Sam comes back from the fight, and is more shaken up. What's the next move?
When Sam came back from his meeting with Dean, he was in the deepest state of shock Bobby had ever seen. It wasn't even funny! He came screeching into the junk lot like hell hounds were after him, then stumbling through the front door like a frightened drunk man. He was clutching something made out of a maroon fabric. Upon closer expecting, Bobby saw that it was a regular button up shirt. It was torn, which raised a few questions in Bobby's head, but why was Sam clinging onto it so tightly?
"Sam, calm down. You gotta tell me what happened, son." Bobby grabbed a hold of Sam's shirt and tried to keep the man from collapsing, which is especially hard when you're in a wheel chair. Sam was breathing hard, and his eyes were far away. It was as if he was still back at that plant, cowering from whatever horrible thing he had seen.
Bobby snapped his fingers in front of Sam's eyes. "Hey! Kid! Snap out of it. Who's shirt is that?" Though Bobby probably could guess.
"D…Dean…he…wings and a mouth…" Sam looked down at Bobby like he just realized where exactly he was and who he was with. "Bobby, Dean's changing! His true demon form is eating away at his body and turning him into something horrible. He wants me to join him, help him destroy the world. The other Dean… the real Dean is still in there! He's fighting back the demon essence, and he's still in there."
Bobby lead Sam over to the overstuffed easy chair in his living room. Sam sat down and was still going on about his meeting with Dean, but a little more clear now.
"He's going to destroy the world, start it over and play god. He told me I could join him, be by his side as an equal by saying yes to Lucifer, and then I would get all his powers. I don't know how he's going to do it, but the angels are so concerned that they showed up and tried to kill him. Then he…Bobby, Dean has wings!" Sam saw the skeptical look on Bobby's face.
"I'm not kidding! They're huge! Bigger then an angel's wings! They looked like something straight from Van Helsing! And then Castiel and him fought, flying through the air faster than I could keep track of. Dean was more powerful than him, more powerful then the whole angel garrison that showed up! He beat them all. I don't know if he killed them, but…then the mouth. This mouth showed up on his chest, and it was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen! He's so powerful Bobby, I don't know how we are going to stop him."
Bobby's mouth was hanging open in dumbfounded terror. Sam stared at Bobby, waiting for him to respond. A few seconds went by with them just sitting there, both of them just taking in the immense gravity of what exactly was going on. Bobby sat back in his wheel chair.
"You said you talked to the real, Dean." Bobby said, his gaze distant. "Did he have anything useful to say?"
Sam recalled the short conversation, and the immense pain his real brother was in. He almost felt tears to his eyes. "Not really. He was basically…begging to die."
Bobby nodded. Dean was more like his father than he gave himself credit for. Winchesters had a habit of going to any lengths whatsoever to kill a demon. Even if that meant trapping the thing in their own bodies and killing themselves. But that was mainly last resort.
"So you don't know where he's gone." Bobby looked up to see Sam shaking his head.
"I think we have a pretty good idea." Bobby and Sam looked to see Castiel standing in the middle of the living room. He had his composure back. After Sam had seen him and the other angels break down after Dean disappeared, Sam bolted out of there as fast as he could. They had all just been standing where they were without moving or saying a word. They had retreated back into themselves, making like statues.
Now Castiel seemed more confident and his blue eyes shined with a certain readiness. "He's needs a vortex, points on Earth where energy gathers into one and creates hotspots of enormous power. They can't be seen, and they are very hard to find."
"Castiel, how do you know this? Why would he do that?" Sam said quietly.
"It is required that we learn as much as we can about demon culture and incantations. It's how we figure out how to kill them. As for your other question, he's changing, which means he's at his weakest. You saw his eyes right, when his mouth appeared?" Sam thought back, about how his eyes flickered back and forth between red and green. "His power his fading, but when his true form is completely revealed, he will be unstoppable."
"So do you know where these vortexes are?" Bobby asked.
"No, even with my resources, it would take weeks when we only have days."
"So then how are we going to find him?" Sam said sitting forward and clasping his hands in front of him.
"I think I can help." Castiel said. Bobby and Sam sat there waiting for him to continue. He said nothing.
"Castiel, how?"
"Oh, well, since his new feature is o his ribs, it breaks the seals that I put there, so he is no longer hidden. I can track him where ever he is."
Sam shot to his feet. "Where is he? We have to find him!"
He's north of here, in that state with all the mountains and snow." Castiel seemed a little distant.
"You mean Colorado?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. "There's a vortex in Colorado?"
"If you think about it, it kinda makes sense." Bobby put in. "I mean, Colorado is second highest in earth radiation."
Sam nodded his head.
"I must go, gather the angels and prepare for battle-" Castiel turned.
Sam grabbed his shoulder. "Hang on Cas, you're not going to assemble all the armies of heaven to go and bomb my brother. He's still my brother, I'm not going to let you annihilate him."
"How true. Which is why now we have a plan." Everybody turned to see a squat balding man in a dark gray suit.
"Zechariah." Sam clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. He couldn't have hated anyone, or anything as much as he did the man in front of him. "You're the one that started this whole thing, and now you have a plan?"
"Whoa, calm down Sam. You're so much like your brother."
"Yeah, and now my brother is a demon because of you!" Sam yelled. He ran up to Zechariah and pinned him to the wall with his forearms. "And if you don't tell me what your so called plan, the very embodiment of my brothers anger will tear you apart!"
"Trust me, it's a surefire plan that will be successful." Zechariah said with a grin.
"Why don't I believe you." Sam asked rhetorically.
"If you'll just cooperate, then I guarantee, your brother will be exactly the way he was."
Sam let Zechariah down. He straightened his suit and tilted his chin up. "Whether he's a demon or an angel, his body is the vessel of heaven. Highest standard in the book." Zechariahs voice was even, which annoyed Sam.
"But I was told that a reverse process was nearly impossible."
"That's right, Sam. Nearly impossible. Not completely. Were taking the most difficult measures, because that's how much we care about you're brother.
Sam's disdain clearly showed on his face. And when that smirk spread over Zechariah's face, Sam felt like spitting in it.
"Castiel and I have to go." Zechariah said looking at his angel counterpart. "Your brother is five miles outside of the Denver International Airport. He's already in his state of incubation. Get there as fast as you can."
With that, both angels disappeared with wing flaps. Sam looked at Bobby.
"Well, looks like I'm headed to Colorado." Sam stood there. He headed for the door after Bobby said nothing.
"Sam." Sam turned and Bobby wheeled closer. "Be careful."
Sam, looked at the man. Both of them had been through so much together. All three of them had. Near death situations, overwhelming odds, even one or two rare threesome moments. Now one was gone. But for the first time, there was the real hope of him coming back. Sam nodded and headed out the door.
It took a couple of days to drive to Colorado, but finally, Sam was gunning the Impala down the four lane highway toward DIA. There were lots of cars, and Sam felt a strange exposure, having driven mostly on America's back roads. Sam saw something coming up on his right, and slowed down, thinking it was highway patrol. But as it came closer, Sam saw that it was a man with dark hair in a trench coat. Castiel watched as Sam sped by. Sam began to look for turn offs where he could head back. But Castiel appeared in the seat next to him.
"Keep heading straight ahead. There will be a dirt access road a little while from now." Castiel directed. He kept his eyes straight ahead. Sam didn't speak.
As Castiel said, there was a small dirt road that lead away from the airport and the highway. Sam had to slow down drastically so he wouldn't send the car into a tail spin. The road was bumpy, eaten up by the elements. It hadn't been used in a long time. Sam soon found himself in the middle of flatlands of Colorado, the mountains touching the sky in the distance.
"Stop the car, I'll take you the rest of the way."
Sam stopped and put the Impala in park. Castiel laid a hand on Sam's shoulder and the next moment, Sam was standing in a large cleared out area. All the wheat stalks were flattened to the Earth in a fifteen meter radius. In the very center of the circle was a black scar on the ground. All the life had been completely burned away and the ground underneath was scorched. It was at least eight feet wide.
"Your brother is down there." Castiel said. "Can you feel the vortex, Sam?"
Sam did feel a strange thickness in the air, and his skin was tingling slightly.
"Yeah, I think so."
"Interesting. Come with me." Cas touched Sam, and everything went dark. Sam waited for his eyes to adjust. There was a small red glow in a tunnel in front of Sam. Castiel started walking towards it first, and Sam followed closely behind. The red glow opened up into a large chamber, and the source of light seemed to be coming from the very walls itself. In the center of the large chamber, floating three feet of the ground, was what looked like a fleshy, round, egg.
Sam and Castiel approached the strange sphere. Sam could feel heat radiating off of it, and could see movement underneath. The air was thick with power, and Sam thought he could see little twitches of movement underneath. There were tiny abrasions all over it.
"Is that…Is my brother in there?" Sam gulped.
"Yes, he is completing his transformation."
"So then what do we do?" Sam looked at Castiel quizzically.
"My orders are to do nothing."
Sam was shocked. "What?, just stand by and wait for him to finish?"
"It's all part of the plan."
Sam sneered. He was tired of being kept in the dark by these angels. Sam found a rock on the floor and picked it up. With all his might, he hurled the rock at the egg. Not two seconds later, there was a deep rumble coming from the earth. The ground started shaking, and the giant egg moved. An enormous clawed hand broke through the thin shell, a mouth with a lolling tongue and black teeth spread across the palm. It grabbed a hold of the ground and a major portion of the shell broke away, revealing an enormous bat wing that spread out and filled half of the cavern.
"He's done. Let's go." Castiel grabbed Sam, and they were back on the surface. The ground wasn't shaking as violently, but the sky had clouded over, casting everything in gray shadow. Angels were starting to appear, and someone must have handed him an angel knife, because when he looked down, he was holding one.
"Brace yourself, Sam Winchester. You will not like what you see." Castiel said sternly, legs already apart in his battle pose.
The only thing Sam seemed to feel was an emotionless blank, probably from the rush of adrenaline pumping his heart out. He set the knife in front of him like his father had taught him to long ago, and prepared for the fight of his life when the first hand tore up from the ground, and began dragging the rest of the hulking figure, of the demon, of Dean, out of the ground.
A/N: Sorry for the terrible cliffy, and sorry for the long wait! I was in New Mexico on a mission trip building houses for the Navajo reservation. Big fight coming up. I'll try to post as soon as I can. In the mean time, read, review, and enjoy!