Aww, guys, this is the one you've been waiting for! Just a warning, I'm going to break your hearts next season! R&R please!
Sienna sat staring at the roof of the Impala. She was laying in the backseat while Sam drove down another winding highway in the middle of the night. The hunters had all been quiet. They were just leaving Pamela's funeral. No one wanted to stir up the tension her death had put on the group. She heard Dean shift in the front passenger seat and she turned to listen as Sam began speaking.
"Ruby will meet us outside Cheyenne. She's been tracking some leads."
Dean groaned as he stretched awake.
"Look, I know she's not exactly on your Christmas list, but if she can help us get to Lilith-"
"Man, work with Ruby, don't." Dean interrupted with no interest. "I don't really give a rat's ass."
His tone had her stomach clenching. Dean had been through so much with Sam lately...she didn't know how much more he'd stand. She leaned forward to see him staring dejectedly out the window.
Sam stared from Dean to her and back.
"What's your problem?" He demanded.
"Pamela didn't want anything to do with this, and we dragged her back into it, Sam."
Sam's answer was immediate. "She knew what was at stake."
"Oh, yeah," Dean snorted. "Saving the world. And we're doing such a good job of it. The only one who's done a thing is Sienna. Without us, I might add."
"Dean-"
"I'm tired of burying friends, Sam." Dean's tone was almost pleading.
She slid forward and slipped her hand over the shoulder of his seat and pressed it to his heart. She felt his chest rise and sink as he let out a huge breath. His shoulders relaxed and his hand came up to cover hers.
"Look," Sam tried again. "If we catch a fresh trail-"
"We follow it. I know." Dean murmured. His fingers threaded through hers and squeezed. "Like I said, I'm just- I'm just getting tired."
Sienna watched Sam clench his jaw.
"Well get angry."
Dean didn't reply to him. Sienna watched Sam closely, her stomach clenched in anxiety. Sam had been acting out of character since the siren. He was more aggressive, less patient with Dean, and he'd even been snappy to her.
They pulled up to the hotel and Sam hopped out to get their room. Sienna scrambled up to the front seat to get a good look at Dean, but before she could even get her bearings, Dean pulled her hips down on his, and she was sitting in his lap, as opposed to across from him. He didn't stop there. He pulled her hips again, releasing her ankles from under her, and ran his hands up and down her thighs, which were now on either side of his waist. He buried his face in her neck, inhaling. The corners of her lips turned up and she ran her fingers lightly up his neck, into his hair, and back down again.
"Are you okay?" She whispered.
"I just want to be here." He breathed.
After a couple silent minutes, she coaxed him out of the Impala and toward the room Sam booked. Dean opened the door ahead of her and stopped at what he saw. She stood on her toes, grabbing his outstretched arm for balance, and peered in, too.
"Winchester, Winchester, and...there you are, Gold."
Castiel and Uriel stood in the center of the room. Uriel's gaze was trained on her with more than normal malice. Cas stood in the background, his gaze flitting between the three hunters in the room, with what Sienna thought might be-guilt?
"Oh, come on!" Dean complained.
"You are needed." Uriel demanded. Sienna glared back, but Dean got there first.
"Needed? We just got back from needed!" He shouted angrily. Dean was the most run down, the most tired. He felt the need to protect her and Sam, and thought he was failing the job. Sienna worried the angels wouldn't stop at anything to get what they wanted.
"Now, you mind you tone with me."
Uriel's frosty tone lit an angry spark in Sienna. She stepped out from under Dean's arm, her eyes narrowing, the gold in them beginning to burn.
"No, you mind your damn tone with us!"
Sam walked ahead of her, holding an arm out between the two tense groups. "We just got back from Pamela's funeral."
Uriel lifted a brow at Pamela's mention. Dean practically growled from next to her.
"Pamela- you know, psychic Pamela? You remember her. Cas, you remember her. You burned her eyes out. Remember that? Good times! Yeah, then she died saving one of your precious seals. So, maybe you can stop moving us around like chess pieces for five freakin' minutes!"
Uriel's answering smile shot a surge of choking anger through her.
"We raised you out of Hell for our purposes."
"Yeah, and what were those again?" Dean asked gravelly. "What exactly do you want from me?"
Uriel's lip pulled up in a sneer. "Start with gratitude."
Sienna and Dean let out the same snort of anger.
"Dean, we know this is difficult to understand." Castiel pleaded.
"And we," Uriel cut him off. "Don't care."
Sienna's gaze darted from Uriel to Cas and back again. Uriel was keeping Cas from showing any sympathy for the mortals he'd come to know. Her attention was recaptured by Uriel.
"Now, seven angels have been murdered- all of them from our garrison. The last one was killed tonight."
Sienna's brow puckered. What had the juice to kill an angel?
"Demons?" She asked. "How are they doing it?"
As if he'd forgotten she was there, Uriel focused his gaze on her, narrowed his eyes and huffed.
"Right. You. I almost forgot."
Her brows raised and she shot him a kill-you-dead glare. He cracked an amused smile, brought his fingers up to her forehead, mimicking a gun, and laughed. She squeezed her eyes shut at the blinding pain that shot through her head at his touch. She heard Dean shout her name, trying to cross the room.
"Boom."
….
Sienna almost screamed.
She was here- again. Watching another horrible revelation. She squeezed her eyes shut childishly, hoping she'd wake up. She didn't. She could still hear the screams. She blew out a breath and opened her eyes.
She was leaning against a barren, black poplar tree. The air around her was hazy, tinted a ghoulish white like fog. The landscape was dark, maybe purple volcanic rock?- and dotted every few feet with poplar trees.
She turned around and froze. She was face-to-face with a little girl, maybe ten years old, her hair twisted into braids. The little girl stared through her, which was typical- in her dreams she watched as a spectator, unable to change the events she witnessed. What wasn't normal was the glazed look in someone so young. As if she didn't have a single thought. Sienna shuddered and backed away.
Around an outcropping of purple rock, she heard a small sniffle. She tip-toed to it, and peered around. There she was. How would she get here? Why couldn't the blasted Gods show her that?!
She decided to stop thinking and watch.
The-other Sienna peered around the rock, and quickly shrunk back down into a ball, breathing hard. Dream Sienna looked up. There were three gray, humanoid flying creatures circling the area. Furies. So, she was trying to escape?
The dream shifted, blurring until Sienna had to blink rapidly for her vision to clear.
The other Sienna was running. Sprinting, actually, over the pocked ground. She put on a burst of speed. Dream Sienna floated above her, trying to see either her pursuers or her destination. About thirty feet in front of her, a great river rushed through the land, carving the rock into twisted canyons. Instead of the sound of rushing water, though, the river was rife with wails and screams of all tone and intensity. She watched as the other Sienna pushed off a large rock with both feet, leaping over the river in one bound.
She landed in a heap on the other side, her ankle twisted. She stifled a cry of pain. Dream Sienna scrunched her brow. Why wouldn't she have flown? She moved off to the side as the other Sienna clawed her way to her feet and kept moving. Dream Sienna couldn't focus on anything but the view around her. On one side, the wailing river thrummed by and on the other, a wall of fire crackled and popped above her. It seemed as if the flames swelled directly out of the ground.
In front of them, jagged purple and black mountains soared up toward the endless black void that she could hardly call a sky. The other Sienna didn't stop moving until she was at the base of the mountain face. With a glance up, she began scaling the sheer cliffs. She moved much quicker than Dream Sienna thought she could. By all accounts, she should be able to float to the top- why weren't her powers working?
As she rose higher, Dream Sienna followed.
She gazed at the expanse of rocky, barren land, the grove of poplar trees where souls lingered, the obsidian palace a gleam in the background. Four rivers dissected the area and the fifth wrapped around it. She shook her head. She was really here.
Dream Sienna turned, not paying attention to the future image of herself now. As she turned, she felt the air grow even hotter. The white, foggy clouds of vapor changed to black, sulphurous mist over the mountain. With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, she gazed out at the other side of the mountain. Her breath came in increasingly rapid pants and her eyes were frozen open on the nightmarish scene. It was as if Bosch's paintings of Hell had come to life.
Black, sharp rocks pierced the landscape. Massive caves scarred one side of the mountain. Where the ground showed, fleshy pink and red membrane surfaced. Boils pocked the mushy ground. She tried to look closer- was there something inside of it? As she thought the words, one of the bubbles popped and a mixed creature slithered out. It lurched downhill- it appeared to have the head of a dog, and the body of a sea lion. A telkhine.
Within a minute, an arm larger than her body shot out of a cave, grabbed the telkhine as easy as she might grab a cheeseburger, and the newly born creature was already gone.
Dream Sienna gagged, her stomach protesting the horror.
She heard a nasty flapping noise and the other Sienna screamed. Dream Sienna whirled around to find a scene even more horrifying than the one she'd been liberated from. One of the Furies had found her. The monster had gray, slacken skin, folds upon folds of it. She screeched loudly, alerting her sisters to her catch.
The other Sienna held up her hands in surrender. They were shaking. She stood to her full height and gasped. She must not have seen the pit yet. The other two Furies settled themselves on the high rock around her with a rustle. The other Sienna backed up a step and stumbled. Dream Sienna shuddered as she watched a few pebbles around the other's feet fall into the abyss.
"Take me to Hades!" The other Sienna demanded.
"A demigod soul." One Fury squawked.
"Daughter of Zeus." Another added.
"He killed daddy!" The third screamed and dived for Sienna's chest.
Dream Sienna's scream was echoed by the other.
"NO!"
"Hades!"
Dream Sienna lunged for her future self. Her hand passed right through her body and she was forced to watch as her soul fell smack into…
"Tartarus." She breathed.
She opened her eyes to dirt.
Sienna curled her knees up to her chest, her eyes stuck open, and shuddered over and over. She couldn't move for a solid five minutes. If she had eaten anything, she would have thrown it up. She shoved the vision aside. She couldn't focus on Dean if she kept shaking like a chihuahua.
She lifted her head from the ground and took in her surroundings. On all sides, she was staring out at nothing. Fields, dirt, dark blue, almost black sky… she sat up abruptly. She looked behind her. She had been laying, face-down, on the edge of a giant field of sunflowers, their heads the size of hers. The stars were innumerable in the dark sky. She stood and clenched her fists. Absolute fury flooded her veins, so much anger she couldn't speak. In the darkness, she could see her surroundings bathed in the soft gold light emanating from her body.
She let out a frustrated growl and shot directly into the sky. The lightning veined through the deep blue void and silver pinpoint stars, lighting the sky to daylight brightness for only a moment.
"Wow. They really pissed you off, huh?"
She spun around, her hand up, ready to blast the intruder off the face of the Earth. When she saw who it was, though, she froze. Anger and jealousy battled in her chest for dominance. The gold glow around her only intensified. Anna was standing in the circle of sunflowers she'd crushed with her body when Uriel had tossed her to the middle of nowhere, her red hair darker than last time Sienna had seen her.
Anna held up her hands in surrender.
"I know!" She spluttered quickly. When Sienna didn't attack her, she let her shoulders relax. Anna's gaze went to her feet, and then she looked up at the fuming demigod from beneath her lashes.
"I know. I…I only had part of my grace then." She squeezed her eyes shut again, trying for a pleading, apologetic look. Sienna wasn't buying. "I never should have let...that happen when I only had part of the story."
She lifted her gaze to Sienna's and took a step forward. "I'm sorry."
Sienna didn't say a thing. She just turned her head to the sky and plopped back on her ass. She started patting her pockets, looking for anything that would tell her where she was. She scowled. The angels had taken her cell phone, leaving her empty-handed. Not even a weapon.
Anna sat a few feet away from her.
"They would have taken everything." She explained. "Sienna?"
She glared at the angel.
"Please tell me I didn't ruin everything for Dean."
Sienna sighed and turned toward her, pursing her lips.
"You didn't."
"Thank God." Anna let out a huge breath. Sienna raised an eyebrow. Why should she care? She caught Sienna's look and shrugged sheepishly.
"The other angels don't know what emotions are like. I do. But I'd still never felt anything like...that." Her voice dropped to a murmur. "So when we thought you'd died, I guess...I just wanted a little taste of that feeling. Love. I'd never had it in my human life."
Sienna stared at her wordlessly, her throat working.
"You think Dean-"
"I know he loves you."
The ends of Sienna's mouth tugged up despite her current situation. Hearing Anna say that really did make her feel good. At least the angel knew where she stood with Dean- her Dean.
"I think he does, too." She breathed.
Then she remembered her present situation and she growled, throwing herself back into the dirt in frustration. She stared at the twinkling Big Dipper constellation and spoke without feeling.
"They're doing something terrible to him."
Anna scooched closer to her, her brow furrowing. "How do you know?"
"Why else would they send me to Timbuktu?"
Anna scowled. She could tell the angel was trying to see other possibilities. She didn't try to keep the sarcasm from marring her tone.
"They told us they needed our help, saw me and were like 'Not you, demigod' and poofed me out here." She mimicked Uriel.
Anna sighed, rubbing her temple with a finger. "Yeah, he's in trouble."
Sienna's heart thrummed back to life. "Hey! Can't you just zap me back to him?"
Her hopeful voice was smothered by the angel's apologetic look.
"Castiel and Uriel are hiding from me. They have been for weeks. The only reason I'm here now is because I was a town over and I felt Uriel's power. I raced over, hoping to find him and found you." She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I could tell you the state they're in and that's it."
Sienna weighed her options.
"Are they still in Nebraska?"
Anna nodded. "And you're in Kansas."
She looked at the fields. That made sense. But without narrowing down Dean's location, she may have to search the whole state before she found him and she didn't have that kind of time.
"Sienna, if I get close enough, I should be able to feel the angels. Castiel and Uriel. I can help you...if you let me."
Sienna wrestled with her intense dislike of the angel Dean slept with. She'd much rather do things herself. Then again, who knew what the angels were doing to Dean? What if he was hurt? What if he was… She couldn't think it. If Anna could get her back to him… She turned back to Anna resolutely.
"Okay. Help me find him."
….
Dean was breathing hard. All his willpower was concentrated on not throttling the angel behind him. He didn't give a damn what they said- he wasn't torturing anything, much less Alastair, a prince of Hell.
His heart pounded. They'd sent Sienna god-knows-where, and now they expected him to chin up and be a good boy? His gaze was locked on the horrific image of Alastair hanging from chains against a giant metal Star of David, above a ritualistic circle bound by chalk. Castiel spoke from behind him.
"The devil's trap is old Enochian. He's bound completely."
He didn't move. "Fascinating." He turned abruptly, passing the angel briskly. "Where's the door?"
"Where are you going?" Castiel protested.
"Hitch back to Cheyenne, thank you very much."
Uriel stood in front of the door, a smug look pulling up his mouth in a half-smirk.
"Angels are dying, boy." He insisted hotly.
"Everybody's dying these days. And, hey, I get it. You're all powerful. You can make me do whatever you want, but you can't make me do this."
Castiel turned to him, sympathetic.
"This is too much to ask, I know." Cas took two large steps, halting inches from Dean's face. "But we have to ask it."
Dean took his time to consider. There was a very good chance they'd only force him to do their bidding anyway. They could hurt Sammy, Sienna. They'd already sent her away...he didn't want to imagine what else they'd do for his cooperation. He turned angrily to Uriel.
"I want to talk to Cas. Alone."
The angels shared a look. Then Uriel, his teeth clenched, smiled at Dean placidly.
"I think I'll go seek Revelation. We might have further orders."
Dean seethed. "Well, get some doughnuts while you're out, okay?"
Uriel laughed, shaking his head as if in exasperation.
"This one just won't quit, will he? I think I'm starting to like you, boy."
Uriel was gone with the sound of rustling wings. Dean turned to Castiel, wondering how to proceed. From their earlier conversations, he knew Cas was the more sympathetic of the two. If there was any way out of this, Cas was his only chance. He decided to start off light-hearted.
"You guys don't walk enough, you're going to get flabby."
Nothing from Cas. Not a snort, chuckle, or eyeroll.
"Now I'm starting to think junkless has a better sense of humor than you do."
"Uriel's the funniest angel in the garrison. Ask anyone."
Castiel's narrowed eyes and guarded tone didn't make Dean feel better. This plea would only be a waste of time. Dean took a few steps toward the angel, schooling his features into one of grief instead of anger, but the words still sounded ground from his mouth.
"Where's Sienna?"
Castiel practically rolled his eyes. "She's a state over, Dean, she's fine."
His nostrils flared. He didn't even get the chance to feel relief that she was okay.
"For now! She doesn't have to hunt down nasty things, Castiel, they find her! And you left her weaponless!"
Castiel raised his voice dismissively. "The demigod is a weapon herself."
Dean could hardly speak through the hard knot crushing his windpipe.
"What's going on, Cas? Since when does Uriel put a leash on you?"
Castiel met his gaze and set his jaw, like he was angry, though he'd never actually seen the emotion on the angel's face.
"My superiors have begun to question my sympathies."
"Your sympathies?" Dean raised an eyebrow.
"I was getting too close to the humans in my charge. You. They feel I've begun to express emotions, the doorways to doubt. This can impair my judgement."
By the end of his speech, the angel had looked away impassively, like he didn't care about what he was saying one way or the other.
"Well, tell Uriel, or whoever...you do not want me doing this, trust me."
Castiel tilted his head in confusion, a line appeared between his brows.
"Want it? No. But I've been told we need it."
Dean bit his lip to keep it from trembling. What Castiel was asking him to do...Adrenaline surged through his veins raising his heartbeat, his breath coming faster. How could he look Sienna in the eyes?
"You ask me to open that door and walk through it...you will not like what walks back out."
"For what it's worth…" Castiel's back was to him. "I would give anything not to have you do this."
….
"Oh thank Gods."
Sienna lunged for the ancient blue pay phone box nestled next to the rustic gas station and diner she and Anna had appeared to.
After Sienna agreed to let her help, Anna brought them back to Cheyenne. Sienna figured they could start here, or at least look for Sam. She dialed Sam's number, dust stirring into the air around her face as she pressed the buttons. She coughed.
It rang and rang. He never answered. She held her hand out to Anna again, who was leaned against the cobwebbed-speckled brick wall of the gas station. The angel placed another dollar of quarters in the demigod's hand. She tried Sam again with no answer. She'd already checked the motel they'd checked into, but both Sam and the Impala were already gone. She hadn't found him at any other motels, either.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to believe her boys were all right, but without seeing them with her own eyes, her apprehension wouldn't dissolve. Anna sighed at her bleak expression. She pushed off the wall to meet her.
"Let's go in the diner. Maybe we can figure something out."
Sienna sighed and walked off in the direction of the diner. She chuckled without humor.
"An angel and a demigod walk into a diner...sounds like the set up for a bad joke."
It was a trucker diner- pictures of classic Coca-Cola memorabilia on the walls and a thin layer of grime on every inch of the place. A middle-aged waitress strolled to their table with a pot of coffee. Sienna flipped over her coffee mug and she promptly filled it.
"Nothing for you, sugar?"
Anna shook her head politely.
"I'll come back when you're ready."
Sienna held a hand up and passed the menus back to the tired-looking woman.
"We won't be eating, but thank you."
She shrugged indifferently and proceeded to the only other filled booth across the room. Anna caught her gaze and gave her a pleading look.
"I'm sure they're okay."
Sienna snorted and shook her head. The angel couldn't understand it. Most humans didn't either- they didn't live such a reckless, death-filled life. The fear wasn't even about them being hurt, because of course her boys could take care of themselves- they had for years. The fear was that she could have done something. That she should be there. The fear was not knowing.
"I just wish I knew what they wanted with him." She grumbled.
When Anna didn't answer, she looked up. The angel's eyes were wide, staring off over her shoulder, her mouth slightly open. Sienna whirled around, but there was nothing behind her. She turned back to Anna. Sienna grabbed her hand across the table, squeezing it lightly.
"Anna?"
She inhaled suddenly. Sienna's nerves shot up.
"What is it?"
"Castiel. He's letting me come to him." She whispered, in a sort of trance.
Sienna's jaw dropped momentarily. Quickly getting herself together, she leaned toward the angel. "Well? Take us there!" She hissed.
She opened her mouth to answer, but didn't, seemingly at a loss for words.
"Anna?" She begged. She needed to get to Dean now. The urgency she felt couldn't be squelched.
"He- he won't let me. Either I come alone or he shuts down the connection. He'll hide."
Sienna couldn't make her mouth work. The last thing she wanted to do was send Anna off to rescue Dean, but…
"Sienna, we're running out of time." Anna warned.
She growled in frustration and then reached across the table to grip Anna's other hand in hers. She held them both tightly, her fingers crushing Anna's hands. Anna looked at her in alarm and Sienna stared intensely back into her eyes. She could feel the gold burning. When she spoke, her tone left no room for doubt or uncertainty.
"You will find him. And come back and show me. Do you understand, Anna?"
She nodded. "Yes." Her voice was absolute.
"And…" Sienna trailed off as she tried to think of what she could say to Dean when she didn't know where he was, what he was doing, if he was hurt…
Suddenly, Anna was squeezing her hands instead of the other way around.
"And I'll tell him you're coming." She murmured.
Sienna bit her bottom lip and nodded. Anna stood, making for the door.
"Keep looking for Sam, but stay in town. I will find you."
As soon as the door closed behind the angel, Sienna let her head droop and hit the table top. She was so tired. So many shitty things had happened lately...her visions… she gulped and calmly shoved it away. She wouldn't think of it again. Not ever. She had no power to change the things that she saw, so what was the point? At least, that's what she tried to tell herself.
….
"Hello, Castiel."
Anna materialized in the old warehouse where they must have taken Dean. The furniture in the room, a table and chairs, cabinets, bookshelves- were lousy with dust and dirt. The floor was strewn with sawdust and hay. The lights were low; Castiel stood in darkness.
She could feel the energy of the beings around her. Castiel, an angel. Dean, a human. And… she almost gasped. How could Castiel ask this of Dean?
He didn't turn when she spoke.
"Your human body." Castiel always spoke in monotone- he wasn't used to human vocal chords yet or their emotions.
She took a few steps towards him.
"It was destroyed. I know. But…I guess I'm sentimental. Called in some old favors, and…"
He still wouldn't turn around, though she was close enough now that if she reached out, she would touch him.
He stared at his feet.
"You shouldn't be here. We still have orders to kill you."
She raised an eyebrow, a small smirk playing around her lips.
"Somehow, I don't think you'll try." She walked around the long table in the middle of the room, trying to get a view of Dean. "Where's Uriel?"
"He went to receive Revelation."
She could feel Alastair and Dean on the left side of the structure. She stalked over to the only door in the wall, peering through the foggy glass inlaid in the door. She swallowed. Sienna was going to be very unhappy. She tried to calculate the amount of time it would take her to grab the demigod and find this place.
"Right." She answered Castiel, still staring in horror.
Anna turned to face her brother, knowing she couldn't disguise the disgust on her face.
"Why are you letting Dean do this?"
Castiel couldn't meet her gaze. Again, he turned his back on her before he replied. Anna couldn't believe the cowardice she saw in him. He was obviously sympathetic- she could see it on his face. But he didn't have the guts to disobey.
"He's doing God's work."
"Torturing?" She asked skeptically. "That's God's work? Stop him, Cas, please. Before you ruin the one real weapon you have."
He didn't turn, but his voice held a hint of misery.
"You've been with Sienna."
She didn't answer. She didn't want him to throw her out just yet. She'd promised Sienna. He continued in a bored voice.
"Who are we to question the will of God?"
"Unless, this isn't his will." She retaliated.
Castiel snorted in disbelief. "Then where do the orders come from?"
"I don't know. One of our superiors, maybe." She shook her head, begging. "But not him."
Anna materialized an inch from Castiel's face. Her gaze bore into his.
"The father you love...you think he wants this? You think he'd ask this of you? You think this is righteous?"
She could see the doubt in Castiel's eyes. If she could only get him to see...she pushed him further.
"What you're feeling...it's called doubt."
Cas closed his eyes in anguish as Alastair's screams echoed around them. He sat heavily in one of the small wooden table chairs. She knelt next to him, pleading with her expression. She clasped her hand over his.
"These orders are wrong, and you know it. But you can do the right thing."
He shook his head at her. She tried desperately. If she couldn't get Dean out of this situation fast...
"You're afraid, Cas." She squeezed his hand again. "I was, too. But together we can-"
It was the wrong thing to say. Castiel's brows pulled down and a line puckered between them.
"Together?" He asked in incredulity.
He tossed her hand off of his with a sneer of angry disdain.
"I am nothing like you." He shouted as he paced around her. She only moved her head to follow him, a look of miserable pity on her face. "You fell. Go."
She whirled around. "Cas!"
"Go!" He growled. Anna had never seen so much emotion in Castiel. She shook her head in pity. It was only a matter of time. She disappeared, searching for Sienna in her mind's eye.
….
Sienna was surprised to find herself back in another prophetic dream. She hadn't meant to fall asleep in the little booth where she waited for Anna, but the demigod had not been sleeping well. All the hunters were exhausted.
She breathed a sigh of relief. No purple rock or rivers of fire.
Sienna tilted her head in curiosity when Sam and Ruby, standing over a burning square of paper, came into focus.
"Relax. The fire is our friend. Besides, the only part of the map we need is the 'where's Dean?' part." She focused on the fire. "Out."
The flames dissipated quickly, leaving a circle of burnt-free paper in the center of the table.
"There. Your brother is there." Ruby pointed.
Why couldn't they say the location out loud? Sienna thought in irritation. She tuned back into the unlikely pair.
"Ruby, it's been weeks." Sam glanced at her sideways, fidgeting in anxiety. "I need it."
She didn't turn to face him, but kept her eyes down on the ground.
"You don't seem too happy about it."
He took an intimidating step towards her and raised his voice.
"You think I want to do this?" He demanded.
He stalked past her, flopping roughly on the motel bed in front of her.
"This is the last thing I-" He sighed. "But, I need to be strong enough."
Sienna's forehead wrinkled. What the hell were they talking about?
Ruby tip-toed to Sam tentatively, as if she were unsure of her decision. Sienna's brows shot up as she crawled into his lap, wrapping her hands around his neck affectionately.
"It's okay, Sammy." She smiled slyly. "You can have it."
Gods, she hoped she woke up before this cozy little scene turned R rated. They kissed, their lips just grazing each other. Sienna cringed and almost cried out when Ruby grabbed for the knife in her boot. Much to her surprise, Ruby brought the knife up and Sam watched her, his breath coming faster.
Ruby sliced across the inside of her forearm and looked back up at him through her lashes, holding her arm out to him. Sienna was frozen in astonishment.
Sam half-gasped and fastened his mouth over the cut, sucking greedily. Sienna's jaw dropped, all the blood rushing out of her face. What Sam was doing- it was unfathomable. She was watching it and she still couldn't believe.
Dean would feel so betrayed…
….
"Sienna!" Anna hissed in her ear.
She sat bolt upright, smacking her head on the back of the booth. She groaned and rubbed the spot with a hand. Her thoughts were a whirlwind around her brain, so many thoughts in so little time, nothing able to land coherently.
"You okay?" Anna asked curiously. "You look a little…" She trailed off.
She shook her head as if to clear the cobwebs and grabbed her by the hand, tugging Anna out of the diner in a rush. "What happened? Where is he? Is he okay?"
The questions shot out of her without conscious thought. Her brain was still muddled by the image of Sam and Ruby.
"I can take you to the closest coordinates they'll let me get to. They're still trying to block me out."
Sienna gave her a look of impatience and gestured that she should keep talking.
"As far as I know, he's not hurt in any physical way…"
Sienna picked up on her wording immediately and had to fight not to shake the angel.
"But?" She almost shouted in anxiety. Anna hesitated again and Sienna couldn't stop herself from grabbing the angel by the shoulders.
"Please just tell me!" She exclaimed.
"The angels captured Alastair and they've asked Dean to torture information out of him about the angels killed."
Anna had spoken all in a rush so it took a moment for Sienna to process what she'd said. When she understood, fear gripped her heart, almost making her dizzy.
"Holy Hera." She breathed. Rage shot through her, making her choke on her words. "I thought even the angels were above that!"
"The angels are above nothing." Anna growled.
Sienna turned back to her unlikely helper and held out a hand.
"Please." She pleaded. "You have to take me there."
…
In the blink of an eye, she and Anna were standing in the middle of a wheat field.
Sienna's gaze swung around wildly, searching for buildings. She thought she could see the top of one through the grain, a little distance away. She parted the tall yellow grass and started attempting to make her way toward it.
Anna pushed through ahead of her. Sienna groaned at her snail-like pace trying to sift through the field. Anna was pulling away from her already.
"Sienna?" She called back.
"Just keep going!" She yelled. "I'll get up in the air!"
She bent over, pushed at the wheat again, trying to unwrap her feet. She half-gasped when something bumped into her back, forcing her to tumble to the ground.
"Hey!" She complained.
She flipped around and found nothing there. She furrowed her brow and tried to stand, pushing off the ground with her hands. She was, again, dragged to the ground.
"What the hell?" She grumbled.
As if on cue, she felt dozens of tiny, grubby hands clasp on her arms, her legs, her torso- she cried out in surprise as she was rolled onto her back. She thrashed but the tiny hands only dug their nails in- dozens of tiny pin pricks all over her body.
"Ow! Hey! Let me go!" She yelled. "Anna!"
There was no response. The angel must have gone too far ahead. Sienna growled at her bad luck- she didn't even have a weapon.
Her little kidnappers moved in synchrony, rushing her much too quickly back the way she'd come. She was losing ground between herself and Dean. She tried to think through the ocean of wheat smacking her in the face, scratching along her body as the hidden attackers raced her through the grain. She ground her teeth together.
"My name is Sienna Gold, daughter of Zeus, and ya'll are about to mess with the wrong demigod!" She screamed.
She closed her eyes, drew in a breath, and called on her father's power. The night air around her became dense, and she inhaled the metallic smell of a storm.
Her abductors must have understood. She halted so suddenly that her muscles recoiled with whiplash. In a flurry of movement, she was dropped unceremoniously on the ground. She rose to her feet in a quick moment and held out her hands around her.
"Show yourselves!" She commanded.
She heard a series of whimpers and turned towards the grain that was rustling to her right. Her head rocked back as if she'd been slapped. She almost laughed. A dozen or more six-inch high, tawny colored babies stood shaking in fear in front of her. They reminded her of grubby versions of Cherubs. Karpoi- Roman grain spirits.
They wore burlap and other make-shift rag shorts and their hair stuck out in all directions like troll dolls. Most of them were sniffling.
She was momentarily at a loss for words.
She'd expected something a little more...threatening. But she had a job to do and she'd already lost Anna in the field. So, though it made her feel bad, she schooled her features into an angry one and thrust her hands up.
The little gremlins squeaked and ran around each other in a frenzy.
"No Zeus! No Zeus!"
She fought a smile. "Oh, I'm going to call him, all right!"
"No no no!" A few of them collapsed to the ground in sobs. "Need wheat!"
As they despaired, she tried to stand on her toes and see the building.
"Hold it!" She shouted.
The karpoi tried to get themselves together, sniffling and crying behind their hands. They looked up at her in apprehension.
"I will not destroy your wheat...on one condition."
They fell at her feet. She mumbled, backing a step away- they followed her, crying "Mercy! Mercy!" Their little rags slouched and were pulled one way or the other by the coarse grain surrounding them. She knelt down on her knees, sitting her butt on her feet.
"I need some information."
The karpoi sat back on their butts tentatively and waited for her to ask.
"Where did my friend go?" She asked first. She was deliberately slow. She didn't know how well the karpoi could understand English.
The band of grimy, mini-babies pointed in tandem to her right. Okay, so Anna was that way.
"Is there a building on the other side of the field?" They nodded. "Did you see any people go into that building?"
They nodded again. Sienna sighed in relief. She was in the right place. She smiled at them and stood to her full height. The little grain spirits simultaneously burst back into tears. She held her hands up in surrender.
"No, no! I'm not going to hurt you!"
She jumped up a foot in the air and stayed there. The karpoi looked up at her with tear-stained, pink cheeks. This was going to make a hilarious story later, she was sure.
"The karpoi of Nebraska wheat fields will always have a demigod as their friend and ally."
They rallied around each other and cheered, throwing single grains in the air like confetti and dancing around in the circle of crushed wheat she'd sat in.
Even knowing the grim scene she would soon face, she threw her head back and laughed at their mirth. Without wasting another second, she soared past the wheat field, touching the ground outside of a large warehouse or perhaps a storage area for farmers?
Anna emerged from the grain, bits of it stuck to her hair and clothes now, much like Sienna. Only Sienna was much more disheveled.
Her hair felt wild and tangled and her clothes were ripped in one arm, both legs, and her collar. She had dozens of tiny claw marks where her skin showed- from the karpoi's sharp little nails. Anna raised a brow at her. Sienna grimaced.
"Karpoi- grain spirits." She explained irritably. Anna laughed.
"Life as a demigod is never easy, huh?"
Sienna had already started sneaking to the building. How best to infiltrate? The angels would flip once she stormed in and stopped this- And then she heard Dean cry out. She'd know it anywhere. Every precaution flew out of her head and she sprinted for the door. It blew in easily and she stopped abruptly, scanning the room- a door set in the far left wall. She shoved the table in the middle of the room out of her way and darted towards it.
She hadn't seen either of the angels or Dean until she halted at the door frame. She looked on the room, frozen in horror. She realized, only vaguely, that Anna hadn't followed her.
Alastair had broken free of the angel's confinements, his smile much too big for Sienna's taste. Castiel stood only ten feet from the demon, holding a hand towards him. When Sienna examined the demon closer, she watched the knife plunged through his shoulder twist. Castiel was walking toward Alastair- who was grunting and wheezing in pain.
Her eyes finally landed on Dean, sprawled on the floor, beaten and bloody. Her heart lurched. No one had seen her yet, and she knew the wise thing would be to stay silent and figure out a way to help Cas defeat Alastair...but she couldn't do it. She couldn't leave Dean in the middle of that mess with no protection. She didn't even know if he was breathing.
"Dean!" She cried.
As she scrambled over to him, she almost burst into tears when she heard his gravelly voice yell above the mayhem to her.
"No!" He screamed. "Get out!"
She dove for him, barely avoiding the grappling demon and angel. She was on her knees by his side. He was barely conscious.
"And leave you here? I don't think so, Winchester." She growled.
Her lip quivered as she tried to assess his wounds. He looked so broken. She flinched as Alastair lifted Castiel, hanging his body upright on a broken strut attached to one of the long, wooden posts holding up the ceiling.
"Like cockroaches, you celestials." He growled. "I really wish I knew how to kill you. But all I can do is send you back to heaven."
He was chanting in Latin. Sienna understood the gist of his words and, as much as she loathed the angels, she didn't wish such a fate on Cas. Maybe Uriel, but not Castiel. She flicked her left hand up, her right was steady checking Dean's pulse, and sent a shockwave of electricity through the demon.
Alastair went rigid, releasing his hold on Cas, then convulsed as if having a seizure. He stayed on his feet through sheer force of will, Sienna thought. Castiel slid to the ground and rolled out of the way, coughing. She heard Dean try to mumble something, but she couldn't afford to take her eyes off the demon.
Alastair laughed. The sound crawled up her spine. His voice was weirdly high-pitched and nasally- he sounded all the more sinister. He turned on her, a bloody smile tugging his lips up. She clenched her jaw and threw herself in front of Dean, spreading her arms protectively. The demon laughed harder.
"Well look at this." He drew the words out, catching Castiel's eye from the floor. "Isn't this the sweetest thing you ever saw?"
Deliberately, he took another couple slow steps forward, tilting his head side to side like a giant snake who just caught his prey. Dean tried futilely to move her away, his fingers tugging on her waist, but he wasn't lucid enough.
"Sienna, go!" He tried to yell- it came out as a croak.
"No." She breathed back.
She didn't even blink when he knelt down, his face inches from hers. Her breaths were quickening with every inch he moved closer.
"You may be celestial, deary, but I can kill you just the same." He smiled and winked. "Don't you think Dean would just love if I got my hands on his-"
The demon was ripped away from her, and slammed against the back wall. She was panting in surprise and anxiety. She whirled around and gaped.
Sam stood at the door, one hand raised. She was instantly transported back to her dream- watching him drink Ruby's blood. So that's why he was doing it. She looked down at Dean, her brow creased with worry. How was she supposed to tell him such an awful thing now?
Sam's black tone called her back to reality. Alastair was grunting and growling in pain.
"Who's killing the angels? How are they doing it?"
Castiel and she stared in shock at Sam. Sure, he saved her but...at what cost to himself? To his and Dean's relationship? Keeping her eyes on Sam, she leaned over Dean and felt for his pulse again. It was steady. She let out a big breath.
"Dean?"
He didn't answer her. He must have lost consciousness finally. Good, she thought, he must be in serious pain. Tuning back into Sam and Alastair, her eyes widened when she understood what the demon was gurgling out. Demons...aren't killing the angels?
"I don't believe you." Sam snarled.
"Lilith wouldn't kill seven angels. She'd kill a hundred. A thousand." He smirked. "Go ahead send me back. If you can."
"I'm stronger than that now." Sam boasted. "Now I can kill."
Sienna's blood turned cold. Castiel stared at her across the room, communicating the horror she knew was mirrored in her eyes. She turned her gaze back to Dean's bloodied face, caressing his cheek. She didn't want to watch Sam anymore.
When Alastair's screams ceased and his body slid down the brick wall he'd been pinned upon, she looked up at the other two. Castiel started questioning Sam with wide eyes almost immediately. She understood why, but she didn't give a damn.
"Castiel," She said the word as a reprimand and he stopped talking to look up at her. "You can interrogate Sam later. Right now…" Her voice trailed off as her throat closed up with emotion.
Sam bent next to her, his hand on her shoulder. She flinched and instantly regretted the stupid reaction. Sam's expression clawed at her heart.
"Are you all right?" He murmured. He wouldn't meet her eyes.
"I'm fine." She brushed off his concern. "Please just help me with him. He needs a hospital."
Her words were slightly quavering. He gave her a quick side squeeze.
"Of course, C."
….
She and Sam sat at the edge of Dean's hospital bed silently, the rhythmic beeping of one of the monitors the only noise in the barren, white and pale blue room. Sienna could feel Sam's eyes on her every now and then, but she refused to look away from Dean's face. Maybe if she just didn't acknowledge it, what she saw Sam do in her vision wouldn't be true.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sam raise his head and look at the door. Figuring it was the doctor, she turned that way. It was Castiel.
She set her jaw angrily and turned back to Dean.
Sam, on the other hand, rose out of his chair and followed the angel into the hall. Sienna scooched closer to Dean's bed and grabbed for the hand that was needle-free, intertwining her fingers through his, and she laid her head on the small strip of mattress showing between the edge of the bed and his body.
She closed her eyes briefly. The rush of wings warned her of the intruder before she spoke.
"Are you going to tell him about Sam?" Anna asked from behind her.
Sienna sighed. She couldn't catch a break.
"I don't know." She complained in a whisper. "I'll decide when he wakes up."
Anna was silent for a moment.
"He'll find out eventually." She argued.
"Well, he won't find out right now." She snapped irritably. She picked herself off the mattress to glare at the angel. "And you'll forgive me if I ask you not to be here when he wakes up?"
Anna grimaced, a calculated frown pulling down her lips.
"Fine." She agreed sourly.
And with another rustle of wings, she was gone. Sienna sighed and collapsed back onto the bed. She laid like that for at least a couple silent minutes before Dean's hand in hers tightened and the paper underneath him crinkled with the shift of his weight.
She pulled herself up abruptly, rubbing an eye with her free hand.
"Dean?" She murmured.
His eyes fluttered open and immediately found her face.
Sienna lunged to her feet, her hands fluttering around him helplessly.
"Oh, thank Gods you're awake! You just look so horrible! I was afraid...I thought…" She trailed off, struggling to put her feelings into words. She switched her line of attack, letting the anger that she'd felt with the angels pour out.
She scowled at him hard, gripping his hand much harder than she should have.
"Dean Winchester, what the hell were you thinking? Why would you agree to something so absolutely insane?! Are you trying to give me a stroke? As soon as I-"
Her words cut off at the look of adoration in his eyes, a loving smile tugging up his lips.
"What?" She demanded.
"I love your mood swings when I get hurt. At first, you're thankful I'm alive…" His smile got wider. "And then you're pissed I put myself in the position to be taken from you in the first place."
She wanted to contradict him, but she could find no fault in what he said. That was exactly how she felt every time. She looked at him through her lashes, a small blush painting her cheeks, and a begrudging smile lighting her face.
He knew her so well it made her heart pick up in speed. She watched his eyes rake in her disheveled hair and clothes- and of course the tiny cuts all over her showing skin.
"What happened to you? Are you okay?"
Sienna rolled her eyes at him. "You're kidding, right? I'm fine, Dean, you're literally in the hospital. How can you even worry about me right now?"
Dean lightly bit his swollen bottom lip and held his arms out to her.
"Come here, C."
She raised her brows in surprise, her eyes widening. "No way, I'll hurt you!" She resisted.
He leaned forward- she put her hands out to stop him, and he gripped her wrists, tugging her to his body.
"I'm gonna hurt myself pulling you up here." He countered.
Sienna huffed in exasperation and very carefully climbed onto the small railed bed, laying on her side and facing him. He pulled her closer, despite her protests, until her head lay on his shoulder and his arm was wrapped tightly around her waist.
She felt his lips on her hair.
"Sienna…" He sighed, his voice cracked.
She tried to pull back, to look him in the eyes, but he wouldn't relax his grip. He didn't get any more words out. One of her hands came up to gently cup his cheek. She kept her voice gentle, too, when she spoke.
"Dean, there's nothing you could tell me that'll make me think of you any different."
Dean let out a strangled sort of cry from his throat. Her eyes widened in shock when she felt the hot line of a tear trace down the hand she had pressed to his cheek.
"I was afraid they would force my cooperation. They could hurt you or Sam- Uriel would be happy to. And then Alastair...he, he was talking about my dad and- and me, about what he did to us in Hell, and Sienna, I-"
His voice cracked again. She could hear the turmoil in his voice- it must be something awful. She pulled away from him, and this time he let her, his grip loose because of the shake in his hands.
She pressed her forehead to his, closing her eyes, and cupping his cheeks.
"Dean, I'm just happy you're alive. I can deal with anything else, as long as you're breathing."
He closed his eyes, too, and leaned forward, bumping their noses. He let out a shaky breath.
"Just say it really fast. It'll be easier." She whispered, almost against his lips.
"He told me I was the first seal." He breathed, another tear sliding down his cheek. "I started all of this."
As soon as she heard the words, Sienna's heart shattered. She knew what this would feel like to Dean- his guilt over what he'd done in Hell already ate at him. Now he had all the reason in the world to loathe himself.
"No no no." Sienna instantly argued. "This is not your fault Dean."
He twisted out of her embrace, a sob escaping his chest.
"Of course it is! And you and Sam are right in the middle of this, C! If anything were to happen… what if one of you gets killed? It'll be my fault!"
She pulled his face back to hers, wiping at his tears futilely. The only thing she'd ever change about Dean was his hard left turn into self-loathing every time something awful happened to him. It was never his fault, yet he refused to blame the evil they confronted on a weekly basis.
"Listen to me." She begged. "If being a demigod has taught me anything, it's that we're all just being used, Dean. If the other option is torture or death, then it's not really a choice, is it? Hell is full of some of the most evil creatures of all time- and they did what evil does."
Dean was looking in her eyes now, silent. It was one thing she loved about him- when the chips were down, he'd always listen to her.
"They tried to take all the good out of you." She smiled at him sadly. "But here you are. Caring about people, about the world. Still trying to save it. That's more than a lot of other people could say."
He let out another shaky breath and she pressed her forehead to his again, cupping both his cheeks again for a brief moment. His hands held onto her like a lifeline- one at her waist and one buried deep in her curly hair.
"You're never going to convince me that you aren't good, Dean Winchester."
He leaned forward abruptly and kissed her hard enough that she knew it must have hurt him, but she kissed him back willingly enough. The hand in her hair tightened convulsively. He pulled away from her just enough to break the kiss. His hand slid from her neck to cup her cheek, the way she had done to him only moments before.
The water in his eyes made them look like glass when he stared into her eyes. The tension between them was palpable. Sienna wished he wasn't so hurt- she was sure physical contact was going to have to be limited. That soured her mood for a moment. But then Dean brushed his lips against hers, forcing her thoughts to be momentarily forgotten.
"Sienna…" His voice was just above a whisper. His throat worked during the pause. "I love you."
She stared at him, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging halfway open. He looked up at her beneath his lashes and chuckled lowly at the look on her face. She stuttered, trying to form a coherent response.
"You're serious?" She questioned.
Two of his fingers swept from her temple to her chin, holding her there.
"As I've ever been."
Her stomach lurched with butterflies. This conversation was making her more jumpy than the visions she'd been having. She loved Dean, that much was true, but admitting it and shouting it to the world was another thing entirely.
She'd never done any of this- she didn't know if she could have such a vulnerability, like a man she was undoubtedly in love with. Would it be exploited? Would people hurt Dean just to get to her? Could she risk it, knowing what may happen to her…?
Then again, it seemed like the secret was already out.
Dean's thumb lightly ran over her lips, pulling her attention back to him.
"Say something, please." He begged.
She bit her lip, her brows pulling together. "I'm terrified." She breathed.
He smiled widely and pressed their foreheads together once again.
"That makes two of us."
She scrunched her eyes closed, her brow wrinkling with the effort. If she was going to do this, he was going to promise her.
"You swear you won't screw me over?" She blurted.
He pulled her body closer. Her heartbeat picked up pace in time with his- she could feel it thumping beneath her. He half-flipped her body, so he was pressing her into the side of the pillow, his body covering hers. He hovered over her, his lips centimeters from hers. She craved them so intensely she felt the gold bloom in her irises. He watched it spread, his smile growing as the light did.
"I promise. I will do everything I can to make you happy, C."
She bit her lip and let out a shaky breath.
"Good." She sighed. "Because I love you, too, Winchester."
His answering smile was so bright she laughed before his lips were on hers. She tried to remain gentle, remembering his injuries, but he persisted, and she gladly let his bottom lip open hers. She fisted his shirt in her hand, keeping his body on top of hers. She almost groaned when he pulled away. His lips went to her ear, planting fluttery kisses along the way.
"Say it again." He groaned.
She giggled and pulled him back, so that she could assume the same position- her lips at his ear, grazing along his neck.
"I love you." She whispered. "I love you. I lov-"
Dean caught her up against him, pushing her back to the bed with the force of his kisses. In the back of her mind, Sienna was amazed.
After a week like they'd had, she definitely hadn't expected it to end this way. The life they lived was rife with horror- monsters, demons, angels, Gods, blood, death, and gore. And though Sienna figured she should be panicking about what was to come in her future, here Dean was reminding her that life and love could go on. That their life and their love would always go on.