A/N: Okay, this is my first Supernatural Fanfic ever… I hope someone will read it and like it because I actually like it a lot. The story might be a little confusing (that's kind of the point here) but you'll soon figure it out. The fic is already written in full and will be posted in rather short intervals. It will have a length of 7 chapters with about 30000 words total. This story is a Gen-fic, there won't be any Wincest.
I am not an english native speaker so forgive possible mistakes.
I don't own the show or any of the characters, I just enjoy torturing the boys every now and again.
No Light Without Darkness
Summary: Sam and Dean go on a job in Nebraska… in the meantime Dean and Sam work a hunt in Wyoming. How's that possible? Good question. Sam wonders why Dean is a little off lately. While Dean wonders about something much more irritating and that's when things get interesting.
Chapter One: "Two Plus Two"
May 12th, 4am
Sun 'n Stars Motel
Lord's Grace, New Mexico
Dean flopped down on the bed not even bothering to take off his boots. The day had been a hard one on the Winchester brothers. The poltergeist they had to get rid off was a bigger player then they had thought. The bruises they got would take some time to heal. Sam watched Dean lie there like dead as he threw his backpack onto the night stand and unlaced his shoes warily. "You still alive there?"
Dean made a grumbling sound that was unrecognisable for his face was buried in the mattress. Sam only shook his head and went to the bathroom. He sympathised with his brother. Dean had been thrown down a flight of stairs as the poltergeist had sent a cabinet flying for them. But as stubborn as the older of the two brothers was he had refused to go see a doctor to rule out a concussion. They were not sure if Dean hadn't even been knocked out for a minute or so.
As he was done with cleaning up and retuned to the bedroom his brother had actually stirred. Dean's bikerboots lay discarded on the floor in front of the bed and Sam saw Dean holding a can of god-knows-what from the minibar against the small of his neck while sitting on the floor leaning against the side of the bed. "How're you feeling?" Sam knew Dean wouldn't whine but he needed to make sure his brother wasn't going to drop dead from an aneurism before morning.
Dean looked up and Sam saw a bruise forming on his right temple. "Splendid, Sammy. Like the Marshmallow-Man just played soccer with my head."
Sam nodded. "You want something against the pain?" He already started looking through their bags but couldn't find the obligatory pack of pain killers. He tried to remember whether they had emptied their stock lately… it was possible but he couldn't pin it down to any certain occasion. He definitely had to go and get some the next day. Any doctor would start crying if he knew the ammounts of Tylenol they used up in a year. But that was a sideeffect of always getting stabbed, scatched, beaten and thrown off or through or against things. "Sorry man… Maybe we got some in the car."
He grabbed his shoes again but Dean waved him off. "Dude, don't go all mother hen on me, alright? Just give me a bottle of Whiskey and I'll sleep like a baby."
Sam stopped mid motion. "You sure?"
"Yeah. We need to toast at kicking Slimer's ass today. That son of a bitch won't throw anyone down a staircase ever again." Sam wasn't sure that drinking was the best idea after the night they had but if Dean decided he wanted a drink then Sam couldn't do a thing to stop him. So he pulled out the bottle of Jack Daniel's they'd bought a few days ago and handed it to Dean who in return gave him the can he had held against is neck. "Put that back will ya? It's warm already."
Normally Sam would have kicked Dean's ass for treating him like a maid. But he decided that Dean's ass had been beaten well enough for one night and opened the minbar in order to replace the can in it's place in the door. He watched his brother open the bottle and hold it up with a "May yee burn in hell!" He looked at Sam with a wicked little sparkle in the eye. "You sure did one hell of a job at kicking that evil sucker's ass, little brother!"
Sam shook his head with a mixture of amusement and annoyment. Sometimes Dean still managed to amaze him by how much he loved killing what goes bump in the night. "Yeah I had enough time to prepare the ritual thanks to what you call a distraction." He gave his brother a scalding look. The plan had been that Dean engaged in a fight to give Sam the preparation time he needed to make the expellation ritual necessary to ban the poltergeist workable. The plan had however not involved Dean nearly breaking his neck as he crashed head first through the banister. Sam hated it when Dean pulled off stunts like that although he knew that his brother hadn't intended to get his butt kicked tonight… at least Sam hoped so. The thing was you never really knew with Dean. Sam sometimes thought his brother had not just a reckless but also a masochistic streak to his peronality but he would never voice that out loud because Dean would have his ass for it, that much was sure.
After Dean took a few big gulps from his bottle he offered Sam some as well. He took it for one because that meant Dean wouldn't drink it all by himslef and on the other hand because he could actually really use a drink by then. The older of the Winchester brothers was rubbing his sore neck and leaned ack against the bed closing his eyes. "So", he said not bothering to open his eyes. His voice was tired and Sam only then dared to have a look at his watch. It was four thirty in the morning. He forced down the groan he felt come up and cursed once more at the fact that hunting was a job that took up most of their nights. He would't be surprised if someday he looked into the mirror and found himself looking pale and worn like Dracula in person. "Where are we headed next, Sammy?"
Sam gave him a look that said not-amused. "You can't keep your eyes open but you want to get back on the road?"
Dean – stubborn as he was - made his point by getting to his feet with a distinct groan of discomfort steadying himself with one hand on the bed. "I didn't say we need to leave right now. I want a good nights sleep before I get back into the car. But it doesn't hurt to have an idea about our next move, you know?" Dean slowly made his way to the bathroom and Sam rolled his eyes but dutifully switched on the laptop.
It took Dean quite some time to come back out of the little motel bathroom. A sign that the fight had taken quite a toll on him no matter how brave he acted. By the time he was done Sam had dug up a few options about what to hunt next. As Dean sat back down on his bed again freshly showered and only wearing a pair of shorts and a bright assortment of colourful bruises Sam got up from the little table by the window and sat down on his own bed acroos from his brother. "I found two cases that might be our line of work. One is a couple of people being mauled by what authorities think were wolves in the area of Jackson Hole… but the daughter of one of the victims claims to have seen a huge black dog. She said it must have had at least two hundred pounds."
"A Black Dog in Wyoming?Well, if that ain't fun!" Sam wasn't really sure why but Dean had a thing for hunting Black Dogs. Sam couldn't relate to that and actually had never cared to try.
"Well… if you say so. The other case is in Lazarus, Nebraska. A local, Leroy Mathews, went missing two weeks ago along with his girlfriend Ester. The police had no leads to what had happened to them until they found Leroy…"
"Dead?"
"No, not at all." Sam couldn't help but think that Dean looked somewhat disappointed. "He had climbed the local church up to the tip and held on to the cross screaming about the end of days…"
Dean looked as though he would have started to laugh hadn't he been close to fainting already. "At least he chose his spot with care."
"He claimed the devil had possessed his girlfriend and tried to ensnare him."
"Well, that's what you have a girlfriend for, isn't it?" Dean wiggled his eyebrows.
"He said he cleaned her soul fom the devil… Lateron the authorities found out that he had taken her into the woods and burned her alive after probably torturing her for days."
"Probably? Why didn't they just ask the guy? It seamed like he wanted to talk big time."
Sam shook his head. "They couldn't because… get this: He staked himself on the cross that was on top of the belltower he had climed."
"Woa, that's ugly. Guy seams to have been quite a wack job."
"The news paper article states that the cross he shoved his chest onto was not even pointed or sharp and it is a medical miracle that he had the physical power to do it." Sam gave his brother a meaningful look. Dean nodded taking in the information but then stopped as his face screwed up in pain and he had to rub his sore neck again.
"So?", Sam asked hoping he hadn't been browsing the internet in the middle of the night in vain.
"So what?", said Dean as he lowered himself under the covers of his bed carefully.
"What do you think, Dean? Where should we go first?" He shut down the laptop and stated getting into bed himself.
"Dunno. Could both be our kind of job or just a scared kid making a dog look bigger then it was and a crazy guy being eaten up by the sin of his actions."
"You really think so?" He knew that wasn't the case.
Dean yawned pulling his covers up to his shoulders. "No. I don't. If it stinks it's rotten, that's what I think. We'll check them both out but first I want to sleep." Dean was out before his head fully hit the pillow.
Sam shook his head and switched off the light. One should think that the story of a guy piercing himself upon a cross on a belltower might keep them up but stories like that hadn't had that effect of them since they were kids. Sam wondered when exactly they had become that fucked up. He couldn't remember and went to sleep instead.
May 12th, 5pm
Sun 'n Stars Motel
Lord's Grace, New Mexico
Sam packed the laptop onto his backpack and closed the zip. He checked the room for anything they might have forgotten but they had everything stowed in the duffle back and his backpacks that sat on the wall next to the door. He had been pleasantly surprised that Dean had already packed his stuff himself. All he now needed was his brother to return from the supply trip. Sam had been checking out the two cases he had found the night before to see if there was any new information that might point out one of them as not being supernatural after all. He hadn't found anything. Further research had to be done on-site. He heard a car pull into the parking lot outside their room and looked out the window. A black pickup-truck, one that somehow reminded him a lot of the one their Dad has had, halted outside and he was a little startled to see Dean get out of the driver's seat. Sam went outside with a look of utter bewilderment on his face. "Dean?"
"Nice ride, eh?" Dean gave the hood of the truck a little pet.
"Wha…?" He looked at his brother incredulous. "Where's your Impala?"
"You won't believe it." Dean shook his head in a gesture of true sorrow. "The babe broke down on me about five blocks from here. Didn't even give me a warning first. I called Bobby, he'll be here as soon as he can and tow her to his shop. I told him we had a job to work and we'll pick her up afterwards. But I could score a good price on this baby at the car-sale on main road." He gave Sam a wide grin. "Good thing I got a new cedit card last week."
Sam was stunned. He knew Dean loved his Impala. It was the one thing their Dad had given him and he killed everything that dared screwing with their ride with a viciousness he normally only showed when it came to family. The Impala was family as far as Dean was concerned. It was older then Sam and it had run through house walls and even got hit by a truck once but Dean would never give up on it. Sam looked at his brother with a worried expression. "Do you really want us to leave before Bobby's here?"
Dean gave a sigh of annoyance. "She bailed out on me, Sammy. Now she needs to see the consequences. I will pick her up as soon as we're done. I hate to leave my baby behind but there are people dying out there and we don't have all day." He talked about the car like it was his girlfriend and as far as Sam knew that this probably was the only commited relationship his brother ever had. Dean shrugged and went to get Sam's bags into the car. "We'll sell the truck as soon as Bobby found out what is wrong with the Impala and for the time being…" He put the bags onto the back seat and threw Sam the keys to their new substitute-ride. Sam caught them with a frown. "I got a stiff neck and as this is just a car I'll even let you drive."
Sam shook his head over all this fuss and went to the driver's door. "So what about our
weapons?"
"Already stopped by my old lady and loaded us a pack of the finest as well as my bag. We're good to roll." Dean slid into the passanger seat and drew a shotgun from bebeath it. "You wouldn't think I'd go anywhere without enough fire power now, did you?"
Sam grinned at his bother and got in as well inserting the key into the slot. "I doubt you even take a shower unarmed."
Dean kicked back in his seat and put his feet on the dashboard. "You know me, little brother. I'm always packing."
Sam started the engine and drove off the motel's yard. He had checked out in advance. "So where to? Wyoming or Nebraska? I didn't find anything new about either of the cases."
Dean dug into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. "You call." He flipped the coin into the air.
Sam chuckled shaking his head. "Alright… Heads for Wyoming, tails for Nebraska."
Dean looked at the coin that by now rested on the back of his hand. "Nebraska it is then."
May 12th, 5.30pm
Sun 'n Stars Motel
Lord's Grace, New Mexico
The Impala purred steadily as Dean turned around the corner a block from their Motel. This town was zombie central. The only other car that seemed to find it's purpose in driving at half past five in the afternoon in this part of town was a black truck that pulled out from the parking lot of the motel right after he came around the last corner. It had taken forever to find a decent store and get everything they needed. He had been about three inches from drawing his gun on the clerk in the first store he first was in as the guy told him they'd run out on painkillers that day. So he had gone all over town until he found someone able to tel him where there was a drug store he could buy at least a pack of aspirin from. As he finally had half a dozen packs in is bag – he would take care they'd never run low on these ever again! – he was happy enough to just plop himself in his car and take a handful with a can of coke. Not the diet a good physician would prescribe but what was he to do? His head hurt like a son of a bitch. As he fially pulled the Impala back onto the same parking space he had occupied the night before he got out and Sam opened the door to their room. Dean knew he had had a bad night as he had nearly walked into the wrong room that morning after breakfast – which they had around noon so it might also count as lunch. Sam had stopped him just in time. He would have sworn they were in room 12b but he was wrong. It had been 12d instead. But honestly what did you expect? After living in motels for the last two decades of his life the places started to all look the same. And after nearly having his head reduced to pulp the night before one couldn't blame him for messing up a b with a d.
"How'd it go?", Sam asked. He had already packed Dean's stuff – a thing Sam had to do quite a few times as Dean always waited until the last minute to pack.
"I hate small towns… I so hate small towns." He grabbed his bag and checked if everything was packed or if Sam had missed something. "Thanks by the way." It was all there. Sam only nodded. "Did you ever see a store that sold out on frickin' pain medication? I had to run all over the place to find some aspirin in this one-horse town." They left the room and he grinnd at his brother. "Bought half a dozen of them. Just in case we ever came back here."
They threw their bags on the back seat and as Sam told him he had already checked out earlier got in and Dean started the engine. "So where to, college boy? Found anything interesting about our dead people all over the country." He pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the street.
"No. Nothing more then what I found last night. Looks like we gotta check them out one at a time."
Dean nodded. "Which one first?"
Sam held up a quarter for Dean to see. "Wanna call?"
Dean laughed. "Never took you for a player, Sammy." He nodded and Sam flipped the coin into the air. "Heads for Nebraska and tails for Wyoming."
Sam caught the coin and clicked his tounge. "Wyoming it is then."
Dean switched on the Impala's radio. "Alright then, let's kill us a Black Dog." If he had had to pick, he would have taken this job. If he liked to hunt one thing it was Black Dogs. The radio's played "Two plus two" by Bob Seger System and Dean started humming along as the Singer started:
Yes it's true I am a young man, but I'm old enough to kill.
But I don't want to kill no body, but I must if you so will…
He pushed his foot onto the accelerator and they nearly flew by the old battered sign that wrote:
"See you soon in Lord's Grace"
A/N : The song Dean hums along with and that gave this chapter it's title is used in the Supernatural Episode "Nightmare". I thought it fit quite well and I decided out of the pure fun of it to have every chapter named after a song used in an episode before.
I hope it was as much fun to read as I had writing it. Please review and tell me your opinion. The next chapter will be out shortly, that's a promise.
C U, Birdie!
