Down the Rabbit Hole

Dark Horizons Part 2

Once the door was open they passed straight through to the other side and found themselves standing outside a modern apartment building, sunlight glaring off the glass covered roof. The sound of birds singing in the trees was broken by the sound of shattering glass. The two shared a look before heading across the lawn towards where the sound came from.
"There." Dean pointed to where a paperweight lay on the path, surrounded by broken glass.
"No look what you made me do!" They heard a male voice scream.
"I...I'm sorry." Dean pulled Sam to the side behind some bushes and pointed to one of the large glass windows on the side of the building. Through it they could see a tall man with dark hair, who must have been the one doing the yelling. He was stood in a large open kitchen and across from him was Lacey. She looked a lot like the Lacey they knew from the present, apart from the way she was dressed, pink fluffy jumpers were not Lacey's usual style.
"I have to go to the office. Clean that up. We'll talk after my meeting." Lacey meekly agreed and a few minutes later a garish sports car peeled out of an underground parking lot. The back door of the apartment opened and Lacey came out, carrying a dustpan and brush, to clean up the mess. As she came nearer Dean stepped out of the trees, startling her.
"Sorry." He apologised. "Are you Lacey?" She looked at him warily.
"Yes. Can I help you?"
"We're uh...we're friends of your sisters....from college. She asked us to drop in and check on you." She looked momentarily floored then broke into a smile.
"Oh... that was thoughtful of her. It's nice to meet you."
"I'm Dean, that's Sam." The three of them shook hands.
"Would you like to come in for some tea? I just need to clean this up, but go on in." The two of them headed into the apartment and waited in the kitchen, a few minutes later Lacey joined them.
"Please, have a seat." She indicated the living room area just past the kitchen. They sat down on the sofa and waited for Lacey to boil the kettle. Dean glanced around the room. It was decorated quite sparsely but a few photos were hung up. One in particular caught Dean's eye.
"You're married?" He blurted as soon as Lacey appeared with the tea tray. She blinked at him.
"Yes, for seven months. Didn't my sister tell you?"
"She didn't really go into a lot of detail, I think she wanted to leave that to you." Sam told her.
"Oh, okay. I'm still not clear why exactly she sent you." Dean looked at Sam helplessly.
"Uh...well you see... Dean and I are trained therapists and your sister was worried about you."
"She sent me therapists?" Lacey looked surprised. "Why?"
"Lacey... we saw the paperweight incident." Lacey opened her mouth to speak, her cheeks turning red.
"That's... that's not something that normally happens." She said quietly, looking down at her hands.
"Lacey." Dean took hold of her hand, she looked up and their eyes met. "I know we only just met, but tell me honestly, are you happy?" Lacey stared at him a moment before answering.
"No. I never wanted to marry him in the first place, I just did it because my Father wanted me to. Our families run similar companies and it was all part of a merger deal. I just went along with it to make my father happy." Tears brimmed in her eyes and began to fall down her cheeks. Dean pulled her into a hug and she sobbed quietly for a moment before pulling back and wiping her tears away. "So, what now? She asked.
"Now we leave, and you're coming with us." Dean told her. She looked at Sam who nodded encouragingly.
"Okay. Let me just get some things together." She got to her feet but froze at the sound of the front door opening.
"I got half way to the office and realised I forgot my briefcase." The dark haired guy from before stepped into the living room. He looked surprised to see them.
"Who's this?"
"This is Sam and Dean. They're friends of my sisters. Oh and I'm leaving. I'm not putting up with your behaviour anymore."
"And what makes you think I'll let you?" He asked, clenching his fists as he advanced towards them. Dean got to his feet and punched the guy in the face. He fell backwards against the wall, before falling to the floor unconscious.
"Come on, let's just go now before he wakes up." Dean held his hand out to Lacey, she hesitated for a moment before taking it and following the two of them out the back door. As they walked through the door they found themselves back in the house. As before the other version of Lacey had disappeared leaving only the young girl standing before them.
"What happened? Is she okay?" Dean asked worriedly. Lacey blinked up at him.
"She's not real. None of this is. Remember?" Dean nodded, pulling himself together. "Seeing as you're dry I'm guessing you didn't end up in the pool." She smiled at them. "Come on, there's still more to do." Once again she took hold of their hands and led them back to the foyer. This time she led them up the stairs and through a door to the right. The room they entered was bare apart from a grand piano in one corner and a smaller set of stairs in the left wall. Lacey let go of their hands and led them up there in single file. When they reached the top they found themselves in a low lit room, the walls covered in book shelves.
"This time you have to go through there." She pointed at the large open fireplace.
"What do you think this is, Harry Potter?" Sam joked. She just looked at him, blankly. "Guess not." The two of them walked forward, before ducking down under the mantle.
"Here goes nothing." Dean muttered as they straightened up. They found themselves in a dark, narrow stone corridor. They could hear shouting as if a crowd was gathered in the distance. Sam looked at Dean and shrugged as the two of them followed the path towards the noise. As the emerged at the other end they found themselves in a low stone chamber. A large group were gathered before a stage, waiting for someone to appear. They pushed and shoved, jostling for a better position.
"Hey!" One of the guys they were pushed into glared at them and his eyes turned black before he turned and began to push through the crowd.
"Demons?" Sam asked, quietly. Suddenly a hush fell over the crowd as Crowley walked out onto the stage and took his seat on a throne. He raised a hand and the demons around them fell into silence.
"Thank you for being here on this very auspicious occasion." The demons rumbled around them. "Since we saved Lilith and stopped the apocalypse from starting, Hell has been running like clock work. And it's all thanks to our benevolent guest." Crowley looked off to the side of the stage and nodded. A figure appeared and climbed up to the platform. Sam and Dean looked on in shock as they realised it was Lacey. "She killed Ruby and sent the Winchesters packing, allowing us to capture Lilith and stop Lucifer from rising." The demons began to cheer as Lacey took a seat in the throne beside Crowley's. An overenthusiastic demon managed to get up onto the stage and headed for Lacey. She glowered at him from her seat and with a flick of her wrist sent him flying off into the crowd. As he landed on a group of demons they began to argue and fight amongst themselves. Crowley rolled his eyes as the demons began to riot. Lacey got up from her seat and headed back across the stage. Dean motioned to Sam and they began to pick their way through the throng of fighting demons. Dean shouldered his way out and spotted Lacey heading through a doorway into a dark chamber. They followed her down a corridor before she disappeared into an ante-chamber. They walked through the doorway but found themselves in an empty room.
"Why are you following me?" Came a sullen voice from behind them. They span around and found Lacey standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest and an unimpressed look on her face. When she realised who it was her expression darkened further. "What do you want?"
"We're here to help you Lacey." She rolled her eyes.
"With what?"
"To get you away from Crowley."
"Why? Seems like he did the world a favour. According to him if it had been left to you jack asses, Lucifer would have risen and the apocalypse would have been started." She glared at them waiting for them to deny it.
"That's true." Sam tried to explain. "But what Crowley doesn't know is that we would stop the apocalypse and Lucifer. You were supposed to be sent to help us do that Lacey. Now that you're working with Crowley, the world could be doomed in a whole other way." Lacey stared at him, unmoving. "Crowley is a demon. He doesn't care about you or anyone else. All he cares about is being King of Hell and he doesn't care who he steps on to maintain that." Lacey sighed.
"So what, you want me to just jump on your bandwagon and ride off into the sunset?"
"Uh yeah, pretty much." Sam shrugged, giving her a small smile.
"Convince me." Dean stepped forward and grabbed hold of her, pulling her towards him, and kissed her passionately. After a few minutes Sam cleared his throat and they broke apart. She gave Dean a lopsided grin.
"Was that you bringing out the big guns?" Dean grinned back at her.
"Nah, that was just a taster."
"Well...alrighty then." Dean let go of her and they followed her back out into the hallway where they came face to face with Crowley.
"Leaving so soon?" He asked, holding up a hand to throw them into the wall, but Lacey put up a hand to stop him and there was a pulse of energy through the air as their two powers met.
"So, they got to you already did they? I have to say, I expected you to hold out longer."
"What can I say, they were very persuasive." Lacey smirked.
"You don't think I'm just going to let you leave with them, do you darling?"
"I'd like to see you try and stop me." Lacey threw out an arm and the whole building began to shake.
"This way!" Lacey grabbed hold of both their arms, as debris began to fall from the ceiling, and phased them through the wall.