Hi! The idea of what "Q" could be I got from friendly, so thanks with that! =)
supernaturalmydreams beta checked this chapter for me!
I've also changed my profile icon some days ago and I don't know if you can see what it is? I just happened to come across that clip and thought the lights from the Impala was so pretty and then we got pro!Dean in action and a little limp!Sam! What's not to like? lol
Q - Quake
- Set in between hunts in season 3
"Haha man, it's been such a long time since we did a simple salt and burn hunt I almost wish the ghost put up more resistance," Dean panted, sweat coating his forehead, but a bright smile evident on his face.
"Well I'm happy it's done. It might have been easy to take down, but hard to find. Where are we anyway?" Sam grimaced as he paused when Dean stopped in front of him. The two brothers were climbing a steep hill in a forest in the middle of nowhere and had been out there for almost two days, just looking for the ghost.
"I think the road is just over the hill behind the hut there," Dean pointed over his shoulder when he turned to look at Sam.
"Yeah? That's one big hill man. Don't you think we should take a break? I'm tired, you're tired..." Sam trailed off, letting his hand make a quick sweep over Dean's grey shirt that had large spots of sweat on it. Dean looked down self-consciously and scratched his neck.
"Yeah, I could use a break too," Dean nudged his brother in the arm before continuing up the hill toward the hut.
Five minutes later they were by the large hut on the rocky landscape and Dean plopped down on a rock, fishing out a bottle of water. Sam ran a hand through his hair and tried to peek through the large windows to see if there was anyone in the hut.
"Hello? Is anyone in there?" he yelled, but as expected he got no response back.
"Who builds big huts like this here in the middle of nowhere anyway?" Dean squinted toward the hut, sun hitting his eyes.
"Well the view is nice," Sam suggested and went to knock on the door.
"Yeah..." Dean turned back to look at the stunning view,
"But there's no road, no paths to follow. How do they find the hut anyway?"
"Dean, I don't know and I don't really care. Maybe it's just open for anyone out traveling..." Sam was interrupted as the ground under him started shaking and a low rumble echoed through the forest. He frowned and looked around himself to look for Dean. The shaking stopped again and Sam released the hold he had on the door.
"What the hell?" Dean was standing now, looking as confused as his brother,
"Was that an earthquake?" Dean moved a little to look up the rocky hill behind the hut to see if the shake had set off any loose stones.
"I guess," Sam didn't really know what else to think. It was the first time he had experienced what probably was an earthquake.
"Here?" Dean looked a little puzzled.
"Well it's not like earthquakes just happen in cities for the heck of it, Dean," Sam returned his focus back on the hut and pulled the door handle down, surprised when it opened. Once inside the door Sam realized he was probably right about the hut just being open for any passerby. There were simple beds and tables, but nothing steal-worthy - meaning it was open for anyone.
"Dean! We can-" suddenly everything started shaking again and this time it grew more and more violent. Sam lost his footing as the house started tipping to one side.
"Sam!" Sam could hear his brother outside the house, but didn't have time to answer before he started sliding along the floor as the house seemed to lean over to one side. Wood started cracking and the loose furniture started sliding across the floor as well. Sam grunted as he hit the opposite wall and screamed as one of the beds came sliding toward him.
Dean yelped as the sheer violence in the new quake tossed him off his feet. He landed hard on his side and groaned when he felt his wrist take a beating against a stone, dislocating it. He grimaced in pain, but tried to get up on his feet and find Sam. Once Dean got up, he looked down the part of the hill they already had climbed and saw a few trees tipped over and rocks rolling down. It sounded like the ground was groaning awake from a long sleep and Dean shivered. He heard the sound of breaking wood behind him and turned around, only to lose is balance again.
"Sam!" he shouted when he saw the ground under a part of the hut starting to crack.
"Shit, shit, shit," Dean cursed and tried clumsily to get to the hut as it started tipping into the widening crack. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, but he knew Sam was in there and by the looks of it, that was the last place to be right now. Dean cried out again as a tree hit the ground right behind him, making him fall forward onto his hurting wrist. He was so close to the hut and couldn't stop now. He froze when he heard a scream from inside and was about to shout back when something hard hit him on the back of his head.
Dean blinked once, then twice, and then sneezed. He groaned and shook his head, pain spiking through it. He quickly realized that he was lying on his stomach and something wet was running down his neck. He carefully pushed himself up on his elbows and tried to blink away his blurry surroundings.
"Where the hell am I?" he muttered and looked around. He froze in place when he saw a wall of rock a few meters away from him. He turned to look behind him and only met another rock wall. It all came back to him in a matter of seconds and he figured out quickly that he was inside a rather large canyon in the stony ground the quake had caused. He pressed himself against the rocky wall and cursed silently. He was sitting on a ledge, big enough for five grown men to lie down on it, but placed horribly. When he looked over the ledge, he saw the crack continue down for at least eight more meters before both sides meeting. Falling down there would be even less fortunate. The only way out had to be up.
"Holy-" Dean squirmed when he, for the first time, looked up and realized a part of the hut was practically right above him. Seeing the amazingly, terrifying sight, he couldn't understand how he'd missed it in the first place. Bits of wood were still falling into the canyon from all the places the hut had broken. Dean squinted toward one of the broken windows nearest him and carefully found his way closer to it on the ledge.
"Sam!" he gaped when he realized his brother was lying unconscious on the wood beside the window, one bloody arm hanging out of it. The wood his sasquatch brother was lying on was a part of the wall squeezing down into the crack and Dean could see the wooden walls starting to bulge outwards because of all the weight from furniture that had hit the wall.
"SAM!" Dean shouted and moved even closer. Rocks started to loosen under him on the ledge and Dean prayed to whomever that it would hold. He silently cheered when he could touch his brother's arm hanging out of the window. The window ledge itself was just out of reach, but with some help...
"Come on, Sam! Please be okay!" Dean started carefully rubbing the bloody arm, avoiding the cuts on it. Dean held his own dislocated wrist to his chest as he tried to peek through the window and inside the hut. Getting inside would probably be the only way out, but if they didn't hurry he was sure the wall Sam was lying on would give in.
"Hey, Sammy. There you go," Dean's face broke into a desperate smile when Sam groaned and lifted his head a bit. Half his face was covered in blood and drying up in his hair, making the dark mess stand out in all directions.
"What'a..." Sam's mind seemed to clear quickly enough and Dean hoped that meant the head wound his brother had obviously suffered wasn't too bad. He knew head wounds could bleed a lot and look worse than they were.
"Oh my god," Sam would have jumped further onto the unsafe wooden walls if it wasn't for Dean's secure hold on his hand.
"Hey, hey, calm down, Sam. I'm here," Dean shouted, catching his brother's attention.
"Dean? What are you doing down there?" Sam asked stupidly, kneeling closer to the window and squinting out and down at Dean.
"Earthquake, remember? Something hit me and I woke up on this shit," Dean nodded sideways at the ledge he was standing on, not taking his eyes off his brother,
"Listen, the part of the hut you're in is not going to hold long, but it's the only way out. You have to help me up," Dean spoke urgently, noticing how Sam's gaze kept losing focus. Sam pressed his eyes closed as if that would help stop a splitting headache.
"Yeah. Alright. Here," Sam swallowed hard and grabbed onto the arm Dean was already holding him with,
"What's wrong with your arm?" now he noticed Dean clutching his arm to his chest and frowned.
"I dislocated it. So, you know, can you try to be careful?" Dean gave Sam a crooked smile and Sam sighed.
"Of course it is. Why make things easier when you can make them difficult?" Sam joked before securing a good hold with both his hands on Dean's good arm.
"It wasn't as if I asked for it. I'll help. I just need to get to the window ledge so I can pull myself up by the elbows. Your hands okay?" Dean took a deep breath and tried to ready himself to be pulled up. He trusted his brother, but the fact that he would be dangling nine meters over a crack in the earth, from a house ready to collapse - by the arms of his equally, maybe even worse-hurt brother... yeah, he couldn't say he was looking forward to it.
"Just cuts. Must have broken the window with it," Sam explained, feeling ready to pull Dean up. Just as he was about to pull, Dean suddenly planted his feet on the ledge again.
"Uuuuh, you don't have a rope there do you?" Dean gritted his teeth, blushing a bit for being such a wuss.
"Nope. Come on man. You know I won't let you fall," Sam complained, trying to pretend he didn't hear the hut groan and crack around him.
"Well... yeah... I know. I just... you're hurt too.." Dean defended himself and his brother in one go.
"Dude, it's either this way or that way," Sam let his eyes trail to the pit under them. Dean didn't say anything, but nodded after a few seconds of silence.
"Ready?" Sam's forehead was starting to furrow again and he knew they had to hurry. His head was killing him and passing out now would be the worst thing that could happen. They had to get it over with.
"Ready," Dean confirmed and Sam started pulling him up at once. He found out at once that it would be impossible not to use his wounded arm, so Dean found his strength to push himself up enough to get his elbows into the hut.
"Be careful with your hand!" Sam complained when Dean started dragging the rest of his body in through the window.
"It's okay, Sammy. Not using my hand," Dean assured, relieved when he felt Sam grab the back of his jacket and pulling him completely up. Sam sighed loudly when Dean finally dumped down beside him, back resting against his chest. Sam let him stay there a moment to allow him to catch his breath.
"Thank god for sasquatch brothers," Dean coughed a laugh, straightened up, and turned around a little to check on Sam.
"We should get out," Sam reminded his brother when Dean started fussing over him. He tried to stand, but Dean grabbed his arm with his good hand and pulled him down.
"Yeah, just a second," Dean complained, wanting to at least quickly check Sam before continuing on their way out. Sam let Dean have it his way, closing his eyes as his big brother carefully checked the bloody side of his head, pulling bloody hair strands out of the way to find the source of the blood.
"Long cut to the temple," Dean confirmed, probing the bloody skin around the cut. Sam hissed in pain, but Dean had already removed his hand when a hand came flying to push it away.
"Try not passing out yet, alright? Good," Dean smiled cheekily and patted Sam on the shoulder. Very carefully he stood up, now spotting the cracks on the wall that was facing down into the depth of the crack.
Together the two tried to climb up the hut, but it wasn't an easy feat. There was nothing to hold onto on the floor so they had to try and climb up the sides, pulling themselves up by cracks in the wood.
"Gah, this sucks," Dean groaned when he had cleared 3/4 part of the climb. His hurt wrist was killing him and he started to wish they had put it back before climbing.
"Focus your energy on climbing, not bitching," Sam complained somewhere below him.
"You try climbing with one hand," Dean retorted.
"You try climbing with blood running into your eyes," Sam muttered annoyed. He silently cursed when that made Dean stop.
"You're still bleeding?" Dean peeked down at Sam and sure enough he could easily see the red liquid running into his brother's eyes.
"I'm fine, Dean. We don't have far more to go," Sam reassured. Sure enough Dean had reached the part of the hut where it had started breaking. The floor was bent to the point where some wood was still breaking, getting closer to breaking the hut into two. Dean still had to crawl across the part of the floor that was bent until he reached the horizontal level. There he turned to look for Sam.
"Come on, Sam. It's not much further. Just crawl a little so you don't slide down again," He explained. Dean carefully stretched his neck as far as he could so he could see how the wall pressed into the canyon was doing. His eyes widened when he saw that the cracks in the wall were much wider now. He was no expert in engineering, but something told him that when that wall broke the roof was likely to follow.
"Shit, hurry, Sam. I don't think the wall's gonna hold much longer," Dean urged on and as if on cue, there was a long groan from the hut. All Dean could do was watch the bottom wall break open, furniture and wood falling into the canyon. The sudden noise spooked Sam back into full alert and Dean crawled the meters separating them, grabbing Sam's upper arm with his good hand and pulling his brother up the last part. As predicted, the ceiling started giving and they had just reached the broken door as the part of the hut hanging over the canyon broke completely apart, crashing onto the canyon floor.
"Holy shit," Sam gaped like a fish on land as they found their way out into open air; some fallen trees and rocks lay around. The two of them collapsed on a patch of soft grass, looking at the hut.
"Hm." Dean grumbled and carefully lifted his hand to Sam.
"Let's get it over with," His little brother sat up and took hold of his elbow.
"Wait, wait, wait," Dean put a hand on top of Sam's to stop him,
"Give me second will ya."
"Come on, don't be such a wuss. We need to get your wrist back in. The faster it's done, the better," Sam carefully placed his other hand, ready to put the bone back in place.
"Fine. Okay," Dean whined, pressing his eyes closed and grimaced - trying to ready himself.
"On three," Sam warned.
"One-" and with that Sam pulled the wrist back into place.
"SONOFABITCH!" Dean shouted and pressed his hand to his chest,"You ALWAYS do that!" Dean complained, but Sam just smirked and looked at Dean over his shoulder. He closed his eyes and pressed his own hand against his bloody temple, leaning his elbow on his bent up leg.
Dean laid still, waiting for the throbbing pain in his arm to ease up. He watched the top of the trees in the forest, some were lopsided, leaning against other trees. Carefully he sat up, leaning against he elbows. He silently observed his little brother's still form. His brother was still leaning against his hand, eyes closed and his body seemingly started to sink toward the ground.
"Sam?" Dean sat up better and took hold of his brother's shoulder, lying him down on the grass beside him.
"Hm?" Sam moaned, the hand that he had pressed against his temple fell limply onto the grass beside his head.
"Still with me?" Dean smirked, picking out a piece of cloth from his pocket and pressed it against Sam's head.
"Ugh, sadly," Sam snickered when he opened one eye to peek at his brother.
"You're the geek here. Shouldn't there be an aftershock?" Dean wondered. He cleaned away some of the blood on Sam's face, including the drops that had found their way into his eyes. A good shower would be needed to get the rest of the blood out; Sam's hair was stiff with it anyway. Dean threw the cloth away and checked Sam's pulse, satisfied that it was beating slightly fast, which was to be expected after what they had just been through. The whole time Dean checked him over, Sam was simply watching him, relaxing in the grass.
"Most likely yeah," Sam tilted his head a bit to locate the trees. If the aftershock came, they would be in a hot spot nonetheless. They were in a forest after all.
"How's your wrist?" Sam asked, noticing Dean was being careful with it.
"Oh it's fine. Hurts like shit, but it's fine," Dean snorted when Sam did, but they were cut short when they felt the earth tremble again.
"There it is," Sam groaned, sitting up with some help by Dean. The aftershock wasn't as strong as the previous one, but it was enough to collapse the rest of the hut and some leaning trees fell to the ground. Luckily, the trees surrounding the brothers remained standing. They just watched, mouths slack at the damages the final shock made.
Finally, the aftershock stopped and the boys got to their feet.
"Ready to go home?" Dean automatically circled his arm around Sam's waist, not waiting for an answer.
"Yeah. But for once I wish we had a standstill home," Sam grimaced as he took the first step on their too long journey back to the Impala.
"Shut your mouth, Sammy. Good thing she can't hear you from here," Dean warned. They made their way around the fallen hut, avoiding fallen trees and cracks in the ground. The walk back was going to take a long time, but at least they had both come out in one piece.
"God you're mental," Sam laughed.