Breathe Life Into Me

+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Brit’s POV

“What is it now…Benny, hold on, slow down…what did you say…” I could hear Dean on the phone in a very hushed tone. I looked over my shoulder to see Sam fast asleep and Cas wasn’t anywhere in sight.

So I quietly got up and looked out the window to see Dean pacing around. I went to walk outside to him but he quickly walked back in and almost knocked me over. He didn’t even give me a chance to say anything though, he just grabbed me by the arm and yanked me outside.

“Geez, what the hell, Dean?”

“Benny thinks he found a way to bring Mel back” he laid it on me. I felt my stomach churn.

“What…?” I breathed out.

“He didn’t give me all the details but he says he has a solid lead and…I don’t think we can pass this up, Brit” I looked into his eyes and saw how much he was willing to put into this…how much faith he was putting in this one lead. “But I wanted to see what you thought first…”

I couldn’t just tell him no…. “Well if you think you should go…and at least see what Benny is actually talking about…see what this lead is…then I’m going with you”

He shook his head. “You need to stay here and calm Sam down when he finds out. He already doesn’t like or trust Benny and when he finds out we both left to go save Mel without him?”

He had a point. “Okay fine…but you need to keep me posted on everything that’s going on” I ordered. “Yes maim”

“And at least take Cas” I requested.

“Do I have to?” he complained. I gave him a look.

“Okay, okay, fine? Where is the kid?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him. But if I do I’ll tell him to head your way”

“He’ll probably just pop on in anyway thinking we left without him” I just nodded as my head sunk. He lifted my chin.

“Hey…I’m bringing her back” he promised. I nodded again and then hugged him tight. He hugged me back just as tight.

“Be careful” I murmured.

“Always” he replied, kissing my head. I watched him drive away in the car.

Dean’s POV

Knowing I was this close to getting her back…it all felt like a dream…it couldn’t be real. Everything was starting to become so clear…her laugh…her smile…her touch…her…Cas…? “Cas? Well that was fast. What are you doing in the back seat?” I looked at him in the rearview mirror. “I…thought you all had left me…” he said with that look of a lost puppy. I smiled a little. Of course.

He popped up beside me, in the front. “Where are you going?” he asked. I took a breathe. “To see Benny” I told him.

“That vampire? What for?” He wasn’t too happy I was still keeping in touch with him.

“He called and said he might know a way to bring Melissa back. I can’t pass this up, Cas…”

“How? How could he possibly know How to bring her back, Dean?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m going to find out. If you don’t like it then you can leave”

“Well…obviously I’m not going to let you go alone” That’s my boy…. “I still think it’s a waste of time though. It can’t be possible…”

“Duly noted” But it has to be….

~~

“Benny, it’s me. Open up” I said from the other side of the motel room. It swung open and Benny grinned at me…the it fell when he saw Cas. “I hope it’s okay that he tagged along…”

“No, no it’s fine…I’m glad he’s here…I think he has some explaining to do anyway. Where’s Brittney?” I followed him inside.

“Keeping Sam in check. What do you mean he has some explaining to do?”

“Well…do you want to tell him or should I?”

I looked at Cas. “I don’t know what he’s talking about”

“The fact that you knew all along that there was a way to bring Dean’s girl back!” Benny spat.

I spun to him. “It wasn’t a fact. It was a theory that I was still researching on”

“Come on! We all know it’s why you stayed behind: to find a way to get Melissa out! Don’t tell me you didn’t find anything and still came back to the world of the living”

“Do you know that I can easily vanquish you with the snap of my fingers?” Cas threatened.

“Okay, that’s enough! Can someone just explain to me the plan to bring Melissa back!” I grunted.

“Dean…we need to go back to Purgatory, find Melissa’s soul and push it back inside her”

I felt nauseous at the thought of going back. “Okay…sounds easy enough. Just a little angel-mojo and she’ll be fixed right up, right?”

“I’m not the one that’s capable of fixing her. You are”

“I don’t…understand…”

“To bring thee back to wake, one must take a risk at his own sake, and not only must it be an act of selflessness but there must be a true love’s kiss” Benny recited.

“You’re kidding, right? It sounds like it came out of some crappy play” I narrowed my eyes.

“Hey the people weren’t too literate back then but they were very romantic” Benny winked at me.

He was being serious about this. “So what? Only a knight in shining armor can go wake the sleeping princess?” I mocked.

“Bingo! And guess who gets to play the knight”

“I’m not understanding any of this knight-princess stuff. I thought the plan was for Dean to go save Melissa” Cas spoke up.

Benny gave me a look. “It’s just…the way he is. Let it go” I waved it off.

“So how do we get there?” I asked. “Already got it covered. See, my lead found out from a demon, who found out from another demon who used to work for Crowley that it says in the tablet exactly how to open a personal portal to Purgatory…”

“Where are those demons now?”

“Lets just say I took care of them. The only thing that matters is that I know how to get us to Purgatory and I have everything here for it. Now all we need is an angel’s touch…”

“Wait…” I stepped forward. “Cas, you can’t come”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want you to feel like you need to stay behind again. I can’t…lose you again…”

He just looked at me. “Dean…I promised Brittney I would look after you and if Melissa found out I let you go alone then she would certainly clip my wings. I’m going, we’re getting Melissa and then we’re all coming back” he said and I wanted to believe him. I saw there was no changing his mind anyway so I just nodded.

“Okay…you get the portal ready and I’m going to call Brittney…”

“Is that wise…?”

“I have to agree with the angel on this one, Dean…”

“I’m calling, Brittney” They shut up.

I dialed her number. “Hey, what’s the news?”

“Well…Cas, Benny and I are going to go get Melissa…”

“What do you mean you’re going to get her?”

“Exactly how I said it…”

“Dean…”

“Brittney, listen. This could be our only chance…”

“Dean, we barely made it out the first time! What makes you think…”

“Brittney. I’m going. Take care of Sammy for me…I love you, Brit and I’m bringing her home” I quickly hung up.

“So is this it? Are we just going straight there, popping up into Purgatory guns blazing?” I asked them.

“Not quite. With the piece of hair I managed to retrieve from Melissa’s hairbrush…” Cas started.

“You went through my things?!”

“You keep your dead girlfriend’s hairbrush?” Benny made a face.

“One: she isn’t dead. And two: are you really going to call me out on what I do in my spare time right now?”

He put his hands out in defense.

“As I was saying…with the hair and with the precise spelling the vampire has researched…”

“Is that a compliment?” Benny wondered.

“We will be able to locate her soul more quickly”

“Alright…lets do this” I established.

We all exchanged a look and then Cas began to do the spell on the wall. Slowly the cemented wall began to break away piece by piece and a shady light was coming through. You can do this Dean…it wasn’t as bad as Hell…and plus it’s for Melissa…you would go to Hell, Heaven and back if it was for her….

We walked through and…it wasn’t what I was expecting. We weren’t back in the deadpan forest with a deadly silence around every corner. We were in a field and the grass was so green I could almost smell it...I did in fact. I also smelt the salt from a sandy beach as the wind began to blow lightly. I turned to see a beach was behind us with a never ending ocean filling the space. I turned back to look at the open field right as a group of horses went running passed us. It was all...beautiful. I didn’t want to leave....

"We're here" Cas said.

"And where's here?" Benny asked.

"This can't be Purgatory, right?" I asked him.

"Sort of. We're inside a dream-paradise of Melissa's. Everyone has one. Even monsters sent to purgatory. It's where they go until they whither away into nothing and disappear for ever. This way they have some last nice moments before it all ends"

"Melissa doesn't even like the ocean though"

"In her paradise she does" He turned away from me. "Come on, we don't have much time" he said right as a storm cloud sounded over the ocean a few miles out and he started walking.

"Why not? Why don't we have much time. What is that, Cas? Talk to me" I made him stop and turn around.

"If I were to spend all of my time explaining every single detail of every single movement of mine then we won't be able to save Melissa, do you understand that? You see around you? See how everything is so full of life and color? Well lets just say that that cloud is a symbol of Melissa erasing herself"

"Why is she doing that?"

"Because she doesn't have the energy to keep it together anymore, Dean. I can't be explaining all of this to you, the point of you being the one to rescue her is so you could figure it out for yourself"

"Hey kiddies, I don't mean to interrupt but...if we're part of this little paradise-dream place and that cloud wants to delete everything in it...I think we should start running" Benny interrupted. We all took off and headed into the woods.

I looked up to the sky and saw it was a bright blue and but it was fading in and out as we kept running. The sound of the birds and animals was also fading and vanishing in the distance. I wasn’t sure if it was because of how much we were running or because they were being erased. But with each step we took in the direction away from the beach…it all just felt wrong. Like you’re going the wrong way and you know it’s the wrong way but you don’t know why….

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” a tiny voice exclaimed as I knocked into a tiny person.

I looked down to see a little girl in pig tails. She was wearing shorts and a Led Zeppelin T-shirt. She made a fist and got ready to sock me in the gut as she looked up at me with piercing blue eyes…. “Melissa…?” “Yea, that’s my name. So?” she snapped at me in her squeaky voice as she continued to glare at me. I didn’t know what to do…or say….

“Dean? What’s wrong?” Benny asked as they both came back over to me.

“I…think this is Melissa…” I narrowed my eyes down at her.

“Don’t look at me like that!” she snapped, stomping down on my foot and then punching me in the stomach. I grunted. “Yea…that’s her” I breathed out.

“I don’t understand. I thought we were looking for her soul, not a miniature version of herself” Benny noted. “So did I” Cas agreed.

“Melissa! You can’t just go running off like that! You can get hurt” another little girl came running over to us.

She looked maybe a year or two older and she had this protective side to her as she made eye contact with us and shielded the smaller Melissa from us. “I’m fine! This jerk knocked me over and didn’t even apologize though!”

“Is it just me or am I seeing double?” I wondered.

“More like triple” Benny pointed behind me.

I turned to see another one hanging upside down from a tree branch and her face was inches away from mine. “Boo” I jumped back. She giggled. “It’s not very polite to just bump into someone and not apologize, ya know” she swung down to her feet and placed her hands on her hips. She was maybe 11? “But you are cute so I’ll let it slide” she winked at me.

“Melissa, he’s like 3 times your age. Back off a little” a fourth one came into the picture.

“Oh stop being so reasonable all the time, would you? I’m just having a little fun” she stuck her tongue out. I looked at the last girl and she was more in her teen years.

“Okay…is this all of you or should I be expecting more Melissas to come out from some place?” I asked.

“Well there’s the original…the one who we all belong to…and then there’s the spirit…the one you need to speak with. It is why you came isn’t it?” the oldest spoke.

“Umm yea…but…what?”

“I think I understand” Cas said.

“Then please enlighten me!” I snapped.

“On the way. Follow me” the oldest said and so we did.

We didn’t really have time to question or wonder. What other option did we have anyway? I watched the other Melissas run around and play within the trees as the oldest one tried to explain to me what was going on.

“We are all a part of Melissa. Confident and abrasive…” she gestured to the kid in pigtails. “Shy and protective…” she gestured to the other one who was obviously watching the movement of the other girls so carefully. It was so familiar…. “Outgoing and kind…” she pointed out the third girl who was hanging from the tree branch.

I watched her help up the shy one after the abrasive one had blatently just pushed her down to the ground. “And me: realistic and intelligent. The one you need to talk to is her free-will. The one that does what she wants when she wants to do it. That’s what ties us all together and if you can convince her to go back then we all get to go back home”

She pulled down a branch so I saw into a meadow and there she was. My Melissa. She was wearing a white gown, feeding birds and planting some flowers…I don’t think I’ve ever seen her plant before…let alone be nice to animals like this. I felt like I was in a friggin Grimm’s fairytale. There was so many things wrong with this picture. I looked back at Benny and Cas and they both nodded at me so I took a deep breath and walked forward. I wasn’t leaving here without her…no matter what….

I walked up the hill and as I got closer I saw she had clothes hanging off of the branches of the single tree that was up there. She stood to her feet and turned to look at me. Her smile was from ear to ear. “Dean, sweetheart! Hello! What brings you here?” she went about her business like this was nothing. Like we just saw each other the other day. I had to remember that this wasn’t really her…it was her spirit…her free will…but shouldn’t her free will want to be with me…?

“I’ve umm come to take you home, Melissa” I tried to find my voice and keep it steady.

“But I am home” she smiled back at me. I lost my words. “Why would I leave? I’m happy here. And now that I have you here everything is perfect!” she grinned as she came over to me, kissing my cheek.

That’s what brought me back. It wasn’t her kiss. It wasn’t the same. I don’t know how…but it was different. “No but that’s the thing, Melissa. If you don’t come with me then you’ll be gone forever and so will I”

Her smile faltered. “No…that’s not true” she laughed at it as she tried to walk away but I held her hands so she would stay and face me.

“Yes, it is! You’re erasing yourself, Melissa. Then, what? That’s it? You’re just going to leave Sammy? And Brit? And me?” She ripped her hands away from me and turned her back. “Deep down you know it’s happening…you know you can’t hold on to this place forever…you need to come back, Mel. Come back to me” I pleaded.

She tensed up and then spun back around to face me with wide eyes. She placed a hand on my chest and gripped my shirt, squeezing her eyes shut. I held onto her hand. “But…I don’t know how”

“Yes, you do” I whispered. She lightened up and looked up into my eyes, nodding.

“Dean!” I turned to see Cas and Benny racing toward me. Behind them the woods and the meadow was disappearing like a child erasing their drawing. “We need to go…” And then they were gone…. I spun to cover Mel with my body but in the blink of an eye…she was gone.