[Sam's Restless Dream]
Sam gave a little snort as he woke up and looked around in bleary confusion. He didn't remember him and Dawn coming home from the party, and yet there they were, him in his bed, and Dawn...packing?
"I didn't want things to end this way," Dawn said idly, pulling more clothes out of her closet, to fold and put into her suitcase.
Sam shifted his gaze back and forth, watching her move. "I...I thought we agreed that I'd move out if we ended things. I have less stuff," he replied.
Dawn shrugged, continuing to organize her clothes. "It doesn't make much sense for me to stay. I've got a new man to move in with, after all."
"I thought you loved me," Sam said sadly.
That seemed to get Dawn's attention enough for her to stop what she was doing, and come over to sit on Sam's bed. "I still love you. But I need something different. I need someone non-emo. And I have enough people after me already without having to worry about you getting me killed."
"And you think he'll be better for you than I will?" Sam asked, gesturing sharply to the clown standing in the doorway. He gave Dawn a sly wave, which she quickly returned.
"What can I say? He makes me laugh." Dawn leaned over and kissed Sam softly on the cheek. "We'll always have Fandom," she said, before getting up, grabbing her suitcase, and walking out the door.
Sam hesitated for only a moment before yelling, "Dawn, wait!" and pushing himself off of the bed to follow her. When he got into the hallway, he found it empty, but for a tall, thin man with pale skin and wild dark hair. He glanced back and forth, trying not to be disturbed by the man's gaze, before heading to the right.
Going down the stairs and out the main doors of the dorm building brought Sam into the gun range, and he watched silently as John went into a lecture on shooting techniques that he was pretty sure he'd heard himself a hundred times before.
"I think I know what I'm doing," Alec remarked from John's left, leaning down with the gun to set off a round of perfect shots into the paper target. To John's right, a little girl stood on a stack of boxes tall enough so that she could see over the counter. She shot at the paper target with a water pistol, but the sound of bullets rang clear nonetheless.
"Did I do good, Daddy?" she asked, tilting her head up at John.
John gave her a look brimming with pride, and nodded. "You did great, sweetheart. Mommy's going to be real proud of you too."
Sam scowled and cleared his throat in an attention-getting manner. "Uh, I hate to interrupt this little family moment," he piped up, watching as the three of them turned to him, "but have any of you seen Dawn?"
John sighed. "It's not my job to keep track of your girlfriend--"
"Ex-girlfriend," Alec pointed out.
"Your whatever, Sam," John finished. "I'm a little busy with people who actually want to help with the family business."
"So, what? You're too busy training my replacements to help me?" Sam asked sharply.
John gave Sam a weary look, and shook his head. "You're too young and too untrustworthy to know exactly what I'm up to," he replied, turning away from Sam completely to go back to speaking with Alec.
"I saw a clown," the little girl offered helpfully, pointing out the opposite door of the gun range. "He went that way."
Sam frowned at his dad, and muttered a thank you before heading out the door. He didn't recognize the corridor he was in, a seemingly endless line of hallways and doors, each one identical to the next, and he had just about reached the point of giving up and going back to his room when he opened one more door and nearly collided with a balding man in a jacket and tie.
"If cheese falls in the forest, and no one is around to see it, does it taste as good?" the man asked, adjusting his glasses before waving a slice of yellow cheese in Sam's face.
Sam recoiled, shuffling and pushing past the man to get out the next door. It was the final door, he realized, as he stepped outside and found himself in a cemetery. It didn't look like any cemetery he'd been in before, but it still seemed familiar, and became even more so when Sam spotted Dean standing by one of the graves.
"Sam, get the lead out! Are you gonna help me, or are you just gonna stand there?" Dean yelled.
"Sorry," Sam replied, rushing over to Dean. He went to the other side of the grave, picked up the second shovel, and began digging dirt out of the hole.
Dean watched him for a moment before starting to fume. "What the hell are you doing, Sam?"
"Uh, I thought we were just getting started," Sam replied.
"You call this just getting started?" Dean gestured to the hundreds of graves around them.
Sam looked around where Dean was pointing. "We're responsible for all of these graves?"
Dean laughed shortly, but there was no mirth in the sound at all. "We? When did this become a 'we' situation?" he asked. "You can't take any responsibility for yourself, can you Sam?"
Sam stopped what he was doing and stared at Dean. "You're not calling me Sammy."
"You stopped being Sammy a long time ago," Dean said, going back to shoveling dirt into the grave. "I guess if you think about it, you really can say we're responsible for this. I'm the one who didn't stop you."
"Didn't stop me from what?"
"From going evil," Dean replied bitterly. "From giving into your powers, from killing anyone who tried to get in your way, and a whole lot of others while you were at it."
Sam paused for just a moment in realization. "That's who all these people are."
"Your victims," Dean said. "Every last one of them."
"I'm sorry," Sam replied softly, looking across the cemetery. It seemed like the only thing he could think of to say.
Dean snorted. "Oh yeah, you're sorry all right. A sorry son of a bitch."
Sam started to make another apology, when he heard a hissing and rattling noise behind him. He whirled around, looking back towards where he came, but the door was no longer there. "Dean, did you hear something?" he asked. He turned back to face his brother, but came face to face with someone else. Something else, surprisingly dark and strong as she reached out to put her hands on his head.
"Dean? Dean, help!" Sam cried out. He tried to get away, but she simply held on stronger, pushing and digging into his head, and the pain was like a hundred visions all together at once.
"Sorry, Sammy," Dean said, his name sounding like a curse on his brother's lips. "I'm tired of saving you."
All Sam could do was scream as everything went black.
Restless Table of Contents
Where it all begins
Willow's Dream
Xander's Dream
Bridge's Dream
River's Dream
Izzy's Dream
Nadia's Dream
Alec's Dream
Dawn's Dream
Sam's Dream
Mel's Dream
Buffy's Dream
Where it all ends