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Vessel - Chapter 30

Summary: Sam and Dean thought their lives were a living hell. When they find a young girl who shares their name and family business, neither of them can help but be curious about who she is and what she can do for them.

A/N: For some reason, any time I put links in my posts the post doesn’t show up in the tags. So for now, click on my profile and you’ll see a link to my masterlist where you can find links to all my fics as well as the masterlist for Vessel.

When they returned to the bunker, the Winchester siblings immediately jumped into research mode. They spend the better part of a week digging through the same books over and over again. The eldest retreated to his ‘Dean cave’ hoping a little rest and relaxation would do him good. The younger two sat in the library, Sam at the table with his laptop and Mary laying on top of the table holding their father’s original journal.

“Do you keep a journal?” she suddenly asked, still engrossed in her father’s writing. Even though John had given her a copy of everything he’d ever written, MJ still loved reading the original thing. The same handwriting and drawings she’d pored over as a child never failed to fascinate her.

Sam cleared his throat, “not really. I never had the time.” He didn’t even look up from his computer.

“Did Dean?”

This time he looked at her, “I don’t know. You’d have to ask him. Why?”

Though she was still laying on her back, she shrugged her shoulders, “just curious to know what you two have done.”

“You could just ask.”

MJ looked at her brother with eyebrows raised, “neither of you ever want to talk about what you’ve been through. I can’t imagine you’d tell me straight up even if I did ask.”

He sighed, “that’s probably true.” She went back to reading the journal while Sam thought about their lives before meeting Mary. There were countless things she didn’t know and countless things they would likely never tell her themselves, “you know, if you’re really curious, Chuck published our stories under a pen name.”

“Really?” she looked surprised, “God wrote books about you?”

“We saved the world,” Sam admitted, “a couple of times actually.”

She sat up excitedly, “do we have copies of them here?”

He coughed out a laugh, “god no. Dean wants every copy of the Supernatural books burned.” MJ slouched dejectedly.

“Edmund,” Dean nodded at Sam, entering the library, “Lucy,” he looked to Mary.

“Was that-”

“Did you just reference the Chronicles of Narnia?” Sam turned his attention to his brother.

“Wait, you think you’re Peter?” MJ asked, putting more thought into the analogy than both of her brothers combined, “Does that make Cas Susan or Mr. Tumnus?” She dropped the conversation when she felt her phone vibrate. She retrieved her cell phone while ignoring her brothers’ conversation.

“MJ?” Dean stopped mid-sentence when he saw his sister smiling down at her phone. When she didn’t respond he tried again, “MJ?”

She looked up at him, “what?”

“What’s got you all smiley?” Sam asked.

“Is it Stephen?”

“What?” she looked between the two of them, “No. Dude, no, it’s Claire. She wants to know if I want to work a case with her.”

“Just you?” Dean eyed her suspiciously.

“Students are going missing from an all-girls school in Ohio. No offense, but you two can’t exactly pass for 17-year-old girls.”

“Wait a minute is…” Dean ignored what she said about the case, “is that why you turned Stephen down?”

“What?” MJ looked confused, “No, that- that has nothing to do with this. Seriously, Dean? Why are you so hung up on that?”

“Guys,” Sam interrupted his siblings, tired of the reoccurring discussion, “Mary, what’s the hunt?”

She looked back at her phone, “Cincinnati, Ohio. Several girls were found dead in their locked dormitories, no sign of break in.”

“That it?”

“Their brains were liquid.”

“But they were still there?” Dean asked

“Barely, but yeah,” Mary continued reading from the message, “Claire’s not exactly sure what it is.”

“All the more reason for us to come.”

“De-”

“You’re speaking in tongues, have magic dragon killing abilities, and you’re being hunted by everything that knows you exist. We’re coming.” Mary only sighed and shook her head as she trudged back to her room to pack.

~~~

“I thought I escaped high school,” Claire grumbled as she, Mary, and Dean approached the school.

“If you thought regular high school was hell,” MJ muttered, “wait till you see Catholic school.” Dean glanced at his little sister; her comment was another reminder of how little he knew about her life before they met.

The trio were visiting the school as a father and his two daughters that were hoping to attend the school while Sam stayed back at the motel to dig through the lore. Though he wasn’t thrilled with being left out of the early stages of the case, staying out of sight made it easier for Sam to play the FBI agent later.

“Stephanie will show your girls around while we chat about what you can expect from the school and what we expect rom you,” the headmistress told Dean when Claire and Mary were greeted by a teenage girl wearing a plaid skirt and a matching cardigan sweater.

The hunters parted ways to play their roles and continue investigating.

“Don’t mind Sister Legs Shut,” the girl, Stephanie, said once they were out of ear shot, “this place is way easier than she makes it out to be.”

Claire seemed confused, “she’s a nun?”

“Nah, that’s just what we call her. She’s got a major stick up her ass,” she explained. Mary couldn’t help but roll her eyes, knowing what living under a nun’s nose was really like.

“So,” Claire attempted to bring up the subject casually, “what happened to those girls earlier this month?”

“Cops are saying they had aneurisms or something.”

“You believe them?” MJ asked, playing her part.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Did you know the girls?” Claire continued

Stephanie shook her head, “not really, they were nobodies.”

Mary was distracted by the passing bulletin boards and school displays, detailing the holy sacraments and parables she’d grown up hearing. She was so engrossed in reading the signs she failed to notice the priest who stepped right in her path.

“Shit, sorry,” she muttered when she collided with him.

“Sorry, Father,” Stephanie stepped in, seeing who MJ rammed into, “she wasn’t watching where she was going.”

“That’s alright, Ms. Martin,” the man smiled, he looked at the young Winchester for a moment before it occurred to him that he’d seen her before, “Mary?”

MJ was frozen still, looking up at the man with wide eyes. Claire stepped between the priest and her friend, “you must be mistaken. This is my sister, Alex,” it was obvious to the young hunter that Mary recognized the man, but her inability to respond worried Claire.

“Sorry, Fr. Lucas,” Stephanie interjected again, “we’ll get out of your way.” She dragged the two hunters away before the priest could say anything else. “A word of advice, Fr. Lucas is kind of a dick, I’d stay away from him if I were you.”

“Why?” Claire asked, eyeing MJ.

“You know men,” she rolled her eyes, “anyway, I have to get to class, but if you wait here, Annie said she’d finish giving you the tour once she’s finished with her class.”

Once the student was out of earshot and it was just the hunters, Claire turned to Mary with a concerned look, “hey, you okay?”

MJ cleared her throat, “aces.”

“What- what was that? Did you know Fr. Lucas?”

“He uh, he was stationed in Peoria about six years ago,” she began, “he just surprised me is all.” Before either could say anymore on the subject, a different girl dressed in the same plaid skirt and matching cardigan approached the pair.

“Hi, I’m Annie,” she said with a smile, “Stephanie had to go, so I’m going to finish giving you your tour. Do you have any questions thus far?”

“Those are the dorms over there, right?” Claire asked, taking up the lead once again.

Annie’s smile never faltered, “they are.”

“So that’s where the bodies were found?”

The student paused, “The headmistress doesn’t want us talking about that on the tour, but yeah…” There was a sad undertone to Annie’s voice, unlike the emotionless quality of Stephanie’s.

It was Mary’s turn to talk, “did you know them?”

“Everyone knew them,” she offered a sad, regretful smile, “everyone loved them.”

“Girls,” suddenly the headmistress stepped in the path of the three young women, “are you quite finished with the tour?”

“Yes, headmistress,” Annie said, not looking the woman in the eye.

“Good. I’ll take you girls to your father, Ms. Donlan, you may return to class.” Annie only nodded in obedience before leaving Claire and Mary with the authoritative woman. None of them spoke as the headmistress walked them back to the office where Dean waited. He had been speaking to the secretary when they arrived, but the woman quickly dropped the conversation upon seeing her boss.

“Thank you,” Dean said to the headmistress once she returned with Claire and Mary, “you’ve certainly given us a lot to think about.”

“Certainly,” she said with a nod. “Good day.” Before anything else could be said, her office door was shut and the hunters were left looking at each other in confusion. They wordlessly agreed to leave the ever weirder school and discuss all they had found at the motel with Sam.

“I think it’s the headmistress. She’s got a major stick up her ass,” Dean decided. He was sitting across from his brother at the small table inside their motel room. Claire and Mary sat together on one of the beds, Claire on her laptop while Mary was spread out on her back staring at the ceiling.

Claire shook her head, “I think it’s Fr. Lucas. The girl giving the tour told us to stay away from him and-”

Mary interrupted her before she could finish her sentence, knowing exactly what was coming, “it’s not Fr. Lucas.”

“But you-”

“No, Claire,” she shot her down again, “I know it’s not him.”

Sam cleared his throat, “how do you know? We don’t even know what did this yet.”

The youngest Winchester hesitated as she looked at her brothers. With a sigh, she decided to tell them, “Fr. Lucas was stationed in Peoria when I was little.”

“What?”

“He’s harmless, at least in the teenage girl killing sense, he’s just a bit of a creep.”

“You were scared shitless when you saw him.” This made Dean see red, the things the demon had said about the priests in Peoria still fresh in his mind.

“I wasn’t,” MJ started to defend herself but struggled with the right words to say, “he caught me off guard, that’s all. I was little when he left Peoria, but I had always heard it was because he left the priesthood.”

“Left the priesthood? Why?” Sam asked. Dean was still angrily watching the exchange.

Mary shrugged, “lots of people said it was because he was gay, but obviously Father would never have confirmed that. I just didn’t expect to see him working at an all-girls school in Ohio, that’s all.”

The conversation lulled, prompting Dean to interject, “so if it’s not the headmistress and it’s not the gay priest, who do you think it is?”

MJ looked at her oldest brother, “Stephanie. When we asked her about the girls, she said they were nobodies, said she didn’t even know them, but when we asked Annie about them, she told us the girls were loved by everyone.”

“You think that’s enough to go on?” Sam questioned.

“I know strict Catholic school principals and I know creepy priests,” she started, “neither of them are out of the ordinary.”

“Guys,” Sam interrupted them as he turned the volume up on their police radio.

“Another body?” Dean asked.

“Yeah,” Sam quickly stood, grabbing his FBI badge and phone from the table, “I’m gonna go see if I can get to the scene before they move it.”

Dean stood to join him, “you two stay here, we’ll be back.”

Once the boys were gone, MJ turned to Claire, “why would you tell them that?”

“What?”

“That the priest scared me. You know they already think I’m lying about the stuff at the foster home.”

Claire interrupted her, “are you?”

“No!” she insisted, “seriously, you’re just going to freak them out more. There’s nothing wrong with that priest and there’s nothing wrong with me.”

The older hunter sighed, “Mary-”

“No. I’m so friggin’ tired of people looking at me like I’m some kind of damaged goods and like I could fall apart at any moment.”

After a moment of silence, Claire cautiously began, “I spent a fair amount of time bouncing around foster homes and group homes after my mom disappeared. Honestly, I’d be more surprised if you told me all your foster parents were great. Your brothers and Jody, they don’t know what it’s like. They try to understand, but they’ll never really know. I have a feeling Dean reacts the way he does because he thinks it’s his fault that you were there. I don’t think- honestly, I know you’re not fragile or damaged. It takes a lot of strength to survive a life like yours.”

“Whatever, Claire,” MJ stood from the bed and approached the small table, beside which sat the cooler the brothers kept stocked with beer. She pulled two out and popped them open with the ring on her right hand, a trick her brother had taught her, “here.”

“They won’t care?” Claire asked, accepting the drink.

Mary shrugged, “not like we’re going anywhere.”

~~~~~

“Any EMF? Sulfur?” Dean asked when his brother returned to the room where the body was found. Sam shook his head. “So, not a ghost, not a demon, and not the closeted priest.” The man Claire and Mary had seen only a few hours before was sprawled out on the floor in front of them, his brains liquified. They gave one another a look before each taking a side of the room to scan for clues.

“Dude,” Sam groaned, pulling out a hex bag and holding it up for Dean to see.

“Dammit,” Dean cursed, “why’s it always gotta be witches?” he pulled his gun from his waistband and checked the bullets. They weren’t witch killing, but at least they’d slow it down.

“You boys almost done here?” a voice came from the doorway. With the police officer stood the headmistress dressed in a nightgown and robe.

“Mr. Wilson?” the woman recognized Dean from earlier in the day, “you’re FBI?”

His eyes looked her over, “yeah. It’s uh, it’s why I want the girls to go to a nice, safe boarding school.”

“This isn’t typical,” she nervously assured him.

“Did Padre here have any enemies? Anyone that would want to hurt him?”

She shook her head, “no. Everyone loved Fr. Lucas.” Dean gave Sam a look, remembering what the girls had said about the priest, “I assure you, Agent Wilson, your girls will be perfectly safe here.”

“Well, I’d like to take a look around,” he decided, “be absolutely sure.” While Dean proceeded to explore the school, Sam ran to the Impala to retrieve the witch hunting bullets.

Back at the motel, Mary and Claire had each finished several beers and were spread out on one of the beds. They wore bright smiles and giggled as they told stories, or rather as Claire told stories about college and hunting. MJ felt like she had very little to add.

“Come on,” Claire taunted her, “you hunted by yourself for weeks. You’re honestly telling me you didn’t hook up with anyone? You didn’t have any wild nights?”

MJ couldn’t help but roll her eyes, “why does everyone assume I ran off to hunt with some guy?”

“I didn’t say you went to hunt with a guy, I just don’t get how you didn’t take advantage of being out on your own. I mean, if I didn’t have to share a hotel room with Jody I-”

“Claire,” she interrupted her, “Claire, I – I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve never been that interested in anyone. I mean, I’ve never even been on a date, much less-”

“Well, yeah, I haven’t really been on a normal date either but that doesn’t mean I can’t get laid.”

Mary snorted out a laugh, “Again, I lived with a priest and a nun. Why does everyone keep forgetting that? Even if I didn’t, Catholics don’t really give you any leeway on the whole premarital sex leads to burning in hell thing.”

“It’s kind of ironic,” she hiccupped, “that you were raised Catholic and now God is telling you that you’re his vessel. I bet no religion class could’ve prepared you for that one.”

“Oh my god,” Mary shot up from the bed, “I’m such an idiot. I’ve been trying to figure out why in the hell I have ‘powers’ when I haven’t said yes yet.”

“Okay…?”

“When we were at the school there was a bulletin board for each of the seven sacraments. One of them was for Confirmation.”

“And?”

Mary explained her theory while talking at a mile a minute, “Confirmation is when you receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You accept the power of the Holy Spirit and fully enter the Church.” Claire still looked confused. “I was Confirmed five years ago, Claire.”

“Meaning you already accepted,” she finally understood. MJ nodded at her friend. “Does that mean it can possess you at any time?”

The Winchester shrugged, “I mean, technically I accepted the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I never said I would let it use me as a vessel. I’m not sure what the rules are on all this, but it explains the speaking in tongues and the fortitude during torture.”

The conversation was interrupted when the older two Winchesters strolled into the motel room. “Congrats, MJ,” Dean said, pulling a $20 bill from his pocket and handing it to his sister, “you were right, it was Stephanie.” The two regularly made small bets during hunts to keep things interesting and though he hated to admit it, Mary usually won. Before he could explain how she had killed the vics, he stopped and saw the empty beer bottles scattering the room. “Dude.”

“Dean,” she started to defend herself before Dean yanked the money back from her as if to say it was payment for drinking his beer. “Yeah, okay, I guess I deserve that.”

“Guys,” Claire tried to interject.

“I thought I told you no drinking,” Dean reprimanded.

MJ cocked her head to the side, “actually, you said no bars.”

“Dean,” Claire tried again more forcefully.

“What?” he finally turned to her.

“She figured it out.”

It was Sam’s turn to join the conversation, “figured what out?”

“How I have powers when I haven’t said yes,” their sister explained, “I received the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation.”

“Confirmation?”

“Yeah, it’s one of the sacraments. It’s how you become an adult in the Church. I was 13 when I was Confirmed but I guess the gifts are just now fully kicking in.”

Sam shrugged, “or they’re just more noticeable now.”

“So, what, you already consented to being a vessel?” Dean asked, “you were just a kid, isn’t that like statutory possession or something?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t think I consented to being the vessel, I just consented to receiving the Spirit’s gifts. They only kick in when I need them, like when I’m being tortured or a dragon is attacking me-”

“Or when you need to communicate with someone who speaks a different language,” Sam interrupted. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.”

“Probably because you weren’t raised Catholic and your knowledge of the church and its teachings are introductory at best,” MJ said smartly. She was snarky when she drank.

“I’ve literally met God,” Sam defended himself. Mary only shrugged in response as she fell back onto the bed.

“Kid,” Dean looked at the number of bottles strewn about the room, “how much did you drink?” MJ looked at Claire and then at the cooler. Before she could answer him, Dean went to the cooler and found it empty. “Seriously?”

She laughed a little as she looked at Claire, “maybe don’t bench us next time. What were we supposed to do?” The brothers shook their heads at the two teenage girls. Though they knew it was their responsibility to reprimand their behavior, neither could hide their amusement at the situation.

As Sam started to clean the room up, tossing the bottles and cans into the wastebasket while the girls chatted on the bed, Dean’s phone suddenly rang. He looked at the caller I.D. before quickly picking it up.

“Sonny?” he asked into the phone. The last time he’d heard from the man it was because of a vengeful spirit at the boys’ home in New York. It wasn’t like him to call just to catch up. Sam turned to his brother when he heard the name. “Yeah, we can swing by and check it out. We’re just a day or so away… yeah… okay, see you soon.”

When Dean hung up the phone Sam asked his brother, “everything okay?”

“That was Sonny, said he might have a case for us.” Dean turned to where his sister sat with Claire. “They’ve gotta sleep this off before we can do anything, so we can head his way in the morning.” The boys agreed to get a good nights sleep before parting ways with the Novak girl and going to see Sonny.

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