Chapter 2

Dean squinted against the sun as he waded out of the water and towards the shore. When did he get outside? When did it become midday? How long had he been in that stupid building? Dean could answer none of it.

As Dean found his footing in the shallows of the river, he looked up to the shoreline and saw Meg moving along the shade of the oak trees. She didn't notice him, and seemed to be heading away at a pretty steady clip.

"Hey!" Dean called out to her, and Meg whirled to look at him. As soon as she saw his face, Meg's eyes grew wide and she turned, breaking into a run.

"Wait! Dammit," Dean shouted and wrestled his way out of the water. Meg did no such thing and in a flash of white, she escaped around a corner.

Going to the trees where he saw Meg walking, Dean noticed a path was worn into the earth and thought taking it would surely lead him to her. As he walked, he pondered what the hell was going on.

"I know I'm me," he said allowed to himself, "at least I was this morning...but what if something is wrong with me? What if this is all in my head? Wouldn't that be a great fucking puzzle?"

Off in the distance, the trees gave way to a sunny clearing and Dean could see movement in the grass. He made his way towards the area, but as soon as the trees parted and the full meadow came into view, Dean stopped short.

"Benny?" He asked, genuinely confused. The vampire, who last he saw was very dead, turned to look at him with a toothy smile.

"Hello, Dean," his familiar husky voice cooed in his Louisiana drawl.

"But..." Dean couldn't say the words. Announcing Benny dead would lead way to announcing that he killed him. "Where am I?" He said instead. Benny shrugged.

"You're the hunter, you tell me."

"I don't understand," Dean shook his head confused.

"Well aren't you hunting? What are you hunting?" Dean thought this a very valid question, but when he thought back to the day before, he couldn't remember exactly what he was after.

"Come, let me introduce you to my new friends," Benny said with smile still in place, and he got to his feet, moving away from the tall grass. Dean eyed the vampire warily and hung back as Benny stalked deeper into the woods. Up ahead of them, an outcropping of rocks jutted from the earth to combat with the sparse forest foliage. Upon the rocks, sat three figures.

"Who are your friends, Benny," Dean asked with his voice on edge.

"Oh... you'll see soon enough," Benny replied with his slow easy drawl and then he started to whistle. Dean swallowed, trying to settle his nerves, but his gut told him that this was just like purgatory. This strange place where reality got twisted and things could be looking to claim his head.

As they got closer, the noise of their movement begged detection.

"Are you finally going to tell us a story, Benny," a familiar voice chimed, and then all heads turned in unison to look at Dean.

The moment he saw them, Dean reached for a knife that wasn't there. A gun. Hell, a fucking pocket knife. Nothing was on him! Why the hell did he leave the motel unarmed?

On top of the rocks, poised on picnic blankets and with tea cups in hand, sat Abaddon, Lilith, and Azazel peering down at him. A fucking demon trifecta. He should have never trusted Benny. Edging away, Dean looked around him frantically for something to use as a weapon.

"Easy, Dean," Benny drawled, "calm yourself, hunter."

"Hunter?" Lilith squeaked. She was in her child form again. The one that terrified Dean the most. "You know I don't like hunters, Benny."

"Everyone be easy," Benny said as he lifted his hands complacently, "Dean is just here to listen to the story like the rest of you. Dean is my friend."

"Dean Winchester?" Abaddon said as she looked down her nose at Dean. "I propose we skip the story and have a contest instead."

"Yes!" Azazel hissed and his yellow eyes bored into Dean. "A contest and he is the prize." Dean tried to edge away again but Benny caught his sleeve.

"Enough. All of you," he called up to them, "No contests and no prizes. Either I tell a story, or we all go home."

They agreed, begrudgingly, and Benny helped Dean to climb onto the rocks where he settled in to tell his tale.

"Where did I leave off last time?" Benny asked.

"Purgatory!" Cheered Lilith and she clapped her hands. The other two nodded in unison.

"So," Benny said with a leer, "Dean and I were in Purgatory, and he just got suckered into teaming up with that vial cat, Castiel." The demons all booed at this and Lilith spit into the grass next to where she was perched. Dean stared at them in amazement. It was like they were acting like children.

"Castiel tricked Dean into thinking we needed him to escape purgatory, but your pal Benny knew better. That cat was nothing but poison raining Leviathan all over our heads." Abaddon shrieked at this and Dean rolled his eyes. Benny's story was absolute bullshit, but Dean didn't really feel the need to set the record straight with a bunch of dead demons.

"Look, Benny, I need to get going so..."

"Let me finish my story," Benny said glaring, and Dean thought better than to argue with his lack of weapon and all.

"See Dean here, he needed me to survive and to help him. There were these tablets you see, ones that sealed demons away and ones that sealed angels away and Dean needed me to read them."

"You're so brave, Benny," Azazel admired and the other two demons nodded agreement. So brave. Brave Benny. Dean changed his mind. He had the shits of this version of the story.

"That's not what happened," Dean said, getting to his feet, "none of that happened. I was the one that saved Benny, not the other way around."

"Why should we believe you, Dean?" Asked Abaddon, "You're just a lowly hunter.

"Stop saying that word," Lilith wailed and she brought her tiny hands to her ears. Dean felt the need to press on.

"Benny is not a prophet. I didn't need him to read the demon and angel tablets. I had Kevin for that."

"Kevin?" Benny exclaimed and suddenly the whole lot of them were scrambling to their feet.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked but none offered a response as they staggered off of rocks and dispersed into the woods surrounding him.

"Well fuck," Dean said to himself, and climbed down from the rocks as well.