Till the day I die

Back in Black

Dean woke in his bed, first blade in hand, but with no memory of how he got there. Crowley was standing over him looking rather unusual. How he even managed to get in the bunker Dean didn't know, but he didn't care. Dean sat up and looked around, it was his own room but something felt different, he didn't belong there. 'But why?' he thought. He stood up and held onto the Blade. Crowley said something that Dean didn't hear. He felt strange, something inside him was different; he felt angry, but at what he didn't know. He had so many questions. Why was Crowley here? Why did he feel so out of place and infuriated? It felt like he was in someone else's home and clothes. How was he here? He was just with Sam in an abandoned building, dying no less. So how was he even alive?

Sam. Sam must have done some sort of deal with Crowley, that was why he was there. But why did Sam even make a deal? Hadn't he said he wouldn't do that for Dean? He had so many questions.

"How did I get here?" Dean asked, surprised at how growly his voice sounded.

 "How do you feel?" Crowley asked looking at Dean as if he would explode.

"I should be dead." Dean said having ignored the question. "I remember Metatron stabbing me, and Sam being there, but that's it."

His strange feeling was growing stronger and turning into pain. He heard Crowley say "I'll explain it later, you should rest." and that was it. The pain grew in him suddenly and he passed out. Crowley put him back in his bed, and left the room.

The dreams that filled Dean's sleep were disturbing, full of pain and horror. Memories of Hell flooded him. He was strapped to a rusty metal table and Alastair was standing over him; Alastair sliced into Dean's leg and thick, hot blood poured out. His screams were everywhere, filling the air around them.... The dream moved on and now Dean was standing over a woman who replaced him, strapped to the table, and Alastiar stood behind him. Dean picked up a razor from the the rusty weapons table and cut into the weeping woman. She screamed. That scream....the first scream that Dean had caused in Hell would not easily be forgotten and Dean smiled when he heard it. He felt a fatherly hand on his shoulder and knew it to be Alastair's.

The dream moved on yet again and he dreamed he was stuck back in the dream he had all those years ago when he drank a beer with dream root in it. He was in the motel room with the other him, he had shot himself but he came back to life with black eyes, "YOU'RE GONNA DIE. AND THIS, THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE GONNA BECOME."

Dean woke with a start, he was sweaty and furious. The dream had felt so real, he knew it was just a memory but he couldn't ignore his feeling. He picked himself up and hobbled over to the mirror, pain was still surging through his body, less than before but still strong. He looked in the mirror and confusion gripped him.

The black eyes from his dream had followed Dean, there they were staring back at his bruised and cut face. He blinked, astonished, rubbed his eyes and looked back in the mirror. They were still there! Was it inside of him? Was he still dreaming? His thoughts halted when Crowley walked through the door.

"What's wrong with me?" Dean asked.

"I'll explain in a mo' but we have to leave."

"Why? What's wrong?" Dean asked on the alert.

"Nothing, lets just go." Crowley said as he put his hand on Dean's shoulder and they were outside somewhere, a little ways away from a playground.

Crowley sat on the bench behind them and Dean followed. Crowley started to explain that the Mark hadn't let Dean go, it changed him. Sam hadn't made any deal. Dean didn't care though. After everything Sam had put him through Dean didn't really care about what happened with Sam. Dean was a demon now, and he was proud of that. Not just any demon either, a knight of Hell, and along with the Mark of Cain it would be extremely difficult for anyone to kill him. He felt powerful. And why shouldn't he? After all the pain he had been through he deserved to be put in a powerful position.

Crowley kept on, saying that he would feel odd the first few days, and the rest Dean never heard. He vanished like Crowley had, just to see if he could and wound up across the street from the playground. He could see Crowley still sitting on the bench, looking around, Crowley didn't see him so he walked away. He'd go back to Crowley later, after he figured things out on his own. He would need to learn to disappear with more accuracy, but he wondered if he should go back to the bunker. To make sure everyone was okay? But the demon in his blood had taken hold, and he didn't go back. He would go on.

He could hunt, but that didn't seem any good now. Visit a friend? All his friends are dead, he reminded himself. No, he would just...go on, travel somewhere he had never been. Go to a bar, meet a girl. He would have some fun. Dean thought about whether or not he should go back to get his car though. Although if anyone started looking for him the Impala would be a dead give away. But he decided he would need the car; for clothes and weapons, or anything else he might need. Dean disappeared and reappeared in the bunker's garage fairly well, got his car and was gone.

He left with something new in his blood and no clear mission. No one saw him again for many months, Dean was gone; he was lost.