So - it’s been eighteen months, but this crazy idea - writing for other people, that is (or, rather: writing knowing that someone will probably read it) - I’m still not used to it. And working on this story - there were moments I thought I couldn’t do it, and that I couldn’t finish it, because I knew how it needed to be (how I wanted it to be) and simply couldn’t put the feelings down on paper. But, well - my beta @grey2510 and my artist @emrysmerlin read this story first, and encouraged me to keep at it - both of them actually climbed inside my mind, and it’s been half exhilarating, half eerie af to see how much they made the story theirs. And this is mostly what I love about fanfiction - that we all know these characters already, and we love them deeply and we understand them, so we don’t work so much as separate people when we create and consume stories and art about them, but as a warm, smiling, bee-like consciousness. Grey noticed at once when my Dean wasn’t Dean enough, and Cristine knew what Cas’ wings should look like even if I hadn’t described them. And this, to me, is true magic.
(Thank you so much, guys - it’s been a pleasure working with you.)
This story goes online tomorrow, and I’m slightly terrified. Slightly. So, here is what going to happen: I like writing on AO3 in real time, which means the story will become available chapter by chapter. It could take me up to three hours to post the whole thing, so be warned - if you’d like to read without interruptions, or to download the whole thing, please wait for the upload to be complete. Art-wise, there will be a masterpost on AO3 and (hopefully) on tumblr as well, because Cristine’s art is something else and it needs to be shared - a lot. If you like it, please remember to leave kudos and drop by her tumblr or AO3 page and let her know, because she really put her heart and soul into it and she’s a wonderful person. And also: like I said before, this story is extremely visual. It started off in Florence because I was too lazy to research how American cities work, but it ended up being a kind of love letter to places which are really, really meaningful to me. I don’t know if I’ve done a good job describing them, and I wanted you guys to be able to see it all, so - especially for those of you who’ve never been to Italy - I created a series of postcards featuring the most important locations of The Way Out. I will try to embed them in the story, and you’ll also find them on my tumblr (with photo credit, information about the place and a random fact about Italian culture), but beware of spoilers! If you don’t want any spoilers at all, please read the story first (I hope the embedded images will show up even if you download it, but it probably depends on the reader you use) and then go to sigh at the beauty of the art masterpost and - if you’d like - come to my tumblr to read the postcards properly.
And this is all that comes to my mind right now. See you guys tomorrow?
The Way Out by awed_frog
[art by @emrysmerlin; beta reading by @grey2510]
Rating: M
Archive Warning: Author chooses not to use Archive warnings
Category: M/M, M/F
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Toni Bevell/Sam Winchester
Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Castiel, Crowley, Charlie Bradbury, Toni Bevell, Alastair, Lucifer, Balthazar, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Angst and Feels, Pining, General Misery, Friendship, an hour of wolves and shattered shields, Time Travel, unethical use of John Donne, TFW, welcome to Florence, Christmas Cheer, Christmas Gloom, Deep Bond, Undying Love
Summary:
Things are going pretty good, which is why Dean should have seen it coming. Sam and Toni are so in love it’s disgusting, the big monsters are all gone or dead, and Dean and Cas - yeah, okay, so they kissed and now they’re kind of together, okay? Shut up.
No, the second Dean had caught himself thinking about food processors and beach holidays, he should have fucking known his happy ending would turn around and kick him in his fucking teeth. And now it has, and they’re supposed to get on a damn plane and put on monkey suits and have Christmas dinner at Lord and Lady Bevell’s, and Dean just can’t - he can’t face it, he can’t breathe, he can’t even see through the injustice of it all, because Cas - Cas - Tell me why. I deserve that much, at least. An alternate take of season 12 set in the Florentine winter. Canon-compliant (98%), painful as hell, and - hopefully - also a story about the beauty and mystery and resilience of the human soul - and the brutal, undying strength of true love.
Read it on AO3 on OCTOBER 18TH.
Teaser, part 10/10 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9].