MERRY CHRISTMAS!

"GOOD MORNING!"

Dean glared at the tiny little fairy that had taken Reinforce's place as the core spirit in Hayate's device. She looked like a miniature Reinforce. And she was way, way too hyper for this early in the morning. If it was morning.

They were still on the Arthra, mostly because Hayate still wasn't cleared to leave the room they had put her in and because they needed to register her device under a new name. Which meant paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork.

And since Hayate was a key witness in the kidnapping as well as what Graham had tried to do, they had to go to Mid Childa for a bit just to clear things up. Loki was coming as well, because he was Reinforce's true Master.

But right now Dean was glaring at a tiny fairy-like version of Reinforce who had been bribed by Loki and Sam to wake him up. Dean hated waking up.

Dean growled, but didn't try to bat away the fairy. Who had appeared shortly after Loki tweaked Reinforce.

Hayate loved her, but Dean was a little wary of the pagan. It was hard not to be with something that flippant and that powerful.

Rein (as she was collectively called by everyone) giggled as Dean reluctantly got out of bed. He had tried to ignore her once. She had dumped an entire glass of ice water on his head in return.

"I hate you so much. I hope you know that."

Rein stuck her tiny tongue out at the grumpy Dean. No matter how much she annoyed him, she knew full well he wouldn't hurt her. It would upset Hayate terribly if he did, and he hated doing that.

Sam was with Yuuno and Hayate, teaching one the basics of Latin and the other with something new to translate. Hayate made a point to do so in English, as the one time she had tried to do it in her native Japanese it had come out horribly mangled.

Besides, it was somewhat nice to explain to a very interested Yuuno exactly what hunters did. Even if he had to emphasize that very rarely did hunters allow children to join them, no matter how skilled.

John Winchester had been one of the extreme exceptions to this unspoken rule. Children were to be protected, not made to hunt monsters.

Yuuno was highly attentive, finding it fascinating that an entire 'society' of hunters tracked monsters that attacked humans with only the barest of clues. They then located and disposed of the monster.

Chrono, who had come to check on them, wasn't surprised to have his private theory confirmed that the Wolkenritter had drained a few monsters to fill the book. However it was hard to fault them when in the process they gave the Winchesters time to take out something that would have otherwise killed again.

Dean had been surprised to find that there was a group dedicated to the same job, only it was much more wide spread.

If it weren't for the fact that it would be very difficult to move his beloved Impala and the sour note left by Graham's attempts at his daughter, Dean would seriously consider joining the group.

He was still very tempted when Yuuno informed him that they answered to the local authorities, not the TSAB.

It wasn't until they were two days away from Mid Childa that Chrono offered a solution to his private dilemma.

"Why don't you act as our go-between with the local hunters? Give us a chance to work with some of the monsters you run into regularly and it would give us a reason to clear you for a device." said Chrono. Really, were all Winchesters this stubborn?

(The answer to that would later turn out to be a big, fat YES.)

Dean looked pensive. To be fair, he didn't really know many other hunters. They usually kept to themselves as a rule. But there was one exception he knew...

"I know a place that might work... but I don't know if Ellen would agree to it."

"Hey muttonheads!" said Loki grinning. In his hands were three things.

"Where did you get those?!" said Chrono.

"Left the ship for a bit. Since I can pretty much track my huggable minion I figured it wouldn't hurt to get a few things. Oh, and if you happen to hear about a lab that was destroyed rather mysteriously pay it no mind."

In Loki's hands were several devices. He had already handed one that felt like Signum to her. It was another fairy like Rein.

Chrono pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Exactly how did you leave the ship without setting off most of the alarms?"

"Uh, transcended being? Things like walls aren't really going to stop me, and I can fly on my own power. I just prefer not to," said Loki rolling his eyes.

"Neat. What exactly can they do?" asked Dean.

"Now hold on a minute!" said Chrono.

"Relax Time-boy, I stole these off an illegal lab. Though if half of what they did to these things are legal then there's no way in hell the Winchesters will even consider joining you later," said Loki.

"Could we at least get them checked out before you hand them over to people who barely even know what magic is?" said Chrono.

"Um... I'm pretty sure Signum's already at that tiny little lab that checked out Rein and Reinforce when I tweaked the horn," said Loki.

"Wow... these devices have really been put through the ringer. Where did you say you got these again?" asked Mary.

"Stole them off a lab that was experimenting on them. Heard that little fire fairy there screaming for help, and figured what the heck, why not see who's calling."

"Well?" asked Chrono.

"Some of these would have to be put into a major overhaul to use again, but there are four that are still useable," said Mary. "Though I'm also including Agito as one of the four."

"Agito?"

A tiny fairy on Signum's shoulder waved.

"She's been cleared for use, but you might want to get to know her better first," said Mary.

"Doesn't Signum already have a device?" asked Dean.

"Yeah, but when I checked her aura she reminded me of Signum. I think her original self was one of the fairy's previous users," said Loki.

"And why did you give these two a device?"

"One, I seriously doubt they could afford anything worthwhile, let alone pass a test (well except Sammy) to have one. Two, it will keep them occupied until we get there. And three, I have a feeling these devices will prefer having these muttonheads as owners rather than be stuck in some musty lab for who knows how long," said Loki, listing the reasons on his fingers.

Chrono winced at the second reason. Dean had been getting fairly annoying of late. Perhaps this would shut him up. Sam had pretty much attached himself to those in charge of repairing and maintaining the devices, seeing as how he had a better understanding of math than his brother. Dean had up until that point been sparring with the Enforcers still on board, who were interesting in his combat training.

They still found it amazing both brothers had been fighting inhuman monsters without a single device, so they were taking the chance to pick their brains, so to speak.

"I have two devices that can be cleared for immediate duty that they can use, and are able to take new owners," said Mary, holding them up. Agito had passed with flying colors, surprisingly, and Signum was already filing paperwork to keep the TSAB from trying to claim her later.

It helped that as Loki had suspected, Signum's original self was one of the fire fairy's previous owners. Since the fairy herself had no objection, there was little the TSAB could do to take her away. Not without breaking their own laws at any rate.

Sam immediately zoned in on the device shaped like a book. Like Reinforce before her transformation, it had an ornate cross on the front made of silver, though that was surrounded by bright silver stars.

"This is the Morning's Star. It scans any magical tome and automatically downloads it into memory. You can also scan normal books, but you'll need to do that manually. The start up cost is relatively small, but it does have a weird function that translates any language."

Mary then picked up something that looked like a short sword with gold. It had the same chamber configuration Signum's device had, but the barrel looked more like something off the Colt.

"This one is fairly unusual in that once it bonds with it's owner, it activates any latent abilities."

"Does it have a name?"

"None registered. It looks like whoever was experimenting on them wiped the memory clean on this one," said Mary.

Dean said "Dibs on the sword."

"I wanted the book anyway," shrugged Sam.

Mary handed them over and walked them through the registration process for both. Morning's Star was a little unusual for a device because it required a few drops of blood before it would accept a new owner. And from the previous records Loki had helpfully 'acquired', quite a few of them didn't take at all.

What she was unaware of was that the failures often resulted in the book stealing the linker core of those it didn't like as recompense. Loki hadn't wanted to worry Sam about that little detail, so he never handed those files over.

Signum and Loki were having a bit of a stare off. The reason was simple. Shortly after bonding with their new toys, both of the older Winchesters had abruptly sprouted wings. Big ones that had Loki choking back a laugh.

He wasn't very successful, and now every time he looked at either brother he had to keep from breaking into fresh peals of laughter.

Sure, he could have told them how to get rid of the wings, but where would the fun in that be?

Hayate had been of the same opinion, because she had joined an unholy alliance against her dad and uncle with Loki. The two of them ribbed the brothers relentlessly about how they would have to get a 'costume change' until the wings went away.

Dean's wings were a deep black akin to the night sky, with flecks of silver along the edges of the feathers. Sam's were a pure white that was so bright it was almost painful to look at.

Gabriel had to admit to himself, they were some of the most beautiful coloration he had seen since leaving heaven. He was the only one there (outside of Reinforce) who knew where the wings had come from. Though he certainly hadn't expected the brother's status as the vessels of Lucifer and Micheal to cause that.

But back to the staring.

Signum had, upon learning Dean had chosen the sword over the book, offered to teach him how to use it properly. She had correctly guessed he planned to use it as little more than an slightly awkward knife and as a swordswoman that was something she wouldn't tolerate.

Loki however, had jumped in and offered to show him how to use it correctly, seeing as how Signum used a longer sword and might not be able to compensate properly. The look of surprise learning Loki not only had a sword about the same size but knew how to use it and well had the pagan wondering how they would react to his true name. And he had been sorely tempted, if only to see the disbelief on their faces.

Sam was the only one who suspected, but Hayate knew from Reinforce.

"Okay how about this. How about we see a spar between you and Loki, and whoever wins gets to show me how to use this sword," offered Dean.

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Loki, before another idea occurred to him, "Besides, wouldn't Signum have to show you how to use magic along with that sword?"

Dean blinked.

"I was going to ask her that later, but the fact is that magic is pretty damn noisy. Besides, I want to be able to use this without needing to make new bullets every time I hunt," said Dean.

Dean had gotten the hang of making 'magic bullets' more or less thanks to Shamal's patient tutoring. She normally made the bullets for the Wolkenritter, but it would be nice to have help. Besides, Sam's device didn't use cartridges in it's standby form.

Signum brought out Laevantien, while Loki brought out his sword, or a copy of it anyway. He didn't want to explain to Hayate how he accidentally caused permanent damage to her Knight.

Signum raised an eyebrow at the sword. It was almost identical to the device Dean had, without the barrel. And the markings were slightly different.

"Begin!" said Chrono. They were recording this for later.

Signum took a stance before she charged. Loki let her get close, since angels tended to specialize in close quarters combat. He parried, causing a horrible shriek from Signum's sword. Even a copy could do damage to something not of divine origins. The only saving grace was that because she had been kept safe by Reinforce for so long, the sword didn't shatter immediately.

It was quickly apparent that while Signum was a good sword fighter, Loki was much, much better. He had very few openings and the few times she tried to take advantage of them, they disappeared without a trace leaving her very little time to block.

Dean was impressed and a little freaked. He was very, very glad Loki was on their side, because if this was how he fought when he wasn't serious, then he never wanted to piss the pagan off where he took him as a threat.

Finally an exhausted Signum conceded defeat.

Loki helped her up.

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to be that rusty," he said.

Seeing their incredulous looks, he smirked.

"I've been hiding from my brothers for a long time. I haven't had to use a sword in nearly a thousand years. And if you think I'm good, you should see some of the others fight."

Dean had only one question.

"If I had to learn from you, are you likely to keep correcting my forms, or just keep me from stabbing myself with the sword?"

"I'm more likely to show you how to hold it without stabbing yourself without really focusing on the forms. Unlike Signum here I know you're just as likely to shoot something as stab it, and frankly teaching you how to be a swordsman is time you don't have considering your profession," said Loki immediately.

"Sold," said Dean. Loki grinned at him. Dean then continued "But first, do you know of how we can at least hide this things? I'm getting sick of having them smack me in the face."

Loki's grin widened evilly.

"All you need to do is will them away. From what I can tell they're a part of you, and that means your body already knows how to hide them naturally."

Dean stared at him.

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

Dean was glad Hayate and the younger kids weren't there, because some of the curses he let loose were highly inappropriate. The last thing he wanted was for Hayate to pick up on them.

Dean concentrated and to his relief the wings disappeared. Sam looked equally as annoyed that the solution was to just will them away as Dean had been, though he hadn't started swearing like his brother had. Probably because he had seen Lindy slap Dean on the head when she heard some of the words he used.