Warnings: Rated T for language and themes typical of canon. Un-betaed, all mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer: Almost a year later, and still nothing.

"Demons run, but count the cost
The battle's won, but the child is lost."
- Steven Moffat, Doctor Who
(A Good Man Goes to War)

-X-

Chapter 11

The End

Rossi set down his phone and took a sip of coffee - fresh and hot. It should keep him awake until they got on their plane. Over the rim of his cup he saw Garcia watching him with a smile. He raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"You wanted to go with them."

"So did you."

"Yes," she admitted, "But I am not a field agent. I guessed they would leave me behind."

"Someone had to stay behind and babysit the two of you," Rossi glanced pointedly at Smith, who was now struggling to keep his eyes open. When the young deputy noticed his gaze he sat up straighter in an attempt to seem more alert.

"The Boogeyman's been destroyed by the way," he said nonchalantly, taking another sip of his coffee, "How do you plan to explain the salt to the Sheriff?"

It took a moment for the information to really register in the young man's tired mind; when it did he leapt to his feet so quickly that his chair was knocked to the floor.

"Crap! There'll be nothing left of me for mum to kill!" he yelled, racing off in search of a broom.

Rossi hid his smirk in his coffee cup, but not before Garcia caught it.

"Don't take it out on him," she chided lightly. He shrugged.

"And stop pouting."

"I do not pout." And I am not old.

-X-

"So, do we get a head start?" Dean asked as he tossed his duffle into the Impala. Sam's bag joined it a moment later.

"According to the official reports, you two were never even here," Morgan said, "Just a couple of anonymous witnesses."

Sam shot him a look of disbelief. "Is anyone going to buy that?"

"The human mind tends to accept the most logical explanation that it's given," Reid explained, "So long as the false information makes more logical sense than the truth, then it should be fairly easy to convince -"

"Alright, Reid," Prentiss interrupted, "They've got to go." He looked a bit disappointed but fell silent.

"We're heading back to the station," JJ announced, leaving Hotch with the Sheriff in favour of joining them. She gave her team a pointed look. "And you are going to tell me exactly what I missed."

Morgan laughed and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Let's wait 'til we get back to Quantico. I don't know about you, but I'm gonna need a drink."

"How're the kids?" Dean asked and the mood grew more solemn. Reid glanced at the remaining ambulance where most of the children were still being looked over by the paramedics.

"Sheriff Eagan sent out a team to bring Matthew back and Danica was taken straight to the hospital; they're hopeful she'll recover," he heard Prentiss explain, "The others should be just fine. Physically, at least."

"Guess it's back to HQ for you guys, huh? Another case closed and onto the next."

"Something like that," Reid admitted, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips, "What about you two?"

The brothers exchanged a look that Reid couldn't quite decipher.

"Guess we'll know when we get there," Sam's jaw tightened subtly but he nodded in agreement. "And hey, if you need to get a hold of us -"

"Garcia already found Bobby Singer's number," Reid said abruptly. At their looks of surprise, he was quick to reassure them that it would never reach an FBI file.

"How did she even..." Sam shook his head, resigned, but there was a bit of admiration in his eyes. The other agents said their goodbyes and made their way toward the waiting cars and Hotch. Soon only Reid was left.

"See ya, Doc," Dean bid with a wave, already climbing into the driver's seat, "Let's go, Sammy!"

"It's Sam," he grumbled, following him after shaking hands with Reid. The agent raised his hand in a half wave as they tore out of the parking lot. What a strange day, he thought, and he had had a lot of strange days.

By the time he had rejoined his team, the Winchesters were well on their way to the highway.

-X-

*One month later...*

"Got another one."

Garcia looked up from her work as JJ slipped a slim file under the pile of near-identical ones sitting the edge of her desk. Shifting a few, she read the yellow post-it-note stuck to the front.

"Woman in White?" She bit the end of her pen thoughtfully before deciding that yes, it was about time for a break, and pulling out her personal laptop.

Typing the three words into her search engine only brought up a few pictures, some books and movies, and a bridal shop, so she added 'supernatural' and 'folklore'.

"Better..." A few more horror films and novels, La Llorona and some other ghost stories and legends that she opened in separate tabs for later, then her jaw dropped and she nearly dropped her pen.

"Supernatural by Carver Edlund... 'Along a lonely California highway, a mysterious woman in white lures men to their deaths.'" One of the reviews mentioned Sam and Dean so she clicked on the link and quickly skimmed the related links. "The brothers Winchester did not mention this." She grinned.

"JJ! Emily! Reid! Guys, you won't believe what I just found!" she called excitedly, marching up to their desks with her laptop.

She was sure the hunters would find out sooner or later.

-X-

"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed." - G. K. Chesterton

-X-

Yep, it's over. Well, for now.

I'd like to thank everyone who gave this story a review, favourite and/or follow, or just read through it - and those who will do so in the future. Yes, you. Right there in front of the screen. Thank you.

This took a lot longer than I thought it would (sorry). I had a family reunion (where I met one my cousins for the first time! Not even kidding), a small local anime con where my sister and I went as fem!Sam and Dean (being the older sister, I was Deanna of course - and it still technically counts as anime related. We just never talk about that...) and I was preparing for my second year of Uni - taking British Lit, btw, which is taught by Dr. Holmes (Again, I kid you not). So it was a busy month.

This is where many of you will leave me, so before you go: thank you again and keep an eye out for the sequel-ish series of one-shots.

Also if you're like me and heading back to school soon, or are already back in school: good luck, have fun, and make plenty of embarrassing but wonderful memories for your friends and family to tell your children about.

For those of you who are sticking around: you're about to see that I am a serious myth/folklore/legend geek. I apologise. Have fun.

[NOTES]

Lyndefield and her People
- Lyndefield itself is, as I mentioned, fictional. Though in my mind, I always pictured Storybrooke from Once Upon a Time.
- While the Sheriff is mostly original (though he does draw from several people) all of his deputies' namesakes are companions and friends of the Doctor (Doctor Who). Specifically: Donna Noble, Martha Jones, Canton Everett Delaware III, Rory Williams, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Young Mr Smith is a bit special in that, while he is based on Mickey Smith, the mention of his professor mother is a shout-out to Sarah Jane Smith (another, unrelated, companion). The two dogs' names come from Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness (MY doctor's loyal companions) - though you can be forgiven if your mind jumps to the Titanic.
- The Akiyama family is based partially on my cousin's family. My cousin, who is half Japanese met her husband (who is Japanese) and moved to Japan with him, where they are now raising a family. By pure coincidence, at that family reunion I mentioned I met her kids for the first time - a quiet boy and his energetic baby sister...
- Yuki is based partially on Yui from the anime Angel Beats, but both she and her brother borrow traits from Lilo (Lilo and Stitch).

The Boogeyman
- See, I know what you're really here for. Most of my information comes from Wikipedia, my mythology and folklore app, and various smaller sites.
- The boogeyman is one of those creatures that seem to pop up in some incarnation in almost every culture and country. These facts are nearly consistent: the boogeyman comes after children, leaves nothing behind, and he is fear.
- In the Antilles, they call it El Cucuy, the child eater; in South America and Mexico, El Cuco; in Central America, El Coco* (which can sound a little like you're calling someone a kook if they don't know what you're talking about). Some versions depict him as a small humanoid creature with glowing red eyes, and some even describe him as a dead child that was the victim of violence.
- In the United Arab Emirates they have Om Al-Khadar wa Alleef, a tall woman with long dark hair and in Quebec, Canada they have the Bonhomme Sept-Heures (7 o'clock man); both of these creature attack children who go out after sunset.
-Boggarts (both Rowling's version and the folklore one) and other creatures that can take different forms are often considered boogeymen.
-In Indonesia, the Wewe Gombel comes and takes children who have been mistreated by their parents and cares for them as a grandmother until the parents change.
- Just for fun: In Hungary they have several incarnations of boogeyman-like creatures (this country loves scaring people, I swear) but my favourite is definitely the Rézfaszú bagoly, which translates to, and I say this with the utmost seriousness, 'copperpenis owl'. This creature is, as the name suggests, an owl with a giant copper penis. Yes.

*special thanks to guest reviewer Lanhua

As always, reviews are awesome.