The Kids are Alright.

chapter fifty-five , The Kids are Alright

a/n : Shorter than usual, but here you go 🫶

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Athena still hadn't gotten her Walkman back.

It had been 3 weeks since she saw Jo skip away from her with her Walkman and headphones. Athena had been irritable lately without her music. So, the brothers took it upon themselves to make the journey for Athena a bit easier for her by visiting Bobby and picking up Gilbert. Athena didn't feel the need to thank them, that was only because she still felt an anger towards her brothers.

And that was thanks to Dean's endless need to travel everywhere and waste his last year alive. And Sam was too busy with his head in books, that he wasn't realizing his time with Dean was slipping away. The same could be said for Athena too. But instead, it was her anger that kept her from making any kind of amends.

She had been sitting in the booth at a diner across from Sam, who had been talking to Bobby over the phone. 30 minutes ago. Athena had been fighting with Sam for him to give her his phone so she could talk to Gil for a moment. But Sam wouldn't budge. Now here she was, eating fries while sinking deeper into her seat with her lower lip pushed out. She was pouting.

Her hair was in a bun that was pulled to the back of her head. Her black eyeliner was heavy on her waterline while black Eyeshadow was compacted over her eyes. She had her black leather jacket on and she was wearing a navy blue muppets t-shirt with black jeans. Her nails were freshly painted black and she tapped them impatiently against the table. She keeps her piercing storm-blue eyes on her brother as he speaks on the phone.

"What do you mean you don't think it will work, Bobby?" Sam's voice was filled with desperation.

Athena grabs her strawberry milkshake and sips it, obnoxious slurping coming from her.

"It's a demon-dispelling ritual."

"Selling your soul isn't a spell." Athena says. "So, there's nothing to dispell." She raises her brows.

Athena's eyes shift over to the large window they were standing next to. She sees Dean walking over to them, a large smile on his lips. "Oh, jeez, he's got a scheme." Athena then looks at Sam. "Not as big of a scheme as you have, though. I'm pretty sure."

Sam snaps his eyes over to the window and his jaw goes slack seeing Dean waving his arms.

"Well, maybe we got the translation wrong." Sam quickly speaks, trying to get the rest of his words out. "Look, we can't just let Dean fry in hell while we—"

Dean enters the diner and Athena raises her brows. "He's hereeee..." she sings.

"Bobby, I gotta go." Sam quickly whispers. He hangs up the phone and looks at Dean. "Hey."

"Who was that?" Dean asks.

"Oh, I was just ordering pizza." Sam answers.

Athena sputters her lips. No way he's gonna believe that.

Dean blinks. "Dude, you do realize that you're in a restaurant?"

Sam blinks. "Yeah...yeah. Oh, yeah."

Dean stares at Sam for a moment, his brows pulled together. Sam presses his lips into a tight smile. Dean then looks at Athena and she shrugs. "You know what? I blame your mother and father." She leans back and continues to drink her milkshake.

Dean sits next to Athena and he bumps her, scooting her further into the booth. She lets out a scoff of annoyance. Dean reaches over Athena and grabs a fry from her plate.

"What the fuck?" Athena scoffs.

"Were you seriously gonna finish this anyway?"

Athena pulls her face back. "Was that a dig at my ED?"

Dean frowns and shrugs, saying yes in a way. Athena raises her brows and Dean could've sworn he saw her smirk. She looks back at Sam, "So, when's your pizza coming in, doof?" Athena leans her arms against the table and squints her eyes.

"Uh, what?—"

"What type of pizza did you get?" Athena arches a brow. "I'm curious."

Sam squints his eyes at Athena. He knew that she was trying to trip him up. But he wasn't going to let her need for chaos, ruin his chance to save Dean. Sam looks at Dean, "What's—what do you have in your hand?"

Dean raises his brows. "Oh!" He holds the newspaper up. "I think I got something."

"Yeah?"

"Cicero, Indiana."

Athena rolls her head to the side. "Indiana again?" She then looks at Dean. "What's there?"

"Dude fell on his own power saw." Dean says.

Athena and Sam look at each other, then they look at Dean. "Y-You're kidding, right?" She snorts. "I think this is a case of clumsiness."

"Also, there's no reoccurring men falling in their own power saw." Athena adds.

"You think this is a case?" Sam asks.

Dean shrugs, "Well, I don't know. Could be."

Athena laughs, "You're kidding, right?" She looks at Sam. "Please tell me he's kidding."

"All right—all right! There's something better in Cicero than just a case." Dean blurts out.

Athena raises her brows, "The truth comes out. What's in Cicero, Indiana?"

"Lisa Braeden."

Sam chuckles and Athena deadpans.

"Should I even ask?" Sam sighs.

"Remember that road trip I took, uh...gosh 8 years ago now?" Dean questions. "You were in Orlando with Dad wrapping up that banshee thing."

Sam slowly nods his head. "Yeah. The five states, five day—"

"Yeah. Well...kind of." Dean shrugs. "Although I spent most of my time in Lisa Braeden's loft."

Athena rolls her eyes and Sam lets out a chuckle of disbelief.

"So, let me get this straight. You want to drive all the way to Cicero just to hook up with some random chick?" Sam questions.

"She was a yoga teacher." Dean shrugs. "It was the..." he looks at Athena and slightly opens his mouth. He looks at Sam and covers the side of his mouth. "Bendiest weekend of my life." He whispers the last part.

Athena rolls her eyes, "You said something nasty..." she sighs. "And we're not going."

"Oh, come on, you guys. Have a heart." Dean says. "It's my dying wish."

"How many dying wishes are you gonna get?" Sam questions.

"I would say 1 since he's got a year." Athena voices.

"No, don't listen to her." Dean motions to her. "I'm gonna get as many wishes as I can squeeze out."

"Come on. Smile, Sam." Dean urges.

"Why should he? It's not like Lisa Braeden is giving him anything." Athena scoffs. "What makes you think that she's gonna want to see you, anyway? I mean, it's been 8 years. What if she's in a serious relationship?"

Dean then smiles, "I guess we'll know when we get there."

Athena sinks into her seat and lets out an obnoxious groan.

☆

Dean had practically kicked Sam and Athena out of the Impala before speeding off down the street. Athena was sad she couldn't see Dean's entire plan backfire. No way some girl from 8 years ago was gonna jump him the second she saw him.

Athena was sitting at the desk in her motel room. She was reading a book while chewing on a carrot stick. Gil was curled into a ball and lying at the top corner of the desk, soft snores coming from him.

While she was lost in her book, the door swung open. Athena pulls her brows together, Gil snaps his head up and looks at the door. He then relaxes and goes back to sleep. Athena looks at her brother and sighs. "What's up?"

"Your door was unlocked," Sam says.

Athena presses her lips together, "Wow, thanks for that observation." She points at him. "Did Stanford help you figure that out?"

Sam rolled his eyes, but there was no animosity in the action. "Look, I was just at the diner, and Dean called about there being a job."

Athena raises her brows. "Is that right?" She then smirks. "So, if he's telling us about a case, does that mean his love confession for Lisa failed?"

"Okay, it wasn't a love confession. I'd say it was more of an offer." Sam snorts.

"An offer?" Athena snorts. "What do you mean?"

"What are you talking about, what do I mean...?" Sam trails off his sentence when he remembers who he's talking to. Athena's head was tilted and she was blinking cluelessly. "I...I meant, he was—"

"Oh, gross. You're talking about something nasty. Again?" Athena rolls her head to the side with a groan. "You guys are unbelievable."

"What? I didn't say anything—"

"Can we just go? You can catch me up on this so called 'case' on the way." Athena scoffs. She unzips her bag, "C'mon, Gil. The asshats need our help. Again."

Are we surprised?

Athena snorts, "No, we are not."

Sam blinks, "Uh, who are you talking to?"

"Your mom's ghost." Athena sighs as Gil jumps into her bag. He pokes his head out. She turns to Sam and he sends her a deadpanned expression. Athena shrugs, "What? I was kidding..."

Sam looks to the side.

"It was my mom's ghost."

"Athena!"

...

"So...you told the kid to kick another kid in the balls?"

Athena hums, "Now, I don't know, this might be just my 13-year-old brain thinking, but...should you be giving some random kid advice?"

"He's not some random kid—"

"Well, he's not your kid." Athena cranes her neck forward. "So, why does this matter? You just want to win Lisa back or something?"

"The kid stole Ben's game—"

"I don't care..." Athena rolls her eyes. "For someone that's dying, you seem to be trying to form so many
complicated relationships." She sighs. "I mean, come on, first, you can't take your eyes off Jo. And now you're head over heels for Lisa Braeden. This is all kind of..."

"Annoying?"

Athena points at Sam. "Yup. Annoying. Dean Winchester is annoying."

Dean rolls his eyes at his younger siblings. "Right—right. You know, you guys are acting like you have never been pains in my ass before."

Athena frowns, "I mean, I'm not denying that I have been a pain in the ass before. But I looked adorable doing it." She then gives Dean a cheeky smile which causes Sam to chuckle.

☆

"You know what? In this moment, I'm glad my parents are dead."

Sam and Dean snap their eyes over to the girl. She keeps her eyes on her book. The girl feels the heavy silence, she looks up and notices their wide eyes on her. Athena tilts her head, "What?"

You just said you're glad your parents are dead.

Athena then blinks. Soooo...?

They can't read your mind, Athena!

Athena then opens her mouth. "Ohhhhh, right right." She closes her book. "I meant because that lessens my chances of getting taken by a changeling."

Sam and Dean keep their eyes on the teen for a moment before looking at each other. "Okay..." Dean turns back to the front.

They probably think you're fucked in the head.

Athena frowns, "Well, I am."

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing." Athena hums, she gets out of the car with her brothers. Dean walks over to the pile of red dirt. He picks up a handful. Sam shines his light on it, "Red dirt. That's what was on the window."

Dean slowly nods his head, "All right, you take the front. I'll go around."

"Gil and I will stay in the car."

Sam and Dean turn to the girl, "What?"

Athena blinks, "What?" She pulls her brows together, noticing their confused expressions. The girl then raises her brows and laughs from realization. "Wait, so, let me get this straight...you two thought I was going to die for," she points at Dean. "A brother who is going to be dead in a year..." she then points at Sam. "Another brother who only cares about the dying brother and some kid I don't know?"

She laughs harder and wipes the tears from her eyes."Yeah, right. But...Good luck, losers." Athena gets into the car and slams the door shut. She sets her bag aside, allowing Gil to get out and lie next to her. Athena looks out the window and watches her brothers split up to search the house.

Even though, Athena had waited in the car for about 20 minutes; she couldn't stop the pit of worry in her stomach from growing. Then she looked over at Gil and his hazel green eyes almost looked like they were guilting her.

Athena's back straightens and she scoffs. "This is bullshit..." she pulls the car door open and steps out. Gil hops out of the car and watches as Athena grabs her bag.

"This Changeling is probably kicking Sam and Dean's ass right now, so it won't even notice us going through the front door." Athena smiles. She picks up Gil and sits her in her bag.

The 13-year-old walks over to the house, her boots softly thudding against the pavement. Athena took a more cautious step toward the house when she walked up the creaky patio steps. She then pushes the door open and looks around the empty house. Athena could hear violent thuds and sounds of groans at another part of the house.

She very much wanted to turn around and get back in the car. But something stopped her. Was it her conscience?

Athena then smirks. No, it was definitely the feeling she was getting when she saw the looks on her brother's faces after they see her save their asses.

Athena gets closer to the sounds of grunts and thuds. She turns a corner in time and sees a woman punch Sam across the face. Sam flies across the room and hits a wall. Athena jerks back, allowing herself to hide behind the wall. She crouches to one knee and takes her backpack off. Athena searches her bag, she grabs ahold of her metal lighter and the can of gasoline.

"Ben, get them out of here!" Dean smashes the Changeling's face with a brick. He grabs onto the creature's arm and shoves it through a wooden plank. Dean stalks over to the Changeling, but it punches him in the face. It then throws a punch into Dean's stomach. He falls to his knees and clutches at his stomach. The changeling lifts her heel up, ready to cave Dean's head in.

"Hey!"

The Changeling stops and lifts her gaze up, looking at the 13-year-old. The creature looks at the lighter and gasoline in her hand, and their eyes widen. Athena flicks the lighter on and presses the trigger on the gasoline, a wave of flames hits the Changeling and it screams. Athena chuckles as the Changeling viscerates into thing air. She looks down at Dean and her smile drops. Dean groans and slowly forces himself off his feet.

"How long have you been here?" Dean asks.

Athena hums, pretending to think hard. "About 15 minutes."

"You couldn't have done that earlier?"

Athena shrugs, "I could've. But then I wouldn't have seen you and Sam get your asses handed to you." she chuckles and motions to Sam, who was still laying on the ground. "Grab him, so we can go. I hate this town."

Dean chuckles as Athena walks away with Gil. "Thanks for saving our asses!"

"Yeah, you both owe me lunch."

...

Athena wrinkles her nose when Lisa hugs Dean. "Get a room, am I right?" she snorts and turns to Sam.

"They're just hugging," Sam says.

"That's where it starts." Athena holds up a finger.

Sam pulls his face back, "How do you know about any of this?"

Athena snorts, "I've lived with men my entire life. You thought I didn't know anything?"

"I thought we did a good job at...censoring those things--"

Athena laughs which causes Sam to frown. The girl's laughter dies down and she blinks. "Oh, you weren't kidding..." she presses her lips together. "Well, you guys definitely didn't censor me from anything. I hate to break it to you."

"Uh, guys."

Sam and Athena turn to Lisa, Dean, and Ben.

"You guys mind giving us a second?"

"If you guys want a second, then go into the house." Athena scoffs. Lisa's eyes slightly widen from the girl's snappiness. Athena then smiles at the woman.

"Lovely to meet you, Lisa Braeden."

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