All in the name of Love (Supernatural x Reader x Avengers)

Chapter 14

A blood curdling scream erupted from your throat as you hastily pushed your bloodied hands away from Dean's wound and fell back into Tony's arms. "I...I can't." You whispered painfully, "It's an angel blade injury. It won't let me heal itself."

"Listen to me. It's better this way." Dean smiled wanly. Sam could not believe his ears. "What!?"

You turned to Tony. Your eyes asked him a question and he had given his tacit compliance. These very well could be Dean's last moment. "Hold on, Dean. Please, for me." Tears flowed freely from your eyes. "I love you, please don't go. It's not your time."

Dean pulled you close and rested your head in the crook of his neck. "Now, was that so hard to say?" He wearily laughed. To all intents and purposes, it was hard, probably the hardest thing you had done in your life. Resurrecting the feelings that had been killed and buried by fear and trauma had broken you from the inside. "The Mark, it's making me into something I don't want to be." Dean continued.

Tony reached out and gently caressed your hair, a vain attempt to console your sobbing self. "Don't worry about the Mark. We'll figure out the Mark later. Just hold on, okay? Get you some help." He offered what he could.

Dean scoffed, not at Tony but at his cruel fate. Sam hauled him up as the rest of you stood up in sync. Dean turned to his brother who had tears welling up in his eyes. "What happened to you being okay with this?"

"I lied." Sam dared not look at his brother. The strain would be too much. Dean smiled yet again, his muscles did not allow the movement. "Ain't that a bitch."

"(Y/N), you stay here with Sam. I'll fly Dean to the nearest hospital and come back to get you two." Tony said as he summoned his suit. Dean did not share those intentions. "Hold up, hold up." He sat back down as Sam helped, "I got to say something to you."

"What?" Sam's heart was beating wildly. He had to put effort into preventing Dean from not slumping over. Dean placed a hand on his brother's shoulder but slowly moved it up to his cheek. "I'm proud of us."

"And you," Dean turned to Tony and motioned for him to sit. You came down with him. "Now that I'm not going to be around, there are going to be some rules. From here on after, it is your duty, Stark, to keep (Y/N) safe, happy and content." Dean took one of each of your hands and placed them over one another, covering them with his own red ones. You were united in his blood. "She is your responsibility now."

Tony admired Dean's tenacity and how he cared about you even in death. "I will honour your word. No harm shall come to her and sadness will have no place in her heart."

It was almost as if Dean had been waiting to hear those very words before his soul fled this plane of existence. His hand released its grip and his body slumped forward as he took a last, shaky breath.

"No, no. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, wake up, buddy." Sam lifted his brother yet again and jerked him, as if that was supposed to bring him back. He put his hands on either side of Dean's face. "Hey. Dean." A long pause. "Dean!"

Sam's body lost all posture as he accepted the bitter realization and let out a barrage of tears. Tony reached out for him and pulled him closer to you; you, who were already sobbing into Tony's chest.

The harsh reality had just seeped in. Dean was gone.

-

Instead of giving him a hunter's funeral, Sam cleaned up Dean's body and brought it back to the infirmary bed allotted to him in the Stark tower. He had other plans. Fresh tears flooded his eyes as he stared at his brother's lifeless form.

A good while was spent with you at Tony's mini-bar, drinking your pain away. You could tell Sam was up to something but could not make him open up. You could not read his mind either, the torment was acting as a barrier.

A few drinks later he left your side and headed down for the basement. He had everything ready - the trap was drawn, the ingredients were in place, all he had to do was light the match. "Damn it, Crowley. You got him into this mess. You will get him out, or so help me, God.

Unbeknownst to him, Crowley was already in the building, leaning on the infirmary doorframe, intently staring at Dean's deceased form. He spoke to it gently and purposefully, as if Dean's soul could hear him from the beyond. The other possibility was far too horrid - that Dean's soul was not in the beyond at all - that it was lingering about, waiting for its chance.

"Your brother, bless his soul, is summoning me as we speak." Crowley started, "Make a deal, bring you back. It's exactly what I was talking about, isn't it? It's all become so...expected. You have to believe me, when I suggested you take on the Mark of Cain, I didn't know this was going to happen. Not really. I mean, I might not have told you the entire truth, but I never lied. I never lied, Dean. That's important. It's fundamental."

The King of Hell sighed blissfully. "But there is one story about Cain that I might have....forgotten to tell you. Apparently, he too, was willing to accept death than becoming the killer the Mark wanted him to be. So he took his own life with the blade. He died. Except, as the rumour has it, the Mark never quite let go. You can understand why I never spoke of this."

"Why set hearts aflutter at mere speculation?" Crowley's dark eyes held almost child-like excitement. "It wasn't until you summoned me, no, it wasn't until you told me you had made an attempt at (Y/N)'s life, twice, that I truly let myself believe. Maybe miracles do come true."

With excruciatingly delicate steps, Crowley moved closer to the bed. The First Blade deserved to be in its righteous place. He placed it in Dean's hand and proceeded to put both of his hands on his lifeless chest. "Listen to me, Dean Winchester. What you're feeling right now, it's not death." He beckoned. "It's life, a new kind of life. Open your eyes, Dean. See what I see, feel what I feel, and let's go take a howl at that moon."

Then, Dean's eyes indeed opened. Only, instead of the emerald green ones, they were black - black as the demonic void in his soul.