Dream A Little Dream of Me.

CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR , DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME

a/n : I told the people who follow me on TikTok that I was going to post this chapter last night and forgot whoops. Here you gooooo 🫶

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Athena had crushed Bobby into a tight hug when they first saw him awake. He had to tap her back 3 times before she registered how tight she was squeezing him. The siblings caught Bobby up on the university student Sam came across in Bobby's mind and what they got on him so far.

Athena and Sam had left to go find the college student Dean interviewed earlier. But they had no luck. He was gone from his dorm before they got there.

Sam and Athena were driving back to the hospital in silence. There was a tense feeling in Sam's gut. It's like he could feel Athena's discomfort ever since she woke up from inside of Bobby's head. She hadn't even spoken a word since she left the hospital.

"Athena..."

The girl softly hums, with her eyes still looking out the window.

"When we were all in Bobby's head...did something happen?"

Athena's stomach turns her eyes immediately begin to burn. "No..." she lies. "Why?"

"You've just been quiet." Sam shrugs a shoulder. "I'm just worried about you."

Athena sniffles and bites the inside of her cheek, distracting herself from crying. "I'm good. It was just...really scary almost losing Bobby." She looks at Sam. "Thanks for checking up on me, though. Seriously."

Sam glances at his little sister, trying his best to read her expression while making sure he didn't crash Dean's precious 'Baby'. "Yeah, of course. You know, I'm here for you, right?"

Athena looks back out the window. "Yeah."

"Both of us are here for you."

That's when Athena lets out a dry laugh. "Right. You're referring to Dean?" She looks at Sam. "He's going to Hell. And he seems pretty fine with it too, if you ask me."

"I don't think he is." Sam says. "I think...he's just scared that the deal will be revoked."

Athena slowly nods her head, "He's scared of losing you. Got it. It's nice to know he cares about you, really."

"He cares about you too, Thena." Sam sighs.

"Yeah? He tell you that?" Athena then frowns. "Cause I haven't heard jack shit from him about 'caring about me'."

Sam opens his mouth to speak again, but he falters. There was so much proof that Dean cared about Athena. But in order for him to tell her, he would have to tell Athena about the deal Dean also made for her. Athena wouldn't be able to handle that. Knowing that Dean also gave up his life for her and this entire year she's been holding so much anger towards him. Sam swallows his next words and keeps his eyes on the road without saying anything else.

Athena then huffs, "Case closed."

...

"So, uh, stoner boy wasn't in his dorm."

Bobby and Dean look at Sam and Athena, who had just entered the room.

"My guess is he's long gone by now."

"He ain't much of a stoner." Bobby speaks.

"No?"

"No. Name's Jeremy Frost—full on genius—160 I.Q." Bobby says. "Which is saying something, considering his dad took a baseball bat to his head."

"Here's father of the year." Bobby holds out a picture to Athena and Sam. Athena keeps her eyes on the picture of Jeremy's father. "He died before Jeremy was 10."

Sam huffs, "Looks like a real sweetheart."

"Injury gave him Charcot-Wilbrand." Bobby states.

"Till he started dosing the dream drug." Dean voices. "How did he know how to dig up your worst nightmares and throw it at you?"

Bobby shrugs, "Hey, he was rotting around in my skull. God knows what he saw in there."

"Yeah, how'd he get in there in the first place?" Sam inquired. "Isn't he supposed to have some of your hair, your DNA, or something?"

That's when all the siblings turn to Bobby, waiting for his answer. Bobby presses his lips into a small line, almost as if he was embarrassed of his answer. And he most definitely was.

"Before I knew it was him, he offered me a beer. I drank it." Bobby grumbles.

For no reason. No reason at all...

Athena glances at Dean.

"Dumbest friggin' thing."

Dean slightly opens his mouth and a bashful smile forms on his lips. "Oh, I don't know. It wasn't that dumb." He laughs.

Athena deadpans. "Give me a fucking break..."

"Dean, you didn't." Sam squints his eyes.

"I was thirsty."

"That's great. Now he can come after either one of you." Sam throws his hands up.

"Well, now we just have to find him first." Dean simply shrugs.

Bobby huffs, "Well, we better work fast...and coffee up. Cause the one thing we cannot do is fall asleep."

Athena's eyes widen, "He can get a little sleep, right?"

The men all turn to the 13 year old girl.

"No, Athena." Sam's eyes were wide. "If Dean goes to sleep—"

"He gets grumpy when he doesn't sleep." Athena states. "I don't want to deal with that."

"I do not get grumpy!" Dean exclaims.

Athena deadpans and Dean's expression drops.

"Okay, fine. I won't get grumpy this time." Dean holds up his hand. "Scout's honor."

Two Days Later.

"Oh, he's such a fucking liar—you're such a fucking liar!"

"Yeah, well, I was never a Boy Scout!" Dean snaps back.

Sam's body was tense as Dean sped down the road. For the past 2 days, Athena and Dean have been arguing nonstop. With Dean's lack of sleep and whatever Athena saw in Bobby's head, these two were both on very short leashes.

"Guys, please can we just—"

"This Jeremy guy's not a fucking ghost!" Dean barks. "Where the hell could he be?"

"Dean, you sure you don't want me to drive?" Sam asks, his jaw clenched. "You...you seem a little caffeinated."

"He's saying you're driving like a maniac—pull over!" Athena yells.

"Of course I'm caffeinated and of course I'm driving like a maniac—I'm caffeinated!" Dean yells at the both of them.

Athena's phone rings and she grabs her phone and answers it. "Hello—"

Dean grabs her phone and presses it against his ear. "Tell me you got something!"

Athena reaches forward and pulls at his ear. He lets out a cry and pinches her. Sam's eyes widen, "Road!" He grabs the wheel and straightens it.

Suddenly Dean shouts again, "What the hell, Bobby?!"

Athena's mouth hangs open. "Stop yelling at Bobby on my phone!"

"Sorry, I'm sorry." Dean exhales. "I'm just—I'm tired."

"I'm tired of your comparing, but you don't hear me being an ass." Athena waves a hand.

Sam clicks his tongue, "Athena, you are...kind of being ass about it."

"What?! Am not!" Athena gasps. She then grins. "You know what? Yeah, I'll admit that I am." Athena grabs her phone from Dean. "Does Bela have anything? How's she doing?"

Athena listens to Bobby and Bela talk over the phone.

"She's got nothing."

Athena pouts, "Well, tell her I said hi." She looks at Sam and Dean. "Bela's got nothing."

"Great!"

Sam and Athena jump. The girl rolls her eyes.

"Well I'm just gonna go blow my brains out now!"

Athena winces, "Gotta go, Bobby. Dean's gonna blow his brains out and I wanna watch."

"Yeah? Clean it up after he's done."

Athena snorts, "Yeah, I'll be sure to do that." She hangs up the phone and exhales.

Suddenly, Dean slows the car down and drive into a pathway leading into the woods. Athena pulls her brows together, "Oh, this is where he murders us."

Sam chuckles, "He's not gonna murder us."

"All right, that's it. I'm done." Dean speaks.

Sam's eyes widen, "What?!"

Athena giggles from Sam's reaction. Dean leans back in his seat and closes his eyes. Sam exhales a small breath of relief, but he then pulls his brows together.

"What are you doing?" Sam asks.

"Taking myself a long-overdue nap." Dean starts to get comfortable.

"Uh-oh..."

"What? Dean, Jeremy can come after you." Sam says.

"That's the idea."

Athena softly giggles and shakes her head.

"Excuse me?" Sam's brows shoot up.

"Come on, guys. We can't find him, so let him come to me." Dean states.

Athena sits forward, "On his own turf—where's he's basically a god? That's not your smartest idea."

"You think all my ideas are dumb." Dean replies. "Besides, I can handle it."

Sam presses his lips together thinking. "Not alone you can't." He pulls a strand of hair out of Dean's head.

"Ow!" Dean's eyes fly open and he grasps at his head. "What are you doing?"

"Coming in with you." Sam shrugs.

Dean swallows, "No, you're not."

"Well, you're not going in there alone." Athena says. "Let him go in with you."

Dean shifts, "I don't want you digging around in my head."

"Too bad."

Athena looks at Dean's hair. She wanted to go in with her brothers. But she also had a fear embedded in her. What if she saw Victor again? What if he got her?

Athena swallows a lump in her throat. Victor told her she was getting stronger. Athena has been getting all these small hints about who she is or even what she is. And it felt like she was nowhere closer into finding anything out. Maybe this was the only way. Maybe she just had to push her fear aside this one time to get what she needed.

Athena grabs a strand of Dean's hair and plucks it from his head.

"Ow!" Dean rocks back and forth as he rubs his head. "No, no way you're going in—"

"I have to."

Sam slightly opens his mouth. "Athena, Dean's right. Since you came from Bobby's mind, you haven't been the same."

Athena rolls her shoulders, nervous to give anything away. "Listen, when I was in Bobby's head. Something happened and...I need to figure out what. And if that means I have to go wandering in your sick head, then I will." She points at Dean.

Dean doesn't even acknowledge that she called him his mind sick. He was more worried about the first thing she said. "What happened in Bobby's head?"

Athena huffs, "I...don't know exactly." She looks at her brothers. "But I might be able to find out in your head. Is that okay?"

Dean saw the determination across Athena's face. But there was also a fear that was in her eyes. She was terrified, but she still was doing what she knew was right. She was the youngest sibling, but Athena was someone that both brothers looked up to.

Dean softly smiles, "Yeah, that's okay, kid." He touches the top of her head. Athena frowns and smacks his hand off of her. "Gross."

☆

"What are we still doing here?"

Athena rubs her eyes, "It probably worked." She yawns. "Just...get out of the car."

A branch is heard snapping outside of the car, which caused Sam to look out the window. "There's someone out there."

The three get out of the car and begin looking around the dark forest. Dean takes a couple steps forward and out of the corner of his eye, a light shines. He turns to see Lisa Braeden sitting on a blanket with a picnic basket beside her. She smiles at Dean and Dean's jaw goes slack.

Athena snorts, "Why are you thinking a woman you saw for the first time in years?"

Sam softly shushes Athena and nudges her arm. The girl grunts and clenched her jaw, deciding to keep her mouth shut.

"Hey." Dream Lisa tilts her head. "You gonna sit down?"

Lisa chuckles, "Come on. We only have an hour before we have to pick Ben up from baseball."

Dean hesitantly looks over at Sam and Athena. "I've never had this dream before." He then looks back at Dream Lisa.

Athena rolls her eyes and looks away from the scene. Her eyes stop on a figure that shifted through the trees. Athena's stomach clenched and a chill had rushed down her spine as soon as the figure sped through the woods. She could still hear Dream Lisa speaking in the back and Dean trying to defend himself, but her mind was focused on finding out more about herself.

She was acting selfish right now, sue her.

Athena walks away from her brothers and follows after the figure. She saw the figure growing smaller and smaller—so she found herself running after them.

"Oh this is so stupid, so so stupid—what am I doing?"

Athena began to slow down, her breathing heavy. This wasn't her. Reckless and stupid. That was her brother's. And she was nothing like them. Athena shakes her head, she goes to turn—but her chest tightens. She pulls her brows together and gasps for air. It felt like her heart was going to explode.

Athena grasps at her chest and falls to her knees. Her vision began to blur and the girl knew she was going to fall unconscious soon. The figure from earlier soon came into her vision and her fear began to slowly creep back into her stomach and tears filled her vision. Athena lets out a small weak murmur, "Wh-who...?" Her voice gets caught in her throat and she falls to her side.

Oh, little bird.

You can't know that yet.

And before she fell unconscious, Athena caught sight of two red eyes in the dark.

...

"I mean, you're going to Hell, and you won't lift a finger to stop it." Dream Dean laughs. "Talk about low self-esteem."

Dean keeps his eyes on his mirror self.

"Then, again, I guess it's not much of a life worth saving, now, is it?"

"Come on, Dean. Come on. Wake up." Dean mutters to himself.

"I mean, after all, you got nothing, outside of Sam and Athena." Dream Dean says. "You are nothing."

Dean's throat tightens along with his chest.

"You're as mindless and obedient as an attack dog."

Dean smirks, "That's not true."

"No? What are the things that you want? What are the things that you dream?" Dream Dean questions. "I mean, your car—that's dad's. Your favorite leather jacket—dad's. Your music—dad's. Do you even have an original thought?"

Dean rolls his eyes and looks away from his mirror self.

"No. No, all there is, is "Watch out for Sammy". "Look after your little brother, boy"."

Dream Dean saw that Dean was trying his best to ignore what he was saying. So he decided to say something that he knew would strike a chord with Dean.

"That thing is nothing but a burden."

Dean freezes and he felt his eyes immediately began to grow misty from the familiar words his dad has said about his little sister.

"She's not our family". And boy, you sure did listen to him with that." Dream Dean lets out a malicious cackle. "You hate that girl—"

"I do not!—" Dean halts his shouting and he sucks in a sharp breath. He looks back at his mirror self with hard eyes. "I do not hate Athena."

"You sure as hell treated her like it." Dream Dean scoffs. "You listened to your father's commands nonstop. You can still hear his voice in your head, can't you? Clear as a bell."

"Just shut up."

Dream Dean takes a step forward. "I mean, think about it. All he ever did was train you...boss you around. Hurt you. Hurt Athena,"

A painful lump forms in Dean's throat. "But Sam...he doted on. Sam, he loved."

"I mean it. I'm getting angry—"

"Dad knew who you really were—a good soldier and nothing else." Dream Dean smirks. "Daddy's blunt little instrument. Your own father didn't care whether you loved or died. Why should you? Hell—your baby sister doesn't even care!"

"I mean, I don't blame her. From the way you and dad treated her." Dream Dean's upper lip curls. "God, she hates your guts. And you won't even be alive to tell her how sorry you are—"

"You son of a bitch!" Dean shoves his mirror self into the shelf. "My father was an obsessed bastard!" He kicks his dream self back into the wall. Dean grabs the shotgun from his dream self's hands and hits him over and over again. "All that crap he dumped on me about protecting Sam—drilling into my head that my own sister was a burden! That was his crap! His twisted disgusting propaganda!" Dean's voice trembles. "He's the one who couldn't protect his family! He's the one who let mom die! He wasn't there for Sam! I always was!"

Dean hits himself again, his breathing heaving. "It wasn't fair! I didn't deserve what he put on me! And I don't deserve to go to hell!" Dean steps back and shoots his mirror self.

Dean watches his dream self slump against the wall. He steps closer to his dead self, his chest begins to u tighten and his teary eyes clear.

Suddenly, dream Dean's eyes fly open, revealing his eyes to now he solid black like a demon.

"You can't escape me, Dean. You're gonna die. And this—this is what you're gonna become."

Demon Dean stands up, face to face with Dean.

Before the his Demon self could retaliate against him, Dean jolts awake along with his younger siblings.

☆

Nothing Athena saw in Dean's head helped her. Sure she could look into the red eyes, but her mind was solely on her own frustration on who she is.

Sam had quickly noticed how quiet Dean and Athena were as soon as they got out of their dreams. He knew that Athena had seen more in the dream world and Dean saw something that shook him up too. He just wished he could help them somehow.

Athena was sitting at the table with Gil in her lap.

"Hey, do you think you could call Bela?"

Athena raises her brows, "Uh, I don't have her number." She looks at Dean. "Can't you do it?"

"I figured you'd want to do it, since she's like unit hero or something." Dean cracks a small smile.

Athena blinks, she then looks at Dean with her brows pulled together. "Sh-she's not my hero..."

Dean frowns, "Oh. Sorry."

Silence settles in the room. Both siblings too shaken from what they experienced to even speak. Dean flips his phone open and calls Bela.

The motel room door opens, Sam and Bobby walk into the room. Dean looks at his phone that went straight to voicemail. "Hey, you guys seen Bela? She's not in her room and she's not answering her phone."

"She must've taken off or something." Sam suggests.

Dean frowns, "Just like that? That's a little weird."

"Yeah, well, if you ask me what's weird, it's why she helped us in the first place."

All the siblings turn to Bobby with confusion across their faces.

"I thought you saved her life." Dean says.

Bobby moves his head to the side. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"The thing in Flagstaff." Athena clarifies.

"The thing in flagstaff was an amulet." Bobby states. "I gave her a good deal. That's all."

"Well, then why did—"

Bobby looks at each of the siblings. "You three better check your pockets."

Athena's jaw goes slack. Gil jumps off of Athena's lap, she quickly stands up from her seat. Sam and Dean both sit into their pockets.

"Not literally." Bobby sighs.

Athena runs into the closest and puts in the lock combination. It opens, only to reveal nothing. Athena keeps her eyes in the safe. Her hand tightens around the lock.

"The colt." Sam scoffs.

"No, no, no, no..." Dean's eyes widen.

Athena's breathing falls ragged and her eyes blur with tears of frustration. "Fucking bitch..."

"Bela stole the colt—"

"As if we can't see that, Sam!" Athena snaps.

"Damn it, you three!" Bobby barks.

Athena snaps her eyes over to Bobby. "How were we supposed to know she was going to steal the colt?!"

"She's a thief, you shouldn't have trusted her in the first place!"

Sam holds his hands up, "Let's calm down—"

"Fuck that!" Athena turns to her brothers. "We find her and we get the colt back where it belongs!"

"I agree with Athena." Dean grabs his duffel. "Pack your crap. We're gonna go hunt the bitch down."

Athena grabs her backpack and slips it on her shoulders. Sam looks at his little sister, "Athena, I'm sorry, I know you looked up to her—"

"God, give me a break—I did not look up to Bela." Athena scoffs. Without thinking she speaks, "She's a no good thief, who has nothing else to look forward to in life—and I want her gone."

"Gone?" Bobby questions. "You're not talking about killing her, are you?"

Athena grabs her phone and slips it into her pocket. "As if you guys haven't thought worse." She scoffs. Athena knew it wasn't true. She didn't want to kill Bela. But the girl was just angry and confused. Confused on why she was so hurt by Bela taking from them. But even more confused on who the hell she saw in Dean's head. She notices the looks on Sam and Bobby's faces and that caused her anger to grow. "Stop looking at me like I'm broken—let's go!"

"We're not going to kill Bela." Dean assures Sam and Bobby. "But I swear to god, if she doesn't give us back the fucking colt; she's gonna wish we had."

Sam's stomach turns from the looks across his siblings' faces. They reminded him so much of their father in this moment.

...

After packing their bags, the siblings had gotten into the impala. There was something weighing heavy on Dean's heart and he couldn't keep it from either of them any longer.

"Guys..."

Athena softly hums with her eyes out of the window.

"Yeah?" Sam looks at his brother.

"I've been doing some thinking, and...well, the thing is..."

Athena rolls her eyes from Dean dragging his words.

"...I don't want to die."

Athena freezes. She swallows the lump in her throat and turns to Dean with wide eyes.

"I don't want to go to Hell."

Athena's eyes fill with tears. She has been waiting for Dean to say he wanted to live. And now that she's heard it, a feeling of guilt has settled into her stomach. Of course, Dean wanted to live. Why couldn't she tell he was lying this whole time?

"All right, yeah." Sam whispers. "We'll find a way to save you."

Dean lets out a dry chuckle, "Okay, good..."

Sam then looks at Athena and she meets his eyes. She swallows the lump in her throat. "Yeah...yeah, we'll find a way."

And for the first time in a long time...

All the Winchesters were on the same page.

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author's note.

aaaand athena's crush is GONEEEE

words : 3850