Disclaimer: I own this disclaimer.
WARNING: SOME SERIOUSLY HORRIBLE ANGST IN THIS CHAPTER, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LIKE IT, DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU.
Chapter 11 – The Mothman
The day had come and gone, the bright sunlight giving way to the darker red light the afternoon provided. And still they walked behind the spirit of the girl, who's light became dimmer as the day grew darker.
"You do realize she could just be misleading us, right?" said Sam agitatedly in his brother's ear. "What if she's taking us further away to fall right into the demon's trap?"
Dean had already considered that and so he didn't reply. Even if it proved to be a trap, he wasn't too worried; whatever happened he would protect Sam at all costs, and a safe Sam meant a calm Dean. Especially now that there was no one else left for him to protect.
"I doubt it," he said finally, "look around you."
Dean had noticed their surroundings had suddenly changed. Although by now they were probably at the heart of the forest, there were less trees and their leaves were as few as they would be in winter. The tree trunks were much darker in this area and a dirty, unhealthy fog engulfed the zone. Dean had the feeling that unless guided to this place by the supernatural, no mortal would be able to find it, as if it belonged to another dimension.
Sam fell silent as he realized this and he tried to listen intently to any sign of life. He thought the place would be as lifeless as a desert if a demon was residing here and so he was surprised to find crows watching them from branches. Sam also heard the cry of a wolf in the distance and he could hear crickets and other nocturne insects singing loudly all around him.
"It could just be that there was a fire here… there are animals still living around, Dean."
"Nah, it looks exactly like the place where the other one lived. It needs living things to make them attack unwelcome visitors, remember? I think we're entering its lair."
The ghost stopped all of a sudden, causing Dean to almost walk right into – or through – her. She faced them and smiled sadly before vanishing completely.
"Great," said Dean after a moment of expectant silence, "now what?"
Sam shrugged and shook his head giving him an almost apologetic smile.
"I guess we could just keep walking around here until it decides to come out," tried Sam, out of ideas.
"Yeah… but we stick together, got it? Damn fog…"
They walked in silence for a few minutes, their eyes and ears expecting to catch even the slightest sign of an otherworldly creature, although eyes wouldn't do them much good in the fog. Both were relying on their hearing so much that they were surprised when it was their nose that alerted them. The smell of death and rotten flesh invaded their nostrils right before all remaining daylight disappeared. Suddenly the fog was gone, allowing them to see their surroundings properly. Dean's eyes frantically looked for the creature; with the corner of the eye he managed to see a large black wing slip behind a tree and vanish almost instantly.
"Sam," he whispered almost inaudibly, "I just saw it, it's hiding behind that tree." Dean made the tiniest motion with his head pointing at a large oak tree a few meters in front of him. "I want you to hide now as out of its way and as far away from it as possible and slowly, making no sound make your way until you're standing behind it and then you know what to do." He knew that was exactly what his father would have done, but unlike that time, Dean wouldn't let the creature surprise his little brother.
He felt Sam move behind him and disappear amongst the darkest and largest trees that still remained in this cursed area of the forest. Dean on the other hand moved closer to where he knew the creature was, in plain view.
"I'm here you freak, what the hell you waiting for?" he said at the top of his voice, praying for the thing to notice him and not Sam, "you've taken everything from me, why can't you just get it over with?" he continued his broken voice full of hatred and sorrow. But what he had said wasn't true and deep inside he knew it. The Mothman hadn't taken Sammy away and there was no way he would let it.
Nothing happened for a while, but he didn't dare move. He watched where he thought Sam should be by now and managed to see his brother's silhouette expertly moving as quiet as their surroundings, almost blending with them, moving like them. And then he heard it. What sounded like a minuscule twig broke a few steps behind Sam. Dean looked at the oak tree and back at where Sam was supposed to be and he gasped as he realized his mistake before running like a bat out of hell for his brother.
Sam heard Dean's words as clearly as the creature should have. The shout shocked him and he felt his heart heavy. They had always used this technique to distract anything or anyone away from what really mattered. They had used it on the Wendigo, the shapeshifter, the Shtriga, hell they had even used it on the demon and it rarely failed. Sometimes it was a simple 'hey!' to get its attention while sometimes it was whole sentences. It was the words Dean had picked this time that struck Sam. He tried not to take it personally, after all, they needed the distraction and Dean was overcome with grief; he hadn't meant those words, he just needed them out of his chest. Sam hoped that was all.
He sighed and focused on the red oak tree that was coming closer and closer. The creature, however, was nowhere to be seen and Sam thought of getting out of his hideout to tell his brother it had vanished, but as he decided to get a little closer to be sure of its absence, he failed to notice a tiny crack behind him.
Dean walked as quickly as he could without making the dry leaves under his feet announce his presence. He spotted Sam still walking towards his goal, but apart from him there seemed to be nothing around. And then he heard it again, further from Sam this time, but he decided to follow it, all the while keeping an eye on Sam, who still moved towards the tree. By now Dean was quite sure the creature had never been hiding there; it purposely made Dean see what he would think was the creature in order to attack them from where they least expected. But it had made a mistake and now it would pay for it. If he managed to find the damned thing, that is.
Suddenly he felt like a thousand needles were stabbing his right ankle. He looked down to see that a vine covered in long and thick thorns had wrapped tightly around his ankle right before it was pulled under his weight making him lose his balance and fall hard on the ground. Dean felt himself being pulled violently deeper into the forest, but before long the vine became motionless, although it still kept a strong grip of his ankle and no matter how hard he fought, what had once been a simple plant wouldn't let go of his leg.
The vine rose unexpectedly, fast and strong, and using Dean like the head of a whip, it slammed him against the nearest tree, dislocating his right knee and breaking his ankle before his body had even touched the tree. When it did, Dean found himself thinking he was lucky his head hadn't even come close to the impossibly hard surface. His torso, however, hit the tree straight on and Dean felt his ribs on fire as his head jerked backwards, his neck snapping.
Apparently conformed with its work, the vine let him fall on the floor as it unwrapped itself off Dean's bloody ankle and disappeared as quickly as it had come.
Dean could do nothing but lay there, barely able to breathe and only too aware of the pain that cursed through his body. He hoped unconsciousness would come soon, but his mind felt strangely clear, his head being the only intact part of his body. He knew he would stay awake for a while, and he might as well use the time. After all, he had to kill the Mothman and get Sam out of this place.
Dean pushed himself up with his arms and his left leg, careful not to move his neck but he fell back on his broken and cracked ribs almost immediately and he let out a frustrated cry of pain.
The world went cold and Dean felt something near him. He looked up, careful not to move his neck and managed to see the damned devil standing in front of him. He had never seen the Mothman this close and although Dean would never admit it, the sight of it was terrifying and he wished his heart would calm down. Its skin was a dark scaly gray that contrasted its hypnotic red eyes, which now smiled down at Dean, emotionless.
However, he felt a glimmer of hope when he saw Sam behind it, his machete raised above his shoulder, like a baseball bat, his eyes determinedly set on the creature's unsuspecting neck.
With a motion of its large and putrid hand, he made Dean stand up to face him. He felt his body rise against his will and all his broken bones scream in protest. Dean suppressed a cry, not wanting to distract Sam, who moved another silent step forward towards the creature.
The Mothman gave Dean time to support his own weight before lowering its hand, ceasing the control it had over the hunter, probably to torture him in ways only demons knew.
Dean saw something behind Sam. Something moving incredibly fast toward his brother, who was concentrating too hard to notice anything other than the monster in front of him. As it came closer, Dean realized it was a thick, sharp branch the Mothman was no doubt controlling. It knew Sam was behind it. If he didn't get Sam out of the way, it would stab him right through his abdomen.
Without thinking, Dean took out his gun, which he knew was useless against this demon, but shot at it anyway. Using the small distraction, he ran towards Sam before the demon knew what was happening. He didn't feel his wounds, as all his mind could think of was saving his Sammy from what would definitely kill his brother unless he interfered.
He pushed Sam as hard as he could, but before he could follow, he felt the same vine that had taken him down before wrap around his neck and arms holding him straight up and not a second later, he saw more than felt the deadly branch pierce the middle of his chest and come out of his back as easily as if his body had been as thin and fragile as a sheet of paper.
Dean gasped at the impact although he felt no pain. He expected to fall on the ground right after, but the long, thick branch remained in place and held him up, even though the vines had once again released him, leaving limp and bloody wrists and a bleeding neck.
When Sam realized what his brother had just saved him from, he wasted no time and without looking back, he stood up and decapitated the Mothman before it had time to react. He watched its head roll on the ground as its body disintegrated into dust and then its head followed, leaving no trace of the monster that had caused Dean so much pain. He allowed himself to smile.
"Dean, it's done! We finally did it," he exclaimed happily, his smile widening. He got no response and so he turned around but what he saw left him speechless. The smile faded completely and his body wouldn't respond as he watched Dean pinned upright, his chest pierced by a bloodied branch. Sam remained motionless until his brother slowly moved his head up to see him. He was still conscious.
Dean smiled at him weakly.
"Well done, Sammy," he said, his voice almost as strong as it would be, were he completely healthy. "Hey, it's okay," he added, "it doesn't hurt, that's a good thing, right?"
His breathing was becoming weaker and Sam knew the only reason Dean couldn't feel pain was because he was far too hurt and in self-defense, his body had gone numb.
"Dean… no, no, no," he muttered walking up to him, panic evident in his eyes and voice. "Okay… okay," he said calming himself down. "I'm gonna cut the branch at both sides and then I'll take you to a hospital, okay? Whatever you do, just don't try to pull the branch out, okay? You're gonna be fine," he said and forced a smile for his brother. "So… what do you wanna do after this is all over? We'll do anything you want, okay?" he asked, trying to keep Dean talking for as long as possible.
"How about you go back to New York and marry that girl of yours, huh?"
"Dean, this is about you, not me, alright?" he said as with his machete, he cut the side that came out of his brother's back, the side of the branch covered in his brother's blood. He fought back tears as he moved on to the side where it had penetrated. He was now standing close to Dean's face and he could feel those hazel green eyes watching him and he looked back to face the smiling eyes.
"I'll be in that wedding, obviously, what did you expect?" Sam let out a chuckle that sounded more like a sob to him and went back to cutting the branch. "Hey, Sam…"
Sam looked up again, slowly this time, avoiding Dean's eyes, scared to see in there what Sam knew he was about to hear. Dean was saying good-bye.
"Sam… look at me, Sammy…" his brother obeyed. "What I said before… what I shouted, that thing about the demon having taken everything from me… it's not true and you know it, right?" Sam nodded, a couple of tears sliding down his cheeks, "because you're the most important person in my life and you always have been since the day you were born, and you know that too… right?" he asked again, and once again all Sam could do was nod. "If I hadn't done what I did it would have taken you too… and after all that's happened… Nacha, An-Andrew," he said gulping at the memory of his family, "I couldn't go on if anything happened to you too… but you should know that… I… I didn't mean to get myself killed-,"
"You're not dead, Dean and you're not dying," interrupted Sam, unable to take his teary eyes off his brother's gentle and resigned stare.
"-I actually intended to save myself after I knew you were out of the way but… the vines… I didn't know… I didn't see them- just… please don't hate me for what I did- it was selfish, I know, but please try to understand… just don't-"
But his words were cut short and he gasped loudly as when they least expected it, the branch pulled back at tremendous speed, leaving Dean on his feet for a few seconds before he collapsed on his brother's arms, his blood spilling everywhere faster than Sam thought possible.
"DEAN!" shouted Sam, trying to put pressure on the wound in order to stop the bleeding. He knew it was useless, but he just couldn't accept the fact that his brother was dying in his arms. "Dean, no… please, stay with me," he begged tears falling freely down his cheeks now. His once invincible brother did his best to fix his eyes on Sam one last time and he smiled reassuringly, before his hazel green eyes unfocused completely. "Dean! Dean, c'mon," he said again, no longer pressing the wound, but hugging his brother as he kept muttering encouraging words in his ear as if that would bring him back.
Sam stayed that way, holding Dean close to him, one hand around his shoulders and the other gently stroking his short blonde hair, sustaining the weight of his head with loving care. He squeezed him one last time before softly moving Dean's head away from him in order to close his eyes. Once he did, he noticed how peaceful Dean looked. He had a small smile on his face and his closed eyes seemed at peace with the world, as if he had fallen asleep after a successful day's work.
Sam wiped his tears and smiled sadly, knowing that was exactly what had happened to Dean, only he would wake up in a better place and he would have his family back. He took his all-time hero carefully in his arms and somehow found his way out of the forest as the sun began to light up another bright morning in Point Pleasant.
END
A/N: Okay before you kill me, let me say the usual: thanks SO much for your awesome reviews! It's hard to believe I've actually reached more than 100 with this story, you guys are great. Sorry for having taken so long to post this, but school was sort of crazy last week and then Friday night was wilder than I thought it would be, which obviously means my head wasn't up for writing on Saturday if you know what I mean LOL! Now, about this horrible, horrible ending: remember it's just my fic- not real, hasn't happened and will probably never happen cuz if it did, they'd have to end the sow lol… and second, I thought letting him die was the fairest thing to do for the poor guy…
THERE IS STILL AN EPILOGUE COMING so this story isn't complete yet…
Random Note: Grey's Anatomy is too addictive for its own good. Especially because it's not even that great! Now I'm totally hooked just because it's so damn addictive…