We're in the home stretch. :) Just a few more chapters to go. Thanks for the continued following you guys. And I know my way of killing the leviathans is less complicated and easier than the way on the show, but that's the beauty of AU. And with the world I created it'd be a little harder to get the things they needed in the episodes.

So, enjoy the chapter. A little bit of stuff you already know, but I thought it'd be interesting to see how other people view the story of the Winchesters. And planning their final strike takes time. ;)

Ch. 22

The cabin is closed off now. It's Sam, Dean, the four leaders, and Steele in the room. They're going over the last details. This is it. The final stretch. Within the next two days they will head out to the compound Dick is staying in. They know he's there from the constant communication they've had from their scouts camped out between there and here. Groups are stationed at various checkpoints, everything they think could be important is passed down the chain to reach Mark and the others. The distance for their radio frequency sucks, therefore, the message chain.

They're all sitting around the table. It's Mark's turn to talk. "The strike where we thought we lost Dean was one of the final pieces of the puzzle. Fire does kill them. Our men finding out where Roman is holed up was next. We have that under our watch." He looks around the table. "We have the way in, we have the way out. It's everything in between that needs to be controlled."

Steele cuts in. "Do we have a backup for Max?"

Dean shakes his head. "Max will do it. He's way too excited for this. Me and Sam went to see him this morning. He's on his way there already to… do his thing. Scout the area or whatever. When we give him the signal, he'll go nuts."

Steele nods, trusting Dean's judgment.

Mark continues. "We'll get there after Max has started in on the people. As horrible as it sounds, that's what we're banking on. Him killing enough humans for us to start sneaking in. Once we think we're clear for moving in, Dean and Sam move in and take care of Max before they head off on their own part."

"Which is?"

Dean looks to Crow. "Sam and I are going to make sure Dick gets what's coming to him. We're going to kill him ourselves. After that, then we can continue with the rest."

Crow nods. "That's smart. Leaving nothing to chance."

Dean nods.

"Then we move in," Sky supplies.

Mark nods. "Then we start setting the place up to kill the rest of them. If we're lucky, Sam and Dean can dispose of Dick quietly."

Sam chuckles.

Dean grins. "That's the plan."

"It's what we're riding on," Mark says with a roll of his eyes. "So you guys need to make sure you aren't seen going in. I know you're good. I'm just warning you. And I know he's evaded you before…"

Sam's eyes snap up, going sharp. "He won't this time," he almost growls.

Dean pats Sam's arm soothingly, looking to Mark. "He won't," he agrees. "He won't see us coming. And he'll probably be too concerned with what Max does to think about us. We know what works now. We're ready."

Mark eyes him before nodding. He looks over the group. "Now… shall we start making sure everyone knows what we're doing?"

Sky grins, standing. "I'll go get the rest."

They've got groups one and two up to speed when someone comes running into the camp. A low murmur between the man and Mark has the other leaders and a few men crowding near to hear what's going on. Sam and Dean push their way through when they see Mark's face fall. When they get to him, he visibly deflates.

"What?" Dean asks sharply.

He sighs. "Bunker number three in the reporting line was discovered last night."

Dean grits his teeth. "How bad?"

Mark looks to the man.

The man who came running into camp looks to them sadly. "It was a chance find. They came across us when we were fixing our radio. It was broken by the wind right after receiving an update from bunker two. We had a man outside fixing the wires. They saw him and closed in. We were able to fight them off since there were only two. But… we lost a few to the fight."

Dean looks to Mark in confusion. "We're still updated on the compound. They fought them off. So what's wrong?"

Mark doesn't look up from where he's turning a folded piece of paper in his hands. "This here is the list of the dead. Five of them."

Dean and Sam only stare on in confusion.

"Drew's the one who was going to go in with you, right? You were going to have him be the one who covered you to the front door?"

Dean nods. "We're meeting up with him at the bunker on the way there. We confirmed over the radio chain. He said he'd do it. I knew he'd have our backs. And he's one of the best shots we have."

Mark nods. "He was."

Sam's hand grips the arm of Dean's jacket.

Dean inhales sharply. "Was." It's not a question. He knows what Mark is telling them. Suddenly hears the many other times Mark used the word 'was' in his previous questions.

Mark nods anyway. "I think you might need a replacement," he murmurs.

Sam spins away, running a hand through his hair in frustration, a low growl rumbling in his chest.

Dean runs a hand over his mouth, turning around too. "Damnit." He watches Sam kick at a leg of a table, everyone stepping back as the table skids across the floor easier than they'd think. He looks over the way people are eyeing them warily. He sighs, letting his eyes fall closed. "Mark. Who would you recommend covering our way in?"

"Give me a few hours. I'll let you know."

Dean nods, walking over putting a hand to Sam's arm where his brother is now supporting himself by his arms on the table he kicked. His other hand goes on his brother's back. "He's in a better place."

Sam nods once.

"I promise. He was a good kid." Dean's stomach twists. Just a kid. Barely over eighteen. He sighs. "C'mon. We need to keep going. He'd tell us to get moving."

Sam sighs, nodding again. Then pushes himself up.

Dean pats his back, looking up when Sam's hand fists in his jacket right above his heart. "I'm not going anywhere. Okay?"

Sam's fist tightens until his knuckles are bone white. He presses his fist more into Dean's chest and steps closer, a desperately meaningful edge to it.

Dean pats Sam's chest. "I know. Me too."

Sam sighs, shoulders drooping as everything just seems to wash out of him.

Dean pats him one more time before turning back to Mark, hand still on Sam's back. Lingering comfort. "Let's bring in group three."

When Drew dies, something shifts in the Winchesters. Everyone can see it. Not so much in Dean as in Sam, but they both change. They're back to how they were when they first got there. They withdraw from people. Go back to sticking with each other most of the time. Dean doesn't withdraw completely. He talks to Steel and Sketch keeping up with the maps and plans. He talks to whoever he needs to get the job done. Sam though…

"We've all lost people," someone speaks out at a meeting. Dean and Sam aren't there, going over weapons supply with Fox today. "We're in the middle of a war."

Mark nods, eyes scanning over these people. He's lost many over the past year. "They know that. But what a lot of you don't know is how much death followed them before all of this."

"Then explain it to us," someone else says harshly. "Why are they so special?"

Mark looks to him, narrowing his eyes. "You never had any experience before this war, have you Rick? Normal life before this, right?"

Rick shrugs.

Mark leans back in his chair. "Their story isn't mine to share," he sighs. "But seeing as you have to work with them, it'd be fair to understand them. And these two are quite a pair."

"Tell us," someone speaks up. "I've heard a lot about them. I want to know what's true and what's not."

Mark looks to her. "You were a hunter before, right?"

She nods.

Mark nods to himself before speaking. "You all know there are things out there now. Monsters. Demons, though not as many these days. The leviathans hate them too. They stay away. But a few of you are hunters. Who knew about all of that before this and killed every evil creature you could." He sees a few people nod. Recognizes some. He's pleased with having everyone's full attention.

"Sam and Dean were raised in it. But it was worse. Their mom was killed by a demon when Sam was six months old. His girlfriend the same way twenty-two years later. They were both burned on the ceiling."

"The demon John was hunting," an older man supplies knowledgably.

Mark nods. He recognizes the fellow hunter. "They find out later all of that happened because the demon bled into Sam. So those deaths, and other's related, Sam sees as his fault. Because the demon wanted him. Then there's all of the people they've tried to save and couldn't. John Winchester sold his soul to save Dean's life. Dean sold his to save Sam's. Sam couldn't save Dean and he started going downhill in the four months Dean was in hell."

"The angel pulled Dean out," someone says.

Mark nods. "Castiel comes into the picture. Things happen. Sam is manipulated by another demon into unknowingly using his powers from the demon blood to set the devil free. Everything that happens during the beginning of the apocalypse they see as their fault. Dean inadvertently broke the first seal when he was in hell, Sam was manipulated into breaking the last. But they also defeat all four horseman, except Death because he helped, and they try to figure out how to get the devil back into his cage."

"Some of you knew Jo and Ellen. Or at least heard of them in the stories. The Harvells. Sam and Dean see their deaths as their fault too. They died trying to get the Winchesters to the devil before they found out the colt wouldn't work. During all of this they find out they're the vessels to Michael and Lucifer. That if they said yes, they'd have to fight.

"But what they were more worried about was how the world would fare during the fight. Not to mention that they probably wouldn't survive. Michael was supposed to kill Lucifer. Dean was supposed to kill Sam. But there was no guarantee Dean would live either. It was just a huge mess."

"How do you know all of this?" someone asks.

Mark chuckles. "I was a friend of their… pretty much their second father. Bobby Singer. He was with them through it all. He told me the story. How Sam decided to say 'yes' and hoped to defeat Lucifer in his mind and jump into the cage himself. At first he doesn't. he disappears. Dean though… he doesn't give up. He shows up where the fight is supposed to happen and hopes to either help his brother, or not leave him to die alone." He shakes his head.

"I would never believe it if it wasn't Bobby who told me Dean's account of what happened. He said Dean told him that while Sam was beating him, punching him over and over again in the face, he freezes. Something happens in his mind. No one but Sam will ever know what it was that gave him the strength, but he takes control back. He uses the rings and Dean watches as the brother he sold his soul for jumps into the devil's cage. Dragging the archangel Michael with him."

"Castiel brings him back," someone supplies.

"Accidently without a soul," Mark adds.

There's a murmur through the hall at that.

Mark nods. "For a full year, Sam is without his soul. And somehow Dean convinces Death to get it for him and put up a wall to keep the memories out. You guys know a lot of the rest. The Leviathans and all that. How Castiel let them out. The boys see that as their fault too. Not being able to stop that.

"But what most of you don't know is that Castiel took Sam's wall. He has nightmares of Hell now. Bad enough that Dean had to find a spell to keep them away so his brother was actually able to sleep. But Sam never gets a break. Dean told me when we met up that Sam sees things while he's awake. Lucifer himself or twisted realities. And the only thing keeping those… hallucinations I guess… away, is Dean."

"That's why you never see one without the other for very long," the female hunter from before says.

Mark nods. "Dean keeps the devil away. He keeps Sam sane. But Sam also helps Dean. Gives him something to fight for. And pushes him when he needs it. It's a very… co-dependent relationship."

It's silent in the room now. Everyone preoccupied with their own thoughts.

Mark's eyes move over them. "All of that is why I have them here. Because no matter what they go through, those two keep pushing on. Mostly because of each other. But they'll help anyone they can along the way. We needed that help. And they came. I have no doubt they'll be the reason the Leviathans are defeated."

"I heard about Drew," Fox murmurs.

Dean nods.

"He was a good friend of mine." She lays out a few more guns on the table before looking across the room to where Sam is counting ammo. "How's he doing? If I'm feeling this miserable, I can't imagine how he feels."

Dean sighs. Debates on whether to talk about Sam with someone he barely knows. In the end, he figures it wouldn't hurt anything. "He's… upset. Sam attaches to things. When we came here, he had his walls up. He had built himself a fortress. But… I think he saw how genuine Drew was. Still young. Affected very little by the war. And he saw a friend. So he let him in. And now…" Dean shakes his head. "Sam hurts. He's a very sensitive person. I tease him about it sometimes. Right now, I just feel guilty."

"Why?" Fox asks, confused.

"I thought it'd be good for Sam to let people in. I encouraged him to lower his walls. Now they're back even stronger than before. He needs to retreat into himself when things like this happen now. He hasn't talked in a while. And I think him being this far from me right now is hard for him. But he's doing what he can. I can't be more proud of how he's handling it."

Fox nods, marking off the last thing on her list. "Well you should go over there. We're done here. I can do the last list. You make sure he's okay."

Dean gives her a small smile. "I thought he scared you."

She grins, giving him a wink. "I'm a softy for the hurting. And… he is far less intimidating when he's sad. Just… give him a hug for me. Okay? He's one of those people that just hurts you to see sad."

Dean nods. "I know exactly what you mean." He puts a hand to her shoulder. "Thanks for doing the next list."

She shrugs. "I don't mind. We're still on schedule."

He walks over to Sam, smiling softly at how his brother relaxes as soon as Dean is mere feet away. "How's it goin'?"

Sam looks up, giving him a little quirk of his lips and shrugging.

"I know it's not very exciting. But you should be getting your geek time in," he teases.

Sam raises an eyebrow.

"You know. Geeks like to organize things. Very anal."

Sam rolls his eyes.

Dean huffs. "Don't act like I'm stupid. It's true. I've never seen a geek who didn't like to organize things. Pencils, books…"

Sam gives him a shove with his shoulder, setting another big box of bullets aside and writing on the list. Then he huffs, pulling out a new list.

"How many more?" Dean asks.

Sam holds up the list he just pulled out.

"Thank God!" Dean groans. "I'm tired of organizing." He takes the list from Sam's hand though and sets it down. Then grins at Sam's bitch face. "Before you start that one, how are you doing?"

Sam sighs.

"No, you don't get to do that. You never let me get away with not talking."

Sam smirks a little.

Dean puts his hands on Sam's shoulders. "Just… are you okay? I just need to make sure you're alright."

Sam finally gets serious, patting Dean's chest. "I'm fine," he murmurs.

Dean studies him before finally accepting it was the closest thing to the truth he's going to get. "C'mere." He gives Sam a hug, patting his brother on his back before pulling away. "Fox said to give you a hug. And you looked like you needed it. So… yeah." He scratches the back of his neck, turning to pick up Sam's list.

Sam gives Dean a soft smile behind his back, not calling his brother on the moment when he sees Dean do his nervous gesture of rubbing the back of his neck. He just starts working again. Yeah, Drew is gone. But Dean's right. That kid is definitely in a better place. And… he still has Dean. He always has Dean.