With The Coming of the Dawn

Summary

The hunters become the hunted when a creature stalks a remote community, and one of the brothers has a choice to make. Will both brothers survive the hunt and the decision of the other?

Disclaimer- yey they're mine! OK, I'm lying; Supernatural and its characters still belong to that evil genius Kripke! Lucky talented devil!

Authors Note – Please R and R – see told you I would do a longer chapter. :) Hoping you like it and that it is not boring!

Chapter 14

The Other was furious – the witch had managed to escape its grasp and it knew it now had to complete its plan quickly. Its temper was not improved by the sound of John's mocking laughter. "Losing your touch?" John asked, hoping to keep the Other unbalanced and not thinking clearly.

"Watch and learn Winchester"

The Other focused its mind on Dean. It started in surprise at the clarity it encountered and realised that maybe it had again underestimated the Winchester family. Sam had already put the incantation it had placed in John's journal into action but he had modified it unexpectedly. It could feel the pure white energy coming from Sam into Dean and this reinforced its need to work quickly. It resumed it's bombardment of images on Dean's mind. It knew it was futile at this stage to try to change Dean's beliefs where it came to Sam, but Dean had yet to regain control of his body, weakened as it was from the effects of the poison and fever. So the Other allowed the older brother to fight, to argue back at him, twisting the conversation so that the right words were spoken out loud.

"You know it's all Sam's fault" the voice began

"No"

"Your mother's Death"

"He was just a baby; Mom was killed by a Demon"

"Because of Sam"

Dean hesitated – "No, because of the Demon"

"What about Jessica – you cannot possibly believe that she would still have been killed had she not been with Sam"

"That wasn't Sam's fault; he is as much a victim as Jessica was"

"Ah so Sam is a victim now is he? He certainly needs rescuing enough"

"He has saved me any number of times, me and plenty others"

"He is weak, selfish, ungrateful, disloyal and thinks only of himself"

"No, Sam is strong. Stronger than me sometimes, at least he has the strength to stand up to Dad"

"That's because he doesn't care, about you, your family, what you want. All your brother thinks about is getting revenge for Jessica. You know he would still be with her if she was still alive."

Yes, Dean did know that but he no longer cared. "Yes, if Jessica was alive he would still be there, but she died. There's nothing anyone can do to change that and of course Sam would want to find whoever killed her, and we will. Sam will always follow his own path, he has a mind of his own and he is his own person. I admire that about him."

"He will leave you – in fact he is planning to leave you now"

"You're lying"

"You know I'm not. He's a curse on your family"

"Sammy a curse? No, he's one of the few good things to come out of this family. He is a good man and a damned good hunter – who will kick your ass by the way"

The demon ignored him. "So you don't think that his abilities are because of The Demon?"

"No"

"He will end up like Max you know – it is inevitable"

"Sam is nothing like Max, he has a father that loves him and he has me"

"He is touched by evil"

"Our whole family was touched by evil a long time ago – but that doesn't make us evil. It just makes us survivors – survivors who fight back and learned a thing or two to make sure that evil doesn't get to harm anyone else"

"No, as long as Sam is with you, what you and your family are is a target. Anyone he knows or gets close to becomes a target. Sam is a lightning rod in a storm of evil – you know this, you've seen it"

"Ghosts, demons, even demented Hill Billies do seem to find Sammy irresistible. But hell that's just the Winchester charm – it's in the genes!"

"You're a cocky one Dean, but at the end of the day he's a danger to himself, to you and all around him. It would be easier if you walk away now"

"I will never give up and leave Sammy, so forget it" Dean spat

"Does your brother know that though? Poor Sammy thinks he is cursed, that his father wishes him gone and that all your lives are better off without him. He believes that all the people who know who he is thinks he is worthless, and feels responsible for your life and the way it is. Now thanks to you, he thinks you feel the same."

"What? How?"

"Shall I show you exactly what Samuel has picked up from this conversation?"

Sam had been sitting next to Dean's bed the entire night watching for signs of his brother's condition improving. Dean's breathing had evened out and his temperature was dropping. In contrast the young hunter was beginning to shiver uncontrollably and the feeling of nausea and dull joint pains had been growing throughout the night. His already tired mind was beginning to fog further. Dean will be ok Sam thought with relief.

His brother had yet to awaken though and Sam was reluctant to leave him unconscious alone in case the next part of his plan failed. Where the hell was Dad? He had tried to call him, to see if he had found Missouri but all he got through to was John's voicemail. He even tried on Dean's phone on the off chance that his father would be more likely to pick it up but still no answer.

Dean's mumbling grew clearer through the course of the night and Sam hoped that this would be a sign that Dean would wake soon.

Now and then an odd word would sound clear

"Sammy", "Dad", "Mom", and his heart constricted knowing he was the only one out of the three there for Dean, and whose fault is that? That treacherous voice whispered in his mind.

"Mom", "Sam's fault", "Jessica", "evil", "Max", "curse", "leave Sammy". Each clear word was a whip lash across Sam's conscience. Oh God, Dean thinks it's all my fault too…And the only person that Sam Winchester ever really listened to and had absolute faith and trust in, was his brother. If Dean thought something was true, then it was.

"God Dean, I am so sorry" He whispered, "I will put it right. I don't want to leave you - I need you to know that. You're my brother and I love you, but I have to do what's right for you and that's to leave. Please forgive me"

Sam backed away, his warm brown eyes lost and haunted, sorrow overflowing, Tears slowly fell unnoticed down his face as he turned to go to the kitchen. Once there he buried his head into his hands, trying to repress the broken sobs that fought to escape him. Now was not the time to break down, he needed to be the strong one for once.

Dean watched the scene, his hatred for the other entity growing as he watched the slow breakdown of his once strong brother, knowing he had been the one to be used to finally break his spirit was almost more than he could take. "Sam, don't believe it- come on Sam!"

"You are losing your brother Dean" the voice continued to taunt, "He's dying, can't you feel it? With the coming of the dawn, you will be an only child"

"You bastard! What did you do to my brother?"

"Oh I did nothing, he did it all himself."It paused for effect. "To save you."

The voice fell silent once again and in the stillness of Dean's room, a single tear tracked its way down from the still closed eyes of the elder hunter.

For the remainder of the day, Sam resignedly made his final preparation and when night started to fall, was not at all surprised to hear that distinctive bark from outside. He looked down the garden to see the creature edging closer to the house. Sam's body was now wracked with the pains previously suffered by his brother, his mind fuzzy and he was shaking from a rising fever. He had changed into some of Dean's clothes. He had picked one of his brother's white T Shirts and had wrapped his leather jacket tight around him. He could smell the familiar scent of his brother and was comforted to feel him still near, hopefully it would be enough. He quietly looked in on his brother one last time, "Goodbye Dean".

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Dean heard the front door go and managed to eventually pull himself out of the fog. "Sam?", "Dad?", "Elsie?"

"Dean Honey – you here?" A voice called out, "Elsie, you home?"

"Missouri?" Dean called out incredulously.

"Missouri quickly entered the room, "Where's Sam?" she asked frantically, then stopped suddenly her gaze hovering over Dean's chest. "Foolish boy" she whispered, "foolish, brave, incredibly stupid boy"

"Whoa Missouri! What the f-heck did I do?"

"Not you Dean, your brother". Missouri's face seemed to age ten years.

"He's not here" Dean stated, a fact not a question. His quick glance around all the protections in the room told him enough to be very afraid for his brother. Sam had left him alone, unconscious in a room like a fortress while he had vanished. He quashed the feelings of abandonment – Sam hadn't simply just left. "What's going on Missouri – what has Sam done?" he demanded.

"He saved your life Dean" Missouri smiled sadly.

"Then why do you look like your at a funeral" The Other's words came to him," Son of a - What did he do?" Dean glanced down at the leech stone, unnerved as Missouri couldn't seem to take her eyes of it. Watching it like you would a venomous snake poised to strike. He realised that it was different- he vaguely remember it being etched with small blue lines, but now these veins were a deep red, and it looked as though it was covered in dried blood – lots of dried blood. "Whose blood is this?" though deep down he knew, "its Sam's isn't it?" Missouri nodded but remained silent. She turned and picked up the journal that had been left open at a page and paled noticeably. "Dammit Missouri, talk to me and tell me what the hell is going on!"

"Your brother has carried out a ritual, it's very old and where he got this incantation from I have no idea – or perhaps I do" She corrected herself sadly. The entity within John had written this, she could tell. "It's blood magic, powerful, dangerous and about as close to dark magic as a good person can come" She looked at the alterations written by Sam and smiled slightly," And Sam actually improved on it." She said, surprised, proud and more than a little afraid.

"You're not making any sense Missouri" Dean snapped.

"Is that a fresh injury Dean?" Missouri pointed at the bandage on his left hand.

Dean looked surprised, he hadn't even noticed it. His expression told her all she needed to know.

"I thought so. You know how the leech stone helps draw out some of the poison and eases the symptoms but the drawback is it can only contain so much?" Dean nodded. "With this incantation, Sam has enhanced its properties, provided a channel for the leech stone to move the poison on to. In essence it has now drawn out all of the poison"

"It's going into Sam isn't it? He's the channel." Dean felt like he was about to throw up.

"Yes, through Sam's blood. What is more he added some of your blood to the mix-"Missouri hesitated; Dean looked as though she had kicked him in the stomach already.

"What else did the brain trust do?" He asked bitterly

"His energy, or life force – sorry to sound like Star Wars, is also moving across to you. I am assuming to heal whatever physical damage was caused or to combat any remaining after effects of the poison"

"So not only is he being poisoned, what little strength he has is coming to me. I'm going to kill him!"

"It's even worse than you know Dean. I was briefly captured by the demon behind this." Dean's head shot up sharply. Demon "From what I could gather, Sam has been under psychic pressure since he came here, and he is now particularly vulnerable to psychic attack both because of this and his current emotional state. I'm sorry, there's no easy way to say this but your father is possessed by the demon controlling the creature that attacked you"

"Those things that I heard Dad say to Sam in my dreams, that really happened?" Thank god that it wasn't really Dad, he couldn't help but feel a small measure of relief

"Honey, I'm sorry"

"Dammit. I have been fighting Sam on this all year. Trying to convince him that none of this is his fault, but not only that. He thinks that we are better off without him, that he is a curse. The things that bastard said to him, Missouri how the hell do we fix that?"

"I don't know. First we have to concentrate on saving him physically"

"The leech stone, surely we can reverse the process?" Dean was desperate.

"It can only be used the once"

"Son of a bitch!" Dean slammed his hand down against the bedside table – a piece of folded paper fell to the floor. Dean's name written across in Sam's distinctive scrawl.

Dean

I'm sorry to have to leave you again. In fact, I am sorry for many things. I am sorry that Mom died and that you lost the family you deserve. Sorry for all the pain and suffering that I must have caused over the years, and for the time that I left you to go to Stanford. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but I couldn't continue to see you hurt or eventually killed, especially because of me. Please forgive me for leaving you then and for leaving you now. Please understand that for once I am doing the right thing. By now you should be feeling better and if you have read the journal you will know what I have done... It is for the best- this way the creature will still be hunting what it thinks is you. I had to borrow your jacket and shirt just in case it needed a physical scent as well as a psychic trail. I am going hunting one last time Dean.

Finally, I'm sorry most of all that you did not have a better brother, someone who looked after you and put you first. It would have been better had I never been born but I swear to you that I will put that right; I won't let you down or cause you any more pain. You always looked out for me, even when I didn't necessarily deserve it. Thank you for being my family, for raising me, for protecting me and for being the best brother I could have wished for. At the risk of a final chick flick moment. I want you to know that I love you Dean. Always have, always will. Will miss you bro.

Goodbye

Sammy

Dean crumpled the paper tightly in his hand.

"He's gone after the creature; we have to find him quickly" He rose unsteadily to his feet – Missouri held out her hand.

"I've been called an old stick before – might as well be used as one"

Dean pulled on Sam's shirt and coat. As he did, he put a hand to his throat and went to tear off the stone that was slowly killing his brother.

"Leave it alone Dean - the damage is done but maybe we can use it to help us find Sam"

His fingers noticed something his mind had yet to register. His eyes widened as he realised - his scarab necklace was gone.

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AN – ok guys, so what do you think so far? Please R and R? Pretty please? I am hoping that I am not going on a bit really. Please let me know if it is ok, or if I am losing it. Rely on you guys to keep me on the right track!

Thanks so much for reading, and a big thanks to everyone that has reviewed so far, truly an inspiration and keeps me going. Will try to get back to each of you.

Lastly I am in the middle of the next two chapters, wanting to get it just right but struggling a little. It may be Monday before the next chapter is up, hope you don't mind. Hell, I'm just hoping you are still interested lol!

Dream