Deep in thought as he returned to the abandoned house, Akar twirled the small vial of tears around his fingers. At last, he had the chance to finish what he had started all those years ago, before the tome had vanished and he'd had to settle for a slow drain of magic from the fairies instead of the instant power he had expected. So many years wasted, spent pushing the fairies away from anything and anyone that would have been able to help them free themselves. A twisted smile came over his face as he remembered the... pleasure... he had taken in certain parts. The rest of it had been a long wait for his power to grow and theirs to weaken. And now that he had the ability to acquire their life force along with their magic, he would be even more powerful than he had thought.

So many years he had listened to stories of the fairy realms. He could almost taste the power that resided within. He felt a spring in his step now, with all that boundless power within reach. Every day he'd lived among them he had listened to the stories, dreaming of the future where he would be able to finally touch and control all that magic.

He stepped back up to the house where he'd left that intrusive hunter tied up in the basement. Considering his options, he held on to the doorknob before entering. Perhaps he'd end the hunters life quick and easy, because if he hadn't shown up with the other hunter, Akar would still be stuck, waiting for a time that might never come. Waiting to get enough magic to be able to open the portal. He smirked. He'd give the hunter a proper thank you, complete with a slit throat instead of a cake. All he needed was the blood of the hunter for the ritual and then he would have no use for the man.

He pushed open the door and walked down the hallway, following his earlier footsteps to the basement. The wood flooring creaked under his boots, echoing throughout the open air in the empty house, sounding loud in the silence that cloaked the place. Dust scattered with every step, swirling up to shine in the afternoon sun. After he stepped onto the top of the basement stairs, he sealed the door behind him with magic so that no one would be able to enter or leave without his permission.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he peered around the room carefully, making sure that all was still as he had left it. You didn't reach over 900 years old without learning to be cautious. He still found himself amazed that the two hunters had managed to surprise him after so many years. He'd have to be careful with this Dean until he'd finally slit the humans throat. He couldn't afford to underestimate a hunter, not now when he was so close to his goal.

He saw the human still slumped against the support of the house. He hadn't budged so much as an inch since the last time Akar had been down here. A sneer on his face, Akar kicked the leg closest to him when he walked over to the table to place the fresh tears down next to the bowl and the other ingredients. Pulling an ancient ritual knife from his shirt, he turned to Dean. Awakened, the hunter was glaring death at Akar.

Akar smiled as he knelt down next to the restrained hunter. "You know, I wish I had more time with you. We could have so much fun together, Dean." He lifted the blade up by Dean's unprotected throat. "It's been so long since I got to truly enjoy killing someone." He pulled back his arm slightly, and went to slice...

CRASH!

Akar leaped up in surprise, blade falling from his hand before cutting into the human. Whipping around, he saw a tiny form on the table next to the ingredients, and on the floor... "No!" He hissed. The vial of tears had shattered, the precious contents seeping into the floorboards. Angrily, he grabbed at the tiny Sam that was standing on the table, long fingers aching to crush the life out of the hunter. The tiny hunter jumped back with a cry of surprise, slicing out in front of him with the equally tiny knife he was wielding in his hands. Its contact with Akar's fingers caused a hissing smoke and blinding pain. He snatched his hand back swiftly, glaring at the tiny human. "You will be made to suffer long for that," he hissed.

From behind, he heard a much deeper voice. "Yeah, that's just not going to happen here, you Unseelie bastard." As he went to turn around, a long chain was wrapped around his neck and he was yanked against the pole that moments ago the human had been bound too. The chain burned him, causing such agony that he couldn't focus enough to cast any type of spell, either his witchcraft or stolen fairy magic.

He found himself looking at Dean, who was holding the rest of the chain in one hand and the other hand securing the chain wrapped around his neck. Against all the pain, and the pressure on his neck, he rasped out, "But...how?"

Sam watched the man-witch come back into the basement from the shadow of the bowl he was hiding next too. For his plan to work, a few things needed to fall into place. The plan might fail if any of his instincts about the situation were wrong. But the way Ten had said her torturer had worked... the gloves that had stayed on when handling iron... the way her torturer had avoided showing his face to her, as though fearing recognition, he had a feeling that magic wasn't the only thing Akar had absorbed from the fairies when he had cast his sapping spell.

He spared a glance over at Dean. Feigning sleep, his giant brother was slumped against the support, rope wrapped loosely around his arms again and the chain left close enough to grab. Once Akar was in position, Dean would be able to jump him from behind. All Sam had to do was pull the witches' attention to himself long enough for Dean to gain the element of surprise. They couldn't afford to have him casting any other spells before he was trapped. With their luck, they'd both end up three inches tall and completely at his mercy.

Sam stiffened when the witch came over to the table, but relaxed somewhat when all that happened was a vial was placed down near Sam's hiding spot. Akar turned toward Dean, walking away from the table - and Sam. After making sure that the witch wasn't going to turn back to him, Sam crept over to the vial. Must be the virgin tears. He felt anger grip his heart, thinking about what some poor girl had gone through for Akar to procure them. He peered back over at Akar and Dean and felt worry fill him. Akar had a blade against his brother's throat, but was still in the middle of talking to his brother. Bad guys always had to gloat.

Gotta move fast.

Sam pushed with all his might against the vial, and got it to roll toward the edge of the table. Just a little more...

Right when the witch creature was about to cut open Dean's throat and ruin their ambush by making Dean move before they had the jump on Akar, Sam succeeded in pushing the vial off the table. CRASH went the vial on the floor, causing Akar to whip around toward the table. Sam backed away from the edge, fear filling him when the witches' eyes fell on him. Shit, shit, shit! A massive hand reached out toward him, intentions clear in the twisted anger on the witches face. Sam could see the shadow of his brother's massive bulk standing up silently behind Akar, but Sam knew he wouldn't be in time to save Sam from being grabbed. While Dean grabbed the iron chain they'd found, Sam slipped his hand into his coat for any weapon he could pull out in time. His hand fell on the silver dagger he still had.

Perfect!

He sliced out with the dagger right when the fingers were about to close around him. He managed to cut open the one nearest him, causing it to hiss and burn. Akar snatched the hand back, grunting in pain. "You will be made to suffer long for that," the witch growled at him, holding the hand tenderly.

"Yeah, that's just not going to happen here, you Unseelie bastard." Sam heard Dean's voice. He saw his brother whip the chain around the witches' throat, slamming him back against the pole with a thud that seemed closer to an earthquake at Sam's size. Sam was knocked to his knees. Regaining his balance quickly, he backed farther away from the edge of the table, wanting to be as far from the fighting giants as possible, just in case.

"How?" Sam heard the witch rasp out to Dean.

Steam rose from the chain, burning Akar's throat. Dean wrapped the rest of the chain around his body, securing the witch to the pole as tightly as he could. Once the witch was completely anchored in place, Dean walked around to face him with a smirk. "You know, you're getting sloppy in your old age. I guess you should have covered your tracks a little better."

Dean came over to the table Sam was on. His massive hand came to rest right next to his little brother. Swallowing to hide his ever-present nervousness at his brothers size - or rather Sam's lack of size, Sam stepped into the palm and found himself being lifted up to Dean's shoulder. From that perch, he had a much better view of everything going on in the room. He could even see two tiny figures near where he and Dean had first been attacked the day before and smiled, glad that they had made it. He was so distracted by this, he was caught off guard when his brother took a step, almost knocking him off of his perch. He grasped tightly to the collar while Dean walked up to Akar.

Akar was scowling at them both now. "What do you mean 'cover my tracks better?' I have never let my guard down once!"

Dean laughed, the deep sound echoing around Sam. "Yeah, well if you were as good as you thought, maybe Sam wouldn't have figured out how to trap you."

Suspiciously, Akar said, "What do you mean?" His gaze slid over to Sam, eyes narrowing.

Sam gulped nervously at the look. He was exceedingly glad Akar hadn't gotten ahold of him. He had no doubt he would have died quickly if the creature had gotten his hands around him. He cleared his throat and straightened up fully, pulling all attention to him. "It was the fact that you tied Dean up with rope. You had all that chain lying so close at hand, but you still went with the rope. Even though route is far easier to escape from." Sam crossed his arms and laughed. "There was no reason for you to not use that chain, unless there was something, some reason stopping you." He paced back and forth, ignoring the feeling of Dean stiffening uncomfortably beneath his feet. "And then there was Tenanye's story of how she was tortured."

"Who?" Akar said, feigning surprise. "I know of no one by that name!"

"Yeah, nice try." Sam challenged. "We already know you know her. You might not have ever met face to face as fairies, but you sure did kidnap her and torture her when you were a human." At this, Akar's scowl deepened, lines etching valleys on his face. "I wouldn't have put it together until I saw how you bound Dean. You took such care to stay away from those iron chains. Even though they would have been a far better restraint than some bits of rope. And I remembered what Ten said about her torture, how iron was slowly slid up and down her back, so many times that she still has the scars to this day. And how her kidnapper never took off his gloves while he did it, though she thought he was too disgusted to touch her. She never thought that the iron would have hurt him." He paused in his pacing and looked over at Akar again. "The only thing we couldn't figure out was why."

Akar's scowl slipped back to a confident sneer. "Why, that should be the most obvious part. I needed to separate her from her people, give my spell time to work. Without her, there would be no escape for any of them. She was the only fairy that would have been able to hold them all together, to even maybe find a way home. Once she was out of the picture, I became Aelfric, using the lovely fairy magic I was lucky enough to have drained by then and took over in her place. And as an added bonus with the torture, the fairies stopped trusting their dear human friends. Since they were too afraid to ask for help, they never regained their precious tome and never knew how to go home." He laughed. "And they never suspected me once. I thought at least one of them would have figured out I came after the gate closed. Fools." He struggled against his bindings. "I will get out and make you pay for this, you insignificant little ankle biters!"

Sam found himself struggling to hold in his anger. Causing so much pain for your own gain... making an entire people suffer for your own power... torturing an innocent, helpless girl for selfish desire... This bastard deserved everything he was going to get when they reversed every last spell he'd ever cast.

Dean snarled at the witch. "Well, you're not going to be hurting anyone ever again." He took some of the iron chain and wrapped it around Akar's mouth. Steam hissed at the touch. Dean stepped back and smirked. "Much better."

From the darkness of the tunnels entrance to the basement, Tenanye and Warren stood watching Dean grapple Akar into captivity. Ten watched the brief fight with a huge amount of trepidation, clutching tightly to her staff. Her fear of humans threatened to overwhelm her. Being near Dean when he had been sleeping had been nerve wracking, but seeing him awake and easily tossing around another human his size was another matter.

Her eyes flicked over to her brother briefly. She was still shocked that he was willingly working with a human after what they had both gone through. She was having a lot more trouble bringing herself to trust them. Even Sam after she'd found out what he was... she felt so torn between trusting him completely and running as far from him as she could. She wanted to trust him so much, wanted him to be just like her and to have nothing to fear from him. But that wouldn't ever be possible, especially since this plan would return him to his true form.

The conversation between the humans now included a far softer voice. She had to strain to hear what Sam was saying, and it took her a moment to find where he was. She spotted him at last, standing on Dean's shoulder, overshadowed by his massive brother. She waved at him when he glanced in her direction, glad to see he was ok. Then she tuned her attention into the conversation taking place above them.

It was awful hearing Sam talk about her captivity. It brought up memories she had taken such care to suppress. Pain, fear, insignificance... she had felt like nothing. Less than nothing. She put on her game face, acted like nothing had changed, but there had been a hole in her that she couldn't fill. She had left everything behind to try to escape it. Now, she realized that without her brother, she had only made the hole worse. She needed her family nearby. Spending all those years away had done nothing to truly help her.

Hearing Akar's voice jump in after Sam, she tensed. She heard him speak about the reason she'd been captured. It cleared up so much for her. Separating her from her people... in essence weakening all fairies by causing their only possible leader to abandon them. She felt her will crack at the revelation.

Holding back a sob, she turned to her brother. "Is this all... my fault?"

Warren wrapped his arms around her protectively, stroking her hair slowly. "No, how could you have known? It's not your fault. It never was. This bastard had all this planned out the second he knew we existed. None of us even knew who he was. The human's did too good a job keeping him away from us, so we never even had warning."

Tenanye sucked in a shaky breath before she pulled out of the embrace and met his gaze. "Thanks."

Together they both turned their attention back to the humans. Dean and Sam were now both looking over toward them. Ten felt her heart jump at being caught in the human's gaze. She couldn't stop herself from shrinking back as Dean walked over, thudding steps causing the dust around them to swirl upwards.

Warren looked over at her, a reassuring look on his face. "Ten, it's alright! He just wants to help."

"N-no." Her voice cracked as the human knelt close to them, meeting her gaze. She kept backing away. "It's too much. I can't face a human again. It's too much!" She whispered. It was overwhelming to have him looking at her while awake. She wanted nothing more than to run away and never come back. Find a place to hide. Somewhere she would never be found ever again.

Dean looked down at Warren once he had knelt on the floor, "Good to see you again, pint size." His voice was so loud this close, Ten had to bite back a cry of alarm.

Warren peered up at Dean. "Wouldn't have missed it." He glanced over toward Ten. "Ahhh, Ten's got a bad history with humans, so you'll have to forgive her."

Dean gave her a half smile, "Yeah, I heard something about that. I'm real sorry she had to go through that. But," he tried to meet her eyes, "you don't have anything to worry about with me and Sammy here, I promise."

She jumped back even farther when he spoke, and stumbled when Dean raised his hand up, but he was only moving it to his shoulder, and Sam. He scooped up the much smaller human in a fist and lowered him down next to Warren. Sam jumped down from the hand next to her brother and turned to Dean, waving him off. Dean backed away carefully, settling a few feet from them. She felt her breath hitch in surprise when the human did as his tiny brother signaled.

Sam walked quickly toward Ten. "You don't have to be afraid... Dean's not going to hurt you. Neither of us are," he said quietly, raising his hands to try to calm her down. "We just want to help you and your brother."

She froze against the wall of the basement, right next to the entrance of the hole in the wall. "You remembered," she said lamely, realizing he wasn't afraid of his brother at all anymore.

"Yeah, got hit by another blast from Akar. Persistent bastard. Knocked me out but gave my memory a good jump start. I remember everything." Sam reached out for her, pausing when she flinched away. When she didn't run from him, he reached out again, gently grasping her arm. "Ten, we need you for this. No one else can do this spell. And you'll never have anything to fear from either me or my brother. We just want to get everything back to the way it's meant to be."

She tore away from his gaze. "I'm sorry. It's just..." She looked back over at Dean. "Humans make me feel so helpless."

Surprised, Sam's arm fell away. "You know you're not helpless though! How many of your people are willing to put themselves in harm's way to save someone they never met?" He stepped back and spread his arms. "But you did when you came to get me. You are one of the bravest people I know. You can do this."

She refused to meet his glance. "You've only known me for a day. How can you say that?"

A ghost of a smile passed over Sam's face. "Because of how you saved me." He said softly, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You put yourself in danger without worrying about yourself. And all for a stranger."

Still refusing to look at him, she said, "I just did what anyone would do."

"Yeah, you might be surprised how many people aren't willing to get caught by a giant and stuck in a jar for a stranger." Sam had to hold back a snigger at the offended look on his brother's face. "Hey, don't look at me that way." He called up to Dean. "You're the one who's playing Godzilla right now. And you did put her brother in a jar." Dean crossed his arms and glowered down at his miniscule brother. Ten gulped at the intimidating look on his face. Yet here Sam was, same size as her and completely unafraid of angering the human. She couldn't imagine ever provoking someone that size the way he was.

Hesitantly, she raised her eyes and focused on Sam's eyes. She could feel her fears beginning to melt away at the care she saw in them. Relaxing slightly, she stepped into Sam's arms, once again wishing that he was a Fae like her. That way, she'd never have to say goodbye. He pulled away from her slightly and she found herself looking up into his gentle eyes.

"Where's everyone else?" Sam said hesitantly. "They came... right?"

"Yeah. They're hiding still. They won't come out until the portal opens." She smiled slightly at the thought. "They don't really... trust... a human. At all. The human's that were transformed are upstairs, with a few of my people watching out for them until the transformation begins."

Warren moved over toward her and Sam. "Ten, are you sure you have enough magic for this?"

Her eyes blinked slowly, long lashes obscuring them from view. "I have enough. Once the spell starts..." she glanced up, first at Sam, then at her brother. "Once it starts, the magic won't come from me. I'll be using Akar as a focus much like my staff. There will be plenty of magic then. All I have to do is get the ball rolling." She hugged her arms to her body. "It'll work. I know it will."

Sam raised his hand up to her face and brushed some stray locks out of her eyes. "Sounds like everything's ready then. You ready to be the hero today?"

"Uuuh," her eyes slid past Sam to his towering brother. He's not gonna hurt you, not a threat. "Y-yea, I think I am. I can do this." She fixed that last thought in her mind, using it to bolster her courage. Stepping away from the wall, she tried to pull herself back together. She looked up to meet the human's - Dean's - eyes. This time, she could see no danger in them, only hope and trust, in her and in his brother.

Unsteadily, she walked toward him. She quashed her fears as much as she could.

I can do this... for all of us.

Dean watched his brother work his magic on the tiny little fairy girl. He had to hand it to the kid, Sammy was silky smooth when it came to convincing anyone to trust them. He just pulled out those puppy dog eyes and let them work their magic. Dean never had that kind of luck. Even when he tried to save lives, the people he was saving would believe he was threatening them half the time. He could never figure that one out when all he was trying to do was help. On the other hand, Sam had the whole 'sharing and caring' thing down to a science.

It was awkward, listening in on them like this. He kept wanting to shift position to get more comfortable, but was worried he'd make the girl freak out even more if he moved. From the sound of things, she'd been put through a lot. He couldn't find it in himself to blame her for being so afraid of him. On the other hand, he couldn't help a glower from crossing his face when he heard Sam compare him to Godzilla. It wasn't his fault everyone else here was from Lilliput!

He could see the frost melting from her when she and Sam embraced. Dean's eyebrows went skyward with surprise. His brother was hitting on a fairy! Good for you, Sammy. After the embrace, the tiny girl looked up at Dean. He could still see fear in the way she looked at him, but it was fading. He gently lowered his hand to the ground next to Warren, hopefully far enough away from Tenanye to avoid scaring her again. He flattened his knuckles against the hardwood floor as flat as they could go.

She walked slowly up to his hand. Dean found himself holding his breath for fear he'd knock her over. She was so much smaller and slimmer than either Sam or Warren, she seemed as fragile as a baby bird. He had trouble trusting even himself with something so delicate.

He couldn't help but think to himself it was a good thing Sam had lost his memories from that case involving the watchmaker and the fairies. Dean hadn't gotten off on the right foot with any of the fairies then. And throwing the Tink in the microwave had just topped it all off. If Sam had remembered anything from that day, he probably wouldn't have let his big brother anywhere near Tenanye.

She glanced quickly up at him before climbing onto his hand. "G-good to meet you, D-Dean." Her small voice wavered as she spoke. Her tiny steps onto his palm tickled and Dean had to focus hard on not flinching and knocking her over.

He raised her carefully up to his face once she was settled so he could see her better. He felt a pang of dismay when he saw she was still glancing fearfully up at him. Softly as he could, he said, "Good to meet you too, Ten. Heard you took good care of my little brother earlier." He gave her his most charming smile that always got the ladies. She relaxed somewhat, tiny shoulders loosening up.

She smiled up at him. "I'm sorry I took him from you, now that I know you're his brother. But I could never leave someone in harm's way when I can help them."

Dean had to hide a smile at this. "You sound like a few people I know." He glanced over to where Akar was still glaring at them with the chain preventing him from talking. "So, you ready to give this guy what he deserves?"

She lit up at the thought. "Oh, you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this!"

"Alright, well hold on then." Dean pulled himself to his feet. He felt her tiny hands clutch his thumb for support when he moved. He pulled his hand up against his chest so she'd have more support when he moved, remembering how he'd almost tossed Sam off that way. It was a good thing he did so, too. When he took his first step, she lost her balance and tumbled over, her tiny form landing against his chest. Dean brought his other hand up, cupping it around the first gently so she wouldn't be in danger of falling off.

After the first step, the tiny girl stayed sitting in the cave his hands formed until Dean reached the table. He pulled his free hand away from his body and flipped the fairy tome open to the spell Warren had pointed out. Pursing his lips, he looked over the script he couldn't read. "So, you can read this like Warren could, right?"

She glanced over her shoulder up at him. "Of course I can!" Pushing herself away from his chest, she walked over to the edge of his hand and peered over. "Can you move a little closer?" The tiny girl called up to him.

"Yeah, of course." Dean took a cautious step so she was now held directly over the book.

"Did Warren tell you what you need to do while I do the chant?" She called over her shoulder.

"Yeah, just gotta bleed this bastard for some blood and we'll be good to go." Quickly, Dean pulled a dagger from his jacket and turned to Akar, holding the hand she was standing on back against his chest for stability.

Akar's eyes were bloodshot now, the burn from the iron now extending across most of his face. Dean glared at him. "This is for all the lives you've ruined over the years," he growled, drawing the blade across Akar's arm, letting the blood drip onto the blade. Akar's only reaction was a choked snarl.

Once ready, Dean turned back to the altar. He gathered up the rest of the ingredients, placing them into the bowl together, then held the blade over it all and allowing the blood to drip into the center of it all. He held the hand Ten was standing on over it all, and she began to chant.

For a few moments there was no reaction to her words. It felt like the calm before the storm - a little too much nothing happening. Dean heard the phrase Warren had told him to wait for and he lit the ingredients in the bowl with his lighter. Fire flared up, far more powerful and bright than what should have been possible from what was in the bowl. And then he saw that Tenanye was changing.

It started slowly at first, almost unnoticeable. A blue glow lit her hand, soft and gentle. It slowly began to grow in radiance, more and more. Right when Dean thought it couldn't get any brighter, the glow shifted from her hand, extending down both sides of the staff. The fire in the altar sparked, changing from orange to an electric blue. The light from the staff started to throb, and Tenanye herself began to glow in response. She burned even brighter, throbbing with the fire, her chanting growing louder and filling the basement. She started to float up from Dean's hand, higher and higher into the air.

Shocked, Dean looked around the room in surprise. Everything was starting to change with the soft glow coming from the tiny fairy. Akar was now glowing with the same vibrancy as Tenanye. As her power grew, his waned. His face grew wrinkles where there had been none moments before, his own life force sapping from him. Next to Sam, Warren had also started to glow, a forest green hue emanating from him. Joy itself was etched on his face.

Tenanye had now floated high enough to where she was now even with Dean's face. His hand that he'd been holding her with dropped from under her and he took a cautious step back. The glow around her had brightened so much he had to shield his eyes. The words of the chant shifted to a music that the air itself became imbued with. With all of the magic taken from him and his spells reversed, Akar's 900 year old body had crumbled to dust, the chains around him falling into a pile of ashes. The glow around Ten separated into two incandescent orbs. One of them started to expand, growing quickly and blanketing the entire table. Within the other orb, Dean could barely make out Ten's tiny figure, arms outstretched and coruscating wings now covering her back.

At that moment, he realized that she and her brother weren't the only fairies in the room now. Other orbs had gathered at the perimeter of the room, in a multitude of colors. Red, blue, yellow, purple... more and more colors every moment. It seemed as though they were waiting for something. Dean looked over where he'd left Sam and Warren, and was shocked to see his brother standing there full sized, with a green incandescent glow floating over his shoulder.

Sam grinned back at his brother, walking over to the table with the green orb following close behind. Dean clapped his hand on Sam's shoulder. "Good to have you back, gigantor."

"Good to be back to looking down atcha, shorty." Sam snarked.

During their distraction, the glow over the table had transformed into a portal looking out over a lush forest, with gems sparkling over the landscape in all directions. A city rose in the distance, but instead of the steel grey Dean had become used to, each building was constructed of different gems, giving the vista the look of stained glass. Sunlight was caught and reflected, shattered into a million colors.

Once the image stabilized, the tiny balls of color started to shoot through, returning to the home they'd lost. Dean ducked as they whizzed by him only inches away. Others shot down the stairwell from upstairs. Within moments, it was only him and Sam standing in the basement with Tenanye and Warren floating nearby.

The little blue ball that Tenanye had become flitted over to Sam, tiny wings brushing against his cheek. Sam froze, not wanting to scare her off. He and Dean could hear her say, "Maybe I'll see you one day again, in another life." She grazed his lips with her body, a fairy's kiss, before whisking back. Sam gently reached up to her, slowly enough to not scare her off. Softly, he stroked her tiny arm with a fingertip, smiling sadly. His finger alone was longer than her whole body now, wings included. Carefully he wrapped his hand around her, wanting nothing more than to hold her one last time. It was so much larger than her she was almost fully enveloped, surrounded on all sides. She tensed at first, fear flashing across her face, but in the end she relaxed into his hand, giving him her trust.

"I hope so," he said quietly, gently stroking her form with a finger. She was so tiny, so soft, it was unreal. "Thank you, Ten... for everything." He lowered his hand from her slowly, setting her free.

She twirled around Sam's head one last time before flitting briefly in front of Dean. He could barely make her out, the glow was so bright. "Thanks for everything. We will always be in your debt." Her wings caressed his cheek fleetingly. "If only more humans were like the two of you."

The glow that was Warren zipped around the two hunters quickly, circling them both joyfully. Dean felt him breeze by close to his ear. He came to a halt when he reached his sister. The two of them merged into one brilliant sea green orb before turning from the two brothers and zipping through the portal together. The glow faded from the room slowly, the portal dispersing as it closed, leaving the brothers standing in the dim glow of the lamplight, speechless. The fairy tome had vanished as well, most likely taken for safekeeping.

The shock slowly wore off from Dean and he turned to Sam. "Thank God you're alright." He wrapped Sam in a tight hug. "I can't lose you again. Not after all it took to get you back in one piece."

Sam pushed out of the hug. "I know," he said, meeting Dean in the eyes. For a moment the brothers stood there, taking it all in. Then Sam reached into his pocket, pulling out something that hadn't been there before. "I'll be damned," he said, shock overlaying his words.

In his hand sat a perfect sapphire, etched with an image of two fairies darting amongst the trees. Though he couldn't make out their faces, he knew in his heart it was Ten and Warren.

Even Dean looked impressed. "Talk about a going away present."

Smiling, Sam tucked the gem into his pocket. "Let's make sure everyone upstairs is ok and get them back to town."

Dean smiled and gestured toward the stairs. "Ladies first." He arched his eyebrows. Sam just rolled his eyes at the awful joke and went up to the kitchen.

Later that night, Sam and Dean were sitting in the Impala. They'd checked out of the hotel after taking the victims to their homes. The people had been understandably shell shocked after all they'd been put through by Akar. Most of the memories of their time fairy sized had faded away, something Sam thought Ten must have done when she cast the spell. The most they might have to deal with in the future was a bad nightmare on occasion.

Sam's memories were fully intact, which he was happy for. He didn't want to ever forget about Ten or her brother. He found himself wishing that she could have stayed, or that he could have gone with her. Such feelings were fleeting though. They would fade quickly enough. And all he would have left of her was the memories. And the sapphire. As much as it might be worth, he knew he would never willingly part with it.

Dean glanced over at Sam. "So, how you feeling, Tom Thumb?"

"Ha-ha, very funny." Sam sent a glare his brother's way. "That one is NOT sticking."

"That's what you think." Dean gave Sam a smirk before starting up the Impala. "Oh, and by the way, you've still got pocket hair."

Sam's hands automatically went to his hair, trying to flatten down the flyaways. He sent his most menacing bitchface Dean's way.

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

The Impala rumbled off into the night.

FIN