Hey everyone! I'm finally back. I had a lot of thinking to do with this story and I also wanted a little break in-between. Plus. first chapters are always the most difficult for me.
In case it was missed in the description: This is the third work in a series. If you don't read those two (The Burden of Being Me and You and Roads Untraveled), you will not understand this one.
Not going to bother with an extended description as the story summary says it all. Major warnings are for language (swearing) and graphic violence. Anything else that comes up in a chapter, I will warn of in my author's notes.
I hope everyone enjoys :)
The sun reflected and glistened against the waves, the wind warm but consistent, just what Sam preferred on a summer day.
Sam closed his eyes and breathed in the scents of summer. It wasn't the ocean, but this lake was close enough. They didn't get out much outside of going to the bar or hunting down some nasty monster in the woods, so this little break was near perfection.
"Got your rabbit food, don't cry if you don't like the dressing. They didn't have 'low fat Italian' so I got some other shit."
Dean was walking away from the Impala, which he parked on the grass. His green eyes radiated happiness and even though Dean wouldn't say it, Sam knew he was enjoying this mini-vacation as much as him.
Sam smiled at his brother even though he didn't remember asking Dean to go out and get food. Come to think about it...he didn't remember coming to the lake either. His whole brain felt kind of foggy. What hunt had they been on before this? Maybe he was just tired...or hungry. Yeah, he just needed to eat some of the food that Dean had brought.
"You should have seen the girl at the counter," Dean said, sitting down in one of the two fold up chairs they had by the water. "The size of her…"
"Okay Dean enough!" Sam swatted at his brother and took the offered food. Something still felt a bit off, but Sam could feel himself relaxing more. There was no need to worry right now. Everything was perfect. He and Dean were on a break from hunting, the weather was beautiful and they were in an amazing setting.
Listening to the sounds of the water and the happy families also taking advantage of this day put Sam's mind at ease. If something were wrong, Dean would notice it too.
A football came flying through the air and landed at Dean's feet, disrupting the brothers' peace. Dean grabbed the football and stood up, looking over at a young boy who had started to run over to them.
For some reason the kid looked very familiar, although Sam couldn't recall where he had seen the boy before. Something briefly flashed through his thoughts about the child's game Candy Land. Before Sam could connect the thoughts, the memory was lost.
"This yours buddy?" Dean called out to the kid, not seeming to recognize him like Sam did.
"Yeah!" The boy held out his arms, signaling for Dean to throw the ball.
"Alright. Get prepared, I have a pretty awesome throw if I say so myself."
Sam watched Dean and the boy play catch, feeling uncomfortable. Something was off about Dean's interaction with the kid. It didn't seem right. But Dean had always loved kids, there was no reason Sam should feeling like Dean wouldn't be this kind to the boy. Dean's laughter and smile should be a natural thing and shouldn't worry him, yet it did.
Maybe Sam needed to get himself checked out. Was he having some kind of memory lapse or something? When he tried to think of memories, why did it feel like his mind was trying to claw its way out of a fog?
"Come on Sammy." Dean was waving him over with a smile. "Have some fun little brother."
Well...why not?
He jogged over and Dean reached up and ruffled his hair before backing up to throw the ball. They tossed it back and forth, Dean teasing him over his 'wimpy throws' but also complimenting Sam when he made a perfect throw.
"There you go. Nice one Sammy. But you did learn from the best."
Sam rolled his eyes at his brother and vaguely wondered where the boy went off to. He would want his football back that the brothers had basically taken from him for their own amusement.
He glanced around, expecting to see the boy nearby...
The sight that greeted him instead made him immediately drop the football and reach to pull out a gun...except he had nothing on him.
It was...it looked like Dean...but it couldn't be. Not when Dean was playing catch with him right now. And Dean certainly wouldn't look like this...
The thing had black eyes but Dean's face….a face that was disfigured with burns and scars, but nonetheless, was still easily recognizable as Dean. Sam studied the figure up and down, noticing the other mutilations done to the body…the thing was missing an arm and patches of hair, it had one ear nearly ripped completely off. The rest of the body looked like it had been ran over by a car and dragged along the road.
Shouldn't this gruesome sight have him revolted? Shouldn't he be running away right now?
But for some reason, Sam wasn't scared or disgusted. He noticed the horns on top of the Dean-like head and a tail that looked like it would be on a horror-movie version of a demon. Was this thing a demon? It did have black eyes…but demons didn't look like this. They looked like normal people. They didn't have horns or a tail and have injuries….their powers would have healed them.
He looked back over at his brother who was trying to signal for Sam to throw the ball, completely oblivious to this thing that stood near them. "You okay Sammy?"
"Yeah, just hurt my arm…give me a second," Sam lied, turning back to face the person, or creature that had appeared.
"Sammy, you gotta snap out of it," the thing said as soon as Sam locked eyes with it, sounding just like Dean, but a little hoarse, like when he was sick. "I swear, trying to find you in here was like walking through water or something. Your mind's all fucked up, not that surprising after what we just went through."
Sam had no idea what this…Dean? Demon? Hallucination? was going on about. He shook his head, taking a step closer. Usually he would be on guard, but there was something inside him that told him not to worry, that it was safe to be close to this thing.
"You with me now?" the thing asked. It seemed worried, the expression on its scarred face was still easy to read. It looked just like Dean did when he was really concerned about him.
"Who...who are you? Why are you wearing my brother's face?"
A mixture of emotions passed over the thing's face before it shook its head and looked Sam right in the eyes. "That's because I am your brother. It's me Sammy."
Sam shook his head as well. "My brother's right there." He turned and pointed to where Dean stood, not seeming to care or notice that Sam was chatting it up with someone he couldn't see.
"Come on Sammy, I know he's way prettier to look at than me, but that guy's all in your head. Deep down, you know I'm your real brother, why else would you be talking to me so calmly even when I look like this?"
This…demon…version of his brother did have a point. Sam hadn't even felt afraid when he had showed up. There was even a comforting presence about this Dean despite his mangled appearance. He glanced back at his other brother…
"You're dreaming Sam," the demon Dean spoke. "Wouldn't you rather have the real thing?" He gestured to himself. "Even if that thing is damaged beyond repair, it's better than something fake and perfect, right?"
Sam noticed how nervous the demon Dean seemed, how desperate and self conscious. He wanted to say something comforting, but instead he found himself saying something else entirely.
"That was the cheesiest thing I think you've ever said."
Demon Dean looked taken aback for a second before his face broke out in a grin. "Yeah, well I somehow got through saying it without throwing up. The things I do for your stupid ass..."
That…that right there was a Dean Winchester response. But if this was somehow Dean…then what about the other one?
"You with me now Sammy?" Demon Dean was asking. "Come on, we gotta wake you up and get back to our wonderful Croatoan life."
"Croatoan?" Sam wrinkled his brow. "That case we went on? What are you talking about?"
Demon Dean looked exasperated. "You still don't remember? Shit Sammy, you better not have amnesia on top of all our other problems. Think through it…come on. Get your head out of this comforting dream."
"I don't…I don't remember…I don't even know what we," Sam pointed to the other Dean, "were even doing here at the lake."
"Yeah, because it's a dream dumbass. You weren't here for any reason, your mind made it up. Don't try and think about any of it, just try and remember the real world."
Sam should have been offended by Dean's language toward him. Sure, Dean wasn't the most polite person, but he never spoke to him like that. But for some reason, he wasn't upset. It seemed normal in a way that shouldn't be. What if this Dean was the real one and everything he was saying were true?
"You have to help me out," Sam told him. "If this world I'm in really isn't real, tell me about the real world. Help me remember."
Demon Dean huffed. "I went to Hell to save you. Turned into a demon. You sent Lilith back to Hell. The demon's unleashed Croatoan. We stayed at a hotel. Alastair captured me and you saved me. Our hotel got attacked by Croats and when we were driving away, you crashed the car. Now you have a concussion and won't wake up." His voice was short and irritated through the whole explanation until he had gotten to the end. When he talked about Sam not waking up, his voice cracked just a bit.
This really could be Dean. And the story…while Sam couldn't exactly remember it…it did seem familiar.
"Come on Sammy!" This time it was the human Dean that spoke. He held out his arms for Sam to throw the football. "Don't be a wuss little brother, show me what you got."
"I know this must be relaxing and peaceful as hell Sammy, but we can go toss around some football when we're back in the real world and in a safe place," Demon Dean said. "And hey, in the real world you get a brother with awesome demon powers."
He couldn't keep procrastinating; he was never the type to do so. He had to make a choice.
It was easier than Sam thought to make a decision. He dropped the football and walked over to the demon version of his brother.
To say Demon Dean looked relieved was an understatement. "Okay good…that's the first step. Now you just have to remember. Your mind seems scattered doesn't it Sammy?"
Sam couldn't deny that. "It's like I can only get so far when I think. I know things aren't right but I don't know why. I think they're still there…I just can't reach them, I get lost before I do."
"Okay. Good, good. You don't have full-blown amnesia then. Nothing permanent. Concussions can cause temporary memory loss. We just gotta get you to somehow trigger your memories..."
Demon Dean was rambling...which was such a typical Dean thing that he did when he was overwhelmed. It was too much for Sam to watch. He always tried to comfort his brother when he was distressed. And if he was going to believe that this was his real brother...then he had to try.
"Dean..." Sam reached his hand out and as soon as he placed it on Dean's shattered shoulder, his head filled with blinding pain. It was like a switch had been flipped in Sam's mind. Suddenly, he could remember everything.
"Dean? How….what…" Sam gasped, watching as the other Dean vanished and the dream landscape became a surreal quality. The only thing that seemed real and solid was Dean.
The older brother let out a sigh of relief and visibly relaxed. "About damn time you snapped out of it. You were knocked out Sam, I couldn't get you awake so I had to try and get into your dream."
"My head…it's pounding…I just felt fine a few seconds ago…"
"Yeah, that was your mind protecting you by burying itself in this little relaxing paradise dream. My guess is you're starting to wake up and that's why you're feeling the pain that you actually have." Dean shrugged, trying and failing to not look concerned.
However, Sam could tell just by the look on his brother's face that he was insecure about the dream Sam had been having. A dream that had included him in human form. But Sam had chosen Dean over the fake version; he had to see that right?
"Dean…about this dream...I can't control it and it doesn't mean…"
"It means something Sam. It means it's where you feel safe."
"That's not true! I chose you! The real you…"
Dean cut him off. "I'm not going to waste time now talking about your mind's fantasies. We have to get you fully awake. You're gonna have to fight through the pain, no matter how bad it gets."
"Okay." Sam silently agreed to drop the subject for now, but he was definitely going to talk to Dean about this later. "But how do I wake up?"
Dean shrugged. "I don't know. Just...think about waking up?"
Alright, he could do that. Sam scrunched up his face and focused all of his energy on concentrating.
"Dude, what are you doing?" Dean asked in bewilderment. "You look like you're shitting yourself!"
"I'm trying to wake up! Feel free to tell me how to correctly concentrate so I can get out of here!"
"I don't know! I don't even dream anymore! Just…stop thinking about it so much!"
"Then I just stand here and hope for the best?" Sam didn't want to panic. He knew his brother couldn't do anything about the circumstances, but he desperately wanted to wake up. They were in a dire situation and he needed to be back in the real world to help Dean fight off the Croats. Dean had mentioned that they were safe, but Sam doubted that would last for long.
Dean's face suddenly lit up and Sam knew he had something planned.
"Okay, this is gonna sound cheesy as hell, but listen up."
"I don't care how cheesy it is, as long as it works," Sam admitted.
"Okay, so you know how you got your shit together when you touched my shoulder? Well maybe it's this..." Dean scrunched up his face disgustingly, "soul-to-soul contact shit that helps you."
Sam couldn't help but smile a little bit. "Aww Dean, is contact with me really that gross?"
Dean didn't joke back like Sam expected him too, in fact, he looked a little sad. "No, just…stop. I…come here."
Sam took a step forward and Dean put his one hand and then with a moment's hesitation, his stump, on his brother's shoulders. Even though Dean basically had to do it, Sam couldn't even explain how nice it felt to have some physical contact given by someone he loved. He was always one to bump shoulders or offer a comforting hand, but he knew it made Dean uncomfortable.
So this…he would take what he could get and be grateful for it.
He actually felt himself calming down, the tension releasing from him. Maybe Dean was right…maybe this would….
His head exploded with sudden pain and his eyes shot open. The park and lake flickered out of focus, being replaced with what looked to be a living room of an older house.
"Stay focused Sammy! Don't fight it! You gotta wake up, you gotta…"
With a startled gasp, Sam opened his eyes.
One hour earlier…
Despite Dean's screaming, Sam still hadn't budged. Blood continued to drip down his forehead and it was obvious he was out for the count. Probably had a concussion.
But that wasn't what Dean was worried about. Sammy was breathing, he would be okay as long as Dean could wake him up. What he was concerned about was being able to get them both out of this car safely without getting bitten.
A hand reached for Dean through the shattered window of the upside-down car. He growled at the desperate Croat and reached for the arm, snapping it upward and ripping the thing off at the elbow.
Blood sprayed out onto Dean's shirt and luckily the Croat backed away, some instinct that remained in its infected brain must have told it that trying to reach in with its other arm would result in the same outcome.
Dean could sit here and repeat the process if it were only a handful of Croats. But he could hear the sick moaning, it was getting louder. More and more Croats were certain to come, attracted to the loud noise they created by crashing the car.
He had to get them out now. It was their only shot. He had to teleport as far away as he possibly could and make sure Sam was in his arms when he appeared outside. Sure, there was the chance he'd teleport them right in the middle of an angry swarm of the monsters, but what other choice did he have?
He would just have to hope for the best. Maybe….maybe they'd have luck on their side for once.
Dean focused on their bags that they had thrown in the back seat and were now sitting on the inside of the upturned roof. He couldn't forget those, not when they contained a supply of food, clothes and weapons.
Unbuckling is seatbelt, his head hit the roof and he somehow contorted his tall body so he was sitting on it. He put one backpack on and flung the rest over the shoulder of his bad arm. They pulled on it and sent some pain all the way down to his fingertips, but he'd just have to fight through it and ignore it.
Now that he had that settled, he just had to grab a hold of Sam and hope that he focused enough that when he teleported away, Sam would be over his other shoulder when they reappeared.
The growling was much louder now. Dean took this as a good thing. Maybe if there were a lot of Croats around the car, there would be fewer wherever they teleported and they'd be able to make a break for the nearest house.
There was no use in waiting any longer; more Croats were reaching for him, and more importantly, for Sam. Dean grabbed onto his brother's arm, closed his eyes, and focused.
A second later, Dean appeared with Sam over his shoulder, about 300 feet from the car. It wasn't as far as he knew he could teleport, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
There were about two hundred Croats in the area, with a few only five feet away. They noticed the brothers and screamed, lurching forward.
"Shit!" Dean teleported himself again, not knowing what else to do. In his panic, he reappeared a bit closer to the car, with Croats on either side of him.
One of the monsters reached out toward him and Dean tried to duck. He knew he hadn't been quick enough when he felt something tugging on his bad arm. Pain shot up his up but he ignored it and attempted to yank himself away, causing the Croat tumble to the ground with one of their backpacks.
Shit! Dean went to reach out with his powers to grab it, but it was difficult to focus while he was in such a panic and trying to balance Sam in his arms. Another Croat reached out grabbing onto Sam's hair and that's when Dean decided to fuck it.
He focused one more time and made it further away, but not by much. He wasn't in a stable mindset right now, and he was getting mentally tired. He would only be able to do this for so long before one of these things bit them….
"Look out!"
Dean wasn't sure who spoke, but he didn't care. He instinctively dropped to the ground and moved Sam into his arms, hovering over his little brother in a protective stance.
He wasn't aware what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't the car blowing up.
Dean felt the heat but was luckily far enough away from the flames that they didn't scorch him or Sam. He stood up, placing Sam over his good shoulder once more and was relieved to see that the majority of the Croats were distracted by the fire, running up to it, some of them even jumping into the flames.
A few were still heading his way, but the fire was just the distraction he needed to get away. Dean ducked away from a few Croats' grabby hands and ran as fast as he could toward the sound of the voice he heard. That person had saved them….and was their best chance at continuing to stay alive.
A young man, probably in his early twenties, was waving a gun in the air, signaling for Dean and standing out among all the Croat-infested bodies wandering about. He made a beeline for the man, who pointed toward a farmhouse behind him.
"Dean, get in the house. I'll try and delay them as long as possible."
He paused for a moment, confused by the fact that this man knew his name. Dean didn't recognize him. What if this guy was working for Eve? But why would he have even bothered saving them in the first place?
Deciding to take the risk and figure out who the guy was later, Dean turned and ran toward the house, gripping tightly to his brother's limp body.
When he felt he was a safe distance from the house, Dean concentrated as much as he could and teleported...
Opening his eyes, he found himself safely inside the living room of the farm house. He breathed a deep sigh of relief, not realizing how much he had been panicking until now.
They had almost got bitten. It had been that close. They really did need to play it super safe from now on.
Dean looked around the room, finding that it had been lived in for quite some time. Weapons and food lay around, the windows were bordered up and there wasn't as much dust as there would have been if the house had been unoccupied.
Not wanting to waste any more time looking around, Dean eyed the couch and gently placed his little brother down on it. He checked Sam's head and saw that while there was a gash on the top right corner of his hairline, it wasn't deep and the bleeding had nearly stopped. It must have been the trauma to his head that knocked him out.
"Earth to Sammy…" Dean snapped his fingers in front of his brother's face and when that didn't work, he smacked Sam on the cheeks as softly as he could. "Come on little brother, I could use that freaky big head of yours right about now."
Unsurprisingly, Sam didn't move and Dean decided to try and find something to clean the cut on his forehead. As soon as he stood up, the door flew open and the man that had saved them rushed inside. He immediately secured several latches that kept the door shut and then turned around.
"I think I distracted enough of them that they aren't headed this way. But there's still some that saw me run toward the house and I'm sure they're prowling around."
Dean didn't answer. Instead, held out his hand and sent the man sliding into the wall.
"What...what are you doing?" the man stuttered. "I saved you Dean! Let me go!"
Yeah...he wasn't about to do that. Not when he had no idea who this guy was and why he saved them. What if he did want to hurt them? Not that he would stand a chance, but still…
"Let you go so you could kill Sam? I don't think so." Dean walked closer, keeping his good hand extended and leaving the man unable to move. "You want to start by telling me who the hell you are and how you know my name?"
The man shook his head, seeming confused. "You don't remember me? Well...it's not like we saw each other all that much. It's Vince...I was Freddie's brother."
"Freddie...the guy that shot me with the intent to kill and started our home on fire? That Freddie?" Dean seethed, unintentionally clenching his fist and causing Vince to gasp as his air supply was cut off.
Dean released his grip when he watched Vince shake his head desperately.
"Yes! I didn't do that though! I had no part of it! He pushed me around and basically abused me!"
"Still, he's your brother. People that are treated that way sometimes get messed up in the head, you could be loyal to him."
"I didn't even see the guy for years before the Croats attacked! Trust me, I may have turned into a wimp around him but he didn't manipulate me to be crazy like him. I killed my own brother because I knew it was right! I knew he was an evil screwed up bastard!"
Dean dropped his hand, allowing Vince to move his arms but not yet walk away. "And why did you save us now?"
"You and your brother are good people who are trying to do the right thing. And I'm trying to do the right thing too in saving you, like I did last time."
Dean kept his eyes narrowed but released his powers completely, giving Vince full control over his body.
"Thank you," Vince said, and although Dean was looking for any sign that he was being insincere, he didn't notice any.
"Don't thank me. One wrong move and your intestines will be on the floor."
The man let out a slightly-frightened sounding laugh. "That's...disturbing."
"I may not be a psycho evil bastard but I'm still a demon. I will end you if I even think you're a threat to my brother."
Vince held his hands up. "Why would I even attempt that when I know you'd kill me in two seconds flat?"
Dean narrowed his eyes. "Answer me this. Why the hell are you still around here?"
"After the fire…I...I found this place to stay in while I decided my next move. While I was doing that, I saw you guys go into the hotel. I stayed around here because...well.. I was hoping I'd be allowed back with your group after some time," Vince stuttered. "I was waiting for the right time to approach you guys. Please don't hurt me, I just didn't want to be alone!"
Dean ignored his pleas. "Did you have anything to do with these Croats?"
"What? No! I don't...I've noticed they can't be killed like they used to and there's been more around. Then tonight I saw this...swarm of them like I've never seen before and noticed they were headed straight for the hotel. I stayed alert to see if I could help anyone and that's when..."
"You saw us crash," Dean finished.
"Yes...yes...please...I don't want to cause you any harm. I'm not a threat."
Dean wanted to be more skeptical but there was no way this man was lying. He was really just scared shitless. Dean let his powers drop completely. "Whatever." He pointed over toward Sam. "Help my brother."
"What's wrong with him?" Vince asked, looking relieved as he walked shakily over to Sam and kneeling down next to him.
Dean stood behind Vince like a hawk, wanting to make sure the man didn't hurt Sam in any way. He didn't like leaving Sam's safety in the hands of anyone but himself. But Dean didn't have anything to clean Sam's wound, and maybe Vince had stashed some medical supplies somewhere.
"He's got a concussion. His forehead is bleeding." Dean gritted his teeth and clenched his fists when Vince moved Sam's hair to look at the wound. It took a lot of power to restrain himself from pushing Vince away from Sam. He didn't like people he didn't know touching his little brother, especially when he was knocked out cold.
"The wound started by his hairline, here." Vince pointed to the location. "It doesn't look too deep, so it should stop bleeding soon and heal up."
"You got anything to clean it with or bandage it up?" Dean asked gruffly.
"I did gather up some basic medical stuff...ointments, bandages, peroxide..."
"Okay, then go get them. Hurry up."
Vince stood up and skittishly hurried out of the room and into one of the bedrooms. He came out a minute later with a bag full of supplies.
"Okay," the man started. He knelt down next to Sam. "I can..."
Dean reached out with his powers and sent the man sliding five feet back. Vince yelped and looked up at Dean in shock.
"Uh-uh." Dean glared down at him. "I told you to get the supplies, not fix him up. Only I do that. Get back."
"Okay...okay..." Vince got to his feet shakily and took another few footsteps away from Dean. It was nice to have someone afraid of him again. Dean forgot how much fun it was.
But he couldn't focus on that now. He had to take care of his brother. He knelt down and got to work in cleaning the blood away from the wound and getting any dirt out of it. He grabbed one of the bigger adhesive bandages and placed in over the cut. The white material starkly stuck out from Sam's tanned forehead and Dean made a mental note to tease his brother about it when he was feeling better.
Dean shook Sam once more and wasn't surprised when he didn't get any reaction.
"You've gotta find a way to get him awake," Vince said quietly from the other side of the room.
"You think I don't know that, asshole?" Dean spat back, feeling gleeful when panic crossed over the man's features.
"I wasn't...I wasn't saying it like that. Just...have you tried everything?"
It took all of Dean's willpower not to say something sarcastic back. "Every damn thing I can think of."
Sam was out completely. And what if the longer he was knocked out, the harder it was to get him awake? Dean had to figure something out...and fast.
He had the ability to talk to Sam with the telepathy, but since Sam wasn't conscious, it wouldn't work.
But...maybe he could still jump into Sam's dream? And if Sam wasn't dreaming, maybe Dean could still enter his mind and create one so they could talk?
He needed to fall asleep. But he was too worked up right now to be able to.
"Vince." Dean stared at the anxious young man. "I need you to knock me out."
"Wh...what?" Vince shook his head. "I don't...can you even get knocked out?"
"Of course." He tried not to roll his eyes. "It just takes a lot more. But I'll let down my defenses so that will help. Just...I would say shoot me in the head but the sound would attract those things. You got a shovel or something somewhere?"
Vince's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. Why did he look so scared? The guy probably killed Croats on a daily basis, what was the big deal in hitting a demon in the head?
"Why the hell do you want me to knock you out!?" the man spluttered. "And why do you seem so happy about it?"
Dean sighed. He hated explaining this. Time for the cliffnotes version. "My demon powers allow me to talk to Sam. I can't 'cause he's knocked out. If I'm knocked out too then I can visit him in his dream. Now come on, hurry. Hit me!"
Vince still seemed completely bewildered but he did walk into another room and came out with a hammer. He glanced down at it and then at Dean and suddenly looked like he was going to be sick. "Uh...is this okay?"
"Yeah, yeah good. Just make sure to hit me hard enough. And in the temple." Dean lay down on the floor and titled his head to the side. "Come on! No! Don't close your eyes! Focus and swing down..."
Feeling a sudden sharp pain, Dean let darkness take him. He was going to bring his brother back.
Dean awoke with his head spinning and tried to orient himself. He normally didn't get dizzy, that was a human thing and he was much too strong to suffer from something so minuscule. So why...
He remembered now. He had gone into Sam's dream. Trying to get into his brother's mind while he was knocked out must have taken more out of him than the dream sharing normally did.
The experience had been odd. Especially when he had seen what Sam's dream consisted of….he had been dreaming of Dean as a human. It wouldn't have bothered him so much…it wasn't like he never expected Sam to have dreams of the old him…if it weren't how happy Sam had seemed.
His little brother's mind had taken him to a time when he was relaxed and at ease in order to protect himself from the chaos and pain he had experienced. Sam felt safer and more content with him as a human.
Not that Dean could blame him….but still, it stung.
Deciding not to waste any more time dwelling on those facts, Dean stood up, his dizziness already dissipated and his head injury long ago healed. He hurried to the couch, ignoring Vince and smiled when he saw Sam scrunching up his face in pain.
He was awake. Everything would be okay.
"Hey, freak, open your eyes." Dean jostled Sam as much as he dared to and was pleased to see Sam squint at him.
"Dean…what…" He reached over and rubbed at the side of his head.
He was talking. Good he was more alert than someone normally would be after a concussion like that. It was probably from the demon blood that strengthened him…
Demon blood. He needed to give Sam some of his blood now. It was a bit early for his daily dose, but it would help him heal even quicker.
"I have to tell Sam something," Dean told Vince and pointed down toward the hallway. "Get out of the room."
Vince didn't need to be told twice. He went into one of the bedrooms and closed the door.
"Who…" Sam attempted to sit up and Dean helped him, placing one of the old pillows behind his back for support. "Who was that?"
"That asshole Freddie's brother," Dean said, digging through their remaining bags for the blood water bottles.
They weren't there. The bag that Dean had placed them in was the one that got ripped away from him in the Croat scuffle.
Great.
"Sammy, don't kill me for this."
"Huh?" Sam squinted at Dean and then rubbed at his eyes, wincing.
"Our food and water backpack was ripped off of me by a Croat."
"Oh…" Sam sounded sluggish but at least he was following the conversation. "That…that's really bad."
"Yeah, and you know what's worse? The blood kool-aid was in there and you need to take your daily dose now to help heal you up."
Sam seemed to become a little more aware. "What are we going to do?"
"Gotta drink it straight up." Dean grabbed his knife and cut his hand that was resting outside of the sling. He put the knife away and moved that hand under the other one, cupping the blood. Once he was pleased with the amount he had, he placed his palm in front of Sam's face.
As expected, Sam made a face. "Gross."
"I know, but it's the same amount you usually have, just not mixed in water. It will taste stronger but it won't be disgusting to you. Just try and ignore the fact that it's straight-up blood."
Sam was still making that dorky face but didn't complain as he sipped at the blood in Dean's hand. It's not like he had anything to be embarrassed about, it was only the two of them that were in the room.
When Sam was done he pushed Dean's hand away and wiped at his mouth clumsily.
Dean sighed at the red still smeared on Sam's face and grabbed a nearby blanket to wipe it off. Sam shoved at him, and Dean was pleased to know that there was some strength behind it.
"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?"
Sam just pouted.
"Gonna have to get used to it if we can't find any more water bottles. Feeling better?"
Sam stretched and blinked a few times, his face becoming more alert with each passing moment. "Yeah...actually, I feel a lot better."
"Good." Dean sat down on the couch next to Sam's feet, feeling lost for words. Sam's dream still nagged at him, and while he had promised his brother that he would let him know when something was bothering him...Dean just couldn't do it. How ridiculous would he sound if he berated Sam for dreaming about him as a human?
Maybe it didn't mean what he thought it did...maybe the dream meant nothing at all...
He kinda missed how he was when he first came back from Hell. Less stupid emotions, no dwelling on things. Everything had been so simple back then. He had been able to handle months where Sam didn't believe he was his brother and now, one little thing that Sam did turned him into the most emo demon ever to exist.
"Dean," Sam spoke, startling the older Winchester. "Thank you."
Dean raised one eyebrow. "Thanks for what?"
"For not giving up on me, for trying everything and going into my mind to wake me up. Thank you."
Sam's puppy dog eyes were so sincere that it was impossible for Dean to deny that Sam was being genuine. "Yeah, whatever. Had to wake you up to tell you all the wonderful news. Like getting separated from the rest of our group. And losing our food. Don't forget that we are probably surrounded by a horde of Croats and locked up with Freddie's brother without a vehicle to drive away in."
Sam sighed, looking completely crestfallen. "So basically, we're screwed."
Dean listened to the moaning Croats and considered the possibility that Bobby and the others may not have made it much further than them...
"We're more than screwed Sammy. We're fucked."
Well there is the first chapter. Please, if you have the time, take a minute to leave a review. I always love to know what my readers think and I'm especially nervous when posting a first chapter of a story.
