Chapter 9:
Mackland raised his hands up in front of him and stared at Dean Winchester.
"Dean? What are you doing?"
"I'm keeping Sammy safe. Those memories hurt him. I can't let you go in there."
Mack frowned and looked at Sam who was watching Dean. Sam's yellow eyes came to rest on Mackland and he shrugged.
"He's always been here, as long as I can remember. When I was little, he kept the monsters away, now he keeps the door locked."
"So... he is like... your Guardian? He is just another part of Sam?"
"Yeah I guess... He is the part of Sam that tries to be brave."
Mackland nodded and turned back to "Dean".
"I am not here to hurt Sam, but if I don't go in there... he will never be the same."
Dean hesitated and looked between Sam and Mackland.
"I have to keep him safe. It's my job." Dean said.
"I know. But we can't always avoid pain. Our strength grows out of our weaknesses."
Sam laughed.
"Ralph Waldo Emerson... very Scholarly Mac."
"Sammy? Do you want to do this? I keep that door closed for a reason." Dean asked.
Sam looked at his Guardian that had of course taken the shape of his big brother.
"No I don't... But I think that the Sam and Dean out there need us to. It's okay Dean. Let him pass."
Dean nodded.
"Okay."
Mackland watched as Dean took the shape of a jade green dragon and blew fire at the door. The door turned black with soot, and embers stuck to the wood, and then the dragon was gone. Mackland went to push on it when Sam's hand grabbed his wrist.
"From here you are on your own." Sam said.
"Why?"
Sam's yellow eyes turned back into a familiar hazel and Mackland saw fear staring back at him.
"There are things in there... that Sam can't know... and believe me he doesn't want to know."
"So... he won't remember any of this?"
"No... and I think that when you find what you are looking for... you will understand why. Good luck."
"Sam? You are not what that yellow eyed thing did to you. You are a going to be a good man."
Sam smiled.
"Yeah well... let me live in denial of what he did a little while longer."
With that Mackland found himself standing alone. He took a deep breath and pushed on the charred door which crumbled beneath his hand. In front of him stood darkness and Mackland took a step into it. He could hear the fragments of memories around him.
"Sammy..." A female voice gasped.
"MARY!" John Winchester screamed.
"GET IT OUT OF ME!" Sam cried
"You don't get to know her!" Dean yelled.
"You're mine Sam... It's in your blood...you're not clean." A dark voice said.
"I'm not clean..." Sam whispered to himself.
Mackland placed a hand on his own head, as a sharp pain cut through his head... He couldn't believe the pain this boy kept buried. His thoughts went to Dean and Caleb momentarily. He imagined the pain those two kept buried themselves. He questioned the burdens The Triad had placed on these young men. He shook the thoughts away; he didn't have time for this. He pushed on trying to ignore the screaming until he reached one final door at the end of the hall. He pushed hard and fell onto the floor, and the voices were silenced when he pushed the door closed.
He found himself in a room that he recognized from Sam's research. The house where the Poltergeist was. He looked around carefully until he saw a boy huddled in the corner of the room with his face hidden in his knees. He bent down in front of the teenager and looked at the top of his mess of chestnut hair.
"Sam?"
One eye peaked out from under the boy's arm.
"Mac? What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you son. Why are you sitting here?"
"I don't really know... I think I got stuck. We destroyed the poltergeist but...something was after me and now I can't leave."
Mackland placed his hand on the young hunter's cheek.
"Nobody can keep you here except you Sam. You are fine out there in the real world; you just created such strong blocks that a small part of you got a little lost. Your family is with you, and you are at the farm."
Sam raised his own hand and covered Mac's and hissed in pain. He looked down at his hand, at the burn of the cross and shook his head wildly.
"Mac I can't... it hurt me because I'm evil."
"What hurt you?"
"I DON'T KNOW! But can't you see? The silver burned me."
"Samuel calm down. What silver?"
"The cross. It burned me. I've felt this before, it never left a mark and it never hurt like this, but I know what it means."
No you don't. Neither do I, and we will figure it out. But we need all of you out there. Bring down the walls and come home. I promise you are safe."
Sam sighed and tugged at the roots of his hair before looking up at Mac.
"You promise?"
"You want to pinkie swear?"
Sam grimaced.
"I'm not five Mac."
Mackland laughed softly.
"That's a boy. You ready to go?"
Sam nodded.
"See you on the outside..."
Mackland woke with a start and felt hands grabbing roughly at his shoulders. He peered up into the eyes of his son.
"Dad are you okay?" Caleb asked.
"I'm okay Caleb."
"You're bleeding." Caleb said passing his father a tissue,
Mackland wiped the blood from his nose.
"Just a bit of a headache I am going to be fine."
"And Sammy? He didn't wake up." Dean asked from the far side of the bed.
Mackland glanced down at Sam who seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Mackland reached down to Sam's injured hand and touched it gently. A picture of a small silver cross made its way across his mind. He stowed the information away to deal with momentarily.
"He's just resting, but he is fine. Psychic healing can be extremely taxing on the mind. I want to let him sleep for now when he wakes up, we will see what progress he made. I need to clear my head. Dean? Will you come get me when he wakes up?"
Dean nodded.
"Of course Mac... Thank you."
Dean took his place next to Sam to watch over him. Like a Guardian.
Mackland made his way past the kitchen and into the Hunters Tomb. Jim was sitting with some old hunter's journals open in front of him. He removed his glasses when he noticed the doctor walking in.
"How's our patient?"
"Sleeping, we will have to wait for him to wake up to see if it worked, but I think he will be fine." Mac said, taking a seat across from The Guardian.
"What's on your mind, old friend?" Jim asked.
"How much do you really know about The Guardians silver Jim? You didn't exactly experience the normal transfer of power."
"I know more than you would think, but probably not as much as I should. Why do you ask?"
"Is it possible that other Guardians made other objects out of the silver? You know besides our rings?"
Jim sighed and slid a few old journals across the table towards Mackland.
"I know they did."
Mackland looked down at the old journals, written across generations. Each had notes about the power of the silver, and of the powerful charms that were created. They each mentioned a cross made of pure Guardian Silver.
"Damn it." Mack said. "I'm assuming you never had it."
"No I didn't. You know there were... problems in the ranks of the last Triad. Things went missing... I don't know where they are."
Mackland leaned forward and rested his head in his hands.
"Are you telling me... that the silver hurt Sam?"
"I'm afraid so."
"But why? The rings don't hurt us, why would this be any different."
Jim sighed.
"I am afraid I never bothered to ask Caleb that question when John first gave him the ring."
"Caleb? You think the ring hurts Caleb?"
"I don't know... but knowing what I know now about his artifact I think it's possible Sam and Caleb may experience certain sensations that the rest of us do not when touching the silver."
Mackland closed his eyes as bile made its way up his throat.
"What was the cross designed to do?"
"It was designed to identify demonic presence that may infiltrate or harm The Brotherhood."
"So like... anyone touched a demons influence."
"Precisely. It was created to help keep The Brotherhood pure and was often used as part of the initiation process."
"So, what you are telling me is, it was designed to keep people like Sam and Caleb out? That passed Triads would have rejected them?"
"I can't defend the actions of the past Mackland. It was a different time."
"The boys can't know Jim. We can't tell this history. They don't need to know that The Brotherhood wouldn't have wanted them."
"You know that this is not news to Caleb, especially after what Elkins did to him."
"Jim... please..."
Jim smiled softly.
"The Brotherhood of old no longer exists Mackland. They are wanted, and they belong. However, I do agree that now is not the time to burden them with this."
"We have burdened them with too much Jim. That walk around Sam's head? He has buried so much pain. I can only imagine that Dean and Caleb hide so much worse."
"I am sure you are right."
"Do you ever regret it? Choosing them?"
Jim watched Mackland carefully. The future Triad had been chosen long ago. He knew those three boys would be something special early on. As a Guardian he was privy to more secrets of the universe than Mackland or John, but even he knew that it was never truly his choice. His job was to pass on the mantle when the time was right, but it was hardly the choice of The Triad alone.
"I have many regrets when it comes to those boys, but no. They were chosen for a reason, and I have Faith that they will be The Triad that is needed at the time just as we are now."
The two men sat in silence each lost in their own thoughts until Caleb came walking into the tomb.
"Sam's awake, I told Dean I would come get you, so he didn't have to stop mother henning the poor kid."
Mac smiled at his son.
"I guess I'll go do my doctor thing."
Mac rose from the table, following his son out of the Tomb.
Jim sat alone glancing down at the past of The Brotherhood.
No matter what his predecessors may have thought about his boys, he did not see their darkness when he looked at them. All he saw was light.