Seize the Day, Suffer the Night Chapter 1: Hour 1: 12:00AM1:00AM, a supernatural fanfic

Ashes of Dreams and Bloodstained Streets, Volume I
Seize the Day, Suffer the Night
Hour 1: 12:00AM-1:00AM

A Supernatural AU
by Laurel (Sailorhathor)

Chapters: 1 of 24
Rating: Overall, rated Adult for adult situations and bad language. Some chapters could get by with a warning for kids under 13.
Dates: This chapter was written April 2007
Word Count: 2,816
Summary: Today is the longest day in Dean Winchester's life. This hour, Dean and Brook grift some poker players out of their money, while Sam encounters a phantom child who mentions an agreement they made many years ago.
Timeline: Alternate Universe after the Supernatural episode "Bloodlust."
Warning: Winsister AU! Contains spoilers for several episodes of Supernatural, especially the second season. Even though Dean would make good on his threat to go into Sam's pants, this is not a Wincest story.
Author's Notes: "Ashes of Dreams and Bloodstained Streets" is a Winsister universe in the "Supernatural" fandom. There were so many good choices for a live action model for the sister of Sam and Dean that I decided to use them all, just in different stories. In this multi-chaptered tale, Brook Winchester resembles actress Danielle Fishel. (Her name won't always be Brook, either; that way, I can use all the names I liked too, hee.) The phrase "Ashes of dreams and bloodstained streets" comes from the Motley Crue song "In the Beginning."
I've always been really into the idea of the boys having a sister. It's a psychological thing with me. Dean's such a great big brother that I'd love for him to be that protective of a sister too. Wish I had a brother like him.
Megumi is loosely based on a character from an episode of Kadokawa Mystery and Horror Tales, "Last Day as a Teenager." The images of her come from this episode.
Fanfic Challenges: "Seize the Day, Suffer the Night Hour 1" was written for the following fanfic challenge prompts...
24 Prompts: #9 Career Choice
Album Mix: Bon Jovi, New Jersey #1 "Lay Your Hands on Me" (They're playing CARDS! Lay your HANDS on me. Get it? HA! Hahaha... um. Ahem. )
Variety Pack 100: #10 Years

12:01:57... 12:01:58... 12:01:59... 12:02:00AM...

"Dean, are two ladies better than two A's?"

Dean leaned over to look at his sister's cards. "No. Two Aces beat two Queens."

"Oh, darn."

The other two players at the poker table, Ross and Mark, glanced at each other and grinned. The look they exchanged said, "What a ditz."

Dean leaned over again. "Brook?"

She carefully examined her cards with an almost pained expression, nibbling on a fingertip. "Uh huh?"

"You're not supposed to let the other players know what cards you have."

Looking at her older brother, she seemed surprised. "Oh, you're not?" Brook turned back to the other players. "How embarrassing. Forget what I just said, okay?" Then she added a little giggle. "Teehee."

The two men Dean had suckered into playing high-stakes poker tried not to show too much satisfaction in reaction to Brook's apparent inexperience. Ross and Mark both thought they were about to take all the money the Winchesters had.

"I call," Dean said.

Brook only had a pair of Queens. "Do I lose?"

"Sorry, little lady, but you do," Ross replied with a smirky little grin.

"Shit." She pouted, running her hands through her dishwater blond hair and making sure to toss it around playfully for the wandering eyes of the two men. "I'm sorry, Dean, I keep losing all our money."

"Just keep your poker face on this time," Dean angrily scolded. He gathered the cards to shuffle them.

"You mean like this?" Brook did her best to make her face look as blank as possible.

Ross and Mark held back derisive laughter.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like that."

"Why do you play with this ditz, Winchester?" Mark asked.

Brook glared at him with her mouth open, offended.

Dean shrugged. "What can I do? She's my kid sister."

"Yeah! He's stuck with me," Brook amended, as if this was truly the best comeback she could come up with.

They played several more hands, with Dean and Brook losing at least seventy-five more dollars. Dean appeared to grow more and more frustrated. The other two men plainly became overly confident that they would take all of Dean and Brook's money before the night was through. They started to drink, thinking their victory was assured.

The more questions Brook asked, the more Ross and Mark snickered and shook their heads.

"Dean, how do you make a Full Flush?"

"Dean, if you have two Kings and a Jack, does that make Three-of-a-Kind? But they're all men..."

"Dean, why do they call this thing that looks like a doggie paw a Club?"

They were down almost $150. Dean practically had his head on the table in shame. Ross and Mark couldn't stop laughing between gulps of beer. "Can we switch partners? Please?" Dean begged.

Brook smacked his arm as hard as she could. "Shut up and peel the cards!"

"That's DEAL!"

The bets were big on the latest hand. At least $80 on the table. Dean was whispering to his sister, "Fold, Brook. Come on. Just fold."

"No! I've got a good hand this time." She seemed to notice that Ross and Mark were listening. "I mean..." Brook put on the blankest expression she could manage.

Ross chuckled so hard he dribbled beer out of his mouth, which he wiped off his chin with his hand. "I call."

Brook had a Straight Flush. Dumbfounded, the two men stared at her hand and didn't speak. A cigarette hung on Mark's lip, stuck to it with his own saliva, before finally falling out of his mouth. He suddenly and frantically began slapping at his smoking pants.

"I think I win. How about some Five Card Stud?" she said, and smirked, gathering up the money. Then she added, "Teehee."

They started to catch on when Brook curiously began to win, whipping out Full Houses and Three-of-a-Kinds left and right. Dean's luck also improved, although not as much, because his hadn't been as bad as hers to begin with. Because of their pride, Mark and Ross kept trying to win their money back, convinced that this airheaded twenty-something and her pretty boy brother couldn't possibly be beating them after losing almost all of their money. They didn't realize who they were dealing with until they were both down to less than ten dollars.

"How could this happen?" Ross asked the nearly empty bar room. "We were winning..."

"Tell you what..." Dean began, smiling in a charming way, "I'll lend you ten dollars. Double or nothing, winner take all."

It was strange how Dean always had that Royal Flush just when he needed it most.

Ross and Mark were licking their wounds when Brook excused herself from the table, counting the money in her hands. The Winchesters had netted more than $300 for their trouble. Not bad for a little over an hour of "work." A minute later, Dean said he was getting them another round of beers and would be back in a moment. "I'm going to give you the chance to win back your money only because I like you," were his parting words, which he gave them with a wink.

Shortly thereafter, he stepped into the women's restroom. A lady gasped and rushed out the door. "I really gotta go," he said to her, holding his crotch. When she was past, he looked over his shoulder to check out her ass (not bad...), and then knocked on the door of the only locked stall. "Brook, we better get outta here before they sober up."

She flushed and came out, resuming her counting of their money. "So what is it tonight? Out the window, or do we sneak past them?"

"Out the window. They're angry, so they're going to be looking for us. By the way..." Dean tried to take the money from her, but she casually passed it from one hand to the other and kept counting. "...you were laying it on a little thick out there. Next time, not so much ditz, okay? I mean, did you have to do that 'teehee' thing?"

Brook shrugged. "Guys like that think women can't even play poker. If I went a little overboard, it was only because I was so disgusted with their attitude." Grinning, she ran a few bills between her fingers. "We taught them a lesson, huh?"

"Well, we learned from the best." Dean caught hold of the wad of cash, but Brook wouldn't let it go. They stared at each other. "Lemme hold onto it, okay?"

Brook snatched the money out of his fingers. "That's alright, I got it." She stuffed the bills down her shirt, into her bra.

Raising an eyebrow, Dean remarked, "Do you think I won't go in there?"

She just smiled back, tight-lipped. "You do and you'll draw back a bloody stump."

"Oooooh, I'm scared."

Someone knocked loudly and furiously at the door. "Winchester, are you in there? We need to talk to you," Mark's voice said.

"I think they figured it out. I'll soft-soap them; you get to the car and I'll meet you and Sammy there," instructed Dean.

With a nod, Brook headed for the window.

12:45:57... 12:45:58... 12:45:59... 12:46:00AM...

Sam rarely wanted any part of the poker games. It wasn't that John hadn't taught him the art of grifting people out of their gambling money too, it was just that it made Sam feel bad, even if some people desperately deserved the Winchester treatment. He knew it wouldn't take long, so Sam waited in the Impala, ready to slide over and get the car started if they needed to make a quick getaway.

He was currently watching the front door of the bar. Sam's attention was occasionally stolen by the mountainous terrain nearby in the California hills. Earlier, he thought he'd spotted a coyote roaming around. He knew they weren't as much of a danger to him and his family as they were to rabbits and housecats, but still, he wanted to watch an animal like that this close to populated areas. Sometimes, they attacked children.

Like the little girl currently standing on the side of the rocky hill. A young Asian girl in a dark dress with a little white collar. Why was a child out here all alone, at this time of - Sam gasped in shock when he realized he recognized her, and where he recognized her from. It had been eleven years. He was the only Winchester left alive who knew what had happened all those years ago, when Sam was 12, Brook was 14, and Dean was 16.

"We'll take care of it," John had said at the time, when Sam couldn't hold it in anymore and confessed everything that had happened, everything that had been wiped from the memories of the rest of his family. "We've got eleven years to figure it out."

But like so many other things, this deal young Sam had made at the foot of the Nakamura's stairs had been forgotten with the passage of time. Perhaps Sam didn't want to remember it, had deliberately stopped thinking about it, because he hoped it would just go away.

Apparently, the creature harbored by the Nakamuras hadn't forgotten. She stood almost still, just staring at him through the Impala's window with a serious expression. Megumi. Isn't that what they called her? It means 'blessing.'

Sam shouldn't have been able to hear her from that distance. Despite that, he could make out her words clearly. "The day we agreed upon has come," Megumi said in a deep, inhuman voice.

Sam screamed and nearly jumped through the roof of the car when the back door opened and quickly closed. Brook had slipped in unnoticed, except for the sound of the door. She watched him nervously run a hand through his mop of hair, listened to him take a ragged breath. "Did I scare you?" she asked jokingly.

"No, I was trying to learn to highjump right here in the car," Sam replied with irritation. He looked carefully out the window, not seeing the little girl anymore. Had she really been there at all, or had he been dreaming? Sam had been napping shortly before... maybe he hadn't awakened at all until Brook got in the car, slamming the door and waking him up. "Did you see a girl out there? A little Asian girl in a dark dress?"

Brook shook her head. "No. There was nobody out there but some drunk guy leaning on his truck." She looked out the window too. "Did you see a kid out there?"

Sam settled back. "I think I was dreaming."

Brook leaned up on the front seat, next to his head. "Did you see something weird?"

He didn't want to tell her about it. It had been a secret between him and his dad for eleven years. Sam hoped he could keep it that way. "Just your face."

She stuck out her tongue at him, then reached over and stuffed the wad of cash into the front of his pants. Sam tried to recoil in surprise, but there was nowhere to go. "What are you doing?"

"Hide that. Don't tell Dean you have it. He's playing Brook's Just a Girl again." She sat back and tried to look innocent.

They both saw Dean coming across the parking lot. He got into the driver's seat and closed the door. "Those two guys are waiting for us. I told them we were having a powwow because you wanted to keep the money and I wanted to give them another chance to win it back. We should leave before they get impatient." Dean glanced over at Sam, then watched Brook's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Sam, gimme the money."

Jerking in his seat like he'd been shocked, Sam barked, "What?"

"You think I don't know my own brother and sister? You two look about as guilty as a succubus in church." Watching Sam's nervous eyes and where they led, Dean paused for a moment before his eyes went down, passing over the same area. "You think I won't go in there?" he asked, gesturing at Sam's pants.

Brook sighed in exasperation. "Just give the baby his bottle, Sammy."

"That's right, you can't hide anything from me," Dean laughed as Sam dug the money out of his pants. He handed it over with a sigh as deep as Brook's to show he, too, was not amused. After he'd pocketed the money, Dean started the Impala.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" Brook told him as he pulled out of the parking lot. "I can hold onto the money just as well as you can."

"Yeah, you'd just make us stop at a mall and spend it on shoes."

"Screw you."

Dean chuckled again. "You wish."

"Oh, ew."

As they pulled away from the bar, Sam watched the hills to their left with fear in his eyes. Like he expected to see something he hoped would never surface again.

Dean looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "Something wrong, Sammy?"

Sam took his eyes off the mountainside. "Nothing."

Brook leaned on the seat between her brothers. "Where are we going again?"

Dean, grinning, said, "I got us two gigs in one of the most exciting places in the world: Hollywood."

Brook rolled her eyes. "I should have known. You want to pretend you're a director so you can bed some starlets on the casting couch."

"I was thinking more the casting waterbed," corrected Dean.

"Or the casting hot tub?"

"Which case are we working first?" asked Sam.

"Actually... we're working them both tonight," Dean replied sheepishly. "But I don't think the first one will take long. The other needs to be investigated way after hours anyway, because, you know, some things come out more in the middle of the night."

Giving the back of Dean's head a shove, Brook questioned, "And exactly when did you expect us to get any sleep?"

"Aw, come on, Sixxer," protested Dean, using an old nickname for her. "You gettin' too old to stay up all night?"

"Whatever." She laid down in the backseat. "We must be crazy, taking you to Hollywood. You'll wind up in a porn movie." Then, wanting to get even with him for his comment about the shoes, added, "And you'll spend all our money on cheapass movie souvenirs."

"Quit your bitchin' and take a Midol."

Her hand came up over the edge of the seat with only her middle finger extended.

Dean put on some Judas Priest, and they stopped talking for a little while.

As they drove out of town, Sam watched the hills go by Dean's side of the car and slowly began to relax. Maybe it was all a bad dream.

12:59:57... 12:59:58... 12:59:59... 1:00:00AM...

Stay Tuned for Hour 2

Back to Ashes of Dreams...

Comment on this chapter on LiveJournal
Comment on this chapter by e-mail