Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Ramiel was… frustrated. To say the least. He liked things the way they were, thank you very much. He liked his farm house. He liked fishing. He liked his normal day to day life. He didn’t really feel like bowing to Lucifer again only to be squished like a bug the minute the archangel was done with him. Contrary to popular demon belief, Lucifer despised them. Hated everything the demons represented. Most demons worshiped Lucifer like their very own god, but Ramiel knew the truth. He remembered Lucifer, unlike most others. Lucifer had convinced him and the other Princes to fall from heaven and then twisted them into demons. Warped their grace into something… else. He wasn’t even sure why he hadn’t bent the same way Azazel and Asmodeus had. He and Dagon had retained something of their senses and when Lucifer was safely locked away, they had slunk off into the night. They settled among the human world and were rarely heard from again. Looking back now, he knew that his fall had been the act of a child upset with a father who was never around. A little brother so desperate for someone to love them, he had followed the only older brother that had seemed to notice him. It hurt to admit that, but here he was. 

Azazel had always been way too damn obsessed with Lucifer. Worshiped the guy. Ramiel wasn’t surprised to find out his brother was preparing vessels for the archangel. Tainting the innocent babies with his blood. They would be strong and hopefully one would be able to help defeat Michael. Then the bloodbath would really start. What caught him off guard though, was when word spread that Azazel had decided to step up his game. His brother had actually passively possessed a woman, ensured she got pregnant, and then remained hidden inside her body throughout the pregnancy. Ramiel knew what this would create. A cambion. Some half demon half human hybrid that would probably be groomed into helping fight angels. He was even more surprised to find out that Azazel killed the woman six months after she had given birth. Apparently his dumbass of a brother had decided that using a former hunter as a surrogate of all people was a good idea. The woman had figured out what the child was and tried to kill it in a desperate attempt to protect the rest of her family. It hadn’t worked though and the human ‘father’ had escaped with the two children and ran for the hills. At least that was one rumor. The second rumor was that Azazel had been there to bind the child’s powers until he was older. Prevent anyone from getting too suspicious. He couldn’t imagine Azazel actually wanting to raise a baby. When the mother tried to protect her child, Azazel had killed her. That seemed more likely. 

It wasn’t until years later that he realized just how bad this situation really was. The child was raised as a hunter by his father and big brother.  Asmodeus had his eyes on the child and was planning to take him for his own gain. With a cambion at his side, the psychopath could actually take the power of the throne of Hell for himself. Ramiel was sure that if that happened, the child would end up some glorified attack dog on a leash that could no longer think for himself. The weakest of the Princes was also the worst and he would never be able to take Hell without powerful help. Ramiel knew that Asmodeus had been a mistake on Lucifer’s part. As an extremely weak angel, he was a nobody with a chip on his shoulder larger than his wings. He’d begged Lucifer to twist him like Ramiel, Dagon, and Azazel, but he never quite measured up. He thought Lucifer might have actually been trying to compensate for Dagon and himself never being fully compliant. Even Lucifer didn’t like the shitstain that was Asmodeus. Ramiel remembered the archangel’s complaints about his and Dagon’s lack of reverence toward him. He was aware that they would never follow him without question. It wasn’t long after that the archangel twisted Lillith as a big middle finger to the old man. Cain just seemed to be another attempt at making a mindless attack dog. 

If Asmodeus took the throne of Hell, the apocalypse would be averted, but the earth would be destroyed. The man hated Azazel and he loathed Lucifer. He knew he couldn’t allow the child to fall into the hands of the power hungry monster. He would have to take the child himself and raise him to become King. Or at least someone who could keep the other powerful bastards in check. He wouldn’t be totally opposed to Crowley taking the throne he supposed, but that part would have to work itself out in time. He would need help though. Azazel wouldn’t be too happy that his son had been taken and would at a minimum search for him. He would need something like a network of trusted demons (ha! Imagine trusting a demon) that could hide the child if needed. His first stop was a risky one, but he was sure it would pay off. This demon wasn’t only inside Azazel’s inner circle, she was also already keeping an eye on the child. She was smart, determined, and cunning. If he could sway her, then he knew he could pull this off. He grabbed the Lance of Michael that he’d found in one of Lucifer’s hidey holes and stowed it on his back before warping to her location. Of course she was close to the child. He could feel the restricted power of his nephew seeping from the hotel across from the park. He approached the demon cautiously. She was one of the few demons that he’d actually been in contact with over the past few hundred years. Once he was sure there were no other demons around, he dropped onto the bench next to her. 

“Hello niece.” The demon startled slightly before smiling brightly. 

“Uncle! Have you come to check in on your new nephew?” She threw herself in his arms for a hug. It was odd for a demon to be so warm and… human. He’d always liked that about his niece. That and she had an odd thing for taking meatsuits that held names close to her own.

“Well, here’s the thing, Megarath…” 

“Meg, please.” She interrupted him. He’d always liked her. 

“Meg, I think we should talk about what your father is planning.” Ramiel watched as the motel room door opened to reveal a tall, dark headed man and an older teenage boy exiting with their bags. Meg turned to him questioningly. How did he start this and sway Meg to help? “You know, I remember what Lucifer said right after turning Lillith?” Meg had always been eager to learn about Lucifer. Azazel had filled her head with all sorts of stories about how the archangel would save them all. The religious nut job. Meg’s eyes widened and she looked excited. “He said ‘she's perfect!’ Then he said ‘that’ll show dad, his favorite pets finally showing what a worthless piece of trash they always were.’” 

“Wh-what?” Ramiel knew this was nothing like the stories that Azazel had always fed her. 

“The truth is, Lucifer hates demons even more than humans. Not only are they the worst of humans, they also represent everything that ever went wrong in his life. Once he’s been set free, he will kill all the humans. Then he will go after the demons.” Meg seemed too stunned to speak which was odd for his usually sassy little niece. “You really think he will allow us to continue living on his precious earth? Think about it, Meg. You’re smart.” 

“So… you don’t want to raise Lucifer?” Meg questioned quietly. 

“I dunno about you, but I kinda like my life as it is.” He watched his niece scrunch her eyebrows in thought. He could see her working her way through stories she’d been told and how it all pieced together. 

“What are you gonna do?” Just then the motel door opened again and a young teen stomped out to the car, angry and annoyed. He got into the backseat of the car and slammed the door behind him. Ramiel watched Meg’s eyes soften as she watched him. 

“You care about ‘im. Don’t you?” 

“Course I do. He’s my little brother.” It wasn’t odd for demons to choose families. Clearly they weren’t anything like a human family. They didn’t really love . They were fiercely protective of the other demons within their ‘family’ though. 

“That’s why I’m here. Under Azazel, the kid will be used as a weapon to help raise Lucifer. An’ if none of them other little fuckers hold out, he’ll end up being Lucifer’s meatsuit.” Meg seemed put off by that idea. It was working. Maybe he’d found his way in. “You ‘n I both know the importance of his older brother. You really think that the angels will let Lucifer’s true vessel not house him?” Meg shook her head, knowing the sad truth about her little brother. “The bigger problem is Asmodeus.” Meg’s eyes widened comically and her head whipped to the side to look at him. It would’ve been funny in any other situation. “Dagon heard a rumor that the Bastard Prince,” it was his and Dagon’s snide nickname for Asmodeus. “Is planning to get ahold of our nephew and use him to take hell.” 

“Oh, what the fuck?!” Meg grumbled and stood abruptly. 

“We can’t let that happen, Meg. We can stop it. All of it.” 

“No. Abso-fucking-lutely not. No way. What do you need?” Bingo. His first sale was done. 

~~~

His next stop was one of the easiest. Most demons were terrified of Cain, but he and Ramiel were something of kindred spirits recently. Both prefer to live their own lives away from hell. Cain had even managed to fall in love somehow. It was odd, but hey who was he to judge. He teleported himself into Cain’s house just as the Knight was preparing some tea. 

“I was wonderin’ when you’d show up.” Ramiel nodded. It seemed Cain wasn’t as far detached that he hadn’t noticed some of the goings on. 

“I need your help.” 

“I won’t pick up the blade. I made a promise.” 

“I don’t expect you to. I just may need a safehouse of sorts at times. Some place to stash the cambion if need be.”

“You’re really goin’ through with that?” 

“You want Lucifer to rise?” Ramiel knew that Cain hated Lucifer more than any of them. 

“Think it’ll work?” 

“It’s worth a shot.” Cain nodded and agreed to help, but refused to fight. He’d hide the kid and train him, but he wouldn’t get involved if it became a battle. Ramiel could respect that. 

~~~

He decided to summon his next contact. The wiley demon was always a good one to have in your back pocket. He was smart and resourceful. Ramiel just hoped he was as skeptical as he seemed. The demon appeared in the middle of the room looking somewhat confused. Ramiel flashed his yellow eyes at him in warning. 

“Ramiel! How long’s it been?” The smarmy fucker had somehow changed his accent to British instead of Scottish, but he hadn’t lost his sense of arrogance. 

“I wanna stop my brother from busting Lucifer out.” The devious smile that graced Crowley’s face was all the answer he needed. 

“When do we start?” 

~~~

Ramiel stood across the road from the motel where his young nephew had been left by his brother and ‘father.’ He still had a hard time considering John Winchester the child’s father even if Azazel had possessed the mom. Did that make Azazel Sam’s mother or father? Ramiel shook his head. It was too much bullshit for him to deal with right now. He was waiting on Meg and Crowley. Both had promised to be here to help. Their plan was simple honestly. Crowley had hidden safe houses across the globe. They would get the boy and take him to one of them for a while. The first step was getting to the child though. He may be a child, but he was also a hunter so the room would be protected. Meg materialized next to him. She was wearing a cute blonde who looked non-threatening. They didn’t have to wait long for Crowley. The demon brought several gallons of fresh blood with him. It would do. 

“There’s probably salt down and maybe a devil’s trap, but I don’t sense any real warding.” He told them as they moved toward the door. Crowley was prepared with a spell that would knock the kid unconscious long enough for them to get inside and make sure he was secured. It didn’t take long before they heard a little thunk of the kid hitting the ground. Ramiel used his telekinesis to unlock the door and open it. Meg handed him a broom and he used it to sweep the salt away from the door. They avoided the devil’s traps easily. Meg had wanted to break them, but he wanted to make sure that it looked like some type of monster that took the boy.. A werewolf or maybe Rawhead. He wanted to make sure that all evidence pointed away from demons. Meg made her way toward Sam and quickly secured his hands behind his back with manacles. They’d considered just using rope, but Meg had insisted the child would be able to get himself free. She’d also decided to use a tight chain and deadbolt on his ankles to keep him from running. She scooped the boy up in her arms, her demonic strength making the act easier than should be possible for someone the size of her vessel. 

“See ya soon.” She smiled and then blinked out of the room. Ramiel and Crowely went to work quickly splattering the blood all over the walls and beds. It looked like a total massacre. They also cleaned the sulfur from their presence from the room as best they could. Once they were satisfied with their work, they left to meet back up with Meg.

~~~

Dean was frantic. Sammy hadn’t picked up the phone in over twenty-four hours. They hadn’t been that far away, but dad had insisted Sam was just being stubborn and refusing to pick up. After sixteen hours, he’d admitted that something seemed fishy. Dean had called the school and had been informed that Sammy didn’t go to school that morning. They’d packed up from their hunt and rushed back to the motel where they’d left Sam. He hadn’t stopped trying to call Sam’s cell or the hotel room. When Dean had called the front desk, the annoyingly unobservant woman had told him nobody had left their room in days. 

He leapt out of the car before dad could even put it in park and dashed toward the room. What he saw inside froze him to the core. The entire room was covered in blood. It was too much for one person to have survived. He ran for the bathroom and barely made it to the toilet before losing the food he hadn’t eaten since Sammy stopped answering his phone. Once he had finished, John grabbed him by the arm and pulled him tightly to his chest. Dad wasn’t usually the hugging type, but apparently losing your youngest child would bring it out in him. Dean didn’t hesitate. He wrapped his arms around his father, unconcerned with looking masculine. How could he have done this? How could he let some monster get his baby brother?

Chapter Text

When consciousness finally decided to come back to Sam, the first thing he noticed was that he couldn’t move his feet or his hands. He cursed his luck. The last thing he remembered was feeling dizzy and passing out. Now he was chained up and who knows where. When he blinked his eyes open, he noticed he was sitting in a chair in the middle of a room. His arms were secured behind his back with something cold and metal. His legs seemed to be chained down as well. There was a young woman and an older man sitting across from him, watching intently. Who were these people?

“Hi, Sam.” The woman smiled, but it was an odd smile. Too happy for someone who had just kidnapped you. 

“Sorry ‘bout the chains kid. We just need you to listen to us an’ then we can let you up.” Sam eyed them warrily. Were they after him because of his dad? Sam listened as the man told him this crazy story about his mom and angels and demons and the apocalypse. That he was half demon himself. Sam didn’t want to believe what they were saying. Didn’t want it to be true, but something deep inside of him said that they were telling the truth. Something dark and wrong had always resided within him. He’d always known. The woman, Meg, said she was his older sister and that she had stepped in to help when she learned what their father’s plans meant for him. They also said that if he returned to his family, he would be putting Dean and his dad in danger. He didn’t want that. 

“I don’t believe you. I don’t believe any of this!” He cried, hoping that if he said it enough it would be true. 

“Look, kid. I know this is tough, but you’re stayin’ here one way or another. I’d prefer it if it was willingly.” The guy, Uncle Ramiel he’d said, sighed. “Here.” He moved forward and grabbed Sam’s head with both hands. He tried to jerk away, but couldn’t get loose. He felt a pressure in his head. Something searching within him. It was uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. He knew the minute it found whatever it was looking for and then there was a sharp, earth shattering pain. He thought he screamed as fire coursed through his veins. When it was finally over and the hands were gone, he blinked up at the man. He could see the twisted being behind his human mask and he thought he probably would’ve screamed again, but his breaths were coming too fast. “Beautiful.” The man (thing) smirked and stepped back. 

“What are you?” Sam panted and then glanced at the woman. She had a different kind of twisted face and being inside of her. 

“I’m a demon. We both are, we’re just different types.” Meg smiled again. 

“What did you do to me?” He asked and cursed internally as his voice came out sounding more whiny than he’d wanted. 

“I released you. Azazel, your father, bound your demonic side to keep you hidden. I just broke the binding.” He could feel and hear and sense so much more now than he’d ever been able to before. Ramiel walked toward a dresser and picked something up. A small hand mirror. That was odd. Why would the demon have a mirror? He walked back toward Sam and then flipped the mirror around so Sam could see himself. The sight sent shockwaves through his body. His eyes were a bright golden yellow. It reminded him so much of what he’d heard his father mutter about in his sleep or drunken rages. Yellow eyes. Sam could no longer deny what he’d always hoped wasn’t true. What the two demons had told him. He was a monster. 

~~~

At twenty-two, Sam finally felt like he’d grown into his powers. He was strong. Stronger than any other demons. He had mastered telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and what he snarkily called ‘demonkinesis.’ His abilities to control, manipulate, exorcize, and kill demons was unmatched. He’d had to learn quickly, unable to exorcize demons back to hell, lest they tell his father where he was. He’d learned to exorcize and hold onto the demon, killing it outside of the host. It made sure that the human survived, but the demon didn’t. He also had premonitions and could induce them most of the time. He could teleport easily and hide himself from other demons. Sam had also learned he had the power of suggestion. He could make anybody do and think whatever he wanted with just a little extra push of his powers. He could also read minds when he wanted to, but it seemed too invasive so he typically kept it buried. Crowley had made him a spelled necklace that prevented him from being summoned or causing omens. He’d learned a great deal of witchcraft from the snarky crossroad demon and he found it incredibly useful. Cain had taught him hand to hand combat and now his fighting skills were unmatched. He’d been gifted a large knife that had been spelled to ensure it could kill almost anything. It wouldn’t be able to hurt angels or some demons, but Sam didn’t need a weapon for demons. Cain and Ramiel thought he was probably strong enough to take on Azazel. He wasn’t really sure how to feel about that. He had no attachment to the demon and he’d killed Sam’s mom, ruining Dean’s life. Sam might actually take pleasure from killing for once. 

Ramiel had made sure that Sam was well versed in all things Heaven, Hell, and Earth. Sam received a normal (ish) education from the demon along with training on all his powers and the hierarchy of Heaven and Hell. Sam knew he was the best option to take the throne of Hell once Azazel had been killed. He’d also have to kill Lillith to make sure the seals on Lucifer’s cage couldn’t be broken. Crowley and Meg had agreed to be his second and third in command. Making sure that things ran smoothly. Sam would only be King in name for as long as he wanted and he was okay with that. Meg had been his constant companion and he was beyond grateful to have his sister there for support. She was his best friend and confidant throughout everything. They’d recruited a small following of demons. An underground of sorts who all hated Azazel’s rule and didn’t believe in Lucifer or the grand plan. They were all more than willing to follow Sam. 

He’d also learned his vulnerabilities. While salt and holy water didn’t burn him quite as bad as other demons, it still sucked. He could cross a salt line and most devils traps with barely a tickle. There was one ornate powerful devil’s trap from The Lesser Key of Solomon that could hold him and lock his powers down. Iron burned, but again not nearly as much as other demons. Exorcisms made him feel… weird. Uncomfortable. After a long while it made his entire body feel like it was on fire, but it couldn’t remove him from his body. They’d had to use witch contacts that could perform the exorcisms while Meg and Ramiel were safely not in the room. When he was eighteen, Ramiel had recruited a demon who studied under Alastair to ensure that Sam was able to withstand any torture he faced. The demon had snuck him into a far corner of hell where nobody would notice and proceeded to take Sam apart repeatedly. About a hundred hell-years of torture later, he was allowed to return to earth knowing he was unbreakable. He still didn’t talk to Ramiel for months after. He’d been angry and hurt and somewhat broken, but he understood why his uncle had forced him to endure it. 

He hadn’t seen his brother or dad. John or Azazel. He’d been told that Dean and John never even looked for him, just assumed he was dead and moved on with their lives. Sam knew a little different. He’d had visions of his brother since they started. Dean never really recovered from Sam’s ‘death.’ It made him feel terribly guilty, but it was for the best. They were hunters. He was a monster. Better they believed he died human. He’d never even snuck out to see them. It wasn’t like they’d recognize him anymore. He’d grown significantly and his hair was much longer and shaggier, almost shoulder length. 

Azazel had hunted him for a long while. When he was first brought to live with Ramiel and Meg, they’d had to move houses every few days. Rotating around the safehouses across the planet and sometimes using hotels. Once Sam figured out how to hide himself from demons, it was much easier to stay in the shadows. He could walk right up to any demon and they would think him a semi-normal human. Ramiel said he radiated the power of a witch or powerful psychic when he was shielded. After several years, it seemed as if Azazel gave up looking for him. Cut his losses and focused on the other tainted children he’d created. Sam had wanted to find them all and hide them, but Ramiel wouldn’t let him. Said it would show their hand too quickly. 

Sam sighed and sat down on the couch as he felt the weird tickle in his brain that usually signaled an incoming vision. Lately he’d been staying at Ramiel’s farm house. His uncle was on an annual fishing trip with Cain. The two had grown relatively close after the past few years working together. Crowley was doing his thing as the King of the Crossroads and Lillith’s right hand. He hadn’t been around much in the past few months. Meg was off trying to convert some other demons she thought might be useful. He’d been home alone for the last few days, but really he didn’t mind. Ramiel’s place was peaceful. He leaned his head back and allowed the vision to wash over him. Usually when they forced themselves on him, they were about his brother or one of the other “Special Children.” Most of the time they weren’t that important, but were good for gathering information. He’d taken to keeping a vision journal that he kept on him most of the time so he could write them down as soon as it happened. From the feel of it, this one was going to be powerful. 

Azazel walks toward the man he has pinned to a wall in a cabin. Head cocked to the side, yellow eyes shining. The man’s older now, but Sam would recognize him anywhere. John Winchester. He looks around the room and notices several others there. Dean, Bobby, and another hunter he’d seen with his family, Rufus. Shit. There was screaming. So much screaming. And then Dean and John were dead.

~~~

Dean struggled against the hold of the yellow eyed bastard. Somehow this asshole had managed to pin all four of them to the wall. It had seemed like such a simple demon job that turned out to be a trap. They’d caught the demon in a cabin, but before they could start the exorcism, it had started laughing. It was unsettling to say the least. Now Yellow-Eyes had them all pinned and was toying with his dad. 

“Did you really think you could kill me, Johnny-boy?” The demon sneered. 

“Leave him alone!” Dean shouted, trying to sound unaffected, but this was the bastard that had killed his mom! He’d always thought he’d be angry if he ever faced this monster, but all he felt now was this crushing grief. 

“Oh, what’s the matter, Dean-o? Afraid I’ll take daddy away just like I took mommy?” Dean flinched at the harsh words. John began talking, trying to get the attention back on himself. 

“What do you want with us anyway?”

“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll find out soon enough. Or you won’t. I’m not sure to be honest. This wasn’t so much of a trap as it was a test.” Azazel grinned and that made even less sense. A test? What the fuck did that even mean. Azazel walked back toward John, cocking his head to the side, yellow eyes shining. His evil smile glinted in the light and then John started screaming. 

“Stop!” Dean yelled. “Stop it, you bastard!” He could hear Bobby and Rufus shouting as well. Then suddenly it stopped. Azazel smiled brighter and then turned quickly to look at the opposite side of the room. Dean followed his line of sight. There was a very large man standing there with long shaggy hair. The man looked murderous, but he hadn’t said a word. Dean felt a chill creep down his spine at the sight. What the fuck was even happening. 

“Ah! The prodigal son returns!” Azazel grinned, his yellow eyes brightening again. “I knew you’d come.” Several more demons materialized in the room, but the kid didn’t look like he cared. That’s when the strangest thing he’d ever seen happened and Dean had seen a lot of strange things. The demons all started screaming and a weird orange light flashed behind their eyes. Skeletons lighting up like they’d been exposed to fucking gamma radiation or some shit and then each body fell to the floor. Somehow Dean got the idea that the strange man had done it. “Well, somebody’s been eating their wheaties.” Azazel started to walk closer to the kid before coming to an abrupt stop. Another ten demons appeared, but the same thing happened as the batch before. 

Then another ten.

Then fifteen. 

Each time the demons… died. That was the only word Dean could come up with for what was happening. The man seemed to look a little strained finally, but still hadn’t moved a muscle. 

“Now son,” Azazel started. “Is that any way to treat your old man?” Son? Old man?! This man… person… demon… thing… was Azazel’s child!? The man sneered, but didn’t say anything. Another ten demons materialized, but this time behind him. The guy sprung into action, whipping out a wicked looking knife and cleanly and effectively killing each of the demons that attacked. The fight looked brutal, but he seemed to be able to handle himself easily. Dean had never seen anything like it. With each stab, the demon lit up from the inside and their power crackling around the room before falling dead. 

“Leave.” The man growled. It seemed Azazel’s patience was wearing thin because the look on his face shifted from pride to annoyance in the blink of an eye. Dean watched as Yellow-Eyes started to advance on the guy again, but this time the man raised his hand and extended it toward Azazel. He gasped as the guy’s eye’s also turned yellow, but a much more golden yellow than Azazel’s. 

“You’re magnificent.” Azazel smiled, but it didn’t seem like a happy smile. The demon winked (fucking winked) and then turned and then John was screaming. Blood coating the front of his shirt as invisible claws tore at his chest. The second yellow-eyed demon shouted in what seemed like rage and then something else happened. Azazel coughed. Dean watched the demon grab his throat and sneer at the newcomer. The guy seemed to be straining, veins bulging, and muscles tense. 

“You’ll pay for this.” Azazel barked before he disappeared. The kid wiped blood from his nose and then Dean realized he was still pinned to the wall. The guy made his way toward John and then lowered him to the ground. 

“Get away from him, you freak!” Dean shouted, trying to struggle against the hold that was still on him. The man seemed to flinch slightly before he placed his hands on John’s chest. Dean heard him muttering in a language that he didn’t recognize and the strong presence of magic was in the air. It was overpowering and oppressive. “Stop it!” 

“John!” Bobby shouted, maybe hoping to rouse the man and defend himself. Dean heard Rufus mutter something about ‘stupid demons,’ but he’d seemed to accept that he was powerless right now. 

“Dad!” he shouted, but suddenly the man swayed where he was kneeling and then the magic dissipated in the air. 

“He should be fine now.” The guy managed to gasp out as he tried to stand. It was like the guy's strings were cut suddenly and he collapsed unconscious. The weight holding him to the wall released and Dean dashed to his father’s side. Rufus and Bobby quickly moved to the unconscious demon and locked his hands behind his back with warded cuffs. The cuffs were Bobby’s idea for trying to trap Azazel and render him powerless. They were engraved with the strongest warding and devil’s traps they could find and then blessed by Pastor Jim. It should lock anything down. His dad was still unconscious and Dean moved his shirt, but there was nothing but angry red scratches down his chest. They almost looked… healed.

“What the fuck?” He whispered to himself before checking his father’s pulse. It was fast, but normal. “Put him in the trunk then come help me get dad in the car.” Rufus grunted, but grabbed the demon’s duct taped feet. Bobby placed another piece of tape over the demon’s mouth and then pulled out a sharpie and drew another devil’s trap across his lips. He picked up the knife that the demon had been using and slid it into his jacket pocket. Dean took a deep breath as the other hunters moved the demon to the Impala. This had been the weirdest night he’d ever experienced. 

They pulled into Singer Salvage several hours later. John still hadn’t woken up, but he was looking much less pale. They quickly moved him inside and to a bedroom. Dean took a few minutes to clean his father up, changing his shirt and wiping the blood from his face, hands, and chest. Hopefully when he woke up he wouldn’t feel as gross. Dean also showered while Bobby and Rufus moved the still unconscious demon to the panic room. After he was cleaned up, Dean decided it was time for a beer. He desperately needed a drink after the night they’d had. Dean couldn’t figure it out. The whole thing had been confusing. Bobby got a beer for himself and Rufus before the two older hunters collapsed into the chairs next to him. 

“I called Jim. Figured he’d be helpful.” Dean nodded. Pastor Jim was probably the only person who knew more about demons than Bobby. Bobby pulled out the knife and studied it. 

“The hell is that thing?” Dean asked, eyeing the knife suspiciously. 

“Dunno.” Bobby grumbled like the fact that he didn’t know was offensive. 

“You ever seen any shit like this, Bobby?” Rufus asked, clearly uncomfortable about what had taken place tonight. Bobby grunted again. 

“Naw. Seemed like ol Yellow-eyes was tryin’ ta use us as bait for this kid. Dunno why any demon’d care if we died.” Bobby shrugged. “How’s your old man?” 

“He’s… alright. Still out. Bobby, those scratches look like they’ve been healed.” 

“Hm.” Bobby seemed thoughtful for a long while. “What the demon was sayin’, it sounded like old gaelic.” 

“Why the hell would a demon be using witchcraft? And why the absolute fuck would he be using it to heal a human?” 

“I dunno, boy.” Bobby sighed and pulled his cap off to scratch his head. “Why don’t you go on and get some sleep? We’ll keep an eye on the demon. Don’t think he’ll wake up ‘till mornin’ noway.” Dean nodded and finished off his beer. Sleep did sound nice.

Chapter Text

When Sam woke up he first realized he couldn’t move. His arms were securely behind his back and he was sitting on a chair. He could tell that his legs were chained to the chair and there was a thick chain around his torso. It was unsettling, but not unfamiliar. He also thought there might be tape over his mouth. He couldn’t remember what had happened, but he knew he’d over stressed his powers. His visions still drained him for some reason. Right. He’d had a vision. What had it been about? What had happened afterward? The second thing he noticed was that he had zero access to his powers. Weird. He cracked an eye open and was completely shocked to see he was inside of some type of cell. Salted iron from the looks of it. He looked down and saw a deep inset devil’s trap that was of course the only one that would hold him. He looked up and noticed there was a vent like fan spinning and another devil’s trap carved into the top. This was some serious shit. He was screwed. Meg and Ramiel were going to absolutely kill him. How had he even gotten here? The cell made it seem like rescue was also not an option unless they sent someone human. Or he guessed an angel. But Sam knew no angel would ever rescue him. All he could do was wait. And waiting seemed to be the game because after several hours, Sam still hadn’t seen or heard anyone. Another few hours and the little peephole in the door swiveled open and Sam saw a familiar face peek through. Uncle Bobby. Holy shit how had he gotten caught by Uncle Bobby of all people? Well Sam guessed it was probably just Bobby now. Or Mister Singer. No chance the man actually wanted to associate with Sam anymore. A shot of panic ran through him as he realized he would have to pretend not to know him or care. With that thought, Sam made sure his demonic essence showed through in his eyes. If they were yellow, Bobby wouldn’t be able to see the unique color of Sam’s natural eye. The door squeaked open and Bobby entered with Rufus and (fuck) Dean of all people. Suddenly the events of the night before came flooding back. He’d had a vision of Dean and John dying and couldn’t stop himself from preventing it. He’d shown up drained after the vision and several hours of searching for the correct location. Then he’d taken out way too many demons before finally trying to damage Azazel. It hadn’t worked. Hadn’t been enough, but it was enough to scare him off. John was dying so he’d used some healing magic that he’d forced Crowley to show him that transferred his life force into the person he was healing. It was too much. Way too much and his body shut down. The hunters (his family!) must have taken him with them. He was still weak, the traps must be slowing his healing, but that didn’t matter. He’d do it again, no matter what type of tongue lashing Meg and Rami gave him for it. He tried to seem as calm and unaffected as possible by the situation as the men entered the room. 

~~~

Dean watched the demon closely as he walked into the panic room. The golden yellow eyes blinking at them and seeming completely calm in this situation. Bobby moved forward and ripped the tape from the demon’s mouth. Unfortunately they had to talk to be interrogated. Dean wasn’t sure he really wanted to know what this kid had to say. And wasn’t that some bullshit? The demon was possessing some kid that was younger than he was. 

“Who are you?” Dean snapped the question like it offended him. He wanted to seem aggressive enough that the demon wouldn’t try bullshiting them. It cracked a smile, but didn’t say anything. Weirdly, it almost looked like a sad smile. This demon was clearly better at imitating human emotions than any other he’d ever seen. It was dangerous. “Do you know who I am?” He tried a different question, maybe the demon would have heard of him. The demon remained quiet, just staring them down. Dean grabbed the small bottle of holy water and splashed a little on the demon. Nothing happened. The demon smirked. Confusion clouded Dean, but he was nothing if not persistent so he grabbed a gallon of holy water and poured the entire jug on the demon’s head. This time a small amount of steam rose from his body with a hiss and the demon twitched. Damn this thing was strong. He grabbed a second and third jug before pouring each over the demon. Finally he got a small reaction from the monster. It grunted in pain and tried to squirm. It was almost the same reaction Dean usually got from a demon with a small amount of holy water. 

“Of course I do. I know who you are.” The demon replied in a scratchy unused voice, panting harshly in what seemed more like anger than pain. Dean looked at him expectantly and he could tell the demon was rolling his eyes. “Dean Winchester, Bobby Singer, Rufus Turner. Happy?” Dean snorted. Was he happy? No. Absolutely not. He hadn’t been happy since Sammy… anyway. He had a freaky ass demon tied up in the basement and his dad was still unconscious. How could he be happy? 

“What’d you do to my dad?” The demon looked at him oddly and cocked his head like he thought Dean might be stupid. Dean reached for the next jug of holy water, but didn’t have to do more than hold it before the demon rolled his eyes and decided to talk.

“Healed him.” 

“Why’n tha hell, pardon the pun, would you heal a human?” Bobby asked, taking all of the demon’s attention with it. The demon was quiet for a while, assessing, calculating. 

“Would you believe me if I said I wanted to help?” The demon seemed oddly unsure about himself suddenly. Dean snorted. 

“A demon wants to help?”

“Not all demons want to see Azazel succeed.” The demon muttered somewhat petulantly, still somewhat squirmy due to the holy water. 

“Who’s Azazel?” The demon remained quiet so Dean poured the next jug of holy water on him. This time he got a small shout and the demon glared at him. Still no answer though. Dean grabbed a box of salt that he’d brought with them and opened it before pouring it in the next jug. Rufus cursed and muttered something about a pastor needing to get here fast. The demon eyed the jug and clinched his jaw in preparation for the pain.

“The demon you met last night. Yellow-eyes.” The demon growled before Dean could even move toward him. “His name’s Azazel.” So that was the bastard’s name. After all these years, Dean finally had a name to put with the eyes. But now he knew that there wasn’t just one yellow-eyed demon. 

“How many yellow eyed demons are there?” The demon was eyeing the jug dubiously. “How many!?” Dean shouted and the demon actually flinched. 

“Four. Five if you count me.” The demon glared for a few more moments and Dean was determined to wait him out. “Look. I found out what Azazel was doing and decided to help. That’s it. I can… I can help you, but you gotta let me go.” Dean snorted again. 

“Yeah. That’s not happening. You think I’m just going to let you go while there’s still some poor bastard stuck riding shotgun in his own body?” The demon actually had the audacity to look confused for a few seconds before it seemed to realize what Dean meant. Then it laughed which only pissed Dean off further. 

“There’s nobody inside here but me, Dean.” Bobby, who had been quiet until now moved forward again. Bobby lifted his fist and punched the demon hard across the face. 

“Don’t you call him that. Don’t act like you know him.” Apparently Bobby had been uncomfortable with the way the demon had said his name. He hadn’t realized it at the time, but now that he thought about it, it was odd. Most of the time demons called you everything BUT your name. This one was oddly docile. It made the fake familiarity more uncomfortable. What was even more odd was the reaction the demon had. It hadn’t seemed to care about the punch, but flinched at Bobby’s words. The demon swallowed hard and looked away. Damn good actor. “‘Sides. Ain’t like I’m gonna believe a damn word out of your mouth. If there ain’t nobody in there, then you killed the poor soul.” The demon remained quiet for a minute and when it replied it kept its eyes averted. 

“There’s nobody else in here because it’s my own body.” Dean had never even heard of something like that. 

“Bullshit. What kind of demon possesses his own body?” The demon just shrugged. 

“I’m unique.” Several sets of footsteps stomping down the basement stairs were heard behind him and Dean turned to see Rufus, Jim, and dad walking to the basement. The demon eyed them all suspiciously, but his yellow eyes were glued to John. 

“Christ.” John cursed as he noticed the yellow eyes staring at him. The demon flinched. “Did we take ‘im?” Apparently dad didn’t remember everything from last night either. Dean shook his head. 

“Nah, dad. What do you remember?” 

“We were pinned and there was a lot of pain. That’s about it.” Dean nodded, he’d have to fill in the gaps later. 

“This freak showed up out of the blue last night. Fought off yellow-eyes and healed you with some crazy magic. Passed out right after so we brought him here.” The demon seemed oddly upset by their words at times. 

“He what?!” John shouted and turned a hateful glare on the demon. Dad didn’t like magic. Period. Dean had known that dad learning that he’d been healed by not only a demon, but also some old dark magic would infuriate him. 

“So fuckin’ sorry. Next time I’ll let you die.” The demon growled as it shifted in its seat.

“Why would a demon want to heal a human?” Pastor Jim’s soft voice echoed through the room. The demon seemed to remember that he was supposed to be a demon and not a kicked puppy. He rolled his eyes again and straightened up. 

“Like I was telling idiot number one, not all of us want Azazel to succeed. Heard what he was doing and I came to help. Some thanks I get.” There was no warning before dad backhanded the demon sharply across the face. That wasn’t odd. What was odd was that Dean could have sworn he heard a muttered “Just like old times,” under the demon’s breath. 

“What is Azazel planning and what does it have to do with my family?!” John shouted getting up in the demon’s face. 

“Are you going to believe me or are you going to just hit me again?” Something about that one sentence seemed so damn familiar to Dean. Sammy used to bitch like that. It made Dean’s heart hurt. 

“Tell us what’s going on and leave it up to us to decide what we believe.” Thank God for Jim’s ability to remain calm in such a shitty situation. John nodded and let go of the demon before backing up. 

“Spit it out now.” Bobby commanded and the demon licked his lips, stalling. Dean really didn’t like just how human it seemed sometimes. 

“Azazel is trying to free Lucifer from his cage in hell.” There were several gasps behind him and Dean felt frozen. 

“Bullshit. Lucifer’s not real.” Dean stated angrily and the demon rolled his eyes again.

“Believe what you want.” The demon sneered. “Nobody’s seen him since he was locked away. Only the Princes, Ancients, and Cain have ever seen him.” There was so fucking much in that one statement that Dean wanted to question. 

“Princes? Ancients?” Bobby questioned, obviously relishing in the moment to learn more about Hell’s hierarchy. 

“The Princes of Hell. The yellow-eyed demons. The Ancients have white eyes. They don’t come topside much.” 

“We need names.” John grumbled. 

“You need nothing. If I hadn’t shown up last night you would all be hellhound chow. Let me and the others handle this bullshit and you stay firmly out of it.” The demon growled with more venom than Dean had expected out of him. Suddenly he was reminded of the fierce demon who had taken out so many others last night. Jim glanced at Dean with clear worry in his eyes, but didn’t say anything. 

“Why don’t you want Lucifer out of the cage?” Dean asked, trying to actually get some useful information. 

“I, like several other demons, believe Lucifer will wipe out the demons as soon as he’s done with the humans. We like things the way they are.” 

“And what exactly is your plan?” Bobby asked.

“Take out Azazel and Lillith. Take the throne. If Lillith is dead then he can’t be broken out.” Dean had to admit it wasn’t the worst plan they’d ever heard. Simplistic in a way. 

“Yeah well, you didn’t do so hot against Azazel last night.” Dean countered with a smirk. The demon glared. 

“I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t even supposed to…” The demon seemed to realize he was giving more information than he should and sighed. “I killed too many before attacking him and I was already exhausted. I wasn’t exactly fighting in my prime.” That wasn’t his best? Holy shit who was this guy?! “Now he knows ways to get to me and… Look. Just let me go.” 

“I told you that’s not happening.” Dean stated, already getting tired of this damn thing. 

“What if we just tried this fancy knife of yours? See if it works on you?” Bobby grumbled before pulling the demon’s knife from his jacket pocket. The demon’s eyes widened, but didn’t get as twitchy as Dean thought he might. 

“It probably won't work on me.” The demon stated, but he was eyeing the knife warily. 

“Good enough for me.” Bobby stated before he moved toward the demon. 

“Okay! Okay! Look. Fuck. What do you want to know?” 

“What does Azazel have against my family?” John asked and the demon snapped his head toward him so fast that Dean thought it might have broken his neck. “Why did he kill my wife?!” The demon looked down and squirmed in his seat a little, but said nothing. John ripped the knife from Bobby’s hand and rushed forward before Dean could stop him. He watched as his dad held the knife to the demon’s throat. It swallowed hard and its breathing picked up. The knife cut in just a bit. Just enough to see the glint of blood. The demon grunted before finally opening its mouth again.

“Azazel has these kids. Special kids that he gave psychic powers. They’re all prepped and primed to be Lucifer’s vessels if any of them manage to remain sane.” 

“What does that have to do with my wife?” John growled again and again the demon looked even more uncomfortable with the words than the knife stuck to its neck.

“I don’t… I don’t know everything.” The demon muttered before looking away and John backed up now that the demon seemed more inclined to talk. “Azazel turned your son into…” The demon paused uncomfortably. “Sam was Azazel’s favorite of the ‘Special Kids.’ There’s two stories circulating and only Azazel knows the truth. Either Mary figured out something was wrong with him and tried to kill him.” Dean felt his whole body seize up. Sammy. His baby brother was… “Azazel killed her to protect Sam. The other story is probably more true. Sam was stronger than Azazel ever thought possible. He showed up at the house to bind Sam’s powers and Mary tried to protect her son.” Dean couldn’t believe this. His Sammy had been… poisoned. By a demon! Did that mean Sammy was in hell? His sweet, innocent little brother couldn’t be in hell! Dean felt his breath starting to come too fast and he was starting to feel light headed. 

“Dean. You need to pull yourself together.” John commanded. Dean nodded and tried to pull himself together. It wasn’t easy, but eventually his breathing evened out. He tried to push all of his thoughts of his little brother from his mind. It wouldn’t do anyone any good now. When Dean looked back up, the demon was eyeing him oddly. He could almost call it sympathetically. 

“How did he choose these children?” Jim asked, trying to steer the questions back to relevant information. 

“I wish I knew.” The demon muttered, looking at his lap. A loud boom echoed throughout the house and the demon looked up sharply. He couldn’t have known, but he was looking at the house, near where the front door was. Suddenly he became frantic, pulling at  the chains binding him to the chair. “Let me go. You have to let me go. I can keep you safe.” Another loud crack from upstairs and then footsteps sounded. “Please. Let me go!” 

“Shit!” Rufus cursed as he ran back into the safe room and pulled the door shut. “Damned demons.” The demon actually paused in his struggles to chuckle at Rufus before resuming his tugging. 

“I promise. I promise I’ll stick around and answer all of your questions, but you gotta let me go so I can help.” The demon was nearly begging now and Dean felt himself panic a little. If something could scare this monster, it probably didn’t bode well for the rest of them. Eventually the demon stopped struggling and yelled in frustration. Another loud crack that sounded a lot like concrete breaking in front of the door and Dean realized that whatever demon was wandering around was breaking the devil’s traps and wards. This was no average demon. The door swung open and a small blonde woman wearing gloves was standing on the other side cursing as her hands burned. 

“You owe me for that, little brother.” The blonde scowled and an older man looked into the room before slamming his fist onto the devil’s trap and breaking it easily. He looked back up and Dean swallowed hard. Yellow eyes. Dean and everyone else in the room were flung to the walls easily. It was suffocating and Dean growled in frustration at his helplessness. 

“What have you gotten yourself into now?” The older man growled before looking around. His sickly eyes landed on Dean and then he turned sharply to the demon they’d been questioning. “What the fuck did you do?!” The demon that was still tied up jerked and looked away. This really couldn’t get more weird. 

~~~

Sam had never been more happy to see Ramiel and Meg than this moment right now. He could take torture with the best of them, but something about it being his family made it so much worse. He’d tried to be strong, but the looks of disgust aimed in his direction from the humans he cared about most nearly broke him. He’d said too much. He knew that, but he just couldn’t stop himself. Dean did deserve some answers after all. He’d kept his eyes yellow throughout the entire encounter and prayed to someone who definitely wasn’t listening to a creature like him that he wasn’t recognized. Ramiel was pissed, but it doubled tenfold when the demon realized Sam had been with his human family. The sharp “what the fuck did you do!?” would have been enough to cow any other demon. Not Sam though. 

“You already know the answer to that question. You gonna untie me or not?” 

“I outta just leave your ass here!” Ramiel yelled and Sam just sighed while stretching his neck. He could feel a little wriggle of his power coming back online after the devil’s trap was broken, but he couldn’t get the cuffs to budge. 

“Look, Rami. Azazel went after ‘em. I couldn’t just…” He trailed off after the harsh glare sent his way. Meg huffed and entered the room. She walked around him and looked over the cuffs and bindings. A grunt of frustration was heard behind him and he knew the cuffs must have been warded. “Find me something to pick the lock.” He instructed. 

“Well, little brother, you really know how to make a day exciting don’t you?” Something small was thrust into his hand and he made quick work of picking the cuffs open. Once he was free of those, he could easily shake the rest of the bindings. He rubbed his wrists and shook himself out, not unlike a dog. 

“What the hell is going on?” John grumbled and Sam suddenly remembered they weren’t alone. Ramiel started to advance on John, but suddenly found himself stuck as Sam stopped him. Ramiel turned his head and glared back. 

“You would really risk everything for these humans?!” Ramiel shouted, a crackling of energy flooding the room with his anger. Sam didn’t respond, but his answer was clear. Yes. He would. Ramiel huffed. “Fine. Let’s just go.” Sam released him and the demon disappeared quickly. Sam glanced sadly at his family. He missed them and now that he’d seen them again, seen Dean, he didn’t know that he could abandon them completely again. 

“Don’t wait too long, you know how he gets.” Meg muttered before leaving the cell. Sam had continued to hold all of the humans to the walls with his powers after Ramiel left. He couldn’t take the chance that they would try to lock him back down. Sam contemplated his options, but he knew it really wasn’t an option anymore. He couldn’t live without Dean in his life somehow. He quickly found a piece of paper he could use as scrap and scribbled his phone number on it. He approached Dean slowly, making sure he didn’t feel threatened. He reached up slowly and slid the paper into Dean’s pocket. 

“If you need help, call or text. I’ll be there.” He took one more last minute to look at his brother, make sure he knew he was serious, and then teleported to Ramiel’s house. He knew he was in for some serious trouble. 

~~~

Dean was exhausted. Once the weird-ass demon left, he and the others had been dropped to the ground. He groaned and then pulled out the slip of paper he’d been given. It was a phone number. He didn’t want to see that demon again. He didn’t want to save the phone number. Something inside of him though, told him that it would be useful and important. Once everyone had gone to sleep and the house was securely locked down again, Dean made sure to save the number in his main phone. John had been pissed about what happened. He was pissed about what he’d heard. That Sammy had been part of Azazel’s plans until he’d been killed. Sammy’s absence had been like a hole in his chest that never got filled. John had nearly drank himself to death a few times and Dean hadn’t been much better. Bobby had finally talked some sense into him. Reminded him that Sammy wouldn’t want this for Dean. 

Two weeks after the demon event, Dean and John had split up for their cases. It was a witch case. Dean was at least relatively sure. He spent the next week hunting for the witch and when he finally found her, it got weird again. The witch looked at him with a clear look of distaste and annoyance, but didn’t try to hurt him. It was weird for a witch. Usually they tried to take you out , use a spell or something, so you couldn’t kill them. This one hadn’t done anything to prevent her death. Dean looked at her oddly as she just stood in the room staring at him. She almost looked like she was trying to figure out a puzzle. It had thrown Dean from his routine so much that he hesitated before killing her. 

“Well, are you gonna kill me or what?” She asked, her arms spread wide, welcoming death. 

“Why aren’t you trying to stop me?” Dean asked, his own confusion clouding his decision making. The witch shrugged. 

“If I make a move on you, I’m as good as dead anyway.” That drew Dean up short again. Why in the fuck…

“What?” His voice came out a little more squeaky than he had intended, so he cleared his throat and tried again. This time sounding more like himself. “What?” 

“The future King has ordered a hands-off policy on a short list of humans. You and daddy are at the top of that list, Dean.” He scowled at the fact that this witch knew him, but then he was startled again when he realized what she had said. 

“King? What King?”

“The King of Hell. You’re not to be touched. Anyone who refuses that order, well… let’s just say it won’t be pretty.” The king of hell wanted Dean alive?! That was news to him. Last he’d heard Azazel wanted him roasted. 

“Why, so Azazel can kill me himself?” 

“Not him, dumbass. The future King. The BoyKing.” This left Dean with more questions than he could even imagine, but this witch had done some fucked up shit. He raised his gun and fired twice. Spelled bullets that nullify magic. A powerful tool that Bobby had oddly found in a book that had randomly been delivered to his house. There was no return address or name on it, so he assumed some random hunter had sent it. The BoyKing huh? Dean wondered who that was. Could it have been the random demon they’d had tied up in the panic room? And why would he issue orders and threats that Dean was off limits? He couldn’t piece it together, so he cleaned up the mess and packed up to leave town. It never paid to stick around after a job. He thought briefly about calling his dad and telling him what he’d learned, but decided that news was better left for in person. They were meeting up soon anyway. 

~~~

Sam was exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. They’d finally found Asmodeus and killed him. The bastard had been after Sam his entire life and only wanted him as some type of rabid attack dog. He was the easiest on their list of targets, so he was obviously the first to go after. They’d found him, but instead of Ramiel making Sam flex his powers to kill the psycho prince, Ramiel had slit the prince’s throat and had Sam drink his blood. Ramiel said that Sam would absorb the demon’s essence that way and become even stronger. Between that and killing all of the demons that were protecting Asmodeus, Sam had worn himself out. He could still feel the blood and demon’s essence working itself into his system. His powers were flickering all over the place. Unstable. Of course, that was the moment Dean chose to text him for the first time. It had been months and months since he’d seen his brother. He’d tried to subtly help at times. He’d sent one of his books that had very useful spells to Bobby. He issued an order that any witch or demon that went after any of the hunters he cared about would face his wrath. He’d also handled a few demon jobs that his family had hunted. That one had been somewhat selfish. He didn’t want his family to trap a useless underling and get too much information from it. The first few months, Sam had used his visions to keep track of his brother and father to ensure Azazel didn’t go after them. Once he was sure they were as safe as possible, Sam had slowed on his observation. It’d been about two months since he’d checked in on them now. He flipped open his phone to read the text. 

911. Miami.

Sam sighed and rolled to his feet. What had his brother gotten into? It must be something bad for him to actually call for help. Meg, Ramiel, and Dagon would be gone for a while now. They were still cleaning up the mess after Asmodeus, so he had some free time. Sure he was supposed to be resting and allowing his powers to level out, but he couldn’t just sit by if his brother was in trouble. 

~~~

Dean had no idea what they’d gotten into this time. Honestly, he was more confused than he’d ever been. He and John had been in some type of… time loop for a while now. Like six months now. He was getting desperate. Every day he chased down a lead for Sammy or tried to bring him back somehow. He couldn’t stop it. It was the only thing running through his mind. The most frequent was a crossroads deal. And every time, something horrible happened. Usually he went to hell. Sometimes John went too. Sometimes Sammy was brought back only to be killed again. Or the worst one, Sammy came back… wrong. Every day, John tried to stop him. It wasn’t so unlike real life. Dean had always held in the back of his mind the idea of bringing Sammy back. Finding a witch to resurrect him, making a crossroads deal, even occasionally praying they’d find him alive. The only thing that had stopped him was John and Bobby physically restraining him several times. Right now though, the one thing reminding him that this wasn’t real was that he kept dying. Or John did. A few times the world ended. Every day he and John woke up remembering what had happened. Neither of them could figure out what was going on. They hadn’t even been on a hunt at the time so there were no leads. They’d gotten to Miami a few days before the anniversary of Sam’s death. Usually they took a day or two to get plastered before resuming hunting. He’d considered calling Bobby, but didn’t want the old man getting stuck too. He didn’t really want to call the demon from the basement, but he was out of options. So he sucked it up and sent a text. He didn’t expect the demon to miraculously appear, so he went next to his father’s body and laid down waiting for the day to start over. 

~~~

Sam teleported himself into an alley in Miami and stumbled slightly. He had no idea where to start looking for his brother, but he figured if he got into the city he could find them. The minute the world stopped spinning though, he knew he was in the right place and something was terribly wrong. There was something powerful. Crazy powerful in the city. Something unlike Sam had ever felt before. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to narrow down the location of the power. Once he’d pinpointed it, he teleported himself closer. Stumbling again, he took a look around. It was an old warehouse on the outskirts of the city. There were no wards on the building, but for some reason he couldn’t teleport inside. He made his way to the door and used his powers to unlock it. When he stepped inside, what he saw wasn’t the inside of a warehouse. It was an old crossroad. Odd. He could see through the illusion if he looked hard enough. He knew who he was dealing with. Old magic. Pagan. He didn’t have time to ponder it anymore because he saw John’s truck pulling alongside the Impala. John launched out of the truck and ran to the middle of the crossroad where Dean was standing. 

“You have to stop this, Dean! We can’t keep doing this!” 

“I have to bring him back! I have to!” Sam watched silently as the scene in front of him played out. Why the hell was he trying to bring someone back with a crossroad deal?

“He’s gone, dammit! Get in the truck, that is an order!” John barked and Sam flinched slightly. John’s militarized version of raising children was still deeply ingrained in who Sam was, even if he hadn’t been around the man in years. 

“Hello again, Dean.” A sweet, feminine voice said and Dean whirled around toward the demon. It wasn’t a real demon, of course. Just an illusion, but it was still unsettling. 

“Bring him back!” Dean shouted. 

“You know what will happen, Dean. It happens every time.” The illusion demon smiled. “I can bring him back, but something will always go wrong.” 

“I don’t care! I DON’T CARE!” Dean shouted, tears starting to leak from his eyes. “Just bring Sammy back.” Sam sucked in a sharp breath. Why was this happening? He didn’t know and he didn’t really care anymore. He’d seen all he could take. He couldn’t imagine Dean making a crossroads deal. Didn’t think he’d be able to stomach it if his brother or father made a deal. Especially not one for his life, made worse since he wasn’t even dead. He waved his hand and paused the illusion. He had magic himself, but he also had the ability to reshape reality to some degree. He didn’t particularly like that power, so he hadn’t focused on learning. Only controlling it. Dean and John looked around in shock as the world around them paused. Another flick of his wrist and the illusion dissipated leaving them inside of an empty warehouse again. Sam made sure his eyes were covered in yellow before he started walking toward them. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” John sneered. Of course Dean didn’t mention that he’d called. 

“Saving your asses apparently.” Sam crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to walk forward a little. 

“I texted him. I didn't know what else to do.” Dean admitted sheepishly. Sam froze as he felt the power in the room strengthen to an almost unbearable level and he knew immediately that the being responsible was here. He looked around wildly until he heard clapping from behind him. 

“Well done, boys. You managed to get yourselves out without learning your lesson. I should be shocked, but well… You idiots manage to…” The being trailed off as he started looking at Sam more closely. “Holy shitballs!”

“Loki.” Sam greeted with a hint of warning in his voice. This creature was much too powerful to be a simple trickster. There were stories world wide about the most powerful trickster to exist. Sam had never met him, but he’d always suspected the god wasn’t as pagan as he wanted people to believe. Sam knew now that he had little chance of actually winning a fight against Loki, but maybe he could get Dean and dad out. 

He heard his brother and father chorus a startled “Loki!?” behind him and knew they were just now putting together the information. 

“Ya know, when everyone started talking about the BoyKing and this crazy powerful cambion, I had no idea it’d be you !” Loki laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “I should have guessed though.” 

“What do you want with them?” Sam growled out. Something about Loki was making him uncomfortable almost in the same way holy water and exorcisms did. He had to force himself to remain calm and maintain eye contact. 

“Just trying to impart my wisdom, kiddo.” 

“And what wisdom is that?” Loki gave him a knowing smile that set his teeth on edge. 

“You saw what he was trying to do. If he tried to bring back his ‘Sammy’ what do you think would happen?” Thank everything that Loki was willing to play along with the game of no humans knowing Sam’s real identity. Sam looked back at his brother before glancing at Loki again. He nodded once. He got it. “Plus I was curious. Once I caught wind that you’d threatened to bring hell down on anyone who hurt them, I wanted to see if you would show up.” He heard John bark some kind of question, but paid him no mind. 

“Why?” 

Loki shrugged nonchalantly. “Wanted to see what the fuss was about.” 

Sam mockingly spun in place with his arms out at his sides. “Well, like what you see?” 

“What the hell is going on? You were using us as bait?!” Dean shouted and Sam winced again. He’d hoped that his family hadn’t heard that part. Loki looked over Sam’s shoulder back at the Winchester’s and walked forward. Sam hadn’t thought it possible, but the air even seemed to get heavier. 

“You idiot’s just don’t learn. Trying to bring your brother back and making deals with demons will lead to nowhere good. Every single option I’ve shown you is a possible outcome. Not even made up!” Loki shouted, anger heavy in his voice. 

“Loki.” Sam called softly. He knew now, what the being in front of him was, but he wasn’t willing to out him just as he hadn’t outed Sam. He’d always suspected, couldn’t prove it without having met him. He also knew he had no right to be standing in this being’s presence. He was honestly surprised the angel hadn’t smited (smote?) him yet. He could see the vague outlines of wings and an otherworldly glow. A large being with so many eyes that Sam knew they could see everything at once. He was pretty sure he was the only one in the room that could see it. It burned his eyes and he stumbled back slightly, averting his head. The angel stopped and turned its vessel’s head towards him. Most demons couldn’t see an angel’s true form. He guessed it was because he was a cambion made from a fallen angel that gave him the ability. He felt like a helpless child again. Too unclean and wrong to be worthy of standing in an angel’s presence. 

“What, demon?” The angel ground out, clearly trying to restrain its anger. He flinched at the harsh words and closed his eyes. He kept them closed as he said what he needed to say. 

“I-I’m sure you know what Azazel’s end goal is.” He heard the angel grunt in acknowledgement. “We have a plan to stop it. I-I have a plan. Take the throne and kill Azazel and Lilith. Then it won’t be possible.” He felt the angel moving closer, but he still hadn’t opened his eyes. “I’ll handle the crossroads.” Sam knew why Dean and John couldn’t go to hell. He knew how important their lives were right now. “We-we could use help though, Loki.” He felt the angel stop in front of him. 

“Look at me.” The angel commanded, but Sam couldn’t. He couldn’t. He didn’t think he would survive if he saw all of those eyes staring at him with condemnation. “Look at me, halfling!” Sam slowly blinked open his eyes and lifted his head to meet the angel’s vessels. The angel was staring at him with something like pity and amusement. “You make sure the crossroads are closed to these two yahoos and then you do what is necessary.” Sam nodded, unable to squeak out any words. “I don’t want to get involved. You understand why?” Sam nodded again. He felt his own power start to fluctuate again and the room spun. He wobbled slightly, but was able to remain standing. The angel was eyeing him oddly, like he could see the struggle going on inside his body. “If you need me, pray to Loki. But only, and I repeat only if you have to.” Loki clapped again and rubbed his hands together. “Well, this has been a blast, but I’m bored.” The being snapped and Sam’s world went black as he lost hold of consciousness. 

~~
“Fuck.” Sam muttered as he roused from consciousness and realized where he was. He was back at Bobby’s, but this time he was in the library slash living room. He was sitting in a chair, but wasn’t tied down. That was at least somewhat better. However, he knew he was inside of a devil’s trap again because his powers felt dampened. Sam rubbed his hands over his face. His nerves still felt raw from being in the presence of an angel, but his powers seemed a little more stable. He looked around and saw Dean watching him closely. How the hell had he gotten here? Again! “Fuck!” He cursed again.

“So your eyes can go a normal color.” Dean mused before leaning forward in his chair and resting his elbows on his knees. Sam froze. He’d forgotten about trying to hide his eyes. He looked away and stood. If he was going to be trapped, at least he could stand and pace instead of just sitting still. 

“How’d I get here? And how long was I out?” Sam asked, raking his eyes over the stacks of books that had grown since the last time he’d been to Bobby’s and not been locked in the basement. 

“Couple hours. That Loki guy snapped us here. When we woke up you were sitting in the chair there and the devil’s trap was redone on the ceiling. Sam glanced up at the trap. Perfectly made, of course. He wouldn’t get out of this one easily. He felt a little bit of shame and self-loathing creep up inside him at the idea of the first angel he’d ever met trapping him. When he’d been a kid, he’d prayed frequently, hoping that an angel would protect his family from harm. He’d stopped after he learned what he was. Knew nobody would listen to the prayers of hellspawn. Sam suddenly remembered his deal with the angel and jerked his phone from his pocket. He hit a speed dial number, knowing it wouldn’t connect right away if Crowley was in hell, but it would at least alert him to call back. When the voicemail answered, Sam barked out “Crowley. Call me. Now.” And slammed the phone shut. 

“What the hell happened back there?” Dean asked, but stood as he heard footsteps approaching. Sam sighed. He had no way of telling Dean what had happened. “Why do you keep passing out? I thought you were supposed to be a super demon or something.” 

“Cambion.” Sam muttered dejectedly. He saw John and Bobby enter the room from the kitchen, both holding a beer. John passed an extra one to Dean. 

“What?” Dean asked, obviously not understanding what Sam had said. He couldn’t really blame his brother, since Sam was the only one in existence currently. 

“I’m not a ‘super demon,’ I’m a cambion.” Bobby sucked in a startled breath and John coughed when his beer went down the wrong way. Guess they knew what that meant. 

“Your shittin’ me.” Bobby stated, but Sam shook his head sadly. 

“What the hell does that mean?” 

“Human demon hybrid.” John grumbled and Sam winced again. 

“So that’s why that thing called you a halfling?” Dean asked and Sam nodded. He was broken out of his self-loathing by his phone ringing. He answered it quickly. 

~~~

Dean watched the demon pace anxiously in the devil’s trap. Something about the Loki guy had him real worked up and Dean couldn’t piece it together. The first thing he noticed when the guy woke up was that his eyes were no longer yellow. He could make them look just like a human’s eyes, but they were still oddly colored and somehow… familiar. As he had watched the demon avoid eye contact, he wondered if the guy had been intentionally keeping his normal eye color hidden. He took a sip of his beer as the demon’s phone rang. 

“What?” He barked into the phone. “Yes, I know I’m the one that called you… no fuck you too Crowley, I’m not in the mood… No. Yes.” Sam sighed and pinched his nose. “Look… Look! Will you just shut the fuck up for a minute!?” The demon - cambion’s - eyes flashed yellow and he noticed dad and Bobby flinch out of the corner of his eye. “I need a favor…. Yes, it’s important… No, I don’t need you to come save my ass… I need you to shut down the crossroads for Dean and John… I don’t care! Just…” Whoever this Crowley guy was he must be a real pain in the ass. “I know you can’t do that… okay, okay… Just call me if either of them tries and I’ll handle it myself. I dunno… Just do it, okay!?” Sam slammed the phone shut again and took a deep breath. 

“Trouble in paradise?” Dean asked, watching the cambion closely. It barked out a laugh and shook his head. 

“If you consider hell paradise, there’s more wrong with you than there is me.” 

“Who was that?” Bobby asked and the cambion glanced at him like he was trying to decide if he should answer or not. 

“Crowley. King of the Crossroads.” 

“And you’re the BoyKing?” The cambion glared at him, but nodded. “You got a name, BoyKing?” Suddenly, the creature looked incredibly uncomfortable. “Look dude, I can’t just keep calling you ‘basement demon’ in my head.” The cambion laughed, but it didn’t seem to have any actual humor in it. 

“Just call me ‘Cam’ I guess.” 

“Cam?” 

“Sure. Why not.” Dean knew that wasn’t the creature’s real name, but at least it was something. A thing to call him. 

“You gonna let me out? ‘Cuz I got things to do.” Dean sighed, but knew there was no way John or even Bobby were going to agree to letting him go. 

“No.” John stated like it was only his opinion that mattered. “We’re not going to just release some freak like you back into the world.” The demon flinched, but then the air became oppressive with power and static. Dean felt on edge immediately. The demon (cambion, shit!) glared with his yellow eyes and Dean thought maybe he saw his father shrink back a little. Cam started looking around the room and then his eyes landed on his knife laying on the table. 

“Hand me my knife, John.” Cam stated and Dean had never heard the guy’s voice sound like that. So powerful it reverberated in his head. John hesitated for a minute, jerking like he was trying to stop himself. Glitching almost. “Hand me my knife.” The cambion stated again and this time John picked up the knife and walked toward him. Cam grabbed the knife and then slung it into the ceiling, effectively breaking the trap. Then he held out his hand and the knife fell back into it easily. Cam looked down for a moment, taking deep breaths. He looked back up, eyes bright yellow as he spoke. “I know you don't believe me, but I am trying to help. I told you before, this is much bigger than Azazel.” The air in the room became stifling as the cambions power flexed. “Don't assume that just because I won't hurt you it means I can't. My patience is growing thin, John and you're just making enemies out of allies because of your prejudice.” Cam disappeared without another word and Dean finally felt like he could breathe again. 

“Why the hell did you let him go, John?” Bobby growled, but when Dean finally looked at his father he realized how unsettled John was. 

“I-I… I didn't mean… Bobby that fucker mind controlled me.” Dean's eyebrows hit his hairline and he didn't know what to think. He'd never heard of a demon doing that kind of thing. Bobby grumbled a curse and then moved to his books. 

“We gotta figure out everything we can on human-demon hybrids.”

Chapter Text

When Sam got back to his room at Ramiels, he immediately sat on his bed with a heavy heart. Sometimes he cursed his humanity. Life would be so much easier if he didn't have these pesky feelings. It was one thing Ramiel didn't like about him. Sam always felt too much. Cared about the humans caught in the crossfire, cared about the world, cared about Dean. Even though the demons he was with didn't want the apocalypse or the end of the world, it was still a selfish thing. They didn't want to serve Lucifer. Sam wanted to save the world. Hearing his family repeatedly talk to him like he's no better than the scum under their shoe was wearing on him. He felt a few tears slide down his cheek. He'd expected them to hate him, but knowing what would happen and experiencing it were two different things. He looked up when the door opened and Meg slipped inside. His sister was the only one who seemed to understand. She cared for him after all and could understand wanting to protect a brother. She didn't say anything, just rubbed his back in an attempt to sooth him. It was familiar. She'd done this so much since he'd come to live with them. Thought all of his self-loathing and doubt. 

“They hate me.” He mumbled sadly. 

“They don't even know it's really you, Sam.”

“It's better that they don't know.” He sniffed and wiped his face. It was time to get over his pity party. He started to stand, but Meg just pushed him back down. 

“What else is bothering you?” She'd always been able to read him better than he'd like. 

“I ran into an angel.” Meg's face went pale and she froze for a second. 

“What happened?” 

“You know that theory we had about Loki? Well, it's confirmed.” She nodded, but he could tell she still had questions and wouldn't let this go. “I got a 911 text from Dean. When I got there he was trapped in some kind of illusion or time loop where he kept trying to bring me back from the dead.” Meg cursed. He looked at her and tried to convey all the fear he'd felt when Loki had shown up. “Loki had been trying to show him it was a really bad idea to sell his soul and when he showed up…” he shook his head. “Meg, I've never felt anything like it. Never felt so powerless in my life.” He took a shuddering breath. “Fuck, Meg. The way he looked at me?” He didn't need to finish that thought. Meg would understand. 

“Sammy, you can't change what you are. No matter how much you want to.” 

“I know.” He'd grown accustomed to Meg being the stand-in Dean who was allowed to call him Sammy. It had taken a while, but it was comfortable now. He cleared his throat. “Anyway. He snapped us out of there with a warning to go through with our plan and not let Dean sell his soul. Landed me straight into a devil's trap in Bobby's library. Of course then they were all pissed. I had to use my influence to get out of there.” Meg sighed. This wasn't great. Sam knew that, but an angel kind of on their side was better than after them. 

~~~

All in all, they found nothing on cambions. It wasn't surprising really or shouldn't be. They were incredibly rare and most were little more than psychic. They'd spent a few weeks researching, but they could find no records of a cambion that was anywhere near as strong as the one they had encountered. Bobby said usually cambions occurred because a woman slept with a possessed man and resulted in powerful psychics, but that they were usually killed quickly or didn't ping any radars. Dean was feeling disheartened by the lack of information, but for some reason needed to know. He'd made a decision. A stupid decision, but a decision nonetheless. 

He drove out to a crossroads in the middle of bumfuck nowhere South Dakota. He drew a simple devils trap, hoping that it would be enough to hold a crossroads demon and then got to work. The summoning was easy for this so he made his apology to the poor cat that had been sacrificed years ago and buried the tin in the middle of the road. It didn't take long. A beautiful female appeared and smiled at him sweetly.

“Dean. What a pleasant surprise.” He grimaced remembering all the crossroads demons he'd dealt with in that weird time loop. “Ready to bring back baby Sammy?” Dean hesitated, he'd give anything for just a few more years with his little brother. To know Sammy would have a long life ahead of him. The demon smiled knowing she was on the right track. He shook his head. He'd been told it would go bad no matter what.

“No. I just need information.”

“And what would you give for that information?” 

“Nothing. But I won't exorcize you if you tell me what I want to know.” The demon pouted.

“Aw, but you could have anything you wanted. Baby Sammy back, mommy?” The demon taunted slyly. “Both?” She smiled as Dean turned away. He'd known this would be risky. The demon froze as Dean noticed an oppressive feeling rush through the area and shivered. He turned back, eyes wide as he heard the demon scream and a thunk as the body hit the ground.

“And here I thought you were smarter than this.” Cam snarled as he strode forward. “I thought we told you this would go nowhere good!” The cambions eyes were bright yellow and Dean could see the anger in his eyes. 

“I-I wasn't…” 

“I should've known. Winchesters and their stupid stubborn inability to take someone at their word just because they aren't human!” 

“Cam..” He was trying not to panic. This was the first time he'd actually been somewhat afraid of the guy. 

“Get in the fucking car.” 

“What?”

“I said. Get in. The fucking car.” Cam ground out and Dean scrambled to comply. Once he was inside, Cam slid in the passenger seat, not looking at him. “Drive.” Dean started the engine and gunned the Impala. He wasn't sure why he was listening to this demon or why it was so concerned with his soul. 

“Where are we going?” 

“Bobby's. Just go to fucking Bobby's.” The guy's phone rang and he answered it quickly. 

“What?” Pause. “Yes I got to him in time.” Pause. “I know Lillith is going to be pissed.” Pause. “What the hell am I supposed to do? Tie him down?” Pause. “No cuz then the other one will just do the same damn thing.” Pause. “Stay? What the fuck…” Pause. “This is a bad idea, Rom…” Pause. “No, of course I don't want another demon…” Pause. “Yeah, okay. Let me know when you find him.” He snapped the phone shut and crossed his arms over his chest, brooding while staring out the window. 

“What the fuck was that about?” Dean asked, his anger increasing with the lessening of his fear. 

“Looks like I'm staying with you until we can be sure you won't do something as monumentally stupid as that again.”

“I was just trying to get information.”

“Bullshit. I saw the look in your eye when that demon offered to bring back Sammy or your mom.” Dean looked away feeling properly chastised. He'd be lying if he said he didn't consider it at all. “Look, I get it. You want your brother back. I know I would probably do the same thing if something happened to… to Meg, but the truth is it's not worth bringing your brother back. Azazel had plans for him. It's better that he died human.” Dean turned a startled look towards the man and wanted to ask so many questions, but he wasn't sure he could even get his mouth to cooperate right. What did that even mean that he died human?! “I'll tell you whatever I can when we get back. Maybe you'll believe me then.”

~~~

To say Sam was pissed would be the understatement of the century. His brother was an idiot. That was the only thing Sam could come up with. He'd been specifically told not to do a thing and then turned around and did that thing. Thankfully Crowley had called Sam in time and he'd been able to kill the demon. Now Ramiel wanted Sam to stay with them and make sure nothing stupid happened. They weren't going to be happy being held captive by a demon. Sam wasn't happy about it either. The only thing he could think of was to tell some of the truth. He couldn't share everything, but he'd have to give enough information that Dean and John understood just how important their lives were. They pulled into Bobby's and Sam immediately realized John wasn't there. Of course not. The man couldn't sit still for an hour. 

“Where's John?” He growled as they pulled to a stop. 

“On a hunt. Why?” Of course Dean the loyal little soldier would try to protect the one person left in his family. 

“Call him. Tell him to come back now.” Dean nodded and called John. Straight to voicemail of course. 

“What do I tell him?” 

“Whatever you have to.” Dean left a voicemail explaining he'd found a lead and that he needed John back at Bobby's immediately. Satisfied enough, Sam got out of the car and slammed the door. He heard Dean's indignant shout from behind him, but only shot a glare in his brother's direction. 

Bobby was frustrated that both Winchesters had run off and was surprised to see Sam half dragging Dean back into his house by the arm. Sam shoved his brother onto the couch and began pacing. Dean was looking at him with wide shocked eyes. 

“Dude, how do you get over the salt and devils traps?” Sam glared again. 

“They don't really work on me. Not a full demon. Remember?” Sam huffed, thankful they hadn't redone the devils trap on the ceiling that actually could hold him. 

“About that…” Sam shot his brother a look that threatened violence, hoping it would be enough to shut him up. He really wasn't in the mood to talk right now. 

“What's goin’ on?” Bobby grumbled. 

“Your nephew is an idiot. That's what's going on.” 

“How did you…” Sam winced. When they were kids, he and Dean had always called the surly hunter ‘Uncle Bobby.’ It was a slip and one of the reasons this would be difficult. Sam tapped his forehead and hoped they would read into it that Sam could read minds. He could, a little. Not without effort though, but they didn't need to know that. Dean seemed satisfied with the answer, but concerned about the ability. “What all can you do?” He asked and Sam froze. 

“More than you want to know.” 

“So how was Dean an idgit this time?” Sam couldn't stop the grin on his face, but did try to hide it. He'd missed Bobby so much. 

“Lucky for us, the King of the Crossroads is a friend of mine and he tipped me off when Dean summoned one.” Bobby let out a string of curses that would've made John blush before turning all of his fury on Dean. Sam was used to this kind of thing now, so he just stood back and smirked. 

“What the fuck were you thinkin’, boy?” Dean crossed his arms and looked every bit the petulant boy Sam remembered. 

“I was just there to get information, Bobby.” 

“Information on what?!” Dean's eyes slid to Sam and he felt his lip curl up into a snarl. 

“You could've just asked me, you know.” 

“Like you would've given us a straight answer.” 

“More than a demon would have!” 

“You are a demon!” Dean yelled and Sam couldn't stop his flinch. It was ridiculous to let this upset him. He didn't even really know why it made him so angry, but shame was filling every fiber of his being. This wouldn't work. Meg would have to come keep an eye on them. He turned towards the hunters and made sure to use his influence on them. 

“Do not leave this house. Either of you.” Sam sighed, running his hands through his hair. “I'll be back when John gets here.” Sam teleported to the roof of Bobby’s. He couldn’t go too far just in case something happened. He could hear Dean cursing, angry that he’d been mind controlled. Sam had never wanted to do that to his brother. Didn’t want to make Dean fear him, but what else was he supposed to do? He knew he was a hellspawn. Didn’t need one of the most important people in his life to throw his deepest shame back into his face. Not that Dean knew he was that important to Sam and never would, but it still hurt. 

John showed up two days later. He took his time and Sam was rather frustrated, but not as irritated as Dean. The man wasn’t made for sitting around all day and two days trapped in Bobby’s house had made him restless. Once John was in the house, Sam teleported himself into the kitchen. He avoided any of the locations he could sense a trap. He might not get stuck in them, but he could tell where they were. John looked startled at his appearance and Dean was instantly moving toward him. He should’ve expected the fist that came flying at his face. Or the second or third. No matter how many times his brother hit him, he just couldn’t bring himself to use his powers on him again. They tussled for a few minutes, Sam only defending and deflecting the hits before Dean gave up. 

“So what information was so important it could cost your soul?” Sam asked once they’d both recovered their breathing.

“I wasn’t going to give her my soul.” 

“Could’ve fooled me.” Sam remembered the look on his brother’s face as the demon taunted him with bringing back Mary or ‘Baby Sammy.’ It made Sam want to hurl… or maybe lock Dean in a basement. Dean grumbled, but didn’t argue the point. The look on Bobby’s face told Sam that he also knew just how close Dean came to sealing the deal. “I’ve already told you, they will say anything and everything to get your soul Dean.” He heard John grumble a curse and immediately begin chastising his son. 

“Why me? Why my soul?” Sam squirmed a little, he wasn’t sure how to explain this without making things worse. 

“You and your father are good men.” Sam sighed, even though they could be total assholes, he considered them good. They were righteous. The exact opposite of Sam. He could see how brightly their souls burned as opposed to the twisted mess inside of himself. Dean gestured for him to continue and Sam realized he had paused for too long. “Hell needs a good man, a righteous man in hell for their plans. You and John both qualify. Congratulations.” Dean reared back and hit him again. He should probably watch the sass, but he’d spent too long with demons. He’d always been sarcastic, always told he had a smart mouth, but he’d usually kept it in unless he was too angry. Being with Ramiel and Meg had been liberating in that fact. He didn’t have to hide who he really was. Not that he liked who he really was, but hey, semantics. “Look, kill yourself for all I care.” It wasn’t really true, but he had to separate himself from this somehow. He had to make sure that they didn’t catch onto who he really was and if he showed he cared too much, they would question why. “Just wait until after I’ve killed Lillith.” Dean glared at him, clearly not liking that answer. John seemed to accept it though, but you never really could be sure with him. 

“How exactly do Dean and John qualify as these righteous men or whatever?” Bobby asked, focusing on the important parts. “I mean not that they ain't good men, but what makes them so different from other good men?” Sam glanced at his brother and father wondering just how much information would tip them over the edge. 

“It's a bloodline. Descendants of Cain and Abel converged. The Winchester bloodline is powerful.” That seemed to startle all of the humans again. 

“Is that why Sammy…” Dean asked, but couldn't finish his thought. Sam nodded knowing what he was asking anyway.

“Yes. That's why your brother was Azazel's favorite.” Dean went quiet, looking at the floor. “As much as you may want your little brother back, that's why I said it would be the worst thing you could ask for. I can pretty much guarantee they wouldn't bring your brother back like he was.” Dean nodded sadly. 

“What would he be?” 

“A monster.” Sam confirmed. It was best they knew some of the truth. If they thought their youngest wouldn't be the same Sammy they remembered, they'd be less likely to fall for the trap. “Someone you would feel compelled to put down.” Dean looked incredibly disheartened by that and Sam hated making his brother feel that way, but there was no other choice. “And I heard the demon try to sway you with Mary as well. Think about it logically, Dean. She's in heaven. Would you really want to drag her away from her peace to bring her back to this? Where one child is dead and the other is already grown?” Dean sniffled, but John only seemed to get angry that Sam was talking about his late wife. 

“You keep her name out of your filthy mouth.” Sam turned a glare on his father. 

“I would, believe me. Except Dean came very close to selling his soul to bring her back. I need to make sure that doesn't happen.” He growled and John seemed to deflate. Sam figured the idea had crossed his mind as well a time or two. 

“How do you know she's in heaven?” Dean asked in a small voice. Sam knew his brother had never put much stock in heaven or angels. It must be hard to have to shift your beliefs that much. 

“She's not in hell.” Sam shrugged like that was all the answer he needed. And it was for him. Mary wasn't in hell so she must have gone upwards. 

“How do you know heaven even exists?” John growled, ever the skeptic. 

“I was raised by Ramiel. One of the four Princes of hell. What makes them so much stronger than other demons is that they fell with Lucifer. They were angels once. Ramiel told me plenty about heaven.” Bobby's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he put the pieces together. 

“So that's why you're so much stronger than a normal cambion. Why you even lived. You're half fallen angel, not half demon.” 

“Same thing really.” Sam shrugged as he looked away. 

“Not really. It makes you more like a twisted up nephilim than cambion.” Sam winced. Ramiel had told him that once. That the only way Mary even survived his birth was because Azazel was still possessing her. 

“It doesn't really matter in the end. Nephilim are just as hated as cambions.” 

“While we're on the subject,” Dean stated before clearing his throat awkwardly. “I was looking for information on you. We don't have much lore on cambions.” Sam sighed and moved to flop down on the cough. 

“What do you want to know?” 

“Let's start from the beginning. How were you… made?” Sam winced again at the awkwardness of the question. 

“Azazel possessed my mother passively. She never knew he was there and neither did my human father. He stuck around for the entire pregnancy and birth.” Sam thought John looked like he might be sick at that idea. What would he think if he'd known it was him that fucked Azazel? 

“Who are they?” John asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. He guessed it was an odd idea to think a powerful demon would just be hiding out inside of a woman for nine months without taking control. 

“None of your fucking business.” John snorted indignantly. “They were good people who didn't deserve what happened to them. If you're worried about some woman wandering around birthing more monsters, don't. My mother is dead.” Dean winced and almost looked sympathetic. 

“What about your dad?” 

“Might as well be. He was a drunk that never mourned that his freak of a son was no longer in his life. Next?” Sam was irritable. He hated talking about this stuff with anyone. Much less the people who were involved themselves. 

“What all can you do? Like what powers do you have?” Bobby asked and Sam was more than grateful for the reprieve from family history lessons. 

“Telekinesis, pyrokinesis, telepathy, influence, teleportation.” Sam shrugged. “The only two things that sets me apart from other demons is that I can control, exorcize, and kill them. I can also warp reality, but I don't like using it.” He crossed his arms feeling self conscious all of a sudden. 

“And were supposed to just let you go and trust you won't blow up the planet?” John grumbled. “You're a bigger monster than the fucker that sired you if you can do all of that.” Sam jolted and looked away. It wouldn't be a good idea to let his emotions get the best of him. 

“Maybe I am.” He mumbled to his shoes. “But I can't let Azazel release Lucifer. After I've… after this is over, if you still feel the need to… you can hunt me then. Just let me take out Lillith and Azazel first.” Sam took a shuddering breath as he considered that. The idea of being hunted by the people he'd given up so much for. 

“Why should we trust you?” Bobby asked, seeming more interested in Sam's side of the story. Sam shrugged. 

“You probably shouldn't. I was raised by demons. I'm half demon for fuckssakes. I can tell you this though, I'm still half human. I've never hurt a human that wasn't already possessed. I don't want to see the world end. I've never felt the urge to just destroy anything or anyone except the demon that ruined my life.” Bobby nodded like he accepted the answer. John seemed… frustrated by it. Dean though, Dean seemed to be torn. Sam felt a chill roll through his body. Something was here. Something powerful. Something holy. He glanced around and reached out with his senses. He couldn't find the source, but it was making him very uncomfortable. He needed to get out of here. “Alright, now that the sharing and caring section of the day is over, I gotta go. Do you both understand the importance of your lives now?” Dean and John both nodded. Satisfied that they wouldn't go looking for a crossroads now, Sam released his mind control and teleported away. 

~~~

Castiel's orders were clear. Figure out why a demon had been spending so much time with the Righteous Man. Or men. Whichever. He hovered overhead to gain understanding of the situation. It was the abomination that was with his family, but they didn't seem to be aware that it was him. He heard the story the monster spun about not harming anyone and being human. Clearly, it was manipulative. Something that vile couldn't have an ounce of goodness in it. The abomination got twitchy, somehow seeming to sense his presence. That was odd, but not necessarily unusual. Demons could sense things that were holy sometimes if they were strong enough. The demon left quickly and Castiel observed for a while longer. He heard the Righteous Men and Bobby Singer discussing their opinions on the abomination. They seemed to believe it. According to his superiors, the abomination was working alongside other high power demons to release Lucifer. He wasn't sure why it was urging them away from a crossroads deal, but demons could be very manipulative. It made no difference. He would have to intervene, but first he needed a vessel.

~~~

Dean was so very torn. Something was instinctively telling him to trust Cam. He wasn't sure what it was and he knew that he shouldn't, but he did. Dad was ten kinds of pissed off, but Bobby seemed to understand. Bobby said there was something about the kid that made him seem trustworthy. Dean couldn't agree more. The more he was around the cambion, the more he felt familiar. He wasn't sure what it was really, he had no reason to feel that way. After a heated discussion on teaming up with monsters, he and dad decided to head out on a hunt. As much as it broke his heart to give up on his idea to bring Sammy back, he understood Cam's reasoning. He would be careful. 

~~~~

Sam landed at Cain's farm and took a deep breath. It felt nice to be in the middle of nowhere with nothing but plants and animals around. And, well… a Knight of Hell. But this particular knight was more like an uncle at this point. He'd grown fond of Cain over the years and his home always felt like a vacation spot. He found Cain with his bees and the demon smiled brightly at him. “Always good to see you, kiddo. But I gotta ask why you're here.” Cain led them inside and started making some tea. Sam liked tea. Always had, so when he met Cain, they had bonded over different types. Sam thought it made them both feel more human. 

“I think angels are getting involved.” Cain froze in his pouring. 

“What makes you think that?” 

“I can… sense them. Feel them. I was at Bobby's trying to convince Dean and my dad not to sell their souls when I felt it.” Cain nodded. 

“Makes sense they'd wanna figure out why a demon was around their precious warriors.” Sam clinched his hands under the table. He still hated being reminded of his demonic half. That he was enough to bring angels down on all of them. “I wouldn't worry about it yet, son. They're probably just sniffin’ around. Seein’ what's goin’ on.” Sam nodded. It made sense that the angels would want to figure out the situation. They drank their tea in peace until Sam offered to help in the garden. It was nice to be away from the fight for a while.

He spent two days with Cain. Weeding the herbs, canning honey, and even mowing the yard. He waved goodbye and teleported away to Ramiels. Nobody was home again. He took a shower, reveling in the hot water and then decided to relax with a book. Within thirty minutes, he felt a tug. It was odd. Uncomfortable. A feeling in his chest like something was pulling him from the inside. A summons. How was that even possible? He reached down for the charm that Crowley had made him, but it was gone. How was it gone? It stayed around his neck at all times and he didn't even notice it anymore. The tugging got stronger, but he fought it. He must have lost the necklace at some point in the past few days. The tugging turned into a pull and he had no choice but to follow. He felt the world fall away and return, similar to teleporting, but more forceful. He blinked up at his surroundings. He was in a building that looked like something from the old west. He was standing in a devils trap spray painted on the ground. He felt a sharp crack to the back of his head and hit his knees. He noticed several unconscious humans laying around. What the fuck was going on? There were several demons in the room, but all behind him. Another sharp crack to the head and everything went dark. 

~~~

Dean stumbled back into his motel room with John's arm slung over his shoulder. The last hunt had gone… well not great. The wraith had managed to get them both with her poison and made their heads swimmy. Even though she was killed, he still felt a little unstable. Drunk almost. It took him way too long to realize someone was in their room. He nearly dropped his father in his haste to draw his gun. 

“Hello, Dean.” The man said and who the fuck was he? How did he know Dean's name? His voice sounded like crushed gravel and he held himself awkwardly. Like he wasn’t sure where to put his hands. 

“Have we met?” Dean grumbled, his gun pointed at the… creature? Dean was pretty sure it wasn't human. John’s gun had also found its way to point at this thing. 

“No, I'm afraid we haven't had the pleasure yet.”

“How do you know who I am?” 

“I've been watching over you and your father for a long time.” That didn't make things better. He felt his finger tighten on the trigger. “My name is Castiel and I am an Angel of the Lord.” 

“Bullshit.” Dean barked with a laugh. The creature tilted its head like a fucking confused dog. Or maybe a bird. 

“I can assure you, no animal has defecated.” Dean almost, almost broke his mask and laughed for real, but his father stayed firm at his side. “I am here, because we have need of you.” The thing said. 

“You're not getting anywhere near my son.” John growled and the thing took a step forward. His father fired the first shot and then it was open season. Both hunters emptying their clips into the creature. It didn't even budge.  The lights began flickering and Dean looked around warily. Then there were shadows of two huge wings spread out behind the thing. Dean gasped. It was hauntingly beautiful, but still not human. His mom had always said that angels were watching over him, but Dean had never really believed in them. Not after everything he’d lost.

“I have told you, I am an Angel of the Lord and Heaven needs your help. Your weapons will not harm me.” 

“What could heaven possibly want with me?” Dean asked, confusion and a little fear on his face. 

“The cambion you have been in contact with. He is trying to bring hell upon earth. He must be stopped.” Dean felt his heart drop to his feet. Cam was doing all of that? That was the exact opposite of what he had said. 

“He said he's trying to stop it.” The… Angel made a constipated looking face. 

“It is my understanding that he is currently killing off his competition. Once he has his reign secured, he will take the throne of hell and release Lucifer.” 

“He said he's trying to stop Lucifer from being busted out.” Dean tried to argue. He wasn't sure why he was defending the cambion, but he couldn’t stop it. Cam had seemed so sure that Lucifer could not rise. That he was stopping the whole thing. 

“Demons lie, Dean.” His father's hard voice shook him out of his thoughts. 

“The cambion is very manipulative. He is good at mimicking human emotions and responses. He is the antichrist, Dean. He was raised by demons. And he will stop at nothing to see Lucifer freed. He must be stopped.”

“Where is he?” John asked, already shifting into hunting mode. 

“Cold Oak, South Dakota.”

“We’re two days drive from there.” Dean grumbled, but the angel disappeared with a flap of his wings. Dean huffed and put his gun away. John was already packing up. He didn't want to think that he'd put his trust in the wrong person, but this was an angel. An actual angel said that Cam had to be stopped. Heaven wanted this guy dead and that should've been enough for Dean to see the guy as evil, but he just couldn't. He'd have to see it for himself. A part of himself felt like he would show up to Cold Oak to find Cam hiding out from the angels. 

“Are we really going to trust this guy? This angel?” John shook his head. 

“Nah. Once we've taken out the demon, we figure out how to kill angels.” 

Chapter Text

When he woke a while later, he was laying on the ground. He had no idea how long he'd been out, but it must have been a while. He groaned and pushed himself up to sit. He let his senses expand out throughout the area. There were humans. Several of them. No demons, but there were hellhounds circling the town. Great. He could feel the warding on the town. It was almost a dome over the area. It blocked him from teleporting, calling for help, or using his magic, but not any other powers. His senses weren’t dampened, but he didn’t feel like he’d been depowered any. He thought it would probably repel most demons. The Princes would probably get through, but not Meg. He blinked open his eyes finally and noticed several of the humans he'd seen before were sitting in front of him with wide, terrified eyes. He looked down at the trap, someone had broken it thankfully. 

“Where are we?” He asked, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head. The demons must have knocked him out to escape with their lives. He studied the humans before him. They seemed wary, but not like they were scared of him. They must see him as one of them, which is good. He wanted to keep that as long as possible, but he knew the illusion would shatter eventually. The humans all shrugged. They were a ragtag group. All different. None of them fit. A tall, dark skinned man with military fatigues on. A tallish blonde chick who seemed to have a bad attitude. A shorter, curly headed, stoner type guy. A guy about the same size as stoner-boy, but with a more weasley face. Another short and surly looking guy with curly hair. Another young woman with bright red hair and blue eyes. There were several others, around twenty in total. All similar and different in their own ways. Now that he looked closer, he could sense something inside of them. Something familiar. Something like him. 

“No clue, dude.” Stoner-boy said. Right. He needs to figure out their names. He couldn't just keep calling them by whatever description he assigned them. 

“Hello!? Is anyone here!?” A shout from outside had them all scrambling to their feet. Sam crept to the door and tried to put himself in front of the humans. Army guy seemed to be thinking the same thing. Outside there were another four humans. 

“You guys just wake up here too?” Army guy asked and they nodded. 

“I say we make a run for it.” The tall blonde said as she started stomping off down the road. Toward the hellhounds. 

“No, fuck, wait!” Sam yelled as he ran after her. The others seemed reluctant to split up and followed behind, but at a little distance. Like fucking ducklings. She almost got to the edge of town when Sam heard the snarl. She froze and he whipped his head to the side. Three large hellhounds staring at them and growling. “Shit.” He cursed, knowing they weren't Crowley's hounds. They fucking loved Sam. Not these guys though. He held out a hand, trying to keep them at bay. “Run!” He shouted and everyone seemed to obey. He took a few quick steps backwards, but kept the hounds in his line of sight. Once they were all back inside the barrier, the hounds backed off. Sam turned to look at the humans and they were staring at him in something like awe. 

“What the hell was that?” The blonde runner asked as she breathed deeply, her hands on her knees. 

“Hellhounds.” Sam said as he looked around, trying to make sure there weren't any coming after him anymore. 

“Hellhounds?!” Several of them squeaked and Sam rolled his eyes. He was already irritated that he'd been summoned now he was having to deal with civilians of all things. 

“I didn’t see anything, just heard growling!” The weasley kid stated. Shit. They weren’t anything like him. 

“They’re invisible.” He stated, looking warily toward where a few were laying in the edge of the woods, ready to pounce.

“But you can see them?” The blonde asked, looking at Sam oddly. He nodded in affirmation and a few of the psychics seemed to grow more wary of him. 

 “Let me guess. You all recently developed weird skills. Telepathy, mind control, telekinesis?” Most nodded. Great. Azazel had nabbed all of his special kids and dumped them here. Why was he here though? He sighed and headed back toward the building he'd woken up in. They all followed as he sat down on the floor like some fucked up demon child story time. “I'm Sam. What are your names and powers?” They all rattled off different things. Army guy was Jake and he had super strength. The blonde runaway was Lily and she could stop your heart with a touch. Stoner kid was Andy with mind control. Ansem also had mind control. Scott had electrokinesis. Ava had visions. The redhead named Lena had telepathy. A few others had visions or telepathy. Max and three others had telekinesis. None of them were nearly as strong as Sam. 

“What about you, Sam? What's your gift?” Sam grinned thinly. He'd never considered it a gift. More like a curse, but it is what it is now. It's a part of him. Who he is. 

“All of them.” He stated. There were a few startled looks and a couple looked like they thought he was bullshitting. He sighed. “Look, this is a shit situation, but we're going to have to stick together. Okay?” 

“Why are we like this? Why are we here?” Ava sniffed and wiped at her eyes. Sam looked at her sadly, but explained everything he knew. He avoided the part about Lucifer though. He was pretty sure that would break them. He explained about Azazel and how he'd tainted them all. He didn’t word it that way though, he still had enough humanity to not be too much of a dick. He explained the plan for an army of demons to take earth. It was a lot. He knew it was a lot. Several of the kids were in tears by the time it was over. Sam knew he needed to see if there was anything useful in the town. He gave all of the humans instructions, told them what to look for. Salt, iron, food, weapons. Anything really. He made sure he told them to stay away from the woods or the ends of the town. He wasn’t sure just how far they could go without the hellhounds attacking. They split up for a while, searching the entire town. Once they met back up, the sun was starting to set. They had found a knife, a few iron rods, a couple of bags of salt, and a few flasks of water. Not nearly enough for all of them. Sam gave them instructions on how to lay down salt lines. He didn’t draw traps though, afraid they would catch him at the wrong time. He picked up the iron rods to see if they were actually iron and felt his hands start to get warm. Iron. Perfect. He passed one to Jake and one to another kid he’d already forgotten the name of. 

“Don’t you need one?” Jake asked, suspicion gracing his face. 

“Nah. I’ll be fine. You guys go on and get some sleep. I’ll keep the first watch. I’ll wake you up in a few hours.” Jake nodded and found a spot on the ground to sleep. Most of the others had already drifted off. Sam sighed. What the fuck was he was he going to do? He wanted to protect all of these kids. They didn’t deserve this. Didn’t deserve their lives to be screwed up. Why had Azazel brought them here to begin with? 

~~~~

Jake blinked at his surroundings. He’d fallen asleep easily, but he hadn’t expected to wake up so soon. Being in Afghanistan had given him the ability to sleep anywhere, but not easily. The other kids were all stirring as well. Only Sam wasn’t there, but a man with yellow eyes in front of them. This must be the demon that Sam had warned them about. 

“Hello, kiddos. Welcome to the preliminaries.” The others all shrinked at the sight of the demon, but Jake had seen his share of shit. He wouldn’t let his fear show. 

“What do you want with us?” 

“Ah, well. I really only need one. That’s the thing. So. Here we are. Last man standing wins. Or woman.” The demon winked and Jake felt a chill run down his spine. “Bonus points for anyone who can take down Sam.” 

“You expect us to fight each other?” The demon shrugged. 

“I-I-I can’t fight!” Andy stammered, seeming as unsettled as Jake, but showing it more. 

“Well kiddo, then you die.” The other humans all started looking at each other uncomfortably. Unsure who was going to be friend or foe. “See, whoever wins will be given more than any of you can imagine. Your family will be protected. Safe. If none of you fight, I’ll just have to give you a little more incentive.” Jake felt more fear creep up into his spine. He couldn’t put his family in danger, but could he really kill someone innocent? He was a soldier. He had morals. 

“What about Sam? How are we supposed to beat him?” The demon shrugged. 

“You’re not really. My son is more powerful than you know. Ruthless. Deceptive. If you don’t kill him, it's no skin off my bones, but it will be a bonus.” 

“Why would you want your own son dead?” Ava asked, then seemed to realize the same thing Jake just had. “Your son!? That means he’s…” 

“Good job, sweetcheeks. He’s a demon just like me.” 

“How are we supposed to do this?” Ansom asked. 

“Just give in, kiddo. You’ll know what to do.” With a wink, the demon left and Jake startled awake. 

~~~
Sam had almost made it to the point of waking up when he felt a powerful urge to sleep. He tried to fight it, knowing it was probably a trap. He didn’t sleep as much as humans. He could, but didn’t really need it. He blinked open his eyes and saw Azazel standing in front of him. He knew he was dreaming. It shouldn’t have been possible for him to fall asleep so suddenly, but seeing his father (yuck) in front of him, he knew why it had happened. 

“Hey son, how ya doin’?” The demon grinned and it looked so wrong on his face. Sam suppressed a shudder. 

“What am I doing here?” He asked and Azazel’s eyes narrowed. 

“Straight to the point I guess. You’re here for a front row seat to the show.” Azazel shrugged like it was a normal day and he’d taken his son to a movie or something. Sam ground his teeth to stop from yelling. Losing his temper wouldn’t help the situation. 

“The show?”

“Oh yes, kiddo. The show of a lifetime. The battle to be the leader of hell’s army!” 

“You turned them against each other?” Sam asked in horror. He really shouldn’t be shocked by the deviousness of a demon, but it seemed like every day there was a new and shitty way to be surprised. 

“And you of course.” Sam glared, his eyes flashing yellow. 

“Ah, Samuel. It’s a dream, you know you can’t hurt me here.” He growled and his tone was laced with barely restrained violence. “Now, I know they can’t kill you. You know they can’t kill you, but that doesn’t mean it won’t hurt. Feel free to participate, kiddo. I know you enjoy getting your hands dirty.” 

Sam jack-knifed into a sitting position with a shout of fury. He heard a couple of thuds as things were thrown around the room. He glanced at the humans and saw they were all staring at him in fear. His eyes. Fuck. Every damn time Azazel was around his emotions got the better of him and he couldn’t control his damn eyes. He blinked away the yellow and held up his hands, trying to show them he meant no harm. 

“He was telling the truth then.” Jake stated as he shifted his stance to prepare for a fight. “You are a demon.” Sam let his head fall forward. Of course Azazel would tell them. 

“Half.” 

“What?”

“I’m half demon. You guys, Azazel just gave a few drops of blood, made you psychic, but he made me a monster. He has ruined my life just as much as you guys.” Sam explained, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. 

“What else were you keeping from us?” Ansom asked, his face turned into something like a sneer.

“I was taken as a child by another set of demons. Raised by them. I’ve been training my powers since then.” Jake raised one of the iron rods in a defensive posture. 

“We saw you walk over the salt and grab the iron. That's because you're not a full demon?” Sam nodded, but looked away. They heard a scream outside and Sam jumped to his feet, running outside and skidding to a stop. Lilly was hanging from the water tower, a rope secured to her neck. 

“Shit.” Sam cursed as he took in the scene. “Which one of you did that?” Ava scoffed. 

“Like you have any room to judge any of us.” Sam looked at her closely and noticed that the power radiating from her had grown substantially. He looked at the others and it was the same with several. 

“What did you do?” He asked, contemplating using his own telepathy. 

“Gave in. I’m not going to be demon chow.” Another scream tore them from the current shocking moment to notice one of the guys Sam had forgotten’s name at the edge of town. He was laying on the ground writhing in pain and a hellhound stood over him. It was too late. 

“Look, the only way to beat him is to not give in!” Sam pleaded with the other’s, but it was no use. They’d all already chosen what they would do. Several wandered away, probably looking for weapons or to practice. This was worse than hell had been. 

He stomped away, back toward the building they’d been using as shelter. He heard someone calling his name and turned just in time to miss a large board from colliding with his still sore head. He muttered a curse and used his telekinesis to freeze the guy. Ansom. He felt the weasel try to worm his own influence into Sam’s mind, but it wouldn’t work. Sam shut it down quickly and tossed the kid aside with a thought. He landed with a sick crunch and Sam felt the life snuff out of him. Shit. He hadn’t meant to hurt the kid. Sam didn’t have long to think about it before more screams and yells lit up the town. They were fighting. They were all fighting for life or for death and Sam felt sick to his stomach. He made it back to the building, but there were several of the more timid ones inside. Andy and Scott among them. They backed up as far as they could away from Sam and he felt a little stab of hurt. He held his hands up again, hoping they would believe him. “I’ll do everything I can to protect you.” He tried to offer, but they didn’t seem comforted. Sam huffed. “I know you have no reason to believe me, but all of this is just playing into the demon’s hands.” They seemed to settle a little, but stayed vigilant. Sam couldn’t blame them. They were probably the most defenseless. Sam remained with the group as night fell again. The fighting outside seemed to wear off at some point. Sam wasn’t sure it was because they were all dead outside or if they were just exhausted. He was drained emotionally. He let his powers extend throughout the town and noticed that several out there were still alive. Not as many had fallen as he had expected. He settled down for a vigilant night knowing tomorrow would be more of the same. 

When he woke up, things were quiet. He cursed himself for falling asleep at all. There was a gasp beside him and Sam realized there were fewer lives than when he’d fallen into his fitful sleep. A look showed him that Scott and one of the others had slit their wrists in the night. Sam cursed, but knew there was nothing he could do. Andy was covered in blood from trying to wake Scott and the kid somehow managed to wiggle into Sam’s arms for a hug. Sam couldn’t stop himself from trying to comfort the guy who was probably the most peaceful of all of them. Andy didn’t deserve any of this. When Andy pulled back, Sam realized he was also now covered in Scott’s blood, but he paid it no mind. 

“I gotta pee.” Andy announced and the others nodded rapidly. 

“Okay, I’ll go and watch your backs. We have to stay away from the others and come right back here.” He followed the smaller group to the side of the building where they relieved themselves. They were just about to reach the steps again when Sam felt the air shift around them. Demons. Sam looked around, trying to find the source when he was grabbed roughly from behind. Jake. The super soldier was holding him tightly in restraint. “Run!” Sam yelled and the others scurried for the door. They almost made it, but the demons blocked their path. Not even demons in meatsuits, just demons that could morph into human-like images. One of them reached inside of Andy with both hands and ripped his chest open. Sam flung his powers at the demons with a shout and they all exploded. Jake released him in shock and ran in the opposite direction. Andy was choking on blood, gasping, trying to catch his breath, but there was nothing Sam could do. His magic was blocked. He crashed to his knees next to the kid and tried to at least provide some comfort in his final minutes. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Sam said and he felt a tear run down his face. 

“S’okay.” The kid choked and raised his blood soaked hand to Sam’s face. He felt the life leave the body and Sam collapsed over him with a sob. It was stupid to get emotional over a human he’d just met, but Andy had been good. He’d been innocent. Once he found enough strength to pull away from the corpse, Sam was covered in blood. He closed Andy’s eyes and noticed that another of his small group had been killed. He moved Andy’s body to the side and then the other one. He would have to give them a proper burial later, but right now it was too risky. There was only one more of the kids he was trying to protect. The redhead, Lena. She looked like she was shell shocked. Eyes wide and staring at nothing. He reached out his senses and noticed there were no more hellhounds. He must have killed them in his panic, or they just ran off. There were three more of the humans outside and Lena inside. Jake, Ava, and Max were still standing. Sam hadn’t really thought Max would have it in him, but the kid was a little fucked up anyway. 

He hid in the room with Lena for hours, waiting on one of the others to make a move. Ava wandered in after a while, sobbing. 

“I can’t do it anymore, Sam. I’m so tired and hungry.” She sniffled as she wiped her eyes. “Can-can I stay with you guys for the night?” Sam didn’t trust her at all, but reluctantly agreed to let her sleep inside the salted room with them. Sam wouldn’t sleep. He was too on edge knowing it was coming down to the final few. Ava and Lena were both soundly asleep and he needed some fresh air. He wouldn’t go far. He crept to the door and made his way to the road. He looked up at the stars and took a deep breath. He knew what the angels would think of him, but why wouldn’t they lift a feather to help the innocent kids who knew nothing about this? Why hadn’t they helped Andy or Scott or Lena? He heard a muffled shout and ran back to the building, but it was too late. Lena was laying there with a knife in her heart. Betrayed eyes wide with fear. He’d failed her. He’d failed them all. 

“Ava.” He sneered and the woman yanked the blade from the young woman. 

“You’re too gullible. I thought you were more of a monster than us.” 

“It doesn’t matter what you are. Only what you do.” He’d told himself that over and over enough until he thought it might stick. He scrambled back outside until he landed on his knees and dry heaved into the dirt. There was so much death. He should be used to this. It should be in his blood, but it just wasn’t. Jake and Max strode out from different corners and Ava followed him out the door. It took him a minute to realize they were in it together. They were working with each other to take the others down. “We can still stop this. We can still say no.” 

“See, Sam. That’s part of the problem.” Jake sneered and Sam looked towards him in question. “This is all your fault. If you’d just been a good little demon and played your part, your father would have had no use for us. He would have left us all alone. But no, you just had to rebel.” Sam felt his heart stop for a minute. Would that really have happened? If he’d just been what Azazel wanted would all of these kids still be alive? It was too horrifying to imagine, but somewhere deep down, Sam knew it was true. Probably. He stood and backed away from the group. Could he lead them to the edge of town where the hellhounds were? Sam cast his senses out looking for the damn things only to find them gone. He guessed they really didn’t need the demonic guard dogs anymore when nobody was planning to run away. Ava and Max seemed to be summoning some demons. He didn’t want to be responsible for more deaths. Jake had thrown a curveball, screwed with his emotions and his focus. It was all it took for Jake to get the jump on him and punch, but Sam wasn’t going down without a fight. He fought everything they threw at him. Max launched pieces of the buildings and trees at him, Ava summoned demons he promptly killed, and Jake was attacking physically. It was brutal. He landed a solid punch to Jake’s solar plex and the guy went flying. Max and Ava seemed to have finally maxed out their strength, slowing their attacks drastically.

“Cam!” A voice Sam really thought he would never hear again sounded and he whipped his head around in its direction. Dean. He couldn’t let Dean get hurt. His big brother had come! How had he known? Sam was torn between gratitude for his big brother and fear he would get hurt. 

“Dean?” He noticed John running right beside Dean as they hurried toward him, but John didn’t look worried, he looked determined. Like he was on a hunt. Sam shrank back a bit, but the distraction was all the time the others needed. He noticed just a minute too late that Jake had snuck up behind him until he felt the searing pain in his back. He hit his knees and gasped for air. It wouldn’t kill him. If he was human, sure, but this would just hurt like a bitch and prevent him from protecting his family. It burned more than it should and Sam realized Jake had rammed one of the iron rods through his back and straight through his front. Panic filled him as he saw Max and Ava turn their focus on Dean and John. Before he knew what was happening, his powers lashed out and the three other demon spawn burst into flames. Sam heard them screaming as they were burned alive and shuddered, but the pain in his torso was overwhelming. John had a gun pointed at him and Dean seemed to be in shock. He tried to right himself, but it was no use. A slow clapping broke him out of his horror of what had happened. He felt the air become suffocating and knew that Azazel had shown up to crown his winner. He couldn’t fight off Azazel and protect his family if he was being burned from the inside. He felt the iron impaling him and realized there was a lot more behind him than in front. He grabbed hold of the bar and pulled, but it was an awkward angle. He used his telekinesis and tugged it out before collapsing to all fours.  

“Well done, my boy. I didn’t think you had it in you.” Sam panted, but couldn’t move from his knees. He looked up to see the angry glares of his family directed at him and the demon. It broke a little something inside him. “And now we have a family reunion.” What? No. Sam tried to beg Azazel to keep his mouth shut, but words wouldn’t form. He was still trying desperately to get air in his lungs. Had the iron hit a lung? Sam didn’t know, only that he couldn’t breathe or speak or apparently not pass out. It still burned and Sam cursed the fact that the iron bar had been rusty, worn, and probably left behind flakes inside of him.

“What the hell are you talking about?” John growled and no he did not need his father to continue that line of questioning. Azazel smiled. 

“You mean all this time you spent with the boy and you never figured out who he was?” Sam felt his world start to crumble. No! They couldn’t find out! They couldn’t know! 

“What do you mean? Who is he?” Dean grumbled and all Sam could think was no, please, stop! His words still wouldn’t work and he couldn’t fucking breathe. 

“Oh Dean-o. If you really look at him, I think you’ll figure it out.” Azazel stalked toward his family like a predator. “Even I wasn’t stupid enough to not look for a body.” Azazel’s false pity made Sam want to strangle the demon. “Did you? Ever look for Baby Sammy’s body? Did you test the blood in the room to see if it was even his blood type?” Sam knew he had to stop this. Had to make sure Dean and dad never knew. He looked at them now and knew it was too late. The seeds of doubt had been sewn. He had one way out of this. One option he could see, but it was horrible and would definitely show how much of a monster he really was. It would make him do the one thing he’d sworn to never ever do. But it was the only way. He steeled himself and looked up at the demon. 

“Father.” He gasped as pain lanced through his body with the forced words. 

“Yes, son?” Azazel’s smile was oddly genuine, but Sam couldn’t analyze that now. 

“Father, I-I need…” 

“What is it, son? What do you need?” Azazel had turned back toward Sam and was approaching slowly. Sam took a few more breaths as the demon ran his hand through Sam’s hair tenderly. It made it worse. It made everything so much worse, but it was the only way. 

“I need…” He licked his lips and glanced at the demon’s wrist. 

“Ah, I see. My brother must have started you on your vitamins then, huh? Something to take the edge off?” Sam couldn’t bring himself to look at his brother or father. The pain from seeing their disgust would be too much for him to handle in the face of what he was about to do. 

“P-please. The pain.” Azazel smiled and slit his wrist with his fingernail. Sam latched on immediately, feeling the blood pour down his throat. It was vile. Just as horrible as it had always been before, but Sam knew he needed it. He heard the shocked and disgusted sounds coming from Dean and John, but he couldn’t lose focus. Not now. The pain started to edge away with the strength he was gaining. Azazel tried to pull away, but Sam knew it wasn’t enough. Not yet. Azazel relented with a chuckle and patted Sam on the head. He could feel it now. Knew it was enough, but he had to play this right. Take him by surprise. 

Before he released the arm, Sam lashed his arm out and sealed his hand around Azazel’s throat. He stood quickly, lifting the demon by the neck. He let his eyes turn yellow as his power poured into Azazel, attacking every piece of him. The demon actually seemed surprised that Sam had turned on him. His mistake. He poured every bit of himself into killing the demon. Azazel screamed and thrashed, but Sam held true. He felt his mouth curve up into a wicked smirk as the demon squirmed. Sam was as much of a predator as Azazel had ever been, just a different type. Azazel lit up from the inside once, twice, and then snuffed out with a third flash. He was dead. Azazel was gone. For good. Finally. Sam dropped the body in disgust. He could feel the blood staining his face and entire body at this point. He heard two guns cocking simultaneously and looked up to see Dean and John staring in horror. Sam swallowed hard. He’d never wanted to see that look aimed at him, but now… now it didn’t matter. He stumbled slightly feeling the warding of the town disappear with Azazel. With one last look at his brother, Sam teleported away as quickly as possible. 

~~~~

Dean was a wreck. John was worse. The minute he’d seen Cam (Sam?) fighting with three people and killing demons left and right, he’d been a little shocked. Like an idiot, he’d called out for the cambion. He wasn’t supposed to care! He was supposed to be there to hunt the guy! The moment of distraction though had been enough for the guy in military fatigues to put an iron rod in Cam’s (Sam’s?) back. Then the cambion had lit the other three on fire. On fire! With his mind! While they were alive! It had been… traumatic to say the least. The entire town looked like a massacre. There were bodies everywhere. Had Cam done all of that? Had he really killed all of those people? Then Azazel showed up and the night got even worse. The demon had taunted them about Sam’s death and how they didn’t make sure Sam was really dead. “Oh Dean-o. If you really look at him, I think you’ll figure it out. Even I wasn’t stupid enough to not look for a body.” Had yellow-eyes actually implied that Cam was Sam? Had his little brother actually been right in front of him all this time? It actually made some of the odd things that had happened with the cambion make more sense. The fact that he’d hid his eye color, that he showed up that first time to save them, every time he got angry about being called a monster, every time his bitchiness seemed familiar. Could Sammy really be a monster? 

“It’s better that he died human.”

“I can pretty much guarantee they wouldn’t bring your brother back human.” 

“What would he be?” 

“A monster.” 

Sam’s words wafting back to him hit him like a ton of bricks. The kid knew! He fucking knew all this time and never said anything. Dean and John had cleaned up the bodies and burned them, but he felt like he was just going through the motions. He’d only thrown up twice in the process at a few particularly gory mutilations. His mind stuck on the fact that his little brother had been alive all this time and he never knew. The fear and shame in the kids eyes when Azazel was dead and he was staring down the barrels of two guns. Then he’d just left. Teleported away, covered in blood and mud. And Sammy had drank blood. Willingly! Nearly begged for it! Dean had wanted to hurl, but he’d forced it away. Then Sam had killed Azazel and dad had been pissed. John considered it ‘his kill’ and now it had been taken from him by ‘some mutant freak.’ John seemed to completely ignore that the demon had been killed by Sam. He’d refused to acknowledge that the cambion was Sam at all. Dean had tried to bring it up, dad had snapped at him that Sam was dead and that demons lie. Yes. Demons lie, but sometimes they tell the truth when the truth is so much worse. When they checked into a motel, John had washed up and left for a bar, slamming the door behind him. Dean had just grabbed a bottle of whiskey from his bag. Why hadn’t they looked for Sammy’s body all those years ago? Dad had seemed to just accept Sam was dead and move on. He didn’t know where to go from here. Didn’t know what to do. He didn’t really want to hunt his brother, but he needed to talk to him. Needed to understand everything. Once the whiskey was starting to make itself known in his system, Dean flipped open his phone and called the number the cambion had given him. It rang several repeatedly, but with no answer. He briefly considered leaving a voicemail, but he was too chickenshit to do it. That left Bobby. The grizzled hunter answered on the third ring. 

“You got any idea what fuckin’ time it is?”  Dean took a shuddering breath and released it quickly. 

“Bobby…” 

“Dean? You okay, boy?” 

“Uh… no. Not really.” 

“What happened, kid?”  

“The-uh- we… we found the cambion like the angel said and-uh- and it was bad. There were bodies everywhere.” 

“What’s really goin’ on? I know you ain’t this shook up over a few stiffs.” 

“Bobby, yellow eyes, Azazel he’s dead.” Bobby’s sharp inhale was the only answer. “The cambion killed him, but-uh-but not before he… he…” 

“Come on, spit it out.” 

“I think it’s Sammy.” 

“What are you sayin’?” 

“Azazel taunted us. Made it seem like Sammy was alive. Then he asked how we spent all that time with the cambion and never figured out who he was. Bobby, I think- uh- I think it’s him.” There was silence for so long that Dean thought Bobby had hung up. “Bobby?” He questioned softly, just to ensure the connection was still there. 

“I’m here, son. Where’s your dad?” 

“He ran off to a bar as soon as we cleaned up. He’s refusing to even acknowledge…”

“Alright. Just come back here in the mornin’. If he comes with you, great. If not I’ll help you track ‘im down.”  Dean took a deep breath. 

“Thanks, Bobby.” 

“It’s what I’m here for.”  The connection went dead, but Dean knew there was still one person he needed to confront. Castiel. Surely the angel had known who Sam was when he had sent Dean after him like some kind of attack dog. He wasn’t sure how to get in touch with an angel, but he figured prayer might work. He bowed his head and thought for a minute about what to say. 

“Castiel, if you can hear this, I need to talk to you. Please, it-it’s serious.” He didn’t have to wait long for the flutter of wings that signaled the entrance of the angel. He spun around and stared at the being for a long while. “Did you know?” He finally settled on. The angel tilted its head in confusion. “Did you know that he was my brother?” 

“I did.” The angel stated plainly. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“I was afraid that it would cause your sympathies to be incorrect. He is evil. The spawn of a demon. Not the innocent little brother you remember.”

“But he’s always been that, right? He’s always been what he is?” The angel nodded. 

“He has, but he has been with the demons for a long time now. He is not the same person. His ideals, his morals, everything that makes him who he is is different now.” 

“He’s still my kid brother!” 

“Did you or did you not witness him single handedly take down three powerful psychics? Did you not see as he drank the blood of his sire willingly?” 

“He killed the demon!” 

“And that is one step towards securing his place on the throne of hell. It was not revenge. It was a tactical move. You should have taken him while you still could.” Dean’s anger was rising, but Castiel was making good points. Sam had never denied going after Azazel or Lillith. Had even said he would take the throne. 

“I need-I need to find him, Cas.” 

“What will you do once you have?” 

“I dunno. I don’t know if I’ll kill him or not. I don’t even know if I can. But he has information that we need so we will at least secure him.” Castiel nodded. 

“Very well. I will see what I can find.” The angel disappeared and Dean slumped onto his bed. He was exhausted, physically and emotionally. John stumbled in a few minutes later sporting a brand new black eye. He was totally trashed and mumbling about how there weren’t any good bars in this town. 

“I’m going after Sammy tomorrow. I-I gotta talk to him.” John snorted and ripped his boots off. 

“Yeah. You do that. I ever see the bastard again, I’ll put a bullet in its head. See if it can heal from that.” Dean was somewhat taken aback by the harsh words. Sam’s statement floating back to him “He was a drunk that never mourned that his freak of a son was no longer in his life.”  Dean knew that wasn’t true. Dad had mourned Sam. Sure in his own way, but he had. Dean had seen it, hadn’t he? That made him start questioning the entire situation again. Why had they always left Sammy so far away? Why didn’t they look for a body? They didn’t even look into what did it. Just accepted he was dead and what? Moved on? Had it really been so easy for John to write his own son off as dead? Dean was at a loss. He was beyond at a loss. Sleep came slowly that night. He would leave before dad woke up and head to Bobby’s. He needed some space.

Chapter Text

Sam crash landed into one of Crowley’s safehouses and stumbled his way through. He found a phone and called Meg to let her know what happened. She had been furious, but proud of him for killing Azazel. He’d made her promise to stay away. Hunters would be after him and so would Lillith’s demons. He didn’t want Meg exorcized right into Lillith’s waiting hands. She promised to drop off a care package with his knife, phone, and clothes in the morning and leave immediately. She would also tell Ramiel about what had happened. After he’d finished the call, Sam stumbled his way to one of the bedrooms. The house was nice. Nothing fancy, but it would do. He crashed onto the bed and fell asleep immediately. 

Sam blinked his eyes open and looked around. He found the duffel Meg had dropped off with a note saying I’m glad you’re okay, little brother stuck to the top. He sighed. Little brother. He wished Dean could still see him as that and not the monster he was. He opened the duffel to find several changes of clothes, his phone, and knife. Exactly what he’d expected. He looked at the phone and noticed it had been about four days since he fell asleep. Four fucking days he’d been out of it. He had a ton of missed calls from Meg and Ramiel and several from Dean. It made his heart hurt, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to look at Dean or hear his voice without the deep shame building even further. He hoped his brother hadn’t figured out what Azazel had been trying to say. It would only make things worse. He texted Meg to let her know he was alive and then gathered clean clothes. A shower would make things better. He was still covered in blood and mud and his mouth tasted like something had died in it. He wasted no time brushing his teeth and turning on the shower. He had to go after Lillith. He knew that much, but he needed a break. His powers felt leveled out again, a little stronger, but stable and his back was almost healed. It still ached a little, but the skin was healed over. He needed to get in touch with Crowley and find another charm to prevent him from being summoned or causing omens. He spent nearly an hour scrubbing the blood from his skin long after the water was running clear. There had been so much death. His mind kept wandering to all of Azazel’s special kids that he had essentially killed. Sure he didn’t deliver most of the killing blows, but he’d put them there by refusing to be Azazel’s pawn. Was he really no better than his demonic father? As the water ran cold, Sam exited the shower and dried quickly. He would need to move on again. He couldn’t stay in one place for very long and the safehouses might be the first place anyone looked for him if they knew about them. He pulled on the clean clothes and took one step out the door only to be hit in the face. He stumbled back in surprise and readied himself for a fight, but nothing came. He cursed himself for not paying more attention and allowing his mind to wander so far during his shower. He tried teleporting away, but something was holding him here. Blocking him. Something holy. He let his senses flow out of the bathroom and found his worst fear on the other side of the door. 

“There’s nowhere to go, so just come out nice an’ easy with your hands up.” Dean. Fucking Dean and a fucking angel. He knew he should have left before he showered. He took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom with his hands shoulder level. Dean grabbed one hand and clicked those damned warded handcuffs around one wrist. He was spun around and the other arm was locked in place. He felt his powers lock down immediately and squirmed. The angel even seemed to relax once he was secured. “You got shoes somewhere?” Sam nodded his head in the direction of the bedroom and Dean grabbed his arm leading him to the room. He was pushed roughly to the bed as his brother rummaged through his stuff. He pocketed Sam’s knife and then grabbed socks and his running shoes. Dean hadn’t put his shoes on for him since he was a child. He shifted uncomfortably, but luckily the angel stopped Dean from being too big brother-y. The angel waved its hands and Sam felt a… uncomfortable sensation of purity wash over him. He looked down to find the socks and shoes on his feet now. He shuddered. It wasn’t painful, but it wasn’t gentle either. The angel hadn’t spoken to him, just glowered from a distance away. “This all of your stuff?” Dean asked as he pointed to the duffel. Sam nodded. He was jerked from his seated position and winced as it caused a twinge of pain in his back. He was led out of the house and to the impala. The angel disappeared quickly, telling Dean to pray for him when they had arrived. Sam wasn’t able to contain his snort of amusement at the idea of Dean praying. “Something funny?” Sam looked away. He wasn’t sure how much Dean knew or what to say. He was shoved into the back seat and his feet were chained with a padlock. 

They drove for a few hours in silence. Sam didn’t know where they were going and didn’t think he should ask. Dean finally broke the silence. “No funny business once we get back to Bobby’s. You go back in the basement with no complaints or I’ll call the angel back.” Sam winced, but nodded. He really didn’t want to be back in that cell, but he also didn’t want an angel tearing him to bits. He shifted uncomfortably. 

“You should really just let me go. Lilith will be sending people after me. It’ll be dangerous.” 

“No.” Dean said sternly. “I need answers. Christ, Sammy.” Sam flinched, both from the holy name and from the nickname. It was a double whammy. “You should have told me.” 

“Is it better?” Sam asked and Dean looked at him from the rearview mirror. “Is it better now that you know?” Dean sighed and looked uncertain. “It doesn’t seem better from my seat. That’s why I didn’t tell you.” 

“I had a right to know you were still alive!” 

“And you’re miserable!” Dean remained quiet and Sam shook his head. “Now you know and you’re miserable. It’s so much better.” 

They finished the drive in silence, not even stopping the whole five hours. Had he really not been able to get any further than that from his family? No. No he hadn’t because he’d been stabbed and he was drained from killing Azazel. He’d jumped to the closest safehouse before passing out. They pulled into Singer Salvage and Sam wondered how much Bobby knew. From the grim look on his face as he met Dean at the door, probably everything. They came back to the car and released the chain on his legs before pulling him out of the car. Bobby still hadn’t looked him in the eye. Not that Sam was trying for eye contact. He was brought down to the panic room (that’s what Dean had called it once he thought) and noticed a few changes. There was a cot or bed like thing now and a long chain connected to the middle of the room. At least it was better than the chair. Dean uncuffed one hand and then secured his hands in front of him. The chain was dragged over and then connected to the cuffs by a padlock. Dean was angry. Sam could tell by the set of his shoulders and the tenseness in his jaw. Sam wasn’t sure what to say, so he kind of just stood there awkwardly. Dean pulled a chair to the door and sat down heavily before leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. Bobby was right behind him. 

“I need to know what happened, Sam.” He blew out a breath and sat on the cot. 

“With what?” He asked and looked up. Dean was staring at him intensely and Sam had to look away.

“You said you’d tell us the truth.” 

“And I have.” 

“Not all of it.”

“No, not all of it.” Sam smiled sadly. “Where do you want me to start?” 

“At the beginning.” Sam nodded and tried to steady his breathing. 

“I told the truth. Everything I said about Azazel possessing Mary and John never knowing. It was true. Azazel bound my demonic side the night Mary died.” 

“What happened the night… the night you-uh…” 

“When I died?” Sam smirked. Dean winced at the wording, but nodded. Sam fidgeted a little, the chains clinking with every move, reminding him he wasn’t on level ground with his brother. “That night, I was getting ready for bed. The salt lines were good, devil’s traps intact, the works. But then something… I dunno. Something made me dizzy. I know now it was a spell to make me blackout. When I came to, I was with Ramiel and Meg. They explained everything. Told me what I really was.” 

“And you, what? Just decided to stay with them?” Dean interrupted, seeming to get upset. Sam thought maybe Dean was feeling abandoned. It only made him feel worse about the whole thing, but he’d stayed away for Dean’s safety. He couldn’t feel guilty for that.

“They undid the binding Azazel had put in place. I was dangerous, Dean. I couldn’t control anything. And even without that Azazel would have come for me eventually. Meg had been following me my entire life. Other demons as well. It was dangerous for you to just be around me.” He attempted to run his hands through his hair, but aborted the movement when the cuffs prevented it. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Ramiel doesn’t want Lucifer walking the earth again, but he didn’t decide to get involved until he found out that another demon was planning to kidnap me and use me to take hell for himself.” Dean looked at him skeptically, but didn’t say anything. 

“So, you’re saying that there was a third set of demons that had their own agenda?” Bobby asked and Sam grunted in affirmation. 

“Yeah, demons aren’t exactly the most loyal. Especially not the Princes. Asmodeus, the youngest of the Princes-” 

“The yellow-eyed ones?” Bobby clarified, probably trying to learn as much about demons as possible. 

“Yeah, there were four. Azazel, Ramiel, Dagon, and Asmodeus.” 

“Were?” 

Sam smirked at his brother. “Two down.” He huffed and shook his head. “They were angels once. Fell with Lucifer and twisted into what they are now. Azazel was a fanatic. Obsessed with Lucifer. Ramiel and Dagon hate the guy and want him firmly where he is. They are mostly peaceful, happy to live in their own little bubble.” Dean snorted at the idea of a peaceful demon and Sam shot him a small glare. “Asmodeus though, he was the weakest of them and the most fucked up. He was planning to, I dunno, make me into a pet attack dog or somethin’.” Sam shuddered at the thought. “You think Azazel on the throne was bad, Asmodeus would have been worse. He wouldn’t have raised Lucifer, but he would have brought hell to earth.” 

“So you killed him?” 

“Yes.” It was quiet for a while, and Sam got the idea that Dean was assessing him. Trying to figure out if Sam was telling the truth. 

“You drink his blood too?” Sam flinched violently, face burning with embarrassment and shame. Dean already knew the answer without Sam having to answer. “Sonofabitch.” Dean stood, apparently unable to sit still with the weight of the information he was getting. Sam couldn’t meet his eyes. Couldn’t even look at him. “So you’re some kind of demon blood junkie?” Sam winced at the phrasing. 

“No. It’s disgusting. I only did it to get more strength so I would be able to kill Azazel. It’s like… absorbing their essence.” He shuddered again and had to swallow back bile that was trying to make its way to the floor. Dean at least seemed a little mollified by the idea that Sam wasn’t willingly drinking demons. 

“Then why Azazel’s? Why beg him for it?” Sam looked pleadingly back at his brother. Hoping that maybe, just maybe Dean would be able to see past his monsterness to see that Sam had only been trying to protect him. 

“It was the only way. I couldn’t let him hurt you or da- or John.” Sam corrected himself, knowing that John would definitely not claim him as his son anymore. “I had to take him out then, but with the iron… I needed strength.” 

“You manipulated him? Played on the whole ‘father’ thing. Made him think you’d come around and got what you needed to take him out?” Dean seemed to only get more uncomfortable when Sam confirmed the plan. “It was a tactical move.” His brother seemed to be muttering to himself, but Sam wasn’t sure why. “I need some air.” Dean pushed a protesting Bobby out of the room and then slammed the door to the cell. Sam jolted at the loud noise and groaned when he heard the lock tumble. He felt a few tears leak down his cheek. This was harder than he thought it would be. Dean knowing who he was and still treating him like a monster was enough for him to wish for death. 

~~~

Dean had almost convinced himself the cambion was still his baby brother. Still the same snot nosed brat who desperately wanted to go to school and have friends and play soccer. The conversation had been upsetting, but it had flowed easily. He’d learned a lot and he could even still see glimpses of his kid brother underneath the monster somewhere. Until Dean had brought up his killing of Azazel. Then the angel’s words came back to mind. How Sam was manipulative and cunning. How he would seek the throne of hell and release Lucifer. Then, he panicked. Rushed outside for fresh air before he hyperventilated. This creature in the basement wasn’t his Sammy. He was a monster that wanted to bring on the apocalypse. Bobby had followed outside and handed him a glass of whisky which he downed in one go. It helped. Calmed his racing mind as he thought over the entire conversation again. Sam acted like he still cared about him. Said all of the right things. But he’d also acted so convincingly as he begged Azazel for aid that Dean had believed him then too. 

“What are you thinkin’?” Bobby asked and Dean sighed, running his hand down his face. 

“Maybe we should call the angel.” 

“What for?” 

“Cas said that Sam was manipulative and had been lyin’ to us from the start. I think the angel scares him. We might actually get the truth out of him.” Bobby grumbled, but didn’t protest as Dean dipped his head and prayed. A flutter of wings announced the angel’s arrival just before his words. 

“Hello, Dean.” 

“Cas. Hey.” Dean huffed. “We got him downstairs. I dunno if he’s tellin’ the truth though.” Cas nodded once and disappeared. Dean rushed to the basement with Bobby hot on his heels. He practically ripped the door open, cursing all the damn locks as he went. When he looked inside, the angel was standing much like he always did, but Sam was backed as far away from the angel as the chains would allow. He looked up sharply at Dean when the door opened and then quickly looked back at the angel. 

“What do you want to know?” Cas asked Dean without looking away from the cambion. Sam shuddered when he heard the angel’s voice. 

“The truth.” 

~~~
“The truth.” Dean growled and Sam’s eyes widened in surprise. There was a fucking angel here threatening him on Dean’s behalf and all he wanted to do was curl up in a corner. He’d nearly shit himself when the angel flapped himself into the room without warning. He’d tried to back as far away as possible, but the chains weren’t letting him go far. His eyes had been steadily yellow since the angel's appearance, but he tried to convey everything he could through them anyway.

“I-I told you the truth, Dean!” He pleaded, begging his brother to believe him. 

“I find that highly unlikely.” The angel’s rough voice felt like a stab in his chest. He knew that angels would hate him. Would condemn him. He didn’t think they would just claim he was lying when he actually wasn't. “We know of your plans, demon.” Sam furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Why would the angels stop him from preventing the apocalypse? It made no sense. 

“To prevent Lucifer from getting out of solitary?” Sam questioned, looking back and forth between the angel and his brother. 

“Wrong answer.” The angel growled again and Sam shuddered. He didn’t know what they wanted from him. The angel disappeared and then reappeared in the blink of an eye. He placed a chair in the room and jerked harshly on the chain connecting Sam to the floor. “Sit.” It instructed and Sam wasn’t one to test the limits of an angel’s patience. Humans may not have anything that would kill him, but he was pretty sure an angel blade would work. He sat quickly and the angel wasted no time wrapping him in more chains to prevent him from leaving the chair. He squirmed at his proximity to the angel. 

“I told you the truth! I’ll take the throne, but then I won’t release Lucifer. I swear!” 

“Why doesn’t he believe you, Sam?” Dean growled in frustration. 

“Probably because he’s a fucking angel, Dean!” Sam was getting nervous. He didn’t know what to do! This was getting them nowhere. The angel growled in anger and then, to Sam’s horror, began rattling off an enochian exorcism. The first few words were bearable, but the longer it went, the worse it hurt. Sweat was breaking out on his forehead and he was breathing raggedly. A scream tore itself from his throat and the angel finally fucking stoped speaking. “I don’t know what you want!” Sam cried, that had to have been the worst thing he’s ever experienced. “I’ve told you the truth!” 

“According to heaven, you seek to free Lucifer.” 

“Then heaven is wrong, angel.” Sam ground out, but he was starting to suspect that the answer was much, much worse. “Or they want Lucifer freed and they sent you here to stop me like a good little mindless drone.” Sam got no warning before the angel was speaking the enochian words that were lighting his blood on fire. 

“Stop! Stop! Fuck! Stop!” The angel didn’t stop though. He heard himself scream again and his voice was starting to go out. After what seemed like an eternity, the angel stopped the chanting, but didn’t stop speaking. 

“Never speak such blasphemy again.” Sam squeezed his eyes shut and tried to breathe through the pain. 

“Just think about it. The apocalypse has been talked about since Lucifer was cast out. The grand plan is all in place. You think that Michael is really going to defy the plan!?” Sam was getting desperate and just hoping maybe one thing would click. That this angel would listen to something like logic. It didn’t. It backhanded him so hard he spat out a molar. Then it began the horrible angelic chanting again. Sam screamed. “Please! Please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He felt like he begged and apologized for longer than he’d been alive. Dean’s choked voice finally broke into his awareness. 

“Cas, stop man.” The angel stopped mid sentence and Sam sobbed in relief. “Sam.” He blinked up at his brother who winced, probably at his fucking eyes, and took a deep breath. “Why is your story and heaven’s different?” 

“I-I don’t know, Dean.” He took a deep, steadying breath, trying to get his body back under control. “I promise, I promise I won’t release Lucifer.” Dean grunted like he didn’t really believe Sam. 

“No, you won’t because you’ll be right here.” Dean turned and left, dragging the angel along with him. Sam only got a glance at Bobby’s horrified face before the door was slammed shut again. 

~~~

Dean was struggling with everything that was going on. Sure, they were just torturing a demon, but this demon was Sammy. The screams were starting to turn his stomach and he just barely made it to the bathroom before losing what little food was in him. Bobby had quickly brought him a glass of water once he had flopped onto the couch and Cas was glaring at him oddly. Why did he have to keep rushing out of the damn panic room?

“What’s the matter, Dean?” The angel asked with all of the sensitivity of a rock. Dean took a steadying breath and sipped the water hoping to keep it down. 

“That’s my kid brother down there, man and you just…” 

“No, Dean. That is an abomination. It’s just as the beast told you himself, your brother is dead.” 

“How is that even possible, Cas?! You said Sammy was always… this. Just with the powers bound up tight.” The angel sighed and Dean got the same feeling he used to get when he would beg dad for enough money for a small toy for Sammy. Like he was a child who just didn’t understand anything. 

“Dean, when Azazel bound your brother’s powers, he bound the demonic side completely. When the binding was undone, he became someone, something else. He may still have the memories of your childhood, but he is not your brother. Not really.” Dean was still struggling with this. It wasn’t like he was stupid, but the whole ‘he is your brother but isn’t at the same time’ thing was obnoxious. Some kind of ridiculous demonic Schrodinger's Cat. He heard the angel sigh again and he grit his teeth to keep from losing his temper. “Think of it like werewolves. They have a distinctly human side that can be like anyone else, but once the moon is right their primal side takes over and they become a monster. Except Sam’s monster is demonic and the unbinding was the moon cycle that never ends.” That… that made sense, but he didn’t like it. Bobby was looking like he ate a lemon or something. 

“Okay, Cas, okay. I get it.” Did he? Well, yeah. He did. John had raised him with a rather black and white view of hunting. The only gray areas involved psychics for John. This was definitely not a gray area. This was a demon of all things and he was trying to shift the color palate because it was Sammy. He knew what he had to do, but it wouldn’t be easy. He had to remind himself that this wasn’t the Sammy he knew. This was a monster that drank blood, lit live people on fire with a thought, and was strong enough to kill the most powerful demon Dean had ever come across. This was a creature that screamed in pain when an angel spoke. With those thoughts, Dean’s resolve hardened. He would do what needed to be done. His Sammy would understand. They’d discussed what would happen a long time ago if a hunt went bad and either of them got turned. His Sammy would’ve done the same thing. His Sammy wouldn’t want to be a monster. Dean would make sure to honor his Sammy’s wishes. 

~~

Sam finally felt like he could breathe again. By his best guess, it had been a few hours since he’d been left alone. He’s been taught enochian, Ramiel had said it might be useful. He never thought that an enochian exorcism would be that much worse, but he really should have guessed it would. He knew that something was wrong. That something was funky upstairs. This angel seemed to not know the whole story unlike the other angel he’d met. Loki. He briefly considered praying for Loki to come and get him out of this. He quickly reconsidered. Clearly whichever angel Loki really was didn’t want other angels to know where he was. He wouldn’t expose himself just to save something like Sam. The door squeaked as it opened and Sam looked up to see Bobby walking in with a plate of food and a beer. 

“You still need to eat and stuff right?” Sam shrugged. He wouldn’t starve to death or anything, but hunger did happen and it was uncomfortable. As it was, it had been a few days since he remembered eating anything. Bobby sat the items down and stepped toward him cautiously. Sam huffed a laugh. 

“I won’t bite, ya know.” Bobby quirked a smile and moved a little more confidently to release the chains enough Sam could get out of the chair. Luckily the angel hadn’t just used his mojo or whatever to make the chains endless or whatever. Bobby left the warded cuffs and the chain that attached them to the floor. It was better than nothing and he stretched a little to work the soreness out. “Thanks, Bobby.” The hunter grunted in acknowledgement and pulled another chair into the room. Sam took the sandwich and began eating carefully. Bobby passed him the beer, but Sam eyed it warily. He remembered his uncle’s favorite way to water down beer and check for possession. 

“Ain’t no holy water in it kid. Figured you could use it.” Sam nodded and took the bottle carefully. One small sip confirmed that it wasn’t a blessed beer and he took a longer pull. It was a little awkward to eat with his hands chained, but he made do. 

“Is he okay?” Sam asked softly. He wasn’t sure if he was really allowed to ask questions, but he’d been worried about his brother. He’d never wanted Dean to deal with any of this. Bobby huffed something that could have been a laugh. 

“Nah. Kid’s not okay. He ain’t been okay since the night he thought you died.” Sam looked away guiltily as he finished the sandwich. “I know why you lied, boy. I get it, but it didn’t help your case none. Dean don’t know who to trust now. This angel’s makin’ a lot of sense ‘an you ain’t been all the way honest since we met you.” Sam nodded, but kept his head down. What was there to say? He’d made his bed, now he had to lie in it. Meg had suggested honesty the entire time, but Sam refused. Insisted that this was better. That Dean had already grieved his death and didn’t need more pain. 

“What’s it saying?” 

“The angel?” 

“Yeah.” 

“That you ain’t Sammy anymore. That whatever them demons did to unleash your powers made you a different person.” Sam’s eyebrows furrowed and his stomach churned. He didn’t really think that it had made him that different, but he knew it was true. Even if the unbinding didn’t change him, living with demons for years definitely did. 

“He’s not exactly wrong.” Sam huffed and shook his head. “I’m not the same kid Dean remembers. Hell, too much has happened since that night. Even without the cambion thing, I wouldn’t be the same.” 

“You could’a told us who you were though.” Bobby argued gently and Sam shook his head in protest. 

“It wasn’t just that I didn’t want to ruin Dean’s memory of ‘Sammy,’ his kid brother. I didn’t want him to ever know about John and Mary.” 

“What you mean, boy?” Sam took a deep breath and looked around the room. 

“Where’s Dean?” 

“Upstairs. Why?” Sam shrugged and looked away. 

“Mary sold me in a demon deal.” It was silent for a while and when Sam looked up at his former uncle, Bobby’s face was a mix of horror and pity. “I don’t want to ruin his or John’s memory of Mary. I was chosen because of the bloodline. I’m not entirely sure why the others were and I really don’t know why it happened now instead of years ago or years from now.” 

“Dean should know.” 

“Bobby…” Sam tried to protest, but the hunter remained firm. 

“You have to tell him. The only way for any’a this to get better is if you tell him the truth. All of it.” Sam felt his jaw clench and he looked away again. Bobby was right, of course, but that didn’t mean Sam wanted to admit it. Didn’t want the truth known. 

“He’ll just think I’m trying to manipulate him into feeling sorry for me again.” 

“Maybe, maybe not. It ain’t for you to decide though.” Bobby stood and left quickly. Probably going to get Dean. Sam buried his face in his hands and took a shuddering breath. He hated this. He hated everything. Hated himself. He’d always been so full of rage and he’d found it best to aim that anger at himself or other demons. It didn’t stop him from being resentful towards his parents. All three of them. Mary might have been forced into having a cambion or even pushed into making the deal, but she still made it. John may have been pushed into hunting, but he didn’t have to be a cold bastard that liked to knock his youngest son around when he got too drunk. Azazel… well he didn’t really need more reasons to hate his sire. It took a full hour before a reluctant and probably tipsy Dean stomped back into the room, angel in tow. Bobby was basically bullying them both into the room and it shouldn’t have stung as much as it did. Sam eyed the angel cautiously as he leaned against the wall like a guard dog waiting for a signal to attack. Bobby pushed Dean down into the chair facing Sam and then moved back to the wall himself. 

“Hey, Dean.” Sam felt his lip curl in a small smile, but all he felt was grief. 

“Sam.” He winced at his brother’s harsh greeting and swallowed hard. “Bobby said we need to talk.” Sam nodded, but kept his eyes down. 

“Yeah, I -uh- I…” He took another breath. “I should probably…” He huffed at his own idiocy and inability to just talk. “I don’t know how to do this.” He rubbed his hands across his face. 

“Why don’t you just tell me what you told Bobby that’s got him so worked up.” Sam eyed Bobby who nodded encouragingly. 

“Okay.” Sam licked his lips to buy himself more time while he figured out how to say what he needed to. “The reason I lied before. Why I didn’t tell you who I was, I didn’t want to ruin your memories. I didn’t want to… I tell myself I didn’t want to hurt you, but I think I was trying to protect myself as well.” He fidgeted and the chains rattled. “It’s hard, ya know? Seeing the look you used to give monsters aimed at me.” Dean winced, but Sam didn’t let it slow him now. “I thought that maybe if you didn’t know then it would be easier. I could still tell myself that if you really knew who I was things would be different. You’d still see me as ‘Sammy.” He laughed bitterly. “I knew you wouldn’t though. It was all some fucked up daydream that I knew would shatter when you knew who I was. So I lied. I’m sorry.” 

“Somehow I don’t think that’s what had Bobby so pale.” Dean grumbled and Sam shook his head. 

“You should- you should know… I never wanted to…” 

“Get on with it!” Dean shouted and Sam flinched. 

“Dean.” Bobby scolded, but his older brother was just intoxicated enough to allow his emotions to take over. 

“Mary…” Why was this so hard to say? It had been so much easier to explain this to Bobby. Dean’s face darkened and his stance became more aggressive. 

“What about mom?” 

“I lied when I told you and John I didn’t know why Mary died.” Dean’s expression shuddered and before Sam knew it a fist was colliding with his face. 

“You sonofabitch. You knew! All this time you knew and you didn’t say anything!” Dean was shouting, but he hadn’t hit Sam again. A glance showed Bobby attempting to restrain his older brother. 

“She made a deal.” He muttered softly, almost hoping his brother wouldn’t hear. All the fight seemed to drain from Dean’s body and Bobby strongarmed him back into the chair. It didn’t seem to take much though since apparently his brother did hear him. 

“What?” And just like that, Dean sounded like a scared little kid again. This is exactly why he didn’t want to tell his brother this. 

“She made a deal with Azazel for me.”

“What are you talking about?” 

“He killed everyone she knew. All of her family. Killed John.” He took a deep breath and looked away. “He brought John back in exchange for me.” 

“That’s not true!” Dean stood and kicked the chair he’d been sitting in. Sam jolted at the noise and closed his eyes. He’d never wanted to hurt Dean like this. He would give anything to go back in time and stop Mary from making that deal. Stop Azazel before he could’ve done any of this. Just so Dean could still have his happy little family sans Sam. He waited in silence as Dean took his anger out on the room around them. “Demons lie!” Sam looked to the angel hoping it would at least confirm the truth in this. Dean followed his gaze, seeming to question the angel himself. 

“The abomination is telling the truth for once.” Sam felt his face twist at the angel’s words, but was grateful it had at least confirmed this truth. 

 “She died because of you!” Sam winced and felt tears well in his eyes. He’d almost hoped that Dean would see what Sam did about the situation. That it was Mary’s fault. That she’d sold him in exchange for John. Sure Sam blamed himself for Mary’s death, but he also allowed himself to be a little angry for himself. He never would have been made a monster if Mary hadn’t made that damned deal. Of course Dean wouldn’t see it that way. He’d see that Mary had been an innocent bystander in the destruction that was Sam’s existence. They all were really if Sam allowed himself to see it that way. 

“I’m sorry.” The punch that came this time was enough to tip the chair Sam was sitting in backwards and his head bounced off the floor with a crack. He groaned and tried to catch his breath, pretty sure that he’d just cracked a few ribs with the harsh landing. Maybe fractured his skull. It would heal so Sam didn’t worry about defending himself as Dean dragged him from the tipped over chair and continued to pummel him. Not like it would be easy to defend himself or retaliate with his hands chained. Bobby was finally able to pull his brother off of him and Sam heard something like a sob escape Dean’s mouth. Sam laid there, trying to catch his breath and breathe through the pain. It wasn’t the worst he’s had by far, but it stung more due to the person responsible. 

“You could have helped, ya know!” He heard Bobby shout at the angel and Sam just hoped the thing didn’t decide to smite the one person who seemed to be on his side. 

“It would not have killed the demon.” Of course it wouldn’t. Sam knew it wouldn’t, but it didn’t matter. By the time Sam got himself sitting somewhat Dean was red faced with grief and anger, shaking his hand that looked suspiciously swollen. 

“It ain’t ‘a demon,’ it’s Sam. ” Bobby growled and he looked at the hunter in surprise. Why would he defend Sam? Bobby had seemed to hate him the least, but he didn’t expect the man to go toe-to-toe with an actual angel for him. 

“Bobby, it’s fine.” He tried, but his former uncle was already too angry to slow down. 

“If you would pull your fool heads out of your asses, you’d see exactly what I do.” 

“What’s that, old man?” Dean challenged with a growl in his voice. 

“Your kid brother that got fucked over by his own life.” Sam watched Dean recoil like he’d been slapped. “It ain’t like the kid did none of this to himself. An’ it sounds to me like he’s done everythin’ in his power to keep you safe. Hell, tha only reason you even started doubtin’ the kids ‘cause tha angel got involved.” Sam looked away, trying to hold the emotions inside himself. He didn’t deserve Bobby. He didn’t deserve the man trying to stick up for him. He swallowed past the lump growing in his throat and hoped he could maintain some of his dignity. “Now kid,” Bobby turned his attention back to Sam. “Tell me why you think Heaven might not be on the up-n-up?” Sam blinked the tears away and tried to steady himself. The angel had told him not to bring this up again.

“A while back I ran into another angel in hiding.” The angel in the room only seemed to get more angry as his attention zeroed in on Sam. “No, I won’t tell you who or where he is. I’m much more afraid of him than I am of you. And I owe him that much.” Sam took a deep breath again. “Anyway, I told him my plan. Told him I was going to stop everything and he believed me. Made me promise to follow through with it.” Dean had an odd look on his face like he was piecing some things together himself. “Ramiel and Dagon hate Lucifer. They don’t want to bow to him any more than I want to be his meatsuit.” Dean’s eyes widened in surprise at the revelation and he shot a questioning look at the angel who nodded imperceptibly. Sam had told them that Azazel was preparing vessels for Lucifer, but in the chaos it must have been forgotten. Sam glared because now he knew the angel hadn’t been totally honest with his brother. “What I want less than that is to have to fight my own brother when he’s Michael’s vessel.” The angel squirmed under Bobby and Dean’s sharp gaze. 

“What’s he talkin’ about, Cas?” The angel didn’t reply, but couldn’t look either hunter in the eye either. 

“The apocalypse. The big showdown between Michael and Lucifer. Angels need vessels which are rare. People with strong bloodlines. Even more rare are people who could house archangels.” Sam shook his head and winced when it jostled his pulverized face. “I told you and John the importance of your bloodline. Our bloodline. The Winchesters and Campbells intersecting to make the two true vessels for the two strongest archangels.” Dean was turning pale and Cas was glowering. Apparently the angels didn’t want Dean to know everything yet. 

“S’that why dad and I couldn’t go to hell?” 

“The demons need you or John to break the first seal on Lucifer’s cage. The first seal breaks when a Righteous Man spills blood in hell. As he breaks, so shall it break.” Sam repeated, just barely a mumble. 

“Why didn’t you tell me this, Cas?” Dean was grinding his teeth so hard Sam thought they might break. 

“It was not of import. My superiors saw no need in concerning you with that much information if it would not come to pass.” 

“It was of import when we needed to know not to find a way to go to hell!” Dean shouted, rounding on the angel. Cas, Sam supposed his name was, looked bewildered that Dean was shouting at him. Sam only barely managed to stop a flinch when his brother spun around and directed all of his attention on him. “What was your plan?” Sam licked his lips, nervous all of a sudden for a reason he couldn’t explain. 

“Killing Lillith is the final seal.” Dean glanced at the angel to get confirmation, but the being only fidgeted. Sam snorted. “I have to kill her once the others have been broken. If I kill her before the first is broken then the apocalypse can never happen.” 

“Would it work?” Sam scowled when his brother looked for confirmation from the angel that had been lying to him just as much as Sam had. The angel looked even more uncomfortable than he had before. 

“Yes. It would work assuming that the abomination is telling the truth. I have no reason to believe it would be though.” It. It! Like he wasn’t a real person. Sam scoffed and looked away. Bobby seemed to be contemplating what Sam had said though so that was a positive for him. 

“Why would I lie though? I’ve already told you the truth about everything else.”

“You demon,” the angel sneered, “are not trustworthy on principle of species.” Sam glared right back. His self-loathing was ramping up, but so was his anger. “If you even think of getting out of this and freeing the devil, I will end you.” He glanced at his brother who seemed to be wavering between believing Sam and following his angel around again. 

“Then let me go so that I can kill Lillith now.” 

“I cannot do that. My orders have been to neutralize you and prevent you from opening the final seal.”

“This would be the end of it all!” Sam nearly shouted at the stupid angel that apparently couldn’t think for himself. 

“I cannot go against orders.” Sam rolled his eyes and laid back on the ground. He was drained and more than ready for this conversation to be over. Thankfully, Dean’s cell phone decided to ring at that exact moment. 

“Yeah?” His brother said as he answered. There was a long pause in which his brother paled and staggered. Bobby and the angel were quick to steady him. “Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I’ll be there-uh- I think I can be there by tomorrow.” 

“What’s goin’ on?” Bobby asked, concern clear in his voice. 

“Dad’s uh… dad’s dead.” Sam sat up in shock. A cold dread starting to pool in his stomach. It couldn’t be a good thing that his father was suddenly dead. 

~~~~

Two Days ago.

John Winchester was many things, but sober was not one of them. He hadn’t been sober in what felt like weeks. Not since he’d seen that bastard kill his mark. He’d spent the majority of his life hunting the demon only for some freak to come in and take his revenge right out from under John’s nose. He’d heard the demon taunting him just before the freak latched onto his wrist. That fucker wanted John to believe that the little bloodsucker was his son, but he wasn’t an idiot. He knew that Sam’s ‘death’ had been suspicious and immediately assumed that demons had been involved. It’s why he never bothered to look for a body. In retrospect, maybe he should have looked a little just to keep up appearances for Dean. He’d done his best to keep things together for his actual son. He knew the demon had done something to Sam the night Mary died. He’d always resented Sam a little. Why did the brat get to live when his wonderful Mary had to die? 

Again, he was a lot of things, but not an idiot. At the time, he’d thought it was a little strange when Mary had suddenly insisted on wanting a second child despite a few months earlier being worried about finances to the point of swearing off other children. He’d thought it was a trick of the lights when her eyes seemed to glow and he’d thought it was just hormones when she was a little angrier than usual. She’d never said anything was off or that she had been missing time, but looking back, John knew now she’d been possessed. After she died and he started hunting, the more he learned about demons, the more he was convinced something was wrong with his youngest child. He should have killed him in his crib. 

Even if this bloodsucking demon was originally ‘Sam,’ then he wasn’t John’s son. That much was for damn sure. Hell, the demons made it even easier for him at this point. Now the kid really was just another monster. 

He was finishing off the bottle of Jack he’d bought from the bartender. Luckily, this bar didn’t ask too many questions and when he asked them to leave the bottle they just shrugged. He was well on his way to blacked out. As it was, he probably would have a few blank spots in the morning. 

It’s probably why he didn’t question it when a pretty blonde flashed him a smile from the stool next to him.

Probably why he didn’t think twice about answering “anything” when she asked what he would give for one more day with Mary. 

Probably why he didn’t move away when she kissed him. 

Probably why his reflexes were too slow when he thought her eyes flashed white. 

Probably why he wasn’t too surprised when he stumbled into the motel room to find his beautiful Mary. 

It wasn’t until the next afternoon when he woke tangled in blonde hair that he started asking questions. 

It wasn’t until she was yelling at him in confusion and anger that he realized she should be dead. 

It wasn’t until he heard the howls outside that he remembered the woman with white eyes. 

It wasn’t until the first claw down his chest that he remembered he wasn’t ever supposed to make a deal for his soul.

Chapter Text

“Yeah, that’s him.” Dean sighed as he signed the paperwork to identify his father’s body. Cas had insisted on coming with him so thankfully it wouldn’t be a problem to get the body tonight to give him a hunter’s funeral. Dean frowned at the damage that had been done to his father in death. The man had been torn to shreds, but his heart wasn’t missing. The investigator was standing beside him calmly trying to make sense of something that Dean knew would never be solved, not on a police level. 

“I think COD is going to be an animal attack. The witness wasn’t much help and she’s currently at the hospital on a seventy-two hour hold.” 

“Witness?” Dean questioned as he swung his gaze back to the detective. The man nodded. 

“Yeah, we received a call from motel staff of arguing followed by screaming. They were concerned about the woman’s safety. When we got there, she was sobbing and not making much sense. She was disoriented and kept asking where she was and what year it was. We arrived on scene just after he bled out. Not sure how we missed the animal, but she had already barricaded herself inside the room.” Alarm shot through Dean as he took in the story. 

“Any idea who she is?” The detective shook his head. 

“All she will tell us is that she was his wife. Won’t give a name though.” The detective grumbled as he scratched his stubble. “Do you know if he was married?” 

“Only to my mom that I know of. Do you think I could talk with her? I’d like to know who was with him.” Dean said feeling an odd sensation flow through him. The detective agreed and gave Dean the hospital number. The ride to the hospital was spent in silence as neither Dean nor Cas had a good feeling about what was going on. They made it to the room faster than Dean thought possible. Maybe he was a little lost in thought and didn’t notice. He wasn’t sure anymore. He opened the door to the room and froze when he saw his mother standing there in a hospital gown. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and there was still some blood spatter on her arms and face. Her hands were stained red. She didn’t look like the soft, motherly woman from his memory. “Mom?” He muttered before shutting the door behind him. She gave him an appraising once over before grunting apparently not hearing his reverent whisper. 

“You a hunter?” He nodded dumbly and looked to Cas for confirmation that the woman in front of him was not just human, but actually his mother. 

“It’s her.” Castiel agreed and Dean felt his face twist up in pain. 

“We-uh- we can get you out of here, okay?” She nodded before starting to rummage around the room for her clothes. She sighed at the blood stains and looked resigned to wear them or the hospital gown. 

“I will find her something to wear while you two talk.” Dean nodded as the angel left the room through the door. He turned back to his mother, not sure what to say. 

“Do you know what happened?” 

“It was a hellhound.” She stated seriously and Dean was taken aback before he remembered that Mary had been at least somewhat aware of demons before her death. He nodded silently. “Look.” Mary sighed. “I think John made a deal to bring me back.” 

“I’m sure he did.” 

“I panicked and didn’t know where I was or what year it was.” She huffed and brushed some stray hairs from her face. “Do- do you happen to know where my children are? I-I don’t know how old they would even be now.” Dean's heart sank as he realized he wasn’t even sure how to answer that. He could explain himself easily enough, but how was he supposed to explain Sam? Starting with himself was easiest. 

“Dean-uh-Dean…” He snorted a humorless laugh. “I’m right here, mom. I’m twenty-six now.” Mary gasped and covered her mouth as tears filled her eyes. She lurched forward and pulled him into a tight hug. 

“Sammy?” She asked, her voice muffled by his shoulder. An odd, helpless noise left him. 

“How much did you know, mom? About him? About what your deal did to him?” He felt her tense in his arms as she pulled away. 

“I-I didn’t know. I had no idea what the deal was even for.”

“You wrote a blank check to a fuckin’ demon?!” Dean roared before tamping down on his emotions. Mary hiccuped a sob, but didn’t provide any further information. “Did you know you were possessed?” She nodded sadly and looked away. 

“I didn’t know until it left me. It couldn’t or didn’t change my memory of it leaving.” She shuddered and wrapped her arms around her body. “By then I was trying to convince myself that everything was fine and nothing was wrong with Sammy.” 

“You knew, didn’t you? You knew he wasn’t human.” It wasn’t a question anymore and Dean couldn’t stand the knowledge that maybe that first story Sam had told them months ago was right. 

“I saw his little eyes flash yellow.” 

“You were going to kill him.” Dean grimaced at the idea and turned away. He caught Mary nodding miserably from the corner of his eye. 

“I couldn’t risk your life or your fathers. I had done some research on what he would become. That's why I went into his nursery that night.” Dean blew out a harsh breath at that. Part of him was angry. Very, very angry. His mother had tried to kill his kid brother and had been murdered in the process leaving them alone with John. Another part of Dean, a traitorous part that he tried desperately to keep locked away his entire life, wished she had been successful. It was the same part that was horrified that it was also sadly relieved when he’d thought Sammy had died and he no longer had to be mother/father/big brother all at the same time. If she’d managed to kill Sam then maybe none of the last twenty-two years would have happened. Dean could have grown up with nice parents and an ache in his chest that his baby brother had died of SIDS or something normal. How nice would it have been to just be safe and happy and well fed? He could have grown up in their nice little house in Kansas, graduating highschool and maybe going to college. He wouldn’t be this hardened criminal with more pain and bullshit to his name than money or possessions. Instead he was more versed in killing than housework, with a monster of a kid brother locked in his pseudo-uncle’s basement. 

He was broken from his thoughts by Cas returning with a bag full of clothes. He didn’t ask where the angel had gotten them. Didn’t really matter that much. He instructed Mary to dress and then have Cas bring her to the car via angel express. He would leave on his own through the doors to limit suspicion. They would hide out until nightfall and then retrieve John’s body before heading to Bobby’s. Once he was outside he decided to call his uncle to update him with a gnawing in his gut. He knew this conversation wouldn’t go well. 

~~~~

Sam tensed when he heard the heavy metal door squeak open. He’d been worried since Dean had gotten the phone call about John’s death. A heavy sense of foreboding settling around him. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t seen John’s deal or death like he usually saw dramatic things that happened to the Winchesters, but he felt like the wards and devil’s traps probably muted his powers enough to slow his visions down if not stop them all together. He sat up from the little cot he was sprawled out on. 

“Looks like you were right, son. John made a deal for Mary’s life.” Bobby grumbled as he entered the room, phone still held in his hand. 

“Fuck!” Sam cursed as he flopped back on the cot. This was bad. This was very, very bad. Dean was never going to let him out of here and the demons would eventually get the seals broken. 

“Look, kid.” Bobby sighed again, scratching the top of his head under his hat. “I don’t know why, but somethin’s tellin’ me to trust you. It’d take me a day an’ a half to get the wards and traps all busted.” He shrugged. “But if you got a way out, I’d take it now.” Sam nodded in understanding and huffed slightly. Who would he call? Ramiel and Meg? No. He didn’t want them near this. Not right now when he would need them later. “Need me to call anyone? Spell ingredients?” Bobby winced slightly. “Blood?” Sam chuckled, but shook his head. A thought occurred to him. One that took a little longer than it should have. 

“No, I can manage.” Bobby smiled and turned to walk back out the door. 

“Don’t be a stranger.” 

“Hey, Bobby.” He called just before the door was shut. 

“Yeah, kid?” 

“Thanks. For-for everything.” Bobby grunted in acknowledgement and shut the door. Sam paced for a few minutes before groaning. This was humiliating. What if the guy didn’t even hear him? Or didn’t care enough to come? It was his only choice though right now though and if the guy wanted this taken care of as much as he seemed to… odds were he would probably show up to get Sam out of this. Right? He sat back down on the cot and bent his head before starting something he hadn’t done in a very long time. He prayed. 

“Loki… it-it’s me, Sam. I uh- I dunno if you can even hear a prayer from a thing like me, but on the off chance you have your ears on, I could use some help. I know I don’t deserve your help, but I’m tryin’ so fuckin’ hard to stop all this.” He cleared his throat as his nerves started to get the better of him. “I’m in a warded basement in Sioux Falls. Bobby Singer’s place. I wouldn’t bother you, but the-uh- the demons took John to hell and I really don’t know who else to call.” He sighed again and looked around the room. Nothing. “I’m not asking you to get involved or anything. I could just use a way out of here. So- um- thanks, I guess, for listening. I-I’m sorry for bothering you.” He looked around again, nothing. Sam heaved a deep sigh. It was probably too much to ask for anyway. He tugged at the chains. Tried to scrape off a ward or two. Nothing. Twenty minutes passed and Sam was starting to go over spell ideas when he heard a sharp whistle from the side of the room. He hadn’t even noticed the Trickster angel showing up. He whipped his head to the side in surprise as something like relief and gratitude flooded through him. 

“You don’t half way get stuck do ya?” Loki smirked as he popped some candy into his mouth. Sam made some kind of noise that was probably something like a laugh, but couldn’t really hold eye contact with the angel. 

“Thanks for coming.” 

“After that pitiful prayer…” Loki looked unsettled and Sam withered inside a little. He’d probably said everything wrong. Should have used more formal wording. Used an altar. Loki seemed to sense where his thoughts had gone because he waved it off and snapped his bag of skittles… somewhere. “Nah, kiddo you didn’t do it wrong. It was just sad. Holy fuck was that the saddest prayer I’ve heard in ages.” Loki shook his head in something that looked like concern. “Regardless of how dark your soul may be due to your less than holy heritage, it’s not twisted.” Sam winced at the thought of his fucked up blackened soul. It was unsettling to think of someone being able to see it. Especially an angel. “Think of it like a gothic, emo, stained glass. Different shades of black, gray, and a dab of red.” Sam shuddered and felt his body draw in on itself. He felt horribly exposed. 

“So, souls look like stained glass to you?” All Sam could ever really see was like a brightness in the center of someone’s chest and something like an aura. He really could only see it when he tried and he didn’t use it often since it went with the yellow eyes. Loki shook his head though. 

“Only the best ones.” Sam looked at him in confusion and the being sighed. “A lot of them just look like glowing lights unless you look close enough. They’re nice and pretty, like a string of Christmas lights.” Sam nodded. That’s usually how he saw them. “But some, like yours, are so remarkable they don’t fit in on that strand. Those are the souls of incredible people, Sam. People like you.” Loki was kind of looking at him sadly and Sam had to look away. Actually, he needed to stand and so he did, pacing the small amount of space he could. 

“To be an incredible person, you have to be a person, Loki.” 

“Samuel.” Loki’s tone darkened as the power within the room doubled. Sam froze, shooting an anxious look at the being. Had he offended him somehow? Sam didn’t know, but he was definitely taking him seriously. “Are you saying that because I’m not a human, I’m not a person and therefore can’t be incredible?” Sam floundered and gaped for a minute unsure how to dig himself out of this grave sized hole. 

“What?! No! Of course not! That’s-that’s not what I meant.” 

“So, I can be an incredible person even if I’m not human?” Sam nodded immediately while backing away from the angel slightly. “Then what’s the difference here, Sam? Why can’t you be an incredible person because you’re only half human?” 

“Because I’m a demon!” Sam half shouted hysterically. Why was he having to explain this to an angel of all things?

“No, you are half demon. Which means that you are also half human. ” Loki sighed sadly again. “It doesn’t matter what species you are, Samshine. You can still be incredible. You can still be good. ” Loki clapped his hands together before looking the cambion over. “Now, are we done trying to force you to have some level of self-worth? ‘Cuz I don’t want you anywhere near here when our brothers get back.” Sam nodded, feeling somewhat dizzy with gratitude for Loki. Somehow this angel saw enough worth in Sam to not only believe and help him, but to also take time to try and encourage him. “Do you know the name of the angel?” Loki asked as he started snapping the wards away. 

“Dean was calling him ‘Cas,’ but I don’t think that was his whole name.” Sam saw Loki smirk at the words and suddenly he could feel his powers coming back online as the cuffs fell away. 

“It wasn’t. My bets on Castiel. I guess there’s a few others it could have been, but I don’t think they would have trusted any of them to get Dean from hell.” Loki shrugged as Sam made his way towards the door. He must have hesitated before opening it because Loki snapped and the door opened on its own. Sam also noticed the devil’s traps all seemed to be… offset just slightly. Sam walked through the door with Loki right behind him. Sam retrieved his knife and cellphone from the table where Bobby must have placed it before searching the house for his uncle. Bobby was outside working on a car, so he must have left to make sure and give himself a good cover story. Sam was preparing to leave when the angel spoke again. “Go get John and bring him here. I’ll wait with dumbasses one and two and hopefully they will have his body. I can heal John from any damage and make sure that his soul gets back inside the shell.” Sam wasn’t so sure about that plan, but decided it was the best option and agreed. 

“Hey, Loki?” He called, just before he was going to teleport. 

“Yeah?” 

“Thanks.” Sam smiled a genuine smile as he finally looked the angel in the eyes. 

“Anytime, kid.” Loki smirked, before sobering slightly. “And Sam?” His eyes snapped back to the angel. “You can call me Gabriel.” Sam’s jaw dropped at the revelation, but the angel, the archangel snapped before he could comment, sending him away. 

~~~

Getting dad’s body from the morgue wasn’t that hard considering they had an angel to help. Explaining everything to mom had been significantly harder. Telling her they had failed to kill the monster she unwittingly birthed was worse, but the hardest part was the uncomfortable drive back to Sioux Falls. It was spent mostly in silence. Cas had flitted off to who knows where the minute they got in the car. Mom had cried most of the drive. She’d apologized profusely and begged for forgiveness. Dean had sighed and eventually gave in. She’d made a dumb mistake, but it was still a mistake. She’d had no clue that her deal would be so bad. Hell, even John had fallen prey to the crossroads somehow now and Dean had always seen him as infallible. He could forgive his mother for this. As they pulled into Singer Salvage, Dean took a few deep breaths. He was sure Bobby had explained to Sam that John had been killed by hellhounds by now and he was sure that he would have to endure his little brother begging for his freedom. Dean groaned as he contemplated what to do. On the one hand, if Sam was telling the truth, then letting him go would be the best option now. On the other hand, if Sam was lying then he’d be responsible for ending the world. How was he supposed to trust a monster? Even if that monster was Sammy? Yeah. No. Try as he might, he wouldn’t be trusting the guy locked in the basement. 

He prayed to Castiel quickly before getting out of the car and by the time the door was shut, the angel was in front of him with an even more constipated look on his face. “Dean.” He stated, frowning as he looked around the yard. “Something is wrong. I cannot sense the cambion.” He froze, staring at the angel in confusion before rushing to the door. Bobby wrenched the door open just as he got to the porch.

“Bobby, where’s Sam?” 

“Down stairs last I checked. Why?” 

“I cannot sense the abomination.” Castiel stated blandly as he disappeared from the porch. Dean sighed and started to move forward, but Bobby stopped him and his mother, insisting on the appropriate humanity testing. Dean growled impatiently, but quickly rushed through the silver and holy water before brushing past the grizzled hunter. Mary did much the same and then the three humans were quickly descending the stairs. The door was open and Castiel was inside fuming in anger. Sam was gone. His monster of a brother was gone. How the hell had he gotten out? 

“Dammit!” Dean cursed as he kicked a chair over. “How the hell did he get out?” He shouted as he turned his anger on his uncle. 

“Don’t look at me like that, boy! When I went outside to work on a car, he was in here with the door locked.” 

“Sorry ‘bout that. His escape is one hundred percent my fault.” The voice came from somewhere behind him and he whirled around to see the trickster of all people standing in the door of the panic room. What the fuck? A wounded sound came from Castiel’s throat and Dean turned to see the angel backing away in what looked like fear. Odd. How could a trickster scare an angel? The short blonde that had tormented Dean all those months ago stepped into the panic room easily and then the door swung shut behind him. He heard the locks latch and felt a wave of dread crash over him. 

“Cas, get us out of here.” He commanded and waited for the uncomfortable swoop of flying, but it never came. 

“I cannot, Dean.” The angel sounded like he was on the edge of panic himself. Dean shot an assessing glance at the guy trying to figure out what had him so concerned. 

“What do you mean you can’t?” 

“Dean, what's going on?” Mary asked, seeming to get more concerned by the second. 

“Who the hell are you?” Bobby growled and the trickster smirked. 

“I’ve got a few names, gramps.” 

“Why would you let the abomination go free?!” Cas growled at the trickster, seeming to have overcome his shock enough that anger could creep back in. The trickster snorted. 

“That ‘abomination,’” He started, mocking the gravely sound of Cas’s voice. “Is on his way to do us all a huge favor.” 

“By ending the world?” Dean was pretty sure Cas’s teeth were going to break at this point. 

“No, Cassie, by saving it.” Cassie? That was an oddly familiar nickname for a trickster to give an angel…

“He plans to release Lucifer!”

“That what he told you or what Mikey said?” That seemed to draw the angel up short, but now Dean had even more questions. Who was this ‘Mikey’ and why would they know anything about Sam?

“My superiors stated that he is working with Lillith to free our older brother.” Our? That was an odd word choice, but Dean didn’t have time to harp on that right now. 

“He has no intention of doing that. His plan is solid.” 

“His ‘kill Lillith before the first seal is broken’ plan?” Dean asked and the trickster nodded. 

“Right-o, Dean-o.” The trickster sighed before pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, guys. Michael and Raphael want the big showdown. They want Luci free regardless of what they’ve been telling you. They’ve wanted this since Father said it was a possibility, but they’ve engineered it themselves.”

“That’s not true, brother. The orders have come from Father.” 

“Brother?!” Dean all but squeaked. That meant this ‘trickster’ was actually an angel! Dean groaned. Of course it was another angel. And the two celestials continued on as if the humans weren’t silently panicking. 

“Don’t you think, Castiel, that if Father gave the orders for the apocalypse, it would have gone through me? Through His Messenger?” Bobby sucked in a sharp breath, apparently identifying the angel masquerading as a trickster, but Dean had never really cared for religion so he never paid much attention to that part of lore studies. Something he had cursed himself for repeatedly recently. 

“We all thought you dead, Gabriel.” The angel in hiding wilted a bit at the desperation on Cas’s voice and Dean thought it was the most emotion he’d ever heard from the angel. 

“I get it, Cassie, I do. I skipped town in the middle of all the family drama and I’m not the most reliable source, but trust me on this. Heaven wants the apocalypse and Sam is trying to stop it. That’s why you were sent to interfere.” 

“The cambion said much the same thing.” Cas actually looked thoughtful and Dean was kind of silently kicking himself right now. Sam had said exactly that same thing and Dean had ignored it. Dean had decided to trust a practical stranger over his baby brother just because said stranger was considered holy. 

“That cambion,” Gabriel said with a mocking tone, like he wasn’t exactly happy about dehumanizing Sam with the name.Unlike Dean had been. What kind of brother was he really? “Is giving me a chance to not have to watch my brothers fight to the death. I’m not going to argue with that.” 

“Where is he?” Dean all but choked out. His own guilt was like a stranglehold on his heart. 

“Who? Sam?” Dean nodded. Bobby seemed confused by his tumultuous change in emotions, as did Mary, but Dean didn’t have time to explain it right now. “My guess? He’s probably on his way to hell.” He sucked in a startled breath, as did the other humans. Sammy was going to hell? He might never get to see his little brother again. The one he half raised until his death had been faked. The last thing his brother might know of him was being locked in the damn panic room. 

“What? Why!?” Dean blinked away a few tears that seemed to escape without his permission. 

“Uh… to get your dad. Duh.” Gabriel said as he snapped a bag of M&M’s into his hands. 

“Would it not be more tactically sound to kill Lillith and take the throne without worrying with John’s soul?” Cas asked and Gabriel shrugged. 

“Maybe. But it could take a while and John could break in the meantime. He will have to fight his way through hordes of Lillith and Lucifer’s followers just to get to the throne room.” Gabriel shook his head sadly. “Sam knows the stakes. He knows he might not even survive. He won’t risk John staying in hell if he doesn’t.” That hit Dean twice as hard. Hearing this angel mention that Sam could die after Dean had already been concerned about it himself? Yeah. It stung. 

“You care for the cambion? See him as a person not demonic filth? How?” Cas seemed genuinely confused by this while Dean only seemed confused by Cas now. How did you not see Sammy as a person? Sure, Dean had questioned it a few times, but even with ‘monster, monster, monster’ running through his head, he’d never actually seen Sam as not a person. 

“Have you ever looked at his soul, Cassie?” 

“No, why would I want to see something so twisted?”   

“You should, kiddo.” Gabriel sighed like he was about to state something painfully obvious. Maybe he was. “Cambions are born, Cassie. He wasn’t twisted into this like most demons. Look at his soul and you will understand.” Cas seemed confused, but Dean thought he understood what Gabriel meant. 

“His soul is normal? Human?” Dean asked hopefully and he felt Mary clutch at the back of his shirt. Gabriel seemed confused, but then shook his head. 

“No. It’s not normal, mostly human and incredibly beautiful. Think stained glass in grayscale with shades of red thrown in for spice.” Gabriel seemed a little fond as he explained Sam’s soul and Dean wished he had the ability to see it. 

“So he’s not…” Mary started and Dean turned to look at his mother who couldn’t seem to make eye contact with anyone. “He’s not evil?” Gabriel barked out a laugh at startled everyone in the room. 

“Oh, Father!” He laughed. “That kid’s anything but evil. He’s done everything he can to stop this madness and save a world that would persecute him on sight. Honestly, I think he’s done most of it just to save Dean.” He looked up, stunned at Gabriel’s words. Apparently the angel saw his confusion and decided to throw him a bone. “Kid, if Sam hadn’t given a shit about you, why would he lie to you about who he was for so long? Why would he show up at all when Azazel was threatening you and your dad? Why would he waste his lifeforce to use dark magic to basically bring your dad back to life knowing it would probably end with him being captured by hunters? You’re not stupid, Dean. Think it through.” And Dean did. Gabriel was right. Bobby had been right for a while now and Dean just hadn’t wanted to see it. “Now, if we’re done with all of this sharing and caring BS can we get your dad’s body out of the car and make sure he has a whole one to go back into?” Dean nodded and the panic room door opened. He quickly made his way towards the car. Cas helped him get the body to Bobby’s living room and Gabriel easily healed it. “I’ve got it preserved until Sam gets back.” 

An hour and a half later, they had finally broken out the beer. Gabriel was sipping on some girly looking cocktail while Cas made faces at everything ingestible. Bobby hadn’t stopped staring at Gabriel in something like awe. It was an odd expression to see on the old man, but Dean didn’t mind it much. Dean was lost in his thoughts about his brother currently fighting his way through hell while the others talked angel lore. He knew he should be paying attention, but really didn’t feel like it right now. He thought twice about that though when he heard Bobby’s question. “So, you’re really an archangel?” Archangel? Shit. He really needed to pay more attention to his angel lore. Gabriel had been one of the few names he’d actually recognized, but he hadn’t thought about him being an archangel. 

“Sure am.” Gabriel replied with a smirk. 

“You don’t seem nothin’ like little feathers over here.” Gabriel shrugged but laughed at Bobby’s nickname for Cas. 

“I’ve been on earth for a long, long time. Cassie was just a fledgling when I left, but I remember he was always a very literal thing. Never could understand a joke. I thought it was just because he was so young.” Gabriel shook his head at the memories. Dean snorted. Of course Cas had been born an awkward little snowflake. 

“Why become a trickster?” Dean asked, finally tuning back into the conversation enough to have feedback. Gabriel sighed. 

“Not long after I left heaven, I ran into Odin. He offered me a place to stay for a while. I was allowed to be myself for the first time in eons. No more Michael getting angry with my pranks. No more Luci to influence me. No fledglings to cry when I dyed their feathers pink.” Castiel flushed and looked away. 

“It was rather frightening to wake up with different colored feathers after my first flight, Gabriel.” The archangel chuckled, but then continued his story. 

“I had a lot of time to decide who I really wanted to be. I had always been one to pull a prank.” He shrugged. “Eventually Odin and his family became my family.” Gabriel shrugged again. “It wasn’t like I set out to be a trickster, Dean-o. I was just me and humans decided to classify it.” That actually made sense now that he thought about it and Dean returned to his thoughts, tuning everyone back out. 

Another few hours passed by much the same way with the angels and the humans swapping stories. Bobby had just shared a very embarrassing tale about Dean’s first experience with a water nymph that had gone a little nuts when the angels stiffened in their seats. They shared a look before Castiel mumbled “Demons,” and vacated his seat with a flap of wings. The hunters rushed to the door armed with salt and holy water. The image Dean was greeted with was one he really never wanted to see again. There were at least twenty demons chasing after Sam with a small female half holding him up. From the growls and howls surrounding them there were probably several hellhounds as well. His brother was covered in blood, clutching something to his chest with one arm slung over the woman. She muttered something to Sam who nodded and she continued to drag him to the house. The other demons were gaining on them. Dean raised his shotgun full of salt rounds, ready to fire when they got closer, but Gabriel just… snapped. Literally. Snapped his fingers and the demons dropped dead. From the sound of the yelps echoing around the perimeter, so had the hellhounds. Dean lowered his gun and muttered “Well you’re handy to have around,” as he rushed off the porch towards his brother. As soon as Dean got close, Sam all but collapsed to his knees. 

“Dean.” He muttered and then lifted whatever he was clutching so carefully towards him. Dean looked down in confusion. It was a bag with something that felt like a jar inside, covered in blood and grime. Dean opened the bag and cursed as he was nearly blinded. 

“Careful, jackass. That was incredibly difficult to get our hands on.” The woman muttered and now that Dean was closer, she was the same woman who had broken Sam out of the panic room the first time. The one that claimed Sam was also her little brother. She was fretting over Sam, slapping his face to keep him awake and cursing like a sailor. 

“I’ll take that.” Gabriel smirked as he reached carefully for the bag covered jar and wandered away. The woman had frozen, seeming incredibly uncomfortable with Gabriel’s presence before he disappeared. 

“Shit, Sam. You didn’t tell me he was gonna be here. Come on, you overgrown piece of shit. Get up. You gotta help me out, little brother.” She was shaking him now and Dean moved forward to help her haul Sam into the house. She seemed defensive over Sammy and wasn’t too happy with Dean getting closer, but didn’t protest as he carefully slid Sam’s arm over his shoulders. His little brother was breathing shallow and his skin felt clammy. Even with her harsh words, Dean could see the concern in the woman’s eyes. They worked together to get his giant brother in the house and onto the floor. John’s body was already occupying the couch, so they couldn’t put him there. Dean was already looking his brother over for wounds and found plenty of scratches, gashes, bites, missing chunks, and one very large hole in his brother’s torso. The woman only looked somewhat better. 

“Is he gonna be okay?” Dean asked, already trying to hold pressure on the wound that was bleeding the most. 

“I-uh- I don’t know.” The woman looked lost as she looked up into his eyes. Dean flinched back as he stared into the black abyss of her eyes, how had he forgotten momentarily that this woman was a demon. Bobby was by him next, passing a med kit towards him. Dean wasted no time, cleaning the wounds and starting to stitch him with care. 

“Gabe! Please tell me you can do something about this!” The archangel appeared at his side and shook his head sadly. 

“Trying to heal him with grace would most likely make it worse. His body would reject it.” Dean set about doing what he could, but the giant, gaping hole below Sam’s right shoulder was a problem he couldn’t just solve with a needle and dental floss. “Your father should be fine when he wakes.” Dean nodded, but right now he didn’t care about that. Mary could look after dad, someone had to look after Sammy. He continued to clean his brother off the best he could. There was blood everywhere. The cambion looked as if he had taken a bath in the shit and Dean really didn’t know how to get it all off. A large bowl of warm water and a rag was sat beside him and Dean made quick work of trying to get as much off as he could. The other demon hadn’t let go of his brother’s hand. A phone rang somewhere and everyone looked around before the demon whipped a flip phone from her back pocket and answered. 

“Yeah?” There was a pause before the woman let out a huff of a laugh. “No, asshole he’s not ‘okay.’” Another pause. “No, he’s… he’s… No. I don’t know. I-” Another pause. “We’re just going to have to wait this one out, but it ain’t lookin’ good.” She swallowed hard and Dean had a difficult time not feeling sorry for the demon who seemed just as upset as he was. “Yeah, okay.” She muttered before flipping the phone closed. “Ramiel is gonna look into something.” Was all she explained. Mary and Cas moved John to the guest room, but Dean’s focus was still on his little brother.

Chapter Text

An hour later, and all of the wounds Dean could sew up had been closed, most of the blood had been removed, and they had changed Sam into some clean sweat pants. They hadn’t bothered with a shirt given the giant weeping hole in Sam’s chest they kept covered with towels. Gabriel was snapping the towels and rags clean every so often. Neither human nor demonic sibling had left Sam’s side. Another hour and Cas seemed to get fidgety. Dean paid him little attention. All of his focus was on the incredibly wounded little brother that he desperately needed to apologize to. Half an hour later and Gabriel seemed completely calm except for his eyes flicking toward the window every so often. It was starting to unsettle Dean a little. 

“Thought you said that Ramiel guy was going to look into something.” He growled at the demon who had finally introduced herself as Meg. 

“He is.” She snapped, never taking her eyes off of Sam. 

“What’s got you two so twitchy?” He shifted his eyes towards the angels who were growing more and more anxious by the minute. Castiel sucked in a sharp breath suddenly and looked to the archangel. 

“Gabriel?” Dean didn’t think he’d ever heard the angel sound nervous, much less scared like he did now. 

“Demons. Probably about a hundred surrounding us and the numbers are growing steadily.” The archangel explained, now firmly keeping his eyes on the window. 

“That would probably be part of Ramiel’s plan. Sam’s injured and just kicked a demonic beehive. My guess, he’s called in reinforcements.” Meg smirked as she finally trained her eyes outside. Dean didn’t bother to look. His brother was still steadily losing blood and Dean couldn’t bring himself to care if anything was coming for them. A large clap of thunder and lightning caused the power to blink and every human in the house to startle. Cas and Gabriel both had their angel blades out now and Dean could surmise that things just got so much worse somehow. There was a sharp knock on the door and Meg rushed to answer it. Dean probably should have been concerned with a demon answering Bobby’s door, but right now he just didn’t care. He did look up though. Standing in the door were several people. The guy Dean had seen with Meg before, the yellow eyed one looked furious as he rushed into the house. 

“Where is he?” Dean scooted out of the way, but didn’t leave. The demon pushed his way to Sam’s side and all Dean could see was something like a worried father. John had shown less concern over Dean when he’d been injured in the past. How shitty had his life been that a demon was more paternal than his own father? “Dammit, Sam.” The demon ran his hand over his face and looked back to the others standing in the door. Dean followed his gaze and took notice of the others as well. There was a dark haired demon in a nicer suit than Dean had ever dared to look at, an arrogant smirk that looked frozen into place. A taller man, another demon he assumed, with longer salt and pepper hair. The man looked somewhat peaceful, but he was emitting an aura of intense power around him. The third person was a small woman with long red hair. They all seemed rather concerned by what was going on. Dean guessed that was good for Sam. The redhead brushed past the demons gracefully and then dropped her large bag between them. 

“Ack, Samuel.” She somehow made it sound like a curse and Dean thought he caught the hint of an accent of some sort. She brushed his face gently, something sad crossing her face before she began digging into her bag. Dean wasn’t sure what she was, but he didn’t think she was a demon. Something about the way she carried herself was more human than the others. As she pulled items from her bag Dean realized she was probably a witch. Fuck he hated witches. He shuddered at the realization, but couldn’t find it in himself to move. A whine by the door caused him to look back. It sounded like a dog, but Dean couldn’t see anything. There was nothing indicating an animal at all, but he heard it again. This time the suit demon looked sharply to his side and scolded thin air. 

“Juliette. Hush.” A somber howl broke forth from the space next to the demon and caused Dean’s hair to stand on end. A hellhound. There was a fucking hellhound, apparently named ‘Juliette,’ in Bobby’s house and it was whimpering. A chorus of howls responded from outside, each sounding equally as lost and determined at the same time. 

“Holy shit.” He mumbled to himself, realizing that not only were they now surrounded by demons, but also hellhounds. 

“Juliette!” The demon scolded again before reaching down to pat the empty space on the head.”I know you’re worried, but he will be fine. Now settle.” Another whine and then a huff before a thump of the hellhound apparently flopping down on the ground. Dean was only pretty sure that he imagined the indignant attitude from that sound. He shuttered again before turning his attention back to his little brother. The redhead had all sorts of icky and weird items on the floor and was mixing them into a bowl. 

“An’ who’ll be our willing demonic sacrifice?” She asked without looking up. The yellow-eyed guy stepped forward again. 

“I’ll do it, Rowena.” 

“You most certainly will not. We need cannon fodder, dearie. Not a general.” She nodded to herself before looking back. “However, with a lower level demon it will probably take about ten.” Meg nodded sharply before standing up. 

“Do you need the whole demon or just some blood?”

“A vial each’ll do. Just need to bind the life forces.” The witch, Rowena apparently, handed Meg several vials and the demon disappeared. “Now, laddie. You an’ tha’ grumpy gent’ll need ta make yerselve’s scarce for a time.”

“No. No way. I’m not leaving Sammy.” 

“Aye, boy. I understand, but young Samuel would kill me if I allowed a dark magic such as this to backlash onto a human. Much less his family.” Rowena looked surprisingly sincere about this and Dean knew he’d have to listen. He really didn’t want to be around dark magic anyway, but he also didn’t want to leave Sammy. “He’ll be fine. I swear it. But he will’no’ be fine if he wakes to you injured.” 

“The dungeon in the basement should suffice. I will ensure that there are protections against magic.” Castiel stated and fuck Dean had forgotten the angels were still there. 

“I’ll grab the other two humans and escort them down.” Gabriel stated. “They’ll be much safer there.” Dean didn’t miss the way the archangel was eyeing the demons cautiously. Dean couldn’t blame them either. His arm was jerked and Dean stumbled to his feet. Bobby was dragging him toward the basement. His mom was already in the panic room when they got there with his father still passed out on the cot. Gabriel had snapped up a fluid drip and IV to ensure that his father stayed hydrated. The angels locked themselves inside the panic room with the humans and now all they had to do was wait. Gabriel seemed shaken, but Dean couldn’t be sure why. 

“What’s got your panties in a bunch?” Bobby voiced the question in Dean’s mind and everyone turned their attention to the archangel. 

“I didn’t realize who all the kid had on his side. We’ve got much better odds now, but it always brings back wonderful memories of the old days.” Sarcasm. The archangel was being sarcastic and Dean couldn’t help but snort a laugh. 

“I already knew Ramiel raised him, but…” Gabriel shook his head and kept his eyes trained on the door. 

“Who were the other demons up there, Gabe?” He asked, finally drawing the archangel’s attention to himself. 

“The uh… the one in the suit, Crowley,” ah. So that was Crowley. Sam had talked to and about him frequently. “He’s the King of the Crossroads. Lilith’s right hand.” Dean’s eyes widened at the implications that his brother’s demons had been playing such a long con. “The witch, Rowena, is probably one of the most powerful and ancient witches on the planet.” Dean shuddered at the reminder of the nasty woman who had been so kind. 

“And the old guy?” Gabriel swallowed nervously before looking back at the door. 

“Cain.” 

“Cain?” Bobby asked with his typical ‘you’ve-got-to-be-shittin’-me’ look. 

“Cain.”

“As in Cain and Abel?” Gabriel nodded before looking back at them. Beside him, he heard Castiel suck in a sharp breath. Apparently the angel hadn’t known about the identity of the demon either. 

“The very same.”

“He’s still alive?” Dean asked skeptically. If he remembered correctly, Cain was one of the first humans on the planet! He’d never gotten into history and Bible stories like Sammy had. 

“Not… not really in the same sense you’re thinking. He’s a Knight of Hell.” 

“Shit.” Dean cursed and ran his hands through his hair nervously. How did this happen? How had his life gotten this crazy? Bobby was muttering curses under his breath as well. The tension of the moment was broken or maybe it was heightened (Dean couldn’t be sure anymore) by the air becoming charged. A tingle went through his very soul and everyone in the room shuddered at the odd sensation. Magic. With any luck, his little brother would wake up soon and things could go back to something like normal. 

~~~

The first thing Sam became aware of was a slight tingly feeling in his fingertips and toes. Magic. Heavy magic. Dark stuff that most wouldn’t even consider trying. It felt as though it had traveled through his entire body and was exiting through his limbs. What had happened? He tried to think back while his body settled into something like normal. As normal as he got. Hell. That’s what had happened. He’d gone to hell willingly. He’d gone to save his father and then dragged him kicking and screaming all the way back to Bobby’s. Shit. Had it worked? Had Gabriel been able to put John back together? He didn’t remember. Why didn’t he remember? He blinked his eyes open, or tried to. They didn’t want to respond. He must have been injured. Why was he unconscious so frequently? It took a few more minutes before he could finally move. He twitched his fingers a few times before finally feeling something inside his body unlock and he could move. He jolted up so fast he nearly slammed his head into the person in front of him. There were several people there, but Dean was hovering so closely that Sam nearly headbutted him sitting up. “Dean.” He sighed, realizing that his brother was safe. 

“Hey, kiddo. Welcome back to the land of the living, sleeping beauty.” Dean was smirking and Sam figured he must have been out of it for a while. 

“How long was I out?” 

“All together? Or after the magic healing?” Sam shrugged. It didn’t really matter. 

“It took us a while to get everyone here, but only about twenty four hours after that.” Meg. Sam smiled at his sister and pulled her into a hug. She’d braved hell for him. He owed her everything. She pulled back and then slapped him hard. “Don’t you ever scare us like that again.” 

“Sorry?” He offered before swinging his legs off the couch. Dean kept him seated though. It probably wasn’t a bad idea if the room spinning was anything to go by. Suddenly his brother was pushed aside by the tiniest, but possibly most frightening woman in his life. 

“Ach! Samuel! If ya pull a stunt like this again, I’ll be forced to take it out of yer hide.” Sam grinned brightly at the witch and pulled her into a tight hug. 

“Thanks, Memaw.” It was their inside joke. Given that Crowley had helped raise Sam, it made him something of a father figure. That itself, lended to Rowena being something of a grandmother to him. He’d always teased her about it and over the years, it had become more and more true in a sense. She’d been one of the main ones to teach him magic after all and one of the few to actually nurture him as a child. When he’d cried himself to sleep for the hundredth time and couldn’t understand what was wrong with him, Crowley had suggested he learn magic to take his mind off of whatever was bothering him. Crowley could teach him a lot, but not everything. They’d searched for witches for a while and finally Rowena had found them and offered her services. The fact that she was Crowley’s mom only made things more interesting. After working with her for a while she realized that Sam needed some human interaction to keep him from being horribly depressed. The demons had tried, but there were some small things that they just didn’t get, being demons and all. They didn’t understand that sometimes a soul just needed to cry, that playing innocent games (cards, Monopoly, Clue, and Candy Land in particular) would help him with problem solving skills, that sometimes comfort foods could change your entire mood. That for humans, sex wasn’t a weapon or just pleasure. Sometimes sex was emotional and could lead to attachments. She’d nurtured the human in him as much as the witch and demon. Memaw had the added bonus of being the most annoying nickname for a grandmother he could find. At first she had protested every time he’d called her that and she still did, but behind the protests was a fondness. He thought maybe she’d actually come to care for Sam as much as he cared for her. He heard a confused sound come from his brother, but nobody asked. He looked around and noticed most of his family was here. It must have been bad if even Cain came to see him. Ramiel was next though, slapping him on the shoulder with as warm a smile as was possible from the demon. He looked toward the angels who were watching everything with odd looks. 

“Gabriel,” He still kept his eyes averted slightly. “Did it work?” The archangel nodded with a smile.

“Course it did, Sambion.” Sam scrunched his nose at the name, but didn’t dare protest. It was better than he expected from any angel. Castiel still looked incredibly uncomfortable with the proceedings and being in the company of demons. Sam nodded and licked his lips nervously. 

“Thanks.” Everyone was finally pushed aside as Bobby bullied his way through the group with a bowl of soup and a beer. 

“Eat up, kid. Seems like the troops are rallied and we got work to do.” Sam nodded and began eating in earnest. He was hungry. Whatever had happened had apparently taken a lot of strength. 

“John’ll probably be out for a few more hours, so we have some time.” Gabriel added and Sam slowed his eating a little. He didn’t want to face the human again. He looked at the demons in the room who seemed content to wait on him to finish. 

“Maybe we should-uh- find another base for this. I-I don’t wanna take over Bobby’s house.” 

“Now hold on just a minute.” Sam whipped his head around to his uncle who was shuffling through papers at his desk. “If we’re talkin’ about shuttin’ down the plans for Armageddon then we’re gonna need all of us. And your brother’s already had to change his pants once over this shit-” 

“Hey! I did not shit myself!” Dean argued indignantly, but Bobby ignored him. 

“An’ this place is as good as the next.” The gratitude that Sam felt for his uncle at this moment was more than he could express, but he hoped the man got it. From the small smile Bobby sent his way, he thought he did. Soup finished, Sam needed a shower. Bobby and Dean ushered him toward the bathroom with clean clothes and towels. The water was awesome and probably the first shower Sam had had in days. He couldn’t remember at this point. Since he showed up to save Dean and John from Azazel, his life had been chaotic. He tried not to take too long a shower, didn’t want to give Dean more ammo for his jokes, but he also didn’t want to be disrespectful to the one human who believed in him. 

Exiting the bathroom feeling more fresh and awake than he had in days, Sam made his way back to the living room. The humans, demons, and angels were all gathered around Bobby’s desk planning and talking about things that would need to be done. “What’s going on?” He asked as he found his place between Meg and Dean. 

“We were just talking about the best way to reach the throne room.” Meg stated as she glared down at a map of hell. There was no good way to get to the throne room. It was by design. Sam knew that he would have to fight his way there no matter which direction he took. 

“It would be easier to get to the throne room with a Knight.” Cain stated as he walked forward from the kitchen. Sam whipped his head around to stare at Cain like he’d grown a second head. He couldn’t be talking about what Sam thought he was talking about. 

“No, no, no Cain. I’m not going to let you break your promise.” 

“That’s not what I’m sayin’, Samuel.” Sam felt his face scrunch in confusion. What the hell was he saying then? Everyone’s attention was now on the knight as he sauntered further into the room. “We could make a new knight. Or a few.” Cain’s eyes drifted toward Sam’s siblings for a minute, but subtly. Not enough for anyone else to notice. Sam glanced at Meg who apparently did notice and her eyes were wide in surprise. Sam met her eyes for a moment and nodded. 

“You’d train Meg? Turn her into a knight?” Cain nodded, but still looked a little wistful. “It wouldn’t really take much at this point for her.”

“Real power move would be two.” Ramiel stated, bringing the conversation back to what Sam really didn’t want to discuss. 

“No.” Sam growled, hoping to stop the discussion before it started, but apparently everyone was against it. 

“We’ve talked about this before, Samuel. It would cause a problem with things on multiple fronts.” Sam was already shaking his head before Cain could even finish his point. “There’s power in soulmates.”

“You need him.” Meg offered kindly, but sternly. All big sister mode. “You need him as much as you need me. As much as he needs you.”

“I said no. We are not doing that to him, no matter what I need. He lives a long life and goes to Heaven where he belongs.” 

“Sam,” Gabriel’s voice was small, soft. “Even in Heaven he won’t be happy.” Gabriel swallowed nervously, like he was afraid to make this worse. “Soulmates share a Heaven, even the platonic ones. Without his other half, Heaven won’t be peaceful. He would be happier with you.” 

“I said no, dammit!” Sam roared, his eyes flashing yellow. He took a deep breath when he felt the windows and furniture in the room begin to rattle as he lost control of his powers. He noticed Dean’s eyes widened in surprise and knew he needed to get out of there for a minute. He couldn’t be the reason his brother was afraid. Sam rushed for the back door and nearly ripped the door from the hinges in his haste to leave. The fresh air was calming as he wandered around the junkyard. It wasn’t long before Juliette and a few other hounds wandered over. It was nice to see them. Crowley’s hounds had always made him feel better when he was down. Sam figured it was how most people felt about dogs. Juliette brought him a stick and he happily tossed it for her. He’d taught the hound to play fetch when he was a child. He guessed it would be a funny sight to humans who couldn’t see the hounds. A stick playing fetch with itself. 

After about thirty minutes he heard footsteps crunching on the gravel heading his way. He looked up to see his brother standing there, mouth agape at the invisible dog playing fetch. Yep, guess his theory was right. He tossed the stick again as his brother approached warily. 

“You good man?” Sam shrugged. He’d never really been ‘good.’ He’d always had some bullshit going on with himself. Being half demon, being half human, being Lucifer’s vessel. It never really mattered which way he looked at it, he’d always been fucked. Or fucked up. “Sammy, I’m sorry.” Sam looked up sharply at his brother. What the hell did his brother have to apologize for?

“For what?” 

“I haven’t been a good brother since I found you again.” Sam waved a hand absently. It had hurt for his brother to see him as a monster, but Sam understood. How could he not? He was a monster. “I’m serious, Sammy. I should’ve believed you. Had more faith in you. I just…” Dean almost looked like he was in physical pain having to say this stuff. He tossed the stick again for Juliette. 

“I get it, Dean. It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about it.” He cut his brother off, putting him out of his misery. Dean opened his mouth to continue, but Sam held up a hand to stop him. “Seriously. It’s fine. I should’ve handled things differently too. Blank slate from here on out. Okay?” Dean nodded. 

“Blank slate.” Dean stuck his hands in his pockets, still standing there awkwardly. Sam wasn’t sure what else his brother could want to talk about that would make him so awkward, but it had been a long time since they’d been around each other actually being brothers. “So…” He started, looking at his feet as he kicked a rock. “Who is he?” Sam jerked and looked at his brother. What the fuck? 

“Who?” 

“Your soulmate or whatever. I mean… I won’t judge you for who you love…” Oh. Oh fuck. Dean never realized… Castiel never told him. “Look, whoever this soulmate guy is, he deserves to be with his person just as much as you do. If you want to bring your-” Dean winced, “boyfriend or whoever around…” Dean’s awkward stumbling around this topic was enough to cause Sam to erupt into a fit of laughter which only made Dean more uncomfortable. 

“Dude.” Sam stated when he could finally breathe again. “It’s not like that. Soulmates don’t really mean what most people think. It’s just…” Sam licked his lips trying to buy himself a minute to think. “Soulmates, it’s like two people whose lives are so intertwined they aren’t complete without the other half. Two halves of the same soul put into two people. It doesn’t have to be romantic. It can be platonic, familial, romantic, whatever. Some people even believe that they can be animals.” Sam sighed wistfully as he thought about how much more alive he felt since his brother reentered his life, knowing it wouldn’t last for long. Maybe once all this was over, they could spend the rest of Dean’s life hunting or something, but Sam wouldn’t age much more. Wouldn’t die. If he did die, he’d go to the empty, or maybe Purgatory. Dean would go to Heaven. Somewhere Sam would never be welcome. And then Sam would be empty again, but not alone. He’d have the demons. It would be okay. It would. 

“So, your soulmate isn’t romantic?” Sam smiled and shook his head. “I mean I really wouldn’t judge…” 

“Dean. I like women.” Dean huffed, but seemed content enough with the answer. 

“Why won’t you give him the option to go with you?” Sam's smile faded as he thought about dooming his brother to hell. He’d never do that. 

“If he makes choices that send him to the pit himself when he dies I’ll welcome him with open arms, but I won’t ask him to go because of me. I won’t drag him down with me when he has a chance at Heaven.” 

“So, you won’t even give him the option to go with you? Knowing neither of you will actually be happy?” 

“He deserves peace. Rest. Not to spend eternity with…” Sam trailed off knowing that the self-deprecation would only make things worse with his brother who seemed to only get more agitated about this by the minute. 

“Sammy…”

“Stop. Just drop it, Dean. I said no and that’s final.” 

“You really care about him.” Dean seemed to finally get through his head that Sam wasn’t going to bend on this.

“Of course I do. He’s the best person I know.” Sam waved his hand, signaling for the hounds to go back to guarding the property. “Come on. Let’s get back inside.” Sam turned and walked back inside, not waiting on his brother to follow. Everyone was still inside around the desk and Sam jumped back into the conversation like he hadn’t just had a small demonic temper tantrum. Dean joined a few minutes later and they discussed the main points of entry for hell. It felt like it had only been a few minutes, but when he heard Dean’s stomach growl he realized it had been several hours. His brother left to make food for everyone about the time Sam heard the basement door open. Everyone looked up to see John and Mary step into the room. John was scowling, but Mary looked somewhat heartbroken. 

“Sammy.” She said softly and it was the first time that Sam had seen her. Heard her voice. “Sammy, I’m-” 

“Don’t.” He cut her off not wanting to hear an apology from her. “Just don’t.” 

“What the hell are you all doing here?” John growled, his hands searching for a weapon. Meg and Ramiel’s eyes flashed yellow and black as they glared. Sam just rolled his eyes. 

“Planning.” He stated before moving back to the map he’d been trying to memorize. 

“Bobby, why are there demons in your house?” John barked, but Bobby seemed less than concerned. 

“These demons, and angels I should add, just pulled your ass from hell and saved you.” John wasn’t having any of it and Sam hadn’t expected any less from the man. 

“Dean!” He barked and Dean entered the room, wiping his hands on a towel. Sam figured they’d already had their little family bonding moment before the couple had made their way into the room. 

“Yeah, dad?” 

“Pack your shit. We’re leaving.” 

“Uh-” Dean seemed completely at a loss now and Sam winced in sympathy. His brother didn’t deserve this. 

“Dean. Now.” John ground his teeth as he talked and was physically holding Mary behind him. Sam watched as Dean sighed, somewhat resigned. 

“No, dad. I’m staying.” Dammit, Dean. 

“I said, get your shit. Be in the car in ten minutes or I’m leaving you.” Sam knew he would, but Mary seemed startled to hear John act this way. It had been twenty or so years since she died and John probably wasn’t the man she married anymore. Sam turned back to the map, but kept his focus on John and Mary as they gathered their meager belongings. Dean had gone back to the kitchen and didn’t seem concerned with much more than getting food in his stomach. “Dean!” John barked one last time as he stood by the door. 

“Fuck you too!” Dean shouted back from the kitchen and Sam thought maybe it was time to intervene. 

“You’re welcome by the way.” He stated, keeping his eyes on the map in front of him. 

“For what?” John ground out, sounding more like a wood chipper than a human. “What could I possibly have to thank you for?”

“Pulling your dumb ass out of hell before you could doom the world.” Sam finally looked up at John and smirked at how pale the man had gone. “Good thing I got there just as you agreed to get off the rack.” John said nothing more, just grabbed Mary’s hand and tugged her out the door. Sam didn’t even flinch when the door slammed.

Chapter Text

Sam knew that the planning to storm hell was going to take a while. It wouldn’t be a good idea to go into this unprepared. Luckily, Rowena had demanded Sam play plenty of Risk and Chess as a child. He smirked as he thought back to the argument that Crowley and Rowena had the first time that she suggested games as training. Crowley and Ramiel had been so focused on Sam learning historical battle strategies and the like that they hadn’t considered a simpler approach. He was only sixteen and while he could recite tactics or facts, putting the information into practice had been a struggle. The two demons had refused to allow “game time” to interfere with Sam’s studies but had rudely suggested they could play children's games during Sam’s off time. Rowena had cursed in Gaelic for hours but had returned that night with a chessboard. Even Sam had balked at the idea of playing board games at first. A few weeks of games in the evenings and Sam suddenly understood how to use the strategies he knew factually, applicably. It hadn’t taken long after that for the demons to see the progress and relent, not that they ever admitted they’d been wrong. Now, looking down at the maps and papers spread across Bobby’s desk, he couldn’t be more grateful for Rowena’s bullheadedness. 

It had been two days since John and Mary left. The demons had all been scattered back to their original locations for the time being. Ramiel had been pissed, but Gabriel had pointed out that an overwhelming number of demons in one place would only put a bullseye on their location to Heaven. The archangel had then flitted off saying he had some contacts he needed to meet with but encouraged Castiel to stay and keep an eye on everyone. Cain and Meg had just returned from completing the ritual for her transformation into a Knight and were training in the backyard with a separate loyal demon. Cain had refused to participate in the actual sparring but would give tips and show techniques. 

“Take a break, kid.” Bobby’s voice grumbled out beside him. “Come back in a while with fresh eyes.” Sam nodded and rubbed his scratchy eyes. Staring at the same damn papers wouldn’t make it make any more sense. As he passed through the kitchen, he grabbed a beer from the fridge and then wandered outside to watch Meg’s training. He noticed his brother speaking with Cas a little bit away but couldn’t make out what was being said. What he could tell was that his big brother looked stricken, then pissed, then determined. His ability to read his older brother’s rapid-fire emotions hadn’t changed in their time apart. Cas glanced up at Sam nervously, before focusing back on Dean. The hunter immediately whirled around, striding straight for Sam with Cas hot on his heels. It looked like even the angel was struggling with reining in his brother. 

“What the fuck, Sammy?” Dean snarled as he approached the cambion with fire in his eyes. Sam sat his beer down on the railing of the porch and sighed. 

“What did I do this time, Dean?” 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sam felt his face scrunch up in confusion before evening out. What hadn’t he told Dean? 

“Tell you what?” Probably better to figure out what his brother was pissed about before spitting out some other thing he’d get in trouble for. Everyone knows where assuming gets you after all. 

“That you were talking about me! That I’m your soulmate!” Sam shot a glance of betrayal at Cas before refocusing on his brother. “No! This has nothing to do with him and don’t you go blaming him.” Sam huffed a quiet laugh. It seems Dean’s ability to read him was still intact as well. 

“Look, Dean…” How did he even start this conversation? It’s not like it’s easy to just be like ‘hey big brother, seems like the universe wanted us to be extra close and made our souls inseparable.’ “I was going to tell you.” 

“Oh, yeah? When?” 

“I dunno. I didn’t really know how to start it.” He shrugged one shoulder and hoped that Dean understood. It seemed he did because he nodded but was still looking around like there was more he wanted to say. Sam decided to wait him out. When Sam was a kid, sometimes the only way to get Dean to talk was by just sitting there silently. Dean would eventually fill the silence by saying what was actually on his mind. Dean’s wandering gaze fell on Cain and Meg who had paused in their training to listen in on the conversation. 

“Why won’t you let me help you?” 

“Why won’t I let you be turned into a monster?” Sam asked incredulously. He shook his head and grabbed his beer. “No, Dean. You’re gonna live a full life and go to Heaven.”

“Who says I even deserve Heaven?” 

Sam scoffed an “Of course you do,” but Dean was already shaking his head. 

“No Sammy, hear me out. This job, this life…” He trailed off for a minute and looked away. “It makes you do some things you never thought possible.” 

“Trust me, brother. I can tell when a soul is hell bound. Yours is definitely not.” 

“Well, what if I want it to be?!” Dean shouted, obviously reaching the end of his patience with Sam’s denial.

“You can’t mean that!” 

“You heard Gabriel, Sammy! Even Heaven won’t be peaceful without you!” 

“NO!” Sam roared, his eyes flashing yellow dangerously and his beer bottle shattering in his hand. He paid no attention to it and stalked closer to his brother. “There is nothing, nothing that you could say that would change my mind on this Dean. You will not go to hell. Not now, not ever.” With that, Sam stalked off only half paying attention to the angry shouts and shattering glass behind him. 

~~~

It took a few days for Dean to be able to get away from Sam long enough to do this. His little brother had popped off with Rowena looking for a spell that should help them in some aspect of this plan to storm hell. It had been an icy few days between the brothers, but Dean knew it was only about to get worse. Sam really should have expected this or maybe worded himself better. He’d left the loophole in himself after all. Dean had taken it to heart when Sammy said “If he makes choices that send him to the pit himself when he dies I’ll welcome him with open arms.” It was a loophole clear as everything to Dean. He couldn’t let his brother wage war on hell without him and he couldn’t imagine Heaven without Sammy at his side. Hell, even an archangel had said it wouldn’t be perfect without Sammy. Soulmates. What a weird thing. When Sammy had been ‘dead,’ Dean had never been able to explain why he didn’t really believe that his brother was gone. He’d never been able to explain the emptiness he’d felt to John or even Bobby. He just knew somewhere inside a piece was missing when Sam was gone. Now he knew why. It had all clicked into place when Cas had explained the soulmate business. He hadn’t even had to share that much at all. 

“So, what’s so important about this soulmate business?” 

“What do you mean, Dean?” 

“Why’s everyone think Sammy’s making the wrong choice? Seems like he’s just trying to protect the guy.” Dean stated idly while he watched the demons spar. He had to admit that they had some good moves. 

“Soulmates are powerful. Having Sam’s soulmate as his Knight of Hell would be an incredible power boost in the fight.” 

“Won’t Meg give him that boost?” 

“Indeed, Meg will be a strong asset. Their connection to Azazel ensures that, but it would be minimal compared to the power of a soulmate bond.” Dean was quiet for a few minutes, contemplating what the angel was telling him. “I’m surprised that Sam is strong enough to deny that bond. Most couldn’t fathom it.”

“It’s that strong, huh?”

“Dean, it would be like living with a missing part of yourself. Imagine eternity missing something so integral to who you are that God himself ordered them to never be parted.”

“It would be like missing a limb then?”

“It would be like missing half of your body.” Dean knew immediately what that felt like. The feeling like you would never be complete without someone in your life. Like missing your lungs and the only way you could breathe was if they were in your presence. It felt a lot like Sammy.

“It’s me isn’t it?” Cas tilted his head in confusion, obviously unsure how Dean had just seemingly changed directions in the conversation. “I’m Sam’s soulmate?” Cas nodded solemnly once.

The emotion’s Dean had felt when Cas confirmed that Sammy was protecting him from hell had been a confusing jumble of things. He felt pride that his brother was strong enough to deny something most others would jump at for his sake. Anger this had been kept from him. Fear that his little brother would allow himself to be in more danger at Dean’s benefit. Grief that he wouldn’t be able to spend eternity with his brother in Heaven. Rage at the thought that his brother was making his decisions for him. But most of all, he felt love for the scrawny brat he half raised who loved him enough to insist on him going to Heaven, even if it wouldn’t be perfect. He knew then he’d have to find a way to do this without Sammy’s knowledge. He found Cain in the kitchen drinking tea while staring at a spell book. The man was only a little terrifying even if he was obsessed with bees and tea, so he knew he’d have to tread carefully.

“I was wonderin’ how long it’d take you to come find me.” Dean startled when the demon addressed him without even looking up from his book.

“Yeah, well…” He shrugged and looked away. “Had to wait on a time for us to talk without Sammy nearby.” Cain nodded as if he understood completely and finally turned his gaze on Dean. He sat when Cain gestured with a hand for him to join the demon at the table. “How would this work? Turning me into a Knight?” Cain’s assessing eyes wandered over him for a long while before he finally broke eye contact and rolled up his sleeve.

“I’d give you this.”

“And it is?”

“The Mark. It would turn you into a Knight and then I’d finish training you.”

“Would it change who I am? How I think?” Cain took a deep drink from his tea before setting the cup aside.

“It will. The Mark, it’s pure evil. Literally darkness. If you allow it to control you, you will become the worst monster you can imagine. Only worse, because when a demon is turned in hell, it is tortured until it forgets everything that made them human. With this, you will still remember everything about humanity without the ability to stop yourself.”

“How did you control it?”

“I didn’t.” Cain snorted before sipping his tea again. “For a very long time I didn’t. Then I met a woman who made me feel alive again. I believe she would have been something like a soulmate if I’d had a soul anymore. She could see that it was tearing me apart and she helped me find a spell. It gave me more control over the urges to kill and the darkness inside myself.”

“So, I could do this spell?”

“You could. I’ve already spoken with the archangel. He is looking for components for a secondary spell that would allow you to completely remain yourself.” Dean swallowed hard and nodded. “A barrier between the Mark and your soul. It would allow the Mark to change you enough to become a Knight, but not enough to lose yourself.” He could admit to himself he was scared. He didn’t want to turn into a monster, and he didn’t want to become something that Sammy would hate, but he needed to do this to be able to help his brother.

“When could we do it?”

“My guess is by the end of the week.”

~~~

Sam knew he needed to work on his relationship with his brother. The last week and a half had been tough. They were trying to plan the best way to take hell and trap Lillith so that she couldn’t leave before Sam could kill her. It had been busy, but his brother had been keeping his distance. Sam was worried he’d finally scared his brother off. Ever since Dean had confronted him about the soulmate business, Dean had been avoiding him. He hated it. Hated feeling like he was a monster to his brother again, but there wasn’t anything he could really do. He wasn’t willing to let his brother go to hell. Not for him. Not for anything. It wasn’t made any better by the fact that Cain had to return home to care for his bees and Gabriel was talking with more contacts. Crowley had to return to hell to keep up appearances and now Dean was gone on a hunt a few towns over. Rowena had left a few days before, citing that her work was done, but if they needed any more advice, she was only a phone call away. Sam felt something like melancholy settle into his bones as each of his family members filtered out. He knew they’d be back, but it didn’t settle the odd foreboding that was invading his darkened soul. He couldn’t quite place it. The plan was almost in place. They just needed to wait for the perfect time. Crowley had assured them that Lillith was holding a meeting of the highest-ranking demons the following week (earth time) and they would need to wait until after that. Once it was over and the strongest demons on Lillith’s side had wandered back to their own little sections of hell, it would be easiest to overtake her.

He sat on the front porch, drinking beer and enjoying the sunset. It was peaceful for all that it was depressing. He wondered how many more of these he would get to have. Even with all the firepower behind them, he still felt like this was a longshot. Sure, Lillith didn’t have any Knights on her side, but she did have the other ancients. It would be bloody on all accounts. He needed to keep Dean safe though. Why wouldn’t he listen? He should be back tomorrow. A simple ghost that Bobby could have sent anyone else to take care of, but Dean had found it and insisted on going. Alone. Sure, Sam hadn’t hunted much in a long while, but he was sure he’d be able to provide some back-up to his brother. He sensed Ramiel approaching and soon the demon was collapsing into the chair next to him, beer in hand.

“How ya doin’, son?” Sam shrugged. He wasn’t great, but he really couldn’t complain too much.

“I’ve been better, but I’ve also been worse.” Ramiel nodded, still staring off the porch.

“You need to relax some. It’s been a tense few days.”

“I know.” He took a sip of his beer and gestured to the sunset. What else did Ramiel think he was doing out here?

“Nah, kiddo. You need to have some fun. Here.” Ramiel handed him a motel room keycard. “Already paid for. Go call one of your little… friends.” Sam snorted. The demons used sex like Xanax sometimes. Losing his virginity had been one of the first things he’d done once he got decent enough control over his powers. His teenage years had been full of random hookups with demons or pretty much any other girl he could find. It had been a few months now. He’d been too busy, but it was probably the longest he’d gone without sex since. Maybe it would help. He smirked at Ramiel and pocketed the card before teleporting to the motel. It was just outside town, but still close enough that he could be back quickly even without teleporting. He opened the room and looked around. Shitty, but decent. He probably wouldn’t have to worry about bedbugs or crabs. He quickly dialed the number of a demon that he frequently spent time with. She was busy, but suggested her friend Ruby. Unknown to her, Sam happened to know about Ruby already. He just hadn’t known they were friends. He thanked her before calling the new number. This might work out well all around.

“’Ello?”

“Ruby?”

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“Sam Winchester.”

“Ahhh, the Boy King, huh?” She purred. Sam smirked.

“I was just wondering if you’d wanna drop by. I’ve been a little bored. Need some fun.”

“I can be fun.”

“I thought you might.” Once he had given her the address and room number, he called Ramiel. They had some things to plan now.

~~~~

A knock at the door alerted Sam to a new presence on the other side of the door. Or a few new presences. He looked over at Ruby, still stretched out naked on the bed. She rolled off and started searching for her clothes. She looked at him questioningly as she pulled her leather pants and shirt back on.

“Don’t tell me you ordered room service?” He tugged on his jeans with a smirk.

“Places like this don’t even have room service.” He felt her gathering some power. Probably about to try to teleport away, but he grasped her with his own power. She wouldn’t be leaving this room without him. He walked to the door and swung it open. Ramiel and Meg stood on the other side.

“Good job, little brother. Bagged yourself a snake.” Meg snarked with a shake of her head. He smirked at her. Ruby was by far not the worst notch in his bedpost. He was a little taken aback by his brother suddenly walking in the room behind the demons.

“Dean.” His brother wrinkled his nose and looked around the room. It smelled like sex and sulfur. Smells Sam was intimately familiar with, but he guessed Dean probably wasn’t.

“Gross man. You’re fucking demons now?” Sam shrugged a little helplessly. “I thought we were just coming here to get some bitch demon to get information from. Didn’t know that meant fuckin’.” Ruby was now trying desperately to get away, but Sam had a tight hold on her.

“How else was I supposed to keep her busy?” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“What the fuck, Sam? What’s going on?”

“Like I didn’t know you were Lilith’s little minion?” He growled back. Ruby paled as she seemed to realize that she had gotten played by Sam. Of course, he knew who Ruby was. Crowley had made sure to mention her and that Lilith would be sending her to try and manipulate Sam. He just hadn’t known there was also a traitor in their own ranks that would set Sam up with Ruby. Now that they did though, it could be handled easily. Dean marched over and snapped the warded handcuffs onto Ruby since none of the demons could touch them without issues.

“I’ll be in the car, Sam.” He growled angrily. Once his part was done, he quickly left the room. What was his problem now? Sam put his shirt back on. Ramiel grabbed Ruby by the shoulder and teleported away. Meg was still staring in the direction Dean had gone.

“What crawled up his ass?”

“No clue.” He sighed. “We will be back in a bit.” Meg nodded before teleporting herself. Sam made it down to the car where his brother was sitting, tapping his fingers on the wheel. He opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. They sat quietly for a moment before Dean turned the car on and backed out of the parking lot. “What did I do this time?” He asked quietly, looking out at the road in front of them. It was quiet for another long moment.

“How long have you been sleeping with demons?”

“I dunno, really. Since I was about sixteen, I guess.” He licked his lips and looked out the window. “Why does that matter?”

“So, you’ve been fucking monsters since you were a kid. Great.” Sam flinched.

“Would you rather that I fucked human women?”

“Yes!” He growled and Sam clinched his teeth.

“Did you forget that I’m also a monster?” Dean sighed and ran his hand down his face, keeping the other on the wheel. “You would rather I endanger humans than fuck a demon?”

“No.” His brother muttered dejectedly. So yes, he had forgotten Sam wasn’t quite human. Sam knew his brother didn’t actually forget that information, he just carefully ignored it at some points.

“Was I supposed to stay celibate my entire life? Maybe only fuck werewolves?”

“No, Sam.”

“Then tell me what the fuck you expect me to do?!” Sam shouted. His frustration bubbling over. They’d been walking on eggshells and ignoring each other for over a week now. How was he supposed to manage everything. Dean sighed again and looked away. “I don’t know how to do this, Dean. It’s like you know I’m not human, but still expect me to be human.”

“I expect you to not rape those innocent women trapped in there!” Dean shouted, his own anger hitting a boiling point. Sam recoiled like he’d been slapped. Did Dean really think so little of him? He knew he was a monster, but that was a bit much. He’d never once slept with a demon that still had a soul inside their meatsuit. He’d even made demons get new meatsuits for that reason. A deep sadness washed over him. Dean really thought he would be okay with that? He felt tears prick his eyes and nodded.

“Tell Ramiel and Meg I’ll be back soon.” He teleported away in an instant. He couldn’t stay there. Couldn’t look his brother in the face if that’s what he thought Sam was. A rapist. Sam could see if there was a soul in there for fuckssakes. He needed to be somewhere to think. Settle himself for a minute, then he’d show Dean just what kind of monster he could be.

~~~~

When Dean pulled back into the salvage yard, he parked and took a few deep breaths. He hadn’t meant to accuse his little brother of being a rapist, but all he could think about when he saw the damn demon was that there was a poor girl trapped inside that couldn’t consent. He’d seen red. How could his kindhearted brother be okay with that? Maybe Sam was more of a monster than he’d thought. He was raised by demons after all. It was bound to have some side effects. Of course, he never expected or thought his brother wouldn’t be having sex. Dean had just expected him to be fucking around with humans. After his brother brought up the idea of a human having sex with a demon though, well he wasn’t sure if that was a better option either. He wasn’t really sure why Sam was so upset though. His brother was the one doing it after all. He could handle raping a poor girl, but not Dean’s anger about it? He finally got out of the car and stomped up to the porch. Bobby stopped him at the door with two glasses and a bottle of rotgut.

“You probably don’t want to go in there, boy.”

“What’s going on, Bobby?”

“Meg and Ramiel are trying to get information from that other demon. Ain’t pretty.” Dean nodded and accepted his glass of whiskey. “Where’s your brother?” Dean huffed.

“He teleported off somewhere when we got into it.” Bobby grunted.

“What’d you get into it for?”

“He’s been fuckin’ demons, Bobby!”

“And?”

“And? And?!” Dean’s voice raising with each word. “Bobby, when I got to that hotel and saw him obviously post-sex with a fuckin’ demon, all I could think about was the damned girl trapped inside!”

“Aw, hell boy. Don’t tell me you accused your brother of rape?”

“Didn’t he though?” He heard a snort behind him and turned to see Meg standing in the doorway looking at him like he was an idiot.

“I guess that explains where Sammy is.” She huffed before moving to shut the door again. “By the way, Dean.” She said as she stuck her head back outside. “Sam can see souls. He’d know if there was a soul inside the meatsuit or not.” With that, she shut the door. Maybe slammed it a little.

“You really think Sam would do somethin’ like that?”

“I dunno, Bobby.” The older man snorted and shook his head.

“You can be so dense sometimes.” Bobby growled before looking at Dean head on. “Did you even ask him about it, or just start accusing?” Dean frowned and looked down at his drink. Before he could answer, footsteps stomped up the porch, startling the two hunters. Dean looked up and swallowed a gasp at his little brother standing there with yellow eyes. “Meg’n Ramiel have the other one tied up in the livin’ room.” Sam nodded before heading inside without saying anything. Dean hadn’t seen his little brother look that emotionally cut off since the night he’d saved them from Azazel. He looked blank. Dean and Bobby exchanged a worried glance at the first screams. They’d been able to hear the taunts, shouts, and huffs when Ramiel and Meg oversaw the interrogation. Now that Sam was in there… it was sobs and screams and begging. Dean shuddered and swallowed hard. He needed to see what was going on. He rushed into the living room with Bobby right behind him. The scene was gruesome. There was blood everywhere. Somehow, Sam already had plenty on himself. There was still no emotion behind what he was doing. Bobby and Dean had been in their fair share of interrogations, but this was something else. Sam was doing something to her with his mind while also using that fancy knife of his in ways Dean didn’t even know were possible. He felt bile rise up in his throat, but he forced himself not to vomit.

~~~~

What seemed like hours later, Ruby had spilled all of the information she had. Sam snuffed her out with his mind. She wasn’t worth the effort to move and stab her. He glanced over at his family. Bobby and Dean were pale, almost green, and speechlessly watching him. He’d hadn’t expected that much of a reaction. He’d only done a fraction of what he’d learned in hell. A glance over at Ramiel and Meg found them fairing a good bit better, but still somewhat stunned. Maybe he’d gone too far. He looked down at the lump of a body slumped in the chair. She’d been pretty, but the soul had already moved on. It was one of his requirements before having sex with a demon. It made it even easier in this case. He could do whatever he wanted to the demon without having to worry about torturing (or raping) an innocent person.

“Remind me never to get on your bad side, little brother.” Meg muttered as she moved to start cleaning up the mess. Sam looked back down. Good thing they’d thought ahead to put a tarp down.

“Go on upstairs and take you a shower, son.” Bobby said gently. Sam nodded and headed to the bathroom. The shower felt great and some of the tension washed it’s way out of him with the water. He hadn’t meant to go so far. He hadn’t meant to scare his family. He’d just been so angry. He’d wanted to show Dean what a monster he could really be. Prove his brother right. Well, he guessed mission accomplished. Once he’d sufficiently scrubbed all the blood and sex from his body (and hair) Sam dressed quickly. He teleported himself to the library and grabbed a bottle of whiskey before teleporting outside. He really didn’t want to see anyone right now. He meandered around the junk yard, looking at everything and nothing. Once the bottle was more than half gone, he leaned up against one of the cars to stare up at the night sky. It’d been a long night. It was supposed to be fun. Ramiel had sent him to blow off some steam. Now here he was, even more stressed and drunk. He took another couple deep chugs from the bottle. It took a lot for him to get drunk. More than a normal human of his size for sure, but oddly less than most demons. The sky was beautiful. He would have to remember to leave hell just for this once everything was over.

He stumbled forward slightly and lost his grip on the bottle. He cursed as it smashed against the ground. He continued wandering. It’d been a while since he’d seen a rusted car now. Maybe he was lost. He chuckled at the thought. A sudden feeling of holypurewrongwrongwrong  washed over him and he groaned in annoyance. Freaking Gabriel or Castiel. He didn’t really want to deal with either of them today. Tonight. Whatever.

“Not t’night, pleeeasee. ‘M no’ intha mood.” He slurred without looking around.

“Do you really think I care about the mood of a worm like you?” Sam tried to spin around at the unfamiliar voice, but almost landed on his ass. It wasn’t one of his angels. That couldn’t be good.

“Who’re you?” He asked eyeing the dark, bald vessel of the angel suspiciously. The angel had something that looked like a collar in his hands and Sam winced. He didn’t want to know what that was about. He stumbled backwards and this time he did land on his ass.

“Who I am is irrelevant. Now, be a good little abomination and put this on.” The angel held the collar back up and waved it. Sam glared. No way was he going to just do whatever they wanted. He had to get away, but his mind was too fuzzy. He never should have drunk that much. He tried to scoot backwards, but bumped into the legs of another angel. He couldn’t teleport right now. Not as drunk as he was. He would land in the middle of a cement wall or something. He had no idea if his powers would work on an angel, but he threw his hands out in an effort to push them away, pull them from their hosts, anything. A few angels he hadn’t even noticed went flying through the air. He giggled a little at that. An angel flying. Then leapt to his feet and darted past the one with the collar. He just needed to get away. How had they even gotten here with all of the wards? He wasn’t thinking clear enough. Another angel landed in front of him and it was infinitely more powerful. It felt more like being around Gabriel. An archangel. He slid to a halt as the archangel held his blade up to Sam’s throat. His fear doubling. In his distraction he didn’t notice the original angel moving up behind him with the collar. He startled as it snapped closed around his neck. All of his power, all of his strength, zapped away immediately. It was so heavily warded he could barely blink. He whimpered as his hands came up to tug on the metal surrounding his neck.

“Well done, Uriel.” The archangel praised. “This went better than expected.”

“It was to our benefit that he was inebriated.” The angel, Uriel stated with disgust.

“Take him to the secured location. See to it that he does not escape before the first seal can be broken.”

“Of course, Raphael.”

The angel grabbed Sam by the shoulder and there was the odd-strange-wrong feeling of falling before he landed in a heap. He looked at where he’d been dropped. He was in a cage. Like an oversized dog kennel in the middle of a warehouse. He was pretty sure he'd be able to stand in it and he could stretch out well enough. The bars of the cage looked to be made of iron and if he looked closely enough, Sam could see etching in Enochian all over the bars. It was sitting on top of an incredibly intricate Enochian devils trap with a salt line circling the outside of the trap. He wouldn’t be getting out of this one very easy. He maintained his spot on the ground, hoping his spinning head would slow down. He was screwed. He was so screwed. He needed some water to sober up. He spotted a couple of dog bowls at the far side of his cage. Stupid angels. He crawled over to the bowls, and one did have water, but it was stuck to the ground. Seems the angels just wanted to humiliate him. He felt shame flood his body. He was nothing more that a flea ridden mutt to these creatures. He lowered his hands into the bowl and scooped some water out to drink. He felt a slight sting in his hands. Holy water. Of course it was. He needed the water anyway and forced himself to drink it despite the slight burn. He couldn’t drink as much as he wanted though. Once he was done, he wiped his hands furiously on his flannel, hoping to get them dry.

A week later, Sam finally saw an angel. It seemed his bowl of holy water magically refilled. He’d yet to be given any food. He could live without food, but it wasn’t comfortable. He had tried desperately to remove the collar. Nothing worked. He tried praying to Loki, hoping that the archangel could at least give his location to his brother until he noticed the sigil that prevented prayers from passing through the building walls. The angel approached the cage with a smirk. This one was different. He didn’t think he’d seen him before.

“Hello, abomination. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice.” Sam glared at the angel. “Very well.” The angel smirked and pointed at him. Sam looked at him curiously until he realized he couldn’t breathe. He tried desperately, but it just wasn’t possible. He couldn’t breathe and he couldn’t die. This might actually be a little worse than hell. The angel left for a while. Left him to suffer and try to suck air into lungs that don’t exist. What seemed like days later, but was really probably only a few hours the angel was back and Sam could breathe. He sucked in great lungsful of air until he heard the angel asking him questions. He couldn’t answer. He could barely breathe and now they expected him to answer questions. He finally got himself together enough to growl out a “fuck you” to the guy. The angel hummed and then he started chanting the same Enochian exorcism that Castiel had used on him before. He wailed. The angel seemed to grow board before he snapped a boombox into existence and the same damn exorcism was playing through it now. The angel left.

This time he really was gone for days. Two, in fact. Two days of the constant exorcism playing on repeat. Sam screamed until his throat was bloody and torn. His entire essence was trying to physically reject itself. When the angel returned, he turned off the recording. Sam panted and sobbed, waiting for the next horrific thing. The angel was asking questions again, but Sam was too far gone to answer anything.

“Hmm. Seems you may have had a little accident.” The angel said in his most patronizing voice. Sam didn’t care that he’d pissed himself. At some point, his body had taken over functioning without his conscious thought. He had been too busy screaming. “Let me clean you up.” The angel snapped and then Sam was sitting naked in a tub of holy water. He tried to scream again, but his voice just couldn’t make sounds anymore. He cried and begged and sobbed and prayed. He begged for death. Nothing helped. “Oh, bet you’d like some Epsom salts, huh? Nice when you want a bath.” The angel snapped again and then there was even more pain. His skin began blistering, cracking, and peeling all over. All over. The holy water and salt were working their way into the wounds as quickly as they could make them. It was horrific. The angel snapped again and then suddenly he was laying naked on the cold floor, still sopping wet, but he wasn’t submerged anymore. He tried to breathe and almost choked on the blood in his throat. This was definitely worse than hell. He wasn’t sure how, but it was. The angels seemed to be more creative than the demons. The angel left again. Sam laid there sobbing for hours. The wounds weren’t healing. If anything, they were festering. His dick felt like it may have actually fallen off at this point. His balls were no better. He’d never felt pain and misery like this before.

They fell into a rhythm after that. The angel would come in and torture Sam in the most horrific ways, ask some questions, Sam would tell him to fuck off, he’d torture Sam again and then leave. Sometimes he would leave something to torture Sam while he was gone. So far, the favorites were the salty holy water bath, the exorcism boombox, chains made of super strong roseries, a literal iron lung, holy oil and fire, and one notable time an actual crucifixion. Upside down of course. Sam had never been healed and he’d never been fed or clothed. By his best guess, it had been months, but he wasn’t really sure. His body was broken. His mind was almost gone, but he couldn’t give the angels any information. Most of what they wanted he didn’t even know. He had no clue where Dean, John, or Castiel were at this point.

He was laying on the floor of his cage breathing quietly. He’d stopped crying a long time ago. He heard a door creak open and cracked an eye. None of the angels used a door. He groaned as he heard footsteps approaching the cage. “Holy shit.” He heard a woman’s voice mutter. “What the hell?” Sam looked up and noticed a woman standing on the other side of the cage. He didn’t think the angels would kill her, but he wasn’t sure.

“Run.” He tried to say. She looked back at him with something like sorrow.

“Is there someone I can call for you?” From the lack of screaming or police being called, this woman must be more than she seems. He didn’t want to scare her off from helping by asking her to call a hunter. He also didn’t want her prayer getting intercepted. Gabe.

“Pray.” He panted roughly. “Pray to Loki. Tell him where I am. Run.” The woman seemed to understand and she darted out the door. A tiny amount of hope flooded through him. It didn’t take long after that before there was a ruckus outside his cage. He peeked his eyes open to see Castiel, Ramiel, and Meg all engaged in fighting angels while Bobby and Dean tried to get through the cage to him. Cas was on the ground for a long minute. Sam felt fear spike through him. Suddenly the angel shouted for everyone to close their eyes before he slapped his hand down on the floor. Everything was disjointed. He knew he was missing parts, but couldn’t figure out what or care how. The angels were all gone except for Cas. Everything still hurt. He felt like he should be dead, but knew he couldn’t be. The bars to the cage were ripped open and he was pulled out of the traps. Bobby and Dean were very careful of the salt, ensuring that none of it touched his skin. They laid him out on the ground. It was cold again. He heard shouting and cursing. What were they angry about? He felt movement around his neck and then his powers all seemed to surge back online.

“…a few minutes…” he heard Dean say above him. A few minutes? Minutes for what? “…return?”

“It… a while… sigil.” Castiel murmured. The angel was pushed out of the way and suddenly Ramiel was in his face.

“Sam!” Then a hand was in his face. Covering his mouth. Suffocation this time? Why would his family suffocate him? “… drink, Sam.” He felt something push into his jaws and open his mouth. He couldn’t have resisted if he wanted to. He felt a few drops of something splash into his mouth before a whole bunch of it was pouring down his throat. He swallowed on reflex. Blood. Demon blood. It would fix him. He gulped it down, becoming clearer and clearer as he drank. It was disgusting, but it helped. He moaned as he felt the wounds start to knit back together. He would still hurt and be in pain, but the darkness of the blood was flushing out the salt and purity that had been forced on his tainted body and soul. Finally, the hand was pulled away and Sam took some heaving breaths. When he opened his eyes again, he could finally piece together what had happened. He’d been rescued. His family was there.

“Dean.” He sighed and his big brother slapped him on the arm. It felt a little stronger than he remembered Dean being, but he was probably incredibly weak right now himself.

“Think you can stand long enough for us to get you out of here?” Sam nodded and began to push himself up. Meg helped manhandle him into some soft sweatpants. He was pulled to his feet and held between Meg and Bobby.

“We can’t teleport from in here. We’ll have to go outside.” Meg stated as she urged Sam towards the door. Castiel took the lead with Dean behind him. Meg and Bobby supported Sam while Ramiel trailed behind them. He should have expected an angel to show up then. He attacked Ramiel, but Dean and Cas threw themselves into the fight immediately. Meg and Bobby were still trying to pull him towards the door, but he couldn’t leave his brother or Ramiel.

“Sam, come on!” Sam tugged out of her arms and launched himself toward his family. He heard Meg scream his name and turned only to see a second angel striding towards him. The angel hefted his blade and launched it towards him. He squeezed his eyes shut knowing he could do nothing to defend himself. He heard the thud and squelch of the blade making impact but felt no pain. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes only to see Dean standing between him and the angel. It was smirking, so smug it didn’t notice Cas had already taken out the first angel and was not sneaking up behind him. He caught Dean as he fell, and they both collapsed to the ground under his weight. There was a bright flash of light as the second angel was dispatched. Sam took a shuddering breath as he looked down at his bloodied brother with an angel blade sticking out of his gut.

“Cas!” Sam yelled as loud as he could which was only slightly above a whisper. The angel had a sad look on his face, but shook his head.

“I can’t.” Sam looked down at his brother who smiled, blood dribbling from his lips.

“S’kay, Sammy. S’kay.” Sam swallowed hard and began putting pressure on the wound while whispering the life force transfer spell. It would save his brother. It had to.

“No! Sam! It will kill you!” Castiel shouted, but Sam couldn’t be stopped. He tried. He tried his best. There it wasn’t working though. Why wasn’t it working?!

“No, no, no, no, don’t die. You can’t die, Dean! No!” Sam set up a soft chant as he tried to stop the blood flow.

“Son.” Ramiel stated softly, but Sam was too far gone. “We gotta go, kiddo. We can’t stay here.” Castiel moved forward and removed the blade before sealing the wound. The angel wobbled on his feat a little before gathering Dean’s body into his arms and grabbing Bobby's shoulder. Body. Dean’s body. His brother was dead. The group maneuvered him outside before teleporting back to Bobby’s. They pushed him down on the couch where he all but passed out. His brother was dead. He felt like his entire world had just ended. Dean was dead. Dean was dead. This is what he wanted though right? Dean to be able to die human and go to heaven? Dean was dead. He was pretty sure that was his end goal. Now, now it just seemed like the last thing he wanted. The last thought he had before darkness pulled him under was that now his soul felt even more broken than before. Dean was dead.

Chapter Text

Dean is dead.

It was the first coherent thought to enter his mind. His big brother is dead and some point he registered that his mind had switched the “was” to “is.” How could he have let this happen so soon? They were supposed to fix hell, stop heaven, and then live their lives until Dean was old and grey. Or at least as long as Dean wanted to be around him. His brother sacrificing himself to save Sam wasn’t part of the plan. Dean was supposed to have been safe. He finally blinked his eyes open to look around. He was still on Bobby’s couch, but this time there were no worried green eyes staring him down. This time his eyes were only met with the dark brown of Meg’s current meat suit.

“Sammy,” She sighed softly in relief and for the first time in a long while he flinched at her use of the nickname. “Sorry.” She muttered back when noticing his discomfort. His whole body still hurt from what seemed to be months of torture and the flinch only made it that much worse. He tried to speak, but his voice came out a raspy gravely sound that would rival Castiel. He cleared his throat and tried again.

“How long was I gone?” He managed to get out on his second try.

“Six weeks.” Sam stared at her in confusion. It couldn’t have only been six weeks. It had to have been much, much longer than that. Meg seemed to notice his confusion because she continued with the explanation. “We think they were messing with time or had you in a pocket dimension at times. Something. Gabe could sense a lot of grace in the area when he checked it out before coming to get us.” Sam nodded, that would make sense. It would explain why sometimes two days seemed like an eternity. “How long did it feel like?”

“I don’t even know.” Meg nodded, seeming to accept the answer for what it was. Ramiel brought in a bowl of soup, crackers, and some plain old tap water. It was wonderful. The first water he’d had in so long that hadn’t been blessed and wouldn’t burn his throat. He drank deeply, but slowed when the demons reminded him that he needed to be easy on his stomach.

“So little brother, who wins the torture contest? Heaven or hell?”

“Heaven. Definitely.” Meg’s eyebrows shot to her hairline and her eyes grew wide. She knew Sam had been tortured by one of the absolute best in hell and for him to be admitting that a run of the mill angel was worse than that? He knew she’d get the point.

“What the fuck did they do to you? The wounds won’t even heal all the way. Sam, you’ve been out for nearly forty-eight hours, and you’re still covered in scabs and blisters. They’re healing, just stupid slow.”

“Everything was holy.” He explained like it made all the sense in the world. Meg’s eyes widened again, but maybe it did explain it. He could tell she still had more questions, so he detailed the highlights. Her eyes flashed black with her rage and he could feel her control on her power slipping. “It’s over now, Meg. I’m good. You guys got me out.” She seemed to calm somewhat with that knowledge, but he could tell she was still angry. His throat was on fire from talking so much and he knew he needed to stay quiet for a while. He closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

When he woke the second time, his body still hurt, but it wasn’t nearly as bad. He pushed himself up to sit on the couch. Meg wasn’t around this time, but Ramiel was in an armchair nearby. “How ya feelin’ son?” The demon grumbled as he leaned forward in the chair. Sam took stock of his injuries. Not as bad as the last time he woke up, but still not great. Now that he was a little stronger, he really needed to get started on Dean’s funeral. Hopefully, they’d waited on him for that. He deserved a hunter’s funeral. Sam would have to make a pyre, probably with a little help from the others. Right now, his body was still rather broken and not healing nearly as fast as he would like, but Dean was more important now. Dean. His poor dead brother. It was his fault, really. If he hadn’t gotten drunk, if he hadn’t gotten captured by angels, if he hadn’t… He was brought back from his thoughts by Ramiel shifting and moving around. He looked up when the demon pressed a glass of blood into his hand.  

“It’ll help with the healing.” Sam nodded and drained the glass. Ramiel poured some water into the glass after Sam sat it on the table and swirled it around. Sam grimaced as it was pushed back toward him, but didn’t protest, knowing he didn’t need to be wasteful now.

“I need… I need to be…” He swiped over his face and winced as he hit a scab on his forehead. “What did you do with Dean?”

“Bobby put him in the panic room an’ the archangel warded it against anything but you and him. Only, you’ll have to go down there when he’s here so he can let you out.” Sam swallowed hard and nodded. They’d done the right thing. He needed a shower first. Not only was he disgusting, but there was also a heavy scent of sulfur around him. He wouldn’t allow himself to defile his brother’s corpse that way. He was a hunter; he wouldn’t be burned with sulfur tainting him.

“I need a shower.” Ramiel nodded and moved to help Sam up. He was already feeling better, the demon blood working its way through him to heal him and soil him even further. He pushed up off the couch with his demonic father figure’s assistance. Ramiel helped him up the stairs and to the bathroom. Once Sam was stable enough on his feet and in the bathroom, the demon left him alone to bathe in solitude. He didn’t have the strength to take his time cleaning himself like he would prefer when faced with months of no showers. When he thought he’d done a good enough job of cleaning himself up, he shut the water off and quickly finished his bathroom routine. Someone had put clean clothes on the counter, so Sam carefully dressed himself. He felt much better post shower and ambled down the stairs. Bobby was cooking some dinner and when he made it to the kitchen, his uncle shot him a cautious glance.

“Been down to see your brother?” Sam gave a shaky jerk of his head. Honestly, he was afraid to see Dean’s body. Afraid of what he’d do when the reality of it, the finality of it actually set in. He knew Dean was dead, but… Bobby seemed to get it because he didn’t ask any further questions, just sighed and set a plate down in front of him. He ate mechanically. Not even identifying what he was eating, just trusting Bobby gave him something edible and low sodium.

Once he was done, he went outside without a word. He needed to start cutting down trees for the pyre. He spent several hours pushing himself to the point of pure exhaustion. The scabs ripped open again and caused new sores on his hands from the axe. He didn’t stop. Dean needed him. He pushed on a few more hours until the sun had set, and he could only still see because of his demonic heritage. He was mid-swing when some type of power hit him strong enough to nearly knock him off his feet. Sam couldn’t even explain what it had been. Another wave hit and Sam stood stronger against its force. An itch spread across his body, and he looked down at his arms to see the sores knitting back together. A third wave hit, and Sam’s strength grew even more. He didn’t think he’d ever felt so powerful. What had happened?

Dean.

He had to get to Dean, couldn’t let anything happen to his brother’s body before he got the funeral he deserved. Sam dropped the axe and teleported directly into the panic room. He didn’t care about being able to get out, he just had to protect Dean. He looked around wildly as he landed in the room. There was nothing there but his brother’s body. Dean was lying on the cot in the center of the room, his arms folded over his chest and what looked like a jawbone on a hilt clutched in his hands. Sam had never seen it, but he knew immediately what it was. The First Blade. Why the hell would Dean have the First Blade? What was happening? Another wave of power crashed through the room. Sam’s gaze shot to his brother as he realized where the power originated. What did Dean do? Why was his dead brother throwing off power waves like nuclear bomb about to explode? He looked closely at the body, hoping somehow it would make sense. Why were these waves making him stronger? His mind was whirling a mile a second when it finally clicked.

The Mark.

Cain’s Mark that was given to him after he killed his brother. It was the only way to use The First Blade. He gently tugged the sleeve up on his brother’s arm to see the Mark glowing a bright red. How could he do this? How could Cain do this to his brother? He gave an order! He blinked his eyes yellow and watched as the soul inside of his brother swirled with red and black streaks. The door opened behind him and he turned to see Ramiel, Meg, Cain, Castiel, and Gabriel standing around looking inside.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?” Sam roared at his friends and allies. The lights flickered overhead, and everyone flinched except Cain. Sam’s glare settled on him. “I told you no. I told you he would not be involved in this!”

“Samuel,” Cain started, but Sam cut him off immediately.

“I don’t want to hear it! You ignored a direct order!”

“Watch how you speak to me, boy.” The Knight of Hell growled menacingly. Sam didn’t back down. Didn’t know if he would have been able to if he wanted to. His eyes flashed yellow and he held himself tall. He didn’t usually throw around weight or titles or status with the demons he considered his family, but this was too far. This knight had defied his king. Went behind his back and did the one thing that was unforgivable. Sam started moving forward to put the knight back into it’s place when he ran into the solid wall of air created by the boundary of the devil’s trap. He screamed in rage. How dare they trap him like this?

“Sam, kiddo, you need to calm down.” The archangel tried to sooth, looking around at the house warily. Meg, Ramiel, and Castiel had all backed away from the door leaving only the archangel next to the source of Sam’s ire. Another wave of power nearly pushed Sam off his feet and he spun around to look at his brother. His brother, that wasn’t actually dead. He didn’t think. Probably not. Kind of? It was too complicated. The Mark would bring Dean back, but in what form? Sam was startled as the eyes blinked open to reveal solid beetle black. Demon then. His brother was a demon.

“Dean?” The head rolled to the side, but the eyes didn’t switch back to green.

“Sammy.” The demon stated as he clutched at the blade in his hands.

“Why?” He choked out, his grief overcoming his anger finally as yellow met black. Dean pushed himself off of the bed and stood before Sam, the blade hanging at his side. His brother’s eyes finally switching back to the grass green he was born with.

“I’ve lived without you once, Sammy. I can’t do it again.” Sam winced as he remembered living apart from his brother for so long.

“I told you not to do this.”

“Nooo,” Dean dragged it out like Sam was the one being unreasonable. “I remember you saying if I found a way to damn myself, you’d welcome me with open arms.” Sam felt his eye twitch in irritation. “See, when I heard that, I heard a loophole.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Sam glared at his brother for a long minute. He hadn’t meant for it to be a loophole. He hadn’t meant for Dean to pick apart his words and find a way to force himself through a hell-gate.

“I know.” His brother sighed and shook his head before looking back at him. “It is what it is.” Dean stated and Sam knew what the next part to the phrase was.

“And fuck what it could be.” It couldn’t be fixed now. What happened to Dean could never be changed. His brother had given up eternal peace to be with him. He’d willingly damned himself to be able to stay together. Fuck what it could be, but what about what it can be? He’d never felt this powerful in his life. There was something like a feedback loop between him and his brother, strengthening them both. It must be what everyone had been talking about. The power of soulmates bound together this way. Giving each other strength. He felt the same way with Meg, but to a much smaller degree. He felt his mouth curl up in a grin as he realized how unstoppable they could be now. How much damage they could do. His brother, the newest Knight of Hell dropped to one knee and crossed his arm over his chest, head bowed in reverence. Dean looked back up to Sam, eyes black as a void. His eyes flashed yellow as his smirk grew. Dean’s responding smirk was equally as dangerous.

“My King.”

Chapter Text

“Alright guys, enough’s enough. Let us out.” Sam growled once he’d finally broken the staring competition with his brother.

“Uh, no can do kiddo. You gotta calm down first. That devil’s trap is the only thing holding back your power enough not to demolish Bobby’s stick hut.” Sam glared at the archangel but there wasn’t much heat in it. He knew they were right. He was still angry with Cain and his brother for their loopholing. He took a few deep breaths to try and calm the rage rolling off him in waves. However, before he’d taken his third breath, it was knocked out of him as his brother latched onto him like a clingy octopus. It wasn’t an image he’d ever associated with Dean, but here they were.

“Sammy. Oh, god.” Dean seemed to just now realize everything that was going on. That Sam had been held captive by angels before Dean had died. Or whatever he’d done. Sam held on just as tightly and felt the anger starting to drain away. His brother pulled away and grabbed Sam’s face in both of his hands. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?!” Sam barked incredulously. “Dean, you died and then switched species.” Dean shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. Sam turned to the group still huddled in the doorway. “Leave us.” He commanded but huffed in frustration when none of them moved. “I’d like to talk to my brother alone for a minute. Trust me, we’re not goin’ anywhere.” The demons and angels slowly departed and Sam could tell most of them just wanted to be nosey. Finally with some semblance of privacy, Sam sat down on the cot with a huff. Dean followed suit and they sat in silence for a minute, not sure who should start. “So, uh, how…” Sam cleared his throat and looked around the room awkwardly. “How are you feeling, you know, now that you’re a demon?” Dean shrugged, playing the same game as Sam, looking anywhere but at his brother.

“Same as I always have. Gabe found a spell that would let the Mark change me but not change me. Ya know?” Sam nodded in acceptance. At least his brother wouldn’t turn into a rage monster. “Sammy…” Dean sighed and this time they did make eye contact. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” He felt his face screw up in confusion. What could Dean have to apologize for? He knew his brother felt no guilt whatsoever for this mess.

“Our argument. Before you were taken.” Sam tried to think back but that had been so long ago. What had they been fighting about? Oh. Right. Sam looked away with a grimace and rubbed the back of his neck. “I know you wouldn’t rape someone. I dunno why…”

“It’s fine, Dean.”

“It’s really not.” Sam looked back at his brother but this time it was Dean avoiding his gaze. “I know you, Sammy. I just…” Dean shrugged helplessly, seemingly unsure how to verbalize what needed to be said.

“Just ask next time. Okay?” Dean nodded eagerly and Sam quirked a smile.

“So… hell?”

“Hell.” His brother agreed.

~~

Once Sam and Dean had been released from the devils trap of the panic room, the brothers quickly got to work on the plan to take hell. It had been plenty of time since the big meeting they were wanting to miss, Crowley reported that Lilith had been hanging around the throne room, and everything should be good to go. Sam sent Ramiel and Meg off to alert their army of the time and place for them to converge and enter hell. Crowley had a back door that was in a field out of the way enough nobody would notice thousands entering it. The door also happened to open not far from the throne room. They scheduled the campaign for the next evening. It should give Ramiel and Meg plenty of time to gather the troops. Sam was a little nervous. Even if he’d been training for this moment his entire life, he’d never actually commanded so many demons before. Lillith was also tricky. If the plan didn’t go just right, it would take even longer to track the bitch down. One upside was that one Rightous Man was no longer qualified. Dean fighting in hell wouldn’t break the first seal according to Gabriel. Unfortunately, John was still in the wind and demons could reclaim him rightfully at any time until Sam and Crowley managed to cancel his deal.

Sam sat on the porch with a beer in his hand. It was peaceful at Bobby’s much as it was at Cain’s or Ramiel’s. The angels were still a problem. Sam had no doubt that they would be back for him, however this time he wouldn’t be drunk. He cursed himself for allowing that to happen. Peaceful. Crickets. Try as he might to focus on the cool night breeze, Sam’s mind kept returning to the problems at hand. Tomorrow they would march on hell and Sam would be king. He wasn’t sure he was ready for that but there was no other choice. He would have Dean and Meg. His siblings would be at his side no matter what and it could only make him better. He took a sip of his beer and tried once again to relax. The screen door shutting pulled his attention to the man taking a seat next to him.

“All ready for tomorrow?” Bobby asked as he sipped his own beer.

“Yeah, I think so.” Sam blew out a harsh breath as he looked back to the yard.

“You’re a good man, Sam. When all this blows over, you an’ your idjit brother better come visit. Ya hear?” He cracked a smile as he looked over at the man who’d once locked him up. Who’d punched him in the face and called him a monster. Who’d also seen the good in him when Sam didn’t always see it himself more recently. Who opened his home to the monsters he usually hunts in the face of a much worse possibility. Bobby was one of the best people Sam knew and he couldn’t imagine not having him in his life.

“We will, Bobby. Promise.” Sam cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. “Thank you, for everything.”

“’Course.”

“Make sure that Gabriel puts up all the warding he can once we leave and then add some of your own. We’ll call ahead before we come back.” Bobby nodded with a smile.

“I’ll call your dumbass parents and see if they will come back here. If not, I’ll tell ‘em to ward up best they can and go as under the radar as possible. Don’t need them bein’ used as a bargainin’ chip neither.” Sam barked out a harsh laugh that was only a little bitter.

“Don’t think it’d work so well on me if they did try that. Dean however…” Bobby nodded in agreement before tilting his beer toward the young cambion.

“Go on and get you some rest. You’re gonna need it for tomorrow.” Sam cast one more smile the older mans way before tossing the empty beer bottle and heading inside.

~~

Sam stood before the hell gate, nerves rattling around in his chest. He clinched his blade in his fist and stared at the abandoned barn. Dean was on his right side, The First Blade ready to go, while Meg stood on the left with a Kurdish knife she’d acquired from Ruby. Ramiel was behind him with some wicked looking lance stowed on his back. His demons had gathered and were all carrying various weapons and magic spells. Ramiel pulled the lance from it’s sheath as he stepped forward.

“Ready, son?” Sam nodded as he glanced at his demons once again.

“Braveheart moment?” Dean asked, a sharp grin crossing his face and Sam could only roll his eyes. This wasn’t a movie or tv show. He wasn’t about to make some dramatic call to arms for fucking demons. Dean’s smile softened to one of encouragement before he gripped Sam’s shoulder. “You’ve got this Sam. We’re following your lead.” Sam nodded, clearing his throat.

“Let’s go.”

“With pleasure, little brother.” Meg’s voice took a predatory note as she stepped into formation with Dean and Sam. They were going to take hell and they were going to stop the apocalypse. That was all Sam could focus on right now.

As they stepped through the portal, they were immediately met with resistance. Sam held up a hand halting his army before speaking to the opposing demons. “Any of you who want to live are welcome to switch sides.” The demons seemed to take a collective step backwards in shock at the sight of Sam with two Knights and a Prince. There were murmurs among the crowd, many confused, and several shifting nervously. “Those of you allied with Lillith will meet the end of our blades.” Sam allowed a small amount of his power to wash over the opposing demons. He could almost feel Dean’s smirk from next to him as several of the demons scurried towards him. Once Sam was sure that the demons had all chosen their sides, Sam gave the order to attack.

The fight was bloody and vicious as Sam, his family, and his army marched through hell. With each new group of resistance, he offered the same deal. Join him or die. Many joined. Many died. Sam lost plenty of his own demons but so far his family was safe. Between himself, Dean, Meg, and Ramiel, they’d taken out nearly a hundred demons each. Sam was using his blade, unwilling to waste his own power on underlings when he needed to save his strength for Lillith. His best magic using demons were busy deflecting spells to keep him safe. It felt like it had been days of fighting already but Sam knew time in hell was weird like that. They made their way towards the throne room slowly but steadily and by the time the doors came into view Sam was covered in blood and gore. None of them looked much better but Sam was sure he looked the part of the King of Hell now. The doors to the throne room slammed open with a blast of his telekinesis and he strode purposefully inside. One glance told him that Lillith was already gone.

“Find her.” Sam ordered as he looked around the room. It was dark and cave like, exactly what he expected from the room. The throne itself was a large seat made of obsidian and onyx.

“Well, son. There it is.” Ramiel stated as he placed his hands on Sam’s shoulders. This is what he had been working for most of his life. The moment he would take the throne and become one of the most powerful beings in creation. The moment his life would change forever. He stepped closer to the throne and could feel hell beckoning him. He reached the  seat and carefully ran a hand across it. This was it. He turned slowly and sat on the throne closing his eyes as the rush of power flowed through him, as hell accepted him as the ruler. He took a deep breath and relished the feeling of rightness, of home, that came from taking his birthright. He felt a heaviness form around his head and opened his eyes to see his demons kneeling before him, Meg, Ramiel, Crowley, and Dean at the front. The foundations of hell shook as it accepted him and every demon knew the seat of power had changed hands.

Sam relaxed into his throne as he used his newfound power to send a message to all demons. Return to hell for new orders. Find Lillith at all costs. He met his brother and sisters eyes from their place in front of him and smirked. It was good to be king.