Kaia Nieves

Name	Kaia Nieves
Actor	Yadira Guevara-Prip
Dates	1998
Location	Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Occupation	Dreamwalker
Episode(s)	13.09 The Bad Place 13.10 Wayward Sisters 15.12 Galaxy Brain

Well, I don't know why you're really here, but you're gonna have to find a new day one buddy, 'cause that's not really my thing. – Kaia Nieves, 13.09 The Bad Place

History

Kaia was raised by her mother until the age of 12, when she died in an accident. She never knew her father. Kaia's aunt took her in after her mother's death until she died of cancer, leaving Kaia on her own.

As a dreamwalker, Kaia can see into other worlds. One of these worlds, which she has dubbed "the Bad Place" was the only world she would visit in her dreams. It is a place of blood, death, and monsters. Any injuries she incurs in the Bad Place follow her into the waking world, causing Kaia to take amphetamines to stay awake. Just before meeting Jack and the Winchesters, Kaia was found in an abandoned tenement building in Minnesota, having overdosed on prescription amphetamines, and was sent to a rehab facility.

After being recruited by Jack to help rescue Mary Winchester from Apocalypse World, Kaia traveled to the Bad Place with Claire Novak in an effort to save the Winchesters, who had gotten trapped there. However, while protecting Claire from a mysterious hooded figure, Kaia was hit with a spear and apparently killed.

Two years later, Kaia's believed killer Dark Kaia, her Bad Place counterpart with whom Kaia has shared a connection her entire life, reveals that Kaia had in fact survived her wound and had been trapped in the Bad Place for two years. With the Bad Place on the verge of destruction, Dark Kaia helps Sam and Dean return and rescue Kaia, who chooses to move to Sioux Falls with Jody Mills.

Episodes

13.09 The Bad Place

Sitting in the circle of a group meeting, Kaia is asked by her counselor if she would like to take the next turn and share with the group. She tries to brush it off, but is pushed by her counselor to talk about her overdose. When he tries to move the subject to the scars on her arms, Kaia tries to shut him down, telling him she doesn't belong in the facility as she isn't an addict. She explains that she hates putting the drugs into her body, but they are the only things that keep her from visiting the Bad Place. Believing she is speaking in metaphor, the counselor assures her that everyone deals with their own "bad places" that they use alcohol and drugs to numb.

At the end of the session, Kaia is suddenly greeted by Jack. Curious as to why he's in the facility, she asks him what his "poison" is. Unsure, Jack tells her he likes cocaine. Not believing he has a cocaine addiction, Kaia tells Jack to find a new day-one buddy as she walks away. Jack continues following her, telling her he knows who she is, explaining that Derek Swan told him about her and how she is a powerful dreamwalker and that he needs her help. Kaia tells him she can't help him, but when Jack tells her he can get her out of the facility, she follows. As they are exiting Kaia witnesses Jack rendering the counselor unconscious with a single touch and upon reaching the outside she tries to leave Jack, telling him she never agreed to help him. Jack grabs her arm and pleads with her that he needs her help, but is soon distracted by the arrival of Sam and Dean, allowing Kaia to free herself and punch Jack before she makes her escape.

Hitchhiking down the road, Kaia is picked up by a pair of angels, who knock her unconscious. Taking her to an abandoned building, the angels restrain Kaia, who tells them she is the wrong type of bait and that no one will come for her. The female angel agrees that she doesn't matter, but that "they" think she does and will come to her. Just then, Dean walks into the room with Jack and Sam, holding the other angel at blade point. As the female angel tries to convince Jack to leave with them, a fight ensues where Kaia witnesses Jack's power against the angels. After freeing her, Sam and Dean attempt to get Kaia to help Jack rescue their mom, but when she continues to refuse, a desperate Dean pulls out his gun and tells her to get in the car. When Kaia still refuses, he cocks the hammer back and puts the gun to her head, and with a face full of rage demands she get in the car. Kaia acquiesces.

Kaia and Jack unleashing a surge of energy while Kaia dreamwalks.

In the backseat, Jack tries to explain how Derek thought they could help each other. Kaia angrily blames Jack for Derek's death. Jack asks Kaia for five seconds to show her what he was able to see with Derek -- not just the Bad Place, but everything. Kaia agrees, and as Jack places his hand on Kaia's head, energy begins to flow through her face and she is able to bear witness to the Multiverse, as Jack tells Kaia that with their powers they can do good in the world. Suddenly the Impala is nearly run off the road by the female angel, who has tracked them down with a small group of angels and begins giving chase, forcing Dean to pull into an abandoned shipyard. Sam, Jack, and Kaia make a run for an abandoned boat while Dean stays behind to buy them time. Inside Sam begins painting warding sigils to keep the angels out. Worried, Jack tries to calm Kaia, telling her that everything will be fine, but with Dean's declaration that they are screwed, the group moves up the ship. Outside, the angels begin pooling their energy in an attempt to power down the warding. Realizing the angels will get through eventually, Dean believes they have to go out guns blazing and kill as many of the angels as possible, until Kaia suggests that she and Jack open a doorway out of the ship. Kaia takes a seat as Jack places his hands on her head, and as the energy flows between them, Kaia is taken to the Bad Place, but with Jack's help she is able to pull away into the multiverse, where he is able to locate Apocalypse World. As the two mentally traverse the post-Apocalyptic landscape, they are able to reach Mary Winchester's prison. But Kaia's connection begins slipping, sending them back to the Bad Place, where a cloaked figure is stalking through the woods. Jack tells her to focus, bringing them back to Apocalypse World, until the strain becomes too much and Jack and Kaia send out a blast of energy that disintegrates the angels, sends Jack to Apocalypse World, Sam and Dean to the Bad Place, and Kaia to the side of a road, leaving an opened rift on the empty ship.

14.03 The Scar

Kaia appears in a flashback when Dark Kaia reveals that she saw the Winchesters through Kaia's eyes, including Dean threatening Kaia with a gun to get her to help them.

Kaia embraces Dean after being rescued.

15.12 Galaxy Brain

After using Jody Mills to lure the Winchesters into a trap, Dark Kaia demands that they send her home as the Bad Place is dying. Dark Kaia explains more about her connection to Kaia which started at birth, the two of them having been born at the same time in two separate worlds. To the shock and horror of Sam, Dean, and Jody, Dark Kaia reveals that Kaia is still alive and trapped in the Bad Place, with a flashback depicting Dark Kaia dressing Kaia's wound before she leaves for their world. Dark Kaia has continued seeing her world through Kaia's eyes and learned of its impending destruction.

Distressed at having left Kaia trapped in the Bad Place, the Winchesters, Castiel, and Jody attempt to find a way back to rescue her as they can't use Jack's powers without risking alerting God to his resurrection. However, after seeing a scared Kaia huddling and singing to herself through Dark Kaia, Jack decides to help save his friend. Eventually, with the help of the Reaper Merle, they find a way to shield Jack's use of his powers long enough for him to open a portal back to the Bad Place. Dark Kaia leads Sam and Dean to her old home, where they find Kaia, who embraces Dean before angrily turning on Dark Kaia. However, Sam reassures Kaia that Dark Kaia is on their side and helped them rescue her. With little time left, the group prepares to return to the portal, but Dark Kaia refuses to join them, deciding to die with the Bad Place.

Sam, Dean, and Kaia return to the bunker where Kaia is reunited with Jody. Kaia changes out of the clothes she has been wearing for the past two years and into some of Jack's clothes. When Jack asks how Kaia survived for two years in the Bad Place, she simply cites Miss Mary Mack, a nursery rhyme her mother used to sing to her. Jody offers Kaia the chance to return to Sioux Falls with her, which Kaia accepts, pleased to learn that Claire will be home soon too.

Trivia

• The character was described when Yadira's casting was announced as follows:

"Having lost her family at a young age. By the time she reached adulthood, she was on her own, completely disconnected from her roots, as she tried to understand a burgeoning gift: In her dreams, Kaia walks between worlds — a rare and terrifying power she experiences only as a curse… a power she doesn’t understand and can’t yet control. Flinty, sarcastic, and profoundly haunted, Kaia is nevertheless strong and willful as hell — she’s had to be to survive this long on her own."

• At the end of the episode, writer Bob Berens tweeted the following "Thanks to everyone for watching and for the warm reception! Gonna leave you with an image— the last “notecard” of our break for the #Supernatural #WaywardSisters pilot." It was accompanied by a photo of a notecard with the words "KAIA LIVES !!!" on it.

See also

• Dark Kaia
• Dreamhunter
• Dreamwalking
• Wayward Sisters