November 20th, 2012

While Sam and Hope, and Ayden and Ares, were hunting the Fates, Dean and Nim were on a different errand. Despite their reservations, they had been left with little choice but to rendezvous with Crowley at the location of his choosing. As beautiful as Hawaii was, it was very cut off from their home and allies, and though a spell could bring Ruby's Knife through customs and security without detection, they had no way of bringing the Colt or any other weapon with them. They had landed weaponless, essentially, and on course to meet with the self-proclaimed King of Hell. In spite of the warm November weather, Nim had covered up, using layers to disguise the three-month swell at her waist as best she could, but she couldn't deny that she would feel a hell of a lot better with a gun in her hand. For all they knew, they were walking into a trap. It was not a good feeling.

With the help of a spell, they had somehow managed to sneak Ruby's Knife past security and onto the plane. They had debated the pros and cons of bringing the Knife along, finally deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry, even if it was a calculated risk. Dean didn't want to risk losing one of only two weapons they had in their possession that actually was capable of killing demons, but he also didn't want to walk into a potential trap without some form of protection, especially since he had his pregnant wife along for the ride. In truth, he wasn't crazy about the whole thing and he trusted Crowley about as far as he could throw him, but for now, the enemy of their enemy was their friend, and they didn't really have much choice but to trust him.

They had been met at the airport by one of Crowley's minions, a demon who clearly did not like the fact that he was under orders not to attack the hunters, but who kept his peace on the car ride to Haleakala, the volcano that dominated the landscape in this part of Maui. It was a strange place - green in some areas, barren in others, and above it all, the smoking mass of the volcano itself. It was to one of those barren places the demon drove them, to a cave mouth broken from the volcanic rock of the island, gesturing for them to go inside.

Nim stood before it, unable to smooth the frown from her face. She didn't like enclosed spaces, though she didn't know why. That was one of the memories she no longer had access to. She looked up at Dean. "Looks like this is it."

Dean had felt uneasy the entire trip, all the way from Sioux Falls to San Francisco, and from there across the Pacific to the island of Maui. He was not fond of flying, to put it mildly, but what really bothered him was the fact that they were being forced into making a deal with a demon, even if it was his idea. He really didn't like the idea of bringing Nim with him on this little quest, but she'd given him no choice, and he couldn't deny that he needed her.

Dean saw the frown on Nim's face and knew she was as uneasy about all this as he was. They'd talked and talked about this until they were blue in the face, but until they actually arrived here, they couldn't really know what to expect. This wasn't something that was recorded in Dean's future journal, as they had decided to do things differently this time around. Dean clenched his jaw as they arrived, turning to the demon who was their guide. "If this is a double-cross....If we don't get out of here alive....Bobby will burn Crowley's bones without blinking an eye."

"Damn straight he will," his wife agreed firmly. "So we let him know that right away. See if he'll dare double-cross us in the certain knowledge that he won't last the day." She didn't reach out to touch Dean, knowing that they both would feel better with both hands free, drawing in a slow breath to steady her nerves. "So ....you and me, hotel room, midnight. I want you naked. Got that?"

"Seems a shame to come all the way to Hawaii and not get to enjoy it a little," he agreed, with a hint of a smirk at his wife, despite the circumstances.

"Spare me the sappy details," the demon broke in. "The King of Hell is waiting."

"The King of Hell, my *ss," Dean muttered, the smirk turning to a scowl in a matter of seconds. "We just spent the last fifteen hours trying to get here, so pardon me for saying so, but the King of Hell can just keep his shirt on a few minutes longer," he said, poking the demon in the chest to make his point before moving to take the lead.

"And right now there is no Hell, so what, exactly is he King of?" Nim asked in a sickly sweet tone. "Oh, that's right. A bunch of ever decreasing, mostly impotent demons, who need us a lot more than he needs you. So back off, Satan wannabe." Pregnant or not, Nim wasn't going to put up with a demon being a bitch.

"King Sh*t of Turd Island, that's what," Dean muttered, mostly to himself as he started past the demon and into the opening to the cave. He had no idea where he was going really, but he wasn't too worried about it. He knew Crowley would find them if they didn't find him first.

Nim fell into step with him, and together, they began the long walk beneath the volcano itself, through what had once been a tunnel filled with lava and now was purely a tunnel, cut into the heart of the summit. Golden yellow light illuminated their way, whether made by a spell or some other devilry. But there was something at work here that was not angel, or demon, or human. Crowley had said he was an ally of the local fire god ....this didn't feel like a local god's power. Nim gently nudged Dean's elbow, needing to know if he recognized the power that enveloped them. It wasn't a small god's power at all. It felt ....Olympian.

Dean acknowledged Nim's nudge with a nod of his head, twisting his head to take a good look at their surroundings. One thing was for sure, he'd never seen anything quite like this place, and he wasn't sure he ever wanted to again. "What's with the lights?" he asked the demon, though he was relieved they wouldn't have to stumble along in the dark.

The demon grunted, and spat on the ground as they walked. "Some trick the King's new friend dreamed up." That was all he would say, growing even more taciturn the deeper into the mountain they walked.

As the tunnel narrowed toward its destination, the heat began to grow more intense, as though something were burning fiercely ahead of them, washing its light and warmth down the tunnel toward them. Nim could feel herself sweating, her hair sticking to her neck uncomfortably. "Wasn't joking when he said he was living in a volcano, then."

There was a long, dangerous pause as Crowley weighed his options, holding Dean's gaze with intense dislike. Whatever he thought of the theory trotted out to him, it was plain enough that he didn't want to test it on his own bones. "How did you find them, out of curiosity?"

"A little birdy told me," Dean replied with a smirk. "Do you really want to test me on this?" Crowley already knew Dean wasn't the same Dean that had died at Lucifer's hands. This Dean knew things that Crowley could only imagine, things he wasn't about to share with Crowley, unless he absolutely had to.

"What, exactly, am I getting out of this deal?" the demon asked again. "The way I see it ....I get nothing. You get the blade, you get my bones, you get to take your own damned time sorting out the Hades problem -"

But he was interrupted by his host. "Hades won't wait," the undisclosed Hephaestus pointed out. "The second that blade surfaces, Persephone will come after it. She dies, and Hades is going to want revenge, soon."

Dean was about to make a counter-deal when the Volcano God interrupted, and he turned his attention that way. "What do you mean, as soon as it surfaces" She wouldn't dare attack us here, would she?"

"Not in here," the Olympian agreed, nodding back in the direction they had come. "End of the tunnel's when the cloaking cuts out. I'd offer to help, but I'm supposed to be neutral."

"Well, that's just peachy," Dean grumbled, obviously sarcastically, and looked to Crowley. "I don't suppose you can zap us someplace safe." No, that would probably require getting even deeper in debt to the demon, which was something Dean wanted to avoid.

"No, that wouldn't help," Nim argued quietly. She turned to look up at Dean. "Are we ever gonna get a better shot at Hades' second-in-command, without you getting yourself killed" She doesn't know we'll be expecting her. She can't hurt me, her own mother won't let her. And you'll have the Scythe. I don't think our odds are gonna get much better than that."

"You're talking about..." He glanced over at Hephaestus, wondering what the god's take on it was. She was a fellow Olympian, after all, and they were calmly discussing killing her. Whether they were whispering or not, Dean had to assume the God of Fire or Lava or Volcanoes or whatever he was had to have heard them.

Hephaestus, whatever else he might think, had one thing that made him come down very firmly on the hunters' side. He nodded to Dean amicably. "My wife sends her greetings," was all he said, but it was enough. Without openly stating who he was, without dropping any clues to Crowley, he had just assured them that whatever Aphrodite was behind, Hephaestus would follow through as well.

Dean thought it might be nice to have a little more support from the Olympians than just a cheering section, but he also understood why they couldn't openly take sides against their own kind. At least, not yet. Dean said nothing in reply to Hephaestus, his attention more focused on Crowley, his only reaction to the remark the slight arch of a brow. Without saying so outright, Hephaestus seemed to be letting them know that he was on their side, not that it mattered. It seemed Dean and Nim were on their own as soon as they left the cave.

"So, are you gonna give us the scythe or not?" Dean redirected his question at Crowley, finding it out how they had all these supernatural allies and yet, they were mostly on their own.

Suspicion was flaring on the demon's face as he looked between the hunters and his godly ally, but he seemed to dismiss that thought. "Oh, very well," he sighed, making it seem as though he'd been asked to do something highly distasteful. "Just so we're clear, darling ....if I don't have my kingdom within the year, this little ceasefire of ours will be null and void. Just to keep things interesting."

"Double-cross me and your bag of bones goes up in flames," Dean countered, adding, "darling." The real trick was going to be convincing the Death of the present to let them use his favorite weapon to off Hades and his cohorts before he turned Earth into a virtual wasteland, not to mention getting out of here alive. Dean was tempted to call on someone to get Nim out of here, so he could deal with Persephone along, but he knew from his little trip to the future that going it alone had proved disastrous. He couldn't chance repeating that mistake again, no matter how badly he wanted to.

Crowley rolled his eyes at the human bravado, turning to walk back to his seat and retrieve a scorched wooden box from beneath it. He moved back toward them, one hand opening the lid, and there was Death's Scythe, black blade and all, just waiting to be picked up. "You had better know what you're doing, Dean."

"Will she be coming alone?" Dean asked while Crowley retrieved the scythe, directing the question to the Olympian. He might not be able to take an active hand in helping them, but he was a valuable source of information - more valuable even than Crowley.

The Olympian leaned on his anvil, ignoring the sizzle of his flesh against the heated metal. "She will not expect there to be any resistance," he said thoughtfully. "Nor will she expect to be put against her own mother. Your timing for this venture is as close to perfect as it will ever be. She will call on allies, if she chooses to - there are lesser gods who will answer to her. But you have allies of your own, always watching."

Dean thought on that a moment. Most of this had been discussed already, and though he still didn't like the idea of putting Nim and the baby's life at risk, he didn't have much choice. If he'd come here and tried this alone, he wouldn't have stood a fighting chance. He didn't really like the idea of using Nim this way, but she'd insisted on coming with him, and once she had her head set about something, she was almost as stubborn as he was. "I don't like it, but we don't have much choice," he said. They'd been over it and over it and hadn't been able to come up with a better plan. "At least we know she's coming."