Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and to "gianess" whom I couldn't thank personally. :)
I didn't have any intention of continuing this but I have!
It's obviously AU, but I like this idea better than what was proposed!
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Chapter Two.
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Sam braced his body for an almighty collision with the hard earth but instead of the bone-shuddering crunch he was expecting, he found himself lowered to the ground as lightly as a feather.
He had succeeded.
He was in Purgatory.
He executed a three hundred and sixty degree turn, his eyes scanning the area.
The first thing that his senses registered was the dark gloomy crepuscular atmosphere that hung over the whole panorama like some funereal pall. The impression was amplified by the spectral trees, their branches fleshless bones reaching out to grab any unaware traveller who was incautious enough to journey through their depths.
The semi-darkness made him shiver. No bird-songs or chirping animated this shadowy place.
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Hell had been flaming red, and at times freezing cold when Lucifer's torturing fingers had touched him.
This was completely different, its eerie silence creeping him out more than Hell had. In the Infers you got what you expected, but here Sam Winchester didn't know what was waiting for him among those trees; all he knew and cared about was that Dean was out there somewhere and that he would find his big brother and take him home.
Sam examined his body.
He was still dressed in the clothes he had been wearing when he had arrived but the weapons and journal that he had brought with him had disappeared.
Screw you, he thought to himself, a scornful smile on his face; for he had conveniently committed the spell for getting back out of Purgatory to memory, along with other handy bits of information he had uncovered about this alien dimension.
Somehow now that he knew his brother was near, made his spirits rise. The most was done; he had entered Purgatory alone but he would leave with Dean.
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He took a deep breath to calm his beating heart.
He was weapon-less, in an unknown dimension probably filled with potential monsters who wouldn't exactly welcome him into their midst, but Dean had been in here for a month already or perhaps more, if time flowed differently like Hell's; Dean had had to face the same dangers when he had been blasted here and so could he.
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He was absolutely sure that Dean was still alive.
He had interrogated the spirit world and Bobby's spirit itself had confirmed that Dean was in Purgatory.
"Go get your brother, Sam! He needs you just as much as you need him!" Bobby had told him.
"You idjits had still to add Purgatory to your tour of the after-life; so go do a little sight-seeing and tell that wooded-headed brother of yours I was asking for him when you find him!."
Sam had felt the tears running down his face as he talked with Bobby, and the older hunter's blessing had given him even more determination and strength to continue his quest for his brother.
"Bobby…I…I….Thanks….!"
"Keep them teary puppy-eyes for your brother, boy!" Bobby had scolded crustily, his voice breaking up too at the naked emotion on Sam's face."You might need to use them on Dean, for I swear it's the only way you got to make him see sense sometimes. Good luck, son!"
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Sam steeled himself and made his way forward; from the moment he had arrived everything had been deathly quiet but suddenly a series of blood-curling screams ripped through the silence.
Sam felt his heart miss a beat for amongst those sounds one stood out as clearly as if it had been flashed on a gigantic screen for him to read.
It was Dean's. Dean was screaming.
All his cautious intents were thrown to the wind as he started to run desperately in the direction of the noises.
"I'm coming Dean, I'm coming," his mind repeated over and over as his long legs ate up the metres that separated him from his brother.
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He burst into a clearing, his body heaving with the effort, expecting to see Dean bloodied and tortured, his body lying on the damp humid ground; but his interpretation of the events was all wrong for it was Dean who stood over three unfortunate corpses; a freshly severed head still dripping blood in one hand, and some kind of make-shift weapon in the other.
Sam stared in surprise as he saw another man standing shoulder to shoulder with his brother, his hands equally occupied in handling a severed head.
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"Dean?!" Sam's panting voice uttered as Dean turned towards him, a look of utter surprise on his face as his mind registered what he was seeing.
"Sammy?" Dean's eyes were wild and feral, like that of some predator that had just savaged his prey.
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Sam nearly gave in to the automatic reflex to flee; to run from this wild animal but he stood his ground; this was no animal; it was Dean, his beloved brother.
He took a few tottering steps forward.
"Dean, it's me, Sam!" he offered, putting as much empathy as he could into his gaze, hoping that whatever his brother was pumped up on could be defused by his puppy-eyed expression. He silently gave thanks as he saw the savagery gradually disappear from his brother's eyes and the hand that had been holding the gruesome trophy opened, the head hitting the ground with a dull thump as Dean came slowly towards him.
"Sammy," Dean's voice had softened. "Sammy, is it really you?"
"It's really me Dean," Sam assured as he stood calmly, giving his brother the time to assimilate hs presence.
Dean just huffed and nodded as he threw his blood-soaked arms around his little brother; Sam's long arms enfolded him in turn, pulling him towards him in a vice-like octopus grip and holding on for dear life.
Sam could feel the frenetic thumping of Dean's heart against his chest, and he squeezed even tighter, wanting with all his soul to comfort his big brother, for the look he had seen in his eyes earlier had made him fear for Dean's sanity.
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He took a moment to lift his eyes to the being he had seen standing at his big brother's side.
Sam didn't exactly know how to define his status in Purgatory.
He knew he had entered body and soul, so he wasn't technically dead but if looks could kill, the hostile expression in the man's eyes would have already reduced him to ashes.
Who was he? Sam asked himself, and what did he have to do with Dean?
He lowered his eyes and buried himself in his brother's embrace. He felt suddenly very protective of Dean; whoever that being was, Sam had a hunch that he wasn't there for Dean's well-being but for some agenda of his own.
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XXX TBC XXX