"Alright, a couple hours of sleep and then we put this place in our rearview mirror," Dean said as he walked into the room. Lux was at the writing desk by the window, and had started cleaning out their gun. Dean had called them when he was an hour away to let them know the brothers were headed back. "I know this is bad, okay?" he added when he noticed Sam's downcast expression. "You got to snap out of it."

Lux looked between the two. "I'm going to assume there was not a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow," they said and began to assemble the revolver once more. "What'd you find?"

"I killed a hunter," Sam said bluntly and Lux's brown eyes went to him, finding his own hazel ones staring back. The muscles on his face were doing all the right things – clenched jaw, lips in the shape of a frown, brows slanted in that hurt puppy look way of his. His gaze is what rang the alarms in Lux's head. His eyes were devoid of emotion. "I'm a murderer and Dean wants us to run away."

"We don't know it was you," Dean barked and gestured with a snap of his fingers. "Shape shifter," he offered.

Sam rolled his eye at this. "Come on. There was no eye flare, no distortion in the tape," the younger Winchester said. "You know it's not that."

"It wasn't you!" Dean argued and stepped towards Sam, his expression vacillating between disbelief and sheer stubbornness. "Yeah, it might've been you, but it wasn't you."

Sitting on a bed, Sam shook his head before exhaling slowly. "Well, I think it was," he replied quietly and Dean looked at him, confused, before turning to Lux. They crossed a finger over their lips to signal Dean to remain silent. "I think maybe more than you know. For the last few weeks, I've been having these feelings." Dean moved to sit on the other bed, facing Sam.

The gun tucked into the small of Lux's back now, they took a chair and set it between the brothers. "What feelings?" Lux asked softly when Sam didn't continue, a sympathetic expression on their own features.

His attention was on Lux again, and again Lux felt that eerie sense of emptiness when they looked into Sam's eyes. "Hate. And… and rage," he whispered, a desperate undertone in the words. "And I can't stop it. It just gets worse. Day by day, it gets worse."

Dean watched his brother with a helplessness that gutted Lux. They wanted to tell him, but it wouldn't be wise. Not until they were sure. Better a little pain now than a lot dead later. "You never told me this," Dean told Sam.

"I didn't want to scare you," Sam answered lamely.

The older Winchester pursed his lips at this, eyes hooded now, and Lux knew then he'd hold it together. For now. "Well, bang-up job on that," he replied with sarcasm and slapped his own thigh, standing after and headed to grab the now cold food.

"Dean, you know the yellow-eyed demon has plans for me," Sam told him and his unwillingness to let it go raised another flag in Lux. If anyone was a submissive personality of the two, it was Sam. "For us," he added and motioned the Lux. "And we all know he's turned other children into killers before, too."

"No one can control you but you," Dean said sharply.

Lux exhaled and stood, swinging the chair back to the table. "It's late. We should get some sleep. We can continue this riveting back and forth tomorrow," they said before heading to the closet for the extra pillows and blankets.

Sam's attention wouldn't be shaken from his brother. "It sure as hell doesn't seem like it, Dean. It feels like no matter what I do, slowly but surely, I'm just becoming – " he stopped.

"What?" Dean pressed.

"Who I'm meant to be," Sam completed with a defeated shrug. "You said it once yourself, Dean. I have to face up to who I am. Even dad knew this. That's why he told you if it ever came to this…"

"Shut up, Sam," Dean demanded.

"You promised him, Dean. You promised me," Sam insisted.

Lux dropped the bedding onto the couch and turned to the younger Winchester, pointing a finger at him. "Listen, no one is killing anyone. We're going to figure this out. Together," Lux responded in a no nonsense voice. "We're going to find a way. End of discussion."

It wasn't easy to keep their eyes on Sam's – that emptiness unnerved Lux something fierce. Still, he was so good with the expressions. Lux would've believed it otherwise. "There's already a way," he replied and turned, grabbing a handgun from his duffle bag to hand it to Dean. "I don't want to hurt anyone else. I don't want to hurt Lux. I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't," Dean said with a shake of his head. "Whatever this is, you can fight it."

"No. I can't," Sam told him, looking him straight in the eye. "Not forever. You have to do it." When Dean didn't take the gun, Sam grabbed his hand and placed the gun on his palm. "It has to be you."

Dean looked down at the gun in his hand. "You know, I've tried hard to keep you safe," he spoke quietly. Sam gave a sad, understanding smile and nodded. "I won't do it. I'd rather die." He threw the gun onto the bed and shouldered past Sam.

Sam turned his eyes to the ground, jaw clenched, and Lux sighed, turning back to fix the pillow and blankets over the couch. "No. You'll live," Sam said quietly then paused. The phrase was odd and Lux tilted their head, eyes intent on the blanket they were holding. "You'll live to regret this." A thud followed a second after and Lux whirled around only to see the butt of the gun come down on them, too.

The darkness seemed fleeting and when Lux came to, their head shot up only for a sharp pain to pierce through their skull. When it subsided a bit, they scanned their surroundings. Lux noticed the light filtering in through the curtains, then caught sight of Dean face down on the floor and Lux crawled towards him. "Hey, Batman," they said, their voice thick as they shook him. When he didn't respond, Lux slapped him. "Dean!"

That definitely worked and Dean startled, waving his hands in the air in some half-cocked attempt to ward off another hit. "The hell," he muttered and Lux noticed his voice sounded as groggy as theirs. Something snapped in Dean and he sat up, looking around. "Where's Sam?"

"Gone," Lux answered as the pair struggled up from the ground. Lux's legs went weak for a moment and they were sure they were going to hit the ground again, but Dean caught them in time with a strong arm wrapped around their waist. "What a proper gentleman," they said, trying a smile. "I was sure you'd try to cop a feel while you were at it."

If he had a comeback prepared, a knock interrupted him and the two looked toward the door. "Hide the guns," Dean hissed and the two broke apart, immediately covering the weapons. Dean was halfway to the door when it opened and the motel manager looked between the pair.

"It's past your checkout time," the man said.

Dean and Lux shared a look. "What time is it?" Lux asked.

"Twelve-thirty. Listen, I've got a couple here that needs the room," the manager said and Dean leaned out, catching sight of what he was sure was an 'escort' and a businessman.

"I bet they do," Dean muttered.

"Have you seen the other guy we were with?" Lux asked.

The manager looked annoyed. "Yeah, he left before dawn in the black car. And you two should've gone with him, because now I'm going to have to charge you extra."

"Son of a…"

Lux stepped forward now and pulled out a couple of bills from their pocket, grabbing the manager's hand and slapping the money into it. "Twenty minutes to grab our things while you let my buddy here use your computer. We clear?" they said with a cool gaze. The manager looked about to protest, even with the fear in his eyes, and then he saw the bills.

"Crystal," he said with a chuckle and pocketed the money, turning to the new guests. "Come on you two. I've got something else upstairs."

Closing the door, Lux turned back to Dean. "I'll pack our shit. You track Sam's phone. I bet it forgot it's still carrying it," Lux rambled off even as they walked around the room picking up weapons and clothes. "This fucking sucks. I should've been faster. The way it spoke, the things it was trying to make you do, it all clicks so neatly now."

"Why do you keep calling him 'it'?" Dean barked as he grabbed his own stuff. "That's my brother you're talking about."

"Because I'm not talking about Sam," Lux sighed in exasperation. "It's a fucking demon, Dean. Sam's possessed. Which fucking sucks," they repeated afterwards, running a hand through their hair. "Don't you two take precautions? It's going to be a bitch to hold him down without hurting him. Usually I would suggest shooting it to incapacitate – "

Dean whirled around and jabbed a finger in their direction. "No one is shooting Sammy!" he thundered.

"You interrupted," Lux shot back, annoyed. They paused the packing to look Dean in the eye. "I said usually I'd suggest that. But it's in Sam this time, which means my gun is a no-go. So, while you find out exactly where our little baby boy has run off to, I'm going to come up with a better plan to save him. Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah," Dean replied. "Yeah, alright."

Despite his attempt at sounding in control, Lux saw Dean's clenched jaw, the obvious dread in his features, and they couldn't help softening a bit. "We're going to get him back, Dean. I promise."

"Meet you outside in twenty," he replied after a moment, his expression stoic now, and he turned, exiting the room.

Lux sighed, turning back to the work at hand. Their mind was a one track road, though. "Hang in there, Sam. We're coming."