Chapter Two: The Mind of the Broken, Soul of the Healed

Welcome, welcome Sammy boy! Guess what? You and Adam over there just won a free trip with my brother and I here! Your stay will last about…Oh, just eternity give or take a few centuries. Enjoy!

"No."

Hey, you want to play a game? How about we count how many times your Mom screams as she burns on that roof? Flashback!

"Stop."

Whoa, Daddy just totally lost a lung there…Fun watching him suffer isn't it? Does it make you feel better Sam? Watching him suffer? You always did hate him.

"No. I never wanted… Please."

One, two, three…There goes Dean. Four, five, six… He can't be fixed. Seven, eight, nine… Your soul is mine. Ouch. Look at that! Your brother is in Hell again. Looks like he killed himself because you're with me.

"You're lying!"

Aw, does Sammy not want his big brother to be hurting again? It is kind of your fault you know.

"Please, please stop it."

But we're having so much fun!

"Sam."

Sam…Come play.

"Sammy, come on. Look at me!"

Yeah, Sammy, look at me! Look into my eyes!

"Damn it Sam! Look. At. Me."

Ooh, cue emotional music!

"Wake up!"

Are you sure you want to? Is that really your brother talking or is it me?

"GET OUT!" Sam screamed and felt hands suddenly pinning him as he lashed out, his chest hurting as he tried to breathe, but couldn't. "Get out." He moaned, and voices were around him.

"Shut up." One snapped and the rest went quiet as Sam struggled, fighting to get free. One of the hands left his wrists and found a place instead on the back of his neck, squeezing tightly. "Sam. Listen to me." It said, and while it sounded calm, Sam could trace a note of fear in it. "We talked about this. It isn't real. I swear." It told him sternly. "Open your eyes."

Be careful Sammy… You might see something you don't want to.

"Open them." The hand around his wrists gripped him tighter, and he felt a thumb pressing into the palm of his hand. "Sam, come on. Calm down."

Dean. Dean was here.

Are you sure?

"Dude, you are totally going to regret this later. There were some hot chicks eying you over, but I think they lost interest now that you're just laying here."

Yeah. That was his brother.

Or it could be me.

"Alright. We'll start out small then. Can you tell me who you're talking too? Or are you just going to continue being an ass?"

Lucifer!

"D-Dean?" he choked out, going limp. His breathing wasn't slowing down and his eyes were still squeezed shut. The hands didn't let go either.

"Well there's that Stanford education. I have to admit, I sometimes feel like you got stupider going there."

"Did…Not."

"Prove it then. Where are we?"

Hell. The cage. Hey, look there's Adam.

"Case?"

"Where is the case at?"

"Oklahoma?"

"Alright, so maybe Stanford did you some good after all." The voice said gently and the hands released his wrists, but still stayed comfortingly by his neck like they had whenever he had a nightmare as a kid. Sam swallowed, letting one of his hands grip the cloth of something leather next to him.

"Not real." He whispered.

"Well last time I checked, I was real. And so is that huge gash on my arm…"

Dean was hurt?

Oh, is he? Are you sure I didn't do that? Or you?

"You might need to stitch that up for me when you feel like it."

Silence.

Sam paused, waiting for Dean to talk more. He needed to listen, to decide if it was real enough to open his eyes. It had been so real. So fucking real. He couldn't tell if he was still in the cage. It had been awhile since he had another one of these episodes, but that didn't stop them from happening.

"Remember the case with Helen Rogers?"

Ooh! Is Helen down here too?

"No! Yes."

"Which one?"

"Yes. Yes… You talked about what happened to you." He whispered and almost shuddered at the memory. He had been horrified to hear what his brother had gone through. Somehow he had always thought he had gotten the worse end of the deal. Guess Hell is Hell. There is no worse.

"Can you tell me about what happened to you?"

Would you like me to help you? I could help you remember!

"No!" he hissed, and the hand moved up further from his neck to the back of his hair, keeping him from jerking away.

"Hey, stop moving. Breathe. Tell me just a little. You know, when I was little I remember Mom told me the bravest things we do aren't when we actually do anything. It's when we tell somebody the truth."

Ha. This is getting sappy. Speaking of your mom, you want to go watch her burn?

"Don't want to."

Good job Sammy. You tell him!

"Come on. You're braver than me when it comes to that stuff. You know that. I couldn't have told Dad half the things you did."

Ooh, but you regretted saying it didn't you? You didn't say it because you were brave. You said it to make him hurt.

"Dean…"

"Just tell me one thing."

There was a pause and Sam gripped the leather in his hand tighter, his heart rate slowing slightly. One thing…He could do that, right?

Liar.

"It hurt."

Wow…That's…Descriptive.

"I…I heard Adam screaming…And Lucifer's voice. His voice was the worst part."

The part that never left.

"I was on fire. And then drowning. They peeled my skin off and ripped out my tongue when I screamed too loud." There was a sound of a sharp intake of breath and the hand gripped tighter around him, but the pain was welcomed. It was real.

Are you sure?

"Every time I opened my eyes I would see something different. Mom dying. Dad dying. You dying. People were hurt and Lucifer kept saying I didn't have to watch… Then he burned my eyes out."

That was fun to watch… Too bad you couldn't. Ha! See what I did there?

"They stabbed me and ripped out my throat."

You-

"Stop listening to him Sam."

"What?"

"You're pausing. Stop listening to him. He's not there."

Lies. I-

"Shut up." The voice interrupted him "Leave him alone and go back to whatever pit you crawled out of."

Dean… It was so like him to yell at something that wasn't even real to make his brother feel better.

Silence.

"He's gone."

"Good." The voice told him "And I thought your imaginary friends were bad."

"I liked Greg."

"How did a seven year old come up with the name Greg anyways?" he asked and a smile tugged up at Sam's lips.

"I don't know… I just remember you hated him."

"Of course I did. I was being upped by something that didn't really exist. Plus it was embarrassing to take you places."

"You were just jealous."

"As if. Though I have to admit, I'm kind of offended that you would rather imagine Hell than look at me right now."

"That's not fair. I'm not seeing Hell right now."

"What's better to look at than me?" he asked and Sam snorted, slowly cracking a lid open as the hand from his neck disappeared. Slowly, he blinked, catching a glimpse of Dean's white and tired looking face which gave him a ghost of a smile when he locked eyes. "See? I told you." He said weakly and Sam ran a hand over his face, propping himself up on his elbows.

"What happened?"

"Spirit and demon teamed up… Somehow they got into your head and had a bit of a play date, which explains the freak out session."

"Your arm okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." He said, lifting up a bloody and bandaged arm for him to see. At Sam's exasperated expression he gave another grin. "What? I think it makes me look badass."

"Sure it does Indiana Jones." He said and looked down to see he was still gripping the end of his brother's leather jacket. Embarrassed, he quickly let go and sighed, swinging his legs over the ledge of whatever it was he was lying on. "Where's the med kit? I'll sew it up." He yawned and Dean snorted.

"Ok there Clara Barton." He chuckled as he reached over and picked up the bag before giving him a long look. "You alright?" he asked, studying him over and Sam nodded. That was probably the best part about Dean. He'd do something incredibly amazing and then act as though nothing had happened. It was part of the reason he did feel alright right now. He was fine.

Are you sure?

Yeah, Sam thought. Get out of my head before my brother and I kick your ass.

Alright...So I know this chapter may have been confusing, especially if you read through it quick. Here's a brief little summary of what just happened if you need it. Sam and Dean had been on a hunt, and Sam had been attacked leading him into a psych break. The italics are Lucifer speaking, and the person talking to Sam is obviously Dean. When Sam is responding he's either talking to Dean, Lucifer, or both. The others voices I mentioned at the beginning were just some other people who had been involved when Sam collapsed (who Dean shortly sent away). Then the rest is Dean trying to get Sam to open his eyes back up.

Yep! That's it (: Hope you guys all enjoyed :D