knightsoflegend | chicago ♔ subscribe me not to darkness

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chicago ♔ subscribe me not to darkness

♬ To Darkness - Mumford and Sons

WHO || Buffy Summers, Sam Winchester, Robin Wood [closed]
WHAT || Buffy accompanies Sam to Chicago, seeking answers about Dean's past... and the fate of the version of Sam from this world
WHERE || Chicago, USA
WHEN || Late-October [back-dated]
HOW || Actionspam

Sam Winchester has not a very easy time of this world.

Most of the reasons for which, it seems, can be traced back to the fact that there was another Sam Winchester native to this dimension. One who somehow managed to alienate his brother Dean to the point where he almost murdered Sam on sight, and it's been a very slow, uphill battle ever since to get Dean to say more than two non-hostile words in a row to him.

An uphill battle that's going too slowly for Sam's taste.

Upon googling his own name and doing some research in hunter circles, he learned more and more disturbing facts - including the fact that he and Dean from this world were held responsible for the deaths of Jo & Ellen Harvelle, and Bobby Singer. Distraught by what he'd learned, he shared the facts with his new friend, Buffy, who agreed to travel with him to Chicago tracing down one of the only leads they have on finding out more about what happened, since Dean doesn't seem inclined to share.

And so off they go to Chicago - home to some of Buffy's own demons - to check out the Hunter's bar run by Robin Wood.

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[That's...not what he was expecting.

To him, demons are an ever present threat, but he hasn't seen that many of them. They crawl up from Hell from time to time, possess someone, do their dirty work, making deals, condemn human souls to hell, but they're no harder for him to see than anyone else when they show themselves. Their eyes give them away, or the smoke trails and the sulfur they leave behind.

This is so much worse than that.]

They're...everywhere.

[Just beneath the surface, not far below in the Pit. Just waiting.

He stares for what probably seems a long time, unable to look away. It takes him taking a step or two away from the edge, blocking his view, before he can stop.]

They're drawn to suffering and vice. Did you think those things were hard to come by in this world?

[His mouth is dry as he turns his head to look at her.]

...No. Especially not in a big city like Chicago.

[So many people in such a small space. Crime and booze and poverty. It wouldn't be hard to find either of those things.]

It is worse in these kinds of places, you're right. [ she looks almost proud ] Gold star.

But they're easy to find in any place on earth, if you know how to look. Greed demons find the greedy and feed, and grow in power or reproduce. Pride demons shadow the proud to do the same. They multiply and multiply, and wherever they gather in mass, they tip the scales, push people closer to temptation, make it harder for them to turn around.

It's a self-sustaining system, a cancer devouring this world and everyone in it, and it's the reality that underlies every single thing that happens here.

So you're right. Most people will never really know how fragile things are. How close this world is to the edge of despair.

Demons, from each of the nine Hells.

[Thanks for that bit, Dumage. No, but really. Nine Hells. And denizens from each are this fucking close?

It's pretty...horrifying, really.]

I'm guessing this isn't something particularly common or those Hunters wouldn't be sitting in that bar having drinks right now. So how do you know all of this?

[The who are you really goes unsaid. She's not just some hunter that happened to know the other version of him.]

Most of those Hunters can't even see demons. The ones who can don't understand what they're really looking at. And very few of them have as powerful of a gift as you do.

[ she turns and hops up to sit on the edge, facing him, legs crossed, hands gripping the stone on either side of her. ]

I've been around the block, Sam. I was there through the whole big mess with you and your brother. I know what you both did for each other. Did to each other.

And the real kicker is? You both thought you were doing the same thing. [ she jerks her head behind her towards the city ] Putting an end to that.

But Dean can.

[It's not even a question.]

Then my brother knows you? What do you think he's going to tell me when he find out I talked to you?

[It's worth knowing what to prepare for, because Dean was good at making snap judgements, at ignoring the grey between the black and white.]

But we went about it in different ways? And whatever I was doing...I screwed up somewhere. Made the wrong choice.

[A guess, but he's pretty sure he's right.]

[ her expression becomes almost sympathetic at the last part. ] Oh, Sam, no.

You stopped Dean from making the biggest mistake of his life. At the cost of the thing you valued more than anything.

Your relationship with him.

[He didn't fail to notice that she didn't answer his first question, okay. Just pointing that out.]

What was he going to do?

[He probably doesn't want to know.]

Become a martyr for a cause he didn't really understand, and in so doing, more likely make everything you saw down there worse, not better.

And lose himself in the process. All his memories, everything that made him him. Worse than a Veil wipe.

Worse than death.

[It's information, but it's not helping. He feels like he knows even less than he used to.]

He couldn't have honestly thought I'd let him do something like that.

He has an amazing capacity for self-deception. And considering who else was trying to stop him, well.

It didn't seem to look too good for you to argue too much. Not that you didn't at first. But the more you protested, the more he started to wonder if you were both really on the same side.

He stopped trusting you. You didn't really have much left to lose.

[It didn't make any sense. There were too many other players left unnamed, things he didn't understand.

But if he didn't have anything left to lose...]

So, what? Did I stop him? Get myself killed in the process? Did I take his place? What?

[ ♬ the line begins to blur - nine inch nails ]

There was only one way to stop him.

He had to be driven to quit of his own accord. To feel like the cost was too high. That it wasn't worth it to go on anymore.

Losing you to Hell, seeing you agree to forsake your own humanity to betray the cause he thought you'd both been fighting for - to stop him.

That did it, Sam.

It broke him.

Did I become...one of those things?

[He gestures to the quivering mass of hideous behind that thin wall.

It doesn't escape him that it sounded like in order to make Dean give up, he had to do the same. Become a monster to save his brother from becoming nothing more than, what, a shell?]

What happened to the Harvelle's? To Bobby?

A demon? [ she laughs at that. ] No way. Humans can't turn into demons, for one. They're more... abstracts given form. They don't have souls.

Sam became a fiend. Immortal, powerful, inhuman, but still himself in every way that counts.

The Harvelles and Bobby Singer were just three more casualties on the quest your brother was undertaking. Demons took the girls. Iscariot killed Bobby.

[His lips press together.]

That's why he tried to kill me the moment he saw me. He thought I was...that. He asked...which one sent me. If it was Lucifer.

[So they...were gone. And by the sounds of it, Dean was the one responsible, if he's going strictly on her word? He doesn't know Iscariot, but he's sure as hell gonna find out later.]

And he's...still around. Somewhere?

[He means...himself.]

Edited 2015-01-09 20:40 (UTC)

Somewhere. [ her eyes sling to the ground, indicating down there. ]

Where do you land in all of this? You seem to be pretty intimately familiar with literally every aspect of this mess.

[NO REALLY EXPLAIN YOURSELF.]

Intimate's the word for it, really. [ she hops off her perch, and crosses towards him, tilting her head as she reaches up to boldly slide a hand up his neck, thumb lighting on his jaw. ] You and I were... close, Sam. It's why I couldn't sit back and bear to watch this tearing you apart, whichever you it was.

Oh.

[Oh. Okay, sure. That makes sense. Clearly that is all the reason he needs. (Wisdom 8).]

I'm not really sure I even understand...all of it. [Or even half of it. He absent-mindedly licks his lips. ~~Shut up.~~] I can't just...sit and do nothing.

[Not now that he knows what's out there. Now that he knows even a fraction of what Dean's dealing with.]

Understanding the whole picture doesn't come easily for anybody. You're not going to hear a simple explanation that clears it all up, but bit by bit, you might be ready for more. [ when he doesn't pull away, her hand wanders back into his hair, fingers twining through his hair with less force this time, although she does seem to know how touch him in all the right ways effortlessly. her gaze wanders down to his mouth, red lips twitching up. ] Is that what you want, Sam?

More?

[If anything, he's only more set on this course than he was moments ago. He's going to do it on his terms, though, because he'd be an idiot to just blindly trust anyone who gave him a few bits of info (will save 22).

That doesn't mean he's not fucking tempted, though.

At least he seems to be done...drooling, his gaze firmer.]

If you know me that well, then you already know the answer to that.

[Yes. It's going to eat at him until he knows as much as Dean does, until he knows enough to fix it.]

Edited 2015-01-09 21:14 (UTC)

I thought so. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come here. [ she doesn't look disappointed at all, just grinning and drawing her hand back to pat him on the cheek fondly. ] I know you're chomping at the bit to try to rewind things, but there's some things that can't be undone. But maybe that's why you're here.

A second chance for Sam Winchester to live a human life, to repair the damage done between the two of you. Not saying that's ever gonna be easy, but...

Dean's quest is over. The situation's not the same now. If you can win his trust back, nothing's going to look to pull you apart the way it did before.

Now you're starting to sound like Dean.

[Things that can't be undone. Nothing being easy. He's got a little deja vu going on here.

But they're both right. Fixing things doesn't mean undoing them. The past is the past. It can't be changed.]

You're sure about that?

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