Memories & Demons

Chapter Six

Lucifer.

Morgan's breath stopped at that single name as all the rest of her strength seemed to leave, falling into a chair as what Jack MacShayne said sank in. "We have to follow Dean. He needs help," she spoke aloud but not to either mystic or Angel in particular.

"He's needed help since you first sent me to save his ass a couple months ago," Jack snorted, raising a hand in apology as her eyes seemed to spark at him. "Sorry, but he's just walked himself into a situation that I'm not sure he can get himself or his brother out of."

Understanding what he was saying finally, she pushed up from the chair to reach for the bag that she'd brought out of the bedroom with her. "Screw you, Jack," she muttered, digging into the bag to find what she hoped was still there. "I'm going to go help my friends, with or without you."

"Boss, you may have both the ability and a weapon that'll kill an Angel but this is Lucifer," Jack remarked seriously. "Even at top power and when you're not ripped to shreds I don't think you can stand up to him and survive. It's not worth…Morgan!" he snapped a second before she could hurl the tiny, weak looking energy ball at him. "That wouldn't even have singed me! All that power will do is make Lucifer laugh before he kills you now think about this and what's important."

Touching the 9mm Browning that she was relieved that Dean or Sam found, she dug for the knife before looking up at the Angel. "Dean's got my knife, doesn't he?"

"I know he has a knife on him that isn't the one he usually carries and it gives me a headache so…" Castiel replied slowly, seeing his nephew roll his eyes. "Why does she have that knife, Jack?"

"Don't know," he admitted, shrugging. "You'd have to ask my little brother since that was when he was flying solo with her. Boss, if you go into this…"

Morgan decided to settle for the pistol while struggling to stay upright as her back seared. "You can help Dean," she missed the way her friend's face pinched slightly at the very idea. "You helped him before and…"

"With Zachariah, sure," Jack nodded, feeling very much like throwing his hands up in helpless frustration. "Morgan, listen to me. With the way my powers are flip-flopping since the start of the Apocalypse I'd be lucky to handle a large group of enforcers, Zachariah and whatever mortals he's using as cannon fodder this week. There is no way in Hell that I could take on Lucifer."

"Fine, then go back where you came from then because I don't want you here if you can't help me help my friends," she returned coldly, refusing to feel the panic that was setting in at the thoughts of Dean being alone to face not only a horde of Heavenly enforcers but who knows what else on top of Lucifer himself getting involved. "Who the bloody hell called Lucifer anyway? He can't find Sam on his own thanks to the wonderful engraving the dude in the trench coat did to their ribs…which by the way, I should make you hurt for the pain that caused them."

Castiel opened his mouth his reply only to have Jack shoot him a warning look to shut the hell up. "More than likely Zach let the word slip out knowing that Lucifer has his spies looking for Sam…though I don't think he's counting on him showing up in person or what that'll bring anyway but the odds of the Winchesters surviving this are slim to none, Morgan," the mystic told her grimly.

"No, because so long as I'm still alive they'll always have a chance," Morgan replied, opting to forget the jacket due to her wounds and grabbed Castiel by the sleeve. "Sam's hurt because I got them into this crap and I'll get both Dean and Sam out of it or die trying. Now, Angel boy, you're gonna help me get to Dean or not?"

Walking out without giving the Angel a chance to reply, Castiel let his dark eyes slide to Jack without speaking until he was about to follow Morgan before the young woman tried something foolish on her own. "You know that you have the power to help Dean, Jack," he remarked calmly. "You were never a coward so I have to wonder why you're afraid to confront Lucifer when you've been in the face of the more powerful Angels in the Garrison. She will give her life for the Winchesters and how do you think Dean will react to that?"

Vanishing without another word to leave Jack to stir restlessly in the now silent house until his fist clenched and a large crack appeared in a wall. "Damn it!" he snarled, disappearing with a wave of his hand and swearing this was the last time he ever got too close to a mortal. They weren't worth the hassle.

Back on the Tolson Property:

"He's losing consciousness too often even after he's healed, sir," a dark suited enforcer informed Zachariah grimly. "We can't kill a vessel but I fear the boy's mind has been too fractured to survive much more of the mortals torments."

Scratching his chin in thought, the bald Angel considered that as he crossed the sawdust coated dirt floor of the rundown looking barn toward where the Tolson boys were continuing their fun.

In all honesty, Zachariah hadn't planned on it taking this long. He had figured on Sam Winchester giving up shielding the link some time ago and had expected to be facing a hotheaded Dean by now. Only the younger man had held up far longer than he'd been expected to and now it was getting boring.

"Leave him!" he snapped, waving a hand and the three Tolson brothers were quick to move away from the sturdy work table. "Sam, I have to give you credit for being almost as big a pain in my ass as your brother," Zachariah sighed, casually picking up a bloody knife that one of the boys had been using to cut on Sam's flesh. The Angel had lost count of the times he'd healed the boy back to new…or almost as new since he left the emotional damage to rack up.

Now as he stood over Sam to casually check that the heavy leather straps still held him securely to the bloodied table, Zachariah took a deeper look.

While they had healed Sam's body physically after every serious wound or once the wounds had piled up and he was as close to death as Zachariah was willing to risk, he could feel the inner struggle to hold on to strength and sanity was waning.

"Dean's not coming, Sam," he remarked calmly, forcing Sam awake by placing a hand over his chest where his heart beat and allowing pressure to build until the young Winchester was struggling against the restraints and for breath. "You've failed him far too much this time for him to ride to your rescue. I mean, after sacrificing his very life for you, going to Hell for forty years only to come back to find you'd betrayed everything he ever gave for you by siding with that demon whore. Drinking demon blood and setting loose evil incarnate upon the world," Zachariah clucked his tongue in disappointment while grabbing a handful of limp, sweat and blood soaked hair to jerk Sam's head up even though the hazy, cloudy eyes that were looking at him showed barely any recognition, much less true life. "You tried to kill Dean and even though he promised to hunt you like the evil bastard you'd become he still trusted you again and all that did was get his friends slaughtered at Lucifer's hands. Then there's Dean's pretty little friend who, just to get you where I needed you to be, had to be hurt. Who do you think is more important to Dean, Sam?" he asked with a mocking smile. "You or pretty Miss Morgan? I mean, he's with her and allowing you to be hurt like this so I guess there's your answer, boy. Your big brother's letting you die, Sam."

Barely aware of where he was much less who the bald, pudgy guy bragging was, Sam's inner self screamed to fight, to hold on because he knew Dean would come because Dean had never once let him down but another part, the part that had been riddled with doubts and fears for months told a different tale. One that was making him break and wish for it all just to be over.

The inner part of Sam that was fighting to shield his already fractured mind dug up the one memory that he could cling to. He clung to the memories of the summer he was twelve, to the warmth he had felt, the security he had finally had that time. He remembered playing in the snow drifts in the mountains for hours and even though Morgan had spent a great deal of her time with Dean while he was recovering, she'd always made time to play with him. He had never felt that she was just humoring him because he was Dean's little brother. Both Dean and Morgan had taken care of him that summer and though he didn't like the memory of the events in the diner, the first time he had fully seen what his friend could do, he had never doubted that he'd always be safe. Now, as he fought for sanity against the agony coursing through a body that had been broken nearly beyond repair, he clung to those memories.

"Poor lost little boy. All alone and abandoned," Zachariah went on, digging the tip of the knife suddenly into Sam's upper right shoulder to drag to downward past his elbow and smiling thinly at the ragged scream that he received. "Abandoned by Mommy and Daddy, now your big brother has left you all alone and at the mercy of men who hurt you about as badly as either those rednecks or your Dad's pal did…oh, but Dean doesn't know about those, does he, Sam?"

Gasping against the pain and unaware of the choked sobs that had started, Sam's swollen eyes finally managed to look up at Zachariah with a mix of fear and hate. "De'n won't 'bandon me," he manage to get out brokenly. "He…won't."

"And why won't he, boy?" the Angel demanded with a sneer when the sound of a gunshot was heard and the Tolson boy closest to the table fell to the floor, clutching his side.

"Because he's my brother, you sadistic, cold blooded bastard," Dean Winchester's voice was cold as death when it spoke. "Now get the hell away from him!"

Seeing his oldest son fall, Milt Tolson went to grab his shotgun when Zachariah's harsh voice snapped out. "No one touches him!"

"He shot my boy!" Milt shouted, enraged that this smirking leather jacketed asshole could just saunter onto his property and harm one of his sons. "How'd he get past the guards or…"

"The same way I'm gonna take out the rest of you assholes," Dean shot back, holding the .45 in a steady grip and while he was taking count of every possible threat in the room his gaze was locked on the still form on his baby brother strapped to a table, the blood he could see and the wounds he was afraid that he couldn't. "Step away from Sam…now."

With a sneer, Zachariah did step slightly off to one side but not far enough to not be a threat as he clapped loudly. "Congratulations, Dean. I'm honestly surprised it took you this long so you'll have to excuse the shape your little brother's in…mentally. I fear his mind just isn't as strong as that freakish body of his is…or was since I'm afraid even healing it so many times takes a toll."

"You son of a bitch," Dean gritted, hearing the sound of a pistol being cocked from nearby and simply shifting his aim to take out the arm of the would-be shooter. "If you want any of your in-bred kids to survive this, I'd tell 'em to back off!" he warned the older man.

"He's killing my family!" Milt screamed, not caring if the Angel smited him or not.

Zachariah turned an honest look of incredulity on the man. "Of course he is. What did you expect him to do? We've tortured his brother into a nearly mindless drooling vegetable, did you think Dean was just going to stroll in here for brunch?" he demanded, rolling his eyes to the heavens as if asking for help. "I'm shocked he didn't gun in guns blazing as I expected him to."

"I know you did so that's why I didn't," Dean replied, taking a cautious step toward his brother while trying to keep an eye on both regular human issues and the half a dozen or so enforcers that were spread out in the barn. "Sammy?" he called, not liking when he didn't get even a weak response. "I am so gonna find a way to kill you."

"You can try but only Angels can kill other Angels, Dean and you don't have that power…yet," Zachariah smiled smugly. "Now, once you say yes to Michael…that may be a different story but then you won't have much say."

Keeping an eye on the smug Angel that had been a thorn in his side since he pulled that first crap stunt by altering his and Sam's lives and memories, Dean kept his .45 aimed but reached to pull his knife with the other hand. "I ain't saying yes to Michael, douchebag and you ought to know that by now," he growled, risking shifting his attention slightly to look down at Sam to see that while his brother's eyes were open to only slits they seemed blank, none of the expressiveness that Sam's eyes had always had. "You, get the straps off my brother," he snapped at the other Tolson son.

A big, brawny man in his late twenties, he sneered as he pulled a large jagged edge blade. "What if I slit his damn throat for you shooting my brothers?" he challenged.

"Fine," Dean's Colt fired without a second thought to kill the big mouth Tolson before redirecting his aim to the Father. "Looks like I'm three for three. Now, get these damn straps off of my brother before you join your sons in Hell!" he snapped, feeling the edge growing in the room.

"I thought you were going to kill him!" Milt yelled, not believing this was happening.

"Why would I want to kill Dean?" Zachariah scoffed, shaking his head as if addressing a slow child. "All of this drama was just to get Dean to come to me on his own so why would I kill him? He's going to say yes to a very important question or else he's going to watch me kill the most important person in his life."

That made Dean laugh even though a small part of him didn't like the look in the bald man's eyes. "You can't kill Sam, asshole," he remarked. "I think Lucifer would be upset if…"

"No, not Sam," Zachariah replied then waited until he saw the realization come into the young man's face. "You see, my nephews can't interfere this time. All of the mucking about Lucifer's done has caused such an upheaval in the mystic planes that Jack's abilities are sort of unstable. He can't come to bail you out this time and he can't protect that pretty little witch who means so much to you," he explained, casually brushing his nails against the lapels of his suit jacket as he went on. "You have no idea how pleased I was to find out that you weren't so single-minded, that you actually have feelings for that girl despite her powers and the fact that your very own father tried to kill her in front of Sam. Now, Milt's boys had an amusing time with her, let me tell you…"

Teeth gritting to keep from lunging for Zachariah's throat, Dean started to move when a moan made him look down to see Sam's eyes were rolling back. "Sammy!" he yelled, swearing under his breath.

Wanting to devote full attention his little brother, Dean knew the moment he lowered his weapon or turned his back he was done for but also knowing that he needed to get Sam free and out of this godforsaken place. "Sammy, stay with me!" he urged, shoving the .45 into his jeans but keeping the knife handy as he struggled to get the straps, slick with his brother's blood, to loosen. "Damn it!"

"Sam's a lost cause, Dean," Zachariah told him grimly, sighing melodramatically. "He's only good for one thing now but I suppose I could spare him and your whore…for a price, of course."

For a price that Dean already knew with one hundred percent certainty what it was. "Let me guess, if I say yes to Michael you'll be generous and spare my brother and Morgan?"

"And they said you were the stupid one," the Angel smiled before he became fully serious. "You say yes, you let Michael wear you like a cheap suit and get this little Armageddon thing on the road and yes, I'll…spare them."

Thinking of the damage that Zachariah and his cronies really could do to Morgan and to Sam, made Dean sick to his stomach but the thought of giving in to Michael…of losing himself and…any chance of a future also made him feel ill.

"The longer you wait, the more Sam slips away until not even my power of that of that accursed girl can bring him back," Zachariah sang out cheerfully, seeing the boy's shoulders slump. "Dean…?

"Give me a damn minute with him!" he snapped, violently slashing at his burning eyes as he turned his back on the room of enemies to kneel down next to his brother.

Seeing his chance, Milt Tolson went to aim his shotgun when an enforcer grabbed him by the throat. "I said, we don't want him dead," Zachariah spoke coldly, malice and hate for the human race plain in his eyes. "You were good while you and your boys served a purpose, Milt. Don't make me have you killed yet. I might have further use for you. Give the boy his precious few remaining moments with his poor little brother," he smiled, knowing the truth of what Sam's fate really was.

"Sammy?" reaching up to card trembling fingers through his brother's hair, Dean fought the urge to puke when he felt the mess of blood and he didn't want to know what else matted Sam's too long hair. "It'll be alright, kiddo," he promised tightly, using a nickname that he hadn't used since Sam was small and in need of reassurance. "I'll make sure you and Morg are safe before I do this and she'll look after you like she always did when I couldn't."

Swallowing hard but not bothering to hide the tears that slid freely as he gently loosened the straps holding Sam captive on the bloody table before lightly squeezing a limp hand, not getting a response which he figured might have been a good thing considering what he was planning on doing. Failing to protect the people he loved was one thing, but failing while his little brother watched was something that Dean just couldn't do.

"You stay with Morgan, Sam," he murmured, images flashing unhindered of another time and place in their loves and he smiled a little. "Remind her that you still can't have sugar and Sam?" for this he leaned in closer to whisper something that he prayed his brother could hear in whatever place he'd retreated to then straightened to again look at Sam's bruised, but peaceful looking face and said something he rarely ever let himself say out loud. "I…I love you, little brother."

Closing his eyes briefly, Dean whispered the same words but with a different infliction to someone else while hoping that link was strong enough to carry it and wishing it could've been different. "Alright," he sighed, tightening his grip on the knife he'd kept hidden when he turned. "Let's do it."

"Excellent!" Zachariah clapped his hands in excitement, motioning to the closest enforcer. "All you have to do is say yes, you'll accept Michael and we'll be done with this nasty business while…"

"Oh, were you under the impression that I was saying 'yes'?" Dean asked curiously, shrugging. "Sorry, asshole but that still isn't happening."

As the bald, arrogant Angel's mouth dropped in rage, the enforcer who was closest went to grab the human only to have Dean whirl and while he knew the knife wouldn't kill the suit wearing Holy roller, he was hoping it might buy him the time he needed.

Knowing all this, Dean was rather shocked when the blade struck the enforcer across the throat and a brilliant light exploded from the wound as he fall back, dead. "Whoa," Dean breathed, taken off guard by this development.

"That's not possible!" Zachariah screamed, rage making his already hateful expression even more so. "Where did you get that knife, boy?" he demanded.

"Huh, yeah remind me to ask Morgan where the hell she got it," Dean muttered, quick to move before another of Milt Tolson's people could take him down with a tackle. "Kind of evens the odds a little though, doesn't it?"

Enraged that this mortal sack of meat was screwing up his well-laid plans…again, Zachariah snarled. "Take him alive and kill the other one!" he snapped at either enforcer or human. "Lucifer can just find another goddamn vessel!"

That made Dean pay closer attention and wishing that he should've told Castiel to show up sometime since now that he had enraged the Angels and had already gotten on the Tolson family's bad side, things were not looking too good for either of the brothers.

"Sam!" he whirled to slash the knife at a suited goon who had gone close to his brother when Dean found himself slammed across the barn into a wall of heavy metal tools, stunning him and also making him drop the knife. "No…damn it!" he tried to shake the cobwebs loose when he was suddenly doubled over in pain as it felt like a foot caved in his entire midsection.

"That was stupid, boy," Zachariah snarled, reaching down to grab him by the throat and slammed him back against a sharp bladed saw blade that nearly missed slicing him. "Now, instead of having your precious brother and friend safe, I'll make certain you watch them both die in agony before I hand you to Michael gift wrapped," he promised, ignoring the weak attempts Dean made to break free as he hauled him upright and grabbed his face to he was forced to watch as Milt Tolson lifted a ragged blade to Sam's throat. "I hope that little show was worth it, Dean. Now, you can say goodbye to your brother as he bleeds out."

Straining against Zachariah's grip, Dean fought panic as he watched the blade start to draw across Sam's throat and he was helpless to stop it until the barn doors were blasted open and Milt Tolson's head exploded in a wash of brain matter and blood.

Dean's relief at a possible last minute rescue was short lived when he heard the voice that spoke even before the tall, slender man stepped into the barn.

"I think I should take exception to this, don't you?"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Dean groaned, feeling the grip on his throat and stomach lessening in the Angels shock. "Can my week get worse?"

"Hello, Dean," Lucifer, still in his current vessel Nick's body, looked around the barn curiously as if taking the scene in before his gentle looking eyes landed on Sam's prone, still strapped down body. Then his demeanor changed as he eyed Zachariah curiously. "Zachariah," he spoke the name as if it caused him a long suffering pain.

Shocked at the arrival of Lucifer and several demon minions, Zachariah had released his grip on Dean and had a look like a rabbit struck by headlights expression before he began to stutter. "L…Lucifer, I wasn't… I mean, I wasn't expecting you to…"

You thought I'd send someone when you leaked it that you had captured Sam Winchester?" sounding amused, Lucifer/Nick smiled as he stepped over a body of a guard Dean had dealt with on his way in.

Dean's only real meeting with Lucifer had been when Zach had shipped him five years into the past and that time, the Devil had been wearing Dean's own little brother…which was something that he vowed would never happen. Now, he noticed how badly this vessel was handling the strain as Nick's face showed the signs of wearing out under the immense power.

"That's because poor Nick isn't my true vessel, Dean," as if reading his thoughts, Lucifer smiled at the older brother almost kindly but his gaze returned to the sweating Angel. "Did you honestly think that a moment like this wouldn't require my personal attention?" he asked, seeming to look at the knife that laid near his foot before carefully stepping around it.

"No, no, of course not," Zachariah coughed, seeing that his enforcers were at a loss as to what they should do. "I'm pleased that you can use the boy. It is after all, my only job but to serve and…"

Dean's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You son of a bitch," his hissed, trying to pull himself up to get to his brother when a wave of energy that wasn't Zachariah's shoved him back and held him immobile.

"You serve whoever you think can give you power, Zachariah," Lucifer retorted, tsking lightly as he approached Sam slowly as if taking it all in. "Though, I should thank you for all your hard work in helping set me free. That alone should keep me from killing you but…" he stopped to lift a hand and the Angel gasped. "I don't appreciate what you've done to Sam. He was going to be a worthy challenge when I claimed him as my vessel and I looked forward to that inner struggle." he mused, lightly stroking a hand over the still bleeding would on Sam's arm to stop the bleeding. "Now, I'm not sure if he'll even have the brain capacity to say yes."

"An empty vessel will still work," Zachariah pointed out, quickly trying to think of a way to salvage this mess. "You can take the boy now without having to go through the normal channels since his mind is damaged beyond repair."

Listening to them talk about his brother enraged Dean more than he thought he could be since he'd held his little brother's limp body after Cold Oak and his death. "Sam's not brain dead!" he snapped, fighting to free himself from what he assumed was Lucifer's power. "You can't take his body without his damn consent and he won't give that! He won't…argh!" screaming raggedly as he felt something crack in his leg.

"Dean, don't make me kill you," Lucifer warned lightly, glancing over calmly before resuming his examination of Sam's limp form as the straps came free with a wave of a hand. "Sam loves you and for that reason I really don't want to kill you but if you keep interfering then I will," he promised, letting his hand rest on the younger Winchester's face. "Sam?" he called gently. "Wake up for me, Sam."

Fighting not to pass out from the pain in his leg, Dean strained harder to be free when he noticed his brother's hand move restlessly. "No," he whispered, letting his head slam back into the wall in frustration. He knew what was going to happen and was powerless to stop it. He was going to be helpless to do anything but watch as Lucifer claimed his little brother as his vessel and Dean had sworn after his trip into the future that he would see them both dead before he allowed that to happen.

As Sam's eyelids fluttered a few times before slowly opening, any emotion, light, or recognition was long gone during his hours of torment and agony. So all he did was stare up at the pale skinned, light haired man who was standing next to him while a small piece of him wanted to react to the other voice he heard but couldn't.

"Sam, I know you're hurt and you're scared but I can take all of that away," Lucifer spoke softly as if to a child and in some way he suspected that might be what or who he was addressing. "I can take all this bad pain away. I can take the fear and loneliness away from you and all you will know is peace," he promised, seeing a spark of something enter Sam's eyes and he quickly went on. "All you have to do to have that peace is just say one word for me, Sam. All you have to do is say yes and I can take all of this away from you."

"Sammy, no!" Dean shouted, groaning as he was slammed back and dropped to the floor with an Enforcer holding a blade to his throat. "Kill me, you sons of bitches because if you touch my brother I'll make damn certain it'll be the last thing you do!"

Lucifer smiled. "No, because we both know how this turns out, Dean," he spoke calmly, not caring what Zachariah or his people did to Dean because he had plans of his own as soon as he garnered that one perfect word. "I told you this would happen in Detroit, well, thanks to Zachariah's interference, it seems I was wrong about the location," he mused, returning his gaze to Sam. "Sam, say yes so all this pain will stop," he urged.

Sam's eyes seemed to clear for a brief second before clouding again but his lips did move soundlessly and as the enforcer raised his blade to kill the elder Winchester, both Lucifer and Zachariah leaned closer to hear Sam's whisper soft…

"ARGHH!" a sharp and intense burst of light burned the enforcer just as he was slashing his blade toward's Dean's neck even as, at the same moment, a soft blue light surrounded Sam and sent painful sparks against both arrogant Angel and former Archangel as both sought to get to the younger man.

"Yeah, like you'll get Sam's body in my lifetime."

A/N: Will Lucifer still claim Sam's body? How will either Winchester survive in a room filled with Angels under Zachariah's control and the Lord of Hell and his demons? Chapter 7 holds those answers.