Down the Rabbit Hole

The Stuff of Heroes Part 1

Dean and Lacey managed to drag Sam out of Veritas's house and into the Impala. They brought him back to the motel and tied him to one of the chairs. They stepped outside waiting for Sam to wake up. Lacey rubbed her arms, feeling the cold.
"We should call Cas, get his opinion." Dean reasoned.
"Yeah, if he'll come." Lacey pointed out.
"Well we'll just keep calling until he does." Dean reassured her. He leaned against the railing and closed his eyes.
"Cas, we need some help so get your ass down here." He opened one eye, seeing if the angel had arrived but nothing happened. Lacey shivered from the cold and turned to head back inside, Dean put his hand on her arm.
"Sweetheart..." He stopped, trying to find the words. "Do you really not trust me?" Lacey thought for a second before she answered.
"No, I trust you. I trust you to do the right thing, I trust you with my life, I just don't trust that you won't leave again." She looked up at him biting her lip as she waited for her. Dean cupped her chin in his hand.
"Then I better spend the rest of my time proving to you that that's not going to happen. This life... it doesn't leave much room for normal, I made a mistake trying to chase that down, when the person who's a perfect fit for me was right in front of me the whole time." Lacey smiled at him and he leant forward to kiss her.
"Hello." The two of them turned to see Cas standing beside them.
"Oh, hey Cas." Lacey smiled, blushing slightly.
"You called me." Cas reminded them.
Right." Dean said. "We have a bit of a problem. There is definitely something not right with Sam. He's a bit of a mess." He warned him as he opened the door to their room. As they crossed the threshold Sam began to wake up.
"You're right. He looks terrible." Cas confirmed, scanning him quickly. "You did this?" He asked, turning to Dean.
"Cas? What's?..." Sam asked. He tried to move before realising he was bound to the chair. "Let me go." He demanded.
"Has he been feverish?" Cas asked.
"Have you been feverish?" Dean asked, folding his arms across his chest and glaring at Sam.
"No, why?"
"Is he speaking in tongues? Are you speaking in tongues?" He asked Sam accusingly.
"No...what are you... are you diagnosing me?" Sam asked incredulously.
"You better hope he ca." Dean warned.
"You really think that this is..."
"What you think there's a clinic for people who pop out of hell wrong? He asks, you answer, then you shut your hole! You got it?" Lacey slipped her hand into Deans, trying to calm him down.
"How much do you sleep?" Cas asked calmly.
"I don't." Sam informed them.
"At all?" Dean sounded surprised.
"Not since I got back."
"And it didn't occur to you that there might be something off about that?"
"Of course I did Dean, I just never told you."
"What?" Dean glowered at him.
"Sam.. what are you feeling now?" Cas interrupted.
"I feel like my nose is broken." Sam complained.
"No, that's a physical sensation, how do you feel?"
"Well I think.."
"Feel." Cas interrupted again.
"I... I don't know." Sam frowned. Cas and Dean exchanged a look. Cas began to take off his belt. "What..uh..." Sam began warily.
"This will be unpleasant." Cas informed him.
"What..."
"Bite down on this." Cas said, putting the belt between Sam's teeth. "If there's some place that you find soothing, you should go there in your mind." Cas pressed his hand against Sam's chest, Sam began to scream as Cas' hand disappeared inside his chest and a blinding white light emanated from it. Lacey turned away, unable to bear the look of pain that crossed Sam's face. Dean put his arm around her, shielding her from the sight. Moments later there was a loud gasp from Sam as Cas pulled back his hand before removing the belt from his mouth. Lacey and Dean looked at Cas questioningly.
"Did you find anything?" Dean asked hopefully.
"No."
"So, that' good news?" Dean asked, uncertainly.
"I'm afraid not. Physically he's perfectly healthy."
"Then what?" Dean asked, sounding exasperated.
"It's his soul, it's gone." Cas explained in his usual stoic manner. Lacey blinked at him, not sure that she had heard him right.
"I'm sorry." Dean looked at Cas like he was crazy. "One more time, like I'm five. What do you mean he's got no..."
"Somehow when Sam was resurrected, it was without his soul." Cas sighed heavily.
"So... where is it?"
"My guess is... still in the cage with Michael and Lucifer."
"You're kidding." Lacey stared at him. It was Cas' turn to blink at her. "Wait, forget I said that." Lacey rolled her eyes.
"So is he even still Sam?" Dean asked.
"Well, you pose an interesting philosophical question." Cas said, warming to the subject. Dean shook his head.
"Well then, just get it back."
"Dean." Cas gave him a look.
"Well you pulled me out." Dean reasoned.
"It took several angels to rescue you, and you weren't nearly as well guarded. Sam's soul is in Lucifers cage. There's a difference, a big difference. It's not possible."
"Okay, well there's got to be a way." Dean frowned in concentration.
"So are you gonna untie me?" Sam asked, interrupting their thoughts.
"No." Dean replied, angrily.
"Listen, I'm not gonna..."
"Sam, how the hell am I even supposed to even let you out of this room?"
"Dean I'm not some psycho." Sam reasoned. "I didn't want you to get hurt, I was just trying to stop the vamps. I'm sorry, it won't ever happen again, please let me go."
"You're kidding right?" Dean fumed.
"Okay fine, look, I get it Dean. I was wrong. But I'm telling you, I'm trying to get right, it's still me."
"Maybe we should let him out." Lacey said. "I can keep an eye on him."
"No way in hell." Dean growled. Sam sighed.
"I didn't want it to come to this." Sam stood up, his bonds falling to the floor. Lacey stepped in front of Dean defensively.
"You're not gonna hold me Dean, not here, not in a panic room, not anywhere. You're stuck with the soulless guy, so you might as well work with me."
"I'm keeping an eye on you." Lacey stepped forward and prodded Sam in the chest. "Don't think you can get away with anything,"
"I want to fix this." Sam told her.
"Okay then." Lacey placed her palm flat on Sam's chest and a warmth radiated through him as his wounds were healed.
"All right, if we're gonna figure out what happened to your soul then we need to find who yanked you out." Dean reasoned. "You say you don't know?"
"No idea."
"Then we start a list. If it's so hard to someone out of the box, then who's got that kind of muscle?" Dean turned to Cas who shrugged.
"I don't know. You have no memory of your resurrection?"
"I woke up in a field, that's all I got."
"No clues? None?" Dean asked. Sam brightened.
"I've got one."