Disclaimer: Do I really have to write it?

Chapter 11 "Dean's Non-angel Dream"

Dark red blood was dripping from Sam's chin when he turned to face Dean. He gave a wide smile, and the stuff stained his teeth. Dean couldn't help but turn away, and had to swallow the bile that was rising in his throat.

"What's the matter Dean? Can't handle it?" Sam laughed, and Dean shivered. Sam threw away the jug that he been drinking from and it bounced off into a corner.

"Time to kill the devil, eh, brother?" Sam nudged him hard, and Dean almost stumbled and fell, but someone caught his arm.

"We're going to be great roommates down in the pit, me and Sammy here. Don't you think, Dean?"

Dean's heart jumped at the sound of Lucifer's voice, and he ripped his arm out of the angel's grasp. Spinning around to face Lucifer, he put an arm out instinctively to protect Sam but the devil laughed. He grinned at Dean and said, "Do you really think that will stop me? I will have your brother, whether on Earth or in the pit, and I will make his life a living Hell."

Dean jerked away and rolled abruptly off the side of his bed with a thump. His breath was coming in short gasps and he tried to calm himself, closing his eyes and attempting to breath slower.

The tightness in his chest was over whelming; all his life he had done everything he could to protect Sam. This time he had no control over it; he could not save his brother.

Sam was going to die. No amount of bargaining with demons was going to change that.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I'm so sorry." Dean whispered, staring up at the ceiling from his place on the floor. "I can't help you now. If there was a way that I could take Lucifer into the pit, I would. Believe me. I would."

Dean could hear Sam snoring softly in the bed next to his; apparantly he had not been awoken by Dean's fall. The snoring..it always annoyed him. But when he realized he would never hear it again...he regretted all the times he had poked Sam awake to make him stop.

The little things that they shared between them...nobody would ever be able to know what it felt like to have Sam as a brother. No matter how hard Dean could try to explain, he would not be able to describe Sam well enough so that people could truly understand.

Sam was sleeping right next to him, but it felt like he was already dead to Dean. Already gone, locked in that damn pit.