Session 2: Chapter 5
Session 2
Chapter 5
Fandom: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Dean, Sam, Jo, Bobby, Ellen
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or its characters, no money was made
Warning: Some swearing
Word Count: 4945
Summary: Sequel to Session 1. After finding a way to temporarily stop a sinister force from getting its way, Sam and Dean are both of the roads to recovery with Dean forced to see a therapist. Their problems with the demon were only temporarily solved as the threat once again rears its ugly head.
Author’s Note: Betaed by Jess (starxd_sparrow). Thanks for reading everyone.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
“His BP is crashing!”
“We’re loosing him.”
“Someone get the crash cart!”
“There’s a lot of blood.”
“Did this all come from the accident?”
“Charging.”
“Clear.”
Dean’s eyes flew open, his body tensing at the unfamiliar surroundings. There were white walls and the soft beeping of machines around him. Where was he? “Sam?” he called out.
“Mr. Winchester?” A nurse came into focus, smiling down at him as she wrote something down on his chart. A nurse? Why was there a nurse here? Where was here? He felt bile rise up in his throat as fear gripped him. He couldn’t be back. They wouldn’t bring him back to Mt. Vernon. Would they? But all the white and the nurses...oh God, what if they had?
“Where’s Sam?”
“I’m sorry, who?”
“My brother. My brother, his name is Sam, where is he?” Dean demanded. His voice was raw and hoarse, and it hurt to speak, but he needed answers.
The nurse looked unsure as she quickly began to take his vitals. “Mr. Winchester, what’s the last thing you remember?”
Dean blinked several times, trying to draw up memories that were vague and fuzzy at best. He could remember a lot of voices and…something else. Pain? Crunching metal. Blood. People talking about blood…
“Jo? Where’s Jo?” he gasped out, trying to sit up and reaching to tear the IV out of his arm.
“Mr. Winchester, please don’t do that,” the nurse yelped, dropping his chart to grab his hands before he could do the damage. He felt his heart race as she wrestled him back down. He was trapped. They weren’t gonna let him out, they were going to keep him locked away in here, just like at Mt. Vernon.
“I’ve got to get out of here, you don’t understand, please,” he begged, fighting against her hold. Either this nurse was freakishly strong, or he was a lot weaker than he thought. She subdued him quickly, slipping his hands into soft restraints and pulling them tightly against his wrists.
The feel of them against his skin set something off in his brain, like some kind of trigger sparking a thousand tiny sensors.
“Mr. Winchester! Please you can’t be here!”
“Where is he? Where’s my brother? I need to see him. Where the hell is he? Sammy!” Dean moved down the brightly lit hospital corridors, one metal hand cuff still hanging from his wrist, dangling at his side as he moved. He poked his head into each room as he came to it, looking for his brother but only finding people he didn’t know, faces he didn’t recognize. Sammy was here though, at this hospital, Dean just had to find him. He’d checked almost the whole floor and there was still no sign of his brother. They couldn’t keep him hidden from him forever. Dean was going to find Sam because he needed to find him, needed to see that he was okay, that he was alive.
“Mr. Winchester, the police are on the way!” one of the orderlies yelled, trying to deter him from his path. Dean ignored her and continued on. He hadn’t broken out of police custody just to turn back now. He could see security approaching, coming at him with nightsticks and ready to take him down, but he wasn’t leaving here without seeing his brother. Sam needed him.
“Sammy!”
“Mr. Winchester, you need to come with us,” one of the security officers called as he drew closer.
“I just need to find my brother. Then you can do whatever you want. Just let me see my God damned brother!” Dean snapped.
“Sorry but we can’t let you do that.”
Dean didn’t have a chance to tell them otherwise because in a flash the two men had grabbed him. Dean wasn’t one to go down easy though. He knocked one off him, but the other had a firm hold, slamming him against the wall and bringing his arm tight behind him in a painful hold. Dean kicked his foot back, slamming it into the guys shin so he’d let go and then shoved him back with enough force to knock him into the next wall before heading back down the corridor at a quickened pace.
“Sammy!”
It felt like a bulldozer had hit him as the bigger of the two guards tackled him from behind, knocking him to the ground. Dean slammed the back of his head into the man’s nose, breaking it and effectively knocking him off. Dean pushed off the ground and tried to get his bearings again, dizzy from knocking his skull into another man’s face. An arm reached for him before he could get very far, grabbing him in a firm, unrelenting grasp. He moved to knock it away but not in time to stop the needle that pieced his skin, shooting the contents of the syringe into his body. Fuck but that was not what he needed right now. The effects of the drug were almost instant.
“Sam!” he called, feeling the world start to fade out of focus. Hands grabbed him, forcing him back and trying to get him onto a gurney. He fought them as best he could, but everything was off-kilter, making even the simple act of walking more than a little difficult. Despite him fighting them, his knees were starting to give, and in a few minutes, he wouldn’t even been able to stand without their help.
“He’s gonna pass out, get him on there,” a nurse ordered.
He felt himself being forced back and cloth restraints being tightened around his wrists. “My brother, I need to see my brother,” he begged, struggling against his confines.
“Just relax, Dean,” the nurse tried to say soothingly. “Just…relax.”
“Mr. Winchester, please…” the nurse pleaded. “Please, just relax.”
“Where’s Sam?” he demanded.
“I don’t know who Sam is,” she said, pulling the restraints around his wrists even tighter and moving to press a button on the wall.
Dean blinked, looking around at where he was. Memories of that night more than three years ago began to fade and the reality of what was happening now came into focus. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. Of course she didn’t know where Sam was. His brother was on the run, trying to find a place that he thought was safe. And Jo was after him. Jo…crap. He’d told her where Sam was and there was no telling what she’d do if she found him. With Brandon dead, all bets were off. Dean needed to get out of there and fast. Sam needed him. More than he ever had before, his brother needed him there.
“Look please, you gotta let me go. Bring me an AMA form or something,” Dean demanded.
“Mr. Winchester, you were in a serious car accident, you almost didn’t make it. You’ve been unconscious for the last twenty-four hours. You’re in no condition to go anywhere.”
“Is there a problem?” a doctor asked as he stepped into the room.
“Yes, the problem is I need to get out of here.”
“He’s very agitated and seems somewhat confused about what’s going on,” the nurse explained quickly.
“From the concussion I would guess,” the doctor said, moving forward and flashing a light painfully across his eyes, checking Dean’s pupils.
“Let me out of these restraints,” Dean demanded.
“He tried to rip his IV out, and when I attempted to stop him, he fought me. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Its fine, Valerie, I’ve got it from here,” the doctor explained. The nurse nodded and headed out of the room. The door clicked closed, and the doctor sat himself on the edge of the bed. “How’re you doing, Dean?” he asked, a smile spreading across his features.
“I need to get out of here, my brother needs me.”
“You’re a very sick man, Mr. Winchester, your injuries were extensive. You were in surgery for almost six hours and even then we barely got you off the table alive. Right now what you need is rest.”
“I want an AMA form and I want the fuck out of the place,” Dean said, as coldly as he could manage so he’d get the point across. “You can’t keep me here.”
“Dean, please-”
“No, fuck you,” Dean swore. “Get me my papers; I want the hell out of here. I have the right to refuse to be treated.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” the doctor replied, his eyes changing to black for a brief moment before returning to their regular color.
Dean felt his heart pound in his chest and he struggled against his confines. “What are you?” he whispered.
“An old friend,” the doctor replied. “I’ve waited awhile for this, Dean. Now that I have you, I really don’t plan to let you go.”
“I’m gonna send your ass to hell,” he growled.
“Be careful what you say, Dean. Wouldn’t want Dr. Crosier finding out you’re telling tales about demons possessing your doctor and nursing staff.” The doctor winked and stood up, a sadistic smile creeping into his features. “This is gonna be fun, Dean. I’d have liked it better if I could have started with a fresh pallet, but you take what you can get, right?”
“Who are you?”
“Revenge is sweet, Winchester. I just want you to remember that when I have you begging for mercy.”
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Jo hopped out of the truck and gave a short wave to the trucker as he pulled back out onto the road. The Impala had been far too damaged to drive anywhere, not to mention the damn thing had been turned on it roof. That had left her with only a few options. Go with Dean to the hospital or hitch a ride. So she’d hitched a ride with one of the bystanders who’d been watching in awe as they loaded Dean into the ambulance. In the end she just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t go to another hospital and watch another person she loved die.
She made excuses to herself that there wasn’t much time and that it wouldn’t be long before Sam was completely gone, but the real excuse why she didn’t climb into that ambulance with Dean was because she didn’t know what she would do if didn’t make it either. It was really her just not being able to handle her shit. At least she could admit it to herself if to no one else.
Jo looked down the dark path, going over in her mind the directions Dean had told her right before he’d passed out. It would be dark before she reached there on foot; she could only hope Dean had been right and that Sam was still there. Hunting equipment slung over her shoulder, she started forward.
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
Ellen stood up as the doctor approached. Her muscles were tense and her whole body was rigid. They’d been here for hours, ever since Jo had called and explained what had happened, and still no one would tell them anything about Dean or let them see him. She and Bobby couldn’t prove they were family, so until Dean woke up, they were stuck in the waiting room.
“Mrs. Harvel?” the doctor asked as she approached.
“He awake yet?” Ellen shot back without preface.
“I’m afraid not. I’m really not at liberty to discuss my patient’s condition, and all I can say is that for now he’s still in critical condition.” The doctor gave her a sympathetic look.
“Did you speak with Dean’s doctor?” Bobby asked. “I’m listed as a contact, you can look it up. Dean doesn’t exactly have a lot of family; he just has his brother and us.”
“I put a call in, Mr. Singer, but I’m very busy as I’m sure Dr. Crosier is. I’ll have a nurse page me when the documents come in. Until then, I’m going to have to ask you to wait here.”
“We understand.” Ellen's uncharacteristically quick acquiescence earned her a confused look from Bobby. The doctor nodded slowly and left, casting a quick glance over his shoulder before heading down a hallway and disappearing around a corner. Once he was gone, Ellen took a quick survey of the area before putting her hand on Bobby’s shoulder.
“Wait here,” she told him quietly. He nodded and as quietly and unsuspectingly as she could, she headed in the direction the doctor had just come from. She moved quickly and with purpose, trying to look like she belonged there so no one would stop her. They hadn’t exactly given out Dean’s room number so it took a little searching on her part to find the right room. Lucky for her it was a pretty small town hospital they were in, and before long, she found the right door and quickly let herself in.
Ellen closed the door behind her, letting it click shut as she took in the sight before her. Dean’s face was pale; there was almost no color at all to it with the exception of the dark bruised looking purple under his eyes. If she hadn’t seen the slight rise and fall of his chest, she would have thought he was dead, his features were so lifeless.
“Dean?” she called out quietly, moving to his side and taking his hand in hers. They were bandaged up, covered in cuts from the glass that had shattered in the crash. “Dean?” she tried again. There was no response. If this was any other time, any other circumstance, she’d just wait and hope he’d wake up, but Ellen couldn’t wait any longer. She was running out of time. They all were.
“Dean, I need you to listen to me,” she started, taking a calming breath to get her nerves under control. “Jo’s gone. She called, told me what hospital you were in, and now she’s not answering her phone; it doesn’t matter who calls or how many times, she’d not picking up. I think you know where she is or at least where she’s going, so you gotta wake up and you gotta tell me. That girl…she don’t got her head on straight. She’s not thinking clear. Brandon was a kind of rock for her and now that he’s gone…”
“What are you doing in here?” a voice behind her asked.
Ellen jumped and turned around, dropping Dean’s hand back at his side. Dean’s doctor stood in the doorway, staring disapprovingly down at her. There was something else behind those eyes though, something Ellen couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was like he was angrier than any doctor should have been in this situation.
“Ellen?” a small voice came from the bed, snapping her attention back to Dean. His eyes fluttered but didn’t open. He was alert though, she could tell that much.
“Dean? Dean, can you hear me?”
“I asked you what you were doing here. Do I need to call security?” the doctor pressed.
Dean’s arm lifted up, pointing towards the door, or maybe towards the doctor, Ellen couldn’t be sure. His eyelids were starting to open more and his lips began to move, trying to work the words out of his parched throat. Ellen leaned closer to hear.
“What is it?” Ellen pressed.
The doctor’s eyes swung from her to his patient in the bed, finger lifted and pointed towards him. He moved out of the way, to the opposite side of Dean than Ellen was on, and pressed a button that released something into the IV.
“D-dem...unnn” Dean groaned out, his arm slowly dropping back to his side. It took a moment to figure out what Dean had just mumbled out, but when she did, her eyes went wide. She moved to stuff her hand into her jacket pocket to pull out the flask she’d brought with her, but the doctor was faster than her.
“I told you not to come in here,” he growled, and before Ellen could wrap her hands around the cool metal, she was being slammed up against a wall, an invisible hold cutting off her access to air. “Next time maybe you should listen.”
XOXOXOXXOXOXOX
Sam rubbed his aching eyeballs. It had been too much to ask for, he supposed, that he’d be able to sleep through the night without getting another headache. His skull felt like it was on fire and so someone decided to dip it in a frozen lake. He couldn’t even describe the pain; it was nothing like he’d ever felt. It was like his entire brain was trying to break free from his skull. He couldn’t see straight, the hurt was so blinding, so all consuming. Echoes and whispers bounced around inside of his brain, from what or who he couldn’t tell, but he didn’t listen to them, just blocked them out as he held his forehead firmly in his hand in hopes that maybe if he didn’t move the ache would die down.
But it wasn’t, and fuck if he wasn’t pretty sure it was getting worse. His nerves were raw and wrought, throbbing with an intensity he’d never quite known they could reach. He wondered for a moment if this was the worst pain he would ever feel in his life, but with the luck of the Winchesters, he wouldn’t bet money on it. There seemed to always be something worse on the horizon for them. Still, for now this pain took the cake. Whatever was happening to him was going to happen very soon.
What was he going to do?
Sam had been trying to figure that out since he’d woken an hour ago, and still the answer eluded him. He was away from the world, so at least he wouldn’t hurt anyone if things got too bad, but he couldn’t hide here forever. Eventually whatever was going on would come to fruition and then it would be too late. He needed to find answers, that or blow his brains out while he still had the chance.
Killing himself was his last option, one he didn’t want to have to turn to. Not because he was afraid of death, but because he didn’t think Dean could handle it. His brother had lost everything; losing Sam again would break him beyond repair. Somehow Sam sensed that Dean’s sanity hung by a thin thread. He had to think, come up with some way out of this before things got any worse.
Sam had ditched his phone just after he’d left town so no one could track him. There was no way to contact the outside world except to leave the cabin, and he wasn’t willing to do that yet. He was going to have to stay here and figure things out from the cabin. All he had to work with was the few books from Bobby he’d had in his car with him. They’d been searching for answers on how to destroy the demon in Dean’s necklace for so long, Sam could only hope the answers would be somewhere in the text. It had to be.
Standing up, Sam steadied himself against the dizziness and waves of nausea before heading into the living room. He reached into his bags and pulled out the books he had with him before sitting down to try and read them. He grabbed the first book and plopped it open, picking up where he’d left off at Bobby’s house.
Of course reading the text was an impossible task. The words jumped and blurred together, shaking even though he wasn’t moving. Sam blinked several times to try and clear the blurriness away, but the small movement sent a thousand painful spikes though his eyes. He took a deep breath and tried again but nothing he did worked. The pain was intensifying, threatening to crush him beneath its weight. The sheer pain throbbing in his skull left him crumbling to the ground and curling himself up into the fetal position. A anguished cry escaped his lips, echoing through the room loud enough that Sam thought the window might shatter and then everything turned blindingly white. He could feel his throat working and knew sound was coming out still, but the only thing he could feel was the pain before everything faded to black.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
There was a scream. It was a blood curling, set your teeth on edge kind of scream that made Jo's nerves tingle. It echoed through the valley, reaching her from her position maybe a half a mile out from the cabin. It had to be the loudest most painful thing she’d ever heard in her life. It was almost inhuman. The thought stilled her, made her swallow down unwelcome bile.
Jo stopped walking and waited for a moment, unsure what her next step was. Her heart pounded in her chest and somehow, she knew this was wrong, knew that whatever had just happened, it wasn’t natural. A part of her said she should turn back, even Brandon wouldn’t go into a situation like this as unprepared as she was, but it would take hours to hike back out to the main road, and what if she was wrong? Or what if finding Sam now would have meant she’d be able to stop him before whatever was happening to him got worse? No, she couldn’t turn back now. She started walking again, faster than before. Her feet were moving quickly against the rough terrain. Something in her told her to hurry, and before she knew it, she was running in the direction that the scream had come from, towards secluded cabin. She just hoped she wasn’t too late.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Ellen gripped at her neck like she was trying to pry fingers away from her throat but there was nothing there. Her whole body was pinned to the wall, feet dangling a foot above the ground. She was fading, the fight lessoning as the lack of oxygen began to take its toll.
“No,” Dean whispered, the effects of whatever the doctor had put into the IV attempting to draw him back into unconscious. He fought it, forced his eyes to stay open, forced the words past his lips. “Please.”
“My beef wasn’t with you Ellen, you just got in the way,” the doctor said. “One less demon hunter on the streets is just a sort of bonus for me.”
Dean tried to focus past his tunneling vision to beg for Ellen’s life, but his body was fighting him. Unconsciousness had her claws in him, dragging him down into her murky depths. He could feel his breathing slow as Ellen disappeared out of his focus. Everything grew intensely quiet.
It didn’t stay that way.
Suddenly it felt like the room was shaking, but it wasn’t, Dean was-like he was having a seizure. And then his chest began to burn, hot flames licking his insides. It was slow, a growing fire. The intensity of it began to draw him away from the arms of darkness and bring him back to consciousness. His eyes flashed open and he could see Ellen’s chin drop against her chest. He wanted to call out to her, but he couldn’t. There was a sudden gut-wrenching feeling that tore through him like a spike through his chest. It was as if he was being impaled. His mouth opened and he was pretty sure sound was coming out but all he could focus on was the black smoke that was now erupting out of his necklace. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Ellen drop to the ground, unconscious, and the doctor step away, watching in a mixture of awe and anger. He was saying something, speaking to Dean or someone else, but Dean couldn’t hear anything except the pounding of his heart in his ears.
The black smoke filled the room until Dean didn’t think he could take anymore pain and finally it just stopped. The pain ended and only the residual ache of being torn apart and sewn back together was left in its wake. He felt like he’d been run over by a truck, but the feeling of having a giant pole ripping through his insides had disappeared.
The smoke stayed in the air for a moment and then it was moving, floating down and surround Ellen’s body before filling her until there was nothing left in the air. There was a moment where nothing happened and everyone stayed very still. And then Ellen coughed and her body reanimated as she slowly pushed herself to her feet.
“I thought it’d take you longer to break free,” the doctor said, eyes turning black as he spoke.
“You never were very smart. Did you really think I’d be in there for long?” Ellen replied, her eyes glowing red for a moment before fading back to normal.
“You must have had help,” the doctor said, “not even my father would have been able to break out so quickly. That’s a strong charm your broke through.”
“I did have help, but that’s really none of your business,” Ellen replied. “Now that I’m here, you can go. I have unfinished business to take care of.”
“Nice try, but he’s mine,” the doctor declared, stepping forward and grabbing a fist full of Dean’s hair in an iron grip. Dean grunted in pain, but with the drugs pumping through his system, and the restraints around his wrists, he wasn’t in much of a position to fight. “He killed my father. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
A light turned on and suddenly Dean realized who he was dealing with. “Meg?” he whispered. Neither demon acknowledged that he spoke.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Ellen replied, voice grittier than Dean was used to. It was deep, almost guttural.
“Never felt more wanted in my life,” Dean mumbled groggily.
“Shut up,” the doctor snapped, tightening his grip on Dean’s hair. “This is my kill.”
“Not until I have his soul,” Ellen growled back.
“All of this is about my crappy soul?” Dean asked with a sleepy laugh. His dirty, worthless soul? Too tarnished for even a crossroads demon? A set of black eyes and a set of red eyes glared at him with a fierceness he hadn’t seen before.
“You made a deal, Dean,” Ellen said. “A deal you broke.”
“Sam broke it, actually,” Dean quiped, his scratchy throat beginning to work a little better the more he was using it.
“You can make this right,” Ellen continued, her hand reaching out and grabbing his chin. “You can save your brother.”
“You want my soul?” Dean asked.
“I shouldn’t be surprised you’re even considering this,” the doctor growled. “You Winchesters are all the same.”
“Shut up,” Ellen snapped. Her attention refocused on Dean, eyes glowing bright red as she did. Her fingers dug painfully into his skin as her grip tightened. “You’re damn right I want your soul, Dean Winchester. We have a special place in hell for deal breakers like you. You’re very close to our hearts,” she hissed.
Dean shook his head out of her grip and met her cold glare with one of his own. “Reverse what’s happening to Sammy, and you have yourself a deal. Soon as I see he’s okay with my own eyes, you can take my soul. That’s all I want.”
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Sam’s eyes opened up and blinked. He expected pain, he expected the pounding in his skull to begin again, but there was nothing. Slowly he sat up and looked around the small cabin before pushing to his feet. He felt…wrong somehow, but the pain had stopped and all he could do was be thankful for that. He’d never prayed so hard in his life as he’d for the pain in his head to finally cease.
A noise outside caught Sam’s attention and made him spin towards the window next to the front door. He saw nothing but he could hear the crunch of the leaves as someone or something moved. He stalked towards it, peeking out through the glass panes but found nothing. His apprehension rose, and he quietly moved across the cabin, looking through different windows but finding nothing each time. Whoever or whatever was outside was hiding itself well. He hurried back into the living room and went to find the industrial sized bag of salt that had been left there from their last visit. He hoisted the bag up and began to lay salt lines across the entrances. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t done it in the first place. It had been a dumb move, one motivated by his inability to concentrate on anything but the pain when he’d first arrived here. There was no telling what kind of thing might have followed him here. He was lucky something hadn’t happened to him.
Once all the salt had been laid, he grabbed his .45 and stuffed it in his back pocket. A noise near the front of the cabin caught his attention, and the split second image of blonde hair that passed by the window was enough for him to know exactly who it was. He moved towards the door, yanking it open.
“Jo!” he called. He tried to step outside but he couldn’t. It was like a wall was there, preventing his from moving. He looked down and saw the line of salt he’d just laid. Why couldn’t he pass it? He could feel his heart jump into his throat.
“Sam?” Jo called, moving into his line of sight. When she saw him, her eyes went wide and she took a step back, lifting her shot gun up. “Stay back.”
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
Chapter 5
Fandom: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Dean, Sam, Jo, Bobby, Ellen
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or its characters, no money was made
Warning: Some swearing
Word Count: 4945
Summary: Sequel to Session 1. After finding a way to temporarily stop a sinister force from getting its way, Sam and Dean are both of the roads to recovery with Dean forced to see a therapist. Their problems with the demon were only temporarily solved as the threat once again rears its ugly head.
Author’s Note: Betaed by Jess (starxd_sparrow). Thanks for reading everyone.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
“His BP is crashing!”
“We’re loosing him.”
“Someone get the crash cart!”
“There’s a lot of blood.”
“Did this all come from the accident?”
“Charging.”
“Clear.”
Dean’s eyes flew open, his body tensing at the unfamiliar surroundings. There were white walls and the soft beeping of machines around him. Where was he? “Sam?” he called out.
“Mr. Winchester?” A nurse came into focus, smiling down at him as she wrote something down on his chart. A nurse? Why was there a nurse here? Where was here? He felt bile rise up in his throat as fear gripped him. He couldn’t be back. They wouldn’t bring him back to Mt. Vernon. Would they? But all the white and the nurses...oh God, what if they had?
“Where’s Sam?”
“I’m sorry, who?”
“My brother. My brother, his name is Sam, where is he?” Dean demanded. His voice was raw and hoarse, and it hurt to speak, but he needed answers.
The nurse looked unsure as she quickly began to take his vitals. “Mr. Winchester, what’s the last thing you remember?”
Dean blinked several times, trying to draw up memories that were vague and fuzzy at best. He could remember a lot of voices and…something else. Pain? Crunching metal. Blood. People talking about blood…
“Jo? Where’s Jo?” he gasped out, trying to sit up and reaching to tear the IV out of his arm.
“Mr. Winchester, please don’t do that,” the nurse yelped, dropping his chart to grab his hands before he could do the damage. He felt his heart race as she wrestled him back down. He was trapped. They weren’t gonna let him out, they were going to keep him locked away in here, just like at Mt. Vernon.
“I’ve got to get out of here, you don’t understand, please,” he begged, fighting against her hold. Either this nurse was freakishly strong, or he was a lot weaker than he thought. She subdued him quickly, slipping his hands into soft restraints and pulling them tightly against his wrists.
The feel of them against his skin set something off in his brain, like some kind of trigger sparking a thousand tiny sensors.
“Mr. Winchester! Please you can’t be here!”
“Where is he? Where’s my brother? I need to see him. Where the hell is he? Sammy!” Dean moved down the brightly lit hospital corridors, one metal hand cuff still hanging from his wrist, dangling at his side as he moved. He poked his head into each room as he came to it, looking for his brother but only finding people he didn’t know, faces he didn’t recognize. Sammy was here though, at this hospital, Dean just had to find him. He’d checked almost the whole floor and there was still no sign of his brother. They couldn’t keep him hidden from him forever. Dean was going to find Sam because he needed to find him, needed to see that he was okay, that he was alive.
“Mr. Winchester, the police are on the way!” one of the orderlies yelled, trying to deter him from his path. Dean ignored her and continued on. He hadn’t broken out of police custody just to turn back now. He could see security approaching, coming at him with nightsticks and ready to take him down, but he wasn’t leaving here without seeing his brother. Sam needed him.
“Sammy!”
“Mr. Winchester, you need to come with us,” one of the security officers called as he drew closer.
“I just need to find my brother. Then you can do whatever you want. Just let me see my God damned brother!” Dean snapped.
“Sorry but we can’t let you do that.”
Dean didn’t have a chance to tell them otherwise because in a flash the two men had grabbed him. Dean wasn’t one to go down easy though. He knocked one off him, but the other had a firm hold, slamming him against the wall and bringing his arm tight behind him in a painful hold. Dean kicked his foot back, slamming it into the guys shin so he’d let go and then shoved him back with enough force to knock him into the next wall before heading back down the corridor at a quickened pace.
“Sammy!”
It felt like a bulldozer had hit him as the bigger of the two guards tackled him from behind, knocking him to the ground. Dean slammed the back of his head into the man’s nose, breaking it and effectively knocking him off. Dean pushed off the ground and tried to get his bearings again, dizzy from knocking his skull into another man’s face. An arm reached for him before he could get very far, grabbing him in a firm, unrelenting grasp. He moved to knock it away but not in time to stop the needle that pieced his skin, shooting the contents of the syringe into his body. Fuck but that was not what he needed right now. The effects of the drug were almost instant.
“Sam!” he called, feeling the world start to fade out of focus. Hands grabbed him, forcing him back and trying to get him onto a gurney. He fought them as best he could, but everything was off-kilter, making even the simple act of walking more than a little difficult. Despite him fighting them, his knees were starting to give, and in a few minutes, he wouldn’t even been able to stand without their help.
“He’s gonna pass out, get him on there,” a nurse ordered.
He felt himself being forced back and cloth restraints being tightened around his wrists. “My brother, I need to see my brother,” he begged, struggling against his confines.
“Just relax, Dean,” the nurse tried to say soothingly. “Just…relax.”
“Mr. Winchester, please…” the nurse pleaded. “Please, just relax.”
“Where’s Sam?” he demanded.
“I don’t know who Sam is,” she said, pulling the restraints around his wrists even tighter and moving to press a button on the wall.
Dean blinked, looking around at where he was. Memories of that night more than three years ago began to fade and the reality of what was happening now came into focus. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. Of course she didn’t know where Sam was. His brother was on the run, trying to find a place that he thought was safe. And Jo was after him. Jo…crap. He’d told her where Sam was and there was no telling what she’d do if she found him. With Brandon dead, all bets were off. Dean needed to get out of there and fast. Sam needed him. More than he ever had before, his brother needed him there.
“Look please, you gotta let me go. Bring me an AMA form or something,” Dean demanded.
“Mr. Winchester, you were in a serious car accident, you almost didn’t make it. You’ve been unconscious for the last twenty-four hours. You’re in no condition to go anywhere.”
“Is there a problem?” a doctor asked as he stepped into the room.
“Yes, the problem is I need to get out of here.”
“He’s very agitated and seems somewhat confused about what’s going on,” the nurse explained quickly.
“From the concussion I would guess,” the doctor said, moving forward and flashing a light painfully across his eyes, checking Dean’s pupils.
“Let me out of these restraints,” Dean demanded.
“He tried to rip his IV out, and when I attempted to stop him, he fought me. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Its fine, Valerie, I’ve got it from here,” the doctor explained. The nurse nodded and headed out of the room. The door clicked closed, and the doctor sat himself on the edge of the bed. “How’re you doing, Dean?” he asked, a smile spreading across his features.
“I need to get out of here, my brother needs me.”
“You’re a very sick man, Mr. Winchester, your injuries were extensive. You were in surgery for almost six hours and even then we barely got you off the table alive. Right now what you need is rest.”
“I want an AMA form and I want the fuck out of the place,” Dean said, as coldly as he could manage so he’d get the point across. “You can’t keep me here.”
“Dean, please-”
“No, fuck you,” Dean swore. “Get me my papers; I want the hell out of here. I have the right to refuse to be treated.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” the doctor replied, his eyes changing to black for a brief moment before returning to their regular color.
Dean felt his heart pound in his chest and he struggled against his confines. “What are you?” he whispered.
“An old friend,” the doctor replied. “I’ve waited awhile for this, Dean. Now that I have you, I really don’t plan to let you go.”
“I’m gonna send your ass to hell,” he growled.
“Be careful what you say, Dean. Wouldn’t want Dr. Crosier finding out you’re telling tales about demons possessing your doctor and nursing staff.” The doctor winked and stood up, a sadistic smile creeping into his features. “This is gonna be fun, Dean. I’d have liked it better if I could have started with a fresh pallet, but you take what you can get, right?”
“Who are you?”
“Revenge is sweet, Winchester. I just want you to remember that when I have you begging for mercy.”
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Jo hopped out of the truck and gave a short wave to the trucker as he pulled back out onto the road. The Impala had been far too damaged to drive anywhere, not to mention the damn thing had been turned on it roof. That had left her with only a few options. Go with Dean to the hospital or hitch a ride. So she’d hitched a ride with one of the bystanders who’d been watching in awe as they loaded Dean into the ambulance. In the end she just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t go to another hospital and watch another person she loved die.
She made excuses to herself that there wasn’t much time and that it wouldn’t be long before Sam was completely gone, but the real excuse why she didn’t climb into that ambulance with Dean was because she didn’t know what she would do if didn’t make it either. It was really her just not being able to handle her shit. At least she could admit it to herself if to no one else.
Jo looked down the dark path, going over in her mind the directions Dean had told her right before he’d passed out. It would be dark before she reached there on foot; she could only hope Dean had been right and that Sam was still there. Hunting equipment slung over her shoulder, she started forward.
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
Ellen stood up as the doctor approached. Her muscles were tense and her whole body was rigid. They’d been here for hours, ever since Jo had called and explained what had happened, and still no one would tell them anything about Dean or let them see him. She and Bobby couldn’t prove they were family, so until Dean woke up, they were stuck in the waiting room.
“Mrs. Harvel?” the doctor asked as she approached.
“He awake yet?” Ellen shot back without preface.
“I’m afraid not. I’m really not at liberty to discuss my patient’s condition, and all I can say is that for now he’s still in critical condition.” The doctor gave her a sympathetic look.
“Did you speak with Dean’s doctor?” Bobby asked. “I’m listed as a contact, you can look it up. Dean doesn’t exactly have a lot of family; he just has his brother and us.”
“I put a call in, Mr. Singer, but I’m very busy as I’m sure Dr. Crosier is. I’ll have a nurse page me when the documents come in. Until then, I’m going to have to ask you to wait here.”
“We understand.” Ellen's uncharacteristically quick acquiescence earned her a confused look from Bobby. The doctor nodded slowly and left, casting a quick glance over his shoulder before heading down a hallway and disappearing around a corner. Once he was gone, Ellen took a quick survey of the area before putting her hand on Bobby’s shoulder.
“Wait here,” she told him quietly. He nodded and as quietly and unsuspectingly as she could, she headed in the direction the doctor had just come from. She moved quickly and with purpose, trying to look like she belonged there so no one would stop her. They hadn’t exactly given out Dean’s room number so it took a little searching on her part to find the right room. Lucky for her it was a pretty small town hospital they were in, and before long, she found the right door and quickly let herself in.
Ellen closed the door behind her, letting it click shut as she took in the sight before her. Dean’s face was pale; there was almost no color at all to it with the exception of the dark bruised looking purple under his eyes. If she hadn’t seen the slight rise and fall of his chest, she would have thought he was dead, his features were so lifeless.
“Dean?” she called out quietly, moving to his side and taking his hand in hers. They were bandaged up, covered in cuts from the glass that had shattered in the crash. “Dean?” she tried again. There was no response. If this was any other time, any other circumstance, she’d just wait and hope he’d wake up, but Ellen couldn’t wait any longer. She was running out of time. They all were.
“Dean, I need you to listen to me,” she started, taking a calming breath to get her nerves under control. “Jo’s gone. She called, told me what hospital you were in, and now she’s not answering her phone; it doesn’t matter who calls or how many times, she’d not picking up. I think you know where she is or at least where she’s going, so you gotta wake up and you gotta tell me. That girl…she don’t got her head on straight. She’s not thinking clear. Brandon was a kind of rock for her and now that he’s gone…”
“What are you doing in here?” a voice behind her asked.
Ellen jumped and turned around, dropping Dean’s hand back at his side. Dean’s doctor stood in the doorway, staring disapprovingly down at her. There was something else behind those eyes though, something Ellen couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was like he was angrier than any doctor should have been in this situation.
“Ellen?” a small voice came from the bed, snapping her attention back to Dean. His eyes fluttered but didn’t open. He was alert though, she could tell that much.
“Dean? Dean, can you hear me?”
“I asked you what you were doing here. Do I need to call security?” the doctor pressed.
Dean’s arm lifted up, pointing towards the door, or maybe towards the doctor, Ellen couldn’t be sure. His eyelids were starting to open more and his lips began to move, trying to work the words out of his parched throat. Ellen leaned closer to hear.
“What is it?” Ellen pressed.
The doctor’s eyes swung from her to his patient in the bed, finger lifted and pointed towards him. He moved out of the way, to the opposite side of Dean than Ellen was on, and pressed a button that released something into the IV.
“D-dem...unnn” Dean groaned out, his arm slowly dropping back to his side. It took a moment to figure out what Dean had just mumbled out, but when she did, her eyes went wide. She moved to stuff her hand into her jacket pocket to pull out the flask she’d brought with her, but the doctor was faster than her.
“I told you not to come in here,” he growled, and before Ellen could wrap her hands around the cool metal, she was being slammed up against a wall, an invisible hold cutting off her access to air. “Next time maybe you should listen.”
XOXOXOXXOXOXOX
Sam rubbed his aching eyeballs. It had been too much to ask for, he supposed, that he’d be able to sleep through the night without getting another headache. His skull felt like it was on fire and so someone decided to dip it in a frozen lake. He couldn’t even describe the pain; it was nothing like he’d ever felt. It was like his entire brain was trying to break free from his skull. He couldn’t see straight, the hurt was so blinding, so all consuming. Echoes and whispers bounced around inside of his brain, from what or who he couldn’t tell, but he didn’t listen to them, just blocked them out as he held his forehead firmly in his hand in hopes that maybe if he didn’t move the ache would die down.
But it wasn’t, and fuck if he wasn’t pretty sure it was getting worse. His nerves were raw and wrought, throbbing with an intensity he’d never quite known they could reach. He wondered for a moment if this was the worst pain he would ever feel in his life, but with the luck of the Winchesters, he wouldn’t bet money on it. There seemed to always be something worse on the horizon for them. Still, for now this pain took the cake. Whatever was happening to him was going to happen very soon.
What was he going to do?
Sam had been trying to figure that out since he’d woken an hour ago, and still the answer eluded him. He was away from the world, so at least he wouldn’t hurt anyone if things got too bad, but he couldn’t hide here forever. Eventually whatever was going on would come to fruition and then it would be too late. He needed to find answers, that or blow his brains out while he still had the chance.
Killing himself was his last option, one he didn’t want to have to turn to. Not because he was afraid of death, but because he didn’t think Dean could handle it. His brother had lost everything; losing Sam again would break him beyond repair. Somehow Sam sensed that Dean’s sanity hung by a thin thread. He had to think, come up with some way out of this before things got any worse.
Sam had ditched his phone just after he’d left town so no one could track him. There was no way to contact the outside world except to leave the cabin, and he wasn’t willing to do that yet. He was going to have to stay here and figure things out from the cabin. All he had to work with was the few books from Bobby he’d had in his car with him. They’d been searching for answers on how to destroy the demon in Dean’s necklace for so long, Sam could only hope the answers would be somewhere in the text. It had to be.
Standing up, Sam steadied himself against the dizziness and waves of nausea before heading into the living room. He reached into his bags and pulled out the books he had with him before sitting down to try and read them. He grabbed the first book and plopped it open, picking up where he’d left off at Bobby’s house.
Of course reading the text was an impossible task. The words jumped and blurred together, shaking even though he wasn’t moving. Sam blinked several times to try and clear the blurriness away, but the small movement sent a thousand painful spikes though his eyes. He took a deep breath and tried again but nothing he did worked. The pain was intensifying, threatening to crush him beneath its weight. The sheer pain throbbing in his skull left him crumbling to the ground and curling himself up into the fetal position. A anguished cry escaped his lips, echoing through the room loud enough that Sam thought the window might shatter and then everything turned blindingly white. He could feel his throat working and knew sound was coming out still, but the only thing he could feel was the pain before everything faded to black.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
There was a scream. It was a blood curling, set your teeth on edge kind of scream that made Jo's nerves tingle. It echoed through the valley, reaching her from her position maybe a half a mile out from the cabin. It had to be the loudest most painful thing she’d ever heard in her life. It was almost inhuman. The thought stilled her, made her swallow down unwelcome bile.
Jo stopped walking and waited for a moment, unsure what her next step was. Her heart pounded in her chest and somehow, she knew this was wrong, knew that whatever had just happened, it wasn’t natural. A part of her said she should turn back, even Brandon wouldn’t go into a situation like this as unprepared as she was, but it would take hours to hike back out to the main road, and what if she was wrong? Or what if finding Sam now would have meant she’d be able to stop him before whatever was happening to him got worse? No, she couldn’t turn back now. She started walking again, faster than before. Her feet were moving quickly against the rough terrain. Something in her told her to hurry, and before she knew it, she was running in the direction that the scream had come from, towards secluded cabin. She just hoped she wasn’t too late.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Ellen gripped at her neck like she was trying to pry fingers away from her throat but there was nothing there. Her whole body was pinned to the wall, feet dangling a foot above the ground. She was fading, the fight lessoning as the lack of oxygen began to take its toll.
“No,” Dean whispered, the effects of whatever the doctor had put into the IV attempting to draw him back into unconscious. He fought it, forced his eyes to stay open, forced the words past his lips. “Please.”
“My beef wasn’t with you Ellen, you just got in the way,” the doctor said. “One less demon hunter on the streets is just a sort of bonus for me.”
Dean tried to focus past his tunneling vision to beg for Ellen’s life, but his body was fighting him. Unconsciousness had her claws in him, dragging him down into her murky depths. He could feel his breathing slow as Ellen disappeared out of his focus. Everything grew intensely quiet.
It didn’t stay that way.
Suddenly it felt like the room was shaking, but it wasn’t, Dean was-like he was having a seizure. And then his chest began to burn, hot flames licking his insides. It was slow, a growing fire. The intensity of it began to draw him away from the arms of darkness and bring him back to consciousness. His eyes flashed open and he could see Ellen’s chin drop against her chest. He wanted to call out to her, but he couldn’t. There was a sudden gut-wrenching feeling that tore through him like a spike through his chest. It was as if he was being impaled. His mouth opened and he was pretty sure sound was coming out but all he could focus on was the black smoke that was now erupting out of his necklace. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Ellen drop to the ground, unconscious, and the doctor step away, watching in a mixture of awe and anger. He was saying something, speaking to Dean or someone else, but Dean couldn’t hear anything except the pounding of his heart in his ears.
The black smoke filled the room until Dean didn’t think he could take anymore pain and finally it just stopped. The pain ended and only the residual ache of being torn apart and sewn back together was left in its wake. He felt like he’d been run over by a truck, but the feeling of having a giant pole ripping through his insides had disappeared.
The smoke stayed in the air for a moment and then it was moving, floating down and surround Ellen’s body before filling her until there was nothing left in the air. There was a moment where nothing happened and everyone stayed very still. And then Ellen coughed and her body reanimated as she slowly pushed herself to her feet.
“I thought it’d take you longer to break free,” the doctor said, eyes turning black as he spoke.
“You never were very smart. Did you really think I’d be in there for long?” Ellen replied, her eyes glowing red for a moment before fading back to normal.
“You must have had help,” the doctor said, “not even my father would have been able to break out so quickly. That’s a strong charm your broke through.”
“I did have help, but that’s really none of your business,” Ellen replied. “Now that I’m here, you can go. I have unfinished business to take care of.”
“Nice try, but he’s mine,” the doctor declared, stepping forward and grabbing a fist full of Dean’s hair in an iron grip. Dean grunted in pain, but with the drugs pumping through his system, and the restraints around his wrists, he wasn’t in much of a position to fight. “He killed my father. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
A light turned on and suddenly Dean realized who he was dealing with. “Meg?” he whispered. Neither demon acknowledged that he spoke.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Ellen replied, voice grittier than Dean was used to. It was deep, almost guttural.
“Never felt more wanted in my life,” Dean mumbled groggily.
“Shut up,” the doctor snapped, tightening his grip on Dean’s hair. “This is my kill.”
“Not until I have his soul,” Ellen growled back.
“All of this is about my crappy soul?” Dean asked with a sleepy laugh. His dirty, worthless soul? Too tarnished for even a crossroads demon? A set of black eyes and a set of red eyes glared at him with a fierceness he hadn’t seen before.
“You made a deal, Dean,” Ellen said. “A deal you broke.”
“Sam broke it, actually,” Dean quiped, his scratchy throat beginning to work a little better the more he was using it.
“You can make this right,” Ellen continued, her hand reaching out and grabbing his chin. “You can save your brother.”
“You want my soul?” Dean asked.
“I shouldn’t be surprised you’re even considering this,” the doctor growled. “You Winchesters are all the same.”
“Shut up,” Ellen snapped. Her attention refocused on Dean, eyes glowing bright red as she did. Her fingers dug painfully into his skin as her grip tightened. “You’re damn right I want your soul, Dean Winchester. We have a special place in hell for deal breakers like you. You’re very close to our hearts,” she hissed.
Dean shook his head out of her grip and met her cold glare with one of his own. “Reverse what’s happening to Sammy, and you have yourself a deal. Soon as I see he’s okay with my own eyes, you can take my soul. That’s all I want.”
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Sam’s eyes opened up and blinked. He expected pain, he expected the pounding in his skull to begin again, but there was nothing. Slowly he sat up and looked around the small cabin before pushing to his feet. He felt…wrong somehow, but the pain had stopped and all he could do was be thankful for that. He’d never prayed so hard in his life as he’d for the pain in his head to finally cease.
A noise outside caught Sam’s attention and made him spin towards the window next to the front door. He saw nothing but he could hear the crunch of the leaves as someone or something moved. He stalked towards it, peeking out through the glass panes but found nothing. His apprehension rose, and he quietly moved across the cabin, looking through different windows but finding nothing each time. Whoever or whatever was outside was hiding itself well. He hurried back into the living room and went to find the industrial sized bag of salt that had been left there from their last visit. He hoisted the bag up and began to lay salt lines across the entrances. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t done it in the first place. It had been a dumb move, one motivated by his inability to concentrate on anything but the pain when he’d first arrived here. There was no telling what kind of thing might have followed him here. He was lucky something hadn’t happened to him.
Once all the salt had been laid, he grabbed his .45 and stuffed it in his back pocket. A noise near the front of the cabin caught his attention, and the split second image of blonde hair that passed by the window was enough for him to know exactly who it was. He moved towards the door, yanking it open.
“Jo!” he called. He tried to step outside but he couldn’t. It was like a wall was there, preventing his from moving. He looked down and saw the line of salt he’d just laid. Why couldn’t he pass it? He could feel his heart jump into his throat.
“Sam?” Jo called, moving into his line of sight. When she saw him, her eyes went wide and she took a step back, lifting her shot gun up. “Stay back.”
XOXOXOXOXOXOX