March 15th
2006
Dean
Dean really didn't want to go to school today. Laying in his bed, he stares blankly at the wall of his room as he tried to think of a good excuse to stay home. He was exhausted after a sleepless, nightmare filled night, all he could think about was his parents. How many years had it been now? Four? He couldn't stand to think that it had been four years since he had hugged his mum, or roughhoused with his father.
He wondered if Sammy remembered much of them. The boy always seemed to be even quieter than usual on the anniversary. (Dean hadn't thought Sammy could get any quieter.)
Right on time, his alarm goes off, sending dread through his chest. He really didn't want to go to school today.
He dragged himself through his usual morning routine, feeling heavy and slow as he shuffled downstairs. Sammy was already sitting at the table, his wide, hazel eyes staring blankly into space.
"Morning Dean, make sure to eat your breakfast." Rowena floats by, carrying plates of eggs on toast to the table.
Dean can't find it in himself to reply, his chest felt hallow as he took his seat beside Sammy.
Crowley, Meg, Kevin and Alex were already seated at the table, the three other orphans were teasing Crowley for dropping a mouthful of egg on his lap.
"Squirrel! You made it down here at last."
Dean glares at Crowley, stabbing at his eggs.
"Now now Fergus, be kind to the poor lad," Rowena clicked her tongue at her son. "Today's the anniversary of his poor parents deaths."
"Mother! My name is Crowley, Fergus is a little kids name," Crowley huffed.
Dean felt his eyes prickle, the eggs blurring in front of him. He felt a small hand fumble with his, little Sammy was holding his hand tightly, his lips pressed into a thin line. He hated seeing his brother so sad.
"Now hurry up and eat children, we wouldn't want you to be late to school now, would we?"
Dean can't seem to put away a single mouthful of food. He never could on this day.
***
School was too loud. The kids rushed by laughing and screaming, friends called out to each other from across the quad and parents were calling out goodbyes to their children. Happy families that lived together in their warm houses, that got to hug each other whenever they wanted. Children who's parents could still read bedtime stories to... Dean was horrified to find tears running down his face.
Dean Winchester didn't cry.
He hurries towards a bathroom, planning on cleaning his face before anyone could see. That was, at least, until he caught sight of something that made his blood boil.
Some older douche bag of a kid had his little brother pinned up against the brick walls of the building as his friends laughed and egged him on. Sammy was wriggling frantically and even from this distance Dean could see the tears running down his face.
No one hurt his Sammy.
He ran up to the boys, angry and ready to fight. "Let go of my brother!"
Blood pounded in his ears, all he could see was the twerps hand gripping a fistful of Sammy's shirt.
"Dude, Dean Winchester's here," one of the bully's friends had already spotted Dean. The fear in his voice was satisfying to hear, maybe they would think twice before hurting Sammy again.
"Dean, how good to see you again." The bully let go of Sammy, turning to grin at Dean. His smug expression had Dean clenching his fists. "I was just having a nice little chat with your brother here."
"Leave Sammy alone." Dean really hated this douche. "Or I'll beat you up."
"Zachariah, maybe we sho-"
"Shut it, Uriel." Zachariah growls, "Dean and I are having a talk."
He took a step forward, tilting his head as he looked into Dean's eyes. "You really wanna fight me?"
Dean puffed out his chest, his racing heart anticipating the upcoming fight. "What's wrong? Scared you'll lose to a 4th grader?" Everyone knew Zachariah had been held back a year, so instead of going to middle school with the rest of his friends he had had to face the humiliation of staying in elementary school with the 'little kids'.
"Shut up."
Dean swung first. His fist connecting with the side of Zachariah's face. Zachariah quickly responded with a punch of his own, catching Dean in the ribs. Dean grabbed the other boy's jacket, tackling him to the ground. The two barely notice the hard concrete digging into their backs as the roll on the ground, throwing punches and kicking at each other. Dean struggled to breathe as Zachariah caught him in the chest. Blood pounded in his ears, the metallic tang of it filling his mouth.
"Dean!"
Dean digs his knee into Zachariah's side, punching the wriggling boy in the gut.
"De stop!"
Castiel's voice breaks through the ringing in his ears. Dean pushes back, breathing hard as he and Zachariah glare at each other. His nose felt wet, and a dull throbbing sensation covered half his body. Hands grab at Dean's shoulders, and he finds himself being pulled to his feet by Lucifer and Michael. Wiping his nose, Dean barely has time to acknowledge the blood streaking his sleeve before he's being dragged away.
"Zach, c'mon, we need to go," Zachariah's friend was grabbing Zachariah's arm, pulling him away from the scene.
Dean watched him go with a glare, he knew that this wasn't over. Then his friends were dragging him around a corner to where the shaken up Sammy sat with tears in his eyes. Gabriel, as always, was right by his side, clutching Sam's hand and whispering comforting words to him.
"Sammy? Are you okay?" Now the thrills of the fight was slowly leaving his body, all he could feel was every ache and pain as well as worry for his little brother. "Did they hurt you?"
Sam looked up at him, his soft puppy like eyes wide as he shook his head.
"Dean."
Before Dean could even turn around to face the younger Novak, Castiel was colliding with him, his arms wrapped tightly around Dean's torso.
"Dude, I'm okay." Dean hugs Cas back, smiling at his best friend. "It was nothin'."
~~~~~
That afternoon when Balthazar meet up with them to walk home, Lucifer instantly started chattering to him about Dean's fight. According to Lucifer, it had been the most exciting thing to happen to them all week.
"What about when Crowley fell face first in that muddy puddle?" Gabriel was kicking a stone along the path with Sam, both of them snickering at the memory.
"No way! Dean's fight was way awesome!"
"Luce..." Michael shoves the hyper-energetic kid away. "No one say's 'way awesome' anymore."
Dean grins, sharing a look with Castiel as Lucifer pelts his best friend with rubber bands.
"You're right, Lucifer is the idiot of the fami- Ow!" Dean rubs the back of his hand, where Lucifer had fired the rubber band at.
Castiel frowns at his older brother. "That wasn't very nice."
Lucifer fired another one, hitting Castiel in the arm. "Sorry."
Castiel shoves his glasses up his nose, glaring at Lucifer.
"So Dean, what was this big fight about anyway?" Balthazar looks down at Dean. "Because you look like you sure had a hell of a beating."
Rubbing the bruise on his cheek, Dean looks ahead at where Sammy was running alongside Gabriel, both of them had now acquired two large stones and were kicking them along like soccer balls. Sammy looked happier than he had in.... a very long time. Despite his pains, Dean smiles.
"I had a good reason."
"He beat the shit out of that douche Zachariah." Lucifer hopped on Michael's back, almost sending the shorter kid sprawling.
"Language Luce," Balthazar says mildly.
"I spent English, but I wouldn't mind learning French."
Dean chuckles, watching Michael try to dump the idiotic boy onto the ground. Balthazar was shaking his head. He felt a bit better now, surrounded by his closest friends. He wondered if his mum and dad would have liked them. His heart stung, but despite the pain he smiles as Cas runs off after a bee. Yeah, mum would'va loved him.
"I live with idiots."
"We love you too, Balth." Gabriel pulls his leg back, hitting the stone extra hard. "Yes!" The stone skipped along until it bounced off the edge of the curb and under a car.
"I'll get it," Gabriel ran ahead, Sammy close behind him. Both of them were wrestling to get ahead.
For a moment, Sam seemed to be winning the mini battle, but he stops without warning. Castiel, who was still chasing the bee, collided with the smallest Winchester's back.
"Oof." Castiel stumbles back, his glasses askew.
Sam was staring at the car, which wasn't empty. A man sat in the front seat, staring back at them as Dean ran up beside Sammy. It felt as if time had come to a standstill. Frozen in place, Dean couldn't hear anything past the hammering of his heart.
The man who had murdered his parents stared back at him, his yellowish eyes cold.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dun dun dunnn, now we're getting into it 😂
You guys are gonna love the plot twist that just came to me... but thats a few chapters away so for now enjoy this chapter that is leading into more pain for the Winchester's... such a shame cause they were so happy.
Catch y'all in the next chapter! *Hands out pizzas in apology for the late chapters*