3- Something Wiccan This Way Comes
It means we're witches.
Those words echoed in Dean's mind for a few seconds before he sprang into action. These girls were real sweet, but a witch is a witch. Immediately he went for the seraph blade he had hidden in his jacket. Before he could lunge toward the sisters Sam and Cas both got in his way. Cas got in close, putting his hand on Dean's chest, holding him back, while Sam did the typical Sam thing and put his arms out, standing protectively in front of the sisters.
"Dean," Cas said, "Stop and listen."
"What's there to listen to?" Dean said, stalling for a moment. "You heard her, they're witches."
"They aren't the kind of witches you hunt."
"There's no such thing as a good witch, Cas, this isn't the freaking 'Wizard of Oz'."
"Listen to me for a minute. Dean, stop struggling," Castiel said, and when Dean wouldn't do as he asked, he was forced to use even more of his angelic strength to prove to the oldest Winchester that if necessary, he could push him out the attic window. Dean seemed to get the picture, but looked to his brother, wondering why he was protecting the enemy, and not going after them the same way Dean was. Then, he remembered the kid. Sammy had a soft spot for him, that much was clear, and that was clouding his judgment.
"Sam, they're witches."
"Yeah, we are," the redhead, Paige, spat back at him. "And, there is such a thing as good ones. So, why don't you just listen to your angelic friend for five seconds, before letting your whole macho, creature hunting mojo kick in?"
Dean looked back at Sam, who was smiling at Paige, clearly impressed by the way she had stood up to him.
Cas took a deep breath, "The Charmed Ones are a trio of witches prophesized to rid the world of evil. They get their powers from the Nexus, a force in nature, not through demonic energy. They wield the Power of Three, a Wiccan ability stronger than any other in the supernatural world, along with abilities of their own that surpass those of any other witch by leagues. If you kill them, evil will overrun this world forever. It's as simple as that."
Dean blinked. "Good witches."
Cas nodded, "And the boys are half-witches, which explains a lot, like the telekinesis Sam witnessed, and I'm assuming the reason that I could not access Chris's memories or thoughts."
"When he was born there was a blessing performed by our ancestors that protects him from things like that. It's called a Wiccaning," Piper explained, hoping that she could calm Dean a little if he knew more of the details.
"They are not evil, Dean," Cas reiterated.
Dean couldn't believe his ears. Witches had always been the worst. They come along with their hex bags and their voodoo, and kill people in the most gruesome ways. Dean had a hard time believing that these girls they had just happened upon, were the exception to the rule. What were the odds of that?
"Look," Piper said, moving out from behind Sam, "Let me cook for you. Get to know my sisters and me. If you still think we're evil when you're done with your pie… well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
Dean was still unsure, but he hesitantly handed Cas the seraph blade he had been gripping tightly. As he relaxed, he realized how irrational his reaction had been. As far as he knew, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige hadn't done anything wrong. Sure, a witch was a witch, but pulling out a weapon without giving them a chance to explain, that was a drastic measure. Even more than that, it was a Cain-like measure. Dean looked down at his arm, and the Mark stared back at him, red, pulsing, begging for a kill. He took a deep breath, attempting to ignore the feeling of self-loathing that was filling him up inside.
"I'm sorry," he said, looking from sister to sister, and then down at the two little boys cowering behind their legs. Immediately he softened. "I have some biases against witches, to say the least, but you didn't deserve to be threatened like that in your own home."
Dean's eyes stopped on Phoebe, the middle sister. She looked back at him warily, and he didn't blame her. But, even in her uncertainty of him, she was beautiful. There was almost nothing to her fairy-like frame, and while Dean had always preferred women with long hair, Phoebe's pixie-cut was making him rethink his stance on the subject. Her bare stomach and tan skin was enough to drive any man crazy, but it was the way she looked at him, like she knew there was something volatile about him, that Dean liked, and hated most. She seemed intuitive, like she could see right through him, and he found that nothing short of intriguing.
"We understand, Dean," Piper replied. "We've been screwed over by enough warlocks and demons to last a lifetime. We shouldn't trust you either, but the truth is, my sons trust you, and they trust Sam. Their opinion is really the only one that matters to me, so I'm going to go start making your dinner. You kids play nice. Sam, do you mind hanging with Chris and Wyatt?"
"Not at all," he said, lighting up.
"Do you guys want a tour?" Paige offered after a long pause. "I can show you where Chris's room is Sam. He might want to show you some of his toys, you know, baby's first cauldron, baby's guide to cackling..."
"That would be great Paige, thanks," Sam said laughing, and Dean could tell in that moment that Sam was smitten with the youngest Halliwell. It wasn't anything specific that he did, in fact Sam might not even know it himself yet, but Dean could tell. He knew his brother well, too well.
They had been on the road together for years, and most of the time it had just been the two of them. It was one thing to carry on with Cas or Crowley, or even Jodi Mills, but it had been a long time since they had met another legitimate hunter. Honestly, most of the ones they had known were dead, but that risk came with the job description. In essence, all they really had was each other, so Dean had memorized pretty much every emotion, and how it manifested itself on Sam's face.
Sam liked smart, sassy girls, and Paige definitely fit that description. Dean wasn't sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. They both headed for the door, and Dean began to follow.
"Hang on," Phoebe yelled, and Paige and Sam both turned around. "Piper, get your ass back here!"
"What?" Piper snapped, walking back into the attic.
"Am I seriously the only one of us, that thinks keeping this witch-hating, hunter in our house is a really, really bad idea?"
Paige and Piper were both silent.
"He just brandished a knife and tried to attack us, and you're going to cook him dinner, and give him a tour of our house? That seems just a little screwed up, don't you think?"
Piper turned to Dean, "What have the witches that you've known in your lifetime been like?"
Dean did his best to control the feelings of rage and disgust that he felt just thinking about it, and attempted a reply, "The only kind of witches we've ever encountered have hurt people, badly. They make hex bags, they hide them, and they get revenge on whoever they want in the most brutal ways possible. The jobs are never clean, always gory, and every time we've had to put them down."
The oldest Halliwell turned back to her younger sister, "See Phoebs, we are nothing like that. We just have to prove it. Can you blame him for pulling out a knife after experiences like that? You would have done the same thing. Why else would Chris have orbed to them if they weren't meant to be here?"
"I don't trust him, Piper. There's evil there," Phoebe said in a hushed tone.
"You know I'm not deaf," Dean informed her.
Phoebe frowned.
"Look, Dean," she said, spitting his name out like a rotten piece of food, "I know what I feel. I'm an empath, so I'm a bit of an expert when it comes to these things."
"You're an em-what?" Dean asked.
"An empath," Sam said incredulously. "It means she can sense the moods and feelings of others psychically. That's amazing."
"Thanks," Phoebe said, smiling proudly. "You should see me levitate."
Sam blinked a few times, processing the information he had just been given before asking the question Dean knew was coming next.
"What do you sense from him? I'm curious."
Phoebe looked back at Dean, and once again, it was as if she was peering into his soul, but she looked unsure. He gave her a quick nod, letting her know it was okay to prod through his emotions. He was kind of curious to see what she would come up with.
Phoebe was quiet for a moment, and then she frowned.
"Anger, mostly… I've never felt so much in one person. Do witches really piss you off that much? I mean this isn't just like the 'I stubbed my toe' or 'I locked my keys in the car' kind of anger. This is white, hot, malicious rage."
Dean nodded, "Sounds about right. But, there's more. Tell him."
Phoebe began to move toward him, "You're angry, but you're sad too, heartbroken really… And in pain. I feel pain and longing and despair, but no joy, no happiness."
She looked up at him with concern in her eyes. There was only about a foot between them now, and Dean had to resist the urge to reach out to her, this woman who could see so much, and who could articulate the things he couldn't. To his surprise, Phoebe was the one who reached out to him.
"Where did it all go?" she asked, as she gripped his hands tightly and took a short inhale of breath. Dean watched as Phoebe stood there, suspended in time for a moment, no longer in the room with him, and then came back as quickly as she had gone.
Phoebe looked up at Dean with fear in her eyes this time. Quickly she snatched her hands away from him and took a few steps backward.
"What's going on?" Dean asked.
But, before he could get an answer Phoebe's eyes rolled back into her head, and she fainted.
"What do you think she saw?"
"I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it couldn't have been good. Maybe she's right, Paige. Maybe we shouldn't have them in our house. I mean, they're downstairs watching my kids for Christ's sake. I shouldn't be trusting them this much."
"Is there something telling you that you should?"
"Like I told Phoebe, the boys trust them. Wyatt's force field hasn't budged since they arrived. Chris loves Sam, and honestly I have no problem with him either. It's just…"
"Dean."
"There's just something about him. Something dark."
Phoebe had heard about enough debate from her sisters, and she figured she had better settle it. When she tried to move, it was harder than she thought it might be, so instead of moving, she let out a long, low groan.
"Phoebe?" Piper asked.
"Uhhhhhhhhh…" she replied.
"How are you feeling sweetie?" Paige inquired.
"My head hurts."
"You hit it pretty hard when you fainted."
"I fainted?"
"Yeah," Piper told her, "You held Dean's hand and got a premonition. The next thing we knew you were flat on the ground."
Phoebe thought about it for a minute. Dean. A premonition. And then all at once it came flooding back to her. The feelings of rage and complete despair she felt in Dean. The feelings that had made her want to help him, like she had tried to help another like him once. She had grabbed his hands, not expecting the premonition. They rarely came when she didn't ask for them anymore. And she wished that she hadn't seen the things her premonition had wanted to show her. More than that she had no idea where to begin figuring out whether or not she should fear Dean, or revere him.
"I remember now. Not the fainting, obviously, but the premonition."
"What did you see?" Paige asked.
"Dean, mostly."
There was silence.
"Yes…" Piper prompted.
"He killed this woman, she had red hair, and her eyes were black like those demons we had so much trouble with, the ones we thought took Chris. She was clearly evil, but Dean… he had this thing, this weapon in his hand that looked like… a jawbone?"
"A jawbone… okay. Then what?" Piper asked, clearly skeptical.
"There was a symbol on his arm and it was glowing red… After that there were just flashes of Dean's life. Good things, like him hugging Sam, saying goodbye to a pretty, blonde girl, laughing with a man in a wheelchair who clearly meant a lot to him, but there was one thing so horrible... I saw him with eyes as black as those of a demon, sitting in a room filled with corpses. The main problem is I don't know which of these things are from the past, and which ones haven't happened yet."
"Well, there's only one way to find that out," Piper told her.
Phoebe's sisters helped her stand up, and the three of them headed downstairs. Sam had Chris and Wyatt on the floor of the living room playing with their Hot Wheels. The boys were laughing, clearly having a good time. Dean and Castiel were standing in the corner speaking in hushed tones. Piper cleared her throat to let them know that they were not the only ones in the room anymore.
Sam looked up, "Hey Phoebe, how are you doing?"
"I'm hanging in there. Thanks for asking."
Paige and Piper helped their sister sit down on the couch.
"If you don't mind me asking," Dean said, sitting down on the couch opposite Phoebe, "What just happened up there?"
"For starters," Piper said before Phoebe could answer, "You should probably know that in addition to being Charmed Ones, we have… other abilities."
"Yeah, Cas mentioned that."
"Obviously one of Phoebe's is that she's empathic, but her telepathic abilities don't end there. She can also levitate, and… she has premonitions."
"Premonitions, like she can see the future?" Dean asked.
"Sometimes it's the future," Phoebe said, taking over for Piper. "But, it can be the past too. I've been able to control when I get them for a very long time, but clearly my powers are trying to tell me something about you, Dean. When I grabbed your hands earlier, I had a string of visions. They were… confusing."
Dean didn't reply.
Sam, getting up from the floor, looked at Phoebe with a lot of concern in his eyes. As if he knew some of the things she had seen had to have been frightening beyond belief. She braced herself for his next question.
"What did you see, Phoebe?"
She decided not to answer in the way Sam probably thought she would. Instead she asked Dean if she could see his right forearm.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"Just let me see it."
"Listen lady—"
"Is it there? That mark. The one that glows when you're angry."
"I saw a mark on your arm earlier Dean, when we were in the park," Piper added. "I just thought it was a tattoo."
Dean's temples pulsed. He looked around, as if he was cataloguing all of the ways he could escape. There was a nervousness to his every move, and when Phoebe reached out to his emotions, she felt like she was sitting on needles and pins, ready to jump up and run at any moment. Quickly she pulled back from him.
"Sam," Dean said, standing up, "We need to go."
"Dean."
"Sammy, now."
"Just tell them, maybe they can help."
"I don't need their help. We don't need their help. Girls, I'm glad we brought your kid back, maybe you'll keep a better hold on his whitelighter mojo from now on. I'm sorry about the fainting, the visions, and you thinking we were out to kill you all, I really am. But my brother and I are not interested in being friends with you. You don't need to know the details of my life, and I don't want to know yours."
"Dean," Sam said, trying to stop his brother's rant.
"Sam, we are going."
Phoebe watched Sam stare defiantly into the face of his brother, and she knew how much courage it took for him to do it. It would be like her staring down Prue, her oldest sister who was now deceased. Nothing was more difficult than standing up to the person you look up to the most.
"Dean," she tried.
"Look, you are going somewhere with me, that you do not want to go," he warned.
"Just listen to me, please. My premonition had a lot more to it than whatever the mark on your arm is. There were some scary things, believe me, but there were happy things too, there was a man in a wheelchair, and you were laughing with him over a few beers…"
Phoebe saw the corners of Dean's mouth turn up for an instant. Hoping that was a good sign she continued.
"I saw a flash of you hugging Sam, and the feeling I got from that one… It was strong, very… alive. As if you had thought you were dead, but returned instead. And there was also a flash of this sweet, blonde girl. You were in some kind of bar, she was good at surprising you."
At the mention of this girl, Dean locked his eyes on Phoebe's for a split second, and then dropped them to the ground, a kind of hardness returning to his gaze.
"Sam, are you coming or not?"
Sam hesitated, "Yes."
"Let's go then."
Dean turned and began to head for the front door.
"Dean," Castiel said, his voice gruff. "I do not think it is wise for you to leave now."
"Why the hell not?" Dean barked.
"It just… doesn't feel right. Something is telling me that you should stay here, that you are meant to be here right now."
"I don't care what your heavenly intuition is telling you. We're leaving."
"I am not."
"What?" Dean asked, clearly surprised and upset that their friend was not coming with them.
"I'm staying here, that is, if it is alright with the sisters."
Phoebe looked to Piper, who shrugged.
"Sure, why not," the eldest Halliwell replied. "What harm could an angel bring to the household?"
Sam chuckled, "You would be surprised."
"Cas," Dean began to argue.
"I need to stay, Dean. Nothing you say is going to stop me."
Phoebe watched as Dean and Castiel had something of a standoff in her living room. Neither one of them broke eye contact for what felt like minutes, as if they were having a conversation without even talking. When Phoebe really thought about it, she realized weirder things than telepathic conversations had happened in that room. And then, without a single word, Dean turned and walked out of the house.
"I'm really sorry," Sam said. "It was a privilege to meet you all. We all have our demons… some more literal than others. Dean just, refuses to deal with his."
"He's destroying himself. You know that right?" Phoebe asked. "The rage, it's going to eat him alive."
"I know," Sam replied, his voice barely audible. "That's why I have to go with him. Cas, are you going to be okay here?"
"I'll be fine. Tell Dean I'm sorry."
Sam nodded, "Stay in touch, okay?" Then he walked over to Chris, "Bye, buddy! It was nice to meet you."
Chris stood and held his arms out to Sam, making Phoebe's breath hitch. Chris had only ever really taken to three people: his brother, Piper, and Leo. Even Phoebe and Paige had a hard time getting close to him. The fact that Chris trusted this person who was practically a stranger to him was more than remarkable, and it made Phoebe sad to see him go. Sam picked up her nephew, and Chris wrapped his little arms around his neck. Phoebe could see Sam's internal struggle, but before he changed his mind and decided to stay, Sam handed Chris over to Paige and took his leave.
"Sam!" Piper called out to him.
The younger Winchester turned.
"Thank you for bringing my baby by back to me. You will never know how much it means that he is safe."
Sam nodded and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. He handed it to Piper.
"If you ever need anything, and I mean anything, a babysitter, a shoulder to cry on, a demon consult, call me. That goes for all of you."
The sisters all nodded, and Phoebe couldn't help feeling bad as Sam closed the door behind him.
"Sam go?" Chris asked suddenly.
"Yeah, Sam had to go, honey," Piper said as she took her youngest son from Paige. Chris began to cry. As Piper did her best to soothe him, Phoebe couldn't help but be dissatisfied by the fact that she hadn't done anything for Dean. A part of her was still convinced that if her power had been so adamant about showing her his past, it was because he was someone that she was meant to help.
Piper put Chris down on the floor, hoping that playing with his brother would cheer him up. When it seemed like he had finally settled down, she announced that she was going to go start dinner, and left the room. Castiel walked out of the house, most likely to try and make amends with Dean before he left. Paige turned on the TV and settled in to watch the boys, leaving Phoebe to her thoughts. Just as she was starting to think that everything was getting slightly back to normal, a loud crash came from upstairs. She locked eyes with Paige, who was now sitting up at attention.
"Did you hear that?" Piper asked, coming back into the room.
The younger two sisters both nodded.
The three of them sat in silence for a moment, the only sounds in the room came from the boys and the demolition derby they were having on the floor. After a few minutes their anxiety subsided a bit, leading them to think that something had just been accidentally knocked over by the wind coming through an open window.
Piper walked toward the stairs, silence still hanging in the air, when suddenly an invisible force picked her up and threw her against a wall. Phoebe watched as her sister slid to the ground, unconscious, and let out a shrill scream as the demons began to come out of the woodwork, their black eyes gleaming, ready for a fight.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Once again, thank you so much for reading! I'm so excited for the next couple of installments. I just started a new chapter from Castiel's POV, and it has been super fun to write, so stay tuned for that! PLEASE REVIEW! I love to hear what you guys are thinking!
XOXO aryaunderfoot