Author's Note(Zafona):

Okay this is a re-upload. My co-author Touta Matsuda and I have decided that we'd each post the story, if you read it under matsu's fics then this is the same one and the only additions that will be here are my own person comments and notes :) For those of you who haven't read it, enjoy. I will be posting a chapter per day until I'm caught up with where matsu's at.

Remember to review so we know you still love us XD

Little Lamplight is a town made up entirely of children, and mungos are not allowed to reside there. A mungo is an adult, and they are untrustworthy and in many ways unethical. At the age of 18 little lamplighters are asked to leave the town, or they are forcefully expelled. Once sent out into the wastes, these on-the-verge-of-mungo-hood individuals set out in search of a new home. Many of them head to Big Town, inhabited almost entirely of former little lamplighters. Others search out adventure, though few find it. Those who don't end up in Big Town often meet grim fates –death to the elements or at the hand of raiders, capture by slavers, or killed by the mutated inhabitants of the wastes.

Dean Winchester is a young man just days away from his 18th birthday. While in another time this would be a hallmark age of celebration, in Little Lamplight it's a day Dean hopes goes unnoticed by all. The others here have been his friends and his peers for years. For as long as he could remember they had been like family to him, second to his own blood.

Dean had one true family, and that was his little brother Sam. He was always there for Sam first, and while that would have bothered the other residents of little lamplight, Dean had always made damn sure he had the spare resources to care for them as well. After all, Dean was the mayor of this little town. They may only be children, but they learned quick. Dean had a faux-military setup in action here, complete with medics, a scouting team, and supply scavengers. On the inside, the town ran just as smoothly.

Sam was smart, smarter than the others gathered here. Despite his young age Sam took on the role of teacher in Little Lamplight, passing on his knowledge to the others, both young and old (by Little Lamplight standards, anyway). His predecessors before him had written down their wealth of knowledge in empty books found in the wastes. Generations of little lamplighters added to information and the scavengers found books from the era before the fallout.

The medical clinic was headed up by Jo, as Dean had decided many moons ago that fixing up the soldiers was a woman's job. While she had protested furiously, Dean refused to see her out in the field, even as a scavenger. She was good at what she did, if not a little rough. Similar to Sam's role, Jo had learned all there was to know about stitching up wounds and treating illnesses from the previous head nurse.

Dean was the town's protector. He was armed with a heavy duty assault rifle and a nearly endless supply of bullets. The scavengers did a fantastic job of rounding up food and ammunition. Dean kept the baddies out, and the rest of the town basically took care of itself. There were treehouselike structures in the deep caverns for the children to live in, and the children naturally protected one another. They were always willing to help, like a big family.

The older they got, the more they questioned. Bella was 16, and Dean could swear he saw bloodlust in her eyes. His time was coming –he knew it better than anyone. This town, this life; it couldn't last, nothing good ever did. It was up to Dean to pick the next mayor of little lamplight, the next person to lead and govern, protect and shelter. Dean wanted to leave it up to Sam, and he was pretty sure he could –only then Sam would be stuck finding a replacement teacher. It was all in the books anyway, and three sunrises from that night, it wouldn't be Dean's problem anymore.

"Hey Sammy," Dean leaned in the makeshift doorway of the school room, a small hollow in the cave, like any other room. The distinguishing features were the books –legible and ruined alike, a couple of broken chairs and a busted up blackboard. "Do any of these books tell you about Big Town? D'you know what it's like? Where it is?" Dean was trying hard to keep his tone casual, keep his posture loose and sound disinterested, like it couldn't matter less if Sam actually had the answers.

Sam looked up, shaggy brown hair just barely out of his eyes, a sharp hazel staring at his older brother. He knew what day was coming, he knew exactly why Dean was asking him. As much as he didn't like mungos he couldn't bear to lose his big brother. He wished more than anything that they could over-look it. But then, no one was ever over-looked. "Well it's east of here, the books say that it's nice, that adults really like it there." He sat up and scratched his head, "I mean some of these books are kinda pre-war and I don't think Big Town was around then… But we wouldn't send people to Big Town without knowing if it was ok to go or not." Sam offered his best little brother smile, hoping at least that might cheer his brother up.

"Huh," was all that Dean could retort with. Only half of the information would stick, the other half he kinda already knew anyway. "It's not like I'm scared," Dean tried to deny it, whether he was convincing Sam or himself he wasn't sure. Sam was only 14, Dean wasn't even sure if he understood the implications of being 18 years old, of becoming one of them: a mungo, an adult. Dean knew what was out there –raiders, slavers; heck, some of the kids were abducted by slavers back when Dean was 8. Everyone had been left terrified for weeks on end, the only reason Balthazar lead anyone back out of the cave was because they were running out of food –and because it was his time to go. And they were only the least of anyone's worries out in the wastes, they were the people in the wastes. Nevermind the radiation, and the monsters –supermutants included; the ghouls.

Sam watched the nervous behavior of his brother and knew better than the lying hopes Dean was spitting out. "Dean…" Sam wasn't sure what to say or where to go with this, he wanted his brother to stay more than he could express. "You'll be okay, I know you will." He went to Dean's side and took his brother's rough hands firmly in his own soft ones. A tear escaped his best efforts, his smile fighting to remain strong though the way it twitched couldn't have been that comforting. "I know you'll survive out there because you're the strongest person I've ever known. You've protected us, fought for us, for me, and you've always won. And in four years…" Sam swallowed the growing lump in his throat, "In four years on my birthday, you'll come back for me." This wasn't a question or a request; it's what Sam expected of his big brother.

Dean had never thought of that, but when Sam proposed the idea, it seemed so natural. No one ever came back to Little Lamplight to guide the new mungos out into the wastes. It was just sort of expected that they would find their own way, a natural migration or something. Dean wasn't even sure if the stories were true –about the kids liking it in Big Town; no one had ever really reported back to state whether it was good or bad. "You bet I will, I'll be right outside that cave waiting for you." Dean smiled again, trying two-fold to make it look convincing, "And I'd be a lot better if you stopped trying to comfort me –makes it seem like you can see right through me or something." It was a half joke, but they both knew there was a fair amount of truth to it.

With that said, Sam leaned up and kissed Dean's lips briefly and followed with touching his two fingers to the tip of Dean's nose, something they'd always done since they were really small. It was a sign they were still together, that they loved each other and that they were family. Both of them made up a small gesture to show it, the combination was exactly what he'd just done. Sam couldn't remember who did what, all he knew was that it meant something to the two of them. "I love you, Dean. Mungo or not, you're always my big brother." He paused, thinking to himself briefly, and nodded. "I'll wait for you outside Little Lamplight for a day and a night, if you don't show up I'll assume the worst and move on to Big Town."

Dean smiled again, this time a softer, serene smile; accepting the loving gesture from Sammy. When they were younger it was so much more natural and comforting; but with Dean's recent changes, his onset of becoming amungo, it seemed different. Like this simple loving gesture that was meant to be so innocent and pure was tainted by something in him, a roiling in his gut and an odd sensation that spread across his skin. Dean stuttered out a sigh, he knew life was going to be different but he'd had no way of knowing it would be this different. "Nothing's going to happen to me," Dean reassured Sam, hugging him tight briefly before backing away a bit, to get some distance between him and his brother, "I promise I'll be there."

Sam smiled and nodded, not for an instant distrusting that statement. He didn't recognize the slow backing away as anything but Dean feeling antsy, a need to move and do something running through him. "I'll see you later," Sam promised, knowing that Dean still had a few days left and he wanted to make the most of them. He just wasn't sure what to do yet, all he knew was that Dean deserved something good before going.

Dean was busy packing, whatever he figured they could afford to give him. The kids needed the medical supplies, and they were in short enough demand as it was –food too. Dean looked at the sparse belongings he had packed; a drawing Sam had given him a while back, two bottles of irradiated water, 100 rounds for his assault rifle. It was sad, but he couldn't think of anything else to bring. Everything was shared belongings in the community and Dean had no more right to take any of it than his predecessors had.

"You look tense."

The voice washed over him like accented-poison. "Bella," Dean turned stiffly to face her. She'd been brought in on one of the expeditions, some nearby town was attacked by raiders and she'd escaped, somehow. Dean had always been suspicious of that, wondered how young someone needed to be to have allegiances, or be trained to kill.

"Don't sound so thrilled to see me," she half pouted as she let herself in, wandering around Dean's quarters, observing the set up like a patron at a hotel –like she'd be staying there soon. Her arrogance sent another cold chill down Dean's spine. "Looks to me like you're all set to go. Rumour has it that mungo's are different, that you act different –crazy with hormones or something like that. Feeling it yet Dean?"

Dean hadn't a clue what she was talking about –hormones and stuff, but he did know mungo's were different. More violent, and greedy. "Did you want to test it?" Dean threatened, voice low, "Because if I am going crazy, it might not be in your best interest to piss me off."

"Huh, aren't you still our protector? You're not doing a very good job, threatening your people like that," Bella smiled, a sort of crooked grin that Dean supposed could be considered cute –you know, if you were a slaver or something.

"What are you after, Bella? What are you getting out of this, out of harassing me? I'll be gone in a day or two," Dean didn't take his eyes off her, while she prowled around the room. Seemingly harmless, carrying a disinterested gaze across Dean's old belongings –the mayor's belongings. It was like watching a predator, the way she circled the room, so casually, taking her time.

"How do we know when your birthday is, really," Bella said pointedly, "and you and I both know that turning 18 is a purely arbitrary designation. Becoming a mungo takes time, it's not instantaneous, and for all either of us know –for all any of us know, you could already be one."

"But I'm not!" Dean shouted in reply, disgusted at the accusation. Mungo's were different, wrong and hateful and greedy and... and Dean was one, or was as good as. He'd seen the changes, noted that he was taller, his head brushed against doorways where they hadn't before. His shoulders were broader, his limbs longer. And there was hair growing everywhere –arms, legs, face... He already looked different from the rest of them, sounded different than the rest of them.

"They've seen the way you've changed, Dean. They've also seen how you've kept to yourself, how you've brooded your leaving, cut off your ties with them to make it easier for them to lose you," Bella sat down on Dean's makeshift bed –a collection of grass and cotton shoved into an old mutilated mattress. She crossed her legs and wrapped her hands around her knee, rocking back and forth, just slightly. "Well guess what? That'll never make goodbye's any easier for Sam."

"What's your point?"

"You know you ask that a lot? For a leader you sure don't know a whole lot." Bella sighed and stopped moving, her sharp brown eyes meeting Dean's, "I think you should leave now. Unnoticed by the others, so that you're just sort of... gone. They won't know how to deal with your leaving anyway."

Dean was silent for a good long while, staring down at his duffle like it held all the answers, like it would just tell him what to do. He zipped it up finally, after great deliberation. "Goodbye Bella," Dean tossed the bad over his shoulder, adjusting the strap of his rifle over the other. The lights were out and all were asleep, and tomorrow would've been the big day, and Dean figured he'd spend it how he always feared he would: alone.

It had been a full day of travel due East, and Dean was more tired than he'd ever remembered being. With hindsight, he probably would have travelled by night to avoid having the sun beat down on him, draining him of energy and precious fluids. He'd hoped he'd find Big Town soon, that there would be familiar faces there, like Balthazar and some of the other older kids.

Dean spotted a mass of metal on the horizon –that must be it. It fit the description to a 'T', a town made of scrap metal, not too big, just east of Little Lamplight. There weren't too many civilizations out in the wastes as it was, and Dean could only hope he'd found the right one. The only thing that looked out of place was the plumes of smoke. 'Maybe they have a fire going, maybe they're cooking something,' Dean thought to himself, hopefully. He picked up the pace, filled with a sort of awe and anxiety. He was eager to see old faces, the more he thought about it, the more he figured it wouldn't be that bad. They were all stronger than before, leaders from his past. They probably had a really good system going, like Little Lamplight part 2 or something. Yeah, that sounded better, that sounded livable.

Dean slowed his pace as he met with the wall, circling around to find the entrance. He could hear people inside, loud, older men making a ruckus, walking around and kicking things over. They were yelling at each another, and then Dean heard someone scream just before the gunshot rang out, and then there was a few laughs from the men. That wasn't right, Dean could feel it in his bones. These weren't his friends, if anything that last scream had been his friend. Dean peaked his head around the corner of the wall into the camp, finding strange men clad in leather and spikes, armed with pistols, spear, bats, and metal knuckles –and covered in blood.

Raiders.

Dean pulled back around the corner, his heartbeat flying in his chest. He prayed no one saw him, that they would just leave. Dean could stay, start over and wait for others from Little Lamplight, tell them what happened and make a new town. The others would come and find nothing, find no hope and no food... Dean had to stop himself, they weren't his responsibility anymore. Not Bella, not Jo, not Sam... none of them were. He was on his own, and now he was going to die.