Dean is Frodo, and Crowley is Gollum, and the Blade is the Ring, that means Sam is, well, Sam. Sam is the one who recognizes that Crowley is up to no good, though Dean insists they need his guidance. Sam is the one who sticks by Dean even when Crowley turns Dean against him. Sam is the one who carries Dean when he is overcome by the Blade’s power and can’t function on his own. And at the end, when Dean wins his battle and is ready to lie down and die, Sam is the one who drags him away from the battlefield and forces him to live, nicely mirroring what Dean did to Sam, and hopefully letting them understand each other’s actions and feelings about all of that.

I had to stop reading here and catch my breath, because WHOA. This is bloody brilliant, but I almost wish I hadn't read it, for if Show doesn't go there, if this wondrous thing does not happen, I'm going to cry like a baby. (But then, if Show doesn't go there, you'll write this magnum opus, right?)

I'm also loving your Sam/Ruby - Dean/Crowley scenario, as that'd be a near-perfect reversal of S4. To be perfect it would require Castiel to sneak in and release Dean from whatever "panic room" Sam's got him locked up in, and I'm not entirely sure the current crop o'writers would even remember that. ;)

Me, I'm rooting for the Samwise!Sam - Frodo/Dean scenario . . .