![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Drabble Meme: Dark Future AU, Heroes/Supernatural
This is the most awesome meme ever, srsly. Anyway, started this as a writing exercise since I wanted to do this thing again and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
burningvigor suggested I do it for our Heroes/Supernatural post-apocalyptic future that pretty much only exists in our heads. I normally wouldn't post something like this, since it's pretty much just based on indulgent ramblings and a fic that never actually happened, but I remember that a few people were interested in reading said crossover, and since we never delivered on that... I figured I'd post these drabbles publicly instead of keeping their quasi-embarrassing contents to myself. And since it's more satisfying to post non-privately even if no one reads it. \o/ I'M PROUD OF MY CRACK KIND OF okay not really.
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them.
WARNING(S): Lots of Nathan/Peter (#s 1, 4, 7, 8), some Dean/Claire, and generally weirdand overly dramatic since hey, it's an AU crossover.
NOTE: Rearranged these to be in semi-chronological/cohesive order. (The original order was: 1, 3, 2, 5, 7, 10, 9, 8, 4, 6) The number after each song is how long that song is and a plus sign denotes if I used extra time. 3023 words total. Didn't count proofreading and rephrasing as part of the timeeven though I probably should have. Tried to be generally equal with the POVs, though Peter got 3 somehow wtf.
BACKGROUND: The basic plot of this thing is that Heroes/Supernatural are the same world and that all people with abilities are connected to the otherworldly as much as they are to genetics. This world ends up getting overrun with demons and generally goes to pot due to the way Sam saves Dean from rotting in hell; a demonic overlord emerges as a result of this and humans are relegated to being constantly hunted. Most of the Heroes and Supernatural characters die early on in the chaos or of old age as the years pass; Claire and Peter survive as a result of their regenerative abilities and Dean doesn't age due to the circumstances under which he was saved. Nathan dies of old age but gets brought back young-ish and un-aging due to Peter making a demonic deal. In the end, Dean, Claire, Nathan, and Peter form a kind of family unit and stay on the run while hunting as much as they can.
---
1) VNV Nation - Airships (8:18)
Nathan remembered back when he'd first discovered his power. He remembered not knowing what to think of it, why it was happening to him, what it could mean for the rest of his life, to his career. He remembered that Peter had known from the very beginning what their powers meant: they were a gift. They were a means by which they could make the world a better place. Peter had always been that kind of optimistic kid and Nathan had always been the cynic. It was ironic that their respective powers didn't really reflect that.
And then the years had passed and things had gotten bad. The world had gotten stranger and darker and words like "monsters" and "demons" and "dead" became part of Nathan's everyday vocabulary. He saw what it was all doing to Peter. He saw the toll it was taking, the worry lines on Peter's un-aging face, the slow fall into silence and the way his brother looked off from the campfire like he was lost. Nathan hated it and he wished he could help; he wasn't the bad man from thirty years ago even though he wasn't really good, not like Peter, but he knew he couldn't do anything. He was getting old, weak. He knew he just reminded Peter of something else he'd lose and how much it would hurt.
And he had lost it. And then he'd come back, with young hands and young eyes and he'd grabbed Peter's collar and yelled at him and demanded to know what he'd done, and Peter had only responded with a smile so sad that Nathan wanted to hold him right there and tell him things were all right, that things were going to turn out okay in the end. It would be a lie, but Nathan was no stranger to those.
And there they'd been, on the road, their lives twisting and turning and becoming more desperate, just like the heated nights they'd started to share. Nathan didn't know why he was doing it and though he hated himself for it, he hated himself more for not being able to do more for his brother, the man upon whom the weight of the world rested. Their lives were heading down a path from which there was no return and no end in sight. Things changed, but not enough, and it was with a final straw that the four of them had decided to make a last stand.
And they'd failed. And they'd fallen. And they'd flown.
---
2) Gyakuten Saiban Instrumental - Odoroki Housuke: Start of a New Trial! (3:56)
"You know," Nathan said through a mouthful of beans (or at least that's what he figured it was; he didn't like thinking too hard about what was in these damn cans). "I remember when the most stressful thing in my life was how high I was in the polls."
Dean let out a small laugh. He looked like he was eating cooked carrots.
"Right, I forgot," he grinned wryly. "You used to be one of those law assholes."
Nathan was going to shoot back with some comment about what he understood had been Sam's major, but he wisely decided not to. Instead, he shrugged and sighed. "Yeah. Total asshole."
"Hey, I never said that you weren't still an asshole now," Dean said, taking another forkful. "Just that you weren't law-involved."
Nathan couldn't help but snort a little, and he shook his head. "Do you see anyone else out here trying to protect people? We are the law."
"Like Judge Dredd," Dean replied brightly.
Nathan stared back at him blankly and Dean waved him off.
"Nothing," he said, his smile fading from his eyes. "Just something else we're missing these days."
---
3) Eiffel 65 - Blue (3:29)
Dean wasn't sure if everything around him being miserable made himself feel better or worse. Sure, misery loved company, but his personal guilt was the kind that could move mountains, and the company didn't feel so great when he knew that all of it – all of it – was his fault.
He had friends, and though he knew there was no higher power to thank for that, he didn't take it for granted. Neither did he take for granted the feel of the Impala's steering wheel in his hands, the living blood that coursed through him during a hunt, the countless injuries and deaths he'd endured and the concerned blue eyes that he always woke to. He had someone who cared about him as much as he did her, and considering how much damage he'd done to the world, he didn't know if he deserved even that.
And yet he still felt bitter sometimes. Sometimes, when two of his friends laughed together or one patted the other on the back, he couldn't help but tense up and remember days long past, of motel rooms and old reruns and car trips under blue skies. He missed his brother. He missed him so much, and the times when he was in the presence of those yellow eyes, that darkness, were the times he missed him the most.
---
4) Savage Garden - Mine (4:30 + 0:25)
Peter told Nathan he was okay, but it wasn't true. He smiled and took it all in stride, knew that Nathan was right about what was healthy and what they could and couldn't do, but he didn't really believe it. He needed more than that, more than shoulder grabs and pats on the back, but he knew he was wrong. He knew if he said anything like that to his brother he'd scare him away, maybe for good this time.
He remembered the thoughts that had gone through his head during that month on his own, how good Nathan's hug had felt when he'd finally come back, to know his brother really did give a damn if he was alive or dead, even after finding out. But Nathan didn't really get it, not really. He thought this was something fixable, but it wasn't, and even if it was, Peter wasn't sure if he wanted it to go away. It was part of who he was; he just hadn't realized it until now.
He thought about this on the top of the complex, knees up and his arms back, staring up at the grey sky and the husks of trunks of trees. He glanced up when he saw a figure rise up out of his peripheral vision from the outside of the building and then he looked away.
"Hey," the figure said, and though Peter knew he was trying to sound friendly, he knew better. He shifted his weight as Nathan landed and stood awkwardly.
"So... what are you doing all the way up here?"
"What do you think?" Peter asked, sounding more petulant than he meant to. He saw Nathan run a hand through his hair and follow Peter's gaze up to the sky. He scowled suddenly, as if his patience had run out.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's very productive."
"Shut up, Nathan," Peter growled, pulling himself to his feet and storming towards the edge of the building. He could see his brother grit his teeth in the corner of his eye, but before he could step towards him, Peter was already flying away.
---
5) Nightmare Before Christmas - This Is Halloween (Demo: Danny Elfman) (3:20 + 3:20)
"What day is it?" Claire asked, and she regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.
"The thirty-first," Peter said automatically, adding after a second: "of October."
"Halloween?" Dean asked with an arched eyebrow, glancing at the backseat through his rearview mirror. "That's friggin' fantastic."
"Did it occur to you to mention this earlier, Pete?" Nathan asked dryly, shooting his brother a side glance. Peter shrugged like the apathetic badass he pretended to be and Claire frowned as she turned around in her seat and stared the man in the eye.
"You know that all the bad guys like messing around around this time of year," she said, and Peter sighed, throwing up his arms slightly.
"Yeah, okay, I screwed up. Considering everything else I have to–"
The car suddenly lurched forward as Dean slammed on the brakes, changed the gear, looked over his shoulder and started zooming in reverse. Claire whipped around with grit teeth and saw what had made him stop: a crowd of blank-eyed, shuffling bodies with outstetched arms were meandering across the road in front of them and now they were heading towards them.
Claire grabbed for the shotgun at her feet and loaded it with rock salt rounds. A memory suddenly came to her: carving out a pumpkin with Lyle and Mom baking the seeds; she and her dad going trick-or-treating afterwards and coming back with loads of candy.
---
6) Red Hot Chili Peppers - My Friends (4:09 + lots of cheating and getting off-topic D:)
They didn't have many photos, but Claire had one and she held on to it for dear life. Dean knew because she always had it on her, in her pack or in her pocket, though she never looked at it. Dean also knew what it was because of how Claire talked about one time in her memory – when her family went on vacation and she and her dad had made a sandcastle on the beach. All weird relation to Nathan aside, Claire had lost that dad before Dean had ever seen the guy and Dean knew from the way she talked about him that they'd been close. He also knew from the way Nathan talked about him that he'd kind of been a psycho.
They went on a hunt in Texas one time, just the two of them. Claire had been agitated on the way there, Dean had been able to tell, snappy. He'd snapped back enough to seem oblivious, but he knew what was up; he knew this was where she'd grown up, where she'd lost everyone she loved. The job was rooting out ghosts from some kind of compound, kids and adults and some soldiers who'd died in the first wave of riots and demon-spawn attacks. They'd gotten separated when Claire had started acting weird, and Dean had been rounding a corner when he felt hard metal up against his temple.
"You're going to drop the gun," said a voice, weirdly pleasant and calm. If it hadn't been for the chill in the air, Dean might have thought it was a special ops demon rather than a ghost, but he'd been at this too long to be mistaken.
"Yeah, sure thing," Dean said with a smirk as he let go of the shotgun and it clattered on the ground. He raised his hands in surrender, but as soon as he heard the thing move, he jabbed his elbow out and grabbed for the iron dagger under his jacket. He whirled around to ward off the thing, but before he'd taken one step, an ice-cold hand caught his wrist and twisted him back against the wall.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you."
Dean grit his teeth and tried to wrench his head back, but his face was shoved back against the wall before he could do much else. He grunted as his mind simultaneously swam and raced for options.
"I don't want to waste any more time than necessary, so you're going to answer yes or no," the ghost continued with a level voice, and Dean felt the nonexistent gun against his head again. After a pause, the ghost asked with a dangerous edge: "Where is my daughter?"
"Listen, dude, you're dead," Dean growled back, trying to wrestle out of the ghost's grip and failing. "Your daughter probably is too–"
"She can't die!" the ghost yelled, and Dean's train of thought came to a sharp stop as he suddenly found himself paying more attention to what the hell was going on and why Claire had raced off when she had. He turned his head far back enough to see the glint of his flashlight against horn-rimmed lenses and then his eyes widened as his cheek fell back against the wall. Among the general feeling of holy shit repeating through his brain, he vaguely wondered what a guy was supposed to do in this kind of ungodly improbable situation.
So he tried to pretend he'd been invited over for dinner or something.
"Mr. Bennet?" He tried with a wince, and when the ghost flipped him onto his back, he knew he'd probably made the right decision. He looked up and saw a man in a disheveled suit with a pale face and dark eyes behind his glasses; the ghost's head seemed crooked and he was bleeding from a long, ugly gash that circled most of his neck. Dean suddenly realized why this death had been one Claire hadn't been able to fix.
"Now we're getting somewhere," the ghost said with an eerie smile.
---
7) Arcady - Lullaby (3:52)
Most people these days would say that there was nowhere safe to hide from the outside horrors that plagued the world on a daily basis, and in all practicality, that was true. Most days, Peter spent most of his time looking over his shoulder for some kind of monster or other, shooting energy from his hands and bullets from guns and wreaking havoc on creatures that would otherwise hurt innocent people. And things were never safe; the fighting never ended. He never rested.
But then he felt something that contradicted all that. In abandoned buildings or a patched-up tent, he'd feel arms around him and a body against him, and those were the only times he felt he could really breathe. As screwed up as it was, those were the only times he could clearly remember the way things had used to be, and though they'd never been perfect, they'd at least been as good as this. He felt like he could smile and maybe even laugh, and when he felt fingers in his hair and a mouth on his shoulder, he felt safe. He felt human again.
---
8) Final Fantasy IX - Grieve for the Skies (2:36)
"You think they miss it?" Claire asked as soon as Peter and Nathan had left to get firewood.
"Miss what?" Dean asked, keeping his eyes on the gun he was cleaning. "Not screwing?"
Claire shot Dean a glare even though she agreed with the sentiment.
"No, I mean..." she glanced up through the trees at the veil of grey and black that constantly hovered over them. "...the sky."
Dean shrugged, pushing a rag through the barrel of the shotgun. "Don't we all? And hey, they can still do their rocket thing, can't they?"
"But it can't really be the same," she said, trying to see some semblance of the moon through the clouds even though she knew from fifty years of experience that it was impossible. She sighed. "I mean, it has to be weird without the sun beating down. Or the stars."
Dean looked up with something of a wry grin as he put the rock salt rounds to the side.
"Hey, babe," he said, "I'm really not the guy to ask."
---
9) Ace Combat 5 - Razgriz (3:32)
It was nice, Peter thought, to see Nathan taking charge again. Nathan never complained – not beyond his normal insults and petty commentary, anyway – but Peter knew him better than anyone and he could tell how out of his element he felt. This was a man who'd spoken to crowds and played to the people for a living, who'd survived by his words and wits. A world of fighting and being on the run and dealing with the supernatural every day was harder for him even than the rest of them, and Peter knew that.
So seeing him ordering people around at the complex, rationing out the weapons and ammunition and food supplies, brought an uncharacteristic grin to Peter's scarred features. Nathan was about to walk past him, some manner of clipboard in his hands, when he saw the look on Peter's face and frowned.
"Something funny?"
"Nothing," Peter shook his head, chuckling a little. "Just, uh... nice to see you in good spirits is all."
"Oh, god, Peter," Nathan rolled his eyes. "Don't say the s-word on a day like this."
Peter shrugged. "Not like it's anything we can't handle."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Nathan grumbled, though he slapped Peter's back as he walked past him. "Get to your damn post."
"Sure," Peter smiled over his shoulder.
---
10) Stone Sour - Through Glass (4:02 + 0:44)
It was sometimes hard to remember how the world had been before all this, before the chaos and the death and the power that had been unleashed. He remembered things like stars and the sun and green grass, but not much else. Those things weren't important anymore; only power was.
He stood at the tall windows of his office, hands held behind his back as he stared out through the glass at the domain in front of him. Red lights flickered back and forth along landing paths and the training grounds near the capitol and he could hear the faint chants of his officers at the new recruits. This was his, all his, all earned through hard work and perserverance. He regretted nothing.
He held up a hand as he heard someone walk through the door, closing his eyes and taking in the sound of his surroundings, the feel of it. Sometimes, he had to revel in this, the knowledge that all the power of the world was at his fingertips.
"Sir," the messenger said, and he turned around to give a calm look with yellow eyes that he knew could stop most in their tracks. The messenger hesitated, then nodded. "We have him."
"Good," he said, turning back towards the window. He gestured with his hand. "Bring him in."
He heard muffled shouts and struggling and then the thud of a body hitting the floor. He turned around and saw what he'd been brought: a man covered in grime and dirt and wearing a half-tattered jacket. The man's eyes darted up and then widened in a way that would have moved him once.
"Sam..." The man choked out, face twisted in pain and guilt.
Sam smiled. He didn't feel anything.
---
burningvigor suggested I do it for our Heroes/Supernatural post-apocalyptic future that pretty much only exists in our heads. I normally wouldn't post something like this, since it's pretty much just based on indulgent ramblings and a fic that never actually happened, but I remember that a few people were interested in reading said crossover, and since we never delivered on that... I figured I'd post these drabbles publicly instead of keeping their quasi-embarrassing contents to myself. And since it's more satisfying to post non-privately even if no one reads it. \o/ I'M PROUD OF MY CRACK 1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them.
WARNING(S): Lots of Nathan/Peter (#s 1, 4, 7, 8), some Dean/Claire, and generally weird
NOTE: Rearranged these to be in semi-chronological/cohesive order. (The original order was: 1, 3, 2, 5, 7, 10, 9, 8, 4, 6) The number after each song is how long that song is and a plus sign denotes if I used extra time. 3023 words total. Didn't count proofreading and rephrasing as part of the time
BACKGROUND: The basic plot of this thing is that Heroes/Supernatural are the same world and that all people with abilities are connected to the otherworldly as much as they are to genetics. This world ends up getting overrun with demons and generally goes to pot due to the way Sam saves Dean from rotting in hell; a demonic overlord emerges as a result of this and humans are relegated to being constantly hunted. Most of the Heroes and Supernatural characters die early on in the chaos or of old age as the years pass; Claire and Peter survive as a result of their regenerative abilities and Dean doesn't age due to the circumstances under which he was saved. Nathan dies of old age but gets brought back young-ish and un-aging due to Peter making a demonic deal. In the end, Dean, Claire, Nathan, and Peter form a kind of family unit and stay on the run while hunting as much as they can.
---
1) VNV Nation - Airships (8:18)
Nathan remembered back when he'd first discovered his power. He remembered not knowing what to think of it, why it was happening to him, what it could mean for the rest of his life, to his career. He remembered that Peter had known from the very beginning what their powers meant: they were a gift. They were a means by which they could make the world a better place. Peter had always been that kind of optimistic kid and Nathan had always been the cynic. It was ironic that their respective powers didn't really reflect that.
And then the years had passed and things had gotten bad. The world had gotten stranger and darker and words like "monsters" and "demons" and "dead" became part of Nathan's everyday vocabulary. He saw what it was all doing to Peter. He saw the toll it was taking, the worry lines on Peter's un-aging face, the slow fall into silence and the way his brother looked off from the campfire like he was lost. Nathan hated it and he wished he could help; he wasn't the bad man from thirty years ago even though he wasn't really good, not like Peter, but he knew he couldn't do anything. He was getting old, weak. He knew he just reminded Peter of something else he'd lose and how much it would hurt.
And he had lost it. And then he'd come back, with young hands and young eyes and he'd grabbed Peter's collar and yelled at him and demanded to know what he'd done, and Peter had only responded with a smile so sad that Nathan wanted to hold him right there and tell him things were all right, that things were going to turn out okay in the end. It would be a lie, but Nathan was no stranger to those.
And there they'd been, on the road, their lives twisting and turning and becoming more desperate, just like the heated nights they'd started to share. Nathan didn't know why he was doing it and though he hated himself for it, he hated himself more for not being able to do more for his brother, the man upon whom the weight of the world rested. Their lives were heading down a path from which there was no return and no end in sight. Things changed, but not enough, and it was with a final straw that the four of them had decided to make a last stand.
And they'd failed. And they'd fallen. And they'd flown.
---
2) Gyakuten Saiban Instrumental - Odoroki Housuke: Start of a New Trial! (3:56)
"You know," Nathan said through a mouthful of beans (or at least that's what he figured it was; he didn't like thinking too hard about what was in these damn cans). "I remember when the most stressful thing in my life was how high I was in the polls."
Dean let out a small laugh. He looked like he was eating cooked carrots.
"Right, I forgot," he grinned wryly. "You used to be one of those law assholes."
Nathan was going to shoot back with some comment about what he understood had been Sam's major, but he wisely decided not to. Instead, he shrugged and sighed. "Yeah. Total asshole."
"Hey, I never said that you weren't still an asshole now," Dean said, taking another forkful. "Just that you weren't law-involved."
Nathan couldn't help but snort a little, and he shook his head. "Do you see anyone else out here trying to protect people? We are the law."
"Like Judge Dredd," Dean replied brightly.
Nathan stared back at him blankly and Dean waved him off.
"Nothing," he said, his smile fading from his eyes. "Just something else we're missing these days."
---
3) Eiffel 65 - Blue (3:29)
Dean wasn't sure if everything around him being miserable made himself feel better or worse. Sure, misery loved company, but his personal guilt was the kind that could move mountains, and the company didn't feel so great when he knew that all of it – all of it – was his fault.
He had friends, and though he knew there was no higher power to thank for that, he didn't take it for granted. Neither did he take for granted the feel of the Impala's steering wheel in his hands, the living blood that coursed through him during a hunt, the countless injuries and deaths he'd endured and the concerned blue eyes that he always woke to. He had someone who cared about him as much as he did her, and considering how much damage he'd done to the world, he didn't know if he deserved even that.
And yet he still felt bitter sometimes. Sometimes, when two of his friends laughed together or one patted the other on the back, he couldn't help but tense up and remember days long past, of motel rooms and old reruns and car trips under blue skies. He missed his brother. He missed him so much, and the times when he was in the presence of those yellow eyes, that darkness, were the times he missed him the most.
---
4) Savage Garden - Mine (4:30 + 0:25)
Peter told Nathan he was okay, but it wasn't true. He smiled and took it all in stride, knew that Nathan was right about what was healthy and what they could and couldn't do, but he didn't really believe it. He needed more than that, more than shoulder grabs and pats on the back, but he knew he was wrong. He knew if he said anything like that to his brother he'd scare him away, maybe for good this time.
He remembered the thoughts that had gone through his head during that month on his own, how good Nathan's hug had felt when he'd finally come back, to know his brother really did give a damn if he was alive or dead, even after finding out. But Nathan didn't really get it, not really. He thought this was something fixable, but it wasn't, and even if it was, Peter wasn't sure if he wanted it to go away. It was part of who he was; he just hadn't realized it until now.
He thought about this on the top of the complex, knees up and his arms back, staring up at the grey sky and the husks of trunks of trees. He glanced up when he saw a figure rise up out of his peripheral vision from the outside of the building and then he looked away.
"Hey," the figure said, and though Peter knew he was trying to sound friendly, he knew better. He shifted his weight as Nathan landed and stood awkwardly.
"So... what are you doing all the way up here?"
"What do you think?" Peter asked, sounding more petulant than he meant to. He saw Nathan run a hand through his hair and follow Peter's gaze up to the sky. He scowled suddenly, as if his patience had run out.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's very productive."
"Shut up, Nathan," Peter growled, pulling himself to his feet and storming towards the edge of the building. He could see his brother grit his teeth in the corner of his eye, but before he could step towards him, Peter was already flying away.
---
5) Nightmare Before Christmas - This Is Halloween (Demo: Danny Elfman) (3:20 + 3:20)
"What day is it?" Claire asked, and she regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.
"The thirty-first," Peter said automatically, adding after a second: "of October."
"Halloween?" Dean asked with an arched eyebrow, glancing at the backseat through his rearview mirror. "That's friggin' fantastic."
"Did it occur to you to mention this earlier, Pete?" Nathan asked dryly, shooting his brother a side glance. Peter shrugged like the apathetic badass he pretended to be and Claire frowned as she turned around in her seat and stared the man in the eye.
"You know that all the bad guys like messing around around this time of year," she said, and Peter sighed, throwing up his arms slightly.
"Yeah, okay, I screwed up. Considering everything else I have to–"
The car suddenly lurched forward as Dean slammed on the brakes, changed the gear, looked over his shoulder and started zooming in reverse. Claire whipped around with grit teeth and saw what had made him stop: a crowd of blank-eyed, shuffling bodies with outstetched arms were meandering across the road in front of them and now they were heading towards them.
Claire grabbed for the shotgun at her feet and loaded it with rock salt rounds. A memory suddenly came to her: carving out a pumpkin with Lyle and Mom baking the seeds; she and her dad going trick-or-treating afterwards and coming back with loads of candy.
---
6) Red Hot Chili Peppers - My Friends (4:09 + lots of cheating and getting off-topic D:)
They didn't have many photos, but Claire had one and she held on to it for dear life. Dean knew because she always had it on her, in her pack or in her pocket, though she never looked at it. Dean also knew what it was because of how Claire talked about one time in her memory – when her family went on vacation and she and her dad had made a sandcastle on the beach. All weird relation to Nathan aside, Claire had lost that dad before Dean had ever seen the guy and Dean knew from the way she talked about him that they'd been close. He also knew from the way Nathan talked about him that he'd kind of been a psycho.
They went on a hunt in Texas one time, just the two of them. Claire had been agitated on the way there, Dean had been able to tell, snappy. He'd snapped back enough to seem oblivious, but he knew what was up; he knew this was where she'd grown up, where she'd lost everyone she loved. The job was rooting out ghosts from some kind of compound, kids and adults and some soldiers who'd died in the first wave of riots and demon-spawn attacks. They'd gotten separated when Claire had started acting weird, and Dean had been rounding a corner when he felt hard metal up against his temple.
"You're going to drop the gun," said a voice, weirdly pleasant and calm. If it hadn't been for the chill in the air, Dean might have thought it was a special ops demon rather than a ghost, but he'd been at this too long to be mistaken.
"Yeah, sure thing," Dean said with a smirk as he let go of the shotgun and it clattered on the ground. He raised his hands in surrender, but as soon as he heard the thing move, he jabbed his elbow out and grabbed for the iron dagger under his jacket. He whirled around to ward off the thing, but before he'd taken one step, an ice-cold hand caught his wrist and twisted him back against the wall.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you."
Dean grit his teeth and tried to wrench his head back, but his face was shoved back against the wall before he could do much else. He grunted as his mind simultaneously swam and raced for options.
"I don't want to waste any more time than necessary, so you're going to answer yes or no," the ghost continued with a level voice, and Dean felt the nonexistent gun against his head again. After a pause, the ghost asked with a dangerous edge: "Where is my daughter?"
"Listen, dude, you're dead," Dean growled back, trying to wrestle out of the ghost's grip and failing. "Your daughter probably is too–"
"She can't die!" the ghost yelled, and Dean's train of thought came to a sharp stop as he suddenly found himself paying more attention to what the hell was going on and why Claire had raced off when she had. He turned his head far back enough to see the glint of his flashlight against horn-rimmed lenses and then his eyes widened as his cheek fell back against the wall. Among the general feeling of holy shit repeating through his brain, he vaguely wondered what a guy was supposed to do in this kind of ungodly improbable situation.
So he tried to pretend he'd been invited over for dinner or something.
"Mr. Bennet?" He tried with a wince, and when the ghost flipped him onto his back, he knew he'd probably made the right decision. He looked up and saw a man in a disheveled suit with a pale face and dark eyes behind his glasses; the ghost's head seemed crooked and he was bleeding from a long, ugly gash that circled most of his neck. Dean suddenly realized why this death had been one Claire hadn't been able to fix.
"Now we're getting somewhere," the ghost said with an eerie smile.
---
7) Arcady - Lullaby (3:52)
Most people these days would say that there was nowhere safe to hide from the outside horrors that plagued the world on a daily basis, and in all practicality, that was true. Most days, Peter spent most of his time looking over his shoulder for some kind of monster or other, shooting energy from his hands and bullets from guns and wreaking havoc on creatures that would otherwise hurt innocent people. And things were never safe; the fighting never ended. He never rested.
But then he felt something that contradicted all that. In abandoned buildings or a patched-up tent, he'd feel arms around him and a body against him, and those were the only times he felt he could really breathe. As screwed up as it was, those were the only times he could clearly remember the way things had used to be, and though they'd never been perfect, they'd at least been as good as this. He felt like he could smile and maybe even laugh, and when he felt fingers in his hair and a mouth on his shoulder, he felt safe. He felt human again.
---
8) Final Fantasy IX - Grieve for the Skies (2:36)
"You think they miss it?" Claire asked as soon as Peter and Nathan had left to get firewood.
"Miss what?" Dean asked, keeping his eyes on the gun he was cleaning. "Not screwing?"
Claire shot Dean a glare even though she agreed with the sentiment.
"No, I mean..." she glanced up through the trees at the veil of grey and black that constantly hovered over them. "...the sky."
Dean shrugged, pushing a rag through the barrel of the shotgun. "Don't we all? And hey, they can still do their rocket thing, can't they?"
"But it can't really be the same," she said, trying to see some semblance of the moon through the clouds even though she knew from fifty years of experience that it was impossible. She sighed. "I mean, it has to be weird without the sun beating down. Or the stars."
Dean looked up with something of a wry grin as he put the rock salt rounds to the side.
"Hey, babe," he said, "I'm really not the guy to ask."
---
9) Ace Combat 5 - Razgriz (3:32)
It was nice, Peter thought, to see Nathan taking charge again. Nathan never complained – not beyond his normal insults and petty commentary, anyway – but Peter knew him better than anyone and he could tell how out of his element he felt. This was a man who'd spoken to crowds and played to the people for a living, who'd survived by his words and wits. A world of fighting and being on the run and dealing with the supernatural every day was harder for him even than the rest of them, and Peter knew that.
So seeing him ordering people around at the complex, rationing out the weapons and ammunition and food supplies, brought an uncharacteristic grin to Peter's scarred features. Nathan was about to walk past him, some manner of clipboard in his hands, when he saw the look on Peter's face and frowned.
"Something funny?"
"Nothing," Peter shook his head, chuckling a little. "Just, uh... nice to see you in good spirits is all."
"Oh, god, Peter," Nathan rolled his eyes. "Don't say the s-word on a day like this."
Peter shrugged. "Not like it's anything we can't handle."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Nathan grumbled, though he slapped Peter's back as he walked past him. "Get to your damn post."
"Sure," Peter smiled over his shoulder.
---
10) Stone Sour - Through Glass (4:02 + 0:44)
It was sometimes hard to remember how the world had been before all this, before the chaos and the death and the power that had been unleashed. He remembered things like stars and the sun and green grass, but not much else. Those things weren't important anymore; only power was.
He stood at the tall windows of his office, hands held behind his back as he stared out through the glass at the domain in front of him. Red lights flickered back and forth along landing paths and the training grounds near the capitol and he could hear the faint chants of his officers at the new recruits. This was his, all his, all earned through hard work and perserverance. He regretted nothing.
He held up a hand as he heard someone walk through the door, closing his eyes and taking in the sound of his surroundings, the feel of it. Sometimes, he had to revel in this, the knowledge that all the power of the world was at his fingertips.
"Sir," the messenger said, and he turned around to give a calm look with yellow eyes that he knew could stop most in their tracks. The messenger hesitated, then nodded. "We have him."
"Good," he said, turning back towards the window. He gestured with his hand. "Bring him in."
He heard muffled shouts and struggling and then the thud of a body hitting the floor. He turned around and saw what he'd been brought: a man covered in grime and dirt and wearing a half-tattered jacket. The man's eyes darted up and then widened in a way that would have moved him once.
"Sam..." The man choked out, face twisted in pain and guilt.
Sam smiled. He didn't feel anything.
---
no subject
no subject
Anyway, eeee, thanks for reading! <3333
no subject
no subject
no subject