Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
and would suffice.

-Robert Frost

It seemed the important moments in Sam's life usually involved fire. First there his mother's death by fire. That all-important event that had led his father down a vengeful path that he dragged his sons along as well. Now Jess was gone, taking his dreams of a safe, normal life and burning them to ash with her.

Fire: A very useful tool in the hunter's arsenal. Nearly as important a tool as salt. Salting and burning: perhaps not as 'fun' or viscerally fulfilling as shooting a gun or stabbing with a blade, but a necessary act to lay a spirit that was causing havoc to rest. Many hunters perhaps underestimated the importance of this ritual, considering it the 'easy' part of the job.

Sam wasn't sure he'd ever look at fire the same way again after this night. Sure he'd been running into burning buildings since he was 12, but this had been different. It was one thing to save an innocent, another to see his girlfriend burning and not be able to do anything to help her. But he also knew a different kind of fire had been lit inside him. He knew now, in a manner at least, why his father was the way he was. Sam wouldn't, couldn't, rest until he'd found the bastard who'd killed both his mother and his future. He could almost feel the blood burning in his veins, making him feel as if he were back in that bedroom again. Never again, he promised himself. Never again would he allow himself to get this close to anyone. It would be too painful to have it all ripped out from under him, perhaps for a third time. Fool me twice, shame on me as the saying went.

From his position at the trunk of the Impala Sam saw Dean conferring with one of the firemen. Probably giving them contact information for while they were investigating the cause of the fire. Not that they would ever find the real reason, they were civilians after all. They might be experts at fire investigation but when it came to the paranormal they'd have no clue. Faulty wiring they'd likely call it. The apartment building had been old after all.

Another test, perhaps more important than the last. A burning desire to kill the SOB who had destroyed the life he'd built for himself over the last three years. That had laid his white picket dreams to waste. He knew with certainty he'd need his father's expertise to accomplish this feat. What quality would this test bring out in him, the mourning college student?

Determination, obsession, revenge. Emotions his father could likely relate to. Sam wasn't so sure they were great qualities to be showing, but they were ones he knew many in the hunting community shared. Ironically he'd finally fit in to the world where he'd once been isolated for being too 'soft' because he didn't share those feelings. Despair was another word he felt might fit. If his father had spent 21 years searching was there any hope of finding the killer now? Would there ever really be an end to to the hunting?

As Dean turned back towards him he felt an icy shell build over parts of his psyche. He'd have to shut off certain parts of himself in order to make it through the next hours, days, months, years, lifetime. As his brother approached he slammed the trunk shut and made a simple statement that he felt summed everything up:

"We've got work to do."

A/N - Hah..procrastination FTW! Take that legal writing and research! I know this a bit shorter, but truthfully I think this may be more the average length for these chapters. Please review!