Battlefront
Author: Cheryl W.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dean or Sam or any rights to Supernatural, nor am I making any profit from this story.
Summary: AU of Season 5 - Dean's in charge of leading the heavenly army to victory.
Author's Note: This chapter is for Pandora Jazz and the others who wanted some Sam time. And thanks for everyone's wonderful words of encouragement for me to continue this story. Sorry it's taken so long to get it together.
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Chapter 3: Forgive Those that Trespass
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We are entrenched in one of our fiercest battles yet when I see Dean again. But this time he is not alone. Castiel, his brother Sam, and two hundred others are at his side as he stealthily but determinedly leapfrogs forward to engage the merciless enemy. Though my focus should be elsewhere, I track his progress, marvel at his seeming fearlessness. Then I lose sight of him amid the battle of swords, hand to hand combat and other worldly powers. The trepidation that sings through me, it's a revelation to realize that it is not in dread of another battle lost, it's not even in worry for my fellow brothers and sisters' safety.
In the end, our offensive forces retreat, pull back, our dead and those of our enemies under foot, tripping our soldiers as they seek to draw a new line in the sand to hold back the tide. The hush of discouragement lingers heavy in the air among us all, more so than the smoke we employ to camouflage our troop movements.
I'm walking among the devastation, looking for survivors when I see, not Dean, but Sam Winchester one hundred paces away. And he has found what I was seeking, a fallen comrade still clinging to life. It is unexpected, to see the very man whose bloodshed, whose lack of faith, not only in our Heavenly Father but in his earthly brother, helped to bring this travesty to pass kneeling beside a wounded young one, compassionately clutching his bloody hand. I can not hear the words he is saying as I drew near but the timbre of his voice is gentle yet assured.
I know the moment the life fades away to be with Our Father, not by the limpness in the hand being held but by the despair stealing across Sam Winchester's face. And for all that I've heard about him, for all that he once did to harm our cause, I detect no darkness in Sam Winchester, nor does he radiate the weakness that Judas Iscariot once did.
I watch as he comes to his feet. As if he feels my attention, he looks my way across the bodies of the dead that lay between us and I note the sorrow in his gaze, the guilt that saturates his soul. When he frees me of his gaze, I am almost relieved even as my focus remains on him. Stepping away from the wounded angel he thought to save, the tall human stumbles and his face creases in obvious pain. He is hurt. And it is a revelation, that he was lending his strength, was offering succor to others even as he himself dwells in pain.
With his next step, he is crumbling to his knees. I tense, know that as quick as I am, I will not get there in time. I find myself hoping that someone will come to the man's aide. Before the man can fall, he is caught in strong arms, is kept from crashing to the ground, is tenderly drawn against a sturdy frame.
And it isn't Castiel's hold that Sam leans into, it's his brother's. His brother who went to Hell for him, his brother who he almost killed and sent back down to that dark pit. As Sam sinks further into Dean's arms, he grips his brother's forearm to keep himself upright and moving. Dean doesn't withhold an ounce of his strength from his brother, gives it all freely, willingly. There is worry and affection shining in Dean's eyes as he tenderly cups his brother's bloody, dirt streaked face with a callused hand. At first, no words are spoken between them and somehow I know none are needed as Sam leans into his brother's touch, trusts his brother's strength in his own weakness. And I wonder how their wounds were healed, how their rift was bridged, how their faith was restored.
Dean's soft, gentle words drift across the smoky, stench of the battlefield. "I got you, Sammy. I got you." And the tender but indomitable vow, it lays no blame for past transgressions, knows only love and forgiveness. It proves to me what I've come to understand, that Dean may not be able to quote the Holy Word but he lives by its principles.
"Yeah, and I got you Dean," Sam promises in return, his hand sliding behind his brother's back, returning the support that is given him, having noticed Dean's exhaustion and pain lined features as I have. Dean accepts the aid even as he provides it. Then the brothers move as one through the carnage, neither willing to abandon the other.
I have not seen such unity of spirit before but I have heard the stories of old. Two men that the world would have made enemies but whose hearts made them family: Jonathan and David. Suddenly I know that Dean and Sam are two such similar souls, that they are proof that there are bonds stronger than any ties of blood could ever be.
As I stand stunned at the comparison I have made, I find myself praying that they, unlike their predecessors, will not be separated on this earth by evil, that this war will not end with only one of them standing, alone and heartbroken.
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TBC ?
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1 Samuel 18:1 "The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and he loved him as his own soul."
Luke 17:3 "If they brother trespass against thee, rebuke him: and if he repent, forgive him."
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Have a great day!
Cheryl W.