SPN_J2_BigBang: Magical Girl Sam Winchester [1/3]

[ikira]

It was late at night, even for them, when Dean finally pulled the Impala into the parking spot in front of their motel room, much to their mutual relief. They were both tired and frustrated, ; the hunt they had started in this random town (completely indistinguishable from any of the others they had passed through) going poorly. They had started with very little hope to begin with, the reports of several people falling into comas within a relatively short time period ridiculously vague, but they had gone anyways in case there had been other clues that could only be found on site. Instead, after interviewing countless friends and family, and skulking around the victim’s’ apartments all day, they had no proof that the rash of comas was were anything but an odd coincidence. There was no trace of sulphur, no random disappearances, no increase in animal attacks, nothing.

They had initially split up to cover more ground, but had met up again for dinner to go over what they’d found. When they’d established that they had nothing to go on, the conversation shifted into their usual banter, taunting each other and complaining about their day.

Dean grumbled into his burger about having to jump a fence at one point during the day to escape a guard dog that he swore was more evil than most demons they encountered. “The thing had to be like a hundred pounds, and was all teeth! I swear it must have had some Hellhound blood in it somewhere.” He shuddered, thinking of the close call. Although it had been a few months since he’d been pulled out of Hell, he still had flashbacks of the Hellhounds killing him around some animals. He tried not to let it show around Sam though. His little brother was already worried enough about him as is, there was no need to add to it.

Thankfully, Sam just snorted into his chicken, assuming Dean was exaggerating. “Yeah, right, Dean. I still remember the Yorkie.” He grinned, ignoring Dean’s glare. “Besides, you didn’t have to deal with Mrs. Malone. Two words; . Ccougar. Ggrandma.”

That mental image cheered Dean up, making him forget all about the dog and the flashbacks. He laughed so hard with his head thrown back and his eyes squeezed shut. It felt good, like it was something he hadn’t done in a while. Sam put up a front of being all offended, but inside Dean knew he was glad he’d managed to make Dean laugh like that. He was good like that, letting Dean make jokes at his expense if it made Dean feel better. Dean would never admit it out loud, but he really appreciated it. Somehow, he knew, Sam probably already understood.

Once they’dThey’d finished up their meals just as the restaurant was closing, paying (for once) with cash, they and hopped into the Impala and to headed back for the motel, both still feeling a little put out that they’d gotten nowhere with the hunt, though not as bad as before. The car ride was silent, the easy joking from dinner quashed by their exhaustion, neither speaking until the engine was cut off. Only then did Dean catch Sam looking over at him questioningly out of the corner of his eye.

“So what’s the plan?” Sam asked, raising a brow. “Do we stick around for another day, see if there’s anything we missed, or do we move on?”

Dean thought it over as he pulled the keys out of the ignition, pursing his lips. “I dunno, man. I don’t think there’s anything we could have missed. Hanging around and going over the same stuff seems kinda a waste of time.” Not to mention he was feeling kind of off since the dog, and he wasn’t looking forward to running into it again. But Sam didn’t need to know that.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed, looking down at his knees, and Dean felt a brief flash of guilt at Sam’s disappointed expression. Still, while it sucked that they couldn’t help these people, they would probably be more useful keeping on the move, looking for something else to do. Besides, the more they moved, the harder it would be for the demons to find them. Especially that bitch, Ruby. Dean hated it when she came around. He didn’t feel comfortable with her anywhere near Sam. Not that he could stop it. Sam got stubborn when Dean tried to tell him what to do, and then he would go out and do something stupid anyways, just out of spite. It wasn’t worth the headache. Brushing that negative thought track away, he opened the door to climb out, Sam doing the same on the other side.

They had both shut the doors and managed to take a single step towards the room when suddenly there was a blur of brown streaking across the parking lot towards them. Hunters instincts sent them both diving to the pavement, allowing the blur to pass over their heads with a whoosh of displaced air.

Instantly both Sam and Dean were back on their feet, drawing weapons that they always carried on their persons. Dean pointed his handgun at the bushes the blur had vanished into, aim unwavering. Behind him, he knew Sam was watching his back, holding Ruby’s knife loose and ready, glancing around for any additional attackers.

After waiting for what he considered a reasonable amount of time without any movement or sound emerging from the bushes, Dean began to approach, gun still raised. Sam waited behind, ready to cover Dean in an instant, falling back into their usual routine. Dean always took point, Sam always covered the rear; it had been drilled into them at a young age. Dean had never been so as glad of that as he was now. He wasn’t sure where it was coming from, but he could feel his heart rate picking up, and he couldn’t help feeling nervous. Something felt off, even more so than usual. He made sure to keep himself between Sam and the bushes, just in case. His gut feeling told him something bad was about to happen.

Unfortunately he was proven right not even a minute later. As he came within a few feet of the bushes, the brown blur suddenly leapt out at him, knocking him to the ground, and he got his first look at whatever the hell it was hovering over him. Struggling to get the air back into his lungs, he could feel his eyes bugging out.

Although it looked pretty similar to a few creatures they had encountered in the past, Dean had to admit that he honestly couldn’t tell exactly what it was. It was big, probably about Sam’s height, maybe taller, and bulky, and from what he could see of it, it was covered in thick brown fur from head to toe. It had huge floppy ears, a long oxen tail whipping about, and a nose that kind of looked like a really lumpy eggplant. Overall it would have looked rather ridiculous, sort of like a cartoon version of a troll from a children’s book, if it wasn’t pinning him down on the pavement with what seemed like no effort at all.

Then it opened its mouth, revealing a double layer of needle-like teeth, and all at once it was seriously fucking terrifying.

Dean let out a shout, bringing the gun up to bear and firing point-blank at the creature with a consecrated iron bullet right between the eyes. The creature shrieked, its head whipping back from the force of the bullet, knocking it over. It fell off of him with a groan and then laid still. Dean quickly scrambled up, keeping the gun trained on the thing, just in case. He tried to ignore the way his hands were shaking slightly and a clock chime was echoing in his head.

“What the hell was that?” he squawked, his voice breaking from stress, but thankfully Sam ignored it, already jogging over. Dean jerked his head towards Sam’s pockets, indicating he should get out a few packets of salt and some matches. He wasn’t looking forward to salting and burning this thing. It was huge, and had been stupidly heavy. Still, it wasn’t conveniently vanishing into a puff of smoke, so something needed to be done with it. Sam reached his side and dropped the knife carelessly to the ground, matches and salt in one hand, and started patting Dean down, checking for any injuries. There were a few scrapes from his fall, but otherwise Dean was okay. He pushed Sam off after a few seconds, grumbling about Sam being a mother hen, gun dropping to his side. He was only slightly disappointed when Sam actually did back off. What can he say? He’s not above enjoying a little coddling from his brother. He just would never admit it.

“No idea,” Sam shrugged, tucking the knife away.

“Jesus,” Dean grumbled, kicking at the thing in a childish fit. He hated when things got the drop on him.

Quick as a striking snake, the thing’s tongue shot out of its mouth like a frog’s, wrapping around Dean’s leg and dragging him back down to the ground. Dean swore loudly, but that was all he had time to do before the creature was rolling back on top of him, pinning his arms down this time, shrieking into his face. Dean looked scrunched his face up in disgust as spit from the creature’s mouth splattered across his face. Ugh, he already really hated this thing, whatever it was. He was going to have to bathe in bleach to get the smell off of his skin.

Sam reacted instinctively, and Dean felt a flash of pride at how quickly he responded. Sam pulled Ruby’s knife back out and tackling the creature with as much force as he could gather, plunging the knife into the thing’s its neck. A perfect hit. He had trained his brother well.

But the creature barely even acknowledged him, turning its head to hiss menacingly. It flicked its tail over its head to smack Sam across the chest, knocking him back halfway across the parking lot, flailing like an idiot mook in a comic book movie.

Dean cried out as Sam went flying, barely missing an impact with a parked car. When he didn’t get up right away, Dean tried screaming at him, horrified. What if the thing hit Sam harder th an he’d thought? What if something had been broken? What if it was his skull? What if...Dean felt his mind go blank as his worst fears invaded his thoughts.

B, but then the monster plunged its tongue straight into Dean’s chest, and he was screaming for a completely different reason.

~*◊*~

For a moment, Sam could do nothing but lay there after being hitthrown, stunned, gasping for breath and in pain, trying to figure out if he’d broken anything important. He could hear Dean crying out for him, but he couldn’t gather his senses enough to respond.

With a moan, Sam slowly sat up. His vision was blurry and he felt like the world was spinning beneath him, but he was pretty sure he hadn’t managed to break anything. Just a concussion then, nothing he hadn’t dealt with before. He struggled to get his eyes to focus so that he could find Dean across the lot.

When he finally did regain his senses, it was to see the creature still pinning his brother down. However, Dean wasn’t struggling anymore. Instead, he was staring blankly up at the creature, even as its long tongue was somehow stabbing into his chest. Sam could see it wriggling and squirming, but that was all he bothered to take in through his panic. Whatever the hell this thing was, it was killing Dean. He had only just got his brother back from Hell, he couldn’t wasn’t going to lose him again!

Sam dug around in his pockets for anything he could use against the creature, but all he could find was the leftover salt and matches, the rest scattered across the parking lot. Iron and Ruby’s knife had done nothing before, and the thing was too strong for Sam to wrestle away. There was the stash in the back of the Impala, but the keys were currently in Dean’s pocket, and it would take too long to pick the lock, not to mention Dean would kill him for damaging his baby. By the time he got another weapon, Dean would be ---dead .

“Oi! Big guy!”

Well into a freak out, Sam got back to his feet, ready to try another desperate tackle, when the fact that someone was shouting at him finally registered. Startled, he whipped his head back and forth, searching for the sound of the voice.

“Down here!” the voice squeaked, and Sam finally thought to looked down. When he saw the speaker, he knew he must have hit his head harder than he’d thought. Looking up at him with huge golden eyes was some sort of cat-rabbit-fox thing, with pure white fur. And it was smiling at him knowingly.



“Listen!” it somehow spoke, despite its mouth not moving, its voice high pitched and squeaky. “I can help save your friend, but only under one condition!”

“What?” Sam asked stupidly, brain still trying to compute the fuzzy thing talking to him.

“You must make a contract with me! Only then will you gain the power to defeat the Goblin! Nothing else will be able to stop it!” the thing declared passionately, long thin ears flattening across its head and draping along the ground. They had to be nearly as long as the creature itself.

“Contract? Oh Hell no. We’ve had enough bad experiences with those,” Sam spat.

But the thing barrelled on. “No souls required,” it insisted.

Still, Sam couldn’t help asking. “Are you sure?” He shot a quick glance over at his brother, checking that he was still breathing. The creature - Goblin, apparently - was still tonguing his brother’s chest, but Dean seemed to be breathing, so there must have been some time left.

“Yes!” the cat-rabbit-fox thing insisted, “I have been opposing their forces for many yearsmillennia now, I know how to stop them. You, but you must accept my help and make the contract!”

“Why can’t you just stop it yourself?” Sam frowned, confused.

The cat-fox-rabbit thing shook its head, ears whipping back and forth like ribbons. “I am too small to do it alone. I can only share my power with another. Please! We must hurry! The Goblin has almost removed his soul!”

That got Sam moving. “Tell me what to do.”

The fuzzy thing jumped, bounding up Sam’s body to rest on his shoulders. “My name is Fefelli,” it introduced itself. “Now grab my tail, and repeat after me,” it instructed.

Feeling nervous and stupid about Fefelli’s instructions, Sam had no choice but to do as he was told. He could see a shimmering light starting to appear from Dean’s chest, and he knew that couldn’t be a good sign. Sighing, he allowed his eyes to slip closed as he grasped the end of the thing’s silky tail and repeated its words.

“Fefelli, Guardian of the Power of the Soul,
I pledge myself to your cause, bind myself to your goals
Give me in exchange the Power of the Heart
That I may defend those in need, and protect this world from the Evil that is the Goblin King
Guardian of the Heart, arise!”

Sam had no idea what was happening, but abruptly the world seemed to freeze, and then everything around him dissolved into a void filled with golden light. His hand that had been wrapped around Fefelli’s tail was empty, but a golden bracelet with a hanging pink crystal charm had appeared around his wrist. He stared around himself in confusion for a moment. And then things got really weird.

His mouth dropped open as all his clothing randomly dissolved into golden sparkles, which then whirled away into the void above his head. He wasn’t naked for long though. The bracelet on his wrist expanded until it was big enough to slip off, flying up and over him until it came down to rest on his forehead like a diadem, the crystal hanging down between his eyes.

There was a tinkling noise, and then a heart-shaped crystal just like the one on the diadem appeared floating at mid-chest height. Streamers of the golden light erupted out of it like lances, and everywhere they touched on his skin pieces of clothing appeared. Short white fingerless gloves with ruffled cuffs appeared on his hands, thigh-high heeled red leather boots with white trim on his legs.

White feathered wings appeared over his back, spreading wide and then folding down to cover his body. They vanished in an explosion of feathers, but a pale pink dress was left behind. It was short in the front and longer in the back, ruffled like the cuffs of the gloves, with a complicated halter neckline. The heart crystal pulsed again, and a red leather corset top appeared over the dress. Finally, the heart shaped crystal moved forward, resting in the middle of his chest right above the corset, somehow fusing to the fabric. A white ribbon appeared behind, framing it.

And then it was all over, the golden void vanishing back into reality, and Sam was left standing in the middle of a motel parking lot wearing a preposterous getup with the cat thing still on his shoulders and the Goblin still sucking Dean’s soul out. He felt stunned and a little molested.

“Oh good, it worked,” Fefelli chirped, hopping down nonchalantly. “Now hurry up, you have to kill the Goblin!”

“Uh,” Sam responded, stunned and still trying to recover. “How?”

“I just gave you the Power of the Heart!” Fefelli snapped at him, seemingly annoyed at how slowly he was adjusting . As if people should normally be a lot quicker to get over...whatever the hell that had been.

Realizing that Sam was still lost, Fefelli tossed its head angrily, its tail bristling out. “Draw your weapon from the Heart Crystal, and then just do what comes naturally. It’s different for each person.”

Sam wasn’t sure exactly how he was supposed to draw anything out of a crystal, but at least it was easy enough to identify. He reached up and brushed his fingers over the gem on his chest.

As he touched it, the crystal started glowing, and he felt something pressing up against his hand. Gripping it, he realized it was a handle. He, so he pulled it. And kept pulling.

In his hand was a spear or javelin of some sort, except that it was nothing like any spear he’d ever seen before. The shaft looked to be made of gold , although it was lightweight in his hands. The bottom end was tipped in another pink crystal, this time a sphere, trimmed with red and white. The top point was made of a shimmery silver metal that he couldn’t identify, shaped like a spade, also trimmed in red and white. The sharp end was wrapped with a white ribbon that curled and waved in a non-existent wind. It was the most stupidly unpractical weapon he’d ever seen, and it fit this whole situation perfectly.

Still, Fefelli had told him to do what felt natural, and he had to do something to rescue Dean. Shrugging, he hefted the spear into a throwing position, aiming it at the Goblin perched over his brother. It finally seemed to notice that there was something going on in the middle of the parking lot, because it was looking up at him with beady black eyes. It looked nervous.

Feeling like he was under some sort of control, Sam pulled back his arm, his form perfect.

“ Lovely Heart Pierce!” he screamed, words coming out before he realized it, throwing the spear with all of his might. It flew straight as an arrow, ribbons trailing through the air, before ploughing through the Goblin’s face with an explosion of pink and gold light. The Goblin’s body remained crouched for an endless moment over Dean, and then shattered into black dust, drifting away on the wind. The spear flew back into Sam’s hand as if carried by an invisible force.

The parking lot fell silent again. Sam took a breath, waiting for something else to happen, but when nothing did, he charged across the pavement, somehow managing to run despite the heeled boots, to land on his knees at Dean’s side, heedless of the way the gravel scraped at the leather.

Dean was still unconscious, but there was no sign of wounds on his chest, and the glow was gone. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the traces of black dust caught on his eyelashes, making them dark against his freckled cheeks, he would appear to be untouched. Sam felt his breath catch in his throat as he reached out with one gloved hand to brush the dust away. Dean twitched at the sensation, and Sam let himself breathe again. Dean was alright. Everything else that Sam had been put through, the crazy talking animal, the golden void, the ruffles, it didn’t matter, so long as Dean was okay.

Almost as if summoned by his thought, Fefelli appeared next to him, crouching down to sniff at Dean’s chest. “He’ll be fine,” Fefelli reassured him, patting him on the wrist with one dainty paw. “You managed to defeat the Goblin before it did any permanent damage. Not bad for a beginner.”

Sam could do nothing but stare at the thing. “...Thanks...” he settled on.

“Still, you’ll have to get better if you want to have any hope of defeating the Goblin King,” Fefelli turned to walk away, fluffy tail smacking Sam across the face . Sam snorted, shaking his head, and then what Fefelli had said penetratedsunk in.

“Wait, get better? Goblin King? Ah hah, no, no.” He started shaking his head and raising his hands in front of him. “I did this to save Dean. That’s it. Now that he’s safe, I’m going to get us inside, take off this...stuff, and pretend that all of this was a massive hallucination brought on by my concussion.”

Fefelli turned and hissed at him, fur spiking up like and angry cat. “You can’t just quit now!” it cried. “That wasn’t the only Goblin in the world! You have to help stop them from stealing peoples’ souls!”

But Sam would have none of it. “Dean and I already spend enough time saving people from everything else that’s out to get them. I don’t have the time, or the desire, to hunt down these Goblins as well, especially if it means I have to wearing this,” he gestured at the foreign clothing, “Sorry,” he finished, even if he really wasn’t.

“But if the Goblins and their King manage to gather enough souls, they’ll free their dark Goddess, and the world will be destroyed!”

“Well they’ll have to get in line,” Sam snorted, “behind Lilith and her entire entourage.”

Fefelli hissed again, looking like it was ready to argue all night, so Sam cut it off before it could build up steam. “No offence,” he sighed to the creature as he knelt down to pick Dean up, “but I’d really like you to go away right now.”

Fefelli paused, started to speak, and then cut itself off with an angry growl. Then, with a flick of its fluffy tail, Fefelli turned into a wisp of smoke, and blew away.

Sam was left staring in surprise at the spot where Fefelli had been sitting, Dean limp in his arms, when he was distracted by his clothing starting to glow. The heart crystal burned the brightest, and then with a flash, suddenly he was back in the clothes he had been wearing before. The parking lot was silent, the dust from the Goblin all blown away. The only sign that any of the crazy events had actually happened was the golden bracelet with a pink crystal charm around Sam’s wrist, too tight to pull of and with no obvious clasp. He could worry about that later, though.

He glared at it, as if the jewellery could somehow be responsible for the entire mess, but then gave up. He carried Dean into their motel room, dropping him down on the closest bed, before flopping down on the other. He didn’t even bother changing out of his clothes, already asleep when his head hit the pillow.

~*◊*~

The next morning Sam awoke to Dean’s groaning. He lifted his head just enough to see Dean rising up, rubbing at his chest.

“Dude, what happened last night? How much did I drink?” Dean wrinkled his nose, eyes still half-closed with sleep. Sam had to fight back a smile. Dean always looked adorable when he was just waking up, though that was a thought that Sam would keep to himself even upon pain of death.

“No idea,” he lied unashamedly. There was no way in hell he was going to tell Dean what he’d been through last night. He wasn’t entirely sure he believed it had been real, but a quick check of his wrist revealed that at the very least the bracelet was real. He carefully shifted his arm so that it was tucked under the pillow where Dean couldn’t see it.

“Damn,” Dean looked away, stretching up, revealing a small sliver of tummy. Sam pointedly looked away while he finished stretching, his face strangely hot. “I don’t even remember drinking anything.”

Sam didn’t answer, just kept his face pressed into the pillow until Dean headed into the shower. He wasn’t sure why he was feeling all hot and bothered. It wasn’t like Sam didn’t see his brother all the time, often naked with their lifestyle and penchant for getting injured in all sorts of fun places. But for some reason this morning the combination of Dean’s sleepy face and that little hint of skin had made Sam feel all...needy. He wondered if it was a side-effect of the insanity from last night. Then he remembered that he was not thinking about that, pushing the thoughts from his mind as he rose up to get ready to face the day.

Fefelli was sitting on the pillow right next to his face.

Sam let out a scream that he would totally insist was manly if asked, and fell out of the bed, landing on the floor in a tangle of blankets. He just laid there for a bit, working on getting his heart rate down. Then he heard Dean calling out for him from the shower.

“You okay Sam?”

“Yeah!” Sam answered, trying to keep his voice level even as he glared at Fefelli with all the vitriol he could muster. “I’m fine!” He could barely make out Dean muttering something about spiders and giant girls, but he was more distracted by the white creature that was sitting on his pillow like it was a throne.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Sam hissed, careful to make sure he couldn’t be heard over the spray of the shower. He didn’t need Dean thinking he was crazy as well as girly. The teasing from one was enough.

Fefelli shrugged one feline shoulder, long ears twitching. Even though it was impossible for the animal’s face, Sam could feel it smirking. “I had thought that giving you the night to think about it would be enough. Clearly you must realize how important this task is.”

“No, I don’t care. I didn’t care last night, and I don’t care now,” Sam snapped, reaching out to grab Fefelli by the scruff. The creature artfully dodged his grasp, jumping across the gap between the two beds to settle on Dean’s pillow instead. It moved like it was made out of air, smooth and lightly. Sam glared even harder.

“You have no choice,” Fefelli told him once he had stopped trying to grab it. “There’s another Goblin nearby, and if you don’t do something soon, it’ll steal another person’s soul, just like the one from last night has been doing. And then there will be another poor human lying about with no soul.”

“Lying about - hang on, are you trying to tell me that the people that have been falling into comas have had their souls sucked out by that Goblin thing?”

“Naturally.” Fefelli flicked his tail. “Of course, now that you’ve killed that previous Goblin, all of the souls he managed to collect should have returned to their original bodies.”

Sam couldn’t help but smile at that, feeling a bit hopeful. “So they’re going to be okay?”

“Until the next Goblin catches them!” Fefelli pointed out reproachfully. “And there’s already one on the way! The people in this area are ripe for the picking, there’s no way the Goblins can resist this area .”

“Why not?” asked Sam. He wasn’t sure why he was bothering to learn more, considering he didn’t care and partially still thought he was hallucinating. Possibly force of habit.

Fefelli sighed, settling down a bit. After a moment’s hesitation, Sam sat as well, recognizing that this might take a while. Fefelli paused in thought, tail curling and uncurling around its body, before finally starting its tale.

“Long ago, before the stars shone in the sky, my people were entrusted with the Powers of the Goddesses. Some were given the Power of the Heart by the Goddess of Love. These were my ancestors. Others were given the Power of the Soul by the Goddess of Will. We were entrusted with these gifts to protect them, and we did this duty gladly, and all were happy.

But over time, the Goddess of Will decided that her Power was the better of the two, and that her trusted Guardians should be considered greater. The Goddess of Love disagreed, believing that all were equal, but the Goddess of Will would not listen. She became angry, and attacked the Goddess of Love.

The Goddess of Love tried to fight her off, but the Goddess of Will was strong in her rage. Then, my ancestors rose up. Using their Power of Heart, they helped the Goddess of Love beat back the Goddess of Will. When the Goddess of Will attempted to call upon her Guardians to do the same, she found that they had become corrupted, and they could not help her.

So the Goddess of Love, with the help of her Guardians, sealed away the Goddess of Will. She became known as the Dark Goddess, and her Guardians became known as the Goblins. The Goddess of Love tried to take away their Power of Soul so that they could not abuse it, but she could only take the pure form, which she then entrusted to a single Guardian. The Goblins still retained enough of their Power that they could suck out souls, but there was nothing the Goddess of Love could do to stop that. Now, lead by the Goblin King, they prey on people who’s souls are easier to steal due to pain or sadness in their lives.

So now I have inherited the responsibility of that single Guardian. I protect the pure Powers of Soul and Heart, and I must be wise in how I use and relinquish them to those I find worthy, so that the Goblins can be defeated once and for all!”

When Fefelli finished its tale, Sam was left stupefied. Only one thought managed to be voiced.

“What fourteen year old girl came up with that?”

Fefelli puffed up indignantly. “You dare mock the history of my people?”

“Do you even hear yourself?”Sam asked, incredulous. “The Goddess of Love? The Power of the Heart? What’s next, there’s a Unicorn Princess who’s under a magic curse? And that’s assuming I even believe any of this, which I don’t.”

“But you must!” Fefelli leaped to its paws, crossing the bed to face him. “The world - ”

“Depends on it, I know,” Sam finished, rolling his eyes. “Still don’t care. I’ve got bigger concerns.”

“But!”

“Go. Away.”

He didn’t bother checking if Fefelli had listened. He just started digging around in his duffle for a change of clothes. When he looked up Fefelli was gone.

Just then Dean came out of the bathroom with only a towel around his waist. “Your turn, Princess,” Dean grinned at him, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “Don’t take too long doing your hair.”

It was a sign of how annoyed Sam was with the world at the moment that he didn’t even bother appreciating Dean’s bare chest (not that he ever had before...), just shoving past him and into the bathroom.

~*◊*~

When he came back out, squeaky clean and dressed, it was to find Dean sitting on one of the beds with several newspapers spread out around him with a deep frown on his face. There was a grease-stained paper takeout bag on the nightstand which frankly smelled delicious, indicating that Sam’s shower had probably been longer than he intended.

Grabbing the bag and pulling out the breakfast sandwich inside, Sam dropped down on the other bed, facing Dean. He shoved the sandwich into his mouth, too hungry for once to care about how disgusting he must have looked, and tried to read some of the articles Dean was circling upside-down.

“But how?” Dean was muttering to himself, reading from the local paper, brow furrowed.

“How what?” Sam prompted, giving up on trying to figure it out himself. Instead, he focused on finishing his breakfast. He hadn’t been this hungry in a long time. He didn’t even mind how greasy and fatty the food was, it tasted so good.

“Look at this,” Dean shoved the paper at Sam’s face. “I heard people talking about it when I went for breakfast, and then I picked up the paper to confirm. All of the coma victims, ALL of them, woke up at the exact same time last night.” He shook the paper for emphasis.

Sam hoped his nervousness wasn’t showing on his face. At least now he knew Fefelli wasn’t lying, that was a bit of a relief. “So...great?” Sam tried, but Dean’s stare wasn’t getting any lighter. “I don’t know, Dean, what do you want me to say? Great, everyone got better. How is that bad?”

Dean huffed in frustration, pulling the paper away and tossing it over his shoulder. “All of them woke up at the same time,” he repeated, “that isn’t a coincidence. Clearly something supernatural happened here.”

“And something fixed it,” Sam argued, starting to get annoyed. Why couldn’t Dean notice that he was making Sam uncomfortable and just drop it already? The problem was solved, Dean should be thrilled that they could leave.

“Yeah, something. Or someone.” He gave Sam a meaningful stare.

Sam fought down panic. He was sure Dean had been unconscious last night! But apparently that wasn’t the case if Dean had already figured him out. Was that why he was so upset? Because Sam had stopped the monster all by himself? Or was it the outfit and the crazy girly magic that was bothering him? He opened his mouth, ready to deny everything or say anything to convince Dean that it wouldn’t happen again, when Dean cut him off.

“I hate it when other Hunters beat us to a hunt!” Dean shouted, pounding a fist on the bed. “Jerks didn’t even bother checking to see if we’d already handled it!”

Sam was left sitting on the bed with his mouth hanging slightly open, feeling very wrong-footed. Okay, so Dean hadn’t figured it out. Good, that was good then. No need to let him know anything, because there was nothing to know. Right, just act normal.

So Sam let Dean continue to rant about inconsiderate Hunters, nodding in all the right places, making all the right agreeing noises, taking the time to calm himself down and regain equilibrium. He didn’t tune back in until he heard Dean mention something about continuing the hunt.

“What?”

Dean rolled his eyes. “We need to find the other Hunters and ask them what happened. We were stumped, and I don’t like not knowing how to kill something. Jeeze, Sammy, I thought you’d be thrilled at the chance to learn stuff.”

And Sam could think of nothing to convince his brother to give up on searching for other Hunters, so twenty minutes later they were standing outside the motel, throwing their things into the trunk of the Impala, and discussing where other Hunters might be crashing.

“We know they didn’t come here,” Dean started, “because no new cars have shown up. And this is the only motel in town.”

“Maybe they came and left already?” Sam tried half-heartedly.

Sure enough, Dean was not deterred. “Nah, hunt like this, they’d want to stick around, at least to make sure that it worked. Come on Sam, think! Use that brain of yours. It’s not like you can get by on looks.”

Sam glowered, but gave in with a sigh. They left the Impala behind as they began to walk through town, trying to find likely hiding places. There were a few hotels around the town center, but they were ruled out quickly for being too expensive and ‘posh’ for Hunters. That left buildings that could be squatted in, which narrowed it down to the industrial section. There were several warehouses and distribution centers that would have had plenty of nooks and crannies for a pair of Hunters to hide in. So they headed there next.

Dean pointed out the first of the large buildings. “Let’s cover all of them, starting here. I’m going to try going through the employee entrance, you try the service doors. Call if you find them.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to split up?” Sam wondered, a nervous feeling he recognized from last night growing in his chest again. He didn’t like what that implied.

“Of course, Sam. This area is huge, and we need to act fast if we’re going to catch them. Now hurry up. I’ll meet you in the middle.” Dean gave him a manly clap on the shoulder, and then jogged of to circle the building to find the back entrance. Sam had no choice but to head for the main doors, uncertain of his nerves. There was no reason to feel nervous. There were no other Hunters, so really all he and Dean were going to be doing today was running around in warehouses, wasting the day. Not exactly his favourite use of time, but there was no reason to feel nervous. Frustrated, maybe, but not nervous.

Then he walked through the service door and spotted Fefelli waiting for him on the counter, and all logic flew out the window.

“It’s in here, isn’t it?” he asked rhetorically, because of course there was a monster in the building that Dean couldn’t kill when they had just split up so that Sam had no idea where he was. That was just how their lives worked.

“We must act quickly,” Fefelli told him. “This Goblin hasn’t managed to take any souls yet, but it will soon.”

“And Dean is probably walking right towards it.” Sam shook his head in despair. “Alright. What do I do?”

Fefelli jumped gracefully down from the counter and stood before him. “You must once again become the Guardian of the Heart!” it said with conviction. “Use your Power of the Heart to slay the Goblin before it can hurt anyone!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Sam raised a hand. “Does that mean I have to go through that golden void thing again and wear the stupid outfit? Because I would really prefer to avoid that this time.”

Fefelli paused, giving him a considering look. “You do not like your uniform?”

“Ah, no. That would be no.”

“Well,” Fefelli drawled, tilting its head to the side and flicking its tail, “technically I can influence the uniform that appears. Would you like me to try changing it to something more suitable?”

Sam’s eyes widened, and he began to nod franticallyrolled. “Yes! Yes, pleaseUgh, do I even really need a costume?!” he demanded.

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes, now hurry up and decide.”

“Fine, let’s try something else. I can’t take those stupid heels.”begged.

“Very well then.” Fefelli hopped up to sit on his shoulder. “Start the transformation sequence, and I will help you.”

“Uh...how?”

Fefelli made an irritated noise at the back of its throat, pawing at his shoulder. “Say, ‘Guardian of the Heart, Arise’ with your bracelet held out, and it will begin.”

Sam did as instructed, feeling stupid, but he figured he should probably just get used to that feeling at this point. He held out his hand with the bracelet dangling, catching the light, and then muttered the words. “Guardian of the Heart, arise.”

Instantly, the world once again vanished and he was left floating in the golden void. This time though, when his clothes disappeared, the bracelet didn’t automatically fly up to form a crown. Fefelli appeared floating before him, tail and ears flapping on some non-existent breeze.

“Let us try something more traditional,” Fefelli started, and then with a flick of its tail, colourful stars began to rain down from nowhere. They landed on his body, making it glow with multicoloured light. When the light faded, a whole new outfit had appeared. The gloves were still short and ruffled, but the boots were shorter now, about ankle high, and also ruffled. The original dress and corset had been replaced by a new dress, with ruffled straps, a sweetheart neckline, and a uniform length ruffled skirt that was much shorter than before. Everything was in various shades of pink, and Sam now had pink ribbons in his hair.

“Gah!” Sam shouted, desperately trying to pull the skirt down. “No! This is worse!”

“Really?” Fefelli tilted its head questioningly, sounding honestly confused. “What’s wrong? The length?”

“For starters!” Sam shouted, still trying to somehow make the outfit cover more.

Fefelli shrugged. “Let’s try this then.”

More light and stars and flower petals, then Fefelli floated back. Sam stared down at himself and gave a strangled scream.

The dress was longer, yes, but somehow it was even more frilly. It was predominantly white, with pink trim and accents, with lace around the bottom. There were sleeves this time, halfway down his arms, that were also trimmed with lace. The gloves had become opera length arm socks, the boots calf-high with loose legwarmers covering them. The heart crystal and ribbon combination had reappeared on his chest, and this time he had a bow pinned to the top of his head. And everything was trimmed in lace. Even the boots. He felt like he was wearing a very short wedding dress. Or perhaps a doily.

“No?” Fefelli guessed from his expression. “Well, I suppose we’re getting closer, seeing as you aren’t pointing out anything in particular. Ooh!” Fefelli perked up. “What about pants?”

“Please,” was all Sam managed to say choke out between clenched teeth.

This time, instead of coloured stars, it was floating hearts and sparkles. Sam just let them surround him, once again glowing. Not like he could actually do anything to stop what was happening. He closed his eyes as the light got brighter. Fefelli made a satisfied noise, and Sam’s eyes opened again.

“Grk!” Sam choked out.

Technically they were pants. Well, shorts. Well, pantaloons , if one was being honest. Big poofy pantaloons that were topped off with another corset top. A collar trimmed in lace and a matching garter belt had appeared on his neck and thigh respectively. Twin poofy detached arm sleeves covered his upper arms, and the short gloves had reappeared on his hands. His boots were calf length and sturdy. Everything was in shades of obnoxious Barbie pink. Even his hair. He firmly told himself to ignore the long black tail he could see curling up behind him with a bell and bow attached.

Fefelli took one look at his face, and started the next transformation.

Ribbons, light, a few twirls through the air that revealed that Sam was much more flexible than he realized, and then Fefelli’s latest attempt materialized.

“There,” Fefelli announced, sounding a bit worn out. “This is the classic uniform. No one can say no to this.”

It was a Sailor Fuku. Skirt even shorter than the first outfit, heart crystal and bow combo back, with a sailor collar. The skirt and collar were in pale pink, the bow almost red. Red pumps on his feet. Opera gloves trimmed in red. The only good thing was that all of the lace and frills were gone.

“No! Absolutely not!” Sam shouted at the top of his lungs, tearing at the bow on his chest.

Fefelli growled in frustration. “There is no pleasing you!” it snapped. “If that won’t satisfy you, then I give up!”

“You are not leaving me in this.” Sam gave Fefelli his best death-glare.

“Well I’m tired,” Fefelli hissed, “so pick one. I’m not creating another. Besides, we need to hurry up, the Goblin is still lurking!”

Sam gasped, suddenly remembering. “Dean!”

“Yes, yes, Dean,” Fefelli rolled its eyes. “We need to save him. Now which will it be?”

Having no other choice, Sam shrugged. “Go with the first one, the one I fought in before. At least then I sort of know what I’m getting into.”

“Very well,” Fefelli nodded, and then vanished into smoke again. Sam heard a familiar tinkle, and then the bracelet on his arm began to glow and expand like before. He huffed unhappily. He might have accepted it for now, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

One more sparkly golden transformation sequence later, Sam was left standing in the warehouse service entrance, Fefelli perched on his shoulder, wearing the dress and corset top outfit from the night before. He glanced around until he saw the doorway behind the counter, and let himself through, hoping no one spotted him like this.

As they moved through the warehouse, Sam was surprised to find that it seemed empty, despite being a weekday. He stepped cautiously, expecting to be attacked any moment, when he turned a corner and found the reason why no one seemed to be there. The break room was full of men who were slumped against walls and draped over tables, eyes open and unseeing. Sam knelt down to check the nearest man’s pulse. There was a flutter of a heartbeat, but the man didn’t stir.

“The Goblin has begun hunting,” Fefelli stated the obvious. Sam nodded to himself, determined now to find the thing and kill it. Preferably before anyone saw him.

They moved further into the building, Fefelli’s ears flicking from side to side as it listened for any signs of movement. Suddenly, it perked up, looking slightly to Sam’s left. “Over there,” Fefelli whispered close to Sam’s ear, making him twitch. “I think it has another victim,” it added, as if Sam needed further motivation.

Sure enough, when Sam approached the area Fefelli had indicated, he could hear the sounds of a struggle. He ducked around a shelf full of crates and came to an open space on the warehouse floor. There, centered beneath a hanging light so perfectly it looked staged, was the Goblin. It was slightly different than the first, the fur longer with a bit of a green tinge, but it was impossible to mistake. It was also pinning Dean down just like the first had. Dean was once again already unconscious, a fact that Sam felt grateful for. Then he felt guilty for feeling grateful, so he shook himself out of his musings and settled to business.

Without Fefelli’s prompting this time, Sam touched his fingers against the heart shaped crystal, feeling the spear begin to emerge. He pulled it out, whipping it through the air to letto smack the rounded end smack against the floor, the sharp sound echoing through the raised ceiling. The Goblin looked up.

“Get off of him!” Sam shouted with his most authoritative voice, and then he threw the spear.

Which whooshed harmlessly through the air where the Goblin had been crouching to embed itself in a crate on the far side of the room. Sam jerked in surprise, not expecting the Goblin to have actually dodged his attack.

“Idiot!” Fefelli hissed at him, smacking him over the head with a paw, “You forgot to use the Power of the Heart!”

“What?” Sam asked stupidly, but then he recalled the words he had shouted last night. “Oh, right! Sorry.”

All of the sudden, there was a greenish-brown blur heading straight for them. Sam yelped and barely managed to dodge out of the way as the Goblin charged at him, claws swiping in a large arc that caught and tore the edge of Sam’s dress. The Goblin pressed the attack, coming at him from all sides with those wicked claws, and Sam was forced to scramble to keep from being impaled.

“Fefelli!” Sam shouted, using its name for the first time, “what do I do?”

Fefelli was clinging to his back with paws and teeth, yet it still managed to answer. “Get your spear! It’s your only hope!”

Sam couldn’t respond, too busy ducking under the Goblin’s arm, but he took the advice to heart. The second he saw an opening, he went for it. The Goblin, sensing his desperation, put all of its strength into a swipe, leaving it overbalanced when Sam managed to dodge it. Sam jumped up, braced his back against a large storage crate, and then kicked out with both heels, catching the Goblin across the face . The Goblin roared in pain as it was sent flying back across the room to crash into a pile of wooden skids, wood splinters flying everywhere. Sam took its recovery time as a chance to dash across the room to grab his spear out of the wall. Once he was rearmed, he faced the Goblin again.

The Goblin was just managing to pull itself out of the wreckage of wood, catching sight of Sam with his spear. It let out a wordless cry of denial and began trying to run, but Sam wouldn’t let it get away.

“Lovely Heart Pierce!”

The spear once again flew true, glowing with power, impacting with the Goblin’s back and tearing through. There was a blast of sound, and then the Goblin exploded into the black dust.

Sam didn’t have much time to feel smug though, because the second the Goblin vanished, he heard Dean starting to stir.

“Wha?” Dean murmured, turning his head, his eyes fluttering open.

Sam freaked, and ran for it. He passed the open break room, hearing the men inside begin to stir, and didn’t stop running until he had made it outside and into a dark corner. Breathing heavily, he looked at Fefelli who was still perched on his shoulder.

“How do I change back to normal?” he asked frantically.

“Say, ‘Guardian Power, release,” Fefelli told him, for once no condescension in its tone.

Sam repeated the words, then sighed with relief as his regular clothes reappeared. “Thanks, Fefelli.”

Fefelli twitched slightly, obviously not expecting his gratitude, before nodding loftily. “It is my duty to guide those which whom I’ve bestowed the Powers,” Fefelli informed him.

Sam bit back a smile, a tiny bit of fondness growing in him for the strange creature. “Still. I appreciate it.”

Fefelli curled its fluffy tail around his neck and patted him on the ear. “Think nothing of it. Now, perhaps you should go find your friend.”

“Brother,” Sam corrected, taking Fefelli’s advice and starting back for the warehouse. Maybe he would get lucky and Dean would meet him out here, instead of making him have to look.

“Really?” Fefelli sounded surprised, though Sam wasn’t sure why.

“Yeah, couldn’t you tell?”

“Well, I suppose I saw some resemblance,” Fefelli said thoughtfully, “but I was under the impression that it was not within your kind’s nature to take siblings as your mates.”

Sam stumbled so hard he almost ran face first into the side of the building. “What?!”

“You want him as your mate,” Fefelli stated simply, as if there was nothing odd about that. “I can tell these things. It comes from possessing the Powers of Heart and Soul. I can detect when two beings love each other to that degree.”

Sam stood for a moment, trying to get his thoughts in order. “Dean is my brother, that’s it,” he finally grit out, feeling like he was choking on something.

“But you wish it were otherwise,” Fefelli gave him a knowing smirk.

“I - am not even going to dignify that with a response,” Sam settled, deciding that the best method of dealing was ignoring everything Fefelli said. Because that was working so well so far. “I am going to find Dean. You are going to do that disappearing smoke trick again, and I will not see you again until you get that crazy idea out of your head. Am I clear?”

“But what if another Goblin appears?” Fefelli asked.

“Fine,” Sam bit out, recognizing a losing battle when he saw one. “Clearly I have no choice but to help, seeing as they’ll probably keep popping up all over the place anyways. But!” He pointed a finger at Fefelli menacingly. “You can only come to me if I am alone. I don’t want anyone seeing me talk to you. Especially Dean.”

“You don’t want Dean to know about me?” Fefelli snorted daintily. “But shouldn’t he know about the Goblins?”

“Dean’ll just get pissed that there’s something out there that he can’t kill, and I don’t think he wants to know how they can be killed. So, no. He doesn’t get to know.”

“Very well,” Fefelli agreed, accepting his terms. “I will leave you for now. Good luck, Guardian. I will see you soon.” And then it vanished into smoke again, leaving Sam alone hiding down the alley between warehouses.

This was where Dean found him, running out of the building and swearing heavily.

“Assholes must have got the drop on me,” Dean growled, gesturing to a bump on his head. “Forget them, then. They clearly don’t want the company. Let’s just go. Nothing more to do here.”

Sam fought back a relieved sigh, glad that at least something was going his way. He smiled when Dean gestured back towards the motel, falling in step behind him. And he most certainly did not stare at Dean’s backside in any way, thank you very much.

~*◊*~

Things sort of settled into a routine after that. Not much changed on the hunting front. They still traveled from state to state looking for monsters to kill, while keeping an eye out for any demons looking to break the seals. Cas had popped in only once, dragging them to Oklahoma to stop some demons from breaking a seal by tricking children into desecrating a church. It had been rather satisfying to finally save people AND keep a seal unbroken in the process.

The only change for Sam was that occasionally he would catch sight of Fefelli hiding in the back seat of the Impala when they were driving, or tucked up in the bottom of Sam’s bag when he set it down in the motel room. The first few times he nearly had a heart attack, expecting Dean to catch sight of the creature at any moment, but over time he realized that either Fefelli was very good at going unseen, or Dean was extremely unobservant when it came to the world around him, because Dean never seemed to notice the extra passenger. So he just learned to ignore Fefelli until it decided it wanted to speak with him.

Although Fefelli had been travelling with them for close to three weeks, it had only spoken up twice to warn Sam of a Goblin in the area.

One time it had been between hunts, staying in a bigger city while they waited for something else to require their attention. Dean had left to go do the laundry, bitching the entire way about Sam’s smelly socks. Sam shouted back something about Dean’s underwear being radioactive, but Dean was already slamming the door behind himself. Sam chuckled, falling back against the bed, glad that it wasn’t his turn.

His good humor dried up quickly when Fefelli jumped out of his bag with a worried frown.

“Goblin?” Sam guessed. Fefelli’s stare was all the answer he needed. With a reluctant sigh, he climbed out of bed, bracelet already starting to glow.

By the time Dean had gotten back from the Laundromat, Sam was already back on the bed, reading a book, no sign of anything magical to be seen.

The other time had once again coincided with a hunt, though thankfully the Goblin didn’t show up until the Black Dog was already burning. Sam was sure that Dean would find out this time as he ducked behind a corner to transform, but when he came out, Dean was too distracted trying to resuscitate the Goblin’s victim to notice Sam drawing it away. It probably helped that the victim was mid twenties and a 34DD. The Goblin followed Sam’s trailing skirts away from Dean and the woman, into a nearby field, where Sam took care of it quickly. Sam was lucky enough to make it back just in time for the woman to regain consciousness. When she opened her eyes to find Dean hovering over her, she screamed and slapped him across the face with all of her strength.

Sam was still laughing twenty minutes later, but Dean had somehow still managed to get her number, so he wasn’t that upset over it.

~*◊*~

He wasn’t sure exactly which God was smiling down on him, but Sam was starting to think that divine intervention was the only way Dean hadn’t figured out his secret yet. Well, the magical transformation secret. The demon blood secret was safe because Ruby hadn’t been by in months, and Sam had stopped contacting her. The thought of her knowing about Fefelli and the Goblins sent a cold shudder down his spine, and he knew she would somehow get it out of him if she visited. Besides, he hadn’t been craving her blood since he gained his new powers. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the possibility that this ‘Power of Heart’ might be better for him than the powers he gained from the demon blood, but there was no point in worrying about that now.

At least Dean seemed pleased with the lack of demons visiting them at all hours. Sam decided not to point out that now they were being visited by angels at all hours instead, because Dean seemed to have some sort of bro-thing going on with Cas, and Sam didn’t want to get involved with that. Fefelli always disappeared into smoke whenever angels were about to show up, which at least gave Sam a bit of warning, just enough to tuck the bracelet out of sight up his sleeve. He wasn’t sure what exactly the angels would think about his new powers, but based on his previous experience with Uriel, it was probably best that they didn’t find out.

After yet another random angel visit, Dean decided to head out to the bar to get a drink and possibly make a ‘friend’.

“Comin’ with?” Dean asked with a raised brow. “It’s been a while since you ‘made a friend’ hasn’t it?”

“First off, fuck you,” Sam wrinkled his nose, “leave my sex life alone. Second, I’m kind of feeling a bit drained, you know? I think I’ll stay here.”

Dean shrugged. “Suit yourself, you nerd.” But he recognized when Sam needed some space, so he left without further comment, jacket tossed over one shoulder.

After living so closely together for so long, both Sam and Dean had learned the signs of when the other needed some alone time, and Sam had unconsciously been giving them off. Having to hide something so big from his older brother, along with the thinly veiled comments from Fefelli that they should just mate and get it over with already, was wearing him down, and he’d started to get dark circles under his eyes from the stress. Dean had seen this and known that Sam needed a bit of time to himself to think about whatever was bothering him.

The moment he was gone, Fefelli sprung out of Sam’s bag and pounced up onto the bed. He padded slowly up to where Sam was lying, book he was supposed to be reading resting over his face.

“What do you want?” he groaned as he felt Fefelli approach. “Please tell me there isn’t another Goblin out there I need to deal with right now.”

Fefelli giggled softly. “No, I can sense no Goblins in the area. I merely wished to escape that stinky bag.”

“Hey!” Sam shouted indignantly, moving the book aside so he could glare at the creature. “My bag isn’t stinky!”

“It is to one with a sensitive nose, like myself,” Fefelli told him, snout wrinkling. “I don’t know how you stand it.”

Sam grumbled. “My stuff doesn’t stink. You should try Dean’s bag.”

Fefelli shuddered slightly, ears going flat along its head. “Ugh, no thank you.” It stuck out its little pink tongue in disgust. “There’s a reason I hide in yours.”

Sam started laughing, and after a moment Fefelli joined him. They lay on the bed together, giggling and smiling, and Sam had to admit to himself that the little magical creature, for all of its annoyances, was actually a pretty good friend. It was weird to think that, but somehow it was true.

Once the giggles had subsided, Sam turned back to his book and Fefelli went to explore the room. Once it had seen all that there was, making snarky comments under its breath about the Hawaiian theme that made Sam fight back a grin, it returned to Sam’s bed and curled up on his stomach like a cat. Sam found himself absentmindedly stroking Fefelli’s fur, marvelling at how soft it was. Fefelli sighed in contentment and seemed to fall asleep.

They stayed like that, curled up together, until Sam fell asleep himself, book sliding out of his grip, head lolling to the side and one hand still resting on Fefelli’s back.

~*◊*~

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