Is the ‘Just Another Halloween’ story from this new AU (Brothers Unexpected) that you just started posting? Obviously, it is after they have grown up a bit and met, but it seems like Jacob knows Sam really well in it… maybe more than he would in Brothers Found? And Dean with Oscar also seems that way. Just curious. 😀 Also, I am loving the new story. Thank you for putting so much time and effort into all your stories!
Oh my, we weren’t expecting anyone to piece this together just yet!
Congrats, you are the first person to realize that Just Another Halloween actually takes place in the far distant future of Brothers Unexpected, long after many shenanigans that these four will be going through while they grow up!
After being attacked, Sam wakes up in a dark place, surrounded by strangers. He escapes them only to find that his life won’t be going back to normal any time soon…
Characters: Sam Winchester, Walt Watch, Jacob Andris, Mariana Andris, Nicholas Andris, Dean Winchester
And the winning story, with 25 out of the possible 100 votes (it was a very close poll!), is…
A World of Secrets!
After being attacked, Sam wakes up in a dark place, surrounded by strangers. He escapes them only to find that his life won’t be going back to normal any time soon…
This marks the beginning of a new AU, Brothers Unexpected! Where Sam is separated from Dean, but not from humanity, despite his new curse.
Sneak peek:
The blue-eyed man brushed Sam’s messy hair back. “My name’s Walt, and this is Mallory,” he introduced, his voice remaining level. “A few days ago, you and your brother got attacked. Do you remember that?”
Sam nodded mutely.
“That lady… the w-itch…” Walt was uncertain as he enunciated the word as though he’d never said it before. “She hit you with something. Some… spell. After it was cast, your brother couldn’t see you.”
Walt swallowed thickly. “We got you out before you got hurt more… but Sam… your family. They’re gone. The witch ran and they chased her.”
Sam’s eyes started to spill over. “N…no,” he mumbled. “Dean wouldn’t leave me. They wouldn’t abandon me!” By the end, he was shouting, his thin voice going up an octave in his panic. The memories in his mind clamored for attention. They overlapped and caused his breath to hitch.
Both Walt and Mallory flinched at the sound of his shout, eyes nervously flashing to their ceiling. Mallory put a delicate hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Sam, they never wanted to,” she said in her lyrical voice. “They thought the witch killed you and just wanted to…” She trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing uncertainly.
“She cursed you, Sam,” Walt cut in gruffly. “Everyone you knew is a giant. That’s why they didn’t see you and that’s why we had to get you out of there. They’re dangerous.”
A silence stretched out between them. Sam’s hand started to shake, more of the cup crumpling inwards as a tear slid down his cheek. “G-giants?” he asked timidly.
Something in his mind clicked before Walt could get out another word. “No! ” Sam stated firmly. “Dean’s not… Dean would never…” His words jumbled and he started to hyperventilate.
Sam shoved the covers off. His water splashed out of the deformed cup. Droplets of water spilled onto the wooden flooring.
Hot. He was too hot.
The world was too cold but he was too hot.
Walt just barely managed to catch the metal cup as it fell, but it was too late.
Sam stumbled out of the bed… nest… fabric. He almost fell over to dodge a well-meaning grab from Mallory, her face covered with sympathy. Sam squirmed between the two people that had saved his life, his desperation giving him energy to escape.
He needed to go. Dean was out there, he had to be.
Sam just had to find him.
Shoving the fabric draped over the doorframe, Sam ignored the cries of alarm that came from his former room. His eyes darted around the new room, and he quailed at the sight of a penny casually kicked against the side of the wall.
It was large enough to serve as a dinner plate.
No, they’re making it up. They’re lying, they have to be!
As soon as he saw another doorframe, Sam ran for it. He had to get out before they grabbed him and put him back in bed. There might not be another chance for escape. Dean always told him to watch out for himself. A hand brushed reflexively against the knife tucked away in his soft tan jacket and Sam prayed he never had to use it.
There was a block in front of the door. It was heavy, but Sam shoved it to the side. The adrenaline filling him made his hands shaky, but it gave him energy he could draw on. He needed to get away, he needed to escape.
A dark passageway arched overhead. The panic that Sam was drowning in refused to let him really see it. He couldn’t make out the cobwebs that lurked in the unreachable corners. The nails in the wooden walls were bigger than his hand but his eyes just brushed over them. He needed to run.
And so he ran.
Wind whipped Sam’s hair into a frenzy. In the distance, the sound of boots came. He was being followed. Panic lent speed to his strides, and Sam pushed himself like he’d never pushed himself before. It was a race. He needed to find a way out of this dark world before that Walt could catch him. It was as simple as that.
Sam’s eyes flashed from side to side as he searched for a way out. The dark walls were dusty, but footprints could be made out in the thick dust. Sam set himself to following them, driven by desperation. He was only ten, and his legs weren’t as long as Walt’s. If it took him too long to find help, he’d lose the race.
“Sam! Wait up, please! You don’t understand!”
Sam pushed the voice out of his mind and ran even faster, if that was possible. A wood splinter jutted out, nearly tripping the young kid up, but he only stumbled, scraping one hand against the ground. The skin was raw and red as he forced himself to run again.
He spotted a light in the distance, and a tiny bubble of hope filled his chest.
A way out.
There was another shout, but Sam didn’t even hear it this time. The wall gave way to an opening where the light was, and Sam felt triumph fill his chest as it turned out to be warm motel room light. He was safe. He could just walk out the door and go search for…
Any thought he had in mind trailed off as Sam skid to a halt.
Something was more than wrong. The room was distorted, the beds and walls arching up over his head by what seemed like miles. He’d run right past the gigantic nightstand, thinking it was just another hallway, leaving him exposed in the center of the floor.
Sam froze, his entire body filling with fear as he realized that Walt may have been telling him the truth.
We probably answered this before, but now is as good a time as any for an update!
Brothers Apart– Season 3 has the first story written, but it needs editing and some TLC before it’ll be ready to post. The second story is half-done, and the third is in the idea stage, with a three-part special story chain that will end with quite an interesting twist!
Brothers Lost– We’ve found where the conclusion of season 1 will be! This AU will pull in several characters that our readers might recognize both from our other stories, Supernatural episodes, and some unique OCs that will appear for the first time in BL! Two additional stories are ready for posting now, several others need to be edited and beta’d, and we’re currently writing our way through the Season 1 finale, which we have not had the chance to excerpt! Keep your eyes open for #trtn when it begins to post.
Brothers Consulted– The next story will be posting at the start of the new year :3 We have several stories written, most need editing. Planned seasons for this series will be shorter, just like on the Sherlock TV show, but they’ll be full of action!
Brothers Asunder– Several more stories are complete past Dean of Nowhere, but they need to be edited and beta’d. Many plans are in the works for this AU starring @neonthebright ‘s sprites.
Brothers Adopted– One more story is completed but needs to be edited and beta’d. Other ideas are in the works to continue the storyline and take it in a very unexpected direction.
Brothers Found– This story will take the very frazzled group back to the Wellwood in the next edition and will pull in a very familiar hunter for those who have read Bowman of Wellwood! After that, there is one more story under construction, but it’s currently on hold while we write other AUs.
Brothers Chosen– The first two stories for this series are finished and waiting to be edited. We also are holding off on posting these until Stan Baker debuts in Brothers Consulted. More stories are planned to follow Stan’s path now that he’s with the Winchesters.
Brothers Discovered– The first story is 50% finished and currently on hold, but there are many plans for this young and adorable crew, and Stan Baker will also be joining up as a kiddo!
Brothers Divided– Two stories are written and need to be edited and beta’d. I know @creatorofuniverses is waiting for her chance to dive at this story after the teasers we’ve put out…
Brothers Grounded– Since this is a bit of an AU for messing around in, we don’t have any completed stories, but there are a few more chapters of fun, and we do plan on jumping back on it once we’ve caught up on some of our other backlogged plans! It’s fun playing around with a Brothers-Lost style Sam and Dean with @neonthebright ‘s canon storyline.
Brothers Kept– We’re only on the first story, but we’ve also constructed the backbone of the AU, all the way through a storyline crafted for this particularly disturbing version of the BA-verse.
Brothers Remembered– Another AU where we’re working on the first story! We have definite Plans for this one, and a familiar face that some of our giant story readers will remember…
Brothers Saved– Ah, the AU that began as a prompt and grew from there! Both cowriters are interested in pursuing a storyline within this ‘verse, we just haven’t had time to start on the stories. There is another short that was written, and I’m in progress of writing a second as @torchmlp ‘s contest prize from this year.
Brothers Together– There is nothing written or in-progress for this AU currently, but we do have some ideas floating around, and of course at some point we’re going to need to show how Oscar did when he reached Bobby’s!
Brothers Unexpected– Two stories, two shorts, and a multitude of ideas! This is just waiting to be beta’d, and we fully expect stories from BU to show up in the next poll.
Brothers United– Half a story written, and lots planned for these poor dorks! Unfortunately, this is the story we were working on when writer’s block hit @nightmares06 hard, so we put it on hiatus and tried to switch to other projects. Now that the ideas are beginning to flow again, we hope to return to it.
Giant Jacob storyline– There are plans in the works for a sequel, though all we have for it so far is a tagline written out…
We have several more unannounced AUs under construction, and are constantly coming up with more ideas! Feel free to send us in your ideas/headcanons/asks, you never know what might happen!
and the story continues more or less like it does in the show (except from the fact that Sam is the only one who knows about the existence of smolls). And then when Jacob comes to Trial’s West he gets cursed just like in Brothers Adopted /Brothers Remembered, only that this time he’s adopted by Walt and Mallory Watch and doesn’t have neither of the Winchester brothers as big brothers to help him adjust and all. And after some point, the brothers—{{{part 2}}}
And after some point, the brothers stumble over Trial’s West for a case or something, and while Sam goes out to grab some food and Dean stays to do research, Jacob and Walt were out in the room looking for supplies and Jacob gets caught by Dean. Sam gets back only to find Dean interrogating a smoll and manages to convince Dean to let him go. It would be interesting to have the two big Winchesters with a smoll Jacob and see how different it is from—{{{part 3}}}
It would be interesting to have the two big Winchesters with a smoll Jacob and see how different it is from Brothers Chosen (cause so far, that’s the only au I’ve seen with the two big Winchesters interacting with a smoll). {{{part 4}} sorry for how long this is. I think you’re amazing, and your stories are awesome!
It’s definitely a fun idea!
We did have a few ideas about a smol Jacob and the bros, though in a different story setup compared to this one. Feel free to write it out, or if anyone else is feeling inspired! We love seeing what you guys come up with, and Sam and Dean + smols is a good time.
(Pinky promise is canon in the Brothers Unexpected AU, if anyone was wondering)
We do also have Brothers United, which is an AU with Sam and Dean regular sized and running into Oscar. They start out as all children in this story, so they meet earlier on compared to the other times.
Welp, we’ve got one of the stories edited and ready to go, and I’m working to finish editing the second so we can pop them both in the poll the next time around! We’ll see who wants to see what half of the story 😉
John Winchester wouldn’t harm a hair on the kiddo’s head. Oscar’s very young in this story, and nothing about him is threatening. We’ll have to wait for the story to see what really goes down between them, but rest assured, Sam and Dean’s dad would not harm the smol child.
If you have any questions for any of the AU’s or any of the characters, including the ones that belong to @neonthewrite or @borrowedtimeandspace, feel free to send in an ask!
AU’s include (click the link for the story/sneak peeks):
Brothers Apart || Sam was hit with a witch’s curse and found himself separated from his family and only four inches tall.
Brothers Consulted|| After being warned about the residents of 221B, Sam and Dean move in anyway and have a fateful encounter with Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.
Brothers Chosen || Stan gets shipped off and sold in America, and Sam and Dean don’t really expect to find him while they’re on a case…
Brothers Saved || Dean gets hit by the witch’s attack, and Sam saves him at the last second, leaving him with a big brother that fits in his pocket.
Brothers Discovered|| Two brothers escape their captors into the cold streets of London, only to get picked up by an oddly-familiar face…
Brothers Adopted || Sam takes in Jacob as an adopted brother after Jacob is cursed, and teaches him how to survive.
Brothers Divided || Sam is unable to free Jacob after Dean traps the teenager under a vase.
Brothers United|| By chance, Sam and Dean go to Knights Inn instead of Trails West, and find themselves pushed into a world they never dreamed existed within their own.
Brothers Unexpected || Kiddo Sam is caught and adopted by five year old Jake and his family while states away Dean catches Oscar in the Knights Inn.
Brothers Kept|| In a world where borrowers are pets, Sam and Dean were caught and conditioned to be companions. Dean’s long given up hope on leaving the store that has him for sale, but one day, a red-haired agent strolls in and picks him out of the crowd.
Brothers Grounded || Jacob Andris, after his adventures in the Wellwood, stays at a familiar motel and discovers two tiny brothers raiding his stuff.
Brothers Remembered || Dean was cursed as a kid, growing up as a borrower at Trail’s West. He helped another kid cursed just like him, and certainly never expected to see a familiar face staying in one of the rooms.
The AU Lounge|| Welcome to the AU lounge! A place of relaxation conceived and helped designed by all the readers and visitors to the world of Brothers Apart! Stay awhile, kick up your boots, and have some pie!
Suggestions are always welcome, and inspiration comes from all sources! Just look at how far the AU lounge has come since inception!
We are creating our own little multiverse over here!
If we take your two guesses we can splice together the title of the next fic in Brothers Unexpected! A Place for Oz (which happens to be Dean’s pocket more often than not XD), continues on the adventure for the smolest kiddo with his irascible giant and his even-more irascible father!
Suddenly all of Oscar’s questions for Dean were far from his mind. The current situation held his focus.
He was in a car.
All his life, creeping through the dark vents and spaces between motel room walls, Oscar had never imagined what it’d be like. He could actually feel the motion, faint vibrations as the car hurtled along far faster than he could fathom. Even the turns didn’t slow down enough for him to keep up. The sounds and the feelings rattled his miniscule body and Oscar was stuck between fascinated and scared.
He kept a corner of his cloth pinched in his fingers, rubbing the worn threads with a thumb. Oscar was very good at staying hidden, and if Dean didn’t know he was there, he might not even notice the tiny weight in his pocket. No one looking at the teen would see more than a fold in the fabric. Oscar took a slow breath in, and then let it all out in a huff. He was safe, and he just needed to remind his nerves of the fact.
After some time curled up in his blanket with little change from the outside of the pocket, he shifted at last. Curiosity crept in and nagged at him. This was the first time he’d really left home, and he was missing it. That thought enabled him to let go of his blanket and push it to the corner of the pocket while he grasped at the flannel weave instead.
(tagging @kajensen07 and @torchmlp since I had to screenshot the guesses instead of answer directly to keep them together)
san – Sam and Nicholas? Even if this isn’t right, I am looking forward to learning more about Jacob’s dad!
You got it!
In Brothers Unexpected, Sam has a lot to get used to. Including Jacob’s father, Nicholas Andris, the person Jacob resembles the most when he grows up, especially in height.
While Sam is but a two-and-a-half inch tall kiddo.
(If anyone’s missed it, there’s a special short story about Jacob and his late father over on deviantart. It happens later along the timeline than where Brothers Unexpected is at thus far. Check it out here and the second part here.)
Nicholas froze in the middle of relaxing into the couch’s worn, comfortable cushions. His heart skipped a beat and he processed what he’d heard, the tiniest little noise that he might not have noticed. Before they found Sam, he definitely wouldn’t have registered the sound.
He glanced around, turning his head to scan the room. He knew Sam hadn’t been on the couch when he came in, so he could at least do away with the frantic worry that he’d nearly crushed the kid. That didn’t write out the possibility that he was under the couch or somewhere near enough that Nicholas’ careless action could have hurt the tiny kid.
“Sam?” he called out cautiously. His deep voice was quiet, but he knew that to Sam it still rumbled overhead. If the kid was hurt or scared, he probably wouldn’t answer.
Brothers Apart 