One Solution
K Hanna Korossy
This wasn't happening.
Sam paced to the end of the room, barely sparing a glance at the bandaged-up preacher who was stretched out on Dean's bed, finally finding peace in sleep. Sam swept both hands back through his hair, again, then turned and strode impotently to the other end of the room. Cas lay on his side there in Sam's bed, eyes still half-shuttered in pain and exhaustion from whatever Leah—the Whore of Babylon—had done to him. Honestly, Sam couldn't bring himself to worry too much about that now.
Dean was gone. And he wasn't planning on coming back.
"He has given up."
Castiel's voice was gravellier than usual, whether from the Whore's attack or his recent bender. Didn't matter, not when the words registered. "Yeah," Sam said quietly, chest aching at the admission. He still couldn't believe that he'd watched Dean drive away not a half-hour before, no goodbye, no Plan B, just packing it in. Sam dropped his head, shaking it, and huffed out a miserable laugh. "That other Dean he met in the future. He said Dean would never say yes. So much for that, huh?" He looked up at Castiel.
The angel still looked pale but his eyes were fully open and sharp. He seemed to stare inward a long moment before he met Sam's gaze. "You never reunited with Dean in that timeline."
Sam jerked to a stop in the middle of the path he was wearing in the carpet. The pain in his chest ratcheted up to such a degree with those simple words that, if he didn't know better, he might've thought he was having a heart attack. "Wait, this is-this is my fault? Dean is saying yes now because of me?"
"You misunderstand me." Castiel tried to push himself up to sitting, failed. He didn't seem to mind when the Abomination, Lucifer's vessel, helped him up and back on the bed, continuing in a tired monotone, "The Sam of that time gave in to Lucifer because Dean was not there to fight for him. For Dean to say yes to Michael after that would have been to assure his brother's—your—doom. That timeline's Dean would not accept that outcome and continued, alone, to seek a way to save you until it was far too late."
Sam's legs disappeared under him and he sank down onto the nearest chair with stunned faintness. "So you're saying our only hope is each other." And that Dean would, yet again, die to save Sam…or that Dean simply believed he was beyond saving now. Sam slumped lower under the weight of the thought.
Castiel's eyes pinched shut. He didn't look divine anymore, just a sad, tired, lonely human just like the rest of them. "I am saying…if there is any hope left—and I have no reason to believe there is—it will be because of what made you two uniquely suited for heaven's purposes in the first place: your devotion to each other. But if Dean has given up…"
"Not like you think," Sam said slowly, shoulders slowly rising again as he thought out loud. He'd heard the Whore say Dean was going to just sit back and let the end of the world happen, but that wasn't his brother. "He's not quitting. He's trying, in his own misguided, moronic way, to go down fighting the only way he thinks will work now. If he says yes to Michael…"
Cas grimaced, eyes still closed. "It is still surrender."
"It's self-sacrifice," Sam said quietly. "Not the same thing."
True, it was born out of hopelessness. Their recent trip to heaven, manipulated by Zachariah or no, had dealt Dean's already-flagging spirit a mortal blow. Sam hadn't realized how much his brother had been counting on God to come through for them until he'd seen the devastation in Dean's face at Joshua's rejection. The skewed sampling of Sam's "favorite" memories had just been the last straw on top of that. He didn't know exactly when Dean had made the decision to become a "servant of Heaven," but Sam was pretty sure it was before they'd even arrived in Blue Earth. With no one left to lean on, Dean was doing what he knew best: the kamikaze run to blow up the enemy, and himself with it.
It was the only kind of surrender Dean knew. It was what had led to the crossroads deal that had set all this in motion. Only, this time, Sam wasn't dead. For the first time ever, Dean's big brother instincts weren't making the decision.
Sam didn't have even a minute to dwell on how much that cut to his core.
He forced himself into Dean's shoes instead, trying to think a step ahead of his brother. "Lisa," he murmured a moment later, unaware he was speaking aloud.
A sigh from Castiel. "You humans always think with your libido."
Sam's head swung around. "What? No, I'm not— I think I know where Dean's going. Cas, you think you can—?"
"No." The angel shook his head wearily. "I need to regain my strength first. Perhaps in a few hours."
Sam pressed his lips together, but he was already on his feet, reaching for his jacket, and he didn't stop. "Okay, that's okay. I'm gonna go, uh, borrow a car and head after Dean. Call me when you can join me, all right? I think I'm gonna need your help with him."
"You two always need help," Castiel muttered with what sounded like almost petulance. Dean really was rubbing off on him. He had a tendency to do that with everyone he met. "Agreed. Just don't let him say yes to Michael in the meantime."
At the door, Sam turned back to meet Castiel's eyes, sharing for one moment a perfect understanding with the divine. "I'm not. We're not. We're not done yet, Cas, all right?"
Castiel waved a weary hand of dismissal, already closing his eyes to sleep.
Cas didn't really believe Sam could save his brother. Bobby was struggling just to roll through each day. And Dean didn't believe anymore in anything, period. Free will didn't do much good if there was no will.
Sam closed the door quietly behind him, took a breath, and straightened his shoulders. All right. Fine. If it was up to him to keep the faith, so be it; he'd believe enough for all of them if he had to. They'd certainly carried him for long enough. Sam eyed the cars in the dark lot, picked out an unobtrusive Jetta, and headed for it.
He'd promised Dean once he'd save him. Sam had intended it to be from Hell, but he would do it now from Heaven. Because there was one thing he had that Dean didn't.
Faith in his brother.
And he'd learned that from the best.
The End