Previously on Chapter 9: I Love You…

… Sam and Mary had gone through about a dozen books before the door sounded, waking Dean up from his slumber, while Sam looks towards the door in surprise.

Sorry for the super late update~ School is getting to me and it's barely half-way through the semester!›‹ Do expect a late update for next chapter too, thanks to those up-coming mid-term exams… Meanwhile, enjoy Rowena's revelation about the "Wicked Curse" in this new chapter~ :)

Chapter 10
Wicked Curse

"Rowena!? It's been.. barely half a day!" Sam exclaimed when he opened the door to find the red-headed witch smiling up at him, carrying a bulging bag, no doubt filled with spell ingredients.

"Nice to meet you too, Samuel~" Rowena said as she pushes past him and invites herself in.

"You got everything? Those… fairy dust in a cave and all?" Sam asked sceptically as he wondered wildly if there happens to be a fairy-dwelling cave in his near vicinity.

"Oh please! You can't seriously think that I'll go hiking for some fairy-infested cave, do you? All those dirt-filled earth and rocky grounds? Urg!" Rowena replied with a repulsed shudder.

"What? Then where do you get all these stuff?" Sam pressed on.

"I have my sources," Rowena said secretively as she curled her lips into a smug little smile. Unknown to most, there have been several abandoned cellars around the country where the ol' Grand Coven stashed their collection of rare spell ingredients. After learning that the Coven had collapsed, with its scattering members either dead or in hiding, Rowena the opportunist managed to break into those valuable storehouses and now, with all of those ingredients at her disposal, she could be, possibly, one of the "richest" witch alive in this modern world.

"Aunt Rowena, you're back!" Dean said welcomingly while Mary exchanged greeting nods with her.

"Yes my dear, you missed me?" Rowena asked.

"No!" Dean replied playfully, with a mischievous smile playing on his cheeks.

"I see there was no change with him while I was gone?" She inquired from Sam.

"No… Is there supposed to?" Sam asked warily.

"Oh, I don't know… Ah! I see you got all the ingredients ready. Attaboy!" She praised upon seeing the cauldron full of spell ingredients and then gets down to work at once.

"Rowena, wait…" Sam began, and then stopped, giving Mary a meaningful look as he silently asks her to bring Dean away. Mary nodded understandingly, catching his cue.

Mary: "Dean, do you want some juice?"

Dean: "Juice? No, I'm not thirsty…"

Mary: "Mummy's getting juice from the kitchen. Come with me, let's go!"

And she successfully guides Dean away.

"Ok. Tell me. What's going on?" Sam confronted Rowena.

"What are you talking about, giant?" She feigned ignorance.

"Dean. What's going on with Dean. And this curse – I've read up on a dozen over books about de-ageing spells but none of them really fits. Also, this cure that you're working on, fairy dusts; erumpent's horn… those were never the ingredients used for reversing de-ageing spells!" Sam pointed out heatedly.

Rowena gave a weary sigh. It is never easy to work with the Winchesters, not to mention trying to take any advantages of them - they're simply too sharp for her own good.

"These are not the ingredients to reverse a de-ageing spell, because it wasn't a de-ageing spell. Not exactly anyway," Rowena told him.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Sam demanded.

"It means - Dean Winchester wasn't hit by a de-ageing spell. It was, an extremely, wicked curse," she rephrased.

Sam shook his head, not understanding.

"How is it a wicked curse when all it did was to turn Dean back into a four-year-old?" He questioned again.

"Well, that's some really refined magic involved, but don't you worry! Aunt Rowena will do her wee magic and you'll get your brother back in no time!" She reassured without further explanation and picks up another ingredient in inspection.

"Ok. You know what-" Sam took a quick swipe and the bowl of ingredients is off the table, away from the witch, "we are not doing anything unless you start talking."

Rowena looks up and sees a stubborn, serious face of a moose staring back at her and she rolls her eyes in disgruntled defeat.

"Fine, Samuel. What do you want to know?" She asked unenthusiastically.

"Well, first of all, what is this "Wicked Curse" that you're going on about?" Sam asked.

"It's a powerful, and vicious spell. Those hit by the curse would be trapped, in their own head; drowned, in memories of their worst nightmares. The lowest, most painful, and terrifying moments in their lives played over, and over, and over again, as though they are reliving every one of them in an endless, eternal cycle. Eventually, they will all be so miserable that they lose their will to live and then, finally, they'll rather take their own life than suffer another second of the curse…"

As Rowena describes the terrifying effect of the curse, Sam felt a tingling, hair-raising sense of déjà vu. He remembered back when he was held captive by the BMOL, he was hit by a spell of similar effect, and he remembered seeing all the most horrifying moments in his life, conjured up right before his very eyes… he remembered what it had done to him.

And now this curse that Dean has got, it sounds even worse than what he had had, as not only will Dean be remembering them, he will feel like he is reliving them all over again. Plus, if they're talking about Dean's worst experiences… Sam shudders to imagine what condition he'll be left in if he were to relive those horrors in one continuous, never-ending perpetuity.

"… It didn't happen though. Dean isn't suffering. He was just made a kid again," Sam said out loud, partly to reassure himself that the heinous scenario that Rowena just painted had most fortunately not been realised.

"Yes, because the curse was incomplete. I believe one of those "moments" came from the time when he was a wee boy, and somehow, it altered his mind and memories to that period and did not proceed with the next "moment" as it should have," Rowena theorised.

Sam considers what she had just said and the more he thinks about it, the more it makes sense. He remembered the devastating crying by young Dean when he first appeared. It was during the period of time when Dean had just lost his mother, which definitely qualifies as one of the "lowest, most painful, and terrifying moments" in his life.

However, Mary is back from the dead, so the pain did not last long for Dean. If he had been hit with the curse just a few months earlier, Sam will have to deal with a grief-stricken 4-year-old all on his own. Perhaps that (timing of the curse), and the fact that the curse was abridged, was a rare stroke of luck for them in this supposedly unfortunate event.

"But, I wouldn't promise that the curse would remain as it is without advancing any further, so…" Rowena made to get back the cauldron of spell ingredients from Sam while he is seemingly lost in thought. However, Sam quickly moves the cauldron out of her reach.

"That's not all. Tell me, what exactly is this spell that you're gonna brew? I've never seen anything like it. Also, why didn't the curse break when we kill the witch?" Sam continued probing.

"It's just a spell that would lift the curse and I'm not giving lessons to amateurs about the complexity of the magic involved!" Rowena complained loudly, throwing her hands up in the air in impatience.

Sam eyes the foxy witch and smells a trace of something in her manner of act.

"Fine. Then tell me one last thing. What's in it for you?" Sam questioned.

"What?" Rowena pretended to be uncomprehending but her eyes and body language have given her away, not that Sam needed those clues to tell otherwise - he knows her. Even though they might have joined hands to defeat the Darkness once upon a time, leopards just don't change their spots. It is simply too easy, too uncharacteristic for the proud, selfish witch to be so eager and enthusiastic to help, without even requesting for any remuneration. So something must be going on.

"Why are you doing this? Why help us? And don't tell me it's out of the goodness of your heart," Sam said bluntly.

Rowena leaned against the table as she considers him - deciding, whether to reveal the truth. Sam looks back with an adamant expression. Winchesters! Rowena rolled her eyes again.

"This spell is an extraction spell. Before the witch died, she sealed all of her magic – her lifetime of magic - into this one curse. That is why the spell didn't break even after you killed her. It is advanced magic, designed for a final, ultimate revenge, and nothing your average de-ageing counter spell is able to fix. However, I believe the curse will be lifted once the magic binding to the curse is extracted from his body," Rowena finally revealed the entire truth.

"So this magic, you will be keeping it for yourself," Sam inferred.

"Clever boy, Samuel," Rowena smirked.

"How much magic will you gain?" Sam asked.

"Oh, just a couple hundred years of old-school hocus pocus. An icing on the cake really, compared to the kind of magic that I possess," Rowena said dismissively. "I believe I am worth the tip, in exchange for dear old brother, Dean?" she asked rhetorically, persuasively.

Sam furrowed his eyebrows in dilemma. Although Rowena may not be their outright enemy anymore, Sam isn't sure if giving her more power than she already has would be a sensible thing to do. The red-headed witch is aware of his dilemma, thus she decided to give him another prod in the right direction.

"Of course~ You could always go through every single spell book in this bunker to maybe find another way, and then maybe find all the right ingredients and mix them in exactly the right amount and, oh! pray hard in the meantime, that the curse doesn't worsen to its original intent," Rowena added sarcastically.

"So, are we doing this or not?" Rowena pushed for a final decision.

Writer's Random Rant: I've watched (and re-watched x5) both the season 12 gag reel and season 13 promos!~ As usual, the gag reel is super funny though it's too short for my liking~ (I feel like I can watch it for hours XD)
And season 13! It's less than a month to the new season guys! (not that anyone needs reminding XD) Finally~~~! It'll be the absolute, perfect way to celebrate my end of mid-terms~ X)

Coming soon… Chapter 11: Trust The Expert