Demon Game
Chapter Seven: Defining Moment
Four days ago, my two-year-old nephew fell in a river and had to be life-flighted to a hospital; I finished this chapter while waiting to hear news on his condition. Three days ago, he was declared braindead, his organs donated to help save lives and then he taken off life support. Two days ago my husband and I packed up and moved back home. Yesterday was spent with family, planning out the upcoming funeral. This is the first time I've been able to sit down at my computer in the midst of all this. I don't know when I'll post the next chapter. I am only one member of a grieving family suffering the loss of a sweet and compassionate child, and as such my priorities have shifted. I can promise that neither this story nor the AU in which is exists will be abandoned. I thank you all for reading, for your reviews, and for your patience. The moment you've been waiting for has finally arrived.
Also, Dean's monologue from 2.22 AHBL part 2 was pretty much copied and pasted into this chapter. It was too well written for me to even attempt to try anything else, but everything else is basically me.
"… missing persons have been turning up outside their original homes all across the US," said the reporter on the TV as Bobby sat at his desk, a large map spread out before him. "All the age of twenty-three, and all apparently born in either May or June of 1983, each have been killed in various, gruesome ways. Some appear to have been dead for at least five months, while others range as recent as maybe a few days old. No one has any idea who could have kidnapped them, let alone killed them or returned their bodies."
Bobby sighed and scrubbed at his face as he listened to the breaking newscast. All these returned bodies were special children like Sam and Danielle, they were all dead, and Bobby didn't even know why. Why had that girl killed Sam? He knew that the boys had come to trust her over the last few months and had likely told her many things not a whole lot of people were entrusted with.
Nothing made any sense.
To add to that, demonic activity was suddenly on the rise again, and it was like nothing Bobby had ever seen before. It'd been strange enough when possessions started happening more and more often the year before, but now, it seemed there were dozens of them out there, and they all seemed to be heading somewhere. The question was, what was coming? Bobby was man enough to admit he was scared of what the future might hold.
Of course, if he'd known what was coming, then maybe he wouldn't have left Dean alone.
Danielle had a lot of time to think.
She had taken a random, beat-up old car with a broken radio from that overcrowded lawn in Redfield, so she only had her own thoughts to entertain herself as she made her way across the state of South Dakota. As she drove, her mind considered the things she had done as well as the uncertainties that lay before her. The primary thought on her mind, as had been the case since the end of October, however, was Sam.
Even dead, I can't stop thinking about him, Danielle thought ruefully. She felt like a wretch for killing him, but she kept telling herself it was what she had to do. Sam didn't deserve everything that had happened to him, and yeah, Danielle didn't deserve anything that had happened to her, either, but someone had to make the sacrifice, and Danielle had to believe that it should be her making it.
The only wildcard would be Dean.
Danielle had studied Dean's emotions closely during that month she had spent with both him and Sam back home in Provo. She knew he suffered a lot of guilt, knew that he was so tired of everything, knew he believed Sam might be better off without him, no matter what she or Sam told him over and over.
John Winchester had made a Deal with a demon and damned his soul to Hell rather than let Azazel kill his sons. Sam had stood back and let a woman control a Grim Reaper to save Dean's life. The demon Dean had bargained with to save some stranger had tried to get him to make a Deal to bring John back from the dead, and Danielle knew the only reason he hadn't done it was because he knew neither John nor Sam would want him to.
The question, Danielle decided, was would Dean try to Deal for Sam's life now that he couldn't stop him?
She knew almost instantly that the answer was going to be 'yes'.
"I should've thought of that," she whispered as she drove over the rolling hills of South Dakota's prairie wasteland. And then she knew what her future was.
Sam was going to come back to life, and he was going to kill her and end the world, anyway. "Was this what you always wanted?" she suddenly shouted, startled by how rough and emotion-filled her voice was. "Do you want Sam Winchester to end the world? What's the point of it all? Why did I even try?"
The tears started and Danielle had to pull over to the side of the road, barely managing to put the car into 'park' before giving into her grief. There was no one to hear her, and no one to comfort her.
Danielle had never felt so alone as she silently prayed for answers.
"Do you want the truth?"
Danielle gasped and raised her head, surprised to see the strange man she had spoken to five months earlier sitting in the passenger seat.
"Who are you?" she whispered, feeling a little scared. "Are you an angel?"
"I am," the man said quietly. "My name is Zachariah."
Danielle swallowed and wiped away her tears. "Why do you want the world to end?" she asked.
"We don't," Zachariah answered calmly, leaning back in the passenger seat and staring out the windshield. "We're simply making sure everything happens as it should."
"As it should," Danielle echoed. "Where's this all going? The Apocalypse?"
Zachariah nodded. "Once Lucifer and Michael have fought the final battle and Michael wins, there will be paradise on Earth. No more destroying that which God created for you humans, and no more abominations with demon blood in their veins."
"Nice to know you think so highly of me," Danielle said dryly, her fear taking a back seat for the moment. "Why here? Why now?"
Zachariah smiled, and Danielle resisted the urge to jump out of the car and run for her life. "Because God commands it."
Danielle felt her mouth fall open. "I don't believe that," she said.
"Then why do you exist?" Zachariah asked. "If God actually cared about his creations, wouldn't he stop abominations like yourself before any of you could do the things you've done already?"
"God gave humanity free will," Danielle snapped. "And I haven't done anything besides killing off other 'abominations' like me. More importantly, why do you guys even need an 'abomination' to end the world?"
Zachariah chuckled and Danielle had to force herself to sit still.
"A vessel," he finally said. "All angels need vessels to inhabit while walking the Earth."
"Wait," Danielle said. "You're possessing some poor man?"
"With his permission," Zachariah said like it hardly mattered. "Otherwise, your eyes would be burned out by my true visage."
"Permission," Danielle repeated faintly. "Right. So, who is Sam supposed to be the vessel of, then?"
"Can't you guess?" Zachariah asked. "I know your religion doesn't teach things exactly the way they are in reality, but surely you know of how Hell came to exist?"
Danielle swallowed hard. "Lucifer was cast out of Heaven," she said softly, "thrust down into the Pit itself." She closed her eyes for a moment. "You mean to give Lucifer a body. Sam's body. And Sam's supposed to just… let him in."
"Yes," Zachariah said. "Very good."
"Sam would never say 'yes'," Danielle told Zachariah. "I told you before, he's a good man."
"He's another abomination," Zachariah sneered, "just like yourself."
Danielle clenched her jaw, but bit back on her retort. "But why Sam?" she asked instead.
"Bloodlines," Zachariah answered. "You see," he said, leaning forward slightly and gesturing with his hands, "Azazel wasn't just going around making random Deals with random women. He was searching out ancestry, as well. All the children he fed demon's blood to have the potential to be Lucifer's vessel, but the Winchester's line is the best, right on down from Cain and Abel, as a matter of fact."
Danielle stewed over that morsel of information for a few minutes. "Dean's going to make a Deal to bring Sam back, isn't he?" she finally asked.
Zachariah nodded.
"If Sam's supposed to be the last one standing," Danielle continued, "then that means he's going to have to kill me." She took a deep breath. "You meant for me to put him on the right path for your purposes, didn't you? That's why I had those dreams, why you followed me at work for two weeks."
"Azazel changed the world the moment he took Sam Winchester from his father and brother," Zachariah said with a small shrug. "If he hadn't done that, you and Sam never would have met. You weren't meant to be important, Danielle, but the pathway was changed, and we had to adjust accordingly." He smiled again. "In the end, we'll get what we want. We just need you to ensure that it happens. You, Danielle Elizabeth Young, will set the world right, get us back on course for the end of days."
"What happens if I don't?" Danielle asked. "What happens if I tell Sam and Dean everything you've told me and we all just walk off the chessboard?"
Zachariah stared at Danielle for a long moment, and suddenly she found her ability to breathe slowly being cut off. She gasped, scrabbling at her neck, wheezing desperately for air.
"We are more powerful than you could ever hope to be," Zachariah told Danielle as she choked. "If it hadn't been for Azazel's abrupt change in plans, then I wouldn't even have a need to be down here. I'm upper management, Danielle," he continued, voice growing louder and louder. "I shouldn't even have to do any of this! Do you know how frustrating things are when your timeline gets screwed up because one stupid demon couldn't follow his own plan to the letter?"
Danielle couldn't breathe anymore, and she turned wide eyes to the angel, silently pleading for him to stop. Zachariah shot her a grin and suddenly air flooded her lungs. She gasped loudly, flopping against her seat and squeezing her eyes shut as she waited for the dizziness associated with choking to leave.
"You are exactly what we need, Danielle," Zachariah told her, voice suddenly much quieter. It was disturbing how quickly his moods changed, even more so because she couldn't really make sense of them. "You're a talented actress from what I've heard, and with the things you can do, you can make sure that Sam plays his role the way destiny dictates he should." He leaned close and Danielle had to fight the urge to recoil. "Do we have an understanding?" the angel asked softly, his voice cold.
Everyone was threatening her at every turn, and Danielle hated it. But then, she wasn't capable of taking on an angel, and without that gun Sam and Dean had told her about, she couldn't even kill Azazel. For all her abilities, Danielle finally understood that she was powerless.
"Why Sam?" she finally asked. "Why the perfect bloodline?"
"Because Michael and Lucifer are brothers," Zachariah said. "We need two brothers."
It took a moment for the words to sink in. "Wait, Sam and Dean? But Dean's gonna go to Hell once he makes that Deal!"
"I am an angel, am I not?" Zachariah grinned. "Now, do we have an understanding?"
Danielle stared at the angel for a long moment before finally nodding. "We do."
"Then your path to Heaven is assured," Zachariah said, tone suddenly much lighter than it had ever been. "Do this right, and you'll even get to be with your Jared again."
Danielle blinked her eyes hard, hating the tears that escaped. "You promise?" she whispered, looking up at Zachariah. The angel's smile was much gentler this time, and while Danielle was even more freaked out by it on one level, she also found it oddly comforted by it, as well. It didn't make sense.
"We all have our roles to play," he told her, "and this is yours. God has already forgiven your sins."
Danielle was so scared to trust, but she was even more scared to not follow orders from an angel of the Lord. "Thank you," she said at last. Zachariah nodded and vanished, the sound of flapping wings fading into silence.
There were many more tears shed before Danielle rallied the strength to carry on. She could do this, had to do this. She would give the angels what they wanted, what God wanted, even if she hated it.
She could only hope that someday, Sam would understand.
Dean drank most of the whiskey Bobby had left him as he stared over at his little brother's body. Sam watched him, face equally morose as he stood on the other side of the room.
"I'm not sure I know how to move on," he remarked aloud. "I've been a part of this fight for so long…"
"It's no longer your burden to carry," Tessa told him gently. "The war is over for you."
"Yeah, but… I don't want it to be," Sam admitted after a long moment. "I never asked for anything that happened to me, but I don't know how to step back. I tried before." He glanced down at Tessa. "It didn't work out."
"I'm aware," Tessa said.
"So how am I supposed to just step back now?" Sam asked. "Do you know that Dean's biggest fear is being left alone? I…" He trailed off and ran a hand through his hair. "I swore I wouldn't do that to him. Not again."
"We can't always keep our promises," Tessa pointed out.
Sam squeezed his eyes shut. "I know," he said softly. "It makes it hurt even more."
Tessa didn't reply and silence fell over the room once more.
"You know," Dean suddenly said, voice rough and low enough that Sam had to move closer to hear it, "when we were little — you couldn't been more than five — you just started asking questions." He smiled slightly. "How come we didn't have a mom, why do we always have to move around, where'd Dad go when he'd take off for days at a time… I remember I begged you, 'Quit asking, Sammy. Man, you don't wanna know.'" He chuckled softly and Sam swallowed hard at the emotions on his brother's face.
"I just wanted you to be a kid," Dean sighed. "Just for a little while longer. I always tried to protect you… Keep you safe…" He closed his eyes briefly before continuing. "Dad didn't even need to tell me. It was just always my responsibility, you know? It's like I had one job… I had one job —" His voice broke and two tears escaped. "And I screwed it up. I blew it. And for that, I'm sorry."
Dean wiped away the tears and Sam swallowed heavily. "I guess that's what I do," he continued after a moment. "I let down the people I love. I let Dad down. And now I guess I'm just supposed to let you down, too."
Sam froze. This wasn't going in the direction he thought it was, it couldn't. "How can I?" Dean said. "How am I supposed to live with that? What am I supposed to do, Sammy? God." Dean sniffed and dropped his head for a moment. "What am I supposed to do?" He slowly stood, still staring down at Sam's lifeless body. "What am I supposed to do?" he shouted to a room he believed to be empty.
And Sam knew. He knew exactly what it was that his big brother was going to do. "No," he whispered, "Dean, you can't." Dean stared down at Sam's body for another moment before turning and walking away, out of the building and in the direction he and Bobby had first come from. "You can't!" Sam shouted, running after him, even though he knew Dean couldn't hear him, had no idea he hadn't moved on.
"Sam —" Tessa called.
"He's going to make a Deal," Sam snapped, turning to face the Reaper. "He's gonna make a Deal with a demon and bring me back, Tessa."
Tessa had been walking towards him, but at his words she stopped. "He's not supposed to do that," she whispered, staring wide-eyed after Dean as he vanished into the surrounding forest.
"Can't you stop him?" Sam asked desperately. "Can't I?"
Tessa didn't say anything and Sam felt like the world had fallen out from under his feet. Again. "Crossing over wouldn't stop him, would it?"
"No," Tessa sighed. "It wouldn't."
Sam turned back to the forest. "I can't follow him that far away…"
"I'm sorry," Tessa said, coming to stand beside him. "I guess your part isn't over, after all."
Sam closed his eyes and suddenly found he wished it were.
It took Dean too long to find the nearest crossroads. He slammed the Impala to a stop, not even apologizing for the abuse, and ripped the keys from the ignition before forcefully pushing himself out of the driver's seat. His strides were long as he went to the Impala's trunk, almost ripping the thing open in his haste to grab the things he needed. Less than a minute later, the small metal box in his hands was filled and he strode right to the middle of the intersecting dirt roads.
The hole he dug with his hands was just deep enough for the box to fit, and he quickly covered it before rising and looking around. There was no one there.
"C'mon," he muttered, knowing that he was right on the edge of a breakdown. "C'mon… Show your face, you bitch!"
"Careful honey, you'll wake the neighbors." The demon was, once again, wearing a pale-faced girl with dark hair and pale blue eyes, but this body had more curves. "Hello, Dean. It is so good to see you again."
Dean glared at the demon's smile.
"I mean it," she told him. "Look at you. Last time we spoke, you were so determined to save the life of a man you didn't even know, and now baby brother's just as dead as Daddy, and you're all alone in the world." She gave him a sultry smile and turned away, breathing deeply and looking around with a rather pleased expression on her face.
Dean felt his throat tighten in frustration and other things he hated to name. "I should send you straight back to Hell," he ground out.
The Crossroads Demon grinned at him from over her shoulder. "You should," she said, finally turning to face him again, "but you won't. And I know why."
"Oh yeah?"
Grin widening, the demon moved a little closer to him. "Yeah," she breathed. "You're wanting to follow in Daddy's footsteps, only without all that pressure and torture." She took a deep breath and kept right on smiling. "You, Dean Winchester, want to make a Deal, bring little Sammy back to life and — lemme guess — you're offering up your own soul."
Dean had been tense from the moment the demon had shown up, and now he clenched his jaw in anger. He hated demons. He hated how they acted, everything they did, and yet, here he was. "I bet there's tons of demons who wanna get their hands on it," he said, "but it'd be all yours. Just bring Sammy back and give me ten years."
There was a pause, and then the demon started laughing. "You're joking, right?"
Dean's insides froze. "That's the same Deal you give everybody else," he said, mouth dry. He struggled to swallow as he stared down at the pale woman before him. "And you offered before —"
"But you're not just anybody," the demon told him with raised eyebrows, "and neither was your daddy. He only got three days, sugar. Why would I give you ten years when you already turned me down once?"
Dean squeezed his eyes shut. "You saying I'd only get three days?"
The demon moved close and Dean automatically took a step back. "I'm saying that, well…" She grinned again. "There's no Deal you can make." She turned to walk away. "You can keep your gutter soul," she called over her shoulder.
"Wait!" Dean shouted before he could stop himself. "Azazel said he wants me down there, doesn't he?"
The lithe figure slowed to a halt, and then the demon was turning to face him again. "You won't even give me three days?" Dean asked.
There was a long moment of silence.
"Things were different back then," the demon told him, but she slowly moved closer once more. "Azazel's got his prize fighter now, so what would he even do with your little brother?"
"What?"
"I'd say you could ask your brother that question, but…" The demon stared at him for a long moment. "Azazel said he wanted you in Hell, and I gotta say, most people would run screaming in the other direction if they knew something like that, but it was just a threat, Dean. Azazel could twist things to get your father downstairs, but there was nothing he could do for you." She stepped closer. "Are you really that determined to keep your brother alive?"
Dean stared down at the demon without saying anything.
The demon sighed. "I really shouldn't do this," she finally said. "We've got all our ducks in a row and you're wanting to just shake things up."
"Does that mean you'll do it?" he asked.
The demon's smile was light. "Yes," she said. "I'll bring your little brother back to life, and since I'm such a saint, I'll give you exactly one year to live. But lemme tell you right now, you cannot welch or weasel your way out of this or the Deal will be off, and Sammy will be right back to a heap of rotting meat in no time." The demon's grin turned coy. "So, what d'you say?"
Dean thought of Sam, of his dead body, of the look on his face when Danielle stabbed him.
"It's a better Deal than your dad could've ever gotten out of Azazel," the demon whispered as she stepped close enough to touch, eyes flashing red once again.
"Dean, you have to save your brother from what's coming, and if — if you can't, you might have to kill him."
If it was the last thing Dean ever did, he was gonna save his brother.
The kiss was brutally hard, but the demon clung to him as though it was the best she'd ever had. Dean pulled away, breathing hard, and the demon gave him a hard grin.
"See you in a year, hon," she said, and then she was gone.
There are defining moments in life that make us who we are and shape the world around us as we know it. This moment was one of them, and there was no turning back.
TBC...
