That's A Real Life Bronze Age Priestess Sammy
Chapter 21
Dean Winchester was scared.
However his fear didn't stem from facing some kind of monster that he had to fight off and kill. He was scared because the monster was him. Him and his black eyes. The rational part of mind knew that this was a nightmare, that he hadn't really turned into a Knight of Hell and right now he was having one of his fucking nightmares. Too bad all the other parts of his mind hadn't received that message. Maybe because he knew that he was on borrowed time, and because he is too damn tired and too damn weak to keep on fighting, the Mark will take over him once again, and even worse, there would be no way to reverse it. He wasn't going to simply leave Sammy this time. No. No fucking way. This time the Mark would make him kill Sam, just to ensure it he was well and truly broken. Because then Dean would've failed at the one thing he swore he wouldn't and couldn't fail at, protecting his little brother.
Dean knew he had to put an end to this. Though he wasn't sure which 'this' he was really talking about. This nightmare, or maybe this future, which he feared was becoming inevitable. Like a dark storm closing in on him, making him feel both stuck and just on the verge of being sucked up. Both. Either. With panic setting in him and him losing control over his mind and body, he didn't give a damn which ended first. He wanted to end it all. He wanted to leave. To escape this damn hurricane of a nightmare that was rapidly closing in on him. To end maelstrom of his thoughts and fears.
He wanted to end the Mark.
He wanted to leave.
He wanted to end Cain.
He wanted to leave.
He didn't want to end Sam.
He should leave.
He needed to leave.
He needed to leave.
He needed to leave.
Then everything just stopped. There was no jolt or sudden movement. He would swear that he never even moved a muscle, but he felt it in his fucking bones. That's not how his nightmares usually end. Usually he wakes in a cold sweat, a silent scream just barely escaping his lips. He glanced down his body, just to have a look. No, he didn't abruptly wake up in the small motel bed in a cold sweat. Instead of his nightmares, there was now a song.
Someone was singing.
Not for the first time in his life, Dean Winchester was thinking that he might have lost his goddamn marbles. Deciding that he might as well find the source of the singing, he tried looking around and saw Muwatti sitting on the floor behind him, with his back towards him, he now knew for sure that he had finally and truly lost his goddamn marbles.
It was then he realised where he was and why his nightmares had suddenly ended, because he was inside Muwatti's dreams. However that just left him even more confused. After knowing all that they could about her disappearance, while never saying it outright, Muwatti had made it pretty obvious that he wasn't welcome in her mind anymore. So why now? Why today? Or was this another one of his twisted nightmares? Where he was offered a momentarily respite, before being plunged even deeper in the dark storm of his mind.
But no, this was definitely one of Muwatti's memories, because he now could finally see who was singing. It was Henti. In front of him was the lost Hittite empress, gently swaying a baby in her arms, singing an ancient lullaby.
While still bewildered by the turn of events and still having many questions, Dean couldn't deny that fact that he was relieved. Only a few seconds ago, he felt like he was being suffocated, but now the only thing he felt was free. He'd never admit it, but he very well felt like skipping. But like the proverbial cat, Dean couldn't let his curiosity get the better of him and outright asked Muwatti why did she let him in after all this time.
The only response he got was silence. Did she not hear him? No, the slight stiffening of her shoulders would say otherwise. Then came the spine-chilling thought. Did she not know that he was here? Was him being here a mistake? Is she going to send him back to his mind and his nightmares? Dean should've learnt his lesson by now, there is no hope for him. He doesn't deserve such a luxury.
"I heard you." Said Muwatti, putting an end to his thoughts. Finally turning around to look up at him, and said, "You're here because I heard you." Then she held up her hand, urging him to join her.
How was she able to hear him? Why was she even able to do that? How long has she been able to do so? He always assumed he just floated in her dreams, but now it turns out she was simply able to summon him. He could've asked all of this. Should've asked all of this. Perhaps even demanded that she send him back. But Dean didn't do any of that. Because at that moment, the only thing he wanted to do sit down and listen to the ancient lullaby. A song that had been long forgotten by everyone in the world, all except Muwatti.
And that's exactly what he did. He grabbed her outstretched hand and joined her on the floor, with his knees still cracking even in a dream. His nightmares already becoming a distant memory.
xXx
Princess Muwatti, the last Tawananna of the Hittite, was angry.
She was done feeling scared or lost or trapped, now she just furious all the time. Because of the Winchesters. Since the Calliope incident, they decided to establish some rules for her. Her. The actual audacity of these morons. Rules such as covering up her tattoos and not speaking in her regular voice, so as to not draw attention on herself and trying to be unremarkable. As if a born royal could ever be such a thing. Muwatti wasn't born to be unremarkable, has never in her life been unremarkable, and refuses to be unremarkable. And yet every morning after waking up and bathing, she applies that damn concealer and speaks in an American accent whenever she steps out with one or both the brothers. Since that is also one of the rules. It's like she had one fight with a goddess, and it was barely a fight, Sam the one who killed her while she was simply talking, and the morons have basically declared themselves as her prison guards. Which doesn't seem fair, she's a princess, not a prisoner. As if all of this wasn't infuriating enough, almost every day Sam seems to remind her how important the rules are and how crucial it is that she follow them and listen to the morons, as if she is a child lacking powers of comprehension, and not a fully grown adult woman. But somedays he makes it even worse, by pointing out isn't it nice that at least she is free is use her normal way of speaking, when it is just the three of them, in one room, as long as no one else around them. By the hands of Ishtar, screw shaving all of his hair, Muwatti might just rip out all of his teeth. Good luck trying to eat all those shake salads with just gums, but wouldn't it be nice that at least he can easily consume his horrid-looking health smoothies, with so much kale and green apple, while using up all the tiny straws in the world.
Sometimes she wishes the morons were locked up in the tablet or better yet maybe she should just run away. But that's impossible, because Dean will find her. The Mark will make him find her. So she stays, and she follows the rules, all the while feeling her ancestor's disgust with her compliance and submission, because the truth is there is no escape for her.
And speaking of no escape, she felt the familiar tingle brushing up against her sleeping mind, signalling Dean's presence on the verge of entering her dreams, but could not and would not until she gave permission. While she felt his presence every night, she didn't let him in every single time, like it was in the beginning with Dean freshly turned human. No, just the night he had his nightmares, like tonight. So Muwatti let him in. Although he never said anything either awake or asleep, she could tell it hurt his pride and more importantly his very essence of being, by receiving any sort of help, even this tiniest bit of it that took no effort at all, from someone he's sworn to protect. Didn't seem to matter that it may not completely have been his choice, and maybe it was all thanks to the Mark, because seeking help made him weak, indulging in that small respite from his fears and his pain, meant that he would fail.
However as Dean finally materialised in front of her, with his back towards her, the panic still clinging to him as the relief over escaping his nightmares hadn't set in, Muwatti didn't see any weakness or failures. All see could see was the debt she owed this man. Because knowingly or otherwise, human or otherwise, Dean Winchester broke her curse, which meant she owed him a debt that perhaps can't even be payed back in one lifetime. So although upon waking up in the morning, he would go right back to infuriating her, what with all his attempts to control her and imposing his rules on her, she will never walk away from him. She can't walk away form them.
"Hello, Dean" she said, startling the hunter and him turning around to face her, because why break the pattern now.
So she stayed and she followed the rules. At least, for now.
xXx
Sam Winchester was excited.
He was running again, his ideal way to start a day. But more importantly they were truly back on the road, as in taking cases and just not for sightseeing and day-drinking. Though they still managed to stumble into a few cases anyways. Which is how they ended up in Brimfolk, Iowa, where a camping ground was reporting strange incidents at night. Oh how much he missed strange incidents at night, especially when it happened to other people for them to investigate. There were reports of cold spots, even in the middle of summer, as well as the campers would wake up in the morning and black goo on their tents. Yeah, that's exactly what they needed. A simple, basic, boring salt-and-burn. Surely the three of them could handle that without any difficulty. Right?