Failure of the System

Who: Billy, Maddie, Oz, Sophie, Lullaby and Dean
Where: Osbourne Household
When: Dawn

Dean shifted, still sitting at the top of the stairs, his back up against the wall, one foot resting against the banister at the other side of the stairwell, the other on the next step down. His gun was tucked away in its holster under his left arm, the shotgun by his side next to the sleeping Thia who was curled up on blankets. It seemed that people had adopted that over night - watch being carried out in twos, with one person dozing and the other people awake. The attacks had come regularly, but fairly far apart - obviously the shadows were having to come from further away now, which meant there was at least a couple of hours break. Nobody was too tired at least, that was something.

Dean had the last watch of the night and he'd spent most of it sharing information with Caleb. He wondered if Maddie knew any blood magic - and wondered how much he'd get a Look from her if the answer was 'no'. He had to admit, he was bored now. Yesterday he'd been mostly running on adrenaline, but once they'd been sorted, well, this was hardly hard. He'd worked his head out about what he was doing, he hadn't actually broken down over anything, he'd coped pretty well, or so he thought - arguments with Thia aside. But overnight, it had become routine. They'd come, they'd be killed, they'd go away, people would go back to sleep. They'd come, they'd be killed... On and on, every couple of hours. Routine.

It was fact, his life was screwed up.

He wasn't surprised, therefore, when the first shadow appeared just after dawn - maybe a little more when a crowd of them come round the corner at once. Okay, now that had him a little more alert and he shook Thia by the shoulder. "Thi, wake up, wake up," he said, with urgency. "Guys!" he called, more loudly as he decided that the shot gun was really the way to go here, given the numbers coming up the stairs and he stood, picking up the gun and pointing it down into the well before pulling the trigger.

Lullaby came awake pretty easily. With the way the night had gone, she was almost waiting for it, even in sleep so she was never that far under. So when he shook her, she was up, looking down the stairwell, and she was not at all pleased to see as many of them as there were. She winced as the shotgun went off, and had the thought that really? More than one shotgun would be really nice right now. She saw light anglings across the floor change and shadows as people started to come out of the rooms, the wolf coming up beside her and growling down the steps. Standing, Lullaby moved back behind Dean, to his left. "Dean...give me the shotgun." she suggested. If he could peg off fifteen with the handgun, and they could take out more with the shotgun, then it'd be twice as efficient. Not to mention Oz couldn't run down the stairs to go into the fray if people were firing guns down that way so they were a little trappified. which really, she thought she should have thought of before now. Now they were all drawing in a huge stream, all to one place so there was a bit of an overwhelming feeling to the entire situation.

Dean handed Thia the shotgun without a second thought - he preferred his handgun anyhow as he drew it and started picking off shadows one at a time, moving back away from the stairwell as he did so, because they just kept coming. Overnight there'd been maybe six at a time. Now there were over twenty - apparently the things had gone out for reinforcements. He moved off to the side a little, knowing full well that they'd ignore him and go for everyone else and he could just stand there and pick them off. That was how it worked. He didn't even bother to move that far back. And so it was a real shock when the front six followed him round and headed straight for him.

Oz didn't hesitate, but started immediately to attack one of the ones going for Dean. There was a rush of swearing from Maddie behind them, and a little bit of a flurry of activity. Lullaby for her part wasn't paying attention to either. She was staring as they went for Dean. Her mind didn't necessarily give her coherent word-thoughts, but there was a jumbled flurry of activity. They were going for him. They'd changed their fucking mind and they were going for Dean. Six of them. She immediately took steps towards, but she didn't have a shot. She also looked down the stairs, more still coming and she took another shot, but it was almost reflex, not anything she thought about, and she didn't even look long enough to see if she'd gotten many of them, she made the start of a dash towards him, around the shadows.

Oh fuck. That was the first thought that went through Dean's head as half a dozen shadows headed straight for him. That wasn't meant to be happening - they were meant to fucking ignore him, that was how it worked. He took a couple of steps back and brought the gun to bear, but with Oz running up and Thia coming forwards he couldn't be sure that he wouldn't hit them. The bullets always kept on going, after all. So, he did the only thing he could think of - he ran, heading for the game room, hoping that people would leave him with what he had and he could just pick them off. "I've got these - get the others," he called, praying that at least Oz would hear him.

Lullaby saw Dean running off, and she just...didn't have a shot. And unless he went into the room and immediately put himself against the wall inside the door? She still might not have a shot. She just barely looked round in time as Oz jumped up and started to take down one of the...oh... was all that went through her head as she realized that she now had a huge group on her. She vaguely heard someone shouting her name from up near the stairwell, just as she felt claws slash at her, biting into her hip and across her stomach. She felt herself falling backwards, and just barely had time to bring the shotgun up so it didn't hit the floor and fire a round up the hallway at Oz, and everyone else. Noooo nononononono...

Dean threw himself into the games room heading into the far corner and placing his back to the wall. At least then if shotgun pellets actually came through the drywall, they weren't going to be hitting him. Which meant that the only problem he had right now was the shadows coming from him. It was different when they were fucking coming right at him, not any harder, just... This wasn't meant to be happening. That was the point that was screwing with his head. If he'd been facing them and they'd been attacking, that would have been fine, but right now his brain was busy trying to cope with the factt hat they weren't fucking ignoring him at the moment. Then there was the fact that he was having to be extra careful with his aim so he didn't hit anyone at the other side of the wall by mistake. The two together weren't a happy partnership and Dean's first shot only just clipped one of the shadows, hitting it in the shoulder and knocking it back a little. Not good enough. He took aim again and dropped it, but they were getting closer. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Sophie saw the group heading for Thia and darted forward as the girl went down, baseball bat in hand. It wasn't much, but it was all she had as she laid into the shadows from behind, trying to clobber one down, keeping going when that one immediately turned to her and attacked her instead. She felt the swipe of a claw bite into her shoulder and cried out, stepping back and losing her grip on the bat a little in that moment of shock.

Maddie was stepping up, because things were going south incredibly fast, and she couldn't not do something. She stepped forward, in front of Billy, an automatic reaction she couldn't at all help. She swung the hatchet Lullaby had earlier set at the top of the steps for anyone to use, and Maddie had retrieved before. She swung at the closest one there was, which abruptly turned on her, even as she took another swing. Something had clearly changed today. That much was obvious and they were going to need a new game plan and quick.

Oz was trying to get as many as possible--and he heard Sophie. Which had him plowing through another one that had been on Lullaby to get right back to his wife, to try and take down the one that was looming over her now.

Lullaby looked up, and saw more than one shadow above her, another one taking a swing. She felt it connect, but didn't stop her motion of bringing up the shotgun, and firing around directly upwards, nixing a couple of them with the single shot. That, right before the ceiling bits rained down on her.

Sophie heard the shot gun blast and fell back more, not wanting to get shot into the bargain with her bleeding shoulder, but the blast missed her - in the heat of the moment she had no idea how close she'd actually been. The shadow, though, kept coming and she struggled to regain her balance.

Billy once again found himself at the back, the furthest away from the danger, which wasn't surprising but it wasn't a happy position for him to be in - especially as a shadow attacked his fiancée. He'd come out into the hall empty handed - his gut reaction simply wasn't geared to getting himself armed, after all - and grabbed the pool cue that Maddie had given him from out of the games room during the night and headed back out into the hallways, swinging the thicker end at the shadow and hitting it in the back - which simply served to attract it's attention.

Lullaby had curled on her side as the ceiling fell down on her and she then started immediately crawling away, scrambling as well as she could while still in posession of a shotgun. There was still one after her and she wanted to be able to take it out without hurting anyone else, and she didn't know if she'd lost track of Dean's shots, or if she hadn't heard enough of them, but she was worried about him. God, there'd been so many, and the others up the hall still had ones going for them...there was far too much going on at once, and she felt claws bite into her back, though it was a glancing sort of blow, nothing substantial. She did what she'd did the last time, and rolled down onto her back and fired upwards, vaporizing the thing while getting more ceiling coming down.

Maddie hacked more at the shadow, going for the head with the hatchet. She ducked back as it took a swipe at her, catching her arm a slight bit but not enough to really bother her all that much as she hacked again. It seemed to be slowing massively down though, with both she and Billy attacking, seeming to want to change target every time.

Oz kept raking and biting at the one on Sophie--which was no longer on Sophie by now and was actively targeting him. He took some damage, but it went up in smoke soon enough. There was one more that wasn't being attacked in the hallway so he immediately went to pounce that one.

Sophie crawled away as Oz took down the shadow that had been attacking her, cradling her actively bleeding left arm and just getting out of the way for now, pushing herelf backwards by her heels until she was up against the wall.

Dean's nerves had steadied again after the first onslaught, though a couple more of his shots had gone astray. He was down to two shadows now though, but they were close, right on him and he was backed into a corner. Sure, he'd put himself there for safety, but that didn't help now. He'd heard the shotgun blasts, Thia's cries, a scream from someone else, other cries and snarls. The sounds from the other room suggested chaos and he couldn't shut it out. He fired again, taking the head off one shadow which dropped instantly, but the other one was on him, the claws swiping across his chest, biting into his skin. The flash of pain was jarring and Dean pulled the trigger without knowing where he was aiming as his vision swam and he felt his legs give way beneath him, dropping him to the floor. The shadow fell with him, dissolving into nothing as the bullet impacted against the far wall.

Billy attacked the shadow from behind as it turned, thrusting the narrow end of the cue into its back, staggering forward a little as he didn't meet the resistence he'd been expecting and the pool cue carried on through the shadow's body, narrowly missing Maddie on the other side.

Maddie watched as the shadow suddenly dissolved, that last attack from Billy killing it, and she immediately grabbed him to yank him behind her, that above all things most important to her. He needed to be away, out of danger, and there was no override switch for her to hit on that. She turned to look at the wolf still attacking one other, but he seemed to be doing alright.

Up the hall, now no longer being attacked by any shadows, Lullaby scrambled towards the door Dean had disappeared into, and called for him. She kept low to the ground, just in case(that and she wasn't feeling so good right now, something was wrong) and she got to the room. And she got to look inside. It felt like her heart stopped for a moment, like everything else just drowned right out. Just for a heartbeat or two, when she saw blood. Blood, and Dean not at all on his feet like he should be, because he wasn't allowed to be hurt like this. The time between her breaking her frozen stance to dropping down on her knees beside him was a little lost on her, but she pushed his shoulder down so he was on his back. "God--Dean--Dean," she cried frantically.

There was the 'I'm okay' part of Dean that tried to get up, but it didn't get very far due to the screaming pain that erupted from his chest as he attempted to move - and when she moved him. But he was conscious - really wished he wasn't right then, but he was - and he looked at her. "I'm okay," he managed before he let out a cry as another shot of pain ripped through as he attempted to look down at himself. He felt sticky - blood, your bleeding, his mind helpfully supplied as he saw his ripped shirt and that red covering his chest in an almost detached way.

"Sophie!" Lullaby cried, even as she was already pulling her hoodie off, pressing it down against his chest to try and do something. "Lay still, lay still Dean, just...don't move. Okay?" She had no idea how bad it was. All real ability to assess something like that had flown out the window the second she saw as much blood as she had. About all she was going on was the blood and that cry he let out. That gave her a pang that instead of just happening and being done with, seemed to remain in her chest. Of course, that could also have something to do with the fact that she didn't feel like she could even breathe right now.

Sophie got to her feet as she heard the frantic cry from the other room, her right hand clutched over her bleeding shoulder, ignoring the pain that stabbed through her. She was bleeding, but a cry like that from that room meant only one thing - her cousin was hurt. Her cousin who was her responsibility, who she was meant to be taking care of, who'd had to live through non-stop shit since he got here was hurt. She pulled open a closet door and grabbed one of her first aid kits and a couple of sheets before heading into the room, speeding up as she saw the prone figure. "Shit," she swore, kneeling down by his side, pushing Lullaby out of the way as she did so. She lifted the hoodie out of the way and saw blood. Even worse.

Ripping the rest of his t-shirt off was the work of moments, it already had been ripped by the shadows, after all, and Sophie wiped away the blood with the corner of one of the sheets. Dean had four long straight slashes across his chest. Not deep enough to actually expose bone, thankfully, they were all actively bleeding faster than Sophie really liked. "Open the kit - I need one of the large pads," she told Thia, as she pressed down hard, gaining a exclamation of pain from Dean as she did so.

That sick feeling was kind of hitting Lullaby again, even if she completely ignored it to fumble through the first aid kit, getting Sophie out what she needed. She only actually recognized that she was shedding tears as one dropped down onto the back of her hand as she did so. She flinched at the sound Dean made, and was vaguely trying to ignore entirely the burning sort of sensation she felt on her stomach, warmth soaking through her pjs. Her mind was far too focused on Dean at current to pay enough attention to it.

Sophie swapped out the sheet for the absorbant pad. "There's a wide roll of tape as well there," she added to Thia. Bandages were out - they'd have to move him and she didn't want to do that, not right now. They'd have to, of course. Hell, if the bleeding didn't stop, they'd have to take him to the hospital, but she was hoping that it wouldn't come to that. Not if the attacks were still coming - would they follow them there if she took him? She needed to know that before any decisions were made.

Lullaby got out whatever Sophie was asking for, eyes on Dean. She wanted to get closer, to move to hold his hand or something, but she was needed to get Sophie things. She didn't notice as Oz padded into the room, took one look then immediately darted back out again. Maddie was in there a moment later, Billy in tow. She assessed the situation, hand holding down on her arm where the gashes were bleeding, but they weren't bad. Not bad enough to do anything like worry about it when Dean was leaking like that. She walked up, and eyed the wounds better. She could make him a few things, but she'd need to know first if they were going to be bringing the boy to the hospital--which she wasn't sure about . So, she asked. "...hospital?" she asked. At least she could be calm in a crisis. She glanced over to Lullaby, to monitor the girl's reaction, and paused. "...you're bleeding, girl." she told her, voice actually a little gentle in both statements uttered.

Sophie looked over her shoulder at Maddie as she finished taping the padd down, pulling the stretchy tape taut to add pressure. "If he'll be safe there - those things weren't meant to fucking attack him," she said, her voice calm despite her words. "If he's a target now, he's better off here until this is over." Unless the bleeding doesn't stop - then we'll have to risk it, she thought and she met Maddie's eyes, sure that the other woman would get that. She just didn't want to worry the frantic Lullaby any more. Her eyes ticked to the girl, taking in the blood. "Let me have a look at you," she said, moving away from Dean - there was nothing else she could do for him at the moment, after all.

"No, Dean...he needs...Dean needs help." Lullaby said, voice shaking and she barely got the words out, really. She tripped on them, and she kept wiping at her eyes. Somewhere along the line she'd smeared blood on the side of her hand and when she went to wipe at her tears more, she got some across her cheek. Then she noticed blood on Sophie, too. And Maddie--who she hadn't noticed until she'd spoken directly to her. "Everyone's bleeding." she said. "I'm going to--someone..." she looked around herself. "Where's the shotgun? The stairs--" Lullaby was dealing spectacularly unwell at current. Amazingly so even. She was trying to make sense, really, but she didn't know if she was. And she felt sick to her stomach and she didn't know what to do. And she looked down at herself more and finally actually caught the blood stain that had soaked through her pjs and was kind of alarmingly widespread. "....oh." she said in a tiny voice.

Oz came in then, pulling a shirt over his head as he moved quickly over to kneel next to Sophie. He reached out, setting a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Hey." he said, trying to catch the kid's attention. "Dean. You still with us, kid?" he asked.

Dean had closed his eyes against the pain - not that it helped much. It was constant now, the pressure from the dressing pushing on his chest like a thousand hot needles. He didn't move, he didn't dare. Not even when he heard Sophie, realised she was talking to Thia. Thia was hurt. Everyone's bleeding. He heard that. What had happened here? They'd got it all sort yesterday, but the rules had changed today and everything had gone to hell. He felt a hand on his shoulder and opened his eyes, looking toward Oz. "Here," he confirmed. "Hurts," he added, his vision slightly blurred - he didn't realise it was because his eyes were stinging with unshed tears.

"Everyone's bleeding," Sophie confirmed, gently pulling Lullaby over to one side. "So let me have a look at you so I can go see to everyone else. Dean's fine, we'll get him worked out, but let me have a look at you," she repeated, keeping her voice steady, still ignoring the pain in her own shoulder.

Oz nodded, keeping his hand on his shoulder. "Rest." he told him. "We might be taking you to the hospital, here. Alright? Just don't move. It'll be okay." he promised. How that was going to be swung he had no fucking idea.

"...those things." Maddie said, eyes still down on Dean. "When Billy'n I were attackin, it seemed to switch targets." she pointed out. "It's possible if we brought him in, so long as he didn't take a shot at anything else, he'd be fine."

Lullaby, for her part, was struggling a little against Sophie, trying to keep Dean in sight. "I--" she stopped abruptly. "I can fix him. I can fix him and it'll be okay and he won't have to go to the hospital because he'll be all better and he won't be bleeding and I could take everyone's. I could...I could do that." Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she was wondering if the full damage of everyone compounded on top of one another would kill her. And if she was dead for a while, would that mean there were less shadows? Would the ones that were there for her just not bother showing up because she wasn't there?

Sophie looked at her and was tempted, really, really tempted, but the same question occurred to her as had occurred to Lullaby - would the combined wounds kill her? And, if so, was that acceptable? And if they didn't kill her - what then? They'd be left with someone who was incredibly badly injured. It occurred to Sophie to wonder if she was actually thinking that it was a more acceptable scenario if Lullaby did die, given that she'd just come back the next day and it was that jolting thought that made her decision. "No - we'll take Dean to the hospital. If Maddie's right, he'll be safer there anyway, away from us. And he can get proper care and attention. Not let me have a look at you."

Dean, for his part, actually tried to sit up at Thia's suggestion - only to be floored again as pain ripped through his chest once more. "No - I don't need... Take me to the bloody hospital if you have to but... No." She was hurt, he didn't know how badly, but she was hurt. And so was everyone else - her healing them all could kill her. He wouldn't let her do that.

As the idea settled more into her head, the logistics of it, everything, it calmed Lullaby down a little. It quieted part of herself that was still inside, pretty much still screaming over everything. It would work. She didn't hear Dean, and she instead wiped at her eyes again and looked Sophie in hers. There had been a hesitation there. Small, but there. And that was more than enough to completely solidify things in Lullaby's head. "I could do it. Take it from everyone, and maybe I'd be out for a day but then you might not have to worry about my shadows, either." she said, voice steadier than it had been since everything started. Quiet, but steady. "Oz needs to be back up to par, so does everyone else, and Dean's...Dean's needed. He can't..." she shook her head. "Everyone needs him."

"No!" Dean exclaimed, trying again to get up, but held down, this time by the force of Oz' hand on his shoulder. "No, let me go!" he cried, fratically struggling despite the ripping pain in his chest, bright flowers of blood appearing through the padding that covered his wound as his struggles aggravated his wound and increased the bleeding.

"Might not," Billy said, finally speaking. He'd been watching the whole thing, standing by Maddie. He realised that he was possibly the only person who wasn't bleeding right now, which wasn't a good sign if today ws going to be anywhere near like yesterday had been. He was trying to be objective about this, trying to think about what was best. And that meant he was trying not to factor into this that Maddie was injured. Was it worth seeing the girl die to heal his fiancee? Was that acceptable? No - but was it acceptable if it meant that everyone else got healed as well? Either way, they would end up being down a person - either Dean to the hospital, or Thia to serious injury or possible death. On Thia's side, there was the added bonus that everyone would be fighting fit again. On Dean's there was the fact that nobody would have to die and he would be safely out of the way. He knew what the objective better choice was, but it wasn't that simple. To just make a choice like that wasn't factoring in the human side of things. How much would Dean go to pieces if Thia died right now? The girl was right - they needed him, but if he wasn't functioning then they'd lost two people, not just one. And Billy knew how he himself got if he lost Maddie and 'non-functional' summed it up entirely. Could they risk that - last time she'd died, they'd had to lock the guy up in a cage and then he'd knocked himself out for half the time. "We can't take the risk either way," he added, knowing that he hadn't explained that conclusion, but it was there. "I can take Dean to the hospital - I can drive. Anyone else who needs seeing to can come with me." He paused. "Except you, Thia. Sorry. If they keep coming like they did over night, we have a couple of hours. If not, we have an hour. If Maddie's right, Dean's better off without us and after the hour's up, we should leave him."

Lullaby shook her head. "Billy...it makes the most sense this way." she said. "Look, we don't even know how long this is going to go on for. And if every day this keeps getting worse? Then we go out one by one. And if both Oz and Dean get taken out of the equation, we don't have a defense. Not really. Anyone could work the shotgun. Eight shots. That's it then it needs to be reloaded. Dean has fifteen. Sixty total if all the clips and his gun are full. I won't be gone long. Not really, I promise. It'd be easiest, and best. Everyone'll be okay." She was now of the opinion that if she did do this, even if she didn't actually die from the multitude of wounds, someone should kill her. Or, she could just kill herself. Hit the reset button, come back fully operational again. "Everything'll be okay. None of us can actually defend us as well as Dean can. Oz is right after that. This is the right thing to do. And if you take people to the hospital...I'm thinking and what if everyone else is there and all of their shadows are attacking too and...it could be ground zero for all we know." Sophie was still touching her, and she abruptly yanked the injury from her, feeling the slices open up on her shoulder, and she grimaced a little, but managed not to make any other reaction.

"No - don't you fucking do it, Thia, don't you fucking dare!" Dean cried out, the end of the sentence half lost in an involuntary exclamation of pain, the tears that had formed in his eyes trickling down the sides of his face as Oz continued to hold him down. It wasn't meant to happen like this, this wasn't meant to go like this, everything had gone wrong. He didn't understand what had happened, where everything had got so fucked up - they'd had a system dammit, it was meant to work.

Oz shook his head, really hating all of this. That much was clear. "I don't like this." he said aloud, not saying one way or the other what he thought about the subject. It made sense. And that was the part that really sucked the most, really. Because it made sense on so many levels. He looked down at Dean, and thought about the hospital. He thought about his talk with Dean the other day and how he mentioned how the girl could be so goddamn reasonable with things. Like right now. "...I hate this." he amended, looking away for a moment, back at the fade.

But you're not going to stop her, are you? Dean realised as he met Oz' eyes. Nobody was going to stop her. "Please," he said, quieter this time. Somebody had to stop her.

Sophie flinched as the wound suddenly disappeared from her shoulder, the pain going, leaving only blood behind and her eyes moved to Thia's shoulder, seeing the wound appear there. "You don't have to do this," she told the girl - but she made no move to try and stop her. She'd known straight away that it made the most sense, it was simply the implications of her own thoughts that had had her hesitating.

Billy's gaze went to Dean, because it was him he was concerned with right now. He didn't want to lose both of them, but there was no actual way to argue further without bringing Dean into it. And with it all, the boy hadn't said shit about himself and what her going would do to him, if anything. Maybe he'd be okay, maybe Billy was just projecting.

Lullaby nodded. She didn't say anything to Sophie, because as far as she was concerned, she did have to do this. If everyone was going to make it, she had to. Otherwise everyone was going to be screwed. She pushed herself to her feet, and walked over towards Billy, one hand pressed over her abdomen which was still bleeding. She left a few drips in her wake as well. She reached out to touch the back of his hand, and pulled any injury from him. Then, just as quickly, she did the same to Maddie, biting down hard on the inside of her lip so she didn't actually make any sound. Dean would hear it. She didn't want Dean to hear it.

"Oz, please," Dean repeated. "Don't... Let Billy take me to the hospital. They can patch me up, I'll be back, I'll come back - please don't let her do this," he said, speaking too fast, desperate and not accounting for just how bd his wound was, how much worse he'd made it by fighting. He didn't care. He'd be okay - he'd have to be okay.

Oz gave Dean's shoulder a squeeze. "Dean..." he started, really not at all sure what he was going to say. But then Lullaby was there.

She knelt down, right next to Dean's head, and she reached out to draw non-bloody fingers through his hair. "...I'm going to take both of yours at the same time." she said. She wasn't sure if it would kill her outright, so she didn't want to risk one of them not getting healed properly or whatever. Or knocking herself out or whatever. So...yeah. She'd just do both. She reached out before Oz could say anything else, she saw him opening his mouth, and she clamped her bloody hand down on his hand, and just brushed her fingertips along Dean's cheek, pulling it all in at once. This time she couldn't actually manage not to make a sound, Dropping immediately, curling up and falling over sideways.

Dean didn't have time to say anything, no time to protest any more, try and stop her somehow, before she'd touched him and the pain in his chest suddenly disappeared. He was up n a moment, catching her as she fell so that she never actually hit the floor. There was so much blood - too much blood. "Thia, Thia - I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be hurt, I'm sorry," he babbled at her, all his previous thoughts of recrimination gone, the way he'd threatened her and shouted at her before disappearing. He just wanted her to be okay, but he knew she wasn't, that she wouldn't be. She had his pain now, his injury. And everyone else's on top of whatever else had been wrong with her - he didn't even know what had been wrong with her.

For Oz it was jarring and disorienting, and he'd almost been in the process of pulling his hand away, but then suddenly he was fine. He'd been hurting pretty much everywhere and then he was not. He watched as Dean caught her, and he winced. Yes, he hated all of this. He knew though, it was going to be best if Thia died now. With as much as she took, it would be bad for her. Really bad. Fuck. But he could see her breathing, which meant she wasn't out yet. He stood, and backed up a few steps, feeling hollow. Didn't seem worth it.

Maddie was looking down at the two too. "...Someone needs to be guarding the stairs." she said, because she was of the opinion that maybe the rest of them should kind of...back away now. She did herself, heading towards the door, and she saw where the shotgun had been left.

Dean didn't fucking care about the damn stairs right now, the stairs and whatever was or wasn't coming up them could go to hell right now for all he cared. His attention was on the girl in his arms who was bleeding - there was just so much blood. She was red and he could feel it, soaking into his jeans, see it pooling on the floor. He didn't know if he could hear her and he cupped his hand to her cheek, angling her face so she could look at him. "Thia..." he said, before looking across at Sophie in a mute appeal for her to do something.

Sophie shook her head. "There's nothing we can do, Dean - there's too much," she said, quietly, wondering just how long it took someone to bleed to death. God, this was horrible, the reality of it all.

Billy took Maddie's cue and turned, walking out of the room. He wasn't wanted there at the moment. He caught Maddie up and siently pulled her round, gathering her into a hug - though whether it was for her benefit, or his, wasn't clear.

Maddie hugged him in return, a tight, lingering hug. Oz was torn. He didn't exactly want to leave Dean alone with Thia as she bled out, but at the same time...fuck. There wasn't exactly a protocol here. He drifted towards Sophie, reaching for her blindly as he kept his eyes on Dean and Lullaby.

Lullaby was kind of drifting. She was in a state that reminded her a lot of when she'd died the first time, only she was more aware of the situation this time. She drew in a breath and it hurt. But she needed it to speak at all. "m'kay Dean." she said. Quietly, weakly, but she said it. She might've tried to hug him but she wasn't moving anything she didn't have to. She was curled up against Dean and that's where she was going to stay. Maybe. Maybe he should go before she died. Maybe you know he wouldn't ever do that unless knocked out and dragged... drifted through her mind.

Sophie shifted over to Oz, reaching out to take his hand, squeezing it, though she made no attempt to move - she didn't think that Dean should be left alone right now. She'd prefer for him not to be here at all, not to have to see this, but she knew that he wasn't going to leave either, that much was clear from the way he'd acted.

No you're not, you're not okay, you're not okay, you're not going to be okay.... "I'll be here," he told her, loud enough that she could hopefully hear him. "Tomorrow, I'll be here and you better bloody well be. Right here, tomorrow. You be here, Thia - you hear me," he repeated, his voice wavering at the end, but largely staying firm, determined.

She coughed, and tasted blood. She drew in another breath, barely aware at all of the situations around them. Who was in the room anymore, anything. She was only aware of Dean. And she nodded for him. She made a few vague sorts of sounds that were supposed to be words but weren't. She gripped at his arm, his shirt not quite there much anymore after Sophie had ripped it, and she wondered if she should fight for consciousness, or not. She'd already been feeling woozy from her own wounds, and with Dean's, she was bleeding fast. She was going to get blood everywhere. He was going to have to change now. She did manage one coherent thing, making the effort for it. "I'll be here." she repeated back to him. "Be careful."

"Should I tell Joshua?" he asked her, wondering if she would even be able to answer that. She seemed to be loosing coherency fast, her voice mumbled and distorted. "Thia, I... I'll be careful," he told her, telling himself that things would be fine again tomorrow. Tomorrow.

She smiled a little, though. Hey, it was almost like going to sleep with him. Not nearly enough like that, but it was on some levels. It felt like it, because he was holding her. And she felt herself drifting. Dropping back, blacking out, fading. Everything went black as her breathing evened out, slow, and she relaxed entirely, consciousness gone.

Dean closed his eyes, pulling her to him a little more. It was after a few moments that he looked up and across at Oz and Sophie. "Can you go now? I'll - please, just go now," he told them, wanting to just be alone for a while before he had to start again.

Oz nodded, not going to refuse that request right now. "We'll be nearby." he said, even if he figured that didn't need saying and Dean wasn't listening anyways. So he turned, tugging Sophie along behind him. He looked back, and then shut the door behind them, leaving Dean alone with Lullaby.