righteously: (⁸ I ᴄᴀɴ ʜᴇᴀʀ ᴛʜᴇᴍ sᴀʏ)
ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪɢʜᴛᴇᴏᴜs ᴍᴀɴ ( ᴊᴇɴɴɪғᴇʀ ᴀɴᴋʟᴇs ) ([personal profile] righteously) wrote in [community profile] entrancelogs2013-12-14 10:35 pm

Happy Holideans Guys

Who: Dean Winchester, Emma Swan & COMPLETELY OPEN
Where: Literally all over Wonderland
When: Dec 15-24
Rating: R for language, violence, adult themes
Summary: When Emma agreed to acompany Dean on his stupid suicide mission of inevitable death and idiocy, neither of them prepared for the mistletoe. Or, you know, the freaking time travel.
The Story:

The Arrival


They ran out of canned food. All of the stockpiled supplies had been growing steadily more scarce, but it’s probably the cans that finally triggered Dean’s decision to push through with the back-up plan brewing in his mind for the last several weeks. There was beef jerky- god damn, they had beef jerky by the friggin’ score, but with so many mouths to feed, it wouldn't last. There were hunters- actual game, what was left of the animals in the forest and the fish in the ocean were being picked off one by one for sustenance in much the same way that the Jabberwock was picking them off for sustenance.

Soon, there would be nothing. Soon, they wouldn't just have to worry about losing those last few precious lives to the roaming beast, but to starvation. Dehydration. Sickness.

Tom’s been stirring up talk about a second trip to the core, but morale is low. It was a stupid plan the first time around, it’s even more stupid with so many fighters taken out of the game. With so many injuries, with so few extra lives to spare and, more importantly, with the Jabberwock more strong than he’s ever been.

In the end, it’s not a difficult decision to make. Not by a long shot. Too many people are gone already, and waiting for more to go is stupid. He’s not going to do it.

Michael’s there, the Archangel, an ever present beacon of power and possibility, and though things are different now than they were back home- hell, different now than they were years ago in Wonderland’s less horrific years, there was always small part of him that protested the very notion of giving in.

That small part’s been ground to dust.

It’s a no-brainer. Dean says yes.

It’s a small piece to a bigger puzzle, a bigger and, admittedly, probably doomed plan. Cas had been able to take the Jabberwock down in the beginning. It had taken effort, a great expenditure of grace, but he'd been able to slay the beast over and over again to grant them a temporary reprieve. After it swallowed the Vorpal Shield, that bastard ground him into dust. Michael is stronger, though- a thousand times stronger, at least he would be in his true vessel. If they could get rid of it for good together, or, Christ, even just put it down temporarily, long enough to give Wonderland a chance to gather it’s strength, it might fix everything.

If it meant burning Dean out of his body, so be it. If it meant risking losing his remaining lives in the process, he was so far beyond the point of caring.

It would have to be done in secret. The fewer people who knew, the fewer people likely to stop him and the fewer to possibly get caught in the crossfire. He kept it to himself, kept it from Jo, from Sam, from Ellen, from anyone and everyone likely to put their fucking fingers in the mix and make things messy. He'd keep it from everyone if it were feasible, but it simply isn’t. He needs someone to take over in the event it doesn’t work, needs somebody to help him get to where he needs to be, and that someone is Emma.

She had tried to argue against it, tried to use logic to point out why it wasn't worth the risk, but it hadn't lasted long. He had trusted her for a reason; she understood what it meant to be a leader, to go forward and take a chance because the payoff would be beyond worth it if you could pull it off. That didn't mean she liked it. Dean was more than a friend and more than someone to take orders from: he was family now, more like family than just about anyone she'd ever known. Orphans were forced to build their own families, and if they were lucky, sometimes they made a friend like Dean who fit the bill completely, someone who could offer understanding and solidarity like no one else, someone else who knew what it felt like to lose and to grow up too fast and to make the best of what you had.

The idea of this going south and losing him, losing their leader, losing one of the best friends she’d ever had made her stomach drop and her chest feel tight. If it worked, it would be damn near a miracle, though she was hesitant to use the word. She never gave her approval, not really, but she let him know that he could trust her. Trust her to help him through it, trust her to pick up the pieces if it failed or if he didn’t make it back. Meanwhile, she’d spend as much time as she could trying to convince him to take another course, trying to figure out alternatives. She knew what taking the risk could earn them, and she wasn’t going to forcibly stop him -- she respected his decision -- but damn if she wasn’t going to try to get him to change his mind in the eleventh hour.

In the end, they go anyway. Gearing up is a grim affair, done in the silence and secrecy of Dean’s private quarters, tucked away in the back of the refuge. It’s the middle of the night, the civilians and refugees are sleeping. The resistance patrols are circling the small perimeter of the sanctuary they’ve carved out of sweat and blood. They slip through the cracks, through the woods, through the rubble and the dying gardens without a word or a sound. Even footsteps in the grass seem muted in this place.

The entrance hall and lobby, once a grand affair, is dirty and dingy and cracked. Dean can’t help but to sweep his eyes over it as he crosses the entranceway, doors broken in and swinging wide. They could be fixed, but why bother when the beast would simply break them down again and again?

It’s silent, deceptively so. His hands are tight on his gun as he pauses to listen, ears sharpened by Michael’s burning him dormant in the back of his mind. They’re waiting, saving it, saving his last few minutes with the angel tucked into a space too small for him while Dean steers the ship. As soon as Michael takes over, that energy will explode into something grand and heavenly, something burning bright and overpowering, but not yet.

His jaw tightens, and his eyes flick to Emma. One firm nod signals that the coast is clear, the need for words erased by time and familiarity.

She doesn’t like this any better now that they’re here, but as they cross the threshold, the deal is sealed. There’s no going back now, no chances to duck out and find another option. All they have left is to go forward, to follow through with this stupid plan she has no choice but to go along with. Dean is just as stubborn as she is, and they have a job to do. She couldn’t talk him out of this, but she can help him try to protect everyone here. Try to free Wonderland from tyranny and make it someplace everyone can live again, not just survive.

The signal is enough, and she moves forward with her gun pointed at the floor in a two-handed grip. She’s brought the replica of her father’s sword she managed to pull out of the closets all those years ago as well, sheathed at her hip, but it’s more of a good-luck charm than anything. A comfort. If she’s close enough to the Jabberwocky to use it, then it’ll already be too late. She’ll be dinner, and she’s running out of deaths.

She moves forward through the front foyer in time with Dean, their footsteps slow and deliberate, careful not to break the too-heavy silence that’s bearing down on them. Any moment, she expects that the Jabberwock will pierce it, slice through it like it’s nothing, sense them or smell them and somehow just know that it’s no longer alone. They’re on its turf now, and the beast has every advantage that comes with playing on the home field. Still, it’s not the Jabberwock that makes her stop dead in her tracks when they turn the corner.

It’s the mansion itself.

The cracked and crumbling ruin the mansion has become is gone, lush carpets and whole, unbroken mirrors in its stead. Garlands, holly, doors still on their hinges and none of it looking like its become the stomping grounds for something as ravenous as the predator that’s taken over Wonderland has proven to be. She relaxes her hold on her gun, just a hair, turning her head alone to narrow her eyes at Dean in question. What the hell is going on here?

His brow furrows as it tracks over the garland, over the wallpaper, over everything. Slowly, he looks to Emma. Meets her eye, and tightens his grip on his gun.

Whatever this is, it isn't good.

--

This is a catch-all for both Dean and Emma. They'll have their own subthreads to keep things organized!
halfwinchester: (♟ the earth and the wonderful seas)

[personal profile] halfwinchester 2014-03-15 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
[He's missed the drama, clearly, being cooped up out of the way where he's off the main stage and not privy to what's really been going on around here the last week or so. The way Emma talks, Adam's made more aware of that fact than ever, but being off the front lines is where he wants to be, too.

Guilt. He's feel guilt that he hadn't known what kind of gun barrel she'd been looking down until just now. There's trepidation, too, at being indirectly tasked with the fate of another world. He's not one of the guys who changes things, he can't.

He doesn't say that, though, because she's basically just said she has terminal cancer and isn't going to make it. You can't say the pessimistic "c" word after that.]


... Wow's, that's... pretty depressing, even for me.

[She says it with such a straight face, too, much braver than he could've. There's a rumble of something like laughter in his chest. Weak at best.]

You have to give yourself up for something that might not even happen.

[How very Winchester.]
cursebreaking: (go away;)

[personal profile] cursebreaking 2014-03-17 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[There's a reason she gets along with his brother so well, though she knows better than to point that out to this Adam. They have a lot of things in common, though the amount of willingness varies.

She shrugs a little, forcing a wry smile. There's not much to be cheerful about, but she can't complain, either. This trip back has been a golden opportunity, even if they can't guarantee the results.]


Depressing, maybe, but I can't really complain about it. It wouldn't do much good.

[Resigning herself is better. Making use of the time she has left is better.]

I have to trust the people here to make it happen. And I do. There are good people living here, people who will make things right now that they know what's coming. I have to let it ride on them. Don't think I won't be writing myself a detailed letter, either.
halfwinchester: (♟ torrents of misery to thy soul)

[personal profile] halfwinchester 2014-03-19 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Guess so. But waiting to die--the same as disappearing or not existing at all--is a bleak future to look forward to.

Emma deciding to spend some of her limited time here with him means something, even if Adam isn't quite sure what it means yet. He shakes his head with a quiet, slow kind of incredulity.]


That's going to be some letter. Then I...

[Frowning at the floor, he straightens up from the counter. Moving to her, he hesitates before putting out his hand for a handshake goodbye. Future friends or not, he can only think of what he'd like to be doing if he was convinced he had only a little bit more time in paradise left. He wouldn't want to be here with him all day.] Then I guess if this is a temporary stop for you, there are other things you'd rather be doing. You should go, tell them everything you need to.

[And he'll be fine. If not fine, he'll be alive, and that's more than he'd been able to say before Wonderland.]
cursebreaking: (Default)

[personal profile] cursebreaking 2014-03-24 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, it will be. I don't expect present-me to take it all that way. She has trouble taking things in stride sometimes. Ever the skeptic, even when she's got every reason not to be.

[To be honest, that hasn't changed all that much over the years, but she likes to think it's improved. She takes the offered hand, giving it a firm shake.]

I wouldn't say 'rather' -- but you're right, you're not the only friend I have to check in on.

[She pauses, dropping a hand against her hip. Going in for a hug is probably a bit too much for this one.]

It was good to see you, Adam. Really good.
Edited 2014-03-27 03:35 (UTC)
halfwinchester: (♟ in a radiant stab of pure light)

[personal profile] halfwinchester 2014-03-27 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't really blame her--or you. You know, with this.

[Because it's a lot.

And from where the original Emma's standing, maybe if or when she gets back, she'll more daunted than not to find out she's supposedly going to be trapped here for years. That can't be pleasant, even if her future self isn't so bad. And it's sad, too. Sad in a strange way to think a final "goodbye" is coming right on the heels of a "hello." The entire idea of thinking he has a friend he's never met about to possibly take a very extended hike makes some of that prickly hedgehog armor of his retract as they shake.

He keeps on watching her, not sure what to make of her but regretting in a way that there's not more time to find out.]


Wish it wasn't my first time. Maybe you'd see something you recognize. [See something in him, that is, a sign between friends that he doesn't have the future memories to give.] But good to meet you... again.

[He adds what this Emma needs to hear for her own sake:]

I might not know everything about what's going on, but the people around here are pretty tough. If there's a way to change what happened to you, it'll happen. They'll be fine. And I'll be fine.
cursebreaking: (say goodbye;)

[personal profile] cursebreaking 2014-04-06 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I appreciate the vote of confidence.

[And she does -- she has that same confidence in all of them, trusting the current residents to take this warning sign seriously and do what they need to in order to protect themselves, to change what's coming.

It'll happen. It has to.]


Be good, okay?

[She smiles wryly. He doesn't really need to be told, but she doesn't feel right about leaving without saying something.]

I'll see you again soon. Or she will, I guess.

[That said, she offers him a wave before heading out into the hallway.]
halfwinchester: (♟ battling without my friends)

[personal profile] halfwinchester 2014-04-07 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
[Be good. The first thing he thinks is that she sounds almost biblical--be good, don't let those demons in your head take over, take care of whatever's left of your soul. Be as good as all that Hell taint allows.]

I'll try.

[He tries for a smile, too. He'd like to say don't die or don't unexist or whatever she thinks is about to happen, but with everything they've talked about it seems almost inevitable.

Maybe it's better this way, maybe it's not.]


Yeah, okay. See you... Emma.

[He follows to linger in the doorway, one hand on the door.]

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