"Have you figured out what the hell is up with this universe yet?" Dean asked irritably as he poured himself another drink. Sam didn't so much as glance over at him, keeping his eyes fixed to his computer.
"Not quite, but I have a theory."
Dean glared at him from the other side of the motel room. "Alright, let's hear it."
"So, look, I've been looking around online, and as far as I can tell, on the surface it's just like our world. The supernatural, ghosts, and demons, they're all make believe. But just like our world, ah, universe, if you look deeper, there are flags. Hints for hunters and people in the know, but the things they hint at..." Sam trailed off. Dean gave him a look and waived his arms impatiently.
"At?!"
Sam frowned in consternation.
"That's just it. I'm not sure what the hell it means. It all sounds pretty ridiculous. Too ridiculous to be true. Epic battles, hell gods, demonic lawyers...it all sounds like a Lord of the Rings novel." Dean gave him an incredulous look.
"Dude, yesterday we ganked a...I don't know, VAMP I guess-just by staking it! And then, the freakin' thing turned to dust! Pass me a sword and call me Aragorn, cuz we have officially left the Shire!"
Sam stared at him in disbelief. "What?!" Dean asked irritably.
"Nothing! It's just...I've never heard you use that many Lord of the Rings references in a row." Dean shot him a dirty look.
Going through the portal had been...eventful. They had emerged in an old cemetery. It had felt oddly nostalgic, like the new universe was welcoming them. That moment of peace had lasted up until they heard a struggle going on nearby. They had rounded a mausoleum and found a young couple fighting desperately (and unsuccessfully) against a bunch of super strong creeps with weird, messed up faces. At the time, Sam had made a weak reference to Klingons which for appearances sake Dean had pretended not to understand. When shooting the things proved useless, they switched to machetes, hoping decapitation might work. It was pretty effective, although the cloud of dust was fairly disconcerting. After slicing the head off of the second one, the dust flew into Dean's face. Temporarily distracted from the fight, he was unprepared for the monster that tackled him to the ground.
"Dean!" Sam had yelled, pulling the monster off of him and throwing it away. The monster had slammed back first against a tree, stared at them for a few seconds, and then burst into dust around a branch that had apparently accidentally embedded itself in the thing's heart. Sam and Dean had looked at each other in shock and surprise. "Dude, what the hell?"
Afterward, they had grabbed their stuff and gotten the hell out of the cemetery (the couple having run off at the first opportunity). They stole a car and made their way to a motel, where they were currently ensconced, trying to make sense of why their magic-free universe had cheesy monster movie vampires.
"So, what does all this mean?" Dean asked presently, still pacing back and forth agitatedly. "Is there magic or what? And what does this mean for the Mark?" he asked, waving his arm around for emphasis. Sam shrugged.
"I'm not sure. But, I'm pretty sure this isn't the world Balthazar sent us to before."
"How d'you figure?"
"Well, remember how our counterparts in the world we were sent to were big tv stars? Jared something and Jensen Ackles?"
"Your point?"
"My point is, the tv show doesn't exist here. Neither do either of the actors who played us." They were both silent for a moment as they digested this.
"So, what, we don't exist here?" Sam shrugged.
"I guess not. Or, we didn't, until now." Another moment of silence followed. "Although, when I looked up Supernatural, I did find something."
"Oh yeah, what?"
"Well..." Sam hesitated, clearing his throat. "Instead of being published as a book series here, or a tv show, a bunch of the stories were published by someone else as comic books. With...homoerotic themes."
Dean stared at Sam in disbelief.
"Seriously, Dude? Even here? Seriously?" Sam coughed again and continued on hurriedly.
"The series didn't last long, but like in our universe, there's an underground cult following."
"Well that's just freakin' fantastic."
"Dean-"
"We leave everything behind, and I mean EVERYTHING. The fight, Benny, Kevin, Cas..." Dean paused, momentarily caught by grief. He shook his head. "And for what? Monsters still exist, that means magic probably exists and I'm still screwed, except now, we don't know the rules. And, we're not even famous!" Dean ranted, raising his voice and gesticulating wildly. "I mean, does God even exist here? Are there angels? Witches? What?!"
"Dean!" Sam shouted, capturing Dean's attention and bringing his rant to a halt. "Dude, chill out. Panicking won't do us any good. And anyway, look at the bright side." Dean cocked his head.
"The bright side, Sam?"
"Yeah. I mean, think about it-no one in this universe knows who we are. In our universe, we have demons and angels and monsters and a never ending river of crap flowing directly towards us. In this world, no one knows who we are. And technically, we don't actually know what the supernatural truth is here. We're civilians." When Dean looked like he was about to object to that characterization, Sam pressed on. "And that was the plan, remember? Normal life? No more fighting? Maybe that's enough to keep the Mark in check. As far as I can tell, there's no mention of Angels or God being real. Maybe we're cut off from Heaven's power here, and if so, we're safe. The plan still works." Dean frowned.
"That's a lot of 'ifs' Sam. So excuse me if I don't feel better." Dean went back to his pacing. Sam sighed the sigh of the long-suffering little brother.
"Look, if it'll make you feel better, we could do some research. Find some other hunters, talk to them, see what's what." Dean sighed.
"Yeah, I guess. It's just-"
"I know, man. It sucks. We came here to get away from the supernatural, and it was right here waiting for us, only now..."
"Now we're clueless and alone," Dean finished dejectedly, fighting hard to drag his thoughts away from a nerdy little angel in a trench coat.