Idea…so what would have happened if Osiris had taken Dean's tongue in episode 'Defending your Life' From Season 7.

Supernatural does not belong to me, although I wish it did. I am simply playing Kirpke's sandbox for a bit. All rights and ownership are the property of Kripke and the CW network. I am not making any money from this; it is for my own personal pleasure.

Please Review: They help shape the story.

This chapter contains some graphic imagery at the end, don't like...don't read. Not Slash.

Chapter 5

Dean's Trials

The drive was long and boring. Dean couldn't annoy his little brother and he couldn't sing along with the music to amuse himself. So he just drove. And it was driving him a little crazy. Sam had made them stop at some health food store along the way where he had bought several high calorie protein shakes for himself and Dean assumed in an attempt to get Dean to eat as well. They tasted terrible, like liquid cardboard, Dean found that kind of amusing, the fact that the 'healthy crap' that Sam liked still tasted terrible…even without his tongue. He smiled to himself as he thought of that particular little piece of irony. Sam would be pissed if Dean could tell him about it…but of course he couldn't. And he wasn't in the mood to write down every little detail that flitted through his head, even if it did mean that he could communicate with his little brother.

Dean saw a motel sign off the road just up ahead and he pulled into a parking lot that was in need of a lot of TLC, the front sign said they were at the 'agon Wheel Motel' he assumed that it was supposed to be the 'Wagon Wheel Motel' but the 'W' had obviously burned out. He pulled slowly up in front of the small building marked 'Office' and looked pointedly at Sam. Who in turned looked at him, raising his eyebrows as he huffed in irritation and slowly crawled out of the car going to get them a room for the night.

Sam walked into the small front office; there was a bug zapper in the corner giving off a brilliant and radiant blue light, there was also a small dog lying contentedly on the floor in front of the desk on a canine pillow. "Hello?" Sam called when he didn't immediately see anyone at the desk.

"Hang on boy. I'll be right out." A voice called from the back. Sam stood in the office, feeling the sweat trickle down between his shoulder blades as he thought of the cool shower that he would insist on as soon as they were checked in. A small bent over man ambled into view, his white hair sticking up all over the place, "Need a room?" he asked, smiling in the process as he settled behind the desk and pulled out an ancient looking ledger and opened it to a marked page.

Sam smiled, "Uh yes sir. Two queens if you have them available?"

The man looked at him through wrinkled pale blue eyes that twinkled with humor. "Oh I think I can manage that kid. You can have any room you want…including mine."

Sam smiled and nodded, waiting as the man did the necessary paperwork and Sam paid for their room, handing the old man a fake credit card. He felt a little bad about that…but they hadn't been hustling pool lately so there was no other way to pay for the room. The man handed him back a receipt and a key attached to a miniature wagon wheel key fob, "Room 7 around the back, you can park right in front of the room."

"Thank you." Sam said as he turned and walked out of the building, the little dog raising his head in curiosity and then deciding that that is too much work and dropping it back onto his paws. Sam opened the door of the Impala and crawled inside. "Room 7, it's around back."

Dean nodded and put the car in drive and rounded the corner, seeing their room with a large wagon wheel and a number 7 on the door. He pulled up and climbed out of the car, reaching above his head to stretch his aching muscles…he hated it when they had to do those twenty hour drives in one day. He heard his back pop in several places and the muscles pull as they were coaxed out of their twisted positions. He turned and looked at Sam, waiting for Sam to extricate his own long limbs from the car. Sam had reached into the back and pulled out his duffel back, before getting out of the car and tossing the key to the room over the roof of the Impala. Dean caught it deftly and turned to open the door, praying that there was at least air conditioning inside the room and that the water in the shower would be hot…and that there would be lots of it.

He pushed the heavy wooden door open and was pleased to note that while the place was spectacular, it was clean and it didn't reek of old cigarettes…a personal pet peeve of his. The beds were located against the far wall, and there was a small TV on a stand located between the two queens. He turned as Sam tossed him his duffel and locked the car, following Dean inside the room. He immediately went to the wall unit conditioner and turned it on high. Dean sighed in satisfaction as the small machine began to pump out blessedly cold air. He turned to see Sam staring at him, so he pointed at the bathroom and then at Sam's chest. Indicating that he thought that Sam should take the first shower. Sam shook his head, "Na…you drove so you should get the first shower." He watched as Dean nodded and grabbed his bag. "But leave me some hot water jerk…" the word was out before Sam realized his mistake…Dean's body froze as he realized that he couldn't respond with his patented 'Bitch' and his inability to do so caused a pained expression to settle on his face.

"Oh man Dean…I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking…" Sam said as he tried to undo what was a habit for them. Dean's eyes fell closed and he shook his head in sadness, setting his duffel down on the bed nearest the door, and pulling his over-shirt off as he sank down onto the comforter. He dropped his head into his hands and leaned his elbows on his knees as his shoulders slumped. Sam watched and mentally kicked himself for the slip, he wasn't thinking when he'd said it, and he'd just responded how he would have under any other circumstance.

What he didn't know was that it wasn't the joke that had made Dean sink down in sadness…it was the fact that Sam felt guilty for treating him the same way Sam always had…their entire lives they had poked and teased one another. The fact that Sam now felt he had to censor the things that he could say to his brother, because he thought that Dean would get offended or that they would hurt his feelings…was difficult. 'That' had made Dean feel heavier than he had since this whole thing started.

"Dean, just go take your shower." Sam said softly as he sat down on his own bed and reached down to pull his boots off his feet.

XXXX

The next morning found them at the morgue, looking at the mangled body of a man. He had obviously fallen from a great height, based on the injuries…except that he hadn't. The guy had been in his office and then keeled over dead…looking like an Airborne Ranger whose Para-shoot hadn't opened. Sam was talking to the Medical Examiner and Dean was reading through the report on the autopsy. Everything was similar to the events that had happened when Osiris was being a circuit judge that the hunters knew that they were in the right place at least. Dean noticed that the man had visited a local restaurant the a few days before his death…and so that was where Dean was headed.

Dean had argued with Sam…for a full sheet of paper as to why he should be the one to go to the restaurant and why Sam needed to go and interview the witnesses. It should have been an easy argument…Dean couldn't talk to the witnesses, therefor making it impossible for him to interview them. But Sam had been adamant; he didn't want to split up on this. Dean had won in the end and they had split up.

He was sitting at a table in the furthest corner from the door nursing a beer that he had pointed to on the menu and the waitress had gotten the message that he couldn't talk…bringing him the beverage with an expression of pity plastered on her young face as she set it down. Dean inwardly cringed at the reaction…that is what he has to look forward to if they failed to fix this. Correction, if he failed to fix this…a lifetime of women looking at him with pity in their eyes…and everyone else's too. He was on his second beer when a shadow fell across his table and he glanced up, his face turning from irritation to shock as Osiris smiled down at him. "Dean Winchester." He said as he pulled out the other chair and sank into it, his face never changing from pleasantly interested.

"I must say that I am a little surprised to see you here. To what do I owe this honor?" Osiris asked.

Dean's eyes narrowed as he grabbed the pen and a napkin off the table, "You don't have to write it down Dean…I can read your thoughts…remember?" Osiris said as he leaned forward and looked intently into Dean's green eyes. "Uh-huh…you want me to reverse what I did?" He leaned back again and picked up a breadstick from the basket in front of him, munching on it while he stared at Dean in a way that made Dean very nervous. "Well, I can't just reverse a judgment Dean. It doesn't work that way." He tilted his head and really stared at Dean. "You have so much guilt inside you Dean. Guilt that you have never really dealt with…so I will propose this. I will consider reversing the 'sentence of silence' if you will concede to living every one of these 'deaths' that you feel so guilty about." Osiris listened to Dean's mental reaction of What the Hell? He smiled, "If you can come out on the other side with a better understanding of their deaths…then I will reverse what I did." He heard Dean's immediate agreement, before he started emphatically nodding his head. "Just a minute Dean. This won't be easy, you will experience each of their deaths as though it is your own…you will know their thoughts and their fears and you have to accept them as your own…and lastly you will feel each of them to the marrow of your bones. Your brother won't know what's going on with you; he will only know that you are in a coma like state that he will be unable to wake you up from."

Why can't I tell him before this starts? Dean mentally thought at the God.

"Because this is your trial Dean. Not Sam's…" Osiris watched as Dean's face pinched in obvious concern about what this would do to his already mentally unstable little brother. "I warn you Dean…every death. Every single one that haunts you will be relived. Every injury, every fear, everything…you'll know it as though it is your own. I cannot tell you how long you will be unconscious…could be a day could be a year. It depends on how many times you have to relive the deaths before you can accept them as a necessary part of your life."

That got Deans attention, his eyes snapped back to meet the man across from him… You mean I may have to experience them more than once? Osiris nodded and leaned back, folding his hands in his lap as he waited for Dean's decision. Can I at least send him a text message? Dean asked silently.

Osiris considered this for a moment; he had never had a person ask if they could reverse a judgment before, although to be fair he rarely, if ever, gave out anything but a death sentence. So this was unchartered territory for him, but he figured if Dean could forgive himself for the choices in his life…then maybe he could truly move on. "Okay Dean. You can send the message, and then go back to the motel, lay on the bed and go to sleep. You're trials will start at any point from here on out. Don't wanna be somewhere public when your body collapses…trust me. It won't be pretty." Osiris said he stood up, grabbing another breadstick and turning to walk away. A silent thought brought his eyes back to Dean's, "No Dean, you must survive this, with you sanity intact. It will be...difficult."

And he was gone.

Dean rose quickly from the table and dropped the money for the beer onto his empty plate as he turned to quickly exit the dark room. He burst out into the waning sunlight and his eyes scanned the horizon for any indication that he was already inside his own head. When he saw none, he turned and ran back to the motel as fast as he could. His muscles were burning with fatigue and he was sweating profusely when he collided with the closed door of their room. He fished the key out of his pocket and thrust it into the lock, twisting the knob and rushing to his bed, grabbing his cell phone and quickly punching in a message to Sam.

*Sammy, I found Osiris. He gave me a way to reverse this without having to die as a result…I can't explain it to you, I don't know how much time I have, just don't worry about me if you can't wake me up tomorrow. I'll be okay. I have to do this Sam. I have to be there to protect you and I can't do my job like this….Love you Sammy. Just wait for me. –Dean*

Dean hit send on the message and pulled his boots off, setting them neatly at the foot of the bed. He lay down and moved to lean against the pillows, feeling his heart slow down as he tried to relax. His thoughts were going a mile a minute; he knew that Sam was going to be pissed with a capital 'P'. But this was something that he had to do…there was just no other option for him. He had done this to himself so he had to get himself out of it.

Sam received a text just as he pulled the Impala back into the lot at the motel, he turned the car off and climbed out of the classic vehicle, grabbing his phone off the passenger seat as he did. He locked the door and walked to their room, digging around in his pocket for the key as he opened his phone and clicked down to the message. It was from Dean. Sam's pulse sped up as he read the message from his brother. He had found Osiris? And he had convinced the God to reverse the sentence in exchange for some other type of sentence? That didn't sound good to Sam. Before he could get the door open he heard his brother's gasp and a choking sound that sounded so much like pain that Sam was instantly trying to get inside. "Dean!?" he cried as he shoved the door open and was stopped in his tracks at the sight of his brothers body lying in a pool of blood and his side ripped open, like a set of claws had got him. Tears were leaking from Dean's closed eyes, and he was curled up around the wound…it looked so similar to the one that had killed Jo Harvell, that Sam was stopped dead as he stared at the bloody scene. Dean's body continued to arch and twist slowly as the ragged wound bled steadily. His face was a sea of agony as his mouth continued to move and without sound and his tears rolled steadily from his clenched eyes.

He watched as Dean's body twisted and his face reflected pain and despair and finally resignation and then it slackened, his mouth falling open. Sam watched, his confusion growing as he watched the wound on his brother's side slowly knit back together, the blood the only tangible reminder that Dean had been slashed open…that and the shredded t-shirt his brother was still wearing. Sam sank onto the edge of the bed, dropping his head into his hands as tears formed in his eyes and he tried to wrap his head around what he had just seen. He turned, looking at Dean's slack face and stood to check his brothers pulse, just as Dean's body arched violently and his muscles tightened. Dean's mouth flew open, but no sound emanated from it as he rolled to his side and pulled his knees into his chest. Sam's breathing stuttered when he saw the gaping wound at the base of Dean's spine, just above his belt line…centered and exactly where Jake had stabbed Sam nearly four years ago. The blood poured out of the wound soaking into the already saturated bedding.

Dean's mouth was moving, and tears were streaming down his face as his body went lax again nearly five minutes later and suddenly the wound healed itself, just as the other one had before…Sam watched the whole thing with astonishment. Dean was still on his left side when his body jack-knifed back onto his back and again Sam watched helplessly as something was thrust into Dean's abdomen, the wound gaping open as blood bubbled up from his stomach, leaking down his flanks…

"Oh God…Dean. What have you done?" Sam whispered as he watched the scenario play out in front of him.

TBC…

Author's Note: So this is was the only way to appease a God without him choosing to kill off Dean. I'm thinking that Sam isn't going to take this well and that he will be searching for a way to save Dean from this 'living hell'. The next chapter is probably going to be a little graphic and bloody…sorry, but it has to be done so Dean can get his old life back.

I will try and get the next chapter up quickly…because we all know that cliffhangers suck!

Please Review: They really make me think about how and where people want the story to go.