[h3] Dean Winchester [/h3]

“Mika…”, he whispered, knowing she wouldn’t stop unless he told her what he was thinking.  But saying the words out loud was not something he was prepared to do.  It was something he hadn’t even admitted to himself, other than in dreams, since he had been back. As she touched him, he flinched, knowing that it would be even harder to lie to her, while she was so close to him.  It was her greatest weapon, against him.

“I don’t want you to see me the way I see myself…”, he muttered, still trying to talk himself out of telling her anything.  But once the levy was broken, it was broken.  He let out a long sigh, as tears stung at his eyes, “Um…I remember everything.”

He waited a few seconds after the admission, feeling a bit of weight lift off his shoulders, just at that tiny statement.  Taking another deep breath, he kept going.

“I ended up on a bunch of meat hooks.  Every day, they sent someone, or sometimes hellhounds to tear me apart…slowly.  And after I was dead…I would regenerate and they would start again.  After a while, they realized I wasn’t going to beg them for anything.  So, they called a demon named Alastair.”, he explained, gasping and sighing as he tried to fight back a sob, “Alastair would put me up there.  Every day, he would flay at me, burn me, stab me, whatever got him off.  And every day, he would tell me that I could come down.  I could stop all of it, if I would put souls on…”

He scanned her eyes, also scanning the garage in case Bobby was near.  Then he blinked away a few tears that fell down his cheeks, “And one day…after a few decades…I did.  I ran off those racks.  I was proud to be off.  But it was instant.  He made me do all of it to them…I can still hear their screams.  I can still smell the blood, and the burning flesh.”

He took one more deep breath, “And what screws me up, and should make you run a million miles away from me…is I liked it.  I was proud of it.  And then out of nowhere, I’m in a pine box…like some kind of punishment.  I had to claw and dig, and push my way out of the grave.”

He finished the summary of his experience, not going into more detail than he needed to, but instantly felt lighter.  He placed both hands over his eyes, running them down his face as he let out a small sob.  The sound of cars on gravel shook him from his thoughts as the others pulled up.  He simply stared at Mika’s face, scanning her eyes for any kind of reaction.

[h3] Cason [/h3] 

Cason heard Esme step out of the car, and reached an arm out to her for her to join the rest of the group.  He followed Sam inside the house, but stopped right at the door, staring down at his feet.

“You have GOT to be kidding me…”, he groaned, seeing the bright orange devil’s trap on the floor below him.  He couldn’t scuff the devil’s trap himself, and he knew that Bobby Singer was a hunter.  This wouldn’t be the most pleasant experience ever. 

As Bobby realized they were there, he stood from his desk, smiling at Sam.  He approached him quickly and threw his arms around him, giving him a tight hug, “It’s good to see you boy!  They are out in the yard…talking about some stuff. The usual for them… You’re here in one piece, so that’s a win, right?”

He spoke the words brightly and then glanced to Annabeth, his smile fading a bit as he stared at her.  From the side of her glasses, he could lightly make out the burn scars that had healed themselves, where her eyes used to be.  He gave a sad smile to her, wanting to apologize but not even knowing where to start.

Cason sighed and cleared his throat with his arms out to the side as he watched everyone reacquaint with their father figure.  He, however, was trapped.  He couldn’t even introduce himself properly, considering how they last met.

“Um.  Can someone help me?”, he asked.  Bobby simply narrowed his eyes, refusing to help a demon in his own house.  But after realizing that he seemed to be with them, Bobby stepped toward him.

“If you try anything.  Anything at all…I’ll pump your ass so full of rock salt, you’ll think I’m trying to attract a prize deer with your innards.”, Bobby threatened, placing a boot on the outside of the devils trap and scraping a piece of it away, releasing Cason.

[h3] Annabeth [/h3]

Annabeth smiled as Sam took her hand, trying to talk her into trusting his brother.  She wanted to.  Dean hadn’t done anything to her that was dangerous, yet.  But she was still a bit worried to be around him, considering how volatile he seemed from her brief time with him.

His hand in hers caused an instant calm, as with all the times before, and she linked fingers with him as they walked into the house.  She was surprisingly happy to feel Bobby Singer’s presence in the living room as they stepped through the door.  He greeted them, and she could feel his eyes fall on her.  She gave a small, but dismissive smile as he looked at her, telling him that no words were needed on her behalf.

However, Cason being trapped in another devils trap made her giggle lightly, a little intimidated that Bobby didn’t think it was funny.  She knew Cason wasn’t stupid enough to try anything too horrible while they were all there.  Most of them seemed pretty well versed in demons.

“Um.  Since we’re all here…are we safer?”, she asked, as Bobby scraped the paint off the floor behind her.  He chuckled, stepping back over to his desk, and popped the top on a bottle he found there.

“You’re as safe with us as you’re ever going to be.  That might not help your nerves much, but…I promise.”, Bobby explained, seeing a lot of Mika’s childhood in the girl.