Author's/Underhill's Note: Okay, so I should mention that if something is in italics it's because it's either Dean thinking or a flashback. Maybe I should have said that earlier... Oh well! Also, on occasion I will use quotes from episodes of Supernatural, which belongs to Eric Kripke and CW and all that good jazz, so the only thing that belongs to me is the original plot. That's a disclaimer, right? Right? And yeah, everything is canon until midway season 5. ...I'm really bad at this, oh man.
Chapter 4:
The first six years back in hell Dean spent back on the rack, and though it seemed impossible, it was even worse than his first time around. It turns out that Alistair had been easy on him. Things could have been worse, god, so much worse, and he found out first hand from eager volunteers how much worse it could be.
"Dean, oh Dean, physical pain is nothing compared to what we have in store for you. You've made a lot of people angry down here, and a lot of those people plan to say hello."
When he broke free, half crazy and desperate, it was Bela who found him, put him back together again. Bela who was, inexplicably, still human.
She taught him how to keep hidden, how to stay protected, how to fight and withstand in hell. He thought that a century and more in hell would have destroyed her but he should have known better. If anyone had the guts and the smarts to survive the Pit it was Bela.
That is why he's on his way to New York, radio blasting from a hotwired, junker of a truck, and not to Sioux Falls and his family. Because they aren't his family anymore. The only family he has made him promise to find her, and they'd agreed on her loft because it was a safe place.
They agreed to get in contact via e-mail before heading for NY. Both their cells were no doubt disconnected and neither knew exactly where they'd been laid to rest (the spell had specified that that was where they would come up). In Dean's case it could have been Sioux Falls; it could have been next to his mother, or his father. He hadn't figured on Carthage, though.
To: Bela Lugosi
From: Dean Van Halen
I'm up. See you in a few days.
-D
To: Dean Van Halen
From Bela Lugosi
Good. Place is secure. Hurry up, "Van Halen."
-B
He grins. Bela made it out of the pit.