Battle Creek, Michigan

Lisa Braden awoke with a start. Her mind still in a momentary fog it took only moments for the events of Cicero to come rushing back to her.

"Ben!"

Lisa felt a soft, yet firm hand on her shoulder. She turned to see the scruffy, trenchcoat sporting angel sitting beside her.

"Benjamin is fine, Lisa," he spoke in a straightforward yet comforting manner his head slightly cocked to the side where Ben lay sleeping. "He is tired, but physically fine."

Sprinting up from the bed, Lisa ran to Ben's side. Her hands covering every inch of his body to ensure for herself that he had not been harmed. Satisfied with her own minstrations, she turned her attention to the angel, anger and confusion covering her face.

"What happened?"

"Ben was possessed by a demon. We are still trying to determine who they were and what they wanted."

Lisa turned her head to Ben, slowly stroking her hand over his head.

"They wanted Dean."

A veiled expression crept across Castiel's face.

"How do you know this?"

"I overheard it talking to another demon, I didn't hear all of it. But from what I gathered, they were waiting for Dean to show up here. I got caught before I heard why."

"What reason did they have for Dean to return to you?"

"That's the strangest thing," Lisa said with a knowing glance. "They said something about Sam being alive."

Castiel seemed taken aback.

"Did they say anything else you can remember. It's important you tell me everything."

Unable to stand the polite conversation anymore, Lisa got up from Ben's beside and got into the angel's perplexed face.

"Where's Dean."

"Lisa, I don't think -"

"Don't patronize me with what you think. You know where Dean is. Bobby told me so. I want to see him."

"No, you don't."

"And why wouldn't I?"

Lisa could see a pained expression cross Castiel's face. The tension in her eased, soon to be replaced with mind numbing fear.

"You don't want to see him, Lisa," he replied softly as he placed a comforting arm on her shoulder. "Not like this."

"You're starting to scare me," Lisa whispered as she fought back her tears. "What aren't you telling me?"

Castiel hesitated and Lisa could tell that he was deciding whether or not he should answer her. The more time that went on, the more unsure she had become that she wanted him to. After what seemed like ages, he looked her dead set in the eyes, and she could see tears welling in them.

"Sit down."

Lisa did as she was told, not questioning the order. She watched as Castiel sat quietly beside her, grabbing softly the hands she had no clue she had been ringing.

"What has Dean told you about how we met?"

"He told me that you were the one that rescued his soul from Hell."

"Did he tell you why?"

"He said it was because you were trying to stop him from breaking the first seal that would start the Apocalypse."

Castiel nodded, "We were unsuccessful. When we knew what Lilith had planned for Dean, our entire garrison laid siege to Hell. It was long, and bloody, many were lost. But in the end we were able to drag Dean's soul from pit."

"What does any of this have to do with what happened to Dean."

"Rescuing a soul from Hell, especially one so guarded as Dean's was, is not an easy feat. It was miraculous that I was able to get to him at all. Let alone in one piece. Or at least, it was believed."

"What are you saying."

"A part of Dean's soul. A small part. Remained in the pit after I had rescued him. We didn't realize it at first and by the time we did, enough time had passed without any incident, we thought it wasn't going to be a problem."

"Not a problem? You left part of his soul in Hell!"

"Lisa please remain calm, we don't want Ben to wake up and hear this."

Lisa spied a look at Ben before nodding at Castiel to continue.

"Time moves differently in hell. What amounts to a month on earth is equal to a decade in the pit. For almost forty years Dean was in Hell he was tortured, split apart, and put back together again more times than we can count. Each time he was reconstructed, it was never completely whole. He was broken. We were expecting that. What we weren't expecting was that his wounds would be anything bigger than tiny fragments. We were wrong. When we learned about what had happened, we laid siege to get it back, but we never could make it back down. By the time it became safe to lay a full on assault too much time had passed. We couldn't go back."

"Why not?"

Castiel sighed deeply, "After what happened to Dean in the pit, he would never be the same. Nothing was going to change that. He knew he was different. He knew there was something missing in him. He didn't know what that was, but he dealt with it. He adjusted. He learned to live without that part of him that was gone forever. To try and put Dean back together now would be catastrophic. It was better to leave him the way he was. You must understand. Over five hundred years have passed in Hell. Even if we were to go back for the piece of Dean that is missing. It would hardly resemble anything close to a soul anymore. That much time downstairs, things change. It would be alot like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole."

"What does any of this have to do with what happened to Dean, and why I can't see him?"

"The longer something stays in Hell, the more it changes. The more it forgets what it was or where it came from. The more it burns away all that is good in you. All that is human. Even if it was just a small piece, it spent over five hundred years like a untreated, festering wound. It grew. And as it grew, it changed. It grew into something else. Something unexpected."

"What did it become?" Lisa asked, unsure if she wanted an answer.

"It became a demon."