Fic: Burden of Sacrifice, part 6 - SPN/AtS
Title: Burden of Sacrifice, part 6
Rating: PG
Pairing: none
Spoilers: through Crossroad Blues
Disclaimer: The last time I checked, my name wasn't Kripke. Therefore, I own none of this, more's the pity.
Warnings: none
Author's Notes: For the sake of this fic, I'm assuming that Lindsey somehow survived 'Not Fade Away.'
Summary: Sam and Dean ask for help in getting their father out of hell from Lindsey McDonald
Previous Parts: part one, part two, part three, part four, part five
"The first thing you boys need is to get the protective runes taken care of. So pull off your shirts."
Sam and Dean just stared at each other in silence while Lindsey headed for a nearby shelf and began reaching for things. Why the hell did he need them to take off their shirts?
Lindsey snorted quietly, not even bothering to look back at them. "I'm not hearing those shirts coming off, boys. I'm gonna need bare skin for the runes. They're a whole lot more effective if they're inked onto skin."
Dean bristled. "You're talking about tattoos?"
"Temporary ones." Lindsey glanced back over his shoulder with a grin. "Sure, the permanent ones are a hell of a lot more effective, but they also take a hell of a lot longer and are about the most painful thing you will ever go through in your life." The grin turned wolfish. "The really good ones are so powerful, and painful, that almost every human that tries to get them dies."
One of Dean's eyebrows went up at the odd tone in Lindsey's voice, but tucked his questions into the back of his mind, along with his curiosity about Lindsey's obvious experience with hell dimensions, to worry about later. Once they had retrieved John, then he would make a point of asking the other man about it.
"Exactly what kinds of tattoos are we talking about? Protective runes, or what?"
At Sam's question Lindsey's smile lost some of its edge. "Some of the runes are strictly defensive, enough to keep you pretty well safe in just about any hell dimension. Most of them are for stealth and secrecy, though. Better to keep all the nasty things lurking around in hell from finding you in the first place, don't you think?"
Well, that was a sentiment that Dean could certainly agree with, so he mentally shrugged and pulled off his shirt, noticing Sam doing the same out of the corner of his eye. "So, how does this whole tattooing thing work? Do you just paint the symbols on us, or are we talking about something more complicated?"
"This part is a bit more involved then just slapping a temporary tattoo on your chest and sending you off into hell, son." Lindsey's expression was bordering on smug as he sat three small wooden bowls on the table and began to measure out herbs and various other things into them. "First off, you've gotta have the right kind of ink, otherwise you'd be just as well off using permanent marker."
Something about Lindsey's expression sent of warning bells in Dean's mind. "There something you're not telling us about this?"
Lindsey shrugged, trying and failing to look innocent. "It's the ink in the tattoos that helps to link the two of you together while you're in hell. It's also what keeps you tied to your anchor; namely me. Which means that the ink needs to be personalized."
Sam sucked in a breath. "You mean the ink needs our blood in it, don't you?"
"You catch on quick, don't you, son? Blood's the only thing that'll work for this." Lindsey gestured towards the bowls. "One bowl for each of us to keep everybody's ink separate. Dean's gonna be the temporary vessel for your daddy's soul, so the ink for his tattoos will have his blood and yours in it. You're the link in the chain, so your ink has his blood, your blood and my blood. I'm the anchor, so my ink has my blood and yours."
Sam's eyes widened. "The blood binds the runes to the person wearing the ink as well as the next person in the chain, doesn't it? It forms some sort of mystical bond to keep anyone from getting lost."
Lindsey nodded. "Yep. Even if you weren't using the tattoos to link you to anyone else, they'd still need your own blood in the ink for them to work since without blood there's no binding force."
Dean was pretty sure that he had figured out just what Sam and Lindsey were talking about, but he wanted to make absolutely sure. "So you're saying that the ink for my tattoos needs my blood in order to bind the protective runes to me, and it needs Sam's blood to bind me to him so that I don't get stuck in a hell dimension somewhere, right?"
"Pretty much. There are other ways to get in and out of a hell dimension, but I don't have the resources and even if I did, I don't think it's the kind of thing that you two would go for." When Dean raised an eyebrow, Lindsey just shrugged. "I wasn't always one of the good guys, son."
There wasn't really much that Dean could say to that, or at least there wasn't anything that he was willing to say to that until after they'd gotten John back, so he just nodded at Lindsey and rubbed his hands together. "So, how do we do this?"
It turned out that making the ink was actually quite easy, and Lindsey had it almost completely ready in only a few minutes. He divided it among the three bowls, then reached for his silver knife.
"Okay, boys. Time for a little donation."
Dean went first, a shallow cut along the palm of his left hand producing just enough blood for three drops to fall in each of his and Sam's bowls. Then it was Sam's turn, dripping blood into each of the bowls. And finally Lindsey cut his left hand, just below where the thin scar from his previous blood-letting still was.
"Time for the tattoos now, boys. Dean, flip your chair around and sit back down so I can get to your back and then just sit still."
Lindsey was all business, so Dean just nodded and did as instructed, resting his chin on the back of the chair and closing his eyes. The minute the damp brush hit his back he felt an odd tingle that seemed to spread through his whole body the more ink Lindsey applied. And as a small rune was traced onto the back of his neck, Dean could feel a spark in the back of his mind that seemed to radiate Sam-ness.
He was pulled from his contemplation of the Sam-spark when Lindsey spoke. "Time to turn around, Dean. I need to get your chest, too."
Dean nodded again, shifting in the chair until he was facing Lindsey. The rest of the tattoos took almost no time at all, and as Lindsey finished the last one over Dean's heart Dean felt a wave of heat pass through him, leaving an odd sense of safety in its wake.
He shook his head a bit, meeting Sam's worried eyes. "That was kind of a rush. I think I can feel these things working."
Lindsey smiled with satisfaction. "Good. That means everything's working properly." He glanced over at Sam and crooked his finger. "Your turn, Sam."
An hour later the tattoos were finished, even the small ones that Sam had inked onto the back of Lindsey's shoulders. Dean was still occasionally poking at the Sam-spark in his mind and grinning whenever Sam wrinkled his nose at him in response. Lindsey was checking something over in one of his books again before he closed it with a decisive nod.
"All right, boys. It's time for the main event. All that's left is for me to open a portal to the hell dimension your daddy's in and you can go in and get him. Watch your backs, and all Sam has to do is send me the sign and I'll pull the two of you back through the portal."
Dean glanced over at Sam, jaw set and eyes serious. It was finally time to go save John.
Next
Rating: PG
Pairing: none
Spoilers: through Crossroad Blues
Disclaimer: The last time I checked, my name wasn't Kripke. Therefore, I own none of this, more's the pity.
Warnings: none
Author's Notes: For the sake of this fic, I'm assuming that Lindsey somehow survived 'Not Fade Away.'
Summary: Sam and Dean ask for help in getting their father out of hell from Lindsey McDonald
Previous Parts: part one, part two, part three, part four, part five
"The first thing you boys need is to get the protective runes taken care of. So pull off your shirts."
Sam and Dean just stared at each other in silence while Lindsey headed for a nearby shelf and began reaching for things. Why the hell did he need them to take off their shirts?
Lindsey snorted quietly, not even bothering to look back at them. "I'm not hearing those shirts coming off, boys. I'm gonna need bare skin for the runes. They're a whole lot more effective if they're inked onto skin."
Dean bristled. "You're talking about tattoos?"
"Temporary ones." Lindsey glanced back over his shoulder with a grin. "Sure, the permanent ones are a hell of a lot more effective, but they also take a hell of a lot longer and are about the most painful thing you will ever go through in your life." The grin turned wolfish. "The really good ones are so powerful, and painful, that almost every human that tries to get them dies."
One of Dean's eyebrows went up at the odd tone in Lindsey's voice, but tucked his questions into the back of his mind, along with his curiosity about Lindsey's obvious experience with hell dimensions, to worry about later. Once they had retrieved John, then he would make a point of asking the other man about it.
"Exactly what kinds of tattoos are we talking about? Protective runes, or what?"
At Sam's question Lindsey's smile lost some of its edge. "Some of the runes are strictly defensive, enough to keep you pretty well safe in just about any hell dimension. Most of them are for stealth and secrecy, though. Better to keep all the nasty things lurking around in hell from finding you in the first place, don't you think?"
Well, that was a sentiment that Dean could certainly agree with, so he mentally shrugged and pulled off his shirt, noticing Sam doing the same out of the corner of his eye. "So, how does this whole tattooing thing work? Do you just paint the symbols on us, or are we talking about something more complicated?"
"This part is a bit more involved then just slapping a temporary tattoo on your chest and sending you off into hell, son." Lindsey's expression was bordering on smug as he sat three small wooden bowls on the table and began to measure out herbs and various other things into them. "First off, you've gotta have the right kind of ink, otherwise you'd be just as well off using permanent marker."
Something about Lindsey's expression sent of warning bells in Dean's mind. "There something you're not telling us about this?"
Lindsey shrugged, trying and failing to look innocent. "It's the ink in the tattoos that helps to link the two of you together while you're in hell. It's also what keeps you tied to your anchor; namely me. Which means that the ink needs to be personalized."
Sam sucked in a breath. "You mean the ink needs our blood in it, don't you?"
"You catch on quick, don't you, son? Blood's the only thing that'll work for this." Lindsey gestured towards the bowls. "One bowl for each of us to keep everybody's ink separate. Dean's gonna be the temporary vessel for your daddy's soul, so the ink for his tattoos will have his blood and yours in it. You're the link in the chain, so your ink has his blood, your blood and my blood. I'm the anchor, so my ink has my blood and yours."
Sam's eyes widened. "The blood binds the runes to the person wearing the ink as well as the next person in the chain, doesn't it? It forms some sort of mystical bond to keep anyone from getting lost."
Lindsey nodded. "Yep. Even if you weren't using the tattoos to link you to anyone else, they'd still need your own blood in the ink for them to work since without blood there's no binding force."
Dean was pretty sure that he had figured out just what Sam and Lindsey were talking about, but he wanted to make absolutely sure. "So you're saying that the ink for my tattoos needs my blood in order to bind the protective runes to me, and it needs Sam's blood to bind me to him so that I don't get stuck in a hell dimension somewhere, right?"
"Pretty much. There are other ways to get in and out of a hell dimension, but I don't have the resources and even if I did, I don't think it's the kind of thing that you two would go for." When Dean raised an eyebrow, Lindsey just shrugged. "I wasn't always one of the good guys, son."
There wasn't really much that Dean could say to that, or at least there wasn't anything that he was willing to say to that until after they'd gotten John back, so he just nodded at Lindsey and rubbed his hands together. "So, how do we do this?"
It turned out that making the ink was actually quite easy, and Lindsey had it almost completely ready in only a few minutes. He divided it among the three bowls, then reached for his silver knife.
"Okay, boys. Time for a little donation."
Dean went first, a shallow cut along the palm of his left hand producing just enough blood for three drops to fall in each of his and Sam's bowls. Then it was Sam's turn, dripping blood into each of the bowls. And finally Lindsey cut his left hand, just below where the thin scar from his previous blood-letting still was.
"Time for the tattoos now, boys. Dean, flip your chair around and sit back down so I can get to your back and then just sit still."
Lindsey was all business, so Dean just nodded and did as instructed, resting his chin on the back of the chair and closing his eyes. The minute the damp brush hit his back he felt an odd tingle that seemed to spread through his whole body the more ink Lindsey applied. And as a small rune was traced onto the back of his neck, Dean could feel a spark in the back of his mind that seemed to radiate Sam-ness.
He was pulled from his contemplation of the Sam-spark when Lindsey spoke. "Time to turn around, Dean. I need to get your chest, too."
Dean nodded again, shifting in the chair until he was facing Lindsey. The rest of the tattoos took almost no time at all, and as Lindsey finished the last one over Dean's heart Dean felt a wave of heat pass through him, leaving an odd sense of safety in its wake.
He shook his head a bit, meeting Sam's worried eyes. "That was kind of a rush. I think I can feel these things working."
Lindsey smiled with satisfaction. "Good. That means everything's working properly." He glanced over at Sam and crooked his finger. "Your turn, Sam."
An hour later the tattoos were finished, even the small ones that Sam had inked onto the back of Lindsey's shoulders. Dean was still occasionally poking at the Sam-spark in his mind and grinning whenever Sam wrinkled his nose at him in response. Lindsey was checking something over in one of his books again before he closed it with a decisive nod.
"All right, boys. It's time for the main event. All that's left is for me to open a portal to the hell dimension your daddy's in and you can go in and get him. Watch your backs, and all Sam has to do is send me the sign and I'll pull the two of you back through the portal."
Dean glanced over at Sam, jaw set and eyes serious. It was finally time to go save John.
Next