Fic Post (yes, I know): Genesis, Supernatural

[stillane]

Blame this one on Shakespeare for making me write around him rather than on him. Apparently, it makes me allegorical.

 

In my defense, it is rather short.

 

Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing: None (gen)
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Um… metaphorical ones? Even those are vague.
Feedback: Is snuggled like a firstborn child. Even if it's ugly.
Summary: The sea and the sky speak. Life happens.

Author’s note: If you turn the characters into anthropomorphisms, does it still count as a deathfic? If so, does it help to know it’s not either Sam or Dean doing the dying?

 

Genesis



It began with fire. Most things do.

The sky said to the sea, ‘It’s okay. I have you.’

It lied, of course, like all good things. It meant the truth, which counts more. The sea was too small to know the words, and only knew the real. The sky held the sea, and the land held them both, and they were the world.

The fire was warmth and fear, and the sea could never look at it for long. There were sometimes shapes in the flames that were right, but only ever cold ashes after.

The land was solid and strong, mostly. Sometimes it moved, and sometimes it shifted without warning, but never so far that the sea lost the feel of it. The coastlines were ragged, but familiar.

The sky stayed in place, always. Where it met the sea it shaped it. Sometimes gently, sometimes not. They played and roughed and pushed, and were better for it. They whispered, and were better for that, too.

One day, the sea began to notice its borders. The land defined its edges, and the coasts that were sturdy and good before began to chafe. They were safe, in their own fashion, which pleased the land but not the sea. The sea pushed and bit, and the land pulled itself too tight around the rebellious waters. They became harsh to one another, and too distant in their collision. The sky could never hold them apart long enough.

The sea said to the sky, ‘I’m gone.’

It pulled deep into itself, down as far as it could go. It found things new and strange and wonderful. It teased through bright fishes, lay quiet among tall reeds, spoke to cetaceans and seals with wide, sweet eyes. If it sometimes saw the dark shadows and large teeth, they were never too close to ignore.

The sea closed its eyes.

The land still lay around and below it, so obvious and ancient it passed unnoticed. The sky stole through it, little breaths that appeared in the oddest moments. The sky stole pieces of the sea, too, and kept them hidden carefully. Only when the sea looked away, though, so that it might never know.

The sea did not go far enough

The fire came and went, and took the soft eyes and soft smiles with it. The sky was faster but not stronger, and could not save these things. It kept the sea, though, and held.

They did not know one another. The sky seemed without substance now. The sea had new paths and currents. The sky could not see below to map them, but it knew of the shadows. When the sea turned its head, the sky gave back the pieces it had kept, each drop a strength. The sea learned the patterns of the wind, slowly.

The dragons came, fierce and terrible. The sky could twist them and turn them, and the sea could hold them under, and none were a match for both. They began to whisper again, and to sometimes need no words. They knew. The sea had forgotten this language beyond even the missing of it. The sky had not. 

Mostly it was good.

The sea and the sky searched far for the land, fearing it gone. It hid from and for them, until the bright sun brought it clear. The land and the sea met carefully, unsure and glad. The sky stood beside them rather than between. It was a strange peace.

But water and air cannot move as earth, and they parted again for a time.

It ends with a whimper and a bang. The rest is silence.

The sky throws forth lightening, and the sea batters furiously, patient with fate. The land brings the jagged edges of its mountains and the darkness of its caverns. It is the fire which ends itself, finally. The warmth wraps long, graceful fingers around the throat of the fear, grasps until there is no more of either. 

It is so very quiet, this coming of the light.

The land is still at last. The sky falls. The sea waits below, and holds fast. It gentles, and carries, and washes the wounds. When there is clarity, it is only for them. Each forms the boundary of the other, remembers the right curve to the wave and the right speed of the wind until they are remade. For the first time, they are calm.

There are still dragons. The sky fights them, as always, and the sea follows, as sometimes. The sky waits for the empty place where the sea once was to be again. It is a long wait. Finally, the sky looks for those things the sea has always wanted, and those things the sea has always needed, and doesn't see them. The sea smiles, its depths clear.

The sea says to the sky, ‘It’s okay. I have you,’ and this is the truth.

Comments

[hinokumo.livejournal.com]

Wow. I haven't really watched enough of the show yet to identify the characters 100%, but I think I have an idea. Very cool, especially the last two lines.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

I haven't really watched enough of the show yet

We shall have to fix that. *g* Although, the difficulty in character identification may not dissipate... I might have been a little too abstract here. The cheatsheet goes something like this: Sam is the sea, Dean is the sky, John is the land, and both Mary and the Grand Evil (tm) are part of the fire.

Thanks for hanging in there throught the oddity :>

[hinokumo.livejournal.com]

OMG I totally guessed it right! That's either really weird or a good sign of how much I'll like it :D

[innie_darling]

I feel like I should read this a few more times before posting, but given the mess my apartment is in right now, that's not going to happen.

So am I totally off-base or is Sam the sea and Dean the sky? Because this line - The sky held the sea, and the land held them both, and they were the world. - gave rise to that suspicion and these lines - The sky stayed in place, always. Where it met the sea, it shaped it. Sometimes gently, sometimes not. They slapped and roughed and pushed, and were better for it. They whispered, and were better for that, too. - pushed it further. And the image of four-year-old Dean climbing into his brother's crib and becoming all that Sammy could see, sheltering him, really works with your imagery.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

So am I totally off-base...?

Nope. Got it in one. There's a picture in my head for each bit of it, and the one that goes with that first line you mentioned is the scene from the pilot, with the three Winchesters on the hood of the car, chaos around them.

Your snapshot for the second line is wonderful, by the way. I've got this theory that the two of them would have their own language worked out, or at least their own codes. Words that are nonsense to everyone else. I like to think they spent the longest nights trading these in the dark, being safe. One of these days I'll get around to actually building on that premise...

Thanks for taking a break from your apartment cleansing to take a look :>

[girl-wonder.livejournal.com]

This was interesting. I like the way that you can see who everyone is without saying specifically who they are.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I worried about that, actually; my 'clear' isn't always a shared state *g* So glad you could pick them out.

[concernedlily.livejournal.com]

This is lovely. I love the lyricism and the mythic quality; the Winchesters as elemental forces is just right.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

*sigh* Such forces of nature, those boys. Given what they do on a daily basis, it's awfully tempting to take a larger than life approach to them, every now and again. And then they do something like gobble hor douerves shamelessly, of course...

I have a friend doing a thesis on fairy tales, and I think it's starting to diffuse my way. I suppose there are far worse bugs to catch *g*

[ohnoscarlett.livejournal.com]

Wow. I loved it. Gorgeous. It reads like a Native American myth. I've got the chillies. Lovely.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Hee. Thank you! I don't know that I've ever induced chillies before. Cool. *g*

[charityflint.livejournal.com]

Wow, this was positively breathtaking. Incredible imagery and allegory.

As someone else mentioned, "I love thinking of the Winchesters as elemental forces," and I completely agree. Being raised a Christian, I can also see the Genesis elements, how the sky was placed to separate the land and the waters, and yet watch over them both.

Amazing, lyrical and symbolic work. Thank you so very much for sharing it.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

All other considerations aside, there's something very beautiful about the language itself of scripture and legend and myth. I've loved it all for as long as I can remember. It's all so very... large, and deep. There's something inherently wonderful in that, I think.

Of course, the horribly, horribly geeky part of me also wants to make bad puns about the Winchesters being filed under 'Acts of God' on insurance claims. *g*

[pheebs1.livejournal.com]

Wow I loved the circularity of this. Starting with Sky having sea and ending the other way around. Wonderful extended metaphor, very lyrical language, I just..really liked it. I didn't get lost as I thought I would. I could quote every line for it's meaning, but that'd get dull, so I'll just say I liked the way they could all be read. Especially 'each forms the boundary of each other' - great comparison.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Whee! I'm thrilled to hear it wasn't so far inside my head that it threw you :> It really was written mostly to keep me sane while contemplating the prescribed, formulaic paper that I should have been working on. My brain is an inconvenient rebel. *g* Thanks so much for reading, and enjoying it!

[pheebs1.livejournal.com]

I liked that my brain had to work a bit to figure it out, whilst not getting lost, made me feel awake! Clever to keep the metaphor working and stuff too. May I please friend you, not sure what your friending policy is?

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Certainly! One can never have too many nice people about!

[pheebs1.livejournal.com]

~Cool, will friend you now.

[parkersolderbro.livejournal.com]

I am blown away.

Your approach to the Winchesters here is incredible. And I want you to know I didn't have any trouble following it.

From...

It began with fire. Most things do.

The sky said to the sea, ‘It’s okay. I have you.’

...it was undeniably clear who was who and what was what.

I feel like I could be fishing for the right words all night, and the truth is I'd probably never have them, not the perfect words you deserve (and you do deserve them, perfect words of praise). This was beautiful, unearthly in it's telling. I understand it's mostly a retelling, but it feels powerful all the same. It's moving, and evocative, and I love it quite honestly, and I just wanted to say thanks.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

I... wow. Thank you. I'm a little bit stunned, in very wonderful ways. I'm so glad it worked for you. I didn't write anything creatively for a very long while, and the last year of settling into this space has reminded me just how much I missed being that person. Words like yours remind me that half the experience is the sharing. Thank you.