Chapter Two: Soldiers of Misfortune ((Filter))

The field was empty. There was no sign of anyone, least of all his brother. And with someone that tall, he was hard to miss. Dean felt panic rise up in his gut. Not only had some weird girl dropped them off god- knows- where, but she was nowhere to be found, and for all he knew, she'd taken Sam with her.

He didn't even know what that girl was. He didn't think she was a demon. They usually let them know what they were as soon as they could manage, their eyes flitting to a deep inky black. As if they were so proud of themselves, they had to show it off. This girl had seemed normal, if not mysterious. Maybe she was a witch. Dean hated witches. Really hated them. Or maybe she was something else entirely. He hadn't really had time to try any tests.

With a curse under his breath, he ran a hand through his hair, turning in a slow circle. First things first, he needed to figure out where he was. And where Sam had gone. Looking around, he saw nothing but green grass and blue sky. And while it was nice, it wasn't exactly what he needed right now.

Completing his circle, he let out a surprised noise. Directly in front of him was a girl. Not the same one that had taken him here, but a shorter blonde. Her hair fell along her shoulders in loose curls, and she grinned at him. It was a friendlier type of smile than the redhead, but it still held a touch of something, almost playful.

"Lost?"

Dean took a step back, fighting the urge to snap at the second stranger to pop in unannounced within the past few minutes. "You could say that."

"Well, it's about time you got here." She crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one leg. "I'm Jo. Now… which one are you…?"

He blinked, not completely sure he knew what she meant by that. Luckily, she seemed to be merely thinking aloud, since she nodded after giving him a quick once- over. "Right. I got it now. Anyway, you're probably wondering what the hell's going on, aren't you?"

Arching a brow, he returned the favour, green eyes studying her. She was pretty cute. "That would be part of it, yeah."

Jo made a show of brushing non- existent dust off her grey wool jacket. "Well, let's start simple. What do you know about Purgatory?"

"Purgatory?" Dean frowned. "The place where people go that isn't Heaven or Hell? Judgment and all that noise? Didn't someone write a book on it once? Or was that a video game?"

She chuckled. "Now see, that's what I like about you, Dean. Always good for a laugh. Purgatory is all that and more. Humans come here to await judgment before passing on to either of the more permanent places. But they're not what make up the majority of Purgatory. Everything you hunt, every supernatural creature without a human soul, it goes here when it dies."

He paused. "How the hell do you know my name?"

"Someone had to be watching you," she shrugged. "There are a lot more boring jobs to be doing around here."

He wanted to ask further on that point, but the first question finally caught up to him. "Are you saying we're in Purgatory?"

"Yup! Nice, isn't it?"

This girl was insane. No way around it. "Purgatory. Isn't it supposed to be caves and mountains and dark and gothic? What's with the bright sunny day in the wildflower garden?"

Jo shrugged, his attitude not fazing her in the slightest. If she had been watching him, then she knew to expect it. "Purgatory's not any one thing. Just like Heaven isn't, nor Hell. Just like Earth, there are lots of different parts. This is just one of them. You'll get your dark and gothic, don't worry."

He sighed. "Okay. So say I believe you, and we're in Purgatory. What am I doing here? Did that spell kill me? Am I just here while they figure out whether all those one- night stands are worth a trip down under?"

"Nah," she tucked a curl behind her ear as a soft breeze blew. "You're here because we needed your help."

She was even crazier than he'd first thought.

"My help? All the supernatural powers in Purgatory and you need some random human's help for something?" He stared at her with a frown, more than a little skeptical.

"Not just some random human. You and your brother. Hunters. You're the only ones who can get this job done." She looked around. "Speaking of, where is your brother?"

"Yeah, that was gonna be my next question. This crazy redhead trapped us in a circle and sent us here, I guess. But whatever happened in between here and there, me and Sam got separated. I was hoping you could shed some light on that."

Jo frowned, shaking her head. "I don't have that kind of information. I'm just supposed to be exposition. Tell you what's going on and send you on your way, y'know? You were supposed to show up together."

"Great…"

She thought for a moment. "But I can tell you who would know."

This got his attention. "Yeah?"

"Chuck would know. He gets visions of everything. It's weird."

"And where would I find him?"

"In the city. But this part of Purgatory is all wildlife, so you'll have to walk. It'll take a few days." She turned, pointing to somewhere in the distance. "After the field there'll be a road. You can't miss it. Just follow that, and you'll hit the city. Chuck'll be able to tell you what he knows."

It wasn't a sure thing, but it was the best lead he had at this point. He had to find Sam soon, before something happened. And if Jo was telling the truth, and they were in Purgatory, then something was probably gonna go down very soon. Winchesters had a habit of attracting trouble, and quickly at that.

"Okay, thanks." Something in his gut told him that wasn't what this was all about. "But what about this thing you need my help with?"

"Oh, that." She shrugged, waving him off with a hand. "Well, we need both of you, so it's not gonna happen with just one. Plus Chuck can tell you about that part too. He's the one that suggested all this anyway. It's his plan, I'm just helping out."

He hated not knowing what they wanted with him. Ever since that girl had shown up in his yarn, he'd gotten the feeling that something was tossing him around, playing around with him. But he had a feeling he wasn't going to get anything out of Jo that she didn't want to tell him. He also didn't want to waste any more time in finding his brother than he already had. He sighed, taking a step in the direction she'd pointed. She made no move to follow, just watching him. After a few steps, he abruptly tripped on something. Only his hunter's reflexes kept him from falling flat on his face. Looking down, he caught sight of an arm.

"What the hell?"

Sprawled in the middle of the field was a man's body. Casually dressed in jeans and two layers of shirts, with short blonde hair. From what Dean could tell, he looked tall, probably a bit shorter than Sam when he was standing. But at the moment, he wasn't standing. And he definitely wasn't moving, despite having a grown man walk on his arm. Dean took a step back, staring at the corpse. Curious, Jo caught up to him.

"Oh."

He turned to her. "Oh? There's a freaking dead body in this cute little meadow and all you can say is 'oh'?"

She laughed. "Actually, this is good news. I wasn't expecting this."

Just when he thought things couldn't get weirder. "Dead bodies are a good thing here? Who is this? You know him? Err… knew him?"

Jo nodded. "It's Lucifer."

"Lucifer… as in THE Lucifer? Fallen angel and ruler of Hell, Lucifer?"

"Yeah. That'd be the one. So I wouldn't feel too bad for him. He was a bit of a dick."

"What the hell is he doing here? And why is he dead?" And why does he look like a mild- mannered librarian on a day off?

Shrugging, she nudged Lucifer's arm with a sneaker. Nothing happened. "He's been causing a bit of chaos here lately. There are two of them, really. Two good ones and two bad. Anna and I make up the good team. Luci and Crowley are the bad guys. But Luci and Crowley have been fighting each other a lot lately. It's kind of making things hard for the rest of us. Y'know, civil war and all that. That's part of the reason you were brought here. But hey, now that you've taken care of that, the rest should be easy!"

"Taken care of it? How the hell did I kill the devil?"

"After- effects of the transport spell probably. It's powerful angel magic. So congratulations."

Suddenly Dean's head hurt more than ever before. A drink seemed like a very good idea. He hoped Purgatory had some good bars.

Jo knelt down beside Lucifer's body, reaching for something around his neck. Dean watched as she slid a leather cord off the body. "Gimme your hand."

Confused, he did as she instructed. She took it by the fingers, pulling his hand closer to loop the cord around his wrist, doubled over. He looked it over. A knotted cord, simple in design, with a small silver circle charm. Etched onto the charm were symbols, similar to the ones the girl had drawn in red near the Winchester house. Angel magic, as Jo had told him.

"What is this?"

Jo turned his hand over, inspecting that the necklace wasn't too loose, and it wouldn't fall off. "It's good luck. It was Luci's. It'll help you when you need it."

"That's very… cryptic, thanks."

"Hey, it's Purgatory. Cryptic is the norm here." She grinned, finally letting go of his hand. "Don't take that off. Don't let anyone have it. In fact, it'd probably be better not to mention it. Because if some of the shadier types around here know what that is, they're gonna want it. Even if they have to separate hand from body to get it. So save yourself some trouble."

Dean nodded, studying the new charm and trying to ignore the fact that it had come from the devil's corpse. "Right. Thanks, I guess."

"Oh… one more thing, then I swear you can get on your way to the city. I've held you up a lot, that's my fault."

"What's that?"

Jo's grin grew wider. "I've got to give you a protection spell."

"Another spell?" He was wary to be involved in more magic, which he thought was pretty understandable, considering last time he'd been a part of it he'd managed to lose his brother and apparently kill the devil unknowingly. There had to be some kind of bad karma attached to magic that killed things. Although it was the devil, so that might actually act in his favor.

She nodded. If she sensed his unease, she didn't comment on it. "You go into town like you are, everyone's gonna be able to smell the human on you from a mile away. Purgatory is full of demons and other nasty things, and you're little more than fresh meat to them as is. This'll help you blend in."

That did seem like a good thing. "Alright, lay it on me."

He expected a wave of a hand, a few magic words, maybe even an herb or two. What he didn't expect was for Jo to grab him by the front of his t- shirt and yank him into a kiss. Not that he was complaining, of course. It was too hard to be innocent, and too chaste to be dirty. Just a kiss. As soon as he started to return it, she pulled away, eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Now that kind of magic I could get used to," he muttered, a grin of his own stretching across his features.

She laughed. "I'll bet. Now get going. Find your brother."

Dean looked toward the city once more, getting a glance of a spire barely peeking over the horizon. He turned back and he was alone in the field again. Both Jo and Lucifer were gone. Heaving another sigh, he shrugged, starting through the field after sparing a glance at the necklace wrapped around his wrist.

May as well get this over with.