What if indeed! Poor Oscar is one of my smallest characters and Jacob is one of my tallest! This is such a cute AU idea. Jacob’s meeting with Bowman was so touch and go, because the little sprite snarked up a storm! Oscar is definitely not the same personality type, so it was fun to see how differently Jacob would act with his first tiny encounter with such a timid little guy.
There was nothing interesting on TV, but that didn’t really come as a surprise. Jacob didn’t watch a lot of television, and decent movies were tough to find on the channels offered by the kinds of small-town motels he chose on his frequent road trips. They went for basic, and that was always hit-or-miss.
Not that Breckenridge was particularly small. Jacob had chosen a little motel in the summer, however, a time when business in an area known for skiing could take a dip. Mountains stood tall and proud against the sky out the window while he lounged on the bed. It was a good place to stop and rest, even with the tacky decorations and worn-down character of the place.
While he settled on a channel showing old cowboy movies, Jacob mused about staying an extra day in Breckenridge. He could wander around and enjoy the mountain air, and the jagged horizon that stood tall and stoic all around. It contrasted with his usually endless horizon view back in Iowa, where the sky was a dome.
A quiet sound derailed his thoughts. On the edge of hearing, occurring between lines on the movie, Jacob thought he heard a rustling noise. It ended as soon as he heard it, but his ears primed to the sound to listen harder anyway. He pinpointed the source easily: his backpack.
Nothing had stirred since Jacob started watching, and he need to help keep his only friends in the world right now from harm. Even if it meant directly going against what they’d told him to do.
They’ll thank me later. Maybe.
Jacob stooped down to scoop each brother onto a hand and off the ground.
He looked over Sam and Dean in his hands hastily, before glancing up at the farmhouse again. There was no time. “Sorry, guys…” His hands were shoved carefully into his hoodie pocket to let the pair slide off his palms. They’d be safe in there for a short trip, and he needed his hands free.
Oh the fate of a sprite who can be summoned. Nixie rues this word some days.
The summons was clear, and Nixie paused in her morning ablutions to cock her head to the side.
Aretha glanced over at her sister, her wings glistening in the morning air. “You will answer?” she asked, her tone as patronizing as it ever was. She gave her wings a flick to get the precipitation from the morning rain in the rainforest off, ready for flight.
Nixie ignored the tone of voice, as she always did. Alone of her sisters, she would never miss a summons. “It is who we are,” she reminded Aretha gently. “We must stop ignoring the calls.”
Before Aretha could respond, Nixie twisted the air and water around herself, vanishing and following the summons as only a sprite of aeternum could. It was the only time they could travel to the human world without using the portal itself to travel, and it brought her right to her destination.
The human world was always a shock, more because of how it changed each time she was summoned than anything. The size she was prepared for; no sprite stood over four inches in height, the fire sprites were the closest to that. Nixie’s wings vibrated once, and she alighted on the edge of the book used for the summons, the glow of the summoning magic fading away from her.
Brown eyes full of tears stared back at her, wide at the sight of the small sprite the summons had brought forth. Nixie waited patiently as the young girl, no more than twenty in her estimation, recovered from the realization that the summoning had worked.
“I am Nixie,” she introduced herself, as she always did. “Why have you summoned me?”
Hundreds of summonings in the past left her prepared for anything that might happen. Many times, she was brought forth to heal the dying or restore the poisoned waters of war. It was her reason for creation, along with guarding the flower of gold.
The girl’s face was framed by dark hair, and it bobbed as she shook her head in surprise. “B-but you… you’re real? Really real?”
Nixie did not deign to answer, merely watching the area around her with a curious eye and taking in the objects used to summon her. The circle could use some work, but the symbol in the center was well-drawn.
“Okay,” the girl pulled herself together and straightened. “I want you to make me the prettiest girl in school. That way they stop making fun of me! I’m not a geek!”
Nixie sighed at that. “Child, do you not know who you have summoned?” she asked gently. “I am a sprite. Wishes I do not grant. What you want is beyond my power.”
“B-but…”
“You should ignore what others say,” Nixie said firmly, thinking of Aretha and her constant dislike of what Nixie persisted in doing. “All that matters is who we are to ourselves. Letting their words bother you gives them power over you.”
She let her wings vibrate again, and lifted off from the book, whipping the pages and the girl’s hair into a mess. The girl opened her mouth. “No, wait!”
With a twinkling, Nixie severed the summoning and vanished back into aethernum.
The bright and cheery seven year old girl ran down the well-worn path of the burrow, and Arthur found himself catching her in his arms as she leapt the last few inches in her excitement. Her bright red curls bounced as she landed, giggling the whole way.
Arthur couldn’t hold in a smile at her exuberance. Moments like this reminded him why they’d moved out of the massive house. There was a false safety indoors, one that he’d seen through the moment he realized that a hunter lived there. Here, in this burrow, his family could be safe, with food they caught and grew themselves. Alyssa could thrive.
“What is it, kiddo?” he asked as he bounced her once in the air and let her drop to the ground. The little girl clasped his hand between hers, and dragged him towards the entrance.
“You gotta see!” she declared, almost digging her heels into the softened dirt under their feet. The last few days of rain had left everything moist. Damp walls, damp hair, damp clothes. The pit of coals burned bright, though, and there was enough heat in that room to keep the elderly warm.
The light increased ahead, and Arthur picked up his little girl to give her a piggyback ride through the last of the mud. Carefully dug canals throughout the burrow served to direct the water into the creek behind their home, but it never got rid of all the water. If the burrow ever flooded, Arthur knew they’d have to find a new home, but so far it had served them well.
“Look!” Alyssa giggled, kicking her muddied feet in excitement. Arthur had to put a hand on her legs to calm them, and he squinted.
Above the tall stalks of grass that grew in the field, blue skies shone. Dark clouds were hovering around the edges, threatening the sanctity of their home, but a rainbow stretched from one end of the world to the other. Arthur caught his breath at the sight, astounded.
Those years they lived in the walls, they’d never had the opportunity to come out of hiding and see something to precious. But now, it was theirs for the taking.
“Thanks kiddo,” Arthur breathed.
Alyssa giggled, and propped her arms on his head. This rainbow was her best find yet.
Can’t say for sure when it’s coming, though. It’s in the process of being written, and it’ll be a decently long fic from what we can tell so far. Lots of fun, for sure. Once it’s done, we’ll work it into our editing schedule and then watch out! It could appear in the poll at any time :3
Probably not too likely, because I’m not good at describing the innards of the car to the level of what we’d need in this case! Don’t worry, the dorky pair will have plenty of shenanigans going on while they work on her 😉
Jacob watched them go with wide eyes, practically holding his breath. A small part of him worried that they might not come back. That they would get caught and sent to jail, or that they’d simply run away to leave him behind. He had to tell himself that they wouldn’t have left their bags if they planned to do that.
Once they were far enough ahead, he scooted forward just a bit and sat himself down. He had a good view of the fence they hopped over, and the field beyond it too. He’d keep watch for their return.
In the meantime, he looked curiously down at their bags. They were so tiny, and he couldn’t even see the zippers on them. Jacob smirked at the sight of the claimed quarter sticking out of Dean’s bag.
Alone in her small dollhouse, Bree contented herself counting the time as she brushed her hair. The Mangas family was out for the day, at some park or another, and Briella Watch was left on her own to pass the time.
Only a passing thought was given to the people she knew were in the storage room, waiting to be sold. She couldn’t think too much about them, there was nothing she could do. She was sealed away, trapped in a house inside a room with all entrances to the walls sealed off.
This family knew the tricks, after all.
Three strokes. A quick flip of her hair, and a garishly pink doll hairbrush went through the strands of golden hair while Bree stared into the clouds outside the window. Long eyelashes closed, and a tear hid at the side of her eye.
People were trapped, and she was up here, with her head in the clouds. Every night, she was plagued by thoughts of what could have been. Her only release was in sleep, in dreams of her old home with her mother and her father. Mallory’s constant smile at her while she took her first steps, Walt’s stern pride as he taught her how to climb.
Every night, she saw their faces in her dreams and they pushed back the dark cloud that hung over her head. She had to hide it, though. Beth couldn’t know what she was thinking.
Brothers Apart 