PROLOGUE  ——  bedtime stories
17 APRIL, 1993

———  excerpt by carver edlund  ———

LET'S START FROM THE BEGINNING. Perhaps the very beginning. When the universe was still young and the Earth was still new. Or perhaps I'll just start a lot later than that. Like a billion years later than that. (Give me a break it's still the first draft!).

In every story, there is a hero, and there is a villain. But in this story it's a little more complex than that. In this, a hero may not necessarily be a hero, and a villain well, he might just be doing his job, so it doesn't make him evil, just misunderstood. Heroes don't wear capes in this story, because as Sam taught us, capes don't mean you can fly. And villains don't always sit there stroking a white cat saying they've been expecting you, most just skip the introductions and go straight to killing and maiming.

In this story, the first monster the Winchester brothers were exposed to destroyed their lives. Killing their Mother and leaving their Father damaged beyond repair. All Sam and Dean had growing up was each other, and Sully, but Dean wasn't too convinced about the imaginary friend Sam walked around with. But one day that all changed.

It all happened one stormy night, the lights of the motel they were stuck in were overly bright and sore to the eyes. Little Sammy could hardly get comfortable on the bed he'd claimed when they first arrived a week prior, desperately trying to get some sleep. The poor kid was only nine.

Meanwhile, Dean, who was still newly fourteen, sat on the couch, watching some Looney Toons that ran on the TV all night. He kept his laughing to a minimum so he didn't disturb his little brother, but he was enjoying his time there. Just sitting, eating candy, his second can of root beer in hand. He knew his teeth would ache come morning but that night he didn't care.

His Dad was due back any day, which meant he would get to hear all about the monsters his hero of a Dad cut down and all the towns he'd saved in the process. So he'd planned to stay up late everyday for the entire week so he didn't miss the sweet sound the Impala made when it slowed down to stop. Or the familiar noise of the car door opening and shutting, or his Dad's footsteps which he'd remembered the sound of since he was a little kid.

He wasn't going to miss seeing his Dad walk through that door. Because he needed to know he was there, actually there with them, not in his mind, not in a dream, actually standing there. He needed to know his Dad wasn't invisible. Needed to know he wasn't Dean's own Sully.

Another hour went past. It was close to midnight. Sam's light snores could be heard as he slept on top of the comforter. Dean cleared up the empty cans and disarray of empty candy and chocolate wrappers. Making sure not a crumb was in sight.

Preparing to go to bed himself, he made sure to cover his brother up, pulling off his shoes for him then slightly nudging him so he could be underneath the covers. Luckily kid Sam was a much heavier sleeper, and lighter in weight too. He went back over to the TV and made sure the light was off so he knew the TV itself was turned off, and went over to the kitchen and washed up two glasses. Deciding it was best to leave the other stuff for the next morning.

Filling each glass with water, he brought one over to Sam's bedside. Making sure it was far enough that he wouldn't knock it over in his sleep, but close enough if he needed it throughout the night.

But just as Dean was getting ready to sleep, his teeth brushed extra well, all so he didn't have to face the nightmare of a dentist, there was a knock at the door.

He'd missed it!

He'd been so busy brushing his teeth the sound of water falling out of the faucet must have cloaked the noise of his Dad's car pulling up. But he wasn't taking any chances. His Dad had taught him better than that. The shotgun John had left behind was beside the front door, clear as day if he ever needed it. He just hoped he wouldn't accidentally shoot his Dad anywhere important if it came to it.

His overthinking led him to receive another set of knocks. The coded knock that his Dad always did whenever he'd come back from a job, it was something they'd invented when Dean was three and convinced their was a monster in his closet. His Dad would do a secret knock on the closet door to repel any monsters and alert him that he was safe. He wasn't a little kid anymore, he knew a knock wouldn't repel any monsters hiding within the motel walls, but it always made him feel somewhat safer. Because even though a knock that could repel monsters wasn't real, the monsters themselves definitely were.

So he put the full glass on the countertop and took a look out the peephole, confirming what he thought. He couldn't help but smile when he saw his Dad standing on the opposite side of the door, his leather jacket fit him perfectly, so much so that Dean couldn't help but wonder if it would fit the same on him.

Without another second for anyone to even breathe, Dean opened the door, smiling at his Dad who just walked on inside to dump his bags. John noticed Sam sleeping calmly in his bed, so he turned towards Dean.

"Any trouble?" He asked, like a broken record whenever he came back to the motels he made the boys stay in.

"No, sir." Dean replied, still standing by the door, the handle still grasped in his hand. His voice was starting to get deeper now, not as cracky or squeaky as it was when he first hit twelve. He felt like he was becoming a man.

But John wasn't focused on him, he was looking out the front door, towards where the Impala was parked just outside. He didn't move just looked towards the car he'd bought oh so many years ago.

"You coming in or what? You'll freeze out there, kid, but be my guest if that's what you want." John said, not to Dean, it couldn't be to Dean, because he was inside, and it definitely wasn't Sam. So the former swivelled his head from behind the door to look outside. Only to lock eyes with a girl. Well for about five seconds because she soon broke eye contact, but it was enough for Dean to see her eyes. They were a mixture of blue and green, the slightly blue tinge in her iris fading into a light green. He thought about how his own eyes were similar and yet different, he had a lot more green in his eyes. But for some reason he preferred hers to his own boring irises.

Slowly, with her head down to avoid any more eye contact, she walked through the door until Dean was able to close it, keeping the heat inside and to stop Sam from waking up because of any random noise outside. She just stood there, silent, barely able to look at any one of the two guys in the room with her, just focusing on the furniture.

"You can take Dean's bed, Dean'll sleep on the couch, I'll sleep in the car." John said, solely focused on the girl he'd brought back here. And Dean didn't question him. "Get some sleep kid, you need it after all you went through tonight." John said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder, and yet the girl didn't move even an inch as John went to open the front door again. "Liz, this is Dean and that's Sam over there, they're my boys. Dean, this is Liz, she's gonna be staying with us for a while." And with that he walked out for the night, shutting the door after him. Dean soon locking it as was instructed.

He took a step towards the girl now, noticing how the bright motel lights weren't so sore to the eye at that moment, they were just reflecting on her golden blonde hair. And he grabbed the full glass, holding it in front of her as a sort of piece offering. Luckily for him she took it.

He didn't know what had happened to her, but she had scrapes and a few burns dotted across her arms, like she'd been struggling to escape a burning building or something like that. And he swiftly got to work finding the correct supplies out of the first aid kit they kept in case of emergencies. The girl was surprised at him for that, soon noticing herself how bad her arms were, she'd first seen them when the paramedic was trying to bandage up some of the burns, but she'd completely forgotten about them. And just like that they were sore again, like they hadn't been treated at all. Which was technically true because John had pulled her away before they could treat her properly.

"If you sit down, I'll help treat those for you. Otherwise they'll scar a lot worse." Dean said sitting at the round dining table, pulling a chair out for her to sit on. Which she soon did, hesitantly offering her arm to him so he could treat her. Dean soon got to work, wiping at the scrapes with disinfectant, careful not to graze past any of the burns. Only ever causing her to wince a couple of times when the disinfectant got too close. He was concentrating. "You don't have to tell me anything, it's none of my business, but you're safe here. I'll make sure of it." The last sentence he said right to her face, making eye contact once again, seriousness in his voice.

He meant it, even she knew that.

Eventually, when Dean was satisfied with his work, he watched her go over to the spare bed, watched as she grasped the bed covers close to her chest, watched the rise and fall of her figure. Then, and only then, did Dean turn in for the night. When he knew that everyone was safe. Even checking on his Dad through the window, his big frame being able to be slightly seen from a certain angle, him passed out asleep in the back of the familiar car.

Dean slept well that night, despite being stuck with the couch. Because at least he wasn't alone. Sure he had someone else to look after, but he didn't mind. He was just glad to have the company.

He was just glad to have something that even slightly resembled family. After all, 'Family don't end in blood, but it doesn't start there either'. And those were the wisest words Dean Winchester would ever know in his entire life.

———  APOLLO SPEAKS  ———
Whole new prologue!! The old one was driving me nuts, it was so damn bad!! But what do we think of little Deano's perspective?? I love it!! Baby Dean or just younger Dean is adorable and underrated, he deserves a lot more 😭. And yeah, Chuck's a lousy writer and a lousier editor, but I kinda wanted the realness of like integrating Liz into the Winchester gospels ya know, she's gonna play a big ass part in them. But you just wait to see how Liz affected his childhood man, he's gonna realise just how much of a difference she made!! I'm slowly falling in love with this book again, fingers crossed🤞.