Supernatural Dean/Sam only one can win
"Sammy. You know I can't let you do this." The apology is in his eyes, heavy in his voice. Lilith on one side of the room, two steps from the Eternal Grave and between her and Sam is his brother.
Always between him and the demons. Dean never did understand that Sam could take care of himself. That the little brother didn't need looking after anymore; from the bad things in the night, or an angry drunk father, or his own choices. Especially his own choices.
Sam never saw them as choices. Not really. He could have stayed, been his fathers Soldier those years ago, but it would have only brought this moment sooner. He needed Dean. Wanted him. And that need has turned into the same possessive loathing he foresaw back in high school when puberty hit him like a runaway train.
"Get out of the way Dean. It's time to end this for good."
Shifting hazel eyes glitter with unshed tears, but Dean doesn't move. Doesn't let Sam finish what he started, what they started. Always in the fucking way. Never where he should be, never listening and understanding. Never strong enough to take what they both knew he wanted. Never strong enough to bend down and let Sam have.
"I'm sorry Sam. You're right. You're the strong one now. I can't hold you back, I can't save you. I don't know you anymore Sammy. But you're still my brother. I'm not gonna fail you again."
Dean's voice is bleak, the tone he used when he would lie about being alright with Dad's death. The kind of voice he used when talking about Mom. The weakness shining through clear and true and Sam wonders how he never heard it before. Why it never disgusted him before.
"Get. Out. Of. My. Way."
Lilith makes a noise, starts to rise, and he's moving just that fast, trying to get to her. He wants to kill her so very badly. He needs to kill her. For everything she did to him, for everything she stole. For hurting Dean, for breaking him, for making him become a monster just to get his revenge. For Mom and Dad and Justice and the Apocalypse. Pick a reason. He just has to. He has to end it.
The gun shot slams him back, rock salt sending nerves screaming as it burns through his skin. "You... you shot me!"
"Yeah Sam. Trust me. It's... well. One day you'll understand."
Dean's eyes are still soft. Not the hard steel he remembers but something closer to agate. Waxy and slick and soft enough to break. Two fingers to Lilith's brow, and Sam wonders 'What the Fuck' right before Dean pulls out angel mojo he had to have gotten from Castiel, from the fucking Choir Seriphim, and burns Lilith out. Burns himself out doing it, white heavenly fire scorching them both to ash, a wrathfully righteous soul sacrificed to destroy the very first demon.
Dean for Sam. Dean between Sam and the evil of the world. Always. To the end and back again. Even if the evil is Sam himself. Even when his death, his loss, is the thing that finally lets his brother give up and let go. Just let it all go.
"DEAN!!! It was supposed to be me."
And the righteous soul that spills the blood of the living in Hell shall be the breaking of the first Seal. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit shall he set the world on it's course and so to shall he save it. For he is the Chosen of God.