BWAH! So I have been informed that Sam goes all patricidal on Bobby. Had I known, I would have put some more tense-ness in their relationship. XD Until September 13 when I get the DVD, my working knowledge of S6 is based on what I've read, heard, and little Dean/Cas clips I snuck and watched. XD Which is to say...it's not going to be as super-shnazzy as when I've seen everything. I'm also trying to avoid Cas' POV right now until the S7 first ep-when we hopefully get an inkling of what's going on. So far, we only know that Cas says he's god, tells them to flee or die, and brags about his mercy. And there's conflicting cast interviews that suggest Cas is Cas but crazy, or that Cas is possessed by a god (thing?). And that Sam gets neck-choked on a ceiling, but that's not Cas, so I digress! XD Bear with me folks! And thanks for favoriting and reading and such! It really brightens my existence! By the by, there's gonna be a little boy in this chap that I should have had doing creeper-scenes earlier, but it doesn't change things, really. Just would have lent itself to the usual Supernatural factor. XD~ By the way, to any who note me calling Anubis a 'demigod' it's not in the sense of an actual halfling demigod, but in the sense of him being demi-god of the dead next to Osiris. To those of you who wouldn't have noted...just forget I mentioned it. XD
P.S. I hate [writing] fight scenes, and will readily admit that they are not my forte. That is all. XD Yay for a long chapter though! XD~
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"Any ideas? Cause I'm out." Dean wheezed as he ran alongside his brother, the pain in his side now far and above a burning sensation. They'd been cornered several times already by that croc-man thing and while Dean had the suspicion that it could have caught up to them in earnest by now, it hadn't. But it wasn't letting them get away either and attempts to shoot it had no effect.
Sam finally took note of his side and his face scrunched up with worry. "Dean, you're-"
"Shaddup." Dean gritted his teeth as they rounded a corner and took a breather. The croc-man hadn't appeared yet, but knowing their luck, that wouldn't last long. He hazarded a peek at his cut. What had started out as a painful but simple slit in the side had developed into an angry, chaffed wound. "Theory. Spit it out."
"Well, it's...complicated-"
"Uncomplicate it." Dean hissed, more from pain and struggling to catch his breath than actual irritation, not that there wasn't a spot of that as well.
"Long story short-"
"Fresh...meat." There went their 'luck'. The croc-man stood, staring at them with it's blank, beady eyes.
"Sonuva-Sam!"
This time, rather than simply follow, the croc-man lunged for Sam and Dean jerked forward in time to grab his brother by the arm and haul him away as they broke into another run.
"We can't keep this up forever." Sam noted tersely..
"Ya think, Sherlock?" Dean growled before he stumbled and nearly lost his balance as he came to a near dead stop in front of a small boy.
Scrawny, hazelnut skin, kohl-rimmed eyes, and somewhat messy black hair. He looked like something off of one of those little Egyptian stick-figure pictures, sans the stick-figure.
Dean and Sam stared down at the boy a brief moment in surprise before instinct kicked in. "Kid, listen-"
"Dean! It's gone!"
"Say what?" Dean looked back and then around, but there was no croc-man. He felt a tug at his sleeve and looked down to see the boy staring silently up at him, his black-eyes eerily intent. Creepy eye-sex, as he liked to call it, which meant that this kid wasn't exactly normal. If the fact that he was only wearing a loincloth-looking item wasn't enough of an indication.
The boy then moved ahead and made a motion beckoning them to follow...back in the direction that they'd come.
"I think he wants us to follow him." Dean noted, and a thank you, Captain Obvious went unspoken by Sam.
"Yeah, and? Are we in the habit of following random little kids now?"
Dean shot him a sour look before his attention turned to the boy ahead of them, beckoning again. There was a snarling noise and he whirled around to find the croc-man behind them, and he looked pissed.
"Yup. New habit. Follow the loincloth." Dean announced as he grabbed a fistful of Sam's shirt and jerked him around as they took off after the kid. Rubber pounded pavement yet again as they ran and followed after the boy, if only for lack of other options. Who led the right back to the murder scene.
"Great. We're back where we started." It was Sam's turn to hiss as he glanced to his brother, though his expression softened with worry as he noted his brother clutching his wound. His gaze then slid to the boy who was watching them silently.
Once again, the croc-man was gone and Dean made his way into the little alley and crouched down beside the dead man. Given the entry of the wound, blood was mostly on the man and his clothes, hardly any elsewhere. It looked clean, until you noted the gaping hole in the man's chest. Dean peered down at the man and realized with a start that it wasn't even the greasy man, in fact, it appeared to be the man hooting at one of the dancers before he'd entered the bar. He poked around very lightly, so as not to leave traces, until he came to the man's wallet. As he picked that up, a picture fell out and he examined it a moment before he muttered. "Shit..."
"Dean?"
"...It's nothing." Dean slid the picture back into the wallet before he glanced at the man's I.D. and then slid the wallet back inside. "Wasn't the guy I was tailing." he amended, when he noted his brother's gaze on him. "Anyway, your theory?"
"...Long story short, there's an Egyptian ritual known as the Judgment of the Dead, or the Weighing of the Heart...basically the recently deceased get their heart measured against the feather of Ma'at, goddess of truth. If it's heavier and weighed down with sin, then a crocodile deity called Ammut devours their soul. If it's lighter, they go on to the Field of Reeds, the Egyptian version of paradise. The whole ceremony is overlooked by the demi-god of the dead, Anubis, and recorded by the scribe-god Thoth."
"...So, skipping the useless textbook crap. We got a hungry croc-god with a craving for sinner's hearts?"
"That's the theory, but-" Sam was stopped mid-sentence as something was shoved in front of him by the boy who held out a feather with an expectant look.
Sam exchanged a glance with his brother before he took the the feather and spotted the little note attached. "Idolatry."
Dean didn't reply. So the prick was worshipping idols, huh? Too bad he'd missed the only one that mattered...
"I don't...what?"
"Huh?" Dean looked over at his brother, assuming that he was being spoken to until he noted the boy as he took Sam's wrist and dipped the edge of the feather into the dead man's blood.
Sam jerked his hand back, but the feather was already covered in said blood. The boy then mimed taking the feather and plunging it into his chest before he closed his eyes and slumped as though dead.
"Dean...I think he's...trying to tell us how to kill that croc-thing." The boy nodded, but Dean scoffed.
"What, so that's a magic feather now? Hate to tell ya, but the tip of that thing wouldn't get through a piece of bread."
The boy eyed Dean for a moment, a very adult, very honestly, kid... expression before he patted his thigh where Dean had a small knife. He mimed tying the feather to the knife, and then made a stabbing motion. The boy produced a string of unknown origin, but Dean suspected it to have come from the trash. Didn't matter, as long as he could keep it held together with his hand anyway.
"Tie a feather to a knife and stab a freaky-ass croc-dude. Sounds reasonable. Are we taking this kid's word-er-...hand gestures on this?"
"You got a better idea?"
""No. Doesn't mean I like this one." Dean muttered as he withdrew his knife anyway and the boy watched him with his black-eyes intent as Dean began tying it up. "Feather-knife dipped in a dead-man's blood. This better work." he shot a glance to the boy, only to be startled as he realized that the boy was gone.
And the croc-thing was back.
Dean and Sam rose from beside the victim's body and stared at the creature blocking their escape. Things were happening quickly, too quickly, in Sam's opinion. One minute they'd been searching for the thing, then it had chased them and never caught them, and then some boy appeared to hand them a fix-it and disappeared? Something reeked in the situation, but he couldn't quite pin it.
"Fresh meat."
"Yeah, we heard you the first time, tubby. You want a piece of this sweet ass? Step in line." Dean taunted.
"Dean." Sam's voice was a low warning, Dean was in no condition to be reckless, least of all with some part-god whatever-the-Hell it was before them.
"C'mon, here croc-ey, c'mere." Dean continued his taunts, heedless of his brother. The thing had to come forward after all, and into his waiting magic-feather-knife.
He thought that right up until the point the creature moved faster than he could see, and wound up behind him.
"Fresh meat." The thing spared no time in jerking it's head forward to take a bite out of Dean's shoulder, and he let out a shout of pain before he whirled around and slashed at the thing, but it had already moved away again.
"Dean! Are you alright?"
Dean clutched his bleeding shoulder with an irritated expression, it wasn't a deep bite, but like his side-wound it had potential to be a problem. "I just got a bite taken out of me by the Blob. What do you think?" he growled as he moved in between Sam and the croc-thing and brandished his knife.
The croc-thing licked it's now bloodied-lips. "Fresh-"
"I heard you the first time, you damned lizard!"
The croc-thing's tongue stopped mid-lick before it paused and said slowly. "Dean Winchester. Idolatry. Covetousness. Blasphemy. Dishonor. Thievery. Dishonesty. Murder."
"So what, I'm the new Miss America?" Dean drawled.
"Your heart is full of sin. You will die." The croc-thing said simply before it lunged for Dean.
Dean shoved Sam aside before he aimed his blade for the thing's 'heart'. He hadn't been told to, but better safe than sorry.
The thing lumbered and he assumed that it would come right into his knfie, but it made a sharp swerve at an unnatural angle to bend below his knife and ram a claw-like hand into his wound.
"F-Fuck!" Dean hissed in pain as he stumbled back. His brother called his name but his focus was on the creature before him and the pain in his side that he doubted could get any worse at this point. And by now, he'd lost a fair share of blood and then some. But he could live with that, he could work under those conditions. Not the first damned time, right?
"Hey, scaly! This way!" Sam called and the thing whirled around to eye Sam.
"Thievery. Dishonesty. Covetousness. Blasphemy. Murder." it intoned as it took a step towards the younger Winchester.
"Ha! I broke one more than you did." Dean managed to tease through gritted teeth and circle around the croc who began watching him again. There wasn't a clear opening.
"Really, Dean?"
"Well I did."
The croc-thing looked between the two of them as though puzzled a moment. And perhaps it would be strange to one that didn't know the Winchesters, to see them sharing a joke at what most would consider their imminent demise.
Sam had his own gun and aimed a shot at the croc's head, but while the bullet sunk in, the creature seemed unfazed and made a lunge for him that he narrowly dodged by jerking sideways. It rose again and moved faster, in time to take advantage of Sam's unbalance and tackle him. The creature opened it's mouth wide to take a bite out of Sam when Dean tackled it from the side and sent it to the ground. Dean's knife-wielding hand edged for the thing's heart, held at bay in the thing's grasp.
"Little help, here?" Dean muttered, again through gritted teeth as he lifted his fist and slammed it into the croc's face in an attempt to distract it and get his hand free. But instead, he found himself shoved off as the thing climbed on top of him and made to bite him.
Sam, at that point desperate, grabbed the nearest 'weapon' a large metal rod from behind a trash can and slammed it against the head of the thing, hard enough to shove it off of Dean, but the thing wasn't pleased.
"Meat." it wheezed through a mouthful of bloody teeth. It could keep the body animated, but not impervious to wounds. And it seemed to be growing annoyed, if it's quicker, more rash movements were any indication. The croc lunged for Sam yet again and he bashed it with the rod and watched it stumble back. "Dean!"
Dean replied with action as he skirted around to the front of the creature and aimed again for it's heart.
And this time, the knife went in.
The croc gave a jarring, screeching sound as light began to emanate from it's center not unlike when a demon or angel passed. And then the light exploded from it's inside as the now deceased body slumped to the ground. Dean stared down at it a moment before he shot a grin back at his brother.
"Well, that was eas-"
A large shape pinned Dean down and he felt warm saliva leak onto his face. A giant crocodile-like creature snapped it's jaw and made to bite Dean's head, until a quick thrust and a flash of metal sent the rod in it's mouth and wrenched it's head aside.
Dean rolled and then scrambled up. "Magic-feather my ass! It's still alive!" he clutched his side and took a somewhat wobbily step back as Sam braced his shoulder in concern.
"Maybe if you stabbed it again?" Sam wasn't sure what else they could do.
"Yeah, I'll get right on that." Dean ground out. "If it didn't kill it the first time-"
"The purpose was not to kill, but to free it's form for capture, and thus release my master." an almost cheery but business-like voice chipped in from beside Dean and he was startled to find a slender, dark-skinned man with largely kohl-rimmed eyes standing beside him. "I will take care of the rest." he bowed to Dean and Sam before he strode over to the crocodile, who seemed suddenly afraid and tried to jerk away.
"Ammut, you will return to the Netherworld at once." The man instructed. "This game is at an end."
Ammut bared it's teeth even as the man pulled a staff in the shape of a cane from his waist-band and slammed it to the ground where a crack formed as the nearby area shook slightly, and opened to form a hole that crackled with a black energy.
The man withdrew a dagger and slit his palm, and as his blood trickled he hurled it at Ammut, only a few drops were needed. "By the grace of the almighty jackal, I banish you! Return from whence you came! You are bidden by the jackal's hand, be gone!"
Ammut gave another of his shrieks, but some force seemed to be drawing him into the hole before him and with a last cry, his massive form disappeared into the hole which closed after him and left the surrounding area undisturbed.
The man had cropped black hair and deep brown eyes flecked with specks of gold. He turned to face the Winchesters with a friendly smile. "Your assistance was greatly appreciated."
"Whoa, assistance? You wanna explain that?" Dean snapped. He was bleeding, cranky, and confused, not a winning combination.
The man's expression was patience. "I am Sahib, servant of the almighty jackal. That creature was Ammut, he escaped his prison in the Netherworld and began serving a purpose that is not yet fully known. As I am given to understand it, he was acting in accordance to Western practice. He was untouchable while trapped in that human form, and as long as he was bound, my master was as well."
"Master?" this time, it was Sam who spoke.
Sahib lifted a brow. "As I said, I serve the Jackal."
"Anubis?"
"It is not for me to speak his name, or so poorly," Sahid's lips quirked in something like amusement and indulgence, "But yes."
"Is anyone else lost here?" Dean said and he cursed when his knees buckled a bit and he crouched down.
"Dean." Sam bent down and gingerly pressed a hand against Dean's side, and his older brother winced, they interacted but both kept an eye on Sahid. "Is it just your side and shoulder?"
"Just? That's not enough?" Dean started to chuckle wryly through a wince of pain he heard the shuffling of feet and looked up to see the boy from before. "Great, Damien returns*."
The boy lifted a faint brow before he set his hand against Dean's head and a feeling of warmth flooded through him. When it faded, he found his wounds had healed completely.
"What the...?"
"My master favors you." Sahib said with a light smile.
"Master. Then...he's?" Sam was aghast.
The boy lifted his gaze to Sam and his eyes twinkled with something like mischief and merriment.
"He is, bound to that form by whatever force bound Ammut to that mortal. It dampened his powers and robbed him of his voice." Sahib said, and there was a flicker of displeasure in his tone, he was protective of his master, after all.
Dean's eyes fell on the boy. "So you're a god, huh? Little short, aren'tcha?" he recalled the meeting with the gods previously, and still had a severe distaste for them.
The boy didn't reply, but his lips quirked with amusement and when he ruffled Dean's hair suddenly, Dean jerked back in surprise and a bit of embarrassment.
"Freaky ass kid." Dean muttered.
The boy, apparently Anubis, only smiled in reply before he glanced around and picked up the feather-bound knife used on Ammut. He held it out to Dean in silence and Dean stared down at it with a frown.
"Ammut's banishment restored some of my master's powers, but in order to be freed, he requires that you release him as you released Ammut."
"Let me get this straight. You want me to stab the kid?" Dean processed that with a mixture of irritation and incredulity.
"I wish for you to release my master, yes." Sahib inclined his head. "You owe us no favors, but you have involved yourself in the matter...so if you would see it through to it's conclusion..."
"You're right. I don't owe you guys squat. Last time I checked, you gods are a bunch of people-munching asswipes. So, sorry, not exactly looking to buy into your crap."
"Not all gods are the same." Sahib countered.
"Not in my experience."
Sahib didn't seem to have a reply to that, nor did Sam offer anything. And a tense moment passed before Anubis set the knife down gently. He offered Dean a little smile and set a hand on Dean's shoulder, and squeezed it lightly before he turned away and moved to return to Sahib's side.
Dean watched, taken aback. It was over, just like that? "What's...going to happen to him? You can't just...stab him yourself?"
"Unfortunately, since the curse exists in this reality, someone of this plane must deal the blow. It applied to Ammut as well, and since you broke the tie with Ammut, it would then be you who must break the tie on Anubis."
Dean didn't really get all that crap about reality and planes, but apparently this was another Dean-Only-Mission. "So if I don't break the, uh, tie?"
"I am confident that we will find out what caused this rift, and rectify it as soon as we are able. Until then, my master will be...stuck in this form, and bound to this plane." Sahib said, and Anubis stood silently at his side.
Dean looked to Sam, and one look told him where the other's thoughts lay. Sam wasn't exactly the soft-hearted one anymore, but he could tell from Sam's faintly sympathetic expression that he was leaning towards Anubis on this one. Possibly, it had to do with his geek-boy fascinations, but still...
"Son of a bitch. I'm gettin' really tired of doin' your dirty work. You'd think a god would be a little more, I dunno, god-like?" Dean complained, meaning the dirty work of all the ethereal beings who enlisted him, as he grabbed the knife and rose to step towards Anubis.
Anubis eyed him and shared a glance with Sahib before he stepped forward and stood gazing up at Dean calmly.
Dean clenched the knife in his hand and as he stared down at the boy, he noted for the first time his unusual golden eyes. Or maybe they'd become golden? Something about those eyes reminded him of Castiel, the way the other looked at him like he could read inside of Dean's soul but it was different. Castiel seemed puzzled by Dean, always surprised, but Anubis' gaze was piercing and...accepting. Like he knew everything and it was okay. Sort of like how a real god was supposed to be, one that actually gave a damn and didn't see people as snacks, one that listened to prayers and didn't let children see their mother's burnt on a ceiling. So as he stared down at the other, he found himself hesitant.
A slim hand found it's way to Dean's wrist and Anubis gave it a comforting squeeze and he tilted his head with a reassuring smile before he lowered his hand.
Dean slid his gaze to Sam and the younger Winchester gave a slight nod, but he didn't look all too sure himself before Dean tilted his gaze back and plunged the dagger into the boy's chest.
A bright light emerged within him and this time, it didn't stay relagated to the body but expanded till it was almost blinding and he had to close his eyes against the radiance.
When it cleared, he found himself sitting on his ass with every hair on his body at attention. "The Hell...?" he muttered. He winced and rubbed his eyes to clear his vision, and what he saw made him scramble to his feet and back away, towards Sam protectively, in surprise.
Clad in a golden skirt and a pair of simple sandals was a man, lighter in skin than Sahib with a bare torso and golden arm bands adorning him. He had a large cane-line staff, and the feature that most surprised Dean was his head. It was a jackal's head.
The head didn't move and golden eyes peered at Dean almost curiously before the man lifted a hand. He towered over Dean, unnaturally tall as he lifted his hand over his face and the 'mask' became a human visage. A man with black-hair tied at the nape of his neck, and piercing golden eyes. "Don't be frightened." he said, his voice a low rumble, and oddly pleasant-at odds with his somewhat imposing appearance. "Thank you, Dean, and Sam."
"You're Anubis?" Sam finally spoke.
Anubis smiled slightly and tilted his head in acknowledgment. "As we have established." There was no sarcasm, only amusement, and Sam seemed a bit embarrassed. But Dean had been right, there was a certain level of 'geek-boy' tendency involved. Ancient lore, Egyptian in particular, was one his more favorite fields of historical study.
"For a god of death, you smile an awful damned lot." Dean noted, still clearly uneasy.
At that, Anubis' smile widened into a faint grin. "To those whom I favor. You would not wish to see my frown." There was something ominous in that despite his kind demeanor.
"Right...we done here, then? That croc-thing, it's over?"
Anubis' amusement faded as he became more serious. "Ammut has been returned to the Netherworld."
"The what now?"
"Another plane of existence, it matters little. I wish to warn you, Dean Winchester. This newly risen god-child, Castiel, he has threatened the balance of things gravely and given rise to forces older than himself."
"Forces?" Sam queried, while Dean just looked irked by the mention of Castiel's name.
"This is difficult to explain and there is much that I cannot. Castiel attempted to balance himself with the demon Crowley, but this is not correct. Even I know little else. I can with certainty only that whatever power bound me was nothing I have come across before."
"Balance himself?" Dean was trying to keep up, but this was news to him.
"Castiel has named himself god, as you would understand it, there must therefore be a devil to oppose him. A dark to his light. A death to his life. It is balance. But their existence is unnatural, not the order of things, and the false balance has disrupted things."
"What are you saying?" and this from Sam.
"Their shared existence threatens the sanctity of all worlds. It is as though the world were split in two, one side of fire and one of earth, but separated from each other, from destruction. The existence of Castiel and Crowley would be...giving the fire a means to engulf the earth, and all would be destroyed."
"So how do we stop it?" Dean asked.
Anubis shook his head. "A fire that threatens to burn all in it's path, how would you stop it, but by extinguishing it?"
"You mean killing Cas and Crowley."
Anubis didn't reply with words, but there was a more grim twist to his lips as he moved closer to Dean and slid out a hand. "You saved me, though you did not have to. You will always have my favor." he murmured as he moved his hand to Dean's and pressed something into it before he moved to Sam and smiled softly, an almost fatherly expression on his face before he leaned in close to Sam and spoke into his ear the side opposite of Dean.
"You are not abandoned as you believe. Your brother is not the only light in this world, it is mirrored within you, and your darkness within him. You will guide each other thus." he said before he slipped something into Sam's hand as well and then stepped back.
"I must leave now, I have long overstayed. But I thank you both, as my consort does also. You may keep her feather, you will find it of use, I believe." Anubis offered a wry smile before he inclined his head and simply disappeared.
Sam's brow furrowed before he looked down and found a thin, golden wristband engraved with a symbol he recognized as the Eye of Horus. Horus, a god of Egypt, his eye was a mystic symbol and one that at the very least was supposed to grant protection. It seemed odd that Anubis would give him the symbol for another god, but there had to be a reason. And as for the feather and his consort, did he mean that it was a true feather of the goddess?
Dean had time to briefly wonder why it was that holy beings gave such crappy goodbyes when Sahib bowed and then vanished as well, and he looked down at the token in his hand.
"No way..."
"Dean?"
Dean stared down at whatever was in his palm for a long moment before he gave a mirthless chuckle and held something up for Sam to see. His amulet, the one that he'd thrown away after Castiel had declared it 'useless', and he'd seen that Sam's Heaven was his Hell.
For a moment, silence stretched on between the brothers. Both were reeling from their pain, both were trying to digest the strange case and information they'd received, from an equally strange messenger, but even so...that one little trinket was enough to distract them. It symbolized a deep bond between them, a crucial moment in their lives compounded upon by Sam's unwitting initation into the hunter life through the pulling of the proverbial curtains. Dean hadn't been denying their brotherhood when he'd tossed it, but he'd made his feelings of betrayal and his lack of desire to try to fuel what seemed to be a one-sided relationship clear when he had.
"Y'know somethin'?" Dean said as he slipped the amulet around his neck. "Guess not every god is a dick after all."
"Never thought I'd hear you say that." Sam murmured, and honestly, he was a bit surprised by the rush of emotion he felt as he saw Dean accept the necklace and wear it again.
"Yeah, well...first time for everything." Dean said before he tilted his gaze back down to the dead man. "Feel's nice."
"What does?"
"Having this back. Felt kinda naked without it." Which was as close to an 'I'm sorry, I've missed this and treasure it, and I love you, bro', as Sam was likely to get.
So Sam exhaled in a sort of chuckle and set his hand on Dean's shoulder with a silent squeeze and the pair shared a moment of brotherly comfort. The whole world was spiraling into the next possible apocalypse, but they still had time for this. For each other.
...
Dean slipped a knife into his pocket and slipped his jacket back on. Sam emerged from the bathroom to watch him with a frown. "Dean?"
"Going out for a bit. I'll be back quick. Just stay inside and keep things locked up, you know the drill."
"That hasn't been the drill since I was twelve."
"Yeah, well. Same rules apply."
Sam frowned at that. They'd shared a companionable silence in the Impala on the way back to the motel, right up until Dean's sudden, prickly attitude and his apparent desire to go out somewhere. "What, you meet a girl or something?"
"Yeah, Sam. I met a girl. Happy? Guy saves the world a few times, you'd think he could at least get laid in peace." Dean muttered.
But Sam knew that Dean was lying, and Dean had to know that Sam knew. Dean wouldn't be acting like this when he was about to get laid and he'd never made an issue. If he was going out, it was almost a joke between them to make sure that Sam knew. "Okay, Dean. Well. Have fun with that."
"You bet." Dean said with a note of sarcasm as he made his way to the door. Just before he left, he glanced back at Sam and there was a faint hint of hesitation to his expression that he covered quickly. "Just stay put, I mean it. Call me if anything comes up."
"...Dean, why-"
The door closed as Dean exited, and he paused a moment to glance at the door. He didn't want to leave Sam alone, but he needed to clear his head and more importantly, to take care of something. It wasn't his style, Hell, it was practically a whole new behavior for him altogether. But if he cared to look that deeply, maybe he could reason it out as being because she'd reminded him of Lisa. Because she'd looked at him and seen a decent man, and when was the last time he'd had a chick really give a damn, other than the obvious?
Maybe he was just damned tired of all the repeated miserable mistakes, the pain.
But either way, it was just before eleven when the doorbell on 46511 E. Caregrove Lane was rung and a bouquet of roses with a few flowers mixed in was left on the doorstep. It was the same address that had been on the I.D. of the dead man, James Halston. The man who had been in the picture with a certain woman.
Janine Walters answered the door with an anxious expression and saw no one, but as she looked down, she noted a bouquet of flowers and a little note.
Happy anniversary, Janie. Love, Jimmy.
The woman stared down at the bouquet and the note. Jimmy hadn't called her 'Janie' in a couple of months at least, things had been strained, she knew he'd spent their fourteen month anniversary at a bar. But...he'd sent her flowers and a note. So he hadn't forgotten? Unsure of whether to be more upset with him, or comforted, she simply smiled through her soon watering-eyes as she cradled the flowers and with a glance around, headed back inside.
From across the street and back a bit, a black Impala sat silently as the driver watched the proceedings. Come tomorrow, she'd find out that her fiance had died-brutally no less. Another victim, through a victim that Dean had failed to save. In a way, it was almost mocking to get her hopes up, to bring her the flowers when Jimmy would never be coming home. But he had to, he had to give her something, he had to quell the nagging feeling in his gut. And maybe James' memory didn't deserve that final, 'loving' gesture. But that woman deserved comfort, however small.
The key turned in the ignition as the Impala purred to life. Home. What the Hell was home?
"You want the crusts cut off?" Mary Winchester asked with a smile.
"Ya idjit!" Bobby shouted, exasperated and fond.
"Well, we do share a more profound bond." Castiel said innocently.
"You're still my big brother..." Sam admitted softly.
"I love you, Dean." Lisa said as she smiled up at him.
"I'm proud of you." John murmured.
Dean didn't have a place to call home, but he had people who made places feel like home, if that made any sense. Very few. And it was his job to protect them, Sammy especially, but more than that...Bobby, Castiel, Lisa, Ben...
That was all the reason to keep fighting that he needed, no matter what.
...
The door was closed and Sam was left alone, confused, irritated, and admittedly a bit hurt. Dean's behavior at Singer Salvage had been...somewhat patronizing, but in a comforting way. He'd been...gentler, he'd been attentive, and in his own snarky way, caring. Like when he was younger. Whenever Sam got sick or hurt, it was Dean who tended him, and cared for him, and nursed him back to health. He'd done everything for Sam, really, and occasionally he'd gotten to return the favor. But right now? He got the same sense of patronization in a very different way. 'Stay put, you know the drill' And lying? ' Did he think that Sam was just going to fall apart any minute? What was so important that he couldn't take Sam along?
"Of course he does. He lied to you." a voice taunted in his ear with false sympathy. "He can't trust you, you're a liability. And if it weren't for me, you'd be in a puddle on the floor, screaming for your mommy."
"He trusts me." Sam said firmly, but not with complete certainty. After all that he had done without a soul, after what he'd done to their family; to Bobby, to Dean...
"Trusts you? You chose a hot piece of demon tail over your own brother while guzzling down the good stuff. You didn't save him from Hell, frigging winged-asses did. He's always saving you, Sammy-boy, but what are you doing for him? Stealing away his apple-pie? If you couldn't go back to your sweet, college-life, then he couldn't have one either, right?'
"No! I-"
"Sammy..." an hand slid onto his shoulder as someone whispered by his ear. "You can lie to yourself, but not to me."
Sam shrugged him off and turned with an angry glare. "Get out of here. You're not even real!"
"Maybe, maybe not. Does it matter? If brother dearest knew you'd been talking to the devil on your shoulder, what would he think? I bet he'd be heartbroken all over again." the man tapped a finger on his chin thoughtfully.
"I'll find a spell. I'll get rid of you." Sam spat.
"Ah, but if you do that, then who's going to keep you safe from yourself? I'm the only thin line to sanity you got left, and boy, I ain't much." the man chuckled.
"I can handle it." Sam said vehemently.
"Oh? Well, then, be my guest." The man disappeared as Sam fell to the floor and clutched his head in agony as memories assailed him anew. He couldn't help it, they tormented his nightmares and in his waking hours, they lay just beneath the surface, a constant pain and reminder. But the figment helped ease them, helped to keep him distracted and focus his mental issues elsewhere.
Sam moaned and clenched his eyes tightly as memories of the Hell-cage flooded his mind. It was too much. He couldn't take it. Had to escape. Anything. Something. A desperate need for his brother came over him, he wanted him, wanted to be in his warmth, wanted that familiar strength. "H-Help me.." it was a cry of despair but there was only one around to answer it.
"Sure thing, Sammy-boy." an arm gripped Sam's shoulder and pulled him up before it caressed his face and then brought the boy close. Sam shuddered and convulsed mildly in his grasp, trying mildly to pull away but too disturbed, too weak. "Better now?"
"Go to Hell." Sam whispered through his trembling as the memories finally ebbed, dulled somewhat by the other's presence, not the prominent terrors that they were before. "I'll still...find a way to kill you."
"I thought you said that I wasn't real?"
"I'll kill you anyway." Sam said firmly before he jerked away and stumbled to his bed. "My brother trusts me. He's all I need."
"But it scares you, doesn't it? That maybe, things have changed...and you aren't all that he needs anymore. That's the problem with breaking hearts, they tend to stay at least a little cracked."
"I don't need a philosophy lesson from a demon." Sam spat in disgust.
"No, just his help. Because without me, you'd be a useless little whelp."
"Go to Hell, you're nothing. You're not even real."
A smile played on the man's lips. "You should know by now that 'real' is a relative term, used to comfort little children into believing that the monster in their closet won't jump out and tear their throats out. Whether I'm real or not is irrelevant, you need me, Sammy-boy...it's either that, or break that brother of yours further, make him bear the burden of your broken little self."
"I'll die first." Sam said coldly and he watched the man with pure hatred in his eyes, a barely concealed anger.
The man chuckled and he lifted his gaze as his yellow-eyes flashed in the moonlight. "And then you'll still be breaking him, or convincing him to sell his soul again. How cruel. You always were my favorite, Sammy-boy." Azazel smiled coldly.
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There are not words to describe how freeging tired I am, but after like a week's effort...a chapter! In all of it's nutty glory. XD
*Damien is a reference to the little boy in The Omen, creepy Satan-spawn. It's just Dean's way of calling the boy creepy and such. XD Supposed to be funny. ANYWAY!
I debated on Anubis talking or not, he wasn't going to originally, only gonna be all mysterious and give them the gifts but I thought that the warning was needed anyway...or, to be more accurate, Anubis ignored my wishes and wanted lines. XD~
So I intended this as a long story of sorts, but I kind of like the idea of episodic story-ness, which I'll be doing for the 'sequel' which will be 'S7 episodes'. But having already started this way, I think I'll just keep writing it as a single-story, but I might start labeling chapter-titles as episodes, as in...-Episode Name Part 1- and so on. So you can navigate the 'episodes'. But I don't know. Let's just say the whole idea began with a little segment coming up in this story called 'Dean in Wonderland'. XD
So please enjoy! And shower me with words. Because they make me want to keep writing. And they really do make my day. When I'm at work, or it's like five in the morning and I wake up to reviews or faves or whatnot, it just brightens my soul. XD And now..
Off to work! XD This would be the 'end of the episode'. We'll see how I arrange others. XD~