Dean made it back to Bobby's a few days later. He stuck around Tennessee for a bit to try to find some kind of sign of his brother since getting out of that basement. He knew it was pretty much useless, as it was pretty obvious that angels had taken his brother, but he kept trying to find something anyway. Walking away just didn't seem right, but after days of nothing, there wasn't really a choice.
Dean walked into Bobby's house, depositing his bag temporarily by the door. Then he walked to the fridge and pulled a beer out. It was pretty early, but he didn't care. His brother was missing and hurt, at least that was the best outcome Dean could imagine. He needed alcohol.
Bobby wheeled his chair into the kitchen. "Hey. You get the SOB?"
"No," was all Dean said before taking a large swig of his beer.
"Then what the hell are you doing here. There's something out there killing hunters," Bobby grumbled. He didn't know what was up with Dean. He never left a job undone, and that was with people he didn't even know. Now they were talking about hunters he'd known since he was a kid.
"They got what they deserved," Dean said before walking over to the table and sitting down. "No, actually, they got off easy. They're lucky someone else got to them before I did."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Bobby asked as he rolled his chair over towards the table.
Dean took another big sip of his beer and then put it on the table. "Sam hasn't been ignoring my calls. He couldn't answer because those bastards had him in the basement, torturing him!"
"What the hell would make you think that?" Bobby asked in disbelief.
"The police found his blood in the basement, a lot of it, and I found his phone, with all of my messages on it," Dean said in a shaky voice.
"What? They had him the whole time?" Bobby asked, his voice going from shock to fury. Those idiots had harmed his boy, because Sam was damn well his. He'd been a part of Sam and Dean's lives practically since the beginning of their lives in the hunting business. He may as well have raised them himself, as he'd taken more care of them than their old man. Nobody hurt his boys without paying for it. Dean was right, they got off easy.
Dean nodded.
"Well what the hell happened to him. Where is he? I know you wouldn't just leave until you figured that out," Bobby said.
"Of course not. It was angels. They 'rescued' them," Dean said.
Bobby sucked in a breath. "Are you sure it was angels?"
Dean nodded. "I've seen the method that was used to kill Tim and Reggie before. It's how angels smite."
"Balls!" Bobby cursed. "Alright, first things first. Do you know what happened to him with those two SOBs?"
Dean shook his head. "I don't know what they did to him exactly, but… but that basement stunk of blood. It wasn't from their deaths. It was from what they did to Sam.
Bobby could hear the turmoil in Dean's voice. This was tearing the kid apart. It wasn't just the pain and fear either, it was guilt as well. Bobby knew Dean was blaming himself for this, for not being there when his brother needed him.
As if on cue, Dean chose that moment to admit the culpability he felt. "It's my fault, Bobby. I left him to rot," he said painfully before taking a sip of his beer.
"Don't you say that, boy! You didn't know this would happen," Bobby said firmly.
"It doesn't matter. I left him alone. I let him go. You told me yourself I was wrong for that," Dean said. He didn't see it as wrong before, even when Bobby said it, but now he did. He let Sam walk away and something horrible happened to him. Yeah, technically his brother chose to leave, but Sam wouldn't have gone if he'd asked him not to. Dean knew that. All he had to do was be a good brother, let Sam know he had his back. Why couldn't he have just done that? Why couldn't he have just done his job?
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean what happened to him is on you. It ain't your fault. It's mine. I sent those bastards to him," Bobby said. Yeah, he had his own guilt to wrestle with. He'd sent those hunters to Sam's location. He may as well have handed his boy over to them.
"No, Bobby. You had no way of knowing that they would hurt him. You were just sending hunters out to do a job. That's what you do. I know you wouldn't have done it if you knew something like this would happen," Dean said. He didn't blame Bobby. Bobby had trusted those men. Hell, Dean had trusted them until a few days ago. Bobby had no way of knowing what they would do to Sam.
"How did angels find him?" Bobby asked, deciding to let the subject of both their guilt drop for the moment. "I thought your angel buddy made it so they couldn't find either of you."
"Cas thinks Sam might have prayed for help," Dean said
"But then Cas would've heard him," Bobby said.
"No. Apparently angels, unless they're archangels, can't differentiate prayers unless they're prayed to specifically or the angel is listening for that person's prayers. Cas never listened to Sam's," Dean sneered. Yeah, he was still pissed at Cas for that. He should've been listening to Sam just as much as Dean. He didn't because Sam apparently wasn't good enough to listen to. "I bet those other SOBs were listening though."
"We sure they got him? Maybe he got away from them?" Bobby asked. He knew he was kind of grasping at straws, but if there was a chance Sam got away, they had to consider it.
"After being tortured? I freaking doubt it. He'd have trouble doing it without help on a good day. No, he was weak and hurt. There's no way he would've been able to stop them. No, Zachariah or one of the other dicks upstairs got him. Well, actually, that's not the most likely scenario, but it the better one. The worse one is that the Devil got to him. He's technically an angel. He would hear Sam too. And the two jackass hunters have nothing on him where torture is concerned," Dean said with a shudder. This was all he could think about since finding out what happened to his brother. It was likely that his brother was still being tortured.
"Alright, we have to calm down. Look, we know he's still alive. No matter which party has him, he's alive. They need him. They won't kill him," Bobby said.
"There are worse things than death," Dean said. He knew this personally. He'd spent forty years being tortured in hell. If he hadn't already been dead, he would've wished for it.
"We'll find him, Dean."
Dean nodded. "Damn right. I screwed Sam over once. Not again. I'm gonna get him back and then make sure he stays safe. I won't abandon him again," he vowed.
