Chapter 38: Fascinating

Author's Note: If you guys can come up with a better chapter title, I'm open to ideas. I can't think of anything,

"Holy shit," Dylan repeated once more, and Sam had to admit that it was getting annoying. The other version of himself just smiled at Dylan's horror, not moving his gaze from Sam's own stricken gaze.

"It's a surpirise, isn't it?" the creature said. "I was not expecting it for sure. I think I like this form, although that little teddy bear was pretty amusing." He chuckled. "But you," he continued. "You, Sam, are fascinating. Utterly fascinating."

"I'm not an exhibit at a museum," Sam retorted.

"All the same, it will be a shame to kill you," the other Sam said, shrugging as he pulled out a knife he had stored on the desk in front of him. Sam stood protectively in front of Dylan, though he knew the man wouldn't be the first target.

"What did you do to my brother?" Dylan spat angrily, finally snapping out of his shock. For the first time, the other Sam looked to Dylan, as if a fly had just flown in front of his eyes while he was trying to do something very important.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," the other Sam said with a smirk. Sam stared at him for a second, analyzing his facial expressions. There was something going on, something clicking in the back of his mind.

"Your brother," Sam said uncertainly, "is on the third floor." Somehow he knew he was right. Something was opening his mind, and one minute the information wasn't there, the next minute it was. The other Sam looked at him, shocked. Apparently by gaining Sam's possessed appearance he did not also get the special abilities associated with it. "He's unconscious in the men's bathroom. The third stall from the door. He's not dead, but he's bleeding pretty badly."

"How'd you--"

"I don't know, but go." The other Sam was so shocked he didn't seem to care that one of his victims was about to get away.

"But you'll--" Dylan argued.

"Get to your brother," Sam said forcefully. "I'll take care of this." Dylan hesitantly moved to the door, and then broke out into a run.

"Well," the other Sam said, moving closer to Sam. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

"Come on, Sam," Dean said, frustrated as he flipped his phone closed. "Can you pick up your god damned phone for once in your life?" He kicked the wall, pausing for only a second before breaking out into a run as he heard Nora calling his name.

"Dean!" she yelled again, coming around the corner.

"He's not answering his phone," Dean said, his voice panicked.

"That's bad?" Dean nodded. Nora took a deep breath, and then said, "Alright, we just keep searching. We already know what floor he's on, so it shouldn't be that hard."

"Shit," Sam hissed as he made contact with the wall, his breath knocked out of him. Trying to regain his breath, he steadied his legs unnderneath him. His ribs were burning, and he couldn't help but notice he was getting his ass kicked.

By himself. How was that for irony?

The other Sam advanced on him and grabbed the front of Sam's shirt, his black eyes peircing. Sam hated those eyes more than anything in the world, and on his face he only then realized how terrifying it looked. He didn't look human with them. Well, technically he wasn't human during those times anyway. The black eyes were just showing it.

"Can't you do better than that?" the other Sam sneered, in a perfect imitation of how Sam's tone had sounded like when he had been like that. Sam kicked him swiftly in the side and flipped him. The other Sam recovered very fast and threw Sam across the desk. He slammed hard into it, his head colliding with something hard that nearly sent him out of the world of consciousness. His gun lay in the corner, having been knocked out of his hand early in the fight. The other Sam pulled Sam by his colar and shoved him into something else, and though Sam couldn't see what it was, the fact that there was blood running down his forehead from his scalp and the shattered glass lying around him, he had a pretty good idea.

Shaking his head through the dizziness that had engulfed him, he kicked out, missing his intended target of the other Sam's hand, which held the knife Sam had hoped he hadn't had time to pick up. Instead, he hit the other Sam's jaw, which was a pretty damn good second to the knife, and reached out for the blade. His vision doubled and he stumbled a bit, but he managed to get his hand around the handle and turn it around, knocking the other Sam against the desk, the knife to his throat.

The other Sam gritted his teeth. "You really hate yourself that much?" Sam took a deep breath and straightened up, yanking the other Sam with him, the blade still at his neck drawing a line of blood that was trickling down to his white shirt. Careful not to give him a way to escape, Sam leaned down and grabbed the gun.

He pushed the other Sam away from him, sending him crashing into the shelves. He leveled the gun, staying the trembling in his fingers and blinking through the throbbing in his head.

"Yes, I do," he said cooly, and pulled the trigger.

"Sam!" Dean screamed when he heard the gun go off. He ran as fast as his legs would allow, Nora attempting but failing horribly to keep up due to her short legs.

Another shot rang through the air, and another, and another.

The door slammed open as Dean entered, totally unprepared for what he was about to see. The first thing he saw was someone hunched on the floor. Someone with shaggy brown hair.

"Sam!" he yelled again, and the man looked up. It was Sam alright, but his black eyes threw Dean off. Nevertheless, he ran to his brother, who seemed to not have gained any serious injuries. Whoever had hurt him had either been a bad shot or incredibly nervous. He didn't even care that another shot might go off, even though it didn't; all he cared about was making sure Sammy was alive and healthy.

"Dean, stop!" A voice commanded, and the eldest Winchester froze in his tracks.

That was Sam's voice.

He backtracked, looked over and saw Sam, his hair soaked in blood, though the cut it was seeping from looked rather shallow, his eyes a normal brown.

"Holy shit," Dean said, looking back and forth between the two, neither of which moved. Nora chose that moment to break the tension, running in at top speed, skidding to a stop while holding her side and gasping for air. Her eyes widened at the sight in front of her.

"Holy shit," she gasped.

"That's what I said," Dean muttered. The Sam on the floor looked up at Dean, his eyes now back to a normal brown. "Sam--" He started forward, but before he could get very far another shot rang out. The Sam on the floor leaped to the side just in time, and began to transform. Its form was changing, becoming smaller, fur covering its body.

"No fucking way," Dean hissed as the miniature figure straightened out. It merely giggled in response. Dean glanced at Nora, whose mouth was agape in a mixture of shock, disgust, and amusement.

It started to move, its form apparently to throw them off, but Sam was too quick for that. Another shot rang through the room, and Snuggles fell backward, a gaping hole in its chest.

The room was silent. Nobody moved. Dean still had the image of his brother on the floor bleeding seared into his brain, even though it hadn't really been Sam. But the part that scared Dean the most was that it had to mean that Sam's greatest fear was...himself? And he had managed to shoot himself--multiple times--without even hesitating? It certainly shed some light on certain things, things that Dean probably didn't want to see but needed to. Sam's face was impassive, his eyes blank, as he stared at the spot where the Snuggle bear had been, and there was no way to tell what he was thinking.

It was Nora who finally broke the silence with, "Dude." Sam jumped, as if he hadn't known anyone else was in the room. "You blew Snuggles to the shithouse." She smiled. It was all Sam needed to hear; a grin spread across his face, tired and relieved at the same time. That was when Dean realized, he didn't need someone asking him if he was okay, or what the hell he had just done. He needed someone to act normal, to make it seem like nothing bad had happened.

Maybe Nora was better than Dean gave her credit for.

Author's Note: I know, not the best or that longest chapter I've ever done, but I tried. I'm sick, and having trouble concentrating, and still managed to finish this and update. School has been sooooo hectic lately, but I think I'll be hitting a calmer spot soon. We've been doing this whole "don't do drugs/don't bring guns to school/don't get into gangs" thing, and all of the teachers are showing videos and stuff and haven't been able to give much homework.

Guys, PLEASE review! Is anybody still reading this, anyway? Am I losing people's interest? Is it starting to suck? If it is, at least tell me what I can do to improve. I will get the next chapter up sooner or later, and if I get 10 or more reviews I can make that sooner. (5 days TOPS)

I promise things are going to get REALLY interesting REALLY soon.

Up Next: Dean tries to decide whether or not to take a leap of faith with Nora, while Sam makes a decision of his own that throws Dean off guard. (I know, sucky summary, but whatever.)

Oh, and next chapter may seem more "transition-y" (yes, I know that's not a word, but I just made it up) but after that there should be very few of those type of chapters.

Until next time...