Six And One Part 4/5
The wrath of a Trickster is a terrible thing - they will not stop until the one who brought down their ire has been dealt with. Never forget that although they appear human, a Trickster is a demi-god, and they are masters at escaping their own deaths. There have been several cases where a hunter has thought a Trickster slain, only to be faced by the same creature months or even years later.
-Sixteen - Deception-
“Did you hear about Dr Vallance?”
“No, what happened?”
“He was killed a last night! Apparently, he tried to hire an under-age prostitute, only to find out that it was a midget! The pro cut off his… y’know, and stuffed it down the doc’s throat!”
“Woah. That’s pretty… he was always such a nice man!”
“Yeah, but when the cops searched his place, they found stacks of child porn. The guy was a complete sleaze, and he’s been working here for years! Who knows what he’s done to the kids here in that time?”
Dean swallowed hard, staring at the ceiling. A doctor. It had been a doctor who tried to… his brain refused to allow him to go any further down that train of thought.
And Ricky knew. He was sure that it wasn’t just a hallucination from the drugs, Ricky had been there, had stopped the doctor from going further. If that was true, then maybe it was Ricky who had decided to put a permanent end to the bastard.
The familiar whistling broke through his thoughts then, and he couldn’t stop the smile as Ricky bounced over to him. The nurse hadn’t been back since that night, and Dean had been a little worried about him.
“So, all set to get out of here?” Ricky asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Yeah,” Dean nodded. “I really wanna go home. So sick of sitting around all day.”
“I’ll bet.” There was companionable silence for a few minutes, as the two looked at each other.
“You…” Dean cleared his throat and tried again. Sam was better at this talking stuff than he was. “The other night. You saved me, didn’t you.”
“Forget about it,” Ricky said, suddenly serious, and Dean blinked. Forget, that seemed a good idea. Bits and pieces were already fading. “When you’re ready, you’ll remember. For now, though… you’re just a little too young.”
Dean tried to hold on to the memories of Ricky slipping onto his bed to play poker, of Ricky sneaking him candy, but it was fading too quickly.
“Aw, damnit,” Ricky muttered, and there was a brief pressure against Dean’s mouth, a gentle slide of lips as Ricky allowed himself one taste. “I’ll be back for you when you’re grown up and ready for me,” he whispered. “Until then, I’ll be watching out for you. Promise.”
When Dean went home that afternoon, he didn’t remember much of his stay in hospital - but apparently the drugs he’d been given often made people woozy, so no one questioned it.
-Twenty Four - Dead Ringer For Love-
When Dean woke up the next morning, it was to a fairly trashed room and a splitting headache. He made it to the bathroom in time to dry-heave into the toilet, then sank down against the cool tiles.
There was no memory of what had happened last night, beyond a vague impression of golden eyes and a talented mouth. Dean decided not to think too hard about it - he’d obviously screwed some chick who had shown herself out. At least she’d had the common sense to leave before the awkwardness of The Morning After.
When he packed up later, he realised that one of his shirts was missing. He thought it might be the one he wore the previous night, but shrugged it off. Not like it was a huge deal.
Chick probably just wanted a souvenir.
-Twenty Seven - Hunting High and Low-
“Dean, Dean, Dean,” the Trickster shook his head as he stood, still holding that damned candy bar. “I did not want to have to do this.”
Dean caught the stake Sam threw to him and thrust up, before the creature could reach him.
“Me neither,” he muttered, surprised by how much he meant it. The Trickster was a murderous son of a bitch… but he had style, and a wicked sense of humour. Watching as the creations around him faded out of existence, and the light in the Trickster’s eyes dimmed was almost too much for him. It even looked disappointed in him, as though he’d failed some sort of test.
“You guys okay?” Dean asked as Bobby and Sam ran over to him. Both looked fine, but he had to check.
“Yeah,” Sam huffed, a little out of breath from the fight. “I guess.”
“Well, I gotta say,” Dean finally allowed himself to appreciate everything the Trickster had done over the past few weeks. “He had style.” And Dean just knew that Sam was giving him the patented Bitch-face as he led the others out of the hall, he just didn’t care.
He wasn’t really paying attention as Sam and Bobby spoke on the way to the Impala. Something felt off about what had happened, like he was missing something. And he couldn’t shake the feeling that, just before it died, the Trickster had winked at him.
-Twenty Eight - Learn to Fly-
Sammy was staring out of the window as they drove out of town, and didn’t see him. Dean did, though. Sitting on top of the sign pointing to the Mystery Spot was the Trickster, laughing away. It locked eyes with Dean for a brief moment, blew him a kiss, then snapped its fingers and disappeared.
Dean swallowed hard, then focussed on the road. He had a feeling that they were going to see the Trickster again sooner or later. Now to figure out whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
-Thirty - Holy Water-
Dean turned his back on the Trickster - Gabriel - and tried not to feel so betrayed. He didn’t know why his heart ached at the thought of leaving Gabriel behind, and just wanted to go drown his sorrows.
When they were all outside, however, they heard a high-pitched screech, and the windows of the building were suddenly blown out. Sam and Dean dropped to the ground, hands over their ears in an attempt to block out the god-awful sound.
Managing to look up, Dean saw Castiel staring back at the building, shock and awe vying for position as most prominent emotion.
Finally the noise stopped. Before Dean could question him, however, Castiel turned to the brothers and helped them up.
“We need to leave. Now.”
They didn’t question him, just got in the car and drove away.
-Thirty - Worry About You-
Dean stared at the picture on the screen. There was a perfect replica of him, lying on a bed, with Gabriel straddling his hips. Thankfully, Gabriel was clothed and covering up Dean’s…
Wait, no, Gabriel moved and destroyed what remained of Dean’s dignity. Probably also made Sam want to gouge out his own eyes, so there was an upside to the whole situation.
They waited until Gabriel finished explaining about the rings and the cage, and Dean felt a fresh stab of loss. He was already missing the archangel, wishing he’d had more time to try and figure out where that whole kissing thing could lead.
“Oh, and Dean?” The brothers paused and looked back at the screen, to see Gabriel still looking serious. “I release the hold. You’re free to remember everything. I love you.” With that, Gabriel turned and started making out with the on-screen Dean.
The real Dean, however, didn’t notice. He was too busy holding onto the side of the Impala, trying not to throw up. He remembered everything, from the attempted molestation when he was sixteen, to the drunken sex, to the several stolen kisses in the intervening years. He wanted to scream in frustration - he’d been so close to having someone constant, someone who wouldn’t leave him because of his lifestyle or his reluctance to communicate verbally, and he’d lost him because he wasn’t willing to accept that he was falling for a male who wasn’t human.
Lucifer had taken the chance to fix things between Dean and Gabriel away from him, and he was going to do something permanent about that.
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