Chapter Eight: Let You Down
Bobby irritably pushed branches out of his way, yanking his feet through weeds that seemed intent on tripping him up.
He trudged on however, determined to reach the Winchesters before it was too late.
He'd never forgive himself if something happened to either boy and he'd been too slow to arrive in time.
Struggling through the trees, Bobby reached a clearing in time to see Dean standing over his brother, shovel raised high as though he meant to bring the metal spade down on Sam's head.
"Dean!" Bobby cried, causing the older teen to pause.
"Bobby!" Sam called, turning to face the older man.
The grizzled hunter saw the lower half of the teen's face was coated in blood, his cheeks red and blotchy with tears, and his eyes wide and frightened.
Dean snarled and turned his attention on the older man.
"What the hell're you doing?" Bobby accused, distracting the older brother further.
The young man dropped the shovel and lunged at the veteran hunter.
Bobby quickly sidestepped Dean- the creature possessing him made clumsy with rage- and looked up to see Sam swing the handle-end of the shovel at the back of his brother's head as hard as he could.
The wood connected with Dean's skull with a dull crack and the teen pitched forward, out cold.
"B-Bobby," Sam said, his thin chest heaving, and dropped the shovel.
"It'll be alright, son," Bobby said, "Once we get that sumbitch out of him."
Sam nodded, "It wasn't really Dean… I… I know it wasn't… but…"
"Can you help me tie 'im up?" Bobby asked, "We'll have to do the exorcism right here."
Sam shook his head but stepped forward cautiously.
Digging into the bag he had brought, Bobby pulled out the supplies he'd need: ropes, a book of exorcisms given to him by a Rabbi friend, and an empty flask.
Bobby bent down and pulled the unconscious Winchester into a sitting position. There was a gash on the back of Dean's head but they would worry about that later.
"Wrap those ropes 'round his middle," Bobby instructed Sam, holding Dean still, "Make sure to get his arms too."
Sam did as he was told, pulling the ropes tighter than necessary but the older hunter didn't say anything.
Next, Bobby pulled a pair of handcuffs from the bag and slipped them over Dean's ankles to prevent the young man from running away.
"Good job, son," Bobby praised Sam but the young man just sniffed and wiped his nose on the back of his hand, staring at his brother.
Dean was sitting up, slumped forward slightly. Knowing that they couldn't wait, Bobby hauled back and smacked Dean full across the face.
The teen's eyes snapped open and he gasped in shock. Sam scooted away from Dean fearfully, looking up at Bobby helplessly.
The grizzled hunter licked a finger and hoped the book of exorcisms, holding it in one hand while he clutched the empty flask in the other.
Before the dybbuk had a chance to rally itself, Bobby began the exorcism.
The creature laughed, "That won't work, old man! Not without my true name and there's no way I'll give it to you!"
Bobby didn't even look up, "Sam, there's a bottle of holy water in the bag; I think yer brother's thirsty."
The boy moved quickly, keeping as much distance from himself and his brother as possible.
"What happened, Sammy?" Dean asked, "You listen to Bobby but not me or Dad?"
"Ignore him," the grizzled hunter said as Sam pulled a plastic water bottle from the bag, there was a rosary floating in the liquid.
"Bobby doesn't love you," Dean sneered, "He doesn't love anything."
Sam glanced at the grizzled hunter but Bobby shook his head.
"That's why he never came to check on you," the older Winchester said, "Even when you called him. He didn't care. He believed Dad and didn't bother questioning him."
"Holy water," Bobby said and Sam pulled the cap off the bottle, dropping it onto the ground.
Sam inched as close to Dean as he dared and splashed him with the water, catching his brother's chest.
Dean cried out in pain as his shirt darkened with the liquid and steam rose from the contact site.
"You'll pay for that, you little shit!" Dean threated his sibling.
Sam scrambled back tearfully, afraid that his brother would break through the ropes holding him but surprisingly, Dean didn't. He struggled against them but his efforts were futile.
Why couldn't he break free? A dybbuk was a spirit, like a demon, and Sam knew demons had super-strength. Maybe dybbuks didn't.
As though reading the fourteen-year old's mind, Bobby said, "He can't break through. They may be mean as hell but dybbuk's are no more stronger than the person they're possessing."
Sam's eyes widened and he nodded.
Bobby cleared his throat and continued to exorcism, demanding the spirit tell them its name.
Dean just laughed. Sam splashed him with holy water again, in the face this time.
"I command you in the name of God and all His Saints and Angels! Reveal your name to me!" Bobby ordered loudly, "I command you, spawn of darkness, to reveal your name!"
"You're going to die," Dean told Sam, "You're going to die slowly and painfully."
"I command you in the name of Saints Michael and Gabriel…" Bobby continued to recite but the exorcism had no effect.
Sam almost crushed the water bottle he was holding onto it so tightly. He wanted to do something to help Bobby, help Dean but he was scared.
Taking a deep breath, Sam spoke to the dybbuk, "Don't you want me to know? Don't you want me to know your name before I die?"
Sam's heart jackhammered in his chest but he continued, "Don't you want me to know the name of the monster that kills me? See my face when you tell me?"
Bobby faltered, listening to the young man.
"Or are you just going to hide behind Dean? Like you did with Dad?"
The dybbuk scowled, "I'm not as stupid as you think I am; I'm not going to tell my name!"
Sam shrugged, trying his hardest to appear calm.
"Fine," he said, "But that doesn't make you very scary. A dybbuk named Dean doesn't really strike fear."
Bobby raised his eyebrows. Sam was trying to goad the creature into telling them its name!
Dean gritted his teeth, "Give up! You're wasting your breath!"
Sam replied by splashing Dean with holy water again.
The eighteen-year old's hazel eyes burned with hate.
"You'll live to regret that," he hissed.
Sam looked at Bobby. He didn't know what to do.
"No wonder Dad did what he did," Dean said, "Look what you're doing to me, Sam!"
The boy took a step back. No, it wasn't Dean it was a monster, a dybbuk.
"There's something wrong with you," Dean continued, "Tying me up, torturing me…"
"Shut up!" Sam snapped, "You're not Dean!"
Dean didn't though.
"You're the monster, Sam," he accused, "Not me. You killed Mom and then Dad and… are you going to kill me now too?"
"Don't listen, Sam," Bobby told the boy and started reciting the exorcism again with renewed vigor.
"You're going to kill your big brother?" Dean asked, "The one who rescued you from that motel room after what happened to Dad?"
Sam shook his head, trying to ignore his sibling's words.
"You're sick, Sam," Dean said, "You need help."
"I… I…" the younger brother stammered. He was so confused.
"Untie me, Sammy," Dean begged, "And we'll get you some help. I promise."
Sam looked up at Bobby but the grizzled hunter was too focused on the exorcism.
"I won't be mad," Dean said, "I promise. I'll forget all of this. It's not your fault."
Dean's eye twitched and his jaw clenched tight, apparently the exorcism was finally starting to work.
"Wh- Why'd you try and hurt me?" Sam asked, wrapping his arms around his aching midsection.
Dean's expression turned sympathetic, "That wasn't me, Sammy, that wasn't. You… You're seeing things… imagining things…"
Sam gulped in a deep breath and shook his head.
"You ran off and I was trying to find you… you ran into the woods," Dean told him, "I found you with the shovel and you attacked me."
"No," Sam muttered, "No… that's not what happened."
Dean's mouth twisted in pain and he cut eyes at Bobby.
"You'll never get me to tell, old man."
Sam didn't know what was happening. He didn't know what was real. Was there a dybbuk possessing Dean? Had that dybbuk hurt him? Or was it just Dean? Was Dean really mad at him- mad enough to kill him- or was he just crazy?
Sam scooted back, away from Dean and Bobby. He lifted his hands and grabbed the sides of his head.
Dean shuddered and growled out a single word: a name.
Bobby smirked, flipped the pages of the book and landed on the exorcism that would remove the dybbuk from Dean's body and into the flask he held.
Sam had had enough. He stood shakily and backpedaled. He made it to the edge of the clearing before he heard Bobby call his name.
The grizzled hunter couldn't do anything until he knew that Dean was safe, which meant finishing the exorcism.
"Why don't you run after him, old man?" Dean ground out.
Bobby's only reply was to continue reciting the words written in the book. From the corner of his eye he caught sight of Sam slipping into the trees.
SPN
Tears slipped down Sam's face as he stumbled through the woods.
He held his hands out, pushing branches and twigs out of the way as he went.
Sam stumbled and fell to the ground, landing so that his chin painfully struck the leaf littered floor.
The teen didn't bother getting back up. He curled in on his side, knees drawn up to his chest and started rocking.
SPN
Bobby held the flask as steady as he could as white smoke spilled from Dean's mouth and headed straight for him.
The dybbuk was sucked into the bottle like it was a vacuum cleaner. The grizzled hunter slammed the lid on the mouth of the flask, turning it as tight as possible when the smoky tail disappeared inside.
Dropping both the bottle and the book into the bag, the hunter turned his attention back to the teenager slumped on the ground before him.
"Dean," Bobby said as he untied the ropes from the young man's torso, "Can you hear me, son?"
"Uh… B-Bobby?" Dean muttered and opened his eyes, "W-what was that?"
"Yer an idjit."
Dean blinked and sat up with Bobby's help, one hand going to the back of his head.
"Why am I bleeding?" he asked, touching the back of his head gingerly before looking around the clearing.
"Where's Sam?!" Dean struggled to stand up but Bobby held a hand against his chest as he unlocked the handcuffs around his ankles.
Once the teen's legs were free, Bobby gripped Dean's shoulders.
"You nearly killed yer brother because o' that thing," Bobby told him and Dean's face blanched.
"Where is he?" Dean asked, eyes darting around.
"Ran off into the woods," Bobby told him.
"I have to find him," Dean insisted and Bobby helped him up.
"Oh no you don't," the grizzled hunter told, him.
Pulling the keys to his truck from the pocket of his vest, Bobby shoved them into Dean's hand.
"Yer going back to the road and getting in my car," he told the younger man, "I'll get Sam."
"But-" Dean began but Bobby interrupted.
"You've done enough damage with your stupidity, boy," the veteran hunter snapped, "Get me truck, go pick yer things up from the motel and get back to my house."
Dean didn't argue.
"Gimme yer keys," Bobby demanded and Dean handed him the Impala's keys.
Dean grabbed the bag- shoving the ropes, shovel and handcuffs into it- and started away from the clearing, his shoulders slumping dejectedly.
SPN
"Sam!"
Dean heard Bobby calling his brother's name and resisted the urge to join the search despite the older hunter's instructions.
He had fucked up. Badly. He knew that and it wouldn't make things better to terrify his brother even more.
Dean sighed shakily, "I'm sorry, Sammy."
He remembered everything that he had done since that phone call from Molly. He felt sick to his stomach just thinking about how he had hurt his baby brother.
He didn't blame Sam at all. Not for their mother's death or John's.
He hoped that Sam hadn't gone far and that Bobby would find him soon. He needed to tell Sam those things himself.
He had promised to keep Sam safe. To protect him from the dybbuk but he'd failed. Instead, his brilliant plan had backfired and almost gotten his baby brother killed.
He'd let his brother down.
He only hoped that he could make amends for his actions and show Sam that he loved him.
That he wasn't a monster out to hurt him.
Author's Note:
Chapter title comes from a 3 Days Grace song of the same name.
Thanks to Ginnylove9990, Priya723, BruisedBloodyBroken, souldarkalone, ncsupnatfan, L.A.H.H, Elishab68, mandancie, kasey, reannablue, SamDeanLover28, samgirl19, sarah, BranchSuper, SPN Mum, Don't touch my Seaweed Brain for reviewing.
Thanks to everyone who alerted, followed and favourited.
Please take a moment to leave a review. The dybbuk's gone but the Winchesters still have a long way to go until everything is alright again.