CROSSROADS ☁︎ Supernatural

PART 33 - SAM

Sam tended to Riley long enough to finally silence her. There was no more repeating of the horrible words about how they were supposed to let her soul slip away to eternal damnation. But Riley's eyes kept oscillating. Back and forth, back and forth as if a movie played right in front of her eyes.

They needed to get her to sleep and get her overwhelmed imagination to rest. But Dean took his sweet time. Where the hell was he for so long?

"Dean! Sam!" Castiel's voice echoed in the maze of the bunker. He was being really loud. His voice pierced even through Riley's lethargy.

"Cas?" Sam's head shoot straight to the door and Riley's eyes narrowed. No more searching for the meaning in the moving pictures, only focus.

"Cas, what's going..."

"Sam," Castiel was trying to catch his breath. "Dean, where is he? Are you with him?"

"He must be here somewhere, he's getting Riley something to calm..."

"You're not. You're not with him." Castiel's eyes widened. Something in his mind clicked and it was not good in any way.

"What is it, Cas?" Sam asked.

"Dean is on his way to Crowley."

"Crowley?" Riley sat up on the bed. Her beacon. Cas' voice kept her calm, but the mention of the king of hell set her into motion, her eyes set on the prize.

Sam's focus shifted in a blink of an eye. He barged right out of the door, leaving Riley and Cas behind. Who didn't follow was left behind.

"Dean!" Sam kept shouting at the top of his lungs to make sure Dean wasn't just playing hide and seek with him.

There was no echo from Dean's side but Sam wasted no time. He was already checking his brother's whereabouts on his laptop. He frowned. "He's heading to..."

"Bobby's." Cas caught up to him.

"Cas you need to take me there." Sam was already gunning up.

"I can take you there but there is nothing I can do."

"I'm coming with." Riley stepped out from behind Cas' back.

"No way, Riley. You need to rest. And besides..."

"I'm the one Crowley wants. I'm not letting Dean go back there. So let's get this over with."

There. To hell. Riley meant hell. They were about to lose Riley. Sam knew he had to trade her for his brother. That was the only way. There was still a chance they could get to Bobby's in time for Crowley to take her first. The more Riley was losing her mind, the more she craved his company.

However fast was Dean speeding, the truth remained he was ten years too late to this deal. He could try and bribe the king of hell, but there was no way around it. There would be no winners - they are losing someone.

☁︎

And so Dean summoned Crowley in the replica of Bobby's house but Crowley was much more powerful and smarter than Cindy. He could reason all he wanted but Crowley wouldn't give in. He did not want to trade for Riley's soul however much Dean threatened him with the angel blade.

Once Sam and his brigade caught up to Dean, they were doomed. Riley laid her eyes on Crowley and couldn't help but feel the pull. Drag me down with you.

Riley sunk to her knees in front of her king at the edge of the devil's trap. Her fingers traced the white circle containing all the evil inside. There they were again. In the middle of Bobby's living room with a demon. This time, Riley was on the other side of the protective seal but still in danger nevertheless.

"What is so special about her?" Dean asked Crowley. "Why do you need her?"

Crowley smirked, there was no reason to hold anything back anymore. They were almost finished. "Do you know when someone is either good nor bad? Just kind of... indifferent? That's her. Her good deeds were matched by the bad. Her soul doesn't belong to heaven nor to hell. It belongs to nobody. So I called dibs."

Dean couldn't cope with Crowley's carelessness. He was talking about Riley's life as if it was a piece of goods on the shelf and he could do as he pleased with her. He squeezed the blade and bolted forward.

Sam crossed his path and stopped him in his tracks. "Dean, there is no point. There is no way around it. It would do no good and you know it. It would trigger a chain of events we don't want to toy with."

"I don't care, Sammy. I don't! We'll figure it out." Dean tried to overpower him.

As Sam was reasoning with Dean, their attention reduced to one another for a minute losing their focus from the task at hand.

Riley's fingertips traced the edge of a trap dipping into the circle. They were breaking the line deeper and deeper. She sank her fingernails into the paint in the floor and scratched with all her power once again breaking the seal keeping Crowley inside. He was her master now.

Freed from the confines of the devil's trap, Crowley made himself at home and before he dissolved into a cloud of red smoke, he set the house on fire, trapping the humans among the flames.

Riley was circled by the flames but Sam and Dean still had a clear way out. Crowley made his choice, Riley was more valuable to him than Winchesters. She interfered with balance of heaven and hell and finally one of them claimed her. Heaven lost its chance because they were not playing dirty making deals.

The pact between Sam and Riley activated.

"Take your brother outside as fast as you can! Now Sam, go!" Riley was ready to follow her fate, she made that decision a long time ago. She was locked in her own trap of fire watching Sam drag Dean out against his will.

Crowley's presence was dazzling to Riley but as the hellish flames began to lick on her skin and slowly scorching her soul, she changed her mind.

"Dean! Dean! SAM!" Sam's name was the last one she screamed. But not because she wanted him to hold Dean back as he was doing outside of the house, safe from the fire, but she wanted him to come after her, she wanted him to bring her back because he always lifted her spirits up.

She knew there was no way back. Her soul was damned and she could find her rest only by the side of the king of hell. And so she honored her deal and let herself go.

Sam and Dean lost yet another person they cared about. And all that for a soul that belonged to nobody.