Fanfic: Half A Life (7/11)
Author: Lonnie
Genre: Angst/Hurt/Comfort
Rating: PG-13 (T)
Characters: Sam, Dean, Bobby, Trickster
Summary: Dean's deal is almost done and Sam's beyond desperate. With one last idea he goes to find the demon that will be the owner of his big brother's soul with an offer that surprisingly enough is accepted!
Link to fanfiction.net:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4391587/1/Half_A_Life
Big thanks to KidKneeGirl for being such a sport to beta check the story for me :D
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7 - Little Trickster
"You gotta be fudging joking me!" Dean groaned as he recognized the little man in the living room, who was fiddling with something on his right arm just below his elbow. Bobby ignored Dean's remark and looked down at Sam who was muttering curses under his breath.
"You promised not to come after him why?" it was Dean who asked before Bobby could,
"Dude killed me a billion times!"
"You guys take things waaay too personal for your own good," and standing just a little behind the door was no other then the Trickster himself.
"You killed me!" Dean growled and started to leap out of the bed as if someone had pushed the anger button, but Sam grabbed his brother's wrist and held him back. Dean slapped Sam's hand away, jumped off the bed and set off towards the Trickster. Sam groaned. A big part of him wanted to send the little man on a time loop himself, but Sam was a man of his word and didn't want Dean to go into a fist fight with a demi god. Obviously Dean had other plans.
"It wasn't like it really happened. Geez," the Trickster rolled his eyes and backed away from Dean before turning to Sam, but before the demi god could continue, Sam did.
"I didn't go after you. Don't look at me," Sam groaned at the Trickster. Dean grabbed the Trickster by the shoulders and pushed him up against the wall. Bobby grabbed Dean's arms and tried to pry them off the smaller man, but without such luck.
"Why are you here??" Dean growled. The Trickster moved his gaze over to Bobby, pulling Dean's with him.
"What's going on??" Dean yelled, not intending to sound so pissed off, but he couldn't help it. Sam groaned on the bed at Dean's yelling and tried to sit up, but just ended up on his elbows.
"And why on earth aren't you mixing and tricksing your way out of my grip?" Dean added with a lower and curious voice. The Trickster lifted both his eyebrows and sent the young hunter a silly look.
"Okay. Listen up, I found this spell to summon demi gods and this is what I ended up with," Bobby nodded towards the brown haired man Dean was pushing against the wall,
"Like I said, I got the idea from Sam," Bobby continued and Sam lifted an eyebrow lazily,
"Well all he did was mention the Trickster," Sam cursed,
"But I thought it would be a good idea to try to catch him since he's a demi god," now the Trickster was cursing too, causing Dean to tighten his hold on the man's shoulders.
"Why?" Sam asked, eyes closed and brow furrowed. Dean looked intensly at his brother, but didn't let go of the Trickster just yet.
"Yeah why?" The Trickster echoed childishly,
"Because last time I checked I couldn't really use my "magic" because of this... this crypts keeper," he nodded towards Bobby, who chose to ignore the wise ass nicknames that came flying. Dean's face lit up a bit when he got the answer to his last question.
"How? Why not?" Dean looked from the Trickster's grumpy face to Bobby's serious. Bobby stepped forward to Dean and grabbed the Trickster's right arm and twisted it a bit so a burning mark could be seen just below the elbow on the demi god's arm. Dean finally let go of the Trickster, but stood beside him, looking at the burn mark.
"Is that a..." Sam squinted to see the mark and waved one hand in a circle to try to reel the word in.
"Binding link or something?" Dean continued for Sam. Bobby shrugged.
"Or something. There's no demon in him... believe it or not," Bobby shot the Trickster a glare,
"But he's not able to use any magic as long as he got this mark on." Awkward silence followed.
"So now he's just a little guy without powers?" Dean's eyebrows almost vanished in his hairline.
"Ey!" the Trickster pointed an harmless finger at the eldest Winchester. Dean stood in front of Bobby and the Trickster for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. When he first noticed his head starting to hurt he went back to Sam on the bed. He put a hand on his little brother's head and brushed some hair away from the youngest Winchester's face. Sam opened his eyes to see Dean nudging his own head towards Bobby and the Trickster.
"So what do you think?" Dean swallowed as Sam whimpered a bit when he felt strong pain in his throat before he buried his face in the pillow.
"Bob-by, I thrust you and all th..." Sam pressed his eyes together as the pain hit stronger in his throat and neck. He felt something wet starting to wet his mouth, more then just saliva. He chose to ignore it and tried to swallow,
"But, how can he..." he pointed blindly towards the little man without powers,
"...help when he's..." tears pressed it's way through his eyelids and ran down his temple and Dean turned his attention fully to his little brother.
"...powerless?" Dean asked Sam before turning to Bobby. The Trickster had for the first time really noticed that something was wrong with Sam.
"Hah! Haven't thought of that have you now, granny?" the Trickster crossed his arms again.
"I'll come up with something," Bobby said tiredly.
"Yeah well you better come up with something soon because I was in the middle of something when you came and ruined the day," the Trickster glared.
"What? Busy killing some innocent guy again?" Bobby mocked and turned his attention to the brothers.
"You know how I work. The guy asked for it," the Trickster tried to defended his "job".
"Why would he help us?" Dean asked without looking up from Sam, who seemed to be struggling with something. He put one arm right under Sam's shoulder blades and lifted his little brother carefully up to a sitting position, letting him lean heavily on him.
The Trickster had an unsettling hint of a smile on his lips now. Bobby turned to answer the question towards the Trickster.
"He will help us because if he don't... I simply kill him," Bobby said dead serious,
"And without those little tricks of yours, you got nothing."
The Trickster rolled his eyes, but he was obviously annoyed. Bobby continued to speak, but they fell for deaf ears as the "little man" was ignoring him and Dean focused all of his attention on his troubled brother. Dean got a sudden feeling of deja vù as Sam's head leaned back and a pained gasp. Soon the rest of the long body collapsed into his big brother's arms and his arm fell limply to the mattress. Blood was coughed up and out of Sam's mouth and the red stain on the white bandage on his collar and neck grew.
"Bobby!" Dean cried as he pulled the limp body closer to his, tears already close to fall. The older hunter felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of Sam's bloody throat and hurried over. The arm that wasn't holding Sam up was moving all over his little brother's face, trying to calm the younger man, dry the blood away from his chin, but Dean could only watch helplessly as more blood just came flowing. He finally rested his hand against the side of Sam's neck, just above the red soaked bandage and let his fingers lift his head up. The dark hair hung limp and the young man's eyes broke Dean's heart and his tears finally ran down his cheeks. The bandage was covered in dark red blood now and even began coating Sam's shirt in red too. It became quite clear that the scratch over the main artery was opened. Sam coughed one more time before his eyes slowly closed and his head snapped back limply against the neck.
"No! Sam! Bobby!" Dean looked confused and broken from his brother to the old family friend,
"This can't be happening. Sam!" Dean unconsciously tried to find a pulse by the blood covered throat even though he knew there was no point checking there. Bobby grabbed Sam's arm to check the pulse on his wrist, but found none. Dean, blinded by tears pressed his hand needlessly against Sam's chest, feeling no beat of the heart or any intake of air. The following silence was eerie and the only sound came from Dean from where he had pulled his brother even closer and was sobbing against Sam's neck and hair. Bobby turned around and was surprised to see that the Trickster hadn't made a run for it, but was standing a bit back, a look on his face Bobby wasn't sure what meant. If he didn't know better he would think it might be a hint of sympathy on the man's face.
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Dean felt split in two. One part of him couldn't look at his brother, but the other part just couldn't leave him. Dean tried to come up with ideas in the middle of his despair, but there wasn't much Bobby could help to answer.
"She broke the deal, Bobby! She broke it!" Dean had managed to leave Sam's dead body in the bedroom and stood on the porch of Bobby's house with Bobby himself and the Trickster sitting close by unusually quiet. Wether he knew what to do or not, the Trickster wasn't sharing it.
"I know, Dean, but how do you tell that to a demon? Demons are dishonest. Do you really think they'll accept that they failed to keep their part of the deal?" Bobby explained. Dean's forehead furrowed as if he was attacked by a massive headache, but it was emotional pain that caused it.
"What if he wont wake up again when I do? What if he's gone..." Dean bit his lip and his sorrow was starting to grow into anger.
"Yeah okay, so If I'm getting this right, you sacrificed your soul for your brothers', then he found a way to get himself into hell as well?" the Trickster suddenly spoke, causing Dean to make an uncharacteristic jump,
"I'm psychic," the Trickster mumbled sarcastically, shook his head and rolled his eyes, having no trouble remembering what he told Sam about the two of them keeping sacrificing themselves for each other. He took a deep breath and looked at the young man beside the grey old man. The Trickster had figured out a plan he thought could work, although he knew with himself that he would be able to escape as soon as the binding link was gone. Yet, there was something that wanted to stay and maybe help. It wasn't the type of work he usually did obviously. He much more prefered to travel around and pull people down a few notches. Or the whole way down, but there were something about the Winchesters that had him interessted. He didn't want to kill them because they weren't on his list. The Trickster always had that simple rule, that he wasn't going to kill people that, in his eyes was alright. Yeah, the Winchesters job was to stop things like him, but they hadn't managed it yet.
"Watch it," Dean growled in anger at the Trickster's typical attitude, and pointed a finger at the little man. He tried to say more, but words wouldn't work with him. Dean's voice made the Trickster focus on the situation now.
"No, you watch it," the Trickster had suddenly a stern look on his face and his voice threatening,
"I think I know a way to get you out of this, but your reasons for me to help you already suck, so don't make it worse. The only reasons I'm willing to help is because I want my... my..." the Trickster grimaced and showed both his hands up in front of him,
"I want my magic back!" the Trickster groaned and turned away from the two other men and grinned to himself,
"And I don't really have a death wish either."
"Admit it, you got a weak spot for the boys," Bobby muttered and the Trickster spun around.
"What? For Thelma and Louise? Not likely," the Trickster made a face again. He'd rather go for the death wish then to admit his so called "weak spot".
"Then why are you still here when you have had chances on getting away?" Dean asked, voice tight as he sent glances in the direction of the bedroom.
"Because of the stupid binding link!" the Trickster was growing impatient as he went into the house again.
"You could have made a burn across it to break it," Dean said and followed in. Bobby slapped him across the head.
"Don't give him any ideas," Bobby groaned. The Trickster turned back to them and lifted his arms as in surrender.
"I knew that. How stupid do you think I am?" the brown haired man crossed his arms,
"Want to hear my plan or what?"
Dean and Bobby looked at each other before nodding. Dean went into the bedroom and sat down beside Sam, lying his hand loyally on top of his brother's and waited for the Trickster to speak.
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Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 8 Chapter 9