Hello, Brothers {A Supernatural fanfic} Season 1

Sand and Shadow

{Danny's POV}

"Even the righteous must walk the path of shadows."

Those words have echoed in my mind since I was old enough to remember. It was odd. Why think of those words, at this very moment? I snorted, I'm sure there were better bullshit philosophical phrases that would suit my current predicament. My predicament being explaining to my baby brothers just how much of a fucked up mess I really am inside.

I found myself smirking, running my fingers through my hair, feeling rather fidgety at the moment. I suddenly jerked my head up, glancing up from where I was sitting on the edge of a crappy motel bed to see the Winchesters barging in, shotguns in their hands, leveled at me.

Why does this look familiar?

"Talk. Now. What the hell was that, huh? How the hell did you light that Wendigo on fire?" Dean demanded, finger poised on the trigger of his gun as he kicked the door shut behind him with his foot.

Funny you should mention hell...

I looked at my brothers for a moment before staring at my hands, suddenly interested in the rings that glittered on my fingers. After a brief pause, I looked back up at them, a resigned look on my face.

"It was about twenty-two years ago. You were four, Dean, Sammy was just born and I...I was just your average ten-year-old with nightmares...." I paused for a second, taking a breath before saying, "I was walking home from school one day when I was grabbed. I struggled to get away, but they were three guys, and I was just one little kid...I didn't stand a chance..."

Sam lowered his gun slightly, a soft, sympathetic look on his face as he said, "I remember hearing about that. You were kidnapped, we thought you were dead. Then, you showed up ten years later out of the blue, never told us what happened or how you escaped."

I got up, Dean's gun trailing me as I did so. I walked over to the window, placing my arm on the wall above it, my head resting upon my arm. I took a moment to collect myself, these memories didn't control me, not anymore.

"They were slavers," I softly said, clenching my fists tightly as I continued, "They were based out of Egypt, which literally feels like hell every day of the year. Apparently there's also a big black market trade for white kids. Or, at least, there used to be."

I allowed myself an indulgent smile before continuing, "I, myself, was never sold to anyone. It's hard to sell someone who constantly disobeys and tries to escape. Makes them a liability, you see. Very bad for business. So they...they..."

At this point, both boys had lowered their guns and Dean had taken a step forward, a mixture of horror and confusion written on his face.

"What did they do?" he asked softly.

I turned around to face them, my eyes a watery-blue color as I quietly responded with, "They tried to break me, in every way imaginable. You name it, they probably did it....I'll spare you boys the gory details, the point is, they were unable to do so. They broke my body, so many times, but never my resolve. I would rather die than serve someone else..."

I paused once more, taking a deep breath to collect myself. This was slightly more difficult than what I thought it would be. After a moment, I opened them back up, keeping my face carefully blank as I looked at my brothers.

"I was there for three months, when I snapped. I don't remember what happened exactly, but I recall blacking out, then waking up on the ground. My captors were dead, the building was on fire, and there was a man dressed in black standing over me. He got me out of there, took me into the desert where he and his people lived. From there, they nursed me back to health, and told me what they had witnessed."

A small smirk lit up my face as I continued, "Apparently, I had burned through my chains somehow and incinerated every last son of a bitch in there in a fit of anger. Mind you, I didn't believe them, until it happened again. They told me I couldn't leave even when I recovered, that I needed to 'be trained'. I wasn't too fond of that idea, so I yelled and cursed at them. This caused the fire in the fire pit to turn blue and flare up, which was a very compelling argument for their case.

"So, I stayed with them for five years, trained with them, fought beside them, learned how to control myself and my emotions. Afterward, I set out on my own, decided to travel the world for a bit before I settled down. Got married, started a family, had six kids, and got a job as an occult studies professor at my local college," I finished with a wave of my hand, leaning up against a wall.

"Is that all? They just taught you how to control fire and sent you on your merry way?" Dean asked skeptically.

"That's the cliff notes version. Oh, and I can freeze things too. That's my favorite," I smiled as I crossed my arms in front of me.

"Great," Dean said, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

"So, wait, of all the things you could have become, you decided to teach occult studies at a college? Why? And shouldn't you be working?" Sam inquired, asking the most important questions.

I gave a small shrug and a wave of my hand, saying, "Professor Salvatore only teaches summer classes now. Plus, teaching kids about the occult gives me a way to tell them what's out there and how to kill, without sounding like a complete lunatic. It is all theory, after all."

"You realize this is a bombshell you just dropped on us, right? We're going to need some time to process all...this," Dean said gesturing at me.

"Fair enough, Deano. I'll hop a bus back home, give you and Samantha a chance to talk it over. When you need me, just call."

With that, I walked over to the door, stooping to pick up my bag before continuing onward. I was stopped, however, when Sammy decided to embrace me in a tight hug. I hugged him back just as tightly, clapping him on the back as I did so. What can I say? As badass and threatening as I can be, I'm a sucker for family hugs.

"I'm sorry, Danny. For everything that's happened to you," Sam whispered.

"It's not you that needs to be sorry, Sammy," I replied in a somewhat dark tone.

I released him, walking towards the door, pausing only to turn around and salute Dean, who nodded and waved in return. With that, I opened up the motel room door and started my long journey home.

Short chapter, I know. I'm busy trying to decide what episodes I want to include, since not every episode is that important (at least as far as Danny's story goes). I'm mainly trying to get to season 4 and 5, cuz that's when the real shit starts to go down.

I didn't go into much detail about Danny's time in Egypt, after all he's not really the 'open book' type, at least not now, anyway.