A/N: Okay… This chapter is kind of gory… Enjoy!
I hear them getting closer, their howls are sending chills down my spine. And time is running out now, they're coming down the hills from behind… When we start killing, it's all coming down right now. From the nightmare we've created, I want to be awakened somehow… (I want to be awakened right now)…..
Dean turned to look at Sam, "I'm sorry." He spoke, barely above a whisper, the tears he cried where unnoticeable as the heat dried them away. Sam pulled harder on his restraints, he swore he could feel them digging into his skin as he screamed to hold his brother one last time, only to say goodbye one last time. He could feel the tears falling down his cheeks as they dried.
Dean pulled himself together, forcing himself to grin. "Don't forget about me, Sammy." He said, his voice cracking like the flames that surround him. He let out a sigh, only moments before Hell Hounds broke out of the ground and ripped and pulled at Dean's flesh.
"DEAN!" Sam shouted, hearing the agonized screams of his brother adding to those already filling the room. He finally broke from his restraints and rushed to his older brother's aid.
The hounds ripped and pulled at Dean's flesh, his blood painting the floor before boiling into small dried pools. Sam's heart broke at the sight of his brother's broken body before him. He reached out to comfort Dean, but the hell hounds pulled him out of reach. Pulling him closer and closer to the flame filled hell hole.
"Is it done?" Sam spoke, favoring his arm and watching Ruby. Dean was propped up against the wall, clutching at his bleeding arm, breathing heavily.
"Should be." Ruby answered, falling to her knees. The ritual was intense, leaving her body worn and tired. "You should be free, Dean."
Dean looked over at her, she was smiling… Why would a demon want to help him? Then he saw Sam, the same smile, if not bigger, pasted across his face.
"It's all over." Sam started, feeling the weight of the world being lifted from his shoulders. "You're going to live, Dean!" He made his way over, and pulled his brother into a hug, feeling the life run through Dean.
A high pitched scream pierced through the air, startling everyone in the room. "What was that?" Sam shouted over the noise, watching Ruby quickly stand to her feet. She brought her hand up to her head, trying to keep herself from falling back to the floor in her haste to stand.
"I don't know!" Ruby replied after she recovered, reaching for her knife. "It doesn't seem good, though."
Sam felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "Ruby?" he asked, sensing the tension in the air. "What's going on?"
"I'm not sure…" She spoke, fear clouding her eyes, "but whatever it is, it can't be good."
The temperature in the room seemed to increase ten fold. 'No, no, no… This can't be happening! We won, dammit!' "Ruby, what the fuck is going on? They aren't supposed to take him for another three months!"
"The ritual must have sped it up instead of slowing it down." Ruby explained. "It must have had something to do with the demons blood in you, Sam." Sam looked over at Dean, realizing what was about to happen.
"Dean…" Sam all but sobbed out. He heard Ruby shout something, but was entranced, watching his brother for what was probably the last time. He could see the fear in his brother's eyes, the pain in his heart, flickering across his features as fast as the flames billowed up out of the floor.
"Sam!" Ruby shouted, pulling her knife out and tossing Sam a shot gun, before taking her stance, "Get in front of Dean. Don't let anything that comes out near him!"
"Sam?" Dean choked, the fire ripping a hole in the floor filling the room with the scent and sounds of death. "Is this it?"
Sam turned from his brother, the pain in his arm forgotten as he heard the pain in his brother's voice. "SAM!" Ruby shouted as the flames grew. "Sam! You need to focus!"
'All the cutting, all the self hate he has, yet he still tried. We tried to save him… I failed him… I told him I could save him…'
The first hell hound emerged, a flash of snarls. Ruby was the first to act, putting herself between Dean and the beast, taking the full brunt of the dog's advance. Screaming, she fell to the floor as the hell hound's teeth tore into her hip. Her crimson blood fell freely from her wound as the hound released her, ready to hit her with another blow. "Sam, you can't just stand there! They will take Dean if you don't do something!" She flipped the blade in her hand before plunging it into the hound's chest, watching it draw its last breath, dying in a pool of its own dried blood. 'After everything he's been through, how depressed he is, and now he doesn't have time to say goodbye.'
"Sam!" Ruby shouted, trying to shake him into reality. "This is gate to hell! Anything can happen, your worst nightmares… You have to focus on saving Dean. Don't let this place get the better of you!"
She plunged her knife into the next hound, feeling it die as its blood sprayed onto her. Her hair was covered in dark blood and clung to her delicate face.
Festering corpses emerged, the chains they held clinking together. Rotting skin and muscle hung from their bodies, some ripping off as they crawled out of the abyss. "Sam…" Dean spoke, putting his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Sam! You need to move… Do something! They are after me; I won't go down without a fight."
Dean grabbed the gun out of his brother's hand. He knew it wouldn't do much, but it would slow them down. He watched Ruby as another hell hound sunk its teeth into her forearm. She shook it off before stabbing it between the eyes, watching them glaze over before wrenching her knife free.
Ruby was struck by a chain, the hook on the end slashing across her face. The intense heat of the room drying her blood as it slipped down her cheeks. Dean shot rock salt into the abomination, stunning the creature long enough to give Ruby a chance to sneak in and stab it, the slime and rotten flesh mixing with the blood to pool on the ground.
"Sam!" Ruby screamed, freeing her knife from the rotting flesh. "Watch out!"
'This is just the same as my dream… all I need to do is wake up.' Sam snapped back into reality, hearing his own scream, as three decaying ghouls whirled their chains into his flesh. The jagged blades of the hooks piercing into his arms and legs, pinning him to the wall.
"SAM!" Dean shouted, blasting the head off of one of the abominations in a spray of blood. Dean watched his trapped brother's blood spew from around the sharp hooks as he rushed to his brother's side. Dean could see Sam's strangled agony as he pulled against the restraints.
"Dean…" Sam spoke, crying softly, "I wish I was strong enough to save you."
"If you aren't strong enough, how do you expect me to be?" Dean asked, tears slipping down his cheeks before they dried.
Their attention was returned as Ruby's blood curdling scream pierced through the air. Dean turned in time to see her crash to the floor; the clothes on her stomach burnt away, the skin underneath sizzling. She clutched at her stomach, before attempting to stand up. Her attacker kicked out her arms, making her fall the ground. She lost her grip on her knife, which slid across the room.
"Run!" Ruby screamed, crawling up onto her knees.
"I can't leave Sam." Dean yelled. Ruby looked up at the younger brother. Sam's eyes were full of pain, his arms spread out, the hooks dug through his palms, his left leg pinned to the wall. He looked almost like he was being crucified. 'Are we all going to die here?' Sam thought, seeing Ruby practically submissive body.
Ruby was at the feet of a man with a black cape draped over his shoulders. The heat that radiated from him made the room even more unbearably hot, magnifying the stench and noises. The sick snapping of bones and the cracks of whip against flesh could be heard behind him. Dean shrunk back against the wall at the sounds, burring his face into his brother's shoulder.
The deep snarls of hell hounds were heard over the torture in hell, and the cloaked man grinned. He gripped the chains holding Sam in place, hearing them clink together was sickening. His grin never left as he ripped the hooks out of Sam's flesh without mercy, hearing Sam's skin and muscle rip under the serrated hooks.
Sam screamed and fell to the charred floor, watching as blood poured out of the holes in his palms before boiling into small dried pools.
"Sam!" Dean yelled, watching his brother fall, but unable to catch him. Ruby climbed to her feet once again, making her way to her knife as more hell hounds climbed out of the hole. Dean fell to the ground, holding his younger brother's body, watching the hounds advance on him.
The hounds hit Dean, pushing him against the wall, biting deep into his flesh, howling as they tasted his blood on their tongues. The cloaked man watched as the hounds ripped at Dean's flesh, still holding the chains in his hand.
Ruby reached her knife, holding it tightly in her hands. The sounds of Dean's crying heard over the sounds of death. Ruby bit her lip at the sight of the hounds tearing Dean's flesh, feasting on his blood. She advanced towards the man, but was stopped as one of the hooked chains was slung into her shoulder.
Sam pulled himself up onto his knees, watching Ruby fall to her knees, her eyes dark showing her demonic soul. The hook was ripped from her body, a small shower of blood spraying around her as she fell face first to the ground, blood seeping from her wound and being soaked up by her shirt.
Dean's screams pulled Sam's attention from Ruby to his brother. Sam's eyes widened as he watched the relentless attacks of the hell hounds. He crawled towards his brother, as he grew closer the hounds pulled back, leaving Dean's bloody body. His clothes were ripped and deep gashes pulsing crimson blood could be seen on his arms, legs, and torso.
"Dean?" Sam spoke, his broken and battered hand reached out, ignoring the pain that shot through him as he closed his hand around his brother's. Dean's hand was cold, despite the furnace they were in and his eyes were glazed over. "Don't leave me, Dean."
Dean weakly grasped Sam's hand, the only action he could accomplish. The cloaked man laughed evilly, swinging the hooked chains in his hand. He whipped them at Dean, the hooks digging deep into his chest, one below each shoulder. Sam felt Dean's hand squeeze his own as the sharp hooks dug into his flesh, hearing the gurgled scream. The chains clinked noisily together before being pulled tight.
"Time to go home, Dean." The cloaked figure finally spoke, his voice deep and raspy. He laughed again before dragging Dean's body towards the pit.
"Dean!" Sam shouted, watching his brother being slowly dragged across the floor, a smear of blood trailing behind. Sam held onto Dean's hand as long as he could before the grip became too slippery from their sweat and blood. Dean's strangled moans could be heard as the hooks pulled at his flesh, his hand still outstretched, waiting for Sam to save him.
The cloaked man stood at the edge of the hole, reeling in the helpless Dean. Sam crawled as fast as he could, to hold onto Dean just a little longer, to help him through the pain. Dean became light headed and started to drift in and out of consciousness.
Ruby was on her feet, knife in hand. She had snaked her way to the cloaked figure, plunging her knife deep into his stomach, turning the knife and watching blood pour out of the wound in spurts before pulling the knife out and pushing it back in again. The cloaked man groaned in pain as the knife slid into his gut, pouring parts of his intestine out. Ruby wrenched her knife free and stepped back, watching as the figure fell into the flaming pit.
The chain that the man was still holding clanked as he fell further into the pit. Dean lay motionless, watching Sam with tear filled eyes. He whispered an apology before the chain went taut, roughly pulling Dean into motion. The pull tearing the hooks further up his shoulders, causing Dean's scream to fill the room and his blood to gush out in pulses onto the blackened floor.
Ruby watched the chains slip into the darkness, then choked at the sight of Dean's tortured body slide past. She reached her hand out to him as he passed, grabbing onto his arm as he hurled towards the fire spewing hole. She snapped into motion as she was carried with Dean to the edge. She dug her fingers deep into the side of the pit, holding Dean's arm as they rocked to a stop.
Dean's eyes looked up at Ruby, his face revealing pure terror. It only lasted a moment as the chains holding him once again went taut, the hooks pulling his sternum and ribs out from the dead weight of the cloaked man on the other side. His eyes glazed over as the hooks and the majority of his chest fell into the darkness, followed by a steady stream of his dripping blood.
Ruby let out a cry as she watched Dean's motionless body. "Ruby!" Sam yelled, making his way to the edge.
"SAM! Stay where you are!" Ruby shouted, "I don't want you to see your brother like this." She paused; Dean's dead weight was becoming increasingly harder to hold. If she didn't let go, they would both crash down into hell.
"Ruby! The hole is closing." Sam shouted. "You have to get out of there!"
Ruby watched as the walls started to close in around her, she tried to pull herself up, but couldn't hold both her and Dean's weight. "I can't hold him, Sam." She whined, straining her muscles to pull them up. Her hand's where sweaty, and Dean's body was increasingly becoming heavier.
"Fuck!" she screamed as she lost her grip on Dean's body and watched him plummet into the depths of hell. She steadied herself and started to pull herself up to the mouth of the hole. She made her way to top, pulling her legs over the edge, and collapsing on the ground as the abyss closed completely.
"Where's Dean?" Sam asked, crawling towards Ruby.
"I couldn't hold him… I'm sorry Sam." She said, her strength leaving her. The burns and cuts she could deal with, but the huge burn on her stomach and stab to her shoulder were heavy.
Sam crawled the rest of the gap between himself and Ruby, resting his throbbing hand on her shoulder. 'We're alive… but Dean. He's gone, and three months early… This is all your fault, Ruby.' Sam lost consciousness as he gripped Ruby's shirt in his hands, his anger fading as he slipped away.
He woke up in a soft bed, his wounds were cleaned and bandaged. He looked around, trying to find an explanation when he spotted Ruby sitting in the corner, playing with her knife.
"I don't blame you for being pissed." Ruby spoke. "But this war is still going to happen, you need to be ready to face it alone."
"The next time I see you… I'll kill you." Sam whispered, the anger in his eyes burning holes into Ruby's body. Ruby sighed before standing up and making her way towards him.
"I won't stop you," she answered, resting her knife on the end-table next to Sam's bed. "You'll need this more than I will, Sam. Don't loose hope; your brother would still want you to fight."
Ruby turned and left, leaving Sam alone in the dark room. He reached for the knife on the end-table, holding it in his hands.
'Next time I see you, Ruby. I'll kill you.' He thought as he slid the knife into its sheath.
…The sun is rising, the screams have gone. Too many have fallen, few still stand tall. Is this the ending of what we've begun? Will we remember what we've done wrong? When we start killing, it's all coming down right now. From the nightmare we've created, I want to be awakened somehow… (I want to be awakened right now)
Within Temptation – The Howling
A/N: Vengeful Sammy! HELLS YEAH! Next chapter is the final chapter, Your love is appreciated.