I do not own Supernatural.
Sam stared up from the ground, back aching where it rested against cold steel bars. He watched as Lucifer's face disappeared, and breathed a quiet thank you to the responsible party as a familiar motel room replaced the Cage. Now resting against the cozy, though thin, fabric of a cheap bedspread, he relaxed back fully and relished in his back ache subsiding at least a little. "Hey," he quirked a smile up at his alternate family and self. "Uh, how's it going?"
"How's it -" Dean barked a laugh of disbelief as he pulled away from Sammy. "What happened to you?" The gesture encompassed all of Sam, and he grimaced.
"Yeah, things went wrong, long story, and I ended up in yet another Cage with Lucifer. I said no, of course, and -"
"Of course?" John interrupted.
"What?" Sam frowned.
"You said you said 'no, of course', but you've said yes before."
Frown deepening, Sam replied, "Well, yes, but there were extenuating circumstances."
"Like what?" Sammy frowned back, ignoring how his brother gaped between them at the expression reflected between the two selves. He had been able to ignore the fact his older, alternate self allowed himself to be possessed by the Devil himself - even forget it, on occasion - solely because of everything else being revealed. Now, apparently, he didn't even get that choice.
"I could, uh… I could see everything that Lucifer did in my body, hear everything he said," Sam murmured, drawing his legs up and looking down at his knees. "So I know while he said enough to help you realise I said yes, he didn't say a thing about the plan I had doing so - the plan I managed to carry out."
"Your soulless self mentioned something about wrestling Lucifer back into the Cage," Dean remembered.
Sam grimaced, "You met him, too?" John nodded, mirroring his son's expression as he remembered everything he learned in that visit. "Well, I lost my soul in the Cage. See, when I said yes to Lucifer, Dean and I, along with some friends, had managed to piece together a key to the Cage. We could open it; force the Devil back in. But he needed to be caught off guard. So I said yes, Dean found me, and I…"
"You wrestled back control," Dean said softly, amazed at what his alternate brother had done.
Sam nodded. "Dean opened the Cage, and I jumped in. Michael - the archangel - tried to stop me, but I dragged him in, too. A friend of our's, Cas - he's an angel too - managed to rescue my body, but didn't realise my soul stayed behind. That's why I was soulless until Death pulled that out, too."
"Death," John stated skeptically. He could believe angels and archangels, after the Devil that wasn't hard. He could believe his son managed to wrestle back control of his own body from said Devil - he was a Winchester, after all. He could even believe being friends with an angel. But Death, with a capital D?
"Death," Sam confirmed. "He rules over all the reapers. Or at least, he did until Dean killed him."
"Until Dean…" John trailed off, glad he'd stayed in his chair; it saved him the embarrassment of possibly falling to his knees in astonishment. "Is that even possible?"
"Apparently," Sam shrugged. He and Dean had been amazed when it happened, but after everything else in their lives it wasn't that big of a deal.
"How did you end up back in a cage with Lucifer?" Sammy interrupted.
His alternate self grimaced again, but opened his mouth - and disappeared.
"Great," Dean sighed. It seemed like each visit answered a couple questions and created a dozen more.
John echoed his son's sentiment, settling back in his chair to ponder the new information: especially the satisfaction at having his last doubts about his son banished.
Sammy wandered over to where Sam had sat and slumped down in his place. It was a relief, knowing his possession by Lucifer and even his soulless self had served a purpose. And yet… and yet, each visit showcased some of his own strengths and weaknesses, leaving him wondering if he would ever overcome the latter and if he could ever be as strong as his alternate self. Questions for the future that even an alternate dimension couldn't answer, he mused.
Sam appeared back in the Cage, facing people who once again had no idea he had ever left - except he did, Sam realised with a start as he watched the expression on Lucifer's face settle into surprise.
"Still travelling, I see," the Devil grinned. Sam had a split second to wonder at why an archangel could detect that minuscule moment he no longer existed in his own universe, and then Lucifer proceeded with the previously interrupted beating.