These Broken Roads

What Fear Can Do

Dean looked up from his book and blinked blearily. Cas sat across from him at the table reading one of the many books in their vast collection. So far it had been like searching for a needle in a hay stack and Dean's frustration was growing almost as fast as his fear for Sammy. Dean wished he could at least let Sam know that they were coming. His baby brother most likely thought that he was alone in the world. The last Winchester standing.

"Did you find anything?" Cas asked looking up as well, hope plastered plainly on his face.

"Nope. Just a buttload of nothing." Cas just shook his head and returned to reading the ancient tome in front of him.

"Something will turn up, I'm sure." Any other time, Dean would have admired his friends resilience. But right now it annoyed him.

"Three days Cas! It's been three days and Amara hasn't even given us a hint to where Sam is. He could be dead for all we know!" It made Dean physically ill to think of that possibility but it was true. Every moment wasted was a moment that Sam could be hurt or killed.

Dean's temper flared at Castiel's lack of response. He jumped up. "I'm going on a beer run.  Don't wait up for me." Cas nodded sadly and turned back to his book. Dean on the other hand, slammed his shut and stormed out of the room.

"Gah!" Dean nearly jumped a mile when Amara appeared in front of him just before he got to the bunker door. "Just when I thought the days of getting the crap scared out of me by angels, you show up!" Castiel's head popped around the doorway at the commotion. Dean almost felt bad for reminding the fallen angel of what he had so recently lost.

"I found Sam," Amara deadpanned, "But we must hurry, he is in immense pain."

That was all Dean needed to hear. "Let's go!" He urged. Dean was so anxious to get to his brother that he nearly growled when Cas interrupted.

"Shouldn't we make a plan first? Surely, they have Sam well guarded." Always the voice of annoyingly well placed logic Dean thought. Even though he wanted to get to Sam ASAP, he begrudgingly agreed with Cas.

Amara seemed to have a different opinion which she took no time in sharing. "Do you have such little an opinion of me, nephew? Did I not say that I could take you directly to Sam?"

"Well, yes. You did." Cas answered, a little flustered.

"Then let me do as I promised. They may have put up warding against most supernatural beings but, fortunately, I am not most." There was no mistaking the small glint of juvenile pride in her eyes as she said this.

"That's good enough for me." Dean contributed. Amara held out her hands and both man and angel took hold.

"Hold on tight. Especially you Castiel. The angel warding will make yours a bumpy ride."
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Toni had become accustomed to the screaming coming from the basement of the ramshackle old farm house that she had set up base in. Sometimes, she wondered why she had chosen such a decrepit venue.

The screams stopped abruptly but Toni knew the drug hadn't made its way through yet. It would be a few more hours before that happened and judging by Sam's running commentary, always involving the name Lucifer, she also knew he would break very soon.

Minutes later a loud crash pulled Toni from her thoughts. She jumped up from the kitchen table and ran toward the basement door. There was no way Sam could have freed himself from his chains and made that noise. Especially not in his drugged state. If she was lucky, then it was fear that could make people do crazy things, not someone trying to rescue her prisoner.

Toni hurried down the stairs, intent on putting Sam back in the chair no matter what. Then she was going to go back upstairs and finish her tea.

Unfortunately for her, when Toni reached the bottom, she ran smack into Cas who promptly touched two fingers to her head.

The last thing she saw before she fell into unconsciousness was the livid face of Dean Winchester hovering above her.
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Dean expected to see his brother beaten and bloody, and that was exactly what he got. He didn't expect to see Sam screaming as though his skin was being ripped to shreds when no one else was in the room.

"Sam?" Dean rushed to his brother's side, a little taken aback by the hideous wounds all over his body. They must've hurt but not nearly enough to make him scream like this.

"What's wrong with him?" Dean asked the heavenly beings behind him. Cas approached Sam then too, and placed his hand on Sam's chest. Amara stayed where she had landed a moment ago, no detectable emotion on her face.

"I'm afraid Sam's suffering isn't over yet. There's a drug in Sam's bloodstream." Cas expression turned grave. "A drug known to bring your worst fears to life." Dean's eyes widened. There was only one person he knew that could make Sammy scream that way.

As if on cue Sam let out a screech to rival all others and arched his back out of the chair, pulling at his restraints so hard that it broke the skin. Dean briefly considered taking the chains off Sam but he decided against it. His baby brother was clearly suffering and yet, freeing Sam might only make it harder for them to help him. If the way Sam yelled and flinched away when Dean touched him wasn't proof of that, Dean didn't know what was.

"Alright," Dean stated, already in overprotective big brother mode, "We need get him out of here." He turned to Amara for an answer and Castiel followed suit. Dean knew it irked Cas to have to accept Amara's help. Castiel used to have wings of his own, and it was obvious how much he missed them.

Amara stayed where she was, a dispassionate audience to their plight. "I cannot transport all of you and Sam at the same time. Especially when he is tied to the chair with chains."

"Why not!" Dean spat out, losing the calm he had gotten when he had finally been in the same room as his brother. Only taking his eyes off Sam to glare menacingly at The Darkness, Dean said, "Sam's been through enough already, we need to get him out of here NOW!"

"I agree with Dean," Cas defended him, although he was much calmer, "You'll have to give us a good reason that you cannot."

Amara looked them both dead in the eyes. Her own glinting with hardly concealed immortal irritation. "Even my power has its limits. Though I wouldn't expect you fools to understand that. Two people and a couple of guns is one thing, but three people, a couple of guns, a chair, and heavy metal chains is another!

Dean and Cas just stared bleakly at Amara. Castiel nodded his head in compliance and Dean did too, but not without a final word.

"Ya managed to almost destroy the world well enough yesterday," he mumbled under his breath.
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Sam wasn't sure how much more he could take. He was laying flat on the floor now, tied down by some invisible force. The devil was sitting cross-legged next to him, braiding his intestines and humming Metallica. Sam was going to burn Dean's Metallica tape when he got out of this.

"Please stop..." Hours of torture had turned into days and Sam could no longer remember what was reality anymore. Had it even been a drug that caused this or was this real?

"Stop!? Oh Sam I'm just getting started!" Lucifer tossed his head back and laughed manically. "You're back in hell with me, your brother is dead because of you, and your only surviving friend hates you. Really, Sam, we have so much to talk about!"

Satan leaned in close to Sam's face. His breath hot and sticky. "And we have all the time in the world too, Sammy."