Title: Anything Can Happen In the Woods

Author: Silverkitsune1

Summary: Sam and Dean catch a glimpse of a popular musical.

Warnings: No spoilers

Rating: G

Author's Note: My pal Christie and I decided to give each other a long list of AU prompts, pick five, and then write them. This was the first one I wrote for her with the prompt being that Sam and Dean either see, participate in or are new characters in the Broadway musical Into the Woods. There are five more AUs coming eventually from various other places.


As it turned out, the thing did have fins and that was, to say the least, unexpected, at least to Sam it had been unexpected. Sam had been expecting a gremlin to come shooting out of the old theater's pipes, and had been knocking Dean's insistent claims of "water monster" away for the better part of the week. But there they were; fins. They fanned against the creature's scaled side, and rained beads of water across Sam's face as it flopped across the wooden floor. He was glad for Dean's absence. The last thing he needed was his older brother crowing in his ear.

Sam stood a safe distance away, cautious of the rows of long needle sharp teeth that snapped at him from an oblong shaped snout. The scales were glass bottle blue, the fins trimmed in gold, and had the monster been safely kept behind sheets of double-pained glass at a natural history museum Sam would have been fascinated. Granted, he still was fascinated, but he was also cautions and more than a little freaked out. The thing flopped toward him mouth open with intent to maim. Its sides sank and expanded at a rapid rate, and Sam felt a brief twinge of pity. He wasn't going to stand by and let the thing die a slow death by suffocation. No matter how many theater major asses it had bitten in the last three weeks.

The hunter hefted the axe to his shoulder. The handle was still wet, along with everything else in the area and a slow stream of water piddled onto the wood stained floor from the mouth of copper tubing. The sound of the trickling water was momentarily accompanied by a thud as the axe sliced through the monster's middle.

He sliced the water creature into four parts before gathering the bits into the burlap bag Dean had tossed at him before they'd split up hours before. The bag dripped, and left a trail of dark pink water from stage left and into the back alley. Old theater posters and ticket stubs rushed by Sam's feet as the warm June breeze shifted around him, and Sam grabbed a handful of the discarded paper scarps to use as fuel.

He waited until the fire was nothing but embers before slipping his Zippo into his jacket pocket and returning to the theater. The play was still going on, and Sam made sure that the Exit door shut with a minimal amount of sound. Stage left was occupied by a girl in a large puffy ball gown whose slippered feet was gingerly stepping around the puddles of fish guts. Her hair had been swept into a tall up-do that may or may not have been all of her actual hair, and a tiara was nestled in the crown of curls. The light from the Exit sign made red glitter along the dress' edges.

The girl gave Sam an appreciative once over as she passed, her eyes resting on his hips and then traveling up to his arms and then face. Smiling, she offered up her white gloved hand. Sam's hand engulfed the girl's smaller one, but he guided her around the remains of the water dwelling monster without any trouble, and when they stopped inches away from where the curtain ended the girl curtsied deeply. Sam chuckled.

There were two actresses on stage. Sam didn't recognize the play, but the woman with her back to him had been fitted with a long braided wig and a pink and blue dress. It would have taken a fool not to recognize Rapunzel and, by association, the witch who stood abreast of her. It was the witch who sang.

"Don't you know what's out there in the world? Someone has to shield you from the world. Stay with me."

Sam gave the girl in the ball gown a nudge. "What play is this?"

The girl shook her head, and a long boned finger was placed over her lips.

"Princes wait there in the world it's true. Princes yes but wolves and humans too."

The witch moved, and her gnarled hands reached to touch Rapunzel's face. Rapunzel, in turn, shied away, her long braid skimming the black stage floor. It was Rapunzel's move that allowed Sam to see clear across into stage right where Dean was waiting.

"Stay at home. I am home."

Half of his brother was swallowed in shadow, long tendrils of black stretched across his face like the remnants of a slap to the face. Dean's eyes followed witch and fairy tale princess, and the expression on his face was softer than Sam was used to.

" Who out there could love you more than I? What out there that I could not supply? Stay with me."

"Do you want to stick around?" the girl whispered, her skirts rustling. "You can watch the rest from here if you want."

"Stay with me the world is dark and wild. Stay a child while you can be a child."

Sam shook his head. "No. Thank you. I've got to find my brother."

"With me."