Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; the original concept of this story was inspired by 'To Hell & Back' by EventRider87, but I've added my own spin to things and have received EventRider87's permission to use their idea for this

Feedback: Much appreciated

AN: This is an AU of 'Supernatural' beginning at 'Lazarus Rising' and progressing from there; as with most of my AU fics, I'll primarily focus on those episodes where my changes will have a significant impact on the planned plot, rather than just rewriting everything.

The Corrupted Innocent

It had been a challenge to penetrate the Gates of Hell to this depth, particularly when so many wanted the target to remain after all that he had done to them, but he had finally recovered the soul of the Righteous Man, taken him to the outskirts of Hell itself, and then infused him with all the power of Heaven that could be spared to return him to his body.

It would not be the most comfortable way to return him to life, but since he couldn't safely transport the soul of the Righteous Man all the way through Hell to reunite his soul with his body somewhere more comfortable without risking the demons reclaiming the soul on the way out, this was the best way.

It was just as he was turning around to return to Heaven- after the strain his new Vessel had been subjected to down here, it would be best to give Jimmy a chance to recuperate- that he was aware of something he had not sensed before.

There was another…

He had been instructed to focus his attention on the Righteous Man to the exclusion of all else- an angel in Hell wasn't a healthy thing by any stretch of the imagination; even Lucifer was rumoured to have taken precautions when circumstances required him to visit Hell personally-, but if he was this close to another… if he had the opportunity to take action…

He had to try.

The odds were already so far against them that anything that kept the balance even slightly in their favour had to count for something…

With that thought, he turned his attention from the goal of escape to his new target, his essence focused as he cut through the unsuspecting demons around him like a scalpel; so much attention had been paid to securing the Righteous Man that this area was relatively undefended.

He was weakened by his recent efforts to heal the Righteous Man, but he had enough strength for this, particularly with most of the more powerful demons either up on Earth or deeper in the Pit than his current location; this target was interesting for them, but few demons were aware of her true importance and she was therefore comparatively poorly guarded.

With that oversight in mind, it only took moments for him to annihilate the demons assigned to guard his target, leaving him to turn his attention to the soul they had been attacking. As he had guessed the soul- it was a female, he briefly noted- was scarred, shaken, and injured, but there was still enough humanity in it for him to achieve his goal.

She had been amoral in life, but there was a line between selfishness and true evil that she had not crossed; she had a chance, and, with her importance in the grand scheme in mind, it was a chance that he would give her.

Taking hold of her soul, he forced the second wave of demons attempting to reclaim her away with a burst of angelic power, before using a gentler dose of energy to repair what spiritual damage she had sustained so far; it was impossible to do such a thing on true demons, but she was so close to the line that divided one from the other that it might still be possible…

As he saw the blackened taint that distinguished a demon essence from a human soul begin to retreat, fading away from the strong lines they had been to become fainter trickles, he focused his attention on binding what traits he could completely purge behind a wall.

She would not be a demon, but the potential would always be there unless he was careful; unlike the Righteous Man, who had broken to escape suffering rather than out of a desire to inflict suffering on others, and had done so only after considerable torment, she had lacked the strength of will to resist the transformation that she was experiencing, so the demonic contagion was less easy to purge than it had been for him after so long sinking in.

This kind of healing was a somewhat more haphazard job than he would have liked, but it would do for the moment; he was sure he could work something more long-term out by the time he had returned her to her body.

With her soul repaired to the best of his ability, he took hold of it and began to rise back towards Earth, neatly evading the first few demons attempting to reclaim his prize before he moved beyond the range of their influence; at this point, anything attempting to attack him was so close to Earth that they would require a host to use their powers to have any chance of hurting him.

With the threat of recapture out of the way, he focused on Earth once more, his initial target the small cemetery where her remains had been left after her demise- she had died in a hotel room registered to two men and her body had been virtually mutilated; she had been left in an unmarked pauper's grave after the investigation had turned up nothing but a lack of other identification or any other way of determining who had killed her- before he would turn his attention to a more long-term matter.

Her body had naturally fallen miles away from there, but after what she had endured and what he had recently done, he already knew where he was going to leave her; just because she had fallen alone did not mean that she would return alone.

If anyone would be in a position to help this battered soul fulfil her role in his Father's plan, it would be the Righteous Man himself…

As she blinked her eyes open, for a moment, she didn't know where she was.

She had experienced nothing but torment for so many years that the sensation of nothing but cool air was almost as much of a shock as the torture had been, prompting her to keep her eyes closed for a few moments to savour the moment before she accepted that it wasn't going to be cut short any time soon; wherever she was, they apparently weren't going to resume the torture just yet.

Sitting up, she found herself in what appeared to be an old forest, close to the centre of some kind of sourceless explosion that had flattened every tree around her current location in a seemingly perfect circular pattern. Looking down at her body, she saw that she was still wearing the dark leather jacket and dark trousers that she had been wearing before-

PAIN! FIRE! KNIVES! FLESH! LOSS! INTRUSION!

She shied away from those memories instantly; she didn't recall anything specific yet, but she did remember enough to know that she didn't want to explore it further.

It was only when she turned around and saw someone forcing themselves out of the ground- literally out of the ground; it was a man in a loose dark shirt, straining and gasping as he used his arms to haul his way out of a patch of earth that looked like a grave judging by the cross behind him- that she felt inclined to speak, her eyes widening as the man's name came to her.

"Dean…?" she said, her voice surprisingly hoarse and uncomfortable, as though the time she'd spent screaming in agony had affected her body despite its absence when the torture had been taking place.

As the man in question turned to look at her, she couldn't help but smile at the frustration on his face; even after being tormented for so long, old habits were hard to break.

"What the Hell…?" Dean Winchester said, staring at her in exhausted exasperation. "You're here?"

"Come now, Dean," Bela Talbot replied, smiling at the hunter despite her own confusion out of a lack of anything else to do, "I think we've both seen enough to know that this is far from Hell."

It was probably insensitive, but in her current state of shocked confusion, Bela couldn't think of anything better to say.

She might have no idea what had just happened to her, or what she was doing here with Dean Winchester of all people, but she remembered enough of where she'd been to know that anything was an improvement…

AN 2: Before we go further, I would like to clarify one thing; I'm writing under the assumption that Dean was telling the truth when he initially told Sam and Bobby that he didn't remember his time in Hell, with his memories simply returning over time (I'm guessing that, like Death blocked Sam's memories of the Cage, Castiel erected a temporary wall on Dean's memories of Hell to 'dilute' their emotional impact on Dean so that he would be able to operate mostly like he had been before his time in Hell, rather than the broken mess he would have been otherwise). With that in mind, the same 'rule' applies to Bela; she remembers a few details more than Dean as she was there for longer, but she still doesn't remember everything that happened to her in Hell at the moment.

Hope you found it interesting enough to want to keep reading; we jump straight into the reunions in the next chapter.