Author's Note: Hello SuperCharmed fans! I am SO UNBELIEVABLY SORRY that it has been a literal year since I have posted new content. I hope some of you have stuck around because our adventure with the Winchesters and Halliwells is far from over. I am beyond excited that this chapter is finally done! Lots of character development coming! As always, thank you for reading, and enjoy! Reviews are highly encouraged!

XOXO AryaUnderfoot

Time seemed to stop as Sam stood over Dean's lifeless body. He had been here before, so many times, to watch the light leave his brother's eyes. Dean had been shot, poisoned, electrocuted, stabbed, and even mauled and dragged away by hellhounds, but none of those deaths felt like this one. No, those deaths had filled him with guilt, made him feel intensely sad, or left him feeling empty and alone. But this wasn't like a deal with a crossroads demon come due, or even like another death on any number of infinite Tuesdays. This death felt toxic, because it wasn't death at all. It represented a choice that Sam was going to have to make very soon. Would he bring his brother back as a monster and put him through the excruciating pain of regaining his soul? Or, would he finally let him go? Bury Dean's body in an unmarked grave, somewhere no one would ever be able to find him, and move on.

Sam stood frozen, unable to pull his gaze from his brother's corpse. He felt Paige's presence next to him, her hand slipping into his. He heard the cry of agony that Piper let out when she realized that her son would never be able return to the future to see if his efforts had even made a difference. He could hear Castiel next to him, urging them all to find a way out before the hoard of demons still in the room was upon them. It all registered in Sam's mind, but he couldn't bring himself to move.

"Paige," Castiel said. "Orb Piper and Chris out of here, and come back for us. I'll try to get Sam moving."

"Ruby!" Paige called, unable to look away from Sam, "Let's go, I'm not leaving without you."

Ruby was kneeling next to Dean, inspecting him as if he were a museum installation: looking but not touching. Her brow was furrowed, and she was clearly deep in thought. She looked up at Sam with a knowing face. Stepping over Dean's body, she looked Sam straight in the eye, "Sam, I know how you feel right now, you know I do. But, there are people here counting on you to get them out of here. We can all make a decision about him together. His fate doesn't rest in your hands alone anymore. You are not his keeper."

Sam's head shot up, making Paige jump. "Get them out of here," he told her as demons began to converge on them. She nodded, grabbing Ruby and running to her sister, who she knew would never be pried away from her son, and orbing the four of them from the room. Sam pulled the demon blade from his boot and Castiel armed himself with an angel blade as the she-demons formed a circle around them. Back to back, the hunter and the angel began an exorcism ritual. Before the demons could do anything to stop them Paige orbed back into the room. Laying a hand on Dean's chest she shouted for Sam and Cas to grab onto her.

Everything happened so quickly that when Sam opened his eyes in the living room of Halliwell Manor, it took him a moment to orient himself to the lack of chaos. Paige stood up from where she had been crouching next to Dean, and turned to look at Sam. She had a look of intense sorrow in her eyes, one that broke Sam's heart a little bit more. Leaning down, he kissed her forehead softly and pulled her into his arms for a long moment. As he pulled away he whispered, "Go to Piper."

They had Chris laid out on the sofa. He looked peaceful from where Sam stood. Piper knelt on the floor next to him, clutching his hands, and Leo sat at his head, tears-staining his face. Sam turned to his brother. Lifting Dean in his arms, he laid him on the couch opposite Chris, and sat down next to him on the coffee table, his head in his hands.

They sat there, Paige with her sister and Leo, Ruby and Castiel with Sam, in complete silence for a long time. It was as if their will to go on had dissipated completely. The fact that Lucifer was free and coming for them all seemed to mean nothing in that moment. They had rallied again and again only to be met with defeat. Sam found himself wondering what the point of it all really was. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he met Leila's concerned eyes. She had a way of making people feel understood, a trait that would make her a good hunter, and one day, a great whitelighter. He placed his hand over hers and felt comforted by his friend. What Ruby had said was true. Sam was no longer alone.

"What's going on?" a voice rang out into the silence. They all turned to meet Phoebe's confused gaze, one that turned immediately to panic when Chris and Dean came into view. Her eyes widened, hand flew to cover her mouth, and she began shaking uncontrollably.

"Phoebe," Leo ran to her, ever protective of his sister, and charge, "Sit down."

The witch shook her head as tears began to pour down her face, "How did this happen?"

"Rowena," Paige replied, as if that said it all.

"No," Phoebe replied in disbelief. "No, no, no, I was going to save him. We were going to make him better he… He didn't deserve this."

It took Sam a moment to realize that Phoebe was referring to his brother. It had been a long time since he had heard anyone, besides himself, speak about Dean in such a manner. Most people met him and wrote him off as an unpleasant, unlikable hard ass. It took a lot to see to his core, where the kind, tortured soul that simply wanted to help people resided. It sometimes even escaped Sam. But, Phoebe was looking at him now with such sorrow in her eyes, as if she had lost something precious to her.

"Phoebs…" Piper started, "Honey, he's not Cole. You can't save him just to ease your guilt over a man you loved."

The middle Halliwell got angry then. "You think that's what this is? That I'm just trying to steel my guilt over Cole? You think I couldn't possibly have actually cared about Dean Winchester? Because let me tell you, there is a lot in his heart to care about, but none of you ever gave him a chance. You just blamed him for everything bad that's happened since he got here! And he knew that, too, but that didn't stop him from helping all of us. And now he's going to wake up a demon, and that is on The Charmed Ones, all because we couldn't take time to get rid of that heinous thing on his arm."

Phoebe's words hung in the air long after she had said her piece. She had been recuperating long enough that Sam had forgotten how fierce she could truly be.

"I think this leads us to a very important question," Castiel chimed in. "Will we bring Dean back? Because he does not have to be reanimated, we can choose to leave him at peace. A peace, I may add, that he justly deserves."

"Before we begin what I assume will be a difficult discussion, we need to go to the bunker," Piper chimed in. "I don't believe our wards are working. I don't know how she did it, but it's like Rowena was expecting our attack, and I'm done gambling with lives just to stay in the comfort of my own home."

"I'll get the Book of Shadows," Paige replied, happy to leave the tension in the room for even a moment.

"Leo and I will take Chris to the Elders and meet you there," Piper told them, before taking her husband's hand, laying a hand gingerly on her son's chest, and orbing out of the room.

"I will take Leila, Ruby and Phoebe to the bunker," Castiel told Sam. "You wait here for Paige. Orb Dean to his room."

The four of them blinked away, leaving Sam in an empty room with the corpse of his brother. He thought about what it would mean to cure Dean of his demonic form again, and as much as it pained him, he knew it would need to happen. Lucifer was coming for them, or more specifically for Sam's vessel, and he wasn't sure he could defeat him without Dean's help. He had never tried, and the thought of it scared him more than almost anything.

"Earth to Sam," Paige said, breaking him from his moment of deep thought. He turned to look at her, and immediately found comfort in her chocolate brown eyes, in the way she smiled with only one corner of her mouth and how her fiery orange hair fell in tendrils over her bare shoulders. Every inch of her felt familiar, felt like home. Sam walked toward her with purpose and intention, and pulled her into his arms. Much to his surprise, she did not push him away. Leaning out just enough to see her face, he pulled her in for a deep, shameless kiss, needing desperately the solace that it brought him in that moment.

After a few moments, Paige took her lips from his, but did not pull away completely. Sam rested his forehead on hers and took a few breaths, reorienting himself to the room. "I'm sorry," he told her.

"For what?" Paige asked breathlessly.

Sam just smiled, and took her hand in his. Turning, he readied himself for the task at hand. When they orbed into Dean's room at the bunker, he could already hear an argument starting in the main room.

"All I am saying is that he has been through enough," Sam heard Cas say. "I do not think you know what it is like to feel your soul knit itself back together within you. It is a pain no one should have to endure once, much less twice in their lives."

Sam walked into the room, Paige's hand still in his, as Ruby agreed with the angel. "As someone who has felt such a pain so recently, I have to side with Castiel. I would rather die than go through that again."

"But, he deserves our help," Phoebe said defiantly. "We failed him, and it's our duty to do better. We need to cure him and remove that mark as soon as we can. Then we can let fate decide whether he lives or dies, like it should."

Sam snorted, thinking about the number of times the two of them had defied fate, and come back from the dead. All eyes turned to him. Sam swallowed then, not completely sure where to begin addressing the issue of his brother's destiny. He felt Paige's hand squeeze his own and he felt confidence return to him. Knowing he had the youngest Halliwell back in his corner was a huge weight off his shoulders. He only hoped his continue to prove his worth to her.

Sighing he turned to the group, "The way I see it, we have three options. One: we let Dean go, let him be at peace somewhere he'll never be found—"

"You really think that's what your brother deserves?" Phoebe spat.

Sam put his hand up to interrupt her outburst. "Just let me finish. Option two: we bring him back and cure him right away, but then we're right back where we started, with Lucifer on his way to us."

"At least then we'd have Dean to help us fight," Phoebe mumbled under her breath.

Piper, her face still tear-stained, rolled her eyes, "What's option three?"

"Option three…" Sam trailed off, unsure he could continue.

"Is to keep him in his demon form and somehow use him to defeat Lucifer, Castiel finished.

Sam nodded and the room was silent for a moment. Then suddenly, everyone erupted into a frenzy, each person attempting to talk over the next. Some were angry, some reasoning, but all were most definitely loud.

"Hang on everyone!" Piper hollered, her voice cutting through the noise, causing the rest of the group's shouts to fade into murmurs. "I for one would like to hear the rationale behind this choice. I have a hard time believing that Sam wants this for his brother, so there must be a reason."

"I thought you said that he was completely out of control as a demon. Didn't he nearly kill you?" Leo asked.

Sam nodded, "But last time we went through this, we didn't have time to take precautions… and we weren't friends with three of the most powerful witches known to man."

"You think they will be able to control him somehow," Castiel stated.

"It's my hope that the sisters can somehow channel his anger toward Lucifer, and not everyone else. Even if we cure him slightly, give him the first few injections, he'll still be more powerful. He's our best chance at weakening Lucifer."

"Is that something you think you can do?" Castiel asked, turning to the Charmed Ones. The sisters exchanged looks with one another, but remained silent.

"Let's take a vote on it, shall we?" Leila said, chiming in for the first time. "We have to make a choice regardless, so we might as well be democratic about it."

"Well I vote we totally cure him," Phoebe said, clearly fed up with the conversation at hand. "This all totally violates his right to free will. He deserves better than this."

"I agree to an extent," Leila interjected. "But, I think it's even more inhumane to put him through the kind of pain it would take to cure him."

Ruby nodded, "I agree. That process almost killed me, and he's already been through it once. No one deserves to endure that again. Like Castiel said, he's fought long enough. He deserves peace."

Sam sighed, wondering if they were right. He still thought Dean was their best weapon against Lucifer, but was it right to think of his own brother as a tool in a fight? Should he finally just let him go? "Cas, you think we should just bury him? Just be done with it?"

"It is difficult to say," the angel replied. "I do believe that Dean deserves to be laid to rest. But, I also know that if he had a choice he would want to be a part of this battle. If the Power of Three is strong enough, I think we should try your suggestion Sam."

"I do too," Leo said, stepping forward.

"Leo?" Piper inquired.

"The elders foretold that a demon would present itself to help us succeed in the battle ahead. Who's to say that demon isn't Dean? Meanwhile, Phoebe is presented with a power that allows her to absorb the emotions of others. With practice, maybe she could manipulate them as well."

Piper nodded, "I'm with Leo and Sam. I think it's our best bet, and I'm not losing anyone else to Lucifer or whoever. We need a solution and I think this is it."

Phoebe's eyes turned to her baby sister, the only person who'd said nothing throughout this entire debate. The older sister's eyes were wide and desperate for anyone to be on her side. Paige avoided all eye contact with her before agreeing with her oldest sister and brother-in-law, making the decision a definitive one. Phoebe looked to the floor and then nodded, as if to say she'd given in.

Sam sat down next to his brother's body, taking in the full weight of the choice they'd all made. He didn't know if he was truly mentally prepared for what came next. Looking around the room, he could tell the feeling was mutual. Placing his hands on top of Dean's, he felt an eerie calm wash over him.

"I know this is terrifying," Sam started. "I know that we've brought endless complication into your life and that I'm asking you to do something that might be impossible… but I am ready to fight this fight, and I know somewhere deep inside of him, Dean is too. I want to see all of you through this, and I am going to try with everything in me to do just that. I hope you all believe me when I say that."

"You know we do," Piper replied. "I've had enough of you blaming yourself for what's happening here. If you and your brother hadn't arrived here when you did we would be so in over our heads. I've watched you put your life on the line, time and time again, for my sisters and my children. There is nothing that means more to me in the world. So, I think I speak for all of us when I say, you two, and you Castiel, you're family now. There isn't anything we wouldn't do for you, and we know you feel the same."

Sam's heart swelled as he looked around and saw agreement on the faces of the rest of the Halliwell family. It had been a long time since he had felt truly accepted anywhere. Even more than that, it had been a long time since he and his brother had anything to fight for besides each other. It felt good to be believe in others again, and to be believed in return.

Taking a deep breath Sam smiled and said, "Alright Halliwells, let's get to work."

The attic of Halliwell manor had always been the place that the Halliwell sisters practiced their magic, and that fact went back generations. Phoebe was unsettled by the cold surroundings they were attempting magic in now. The Winchesters lived in what was essentially a glorified basement. She missed the warm glow of candles, the Persian area rugs, and the old relics handed down by their Wiccan sisters that made the attic feel like the center of the magickal universe. Now, in a spare room made of concrete, walls, floor, and ceiling covered in runes and ritualistic symbols, Phoebe and her sisters attempted to brainstorm a way to make a demonic Dean Winchester attack the Prince of Hell.

Their first step was to consult the Book of Shadows, but there wasn't much mention of the devil, much less a way to vanquish him. Phoebe was sure that the reason for that was because it had never been done, at least not by a Halliwell witch. The next step was to look inward at this new power she had been given. She'd known from the beginning that it had to play a part in what was to come. She had felt that.

"What did it feel like?" Castiel asked her. He had joined the sisters in order to help facilitate the learning of her new power.

"What?"

"When you felt Dean's anger enter you, did it feel a certain way?"

Phoebe thought for a moment, "It felt completely overwhelming. It was like my normal, empathic power times a thousand, like the anger was burning through me and I had to let it out or I would burn alive."

"So that's how it felt once you had consumed his anger," Cas acknowledged. "I want to know how it felt when the line between your emotions and his initially blurred. How did it feel when the channel between the two of you opened?"

Phoebe thought for a moment. "I remember feeling immense emotion of my own, and wanting Dean to feel how I felt instead of his constant guilt and anger. There was… love behind my actions, I am completely sure of that. But I didn't expect to also feel his emotions, and it took me completely by surprise."

"Do you think you'd be able to control absorbing the emotions of others now that you're expecting it?" Piper asked. "You need to be able to manipulate Dean's emotions, not take them away completely. We can help with spell work, but the majority of the work would be yours."

"I think the only way to know is to try," Phoebe suggested.

"I agree," Paige chimed in. "None of us have emotions nearly as extreme as Dean's, but I think it would be good to start her off small."

"Who do you want to start with, Phoebs?" Piper asked. "Who seems the least emotional to you around here?"

At the exact same time, all three Halliwells turned to Castiel who held his hands up in protest. "Just because I lack outward emotions does not mean that this would be a good idea. I have been alive since the dawn of time. I have a feeling that reaching out to my emotions would be highly overwhelming."

Phoebe nodded, "Alright, get me Leila then."

Piper smiled, "Hopefully she'll be all compassion and understanding for you."

When Leila and the rest of the group had been filled in on their role in assisting Phoebe with perfecting her new power, they all gathered in the room that the Halliwells had been using to practice. In fact, it was the very same room Ruby had been cured in, as well as the one that Dean had been held captive in the last time he had gone fully demonic.

"Do you want me to walk through this with you, Phoebe?" Castiel asked.

Phoebe nodded.

"Alright," Castiel began. "Start by reaching out to Leila's emotions empathically, like you would normally. What do you feel?"

Phoebe reached out cautiously, and felt a calm assuredness fill her. She had not gotten to know Leila very well up to this point. They had been together during her recuperation period, but Phoebe had spent most of that time sleeping or trying to process the series of intense emotions she had been having. The strength she felt in Leila took her by surprise. Piper had spoken about how her sisters and she had been thrown into this situation, but no one had been through more than Leila. She stepped into this world via demon possession and essentially took everything in stride. It filled Phoebe with a sense of awe.

"What are you feeling hun?" Piper asked.

"Confidence, strength, empathy… basically this girl is a rockstar."

Leila smiled and Phoebe felt a sense of pride swell within her, coming from her psychic link to the hunter-in-training.

"Alright," Castiel continued, "Now try to shift the confident emotion to something else. Try to get her to feel what you are feeling."

Phoebe thought back to earlier when she had come down the stairs of her home to find the horrifying scene of her nephew and Dean no longer living. She felt pain, regret, and sadness, all feelings that she had never wanted to feel again. She walked up to Leila, feeling bad that she was about to make her feel the devastation she was carrying.

"Focus on the psychic link between the two of you," Castiel advised. "Keep that channel open, let the emotions flow freely between the two of you."

Phoebe focused harder than she had in a long time and opened her emotions to Leila. She felt Leila's strength fill her the way it had before, but this time it felt different. She could feel her emotions link with Leila's, allowing the strength and the sorrow to be felt mutually between the two of them. Before she knew it there were tears streaming down Leila's face.

"Oh Phoebe," she said, between the sobs that had begun to wrack her body. Phoebe felt tears fall down her cheeks as well, but cared more about the fact that Leila was in pain. She walked to the girl and hugged her tightly, whispering apologies into her hair.

Castiel drew Phoebe away after a few moments. "I know that this is difficult, but there is another step to this. Somehow you have to be able to cut your psychic link to the point that she is feeling your emotions but you are not feeling hers. In order for you to control Dean, you cannot absorb his anger. You will lose complete control if you take in the malice of a demon."

"How is she supposed to stay linked but not stay linked?" Paige asked. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe that's where you come in," Sam suggested. "Is there a spell that would allow you to dull the link from her side so she doesn't take in as much. You can't get rid of it completely, but maybe you can rein it in just enough."

Piper and Paige looked at each other, and then back to Phoebe and Leila, who were still crying together.

"It's possible we could write one," Paige said. "But, we would need Phoebe's help. Neither one of us understand her power as well as she does."

"Phoebe," Castiel said, touching her shoulder lightly. "You can let go."

Quickly, wanting the pain to be over for Leila, Phoebe cut her ties to the girl's emotions. Taking a step back Phoebe felt a little woozy. She grabbed Castiel's arm to steady herself.

"Are you alright?" the angel asked.

"Just a little dizzy. All my emotions are mine again, it's hard to share them and then get them all back at once." Leila nodded, sitting down on the floor to regain her balance.

"This power of yours is more than a little complicated," Leo stated. "Are we sure this is the best way to face Lucifer?"

"Leo, I'll be okay," Phoebe replied. "I want to do this, it's just going to take a couple tries. We need to work on this spell, because I'm going to need all of the help I can get."

"While you work on that, I am going to contact our friendly neighborhood King of Hell and ask a favor," Sam said, walking out of the room.

For the better part of the next few hours, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige sat in a circle on the concrete floor debating the best way to help their middle sister control her new power.

"What about a potion that nullifies your emotions?" Paige asked.

"I don't think we can completely get rid of my feelings," Phoebe replied. "I need to be able to use emotion to control Dean, I just don't want to feel his."

"And we can't nullify Dean's either, because we need him angry," Piper added.

"What about a protective circle? Put crystals around me while I'm controlling him, that way bad juju can't get in."

"I think it would be too easy to breach," Paige stated. "One wrong move and the protective circle is gone."

"Good point."

"Okay, so we write a spell," Paige said decidedly.

Piper nodded, "But it's going to be a complicated one."

Another hour passed. As the Charmed Ones finalized their complex spell, the rest of the group entered the room.

"How's it going?" Leo asked.

"Just about done," Piper replied, reaching her hand out to her husband who took it willingly. "How are the boys doing?"

"They're alright. They miss you, but they know that they're in the safest place right now with the Elders."

"Where's Ruby?" Paige asked, noticing that her charge had not entered the room with the rest of the group.

"She did not feel ready to watch this occur. To many bad memories I believe," Castiel replied.

"And Sam?"

"He is bringing Dean this way."

Phoebe felt her heart begin to pound. This was happening. Dean was coming back, but he wouldn't be Dean. Not really. And, on top of that devastating fact, she was going to have to control him. She was going to actively take away all of his autonomy, something that her Dean would have absolutely hated.

Sam brought Dean in, his feet dragging on the floor as Sam held him up from under his armpits. It all felt completely unnatural. Propping Dean up in the chair in the middle of the devil's trap that was painted on the floor, Sam sighed heavily.

"We need to tie him up," Sam said, a twinge of sadness in his voice.

Silently, Sam and Castiel tied Dean's limp limbs to the metal chair, ensuring that each piece of rope was secured. Phoebe felt desire and sympathy in her younger sister's emotions, and watched as Paige went to Sam and took his hand. Love emanated from Sam as his hand clasped hers, and Phoebe felt jealousy and longing rise in her own heart. She knew then and there that there was no choice. She had to save Dean, and to do that she would first have to control him. She would fuel that control with love, because that's the strongest emotion she felt for him. Not sadness, not anger, love. She loved him. When that had happened, she wasn't really sure, but she felt it so strongly now it was almost overwhelming.

"Are you guys ready?" Sam asked, looking to the Halliwell's.

"As ready as we can be at this point," Phoebe said. "Are we doing this now?"

"The sooner the better. Lucifer could arrive at any minute," Castiel replied.

"How do you wake him up?" Leila asked innocently.

"That's what I had to call Crowley about. He brought this," Sam said. Tentatively he pulled an item from his back pocket, wrapped in a tattered red cloth. As Sam removed the cloth Phoebe felt her heartbeat quicken. In the Winchester's hand was a weapon she had seen before, never in person, but in her mind. It was shaped like the jawbone of a large animal, sharpened for lethal means. Staring at this weapon, she knew it was the First Blade, the weapon fueled by the Mark of Cain. Dean had told her of its power and its inherent evil, but as Phoebe reached out she realized she could feel the malice emanating from the bone. It was overwhelming.

"What is that?" Piper asked.

"It is called the First Blade. A weapon fashioned for Cain by Lucifer. It feeds the Mark with rage and power, enough to cause major destruction. It is what will raise Dean from death," Cas explained.

The room was silent for a moment as everyone in the group looked around at each other. It was almost as if they were silently asking the rest of the group, are we really doing this?

Phoebe turned to Sam, her feelings beginning to overwhelm her. "Can I do it please?"

"Are you sure, Phoebs?" her younger sister asked, clearly concerned.

Phoebe nodded, "I need to do this. For him and for me."

Sam walked toward her, still protecting the weapon he held in his hands. "The minute you place this in his hand you need to move out of the circle. He won't be himself. He'll most likely try to kill you."

Phoebe nodded and held out her hand. As Sam placed the weapon in her grasp she fought the urge to vomit. The pure evil she felt fill her up was sickening, but she let it wash over her. She reminded herself, once again, that she was doing this for someone she loved, and that propelled her forward. Focusing on that feeling, she let that love fill her up, dulling the feelings that the First Blade brought her.

Walking toward Dean she kept that love in her heart, letting it ground her through the trauma of this entire situation. Using her free hand she brushed a few stray hairs from his forehead, letting her hand trail down the side of his face. She relished in the feeling of his stubbly skin beneath her fingers and longed to feel his body react to her touch. She let these feelings, the longing, the love, the need, wash over her. Planting a long, slow kiss on Dean's forehead, she opened his cold, stiff hand. Praying to the universe that she had the strength to get through this, she placed the First Blade into Dean's hand and turned from him, leaving the circle.

A minute passed and the room was completely still. Phoebe waited, her back turned, for some sign that he had awoken. When nothing happened, she turned around. At that exact moment Dean's eyes flew open, his irises black as night. He looked around for a moment until his cold, demonic eyes landed on Phoebe. A wicked grin spread across his face as he addressed the middle Halliwell.

"How's it going sweetheart?"