Sam came back to consciousness with a blink. Still raining. Still in the woods. Michael had found them as they'd been hunting a demon cell. Probably set the whole thing up… We're getting sloppy… Michael had said he wanted to talk to Dean 'alone' and sent Sam headlong into a tree. Sam rolled to his hands and knees and felt the nausea of a concussion roll through him.
At the sound of Michael's voice, he turned around. Dean was kneeling on the muddy ground, and Michael was standing over him. "…and you know it's true, don't you, Dean?" His voice went softer, kinder. "You have nothing left, Dean. You have the whole world sitting on your shoulders and it's too much, isn't it? All those people, counting on you? And you're going to let them all down. Just like you let your father down. But, it's all right, Dean. There's no shame it in. You can't get the job done." His voice went even softer. "But, I can. I can take care of all of this and you don't have to spend even one more minute thinking about it…I can let you rest. Finally, Dean. Rest. Isn't that you really want?..." This was the same monologue that he'd been working when Sam had gone slamming into the tree.
Sam pushed to his feet. "No…" Neither Dean nor Michael turned. Sam made his voice louder. "Stop it."
Michael glanced up, clearly irritated that Sam was back in the game. His eyes went back to Dean. "I'm not telling him anything he doesn't already know. This whole mess is beyond the two of you. It's time to let the big boys clean it up. It's time to do the right thing, for everyone, and just let this play out the way God and destiny intended. Dean knows he can't do it. Look at him, Sam. He's on his knees. He's at the end. He's got nothing left."
Sam stood up to his full height, rage pouring through him as he saw Dean's shoulders slump and his head drop to his chest. He walked closer. "Shut the hell up. You don't know a damn thing about him."
Michael smiled. "Of course I do, Sam. He's my vessel. I understand him completely. He tried to do what his father told him, just like I did. 'Watch out for your brother. Save him.' I understand. But, just like me, he couldn't do it. You rebelled, Sam, just like Lucifer did. You turned your back on your family. Now, you will only bring destruction. Dean knows what he has to do. Just like I know what I have to do. Neither of us has to like it ---"
Sam stopped when he was next to Dean. He put a hand on Dean's shoulder, but kept his eyes on Michael. "Why don't you give all the parallels a rest, huh? Man. You and your brother, so convinced, so convincing, in your story that Dean and I are just like the two of you. Well. You're both wrong. You are nothing like us."
Michael smirked. "Really? Nothing? That's funny. Because, correct me if I'm wrong, but, your father raised you together. Dean, the oldest, was the loyal son, the one who followed his father's orders. He tried to do the right thing. But, you, Sam. You were never happy with that arrangement, were you? You thought you knew better than Daddy. You thought you could rebel and took yourself off. Daddy told you to stay gone. He 'cast you out,' as it were. And, now, here we are, one brother broke the first seal, and one brother broke the last, and now it's all come full circle. Demons control you, Sam. And, angels command Dean. All I'm asking is for you both to recognize your place in this battle and consent to letting us finish it, once and for all."
Dean's head was still bowed, but Sam and Michael both heard the weary, "No…"
Sam dropped to his knees next to Dean. They exchanged a long look. Sam looked back up at Michael. "You guys just don't get it. You'll never get it." He gestured to Dean. "Look at him. You've got him on his knees, and you think that means he's done?" Sam laughed harshly. "You don't know him at all. You don't know me. We are not just robots of your 'destiny' crap."
Michael tsked. "Oh, Sam. You can call destiny crap, but that doesn't mean it's not true."
Sam clenched his jaw. "It was never true. Yeah, Dean was loyal to our Dad, tried to do things the way Dad wanted. But, sometimes he told Dad that he was full of shit, and things weren't going to go his way. And, guess what? Dad loved him, either way. Dad didn't want Dean to be blindly loyal, he just wanted us safe, make sure we knew our shit. And, yeah, I didn't like it when Dad issued orders. But, mostly, I followed them. When I 'rebelled,' it wasn't against my father. I just wanted to have a chance at a different life. He told me not to come back because he was scared for me, and thought I would change my mind if he threatened it. It backfired, for both of us. So, yeah, on the surface, Dean is the loyal son, carrying forward Dad's legacy; and I'm the rebellious one, rejecting all my father taught me. But that's not the whole story. Not for Dean, not for me, and not for our father. Because, no matter what, no matter what roles you think we were all acting out in your destiny play, we had something you angels and demons will never understand. We had love, and loyalty and forgiveness. Even at the worst of times, we were always a family."
Sam saw Dean's head turn toward him, but he kept his eyes on Michael. "It's called heart. The choices we made, hell, even the fights we had, didn't stop us from loving each other. We were all just trying to do what was right for us at the time. Yeah. We made mistakes. But, you stand over Dean, thinking you've got him on his knees and he can't go on? He's got nothing left?" Sam shook his head. "You're an idiot. Because, while his heart is beating? Dean will never give up. He just won't. He doesn't know how. He has more heart than any person on this sorry planet. If there is one person left who needs him, he'll go to the wall, and then climb over it, and keep going. He will never lay down." Sam raised his hands in a 'what can you do?' gesture. Then, he lasered his eyes in on Michael. "And, he will never say 'yes' to you."
Michael lost his haughty smirk. His head tilted, like he didn't quite understand what Sam was getting at. "He will."
Sam shook his head. "No. We will never be like you and your brother. Maybe it's not even your fault that you don't get it. You can't understand love, or forgiveness. You will never get why Dean can still call me his brother after everything I've done. You want to destroy your brother because he went against your father's wishes. Dean will never want to destroy me. Lucifer thinks that I want power and revenge against my father? Against Dean? What he doesn't get is that I loved my father. I still love my father. I didn't agree with him about of lot of stuff, but I never stopped loving him. And, I will never turn on Dean. I may get lost here and there, but he's all I have. He's my family. Maybe in your family you're happy to destroy each other. And, a planet full of people, as well. But that's not us. We will never destroy each other. And, we'd each take a hit ourselves, before we'd see one innocent person hurt. That's what you will never understand."
Sam felt a flare of pain in his head and tried not to sway. He grabbed at Dean's shoulder to keep from falling over. Dean's hand came up to steady him, and clutched at Sam's jacket. Dean laughed softly next to him. Sam turned toward him while he squinted against the pain. Dean's head had come up, and his posture had straightened. There was a warm look of something in his eyes that hadn't been there for a long time. He leaned closer and whispered, "Give 'em hell, Sammy."
Sam gave him a slight smile in return.
Michael took a step toward them. Sam and Dean both turned to look at him. Sam told himself not to flinch back. Dean was equally resolute. Somehow, even though they were both on their knees, the tide had turned and Michael seemed the one on the defensive. "You both sit there, so sure in your human ways. Thinking all this useless emotion means something. The armies of heaven and hell are poised to clash and you would leave us with no generals? And you call that a victory?" His face curled with a sneer. "My father called you his 'greatest creation?!' No wonder he's fled. Look at you. On your knees in the mud, refusing to accede to your betters? You say I don't understand this puny thing called 'love' like it was a bad thing? Look what you humans do for love. You kill and rage and turn your back on heaven? You're right when you say I will never 'get it.' I hope I never understand. I will be back. We are not finished with one another."
Michael vanished and they were alone. Sam exhaled and felt a wave of dizziness come over him. He swayed and slumped toward the ground, catching himself on his hands before he face-planted in the mud. He felt Dean's hand, warm on his back. "You okay, Sammy?"
Sam nodded, waited for his vision to clear.
Dean sighed next to him, kept his hand on Sam's back. "Nice speech."
Sam breathed through the nausea. "Thanks."
"Did you mean any of it?"
Sam felt a fissure of anger. Breathed through it. "Yeah, Dean. I meant every word of it." He waited until he felt steadier, then pushed himself back up to his half kneel, half sit, next to Dean. "Was I wrong?"
Dean moved his hand up to Sam's shoulder, squeezed. "Nah, man. You weren't wrong."
Sam nodded, felt a kind of peace move through him. He shrugged. "Kind of felt good to say it out loud, you know?"
Dean looked down at his muddy hands, resting on his knees. "Kind of felt good to hear you say it."
Sam looked over at him, waited until Dean's eyes met him. "Took me a while to figure it out."
Dean smiled. "Better late than never."
Sam smiled back. "Yeah." He pushed to his feet, turned to help Dean stand up. "Any idea where the car is?"
Dean sighed. "Maybe I'll call Cass. He seems good with that kind of thing."
Sam nodded, dropped back down in the mud. "Think I'll just wait down here."
Dean pulled out his cell. "We'll get you tucked in in no time, Sammy."
"I want cocoa."
"Such a diva."
The End