**Later**:
Dean sighed annoyed, as he stood off to the side, leaning against a tree, watching as Keeper showed the others some combat moves. He was still angry at them, but he knew that unfortunately, Keeper was right about needing them if they wanted any chance of winning the war. After agreeing to let them help he kept things strictly professional between them, treating them like soldiers. Yeah, they had apologized and he knew they all meant it, but the thought about him going dark was still there. He sighed again, maybe he was being childish, but he couldn't help it, he felt like everything he's done for them meant nothing, that he had wasted his time and love on them. He hated feeling like that; it ripped his damn heart to shreds, he still loved them and he was still desperately in love with Roman, but none of them could see past the monster they all thought he was.
Maybe this time love just wasn't enough...maybe he wasn't enough to keep their family together? He had been seriously thinking since their fight happened about leaving after they won the war. He leave and go someplace far away and start over, only this time he wouldn't make the same mistakes by starting a new family. No, this time he'd do it alone, at least that way he wouldn't end up hurt again. He had tried so damn hard over the years to keep from ending up like the others in his family, to keep some of his morality. He hated what Vassago had made him and even though he rebelled against his family over the centuries, he never had a reason to leave them, to rid the world of his kind...until he met Roman!
He knew his world had been completely flipped upside down and his life would never be the same again the minute he had met Roman. He had never believed in soulmates or even love, but dammit, he did now because of Roman and it hurt deeply to know that the man he loves; the only person he's ever been in love with, sees him as only a damn monster! Yeah, knowing his entire family thinks he's a monster hurts like a bitch, but Roman thinking that hurt so much more. So, to keep his heart safe and to keep everyone else alive, he decided to push all of that to the back of his mind and put all his focus and energy into the battle with Vassago, then once that son-of-a-bitch was dead; by his hands, he'll leave and start his new life. It would the hardest thing he's ever done, but it would be better than staying and living a damn lie.
"No, no, no!" Keeper's annoyed voice spoke breaking into Dean's thoughts.
"Dammit, what is it this time, Keeper?" Seth demanded frustrated, as they stopped training and looked at the Vamp angrily.
"So many things, mortal!" Keeper replied bitterly.
"Quit calling us that, dammit! Zander's not even human, remember, asshole? We're doing the best we can, so cut us a break!" Paige added angrily.
Dean said and did nothing, he stayed where he was watching them arguing, he crossed his arms and brought his right hand to his mouth and began chewing on his thumbnail. He knew Keeper despised each of them purely because they were mortal and he believed them to be inferior to him because of that in every way; he despised Zander because he believed he was a traitor to his own kind. Keeper couldn't understand why none of them could pick up the training like him, Zander and Dean could, he expected more from them then they could give him. Dean, on the other hand, had trained them before and knew if given time each one of them could get it and even surpass any expectations. He let them argue for a few minutes, thinking that they'd be able to work something out, but when they continued going at each other Dean had had enough and decided to take control.
"I don't need a mortal bitch to..." Keeper began angrily, but Dean cut him off.
"Enough, dammit!" Dean yelled, as he stood up off the tree and walked towards them. "You're all acting like children; grow the hell up all of you!" He added frustrated; as he ran his hands over his face sighing. "Look, I don't like this any more than any of you do, but like it or fucking not, all of us need to work together to win this damn war!" He scolded them.
"Dean's right, if we want to get rid of Vassago, then all of us need to call a truce and work together." Zander said sighing. "I'm in."
"So am I." Roman agreed without hesitation.
"I' am too." Paige added.
"You all know I' am, so that leaves only Seth and Keeper." Dean said, as he crossed his arms and everyone looked at the two men. "Well?"
"Me too." Seth and Keeper said together bitterly.
"Great, now that we've all decided to act like freaking adults, we can focus on our mission; to kill Vassago! From here on out I'll be in charge of the training, Keeper will help, but I'm in charge now and save your damn breath Keeper, I'm not changing my mind." Dean said firmly, as he pointed at Keeper to stop him from arguing without looking at him.
"What do we do first?" Roman asked.
"We do what we have been doing...training. Everyone grab your machetes, we're going back to the basics." Dean ordered, as he took his own machetes out.
**Later**:
Roman stood off to the side with the others, as they watched Dean and Keeper demonstrate some new moves for them. He knew he should be concentrating on their training, but he couldn't. All he could think about was their fight with Dean and how distant he was being with them. He knew Dean was still angry and hurt by what happened and honestly, Roman didn't blame him. He'd feel hurt, betrayed and angry too if the situation was reversed. He still felt like shit for the way he treated the man he loved, he was supposed to be the one person out of everyone in the entire damn world that Dean could rely on and he failed him. As he watched Dean mock battle Keeper, he could tell that their fight had affected Dean more than he was letting on it did. It ripped him apart inside to see him so hurt because of them. Dean wasn't the damn monster...they were!
"Alright, we'll take a five-minute break, then you're going to practice the moves we just showed you." Dean said, breaking into Roman's thoughts.
Roman stayed where he was, while the others took advantage of the break. He watched as Dean put his machetes away, before he walked to where Keeper was standing away from the others. He spoke to Keeper about something, Roman couldn't hear what was being said, but judging by Dean's angry reaction he knew whatever it was wasn't good. After ending their conversation, Dean turned around and began walking towards Roman, their eyes met briefly and the hurt he saw in Dean's eyes made his heart physically ache. Without saying anything, Dean began walking past him, unable to just let him go, Roman reached out and gently grabbed his wrist. Dean stopped walking and looked at their hands, before he looked at a sad Roman.
"Take your hand off of me." Dean demanded without force or any emotion in his voice.
"Dean, please talk to me?" Roman said quietly, as he let his arm go.
"I think you've said enough, don't you?" Dean replied bitterly.
"Dean, I love you and all I want to do is apologize." Roman begged.
Instead of answering, Dean walked away, Roman watched him leave, as he fought back his tears.
After Dean left, he walked around for a few minutes, he was so pissed that after everything his family had said and done to him, Roman was trying to make him feel guilty for feeling the way he did! Damn them and damn him!
"We need to talk, Ambrose!" Seth's voice spoke from behind him.
"No, we don't!" Dean replied angrily, as he turned to face him.
"Fine, I'll talk and you listen, dammit!" Seth stated upset. "First of all, you know we all love you and that Roman is in love with you, that will never change. Look, we know we fucked up, okay? We know that and we...we hate ourselves for everything we've said and done. All of this is new to us, dammit! We...we have no idea what we're doing; all we know about Vamps is what you and Zander have taught us. We're only human, Dean, we make mistakes, but that doesn't change how we feel about you!"
"You should have trusted me, dammit! I've proven myself over and fucking over to all of you! I'm nothing like the others!" Dean yelled angrily.
"We know that and we do trust you, we never stopped!" Seth stated. "We followed you into battle and look to you to lead us, we..."
"Question and doubt every damn thing I've said and done!" Dean said, cutting him off. "Every-fucking-thing!"
"Wrong! We've never doubted you or anything you've said or done and so what if we question shit! It's part of learning and we did it to make sure your plans aren't just driven by your never-ending need for revenge!" Seth defended them.
"This isn't about revenge, Rollins!" Dean stated, shocked by his words.
"No?" Seth questioned not believing him, as he crossed his arms.
"Not that I have to defend myself to you, but no it's not! It's because of..." Dean began, but trailed off.
"Because of what?" Seth prodded gently.
"Never mind, it doesn't matter, dammit! That doesn't change the fact that all of you think I'm going dark!"
"You're right, we are worried about that! Do you know why though?"
"It doesn't matter." Dean said bitterly.
"Yes, it does, dammit!" Seth replied angrily. "We're scared of you going dark because we don't want to lose you, Dean! We love you dammit, you're the heart of our little, dysfunctional family and the thought of losing you scares the hell out of us! We know you've fought it this long and that you'd rather die than go dark, but none of us; including you, know for sure that it won't happen." He added sadly. "We're so sorry, Dean, we really are and we're done questioning you, we're all behind you 100%! And not because you're the Chosen One, but because we love you and we're family."
Hearing Seth's words and feeling Seth's emotions, overwhelmed Dean. He turned his back to him and hung his head, as he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He heard Seth move closer and felt him touch his shoulder, Dean tensed at the contact, his heart felt like it was literally being torn from his chest. He knew in this moment, that he needed his family, as much as they needed him; if not more. Seth was right, this was all new to them and he shouldn't have gotten so upset over it. He had done the exact same thing to them that he had accused them of doing to him.
"Dean?" Seth said quietly, as he stood in front of him.
Without saying anything, Dean looked at him sadly, before he pulled him into a hug. Seth was shocked by the hug at first, but quickly returned it, they held each other tightly. No words were spoken by either man; none were needed, but both had forgiven the other.
"Dean, Seth, where are you?" Paige's voice called out to them from the woods.
"I told you I could have found them on my own, you all didn't need to come with me!" Keeper's angry voice spoke from the same direction.
"Shut up, quit complaining and look for them, dammit!" Roman's angry voice spoke.
"Looks like we've got company." Seth said, as the hug ended and they pulled away, both smiling.
"Yeah, I guess we..." Dean began, but trailed off, as the familiar dizzy feeling suddenly hit him and he grabbed onto Seth to keep himself on his feet.
"Dean?" Seth said concerned, until he realized what was happening, he was mindlinking with Vassago. "Shit, no, no, no! Not now, fight it, Dean, fight..." He said trying to keep it from happening right now, but he trailed off realizing he couldn't stop it and he caught Dean as he passed out before he could hit the ground. "Dammit!"
Needing to think quickly, not wanting Keeper to know about Dean being able to mindlink, he gently laid him on the ground and looked around for something he could use to explain Dean being unconscious. As the others got closer, Seth spotted a large rock and decided to make it look like Dean had somehow fallen and hit his head off of the rock. He got up and rushed to the rock, it was pretty heavy; he managed to pick it up and struggled to take it back to Dean. Once he was back at his body, he took a few seconds to catch his breath, before struggling he lifted the rock above his head. He hesitated to strike him, he wasn't sure he could do it, but hearing the others getting closer he knew he had no choice.
"Forgive me, D!" Seth said sadly, as he lifted the rock higher above his head and swung it towards Dean's head; before he could have second thoughts, and closing his eyes he connected with his head.
As soon as it was over he immediately dropped the rock and turned away from him, fighting the strong urge to get sick to his stomach. He took some deep breaths as he bent over holding his stomach, he hated himself for doing it, but he had no damn choice; he only hoped Dean would understand and forgive him. He then moved the rock closer to Dean's body, before he carefully lifted his head up and pushed the rock under it and gently positioned it so the injury was on the part of the rock where the blood was to make it believable. He then stood up and cleaned himself up as best he could, hoping he had gotten rid of any blood he had on him.
He then took a deep breath to calm his nerves; the only thing keeping him from completely losing it was knowing that Dean couldn't die from it and he'd heal with no lasting effects from it. He had no time to come up with a cover story, as he heard the others getting closer; he'd just have to wing it and hope Keeper bought it, he'll tell the others the truth as soon as he could. Until he could, he hoped that they'd realize what he was doing and play along, otherwise they were screwed! Hearing them nearby, he knew it was time, so he stood up and took another deep breath, before he spoke loud enough that they'd hear him.
"Dammit, Dean, don't walk away from me! We're not done talk...DEAN!" Seth yelled, as he knelt by Dean's body.
He took another deep breath to calm his nerves, seconds later the others rushed into the clearing behind him, he closed his eyes to steady himself...it was show time!
TBC...