Topside

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Sam jerks up suddenly.  Lucifer doesn't ever let him sleep.

His eyes jump around the room, assessing where he is this time and where Lucifer could be hiding. The whole room is made of iron and covered in sigils -Bobby's panic room- his mind fills in quickly.

The next thing Sam notices is that nothing hurts. He's not covered in burns or cuts, both his eyes are working, his ears aren't even ringing. He quietly snaps next to each ear just to make sure he wasn't actually deaf. There's a deep cut on his left hand though, spanning across the palm. There's fresh stitches in it too. Lucifer wouldn't let him not be in some pain, but whatever new torture he has planned must be bad if he's willing to fix Sam up to this extent. 

The silence is terrifying. He hasn't been left alone like this before. No Lucifer, no Michael, and no Adam. It's not like he's actually alone though, everyone else is still there. He just can't see them. Yeah, they're watching him, waiting for him to do something.

Sam gets off the cot he was passed out on. It's too open, leaves him too exposed for when Lucifer does decide to reveal himself and start the physical torture again. He instead moves across from the door to sit with his knees to his chest and back against the wall. Not like it will protect him, but false comfort is the only comfort he has down here.

His breathing slowly evened out. He's okay right now. These few moments of peace between the long stretches of pain are all he dared to hope for. Any second now Lucifer will appear, a sadistic smile on his face, and start slashing or hitting or raping. Whatever he is in the mood for he'll do.

Sam can't make himself relax for even a second, his eyes darting around the room. Just because there is a door to this room doesn't mean Lucifer will use it, he's just as likely to appear on the cot or by the table, or right on top of Sam's legs. No, he can't relax.

So Sam stays there on the floor, dread increasing with every second he waits. Lucifer's not normally like this, he makes his presents known, goes off on long monologues about how he'll slowly drive Sam to the brink of insanity just to pull him back, or go into excruciating detail about the exact bones he's going to break in which order. Waiting must be a new tactic, see how long Sam lasts until he begs for the literal devil to come out and abuse him.

It takes a long time before anyone comes. The creek of the stairs beyond the panic room door can be heard horribly clearly, the anticipation making Sam's hands shake. The footsteps are getting louder, getting closer and closer, never faltering. He doesn't know where to look, if he wants to see his abuser walk through the door or if it was better to just close his eyes and pretend to be anywhere else. Some small childish part of him screams to hide. Barricade the door and hope that the devil will just give up and leave. 

It's ridiculous, obviously- he can't hide from Lucifer, not in hell. Lucifer would just appear next to Sam and laugh at his pathetic attempt at disobedience. Then the torture would be even worse. 

So Sam stays on the floor, hands shaking and breathing becoming more ragged, as the door creeks open ominously. The only option is to just take whatever abuse Lucifer is in the mood for today. 

"Sammy?" 

Sam's head whips up to see Dean standing there, staring at him from just inside the doorway. His brother's familiar big green eyes analyze him from across the room. For a fraction of a second Sam believes that it's him- believes that his big brother really is here to save the day and take him to safety far away from hell and the cage. 

It's just another of Lucifer's tortures, messing with Sam in the ways he know will hurt the most. Horror replaces the relief as Lucifer follows Dean into the room. His smile never wavering as he watches Sam push himself further against the wall, pathetically attempting to make a little more space between them.