A/N:

Thank you so much to Cat, goldacharmed and Swasbucklore for the reviews!

The closer they came to the village, the more Jacob caught glimpses of other sprites peeking at them from higher in the trees. Other patrolsprites were out, and they each noticed the huge humans' passage through the woods. Jacob found himself watching the trees as keenly as he dared while staying mindful of his steps. He'd wanted to see the village since he met the sprites and Sam, enamored of the thought of an entire village of such warm and welcoming people.

The sound of a stream bubbling along reached his ears before he saw it. Jacob watched the water wind its way around a stand of pine trees before his steps faltered and he realized what he was looking at.

The pine trees all sported odd shapes on their branches, shapes that he quickly realized were little homes. They were the perfect size for people Sam or Bowman's scale. Even from several yards away, tiny faces could be seen peeking through the little round windows. Wings rustled above as sprites flitted about in the higher branches, watching their approach. Dean paused at the outskirts of the village, leaving his duffel bag where it would be out of the way.

A voice that Jacob vaguely recognized called out from above. "You've got some ideas about big entrances, haven't you, Winchester?" Jacob looked up just in time for Lord Scar, who he recalled was in charge of all the knights of Wellwood, to drop from the canopy. He landed on a branch that stuck out just above Dean and Jacob's heights, mere feet in front of them. He twisted around to address Sam as the glider passed him by. "What's the occasion?"

The call caught Dean off guard as he looked around at the little village. The sight of all the tiny people that inhabited the forest had him paying closer attention to his feet than he'd ever done before. He turned in place, his eyes locking onto the sprite who'd called his name. "Who's ask-" His eyes widened as he saw the sprite wasn't looking at him, but Sam.

It had been so long since he'd shared that last name with anyone but his dad.

Sam grinned at that. Scar couldn't have set it up better for them. Dean was already befuddled by the sight of the village around them, and hearing his name called only confused him further. Sam didn't even need to be an empath to know how much it caught him off guard. For years, he'd been the only Winchester brother around.

Time to share the name again.

Banking around so he could keep Scar and Dean both in sight, Sam waved towards the hunter, pride filling him that he finally got to say this. "Lord Scar, may I introduce Dean Winchester, my older brother!"

For a moment, Sam's constant, steady glide and Bowman's wings flapping to keep him hovering were the only motions among the eclectic group. Scar turned back around to fix his gaze on Dean, and stared intently at him for yet another quiet second.

Green eyes, spiked hair, giant. Even if the man was taller than Sam had described, he fit everything else the boy had tearfully explained so many years ago. Scar had led a search high and low throughout the forest to find this human. If it weren't for him, the sprites wouldn't even know that the fence existed. Jacob's appearance would have caught them completely off guard.

Scar had never wanted to give up that search, because that would mean failing the child he'd promised to help.

After all that time, there he was. Dean Winchester himself had finally come to Wellwood. Perhaps he was late, but he had arrived anyway. Scar grinned and crouched down on the branch while he continued to stare at the human.

"Spirit's dance," he began. "Dean. I almost don't believe it."

Dean stared back at the sprite, shifting his feet in place. "I'm starting to get the feeling that everyone knows me around here," he said with a nervous laugh. "Gotta say, it's definitely not what I'm used to."

"Scar's the one who found me after my curse!" Sam called down by way of explanation. "Without him, I wouldn't have made it past my first day at this size."

Dean arched his eyebrows at that. "I guess I owe you, lookin' out for my little brother like that. Especially since I couldn't be there for him." He frowned. "We were just left with an empty room and an empty car after the attack. No way of knowing he survived, so dad had to give him up for dead."

"Thank the Spirit you were wrong," Scar answered solemnly. He noticed little Rischa Songbird sitting on the human's shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world and couldn't hold back a smile. She waved at him and he nodded at her in return.

"I will admit, he threw us all for a loop when he explained how tall you were back then," Scar quipped. "We flew as far as we dared looking for giants." Scar sometimes wished he could have known how far he'd need to fly to be able to find Dean. A part of him begrudgingly admitted that he wouldn't have managed it safely. There was nothing he could have done, and yet he felt it was thirteen years too late for Sam to be seeing his brother again.

It should have happened sooner.

"Yeah, well, I never did quite reach our dad's height," Dean joked, doing his best to lighten the mood along with Scar. "Missed it by barely an inch, the bastard. Came so close, too." He held up a hand, brushing it against the spike of hair he always seemed so proud of to show how tall their dad would be.

Sam was trying to remember how tall their dad was all those years ago. "He was… 6'2", right? That makes you… 73 inches tall." He was proud at the thought. He might only have made it to 4 inches in height, but his older brother was the tallest in the forest.

"Someone's gotta be the tallest," Dean agreed, winking at Jacob. The teenager was only an inch or two behind Dean, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to live it up. It was a good way to forget how disappointed he was when he fell short of his goal of surpassing John, especially considering the way his dad had a habit of using his height for intimidation.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Hey, man, I might still have a growth spurt to get to," he warned. Unlike Dean, Jacob was only seventeen years old. At six feet tall, he might well be at his full height already, but he had a feeling it simply wasn't the case.

"Are you serious? That's just excessive," Bowman complained, dipping down in his flight to circle the younger human as if putting his prodigious height on display. Jacob snickered at him and held up a hand to try to trick the sprite into landing on it. Bowman kicked at it and flew past.

Rischa stood on Dean's shoulder and stretched her wings carefully before stepping forward. She dropped a few inches before her dainty wings caught the air and she flew up towards the branch where Scar stood. He held out a hand to her and helped her find her footing on the branch. "Lord Scar, sir," she greeted him with a curtsy. "Dean found me while I was out playing in the woods. He was looking for ... something else?" She glanced over to Dean.

Dean nodded up at her, his former joking manner gone. "That's right. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't on a hunt." His sharp green eyes switched over to Scar. "I'm sure Sam mentioned what our dad does for a living. I'm the same. We hunt down supernatural creatures that threaten innocent lives, wherever and whenever we're needed."

He gestured over at Jacob, who still had spectacular bruising on his face from the attack. It was a good display for why Dean was really in the forest. "Not long ago, Jacob here was in the campgrounds with his friends. From what I gather, one of them snapped, and attacked him. It was a glancing blow, so it didn't do much damage, but it could have been worse."

A lot worse.

The last demon Dean had dealt with had been keeping itself busy crashing airplanes. This one was starting out small. Of course, that might not last, especially if it found an entire village of tiny, vulnerable innocents out in the forest. They'd have to do their best to keep it from ever spotting the sprites.

"Your friend Chase said Bobby's eyes got dark, almost black," Dean told Jacob. "And I'm guessin' it's not in character for a guy practically half your size to just lash out at you. If I'm right, he's possessed by a demon, and we're going to need to exorcise him before anyone else gets hurt."

Jacob let out a quick sigh as if he'd been struck lightly in the chest. "Holy shit," he muttered, still as amazed to hear it as he had been the first time. His gaze wandered over the sprites nearby. Bowman hovered near the branch while Rischa stood with Scar, and the little girl's face was masked in worry. Jacob knew why; she could feel everyone's confusion and trepidation, and she probably felt the honesty from Dean.

That decided for him. "Yeah, we ... we gotta find him first," he agreed.

Scar sighed and absently drummed his fingers against the hilt of his sword. Something that could put a bruise like that on Jacob's face was certainly a monumental danger. He was itching to have the threat in front of him so he could face it.

"Be that as it may, some other things need to happen as well," he spoke up. "Leafwing." Bowman turned to face him immediately, no room for snark after the serious tone was directed at him. "Take Rischa home and then give your report to Lord Cerul. I want the knights sent out to bring any patrolsprites in so we can all be aware of what's going on."

Bowman nodded dutifully and held a hand out to Rischa. "Come on, Birdie," he said. She hopped off the branch and fluttered to him, and soon enough they were gliding to one of the homes nestled among the pine trees.

Once they were gone, Scar fanned his wings restlessly. "I need to plan," he announced. "Jacob ... don't go wandering on your own. No one should go wandering on their own," he sent a glance to Sam. Then, he offered him a ghost of a smirk. "If I'm right, you're the second most familiar with this ... demon threat. Perhaps you and Dean should catch up on what needs to be done?"

Sam nodded in response. "I should park the glider, anyway," he replied, banking around Dean to head for his own home. His pathway meandered down from where Bowman and Rischa had gone moments ago, towards the little home that had been prayed for him in a lower branch of the pine tree.

He could hear Dean following behind him. The footsteps of the hunter were unmistakable. Jacob tread heavier wherever he went, despite the fact that he was smaller than Dean. There was a brief moment of silence, and Sam had to assume that Dean had stepped over the small stream that stood between the home trees and the humans. A large distance for Sam and the sprites, cleared so easily.

Sam's home lay ahead of the brothers, swaying gently in the breeze.

A/N

Hope everyone survived the black friday madness! If you think there's not enough angst in the story, chill for a bit and remember that all things come in due time.

Scar meets Dean at last! Sam's mentor meets his older brother, and finds Dean quite a bit bigger than Sam described him back when he first came to Wellwood.

Next: November 28th, 2018 at 9pm est

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