"So what's the cover?" asked Sam.
"Basically a hunt gone wrong. Since for some reason the supernatural set hasn't figured out we're not Winchesters, I want you to spread the word I broke my leg or something. That should keep people from asking why I'm not with you for a while. Remember to give me a year before you call Crowley asking where I am. The less attention you draw to the fact I'm not on Earth, the easier it will be for me to slip past them," said Dean.
Dean had decided not to put off his trip into hell. Crowley said that two months would be more than sufficient to complete his contract, which was how long Sam had to fool everyone. And to help that, Dean had contacted Loki and told him to 'go nuts' with pranks.
As far as anyone would be concerned, Sam had opted to go into a prank war with the pagan while Dean was laid up with a pair of broken legs.
Crowley had given Dean the location of the hell gate, and Dean had given it to Sam just in case. If only so Sam would know where to go when Crowley (or Mort) told him when Dean left hell.
Bear was going with him, if only to keep the demons from looking too closely at Stitch.
As far as they were concerned, Dean's creature form was some bizarre hell beast.
Crowley said he had seen freakier things in the pit.
Sam was unhappy Dean was going to hell at all, but realized that it was better to do this now when the contract hadn't even been two months old than to wait and make the chances of the demons realizing what Dean had done too early.
Loki had promised to keep Sam safe until Dean's return. He seemed very amused Dean trusted him to do something like that.
Dean hugged his brother tightly. He took a deep breath and turned into Stitch. The longer he took to go into the hell gate, the more likely he was to put it off. Bear immediately leaned down so Dean could climb onto his back.
Dean gave his brother a salute, to the amusement of Loki and Sam. Then he and Bear disappeared.
It would be months before Sam saw his brother again.
It was hot. It was filled with the most tortured screams. And it was full of pain.
Bear was completely unconcerned about it. Stitch left a small charm at the opening so he could find it later. It was nothing really, most demons were likely to ignore it entirely. But the active magic would make finding his way back so much easier.
"Well Bear, let's check out hell," said Stitch. His voice always sounded warped in this form.
It made it that much harder to pin things on him. Well, unless it was Sam because let's face it, he always knew when it was Dean's doing.
So Dean decided to see where ol' Johnny boy landed.
It took him a full week on Earth, but ten years in hell. Loki wasn't joking about the time difference, and the only reason Dean knew about how long it took was because of the charm most people used instead of getting a damn watch. (The more advanced application could also tell the date.)
Dean took one look, and then left.
John Winchester was an asshole, and Dean had only come here out of curiosity. He found it hard to pity someone who caused so much harm with his damn paranoia.
Pleased to see John getting exactly what he deserved, he went to see where Dumbledore and Voldemort ended up. If only so he could piss on their decaying and tortured bodies for all the crap they put him through. Maybe if he was lucky he would run into Snape.
On the way to locate Dumbledore, he ran into a familiar face and had to hold back a laugh when Mort did a double take.
Thankfully the demons usually didn't pay any mind to him, otherwise they would have started asking questions...like why Death was talking to a hell beast that no one recognized.
Dean, what in god's name are you doing in the pit?
Sam was killed, I made a deal. Better to sneak into hell, fulfilling the contract than to be dragged down by hell hounds later and put on the racks, said Dean sensibly.
Mort stared at him in disbelief.
It was an insane, idiotic and almost impossible plan. But there was a higher chance of him escaping from hell when no one was expecting it than there was of him doing it after he was on the racks.
Plus it would ruin the plans of heaven and hell to break the first lock.
The only issue was that Death couldn't keep an eye on Dean without drawing attention. Something neither of them needed.
Can you give me directions once the two months are up? Crow said that was the least amount of time I would need to end the contract's hold on my core.
I'll let you know when it's up. Where are you going anyway?
Piss on Dumbledore and Voldemort. And possibly Snape, was Dean's immediate reply.
Death snorted. He had the feeling this was Harry, not Dean. He flicked his right hand and produced a small light ball for him to follow.
It will go to the closest one first. Have fun,said Mort dryly. He wasn't about to stop Dean from getting some payback on the people who had screwed up his life.
Be interesting to see Dean's reaction to Umbridge.
He was particularly satisfied with his work. Dumbledore wasn't, but who gave a damn what that old goat thought? Too bad there wasn't any decent Mexican around here, he would have loved to make this bastard suffer a permanent Bear Bomb.
That was two out of three people who had made his life hell. Since the Durselys were still alive, he couldn't do the same to them.
So he went downward, investigating various areas as he went. Once you learned to ignore the screaming, the heat and god knew what else in the air, hell was pretty boring.
No wonder demons wanted to leave this place!
Dean knew that something inside of him had changed after running into Mort.
For one thing whenever he slept in the furry comfort of Bear's protection, the memories of Harry were absorbed into his own. It usually took him a few minutes for him to remember he was Dean now, not that sad wizard with no hope.
At this rate the memories would be fully integrated.
He was in the lower levels of the pit when he accidentally stumbled on it.
A cage with so many locks that it made little sense at all. But it was the smell that tipped him off as to what it was.
He knew the scent of a Bear Bomb.
So this is Lucifer's cage. Weird.
Who said that?!
You heard me. Okay, I am now freaked out.
Stitch noticed something staring at him with an annoyed glare from inside the cage. Lucifer was definitely aware of his presence.
You're not a demon, or something from here. Who or what are you?
Someone who had the sense to end his contract early before he got ripped apart by hellhounds, deadpanned Dean.
A wizard, no doubt. How did you escape the racks?
Again, I came here willingly to avoid having to deal with that crap. Hell's easy to break into...it the leaving that's a bitch and a half.
Not if you know the right direction to go in. Go down five levels and look for a crack. It's another way out,said Lucifer blindly.
It would show this idiot right if he got eaten by the things currently trapped in purgatory.
Dean decided that he might as well follow Lucifer's directions. Two seconds of staring into Purgatory, and he returned.
You are a dick.
You survived. Impressive.
What the fuck were those things?
Leviathans. Dad's first mistake before he made the angels. He trapped them in purgatory because he didn't know where else to stash them, said Lucifer blandly.
They're freakier than half the demons I've run into. And that's saying something!
So tell me, little wizard, just how did you end up with a contract?
What could he say? Lucifer was bored out of his mind and listening to brown nosing demons was annoying.
Some demon killed my brother with the Colt. So I made a deal with a crossroads demon I knew to bring him back. In exchange he'll use us to piss off some of the higher demons he knows, said Dean simply.
You made a deal for love? Lucifer said surprised.
The first made a deal for power. The second was for love. The third greeted him like an old friend, quoted Dean.
He knew once he left hell that he would have the full power of the Hallows again. He just didn't care.
Like Harry, Dean had gone through the three trials, albeit out of order.
The first time he met Death (once he knew what he was), he greeted him like a long-lost friend. The second time he had been touched by a controlled reaper someone had kept around for power. And this time he went into hell to protect the one he loved from having to suffer from watching his time slowly tick away until there was none left.
By that reasoning, Dean had fulfilled the three requirements to regain his lost status as Master of Death.
The only thing was that he had no idea where the Hallows were, and he didn't care.
Dean spent a week (Earth time) just talking to Lucifer. For someone considered as Satan, he wasn't that bad. Just pissed at the flippant way humanity treated his father.
To Dean, this all sounded like a disagreement between brothers that just got way out of hand.
Finally the time limit set was up. Death appeared before Dean, surprising Lucifer greatly.
The two months are up. You can leave hell and no one would be the wiser that you filled the contract.
I was actually enjoying my chat with Satan. Too bad.
Mort snorted. Only someone as twisted and broken as Dean/Harry would find chatting with Lucifer of all people soothing.
He's your master?!
I'm not his Master. I'm his friend, one of the few who bothers to talk to him without all the pomp and circumstance.
He also acts as my hand among the mortals when I need him. If you agree to behave if and when the locks are broken, I might be able to adjust his aura so he can hear you even here, said Mort with a sigh.
Lucifer perked up. He was just as bored as the strange creature before him was, and he had to admit their discussions were a nice change of pace.
How will I know it's him when I break free? I would hate to kill my new favorite human,asked Lucifer.
Trust me, you'll know it's him because he'll be traveling with your true vessel. I daresay Micheal is going to be pissed when he figures out what I did to his, said Mort dryly.
Lucifer's eyes widened with realization. Then he began to crack up.
Oh this was going to be fun. Micheal's vessel was Death's true Master and magical? There was no way he would say yes with that much power!
The two started going up. It was going to take a while before they reached the top layer of the pit.
Unfortunately for Dean, his marker was destroyed by accident by another hell hound. He would have to rely on Mort to find his way out.
Three months. That was how long Dean had been gone. Sam had been able to play off his brother's disappearance by claiming he was laid up in a safe house with a broken leg...before contracting a particularly nasty bout of the flu. Aside from having to deal with his mother yelling at him for being a damn idiot for trying to lie, no one knew Dean was gone.
On the plus side, he had gained a new boyfriend.
Loki was absolutely smitten with Sam after he was pranked repeatedly by the hunter. Apparently he liked people who could match him tit-for-tat when it came to pranks.
It was almost enough to take Sam's mind off the fact Dean wasn't there. Almost.
"Moping again Sammy?" said Loki.
"I miss him. It's been two months and we can't keep this ruse up forever. People are already noticing that we've been inactive and Mom's having to field questions as to where we went."
"I'm surprised anyone noticed," said Loki, sipping his hot chocolate.
"It's because Bear is so recognizable. People might not notice us missing, but not hearing reports of someone driving a black Impala with a massive dog in the back? They know something's up," said Sam.
Loki was about to respond when he felt a chill.
"Lo?"
"Something just happened. Something that anyone with magic could feel," said Loki.
Sam went quiet.
There, on the back of his senses was this hum. Almost a whine really.
"What is that?"
"Death's Master has returned," said Loki shivering.
Every supernatural and magical creature felt when Death's Master finally claimed his power. Every. Single. One.
This was ten times worse. This was Death's Master unbound by mortal constraints and in full possession of his power. And he wasn't even using it at the moment.
It made Loki fear what would happen if the man (or woman) got angry.
There was a sudden knock on the door. Once. Twice. Three times.
Outside there was a raven that mysteriously cried "Nevermore! Nevermore!"
Sam's eyes widened and he rushed to open it.
There, standing in the doorway was a tired looking Dean and a sleepy Bear.
"Yo. Miss me?"