Title: Greatest Hits
Author: Roth
Rating: T
Spoilers: Bloody Mary, Benders, and maybe others.
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural and neither do you. We don't have a problem so please don't sue.
Summary: An accident on a hunt leaves Dean fighting for his life, but the question is, does he want to?
Note: This story was previously on my old account, but I retired that account, so when I decided to fix up this story and repost it, I moved it here. I hope you all enjoy.
Greatest Hits
Chapter One: Trolls, Mistletoe, and Babies
"Some things happen for certain reasons. No one can tell what is going to happen when or where. The only thing one can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best..." MostUnWanted02
It was supposed to be simple; they'd killed trolls before. Find its cave, lure it out into the open, and kill it. Sure, trolls were incredibly strong, but they were also very stupid. It wasn't the greatest combination in the world, but it was a combination Sam and Dean could deal with. Everything changed though when the troll managed to kidnap a baby from the town and take it back to the hell hole it lived in. Sam and Dean were now searching through the woods just about an hour before sunset loaded down with both weapons and a couple packages of mistletoe.
"Do you know how stupid we looked asking that clerk at the store if he had mistletoe in the middle of September?" asked Dean. He didn't meant to sound so irritated, but they had been walking around for an hour and hadn't seen any sign of the troll.
"Do you know how annoying that question is getting?" Sam shot back, swinging his flashlight to the right when he thought he saw something move; a rabbit ran from one bush to another "Besides, he had some, didn't he?" The brothers had been weighing heavily on each others' nerves of late, and this case was bringing them close to the boiling point. Sam was afraid that if they didn't finish this case soon, they were going to get into an all out fight.
"Yeah, but I highly doubt it normally costs ten dollars for this little package." Dean held up the small package badly wanting to hurl it into the woods. "I don't see why this stuff repels them anyway."
"It has something to do with mistletoe being sacred to the ancient druids," replied Sam. "It could also be connected to Norse mythology. The blind god Hoor used it to kill his brother Baldr by way of mistletoe projectile." Dean suddenly stopped and stared at his brother. "What?"
"This...this freaky knowledge of...everything is why you never get laid."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Who cares why it repels them. All that matter is that it does."
"Yeah," said Dean, sweeping the flashlight to the left when he heard a rustle and only finding empty trees. "But we wouldn't have to worry about it working if you had just shot when I said so."
Sam clenched his teeth together fighting the urge to hit his brother. "Fuck you, Dean. He had a baby in his arms. I couldn't take the risk."
"You're a good enough shot to have missed the baby."
"I'm sorry, I didn't want to have to explain to a couple of grieving parents their son was dead. But if you're so gung-ho, how about next time I take the shot, and you explain to the dead kid to the parents?"
"That's not fucking funny, Sammy."
Sam winced at his brother's use of the irritating nickname. He turned around, shining the flashlight in his brother's face. "You know what, Dean?!" he said angrily.
"Shhhhh..."
"No! I am so tired of you-"
Dean held his hand up in order to silence her brother. "I mean it, Sam. Shut up. I think I heard it."
Sam stopped talking and slowly moved the flashlight across the ground in a giant circle searching for the troll. The sound of a baby's crying suddenly filled the air, and Sam and Dean both took off running toward it. Sam's flashlight revealed a cave up in the distance, and it was indeed the home of their friendly neighborhood troll. Animal bones and skins littered the ground near the entrance, and the cries of a baby could be heard. Both brothers went running in, but there was no troll in sight. It was empty except for a baby, still wrapped in it's blanket, lying on the cold floor dirt floor. The both rushed over to him, and knelt down to make sure the baby was okay.
"You grab the kid," said Dean quietly. "I'm gonna go search for big, stupid, and ugly." He got up from his crouched position and walked out of the cave.
"Try looking in the mirror," muttered Sam, picking up the crying child. His full attention was now on the baby. "Shh...it's okay. Everything is gonna be okay, buddy. We're going to get you back to your parents. Don't you worry."
Dean ignored his brother's insult and words to the child as he quickly, but silently searched the area outside the cave with his flashlight; broken tear branches and flattened grass in addition to the some more animal remains were the only signs of the troll he could find.
"Dammit!" he swore quietly. "Where are you?"
As if to answer his question, Dean suddenly felt a solid hit directly to the middle of his back which sent him sprawling on the ground. Dean quickly rolled over and pulled the mistletoe out of his coat as the creature came towards. He threw the small plant at the troll's face and watched as it got stuck to the troll's face. The creature snatched it, sniffed it once, and then threw it aside without a second thought. It took another couple steps toward Dean who scrambled to his feet, but the troll stopped when the baby's crying broke through the woods. The creature let out a howl, almost as if it was in pain and turned around to head back toward the cave.
"Sammy, get the Hell out of there!" shouted Dean, crawling quickly to where the mistletoe had landed. He picked up the small plant and quickly found the reason it hadn't worked; the leaves and the berries were plastic. Dean threw the worthless decoration on the ground and got back to his feet. He was going to punch that clerk in the face when they got back to town.
The troll was headed straight toward Sam who was standing at the entrance of the cave carefully taking aim at the troll; The troll was covering its ears in pain as it stumbled blindly forward. Dean knew loud noises bothered trolls, and he used the momentary distraction to take aim with his own weapon. He pulled the gun out from the waistband of his jeans and took aim, but the creature suddenly took off running back into the woods, still covering his ears in pain.
"Where's the kid?" demanded Dean as he and Sam took off running after the troll.
"I hid him outside the cave. Where's the mistletoe?"
"It's fake. It won't work on the damn thing."
When the sound of the troll tromping through the forest could no longer be heard, Dean and Sam stopped running and listened carefully.
"Where did the damn thing go?" asked Sam, sweeping the area with his flashlight. The beam hit the troll square in the eyes. The creature cried out in anger and pain and went rushing toward Sam knocking him and the flashlight to ground with a solid swoop of his arm.
It turned toward Dean who quickly fired his gun hit the troll right in the shoulder; the bullet didn't even phase it. Instead, it only made the creature more angry, and it reached out and grabbed Dean around the neck, hurling him through the air before he collided with a tree. His knee came down on something jagged and sharp, cutting right through his jeans, and Dean could feel blood running down the front of his leg. His head swam, and he tried to get his bearings as he looked up again to see the troll heading toward Sam. The younger of the Winchesters was trying desperately to aim the gun with one hand while he held the other one tightly against his stomach.
Dean scrambled to his feet, ignoring the burning pain from his knee, and ran back toward the troll. It turned suddenly and hit him hard in his chest. He felt ribs crack as he slumped back to the ground, and Dean clenched his eyes shut in pain when the troll picked him back up and hurled him toward another tree.
The air rushed out of him when his back connected with the tree, and spots danced in front of Dean's eyes as he slumped back to the ground. He felt every knot and crack in that tree scrape his back as he slid down it, and he struggled to stay conscious. His breathing began to come in quick gasps and pulling in more than a shallow breath seemed impossible. He could only watch in horror as the troll started back to his brother whose back was turned toward them as he messed with the gun in his hands.
"Sa-Sam...," Dean managed to wheeze out, hoping his brother would hear the warning. However, logic told him that his voice was far too quiet to have been heard by anyone or anything. The dark spots seemed to expand in front of his eyes, and Dean slipped into unconsciousness.
TBC