Next chapter! Creative juices are flowing for this...I think I'll hold off on literary additions though. Fire and Ice was okay, but that'll be it. I believe. XD Bwah. I can't wait to get to Death. He's just so...kick ass. Mmm.~
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"So we've got a man who jumped off a bridge. A woman who drove her car into the river. And...some guy who ate too much pie and ended up being diagnosed with a rare illness..all in different states...in other words...not much." Sam commented as he finished scanning the newspaer in his hands.
Dean huffed. "Now things get quiet? Damnit. Just our luck."
"You want something to start trouble?" Sam lifted a brow.
Dean shrugged. "Just need something to hunt, that's all."
"Yeah...can do...thanks." Bobby's voice, faintly indistinct from the room over, came closer as he ended his phone call and entered the room. "Might have something after all."
"Hallelujah." Dean clapped a hand on the table. "What's the hunt, Bobby? Demons? Bloodsuckers? Banshee-bitch?"
Bobby frowned and seemed reluctant after that, but he begrudgingly answered anyway. "Not sure. There's all kinds of strange reports. The big ticket winner would be the bodies found with their hearts ripped out and a white feather at each scene."
"Hearts ripped out...so a werewolf?" Dean queried.
"Not sure about that. Only the heart's been messed with, and what's the point of the feather? Also, turns out all of the victims had a message tied to the feather."
"What kind of message?" Sam asked.
"A commandment. Whichever one they'd broken, apparently."
Dean and Sam stared at Bobby before Dean said slowly. "Wait...you're telling me something's yanking out hearts and leaving little bible-crap feathers? So this is some kind of bible nut-job?"
"I don't know that either. But I don't think it's a human doing it, not unless humans can shove their hand into a chest cavity and rip a heart out just like that."
"So you think Cas had something to do with it?"
"Doesn't seem like his style, even now that he's gone off the deep end. I think something else is going on."
"But let me guess, you don't know what?" Dean asked dryly.
"Well if you got any better ideas, smart-ass, I'm open to hear them."
Dean held up his hands as if in surrender and pondered it a moment before he shrugged. "That's it, then. We'll track down the feather-duster. Where's this going down at?"
"Not far from where Purgatory got popped."
"Figures." Dean muttered. "Well, Hell, maybe something got out after all?"
"Maybe." Bobby agreed, but he didn't seem sure. "Would have thought Castiel would have noticed though."
"Yeah, well, I would have thought a lot of things about Cas." Dean muttered and the trio fell silent a moment before Dean rose. "That's it then. We'll check it out. Find out what kind of crazy-ass monster is passing out unholy judgment."
"Dean, we don't even know what we're up against here. If this thing is anything like Eve..."
"Then we'll kill it's pansy ass too." Dean replied smoothly.
"Cas isn't here to save us this time if things go wrong, Dean. We can't be...reckless."
Dean shot his brother a stony look. "Hey, we don't need Cas to hunt. We've been kicking evil's ass way before the angel brigade showed up to screw us all over. I'm not going to let some evil sons of bitches party hardy just because we can't get the magic band-aid anymore. So let me ask again. You with me, or not?"
Sam sighed. "I'm with you, Dean."
"Bobby?" Dean glanced at the other hunter.
Bobby's frown hadn't eased but he relented as well. "Yeah, fine. This is stupid as Hell. But you're not wrong either. Someone's gotta stop these things, and it ain't gonna be anyone else."
"Damn straight. You two start researching if you can, I'm gonna finish fixing my baby. We'll leave tomorrow." After all, the Impala hadn't exactly been pristine after the whole getting flipped incident. And Dean had been half-heartedly throwing himself into fixing her up in between Sam-duty the past couple of days.
"Sure thing, Captain." Bobby said, rather dryly himself. Dean's attitude was more surly than usual and it did little to ease his own surliness, or the fact that Dean had voted himself the unofficial leader of their little squadron. But that was for the best, like it or not, Dean was the strongest man present.
And like it or not...if Castiel did come for them, it would be Dean he'd want.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The clink of metal and the gyration of turning gears filled the air as Sam stepped out into the sunlight and padded over to the car. He was silent a moment as he watched his brother's legs and listened to the familiar sounds. Here was Dean. Being strong, again. But he'd seen the panicked look on Dean's face the night before, the Hellish torment in his eyes, heard the quickening of his brother and the desperation of his repeated 'no'. Dean was far from okay, they were all far from okay, but Sam figured that it was the worst for Dean. Yeah, Sam was reeling from Hell, but Dean had been there done that. And yeah, it sucked that Castiel had called it quits on them, but like Cas had said, Dean and he shared a more 'profound bond'. He knew that Dean felt like he'd been betrayed by a brother...again, and that was Sam's fault.
And then there were Lisa and Ben.
Sam had always fancied himself the normal one. The one who'd wanted a different life. But one look at the way Dean stared at Lisa, at the way he smiled at Ben, at the whole different person he had seemed to become with them and his occasional, bitter, wistful statements and it was clear who really wanted the normalcy. Sam couldn't imagine doing the apple-pie life, maybe if Jessica were alive, maybe...but Dean? He had it. A family. And he'd given it up for them. And made himself non-existent to said family to protect them. Sam wasn't sure he could make the same choice with Jessica if it came to that. He'd want to find a way to make it work, to protect her, but Dean...family was everything to him and he'd sooner crush his heart into dust than risk his family coming to harm.
Everyone that died. Everyone that he couldn't save, he took it as a personal failure. A reflection on his own inadequacy and worthlessness. Rather than focusing on how damned amazing he'd done, he brooded over every single minute mistake. Dean shouldered the responsibility of the world on his shoulders, and that wasn't an exaggeration. Could he really blame Dean for having wanted to give up and say 'yes' to Michael? If Dean wanted to die and end it all, did Sam, who had abandoned him in so many ways over the years, have any right to stop him?
But right or not, he would. Every time. Dean would keep sacrificing himself for Sam and Sam would keep on doing it for Dean. They were two halves of the same soul, really, and they'd always be drawn back to each other. Right or wrong, Sam was clinging to his big brother just like he always had, whether Dean saw it or not. And Sam saw the righteous man that Dean really was, how strong he really was, how good of a man he was...even if he couldn't see it himself.
Someday, maybe, he could show him.
"Hey, Dean." he rapped on the car and he saw Dean's legs jerk a bit and heard the clank of metal and a low, "Ow", as Dean presumably gave himself a mild injury while being startled.
Dean slid out from under the car and sat up rubbing his head with a frown. "What the Hell? Give a man a little warning before you sneak up on him." he grumbled.
Sam offered his brother an amused look as a reply before he held out a beer. "Thought you might be thirsty."
Dean blinked and then eyed the beer as if suspicious a moment, but he took it anyway and gave it a good chug before he regarded his brother. "This isn't some kind of...'we gotta talk' thing, is it? Cuz, man, I'm not in the mood."
"Nope. No talking..not if you don't want to."
Dean groaned and leaned his back against the Impala. "Just leave me alone." he somewhat whined as he took a sullen drink of his beer.
Sam took a spot leaning against the side of the Impala as he looked down at his brother and drank his own beer. "I was thinking...maybe you'd show me what you're doing."
Dean's brow furrowed in confusion as he stared up at his brother. "...Huh?"
"Y'know. Show me what you're doing. Teach me some more car stuff. It's the big brother's job, right?" Dean had said so, not long before his trip downstairs.
Dean stared at Sam as if trying to divine some sort of information from the sight of him, but in the end, he took a long drink of beer and muttered. "Fine. Get your girly ass down here."
"Wow, thanks, Dean. Really needed that self-esteem booster."
"S'another big brother thing. You'll get over it."
"Yeah, I bet." Sam muttered, a faint smile on his face as he crouched down.
Dean shoved a wrench into his hands and wiggled his way under the car after finishing his beer and setting it aside. Sam hesitated and then joined him as he found himself staring up at a mass of mechanical nonsense.
"See this? Came loose when she flipped...gotta tighten this here...take the wrench." he shoved it at Sam who fumbled with it before he began tightening the bolt. "This here..." Dean went on to explain mechanics of the car and Sam did his merry best to focus and keep up. And he did a decent job, in between his own thoughts and the way he found himself watching his brother, memorizing his movements, his expressions, his general posture. It reminded him of when they were kids and Sam's attitude was that of wanting to be just like his big brother.
Sam twisted another bolt and for the first time in awhile, he saw Dean actually smile a little. "Not bad, Sammy. I'll wisen you up yet."
Sam chuckled a little as he smiled back at his brother. "Glad to hear it, bro."
Four hours, six beers, several ounces of grease and sweat, and some crappy brotherly stuff later, the Impala was as good as she'd be getting for the time being and the Winchester brothers had fallen into a familiar sync that felt good. Neither was as good as they could be, but for now, they were doing better. They had each other. And as long as they had that...
Then they would be just fine.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I have no idea where the Hell all this fluff is coming from. Let's call it the calm before the storm. XD But it makes sense too. The brothers are very hurt and vulnerable and just damned tired right now. They're clinging to each other in a whole new way. Lucky the Impala is there to keep her boys on their toes. And having Wincest-y moments in a non-cesty way. XD~ Yay for two updates in one day! I feel like I'm on a roll or something. XD~ And thank you, forshizzle, for being my first review! *showers you with hugs and cookies* Much adored~ And by the by, I'm kind of making some things up as I go. I have some things planned and other things are like..pshh. I was gonna just have some regular ole baddie to get them to where Death will find Dean, but instead I tied in a greater evil that might bring in some of the other Gods/mythology and such. By the by, if anyone can guess about the hearts and feathers, you will be my hero. Hint: Think pyramids. XD~ That whole thing totally just came to me when I was thinking Supernatural instead of focusing on work. XD Typical. XD~