13 – Ballad of Big Nothing

Even though he'd woken up in much worse places in his life, Dean still hated waking up in a hospital.

There was always a lag between waking up and remembering how you got there, and those memories never held anything pleasant. Such as now, when he remembered vomiting wasps. Could a hospital do anything about that?

"Dean," Sam said, standing up from the chair where he'd been waiting. He looked tired and a little stressed out, which was probably a given in a god fight. "Are you okay?"

He wanted to be sarcastic, point out he was in a hospital so he must be great, but then he realized he wasn't asking about his physical state. "Yeah. Demon's on time out. I'm back."

Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair. His body language alone told him some major shit had gone down. "Euryale has backed off, mainly because the spell caused Medusa to come out early."

"Oh shit. What about Cassie?"

"I've talked to her. I think. She says Medusa is talking about "sharing consciousness", whatever that means, and Cassie seems amenable to it, especially since she has powers now."

Dean nodded, looking around to see what he was attached to. Seemed like just saline bags, which he took as a positive sign. "Do we trust Medusa?"

Sam let out a humorless laugh. "Yeah, I know. I've been looking, but I can't find anything on exorcizing gods, so we may have no choice in this matter."

"That fucking sucks."

"Tell me about it."

Dean eased the saline drip's needle out of his own arm, and Sam said, "What the hell, Dean?"

"Let's get out of here. I'm fine." Of course blood started coming out of the needle hole, but there was no help for that now.

It was then the door opened, and a slightly frazzled looking Cass walked in. "You're alive," Sam exclaimed. So there was some doubt.

Cass just nodded, and looked at Dean with concern. "As we all are, it seems."

At his look, Dean shook his head. "It's nothing major, just blood loss. I'm ready to go."

Cass continued giving him concerned look number three. "Blood loss?"

"Sam, you tell him. I'd rather not relive it."

So Sam caught Cass up on what had happened after Euryale sent him away, and Dean stepped into his mildly bloodstained jeans (he'd had worse), and was suddenly glad he wore a black t-shirt today. Blood didn't show. He could still kind of feel it, though, and smell it. Shirt hadn't completely dried out yet.

He got a bit of a head rush and stumbled a bit, but Cass was suddenly there, steadying him with a hand to the shoulder. Dean gave him a nod of thanks, and tried to pretend he hadn't just shaken a dead wasp out of his boot. But he had.

He then remembered to ask Cass, "Is that energy gone?"

Again that stare, like he was trying to punch a hole through the back of his skull with just his thoughts. Then he nodded. "It's gone."

Maybe that was the one good thing that came out of all of this.

As soon as he was dressed, and Sam grabbed his laptop, Cass gave them a lift (well, a teleportation) back to the motel, but Cassie was gone. According to Sam, as soon as she knocked the demon out, she disappeared. She returned briefly when he was at the hospital, which was when she supposedly talked to Sam, but then she was gone again.

As Dean and Sam began packing up their shit, Dean had to ask Cass, "Is there any chance Cassie's still alive in there?"

Cass considered it for a long time. Long enough that it started to worry him. "Perhaps. Maybe it is like angel possession. Not in the requiring of consent, but in keeping the host alive."

"But a really powerful angel, like Lucifer, burns out his host, right?" Sam said. "So wouldn't a god burn through their host, simply because they are a god, and that much more powerful?"

Cass shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. This is new territory for me."

"But you would think so," Dean said, and then seriously wished he hadn't. He should have kept his mouth shut, and just pretended they had succeeded in saving her, even though it was clear they hadn't.

Weirdly enough, it was Cass who decided to be optimistic for once. "Maybe not. The universe is a very strange place. It's possible Medusa doesn't kill her hosts."

Dean almost said, "And it's possible I'll turn into a pixie," but didn't. Couldn't he just for once believe things weren't as bleak as they seemed? He should try it at least once. Surprise everyone; surprise himself.

The only problem was, you couldn't force a happy ending where there wasn't one. And Dean didn't see happiness anywhere around this.

It seemed like the death cult, whatever was left of them, had packed their bags and gone into hiding. Dean even called the minotaur's number again, but this time they found the number was disconnected. They decided to drop by the pier on the way out of town, just to make sure he wasn't still hanging around.

Dean seemed back to his usual self, although he remained tired. Then again, he did just get out of the hospital, so Sam supposed he had to cut him some slack. Still, he kept watching for any signs that the demon was back.

When Dean left to get some food before they hit the road, Sam had a moment alone with Cass. He told him what Medusa had done, and asked, "Is it gone for … well, not good, but for now?"

Cass frowned, looking out of the car into the dark streets beyond. It had finally started to rain, which he had been led to believe happened all the time in Seattle. Apparently not. "This may have bought Dean some time. But it couldn't have been much."

Sam nodded, not surprised, and tried to will away the despair that erupted inside him. They couldn't save Cassie. They still couldn't save Dean. This whole trip was a bust. And he still had to get Crowley that damned (and cursed) book. Cass must have picked up on his mood, because he said, "Don't give up hope. There has to be something out there."

"I saw the demon again, Cass. Dean was completely gone. And the worst part? I know it's coming back, and I know why. It's so much stronger than Dean. Hell, all of us. The Mark resisted the power of a god. That's frightening. What hope do we have against that?"

Cass shook his head, clearly searching for something profound or comforting to say. Dean had to pick that moment to return to the car with his bags of food. He tossed one in Sam's lap as he got in. "What, were you guys talking about me or something?" Dean asked, looking between them curiously.

"I have a plan for the book," Sam said.

Dean looked at him in that way that said he knew he was lying about something, but he was going to play along for now. "Crowley's book?"

"That's the one. Since no human can touch it without earning a death sentence, I thought maybe you could handle it, Cass. Shouldn't hurt you, right?"

Cass nodded. "I should be fine."

"Great. Then you can scan all the pages into the database for me before we give the book to Crowley."

Cass looked confused. "Scan it? How?"

Dean smirked. "Copying it? Great idea."

"The book's dangerous. We may as well have our own on the off chance Crowley ever tries to use it against us."

"I'm still not sure how I'm supposed to do that." Cass said.

"It's a machine back at the Bunker. I'll show you how to use it. It's not a big deal."

Cass didn't look completely convinced, and Dean snickered. "You teaching him to use a computer? This I have to see."

That made Cass frown. "I'm not helpless."

"Never said you were," Dean said, glancing at him in the rearview mirror. "Just … remember when I tried to teach you how to use voice mail?"

"That electronic woman was very rude," Cass insisted.

Sam smiled, as it was a pretty funny memory. Of course, Dean teaching Cass anything was usually a set up for a huge, unintentional comedy sketch. Dean actually could be a decent teacher, unless he was in one of his moods, then all bets were off. Sam hoped he fared better with Cass, because at least he knew what to expect, and he felt he was more patient than Dean. Sometimes.

But this didn't quite distract him from the fact that Dean started the car without eating. His food was still sitting in its bag on the seat, as if he'd already forgotten about it. And Dean once again unconsciously rubbed his right arm.

Was the Mark already bothering him again? Sam wouldn't think it could, but why not? Battering a few harpies and killing a few demons had only temporarily sated its bloodlust. It would need more, and it would continue pushing Dean to the edge until he fell right over.

Sam felt like they had failed Cassie, even though this was a zero sum game right from the start. But he couldn't shake the fear that this was merely the beginning of the failures.

He didn't want to fail Dean too, even though now he could see nothing but hopelessness on the horizon. Damn it, he would find a way to save him from that black eyed bastard, or he would die trying.

After all, wouldn't Dean do the same thing for him?

The End