Late reply is latelatelate - first, RL refused to give up without one hell of a fight, and then my internet died and refused to be resuscitated for ages and ages.
...It most certainly DOES NOT disappoint. You’ve created an amazing prequel to an amazing verse, and I did not want this story to end (so I guess I do have one complaint - why oh why aren’t there, like, 100+K more worth of chapters?). The picture of a slowly crumbling world is absolutely captivating in its inevitable hopelessness, and it just crawls inside your head and doesn’t leave.
Strange maybe, but out of all this, the thing that probably really brought it all home, end-of-the-world-wise, is sheriff Mills. I’m not even sure I can put it to words adequately, but it's about how they spoke with Bobby and she was generally okay-ish, and said she’d come back, and then just didn’t.
And ohgod, Sam. Cas. Bobby. They just each of them break my heart in so many different ways… I’ve probably said it before, but your fics make me feel sorry for Cas (actually, reading your fics reminded me that there has been surprisingly little emphasis in Canon on all that Cas had given up - and he had given up a lot, even if it was a “better late than never” kind of thing). He has just been chucked headfirst into humanity, and into the wrong end of the emotional pool besides - didn’t get a chance to learn (or experience) the better human emotions, and all of his own sacrifices got pretty much kicked to the curb. But even though he’s no longer an angel, he just doesn’t get humans (his approach to the localization of the croatoan virus was teetering between laugh-out-loud-funny and chillingly frightening). It’s really interesting to see him change, and although I didn’t like him very much at the beginning, because he was being terribly unfair and refusing to listen when Bobby pointed it out, I love that in the end he recognized those emotions for what they were, hurt and confused and lashing out at the easiest target, and told Sam it wasn’t his fault. I’m wondering whether Cas’ll ever tell Sam of the role he himself played in starting the Apocalypse; it would be curious to see how that conversation goes down.
And Sam… god, I’m just speechless here. It is all so very very painful, and once again, exactly how I imagine him being if 5.18 went down that road. He’s still fighting, refusing to give up, even though there seems to be no other way out except turning himself into a weapon in the hopes it will save people, and he doesn’t let those around him give up too - he gave Bobby new purpose in passing on his knowledge and showing that even if you aren’t able to do things you’ve done before, you can still help people. And he made Cas realize that names are important, that if there are no individual pieces left, the bigger picture simply will not exist (because yeah, I remember Lorna). He changed lives, and those lives touched others and ended up changing the world in so many ways, not just stopping the Apocalypse.
Loved the ending. Once again - because it cannot be said enough - your endings are made of awesome and totally rock.
I’m really hoping that you’ll return to this verse with fics/timestamps/whatevs of your choosing, there’s just so much more to be seen, like that attempt to summon Michael - though I have a distinct feeling that this will end up being something like a tornado, interesting-to-see-how-it-works but better to be observed from a (really really big) distance.
Thank you so much for your long and thoughtful comment! I wish I had an elaborate response right now, but I'm too tired to think of anything beyond thank you.
I'm pretty sure at some point between this story and the sequel, Cas will reveal his part in staarting the apocalypse. And Sam, being Sam, will forgive him. It's Castiel's own reaction that would be challenging to explore.
...It most certainly DOES NOT disappoint. You’ve created an amazing prequel to an amazing verse, and I did not want this story to end (so I guess I do have one complaint - why oh why aren’t there, like, 100+K more worth of chapters?). The picture of a slowly crumbling world is absolutely captivating in its inevitable hopelessness, and it just crawls inside your head and doesn’t leave.
Strange maybe, but out of all this, the thing that probably really brought it all home, end-of-the-world-wise, is sheriff Mills. I’m not even sure I can put it to words adequately, but it's about how they spoke with Bobby and she was generally okay-ish, and said she’d come back, and then just didn’t.
And ohgod, Sam. Cas. Bobby. They just each of them break my heart in so many different ways… I’ve probably said it before, but your fics make me feel sorry for Cas (actually, reading your fics reminded me that there has been surprisingly little emphasis in Canon on all that Cas had given up - and he had given up a lot, even if it was a “better late than never” kind of thing). He has just been chucked headfirst into humanity, and into the wrong end of the emotional pool besides - didn’t get a chance to learn (or experience) the better human emotions, and all of his own sacrifices got pretty much kicked to the curb. But even though he’s no longer an angel, he just doesn’t get humans (his approach to the localization of the croatoan virus was teetering between laugh-out-loud-funny and chillingly frightening). It’s really interesting to see him change, and although I didn’t like him very much at the beginning, because he was being terribly unfair and refusing to listen when Bobby pointed it out, I love that in the end he recognized those emotions for what they were, hurt and confused and lashing out at the easiest target, and told Sam it wasn’t his fault. I’m wondering whether Cas’ll ever tell Sam of the role he himself played in starting the Apocalypse; it would be curious to see how that conversation goes down.
And Sam… god, I’m just speechless here. It is all so very very painful, and once again, exactly how I imagine him being if 5.18 went down that road. He’s still fighting, refusing to give up, even though there seems to be no other way out except turning himself into a weapon in the hopes it will save people, and he doesn’t let those around him give up too - he gave Bobby new purpose in passing on his knowledge and showing that even if you aren’t able to do things you’ve done before, you can still help people. And he made Cas realize that names are important, that if there are no individual pieces left, the bigger picture simply will not exist (because yeah, I remember Lorna). He changed lives, and those lives touched others and ended up changing the world in so many ways, not just stopping the Apocalypse.
Loved the ending. Once again - because it cannot be said enough - your endings are made of awesome and totally rock.
I’m really hoping that you’ll return to this verse with fics/timestamps/whatevs of your choosing, there’s just so much more to be seen, like that attempt to summon Michael - though I have a distinct feeling that this will end up being something like a tornado, interesting-to-see-how-it-works but better to be observed from a (really really big) distance.
Thanks so much for this!
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I'm pretty sure at some point between this story and the sequel, Cas will reveal his part in staarting the apocalypse. And Sam, being Sam, will forgive him. It's Castiel's own reaction that would be challenging to explore.
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