Changes - chpt 7.

By: sifi.

OOooOO

"What is it?" Sam asked as Cernunnos wheeled around, his eyes wide and his expression open, full of hope, and something about it remarkably similar to the expression Dean sometimes managed when he wasn't guarded.

"They found him." He grinned and took off toward the sound of rushing water with Sam close on his heels and very grateful that Spencer was already making his rounds through the neighborhood, 'posting' the signs that would tell the Igigi where demons were hiding.

The sight of the Impala parked right in the middle of the glade took them by surprise until they realized the driver's door was open and Dean lay on the ground.

"Dean!" Sam yelled, his much longer stride far outstripping the short satyr-like deity.

"Sammy," Dean sighed as his little brother came to rest on his knees beside him. He reached up gently tapping the younger man's face, "Thank God you're okay… I'm sorry."

"Aww man… Dean…" Sam groaned at the sight of the tire iron sticking out of his brother's side, "What the hell happened!?" he asked wincing for the pain the older man must be in.

"Got a little sidetracked… the wraith…" he shook his head and gasped as Sam dragged him out onto the grass so he could lay flat, "it knows how to find evil that's for sure."

"So do you, you friggin' idiot!" Sam snarled and breathed through his fear. He glanced at the deity who was relating instructions to a squad of sidhe. "Is it still inside you?"

"Yeah," Dean nodded and winced. Swallowing hard he grasped Sam by the shirtfront, "It played me Sam, I'm so sorry man. We need to kill this thing."

"Not yet Dean."

"What?" he barked and immediately regretted for the stab that shot through his body. He was honestly surprised that the wraith hadn't tried to resume control over him. When it was in charge it was as if he was asleep and not even really able to dream. He thought about the satisfaction it felt when he'd 'agreed' such as it was, to go after Evan and he hadn't realized it was simply stalling for time so it could dig in deeper and maybe even have close to total control over him before it went after the top predator in the area, the succubus.

A wraith was no match for even the lowest level of demon under any circumstances if it was on its own let alone Lilith herself, but she was the biggest threat to its ambitions. It had sensed the power in the hunter, the ancient and powerful soul and known that with all these tools wrapped up in one host it had a chance to destroy the competition and unleash armies of thoughtforms all over the world. Armies that with this host's power to wield, it would master and lead on a destructive rampage that would over the span of a few decades, consume the human infestation.

It hasn't…pushed since I remembered what Cas told me. Dean had been nearly drowning in guilt since Castiel confirmed that it was he who'd broken the first seal and enabled Lilith and her minions to start breaking the rest that would set Lucifer free and bring about the apocalypse. I started it, it's my job to stop it. Not even a wraith can go against the will of God right?

"You're gonna need it to get past the wards around her hosts' house, once you get in, you can break her seal and we can follow, but until then," he shrugged, "the only one who could pass through would be Spencer and none of us want him in this if we can help it. I mean the kid's a Fed y'know?" Sam explained moving up to his head and taking it into his lap as Cernunnos and his squad of sidhe, each of them carrying a stone cup, approached them.

Dean nodded at his patron and their allies, "Hey." He greeted weakly, his eyes flicking down to his side where the god of Fertility and Rebirth knelt with his hand on the iron shaft.

"Are you ready?" he asked once Dean swallowed down the offered liquid.

A rush of warmth supplanted the cold that had come with the shock he was in, and his body began to feel fuzzy and just a little disconnected.

"I…uh… I think…sssss…" his eyes fell closed and his breathing evened out after a brief shudder shook him.

Once he was out, the deity pulled the iron from his side. Sam grimaced at the gooey sucking sound but watched with intense interest as the sidhe moved quickly against the heavy river of blood that spilled far too freely from the wound. One of the small warriors stepped forward and slathered the contents of his cup on the edges of the wound greatly slowing the blood flow, then another came forward and stuck his arm inside the hole, seconds later dragging out into the open a section of intestine while yet another came forth with a fine needle and some thread to quickly sew closed the injury.

For the most part Sam peered out from slitted eyes, and though his stomach roiled at the sight of what they were doing he was glad beyond measure when the blood flowing from his brother trickled down to a small stream with the repairing of that sickeningly deep puncture. Once they were sure there were no other holes or damage inside the young hunter, yet another sidhe came forward and dressed the wound with a mass of very familiar butterscotch colored clay before wrapping a binding around Dean's waist.

"Is that the same clay Laura remade his humerus from?" Sam asked.

Cernunnos nodded, "It is."

"Absolutely amazing." Sam sighed. He'd been searching out the Guardian while Laura, Ammit and Imdugud had been working to re-make and replace Dean's upper arm bone and had returned pretty much when it was all done. He shuddered at the memory of the Egyptian eater of the dead's rod-like tongue rammed up the flesh of his big brothers' arm, keeping the muscles in their proper places while Laura sculpted a new bone out of the clay of creation. "How long till he's healed?" he asked.

"His body IS human, we can mend and patch and heal but it still takes time."

"I mean will he be stable enough to breech the wards? I want the sidhe to take him back here and put him out once we're able to cross them."

"If he's not strong enough to hold his own and fight we'll get the emissary to start binding the wraith until we can evict it from him." The deity nodded.

Sam nodded, it was as good a plan as they were going to get. Unfortunately he also knew that sometimes their plans didn't go the way they intended.

At the sound of a vehicle approaching on the other side of the veil Sam's head snapped up and a smile of relief crossed his face.

"That's Bobby."

"Go," Cernunnos nodded, "We'll stay with him."

OOooOO

Though Sam never had the same kind of relationship with Bobby that Dean had, the older man was still a welcome presence, the relief the sight of him brought was unmistakable.

"Hey kid, any word on your brother?" he asked as they drew out of their companionable hug.

Sam nodded and quickly filled him in on what the basic plan was.

"Are we missing anything Bobby? I feel like something's…" he frowned and shook his head, "Like I'm not taking something into account y'know?" he asked once he was done explaining what they were prepared for so far.

Bobby shook his head, he'd been trying to find any loop holes in their plan even as Sam was laying it out to him, but so far hadn't been able to, and as was usually the case these days, well, ever since the gathering, how could we have missed something as simple as a human on the premises, he wondered if maybe he was losing his edge.

His eyes turned to the well risen sun, "Nothing I can think of so far, long as she doesn't try to high tail it out of here under cover of daylight."

Sam shook his head, "I don't think she would have summoned her troops if she was planning on leaving, but we've got sidhe all around the neighborhood…" a ruckus that sounded like crackling ice floes drew their attention to the edge of the veil where a bloodied and bruised sidhe warrior was in the midst of a tale to two of his compatriots.

"What happened?" Sam asked moving quickly to the trio and listening back and forth as they all took turns relating the battered warriors tale.

Bobby watched as emotions cascaded and shuffled across Sam's face, one moment somber, the next his eyes wide with questioning and possible disbelief, a frown followed by a quick look down and a sharp intake of breath. This doesn't sound good… Bobby thought.

Sam laid his hand on the small warriors shoulder, "You did good. Go get yourself cleaned up and tended to, we're going to need you back in the fight tonight if you're up for it."

The diminutive man sighed wearily, but nodded and flexed his muscles, miming his fitness for return to duty as soon as darkness returned.

Sam returned to the bench, sitting beside Bobby, his hands covering his mouth until the warriors were out of earshot.

"What the hell happened to him?" the seasoned hunter asked.

"He was," Sam shook his head, "He was scouting a property for demons…"

Bobby looked questioningly at him, "Yeah?"

"Crossing a back yard… he saw someone by the patio, and he crept through the bushes..." Sam shook his head, "it held still like it was listening for movement. He moved closer bit by bit and when he was close enough... he attacked!" He breathed deep and covered his mouth again. "He grabbed it by the head and they toppled in a heap where it got the upper hand..."

Bobby's eyes were wide with curiosity, "What? Well… who was it?"

"Garden gnome," Sam clipped quickly, smiling behind his hand.

"Huh?" the elder hunter questioned.

Breathing hard, trying not to laugh Sam explained, "He uh… tackled it and it..." he sniffed hard, "fell on him."

Bobby's eyes shot wide and his lips clamped tight together, "Oh." He turned to make sure there were no sidhe nearby as a snort ripped out of him.

OOooOO

"How're you holding up kid?" Bobby asked as Dean slowly walked to them and sat on the bench.

"Good... I think," he breathed hard.

"The wraith?" he asked.

Dean shook his head, "It's quiet right now... been quiet since I remembered what Cas said," he shifted his position and turned expectantly to his surrogate father, "speaking of which...?"

Bobby breathed solemnly and reached into his jacket pocket pulling out a few sheets of paper. Sam's face crinkled curiously as he met his big brother's eyes but Dean just nodded. Information was coming.

"I called a couple of old friends..." he began.

"And by 'old' you mean?" Dean asked.

"Old enough," he nodded shifting through the sheets, "your friendly neighborhood angel wasn't pulling his punches Dean," his finger drew the elder Winchester's eyes to a passage written in what appeared to be Aramaic, the difference was that it was more ancient, by at least a thousand years than the very language that Jesus and his disciples spoke. Beside the otherwise indecipherable scripture, on the photocopy was a meticulously printed translation, "...the first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in hell. As he breaks, so shall it break."

"Oh God..." Dean breathed and wiped his face with a shaking hand before looking between the two men who meant the most to him, "I..." he gasped panting, "I didn't know... I didn't know!" he choked as Bobby flipped to another page where once again, the ancient script was accompanied by meticulously printed translation, "The righteous man who lifts the veil is the only one who can seal it once more."

"What the..." Dean shook his head then followed an arrow that pointed to, "Apocalypse = To Reveal" then another arrow that pointed to a printed question, "Reveal what? Heaven and Hell... drop the barriers between all?" which then led to another line that led to another interpretation that read, "The righteous man who starts it, is the only one who can stop it."

"No... No..." Dean shook his head his eyes wide with panic and fear, "No, not me... I'm not... I can't..." as he looked back and forth between his brother and Bobby.

"Dean..." Sam started while dropping a hand onto his shoulder.

"NO!" He barked, "It's NOT ME! I can't..." but he couldn't speak past the crimp in his throat as the enormity of it all left him weak and fearful.

"Dean..." Bobby tried but John's eldest slid off the bench and away from the two men, running his hand through his hair he paced, the pain in his body virtually nothing compared to the pain in his soul.

"No... I can't..." his gaze drifted somewhere else as he remembered, "When we learned of Liliths' plan for you, we stormed the gates of hell hoping to get you out..." Castiel's voice came softly to him and he had the memory of being in a hospital bed, "before I jumpstarted the apocalypse..." he finished as the enormity of it all came crashing down through him. "If I could've just... just one more day... just once more... all I needed to do was say NO one more time and NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING!" he hollered furiously. I killed the world... it's all my fault, I killed the world... everything, everyone... everyone we've saved, every life we saved, every future we tried to give back.... oh God I destroyed it all! There's gonna be nothing, and no one and every single person, kids, housewives, KIDS... innocent or not every single person on earth is gonna go through everything that son of a bitch put me through...and I brought it on each and every one of them... oh God... please... don't let this be true... please help me make it not true!

From the shadows Cernunnos came forth, "Dean." He called.

"WHAT!?" the hunter barked, instantly regretting it as his side pulled with the effort but the shape in the shadow behind the ancient deity was unmistakable, nothing beside that rumpled trenchcoat and a pair of wings could throw that particular silhouette.

"Dean?" Sam rose as did Bobby, "What is it?" but apparently neither of them was able to see anyone other than the woods god.

"Watch for Spencer and Imdugud, I'll be right back." He muttered and holding his side, shambled toward the trees.

As he approached, Cernunnos and Castiel met eyes, each being gave a nod and deity left them to talk. He was joined in the shadows with another who watched frowning as the man she loved fought against the depth of his newly revealed destiny.

"He will succeed." The horned one whispered while holding her snugly to him.

She nodded, "I know. He's the only one who can."

"That IS why it's him and not someone else." Cernunnos added.

She looked into his gentle face, "Until he understands that in his heart and head, what Alastair did to him will be nothing compared to what he'll do to himself."

"You should go to him." He suggested but she shook her head.

"Not yet. He needs his own time… I'll be there when he's ready." She sighed with a hand on his shoulder.

"Always have been." He motioned to Sam and Bobby standing at the bench, watching for signs of Dean's return, "Let's keep them occupied eh?"

Just as they reached the bench, both Imdugud and Spencer turned a corner and seemed to be walking quite companionably toward the park.

Sam startled when her hand came to rest on his upper arm, "The circle's ready when you are."

He looked her up and down, his brows furrowed in concern but his expression hopeful, "How are you?" he asked fighting the urge to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

She nodded and stroked his cheek, "A little stiff but healed… the pool does wonders."

"Circle?" Bobby asked, "To summon the igigi?"

"That's the one," Sam nodded, his mouth tight as he stepped back from her a little, "can we put Dean in the pool?"

"With the wraith inside him I doubt it'll work," Cernunnos explained, "but we can try."

"We're running out of time, we need to get that thing out of him." Bobby insisted, his lips tight with frustration.

"The houses are marked." Spencer smiled as he and Imdugud joined the group. "How are you feeling? You look better." He observed offering his hand to Laura.

"I'm better thanks, so they put you to work huh?" she asked.

He nodded smiling, "I never thought I'd wind up a tagger."

"Stick with us kid and we'll show you a world of possibilities." Imdugud slapped him easily on the shoulder.

"You must be Bobby then?" he asked turning his attention to the older man.

"Dr. Reid," he nodded shaking the boy's hand, "Great work on your Symbolism of America's Southwest, your research helped take down a chaos effigy a couple years ago. It was your research if I'm not mistaken that helped distinguish it from a fertility totem."

"Thank you. Ooh I know the one you mean… they were frighteningly similar, except for the shape of the…beak."

"Beak… yeah." Bobby nodded smiling.

Laura took Sam by the upper arm, "We have work to do before nightfall."

He nodded and leaned down, "What about Dean?"

"He needs time." She nodded back toward the glade and the stump, "C'mon."

With a faintly reluctant tilt of the head he followed.

OOooOO

A/N it's a little slow I know, and I'm sorry... but now that everyone's together we can get the party started. I hope to hear from you. Thank You.

Tbc.

Please R&R.

Thank you.

Sifi.