Story Title: Group Efforts
Name:tifaching
Character/Relationships: Sam, Dean, John, Mary, Jess, Ruby
Rating: PG
Summary: Sometimes it takes a group effort to get things done.
Warnings: Language, non-explicit mentions of torture
A/N: Written for
spn_las Prompt was for a story written in the first person POV. This is my first try at that so I'm not sure how it came out. Got one vote for best story, one vote for worst story, so I guess the voters had a hard time with it too! :)
This was awesomely remixed into
Not What I Signed Up For at
Remix Redux 10: X Marks the Spot.
“Sam. Sam!” The voice is insistent, demanding my attention, but my attention’s not really responding to demands right now and since this particular voice can’t be here anyway, I ignore it.
It’s dark. Is it dark? I can’t tell because I can’t seem to open my eyes, but it seems like it should be dark. And cold. It should be freezing. I feel like light and warmth have gone and won’t ever be coming back. The voice is hammering at me, sharp and annoying like it’s trying to push me into the frigid blackness, so I don’t fight it and sink into the depths.
When I float back to the surface, it’s like someone’s unsealed my eyelids and, with effort I’m not sure it’s worth it to expend, I pry them open. I’m staring up at a devil’s trap in a metal frame with a fan spinning lazily above it and it takes me a minute, but I remember. I remember. Christ, I’m back in Bobby’s panic room because….because. Fuck. I did it again. I fucking did it again. It all comes crashing back- the demons, Famine, Dean. God, Dean. He knows. He saw….fuck.
“Sam.” The voice is back and oh, do I know that tone. The I’m done fucking around with you, so cut the shit tone.
“I don’t want to fight.”
“So quit fighting.”
It takes about a hundred years, but I manage to turn my head to face him. He’s leaning against the door like that would keep me from getting out if I really wanted to. If I really wanted to and wasn’t chained to a table, he’d be the last thing keeping me here. Then he starts to talk again and I think that maybe he’s not trying to keep me in. Maybe he’s trying to keep Dean out.
“Why don’t you quit fighting, Sam? You’re hurting yourself. You’re hurting your brother. Have you looked at him lately? Really looked? This is what you’re meant to do. You were born to do this. Say yes, Sammy.”
“No. No, Dad. I wasn’t. I won’t.”
“But you were, sweetie.” A hand brushes softly through my hair, strokes my face. “You were born to do this, I made sure of it. And you will say yes. I know you will.”
“Mom.” And it is. She’s there, her face beautiful and peaceful and sure. “Please, Mom. I don’t want to. I’m scared.”
“I know you are, baby. You don’t have to be, though. Your father and I will be with you every step of the way.” Mom holds out her hand and Dad’s there to grasp it, his other hand landing strong and firm on my shoulder. “Just like we were for Dean.”
My head’s spinning and it’s hard to process what they’re saying, because they can’t really want me to say yes. And Dean...what?
I don’t think I speak, but Dad grins sharply and answers me anyway. “Come on, Sammy. Alastair was good, but you’d have been old and gray before your brother broke if your mother and I hadn’t given him some insights.”
“Nobody hurts Dean like family.” Mom laughs and Dad leans over to kiss her.
There are lips pressed against mine too, and when I can focus again, Jess is there. She’s straddling my hips, her torso draped over mine and as she rises up, she’s smiling. “I helped too, Sam. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”
“Helped?” I’m lost here because Jess wasn’t in hell, she wasn’t. “You didn’t even know Dean.”
“No.” Her smile is proud. “I know you, though. And all roads into Dean lead straight through you, Sam.” Her hands are busy now, holding a whetstone and sharpening a wicked looking blade. Her eyes are full of innocent joy as she stares into mine. “There were all kinds of things I could do.”
Jess leans forward again and kisses me like she’s trying to suck all the air from my lungs. Hers aren’t the only lips on me though, and teeth pull at my earlobe before another voice starts the blood boiling in my veins.
“Guess what I did, Sammy.”
Ruby? I want to spit the name back into her face, but Jess has my mouth otherwise occupied.
“Yeah, baby it’s me.” Her voice is like sin. “I spent some quality time downstairs with big brother, too. I guess you could call me the event coordinator. You know- for the times everyone wanted a taste.”
And it’s too much. Too fucking much. A rough shake of my head dislodges Ruby, backs Jess off. My eyes lock with Dad’s and I want him to tell me it’s not true. That they didn’t. That he didn’t. But he smiles, licks his lips, and I’ve seen that look before. In the cabin when the demon was crowding Dean, bleeding him, killing him.
“You bastard. You did. You helped them break him. You all helped do that to my brother!” The restraints are tight around my wrists, my ankles, Dean had made sure of it and no matter how hard I struggle I can’t break free. I know they’re dead already, but I want to annihilate them for turning Dean into this unfixable thing. “God, Dad. How could you?”
“It was the only way he’d fulfill his destiny.”
“His destiny was to be Michael’s vessel!”
“His destiny was to break that seal. That’s what he was made for. You should have seen him, Sammy. No guilt, no fear. If that damned angel had just left him alone, he’d be fine. Take him back home where he belongs. Where you belong. Say yes, son.”
“Sam. Sam!” And oh, thank God. It’s Dean, finally, pale and exhausted but chasing the ghosts away, taking care of me like always. And I’ll say yes for him if he needs me to. God help me, I will.