The Schism of Fire and Water 8

"C'mon, Sam. I know your arm's hurt. You've been favoring it ever since we left the house."

Sam glared up at Dean through his messy bangs, his stance stubborn. For a few seconds, Dean thought he'd continue arguing, but to his surprise, Sam sighed deeply, his shoulders slumping down. "Fine," he said, an edge in his voice. "Just... be careful, alright?"

Dean realized belatedly that the edge in Sam's voice wasn't from anger or annoyance, but sheer nerves. He was worried about his arm needing to be patched up yet again, and there was no one around his own size to help out this time. If Dean made one mistake, he could snap that arm like a toothpick. "I always am," he said gently, his eyes solidly locked on Sam's and begging for his trust.

To that end, Dean was already armed with a Q-tip coated in burn cream, a strip of gauze cut down in size to be able to fit Sam's arm, and a wet washcloth, soaked in cold water in case the wound needed to be cleaned. He'd gathered it all during his argument with Sam, a stubborn streak rising from the small hunter that put Dean's own to shame.

Dean's injuries had already been cleaned and wrapped. There were multiple burns on his right leg, one large burn on his left, and a burn stretching along his right arm, along with his bracelet now burnt to a crisp. None were bad and all would heal in a week or two.

Dean squatted on the floor as Sam began to peel the singed jacket off, opting for a position where he wasn't overshadowing his brother. Once his arm was free, Sam dropped the jacket onto the countertop he was standing on in the bathroom, a grimace passing over his face at the movement. Dean himself winced at the sight of the spectacular burn covering a goodly portion of Sam's left arm.

"That arm just can't catch a break," Dean stated softly as he leaned in, holding up an outstretched finger for Sam to place his arm on. He would never just grab Sam's arm to treat it. Sam deserved better than that.

"No, guess not," Sam replied. He flinched when it came into contact with Dean's skin, trying (and failing) to hide the pain in his eyes. Glancing back up, he continued, "I'm starting to think this arm is more cursed than the rest of me," Sam said in a joking manner, gamely trying to keep his mind off the pain as Dean cleaned the wound with light, restrained movements. "Sprained wrist, broken bone, now a second degree burn. It never ends." Sam let out a hiss as Dean finished the cleaning.

"Almost done," Dean assured him.

Taking the small Q-tip, Dean gently applied the topical medicine to the damaged skin, making sure to coat it in its entirety. A small strip of gauze was taken in hand after and the wound was wrapped with precise and restrained movements, something that most people wouldn't expect from a hunter like Dean. Soon enough Sam was flexing the arm, curiously checking his new range of motion.

"Good?" Dean asked, watching Sam's face for any dying flickers of pain.

Sam nodded sharply. "Good," he declared. He scooped up his burnt jacket from the counter, slinging it over his shoulder.

Dean stretched out a hand. "Let's go check if Bobby found us anything helpful."

---

When they arrived in the cluttered library downstairs, Bobby was hunched over a massive, thick tome, all sorts of other books scattered over the table. He spared the brothers a quick glance before turning back to his reading. "You boys really put your foot in it this time," he grumbled.

Dean hastened over to the table, making sure to drop his hand on it so Sam could climb down on his own. "What'd you find?" Dean asked even as Sam reached the table, climbing over several books and scattered papers to check on Nixie.

"You better tell me everythin' that happened at that house, first."

Dean recounted the rest of their encounter with the fire sprites as Sam made his way over to the water sprite. Nixie had been placed at the center, away from the tornado of books Bobby had been going through. Unblinking, she gave no response as Sam held a hand to her head, hoping to find out what was wrong with her. But aside from her lack of response, nothing jumped out at him. She continued breathing regularly, her skin was cool to the touch, and none of her wings were damaged, which she'd once told him was one of the most damaging things you could do to a water sprite. The wings served as her magical connection. With them broken, she would lose her power.

Once he was sure she was doing as well as could be expected, he turned back to the other hunters, as curious as Dean to see if Bobby had found anything new.

A slight shiver of intimidation went up Sam's spine at the sight of Bobby hovering over his book and Dean looming behind him. From his angle on the table, both became dark, shadowy figures that gave him a sense that he was once again small and insignificant. He had to actively work to push that feeling away even as Bobby began to speak, clearly considering what Dean had just told him.

"You boys had experience with Nixie and water sprites in the past, am I right?" Bobby waited for a confirming nod from them both before going on. "Well, we got Nixie here. We all know she's a water sprite and from another realm. But I'm bettin' she didn't tell you much about the other elemental sprites, did she?"

Both brothers shook their heads. Sam started to pick his way through the towering books and scraps of paper, intermixed with various pens and charms scattered about haphazardly. He finally reached the hand Dean was leaning on the table with, supporting his weight. From there, Sam could just barely make out the text in the book if he stood on tip-toe. He considered climbing back up to Dean's shoulder so he'd have a better view, but decided to stay put, at least for the moment. His arm was still sore, so he figured he'd let it rest.

The book itself was a thick, leather-bound tome with coarse, weathered pages and a few tattered ribbons to mark pages with. Bobby moved one out of his way as he ran a finger down the page.

"These sprites were real heavyweight hitters back in the days togas were big," Bobby informed them. "The gods created them as keepers of balance, and sealed them in Aeternum until they were needed." He gestured briefly at Nixie's silent profile. "Now, you've been told how Nixie guarded that there Amulet of the Golden Touch. What you haven't been told is that was never the full extent of their duties."

Bobby paused, spotting Sam's difficulty seeing the text. Moving a hand out of the way, Bobby nodded encouragingly at Sam.

Emboldened by the way he was surrounded by friends, two humans that had proven themselves to him in different ways, and a dog that would face down Dean on his behalf, Sam climbed up onto the book so he could see what the other two were looking at.

Elegant script that had been inked delicately by hand curled gracefully under his boots. A picture was displayed over a good portion of the page, with four women standing at the four points of the compass.

The blue glow of a water sprite was standing tall at north. Her hair was a lighter hue than Nixie's, her figure far more ethereal, but the wings, the eyes, those parts were all the same. The figure down south almost seemed incorporeal, her silken gown shrouding her legs from view. She had one hand outstretched in a claw, fire burning within her grip. The wings were eerily familiar, glistening as they stretched over her head. The dragon claws at the end of each wing were curled as well, sharp and dangerous. The tail however, was not familiar. It curled out from under her gown, red scales almost glowing.

Clearly, Ilyana and the others that had attacked them were fire sprites. Sam found himself wondering at the lack of a tail on Ilyana compared to this representation. He only spared the last two sprites a brief glance, east showing a pale girl with white feathered wings staring out with golden eyes and west with a dark figure hunched over with shovel-like claws on her hands and an armadillo shell. Her eyes might have been black or grey, but a pale film over them blocked out the color, showing she was blind. The air and earth sprites.

Underneath the picture of the sprites was an elegant passage, inscribed in gold script;

Lo, when times go dark and the world despairs,
The elements themselves shall rise up,
For one is all and all become one,
The fire of passion,
The waters of serenity,
As steadfast as the earth,
And as changing as the air.

Sam's mouth moved slightly as he read the words. The fires of passion... Ilyana was certainly passionate, but also quick to anger when things didn't go her way, a dangerous combination.

Bobby spoke up again overhead. "These sprites were created to keep balance in the world. Now, you got Nixie and her 'sisters' takin' care of Midas' curse, but they could be summoned for other purposes. For instance, say the ‘waters of the world’ were poisoned so no one could drink them. You could summon the water sprites to purify them, keepin' everyone alive. Nixie here... small scale you could turn her into your own personal water purification system. But let’s think big. That little girl, all on her own, packs enough of a wallop to be able to cleanse the Dead Sea and make it viable."

Dean couldn't hold in a whistle of awe at that thought and Sam did a double-take.

Bobby went on. "In ancient times, fire sprites themselves like this 'Ilyana' you ran into were used to raze the land of poison, making way for new growth. A fresh start. But my personal favorites have to be over here." His fingers tapped against the opposite page from where Sam was standing, where it looked like a tidal wave and an earthquake were consuming a city. "Other uses of the sprites weren't as benign, but deemed necessary by the gods. You boys ever read up about the legend of Atlantis? Accordin' to this book, the city's technology far exceeded what you could find in neighboring civilizations, creating an imbalance of power. In order to keep the earth a level playing field for everyone, the earth sprites were summoned and the city was sunk to the bottom of the ocean."

Bobby paused there, letting them soak that information in. The sprites were more powerful than they had ever allowed themselves to believe. After their last encounter with Nixie, where her wings had been damaged almost the entire time and she was unable to use her magic, a sprite had seemed merely small and helpful. But from what Bobby was saying, those fire sprites that they'd run into might be able to level a city on their own if they didn't get what they wanted - Sam. He stayed quiet, thinking about his options while Bobby resumed their lesson on sprite history.

"Now, there's a few ways to summon the sprites detailed here in this book. There's a summoning ritual where pacts can be made, a binding orb, or the sprites have to be summoned by the gods.

"The binding orb's the most powerful of the lot, and the rarest. In order to pull this off, you need an orb given to you by the sprites themselves. Smash that orb, and the sprite that created it is compelled to come to your side and bound to your wishes. Nothing can break that bond unless either you die or you release the sprite willingly."

Bobby and Dean both stared at Sam. "Wait... you mean she's bound to me? " Sam asked, his voice incredulous as he caught up to the others line of thought.

Bobby nodded his head at Nixie. "It's easy enough to test. Just give her a command. If she's bound to you, she'll obey. She has to obey."

Sam turned, staring at the sprite sitting over a foot away. It took him a moment to get the words out, not wanting it to be true.

"Nixie... can you stand for me?"

There was no response, not even a twitch of her wings. Confused, Sam glanced back at Bobby.

Bobby was already shaking his head. "That's not a command. You can't ask her to do anything in the bond, you need to tell her to do it."

Squaring his jaw, Sam looked back over at the sprite. He remembered earlier that day, when she'd first slipped into the trance and wouldn't let go of the magic shield she had around him and Dean. She hadn't responded until his shout Nixie! Drop the barrier!

"Nixie, stand."

In one fluid motion Nixie rose and turned to face Sam. Her wings vibrated once as they folded down behind her back. White, unblinking eyes were trained on him.

Throat dry, Sam tried to swallow nervously at the sight before managing a trembling "Nixie, sit."

She resumed her silent position on the books, watching them all but seeing nothing.

"I don't understand," came Dean's familiar rumble from behind. "Nixie was fine when we saw her first! She argued with Ilyana, trying to get her to back down."

Everyone was silent at that. Sam cast his mind over the argument with Ilyana, remembering how the fire sprite had ordered Nixie to stand down.

You are bound as we all are to not interfere with other sprites. You must submit to me. My purpose is primary.

The passage about the four different types of sprites called Sam's attention back down to the page. One is all and all become one...

While Sam was pulling the different shreds of information and trying to tie them all together, Dean leaned over Bobby's shoulder, a different subject already on his mind. "Why would a bunch of fire sprites want to get their mitts on Sam, anyway?"

Bobby shrugged. "Honestly? I don't think they do. That's where the next type of summoning comes into play."

He tapped another picture with his hand, a circle with ancient script outlining the circumference. "This here's a summoning circle. You can use it to summon any of the four elemental sprites by writing the corresponding symbol to your element of choice. Now, the sprites aren't compelled to come. They have to come on their own, and you better have a damn good reason why you summoned them when they arrive. Earth and water sprites are damn near impossible to bargain with, but you've got a good chance with an air or a fire sprite. Problem is, earth and water sprites are eternal and immortal. There's not much they want outside of their respective elements and environments, though I'm sure you could manage to convince one or two.

"Air sprites are fickle, dangerous creatures to ever approach. They're described in the book as 'capricious,' so even if you manage to make a pact with one you won't know what you're gonna get. If an air sprite gets bored, she could turn on you in an instant.

"Fire sprites are the most reasonable to make a pact with. They won't turn on an oath, and their blazing power is tempting to try and control. It sounds to me like this case you boys are working on has fire sprites that have been summoned to capture Sam, and we can't be sure if they want him dead or alive after the barbecuin' they nearly put you both through."

Sam turned to face Bobby, "But if we're after a bunch of fire sprites, what about the other two disasters? There was an earthquake one week and a tornado the next."

Bobby shrugged. "The summoner might have tried to use the others first and the sprites changed their minds, or someone might have laid out a trap they knew you'd see as a case." He gave Sam a serious look. "Sam, someone wants you, and they're determined to get you no matter how many other people get hurt."

Dean dragged a chair over, leaning on the table to look at the book. "So, how do we stop them before they burn down the countryside looking for us?" he asked, intently scanning the page under Sam.

Bobby leaned back with a sigh. "There's only two ways to stop the sprites unless they want to give up, and it doesn't sound to me like that Ilyana's the type to quit. You either gotta give Sam up, or kill the original sprite that was summoned. All the other sprites should be under her control and will return to their realm the moment they're freed.”

Sam's breath left in a rush. "But... that's Ilyana. She's the one leading the others. I thought sprites couldn't be killed!" It bothered him to even consider killing off one of the sprites, especially after everything Nixie had done for them. That was her sister they were talking about killing.

Bobby held up a hand to stall any other concerns. "Earth and water sprites can't be killed. The book says the four sprites are tied to their elements in all ways - literal aspects of fire, water, air and earth. Water and earth can always be found on our planet and will never vanish so long as their elements remain, but fire is fleeting. It burns one moment, dies the next. The same for the currents of the air. That means, if you're good enough, you can kill her."

Dean scowled. "Bobby, I shot the fire sprites that were after me. They were just brought back to life by the other sprites without wasting any time."

"It's what Nixie said before, isn't it?" Sam asked. When all he got out of the others was questioning looks, he shrugged. "She said that in order to heal herself, she needed either fresh water from a spring... her element... or she needed her sisters. Ilyana and the others were surrounded by their sisters the entire time we were there... that was practically a swarm of fire sprites, so it makes sense they can bring each other back."

Dean sighed heavily, catching Sam off-guard when he got hit with a gust of wind. "Well, that's just great. How are we supposed to get her away from her sisters when there's so many? Unless you've got a great way to kill off an entire swarm together, we're back at step one."

"No..." Sam said, deep in thought again. He crossed his arms, walking back and forth on the book. "It's not about that. We don't need to kill them all, after all, that's just adding in extra work that makes the case impossible. We need to find a way to separate her so she can't be healed by the others."

"Oh," Dean snorted. "I'm sorry, that makes everything so much easier. Separating her from a bunch of sprites that can burn through almost anything."

Sam jumped off the book. "Not anything. They couldn't burn though Nixie's barrier, remember?"

Dean paused, thoughtful while Sam strode over to Nixie's side. "Nixie, can you make a barrier that cuts Ilyana off from the rest of her sisters?"

He rolled his eyes when she didn't respond. He'd forgotten about the entire 'won't respond to anything but commands' part. "Nixie. Tell me. Can you make a barrier to cut Ilyana off from her sisters?"

Nixie turned her unblinking eyes to meet Sam's. "Yes. It can be done. But I will be hurt by it, and the barrier can only extend four times my size at most, and will be ineffective without a secondary, corporeal barrier. Any larger and my power will shatter against the fire sprites.”

"Corporeal?" came Dean's voice, sounding confused.

"Solid, like a vase," Sam shot over his shoulder. "Nixie, tell me. When you say 'hurt,' what do you mean?"

"I cannot stand against another sprite without consequence. If I fight too much, there will be nothing left to salvage of my mind."

"That's why you're this way, isn't it..." Sam said quietly. "That's why you don't respond..."

One last question... "Nixie... tell me... can what happened to you be fixed?"

She stared unblinkingly back at him. "Yes, when I am released of my bond. If I have not been lost completely, I will be healed."

Dean leaned forward unconsciously. "Release her, Sammy."

"I... I can't..." Sam replied. He met Dean's gaze levelly, chewing his lip. "If I release her, she won't be able to do anything against the fire sprites. That's why she's like this in the first place... because it's the only way she could help us. The sprites, according to this," he gestured at the book, "can't fight each other. Without the bond to me, and without Ilyana's pact, they couldn't act against each other at all. We'll lose the only ace we got if I release her."

Practically growling, Dean sat back. "I don't like this. How are we supposed to kill Ilyana if she's in a container this big?" He held his hands spaced about two feet apart. "I can't exactly shoot her without shooting through the container and that ruins our entire play."

Bobby and Sam shared a silent look. Either Dean was the only one who hadn't figured it out, or he was desperate for another option...

"Dean..." Sam said quietly. "It has to be me. I'm small enough to be trapped with her. I can do it."

Dean's eyes lit with anger, glancing between Bobby and Sam with a look of betrayal. "No."

Bobby tried, "Dean..."

"No!" Dean stomped to his feet, slamming his chair in against the table angrily.

Sam was knocked from his feet, landing on the table next to Nixie with a fearful look in his eyes at the huge, angry human. He'd never seen Dean like this before. He took a shaking breath. He could do this.

Sam scrambled to his feet again. "Dean... it's the only way. You know I can handle it." Sam gave Dean his most pleading look.

Bobby joined in with Sam, trying to calm the other hunter down before he did or said something he'd regret. "Dean, I’m just as worried for Sam as you are. But you know as well as I do he's more than up to the task."

Dean backed a few feet away like a cornered wolf, almost snarling at Bobby. "Hell no! I'm not signing up for my brother's funeral! As soon as he's trapped with her, he's at her mercy! She already tried to blow him up!" He paused, staring straight at Sam with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Or worse. She doesn't blow him up. She grabs him and zaps them both off to god knows where and we never see him again!"

Sam was shaking his head. "Dean, she'll be trapped. She can't just 'zap off' with me the way she wants to. This will work." Sam put all of his emotion, all his trust into that sentence. He couldn't convince Dean if he couldn't convince himself.

Dean wavered. Sam could see it in his stance, the way he held himself uncertainly. But before Sam could call himself victorious, the glint in Dean's eyes hardened again. "No. I'm not offering you up as a sacrifice. We'll find another way," he growled, stomping over to the table. He put his hand down right next to Sam. "We're leaving, Sam."

Sam stared at the hand like it was a snake. Dean saw his hesitation. "Well? Aren't you coming?" he snapped.

Sam edged away from him, towards Bobby. Surely Dean wouldn't just grab him up. "No... I'm going to stay here and do some more research."

Past the anger in Dean's eyes, Sam saw remorse and betrayal. Like Sam had taken a chunk out of him in his refusal. Please... you have to understand, Dean. I need to do this.

I'm the only one who can.

"Fine," Dean growled. He stomped towards the stairs. "But don't expect my help if you plan on using my brother as bait!"

A door slammed upstairs, rattling the table. Sam's shoulders slumped, amazed at the amount of fear he'd felt at the unexpected anger from Dean.

"He'll come 'round," Bobby said reassuringly. "Just you wait. He needs time to stew in his own juices for a bit."

Sam ignored him, wheeling around towards the book on sprites. "Is there anything more on the sprites?"

Research went on.