SpN Fic: Inertia
Title: Inertia
Rating: G
Spoilers:General for the series, specific for Pilot, Wendigo, Dead in the Water and Salvation but nothing major.
Pairing: none, gen
Disclaimer: I am not hiding any Winchesters up my sleeves, nor is there a '67 Chevy Impala in my garage. I do not own them... I just take them and mess with their pretty little heads.
Summary: Best described by: Inertia: "The characteristic of matter whereby a stationary entity remains stationary unless acted upon by an outside force." - Wordplay: The Philosophy, Art, and Science of Ambigrams, John Langdon.
Notes: Written for philosophy_20. Claim - the Winchester Family, prompt #4 - Inertia. This is a little different from my usual style, but you should try everything once... well, most things.
Sometimes you have to make a choice, well, you always have to make a choice about something, but sometimes it is different, sometimes the repercussions spread further than you think they do when you first look at them. Sometimes what seemed easy when you first came to it is actually the most difficult thing you will ever have to decide.
Let me tell you a story.
**
Once upon a time there was a man, and he fell in love with a beautiful woman. They got married and were very happy together, and in the natural course of things they had two beautiful children. The four of them had the sort of idyllic life you imagine after the words ‘happily ever after’, or ‘the end’, and nothing marred their perfect little world for none of them knew that, in order for them to have that wonderful life, other people paid.
A priest in Minnesota was killed by a poltergeist. A psychic in Illinois was murdered by a possessed client. A hunter in Lincoln was left to bleed to death in the woods after a confrontation with something a little less common than your average bear.
But the little family carried on oblivious, and when the younger son began to have strange dreams and headaches he went to the doctor and got a prescription and told himself that the woman he saw on the ceiling was just a product of stress and paranoia and he ignored it. Nothing touched their bubble of oblivion, as other people died for their normal.
**
So you make a decision after a lot of deliberation, because some nightmares are necessary, and some infections protect against worse diseases. You choose something that looks terrible, but protects more than just that one person and you watch and you wait, seeing it all unfold and confirming your decision a thousand times over.
Then, as things are wont to do, it all comes round again, and you are looking at a decision so similar and yet so different, and you wonder: if I just did the opposite this one time, if I took the easy way for once.
And so begins another story.
**
Once upon a time there was a man who fell in love with a woman. They got married and had two beautiful children. The family was happy for a time before that happiness was ripped away from them in a night of fire and blood and death.
So the woman died, sacrificed on the altar of the greater good, and the man took his young children and he began to fight. He fought a poltergeist in Minnesota, saved a psychic in Illinois and made friends with a fellow hunter in Lincoln and was there to carry him back and bind his wounds when it seemed as though he would die of them.
Their eyes were opened, and their hearts were broken. But even the most painful of wounds can heal in time, and the youngest of the broken family left in search of peace, away from the pain and suffering.
And he found it, and when he found it he also found love and his own version of happily ever after. One day his brother came and told him their father was missing, and he went and he helped him look for a while, but he returned to his love as soon as he could, while his brother drove off into the night.
His happiness went on, and he married the beautiful woman and they remained together forever, safe and secure in their world.
And while he was enjoying his blissful normal and once again ignoring the world he knew existed, his brother died in an old mine in Colorado, eaten alive by the monster that lived there. Two families drowned in Wisconsin, and his father, grown old and worn and careless, when it finally comes to it, falls into darkness and he is left looking out at a world free from heroes. But the tears dry quickly as the bodies mount up and he feels no remorse for the lives of those he does not know.
The dreams come, but he does not listen, because he had them before and they meant nothing, so why should they mean something now? He ignores them, and takes medication to drown out the voices he hears, because nothing must destroy this utopia.
One day he too has children, and he does not teach them of the world beyond the bubble, and their ignorance is their bliss as the blood on their father’s hands goes unnoticed.
**
And you stand back once more, and you do nothing, because sometimes, by doing nothing you cause other people to do something, and that result is more powerful than any one thing you can do.
**
There is no once upon a time in this story, because it has no true beginning, and it has not ended yet, and even if it had, there would be no happily ever after.
In a world of darkness a man fell in love, and for a brief time he was lucky enough to have happiness that some other people never have a chance to experience. In one night, it was snatched away from him and he was left with the memory of light and a pain that would never leave. So he began a crusade.
He fought for vengeance, and through his despair, other people found hope. He brought death, but he saved lives, and every thing he killed made the world that little bit less dark, although he himself was blind to it. He dragged his children down into the dark with him, and they too saw the darkness beyond the fabricated light. They grew up and fought at his side, and with the loss of their innocence they protected that of others.
Then one of them left, to pursue his dreams of happiness, and he too was granted his wish. He dwelt in light for a short period, enjoying his days and experiencing that same blessed happiness that his father had had before him. But like his father, he too lost his dream to fire and hatred, and so he took up his father’s quest and rejoined his family.
When the dreams came he listened, because he knew what they meant now, and so he fights harder and longer. He has reservations, but there is no other course for him, so he follows the trail into shadow and prays that there is something on the other side. He prays to the person who let his happiness slip away, but curses them too, because he cannot see the bigger picture.
**
Sometimes you have to make a choice, and it is hard, and it is painful, and people hate you for it. But when you see the consequences, can you honestly say it was the wrong one?
Rating: G
Spoilers:General for the series, specific for Pilot, Wendigo, Dead in the Water and Salvation but nothing major.
Pairing: none, gen
Disclaimer: I am not hiding any Winchesters up my sleeves, nor is there a '67 Chevy Impala in my garage. I do not own them... I just take them and mess with their pretty little heads.
Summary: Best described by: Inertia: "The characteristic of matter whereby a stationary entity remains stationary unless acted upon by an outside force." - Wordplay: The Philosophy, Art, and Science of Ambigrams, John Langdon.
Notes: Written for philosophy_20. Claim - the Winchester Family, prompt #4 - Inertia. This is a little different from my usual style, but you should try everything once... well, most things.
Sometimes you have to make a choice, well, you always have to make a choice about something, but sometimes it is different, sometimes the repercussions spread further than you think they do when you first look at them. Sometimes what seemed easy when you first came to it is actually the most difficult thing you will ever have to decide.
Let me tell you a story.
**
Once upon a time there was a man, and he fell in love with a beautiful woman. They got married and were very happy together, and in the natural course of things they had two beautiful children. The four of them had the sort of idyllic life you imagine after the words ‘happily ever after’, or ‘the end’, and nothing marred their perfect little world for none of them knew that, in order for them to have that wonderful life, other people paid.
A priest in Minnesota was killed by a poltergeist. A psychic in Illinois was murdered by a possessed client. A hunter in Lincoln was left to bleed to death in the woods after a confrontation with something a little less common than your average bear.
But the little family carried on oblivious, and when the younger son began to have strange dreams and headaches he went to the doctor and got a prescription and told himself that the woman he saw on the ceiling was just a product of stress and paranoia and he ignored it. Nothing touched their bubble of oblivion, as other people died for their normal.
**
So you make a decision after a lot of deliberation, because some nightmares are necessary, and some infections protect against worse diseases. You choose something that looks terrible, but protects more than just that one person and you watch and you wait, seeing it all unfold and confirming your decision a thousand times over.
Then, as things are wont to do, it all comes round again, and you are looking at a decision so similar and yet so different, and you wonder: if I just did the opposite this one time, if I took the easy way for once.
And so begins another story.
**
Once upon a time there was a man who fell in love with a woman. They got married and had two beautiful children. The family was happy for a time before that happiness was ripped away from them in a night of fire and blood and death.
So the woman died, sacrificed on the altar of the greater good, and the man took his young children and he began to fight. He fought a poltergeist in Minnesota, saved a psychic in Illinois and made friends with a fellow hunter in Lincoln and was there to carry him back and bind his wounds when it seemed as though he would die of them.
Their eyes were opened, and their hearts were broken. But even the most painful of wounds can heal in time, and the youngest of the broken family left in search of peace, away from the pain and suffering.
And he found it, and when he found it he also found love and his own version of happily ever after. One day his brother came and told him their father was missing, and he went and he helped him look for a while, but he returned to his love as soon as he could, while his brother drove off into the night.
His happiness went on, and he married the beautiful woman and they remained together forever, safe and secure in their world.
And while he was enjoying his blissful normal and once again ignoring the world he knew existed, his brother died in an old mine in Colorado, eaten alive by the monster that lived there. Two families drowned in Wisconsin, and his father, grown old and worn and careless, when it finally comes to it, falls into darkness and he is left looking out at a world free from heroes. But the tears dry quickly as the bodies mount up and he feels no remorse for the lives of those he does not know.
The dreams come, but he does not listen, because he had them before and they meant nothing, so why should they mean something now? He ignores them, and takes medication to drown out the voices he hears, because nothing must destroy this utopia.
One day he too has children, and he does not teach them of the world beyond the bubble, and their ignorance is their bliss as the blood on their father’s hands goes unnoticed.
**
And you stand back once more, and you do nothing, because sometimes, by doing nothing you cause other people to do something, and that result is more powerful than any one thing you can do.
**
There is no once upon a time in this story, because it has no true beginning, and it has not ended yet, and even if it had, there would be no happily ever after.
In a world of darkness a man fell in love, and for a brief time he was lucky enough to have happiness that some other people never have a chance to experience. In one night, it was snatched away from him and he was left with the memory of light and a pain that would never leave. So he began a crusade.
He fought for vengeance, and through his despair, other people found hope. He brought death, but he saved lives, and every thing he killed made the world that little bit less dark, although he himself was blind to it. He dragged his children down into the dark with him, and they too saw the darkness beyond the fabricated light. They grew up and fought at his side, and with the loss of their innocence they protected that of others.
Then one of them left, to pursue his dreams of happiness, and he too was granted his wish. He dwelt in light for a short period, enjoying his days and experiencing that same blessed happiness that his father had had before him. But like his father, he too lost his dream to fire and hatred, and so he took up his father’s quest and rejoined his family.
When the dreams came he listened, because he knew what they meant now, and so he fights harder and longer. He has reservations, but there is no other course for him, so he follows the trail into shadow and prays that there is something on the other side. He prays to the person who let his happiness slip away, but curses them too, because he cannot see the bigger picture.
**
Sometimes you have to make a choice, and it is hard, and it is painful, and people hate you for it. But when you see the consequences, can you honestly say it was the wrong one?