Phantom Traveler.

CHAPTER ELEVEN , PHANTOM TRAVELER

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"I don't understand. I already spoke with Homeland Security."

Max looks at the little girl in pink overalls, her wavy hair was in two pigtails, her goggles had Hello Kitty stickers scattered across them, and she was wearing yellow converse.

"And what's with the kid?"

Dean looks at Athena who waved at Max.

"Hello!"

He waved at the girl, "Hi."

"Take your child to work day." Dean pulls Athena into his side and she groans.

"Yup." Athena sighs. "When I grow. I wanna be just like my dad!"

Liar.

Max smiles awkwardly, "Right."

"Some new information has come up," Sam says, getting back on track.

"So, if you could just answer a couple questions..."

"Just before the plane went down, did you notice anything unusual?"

"Like what?" Max asks.

"Strange lights, weird noises, maybe...voices." Dean names.

"No, nothing," Max says.

They all sit at a table. Athena looks down at the chair, her feet dangling just an inch above the grass. She huffs and scoots forward, her feet touching the ground and she smiles with content."

"Mr. Joffey—"

"Jaffey." Max corrects.

"Jaffey. You checked yourself in here, right?"

Max nods.

"Can I ask why?"

"I was a little stressed." Max states. "I was in a plane crash."

"Uh-huh. And that's what terrified you? That's what you were afraid of?" Dean inquires.

Athena scans Max's movements and she slightly tilts his head as he shifts in his seat and glances away. "I-I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"I think maybe you did see something up there." Dean states. "We need to know what."

"No. No, I was delusional—seeing things." Max shakes his head.

Dean inhales, obviously annoyed. "Oh..." he shifts his gaze to Sam and Athena. "...he was seeing things."

Athena squints her eyes at Dean. She looks at Max and presses her lips into a small smile. "It's okay. Tell us what you thought you saw, please."

Every time he closed his eyes, Max felt like he was back in that plane crash. He didn't want to relieve it once again. But seeing how calm and patient this little girl was with him, made him relax.

"There was...this...man." Max starts. "And, uh, he has these eyes...these, uh...black eyes."

"And I saw him—or I thought I saw him..." he trails off his sentence.

"What is it, Mr. Jaffey?" Athena slightly tilts her head.

Max opens and closes his mouth, trying to explain what he saw. "He opened the emergency exit."

Athena pulls her brows together.

"But that's impossible, right? I mean, I looked it up." Max says. "There's something like two tons of pressure on that door."

"This man, did he seem to appear and disappear rapidly?" Sam inquires. "It would look something like a mirage."

Max pulls his brows together, "What are you, nuts?"

You're one to talk.

Athena pinches herself, quieting her thoughts.

"He was a passenger." Max states. "He was sitting right in front of me."

After visiting Max, the siblings went to interview the wife of George Phelps.

"Man, I don't care how strong you are." Dean gets out of the car. "Even yoked up on PCP or something, no way you can open up an emergency door during a flight."

"Not if you're human." Sam states. "But maybe this guy George was something else—some kind of creature, maybe, in human form."

"Does that look like a creature's lair to you?" Dean motions to the house. He then pulls his brows together. "Someone's a little quiet." He turns to Athena who was staring blankly at the house, her brows pulled together.

"Athy?"

Athena didn't know why, but she had extreme discomfort with this case. It was different, but she didn't know why.

"Chucky!"

Athena blinks, turning to Dean. "What's up?"

"Are you okay?"

No.

"Yeah, I was just thinking." Athena shrugs. "I don't know what creature could take human form with that kind of strength."

Sam turns toward the house, "I guess we're about to find out."

"You said he was a...Dentist?" Dean inquires.

The wife nods her head, "He was headed to a convention in Denver."

"Do you know that he was petrified to fly?" She questions. "For him to go like that..."

"How long were you married?" Sam asks.

"13 years."

"In all that time, did you ever notice anything...strange about him, anything out of the ordinary?" Sam inquires.

"Well..." She thinks for a moment. "...uh, he had acid reflux, if that's what you mean."

Athena raises her brows, "Oh..."

After interviewing the wife, they made their way back to the car.

"I mean, it goes without saying. It just doesn't make any sense." Sam states.

"Yeah, a middle-aged dentist with an ulcer is not exactly evil personified." Dean sighs. "You know what we need to do is get inside that NTSB warehouse and check out the wreckage."

Athena stops walking and her eyes shift to the kids on the playground. She slightly tilts her head and her eyes travel to the slide. She remembers her father dropping her off at school for a short amount of time. Even though it was hard for her to make friends, she still loved school. Learning about something other than how to defeat a monster was nice even if it was for a short amount of time. A part of the girl always wished she was able to stay in school.

"Yo!"

Athena snaps out of her thoughts and looks at her brothers. "Huh?"

"You were spacing out again," Sam says.

Athena looks back at the kids, then back at her brothers. "Sorry." she gets into the car.

Dean looks over at the kids on the playground. At some point in their lives as hunters, each kid wanted a chance at being normal. Dean got over his moment, quickly realizing that he would never get out of this life and this is what he wanted. Sam got the life he wanted. But Athena was born into this life, and she was slowly losing hope that she would ever get out. And a part of her was okay with that, all she's ever wanted was to be like Dean. Maybe this was a good thing for her.

☆

Dean was already embarrassed, wearing the suit. And Athena's laughing didn't help.

"Dean, you look like one of the Blues Brothers!"

Dean stops in his tracks and looks at Sam, who was trying not to laugh. "I hate this thing. And I hate you." he rounds the car and gets into it.

Sam laughs and gets into the car.

"You look like you just rolled out of bed in that thing." Athena states. "I mean, it's not even buttoned--"

"Thank you, Athena," Dean says. "But I've got it."

"If you had it, your blazer would be buttoned--"

"Oh, My God!" Dean buttons up his blazer and turns to her. "Better?"

Athena squints her eyes and purses her lips. "Better." she nods.

Dean looks forward, "Okay, let's get this over with."

"So, when you guys get chased--"

"If." Sam corrects.

Athena purses her lips, "When--"

"If." The brothers' chorus.

The girl rolls her eyes, "If you guys get chased, can I be the getaway driver?"

"Uh--no."

Athena pouts, "And why not?"

"You've never driven before." Sam states.

"Usually in a life or death situation, people are great at things," Athena explains. "I wanna learn how to do donuts and drift!"

Sam and Dean look at each other, knowing in a life or death situation Athena would panic. They also know Athena was just recently introduced to Fast and Furious.

"I think we should start with learning the gearshift first." Dean says.

Athena frowns, but she then shrugs. "Fair."

The girl had to wait in the car, while Sam and Dean checked out the wreckage of the plane. I doubt people in Homeland Security have 'Take your kid to work day'. Athena practically begged Dean to take her homemade EMF, he gave in.

Athena was playing with her Gameboy when she heard an alarm blare through the area. Her ears perk and she looks up from her game. She spots her brothers running towards the car and she sets her game to the side and grips the steering wheel.

Dean opens the driver door, not noticing his sister there. Sam opens the passenger door and gets into his seat, he slightly jumps; seeing Athena sitting in the front.

"Where to?"

Dean lets out a scream and jumps back, "Jesus! Athy..." he exhales sharply. He pulls his brows together, seeing Athena with her goggles on.

"You're not driving!"

"You're no fun..." Athena crawls to the backseat.

Dean gets into his seat, starting the car, and immediately driving away.

"So, did the EMF work?"

"You know, I can't believe you made that?" Sam slightly turns to his sister.

Athena sputters, "Sam, it's me. Of course I made it."

"And it worked like a charm." Dean says.

The girl snaps her eyes over to Dean, "Really?!" her eyes light up.

"Really really." Dean nods.

Athena lets out a chuckle of relief.

"Why do you sound so shocked? I mean, you made it." Dean says.

Athena smiles softly, "Was that a compliment?"

Dean purses his lips, "Mmm I don't think--"

"No, I'm gonna count that as a compliment." Athena cuts Dean off. She looks at Sam, waiting for approval.

He then looks at her, "You can count it as a compliment."

Athena laughs triumphantly.

"Do I get a say in--"

"No." Sam and Athena chorus.

☆

"This stuff is covered in sulfur."

Athena raises her brows.

"You're sure?"

The man motions to the microscope. "Take a look for yourself."

Shouting is heard outside of the office. Jerry lets out a sigh and stands up, walking over to the door. "If you three'll excuse me, I have an idiot to fire."

Dean walks over to the microscope and looks into it. "Huh. Not too many things leave behind a sulfuric residue."

"Demonic Possession." Athena says. "I mean, it would explain how a mortal man would have the strength to open up an emergency hatch."

"If the guy was possessed, yeah, it's possible." Sam nods.

"This goes way beyond floating over a bed or barfing pea soup." Dean says. "I mean, it's one thing to possess a person, but to use them to take down an entire airplane?"

"It's sick." Athena adds, her voice soft.

"Have you ever heard of something like this before, Athy?"

Athena looks at Sam, him waiting for an answer.

She shakes her head, "No. Never."

Athena scratches the back of her head. She's never dealt with Demons as much as her dad. But anytime someone would mention them, it's like a feeling of familiarity would enter her body. But it would then change to a feeling of despair.

The siblings head back to the Motel room. Athena was sitting on the bed, while Sam and Dean were at the table eating and discussing the case. Her eyes were on the food, while her nails were digging into her palms. She didn't know whether she was afraid of food, or what it would do to her. Maybe she was afraid of what other people would think about her while she was eating.

Why did she care so much about what others thought about her?

Can you blame yourself? I mean, your dad was an asshole.

Athena slowly nods her head, agreeing with the voice.

"Hey, Athy."

Athena blinks out of her thoughts and looks at her brothers. "Yes?"

"Are you...I mean, do you want..." Dean nervously clears his throat and looks at Sam.

"He's wondering if—"

"I know what he's wondering." Athena says, shifting her gaze back to the food. She inhales a deep breath and holds it. Athena stands up and walks over to the table. Sam and Dean tense as she grabs the taco.

"Don't...make this weird, all right?" Athena says. "Just pretend this is a normal day and I always...eat in front of you guys."

Dean holds his hands up, "Normal day...this is the most normalest day ever, with demons."

"Normalest isn't a word."

"It is now." Dean taps on the table.

Sam scratches the side of his neck, he pushes the empty chair out from the table. Athena smiles timidly, sitting down.

"So..." Sam starts. "...every religion in every world culture has the concept of Demons and Demonic possession, right? Christian, Native American, Hindu—you name it."

"Yeah, but none of them describe anything like this." Dean states.

"Well, that's not exactly true." Athena speaks, unwrapping her food. "Uh, according to Japanese beliefs, certain demons are behind certain disasters, both natural and man-made. One causes Earthquakes. Another causes disease."

"And this one causes plane crashes?" Dean questions.

Athena presses her lips together and shrugs a shoulder.

"All right, so, what? We have a demon that's evolved with the times and found a way to ratchet up the body count?" Dean scratches his head.

Sam exhales, "Yeah. You know, who knows how many planes it's brought down before this one?"

Dean tenses, he stands up, and starts to walk around the room a bit. Sensing his distress, Sam and Athena turn to their older brother.

"What?" Sam questions.

"I don't know, guys. This isn't our normal gig." Dean states. "I mean, Demons, they don't want anything—just death and destruction for its own sake. I mean, this is big."

Athena gnaws on her lower lip. She looks down at her taco, she goes to take a bite, but Dean speaks.

"I wish dad was here."

Athena freezes and her heart drops into her stomach.

"Yeah. Me too." Sam agrees.

This was a mistake. He wouldn't want you doing this.

Her brothers had to have known that if John were here with them it wouldn't be this calm. It would be judgment, arguing, small spaces.

Athena wraps up the uneaten taco in defeat.

☆

There was more sulfur found from the recent plane crash. The siblings came to the conclusion that the demon is trying to kill all the survivors of Flight 2485.

"Really? Well, thank you for taking our survey, and if you do plan to fly, please don't forget your friends at United Britannia Airlines. Thanks."

Sam hands up the phone and sighs. "That takes care of Blaine Sanderson and Dennis Holloway. They're not flying anytime soon."

"So, our only wildcard is the flight attendant Amanda Walker." Dean says.

"Her sister Karen said her flight leaves Indianapolis at 8:00." Sam states. "It's her first night back on the job."

"Well? That sounds like just our luck." Dean sighs.

"This is a 5-Hour Drive, even with you behind the wheel." Athena informs in a factly tone.

"I don't like it when you're right." Dean says.

"And I'm right all the time." Athena states.

"No, you're not." Dean rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, suuure, Dean." She pats his back and Dean lets out an aggravated chuckle.

Athena smiles sinisterly, knowing what she's doing.

"Call Amanda's cellphone again, see if we can't head her off at the pass." Dean says.

"I already left her three voice messages." Sam scratches his head, frustrated. "She must have turned her cellphone off."

We're not gonna make it.

Athena slumps her shoulders. "We're not gonna make it..."

"We'll make it."

They made it with 30 minutes to spare. Athena thought she was gonna vomit. She almost did. As soon as they skidded to a stop, she fell out of the car on her hands and knees, dry heaving. But she quickly recovered, running into the airport after her brothers. Athena sees Dean on the phone with Sam beside him.

Athena walks over to her brothers and was greeted with Dean in a panicked state.

"No, no. Wait, Amanda—Amanda!" Dean looks at the phone.

"Damn it! So close." Dean sighs.

"All right, it's time for Plan 'B'." Sam speaks. "We're getting on that plane."

Dean's eyes widen and Athena looks at him.

"Now, just hold on a second—"

"Dean, that plane is leaving with over 100 passengers on board, and if we're right, that plane is gonna crash." Sam explains.

"I know."

"We're getting on the plane, we need to find that demon and exorcise it." Sam says. "Look, I'll get the tickets. You two just go get whatever you can out of the trunk, whatever'll make it through security. Meet me back here in five minutes."

Dean states frozen and Athena presses her lips together. Sam pulls his brows together, "Are you okay?—Is he okay?" He looks at Athena.

The girl shakes her head, "Most definitely not."

"What? What's wrong?" Sam asks.

"Well, I kind of have this problem with, uh..." Dean tries to say the word, moving his hand in an upward motion.

"Flying." Athena says. "He's scared of flying."

"It's never really been an issue until now." Dean huffs.

"You're joking, right?" Sam deadpans.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Dean questions. "Why do you think I drive everywhere, Sam?"

Athena chuckles softly and Dean flares at her. The girl's smile drops and she looks at the ceiling.

"Such pretty lights." Athena voices, pointing at them.

"All righty, uh, we'll go."

"What?" Dean's eyes blow wide. "Me and Athy can do this."

"What are you, nuts?! She's 10 and the plane's gonna crash!" Dean exclaims.

"How about don't say that in an airport." Athena scratches her neck.

"We can do it together, or Me and Athy can go or I can do this myself." Sam voices his options, growing impatient.

"Is there a fourth option?" Dean whines.

"There is no fourth option." Athena confirms.

"Come on!" Dean slumps his shoulders. "Really?"

Athena looks at Sam, "We're going to the car." She grabs Dean's sleeve and tugs him out of the airport.

Athena and Dean get to the Impala. Dean opens the trunk and stares. Athena shifts her gaze to her brother, "Uh, Dean?"

Dean's breathing starts to become quick and he grasps at his chest. "I can't do this."

"Yes, you can—"

"No, no. I can't." Dean steps away from the car.

Athena pulls her brows together. Dean's eyes dart around the area, he sits on the ground, still grasping his chest, his breathing quicker than before.

Panic attack.

"Uh, okay, okay..." Athena inhales a deep breath. "Dean—"

"I'm dying."

Athena presses her lips together, "You're not dying ."

"You don't know." Dean shakes his head.

"What are 3 things you hear right now?" Athena inquires.

"Huh? What?—"

"3 things you are currently hearing, Dean."

"You...nagging." He breathes.

"Kinda hurtful, but I'll take it."

"A plane—Oh, God—"

"Something else. Another thing you hear."

"My heartbeat in my ears!"

"Okay, roll your ankles, wiggle your fingers, and move your arms."

"O-Okay..." he follows Athena's instructions, paying attention to his movements closely.

"Look around. What are three things you see?" Athena asks.

Dean looks around the area, his vision slowly clearing. "The...Impala..." he clears his throat. "The Big Dipper..." his chest starts to untighten and he exhales sharply. "And the airport..."

"The airport that we're going right back into." Athena says.

Dean takes his hand off his chest, "What the hell was that?"

Athena presses her lips into a sympathetic smile. "You, my eldest brother, just had a panic attack."

Dean looks back at his sister, "How did you know that I was having one?"

Athena gnaws on her lower lip before speaking. "I used to..." she scratches her neck. "I still get them a lot." She moves her head side to side. "Being trapped in Motel closets hours on end, kinda makes you...panic."

Dean's heart sinks into his stomach. "I-I'm sorry, Athy."

Athena shakes her head, "No, it's...I'm just glad you're okay." She wipes her nose. "And I'm glad you know that you weren't dying."

She stands up and holds her hand out to her brother. Dean chuckles, "I mean, it felt like it—"

"Yeah, those are...panic attacks."

Dean grabs her hand and she pulls his arm, unable to help him up.

"I actually can't pull you up, so you're gonna have to—"

"Yeah, okay. Yep." He stands up.

"Thanks." Athena huffs.

"Friggin' 'Noodle Arms'." Dean bumps his hip into hers. Athena stumbles off to the side and laughs.

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Author's Note:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Like and comment, I love seeing what y'all have to say <333)