To the End by Esohpe.

Slash.

Christ on a side car. That’s all I can tell you. I went directly to bed after reading this and should not have because I could not get it out of my head. It kept spinning around in there like a white sail distracting me from the darkness of sleep. I am SO exhausted right now because of it. Story fits the criteria all the way around, except for the realism bit, but I’m going to give this story the green light because of how well it was done. I just wish I’d written this story.

End of days type of story, which I don’t normally like, they’re just too depresssing. It’s been about half a year since Evil!Sam has killed Bobby and Ellen and that Dean has been on the run. (Sam has finally turned evil.) Dean holes up in a cabin in the woods that reminds me of the cabin where Sam shot Evil!Dad. Dean lines the cabin with salt and hunkers down to wait for Evil!Sam because he’s tired of running. Evil!Sam finds him and then ensues days and days of Dean riding shotgun all tied up, them checking in and out of motels, eating bad foot along the wayside, and it is everything marvelous that a story could be. I ache for stories where the motels and the cars play important parts and help create a texture that evokes the romance as well as the grit of the road.

Evil!Sam is on the run, Dean figures this out, but he doesn’t know why. It’s a bit nebulous for me as well, but I finally figure out that Evil!Sam, for all he is so evil, still loves his brother very much and does not want to kill him. Oh, sure he wants to kill him, but not kill him kill him, if you see what I mean. Evil!Sam is also hiding from the other demons out there, because they want him to totally come over to their side, kill his brother, and rule the world. Only…Evil!Sam doesn’t want to. Not. Just. Yet. (Lots of nebulous thoughts going on in Evil!Sam’s head, which just add to his charm.)

This story pressed so many of my buttons, some I didn’t even know I had, it was disturbing. The writer worked in issues of dominance and submission, as in, how do you not obey a someone who could and would kill you? What do you do when said someone shows you an act of kindness? (The whole Stockholm Syndrome seemed to come into play, as well.) What do you do when the someone stops by the roadside and gives you three hours of freedom? You’d better come back, is all, cause if you don’t, there’ll be hell to pay. The ways in which the two characters move from “I hate you” to “here, let me help” is spooky, and creepy, and delicious.

I love how the writer doesn’t take any shortcuts, nor flinches from doing bad things to her characters. (You have to hurt your darlings, you know.) Like, at one point, Dean runs away, and gets a lift from a trucker. Evil!Sam catches up with them, kills the trucker, and then tells Dean that he better not mess around or other people will get hurt. The cool part about this whole thing is the way that Evil!Sam speaks with Brother!Sam’s voice. It’s not the voice of an unknown bad guy, it’s the voice of someone Dean loves and cares about, saying horrible things. Brilliant.

The writer could have easily skipped to the “good parts” but didn’t. At 23,000 words, she’s done the work to support the somewhat happy ending. Christ in a sidecar. More please.