Currents

Chapter 20

S8 E1: We need to talk about Kevin

I water-ported into the cabin, I started laughing as Dean got off Sam, who was drenched in Borax and holy water and a little blood. Dean did the same to himself and held out the knife to Sam.
Sam said" No! Dean, can I just say hello?" Dean cut his arm himself, I laughed louder.
Dean said" All right, well... let's do this."
" I don't know whether to give you a hug or take a shower."
" Come here." They hugged, I smiled, shaking my head,
" Dude... you're... freakin' alive." I walked over to them," I mean, what the hell happened?"
" Well, I guess standing too close to exploding Dick sends your ass straight to Purgatory."
" You were in Purgatory." Dean nodded," For the whole year?"
" Yeah, time flies when you're running for your life."
" Well, how'd you get out?"
" I guess whoever built that box didn't want me in there anymore than I did."
" What's that mean?"
" I'm here, okay?"
" What about Cas? Was he there?"
" Yeah, Cas didn't make it."
" What exactly does that mean?"
" Something happened to him down there. Things got pretty hairy towards the end, and he... just let go."
" So Cas is dead? You saw him die?"
" I saw enough."
" So, then what, you're not sure?"
" I said I saw enough, Sam."
" Right. Dean, I'm sorry."
" Me too. So you- I can't believe you're actually here. You know that half your numbers are out of service? Felt like I was leaving messages in the wind."
" Yeah, I-I-I didn't get your messages."
" How come?" I snickered, leaning against the wall, smirking at Sam, flashing my eyes.
" Probably because I ditched the phones."
" Because?"
" I guess, um... I guess something happened to me this year, too. I don't hunt anymore."
" Yeah. And Sasha Grey's gone legit." Sam scoffed," What?"
" Nothing. Um, she did a Soderbergh movie."
" What?"
" She did a Soderbergh-"
" No. You, Sam. You quit?"
" Yeah. Yeah, I- you were gone... Dean. Cas was gone, Bobby was dead. I mean, Crowley even shipped off Kevin and Meg to parts unknown."
" So you turned tail on the family business."
" Nothing says family quite like the whole family being dead."
" I wasn't dead. In fact, I was knee-deep in God's armpit killing monsters, which, I thought, is what we actually do."
" Yes, Dean. And far as I knew, what we do is the thing that got every single member of my family killed. I had no one- no one. And for the first time in my life, I was completely alone. And, honestly, I didn't exactly have a roadmap. So, yeah, I fixed up the impala, and I just... drove."
" After you looked for me. Did you look for me, Sam? Key?" He looked at me, I looked down," Good. That's good. Now, we-we... always told each other not to look for each other. That's smart. Good for you. Of course, we always ignored that because of our deep, abiding love for each other, but not this time, right, Sammy?"
" Look, I'm still the same guy, Dean."
" Well, bully for you. I'm not." Dean walked out,
" Welcome back."
I said" Well, that went better than expected."
" Hey, Keir."
" Hey, Sam. So you went normal this time, way better than the last time Dean disappeared. Good for you!"
" What happened with you? You made sure I was safe, and then you ditched me, writing me a note."
" I knew you'd be okay, Sam, I knew you'd be okay and I left to make sure you'd be okay."
" What happened to you?"
" I-I... uh, I spiraled. Like majorly... uh, let's not talk about it."
" Okay. You gonna stick around?"
" Yeah, I am.... obviously, since you definitely need backup... again."