When Sam had come home, it was a surprise for everyone, because apparently, Michael had let Dean go for no apparent reason, and Dean was back home, walking with me, Sam, Ariel and Faith to the war room.

Dean was teasing Sam about his beard. "It's just every time I think about it, you know. It's like a nightmare. I mean, I can't eat, I can't sleep, it's always just there watching me."

"Dean, it's just a beard," Sam told him. "I've been a little busy lately."

"Yeah, well, that's not an excuse, 'cause you know, Duck Dynasty called, and they want it all back," Dean told him.

Ariel and Faith smiled, laughing lightly. I smirked, shaking my head.

Sam looked at Dean in amusement. "Some people say I look good."

"No, Sam, no people say that," Dean told him.

"Ava does," Sam told him.

Dean pointed at me. "Ava doesn't count. She's your Angelic wife and mother of your Nephilim twin daughters. She's biased and a skilled liar."

"I'm not lying," I told him.

"There you go again," Dean told me. Sam and I rolled our eyes. Ariel and Faith smirked. Dean pointed at Ariel. "And speaking of changes, what the hell happened to your hair?"

"The survivors from Apocalypse World kept getting me and Faith confused, so I dyed my hair so they could tell us apart," Ariel answered.

"And you dyed it blonde and added black streaks and what looks like red streaks in the back," Dean told her. "What are you, goth?"

Ariel smirked, rolling her eyes. "Go ahead, Uncle Dean. Make fun, mock."

"Are you kidding me?" Dean asked. "You think I'm gonna mock the one thing that can make sure I can always tell the difference between you two now?"

We all smiled.

"Uncle Dean, can you just shut up long enough for us to get a hug?" Faith asked.

"Sure," Dean answered. "I guess."

Dean, Ariel and Faith smiled, embracing. Sam and I smiled in relief to see this.

I looked at Dean in concern. "Hey, you know..."

"Hey, if you're going to ask me if I'm okay, you don't have to," Dean told us.

"Okay," Sam told him. "It's just that you didn't talk a whole lot on the ride here."

"Look, Michael bailed," Dean told us. "I don't know why and don't know how, he just cleared out. Now as far as my memory goes, I mean everything from the second I said yes to the moment I walked through those doors is a blank. So, I'm good. I'm just really, really happy to be home."

We weren't completely convinced but let it go for now, leading the way into the war room, which was filled with survivors.

"Yep, there have been a few more changes made than Dad's beard and Ariel's hair," Faith explained.

A man with papers approached warily.

"Yeah, not Michael any more," Dean told him.

"Right," the man agreed. "Chief called the girls and they told us. Welcome back."

Dean looked at Sam in surprise. "Chief?"

"I asked them not to call me that," Sam told him.

Jack and Kai walked closer in relief. "Dean?"

Dean smiled slightly. "Hey, kids."

"Is it really you?" Kai asked.

Dean nodded. "Yeah."

Dean, Jack and Kai embraced.

Castiel walked in. "Dean."

Dean smiled a bit more. "Cas."

"I'm sorry," Castiel told him. "Ava, Ariel, Faith and I wanted to be there, but we feared that Michael would sense our presence."

Dean nodded understandingly. "Sam told me. Ain't no thing."

Dean and Castiel embraced.

"Where's Mary?" Jack asked.

"She and Bobby stayed back in Duluth to clean up the situation," Sam answered.

"Speaking of clean up, I need a shower," Dean told us.

Ariel looked at him in concern. "Hey."

Dean gave us a thumbs up. "Still okay. I promise."

Dean left the room.

Sam looked at us. "How's Nick?"

"He's gone," Castiel answered.

Sam, Ariel, Faith and I looked at him in surprise. "What?"

"He left a note, said that he had some personal business to attend to and he hasn't been returning my calls," Castiel explained. "Ava, you know he was in a dark place. Maybe he just needed some time."

I wasn't the least bit convinced, worried about what could happen. "All right, yeah, maybe."

"Sam?" Castiel asked. "Dean, how is he, really?"

"I don't know," Sam told us.

"Why would Michael just give up his vessel like that?" Kai asked.

Faith shook her head. "We don't know."

"And why was Michael helping monsters?" Kai asked.

"Kai, truth is, we don't know anything," Ariel told him.

"But something's not right," Faith told us. "Michael wouldn't just give up Uncle Dean like that. There has to be a reason. We just have to find out what."

*      *      *      *      *

In the library, Sam, Castiel, Dean and I were sitting at one of the two tables.

Dean was explaining about a scar on his shoulder. "I don't know how I got it."

"Well, what could hurt Michael like that?" Castiel asked.

"Whatever it was, it must have been strong," I told them.

"Cas, Ava, I'm going to need you to get in my head, do the whole Vulcan mind meld thing, because if I can't remember what happened, I'm going to need you to drag it out of me, okay?" Dean asked.

"Wait a second," Sam told him. "You sure about this?"

"Yeah, I can handle it," Dean answered.

"Dean," I told him.

"Cas, Ava, come on, hit me," Dean told us.

I looked at Sam. Sam sighed, nodding. Cas and I stood on either side of Dean, putting a hand on his head.

"Anything?" Sam asked.

Castiel and I also touched the scar on Dean's shoulder, seeing flashbacks of a cloaked figure stabbing what looked like Michael in the arm. I thought I remembered the cloaked figure from the alternate universe known as the Bad Place, where Sam, Dean and I had been trapped for a short time.

Castiel noticed by look. "Ava, who was that?"

*      *      *      *      *

Sam called Jody.

"Sam! Any news?"

"Jody, hey," Sam told her. "Yeah, uh, sorry."

"Hey, Jody, I'm back," Dean told her.

"Hey, Dean, it is so good to hear your voice."

"Yeah, you too," Dean agreed.

"Ava, Ariel and Faith with you?"

"Ava is, and I'm here, too," Castiel answered.

"Hi, Cas."

"Jody, that's the good news," I told her.

"What's up?"

"You know the thing that killed Kaia in the Bad Place?" I asked. "Well, we think it's here."

"What?"

"Any chance you've noticed anything rift-related over there?" Castiel asked. "A flare up or anything?"

"No, no. I have video surveillance going down at the fair. Claire practically sat shiva down there. There's been nothing."

"Well, short version, when Michael was possessing me, he got hurt," Dean explained. "It left a scar, two deep gashes, stabby, prongy, kinda like..."

"Like someone stabbed you with a giant metal fork?"

"Exactly," Dean answered. "How did you know that?"

Apparently, Jody had victims in her county that had the same mark.

*      *      *      *      *

Later, Sam, Dean and I were packing up. Ariel, Faith, Jack and Kai walked in.

Dean did a double take when he saw Ariel's hairstyle again. "Man, I forgot it looked like that. Like a Barbie gone biker goth style."

The rest of us were amused, confused.

"I thought you said that you weren't gonna make fun of the one thing that could finally help you tell me and Faith apart, Uncle Dean," Ariel told him sarcastically.

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, well, I changed my mind. Sam gets a beard, Ariel gets a new hairstyle, I make fun of them, it's the way it goes."

We all chuckled.

"You're leaving?" Kai asked.

"Kaia's killer is in Sioux Falls," I explained.

"He, she or it can hurt Michael," Sam told them. "We've just got to figure out how."

"We'll get our things," Jack told us.

"Jack, Kai, you going may not be the best idea," Castiel told them.

"Michael's our enemy, too," Kai told us. "We fought him for months. And Kaia... Jack and I are the ones who brought her into this. We're responsible for what happened to her. We want to help."

"Yeah, well, not gonna happen," Dean told them.

"Because Kai and I are Human now?" Jack asked.

"Kai, Jack, maybe you just need a little more--" Sam started.

"Training?" Kai finished. "We've been training with Ava, Ariel and Faith."

"Come on, kids, look at you," Dean told them. "You're barely 100 pounds soaking wet." Jack walked away, despondent. "Kai, Jack, look. I didn't mean to be a dick."

Faith turned after him. "Jack..."

"I'm fine, Faith," Jack told her. "You should go with them."

Jack walked away. Kai followed.

Faith turned to Dean sarcastically. "Nice going."

Dean nodded, sighing. "Faith..."

Another hunter, Jules, walked in, almost carrying a young girl inside. "A little help here!"

Ariel and Faith ran over to help Jules carry the girl.

"Jules, what's going on?" Ariel asked.

"The case I was working in Wichita, the missing teenagers, dried up bodies?" Jules asked.

"Yeah?" Faith asked.

"Turns out it was a Witch," Jules explained. "She was holding the girls hostage and this..." She looked down at the girl. "Is the only survivor. Took Brundeweld down with those Witch killing bullets you gave me, but as soon as I did, something went wrong. Didn't even have time to bury the body before..."

"Before what?" Ariel asked.

Jules looked at the girl. "Lora, show them." Lora held out her hand, showing us it was aged and withered. "The Witch must have hexed her."

I walked closer. "Looks like an aging spell."

"Can you fix it?" Sam asked.

I sighed. "I think so."

I placed my fingers on Lora's forehead, trying to heal her, but like back before when I had the hex, trying to heal anything made my Grace flare up painfully, making me stop and groan slightly in pain.

Sam walked closer worriedly, pulling me back slightly. "Ava?"

"Mom?" Ariel and Faith asked worriedly.

I sighed, rolling my eyes, shaking my head. "Just one of the other 'fantastic' side effect of the hex, even after the spell took it away. Same effect as before when I tried to heal something. Felt like my Grace was on fire."

"All right, well, you don't worry about that, Ava," Dean told me. "Cas, you got this?"

"I think so," Castiel answered. "But this might take a while." He looked at Sam, Dean, Ariel, Faith and me. "You guys go. Get to Sioux Falls before the trail goes cold and I'll catch up when I'm done."

I shook my head. "I don't know."

"No, Cas is right," Dean told us. "He can handle this. We need to hit the road. Let's go."

I looked at Lora, really wanting to try to heal her again, but knowing I couldn't, which I hated.

Castiel gave me a knowing, sympathetic look, but stern, like he wasn't going to let me hurt myself more by trying to help. "Ava."

I looked at him. Castiel nodded for me to go.

I gave in, sighing. "Yeah, fine. Let's get to work."

Sam nodded to Jules. "Good work."

Sam, Dean, Ariel, Faith and I left.

*      *      *      *      *

On the road in the Impala, Dean was driving very fast. Sam was in the driver's seat. Ariel, Faith and I were in the backseat.

"Ava, you sure you're okay?" Sam asked.

I sighed. "Yeah."

"Like I said, Ava is a skilled liar," Dean remarked.

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up." Dean smirked. Sam, Ariel and Faith chuckled. "I just thought that when we cast the spell that took the hex away, I would be able to use my healing power without my Grace flaring up like that."

"Well, the hex burned away at your Grace, Mom," Faith told me. "We didn't expect that not to have any lasting effects."

"I know, but..." I trailed off, sighing. "I just wish I could help more."

"Mom, you help more than you think you do," Ariel told me.

I managed a small smile, but wanting to change the subject off of me, looking at Dean. "You're in a hurry.

"Shouldn't I be?" Dean asked. "Don't worry about not being able to help that girl, Ava. Cas has got it handled."

"I know," I told them.

Dean looked between us. "What? What's the problem?"

"Uncle Dean, we still have no idea why Michael let you go," Ariel told him. "Where he is now or what he wants."

Dean nodded. "Yep, or who his favorite Spice Girl is."

Sam gave him a look. "Come on, man, this isn't a joke. Something huge happened and you won't really even talk about it. Look, this whole Michael thing, we need to deal with it."

"I'm going at 80 to deal with it," Dean told us. "How can I be running from something when I'm racing toward it?"

"I know, it's kinda like a family thing, racing to fight something, anyting, so we don't have to think about what's happening to us," Faith told him. "Mom was so eager to kill the Brits after what they did to her with the hex, and after that, she was willing to throw herself into anything to not think about the hex. Me and Ariel, ever since what happened in the Apocalypse World, we've still been fighting like we're in a war, zipping through Demons and monsters like there's still a war to be fought, racing to get it done. And we get it from you and Dad."

Dean nodded in acknowledgement, sighing. "Okay."

"I'm just saying," Faith told him.

"You said you let Michael in, then bang, you're back in a blink," Ariel told him. "But for us, you were gone, for weeks. We didn't know if you were alive."

"We just need you to talk to us," Sam told him. "Slow down so we can catch up."

Dean didn't answer. "Call Jody, let her know we're almost there."

*      *      *      *      *

We arrived in the woods to meet up with Jody.

"Dean, ooh, welcome home," Jody told him. "How did you do it?"

"What, me versus some ass bag Archangel?" Dean asked. "Who would you pick?"

"You every time," Jody answered, giving us each a hug, tugging at Sam's beard, looking at Ariel's hair. "Hey, I like it."

Sam and Ariel gave Dean a smug look, causing me, Faith and Dean to smirk.

I looked at Jody. "How are you, how are the girls?"

"Surprisingly good," Jody answered. "Alex is still at the hospital. Patience is still in school. Claire's still Claire. I, uh, I haven't been home since I talked to you. I may be avoiding her. It's just before telling her what's going on."

"You need to know what's going on," Sam told her.

"That's it," Jody told us. "Okay, so here are the locations of the three bodies we found pointing to the map on the bonnet of her car. Found headless, by the way."

"Human?" Faith asked.

Jody nodded. "As far as I can tell, yeah. Until I talked to you, I thought we were hunting a Human too, maybe a serial killer. It'd be the first one in Sioux Falls since..."

"Since Robert Leroy Anderson," Sam finished.

Ariel and Faith looked at Sam weirdly.

"How in the hell do you know that?" Ariel asked.

Dean smiled, giving Sam a smug look. "Told you years ago that your creepy obsession with serial killers would bite you in the ass."

Ariel and Faith raised their eyebrows. I smirked.

Sam stuttered nervously. "It's not an obsession, and... Girls, I'll explain later."

Faith nodded, looking at Jody. "You were saying?"

Jody chuckled. "So I figured this area between the crime scenes is the best place to start looking for... whatever this is."

"Shouldn't we wait till day break?" Sam asked.

"Why?" I asked. "No, let's go."

*      *      *      *      *

In the forest, Dean was leading the charge, practically racing ahead of us. "We'll make better time if we split up."

"No, Dean, we'll be safer if we stick together," I told him.

"If I get a vote, I'm in team stick together," Jody told us.

"Fine," Dean told us.

Ariel saw something. "Guys."

Jody followed our gaze, seeing three severed heads on poles. "Holy mother of..."

Faith checked the mouths of the heads. "Vampires."

"Jody, these match your vics?" Sam asked.

Jody walked closer. "John Does. Hard to tell. Three heads, three headless bodies, the math works. Except, Sam, I checked those bodies. I brought tissue samples home. Alex ran them underneath the microscope. Silver, dead man's blood, there was no reaction."

Dean leaned down toward a recently abandoned fire. The figure in the black cloak, wielding a two pronged spear, attacked Dean, trying to stab him with her spear. Dean spun out of the way. The figure tried to stab me. I flicked out my Angel Sword to block the move, spinning around to slash toward her. The figure used the spear to block the move, spinning around to hit the spear against Sam's legs, making him fall to the ground. I spun to slash the figure in the back of the legs, making her flip and fall to the ground. Ariel and Faith ran closer. The figure jumped up, trying to hit Ariel with the spear. Ariel caught it, using it to spin the figure around, flipping her over her head, making her land on the ground. Faith kicked the figure in the side, making her flip through the air again and land on the ground, making her hood fall off. The face of the figure was revealed, and she looked exactly like Kaia. We all looked at her in shock, freezing out of surprise. Kaia took advantage to throw the spear over a gate, running toward the gate, flipping over it, grabbing the spear, taking off at a run.

"What the hell?" Faith asked.

"It looked just like her," I told them. "Like..."

"Kaia," Ariel finished.

"You saw her die over there, right?" Jody asked.

"Yes, absolutely," Sam answered.

"What's happening?" Jody asked.

"All we know is that thing, it dressed the same, it moved the same as the thing that killed Kaia," Dean told us.

"Yeah," Sam agreed.

"How is that possible?" Jody asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know, but let's find her and ask."

*      *      *      *      *

We were walking through the woods.

"Dean?" Sam asked. "Ava, what is it?"

I was tracking her footprints. "She's got a light foot but she's still leaving tracks."

"Whoa, hold--hold up," Sam told us. "Wait a sec."

"What?" Ariel asked.

"Her face," Sam answered. "You saw it too. The bruises."

"Yeah, could have been Vamps," Faith told us.

"Or it could have been Michael," I told them. "Come on. Three Vampires in Sioux Falls and not a single civilian death. That's not an accident. I think they were hunting her."

"Why?" Dean asked.

"I think because Michael sent them to finish what he started," I answered.

"Okay, well, we don't know that," Dean told us.

"Jody tested the bodies, Dean," Sam told him. "They're different. They're immune to dead man's blood the same way Michael's Werewolves were immune to silver."

"Doesn't change the plan," Dean told us.

We sighed, continuing on.

*      *      *      *      *

Jody declined a call from Claire.

"All good?" I asked.

"Yeah, the girls are asking for me," Jody answered.

"You gonna tell them?" Ariel asked.

"They have a right to know, but I can't," Jody told us. "I promised Claire Human cases are mine, but anything 'monster-y', I'd loop her in. God. Claire's been doing so good. I mean, anything connected to Kaia, she's a powder keg. First loves strike quick, and then to lose it like that. Wow, you guys are having a time of it."

"Yeah, he's working something out and he's working it out alone," Sam told us. "The only thing I know is he's not ready for this case."

I sighed. "Maybe. Maybe he needs it."

*      *      *      *      *

We found Kaia in a cabin in the woods, and catching her off guard, Dean knocked her out with his rifle. She woke up after we had her tied to a chair.

"What are you?" Ariel asked.

"If you're asking if I'm the girl you knew, your Kaia, no," Kaia told us.

"Then what?" Sam asked. "You're from over there, right?"

Kaia nodded. "You know I am."

"So you're Kaia's double, hmm?" I asked. "Like bad Cas or new Bobby?"

"What I was to her, she was to me," Kaia told us. "You could never understand."

"Why did you kill her?" Faith asked.

"That was an accident," Kaia told us. "I was trying to kill the blonde."

Sam sighed. "All right. How did you cross over? How did you open a rift? Okay, why are you here?"

"You mean right here?" Kaia asked. She nodded to Dean. "'Cause of him."

"Yeah, not him, not Michael, not anymore," Dean told her.

"I know," Kaia told him. "You're much weaker."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Maybe, but you're still scared."

"Not of you, of them," Kaia told us. "The monsters he sends after me. Every time I slow down, there's more. There's always more."

*      *      *      *      *

Jody turned to face us. "Guys, we should move. Let's take her to the station just to be safe."

"No," Sam told us.

"We need to break her, right here, right now," Dean told us.

"Break her?" Ariel repeated. "What do you mean, break her? For what?"

"He wants to know where I hid my weapon," Kaia answered. "That's all he wants. That's what this is all about."

*      *      *      *      *

Faith sighed. "Uncle Dean, what, you're gonna hurt her, torture her?"

"That pig sticker she's hiding, it is the only thing that we know that hurts Michael," Dean told us. "I'm gonna do whatever it takes." He walked toward Kaia angrily. "Where is it? Where's the spear? Where is it?"

*      *      *      *      *

Dean got closer to Kaia. "Where is it?"

"Dean!" Sam told him.

Kaia looked at Dean. "You're no different from him. Threats, violence, anything to get what you want."

"I am nothing like him," Dean told her.

"Yeah, you are," Kaia told him. "You always have been." She looked at me. "Some are just darker and meaner than others. I saw what you did to her. When you were hexed, when you got angry, you were trying not to hurt Kaia, but you nearly took out your Angel Sword on her because you were losing control."

I looked down in guilt, remembering that night.

Ariel looked at Kaia. "How do you know about that?"

"She's a dreamwalker, too," I answered. "Your powers, they connected you two."

Kaia nodded. "Our whole lives, what she saw, I saw." She looked at Dean. "I know where it comes from, your anger, your impatience. It's fear. You're scared. And you're weak."

"All right, shut up," Dean told her.

"Michael hurt you," Kaia told him. "He hurt me too."

*      *      *      *      *

Dean seemed to be remembering. "Stop."

"You remember now?" Kaia asked.

"So Michael wants the spear because he knows it can hurt him," I told them.

Faith looked at Kaia. "And that's why his monsters are coming after you?"

"Yes," Kaia answered.

"Guys, we should get out of here," Sam told us.

Ariel looked outside. "Uh-uh. Guys? Too late."

*      *      *      *      *

Vampires ran inside. Sam punched Vampire 1 in the face hard.

Vampire 1 hit Sam back in the chest, nodding to Kaia. "We only came for her, but I was never one to turn down a buffet."

"Yeah, well, you three are the ones that are gonna get in trouble," Dean replied, looking at me, Ariel and Faith.

The Vampires ran at us. Ariel and Faith used magic to push them away from Jody, Sam and Dean, sending them flying onto a table and to a wall, making them both fall. The Vampires jumped up.

Ariel punched Vampire 1 in the face, grabbing him by the head, kneeing him in the crotch.

Faith grabbed Vampire 2 by the shirt, picking him up, lifting him over her head, slamming him onto the floor, breaking the wood.

Vampire 3 tried to punch me. I ducked, drawing my sword, slashing into him from either side, headbutting him in the face, kicking him in the chest, making him back away.

Vampire 1 stood, trying to run at Ariel. Ariel caught him by the jacket, spinning him around to throw him to the floor, kicking him in the back and side repeatedly, turning him onto his back, puncing him in the face.

Faith kicked Vampire 2 in the stomach, making him fall into the wall, walking closer, gripping his shirt, punching him in the face repeatedly.

I stabbed Vampire 3 through the back of the head out of his mouth with my Angel Sword, taking it out, letting him fall dead. Ariel and Faith turned to push their Vampires toward me. I spun around to behead both the Vampires with my sword in one stroke, spinning the sword over my head, landing the spin behind my back.

Kaia broke free from her chair, getting up. We turned to face her.

"You know, as long as you have that spear, you're going to be a target for Michael, his monsters," I told her. "They'll keep chasing you."

"I'm used to it," Kaia told us, leaving.

The rest of us exchanged a look, sighing.

*      *      *      *      *

Sam, Dean, Ariel, Faith, Jody and I were on the way back to our cars.

"Jody..." Dean trailed off.

"Dean Winchester, you have nothing to apologize for," Jody told him. "Besides, your girls Octavia, Ariel and Faith saved the day." Ariel and Faith smirked. I shrugged. "I'm more worried about when I get home."

"Claire," Ariel said.

Jody nodded. "I'm dreading those consequences. She's got to know, she's got to know that Kaia's killer is still out there."

"You all right?" Faith asked.

Jody sighed. "I'm just seeing her face again. Raising three hunters and fearing every day that I might lose one of them. I didn't even really get a chance to know Kaia before she died. Just feel like I already lost before I even ever began."

*      *      *      *      *

Dean, Sam, Ariel, Faith and I were back on the road, on the way home.

"I put us all in danger today, stupid danger," Dean told us.

"Dean," I told him.

"We were able to handle it," Ariel told him.

"Yeah, it's a good thing that you three were there to handle it, because Michael cooked up Vampires like that with Angelic Grace, something that would easily breeze through hunters," Dean told us.

"Thought you didn't remember anything," Faith said, a little sarcastic, but mostly sympathetic.

Dean sighed. "You were right. I just didn't want to look at it, what Michael used me for. I just wanted to race ahead. You know, skip to the end of the story, the part where I get the weapon and I take out the bad guy. The part where I kill Michael."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"You know I said yes to him because I thought..." Dean trailed off. "It was stupid. I was stupid."

"Dean, you did what you had to do," I told him.

Dean sighed. "And it wasn't a blink. I got possessed. I made it sound like that, but it wasn't. I don't remember most of what Michael did with me because I was underwater. Drowning. And that I remember. I felt every second of it, clawing, fighting for air. I thought I could make it out, but I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough. And now he's gone, he's out there, putting an army of monsters together. He's hurting people. That's all on me, guys. I said yes. It's my fault."

None of us knew how to help Dean, and all of us knew that he didn't want to be helped.