I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters… something I struggle with every day. T_T I have been inspired by the wonderful SPN fanfiction writers I have come across since I became a fan and wanted some more hurt/comfort than the show provided XD that and I can't get enough of Sam and Dean.

The legend in this story is an actual legend, and the historical facts I used to make the monster reality are real facts… I just kind of added my own twist to it. Do enjoy!

The Bear Lake Monster

A clerk from a back road motel leaned on the dirty counter as he watched the flashing neon sign reflect off of a Chevy Impala as it pulled into the small parking lot; a nice change of scenery from the usual sun-stained van or junk car of the regular customers. Two men exited the vehicle and immediately he could tell they were related; it was something about the way they carried themselves and the similarity in the way they got out of the car. The taller one headed to the trunk while the other made his way to the small lobby.

The man walked in, sporting a rustic leather jacket and holding a large milkshake in his hand, which looked somewhat unnatural with the rest of his rugged appearance. He took another sip, the straw revealing the green contents of the mint-oreo shake.

"One room, two queens please" he said casually as if he'd gone through the procedure a thousand times.

"You boys on a road trip?" the clerk asked nonchalantly, sliding two keys across the counter after the man had paid.

"Something like that… of course, aren't most people who stay at a place like this on some kind of road trip?"

"Heh, I suppose so" he grunted, rubbing a hand across the back of his head. "Do enjoy your stay."

"Thanks, we will" the man responded with a grin and a toast of his cup. The cool fall air flowed in through the door as he made his way back to the impala where his brother was waiting with their bags.

The first thing the two brothers noticed as they entered their room was the odd contrast of the cowboy-hat patterned bedspread and the Chinese dragon painting on the wall. The wallpaper was yellow and peeling, but the beds were nicely made and the bathroom clean.

Dean threw his bag to the side of his bed and plopped down, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV to America's Funniest Home Videos. Kicking off his boots, he snuggled into the pillows and sipped more of his seemingly endless milkshake.

"I'm telling you Dean" Sam started, eying the dirty boots his brother had left sprawled on the floor, "drinking something like that is terrible for you."

"Come on Sam, it's a celebration treat for a successful hunt, and how bad can it be… it has mint in it… that's like… a plant, or herb or something…"

"Dean, it's got something like, two thousand calories in it, which might have been alright if you we hadn't already eaten three full-course meals today. You won't last long in our profession if you keep up a diet like that."

"Ya see Sammy, you're looking at this all wrong. If anything's going to shorten our career, I'd say it's the career itself, or perhaps the very fact that we exist. In my opinion, obesity is the least of our worries."

"Well aren't you the optimistic one" Sam mumbled as Dean laughed at a child face-planting on the TV.

"Seriously though, considering the number of times we've died, I wouldn't say I'm being unreasonably pessimistic" Dean continued, turning his gaze from the screen to his brother.

Sam opened his mouth to speak but Dean interrupted his thought by changing the subject.

"So do we have any new leads? I'm hoping we can keep up this easy-salt-and-burn-without-getting-hurt gig we've been managing to do lately."

Sam sighed, reaching into his leather messenger bag and pulling out their father's journal. "Actually, we have something pretty big coming up soon."

"No no, don't tell me. It's someone's birthday… or maybe an anniversary."

"Ha Ha, no. I'm talking about the list of dates that dad wrote down in his journal. I've been keeping tabs on them since we got it and it seems that he had instructions for us coming up in the next week."

Dean cocked his head and looked over at his brother, "I don't remember anything like that being in dad's journal."

"That's because he didn't add it till after the wreck. I guess he was writing this out for us all that time I was out looking for all those items for him to... well... I guess that, rather than a goodbye letter, he left us a list of potential hunts to keep us on our toes and together."

Turning off the TV, Dean swung his feet over the edge of the bed and leaned forward with an expression of curious excitement.

"Well, what's it say?"

Sam flipped through the journal's old pages and opened it up to a double-page spread, turning it to where his brother could see it. There were some doodles drawn of a dragon and some tribal symbols scattered in-between hand-drawn notes.

"This is the creature that dad wrote about; the" Bear Lake Monster." It was first sighted by a Mormon colonizer, Joseph C. Rich, in the 19th century. Though he recanted his claim, many other legends and stories have come about from it; some have said that it's a giant snake with legs that Pecos Bill wrestled with and threw to Loch Ness, where it in-turn became the "Loch Ness Monster," while others claim that it is a plesiosaurian."

"A what?" Dean made his "How the heck do you expect me to know what that is?" face.

"It's like a dinosaur of sorts."

"Holy crap, seriously? I always wanted to hunt down a dinosaur."

"You did?" Sam's eyebrows raised in sarcastic disbelief.

"Sure I did, what kid wouldn't? I mean you watched Jurassic Park didn't you? Who the heck watches that and doesn't want to kick some dinosaur tail?"

Sam let out a short breath of laughter and leaned back on his bed, lifting the book to read.

"Well I hate to burst your bubble, but according to dad, it isn't actually a dinosaur."

"Aw come on Sam, why do you always have to crush my childhood dreams?"

"Says the one who told me at four years old that I had to be able to hold my breath for an hour to qualify to become an astronaut."

"Well Sam, I figured it would be better to blame the NASA recruiting system for you not being able to follow your dreams than to tell you it was dad's fault."

"Moving on" Sam declared, changing the subject back to the journal in his hand, "apparently dad did some research and found out some valid facts of his own aside from the folklore and rumors. The story goes that in 1865 there was a huge controversy between the settlers and the Indians. It lasted two years and apparently was the longest and most violent controversy between the natives and pioneers in Utah history. It started with a dispute between some frontiersmen and the Utes that led to one of the white men throwing a brave from his horse The Indians took great offense to that, in particular a brave by the name of Black Hawk, hence the title of the war being the Black Hawk War."

"Alright alright, skip the history lesson Sammy, where does this dinosaur thing come in?"

The shaggy-haired brother looked at Dean with an expression of annoyance, then continued his explanation.

"Within just a few days of the controversy, the Indians rallying behind Black Hawk had killed five Mormon settlers and hundreds of cattle were stolen; a pattern which continued for the next couple months or years. Black Hawk rallied warriors from all of the different tribes such as the Paiute and Navajo and went about massacring settlements and forts. The pioneers and settlers retaliated and war broke out, the white men chasing the natives across Utah. Though Black Hawk signed for peace in 1867, the violence continued and many Indians, without a leader to rally around became overwhelmed and desperate. This is where our "Monster of Bear Lake" comes in."

Sam stood to his feet and began walking across the room, his father's journal in hand as he continued the story, his finger pointing out particular notes he was addressing as he said them.

"One particular tribe of Navajo Indians had become very developed in witchcraft and ceremonial tradition which allowed them to bless of curse people and things. One of these was 'iińzhįįd, a sympathetic magic of sorts, which uses the power of one's name or an object in their possession. In this case, they used this curse on a snake."

"So this is just a cursed snake?" Dean broke in, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Well, yes and no" Sam replied. "You see, this creature started out about fifteen feet in length, but when it was cursed it rapidly grew to around thirty-five feet-

"So it's a really big cursed snake."

"Dean, I'm getting to that. The thing about the curse is that other than the snake growing in size, it also received supernatural qualities. Nothing could destroy it; not explosives, bullets, blades, or any man-made weaponry."

"A bit overkill don't you think?" Dean cut in, raising his eyebrows.

Sam rubbed his head and let out a sigh, "seriously, but there's more. Another small addition the curse made to the snake was that it grew these small legs that run down the extent of its body… it's not exactly a dragon or dinosaur, but it bears a resemblance. It protected the Navajo Indians for ten years, but a few months into the last year a small group of pioneers found out about the curse and discovered a way to counter it. They found an offset to the curse by placing a Protectionway sing on…" Sam reached down into their weapons bag and pulled out two scythes "… these babies."

Dean grinned "Haha, heck yes! ... Wait, if they figured out how to kill it then why are we even talking about this?"

"Because" Sam answered "they didn't actually kill it."

"Well then it should have at least died of old age or something by now. What is it, like, a hundred and forty?"

"You know Dean, I really do have explanations for all of the obvious issues that arise in the story, but if you keep interrupting to ask about them it will just take longer for me to explain."

Dean rolled his eyes and scooted back into the pile of pillows, kicking his feet back onto the bed. Crossing his arms and pursing his lips, he made a sarcastic "please continue" face.

"When the pioneers finally managed to take down the snake, fatally wounding it, it managed to escape, making its way back to the Navajo people to die. However, the witch that placed the curse on the snake put another enchantment on it to prevent its passing. This sent the creature into a supernatural hibernation in which it would heal and grow for a hundred and forty years, then return a greater beast, fully capable of protecting their people. That's where we come in."

"Are you kidding me?" Dean exclaimed "So these Indians go and make some indestructible monster snake… then when it finally gets its butt kicked, by some seriously hardcore cowboys I might add, they send it to the friggin future to bother whoever the crap might be living on the land then?"

Sam pursed his lips and looked up, squinting his eyes in thought. "Yeah I guess that sums it up pretty well."

"So the date that dad wrote down in the journal is supposedly the day that this thing wakes up? Why the heck didn't he just kill it while it was asleep? Unless he doesn't know where it is, because if he doesn't have a location then we're screwed anyway."

Sam sighed, "Well, it seems that the enchantment makes it practically invisible during its hibernation, but dad does have a location as to where he believes it will be waking up. What we need to do is get to that location and wait till it comes out of hibernation… hopefully killing it before it fully wakes up."

"And what happens if we don't kill it? Is this thing gonna go find some Navajos to protect?"

"Actually, I think that the first thing it's going to do is find a large body of water. Apparently the snake's natural habitat is in water where it can swim at speeds up to eighty miles an hour, but it has to hibernate on land so we have to take it down before it gets to open water. Despite the witch's intentions for the snake after he put it in hibernation, the snake should be free of any loyalties now that the one who put the curse on it has passed away."

"Great. So we have a giant, indestructible snake with a free will… dad sure had a lot of faith in our hunting abilities."

Sam let out a breath of laughter and sat down on his brother's bed. "I'd say you're more right than you know. Take a look at this." He handed the journal to Dean, pointing towards a small handwritten note at the bottom of one of the pages.

Dean's expression changed drastically as he read the inscription, his green eyes showing an emotion that Sam tried to read but couldn't. It was either sadness, surprise, or confusion but his brother gave no inclination towards any of those so he decided to wait and see if he would share.

The small note read: "You boys take care of yourselves."

The room was quiet for a minute while the older sibling looked over the small book, collecting his thoughts. Finally the silence was broken by Dean's deep voice.

"He really believed we would last this long… and that we would be together. Do you think he had any idea what we would be facing over the next few years?"

"Dunno" Sam responded, a bit disappointed that his brother hadn't given away what he was really thinking, "but he must have thought the hunt was dangerous enough to leave us something. Which reminds me, the snake has probably grown a considerable amount since it first went into hibernation. I'd say it's about double its original size, making it around… sixty to seventy feet long."

Dean let out a huff, tossing the journal to the other side of his bed and taking another sip from his, now melted, milkshake.

"Well, this is gonna be fun. When do we need to head out?"

"If we want to get there a bit early we should head out tomorrow."

"So soon? But we just got off of a hunt" Dean complained.

"Dean, that last hunt was a cinch, and we don't have many other options right now. We can vacation after the snake is dead."

The older brother sighed, then slurped up the last of his milkshake, tossing the empty cup into the small trashcan by the TV.

"Well, if that's the case I'm going to need a good night's sleep for tomorrow. First dibs on the shower!"

With that, Dean hopped off the bed, grabbed a small duffel bag and made his way to the bathroom.

"Oh, so you need the good night's sleep and I don't?" Sam grumbled in annoyance.

"You can sleep in the car on our way there" Dean's muffled voice came from the other side of the bathroom door.

"Thanks" Sam said sarcastically, more to himself than his brother who was currently using up the hot water in the shower.

Soon, both brothers had cleaned up and turned in. The street light shone through the coral curtains hanging from the window, leaving a pinkish hue to the dark room.

"Hey Sam" Dean said, knowing that neither of them had fallen asleep.

"Yeah Dean?"

"You remember how it was a few years ago when we were looking for dad; he would leave us coordinates of places that needed our help and we just followed his instructions blindly."

"It felt like he was sending us on a wild goose chase while we were really trying to find him. Now that I think about it… he was kind of sending us in different directions to keep us from meeting up with him."

"Yeah yeah, that was kind of frustrating, but think about it, we made him proud by saving all of those people and I feel that this is another chance for us to honor him. We get another chance to do one of dad's jobs."

Sam looked up at the dark ceiling, one hand on the back of his head, the other across his chest. It had been a while since Dean had spoken to him about his feelings and he wondered what his soulless self had done to his brother to make him so reserved. Of course, he couldn't blame everything on his "absence" of the last year. How many times had he hurt Dean before that; how many times had he betrayed his brother's trust? He pushed those thoughts aside and responded to his brother's statement.

"Maybe dad wanted to give us a chance to go back to the way things were. Heck, he knew I had the demon blood in me, and surely he knew by now we would have to deal with it. Maybe this was his way of helping us get things back to the way they were at the start."

"I don't think we can go back to the way things were Sammy. We've been through too much crap over the past few years. Heck, we've both been to Hell and back" Dean stated solemnly.

Sam was silent, his brother's words cutting him deeply, like a physical pain. For a while they sat there, neither of them speaking, then Dean broke the silence again.

"What's with the silent treatment Sam?"

"You're a moron Dean. Just go to sleep."

TBC…

Alrighty, a really long and dialogue centered first chapter, but trust me, our boy's lives are about to get pretty hectic. WILL WRITE FOR REVIEWS. Let me know how my first SPN fanfic is going and feel free to leave some critiques. ^_^ thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story when I get to it.