A/N:
**Please see Chapter 1 for all warnings!** Don't like it? Don't read it!
Thank you Christine, goldacharmed, Shattered-Eclipse Ash, ANerdWhoWrites and Kajensen07 for the great reviews!
A yelp passed Jacob's lips and he tried to run faster. Displaced air was tousling his hair from behind like death itself breathing down his neck. Jacob knew that any second now, the boot would land on him and finish the job. Jacob's spine would be crushed together like a gruesome telescope, and his limbs would be reduced to nothing. His insides would be reduced to paste as his organs were obliterated.
He would break so fast he wouldn't even feel it. Any second now, Jacob would simply cease to exist, because he was so small that his best friend thought he was a bug.
Something huge and immovable slammed into the carpet in front of him. He was running too fast to slow down or dash around it in time. His cry of alarm cut short when he smacked into it at his top sprinting speed. Bruised ribs erupted in fiery pain that clouded Jacob's mind even more. He bounced off the thing and stumbled backwards, falling flat on his back.
There was no time. Jacob forced himself to get back to his feet. His heart pounded in his ears and his lungs drew in ragged breaths. He needed to run. Needed to get around the high wall that had fallen in his path.
Needed to escape.
Dean's pulse calmed down with the spider taken care of. He almost went to lift his boot away, but frowned as he realized there was something else down on the ground, close to where his boot had landed.
He squinted, leaning over so he could see the dark blot better. His hands braced on his knees for balance as he peered intently at the dark carpeting.
The frown faded from Dean's face. "Jacob?" he called out hesitantly as the tiny form scrambled to its feet and darted away from his boot. No bug moved like that, only two small legs sprinting desperately away. "Is that you?"
It was like Jacob never even heard him. He continued his blind dash away from Dean, running away in a panicked sprint. Dean's mouth was dry as he tried again. "Jacob, it's okay, it's me. It's Dean. The spider's gone."
There was no response and Dean started to realize that Jacob wasn't just running from the spider anymore. He was running from Dean. If Dean's foot had landed two inches to the side, he wouldn't be trying to get Jacob's attention right now. He wouldn't even know Jacob had ever been down there. The kid would have been crushed, nothing left of him, blending into the treads of Dean's boots just like the spider. Something to wipe off and forget.
"Crap, Jacob, I'm sorry," he hissed, wishing his words could make it through. Wishing that he could take back what he'd just done, almost stepping on Jacob.
His best friend.
With nothing working, and Jacob trying to vanish into the darkness where he could be lost forever, Dean knew he had to stop him. Keep him out in the open until he could be talked out of his panic.
Dean knelt down, shifting both boots behind him. A hand was lightly dropped in front of Jacob, blocking off the dresser from the other hunter. "C'mon, Jacob. Let me help you," Dean said. Unless Jacob let him, there was no safe way to grab him off the floor. It would be too easy to crush him by accident. Dean shuddered at the thought, knowing how close he'd come a bare minute ago to consigning Jacob to that fate.
"You need to let me help you. I can't do this on my own."
Jacob didn't stop running.
"Dammit," Dean hissed as the tiny figure crashed into his hand at full tilt. It was like he'd never heard a word Dean said. He needed a way to break Jacob out of this panic, he needed to get through to him…
Until then, Jacob was still trying to get around his hand and reach the menacing darkness of the dresser. A place that could host more creatures like the spider. Dean needed to keep him out. He needed to protect Jacob, from himself this time. And from Dean, as hard as that was to admit.
He shifted his hand and curled the fingers around to keep Jacob from slipping past his hand. Then, he moved, flattening himself on his stomach. Like this, he could reach his other hand out and block off the rest of the world from Jacob's sight. The hands closed around the miniscule figure, sealing him out of sight, but also sealing the rest of the world away from him. He was in a dark room, safe from being grabbed or stepped on or attacked.
"Jacob, it's me. It's Dean," he pleaded, praying he could get through the haze of terror he'd just barely glimpsed on that tiny face before sealing him away.
For Jacob, realization came and went that the moving wall stretching over his head was a hand. An enormous hand was blocking his escape with thick, impassable fingers. He backed away from them as they angled around and blocked his path. Before he knew it, another hand hedged him in, tilting towards him at a threatening angle as both sides closed in.
They'll crush me!
Jacob whirled around. There was only a glimpse of the arms attached to those massive hands or the enormous face looming close. Before he could take in the surroundings outside his cage of flesh, the two sides of the hands were sealing closed. He barely dashed two steps before the giant hands closed completely over him, shutting him out from the light and the world. There was a clap as the hands impacted, sealing off every light and every crack that he could have used to escape.
Jacob was trapped under a dome made of giant, crushing hands. Nothing he could do would get him out of this one.
If you lose…
That was all he could think about as his imminent death hung directly overhead, close enough that he could reach up a hand to push on the thick skin that had no give to it.
That never had any give to it. That might not even feel him as he died. He would barely leave a mark.
"No!" he cried, rushing to the sides of his prison in the dark. This time, he tried to barrel against those unforgiving fingers, trying to shove one out of his way. His mind refused to accept his helplessness, desperately trying to come up with a solution before one of the hands crushed him. He wouldn't die like a human, he'd die like a bug. An ant to be squashed and forgotten by the same person that had taken away his life.
His ribs screamed in pain and his lungs were ragged from all the rapid breathing. The next time he shoved, his fingers sank into giant fingerprints, finding purchase inside thick ridges that he shouldn't be able to see, nevermind hold. He refused to give up. No matter how useless it was, no matter if his life was a lost cause, he was driven to try.
The pounding of his heart in his ears was louder than anything he'd ever heard. Louder even than the pulse that surged at a slow, ominous tempo through the unyielding skin he was trying to move, louder than the thunder that boomed from outside. The sound of that giant voice rattled completely around him, shaking his very skeleton. The words wouldn't parse in his head. They might as well be the immense growls of a predator about to claim his life. Jacob was sure they'd be the last sounds he ever heard.
There had to be a way to escape. There had to be a way to survive. There had to be a way out from under the angry, crushing hands. Dean had to be tricked again, just like before. Making him think he had another bug or a spider trapped under his hand. Making him want to crush the life out of it for daring be a threat near his smaller friends.
Making Dean turn on his best friend.
The inevitability started to set in as his ribs burned and yet he still tried to shove against the unyielding wall. Jacob was going to die. He was going to die a smear of nothingness at the hand of his mentor. Tears sprang to his eyes as he kept pushing against Dean's fingers, trying so desperately to get past them.
So desperate to escape no matter how impossible it was.
Intent on his hands, Dean heard a small voice cry out in fright. The tiny spark of fear in it sent a bolt through his heart. "No, Jacob, you're safe," he begged, trying to break through. "I won't hurt you, I'd never want to hurt you."
He gasped when he felt miniscule hands pushing against his skin. For the first time, he could feel the tiny attempts to push his hand out of the way. Not once since Jacob had shrank the second time had he been able to feel that, not a single time. Not even when he was watching the small hunter walk onto his hand, tumbling down from a misstep. The panic and the weird of the case had kept him too distracted.
Now, focusing on Jacob and his terror and nothing else, Dean finally got it. He understood.
He blinked back tears. He was helpless to stop the emotions that welled up in him as he felt his best friend struggling for his life. Against him.
Words came to mind and they spilled out of his lips. "Jacob," he started, his throat trying to close up on him. He cleared it and started over. "Jacob, I don't know if you can hear me, and hell. I don't know if you'd even care if you could, but you need to know. I need you to know. You're safe now. I can see you, and I'm not gonna let you vanish on me again."
Dean closed his eyes, trying to keep himself together. The feel of those tiny, fruitless struggles had his full attention, and he wanted nothing more than to have that trust back again. He'd lost that trust, he didn't deserve that trust, and he might never deserve it again.
Even if that was true, he needed to do right by Jacob and get him to safety. He was the only person who could.
Dean started to talk again, each word halting and measured as he went. "Everything's scary right now, including me. I know that, and I'm sorry. I didn't… I didn't realize that I could scare you so much. I didn't know how afraid you were and I should have. I should have seen it sooner but I let myself be blinded by your reassurances. But no matter what, no matter how scary things get, you'll always have me. It took me a while to realize how different I need to act, but now that I do, you're safe with me. I promise. No more screw ups, no more being an asshat. I won't let you slip through my fingers like Sam did all those years ago."
The sight of his hands sealed shut was a testament to these words, walling Jacob off with an unbreachable enclosure. A tear slipped down Dean's cheek unnoticed. As useful as it was right now, he'd never wanted the power to trap his friend like that, completely and irrevocably.
Dean had absolute power over all his friends, and he needed to prove, again and again, that he deserved their trust.
"Having you around this last year... it's like me an' Sam both have a little brother to watch out for. You're family, and that's all that matters. Whether you're 6'5" or shorter than Sammy, you'll always be one of us."
Dean took a deep breath, then realized he couldn't feel anything pushing against his hands. Hesitantly, almost afraid of what he'd find in there, he cracked them open just enough to lean in and peek. He blinked, adjusting to the darkness.
Jacob heard every word. His mind, in pure panic,wouldn't let him stop to consider them. The words rumbled around him, like booming echoes of some conversation he wasn't a part of. The only thing at the fore of his mind was terror.
Even with all of that fear clamoring in his head, Jacob had a breaking point. His body was exhausted. His mind was exhausted. Some of his tears raced down his cheeks and he gave up on pushing the hand out of the way, and staggered back from it.
He collapsed.
When light stretched towards him from the small opening Dean made in his hands, Jacob didn't notice it.
Jacob huddled over, curled up into as tiny of a ball as he could make himself. Considering the size he started with, he was very tiny indeed. His arms were guarding his head, shaking hands pressed over the back of his neck. His entire body was quivering with adrenaline that couldn't be stopped and couldn't be put to use. Even if the adrenaline gave him energy and strength, he was completely helpless in the prison Dean had placed around him.
Breath with the force of a minor wind rushed into his prison, following the splinter of light now shining in. Jacob's hair and hood were agitated by it. He became aware that there was an opening where there were none before, but he still didn't look up.
Jacob was overwhelmed by the world around him. Maybe he'd brushed it off countless times to maintain his chill demeanor, but now, Jacob was afraid.
You'll always be one of us.
The thought sliced through the outer layer of fear and Jacob almost flinched from it. Had he really heard that? Was his mind playing tricks on him? Jacob desperately tried to put together the jigsaw puzzle that his memories of the last few minutes had become. Dean's voice, thundering all around him, had really said that. Jacob's breath hitched as more of it came back to him.
You're family.
It's like we have a little brother to watch out for.
Dean Winchester, to whom family was more important than anything, had said that to Jacob.
Jacob, who barely a year ago had appeared out of the blue, introducing himself with a knock on the door and the surprise information that Dean's baby brother was still alive. Who'd tracked the man down just to put his family back together again after bad luck and a witch's curse had torn it to pieces.
Dean, whose entire family was made up of one very small brother and an absent father who'd abandoned his only son to fend for himself. A man who'd dedicated his entire torn-up life to helping others and had been rewarded at last when his family was reunited after over ten years of being alone.
Because of Jacob.
And now Jacob had just been told that he was a part of that family too.
Brothers.
With some effort, he unclasped his hands. They remained near his head as cautious shields as he lifted it. Jacob saw a beam of light making its way in to him. Beyond the opening in his confinement, he could see one green eye peering in at him, the sides crinkled in concern.
Dean. It's just Dean.
Jacob's hands were still shaking as he remained huddled there, shock on his face as he tried to look through the panic and desperation of his last few moments, and tried to piece together everything that had just happened.
A/N:
Feels. Nothing but feels over here.
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Next: April 15th, 2018 at 9pm.
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