Supernatural Odyssey: Death and Rebirth

Chapter 18

Then, they were falling.

There was nothing surrounding them but an opaque funnel of sand that seemed to go on forever...they seemed to be neither rising nor falling...there was not the change in momentum necessary to detect direction...

"Dean?! Are you alright?!" Sam screamed, his arms flailing and his legs kicking, trying to grab hold of something. Dean, on the other hand, was falling limply, his arms and legs unmoving. A large piece of shappenal was stuck in his back. "Is this Death?" He whispered weakly.

"No, Dean, it's not!" Sam insisted, "you're going to be alright!"

"Sam...I don't think I'll make it..."

"No! You'll be fine!" said Sam, "because we got Death killed when we summoned him to fight that thing remember? That must be why I was suddenly able to miraculously rise from the dead. Say it with me. 'I'll be fine.'"

"I'll...be...fine."

"See? There you go!"

"I don't think the thing Nyarlathotep killed was the real death..." Dean whispered, "and I don't think death will cease...just like that..."

"But if that guy was an imposter, then how did our spell manage to summon him?" snapped Sam, "he seemed like the real deal to me...no, he IS the real deal!"

"I still don't--"

"I don't know Dean!" Sam barked, "but when we survive this--and we will, we can make theories on it all we want. If we don't we'll just have to ask whatever comes for us that question!"

After what seemed like an eternity of falling, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. A light that slowly grew in size...coming closer...closer...

"OH SHIT--" The ground slammed into Sam's gut like a sledgehammer, knocking the wind out of their lungs. "Ow...fuck."

Climbing to their feet, Sam discovered that they were now in the center of a vast, green field with a bright yellow sun shining overhead. Before them, stood a towering, silvery palace decorated with thousands of emeralds, pearls, and diamonds, making it sparkle from tip to foundation under the sun.

The chirping of birds, the fluttering of butterflies, and the sweet smell of the flower gardens, along with about a dozen doorways floated in the air around them. "Yo, Sam..." Dean lay on his back, staring up at the craziness that was the world around them. "I think I'm dying...Sam." He murmured, "I think I'm seeing things..."

"No no no!" Sam screamed; the fall on his back had driven the sharp piece of shappenal all the way through Dean's body so now, it impaled him through the chest, "as far as I'm concerned, yes...it was all real." Sam told him, "You. Are. Not. Dying." His brother took that shappenal for him...it should have been him...guilt corroded his heart...it should have been him.

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" A dreamy whisper echoed through the air, making Sam jump.

"Uh...WHO'S THERE?!" Sam snatched up his shotgun and prepared to shoot whatever moved. "SHOW YOURSELVES! I HAVE A GUN AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!!!"

"Sam..." The dreamy voice echoed behind his back. "Your mortal weapons--" Sam spun around and unloaded a round into the chest of a tall, pale, and skinny man dressed in a long, black robe...and did absolutely nothing. "--do not hurt me. You are in the--" Even Dean pulled a laser blaster out from under his belt and trained it with weak trembling hands on the mysterious Man in Black. "--The Heart of The Dreaming."

"Yo man, we don't care WHERE we are! Who the fuck are you and why did you take us to this freakshow of a realm?!" Sam barked, his trembling finger clutching onto the trigger of his laser blaster. "And--and yo, just know--this--this is a Phased Plasma Rifle man!!! These blasts will tear your ass to shreds before you can even react, so--so don't test me!!"

"Why the fear?" The man spoke again without moving his lips, his voice still distant and dreamy as ever, "why the hostility? Samuel Winchester...the foolish pioneer...so intent on discovering the secrets of the hyperverse..."

"Look, if you're not the enemy, then help him!" Sam screamed, pointing at his brother.

The Man in Black looked Sam in the eyes. "It is unseemly for the dead to walk the earth, Sam Winchester. You belong with the dead, little ghost. You should have gone to the place appointed for you." He pointed at Dean whose body began to levitate in a miniature sandstorm that surrounded just him.

"Stop! What are you doing?!"

"But you didn't. You evaded your death." the Man in Black continued, "what you stole was life, Sam, and there is only so much of it to go around...now, another must take your place." Sam leaped at Dean's body which quickly disintegrated in the sandstorm, trying to wrest it out. But it was too late.

"No! Take me!" cried Sam, "take me instead. It was my mistake...let me bear it alone."

"Yes, it was your mistake." said the Man in Black, "and this is the consequence. What's done is done and cannot be undone."

"No...you bring him back right this instant!" Sam snapped at the Man In Black, jabbing his gun in his face, "put your fucking hands up over your head, and get on your knees before I off you!"

The Man In Black took a step towards them both, his long, messy hair waving in the soft, gentle breeze around them. "I have monitored your story for a long time, Sam Winchester, and I have to say...you are a man of honor...a man I respect that--I respect your perseverance, your courage, your willpower, your sense of responsibility."

"BRING BACK MY FUCKING BROTHER BEFORE I SEND YOU TO MEET HIM!" cried Sam hysterically, "I SWEAR, I'LL BLOW A CLEAR HOLE THROUGH YOUR FUCKING HEAD!!!"

"You will do no such thing." The man reached into his robe and took out a small brown pouch, opened it and pulled out--Sam trained his gun on the man's hands--a handful of sand? "It is foolish of you to try and harm me here. Lower the gun before you make another mistake--"

Suddenly, the man turned around and threw the sand into the air. However, instead of coming down as sand, a shower of sparkles fell over them as the scene around them changed...the greenfield warped and disappeared, only to be replaced by an old fashioned room--and an art show gallery on its wall.

~BANG!~ ~BANG!~ Sam fired his weapon at the man, only to find that he, like the previous scenery, had vanished from existence. "You a piece of me?!" Sam roared in anger, "kill me, you coward! Fight back!"

A/N: Like and comment please!