"Dean," Sam breathed forgetting the demon in front of him for the time being. At the moment all he could see was his brother and the shocked disgusted look that was plastered all over his face. Sam's heart fell to the pit of his stomach and at the moment he was overwhelmed with the pure hatred towards the demon.

Time seemed to be frozen within the room. No one moved no one spoke as silence reigned supreme over the trio. Alastair's eyes darted from one brother to another awaiting the impending explosion that was inevitable.

Sam and Dean's eyes were locked onto each other but neither moved a muscle or spoke a single word. Sam scrutinized his brother's appearance and felt the tears push against the corner of his eyes while he noticed what his elder sibling had been reduced to.

Dean's face was a ghostly pale which in turn caused his freckles to stand out against his skin. His features were sharper and more defined like he had lost a lot of weight lately. Two great big bags hung under each darkened green eye, this darkness seems to be increasing, overpowering the once emerald green. Blood stained his chin, nose, lips and clothes. Red ropes which Sam assumed was veins pulsated underneath the skin on both of his arms and it was clear from the slight lines of the elder man's forehead that he was suffering from some form of discomfort and agony. His whole body seemed to shudder with uncontrollable tremors that shattered a little more of Sam's soul with each one that passed.

At the moment Dean looked like he was a ghost of his former self, not the same big brother that had banished him from the car a week or so ago. Damn had it really been that long? Had it been that long ago that it had all gone to hell? That his brother was issued with the death penalty once more?

"What the fuck Sam?" Dean asked his voice barely managing a volume above a whisper. Truth be told he was shocked at what he had stumbled into. He had expected some form of shock but this…he didn't expect this. Nothing could have prepared him to witness his younger brother sucking the demon's blood like it was a natural occurrence. This caused Dean's mind to wonder to deep dark places…was it a natural occurrence? Was it the first time? Most importantly why?

"Dean…" was all Sam managed to muster in form of a reply. That look on his brother's face tore through his very soul and destroyed him from the inside out. It was the look he had been most fearful of. The one that screamed out one single word. Monster.

"Why Sammy? Why him? What the fuck have you done little brother?" Dean almost found himself pleading, like his younger sibling he too had forgotten all about the demon's presence.

"I'm sorry, for everything. Please Dean you have to believe me!"

"I have to do I? Just because you say jump doesn't mean I have to say how high! I'm through with people trying to control me like a damn puppet, a mere possession that gets passed down every so often. I'm sick and tired of dying but of course poor Dean doesn't have a fucking choice over his own life."

Dean stepped into the room further. His eyes continued to lock onto his brother's, his furious murderous green met distraught and fearful hazel.

"Is this what you have been hiding all this time? This…this…I don't even fucking know what to call it!" Dean shouted he could literally feel the anger boil his blood even this action caused pain to filter throughout every bone and muscle within his body.

"Dean…"

"Oh fuck it is isn't it?"

"Dean please gives me a chance to explain…"

"No Sam. Not now. You've had months worth of chances what makes you think that you deserve one more? Is it because I'm about to die? Is that it? Is that all that takes for you to open up, for you to act like you give a crap. Jeez it's not like I haven't done it enough times already." Dean shouted taking another step into the room, closing in the gap between him and his brother.

"It's not like it at all!" Sam defended feeling the tears slither down his cheeks upon the same trail as the last bout.

Dean took a couple more steps into the room, still choosing to ignore the demon who was watching the reunion with an immense smirk upon his face. He couldn't have dreamt a more perfect ending to the game…well he could and it was still to come.

By now Dean was face to face with his little brother. He reached up with one hand to cup his brother's chin in a vice like grip while the other wrapped around one of Sam's bound wrists. Dean's eyes were a perfect façade of betrayal and anger.

"Care to enlighten me little brother. Care to tell me just how this all happened. After all I have time, no wait I don't."

"I'm sorry Dean. I really am. Please…please you have to believe me…you have to…I need you big brother. I always have and always will." Sam sobbed suddenly fearful of his elder brother as there was no way in telling what he might do next in this anger induced state.

Dean pushed Sam's head back and released his grip upon his brother.

"Yeah well you have a funny way of showing it!"

Clapping interrupted the brother's argument as the demon chose this time to remind the two humans of his presence.

Turning on his heels Dean faced Alastair, his back to his brother concealing him from the demon's eyesight. His eyes narrowed upon catching the demon's glistening black. All of his hatred and all of his anger bubbled to the surface and took control of his right hand.

Instantly he pulled out the demon killing knife from the inside of his jacket and stood there for a moment standing off against the man who had destroyed his life. The man who had caused him and his family so much misery and pain. The man who had reduced Dean Winchester to become a mere shadow of his former self. If it was going to be the last thing that he did he was going to make sure that Alastair knew what the meaning of pain was really like, that he knew the art of suffering as well as Dean himself.

If Dean was going down then he was going down his own way. Swinging.

"What a touching reunion. It warms my heart to see two brothers at each other's throats like you guys, you know you Winchester's make hell worth it. You make everything seem worthwhile and for that I am eternally grateful." Alastair cackled with pure menace in his voice.

He rubbed his hands together joyfully. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for and soon all his efforts will be rewarded. Soon he will regain what is rightfully his. His student. His, no one else's. Dean belonged to him, his soul belonged to him and soon heaven and hell will know it.

Alastair was brought out of his thoughts by a sharp pain shooting through his right eye and right side of his skull. Moving his hand up he placed it on the hilt of the blade that had imbedded itself deeply into his eye.

Grinning like a Cheshire cat his attention focused upon the young male in front of him who now held no opposing weapon of any kind.

"Deano you should know better than this. This pixie stick won't kill me and it certainly won't stop the poison from consuming you in what is it now. Ten minutes." He cackled with his fingers still lightly caressing the hilt of the blade.

"It shut you up for a couple of seconds and it made me feel a hell of a lot better you fucking bastard," Dean replied casually. He could feel a throbbing sensation building up in his chest and he knew that he didn't have long until the poison reached his heart. His head started to pound and his vision began to waver slightly. The walls around him seemed to start to ooze blood and they called out his name over and over again.

Shaking his head slightly Dean kept his gaze directed towards the demon unwilling to let the hallucinations control him.

"What's the matter kiddo? Is it finally getting to you now? Can you hear them yet, they're ready for you. Can you hear them call out to you, ready to gain their revenge for everything you did to them last time?" Alastair cackled.

"DEAN! DEAN! DEAN!" the walls appeared to be chanting over and over again. The blood flow increased until there seemed to be enough to drown the entire room and all the while Dean had to keep reminding himself that it was all in his head but this was getting harder and harder. It seemed so real. As real as those hellhounds had seemed earlier…but they were real…they had attacked the Impala.

"No!" Dean cried out softly clasping his hands to his ears and it was taking all of his self control not to break down onto his knees in the middle of the room. The chanting of his name was so intense that he was reminded of the first time Castiel had tried to speak to him.

As sudden as it had started the voices stopped along with the blood. Blinking in astonishment a couple of times Dean removed his hands from his ears and was greeted with the sounds of a frantic younger brother and a joyous cackling of a certain demon.

"Problem?" Alastair taunted closing the gap between him and the brothers.

Sensing movement from behind him Dean managed a smirk as he faced the demon. This action caused the demon to furrow his brows in confusion, this caused his laughter to cease for the time being but like a bad smell it always came back. No matter what.

"Not for much longer." With those words Alastair was flung into the nearest wall behind him. A shattering sound of bones cracking upon impact rang out into the atmosphere. Alastair struggled against his invisible bonds. His eyes locked onto a figure emerging from behind Dean.

Sam moved around his brother's side to make himself known to the demon and boy it felt good being by Dean's side once more. His right hand was outstretched to hold Alastair where he was and in his left he held what appeared to be a paperclip of some sort. He too wore a smirk which matched his brother's easily. And in that one moment the family resemblance was clear.

"Problem?" he called out mimicking the demon's earlier question. A small smile crossed his lips as hope began to filter through his body. He was free and now he had the chance to save his brother. All that was left was to administer the angel blood and hope for the best because Sam knew that if Dean died again then he wouldn't be very far behind him.

"Samuel I'm very impressed. You're skills have increased wonderfully since the last time. And Deano using that argument to disguise the handing over of the paper clip was inventive to say the least. Maybe I underestimated you Winchesters." Alastair complimented his black eyes continued to glisten like he was remembering an inside joke.

Briefly the brother's stole quick glances towards each other trying to understand the meaning behind the demon's words and what hidden intentions he could be concealing. Both had a nagging feeling at the pit of their stomach, one that they hoped to God they were wrong about.

"Very clever but you forgot one thing boys. Deano belongs to me, he is still going to hell and there is nothing either one of you can do about it!" Alastair cackled while he continued to struggle against his restraints.

"Want to bet?" Sam challenged which brought two pairs of eyes to focus upon him.

Sam dropped the paper clip upon the floor and used this now free hand to reach into his pocket to produce the golden vial of angel blood. This was it. Now or never. Suddenly his nerves began to kick into play through his fear of the unknown. Dean's last hope and it was up to Sam. Sam was going to be able to save his brother where he had failed last time.

"What the fuck is that?" Dean asked upon noticing the golden liquid. His whole body began to tingle like he had a bad case of pins and needles. He could literally feel his heart hammering against his rib cage almost as if it was threatening to break free at any given moment in time.

"Do you trust me?" Sam asked quickly. He could feel his brother's desperate heartbeat clearly within his head and he knew that it was running on borrowed time already. The ten minutes had now been reduced down to seven and it was rapidly decreasing.

"Sam…"

"Just answer the fucking question! Do you trust me or not?! Sam could feel the anger slowly rising inside of him and he couldn't help it at the moment. His emotions were getting the better of him and this was affecting the hold he had upon the demon.

"Yes of course you're my brother." Dean replied utterly confused at the contents of the vial and his younger brother's sudden question.

That was all Sam needed. Taking a brief moment to glance towards the demon's direction he unscrewed the lid of the vial and turned to face Dean, holding his hand and the liquid out towards him in the process.

"Drink this, I'm not going to lie to you Dean I have no idea whether it will save you or not but it is kinda the last resort as Castiel had put it." Sam slurred his words until that one sentence sounded like one impossibly long word.

Dean held his hand out to retrieve the liquid, with a confused expression etched upon his face but not able to question his brother because of the state he was currently in, when an unknown force pounded into his chest. Sending him hurtling into the far wall.

He fell to the floor with a grunt upon impact and next to him Sam mimicked his same flight.

Once again sound of clapping echoed throughout the tiny room and both of the brother's eyes locked onto the now free demon. In his hands Alastair held the golden liquid.

"I was waiting for this to come into play. Of course Samuel didn't disappoint me at all. How stupid do you knuckleheads think I am? I'm surprised at you, I expected more from the Winchester brother's." Alastair taunted making his way into the middle of the room.

"How…?" Sam murmured unable to comprehend the fact that the demon had managed to escape his grasp without him realizing. He had enough power in his body to have kept hell's bitch in place for another couple of minutes or so.

"And I had you down as the smart one Samuel. Why do you think I feed you my blood in the first place hmm? Apart from the fact you were craving for your latest fix and would have died without my interference…And it was fun to see Deano's reaction towards his monster of a little brother." Alastair paused while he took a couple of more steps into the room.

Both Sam and Dean had managed to stagger to their feet only to find themselves pressed up against the wall by an invisible force.

"I gave it to you to block these so called powers towards me. My blood in your system made me immune from your psychic crap. I was faking earlier on just so I could get my hands upon this sweet nectar here. You see I don't like independent variables messing with my game and this here, this angel blood is unacceptable…" with those words Alastair squeezed the glass vial with an immense amount of pressure that the glass smashed spilling the contents all over his hands and the carpet.

The last shred of Sam's hope shattered along with the fragile glass. Tears cascaded down his cheeks while he turned his gaze towards his brother. He had failed. He had failed his brother once more and there was nothing he could do about it. Dean was going to hell and his last chance now lay in a golden puddle at the demon's feet.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Sam cried out in anguish. He struggled violently against his invisible restraint to no avail. All the while one word rang through his head upon what appeared to be a continuous loop. Failure.

"Yes! You boys didn't think it would be that easy did you! You seriously didn't believe I would allow Deano to stroll in here and save his precious little brother so that he could save him! You two amaze me with your sweet delusions. Well say your goodbyes because now the game can really begin!" Alastair shouted pulling the blade from his eye revealing a very bloody empty socket.

He threw this knife to the ground so that it landed in the puddle of angel blood present by his feet.

He cackled lifting his arms up as every door and window within the house shattered into a million pieces. Demons filed into the room through any possible entry, each and everyone eager to see the demise of the Winchester brothers and each ready for the floor show.

The whole house shook while black demonic clouds battered the foundation from the outside.

Smoke began to waft through the house for the second time in twenty six years.

Sam and Dean's gaze locked onto each other, both filled with so many emotions and untold truths, betrayals, regrets, anger, fear, sorrow and mainly love. They both wanted to say so many things to each other but neither could find their voices.

So instead they spoke with their eyes only and both had the same message for the other. Neither one had any hope of escaping this predicament alive but they knew they would go down swinging. Together…as it should be.

If they were going to die then it will be side by side. Brother's in arms, brothers in blood. Brother's until the very end. The way they should have been the whole of the past couple of months, the way it had always been and will always remain.

In that one brief moment of eye contact the two Winchester said more to each other than they had for a while. They were connected, as one for the very last time. Two words flashed through their eyes followed by three taboo words.

I'm sorry.

I love you.

TBC (Part Twenty done and dusted. I hope you all are still enjoying and don't forget to leave me those awesome reviews I love lots and lots. Thank you again to all my readers and reviewers you all mean so much to me and I will see you in Part Twenty One…)