” Dean asked. Jake looked at him quizzically.
“Well, the dam, of course.”
“Of course.” Dean looked over at you and Sam with widened eyes before continuing. “The dam. It’s, uh, it sprung a leak.”
“It’s falling apart. And the Feds won’t give us the grant to repair it. So they’ve opened the spillway.” Jake moved in his seat, resting his arms on the desk while he eyed Dean. “In another six months, there won’t be much of a lake. There won’t be much of a town, either. But as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that.” He looked at the three of you, suspicion lighting up his eyes.
“Exactly,”you nodded, trying to save face any way you could. Before anything more could be said, a woman entered the room.
“Sorry, am I interrupting? I can come back later,” she said, looking at Jake.
“Agents, this is my daughter,” Jake introduced as the four of you stood. Dean walked over and held out his hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Dean,” he smirked.
“Angela Bar. Hi,” she replied, shaking his hand.
“Hi.”Dean’s eyes never left hers, that is until Jake spoke up.
“They’re from the Wildlife Service about the lake,” Jake explained, interrupting your brother’s flirting.
“Oh,”Angela said. Her voice was barely audible. A young boy stepped out from behind Angela.
“Oh, hey there. What’s your name?” Dean asked him. The boy kept his gaze on the floor, then turned and walked out of the room. Angela looked at the four of you apologetically before following the boy.
“His name is Lucas,” said Jake. Through the doorway, you watched Angela help Lucas pick some crayons out of the box.
“Is he okay?” you asked, glancing back at Jake.
“My grandson’s been through a lot. We all have,” he sighed. With that, he walked around his desk and over to the door.“Well, if there’s anything else I can do for you, please let me know.”
“Thanks,”Sam said as you all filed out of the office.
“Hey, you know, now that you mentioned it, could you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced motel?” Dean looked to Angela.
“Lakefront Motel. Go around the corner. It’s two blocks up,” she replied with a smile.You and Sam turned to leave but stopped when Dean spoke again.
“Two…would you mind showing us?” he asked. You looked at Sam and rolled your eyes.
“You want me to walk you two blocks?” Angela scoffed.
“Not if it’s any trouble,” Dean replied.
“I’m headed that way anyway,” she said before looking over at Jake. “I’ll be back to pick up Lucas at three.” She leaned down and hugged Lucas from behind. “We’ll go to the park, okay, sweetie?” After kissing the side of his head, she stood and went to the front door.
“Thanks again,” Sam nodded at Jake before following you and Dean out of the building and after Angela.
“So, cute kid,” Dean said as soon as you made your way down the street.
“Thanks,”Angela smiled, crossing the street.
“Kids are the best, huh?” You and Sam started laughing softly and Dean shot a look at you both, a silent “shut up.”
“There it is.” Angela gestured to the motel across the street. “Like I said, two blocks.”
“Thanks,”you said, ready to head in. She nodded then looked at Dean, sighing.
“Must be hard with your sense of direction. Never being able to find your way to a decent pick-up line.” You turned around to try and hold back a laugh while Angela crossed the street again. “Enjoy your stay,” she called over her shoulder. You contained yourself and looked to Dean.
“I like her,” you smiled.
“‘Kids are the best?’ You don’t even like kids.” Sam criticized.
“I love kids,” Dean shot back.
“Name three children that you even know,” Sam challenged. Dean went silent; you could practically see the gears in his head trying to form an answer. Sam shook his head and walked into the motel, you at his heels.
“I’m thinking!” Dean called out, following the two of you in.
Yaaaaaaaay, a part two to this, since I had some people seem pretty interested in it. I may have written more than intended and also gotten way more into this than expected, but it’s fiiiiiiiiiiine, I’m not even worried about it
Small trigger warning for brief descriptions of drowning and sleep paralysis, since I know those can be upsetting for some people. The sleep paralysis bit probably isn’t a huge deal, but the drowning bits have significance, and I really wanna see who’s been paying attention to the lore I’ve been dropping for my guy Lyzer
Yaaaaaaaay, a part two to this, since I had some people seem pretty interested in it. I may have written more than intended and also gotten way more into this than expected, but it’s fiiiiiiiiiiine, I’m not even worried about it
Small trigger warning for brief descriptions of drowning and sleep paralysis, since I know those can be upsetting for some people. The sleep paralysis bit probably isn’t a huge deal, but the drowning bits have significance, and I really wanna see who’s been paying attention to the lore I’ve been dropping for my guy Lyzer
Your first week dragged on, eventually turning into two, and eventually turning into three. You chugged coffee and soda like water, you had all of your alarms set to go off every twenty minutes, and they would all be at their loudest possible volume. Your lights never dimmed, and you’d switched from working daytime hours to working nighttime hours at your job. You were desperate not to sleep, and you’d committed to this. You’d do whatever it took to stay awake, because the next time you fell asleep, you were sure that you would die.
You’d begun to hear voices when you were home alone, but you never found anyone when you went to investigate, so you chalked it up to your sleep deprived mind playing tricks on you. You were jumpy, you were forgetful, you were hearing things that weren’t there, and your basic ability to communicate was gradually fizzling away. Your exhaustion had gotten so bad that you’d developed some complications with speaking, so if you could help it, you opted to stay quiet.
It was your night off, and you’d curled up on your couch to watch a movie, content with a bowl of popcorn and a blanket. If you got cozy and accidentally dozed off, you had countless alarms to wake you. It’d be fine, you’d be fine, you could do this. As your movie started, you absentmindedly rubbed your eyes, trying to rub away whatever traces of sleepiness lurked there. It wasn’t long before you’d gotten completely sucked into your movie, quietly spacing out at the screen and mindlessly picking at your popcorn. Your eyelids began to feel heavy, and you glanced at the clock on your wall. Twenty minutes wouldn’t hurt, right? You’d get a little shut-eye, and it wasn’t enough time to allow you to slip into the REM cycle. As long as you weren’t in a deep enough sleep that allowed for dreams, you’d be safe, and you had the alarms ready to go to guarantee that.
With much hesitation, you got up and wandered over to the entertainment center, pausing your movie and flinching as the first of the alarms began to go off for that night. Well, at least you knew that one was working. You then went back over to the sofa and nestled into the corner seat again, letting out a deep sigh and pulling your blanket up over yourself. This was fine. You needed this, you really did. Twenty minutes was alright, it wasn’t enough time for anything to happen. You would be safe, you’d done this plenty of times already, so you knew exactly what to do.
Despite not feeling completely comfortable with the situation, you closed your eyes and proceeded to pass out almost immediately. Unfortunately for you, there were a pair of unwelcomed guests in your home, and they’d taken the time to observe and memorize your routine. The one with mismatched eyes fled to your basement, while the one with a floating target lingered in the shadowy corner of your living room, keeping a close eye on you.
As soon as the one with mismatched eyes reached your basement and spotted the breaker box, it was all over.
Darkness flooded your house, and at the flip of a switch, all of your electronics were silenced. The entity with the floating target emerged from his corner gleefully, eager to roam freely without worry of suddenly being bathed in light. It was only a moment before your eyes snapped open and you began to panic. Your limbs felt as heavy as cement, and your chest heaved; you knew what this meant, and tears welled up in your eyes. No, not again. Not right now. What happened to the power? You checked it every few hours. There shouldn’t be any reason for it to suddenly quit on you like this. The air grew cold, and something slithered over the back of your couch.
Unable to turn and look at it, you squeezed your eyes shut. If you really tried hard enough, maybe you’d wake up. Maybe this was nothing more than just another bad dream. Deep, rumbling chuckles could be heard beside you, and then there was weight suddenly pinning you in place. Opening your eyes instinctively in response, your gaze flicked down to both of your arms, and the faintest whimper escaped you as you took notice of the goopy tendrils that were holding them in place. As if that was really necessary; you couldn’t move anyway to begin with. A dark figure was leaning over you, using the lower half of his body and another set of tendrils to cage you on your sofa.
Peering at you with one glowing cyan eye, a whisper could be heard in your mind, “I told you I’d see you again soon.” Tears began to drip down your face and you whimpered, completely helpless beneath him. There was another chuckle, and just as before, a tendril suddenly pierced your chest, seeming to phase right through you. The wind was knocked out of you and you were breathless, only able to watch quietly as some heart-shaped object was withdrawn from your chest. Before, it had been glowing brightly, but now it was dim and barely cast any light at all. Your chest began to feel tight, and the figure tilted his head. In your mind, the voice could be heard again, “Do you want to know why it feels like drowning?”
He lifted a hand and placed it over your eyes, and it was as if you were abruptly plunged straight into a body of water. You felt wet and cold, and water was everywhere around you. You knew you weren’t moving, but you saw your arms thrashing in the water, and you saw another pair of arms wrapped around your torso, dragging you deeper down. More tears ran down your face, and the figure removed his hand, the water vanishing and bringing you back into your dark living room. You stared at him with wide, pleading eyes, watching in horror as his face seemed to split open, a white abyss appearing where his mouth should be. The same voice that had appeared in your head just moments before could be heard again, this time coming directly from him as he murmured, “Since you managed to… entertain me so well, and since you tried so hard to challenge me, I’ll make it fast."
You whimpered louder, only for him to shush you. He then ran his fingers through your hair and began to softly hum a tune. The baritone of his voice paired with the tune itself was eerily soothing, but you refused to allow it to calm you. At this particular moment, you believed you had the god-given right to be terrified and to not feel any other way. Nearly choking on a silent sob, you watched through teary eyes as he raised the heart shape—which you were starting to think was your soul—to his mouth. He locked gazes with you, and then, without any hesitation, he opened his mouth and pushed your soul inside. His mouth sealed shut again once he’d consumed your soul, and immediately, your body temperature dropped.
It was like you were placed in a tub full of ice water, and your vision became spotty. It began to dull and fade in and out, and then, without warning, there was only blinding light. No matter where you looked, all you saw was empty white space. In the distance was a small black figure, and you hesitantly attempted to move toward it. To your surprise, it worked. Your body cooperated, and you broke into a sprint, calling out to the figure. It looked up at you, and you immediately came to a halt, frozen under its dead, solid white stare. There was a purple heart shape floating in front of it, and its gaze shifted, settling on something for a moment before it offered you a hand. You warily reached out to accept it, a scream erupting from you as your hand began to burn, feeling as though it was touching lava.
The figure’s grip tightened, and no matter how much you struggled, you couldn’t pull away. There was movement out of the corner of your eye, but you couldn’t bring yourself to focus on it, given the amount of pain you were in. When the figure finally decided to let go of you, you reeled back away from it, wide-eyed and sobbing as you cradled your hand close to yourself. You opened your mouth to shout angrily at the figure, but it merely tilted its head, offering you a wave. You were taken aback by this, and then let out a sharp cry as a set of arms threw themselves around you from behind and yanked you backwards. You fell, but when you expected to collide with the floor, you broke through, now submerged in a sea of black. The arms around you tightened and dragged you further down into the endless abyss, your limbs cold and heavy, and your struggling slowed, as if there was something invisible hindering your movement.
One huge cyan eye opened, noticeably larger than the entirety of your body, and the light it cast was enough to illuminate your surroundings; all around you were other humanoid figures, all floating adrift, completely still and seemingly lifeless. Unsure if they were dead or alive, you began to thrash and scream for help.
[ID: digital art of an unconscious Maya Fey floating in place on a grey background, lit only by the bright white light of her glowing magatama. She floats as if in water, bubbles coming from her mouth, and one of her sandals has fallen off. End ID]
