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Charlie didn't pick up on it at first; the way she was constantly caught in blustering winds, the way she always ended up in the same clearing, the way the mushrooms had started growing in specific patterns. The woods did surround the bunker, she was sure it was some left over Men of Letters magic. Still, it was hard to ignore how the wind whispered Charlie, even through the vents of the bunker.
"Sam, have you noticed anything... weird about the woods?" Charlie asked as Sam pulled up a chair. Charlie had had another sleepless night of cryptic dreams and murmurs of her name. She was sure it had something to do with the forest.
"What do you mean?" He questioned, eyes narrowing as he scrutinised her.
"I don't know, it might just be bad dreams," she sighed, rubbing a hand over her eyes. Sam watched her carefully, worry etched into his face. "I keep seeing and hearing weird stuff. Like circles of mushrooms in the clearing in the wood."
"A fairy circle?" Sam pulled out his iPad and tapped something on it, waiting a second before showing it to Charlie. It was an article about fairy circles, about cultural references and lore. However, the text was bolded as the article told how fairy circles generally grew around dead bodies. Charlie's face turned grey.
"Do you think someone's been burying bodies in the woods?" Charlie exclaimed. Sam raised his eyebrows suggestively.
"There's only one way to find out," he muttered, taking his iPad back and bookmarking the page. "I'll call Dean, we can hit up the woods tonight."
A little after night fall, Dean had cooked them up some turkey club sandwiches to take with them to the forest. He'd packed a lot for them - a whole cooler full of food, some beer, and the spades to dig up the fairy circle. Sam had rolled his eyes, but Dean protested it was all necessary.
As they set off, Charlie led the way to the clearing. She wasn't sure of the exact path, but she knew she would end up in the same space she did whenever she went on a walk. It made her feel nervous to be wondering at night, but with the Winchesters behind her, Charlie felt more comfortable. Dean whistled as he strolled along, while Sam stuck close by Charlie. Soon enough, they reached the end of the line - the moonlit clearing full of toadstools.
"So what are looking for?" Dean questioned, swinging the spade over his shoulder. Sam sighed loudly.
"A dead body, Dean," Sam grumbled, setting down the cool box and taking his own spade that was balanced on top. "Look, I was doing some research earlier and there has been a couple of disappearances in Lebanon in the last week or so. I'm thinking the same guy could've taken them and buried them here."
"Right, I'm gonna need a drink," Dean stated, making a reach for the cool box. Sam objected, slapping the can from Dean's hand and starting a squabble between them. Charlie rolled her eyes.
There was a rustling in the bushes, and Charlie paused for a minute. The breezes started, leaves blowing all around her. Again, it sounded like she was being called - the soft whispers of Charlie sounding so familiar. Paranoia took over and Charlie searched every visible space for some source of the noise. Her eyes settled on the biggest fairy circle, where a silver locket was tucked under a mushroom.
Without thinking, Charlie stepped into the circle to pick it up. Suddenly, the brothers stopped arguing and looked over to Charlie with panicked expressions. Charlie didn't understand why, until she glanced down and saw herself disintegrating into blue light. She started screaming, but the boys could do nothing as Charlie disappeared into the void.
Charlie woke up from darkness to a well light woodland, not the one behind the bunker but somewhere more magical. Slowly, Charlie pushed herself to a sitting position and looked around to find she was on the outskirts of a town. The trees grew up from a valley, which Charlie was sat at the top of, and were much taller than the trees near Charlie. In them were a network of tree houses and rope bridges, most of which were abandoned. There were some people dressed in Lord of the Rings style clothing, but most of them were confined to their homes.
It must of been some sort of concussed dream, Charlie ruled, or maybe her heaven was being in the Hobbit with her Mom. Either way, she was disappointed. Charlie had wanted to go out with a bang, in the middle of a fight - not to fizzle out over some damn mushrooms. Charlie collapsed back into the soft grass and hoped to wake up back in the bunker.
"Charlie! Charlie, I can't believe you made it!"
Charlie's eyes flickered open. The same voice that had been trapped in the wind all week was calling her. She pulled herself up to search for the voice's owner, and found a familiar face staring back at her.
"Gilda?" Charlie questioned. The olive skinned fairy was knelt beside Charlie on the floor, gentle fingers stroking through Charlie's hair. "Where am I?"
"The fairy realm," Gilda sighed though she still had a smile on her face. "Charlie, King Oberon is dead - the kingdom has fallen to a Tyrant. Help me, please."
"Wait what?" Charlie yelped in surprise.
"You're the bravest hunter I know, we need your help to take down Emperor Fachan," Gilda begged. "He can kill humans like you with a glance if he wished so, and he cannot fly so imprisons those who can. He tortures sprites for fun! All his henchmen are the nastiest goblins." Gilda was seconds away from crying, so clearly scared of Fachan.
"I don- I uhh," Charlie exhaled. "How do you kill him?" Gilda reached out a hand to help Charlie up from the grass. They walked towards the valley, where the other fairies in their tree houses seemed to cower from Charlie. She could understand, it was probably be the first time any of them had seen a human - especially in their own territory.
Gilda lead them to the bottom of the valley, which was even deeper than Charlie could have imagined. There was a river that ran through the bottom, and there was a rocky cliff face than followed it through the valley. There was a crack in the rocks, and Gilda stopped in front of it. Gilda placed her hands against it and muttered something under her breath, causing a large chunk of rock to disappear. She pulled Charlie through the empty space, revealing a cave home.
Charlie had a look around, running her fingers over treasure chests and picture frames. There was a lot of anti-Fachan propaganda around the hovel, and some weapons that Charlie guessed were for the war that could start with Fachan around. She turned around to ask Gilda about it, to find the fairy with a dagger in her hand.
"You kill him with this," Gilda said, thrusting the dagger into Charlie's hands. "It needs to be toxicated with the blood of a tree nymph - but Ivy has already promised us her blood."
"Why can't you do it?" Charlie asked, stroking the copper blade of the dagger.
"I can only kill on command of my master, and my master is currently Fachan so I doubt that will ever happen," Gilda sighed. "Most of us are enslaved by Fachan. Come, Ivy will be waiting for us."
Gilda reopened the mouth of the cave so they could both get out, before blocking it up again. The other fairies seemed more okay with Charlie being there, even venturing outside of their houses - even if they still moved well away from Charlie and Gilda when they walked past. They climbed up wooden ladders to move between the levels, until the reached a bridge that lead to the top of the valley. It brought them out at a different place from when Charlie woke up, but it was an equally beautiful forest.
There was noting but woodland for miles around, but every so often a tree would morph into a person to greet Gilda. None of the nymphs seemed to be Ivy, the one they were looking for, as Gilda kept dragging Charlie through the dense woods. Eventually, they came to a halt beside a lake.
"Ivy?" Gilda called out. "Ivy, I've brought our warrior!" For a moment, nothing happened, but from behind another tree a willowy figure stepped out. She had pale green skin with dark green hair, eyes, and lips, and she seemed very shy. She shuffled over to Gilda, a vial of green liquid - presumably her blood - already in hand. Her eyes refused to meet Charlie's, like she was nervous of her presence. Charlie made a note to ask Gilda of it later.
At that moment, Gilda was preoccupied with her weaponry. The blood washed over the dagger like a waterfall washed over rocks. It left an emerald sheen over the blade, faintly glinting in the filtered sunlight. Hopefully, it wouldn't show so much in the castle, so Fachan wouldn't see it. Gilda stood up to hand Ivy her vial back, before grabbing Charlie's hand.
"Farewell, Ivy," Gilda nodded. Ivy began to transform back into a plant, winding around the closest tree in a cyan glow. "You may want to prepare yourself, humans have a bad reaction to flying." It was all the warning Charlie got before the world began to melt around them.
Charlie's head was pulsing, her stomach turning, her toes tingling. All that could be seen was a quickly spinning forest, the image moving way too fast for Charlie to keep up with. As the spinning slowed down, Gilda's grip on Charlie's arm started to loosen. They weren't in the same spot as before, instead they were outside a huge stone castle. The sky had darkened dramatically, purple clouds obscuring the shine of the sun.
"Let me tie your hands," Gilda said gently. She reached for Charlie's hands and bound them with a thin piece of rope. It was loose enough that Charlie could break free, but Fachan and his henchmen would never realise. With Charlie restricted, the dagger hidden in her boot, Gilda pushed open the doors to the castle. "Wait for my command."
"FACHAN!" Gilda called out, more power in her voice than Charlie had ever heard. A couple of fae appeared in front of of them, one with the face of a crocodile, and one who looked like the Green Goblin. They took hold of Charlie's arms and flew her to a new room of the castle.
The throne room.
Fachan was lounging on a deep purple throne. His face was thin and pinched, with arched eyebrows and sharp eyes. An evil smirk was fixed onto him, his eyes piercing through Charlie. Gilda soon appeared beside her, bowing to the king as she entered the room.
"Fachan, our great lord," she greeted. "I found this outsider in our forests. I believe she's a human, sire. I brought her to you for punishment." Fachan stood from his throne, taking a slow step down to Charlie's height. He stroked a hand over Charlie's face, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. There was a predatory gleam in his eye, clearly sizing Charlie up.
"Thank you, Gilda, I knew I kept you around for some reason," he laughed. A growl exploded from the back of Charlie's throat. How dare he insult Gilda like that? She lunged forward, only to be pulled back by Green Goblin and the crocodile. Fachan seemed amused by Charlie's outburst, condescending even, the same chauvinist smile that Charlie couldn't stand in the real world. With a wave of his hand, he made his henchmen stand away from Charlie.
Nothing happened for a moment. Then it all happened at once.
"Charlie, NOW!" Gilda yelled. Before they knew what was happening, the henchmen were both tackled to the floor. Charlie took the signal and snapped the rope behind her. With one swift movement, she unsheathed the dagger and pounced. Fachan dodged the blow, sliding to the side of Charlie's jab.
"Silly earthling," Fachan chuckled. "No fae could kill me, why would a mere mortal even attempt such a feat." Charlie thrust blindly, mostly coming in contact with the metal of his armour. Hope was starting to dwindle within Charlie. Then, she spotted his weakness.
Charlie stabbed at his face.
"See ya, you fat-headed egotist," Charlie yelled triumphantly. Fachan began to crumble around the wood, veins turning green as the skin around it became ash. Crocodile and Green Goblin collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud. Gilda waved her hands over each of their heads, causing them to dissipate into the air.
Gilda stood to Charlie's height, tilting her head slightly to the left. Her fingers tangled into Charlie's hair, pulling her into a kiss.
"Thank you, my champion," she breathed out.
"Gilda, look, Sam and Dean will be worried about me..." Charlie stuttered. She didn't want to leave Gilda, but she belonged in the human world. Gilda closed her eyes and sighed, turning away from Charlie's guilty stare. "It's not that I don't want to be with you, but I'm not supposed to be in the fairy realm!"
"I understand," Gilda sniffed. The world blurred again, the grey walls spinning into the night. This time, Charlie closed her eyes for the majority of the journey, only opening them when she felt her feet stable on the ground again. They were back in the woods behind the bunker.
Sam and Dean were digging up a hole near the fairy circle that Gilda and Charlie were stood in. They looked up when they heard a noise, taken by surprise when they saw Charlie in front of them.
"Oh thank God, we thought we'd lost you," Dean sighed in relief. Sam nodded as greeting, seemingly dumbfounded by Gilda's presence. When he stumbled towards her, she shifted backwards as if she was terrified of him.
Charlie felt guilty. It was her fault that Gilda was so off with them, but Sam was probably blaming it on himself. Sam slumped away, and even Dean seemed put off by the fairy.
"As you don't need me any more," Gilda muttered.
"Gilda, don't be like that," Charlie groaned. "I can visit you! You can come here, you can stay here! Right, guys?"
"Uhh... yeah," Dean replied. "There's plenty of space in the bunker."
"You don't understand," Gilda snapped. "Like you can't stay in the fairy realm, I can't stay in your reality. My magic is weaker here, I'll become useless."
"Useless? I've never seen anyone plan a rebellion so effortlessly!" Charlie exclaimed. Behind her, she could feel the confusion radiating from the brothers; she made a note to explain to them later. "You got the dagger, you met with Ivy, you got us to the throne room. None of that needed magic, it needed strategy. You are more than useful, even without magic."
Gilda started weeping. She fell into Charlie's arms, breathing in the scent of Charlie and the woods. Gently, Charlie kissed the top of Gilda's head. A hand reached out for Charlie's tangling their fingers together. Gilda refused to let go.
"I'm staying here," Gilda whispered, like wind through trees, like the voice that called Charlie to the woods. "I want to stay with you, my champion."