A blast erupted right behind Dean and knocked the two of them to the ground again.
Then nothing: Sam could only hear his own breath and that of his brothers', panting as they were still stuck together, and waiting for something to happen.
Their breathing returned to normal and they loosened their grips on one another even though the binds were still clearly visible, striping across their bodies, concentrating around where they touched.
The silence was unnerving; if that hadn't done anything... and it was supposed to end the spell, how long exactly were they going to be stuck together like this?
"Uh, Sam," Dean asked, uncertain. "You sure you got this right?"
"Yeah," Sam grunted against his brother. They shuffled back to sitting positions. Their binds gleamed as bright as ever.
"You sure, dude, because nothing's happening."
Sam swallowed and nodded, looking around in the dark nervously. Dean gave a light squeeze to Sam's arm.
"Maybe it'll wear off," Dean offered hopefully, watching his agitated brother. Sam made eye contact with Dean, his eyes dark with anxiety.
"I doubt it, Dean," he said, "our binds aren't supposed to just... go away," Sam mumbled. He bit his lip, looking out at the horizon over Dean's shoulder. "Our bond's..." he trailed off, trying to write it off as distracted but Dean was interested.
"Our bond's what?"
Sam twitched uncomfortably and glanced at Dean. Unable to say it with direct eye contact he sighed and turned to look into the treeline behind him.
"S'too strong. Or like... It should be."
"Maybe one of us doesn't like the other as much," Dean quipped. A second passed.
"You," they chimed together teasingly and let it go. The breeze shifted and Dean sighed.
"My arms are getting tired," Dean complained.
"Shut up," Sam said distractedly.
"What're you even looking for?"
Sam remained silent, vigilantly turning and twisting around to see around them as night fell. Wind blew through the trees, along the cliff's edge and over Sam and Dean as they sat on the ground. Dean sighed dramatically.
"So how 'bout them Bears?" He asked with a smirk. Sam glanced at his brother and huffed a laugh.
A second later Sam's eyes went wide as he caught sight of something in the sky behind Dean. His hand re-gripping Dean's in a death hold as he stared.
"Sammy? What is it?" Dean asked urgently, unconsciously returning Sam's grip.
"I.. I think it's the bond..." Sam murmured in awe, watching the streaks of blue light coming their way from the town's direction.
"Whose bond? Our bond?" Dean demanded. Sam gulped and shook his head, watching the display coming closer and closer from the northeast quadrant of town. He stared at it, struck how incredibly different the bonds looked.
So far, Sam had only seen his and Dean's bond manifested and so he'd just assumed all bonds looked the same but where his and Dean's were like sturdy, flexible ropes of warm red light, these bonds were like static electricity, uneven, fluctuating, constantly in movement. Their color too: a chilling, icy blue. Sam and Dean's glowed and radiated a comfortable heat. Their bonds were obviously strong and durable but they also only gave off a slight gentle pressure against Sam and Dean: in truth neither of them had felt very threatened by the thing. If either of them felt like admitting it, there really was something calming and relaxed about the bonds that wrapped them.
Sam had figured it was simply the nature of bonds in general but he was fast realizing that it'd just been the nature of their bonds. These bonds, the bonds Sam was eyeing right now as they darted through the air, haphazardly spurting in one direction or another as if in mistake and getting derailed before pulling their full weight forward towards the brothers again, these bonds sparked and fizzled and cracked loudly. This was the first time Sam had heard bonds make a sound: Sam and Dean's were completely still and silent.
Sam bristled under Dean's arms as the thing rushed its way to them, looking sloppy but dangerous. It was like lightning caught inside itself, tendrils of briliiant blue energy and electricity igniting, twisting, clashing, then draining. It was an unpredictable, intense mess that could damage - maybe electrocute - the two of them if the bonds targeted them.
"The kids' bonds? S'it coming?"Dean prompted roughly, trying to turn around to see. He turned back to see Sam swallow, his eyes scared yet still mesmerized by the bonds lashing out with the razor sharp cracks of electricity as licks of fire would slice the air then disappear back into the frightening jagged, edged ball.
"Y-yeah, Dean," Sam murmured, grabbing hold of the arm Dean had been keeping on his shoulder, his eyes filling with dread and his posture tensing up as the thing kept coming closer and closer. He had no idea how they were going to beat this thing. He hadn't realized it until now but as it came closer, Sam was finding out how huge this thing was. Like a whirlwind of blue energy just plowing through the air, swirling inside itself and generating more charge and power that Sam knew would aim straight for them.
Breathing heavily, his eyes already wide and his pupils already blown, Sam looked down at their now measly-looking bonds and wondered how the hell two teenagers could ramp up this kind of bond when two brothers couldn't.
"Sam... what?" Dean asked harshly. "What's wrong?" Dean shook Sam to get him to answer.
"Um, uh..." Sam looked at his brother, worried, and Dean's expression mimicked his. He glanced over Dean's shoulder to see the thing was within half a mile of them. "It's... It's coming really fast, Dean..." Sam warned, his voice trembling.
It was as if the thing had heard Sam; right after he spoke, the thing took on a whole new level of speed and zoomed at them before Sam could even blink. Sam gasped and braced for it, gripping Dean tight as it swooped and charged.
"Dean!" Sam shouted. He felt Dean jump forward and barrel into Sam, landing him on his back. Dean pressed against him as cover.
"Dean no!" Sam struggled briefly, trying to stop what Dean was doing. It wasn't time to protect him: they were in this together and damn it, Dean didn't get to do this anymore! Sam would be damned if he'd let Dean take the hit from those bonds head-on.
It was a fleeting, failed sentiment just before the thing rammed into them. Sam had tried to angle them to the side but Dean just held onto Sam tighter, moving his hands around Sam's back and up to the back of his neck and with that tone, yelled, "Sam stop it now!"
Sam, conditioned, automatically obeyed and regretted it instantly when the bond tore through them. Blinding pain, like freezing shards of glass peeling his skin back and pushing sharply between the two of them... but by the sounds of Dean's anguished yells above, Dean was getting a worse dose of the cold burning stabs and rips of pain that filtered through to Sam. Sam trembled and got worse, his body wracked with shakes as an indefinable sense of insecurity kept flashing in and out through him.
And then it was gone and Sam felt used and numb, almost unable to feel Dean over him. He was sweating, breathing heavily and trying to manage the pain but when he opened his eyes he saw Dean was in worse shape: his face ashen, his eyes still closed. Sam was pretty sure his brother's dark lips indicated blood - probably bit his tongue by accident during the attack.
The numb was cold and Sam still shook... Dean felt it too - Sam couldn't exactly feel his brother anymore but he could see Dean was struggling just as much as he was. They both felt unanchored and empty after the attack. Disconnected, worthless and lost.
Sam blinked and looked around twitchily. Their bond had gotten much, much dimmer.
Sam looked up into Dean's eyes, scared.
"Dean..." Sam said weakly, moving his hands up to Dean's shoulders, awkwardly inviting a hug if Dean would have it.
"What?" Dean rasped, hovering over him. Sam vaguely noted that the attack had forced them apart - forced them to disconnect. Dean's breath ragged, the numbness was starting to recede and he felt his little brother's arms move up to his shoulders. He was too tired to care or push away. He was trembling himself, trying to pull himself together from the shock and pain of the attack still.
"Um," Sam hedged, placing more pressure on Dean's shoulder and feeling awkward, "our bond's dim... dimmer... after the, uh, attack," he hinted, hoping Dean would get it.
"Mmhm," Dean hum-grunted, a new sharp pain of some sort getting him in the side and making him cringe. "Okay."
Sam squeezed Dean's shoulders again and when Dean looked into his eyes to silently ask what was up, he read Sam's pleading, worried eyes.
Dean winced and rolled his own. Sam shrugged under him. Sorry but there's no other way, Dean. Dean sighed.
"Okay," he whispered, leaning down and Sam got the rest of his arms around Dean's back. "We tell," Dean got a good grip under his little brother on the ground and Sam tucked his head into Dean's neck, "no one," Dean finished. He felt his little brother nod quietly against his neck.
"Okay on one- two- three," Dean counted like what he'd done when they'd been children and Dean would pick Sam up. This time wasn't as difficult: Sam was helping but he still stayed in place against Dean as Dean pulled him up. When they'd gotten to sitting positions, they didn't break apart and Sam's hold on Dean tightened, hugging him closer.
"Sam-" Dean huffed, uncomfortable. The two of them were shaking but not as hard as before. Still, Sam clung to Dean.
"Shut up it's making our bonds brighter," Sam interrupted, watching with his chin tilted against the back of Dean's gross, sweaty neck and seeing the bonds around his big brother's back glow brighter than they'd been before.
Their bindings now lighting them up like a friggin Christmas tree, Dean heaved a sigh and settled against Sam, letting his little brother hug him and absently returning pressure when he could manage to swallow the embarrassment for a fleeting second or two. As the bonds grew brighter, Sam felt better; the insecurity draining out of him and he felt more like... himself again. The bonds grew heavier and pulsed rhythmically - almost alive but it still felt reassuring somehow.
Dean was recuperating, feeling better to the extent that he was actually starting to feel sleepy. Perhaps Sam was too young for it but Dean had every memory intact of when Sam was a bundle of exhausted, snoring warmth on his chest under blankets in the backseat of the Impala while the engine rumbled softly and dim-yellow streetlights shafted in and out. They were all elements of Dean Winchester's lullaby since he'd been four years old but Sam's safe presence had maybe been the crux to them all...
"Are you looking behind me?" Sam asked dully, his cheek smooshed against Dean's back.
Dean blinked, his eyes having fallen to half-mast at some point. His pupils rolled around until they fixed on something behind Sam. The two of them had managed to sync calm heart beats at some point but with Sam's question and Dean's slight turn of the head to look up, his heart beat picked up pace with a surge of adrenaline.
"Holy shit what the fuck's that?!" Dean shouted, unconsciously grabbing Sam closer at the sight of the bonds.
"It's what attacked us-"
"What is it?! Why?!" Dean yelled, furious. Sam shook his head.
"They're the bonds but... I... I don't know!" Sam answered helplessly.
"It's coming back-it's coming back," Dean warned anxiously, instinctively pulling Sam to the side.
"DE-!" Sam called, immediately kicking out and managing to stop Dean from covering him again. His yells were cut short when a sharp jolt of electricity ran straight through their hearts. They gasped for air, suffocating, their bodies shuddering from the trauma.
Not even knowing,, they clutched one another closer, having unconsciously discovered they could move points of shared contact as long as they didn't disconnect.
Another jolt shocked through their systems and they held on tight to each other, hugging on the ground, doing their best to synchronize regular heart beats even though neither of them had anything of the sort.
"God, Dean!" Sam moaned.
"It's okay! It's okay!" Dean replied loudly, almost angrily, as he held Sam tighter. "H-hold...on, Sammy," Dean stuttered, the sheer torture affecting him.
Another attack slammed into them and Sam cried out, unable to keep it in anymore. Dean grabbed him around his back and moved his hand to hold the back of Sam's head. Sam squeezed into Dean's body, pushed his head against the crook of Dean's neck and gasped for air. The two of them were shaking but Sam was worse off now. He gave a small sob and Dean tried to reassure him as best he could through the pain.
"S-s'okay, Sammy... I g-got you..." He muttered weakly into Sam's ear. Sam pawed at Dean's back desperately. "I'm ri-right here, right here, lil brother," Dean promised, starting to rock them.
"I don't know how much more I can take, Dean," Sam pleaded, tears slipping down past his temples and into his hair.
Dean gripped Sam tighter, making him grunt with pain just as another slash of electricity bolted through them. Sam wheezed his scream and Dean couldn't help but let out a growled whine of suffering. It left as quick as it came and the two of them remained, still alive and struggling to get past whatever this was.
"This... gonna just keep going... 'til we're dead?" Dean asked haltingly, getting his words out on fast, difficult exhales.
"I-It shh...shouldn'... workliketha'," Sam replied breathlessly, fisting Dean's shirt in the back with frustration. He swore he hadn't read anything like this - nothing had warned them that anything like this would happen.
"Well 'm kinda sick 'a playin' Red Rover, Sammy, you got any ideas for me?" Dean whispered. Sam gasped a sob back to look at Dean, perplexed.
"Wh...what?" Sam choked.
"What?"
Suddenly a burst of electricity shot through them once again leaning them breathless and holding onto each other for dear life. Sam coughed into Dean's chest. Dean was shaking badly now, struggling to keep Sam against him as Sam had lost the strength to hold onto him as tightly as they needed to be for this.
"Red Rover," Sam murmured, "It's... trying to break through... So it can replace our bond!" Sam gasped, finally understanding. A flush of adrenaline flashed through Sam as he connected with Dean again and giving him a genuine hug in the midst of their desperation. "Dean, you're a genius," he coughed into Dean's shoulder.
"Sammy," Dean murmured, flattered but also impatient. If Sam could maybe stow the chick flick shit until... always... that'd be great. Especially after this. Sam ignored his brother and strained his neck to see around Dean - past him and over at the bowl. It had long since extinguished flames, Sam and Dean's tokens had to still be in there.
"We gotta get your amulet and my thing of paper!" Sam yelled.
"How?!"
"Roll!" Sam shouted back. Dean rolled Sam and managed to dodge an attack from the fire-blue bonds that circled around them threateningly, waiting for their next best shot to attack the brothers' bonds. Sam landed against the bowl, knocking it over and turning its contents onto the ground.
"D'you get it?" Dean called, unable to see what was happening but still holding on.
"Yeah you have to get the piece of paper I wrote on! It's like above my shoulder there!" Sam huffed and nodded over his right shoulder. Dean squinted to see the paper but realized it had barely burnt; the edges only just slightly charred.
"Y'got my amulet?" Dean checked while he reached to grab the paper as fast as possible.
"Yeah-Ah! " Sam called out, a sharp twinge piercing the brothers were Dean was able to remove his hand from Sam. He got it back fast with the paper in hand and they were fine again. Sam had been rubbing his thumb against the face of Dean's amulet over and over again; when Dean had nabbed the piece of paper, their binds soundlessly increased in brilliance, nearly blinding with the warm pearly glow it'd started out with.
"Wow," Dean breathed, watching with widening eyes the steady beat of their binds strengthening in time with his brother's and his own heart beats. "Is that it?" He asked, thinking this was for sure what Sam had wanted to happen when he'd instructed them to grab their items.
After a beat or two of silence, Dean turned his full attention to Sam.
"Sam? Sammy?" He nudged his brother's limp body. "Sammy?" Dean shook him harshly and Sam's eyes slit open and weaved slowly around to Dean's face.
"Sam! Wake up!" Dean ordered.
"What?" Sam whispered breathlessly.
"What the hell? Is that it?" Dean asked anxiously, looking up and watching the blue fire coming nearer, readying for another attack. Sam coughed and swallowed in Dean's arms.
"Um, d'you look...look at the..." Sam started shaking, wracked with coughs.
"Sam, Sam, Sammy okay-okay-okay c'mon dude," Dean whispered, his anger and desperation instantly transforming to dedicated fear for his brother. "Take it easy c'mon," he whispered and felt Sam nod against his neck. "What do I have to do? Tell me, c'mon," he begged, "c'mon Sammy."
"Ya..hafta.. look," Sam rasped before closing his eyes again. Dean gave Sam a face that clearly meant he didn't understand...
...Until he did.
"Shit shit shit okay," Dean used the one hand he had wrapped around the paper to unravel it and see what Sam had written.
In Sam's messy scrawl was one word - one name. The name Sam always said he hated yet the one name only one person in the world was ever allowed to use on him. Sammy.
Dean smiled and held his baby brother closer as the binds warmed up to a blinding level of light. It seemed like they were in the middle of an explosion only like the most comfortable, relaxing explosion Dean could ever claim.
It lasted a minute, maybe two. Dean felt Sam writhing under his hold and loosened his grip to let Sam get comfortable in his arms.
"The hell," Sam murmured, his voice sounding more solid than it had since they'd started this whole mess. Their binds were expanding, shielding the two of them under a dome of bright, warm red light. Dean continued holding Sam as he watched the spectacle, having lost the faculties to feel much beyond his relief and vital need to just... know that his kid brother was better. Sam for his part never initiated or held hugs for longer than they needed to be but it was also pretty ingrained in him to never withdraw.
The two of them watched as the threatening, unpredictable ball of electricity and energy bashed into the shield created by their own binds. Sam gasped just as Dean squeezed Sam closer at the sight.
"Whoa," Dean said in an undertone, watching the magnificent shield absorb some of it as the ball slammed into the shield again, frantically trying to get in and take over. Stunned, Sam and Dean watched as the thing that'd looked so terrifying slowly diminished in the face of their shield until it was the size of a foot ball, crackling and fizzling out at its center.
With one last push into the pearly-red shield, it disappeared; the shield absorbing the impact and incorporating it inside.
The gently breathing dome remained for only a moment longer, allowing Sam and Dean last glimpses of their bond manifested before it silently, smoothly imploded back into the ropes wrapped around the brothers. Slowly, the binds disappeared from around their bodies. Shocked and breathless, Sam and Dean sat holding each other on the ground cliff side under a bright moon in the cool night air and steady coastal breeze of this quaint, idyllic New England town.
Writer's Note: Hey! This is pretty much the end of the story. It's likely I'll do something of an epilogue as an excuse to write goofy brotherly banter though, haha. Thank you so much for reading! Please comment/review if you can spare the time!