Chapter 2: It's Heaven on Earth part two

"Hold on pal. Just who are you?" Dean asked still wary of this guy.

This guy had a calm and patient look still on his face. "What does that have to do with anything?" the stranger asked.

"Maybe the fact that I don't want to let my brother be in the same room as some angel that just came in out of nowhere and ganked two angels in under half a minute."

"And who just saved your life though I think that fact could be left out of the whole thing, right?" he quipped.

"Are you looking for Cas too?" he asked heated.

"Look, I have no desire to strike against your friend Castiel. Truth be told I actually owe him much more than you might realize. I thought that helping the two humans high on his list might be my way of finally repaying my debt. I only came here to see to your brother not to be interrogated. I guess you exaggerated your brother's condition if you would rather have my life story rather than have me save his life. If it upsets you so much then wait for another angel that you do know that won't try to spill your insides all over this hospital to come along."

The angel started to walk away and Dean felt his resolve breaking. This might be his only shot. "Okay!" he said moving forward. "Okay, fine. Keep your personal life to yourself if that's what you want as long as you can help my brother. I'll take you to Sam but you have to agree to one condition first."

"And why would I agree to that?"

"If you really are here to help Sam then it shouldn't matter regardless, shouldn't it?"

The angel folded his arms as he stared Dean down. "What is it?" he yawned out.


The sight of his brother's irate face had Sam more on edge than happy. He looked like he was ready for a fight rather than here for a visit. "Dean, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" he asked incredulously. "How about you listening to this crap about just rolling over and dying? After everything we've been through together you're just going to call it quits now?"

"Now that right there is crap," Bobby said back.

Sam found himself moving to stand in between Dean and Bobby as they turned to argue at one another.

"I'm full of crap?" Dean growled. "For someone who was like a father to him you tell him that he needs to just lie back and die. You're supposed to do everything you can to help him!"

"Oh you mean like selling my soul kind of like you did."

"Damn right I sold my soul for him!"

"Right and that worked wonders didn't it? It made everything fall to hell, literally."

"And we got through it didn't we?" Dean argued back.

"Just how did you do that again? By destroying yourselves to try and keep the other from breaking. You two always do that. You guys are like a never stopping seesaw. One of you is up then down. You could never stay level with one another. Didn't you boys learn anything from what happened to me sticking around? Remember what I said? When it's your time, Go. Now it's Sam's time.

"Oh come on Sam. Why are you even listening to him? Let's just go, right now!"

"Why don't you actually let him decide for himself instead of ordering him around like he's still a little kid?"

Dean didn't say anything else but instead reached into his pocket and drew out a gun. Sam barely had the time to shout for Dean to stop before he let a shot out and hit Bobby. Sam watched as Bobby fell to the ground lifeless.

"Dean! What the hell are you doing? You just shot Bobby!"

"Bobby, wake up Sam! That's not Bobby. See for yourself," he said pointing behind him.

Sam looked back down to the ground and he saw that Bobby's body was nowhere in sight. "What? What's going on here?"

Dean finally seemed to calm himself down. "This is all in your head Sammy. Bobby was the side of you telling you to move on. I'm the side of you that tells you to hang on. I've always been the stronger of the two. I've always been able to pull you back and I'm going to keep doing it no matter what it takes. It's time for you to come back with me."

Sam saw the fire in Dean's eyes. How passionate he was to bring Sam back from death's door. He held out his hand for Sam to take but Sam didn't feel comfort. Something inside him was telling him that this was wrong. If this was his will to live and it was willing to even shoot Bobby, fake or not, without batting an eye then it all had to stop now.

Sam broke into a hard run with Dean in hot pursuit of him calling out his name and for him to stop and come back. Sam kept running off, trying not to look back as he heard the thumps of Dean's feet as he ran after him. Sam soon saw what looked like a cabin up ahead and went for it. Sam pushed the door open and went to slam it. A momentary glance out made him see Dean running for the door too with a predatory look in his face. Sam slammed the door and turned the lock as something hard collided with it. Dean's voice could be heard from the other side yelling for him to open the door and let him in.

"Sammy! Sammy, you open this door right now. You don't know what you're doing!"

Sam lightly backed away before a crackling sound erupted behind him and he saw that a roaring fire was now going in the cabin's fireplace that had been empty before. In front of it were two leather armchairs and in one of them was a man that Sam knew too well.

Death, the Horsemen, was sitting calmly with his usual nonchalant poise. "Hello Sam. It's about time you found your way to me."


Castiel approached some police officers that were on duty by the park to ask for the nearest pay phone. The phone that Dean had gotten for him was gone thanks to Metatron and he needed to contact Dean as soon as possible. He didn't have any change on him. He never had use or reason to carry around any money before. He did recall seeing a human pushing 0 once before without money so he tried it.

Dean walked out of Sam's room to see that the angel was on the other side of the door still waiting.

"It's done," he said. "Let's go on in."

"Very well then," the angel said as he started to head inside.

Before Dean could follow behind him his phone starting ringing. He looked to see that it was an unknown number.

"Hello?"

The female phone operator's voice sounded. "You have a collect call from" Then a new voice sounded. "Castiel" It was Cas' voice. The female operator's voice was back. "Do you accept the charges?"

Dean looked to the angel who was still waiting for him. "Go on in and take a look at him. I'll be a minute." The angel shut the door and Dean accepted the call. "Cas?" he said as soon as the click happened.

"It's me Dean," Cas said from the other line. It felt good to finally hear his voice.

"Damnit Cas, where the hell have you been? I spent the last three days trying to reach you. I called, I prayed and nothing. And since when do you call me collect?"

"I'm sorry Dean. It's been a very trying three days."

"Yeah no kidding Sherlock," he said sarcastically. "Where the hell are you anyway?"

"In some small rural community in Nebraska. I didn't quite catch the name. Why had you been trying to reach me? What's happened?"

"It's Sam. He's…he's dying. He could really use your help Cas."

"Dying?" Cas voice was leaking with concern. "Did you not stop him from completing the final trial?"

"I did but he's still dying. So zap on down here. I'm at-

But before Dean could finish telling Cas exactly where he was he had cut him off. "Dean, I'm sorry but…I can't."

"What? Why not?"

"It turns out that Naomi was right, Metatron lied to me. I wasn't performing trials with Metatron, I was procuring ingredients for his spell to expel all angels from heaven. It turns out that there was one final ingredient left that he needed from me. An angel's grace."

Dean's grip on his phone lessened a little bit. "You're saying that he took your grace? But…wouldn't that mean that you're now.

"Human," Cas finished for him. "Yes. It seems so." Castiel found himself needing to clear his throat. "But we can deal with that later. Right now Sam needs our help. Perhaps there is someone else that can help him."

"Actually someone else came here claiming to want to help Sam just a little while ago. He's with him now."

"Another angel?" Dean confirmed it. "Who is it?"

"He didn't feel like sharing his name. All he said was that he felt like he owed ya and helping Sammy would be the way to settle his debt. That mean anything to you?"

"I'm sorry Dean. There are quite a few of my brothers that felt that I was forever in their debt."

"I think that might've changed though. Our new friend wasn't the first of your dysfunctional family to see me today. These other two angels came by and attacked me looking for you. Said that they and a good many angels are looking for you over what happened. You've got to be careful out there Cas. Without your mojo you're easy game."

"Thank you Dean and I'm sorry and I can't do anything to help you. It might be risky but I think the best course would be to allow this angel to help your brother. You've proven that you can handle yourself if the situation turns."

"Thanks, that means a lot," he rolled his eyes. He then spoke softer. "Look Cas, you might not be able to help me but maybe there is something I can still do to help you. After all, you say that you're human now and that means that you're in a whole new ballgame."


Dean walked in Sam's hospital room as soon as he was done with talking to Cas and making arrangements for some money to be wired to the nearest bus station by him to get him a ticket along with instructions to verify it because he informed the station that Cas wouldn't have any ID to claim them. They would call his cell for confirmation. The bus would drop Cas to a town about a hundred miles away but that was as close as he could get him. Dean offered to pick him up but Cas told him that his brother needed him now.

Dean solemnly opened the door with his head still trying to wrap around the whole idea of the angel now being human. He made a mental note to find Metatron and ring his big fat neck. He closed the door behind him to see the new angel with his brother. The room had been covered with angel warding. If this guy pulled anything then he would keep him trapped here at least until he ran an angel blade through his throat. He had agreed to the terms quite easily saying he had no intention of bringing harm to Sam. The angel was staring down at Sam as he ran a hand up and down in the air over Sam's body. Dean went up to him to see that his other hand was wiping away blood leaking from his nose.

"Hey buddy, are you okay?" He didn't do this out of real concern for the guy but to hang on to what may be his brother's last chance.

He wiped his nose on his sleeve and cleared his throat. "Just a little damaged. The Fall has taken quite a toll on me. My recovery has been very slow."

"Well, sorry about that," he said barely caring at all. Dean's nerves were beyond stressed now. "Now about Sam, can you help him or not?"

The angel's eyes were in a strong focus. "I know before that I said that you might've exaggerated your brother's condition but it seems instead you held back how bad it really was."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your brother's body is breaking not only on a physical level but also on a metaphysical level. Just what happened to him anyway?"

"I can't ask your life story but you could ask for mine and my brother's? Look, can you heal him or not?" he asked impatiently.

"I believe I can."

"Good, do it," he demanded.

"It's not that simple. For what's happened to your brother it won't be as simple as the usual methods of healing. It will require me do something drastic."

"What?"

"I'll need to possess your brother."

Dean was sure he heard wrong. "Run that by me again."

The guy continued. "By possessing your brother I can heal him from the inside out. As it is nothing I can think of can heal him from the outside. At the same time this will help me as well."

"How?"

"Your brother is a strong vessel. My grace will be able to rejuvenate much better and faster than it would in the vessel I have now."

Dean was smelling something fishy here. He wouldn't forget the last angel that wanted his brother for a vessel because he was strong. "So that's your game plan huh?" he growled.

"You did give your word that if any of us helped you then we would have your help in return, did you not? This will both help you and help me."

Dean glared at the angel in front of him. This guy was very calm and he couldn't find any kind of tell or break in his face as he said all that crap but most of the angels he met were celestial robots.

"Yeah well no deal. I don't trust you in the same room without locks in every corner of it so what makes you think I'll trust you with being in my brother?"

The angel just shrugged. "You're right. You can't know if you can trust me but you don't have a lot of time left find another way. Your brother's time is just about up."

"What are you talking about?"

"It doesn't look like your brother will survive till sundown."

"Sam's plugged into all these machines to keep him going."

Not from this," the angel said shaking his head. "What is happening is now beyond them." Dean glared at the guy. This had to be a trick. "Still don't trust me? Then take a look for yourself." He put two fingers on Sam's forehead with one hand and reached for Dean's with his other hand.


Sam was moving off to sit in front of Death in the armchair next to him.

"I'm sure you're getting off on all of this?" he muttered.

Death hardly reacted. "Don't be like Dean and be snarky and overly self-important with me. Though I will say that you are one of the rare souls that I don't mind coming to collect personally."

Something clicked in Sam's mind. "It was you. Earlier I was running because I felt something coming for me. That was you, wasn't it?"

"So you are the smart one after all," Death quipped in polite amusement.

"And what makes you think that I will let you collect me? What's keeping me from just walking out of here and away from you."

Death didn't even flinch. "Nothing though I doubt you will like the alternative if you do walk out that door. You can leave and you will live but you'll be all but dead to the world. You might be strong enough to make sense of bits happening around you but you will be lucky if you could even make a twitch in response. Is that really the better alternative?"

At that moment Dean was semi present in some far off corner of the room where he saw his brother chatting with Death.

Sam slowly leaned forward, closer to Death. "Is it true? Is this truly it for me?"

Death fingered the top of his cane. "Hard to grasp isn't it?"

Sam wiped his mouth as he let himself come to grips with everything. "If…if I agree to go with you then can you guarantee me that this really is it? That I won't be brought back? Nothing can reverse it, pull me back; no one can deal it away. That this will truly be it? Can you?"

Death looked him straight in the eye. "I can," he said firmly. His words weren't a promise, they were a truth.


Dean was snapped out of the connection to find himself back in the hospital room as the angel removed his fingers from their foreheads. The angel pulled back and seemed to hold his head as if he had a migraine but Dean barely acknowledged it.

"Damn it Sammy. What the hell are you thinking?" he growled to himself.

The angel was softly rubbing his temples. "As I said, your brother doesn't have a lot of time. If Death himself is there for him then not even these machines will stop him. He has his arms in position to take hold and grab him. Yet, if I can possess your brother then I can hold off his grip until your brother is well enough from our merge to slip safely away."

Dean's heartbeat was starting to rise as real panic started to set in. If Sam bit the dust this time then that was it. He just couldn't sit back and let his brother just kick the bucket. But to just let this angel, who he still didn't really know anything about, possess his brother? He knew Sam would hate him for eternity. It was then that he realized that he'd rather have Sam alive and hating him then not have him at all.

"Fine," he spat out. "Do it."

The angel nodded. "I will but I still need for him to give me his consent. I think I'll be needing your help with that."


Sam was going over everything Death had just claimed about his offer. He also remembered everything that both his images of Bobby and Dean had gone over with him in the middle. If he did come back then it wouldn't really be living at all with him as a human jello mold. Who knew the lengths Dean would put himself through to try and piece him back together or if it would even be possible. Bobby was right. Whenever one of them was in trouble he and Dean would always nearly kill themselves to save the other. If he finally was gone for good then maybe Dean could finally have some degree of peace. If anyone deserved peace in his life it was him and Sam found that he wouldn't mind being at peace as well. He could be in heaven and try and track down his parents, Bobby, Ellen, Jo, Ash, Pamela, even Jess.

Death stood up from the chair. "Well Sam, what's your final word?"

Sam looked up at Death who had extended his hand out. Sam looked at it long and hard before he stood up too. "Okay."

As he went to take hold of Death's hand so they could get going a voice echoed through the room. "Don't do it Sam!"

Sam's hand was inches from grasping Death's when he froze in action and turned his head around. "Dean?" he said in surprise. But then he shook his head. "No, you're not Dean. Not really."

"Yes Sam, I am. It's me. The true blue brand name real deal."

"But, how?"

"That's not important right now. Listen, you can't go through with this. You can't just quit."

"I'm not quitting."

"No? Then what do you call this then?"

"Being pink slipped. Dean, it's over. Life is showing me the door. I'm just going through it with my own two feet instead of letting myself get dragged out kicking and screaming."

"Well not everyone in this building is ready to see you go."

"Oh my," Death said from where he stood. "Well isn't this a pleasant reunion," his voice was laced with surpreme sarcasm but the brothers ignored him.

Sam just shook his head. "But it's not up to them this time. Dean...there's nothing left. If I go back then I'll be alive but not living. I'll be stuck in some hospital bed slowly rotting away maybe for the rest of my life."

"Yes, you'll be alive. And I won't let it come to that. So just, come with me. I'll bring you back. I always do."

"Well maybe that's not your job anymore either. Maybe you don't have to kill yourself to pick up my slack anymore. Dean, I'm done and I know it. You are just going to have to accept it."

"I can't and I won't because it's unacceptable! I'll admit that with all those times I brought you back from the brink they weren't always perfect but you know what got me by them? You. It was you and it will always be you. It always has been Sam and Dean. I can't just be Dean. I tried that before and it didn't work. Please, I'm asking if you will stand by me like you always do?"

"Dean…you don't give yourself enough credit. You can stand on your own. You never tried because you always held onto the hope that I can come back to you. But now…now you won't have that this time. You'll have to make due and I know you better than anyone, you can."

Dean stared at him with wide eyes as his shoulders shagged and the rest of him seem to deflate. "You're really going to go through with this then?"

"I have to move on. You have to move on. This is my choice and I'm asking for you to let me have it. Please." Sam was pleading now. This is not only what he knew was best; it was what he wanted.

Dean was silent for a moment. He glared at the floor before he back up at his brother. He didn't look accepting but he seemed calmer. "I get it. But do you really think I can do it? Just move on and deal with the rest of my life?"

"I know you can," Sam smiled.

"Really?" he pressed. "I need to hear you say it before I can start to believe it."

Sam took him by the shoulder. He nodded. "Dean...Yes."

Dean lightly grasped and tapped Sam's arm as he nodded. It looked like Dean was ready to let him go. A second later, "Thanks," he said in a voice that wasn't his.

Suddenly the grip Dean had on Sam's arm got tighter as a light leaked out of him. Sam tried to pull away and watched in horror as Dean's body was replaced by someone he had never seen before. They soon vanished leaving Death standing there all alone glaring at the spot.

"Those arrogant and spoiled brats," he muttered.


The daily nurse came into the room for his annual check of the patient's hookup when she saw that the room was painted with strange paraphilia on the walls. The most puzzling sight was unconscious man with a leather jacket on the bed instead of the registered patient.

"Sir?" she said as she bent down to try and shake him awake.

The man started slowly blink open his eyes. "What?' he muttered. "Where am I?"

Suddenly he started coughing a bit and it built up after every second until a small spot of blood shot up from his lips.

"Doctor!" the nurse shouted.


Dean and the now possessed Sam were walking away some distance from the hospital. Even if Dean didn't know better he could tell from a distance that Sam wasn't himself. The way he carried himself and the look in his eyes was one that his brother would never have on.

"He's a good fit," 'Sam' said as he took in everything with a deep breath. "I can indeed recover fully from all my injuries sustained in the Fall."

"Glad to hear it but what about Sam's injuries? Is everything okay now?" he asked. "Is my brother going to be okay?"

He kept his eyes closed as he kept walking. "There is quite a mess in here," 'Sam' said. "But I found everything I need. I can put him back together alright but it will take some time."

Dean stopped walking. "How much time exactly?"

He stopped too and opened his eyes. "A good while…but there might be a way to speed this along."

"How?"

"I could put myself in a far corner of your brother's mind and give him control. That would mean more of my strength could go into internally repairing your brother. It could probably done within three or four months at the most."

"And what happens after that?"

"Once your brother is healed then I will be fully healed. After that, you can rest assured that I will leave."

The thought of his brother healing and him having the run of his own body was more than okay in his book. Add in the quicker recovery and the angel leaving only made the deal sweeter. "Okay then."

"But…" 'Sam' cut in. "There is one thing you will have to consider."

Dean wasn't liking the sound of this. "What's that?"

"Because I'll be in a far corner of his mind instead of in front, my grip on him will be weakened as a result. If Sam moderately puts his mind to it then he could expel me from his body and if he does then he will die instantly. And considering what we did to get him to agree he will waste no time to push me out."

"And if you stay in control out here, how much time do you think it'll take?"

"I would say…maybe a handful of years, at least." He looked to see Dean breathe out hard. "Though I can do something about that."

"What?"

"I could alter his memories of what happened recently. Make it so he is unaware of both his condition and me. As long as he doesn't discover what happened or what's going on with him then it just might work."

"Then this stays our secret for now," Dean nodded. He was hating himself even more for this but this was for his brother's own good. He couldn't lose him. Not now with all of this stuff now happening.

"I'll be listening in while I'm inside. If you ever need to talk then just use the trigger as you speak to your brother."

"What trigger? How about your name?"

"In these times, I can't have that going around. A nickname for your brother will do for us though you already use 'Sammy' if I'm not mistaken. Just refer to your brother as Samuel. I'm sure that he would think you are hiding behind sarcasm to express annoyance, anger or sadness if you did that."

"Fine whatever," he rolled his eyes before looking serious. "Just make sure that you hold up your end of the bargain or you'll find yourself wishing for the Fall's injuries when I'm through with you."

'Sam' just smiled at him. "Don't you worry about that. Everything will be fine, I promise."

The two found themselves back in the Impala as Dean started to drive off to head for the Interstate. The angel went into the backseat and had laid himself down and everything was silent for a moment before there was the sound of heavy breathing and gasping.

"What?" Sam sputtered as he found himself cramped in the back seat of the car. "What's going on?'

"Sam?" Dean said hopefully.

"Dean?" Sam got himself together and sat up and saw he was indeed in the Impala and they were driving along some highway.

"Welcome back to the world of the living Sammy."


End of Chapter 2

A/N: That's the end of this episode. Dean may not like the idea of 'Samuel' being in Sam but he doesn't see any other way to save his brother. Little does he realize that saving Sam is not going to be as 'cut and dry' as all the other times and that should tell you something. What I have in mind were theories I had knocking in my head throughout Season 9 surrounding what this could all mean about the future of Heaven and Hell especially when Kevin hadn't finished translating the Demon Tablet or really started putting a dent in the Angel Tablet. Like they always say: Don't forget to read the fine print.

Next episode will be called Dean's Inferno. Dean and Sam return to the bunker to an unhappy Kevin as they bring in a new guest. Meanwhile, Abbadon begins to make her mark for taking control of Hell from Crowley.