Thank you to BeautifulEscapism, StyxxsOmega and Kas3y for the wonderful reviews! Also thanks to everyone who follows and/or favorited this story.

This chapter ended up quite long. I thought about breaking it in two, but then decided to just leave it like this.

I do not own Supernatural.


Chapter 9

The news had rattled them all. John was even less enthusiastic about saving Sam than he had been before, if that was possible. That in turn made Dean even angrier at his father and lead to many shouting matches between the two of them.

Bobby was trying to conciliate what he knew about demons and all those associated with them with what he knew about Sam. Old habits die hard, and it took him a few days to accept that John's discovery did not change who Sam was. When he did, he immediately resumed helping Dean with the search for a way to save the younger Winchester. Dean in turn forgave him his moments of indecision.

Ellen did not say anything else on the topic. The new discovery made her uneasy, but she had decided to reserve judgment until she actually met the boy in person. If it ever came to that. After all, so far the only thing Dean's research had done was to give the poor boy nightmares.

Jo, who had heard so much about Sam from Dean, refused to believe that something that had been done to a person when still an infant would automatically make them evil. Sam hadn't wanted the demonic blood, nor had he asked for it. He couldn't help it and he was still human. Jo believed that he had a choice. After everything Dean had told her about his brother she couldn't believe Sam would ever choose to be evil. John's discovery didn't mean anything to her. So she continued to help in any way she could.

Ash had not had the same kind of exposure to the supernatural as the others. He was a hacker, not a hunter. He didn't know, nor did he care to know, much about demons. But he had heard snippets of what Dean had told Jo, and if what he had said was the truth, Ash didn't quite see what the new problem was supposed to be.

The implications of what John had found scared Dean a lot. But this was still his baby brother they were talking about. With puppy dog eyes, and long awkward limbs, and warm, friendly eyes, and so many emotions that he always wanted to talk about. This was Sammy. Not some evil human in league with demons loke that Thomas kid had apparently been. And Dean could not, and would not give up on his Sammy.


Ash pretty much hadn't left the Roadhouse ever since he first moved in. There had never been any reason for him to do so. In his opinion, there really still wasn't. Jo, for some reason, seemed to think differently. She said she wanted his help with some research, but that was ludicrous. He might be rather brilliant with a computer, but old-fashioned research wasn't really his forte.

"What am I really doing here?", he asked her when they arrived at their destination. He had no idea where they were, but he wouldn't get out of the car until she explained what was going on. And hoped she did explain and didn't decide to leave him in the car.

"I need some help researching both a potential case around here and Hell. We haven't looked in this area yet. Plus, I think you need to get out every now and then. Especially these days.", Jo answered cheerfully.

Ash could kind of see her point there. Whenever Dean and John where in the same room, the atmosphere became incredible tense. Ellen wasn't quite her usual self either. The revelation about the demon blood had deeply unsettled her.

"And I wanted to talk to you about Sam. Or rather, what you think about the situation. You are the closest thing to an objective party we have, so I want to know what you think.", Jo continued more seriously.

Ash looked at her questioningly. He had thought she had decided on her stance in this. Why would she now want his opinion?

"I – I have heard so much about Sam. Usually good things. But I've only heard them from Dean and he's hardly impartial. And he was sort-of-but-not-quite grieving at the time. I mean, yeah, he was and is convinced he'll find a way to get Sam back, mostly because he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he can't. But Sam's still gone and – Anyways, I wanted to know what you think about the whole demon blood thing, because you know about the supernatural, but aren't close enough to it to have the same absolute, black-and-white view most hunters have. I just – I just want to take a fresh look at things, but I don't seem to be able to, because I keep remembering everything Dean told me about Sam, and the way he looked when he talked about him – and I'm really not doing a good job explaining myself here, am I?", she ended her rambling in a resigned tone.

"You've explained well enough.", Ash assured her.

For a while they sat in silence. Ash was trying to figure out what exactly he did feel about the situation, and how to put it into words. Jo seemed nervous, but let him have the time he needed. She knew that he liked and understood computers better than this sort of thing.

"I don't want to believe that those kids are all going to end up evil because they were given something against their will when they were just babies. I want to believe that they have a choice, like every other human does. Possibly every being. Free will, you know? I think, if they don't want to follow the path Yellow-eyes put them on then they don't have to. And from what we know about Sam he really didn't like it when other people tried to decide about what his life should be like, right?", Ash eventually said slowly.

"So – it's not what's in your blood, but what you decide that matters? Is that what you're ultimately saying?", she asked uncertain.

"I don't know if I dare make that an absolute statement. But in relation to Sam – yes.", he answered.

Jo modded. She seemed relieved.

"Okay. Then let's get out of the car and get some rooms, shall we? It's already getting dark.", she said with a smile.


Shortly after that, his demon search program went high-wire.

"Holy shit!", he exclaimed, staring at his computer with wide eyes. He grabbed it and ran over to Jo' room.

"We got trouble.", he told her after nearly breaking the door with his knocking, panic clearly audible in his voice.

"What kind of trouble?", Jo asked. Ash simply showed her his computer's screen currently displaying a map of the United States.

"All those red dots? Demonic signs. I don't even want to think about how many demons have to be around for this kind of response.", he said tensely.

Jo looked at him with wide eyes.

"Not the worst thing yet, Jo. I'm afraid when it first started, most of this was concentrated in the area around the Roadhouse. They've moved since then, and spread out, but they were there just minutes ago, and with that many demons...", he trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

"Everyone who was in there at the time it happened is probably dead.", Jo finished harshly. She swallowed thickly several times, before she spoke again.

"Call Dean. I'll call John. Their on separate hunts right now, but we have to get together for this. Something big is happening. Tell Dean to get to Bobby's ASAP.", she instructed quietly before turning around to pick up her phone.


John had been most displeased when Jo told him to leave and get to Bobby's. He was hunting a werewolve, one that moved around quite a lot. He had been tracking that son-of-a-bitch for several months, unable to get close enough and continually losing the trail. And now when he was closer than he had ever been before, that girl thought she could order him around. He got a bit snappish and she snapped right back, because she was Ellen's daughter and of course she wouldn't be taking any shit from anyone.

That the Roadhouse might have been destroyed rattled him. He or Dean could have been there too. And with the way they were currently fighting – it made John shudder. He had lost one son while on bad terms with each other. He wasn't sure he could take losing Dean, too, especially in the current situation.

Just to make sure, though, he drove by the Roadhouse before heading for Bobby's. He was relatively close by anyways. What he found took his breath away. The place lay in shambles. He could see charred bodies underneath the broken wood and stone. John swallowed. This was bad. Jo was right. Something big was heading their way. And they had no idea what, nor how to prepare for it.


"What do we know?", Bobby asked gruffly. Losing Ellen seemed to hit him hard. It hit them all hard. With her no-nonsense attitude she was usually able to keep them on track. She might have been a bit rough around the edges, but she had been one of the best people any of them had ever known.

"Well, we have to assume that we're down quite a few hunters. Ellen wasn't the only one in there.", John said grimly.

"The demons seem to have kind of – gathered for lack of another word. Around something. It almost seems as if they can't get into that part of Wyoming.", Ash said while staring at his computer in concentration.

"There is a good chance Yellow-eyes is involved. If our assumption that he outranks normal demons is right at least.", Dean threw in.

"If Yellow-eyes is involved whatever is left of the kids he gave his blood to might also play a part in this.", Jo mentioned. She was pale, and her voice monotone, but there was an angry glint behind the grief in her eyes.

Before they could say anything else, Bobby held up his hand. There was a look of intense concentration on his face, so the others stayed quiet. "Someone's outside.", he mouthed to them. He motioned for them to stay and then went outside.


"Really?", Ellen asked annoyed. Bobby just looked at her. She rolled her eyes and downed the small amount of holy water in the shot glass he had sat down in front of her. "Can I get whiskey now?"

"Not funny, mom.", Jo said quietly, "I thought you were dead."

"I know. I'm sorry. I just went out for some supplies. Wasn't even gone for all that long. When I got back – well, it doesn't really matter. I came here as fast as I could by walking and hitchhiking.", Ellen answered, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

The two women looked at one another for a moment before hugging.

"Don't do that to me again.", Jo whispered despairingly.

"Can't promise you anything, sweetheart. Especially not now.", Ellen whispered back in a soothing tone. Jo nodded.

"I know."


In the meantime Ash, John and Dean had figured out that apparently Samuel Colt had been trying to protect something or keep something locked up. Either way, the demons had gathered on the edges of a for them insurmountable giant Devil's Trap made of iron rail roads.

"That's kinda brilliant.", Jo said impressed.

"What did you expect from the guy who made a weapon that can kill demons even though nothing else can?", Dean asked amused.

"Problem is, Yellow-eyes might no longer be working alone.", Ash said grimly, "There are these kids with his blood. They shouldn't have any trouble crossing the rail roads."

For a moment they were all quiet while they thought about the implications.

"Well, I guess that means we're gonna have to go check out what's in the middle of this ominous Devil's Trap.", Dean said eventually.


And so they found themselves on a graveyard in front of a crypt and a crazy guy, who could apparently make them do whatever he wanted. Ellen's gun pressed against her own temple was certainly indicative of that. Ash had stayed at Bobby's place for fear of getting in the way should something happen. He was after all no hunter.

"Do you even know what's going to happen if you open that thing?", Jo asked, unable to drag her eyes away from her mother, "Do you even care?"

"The world will be made better! That's what's going to happen.", the guy snapped at her angrily.

"You don't believe that.", Jo whispered finally looking at him, if only for a moment.

"Yes, I do.", he answered, but there was a slight tremor in his voice.

But that was gone a moment later when he ordered Ellen to shoot and turned around to open the crypt with the Colt that had somehow come into his possession.

Bobby and Dean, being the ones closest to Ellen, leaped to her side and managed to drag the muzzle of her gun away from her head just in time to prevent her death. They threw the gun away. John and Jo on the other hand, raised their own weapons in unison and fired at the guy's back. Then John ran over to the door and tugged the Colt out of the lock.

Unlike Bobby and Dean, they were too late. The Colt had already unlocked the door. And now the crypt was opening. Bobby, Ellen, Jo, John and Dean ran to take cover behind the nearest headstones.

The inside of the crypt was a mess of red and black, fire and darkness. It did not look like the inside of a crypt. At all.

"What the fuck is that?", Dean yelled over the noise that was coming out of the red-and-black hole.

"That's Hell.", Bobby said. He was pale and wide-eyed. Dean only stared at him uncomprehendingly.

"It's a gate to Hell. A Hell's Gate.", Ellen yelled from her position, "We have to close it! Now!"

In that moment a giant ball of black smoke raced out of the crypt. Once on the outside, it spread out slightly, and they could see that it was in fact hundreds of demons.

"Son of a bitch.", Dean whispered as the demons disappeared into all directions. Apparently the rail roads were unable stop such an onslaught.

Ellen, Jo and Bobby moved towards the gate and started pushing. No need to allow any more demons to escape onto earth.

John and Dean however, got distracted by someone strolling through the graveyard.


"Hello Johnny, Dean", the man said with a sickly smile while his formerly blue eyes slowly changed to the gross yellow color that had coined his nickname.

"You.", John said with hatred in his voice.

"Me.", the demon answered simply.

"You know, I had so hoped that Sam would be with us, or rather me, at this moment. He had so much promise. He was my favorite, really. But then he proposed to make a deal for your pathetic lives. And I knew I would have to change my plans slightly, because while he's strong and angry and all around perfect for this, he was also never going to let go of that ridiculous love he held for the two of you. Even after your deaths, it would have probably held him back. And that would destroy my whole plan. I couldn't risk that. So I had to, regrettably, make that deal. Maybe he'll become useful in the future. Hell does such interesting things to human souls. They just can't take the kind of never-ending torture that is doled out there. It's really rather beautiful. The way they beg and plead. The way they all break sooner or later. The way some of them try so hard to fight, but will always only lose. Sadly enough, I had a lot to do lately and haven't been able to visit him yet. But I'm sure his screams are wonderful to listen to.", the demon taunted with his slick and smooth voice.

"Shut up!", Dean screamed. He couldn't take the way that bastard was talking about his wonderful, strong little brother and what was being done to him. He just couldn't.

"Does this make you angry, Dean? Does it make you feel worthless? That you couldn't protect the one person in the world you had always sworn to keep safe? I told our torturers to give it their everything, you know. To break him down in so many ways that even you couldn't recognize him anymore. Mentally, physically – every way they know how. And we have two or three experts that know just about every way there is.", the demon taunted.

Dean was crying by now. His brother was strong, he knew that. But was he strong enough to hold out against what Yellow-eyes described? Was there even anything left of Sammy by this point of time? Was his father right when he said that his baby brother was lost to them forever?

Dean wouldn't be able to take it. He couldn't possibly live with it. It should be him down there. His brother was good, and light, and he should never have been anywhere near Hell. Dean on the other hand was often bitter, and hateful, and unsympathetic and he didn't believe in a benevolent higher power whereas he had always had a sneaking suspicion that Sam did, and if either of them should have ended up in Hell it definitely should have been him and not Sam. Never Sam. He would probably go there anyway sooner or later, because he wasn't a good person as his brother had been. Sam should have never made such a sacrifice. Not for someone like him.

Dean's walls came down completely. The feelings of worthlessness and shame and guilt he had been trying to keep at bay for so long overwhelmed him within a moment.

John, too, was shaking under the emotional onslaught the demon's speech had unleashed. He had tried so very very hard not to think about what it meant that his baby boy was in Hell. Sure, the Crossroads Demon from awhile back had made it clear enough, but right after that Jo had been in trouble and then there was his big fight with Dean, and he had managed to push what she had said to the back of his mind. And managed to pretend that Sammy was simply not with him anymore because he was elsewhere. Maybe with Dean, maybe at Standford. It didn't matter, he was simply not there right now. That was how he had been able to keep hunting, not kill himself with alcohol, and argue with Dean over not helping Sam. He had simply completely blanked out why Sam needed help in the first place. Because his compassionate and wonderful, if terribly annoying son could not possibly be in Hell. He just couldn't be and therefore wasn't. John had become terrifyingly good at lying to himself over the years. This wasn't that much more difficult. But now that all those lies were ripped away by the yellow-eyed demon before him, he couldn't hide anymore from the horrible truth. So he began to cry as well.

"Oh Johnny. Have I hit a nerve? This is really cute. You should see yourselves, all horrified and crying and not doing anyone a lick of good. It's really quite pathetic.", the demon said in a fake-sympathetic voice.

John could barely see trough his tears, but that creatures continued taunts began to make the few parts of him that weren't busy grieving and crying very angry. This thing had killed both his wife and younger son, kept on belittling said son's sacrifice, and now tried to emotionally wreck his older son and him. He couldn't let that monster win this round. He couldn't. He had to finally end this, for Mary, for Sammy, and for Dean.

"Not as pathetic as your need to bask in people's pain.", he bit out in between sobs and at the same time lifted the Colt he still held in his hand, aimed, and fired.

And his aim was true. The bullet hit the demon right in his host's heart. Yellow-eyes stared at John dumbfounded before lowering his eyes to his chest. He was obviously very surprised.

"That's for my family, you son-of-a-bitch.", John said hollowly.

The demon suddenly lit up in strange orange and red tones, before his body fell to the earth, and his host's eyes returned to their own blue shade. The yellow-eyed demon was dead.


Dean barely managed to lift his head when he heard the shot ring out. Like his father he watched the demons stunned face impassively. When the demon fell, he turned to John.

He couldn't bring himself to talk. He should tell his father that he understood now. That their Sammy was probably already gone for good because of what must have been done to him in Hell. But he couldn't.

John looked at him with agony in his eyes.

"Son. Listen, I"

He never made it any farther. The guy that had opened the Hell Gate hadn't been dead yet. He had managed to get to Ellen's discarded weapon and fired it with his last breath with uncanny aim at one of his own killers.

Dean could only stare in shocked horror as his father's eyes widened dramatically before his body fell.

This couldn't have happened. His father couldn't be dead. They had been fighting with each other for nearly six months and hadn't resolved their issues yet. This couldn't be how it ended. It just couldn't.

Dean fell to his knees by his fallen father's side. He gently laid a hand on John's shoulder.

"Dad? Come on, dad. You can't do this to me. Dad!", he said while softly shaking the dead man's shoulder.

There was of course no response. Dean pulled the body into his arms and curled around him. This couldn't be happening. John Winchester had always been larger than life. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't have left Dean alone with his burdens. He just couldn't have.


Dean didn't notice that Ellen, Jo and Bobby had successfully closed the gate. He didn't notice when Jo knelt beside him. He didn't notice her softly talking to him. He didn't notice Bobby and Ellen talking to him loudly and then to each other in hushed voices. He didn't notice anything but the dead body in his arms that was his father's.


So we kind of had an introduction to the whole free will theme. Sort of. That wasn't actually supposed to happen. I only wanted to get Ash out of the Roadhouse before it blew up. And then this happened. I really can't quite explain how that part of the chapter came to be. But I do like its theme.

Writing Ash is hard. Not sure how well I succeeded in trying to get him to be somewhat in character... And Azazel is rather difficult to write too. What do you think about my portrayal of him?

So. Both Dean and John have been pretty messed up in the head for quite some time now, John is dead, and Dean is totally out of it. Anyone wanna guess what happens next?

Anyways, please tell me what you think.