Hey everyone! Here's the first chapter of the story I promised last week; it's a three-parter! I think this might be my first actual case fic, so I was excited, even though I was really lazy with my monster research. I hope you'll forgive me. The only reason this is AU is because it's in season 5 and Bobby is obviously not in a wheelchair, I just love Bobby and I wanted him for this story, so that's why. There's not really any spoilers either, at least no major ones, just everyone out on a hunt where nothing goes right, you know, the usual. I look forward to hearing what you think! Hope everyone has a great weekend :)

A Long Way Down

A Supernatural Fanfic

Part One

"Well, I know one thing. And that's that Baby does not like snow any more than I do." Dean kept a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel of the Impala; whether it was the elevation that was making his breathing short and quick was yet to be determined. Dean's baby might have been a classic beauty, but her turn radius was not made for driving up twisty, two-lane mountain roads. It had been a harrowing couple hours drive they had spent heading up to the ski lodge in northern Vermont which an old hunting buddy of Bobby's now owned, retired from his previous job. They had gotten the call several days before and Bobby's friend had asked if he would be interested taking a job at the ski lodge. Apparently they had had a rash of strange deaths in the past month, bodies of skiers disappearing, only to be found upon later searching torn apart, and strewn through the woods. Local law enforcement was blaming bears or cougars, but it was obvious from the pictures he had sent them that the claw marks were too big to be either. So they packed their stuff and Sam and Dean decided to go along with Bobby.

Castiel had also come along, which had surprised Dean, but he didn't ask. Maybe the angel just wanted a break from trying to figure out apocalyptic issues for the moment and get into a hunt. Dean knew that he had been suffering from his weakening grace and that he took every opportunity to keep himself from feeling worthless, and hunting seemed to help so Dean never said anything against it. Besides, he would be glad to have another man on the job.

"Turn right up here, Dean," Bobby told him, looking at the map. "It's just down this road."

"Finally," Sam groaned from the backseat. Dean cast a look at him and Cas in the rearview mirror. Sam never got car sick, but he looked a little queasy. Dean couldn't blame him. He had never been good with heights and looking at some of the drop offs this road had offered, made him want to wet himself. He would be just as glad as everyone else to get to the ski lodge. He would much rather go up against a flesh eating monster than drive another ten minutes on this road.

The ski lodge was a warm glow in the darkening sky, and Dean breathed an instant sigh of relief as he saw it. Driving up the mountain had been bad enough in the daylight; he definitely didn't want to do it in the dark. He pulled into a parking space and they got out, quickly grabbing their bags and hastening into the warmth of the lodge.

Dean brushed snow out of his hair as they got in the door, and he looked around as he set his duffle bag on the floor. It was your typical ski lodge, warm fireplace in the lounge and decorated with furs and plaid and all that mountain cabin stuff. Kind of cheesy, but they had been promised one of the large family suites to stay in which far surpassed anyplace he and Sam usually stayed.

They were greeted by a pretty young woman in a cream turtleneck sweater, standing at the front desk.

"Welcome to Moose Ski lodge, are you checking in?"

Bobby went up to her. "We're friends of Donald Blackwater, I believe he reserved a suite under Singer."

"I'll just check and make sure everything is set," she said.

"Hey Bobby! Long time no see!"

Bobby and the others turned to see a man with greying hair and a slight limp coming up to them from one of the back offices.

Bobby stepped forward with a smile and clasped hands with the man. "You bet, Don. Last time I saw you was out in Flagstaff, taking care of that werewolf epidemic."

"That was a hairy one," Donald chuckled and turned to the other three men. "I see you brought some wingmen."

Bobby stepped back to introduce the others. "These are John Winchester's boys, Sam and Dean, and that's their buddy Cas."

Donald shook hands with them all in greeting. "Good to finally meet you boys, I met your father a while back when I was still hunting." He cocked his head at Castiel. "No offense, Cas, but you don't look like you're ready for hiking through snow." He motioned to the business suit, trench coat and haphazard tie.

"I don't get cold," Castiel said simply.

"He's a bit of an odd one," Bobby told Donald quickly.

"Well, anyway, Sandra here should have your room all ready, and after you get your stuff put away, we can head to the dining room, and I'll talk to you about the job."

"Yes, please," Dean grinned. The harrowing trip up the mountain had left him ravenous.

The room was indeed huge with three bedrooms (Cas obviously didn't sleep) and a wraparound sofa in the middle of the main room with a pit fireplace in the middle.

"This is awesome, we should always work for your old friends, Bobby," Dean said with a grin as he opened the door to his room and threw his bag inside.

"They don't all retire early and buy a ski lodge," Bobby told him. "Most of them die on the job or go crazy."

Sam laughed. "What's that say about you, Bobby?"

Bobby smirked. "Oh, I'm definitely crazy to stick around with you two idjits." He smacked Sam playfully across the back of the head and they left the room.

The dining room was cozy and smelled wonderful. There were only a few lodgers there, either because they were a little late to the meal or maybe they had just cut their vacations short due to the people getting savagely killed by the 'local wildlife'—That could definitely put a damper on things.

Donald waved them over to a large table in the corner and they ordered their food before getting to business.

"So how many deaths have there been?" Sam asked.

"Three so far, all within the space of two weeks," Donald told him. "And definitely too big to be a wildcat and we don't have grizzlies up here and I can't see a black bear doing that."

"So what are you thinking, wendigo?" Dean asked him.

"That's what I thought at first, but wendigos don't usually leave their kills out like that. And they…well, they eat more of it. These bodies were pretty much just ripped apart, some flesh, some organs eaten. Not a werewolf either, before you ask. All the bodies had their hearts—or parts of them."

"Have you heard of anything else that might do that?" Sam asked with a frown. Dean could almost see him itching to research.

"Abominable snowman?" Donald joked, shaking his head. "Honestly boys, I don't know. I wish I could go out there with you, but I'd never make it with this leg." He slapped his right knee regrettably. "Got that while hunting a rugaru a few years back. Nearly tore my leg off."

"Well, you could certainly take my place," Dean told him. "I'm not looking forward to tromping through the snow for however long it takes to find this thing and gank it."

Donald gave him a rueful smile. "Well, you're gonna have to get used to it. It's snowing afresh out there and it's not likely to stop by morning. You'll have a fine powder to tromp through. We'll get you outfitted with snowshoes, and warm clothes."

Dean gave him a tight smile, cursing inwardly. Sure, he wanted to gank this thing, but he was beginning to regret agreeing to this job. He hated the cold.

They finished their dinner and went to make an early night of it, knowing they would have to be up early preparing for their trip the next day.

"Keep it down out here, Cas," Dean called to his friend as the angel took up residence on the sofa.

"I don't think I'll wake you," Castiel replied and Dean watched him slump back against the cushions, a frown forming between his eyes. If Cas was still weakening, how long would it be before he started needing to sleep and to eat? Would he completely regress to being human? More importantly in their present situation, would he get cold? But he wouldn't sleep at all if he continued worrying (not that he ever slept well anymore anyway) so he decided it was time to just put his brain to rest as well as possible with no worries, and if that didn't work there was always the standby in the well equipped liquor cabinet.

However, the cozy plaid covered bed and flannel sheets seemed to work well enough and before he knew it, it was time to get up, and he realized he had been able to sleep with a minimum of nightmares.

He found everyone already gathered in the main room after he had dressed and ventured out. Bobby gave him a small smile.

"Time to head down for some breakfast, then we'll get Don to suit us up."

"Can't wait," Dean grumbled. If there was anything he hated worse than snow it was snow-appropriate clothing. Too bulky to walk properly, let alone be able to fight and run in. But he didn't want to freeze either. He could only hope that they got this hunt over with as quickly as possible with minimal issues.

Like that would ever happen.

Breakfast perked him up though; hot, dark coffee, accompanied by pancakes and eggs and sausage. And of course, maple syrup to pour over it all, which caused Sam to wrinkled his nose.

"Eat, dude," Dean muttered to Cas who was staring at his plate curiously. "It's not going to hurt you."

Cas carefully picked up his fork and took a cautious bite of pancake, obviously deciding it wasn't terrible as he continued. Dean watched him a few moments with that big brother look to make sure he was eating, before he turned at the arrival of Donald who sat at their table with a mug of coffee in his hand.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked them.

"Well, enough, thank you," Sam told him, even though the kid didn't look like he had slept at all. Dean knew he was having nightmares; just a typical side effect of being a Winchester.

"Well, that's good because you'll be trekking for a while out there. I've drawn up maps for you of all the places the bodies were found. Most of them were around our highest slope, the one the professionals use. It's pretty densely wooded around there and it's no wonder the thing, whatever it is, can hide well enough. The three bodies we found were about half a mile off the path on the east side." He handed Sam the map and the younger Winchester studied it.

"Well, let's just hope we can get this over with first time out," Bobby said and put down his silverware. "If everyone's done, we should go get suited up."

They followed Donald to the ski shop that was part of the lodge. Apparently a lot of people who came didn't have the right equipment. Dean snorted at all the fancy snowsuits and skis that covered the racks and walls. Definitely not made with hunters in mind, as they would all make you stand out like a beacon.

"Take whatever you need, it's on the house," Donald told them. "You fellows are doing us a huge favor, so I figure the lodge can pay for your equipment."

Dean searched for something that wasn't too shouty, and finally settled on black, a pair of waterproof snow pants and insulated parka that were less horrible than the rest. Besides that they were all equipped with heavy snow boots with snowshoes because none of them really wanted to go skiing. It was never a good idea to have things that would trip you on your feet when you were planning on running from monsters. Of course, the snowshoes might prove just as deadly, Dean thought, eying them with trepidation.

"Cas, come on," Dean called, seeing the angel standing there in the middle of the shop, just looking around. He frowned at Dean.

"But I don't…"

"Come on, man, when in Rome. Everyone will just think you're weird if you don't wear the snow gear. Besides, you'll look like a dweeb out there in the snow with your trench coat and tie."

Cas frowned again, cocking his head to one side. "You…think I'm a…dweeb?"

"All the time," Dean told him with a grin, clapping him on the shoulder and helping him pick out an outfit.

Before long they were all kitted out in their snow gear, even Cas who seemed slightly uncomfortable in the change of clothing, tugging at the sleeve he kept his angel blade in. Dean couldn't blame him; he felt like he was wearing a down mattress. However, he was distracted when Sam approached in a white suit, causing him to snort with laughter.

"Dude, you look like the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man," he chuckled.

Sam gave him the 'bitchface' and Dean smothered his laughter and turned around, striking a pose. "Does this make my butt look big?"

"Of course, it provides extra padding, Dean," Castiel said matter-of-factly.

Dean shook his head at the angel. "Dude, you are never going to get a girl if you say things like that."

"If you girls are done sharing fashion tips, we've got a monster to hunt," Bobby said as Donald came over to them and handed out pairs of snowshoes.

"You should be able to move pretty well in these," he told them. "In any case, it will be better than just the boots, especially in that powder snow out there today. It's cold and crisp, so you at least shouldn't have to worry about ice too much unless it warms up later, but I doubt it will."

"Great," Dean said with false enthusiasm, and tucked his snowshoes under his arm, heading with the others to collect the rest of their gear. They each had a backpack with supplies and provisions in it in case they got caught out longer than they planned. They also all carried backup weapons and other 'specialty items' not knowing what kind of monster they were up against and wanting to be prepared for anything.

"Well, no sense in wasting daylight," Bobby told them as they stood outside the lodge, skullcaps pulled tight over their ears in the cold morning air and their parka hoods over top of that.

"We can take the ski lift up," Sam told them, pointing to one side. "That will make it a bit easier at least."

They tramped in the crunchy snow over to the ski lift and rode it up to the top of the mountain. Dean gripped the side bar tightly and pressed his back as close as possible to the back of the bench, closing his eyes. Sam, who sat next to him, looked over.

"Dean, you all right?" he asked quietly.

"Don't talk to me," Dean grunted. "I'm trying either not to freak or barf right about now."

Sam smiled and turned away, leaving his brother to his own misery. It wouldn't be too much farther; at least that was what Dean hoped.

It really was a tall mountain, and Dean was definitely glad they would not be skiing on it. The last thing he wanted to do in this already horrible hunt, was ski down the mountain and break his neck trying to get away from the monster.

They took a moment when they stopped to situate their packs and get their snowshoes on, having to help each other do it. Dean couldn't help but laugh, watching Cas try them out. The angel looked like a baby horse, staggering around and falling in the snow every few seconds, unbalanced by the backpack he carried and the snowshoes on his feet. He glared at Dean as he forced himself back to his feet.

"I'm not accustomed to hiking in the snow," he said defensively.

"It's okay, Cas," Sam told him, putting a hand under his elbow to steady him. "You'll get used to it."

Dean was still chuckling when he himself slipped and fell on his backside in a snowdrift; he got up, cursing, as everyone laughed, Cas even cracking a smile.

"Whatever, let's just get this over with," he grumbled as they made their way on a sideways path down the mountain, slightly parallel to the ski slope.

Donald had told them he had closed this slope for the day, telling lodgers it was for safety purposes so at least they wouldn't have to worry about any skiers getting attacked. No, the monster would just be out for their meat, it seemed.

They made their way into the trees, which were densely spread over the mountain as Donald had said. Dean shook his head, wondering what would happen if someone flew off the ski trail. They'd be wrapped around a tree in an instant before the monster would get to them. He couldn't believe people did this kind of thing for fun. It was stupid.

They hiked laboriously toward the first spot where a body had been found, of course once they got there, it was impossible to tell anything had happened. So much snow had fallen over the area, any sign of the creature was long gone.

"This is a waste of time, we're not going to find anything," Dean groused as he hiked his shotgun higher on his shoulder, his hands starting to get cold even inside the insulated gloves he wore and he could hardly feel his face anymore.

"Hold on a second," Sam called from a few yards away. He was looking up at something in the trees and the others went to join him.

"What did you find?" Bobby asked.

"Those look a little high for deer or moose, right?" Sam said, pointing to some deep, and more importantly, fresh, gouges in a tree trunk, about ten feet off the ground.

"Yeah, I'd say," Bobby said wryly as he stepped closer to inspect the marks. "Not to mention they are definitely claw marks."

"Look like the same ones found on the bodies," Dean agreed, shuddering, and not just from the cold. If the placement of the marks was any indication, this thing was huge, and obviously territorial.

"It does look a bit like the kind of marks a wendigo would leave," Sam mused. "Is it possible it could be one gone rogue? I mean, they're very intelligent creatures, who's to say some don't go totally crazy and stop acting like a normal wendigo."

"Well, if it is, at least I brought a flame thrower," Dean said with a grin. He would actually be glad to find out this was a wendigo. It would mean there wasn't another huge, angry fugly out in the world creating carnage for them to clean up.

"Let's check out the other spots and see if we can find any more evidence," Bobby suggested and they hiked off to the other locations of the victims.

The other two spots gave the same result as the first. Snow covered anything they might have found useful, but they did find several more claw marks on the trees nearby the places of the killings. Bobby craned his neck back, looking up at the tall trees that grew around them, partially blocking out the sunlight.

"This is quite a way off the path from the ski trail," he mused. "I doubt the skiers came in here on purpose."

"The creature must have taken them," Castiel agreed, looking around with a frown on his face. "Perhaps, it laid in wait for them."

"That's what I was thinking," Bobby said. "Though why drag them off the path?"

"Maybe it was headed home," Sam said and pointed to another set of the scratch marks a few trees away, heading back toward the top of the mountain. "I think we should see if we can follow these marks. Maybe it will lead us to where this thing lives. It must have somewhere it holes up."

"And we know it's not nocturnal," Dean added. "It's made all the kills we know about during the day. So it might be out now and we can give it a little warm welcome when it comes back."

"Let's take a break and have something to eat and drink first," Bobby suggested. "Got to keep hydrated."

They didn't argue, already tired from tramping through the deep snow. Even Cas seemed relieved to sit down for a few minutes and take off the heavy backpack.

Dean cast his eyes over the forest as he chewed on some beef jerky. He really hoped they would be able to find this thing today. He had a really bad feeling being out here in the cold woods on top of a mountain with something that had already brutally killed three people out and about. Sure, it wasn't like he hadn't been in similar situations many times before, but there was a big difference between knowing what you were hunting and being completely surprised when a normal shotgun shell didn't put a dent in whatever was chasing you down about to tear your guts out and eat them like spaghetti.

He sighed as they began to pack up again and got back on the trail. He hauled Cas out of the snow and then nearly fell on Sam as his snowshoes got tangled together. Sam smirked as he caught his brother and settled him back on his feet.

"Dude, you really need to learn how to walk in those."

"I friggin hate the snow," Dean grumbled as he tried to balance his pack again and leaned far forward as they continued to trudge up the mountain, so that he wouldn't fall backwards and slide down to the bottom—if he wasn't stopped by a tree first.

They were all panting from the high elevation, laboring up the slope. Bobby grumbled something about being too old for this, and Dean didn't even have enough breath to tease him.

It started out so low that none of them noticed, until Dean felt a tremor under his feet and halted, wondering if it was just him.

"Hold up, guys," he commanded.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Do you feel that?"

They all waited a few seconds in silence and Dean concentrated on the ground under his feet, but didn't feel anything again. He shrugged. "Never mind, I guess I was imagining things."

A roar behind them sounded out and they all spun around, Dean only barely keeping his balance.

"Well, that was definitely something," Bobby commented. "And not far enough away for comfort."

Dean reached behind him and grabbed his shotgun, noticing the others had done the same and Cas' angel blade was now in his hand.

"Something is not right," the angel said slowly, his eyes narrowed as he looked around at the surrounding woods.

"That's got to be our monster," Bobby told them. "Are we gonna go get it, or are we gonna stand here and wait for it to make a buffet of us?"

"Bobby, wait," Cas told him when a rumble sounded, low and guttural, and this time it was not a monster who made it, but the mountain itself.

"Please tell me that is not what I think it is," Dean gulped, his knees buckling as the rumbling intensified, determined to knock them off their feet.

"Avalanche!" Bobby shouted as they cast their gazes upward and saw the snow tumbling down the mountain toward them, looking lazy but oh, so deadly.

"Find shelter, get behind a tree or something!" Sam called to them.

"Head for the deeper parts of the woods, more trees will slow the flow," Bobby shouted.

Bobby pulled Cas into a run as they all barreled down the mountain, looking for any place they might be able to find shelter from the snow, but it was coming too fast, and there was no way they were going outrun it. Dean resigned himself to the imminent impact and only hoped it would take the monster they were hunting out with them. As if they could be so lucky.

"Sammy!" he cried, reaching out for his floundering little brother, and Sam tried to lunge for his hand, but Dean slipped and rolled several yards downward, hauling himself upright as quickly as possible only to see the snow on them and swallowing up his brother.

"Sam!" he screamed before he too was hit with the wave of snow, all the air driven from his lungs. Everything was white, and he was tossed about for what seemed an eternity before he finally came to a stop, not knowing which way was up, and deciding he didn't really care, as he allowed himself to fall into blackness, lulled by the low rumble that echoed through the mountains.

Oh dear, they are really in trouble now! Sorry about the cliffie, but..yeah :P

In other news, I have started a SPN story community devoted to non-slash TFW stories. You can find it under "Slash Free Team Free Will Fics" so come check it out! If you have any recs for non-slash stories featuring our favorite trio, send me a PM (self recs are perfectly acceptable ;)