Ooooooh new chapter! And a good one. Why the book store.

Ah, now things are heating up! Trials to close the gates of Hell are sure to add a bit of spice to the gang’s lives. Knowing what I do about the Trials (though obviously I don’t know how much will be the same about them as this AU unfolds), I must say I’m inclined to praise Dean for sniffing out a threat in them straight away. I also agree with Sam and Bobby: the world is at stake, their own lives too… They were already sticking their necks out trying to fight angels and demons, so what more can a little bit of Trials to seal off Hell forever throw at them that would be more dangerous than what’s already on their plates? Still, Dean’s caution is warranted. It’s never good to rush into a situation without understanding it as best you can first, ESPECIALLY when life-threatening danger levels are involved. After all, if these Trials were to get the lot of them killed, then who could possibly take up the fight in their place once they were gone? I guess my point here, or at least a point I’m noticing here as I mull over this chapter, is that you’ve done a good job of setting up two sides to the coin of how to face this situation. You’ve made both arguments clear, and shown why each is valid. And through it all, you’ve managed to reaffirm the belief that, whatever these Trials do entail, it will be big stuff. So you’ve created a lot of anticipation, too. Well done setting up this next leg of your story so nicely! If this were an anime, I could easily point to this chapter as the beginning of “the Hell Trials” arc. ;) And now, onto the meat and bones of this chapter!

First, I enjoyed this:

“ ‘Trials?’ What do you mean by trials?’ Sam inquired. ‘Like court trials?’ ”

I liked that for a couple reasons. First, I actually don’t recall anyone in canon season eight asking that question, and quite frankly now I’m surprised nobody did. The word ‘trials’ does have a variety of meanings, so the first time they heard the tasks referred to as ‘trials’ could easily have sparked this exactly search for clarity on the definition. ESPECIALLY given Sam’s personal history with being a Pre-Law student at Stanford University. Which brings me to the second reason I liked that line… You called back to Sam’s personal history with being a Pre-Law student at Stanford University! You did it subtly. You didn’t have any of the other characters drive the point home too hard by saying, “Oh, that’s right. Sam studied this stuff! Look at you use that Pre-Law knowledge, Sam!” But you did allow him to interact with this new information in a way that made sense for him, personally. You could technically have had any of them ask that question, but having Sam be the person to ask showed that you know him well, and his history, and were able to utilize that knowledge most naturally when constructing the conversation. *Inspector Gadget Christmas Movie voice* That’s good! ;)

This was also good:

“ ‘Meet me at Hills Park as soon as you can. But be discrete.’ ‘I’m here. I don’t see you.’
‘What? What do you mean you’re…never mind forget it. I’ll meet you there in a minute.’ Dean rolled his eyes and headed over to the park that was meant to be the meeting spot. ”

Ah, a little bit of classic Castiel behavior. I enjoyed that a lot. You didn’t overdo it with him. You aren’t trying to force a spotlight on his social awkwardness or his lack of proficiency with normal human behavior… However, you haven’t forgotten that this is not the Castiel of later years. This is Castiel very shortly after meeting the Winchesters, and this is a Castiel who hasn’t yet learned how to mingle inconspicuously with humans. I liked seeing that you pay enough attention to that difference in his personal growth at this stage in his life, while simultaneously not overusing it. You know to include it to an extent, but you also know that a little is enough. Great work!

Finally, I liked this:

“ ‘So your plan is to prevent the devil from rising by closing the Gates of Hell?’ ‘That’s the plan, yeah.’
‘That sounds reasonable.’
‘Does it?’ Dean asked aloud. ”

I liked that exchange because it felt very /right/ to me. Like you were conveying the right emotions from both of them. From Castiel there was a rather detached attempt to finalize his understanding of the plan, with a slight hint of trying to offer support for it without fully understanding how to do so. Meanwhile Dean seemed to be a mix between sarcastically pointing out that nothing about the plan sounded ‘reasonable’ at all, but also genuinely asking Cas to confirm if he means it, because maybe it’s more ‘reasonable’ than he feels and some reassurance that they aren’t all batshit crazy would be nice… So yeah, I felt like your dialogue selections there, and their pacing, really fit the moment perfectly and got across exactly the right emotions from both characters for that moment.

Phenomenal chapter! I’m sorry to be out of chapters to read at the moment, but I’m also extremely pleased to be caught up at last on what I’ve been behind on for far too long. Also, it was really nice to be able to sit down this morning and binge through several chapters in a row, not gonna lie. Lol Anyway, I hope you keep up the stupendous work, my friend. I’m proud of you for sticking it out with this story even when times have gotten tough, and I sincerely hope you are proud of yourself for it too. You most certainly deserve to be. And here’s to chapter 31, whenever you are ready to post it! :D

Well this chapter was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I was right along with Dean on literally everything he felt about the ‘blood of an innocent’ and the calf from start to finish. Lol But before I get into that, let me first point out that I appreciate the way you managed to string us readers along with Bobby, Sam, and Dean. I was right there with them falling for Chuck’s minor ruse, thinking that he believed he was instructing them on a spell to permanently ward off demons. I had my suspicions that he was wrong, mind you. Something like that sounded too good to be true (which is ironic, I know, given the whole ‘close the gates of Hell and lock up all demons in there forever’ thing being the reality that got dropped after lol), but I definitely didn’t expect for Chuck to have been bold-faced lying to buy himself some peace and quiet to take a real crack at the tablet. Nice set up and execution of that mini plot twist! :D And now, to describe favorite parts of the chapter…

First, there was this:

“ ‘It deters demons.’
‘Haven’t we come across better less murdering innocent ways of doing that?’

I liked that you could tell /precisely/ who was the one responding to Chuck there, without needing the dialogue tag of ‘said Dean’. Lol I suppose technically it could have been Bobby, but I was already like 1000% certain it was Dean before Sam confirmed it in his following line. Also, yes, I immediately knew it was Sam who followed up with, “Not to sound ungrateful, but is that all that has to offer?” I knew it was him because you’ve been consistent throughout the interactions with Chuck, having Dean be the aggressive and sassy one, while Sam is more polite and hesitant to offend Chuck. Because of that you were able to easily show who was speaking just by staying true to HOW they were speaking. That’s not an easy feat. A lot of the time in fluid dialogue moments in writing, it’s tricky to keep track of who’s who unless there are names tied to statements. But sometimes tone is enough to convey that important information, if it’s written distinctly enough. You pulled that off very well here, so kudos to you!

I also liked this:

“ ‘How many ‘kinds’ of innocent do you think there are out there Sam?’ The older brother’s brow furrowed. ”

I like that Sam’s brain is already turning, already trying to figure out a way around the seemingly obvious ‘bleed a child’ instructions, whereas Dean can’t fathom that there would be a way around it, and he’s already formulating his arguments as to why they are absolutely not going to bleed a child. It exemplified two of their strengths: Sam, scheming for a way to avoid morally skewed actions to preserve their own morality, and Dean, firmly set in his opposition to morally skewed actions but not so much thinking of ways around it, just putting his foot down with a hard 'no, it ain't happening'. (Yes, I know they both ultimately operate in the moral gray many times throughout the canon series, but I think at their core, when confounding factors such as ‘this will save your brother’s life’ aren’t at play, they both lean towards these ways of approaching morality.) Good job showing that clear peek into their minds and how they approach such situations!

Finally, I loved EVERYTHING about how you had Dean about the bleeding of the calf. It seemed very in character. We’ve seen Dean demonstrate sympathy for animals many times in the show. Feeling bad for rabbits that always get screwed over by witches, feeling bad for the dog in season 7’s “Repo Man”… Sure, he’s a meat loving, burger munching man. But that doesn’t mean he wants to kill the cow himself. I could relate. I also like that he was immediately angered by the fact that it had all been entirely unnecessary because Chuck had been lying. For all his eagerness to get answers out of Chuck since they started working with him, it still wasn’t lost on him that Chuck’s little fib had just cost a calf its life. I think that spoke to Dean’s moral compass a lot, too.

Another excellent chapter! I’m sad I’ve only got one more left to read for now. But alas, I press onward because I am invested in whatever is coming next. :D

Alright. It’s been a lifetime, but I’m finally back to review the most recent chapter(s)! I’ll spare you my repeating details here of why it’s been so long. You already know them all anyway, seeing how (thankfully) reviews and PMs aren’t our primary means of communication anymore. Lol Also thankfully, you’ve been busy sticking to this story! I think it’s awesome that you’ve been so motivated to complete it; your continued progress on it impresses me, given that I know how difficult life has been lately on your end, too, and not to mention I know all too well that the motivation to write at all is an elusive creature indeed. :P All that being said, you’ve not stopped writing. You’ve kept going and working hard on this story all the while, and for that you should really take a moment to pat yourself on the back. Or buy yourself a cookie. Or 12 Snickerdoodle cookies. ;) Now it’s onto the meat of this review; let’s talk details! :D

First, I really liked this from Bobby:

“Because I don’t know about you but this is my first apocalypse and I don’t know jack or squat about what to do and unfortunately I haven’t come across any ‘How to stop Armageddon for Dummies’ books.”

That right there is truly classic Bobby. I could hear it in Jim Beaver’s voice perfectly, and I thought it was a perfect mix of gruff, sarcastic, and yet uniquely poignant. Bobby was prone to making snappy remarks like that, but always in a context where he was making a good point. Your line reminded me of one of his favorite lines from season 4 I think: “Here, let me look it up in my Demon-Detox Manual. Oh, wait. No one ever wrote one!” You certainly captured that same energy from him beautifully with your dialogue, but it was also unique enough to clearly be its own thing. Just a very, very /Bobby/ thing. Which was terrific. :D

Next I very much enjoyed this:

“ ‘Where are you going, Dean?’ The younger sibling huffed.
‘Out,’ he answered shortly. Sam threw his hands up in the air.
‘Didn’t you just say –‘ his words were cut off by the motel door slamming. ”

I thought that was a fantastic Sam and Dean exchange. I loved how you incorporated action into it. From a writing perspective, it can be hard to remember sometimes when writing arguments to have the characters use their body language as well as words, or to have them interact with their environment in addition to the person they are speaking with. You managed to balance it all quite nicely here to achieve the effect of a very real, very fluid moment of argumentation. Sam’s tossing his hands up in frustration, Dean closing the door on Sam before he could finish pointing out his hypocrisy.. It was all very well put together and I definitely thought you deserved to know its quality stood out.

Finally, I got a kick out of this:

“ ‘Does that mean, do you know what happened to Dean when he was in Hell?’
Chuck shook his head. ‘Sorry, no.’ The younger man’s shoulders slumped at the answer. ”

I guess I just found it amusing and in character that Sam would so readily snoop into Dean’s time in Hell that way. Like, I understand he means well and is trying to understand what Dean went through so he can offer support. But at the same time, it never seems to cross Sam’s mind even in canon season 4 that pressing Dean to talk about HELL might be a little insensitive, and maybe Dean isn’t ready. I mean, as time wore on and it was obviously eating Dena up inside it became more appropriate for Sam to try and get him to open up and feel supported. But I’ll never forget that within minutes of Sam being reunited with Dean in the season 4 premier, Sam straight up asked Dean, “What was it like [in Hell]?” Like, whoa, dude. Too soon. Lol That’s like asking a solider fresh off the battlefield, “What it was it like, that war?” And Sam trying to get information about Dean’s secrets or traumas through Chuck here without Dean’s permission… It was very much in that same vein. True to Sam (though again, I know he means well) he isn’t thinking that it might be invading an important area of privacy. And I’m well aware Dean has invaded Sam’s privacy many times, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying Dean never does. I’m just saying this particular circumstance under which it was Sam prying into Dean’s delicate history was captured well by you in this AU.

Another phenomenal chapter, and I look forward to reading the next two that I see you’ve posted. I would say “keep up the great work!’, but again, I see you’ve got two more, so I’ll save that for after once I’ve caught up on the already existing great work. ;)

Ohhhh. The Trials... not gonna be any easier, are they... *bites nails*

Chuck, you little fucker! Poor Dean... and poor Sammy too... I just hope that spell isn’t as bad as the canon trials

haha Poor Dean upset about killing a calf when he eats burgers and steaks. :)
And this should have been a hint to them later, that Chuck will do things to them just for his own amusement or interests. Nice chapter.
Hope you and yours have safe and happy Holidays too

You do a good job of writing the prophet/author Chuck. :)
He really did string the boys along for a while.

Trust boys... hard gained, easily lost... and Chuck, you fucker!

is this still being added to? im half way through the previous story, then i realized that this one might never be finished!

Hooray! It’s always good news to see you posting again. As always, I’m late to the party, but I assure you I’m enthusiastic all the same! Lol It’s cool to see this story continuing on, and to get to dive back into it. It’s been awhile since I read it, and I can honestly say that when I hopped back in I felt immediately re-immersed in the world of Sam, Dean, and supernatural. The good old days. So I mean that as a high form of compliment; you write their voices well enough that it instantly calls to mind the best of who they are in canon for me. Well done! I’d also like to point out some of my favorite lines from this chapter, so onwards 私は行きます(watashi wa ikimasu)! ;)

First, I really liked this:

“ ‘Ok I know this is all a little…a lot, right now,’ Sam started keeping his voice calm. ”

I like that either way you hear that in your head (“this is a little *pauses and corrects himself* a lot, right now” or “this is a little…*implied use of ‘bit of’*…a lot, right now.”) it is still funny and Winchestery and entertaining. Nice job. :D

Next, this was fun:

“ ‘The moment I touched it it was like being on the teacup ride at Disneyland during an earthquake in a blender.’ He explained. ”

What a colorful and vivid description from Chuck, as well as from you. Reading that instantly made me a little queasy as my mind tried to process how it would feel to see so many lights and colors swirling past at high speeds while also being shaken up. Yikes. Lol

This was my favorite line from Dean this chapter:

“Pretty sure more like the guy that the song is about. But kudos for knowing who Ozzie is.”

It was very true to Dean to take a moment to acknowledge someone’s rock and roll trivia knowledge, even in the midst of a demon-related emergency. Lol Plus, your phrasing came off just right for him: good mix of casual and to-the-point, all at once.

Finally, this bit of banter was great:

“ ‘I’m fine, why?’
‘Because we’ve been talking about food for the last few minutes and you’ve just been silently staring at nothing.’
‘So?’
‘So, it’s unlike you to not have anything to say on the topic.’ ”

I love that Sam assess Dean’s mood by determining how unusual it is for his brother not to participate in a food discussion. I mean, Sam isn’t wrong. That is a REALLY solid indicator that Dean’s mind is elsewhere, and probably on something dark or at least serious. But still, it cracks me up. ;)

Again, excellent chapter! I’m really glad to see you continue with this one, and I look forward to reading the rest of it as you go along here. Keep up the awesome work! がんばりて(Ganbarite)! :D

Ahhhh there’s our ferrety Prophet! You write him beautifully!

Thanks, I was worried not seeing any chapters in a while.

Dean must really be worried about what that demon said to not hear the word Food. LMAO

I think, when you're rolling with a Prophet and he isn't having visions, then no news is good news! Chuck isn't talking about anyone taking and giving, so it's only a demon thing at this point.
And yeah, if Dean isn't weighing-in about food choices, it's probably a sign of the apocalypse or something dire. lol
Chuck can only have tacos if it isn't Tuesday ;)

What happens now?
I am into all your stories. You just hang us out to dry.
Pls,pls, finish!