Sam
...

Sam stared down at the blue-hued screen of his phone. Dean wasn't picking up.

He quashed the mote of panic that gripped him.
Once he'd have been more laid-back about his big brother failing to answer his call, but the culmination of occasions he'd almost lost his brother had made him hyper-tense, continually scared that the next time might be the last- and it would if the reaper Billie's ominous warning was to be taken seriously!

:

The threat she'd uttered had been deliberately pushed to the back of Sam's mind, not that he'd forgotten, no- the very opposite-he purposely didn't want to dwell on the words- didn't want to share with his brother the news of the promised destiny she and those who now went about their duties in the absence of Death had decided was going to be thrust on the two Winchesters.

But her words had left their sign, even if Sam chose to ignore them.
The idea that if Dean died and ended up in the 'empty', Sam himself wouldn't be able to conjure up anything to get him back, was terrifying to the younger man.
His big brother would be banished there, living out his worst fears, that of being alone and abandoned by the last of his family.

:

No, Sam mused, he was going to think positive. There could be a thousand reasons why Dean wasn't answering his phone.
His brother could be talking to witnesses, have forgotten the phone in the Impala or simply be taking a piss, so when Rowena nagged him about being ready to perform the spell and that they should get a move on, Sam made a pondered decision.

There were so many things that could go wrong with his whacky idea of contacting Lucifer and if the Winchester luck was anything to go by, the odds were high that it would. So if something bad DID happen, Sam wanted his big brother to be as far away as possible.

Sure he'd promised Dean to wait but it wasn't just Dean's job to look out for Sam, it was his job to look out for Dean too, whether his big brother wanted it or not.

:

When he stood there all alone without his brother at his side, face to face with the being who had tortured him in the most gruesome and painful ways for over a century, Sam's courage deserted him.
Though his face kept its composure, inside he was trembling, he wanted his brother, he wanted Dean.

"No, I won't be your vessel, " Sam said turning away from the leering face, from Lucifer who was asking the impossible of him.
NO, he'd never give himself over to the loathsome being who'd used him in every perverted way imaginable. He'd made this sacrifice once already, there wouldn't be a second time, not even to save the world.

When the fires around the holding cage banked down and Sam found himself inside, face to face with Lucifer, heard him demurely dismantle his hopes of it being God who'd sent him the visions, Sam couldn't stop the hot tears of despair tumbling from his eyes, trickling down his cheeks.
He'd been so wrong, so fucking wrong and Dean had been so fucking right.

:

:

Dean

Dean's finger hovered over the blue-hued screen, ready to take Sam's call, when he sensed Amara's presence.

The overwhelming attraction she waived made him hesitate, dragging his attention away from the phone.
Turning, he spotted her and decided to ignore the call for now. It was important to find out what she was up to. He'd get back to Sam as soon as he could.

:

Even as he drifted towards her, Dean was still at a loss to understand why she had this hold over him.
Sure, he'd carried the Mark, but why that should 'bind' them together was a mystery to him. Did it mean if Cain had been the one to set her free, he'd have been bound to her?
Dean was out of answers, he didn't even have the questions as it was actually Sam who'd freed her by insisting Rowena cast that fucking spell. He'd been a mere spectator.

:

Her hold over him wasn't as strong as it had been though.
Ever since her younger version had raised a hand to Sam, Dean had felt her thrall weakening. He was SO over people laying hands on his little brother. There was no way he was going to allow Amara to have a go at Sammy too.

Just the same, to pull out his knife and stab her had taken all of his will-power, and a fat lot of good it had done.
She had to have been wearing pre-biblical kevlar armour, 'cos the knife disintegrated against her belly like ice against the sun.

But it wasn't until she revealed her idea for the future of her brother's Creation that Dean understood the true danger of this being clothed in the body of a beautiful woman.
She wanted 'Bliss' for everyone. A very dangerous concept in Dean's book, no different to the dreams of many a wannabe world-dominator.

:

He'd heard it all before. Control, power, whether it be preached by demons or angels, the end-game was always the same, to turn the Earth into a planet of mindless slaves.
Oh, she WAS dangerous, equal to God in all ways, at least according to her. But she would fall under the Winchesters' boots as so many had before.

When she tried to eat his soul without success, Dean didn't know whether to be satisfied or fucking scared.
She'd drawn the souls out of humans and demons alike, why not his?
He almost smiled at the sappy chick-flick answer that came to mind. Perhaps his soul was already so tangled up with Sam's that it was impossible to take it on its own.

:

Back in the park where she dumped him, he quickly called his brother. This time it was Sam who didn't pick up.

The end