Sorry for the delay on getting this chapter up. But if you're bored, you should all go check out my other SPN story "House of Cards." /shameless plug

All That's Left

By: Ada C. Eliana

Chapter 6: Killer

Oh no,

here it is again

I need to know

when I will fall in decay

Something wrong

with every plan of my life

I didn't really notice that you've been here

"Heaven's A Lie" Lacuna Coil

The ridge formed a massive backdrop to the decrepit old house that Daniel had run to. Two collapsing stories, with peeling paint and a snow-covered lawn that more than likely usually housed foot-high weeds, it seemed to have been abandoned for at least a decade. The curtains he could see behind the windows made him think someone left the place in a hurry, probably still furnished with clothes in the closets.

The front-door hung slightly on rusted hinges and Sam crept through the small opening it afforded, careful to not make any more noise than absolutely necessary. The windows had been covered by years of grime and neglect, and afforded no light in the building. He kept his back to the wall, skulking in the shadows, searching for Daniel. It was impossible to locate him psychically when they were so close together, and so Sam had to rely on just his eyes and his ears to help him.

"I didn't ask for this Sam," Daniel's voice echoed from somewhere within the groaning farmhouse's depths. He clearly knew Sam had entered. "None of us asked for this. But it is what it is. And I'm just doing what I can with the cards I've been dealt."

"You call killing people 'doing your best'?" Sam shot back, immediately sliding to the other side of the room after speaking, knowing Daniel might be goading him into speaking so he could ascertain his location.

"We all have our own ways of dealing with things, Sam. So I take a more… destructive… path than others. I'm not the only one."

Sam could see Daniel now, standing in the kitchen of the house, a cooking knife spinning idly on the counter in front of him, catching the small sliver of light the broken window afforded, just like Max Miller had done all that time ago. Sam stayed in the shadows, unwilling to let Daniel see him, to give Daniel that advantage.

"The others… a lot of the others… they're searching for the other gate. You know the one I'm talking about, the other gate into Hell. They want to let more demons out, they want to start the war."

Sam practically held his breath as he strained to listen to Daniel's words. It was true that one of the 'children' had opened a Devil's Gate not too long ago, at the Demon's behest. It had been something out of one of Sam's worst nightmares.

The ancient doors creaked as they suddenly opened, and from within them came an explosion of darkness, demons in one mass freed all at once. Terror overwhelmed him as the shadowy, shapeless forms of the demons were released, tearing out of Hell and blending with the dark night sky. They disappeared one by one, no doubt searching for hosts, for innocent people to possess and use.

So many demons escaped that night, disappearing into the cloudless sky, impossible to count or track. That was before the hunters arrived. It had been the first real group assault launched against the children, and Sam was ashamed to have been there, to recognize some of the men fighting to protect the good and the innocent of the world. He was doubly ashamed to have been recognized by them in turn. "Isn't that Johnny's boy?" So much for the good Winchester name…

There was no clear winner to that battle, but the demon had recalled the psychics, and with their absence the hunters managed to close the gate. They covered the area with reinforced protections and were rumored to be guarding it as well, to prevent them from accessing it again.

The Demon had alluded to the existence of another Devil's Gate, one that when opened would release the rest of the demon army. However he did not reveal the location before they destroyed him. He never imagined that some of the other psychics might still be playing the demon's game, still trying to start the war. They all knew each other, and some were not the nicest people in the world but after everything the demon did to them…

"But after what happened with you guys… let's just say I don't trust me brothers and sisters all that much. Especially not them. No, it's better to not trust others, it's better to do things alone. If the war does start, then yeah I'll help our side, but I'm not going to join up before then."

Daniel paused, turning towards the doorway where Sam hid out of sight, searching it for some sign of his pursuer. "Don't you have anything to say to this, Sam?" Daniel asked. "Don't you want to ask me their names, don't you want to talk about all of it? You always wanted to talk, that got you into a lot of trouble, didn't it?"

Daniel took a step towards the doorway.

"I know you're there, Sammo, you're lurking aren't you? Quite the time to become skittish, why don't you come out and face me?"

Sam gripped the knife tightly in his hands, purposely breathing quietly as Daniel approached. His footsteps drew closer, apparently impatient of waiting for Sam and deciding to find his 'brother' himself. Sam held his breath, watching the scant shadows in the gloom as Daniel neared, listening intently to his lopsided footsteps. He was a few feet away when Sam spun, arm arching forward, and drove the knife into his shoulder. Sam had meant to hit him in the heart, had meant to inflict a fatal wound, but something stopped him at the last second, drove his hand astray and destroyed his aim. It was that part of his mind that for the last couple of years began to speak to him in Jess' voice.

Daniel didn't scream, he barely even flinched as the knife embedded itself in the meat of his shoulder. It had been part of their training, to put pain in the back of their mind, to lock it away and not focus on it so they could push their bodies to accomplish more than they should. They fooled their bodies to not shut down to save themselves. They all learned to push themselves beyond the natural limit of endurance. To 'Father' as long as they lived long enough to complete their task it didn't matter if they died from their injuries later.

Daniel met Sam's eyes, brown to blue and in that moment Sam knew he was so screwed. Daniel barely gestured with his left hand and every knife in that old abandoned kitchen was suddenly headed straight for Sam. He hit the floor, a blade slicing the side of his arm as he fell, and watched as Daniel made them come towards him once more. He leapt to his feet and faced his opponent, one hand outstretched. Sam focused his psychic powers on the knives and watched as one by one they fell from the sky, clattering at his feet as he used telekinesis to push them away. His other hand drew his gun, and he fired upon his opponent. Daniel lazily flicked his fingers and the bullets fell before they could hit him.

Sam tossed the gun down and charged Daniel, knocking him onto the floor, flat on his back, Sam on top of him. Daniel kicked and punched, his body writhing underneath Sam's as Sam tried to hold his attention, tried to keep Daniel's eyes on him and not on something he could use to skewer Sam with. Something exploded over Sam's head and in his moment of distraction Daniel flipped him off, freeing himself and tearing out of the kitchen.

Sam chased after him, all of his mind, all of his abilities, singularly focused on Daniel. Other people and their thoughts became just a distant buzzing in the back of Sam's mind. It was this focus that often got him into trouble when he was training his ability. The demon told him he needed to keep track of everyone and everything at once, he needed to be constantly aware of any change around him, to mind his surroundings and anyone who might approach him. He never really got the hang of that though, and he only hoped that no one would be smashing in to help Daniel.

There was a creaking in the ceiling as Sam ran and he felt his heart race increase as he realized that the creaking was because of Daniel. The other psychic was trying to bring it crashing down on top of Sam. He applied more speed. Daniel might be stupid, but he would never be accused of being suicidal, so the closer Sam got to him, the safer he would be.

Chunks of plaster crashed just behind Sam, cracking beams and wires now exposed and the debris began raining down, coating Sam in dust as he headed for the door. Sam caught sight of Daniel standing in the snow beyond the door just as the rest of the ceiling crashed. Sam stared up in shock as the beams collapsed and his last thought before it all came toppling down was that he should have killed Daniel when he had the chance.

Dean had been on his way down the ridge, picking his path carefully to avoid patches of ice and unstable ground. He figured he would be no help to Sam if he tripped and split his head open on the descent.

But that had been before the old house groaned and he watched the ceiling begin to topple in on itself, topple in on Sam. He ran then, cold air burning his face, and legs pumping harder and harder.

Because Ava said he was going to be stabbed right? Ava said… whoever Ava was, whether she was trustworthy or not. And God, she had seemed so desperate to get Sam on the phone, maybe she made up the stabbed part, just for shock value, just to get Sam to call her back. Dean did not know how he could survive if that was true, if he had put all of his faith in some mystery woman's cryptic voice mail and it had been false.

He ran faster.

Daniel watched Sam coldly, standing just beyond the rubble where Sam lay trapped, his legs pinned by debris.

"You need to learn how to mind your own business, Sam," Daniel said, spinning a knife around in his hands.

"Why?" he croaked. "Why are you doing this?"

"It makes the darkness go away," Daniel whispered. "You know what it's like, right? Their voices won't leave me alone, I see yellow eyes in my head, and I hear them telling me things, terrible things. And the demons keep finding me and following me and taunting me. Killing is the only thing that makes it all go away. In that instant there's nothing except silence, wonderful silence."

Sam didn't know what to say to that, just stared at Daniel, watched as his eyes clouded over and he lost himself to his own thoughts. As Daniel drifted, Sam focused on freeing himself. He concentrated on the rubble and felt it lift off of him and topple over the side, releasing his legs and catching Daniel's attention.

His jeans had ripped, and Daniel's eyes zeroed in on the knife sheathed on his right calf. Sam made a move towards it but was too slow, the knife slicing his leg as it ripped through the holster and flew into Daniel's waiting hand.

"You have anymore weapons on you Sam?" Daniel asked conversationally. "I'm surprised you brought any, you should know better than anyone that having weapons in front of a telekinetic is really just like giving them to him."

"So what're you going to do, kill me?" Sam questioned, breathing heavily from being half-crushed, his legs aching and bruised.

"You know Sam, I learned something new. Check this out," Daniel smiled gleefully. He pinched his fingers together and Sam felt sudden pressure on one of his ribs. He put a hand to his chest, straining to somehow pull away the force that seemed intent on breaking his bone. Daniel's grip lifted, and Sam suddenly felt a sharp pain in the middle finger of his left hand, a second later there was a loud crack and Sam's finger bent at an impossible angle. Sam cried out, his eyes staring unbelieving at Daniel. "Fun, right?" Daniel laughed. "Want me to do the other four?" he asked casually as Sam worked on putting the pain aside, focusing solely on the task at hand.

"You know I'd prefer it if you didn't, but we all gotta do what we gotta do, right?" Sam asked, a strange glint in his eyes. Daniel recognized the look perfectly well, it was the look Sam got when he was done messing around, when he had decided he was going to kill someone and wanted to get it done and over with. In anticipation of the last assault, Daniel centered himself and floated the two knives he still had. He knew Sam had one more hidden away beneath his left sleeve, had felt it when Sam charged him earlier, and knew exactly how he planned to use it.

Daniel 'threw' the two knives at Sam, watching as the taller psychic followed them with his eyes, ready to knock them out of the way.

Sam's body hummed in a way he had grown quite accustomed to, it was a rare feeling for Sam, the feeling of releasing his inhibitions, releasing the tight control he had over his abilities and his temper. His conscience faded from hearing, Jess' voice indignant as it zoned into the back of Sam's mind. All that mattered was the hunt, the kill, the utter destruction of the threat before him. Survival was the number one most important thing in Sam's world in that moment.

Daniel released the knives and Sam quickly went to counter them. However, Sam missed Daniel's smirk as he focused on the last of the knives, forcing them away. He vaguely felt a stinging on his left arm but didn't even think about it.

Sam's ears perked as he heard the sound of something slicing through the air behind him a second too late. His mind froze, no time to react, waiting for the blow, when suddenly something hit him from the side. A body landed on top of him, forcing him to the snow-covered ground, and they rolled in a tangle of limbs. "Who the hell…" Daniel's voice shouted indignantly before cutting off. Sam's head hit the half-destroyed wall of the house just as he looked up to see the knife, now soaring through open air, connect violently with the only thing standing in its way.

Daniel looked surprised as he fell to the ground, mouth still open, a pool of blood forming beneath him.

Sam's eyes latched on to Daniel's watching the light leaving them as the smaller man took his last shaking breath and then released it with a long sigh that seemed overly loud in the now quiet area.

"You okay?" a voice said close to Sam's ear. He turned to find Dean extricating himself from his and Sam's tangle of limbs. Sam helped in the effort, standing and reaching for Dean's hand to pull him up. "You okay?" Dean asked again when Sam did not respond. He was breathing heavily, and though he heard Dean he just could not bring himself to answer. Could anything that just happened be defined as 'okay'?

"Your arm is bleeding," Dean said, moving to inspect the wound, not paying any attention to the body on the ground by his feet.

"Let's just get out of here," Sam suggested.

They did not speak as Dean bandaged up his arm and felt his ribs for breaks. Few words were exchanged when Dean's caught the odd angle of Sam's finger.

"Shit Sam, why didn't you say anything?"

"Didn't really feel it anymore…"

They said nothing when the doctor at the clinic put a brace on the finger. The car ride back to the motel was also held in silence. Upon their return, Sam collapsed on the bed, staring out the frost-covered window. Eventually Sam's breathing evened out and Dean saw that he had fallen asleep, his injured arm curled close to his body.

Dean sat in the chair by the window, watching the steady rise and fall of Sam's chest, hearing the sound of his breathing loudly in the otherwise silent room. In his mind he ran through all that he had overheard between Sam and Daniel, and all that he had seen. Sam would have killed Daniel if he had the chance, Dean saw it, the strange look in his eyes, the change in his posture. It was something foreign to Dean, another piece of this 'new Sam' that Dean did not recognize. And one more bullet on the growing list of 'things Sam and Dean need to talk about right now.' Unfortunately, the 'right now' part would have to wait until Dean felt he could have this conversation without an angry tone in his voice, until he could have this conversation calmly and understandingly. Sam came back to him, that had to mean something. He couldn't judge Sam, make him feel unwanted, not when all Dean dreamed about for the past year was having him back.

He was just afraid that if he talked to Sam about this he would reveal just how much he was missing the person his little brother used to be.

A/N: I would love to know what you thought!

-Ada