Chapter 3

Sam was pretty sure there wasn't a part of his body that didn't hurt. They'd moved him to another dingy warehouse but he didn't know where; they'd sedated him the entire trip. He'd woken up handcuffed to the chair with his head pounding to find Toni and some other people staring down at him. They had left him alone that day but the next morning it had begun. He was now bloodied and bruised from about a week of constant torture. He shifted in the rickety wooden chair, careful not to irritate the still raw burns that crisscrossed his body. Right now the bullet wound in his leg was the least of his problems; at least that had been properly taken care of. He closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep.

Some time later - it could have been minutes or hours, Sam didn't know - a bucket of freezing cold water splashed over him. He lifted his head as much as his stiff neck allowed and looked through tired eyelids at the two women before him. Toni was there as usual, carrying a notebook and pen in the vain hope that Sam would provide her with useful information. The other woman - Joanna, Sam remembered her name was - was standing slightly behind Toni in the shadows. She held a blowtorch and a cattle prod, no doubt the instruments on today's torture menu. The pair studied him for a moment, their eyes scrutinising every cut and burn.

"I must say, I'm impressed with you Sam," Toni commented. "Most people would have cracked by now but you... Our methods are extremely effective, I assure you, yet you're still insisting that your brother is dead when I have it on quite good authority that he is alive."

"Look me in the eyes," Sam ground out with as much energy as he could muster. "And tell me if I'm lying to you."

Toni leant down and braced herself on the arms of Sam's chair. Icy blue met warm hazel and she smiled sweetly. "You're lying. Now, where's Dean?"

Sam leant as far away from her as he could and huffed out a defeated sigh, resigning himself to another day of merciless torture. "Dead."

He heard Toni sigh impatiently. "You should really consider what you're doing here Sam. Preventing us from knowing your brother's location will have consequences on a huge scale. You'll tell us sooner or later. Joanna, try to help our young Mr. Winchester understand."

The woman in the shadows stepped forward, her face twisting into a cruel smirk. The light of the blowtorch cast an eerie red glow over her features. "With pleasure."

Merlin woke with a start. His heart was thumping wildly in his chest and the pained screams of the tortured man still echoed in his ears. He sat up slowly and took deep, measured breaths in an attempt to calm himself down. He'd been dreaming like this ever since he met Freya at the Lake; he suspected this was her way of warning him about what was to come. It wasn't always the same thing either. Sometimes it was the man he'd seen tonight, screaming as his captors pressed instruments of torture against his flesh. Other times - and these were especially hazy - he saw three figures poring over books in a grand atrium. Merlin guessed that they must have a personal connection to the other man.

The worst nights, though, were cloaked in darkness. Merlin couldn't move; he could only watch as things twisted and writhed in the black, plotting their revenge. It was those dreams that made him truly glad that Arthur was returning.

Sighing, he reached across to his bedside table and grabbed his phone. 3:28, it read. Merlin slid back down under the covers and closed his eyes. He didn't want to go to sleep again lest the nightmares return, but he knew he needed to be well rested for the next day.

He found himself on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere. That was odd; he'd never been here before. A door slammed in the distance and he whirled to see three figures exiting a house just up the road. With a jolt, Merlin realised they were the people from the atrium. The tallest one was striding towards him with a murderous look on his face whilst the other two - another man and a woman - hurried after him. Merlin tensed in readiness for a fight before remembering that they couldn't see him.

The man walked past Merlin towards a black 1967 Chevy Impala that was crookedly parked on the side of the road. He leant on the roof, breathing heavily, his hands balled into tight fists. The other two caught up and Merlin took the opportunity to study them like he hadn't been able to before.

They made an odd group, but it was clear that they had a close bond. Merlin hadn't seen a connection like this since the Knights back in Camelot. Still, it seemed like something - or someone, Merlin thought, remembering the tall man from earlier - was missing. There was a heavy tension in the air that none of them were willing to break.

The blonde woman and the man by the car just appeared to be ordinary humans; Merlin couldn't detect anything special about them. But the other... Outwardly, he was unremarkable in every way. He wore a dirty trench coat and stripy tie, nothing out of the ordinary, but Merlin could sense something about his aura that didn't seem fully human. It wasn't the usual feeling he got around others who had magic, it was just... different. What was this guy?

"Dean." The voice shook Merlin from his reverie and he turned to watch the scene in front of him. The woman had a hand on the man by the Impala's back. Merlin guessed he must be Dean.

"I should've known. It should've known it would be a trap. It's my fault that girl died."

"It wasn't your fault Dean," the woman insisted. "None of us knew there would be hostages, none of us knew the demon lied. You did the right thing."

Dean look unconvinced. His face was a mask of guilt; Merlin had worn that look often enough - with Freya, Hilda, Arthur - that he knew exactly what the man was thinking. He also knew that whatever had gone on in that house, whoever had died, it wasn't Dean's fault but that wouldn't stop him from blaming himself anyway.

"Your mother is right Dean." A gravelly voice spoke from behind Merlin. The guy in the trench coat moved to touch Dean's arm but stopped himself before making contact. "Besides, this trip might not have been a complete waste. I spotted something in that house that might help us find Sam. I have to check on a few leads; I'll meet you back at the Bunker." With that, he vanished. Okay, something was definitely up with him; no sorcerer Merlin had ever heard of could do that.

"Cas, wait- Dammit!" Dean cursed, spinning quickly. Merlin did a double take. Cas? Was that really his name? The woman put a hand on Dean's shoulder and squeezed.

"Don't worry Dean. Cas knows what he's doing. And it can only be good if he can get a lead on your brother. The most important thing now is getting Sam back," she said with conviction.

Dean nodded. "I know. It's just... With Sam gone, if we lost him too... I don't know." He walked around to the other side of the car and climbed in. After a second, the woman joined him and the car started up.

Merlin sighed in frustration as he watched the car roar away. He wished he knew what was going on. The dream slowly faded until Merlin was staring into darkness.

That was when the whispers began.

Sam screamed in agony as the cattle prod touched a particularly sensitive patch of skin. He heard the crackle of electricity in his ears and his body spasmed and jerked as the current flowed through him. Joanna smirked, looking at him like he was nothing more than a slab of meat. A trickle of sweat ran down his hairline, soaking the collar of his shirt.

Toni glared down at him. He hadn't told her anything she wanted to know and, after almost a week of the same, her patience was running very thin.

"I'm warning you, Sam, you do not want to make me any angrier. Now, what happened that day?"

"Told you," Sam panted. Toni nodded at Joanna and she jammed the cattle prod into his side again.

"You told me a lie," she yelled through his cries. "What happened?"

Sam looked up at her, tired defiance written all over his face. "God... Dying. Needed... To kill Amara... To save... World. Dean... Exploded. The end." Sam huffed a laugh. "If we knew... Where it would get us... Maybe wouldn't have... Tried so hard."

Reaching the end of her tether, Toni reared back and struck him across his face. The slap stung, but it was more shocking than painful. She preferred to get others to do her work for her rather than dirty her own hands; this was the first time she'd harmed Sam personally since shooting him back at the Bunker. Even Joanna raised her eyebrows slightly.

"I would love to be anywhere else but here," she hissed at him. "In fact, having you off the face the Earth is sounding particularly appealing right now."

"So kill me," Sam retorted, although it came out sounding more like a plea.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple."

"Why not? I can't... Tell you anything."

"I'd agree with you, but I have it on good authority that your brother is still out there, as is that angel of yours. I don't care so much about him, but I need Dean. Besides, my superiors like you Sam."

"Funny... Way of... Showing it."

"They're impressed you haven't cracked yet. Oh, they want the information on Dean, but they also want to know about you. About the years before hunting, when you were making an honest life for yourself at Stanford. About Jessica Moore and the circumstances of her death. And the years after when so many of your so-called 'friends' died. Tell me, Sam, did you truly care for them, or were they just collateral damage in your pathetic crusade for revenge?" She smirked as Sam visibly flinched. "What makes Sam Winchester tick?"

"Have to... Get back to you... On that."

At a nod from Toni, the cattle prod hit his neck. The darkness that had been lingering at the edge of his vision for a while now rushed in, and Sam let himself sink into unconsciousness.

Toni took a step back and surveyed her prisoner. A trickle of blood dripped from his lip where it had split when she had hit him and his body was littered with the injuries they'd inflicted upon him. She briefly wondered if he really was telling the truth; after all, who could withstand that much torture and not break? But those thoughts were quickly dispelled as she remembered the CCTV photos that had been shoved under her nose that morning. It was blurry, but it was definitely Dean Winchester. The angel was with them, and a woman Toni hadn't recognised. She wasn't interested in either of the other two but taking them in with Dean would be an added bonus.

She sighed and brushed a stray hair out of her eyes. These Winchesters were turning out to be a bigger problem than they were supposed to be; she almost regretted taking the assignment in the first place. Still, the satisfaction that would come with knowing the world was safe from them at last would be worth it. The large paycheque she'd receive wouldn't hurt either. She looked at Joanna and gestured with her hand. The other woman followed her as she walked out of the room.

"Alert our operatives. I want Dean taken in as soon as possible. Alive," she clarified. "I don't care in what state but I need him alive. Attempt to apprehend his companions but leave them if they will endanger the mission. Let's get this over with."

Joanna nodded. "Yes, m'lady."

A/N: Thanks for reading and being patient with me. This was meant to be posted a week ago but stuff happened and, long story short, life got in the way. I hope this is making some sense and I promise there will be a Sam and Dean reunion in the near future. I'll try and update soon. Bye!