Chapter Text
Darkness
That’s what Dean Winchester was met with when he opened his eyes.
He gasped and coughed while desperately searching his pockets for his lighter. He found it and flicked it on, realizing he was alive and stuffed inside a wooden box. Dean yelled for help but immediately regretted it because he felt like his throat was coated in sandpaper.
He pried at the lid and it caved in. He started to claw at the falling dirt, trying to live and get to the surface. Dean clawed through handful after handful of dirt, trying to not suffocate while getting to the top. His arms ached as he pulled himself on top of solid ground before he flopped backward, panting. The one thing he could think was, “How am I alive?”
Dean stood up and the hot sun blazed down on him, making him sweat. He took off his jacket and carried it, trying to lessen the heat. As he looked around, he noticed all of the trees surrounding the grave had fallen down and died, as if something bad had happened around there.
As if a dead man came back to life.
—
His jacket had been wrapped around his waist for a while and he was pouring with sweat. His mind was still reeling about how he was alive again when he noticed a gas station. He was joyous but too tired to run.
Dean knocked on the window of the door, to which no one responded, so he broke the glass and let himself in. He immediately headed to the fridges, grabbing water and downing it, ignoring how his stomach ached after being empty for who knows how long.
He checked the month, which was September, and he couldn’t believe how hot it was. The more important thing was that he was dead for 4 months…it felt like 40 years.
The man went into the bathroom to wash himself off and unconsciously checked how flat his chest was. He was shocked by it and started to run his hands over it before realizing…there wasn’t a binder there.
What.
The.
Fuck.
Dean paused and before he could even think about it, he slipped his shirt off. It looked like he was born a man. Whoever or whatever had risen him from Hell had obviously loved him. His eyes teared up and he stood there for a while, just admiring what his body looked like now. Another cool thing was that his stomach didn’t look like ground beef due to the hellhounds.
Then, he noticed the mark on his shoulder, which made him pause.
He brushed over it with his fingers, lightly, and winced. It was like a hand-print-shaped blister on his skin, sore and angry. He washed his face before heading out into the main part of the store, finding medical supplies. He wrapped up his shoulder, gently, before slipping his shirt back on. Dean started bagging up supplies to take on his trip to God knows where.
As he was taking the money from the register, the TV switched on just to play static and Dean froze. He grabbed salt and started to salt the windows and doors but even after he finished the lines, the glass suddenly shattered. It left Dean on the ground, confused and covered in glass. He stood up and looked out the window before noticing the telephone booth.
He grabbed his supplies and a fistful of coins before he exited the store. Dean put his stuff down outside of the booth before stepping inside and feeding the coins into the machine. He dialed the first number that came to mind - Bobby.
It rang. Click.
“Yeah?”
“...Bobby?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s me.” Dean said.
“Who’s ‘me’?”
“Dean.”
Click. The drone of the dial tone started in Dean’s ear. He looked at the receiver, pressed down on the telephone hook, and fed the machine more coins before dialing Bobby again.
It rang. Click.
“Who is this?”
“Bobby, listen to me.” Dean tried to plead.
“This ain’t funny. Call again and I’ll kill you.”
Click. Dean was met with the dial tone droning in his ear again. He looked at the phone, dejected, before plunking the receiver down on the hook. As he looked around, a car that was sitting outside of the gas station caught his attention.
He busted the window open, threw his bag into the passenger seat, and in a few moments, the car was up and running. He pulled out of the space before turning onto the road, glad to be driving again.
—
Dean was pounding on the door.
Bobby was opening the door.
Silence.
“Surprise.” Dean said, breaking the silence.
“...I don’t…” Bobby started.
“Yeah, me neither,” Dean said, stepping into the house, “but here I am.”
Then, there was a knife being swung in Dean’s face. There was a scuffle, a few shouts, and Dean ended up stumbling into the living room while Bobby held a silver knife.
“Bobby, it’s me!”
“My ass.” Bobby growled, moving closer to him.
Dean crouched beside a chair as he shouted, “Woah, woah, woah! Wait!”
“Your name is Robert Stephen Singer, you became a hunter after your wife got possessed…you’re about the closest thing I have to a father.” he slowly started to raise from his position, “Bobby…it’s me…”
There was a moment of stillness and Bobby broke it by moving towards him, pushing the chair out of the way. Dean looked nervous as he reached out to touch his shoulder, making sure he was real. When he saw the disbelief, he almost smiled but then, the knife was swung in his face again. It just narrowly missed him again . Dean grabbed both of his arms and forced them backward while trying to get the knife.
“I am not a shapeshifter!” Dean hissed.
“Then you’re a revenant!” Bobby spat back.
Dean had the knife in his hand and he backed away from Bobby, saying, “All right. If I were either, would I do this with a silver knife?”
He rolled up his sleeve and hesitated before slicing horizontally near his cephalic vein. He let out a grunt and stared at Bobby, waiting for his reaction.
“...Dean?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell ya.”
He walked closer to Bobby and the older man moved towards him, throwing his arms around him to pull him into a hug. Dean could feel Bobby gripping his shirt, almost sobbing. He returned the gesture by gripping his flannel.
After a moment, they broke apart and they stared for a second before Bobby said, “It’s- It’s good to see you, boy.”
Dean smiled and said, “Yeah, you too.”
“But…” Bobby said, “How did you bust out?”
“I don’t know.” Dean answered, honestly, “I just, uh, woke up in a pine box-”
He was cut off by water being splashed on his face. He blinked a few times and saw Bobby holding the flask. He spat some of the water out and he said, tiredly, “I’m not a demon, either, you know.”
“Sorry. Can’t be too careful.” Bobby said, giving a small, quick smile.
As Dean wiped his face off, he explained what happened to the other man, who responded with, “That don’t make a lick of sense…”
They were walking into the study and Dean responded with, “Yeah. Yeah, you’re preaching to the choir.”
Bobby was behind the desk and he turned around, seriously, before saying, “Dean, your chest was ribbons, your insides were slop, and you’d been buried four months. Even if you could slip out of hell and back into your meats-”
“I know. I should look like a thriller video reject.” Dean said, sighing.
“What do you remember?”
Dean didn’t have time to hesitate but he knew he remembered everything . “I have to seem like I’m okay.” he thought to himself, “No time for truths.”
“Not much. I remember I was a hellhounds chew toy? and then lights out…Then I came to six feet under. That was it.” he lied.
He decided to change the subject. He started by saying, “Sam's number’s not working. She’s, uh- she’s not..?”
“Oh, she’s alive, as far as I know,” Bobby reassured and Dean nodded, relieved.
“Good.” he responded, before realizing something.
“Wait. What do you mean as far as you know?” he asked, confused.
“I haven't talked to her for months.”
“You’re kidding, you just let her go off by herself?” Dean asked, incredulously.
He seriously couldn’t believe that Bobby let John Winchester’s youngest child run off after losing her brother. Dean just had to hope she hadn’t done anything stupid like try to make a deal with a demon or get killed by some random monster.
Bobby stood up as he said, “She was dead set on it.”
“Bobby, you should have been looking after her.” He said, trying to mask how he felt.
“I tried! These last months have exactly been easy, you know,” Bobby explained, “for her or me. We had to bury you.”
“Why did you bury me, anyway?” Dean asked, focusing on that small detail.
“Well, I wanted you salted and burned, usual drill, but Sam wouldn’t have it.”
“I'm glad she won that one,” Dean said, a musing tone creeping into his words.
“She said you’d need a body when she got you back somehow.” Bobby said, which earned a dumbfounded stare from Dean.
“That’s about all she said-”
“What do you mean?” Dean asked, cutting him off.
“She was quiet, real quiet,” Bobby said, “then she just took off, wouldn’t return my calls. I tried to find her, but she don’t want to be found…”
“Oh, damn it, Sammy,” Dean groaned, realizing what she must’ve done.
Bobby was confused, “What?”
“Oh, she got me home okay but whatever she did, it is bad mojo.” he explained, distressed.
“What makes you so sure?”
“You should’ve seen the grave site, it was like a nuke went off,” Dean said, “Then there was this- this force, the presence.”
Bobby stared at him, intrigued and confused, while Dean rubbed his forehead. He continued, “That, I dunno, but it-it-it blew past me at a…fill-up joint…oh, then there’s this.”
Dean shucked his jacket off and took off his shirt. Bobby looked shocked and Dean looked at him before down at his chest and realizing what he was shocked about. He started undoing the bandage, saying, “Yeah, I know.”
“You got rid of those for the price of death.”
Dean chuckled a little bit before taking the bandage off his shoulder. It revealed the burning, angry, aching handprint that was like a welt. That scared Bobby even more and he just said, “What in the hell?”
“Yeah, it’s like a demon just yanked me out or- or rode me out.”
“But why?”
“To hold up their end of the bargain.”
“You think Sam made a deal?” Bobby questioned.
“It’s what I would have done.” Dean answered, honestly.
—
Dean was standing in the kitchen, holding the receiver up to his ear and the base in his other hand. Bobby was sitting on the counter beside him, waiting for him to finish the call.
Inevitably, the lady on the other end of the line greeted him and Dean responded with, “Yeah, hi. I have a, uh, cellphone account with you guys and, uh, lost my phone. I was wonderin’ if you could turn the GPS on for me.”
There was chatter on the other end and he said, “Yeah. the name’s ‘Wedge Antilles’. Social is 2474…thank you.”
Dean hung the phone up before slamming the base down on the table, exiting the kitchen before Bobby could even utter a word. As they walked to the living room, Bobby asked, “How’d you know she’d use that name?”
“You kiddin’ me? What don’t I know about that kid?” Dean muttered, sitting down at the computer.
As he typed away, he asked, “Bobby, what’s the deal with the liquor store? Your parents out of town or something?”
“Like I said, last few months ain’t been all that easy.”
Dean stared up at him before mumbling, “Right.”
The computer beeped and there was a map, pointing right to where Sam’s phone was. Dean said, “Sam’s in Pontiac, Illinois.”
“Right near where you were planted.” Bobby said.
“Right where I popped up. Hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?”
—
Dean was staring at Sam.
Sam was staring at Dean and Bobby.
The random chick who had just asked if they were the delivery men was staring at Dean and Bobby.
“Hey, ya, Sammy.” Dean said, smiling lightly. he stepped inside the room, past the girl who had moved out of the way, and Sam’s breathing quickened before she pulled a silver knife. She pushed Dean against the wall and there was a scream from the girl.
Bobby wrestled Sam away as she shouted, “Who are you?!”
“Like you didn’t do this!” Dean responded.
“Do what!?”
“It’s him. It’s him, Sam.” Bobby said, still holding her back, “I’ve been through this already. It’s really him.”
Dean stared at Sam, confusion dawning on him as Sam said, “But…”
“I know.” Dean said, “I look fantastic, huh?”
Sam hugged Dean and held him tight, and Dean did the same. Both of them were letting out shaky breaths and they eventually pulled apart.
“So, are you two like…together?”
Both of them turned. The girl was still there.
“What? No. No! He’s my brother.” Sam explained, feverishly.
“Oh, uhm. Okay, look, I should probably go…” she said, embarrassed.
“Yeah, yeah. That’s…probably a good idea. Sorry.”
After they had both gotten dressed, Sam said goodbye at the door and got her name wrong. Sam closed the door and when she turned, she got a judgemental look from Dean.
“So, tell me, what’d it cost?” Dean asked.
“The girl?” Sam answered, stupidly, “I don’t pay, Dean.”
“That’s not funny, Sam.” Dean said, solemnly, “To bring me back. what’d it cost?”
Sam blinked at him as he said, “Was it your soul or something worse?”
“You think I made a deal?”
“That’s exactly what we think.” Bobby piped in.
“Well, I didn’t.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
Sam looked at him in disbelief. She said, truthfully, “I’m not lying.”
Dean still wasn’t convinced. “So now what? I’m off the hook and you’re on, is that it?”
Sam just continued putting her shoes on, annoyed by his accusations. Dean continued, “You’re some demon’s bitch? I didn’t want to be saved like this.”
She stood up and said, “Look Dean, I wish I had done it, all right?”
Dean grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her close, hissing, “There’s no other way that this could’ve gone down, now tell the truth!”
Sam pushed his hands off and retaliated with, “I tried everything. that’s the truth. I tried opening the devil’s gate. Hell, I tried to bargain, Dean, but no demon would deal, alright?”
Dean backed up as Sam continued, “You were rotting in Hell for months, for months , and I couldn’t stop it. So, I’m sorry it wasn’t me, alright?”
There was silence before Sam said, “Dean, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Sammy,” Dean said, softly. She nodded as Dean said, “You don’t have to apologize. I believe you.”
A beat of quiet before Bobby said, “Don’t get me wrong. I am gladdened that Sam’s soul remains intact but that does raise a sticky question.”
Dean sighed and questioned, “If she didn’t pull me out, then what did?”