"Enough! There will be no new King of Hell. Not today. Not ever. And if anybody wants the job, you can come through me. Understood?"
"If it meant finding Dean, I-I'd... work with... I'd do anything."
The words echoed through Sams head as he walked back towards his room, lost in his thoughts.
He meant what he had said, every last word of it. If it meant getting Dean back he would be willing to do anything, willing to sacrifice anything that needed to be done.
The last time he had that thought, the last time he had damned himself in the same way in the name of getting his brother back, he had gotten hooked on demon blood and ended up releasing Lucifer.
"There will be no king of hell."
"You can come through me."
Sam closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, mercifully finally getting to his room and closing the door behind him. He leaned back against it for a moment to breathe slowly, counting his breaths and the seconds he held it in and then let it out before he moved to his desk.
He glanced tiredly over the desk, the mess of papers and books, crossed out notes and his laptop open still. He pressed a button just to see the screen come up and shook his head, turning it off.
There was no point at the moment, he hadn't found a single thing the entire time and he could feel every single bit that the demons tried to beat into him. He opened one of his drawers and pulled out a bottle of pain killers. He opened it and frowned when he peered into it, it was less than half empty and he could have sworn he had more.
He didn't want to think about someone possibly coming into his room and going through his things, despite how a corner of his mind told him he should find a better way to keep his door locked from the others. Pushing it to the side he shook out a pill onto his palm, he didn't want to risk more than one, and dry swallowed it, forcing himself to ignore the dry taste that remained.
Moving slowly he changed out of his outfit into a simple shirt and boxers, laying down slowly on the bed and automatically knowing that despite how tired he was, he wasn't going to get to sleep.
"There will be no new King of Hell. Not today. Not ever. And if anybody wants the job, you can come through me."
"Understood?"
"Y'know, its not that bad of an idea."
Sam turned his head towards the source of the words. Ruby laid there on her side, wearing one of his shirts and drowning in it, a hint of lingerie peering out where the sleeve was pushed down to reveal her shoulder.
"Its not that bad of an idea." she repeated, head in her hand as she stared at him. "Being king of hell, its what Azazel wanted for you."
Sam turned onto his side to look at her as well, his eyes following the flow of her hair to the way her eyes were staring at him. "Azazel wanted me to lead hells armies for Lucifer to take over, but it all lead to me being Lucifers vessel in the end."
"Not always, you needed to lead first and foremost before Lucifer could be freed." Ruby said, moving a bit closer to him. "Besides, not like its the first time you've thought about it. You thought about it plenty when we were together."
Those four months that Dean was in hell, at one of his lowest points Sam had almost obsessed with the idea of taking the crown and freeing his brother like that. He wasn't sure how close he had been to really trying it before heaven brought his brother back instead.
"Its not the right thing to do." Sam said instead. "Not anymore."
Ruby reached out to gently stroke his hair, her fingers running through the strands and carefully tugging free any knots that there were. Slowly her fingers drifted down to his lips.
Sam flicked his tongue out, tasting the dry salty taste of her skin, a taste of sulfur clear as well for a moment before it faded. He could feel the pulsation of the blood in her veins and remembered all too clearly how eagerly he had lapped at every cut she made or he made on her skin. How he had drank from her palms, her arms, her neck, her stomach.
Her thumb slowly stroked at his lower lip and when she moved to pull away he reached out and gently held it, moving to press his lips to her wrist.
"Its all yours." Ruby told him softly. "Its yours for the taking, all you have to do is take it."
Sam rubbed his own thumb over her, savoring the feeling for a moment, before he let go, letting her wrist fall to the bed between them.
"I went down that path once." he said quietly. "I can't handle doing that again, I can't go through that again."
Ruby looked like she had more to say but then thought better of it, laying down on the bed completely instead.
"You're strong Sam." she told him. "Stronger than anyone I know." She reached up for him and wrapped her arms around him, tugging him down until he was laying right next to her, he reached out with one arm and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her close. "If anyone can get Dean back, and do it right, its going to be you."
Sam swallowed and buried his face in her shoulder, breathing in her still familiar scent in deeply, feeling it touch a place he didn't want to acknowledge anymore. He could feel her hand in his hair once more, stroking at it and rubbing at his neck soothingly.
"I've always believed in you Sam." Ruby whispered to him. "Always."
He fell asleep like that, held in her arms, her hand in his hair and when he woke up the bed was empty and he could hear the others roaming around in the hallway.
I do not own Supernatural.
33/365
I do take requests so if you have requests you can send them to me.