Sorry this took so long! I was going to write last weekend, but it was busy with Easter celebrations and whatnot, though luckily it went a bit better than Christmas. And then it was back to college, which didn't go very well either. So, finally, here's the next request, from 'DearHart', set in the latest episode minus one a couple of weeks ago. She asked for a continuing scene from the one where Sam finds Dean out of it at the factory. That I can do! Protective Sam is literally just all the ideas at the moment. Protective brothers are the best, out of all. Onwards, for brotherness and protectiveness. PS: I tried to write this at night but I just couldn't manage to write any ideas down at all, so despite my friend Carys' help via fb, it was really hard to begin to write. Hope it's okay!
Season: Season Nine, set in the episode **9.18** Meta Fiction, aired last week - so spoilers if you're not up to date!
Characters/Themes: Sam, Dean, (um, unconscious Gadreel...?); family, hurt/comfort, brothers, help, consequence of power, mark of cain
Request: from 'DearHart' - "Can u PLEASE write a continuation to the scene where Sam finds Dean totally out of it back at the factory? He looked SOOOO scared when he saw Dean on the floor and I just... I LOVE hurt/out of it/Dean and worried/frantic/Sam."
Sam shifted his crouched position slightly as he hesitated on how to actually undertake the task at hand.
He needed to get an unconscious angel into the boot of the Impala, parked haphazardly outside, whilst coaxing his practically unresponsive brother to, if not help, take himself to the car safely and get in.
He glanced at said brother again, weighing the situation. Dean still seemed strangely dissociated, glancing at the beaten up angel sprawled beside him briefly before returning his unseeing gaze to the floor, not concentrating in the slightest.
Thinking of which, how the hell did Dean manage to beat an angel unconscious with his bare fists?
Feeling a prickling on the back of his neck at the mere thought of such power, Sam suddenly could only think of the demons that were held at his own mercy by the demon-blood induced powers...
Shaking his head to get rid of such thoughts, Sam focused on his brother again. "Hey, Dean?" he tried gently.
Slowly, as if it confused him to do so, Dean tried to process his little brother's voice, and raised his head, finding Sam's concerned eyes watching him. "Hm?" he offered as a reply.
It was as good as any. At least Dean seemed a little more attentive.
"Look, Dean, we have to move," Sam told him, allowing a note of urgency into his voice. "We have to get Gadreel to the meetup and trap Metatron before six."
He was aware he was repeating himself, but he doubted Dean noticed, or was really paying much attention. However, he registered the urgency and request in his brother's voice, and started to push himself up.
Tensing, Sam rose at the same time as Dean stood up, waiting to see if he stumbled. But this was Dean Winchester, who's stubborn ass had got him in so much trouble in the past that Sam doubted he was going to stop now. So Dean did manage to push himself up using the wall and the floor, and stand up quite straight, ignoring his brother's unspoken offer for help.
True, Dean had always thought Sam would be there to help him, whatever happened... but after Gadreel's speech, suddenly he wasn't so sure. What if Sam really did think everything that Gadreel had claimed? After all, the angel was inside his brother for a good long time.
Which was his fault, of course. Always his fault. Always failing his dad - look out for Sammy. Oh yeah. That laughable advice.
"Dean?" Sam's voice was soft, concerned. Dean blinked and looked at his brother standing next to him, one hand held out slightly as if to catch Dean if he so much as stumbled. A gesture that meant so much.
But the raging fire that had started in his forearm, underneath the scar, like something trying to escape his skin... this was something Sam couldn't save him from. And if that scared Dean, then, hell, it would terrify Sam.
Trying to bring himself back to the present, not lost in flashbacks and thoughts that Gadreel's cruel comments had triggered, Dean ignored his brother's silent offer for help again and instead assessed the situation.
Sam watched as Dean looked around, narrowing his eyes as if he had forgotten where he was, what had happened here, what he was meant to be doing now. It was incredibly unsettling to see Dean so uncoordinated.
"Come on, we have to get Gadreel in the car. It's parked outside. We'll put him in the trunk, okay?"
The simple sentences from his brother seemed to help Dean, and the older Winchester nodded in reply before turning to look down disdainfully at the unconscious angel.
"He was... just so infuriating. And he wanted to die. So I couldn't kill him," Dean struggled to explain to Sam. His brother just nodded in understanding, unable to keep concern from his gaze as he watched Dean.
"It's okay. You didn't kill him, so it's okay. And we need to take him to the meetup, so we can get Cas back, and try to trap Metatron," Sam told him, repeating again, so Dean would understand.
Blinking at Sam, Dean replied, "didn't you already say that?"
Sam let out a sigh of relief and tried to smile; his brother seemed finally to be coming back to himself, the aftereffects of the Mark's violence that had left him weak slowly receding.
"Alright." Dean, feeling his strength come back as his scrambled mind settled and the burn on his forearm died down, began to take control of the situation. "I'll take him out to the car. You clear up a little in here and follow, yeah?"
Deciding that as Dean was now responsive to the situation he wouldn't argue, Sam simply nodded and walked slowly away, towards the chair where Gadreel was tied to and the blood pooling on the floor from the torture Dean had put him through.
Not that Sam was complaining.
He watched from behind some rails as Dean kicked the unconscious angel before dragging him up and putting him in a headlock, not caring about how rough he was being. Well, Gadreel deserved it. He then started to drag the angel with him outside, muttering a sarcastic "oh, sorry" when Gadreel grunted in pain.
Sam watched them until they left the warehouse, then sighed to himself and turned his attention to, as Dean had put it, clearing up. It wasn't particularly necessary, but just in case someone walked into the place, they wouldn't really want to be greeting with what looked like the scene of a crime.
Eyeing the whole place, Sam noted it was pretty much clean. He picked up the chair and shoved it against a wall, to be more inconspicuous, before rubbing the blood with his foot and finding it already drying. It would stain the floor, but it was darkening with reacting with the air already. It would be unrecognisable soon, as Sam knew from experience.
Wanting to leave this place and the trauma it now represented, Sam quickly turned for the exit and hurried outside, hoping that Dean hadn't finished off Gadreel. As much as that angel deserved to die a thousand times over, without him Cas would die, and it just wasn't worth the risk.
Not that Metatron could really be trusted, but if they could catch him then maybe they could kill Gadreel too, as the douchebag should be subjected to a terrible fate before finally being put down like the traitor he was.
Because as well as tricking his brother, the angel had also screwed with Sam, and subjected the younger Winchester's body to terrible torture in the hands of Crowley, leaving unforgettable trauma in his wake.
Thinking all of this made Sam's blood boil and the rage he had felt before build in his body until he wanted to kill that damn angel with his own hands. But he couldn't. Not at the moment anyway.
Taking a breath of fresh air to try and calm down as he walked out of the warehouse, he instinctively looked towards the Impala, for Dean.
Said brother was leaning against the side of the car, the beaten angel at his feet. If Gadreel had woken up from the impact, then Dean had knocked him right out again, obviously not in the mood at all to listen to any more of the angel's spiteful comments.
He glanced up as Sam approached, and automatically held out his hand for the keys. Sam hesitated, remembering how weak his brother was just a few moments ago.
"Dean... are you sure you want to-" Sam began, to be cut off.
"Yes. Sam, I need the distraction." Still Sam hesitated, and Dean looked him in the eye. "Please."
With a nod, Sam tossed him the keys - a test. Dean caught them easily and immediately walked over to the trunk, opening it. Sam moved to help, but Dean waved him back.
"Just get in," he told Sam, sounding weary. After a second's hesitation, Sam nodded, turning away and getting into the shotgun seat. He watched in the wing mirror as Dean dragged the angel up and dumped him into the trunk, making sure he was shoved in enough to close it.
Slamming shut the boot, he sighed and stood there for a minute, watched nervously by Sam in the mirror, who forced himself to stay sat. Then Dean walked around to the other side of the car, slipping in and closing the door.
Sam watched his brother with open worry. Finding Dean on the floor of the warehouse, weak and barely conscious from some aftereffect of the power of Cain, would be something Sam wouldn't forget for a long time.
It was always unsettling to see his brother hurt, but hurt by something that he couldn't really control... something that was sure to consume him from the inside out, leaving nothing but pure rage? That was more than Sam could stand.
"Dean..." Sam hesitated, and his brother looked over at him, defenses clear in his eyes. "You're still in control, right?"
Raising an eyebrow, Dean offered, "uh, I'm not possessed...?"
Sam shook his head. "I mean..." he sighed, knowing that he wanted to say this, whatever his brother was going to react. "Don't get taken over, okay? Stay... yourself."
Dean stared at him for a minute, before sighing wearily and turning his attention to the road, starting the engine. Sam swallowed, hating it when his brother didn't reply to such a plea for comfort of mind.
He watched the warehouse out the window as they drew away from it, away from where the betraying angel should of died, away from where the Mark of Cain that was slowly changing Dean's actions had left the elder Winchester weak and unstable on the floor. Away from more trauma in their lives.
Sam sighed and watched all of that disappear from view, but never from mind. He glanced at his brother, worry clear in his gaze, before turning his eyes to watching the oncoming road as the sun began to rise as they drove.
On the road together through another dawn, how it used to be. But it wasn't any more. Something had changed. Too much had changed.
I'm sorry for how this turned out, and how long it took to write. I simply could not get the idea of what would happen straight in my head, and to me it's just turned out in a jumble of words that don't make much sense. But I hope it's okay anyway. I've got 3 more requests in line to write, and I'll be getting on with them ASAP, but I don't know how long they'll be. Thank you for reading.