ooOoo
The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.
The Fae Prince
Chapter 5
The Magic Web
There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
Lady of Shalott."
The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809-1892
"I said, what are you, boy?" Bobby Singer repeated his question.
Samisfallen rose out of his chair and backed away from Bobby's knife. He kicked the chair accidently and stumbled. One hand flung out and he felt energy run from his fingers to his shoulder as he tripped backward, stepping into a devil's trap painted on the floor. Above his head a Key of Solomon spun into life.
Bobby Singer shot out of his own chair, shocked to see the spinning of his occult key, something he had never seen before. He froze, watching Sam falling into the Devil's Trap while the Key spun above his head. In a quick blink, reality was ripped apart and something else peeked through the torn fabric.
The symbols tugged at Samisfallen and lifted him into the air. He spun in place and become something else. He was just as tall, if not taller; pale as moonlight and nearly transparent. He was wrapped in delicate wisps of color, arching and moving like living water over his body. But it was the wings; the pairs of dragon fly wings; thin, translucent and stained with color, that marked him as something not seen on earth in thousands of years and told Bobby Singer exactly what he was looking at.
Bobby's chair crashed to the floor as the man backed away from the unearthly being in front of him.
Bobby began an exorcism; an almost involuntary response to what he was seeing. Nothing happened and Bobby backed even further away from the creature suspendered between two spinning circles as the Devils trap also began to rotate.
Samisfallen's back arched as if he was in pain and he was thrown to the floor on his hands and knees. As he was tossed out by the energy fields generated by Bobby's traps he took on his human appearance again. With a groan he rolled onto his back then curled up in obvious pain.
Bobby grabbed the rifle he kept by the side of the stove and stepped forward to poke at Sam with the barrel.
"Get up," he Hunter growled. "Get up off my floor, whatever you are."
Sam shielded his face and groaned. "Please, don't Mr. Singer. I never meant you any harm." The boy tried to rise but had to grab on of the fallen chairs to steady himself.
Bobby pushed one of the still standing chairs forward and Sam leveraged his body up. Once seated he put his head down on the table and covered his head with his arms.
Bobby stood still but cocked the rifle and a shiver ran through Sam at the sound. "What are you, boy?" Bobby asked. "You better talk fast before I give you a dose of silver poisoning."
Sam raised his head. "I meant no harm. I'm sorry."
"What I just saw looked to me like something I've only read about." Bobby went on. "It looked like you might be Fae. Am I right?"
"Yes, you are right." Sam whispered. "I am of the Seelie Court, the light Fae."
"What are you doing here with the Winchesters, boy?" Bobby growled again and raised the rifle.
"Sorry, please. I'm in exile. I was only looking to make friends and learn the way of your world. I haven't hurt anyone." Sam raised his hands in response to the threat. "I even helped. I put that succubus down. She should not have been here. She didn't belong in this world. I helped them hunt down that vengeful spirit."
Bobby relaxed a little. "That's true enough, I guess. Why did John Winchester want to bring you here? What does the man expect me to do?"
"I protected Dean from John," Sam explained. "John got drunk and blamed Dean when I went out by myself last night. He was beating Dean and I knocked him off his son. He was suspicious when I told him where the unmarked grave was and I told him I was a psychic. I guess he expects you to give me your stamp of approval. I hope you can. I really want to stay with Dean. I think Dean needs a friend."
Through Sam's little speech Bobby was slowly relaxing. "If I tell John what you are he'll try to kill you, you know. No matter how much good you might do, Winchester only knows to kill anything that isn't human."
"What about you, Mr. Singer?" Sam asked. "Would you kill me for simply not being human?"
"No, boy, I wouldn't." Bobby admitted. "But I need more than just your word. Frist, I wish you would just call me Bobby and not Mr. Singer. Only the FBI calls me Mr. Singer."
"OK, Bobby," Sam smiled at the man he hoped might turn into another human friend.
Bobby still did not approach. "Two things I want from you. First, I want you to tell Dean what you are. I want that done as soon as Dean comes back from the yard. We'll see then how much of his father is in him because that kid will have to protect you from John. If you have any idea of going out hunting with Dean, he has to accept you completely, no secrets. Secrets destroy partnerships and I think that's what you want, a partnership."
"I agree." Sam replied.
"The second thing is I want to know about your world. I understand that the Seelie Count has ways of fighting the creatures of the Unseelie. I want to know what those are. Like I just said, no secrets: you tell me what you know."
"Some of these ways are ways that you won't be able to use." Sam objected.
"You'll let me be the judge of that, boy." Bobby went on. For instance, how did you kill that succubus?"
Sam became cautious. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to try and kill me." Sam said.
"Not promising anything right now, boy." Bobby said. "You tell me and we'll go from there."
Sam took a deep breath. "I bit her. I bit into her neck, and drained her energy and her magic until she was gone." Sam looked up at Bobby. "I told you some of the ways were not things that you could use."
"So you're some kind of a vampire?"
"We don't think of it that way." Sam objected. "These creatures derive their magic from our kind. We just take it back when they go bad. I don't understand the motives of the Unseelie. That's the difference between the Courts. They make things like the succubus. My Court creates creatures like the Fae Lantern that the spirit captured and abused. I may have killed the succubus but the Lantern was suffering and I gave it peace."
They heard Dean coming up the outside steps and waited for the young Hunter to appear.
"Hey, Bobby," Dean said, swinging into the kitchen and wiping his hands on a shop rag. "That Mustang's not in too bad shape." He stopped talking and looked at the tableau in front of him. "What's going on here? Bobby? "
Bobby waved the rifle at Sam. "Your friend here has something to tell you Dean. I think you should come over here beside me."
Dean did as Bobby asked. "Sam, what's going on? What do you need to tell me?"
"Please don't be angry with me Dean." Sam started. "I only did it because I was alone and needed a friend."
"As soon as you tell me what you did, I'll know what's going on." Dean answered.
"Are you going to get back in the rings, boy?" Bobby asked.
"Bobby, if you don't mind, can you call me Sam instead of boy?" Sam asked. "It is my name, after all. No, I won't get back in those rings. They hurt. I'll do this on my own."
Dean was getting twitchy. "What the hell are you guys nattering on about? Bobby, if it's about Sam being a psychic, I already know that."
"It's a lot more than that, Dean." Bobby said. "Come on Sam, tell him, show him, whatever. Let's get this party started."
Sam stood up and looked at Dean. "I am more than just a psychic, Dean. I just want you to know that I would never hurt you. I simply needed a human friend to help me learn your world. I'm sorry for, well, everything."
Sam stood and let his glamour fade. When the colors began to swirl around him Dean stepped further back "Bobby," he asked. "What's going on?"
"Take it easy boy." Bobby replied. "Your friend is just taking off his disguise."
When the transformation stopped and Sam's wings poked up over his shoulder, Dean hissed in surprise. "What the hell are you?"
Sam's colors splashed on Bobby's muted kitchen walls and for a moment there was the light sound of bells far away. Sam extended his hand to Dean. It was thin and translucent but extended in possible friendship. Sam made only the gesture; it was up to Dean to take his hand. "I am Fae, Dean. I mean you no harm. Please help me."
Dean reached out and took Sam's hand. "It's alright. Let's work this out."
XXXXXXX
Later that evening Sam and Dean sat out on the steps of Bobby's porch and spoke of their different worlds. Dean talked about his dead mother and brother and the pain the loss had cost him all his life. He spoke of hunting with his father and how the man grew bitterer every year.
There had been the constant moving, the feeling of living on a stormy ocean without roots or friends or familiar faces. Dean's life was empty, punctuating long period of boredom with moments of pure terror. He had no friends except other Hunters and he had come to fear, not love his father, the one constant in his sad and lonely life.
Sam spoke of living among the Fae, a life of hiding in the shadows. Of sharing a world with thousands of creatures all trapped in a dreamscape populated with fantastic monsters; facing down eternity while living in an unchanging society. Sam could understand the Unseelie who cried out to do harm in order to feel anything at all. The Seelie tried to fill their lives with music and beautiful things but eventually that life felt as empty as that of their cousins. All Fae envied the human lives, so full of action, strife and meaning.
The Fae filled up their days with festivals and ritual. The wars they waged between the courts filled the days of some and gave meaning to their long lives. The possibility of death in battle made the shadows darker and the sunlight warmer but the cost could only be paid by the bravest among them.
Both Sam and Dean wanted more from their lives. They wanted to fill the empty hours with meaning, with the sense of doing important work. Though literally from different worlds, they found common ground. They sat out in the dark for hours, exchanging memories and finding they both needed more.
Dean wanted to leave his father's never ending quest. Sam wanted more than meaningless ritual and royal burdens. During the long evening they forged a bond, a type of agreement. They would hunt evil in the human world together. Partners and friends they would protect each other. Dean would help conceal Sam's origin and Sam would protect Dean with his heightened senses and the power of magic.
As the stars rose high with the Seven Sisters and Cygnus cresting the sky and Orion's Belt twinkled on the western horizon they hammered out an agreement to become hunting partners. Dean would leave John behind. Sam agreed to never enter a secret door to his Kingdom without Dean by his side.
Finally the evening chill intensified to the point that Dean's bones ached and he stood up, shaking out his legs. Sam stood with him and startled Dean by leaning over and pulling Dean into his embrace. The deal with sealed with a kiss. Sam's lips were insistent and Dean tasted the sweetness of Fae magic when Sam's tongue invaded the cavern of the Hunter's mouth.