Sam and Dean
They returned to Tarsa with jittery nerves. They were close, now, so close, to getting this finished and going home to Katie and Maggie. Dean was on edge and more snappish than usual, even for him. Tarsa wanted them to rest and eat before going back out, but neither of them would hear of it. "Let's get it over with," said Dean, testily.
"As you wish," said Tarsa, and presented them with some heavy clothing to wear. "It's very cold there, we know at least that much," he said, and sent them off to get the very last crystal.
It was amazingly cold when they arrived, and they were happy for Tarsa's foresight. But they weren't very happy looking around, as all they saw was snow, for miles. They were in the mountains, they could tell that much. But as in the jungle, they had no clue as to which way to go.
"Let's get the others here," said Sam.
"Go," Dean responded. "And freaking hurry."
The four heroes who had accompanied them to the Jungle were all waiting at the tele point. Sam told them to hurry and get warm clothing, but Stoney said that wasn't necessary, he could keep them all warm. True to his word, he cast a warmth spell on each of them when he got there.
They discussed how to approach the problem, and soon Bicky Welsy was once again airborne, using various spells to move around up there. He returned in about fifteen minutes and said, "I don't see any signs of life, towns or otherwise. But there is a cave. What did you say the name of the protector was for this place?" he asked.
"Hart," Sam informed him.
"Well then, I think we need to go to the cave, since it has a large heart carved above it in the stone."
"How far is it?" asked Dean.
"In this snow? Thee maybe four hours."
"Then let's get to it," said Dean, irritably. "Lead the way."
The trek took closer to five hours, with Dean grumbling nearly the whole way. Thankfully, no one paid him much mind. They could see the cave about thirty minutes before they actually got to it. And right to the side of the cave, wonder of wonders, there stood a tree, obviously the last one they needed.
"That's pretty amazing," said Sam, and everyone else agreed.
When they finally reached the cave, exhausted and hungry, Sam walked over to the cave and examined it. The entrance was covered with a magical field, and he looked around in puzzlement. "Well this sucks," he said. "We're going to need the key to get into it."
"Wait!" exclaimed Lemmie, the Earth mage. "I think I see something magical in the rock beside the cave." He got up to examine it more closely. "Yes!" he said. "Everyone stand back."
Using his magic, Lemmie blasted away at the rock, and soon chunks of rock were flying, revealing a cubby hole that had been cut into the rock face. Sam went over and discovered a scroll tied up in twine and the small box that held the keys they were used to finding by this time. He opened the scroll, and read to his companions…
'I am Tannis Hart, last of my line. I will soon depart this life. If you are the Chosen Ones you will know what to do with this. If you are not, put it all back and leave, or face the wrath of the gods. I have planted a tree here. I hope it grows. If not, you will find others farther down the mountain.'
Sam and Dean each took hold of a side of the box to open it, and then took out the key. They held it to the magical barrier and, as expected, the barrier lifted.
As they were about to enter the cave they were suddenly attacked from above, and ran quickly into the cave. The mages all went to work casting spells, some that Sam and Dean recognized and some that were new to them. "Nephs," said Sam, "Taking a last shot maybe."
At that point, four beings appeared as if out of nowhere, blasting away at the protections the heroes had erected. Sam handed Dean his First Blade without being asked, and withdrew an angel blade, hoping it also worked on these Dicks.
As the protections began to falter, and the attackers moved closer, Dean jumped out and began swinging. Sam was able to discover that the angel blades of home did indeed work on these Dicks, before Dean had dispatched the other three in a frenzy of battle rage.
"Get back away," yelled Sam, as he realized the threat had been neutralized. As the heroes moved farther back into the cave, Dean was looking around with glazed eyes for further targets. "Dean," Sam yelled at him commandingly. "It's over! Stop now!" It took longer this time to talk him down, but finally he saw the glazed look leave Dean's eyes as rationality returned.
As before, Dean looked horrified at what had happened and dropped the blade. As the glow left his arm, Sam snatched it up and buried it once again in the bottom of his pack. The heroes crept out slowly from their safe spots looking awestruck. "What in blazes is that thing?" asked Hale, his voice shaking. "And who were those attackers?"
Dean looked at them, upset that they had seen him that way. Breathing heavily, Sam answered the question, searching for words in the language that he could use to explain it "Those, I suspect, were what you call lower gods. We call them angels on our world. Some of them suck. These were some who don't want us to succeed."
"Why?" asked Lemmie. "Why would anyone not want you to succeed?"
"That's a question for philosophical debate. Right now, let's get this done and get the fuck out of here!" Before they entered the cave, they cut off a branch of the tree that Tannis Hart had so thoughtfully planted for them.
Within ten minutes the group had traversed the cave, found the crystal and returned to Evermorn. Because they were physically exhausted and hungry as well, they agreed to go with the Heroes to Ash's house to eat, rest and celebrate. The word was put out everywhere that the final piece had been discovered. The heroes told their stories over and over again as new friends arrived. Much ale was drunk and many cheers were raised.
Sam cleared his throat. "Let's not forget that there is still the final leg of this journey, and we have no idea what to expect as we go to put these hearts in place."
"Aww we aren't forgetting this, lad, but let us celebrate what we have accomplished. We have faith in you two. And if you need us there to help, you know we will be."
Dean sat and drank his ale and ate his food. But he didn't say a word. He didn't smile. He made appropriate remarks if someone spoke to him, but it was clear to everyone he was being unsociable.
After spending a few hours with the heroes at Ash's house, Sam told them that he and Dean should leave. "I don't know if we will need your help after this. It could be that only the two of us can go. But I want to thank each and every one of you in case we don't see you until this is over. You have all been awesome friends to us."
Sam's little speech elicited a spate of 'awesomes' from the group, and, amid cheers and whistles, Sam threw down the orb that took them back to Tarsa. The first thing he did was tell Tarsa about the attack and said the bodies were probably still where they had fallen. Tarsa immediately sent others to go and investigate.
"We have them all," Sam told Tarsa. "What can you tell us of the final leg of the journey.
"Nothing, unfortunately," Tarsa replied. We have the orb to send you where you have to go, but nothing to indicate where that is, or what you will find when you get there."
"Awesome," said Dean, his tone clearly indicating the opposite of the word.
"You should eat and get some sleep before going," said Tarsa.
"We've eaten on the surface, thank you," Sam replied. "But sleep sounds wonderful." Back in their room they took showers and went to bed. They were both asleep in minutes.
In the morning they ate a good breakfast and got themselves ready to go. Hating to do it, Sam decided that he had to give Dean his blade, because they had no idea what they were facing. But he vowed he was going to get that goddamn cursed thing away from Dean for good when this whole thing was over. Maybe he'd find a way to leave it on this planet when they left.
They also decided to leave the rings and Hale's presents for the girls in Tarsa's care, along with letters they wrote to Maggie and Katie in case they didn't return. Tarsa promised they would be delivered, but said he was confident that wouldn't be necessary. There wasn't much else to say. They all knew what was at stake, and that this was the last leg of their journey. They would come back or not. They would succeed or fail. And it was all, once again, on their own shoulders.
Tarsa placed his hand on their shoulders and gave them a small shake. His look said it all. He drew out the final orb and sent the boys away.
"Sammy," said Dean as he looked around them slowly. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.
"Yeah we are," said Sam. "See the moons? They just aren't in the same place in the sky that we're used to. I think we're on the other side of the planet."
They were on a very high ledge that looked like it rose above the clouds. Looking down over the sheer edge, all they saw was fog. The ledge looked like it was cut right out of the center of the mountain.
They took out their weapons and began to walk slowly towards the center of the opening. Soon they saw they were heading towards a lake that looked like it covered most of the open space. A bridge appeared to span the lake to the other side. There was no sign of life anywhere.
"ohhhhh, I don't like this," Dean said quietly.
"Tell me about it," Sam replied.
Slowly, very slowly, they inched their way toward the bridge. Under a carved out space on the other side sat a machine of some kind on a pedestal. "I think that's where the hearts go," said Sam.
"It can't be this easy," said Dean.
They stopped moving at the edge of the bridge. They exchanged pensive glances, and Dean put his foot down on the bridge. Suddenly there was a huge splashing noise and several huge monster looking things reared their heads out of the water and began snapping their teeth at the boys.
They yelped and backed up as fast as they could, eyes wide with terror.
"What the hell are those things?" asked Dean.
"I think it's all one monster," Sam answered.
They were looking at what appeared to be giant snakes with heads that looked more like dragons. Their long snake-like bodies were scaled. There were eight of them, and they towered over the boys by several yards.
"What?" Dean exclaimed.
"I think that's a hydra," said Sam. "A multi-headed creature that exists only in fantasy stories back home."
"Oh you gotta be shitting me," Dean groaned. Then he sighed and said, "So how do we kill it?"
"I'd say very carefully, one head at a time."
"Let's try throwing all the spells at it that the guys gave us."
"Good idea," said Sam, as he extracted a large pouch from his pack. All the mages had made scrolls for them to use if it turned out they had to go it alone. Sam handed some to Dean and they both started throwing the spells at the monster.
"Target one head at a time," Dean yelled, over the roaring and screeching the monster was doing.
But the spells only served to make it angry. Very little damage was done to it. Sam took out an angel blade and threw it at the nearest head. His aim was right on and the blade sunk into the creature's neck right below it's head. The creature roared in anger and pain but it didn't appear to do any real damage. Then, of the other heads leaned in and took the blade in it's mouth and pulled it out, dropping it into the lake.
"Son-of-a-bitch," Dean exclaimed. "Sammy, I think we're in some deep shit this time." He held out his First Blade and let out a roar. The blade and his arm began to glow a bright red color. Dean ran toward the nearest head, spun around and cut the things head clean off. He barely got out of the way of another head that snapped at him.
"Sam, try to distract the other heads. I think this is going to be the only thing that will kill them. But don't get close enough to let it get you."
Sam ran up close to the bridge but away from Dean. Several of the heads tried to reach him, and Dean managed to lop off another head. Then the frenzy hit, and Dean seemed no longer be in control of his actions. He spun and sliced, dodged and rolled chopping on head after head. Some of them wounded him, but still he kept going.
When there was just one head left, as Dean went to swing the killing blow, the creature was quicker, and grabbed Dean around his chest, it's teeth sinking into him, tearing flesh, crunching bones.
"Nooooooooooo" Sam yelled and ran up to help his brother. He stabbed at the creature's face until it was in shreds, and finally it opened it's mouth to roar in pain and Sam grabbed his brother out of its mouth and ran with him the other side. The creature let out one more screeching moan and disappeared into the water.
With tears in his eyes, Sam tried to see how badly his brother was hurt. He was bleeding profusely from several places and his breathing was labored. "Dean," he said, crying. "We need to finish this so we can get out of here and get you healed."
Dean nodded and Sam helped him get to the pedestal. It was obvious what had to be done. On each side there were places with carved hands, and in a circle around a center hole were small indentations to hold the hearts. All they had to do now was place them correctly.
Sam helped Dean place his hands and said," Just lean here and don't move. I'll be a quick as I can." He grabbed the bag that held all the little pouches and quickly began to place them in their slots, taking precious seconds to make sure the placement was right. When the last one had been placed he looked at Dean and they gave a slight nod to each other. Then Sam placed his hands in the spots across from Dean.
There was a rumble as the ground shook. A bright, white light almost too bright to look at, sprang up from the center of the pedestal and continued up into the sky. In direct contrast to the light, the rest of the sky darkened. Thunder roared and lightning struck all around them.
Dean began to slip off the pedestal, and Sam ran around to help him. As he reached into his bag for the orb that would take them out of there, he watched in horror as the light went out of Dean's eyes. "Nooooooooo," he screamed again. "You can't do this! We were done. It was over. You stop this!" By this time he was sobbing, loud, hard, heart-wrenching tears. "Dean!"
Sam held his brother and cried until he couldn't cry anymore. He closed Dean's eyes that were staring at him sightlessly, took off his jacket and laid it on the ground to rest his brother's head on. Still sniffling, he rose up slowly and gathered up all their possessions that had been scattered during the fight with the monster, and the quaking.
All he could think was how unfair this was. How after everything they had gone through, they were a hair's breadth from making it. So close! He didn't think he could stand it. Several times he roared and screamed into the air around him. He wanted to die too. He didn't even know if they had saved this world or doomed it, and he didn't care. The cost was too great.
When he finally had himself together enough to face going back, he determined that he was going to hold Dean upright so he could go back standing, like the hero he was. Just as he was about to turn towards his brother, he thought he heard someone whisper, very faintly, "Sammy."