Supernatural does not belong to me, although I wish it did. I am simply playing in Kirpke's sandbox for a bit. All rights and ownership are the property of Kripke and the CW network. I am not making any money from this; it is for my own personal pleasure.

Synopsis: Set at the start of Season One, Dean had been in a wheelchair since his father disappeared more than a year ago and he finally has to tell Sam… There'd been an accident that night and Dean had paid a very high price….one he still doesn't understand. The story will have some hunts from season one and possibly into season two…the brothers will continue their search for their father…there will be alterations to the hunts to accommodate Dean's new situation. I have every intention of returning Dean to good health before this ends…but getting there is going to be bumpy.

Please keep in mind that I do not have a Beta, so all grammatical errors are my own. Not Slash. Brotherly love and Angst only…

Please Review: So I know there's interest

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Previous Chapter:

Dean's eyes widened when he saw two figures fighting in the distance. The rain was obscuring his view, but he knew by the practiced moves that one of those figures was Sam. "Shit…Sammy…" He whispered. He saw the other man punch Sam, who went flying backwards through a wooden fence. For a moment Dean forgot that he knew how to breathe.

"SAM!" He cried as his legs pumped faster through the mire and the muck. Behind him he thought he heard a faint 'Dean…' from Bobby…but he ignored the call and pushed forward. His lungs were burning and Dean knew that he needed to work on his cardio. Being stuck in a wheelchair for the past year hadn't done anything for his physical fitness level. A pang of sorrow flooded him when he couldn't avoid the brief thought…What would dad say about that? The fact that he was now too weak to protect Sam?

Dean took all that angst and fear and shoved it down into his gut. He didn't have time to get lost in self-loathing right now. He had a little brother to save. His green eyes flashed back up and he stumbled when he saw the woman. No. She wasn't a woman, she was a demon and she was taunting Sam. Dean wanted to rip her throat out. It was sudden an unexpected…the freezing of his muscles. "What the…?" He grunted when his arms pin-wheeled and he fell forward onto his knees. A rock slammed into the bottom of his kneecap and Dean bit his lip in pain.

"Dean." Suddenly the woman was standing in front of him. A slight smirk pulling at the edges of her mouth. "Oh…I bet that hurt." She cooed before he was demon lifted and pinned against the invisible barrier. He kept trying to snake his head around so he could see what was happening with Sam. But no dice. She had him firmly in her grip.

"Where's my brother, bitch?" He growled through clenched teeth. A part of Dean knew that his menacing tone lost something when water was running down his face in rivulets. He looked more like a drowned cat than a big bad scary hunter.

Ruby stepped forward, her brown eyes flashing black as she looked over Dean's shoulder. "Oh, he's not far." Her fingers lifted and traced the strong jaw, lingering on his lips. "You know it's weird…I'm not sure who's prettier. Little Sammy…or you."

Anger surged to the surface when the bitch called his little brother 'Sammy'. That was Dean's own private term of endearment for his brother. "It's Sam." He ground out.

She burst out laughing and the sound might have been the worst thing that Dean had ever heard. "You know he said the same thing." She took another step closer to Dean and he could smell the sulfur radiating off her skin. "But my question to you? Are you smarter than he is?"

Dean snorted. "Not by a long shot."

"Hmmm, that's too bad. I was hoping you were the smart one." Suddenly his throat was closing and his mouthed popped open in a silent 'O'.

Dean tried to gasp, but nothing, not even a whisper of air penetrated the demon strangle-hold she had on him. Ruby leaned in closer. "I have an offer…one your brother refused. But I think with his life hanging in the balance…you might be smarter than he was." She paused for a moment and pressed her lips against his ear. "Or maybe you just care more for him than he does for you?"

His world started to spin and his vision was darkening. Just before the world pin-pointed out of existence, air poured into his starved lungs. Problem was? It wasn't just water that poured into him…it was water too. He started coughing violently as he tried to dispel the rain that was trying to choke him. If it isn't demons? It's nature. Dean couldn't help the sarcastic remarks his brain was coming up with as he tried not to die of asphyxiation. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, there was a small part of him that had bought into his father's abuse hook line and sinker, and having his brother's devotion or lack thereof thrown at him made his stomach turn.

"What the hell are you yammering on about?" Dean finally managed. His voice was rough and he wondered if the next time he looked in a mirror if he'd see bruising around his throat.

"That's not a very polite way to speak to someone." Her voice dropped and she glared at him.

Dean shook his head as much as he was able. "You're not exactly human. Is that meat suit even alive?"

"I prefer to be the only one in residence." She shot back.

"Yeah, I don't like roommates either." Not that Dean had ever really had a roommate. At least not outside of his brother or his father. She tilted her head in irritation. "What is it you want with me?'

"Wow, ego much?" Her eyes drifted behind him again and Dean wondered what the hell she kept looking at. He hoped to God it wasn't Sam. "I'm not interested in you, Dean Winchester." She slipped her hand down his chest and shoved her fingers into his side. Dean gasped as pain washed through his body. He felt like he'd just been stabbed with a red hot poker. And I know exactly what that feels like.

"Then what do you want?" He hissed through the agony trailing up his side.

"Sam." She purred. Again her fingers slid over his side and he cried out as another wave of fiery torment spread outward. "I want Sam."

"Never gonna happen." He ground out through his clenched teeth. He wasn't sure if it was rainwater running down his face or tears. But at the moment he was grateful for the weather as it hid his pain.

Ruby stepped back and folded her arms across her chest. "Yes. It will. I just need the right key to unlock him…and I think you are that key."

Dean coughed and he grimaced when blood mixed with saliva dribbled down his chin. "I'm never gonna let you hurt him." Where the hell are you, Bobby? He wondered.

"You know…I was going to offer you a choice. Help me 'help' Sammy." She grinned when he glowered at her. "Or…" With a flick of her fingers, Dean crashed to the ground. His side was bleeding, but that wasn't what had him gasping in denial.

"No…" he whispered into the pouring rain. When he brought his gaze back up, Ruby was gone and he was alone. Except for the frantic calls from Bobby.

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Sam watched in horror as the demon toyed with his older brother. Emotions that he couldn't even name threaten to bury him as he tried to move toward Dean. He couldn't hear anything she was saying or whatever Dean's smartass responses were. Because let's face it, Dean didn't have anything but smartass answers. He nearly choked when he saw her rip into his brother's side…the blood that dripped off her fingers as she held them up, so he could see, and let the rain wash Dean's blood from her hands. Tears were dripping off his chin as he tried to fight the hold. His shoulder was screaming in pain, but it was his heart that was being ripped to shreds. He couldn't help. And this was happening because of him. I swear to God, I'm gonna fix this, Dean. He repeated over and over inside his head.

Movement behind him had Sam trying to see who might be there. Andy stumbled around the corner and stared at Sam in question. "There a reason you're just hanging around while that demon fucks with us?"

"Can't move. She's got some kind of hold on me."

Andy nodded and looked around. He wondered if he might be able to diffuse whatever she'd done to Sam. "Let me try something." He said quietly. The smaller man stepped up next to Sam, keeping a watchful eye on the unconscious form of Jake while he did. Andy placed his fingers on Sam's forehead and suddenly Sam felt himself slipping onto his knees, the hold releasing him.

"How'd you do that?" Sam breathed. He struggled to his feet, ignoring the squelch of mud under his boots as he turned and started toward the barrier.

"Just wondered if the movement thing was all in your head…guess it is." Andy said quickly. His gaze shifted to Dean and Ruby and then back to Sam. "He doesn't look too good." Sam was already moving.

Ruby's black eyes shifted to his and Sam paused for only a moment before starting forward again. She grinned at him and there was something in her look that was so sinister and evil, that Sam was sure it had touched his actual soul. Dean slid down the invisible wall and she disappeared.

Fear raced through Sam as he staggered toward his brother…don't be dead. Don't be dead. Don't be dead. He kept repeating it over and over in his head.

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Chapter 58

Hell

Andy watched as Sam scrambled through the driving rain toward his unmoving brother. A part of him prayed that this was over now and another part of him, the more heroic part, hoped to hell that they got the chance to pay the demons back. All the pain of the last years, heck going all the way back to his mother's death. Every moment of fear and pain that he'd suffered since he'd been spirited away in the middle of the night poured through him and he groaned internally. Sam swallowed as he saw the tall hunter slip to his knees next to the smaller form of his older brother. Andy hadn't thought much about the fact that Sam had a brother, but as he watched the despair that sapped the other man of his strength, he knew that Dean was integral to Sam's world.

A deafening crack of thunder pulled Andy's attention and his gaze landed on an old man in the ball cap. Hew as standing several paces from the Winchester brothers and his face was a mask of grief as he watched the brothers. If Andy lived his entire life without seeing the devastation that was plain on the old man's face again, he would be fine with that. In a flash of lightening, the old man reached up and wiped away something that Andy was certain wasn't rainwater.

"Dean…" The old man whispered before finding his strength and moving slowly toward the two unmoving brothers.

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Sam felt the tremble in his fingers before he managed to actually touch Dean's face. He was terrified. Terrified that he'd finally lost his only remaining family. Terrified that he'd been too weak to save Dean. And finally, he was petrified that he'd have to win this fight alone…and he wasn't sure he could do that. Hell, Sam wasn't even sure he'd want to.

When he'd left for school, Sam had assumed that he and Dean would have the rest of their lives to be brothers. But as he recalled the last year, Sam knew that he'd been naïve. He understood that the life that he'd thought he could have, was just a dream. A beautiful, perfect apparition of a life…and one he could never have. And yet, as he swallowed the bundle of emotions threatening to choke him, Sam couldn't imagine a world without Dean Winchester.

His shaking fingertips ghosted over Dean's cold skin and he clamped down on the pathetic keen that came from somewhere deep inside him. Pulling his lower lip between his teeth as he tried to calm the rampaging terror was like trying to hold back Niagara Falls; it wasn't possible. The rain continued to drip off his bangs and roll down his face before disappearing into the pools of water he was currently kneeling in. He didn't notice the torrential downpour or the wind that was whipping painfully around him. He finally laid his frozen fingers against Dean's neck. When he didn't immediately feel the strong thumping pulse of Dean's stubborn heart, he yanked his hand back like he'd been burned and fell back onto his butt in the mud. His face a devastated mask of grief.

Out of nowhere, Castiel appeared. He blinked several times at the scene before finally kneeling next to Dean. Cas glanced back up at Sam and the unnatural blue of his eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. He reached out and placed his palm on Dean's chest. Sam watched and allowed his hope to climb up his throat as he watched the angel.

"He is not dead." Castiel reported calmly. He shifted his hand and then frowned. "But he is not alive either."

Sam finally found his voice. "What the hell does that mean?" He sounded raw and frayed, even in his own ears, as he bit out the question without thinking. His ocean colored gaze dropped to Dean's unconscious form and he swallowed his fear.

The angel looked back at Dean before redirecting his gaze back to the younger Winchester. "It means that the demon has locked his mind inside a loop."

"Can't you just fix him?" Bobby asked as he stepped from the shadows, his eyes were haunted and so very tired that Sam almost didn't recognize his friend.

There was another crack lightening and the two hunters jumped while Dean and Castiel remained perfectly still. The mud was cold and had managed to seep into places that only magnified that fact. Sam had started to shiver. He wasn't sure if it was from the cold or the shock of the evening's activities.

The ramifications of those words sent a tingle of fear down his spine. He is locked inside his own mind? That demon locked him inside his memories or his imagination? Sam couldn't stop the torrent of thoughts that impaled his mind and he hated that he couldn't help Dean. Could he? He knew the damage his brother had endured and being stuck in some version of that might just break Dean. As strong as he believed his brother was, this could be the thing that destroys the man he'd come to respect in a whole new way.

Castiel's azure blue gaze shifted to Sam and then back to Bobby. "I cannot fix Dean. But it may yet be possible to save him from himself."

Sam blinked in genuine confusion. "How?"

Bobby had been piecing things together since Sam had been taken. Everything finally clicked into place and he could have kicked himself for missing it in the first place. "Their entwined destinies." He stated firmly.

Shock registered on the face of the youngest Winchester as he stared at the two men. "I thought that had to do with the demon blood and all that. How can that save Dean?" Sam asked as desperation seeped into his voice. The rain was continuing to fall and he was starting to feel the pain of the cold driving rain. He hadn't eaten since he'd been taken, too afraid that the food had been tainted. And when the only one offering you nutrients is a demon? You have a tendency to refuse. He was starting to feel the effects of hunger; his energy was failing as he sat in the mud.

The angel turned and looked at him like he was an idiot. "Your destinies are entwined, yes. But you have the power to control what the demon has done to him. To reverse the effects and make Dean whole."

"Then lets do it." Sam shot back quickly.

Thunder rang out across the countryside and the youngest Winchester could swear that he felt it in his bones. The dark haired angel lifted his shoulders and clenched his jaw as the rain continued to soak him, driving his irritation. He didn't like the feeling of the clothes as they clung to his human body. "You understand that what you will find in there…it will not be pleasant? Dean has suffered and the demon has locked him into living those memories over and over." Sam pulled in a ragged breath. "You will have until the sun rises to find your brother. After that? I may not be able to pull you both out."

Bobby frowned. "Are you sayin' that he could be trapped in there with Dean forever?"

"I am. The demon didn't just attack Dean's mind. She attacked his soul." He glanced over at the stricken look on Sam's face. "You and Dean share a soul, Sam. I believe you know this?" The young man nodded and the angel continued. "It is because of this that Dean's soul survived what she did to him. If you were not connected, Dean would be lost. His soul would be in Hell. Permanently. At this point, he can be pulled out."

The world spun for Sam and he sank to his knees beside his brother's unmoving body. It felt as though the air was too thin and he couldn't catch his breath. The memory of the vision assaulted him and it was tearing his heart apart as the fear and the anguish he'd felt after seeing Dean's body in that warehouse returned ten fold. "He's in Hell?" The words tumbled out in broken tones as he sagged into the mud.

"His is, yes." The angel confirmed Sam's worst fears and Bobby's mouth dropped open in shock.

Sam no longer noticed the water that was dripping off his chin or the way his flannel shirt clung to his torso. The gooseflesh on his arms didn't concern him as he tried to absorb what the angel had just told him. The whistling wind drove home the eerie feeling of the ghost town and knowing that his brother might be suffering like he was in Hell, he felt like the dead were all around them.

"What will I find?" Sam stammered past his chattering teeth and blue-tinged lips.

Castiel sank to his knees and pressed one had to Dean's head. He reached for Sam, but when the young man leaned back he froze.

"Castiel, what will I find?" He repeated harshly. The anger was a cover for the fear and they both knew it.

The angel sighed before reaching toward Sam again. "Dean's own personal Hell." And with that his fingers brushed over Sam's forehead and he was no longer sitting in the muddy puddles in a ghost town.

TBC…

Author's Note: I know it's been forever since I posted. But I had this portion done and wanted to post it so you guys knew the story isn't over. I'm hoping to finish this story out within the next few weeks. So take a second and drop me a review and let me know if you're still out there.

Please Review: Just let me know if you're still reading this. It's been a long time.