Author's Note:

Hi guys, so this is the next chapter! I know this chapter is a little dry but I felt it was necessary. I hope you guys enjoy it. Thank-you to everyone who reviewed; snn7b, Mayrem, sammygrrl00, skylight12, caz21 and cheekiimonkeii2! It really means the world to me when I get feedback about my writing. Thank-you so much to those people who are now following my story and to those who added it to their favorites :)

Also, I didn't have as much fun writing this chapter as I usually do, but the story does have sad moments (which make me feel down) but it'll pick up soon. Trust me; the night is darkest before the dawn.

Please review guys, your feedback would be greatly appreciated :) Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Supernatural series or any of the characters which appear in the series including Sam and Dean. I do own the character of Alexis in this story.

Alexis Winchester

Chapter 10 – The Mind Games

The sun was shining brightly when I woke up, I must have slept in. I felt for Dean but instead found hot leather. I sat up in the back seat of the Impala, confused.

"Your hair looks awesome." I caught Dean's eyes in the rearview and growled. He smiled right back at me as I tried to adjust myself and fix my hair.

"Where are we going?" I asked. Why was it so necessary to leave when Ellen's house was a safe place? Sam pointed to the car in front of ours, it was Bobby's.

"There was one too many hunters at the roadhouse so we thought we'd go back with Bobby. We're almost there so please don't ask for a pit stop." Sam had turned to the back so he could speak to me. I reached forward to mess up his hair but stopped because of the pain in my side. The look on my face said it all.

"What's wrong?" Sam leaned towards me and lifted the side of my top up. There was a really big and ugly green-black bruise. Since I had a tan-olive skin tone I never bruised blue. On closer inspection I saw the bruised area already had bruising gel on it. My eyes shot up to meet Dean's in the rear view mirror.

"How did this happen? Did you drop me on the way to the car?" I asked him. Dean glared at me.

"I saw it this morning when you were in bed. And Sam took you to the car." I touched it and it pained.

"I didn't realize I got hurt." I caught Sam and Dean exchange worried glances at each other. "But it's nothing to worry about." I added slowly. Why were they acting so strange?

There were a lot of things on my checklist after I got to Bobby's. Eat breakfast, brush teeth, take shower, unpack, wash clothes ect. I couldn't really do much once I walked through the door. The place had been cleaned up but the memories came rushing back. The first one was Dean yelling at Sam, then Sam yelling at me and then Dean yelling at me. I remembered how Dean had left and how I had cried before I decided to make a run for it.

Sam pulled me forward so Dean could squeeze through the door behind me with the bags. Once they were both in, they stood in front of me as I stared at the living room.

"Come one, why don't we get you upstairs?" Dean snapped me out of my thoughts. I nodded and followed him up with the bags while Sam disappeared into the kitchen with Bobby. Dean led me to our room, it hadn't changed except the bed was done and my clothes weren't flung around like they were on the night I left. I put the bags down and turned around in time to see Dean shut the door. I knew this was coming.

"What's up?" I went to lean against the window sill. Dean turned around and watched me. He took a minute to structure whatever he was going to say.

"When we fought that night, did that have anything to do with you leaving?" I stared at Dean and it hurt me to see him like this. Uncertain of what I was capable of doing. He waited for a response.

"I was upset that night, but that's not why I left." I paused. "I left because I had no other choice."

"You always have a choice." He retaliated.

"Letting Sam get killed is not a choice Dean." I raised my voice. Frustration was evident on his face.

"You could've come to me. You should have come to me." I moved away from the window and closer to Dean.

"And what would you have done? If I told you that I was marked with Lilith's blood, what would you have done?" I stepped closer.

"I would have dealt with it."

"And if I told you that I couldn't be unmarked, then?" I stood in front of him.

"I would fix it." He seemed certain.

"You can't fix it Dean! What if I told you that the ONLY way to ensure your safety and Sam's safety was for me to move to the other side of the country, without you two, then what Dean? Would you have let me go?" I was in his personal space. He clenched his teeth.

"Well, would you?" I asked. He snapped. He pushed me against the wall. My eyes widened and my breathing quickened at his outburst.

"No." he was pressing hard against my shoulders. "I would have kept you right by my side… because that's where you're safe. You are untouchable when you are with me, and I wouldn't compromise that for anything. It was my decision to make whether or not I was concerned about Lilith finding you, not yours." I felt my blood boil. His decision? I was ready to let my fist connect with his face.

"Just like it was your decision to make a deal for Sam?" his eyes softened ever so slightly. "Whether you want to believe it or not Dean, I'd rather give myself up than lose you again." He didn't like the sound of that.

My eyes were becoming teary but the tears wouldn't dare fall. "I will not go through that again." I spat at him. He let go of my shoulders and moved back, finally realizing that I had not forgiven him for making a deal and leaving me.

"Lex-" he started but I put my hand up and stopped him.

"I love Sam with all my heart, but he left us once Dean and he did it again when you left. I couldn't breathe when you left. I thought it was the shock but that suffocating feeling never left me. Every other day I'd try to make the minutes pass. Sometimes when I was with Bobby I'd forget but it would only last a second before I'd turn around and you weren't there. And then I'd remember why you weren't there and where you actually were." My voice cracked but I held in my tears.

"I couldn't do it again Dean… I barely made it through the first time. So when Ruby came to me, there was no other choice. I had to go otherwise I was dead anyway. Don't condemn me for that." He seemed lost, unsure of what to say. I knew he didn't have a defense because if he were in my position he probably would have done something similar.

He walked to the window and looked out. I used the opportunity to wipe my eyes.

"I thought you were taken the second I saw you weren't in the house because I knew you'd never leave. If there was one person I could count on to stay, it was you. My whole life, you were the one who stayed. I promised myself that when I got my hands on whoever had taken you away, I'd rip them to pieces. I didn't know where to begin but I knew that if you didn't want to be found you'd think like us and do the opposite. I let the rest of them trace your aliases while I looked at our friends. People you'd trust and let into the house. Although you didn't trust Ruby, she was high on my list after I found out you were working with her." Dean had actually had a lead. Who would've thought?

"Then came that phone call. The phone call that fucked it all up. Jo gets a blank call, it has to be you. You hanging up after hearing your name, it means you weren't taken and you left on your own. There was no ransom, no threats; I should have figured it out earlier but I didn't want to believe you would do that. All I could think was that you had left because we fought. I thought you weren't in your right mind and on top of that you were by yourself while Lilith was out looking for us. I knew you had someone's help if the angels couldn't find you but who would help you?"

I had underestimated how well Dean knew me. I also noticed that he left out the part where he wasted a colt bullet on a cross-roads demon.

"And then I called again." I continued for him. He stared off into the distance and sighed.

"Then you called again. It was hard to believe you were real until that call. I knew what I had to say to get your attention but you hung up again and I couldn't take it anymore. I hated, HATED, the fact that I couldn't reach you. There was someone there stopping you and I couldn't do a single fucking thing about it." Again I noticed he didn't want to talk about how he trashed Ellen's house.

"If this is the punishment you wanted for me, it worked Lex, it worked perfectly. I know you were gone a month and I was gone four but if you felt half as shit as I felt, I understand why you're mad. I'm sorry I left and yes, now I know how it feels. Just promise you won't ever put me through that again."

I froze. What did he say? Punishment. I couldn't believe it.

"What punishment Dean? You think I left to punish you? What kind of retard are you? I told you I left because I was given no other choice. You're making this real frustrating for me Dean because I don't know how many other ways I can put it before it makes sense to you. I had no other choice!" He spun around.

"Stop! Stop doing this to yourself! I'm trying here Lex, I really am but you got to work with me." I stopped. Now I was really confused. This conversation had gone from us discussing my absence to Dean thinking I left to 'punish' him to God knows what now. I slowed down as I tried to communicate with Dean.

"Dean, I have no idea what you're talking about." He clenched his teeth together.

"Sam and I talked last night." Well that wasn't a surprise to me at all. "We knew that you weren't coping well after we found out one of us was marked. With all that pressure to save the world and a lack of sleep, it's no surprise that hunters dive off the deep end." Well, yeah, that sure as hell surprised me.

"Are you calling me crazy?" I asked calmly. I was genuinely hurt that my brothers would think that. Dean looked at me unsurely, as if I was a ticking time-bomb.

"No" he answered very softly, "It's just that it seems out of character for you to run away from us, regardless of the reason, and you don't have any evidence to back your story." Evidence? My brothers were officially shit-heads.

"Evidence? I didn't think I needed evidence Dean! I thought my own brothers would believe me when I told them what happened!" I yelled at him.

"Listen," he tried to calm me down, "it took me a lot of convincing before I even considered that you might be…"

"What? Loco?" I huffed at him. He rolled his eyes at me.

"No, unstable, as Sam put it. You have a full blown out story but nothing to support that it actually happened-" I cut him off.

"IT HAPPENED!" he ignored my interruption.

"-so Sam suggested that you might have been taken by something and 'brainwashed' to believe the story you're telling us. We've come across many supernatural creatures that are capable of doing that."

"But who would do that Dean?"

"Look I don't know who, but it makes more sense than Uriel and Ruby working together. I don't trust either one of them, but they hate each other. Uriel thinks Ruby is filth and demons run in the opposite direction when they see an angel. But there are a million and one sons of bitches out there who'd like to get into our heads and be served Winchester secrets on a silver platter. Once I find out which asshole decided to snoop around in your brain, and believe me, when I find out who, they're going to wish they had choked on their own umbilical cord, then we'll know why." I stared at him in disbelief.

"Did Sam feed you all this bullshit?" Dean threw a disapproving glance my way.

"He has a point Lex."

"I have a point too. I wasn't probed on an alien operating table, I haven't been brainwashed and I certainly am NOT 'unstable'. I can prove it." I had caught Dean off guard, he was shocked that I had any evidence to offer.

"Yeah Dean, did either of you bother asking me if I had any proof or did you just both decide it was time to throw me into the padded room with a strait jacket?" To anyone else it would've been a joke but Dean knew too well that this wasn't.

"That's not what we're doing-"

"That's EXACTLY what you're doing. You want proof… fine. Let's call Uriel and Ruby. I guarantee that neither of them will have the balls to show up."

The four of us stood in Bobby's library with the sun blazing through the house. There was a beautiful summer breeze flowing through the open windows, but I didn't have time to focus on that. We were about to call Ruby and get some answers, answers which would declare me sane and condemn Ruby to a life of Sam and Dean's wrath. I was sitting on Bobby's desk with Sam and Dean standing on either side of me. Bobby stood at the entrance to the kitchen ready to close in on Ruby if need be. We were waiting for Sam to call her. The plan was to summon her, but not into a devil's trap. She had the option of fleeing but that wouldn't make her case. Sam started reading and I felt for my knife. I was going to prove that I wasn't crazy; I couldn't stand my brothers not having faith in me. Suddenly Dean's words last night had a different meaning.

"I am never turning my back on you." Now that you're crazy…

Ruby materialized closer to Sam, who was on my right, but just outside the devil's trap. She watched us all with careful eyes. They finally rested on me.

"Ah, sister Winchester, it hasn't been the same without you." She smiled at me. I had expected to charge at her at least after a minute but I guess that was me being optimistic. My feet barely hit the floor but I was fast and dangerous, heading straight for Ruby. Sam and Dean were expecting it too. Sam stepped in front of me, blocking Ruby from my view and this bugged me a lot. Dean grabbed me from behind and pulled me closer to him and further from Ruby.

"Ooh, feisty." she peeked from behind Sam. "Why am I here?" I felt a growl building up in my chest. If she wanted to play innocent, I wasn't surprised. Who in their right mind would openly admit to taking advantage of and torturing one of Dean Winchester's younger siblings?

"You know exactly why you're here but let me tell you this, if you don't beat around the bush and just tell it like it is, we won't send your sorry ass back to hell." I growled. Of course I was lying. That didn't matter to me. Proving to Sam and Dean that I wasn't crazy and that I wasn't hallucinating is what was important.

Her facial expression grew confused and she stepped out from behind Sam. She looked at Dean, his face was set in stone, and then back to me.

"Do you mind telling me what it is that you think I did which is so horrendous?" I took a deep breath as the image of her sticking that camera in my face flashed before my eyes.

"Fine, if you won't talk, I will. The day we were hunting that Jinn, you decided to pop by for a visit when I was in the Impala, alone. You told me that my blood was marked by Lilith and that the angels couldn't undo that because Lilith herself had marked me. You also said that I had a different 'set of instructions' that came with me because I wasn't brought into this world like everyone else. Ringing any bells?"

She looked at Sam with the same confused expression. Then her eyes turned to me, watching me like I was crazy.

"No Alexis, that didn't happen." Fine, she didn't want to talk. I still had a trick up my sleeve.

"Let me refresh your memory then. You went on to say that it wasn't safe for Sam to be near me when I was marked. Then you suggested I run away and kill myself so that Lilith wouldn't find Sam, and when she did find me, she couldn't torture his location out of me. Now do you remember?" My voice had risen slightly but only because she looked more and more confused as I spoke.

"Look, I don't know what kind of twisted game you Winchester's are playing but I didn't do any of that." She defended herself. I took a step closer to her and Dean followed suit.

"Really, you didn't convince me to leave my brothers?" I asked her.

"No." she replied.

"Why were we working together?" I didn't miss a beat.

"To help Sam get stronger so he could fight Lilith." She had no choice but to answer.

"Why did you show up at the house with the pizza?"

"I knew where Lilith was hiding out and I came to tell you!"

"Didn't you give me this bracelet so I could hide from angels?" I lifted my wrist up and jingled the charmed bracelet. Her eyes followed the bracelet. I could see Sam and Bobby waiting expectantly for her answer.

"NO! I've never seen that bracelet before!" she yelled at me. Her eyes darted around the room like she was a caged animal. I had to give it to her, she was a brilliant actress. I wasn't worried, she was still playing stupid but I'd get it out of her. Sam, Dean and Bobby didn't move at all, this was my fight. I stepped closer to Ruby, placed my hand over the hilt of my knife casually and started again.

"Weren't you working with Uriel the whole time?" she stared at me in horror and then turned to Sam. She was through reasoning with me.

"Sam, she's lost it. I didn't do anything, I swear! I would never work with an angel!" To my disappointment I saw Sam's gaze soften. It infuriated me further. I clicked my fingers at her to get her attention back on me.

"If you don't remember all that, then maybe you remember attacking me alongside Lilith?" I asked her angrily. Her eyes widened and for a moment I thought she had caved.

"I didn't-" she started. What? She was going to deny this too?

"And you filmed me you sadistic bitch!" I cut her off.

"I DIDN'T!" she screamed. "You and I have had our differences but I wouldn't do that. I'm on your side!" she turned to Sam. "Sam, I'm not working with Lilith and I didn't hurt you sister." I felt a tug at my heart when I saw the resolve in Sam's eyes. He believed her.

Fine, she hadn't admitted to anything yet but there was one thing she couldn't hide. I pulled out my knife and walked straight to Ruby. She was ready to fight me, or at least defend herself but she didn't stand a chance. Sam and Dean were both great fighters but they relied on their brute strength. I didn't have that kind of strength so my fighting skills and execution had to be perfect.

I punched her face before she could block and then snaked my right arm around the back of her neck and pulled her down so I could knee her in the stomach. Then I took her shoulders, kicked her backwards, and then landed a spinning heel on her face. She stumbled back into the devil's trap. My knife had nicked her in a few places but she was still fine.

I grabbed her right hand and started looking for a scar.

"Lex, what are you doing?" Sam was behind me.

"That night in the car, I didn't believe I was marked with Lilith's blood so Ruby cut my hand and let my blood drop on her. My blood was like acid to her, it went through her skin, bone and tissue so there should be a mark left behind." Ruby was still dazed after my attack but she tried to pull her hand away. I back-handed her and kept looking.

There wasn't a mark on the right hand so I grabbed the left one and started looking. Her hands were flawless. I was confused; there should have been a mark unless she had the ability as a demon to regenerate to a point of perfection. That was okay. I had one last thing that she couldn't escape from.

"Lex?" Bobby asked.

"I can't find the mark but it's okay. Let's see her explain herself out of this one." I took the knife and cut my palm. The blood oozed and I clenched my fist over her arm allowing a drop to fall on her skin.

Nothing happened, but I waited.

Then… still nothing happened.

I let another drop fall but it sat as still as the other drop. There was no sizzling, no breaking through skin or tissue, just my blood on Ruby's hand. Anger started bubbling within me. She had conned me. She had done something, either made herself immune or maybe my blood wasn't marked or acid-like in the first place. I placed the knife against her neck.

"What did you do?!" I screamed. She inched herself away from my knife. I didn't get a chance to do anything else because Sam took the knife out of my hand and Dean dragged me away from Ruby. Sam used my knife to break open the devil's trap and Ruby darted out and to the other side of the room, next to Bobby but far away from me.

Dean was restraining me in a one armed hug, with his arm resting on my collar bone but I let him. I was at a loss for words. I thought I'd get answers out of Ruby, something to prove I was telling the truth but she'd left me with nothing and even worse, now I seemed crazier.

Sam and Bobby were leading her towards the front door but she stopped and turned to Dean and I.

"I may not be an innocent, but I don't deserve to be treated like this." Her next words were aimed at Sam and Dean. "Find someone else to be your psycho sister's chew toy." Then she stormed off leaving Bobby and Sam in the kitchen. Bobby went to shut the door and Sam walked back into the library with his eyes on me. He wanted an explanation. I pulled away from Dean.

"Obviously she's lying Sam. Why would she admit to doing any of that?" I defended myself.

"And your blood?"

"I don't know how she did it, but I swear it burned right through last time." Sam nodded at me like that was the last straw. He was going to declare me insane.

"Lex-"

"No, wait. I know it looks bad," I turned to Dean, "but call Uriel, he'll tell you." Even if Uriel was working with Ruby, he wouldn't deny that he helped me. Admitting that didn't mean he was ever in alliance with Ruby so he could do that much for me. He didn't know I hated him. Sam and Dean looked unsure, almost like they didn't want to encourage my fantasy.

"Uriel!" I yelled to the ceiling. "I know you can hear me so why don't you come down here and grace us with your presence?" If they wouldn't call him, I would.

"Alexis." Uriel had appeared in front of us. He was still wearing the dark suit and he still had that expressionless face. I sighed in relief and went up to him.

"Please tell my brothers that you helped me." I begged. He looked at me.

"With what?" was his nonchalant response.

"With running away! With charming this bracelet so I'd have protection from Lilith!" I must have looked dangerous because he stepped back.

"Neither of those is true. I did not aid you in leaving nor did I charm that bracelet. Where have you been? I'd like to know who helped you shield yourself from Heaven." It took all it had in me not to throw a punch.

"You, you helped me and I wasn't shielded! Heaven was helping me… tell them the truth. I don't care whether you were working with Ruby or not, I just need you to tell them that you helped me run away and explain why I ran away." I pleaded with him. He looked to me and then to Dean.

"Does someone care to tell me what is happening to Alexis?" he ignored me completely. Sam stepped in.

"We think that whoever took her has made her believe that this story actually took place, probably so she couldn't tell us what really happened." He explained. On the plus side, Sam seemed very concerned about my health. On the other hand…

"How many times do I have to tell you I am NOT crazy!? Uriel you bastard! You took Castiel away because he was about to tell Dean my plan. You told me that I was a liability and so if I agreed to leave, you would help me with travel. And you did help me except then you left me in the care of Ruby and Lilith, which was a real dog-ass move by the way, but it happened. ADMIT IT!" he looked at me with disgust.

"Someone had better control her or I'll have to." He threatened calmly.

Dean was immediately by my side.

"You won't do a damn thing." He stared down Uriel.

Bobby cleared his throat at the other end of the room and got Uriel's attention. I went to lean against the desk in exhaustion with Dean beside me.

"If her mind has been played with, can you do something about it?" he asked somewhat politely.

"I can't know what to do unless I can assess the damage done. To do that, I'll have to scan her mind." Uriel informed us.

I panicked.

If Uriel got his hands near my head, he'd convince me that none of this happened and I couldn't allow that to happen.

"No." I responded but despite my protest, Uriel began walking towards me. Dean moved forward but he didn't get a chance to do anything because Sam stopped Uriel in his tracks.

"She said no." Sam said plainly. My brothers hadn't had a chance to use that line on any guys yet.

"Clearly there is something wrong with her. If someone doesn't figure out what going on in that mind, you have no idea how detrimental that could be for her." He argued. Sam looked to me and I shook my head. Sam didn't let him pass.

"Well, as long as you've established she's not in her right mind; that is the first step." He stated.

"I am in my right mind ass-hat." Dean smirked at my use of ass-hat.

"Well, seeing as you had to summon me, I believe you have no proof that your recalling of events is true." He added smugly. "Am I wrong?"

"I don't need your help in proving my case. I'll just call Castiel, Anna, Nathaniel or Micah. Any of them could vouch for me so why don't you call one of them down?" I asked him. I had a feeling that Ruby or Uriel would refuse to cooperate.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." He directed at me. His rejection of my idea gave me hope. Sam and Dean stood a little straighter, waiting for his excuse.

"Castiel is with Zachariah, we do not know where they are, nor is their location accessible to the rest of the angels and Anna has been off our radar since she turned on us." He explained. I had expected this as well.

"What about Nathaniel and Micah?" I asked. Uriel shook his head in pity.

"There are no angels of Heaven named Micah or Nathaniel." He answered plainly.

My heart sank. What had they done to them? Did Uriel kill them for helping me? I was hoping that they were in hiding but the glint in Uriel's eyes said something entirely different. My breathing pace increased and my brothers noticed. Either I was going to start crying or I was going to attack the wretched piece of crap that stood two feet away from me.

"It's time you leave." Sam moved to stand between us and Dean came to my side as I turned my back on Uriel. I was having trouble breathing and was on the verge of tears. I bent forward trying to control my breathing. What had my life turned to? When did I have to start convincing my own brothers I was telling the truth? The last month had been a dazed nightmare in so many ways and now there was nothing to prove it ever happened. My body felt weak and I was sure that I was hyperventilating.

"He's gone Lex." Sam informed me. Dean straightened me and tilted my head up so I was looking at him. I stared into his overly concerned eyes whilst remembering I had nothing to prove that the hell I lived through actually happened. The tears began flowing and Dean's eyebrows knitted together in pain. He pulled me into his embrace and I entwined my arms around him and clutched onto the back of his shirt. He kissed the top of my head and held me tight.

"It's okay ankle-biter" he whispered softly, "you're okay."

He just made me cry harder.

Author's Note:

Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter, the next one will be up, hopefully, in a weeks time. If you like the story go ahead and follow it so you get notified when I post the next chapter. Remember to review, if you tell me what you like I can incorporate it into my story!

Also, the next chapter is going to have a flashback with Dean's POV which will explain a few things so look forward to that. Let me know what you think about this whole 'mind-meddling' plot? There's a reason I have it in there but I'd love to hear your predictions.

Feel free to message me anytime :)

REVIEW BELOW xx

Lots of love

Emerald Princess 14