Chapter 12

Damn him.

God Damn him.

What the hell was he thinking?

Did he even think?

Nessa kept her head down as she skirted the robed figures in the corridors, making her way at a steady pace toward the living quarters. The courtyards had been empty...one lone table still set for chess and littered with beer bottles. The cafeteria yielded nothing but Ambre and Shay who were taking comfort in each other over this shocking revelation. Nessa so wasn't into trying to keep up with everyone - at least not to the extent that she normally would. Ambre may have been her charge, but she had round the clock guardian's taking shifts now and that gave Nessa a bit of a break.

Damn that no good son of a ....

Nessa felt a hitch in her chest.

Damn her own feelings.

She never got emotionally involved with humans - NEVER! What was wrong with her? She felt familiar anger settling in like an old friend as she paused outside Cowboys room and then without knocking shoved the door open. The hunters sitting round the table there jumped at the intrusion and looked to her in shock. "Hey, Sugar." Nessa nodded with a seriousness that sent chill through the room. "You're brother's in a spot of trouble." Nessa didn't wait for the questions...she didn't have time for them. Executions here were carried out swiftly.

As expected Sugar was running after her after only a few steps. "Where is he? They have us confined to our room."

"Yeah well stick with me...they may give you a pass." Nessa replied quietly as Sam followed her long strides easily and stuck by her side while Bobby and Ben hurried to catch up with them. Nessa's voice dropped. "I am going to get in so much trouble for this."

"Is Dean alright?" Sam got out when she didn't answer his question. Nessa cut him a 'hell no' look that got Sam swallowing the knot in his throat as he fell silent and followed her as his heart began to race to match their hurried pace. Bobby and Ben picked up the not alright to ask questions vibe and stayed quiet as they took twists and turns.

Sam had thought the whole underground compound was mostly the same...narrow earthen brick corridors with no life or color in them...scarce decoration and meager accommodations. The whole place was very monastery like...or what Sam would image one to be like. But the scenery was changing...the earthen bricks were shading to black as they continued onward. Sam felt a chill sweep over him. Darkness was settling in - the walls seemed to narrow further until at last the end of the corridor came into view - yielding one wooden door set against the black bricks. The door was old...and that chill seemed to work it's way into Sam's veins as he looked at the knotted wood there.

"Look...I can't fix this." Nessa said quietly as she approached the door - even her nerve shaken at the sight of it. There was a quiver to her whisper of her voice. "But I thought you should have a chance to say goodbye."

"Say goodbye?!" Sam and Bobby got out at the same time. Nessa closed her eyes a moment and sniffed back her emotions as her eyes went fearless again her resolve renewed and she nodded before opening the door.

The spiraled stairwell was incased in the same black bricks with a few torches set enough to dimly light the way down. "He's being executed for treason."

"He's what?! He left the room for like half an hour - how the hell did he commit treason? And I mean what kind of treason - against who?" Sam couldn't believe this. Could not believe this. This was unreal. How in the world.? They were alone now - the four of them - making their way down the stairway at an even quicker pace as the fear from some taint again this place began to settle in.

"He found his way into a trial set against one of the high ranking guardians in the rebellion. He couldn't keep his mouth shut...called out against a Justicar...and well that was enough to get him up on the treason wrap...this is a whole new world down here...human rules and regulations do not apply and what he did may not sound bad to you - but it's forbidden here." She explained as they walked.

"Yeah but there was no way he could have known." Bobby said in exasperation.

"Doesn't matter." Nessa called back matching his tone. "He broke law...and the Justicar's word is final! I already told you I can't fix this. I've tried!"

"What are they going to do to him?!" Sam was scared to death...his brain rambling in circles trying to think of a way to argue Dean's way out of this.

"Bleed him." Nessa met Sam's eyes as they paused a moment. "They'll put him and Gabriel in a magical circle and draw the energy from their blood to funnel their essence to the weave. No heaven or hell...it's an end to a soul..." Nessa's almost looked away...she almost broke the eye contact as the hitch in her chest tightened and she had to swallow to be able to breath again. She was so not going to tear up - damn it.

"That's my vision...Son of a bitch!" Sam slammed his hand into the black brick and looked away breaking in front of Nessa to hurry them along. "Bobby we can't let them kill him!"

"You can't stop it!" Nessa called out as she hurried to keep pace. Sam got to the base of the steps and took the winding corridor at a full out run until he came to another scary as hell wooden door and he didn't even give it a moments pause before he pulled it open and burst into a circular room with eight magical circles set into the floor. The intricate patterns in the circle looked a lot like some of the demon traps that Bobby had in his books except they were carved into the stone in deep grooves. The unoccupied circles had a visible hole that looked like a drain for the blood to flow. There were two posts set to the right and left at the top of each circle where the pattern started.

Sam gasped as he saw them tying a near lifeless Dean to the posts. His cast had been removed and he was only wearing a T-shirt and jeans. Sam could seem him visibly shivering from the fever and for a moment as rational thought left couldn't help but think that he should be covered so that his fever didn't go up...then he remembered that they were about to kill him ...Sam took a step toward him and suddenly slammed into something that felt solid...some sort of magical barrier.

Sam frantically pushed against it and then began to move side ways around the much larger circle that provided the barrier so that he could see Dean better...so that Dean could see him. Eight guards had taken up positions inside the magical area and were silently standing at attention as five attendants worked to begin the whole process. Sam didn't even give the other prisoner much of a glance as he was too concerned with just getting close enough to Dean. Bobby was following his lead as was Ben. "DEAN!" Sam cried out as he stopped at a crouch at the point closest to his brother that he could get.

Dean angled his head in that direction silently and Sam saw that his eyes were already wide with fear and fight. "Sam?" It came out in a raspy whisper and Sam knew that Dean was fighting to just stay conscious and by god they hadn't even done anything to him yet.

"Dean, just hang on I'm going to get you out of this." Sam said quickly pressing both hands against the barrier as he saw pain sweep across Dean's near tear soaked face from the way they were handling his broken arm. "Bobby..." the desperation in Sam's voice was broken as Bobby swallowed the knot in his throat.

"I'll go find the Justicar." Bobby whispered out in horror. "Dean, hang on!" Bobby called a moment later before he grabbed Ben by the arm and made a run for the door.

"This is pointless...I brought you to say goodbye...everything that can be done has been done." Nessa said as she let her gaze fall to Cowboy sprawled out in the circle. She swallowed and looked to Gabriel with the same remorse before turning and walking to the back of the circular room. Nessa leaned her back against the wall and folded her hands across her chest with a sigh as she tried to keep her emotions in check. She could understand Sam's need to hope...his desperation to save this man...but to her - he was already dead.

Sam rose to his feet as one of the attendants walked to Dean with a jagged knife and the other four came to hold him down. Sam slammed a hand against the barrier in horror. "No! No...leave him alone! No!." Sam scrambled around the circle trying to get a better view of Dean. Dean angled his head back and let out a scream against protesting muscles and fighting limbs subdued by strong hands as two slits where cut deep into his forearms.

Sam suddenly realized that this wasn't a fast process. God it was going to take a while for him to die...he'd feel his own blood flowing from him for so long...too long...God this was no way for a man to die...for Dean to die over some stupid misunderstanding - dammit he had to stop this - had to find a way to get to Dean. Sam would take on the whole of the guards...the attendants. He just had to get to him...get inside...find a way. "Dean!" Sam slammed another hand into the barrier as tears of rage and frustration and fear fell across his cheeks. God he'd almost lost him more then once in the last week - he was not going to let him die...couldn't let him die...God no.

The attendants left him to enact the same punishment to Gabriel and Dean was left there alone to his own death. Dean felt his vision dancing in and out on the tides of consciousness as he heard his brother shout his name again. He couldn't believe this was actually happening. It was like some nightmare he couldn't wake up from. After everything...everything - Dean pulled his good hand against the post then tried the broken arm as well near casting himself in unconsciousness from the act. "Sam!" Dean called back a moment later his voice encased in desperation and fear as the tears fell across Dean's own cheeks. "Sammy!"

"Dean, it's going to be alright...Bobby is going to talk to the man in charge...ok I'm just - I'm going to find a way in there and we're going to get this all sorted out. You just hang on...just a minute...just hang on." Sam could see that Dean didn't believe that it was all alright and the fear showing on his brother's face cut jagged wounds into Sam's soul. "It's going to be alright - I'm not going to let you die."

"Sammy, don't...just." Dean's voice was fading fast. His body had already taken so much punishment and he had still been recovering from the blood lost from his previous fights...battling the sickness that had taken his body. "Promise me..." he trailed off nearly falling to unconsciousness.

"Dean!" Sam sobbed out slamming more angry fists into that damned barrier. "Don't do that! Dean don't you give up - do not say goodbye!"

"Sammy promise me." He was fading so fast - trying to hang on. To will himself to stay alive - to live...to fight. "You have to promise me..."

"What? Promise you what?" Sam slipped to the floor leaning against the barrier trying to get as close to Dean as he could...it was only a foot - maybe...but it felt like miles separating them.
"Promise you what ?!" Sam screamed out a moment later when he almost thought his brother was lost as he had fallen silent - gone still.

"Look out for yourself...and protect...Ambre..." Dean's eyes closed and his body gave a shudder as the grooves filled with his blood.