A/N
Thanks to Christine, appletopine and mckydstarlight for the wonderful reviews!
(Just a note that this is Jacob's story, so if it seems like it's from his perspective a lot, it's because the story is about him. That's why this AU is dubbed Brothers Adopted. You'll see just as much of Jacob/Bowman/Oscar in the AUs of BA as you will of Sam and Dean. Without them, these story wouldn't exist and BA would have hit a stonewall of writer's block after I had a falling out with my old editor.)
Sam stood back, out of the way, while Jacob took it all in. His brow was furrowed in sympathy, remembering the days when he was the one realizing his family was gone. Gone, and never coming back. He and Jacob might as well be dead as far as their families were concerned.
Sometimes Sam let himself have the luxury of wondering what had happened to Dean. How he'd taken the loss of his little brother. For years, Dean had been the only constant in Sam's life. The one who protected him, no matter what. The guy that stood up for him in school when bullies were picking on him, and the guy that had taught Sam self-defence. Eventually, instead of being the one to protect Sam, Dean would be the one to tell him to stand up for himself. Let them know he wasn't someone they could mess with.
Of course, Sam would never be able to use those skills to defend himself against those bullies now. He was too small, too fragile. One hand closing around him was all it would take, and he'd be helpless. His knife would only go so far, and even that would be more of an annoyance than a threat to a human. Even with that knowledge, Sam would never give up if he was captured.
Sam came up to Jacob and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Whatever happens, you've still got people to count on," he said truthfully. "You have a place with our family if you want it." He squeezed the teen's shoulder to close his promise of solidarity.
Jacob looked up at Sam, searching what he could see of his face. The melancholy kindness there was a comfort to Jacob, though he really wanted to run until he was out of energy. His entire life had been ripped away from him, but at least he wasn't on his own in the monstrous version of the world he'd landed in. Jacob blinked slowly a few times to reduce the stinging blur of tears in his eyes and nodded. A lump formed in his throat.
He looked back out at the room one last time. A room that looked perfectly normal to him the last time he saw it. A room that he'd take hours just to explore now. It looked so surreal. He was still waiting for Sam to laugh and say Just kidding! but that moment never came. Something in Jacob knew it wouldn't.
He was about to look away when something caught his eye. Something achingly familiar was lying in the shadows under the nightstand. Jacob's hand immediately went to his neck, and found nothing hanging from it.
"That's ...!" he blurted in pure surprise. It's so big now...
Jacob shoved the wallpaper aside and slipped out into the room. There was no one in here anyway; he could just run and grab his necklace and be back in the relative safety of the wall in less than a minute.
The furniture on either side loomed, and the wall stretched high towards the faraway ceiling. Before the disorientation could overtake him, Jacob turned and dashed towards his goal, ducking behind the nightstand with a pounding heart. One end of the necklace was sticking out from under the furniture, and Jacob immediately grabbed it to drag it out. The familiar woven twine was so thick in his hands; his heart gave a flutter at the size of what was once an accessory he wore around his neck. Now it was heavy and cumbersome.
But he had to get it back.
"Dammit, Jacob!"
There was no sign Jacob even heard Sam's exclamation when he darted out of the walls and into open air. Sam cursed under his breath. If anything happened to the kid, Walt would kill him. He was Sam's responsibility. Sam had rescued him, Sam would watch out for him. It was already bad enough Jacob had left the relative safety of their home behind without any sort of training for the world out there. Now he was out in the open where anyone could see him.
For them, there was no way to know if that room was truly empty.
Patience was the first lesson Sam had learned. It was always worth the time to scope out a room, double check and triple check that there was no one inside. They could never be assured of safety. They could scout out the room from every angle and then, as soon as they were inside, a human could open up that immense door and stride right in. There was nothing stopping a human, nothing holding them back.
With Jacob in possible danger, Sam only paused long enough for a cursory glance at his surroundings, taking everything in. His sixth sense, the ability to know if someone's eyes were on him, would have to make up for the time Sam didn't have.
Then he darted after the impulsive teenager.
Jacob was pulling on a length of twine, trying to pull it out from under the nightstand. Sam's hand latched onto his shoulder the second he was close, his grip too solid for Jacob to break even with a surprised flinch. "Jacob, what were you thinking? " Sam hissed out. "It's not safe."
Jacob looked up at Sam in surprise, almost dropping his necklace. His fingers were able to easily grip the weave of the twine, something he hadn't been able to do before. The worry on Sam's face only made Jacob glance around them in the shadows of the nightstand. Of a nightstand, one that stood as high as an apartment building. Jacob swallowed thickly as he remembered himself.
Remembered what he was now.
The tops of the beds to either side were so tall, he couldn't see anything on them. Underneath them was a warzone of dustbunnies and old plastic food wrappers. The wall behind the nightstand had an outlet panel in it, and Jacob realized with a growing heat in his face that the outlet was taller than him. He'd run into a room meant for people that towered over him, people like he used to be, but wasn't anymore.
"I-I thought it'd be okay," Jacob muttered, barely audible. His eyes trailed over to the bed that obscured their entrance to the room. He realized with a jolt of fear that he had never considered the possibility of someone lying on that bed, because he couldn't see up there. Someone could have rolled over and grabbed him in hands so huge that he could scarcely imagine the scale. Movements that would only take seconds could end his life.
Jacob shivered with sudden intimidation. His shoes were outsized by the fibers of the carpet, like he was standing in thick, scratchy grass. His own necklace in his hands was a huge woven rope, with a green glass bead the size of a softball. He tugged it the rest of the way out from under the nightstand, holding the part with the bead with shaking hands.
It was obvious how unnerved Sam was. Jacob could see the way his eyes flashed from side to side and his gaze wouldn't stop and settle on anything in particular. Something about that drove home just how dangerous things were now. If even a calm and obviously capable guy like Sam was nervous, things were bad. Jacob could have sworn he heard someone stomping by the door outside, and his eyes widened.
Even someone stomping would be deadly if he got in the way. The person would keep walking without ever knowing.
"This was mine, and I ..." he trailed off weakly, looking almost ashamed for his oversight.
Sam sighed. He took a moment, now that Jacob was next to him and in reach, to assess the room. There was no other sounds that reached him from their massive surroundings, aside from what leaked into the room from the outside world. "Okay. Lesson one. Never assume you're safe."
Sam gestured towards the door into the room. "I could be one hundred percent certain that there's no one in this room and spend an hour looking at it from all angles. None of that stops someone from walking right in the front door, and there's a possibility you get stranded from any safe exits like that." He pursed his lips, and gave a yank of his own on the necklace. It slid out from under the nightstand with Sam's help.
"Lesson two, if you really want to go into a room, listen. If there's someone in the room out of sight, you'll hear them. The chair creaking, the water running in the bathroom… hell, we're both small enough to hear them breathing if we try."
Sam held up a hand as he held the necklace out to Jacob. "If Walt hears about this, he's going to have my hide. The next time you want to go into a room, no matter what for, you come to me first. I know what I'm doing. I haven't gotten caught yet, right? So don't take any risks you don't have to, and never go it alone. If you get caught and none of us know where you are, we might not be able to find you in time." Sam didn't mention that it was unlikely they'd be able to free him if they did manage to find him. He didn't want to take what little hope Jacob might have away from him.
Jacob tried to imagine getting caught. His mind couldn't quite wrap itself around the idea. All he saw was the image of cages he'd seen in pet shops. He thought about how he'd fit easily in one of them, with no way to get out. The latches and clasps would be too big for him to budge them. He'd be on display, consigned to entertaining his captors for the rest of his days.
The thought of becoming a pet scared him more than the size of the furniture around them.
Jacob tried to bundle up his necklace so he'd be able to carry it back without dragging it along. His face burned a little, showing how he was both ashamed and humbled by the situation. He couldn't be so reckless anymore. It didn't matter when he was bigger, but now ... now it could mean losing his life, or what little freedom he had in the world.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, his shoulders down and his mouth tilted in a frown. He looked every bit the scared kid that he was, with no idea what to do or how to really cope with the change that had overcome him. Standing in the shadow of a piece of furniture that didn't even come up to his waist six days ago was making it so real. Holding his necklace as a huge bundle in his arms was illustrating the gravity of it.
Sam clearly knew what he was doing after years of living like this. He understood what Jacob was going through and he'd offered to help. Jacob would be a fool to ignore him.
"I'll do better. I'll listen. Whatever you say," Jacob promised.
Sam gave him a reassuring smile back. "We'll just call this a learning experience then. And not mention it to Walt." He clapped a hand on Jacob's back, directing him towards the bed again. "I'll show you everything you need to know. And maybe you can tell me about the things I've missed in the last ten years. It's been so long since I had someone to talk to about that stuff. Not since Dean…"
2005
Still staring straight up at Dean with wide eyes, Jacob had to turn his face away before he unbalanced himself with the angle. Dean looked over 100 feet tall from down on the floor, though Jacob had no idea what the actual measure would be. He knew Dean was over six feet tall. To someone less than four inches, he was absolutely massive.
And he'd opened his life to the two tiny guys walking down on the floor, letting them come with him on hunts and sharing what little he had in the world. The man lived out of the trunk of his car more often than not. With his family found again, he didn't hesitate to share with them.
As Sam led them under the desk, all Jacob or Sam could see of Dean as he took another slow step was the massive boots, shifting to a new stance as the hunter continued his own sweep of the room. Jacob found himself relieved that the open air wasn't yawning above him. The feeling of exposure out there always crept into him slowly, making him feel more vulnerable by the second. Adjusting to everything being huge was a long process that the last few years had only just begun.
Jacob let out a sigh and peered around under the desk as he kept close to Sam. "I know I shouldn't be surprised, since he warned us and all, but ... holy shit," he whispered, nodding in the direction of the bloodied armchair.
"I know what you mean," Sam whispered back. He'd only ever heard of hunting from Dean and John. In all his life, he'd never had the chance to actually go on a hunt until now. The grisly sight turned his stomach, and the smell didn't help.
This was the kind of thing that Dean dealt with on a day-to-day basis, in his own private mission to save as many people as he could, and Sam was determined to help out in that mission. With any luck, he and Jacob could help save other kids from their fate. Cursed, and given up for dead. Unable to even reach out and contact their families.
The whining sound of the EMF meter echoed from above, and Sam could hear the older hunter going through the blood-splattered documents on the desk above their heads. The shifting papers rustled impatiently in a huge hand as they were moved aside. The boots right outside the desk shifted as Dean leaned his weight to the side.
"I guess we'll have to get used to more than we thought," Sam mumbled quietly to Jacob. There was no sign that Dean could hear their voices from down on the ground. At least not without them directing the conversation in his direction. From this distance, they'd have to shout to talk to their much larger brother.
Past the legs of the desk chair, Sam spotted something near the wall. He frowned, and darted that way. "What the…" he trailed off as he saw the strange black ooze that clung against the very corner, just barely visible. The smell of ozone hit Sam, a strange metallic sensation that brought back the memory of a battery sparking as it shorted out. He covered up his mouth with the edge of his sleeve, trying not to hack at the pungent odor, far more powerful at their smaller stature.
Jacob ran up behind Sam with quiet steps, but faltered when the smell hit him too. It was like running into a spiderweb in the dark. He balked and made a face, sucking in a surprised gasp that didn't help at all. His hands almost automatically went to the edge of his hoodie, a pullover jacket made by hand by Mallory. The fabric protected him a little from the odor when he pulled the collar up over his mouth and nose.
In the shadow of the desk, Jacob could creep towards the strange ooze without worrying about a human looking over his shoulder. If it turned out to be acidic, he'd be able to jump back, but Jacob could swear there was something in it.
"What the hell is this stuff?" Jacob muttered as he got to it. Carefully reaching out a hand, Jacob got his hands on the edge of what appeared to be a photograph. It was wedged tightly in the seam between the kickboard and the wall, but it was no problem at all for Jacob to tug it free. Plenty of the strange black gunk came with it with a wet schulk.
Near as he could tell, it was just a picture of a smiling young woman. Half of the photo looked like it had been clumsily ripped off, but Jacob guessed the man whose arm was around the girl's shoulder had left most of his blood on the armchair in the room. The poster-sized photo rested mostly on the ground, with the only unmarred corner clutched in Jacob's hands as he squinted at it.
"I'm not sure," Sam replied. He glanced at the opening of the desk, towards the two massive boots standing out in the open room. Dean would know. He had worked vengeful spirit cases since he was sixteen. That was over a decade of experience, almost as much experience as Sam had with being small.
"We've got to show Dean," he decided. Any clue, no matter how small or how random, might be the clue they needed to figure out what was going on. "He'll know what to do with it." Sam had never seen anything like that black goo before. The strange smell of ozone leeched off, surrounding both brothers.
Sam let Jacob take the lead this time, hefting up the photograph so the goop wouldn't rub off. Dean would need to see that, too. The return trip only took them a few seconds, a bit of caution shed in their hurry to get back to the human.
At the edge of the desk, they peered up at the towering human. "Dean!" Sam hissed. It went against his nature to call attention to them. Years of instincts screeched indignantly at his rash move.
One of the boots nearby moved away, Dean caught off guard by Sam's voice. "Sammy?" He must have spotted the paper in Jacob's hands. With a motion that was faster than either of the smaller brothers could ever hope to equal, his knee crashed to the ground, shaking them where they stood. "What did you two find?"
Jacob wavered and almost stumbled backwards in the wake of Dean's rapid kneel. The displaced air alone was enough to create a noticeable gust on them, and the floor might as well have just experienced an earthquake. He had to hold back his intimidation for the way Dean's knee slammed into the floor, a casual motion for the human that'd be fatal to Sam or Jacob.
"We found this black stuff under the desk," he answered as he recovered, his heart beating a fast tempo in his chest. He held the photo up carefully to display the side of it covered in the stuff. He was being careful not to get it on his hands, since he had no idea what it was. Even Sam, who'd spent over a decade living in the walls, didn't seem like he knew what it was. "This a picture of the missing girl, I'm guessing?"
Dean paused, wincing as he saw the reaction of the others to his quick kneel. It was so easy to forget how large his movements were to them. He needed to do better if he expected them to want to stay.
Leaning down, he squinted at the picture. "That's the girl from the paper," he confirmed. He stretched out a hand, brushing against the black ick that was caking the sides. Dean held it up to his eyes, sniffing cautiously. "Ectoplasm?" he murmured to himself.
Dean glanced back at Jacob. "Hold still," he cautioned, holding out the EMF reader. The antenna hovered an inch away, and Jacob watched it with a mix of wariness and curiosity.
The reaction was instantaneous. The red lights on the top lit up and a triumphant buzzing noise filled the air, prompting Jacob to flinch in surprise. Dean grinned, slapping the meter off and tucking it into his jacket. "Well I'll be dammed. You two just found your first spirit."
Jacob's eyebrows shot up and he looked more critically at the picture in his hands. It was more of a poster to him and Sam, and as far as things went it was pretty easy for them to find. They had a better shot at noticing details.
The fact that they were the ones to find something for the case stood out to him. Their first hunt, and they'd actually helped out in their own way. Even having that EMF reader pointed right at him and making so much noise couldn't cancel out how cool Jacob felt. There was a tentative smile on his face.
"Alright, awesome," Jacob said. He couldn't help but notice the hint of pride in Dean's voice. He held the photo up higher for the human to take, and asked "So how can we stop it? Just need to find where they're buried, right?" He wasn't sure how exactly they'd do that, but at least they were making progress.
Dean took the photo, brushing the ectoplasm onto the floor. "Find them, and salt and burn the corpse. That should take care of the spirit so it doesn't go killing anyone else." He let out a breath, eyebrows going up when he saw the misty cold haze come out of his mouth.
That, and the fact that Sam on the floor had his tiny hands tucked into his pockets against the sudden chill, was the only warning that Dean got.
"She's mine and you can't have her! " shouted a voice nearby.
Dean went for his sawed-off, pushing Sam and Jacob further under the desk with the back of his hand in a last minute attempt to get them out of danger.
It cost him precious seconds.
A figure was standing near the door, anger in his eyes as he glared at the photo in the hunter's hands. "Her father couldn't keep her away from me and neither will you," he hissed. Before Dean got off his shot, the spirit slammed his hand forward.
An invisible block of cement hit Dean in the chest. It tossed him into the air, only to send him crashing down onto an end table that splintered into pieces under his weight. Dean groaned, his eyelids fluttering shut as the blow knocked him out.
A/N:
Busy night! Sorry for the late update but between my husband having bronchitis/pneumonia and voting, things just all crashed over me at once. Enjoy and let us know what you think!
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Next: November 10th, 2016
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