❛ CHAPTER SIX ━ NEVER MEET YOUR HEROES, KIDS!❜
𖤐¸𓍢 ━━ ❪ ACT ONE OF SOULBOUND ❫ ˖ ୧ 。
◟ ✦ SHE'S SAFER WITH ME ❞

Sam and Dean didn't speak to each other on the car ride back to the house, initiated by Dean but Sam didn't care enough to ask him about it. The rumble of the engine and the speed of the car were the only things keeping Dean from asking more questions.

While he was worried about his family and the possibility of the Djinn coming back to hurt them, Sam was more upset over the fact that they haven't caught the thing yet.

The car screeches to a stop in the driveway of Dean's house. Sam barely had time to cut the engine before Dean piles out of the car and ran up the steps to the house.

His face slacked when he noticed the front door was open, "Lisa!?" He runs in, completely exposed but he wasn't thinking about his safety, "Olive?! Ben!" Dean began to panic from the lack of response.

Sam walked in moments later, his face firm as he shook his head at his brother's panic.

Dean rushes to the phone, dialing Lisa's number with shaky hands. His eyes drifted to the pictures that were pinned to the board. Some of him and Lisa, a few of Olive and Ben, most of them were pictures of them altogether.

He frowned at the picture of Olive on her sixth birthday, blowing out the candles. Does she hate me now?

He slams his fist against the cabinet when he gets Lisa's voice mail.

"Hey," Lisa calls out, walking in through the back door.

"Where the hell have you been?" Dean breaths out, pulling them both into a tight hug.

"I could ask you the same question," Lisa says. Dean squeezes tighter. "Dean, ow."

"What happened?" Ben asks when Dean pulls away.

"Go upstairs and pack a bag." Dean orders before turning to Lisa. "Where's O?"

"Where are we going?" Ben asks.

"I'm taking us to a friend's house. Go." He sighs. Lisa doesn't seem willing to do anything, her face pulled up in a confused frown. "Where's Olly?" He asks again.

Lisa crosses her arms. "She didn't want to come home. The Andersons let her sleep over for the rest of the weekend."

Dean sighs. "Lisa I'm sorry, really."

"I'm not the person you should be apologizing to." Lisa stares at him for a second longer before squeezing her son's arm in reassurance, "It's okay. Go on up and pack a bag for your sister too. I'll be there in a sec."

Ben nods, "Um. ." Ben trails with wide eyes as Sam walks into the kitchen.

"Oh, my god." Lisa breathes out.

Dean closes his eyes, gathering himself.

Everything seemed to be crashing down all at once.

"Lisa, Ben, I don't know if you remember—"

"Sam," Lisa says.

All parties turn to Dean, who now had more explaining to do than ever.

"You knew Sam was alive?!" Dean accuses.

Dean had taken Lisa and Ben to the only place where he felt was the safest, Bobby Singer's house.

He hadn't seen the old hunter since December and secretly hoped that he wasn't the only person upset by Sam's choices.

Instead, he was met with the betrayal of the man he considered a father.

Bobby knew Sam was alive the whole time, even when Dean expressed his concerns to Bobby during Olive's birthday all those months ago.

"Yeah." Bobby sighs.

"How long?"

"Look, Dean━"

"How long?!" Dean raised his voice, face firm.

"All year."

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me."

"And I'd do it again."

"Why?!" He explodes.

"You got out, Dean! You walked away from the life." Bobby yells back. "And I was so damn grateful, you got no idea."

"Do you have any clue what walking away meant for me?" Dean says lowly.

"Yeah! A woman, two kids and not getting your guts ripped out at age thirty! That's what it meant!" He shot back.

"Lisa and Ben? I went to them because you asked me to," He points an accusing finger at Sam, who seemed completely unfazed by his brother's rage.

"Good," Bobby says.

"Good for who? I showed up on their doorstep half out of my head with grief with a little girl who has more power in her pinkie finger than Cas has on a good day." Dean responds.

"Dean. . ."

"God knows why they even let us in. I drank too much. I had nightmares." His face reddens, "I looked everywhere. I collected hundreds of books trying to find anything to bust you out."

"You promised you'd leave it alone," Sam speaks for the first time.

"Of course I didn't leave it alone! Sue me!"

"You could have used Olive," Sam adds.

Dean takes a livid step forward and Bobby stands tall between them.

"Don't you ever say that again?" He bellows.

Bobby pushes him back softly as Dean turns back to him.

"A damn year?" He shakes his head, eyes burning. "You couldn't put me out of my misery?"

"Look, I get it wasn't easy. But that's life!" Bobby says. "And it's as close to happiness as I've ever seen a hunter get. It ain't like I wanted to lie to you, son." He says softly. "But you were out, Dean."

"Do I look out to you?"

"How's he doing?"

Lisa walks down the rest of the steps with a small smile. "He's okay. How are you?"

Dean sighs. "Look, I know Bobby's a little crotchety, but he's great. He's gonna look after you guys. Me and Sam, we're gonna head out."

Lisa's smile drops. She was trying to wrap her head around everything, sliding down and sitting on the last few steps of the stairs. "For how long?"

He exhales sharply, unable to answer. "I'm so sorry, Lisa."

"For what?"

"Those things were coming for me and I should have known."

Lisa shakes her head. "How could you know a monster was gonna show up?"

"I should've known." He repeats. "I should've known that if I stayed with you that something would come because something always does." He explains. "But I was stupid and reckless and now Olly probably hates me and. ." He sighs. "You can't outrun your past."

Lisa blinks in realization. "You're saying goodbye." She hesitates. "Are you taking Liv with you?"

"She's safer with me." He says instantly.

"She should be with people who are. ." Lisa sighs trailing off.

"Normal?" Dean finishes, jaw clenched.

"She deserves to be normal." She repeats. "But I can't stop you. . we both know she'd follow you to the end of the world and you would even have to ask."

Dean stares past her head for a moment before sitting beside her.

She pushes over to make room and to distance herself from him, readying herself for the cursed goodbye speech.

He sighs softly. "I'm sorry for everything."

"Everything." She repeats. "You're an idiot." She scoffs. His eyes widened. "I mean, I know it wasn't greeting-card perfect, but we were in it together. Magical six-year-old and all."

"I was a wreck half the time." Dean scoffs.

"Yeah, well, when the guy that basically just saved the world shows up at your door with a bruised up little girl, you expect them both to have a couple of issues!"

He doesn't respond.

"And you're always so amazing with them. What I wanted for Ben, more than anything was a guy that he could look up to like. .like a dad." She says. "And the progress we made with Olive?" She chuckles bitterly. "It was all starting to come together for us." Lisa looks at Dean. "So, you're saying it's all bad, Dean? 'Cause, it was the best year of my life."

Without another word, Lisa stands up and gives the understanding smile that Dean received since the moment he showed up at her doorstep and walks away.

"You okay?" Karla asked from the top bunk, her arms crossed her under her head while she looked up at the glowing stars on her ceiling. She perked her head, waiting to see if Olive was still up to listen.

"No," Olive responds, her voice lingering.

The sleepover had died after ten-thirty when both of them couldn't keep their eyes open while they played dolls, however the second they got into bed, they couldn't sleep a wink. Olive was too overwhelmed and Karla was worried for her friend.

"Is it because your dad didn't show up for the play?"

Olive sighed, rolling to her side. Her eyes land on Karla's spinning night light, that was shaped like the planet Earth. She thought long and hard about Dean and the play, and the world.

Here she was, a girl with borderline superpowers and she was more worried and hurt about the fact that her dad wasn't at her stupid recital that she flunked with the wrong lines.

"He promised," Olive responds shortly.

Karla hums. The bed above dips, and Karla's coiled pigtails wrapped in ribbon could be seen dangling from the side, "My dad promises stuff too," She says, "But sometimes it doesn't happen because he says things get in the way."

The little girl only recalled her father breaking two promises since her parents split and her mom fell in love with another woman. One, he promised to get her a space suit ( — something Olive and Karla bonded over. ) and two, coming to her play even if she was a tree.

"I forgive him," Karla adds, "He's my dad!"

Olive sighs. She wanted to tell Karla that Dean was a monster Hunter. She wanted to say that the reason she was so upset was because Dean had promised nothing was out to get them and everything was fine, only to go missing hours later.

She knows he's alive. She feels it. But why did he lie? Why couldn't he tell her the truth?

"I do forgive him," Olive responds, "Just wish he woulda called."

Karla slides off the bed, right in front of she, "I know somethin' that'll make you feel better!" She drags.

Olive sat up, watching Karla turn on her lamp light and open her colorful wooden jewelry box that they made in Art last week. She pulls out two bracelets. One had a sun and the other had a moon that mush together and cut off at the center, so they could lock.

"I was gonna wait to give it to you at the last day of theater next week!" Karla explains, sitting on the bed right beside Olive, "But you need it now. Here!"

Olive smiled, holding her wrist out and letting Karla put the sun bracelet on her arm before doing the same thing for her.

"One day, we're gonna grow up, and become astronauts," Karla says, "We're gonna go on the moon, and be the first to touch the sun!"

She giggles, "We can put a flag with our faces on them! So they could be ours!"

Karla smiled, giving a firm nod.

They fall asleep at eleven-ten, or at least Karla did.

Olive hadn't, because as much as the Anderson family welcomed her, the six-year-old didn't want to stay with them any longer than she had to knowing she'd have to face Dean soon.

She gets out of bed, grabbing her backpack and searching through Karla's desk. She paused, her eyes narrowed on a jar of herbs on her table and the salt around the windows. Olive shrugs, grabbing a note pad.

She wrote her whereabouts to Karla using a blue crayon and a sticky note and proceeded to jump out their first-floor window, running through the backyard.

The Anderson's and the Braeden's only lived three blocks away from each other and considering Olive used to bike to Karla's house hundreds of times it made it easier for her to get there on foot.

When the yellow house finally came into view Olive began to dread going back home.

She didn't want to talk with Dean, they both didn't like talking about their feelings. Olive is reminded of the time when Ms. Addy would give them life lessons 'Learn to expect disappointment.' She'd say.

Olive should've been familiar with that one already.

She tightened the straps of her backpack and made her way to the back door, kicking over a rock and grabbing the spare key.

Sam chuckles looking at the array of photos pinned up by the fridge. Most of them were of Ben and Olive separately, captured memories.

Like the time Ben and Olive went to the park to feed the ducks, Olive kept trying to pet them and even though Ben had warned her, she fell into the pound. It was a laughable moment that Lisa had captured seconds before Dean started panicking and grabbed three towels.

Dean continued to pack nervously in the kitchen, his eyes darting outside the window before gingerly rubbing his hand over his face. Sam leaned against the countertop.

"You okay?"

It was a stupid question to both of them. Of course, he wasn't okay. Dean scoffs a laugh, "Oh, yeah." He runs his hand over his mouth to control his nerves. "No, this is. .this is crazy. I mean, you, grandpa, whoever brought you back-- they don't want to be found."

"Yeah, I get that."

"Who are they and what do they want? Why?" Dean seemed to have so many questions that no one had the answers to, and it made him even more frustrated.

"That's a good question."

"She looks up to you, you know," Dean said after a moment of silence, jerking his chin towards the picture of Olive. "She thinks you're some kinda superhero." He chuckled. "Sam Winchester saves the world. The puppies from trees thing."

Sam scoffed softly. "Then she's going to be disappointed when she gets the close-up."

Dean doesn't respond to that, just stares at the window.

"Do you remember it?"

"What?"

"The cage."

"Yeah." Sam brushed off.

"You want to—"

"No." He cuts him off.

Dean shrugs. "Well, if anybody can relate. . ."

"Dean. I don't want to talk about it." He says firmly. "I'm back. I get to breathe fresh air, have a beer, hunt with my family, see you again. So why exactly would I want to think about Hell?" He had a point, Dean knew he was trying to see the positive side but that didn't stop the flow of questions and concerns.

The back door jiggles causing both hunters to raise their guns, pointing it at the frame. They heard a quiet grunt before the door was swung open.

Olive's small head pops out first, looking around for any sign of Lisa and Dean before locking eyes with him. She hadn't noticed Sam yet.

Dean rushes forward. "O? What are you doing back?"

She steps into the house, unresponsive. She narrowed her eyes at him, her scrunched nose and neutral expression was her way of being imitating and mad. In honesty, she was trying to copy Dean's brooding scold, but it only made her look like a very small, annoyed rabbit.

When Dean realized what she was playing at, he narrowed his own eyes. They stared at each other challengingly, waiting for the other to say something.

One thing that Dean and Olive had in common was that they were extremely stubborn. She was angry at him. He was worried about her, which he often tried to hide behind scolds and false annoyance.

He could easily apologize right there and get it over with but he was more worried about her standing in front of him now, in danger. Apologies can wait for later.

"Olive, you shouldn't be here."

"You should've been there." She shot back.

Sam cleared his throat a few seconds in.

Olive turns to him, her face dropping with a surprised gasp. There had been many times that Olive had dreamed of meeting Sam Winchester. Many times were she asked Heaven to bring him back to Dean so that he wouldn't be sad anymore.

As weeks went on, Olive slowly lost hope of his return, but she should have known to keep her faith.

She turned to Dean, waiting for him to tell her that she was seeing things but he did nothing but clench his jaw. Olive turned back to Sam, mesmerized.

She faltered slightly, her eyebrows knitted in confusion when she looked at the Hunter. Something was wrong with him. Sam didn't have the same glow that Dean or Lisa had. A glow that Olive couldn't see directly but felt the presence of, the wave of energy that belonged to every living person.

Dean's shined brightest when he was with her.

Sam's wasn't there at all.

Pushing past this realization that something was eternally wrong with Sam Winchester. Olive chose to focus on the one, solid fact that stared her right in the face.

Sam was alive and was standing in her kitchen.

"Oh, my god!" She squealed. Sam's eyes widened at the excitement. Olive runs up to his figure ignoring his panic when she wrapped her lanky arms around his long legs. "I can't believe it!"

Sam looks to Dean for assistance, but the oldest brother leaned against the doorway with a deep sigh.

"Uh..hi." Sam forced out, awkwardly patting her head.

Olive pulled back, "I knew it." She stated in a dopey grin.

"Huh?"

She looked at Dean once more before back up at same. "I knew you'd come back. I prayed for it. Now you can be with Dean and me! Together like before!" She ranted, hyperventilating in excitement. "Dad aren't you excited?!"

Dean chokes on his answer, looking past the two and out of the kitchen window. Two Djinn stood before Sid and his girlfriend, Sarah, watching sadistically as they crashed to the ground.

Sam turned away from the window, "Dean, they're already dead, and you know it."

"This is happening because of me!"

Olive stiffened. "W-What's happening?"

"Stay here," Dean commanded before rushing out of the house with two syringes.

"Dean!"

"Dad?!" Olive bellowed, but he was already hopping the fence.

"Alright, listen." Sam hastily grabs two more syringes. Olive stands beside him, "You stay here and I'll go help, Dean."

"Uh, Sam." The Hunter follows the child's finger, eyes widening at the Djinn that stood in front of them. Tattoos appearing on his arms like flowing veins.

Sam reacts quickly, pulling out his gun that was easily smacked out of his hand. Olive, in a panic, raises her arms to shield her face and screams. A small wave of energy jumping out of her veins and throwing the nearest chair against the Djinn, who doubled over.

Sam's head whips to Olive, who blinks innocently. "Alright then." He breathes out.

The Djinn stands up, and this time advances towards Olive, seeing her as a bigger threat. Sam picks up a tall lamp light and swings. It goes on for a moment, Sam swings, the Djinn dodges. The Hunter blows him in the stomach, sending it over the table.

Olive, who seemed less panicked than she did a second ago, opened the small cupboard under the stairs. Thinking Sam was about to be handed a weapon, he reaches his hand back, eyes leveled with the Djinn advancing.

His empty hand was replaced with a faded, stuffed bear. Even the Djinn stopped to look at it, confused. Sam turned to Olive, slightly annoyed.

"Get him, Goob!" She eggs on. Sam just sighs and roughly throws the teddy bear at the Djinn, who stumbled back in surprise.

Sam grabs the golf club in the cupboard and began bashing the Djinn. Olive stared on as Sam continued to beat it even though it was down.

She was instantly taken back to the night at the motel, where Dean stabbed into Marge repeatedly without mercy. Olive wasn't horrified when blood began to pour out of the Djinn, she just stood and stared until Sam was done.

With the bashing decreased, Sam let out a ragged breath. Looking at the Djinn in the same way Dean looked at that Demon. Olive came up beside him, looking down at it. Sam hesitated for a moment, looking down at the child and waiting for her to react in the normal way.

Instead, she reached up and touched his hand, all, in the same manner, she did for Dean almost a year ago. She didn't have to say it was okay for Sam to know that she understood.

Maybe they were all a little fucked up inside.

Two Djinn, a man and a woman blocked the pair from both exits. Olive took a large step beside Sam, who raised the golf club at both of them, giving a few swings in a warning. They backed them up into a corner, Olive let out a small fearful noise. Sam swings again, the male Djinn grabs the club and pulls it out of his grasp.

No Sam had no weapon and no plan.

Olive raises a shaky hand towards the male, but before she could do anything magically it crashed onto the floor.

Sam thinks for a moment that she had caused the Djinn to drop dead, but Samuel Campbell quickly replaced it, holding a silver knife.

"I got her. Go get Dean."

Without having to be told twice, Olive was the first one out of the house, running towards Sid's. She tried her hardest to ignore the bodies of two people Olive had known for in the last year, but it was hard and the little girl couldn't help but stare.

How many more people have to die before her eyes before she's next on the podium?

"Dean?" Sam rushes forward, crouching down beside the conscious Hunter.

For a second Olive thinks he's gone, a small pit in her stomach that slowly raised until her heart was in her throat and her face was pale. She held her breath until he breathed out his.

And the second he did, Olive rushes forward and wrapped her arms around his torso.

The play incident was forgotten, and the space between them gone.

Sam watches as Dean quickly wraps his arms around her, mumbling soothing words to let her know that he was alright, scrunching his face when he starts to feel that missing part of him drop deeper down the endless rabbit hole.

whenever karla and olive are together I picture them talking like rugrats characters.
EDITED, 10/10/2022!
WORDS, 3757!