The Monsters In Our Heads (Book 7 Arrow/SPN Crossovers)

Gathering Allies

"Dean? What's up?"

"Hey Oliver. Am I interrupting any masked vigilanti-ism?" Oliver and I could be sixty years old, broken down and cranky but I'd still find some way to make fun of his costume.

"It's daylight, so no."

I loved that flat, pretend offended tone he used. "Ahh, right. Caped crusaders only strike at night."

Coyote rolled her eyes and snickered.

"I do not wear capes. Is there something important you need to talk about or are you just bored?"

"Bit of both."

There was a few seconds of silence, "I'm waiting."

"Oh, yeah right." I could just picture his face, "So how would Team Arrow like to trade in criminals for monsters for a bit. We have a kind of big problem here and need some out of the box thinking."

"What's the problem?"

"This could take some time to explain so get comfy."

"Dean, is there anything in your life that doesn't take some time to explain?"

"Uh, no. Not really. Here goes." I told him from the beginning, they'd need all the facts for this. Things tend to go badly when people don't know the whole story. I'd finally learned that lesson after the Mark. He didn't interrupt with any questions or random exclamations of my possible insanity. He knew us well enough to know that pretty much anything can, will or has happened to Sam and I. "So, to sum up, former hunter turned vampire returning from Purgatory with a huge chip on his shoulder, at the very least."

"You have been to Hell and Purgatory?"

"Yup."

There was a long pause, almost too long, "And Heaven? Have you met God?"

He'd lost that businesslike tone and sounded almost vulnerable. "Been to Heaven once or twice, haven't met God directly. He may have slipped one in on Sammy and I at some point. Met archangels though and you've met Cas. I've also met the King of Hell, roadtripped with him, but that's a whole other story. Why?"

"Do you think.. I mean when people pray..does anything out there really care?"

I hadn't heard him that shaky since the night we'd stayed up late in his penthouse suite and he opened up about the island and his past. I sighed, "Honest answer? Some angels do, angels like Cas and a few others. The majority of the ones we've come across though are dicks. As far as God goes, not even the angels know where he's been for the last few eons. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just been opening up to Felicity more. Talking about the past, you know how that goes I'm sure. When things were at their worst, I used to pray, especially at the beginning. I don't know if I ever believed, but I prayed, mostly out of desperation I guess. You must have too."

That brought a few not so good things back, "I did once, I did a full angel broadcast actually. It didn't end well."

"Oh. I see. So, all of that was wasted energy I guess."

There was a lot more dissappointment in his voice then I'd ever expect to hear, "Not necessarily, remember Shado and Yao Fei came back to help you in that warehouse. My opinion, for what it's worth, is this. I've lived with a Shaman for a year, I've seen what she can do, how her Spirits help her. Are there things out there that help? Yes. Is there an entire choir of angels and a God who's whole job is to take care of humans? From what I've seen, no. Nothing in any world I've ever been on is that black and white. Hell, a vampire became a second brother to me in Purgatory. We've had demons that have helped us, the King of Hell being one of them. Did he do it for his own reasons? Sure, but the fact is he's saved our hides a few times, just like Cas. If praying helps you sleep at night, go for it. I'd never tell anyone what to do when it comes to that. I may know a lot more than most people, but I still don't know everything."