Chapter 10: Visions of the Future

Dean stumbled as Gabe released his arm, shaking his head to clear the dizziness that Faerie teleports seemed to cause. "I really don't like traveling that way."

"I find it very convenient," Sam countered, running his fingers through his omega's hair.

"Took you boys long enough to come home." Dean and Sam looked up as their father strode into the kitchen, Mary smiling by his side. Gabriel had teleported them into his favorite room in the house, and he had already started to head for the fridge, waving absent-mindedly at the grizzled alpha and graying blonde beta.

"Hey, Dad; how was your hunt?"

"Not as exciting as your week has been, apparently." John watched Gabriel, still dressed in his elegant suit, digging through the fridge like a starved pup as he grumbled at the selection. "We came home to a full house, it seems."

Mary smiled and rubbed her mate's arm, stepping forward to embrace her sons. "We met Adam's new friend. He seems sweet, especially for an assassin. Benny saved us some of the Thai he made and it was delicious. His mate is so wonderful, too; I can't wait until his twins are born." She patted Dean's shoulder as her son rolled his eyes, already completely overloaded with baby conversations from the last hour in Crowley's office. "And we have a pup shower to attend in eight months. Our friend Rowena sent out an announcement."

"What the hell? Mom, it's been an hour since Crowley even found out they're expecting. How can he have planned a pup shower this quickly?"

"Rowena's been waiting like two decades for this, dear," Mary replied, looking up as Gabriel finally emerged from the fridge with half a cake in one hand, a container of strawberries in the other, and two cans of soda tucked under his arm. He grinned and nodded at Mary as he headed for the small table, dropping his spoils on the wooden surface and reaching in his back pocket for a fork and knife. "Who is our new starving teenage son?"

Sam snorted at the description, well remembering how much food he packed away in the months leading up to his first rut. "This is Gabriel, fourth High Prince of the Faeries. He has a thing for human food, as you can see."

"Where's your Faerie, Dean? You said you summoned one."

"Uh, yeah, Dad, I did. He got . . . pretty upset in Crowley's office and went to his grove to calm down. I planned to call him back as soon as we got home."

"What happened?" Alfie silently slipped into the room, eyes searching for his adopted father even though he already knew the warrior wasn't in the bunker.

"Castiel found out that Balthazar is here, and human, and mated, and pregnant with triplets," Gabriel offered from his place at the table, fork hovering inches above the cake he had almost demolished. Sam was never sure how he could eat so fast or where he put it all, but he did enjoy having an omega who ate as much as he did.

"Balthazar? I thought he was dead. I felt it, three or so years ago."

Gabe shrugged as he carefully placed a strawberry on top of his next slice of cake. "So did Cassie. Apparently if a Faerie mates a human, he can become human. My brother was upset at that particular revelation."

Alfie shrugged as he slid into the chair across from his charge, taking a strawberry and popping it into his mouth. "Yeah, that would do it."

John cleared his throat and headed out of the room, waving for his sons to follow. "Did you get what you were after? Was Crowley's mate able to help?"

"Uh, yeah, actually. Balthazar and Rowena helped Gabe finish the locator spell and added an extra element of stealth to it. Hopefully that will prevent Lucifer from noticing us."

"And when are you planning on casting it?"

Sam shrugged as he followed his family through the main room of the bunker toward the library, nodding at Benny and Gadreel as they passed them reading in a corner. "Gabe said tomorrow morning would be best. Lucifer, like most of his siblings, is more powerful at night, so we have a better chance of surprising him during the day."

"Good plan. Your mother and I had a long day, so we're going to hit the hay early." There was an unspoken "we suggest you do the same" in John's tone, and his obedient sons nodded and headed for their separate rooms. Alfie headed back to the library to find Adam, presumably to warm his bed again, and Gabe dashed off after Sam as soon as he had finished his snack. Dean headed to his own room and stripped out of the constricting suit, finding a pair of sweatpants and a comfortable band tee before letting his thoughts return to his wayward Faerie.

"Hey, uh, Cas . . . Castiel. I hope you can hear me. I'm sorry that seeing Balthazar upset you today, but I'm hoping that some time alone allowed you to cool off. If you're feeling better, I'd appreciate it if you'd return." He was honestly surprised to hear the rustling of wings as the dark-haired Faerie appeared before him, still dressed smartly in his navy suit and trench coat. He seemed calmer, his blue eyes no longer glowing with his grace, but there was a new fragility in his expression that gave his summoner pause. "Cas?"

"I'm fine, Dean," the omega replied, his scent indeed perfectly calm. "Seeing an old friend that I had mourned for years . . . I wasn't prepared for it. I know that I shouldn't have gone off like that, especially since I left Gabriel unprotected. It won't happen again."

Dean reached out an arm, tentatively gripping the Faerie's bicep as he smiled warily. It almost seemed like Cas expected to be reprimanded, welcomed punishment, but he was not about to risk shattering the fragile understanding they had reached only half a day earlier. "It was a shock, man, and not one that I would have handled well. Running away to your peaceful grove was probably a better reaction than blowing up half of Crowley's office."

Cas let a small smile split the corner of his mouth, hearing the teasing lilt in Dean's tone and catching a thread of it in his cinnamon-apple and leather scent. "I do feel better; thank you for allowing me my space."

"Hey, if it was up to me, you wouldn't have to wear that collar and acquiesce to my every whim. I really want to get rid of Lucifer so you can be free of this thing."

Cas nodded and moved to sit on the end of Dean's bed, smiling softly at the alpha. "Thank you. None of my other summoners have cared about my slave status in this situation."

"Yeah, no problem, buddy." Dean settled onto the memory foam mattress beside the Faerie, running his hand through his hair nervously as he tried to decide the best way to approach his next question. "So . . . did you leave because Balthazar is human, or because he's pregnant?"

"Gabriel told you."

"Yeah. I mean, he told Balthazar, but we were there. Triplets, apparently."

"I am happy for him. Truly. Balthazar, even as a warrior, always wanted to have a family. That part of his omega nature, the ability to create life, always fascinated him. He's a Commoner, though, not a Noble or a High Prince, so his time on Earth has always been short. He's slept with his masters before, but the connections have been transitory. From what I heard, he even started to refuse summoners who were not male alphas as his preferences evolved. I'm guessing he finally found his match in your friend. Triplets . . . Gabriel had triplets when he bred for Loki, all those eons ago."

"Maybe I can summon you back when they're born?"

Cas looked up at that, smiling softly at the thought of three tiny pups in his friend's arms. "That would be lovely, Dean. Time passes differently in the Fae Realm, so it could be hundreds of years there, but I will wait for your call."

"That's the second time you've mentioned the passage of time. What's the multiplier?"

"It doesn't work like that. Our realms are not in sync normally, but when a Faerie is bound on Earth, the time will match. When Crowley summoned Balthazar and collared him, our two realms moved at the same speed, so the death of his grace rumbled through ours like one of your earthquakes. It was jarring, and years passed before I saw your rift. Lucifer's summoning would have matched our realms, but he wasn't ever collared, so we continued to move at a much faster pace until I crossed over."

"You told us that it has been two hundred or so years since you were last summoned; that was in our time, right?"

"Yes. In my realm, many thousands of years have passed. Time has been more erratic recently since humans lost the ability to correctly summon most of my kind."

"Until now." Dean glanced down at his hands, watching as they flexed against his thigh. He could still hear that note of sadness in Cas's voice, and every alpha instinct he had wanted him to comfort the omega. But Cas wasn't in his pack, and he would most likely reject any show of affection, so Dean kept his hands to himself. "It was Balthazar who told us how to summon you. We didn't know that he wasn't just translating the book; he must have added in all of the extra elements required to compel you to cross the veil."

"I figured as much once I saw him. What I don't understand is why. He, of all people, knows that I did not ever want to return."

"He's afraid of Lucifer, Cas. He's mortal now, with a mate and three pups on the way, and he wants nothing more than to protect his family. He knew that you are our only hope to stop your brother. I asked him if there was another warrior we could have summoned, someone else who might have a chance against a High Prince, and he said there wasn't."

Cas sighed and dropped his head into his hands, groaning softly under his breath. "I know. I know that I'm this world's only hope but . . . sometimes I feel . . ."

"Betrayed," Dean supplied, hoping that he wasn't getting too close to the source of Cas's pain. The last thing he wanted was an angry or hysterical Faerie on his hands. "You feel like this world, the humans here, betrayed you, and you don't think we deserve to be forgiven. Part of you thinks that we deserve to burn."

"Do you hate me for thinking that?"

The alpha wrapped a comforting arm around his Faerie's shoulders, pulling him closer and smiling softly. He realized too late that his instinctive reaction might not be received well, but Cas didn't seem to mind. "No, Cas, it's okay to be angry. I'm sure you have a good reason. Whatever happened the last time you were here . . . I'm not going to judge you. But you came when I called, and you agreed to stay, and you agreed to fight. I know you're angry, but you're very brave and you have a good heart. That's all that matters."

"Naomi says that too much heart is my problem," Cas murmured, leaning closer and breathing in Dean's scent. Something about that combination soothed him somewhat. "I can't promise that I won't get angry and run off again. Not during a fight with Lucifer, but otherwise."

"That's fine; run away whenever you need to. That's what the grove is for. I'll try to let you stay as long as you need to, your errant brother notwithstanding."

"Thank you, Dean." The alpha stifled a yawn, shrugging as the Faerie turned confused blue eyes up toward him. "You are tired. I have learned that humans require a significant amount of sleep in order to function correctly. You need to rest."

"I mean, I can usually get by on four hours or so a night, but it has been a long day." Dean stood up from the bed and stretched, pulling back the covers and slipping under them as Cas watched. "Are you going back to your room to read, or heading over to your grove?"

"Actually, I thought I might watch over you while you sleep."

Dean stared at Cas for a long moment, finally deciding that the request, while odd, was not strange enough to refuse. "Sure, knock yourself out."

Cas headed for a hard wooden chair pushed back against the wall, turning off the lamp as he settled into it. "Is this alright?"

"Yeah, if you want to be stiff in the morning," Dean scoffed. "You might as well sit on the bed; it's a hell of a lot more comfortable."

Frowning, Cas moved to do as his summoner bid, settling onto the empty side of Dean's bed and leaning back against the headboard. He watched as the alpha burrowed deeper into his blankets, murmuring a quick, "night, Cas," before falling asleep. Intrigued, the Faerie stared at the steady rise and fall of the human's chest in the dim half-light afforded by the nightlight in the attached bathroom. He had never had occasion to watch anyone just sleep before. Some tiny, traitorous corner of his mind whispered that he might be willing to watch this human sleep for the rest of his mortal life. With the faintest hint of a growl, the omega silenced that voice, knowing that he could not afford to let thoughts like that tempt him again. He wouldn't survive a second time.

Gabriel stared at the bowl of ingredients, his hand paused inches above the herbs with a slender, three-sided blade in his other. The blade, about twelve inches in length, shone with a silver too bright to be from Earth, and was clearly Faerie in design. The first Faeries who had waged war against demons walking the Earth had carried those blades, and many humans who had seen these feather-winged warriors protecting their homes and children from the darkness had called them Angels, and thus their special short swords became Angel Blades. The name stuck.

"Are we ready for this?"

Samandriel stood beside Adam, a blade in his hand and a long, silver knife in his summoner's. Sam and Dean had opted for similar blades, their weapons imbued with a trace of Faerie magic to ensure that they would have a chance against Lucifer. Guns were useless, but they had some mildly enchanted throwing knives tucked away in their jackets that they were prepared to use. Alfie had also given the three humans a mild poison that would incapacitate most humans, even witches, as it was pretty clear that some witch had managed to form at least a temporary bond with Lucifer. Rowena had not heard of a witch recently going rogue, but there were so many dark covens that she could not be expected to keep up.

Castiel stood next to his brother with one hand resting on the blonde's shoulder, prepared to offer any additional power that Gabriel might need for his spell. They had combined their magic before, when they were healing Gadreel, but they were far more comfortable using their powers for war. Castiel squeezed the High Prince's shoulder and watched as Gabriel drew a slice across his palm, letting his blood, tinged with the silver of his grace, drip into the metal bowl.

A sudden thunderclap filled the room as the ingredients of the bowl began to burn, Gabriel's eyes glowing brilliant gold. "I . . . I think I found him."

"Gabe?"

"Yeah, I got him, Cas, but there's something wrong. He's being . . . there's a kind of weird power wrapped around him. It tastes like a witch, but very dark. I think Sam was right that he must have been bound by someone that quieted him somewhat, but there's no way that it's as strong as a real Faerie bond."

"Can he detect you?" Cas poured more power into his brother, catching a taste of that darkness but not able to understand it the same way Gabe could.

"No, he can't. I can almost see . . . it's hundreds of miles north of here, surrounded by forest. He's in a town of some sort . . . but it looks abandoned."

"What do you see in the town?" John and Mary had agreed to stay behind since they didn't have Faeries bound to them, but the old hunter could probably help identify Lucifer's location.

"Um, a windmill I think . . ." Gabe's eyes twitched from side to side as he looked around the town, blood still dripping from his hand to the bowl. The spell would only remain stable as long as it continued to receive fresh blood, infused with the Faerie's grace. "A bell. I see a bell."

John leaned forward, his scent eager. "Are there any markings on the bell?"

"Yes. There's a tree on it."

"I know where that is. Your brother is in Cold Oak, South Dakota, almost due north from here."

Gabriel shuddered as he let the spell fade, his eyes returning to normal as he healed the wound in his palm. "Okay, that's where he is. Everyone ready to go?" A chorus of affirmative replies answered him, and the Faerie reached out to grab Sam as the group vanished.

"And now we wait," John murmured.

This world was bright, sharp, and generally terrifying. He had already spent too long trying to find a way to make it all bearable, too long lost in a sea of insanity seeking a bond he could never make. This woman, this terrifying dark witch with blonde hair and a terrifying command of human-level magic, had managed to center him somewhat, but she couldn't collar him. The only thing that kept him sane was blood, but his new almost-master didn't want him ripping alphas apart anymore. He had only done it out of frustration after failing to bond with the first dozen or so omegas and betas he met, but Lilith had calmed that need in him somewhat.

"We'll try the ritual again, but this time we'll use a horse heart."

"I don't think it will work," Lucifer growled, the bright madness that had claimed him for so long swirling to the surface.

The witch sighed and turned back to her spell book, an ancient tome that was crafted from dried human skin with blood for ink. She had claimed that it was a very potent tome, but Lucifer knew that nothing in human magic could ever match the raw power of a Faerie. "It's not as easy to get a human heart as you seem to think. Not a fresh one, anyway."

Lucifer growled and walked toward the broken windows of their temporary abode, looking out at the abandoned, derelict town they had chosen for their home. Lilith had promised that the place would be temporary, but the Faerie was becoming more and more certain that they were stuck here until Lilith found a way to fix the bond. Not that he was complaining; he was enjoying their constant sex, having learned quite a bit from the flexible witch. Because Faeries tended to have mutable forms or bodies formed from parts that could be generally incompatible with others of their kind, sex wasn't the same where he was from. He had partnered with hundreds of his kind, but these last few days with his almost-master had been illuminating. He didn't want to go back and lose this chance to have a connection with another person. That connection was the lure that brought Faeries across the veil, usually giving them a form that was pleasing to their summoner so they could have a bond, often sexual but sometimes platonic, that they rarely found at home.

Lucifer groaned as pain spiked through his human form, his Faerie features trying to reassert themselves as the forced bond with Lilith wavered. His summoner, a fellow witch in Lilith's coven, had mistranslated parts of his summoning spell and failed to create the bond correctly, so nothing was really holding his human form together and preventing him from going insane. Sensing his pain, the blonde witch rushed forward and placed a hand on his arm, reinforcing the bonds she had developed to mimic the one that should have been formed when he crossed over. Purple magic, the mark of a powerful human witch, glowed against his skin, tiny chains that pushed back the touch of insanity and calmed his pain. "Thank you," he managed.

"We'll need another ritual soon or these bonds will break again."

Lucifer nodded and turned to look outside again. He frowned as something tingled along the edge of his senses, something that felt like the sting of a summoning across the Veil, but that tickle vanished too quickly for him to grasp. Lilith, rarely in tune with his moods, still stepped forward to look out the window with him, head titled as she waited for him to offer some sort of explanation. "Something is out there."

"It's an abandoned town, Lucifer, emphasis on abandoned. Nothing is there."

"We should look anyway." The Faerie headed for the broken doorway, searching for a shadow he could slip into as he searched the open courtyard. Lilith followed him, not sure if their blood bond would hold if he got too far away. She wanted to order the Faerie back into the safety of their shelter, but she knew that she didn't really have any power over him. Hopefully, she would be able to perfect their bond and be able to use him to take control of her coven. She knew that the Faerie was powerful, which was one of the reasons that her fellow witch had chosen him for her summoning ritual. Too bad she had been young and stupid, too easily losing control of the spell and paying for it with her life.

Lucifer let out a soft growl as a group appeared near the edge of the courtyard, three of them glowing with faerie power and the others clearly their bonded masters. He recognized two of them as his brothers Castiel and Gabriel, but the third was some low-ranked elemental Faerie he had never met. Maybe one of those fledglings that Castiel insisted on raising, a corruption that manifested from his omega self. Lucifer dismissed the three human men, sensing that none of them were witches or a threat to him in any way. He reached into the Veil and summoned his weapon, a short three-sided sword that shone too bright to be silver, one of the few things that could kill a Faerie. Lilith, who had only just spotted the threat, tucked herself behind Lucifer, her commands a soft whisper across the threads of power that bound them.

"Don't let them send you back."

"They can't," he replied softly, exuding a confidence he didn't quite feel. Gabriel could, under the right circumstances, force anyone back across the Veil, though he had never tried to use his powers on his brothers. Lucifer was more powerful than Gabriel in a general sense, but his omega brother had magical reserves that he and Michael had never truly tested. Castiel was another problem, generally a match for Lucifer in a fair fight in their own realm, though the vagaries of this human world could give Lucifer's unpredictable nature an advantage.

His analysis complete, Lucifer headed deeper into the shadows of their building, controlling his aura as Lilith had taught him to prevent detection by his foes. They must have cast a pretty strong tracking spell in order to find him, but he knew he could escape again, he just needed to distract them. Inching closer to the three humans, Lucifer moved to strike.

His sword trilled as it was met by another of its kind, Castiel's flaming blue eyes meeting his paler ones. The raven-haired Faerie shoved his brother back, ducking the counterattack and pressing his advantage, growling furiously as he closed with Lucifer for the second time. The alpha High Prince spotted the black opal half-hidden by the collar of Castiel's white dress shirt, and something inside him snapped, his fury overriding the tentative control that Lilith's magic had forced on him. How dare Castiel have a proper bond and a real master while he struggled to keep himself anchored and sane?

Castiel grunted as Lucifer's eyes turned red, his brother giving into the throes of summoning madness again. Alfie joined the fight a moment later, trying to move close enough to Lucifer to introduce a poison powered by his own Grace that should knock out even the most powerful of Faeries, but his target avoided the strike and slammed his foot into the ground. The molten core of the planet refused to accept the brush of Lucifer's power, but the topsoil did not have the same resistance. The ground under their feet began to swirl and buckle, the beginning of what looked like a mudslide trying to knock the two Faeries off their feet.

Dean swore as he tried to get closer, his balance impressive for a human but no match for the High Prince's power. Lucifer hit him with a quick blast of power, throwing the human against a nearby derelict building before returning to his fight with Castiel. Alfie moved closer again, ducking as a blast of fire almost roasted him, cursing Lucifer's ability to see through his stealth. He tried to lunge for a second time, but Lucifer caught him with a blast of power, only Castiel's sudden attack stopping the High Prince's power from reaching lethal levels. Alfie fell to the ground near Dean, burns covering most of his body as he lost consciousness.

Furious, Castiel attacked again, the opal around his neck glowing as his master subconsciously willed him to win. Gabriel joined Dean and Alfie, quickly healing the former's mild concussion before running his hands over the latter. He couldn't easily heal the damage done by Faerie magic as easily as he could heal human hurts, but his hands glowed gold as he tried to soothe the pain, at least. Adam moved closer to the pair of Faeries, determined to protect them if Lucifer attacked again.

Dean, now feeling significantly less dizzy, caught Sam's eye and nodded toward the shadows of the building on the other side of the courtyard. The two of them circled around, searching for the person who had managed to almost-bond the insane Faerie. Behind them, Castiel released a blast of power to push Lucifer back, trying to force him back into his state of madness and break his bonds. Gabriel couldn't force him back through the Veil if the chains of power binding him to the human witch were still strong.

Lilith noticed the brothers before they reached her, purple magic forming a shield between the woman and her attackers. Dean and Sam moved to attack at the same moment, hoping to catch the witch off-guard and incapacitate her so Gabriel would have the freedom to remove the bond she had created with Lucifer. The witch was armed, pulling out an enchanted silver blade that neither brother wanted to meet the business end of, so they kept out of reach as they looked for an opening.

Lucifer closed with Castiel again, both men coming away with bleeding wounds on their sides, their powers healing such glancing scrapes quickly. More serious wounds would not seal so quickly. Castiel's eyes darkened, gold flecking throughout, while Lucifer's red eyes were nearly crimson with madness. They closed again, Lucifer howling as Castiel's strike fractured one of his ribs, silver-tinged blood soaking his clothes as he backed away. His brother let his eyes glow with the evidence of his brilliant blue-white Faerie Grace, a shadow of his wings flashing on the wall behind him. Lucifer shifted his weight to attack, pausing as the purple chains of magic that held him together flickered, indicating that his witch was struggling to hold onto him as she fought the Winchester brothers nearby.

Gabriel knew his brother better than Castiel did, and he could feel the shift in Lucifer's magic, he could see his Grace starting to pulse in time with his fury. He gestured for Adam to lift Alfie, inching closer to Castiel as worried golden eyes watched the fight off to the side, knowing that Lilith could lose control of Lucifer at any moment. He would have just an instant to force his brother back through the Veil if Dean and Sam succeeded in killing his witch, so he had to time his spell perfectly. Gathering his magic, Gabriel began to chant softly under his breath.

Sam lunged at Lilith, taking the brunt of her counterattack as Dean used her distraction to slip through her defensive shield and bury his knife in her side. Lilith screamed, releasing a blast of power that threw both men back, struggling with shaking hands to remove the bloody knife from her side. Witches could survive a great number of things, and she was known for her healing abilities, but Dean's blade had been poisoned by one of Alfie's independent toxins meant for humans. Most of Alfie's poisons only worked when powered by his Grace and in his own hands, but he had mixed something more mundane for the hunters. Even if the poison couldn't easily kill her, it should be able to knock her out, hopefully disrupting her bonds with her Faerie so he could be removed from the human world.

Lucifer jumped away from Castiel as his purple chains shimmered again, struggling to hold on to his sanity as he waved an arm at his foe. Castiel slammed the end of his blade into that arm, shattering the High Prince's bones, but it was just enough time for Lucifer to turn the ground at his feet to mush, causing the omega to sink down to his knees, trapped for the moment. Lucifer spun around and waved his healthy arm at Dean and Sam, tossing them against the wall behind Castiel as if they were no more than flies. He wrapped his strong arm around Lilith, struggling to hold her up as he poured some of his magic into her wound. He was not a healer, but he would do what he could. Gasping, the witch slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

Gabriel saw his moment and struck, throwing everything he had against Lucifer in an attempt to force him through the Veil. Weakened, his bonds failing, the older High Prince held up his broken arm to block Gabriel's attack, looking over his shoulder at the tear in reality opening behind him. Frantic, desperate not to lose his tenuous bond to this human world, Lucifer pulled Lilith tight against his chest and released one last huge burst of power, his burnt red wings flaring up behind him as he tried to escape.

Gabriel pushed back against Lucifer, his own golden wings flaring as he realized he wasn't going to succeed. He felt the beginning of Lucifer's counterattack, thinking quickly and jumping in front of Castiel where he was still stuck, opening his wings fully as he threw up a shield. He extended it to cover Dean and Sam, shaking as it buckled under the strain and only barely held. He screamed in agony as Lucifer vanished, the shockwave of his power flattening his younger brother as the shield fractured and failed. Gabriel fell to the ground, broken wings spread out on either side of him, burnt golden feathers scattered across the ground.

Castiel freed himself from the ground that was no longer resisting with Lucifer gone, leaning down over his unconscious brother and injured fledgling, tears in his eyes as he looked at the three humans nearby struggling to their feet, all of them just barely saved by Gabriel's flare of power. Opening his great raven-feathered wings, Castiel wrapped the entire group in his magic and flapped.

John and Mary rushed to the map room as a pile of alpha men and omega Faeries landed quire unceremoniously on the floor, scattered around like so many jacks, two of them clearly injured and already unconscious as Castiel fainted from using too much of his power at once. Mary knelt down beside Gabriel, taking in his broken wings and the vicious burns on Alfie. "What happened?"

"We lost," Dean groaned.