9. Unbreakable

I Wish I Was Your Brother

A/N: Beta services provided by the awesome Ericka Jane.

A/N: Tag to episode 2:15 "Tall Tales".

With his mission unaccomplished, the Trickster reflects on why his treachery didn't work on the Winchester Boys.

- NINE -

Unbreakable

I had a perfect success rate for causing irreparable damage in even the closest relationships, until I tried to drive a wedge between Sam and Dean Winchester.

On the surface it seemed like they would be the perfect victims: dysfunctional childhoods, lifelong pain from the untimely death of their mother, and repressed hurt about the emotional withdrawal of their father. Then there was their confusion and doubt about their father's love, and insecurity about whether it had been distributed equally between them or more favourably on one at the expense of the other.

Encouraged by the endless possibilities, I got to work.

I started with Sam, and the first signs were encouraging. I saw resentment towards his brother for what Sam considered his unquestioning obedience to their father. I saw jealousy that Dean was the perfect son who had earned the respect and admiration of their father in a way Sam had never been able to. I saw deep misgivings about Dean's promiscuous behaviour, his comfort level with lying, and unwillingness to aspire to anything more than the life of a hunter.

On the surface, it seemed there was plenty to work with, and I figured Sam Winchester would be an easy enough target.

I managed to get Sam irritated at his brother, and angry enough to bicker and argue with Dean. But every time I pushed for malice and cruelty I made no progress. I pulled out all the stops, taunting him with bad memories from his childhood, and throwing his brother's most irritating habits in his face. Despite all this, I couldn't get the desired response.

Frustrated with my lack of progress, I began to probe the depths of his subconscious. When I burrowed into his heart and found the place where the raw truth of his emotions dwelled, even I was shocked at what I saw.

For Dean, Sam felt constant and consistent adoration.

In the inner sanctuary of Sam's mind and heart, adoration enveloped his brother like an unending, impenetrable blanket. I tried to infiltrate it only to find the adoration was reinforced by overwhelming gratitude. I got lost in the vast sea of things that Sam was grateful to his brother for. To make it even worse, entangled in all of this was an undying veneration.

The young boy who thought that his big brother was his lifeblood had never really grown up. Any feelings of anger, jealousy, and even competiveness were nullified by the fact that Sam never lost that little brother awe of Dean.

And although at some point in his life he seemed to have realised Dean wasn't perfect, big brother had remained his ultimate hero, and the person whose respect and approval he most desperately craved.

That love was unconditional, so I stopped wasting time.

However, my failure to convert Sam made me all the more determined when I began to pursue Dean.

An initial glance into Dean's thoughts and emotions made success seem like a given. There was anger at his little brother for breaking up their family when he ran off to college. On top of that sat resentment of what Dean saw as Sam's selfishness for putting himself before Dean and their father, although they had spent their lives sacrificing for Sam. Then, to my extreme delight, I found bitterness that his baby brother - whose needs he had always put before his own - could actually have walked away from him.

I played on these deeply buried hurts, aggravating old but raw wounds, determined to turn Dean against Sam.

My work was in vain.

As hard as I pushed Dean, I was never able to move him beyond a yelling match, or when pressed an angry punch or shove. I used every trick in the book and still couldn't move him from anger to hatred and loathing.

Frustrated like hell, I began to explore the inner recesses of his secret emotions. When I found his feelings for Sam I was overwhelmed by the all-consuming devotion. It was daunting, but I figured with a determined effort I could chip away at that. Then I found protectiveness so vast and heavy that I knew even I didn't have the strength to tackle it.

And if that wasn't bad enough there was also admiration in its purest form. Dean genuinely thought his little brother was a remarkable human being, and had the greatest respect for Sam's brilliance, independence, and his childlike honesty.

Neither time, nor distance, nor disappointment had been able to change the fact that Dean Winchester felt his little brother was the most precious thing on earth.

In all my days of creating dissension among loved ones, and replacing devotion and affection with detestation and revulsion, I'd never failed as miserably as I did with the Winchesters. In my life's work of ruining every form of relationship I had never encountered, an obstacle as arresting as the bond between those two boys.

That bond withstood every evil weapon in my arsenal; neutralising even my most powerful artillery. It renewed and revived itself after every onslaught, with a resilience born from an undying commitment to stand against any force that threatened it.

Pitted against the Winchesters my tricks were useless.

Their love was unconditional, and that bond was unbreakable.

THE END

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