Authors note: Thanks to everyone who has followed and added this bad boy to their favourites. It's truly encouraging. I have diverted quite a bit from the original story lines here, though I guess that's the beauty of fan fics is that you can do that! So don't hate me for it please! and please do comment if you can, it always keeps me motivated and makes me really happy to know that people are enjoying what I'm doing (or equally gives me things to improve on too which is also awesome!).

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 13

When Zoe and Daryl finally walked back into the church in the early hours of the morning Sam was in a fit of what Zoe could only see as being rage and concern.

"Has Dean been with you guys?" he practically jumped on Zoe as she walked through the doors.

She shook her head slightly, a knot of fear starting to form in her stomach, "no, he was here when we left. Why?"

Sam ran an anxious hand through his hair and looked out at the windows momentarily, "he's gone. We were getting the weapons and stuff ready and then decided to get some sleep and when I woke up he was gone. No note, no nothing."

"Sam calm down," Zoe took a step towards her friend cautiously, "I'm sure he probably just went off to get food or go to the toilet or something. He'll be back, don't worry."

Sam's hazel eyes were enormous in the half-light though, the uncertainty and apprehension clear in his face, "he hasn't done this since the day this whole apocalypse stuff started. Why now?"

Zoe sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and shrugged her shoulders a little, "maybe he knew we were safe here so for once he wasn't so worried about being right with us the entire time."

Sam shook his head and turned back to face the enormous looming cross at the front of the room, "I seriously hope you're right on that."

The group spent the better part of the next two days gathering as much material as they could to barricade and reinforce the church. They managed to manufacture pointed lengths of wood to stick at the front of the doorway to stop any stray walkers from getting up against the door. Sam and Zoe had spent their day carving and fixing them in place, making sure they were secure and weren't going to fall over if someone or something so much as bumped them. By the time they had finished the sun was well into its descent and nearly disappearing behind the horizon and there was still no sign of Dean anywhere. Sam was starting to get edgy and Zoe couldn't for the life of her think of what to tell him to make it okay. Dean hadn't been MIA like that in a long time, not without at least leaving them a note or some sort of indication that he had actively made a decision to go.

"He'll come back Sam," she half whispered as the two sat on the steps at the front of the church looking at the barricade they had created.

"In light of everything Zoe," Sam turned to face her with a sad look, "I'm not so sure he will."

"What do you mean in light of everything?"

Sam let out a long sigh as he leaned his elbows against his knees, "he's been signed up for a potential death wish with this Mark of Cain stuff. He knew full well he couldn't really save you no matter how hard he tried and even if he did manage to save you, he still doesn't save the world. We are here now with a group of people that seem to believe this whole thing has a cure, they still harbour hope for something better and yet I think he still feels like this is the means to an uncertain end. He doesn't see the world being saved like these people and once again he has to sacrifice his life and the lives of those he loves for a cause he doesn't even really believe in. We fought and fought and fought to save people just for them to end up walking corpses. So you tell me Zoe, after ten years of this, after losing everything and everyone that was ever important, wouldn't you walk away as well?"

She watched as Sam swatted angrily at the tears forming in his eyes before standing up, mumbling something about securing windows and walking off into the church. She sat there for a long time as the sun bled out entirely, listening to the hushed voices inside talking about what they needed to prepare for storming the city and devising a clear plan of action so no one got lost. Just as she was about to go inside and talk shop with the others the rustling of the trees in front of her drew her attention back. She watched wide eyed as Dean stepped out and into the opening, his body rigid and the look in his eye menacing as he smiled up at the young girl on the steps.

"Dean?" her eyes were wide as he walked towards her. She was about to jump from the bottom step when the familiar towering figure of Castiel appeared in front of her, stopping her dead, his hand outstretched as if to protect her.

"Cas, what the…" she tried to duck around him but he simply pushed her back onto the step, his body tense as he glanced over his shoulder at her.

"He is not what or who you think he is," Castiel said simply, his blue eyes trailing up to see Sam walk out onto the deck and stop dead. He could see it too, something was wrong with his brother, he knew it as well as if it were something wrong with himself.

"Ah angel boy," Dean smirked as he came to stand just beyond the spike guarded entrance, "I was wondering when your bleeding soul would show up."

"Bleeding soul?" Sam exclaimed, a look of scepticism on his haggard features, "what the Hell is wrong with you Dean? Where have you been?"

"I've been busy Sammy and there isn't a single thing wrong with me," as he spoke his eyes flickered to that same endless shimmering black, "in fact I've never in my life felt so damn good."

One of Zoe's hands balled around the material on Castiel's sleeve, the other coming to her mouth as she stared at the unnerving sight before her. Sam had joined Castiel on the bottom stair, his body shielding Zoe as he did so, some untapped part of him knowing full well what the demon was there for.

"You know," Dean turned and started pacing to his right slowly, "I spoke to that brother of yours earlier."

Zoe's eyes went wide, her hands falling away as she stared at Dean from behind the two boys, "you what?"

"Yeah," Dean turned and paced back in the other direction casually, "he's actually pretty alright. He also told me about his plans for the earth and that you were attempting to stop him from doing it all. You know I couldn't help but feel like I could relate. I mean, you've been leeching off of me and Sammy here for that long now it feels like we haven't been able to do our jobs or live our lives for the last ten years."

"Shut it Dean," Sam barked angrily.

"But your brother has offered me a little trade, if I bring you to him unharmed he will perform his little ceremony, take what he needs from you and then, because I'm the lucky one that carries the very weapon that can separate you two, I get the uncanny opportunity to cut that pathetic heart of yours right out of your chest," the grin he gave was nothing short of terrifying, "and by God will I enjoy doing it."

"Dean!"

"Do not listen to him, he doesn't mean what he is saying," Castiel exclaimed, though he knew full well that Zoe would take in every single word that the eldest Winchester said. She would follow him to the ends of the earth and into the depths of Hell if he asked her to and when he glanced over his shoulder he could already see the thin film of water covering her eyes.

"You were nothing but a colossal pain in everyone's asses and you know it!" Dean was standing stock still now, his shoulders taught as he pulled what Sam thought looked like a mangled jaw bone with a handle from his belt, "if we had of gotten rid of you all those years ago maybe all those people we once cared about wouldn't have died. Maybe we would have stood a chance!"
"Enough Dean!" Sam went to step forwards but felt Castiel's hand on his shoulder and instead remained where he was, "you're lying, Zoe has helped us from the day we found her right up until now. Whatever it is that is possessing your sorry ass is making you say this crap."

"I'm not possessed Sammy," Dean's eyebrows narrowed as a wicked smile spread across his face, "this is exactly who I am and you can mark my words, little Nephilim, when the time comes, I will kill you."

And with one last look at the three standing on the steps, he was gone and as the two men turned to look at Zoe she could practically feel her heart crack and splinter right down the very middle, her legs giving way beneath her as she sank to the step and let her head fall into her hands.