Guardian 3/?

[candylovingangel]

Title: Guardian 
Author: candylovinangel 
Rating: PG 
Spoilers: Seen Season 1's Faith through 5.22? You're good.
Word Count: 5849
Summary: Dean has a heart attack due to his electrocution from a tazer (Season one's Faith opening). When he is told he has no more than a month or two to live, Sam gets desperate and searches for ways to save Dean, effectively ditching his brother in the hospital, forgetting to visit him more than once or longer than an hour. Dean leaves after three days to go back to the hotel room and he comes across a dog as he's taking a breather. He has no idea the dog is more than he seems..


Gabriel let out a whine before barking, and he saw Dean hesitate and look to him. Gabriel barked at him again and reached out with his grace and circled Dean’s soul with his being, silently begging him not to do it. Of course the human didn’t know what he was. Yet he saw Dean staring into his eyes before he lowered the gun and set it on the table. Dean got onto the bed and with shuddering breaths pulled Gabriel close, burying his face into his fur and Gabriel nuzzled his head and snout against Dean’s cheek.

“God, I’m so sorry Gabe…I-I shouldn’t have…God, I’m so pathetic. I can’t even live without my brother or you. Felt bad when you whined at me…you would have starved if I killed myself…” He whispered. Gabriel just stayed with Dean as the man curled around him, the sadness coming from him… Gabriel had to do something…

--

Dean fell asleep holding Gabe, head buried in the dog’s fur, that warm comfort in his chest once again. It was something he suspected had to do with the dog, but he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he felt safe and cared for when he was alone with Gabe. The dog listened and of course the dog couldn’t judge him, the dog loved him, made him happy. How could he even think of killing himself and leaving the poor dog behind? Fuck he really was broken…

His dreams lately had just been blank, it was a mercy for them to be, he didn’t have to think about what had happened in just five months…

So when he found himself in a forest, he was genuinely surprised, even more surprised when he saw Gabe there, barking at him and leading him in once more. Dean followed because he had nothing else to do. So when he came across that clearing again with the tree stump, he saw the man sitting up and looking to him. Gabe jumped up onto the tree stump next to him, the man with light brown, hell maybe golden hair smiling at the dog and petting him.

“You again,” Dean whispered and the man looked up some surprise on his handsome face, not that Dean would ever admit he though the man handsome.

“Oh so you remember me from your first dream? Good,” He said calmly as he patted Gabe who jumped off the stump and wandered off, vanishing in a blue mist…

“So, Dean, I heard a rumor that you tried to kill yourself?” The man asked and Dean bristled, “Okay so I didn’t hear it from anyone but you,” The man corrects and that has Dean confused before his eyes widen.

“You read my mind!” He yelped and the man tilted his head a bit before smirking.

“Of course I did, it’s all you’ve been thinking about while you slept,” The man said with a sad smile , his eyes were darker than they had been before, like they’d been darkened by the weight of sadness on his shoulders.

“What are you? How do you know this?” Dean asked sharply and the man only smiled sadly before getting up and pulling Dean into warm arms, looking at him with something in his eyes that seemed meaningful, but Dean didn’t recognize it. Yet the hug…it felt good, damn it felt good just to hug someone, imaginary or not. This person’s warmth reminded him of Gabe’s warmth and Dean desperately clung to it. The person brought him over to the tree stump and started talking to him about the forest they were in, telling him of its history and of the animals that lived there…Of how it had once been a battleground in world war 2.

The man got sad then and he pulled Dean closer as a scene played out before them… The forest went from sunny to snowy and there were explosions everywhere, especially around them as two men jumped into a foxhole and they both poked their heads up and there was a man, stumbling further away and the two men started yelling for him to get over there. Dean’s eyes went onto the one on the right, he looked like… Dean stiffened and looked to the person holding him. It was the same man. The man was watching sadly as his past self and his friend kept yelling… Then there was a explosion right in the foxhole, Dean let out a gasp even as the helmet that was on the man ended up rolling to the tree stump.

The scene soon faded away and Dean saw the sunlight streaming through the trees that had regrown, saw the spot of ground and he shuddered.

“I get it,” He said after a moment and the man stirred and tilted his head at him.

“Oh?” He asked curiously and Dean nodded.

“You’re trying to tell me…that people go through worse shit than their father and mother dying, and their brother leaving…There’s people out there that have no other choice but to either kill or be killed and have had the misfortune of seeing so many people they knew being shot or…exploded before their very eyes…” Dean trailed off for a moment, “And…you’re a ghost that is haunting me for some reason, why?” Dean asked and the man just chuckled at the last part.

“You’re wrong about what I am, but I’m not telling you what I am just yet. As for the first part…You’re right,” The man holds Dean closer, “So don’t you go giving up and trying to shoot yourself for trivial reasons. I know you can get through it Dean,” The man tilted Dean’s head up and smiled softly before kissing Dean on the lips, the Winchester surprised, but before he could do anything, Dean woke with the taste of caramel on his tongue. Gabe was cuddled up to him, nice and warm and Dean’s eyes were wide as he looked around. Okay, what the fuck? A fucking piece of his imagination, or a fucking ghost kissed him! Either way, it was male and it was in his head and he was waking with the taste of Caramel on his tongue….He was starting to think he might be having a psychotic break…

---

Gabriel was careful over the next month, wanting to spook Dean a bit. Gabriel had at one point made a fake of himself, dressed in a brown deputy’s outfit and in a police car, pull Dean over and ask him for his license and registration. Even to this day he remembered how Dean had paled upon seeing Gabriel’s duplicate, and how he had silently handed over the items asked of him.

“You do realize that you were going 65 on a 45 mile highway?” The Cop Gabriel asked as he jotted down the numbers and Dean just stammered and that had Sam staring at him in shock, and Gabe’s Cop self raising a brow.

“Y-Yeah…I know that, I’m sorry,” Dean stammered as Cop Gabe sighed and put away his pad of paper for the ticket.

“Okay, look, you don’t look too good. I’ll let you off if you let your pal there drive,” cop Gabe said as he looked to Sam, who blinked and then grinned and sobered up at the look Dean shot him. They switched seats and as Sam was getting into the car Cop Gabe stopped him.

“He seriously doesn’t look too good, I’d keep an eye on him,” He says before Sam nods and then gets in the car, and Gabriel sees Dean looking back and watching as the Cop Gabe takes off his hat and runs a hand through his hair.

“Fuck…” Dean whispered and Gabriel would have smirked if he still had lips.

Gabriel got bored during the nights so he started setting up a case and well, he was going stir crazy, so he would have a copy of his dog self be in the hotel room with Sam and Dean or alone when the boys were alone. He just started getting known as the Janitor around a Springfield Ohio campus, and got to know three dicks. He killed the first one in a roundabout way…

He then went back to the hotel only to find Sam slipping out and a scent of sulfur in the air…

Dean of course started panicking when Sam didn’t show back up for a round of a hunt the next morning… That was the first time Gabriel had to track the Winchester… He led Dean to where Sam had been and he started snarling, smelling a familiar sulfuric scent of a demon and he dragged Dean over to where Sam had stolen a car. Or well, the demon in Sam… After that the scent went cold but Gabriel knew where Sam was. They didn’t have any hex bags or marks to hide them from anyone so he knew where ‘Sam’ eventually ended up and yet he couldn’t tell Dean, not unless—Fuck. Did he really want to blow his cover? He didn’t. Not now. So he let Dean go around in circles and when Sam finally called they took off, Dean bringing Gabe into the room with him and Gabe snarled and lunged at the demon, which he clearly recognized.

“Whoa! Easy there!” Dean yelped as Gabriel snarled angrily at Sam, at Meg, about to rip Meg’s throat apart but then he paused. FUCK the demon was using Sam’s body. Gabriel stalked away, fur still on edge and he snarled angrily.

“What the hell is with Gabe?” Meg asked, looking the part of shocked as Gabe kept snarling.

“I don’t know…I think I might have to tie him up…” And Dean did that, only to get whimpered and barked at. Dean shot Gabe a look and then dragged a hand across his face as he got a muzzle and put it on Gabe, effectively keeping him from barking loud, but not from whining and doing the best damn puppy dog eyes ever. Meg watched this all with concealed amusement, which got Gabriel more than irked… Meg turned on Dean after a few hours and knocked him to the ground and then looked to Gabriel and smirked, pulling the trigger and shooting him twice. Gabriel let out a horrible yowl and he collapsed limply on the ground, playing dead even as Dean yelled, “NOOO!” Dean took off after Sam, leaving Gabe there, When Dean next came back, it was days later, with Sam. Gabriel had a fake on the floor and he was leaning against the wall as he saw Sam’s look of horror as he saw what Meg had done.

“No…” Sam whispered as Dean knelt down next to the body. Gabriel decided to let them bury the fake. They did it in a nice field, Dean broken up over it as Sam kept apologizing. Dean told him to shut up, that he’d heard the apology too many damn times...

Gabriel watched as they headed out after a while and Dean and Sam arrived in Springfield after a few days. Gabriel was there to play the Janitor and to harass the local townsfolk. He’d noticed Dean’s reaction upon seeing him once again and Gabriel quickly blurred the image of him that Sam had from when they’d first met, he also changed the voice, the face became someone else…

So Sam blinked in a daze for a moment and then looked to Dean who was rubbing his head a bit.

“Here we are,” He said, leading them into the professor’s office and he watched them and answered their questions as they faked being electricians. Sam left after a bit, though seeming satisfied, for now anyway. Dean hung back, that air of sorrow around him as he looked around the office again and he clearly avoided eye contact with Gabriel. Gabriel could see how pale Dean is…

He stopped Dean at the door and pushed him back in, locking the door and seeing Dean’s look of shock.

“Look, kid. I may not know you, but I know when someone’s upset and well…I have two ears to listen,” Gabriel said as he folded his arms and leaned against the door, he knew Sam was coming back and Dean bit his lip, looking back to the office.

“I…You just remind me of someone…And did you work as a deputy a few months back?” Dean asked and Gabriel considered the answer before he nodded solemnly.

“Yeah,” He then squinted at Dean and then started laughing, “Is that why you were so shocked to see me?” He then chuckled and watched as the tension eased up off of Dean’s shoulders a bit.

“Though if I recall, back then you had the same reaction you did now…” He frowned and Dean just shrugged and Gabriel waited for the question he knew was on Dean’s mind.

“Why did you quit?” Dean asked and Gabriel looked down.

“I…had a bit of a mishap. Got shot and it kinda…showed me I wasn’t cut out for being a cop. I wanted to help people not hunt them like animals and shoot them…” He saw Dean pale even more as he seemed to remember the last dream. He then noted the shadows under Dean’s eyes and pulled some conjured up sleeping pills out of his pocket and handed them to Dean, who blinked at him in confusion.

“You look like shit. Here take them, I don’t really need them,” He explained and Dean nodded and pocketed the pills and seemed a bit wary of Gabriel before he let out a soft sigh and pulled Gabriel into a hug and Gabriel blinked at that before patting Dean’s back quietly.

“Thanks…and don’t go telling Sam about this,” he mumbled and Gabriel chuckled and nodded as Dean pulled away and Gabriel got away from the door and closed the office behind him. He watched Dean go to the end of the hall and Dean looked back at him for a long moment before he went down the stairs.

Gabriel let out a breath of air he hadn’t realized he’d been holding before he went down to the locker rooms and started getting ready to go to the place he’d made for himself. It’s all about the acting, right?” He wondered as he closed the lockers and went outside. He looked around for his next target and saw the Fratleader walking by and he smirked and went invisible as he pulled a UFO prank on the dick… That had Dean and Sam confused and he watched then discreetly from a upstairs window.

Dean still looked tired, he must have been too wary of the pills to take them last night. That or they’d been up so long they hadn’t been able to sleep yet. Gabriel closed his eyes and poked at Dean’s mind, telling his body to sleep. Now!

He watched with satisfaction as Dean stumbled and caught himself, telling Sam to go back and research. The other was all too happy to. Dean could tell they’d argued on the laptop Gabriel had frozen on a porn site.

Gabriel watched as Dean stumbled into the building and Gabriel quickly went out into the hall with a mop and a bucket of water and he started cleaning the floor. He heard footsteps and Dean was rounding the corner, looking at Gabriel with silent and pleading eyes.

Gabriel pushed the bucket and mop aside.

“Damn, kid, didn’t I tell you to get some sleep?” Gabriel grumbled as Dean let out a huff of a laugh.

“I don’t get it…why’d I come look for you when I coulda slept in the car…?” He mumbled though Gabriel knew the answer. The back seat smelled too much like his dog self…

“I don’t know, cause I’m just that awesome?” He says with a chuckle before he quickly makes an extra room appear that he unlocks.

“Now shh, this is my resting spot here. Only I know about it cause it used to be a storage closet til I messed with it,” Gabriel says with a smile and he leads Dean into it, whose eyes widen when he sees the room. It may be somewhat small but it’s comfy and it has a sink, bed and a dresser, along with a couch, tv and small table. Dean lets out a laugh and collapses onto the bed.

“Thank God I can be away from him, he bitches at me so much I can’t sleep. ‘Dean you froze my computer on bustyaisianbeauties.com! Now you must suffer for it!’ Fuck…I just want my dog…” He whispers before he goes silent, and looks to Gabriel.

“What’s your name anyway, never saw a nametag…” He mumbled and Gabriel looks to him.

“Muck,” He says without hesitation, “Skip Muck,” Gabriel said as he saw Dean frown as he took in the name and then shrugged.

“You look more like a Bill or a Jeremy to me, but hey, can’t mess with the names our parents gave us, would be like kicking ‘em in the crotch,” Dean mumbled and Gabriel gave the tired man a glass of scotch, a small one. He hadn’t really lied about his name. It was his vessel’s name. A name that had been given to him. The name of the man Gabriel had put back together after that explosion. He’d given Skip a second chance, along with immortality… When Gabriel had first been let in, he’d decided to let skip help still, the only explanation the man had for his friends was that it was a miracle. They never objected that. Many had known his foxhole had been hit dead on…

“You okay?” Gabriel blinked at Dean’s voice and he smiled as he sat down.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just thinking about the past,” Gabriel then taps his glass a bit. He knew he was going to stretch it a bit here…

“Just thinking about my grandpa…He was the first Skip Muck, he died in World War 2, his foxhole got bombed…” Gabriel pulled off what he thought was the sad face well and yet at the same time, he saw Dean stiffen before downing the rest of his scotch and setting it aside and starting to get up.

“I shou…” He trails off as he yawns loudly and ends up falling against the bed lightly, Dean’s body having enough, and the man passing out.

--

“What do you want, Skip?” Dean asked as he saw the forest, and Skip for his part looked shocked that Dean knew his name.

“How do you know my name?” He asked in surprise and Dean sighed and sat next to him.

“I met your grandkid earlier,” Dean says and that surprises Skip.

“Shit! I didn’t know she got pregnant before I left!” He looked shocked and he put his head in his hands, his eyes on the stump, “fuck, I never got to know my kid…” He whispered and Dean put an arm around Skip and the man looked to him with tired eyes.

“Why am I here? Why am I bugging you? I should leave you alone; you’ve been through enough…” Skip started to get up but Dean stopped him.

“Before you go, I want you to see the results of what you were fighting for,” Dean said as he got a hold of Skip’s hand and took him, by force of will, to New York city, the way Dean had seen it, and he saw Skip’s eyes go wide as Dean let him go and watched the man wander around.

“Damn, they were always tall but this…” Skip just starts laughing before he sees all the people and cars and well everything. He started laughing and the sound was wonderful to hear…

--

Gabriel smiled as he opened his eyes. He then looked at the clock. He needed to get ‘working’ again. While he worked he let the bit of him in Dean’s head have a bit of fun. Though as he worked he felt his vessel’s soul flare up, coming to the surface. Skip had woken somewhat and was wondering what was going on. Gabriel reassured the soul that nothing was wrong, but Skip wanted to do something, to have some sort of fun. Gabriel led him to the dream.

‘Have some fun there. He can show you around the New York of today. He can show you the United States that you helped to save,’ He said to Skip who seemed pleased at that, and Gabriel let him go into Dean’s head with a nudge.

--

Dean noticed a change in Skip’s demeanor at one point and watched as he paused and looked around, awe and happiness lighting up his face as he looked around and he started laughing.

“I’m still alive,” He whispered and he started laughing again, “I can’t believe he is letting me see this with you,” He said as Dean looked at him with a raised brow.

“Who is letting you see this?” Dean asked and Skip looks to him and just smiled, he must have realized that Dean wasn’t clued in so he just cracked his knuckles.

“Someone, but he’ll tell you who he is in time. Hell, I didn’t even know he brought me back until I was waking up in the foxhole, whole and alive. He let me finish up the war helping Easy Company still and he let me…heal them somehow. And no matter how many times I got hit or even sprained my ankle, he healed it…” He trails off and looks to the new age cars and then looks to Dean, who is looking at him in confusion.

“You got killed in the foxhole..I saw it…you showed me,” Dean said and Skip looked back and chuckled,.

“The ‘Skip’ you were talking to before now wasn’t me, but I’m glad he showed you how he got to find me… Mmm.” He then looked around, “I wonder if I can actually eat some of the food here a lot of it looks delicious,” He said as he licked his lips. He smoothed out his jacket, which was tan, and he looked down at the outfit and shrugged.

“Huh, I prefer flannel to this shirt but whatever; at least he doesn’t have me in all leather that would be embarrassing…”

Dean followed with a frown, “Dude, come on, tell me who ‘he’ is,” He said and Skip chuckled once again.

“If I did he’d pull me out of here. Sorry I’m enjoying this too much to give away his name and risk being scolded like a child,” Skip rolled his eyes and went to a hotdog stand and got a hotdog and happily started eating it with more enthusiasm then Dean thought was necessary.

“Wait so…technically how old would you be right now?” Dean asked as Skip shrugged.

“What year is it?” He asked after swallowing a mouthful of hotdog. Dean tilted his head as he watched Skip for a long moment.

“It’s 2007,” He said as he saw Skip’s eyes widen and he looked at the hot dog.

“Damn…I’m 86 years old…” He whispered and then he looked to Dean and the dream shifted and it was the forest again…Everything was quiet, there were no birds in this forest anymore, and blood splattered the snow by the foxhole. Dean watched as a man suddenly appeared and he looked…familiar…

“Holy-“ Dean gasped when he saw the blonde locks and the face and blue eyes.

“What?” Skip said with a frown as Dean went over to the man as he knelt down next to the foxhole.

“It’s the angel! The same angel that healed me!” Dean said in shock, looking at the angel as he closed his eyes, tears streaming down from the angel’s eyes as he held his hands out. The angel looked to the side and started talking softly, and they both saw Skip standing next to the angel, looking more than sad, disappointed really…

“I don’t…remember this…” Skip said with a frown even as they heard Skip say something…

“Yes…but only if you let me help them win.” The angel looked to Skip even as the angel’s hands started glowing, the ground all around him glowing. Dean remembered how Skip had exploded to bits and realized the angel was putting the man back together and watched as within seconds, Skip’s body was there and he turned away, realizing Skip’s body was naked and Skip himself was blushing heavily before he tapped Dean.

“You can ah…look again…” Skip muttered and Dean did, skip’s form was fully clothed in a repaired suit of what he’d died in, though it was noticeably cleaner and he bore no wounds of any sort. The angel looked to the Skip who was there and he nodded, skip vanished and his body stirred and he muttered something and the angel then started glowing brightly and six bright glowing wings could be seen for a minute before there was a massive explosion that rocked the earth as if a bomb, an atomic one, had fallen on the area, trees falling over…

Dean then woke with a start and found he was still in the room and he groaned. His cell was ringing and he picked it up and found it was Sam.

“Where the Hell are you, Dean?! There was another incident at the campus!” came Sam’s voice, clearly annoyed.

“Erm…I was uh…sleeping in a closet…” He mumbled and there was a shocked silence from Sam.

“Why didn’t you sleep in the impala if you really didn’t want to be around me?” Sam asked softly and Dean sat up, rubbing tears and sleep away from his eyes.

“Because I didn’t want to…be back there…Gabe’s scent is still strong back there…” Dean muttered and outside the door Gabriel hung his head a bit. He pushed Skip back and went back to working, he made sure he was a flight downstairs and was working diligently when Dean passed by him, mumbling a tired and sad thanks. Gabriel looked up to him and he caught Dean’s eyes, Gabriel intentionally let his eyes change to a gold color within the hazel for a moment as he smiled and went back to work.

Dean stared at him for a moment before he briskly walked to the door and Gabriel smirked as he heard the car peel out of the parking lot. Gabriel whistled a happy tune as he kept mopping… Gabriel put Skip back to sleep, not sure how the man had woken up…

He was working on the Cafeteria when he let out a breath and decided he wanted to take a break, so he took the mop and put it away and went to his hideaway and he lay back on a chair and let out a groan as he stretched out tired and cramped muscles. He let his grace soothe said muscles as he took a long drink of Champagne and he snapped out a delicious sugary cake and happily started eating it as a familiar golden retriever bark and leapt onto Gabriel’s lap and started eating the cake, and Gabriel chuckled and ate the cake with the retriever, whose name was Billy.

Gabriel spent the rest of the night screwing with the Winchesters from afar…

--

Dean woke from a mercifully blank and quiet sleep. He looked to Sam who was still asleep and Dean shuddered a bit as he thought back to ‘Skip’ back at the college. That guy…he had this vibe about him that was familiar for some reason, despite disturbing dreams about him that Dean had been having, long before he even met the man… He also couldn’t help but shudder as he remembered the way the man’s eyes had seemed to glow gold from within. It sent chills down Dean’s spine. He wasn’t sure if it was a good shiver or a bad one…

All he knew was that hours later, when Bobby told him what they were hunting and that they could look human, he felt his heart drop. One look with Sam and they both knew who it was. That didn’t mean it hurt any less. It all made sense to Dean now. A damn Trickster had been screwing around with his head!

It was all Dean could do to keep from staking ‘Skip’ the bastard who was boasting about having lots of sex last night. Sam left at one point and Dean was left to tour the third story. He barely held all that anger in. He’d never told Sam about the dreams, about ‘Skip’. Skip had played Dean into trusting him by showing up and saying a few things…Only for Dean to find out the bastard kills people, dicks of all things? What if he’d been planning to kill Dean?!

Skip left and Dean ran out to the car and angrily fought with Sam, who looks affronted but Sam knew what was going on, and the plan was simple. Wait until after dark to kill the Trickster, to kill Skip. It was the only reason he’d gotten through that time with Skip earlier. He waited til the dark, pacing back and forth and finally he cursed to the air and went inside, looking around as he went up the stairs. He started to go toward the forth story where he knew where the Trickster’s hideaway is…But he started to go past a double door stadium and he heard music playing and he put the stake away, going into the auditorium and he saw a bed with two gorgeous women . It only made his blood boil even more, knowing the Trickster, that Skip was trying to tempt him, fuck that shit!

He spun around to see Skip after he’d spoke, saying that the women were peace offerings.

“I know what you and your brother do,” The Trickster said with a smug smirk as he pulled out some candy and unwrapped it, “I’ve been around a while, run into your kind before,” he said and Dean glared at the Trickster, pulling out a stake.

“Shut the hell up. I know what you did you stupid piece of crap!” He advanced on the Trickster, who blinked innocently at him.

“so what were you gonna do when you were done screwing with my head, huh? Kill me? Cause that’s your MO!” Dean snarled as he stepped closer and The Trickster stood.

“Dean…please I’m not pathetic like that…you think I would have kept you alive this long if I didn’t like you, or Sam for that matter? Come on!” The Trickster let out a huff of annoyance and shook his head as he looked to Dean who was seconds from tearing the bastard apart.

“Dean, I don’t want to hurt you, and you know that I can,” The Trickster said with a sad tone to his voice as he looked to the doors and Sam and Bobby came inside.

“Screw you!” He snarled and he jumped at The Trickster and tried to stake him, only to get attacked by the two women. The Trickster moved back a row and watched as the women beat the tar out of him. He heard a chainsaw and his brother and Bobby yelling even as he was tossed into a chair. Dean grabbed a stake thrown to him as the Trickster got up from clapping at the performance.

“Dean, Dean Dean Dean…I did not want to have to do this—“ He started to say as Dean caught the Stake and then stabbed it into the Trickster’s gut and glared at him.

“Fuck. You,” He snarled again and he saw the shock on the Trickster’s face as he let out a cry of shock and pain, but oh the fun wasn’t over yet as Dean pulled out the stake and shoved it back in, causing the Trickster to howl in pain.

“Go start the car!” Dean yelled to the other two and they nodded and ran, as Dean twisted the stake and he saw the…the hurt on the Trickster’s face, at first he thought it was from the pain…but then he saw his eyes, watery and full of emotion. The Trickster looked betrayed and for a horrible moment a dog’s howl filled the air and Dean looked back to see a dog a lot like Gabe dying and falling to the floor and his anger grew as he pulled the stake out and started to stab down again.

“I…never planned…on hurting you…I-I didn’t think…you’d see…the dreams like that…” The Trickster gasped out, but Dean couldn’t listen, he stabbed the Trickster in the heart and it was then that the tears fell from the Trickster’s eyes. The light that went out in them as Dean watched the illusions fade away as he pulled the stake out and the Trickster’s dead form collapsed against the seat…

Dean didn’t realize he was crying until minutes later. That warmth Dean had felt whenever he had been around Gabe, and even around this guy…had faded. Dean fell to his knees, staring at the Trickster and he felt a horrible pang in his heart, a pang of pain and loss and it had him hunching over in pain.

“S-Son of a bitch!” He gasped out as it felt like he was having a heart attack all over again…He grabbed the Trickster’s body and shook it.

“You son of a bitch!” He gasped as the Trickster…no the Trickster had a name, it may have been fake, but it was still a name. Skip. Skip had died…And Dean felt a deep loss in his soul as Skip’s head lolled in the grip Dean had on the Trickster’s clothes. Skip had been a monster, so why had he gotten so attached? The real Skip had died years ago if what he’d been shown was true… Dean looked to the injuries from the stake and he shuddered. Fuck. Skip had been nothing but nice…Which was why Dean had felt so betrayed when learning what he was. He didn’t like being used as some twisted form of entertainment…

Eventually he let the shaking stop and his shoulders slumped as he wiped the blood away from Skip’s mouth and pushed his hair out of his ear. He went and put Skip into the seat with care and he looked back at the stage with the bed and everything. He then went back to the doorway and left, wiping away the tears and he jumped into the Impala and drove it away.

“Dean? You okay?” Dean heard Sam saying, the pain a dull throb in his chest now.

“Yeah. Peachy,” He growled as he brought the Impala to a stop outside the hotel and went inside and didn’t speak for the rest of the night, staring at the walls as Sam fell asleep and Bobby had left for his home.

When he fell asleep, he wasn’t surprised to see himself stabbing Skip over and over again, seeing the pain he’d caused from another angle. It kept repeating, and something in Dean died every time he kept seeing this…