Chapter 6

"Bring. Him. Back." Sam ordered the crossroads demon. "Now!"

"Why should I?" she said, trying to hide the tremor in her voice.

"Because if you don't I will take you to hell myself, the lowest, hottest pit and dump your sorry ass straight into the flames. You will burn, trapped in your prison of flesh, powerless, feeling… every… second of a millennium in the fire."

"I still have the contract." Ruby called from where she'd gently rolled Dean onto his back. The crossroads demon trembled as she moved to the fallen hunter's side, taking the crystal from Ruby's outstretched hand.

She bent low and gained one victory. She whispered venomously in Ruby's ear, "Some day you'll get yours, Aindri. What he is becoming will haunt you just like it did with your brother's fate. It will end the same. You'll still be alone." Ruby swallowed and dropped her gaze from the possessed woman. Sam walked up behind the crossroads demon and grabbed her by the hair. He pulled her upright and back against him as his hand crept from her tousled hair to her throat where it rested with enough pressure to make the demon worry about her host's life.

"You have one minute." He menaced, stroking her throat before abruptly letting her go. She stumbled and fell to her knees by Dean's side. She placed the crystal on his chest and ghosted a hand over it speaking in Latin. Sam understood every word she used.

"You are free of the terms binding you. For your natural life you are protected." The crystal pulsed and Dean's body took on the glow. The pulsing increased to a furious pace and Dean's back arched off the ground as if he'd been shocked.

"Guhhh-huuuhhhh" He coughed and sucked in a ragged breath. The light disappeared from the crystal and the night as he coughed again and lay still; his breathing slowly returning to normal.

The crossroads demon stood from his side and looked at Sam. He glared and she cast her gaze at the ground. "I've done what you asked. Dean will live long and healthy, free of our interference. Let me go, Majesty, please."

"Let's see…" Fear spiked in the demon's eyes. "No." Sam pulled lightening from the night sky and held it in his hand.

The crossroads demon stepped back, nearly tripping over Dean's unconscious form in her haste to save herself. "Please, Sire….Please, I'll leave this woman. Don't send me back there like this."

Suddenly Ruby was beside Sam. She glared at the demon as Sam played with a ball of lightening, bouncing it slightly in his palm, making the demon very nervous. The woman fell to her knees. Ruby acted and pressed another crystal to Sam's chest. It pulsed in her hand with a black light, a vibrant blue glow and Sam screamed. His head fell back as the ball of lightening flew wild from his palm to strike the boulder at the side of the road. It exploded, raining slivers of rock everywhere. Sam's eyes flashed black on a long scream of agony, briefly returning to normal hazel before turning yellow. Ruby jumped as she saw that hated, familiar shade. "Oh, God please no." she whispered. Sam's eyes went from that yellow, to black again, to his hazel before rolling up into his head. Ruby pulled the crystal away and quickly caught him, laying him down gently in the gravel.

The crossroads demon stood and smirked. "I told you. You've started something that in the end will finish you." The woman's head fell back and black smoke erupted from her mouth on a choked scream. The woman slid to her knees again and looked at Ruby in puzzlement. Her mouth worked as if to ask how she got there.

"BOO!" Ruby shouted at the already terrified woman. The woman screamed and stood, running away as fast as she could in no particular direction and back to a lifetime of therapy.

Dean stirred on the ground several feet away from where Sam lay with Ruby by his side. He tried to sit up and found the pain in his head and right shoulder to be incapacitating. Ruby came into his line of vision and he looked at her brown eyes swimming with tears. Sudden fear made his vision blur more and his stomach rebel. "Sammy?" Ruby knelt and reached for him. He didn't flinch away like she thought he would. He allowed Ruby to help him sit up and his blurred vision fell on the still form of his baby brother.

"Sammy!" He looked at Ruby. "Tell me he's alive." She just nodded and helped Dean stand, his right arm hanging at his side uselessly, his shoulder dislocated. She helped him hobble to Sam's side. He slid to his knees, Ruby easing down beside him as he felt for a pulse in Sam's neck. It was faint but there. Dean released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and stroked back Sam's disheveled hair. "C'mon Sammy, wake up for me. Huh? Baby brother? Hey, Sammy, you're scarin' me here." Dean stroked Sam's neck over his pulse again and continued cooing nonsense to his Sammy. Ruby stood and pulled her cell phone from her pocket. She dialed a number.

"Hello."

"I know you're not far from Fairborn, Ohio. Right?"

"Who is this?"

"Ruby. Listen, the guys need you now. Get here. The crossroads just outside of town."

"Crossroads? What the hell?"

"I'll explain when you get here. Just get here." She clicked her phone shut terminating the call.

Dean looked up at her through bleary eyes from where he had lifted Sam's unconscious form awkwardly against his chest when Sam had started shivering in the night air. "Who the hell did you call?"

"Bobby. He's only an hour out. I knew he was close. He's coming to help." She started to turn away.

"Wait. Ruby, help me. He's going into shock and I only have one good arm. I need your help." He met her eyes and she saw for the first time that he was willing to trust her. She knelt down and looked at Sam. "I can help you warm him."

"Wait, I thought…" Dean hesitated, not knowing that she wasn't the normal cold of a demon. She reached out a hand and cupped Dean's cheek. "You're warm?" It came out a question.

"Sam tried to tell you I'm not a demon. When I gave him my brother's abilities, which I had taken when I killed him… I also gave him Akshay's curse. For that I'm sorry. That's why he's in shock now. He was cold, demonic. The yang to my yin. Here, give him to me." Dean hesitated only briefly before letting Ruby pull him into her arms. She closed her eyes and a warm breeze began to blow in the lightening night sky. Sam stilled his shivering and sighed, sinking into an exhausted slumber against her. Dean, too, was warmed by the breeze, the heat that seemed to radiate from Ruby. He curled up next to his brother and held his pained shoulder immobile. Soon his head rested on Sam's shoulder and he slept. Ruby watched over the Winchesters and cried, hoping that the hint of yellow she'd seen in Sam's eyes had been buried deep inside once again.

Bobby pulled up to the crossroads as the sun was rising. Horror streaked through him at the sight of the two young men he considered family. Sam was obviously unconscious; being held by the blond demon who he somehow felt had more to her than just being a demon. Dean had his head resting on Sam's shoulder and stirred when he heard the vehicle approach. Bobby got out of his truck and walked up to the boys and Ruby.

"You care to give me that explanation now?" He asked her. Dean spoke up after looking at her when she nodded.

"Bobby, the deal. I'm out. I'm free." Dean smiled with tears in his eyes. The moisture coursed down his face and he looked at Sam, the smile fading. He pushed Sam's hair back from his eyes again. Bobby's face fell, and tears sparkled in his eyes.

"Aw, Sam. What did he do?"

"He just saved his big brother's ass, as promised." Sam spoke quietly as he opened his eyes. Dean gasped and looked at Sam in time to catch the weak smile that Sam threw his way. Bobby sat down on his aged knees and patted Sam on the shoulder.

"Good to see you're okay, kid. How 'bout we get you both the hell outta here and into soft beds. Ya both look like you walked into hell and crawled back out." Dean pulled himself awkwardly to his feet and held his shoulder immobile. Bobby glanced his way before taking Sam from Ruby. He helped the young Winchester stand and supported him on the way to the vehicles. "You boys got a motel room near here?"

"Uh, yeah. About an hour east of here. Bobby, I don't think I can drive. My shoulder's out of commission. I know Sammy's not okay."

"That's okay. We'll get you two patched up and I'll come back for that hunk of junk after a while." He called back to Dean as he helped Sam into the back seat of the Impala.

"Thanks Bobby." Dean waited until the door shut, keeping Sam from hearing his next words. He looked at Ruby as she made no move to come with them. "You comin'?"

"Got something to take care of. You'll see me again."

"Hey Ruby?" Dean stopped her as she took a step into the early morning dimness.

"Yeah?"

"Is everything okay with Sammy? I mean, he is just Sammy now?" Ruby dropped her gaze to the glowing crystal in her fist and held it tighter.

"I hope so." Dean watched her as she turned away again.

"Thanks." Dean walked to the car and Bobby opened the door for him. He climbed in, still holding his arm immobile and Bobby shut the door and circled the car. Dean glanced back at Sam in the back seat. "You okay, Sammy?"

Sam nodded and spoke. "Yeah, you?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah." Bobby fired the engine and pulled away from the crossroads. Dean felt lighthearted. He was finally free. Sam looked at his brother, the rising sun flashing yellow off his eyes. Sam turned his face to the window and looked at his own reflection as the car passed under a tree and into the shade briefly.. Yellow eyes looked back at him, glinting, before returning to the hazel that he'd looked at for years in the mirror. Sam swallowed and dropped his eyes to his hands, noticing for the first time he wasn't shaking anymore.

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A/N: Yes I'm leaving this one here. Always have to leave a bit to start a sequel with. I get the feeling if the writers ever get back to doing what they do best; we're going to get left here anyway! Let me know what you think. Thank you!