It was incredible...

It was a cave, a small one when in comparison to others I had seen. Yet it seemed cavernous. The markings were all over here. Across from where I had fallen, there was a circle on the wall where the bare stone was made conspicuously visible. It was strange how that circular part of the wall had been left blank of symbols. I wondered to myself where I had seen something like this before. It looked so familiar but I couldn't dwell on that. I had others to look after. I looked around until my eyes landed upon a speechless Sam. He was looking at me in mild confusion. Before I had the opportunity to wonder why he was looking at me in such a manner, I was slammed to the floor by a falling mass.

It was alive, human and bulky. It was Dean. He was scrabbling, trying to regain a sense of awareness and trying to get to his feet. As he struggled with getting up I was trapped beneath him, trying to calm his frantic arm throwing and hard breathing. He'd managed to stand on his feet and began looking around to see where we were. When he spotted Sam, he sighed in relief and continued to let his eyes wonder around the new scene. When he saw me beneath him, he extended a hand. I took it, smiling gratefully, feeling my cheeks flare a bright pink in gratitude and embarrassment.

As he took my hand in his I felt something. That tingly feeling. What was it?

"Sorry man." He said with a charming smile. It only flashed across his face for the briefest moment. Then it was gone and the hunter returned to his trademark 'heart of steal' state of mind.

Again, Sam's voice shocked me into reality."What just happened?"

Dean and I both looked at him from where we stood. "I don't know." He said, turning away from me.

"It's another spell, I'm guessing. When I came through, you were already over there," I indicated to where he stood. "And then Dean knocked me down a few seconds after I had come through even though he was right behind me..."

"It was more like me waiting five minuets for you." Sam informed me.

"Well, some spells, when they are concentrated in a certain area, effect things like mentality, space and time. Some even can randomly change physical perception." My mind flashed to a distant memory of seeing a full blown dragon protecting a rare artefact. That, too, had been an illusion that had been created unintentionally by the combined power of all the protection spells upon the object.

I continued, "But to effect reality like that, you'd either have to have to be holding a gate to another dimension permanently open or you'd have to have God like powers..."

"So God did this?" Deans voice broke a little. Sam didn't notice but I did. He was thinking of the angel who had pulled him from Hell and had helped him save the world and his life and then proclaimed himself God. He was thinking of horror, of fear, of something else. Something deep in his mind, too deep for me to reach.

I wanted to explore and find what it was that he was feeling, but I couldn't. I needed to be aware of my surroundings. I needed to figure out our next move.

"God? Well that's a whole new road that we don't have time to follow." I said trying to stop Dean's thoughts of the angel. "I'm not sure who, or what, set this up but they've gotta be wielding some pretty big weapons to pull this off. I would've said Lilith or Eve but you guys have already took care of them."

"So who else in on the suspect list?" Sam asked, moving closer to Dean and I. It was strange, the cave seemed to decrease in size with each step he took.

"No one I can think of can swing this. But maybe..." I suddenly went through all the people in my life that I had come into contact with and all the people who did have the power to swing a deal like this. "There are hundreds of Pagan gods that can do this but it would've taken decades maybe even centuries to build it. And there aren't any traces in here."

"No traces?" Sam looked at me quizzically.

"None. There aren't any signatures that show me who cast the spells. All I can do is feel it's magnitude."

Dean was looking at me. I could only see him from the corner of my eye but it was enough to asses him. He was in deep thought mode and he wasn't thinking about the task at hand. Sam seemed to notice this too but said nothing. The brothers were more distant than they were when their father died. They had been through so much, they had saved the world and killed many-a-beast as brothers but these past few months, they'd grown father apart.

But this wasn't the time to have a sit down and discuss our problems. We had business.

Walking over to the blank circle of stone that was bare of any markings, Dean asked "What's the plan now?"

"It looks to me like there's a gateway through to where ever it is we need to go. But things like this require a sacrifice..." I was looking at the wall quizzically. I touched the stone lightly. It seemed to hum under my fingertips. It definitely needed the sacrifice. It was practically craving it.

"A sacrifice of what?" Dean asked, stepping forward. As he got closer, I stepped further away, pretending to examine the wall closer. I didn't feel comfortable around this hunter. I wanted to find out what the tingle was before we touch again.

"Blood." came Sam's voice from behind me as I studied the wall.

"How do you know?" Dean was looking at his brother. He was cautious of his brother. Ever since he had got his soul back, he'd been different. It had taken me a whole weekend to strengthen the wall within his mind that separated hell from Sam. However, Dean didn't trust his brother. He'd killed him in the future where Lucifer won. Even though he was possessed by the fallen angel during the act and it had been prevented anyway, the oldest brother could never see his younger sibling the same way.

"Because it's always blood." His face held no expression. Eyes blank and emotionless. He was a shell of the man he once was. Sam, the smart hunter who always aspired to fit in, had become so caught up in the intricate web of pain, demons and sorrow that was he his life, he'd lost the final thing he had ever held on to. It was never to be reclaimed.

"It's what keeps you going. It's what makes you warm. It's always blood..." He finished, his voice trailing off. I was worried about him, but there was no time to worry about anything. We had to move quickly.

My thinking about the lack of time we had to perform our task was disrupted by Dean's voice. It made my stomach feel although it was being tickled with a low voltage of electricity. The sensation was there for less than a moment.

"My brother. Always the encyclopaedia of the freakish?" Dean said. I noticed the flashed smile and the glint in his eye that meant he was covering up deep worry with humour. He always did that, even though he knows it never works.

"When you've been in the game as long as we have, you learn a thing or two." His voice was as emotionless as his face remained.

"Who gets the short straw?" Dean asked turning his gaze onto me. His eyes bore into my flash. I suddenly felt as though all the air had been taken away from the cavern.

"I'll do it." Sam started to step forward. Dean's hand twitched in a subconscious attempt to protect his brother.

"No." My voice held such power that emotion washed upon the tall hunters chiselled features. Shock. I had never been so assertive. But they needed to get it into their minds. They no longer had an angel on their shoulder. No one could summon them from beyond the grave. I could but I wouldn't. Simply because they'd died too many times already. Once we were finished with what had to be done, they needed to fight alone. And they couldn't be resurrected. No one will be there for them. None but each other.

"Why not?" Dean asked moving closer. I kept my eyes fixed firmly upon the wall. If I turned and faced him, I wouldn't be responsible for my actions.

"Because your blood is too precious. I'll do it." I moved my line of vision so that my primary focus was on my left hand. But I was still able to see the hunter from the corner of my eye. The way he stood. The strong jaw he held tight. And the pain that flared in his eyes. Any one would thing that he was still in hell. But whether he was the teacher or the lesson was less clear.

The nail on my right thumb sharpened and I pressed I into my left palm until blood was drawn. The eldest Winchester flinched and the sight of the glorious red liquid. My eyes flashed back towards him and locked with his. In that moment, we were both one. Together and alone. In a world that could neither harm us nor break us. The moment lasted as long as Sam kept quiet. He shifted from one foot to another, the material of the inside of his jeans rubbed together. The friction had caused me to remember the pooling crimson liquid in my hand.

I turned my focus back to the wall. The humming had gotten louder. And the cave walls began to throb in anticipation. I could feel the hunters' gazes fly around the room suspiciously.

I summoned all the emotion I could and threw my hand, palm down, at the circle of clear cave wall. My blood filled the area of space and glowed a brilliant red. I could feel the blood draining from me. I could feel my life being drawn out of a small cut across my palm. It was excruciating. I couldn't bear it. But I had to. I'd come too far to give up now. I had no choice.

I clenched my right fist and focused the pain there. I began to glow red hot and my skin began to blister from the heat. The part of my jeans that had been protecting my now exposed skin from the wrath of my power had burned away. My boxers had also become subject to the ever increasing heat of my hand.

The pain in my palm was easing. The cave had taken all it could. I peeled my hand off of the surface, now almost has hot as my cooling right hand. Nothing seemed to be happening. Then, all of a sudden, we were being swallowed by the wall. Me and the brothers were sucked into a hole in the wall that had expanded from the bare stone. The symbols glowed a brilliant blue that blinded me momentarily. When I had regained my vision, the scene had changed once more.

We now found ourselves in a place that would show the hunters the truth. About themselves and each other...