AU: Brothers Saved
Timeline: Sam is 10, Dean is 14
Sam slept peacefully on the floor, sprawled out in the collection of blankets he’d slowly amassed from throughout Bobby’s house. There were enough in the room to almost coat the floor by the end of the week. It was a comfort to have a place to burrow. For so long, he could steal into Dean’s bed if he got nervous and curl up for security.
Now, Sam was the bigger brother, and had no one else to look to while John and Bobby hunted the witch.
The night was cloying in the spare bedroom. Motes of dust floated in the little light that made its way through the only window in the room, moonlight illuminating the bookshelf across from where Sam rested. His breathing had long ago evened out into sleep.
This meant he missed the motion that happened up on the bed.
Dean woke with a start, his pulse surging with adrenaline as consciousness returned for the first time since the fight with the witch. He sprang to his feet–
–and immediately tumbled to the ground, landing on the cushioned surface with a frown.
None of this lessened the urgency in him. He needed to get out, find Sam, find John. That was it. Sam was in danger. He couldn’t remember from what or who, but he knew his little brother needed help now.
Shifting so he was on his hands and knees, Dean crawled across the white surface, confused by how big it was. Surely there was an ending to this white cloud of–
His next hand landed on empty air, and Dean went tumbling head over heels down the rest of the pillow.
It felt like Dean fell down that slope forever, but in reality it was only a few drawn-out seconds before he landed with a start on a slightly firmer surface. The muffled curses that spilled out of Dean’s mouth tapered off as he heard a sound in the distance. Like the steady breeze between the treetops, disrupted by the rush of an ocean.
Something was here with him, and from the sound of things, it was big.
Dean didn’t waste any more time. As soon as he realized there was something horribly wrong in his world, he was on his feet and running, trying to squint to see his surroundings and attempting to put as much space between himself and the thing as he could.
“Dean?”
The voice that sounded out of the blackness made Dean trip over a fold in the strange surface he was running along, and he went sprawling. “Sammy?!” he called out, his heart lurching as he realized his little brother could be out there in the darkness, facing this thing on his own.
He stubbornly ignored the way Sam’s voice warped around him, the deep sound so out of place coming from his scrawny little brother.
There had to be an explanation for everything, there just had to be.
Something shifted from the side again, and it sounded like an entire warehouse of fabric was moving. Dean pulled out his knife, edging to the side and scanning the ground around him. Gotta find Sammy and get out of here before it finds me.
“Dean, thank god you’re okay.”
“Sam where are you?” Dean called out, trying to zero in on his little brother’s voice. It sounded like it was coming from the same place as the massive gusts, but that was impossible.
It had to be.
“I’m here.”
Even the funhouse mirror style of Sam’s voice was hushed as he spoke. The hairs on the back of Dean’s neck rose. “What do you mean?”
A light snapped on, and Dean finally saw where he was.
Asks and prompts open for this AU! More coming tomorrow!
Brothers Apart 