"Ah, I see we have a new arrival."

"Who are you?" Sam asked. He looked like a man, but he knew that didn't mean anything. He could be anything and probably was very powerful.

"That is the one question I will never answer," he said. "But, I feel expansive, so if you want to ask something else, go ahead."

"What's with the other younger psychic kids?" Sam asked.

"They don't have their psychic powers yet. They'll get them when and if the devil defeats Michael."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Because Lucifer can't actually control demons, but you remember what Ava did. You guys have the power to actually control them."

"How does Lucifer know the psychic kids won't go rogue?"

"I actually don't know, but I do know that he seems pretty sure. I have to make the rest of my rounds."

The ground shook again and this time the man disappeared.

SSS

Dean looked over at Sam. He was still dead. He guessed that he would wait a few minutes.

He was still dead. Cas had told him that Zach couldn't lie, and he had promised that he would get Sam out of Hell. He pulled out his phone and called Cas.

"Get to the Lonely Man Motel," he said and hung up.

Castiel appeared after the customary fluttering of wings. "Why did you come back down?" Catiel asked.

"Good to see you, too," Dean said sarcastically. Although, he had to admit, he had loved Heaven and wouldn't be upset when he had to go back for good.

"What happened, Dean?" Cas asked.

"Zachariah promised to pull Sam out of Hell, but Sam's still dead. I thought you said he couldn't lie."

"He can't lie. But, did he actually promise to pull Sam out of Hell, because Sam's not in Hell," Cas clarified.

Dean thought back to Zachariah's exact wording. "He said Sam wouldn't be in Hell." Dean swore under his breath when he realized that he had been had with the truth. "Where is he if he's not in Hell?" If he was up in Heaven, Dean was going to be really ticked that he had come back here.

"Purgatory," Cas answered.

"So, he's working his way into Heaven?"

"No. Purgatory is a permanent place where abominations go."

Normally Dean would have laid someone out for calling Sam an abomination, but he had come to realize that Castiel used that word as a statement of fact, not judgment. "So, he's out." Dean was slowly coming to realize that he would never see Sam again. Unless he became an abomination himself. But then he would never see his parents again. He sighed.

"Lucifer is going to try to get him back," Castiel said.

"Try? Lucifer can't just yank him out of Purgatory."

"No, the only way to get someone out of Purgatory is through a demon deal."

"Well, I'm not going to sell my soul again," Dean said.

"You can't sell your soul twice even if you wanted to," Castiel reassured him, knowing that if he had a choice about it and didn't do it, Dean would be racked with guilt.

Dean was relieved. He didn't want the responsibility anyway.

SSS

Crowley approached the crying mother. "You want your daughter back, don't you?"

"Of course I do. Who are you?" She shook her head when she saw his eyes were completely black. She must be hallucinating due to the grief. Her only daughter had been killed in a drive by shooting a couple of days ago.

"My name is Crowley. Your husband made a deal with one of my type ten years before your daughter was born."

"What are you talking about?" the woman asked, getting more and more confused.

"Not important. What's important is the deal that I can make you now. I can bring your daughter back," Crowley said.

"How is that possible?"

"I just need you to promise me your soul. I won't need it for another ten years."

The woman looked back at the picture of her smiling daughter that she had been clutching. "OK."

"Not so fast. There's one other thing. I want something, too, so I won't make the deal unless you ask me to bring back all the others like her."

The woman shrugged. If there were others as great as her daughter they deserved to be brought back. "OK."

"Great, we just need to kiss to seal the deal."

The woman shuddered as Crowley pulled her into an embrace and pushed her lips onto hers. But, she just pictured her daughter and kissed him back.

SSS

While Dean and Castiel were talking Sam took a deep breath and sat up. "I thought you said he could only be brought back by a demon deal?" Dean asked Cas.

"That's right."

"Who, besides me, would sell their soul for him?"

"What? Did I die again?" Sam looked down at his clothes and decided that it was a no-brainer that he had.

"You don't remember where you were?" Dean asked.

"No, I never do when I die," Sam said in a sort of whiney tone.

Dean thought about that for a minute. He didn't remember any of the times that he died at Mystery Spot, but that was a whole Trickster thing, so he didn't know if he should count that. He remembered hell from when he died the first time. This was only the second time he had died, but he remembered Heaven. Sam had died four times by his count and never remembered. He wondered what that meant.

"OK, anyway, Cas told me the only way for you to come back was by a demon deal. Who would sell their soul for you?" he asked, repeating his question.

Sam shrugged. "Bobby?"

Dean cursed and pulled out his phone and called Bobby. "You do something stupid recently?" Dean asked.

"Like what?" Bobby asked, confused. The last time he had seen the boys was at his wife's funeral pyre and he hadn't had the urge to do much of anything, stupid or otherwise, since then.

"Sell your soul?"

"That's a Winchester thing. I'm not that much of an idgit," Bobby said. "What's going on?"

"Sam died and Cas said the only way to bring him back was a demon deal. He's back and I didn't do it."

Bobby was silent. That didn't make a lick of sense.

SSS

Crowley went to see Lucifer. "Did you do it?"

"Yes. Not only is your vessel back in action, but all of Azazel's children are back."

"Excellent. As soon as I get Sam to say yes, I will have all of those psychics to help me rule the world." He then killed Crowley. "You knew too much."

SSS

Andy, Jake, Lily, and over a dozen others all started coughing. They looked around. It looked the same as Purgatory, but it wasn't. It was real. Somehow, some way, they were back.

"We need to get Sam Winchester," Jake declared. He had liked him at first, but that had gone out the window after he had shot him about ten times. Talk about overkill.

"I'm totally on board with that," Ava agreed.

"Come on, you guys," Andy tried to pacify them. Everyone else started to drift away. They didn't have a problem with Sam and wanted to try to get back to their old lives.

"Nobody touches Sam Winchester," a man who appeared before them cried out.

"Who are you?" Jake asked, belligerently.

"Lucifer. I'm your boss. I'll call you when I'm ready. Until then nobody goes near Sam Winchester. Understand?"

Everyone nodded, including Ava and Jake. They weren't sure why, but they were enthralled by him. They would go back to their lives and anxiously await his call.

The End