I've managed to get a longer chapter in this time. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading and reviewing. All the best to you.

More notes at the end.

Chapter 4

The last time Sam had seen Piru, he was in the process of being blasted away by his former ally. The conclusion everyone had drawn from that was the obvious one.

"You're supposed to be dead," he repeated, taking a step back.

Piru grinned and drew closer. Sam noticed his feet ended in hooves again. He had his full power back, then.

"You're supposed to be on the other side of the ocean," Piru pointed out. "It's an imperfect world, apparently."

Sam eyed Piru warily. They had started out as enemies and their brief alliance had been fraught with mistrust. Sam had no idea where he stood now with Piru – or what Piru's motives were for rescuing him.

"We all thought Luohi killed you," he said. "Even Crowley was sure."

Piru grimaced.

"I can't blame you for underestimating me. Luohi gave a good try – she was aiming for you, after all, I just got in the way. But I had an ace or two up my sleeve. Even so, for a while I thought I really was dead. When I got back…well, I realized life wasn't fun anymore, so to speak."

Sam frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

Piru gave him a helpless shrug.

"I've allied myself with you, didn't I? True, it was briefly and Luohi was out of control, but that's not the point. My former contacts won't have anything to do with me now."

Sam looked at him with new eyes. He understood now why Piru had kept hidden for two years. He was hunted. But what he could not get was why he had decided to come out of hiding now of all times. What did he know?

"What was that thing that attacked me?" he asked instead.

"It was a yut," Piru answered. "They're sort of forest spirits. They're peaceful, usually. Well, more mischievous than peaceful, I suppose, but they rarely actually harm people."

Sam rubbed at his throat. The contact with the yut had not felt like a declaration of peace to him.

"So, what was wrong with this one? Rabies?"

Piru snorted, shaking his head.

"Still the same wiseass, Winchester. No, it didn't have rabies. It had a master. Lempo is getting…almost as out of control as Luohi. There's been a power vacuum now that Luohi's gone and I'm in hiding. Seems like whenever you two pop up you turn the world upside down. Where's your brother, by the way? Don't tell me you left him in the States. He'd never allow you to get that far. That pesky codependence thing you've got going would kick in."

"Never mind Dean," Sam said quickly, because he really did not want Piru's attention drawn to Dean, no matter how much Piru seemed to be "reformed". "Just tell me about Mielikki. Where does she fit into all this?"

Piru flinched at the name. He looked around, half afraid something would be on them.

"Apparently, she was trying to fix things. Make sure Lempo doesn't take over, you know. I have no idea where she is now. She disappeared."

Sam was beginning to put the pieces together. His tie to Mielikki was at the center of all this. He was beginning to realize the third favor would be beyond dangerous – but, if Mielikki was in danger too and Sam helped her, he could use that to his advantage later.

"Do you really want to know what upset the balance most, Winchester?" Piru went on. "It was what happened in Tuonela. The black swan was a guardian. Now the place is vulnerable. And, if Lempo is on the move…"

Sam nodded. He got the picture.

"He could try to take the Realm of the Dead his own. And that would mean making use of the monsters there, freeing them, turning them against normal folk."

Piru looked at him pointedly.

"Regular apocalypse, right?"

Sam turned away from him. If he had started another one of these messes, it was definitely his job to finish it.

"If this started in Tuonela," Sam began, speaking slowly, as if he did not want to admit it. "This is where it has to end. This is where I have to go."

Piru smirked.

"Only problem is, last time you went there because of Luohi's curse. You don't have that luxury this time. There is of course the classic simple way but…I'm guessing you don't want to die, do you, Winchester?"

Sam shrugged.

"I've been dead so many times I don't know if it counts anymore when I'm alive."

He thought he heard the faint cry of a wolf in the distance. He turned to Piru to ask about it. But Piru was gone. Sam was all alone. And suddenly he knew he needed to find Dean.

XXxXXXXxxx

Dean drove like a man possessed, breaking every traffic law imaginable. Had Helmi known what he was doing with her car, she would have probably killed him. He had not broken her promise to her, though. He did treat the car as his own. If Sam was in trouble, Dean would push even the Impala beyond its limits and feel nothing about it.

He parked haphazardly in front of the warehouse and burst in.

"Sam?" he called. "Sam, you better be here."

But it was obvious that Sam wasn't there. The warehouse was empty. Dean swore, wondering what Sam could have gotten himself into now. He spotted the photos on an overturned box and frowned at them. He too had no trouble recognizing the forest as the one behind the warehouse. He would bet the Impala and all his music collection that Sam had gone there.

Shaking his head, Dean made his way to the forest. He spotted the row of hazel trees and understood their significance. Someone had been sure the forest was not a safe place.

"Sam, I'm gonna kick your ass all the way back to Lebanon," he muttered.

He interrupted his thoughts when he suddenly had the distinct sensation of being watched. He twisted round to find himself face to face with a tall man, slightly handsome, but with something about him that had Dean's hackles rising instinctively. For one thing, he could have sworn no one had been close by a few seconds before.

"Sorry," Dean said attempting a disarming smile. "I got separated from my group. I'm a little lost. You know how American tourists are."

The man watched him wordlessly for a while and Dean wondered if he had even understood the words. Then, he smirked and Dean suddenly had the uneasy feeling he had misread the situation completely.

"You are lost?" the man asked. "Funny, I was thinking you were actually looking for something. Or…should I say someone? Little brothers," he added carelessly. "They never know not to go into the woods alone, do they?"

Dean felt his blood grow cold.

"Who the hell are you? What did you do to Sam?"

The man waved that aside.

"I did not do anything to Sam. Well, I had something done to Sam, that' true. But really, Dean, what would you have me do? You kill one of my allies, you corrupt another, you tip the balance of power in Mielikki's favor. I don't know which is worse. If I did do anything to your brother, I did it in self-defense."

Dean was beginning to understand the situation more and more – and to like it less and less.

"Let me guess," he said, hand going automatically towards his gun. "Lempo."

The man gave an almost lazy flick of his hand and Dean's gun flew from his hand and clattered harmlessly a few feet away.

"Quite," Lempo replied. "And you should know guns don't work on me. In fact, there are a lot of things that don't work on me. Or on my armies."

Dean remained perfectly still. Aside for the gun thing, Lempo had not made any threatening gestures towards him. Dean did not want to give him any reasons to change that. He wanted to survive the confrontation unharmed so he could go find Sam and get him from whatever trouble he had gotten himself into.

"Armies," he repeated. "A bit cocky, aren't you? I don't see any armies. And if you're calling a band of confused hiidet an army then I'm saying you've got some delusions of grandeur there, buddy. They didn't even kill us."

"Who says I want to kill you?" Lempo challenged. "Well, I do, eventually, but first, you'll do something for me."

Dean stiffened.

"Like hell I will."

"Your brother did for Mielikki and I think I know the reason. So who's to say you're not going to do the same if I offer a similar prize?"

"What do you mean?"

Don't do it, Dean. Just walk away from this. The voice in his head was distinctly Sam and Dean knew that, if he struck any deals with Lempo for Sam's sake, Sam was going to kill him. Even pointing out that Sam had done something similar was not going to help. Until then, Mielikki's plans had, more or less aligned with theirs. Lempo seemed to have darker intentions in mind.

"Are you actually talking about deals?" Dean went on.

"You're used to them, aren't you?" Lempo pointed out. "Here's my offer and it's better than Mielikki's. One favor in exchange for Sam's life and wellbeing. Only one. I know Mielikki asked for three."

"That depends on what you have in mind," Dean said, uncompromisingly.

Lempo actually laughed.

"No, Dean, it doesn't. Because if there's one thing that absolutely everyone knows about you is that you don't put a price tag on the love you've got for your brother. Neither does Sam. That's why he got himself entangled with Mielikki in the first place."

Dean did not say anything. The words reminded him too much of something Gadreel had said to him once – before Dean had known he was Gadreel, before he had realized he had nearly damaged his relationship with Sam for good. That memory should have been warning enough. It should have told Dean that he did not want to be a part of this, that there was no way Sam would accept him making a deal with Lempo, not for anything. Not for Sam's life.

"What did you have in mind?" Dean heard himself asking.

He noticed Lempo's smirk and knew that, as soon as the other started speaking, it would be too late for him to back out. He would be caught in another web, just like the many others he and Sam had found themselves caught in before. His heart was hammering, though, concern for Sam robbing him of all reason. Nothing had changed, really. Nothing ever changed. He still could not lose Sam. Not for anything.

Before Lempo could speak another figure approached them. He was an elderly man in a business suit. Lempo stiffened when he saw him. Dean noticed that the man was saying something. He could not understand the language, but it did not sound like words. It something like an incantation. Something was happening to Lempo. His shoulders seem to slump and his face paled. He glared at the old man.

"I suppose that's that," he muttered. "For now." He turned to Dean. "I'll find you later, Winchester."

He walked away while Dean was still wondering if he should call him back.

"What the hell was that?"

The old man turned to him.

"I don't know what he told you, but he's not to be trusted," he told Dean in a heavily accented voice. " He is…well, it's rather hard to explain what he is."

Dean snorted. He had a feeling that the old man had done something to send Lempo away.

"Oh, I know just as well as you do what he is. Let's not waste time going round and round with this. I'm Dean Winchester. I'm a hunter. I bet you're one too."

The man did not seem surprised by Dean's confession.

"I suspected as much. Lempo would not bother with your…what is it you Americans say? Your average Joe? Well, I am Ole. But I am not a hunter. I am just a city official."

Dean's eyes narrowed.

"You seem to know an awful lot for someone who isn't a hunter."

Ole shrugged.

"You've caught me, Dean. I grew up far in the north, in Aanar, in a Sami village. I was trained to be a noaidi – a Shaman, that is. But the modern world has reached even that far corner of the world. People think they don't need shamans anymore. We know better, don't we, Dean?"

Dean was about to say something when his attention was drawn to the forest. He tensed when he saw Sam heading for them. He was standing on his own two feet, but something about the way he held himself warned Dean that things were not exactly good with his brother.

"Hold that thought," he told Ole as he made his way towards Sam calling his name.

Sam stopped at the sound of Dean's voice. He waited for his brother to reach him, eyeing Dean warily. Dean could become explosive when Sam went behind his back like that.

"Sam what the hell?" Dean shot. "You said you were not going to do anything stupid."

"And I didn't," Sam said quickly. "I just went to have a look around."

He saw Dean take another step towards him eyeing him intently. Dean reached out and touched his throat. Sam suspected he had some pretty impressive bruises back there that did not leave much to the interpretation.

"That's fine," he said carelessly. "Really I don't even feel it."

Of course, his throat chose to act up just then and Sam found himself coughing. Dean rolled his eyes.

"You're the biggest liar on the planet, Sam."

Sam shook his head and tried to catch his breath.

"Dean, we don't have time for this. Piru's alive…"

Dean raised his eyebrows.

"He did that to you?"

Sam batted away Dean's hands which were once again reaching for his throat.

"No! Of course not. That was something else."

He stopped abruptly, noticing Ole. He glanced at Dean, his eyebrows raised.

"It's good," Dean assured him. "We can talk. Ole helped me from a rough spot. He's a shaman."

"Trained," Ole said quickly. "Not practicing."

Sam drew a step closer to Ole, eyeing the elderly man up and down.

"But I bet you know things," he said. "For example, I'm sure you know how to get to Tuonela."

Ole stiffened.

"There's the old-fashioned way, of course."

Sam scowled, impatient.

"I'm not trying to kill myself. I know shamans can get to Tuonela if they want to – and that they can return alive."

He sensed Dean taking a step closer to him, but did not turn to see his brother's face.

"I need to get inside Tuonela," Sam insisted. "And it has to be soon – before it's too late."

"Sam, what the hell are you doing?" Dean asked through clenched teeth.

Sam's eyes were fixed on Ole.

"Can you get me there?"

Ole hesitated. Then he shrugged.

"There are ways. Yes I can. But you must think this through carefully before attempting something of such magnitude."

Sam smiled tightly.

"I've thought this through. Believe me."

"No, he hasn't," Dean said grabbing Sam's shoulder. "Here, just hang tight until I beat some sense into him."

He led Sam away from Ole, so the two of them could talk in private. Sam did not object. Once they were out of earshot Dean swung round to face his brother.

"Sam, what are you doing, man? We swore we wouldn't try this kind of crap with each other."

Sam's shoulders sagged. This was going to be a difficult conversation.

"Dean, I've talked to Piru. He's scared. He's saying Lempo's planning on taking control of Tuonela and everything that's there. I got a taste of what that means."

Dean shrugged.

"So let him. He's so far from our backyard it doesn't matter. Europe has its own Hunters. Let them try this suicide plan you've got going."

Sam took a step forward and grabbed Dean's shoulders.

"You don't understand, Dean. This won't affect only Finland. It will affect everyone. Lempo's…Lempo fancies himself as an incarnation of the devil. We've just got rid of the original. Do you want the 2.0 version on our hands as well? Because I've got to tell you, Dean, I don't."

He had said more than he had wanted to, but it worked. Dean's eyes, now clouded more with concern than with anger, lost that wild, stubborn look.

"So what are you saying? Is this Mielikki's third favor? For you to go to Tuonela and take down Lempo?"

Sam turned away.

"I don't think it will be easy to kill Lempo. But I do have to go to Tuonela. I think Mielikki is there. I think Lempo's holding her against her will somehow. Piru said she disappeared."

"You know that's not so bad, Sam," Dean pointed out. "I mean, if she's held up, she can't rub it in your face that you owe her."

Sam grimaced. Trust Dean to think like that.

"Or, here's a better idea. I help her now, I'd be doing her a favor. This mean I'll be in the clear."

"Not really," Dean said, his voice turning intense. "Turns out Pekka was playing the same game. Only he had served his time and Mielikki had apparently come back for more. My guess is that's why he actually left the band. It doesn't matter if you grant her the third favor. She's always going to have a hold on you."

Sam did not seem too upset by the news.

"Except, if I save her, it will be more than just granting her a favor, Dean. It will be her owing me this time. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. This is the way to end things with Mielikki once and for all. I want this chapter behind me, Dean."

Dean ran a weary hand over his face. Sam knew how to manipulate him into getting his way.

"And for this you want to go back to the land of the dead?"

Sam nodded fervently.

"Shamans have ways of getting into Tuonela and coming back alive. It will be safe, trust me. Just…let me do this, Dean."

Let me do this, Dean. Those had to be Dean's least favorite words when it came to Sam. They brought him a ton of bad memories. Sam about to summon a ghost into a mirror and have his eyes bleed out. Sam about to destroy all that was good in him and use his powers to track down and finish Lilith. Sam planning to redeem himself by dragging Lucifer into the Cage and locking himself with him for eternity, as they had thought then. And on and on and on, years upon years of Sam asking Dean to let him take the fall for once, as if he had forgotten the many times he had taken the fall before. As if they did not count.

Dean finally turned to Ole.

"You do know how to travel to Tuonela and back, then?" he asked skeptically.

The man nodded.

"I can teach Sam how to enter a trance that would take him where he needs to go. Then watch over his body while his soul is there."

"Thank you," Sam said quickly.

Dean, however, grabbed his arm, keeping him in place.

"Could you do the same to me as well? Sam's not going anywhere without me."

"Dean…" Sam began, a touch of impatience coloring his voice.

Dean only tightened the hold around his arms.

"We do this together, or the plan is off. We both go or neither of us does."

Sam wavered between continuing to insist Dean stayed behind and being grateful that Dean actually wanted to accompany him. In the end, he turned to Ole and nodded.

"Alright. So how do we do this?"

Ole pointed across the warehouse to a row of unkempt buildings.

"Meet me there at midnight. I'll have everything ready by then."

"You've done this before, right?" Dean asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Not really," Ole answered bluntly.

Well, that was just great, Dean thought. He did not say anything, though. He was sure that, if he objected to this plan Sam would attempt to gain entrance into Tuonela on his own, doing something irreversibly stupid in the process. And Dean was not going to give him the chance.

xxxXXXXxxx

Sam and Dean both agreed not to mention their upcoming trip to Tuonela to Helmi and Elias. They only said that they would be going out that night to investigate some leads –which was not exactly a lie. Dean did inform Elias about the conversation between Pekka and Mielikki the day before Pekka left the band, although he kept his word to Tony and did not mention where he had gotten his information.

"So you're saying Pekka owed Mielikki something?" Elias asked skeptically.

"Looks like it," Sam agreed. "It makes sense, though. Why else would she hang around with him?"

"So do you know what it could have been?" Dean asked. "Did Pekka ever want something so bad he'd strike a deal for it? Love, money, a puppy for Christmas?"

Elias snorted.

"He was divorced, had plenty of money from older solo projects and he wasn't really a puppy for Christmas kind of person. To answer your question, I have no idea what he might have wanted. If he was in any kind of trouble, he apparently never told me."

"Could be Mielikki told him not to," Sam pointed out. "She can be very persuasive."

"Do you think he left the band to get away from her?" Elias asked. "Or…I don't know…to protect us from her?"

"Anything's possible," Sam said. "Could be he was somehow helping her take down Lempo."

"Couldn't she have found a hunter for that?" Dean pointed out, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, if you want to go against evil incarnate, a bass player is not the first back-up I could think of."

"What about me?" Elias said. "Were you able to find out why Pekka was keeping tabs on me? Was it at Mielikki's orders?"

"Why would she want tabs kept on you?" Dean asked suspiciously.

Elias shrugged.

"You tell me. That file…"

Dean and Sam exchanged a glances and Dean shook his head.

"Tell you what," Sam said, understanding his brother's indications. "You let us worry about that."

Elias frowned, having caught the silent exchange.

"You think there's something not quite right with me, yes? Why would everybody and their brother be so interested in me otherwise? Mielikki, Pekka, the British Men of Letters…"

"There's nothing wrong with you, man," Den said lightly. "You're just plain Elias the keyboard player."

Elias shook his head and left the two of them in their room.

"He's right, you know," Sam pointed out, once they were alone.

Dean nodded tiredly.

"Yeah, I'm sure he is. We'll see what Ketch says when he calls. In the meantime – one crisis at a time. Are you sure about tonight?"

Sam went to sit next to Dean. He would never admit how unnerved he was that he had to go back to Tuonela.

"I think we need to do this," he finally said. "And the plan should work. Technically, shamans can travel to Tuonela and come back alive. We might have to trick the guards that we're dead so they'd allow us to enter, but otherwise, it should work."

That's right Sam, a small sarcastic voice said in his mind. Just act as if you do this every day. But with the many times he'd died and took a trip either downstairs or upstairs, visiting other planes of existence was really just routine for them by this point.

"What do you mean guardians?" Dean frowned. "There were no guardians last time."

"Last time, it was Luohi who brought us there. This will be different, I'm afraid."

Sam glanced at Dean, but his brother was avoiding his gaze. It felt very much like they were going into battle again – this was more than a hunt, this was one of the Big Things they had sworn to avoid from now on. But it was something that had been hanging over them for two years. It was something that needed to be finished.

xxxXXXxxxx

Shortly before midnight, Sam and Dean hurried to their appointment with Ole. The house Ole had chosen used to belong to an elderly Sami couple who had decided to join their son in Canada. It was deserted and no one, Ole assured the brothers would bother them there.

Ole had prepared drink for them. It was hot and steaming. Dean wrinkled his nose at the smell and glared in Sam's direction.

"This is all your fault, you know," he grumbled.

"There's still time to change your mind," Sam pointed out calmly, even though he knew he was talking to a brick wall.

Predictably, the words did nothing but earn him yet another glare from Dean and a muttered "shut up, Sam". Sam shrugged. He did not know why he was arguing, really. He wanted his brother by his side.

Ole watched the exchange impassively. When it was clear that the two had reached an understanding of sorts, he pointed to the mattresses he had carried into the room.

"You'll both drink this and then you'll lie down. The effects should take hold quickly."

"And the effects are…?" Dean prompted.

"Paralysis," Ole answered bluntly. "A state of unconsciousness. Your heartbeat will slow to almost nothing."

"Swell," Dean commented. "I was always into that."

Sam understood his reluctance. He did not like it any more than Dean did – to put himself in such a vulnerable position.

"You'll stay here, right?" he asked Ole

"Of course" Ole replied. "It would be too dangerous to leave you alone. Although I won't be able to bring you out of the trance. But I will protect your bodies from any harm while you're in Tuonela. You only need to solve your business in the appointed time."

"Wait a minute," Dean said. "No one said anything about a deadline."

"How long have we got?" Sam asked.

"Until the morning," Ole said. "Time moves differently in Tuonela, though, so you might not know when the deadline draws close."

"Terrific," Dean commented. "Sam? You really wanna do this?"

"It's the only way," Ole told them. "Of course, you can always die and hope you get there and not to your own heaven or hell…"

Dean was in no mood to be reasonable, but even he had to admit that Ole had a point. He nodded curtly and headed for the mattress, bumping into Sam in the process. He accepted the glass Ole handed to him and toasted in his brother's general direction.

"Your good health, Sammy."

He snickered at Sam's irritated scowl and gulped the contents of the cup, gagging as he did.

"What the hell's in that?"

"You don't want to know," Ole assured him. "Lie down."

Sam drank his own portion more sedately, as if punishing himself with the foul taste. He was dragging Dean in another of his messes, and if his brother had not been that far gone right now, he would have probably smacked him several times for his unnecessary guilt trip. He pushed the cup away and lay down on the other mattress. Dean was already unconscious.

As the fog came swirling over his mind, Sam managed to glimpse at Ole for the last time. Something was wrong. He could feel that. Something about Ole . Suddenly, Sam was starting to doubt if they were doing the right thing, trusting him like that. It was too late, though. The darkness claimed him and when he opened his eyes, he was in an entirely different place altogether.

I wonder what I've got the boys into now (knowing me, it will be something quite difficult to escape….but we'll see).

-Yut (or Yout) is a type of sprite in Finnish folklore. It's said to inhabit trees and lead travelers astray, especially if these travelers have any evil intentions on the forests.

-the Sami are Indigenous people living in the Northernmost parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and a part of Russia (in a cultural region called Sapmi). Some of their territories overlap the region known as Lapland, but, as I've stated in the notes from Gamechanger, I'll steer clear of referring to them as Lapps as the term is considered a little derogatory and non-inclusive. Their original religion relied quite a lot on shamanistic practices (their shamans were sometimes known as noaidi) until Christianity was more or less imposed on them. Lately, though, some have started to return to their old roots.

-Inari is a municipality in Finland where the Sami Parliament in Finland is located.

Yes, I am aware I'm a world-class nerd. Thank you :P