So, this another one of the short-stories (takes place some-when in Season 1). I first wanted to do this as a standalone-story to play a little with Dean's fears... but, I think it fit the elemental and the "Like Ghosts or Guardian Angels" series... so... this is the story about Air. I guess it's some angst in here... and fluff *rolls eyes* and "NO" I've never done what I did write about. So... no flames... it's all my imagination working here...

And you rather don't try that out yourself, because you can't do what Sam's about to do ;) - this totally is fiction! And, man do I love fiction! ;) - Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Let me know, will ya?

deanandhisimpala... This is just for ya, hon!

All remaining mistakes are mine. Pumpkin! As always thanks for smoothing out the worst! ;) *hugs*

Air

"See, Sam? In this head of your friend? There's nice memories. Really adorable, you two. He still thinks you pissed your pants the first time you jumped. Did you Sam? And you really told him? What was he to you? Something like a big-brother-replacement?"

"Shut up! Will ya just shut up?" Sam strained against the invisible bounds holding him back.

"Hothead Jason, always there for fun. A ladies-man. And he let you tag along, right? Even took you sky-diving. Teaching you. Taught you more of "normal" then your screwed up..."

"SHUT UP!" he yelled.

„You know? I like this meat-suit. The ladies still like him. And I thought you and me would like to have some fun? Like the old days?" The demon crouched down in front of him and put its index-finger to its lips.

„Hmmm, how about we play some dare?" It asked, rising up to his feet and walked over to his brother who lay motionless on the aisle, hands bound behind his back.

Sam tried to lift his head, only to have it forced back with an odd thud.

„Leave him alone, you stupid..." he ground out between clenched teeth.

The demon turned towards him, holding out its hand and slowly turning it into a fist leaving Sam to gasp for air, as the demon's invisible force started to choke him.

„Oh now come on, Sam! Don't be a party-pooper! I was thinking about a dare. See if you're as reckless and daring as a Winchester should be. So what do you say?"

With a flick of the possessed human's wrist the door to the little sports-aircraft opened and let in the harsh wind, drowning out the sound of the strong engines.

The demon once again crouched in front of Sam. The eyes of the man rolled back and one second later Sam looked into the scared eyes of Jason.

„Sam... what's... what's happening to me? Sam?" his name changed into a choking, harsh laughter.

„Oh Sam, what a pleasure! Poor Jason doesn't know... but I hope he taught you well, because your brother... well, see? I learned that Dean doesn't have wings..."

...

He came around to soft vibrations running through his body and the hum of strong engines filling his ears. He scrunched up his face in pain as his head seemed to throb in rhythm with the sound.

Something in the back of his mind made him queasy and he felt a sudden shudder run through him.

Blinking, his eyes met the bent ceiling only a few feet above him, artificial light making him slightly gag when it hurt his eyes. He tried to lift his hands only to feel he couldn't move them. They were bound, and from the feeling of pins and needles running up and down his bent arms, they must've been bound for quite some time.

Groaning, he found the sound stopped by something covering his mouth. Duct-tape. Gently, he tried to stretch but froze in the motion as a sharp jolt went through him... no, not through him... through... the whole place!

His mouth went dry as he puzzled together where he was, as he tried, in vain, to control the panic that immediately tried to swamp him. His breathing increased; only small puffs of air rushing in and out of his flaring nostrils, his body tingling in alarm and barely contained terror. His muscles tensed and stiffened to a point, he thought every bone in his body will break from the pressure put on them.

An airplane! Out! He wanted out! He wanted out now! Sam! He wanted Sam!

„Smm..." the small whimpering noise he created, was drowned out by the hum of the engines.

„Smmmmm!" muscles in his neck cording as he strained them to will his voice to grow stronger, his vision graying out as his oxygen-deprived body gave in and he dropped back, head thudding, as it hit the floor. The floor of the airplane high above the clouds...

When he was being dragged along the aisle, he came to the second time. And he didn't waste time thinking. He used the time to freak. He started to kick out with his feet, trying to fight off the cruel hands that held him, bruising him, while dragging him forward, to the front of the aircraft.

„Hmmmmff!" he screamed, as he fought against being manhandled further.

Dean forgot how to breathe as he was carelessly dropped in front of the now open door. The moment he saw the bright and sunny sky outside move by in a flurry mix with clouds he started to fight anew.

No! No way! His mind screamed in panic, his body tensing even more. No frigging way! His struggle doubled as he was grabbed again, rough hands and a gruff voice pushing and tugging and dragging him forwards, towards the open door, toward the sky and a bottomless fall... „Ssmmmm!" his voice cracked as he screamed for his brother.

He went rigid, as he used his last strength against his assaulter and then... time froze as he was held in place, upper body outside the airplane, the wind so strong, it took away the air he tried to take in and his eyes watered.

Through the blurriness his wide eyes met Sam's, silently pleading for him to help him. To save him. This was worse then any nightmare... and then, suddenly the force holding him was gone and he plummeted, the world tilted and went upside down into an all confusing, colorful spin and he screamed! Screamed against the duct-tape, trying to fight against his bound wrists, felt the skin break under the ferocity. But even with his hands free…it wouldn't have helped... there was no way he could have found purchase in a free fall. And his mind shut down, closing itself away from the panic and terror that had befallen him, consumed him. Left him frozen in motion as he saw the ground race up at him, spinning, out of control.

No chance for rescue now.

...

Sam stopped in mid-breath, as his eyes met his brother's, saw the utter and complete terror in Dean's gaze, heard him scream out his name despite the tape over his mouth, while held in place by the demon's power alone.

„Bye for now!" Jason's voice forced him to snap his attention back to his former college-buddy and before Sam understood what was said... Dean was gone and the force holding him back was gone... Jason was on his knees, retching and blood gushing out of his nose after having expelled the dark cloud of the demon.

„Nooooo!"

...

Sam didn't know how long it had taken him to gear up. He remembered something about twenty seconds at the most... but thinking was out of question right now. Action was the only way.

It had been almost a year since he last jumped and his hands shook as he stood by the open door, wasting another second to stare at the far away ground. He swallowed down the fear and let adrenaline take over. He pushed forward and out of the aircraft, loosing the battle for control for a second before he remembered how to stabilize a body in a free fall. Everything Jason had taught him came back to him, as he put his arms to his sides and dived, searching for his brother through teary eyes.

...

The urge to vomit was becoming almost too much now, but he couldn't. Something was hindering him. Something on his mouth. He was confused and scared. He didn't know why he was keeping his eyes closed so tightly so he blinked them open... the memory returned as the blue sky suddenly tilted to turn into green and brown landscape and the panic he already felt grew even more as he saw how fast the trees and houses grew. His heart hammered in his chest and he felt lightheaded because he couldn't draw in enough air. He wasn't able to form a single coherent thought. The sky came into view as he fell, his body completely out of control and a sharp pain went through his back, as a blast of wind knocked him sideways like a puppet. He shut his eyes again, not able to watch anymore. With his eyes closed he felt oddly calm. At peace almost like floating in the air, not falling in a ludicrous speed... and then, a gentle brush of something made him pop open his eyes and his heart started to flutter even more wildly in his chest. He couldn't make out details, because his sight was too blurry, but someone was there!

A hand connected with him and cruelly bit into his upper arm, holding on tight, pulling him closer to someone. A second hand joined the first, and arms wrapped themselves around his torso, pulling him in. They stopped his wild tumble, long legs wrapping themselves around his waist, before another blast of wind, forced them apart with its power again. But the hands returned almost immediately, and this time they succeeded. A hard pull made every muscle and bone in his body scream and he knew he would have yelled in pain, if his voice hadn't been raw already from his attempts to scream against the duct-tape. Before his eyes rolled back in his head he took in the scent of the other person and felt his chest heave.

Sam.

He would recognize him everywhere out of millions of peoples and even high in the air with all his senses dulled from panic.

Dean went lax in his brother's arms, trusted him to control their fall and the fast tumble eventually slowed into a gentle gliding.

...

He held on tightly, blood making his fingers slick. He knew he had broken a few finger-nails when he pulled the rip cord, but he still kept his vice-like grip around his brother, as they slowed down, gravity stopping to rip Dean from his embrace. His chest met his brother's and he could feel Dean's heart race, throb painfully fast against his rib-cage. Their eyes met and Sam felt panic seize him as his brother looked right through him, before going lax in his grip, eyes rolling back in his head, making holding on even more difficult.

The landing was hard. Sam was seconds too slow to unwrap his legs from his brother. He managed to turn enough to take the blunt of the hit, with Dean on top of him, winding him and he felt his shoulder blades and back scratch against the stony surface as the parachute dragged them along a few feet before coming down too.

Lying there, his brother on top of him, Sam panted heavily in and out, trying to get his shaking limbs under control again all the while looking up in the sunny, blue sky. His arms were still wrapped tightly around his brother's middle and it took a few minutes for him to let go, before reality managed to catch up with him.

Slowly he entangled his arms from around his brother's, carefully to not aggravate any injury Dean might have sustained.

Gently he rolled Dean off of him, and immediately set to free his sibling's hands from the coarse rope, wincing at the raw wrists; a testament of Dean's fight to free himself. Cutting through the ties with his pocket knife, Sam heard Dean's muffled groan as soon as the blood started to circulate again.

Turning his brother onto his back, he was surprised to see Dean's eyes flutter, but a fist seemed to clench around his stomach as he met his brother's eyes.

The blank stare on Dean's face only rippled off one emotion. Panic almost bordering on terror.

He could see Dean's chest heave with every breath he forced in through his nose and he knew from experience that Dean could still feel the odd sensation from free-falling, even now, when safely on the ground.

With a whimper Dean's hand shot forwards clutching at Sam's shirt trying to pull him down, and Sam had to wrestle against the strong hold to stay in the crouched position above Dean.

„Dean! Dean! Hey! 's okay. We're down. We're down. You hear me? Dean!" He grabbed both of Dean's wrists, ignoring the pain in his fingers when he fought against his brother.

„Let me get the gag away. Okay? Dean?" and he felt and saw the moment when Dean regained control over his emotions. His breath hitched and then he nodded, the fear that was dulling his green eyes leaving. Sam nodded in return.

Gently grabbing hold of the edge of the duct-tape he said. „On three, okay? One-two..." and with a fast, fluent movement he ripped it away, eliciting a pained, hoarse yell from his brother.

...

It could feel the pilot's panic and smiled, eyes turning black the moment it saw the canopy opening.

„Well done, Sam Winchester. But it was a win-win-situation for me. Always."

And with that and a flick of the pilot's wrist, the alarms went off suddenly in the small sports-aircraft and the airplane started its crash in a downward spiral.

...

Sam felt it more, then saw it. Seconds before it happened, the air suddenly seemed to freeze. And from then on everything that he did, was pure instinct.

With a fast forward movement he threw himself over Dean, his chest hiding Dean's head as he put his arms around his own head to protect himself.

Only seconds later a deafening, ear-splitting sound shook them. Sam cried out, forgot how to breathe as warm, almost hot air flew over him, followed by a gigantic shock-wave, pushing him even further down, squishing his brother.

Then, it was over and the world grew quiet again, only the crackle of fire and the smell of burning metal and plastic lingered in the air.

Sam pushed himself up, feeling Dean shuddering under him and gently grabbed him around his biceps to pull him into a sitting position. They slowly staggered to a stand and before a word was uttered between the two of them, Dean's eyes grew huge again.

It was one of the rare times that Dean pulled his brother in an embrace, holding onto him as if his life depended on the contact.

Sam stared at the remains of the small vessel and listened to his brother's breathless rambling.

„Thankgodyouweren'tinthere. Thankgodyouweren'tinthere. Thankgodyouweren'tinthere."

„Jason was..." Sam whispered in return.

„You saved me..." those whispered words brought Sam's arms around his brother to return the hug.

Sam remembered being once called a Ghost or a Guardian Angel and he could see the truth in those words right now at the moment when he wrapped his arms around his brother.

The meaning of a spirit was something, or someone, that bound the ghost to this world. And in coalescence a Guardian Angel will do what is in its power to save people.

They couldn't save everyone but they would both go as far as their last breath - and even beyond - to save each other.

Like Ghosts or Guardian Angels...

FIN

So... that's pretty much it... only "Earth" left now. Thanks for reading!!!!

-Lee