H U N T E R S

What if Sam and Dean had quit? What if they hadn't stopped the apocalypse? What if it was all up to you? 

 

based on the tv show Supernatural 

 a 1x1 with Josh wilson 

 

 

It wasn't that hunters were fearless. Alia couldn't deny the terror that caused her heart to beat frantically against her chest or the adrenaline coursing through her veins. What made hunters special was the ability to overcome that instinctive fear. She took a deep breath and tightened her grip on the demon-killing knife she'd secured on a recent hunt. A blur as she dove around the brick wall she'd concealed herself behind, Alia drove the knife into the demon's neck. Its eyes widened and flashed red for a moment before the life faded out of them. Breathing heavily, Alia yanked the knife out of the body and glanced around her. She was in someone's backyard, but luckily she hadn't woken the homeowner. The night was chilly, but the moon was full and they would have seen Alia standing in the yard. Though the demon had been chasing her first, it was kind of difficult to explain to a regular person why she had killed a man on their property. Alia wiped the blood onto her pants and shoved her knife back inside her jacket. After the demon had ambushed her, she'd ended up in an area she was unfamiliar with. She pulled out her cellphone and dialed a familiar number. He picked up on the first ring. "James, I'm gonna need a ride." Alia scanned the moonlit suburb for a street sign. "I'm on...Hayward Court." 

James stepped out of the car. He rubbed his eyes. He hadn't slept in a while. Not since that day. "Garth! " He screamed at the top of his lungs. "This had better be something good! I just killed 50 little demons to find nothing there!"

Alia walked for miles. Or maybe it wasn't miles. Maybe it was just a few steps. From the way every part of her being burned, it was hard to tell anything. She could barely even walk in a straight line. She staggered, but never fell. There was always another screaming body there to catch her. How could there be this many burning people? How could they all have given up? And eventually, the burning lessened. It was still bone-scorchingly hot, but to a lesser degree. Was she growing accustomed to the pain or was she nearing the edge of the ring of fire? Was this finally almost over? 

James went into his car, with the new found info.

"My guesses are that it's not true." Said Michael

"Angels." James said. "So honest, you just want them to shut up." He started the car. He hadn't got any news from Vince, he must have gotten tired. He looked in his rear view mirror to see what appeared to be a girl.

Alia?

No, he thought. Trick of the mind.

Alia hit a wall. Not the mental, talk-yourself-through-the-pain kind of wall, but an actual, physical wall. She could have cried with joy, but the heat would have dried the tears almost instantly. It wasn't totally smooth. The felt along it desperately for some sort of handhold, and finally discovered a skinny ledge. She hoisted herself up and began to climb. She had no idea where on earth (er, in hell) she was climbing to, but somehow, she was going to escape. There was a world above waiting for her, and she was determined to never see these fiery pits again. A few hours had been enough pain to last her a lifetime. 

"I-I feel something." Said Michael. "A ray of hope in the darkest place. Do you-"

"It is. She's comming. At least I hope" it had been a year since he last saw her. He looked like crap . He drove to the place that her brurial ground was. In Utah.

How long had Alia been climbing? She had no idea, but it felt like years. Her body could function without food in hell, though she wasn't quite sure how. Maybe it was because she really didn't have a body. She was just a spirit. Really nothing more than a mere concept, at best. Alia couldn't see anything, but she'd reached a ceiling. She poked it carefully and found it quickly gave way. It was just dirt!  She could get through dirt. She had never felt so happy. Her heart flooded with relief and she desperately pounded at the ceiling, clawing a hole into it until she saw the tiniest speck of light. 

"Alia!" He screamed as he rused to the gravestone. He couldn't give up now "Alia!"

James's voice? James was alive? Alia almost lost her grip. "I'm here!" She screamed. But she really wasn't there. Her body was wasting away. It was just a dead, broken shell. What was emerging from the depths of hell was Alia's spirit. It wasn't tangible outside of hell. Alia was just a ghost back on earth. Still, she wriggled her spirit body through the hole she'd created. 

 

Where the hell was she? The question only remained in her mind for a moment before Alia rushed to hug James. But her arms passed right through him like he was made of air. Or she was made of air. 

He went to the grave and saw. Nothing. "Dammit Michael..." He said. He walked into his car. He was such a fool. He got into his car, and drove away.

Such a fool.

Where the hell was he going? "James! James, come back!" His car was already taking off down the road. He couldn't see her in this stupid spirit form. But what did she have to offer anyone in return for her body? It wasn't anything she could fix on her own. "Dammit," She mumbled, taking in her dry Utah surroundings. Was she going to have to hitchhike? Freaking ghost hitchhike? How cliche and lame was that? But it turned out she didn't need to. She could just possess someone, right? It was low and cruel, but she couldn't spend forever as a ghost when she'd just escaped hell. How unfair would that be? 

James stopped at the local bar. It was to clear his head of that hope. Really, how stupid was he? Like she was going to come back to this hell? She would be so disappointed. No normal life. Just the stupid mistake he made of continuing this job. Maybe Alia was right. Maybe there was no way out.

Alia didn't wrestle with her morals for long. In the end, she'd saved the lives of most of the world, so didn't she deserve to ride around in someone's skin for a little while? Sure, it would freak them out, but it was a scary world out there, and in comparison, a little ghost possession really wasn't all that bad. She ran into the nearest passing car. She dove right through the metal and tackled the person. She focused on controlling them and in a flash, she was in control of a human body. Breathing! She was breathing! When was the last time she'd done that? Every human sensation felt new--she loved the feel of the steering wheel, of stomping on the accelerator and listening to the engine rev. She'd never felt so thrilled in her entire life (even though it was technically over). It wouldn't take her long to find James. Sadly, she knew where he'd probably be headed next. She just needed to locate the nearest bar. 

James was finished, and stepped out of the bar. He hadn't heard from Michael. Good, maybe that meant he was

"are you quite through moping?" Said Michael.

Goddamit.

He looked at a car that was speeding around. He scratched his beard. Okay, it was mostly stubble, but beggars can't be choosers.

Alia yanked the car into the parking lot of the bar. As if he was trying to make things as easy as possible, James was standing outside! But god, what was she going to say? She'd climbed out of hell and possessed the body of some poor person. It went against everything Alia had ever stood for, and honestly, if she'd found anyone else doing what she was doing, she'd perform the salt and burn routine without asking any questions. What she was doing was inherently wrong, but she didn't have a choice. "James!" She yelled. "It's Alia!" 

"Sure..." Said James cynically "I'm either too drunk, or too tired. I'm willing to believe that..." He opened his car door. "Get in."

Alia felt bad leaving the person's car randomly parked in some bar's lot, but there wasn't much she could do. She'd return the body (and the car) as soon as she and James figured out something else to do. "It's so good to see you." She breathed a sigh of relief. She'd gathered that she'd been gone around a year, but she knew that time in hell was different. She almost jumped right out of her seat. "James, one month in our world is ten years in hell, right?" She counted on her fingers just to be certain. "I--I was in hell for one hundred and twenty years. I--I," She cut off, unsure of how to continue. She'd lost all of that time? How? 

"You wanna know what happend?" He said, trying to sadate anger "You were right. I beat satan, whoop de doo. The angels even took pity on me, and got my soul back, along with Michael the nu-Shut up! The nuisance as a part of my soul. Now, Vince didn't like that, so you know what he did? Killed my family. That's right. Every goddam one. And to make it more screwed up, he used me! Just before the verdict was reached!" He screamed at her with bloodshot eyes "I HAVENT BEEN ABLE TO SLEEP SINCE! DO YOU KNOW THAT!" He dodged a car "SHUT UP MICHAEL! I CAN DRIVE HOWEVER I GODDAM WELL PLEASE!" He calmed Down. "And now, he send you, you proxy! Like he has not screwed me enough!" He stopped the car "So here's what's going to happen. I am going to send you back to hell. You are going to tell him I will kill him."

While Alia's first instinct was to get angry, she knew that wasn't the best way to deal with the situation. "I'm sorry, James," She said calmly, edging toward the door in case she needed to jump out of the car. "I didn't know what Vince would do. I told Garth he was supposed to protect you. He was supposed to try to get you back into a normal life. I guess I'll need to talk to him about that." She shook her head. "I need you to calm down, James. We can figure something out. The worst thing you could do right now is send someone else you care about to hell. And after all the work it took--one hundred and twenty years of work, to be exact--for me to climb out of hell, I can't go back there anytime soon. But we will find Vince and we will kill him, okay?" 

"NO MORE GAMES!" James fury got the best of him. If it was her, why wasn't there for him? "NO MORE! IT ENDS NOW! IT WILL END-" James saw the fear and pity In her eyes and honesty in her voice. He knew now.

It was her.

He hugged Alia, and cried.

Alia wasn't quite sure what to do.  James was definitely screwed up--well, all hunters were screwed up, but her absence had made things a hundred times worse. The poor kid was snapping. "Hey," She managed a weak laugh. "There's no need to cry. I'm out now, okay? I'm alive, well, uh, sort of, and we'll figure things out, okay? But right now I think we should get somewhere safe. Start the car up again and drive until we see a motel. When we get there I'll grab dinner and you chill out." She didn't voice the one question that was really bugging her. Why the hell was Michael still around? 

"Alright..." He started up the car, and drove to the hotel in Utah. The place where it all began . Ironic that it was the only one he could afford. As soon as he walked in, he was greeted by another gift, along with Alia. The gift of sleep. He landed on the bed.

Alia had planned to grab them dinner, but with James already fast asleep, she didn't figure it was necessary. For a moment, she'd completely forgotten that she no longer needed to  eat. Not as a spirit, at least. But hopefully her current form wouldn't be permanent. She wouldn't be able to sleep, but Alia curled up in her own bed, content to feel warm and safe. Well, not entirely safe, but it was a safe as a hunter ever got. No more pain, no more fear, and most of all, no more hell. She didn't really think as she laid in bed. She just waited patiently for the sun to rise and, before James woke up, stopped by the small motel store to grab a box of donuts before returning to the room. 

James got up. "Is that donuts I smell!" With this sleep, he felt less tense. "Are we gonna get your body back?" He said, looking at her. "I mean, if you like looking like a punk rocker, that's fine..."

Alia had almost forgotten that she wasn't in her old body. She'd be content to stay the way she was, but it wasn't fair to steal someone else's life. "I'll have to give this body back." She glanced down at herself. "Well, um, I don't know if there's any way to get my old body back. As far as I know, you've got to have something to trade. And after our last soul-trading fiasco, I don't ever want to go down that road again. So I guess..." She trailed off. There was really only one solution. She was going to have to live as a ghost or go back to hell as soon as she gave up the body. 

"Oh..." He realized the impossible conditions. "Well, I guess you are stuck like that.... Maybe you switch clothes? I bet we can conceal your body identity?" He frantically paced back and forth, contemplating the ways to get rid of traces.