Two Hunters and a Baby.

Disclaimer: Sigh no matter how hard I try I just don't own anything to do with Supernatural or the characters of the show. Although anything that comes from my fevered imagination is ... kind of ... that's my excuse anyway!

CHAPTER 24

'How?'

'It could be very dangerous Dean, I'm not sure that it will work, you could lose all of your memory.'

'Losing my memory compared to being freed from the demon's grasp?' Dean sighed 'no choice Az, so what do we do?'

'Okay ... sit down and relax first I need you to be completely relaxed.'

'Easier said than done,' Dean muttered under his breath.

'Relax Dean, completely.'

Yeah, yeah,' Dean sighed and sat down closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breathes. 'Relax she says.' He mumbled.

'Dean please, just take some deep breathes and remember the good times with Sam. When you were kids, and even now being reunited with him after so long apart. Nothing bad Dean I just want you to remember the good times.'

Dean smiled as he recalled their prank fest; the itching powder in Sam's boxers was a classic. Playing pool and hustling hustlers while Sam watched on sipping his beer, his relief when he saw Sam going back to kiss Sarah and then he saw Sammy as a chubby eight year old staring at the leather bound journal Dean gave him for his birthday. The kid stood for ages just turning the book in his hands and stroked the leather, it took all of Dean's saved pocket money to buy it but when he saw the look on Sam's face it was worth it. 'So Sammy you love writing things down so much now you got something to write in.'

'I love you Deanie.' Sammy cried wrapping his arms around his brother's waist, 'thank you it's the bestest birthday present I ever got.' Dean smiled as the memory took shape and his guilt slid back into the shadowed recesses of his mind.

Azuraus watched the memory with a newfound respect for Dean, he did love Sam no matter what happens between them, he would always love and protect his kid brother. She knew she had to fix the damage done to his mind before it destroys that pure brotherly love.

Placing her hands on each of his temples Azuraus tilted her head until their foreheads met, closing her eyes she found herself slipping into Dean's mind. Merging her healing thoughts with his tumultuous ones, she needed to find the insipid blackness attacking him. Gently she probed different parts of his mind until she found the inky black patch, snaking out tentacles and attaching itself to Dean's mind. She gasped as she felt the hatred and evil emanating from it, Az mentally steeled herself as she prepared to remove the poison. Reaching out with an transparent hand she touched it and then withdraw when pain flared through her fingers and up her arm. Taking a deep breath she forced herself to calm down and once again placed her hand on the blackness.

'What do you think you are doing Spirit?' Cornase snarled his voice coming from the blackness and smothering her in a black mist, 'he is mine.'

'Let him go Cornase, go back to Hades where you belong.' Azuraus ordered unable to stop the tremor resonating through her.

'He is mine and the infant will be mine also,' Cornase laughed, 'you are too late Spirit soon Dean will kill his brother and take back his daughter.'

'Sam and Dean's bond can never be fully broken Cornase he will never kill Sam.'

'You truly are a fool aren't you Sprite, now get out of here and let me get on with my work.'

'Nope, not that easy Cornase.'

Azuraus felt a hand on her shoulder and a warmth flood through her, realising that it was Sam sending his strength to her, Az pulled all of hers and Sam's strengths into her and formed a glowing orb of pure light and shot it at the blackness. Landing in the centre the orb started to glow brighter and pulsate as it devoured the blackness.

Dean groaned and held his head as he tried to bring himself back to consciousness, the silence was deafening, 'where was Sam? Where was Isabelle? What the Fuck?' licking his dry lips he opened one eye and then the other, focusing on the still form of Azuraus lying on the floor in front of him, confused he reached out to her when he saw Sam. His long legs sprawled out between the beds, 'Sammy?' Dean croaked not trusting himself to stand Dean crawled around the end of the bed to get a better look at Sam. 'Oh my God, Sam what happened?' he gasped staring at Sam slumped against the side of the bed, his head resting at an odd angle, a greyish tinge to his skin and his body dripped in sweat. But, what caught Dean's attention was the brutal beating Sam must have endured to be injured so badly. The bruises still forming were all multi-coloured now, in varying shades of black, blues and purples. An ugly gash scabbed down the side of his face, and his mouth split and swollen looked so sore it made Dean flinch inwardly. His eyes travelled down Sam's body, taking in the elastic bandage wrapped around his chest, down to his legs, his eyes resting Sam's right knee and the obvious swelling under his jeans.

'What happened Sammy?' Dean cried out dismayed, 'why don't I remember?'

He went to scrub his eyes to clear them when he noticed the bruises and cuts on his knuckles, all the colour drained out of his face when he looked at his hands and then again at Sam's injuries.

'Mmnth.' Az moaned as she slowly pulled herself up to a sitting position, her form fading slightly until she became fully aware and solidified her corporeal body. 'Dean you okay?'

'What's going on Azuraus? What happened to Sam?' Dean asked turning confused eyes to the animal spirit.

'What do you remember Dean?' Az asked stretching languidly, mimicking the actions of a cat as she arched her back and stretched out her arms and legs.

'I ah ... fighting with Merci in the car park and ... this aint the motel room we were in and ... fuck Isabelle where is she?' Dean cried out his gaze raking over the room searching for his infant daughter.

'Dean, Dean I need you to concentrate,' Az squatted in front of him and cupped his face in her hands, 'you were a prisoner of Merci and the demon Cornase, have been for quite a while.'

'Prisoner?' Dean blinked at the spirit in front of him, 'if I was a prisoner...what did I escape? Did Sam come and rescue me and that's how he got all beaten up?'

'Dean?' Sam whispered as he stirred, 'Dean no more, please no more,' he cried out holding his hands up in front of his face, 'no more, it's me it's your Sammy.'

'Az what the fuck is going on?' Dean asked horrified as he heard Sam begging him to stop, 'what did I do?'

'Cornase did something to you while he held you prisoner,' Azuraus answered not wanting to go into detail but the heart-wrenching look on Dean's face and the panic radiating from him made her go on. 'He beat you, and hurt you that much I know, he used Merci to get to you and then he ... he drugged you Dean and brainwashed you.'

'Did – did I do that to Sam?' Dean whispered hoarsely.

'It wasn't you Dean, you were not in control when ...'

'I beat the crap out of Sam, and judging the extent of the injuries and the age of some of them more than once didn't I?' Dean cried out, appalled at what he did, 'I did that to Sam?'

'No Dean, Cornase did that using you there is a big difference.'

'All seems the same to me, it was my fists punching him and my kicks landing on him,' Dean's voice broke, 'what kind of monster am I?' He wept using the bed end he pulled himself up and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Azuraus heard his retching as he expelled the foul bile from his system.

'Oh Dean, I am sorry it didn't work as well as I thought.' Az whispered as she made her way over to Sam, 'hey Sam you gonna wake up soon?'

'Az? Where's Dean?' Sam's eyes snapped open and he stared around the room wildly, 'Dean?'

'He's in the bathroom,' Azuraus admitted grudgingly.

'What happened Az?'

'I managed to remove Cornase from his mind, with your help by the way, how did you know?'

'Dunno it just felt right...so now is he okay?'

'He doesn't remember anything after Merci taking him from the car park,' Az said as she started to fade away afraid of Sam's reaction to her failure.

'Az stop, please don't go all invisible girl on me, tell me what happened?'

'Ah you must have been reliving the beating and called out for Dean to stop,' Az said softly, 'he put most of it together and made me tell him the rest.'

'So he still knows about ...'

'Yep he does, I am sorry Sam I only meant to help. I – I thought that if I took the bad stuff away that he would be able to ...'

'Hey it's okay, at least he doesn't remember the trigger word – does he?'

'No, he even said her name and it did nothing.'

'Well that's something, at least I can relax and not ...'

'Not what Sam?' Dean asked standing in the bathroom doorway, his arms crossed across his chest, a dark look of anger in his green eyes, making them appear black.

'Dean you okay?'

'What the fuck did that spirit do to me?' Dean demanded 'and where is my daughter?'

TBC