Two Sides of the Coin

Dean couldn't believe what he just heard. This woman was an illusion of his mind, his subconscious mind? He must have received a real hard blow to the head or she was an insane ghost.

I knew I had seen her before. But it was her eyes… they're my eyes.

"It all happened in Hell. For so long you and I battled together, saying no to Alastair. We fought together and stayed on the rack, through all the pain. The day you couldn't take it anymore and started to torture the other souls, that's when your conscious and I, your subconscious, was torn apart. You really were broken. Your mind was ripped. You rationalized everything and I was telling you it was wrong. Not to forget all those years when you faced problems and pushed them all on me. You have a problem of facing your own problems, your own fears. I had to do something, and Hell was the final straw."

He got up and felt sick. He looked at her and shook his head.

"No way, this isn't happening." He told her.

"Sam was right, for me being a ghost; he should have been able to see me. You were the only one who could see me and hear me. Some people might call that insane, but we both know it's not that. You're just broken." She said.

"Stop calling me broken." Dean said, raising his voice.

"It's the truth. Your subconscious mind is talking to you, face to face, Dean!" she yelled at him. "You're broken, but only you can fix yourself! Me and you!" she added.

Before he could think of what he was about to do, his fist flew up and he hit her in the jaw, sending her off her feet and onto the ground.

She opened her eyes and felt confused. Her jaw hurt like hell and part of her wondered what had just happened. She then felt a pain in her hand and tried to stand up.

She looked up and saw a man walking over to the door, opening it and ready to leave.

"Wait." She said. "Don't go." She said. When he turned around and she saw his face, it all came to her. She knew what had happened, who he was and who she was.

She stood up with difficulty and looked at her hand. A piece of wood was in it, blood dripping down her arm. That, and she could feel blood at the corner of her mouth.

"Dean, we have a problem." She said, through shock.

"Yeah, my subconscious mind needs to shut the hell up and go away." He said, about to leave, but she called out to him.

"Dean, the problem is, I'm not your subconscious mind anymore."

He turned around and looked at her. When she held up her hand, he saw the piece of wood sticking out of her hand and blood dripping down her arm. Then there was blood in the corner of her mouth. If she was an illusion then she wouldn't have such an injury. She shouldn't be bleeding. He walked over to her and looked at her injuries. They were real. He looked up as she did and he saw her eyes. They were different; where they were once green like his, they were now blue.

"Okay, let's get this cleaned up." He said, uncertain what to really think about.

"You're not going to leave?" she asked him, still in shock.

"Like you said, we have a problem. You're real and you're injured and I hit you." He said, then added with softness that he rarely ever used: "I wouldn't leave you behind."

She began to cry slightly. He felt like such an asshole for hitting her.

Once he pulled out the wood and washed out the wound, he ripped a strip of his shirt and wrapped it around her hand. The corner of her mouth has been cleaned and needed to heal on its own.

"C'mon, we'll go see Bobby."

Bobby was curious when the impala pulled up and a blond woman came out of the passenger side. Dean looked worried and disappointed. That didn't make Bobby comfortable. Then again, what did these days?

"Sam got away?" Bobby asked him when they got in.

"Yeah, I tried." Dean replied.

"You did just what your father did, let Sam go if not push him away." Bobby said. "Damn it, Dean, you're better than your father ever was, why do you try so hard to be like him?" he added.

"Told you." Valkyrie mumbled, but Dean didn't feel like arguing with her.

"Call your brother and stop acting like a brat. Don't be like your father and reach out to your brother." Bobby said. It didn't look like Dean was going to call his brother, so when Bobby pushed him against the wall and pinned him, Dean got the point.

He took out his cell phone and tried calling his brother, but there was no answer. Bobby relaxed; Dean tried only once, but at least he did make the call. Dean walked into the living room and crashed on the couch.

Bobby looked at the blond who smiled nervously at him.

"Who's your new friend?" Bobby asked Dean, staring at the woman in front of him.

"Valkyrie," Dean replied from the couch. "She was an illusion of my mind, my subconscious mind." He added.

Bobby must have heard wrong, but when he looked at Dean, he thought the young man must have fallen and cracked his head or he was slightly drunk.

"Are you serious?" he asked him. He looked at Valkyrie and lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Bobby, it's a long story." She said. "A complicated one."

They both walked into the living and saw the couch bare. There was no Dean. Bobby and Valkyrie exchanged looks and searched the house. Dean was nowhere to be found.

Dean opened his eyes and Bobby's living room looked different. He sat up straight and realized he wasn't at Bobby's anymore. The room looked Victorian. There was a long table, a platter of cheeseburgers and beers in ice. He looked around and saw Castiel standing there.

"It's almost time." Castiel said.

"Time for what?" Dean asked him.

Another man appeared and smiled at Dean.

"I'm Zachariah." The man said.

"Another angel?" Dean asked and Zachariah confirmed it. "Great, another one." Dean replied.

"We're keeping you safe here since the last seal will be broken by Lilith at midnight." Zachariah replied, ignoring Dean's comment.

"Where's Sam?" Dean asked them. "I want to go see Sam."

"Sorry, no can do." And Dean was alone in the room, where if he opened the door, it was sealed by a wall and if he punctured holes into the walls, they'd reseal themselves.

Yeah, don't trust the douchebags with wings.

Dean pulled out his cell phone and called Sam. He just got the voicemail again, so he felt a message; an apology.

He wondered if Valkyrie and Bobby were okay and wished she was still an illusion of his mind that would appear and be with him. He didn't want to be alone. He was alone in Hell and Valkyrie was a relief. But now he's alone and he doesn't know what to do.

He turned around and saw Zachariah standing there, staring at him.

"What do you want now?" Dean asked him. "Can I ask questions now or will you run off with your wings between your legs again?"

"Lilith will break the last seal and there is nothing you can do to stop it." He said.

"Then why does everyone keep telling me I can?" Dean asked him.

"They lied. You're so broken and weak, plus, the whole purpose of this is for the last seal to break. Michael lied. You weren't supposed to stop Lilith. Your job is really after that." He told Dean. "Yes many people will die with this apocalypse, but Heaven will win and those who fight with us against the demons will be rewarded, most of all; you. You're job is to stop Lucifer."

Dean shook his head and felt angry.

"Stopping Lucifer is even more impossible than stopping Lilith. How do I know you're not lying now?" Dean asked him.

"Because, that's really your job, to fight Lucifer. See, Michael wanted you to do everything, but I see just how broken you are and I made my own plan and soon, it will unroll itself and replace you."

Dean didn't know if he heard right.

"You mean your plan is to make sure I do…what exactly?" he asked the angel.

"Michael wanted you to fight Lucifer, kill him, send him back to Hell, win and all. But my plan is to replace you, let someone else kill Lucifer." Zachariah answered.

"And who is this someone?" Dean asked him.

"You'll see." He said. "I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise." He smiled and stood up. "How's Valkyrie?" he asked Dean.

"How do you -" Dean began, but realized something. "You made Valkyrie corporal?" he asked the angel, hoping he was wrong.

"Bingo." He answered with a grin. "She'll serve us better that way, can't go hogging her to yourself, Dean." He said before he vanished and left Dean alone to shout profanities at the walls.

Dean sat in one of the chairs and thought to himself what his life had turned out to be. What a life it was. Filled with death and misery, and for what? So he can fight Lucifer? He didn't know what to think, who to trust and what to do.

At that moment, Castiel appeared to him and looked nervous.

"Please be quiet." Castiel said. He cut his own hand and with his own blood drew a symbol on the wall as he was explaining to Dean what was going on. "I heard what Zachariah said and I don't know what is happening. Michael thinks I've become too human with you, with my sympathy. I no longer trust Michael and I don't trust Zachariah's new plan, something about it feels wrong. Sam will kill Lilith; her death is the last seal. I know someone who knows where Sam is."

"What is going on?" asked Zachariah, but there was a white flash and he was gone. Castiel has his hand on the symbol and in a blink of an eye, Castiel and Dean were standing in a house in front of Chuck Shurley; the prophet.

"This isn't supposed to happen." Chuck said once the two entered his house.

"Where is Sam?" Castiel asked the prophet.

"At a convent, where Lilith is." Chuck answered, starting at them and at this manuscript, as if saying none of it made sense.

Castiel knew which convent, he should have known, for the same incident had happened at the same convent; St. Mary's.

Outside filled with bright light and everything is the house begun to shake; the archangel that guarded Chuck was arriving and he would probably take Dean as well. Castiel turned to Dean and told him he'd fight off the angels and send him to stop Sam.