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"Hello Dean."The honeyed tones washed over him like thick dark liquid chocolate, filling all his pores with a sickly-sweet sensation of nausea.He watched as the owner of the voice came towards him, a feral smile on his face, akin to a cat who had just spotted the cream. He looked exactly as he had on that awful day in Detroit when everything had crapped out, and Dean had found himself minus one little brother, while Lucifer had slipped into a new upgraded vessel.Dean struggled, tried to move but it was as if the nerves and muscles in his body were answering exclusively to Lucifer's will and not his own, like some wooden puppet. "It's always a pleasure to see you, Dean," the Devil mocked, his peeling face curling into a gleeful smile. "After all, you're sort of my half-brother now, aren't you, and we both so appreciate the importance of family, don't we?" he finished off, the insincere smirk still plastered across his face as he glanced over meaningfully at the sleeping Sam. Dean felt his throat go dryer than the sands of the Sahara at the thought that this foul being had tortured his baby brother for a hundred and eighty years.As if reading his mind, Lucifer spoke, "Yes, and it's all your fault, Dean. You went along with Sam's plan. It's all your fault that he let me in. What were you thinking of, eh, letting him do such a dangerous thing? I thought you were his sworn protector, his big brother, his personal Saint George, slayer of all Sam's dragons, only this time you threw him straight into the dragon's maw and with efficient anticipation on my timescale too, I must add." "Shut up, you don't know shit," Dean managed to croak out, defying the dryness of his throat "Tsk, tsk, Dean," Satan scolded, "Truth hurts, doesn't it, and the truth is that when you handed Sam to me on a silver platter, you relinquished your hold on him forever; he's mine now.""No," Dean whispered desperately. "No, you're lying. Sam's here with me and you're in the Cage. You can't get your filthy hands on him ever again." "Wrong, Deano," Lucifer countered almost fondly."He belongs to me; now and forever. What was Uriel's favorite expression for you humans? Ah, yes, mud-monkeys; an appellative that sums up the human race perfectly, so I'll explain in terms that are easy for your "mud-monkey" brain to understand.If you fuse the ends of two bars of metal together they form one continuous piece. Oh, yes you can always cut through and separate them again, but the clean break that was there before can never be entirely reproduced; there will always be some residue from each one that remains in the other, even just a few molecules.Just like those two pieces of metal, Sam and I fused together, and though Death tore his soul out of my grasp, parts of me are still embedded in him, as parts of him are still embedded in me." Dean found himself unable to move his limbs as he tried to back away. He could only watch as Lucifer encroached into his personal space and thrust his flaking face into his, the tainted smell of sulfur and death overpowering his nostrils. "You haven't saved him, Dean. You've only put off the inevitable. He will only be yours until that creaky wall in his head keeps him from remembering our little games in the Cage but when it crumbles to dust, Sam will be mine again, my own personal chew toy to use as I wish, and there will be nothing you can do about it." "No", Dean screamed silently, his voice refusing to cooperate this time, as Lucifer's leering face disappeared, leaving him... tossing and turning,...... prisoner of a sheet that had wound its way around his body like a mummy's shroud. He opened his eyes to the darkness of the motel room, his body a mass of sweat. A nightmare was all it was he realized, as his racing heart slowed in relief.He twisted his head round to look over at his brother. Sam was sleeping peacefully, some strands of his overlong hair covering his face, rising and falling gently to the soft puffs of air from his shallow breaths. He turned back and stared up at the ceiling. It had only been a nightmare.
All the worry about Sam's wall coming down had provoked it, or maybe it was just due to the fact that he hadn't digested the impressive amount of pepperoni and salami-topped pizza he'd downed for supper last night, before conking out practically instantaneously on the bed.He laboriously untangled his body from the bed sheet, feeling the sweat cooling on his skin now exposed to the frigid air of the room. However the nightmare he'd experienced was still vivid in his mind. It had felt so real.
Could one experience odors in a dreamscape? He wasn't sure; all he knew was that the stench of Lucifer had been overpowering.He felt the dark walls of the room closing in on him. He had to get out now, and like a man possessed he threw on his clothes and quietly let himself out into the welcoming chill of the night air.Could what Lucifer had said be true? Had the taking of Sam as his vessel given him an eternal hold over his brother?
He had to know and so he called on the only being that could possibly tell him."Cass! Are you there?"§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ Dean continued with his praying but no low rustle of feathery wings was forthcoming, and he cursed at the angel's delay, his uneasiness about the nightmare agitating his thoughts. He was about to re-enter the motel room when the awaited flutter made itself heard."Cass," Dean voiced none too pleasantly. " What took you so long? I've been praying my ass off out here in the cold." The angel seemed rather flustered, his appearance more disheveled than ever, and Dean took a second to wonder just what the being looked like when in his natural angelic state, but his curiosity lasted no longer than a fleeting second as the omnipresent worry for his brother pushed it aside. "What is it, Dean? I have many things to occupy my mind. You should not call me unless it's absolutely necessary. You know that things are not going too well in Heaven. Raphael's followers are astute and able warriors, and to overcome them, I shouldn't be distracted by earthly problems such as…""Such as Sam and I, you mean," Dean answered coldly."Look, I get it Cass, but I doubt two minutes to put my mind at rest will do much damage up in Heaven, will it?" "Very well, what is the problem?" the angel intimated. Castiel was well aware that Dean knew nothing of his partnership with Crowley or that the demon was still very much alive, and not disintegrated as the brothers had been led to believe with his little act of burning Crowley's bones; so it was better not to antagonize the Winchesters too much and content them when he could.He saw Dean studying him curiously as if sensing that something was off but Dean couldn't know what was going on, Castiel reassured himself, so there was no need to worry. Dean hesitated before speaking, his instinct telling him that he was going to hear something that would be unpleasant, but he had to ask anyway."I'm just after having a nightmare that felt as real as you and I standing here now."The angel waited, his head cocked in anticipation."I dreamt about Lucifer and he told me a few things that I would've preferred not to hear," Dean continued casually. "Like his conviction that because Sam and he "fused together" as possessor and vessel, it's impossible for them ever to be completely and cleanly divided again; that there will always be a bit of Sam in him and of Lucifer in Sam.He also declared that if and when Sam's wall falls, he will have a complete hold over my brother again. Is he just bull-shitting me or is there truth in what he said?" Dean kept his eyes firmly planted on Cass's face knowing that the angel was a bad liar, and if there was any truth in what Lucifer claimed, it would be apparent there.He felt his heart drop as the angel averted his eyes, confirming the fears that had begun to overwhelm him since his dream encounter with Lucifer. His worry for Sam, an eternal pot boiling in his soul, hitched up to evaporation levels. "You mean it's true?" Dean exploded. "Sam will never be completely free of him? Did you know this Cass when you went along with Sam's self-sacrificing idea of throwing himself into the Cage? Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell me? Tell Sam?We could have found another way. Just what does this mean for Sam? Come on bitch talk!" Dean wanted to take Castiel's arms and shake the words out of him, but he stood his ground, body tensed up like a spring, waiting for the answer. The angel sighed, what was done was done. He was wasting precious time here. He needed to get back to the battle in Heaven. "I knew that there was a good chance of something like that happening," Castiel began cautiously.
"When angels take a vessel there is always some sort of backlash to the human host when the angel leaves it. The effect is not always the same but may vary from vessel to vessel.Sometimes it's madness as you saw with Raphael's vessel and sometimes the fusion is so perfect that a residue is left by the vessel on the angel and by the angel on the vessel. Sam was created especially for Lucifer; it was practically inevitable for this to happen.I'm sorry Dean, but at the time Sam's idea seemed to be the only viable one. We had to stop the Apocalypse at all costs and …"Dean interrupted him brusquely. "…and the sacrifice of my brother was minimal compared to that of five billion. Is that what you were going to say?" The angel gave a slight nod in assent before finding Dean's face thrust into his own. "You scheming son of a bitch. In the end it all comes down to what you "superior beings" want, doesn't it? You push and pull us about as the mood takes you; Demon blood, Destiny, Fate, Cain and Abel, Apocalypse yes-Apocalypse no; all the crap you can think of, and now my brother is tethered to the Devil.We could have found another way if we had known what was at stake for Sam. One hundred and eighty years in the company of Lucifer wasn't enough punishment for my little brother, now he's got Satan on his back for all eternity.Why can't you all just leave us alone and go find other dolls to play with, other mud monkeys to experiment on!I thought you were my friend Cass, but now I see that's not the case. Well know this, I'll be watching you, and if I find you're mixed up in something shady, I'd advise you to watch your back."
Dean took a step back, his intense eyes still boring into Castiel's. "Dean," Castiel replied wearily, "I am an angel, you are but human. I am sorry for not being completely open with you about what Sam was letting himself in for, but it was for the greater good. You must understand that." Dean backed further away, his mouth curled up in a snarl."You all think you're above us, untouchable, but Sam and I have taken down beings as powerful as you, so I wouldn't be quite as sure of your invulnerability! Just for the record, is there any way to break this link between Sam and Lucifer?" The angel hesitated. He knew of no way, but a part of him was reluctant to tell Dean that. He was well aware that humans thrived on hope and so he took the coward's way out."I'm not sure. I will enquire in Heaven if anything can be done, but now I must go. My fellow angels call to me."
And with that, he disappeared leaving Dean with his head full of questions and with no answers to speak of. Now that Castiel was gone, the tough-man image that he had kept up in front of him vanished like melted snow, and Dean was filled once more with apprehension for his brother.He wouldn't say anything to Sam. His baby brother was finding it difficult enough to keep his wall intact without piling more bad news on him. He would investigate this new fact on his own. Lucifer wasn't getting his lurid hands back on Sammy.They would have to be very careful. Sam's wall couldn't be allowed to fall until he had found a way of freeing his little brother from Lucifer's clutches.He swore a silent oath to the Gods that if Lucifer took his brother again there would be Hell to pay and Dean Winchester's wrath would shake all of Creation. The End