I wrote this a while back after re-watching the episode 4x03 "In the Beginning." And thus, this idea came to me. Pretty much this fic pretends that the episode 5x13 "The Song Remains The Same" never existed and that Mary still (vaguely) remembers meeting Dean who warned her to stay in bed. Michael never interferes and erases her and John's memories. I'm not even sure why I wrote this, but here it is.
Disclaimer: I do not own supernatural nor its characters
Mary's Trip to the Future
Summary: In 1983 Mary Winchester didn't die. No, she somehow springs into the year 2009 and wakes up in Lawrence Hospital as an apparent 'Jane Doe.' Meanwhile, she keeps searching for some psychic named Van Halen… Time travel. Both pre-series and set during season 4.
Chapter 1
"Whatever you hear, whatever you see, promise me you won't get out of your bed on November 2nd, 1983."
Mary remembered those words. It came from the hunter with those bright green eyes who thought her boyfriend, John, was in danger. Mary had thought that was ridiculous. John was far away from a dangerous life, being a mechanic who knew nothing about the supernatural. But then again, that had also been same the night where that sick yellow-eyed demon killed John right in front of her, possessed her father, and offered a deal to bring John back to life.
At that moment, Mary just couldn't say no. She knew demons were always bad news, and whatever the yellow-eyed demon wanted in ten years she could deal with it. That other hunter—what was his name again? Something like Van Halen? Although maybe Mary remembered wrong. Van Halen was the name of some hard rock singer. Surely, she was getting the hunter's name mixed-up. Anyway, the other hunter said there was a gun who could kill the monster. Mary knew with every fiber in her bone that she wanted to find that gun, to get revenge on her parent's death. The yellow-eyed demon had killed them. She had to watch her grandfather's eyes glow yellow and heard those awful words spill from his tongue. It wasn't right. It wasn't natural.
But Mary also wanted a family. And while in her free time she tried to look for this special monster-killing gun, talking to other hunters, she found nothing.
No one had ever heard of the Colt.
Mary, for a while, wondered where the other hunter heard about the gun. But she never heard of the other hunter again. And Mary had asked around. "Do you know any hunters with the last name Van Halen?" Mary would ask other hunters. But often they would laugh and snort, telling her that they haven't crossed paths with hunters with such name. "Van Halen? Like the rock singer?" one guy had asked.
And so, Mary's search for the hunter was unsuccessful. How could this hunter just disappear? He must be really good at covering his tracks, Mary decided. Or maybe he died a painful death, taking on werewolves or vampires or something gruesome. It was common for hunters to die young. But this guy looked, what? Late twenties? Mary thought that was way too early to die, even for a hunter.
At one point, Mary gave up searching for the hunter. It was obvious she was never going to find that Van Halen guy again. Mary wished she remembered his first name—it started with a D, didn't it? But she only knew him for a day. Still, Mary wanted to remember. The way he looked at her, telling her to not get out of bed on November 2nd, 1983…. it nearly broke her heart.
That Van Halen guy had said he was psychic, like his father. And November 2nd, 1983 happened to be the ten-year anniversary of the day the yellow-eyed demon made the deal with her. As if that wasn't some sick coincidence.
But for the most part, Mary tried not to think about the deal she made. Maybe if she couldn't find that green-eyed hunter, she could find the colt herself and end the yellow-eyed demon once and for all. And so, occasionally she still made calls. But mostly, Mary focused on her life with John. They got married and had their first kid, Dean. Dean was special. For some reason, his green eyes looked so familiar to her. Mary couldn't place why. Maybe they just reminded her of the eyes she saw every day in the mirror.
And then when Sam was born, Mary was ecstatic. She loved spending time with her two children and not spending her days hunting ghosts and vampires and werewolves. But November 2nd was nearing, the day she had been dreading for years. She had still not found the colt. Where was that gun?
One day, John came home wearing this new brown leather jacket. For some reason, the jacket looked so familiar to Mary—had she seen it on someone else before? But then Mary knew. That other hunter—that Van Halen guy—wore that same leather jacket. It looked nearly identical, like it was bought at the same store.
"Hey, Mary," John said, coming home. Mary was in the kitchen feeding Sam. Dean was at the kitchen table too, eating a sandwich. "Hey ya, Sammy, Dean."
"So, a new jacket, huh?" Mary said. "I don't think I've seen that one on you before."
"Oh yeah, my other jacket got ripped up a bit so I got a new one."
Mary nodded. She swallowed, her mind still on that other hunter. John really reminded him of that guy, especially in his new jacket. Mary didn't know why. But that only made her think of the deal, of how in a week, it will be November 2nd. Mary didn't know if she could face that day.
"What's wrong, Mary?" John asked.
Mary shook her head. "It's—it's nothing. I like your jacket."
And then she continued to feed Sammy. That she could do. Mary made airplane movements before scoring the baby food into Sam's mouth.
November 2nd had come, except nothing had happened. There were no demon break-ins, nothing. Mary almost assumed it would be some grand supernatural day. But no, her day was perfectly normal. She dropped Dean off at preschool, took care of Sam, picked Dean up, and they watched some cartoons. Nothing Mary couldn't handle.
That night, hours after she put both Sam and Dean to bed, Mary went to bed herself. John wanted to finish watching the game. And so, Mary went to sleep herself.
She went under the covers, but her stomach churned. She had a really, really bad feeling. Would anything happen? She thought of that Van Halen's guy's warning— "Whatever you hear, whatever you see, promise me you won't get out of bed." The hunter had tears in his eyes and Mary did not understand why he was so emotional. But the tears look genuine and Mary couldn't shake that off her mind.
She closed her eyes. She really was tired; taking care of two little ones took a lot out of her. But she didn't stay asleep long. She woke up to Sammy's cries.
Mary's initial instinct told her to head to Sam's nursery. But once again Van Halen's words came back to her. Promise me you won't get out of bed. And so, Mary sat there, feeling her bones freeze. But then, Sammy cried again. And again.
Screw this, she thought. Sammy needs me. And besides, his cries had probably nothing to do with the yellow-eyed demon. What would a demon want with a child?
Mary slipped out of her bed. She walked to the nursery, but when she got there, John was already there. Well, she couldn't actually see John, but she saw his back.
Mary said something quick to John and rubbed her eyes. She took a step back and then saw that John still sat on the couch downstairs watching the game. Mary's stomach dropped. She returned to the nursery. "It's you!"
The demon flashed his yellow eyes. And Mary saw what was happening. He was… bleeding on Sammy? No, bleeding into Sammy.
Before Mary could say a word, the yellow-eyed demon got her and forced her to the wall, bringing her up to the ceiling. She screamed and flames surrounded her—flames she couldn't feel. But she screamed because she wanted to be put down. And why couldn't she feel the fire? For a short second she saw John peak into the room, just in time to see the yellow-eyed demon vanish before him. She saw Dean, her little four-year-old Dean, rush into the room and grab Sam. And that was the last thing she remembered before everything turned black.
"Doctor? Doctor? I think she's waking up!"
Mary slowly opened her eyes. What was going on? Where was she? When her eyes opened fully, she took a look around. She saw a woman and man in blue scrubs. The pale blue walls glared at her.
"Hello, miss," the man said. "I am Doctor Gregor. Can you tell me your name?"
Mary swallowed. "It—it's Mary Winchester."
"Well, Mary, you just woke up from a coma. You've been asleep for ten days now. We were starting to think you would never wake up!"
Mary blinked. "Is my husband around? He—he must be worried sick."
Doctor Gregor sighed. "I'm sorry, but you had no identification on you. We had no way of reaching your loved ones."
Mary swallowed. "My husbands out there. He—I need to call him." And he probably thinks I died. There was a fire… was it someone else who found her? A neighbor, maybe? And she's been in a coma for a week…
"You can use my cell," The doctor said and handed Mary his iPhone. Mary stared at for a few hard seconds. What was this?
"You've never seen an iPhone before?" the doctor said, laughing. He then frowned. "Maybe we should run a few brain scans before we get you out of here."
Mary shook her head. "I just—I use a different kind of phone, that's all."
"Lemme guess, an android?" the doctor said. "Okay, all you got to do is this." He clicked on the phone icon and hit the keyboard. "There you go."
Mary typed in the number she knew by heart: her house number. She waited and waited for John to pick up. He never did. Where was John? Was he at work? Then again, Mary didn't know what time it was. John was probably at the garage.
"He didn't pick up?" the doctor said. "Huh, maybe you can call again later. I still want a few scans on you. You were, after all, just in a coma. Rest a little, okay? I'll be right back."
Both he and the nurse left the room. Mary was worried out of her mind so she decided to turn on the news. There she heard something that definitely sounded supernatural-related.
"And then—and then my teacher, Don, he went all psycho! There was some party at this grave site and then Don locked us inside the tomb! And then I swear to god there were zombies and ghosts and all that, you know? They started attacking us and they even took my close friend! And then these guys came with guns. They broke the lock and then I ran like hell out of that cemetery!"
The news reporter came on. "From Halloween night there were ten casualties, including an emaciated teen. All causalities were students of Don's class. Unfortunately, no survivors caught the name of the guys who helped save the teens at the gravesite—"
Yeah, that was definitely sounded like the supernatural, Mary thought. Except, the news made it sound like, instead of there actually being a bunch of zombies and ghosts, they were just people dressed like zombies and ghosts. If only they actually knew.
But the news reporters made it seem like this Halloween event was yesterday. But that made no sense—Halloween was two days ago and apparently Mary had been asleep for ten days. Which that would make it… what, November 12th?
Mary turned the TV off. She just couldn't watch it anymore. It made her head hurt.
The doctor came back in the room. "Ready for some tests? Oh, and what's your husband's name? Maybe we can ask around, try to find him on the internet.
Mary stared. The internet? But she didn't bother asking what that was. She was too distressed anyway. "It's John Winchester."
The doctor scratched his head. "John Winchester? You know, the name sounds kind of familiar. Maybe we've met before. Where you from?"
"Lawrence, Kansas," Mary said.
"Lawrence? Funny, I'm also from the town, but I definitely do not recognize you." He paused. "Okay, first we'll do an EEG scan. It won't hurt, I promise."
When the doctor finished with the scans, he said Mary's brain looked absolutely healthy, not like she expected anything less. Still, she felt pretty out of it.
"Since nothing is physically wrong with you, you're free to leave the hospital. Although I'd suggest you stay the night. At least so we can make sure you're okay and be able contact your husband."
Mary shook her head. "No, no I need to see John tonight. And my kids too. They probably think I died!"
The doctor frowned. "Why do you think that?"
Mary hesitated. "There was a fire at my place. John he—he probably thought I didn't make it. I know they all got out safely and I need to tell them I made it out alive. They probably left thinking…" But Mary couldn't finish her words. She felt a sob work its way up her throat; she had to see John and her innocent children. She wanted to hug them all so tight.
"Okay, I'll look up John Winchester right now, okay?" the doctor said. Not knowing what he meant, Mary just nodded. He slid out of the room leaving Mary alone.
When the doctor returned, he took a deep breath. "Mary, there's something you need to know."
"What?" Mary said, a little too quickly.
"John Winchester is dead. He was in a car accident and then when he was in recovery at the hospital he just collapsed on the floor. He never woke up. I'm so sorry."
Mary felt like she couldn't breathe. John couldn't be—no. What about her sons? What about Sam and Dean? "You're lying," Mary said. "John can't be—"
"He was using a fake name, John Carvel. But his DNA indicated that his name was John Winchester. He was in a hospital's database."
Mary felt a lump form in her throat. Why was John using an alias? That was a hunter kind of thing and John was the opposite from a hunter. "When was this?" Mary asked, the question slipping from her lips.
"This part makes me suggest that you might have amnesia, Mary. John died three years ago, but to you he was alive ten days ago, if I'm not mistaken?"
Mary nodded, feeling her throat turning dry. "Yes."
"I'm so sorry for your loss, Mary," the doctor said. "I know this must be hard news."
Mary swallowed. "What about my sons? Did you ever find out anything about them? I mean, they are so little…" Mary shook her head. "If three years have passed by, my youngest must now be three and my oldest must be seven."
The doctor sighed. "The data only listed John Winchester's time of death. It didn't mention his children."
Mary felt the oxygen escape her. So where were her little Sam and Dean now? And had three years passed by or more? "And what year is it now?" Mary asked.
The doctor frowned. "2009."