Idea…so what would have happened if Osiris had taken Dean's tongue in episode 'Defending your Life' From Season 7.

Supernatural does not belong to me, although I wish it did. I am simply playing Kirpke's sandbox for a bit. All rights and ownership are the property of Kripke and the CW network. I am not making any money from this; it is for my own personal pleasure.

Please Review: They help shape the story. I do not have a Beta, all mistakes are mine...and unintentional.

This chapter contains graphic imagery throughout, to include hell!torture. Don't like...don't read. Could have a slightly AU feel to it, if you squint.

Not Slash

Chapter 12

My Brother…My Hero

Sam spun around the room looking for his absent brother…he supposed that he might have looked crazy to anyone else... "He's not here Sam." Lucifer said as he strolled into the room and leaned casually against the pale wall, his arms folded over his chest like he had nowhere else in the world je needed to be, which he probably doesn't. Sam finished the thought in irritation. His vision was spinning as he looked for Dean, this wasn't possible...it couldn't be happening…not like this. The window inside this room was bent and it looked out onto an open field, there was no grass or trees…there was only charred soil. The skyline was the orange-red color of the interior of a blood-orange…the smell reminded Sam of rotten eggs…sulfur, his mind provided immediately.

"Where the hell is my brother?!" Sam yelled as he moved menacingly toward the man staring openly at him, the humor evident in his blue eyes. He thought that Sam losing Dean was freaking hilarious and he had absolutely no problem letting Sam see that. The youngest Winchester, however had a really BIG problem with that. "Alright asshole…what's this game that I have to win to get us the hell outta here?"

Lucifer pushed off the wall and unfolded his arms, pulling his lips tight as he stared at Sam, and then he laughed shaking his head slowly, his blue eyes twinkling with humor that Sam did not share. "Sam…be nice." He said simply, ticking his fingers back and forth like you would a child that had done something wrong and was getting 'tsk'd' by their parent.

Sam was flying apart on the inside…he was trying desperately to hold it together, but truthfully he could feel himself losing his grasp on reality. He looked down and pulled his eyebrows together as he tried to control the fury that was raging damn near unchecked within him. Sam had to find Dean and they had to get out of this place…failure was simply not an option. Sam had left his brother in hell once…he had no intention of doing so again. "What do I have to do?" Particularly a hell of Dean's own making.

The angel smiled and inhaled deeply, "Well first of all, you need to be brought up to speed on a few things."

"What things?" Sam growled.

"You remember your friend Amy, Sam?" The fallen angel watched the recognition flood across Sam's face and he nodded in approval as he walked slowly around Sam, like a predator circling its prey.

Sam threw his hands up in the air and frustration, "What about Amy?"

"Well…you know how your brother…" he air quoted again. "Let her go." He dropped his hands and tilted his head, a smile slipping easily onto his lips. "Does that really sound like something your brother would do? Let a monster that had killed innocent people go?"

Sam narrowed his eyes, but something that the blonde man had said made him think, it rang true when describing his older brother. Would Dean really let a monster go? His mind flitted back to the incident with the vampires and Gordon Walker…Dean would have killed Lenore and every other vampire that he'd found there. If Sam hadn't been there to stop him…but Amy had killed innocents and it wouldn't matter to Dean if it was to save her 'monster' offspring's life. He would've never let her walk away. Sam felt as though he had been punched in the gut, the air whooshed from his lungs and he sank back against the wall for support as his muscles suddenly went wobbly. If I didn't know you…I would want to hunt you. His brother's words flashed through his head and with them came both pain and clarity. His brother had lied to him, he had killed Amy…and she was the witness that he hadn't wanted called that night in the barn. "No…" the word slipped from Sam's lips as his hands came up and carded through his long hair in frustration.

"I told you that I would never lie to you Sam…and I won't." Lucifer said simply, his blue eyes intent as he watched Sam process the truth.

Sam couldn't believe it. He had thought that all the lies and the deceptions between him and Dean had been dealt with. But no matter how far they moved forward, there always seemed to be more lies just around the corner. He was angry with Dean for yet another lie and he couldn't figure out why it was that Dean hadn't trusted him enough to let Amy go…but despite that he couldn't leave Dean in this realm. Sam couldn't leave his brother again. He had done that too many times in the past and it never worked out well for either one of them…he wasn't making that same mistake again…not again.

"How do I get myself and Dean out of here?" he asked quietly. The fight still in his posture, but the muscles relaxed instead of poised for flight.

The angel chuckled, "That's my boy. Get that game face on Sammy."

"How?" Sam yelled. His blue-green eyes intense as his fingers clenched and unclenched in rising agitation.

"Find Dean…before the time runs out. He only has about five hours left…maybe less if Alistair gets bored." He clasped his fingers and placed them behind his head in a casual manner as he watched the news sink into Sam's fractured brain.

"How do I find him? This is Dean's head…I don't even know where to start." Sam whispered as he dropped his head into his hands, rubbing his palms over his closed eyes...god he was tired.

"You have all the information that you need to locate your brother Sam. And all the information that I'm going to give you…otherwise that's called cheating." He snarked as he pushed away from the wall and walked out the door. "Tick, tock, tick, tock…Sammy." He called over his shoulder.

Sam scrambled to his feet and rushed to the door as he stumbled into the hallway and howled his frustration as he spun around the empty space…Lucifer was nowhere to be seen and he still had no idea where to look for Dean. He was still massively angry with his older brother for lying to him and not trusting him, but the more that he considered it he also knew that Dean had to have had a good reason beyond the obvious for killing Amy…and he needed to find his brother so he could ask him about it.

"DEAN!" he called into the darkness. Silence was his only answer.

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Being left alone with his thoughts in the complete darkness was just about the worst thing that Dean could think of. He was chewing over every decision that he'd made over his life and he wasn't at all pleased with what he was discovering. The pain from his injuries was slicing through his body and he was simply trying to distract himself at this point. He didn't want to think about Sam…and whether or not his little brother could forgive him for lying to him about Amy. He'd finally accepted the truth about why his father had made the decision to save him all those years ago. But as he reviewed his life he wasn't sure that he liked the conclusions that he was coming to as far as his own decisions were concerned.

"Poor Dean…left to his own little thoughts…it's almost cruel…" Alistair's voice floated through the darkness and suddenly there was a brilliant flash of light as the room lit up. The demon was standing near the head of the bed, his hand resting inches above Dean's blonde hair. "I mean I know that you don't have that many thoughts…but damn the ones you do have…they're kinda base Dean." Alistair pushed away from the bed and walked around dragging his fingers across Dean's forehead and down his cheek in an almost sexual manner.

"Get off…I don't swing that way you kinky bastard." Dean bit out as he pulled his face violently away from the unwelcome touch. The demon laughed and slapped Dean's chest, hard. Dean pulled in a raspy breath as he struggled to breathe through the pain that it elicited.

"You'll swing any way I want you to down here Dean." The demon said with a smirk. He pressed his fingernails into Dean's abdomen, causing the young man to cry out in pain as the agony slashed across his stomach re-opening the older wound as new blood started to dribble down his flanks.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean cried out as he tried to pull into a fetal position. But the open wounds on his back had caused the blood to clot against the sheets and it was now pulling painfully as he shifted his body. He slammed his eyes shut and settled back against the bed…he couldn't move. His injuries were holding him tied to this bed as surely as if the demon had cuffed him to it. He couldn't move.

The demon rolled his eyes and snorted as he slapped Dean across the face, watching with satisfaction as the human's head snapped to the side with the force and the blood dripped from a new split in his lower lip. "You know…Lucifer told Sam. About you. What you did…and it seems as though Sammy…isn't coming after you Dean." The demon watched as the news struck the young hunter as surely as a heart-shot bullet would have.

Dean's eyes slid closed and his head shook from side to side in silent denial…but it did sound like his little brother. He was always looking for the next reason to leave Dean. This would give him the perfect excuse…and Dean honestly didn't know if it was one that Sam would take…but it did sound like him.

The demon laughed as he saw his words strike home and the fight sag out of the injured man…this was perfect he wouldn't fight to get out and his brother would have to fight to get in. Osiris would be so pleased with the progression of this 'trial'.

"You know that you deserve all of this right Dean?" Alistair asked as he sat on the edge of the bed, near Dean's hip. His head cocking to the side as he stared into the frantic green eyes of Dean Winchester. "He only has a few hours left Dean…and he is your only ticket outta here. If he'd just let you suffer the death on your own…you would have been home and he would be none the wiser about Amy. This is Sam's doing and yours…for letting him interfere."

"I didn't ask him to…" Dean mumbled as he realized that he may have indeed gotten Sam killed too in his attempt to alter Osiris's punishment.

"You didn't have to…your brothers." Alistair said simply.

The demon didn't realized that he'd made a mistake until he saw the flint hard gaze that Dean shot in his direction, his faith in his brother restored with those two words. It occurred to Dean that while his brother had walked away on numerous occasions, it had never been when he thought that Dean was in danger. Sam had actively engaged hell to try and rescue Dean from the pit…he wouldn't leave Dean to suffer now, no matter how angry he was. A slow smiled spread across Dean lips as he cocked his head at the demon… "He'll come." He said simply. Instantly he was plunged back into darkness and he was left alone in the rushing sound of silence again.

Dean wondered why it had taken him so long to accept that whatever he was willing to do for Sam…his little brother was every bit as willing to do the same things for him. He bit his lip against the pain and twisted his legs, pulling his back away from the sheets on the bed. He tasted the metallic blood as he bit too hard into his lip to avoid crying out in pain as the scabs ripped open and there was a rush of warm fluid that flowed down his back. He pulled a sheet that he couldn't even see more snugly around his hips and sat for moment as he tried to acclimate to the difference in his position. Dean slipped off the bed and fell back against it as the pain slashed through his feet. How could he have forgotten that he had sliced them open moving over the rocks near the rack. Well unfortunately now he remembered and it didn't matter, he still had to find a way out of this hell-hole.

Dean tied the sheet as well as he could around his lean hips as he moved sluggishly toward the wall…he still couldn't see, but he remembered that the wall was directly in front of him. Maybe if he felt his way along it he could find the way out of this room. He stumbled painfully forward and thrust his hands out in front of his chest to avoid crashing into the wall accidentally. His arms were flailing in open air as he focused on just putting one foot on front of the other and ignoring the palpating agony that was racing up his legs and through his back into his brain.

"Damn-it!" he swore as he felt the sheet shift and he moved automatically to re-secure it, causing his back to spasm with pain. He stopped for a moment and waited for it to pass, once it started to diminish he moved forward again, his fingers finally making contact with cold rock. Dean blew out a breath of air as he began working his way along the wall, finally coming to a door. He ran his hands up and around the edges of the frame until he finally felt what seemed to be a knob. Dean sent up a silent prayer and twisted the knob…the door opened easily and the room was flooded with deep red light.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the difference in the level of illumination, but once they had he peaked out of the room, looking in both directions of the hallway. He could go left or he could go right…but which direction was Sam in?

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Sam rushed along the corridors, looking frantically as he passed each empty room. His brother wasn't anywhere and he was rapidly running out of time… Not that he would normally have known that. But the fricken angel wouldn't let him forget it. He was giving Sam a constant run down of how long he had left to find Dean. Just as Sam thought that he had the maze of rooms figured out, they would shift. He couldn't explain it…but every floor, every staircase, every elevator…they all led back to the room that Dean had disappeared from. Sam felt like he was going crazy and he was scared…both for himself, but particularly for his brother. Because he knew, he just knew that Dean was being played by that damn white-eyed demon.

Goddamned monsters, Gods, and demons… Sam thought as he rounded yet another corner that led him right back to the room. He slammed his fists into the walls in an outburst of rage and frustration that left his hands bloodied and bruised as he stepped away turning his back and leaning against the wall. He slid bonelessly to the floor and his breathing hitched as he tried to slow his ragged breaths. His eyes stung as the image of his brother flashed in front of him…but it wasn't the broken form that he had seen a few hours ago…it was the strong, cocky one from his childhood…when Dean had still been more than just his older brother…he had been Sam's own personal hero.

TBC…

Authors Note: They are getting closer to finding one another, hang in there guys. There's a light at the end of this tunnel.

Please Review: I am really trying to push this story out quickly and the reviews help.