ULTIMATE DISCLAIMER IN PROFILE AND CHAPTER 1!

ULTIMATE WARNING IN PROFILE AND CHAPTER 1!

AU, OOC. Sadie got a little enthusiastic here, so this is not gonna be a cute little chapter.

Hey, guys! Glad to be back with a new chapter. Hope you're gonna like it! I put a tiny little twist in the beginning. And Sadie put a bigger one in the second half. Don't say I didn't warn you! :)

So, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 9: You Understand It Now?

In the middle of the night the moonlight rained down on the land, giving the mansion and the greenery a silver glow. The rays fell onto a huddled figure sitting on the front stairs, feet planted firmly on the ground in slippers.

Sam escaped from the mansion and into the cool of the evening. He was still a bit perturbed from the moment between him and his Master. He shouldn't have stayed in the Ballroom, when the Master appeared. Now everything is so confusing, his emotions were going haywire every time his thoughts strayed back to Dean. And his jade-green eyes…

Sam shook his head to dismiss his thoughts and fished a small pack from his pocket. Opening it he slid one cigarette out of it and lit it. He took a long drag from the cigarette, letting the bitter taste of the smoke awaken him, hold his mind at bay, before blowing it out.

"What are you doing?" came a soft hushed voice from behind him. Turning around Sam met with Alex, who was standing on the stairs a few steps above him. Sam gave a sheepish smile then turned forward, taking another drag from the cigarette. A few moments later Alex joined him on the step.

"You shouldn't do that" the young man said with a little worry that made Sam chuckle.

"It's not that big of a deal" he muttered. "I'm not a smoker." When he turned to Alex, the young man had a disbelieving look on his face. "Really" Sam continued honestly. "This is my first smoke in this year." Alex looked at him with narrowed eyes, but finally he nodded, like he found the answer to his question. The two of them sat there silently, just enjoying the peace of the evening.

"Can I ask you something?" Sam spoke up, when the cigarette reduced into half.

"Sure."

"Why are you here?" Alex looked surprised at the question.

"Because I was worried about you, since you weren't in bed…" the young man's reply was cut off by the laugh breaking out of Sam.

"That's not what I meant" the boy remarked apologetically. "Why are you here at the mansion? Why are the others here?"

"Oh" Alex blushed slightly in embarrassment. "Well, I'm here because of the same thing as you: I'm a hermaphrodite. When my family and I moved here, the authorities came to us to take me away. They told us about the law about the slavery. It states that every person, who has a difference that forbids them to be of use to the improvement of the society, should be sentenced to slavery, something like that. My difference got me into this. I was told that if I would get pregnant, the baby would take my time away from my task of helping the country, which is kind of ridiculous, in my opinion. I was nineteen years old that time."

"I'm sorry" Sam commented softly, inwardly agreeing with the young man, but Alex just waved him off.

"I had a good life until I was bought by the Master. When he first tasted my cooking, he started treating me even better. He loves food and I have talent for cooking, so we are a good pair."

"And the others?" Sam asked curiously, taking another drag from the cigarette.

"Ramon is a special case" Alex explained. "A few years ago he and his sister were attacked by a racist, and Ramon tried to defend himself. The knife rammed into the guy's chest, instantly killing him. Ramon was trialed and the jury clearly saw it was self-defense. However, even though he was innocent, he still killed a person. So he was sentenced to slavery for the rest of his life. The Master took him under his wings and he was living here ever since.

"And Mark…" Sam raised an eyebrow at the deflated tone of the young man. He was getting more suspicious about the two of them. Was there maybe some affection between them? "Mark got into slavery because of his hindrance."

"Hindrance?" Sam repeated confused. "I didn't see anything like that."

"Not that kind" Alex shook his head sadly. "He's… sort of… fragile. Or more like his mind." Sam was surprised. Mark was mentally unstable? "He has these little episodes, when he's too stressed out… Buried in his own world, not responding to reality, some fits of anger… He broke down almost immediately, when he arrived. Only the Master could help him through it. But later he showed response to me, as well. This is more the reason you came to us: he had an episode just the day before you arrived. He was overloaded with the gardening and cleaning. Master realized that Mark can't have too much on his shoulders, so he took off the bigger weight and gave it to someone else, someone more capable of handling it: you."

"My God" Sam whispered. "I never would've guessed…"

"No one could" Alex murmured dejectedly. "Just like with you and smoking" the young man joked, trying to gather himself together from the painful topic. Sam huffed out a laugh at that and took another long drag from the cigarette.

"I still don't understand" Sam spoke with a sigh, the smoke billowing out of his nose. "Why are you here? Didn't you try to leave or escape?"

"Why should we?" Alex asked with genuine confusion. "We're happy like this. There are Masters or Mistresses out there that could treat us like pieces of garbage. But Mr. Winchester is really kind and compassionate; he always takes care of us as best as he could. He gives us everything we need…"

"What about freedom?" Sam interrupted a bit heatedly. "What about your own life? Your family? Don't you want to get back to them?"

"Oh, Sam" Alex breathed in understanding. "Is this about your father?" Sam turned away from the young man to hide his gathering tears and he took a longer drag from the cigarette, his hand shaking visibly from the suppressed emotions. A small arm wrapped around his back in comfort, and Sam sniffed against the sob trying to break out of him. "We've been thinking about that at first" Alex continued in a soft, caring tone. "But the Master helped so much that we feel like we're already in a family. I know it's hard to be far away from your loved ones, but here you have all of us, who care for you, even the Master. And now we don't want to disappoint the Master with something like an escape attempt. Even with the smallest flaws I feel horrible, because the Master doesn't deserve that kind of payment for his generosity. You don't know that feeling yet. Consider yourself lucky."

Silence filled the air between them as Sam finished with his cigarette, while Alex kept his arm around the boy to keep him together. A few minutes later they returned to the servants' quarter, not noticing the curtain that fell back into its place in the window upstairs.

The next morning Sam was rudely woken up by a hand roughly and hurriedly shaking his shoulder. With a groan he shot up straight and tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes. He met with Ramon's concerned expression in front of him.

"Wha's goin' on?" Sam mumbled, still trying to focus, his mind jumbled from the abrupt awakening.

"The Master wants to see you" Ramon rushed out and grabbed Sam's wrist, dragging him out of bed. The boy instantly woke up at that, stumbling in the hurry he was pulled out of the room.

"Shouldn't I at least change or something?" he asked, when they rushed straight to the stairs that led to the Master's room.

"We don't have time" Ramon replied, his tone worried. "He's impatient… and pissed."

Sam was shocked to hear that and frightened. He never witnessed the Master's wrath before, but seeing the franticness of the other servant's movements, it was something he should be afraid of. And maybe afraid for his life. Sam shook his head to clear his mind, just as they reached the bedroom door. Ramon took a deep breath, Sam unconsciously mimicking him, before turning the doorknob and stepping in with the boy behind him.

"What the hell took you so long?" came the snapping words from the Master as a greeting.

"He was sleeping, sir" Ramon answered, lowering his gaze to the floor. Sam did the same instantly; if Ramon acted this submissive towards the Master, the man must be really dangerous like this. But what on Earth could have pissed the genuinely kind man off this much?

SLAP!

Sam's thoughts were cut short as his head snapped to the side from the unexpected hit. It wasn't strong enough to hurt too much, just leaving a mild stinging behind as a warning.

"I said seven in the morning!" Dean scolded the boy in a harsh, angry voice. "It's almost eight! You should be doing your chores already!"

Sam didn't dare to speak up, in fear of worsening the rage of his Master, but he had a feeling that the real reason of the anger is still lurking in the darkness, waiting for it to be called forth and kick Sam in the ass hard, now only just laughing at him in a safe distance. He felt his shaking kicking in, welcoming the familiar feeling of fear that had been traveling with him from day one of his captivity. Only Ramon's grip on his wrist, which surprisingly still hasn't let up since Sam was pulled out of bed, kept his panic at bay, not letting him get lost in his terror.

"Maybe you could have woken up in time, if you hadn't snuck out in the middle of the night" Dean hissed, stepping closer. "I brought you into my home, took care of you, when you needed it, comforted you… I trusted you and you just go and break my rules?" Sam's eyes widened at that; the Master saw him outside? But when? How? And what was wrong? Sam didn't break any rules, as far as he knows. There's no curfew for the servants and Sam already snuck out once. It wasn't a problem that time, why was it this time?

"No smoking is allowed!" Dean snarled out, when he didn't get a response from his servant. Sam held back a frown wanting to burst out; his Master was angry because of that? But judging by the soft, self-reprimanding 'Dammit' from Ramon, it was a much, much bigger deal than it should be.

"I'm sorry, sir" Sam murmured, a pang in his heart from the rage pouring out of his Master, "but I didn't know…"

"How dare you talk back to me?" Dean shouted, fisting the front of Sam's T-shirt and yanking him closer. Sam couldn't stop a whimper to escape from him at the aggressive move. The contact with Ramon was torn away from him, leaving no banister to hold onto against the pull of his terror. Suddenly Dean pushed him away…

SMACK!

Sam collapsed onto the ground with a pained cry, landing on his side. He broke his fall with his hands, but he still slid on the floor because of the force of the hit, grazing his palms on the carpet. A little dazed from the backhanding, Sam slowly pulled his arms under him and tried to get up, but his shaking got worse and his strength dissipated as fear took over his mind. He felt something warm dribble down his cheek from the most painful spot of his abused skin; the back of the hand landed on the same side of his face as the slap from earlier. Lying on the ground motionlessly, only his shaking wracking his body, he heard Dean's furious voice again:

"You ever dare to light one more of those filthy sticks on my property, you will get more than this, you understand?"

"Yes, sir" Sam choked out, tears escaping his eyes and landing on the carpeted floor of the bedroom. He pulled his legs to his chest slightly, curling up into an as harmless ball as he managed with his slowly returning strength.

"Sir…" Ramon spoke up the first time since Dean's tirade began, but quickly trailed off, probably from a death glare from his Master, a threat in those jade-green orbs. They were most likely cyanide-green from anger.

"ALEX!" Dean's voice boomed, reaching every corner of the mansion, startling the servants in the room. Sam couldn't breathe for a moment there; the Master saw him with Alex… And if he knew about the rule and didn't stop him… Sam can't let the young man suffer from his mistake. With that he found enough strength to push himself up.

"Sir, please!" he begged quietly. "He didn't do anything wrong! He tried to stop me, I just misunderstood…"

"Then he didn't speak clearly enough" Dean retorted, leaving no room for argument. The door then opened up and Alex stepped in cautiously.

"You called, sir?" he spoke softly. Sam saw the slight tremble of the small form, feeling sorry for the poor young man and extremely guilty that he got him into this mess.

"Get over here!" Dean ordered, pointing to the ground in front of him. Alex hesitated for a moment but obeyed. Dean grabbed the young man's chin and yanked him closer, taking a whiff of Alex's breath, when the servant whimpered from the rough treatment. Seeming satisfied, Dean pushed the young man away then rounded in on him:

"Why didn't you stop him?" he pointed at Sam with a finger, the gesture burning accusation into the boy's skin. Alex tried to answer but he was silenced by the rising voice of his Master. "Why didn't you correct yourself, when he didn't understand? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL HIM THE RULE IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

"I-I…" tears were gathering in Alex's eyes as he finally uttered out a response. "I-I f-forgot…"

Sam lowered his head dejectedly, feeling more horrible than before at the fearful answer. He flinched at the harsh slap that Alex earned with his confession, the young man landing in Ramon's arms from the force. Silence descended on them, as Sam shed his tears of guilt and self-loathing. He heard Dean step closer to him and stop at his side then felt the glare drill into his skull, like a stake into a vampire's chest in those horror movies.

"Instead of wasting your time on unimportant little things like having breakfast" the man spoke quietly, the tone ripping into Sam more than the hitting and screaming, "you're going to catch up with your chores you failed to do in time. But first of all" Dean's voice grew softer and more menacing as he leaned down to Sam threateningly, "you're gonna scrub that disgusting stench out of your mouth! If I see you doing something else when I check on you, you're going to regret picking the habit of smoking 'til the day you die, you understand me?"

"Yes, sir" Sam choked in a whisper. He almost couldn't breath from the fear and pain in his heart. Dean then straightened up and stepped back.

"Out!" he barked, still enraged. Sam quickly jumped up and followed Alex out of the bedroom and down to the servants' quarter. He went straight to the bathroom, ignoring Mark running to Alex in worry. He grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste from the cupboard and started the long, repeated process of brushing his teeth. His tears were still flowing down his cheeks, one or two mixing with the foam of the toothpaste. He noticed the ripped skin where the slap tore his cheek open. The salt in his tears was pricking the injury, but Sam ignored the stinging: he deserved it after all this.

Spitting out the foam, he got more toothpaste on his brush and started it all over again. He tried to drown out the small sobs floating into the bathroom, when Alex went into the bedroom then returned to the kitchen, but it just broke his heart even more. It was his fault that Alex got into this mess, he shouldn't have suffered because of Sam's mistake. He would understand if the young man would never ever talk to him again.

Spitting the foam out again, Sam started on round three. It seemed so long ago that he was sitting at the piano with his Master, sharing a peaceful moment together, gazing into each other's eyes like… Sam swallowed some of the menthol toothpaste, so the cold burning would stop his bad thoughts then returned to his work. How could things turn so fast from good to worst? First he was taken from his happy, carefree life and thrown into a cruel, painful world. Then he was brought into a beautiful home with kind people greeting him with open arms and comforting words, taking care of him when he was sick, and then he does something stupid and screws everyone's life up. Why couldn't something be simple for once?

As he was getting ready to round four, Sam heard the deep voice of his Master in the kitchen. He quickly got back to brushing his teeth, but he almost choked on the foam, as footsteps came closer to the bathroom. He spat it out with a cough, when Dean arrived at the doorway, looking in on Sam with a harsh glare that messaged 'If you're not doing as I ordered, you're gonna be in serious trouble!'

Sam quickly cleaned himself up, rinsing his mouth out thoroughly then he put his stuff away. Dean walked to him without a word and grabbed his chin, pulling him closer just like Alex. When he took a whiff of the boy's breath, he nodded approvingly. Walking out of the room with Sam in tow, in case his Master wanted something from him, Dean stepped to the closet and began searching in Sam's duffel bag. Soon he pulled out the pack of cigarettes and turned to Sam, shutting the closet door.

"How much?" Dean asked coolly.

"Two or three… tops…" Sam replied quietly, trying not to break down in front of his Master.

"A week? A day?" Dean spat venomously.

"A year…"

The uncertain, shaky voice halted Dean's fury and he just stood there, observing his servant. Sam felt fresh tears glide down his cheek, but miraculously, he still hasn't started sobbing in fear and heartbreak. After a minute of this, Dean took the pack in both hands and bent the whole thing in half, breaking every piece of cigarette like that. He marched into the kitchen, Sam still following him, and threw it into the trashcan.

"Sweep up the porch, clean out my room and vacuum the bedrooms! All of it" Dean ordered firmly, seemingly calmer now.

"Yes, sir" Sam dipped his head forward and Dean left the servants' quarter. As the door of the kitchen shut behind the man, Sam finally looked around.

Only Alex was in the kitchen, cooking breakfast at the stove. Sam saw the reddening cheek clearly and felt even more horrible. But this feeling was squashed down by another: the pain of causing disappointment. It was such a terribly huge weight on his shattered heart and bruised ego that he felt himself crumbling under it. He shouldn't have done this… He was very close to change his mind, when he got up at night to go out, but somehow he decided to sneak out.

"Alex…" Sam spoke, but he got no response from the young man. "I'm so sorry…" When still no answer came, he slumped in defeat and started towards the door to get the broom and the dustpan.

"That's why" came the trembling voice with a sniff of a stuffy nose. When Sam turned back, he saw Alex just standing at the stove, frozen.

"What?" he asked confused.

"You asked why we wouldn't escape" Alex explained, voice wavering from the sobs trying to break out. "The pain you feel right now… That's why…"

Sam swallowed heavily, his throat closing up from the tight grip of the truth. Yes, now he understood it. Clear as day.

TBC

So, how was it? Please, Read and Review!

I hope I can come up with something good for the next chapter. Until then, see you!