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Letting Go
Warning: Character Death here. Prologue.
His heart was pounding in his chest and his legs were screaming at him to stop. But dammit he kept going. So far this job had all gone to hell, if he stopped it would only be worse.
Sam wrenched open a door, and he followed his brother in. Sam was breathing hard, his hair waving and curling from the sweat. And the first thing Dean thought was 'Dude, you definitely need a hair cut.'
But he followed his brother up the stairs, both nearly collapsing in the stairwell as they struggled to catch their breath.
"Sure. Poltergeist. Easy." Dean said, with a fair amount of scorn. Sam didn't bother to reply, just gave him a dark look. The 'shut up Dean' look. Nearly made Dean grin.
"Poltergeists aren't supposed to leave their locations." Sam managed to say in between breaths, with a frown.
"I'd say Elvis definitely left the building." Dean said, wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.
"It's not a poltergeist then." Sam said, digging in his bag for their bible. Their guide to all things job related. Their father's journal, so meticulously kept for years. The neat, cramped handwriting and drawings filling the pages, the margins. Bursting with highlighted clippings and pictures, the occasional hand drawn map on the back of a napkin. Their all in one encyclopedia, which Sam was leafing through with urgency.
Dean pulled his gun and kept watch. Loaded with rock salt, all it had managed to do so far was piss whatever it was the hell off. Bullets wouldn't work either, but until Sam found something, this was the best he could do as the stairs below them creaked, and something sounded like it was dragging across the worn planks.
"Sam..."
Sam didn't answer, the only answer was the rifling of pages.
"Sam..."
More rifling and rustling.
"Sam!"
"What?" Sam hissed back.
"Find it quick or move!" Dean said, then didn't give him a choice anyway as he got up and grabbed his brother's collar, pulling him up and up the stairs. Pushing Sam ahead as he covered the rear.
Dean couldn't shake the bad feeling about all of this. He had learned a long time ago to trust his gut, and it was screaming at him right now. Picked a hell of a time to start too, he could have used the warning when they were safe in the car, not even here in town yet.
The twilight was moving in, the roof not lit. The moon cast the barest hint of light across the asphalt shingled surface, the angle wasn't too steep. It would take careful stepping, but they'd done worse.
"Got it!" Sam said and read the contents of the page as he tossed his bag to Dean, who started digging through it.
Not a moment too soon, as the window they'd just crawled out of exploded in rage, sending glass slivers all over the roof, reflecting like ice as they bounced and rolled and slid. Dean tossed the bag back to his brother and threw the contents of the bottle at the barely seen creature. Fire erupting and dissipating, with a scream that made the brothers cover their ears.
And like a sonic boom, the blast came after there was no more fire, knocking them off their feet.
Sam slid across the roof, his large sneaker clad foot catching in a gutter. And operating only on instinct he reached out and grabbed his brother's hand as Dean flew past.
Ricocheting off the side of the building, nearly pulling Sam's arm out of its socket.
Dean scrambled for a foot hold, in vain. The gutter Sam's foot was caught in creaked.
And green-hazel eyes met Sam's calmly. Seriously. "Let go." Was all Dean said.
Sam swore he didn't hear him right and instead adjusted his hold, grabbing on with the other arm and tried to pull, the gutter creaking dangerously again.
"Let go." Dean repeated again. His face solemn, and pained.
"No!" Sam grunted out as he kept trying different ways to pull Dean up. But the angle was wrong, and Sam wasn't strong enough.
"You can't pull us both up, Sammy." Dean said desperately. "Let go."
"Dean, shut up!" Sam snapped. Not like this. Not like this. It was never supposed to be like this. "It's too far a drop, you won't survive." Not like this. He couldn't let his brother go. Let him fall to his death. He couldn't let go. He wouldn't. Dean couldn't ask that of him. No one should ask him to drop his brother. To intentionally kill his brother. It was unfathomable.
Sam met his brother's eyes again, and Sam saw them shining. Filled with unexpected tears as his mouth twitched. "Never forget, Sammy." Dean said in a voice that was choked. "I love you."
Then he wrenched his wrist.
Sam's fingers desperately searched the air for Dean. Frantically trying to grab onto some part of his brother, because he couldn't let him go.
Dean knew that. And made the choice for him.
Damn him.
Sam heard a scream. And realized it was his own voice as his eyes never left his brother's as Dean seemed to grow farther and farther away. Metal crunched and more glass broke, his scream interrupted by the sound of a car alarm.
He. Let. Go.
