Hey guys! Thanks so much for all of your wonderful reviews! Here is the last chapter of this story! I've been getting so many requests to continue this series, that I think I'm going to try to come up with another story to add to this series. If you have any suggestions or anything you want to see happen, please tell me and I will definitely take it into consideration! Thank you for reading! :)
"So, the warrior of God has finally decided to come forward, to do something useful. After that mess at the warehouse, I wondered if perhaps the angels had been mistaken. Perhaps spent too much time in those clouds. But it seems I underestimated you. Here you are, ruining my plans, getting in my way."
A darkness seems to settle around the demon, seen by all. Only Sam could feel the power that the darkness held. Only he knew what it meant for him. Please give me strength to do this. He had seen this. He knew this was going to happen. But seeing it and experiencing it? So different.
The darkness seemed to strike Sam hard and instantly Sam screamed, pain tearing through him. It felt like every cell in his body was exploding within him, every drop of blood was draining from him with each pump of his heart, his lungs were shriveling up, knives were piercing through his mind, his muscles were shredding with every breath he took.
No vision would ever be able to accurately portray this...this level of suffering.
The demon finally stopped, grinning nastily at Sam's curled body, still trembling, the pained gasps that were torn from him.
Sam could hear Dean screaming for him in the background, panic and horror clear in his tone.
"After your mother thwarted me in my attempt to kill you, I decided to start my own army. Gather my own followers that by sheer number alone would be able to defeat the so-called warrior of God."
There was another blast of agony that instantly pulled a scream from Sam, his body jerking and writhing. It cut off a moment later.
"I knew that you were coming."
Another blast of pain that almost instantly cut off, pulling a sob from Sam. He wasn't sure he could take much more.
"And you knew too didn't you? Your vision showed you much. You knew that you were going to stop Jake. You knew that I was coming." the demon paused, glancing over at the other listening hunters with a cruel grin. "And you knew that you weren't going to survive. You knew that, at last, I would be the one to kill you. Don't you just love the irony? The brave warrior of God goes to his death at the hands of the one who had failed so many years previously. It was foolish of you to come, Samuel."
...
Dean couldn't remember a time he had had so many emotions going through his head. Anger at Sam. How could you still come when you knew...how could you not warn us, tell us what you saw? Despair. Sammy. Please. Please Sammy. Don't...don't leave me. Please. How many times do I have to lose you? You die this time, Sam, and I'm following you. That's a promise, little brother.
...
"I...I knew that I was going to die. But...but I knew that it was for a good cause. That by my death, you would be defeated."
The demon's eyes flashed black, anger clear by the twist of his lips.
The blackness the demon had gathered struck Sam again. Screams rang through the cemetery, seemingly emphasized by the lightning that struck the ground again and again with tremendous crashes.
...
Dean struggled against the invisible hold on him, desperate to get to his little brother. He had never heard Sam scream like this, never heard his strong little brother let loose, give in to the pain. That alone let Dean have an idea of how much Sam must be suffering. Dean knew that no matter how this night ended he would have nightmares for the rest of his life about this moment. Trapped, helpless, forced to listen to his baby brother, the reason he existed – his purpose in life, scream himself hoarse. No more. Please I can't listen anymore. Please. Sammy.
...
The ground was beginning to shake beneath them. The longer Sam's screams lasted, the longer he suffered, the worse the storm seemed to get around them. It took John longered than he thought it should have to realize that it was Sam's suffering that was causing the physical devastation around them.
The headstones began to crack, tipping over and breaking with the force of the ground trembling and shaking. The trees were toppling over with tremendous crashes, even the strongest trees were cracking and splitting. The wind howled and screamed. The lightning was striking the ground faster and faster, the bright flashes of light overwhelming and blinding and loud, yet still not enough to block out his youngest son's screams. They seemed almost unearthly now in their intensity and in the way they carried even over all the noise of the Earth being destroyed around them.
...
Dean was startled when something bumped his hand. He managed to glance down enough to see that the colt, lying forgotten on the ground a ways away for some time now, had suddenly appeared beside his hand. Then Dean knew. Sammy. That's my boy.
He struggled to lift his hand enough to grab it, to do something, anything, to save his brother, to kill the demon. He couldn't. I'm sorry, Sammy. I'm so sorry. The demon is just so powerful...
Sam trusts me. The thought hit Dean like a speeding train. Sam trusts me enough to save him, to kill the demon. Otherwise, he would have sent the gun to dad or even Bobby or Pastor Jim. He trusts me, he needs me. I won't let him down. I can't let him die. I won't.
Dean gritted his teeth and struggled against the overwhelming powers that held him to the ground and, slowly, inch by inch, he felt his hand lifting off the ground, then landing on the hilt of the gun. Raising it was even harder.
COME ON! Sam's counting on you! MOVE IT!
Dean raised the gun, aimed, then...pulled the trigger.
The noise of the gun going off was almost hidden in the chaos going on around them, but the demon still looked up. Just in time to get a bullet between his eyes. Blue lightning crackled around the demon's now frozen body and Sam's jerking body went limp just as the demon fell to the ground, finally, finally, dead.
The Earth went still. The silence was deafening, the damage overwhelming. No one dared move in the shock of the sudden silence.
The spell only lasted a second. The force holding Dean down was gone and he scrambled to his feet, anxiously dropping to his knees beside his baby brother only a second later.
Sam's eyes were drooping, his body still shaking, trembling. Blood covered his face. His hands twitched and it only took Dean a second to realize that Sam was trying to lift them, trying to grab onto him, but was unable to find the strength. Oh my...
He gently gathered Sam in his arms. Despite the years that had passed, the size that Sam had grown to, Dean found the kid still fit just right in his arms. It was where he would always belong. By his brother's side. Please Sammy. Don't take that away from me. Don't leave me.
"Sammy."
Dean gently used his overshirt's sleeve to wipe the blood away from Sam's face as best he could.
"Sammy?"
Sam was barely breathing, his eyes beginning to drift closed.
"No. No, don't you dare. You don't get to do this to me again. I can only lose you so many times, kiddo. Stay awake, Sam." Dean hesitated, then added softly, "please. Sammy please."
Sam's eyes drifted up to Dean at the "please". Dean felt the slightest of pressure on his arm from Sam's attempt at comfort, before Sam's eyes drifted closed.
A moment of panic had Dean checking Sam's pulse, but he was relieved to find it. Sam was alive. For now at least.
"We need to get him to a hospital." John was saying, when Dean tuned back in to the conversation of the hunters behind him.
"No. A hospital won't do him any good. That kind of torture isn't really physical. Sam is weak, but not physically injured. Only he can pull himself through this. They can't help. We can take him to my house. Let him...let him recover there." Bobby's voice now.
Dean found himself agreeing with Bobby. There was no way he was letting go of Sam now. A hospital would take Sam away, would limit him to visiting hours. Not happening. "No hospital."
Dean gathered Sam in his arms, then stood with a grunt. What have you been eating, Sammy? You need to stop growing. Any day now. You're already taller than me, Sasquatch. How am I supposed to carry you out of dangerous situations after you do something stupid when you are so freaking big?
Dean sighed, but managed to walk right past the staring hunters and get to the Impala. He laid Sam down in the passenger seat, manuevering the kid so his head was resting on Dean's lap. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but Dean just couldn't bring himself to put Sam in the back. Even that was too far away.
I just want to be able to check his pulse. That's it. Of course it is. Dean wasn't fooling himself. But darned if he wasn't going to try anyway.
...
Dean drove along the highway, checking every couple of hours to be sure that his dad, Bobby, and Pastor Jim were still following.
He glanced down at his baby brother with a sigh.
"Why you, Sammy? It's always you. It's like the entire power of **** is constantly directed against you. How can we win against that?" Dean suddenly smiled wryly. "Well, I suppose we did. Gosh. We defeated **** today, Sammy."
Dean instantly sobered.
"There's still so much against you. I swear, Sammy, it's like there's a line. Heck, kiddo, ****'s taking numbers. 'Whose next against the Winchesters? We're even taking bets on how long they're going to go without a fatal injury this time!' Heck, maybe their doing an auction too. This is getting ridiculous."
Hey, humor's good. Humor means I don't have to think about how bad this is. Oh, right, notthinking about how close this was, about how close it still is. Dang it, Sammy.
...
It was touch and go for longer than Dean was prepared to deal with. He refused to leave his brother's side, unsure if his aching heart could even handle it. The second Dean let go of Sam's hand, he just knew what was left of his sanity would slip away, never to be found again.
John was exasperated, but stopped trying to pull Dean away from a waning Sam's bedside after a knife embedded in the wall two inches from his face. Dean hadn't even been looking at him at the time and that's when John decided that a strategic withdrawal was in order. Dean was pretty much left alone after that. He took care of all of Sam's needs, pretty much refusing to accept anyone else's help.
However, after a week, it began to pay off. Sam's health began to improve, his color slowly returning.
It was when Sam woke up, though, that Dean felt his hope return.
"Dean."
"Sammy."
Sam winced as he tried to adjust his position. Every muscle was screaming at him, even muscles he didn't know he had. "Crap."
"Take these." Dean handed him three white pills.
"What are-"
"Muscle relaxants."
"How did you-"
"Oh, please, Sammy, I've been taking care of you since the day you were born. I know you better than anyone else. I can tell that your muscles are sore."
Sam hid a smile by taking the pills with a huge gulp of water.
Dean sighed and Sam sobered, sensing that something heavy was on Dean's mind.
"Sam. I'm very proud of you. You saved the world, kiddo, and you did us all proud."
Wow. That definitely wasn't what Sam was expecting.
Dean's face took on a grim look, more serious than Sam could ever remember seeing him. "But if you ever, ever hide the details of a vision from me again, especially details that have to do with injuries to you or your...your death, I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive you." Dean grabbed a hold of Sam's shirt, pulling him gently but firmly closer. "Do you understand me, Sam? I can't do this again. Don't you make me do this again. You tell me everything you see from now on."
Sam saw the agony in Dean's eyes, saw how much the last week or two had hurt him and knew that he wouldn't be able to do this to Dean again, promise or not. Sam nodded firmly. "From now on, I'll tell you everything, Dean. I promise."
Dean hesitated a moment, looking for the truth in Sam's eyes, before relaxing, lowering his little brother back to the bed. "Okay, then."
...
"What do you want to do now?"
The question was one that Dean had been expecting for a while now. Sam was getting antsy, to say nothing of his older brother who was climbing up the walls, and Dean knew that it was time to make a decision.
The demon was dead. Their quest for vengeance was over. Was it time for hunting to be over too? They could go have their apple pie lives, white fence, beautiful wife, 2.5 kids, a dog, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Dean couldn't say that he didn't long for some peace, but...he just wasn't sure that life was for him. However, he always knew what certain little brother his life would always revolve around.
"What do you want to do, Sammy?
Sam hesitated, looking down at the floor, deep in thought. "The demon is dead. Mom's been avenged." he said quietly.
Dean nodded.
"But I still have my powers." Something changed in Sam's voice, something that told Dean the kid had reached a decision. "I still have a responsiblity...we still have a responsibility to use them."
Sam suddenly turned and blasted his older brother with a full-force-dimples-and-all grin.
Crap, how do you turn off the brights on that thing? That's gotta be illegal.
"Besides, I don't think I was really cut out for the apple pie life anyway."
Dean offered his brother a small smile, nodding firmly. Me neither.
"Well, then. Sounds like we have work to do."