Sam dove to the side just as a monstrously long and wicked blade sliced through the ceiling of the elevator like it was butter, piercing the air where he had just been standing.

"What the hell was that??!" Sam yelled, jumping to his feet while staring at the blade in shock.

Leandra screamed and almost dropped the flashlight she was holding.

"We need a new plan, Leandra! Now!" Sam shouted, watching as the blade was slowly pulled back into the elevator and out of sight.

"Uh…I…we…I don't know, Sam!" she yelled helplessly. "Maybe we can use the crowbar to pry open another door and escape out of the shaft—but that's not going to help you avoid getting stabbed!"

Sam heard the heavy footsteps stop directly under him again, and he dove off to the side again, the blade cleanly carving through the elevator behind him like it was tissue paper.

"Oh God…" Leandra choked. "You're gonna die…you're gonna…NO! I just freakin' met you, Sam Winchester! You're not allowed to die yet!" Determined, she opened her hands a little, and slid down the rope quickly, stopping herself a few feet above the elevator just as the blade was being slowly retracted back through the ceiling. "Hold onto a cable Sam," she demanded, and drew her gun with her left hand. She aimed and then shot a few bullets directly at the old and decaying cables that were somehow pulling the elevator up the shaft.

The brittle cables snapped, and the elevator dropped like a stone, landing with a muffled thud at the bottom of the drop, leaving Sam and Leandra hanging from frayed ends of the swaying cables. Breathing hard, and realizing that he wasn't going to die just yet, Sam looked gratefully at Leandra and smiled faintly. "Thanks for that."

Leandra just nodded, her eyes wide, trying to catch her breath from the adrenaline rush she had experienced. "Let's just get out of the shaft…"

"Sounds good…" Sam said. He looked upward to plan their escape—

—and a stabbing pain shot through his head. "Aghh—" he gasped, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Sam? Sam what—" she froze as she realized what was happening. "Oh shit…oh shit, not here…"

"Oh…this is…not…my day…" Sam choked out as he felt the world spinning around him. He felt Leandra grab a hold of his arm and forced his eyes open. "No!"

"Sam, I—"

"You can't…hold onto me…and the rope…if I pass out you'll fall too…let go Leandra!"

"But I—"

"I'll wake up…in the other world…I'll be fine…and I'll find you…"

"But what if you hit the ground first?! Sam—"

The pain grew more intense, and her voice was replaced by silence as he felt himself losing consciousness. He let go—and suddenly he was falling—

Down—

Down—

Down—

Sam's eyes opened wide and he sat up with a yell.

Gasping for breath, his eyes darted around frantically, taking in the lights, panel of lit buttons, new carpet, and four closed in walls. He could hear classical music playing softly in the background.

He was in the elevator—back in his world.

Sam let out a sigh of relief and leaned back gratefully against the solid wall of the elevator, running a sweaty, blood covered hand over his face. The elevator suddenly slowed its upward ascent and let out a cheery ding as it stopped on the fifth floor. As the doors opened Sam wearily opened his eyes.

A little girl was standing out in the hall wearing a bright pink sundress, a balloon clutched in her tiny hand. As soon as she saw him her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in terror.

Sam winced. "Hey—hey, everything's fine, okay? Please—don't scream…"

The little girl opened her mouth and let out a high pitched scream. She let go of her balloon and ran as fast as she could down the hall, screaming all the way.

"Sorry…" Sam muttered, and quickly pressed the button for the third floor, where he and Dean had been staying. The doors closed and the elevator slowly descended two floors before coming to a halt. Sam slowly stood up, wincing as he put pressure on the ankle that the wolf had chewed on. When the door opened Sam peered cautiously into the hall, not wanting to frighten anyone else. It was empty, so he slowly limped toward his room, trying to imagine just how pissed and upset Dean was going to be when he saw him—

When he reached his room he discovered that his hands were too slick with blood to twist the doorknob. He tried wiping them off on his shirt but that only caused them to bleed more, so he covered his right hand with his shirt and used the cloth to get better grip on the knob until it opened.

Dean wasn't in the room—if he had been, Sam knew that he would have come running as soon as he had started fumbling with the doorknob. "Where are you, bro?" Sam whispered wearily. He reached into his pocket, intending to call his brother, before he remembered that he had lost his phone in the other world.

He looked around until his eyes fell on the room phone sitting on a stand next to the beds. He slowly made his way over to it and then sunk down onto his soft bed as he picked up the phone and dialed Dean's cell number.

Dean picked up on the third ring, "Who is this?" he demanded coldly.

"It's me, Dean." Sam said softly.

"Sammy?? Oh thank God..." Dean said, obviously relieved. "Where are you man?"

"I—I'm in the room...at the hotel."

"Okay. I'll be right there Sam, you stay put, do you hear me?" Dean demanded.

"Yeah." Sam said tiredly. "See you in a few." He replaced the phone in its holder before Dean had a chance to say anything else, wincing as he saw the bloody handprint that he had gotten on the phone. He stood up, walked over to the bathroom, and flicked the light switch. The room was instantly lit up with a bright white light, allowing him to see that the floor was dry and the bathtub was sparkling clean. As he turned he got a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror—

At that second the door to the room was thrown open. "Sammy?" Dean said loudly, running into the room. Sam stepped out of the bathroom, and Dean's jaw dropped as he gaped at the appearance of his little brother. Sam's face was bruised, there were bloody gashes down his arms, and the palms of his hands were raw and dripping with blood. One leg of his jeans was shredded at the ankle, revealing more blood, and his shirt and hair were soaking wet. "What…the…Hell…" he gasped, shocked.

"I'm fine Dean." Sam said, helplessly.

"You're damn well not fine, Sam! What happened?" Dean yelled, "What did this to you?!" he ran over to his bag and pulled out some first-aid materials.

"Dean, how long has it been?" Sam asked.

"What?"

"How long has it been…since the first time I called you…when I asked for help?"

"It's been two freakin' hours, Sam! I've been looking everywhere for you, and every time I called your phone I got nothing but static!"

Sam sighed. "Yeah, about the phone…I kinda lost it."

"What?" Dean snapped. "Where did you lose it?"

Sam shrugged and pointed at the bathroom. "In there...it fell in the bathtub."

Dean's eyebrows shot up. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Sam sunk down wearily onto his bed. "Dean…we have to talk."

An hour later….

Dean Winchester sat in a chair next to his brother's bed, trying to digest all that Sam had told him. "So…all that really happened?"

"Yeah." Sam said. "And it could happen again at any time. Lucky me, huh?"

"Shit…" Dean muttered, shaking his head. "This is bad, Sam."

"I figured as much." Sam said.

"No, Sammy, I mean this is really bad. I—I don't even know where to start trying to figure this nightmare out."

Sam nodded, and then sat up.

"What do you think you're doing?" Dean questioned loudly.

Sam sighed in exasperation. "Dean…I don't know how much time I have before I get sucked into that…place…again, okay? I don't have time to just lie around, I need to find as much information as possible so that I can be better prepared."

Dean opened his mouth to argue, but then paused and shut it again. "I hate to admit it, but you're right, Sam, and I'm not going to argue with you about that—but we don't have any idea where to look for answers!"

"Yeah we do." Sam said simply. "Leandra."

"What about her?"

"We have to find her…in this world. She and I are somehow involved in this, so we need to stick together. Besides, she's been in that world off and on for eight months now—she's bound to know a lot more information about it than she had a chance to tell me."

"Sam, we don't even know if she survived! And even if she did, she's still stuck in that universe! Who knows when she's going to get out next!"

"We have to try, Dean!" Sam protested, looking at his brother. "Dean…please…she's the best chance we've got."

Dean sighed. "Damn it, Sam…why is it always you getting into these situations?"

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