Topic: Turn of Fates (AU)

Ayden · Date: 2014-02-10 06:41 EST

((November 17th, 2012

It had been a long couple of days for the Winchester siblings. While Ayden continued with her studies, they had been tracking the Hind's Blood dagger, trying to pin it down to a specific location. What they had eventually come up with had been rather encouraging. With the re-emergence of the Olympians, the Fates were no longer hiding their work, moving in plain sight among mortals, and by sheer dumb luck, the youngest of the Fates, Atropos, was in town. Even better, she was the one who bore the dagger, the weapon that could kill Olympians and didn't belong to Death. Thanks to Ayden's vision, the siblings knew better than to approach her outright, and after a few hours of planning and discussion, they had hit upon a plan.

Hope had been tailing Atropos for about an hour, waiting until the sun went down, until the Fate reached a relatively unpopulated area of the town before calling her brother on her cell, maintaining as safe a distance as she dared. "Sam' It's me. This is as good as it's gonna get."

It wasn't so much luck that had brought Atropos to town, but neither Ayden, Sam, or Hope knew that as yet. Ares had put his mark on Ayden, claiming her as his, and while that mark could not be seen or sensed by mortals, it was easily read by those who might wish to cause her harm. Though the mark could be seen as a warning to those who might try to harm her, it was also something of a red flag painting a target on her back to those who might not approve of such an arrangement, both friend and foe alike. As for Ares, the god had not made another appearance since he had returned Ayden home after their second trip to the Amazon.

Sam hadn't been overly thrilled with the idea that Hope tail Atropos, but he hadn't had much choice. Someone had to do it, and it was easier for Hope to blend in than Sam, who was a dead ringer for his father. He'd have been spotted in no time. "Where are you?" he asked his sister from the other end of the phone, gesturing for Ayden to start the car up.

"Corner of West and Main," Hope told her brother, leaning idly back against a wall as she watched Atropos out of the corner of her eye. Something about this didn't feel quite right to her, but she was putting her trust in her brother. He called the shots, in her mind. "She's heading down West away from me, taking her time, reading some big old leather book."

Beside Sam, Ayden started up her beloved car, easing from where they'd parked up into town.

Sam had the phone on speaker so that Ayden could hear every word and so he didn't have to repeat his sister's instructions. Ayden knew her way around town, and he trusted her to find Hope before Atropos discovered their plan. "Don't get too close," he instructed his sister for what was possibly the umpteenth time. "We don't want her suspecting anything." Not to mention that Hope didn't have the Colt or any real means of defending herself against the youngest of the Fates, even if she had to. Sam had the Colt, though Ayden's vision had already foretold that it wouldn't work. "You're sure Ares is on board?" he asked Ayden, also for about the umpteenth time. It was hard to hide the fact that he was tightly wired and anxious, more for Hope and Ayden's safety than his own.

"Oh, I'm keeping my distance, trust me," Hope's disembodied voice assured her brother as the red Impala ghosted through the streets toward her location.

Ayden glanced at Sam, feeling the nerves lighting up her own stomach as they headed for their meeting with Fate. "I'm sure," she promised him. "I've tested the calling for him theory, he's as good as his word. I can call him right now if you want, although I'm not sure he can land in a moving vehicle."

"So long as he's on board. We're counting on him here. I hope he knows that." He hoped to hell Ares knew that, without his help, there was a good chance they weren't going to all survive this little encounter, not if Atropos had a chance to call on her sisters for help. "Stay with me, Hope," he told his sister, not wanting to lose contact with her, until they got there. "We're on our way." He looked back at Ayden, curiously. "Where's Gabriel" We may need his help, too."

"I gotta assume he's around, but he's not exactly at my beck and call, Sammy," Ayden pointed out to her nephew. "He's an archangel. It's not like I can call him and he'll come straight away. He knows what we're doing." She glanced down the street, turning the car carefully to keep from drawing any attention to them as Hope spoke up again.

"So, I assume we have a plan here," the youngest Winchester said calmly, in her element as the only one of them within striking distance at that moment. "One that doesn't involve me slow dancing with the bitch."

"Yeah, we have a plan," Sam agreed, though a loose one. They had tracked Atropos down, but they couldn't predict what she might do once she realized she was being hunted, and they couldn't very well kill her in the street, whether it was nearly nightfall or not. Sam wasn't particularly fond of killing in cold blood, but it was either the Fates or their parents; he didn't have much choice. "We need to get her somewhere alone. Maybe I can get her to follow me," Sam remarked, almost wishing he'd been the one to do the tracking.

"She can move between heartbeats, Sam," Ayden reminded him uncomfortably. "Chances are the second she sees you, she's gonna go for the kill. That's why Hope's the one tailing her." She took another turn. "Okay, we're almost there. There's an alley way about halfway down West. Maybe Ares can lure her in there." She drew the car to a halt, parking in shadow.

"She's taking her time walking," Hope offered via the phone. "I'm gonna have to start walking myself soon if we don't want to lose her."

Sam knew Ayden was right. They'd been over it a thousand times, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Where's she going?" Sam asked his sister, not only curious but obviously agitated. This whole thing made him nervous and Ayden's dream only made things worse. He just wanted to get the whole thing over with, and the sooner the better. "If you want Ares to lure her there, you should probably summon him soon." Sam sensed the timing had to be perfect, or they were courting disaster.

"Well, we kinda need to be in the alley first," Ayden pointed out. "Hope, don't get too close, we're almost ready." As Hope offered her assent down the phone line, Ayden got out of the car, gesturing for Sam to follow her as she ducked down a side street, walking with enviable speed for someone who didn't look as though she was accelerating at all. "Sam, this is going to be a very close call," she warned him. "I saw two of them, not just Atropos. We're gonna have to be quick."

Ayden · Date: 2014-02-10 06:42 EST

"Damn it," Sam muttered into the phone as he got out of the car to follow Ayden down the street. He was used to being the one in charge, and he was used to having a plan of attack, but there were too many what ifs, too many variables. "You think she suspects something?" he mused aloud, to either Hope or Ayden, whichever chose to reply. He realized they could be walking into a trap, but hopefully, the Fates didn't know about their ace in the hole.

"Well, something's not right," Hope grumbled as she pushed out of her lean on the open street, falling into step to keep Atropos in sight. "I don't know what it is. It's almost like she's waiting for something to happen."

Ayden glanced worriedly at Sam. That didn't sound good at all - a confident Fate was not something any of them were equipped to go up against, especially when she was the one who had the weapon they wanted to kill her with. "That's not good," she muttered, drawing Sam down into a narrow alleyway. "This is it. Take the phone off speaker, it'll be too loud here."

"She's baiting us," Sam reasoned, without having to see what Hope was seeing to know what was going on. "Damn it," he muttered. Though she might not know what they were up to, it seemed obvious to him that she was baiting a trap, but for who' She couldn't possibly taken all three of them on by herself. Who else was with her and what was their plan' "It's probably one of her sisters," Sam remarked aloud, taking the phone off speaker at Ayden's bidding.

"Just as well they don't know we have a guest coming along for the ride then, isn't it?" Ayden said quietly, her voice tight with tension. She paused, biting her lip, and finally did what she probably should have done a while ago. "Ares, I need you."

Thankfully, Ares was smart enough and had been watching long enough to know that announcing his arrival in a crackle of lightning was probably not a good idea, as much as he would have liked to have ridden in on his chariot, with his spear at the ready. This was the twenty-first century, and not an ancient battlefield. "She is not alone," he said, the first thing out of his mouth upon his arrival, letting them know that whether he'd been called or not, he'd been along for the ride all along.

"It's a trap, isn't it?" Ayden asked, though the question had already been answered in its way. "Which one is it' And where is she?" The anxiety was beginning to rise in her, nerves stiffening her body as she tried to prepare herself for what was coming. She'd dreamed the death of three people, herself included, hoping that the reality would be vastly different.

"It's the Allotter," he replied. "The Measurer. I have a feeling this is my fault, Ayden, but I will set things right." He didn't wait for her response, disappearing once again, only to reappear in front of Atropos, hoping to draw her into a trap, rather than the other way around.

"What....What's he mean' Where'd he go?" Sam exclaimed, as anxious as Ayden at the game of cat and mouse they seemed to be playing with the Fates. "Hope, what?s going on?"

"Wait, no ..." But, of course, the Olympian was already gone, leaving Ayden to look at Sam with growing concern. "I don't have the first idea what he meant," she told him, huffing out an irritated breath as she looked to the mouth of the alley ahead of them.

On the phone, Hope swore as Ares appeared out of nowhere in front of Atropos, coming to an abrupt halt rather than walk into something none of them knew anything about.

Atropos paused, raising her head as she closed the book in her hands, settling her glasses more neatly on her nose as she looked up at the God of War. "Ares," she greeted him. "Daddy letting you play with the big boys again, or are you still slumming it with the mortals?"

"You are meddling in affairs that are none of your concern, Atropos. You and your sisters. You think Hades will allow you to continue once he has burned what remains of the Earth and made humans his slaves" He will kill you and your sisters as soon as you have outlived your usefulness," Ares countered, ignoring her insult. If there was going to be a battle and lines were going to be drawn in the sand, he already knew which side he'd pick, and it wasn't the side of Hades.

"That isn't our fate, Ares," Atropos informed him smugly. "You should know better than to try and intimidate me. I am the Inflexible, the Inevitable. And I'll cut your thread one day." She paused for just a moment, offering up a sickening smirk. "After you watch the cutting of another thread, of course. You really shouldn't have marked her, little boy. She's the walking dead already."

"My thread?" Ares laughed. "You can try, girl, but you are no warrior." His mood turned on a dime as she leveled a completely unveiled threat at Ayden. "And you shouldn't underestimate me or my brothers and sisters. All I need to is summon them, and they will come to my aid. Your time is done. Humans do not need your kind to direct their lives." Her threat only angered him further, and he had been itching for a good fight for a few centuries. His fingers twitched, and a blade appeared in his hand. Though it might not be enough to kill her, it would definitely distract her and slow her down, long enough for the others to arrive. "Give me the dagger, Atropos, before you hurt someone with it."

"Your family hasn't come to your aid in millenia," Atropos laughed derisively, barely even glancing at the blade in his hand. The book in her grasp vanished, however, replaced with the threatening golden hum of the Hind's Blood dagger. "Oh, you mean this dagger?" she asked then, sweet as can be. "I'll give it to you. Blade first."

Down the street, Hope swallowed a yell as the Fate lunged at Ares, stabbing with her lethal weapon toward his stomach, only just remembering to keep her brother informed of what was happening down the phone line.

"Do you think me a fool, girl?" Ares countered, jaw set for a fight. The truth was he'd been itching for a fight for far too long now, the rage and frustration of several centuries reaching a boiling point in his confrontation with this upstart of a girl. Taken a little by surprise by her lunging attack, he stepped back a pace in order to avoid the blade, which just managed to tear into the front of his shirt and draw a thin line of blood, enough to wound and burn, but not enough to do any lethal damage. If he was angry before, she had incited his rage further with her duplicity. The time for talk was over, and he slashed his own blade her way in an attempt to either wound her or knock the dagger from her hand.

Ayden · Date: 2014-02-10 06:43 EST

Atropos pursued him into the mouth of the alley, eager for blood ....a little too eager, perhaps. She seemed to think she was invulnerable, though it was patently obvious that she couldn't hope to stand against the God of War in a straight up fight. But there was that smirk on her lips as she spun toward him, a hint of knowledge not shared, even as Ares' blade scored her hand. Blood welled from the cut as she hissed in pain, shocked to discover that an Olympian's weapon of choice could harm her, her grip loosening on the precious dagger in her fingers.

She really was no match for him, Hind's Blood Dagger or no, and now that she had drawn first blood, he had no intentions of showing her any mercy. "Foolish girl," he murmured between gritted teeth, as he grabbed hold of her wrist and twisted, forcing the blade from her hands. "You cannot win this fight," he told her as he pulled her close and drove his own dagger home, deep enough for a killing blow.

The dagger clattered across the cracked concrete paving toward the approaching Sam and Ayden as Atropos hissed, crying out in pain and defeat as Ares' blade thrust deep into her stomach, twisting and tearing her to ribbons inside. Her hand wrapped about his wrist, eyes glaring into his as she convulsed, beaten easily by an Olympian she should never have challenged. But there was still malice, even as she died. "No spoils to enjoy," she gasped, the scent of her own blood heavy on her breath as she sagged back from the blade that had killed her, summoning just enough strength for one call before the life fled her body. "Lachesis, now!"

The Allotter, the Measurer, Atropos' own sister, Lachesis suddenly took form in the alleyway, stepping out of the heartbeat between seconds, a wicked knife clutched in her hand as she barred the way for Ayden and Sam. Her face twisted in a snarl of pain as she felt her sister's death, hatred and cruelty flaring in her eyes as she took in the mark of Ares emblazoned on the soul of the woman who shrank back from her. A flick of her empty hand caught Sam hard in the chest, a shocking thrust of motion that had no warning, as that knife swept toward Ayden.

Taken off guard by the sudden arrival of another of the Fates, Sam wasn't expecting that shove and fell back onto the ground, momentarily stunned as his head smacked against the concrete, the Colt useless by his side until he regained his senses.

Ares dropped the body of the dead Fate to the ground, stormy eyes dark with malice as he turned to face her sister, startled to find her taking out Sam and focusing her attack on Ayden.

"Ayden!" The panicked voice came from the mouth of the alley, where Hope had just come into view, not even slowing down as she ran toward the altercation, leaping over the body of the dead Atropos. But she was too far away, too late, to be able to help.

Ayden stumbled backward from the avenging Lachesis, some instinct of preservation raising her forearm to block the downward sweep of the knife. She cried out in pain as the sharp blade sliced through jacket, sweater, and flesh, hot blood quick to pour from a fresh wound.

Lachesis laughed unpleasantly, lurching forward to grab the young seer by the hair, forcing her down onto her knees as the blade moved with terrifying intent toward Ayden's unprotected throat.

"NO!!!" Ares shouted with such force that the buildings around them shook with the sound of his voice. It was loud enough that those who knew nothing of the battle waging in that alley might think that a storm was brewing or that an earthquake was shaking the ground. He watched in horror as Ayden cried out in pain, a dark stain spreading across her sleeve. It was not a mortal wound, but he knew Lachesis would be quick to make the killing blow, and they were too far away for him to interfere quickly enough to save Ayden.

Ares' shout was loud enough to startle Sam from his daze and though the Hind's Blood Dagger lay nearby, like his father, he preferred a gun in his hand. He was on his feet in an instant, the Colt leveled point blank at Lachesis' head before he pulled the hammer back on the weapon and squeezed the trigger in one smooth motion that took no more than a few seconds. It was going to be close, and he only had one shot.

It was close, far too close for comfort. As the Colt discharged its lethal bullet into the Fate's skull, Ayden whimpered, blood blooming again beneath the knife that scratched her throat, drawing a painful line from beneath her jaw down to her collarbone as Lachesis fell to the side, dead before she hit the ground. As Hope accelerated toward where her brother and aunt had found themselves in battle, Ayden sagged on her knees, pale and shaken but already moving to staunch the flow of blood from her wounds. She knew only too well what it felt like to bleed out; it wasn't something she wanted to repeat.

"Ayden!" Ares shouted, at her side in an instant now that Lachesis was no longer holding a knife at her throat. Everything seemed to have happened quickly, too quickly, in the space of a few heartbeats. It struck him how quickly he could have lost her, and mostly due to his own foolishness. He caught her in his arms, but he was no healer and he could not save her. "Tell me, tell me what I must do!" he pleaded.

"I'm fine," she told him as he caught her up, trying to calm down, to slow her heartbeat. It wasn't exactly a lie, but neither was it the truth. "I just, I need to stop the bleeding. And we need to get away from here before someone finds the bodies."

There was a sound of police sirens in the distance, not close but getting closer. If they tarried much longer, they would have more problems to deal with and a lot of explaining to do. Sam retrieved the Hind's Blood Dagger, now that the Fates were dead, allowing Ares his moment with Ayden.

Beside them, Hope had dropped painfully onto her own knees, dragging her sturdy little medical kit out of her jacket once again to press pads to the open wounds on Ayden's arm and throat, wrapping a bandage roughly around the older woman's jacket sleeve to staunch the blade. She looked up at Sam. "Where's the car?"

Ayden · Date: 2014-02-10 06:45 EST

"Not far, around the corner, but..." Sam heard the sirens drawing closer.

"Tell me where to go and I will take us there," Ares interjected, knowing it would tax him, but needing to ensure they were all safe.

"No," Sam argued. "You go. Take Hope with you. I'll meet you back at the dormitory as soon as I can." He wasn't going to leave Ayden's car behind for the police.

"Keys," Ayden pointed out, gesturing to her pocket with her bloodied fingers, grateful that Hope was holding the pad to her throat. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she had only just been lucky enough to avoid having her jugular sliced open laterally, which would have been very bad indeed.

Hope, however, scowled, taking hold of Ares' hand and planting it over that same pad so she was free to move. "I'll come with you, Sam," she told her brother harshly. "No one goes anywhere alone. Especially not now."

Ares let Hope move his hand to help stanch the flow of Ayden's blood before casting a solemn glance toward the Winchester siblings as they seemed to debate their next move.

Sam drew the keys from Ayden's pocket as carefully as possible, looking slightly pale and shaken, but relieved they had come out of the hunt alive. He felt no joy at the death of the two Fates, only a strange sense of empty relief. He met the God of War's gaze if only for a moment, realizing Hope was right. It was wiser if they stayed in pairs. There was one more Fate out there somewhere, and who knew what her reaction would be to the death of her sisters. "All right," Sam reluctantly agreed. "We'll meet you back at the dormitory as soon as we can."

Ares only nodded in silent agreement and without another word, he and Ayden were gone.

The pair left behind didn't waste much time, pausing just long enough to remove all evidence of their ever having been there. Hope took the knife from Lachesis' hand, wrapping the bloodied blade safely before slipping it into her pocket as she rose to her feet. Anything not to have a crime scene lead straight to Ayden. She met Sam's gaze as the sirens drew ever nearer. "C'mon, we gotta go."

Sam would have liked to have disposed of the bodies, but there was no time. The police were most likely going to have two Jane Does on their hands, but so long as nothing implicated Ayden or them, he had to be satisfied with that. "I'm right behind you," he said, the back of his head starting to throb where it had met with the concrete, but overall, that was nothing compared to how Ayden had dreamed the outcome.

The important thing, of course - and the most nerve-wracking - was not to run. It took a lot of effort for Hope not to break into a run, her hands stuffed into her pockets as she moderated her pace to leave the alley in the direction Sam and Ayden had entered it. "This is always the worst part," she muttered to her brother, knowing that the police would go for people running before they ever considered a rather sweet girl-next-door type walking along with her big brother.

The hardest part for him was keeping the Colt hidden beneath his coat, not to mention the Hind's Blood Dagger they'd stolen from the Fates. Now that the worst was behind them, he could hardly believe they'd succeeded. He'd taken no joy in killing the second of the Fates, but she had given him no choice. If he hadn't pulled the trigger when he had, Ayden might have died. "Dad's gonna be pissed," Sam remarked as he followed alongside his sister, having an even harder time slowing his pace than she was. His adrenaline was flowing, and he was full of nervous energy. It never occurred to him how like his father he was, who had once tried to kill Lucifer with the Colt at point-blank range. "Well, at least we know the Fates aren't one of the four things the Colt can't kill," he remarked idly.

"Five," Hope corrected, her tone just a little absent-minded as she considered just how close to disaster they came. "How about we don't tell Dad we nearly got his sister killed?" she suggested hopefully. "He doesn't need to know. I mean, by the time we get back, Gabriel will have done his mojo on her anyway. Right?" She glanced at her brother, showing off the cheerful, if slightly sarcastic, smile she'd inherited from their mother.

"We can try to lie to Dad, but he's gonna see right through us," Sam replied, and even if Dean didn't realize they were lying, it was likely Nimue or Ellen would. "Let's just be glad it didn't end like Ayden's dream." Sam reached up to rub at the goose-egg that was swelling up on the back of his head. Five, huh' He could have sworn it was four.

"Ayden's dream didn't have Ares," Hope mused, following Sam's lead as they headed back toward Ayden's car. "Why did the bitch go for Ayden, anyway' I would have thought she'd go for you - you were the one with the weapon." It was a worrying thought, that perhaps Ayden had been marked for death the way that Nimue had, but how, then, did Hades know about Ayden's psychic abilities" It wasn't exactly common knowledge - not even Ellen had known until a couple of days before Dean's wedding.

"I don't know," Sam replied, having a hard time wrapping his head around that one, too. "Maybe they knew about Ares, but I'm not sure how. Unless he's part of her destiny." Sam knew he was grasping at straws. Something wasn't making sense, but he wasn't sure just what it was. They reached the car without incident, just as a couple of police cars were turning the corner toward the alley. "I feel like I could sleep for a week. Hey, Hope?" he asked, as they arrived at the car.

"Head injury, dude, you're not sleeping for at least four hours," his little sister pointed out, skillfully snagging the keys from his fingers and giving him a nudge toward the passenger door. It was disturbing to know that something else was going on that they didn't know about, something that involved Ayden and Ares, something their aunt hadn't told them before allowing them to make the trip back to this time. Had they changed things between god and woman just by initiating the meeting a little early' She glanced up as she unlocked the door, meeting Sam's gaze curiously. "Yeah?"

He made no argument, letting her take the keys from him, knowing he was in no shape to drive. He was feeling a little woozy from the knock on the head, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. It wasn't often he got sentimental, especially around his sister. She knew him better than anyone, better even than their parents. They were about as inseparable as two siblings could be. "I'm-I'm glad nothing happened to you today. I was worried. I don't-I don't know what I'd do without you." It was about as close to an "I love you? as she was likely to get from her big brother.

Hope's habitually mischievous grin gentled into a warm smile for her brother, pleased and touched that he felt the need to say it out loud. She knew he worried about her - more than she worried about herself, certainly - almost as much as she worried about him most of the time. "Same goes for you, Bertie," she promised him, as leery of being soppy and sentimental as he was. "I'd totally be lost without my big bro to tell me when I'm being an idiot." Her smile deepened for a moment as she pulled the door open. "Let's get out of here." She thumped down into the car and leaned over to unlock his door, turning the engine over with an ease the Ayden of their time would have been surprised to note.

Sam climbed into the passenger seat, mirroring her smile, the easy-going familiarity between them enough to ease his mind for now. They had survived their battle with the Fates, and they had won. With any luck, their father would be proud.

((Two down, one very pissed off Clotho still out there. Anyone else got a feeling this is going to come back to bite someone in the *ss" Huge thanks, as ever, to the awesomeness of my play partner, who never ceases to amaze me!))