A/N: Yes, it's another update! I finally reached double digits… I'm so proud. Once again I'd like to give all my reviewers a big hug because you guys just make this story worth writing. Thank you. And of course, a massive thank you to The Tribble Master who helps me fix up every chapter and gives me enough confidence to post each one. Thank you!

Without further hesitation, onwards and upwards!

Previously:

Once he was on his feet, Dean felt slightly better, although his legs were shaking slightly. Preparing himself mentally, he raised his eyes and glared at the witch.

"What do you want?"

Chapter 10

The witch laughed loudly.

"I have what I want, Dean. You're right here with your good-for-nothing brother and uncle. The things I can do to you… you can't even imagine it." She looked at Dean thoughtfully for a moment.

"Or maybe you can?"

Her finger snapped and Dean fell to the floor like a puppet. The only thing that stopped him hitting the ground was Sam, who had dropped to his knees and managed to catch Dean's upper body.

"Dean? Dean?" Sam asked frantically, patting Dean's face, hoping for a reaction. Dean remained still, eyes closed. Sam gazed up at the witches, his eyes wide.

"What did you do to him?" He yelled, heart pounding. The witches all laughed. The leader answered him.

"Dean's just taking a short trip down memory lane, Sammy." She said in a sickly sweet tone.

"It's Sam," Sam growled with clenched teeth. The witch opened her eyes wide.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is only Deanie allowed to call you that?" She said mockingly. Sam began to rise, feeling the fury rage inside him, but was stopped by Bobby.

"Don't give in to her bait, Sam," Bobby said quietly. "We don't know what she's done to Dean." Despite his calm words, Bobby's eyes were filled with anger directed at the coven. Sam let out a quick breath before nodding.

"Yeah."

The witches, realising Sam had cooled down, decided to leave the three for a short while.

"Don't worry, we'll be back," one witch called out as they left. Sam glared at their retreating figures before turning his attention back to Dean.

"Dean? Dean?!"

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Something was wrong. Dean had seen this happen, had been here before, but it wasn't right. It hadn't happened like this.

"Sam!" He heard John yell. Sam leapt back as the huge claws of the creature swiped down towards him. Barely missed him. Dean felt his heart leap in his throat as he watched himself- so much younger then- attempt to stab the creature and missed.

"Dad, look out!" He heard himself yell, and spun around to see the creature slam its claws into John. He saw his father's eyes widen for a second before gazing down at his own impaled body.

"Dad!" He dimly heard his younger self and Sam yell, but he couldn't bring himself to tear his eyes away from his dying father. This was wrong. The creature had missed dad, it hadn't hit him! As he watched, horrified, a trickle of blood slid from John's mouth as his head fell forward and his body turned limp. Lifeless.

"No! Dad!" Dean yelled but the memory was fading, everything was becoming grey and blurry and-

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"Dean!" Sam repeated again, shaking Dean less gently than before. Dean was currently lying on the ground, Sam's jacket lying beneath him. Every so often a whimper would leave his lips and his face would contort slightly. Only one word had left his lips so far, and it was so quiet that Sam had to bend down to hear it.

"Dad."

"Dean, you have to wake up. Can you hear me?"

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It wasn't right. It didn't happen like this, it wasn't right.

"Sam!" Dean heard his younger self yell. They were older now- Dean was about 16, Sam nearly 12. Dean watched as his younger self grabbed Sam's hand, the only thing keeping Sam from falling from the cliff and hitting the bottom.

"I've got you Sammy," younger Dean said, firmly gripping Sam's hand. But as Dean watched, Sam's hand began to slip until-

"Sammy!" Both Dean's cried out as Sam fell to his death hundreds of metres below. Dean reeled back, shocked. No. He had held Sam's hand and pulled him back up. Sam had survived that, he hadn't fallen.

"Sam!" Dean yelled hopelessly, waiting for the call of his younger brother.

It never came.

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"…Sam?..."

It was a mumble. So soft Sam nearly missed it. But he heard it.

"Dean? Dean, I'm right here, what's wrong?" Sam asked.

No reply. Dean's breathing was getting faster, his brows furrowed as he saw something only he could see.

"Dean, you have to wake up. Wake up!"

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"Why do you always treat me like I'm four? I'm an adult now; I'm in charge of my own life!"

"I'm your father, Sam. Or does family not mean anything to you anymore?"

"Of course I care about you guys-"

"And that's why you're running off to college then? Because you care so much about us? God Sam, I didn't know you were that selfish that you could do that to your own kin!"

"You know, any normal parent would be happy I made it to college! But I guess we were never a normal family, were we?" Sam's words hit Dean like a tonne of bricks. Again. Because for once, the memory he saw before him was not tainted, not altered in any way.

He wished it was.

"And to think I used to believe I had a father," Sam said as he strode to the table and grabbed his backpack. He walked angrily to the door and threw it open.

"You walk out that door, don't you ever return." John said, voice filled with fury. Sam just looked back at him before walking out and slamming the door, leaving behind an empty silence.

"Sam," Dean whispered sadly as he let his brother go… Again.

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Sam looked on in shock and worry as two tears slid from under Dean's eyelids.

"Dean?" he said quietly. Beside him, Bobby sighed.

"They've cast a spell on him Sam. You heard what that witch said… 'Dean's just taking a short trip down memory lane.' They must have trapped him in his own mind, in his memories." Sam looked up at Bobby, tears pooling in his own eyes.

"But Dean doesn't have any memories that would hurt him..." Sam's voice trailed off uncertainly.

"Everyone gets into hunting somehow. And along the way, you see some pretty horrific things. Dean's had a lot to deal with," Bobby said quietly. But Sam shook his head.

"No. Dean's strong. If he made it through something once, he would make it through again."

"Sam, I don't think-"

"No." Sam was certain, beyond a doubt that Dean could survive his memories. "Whatever they're doing, they're trying to kill him, or at least hurt him really badly. But his memories wouldn't do that. He would wake up from them. He's stronger than you think," Sam insisted.

"Are you sure?" Bobby asked gently. "I know he's your big brother Sam, but remember that he's only human."

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Dean couldn't take it any more. These memories in his head, they were too much. He had watched himself fail to save those he loved over and over again, had seen his family break apart. The one thing that shook him the most was witnessing his mother's death. This time though, he had seen his mother on the ceiling. Watched the flames envelope her, burn her. He had watched her die right in front of him.

He couldn't take it anymore.

It was a different memory now, from when he was only a child. Sam was tucked next to him on the sofa when suddenly there was a knock at the door. The special knock, the knock only dad did. Dean went to open the door with a smile, but was thrown back by a sudden force. The older Dean looked on, his eyes wide. It was meant to be his dad who opened the door.

Instead, a slim figure stepped forward, wearing a dark cloak. She slowly walked towards the young Dean and Sam, who stared at her apprehensively until-

Dean blinked. They were gone. Disappeared into thin air. It was just him and the figure now. He glared at the figure approaching him. As the hood fell, he knew for certain it was her.

"Hey Dean," she said, smirking.

"Why are you doing this?" Dean asked her.

"After Ohio Dean, what did you expect me to do?"

"I didn't manage to kill you!"

"You killed two of my coven," she said, eyes flashing dangerously now. "They were my two favourites. I'm just seeking revenge. Payback, I believe you call it."

"But why here? Why now?"

"Why not now? Everything's going so fine for you now, isn't it? Your father's death seems like such a long time ago, and you and Sammy are getting alone just fine…. What better time to start ruining your life?"

"I'll kill you, I swear," Dean vowed, his own eyes flashing. She just grinned.

"You can try."

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"Bobby," Sam breathed as he realised something. "What if Dean isn't just seeing his own memories? What if the witches are tampering with them somehow?"

Bobby frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Like, they take a good memory, a memory that isn't bad, and they change it? Manipulate it somehow?"

"Turning his good memories into bad ones," Bobby said slowly, recognition dawning. "Taking the things he cherishes and turning them away. Taking away his hope."

"Exactly." Sam stopped moving suddenly at the change of tone in Bobby's voice.

"What is it?"

"What does Dean value more than anything?" Bobby asked quietly.

"Family," Sam replied instantaneously, not even stopping to think. "Oh…"

"You and your daddy both left Dean," Bobby said, words like a knife against Sam's heart. "The both of you, you treat Dean like he's dirt sometimes. You both just come wondering in and out of his life, expecting him to be there, relying on him. I know you don't mean to," Bobby continued, seeing Sam's mouth open in response. "But it leaves a mark on him, and you can bet the witches will use that against him."

"I…" Sam could think of nothing to say. Nothing to disprove Bobby, and that fact alone nearly killed him. Both he and his father had spent their lived expecting Dean to be the rock of the family, the one they could always go back to if things got bad. Never thinking about the effect it had on Dean. Forgetting that he was a person with his own dreams and fears.

Sam looked up at Bobby with tears in his eyes.

"I- I didn't realise-" he stumbled, choking on his words. Bobby gently gripped his shoulder.

"I know Sam. I know both you and your daddy didn't do it intentionally. And I'm pretty sure Dean knows that too," Bobby continued comfortingly.

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"Dad?" Dean called out into the seemingly empty room. Laying the steaming cups of coffee on the table, Dean ventured further into the room.

"Dad?"

He frowned, hand moving to his pocket where his gun was. His father had been here when he had left, having just woken up. So where was he?

Dean checked the whole room, looking for any sign of a disturbance, a struggle, a fight. There was nothing. Not even a note.

"What the hell?" Dean mumbled, sitting on the edge of his bed. It was then he realised the most important thing he had overlooked.

His father's bag was gone.

His duffle bag, filled with his clothes and other various possessions. Dean quickly walked over to his father's bed and checked under the pillow.

The journal was gone.

Dean reeled back, shocked. His father had left him. His eyes flashed over to the weapons bag. Yanking the zip, opening the bag to find his father's favourite gun was gone.

Dean stood slowly, his mind going into shock. His father had left him. No reason, no note, nothing. Just gone.

Like Sammy, Dean thought mind flashing back to his younger brother and his departure four years previously. In Dean's heart, he knew the truth. Everyone left him. His mother, Sammy, and now dad. He realized how easily it was for people to forget him, and move on.

Sammy. I'll go get Sammy. He'll help me find Dad, Dean thought, mind still in a haze as he threw his possessions unceremoniously into his bag. Sammy will know what to do, Dean thought. He ignored the fact that his brother hadn't spoken to either of them in well over two years and probably didn't care about his family.

Sammy will help.