This chapter is dedicated to ladysunshine6 who has been waiting very patiently for it to be written. I hope you enjoy it!
Also a shoutout to ~earthhangel who gets her name and profession featured ;)
Always,
Always asking the question,
Why life is overrated.
But I never,
Never expected that I'd,
Underestimated my love for you.
To your grave I spoke,
Holding a red,
Red rose.
Gust of freezing cold air,
Whispers to me,
That you are gone.
Spent a lifetime of holding on,
Just to let go.
I guess I'll spend another lifetime,
Searching for a new hope.
DARK DREAMS
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Dean's POV
There were at least five demons on the immediate scene, and probably more that we couldn't see. I swallowed, licking my dry lips, and glanced over at Beth and Sam beside me.
"Ain't gonna be easy," I stated the obvious. "We could just go home, give this one a miss?"
Beth smirked at me, we all knew it wasn't an option.
"Well, Castiel did say this seal was important," Sam said, nodding down toward the clearing where the demons were preparing some kind of rack, presumably to hold the pagan god when he arrived.
"I'll tell you, if I ever thought I'd see the day we'd be saving a monster, rather than killing it…" I shook my head, not happy with the new arrangement we found ourselves in.
"The lesser of two evils Dean…" Sam reminded me, not for the first time today.
"Yeah, yeah… I know… I'm here aren't I?" I complained. Sam sighed and looked back down to the clearing.
"If we approach from three different directions we'll at least have the element of surprise," Beth said, nodding toward a ridge to our right, and a tree line that led down a slope from the left. I contemplated the already precarious drop down to the ground from where we were hiding and nodded.
"Yeah, you're right." I agreed. "Sam, you take the ridge, Beth you get the trees," I said, and she raised an eyebrow at me silently as if to chastise me giving her the girl route. I threw her my best roguish grin and kissed her cheek.
"You can thank me later," I whispered in her ear, starting to stand. She rolled her big brown eyes at me and shook her head, her dark locks bouncing around her neck in a ponytail. I looked a little more sternly at her this time, fighting the urge to follow her into those trees, the same urge that had been with me since I got back from Hell. Beth hesitated just a moment, watching me. She was used to these little moments now.
"Go on," I said with a nod. "Be careful." She smiled and disappeared into the green foliage of the trees around us. Sam was already long gone and making his way to the ridge where he'd have a similar drop to me. I groaned, looking down at the hard ground below.
"My knees just aren't what they used to be," I muttered to myself, positioning myself in the best location for a non-fatal drop.
Within minutes there was a commotion as a figure in silver chains was pulled forward out of a small wooded area by three more demons. Great. Show time. I caught a glimpse of Beth sneaking through the undergrowth and into a position behind two demons. She had the knife, I'd insisted on it. Sam and I were going to have to make do with salt and good old exorcisms.
A demon was reciting a litany in a low, bellowing voice, and the wind started to pick up. We were running out of time, this show was going to be over before it even began. Sam seemed to realise this at the same time as he suddenly dropped from the ridge into the clearing and ran at several of the demons, drawing their attention toward him. I used this distraction to make my own drop, landing in a crouch and rolling to absorb the impact.
Back on my feet I spotted the lithe figure of Beth moving out of the shadows and slitting two demons by their throats, as she made her way toward the pagan god.
"Dean!" Sam's voice pulled me back to the task at hand and I grabbed the salt tied in a bag to my waist. Moving quickly, I drew a circle of salt around Sam and the four demons that were on top of him. Sam started reciting the exorcism as he dodged the angry demons swinging at him, he was about to lose that advantage.
A big burly biker-looking dude managed to grab hold of Sam's arms, pulling him back and locking him to his hard chest. Sam struggled but, with the added power of the demon fuelling him, the bikie was unbeatable. Two of the demons started to pound on Sam, while the remaining one came for me as I finished the circle.
"Terribilis Deus de sanctuario suo," I took up from where Sam had left off. "Deus Israhel ipse truderit… virtutem et fortitudinem plebe Suae!" The demons hesitated, clutching at their heads and howling. It was enough to make the big guy drop Sam who with a gasp, staggered away and uttered the final part to the exorcism.
"Benedictus deus! Gloria patri!"
Black smoke poured from the mouths of the demons and over the sounds of the howling I heard fighting in the background. I spun to see Beth stab a third demon and toss a confused look at the demon still reading out a litany, seemingly unfazed by the commotion going on around him. She took the moment to work at the restraints of the pagan god with a pair of bolt cutters we'd brought with us. I saw them both talking as he instructed her.
Suddenly six more demons set upon us from the woods, and I looked up with a sigh. Guess that's why the head dude wasn't worried.
"Dean!" Beth yelled, and I watched the silver glint of the knife fly through the air toward me, landing at my feet. I picked it up rammed it into the stomach of one of the demons running toward me, spinning around and slicing into the throat of a second. I spun again, and a third demon this time a little more cautious, started to circle me, face to face, feinting in with a few knives of his own.
"She's got him!" Sam yelled, fighting off a couple more demons and I glanced over to see the guy on the rack break free of the silver chains holding him, to the frustrated roar of the lead demon. So there was an element of panic in there after all.
The demon circling me took this distraction to charge me, but he wasn't fast enough. I feinted left and brought my arm up and around until I stabbed him through the throat, his body falling to the ground. I moved toward Sam and made short work of the two on him as well, turning back to Beth who was herself now in a wrestling match with one of the remaining demons.
The pagan god intervened, lifting the demon up by his neck and there was a flash of white light and then the eyes of the demon went dark and his body fell limp. A glint of silver caught my eyes with the fading sunlight and I watched, unable to move or do anything as the last demon, the leader, thrust toward the pagan god with a long silver sword.
"No!" Beth yelled, and it was all as if in slow motion. The sword slicing through the air, Beth's sudden movement to push the god out of danger, but she'd been caught unprepared and unbalanced, and it propelled her body forward. I could see what was happening before it even occurred and I was already running with a soundless scream.
"Beth!" Sam called out behind me, seeing it too, as the sword caught her in the stomach.
"Nooooo!" I ran as fast as I could, but just as it was like watching it in slow motion, my body didn't seem to move any faster. She hit the ground with a gasp and the demon cursed, pulling the sword out and swinging again for the God. But the God had vanished, eliciting a cry of anger from the demon. Sam overtook me and grabbed the knife from my hand. I was vaguely aware of blood flying and a demonic shriek as I fell to my knees on the dusty ground, pulling my wife into my arms.
"Be… Beth! No, no, no…." I said, grabbing her face as it turned white and she slumped in my arms. "Beth!"
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Sam's POV
The flickering of the fluorescent lights glared as we raced along the crowded ER corridors toward the operating room. How we'd made it to the hospital in the time we had I had no idea, but Dean had a demon driver inside of him, and he wasn't sweating the speeding tickets.
"Sir, sir! You're going to have to stay here," a short little nurse, whose nametag read "Caitlyn", was pushing against Dean's chest, which was heaving as if he'd run a marathon.
"No, I need to know what's going on, do something!" He said with a pitchy voice, he was panicking and needed to calm down.
"Dean!" I said, grabbing his arm. "Dean, she's in good hands, they're doing everything they can." There was nothing more to say, we had to trust that they'd pull her through.
"That's right sir, let us do our jobs," Caitlyn said, turning on her heel and moving back into the room what was shut off from us by glass doors. No sooner had the doors swung shut than the tell-tale sound of flat lining reached our ears.
"No, no, no no no!" Dean uttered, moving up to the glass and hitting it. "God dammit, you bring her back!" He yelled through the glass, drawing no attention from the team inside.
He pressed his forehead to the window and we watched in horror as the attending team moved quickly around Beth who lay limp on the gurney.
"God, don't you take her from me now… not after everything we've been through you son of a bitch." Dean muttered next to me. I reached out and grasped his shoulder, squeezing it in encouragement, trying not to give in to the panic I was also feeling.
I grimaced as the panels came out and with a resounding 'Clear!" her body was zapped with electrical current, and jumped off the gurney.
It felt like a lifetime as the doctor shouted instructions to the emergency team, pointed looks at the monitors, the shaking of heads. A second zap and nothing… the doctor wiped his hand across his brow, and then solemnly nodded at the team as Dean groaned besides me.
Finally, the decision was made and slowly the paddles moved to Beth's chest a third time. Dean's knuckles bled through to white as he grasped a railing under the window, his breathing short and panicked. Would it work?
Like a prayer coming from the Heavens, the sharp pitch of Beth's heart started to play over the machines and I let out a breath I hadn't even known I was holding. I looked over at Dean whose forehead was pressed to the window and his eyes plastered to Beth lying unconscious, but alive.
Beth had lost a lot of blood, but it had never stopped us before. Even with that thought, I grimaced, unhappy with the path things were taking.
2 hours later
Dean's POV
"You can see her now, Mr Ford," Caitlyn said, startling us from a revelry as we sat in hard, uncomfortable chairs in the waiting area.
"Is she alright?" Dean asked. "Is she awake?" He jumped to his feet, following the woman down to a room in ICU.
"She's still unconscious," the nurse said simply.
"What does that mean?" Dean asked, pushing past her into the room where Beth lay white, and deathly still.
"The doctor will be with you soon," she said cryptically, and I took a deep breath. This wasn't good news.
Dean sat at the edge of the bed, grasping Beth's left hand in his own and leaning down to kiss her forehead.
"Baby, you need to listen to me, you need to wake up, okay? You need to come back to us here…I promise… I promise I'll take us on a nice long holiday… no demons, no angels, nothing but you and me, and a pitcher full of margaritas somewhere. Whatever you want, just… don't leave me here."
A throat cleared in the doorway and I looked around to see a short, balding man with round glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.
"Mr Ford?" He asked, looking over at Dean who simply nodded.
"How is she doc?" I asked, cutting in.
"Not good, I'm afraid," the doctor said, stepping further into the room. "Your wife has sustained a very serious abdominal wound. How did this happen?"
"Hunting accident," I said.
"Mugging…" Dean said simultaneously.
"A… mugging, while we were hunting," I corrected, raising my eyebrow at Dean. "We're not really sure what the motive was, he just jumped us out of nowhere, stabbed Beth, and ran…" I said with a nod.
"Crazy…" said the doctor in a very monotone voice, clearly not believing a word we had to say.
"Doc…" Dean said, still holding on to Beth's hand as he looked over at the surgeon. "Is she gonna be okay?"
The doctor sucked in a long breath. "I don't know." He answered. "We've repaired the damage, but she's lost a lot of blood. She's stable, but… we won't know the extent of the damage until she wakes up… if… she wakes up."
"If?" I asked.
"Yes, you need to prepare yourselves for the chance that Elizabeth may not wake up from this coma," he said quietly.
"What?" Dean asked. "Oh, no… no no no no no Doc you gotta do something. She… no… you can't," Dean ran a hand across his face and shook his head. "You can't leave her like this."
"We can't determine anything until we give it some time, so please, get some rest. I'll check back in the morning." The doctor glanced sadly at the pale vision of Beth on the bed, and then quietly exited the room.
Dean's POV
"Well I for one am not waiting around for some quack to decide whether she lives or dies," I muttered, standing up and starting to pace the room. "There's gotta be… Cas!" Sam watched me as I suddenly realised there was one person missing from this equation. "Why didn't I…?"
"Think of me sooner?" Cas asked, and we both spun to find the dark haired man in a trenchcoat standing in the opposite corner of the room. His eyes lit upon Beth on the bed and he stepped up beside her, his face as calm and emotionless as always.
"Where the hell have you been?!" I demanded, glaring at the angel. "Aren't you supposed to be her guardian angel? Where the hell were you guys?!"
"We can't be everywhere Dean," Cas reminded me as he placed his hand over Beth's forehead. "We are…"
"…fighting a war… yeah yeah yeah, I've heard it all before," I snapped. "Fix her." It came out harsher than I intended, but I was desperate, I'd do anything to bring her back to me, to us. Cas had to do something, he was her angel, and what the hell were we fighting for if the angels couldn't even help us?
Cas turned to look at Beth, concentrating as he closed his eyes. For a moment it seemed like maybe the room got a little bit lighter, a while light flashing over us, and then… nothing.
"Is that it?" I asked with a frown.
"Something is wrong," Cas replied cryptically.
"Damn straight something is wrong, my wife is in a coma Cas!"
"No, something else," he said.
"What do you mean Cas?" Sam interjected, his puppy dog eyes looking all worried as he stepped up to the end of the bed.
"She's not here," Cas replied, looking at Sam.
"What are you talking about? She's lying right here!" I said with exasperation.
"No, I mean her soul. She's not here," Cas replied and then just like that, with a sound of wings, he disappeared.
"Cas! You son of a bitch! Get back here!" I yelled to thin air, throwing my hands up in the air. This was ridiculous. What the hell was going on here? What was I going to do? I threw myself into the chair beside Beth, my heart threatening to beat its way out of my chest as I looked on her serene, pale face.
"Baby you can't give up," I whispered softly, leaning in to her and pressing my forehead against the side of her face. "Don't leave me here alone, you promised."
Sam watched silently, for once in his life having nothing to say. I just wanted him to leave us alone, but I couldn't find the words to send him away. Not when she was his sister too. I blocked him out, shutting my eyes and listening to the forced breathing of the machine Beth was hooked up to, it sounded hollow and cold, like she was missing – just as Cas said.
With that thought the sound of bird wings echoed into the room and Cas appeared. "She is not in Heaven," he announced, and I looked up urgently.
"What do you mean, she's not in Heaven?" I asked.
"Her soul," Cas replied. "If she had died, her soul would either be here by her body, in Heaven, or…."
"Or?" I asked.
"Or in Hell," Sam finished quietly and Cas nodded.
"Hell…" I whispered, my throat suddenly dry and sore. I swallowed to try and ease the reaction. "What do you mean, Hell?"
Sam hesitated, looking at me. "Sam… why would Beth be in Hell?" I asked, looking up.
"I don't know," he answered, shaking his head. "She shouldn't be…. She couldn't…"
"She isn't," Cas said, interrupting. I shot him a dark look.
"How do you know?"
"Because we know where all our charges are, Heaven or Hell," Cas replied. "She is in neither."
"What the hell does that mean?!" I demanded, sitting up and glasping at Beth's hand. "Where the hell is my wife, Cas?"
"I don't know."
10 days after Beth's stabbing
Sam's POV
Dean was on his third beer for the morning already, and I sighed, watching as he paced the room. He hadn't left Beth's side the entire time she'd been out, his face becoming unkempt and rough. I couldn't even get him to shower. It was becoming an issue.
Bobby had arrived on the third day, solemn and cursing, lugging a trolley full of archaic tomes for us to look through. The nurses and doctor thought we were mad, I'm sure of it, as day by day we flipped through the dusty pages of each book, looking for an answer.
I sighed, rubbing my eyes and shaking my head. This was hopeless. There was nothing to be done, and I hated to admit it, but maybe this time we were out of our depth.
My phone started to vibrate in my pocket and wearily I reached for it, answering before I knew who it was.
'Yeah?"
"Sammy, tell me again who this god was you were saving," Jefferson's voice sounded over the line and I frowned.
"Uh, we don't know, just some god," I answered, and both Bobby and Dean stopped what they were doing to look at me. "We never got a name."
"What did he look like?"
"I don't know Jefferson! Like a man… I guess?" I replied. I hadn't really been paying that much attention to the creature at the time. I switched the phone to speaker so Dean and Bobby could hear.
"No, I mean, cultural? Any features you might recognise? Was he Chinese? Japanese? Roman? Greek? Native American?"
"Uhhh, white I guess. Maybe Mediterranean, olive skin, dark hair, a beard…" I shrugged as I held the phone and Bobby reached for another book, starting to flip through it with a determined look..
"Roman…. I'm thinking," Jefferson said, starting to sound excited. "Or maybe…"
"Greek…" Bobby finished, holding up an open book to a picture of a sculpture of a Greek god. I shrugged at it, the statue could have been anyone.
"Yeah… maybe," I said, "who is that?"
"Hades," Bobby answered.
"Yes!" Jefferson said over the phone. "She's not here, because she's literally not here…"
"What are you both talking about? Speak English dammit!" Dean snapped.
"She's in the Underworld," Jefferson replied, "It's the only explanation."
"The Underworld?" Dean asked, looking up. "What the Hell is that?"
"Not what, but where," Bobby answered, his face growing dark. "If you were to believe the legends, it's like another form of Purgatory… maybe. But the pagan version."
"The pagan myths and legends have been around for millennia more than the Christian…" Jefferson continued. "It stands to reason they have their own afterlife, places the souls of true believers go. Like the Viking Valhalla, the Indian Summerlands, Nirvana…. Countless others."
"You're saying this God has taken Beth into the pagan Underworld?" I asked, the puzzle starting to come into some form.
"The pagan Heaven?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well it's as good an explanation as any," Bobby said with a nod, glancing over at the immobile Beth.
"Well all right then!" Dean said, standing up and swaying on his feet slightly. "We got a plan! Let's go find this Underworld and get her back!"
"Dean, it's not that simple," I said, reaching a hand out to him, knowing it was going to be a pointless argument.
"Yeah, you idjit, you don't just walk into the afterlife," Bobby scowled. "You think this is gonna be easy?"
"I don't care!" Dean roared, throwing a cup against the opposite wall where it shattered and rained coffee on the floor. "This is Beth! I don't care if she's in Hell itself, I'm going to get her!"
"Dean calm down!" I said, standing up and grabbing him by the arm, pushing him back into his seat. "No one is suggesting we don't get her back," I soothed. "But we need to come up with a plan."
"Yeah, and I'm fresh out of pagan messengers that might know of a way into their version of life after death…" Bobby said with a scowl.
"Fortunately… today is your lucky day," Jefferson's voice sounded over the phone that I'd laid down on the table beside the bed. "I have a lead…."
Underworld
Beth's POV
Flashes of the last few weeks were still coming like dreams to my muddled head. Where I was, I still couldn't quite tell, but it certainly didn't feel like anywhere I'd been before. If anything there was a slightly not-quite-here feel to here, like the birthing grounds of Heaven, yet it was more than that.
I closed my eyes and saw candy-apple green eyes flash with panic before me. "Beth!" Dean's voice echoed through my head as the realisation of something entering my abdomen sliced through me like a papercut. It was painless, at first, and then the blood….the sharpness of the blade cutting through me like butter.
I found myself propelled out of my body before I even knew what had happened. Dean dropping to my side, his face stricken with panic and despair.
"Dean!" I called out, but he didn't hear me. He started talking urgently to Sam and together they moved my body. I moved to follow them, I'd seen this before, I'd heard Dean's story of when he was dead, waiting on the other side - I'd been through it once myself. He got back into his body, somehow, so did I. I could do it again… I wasn't going to leave…
As soon as the image of the boys moving me to the car had come upon me, it disappeared. "No! Dean…" I murmured in the semi-sleep I'd been in for weeks. I rolled over, furs and satins intertwined beneath me, soft and gentle against my skin. I was wearing the sheerest of gowns, barely anything, and I couldn't remember ever changing.
Then suddenly, he was there again. The god from the seal. His hair was long, black as the cloak of night, and fell across his forehead. Dark, stormy eyes peered into mine with both concern and desire.
"Who are you?" I whispered, feeling groggy and weak.
"Sleep… princess. You will remember soon enough," he said with a deep voice, simple and plain.
"Where is my husband?" I asked, feeling the weight of a thousand stars falling down upon me again. My head fell back down against my forearms, and I closed my eyes. "Where is Dean?"
Miami, Florida
Jefferson's POV
I wandered back into the bedroom with a couple of glasses of red wine and a smile on my face, watching as the beautiful blonde on the other side of the room slipped into her skimpy little red mini dress, and stepped into matching high heels.
"Going so soon?" I asked with a lilt to my voice, gesturing at her with the glass in my right hand. "I thought we were past all the friends with benefits stuff. Not staying for dinner?"
"You're about to have guests," she replied with a roll of her blue eyes, sauntering over to stand in front of me. The heels brought her almost level with my eyes, but not quite. She kissed me softly, the tenderness belying the session we'd just finished. I cast an appraising eye over the assortment of bondage and painful pleasure toys on the bed… my favourite… a flogger, which had been used liberally in our latest session.
I reached around with my free hand when she took the wine glass from me, grabbing a handful of buttock and chuckled when she hissed in reply.
"Bastard…"
"You love it," I retorted, biting down on her lower lip, and sucking softly. She slid a hand between us, grabbing playfully at my groin, a handful of cock through my boxer briefs responding almost immediately, even with the overuse it had just gotten.
"You better believe it," she whispered with a smile.
"Oh you got me believing a whole lot of things, pretty lady," I smoothed the line out, knowing it really was as cheesy as it sounded.
She snorted, taking a sip of her wine before shaking her head and letting go of my suddenly bulging arousal. "Don't play your pretty lines on me, loverboy," she chastised, but she paused and watched me thoughtfully, her eyes turning soft. "You know they always work."
I smiled, reaching a hand up to tenderly brush a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry we're getting interrupted," I said, "when this is over we can get away for a good break."
"We shall see, I have a feeling dark times are upon us," she commented, her eyes turning dark as night all of a sudden.
"Altea…" I growled, frowning at her. "Stop being such a negative Nancy."
She blinked, and blue eyes were staring back at me. "Oh you are too positive for your own good Jefferson my love," she smirked. "There will come a time that will be taken from you."
"Perhaps…" I commented, shrugging my shoulders. "But not today. Today I come up with a way to save Patrick and Grace's daughter from the Underworld."
"Well, I hope your pagan demigod is as helpful as he is elusive," she smiled. "You owe me for that little piece of information."
"At this stage, I'm starting to think I may never be out of debt to you," I grinned. Not that I minded, her payments were nearly always pleasurable for me too.
She smiled, looking at me wistfully. "I'll miss you priest," Altea said, kissing me quickly. "Don't take so long to call me again."
And with that she was gone, in a puff of smoke, and there was a banging at my door downstairs.
"Your timing is impeccable… as always my love," I said with a sigh to the empty room. I sat the glass of wine I was holding down on the table nearby and moved to pull on a pair of jeans, followed by a blue button down shirt. Barefoot, I padded down the stairs to the sounds of people already moving about the foyer.
Miami, Florida
Dean's POV
"You know, I never could figure out how old Jefferson could afford all this," I said to Sam as we let ourselves into the house. I wandered into the foyer, looking around, and then on toward a sitting area overlooking the outdoor pool.
"Well, not all hunters are wanderers," Sam murmured. "Beth's Dad wasn't… most weren't. I guess we just got the short end of the straw with that one."
I snorted, shaking my head. "I'd rather be on the road," but I knew it to be a lie. Too often I'd caught myself thinking about a life with Beth, settled down, in a house… with kids. Giving her a life that we'd never had, one that she'd had for a moment with her parents and then lost.
"The road has its advantages...and disadvantages," Sam replied quietly, coming to stand beside me.
"You know… the amount of times I swore I'd stop all this, I'd just do whatever it took to make her happy. When I was down there," I was speaking, but my mind was a thousand light years away in another time and place. "I promised myself so many times that I'd give up hunting, get a house, having kids."
Now she was dead. And with each passing day I felt her slipping farther and farther away. I felt numb: I couldn't eat, I couldn't drink, I could barely sleep. Leaving her in that hospital had been the hardest thing I'd done in the two weeks she'd been gone.
"We'll get her back," Sam said, his hand coming to rest on my shoulder and bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah," I muttered, nodding and sucking in a sharp breath, blinking back the tears that had started to well in my eyes. "Yeah, 'course we will, where is that damn preacher?"
"You rang?" Jefferson's voice echoed through the room, and I turned with a lazy grin toward the Englishman. He looked like he'd just dragged his ass out of bed, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and a shirt. Knowing Jefferson, that could possibly be true. The man worked hard, but he did enjoy his down time too.
"About time you put in an appearance, old man," I joked, moving to shake his proffered hand.
"I've been waiting for you, clearly we need to take my car to the Keys… yours seems to be lacking speed these days," Jefferson raised an eyebrow, and looked out the window to where the Impala was sitting at the front door, parked next to his '69 Plymouth Roadrunner.
"I thought you wrecked that old thing during the rising of the witnesses?" I asked, frowning at what looked like a brand new vehicle.
"Amazing what throwing money at a problem will do," Jefferson said thoughtfully, raising his eyebrow.
"Where do you get all your money?" I asked, shaking my head.
"Born lucky, good chap, just born lucky," he answered with a grin. "Anytime you want to settle down with Beth, just say the word. I'll buy you any house you want."
The mention of Beth's name was like a stab to the heart, and it must have shown on my face because Jefferson cursed.
"Sorry mate, look, I have every confidence we're going to get her back. I'm betting on it," he said quickly.
"Yeah, Dean, he's right. Nothing has stopped us before," Sam chimed in and I nodded.
"I hope you're right, man," I said quietly, sighing as I looked out over the view of Miami. "She'd love to spend some more time here, with you and her Dad's journals."
"Done," Jefferson said with a nod. "Now, let's get a move on. My source has given me the location to this demigod, let's go see if he's home."
"I'm driving!" I grinned.
"I don't think so!" Jefferson snorted, shaking his head.
"Tell him Sam, I called it," I looked to my brother for intervention, but it didn't seem very forthcoming as the younger man chortled, shaking his head.
"I don't trust either of you, I think you're both running on fumes here," he said. "I think I should be driving."
"Pfffft," I disagreed, "I'm fine."
"Dean, you haven't slept more than a few hours each night, in almost two weeks," Sam pointed out.
"I'm fine." The answer might have come out a little more gruffly than I intended. My patience was wearing thin, and he was correct, much as I hated to admit it, I was exhausted. Even if I wanted to sleep, I couldn't, my dreams were plagued by images of Beth - watching her fall to that sword, seeing her in that ER, in a coma… just as I thought I was coming to terms with it, she'd be in front of me, smiling, alive. I'd reach for her, and in a puff of smoke she'd vanish, and I'd wake in a sweat, eyes to find her still passed out, still gone… dea… no I couldn't even think it. She was alive, and I was going to bring her back.
"...and so it'll be at least a three hour drive," Jefferson was saying to Sam, and I realised I'd missed a chunk of time. Maybe letting someone else drive would be wise.
"Three hours? We're already at the end of the world, where the hell is this guy?" I asked.
"A little place called No Name Key," Jefferson replied.
"Catchy," I smirked.
"That's nearly the end of the line. Just the type of place someone would go to disappear," Sam commented and Jefferson nodded.
"I have no doubt he was not expecting to be found in this location," the man replied. "Nor do I know whether we will be welcomed or not when we arrive."
"Only one way to find out," I said with a sigh, looking out to the ocean.
No Name Key, Florida
Dean's POV
I'd slept, but again like any other time it didn't feel like it. I must have woken a dozen times in the three hour trip to Nowhere, or No Name, or wherever the hell we were. There was a lot of water, that much I knew, and not a whole lot of anything else.
I stared out the window as we crossed the expanse of blue to land from the bigger key nearby. Beaches, a few deer dotted the side of the road, and palm trees - lots of those. It was quiet, very quiet - seemed like the perfect place for a god, or demigod, or whatever Jefferson was taking us to see, to lay low.
"Not far now," Jefferson said from the driver's seat, seeing me stir.
"What are we dealing with here? What's our leverage?" I asked, rubbing the weariness out of my eyes.
"We have none. You're going to have to hope he takes pity on you," Jefferson said, his jaw tense.
"Great," I muttered, "because monsters take so nicely to the name Winchester."
"There has to be something," Sam said.
"Look, all I know is that the myths tell of a heroic man, perhaps you can appeal to that side of him," Jefferson said and Sam nodded.
"Yes, he did work to help the people, he hated his father, if the myths are true," Sam agreed. "Maybe you and he have something in common," he said to me and I snorted.
"Me, hate Dad? I think that's your department there Sammy," I said, though I couldn't disagree there were moments, even now, that I got so frustrated with Dad that I could hit him.
Sam frowned, but didn't say anything further, falling silent. Jefferson steered the Plymouth up to a small house on a slight sand dune, overlooking the never ending blue waters.
"Nice digs," I said as he shut off the engine.
"Are you ready for this?" Jefferson asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be," I replied, opening the door. "Let's get this over with."
30mins Later
Dean's POV
Things hadn't started out all that well, but we hadn't been turned away at the door either. Jefferson had led the conversation, explaining our unique situation and what we were looking for: a way into the Underworld. The demigod was looking at us with a mixture of amusement and disbelief.
"Go home, hunters. It takes more than bravado to enter into the lair of Hades," he said, his long brown hair curling down over his shoulders.
"Listen, Hercules…"
"Heracles," Sam corrected.
"Heracles…" I quickly amended. "I know you don't owe us a thing, but please, there has to be something that you need, something we can help you with." If I knew anything about anyone, they always had an asking price. It was just a matter of figuring out what it was. Sometimes it was easy - money, weapons, information… sometimes it was harder. Looking at the man in front of me, I was having my doubts that this would be an easy case of handing over a few hundred dollar bills.
The god looked at me, the doubt written plainly across his face. He crossed his arms across his chiseled chest and shook his head silently.
"I'm begging you. Please…" I said, feeling that familiar ache in my throat again. I would not cry. Action, forward, move soldier. This was our life. I had to keep moving. I had to see this through until the end. I wouldn't rest until I had her with me again.
"Heracles," Sam interceded, his big puppy-dog eyes watching the man. "You loved once…"
This caused the man to flinch, visibly, and I knew what I had to do. That was my in.
"Yes. Yes, then you know. You know exactly what I'm feeling," I said. "Please, I can't live without her. We already lost our child, I can't do this without her. I have this bullshit apocalypse looming over all of our heads, and I'm supposed to somehow help with this?"
"You're a chosen one," Heracles said softly, the tone of his voice almost sad. His eyes looked at me with a compassion that had been lacking until this moment..
"Yes, yes he is," Sam said, nodding quickly. "He is a chosen one."
"That is why she is taken. Such is the life of a chosen one. We cannot know personal happiness. Only the happiness of the people."
"Bullshit!" I snapped, and he looked surprised at me.
"You really believe that man? What a load of crock! We've been happy, together, and we still do whatever we can to help people. You think it's one or the other? I'm telling you, there is no separation. I can't do this without her, she gives me the heart to keep going. Without her…" I stopped short, feeling that lump in my throat, I didn't even want to think about what that entailed. I had to get her back. "Without her… I might as well be dead myself."
Heracles paused, looking down at the ground. When he looked up again, I saw a resolution in his eyes.
"There is a way," he said quietly, looking into my very soul. "But there are no guarantees."
"I'll take my chances," I replied.
"It's dangerous."
"Have you heard of the Winchesters?" I scoffed, to which he smirked.
"And I have a condition."
"Name it," I said, without missing a beat. I'd give my own soul, for her. Of course, that was kind of how we'd gotten into this mess in the first place, in a roundabout way of looking at things. Didn't mean I wouldn't do it all over again. I'd do anything for Beth, but hopefully it wouldn't take anything quite so drastic this time.
"I want you to carry out the souls of my wife and children," Heracles replied.
"Your what…?"
"Wife and children," Sam said, nodding in that infuriating way that tells me I've missed something. "You want them returned to you? Why haven't you done it before now?"
"I can't go into the Underworld and get them myself," Heracles replied. "I am a gatekeeper… I cannot enter myself." I glanced at Sam with a shrug, I really didn't know what was going on now.
"You're a gatekeeper?" Sam asked. "I hadn't heard that myth."
The man hesitated, his eye flicking from me, to Jefferson and back to Sam. "There are a great many things you do not know about me."
"But the rumours of your wife and children?" Sam asked.
"True. Although greatly exaggerated over time. My story comes long before that of the Greek civilisation. All you need know is that I was drive mad, by my Father, and that sickness was what destroyed my family."
"And the Twelve Trials of Heracles?" Jefferson asked, and I just shook my head. What did any of this have to do with getting Beth back?
"Atonement. Though the trial, singular, was far harsher than anything Heracles has been told to have faced," said the man. " I was told they would be returned to me," Heracles said with a frown.
"But they weren't?" Sam asked.
"Wait…" I struggled to follow the conversation. "You killed your wife and children?"
Heracles stopped to look at me and then returned his gaze to Sam, choosing to ignore me. Which naturally just annoyed me even more.
"No, they were not," Heracles replied. "Instead, I was made the gatekeeper to their prison - a shell of a world, for they were not allowed to enter the Paradise of our Father's world. Another cruel joke on his part. Now instead I walk this earth without them." I cringed. There was no way I could go on without Beth.
I knew I would do anything to get her back, I wasn't going to accept this as part of my 'fate' for being chosen: a fate I never even asked for in the first place. "What would I have to do?"
Sam looked incredulously at me. "Dean, you need to think…"
"No, Sam, I'm done thinking," I said, holding up a hand to him. "What?" I asked, looking at the God.
"There is a ritual, that will allow you to travel with their souls inside of you. When you return from the Underworld, I will show you what to do." Heracles said.
"Deal." I said, nodding. "Let's get started."
"Wait, Dean, maybe you should reconsider this," Sam's incessantly annoying warning tone was grating on my last nerve.
"No, Sam, Beth has been in that hospital for weeks, and no one else has any answers! I'm not leaving her. If she were in Heaven, maybe, because she believes in that and wants that, but … some freaky assed pagan idea of the afterlife? No… just no." Even as I said it, I knew I was only being half honest. I would follow her to Heaven itself to get her back. I was pretty damn sure she'd do the same for me.
Beth's POV
How long had I been here? One month? Two? Four? It felt like forever. If four months without Dean had been bad enough, this was torture. Knowing that he would be looking for me, and unable to find a way to get back to the real world, I was starting to lose hope.
My stomach gurgled, I felt the pain shooting through it, and closed my eyes to try and block it out.
"You're hungry sugarpie," he said, and I shook my head against the familiar voice.
"Go away," I whispered.
"Baby you need to eat something," Dean's voice assaulted my senses and I felt myself waver. I wanted to give in. I wanted to take whatever delicacy was being placed before me today and devour it. I opened my eyes to lemon meringue pie, my favourite, and groaned.
"You need to keep your strength up until I find you," I could have sworn these words were whispered in my ear, inside my head.
"I remember the stories, Hades, no," I replied, shaking my head. A seed, one little pomegranate seed, was all it had taken to seal Persephone's fate in the underworld. Be damned if I was going to see myself resigned to such a place.
"The stories are greatly exaggerated my love," Hades said, and I felt him materialise in front of me, the game let go for the moment. He fell beside me on the mattresses and furs with a flourish, the small table holding the pie unaffected by his movements. Waving his arm toward the pie, he tossed me a disarming smile.
"Consider it a peace offering," he said. "I know how hungry you must feel."
As if in response, my stomach rumbled again and I bit down on my lower lip, eyeing off the pie. Dean would cave in a second, it was pie afterall. He also didn't follow Greek Mythology, and he wouldn't understand the ramifications of eating something of this other world. I smiled slightly as I thought about the goofball I was married to. He would find me, it was only a matter of time. I had to hold on until then. It had only been four months. He'd endured forty years without me.
"No, thank you." I said resolutely.
Hades' eyes turned darker, if that were possible, and a scowl crossed his face.
"I grow tired of these games, Persephone!" He spat out, sweeping his arm outwards and knocking the table and the pie clear across the room. Within a moment he had pounced on top of me, pinning me to the mattress, my arms above my head as I struggled against his godly strength.
He had me pressed under him, but he wouldn't be able to move without giving away his advantage. I had the skills to fight against his moves, had been doing it for months now. He also seemed cautious to take me against my will, but how long that would last I did not know.
"I am not Persephone," I said, for the hundredth time.
"Why are you playing these games with me, wife?" His eyes glittered with unshed tears, and soft lips found mine, pressing against them, his tongue forcing his way into mine. It was wet, and cold, like his heart. Fingers dug into mine, sharp and unyielding - his body weight was heavy on top of me, and I couldn't move. I did what I always did, I froze.
Whatever he had tried, this always seemed to perturb him. If I fought, he found that arousing. When I froze and gave him no response, he seemed perplexed with this action. Although today he seemed to be more riled up than usual. Something was bothering him.
He clicked his fingers and I found shackles suddenly around my wrists and ankles. I gasped with surprise: this was new, and I didn't realise that reality was quite so malleable down here.
"Hades…" I cautioned with a tone threatening to give away my rising panic. "What are you doing?"
He sat back, a triumphant smile on his face as he knelt between my suddenly spread-eagled legs. "You know my wife, you always did like things a little rough to start with, I thought perhaps you'd remember how we were, before you left to visit your mother… but apparently, I'm going to have to remind you."
"Uh, no, what you need to remind yourself is that I'm not Persephone, Hades, I'm not your wife!" I struggled for real against the tightening ropes this time, my heart started to hammer in my chest.
He took no heed, his hands sliding up along my thighs, pushing the dress up to reveal my nudity underneath. Instinctively I tried to push my legs closed, warning bells going off in my mind. Memories of moments from my teenaged encounter, with Travis, screamed through my head.
"No…" I whispered, my breath catching. "No, I'm telling you no. This isn't your wife. You've made a mistake. My name is Beth, I am not her. I have a husband, who is looking for me right now."
Jefferson's POV
Something didn't seem quite right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Either way it was the best lead we'd had in weeks on how to get to Beth. I had no doubt in my mind that when Altea brought me the information, she'd paid a huge price for it, and so the information was good - but there always seemed to be an unseen price for these things.
A wave hit the bow of the yacht, and Dean muttered in back of me. "Christ! What the hell are we doing on an ocean?" He asked.
"Well, you wouldn't get on the plane," I joked back at him and he scowled. He had begrudgingly said he'd do the plane if needed, but the reality was that the boat would get us to where we needed to be faster.
"How far out are we?" Dean asked and I squinted into the distance, I was certain I could just see land.
"Not far, be there within the hour," I called back. We were well into International Waters now, having left behind the coast of Miami and headed out East. The Bahamas, in the Bermuda Triangle. Ah what a strange and wacky place it had always been. I didn't put a lot of stock in all the rumours about it, but I'd seen and heard enough to know that there were some things that simply couldn't be explained with reason.
"We're looking for High Rock, on the Grand Bahama," he said, nodding in the direction of the land I was headed for.
"Seems like an odd place for an entry into the Underworld," I said.
"What seems a likely place?" He asked, and I shrugged. I couldn't answer that.
"It's the location, it could be anywhere there is a disturbance in the magnetic fields of the planet, where energies naturally converge, this just happens to be the nearest one to us," he explained and I nodded.
Dean was starting to look decidedly nervous, and I handed the wheel to Sam who was hovering nearby looking like he wanted something to do. I moved easily, my sea legs having been worn in from a young child, and seated myself next to the younger man.
"How you holding up?" I asked Dean and he sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"You know… outside of actually being… you know, in Hell, I haven't been apart from her for longer than a few days in thirteen years," he replied.
"That's a long time," I nodded, and I could completely relate.
"Those four months… they were like forty years to me Jefferson," Dean continued, his eyes looking haunted and distant, his hands were shaking if I looked closely enough and I was starting to understand the gravity of what he was going through. "I can't do forever, man, I can't."
"We're going to get her back, Dean. This guy can pull it off, I'm sure of it. But I have my reservations… I want you to reconsider what he's asking you to do," I dropped my voice until it was barely a whisper over the roar of the boat and the crashing of the waves. "I don't think it's as simple as bringing a couple of extra souls out of the Underworld, something doesn't add up. I think you should go in, get Beth, and just forget the rest."
Dean sighed and glanced over at the demigod, or whatever he was, who was in conversation with Sam. "I don't know Jefferson, the last thing I need to do is piss off someone who can put her straight back in there."
"Just give it some thought," I urged. "You have to feel it."
"Yeah, he's hiding something. But it doesn't mean he's a danger," Dean agreed, leaning back against the seat.
"Doesn't mean he's not either," I pointed out.
"Right now, I'd open up the gates to Hell itself for Beth," Dean said and I sighed. Typical stubborn Winchester. "I'll do whatever it takes."
Dean's POV
Grand Bahamas
We were standing on solid ground again, and not a moment too soon as far as I was concerned. I didn't like flying, and I wasn't keen on boats either, as it turned out. Sometimes I think it went back to that time at the lake when I drowned; I couldn't help but think of how close I'd come that day. How many times would we have to go through these near death situations to learn?
I listened as Heracles gave me the words to recite, first to trap the souls of his wife and children inside of me, and then the words to summon the exit to the Underworld, and the only thing I was thinking about was what happens when I get Beth back? The angels, the apocalypse, the end of the world. They could do without us, I was done. I was done losing the people I loved.
"You are sure you'll remember?" Heracles seemed almost anxious, breaking me out of my revelry.
"Yeah, yeah I got it man," I nodded.
"What will he encounter?" Sam asked, "perhaps I should go with you?"
"Only one can enter. Love alone can bring someone from this place," Heracles answered.
"But I don't need to do the spell with Beth?"
"No, her spirit can leave with her love," was the reply.
I hesitated, looking at my arm and then up at the guy. " But how does that work with your wife?"
"You will need to find her, and they will need to decide to come with you. Then you can do the spell. Once they are inside you, they will be transported wherever you go." He spoke with a surety that I knew I would if someone had asked the same thing of Beth. I had no doubt she would always come for me, and I found myself quietly respectful of this man who obviously had loved as strongly, and was now hoping to be reunited with his family.
"I'll find them," I nodded. "Anam?" I said the name again, checking that I had it right.
"Yes," Heracles replied with a short nod. "She will know me by the name Raguel," he continued.
"That's Hebrew," Jefferson said suspiciously, hovering nearby.
"Yes."
"And that invocation… it is Enochian?" He asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," replied the man.
"Interesting," Jefferson replied thoughtfully.
"Yeah well, whatever works, right?" I asked brusquely, making my point more than clear through the look I tossed the Englishman.
"So, how true are the rumours of the Underworld?" Sam asked, pressing again for answers - these two were starting to drive me insane. "Is there anything Dean needs to know?"
"Only that his beliefs will create his reality," he answered, turning to look at me. " If you believe you will see Cerberus, you will. If you see meadows, it is because you believe it. It is a malleable place full of dreams. My wife will be in a dark, dark place. She was convinced, along with all those cast inside with her, that an unsanctified death would cast them into a… purgatory, of sorts."
"I understand dark," I commented, thinking of my time in the Pit. There had been weeks where I saw nothing but the inside of my own eyelids, and that had been dark too. I suddenly felt nervous. How long had these souls been down there? How sane would they be?
"You have a light inside of you Dean," Heracles, or Raguel, or whatever his name was said. "It is why you are a chosen one. They will respond to it. You only need trust. You can do this."
"Yeah… right," I said, swallowing against a suddenly dry throat. I didn't feel very confident right now, but I would see it through. Just as Beth had seen it through when she came for me.
"Beth has a light too, it shines very brightly - makes her very attractive to the otherworld. Tune in to her light, and you will find her," he said. "Are you ready?" Heracles asked.
"As I'll ever be," I said with a nod.
We turned to look at the cave that nature had carved into the rockface before us. It was almost a perfect circle, and from where we were standing there was a haze, like heat on hot bitumen, hovering near it. Heracles stepped forward, uttering words so quickly I could barely follow. At one point he glanced over at me and I could have sworn his eyes glowed blue me, but then it was gone and I was facing the entrance to a world beyond ours.
"You can enter," he said with a nod. "When you get back to the portal, speak the summoning words, and I will open the doorway."
I didn't hesitate now the moment was upon me. Years of training coming to the surface, urging me forward into fight mode. I couldn't flee, even if I wanted to - that instinct had been beaten out of me decades ago. It was fight or lose now. I didn't intend to lose.
Once inside the cave, it was just like a long passageway down any old motel that we'd stayed in over the years. All the doors I tried were locked, and I was puzzled, following the faded and threadbare carpet to the end where steps started to curve down and around to the basement.
Quietly they started, just echoes inside my mind, but then they got louder, and I stood on the precipice, one foot hovering over the step that would start my descent. The smell hit me as soon as I stepped from the hallway, and I spun around to see nothing but a brick wall in my face. I had moved to the next level, my way back was barred for now.
There's nothing quite like the stench of sizzling human flesh. Nothing I had experienced in my life could compare. I coughed, gagging and felt the bile rising in my throat as I fell to my knees - the sensory overwhelm hitting me like a kick to the guts.
"You can't have her, Dean," a voice floated at me from nowhere.
"You can't stop me," I called back, sitting up on my haunches.
"I won't have to," said the voice, and I realised this must be Hades speaking to me. "You know you don't deserve her, she is mine now, she wants to be here. You failed her. She is lost to you."
"She will never be lost to me," I muttered, climbing to my feet. It wasn't Hades. He wouldn't know I was here, unless I crossed paths with him myself - this is what Heracles had told me. These were my own doubts. I pushed on through the visions of Hell, the memories pulled from my mind as if on technicolour replay. I recalled Heracles' words to me and I turned my focus inward. I could create this reality, I could make this world.
Within moments it all fell silent. I was standing before a great meadow. The one where I had been buried. I knew what I had to do, I knew why I was here. This was my moment of redemption, but also of my biggest failure to Beth. I had left her. This was where my shame lay.
Moving forward, it felt as if a thousand eyes were on me. I reached deep inside, looking for that Darkness, the one that held my heart, and when I touched it there was a sigh, like taking up an old habit that had been buried for too long. I felt it curl down into my stomach, up into my throat and mind, taking root. Blinking, I felt the fear, the anguish, the horror at all I'd done in the pit recede, and there was only peace.
Tha thump, tha thump… tha thump, tha thump…
I looked down and one thing was different. A light glimmered beneath my skin, shining through the shirt I wore. I held my left hand to it and saw it reflected in the silver ring on my finger. The light. I had to follow the light.
Spirits moved around me now, drawn as Heracles had said, to the only shimming in the whole expanse around us. It was a beacon, and they were coming, all of them. One by one they walked through me, and I shuddered, feeling their emotions and thoughts.
They were all here, every soul in Tartarus… or Hel… or the Underworld, whatever it was known by, it was the same thing. It was a world of not existing. Not really. Locked in their own worlds, I felt the Heavens and the Hells. The love, the happiness, the joy of the soldiers who had died in battle and come here expecting Valhalla or a Hall of Heroes - who still fought and died each day, and it was a Hellish kind of Heaven. I felt the despair and the misery of the people who had come from illness, or suicide, or murder - still locked in their own personal Hell because that is how they died.
Anam.
The name passed through my mind, like countless others and I spun around. "Anam!" I called out. It was dark, I could see but a few shades hovering on the outer perimeter of the light from my chest. "Raguel sends me."
Raguel… Raguel… sends you… Raguel…
The words started to echo as soul after soul took up the cry of the man seeking his wife. Raguel… sends… seeks… Raguel…
Suddenly I found dark eyes looking into mine, the face of a beautiful woman with long dark tresses. She stared at me and then pressed her hand to my chest. Images of her death flowed through me, of her husband - the man I'd seen, taking a silver blade and piercing her through the heart with it. The shock and horror they both felt as it occurred, and her disbelief that he would ever turn on her.
Raguel sent me here for my blasphemy.
"No," I uttered. "He was cursed."
We sinned before our Father, this is my punishment.
"He has always sought you," I said, trying to come up with the words to show her. I could only use my own, and Beth. "He has always loved you. He never gave up, he never will. He was made the gatekeeper to this place, he could not come for you. That was his punishment."
She stared at me, tears shimmering in her eyes. He killed our children!
"It wasn't him. He wasn't himself. He was lost… to a darkness that you well know. He has never forgiven himself. He sent me to get you and your children. To return you to life."
To life?
I nodded.
There is no such thing. There is only death.
"No, you can't believe that. You can't give up. If you still love him, even a little, you can't give up on him. I … I am here for my wife too, and I would do anything...anything...for her. She would for me too. If you two had even half the bond that we have… it's worth fighting for." Words just flowed from me, I had to convince her. It almost felt like a quest now. "I don't know what you guys did wrong, or who your father is and why he condemned you, but let me tell you. I know a little something about vengeful fathers… mine kept me apart from my only love for more years than I care to admit. Even to this day his words and his training haunt us, push us to be what we never should have been. But no more, I am my own man, Beth deserves better and I plan to give it to her."
Anam smiled at me, barely visible in the small light, but I saw it. "You love her."
"I died for her, I went to Hell for her, and I would do it again. I feel that Raguel would do that for you too, if he could."
She visibly paled at the mention of Hell, frowning and reaching out to touch my chest again.
"Can you take us to my husband?" Her voice sounded stronger, more than just echoes in my head.
"Yes, there is a spell that will allow me to transport you from here," I said. "Where are your children?"
Within seconds of asking the question two souls stood before me, only young, and smiled.
"I uh, I don't think this will hurt…" I said, withdrawing a blade from my pants. There was a startled gasp and I felt a wave of doubt - her doubt - ripple through me before I sliced open my own arm.
"...much," I added, looking at her. "You need to do this too." She nodded, and took the blade, cutting her arm, and then turning to do it to her children.
I tried the boy first, grasping his arm to mine, the blood mingling, and muttering an incantation that Heracles had taught me.
Almost instantly a wind whipped up around us and felt it rush over me, then one by one, like being pulled down a drain, the three souls of Anam and her children were sucked into me, and with a flash of light the wound was sealed. All I could feel was the thumping of souls inside of me, and their voices quieted down so that I could think.
I couldn't explain it, but I felt strong. Stronger than I had in a long time. I moved confidently through the masses of people, and I sought. She would be here, locked in her own place, in her own personal Hell.
Dad had taught us to silence our mind when we were young. How to focus so that we could accomplish what seemed almost impossible tasks. I felt it go silent, my focus on one thing. Beth.
It was almost as if I could hear her heartbeat. Fast, ferocious, and … afraid. She was scared and running, and I could feel her moving around the great dark expanse in front of me.
"Beth!" I yelled, and I felt the other souls echo her name Beth, Beth, Beth. I fell silent, chastising myself for being so stupid. If Hades was near, he would hear that.
Beth's POV
Underworld
Hades was chasing me again, I was running through streets, places that seemed familiar and then suddenly I saw the cars, piled one upon the other, and I knew where I was.
"Bobby!" I yelled, pulling myself over the fence into the car yard, and running up the row that I knew would take me fastest to the house.
Ooof.
I was hit in the stomach suddenly by an unseen force, and everything went stars and stripes for a moment. I reeled in pain, and then felt the dripping blood fall between my legs. I looked down, blood, everywhere, and then the pain. The excruciating pain as my womb contracted, and I felt my body trying to expel the lifeless child from inside of me.
"No… no no no no," I whimpered, falling to my knees. How could I be losing another child? I hadn't even known I was pregnant again. It was too soon. It would never survive. "No, not again."
The ground felt cold and damp against my forehead as I fell to the ground, taking deep breaths as I tried to calm the panic inside of me. Something could be done, I could save this baby, unlike the last one. I could save it.
"Beth!"
Dean's voice echoed through the car yard and I looked up, startled. Was I free at least? Or was this just another trick of Hades?
How had I gotten here? How had I managed to get out of the place where I'd been trapped for half a year? I didn't stop to ask questions as the porchlight to Bobby's house came on. I could see it, safety, and I ran for it like a bat out of hell.
The path ahead seemed to stretch out before me like a never ending road. The harder I ran, ignoring the pain inside me, the further away the house appeared. It was as if I was being pulled back from him, from the light. I tried to focus on the light but it was fading. The more I pushed the dimmer it got.
I stopped.
When you are in doubt. Stop. Listen to yourself, trust your instincts. John's voice came into my mind like a well-oiled machine. He was always there, guiding, fighting, drilling. You know what to do.
I went deep within, to that place he taught us. To the place my father had told me about. The place where I could hear the voices of the angels. Angels I knew to be real now. Maybe Castiel had rescued me? But where was Dean? Had I really just heard him?
No sooner had I thought of him than he appeared. I was standing on the porch to Bobby's and the light, it wasn't the porch light at all. It was Dean.
"Dean!" I breathed, and before I could question it, doubt that I was once more throwing myself into Hades' arms and not my own husband's, I rushed him and wrapped my arms around him. Hades had never glowed like this. "Please be real, please be real, please… please." I buried my face into his chest, feeling the beat of his heart, the familiar curve of his body as it wrapped around mine.
"I'm real," he promised. "It's me."
A hand found mine, lifting it between us and his left palm pressed to mine, our rings illuminating like moonlight with the silver of our rings. "It's me. I'm getting you out of here."
Laughter sounded, and suddenly we were propelled from the porch and into the car yard. "Did you think it would be that easy?" A voice asked. "Persephone, you cannot run away, you belong here."
"For the last time, I am not Persephone!" I yelled, feeling my heart to race and I clutched at Dean's hand like a lifeline. "I don't belong here."
"How about you show yourself, dickwad, and answer to her real husband?" Dean challenged, and again the chuckle. I felt doubt, wondering how we could get out.
"We need to find the portal out," Dean whispered beside me and I frowned. Portal? I had been looking for a way out as long as I'd been down here, and never found anything.
"Where?"
"I don't know! Heracles said it would be something familiar. Some place that would lead us home," he muttered, pulling out a sword as Hellhound suddenly appeared in front of us. Only it wasn't invisible. It was black.
"Run, run run!" I said, shoving him behind me and away from the house, back into the car yard. No sooner had I stumbled with him into the shadows than I heard the sound of Hell Hounds moving from all directions. My breath was coming in short, panicked bursts as I grabbed on to Dean's arm.
"We have to get away, they'll… you'll…" All I could picture was that hound tearing into him. The worse of all my nightmares because I didn't watch when it happened. I only saw the aftermath.
"Wait," Dean said suddenly, stopping in spite of the growls that were following us.
"Are you crazy? We gotta run!" I said, pulling on his arm.
"No, no it's not real. It's your fear, Beth," he said, grabbing me. "It's your fear!" I stopped. Listening to him.
"You need to calm down. We're getting out of here, I promise," he said and I could hear it in his voice. He wasn't afraid, he was certain.
We looked up and Bobby's house was just sitting there. Familiar. Welcoming. And out the front was the Impala. "Come on." Dean grabbed my hand and pulled me with him, straight toward the Hell Hound.
I hesitated for a moment, but then I felt my instincts kick in and I moved, I pushed through the fear and we moved as one through the yard, toward the house, to the car. As we ran, I could feel our surroundings all fading and melting as we focused on the Impala, the driver's door open, inviting.
"Home," Dean called out, and I smiled, pushing myself even harder, to run faster.
Dean started to mutter an incantation as we ran, and I heard the hell hounds snapping at our heels, and the frustrated cry of Hades as he realised we were about to escape. Suddenly the opening to the car shone bright, and Dean pushed me ahead of him. I slid along the bench-seat to the passenger side as he jumped in behind the wheel, and I saw him reach for the key to start the engine...
Bobby's POV
Hospital
Beth sat up suddenly with a gasp, startling the gosh darn hell out of me. I wasn't expecting it, but I'd never been happier to see that little girl move.
"Dean!" She called out, and I saw her looking around the room for him.
"He ain't here baby girl," I said, moving to take hold of her shoulders with a grip that sure belied the calm exterior I'd been trying to hold on to for the last few weeks. "He's off looking to get your soul out of the Underworld."
"He did it," Beth said with a gasp, grabbing my arms in a mirror image to me. "He got me out, he… where is he?"
"I don't know, Florida, I think," I said, shaking my head. "He and Sam went off with Jefferson looking for someone to break you out of Hades' realm."
"Hades," she breathed, shuddering. I didn't fully understand what was going on with her, but she started to hyperventilate, that much I knew.
"Hang on baby girl, just breathe," I said, rubbing her back. "Nurse!" I bellowed out the door and down the hall. "I need someone in here!"
There was the sound of wings flapping and suddenly the damned angel, or whatever he was, appeared in the room, followed shortly by a nurse and doctor.
"Beth," Castiel said, moving calmly to her side. "You're back."
"I want Dean," she gasped, falling back on the bed and grasping at her stomach, the wound that had rendered her bedridden and in a coma. The doctor and nurse pushed us back from her, talking animatedly and taking vitals. Suddenly, Castiel was gone, and I was left cursing as Beth started to cry.
Dean's POV
Great Bahamas
I fell out of the cave with a speed like I'd just thrown myself at a monster. I rolled to my feet, breathing heavily and looking around.
"Where is she?" I called out to the startled looks of Jefferson and Sam. Heracles was less surprised, moving to my side, taking my arm in his hands and inspecting them.
"She has a body to return to, her soul will go there immediately. She is fine," he assured me, but I didn't feel so sure.
"I pushed her through the portal first, I mean… she is?"
"She's free of the Underworld," the man reassured me with a nod.
"Oh thank god," I muttered.
"I assure you, he has nothing to do with it," he said with a smirk, and pressed on the arm where I'd performed the ritual while inside the Underworld.
"Dean, are you okay?" Sam asked rushing up. Jefferson was beside him, his look plainly disapproving as he realised I'd gone through with the promise to Heracles.
"Yeah, I'm good, I just want to see Beth," I said tersely.
"Then we'll get…" Sam was interrupted by the sound of wings and suddenly the trenchcoated Castiel arrived.
"Cas…" I started to move for the angel, but Heracles had a firm grip on my arm while staring at the new arrival.
"Castiel…"
"You!" Cas said, his eyes going wide before moving to me. "What have you done?"
"He's freed his wife from Tartarus… and now he'll free mine too," Heracles said. I felt my stomach twist suddenly, and a blinding light flashed.
"Nooooo!" Cas yelled, but it was too late. We were gone.
I fell to my knees, when we landed, having been zapped around like only an angel could.
"You're an angel!" I muttered, coughing and rolling to my feet.
"I am," Heracles said, moving toward me. "But that is no concern of yours. Give me my wife and children."
I pulled back, my chest puffed out as I contemplated. He'd certainly held up his end of the bargain. The look in his eyes was unlike that of Cas. He felt, and had emotions, he had spent so long on this plane that he was practically human.
"Hey, hey, I keep my promises," I said with a nod, pulling out the knife from my jacket. "Just tell me what to do."
"I buried them," the angel said, moving toward a simple empty plot of land. "So long ago that no one but I would remember." With a flick of his hand the ground started to rumble and open, moving apart until there was a huge hole in the ground, and I found myself staring down at the stark, white bones of three bodies. I grimaced, shaking my head, thinking about why they had been put there in the first place - blocking out the memory I had been shown of Anam's death.
"What do I do?" I asked, turning to see tears in the eyes of my companion.
Turning his gaze from the bones, he moved to me and took the knife from my hand. My arm was throbbing, glowing red with the souls inside of it. With a few short incantations, he sliced it open and I groaned from the pain. It hadn't felt painful in the Underworld, but here it sliced through me and burned. I grit my teeth against the pain and watched as light-filled blood flowed from my arm down into the hole.
"Thank you Dean," Heracles said to me as I watched the blood start to seep into the bones in the ground. "Go be with your wife."
Fingers touched my forehead, and I blinked. I found myself in the same room I'd spent the last month in before finding my way to Miami.
"Dean!" Beth's voice was filled with relief and within seconds I had her in my arms. I squeezed her so tight that I was afraid she might stop breathing, but I swear she was holding me just as tight.
"What in tarnation?" Bobby's voice sounded as the door to the room opened and he walked in carrying a couple of cups of coffee. "Where the hell did you come from?"
"The Bahamas…" I muttered, reaching out to touch Beth's face, and she leaned in to my hand with a smile on her face, big brown eyes smiling up at me.
"Trust you to go on a holiday when I'm on death's doorstep," she joked and I chucked, leaning forward to kiss her.
"Well plenty of time for that sugarpie," I said. "Because I am done with these angels. I have seen enough to know that life is too short, and I want to spend the rest of mine with you. As soon as you're fit to travel, we need to go get my car, and then we're hitting up the Grand Canyon, on our way to finding somewhere to settle down… I don't care where."
"What are you talking about boy? You're gonna give up huntin'?!" Bobby said.
"Yeah, yeah he is," Beth said with a nod, a slight frown crossing her brow as she looked into my eyes. "I can see it in your face. You're serious?"
"I've never been more serious in my life," I said, looking at her. "Let someone else deal with the seals, we've done our bit. I love you. I've lost you more times than I care to count, and I won't… I can't...lose you again. Grow old with me, Beth."
Bobby put the coffees on the table, staring incredulously at us. "Well, I never…"
"Yes," she said with a smile, nodding. "Yes." There were tears in her eyes, and I brushed them away, kissing her forehead and pulling her into my arms again.
"We can go anywhere you want to go, baby… anywhere at all." I promised, holding her tight.
"I don't care," she whispered into my neck. "I don't care so long as I'm with you."
I couldn't help but wonder just how serious Jefferson had been when he promised to buy us a house. But it didn't matter, because we could live in a shack in the wilds of Wisconsin, and we'd be happy. Somehow I didn't think it would come to that.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Song for this chapter is: A New Hope - by Iris
This has been a long time in the writing. I lost the plot (literally) through some of it, and it wasn't actually until today that the final twist - which will feature more in Gabriel and Sariel's story - revealed itself. Sometimes you just need to wait for the story to reveal itself.
Glad to see some readers are still around! I'm hoping to be more frequent with my updates from here on. Next up is It's A Terrible Life.