The Place in Between
It was odd that they weren't in their bunker, but not so much when she was standing in a motel room. Obviously, the brothers were on another case. Rowan glanced around the room, finding it quite grotesque with its outdated wallpaper and furniture with a horrible western theme. Clearly she quickly got accustomed to nice things.
However, the only thing she saw that mattered where the brothers too focused on their research. Sam had his back to her, glued to his laptop screen and Dean was searching through files they got from the police, since it said Confidential nearly everywhere.
The oddest view of all was seeing her brother Fenrir on one of the two beds, relaxed with his hands underneath his head and one ankle crossed over the other. She still wondered how he became friends with the Winchesters, especially Dean. He must have been lonely.
"Sorry for interrupting." She said, getting all three to turn to her, on alert as if she was a madman with a gun. She smiled sweetly at them and they relaxed, especially her brother who returned to his relaxation, not even saying a word to her. Some brother.
"Hey." Sam said, which made her smile broaden. "What brings you here?" he asked and she looked at Dean, maintaining her smile. Dean, on the other hand, wasn't smiling at all. He closed the files and sighed. Before she discussed Purgatory with Dean, she was curious as to why her brother was with them. She turned to Fenrir and slapped his foot, startling him to sit up, glaring at her.
"So you're BFF's, now?" she asked him and he gave her a half smirk.
"It's a werewolf case. I'm curious." He replied and she snorted a laugh at him. She turned to the Winchesters with a grin, thumbing at her brother. Curious, yeah right. Maybe taking her suggestion of dating a werewolf? The thought was kinda funny.
"Is he your muscle or something?" she asked and Fenrir let out a growl, making her laugh as she glanced over at him. He didn't appreciate the comment, imagine that.
"That something better not mean guard dog." He replied and she simply smiled at him.
"Your words, not mine." She replied and Dean cleared his throat, getting her attention.
"Are you two done quarreling?" he asked her. Rowan approached him, pulling out a chair for herself and sitting adjacent of the brothers. Someone was touchy.
"Dean, I understand you were in Purgatory." She bluntly said, noticing this expression on Dean's face like he'd rather not talk about it. Touchy or not, she wants to talk about this. She glanced at Sam and saw the same expression. They didn't like to talk about their pasts. Well, boohoo. "What can you tell me about it?" she asked and he looked at her, narrowing his eyes at the question.
"It's literally an all-you-can-eat-buffet, except its monsters killing monsters; it's kill or be killed. How about that for talking about it." Dean replied with conviction to reveal that he had lived that very scenario. She could see in his eyes that it still gave him nightmares, along with his memories in Hell, of losing his parents and of the times he lost his brother.
But there was something else she saw in his eyes, something that shocked her. He buried this one experience deep within because it was the most difficult burden in his heart. Rowan was angry because Crowley told her about John being in Hell, but he didn't mention anyone else. She found out by looking into Dean's eyes and seeing his emotions reveal painful memories. He had been tortured and has tortured. A human soul can just come back from that.
Crowley might have intended to keep the bit of information from her, with somewhat good reason, but Crowley wasn't going to stop her from fixing this. She couldn't just see this and do nothing.
"Don't you have enough souls? You have to poke around Purgatory?" Dean asked and Sam tried to calm him down by saying his name in such a soft tone, but that didn't help so much. "Don't go there, Rowan." Dean concluded and stared at her.
She wasn't intimidated and she wasn't finished.
"What kind of monsters are in there?" she asked and he looked away with a frustrated sigh. He didn't look back at her for a few seconds and when he did, she met his stare with defiance. She wanted to know and wasn't leaving until she had answers.
"Everything. Leviathans, vampires; you name it, it's there." He replied, looking down at the files beneath his hands.
"Like Jormungand?" she asked and all eyes were on her, even Fenrir who now got off the bed and stood behind Sam so he could see the serious expression on her face. The room was eerily quiet.
"You want to open Purgatory for your brother?" Dean asked and without blinking, she gave him her answer that would remind him of his hardship.
"Would you for Sam?" she asked and he remained silent.
"Where is this coming from, Hel?" Fenrir asked and when she met his eyes, she saw concern. She understood that, but wasn't it obvious?
"My memories in forms of dreams." She replied calmly, staring into those usually hard eyes that were now soft with worry. She glanced at Sam and then at Dean who had their eyes low. "I don't blame you two. You were simply doing your jobs; saving damsels in distress from monsters. How could you have known at the moment?" Rowan added, placing her hands on theirs, getting them to look up at her. "If there's a way I can get my brother out of Purgatory, then I can have what remains of my family. It had been taken from me long ago and after all this time, I want my family back." She concluded and Fenrir was the one to cast his eyes low, as if he didn't want to admit how much he wanted that too.
Suddenly, Dean wasn't so touchy.
"How did you hear about Purgatory?" Sam asked and when she met his eyes, she could see a bit of suspicion, like he had an idea.
"Crowley." she replied honestly, watching as the brothers exchanged annoyed glances at merely the mention of his name. Dean sighed and looked away, slipping his hand out from beneath hers.
"That bastard." He mumbled and when he looked at her, he was angry. "You two working together?" he asked with a suspicion of his own.
"You can say that." She replied and both brothers weren't thrilled. "However, he doesn't like my idea of getting my brother out of Purgatory." She added and Dean grunted.
"The rare time I'd agree with him." he said and looked at Sam like he wanted some help in convincing her that it was a very bad idea. When Rowan looked over at him, he stared at her hand that was still on his. When Sam met her eyes, they were hard, but friendly. He obviously had something difficult he wanted to say. She waited patiently which seemed to have helped.
"What did Crowley tell you about it?" he asked and she didn't have to think much about it.
"Nothing, really. I asked how to open it and he said that he couldn't say." Rowan replied and both brothers looked at each other like they expected as much. "He does know." She added and Sam looked back at her. Of course Crowley knew. When was he going to stop withholding information from her?
"He was the one that figured there was a way in. It seemed like reapers were the only ones able to get in, but Crowley was right. There's a spell to open it. Castiel opened it successfully and so would have Crowley, if Cas hadn't given him the wrong blood." Sam replied and Rowan gave a short nod.
The little bastard. He discovered the way in.
"Do you see what he's like?" Dean asked and she found his reaction to be surprising.
"Of course." She replied and she had all three staring at her like she still wasn't seeing the big picture. He might have withheld a lot from her, ironic because he said that's what the Winchesters did, but she expected him to act like that; it's one of the things she loved about him, although it was pissing her off at the moment.
"C'mon Hel, if he's sleeping with my sister, he should be honest or he's not worthy of my sister." Fenrir said with a slight growl mixed into his tone of voice. Rowan met his eyes and arched her eyebrows.
"What?" she asked and he continued to stare at her. "How can you tell?" she asked and he let out a louder growl.
"I have a good nose, Hel; I can smell him on you." He replied, nearly snapping.
Sam looked down at the table and it made her feel bad, like she broke his heart. She didn't want him feeling that way. Dean, on the other hand, looked disgusted.
And the room was awkwardly silent.
"The point is –" she began, but Dean cut her off.
"The point is you trust him. You think you know him and you don't. Just what happened when we left you alone in the bunker?" he asked and his stare was intense on her. Rowan sat calmly, but it was her aura of power that began to glow, revealing to the Winchesters that she wasn't going to take any of their bullshit.
"Although I was a girl you saved, need I remind you that I'm a Hell of a lot older than you and can kill you without raising a finger?" she said, narrowing her eyes at him. He quickly lowered his eyes and the atmosphere in the motel room grew heavy; tension setting in as they realized that Rowan was something to fear, regardless of their relationship. "Now, all I can tell you is that I can't tell you anything about Crowley and I." she concluded and then looked at Fenrir, ignoring the Winchesters that looked at her with confusion. "We can't bring back our parents. Of all the cruel things Odin and others have done to us, we're still here. So is our brother, but he's in a very horrible place." Rowan said and he looked down at the ground.
Sam slid his out of from hers, but placed it atop, getting her attention. When she looked into his eyes, she saw compassion. He knew how she felt.
"Do you have any idea of the risks? The things that could come out?" Dean asked after letting out a sigh of irritation mixed with a hint of trepidation. She turned her gaze to him and smiled softly.
"I promise I won't let that happen." She replied and her aura of power faded, making her look like the very damsel they rescued. "And I'll offer you a deal, since our families have a lot in common." Rowan added, leaving it quite vague because she knew that it had already crossed their minds. "Help me save my brother and I'll help save yours." She concluded and watched as the two brothers exchanged uncertain glances.
"What?" Sam asked, looking into her eyes, searching for what seemed like hope with a hint of fear.
"No human soul deserves to be in Lucifer's cage." She said with a soft smile that had, not only the Winchesters shocked beyond words, but her own brother. They knew this was too good to be true, too insanely dangerous and a very bad idea. "No soul deserves to have bits of Hell and Purgatory linger on them." she added and the Winchesters looked at each other like they'd never stop being surprised.
Opening Purgatory was one difficult thing, but Lucifer's cage; entirely a whole new level of difficult. She might have been promising something impossible, but she knew it had to be done. Death might have been right, she was a bleeding heart these days.
Rowan gave them some time to reflect on her deal, on the fact that she was willing to help them save their brother from the worst place one could never imagine because no one could imagine such a horrible place.
Fenrir had pulled her aside to ask if she had lost her fucking mind when she remembered all the memories their father had taken away. Had all those memories caused her to go insane?
"Our brother is dead. Dead and not even you can control that. And you certainly can't give those two false hope on getting their brother out because Lucifer, I can guarantee you, will get out. That is really bad news, Hel." Fenrir said in a harsh whisper that she was certain Sam and Dean could hear.
Yeah, Crowley wouldn't have mentioned any of that because the idea of Lucifer being freed must terrify him, with good reason. The thought even unsettled Rowan. Her father did what he did to save her from that fallen angel.
"So you would let our brother fight to survive in Purgatory? You would let Lucifer torture their brother for all eternity?" she asked in a soft whisper. Regardless of what her brother said, she knew the risks and knew everything was worth it. He looked away, a growl erupting in his throat, she knew he had won him over.
Rowan returned to her chair by the Winchesters and looked at them, waiting patiently for their response.
"I don't know." Dean said and, although he seemed to have a hard time putting his doubts into words, she could see them in his eyes.
"You're afraid Adam is too badly damaged to be saved? Because Sam barely made it out of the cage with his sanity, that Adam is beyond help? You're afraid of the chance that Lucifer can escape and destroy the world?" she asked and the brothers just watched her with terror in their eyes. "Leaving Adam in that cage isn't an option I'm comfortable with, much like leaving my brother in Purgatory, although that's not as bad as being with Lucifer." She concluded and the motel room fell eerily silent.
"Yes." Dean replied, looking into her eyes with such intensity.
"Then leave it up to me." she replied in a soft tone of voice with softness in her eyes to match. "I care a lot about you and Sam, so much that your friends and family are living happily in Helheim." She added and they looked at her, slightly horrified. "They have the best of the best and I dealt with Crowley to get your father out of Hell, so please let me do this." She concluded and both brothers stared at each other, slightly shocked.
Rowan looked up at Fenrir and he glanced down at the Winchesters as if he was expecting them to cave in too. When she looked back at the brothers, they met her gaze and she knew the decision was left up to Dean.
"Fine." He said and she smiled softly at him. "You can really help Adam?" he asked and she nodded. At that moment, she could see a painful memory in his eyes. Both Sam and Adam had been in Lucifer's cage, serving as vessels to Michael and Lucifer. Dean asked Death to help him get his brothers' souls out of the cage and Death made him choose between Sam and Adam.
Rowan was angry and, when Dean noticed, she relaxed and gently placed her hand on his shoulder, taking all that pain away. Oh he might remember it, but he won't be feeling that crap. She did the same to Sam because she could feel his fear of Lucifer, poor guy.
"You damned right I'm going to help Adam." She replied and decided that Death was going to help too, like it or not.
The bastard.