Sam was strapped to a metal table; his arms and legs were tied tightly with chains, slowly being pulled out of their sockets. Lucifer looked down at his pet, and sliced into Sam's shoulder blades with his knife. He was slowly cutting and pulling Sam's arms from his body, and when he was done he would do the same to his legs. Sam was used to this after decades in the cage- he bit down hard on the gag in his mouth, his voice too tired and horse to scream after years of doing so. He whimpered through the pain and thrashed trying to get away from Lucifer but it was useless, his movements only made the pain worse.
Dean woke to the sound of his brothers' whimpers and thrashing in the bed next to him. He looked over to Sam to see Sam's arms and legs stretched tight on the bed as if someone had tied him down. Sam was covered in sweat, his face screwed up in pain, and he was biting down hard on his lip. Dean leap from his own bed and rushed over to Sam, desperate to get his baby brother out of whatever hell memory he was currently reliving. Dean gripped his brothers' shoulders and shouted his name. "SAM! Sam its only a nightmare wake up!" Dean got no response but more whimpers and thrashing. Sam had been having hell nightmares ever since Cas broke his wall but they were getting worse and worse and it was getting harder for Dean to wake him up. During the day Sam was usually able to keep his hallucinations under control but at night he was completely helpless. Both brothers had endured countless sleepless nights.
Since the shouting didn't seem to be working Dean slapped Sam across the face hard in hopes to snap him out of his nightmare. Thankfully it worked and Sam woke with a start his breathing heavy and panic in his eyes.
"Dean?!" Sam managed, still trying to process what just happened.
"Yea Sammy it's me, it was just another nightmare. It wasn't real." Dean released his grip on Sam and spoke gently as Sam started to come back to reality.
"Right, just a dream." Sam agreed although it hadn't felt like one, the pain felt as real as if he was back in the pit. Sam noticed the dark circles under Dean's eyes and immediately felt guilty for waking his brother from his much needed slumber.
"Sorry I woke you Dean, I'm fine now, just go back to sleep." Sam rolled over away from Dean, trying to hide the tears welling in his eyes let his brother get some sleep.
Dean walked back to his own bed and sat down still looking at Sam's back. He wished there was more he could do to stop his brother's pain. Dean noticed Sam's shoulders start to shake and heard muffled sobs.
"Oh Sammy." Dean said and crawled into Sam's bed, his big brother instincts overpowering his no chick flick rule. Dean placed a tentative hand on his brother's shoulder and Sam immediately turned around and buried himself in Dean's arms and sobbed into his chest. Sam's hands gripped his big brother's shirt as if he was holding on for dear life, which was true in a way. Dean just held his brother close and whispered "It's ok Sammy" over and over because he didn't know what else to say. He ran his hand through Sam's hair, brushing his sweat slicked locks from his forehead to behind his hears. Dean then felt Sam tense up even more and bury himself further into his chest. Lucifer had chosen this moment to make an another appearance which was what caused Sam to tense up again.
"Sammy, look at yourself, sobbing against Dean like you're five years old. Look at Dean, he hasn't slept in weeks- all because of you. You know what he's thinking right now? He's wishing he didn't have such a pain in the ass little brother. He's tired of taking care of you and dealing with your bad dreams and boo-boos." Lucifer taunted. Sam was too tired to do anything but believe him, he know he was putting Dean through hell and acting childish.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He managed in between sobs.
Dean piecing together Sam's apologies and tensed shoulders figured Lucifer was once again in the background saying some nonsense that Sam was apparently believing. Dean managed to pry Sam's hand off his own shirt and pressed hard on the scar on Sam's palm. This seemed to do the trick as Sam relaxed a little and loosened his grip on Dean.
"Whatever he is saying isn't true. He isn't real Sam. I'm real- Stone Cold Number One. Got it?" Sam nodded into Dean's chest and his sobbing started to subside. "You don't need to be sorry, its my job to look out for you, I'm sorry you have to go through all this. Just try and go back to sleep, I'm not going anywhere."
"Thank you." Sam said softly sounding like he was a little kid afraid of thunderstorms. Dean wished he could take away his brother's hallucinations as easily as he once took away his childhood fears of thunder.
Dean kept one of his hands lightly pressing on the scar on Sam's palm, gently grounding him to reality, and the other on Sam's back. He listened as Sam's breathing evened out.
"G'night Sammy." He whispered and only when Dean was sure Sam had fallen asleep did he allow himself to dose off with his little brother in his arms.
