Welcome Back to the Land of Oz
Disclaimer:
I do not own anything from Supernatural.
Pairings:
Dean/Castiel
Karen/Lily
Timeline
Season 6
Summary:
Sequel to "The Dimensions of Dreams" Dean gets some unexpected visitors while he's at Lisa's, more than one person is outted, relationships form, friendships deepen, Cas gets cleansed of pride, Bobby doesn't want to know why Dean's blushing
Chapter 1:
Ding-Dong, She's Not Dead
It's been four days since he came to Lisa's doorstep after watching his brother take Lucifer, Michael and Adam into the cage with him. He can't even think about what to do. The only reason he's here is because of Sam. Even Cas left him to go play sheriff in Heaven. He can't take this.
Ding-dong!
Dean rolls over.
Ding-dong!
It takes him until the fourth doorbell ring to realize Ben's in school and Lisa is at work.
Ding-dong!
He grits his teeth. By the eleventh ring he's up and ready to yell at whoever's stupid enough to have not taken the hint that no one's coming to the door. Except when he yanks it open he freezes and his anger is instantly gone until his hunter instincts kick in to tell him this is probably a shape shifter.
Karen smiles. "Hi Dean," she says, practically chipper. "Ready to slip on your ruby slippers and hit this yellow-brick road?"
He reaches for his knife only to remember that Lisa asked him earlier to lock up his weapons so Ben wouldn't get into them. Shit!
"Dean I'm not a shifter. Don't be stupid. How would one even have been able to copy me?" She asked, with slightly narrowed yet amused brown eyes.
"Karen's dead!" He shouted gruffly. "And she didn't wear glasses!"
She winced at his volume. "Man your breath stinks and for your information, fading doesn't equal death if you weren't fully here to begin with. And since I wasn't completely here I didn't need my glasses."
The green-eyed hunter just stared at her confused, angry, and tense.
Karen sighed. "All right, fine. Go get your supplies so you can do your little tests. I'll just wait right here."
He backs up, keeping his eyes on her or at least in her direction until he reaches the kitchen. Once there he searches for a silver knife.
The dark-haired woman at the door glances at the other woman crouched down by one of the bushes. Luckily Dean hadn't noticed her.
Dean comes back, holding the silver knife pointed at her.
She rolled her eyes and held out her arm. "Try to be gentle. I'm not the one used to getting sliced."
He watches as she squeezes her eyes shut and quickly moves forward, placing the sharp edge against her arm. Against his better judgment he doesn't cut deep. He is never more confused than when she bleeds the normal human red. "Karen?" The hunter whispers.
The woman grimaces at the cut on her arm. "Thanks. Gotta be careful since I can actually be killed and all that now."
Without warning he rushes forward to hug her, actually picking her up.
"Dean!" She whines as he hugs her a bit too tightly. "My physical form isn't as strong as my spirit form!"
He stiffens as he hears someone laughing, putting her down gently to glare at a hazel-eyed brunette standing in Lisa's front yard.
Karen puts a hand on his arm. "She's good Dean."
His grip on the knife relaxes.
Then she leans forward and whispers, "Couldn't come back without my soul mate after all."
Green eyes widen slightly before he smirks. "You never told me you were-"
"Shh!" Brown orbs glared. "She doesn't know she's my soul mate so keep your trap shut."
He chuckles. "I'm glad you're back. Even if you kinda look like a nerd now."
She half-glared, half-smiled at him. "I missed you too. Even though you smell like a drunken hobo."
They all laughed.
"So, not that I'm not happy you're alive but what happened?" Dean asked as the three of them sat down in Lisa's living room. The corner of his mouth twitched as his friend's soul mate, Lily was her name, sat so close to Karen they were touching. As if the couch wasn't big enough to hold four people.
"Well, amazingly enough, my assumption of my spirit traveling while I was asleep was correct."
He raised a brow at this.
Ignoring him, she continued, "Of course it wasn't a normal sleep. I was actually in a coma for almost four weeks."
Dean frowned. "But you were here for-"
"-almost four months," the black-haired woman finished. "True, but while we're unconscious our spirit enters a different time zone. Sometimes a faster one, sometimes a slower one." Then she frowned in confusion. "It seems to me that all our dreams were simply our spirits visiting alternate realities, which is why we can revisit certain dream realities."
"So how'd you get back here?" His eyes narrowed when he saw her look down guiltily. "Karen?"
Brown eyes glanced up and she quietly confessed, "I may have told Cas I thought there was a chance I wouldn't die so when I almost completely faded out he sort of downloaded rituals into my head on how I could get back."
His jaw tightened. "Cas knew?"
"I made him promise not to tell Dean," she said stubbornly. "I said I thought there was a chance. Neither of us knew for sure." Leaning back and crossing her arms she added, "I didn't want you guys distracted by my situation when you already had to deal with finding a way to stop the apocalypse."
Lily watched the two staring at each other, her best friend trying to out-stubborn the hunter.
Finally, he glanced away. "Fine," he conceded, the tension easing away. She did have a point. And besides, the angel had made sure that she could return.
Karen grinned, slightly smug. "Dean?"
"Yeah?" Green eyes looked up, a slightly annoyed expression on his face.
"How long have you been here?"
He frowned, almost wincing. "Four days." His frown deepened. "Sam-"
"We know Dean."
Dean stared at her, confused.
"I wasn't kidding when I said this is a TV show where I come from," the dark-haired woman explained. "We saw what happened."
He looked down at the floor, depressed.
"So we know you've been here four days too long."
The hunter glanced up.
"You haven't lost everyone Dean," the brown-eyed woman told him. "But if you stay here, things will take a long turn for the worst. And you'll be miserable until Lisa decides you should go your own way."
He stared at the floor again. Lisa was going to kick him out? Well, he certainly wasn't really surprised by that.
"But if you leave now." Dean's friend paused. "You might be able to save both Sam and Castiel."
At that his head snapped up. Not only because of his brother, but because of the angel. "Cas is in trouble?"
When Lisa came home she was happy to see Dean was up but confused on who the two young women with him were.
He glanced up at her, a guilty expression on his face.
"Did you…sleep with them?"
Immediately their expressions all reflected surprise.
The women also looked as if they were both contemplating such an idea before glancing at each other and shaking their heads as if to say neither wanted such a thing.
Dean however, was horrified. "What?!" He looked back at Karen and Lily then over to Lisa. "She's like my annoying little sister!"
To that Karen whined, "Heeey! I'm not annoying!"
Lily rolled her eyes in amusement. "But you concede to being little?"
She turned toward her, mouth open in shock. "But you're shorter than me! Besides, Dean's older! I could still have another growth spurt!"
The green-eyed man gave her a look. "And whiny too," he added, causing her to pout. He couldn't help but smile as the pout was directed at her soul mate, who rubbed the top of her head affectionately.
Lisa frowned. "Then, who are they?"
"Friends," Karen told her. "He thought I was dying and tried to save my life once." She frowned and glanced over to Lily. "That actually doesn't sound as good as it was in my head."
"Well, the little details make all the difference," the brunette replied.
To that she sort of slowly tilted her head to the side, then without pause down in an odd sort of nod of agreement. Glancing back at Lisa, she added, "We all thought I was dying when I wasn't." She shrugged and looked away as if indifferent about the whole thing.
"Oh." She didn't really understand at all.
"Yeah, well Karen and Lily are here because they need my help with a case they're working on and kinda asked if I'd be willing to help teach them how to become better hunters." Dean lied.
Lisa took in their appearance and concluded they must either be new at it or hunting monsters didn't necessarily equal having lots of muscle power. She smiled sadly at him. "You don't need my permission. I understand." And she did. They'd talked before when he'd first found out about Ben that he could stay, that he could choose to quit hunting. But now, now she knew hunting with others, teaching other hunters was probably the best thing he could do in order to heal from the loss of his brother. And so, she'd let him go and if it was meant to be…maybe he'd come back.
"How'd you two get here anyway?" The hunter asked as he drove the Impala, the two women sitting in the back seat. "And I don't mean this dimension, I mean Lisa's."
To this a disgruntled look came over Karen's face. "Bobby told us where you were after we were done suffering through all his tests." She glared at Dean who was chuckling at the idea of her going through Bobby's thorough testing. "He offered to let us have a car but I pointed out that neither of us really had that much experience driving. So he dropped us off in town."
He nodded. "So what's this about Cas being in trouble? I thought he was living it up as the new sheriff in town."
"Unfortunately you both assumed Raphael would allow him to be in charge. We're not sure if it's happened or not but Raph is gonna give Castiel an ultimatum: fall in line or die. And since falling in line isn't an option he'll have twenty-four hours to either pull something out of thin air or accept his own demise." The black-haired woman informed him.
And Dean could just see the angel accepting his own demise considering the last time he'd seen Raphael. Cas had been so sure he wouldn't survive that encounter. "And what, he doesn't come to me for help?"
"Actually he'll be watching you rake leaves as he debates whether or not to do so. Eventually he'll decide that you deserve to have a chance without the supernatural. Of course that's when the solution to his problem will appear."
The hunter frowned. "I thought you said he needed my help."
The two women exchange looks.
"Dean," Lily takes over where her best friend left off. "The solution works. The only problem with it is that even though it keeps Lucifer and Michael in the cage so that the apocalypse won't happen, you abandon Cas because of it. In fact, you even attempt to kill him."
At that Dean pulls the Impala over to the side of the road so he can turn around to look at them.
"You mean Sam tries to kill him. Dean never really had a chance to try," Karen points out.
"What?! Why would either of us try to kill him?!"
The brunette replied, "I'd like to point something out first. Dean, was it wrong to sell your soul to save Sam?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Crowley offers Castiel a deal," the one with the glasses informed him.
He frowned. "But I thought angels don't have souls."
"They don't and for the record, Crowley has promoted himself from king of the crossroads to king of hell."
Well, it wasn't anywhere as bad as making a deal with Lucifer. After all, king of hell or not, Crowley was still just a demon. "Okay, so what's this deal Cas and Crowley make?"
They both share a look.
"Well? Come on, spit it out."
After a moment, Lily answers, "Crowley lent Castiel enough souls so that Cas could officially start a war with Raphael."
"Wait, souls? What do souls have to do with anything," he asked.
Karen sighed. "Souls are power Dean. That's why Crowley was powerful enough to take over Hell and it's why angels are so powerful, because of all the souls in Heaven. As an archangel, Raphael has access to more power than Cas and can cut Cas off, which is why when he became part of Team Free Will his power greatly decreased."
Dean nodded in understanding. "Alright, but what did Crowley want in exchange for the power-up?"
"Half," Lily flatly states.
He frowns, confused. "Half of what? Heaven?"
"No, he wants half of the souls they'll collect when they figure out a way to open Purgatory." The hazel-eyed brunette informs him.
The hunter blinks. "Purgatory's real?"
Karen slaps her forehead and mutters in her you-are-such-an-idiot-sometimes voice. "Why, oh, why are you surprised? I mean, obviously the monster souls had to go somewhere since they don't go to hell and certainly won't be allowed into Heaven."
"Heh," he grins at her, "well you know I'm not really one to ponder the workings of the universe and all."
"You're just the type that's constantly complaining about it." She told him.
Dean just smirks. "Wrong Winchester. Sammy's the bitch." Then his expression drops. Sam.
"We know how to get Sam's soul back," Lily says suddenly and his green eyes brighten again before confusion sets in.
Why did she say Sam's soul like they didn't have to worry about bringing him back to life?
It isn't until he's back under Bobby's roof, trying to sleep, that he ponders everything. How great it was that Karen hadn't really died. How soulless Sam is walking around. How Karen and Lily said it was best not to let soulless Sam know they were getting his soul back until it was too late. How Cas is or already has made a deal with Crowley in order to stop Raphael from starting the apocalypse. How Karen and Lily told him Crowley would find a way to open Purgatory with or without the angel and that agreeing to the deal was a very good thing as it would be easier for them to stop the demon from gaining even more power. He had to admit that it made sense. And he could also understand that if he didn't know all this that he'd probably react badly to the news. He couldn't blame Cas. Crowley had sorta helped them out before so it was understandable that the angel would think it was okay to accept his help. It wasn't like Castiel sold his soul or anything. He drifted off to sleep, thinking of how Castiel had actually given in and gave Karen a piggy back ride, and feel asleep with a smile on his lips.
Cas is happy to return to Heaven. He's happy but… Things are different. Heaven is not what it once was to him anymore. It feels like there's something missing now. Still, he ignores the feeling as his brothers and sisters greet him. But what they want of him is not what he expected either. When they ask what God, what their Father wants them to do; he tells them He wants them to have free will. But they don't understand. They can't even seem to imagine what it even means. Before he can figure out a way to explain it though, a way to teach them, one of his brothers informs him that Raphael wants to speak to him.
Castiel wonders how his brother can be so blind, how he can't see that their Father clearly doesn't want the world to end. Humans have always been favored over angels in His eyes though as this is the second time God has brought him back he's starting to believe he may also be in that category. After he finishes healing himself from the damage Raphael has done he leaves Heaven and appears in front of Lisa's house. It is with great confusion that he finds the hunter absent. Even more so when he figures out the hunter has left Lisa's residence. He frowns, his hands sliding into the pockets of his trench coat. His expression clears and he lifts one hand out of the pocket, a pair of boxers in his hand. His lips twitched as he read 'Property of Castiel' that had been written by Karen. He wondered if she had known Dean would run off to try to say yes or if she knew he'd need the article of clothing now that he had no idea where the hunter had went. Her idea of somehow using something of Dean's to track him had been a good idea. One it seems he was going to be using once again.
"So what do you think so far?" Karen asked Lily as the lied side by side, having to share a bed due to the limited space at Bobby's.
For a moment the brunette said nothing. "Are you sure we won't screw things up? I mean you said last time you never told them anything about the future. What if we make things worse? What if we die? A couple martial art classes are not exactly the level of training we'll need to survive here."
She moved her head forward, resting her forehead against her soul mate's. "I really don't know what consequences our interference will have, but we'll get through it. We'll have Dean, Bobby, Sam and Cas to help us and watch our backs. I'm sure Dean will have fun kicking our asses into tip top hunter shape. So don't you worry." The woman paused for a moment. "Besides, I'm pretty sure anything worth doing always has some sort of risk."
"True," Lily agreed. After a moment of silence she asked, "But how is Cas gonna find us? Aren't those angel signals still carved into Dean's ribs?"
Karen grinned. "Well, remember how I told you I gave Cas a pair of Dean's boxers?"
I love reviews. I'm having my operation next Tuesday so I won't be updating for like 3 weeks, maybe a month because I have no internet at home and am not allowed to travel for at least two weeks after I go home. Hopefully there won't be any complications. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the first chapter.
Next time:
Chapter 2:
Acknowledging Uncompleted Bonds
Cas replied, "Perhaps it is due to her soul mate being in such close proximity without having completed the bond."
There was complete silence as Karen's eyes widened as she nervously glanced at Lily who was frowning in confusion. "Yeah," she cleared her throat, "Well, I can think of two other people in this room who haven't completed the bond."
Castiel shifted uncertainly as Dean looked at him.
Get ready for fluff and drama