Supernatur...

SupernaturalA few recs - all gen this time around.A Stand Up Man by alethialiaGenVery snarky, very sweet snapshots of the boys as they travel after Jess's death and Sam learns how to reconnect with his brother after a four year absence. Love the repetition of "X Miles since Jessica" as Sam painfully begins to leave Jessica and his grief behind. Dean, we're going to die right now and it's all your fault. This is what happens when you lie to your brother.Please. We're going to get out of this. We can't die at the hands of a human. That's just insulting.Double Dutch by traveller (Cee)GenSam and Dean travel to New York city in search of the demon that killed their mother and Jess. I adored Cee's last story which was John centric and this is every bit as brilliant. Written in a noiresque style which makes it read like a hard boiled detective novel and using the device of an unseen and unidentified narrator this really is an astonishing story. Incredibly atmospheric and intensely visual it takes its plot from the bible and effortlessly recreates it in a very modern and recognisable New York. The passage where Dean sees New York's ghosts on every corner is almost ethereal in tone. The words in this story don't so much flow as dance. Very highly recommended.But I like to think of this city as a stone and steel Eden, a garden of iron and concrete, with flowers of glass and tungsten. Three rivers instead of four, true, but all your wants, all your needs, all here for the taking. Millions of souls, dancing like fireflies on the darkest July night, brighter than all the neon, all the streetlights. Sometimes you can see them, from the high places, and sometimes from the low, sometimes when you're very tired or very drunk. Grief can do it, or great joy, but you must be open to the truth, that's the thing. And Fools Shine On by eighth_horizon (Gekizetsu)GenDean is possessed by a revenant and Sam and Dean must both figure out a way to save Dean (who's trapped in his own head) before it's too late.And Fools Shine On has a strong, involving plot and superb characterisation. Gekizetsu's depiction of a trapped and desolate Dean forced to the edge of suicide in his attempts to protect his brother is heartbreaking. And her Sam just kills me. I've always been more of a Dean girl but this strong, determined, sleep deprived Sam who is clinging to his sanity by a thread while being emotionally tortured night after night by the revenant wearing his brother's face won me heart and soul. Given the choice between flash and smoulder, the world may not be kinder to embers but it does respect them. Sam's embers will keep things going when Dean is through burning the world downIf Belief Was Enough by eighth_horizonGenAnd Fools Shine On was good - it's sequel is exceptional. After freeing himself from the revenant Dean is left unstitched - his soul open to the world as he and Sam investigate a series of mysterious disappearances in Ellensburg.If Belief was Enough is a multi chaptered, compelling story but this time the plot takes a back seat to the interaction between the brothers. Her emotionally open, extremely vulnerable Dean who ends up spilling his every hidden thought to Sam without realising it broke my heart into thousands of tiny pieces. And poor Sam who finally has the emotional connection to his brother that he's always wanted but can't react to Dean's declarations of love without effectively exploiting Dean and wrecking their relationship forever. The writing is lyrical and the brothers interactions simply golden. And I'm ridiculously excited that the story is open ended paving a way for a sequel."I'm lost," he said softly, unaware that it was audible, unaware that Sam made a sudden motion toward him as if to grab him or just touch him, but then ran his hands through his own damp hair instead, eyes wrenched shut.Far...as in geologically speaking," Dean said gruffly."Geologically speaking," Sam agreed, and if he ever loved Dean more than he did right then, he wasn't sure he would be able to remember it.