Hello everyone! Hope you've had/are having a great weekend! Time for our weekly chapter. Just…don't hate me at the end, ok ;)

Thanks for your continuing interest.

Chapter 16

Sam stared at Lucifer wide-eyed. He struggled with the bonds but found out he could not move his hands at all. He was trapped there with Lucifer. He had never felt more helpless in his entire life. So he did what he usually did when he found himself stripped of control. He tried to be defiant.

"I've got nothing to say to you," he spat.

Lucifer tilted his head.

"No, actually you do, Sam. Two things, actually. Do you want to hear them?"

Sam scowled.

"I'm sure you'll tell me whether I like it or not."

Lucifer smirked.

"Good, Sam. You're learning quickly. So – two things: first, you're going to tell me where you are."

Sam laughed.

"Well, that's gonna be easy to refuse seeing as I have no clue in hell where I am."

He knew from the look in Lucifer's eyes that things were not going to be so easy.

"I didn't mean the place where Ceridwen took you, Sam. I know you don't know that. I meant where you were when this all started. When you crossed the fairy ring."

Sam pretended not to hear. He stared straight ahead, trying not to look at Lucifer who had now gotten closer to where he lay.

"I think you already know what else I want from you," Lucifer went on.

"Never going to happen," Sam said. "I'll die still saying no." He flinched at the hand on his shoulder. "How about you untie me if you want to have a conversation with me?" he added through clenched teeth.

The hand on his shoulder tightened. Sam felt like he was about to jump out of his skin.

"You know why I'm not doing that, Sam?" Lucifer asked, his voice close to Sam's ears. "Because this is how I can show you exactly what will happen if you keep on being stubborn and turning your back to me. Let's say you manage to pass the last task relatively unharmed. You rescue Dean. What do you think will happen then, Sam? Do you think your actions will erase all the mistrust and resentment that's between you and your brother now? Do you think you two will go back to the way you were before?"

Sam closed his eyes briefly. It was unnerving, how much Lucifer could see into his mind. How much he could prey on Sam's deepest vulnerabilities.

Lucifer must have guessed that Sam secretly agreed with him. He nodded.

"Right. You already know the answer. Dean will keep on distrusting you. And, sooner or later, you'll slip. Or Dean will think you've slipped and he won't believe you when you tell him otherwise. And then where do you think you'll be, Sam?" He paused and touched the bonds holding Sam in place for emphasis. "Right here. Or worse."

Dean's voicemail that fateful night Sam had killed Lilith came back to haunt him. Still, he shook his head.

"Over my dead body."

Lucifer drew back.

"Now, normally that wouldn't impress me too much. I told you that you can die as many times as you want. I could still bring you back, and in the end you'll say yes to me only to put a stop to this, because I'm telling you, it ain't gonna be pleasant. However, right here we have a slight snag."

Sam tensed. In spite himself, he was starting to listen.

"I don't know where you are, Sam. I might be able to reach you if I know what fairy ring you stepped through. If I don't know – well, I won't be able to do anything if you die."

Sam's eyes narrowed.

"You know, if you're trying to motivate me into telling you where I am – or even into not getting myself killed in the final task – you're doing a piss-poor job of it."

Once again, Lucifer leaned over him. He was looking at Sam with that gleam in his eyes. Sam hated him. Who was he anyway, and how dare he simply claim ownership over Sam? What gave him the right? If Sam had been free, he would have tried to kill Lucifer with his bare hands, even though he was fully aware that at best he'd only be able to dent his vessel a little.

"Let's be up-front for once, Sam," Lucifer said. "Ceridwen intends you to die. Whether you get Dean out or not, it doesn't matter. You won't survive the final task. Ceridwen knows that. I know that – and I think you do too."

Sam said nothing. He remembered Dean's warning – if it had been Dean back then – and the reminder about what had happened years ago with the Naiad. He knew enough to be aware that there was a very distinct possibility he would not survive. Now that he knew he could not be brought back to play puppet in the apocalypse, he did not think he minded too much.

"Oh, I know what you're thinking," Lucifer said shrewdly. "If you die permanently, that's it, right? But think about this, Sammy," he added ignoring the way Sam flinched at the name. "You might be dead, but I'm still out there. Still wreaking havoc."

"Not as much as you would with your one true vessel, though," Sam pointed out. "Am I wrong?"

"Partly," Lucifer considered. "But how do you know I won't try to find myself something else? I mean – I'm the devil. I have back-up plans. Besides, you rescue Dean and die, what do you think will happen to your brother? I mean, all you'll succeed in doing is send your brother to face the apocalypse alone. You wouldn't do that to him, would you, Sam? You being the loyal, devoted little brother and all?"

Sam told himself to ignore him. He was bluffing, he had to be. Trying to push all his weak spots. There was no way he was going to give in. not that easily. If Lucifer wanted him, he'd have to fight for him.

Lucifer's long-suffering sigh told Sam he had yet again anticipated Sam's thoughts.

"All right," Lucifer said. "How about a compromise for now? I'm not unreasonable, Sam."

"Sure," Sam snorted. "Your picture's under fairness in the dictionary."

Lucifer watched him gravely.

"I am fair, Sam. Subterfuges belong to the other side – to Michael's armies. Trust me on that."

Sam did not answer.

"You just need to tell me where you stepped through. Like this, I might be able to bring you back when you die. And that will be it for now. No strings attached."

Sam could not help himself.

"Let me guess – it'll be out of the goodness of your heart, right?"

"Not exactly," Lucifer admitted. "It's just so you know I'm fair. We'll work our way up to you saying yes, eventually."

Sam shook his head.

"Pass."

Lucifer shook his head.

"We'll see about that. Anytime you want to change your mind – just pray to me. I'll keep my end of the bargain."

Sam said nothing. Lucifer was gone but his illusion had not faded. Sam was still in the panic room and he still could not move. It did not matter. The conversation had given him a lot to think about.

xxxXXXxxx

Dean was stumbling around in the dark searching for a way out. He had no idea what had happened to him or where Kathy had taken him, but he was sure he had been just collateral damage. Kathy had wanted Lily. And that was not a good thing.

Dean had no idea where Kathy could have taken her daughter. For all he knew, they could be anywhere. But one thing was certain: he was not going to let that creep spend more time with Lily than was necessary. He was going to find Lily and then the two of them could concentrate on getting out of there.

Suddenly, his foot caught in something and he found himself falling down a flight of narrow stone steps. He tried to break his fall, but at the last moment he could have sworn he had felt something push him from behind. He tumbled to the bottom of the steps and his head hit a rock. The world faded out.

He did not know that Ceridwen was now standing over him, a smirk on her lips.

"Time to make things more interesting," she said, placing her hand on Dean's forehead.

Dean did not even stir. Ceridwen nodded.

"When you wake up, you'll no longer remember who you are."

Things were about to get quite complicated for Sam Winchester, she thought.

xxXXxxx

He woke up in the darkness and had no idea what had happened to him. Where was he? How did he get there? Why was he there anyway? The questions chased themselves in his mind until he realized he was avoiding the most important one: Who was he?

"What the hell?" he muttered.

His voice sounded unfamiliar in his ears. He looked at his hands and at the callouses on his palms and had no idea how he had gotten them.

He tried to search for something in his mind, a name, a face, anything that would have told him who he was and where he came from. It was like his identity had been erased and it frustrated him. Briefly, he had a glimpse in his mind of a tall young man with longish black hair. He tried to cling to the picture, tried to find some feeling associated with that that person. But the image faded and soon enough he had forgotten it had come to him at all.

xxxXXXxxx

Kathy took Lily to a large chamber with golden walls. There was a huge table filled with all kinds of food. Kathy gestured to it.

"I'm sure you must be hungry," she said mildly. "You should have some."

Lily shook her head.

"So you can make me forget? Back home you taught me these things. Never eat what the fairies give you, isn't it so?"

"Maybe for regular humans. But you're not that, Lily. You're half-fairy."

She ignored Lily's flinch.

"So, you're saying I can eat and still remember who I am?" Lily asked skeptically.

"The food is not going to affect you at all. I promise."

Lily's eyes narrowed.

"I would have trusted my mother's promises. But I don't know if I can trust those of the person you've become."

"Well, then you're trusting the wrong person," Kathy said. "Mortals are the ones who lie. They lie all the time, Lily, you should know that. Fairies cannot lie. We deceive, we trick, but we are incapable of saying an untruth. That food will not harm you. It will not make you forget. It will not kill you. It is safe to eat."

Lilly finally approached the table and took a bite of one of the cakes there. It tasted like the cakes her mother used to make. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to fling it against the wall.

"Why did you leave?"

She knew the question was useless. The fairy could no longer remember who she had been long ago.

"And why did you come to us in the first place?" she added. "Why marry my dad? Why have me?"

Kathy shook her head.

"Does it really matter?"

"You must have known you were doing wrong," Lily pressed on. "After all…I'm a danger to you, aren't I? I shouldn't have been here at all…right?"

It hurt to talk like that. It hurt even more to see that her own mother was not offering her any reassurances whatsoever. And suddenly, Lily knew with a sick certainty why she had been separated from Dean.

"You're going to do something to me, aren't you? You're going to kill me?"

Kathy did not try to deny it. Lily shuddered. She felt tears in her eyes and hated herself for them. Dean wouldn't have cried, she was sure of that.

"I'm your daughter," she added.

Kathy looked away. There was no emotion in her face. Whatever ties she had shared with Lily, they were forgotten.

"I might not need to kill you," she said. "Maybe I can get rid of you some other way."

"Dad's looking for me," Lily said. "He'd like to see you."

It always went like that in stories, didn't it? Love conquered all. If Kathy was to see her former husband, maybe something would jog her memory. Maybe she would become again the wife and mother she had once been. But Lily had spent enough time in the fairy world to begin to understand real stories very often did not have happy endings. Still, she could not help but try.

"You loved me a lot once. You tried to protect me from your kind. You gave me a silver cross and told me never to take it off, remember?"

A cross that her mother had never actually touched, Lily realized now with a jolt. The piece of jewelry had been ordered online and Kathy had given it to her gift-wrapped as a Christmas present. Because she could not touch silver without hurting herself. Really, Lily told herself, the clues to her mother's identity had been there all along.

"You would have been fair game to my kind," Kathy agreed. "We would have been entitled to kill you. You're dangerous."

"Why?" Lily insisted. "I don't feel dangerous."

Kathy laughed.

"Trust me, you are. You have a lot of our powers."

Lily stiffened.

"Could I use them to get out of here?"

But Kathy shook her head.

"No. Not yet I think. Your father made a deal with Ceridwen for your freedom. No one can break it."

Lily frowned.

"You're breaking it right now."

She watched as her mother shrugged.

"Not really. I am waiting. When your father finishes his tasks – if he finishes his tasks, Ceridwen will set you free of her influence. Well, I'll lay claim on you then. No one will stop me. Ceridwen won't care – I think she'll be glad if I fixed my own mess."

Lily flinched at the word. Something inside her seemed to break. It was like a river in her body, overflowing and demanding to be cast out somehow. She no longer felt like herself. She felt like someone else. Something else.

Before she knew it, she started to scream. The shrill sound of her voice, a voice she only vaguely recognized made the room shake. Kathy stiffened.

"What are you doing?" she asked sharply.

Lily ignored her, the cream bursting out of her together with a surge of power that nearly tore her apart. There was light all around her and it blinded her. She could not see anything. She vaguely heard her mother scream, but she had no idea what was happening.

When Lily came back to herself the room was empty. She was kneeling next to the overturned table. It looked like a tsunami had thrashed the place. Lily felt sick when she thought that it had all been her.

There was no sign of her mother – no, Lily told herself, not her mother. The fairy – Lily could not think of her as her mother anymore. Maybe Kathy or whatever her name was had loved her family once. But that time was long gone.

Lily got up, dusting herself. She was not going to remain alone. She could not try to find her father – interfering with his quest would put them both in jeopardy. But she could find Dean. After all, she was safer with Dean.

xxxXXXc=xxx

Sam's eyelids felt heavy. Opening his eyes and staying awake felt like too much of a chore. The ground was spinning around him. But he was on the ground and not tied up to a bed in a simulacrum of Bobby's panic room, which meant Lucifer's dreamscape was over. Sam squinted up into the bright sun.

He was not feeling too well, the fight with the dragon having depleted most of his remaining strengths, opening his wounds and injuring him further. It was a good thing he had only one task left. He did not think he would have been able to hang on much longer than that, no matter how motivated he was.

Sam raised himself on his elbows. He glanced at the dragon lying motionless near him. It was dead alright. Sam wondered what Dean would say to that. Sam the dragon-slayer. It was the kind of thing that would have usually earned Sam a lot of teasing. Dean often teased to hide his admiration.

Finally, he staggered up. He took a few steps and had to lean against a tree.

"Come on, Ceridwen," he muttered. "Let's get this over with."

"My, my, Sam. You're not looking so good."

Sam turned around, not really surprised by Ceridwen's unexpected entrance.

"Last chance to use that water," Ceridwen said. "If you think this task was difficult…"

Sam snorted and gestured to the dragon.

"You actually had me slay a dragon. Classy. Not much imagination though. What's next? Do battle with a giant and rescue a damsel in distress?"

Ceridwen rolled her eyes.

"Now who's lacking imagination? No, Sam. You and your brother are not going to get off that easy."

Sam watched as Ceridwen approached him, her hand outstretched. He drew a step back almost against his will. Ceridwen looked irritated.

"I don't want to do anything to you, Sam. Just take you somewhere."

Sam was still reluctant to take Ceridwen's hand.

"Can't we travel the old fashioned way?"

"This is the old fashioned way," Ceridwen pointed out. "At least, it is for us. Now, do you want to get to Dean or not?"

Sam pretended not to notice Ceridwen's satisfied smirk as her words made him accept her hand. It was not as if every monster in creation was not aware that he would do anything for Dean.

Ceridwen took Sam's hand in a strong grip. The world faded around him. The next thing Sam knew, he was in a wide hall. And Dean was there.

"Dean!" he shouted.

He made to go to his brother but stopped in his tracks. Dean's face was blank and cold. There was no recognition in his eyes.

"Dean?" Sam asked uncertainly. "Are you all right?"

"He's fine," Ceridwen told him. "Mostly. He doesn't remember you, Sam. He doesn't remember who he is."

Sam clenched his fists.

"What the hell have you done to him?"

"This will be your final task, Sam. Convince your brother to remember you. You have to make him want to come with you. It won't be easy, though. He's programmed to obey me now. And I told him he should kill you."

It was then that Sam noticed the look of hatred in Dean's eyes. He felt sick. During all that time, with all their conflicts and their differences, this was the first time Sam saw that look directed at him.

Well what can I say? I've got this sadistic streak in me and it has to be channeled somewhere :p Just kidding! I do promise a satisfying resolution…eventually…