Feature Presentation

By Thalia

Disclaimer: Mr. Eric Kripke owns Supernatural, but I come fully armed with rock salt and consecrated iron in the hopes that I will be safe while playing in his universe. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spirtus Sancti. Amen.

Warnings: Spoilers, spoilers everywhere. Crack!fic.

A/N: Ok, so this is my first story in this fandom and I swear I didn't mean for it to be Crack, I barely if ever write Crack, and yet the plot bunny just wouldn't go away. Also, this is atypically unbeta-ed meaning all mistakes are my own. So please, be kind and if I ever write another SN story (very likely) hopefully it will be at least slightly more in keeping with the tone of the series.

It all could have been prevented. The pain, the tragedy, none of it had to be. If only . . .

You could blame John, but there were others that were just as responsible – Bobby and Pastor Jim for starters, and of course, Caleb and Joshua were also a significant part of the boys' childhood and upbringing. But for all the supernatural knowledge that was imparted to them, for all John and the others taught the boys, it was in neglecting the normal things that they failed them.

It's just one movie, one animated film, but it well could have saved all their lives. Things could have been so different if only they had been exposed to the lessons this film had to offer. Sure, it was a movie for children but that didn't mean what it had to offer was any less valuable.

Because really, what most of the Winchesters' life tragedies and major screw ups come down to, where it seems to all start for them, is trusting and making deals with creepy evil people or, rather, demons in the guise of creepy evil people.

And it seems odd, with all the movies the boys did watch growing up that this one, the one that was probably the most crucial to their educations, to their lives, is the one they never saw. The irony of it all is that, when given the opportunity to choose, Sam had wanted to see the movie, but Dean had convinced him that All Dogs Go to Heaven would be way cooler and wasn't nearly as girly. How could it be? It was a movie about dogs. The even greater irony is how much the main themes of the movie would end up mirroring Sam's life but his without the happily ever after.

Of course, the instinct now is to blame Dean, but what 10-year-old boy, especially one being raised by an ex-Marine to fight monsters of true evil, would actually want to go see a girl's movie? No, Sam and Dean cannot be blamed for such an egregious oversight. No, if there is blame to be had it must fall squarely on the shoulders of those men responsible for teaching and training the boys as they grew.

One might want to argue that there is no blame to be had because, really, there are so many movies that come out every year it's impossible to see them all. And for any other instance this sentiment might hold true, but John made it clear, whether the other hunters who had the opportunity to know him and his family agreed with the decision or not, that he was raising Sam and Dean, his boys, to fight the evil lurking in the shadows; so, in this case, there is blame to be had because one of the many hunters that had access to the boys should have been responsible enough to make sure their continuing education was complete.

Maybe the real problem was that the boys never had a real female presence growing up. Surely if John had taken the boys to The Roadhouse to interact with Ellen and little Jo, well they would surely have seen it then. What little girl didn't see the movie and then watch it over and over after it came out on video?

Of course this penchant towards trusting and dealing with demons really started with their mother, with Mary. Unfortunately, the movie in question didn't come into being until well after she was gone, lost to them, so it might not all have been prevented, it might not all have been stopped, but the cycle could have been broken. If only, if only . . .

So, while Mary may have started it, John had the responsibility to end it. And maybe, maybe if he had been paying more attention, was home more, wasn't so lost in his burning desire for revenge or so lost in the bottom of a bottle, things could have been different – might have been different. But alas, if you believe in fate, it was not meant to be.

And so it was, that John traded his soul to old Yellow Eyes for Dean's life, Dean traded his soul for Sam's life, Sam trusted Ruby because she might be able to save Dean and then because Dean wasn't there at all, Sam became addicted to demon blood, the angels let the apocalypse start, Sam stopped the apocalypse by saying yes to Lucifer and jumping back into the cage, Sam came back from Hell soulless, there is a civil war in heaven, and Sam's soul was finally restored.

All because the Winchester men, for all the training and hunting they did together, never sat down and watched The Little Mermaid.

A/N: So, now that you know which movie could have saved the day (1) I urge you to go back and watch and see how eerily similar the story between Ariel and Triton is to that of Sam and John, and (2) I do not own the rights to The Little Mermaid or anything Disney related and I've made no profit from this.

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