Work Text:
Eye of the Tiger
“Night Sammy,” Dean whispers, leaning over the crib to press a kiss to his baby brother’s forehead.
Sammy lets out a sigh, already deep in sleep. His daemon, Ruby, snuggles further into the blankets in the form of a newborn pup.
“He’s so tiny,” Dean complains, looking back at Mommy as she helps him down.
“He’s only six months old, you were tiny like that too once,” Mommy teases.
“No way,” Dean grumbles, giggling when Pala pushes up against him. His whiskers tickle. Dean clings to his neck rubbing his cheek against the soft fur. Mommy’s daemon, Pala, is the prettiest daemon he’s ever seen, like a black cat but huge! Mommy says he’s a black panther.
Benny, irritated at being ignored, jumps up to Dean’s shoulder in the form of a tabby kitten, purring loudly.
Pala purrs louder, looking amused. “Come along, little ones, time for bed.”
“Noooo,” Dean whines, but ends with a yawn.
“Yes,” Mommy laughs, scooping him up.
Benny squeaks, shifting into a BlueJay for better balance. “But who’s gonna watch Sammy?” he chirps.
Mommy smiles, face going warm and soft. “Oh honey, he’ll be fine. I’ve got the radio on remember?”
Benny tilts his head, wings lifting and lowering like a shrug.
“When will he be able to play?” Dean asks, when Mommy sets him back down.
“You’ve got a while yet champ,” Dad says, coming up the hall.
“Ahh,” Dean pouts, but can’t help it turning to a toothy grin. Dad has been at work for ages .
Dad ruffles his hair, before patting him in the direction of his room. Dad’s Daemon, Colt, helps, shepherding that way. Dean figures she can’t help it, she is a German Shepherd after all. He allows himself to be led, one hand along her scruff while the other holds Benny.
“Sweet dreams,” Mommy says, tucking him in. Pala leans over the bed to give Benny a nuzzle. “Remember honey?”
Dean smiles, snuggling into the warm blankets, “Angels are watching over me.”
Dad huffs, but leans over to give Dean another hair ruffle. Colt does a quick lap of the room, checking the corners and the closet before returning to Dad’s side.
Dean falls asleep feeling safe and loved.
***
“Dean, brother, wake up!”
Dean groans, but Benny’s frantic barking pulls him out of sleep. “What’s wrong?” Benny is in the form of a golden retriever puppy, too large paws sitting heavy on his chest.
“I don’t know,” Benny whines, nose scrunched up. “Doesn’t smell right.”
“Let’s get Mommy.” He grabs Benny and helps him down off the bed. They walk slowly into the hallway. It’s dark but for the light at the other end, flickering wildly.
Benny whimpers, leaning up against Dean’s leg. The weight is comforting.
Dean glances at his parents’ room but he keeps going. Something telling him to check on Sammy. He hears a shout and suddenly he’s running, darting through the door.
Sammy is crying, but Dad and Colt are in the middle of the room looking up. Colt is snarling, but Dad...Dad looks scared.
“Daddy?” Dean calls, but then the ceiling is on fire, orange flames filling the air.
Dean watches, frozen.
“Dean,” Dad shouts, shoving a wriggling bundle in his arms. “Take your brother and run!”
Dean hesitates, looking down as his crying, baby brother. He’s only held him a few times and each time he had been sitting down on a chair so he wouldn’t accidentally drop him.
“Run!” Dad snaps.
Spurned by the sharpness of his tone, Dean turns and runs. Sammy is so heavy, but he tucks him against his chest, gripping the blankets as tight as he can. He can feel the heat chasing behind him, and it makes him take the stairs faster than he thought possible.
He trips in the hall, on the corner of the rug that always makes Dad curse. Dean can’t catch himself with Sammy in his arms, but he can’t drop his baby brother. He hunches over him, twisting painfully so he falls on his arm and shoulder. The fall makes him cry out, tears building behind his eyes, but he doesn’t cry, he can’t cry because he’s a big boy and he needs to take care of Sammy. His ankle hurts, and it’s so hard to stand up without using his arms, and he needs...he needs…
Something grabs him by the neck of his pjs, hefting him up. He gets his feet under him, just enough to stop from being strangled by his collar, then he’s being hauled out of the house.
Dean gets dropped in the front yard, but he still keeps ahold of Sammy, whose cries have turned into sad little gasps. He tries to stand up, getting help from another tug at his shirt.
Benny is at his side, larger than he’s ever shifted before. He’s no kitty or puppy this time. This time he’s massive and looming, fur the same vibrant orange of the fire currently destroying his house. Dean recognizes the shape from the tv, Benny is a tiger.
“Benny,” Dean sniffs, leaning against him.
Benny curls around him, a comforting weight that reminds him of Pala.
Dean clutches Sammy to his chest, his baby brother is looking at him with wide eyes, cheeks flushed red and stained with tears. Ruby is tucked in the blankets in the form of a mouse, heart beating so rapidly, Dean can actually see it moving. “Where’s Daddy?” Dean asks looking back at the house. The upstairs windows are broken, flames crawling out.
There is a crash as the downstairs windows shatter.
Benny curls further around Dean, an impenetrable wall of muscle, and roars his challenge, but it’s Dad that sprints out of the house, Colt on his heels.
Benny seems to give him a moment of pause, but then Dad is sweeping Dean and Sammy up into his arms, carrying them further out to the road.
In the distance, he can hear the fire engines.
Dean’s not sure what happens next, all the flashing lights and sounds. Dad doesn’t even talk, just keeps him and Sammy close. He keeps looking over at the house like he wants to run back in.
“Where’s Mommy?” Dean asks.
Dad still doesn’t speak, but Colt turns to Dean. She looks weird, her fur is usually brown and black and white, but now it’s all black. It looks like she rolled in soot like one of the 101 Dalmations.
Dean wants to reach out and wipe the soot off, but somehow, he knows that won’t work.
“Sir.”
Dean turns to find one of the ambulance men standing in front of them. He’s got one of those big bags on his shoulder just like in the movies. Dean wonders if this is a movie, like he had a really bad dream and Mommy will wake him up and he can tell her about his bad dreams and she can make pancakes.
Dad’s grip tightens, so tight it hurts, and Dean remembers that dreams don’t hurt.
“Sir, I need to examine your children and yourself. Smoke inhalation can be dangerous and it looks like this guy had a bit of a fall,” the ambulance man says, he smiles a bit, trying to look comforting, but Dean can tell it’s a fake one.
Dad looks at the man for a long time, eyes narrowed.
The man takes a step back looking nervous, “Sir?”
“Yes, of course,” Dad finally says, shaking his head and standing up. He sets Dean on the ground, and Dean is still carrying Sammy, but he’s not worried anymore. He knows he won’t drop him.
Dad looks over at Benny, who's at Dean’s side in an instant, offering a shoulder to lean on.
“Have him shift into something smaller,” Dad orders, voice rough from the smoke.
Dean shakes his head, leaning further into Benny. “He can’t.”
Dad’s eyes widen, sadness making his expression melt, “Oh Dean.”