That's A Real Life Bronze Age Priestess Sammy

Chapter 9

Sam knew that it was a bad idea. It obviously was a very bad idea. If he went through with it, he'd basically be very much fucking up. But the thing is, that he did go through with it and he has fucked up. He fully acknowledges that. So can we please move on? But looking at the equally shocked faces of both Dean and Muwatti in front of him right now, he wasn't sure they'll be able to move on any time soon. Not until they had the chance to shout at him for substantial amount of time, that is. Though he still wishes they would at least try. Because he was here now. He really was here. Here being the ancient capital city of the Hittites. "Wow, It feels real. Like real real. I can even feel the wind." Sam couldn't help but be amazed. And how could he not be? He could smell everything and hear everything as well. "Is this how it all really looked?"

"Seriously?"

Dean was angry. Sam knew that his brother being angry with him was a possibility. He knew that neither of them would be happy about his decision. It was stupid, it was rash, and it was horrible.

"Dude I just want to know why?" Oh good, the shouting starts. "Was is just curiosity? Were you feeling left out? Was it a jealousy things? I mean, can't say I blame you. Every night I get to be in the dreams of a beautiful woman." He snapped his finger and excitedly said. "Even better. A real princess, Sammy. I'm literally the dream of a beautiful princess." Dean must have noticed that how unamused Sam was as the next thing he said was, "Don't you even start with that face. Cause, hate to break it to you little brother, you're in no position to be judging me right now."

"Look Dean, I know what I've done is wrong - "

"Then why did you do it anyway?"

"It's obviously because he doesn't trust me." interjected Muwatti and startling the brothers. "Ḫannaḫanna herself would lose patience when dealing with both of you. How can the two of you manage to forget about me and ignore me while standing inside my head?" She walked past Dean till she was right in front of Sam. Some part of him acknowledged that looking away wasn't really an option. Honestly he would have preferred if she had chosen to simply shout at him like Dean had. Because for some reason being on the receiving end of this calm rage of this petite woman, who barely reached his chin was truly an unnerving sensation for him.

Oh yeah. It was because he had very much fucked up.

Muwatti continued talking, "Well Sam, am I wrong? Isn't the reason you decided to invade my mind without my consent, because you just can't seem to trust me? But why? I honestly fail to understand the reason behind it. Precisely what have I done that is making you have so many doubts about me?"

He's not sure how to answer that.

"Look, Muwatti. It's not something that you have done. Rather it's what could end up happening."

"What the fuck does that even mean?" Now Dean had joined them as well and had positioned himself between the two, maybe anticipating that they would start attacking each other and would be forced to act as the referee. And judging by the look on Muwatti's face, it certainly appeared that she wouldn't mind planting a punch or two. Or a swift kick between the legs.

He finally managed to look away from her and looked towards Dean, while still making sure he was an arms length away from her. "The only way we can figure out how the two of you are connected," Sam said while aggressively pointing at the two of them, "is by figuring out what is behind her curse." Sam and Dean could hear Muwatti utter something about how the damn brothers just went back to ignoring her again. But he continued with his rant regardless. "However even after all this time you haven't figured out what happened to her that day, other than some useless bits of information that have nothing to do with the curse. And now we find out that a bunch of Knights have come to America for the first time in over a century just to look for her and her magical blood apparently. Come on man, you must've thought about all of that as well. The type of danger we're all in. Don't tell me you're not worried about what will happen that if they get their hands on her. They will also be able to gain the power to control you and the First Blade. Something which might be very useful when going to war with all the other Knights. So it's incredibly important that we figure out everything we can, as soon as possible."

"Oh. Is that so?" He said with a mock surprised expression on his face. "Thank you so much for pointing out all the ways we can get fucked by a bunch of demons. I'd never even thought of that. It's not like our entire lives we've had to fight those sulphur breathing assholes." said Dean. "So let me see if I got right, Sammy, you not only don't trust her and are pretty sure that she is hiding something but you also think that I'm incapable of doing anything on my own or finding anything about this whole fuck fest. Am I close?"

He had known he was very much fucking up, but he didn't know exactly how much he was going to be fucking up. And somehow in the middle of all of that, Dean and Muwatti had switched roles. His brother was the one who was silent and now Muwatti was vocally making it abundantly clear that she wasn't going to be ignored by the Winchesters anymore. She let out a sharp whistle to grab their attention and started on her own rant. "You really think I'm hiding something from the two of you?" claimed Muwatti, all the while displaying that she can aggressively point at two people as well. "How can I hide anything when I don't even fucking know anything about what exactly happened to me? I'm learning all these new things about my mother and her life, and as it turns out, also my life, the same time as you two assholes. Not that learning all of these things is doing any good, certainly not for me and my sanity. Because not a day has gone by, since leaving the tablet that I didn't end up getting even more confused than I had ever been in my entire life. Not to mention scared out of my mind. I don't know what is happening to me or what will happen to me. Or do you think I'm actually pleased to find out that demons as well as angels would love nothing more than to drain me for my magical blood?"

Dean tried to calm her down, by assuring her that they will find out what was happening. However it didn't have the effect he had clearly wanted, because she quickly turned her ire towards him. Evidently no one was safe from the fury of the Bronze Age princess. "Das ist ja Kinderkacke," who apparently like to swear in German. "Do you really think it brings me any sort of relief to know that I have to rely on two giant idiots for any sort of help?"

Sam, try as he might, couldn't stop himself from balling up his fists and gnashing his teeth. Or even stop himself from saying the next part. He should've tried harder. And then even more. After all, things never do go their way whenever he loses control over his anger, isn't that right? "I think you're overreacting a bit here. We have been doing this for a long time. So yeah, trust us when we say that we're your best shot at solving this."

"Trust you. Did you really just say I should trust you?" came her indignant and infuriated reply. "Just look at where you're fucking standing Sam and ask yourself how did you get here. Then tell me again that I should trust you. Because if this is how you treat people who trust the Winchesters, I might as slit my wrists, summon Zagan and surrender myself to him right now."

"That might be not such a bad idea." Sam shouted back.

As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted him. However before he could do anything, the courtyard starting dissolving all around them, and everything was surrounded in darkness. When he could finally feel the ground under his feet once again, he could see that they were standing what looked like some type of lustrous and smooth black stone. Above them was a starless night sky. So this was the tablet world, and just like he had heard from Dean there was simply nothing around them. Except for the hypnotic stillness and the deafening silence.

"Where is she? Can you see her?" He heard Dean ask. For a moment, Sam didn't understand what he could be talking about. Until he turned towards his brother and saw that it was just the two of them. Muwatti wasn't with them. Both the brothers frantically started to look around, but to no avail. They could see miles around them in all direction, and everything looked the same, empty. They really were the only ones there. "Son of a bitch. Where could she be?" Dean angrily shouted at the sky. Was it really a sky? Sam said that he had no idea, which seemed to anger Dean even more. "Is this what you fucking wanted Sam? You judge me for reading diaries of people when we're on a case, but somehow you convinced yourself that slipping into her dreams without her permission was okay. Not only that, you thought breaking into her mind wasn't enough, cause then you just had to antagonise her by saying stupid shit like we hope a demon gets her."

"I didn't mean it that way-"

"Then why the hell did you say it that way, dumbass?"

Sam could sense Dean's frustration, which evenly matched his own at the moment. However he didn't have a good enough answer for his brother or to himself. This was not how he pictured things going. He lost control over his anger and now they were stuck inside the mind of a 3000 years old sociopath.

Seeing that Sam wasn't going to be saying anything, Dean continued on, in a much more helpless tone. "Listen Sammy, I know you want answers. And even though you may not believe it, but I want to figure out this thing as well." He could see that Sam was going to interrupt him, but he silenced him by a simple shake of his head. "What you did was not helpful at all. She is not doing well." Of all the things he expected Dean to say, this wasn't even on the list. Whenever these two were together, they seem to be goofing around, when did they even have time to bear their souls to each other. He asked him how could he be so sure about that. Dean rolled up his sleeve and pointed towards the Mark and said, "Because of the connection or bond or whatever the hell it actually is, sometimes I can feel what she is feeling." He straightened up his sleeve and then ran his hands through his hair, while looking around once more to see if Muwatti would appear. She didn't. "It was much stronger when I was demon. A lot stronger. It reached a point where I could constantly sense her, wherever she was. Hell, I could even calculate how far away she was from me at given moment. Now that I'm human again, it's very faint but sometimes I can still get a sense of what she's feeling. She's drowning man, and you pulling stunts like these, is not helping anyone. Especially not her."

"Ok, you're right. I get that, alright. But what do we do now? I mean, she's gonna come back, isn't she?"

"We're in compete uncharted territory. Your guess is as good as mine."

That didn't bode well with either of them. Seeing no other option they started walking. Just picked a direction and walked. Neither of them could tell how much time had passed, could've been hours could've been seconds. Eventually the background around them changed. The darkness slowly melting away and in the blink of an eye, they were now in what looked like a bedchamber. It was packed with people talking in hushed and frantic whispers. They were standing near a bed, which was separated from the rest of the room with an enclosure of some sort of cloth, maybe muslin. What the hell? Sam could barely make out the outlines of men walking around on the other side of the cloth barrier with thuribles in their hands, emitting thick plumes of smoke. Dean pointed towards the man lying in the bed and said that was probably one of her brothers. The man was probably in his early thirties and was clearly sick, his reddened face glistening with a fine layer of sweat, signs of high fever maybe? He asked his brother how could he be so sure about that. "I've not seen all of them. I know she had five elder brothers, including her twin. I've only ever seen him and Mursili. But she did mention that they all had blond hair and green eyes like their father. Boy, he does not look good, does he?."

Just then they heard a commotion on the other side of the cloth barrier, as someone had entered the room. It was dream Muwatti. The first thing she did was order everyone to leave. The moment the whole room was cleared, she crossed the barrier, quickly went past the Winchesters, and sat down on the bed, next to the man, with her back towards him. A realisation suddenly hit Sam, "I think that's Arnuwanda, her eldest brother. I read about it, there was a plague and he's supposed to have died a month after their father did." Dean pointed out his obsessive habit of trying to research everything has got to stop. "I mean, remember the time dad managed to scrape up money for Christmas gifts for both of us, and took us to an actual toy shop. I was ready to leave in five minutes, but you must've spent an hour harassing the poor shop guy over questions about ethical packaging. What ten years old does that?"

Arnuwanda woke up and the brothers could clearly see that he did indeed have green eyes, which currently were displaying shock and concern over seeing his sister sitting next to him. "You shouldn't be here. What if you get sick as well?"

"It's been a whole night and a whole day, and your fever still hasn't broken." was her only reply to his worries. "So what if I get sick too. Atti's dead. You're dying. Maybe I should die as well. The empire and the capital can begin anew with Mursili as the emperor and his wife as the Tawananna."

Sam nervously voiced his concerns to Dean, if they should be watching this. To which Dean replied. "Of course fucking not. But do you see an exit somewhere? Usually when I want to leave a dream, I ask the person dreaming it to end it. Do you see Muwatti somewhere? Besides wasn't the whole point of you coming here, was to learn about her? Well, here's your chance. Learn away."

"So, Mursili will be my successor." said Arnuwanda. "Makes sense. Telipinu is happy being a High Priest in Kizzuwadna, he's certainly as rich as an emperor. And Piyassli shamelessly betrayed us, when he took command of the army and then abandoned the capital. Even though he knew that doing so would leave Hattusa defenceless." He had to pause to catch his breath. It was obvious he didn't have much long to live. "The whole empire already knows what he did. Even our enemies have already started plotting against us. All of them can see the cracks in the royal family. Regime change is always dangerous, but that idiot has truly made us weak. He has left us with no other choice. Even he can't reasonably think he won't be punished once we find him and bring him back."

"I just did that." Muwatti twisted her upper body towards the sick emperor and showed him her hands. Which were covered with rapidly drying blood. There were even splatters of blood in front of her dress. All three men could now see that she was crying, tears silently falling down her cheeks. Arnuwanda grabbed her hands and asked her what had she done. "They brought him back. The army. Once the men realised that he doesn't have any money and can't pay them their stipend or even feed them, they turned against him and brought him back. As their prisoner." She hadn't looked up even once yet, and was only staring at her blood-covered hands, which the Winchesters could now guess could only be her brother's. There were unshed tears in the emperor's eyes as well. "He knew he wasn't going to see the sun rise ever again, the moment he entered the capital. His only request was that it shouldn't be a commoner who gets to take the life of our prince. He said it had to be either you or me. And you-"

"And I can't even leave this bed." With that he lost control over his tears as well.

"How old do you think she's here?" Sam managed to ask when he found his voice.

"Don't know. Kinda hard to say." Dean answered. "She doesn't even look twenty. Might still be in her teens."

Muwatti finally looked up from her hands. "I ordered them to set up a pyre. They're supposed to call me when it's finished. I need to perform his last rites." She once again stared at her hands, which were in an iron-grip by her brother. "Piyassli showed me where to stab him. But I think I messed up, because there was too much blood." Whatever little control she had, was now completely lost. She crumbled into loud sobs and buried her face on Arnuwanda's chest, who could only wrap his other arm around her. "Oh little flower. I'm sorry you had to be the one to do that. I'm sorry I couldn't be a strong emperor for you or for anyone really. And we both know that I never will. But you can't doubt yourself. It had to be done. I would've done the same. So would've anni and so would've atti."

"Yes, they would've. They were used to doing so much worse." She raised her head so she could look up at him. "Did you ever doubt them? That anni and atti were wrong, their ways were wrong. Especially now that they're gone?"

"Constantly. They were really horrible parents." Both siblings dissolved in silent laughter, if only for a moment . "If there ever were two people who should not have had any children, it was those two. Especially with each other. How did those two not kill each other every day they were married, is still a mystery to me. But even you would agree, the very reasons that made them such monsters for us, also made them the greatest rulers in the history of our empire. They were giants, my little alil, which made it painful for us to live with them, and even in death, it's still painful to live under the giant shadows they've left over us. But you and Mursili will become giants as well, in your own right. Maybe, even bigger than our parents. Yes, I'm sure of that." He wiped away her tears with his free hand, as he still hadn't let go of hers. "Mursili is going to need you. More than you can ever think would be possible. You both may be the same age but he's still too young." Muwatti was about to say something, but he didn't let her. "He is an excellent general, yes, but not a politician and with that temper of his, certainly not a diplomat. However you're the one, who has been doing those exact things for the past four years, at our father's side. And I wish we had more time. And I'm really sorry to ask you this, but I need you to step up another pyre. You're going to perform the last rites for two of your brothers. And then tomorrow you have to crown Mursili our new emperor."

What the fuck? Both the Winchesters had to look at each other, to check if they heard him right. What does that mean?

Muwatti sat upright and yanked her hand away from him and voiced Sam's last thoughts.

"You've read the same reports that I have. You know exactly what is happening. The Arzawans in the west, the Assyrians in the east, the Egyptian army from the south, that will reach our borders in no more than three days. Even the damn Kaskans tribes in the north, our own people are rebelling against us now, Muwatti." She tried to get up, to probably distance herself from him, and probably even to leave. But she couldn't do that as he had once again grabbed her hand. "Can't you see? This is the only way."

She was still trying to free her hand, all the while shaking her head, "Then give Mursili the command over the our military."

"Our soldiers need to see their emperor fighting beside them, to bring us victory. Our enemies need to see the warrior Hittite emperor in front of them, so that they'd cower in fear. And a bed ridden man can't do those things. It's true that I'm dying, but unfortunately, I'm not dying fast enough and with everything that has happened with Piyassli, everyone knows that there are cracks in our family and they all now think that we have started turning against each other. They know that we're at our weakest and open for attack. This is their best chance to defeat us and wipe us off the map for the first time in a generation."

"There has to be another way." The tears and loud sobs were back again.

"I wish there was, sister, because I don't want to die, I truly don't. But I have to. Because that's what anni and atti have taught us. Everything we do, it has to be for the survival of the empire, survival of the capital, and survival of self. Am I right Tawananna?" Her silence was clearly not an acceptable answer, because he repeated his question and also shook her hand for good measure.

"Yes, emperor. You're right. Survival at any cost."

He finally started to relax his grip on her. The moment she was free, everything around them starting melting and dissolving all over again. But not before the brothers saw Muwatti grab a pillow from under Arnuwanda and gently placing it on his face.