Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural

Sundered Veil

They drove all through the night, and Dean was a lot more stable, squeezing the cut with alarming frequency as they got closer to the green room, ignoring the presence of Lucifer, Alastair, Ruby, his father and Cas, all torturing Sam, who was pleading desperately with his brother to save him, with promises that he wouldn't let him down again, and it ripped apart Dean's heart to ignore him.

Jody was dozing beside him, her hand on his wrist as if to keep him from leaping forward again, Bobby had vanished again and Marion was stiff from the long drive.

Sam was looking at the sun that was beginning to rise in the sky worriedly. Tessa would be coming for him soon, wanting to take him on. But he couldn't go. Dean was still barely keeping it together, and he knew he couldn't leave his brother in this state. He had to stick around to help Dean. He could only hope that by killing Zachariah Dean's mind would go back to normal, because it was clear that Dean was finding it a lot harder to cope with his visions than he had anticipated. Sam frowned. He had eventually learned to just deal with them, but he supposed that losing him had weakened his brother's resistance and now he was struggling, even with the cut.

"No, Sammy, you didn't do anything wrong." Dean moaned to himself, as a wrecked image of Sam pleaded with Dean to know why he had killed him, wanting to know what he had done wrong.

"So why did you kill me? What finally made you do it? What did I do?" he pleaded sadly, giving his brother a puppy dog look that broke Dean's heart.

"You didn't do anything Sammy, I'm sorry I killed you, you didn't deserve it...but I was so brutal, and I'm sorry..." Dean sobbed, waking Jody up.

"Dean, we've been through this, you didn't kill Sam! Zachariah did! Please believe us!" she pleaded, but Dean could see a hurt Sam turn away from him dejectedly, and it was killing him as he remembered violently shattering his neck.

Dean began to quiver, and Jody was ready to tell Marion to stop the car when Sam pressed down on the cut again, and Dean yelped, snapping back to reality.

"Sammy?" he asked hesitantly, and Marion stared at Jody nervously.

"Hallucination or spirit?" he asked, and she shrugged, but Dean seemed to be lucid again at least for the moment, so she was willing to accept that it was the spirit.

"Stone number one..." he muttered, feeling the pressure on his hand and squeezing it harder, and looking around intently as if by staring enough he could see Sam right before him.

Sam frowned down at his hands. He was beginning to have more of an effect on the real world, which suited him. Hesitantly, he raised his hand, and ran his hand through Dean's hair experimentally, and he was as shocked as his brother was when he actually managed to move it. Dean smiled slightly and closed his eyes, savouring the ghostly touch.

"Sammy..." he muttered softly, and Sam smiled a little.

At least he could manage to do this much.

Dean continued to struggle with the visions, but knowing Sam was there, helping him, made it easier to cope with them, especially when Meg appeared and started kissing Cas, celebrating their victory over a prone and defeated Sam, who was shivering naked on the ground, teeth grinding against the pain he was in.

"Well done my love, now you made Dean kick him out, all we need to do now is get Dean to admit how he really feels about all of us." Meg purred, caressing Cas' cheek.

"He wanted me to be his brother, and you to be Jess. Now he can have the life he wanted without Sam messing it up for him. Doesn't that make you happy Dean?" Cas asked, and Dean glowered at him, shaking his head.

"No, of course not, I want Sam back, I don't want you. You betrayed us, nearly killed Sam!" he spat, and Cas cocked his head curiously.

"But you wanted me to do that, you wanted him dead, don't you remember?"

"With Sam dead, Cas could finally be your brother, it's what you wanted Dean. You were hoping that Sam would die and then Cas could just take over. But he screwed up your life yet again, he still didn't die, and he dragged you further and further down." Meg said, and Dean glowered at her hatefully.

"No. I would never want Sam dead."

Meg laughed.

"Then why do you keep trying to kill him then huh Dean? Third time lucky, you finally got him this time. And you said yourself that he was poison, a parasite, and that you were fed up of hauling him around. Cas did what you wanted!" she said, as if it were obvious.

"No, he's my brother, I would never want him dead, he isn't a parasite. And Cas betrayed us." Dean said stubbornly, ignoring the tears that were welling in his eyes.

"Sam did too. But I'm always the one who gets away with things that I do wrong, you never let Sam away with it. Was what I did really that bad?" Cas asked innocently, and Dean had had enough.

"Yes it was. Sam and I were manipulated into doing what we did, we made mistakes, and while it might seem that I'm always making him feel bad about them, Sam did everything to prove to me he wanted to fix it, and he did. He didn't go insane with power, try to hurt the ones he loved unless we forced him to, and he certainly didn't unleash an Apocalypse single handed! So don't you dare stand there and I assume I choose him over you, because I sure as hell don't! Sam is my little brother. He makes mistakes, I help clean them up, I bitch at him, he bitches back, we make up, and then we move on. Not you Cas. Not after what you did. Sam is my little brother, and while it might seem that I never have a bad word to say about you, I sure as hell do. You're a monster, worse than Sam ever was and ever could be. He's my little brother, he's allowed to make mistakes, and part of his mistakes were just as much to do with me as they were with him. You, Cas, did it all on your own, you are an arrogant, power hungry butcher, who turned on the best friends, the only friends you ever had, the ones who adopted you into their family, and you almost killed us both, and you nearly destroyed Sam! So don't you dare stand there with your demon whore, you sanctimonious son of a bitch, and say I wanted Sam dead, because I didn't, and I'm so glad I stopped being a jerk and let Sam back into my life, because given a choice between him, you, Lucifer and the Leviathans, and even Megan Fox, I will always choose Sam!" he yelled.

"Seriously? Megan Fox is hot." Marion said in surprise as the images of Cas and Meg vanished from before Dean.

"I'm guessing Cas is a bit of an asshole?" Jody asked, as Dean squeezed his cut, and he nodded, scowling darkly.

"Yeah. I can't decide who's the bigger asshole actually, him or my dad." He growled.

In front of him, Sam smiled, and tried to keep pleased tears from his eyes. Dean chose him over everyone, including to his great surprise, Megan Fox. She could suck on that, Dean wanted him more than he wanted her.

"Thanks Dean." He said, his voice pleased.

Dean frowned as he heard a tiny sound like his brother's voice on the wind, and smiled slightly, nodding to himself.

"You're welcome Sammy." He said in response, and while Marion and Jody looked at each other in surprise, Sam looked at Dean in shock. How had he heard that?

Rather than a cause for elation, he feared it was actually a cause for concern. If Dean was hearing things from Sam's side of the veil between life and death, then there was every possibility that he didn't have long left. And looking at his brother, he saw just how exhausted his brother looked, and there was stubble growing very quickly on his face, and Sam gulped. He had looked much the same after his break, as he got closer and closer to dying, to just giving up the will to live and allowing Lucifer to win.

"No Dean, fight it." Sam pleaded, and while his brother nodded as if by rote, he could see the defeated expression in Dean's eyes.

"Come on Dean, don't give up on me yet." He begged softly, just as Marion stopped the car.

"Is this it? It looks like an old warehouse to me." He said sceptically, and yelped as Bobby appeared beside him.

"Yep, that's it. Come on, let's go and get this son of a bitch and end the smug bastard once and for all." Bobby said, and they all clambered out of the car.

"I'm coming for you Sam." Tessa's voice cut across the area, and Sam froze in fear as she did so, looking around in fear.

"I've still got time left, please, just let me stay a little longer, I need to make sure Dean is ok!" he cried, and she sighed as if bored.

"Alright fine. But I am going to be coming for you." She said, and Sam shook his head, his eyes wide and fearful as he looked around himself, scared that she might show up at any minute.

"I don't have to go with you if I don't want to, you know that." He said, and she clucked her tongue from wherever the hell she was.

"I do. But trust me Sam, if you come with me when I appear, I'll only be doing you a favour, I doubt you want to watch your brother's impending, sticky end as a brain dead, drooling pile of flesh." She said confidently.

"That won't happen, Dean's stronger than that." Sam said stubbornly, and she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe. But he doesn't look so good right now does he?" she asked, and then her voice was gone, giving Sam a break.

Reluctantly, he looked at Dean, who was holding his head in pain while grinding his scarred hand against the roof of the car, trying to break through the visions.

Dean trembled as he saw Alastair ripping apart Sam time and again, hating the laughing coming from his father as he beat down on Sam, detesting the sight of Ruby wracking her fingernails down his bare back.

"Come on Dean, you wanted this to happen to your brother, that's why you killed him. You wanted to send his freaky ass straight to hell, to me, so he could pay for making your life such a misery. And now he is. You wanted him put here, so he could suffer for everything he's done to you. That's why you killed him so viciously. Stabbing him was bad enough, that speaks of hate, you could have done it so much more kindly, but no, you wanted him to suffer." Alastair said gloatingly, as he ripped Sam's tongue out, pulling his intestines up with them, and Dean was shaking in fear.

"No, no, no, stone number one, this isn't real...I didn't want to kill Sam, I wouldn't, I, I didn't..." he said a in a pleading voice, tears falling from his eyes, revulsion in his stomach, his hands shaking as he beheld their torturing of his little brother, his poor baby brother.

"But then you took pleasure in it, making me so proud Dean! You twisted and twisted that knife, savouring his begging, his pleading, taking delight in making him suffer and cry as you killed him! You enjoyed killing the little demon, just like I knew you would. Consider it a lifetime worth of birthday presents, a decent one you can actually enjoy! You could have done something relatively painless to him, poisoned him, smothered him, or seeing his propensity for it, strangled him, but you chose the knife, just to demonstrate how much you hate him! Good boy!" John said proudly, wrapping thick chains around Sam's bare torso and pulling on it, and Dean felt sick as he heard the bones crack in his brother's spine, his gagging sounds of pain seeing as he no longer had a tongue, and blood continued to spill from his mouth, tormenting him as he saw his brother in such a state and he knew full well he could do nothing to protect him, to save him.

"You wanted to kill him Dean, just as you want to kill him now. But this time you want to free him, send him off into oblivion. But it sucks doesn't it, knowing he won't be made to hurt nearly as badly as last time. But it'll be ok Dean. Just kill him again, send him on, let him rest." Ruby purred, but Dean shook his head, watching in horror as she peeled slices of flesh from his little brother, who was thrashing and twitching in pain.

"I didn't kill him, and no, I won't...I killed my little brother!" Dean screamed, falling to his knees as his brother looked at him pleadingly, blood pouring from his mouth, writhing in pain as he was tortured, and then Dean blanched as John ripped the hair from his brother's head, turning him bald, blood coming from his head such was the force his hair was pulled out of his head.

"NO! Let him go, it was me, take me instead!" Dean pleaded as tears poured down Sam's face as Alastair ripped his teeth out with a lethal looking instrument.

"You shattered his spindly little neck Dean, how does that make you feel?" Ruby taunted as Sam cried before him, and tears were in Dean's eyes, vomit in his mouth as he crawled towards his little brother.

Images of Sam's terrified and desperate face, his frantic, petrified pleading, as Dean seized his head and burled his head around, snapping every little fragment of the bone in his neck. Dean fell to the floor, twitching as he once more relived his final murder of his baby brother, seeing Sam's head flop limply and lifelessly back onto the pillow at an unnatural angle.

Up ahead, he saw an image of himself, smiling in a predatory fashion down at his brother, who was shaking in terror, fear and pain, looking up at him desperately, begging him not to do what he was about to do.

"You know, I always hated those eyes, I should have hurt you every time you looked at me like that. Let's see. Or not, in your case." He said sinisterly, and pulled both eyes from Sam's head, leaving empty hollows as he did so, and Sam was thrashing violently in pain as he did so.

Dean could vaguely hear panicked voices yelling his name, and a pressure on his cut, but it didn't matter. His brother was in eternal pain, and now he himself was torturing him, hurting the one he loved the most. How could he have done that to Sam, murdered him and condemned him to that?

"Dean, listen to me!" Sam's voice yelled urgently, but he couldn't yell anymore, it had to be his imagination, Sam's tongue had been taken out.

His evil alter ego, dressed all in black and draped in a leather jacket, his hair now pure black and gelled into a mohawk, bent down and seized Sam by the neck, lifting him high into the air, watching in malicious delight as he struggled, his legs kicking violently.

"No, Sammy!" Dean wailed.

"Dean! You didn't kill me! I'm not being tortured, I'm not in Hell, I'm here, right beside you, as usual!" Sam cried, and Dean looked around, desperate for it to be true.

"Sammy?" he asked in a begging voice, as the image of his evil self strangling the shattered remains of his little brother.

"Dean, please! Come back! I know what you're seeing, I know it seems real, but it isn't! It isn't real! Remember, stone number one! I'm stone number one, believe in me, this me, the one talking to you. Squeeze your scar, remember, I might be dead but I'm still here. Dean, I'm still here, and I'm never going to leave you. I'm staying here with you, keep squeezing the scar, keep believing in me, I'm right beside you. Stone number one. You got me out remember? I was back. You've got to believe this isn't real. This isn't real. I'm not in hell, you got me out. I'm out, I'm here, with you. Forever." He promised softly, and Dean suddenly stopped shaking, and the images of his evil self strangling his little brother came to an end, and he was looking up at Jody, Marion and Bobby.

"You back with us kid?" Bobby asked worriedly, and Dean forced down on his scar, nodding as he did so.

"Yeah. I heard Sammy, he was talking to me, calming me down..." Dean said, as Marion helped him to his feet.

"Just a little longer okay honey? Now, this everything we need?" Jody asked, showing him an angel sword, and he nodded.

"Yeah. We stab him with that, he goes boom." Dean said, and Bobby nodded.

"Hopefully taking these mickey mouse visions along with him." He said, giving Dean a worried look.

"Let's go." Marion said tersely, hoisting a salt gun and a normal knife and after exchanging dark looks with Bobby and Jody, and looking in concern at Dean, they entered the warehouse.

"Just keep it together a while longer Dean." Sam pleaded his brother from beside him, hating how pale, worn out and tired his big brother looked.

The group edged forward, coming to the office.

"What if it doesn't work?" Jody asked, and Dean scowled, tightening his grip on his knife handle to keep up pressure on his scar, and raising the angel blade, prepared to stab Zachariah as soon as he saw him.

"Then we keep trying until it does." He growled, and opened the door.

To emerge into the beautiful room, where he had given up on Sam, where he had lost Adam and where he had killed Zachariah the last time. The place was beautiful, and there was no sign of what had happened there last time, it was clean and orderly once more.

"Hmm, pretty." Marion stated as they entered, weapons raised.

Dean saw the broken remains of Sam on one side, and the dead body he had found on the other and pointedly ignored the two of them, squeezing down on his cut to try and banish the images. He had to stay lucid, otherwise, they were all about to die.

"Zachariah! I'm here you son of a bitch!" he bellowed.

"Dean, that's no way to great an old friend now is it?" came the smug, hated voice of Zachariah, following a rustling of wings, and Dean, Bobby, Jody and Marion all turned to glare at him, and Sam glared at him too, wishing he could reach out and kill the bastard for what he had done to Dean.

"You're no friend of mine Zachariah. What the hell did you come back for?" he asked, glaring at the bald angel, who was smiling smugly.

"Well after your obnoxious little gnat of a friend Castiel set me loose, it seemed a shame to go straight back in without a fight, so I escaped. You boys, you caused me rather a lot of trouble, even before you killed me. Do you have any idea how insulting it is to be killed by an insignificant little gnat within an ant's digestive tract like you?" he challenged, and Marion raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well hello Mr Congeniality." He said sarcastically, glaring at the angel.

"So, once I broke out, it seemed a waste of my time to go up to the heavens, they were in even more chaos than when Castiel started. So I figured the best use of my time would be to spend it destroying you. You made a fool out of me time and again, and then you killed me. Do you have any idea how many decades of preparation went into planning the Apocalypse? And you, a foul little human with delusions of grandeur, you destroyed all those plans, and now both Lucifer and Michael are stuck in the cage, all because of you! You've caused far too much trouble. I was a high ranking angel once, one of the best. Until I met you, you stubborn, arrogant, self centred, obnoxious little creep. I couldn't let everything you did slide, not after you brought me, me, one of heaven's best, to your level. It's a mistake you will rue Dean." Zachariah said, and Dean glared at the angel, dressed in a business suit as always, with cold grey eyes, not much hair, and as always his superior expression.

"So you came back, just to get revenge on me and Sam." He growled, and Jody glowered harder at the angel as he laughed.

"No, not Sam, he was just a means to an end. See, he actually played his part, he said yes to Lucifer. Problem is he's so erotically co dependent on you, that he overcame the devil, and screwed up all of our plans. We don't want to share the world with you whiny little humans anymore, to be forced to bow to such inferior beings, but because of him and you and Castiel, we're stuck here and not in Paradise like we belong. But no, I didn't set out to get revenge on Sam, he hasn't caused me nearly so much hassle as you have. But it dawned on me that after sweet baby brother so helpfully started the Apocalypse, even then he was still the most important thing in your life, even if you Dean, tried to convince yourself he wasn't. You tried to replace him with Castiel, but you couldn't. So, it became obvious. To make you hurt, to really torture you for all you've done, to show you that you should have listened to me and done as I told you, I figured what better to do than to kill sweet, adoring little Sammy?" he asked with a dark laugh, and Dean growled.

"So that's why you keep torturing Dean, making him think he killed Sam. To get back at him for making a fool out of you, for screwing up your Apocalypse, and then for killing you. And here I thought angels were meant to be good guys." Jody snarled, and Zachariah snorted derisively.

"Good guys? God meant for us to bow down to selfish, insecure, petty, vindictive little creatures as you. Why should we? You have no idea how insignificant all of you are in the grand design, you're just tics on a dog's tail you're such an insignificance. But occasionally, there's humans who won't just stand back and do as they're told. Humans who think they can be the ones to call the shots, think they can tell us what to do! Pope Alexander VI, King Henry VIII, Ghandi, Bill Clinton, and Sam and Dean bloody Winchester, all these people thinking angels are good beings, who should protect and guide, who shouldn't rule this miserable little speck of dirt, all of you are wrong! Humans are futile, mindless little creatures, who should sit down and do as they're told, but they won't! Who the hell are you, trying to defy destiny, defy our will? Look where it got you Dean. A dead little brother, and hallucinations to boot. Now you see that we truly are the superior beings, and you, you rabid little gnat, are going to suffer for all you've done to defy us, your superiors!" Zachariah roared, and the lot of them were blown over the room by a wave of his hand.

"This guy really needs a kick in the nuts." Marion snarled, firing bullets rapidly at Zachariah.

The bullets zoomed into him, but he simply rolled his eyes and crushed the gun, leaving Marion defenceless, and he leapt out of the way as Zachariah cast a ball of light at him. Bobby threw a flowerpot at him, but it shattered on the way, and an instant later, the flask was in his hand, and with a smug, gloating grin, it burst into flames.

"NO!" Dean yelled as Bobby screamed and writhed in the pain, flames encompassing his entire body, and with a last flash, he was gone, forever.

"Whoops. Did I kill Bobby like I killed Sammy?" Zachariah asked in a pitying voice, his eyes alight with malice, a smug grin of superiority on his face.

"Bobby no!" Jody cried, flinging her own knife at Zachariah, who turned it into a paper aeroplane.

"You know, I always wondered what a person with a brain aneurysm would look like." He said, and a second later Jody gave a cry of pain, her hands clasping her head, and she dropped to the floor, dead.

Dean couldn't believe it. Bobby was gone for good, just like he'd feared. The only difference was he hadn't had to do it. Now Bobby was destroyed for good, and without him and Sam, he had no desire to remain alive. And Jody, poor Jody, she was also dead, lying cold on the floor, the victim of something she should never have been involved in. Dean looked at the sword in his hand. For what he did to Sam, he still had to kill Zachariah. And then, then he and his gun would get a hell of a lot more friendly.

"This your first venture into the supernatural? Pity it's also your last. Have some lung cancer." Zachariah sneered, and after some bloody coughs, Marion rolled over, dead also, just like the rest.

Dean stood, glowering at Zachariah, his heart pounding, blood flying through his ears, tears in his eyes as he ignored the bodies on the floor and the smoky smell that had resulted from burning the flask.

"You sick, arrogant son of a bitch. You got your revenge, you killed Sam, made me think I did it, gave me hallucinations..."

Zachariah laughed.

"Yeah, I'll admit that was pretty fun. You have a lot of issues you know Dean. A lot of secret fears, fears that you have pushed Sam away, fear that you do want to hurt him, all sorts. Your mind was a paint palette, I was the artist. You like the ones of you torturing Sam? Pretty good weren't they?" he asked, and Dean looked at the angel pleadingly.

"Please. What do you want me to do? I'll do anything, just please, bring back the others." He pleaded, and Zachariah grinned, showing his teeth.

"Not this time Dean. You see, last time you wanted Michael to turn me into charcoal. And see, the more I thought about it, in that foul little corner of Purgatory you sent me, where I had to rub shoulders with nasties like Azazel, Anna, Lilith, Uriel...all of them, it occurred to me he might very well have killed me. You destroyed my worth, my reputation, and then you destroyed me, all because you couldn't stand up and do the jobs you were meant to do! No, you had to play the petulant child, just like Lucifer did, not wanting to do anything you were told.

Who are you to defy us? You're atoms on the scales we were playing with and yet you somehow still managed to screw everything up. Well, no more Dean. I killed Sam to hurt you, to break you. And then , I made you think you did it to break you further. Then I started the hallucinations to destroy you. See, the thing is, I will give Sam this: he had a greater strength of character than you do. You always assumed it would be him who caved and said yes, but no, it was you who were going to do it. Sam is much more equipped to deal with the problems I threw at you than a spoilt little brat like you, mewling about how unfair his life is, how sad and lonely he feels because he was being ordered around by us and by daddy, all of it was about you. Did it ever occur to you my poor little Dean that Sam has a hell of a lot more reason to complain than you did? No, it was all about poor little Dean!

You're a pathetic waste of time, all of our time, you're weak, childish, lazy, arrogant, spoilt, and above all else, stupid! And look at you now! The great Dean Winchester, with the weight of the world on his shoulders, crying and snivelling because everyone he loves is gone, and wanting to take the easy way out. You're pathetic. Now, let's dispense with that." Zachariah said, destroying the sword in Dean's hand as Dean stood there, stunned with the contempt Zachariah displayed, and wanting nothing more than to kill Zachariah and himself.

"Now Dean, after all you've done, don't die too quickly. And while you do die, behold as all your old friends torture your baby brother one final time, the brother who's death you will keep seeing well past the end. Goodbye Dean Winchester." Zachariah crowed in a smug, sing song voice.

Dean felt his own hands move against his will, going for his neck. He tried to stop them, tried to pull them away, but nothing happened, and even when he tried to move, he still couldn't. Dean was panicking as he wrapped his own hands around his throat and began to squeeze, just as Sam, fully restored, was once more on the rack, at the mercy of Lucifer, Alastair, Ruby, Lilith, Meg, Castiel, their father and worst of all, his evil self, who was leading the torture, hurting Sam again and again, while Sam screamed out apologies and promises to be good, while he begged to know what he had done to deserve this, wanted to know why Dean had turned on him and murdered him.

And he could also see Sam's murder, see Zachariah stabbing him in the stomach, twisting the knife again and again, Sam screaming and twisting in pain as he did so, his blood pouring everywhere, hear Sam begging Zachariah not to murder him, the final scared notes of fear in his voice and the horrible crack of shattering bone as Zachariah, complete with a smug smile on his face, shattered Sam's neck.

"Sam..." Dean croaked as he strangled himself, his legs kicking frantically as Zachariah levitated him off the ground.

The scenes continued to repeat in his head, and he could feel the pain they inflicted. He was gagging for air, his legs thrashing urgently as he tried to gain some purchase, he kept trying to pull away his hands but it was to no avail, they were stuck fast, constricting his airway bit by bit. His eyes were wide and bulging due to the lack of air, which try as he might, he couldn't rectify. Blood was pounding round his ears, spots were appearing in front of his vision as he lost his air, lost his life. He remembered the last time he had been strangled, by a hallucination induced by a djinn, and he'd had Sam to save him then.

Dean was making gagging noises, the scenes still playing before his eyes, which were bulging widely, even though he couldn't bear to look at them any longer. Dean gagged desperately in his throat, trying valiantly to get in some air so he could at least attempt to kill Zachariah with his bare hands.

"You wanted to commit suicide Dean, so here you are! All I'm doing is giving you a little nudge over the edge. Should have listened to me Dean! And now, at long last, you're going to pay for all you've done." Zachariah purred maliciously as Dean's legs continued to kick.

Dean gave desperate gagging noises, trying desperately to free himself, but the blackness was winning, he couldn't pry his hands off his neck. His legs were kicking violently, but he could tell his struggle was lessening. His legs were kicking less, the blackness getting more pronounced, he couldn't hear the blood in his head anymore, he was gurgling, eager for any air, gasping for any reprieve. Dean felt a small sliver of saliva run down from his mouth as he gagged again, and he felt his eyes begin to roll into his head. He kicked his legs urgently, before they finally went still.

Dean gave a last, defeated, gurgling sigh, not feeling the sliver of drool coming from his mouth, and Dean's eyes rolled back into his head and the darkness claimed him.

XX

"It's time Sam." Tessa said as Sam nervously watched as Dean and the others confronted Zachariah.

"No, I'm not going, I'm staying with Dean." He said stubbornly, and she rolled her eyes.

"Sam, believe it or not, but I am trying to help you. Your brother will be with you soon anyway, I'm just trying to spare you from having to witness his murder, like I know that jerk Zachariah is going to face him to witness yours again like he's been doing since you died. Please Sam, come with me." She said, her voice quite kind and only a little exasperated.

Sam looked at the beautiful reaper, and pondered his choice. He could go with her, go on to heaven, reunite with Jess, with Ellen, Jo, his mother, Rufus and everyone else they had lost along the way. There he could be happy, living out his own version of paradise, day by day.

But no. Not without Dean. They were in this together, and he wasn't going without his big brother, who still needed him, needed his help. He was what made Sam truly happy. Dean. And he wasn't going anywhere without him.

"No. I'm staying here, no matter what. If Bobby can work as a ghost, so can I." He said, and she shook her head desperately.

"Sam, I know you want to stay with your brother. I get it I really do. But you won't be a ghost for long." She said, and he looked at her curiously.

"How not?" he asked, and she sighed impatiently.

"Because the thing you're going to bind yourself to is Dean. And believe me when I say, he doesn't have long to live." She said, and Sam shook his head.

"No, Dean will get out of this, he always does. He'll kill Zachariah." He said loyally, and Tessa smiled a little hearing the petulant tone of the little brother.

"No, he won't. Sam please. Believe it or not, I'm actually quite fond of you two. I swear I'll reap Dean straight away and bring him straight to you. Just please, come with me now." She pleaded, holding out her hand.

"No." Sam snapped, looking on as Zachariah ranted to the others.

"Bloody Winchesters! You are the most stubborn creatures in all of creation! Just wake up and smell the coffee Sam! You're dead, you can't come back, and Dean is about to join you! It's over! Neither of you are going back this time!" she shouted in frustration.

"Now, that's all too defeatist. The kid isn't necessarily down and out." A familiar voice said, and Sam grinned as Rufus appeared before him, giving Tessa a scolding look.

"Rufus, good to see you." Sam said happily.

"Yeah you too Sam."

"Rufus, what are you doing here?" Tessa asked impatiently, and he grinned.

"Making sure a friend of mine doesn't heed your advice. You and I both know Sam and Dean aren't meant to die here." He ticked her off.

"You two know each other?" Sam asked in confusion, and Tessa nodded reluctantly.

"He's dating my mother." She said in a cold voice, while Rufus smiled wistfully.

Sam looked at his old friend incredulously.

"You're dating a reaper? That's just so wrong, on so many levels." He moaned, and Tessa winked at him.

"I know, I keep telling them that but they won't have it. And besides Rufus, Sam has no choice. His body is dead, devoid of blood, stone cold, with a massive knife wound to his stomach, other such wounds to his intestines and his liver and his kidneys, and his neck has been shattered into twelve tiny pieces. He is dead! And Dean is about to join him and you know it!" she said, and Sam glared at her.

"Alright, can you stop listing what the bastard did to my body, it's horrible." He said ruefully, and she gave him a dirty look.

"I'm just telling it like it is Sam. It's over for you. You are dead. The only one who might be able to resurrect you is Castiel, and he's comatose." She said scathingly.

"Now that isn't strictly true." Rufus said, and Sam looked at him curiously, and he smiled.

"You're a spirit Sam. Just like Bobby's a ghost. Oh give him grief from me for that will ya? Idiot. Anyway, what do ghosts and spirits have in common?" he asked, and Tessa looked at him in alarm.

"Rufus, shut it!" she snapped, but he waved her off.

Sam turned to where Zachariah had just blown the others off their feet, and it clicked.

"We can possess people." He said in realisation.

"And we both know that angels are arrogant sons of bitches. He won't be expecting it. And you've been dead for too long, you're on the threshold of becoming a ghost. You've been dead for so long you're beginning to influence the real world, that's how you talked to Dean earlier. Get it?" he asked leadingly, and Sam grinned.

"Rufus, you are a genius! Oh and thanks for all the gorgon info, really handy." He said, watching as Marion fired at the angel.

"He can't possess Zachariah, he would need a hole in the veil to get through in order to do it, and even then, there's no guarantees it will work! Sam, come with me!" Tessa snapped, glaring at Rufus.

"Kid, Sam here beat down Lucifer when he was in his own body. I reckon he can take some punk ass like Zachariah. Now I know you don't want to be down and out yet. So, you just going to stay dead and go with this 'charming' young lady, or are you gonna do something about it?" Rufus asked irritably.

"What do you mean by a hole in the veil?" Sam asked Tessa, who rolled her eyes.

"Sam, he's giving you false hope! The only way you'll get through is if one of your friends, or your brother, die. And that's looking all too likely." She said sadly, as Bobby was enveloped in flames.

"Bobby!" Sam and Rufus yelled in shock.

"It's over Sam. Zachariah's won. Face it." Tessa said, stroking the tears off his cheek.

"No, not yet." He said, as Jody collapsed, and a second later, she appeared beside him, looking confused.

"Oh, hi Jody." He said awkwardly, and she looked at him in surprise.

"Sam? But you're...oh. Does that mean I'm dead too?" she lamented, and Tessa nodded.

"Yes it does. Now, if you and Sam would like to come with me, and Rufus, if you would piss off and stop interfering in my reaping, I would greatly appreciate it." She said, and earned a glare from Rufus.

"He's not down and out yet. You don't know these boys the way I do." Rufus said, and a second later, Marion appeared, and although Sam tried to force past him, there was no way through the veil.

"Oh no...am I dead?" he whined, and Sam nodded reluctantly.

"Yeah, you kind of are." He said, and watched as Zachariah advanced on Dean victoriously.

"Oh and you must be Sam, nice to meet you." He said, shaking Sam's hand, and Tessa stood in front of Sam, looking at him imploringly.

"Sam, don't you see? Rufus should never have given you false hope the way he did. There's no way through the veil. It's over." She said softly, and Sam felt tears in his eyes as he watched Dean begin to strangle himself.

"Sam, we did the best we could, but the son of a bitch is just too powerful." Jody said, but Rufus shook his head.

"No. The veil will open when Dean comes close enough to death. You can do this Sam. We aren't ready for you boys to join us quite yet. Trust old Rufus." He said, and Sam nodded, fidgeting nervously.

"Excuse me, I'm a little new to the whole supernatural thing, but what happens now?" Marion asked, and Jody shrugged.

"I reap you and take you on, which would be a lot easier if Sam wasn't so stubborn, and if Rufus wasn't giving him false hope!" Tessa snapped, and he shot her a dirty look.

"It isn't false hope, and you know it. Sam, trust me, you can do this." Rufus said, and Jody looked at Sam urgently.

"Sam, you know what they're talking about?" she asked, and he nodded as Dean's legs began to still.

"Yes. It means don't sign your will just yet. I'm coming Dean." Sam promised, and leapt towards his brother.

XX

Dean's eyes rolled back, when suddenly the pressure on him was gone, his hands became free, and he dropped to the floor. He took deep gasping breaths, getting air back into his body as he looked up at Zachariah, wondering what twisted new thing he had planned for him this time.

And was surprised by what he saw.

Zachariah was staggering around, grunting in pain and annoyance, slapping himself in the face, sending pulses of bright white light into his body. He was jerking uncontrollably, and Dean backed away, still taking deep breaths as he watched, and a second later, Zachariah came to a stop, and looked down at Dean.

He then winked.

And in an instant, he knew who it was. After all, last time, it had been Dean doing the winking to his prone baby brother.

"Sammy?" he asked hopefully, his voice coarse yet overjoyed, and Samariah nodded.

"Yeah. FYI, he has a tiny penis. Right, let's see." He said musingly, looking around, shaking a little as Zachariah attacked him..

To see Tessa smiling at him, not the cold smile of a reaper, but the proud smile of a friend.

"Well I'll be damned. You did it. Good luck Sam. You're going to need it." She said, and vanished.

"Good lad. Ellen and Jo send their love! See you in a long time Sam!" Rufus called before he too was gone.

Leaving Sam in charge of Zachariah's body, as Dean looked up at him as though hardly daring to believe it. Samariah gestured, and Bobby's burnt flask appeared in his hand, and he blinked.

A second later, the flask returned to normal, and a second after that, Bobby appeared, patting out flames.

"Ow ow ow ow ow! Hot!" he cursed, putting out the last of the flames and looking around curiously, as if to see how he had wound up back here.

"Hi Bobby." Samariah said, staggering slightly as Zachariah tried to fight back.

"Sam?" he asked incredulously, and he nodded.

He then clicked his fingers, and Marion jolted up, coughing weakly, but he was once more alive, looking up at Samariah thankfully.

"Wow, I'm alive again, thanks." He said in relief, and Samariah then turned to Jody, and a second later, she was sitting up, looking dazed.

"Thanks Sam." She said gratefully as she got to her feet, helping Marion up.

Samariah then flicked his hand at Dean, healing the bruises on his neck. And then, it was like a weight left his shoulders, and Samariah sighed in relief.

"I got rid of the mental trauma he inflicted on you, kind of like what Cas did for me. And for the last time you idiot, you didn't kill me, he did." Samariah said, gasping in pain as Zachariah once more tried to regain control.

"Sammy!" Dean yelped, scrambling to his feet, but Sam seemed to be back in control, and he waved his hand.

And Dean's heart froze as Sam's dead body appeared before them, white and cold, and even Samariah looked a little off put by its appearance.

"Wow, I don't look so good. Right, let's see, bibbidi," he said cheerfully, and he healed the wounds made by the knife, "bobbidy," he continued, restoring his neck to its previous, unbroken state, "boo!" he concluded, and once more blood began to rush through his body, and colour began to be restored to him, and it was with great relief as he saw his chest begin to rise and fall.

"Sam! You're alive again!" Dean said in relief, and Samariah nodded, staggering as Zachariah rebelled against his control, his fury growing by the second.

"Yeah. Now, all of that's dealt with, so," he said, and a flask of oil appeared in Marion's hand.

"A jug of olive oil. Just what I always wanted." He said, bemused, and Samariah shook his head, grunting as Zachariah tried once more to take over, and he was finding it harder to remain in control as the furious angel tried to regain control of his body.

"Sam, you're not waking up!" Dean cried, and he rolled his eyes.

"That's because I'm still in this body you idiot. Now, take these." He commanded, and an angel sword appeared in his own unconscious hand, in Dean's, Jody's and in Marion's.

"Alright. I'm losing control, so we're going to need to be fast. Marion, pour a circle of oil around me." He ordered, and after looking at him in surprise, he did so, surrounding Zachariah's body, which was jerking angrily, and Sam knew he didn't have long before he lost all control.

"Now what?" Jody asked desperately, holding her sword ready.

"When I saw, light the oil. Ready? Five, four, three, two, one!" Samariah said, and Marion flicked his lighter and the ring of flames was suddenly surrounding Zachariah, trapping the angel.

"NO!" he spat furiously, and they were left in no illusions as to who was back in charge of their own body.

And suddenly Sam jerked bolt upright, breathing deeply as his soul returned to his body.

"Sammy!" Dean cried in ecstasy, as his brother got to his feet, glowering at Zachariah, who suddenly went very pale.

"No, don't!" he begged, and Sam glared hatefully at him.

"I seem to remember pleading a while ago, and you ignored me. Seems only fair I do the same for you." He sneered, readying his sword.

"You should never have killed my little brother." Dean growled, advancing on the trapped angel.

"Or us for that matter." Jody said bitterly.

"Or tried to turn Dean insane." Marion finished as all four of them advanced on Zachariah.

"No, wait, I'm an angel of the lord!"

"Who should have stayed dead!" Sam spat, and as one, the four of them leaned over the flames and plunged their swords into his head.

Zachariah gave a terrified, pained scream, as Sam's blade stabbed the same way Dean's had last time, and Dean's went the opposite way, stabbing down through his head and out the back. Marion stabbed down, right in the centre of Zachariah's bald head, and Jody stabbed the sword right through the side of his head.

Zachariah screamed in pain, as white light burst from his eyes and mouth. He raised his hands to his head, desperately trying to save himself, but he knew full well this was the end all over again. Light erupted from his body, and with a smoky blast, his wings embossed into the air. Bobby then poured the holy oil over him, lighting it as he did so, and Zachariah screamed in pain as the flames consumed him and the swords. There was then a whistling noise, and a black whirlwind twirled into the green room, bound right for him.

Zachariah screamed in eternal pain as the tornado whipped him up, his body doused in flames and white light erupting from it, just as the room began to shake, the pictures falling from the walls, the ornaments falling from their shelves.

"Time to go!" Dean yelled, grabbing Sam's wrist and dragging him to the door.

Marion headed for the door too, and Jody then saw the flask on the table.

"Whoops, sorry Bobby, nearly forgot you." She said sheepishly, picking it up.

"Thanks for remembering." He said gruffly, and she leapt out of the door just in time, just as the internal office building collapsed.

Sadly, it wasn't over, and Dean led the way, practically dragging Sam to the entrance of the crumbling warehouse. Marion turned and grabbed Jody's hand, and the two of them dashed for the door, and caught up with the boys, and they leapt through the door, just as the entire warehouse crumbled into rubble, sending dust into the air as the building collapsed into a ruined heap.

XX

"How the hell did you lose the prisoner and the body?" Charlie demanded furiously, and the young man shook his head.

"I don't know sir, the body was on the table one minute, the next it was just gone!" he protested, and Charlie had to stop himself from hitting the man.

The entire station was in an uproar. The sheriff was missing, the prisoner had escaped, and the body was gone. Which effectively amounted to having no case, which meant Dean Winchester had escaped justice and would never be sent down for the murder of his brother.

"Agent Valente, FBI." Valente said as he entered the station, viewing with disdain the country cops who were trying desperately to see what had happened.

Charlie blanched. Of all the times for the FBI to show up, now wasn't the best. It was worse than the worst.

"Um, Agent Valente, I am deputy Gander, and I'm sorry to have called you out, but we did have a Dean Winchester in custody for the murder of his brother, but he seems to have escaped and taken the sheriff with him, and we have misplaced the body as well." He said, knowing he would be lucky to be clearing out parking meters for the rest of his life.

And then, to his great surprise, Valente smiled.

"Hmm, I suspected something like this might happen. Don't worry deputy, you and yours are not truly to blame, you had no idea what you were dealing with. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Sam Winchester was resurrected somehow."

The entire station went quiet as they looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Sir, what do you mean?" Charlie asked, and Valente smiled.

"I mean he came back to life. I assure you deputy, Sam Winchester is even now walking and talking among the living." He said silkily.

"But that's impossible." The young man protested, and Valente smiled.

"Not when it comes to Sam and Dean Winchester. You did the right thing to alert me deputy. I will take over from here. Though, I could use some assistance. And a snack." He said darkly, eyeing the six cops in the room.

"Whatever you want sir." Charlie assured him proudly, and Valente smiled.

"I'd hoped you'd say that. I could use a man like you as an assistant. The rest, I could use as a snack." He said, licking his lips.

And then the entire station screamed as Valente tipped his head back, revealing a mouth of massive jagged teeth, and a bifurcated tongue, and he darted down and the young man Charlie had been yelling at knew no more his head was ripped off, spraying blood everywhere, and in another gulp his body was consumed.

XX

Charlie looked up at the blood stained face of Valente, who was advancing on him as he cowered against the wall, the entire station a grisly splattering of blood due to Valente having eaten all of the others.

"What the hell are you?" he demanded hysterically, throwing his gun at Valente as shooting him had had no effect, and he was out of bullets.

"A Leviathan, something far beyond your tiny human mind to comprehend. And what's more, I am the only one who can tell you what really happened to your brother." He purred, and Charlie looked at him in shock, making Valente smile.

"You know?" he demanded weakly, and the monster nodded, surveying the blood stains on the floor and walls.

"Yes I know. And I will tell you. Now, I can't let you leave here, not with my all you can eat buffet. But, if you help me, I will give you what you want the most." He said, and Charlie shook in fear as he looked up at the monster who had just murdered five of his co-workers.

"You need my help?" he asked weakly, and Valente nodded.

"Yes. And in return, you will get two things. Firstly, you will get back Dean Winchester, and all the answers to the case that has now vanished. And secondly, you will find out how your brother really died. And let's face it, you don't have much of a choice, because if you don't agree, I could always use you for dessert." He said, licking his lips, and Charlie shivered as he looked at the monster.

There was no way to beat this monster, who had shrugged off gunshots as if they were flies. He had killed everyone in the station, bar him. He was cornered in a bloodstained building with no way out. And the monster was offering him the identity of the one who had killed his brother, and also, Dean Winchester back where he belonged, and sent down for murder.

"You won't hurt me?" Charlie asked weakly, and Valente shook his head.

"Not while I have a use for you." He assured him, and Charlie, still terrified, got to his feet.

"Why?" Charlie asked suspiciously, and Valente smiled, his teeth stained red by the blood he had shed.

"Because you will be useful in my plans. And what's more, I can appreciate a man on a quest, to bring someone as dangerous as Dean Winchester, and believe me, he is dangerous, to justice."

Charlie nodded, his body quivering in fear. He had no choice. He had no way out, and this was the only way. And Valente said he knew what had happened to his brother. He had to find out, had to know. And if he got rid of Dean Winchester in the process, so much the better.

"You promise you'll tell me what happened to my brother?" Charlie asked, and Valente smiled.

"Once we have Dean, then yes. And you'd be surprised, just how connected those two goals are." He said sinisterly, and Charlie shuddered as he nodded.

What the hell had he gotten himself into?

XX

The five of them sat up and looked at the remains of the warehouse, and the next thing he knew, Sam was being wrapped in a fierce hug by his brother, which he gratefully returned.

"Please, don't ever, ever die on me again." Dean whispered into his ear as he held his brother close.

"I'll try. Miss me?" he asked with a smile, and Dean snorted in amusement.

"You have no idea." He said, letting go of Sam and helping his brother to his feet, as Marion helped Jody up.

"It's good to have you back Sam." She said, hugging him.

"Thanks. And thanks, for helping Dean." He said, and she smiled affectionately at the two of them.

"You're welcome." She said, as Bobby looked at Sam proudly.

"Thank god you're back kid. It just isn't the same without you around." He said fondly, and Sam smiled.

"And it's nice to finally meet you in person, with neither of us being dead." Marion said, shaking Sam's hand.

"Thank you as well, for believing in Dean." Sam said, and he nodded.

"Trust me, no one that depressed can kill someone." He said, and Dean shot him a glare, which was rather offset by the large smile on his face.

Sam was back. He was alive. He'd come back to him again. His little brother had helped him and had come back to save him. He was back. Sam was back!

"Everyone alright? I mean, you pair did die in there, and so did you Bobby, technically." Sam said, and he nodded.

"I feel great actually, your angel mojo gives quite the kick. What about you two?" he asked, and they shrugged.

"Well I feel fine." Jody said, and Marion nodded.

"Yeah so do I. But I gotta tell you, I'm in no particular hurry to die again." He said ruefully, and Dean smiled.

"Yeah, trust me, dying sucks. And Sammy...you die again, I'll kill you." He growled, an affect also offset by the large smile on his face, and Sam smiled and rolled his eyes in amusement.

"Yeah, this is going to be a tough one to explain back at the station. 'Yes, he did die, and then he possessed the angel that killed him, resurrected me and Sheriff Mills, brought back his ghost, saved his brother and then resurrected himself, and then we killed the real culprit' isn't exactly going to look good on the report. I'll think of something." Marion said musingly as the others laughed.

Except Sam.

"Yeah, about that. You can't go back to the station, at least for a while." He said, and they all looked at him in shock.

"Sammy?" Dean asked curiously, and his little brother turned to him.

"Dean, you were arrested as Dean Winchester. Which means, it would have tripped the FBI flag. Which means, the Leviathans will be looking for us." He said sadly, and Dean pouted.

Just when everything was going good, reality bit them in the ass.

"Meaning?" Marion asked, and Jody sighed, closing her eyes as she did so.

"Meaning we can't go home. At least not yet. We'll need to go to ground, hide for a while. Right?" she asked, and Bobby nodded.

"Yeah. Sorry Marion, but Sam's right. The Leviathans will be looking for the boys, and you will be in the firing line." He said grimly, and Marion looked a little taken aback.

"So, what do we do?" Jody asked, and Sam smiled.

"Run. Get to Canada if you want, just make sure you escape. You're two of the best friends we've got, and I'm sorry you got involved in all this, but you need to run." He said, and she nodded.

"Well, I have an aunt in Canada I've been planning on visiting. Fancy chumming me?" she asked Marion, who nodded reluctantly.

"I don't like this, but after seeing what an angel, spirit and ghost can do, I'm not that keen to try my luck with a Leviathan. I'll call the station, tell them I've been called away on family matters. How long will we have to stay away for?" he asked, and Dean shrugged.

"No clue. However long it takes for the big mouths to get bored. Or until we find a way to kill them and make it stick." He said, and Marion nodded.

"Alright then. Guess you have a travel partner to go to Canada with." He said, and Jody smiled.

"But first, I think we can get something to eat. All that dying and resurrecting really takes it out of you." Sam lamented, and they all laughed as they heard his stomach grumble.

XX

"Thanks Marion. You're a pretty cool dude for a copper. Keep in touch." Dean said, shaking his hand and wrapping him in a one armed hug.

"I will do. I quite like you boys. Not enough to swap careers with you, but in the last few days, I've become quite fond of you. Look after yourselves. You're good kids, and despite what people might think, you do good things too. So keep safe. I don't want my first two hunter friends getting munched by some big nasty." He said, shaking hands with Sam too.

"Yeah, you be careful too. And thanks for all your help. And would you mind keeping an eye on Jody?" Bobby asked in an undertone, and Marion smiled.

"Of course." He said, standing back to allow Jody through.

"Thanks Jody." Dean said gratefully as he hugged her.

"You're welcome Dean. Everything fine, no visions or anything?" she asked worriedly, and he nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm good." He assured her, and she hugged Sam.

"Thanks Jody. For helping Dean, for everything really." He said, hugging her back.

"You're welcome. Now, you stay alive, you hear me? Because I've done my sympathy bit for your brother, and I only do it once." She said with a smile, and he grinned.

"Sure thing." He said, and she turned to Bobby.

"See you around Bobby." She said with a beautiful smile, and Sam and Dean looked knowingly at each other, grins on their faces as the area got a little warmer.

"See you around. You two be careful now." He said.

"Stay safe!" Marion called as he got into the car.

"And stay alive!" Jody said, waving at them fondly, and the other three waved, and the car drove out of sight, spiriting Marion and Jody to safety.

"Well, I'm ready to get out of here." Dean said, bundling their stuff (which Marion had taken from their car before they left Brandon) into the boot and climbing in to the driver's seat.

"You ok?" Sam asked softly as he climbed in, and Dean shot him a patient smile.

"You're the one who was stone cold only yesterday, I'm the one who should be worried about you." He said, and Sam grinned.

"Well, I'm fine, actually I feel better than I have in a while. But that isn't what I meant. How's your head?" he asked gently, and Dean frowned.

"It feels fine, whatever you did, it worked. But, I feel I kind of owe you an apology." He said, and Sam looked at him curiously.

"What for? I told you, Zachariah killed me, not you." He said, but Dean shook his head.

"No, not that. Back when you were going insane, I did some stupid things. Like the day you had your meltdown, I didn't even notice you were gone, I was so focused on getting revenge on Roman. And back when you couldn't sleep, I took the dad route and basically told you to suck it up and deal with it. That was wrong Sammy. You were literally going through hell, and I wasn't the most understanding or compassionate of brothers. I'm sorry." He said, and Sam shook his head.

"Dean, that wasn't your fault. You had no idea how you were meant to react to it, you did your best." He said, but Dean shrugged.

"Yeah, but at times, like when you hadn't been sleeping, I did less than my best. I never really got before now how much of a hell you were living. And I gotta say Sammy, Zach was right. I wasn't strong enough to cope with it. Sure I had just lost you, which didn't help, but even then, I still wasn't strong enough to cope with everything he was throwing at me, and whatever he was doing to me, Lucifer was doing worse to you. You need a lot stored away if you're going to deal with that, and you did, you held out brilliantly. I had it a few hours and I was going insane. You lasted so much longer, and that takes a lot of doing. Guess you're stronger than I ever thought. Or gave you credit for." He said proudly, ruffling Sam's hair to wind him up, smiling as he did so.

After all, he had his brother back, he was allowed to be really happy.

"Wow. Thanks Dean." Sam said, his cheeks going slightly pink in pleasure as he swatted away Dean's hand and put his hair back to the way it was.

They were silent a minute, just sitting in the carpark, until Sam spoke again.

"Dean, I heard enough of your visions to know what was going through your head." He said softly, and he noted that Dean sort of froze.

"And?"

"And I think you're being ridiculous. Look Dean, I'm not going to pretend that I haven't thought some of the things over the years, especially stuff like the Cas stuff. But I think we've been through enough recently to know that whatever stuff we've been through in the past, we are well and truly over now." He said, and Dean grinned.

"Thanks Sam. Oh, and thanks, for coming back. And for sticking around." He said, and Sam grinned ruefully.

"You needed my help. You were going through the same thing as I was. You were my stone number one," he began, until Dean gave a whimsical grin.

"Yeah, until I pretty much destroyed the foundations by going behind your back." He said sheepishly, and Sam smiled, rolling his eyes.

"And I figured you might want me as yours. Did I help?" he asked, and Dean nodded.

"Yeah. You really did Sammy. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have made it to Zachariah. But I would like to register a complaint." He said, and Sam looked at him curiously, grinning when Dean showed him his hand.

"You could have healed this scar when you did everything else couldn't you?" he asked, and Sam laughed.

"Sorry, I forgot I put it there. Besides. There's not many brothers who can say they have matching tattoos and matching scars." He said lightly, and Dean snorted in amusement.

He started the car, rolling down the windows.

"Dean?" Sam asked softly, hesitantly, and Dean suspected he knew what was coming up.

"Yeah?" he asked casually.

"Would you have hated me, if I'd stayed as a ghost?" he asked softly.

Dean knew he had hurt Sam when he had told him he didn't want him to stick around as a ghost back in the station. He also knew he had to answer this question, Sam deserved an answer.

"To tell you the truth Sammy, I don't really know. I might have been pissed, but I might have been happy that you stuck around. I just don't know." He said, and he saw the faint traces of hurt on his brother's face, and he smiled and nudged his shoulder.

"But out of all the outcomes, I prefer this one best, when you're alive again, with me, where you belong." He said, and Sam grinned.

"Yeah. I'm sorry." He said meekly, and Dean shook his head.

"Not your fault you died Sammy. And you brought back all the others and yourself, so I think I'll let you off just this once. But...please don't die on me again any time soon, it sucks." Dean said softly, and Sam nodded.

"Yeah, not really something I'm planning on doing again any time soon. I just felt so guilty, seeing how devastated you were, it kept me from worrying about me because I was so concerned about you." He explained, and Dean grinned.

That was his little brother alright, more concerned about his big brother than his own rather large predicament. Bless him.

"Just as long as you come back. But still, don't do it again." Dean said in a scolding voice, and Sam grinned.

"I'll try. Reckon Zachariah was the last old bad guy we have to deal with?" he asked, and Dean shrugged.

"He better be. Please say next time I see Cas I can smack him one, he really deserves it now." He pleaded, and Sam nodded.

"Yeah. Dying tends to change my perspective. I might even smack him once or twice myself the jerk." He grumbled, and Dean grinned widely.

"You're going to be smiling like that all the way to the next motel aren't you?" he asked, shaking his head in amusement.

"Hey! My baby brother died and came back, I went insane and went back to normal, we made a new friend, and one of the biggest wankers we've ever faced came back and is now back in Purgatory where he belongs. I have every reason to be happy. Leave me in peace." He protested ruefully, and Sam laughed as he saw the delighted expression on his face.

"Alright fine. I suppose we do have a lot to be happy about." He said, grinning himself while he chose the music.

"Damn right we do. You came back, Zach's dead, everything's back to normal, so lighten up Sammy and celebrate! And tonight, I don't care what you say, we are celebrating in style!" he declared and Sam grinned.

"I hope you don't want to go and find a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend." He said teasingly, and Dean shot him a mock glare.

"I was hoping dying would make you forget about that. Apparently not. And no, I don't. Just the three of us, celebrating, no arguments. Got it?" he asked cheerfully as they drove out of the small town they were in.

"Got it Dean." Sam said with a smile, the music blasting from the stereo.

"Good. I'm glad you're back. Bitch." Dean said fondly.

"Me too. Jerk." Sam said, leaning his head back to get some sleep.

And in the back, as always, Bobby looked at his two boys and smiled widely too, chuckling to himself.

"Edjits."

The end!

Did anyone believe I would let Sam stay dead? Course not, I'm much too fond of him for that to happen. So, Zachariah is dead again, the boys are happy and healthy, Sam is alive, and all is well that ends well. Even Marion and Jody got out relatively unscathed.

But, Valente and Charlie Gander are still out there, and will soon be on the boy's tail for the finale of this arc of stories!

Anyway, I felt that the way Dean sometimes handled Sam's insanity was far too inconsistent, and if your brother really is going nuts, how the hell do you let him go walking off on his own? And the episode when Sam hadnt slept at all, he didnt seem the most sympathetic either, so I felt that needed resolved. And some of the things, like the argument with Cas, and some of Dean's other visions are things I also felt needed tackled.

And Zachariah is dealt with. No matter what, he's still my most hated character, he even edges in front of the boys dad and that is saying something.

So, have we seen the last of Marion and Jody? Will Valente and Charlie catch up with Sam and Dean? And what does Valente know about the death of Charlie's brother, and how does it tie in with Dean?

I'm afraid you're going to have to wait till the story after next to find out! Because next time we are bound for New Orleans, and will incorporate voodoo, so I hope that pleases you snseriesfan, that's the one I said you had rumbled me on. So, the next story will be called Voodoo Revenge, and will hopefully start tomorrow!

So, that's it for Sundered Veil, I hope you enjoyed it, I'm so glad Sam's alive again (speaking of has everyone seen the news that hes getting a love interest in season eight? How long do we reckon she'll last with the infmaous 'sleep with Sam and die problem'), and as always, please read and leave lots of reviews, and I hope to see you soon on Voodoo Revenge!

Oh, and by the way, a character has undergone a significant change in the next story...

Anyway, hope you enjoyed, please keep reading and dont forget to review!