Second chapter today! Be sure to read Chapter 21 as well or nothing will ever make sense again.

Disclaimer: If this were mine, the show would consist of nothing but chick-flick moments and brotherly schmoop. But as it is, Supernatural has a plot. So clearly, it does not belong to me.

AU after episode 7x04

"So you wanna tag team... with me? The Devil?"

"No. I want you to do what I tell you to."

"Pretty sure I'll want what you're offering, are you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"...Because you're bored..."

Sam could feel every muscle in his body pull tight, tense, and no matter what he tried, he couldn't force himself to relax. He was trying. He was really, really trying. But Dean was right. This was such a bad, bad idea that relaxing wasn't an option. And honestly, the look Dean was giving him, equal parts admiration and disbelief, wasn't helping anything.

But Dean was still there. He was standing by him, not telling him he was stupid for doing this, not calling him a monster for making a deal with Lucifer (even if Dean didn't know the half of it). Just standing there at his side, exuding a calm surety that allowed some of the tension to drain from Sam's body. It was like, despite the fact that this plan was twenty different kinds of insane, Dean had no doubt that they were going to pull it off. And Sam needed that, missed that.

He had told Dean some of the plan. The leviathans did want to become king of the world or the universe or the whole of creation or whatever it wanted to be called. And Sam and Lucifer were going to stop them. And if that didn't sound wrong...

So Lucifer was going to open his door to Purgatory and because the cage was actually metaphorical, he would still be trapped inside it. Like a force field or an electric fence, but instead of keeping dogs inside, it kept in wayward angels.

So the door would be open to Purgatory, just as the leviathans asked. What the leviathans didn't ask though, was for the crossroads. And that was what they had missed, the one thing they hadn't prepared for. The one loophole they had never considered. Because they had just thought that they would open the doors to Purgatory and get everywhere else from there.

But no. No, the warehouse was going to be the crossroads, the space connecting Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.

How unfortunate for them.

Because Sam had found that the world was just a cheap blanket. If Lucifer pulled one way and Sam pulled the other, they could tear it apart, creating a one-sided gate to Hell. And lucky for them, the push and pull through the bond could easily do just that.

That would be two doors open, one to Purgatory and one to Hell. And fortunately - or unfortunately depending on your perspective - the warehouse wouldn't be able to handle the crossroads. Hell, nothing could handle the crossroads. That amount of power? That pull between the three metaphysical realms in three different directions? The warehouse would be torn to shreds and the leviathans would be ripped away from the Earth and ripped apart as they flew between Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.

Though as easy as that sounded, it really wasn't.

Because Sam had the job of keeping himself and Dean tethered to the earth. As long as he and Dean stayed connected mentally, he could fasten their bond, their consciousness to the planet.

Theoretically.

And that was way easier said than done.

Yet still, all of that would be way easier than telling Dean what he had done. Because he was pretty sure that once Dean found out, he was going to kill him.

Did Dean like the plan? Not particularly. Did Dean respect it for its insanity? Sure. But at the same time, there was something liberating about it. The last time they had saved the world, they had both known that only one of them was going to come out alive. They had both known that no matter what Dean did, no matter what he tried, Sam was going to die and Dean was going to be left alone.

This time? If the plan went wrong? They were both going down. And as morbid as that was, it actually made him all the more determined to see it through. Because unlike when they had stuffed Lucifer back in his box, this was their plan. They both live or they both die. Just like it always should have been.

So that was why, as they stood next to each other in the middle of the warehouse, surrounded by a sea of leviathans, Dean found himself more comfortable than he had been in forever. The lead leviathan was giving a rousing speech full of encouragement. At least that was what Dean assumed to was supposed to be. What was actually said was "Screw up and you'll be bibbed." And though he wasn't sure what "bibbed" meant, he figured, judging by the shifting and general unease, that the encouragement was more than effective.

Glancing at his brother, he took in the determined set to his jaw, the way it would jump every time the leader gave out instructions. And Dean realized that they were really doing this. That this was happening.

Sam's eyes flickered over to his and Dean watched as a smile grew on his brother's face, one he knew was reflected on his own.

Nodding, Dean gave the cockiest grin he knew how to before turning back to the leader. And as the leviathans cheered, excitement and determination filling the room, he smirked.

These monster-bitches were going down.

A/N: Second to last chapter comes tomorrow!