"Sam, look," Dean said suddenly. A faint, warm glow was flickering in the window of the house. "That's our cue." He tossed Sam a gun. "That's loaded with devil's trap bullets. It won't do much against him, but it should slow him down."

Sam nodded his thanks and cocked it, following his brother towards the house and Azazel.

The door to the old Charleston home creaked open before Sam's hand even reached the doorknob. He and Dean were immediately exposed in the streetlight as the door swung open with the invisible force.

"Come in," Azazel said conversationally. "I appreciate your welcoming gift." He pointed at the ceiling, where there was a broken devil's trap that Sam and Dean had made while scouting the place out.

Sam swung his eyes to the corner where Jack had been in his vision; sure enough, the nephilim was tied down to the chair. He was weak, his brow bloody and his cheekbone bruised.

"Go," Jack croaked, but with a quick flick of Azazel's fingers his mouth snapped shut.

"You came to watch?" Azazel asked, lighting the few candles that weren't already lit. "I'm blushing. I don't usually have an audience."

Sam stood next to Dean, their shoulders brushing. He could feel his brother's tense body, ready to spring into action at any second. "How many?" Sam asked. "How many people?"

"How many people did I kill?" Azazel asked, looking towards the damp sack of hearts. "Hm. I lost count somewhere around a hundred. But with Jack's, it'll be enough to open a door to the Empty. Don't you worry, Sam, it's too late to do anything about it."

Sam felt Dean's shoulder touch against his own ever so slightly, but it was enough to tell him that his brother was cuing him to begin.

"You ignorant prick. Don't you care? Each of these people had a life," Sam said, taking a step closer to Azazel. "A family. Friends. Ambitions. Memories. You stole all of that… just to bring back hundreds more demon and angel dicks like yourself?"

"I must admit I'm not looking forward to the resurrection of all those angels," Azazel acknowledged. "Who knows? Maybe I'll become a hunter. Hunting angels sounds like a fun pastime." He leered at Sam, who was inching closer to Jack.

"They'll smite you," Sam said flatly. "You'll be a pile of demon ash on the ground the moment they're sprung from the Empty."

"I'm clever, Sam. They underestimate me."

"But we don't," Sam said in a low voice, pointing his thumb roughly at his chest. "Whether it's Dean, Jack, Cas, or me… I promise you that you will be nothing more than dust when we're through with you," Sam said, his voice shaking slightly. "It's all because of you. Every single piece of crap that's ever happened to us. It all started with you."

"Cut the monologuing, Sam, and stop trying to get closer to Jack," Azazel said, shaking his head at him. "I would've thought you'd be stealthier than that. Any low level demon could-"

"We are stealthy, you bastard," Dean growled from behind him, thrusting the demon knife into Azazel's heart.

Azazel howled and Dean sprung forward to go to Jack, but Sam pushed him back.

"Keep Azazel back!" he ordered.

Dean's eyes flashed. "No way. Jack's not touching your soul-"

"He's not touching yours either. Go!" Sam had had no intentions of letting Dean be the hero straight from the start, and he pushed his gun into his brother's hand. "Keep shooting him with the devil's trap bullets!"

Azazel had fallen to his knees. His skin flickered several times, before he reached for the hilt of the knife to pull it out, panting.

"Jack," Sam said, his voice hushed. He began to hack at Jack's bindings as he spoke. "I need you to touch my soul."

"Touch your soul?" Jack was looking at Sam like he'd gone insane. "Sam, I can't do that. I don't know how to do that."

"You're going to have to. Cas has done it before, and he said it's like handling a nuclear weapon," Sam warned. "It'll give you enough power to kill Azazel."

"I don't know if I can kill him," Jack whispered.

"You killed Dagon when you weren't even born yet," Sam assured him. "Dagon was his sister. If you can kill her, you can kill him."

Jack's eyes widened more. "But that was when I was channeling it through an angel - even if I had the energy, I don't know if I'd be able to use it-"

"You've got to try, Jack. Reach into my chest and touch it," Sam directed.

Behind them, Dean was tackling Azazel to the floor and firing bullets into his temples. There was a yell and they both tumbled backwards into the wall, the demon knife scattering across the floor.
"Now, Jack!" Sam urged, and closing his eyes, Jack reached towards Sam.

Dean twisted instinctually at the sound of Sam's pained yell. Too late he realized this was a mistake as Azazel got his hand free and pushed outwards towards him. Dean found himself flying through the air and hitting the opposite wall heavily.

Dazed, he got up and staggered forward. The knife was on the ground a few feet away. Azazel was digging into his own skin, pulling out one of the bullets and dropping it onto the floor with a slight clink.

The entire room was bathed in light that was being emitted from Sam's chest. Jack's faced was strained and sweating, and Sam had collapsed downward, no longer yelling but tears streaming out of the corners of his eyes. Jack was leaning almost entirely into Sam with the effort.

"Careful, Jack!" Dean bellowed, torn between fear for Jack exploding his brother and anger at Sam for taking what was the more dangerous role in their plan.

Jack didn't answer. He was ashen, drained, trembling. Sam had all but fallen face first onto the floor and Jack was struggling to keep his hand inside of Sam's chest.

Dean grappled for the knife and dove at Azazel. They became a whirlwind of limbs, biting and kicking, as Dean slashed at the demon. The tip of the blade connected with flesh and he tore downward, feeling the satisfactory rip of tendons.

"Take - this - you bastard," Dean gritted out as he pulled his gun out. He shoved it against the demon's face and fired. Blood splattered all over him, and Azazel's eyes angrily turned to him.

"You're only a thorn in my side. Nothing more," Azazel said, and poised his fingers, preparing to snap them for some sort of death that Dean didn't doubt would be gruesome and painful.

"Dean!" Jack yelled from the corner. He had removed his hand from Sam's chest and the sound caught Azazel's attention. The demon started to stand but was limited by the devil's trap bullet; angrily, he began to tear into his own flesh again to remove the bullet. Dean wielded the demon knife, preparing to thrust it into the demon's chest again, but Azazel pushed outward with what looked like more effort than before. The knife flew from Dean's hand and out of the window. Shards of glass scattered across the floor and the warm breeze drifted into the room along with the splatter of fat droplets of rain.

"Dean, I can't do it!" Jack said, his face bright red and dotted with perspiration. "It's too much!"

Sam was unconscious on the ground, his hair limp around his head like a halo. Blood was pouring from his lip where he had bitten himself while Jack was touching his soul. Dean was tempted to go to his brother's side but instead opted to go for the door to retrieve the knife; their last weapon.

He yanked open the door and quickly found the blade sitting on the sidewalk in the rain. Dean bent and grabbed it, charging back inside to decapitate Yellow-Eyes if he could - when there was a flash of blinding light. He stopped in his tracks, entranced by what he saw.

Jack was still ashen, but he was crouched next to Sam, his eyes unseeing.

Sam's eyes were glowing golden and he had sat upright. Dean was instantly reminded of when Gadreel had possessed Sam; it was the same stiff posture that hinted of vast quantities of grace beneath the surface. His lip, which had been bleeding heavily, had healed suddenly, the skin mending itself before Dean's eyes so that only dried blood remained on his face.

Jack had his hand pressed tightly against Sam's shoulder despite his vacant expression. There was a yellow glow leading from Jack's wrist and through his hand, into Sam's shoulder.

It was exactly the same as when the unborn Jack had sent his power through Cas.

Azazel saw Sam and his mouth parted slightly with surprise. He lunged for the bag of hearts and dumped them at the door desperately. His hand went for his side, wrenching out a copper colored scythe and raising it in defense.

"This is for Mom. And Jess, and Dad, and everyone else that's suffered because of you," Sam said. His voice was oddly echoing as though he was standing in a cavern. "You son of a bitch." He lifted his hand and a surge of hot, shining energy flowed towards the demon.

"No!" Azazel's hand fumbled at the wet hearts by the door as though they could save him. "You're my child, you can't do this! I made your fate since you were six months old - no! You can't do this!"

Sam didn't move from his position, only pumping more energy at the demon. Azazel caught on fire, and he screamed as flames licked his skin.

Dean could only watch with awe as the demon fell to the ground, smoking and burning before their eyes before disintegrating to the floor.

Jack released his grip on Sam and the golden energy was cut off abruptly, leaving only the drizzly, humid air in the house. Sam fell backwards, his eyes rolling upwards, as Jack gasped with breath.

Dean bent by his brother's side, and before he could reach for his brother's pulse, Sam had flown upright again.

"Dean!" he said immediately, gripping his brother. "Is he… is he gone?"

Dean took a quick look at the ash sitting on the floor. "He's gone, Sammy. You did good."

Jack stirred. "Sam? Dean, is Sam okay?"

"He's good. What the hell happened?"

Jack stood up, his legs shaking slightly. He was still alarmingly pale and Dean helped him get fully upright. "I touched Sam's soul. It was…" He shook his head and stopped. "Nevermind."

Sam looked at Jack curiously but Jack continued. "I couldn't use that much energy. It would've been too much. I think that I would've caused an explosion. So I channeled it through Sam, to make the current slightly weaker."

"So now you've just got a ton of juice floating around in you?" Dean said warily, thinking of Cas with the energy of Purgatory's souls.

"Well, I don't think there is any juice in me," Jack said, confused. "But the energy I got from touching Sam's soul… most of it was used on Azazel. The rest has helped me to regain my strength." He reached out and touched Dean, and Dean felt his bruises and cuts magically heal.

Sam stood up cautiously. "My ankle healed," he said with wonder.

"There was so much power, Sam. It almost burned through your skin," Jack said. "I had to restrain much of it, but that was all you that killed Azazel."

Sam was still looking at the ash. "He's dead."
"Yeah," Dean agreed. "Dead as a doornail."

Sam gripped his head tightly suddenly before looking up with a strained expression.

"I'm fine. Jack's grace can't heal headaches caused by visions, I guess," Sam said wanly.
"They're gone now," Dean promised. "Azazel's dead. For good, I hope."

Sam's face was unreadable. "Can you take us back to Montour Falls, Jack? The hospital there?"

It took some time to find Ella. She was with her aunt and mostly unresponsive to anyone, even her aunt. They managed to persuade her aunt to bring them to the father's hospital room, claiming to be top scientists from an institution in New York.

"Ella?" Sam said, bending by her. "We're here to help your dad wake up."

At this, Ella's eyes shifted to Sam's. "My daddy never wakes up." Ella said. Her voice wasn't melancholic, it was hard and defeated. "My mommy said he might one day. But now Mom's dead. Her funeral was yesterday."

Jack took Ella's hand. "Come over here," he said. Ella went with him, her expression drawn. Jack put Ella's hand in her father's.

"Grip his hand really tightly," Jack coached. "Squeeze it. He's ready to wake up."

Ella looked unconvinced but she took her father's limp hand and squeezed it. Jack quietly reached over and gently touched the shoulder of the father at the same time. His eyes flared golden for the briefest of moments.

Dean moved from his spot in the corner to Jack. "Let's go, before people ask questions," he said quietly. Jack nodded and they smiled politely to the aunt before moving out into the hall.

The last thing Dean heard before Jack touched his shoulder to bring them back to the bunker was Ella's cry of happiness and the aunt's scream of shock as the father suddenly sat up, healthier than he'd been in a long time. And then the hospital was gone as Jack made contact with Dean's shoulder, and they were flown into darkness.

They landed in the bunker swiftly. Everything was in place from when they'd left it on the frantic notion that something was going down in Montour Falls, New York, right after Sam had had the first vision he'd had in years.

"Home sweet home," Dean said, throwing his duffel down. "Man, I never realized how good life is with Yellow-Eyes dead."

"This was all my fault," Jack said suddenly, looking at the floor. "I'm so sorry. If I hadn't woken up that thing, none of this would've happened."

Dean snorted. "You think that's the first training session that's gone wrong?" he asked. "You should've seen this one time when we were kids. I was seventeen, and Sammy was thirteen."

"Dean, you've told this a million times-" Sam interjected, but Dean ignored him.

"Dad was making us do hand on hand combat. Kind of like what we were doing earlier," Dean said, and he launched into a detailed description of how Sam had ended up mortifying himself by somehow knocking himself out.

"Dad was pissed," Dean remembered fondly as he finished. "He thought you'd end up being some sort of dorky hunter who would trip over his own feet and get himself killed."

"Dean, we've both been killed multiple times," Sam pointed out, smiling. He stood up. "Want me to order a pizza?"

"Pepperoni," Dean said automatically. Sam looked at him as though to say, Duh, since when have you wanted anything else? He left to go order the pizza.

"What did you mean?" Dean asked quietly as soon as Sam was out of earshot. "You said you touched his soul and…?"
Jack looked uncomfortable. "It was nothing."

"Jack, I need to know," Dean persuaded. "I'm his brother."

"Well… it felt broken. Patched up. Like it had been through a cheese grater and then taped back together," Jack said, averting his eyes.

Dean said nothing in return, feeling his pulse quicken. Sam's soul felt patched together with tape. Sometimes he liked to forget how many years Sam had spent in Hell with Lucifer, but Jack's words brought back the reality of it.

"Hey," Sam said suddenly, poking his head in. "What do you guys want for drinks?"

Dean shook himself out of his stupor. "I'm all set with this beer," he said, forcing a smile for his brother.

Damnit, after everything Sam had been through and done for others, he deserved to have his soul be whole and healed. He shook off the feelings and gave Jack a smile.

"Let's go pop in a movie," he told Sam and Jack, standing up.

After all, moments with family could always make him feel better, even in the crappiest of times.

The End.

A/N: This entire plot was so much more complex than I originally intended. This is definitely the most plot-heavy thing I've ever written, so I apologize for any errors or loose ends.

Thanks so much to everyone who has made it this far! As always, I'm very appreciative of any reviews/favorites/follows :) now back to my other prompts for The Chronicles of Winchester HC! Also, the original prompt is below. I kind of strayed from it a bit… but it's all credit to AllShallFade777 who came up with the idea!

Take the parallel that the show draws between Sam and Jack and the fact that they both have (had, in Sam's case) evil powers that they want to do good with, and go a step further with it. Bring back Sam's psychic powers by having Jack inadvertently and temporarily trigger them in a training session or something. Then pit them against something they can both use their powers on, or don't, and just have Sam, Dean, Jack, and (if you want) Cas deal with it, riding out the effects until they wear off. And since Sam's powers were usually accompanied by headaches and nosebleeds, that'll work for the hurt!Sam aspect. Psychic powers can be the visions, telekinesis, or demon-control, or a crazy manifestation of a bunch of stuff; whatever you like :)