I'll Come Back To You

Chapter 11: Only Human

It was late, and Sam wandered the bunker, wondering what his little family was up to.

Mary had gone to bed hours ago, and Sam finally located Jack in the library, watching some cat video on a laptop.

"Have you seen Dean?" He asked. Jack paused his video and glanced up at the moose.

"He said he was going out for a drive." Jack offered. "I think he wandered to clear his head." Sam nodded. That seemed like a normal Dean thing to do.

...Except that Dean wasn't normal right now. Sam frowned. Dean was deep in grief, and usually all of the hunter's worst ideas happened when he was grieving hard. But if he was just out for a drive, then Sam was probably just overreacting. After all, what's the worst thing Dean could do while he was out on the road, driv-

Sam's eyes widened in realization and he bolted out of the library.

*****

Dean knew it was a bad idea. 

A bad, bad, horrible idea that only confirmed that he had no other options.

But it wouldn't be the first bad idea Dean had gone through with, or the last. So Dean was willing to give it a shot.

He stood in the middle of a crossroad, a small box in his hands, an empty hold in the center of the crossroad, debating.

He had a gun with Colt bullets tucked in his jeans. If things went wrong, he could just kill whatever demon showed up. Dean sighed and buried the box.

He just wanted answers.

A demon showed up shortly, their smile dropping instantly at the sight of him.

"Dean Winchester," It hissed. "I'm really not in the mood-"

"I'm not here to cause trouble." Dean replied. "I want to know if you can make me a deal." The demon grinned.

"What kind of deal?" It purred.

"Can you bring an angel back to life?" He asked.

"An angel? That's not what we usually do-"

"CAN you do it?" Dean demanded. The demon paused.

"We don't have control over the Empty, we'd have to make a deal with the Shadow-"

"So that's a no," Dean concluded.

"It's a maybe," The demon insisted. "If you make a deal, I promise I'll make it my top priority."

"Yeah, well," Dean sighed and pulled out his gun. "I know better then to trust a demon." 

******

The crossroad was illuminated by car headlights as Sam jumped out of his car and ran over. Dean was sitting in the middle of the road, his head in his hands. There was a lifeless body on the ground, and Sam stared at his brother, panicked.

"Tell me you didn't make a deal," He begged. Dean shook his head and Sam breathed a sigh of relief, dropping down next to his brother.

"I tried," Dean voice's cracked. "They can't bring him back."

"Dean-"

"I tried, Sammy," Dean wiped at his eyes and stared up at the sky. "I tried everything, and nothing was enough to bring him back."

"I know," Sam wrapped an arm around his brother. "We'll figure it out, Dean."

"There's nothing to figure out. There's nothing left."

"Cas said he'd find a way back, remember?"

"But he's stuck in the Empty, Sam, and we can't help him-"

"He'll find a way."

"How?"

"I don't know. But he's Cas, and he promised you he'd come back, and he will. We just have to trust him." Dean shook his head.

"I want to," He whispered. "I want to trust him so bad. But I just don't know if him trying will be enough." Sam held his brother a little tighter.

"We'll figure it out, Dean. We always do."