You hear something about someone you thought you'd known ( not a fanfic )
Sam had tried calling Dean over and over again, but there was no answer. He knew it was intentional. His brother was pissed at him and purposefully ignoring his calls. Kind of a low blow in such a dangerous business, but he'd managed to keep tabs while remaining at a distance - just little things like spotting the Impala in various places. If Dean was on the move, he was fine - at least for now. But it was only a matter of time before he did something reckless, just because he could ... and because he didn't give a damn about the consequences anymore. They'd reached the worst case scenario; what did they have left to lose? Somehow, Sam had thought maybe after the initial shock wore off - after the brunt of Dean's anger had blown over, they could approach this in a reasonable and intelligent manner. But now not only were they not seeing eye to eye, but they weren't seeing each other at all nor speaking to one another.
Ultimately, none of this could get any worse. They were both going to die, and they were going to do it alone. Here he'd thought that this would unify their interests, and all it had done was divide them - make them into strangers. It still didn't make any sense to Sam why Dean thought that ignoring him was going to make this easier on either of them. All it was going to do was make their last few months unbearable, not to mention a complete waste of time. They hadn't fought this long and hard to just give up now. Sure, the outcome looked pretty grim from where they were standing, but shouldn't that be a motivation rather than a deterrent to fight harder? And since when had he become the one so anxious to keep fighting? Maybe since he had been dubbed the up-and-coming champion of a race he despised - the one core fact that had prompted him to make the deal he had and think even for a second that he could make it work.
But now the doubt had settled in. Even if he could figure out a way to tap into his inner power and harness it in a way that didn't cost him every ounce of his own humanity, there wasn't nearly enough time. And while he'd initially decided to keep the whole training thing a secret, at least at first as he experimented to see if he even had any skills left to hone, he couldn't do this without Dean. He was afraid of what would happen if he didn't have his big brother there to keep him in line: his anchor. Without him, Sam just drifted every which way with no purpose and no place to go ... and that was even more painful than facing an eternity in Hell.
Just an hour ago, Ruby had come knocking at his door, but he was in no mood to listen to her false promises or propositions. He was done with her. Anything she could've offered was now no longer on the table, because he'd made it clear he didn't want her help - if she ever could've really helped him at all. He had gotten to the point where he doubted she ever had any intentions of helping him save his brother. And whatever agenda she had - whatever scam she was trying to pull, he wasn't interested. Maybe it wasn't the brightest idea to tick off a demon that'd been stalking him for quite some time now, but he couldn't stand to hear one more false word come out of her mouth. He was finished with getting the short end of the deal: with putting his trust in someone ( or in this case something ) he knew he shouldn't, and getting screwed. This was the end of their alliance, and if she came back again, he'd treat her like any other demon. That was made crystal clear. Whether she'd be bold enough to come back or not was entirely up to her, but for both their sakes, he was really hoping she'd just walk away and disappear: find a new pet project ... someone else to manipulate.
Anger had turned into desperation, and after another unsuccessful phone call to Dean, he'd dialed Bobby's number. He'd tried to talk himself out of contacting anyone else, but they needed a third party: one that was objective but knew them well enough to be able to make an impact - to make them listen, even if what was being said was something neither of them wanted to hear.
Ring after ring, and then cut to voicemail. Looks like they were meant to handle this one on their own. Even still, Sam's strength had temporarily left him ... and in those few moments of weakness that lasted just a little over a minute, he began leaving a message. "Bobby, it's me. Listen, I ... uh ..." His voice wavered slightly as he struggled to get the words out - to find the courage to say what he needed to say. He knew Bobby would be mad as well as disappointed. He was always looking out for them and getting onto them for the stupid crap they pulled. But he'd seemed to accept what Dean had done. Not gladly, but he had. Surely he'd do the same now. So with that in mind he continued, although not without trepidation. "I screwed up big time, and now Dean's not talking to me. You gotta understand I was just trying to save him. But now I ... I don't know what to do. And I thought maybe ..." Words trailed off as he froze mid-sentence, realizing that this was pointless. When Dean figured out that Sam was the reason Bobby was calling or suddenly showing up in town for a surprise visit, he'd just be even angrier than he was now ... if that was possible. Then Dean could add 'whiney snitch' to the list of nasty, name-calling adjectives he'd undoubtedly been piling up as the days rolled by.
This wouldn't accomplish anything but cause Bobby more heartache and widen the distance between him and his brother. Solemnly, he hung up, but he continued to grip the phone tightly in his hand just incase Dean changed his mind and decided to call. The chance of that was next to impossible, but Sam refused to believe that this was how it would all end. Or maybe he had already accepted it, and that's why he hadn't gone to wherever Dean was and forced him to talk to him. Maybe he was just too scared to look his brother in the eye and have him turn away from him indefinitely - have him look at him the way Dean had looked at him before ... like a total stranger.
There had to be a way to get it back. They'd endured too much to fall all to pieces now. But as determined as he was to make this right, he was equally hurt and discouraged that Dean cared so little about making amends. For them to have supposedly been each other's lifelines, his brother seemed to be moving on just fine ... or that was how it appeared at this point.