The Roman Hunt
Interlude: Pain, pie and parking lots
by Danny (a.k.a. Mashiro)
Supernatural fandom, series, SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4
EVENTUALLY SLASH: Dean/Castiel
Posted: 2012-11-17
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Hello there!
If this goes according to plan, The Roman Hunt will be a series of chaptered stories and oneshots, interludes, from season 4 to as far as it feels relevant. My ambition is to try and fit the stories in with canon as seamlessly as possible and add to canon, rather than remove from or alter. Like playing with what could have happened between shows and scenes.
Readers looking for a quick slash fix or a feel-good romance might become frustrated or disappointed. Sorry! I don't mean to try and draw things out or make things super-angsty, but I intend to follow the flow I perceive in canon, with ups and downs and some time to get things going. This first part will be especially short on "good stuff", hence 'eventually slash', but bear with me!
Beware of spoilers! This story will be riddled with spoilers if you haven't watched the season that each part is set in (SEASON 4 for now), so be careful. But you shouldn't have to worry about accidentally moving from one part to another, at least not if you read these author's notes when they pop up. I will make sure the transitions are obvious as I can possibly make them.
Also, be aware of the ratings. I will keep things suitable for ffdotnet, but you should still expect violence, bad language and other not-for-kids stuff. Don't go reading if you shouldn't. In case some chapters need to go beyond what I feel comfortable with posting here, I will post a censored version only and the full version somewhere else. You will be notified if this happens and how to find the full version if you are allowed to and want to read it.
I also want to thank my good friend and bro, the awesome Kuma, kumagorochan at deviantArt, for making the cover for this story. Thank you! You are awesome.
And... yes! I think that's it for now. ^^ I hope you will enjoy reading!
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DISCLAIMER: I don't own the rights to the Supernatural series or characters and I make no money writing this. I'm just a fan. This is fan fiction. All OC characters are fictional and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
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Interlude
Pain, pie and parking lots
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Let's start small. Nothing fancy or dramatic, just two brothers and a car. It's September, 2008, night or early morning, and Sam and Dean Winchester are on the road, going from Pontiac, Illinois to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Dean is driving. Sam has been sleeping, but awakes now, shifting and stretching. Blinking and rubbing his eyes.
"Hey," he says.
"Hey," Dean replies.
Sam yawns, then asks:
"Where are we?"
"About forty miles from Des Moines."
Sam shifts again, pulling a semi-scrunched up sandwich wrapper out from under him with a grimace.
"I can take it from here."
"Nah, I'm fine."
"Are you sure? If you want to get some sleep before we get to Bobby's, I'll..."
"I said I'm fine, Sam."
There is a moment of silence and Dean can feel that his brother watching, watching with that look that makes Dean feel utterly, pathetically transparent. Squeezing the steering wheel, he keeps his eyes fixed ahead. Ahead. Focusing on the piece of road illuminated by the headlights.
Eventually Sam sighs.
"Alright," he says.
A road sign materializes from out of the darkness, is illuminated, and flashes past. Dean shifts his hands against the familiar leather.
Fine? He is fine? Sometimes when his eyes are closed, he knows that this is just a dream. No one brought him back and these past two days never happened. Fine?
Dean had hoped that finding out what brought him back and why would bring some clarity to this, would bring some reason, some sense. Would bring something that would make this all believable. What he had been given in that barn was the opposite. A big ass demon, Dean could have handled that, but angels? God? Are you serious?
The road runs fast towards him, disappears under him and then it leaves him behind. Focus on the headlights. All else is darkness.
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Still, half an hour later they stop at a gas station and when Dean comes back from the bathroom, Sam is behind the wheel. It's another look now, determined and challenging and Dean rolls his eyes. Of course, Sam knows that there will be no actual fight about it. The passenger door squeaks open, creaks shut and settling into the seat, Dean raises his eye brows. Sam turns the key, the engine starts rumbling and they're off.
Dean tries to keep focusing on the headlights, on the road, on his jumbled thoughts. There should be enough of those to keep anyone awake. Should be, but this is the passenger seat. The darkness falls, and within minutes he's gone.
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Yes. Small is good. Let's keep it small. Just an angel in a parking lot, watching a man dream of Hell. Castiel stands far enough away from the street lamps and neon signs that he would be hidden in the darkness even if he decided to reveal himself. The irregularly flickering light, underneath which the '67 Impala has been parked, is not his doing.
The dreaming started as if on cue when Sam walked off toward the diner. Barely had the car door been given time to creak shut before the first muscles tensed on Dean's face. Now his head is jerking, as irregularly as the light is flickering, and the creases of strain are clearly visible even with the distance between them.
A soft whimpered groan escapes the nightmare and Castiel leaves the darkness. The artificial light crowds in on him from above and around.
There are so many more lights here these days. Only a short while ago, when the sun went down that was the end of light. Man curled into his bed and waited for dawn. Now sunset is scenery in pretty pictures. Man has claimed kingship over light and night with it. What God created does not suit Man anymore.
Castiel had finally managed to speak with Dean only a few hours earlier. Finally. He really had not expected that he would have to use a vessel to communicate with him. The surprises had not ended there however. Castiel had been shot, stabbed and would have been bashed over the head too, if he hadn't decided then that enough was enough. It should also be noted that the stabbing and the attempted bashing over the head both occurred after Castiel had revealed that he was the one who had brought Dean back from Hell. Really, the man was unruly, distrustful and ill-mannered and... Well. Dealing with Dean was quite a leap from dealing with his vessel.
The shoes scrape against the asphalt and Castiel's shadow brings darkness to Dean's face. The man is still now; his forehead resting on the window frame but the tension is obvious. A thin sheen of sweat over his features and eyes flicking left and right behind closed eyelids. He is still dreaming. Another soft sound escapes, this one too weak to cross the barrier between groan and sigh. The closed eyes squeeze tighter and a tiny droplet of liquid comes free.
Castiel watches it trickle, following the nose, getting stuck for a moment before making its way down to settle on the lip. And he thinks about what Dean had said without words when they spoke. He did not deserve to be saved.
Unruly, distrustful and ill-mannered, still...
Castiel reaches out and steals away the droplet with his thumb. At the touch Dean wrinkles his nose, shifts and seems for a moment distracted from the visions haunting him. His chest heaves a shuddered sigh, but he does not wake. Castiel studies the gleam now on his skin, turning the thumb and holding it to the light.
A bell jingles on the other side of the parking lot and coming out of the diner again is Sam. The door falls shut behind him with a clatter. He clears his throat and coughs, crossing painted empty squares in a half-jog.
The car door does wake Dean. With a flinch he straightens and breathes in hard through his nose. Blinks and wipes quickly at his eyes.
"Hey," Sam says, smiling.
"Hey."
"Thought you didn't need any sleep."
"Shut up."
Sam chuckles and drops a bag in Dean's lap. The older brother sniffs and the paper crinkles as he opens.
"Dude, is that pie?"
"Best one for miles, apparently."
"Night pie... I missed night pie."
The younger brother turns the key and the engine starts rumbling. Castiel has to take a step back to avoid getting bumped, as the vehicle turns to make its way back onto the road.
Into the darkness they go, headlights showing the way. Smaller and smaller the lights become and the rumbling grows softer and softer, until all that remains is the humming and flickering of the bulb over Castiel's head, and the empty parking lot.
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