FicWad

Penina and Hollie Winchester were only nineteen years old when their story truly began. Sure, they’d had a hell of an adventure before – hunting demons and ghouls and ghosts and the like – and, yes, perhaps their whole story started before they were even created. Created – not born – so what made this story so special? Well, it’s because this is the stuff that mattered. The reason why they were here. Everything they knew was about to change. The good, the bad and the ugly. This is the lives of Penina and Hollie Winchester.

“Come on, Bobby. We’ve got to at least try to find him.” Penina begged the twins’ friend and father figure. Sure, he always wore one of his signature baseball bats to cover up the greying hair underneath, and yes, perhaps he was known as the town drunk, but he was also the wisest, most knowledgeable person they knew.

He slammed his glass of whiskey down on the wooden desk in his study. He looked ready for a fight, and he would be damned if he couldn’t deliver it too. “For the last goddamn time, no. I’ve had enough of you being whiney today, just like yesterday. Oh, and the day before that of course. We’re not going to find Sam. He don’t wanna be found, kid.” He shot back.

“But Bobby, Dean’s dead. Really dead. What would he have to say about this?” Penina pleaded on behalf of herself and her twin sister – who was older than her by 6 minutes – to find their brother. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears, and no sooner had the last syllable escaped her lips did Bobby slam his fists on the table and lean over the mahogany object. Seeing the fear in her eyes, he opted out of trying to shout some sense into her, and instead chose to calmly explain what he was thinking.

“Look,” he sighed. “He made the choice of getting his ticket punched. Hell, in this line of work it’s something we’re all gonna have to deal with eventually. We all have different ways of coping with grief.”

“All the more reason why we’ve gotta find him.” Penina attempted in a last-ditch effort to try and get Bobby to see sense. Unfortunately, he wasn’t having it.

“Sorry, kid.” He said in a tone that let Penina know she had to resign from the conversation.

A few seconds later, Bobby’s phone rang. He picked it up almost immediately to try and resolve the awkwardness that was bound to follow. “Yeah...? Yeah...? Who’s ‘me...’?” He asked before hanging up. It rang again almost instantly. “Who is this?” Bobby asked rather harshly. He waited a beat before saying “This ain’t funny. Call again, I’ll kill ya.” He slammed his flip phone shut making the girls in the room look up at him questioningly. It wasn’t like him to get this rattled up over a cold caller. Noticing this, Bobby gulped slightly – missed by Hollie and Penina – and shrugged. “Prank callers. Been getting them for a few days. Gonna change my number soon.” He finalised his unquestioned answer to them and dropped the subject entirely.

“Hozzie, you can’t put an ace on a queen.” Penina explained to her sister for the billionth time. They were playing some card game they forgot the name of years ago, listening to Bobby flip pages of his lore book. They weren’t allowed music in the study. It was too much of a distraction.

“Can’t you two play quietly?” Bobby asked. Ever since that phone call, Bobby’s been more on edge than usual, and that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the girls.

“Come on, Penina. We can play in the kitchen or something.” Hozzie piped up. She knew her twin would protest, so before she could, she grabbed her arm and pulled her to the kitchen. Just before they sat down, there was a knock at the door. Penina went to answer the door with her left hand, her right hand hiding the pistol she was holding in case they were attacked. Once the door opened her eyes widened.

Standing in front of her was a man with short and choppy sandy blond hair. His green eyes looked directly into her green eyes. His 6’1” stance towered over her 5’4” height. But it wasn’t just some ordinary blond douchebag. It was Dean Winchester. Their Dean Winchester. Although, it wasn’t. It couldn’t have been. Could it?

“Surprise!” He said in hushed tones.

“Bobby!” Penina yelled, getting his attention. Both Hozzie and Bobby ran to the door. Hozzie too felt scared under the eldest Winchester’s presence. Bobby on the other hand, was ready to attack. He held a silver knife and ran directly at him, Dean making sure to dodge out of the way and prevent further assault.

“Bobby! It’s me!” Dean pleaded.

“My ass!” Bobby replied in retort. ‘Dean’ then took a chair from the kitchen and shoved it between himself and Bobby. Hozzie and Penina were backed up into a corner with tears in their eyes. No, Penina. Don’t cry. Be strong. She thought to herself.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! Your name is Robert Steven Singer. You became a hunter after your wife got possessed, and... you’re about the closest thing I have to a father. Bobby, and girls, it’s me.” Dean said. Penina and Hozzie were beginning to believe it. Even Bobby looked like he was too – he lowered his knife and cautiously stepped towards Dean – but then he slashed at him again. Dean then subdued and disarmed him.

“I’m not a shapeshifter.” Dean said.

“Then you’re a revenant!” Bobby argued.

Dean shoved Bobby away, and took the knife Bobby dropped. He then rolled up his sleeve. “Alright, if I was either, could I do this – with a silver knife?” He asked. He grimaced before slicing his skin above the place where his elbows bend.

“Dean?” Hozzie asked, completely believing him now.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you guys.” Dean said, with humour in his tone. Penina smiled out of relief, although frankly, she was still kind of scared. How the hell did he get back? Bobby hugged Dean, and with enthusiasm, he returned it.

“It’s... it’s good to see you, boy.” Bobby said as they pulled away from the hug.

“Yeah, you too.” Dean said.

“But how are you... here?” Penina asked.

Dean slung his arm around Hozzie to give her a hug as he started to explain. “I don’t know. I just, uh, I just woke up in a pine box...” he began before Bobby splashed holy water on his face, Hozzie only getting a few sprinkles of water on her hair. She didn’t mind though. Her brother was back. That’s all that mattered. Dean spat out the water. “I’m not a demon either, you know.” He said in his usually grumpy voice.

“Sorry. Can’t be too careful.” Bobby said. They were walking further into the house as Dean explained everything after the gruesome way he died. He sold his soul to save Sam, the second sibling. After literally seeing his guts turned into garters, the twins were wondering how he could manage to walk back into their lives after four months in what seems to be perfect health. Apparently he just woke up this morning in a coffin and he crawled his way back out. He was wiping his face with a towel when Bobby spoke up. “But... that don’t make a lick of sense.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re preaching to the choir.” Dean said.

“Dean, you don’t understand. I’m pretty sure you were unconscious a few seconds before you finally...” Hozzie explained, unable to say the word died. “You shouldn’t look like this.”

“You’ve been buried for four months, Dean. Even if you could climb out of the box-“ Penina began.

“I know – I should look like a Thriller video reject.” Dean attempted a joke. None of them, not even Dean found it funny.

“What do you remember?” Bobby asked.

“Not much. I remember I was a hellhound’s chew toy, and then... lights out. Then I come to six feet under. That was it.” He answered. Penina hopped up on the counter as Bobby sat down. Hozzie was leaning on the counter next to Penina. “Sam’s number’s not working. He’s, uh...he’s not...” He started. That was enough to make a single tear roll down Penina’s cheek.

Sam Winchester, the brains of the family, decided to take off the moment it happened. Once Hozzie and Penina were settled at Bobby’s of course. But even though they begged him to stay, he insisted he left. The girls wanted to find him. After spending the first month trying to find some way to bring him back – which all led to a dead end – they tried their best to convince Bobby to let them find Sam. Bobby told them no. Probably in spite of what Sam did. Abandoning them. But the twins knew their brother better than that. They knew it had to be something else. “Oh, he’s alive. As far as I know.” Bobby said, snapping them out of their thoughts.

“Good – wait, what do you mean ‘as far as you know’?” He asked.

“We ain’t talked to him in months.” Bobby clarified. Dean looked slightly taken aback, but more than that, angry. His glare was laser focused on the girls.

“Hey! Don’t look at us. We’ve been begging to get Bobby to let us find him.” Penina argued, resetting Dean’s attention back to Bobby.

“You’re kidding? You just let him go off by himself?” Dean asked.

“He was dead set on it.” Bobby said in his defence, calming Dean down a little.

“Bobby, you should’ve been looking after him. After all of them.” Dean said, sauntering towards the girls.

“We’re big girls, Dean. We don’t exactly need looking after.” Penina said in a light tone.

“Speak for yourself.” Hozzie jested.

“Either way, to answer your question: These last month’s haven’t exactly been easy, you know. For him or for us. We had to bury you.” Bobby said.

“Why did you bury me anyway?” Dean asked.

“Well, we all wanted you salted and burned.” Hozzie explained. “But Sam didn’t want to. He just wouldn’t let us.”

“Well, I’m glad he won that one.” Dean half-joked.

“He said you’d need a body when you got back home somehow. That’s about all he said.” Bobby spoke up. All three of the siblings turned to face him.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked.

“And why didn’t you tell us?” Penina asked.

“He was quiet. Real quiet. And then he just took off. Wouldn’t return any of our calls. I even tried to find him without the girls, but he didn’t want to be found.” Bobby explained.

“Oh, damnit, Sammy!” All three of the siblings exclaimed at the same time.

“What?” Bobby asked in confusion.

“Oh, he got me home okay. But whatever he did, it is bad mojo.” Dean answered.

“What makes you so sure?” The older man asked.

“Because it’s Sam…?” Penina said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Dean shook his head.

“No girls. It wasn’t that. You should have seen the grave site. It was like a nuke went off. And then there was this… this force, this presence, I don’t know, but it, it blew past me at a fill-up joint. And then this.” Dean said before rolling his sleeve up, revealing a brand mark in the form of a hand. It looked like a 3rd degree burn scar.

Bobby stood up to take a look at it. “What in the hell?”

“It was like a demon just yanked me out. Or rode me out.”

“But why?” Bobby asked.

“To hold up his end of the bargain.” Hozzie said.

“You think Sam made a deal?” Bobby asked the Winchesters. Dean shrugged.

“It’s what I would’ve done.” Dean said. The girls looked at each other awkwardly. Like they had something to hide.

At night, the girls went to their bedroom. They shared, just like they always have done, only this time they felt crappy.

“How come Sam managed to get him back but we didn’t?” Penina asked. Hozzie shrugged.

“I don’t know. We tried to make deals. Just like Sam did. Some idiot demon must’ve accepted.” The older twin answered.

“Okay, then riddle me this; how come Sam isn’t here to see if it worked?” Penina asked.

“Maybe he went to the gravesite as soon as he could but Dean had already left? I don’t know. Stop asking me questions. I feel guilty enough already.” Hozzie said, cuddling her pillow.

“I just need answers. I’m glad Dean’s alive and everything, but something’s incredibly wrong. And Dean’s gonna get angry at Sam, I just know it.” Penina explained.

“Why would he get angry at him for doing exactly what we expected of him?” Hozzie asked.

“Not for that. For leaving us alone. It’s ridiculous. We’re old enough to look after ourselves.” Penina said.

“Yeah and look what happened. We went to seek them out anyway. Face it, we’re never gonna be by ourselves. To be honest, I’d rather we weren’t anyway.” Hozzie said. Penina nodded her head, turned on the nightlight for Hozzie, and turned off the big light.

“Whatever. We’ll probably continue looking for him tomorrow.” She said, tucking herself into her bed.

“How do you know?” Hozzie asked.

“Because Dean’s back, and he may have escaped hell, but he’d bring it all back just to get answers out of him.” Penina said.

“True. Plus, his baby’s not with us, so he’ll probably try and track that down too.” Hozzie said, making both the girls laugh.

“Yeah. I miss her. Anyway, I’m going to sleep. See you in the morning.” Penina said, beginning to doze off.

“See ya.” Hozzie said, falling asleep too. Little did they know tomorrow would bring hell. Literally.