A/N: Thanks for the love guys. I'm feeling a bit better so the length of the chapters will be picking up again. Hopefully.

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Advent - December 22nd

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"You." Artemis says, pointing at Dean. She's staring at him with a single-focus intensity and there's some sort of power or something crackling around her.

Man, Dean wants to revise his idea of 'very pissed off' to 'uncontrollable rage' because seriously? Dean doesn't think that people are supposed to be bathed in lightning unless they can't help themselves.

Or they're trying to be overly dramatic. But seeing as how Artemis is ignoring everyone else and isn't doing the whole monologue thing that overly dramatic people sometimes do when they grandstand, Dean is going to have to go with uncontrollable.

It helps when he notices that she's trembling lightly.

Dean holds his hands up in surrender. He's not quite sure what he's done but he's not sure he wants to find out.

He may not have a choice.

"Me." Dean says and god damn it why does he always have to antagonise people?

The crackling power around Artemis condenses and Dean feels the hairs on his arm rise.

Yeah, he probably totally deserved that.

"You. You stole-"

And wow, Artemis is so pissed off that she can't even finish her sentence. Dean thinks that maybe he's in over his head here.

Maybe.

Just a little.

"Hey, hey, hey," Dean protests, "I didn't steal anything!" He pauses, "What didn't I steal?"

"Your soul." Artemis spits out.

Damn, okay. Maybe Dean is screwed here. He mentally calculates the chances of Artemis believing him when he tells her that he didn't steal his soul and comes up with a mournful zero.

Especially not with the way she is glaring at him.

Dean stands slowly and edges around the back of the sofa. It's a risky move but he's pretty sure that Artemis won't kill him. Much.

At least, he's pretty sure until he notices that everyone else is standing and Thorn and Castiel both have their swords out.

Oh man, he is so totally screwed.

"Artemis-" Ash says quietly from behind her.

Artemis turns on him with a snarl so vicious that Ash sways back for a moment. Dean would feel bad but he's just glad that her attention isn't on him anymore. He takes the opportunity to sidle more fully around the seat.

"Don't." Artemis spits, "Don't you dare."

Ash seems taken aback. But whether that is because of the venom in her voice, or the way that she's just blown out a window without even realising is hard to tell.

"Artemis." Ash tries again, slower this time, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for his soul." She says, gesturing at Dean.

"Wait, what?" Dean says and then immediately regrets it because good going idiot he's just drawn her attention back to him.

At least Thorn is standing in front of Sam.

At least Sam is letting Thorn protect him.

Dean wants to sigh at how he's all alone and probably going to be a gooey smear on the wall any minute now, when something bumps into his arm.

It's Castiel and he's glaring at Artemis.

"You will not take his soul."

Artemis snarls at Castiel this time. Dean has to tamper down the instinctive reaction to step in front of the angel. One, because said angel has a sword and Dean doesn't and a sword is going to be more help against anything that Artemis might throw at him than not. Two, because Dean is human right now and Castiel…well, isn't. And neither is Artemis. And there's more chance of Castiel winning this fight than Dean, as loath as Dean has to admit.

"Don't even start angel." Artemis sneers, "It's your pantheon that twisted the rules in the first place."

"I have no idea what you mean." Castiel says and raises his sword higher. Not enough that it's deliberately a threat, but enough to show that he can and will defend.

Artemis sneers at him. "Oh really, like you didn't know a demon snuck into my temple and stole one of my souls."

There's a shocked silence. Dean almost groans, because of course this has happened. When has he ever been able to stay out of the way of anything supernatural.

But he's not one to sit back and let them argue about him without adding his two cents. Besides, he's not too sure about how much he likes the possessive way Artemis is talking about his soul.

"Well," Dean says, to diffuse the tension, "it's not your soul anymore. It's mine. As it's quite clearly in me."

That, Dean reflects as Artemis turns her full attention on him, was probably not the best way to go about it.

"Your soul?" She says, "Your soul?"

Castiel shifts slightly further in front of Dean. Dean wants to be annoyed, but with the way she's glaring, he really can't.

"That soul still rightfully belongs to me."

"No." Castiel says again at the exact same time as Sam.

Dean sees Thorn shush his brother and push him further behind him, using his body to edge Sam towards the relative safety of the kitchen.

Dean's slightly grateful, though he'll never tell Thorn that under pain of death.

"Artemis," Ash tries again, walking around until he's standing next to Castiel and in front of Dean, if slightly to the side of him. "You can't do this."

"Oh, I can't, can I?"

Dean doesn't know much about gods and goddesses, but he's pretty sure that you don't dare them. If they're anything like him, they're going to take the challenge and run with it.

Dean thinks that they're probably more competitive than him though.

"He's human," Ash says, "the rules are that you can only take the soul of a mortal who is dying. And Dean is clearly not dying."

"The rules," Artemis snaps back, "also state that the loophole is that someone who is in love can try and return the soul. Only them!

"Do not try and argue that that…demon, was in love with him!"

Ash flinches and shifts uncomfortably. Artemis sees it and latches on like a dog with a bone.

"No. Therefore the soul was stolen and I've come to reclaim my rightful property."

Castiel raises his sword fully at that and says, "Dean is not property."

"He is right now, angel. Now, get out of my way."

Castiel tilts his chin a fraction higher. Artemis' eyes flash and the energy that has been crackling around her condenses into her right palm.

Oh God. She's going to kill him.

It's the only thought that runs through Dean's mind and he blames it for the next thing he does. Which is to step out in front of the two people trying to protect him and straight into Artemis' line of sight.

"Okay." He says.

Everyone blinks. Even Artemis looks stunned.

Dean doesn't see why everyone should be surprised. He knows what's going on.

Dean sold his soul to Artemis to save his brother, and whilst it's nice to know that there's a loophole for future reference, he didn't really see himself getting out of it.

And besides, he's always tried to be fair. He didn't get out of the original deal because…well, most of it was because of Sam, to be fair. But there was a little bit of him that balked because he is a man of his word.

He's honourable. Or, at least, he's always tried to be.

Thing is, he's dependable. And people know that. When he says he's going to do something then he damn well does it and people, hunters, know that. Know that they can rely on him.

It was different with the demon deal because…well, he was scared, but something else was offered to him and never let it be said that Dean Winchester doesn't know a good deal if he hears it.

But the thing is, this whole thing? He can see it from Artemis' point of view and she's in the right. Dean did sell his soul to her and, okay, it was stolen. And pretty easily too by the sounds of it, so they'll have to be having words on that because it is his soul. But technically it should still belong to her.

Really, Meg has just made everything worse and more complicated than it has to be.

"What?" Artemis asks. But the power dies in her hands, so Dean is pretty sure that she isn't going to smite him.

"I said okay." Dean shrugs, "I know that if it hadn't been for Meg then I wouldn't be human right now. I didn't break the contract, but it's not like you did either, so it only seems fair that I honour what I said I'd do."

Artemis blinks in surprise. Then she straightens and sniffs.

Dean thinks that he's never heard a sniff laden with such contempt. But she's not completely sneering at him. In fact, she's looking at him like he's some sort of new toy.

Dean represses a shiver.

"Dean…"

Dean glances at Castiel out of the corner of his eye. Castiel looks pitiful.

Well, actually no, that's a lie. He looks pretty stoic from where Dean's standing. But there's a certain sort of desperation in his eyes that Dean can't work out just yet.

"You don't have to do this." Castiel says, and Ash shifts next to him.

"He's right," Ash mutters, "I mean, technically…"

Dean thins his lips. He's grateful that these two would stick up for him. That they would argue a goddesses claim on his soul whilst standing in front of said goddess and ignoring her. But his mind is pretty made up.

He said he would become a dark hunter. And he should still be a dark hunter. So he's going to be a dark hunter.

Dean has no idea what this says about his sense of self-wellbeing, but he's willing to not look too much into how quick he is to stand up to his word. Especially when it means becoming soulless once again.

"No," Dean says, taking a step further towards Artemis. "I gave my word."

Neither Ash nor Castiel look like they like what's happening. Dean doesn't blame them. To be honest, he doesn't like it either. He's liked being able to feel the sun on his skin again.

He's also quite glad that Thorn has Sam neatly and safely tucked away in the kitchen and out of earshot.

Dean does not want to know what Sam's opinion on his lack of judgement is going to be.

Nothing flattering at least.

Artemis is looking both smug and flattered. "Well," she says, "I knew I liked hunters for a reason."

And that's the only warning Dean gets before she reaches out and touches the same place on his neck as the last time, and his body is wracked with the most intense pain he's ever felt in his life.

And that's saying something.

When he comes too, he's lying on the floor and panting. Castiel has his arms wrapped around him so Dean is half propped up.

"What?" Dean tries to say, but his throat is killing him and he can taste blood. He coughs and whines in pain when that makes his throat hurt even more.

Artemis is standing over him and looking down. He thinks he sees a look of sympathy pass over her face, but that might be the delirium caused by the pain.

"You're one of mine again, hunter." She says and then looks up to face Ash. "I will be busy hunting down the demon who invaded and desecrated my temple. Do not bother me."

And then she's gone.

Dean would say something about abruptness, but his head is feeling pretty light and the room is kind of spinning dizzily. Ash, Castiel, Sam and Thorn are crowding around him and looking worried even when their faces are all kind of blurring into one.

Dean blinks and tries to focus. No way did it hurt that much last time. Though, technically he supposes, last time he was dead.

He guesses it hurts a lot more for a living person to get their soul ripped out of them then it does a dead one.

Slowly the room goes back to normal and Dean feels like he's been looking weak and pathetic for long enough.

"Okay, guys," he manages to choke out but then has to stop when he gets his first clear look at the people above him.

Apparently being a dark hunter again means getting his weird powers back. Which would be okay, except Ash is blue and, holy shit, Ash is blue. Thorn and Castiel have wings which, he kind sort of expected, but it's weird and nice to see anyway. But Sam, Sam is glowing and there's a weird darkness swirling around him but it's not really stopping the brightness from shining through.

"Oh," Dean says in some surprise. "You're all very pretty."

And then mentally slaps himself.