Chapter 38

The spear gripped tightly in his hand, Sam swam alongside his brother and Leon, looking for any sign of Cassie or Aquarius. He glanced over to see how Dean was doing. As he hoped, Dean's wound was not bleeding. The stitches were holding up and he seemed to be himself. No nightmares or anything...for the moment. As they reached the ocean floor, Leon pointed them to their right. They could just barely make out a figure through the murky water. It was Cassie.

They swam over to her and found the casing of a cocoon reforming around her. It must need the water to grow, Sammy thought. Leon and Dean grabbed onto Cassie and began swimming her back to the surface. Sam kept his eyes darting from one place to another, trying to catch any movement in the water. He couldn't see anything, though.

Suddenly, Leon was pulled away from Cassie in an instant. Dean swam quickly to Sam and pointed him in the direction Leon was taken. In the distance they could see a large figure with Leon. They couldn't tell with their eyes, but they knew, it was Aquarius.

They swam to the surface quickly, took a big breath, and headed down to engage Aquarius. They knew it wasn't going to be easy, but they were as ready as they could be.

Aquarius remained still, his big arm around Leon's throat. Leon could hold his breath a long time, but he looked like he needed air. They floated in a stand-off, each person waiting for the other to make the first move. Finally, Dean couldn't wait anymore. Leon needed to breathe. He needed help. Dean launched himself at Aquarius, fist ready for a fight. Aquarius grabbed Leon's head like he was going to break his neck, so Dean stopped. Leon's eyes looked into his, pleading for help. Dean wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't cross the distance between them fast enough to stop the monster. Think Dean, think! What can you do?

Suddenly, Aquarius cried out in pain, dropping Leon. He turned quickly and slugged Sam hard in the cheek. Sam was sent back several feet as he tried not to let the pain send him out of focus. Dean saw in Aquarius' back was the spear. It was stuck in, but not nearly deep enough. Now free, Leon swam down to his sister and began swimming her up to the surface. They needed to get the cocoon off of her before she was transformed and ready to be his mate.

Dean knew he needed to get that spear. He swam up to the monster while it was still focused on Sammy, and reached for the spear. The moment he made contact with it, Aquarius turned around and slashed his claws at Dean. Just barely dodging the attack, Dean swam back a few feet, spearless.

The monster snarled at him. Sam attempted the same maneuver while Aquarius was looking at Dean, but the beast anticipated it and smacked Sam hard with his fin. Dean swam in and punched Aquarius as hard as he could, but it wasn't nearly hard enough. However, it did distract him long enough for Sam to grab the spear. The monster shoved Dean away, and turned his attention to Sam.

Sam felt like a gladiator, spear in hand, waiting for the beast to make his move. It all happened too fast for Sam to react. Aquarius' tail-fin shot up and smacked hard between Sam's legs making him curl up in pain. The monster then smacked the spear out of Sam's hands and it floated like a leaf to the bottom of the Gulf.

Dean tried to swim down to it, but was quickly snagged by Aquarius. He struggled, but simply couldn't overpower the monster. He was too strong! The beast seemed to enjoy himself a bit too much as he railed into Dean, punching him and beating him with his fin. Dean cried out, but the water silenced his agony.

Sam came up behind Aquarius and tried to pry him off of his brother, but the monster was like Superman. There was no way a normal human was going to overpower the guy. After he had sufficiently beaten Dean, he turned to Sam and beat on him. Sam was glad Dean was being left alone, but he couldn't say that he particularly enjoyed the pain he was in now.

Dean swam over to Sam like a broken puppy, and clung to his brother, trying to shield him from Aquarius. He couldn't let Sam get anymore hurt than he already was.He was the big brother. He was supposed to take the beatings. Aquarius, as if he had read his mind and agreed, grabbed Dean by the throat and began strangling him. With his strength, Dean knew he could have crushed his esophagus with ease, so he must have been enjoying feeling the life drain from him.

Sam grabbed Aquarius' hands and tried to pry them off of Dean, but there was no chance. Aquarius didn't even seem to notice. Then Sam felt something wrap around his leg. Looking down, he realized it was Aquarius' tail fin. I guess he did notice. Sam thought. He kicked at the fin with his free leg and still groped at the monster's nasty hands, trying to free his brother. He could see Dean's face turning blue. Sam knew time was running short. I'll be blue in not too long as well... He thought hopelessly. There was no getting out of this.

Aquarius smirked at them. Victory was his. There was no way that the brothers were getting out of this one. Suddenly, Aquarius screamed in pain, and released both the brothers. He looked over his shoulder and saw Leon, the pesky boy, holding the spear, trying as hard as he could to push it far enough in to do some real damage.

In a panic, Aquarius turned around and smacked the kid as hard as he could. Sam and Dean both saw the opportunity presented before them. Together, they grasped the spear, and with all the strength in their bodies, pushed and swam as hard as they could. The spear plunged the rest of the way into Aquarius, causing his skin to begin changing color. They could see his veins pumping the shark tooth's fatal energy through his body.

Sam risked a smile at Dean, and saw that Dean was passed out in the water. Quickly, he grabbed his brother and raced him up to the surface. As he emerged Sam cried for his brother, "Dean! DEAN!"

Nothing. Dean didn't move.

Leon emerged from the water. "We did it! He's dead!" He cheered, and then realized something was wrong. Sam was crying and Dean was limp in his arms. "Quick! To the boat!"

Sam brought Dean over to the boat and laid him on the floor on his back. Leon leaned over him and breathed into his mouth, and then pumped on his chest. "Will this work?" Sam asked, scared to death. Leon didn't respond. He kept on breathing in and pumping, trying to bring life back to Dean. Sam watched in worry, his world being destroyed right before him.

Leon bent down to breathe into Dean again, when the older brother coughed up water onto his face. Leon wiped it off and smiled. Dean kept coughing and breathing frantically, trying to suck life back into his beaten body. He was worse for wear, but he was going to live. Leon wrapped his arms around the big guy and hugged him for much longer than Dean was normally comfortable with, but he gave in and hugged the boy back.

Sam's tears went from worried tears to tears of relief. Dean was alive and fine. Sam walked over and embraced the both of them. "Thank you, Leon." He said with a cracked voice.

"No kidding." Dean coughed. "You saved me."

"You saved me." Leon thanked. He stood up. "We gotta' save my sister." His face was worried again.

Dean began to stand up to get Cassie, but Leon gently pushed him back onto the floor. "You stay." Sam said. Leon winked at Dean. Dean put his hands up in surrender and relaxed a bit.

Sam and Leon dove into the ocean, still keeping their eyes open for the beast, just in case. It wouldn't have been the first time the monster made a reappearance. Hopefully, not this time... Sam thought, his eyes darting from one direction to another.

They reached Cassie, who was resting on the bottom of the ocean, and they swam her back up. We're lucky he didn't take her out into deeper water. Sam thought as they pulled her up. Dean stood waiting on the boat, and pulled Cassie up as they handed her to him. The casing was almost entirely around her legs before they got her on the boat.

As he set her down, he could already see the cocoon disintegrating from around her. He inspected her neck. The gills were closing up too. Whatever power Aquarius had over her was fading away with his death. Dean sighed in relief. We really lucked out this time...

Sam and Leon climbed on board and ran over to Cassie. "How is she?" Leon asked, worry dripping from his voice.

"She's gonna' be fine." Dean assured him.

"How do you know?" Leon asked, looking her over.

"Just a hunch."

Sam walked over and looked at the girl too. "I'd agree with that hunch, though. She looks unharmed and like she's already returning to normal."

"Why isn't she awake?" Leon asked, looking at Sam like he was the family doctor.

Sam felt flustered. He was only guessing. "Give it time. If she doesn't wake once her body returns to normal, we'll take her to the hospital."

Leon was crying and hugging his sister. "I can't believe this is all over. I can't believe any of this really happened. I can't. -" Dean placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about that now." he said in a very fatherly voice. "Just be glad she's okay. Be glad you're okay."

Leon smiled. "I have you to thank for that."

"It goes both ways. You saved us from being strangled to death! When you drove the spear into his back! Man that was awesome!" Dean exclaimed as if he was talking about an action movie he had watched.

Leon blushed. "Thanks." Dean smiled back at him. "I mean, for everything." He looked over at Sam who winked at him. Leon couldn't help but smile. He couldn't believe it was all over, but he was so happy it was.

"Let's get home." Dean said, as he started the boat up and headed back to shore.