Chapter 20
The youngest Winchester's eyes fluttered very slowly and he hissed at the pain shooting through his skull. His gaze searched the empty hospital room and rested on the windows against the left wall. Small shafts of sunlight sneaked into the room where they flickered against the waxed surface of the floor and gently caressed the crisp, white sheets sheltering his body from the world.
Sam drew in shaky breaths as the pain in his head marched on. Flashing images fleeted feebly through his mind's eye and although he didn't understand them in full, he watched them. The face of a man, half shadowed, half lighted hovered before him. Pale eyes watched and Sam knew that he was seeing the face of the demon. He saw the graveyard in South Serenity and the horrifying images of what had happened the night Sam was rescued paraded through the dark shadows of his mind.
He stood aside and watched as Kacey was wired to the spot where Sam and Dean had found him. He heard the man scream as the sharp metal chewed into his skin and saw him slip into the realm of unconsciousness as the blood from the open cuts dripped to the hungry ground.
A flash of white and he was watching himself being tied in the crypt basement. He saw his body sag in the wires, consumed by the demon induced sleep. He watched the demon move silently about the small room carrying out what looked to be preparations of sorts, but Sam didn't know what for. The demon stopped in front of him and watched him in the stormy silence filling the area, and then it left.
The young brother watched Dean as he lay dying on the cold ground. He heard the call made to the absent father and tears stung his eyes. There was so much pain in Dean's voice, so much hurt and frustration as he spoke the words, Sam knelt next to him, but Dean kept talking, not aware of the younger one's presence. A shift in scenery and he saw John Winchester trying desperately to get in touch with Dean, but the man didn't answer. The phone call replayed again and Sam knew that was what had made his father come running to his two sons. The look on Dean's face in the darkness tore at Sam and he wished he'd been there to help, but he hadn't and he knew that it wasn't his fault.
The battle between the Winchester father and the demon clouded his vision. He saw the result as his father had almost banished the thing. Still, the creature had escaped, leaving the Winchester's alone with each other. A ripple in the vision showed Sam the pale form of Dean leaning out of the black truck belonging to John. He felt his hand touching Dean's back in a reassuring gesture of comfort.
The hospital shimmered in front of him. He saw the sleeping form of his brother looking so weak and delicate on the bed. John sat next to him, Sam stood nearby, eyes locked on his big brother. There was a flash in the window against the wall of Dean's room. He went to it and looked out. He saw the dead psychic watching him from the street. The boy's face shifted and the demon stood in his place. The pale eyes stared back. Those eyes that held no emotion and no glimmer of humanity reflected only death and destruction.
Blackness bombarded him and the faint eyes of the creature emerged from the swirling depths of darkness. Black again, then the sound of shallow breathing rasped sickly in Sam's ears. It surrounded him, smothered him. He couldn't breathe; he struggled to draw in air. Then silence. From within the back corners of the silence, a man's scream clawed its way out, loud and piercing. A fresh wave of shattering pain that staggered him, even in his vision, followed. More screaming and then a thick silence that stretched on for an eternity in all directions and taunted him like the eyes of the demon. A sudden crack rang in his ears, he blinked and new images rushed at him, things he hadn't yet seen.
He saw the cemetery and the funeral service for the young psychic who'd been contacting him. The demon stood silently amidst the crowd of mourners, some who were crying, others who looked angry, and some who showed no emotion at all. The demon looked up at him and Sam cringed, watching with gasping breath as the creature walked slowly through the funeral party. The thing was coming toward him. Carefully, anxiously, the young Winchester backed away from the approaching terror. He couldn't get away, a flash and the demon stood in front of him. It reached for him. Sam looked down, closing his eyes tightly, but the creature unceremoniously yanked Sam's head up by forcing a hand under his chin. The demon's cold skin broke Sam out in goose bumps and he shivered. The demon forced the brother to look at him and Sam tried to fight. He couldn't, the demon held his chin and kept him from looking away. It watched him silently and Sam's head erupted in a level of pain more severe than before.
Sam screamed and came reeling back to reality where he found himself in the grasp of a middle-aged male doctor with pale eyes pricked with distant green. He continued to yell, fighting furiously against the doctor. He yelled out to his brother. Dean had always protected him before. Dean had saved his ass from the fire more than a few times and so he called to the one person that he trusted with his life. His older brother did not come.
"Sammy!" The yelling voice was close and urgent.
The doctor's face shifted to that of his father, holding the younger man's cheeks in his rough hands. The eyes of the demon watched him from the familiar face. Sam continued to fight, thrashing against the man that held him. He yelled out suddenly in the pain that was splitting through his skull like a pickaxe.
The green-pointed eyes faded to the dark tone belonging to John Winchester as the final tendrils of the vision ghosted away into the past like a bad memory. John's face was worried and anxious as he tried to calm his boy. Sam still yelled as though he was trapped in the fading clutches of a waking nightmare. Tears trailed down the young man's face as he fought against the consuming pain.
Sam tried desperately to calm himself, knowing that the man in front of him was truly his father, and not the demon. With John's encouragement, Sam's screaming faded away and the young man leaned forward into his father's touch as the headache accompanying the vision stole his strength. John only waited, holding his young son to keep him from falling.
A doctor and two nurses tried to move in to help the young man they had been watching writhe and yell out in pain as his father tried to comfort him. John shook his head in the negative as his efforts finally reached Sam's pain hazed mind. The son's eyes lifted to face his father and John ran a hand over Sam's perspiration soaked hair.
The medical doctor bent low over the bed that supported Sam's weight and checked his patient thoroughly. From what he could tell, there was nothing wrong with this young man, aside from the healing cuts and the stress caused by having his brother just a few doors down from him. Other than those items, the young man was perfectly healthy, all scans and tests had revealed that much. Still, something was getting to him.
After a few more moments of uneasy silence from the Winchesters, and further examination by the doctor, the room emptied, leaving only Sam and his father watching each other with cautious uncertainty. John's eyes were stonily concerned as he passed them over his son critically. Sam shifted uncomfortably and winced at the headache still pounding in his skull. John's face softened just a bit when he saw the wince, but it soon returned to business.
"Sammy, what's going on?" John questioned. Although his voice was genuinely concerned, there was a slight quiver of criticism within it.
"It's the demon." Sam said, as though that explained everything. He then shoved the covers to the side and stepped down onto the morning-chilled floor.
The youngest brother cast his eyes over the hospital gown that he wore and with a confused expression looked to his father.
"Dad, where are my clothes?" Sam questioned numbly.
"The closet." John replied, with a blank expression. He watched his son as the man made his way to the closet, holding the gown together in the back to save himself embarrassment.
The youngest Winchester gathered his clothing impatiently and crossed the floor into the bathroom where he showered quickly and changed. About twenty minutes later, Sam emerged from the bathroom to find that his father was gone. He ran his fingers through his wet hair and left his room to make his way to Dean's where he knew that John would be.
Sure enough, as Sam turned the corner into Dean's room, he saw his father sitting in a chair next to Dean. The older brother was sitting up with his legs dangling over the side of the bed. He and his father were submerged in a deep conversation as Sam stepped beyond the threshold of the door and wandered toward the two men. Dean looked up with a smile and Sam saw that the man's face had more colour seeping into the pale cheeks and a slight sparkle had returned to his eyes. However, there was also something aside from the gentle sparkle, there was a glimmer of concern as he passed his eyes over his little brother.
"Are you okay, Sam?" Dean asked.
"I'm fine, Dean, really. Are you?" Sam asked, turning the tables on the older brother.
Dean nodded. "I'm getting there. Doing pretty good."
Sam's face remained blank as he looked around the small room. John Winchester turned to face his youngest son and the expression beneath the eyes was stern.
"Why didn't you tell me about the demon's effect on you? Sammy, I shouldn't have to depend on Dean for the answers." John's voice was gruff, but still worried.
Sam shrugged, not knowing how to respond. A fleeting image of the funeral darted through his mind's eye and he gasped at the sharp jolt of pain. John rose from his seat and led the younger man to the bed. Dean moved over to allow the younger to sit. Sam massaged his forehead, but said nothing to his father about the visions.
"Sam?" Dean asked. The brother's voice was soft and it chimed gently in the younger's ears.
The man in question looked at his watch and read the time as shortly past noon. His stomach grumbled a bit and he got to his feet and turned to face the two men. The painful pressure in his head began to build as the flashes slowly crept into his sights.
"I'm going to the cafeteria for something to eat." Sam replied simply. He crossed the floor and exited the room quickly.
He leaned against the wall outside of the room and hissed at the building pain in his head. He watched the onslaught of images that dashed through his mind and saw the South Serenity cemetery once more. The large funeral party stood around the ash filled stone of Jonathan and a priest read from a bible. Next to a nearby tree, Jonathan Dayton stood, watching through gently dancing eyes. He didn't seem to notice Sam and instead went to stand next to his sobbing mother and red-eyed sister. He passed his gaze between them both and then his eyes shifted to where his father stood, holding his mother in a protective grasp. He smiled slightly and watched the priest continue the service.
Sam found himself slowly crossing the cemetery grounds toward the funeral party, with a mounting sensation of rippling skin on his back and arms. His neck prickled as he drew closer and Jonathan looked up to where Sam stopped in his tracks. The dead psychic moved through the crowd toward Sam, slowly. He walked over the ground without making a sound and came to a stop in front of the youngest Winchester.
"It's not over yet, Sam." The Dayton boy replied with his voice soft and whispering.
"I know, but it will be soon." Sam responded.
"Don't be so certain. Many have tried to defeat the demon and all have failed. What makes you any different?"
"I'm not going to defeat it. It can't be defeated, but it can be banished and sent away from this reality."
"By whom? You don't know the words to say."
"No, but my father does." Sam replied sternly.
"Yes, he does. However, the demon knows your plan and it wants you, Sam. It needs you. Do you really think it'll let itself be banished?" Dayton replied.
"It'll be banished, don't worry." Sam replied.
"I'm not worried." The dead boy replied and with a sly, suspicious smile, he vanished.
Sam watched the spot where the boy had just been standing, expecting it to come alive once again, but it never did. He lifted his head to greet the funeral party and saw the demon watching him silently. The creature moved amongst the funeral party and people dropped to the ground behind it. Sam ran to the scene and kneeled to press his fingers against the neck of the nearest person. No beat thumped beneath his touch. He looked up and the demon locked its eyes on the young man.
"You're running out of time." Came a slick whisper in his ears, he looked around and saw that the demon had disappeared, leaving behind only the bodies of those he had killed and Sam, who's mind screamed at him to hurry.
He jerked back to awareness and found that he was still leaning against the wall outside of Dean's room. An unfamiliar nurse eyed him critically, but he smiled to dismiss her glance. She returned the expression and gathered an armful of papers. She then went down the hall towards the emergency room.
With a glance back at Dean's room, he made his way to the cafeteria, where he'd said that he was going and sat at one of the tables to chew on an apple. The flashes of the funeral kept replaying behind his throbbing temples and he lost himself in thought. What pulled him out was the sensation that another was present. He turned to face his father, who settled himself in a seat next to Sam. The younger brother finished his apple and set the core aside. He turned to face his father and spoke.
"We have to go after that thing, dad and we have to go today, before two." Sam replied.
"Why before two?" John wondered.
"Cause that's the time of the Dayton boy's funeral. I take it Dean told you all about what's been going on since we got here in Serenity?" Sam questioned curiously.
"He's told me that the Dayton kid claimed to be a psychic and he's been in touch with you from the grave. He also told me that for some reason the thing is after you. Why is that, Sam?" John asked.
"I don't know, but I know it has to be destroyed, today."
"I agree, if you're finished here, we'll head out to the cemetery. Dean said that the service starts at two?" John wondered.
Sam nodded and pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the pain that still drummed in his head.
"Meet me at the truck, I'll tell your brother where we're going." John replied and Sam complied, making his way out the main doors and to the waiting truck in the visitor's parking lot.
"You're what?" Dean asked in surprise when his father had told him the news.
"We're going to a funeral to banish a demon." John responded again.
"And you're just gonna leave me here? I don't get a piece of the action?" Dean asked, his voice disappointed.
"Not this time, Dean. You're still healing." John replied.
"Hey, I'm healed! Can I go now?" Dean requested.
"No, Dean, you stay here. Sammy and I can take care of this on our own."
Dean sighed in frustration, he couldn't believe that his father and brother were just going to leave him in the hospital while they were out getting rid of some demon that'd been tormenting his brother. He shifted stormily in the bed and his father's stern eyes locked with his.
"We can handle it." John said again, seeing that Dean was ready to protest.
"All right, fine, but if you get Sammy killed, I swear to God he'll haunt your ass and I'll back him up all the way." Dean replied.
John smiled slightly.
"I think it's Sam's choice who he haunts. Don't worry, he'll be fine, we'll be back before sundown." John said.
"If you're not, then I'll check out of here and come after you myself!" Dean replied hotly.
"You stay put, we'll be back." John ordered.
Dean's face shifted into a silent expression of annoyance and subdued frustration. He reached for the television remote and slammed his finger down on the power button.
"Dean, stop pouting. You're old enough to act your age." John said with a slight smile.
The man's son cast a sarcastic glance in his father's direction and turned back to the television.
Quickly, John backed out of the room and shut the door quietly behind him.
A/N: Okay, with the next chapter comes the final showdown! Stick around and it should be up soon! Until then, leave me with your thoughts on the situation and tell me if there are any things that you want addressed before the story's end, because the end is just around the corner! Also, tell me if there are still some loose ends to tie up and I'll try to get to that in the following chapter, one or two more should do it!
