Treasure by sonofabiscuit77
Treasure Sam/Dean, post-apocalyptic world, 48,000 words
Post-apocalyptic slash stories seem to keep me thinking about them longer than any other type. Not only is there the relationship to revel in, like there is in any good slash fanfic, but they set your mind off down the track of what it would be like to live in that world. I'm obviously more interested in the relationship than the setting, or I'd be reading mostly science fiction and not slash, but it's nice to get both from time to time.
This author writes some of the most amazing established relationships I've read in any fandom. They're perhaps almost over the top in terms of just how much desire Sam and Dean feel for each other, after in this case 20 years, but maybe not - Sam is pretty amazing, after all! (OK, Dean too - he's just not as good looking!) In any case, over-the-top relationships are what I read fanfiction for and the relationship stuff here is absolutely glorious.
An example, from a meeting with the compound's commanding officer:
Dean slants a look at his brother, that warm, familiar pride in his chest, that almost awestruck sensation hooking at his insides. Sam’s so goddamn smart, so goddamn amazing. None of them have any freaking idea.
The author doesn't skimp on showing conflict between them either, which feels very realistic. I love the aftermath of the first sex scene in this story. Five minutes later they're fighting, and then going to sleep. Actually, they're fighting five minutes after the second (illustrated!) sex scene, too.
I love Dean's very matter-of-fact way of initiating sex: "You wanna fuck?" "You wanna fool around for a while?" and "Now it's your turn!" (to give Dean a blowjob) Those lines wouldn't do much for me in a first-time, but they convey a wonderful sense of certainty and familiarity in a long-term relationship.
My absolute favourite part of this story is the prologue, in which Dean, in a hopeless situation, is about two seconds from putting a bullet in Sam's head with Sam's agreement and then killing himself.
“They’re coming, Dean. They’re gonna get me - I can’t move. You gotta go - save yourself - please, Dean - just go!”
“No, no, no, Sammy, no. Sam, no…” just that one syllable over and over. He’s not leaving. He’s not leaving Sam to die alone.
“Dean, please! I can’t watch you die again - don’t make me - please - go! Don’t make me watch you die again.”
He falls back, sprawling, shaking hands fumbling at his holster. He draws out his Colt, holds it out between them like an offering.
“Here, Sammy, here. You don’t gotta. I got enough bullets. One for you. One for me. You can go first. I’m here. I got it.”
Later Dean thinks on the fact that he's ready to die, but is staying because Sam isn't:
That could’ve been him - what happened to Navarro could’ve happened to him. Hell, it probably deserved to be him. He’s had too many second chances, too many escapes from death over the years. He’s disrupted the natural order too many times. And he’d have been okay with it being him. He’s ready to go; he’s been ready these past three years. Only -
He can’t go without Sam, and Sam’s not ready to go yet. Sam believes in what he’s doing. Sam still believes that he can save everybody.
Castiel had told them before he disappeared that they're assured of an afterlife in Heaven together, which lends quite a lot of comfort to an otherwise fairly bleak scenario:
Before he’d left for good, he’d made one last plea, appealing to both him and Sam. “The two of you will always have a place in Heaven. You’ve both earned it.” And then when he could see that he wasn’t getting through. “You will be together and you will be at peace. Please, just think about it. All that’s left for you here is destruction and death.”
I imagine I get far more of a charge out of that than someone who thinks there actually is an afterlife. You could almost say that the shared Heaven established in 5x16 Dark Side of the Moon makes Supernatural a warm, comforting, guaranteed happy-ending fandom!
Hmm, I've just noticed that when Castiel made that suggestion, Dean wasn't ready to die: But Dean could remember Heaven, and he had no desire to return. ... They weren’t ready to go. I wonder what exactly made him decide that he was ready at the time he and Sam joined the compound: a conviction that the mutants would take over? I don't get the sense that Sam's injury or the change to their lifestyle would be enough to make life not worth living when their relationship was so strong.
The final chapter is nearly as moving as the prologue:
Together, Dean thinks, we’re together. This could be the end - if this doesn’t work - if he’s got it all wrong -
Then at least they’ll be together; they’ll go out together. It’s all that matters really.
I'm not quite sure what Dean means when Sam tells Dean that he has to shoot him, like Dean was going to do when Sam was caught in the trap, and Dean says:
“That was different! ... And anyway I wouldn’t - I couldn’t -”
I'm taking it to mean he doesn't think he could shoot Sam in cold blood, when they're not imminently going to be ripped to shreds by pursuing mutants. If he means he couldn't shoot Sam at all under any circumstances, then the prologue doesn't work for me as well as it does currently.
The mutants are seriously creepy and got more so on rereading. The first times I must have skimmed over some of the gory details. I completely sympathise with Dean not wanting to look too closely, even when Robinson was gauging his reaction.
It's interesting to see Sam and Dean as part of a society, rather than complete outsiders. Dean in particular fits in well:
Wearing a uniform is clean and simple in a way that hunting never really was. Having a superior he respects to take orders from is a relief after so many years of second guessing his own decisions, being pushed around and played by demons and angels.
I kind of like that they didn't make a real choice to live this way, though:
It was Sam’s injury that brought them to the compound, Sam’s injury that forced them to stay and build a life here instead of going back out on the road again. If Sam hadn’t gotten caught in that trap maybe they would still be out there, leading their nomadic Winchester lifestyle, saving people and hunting mutants.
Most likely, they’d both be dead, or mutants themselves.
How unpleasant it would be to be a woman of childbearing age in a situation like this. Dean was spot on with "Would you wanna be born into this? ... We’re fighting for our lives and we’re outnumbered. D’you think all those poor babies being popped out down in the infirmary are gonna thank us when they realize what we’ve left for them?”
I tend to think that about the current world, but obviously people's views differ on that since plenty of children are continuing to be born!
The light dusting of Castiel is just the quantity and type I like.
I'm very fond of some of the little details, like the unsuccessful government attempt to contain the mutants by flattening Las Vegas, the wrong-year Chevy Impala ad Sam decorated their room with, Dean's resentment towards the doctor who amputated Sam's leg and that fact that Ron used to work at L'Oreal!
It's no wonder there were rumours about Sam and Dean if they lived there for three years, had no other relationships despite the baby-boom drive, and shared quarters with one bed, which surely some other people must have seen in that time? And would no one really want to get involved with Sam? Presumably that had more to do with his proximity to the mutants than to his leg.
I also have a quibble with Dean not having told Sam that head shots were now required to kill the mutants. It added some drama in the scene where the sedated mutant suddenly came to life in lab, but it would definitely have been useful information for a person studying them to have and made me annoyed with Dean. (I have the same problem with him not having told Sam about the Vetalas hunting in pairs in 7x11 Adventures in Babysitting.)
I gather that some people were turned off by the very brief mention of Dean wanting Sam when Sam was only 14, but I would think 18 year olds desiring 14 year olds, even those in the same house, is pretty common! I read some other criticism that there was too much sex for such dire circumstances, but it's one of the only pleasures they have, and is explicitly addressed when Dean thinks, when they're together in bed after the memorable chair sex scene:
And it’s these kinds of moments that make everything worth it, that remind him why they’re still here, why they haven’t taken Castiel up on his offer yet. He has no idea what Heaven’s really like, but he doubts that you get to do what they just did in Heaven.
This story - which isn't a WIP and was never posted that way - is a good example of why I don't tend to care much whether WIPs (WsIP?) get finished or not. For my taste, this story stops at quite a climactic moment and I would dearly love more - but I'm thrilled to have it no matter where it ends!
Carrying on from where the story leaves off:
How are they going to make a vaccine? Can they use Sam's blood? I wouldn't like him to become a one-person blood bank! Can they create the key components synthetically? They're now down a scientist, after Ron was bitten and changed. Do they need to call up some demons? Whatever they come up with, how are they going to test it? Presumably on the teams who are fighting the mutants, and whenever someone gets bitten, they now lock that person up and see what happens. It's better than being immediately shot, I guess.
If the mutants are reproducing and constantly changing, the game is far from over even with a vaccine.
If a vaccine is successful and that changes Dean and Sam's mind about the desirability of repopulating, could they work out an arrangement where they father some children but their relationship doesn't change too much? If reproducing is considered desirable, they have excellent genetic material going to waste. However, even in a best case scenario, the world probably has a long way to go before anyone could be assured of much quality of life for their offspring, and this Sam in particular seems inclined towards jealousy already!
I'm not too concerned about how their relationship will be accepted. As two of the most important people to the survival of this group of humanity, if not all of it, I'd say they get to make most of their own rules.
An amazing read that stays with you!
Post-apocalyptic slash stories seem to keep me thinking about them longer than any other type. Not only is there the relationship to revel in, like there is in any good slash fanfic, but they set your mind off down the track of what it would be like to live in that world. I'm obviously more interested in the relationship than the setting, or I'd be reading mostly science fiction and not slash, but it's nice to get both from time to time.
This author writes some of the most amazing established relationships I've read in any fandom. They're perhaps almost over the top in terms of just how much desire Sam and Dean feel for each other, after in this case 20 years, but maybe not - Sam is pretty amazing, after all! (OK, Dean too - he's just not as good looking!) In any case, over-the-top relationships are what I read fanfiction for and the relationship stuff here is absolutely glorious.
An example, from a meeting with the compound's commanding officer:
Dean slants a look at his brother, that warm, familiar pride in his chest, that almost awestruck sensation hooking at his insides. Sam’s so goddamn smart, so goddamn amazing. None of them have any freaking idea.
The author doesn't skimp on showing conflict between them either, which feels very realistic. I love the aftermath of the first sex scene in this story. Five minutes later they're fighting, and then going to sleep. Actually, they're fighting five minutes after the second (illustrated!) sex scene, too.
I love Dean's very matter-of-fact way of initiating sex: "You wanna fuck?" "You wanna fool around for a while?" and "Now it's your turn!" (to give Dean a blowjob) Those lines wouldn't do much for me in a first-time, but they convey a wonderful sense of certainty and familiarity in a long-term relationship.
My absolute favourite part of this story is the prologue, in which Dean, in a hopeless situation, is about two seconds from putting a bullet in Sam's head with Sam's agreement and then killing himself.
“They’re coming, Dean. They’re gonna get me - I can’t move. You gotta go - save yourself - please, Dean - just go!”
“No, no, no, Sammy, no. Sam, no…” just that one syllable over and over. He’s not leaving. He’s not leaving Sam to die alone.
“Dean, please! I can’t watch you die again - don’t make me - please - go! Don’t make me watch you die again.”
He falls back, sprawling, shaking hands fumbling at his holster. He draws out his Colt, holds it out between them like an offering.
“Here, Sammy, here. You don’t gotta. I got enough bullets. One for you. One for me. You can go first. I’m here. I got it.”
Later Dean thinks on the fact that he's ready to die, but is staying because Sam isn't:
That could’ve been him - what happened to Navarro could’ve happened to him. Hell, it probably deserved to be him. He’s had too many second chances, too many escapes from death over the years. He’s disrupted the natural order too many times. And he’d have been okay with it being him. He’s ready to go; he’s been ready these past three years. Only -
He can’t go without Sam, and Sam’s not ready to go yet. Sam believes in what he’s doing. Sam still believes that he can save everybody.
Castiel had told them before he disappeared that they're assured of an afterlife in Heaven together, which lends quite a lot of comfort to an otherwise fairly bleak scenario:
Before he’d left for good, he’d made one last plea, appealing to both him and Sam. “The two of you will always have a place in Heaven. You’ve both earned it.” And then when he could see that he wasn’t getting through. “You will be together and you will be at peace. Please, just think about it. All that’s left for you here is destruction and death.”
I imagine I get far more of a charge out of that than someone who thinks there actually is an afterlife. You could almost say that the shared Heaven established in 5x16 Dark Side of the Moon makes Supernatural a warm, comforting, guaranteed happy-ending fandom!
Hmm, I've just noticed that when Castiel made that suggestion, Dean wasn't ready to die: But Dean could remember Heaven, and he had no desire to return. ... They weren’t ready to go. I wonder what exactly made him decide that he was ready at the time he and Sam joined the compound: a conviction that the mutants would take over? I don't get the sense that Sam's injury or the change to their lifestyle would be enough to make life not worth living when their relationship was so strong.
The final chapter is nearly as moving as the prologue:
Together, Dean thinks, we’re together. This could be the end - if this doesn’t work - if he’s got it all wrong -
Then at least they’ll be together; they’ll go out together. It’s all that matters really.
I'm not quite sure what Dean means when Sam tells Dean that he has to shoot him, like Dean was going to do when Sam was caught in the trap, and Dean says:
“That was different! ... And anyway I wouldn’t - I couldn’t -”
I'm taking it to mean he doesn't think he could shoot Sam in cold blood, when they're not imminently going to be ripped to shreds by pursuing mutants. If he means he couldn't shoot Sam at all under any circumstances, then the prologue doesn't work for me as well as it does currently.
The mutants are seriously creepy and got more so on rereading. The first times I must have skimmed over some of the gory details. I completely sympathise with Dean not wanting to look too closely, even when Robinson was gauging his reaction.
It's interesting to see Sam and Dean as part of a society, rather than complete outsiders. Dean in particular fits in well:
Wearing a uniform is clean and simple in a way that hunting never really was. Having a superior he respects to take orders from is a relief after so many years of second guessing his own decisions, being pushed around and played by demons and angels.
I kind of like that they didn't make a real choice to live this way, though:
It was Sam’s injury that brought them to the compound, Sam’s injury that forced them to stay and build a life here instead of going back out on the road again. If Sam hadn’t gotten caught in that trap maybe they would still be out there, leading their nomadic Winchester lifestyle, saving people and hunting mutants.
Most likely, they’d both be dead, or mutants themselves.
How unpleasant it would be to be a woman of childbearing age in a situation like this. Dean was spot on with "Would you wanna be born into this? ... We’re fighting for our lives and we’re outnumbered. D’you think all those poor babies being popped out down in the infirmary are gonna thank us when they realize what we’ve left for them?”
I tend to think that about the current world, but obviously people's views differ on that since plenty of children are continuing to be born!
The light dusting of Castiel is just the quantity and type I like.
I'm very fond of some of the little details, like the unsuccessful government attempt to contain the mutants by flattening Las Vegas, the wrong-year Chevy Impala ad Sam decorated their room with, Dean's resentment towards the doctor who amputated Sam's leg and that fact that Ron used to work at L'Oreal!
It's no wonder there were rumours about Sam and Dean if they lived there for three years, had no other relationships despite the baby-boom drive, and shared quarters with one bed, which surely some other people must have seen in that time? And would no one really want to get involved with Sam? Presumably that had more to do with his proximity to the mutants than to his leg.
I also have a quibble with Dean not having told Sam that head shots were now required to kill the mutants. It added some drama in the scene where the sedated mutant suddenly came to life in lab, but it would definitely have been useful information for a person studying them to have and made me annoyed with Dean. (I have the same problem with him not having told Sam about the Vetalas hunting in pairs in 7x11 Adventures in Babysitting.)
I gather that some people were turned off by the very brief mention of Dean wanting Sam when Sam was only 14, but I would think 18 year olds desiring 14 year olds, even those in the same house, is pretty common! I read some other criticism that there was too much sex for such dire circumstances, but it's one of the only pleasures they have, and is explicitly addressed when Dean thinks, when they're together in bed after the memorable chair sex scene:
And it’s these kinds of moments that make everything worth it, that remind him why they’re still here, why they haven’t taken Castiel up on his offer yet. He has no idea what Heaven’s really like, but he doubts that you get to do what they just did in Heaven.
This story - which isn't a WIP and was never posted that way - is a good example of why I don't tend to care much whether WIPs (WsIP?) get finished or not. For my taste, this story stops at quite a climactic moment and I would dearly love more - but I'm thrilled to have it no matter where it ends!
Carrying on from where the story leaves off:
How are they going to make a vaccine? Can they use Sam's blood? I wouldn't like him to become a one-person blood bank! Can they create the key components synthetically? They're now down a scientist, after Ron was bitten and changed. Do they need to call up some demons? Whatever they come up with, how are they going to test it? Presumably on the teams who are fighting the mutants, and whenever someone gets bitten, they now lock that person up and see what happens. It's better than being immediately shot, I guess.
If the mutants are reproducing and constantly changing, the game is far from over even with a vaccine.
If a vaccine is successful and that changes Dean and Sam's mind about the desirability of repopulating, could they work out an arrangement where they father some children but their relationship doesn't change too much? If reproducing is considered desirable, they have excellent genetic material going to waste. However, even in a best case scenario, the world probably has a long way to go before anyone could be assured of much quality of life for their offspring, and this Sam in particular seems inclined towards jealousy already!
I'm not too concerned about how their relationship will be accepted. As two of the most important people to the survival of this group of humanity, if not all of it, I'd say they get to make most of their own rules.
An amazing read that stays with you!