Fic: What Was and What Could Have Been

[brightly_lit]

Title: What Was and What Could Have Been
Author: brightly_lit
Rating: PG for language
Genre: gen, angst, h/c, brotherly feels, wee!chesters, teen!chesters
Characters: Sam, Dean, OCs
Word Count: 5,500
Summary: When John doesn't return from a hunt, Sam and Dean, ages 10 and 14, have to find a way to live on their own.

Comments

[elfgirljen]

great fic! thanks for posting!

[brightly_lit]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[deceptivemirror]

I think the saddest thing about this story is how plausible it is that the boys would ultimately be happier without John's influence in their childhood.

[brightly_lit]

Yeeeahhh, that gets me, too. God love him, but it must have been hard growing up as that man's son.

[sylvia_locust]

This was a really interesting take on what might have been, and raised some thought-provoking questions about John's influence over their lives.

[brightly_lit]

Ah, thank you very much! It made me rethink some things I didn't expect to, too. Glad you liked.

[septembers_coda]

I really, really love this story. I keep returning to it in my mind and wanting to read parts of it again, and when I do, the simple beauty of this concept, its sadness but the feeling of rightness to it, the ring of truth... John did his best, but it was a terrible obsession that cost him, and Sam and Dean, horribly. I truly thing things could have been different, as they are here. I don't know that the YED would even be interested in Sam after this, and if he was, I think Sam and Dean could still figure out how to defeat him-- even better perhaps, because of their love for each other, as you say above.

Though I too love John, I feel like the brothers' entire future, whatever it is, would have to be better if their later childhood had happened this way. I'm filled with longing for it to be real. So GREAT JOB. I can hardly think of a fic that's affected me this much.

[brightly_lit]

Ah, what a great comment!! I'm with you with the idea that maybe the YED wouldn't have been interested in Sam after this, like John's obsession perpetuated a lot of that, but in any case, I don't think it HELPED them much if at all. I wish it could have been real, too! :-}

I can hardly think of a fic that's affected me this much.

Oh, wow, what a compliment!! The greatest of compliments. *glows* Thank you!

[cuddyclothes]

Wow, this was such a powerful story. I came here on a rec from spn_bunker. Poor boys. I believe they would have been much happier without their father. The way you set up that everything was temporary, then less temporary, then permanent was great. It sits in my gut with sadness that they were never able to be happy.

To quote septembers_coda:
I'm filled with longing for it to be real. So GREAT JOB.

[brightly_lit]

Aww, thank you so much. It kills me, too, that they were never able to be happy, and now I just wrote another story today that's even sadder ... but yeah, I agree with you; I can only see them having had happier lives without John, unfortunately. So glad you liked it, dear!