HAVE A LITTLE...
THEN
On November 2, 1983, something attacked the Winchester home in Lawrence, Kansas, killing a beloved wife and mother of two small children.
That abrupt introduction to a hidden world of monsters turned an ex-Marine into a Hunter. He brought his his children up in that lifestyle.
On October 26, 2005, a spirit attacked Dean Winchester at a costume party he was attending while working a case. The attack transformed Dean, fusing him with his brother Sam into one person and giving them the ability to control fire.
On November 2, 2005, something attacked the Winchester home in Palo Alto, California, killing the woman Sam was going to ask to marry him and sending the brothers on the same hunt as their suddenly-absent father.
Their already complicated life has been complicated further by the fact that their father is hunting the fire elemental named Gemini that has somehow latched onto his sons.
Completely unaware that he is hunting his own children.
NOW
The sheer amount of children gone missing was alarming.
The condition their bodies were discovered in was terrifying.
Put together, law enforcement realised they had a serial killer on their hands.
Put together, the Winchesters realised they had a Rawhead on their hands.
Normally, they'd go in as Gemini, but two things stayed their hands. First, Gemini controlled fire. Rawheads were immune to fire - electricity destroyed them.
And second, the Rawhead had taken two more children - a brother and a sister. So they had to take him down and find the kids.
That spelled a two-person attack. Which meant they'd have to do this as Sam and Dean - not as Gemini.
"Is it/It's charged," they chorused as Dean handed over a tazer, and despite the situation, they shared a chuckle.
"You got one shot with that," Dean reminded him.
Sam nodded. He went high and Dean went low. After almost twenty minutes, Sam heard sobbing.
He paused outside a door and called, "Hey! I'm Sam - my brother and I are here to take you home!"
"Thank G-d! I'm Lee and my sister's Laura!"
"Step back!" Sam kicked in the door. The next thing he knew, he had an armful of two grateful children.
He quickly checked them over. Finding them not badly injured, he guided them out of the building and told them to go to the Impala - he pointed out the shape in the darkness - while he found his own brother.
Nearing the basement stairs, Sam gasped as agony lanced through every fibre of his being.
Because of Gemini, they remained slightly linked when apart. But this - this had never happened to Sam before.
Gaining his feet, he raced down the stairs.
He found a dead Rawhead and Dean lying in a pool of water.
Unmoving.
Blue-lipped.
Only their weak link told Sam that Dean was alive.
He fell to his knees beside him, getting a small jolt in the process.
Electricity and water.
"Oh, G-d! Dean!"
SPN GEMINI SPN
"There he is!"
The familiar voice had Sam's head snapping up seconds before twin missiles impacted. Sam held Lee and Laura tight for a moment before looking into the tear-stained face of the woman behind them.
She bent down and kissed his forehead. "Thank you," she whispered. "For saving my children. I'll pray for your brother."
Sam nodded. "Thank you." He watched her lead her children away and watched the policeman handling the case approach.
The policeman nodded. "If there is a next time, call a professional, okay, son?"
Sam nodded mutely and watched him walk away. Oh, if you only knew...
His thoughts were arrested and he stood as he saw Dean's doctor approach. "Doc?"
"Mister Berkowitz," the doctor nodded. His eyes were sad and his voice was soft. "I wish I had some better news."
That didn't sound good. "What do you mean?"
The doctor sighed. "The electrical shock triggered a massive heart attack. There's considerable damage to the cardiac muscle."
Sam nodded numbly. "Okay... so how long before he's better?"
The doctor's eyes turned even sadder. "I'm afraid you don't understand, Mr. Berkowitz. With the amount and type of damage... It-It's just too severe."
Sam's knees did a slow buckle, leaving him right back into his seat. "You're..." he choked out. "You're telling me...th-that Dean's gonna die."
"I'm truly sorry."
"H-How long?"
"Days," the doctor whispered. "Weeks. I'm truly, truly sorry."
SPN GEMINI SPN
That isn't Dean.
That was all Sam could think as he entered the small CICU room. The man propped up on the bed looked...small.
Frail.
His skin was so pale his dark blond hair looked brunet. His large eyes were ringed by shadows and his lips looked unnaturally red around a very distinct tinge of blue. He lay nearly still, the only movement his fingers pressing on the remote control.
Dean didn't turn his eyes, but he spoke. His voice had become reedy - fragile. "Ever notice how there's really nothing good on daytime TV?"
"Dean..."
"Commercials are annoying, too. Especially that fabric softener bear. One of these days I swear, I'm gonna hunt that-"
"That's not funny, Dean."
Those too-red and horrifyingly blue lips curled slightly. "Oh, c'mon," he slurred. "S'a little funny."
Sam came around and sat gently on the edge of the foot of Dean's bed. "Doctors talked to you, yet?"
"Yeah," Dean sighed. "Reckon I finally drew the short straw this time, huh?"
Sam raised his left hand. "Good thing I know how to fix it, then, huh?"
"No, Sammy. Not this time."
SPN GEMINI SPN
Sam paced his motel room, running his hands through his hair in frustration. He considered calling his father and filling him in, but ultimately he discarded the idea.
John Winchester couldn't do anything. Sam could - but Dean had said "No."
Dean had refused to let Sam do what he had to do to heal Dean!
Shocked, Sam had lowered his hand and asked, "What? But - why?"
But Dean had been unable to answer as the doctor had come in to examine him. Sam had told him, "I'm going to go look at... at second opinions."
Dean had nodded. "No snapping, Sammy," he had insisted.
So now, Sam was frustrated and confused. He was scouring the Internet for ways to fix his big brother.
A sudden knock on the door had Sam rising to his feet, frowning. There was no way he could be sensing what he was sensing - Dean was in the hospital. He grabbed his pistol and moved toward the door. "Yeah!" he called.
"It's me."
Sam's eyes went huge. He shoved the gun into the back of his belt and tugged open the door.
Sure enough, his strange new sense hadn't been lying to him. Dean smiled up at him. He was in the black hoodie Sam had left at the hospital in his shock. Pale but determined, Dean staggered his way inside.
"Man, what are you doing here?" Sam gasped, taking his shoulders and guiding him to sit in the chair.
"Checked out AMA," Dean said, his voice exhausted. "I ain't gonna die in a hospital where the nurses ain't even hot."
Sam sat on the bed, facing him. "Dude. You're not gonna die at all."
"I know."
"I'm finding ways, since you wouldn't let- wait, what?"
Dean smiled. "I wouldn't let you turn us into Gemini - there."
Sam just blinked. "So... your 'no'..."
"Neither of us need that kind of scrutiny and that kind of examination." Dean licked blue-tinged red lips. "And yeah - part of me is worried that healin' me might hurt your heart."
"Did healing my leukemia hurt your blood?"
"Sammy, we don't know what I healed in your blood. But no - it didn't. And healing our abuse at the hands of the Wendigo and the poltergeist in Lawrence - and even the concussion we both got in Burkittsville cause it happened as Gemini - none of that hurt us after our healing."
Sam nodded. "Then why are you afraid this will?"
"Cause I'm your big brother. And I always worry about you."
Sam chuckled, shaking his head slightly.
"Okay, Sammy," Dean said with a tired smile. "Go ahead."
With a huge, relieved smile, Sam snapped the fingers of his left hand.
Dean vanished from the chair. On the bed, Gemini opened his eyes.
Slowly, he lay down on the bed and rested - giving the damaged heart time to heal.
SPN GEMINI SPN
The incessant ringing of the cellphone brought Gemini out of a light sleep. Yours or mine? Sam asked.
"Yours. You gettin' out or -?"
Yeah. Stay still. Sam rolled over to the other side of the bed, leaving a sleepy-eyed Dean laying there. Sam sat up and grabbed his phone. "Hello?"
He listened for a moment, then grabbed a pencil. "Yeah, go ahead." He wrote for a moment. "And you're sure about this?" He smiled. "Yeah, okay, thanks. Yeah, I'm positive." He turned and met Dean's eyes. "Dean's gonna be fine. Thanks, man. I owe you one."
Dean watched him set the phone back onto the nightstand. "Who was that?"
"Joshua," Sam said, naming one of their hunting and research helpers. "I thought you meant I couldn't help you at all, so I got him to look for other solutions."
Nodding, Dean asked, "What did he find?"
"A specialist in Nebraska," Sam answered. "How do you feel?"
"Stronger," Dean admitted. His colour had improved and his lips were no longer blue-tinged. The overly bright red of them had improved as well. "Still really tired."
"Few more hours?" Sam asked.
"You don't mind?"
"No, man, I don't mind. Go ahead."
Dean smiled and rolled his left hand over beside him, palm now facing the ceiling.
The single snap felt like a cry of triumph.
SPN GEMINI SPN
Tucker, Nebraska. Three days later.
Dean whistled as the Impala pulled up outside the medical centre. "You're serious?"
"Yep," Sam said as he turned the engine off. "I'm serious."
Dean shook his head and climbed out of the passenger seat. "A faith healer?"
Closing the door behind him, Sam shrugged. "What can I say? I was desperate."
"Well, I feel much better," Dean smiled. "Let's see what this doctor has to say."
"Hey, Dean?"
"Yeah?"
Sam chewed his lip for a second. "You're not mad that I insisted you get checked out, are you?"
Dean grinned at him. "Considerin' how close I was to buyin' it? Not one bit."
SPN GEMINI SPN
A few miles away, a blind preacher laid hands on a blonde woman with an inoperable brain tumour.
Five miles away from that, a healthy young man swimming laps gasped, a hand flying to his head.
The young woman cried in joy as she knew in the depths of her soul that healing had happened.
The young man's swimming friends screamed in horror as he sank and didn't surface.
SPN GEMINI SPN
The hum of the machine cut off as the young doctor flipped the switch, leaning over Dean as she did so. "Sorry," she apologised with a smile.
"Don't apologise on my account," Dean teased with a wicked smile, making Sam laugh and roll his eyes.
The doctor grinned and pinched Dean's arm. "You sound like my husband."
"Well, he's a lucky man," Dead declared seriously as she unhooked the leads from his chest.
Her smile was tender. "Thank you, Mister Cross." She handed him a towel as he sat up. "I'll just go get your bloodwork results, and we'll see about getting you outta here."
"Thanks, Doc." Dean slowly picked off patch after patch, using the towel to clean the gel off his chest.
Sam sat down beside him after she left. Dean looked at him and asked softly, "Well?"
Sam handed him his shirt. "Well," he said while Dean shrugged it on. "I'm not a doctor, but the EKG seemed fine to me. Nice and rhythmic." Once Dean had settled his black t-shirt in place, Sam slid the amulet from around his own neck and handed it over.
Dean slid it on and dropped it underneath his shirt. He'd have been happy for Sam to have held onto it - it had been around his brother's neck since the last time they'd separated from Gemini - but it seemed comforting for Sam to return it, so Dean didn't kick up a fuss.
Both brothers looked up as the doctor walked in, a strange expression on her face. "Doc?" they asked in perfect unison.
"Well," the doctor said softly. "Mister Cross, your heart shows absolutely no sign of any damage at all."
"I get the feelin," Sam began.
"-there's a 'but' coming up," they finished together.
The doctor blinked at them. "You're good," she chuckled, then sobered. "And yes, there's a 'but' coming up. A rather large 'but'."
"What is it?" they chorused.
She blinked again. "Do you do that often?"
"Do what?" they asked together, then Dean said, "Please...just tell me."
The doctor sighed. "There's an anomaly in your bloodwork, Mister Cross."
Dean frowned "An anomaly? What kind of anomaly?"
She raised her chin slightly. "Mister Cross...What do you know about meta-humans?"
"Meta-humans?" they said in unison, then Dean shook his head. "Never heard of the word."
The doctor nodded. "Few have. But everybody knows what they are. A meta-human is the medical term for the real-life instances of what's called 'super-heroes' in the comic books."
Dean and Sam looked at each other, then Sam asked, "What does that have to do with that anomaly in his bloodwork?"
"Everything. Mister Cross, the anomaly is a specific marker that only appears in meta-humans. So..."
Dean licked suddenly dry lips. "What...What does that mean...medically?"
She nodded. "A two-letter code will be put into your file. 'MH'. It's necessary - because there are certain drugs that either interact strangely with metas, or become completely ineffective. And some treatments that work on normals can be downright dangerous for metas."
"How dangerous?" they chorused.
"Depending on the treatment?" she said, looking at each of them. "Potentially fatal."
Dean met her eyes. "And it's confidential? Just on our records, only for medical personnel to see?'
"It falls under patient-doctor privilege," the doctor assured him.
Dean studied his hands for a second, then looked up. "Put it in my file, then, Doc. Last name Winchester."
He felt, rather than saw, Sam's incredulous expression. He turned to look at him.
Sam sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. "Mine, too. Samuel F. Winchester."
"Brothers," the doctor guessed. At their nods, she asked, "Why 'Cross'?"
"No medical insurance," Dean admitted. "No permanent address." He felt Sam's What the HELL? expression, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. "And I had to get my heart checked out ASAP after a work-related incident."
She nodded. "Well, then. From one meta-human to another? This one's on me."
They gaped at her. "You?" they chorused.
"M-hm," she smiled. "I compel people to tell the truth."
The brothers blinked at her, then both began to laugh, suddenly realising the source of Dean's unexpected burst of complete honesty.
"What's your ability?" she asked.
Dean grinned and snapped the fingers of his left hand. She gasped when Sam suddenly vanished and an altered Dean opened very different eyes. "Hi," he said. "I'm Gemini."
She smiled and opened her mouth, but the door opened and a nurse stuck her head in. "Doctor Evans? Excuse me, but you wanted to be notified when another was brought in."
"Thank you, Sarah." The nurse withdrew, and Evans stood with a weary sigh.
"Another what?" Gemini asked, frowning.
She met his eyes. "Another unexplained, unnatural death."
Gemini hopped off the table. "Show me."
"Show you?" Evans asked. "Look-"
"This is my job, Doctor Evans," Gemini said. "Investigating mysterious deaths.'
Evans nodded slowly. "Private investigators?"
"Of a sort," Gemini responded truthfully.
It was good enough for Evans. "Follow me."
As they walked down the hall, Evans said, "This is the third in as many days. All at roughly the same time of death. All different causes. All mysterious."
"Mysterious how?" Gemini asked.
"There was no medical reason for them to die as they did." They entered the room where the body had just finished being autopsied, and Evans blew the air out of her cheeks. "And here, we have our first female."
"Any idea how she died?" Gemini said.
Evans was scanning the report. "Jennifer Creavy. Aged 45. Non-smoker. No medical history of asthma. Husband said she suffered an acute episode of restricted breathing and died before the ambulance arrived."
Gemini frowned at her. "But asthma doesn't kill. I - Sam - had it as a child."
"That's a common misconception," Evans informed him. "Left untreated - or treated wrongly - asthma can kill. But..." She frowned deeply at the report. "The way this is described and the way her lungs reacted, it sounds almost like emphysema. But she wasn't a smoker."
"I see what you mean about mysterious," Gemini said. "I need the reports about the other deaths, please."
Evans nodded grimly.
SPN GEMINI SPN
"Any luck?" Dean asked.
"No, and I've been at it for hours," Sam groaned, standing and popping his back. "You?"
"I dunno," Dean said slowly. "Maybe. Remember that faith healer you were gonna bring me to?"
"Roy LeGrange?" Sam answered. "Yeah - how come?"
Dean gestured to a newspaper in the stack spread in front of him. "He's having a tent meeting outside of Tucker. He's healed three people in three days. A heart condition, an inoperable brain tumour - and this afternoon, an old man with emphysema."
Sam frowned deeply. "Wait. The first mystery death was of cardiac arrest. The second was a stroke - and today's was possible emphysema."
Dean nodded slowly. "I think we need to pay a visit to the good Reverend LeGrange in the morning."
SPN GEMINI SPN
Reverend LeGrange turned out to be a soft-spoken blind man. What struck Dean was how humble he was. It was real - not faked. Not masking arrogance. LeGrange truly believed God had gifted him after he had come out of his coma.
Sam had been watching LeGrange's wife as the man had spoken. All her focus was on him. Sam saw a smirk as he talked about his gift and saw how her fingers didn't stop playing with a large amulet around her neck.
They left the LeGrange house, and Dean sighed. "I'm not sure he's responsible for this. That faith's genuine."
"I agree. He isn't responsible. I'm not too sure she isn't, though."
Dean frowned. "She? Sue-Anne?" At Sam's nod, he said, "Okay, lay it on me."
"She seemed awful self-satisfied and she couldn't keep her hands off that necklace. A cross with a circle on top."
The frown deepened. "An ankh?"
"Or something similar. I don't know - there was just something..."
Dean took his arm. "Hey - look." The LeGranges left the house and drove away. "Their service must be starting soon."
"Okay," Sam nodded."You go to that service. I'm gonna poke around here awhile."
"Be careful. Snap if you need me."
"You do the same." Sam got out of the car and watched Dean drive away. He found a basement window and slid through it.
SPN GEMINI SPN
The soft strains of a semi-muted "Smoke On The Water" and the buzz of the phone in Dean's pocket were never more welcome. "Dude," he hissed into the phone as he slid out of the tent. "I was about to go to sleep in there!"
"This'll wake you up," Sam informed him. "I was right. It's Sue-Anne."
"What'd you find?"
"A book of spells - real black-arts stuff. One of those is how to trap a Reaper."
"A Reaper?" Dean gasped. "As in Grim Reaper?"
"Yeah. There's an altar here that matches the one listed in the spell - and the symbol matches her amulet."
"So LeGrange isn't healing anybody. It's Sue-Anne and her pet Reaper."
"And there's more. Get this - the people that died? Weren't random. Each of them is a local activist. Abortion rights, gay rights-"
Dean's eyes narrowed. "People she considers-"
"Immoral," Sue-Anne said from behind him. Dean whirled and saw her glaring at him, fingering her amulet. "Unfit to live. Like you."
Dean saw a tall, too-thin elderly man in a suit shimmer into existence beside Sue-Anne. "Oooh, crap!" "Dean?"
"Sammy!" he yelled. "Gemini! NOW!"
He heard the echo of a single snap in his ear and felt the familiar disorientation as his body dissolved. He felt the warm familiarity of Sam's consciousness touching his own and the familiar surge of energy in his body as their powers leapt into life. He felt the weight of his cellphone still in his left hand and began to feel a book form in his right.
Gemini opened his eyes and took in the dimly-lit basement Sam had been in. "Is that the altar?"
It is.
Snapping the cell closed and shoving it into his back pocket, he lifted the book. "And this is the book you were talking about?"
Yeah. Dean, why did you have me-
The Reaper shimmered into visibility. "That's why!" Gemini yelled. He flung the book onto the altar.
The Reaper froze, a puzzled look forming.
"If I burn it," Gemini said quickly, "you'll be set free?"
The Reaper's head dipped in a single slow nod.
Gemini whirled to the altar and sent twin jets of flame pouring onto it. It made an unearthly sound and exploded.
The Reaper flicked out of view.
"LeGrange really had no idea, huh?" Gemini said as they extinguished the fire once the altar was consumed.
"None," Sam said as he walked out of Gemini and led the way out of the basement. "It was all Sue-Anne. And with the altar and book destroyed, she can't-"
They froze as the Reaper flickered back into view. It held up a hand. "You freed me," it said in a voice like dried leaves. "And in gratitude, I give you this word."
"What's that?" they chorused.
"You were granted your self-healing abilities to aid in your new tasks. But in their use, twice shall you thwart the plans of the Scapegoat."
Sam frowned. "The what?"
"One has already happened, though you know it not. The second shall be when the fire falls from the sky."
It bowed its head and was gone.
Dean and Sam looked at each other, completely confused.
SPN GEMINI SPN
On their way out of Tucker, the brothers paid one final visit to Reverend LeGrange.
Sue-Anne's body had been found outside of the tent. Outwardly, she appeared fine. But her internal organs had been severely burned. All of them.
There was no natural explanation.
The Winchesters went to see if Reverend LeGrange was all right. They found a grieving husband with no healing ability, but with an unshaken faith and firm belief that God's hand was in all of this.
Somehow.
He prayed a blessing over them both, and they were on their way.
"You're quiet," Dean said once they'd passed the town limits. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Sam sighed. "Something the Reaper said bugged me. So I looked it up.'
"Yeah? Wonder if it's the same thing that's bugging me."
Sam looked at him. "That we would thwart -"
"-the plans of the Scapegoat?" they chorused.
"Yeah, that's it," Dean sighed. "I mean, I know what a scapegoat is, but it sounded like it was using that as a name!"
"That's what I thought, too," Sam said.
"Shocker," Dean teased and they shared a quick smile before Sam went on:
"So, I called Bobby while you were in the shower this morning."
"What'd he say?"
"Apparently, the Scapegoat is another name for a pretty high-level demon."
Dean's eyes narrowed. "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Got a name yet?"
"Yeah, but not much more information on him."
Dean nodded. "We'll get that. What's the name?"
Sam's jaw twitched before he ground it out, as if it tasted bad in his mouth. "Azazel."
END