Saved by the snowfall
If it wasn't for the avalanche the Shadeem brought on themselves, they'd all have been devoured. Now they were hiding in a shallow pit, with a fire built into the wall to warm some bandages. Cas was treating the wounds in Sam's torso with holy oil, something only angels knew how to do. Dean was pacing, waiting for the opportunity to ask.
"I'll go ahead to scout...You...You won't be able to move for a while." Cas' smile was sympathy hiding a million other words. He held Sam's hands to his cheeks for a moment, eyes weeping without tears. Those who can understand will not need an explanation, but for the others, there are no languages with enough vocabulary.
The hill grew quiet in Cas' wake. Naught but the whisper of fire reminded this unworldly place of sound's capacity in it.
Dean stood watching snow fall on Purgatory for a long moment. Sam sat watching him, shivering as he pulled back on his ruined shirt. This basin was growing colder by the moment.
Finally, Sam could wait no more. His legs were fine. He hauled himself up with a weary breath. Dean kept watching the sky, just as an eagle dove out of the fire flashes that rose out of Hell away to the West.
"I'm sure you have questions." Sam came to stand next to Dean, watching the hollow aching place.
"I don't have the words for them." Dean's voice cracked in his throat.
"I know…"Sam bowed his head. The snow clung to his hair in little diamond and fabric clusters, as if the bride of heaven had thrown her veil over his praying brow.
Dean turned to look at him. Really look at him. At the pain that made him glass. Fragile_clear_ hardened_resolved…
"You saved me."
It wasn't a question.
Sam lifted his head. The eagle that dove out of Hell's simmering hands screamed. For all that ruin, he was free. Sam was much the same now.
Slowly, in the wake of that cry, something dawned in Sam's eyes. The tiniest smile highlighted a pair of scars at the ends of his lips. It looked like he'd been muzzled. Dean traced them with his thumb petrified and intrigued by the inevitable truth.
"You...You saved me." Dean's eyes threatened tears.
"You would have done the same." Sam nodded.
Dean thought about it. Would he? Hell had been a mystery when he'd gone there. Sam had only narrowly escaped it when he'd offered to go back to save them. Where he'd been…
Dean took Sam in his arms again. It wouldn't be the last time, he prayed with all his might. The wind cast up snow around them that hit their legs like the sands of wrath in deserts. The temperature crashed. Dean's teeth clicked. His hand slid up underneath the hem of Sam's shirt, feeling of bandages and scars. Sam clenched his teeth at the cold but suffered him. He laid his face on his shoulder as his hand wandered up his shoulders, feeling the story as if Sam's torment was Braille.
"Sam!"
"It won't make sense. Shh, it's never gonna...Just...Just don't do that to yourself. You were there the day I made that deal. You know what happened. And now...Now escaping Raphael is what we have to do. God help me if something happens to you_ because you know I...I did my best to keep that from_" Sam's voice cracked and he closed his eyes.
Dean just stared at this the last wonder in the world. About that time, Cas came back, face yesterday's newspaper gray. The brothers knew what this meant. It was time to move.
