Chapter Text
Mary Winchester’s life ended where her second life had begun.
It was in the place where she met the man who had taught her how to love and how to live. He had given her hope for a better life in an existence full of death. And the man she loved never knew the full details of what she was running from. He had never pushed her for details as he trusted her implicitly and without question. And it was with him she found the first home she had ever known. But she knew it couldn’t last. That thought was in her mind every day but she pushed it aside so forcefully that it became nothing more than a dull itch in the back of her mind that she could ignore. So when the unthinkable happened she wasn’t prepared.
It was a dark night when they finally came for her. It had been such a normal day. John was out getting replacement parts for the engine of his beloved Impala and it was just her boys and her in the docked ship waiting for repairs. Mary had smiled at Deans antics as he tried to make his baby brother laugh. The boys adored each other. Dean, the ever doting older brother and Sammy, the youngest, who looked at his older brother with hero worship in his big brown eyes. She was still amazed that she had managed to get her dream of a happy family. But Mary had already started to worry well before long dormant instincts that she had worked hard to supress, warned her of the approaching danger. First it started as just a feeling that something was wrong. She was pacing anxiously, her entire body rigid with tension. John had been gone too long for a simple supply run. John was a good man and could defend himself against most people but the people searching for her weren’t just ordinary people and she started to wish, for the first time that she had told John the full truth. She had been so scared of his reaction that even though she had always known that this day may come, that they might track her down she hadn’t told him her real history. So when the lights flickered and died she knew that her time of joy was over. But right now she wasn’t concerned for her own safety, or even Johns, only that of her two young, defenceless sons.
She had seen the shadow that was slightly too dark, move in not quite the right way in the rear of the ship. Whoever it was they were good. When the shadow wasn’t moving it was impossible to see and fear started to curl around her. She could only imagine the horror that the owner of that shadow would cause her precious boys as they lay unprotected in the dark. How the hell had the intruder got on board? Got past her alarms? How could she have failed them like this? How had they found her? She had been so careful over the years. Never staying in one place too long, never revealing her true identity, not even to her husband. But right now she was wishing she had told John the truth about her past. Both her boys were already asleep and she hated to wake them but she had to try to get them to safety. Her life meant nothing compared to theirs. They were too young for what was to come. She slipped over to Dean, waking him quietly, all the while knowing that it was too late to get her two beautiful sons off the ship unseen. The eight year old opened sleepy eyes, blinking wearily.
“Mom?”
“Dean, Honey. I need you to do something for me.”
Dean was instantly awake and worried at the forced calm in his Mom’s face.
“Mom, what’s happening? What’s going on? Where’s Dad?”
“I need you to take Sammy and I need you to hide.”
“What? Why?”
“I can’t answer your questions now Dean. I need you to hide and no matter what you hear don’t come out. No matter what. Not until your Dad gets home. Can you do that for me?”
She could see the worry spike in Dean’s eyes as she moved to where her youngest had already woken. Sam had always been a light sleeper due to the nightmares that had always plagued him. He held his small hands out to her.
“Mommy?”
“Shh Sammy. It’s okay. Baby, can you go with Dean? And stay with him. No running off.” Sam blinked suspiciously at his mother who smiled at him. She could tell he wasn’t fooled by her demeanour. Even at this age he was incredibly smart.
“Can you do that baby? Go with Dean and do exactly what he tells you?”
He nodded as he rubbed tired eyes with his small fists and she felt tears pricking her eyes as she watched Dean grab his brother’s hand. “Look after Sammy until your Dad gets home. I love you both. Never forget that.” She paused before speaking again. “No matter what you hear about me. Now off you go.” She watched for a second as Dean tugged on Sammy’s hand then disappeared into one of the many hiding places on the cargo ship before turning towards her fate.
She stared into the darkness of the hanger bay, silently waiting. She didn’t have long to wait until she felt arms grab her from the dark. Mary struggled against her attacker as he slammed her against a wall, knowing her eight years of happiness was finally over.
“It’s you” she choked out as she recognised the cruel eyes staring into hers. Eyes she had not seen for a long time.
“This is mandate. You went against us. Did you think that you could run forever Campbell? That we wouldn’t find you?”
“Touch my family and I will kill you” she hissed as she pulled a knife out of nowhere and slashed downwards, aiming for his thigh and the artery there. But years of peace meant the former assassin was out of practice and the blade barely nicked him. She silently cursed herself for letting herself get so out of shape. She had been so desperate for a normal life and to keep the truth from John that she had left all of them at risk. The fight raged on as she struggled for some kind of advantage.
“Your family is now the property of the league. That is the law.”
And Mary knew what he said was true. She knew when she had escaped the League that if they caught her she would be killed but she couldn’t allow this brutal monster to get his hands on her boys. She had to revert to the killer she had been but had suppressed for so many years to protect them. She slammed her head forward and heard bone break and blood gushed from his nose. As he staggered back slightly she managed to twist out of his grip.
The man who had come for her let out a sinister laugh. “I’m going to have fun torturing dear old John. Watching that will be your sons first lesson in what happens if you fuck with the League. And because of what you just did I’m going to make it last. And you know I can.” The yellow eyes in the dark glistened in malicious delight at the idea of torture.
“You won’t find them. They’re not here” she snarled at him.
Mary knew instantly that her bluff had failed. He sprang forward again and his hand flashed forward. Then she finally screamed as the intruder slowly slid a knife into her stomach and she knew. With a wound like that she would soon be dead. It was inevitable. She just hoped that her boys stayed hidden and wouldn’t have to watch as her blood flowed from her body.
“You know Campbell I’m actually disappointed. I expected more of a challenge but those boys have made you soft.” He ran a bloody hand over her face.
“I will teach them to be tough”
Mary could see the vindictive pleasure spreading across his face and despaired that she couldn’t protect them.
“You will never find them” she snarled, her own assassin training finally coming into play as blood gurgled from her mouth then she screamed in pain again. The Trisanni assassin used his psychic abilities to push her body up the wall doing everything he could to make her suffer.
“But I know exactly where little Sammy is hiding right now. And I know of his abilities. I sensed them. You hid his blood line well but we know about your heritage. Tell me, does John know that he’s not little Sammy’s real Daddy? I’ll be sure to tell him before he dies” the assassin sneered, satisfied when her look of defiance turned to one of horror. The human had finally come to try to save his precious wife and sons and he now knew part of the truth about the second born son.
Suddenly an explosion rocked the ship and John was tossed against the wall. His two sons screamed from where they were hidden as they were suddenly exposed. A line of flames shot across the room separating the boys, leaving Sam closest to the bloody battle between John’s beloved Mary and this unknown assassin. John ran to Dean not knowing if he would be able to reach his youngest.
He looked into the grinning face of the man who had destroyed his family. The yellow eyed assassin grabbed the child “You can keep the brat John” he sneered through the increasing flames “if you leave this little bastard to me. Don’t worry, I’ll take excellent care of him. We have big plans for the little half breed”
And John, in a move he would hate himself for, for the rest of his life sacrificed the son that he had suspected wasn’t his since his birth for the one that he knew with certainty was. He ignored the young child’s cries for his Daddy and the tears streaming down his son’s face as he scooped an unconscious Dean up into his arms and fled as his wife burned. The image of Sammy’s innocent brown eyes filling with pain as the assassin grabbed him by his hair and yanked him to his feet was the last image of his son that he would forever hold in his mind. And when Dean asked where Sammy was when he finally awoke John knew he couldn’t burden Dean with the truth.
“Sam’s dead. He died with your mother” and he hated himself all the more as Dean cried in his arms. And John promised himself his son would never know what really happened.
While in the cargo hold of the burning ship the man holding Sammy grinned at him, malicious delight in his eyes. “Welcome to project HELL kid.” And finally Sam screamed.