#grieving!sam

[kizzer55555]

DPxDC: Jarro Adopts an Alien

Ok, so Danny has a space obsession and a protection obsession (I headcanon that as a halfa, Danny has two obsessions like all Halfas do which makes them unique to other ghosts.) and so while he can get his fill protecting people in Amity, he struggles with his space obsession. Sure, he can look up everything he can about space and the stars on the internet. He can stay up until 2 am looking at the stars (who needs sleep? He’s a ghost, he can go days, or even weeks without sleep if he wants, same with a lack of air or food.) but it’s just not enough. He craves to learn more, see more. Just as Dani gets that itch to travel, Danny wonders. What would it be like to see the stars up close? Are they really as hot as a dragons fire breath? Hotter!? Or maybe they are so hot they are cold. What does it look like to see plasma dancing across the surface, or touch the gasses of Jupiter? Does Pluto have ice caves like the far frozen? How many planets are actually out there? What about Mars. There’s a whole species living there with a language and culture Danny can’t even fathom! Oh what he wouldn’t give to talk with martian manhunter or Superman. 

And what’s stopping him from exploring this? He can fly. He doesn’t need air. He can go intangible if it gets too hot and he’s practically immune to the cold. He wants to touch a space rock! See if they are smooth because there is no wind or earth to rub against them and erode the surface. He wants to see what planets they come from. What minerals they might have. He wants to know if there are currents in space. All of these things are right there just above the atmosphere. Surely it couldn’t hurt to take a quick peek. So he does. During a particularly bad day Danny flies as fast as he can until the earth’s gravity looses its effects. Until his hair is floating as of it’s in water even more than normal. Until he can feel when breathing no longer became a choice (still not necessary though). And it…was beautiful. To be surrounded by space. To see the earth like this. Pictures just didn’t do it Justice. He flew across the solar system and as he passed planets, he longed to fly through them. To search every crevice and learn their secrets. But he had a bigger prize in mind at the moment. The crown jewel of their universe. The closest star he could find. The sun. 

Danny was mesmerized. The plasma really did dance across the surface. Like a never ending performance of science and beauty. There were sparks that few in arcs. Danny flew down and played in them, making a game to see how many he could fly under. His ghost core purred in delight. His obsession had never been more satisfied. He spent hours out there. Just exploring what his solar system had to offer. So when he returned? He couldn’t just forget. Pictures and online science theories had nothing on the real thing. He wanted to explore some more. So he did. Every night he would go out and explore the cosmos. Flying from planet to planet. (Either the Martians were still around and Danny made friends with them, even learning their language, or he just looks at their ruins to learn as much as he can). And with both obsessions now being filled, Danny is more settled. More confident. And he can focus better. Everyone notices the change, even his teachers. They just think that he’s paying more attention to his education now. He’s even better during his ghost fights. 

But Danny can fly awfully fast. And he soaks up information even faster. Soon his trips take longer and longer as he flies further out. Sometimes he can barely make it back in time for school. And he can't go every night. Sometimes the ghosts won’t wait for daytime so he has to make sure the town will be safe in his absence. Although he’s been able to take more trips ever since Valerie joined the vigilante ranks. But still, he’s getting farther and farther from earth each night. Until one day he’s visited every planet, every star, every comet or debris in their solar system. Which would be fine. He could deal with that if that was all there was. But it wasn’t. Danny saw the stars just out of reach. He saw places the Milky Way was leaning towards. He saw just the barest hints of new solar systems with new planets and stars. And he knew of legends from lanterns that they had posted online. Heard tales from some scientists that have made better telescopes. And his core itches. It aches to know more. See more. Yet he can't go further. And this puts him in a sort of depression. Suddenly he’s back to his old self. Lagging behind. Distracted. Zoning out. Crashing into a few more buildings during ghost attacks. Yet he tries so hard to be satisfied with what he has. He can still fulfill his obsession…it’s just more like chewing on a granola bar rather than eating a decent meal. He’s almost becoming lethargic. 

So one day he goes to Frostbite to see if there’s anything he can do to lessen the effects. But the yeti just takes one look at him and gives him the infimap. And suddenly Danny is in a whole new universe in seconds. The planets are purple. The stars are blue. He’s pretty sure there are furry blob-like creatures living on one of those planets. And suddenly he gets that itch, but holding the infimap, he knows he had time, so he lets himself go. 

And for a while it’s good. great even. Since he can’t keep asking the yetis for the infimap, he goes over to Wulf to see if he’s up for an adventure. Most of the time he is and they go exploring the galaxies together. And then Wulf had the genius idea of teaching Danny how to make portals. It took a long time but soon, he could concentrate the surrounding ectoplasm enough to weaken it and pull. It took a while since Danny didn’t have ecto claws and would have to use his pure will. But this would allow him to follow his obsession anytime, anywhere. So it was only a matter of time. And once he figured it out? It was like something was unlocked. Danny had never before understood how Ellie could travel so much. But now he did. That feeling when you discover something new. When you add to your reservoir of knowledge. When the patterns in the universe just click. There is nothing Danny could compare it to. And to explore that whenever he wanted? It was so freeing. While Wulf sometimes still joined Danny’s adventures, Danny did most of his explorations by himself. 

He meets various planets and aliens. So many different cultures. He learns thousands of languages. Tries all kinds of foods (and it’s a good thing his ghost self has an iron stomach and he’s basically poison resistant.) even found a whole comet where blood blossoms grew. (Which he most definitely avoided). And wasn’t that fascinating? To find out they were from space. 

And then during his travels one day he met a space alien starfish. 

It was actually a funny story. A meteor shower was about to attack a planet of talking blue monkey creatures with 4 arms. Danny immediately started diverting them and was soon joined by some lantern corps (which his inner fanboy wanted to talk to so bad.). And a tiny starfish in a…Robin uniform? Oh and the starfish could apparently do martial arts which was interesting to watch him karate chop a meteor. He could also talk directly into Danny’s head which the halfa found more interesting. So they got to talking and apparently his name was Jarro. He seemed to be helping the lantern corps as a ‘proxy from earth’ to make better use of his skills. 

Danny would run into Jarro a few more times. Sometimes he was with Lanterns and sometimes he would just be exploring the galaxies. They started forming a pretty strong friendship and Danny would start seeking out the starfish alien to travel with him. He knew all kinds of space facts. Apparently he had an eidetic memory. When they explored, sometimes Jarro would just stick to part of Danny. Wrapped around his arm, his waist, sometimes just sticking to his back like a strange backpack. But they always had fun.

So Danny was happy. He could fulfill both obsessions and got a space pal. Everything was great!

Until the GIW caught him. 

It would probably be the worst day of his life.  There was an explosion in the lab. Something set up by them after they realized Danny frequented that place often. So they set a trap and blew it up. Thankfully, Jazz was at college during this but both his parents were home. When the explosion went off, Danny had tried putting a Barrier around them all. It took everything he had to maintain it. That’s how they found out he was phantom. Danny had a few moments where his parents said they accepted him but he couldn’t hold the barrier for long. His parents said that they loved him and then everything went green. He woke up in a lab, tired and injured. His only saving grace being that he remained in phantom form. And he was determined to remain so. 

Danny’s time at the GIW was a haze but eventually, he managed to escape. Bleeding, and tired, and still recovering from the burns in the explosion, Danny made a portal straight to Amity. Only when he got there, it was a ghost town. Streets were empty, buildings were boarded up. Even the Nasty Burger was deserted. As for his house, there was nothing but a crater left and some scattered debris. Danny looked everywhere but there was no one. No Jazz. No Sam. No Tucker. No one. and he was tired. And everything hurt, and he needed a friend. Someone he could trust. So in a daze he made a portal and tried to just project safe. Safe safe safe. Somewhere he knew he would be protected. And so Jarro got a surprise when his space buddy suddenly popped out of a green portal, bleeding green and clearly passed out. He didn't know what to do. He didn’t know how to help him. But Jarro knew someone who would. 

So with a speed never before seen from a tiny starfish, he flew to earth. Bringing his friend straight to his father. Because surely batman could help!

And with his appearance, the green blood, the knowledge of space facts. The lack of wanting to talk about where he came from (and the nightmares crying out for his parents). This is how the bats became convinced that Jarro brought them an injured alien. 

[fosliie]

Please believe me when I say I love you

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 130

So. Danny, Ellie and Jazz are definitely Not on the run. They’re definitely not. They’re definitely not huddled up in an abandoned corner of Gotham being kept warm and guarded by Fright Knight, who has definitely not let his whole humanoid shape disappear into a more amorphous one of Fear and Shadow and Flame to keep everyone away. 

They’re definitely not alone now, their parents definitely aren’t dead now. They’re definitely not stitching up Danny or stabilizing Ellie. They’re not making a sling for Jazz’s broken arm and crying as the ghost of Autumn tries to soothe his ghostlings wards. 

[quietwingsinthesky]

i love when dean winchester beats his brother like he’s his wife

[ariadne-mouse]

Oh god are they gonna work this into the animated intro somehow once Sam has a new character. Emotional damage all over again

[hunkydorkling]

And Mommy loves you so much.

(gif version under the cut)

[h-didanart]

Bloodmoon in dresses collection, round two!

And this ones come with lore!

Starting off with Jack’s friend, Original, the lone Bloodmoon.

Due to living in the theatre he has a lot of access to the costumes, which means he can just grab whatever he wants whenever he wants. He grabbed a tutu and painted it red because any other colors are lame, and drew some patterns on it, it was Jack’s idea to add the ribbons, cloak fluff, and leg warmers.

He doesn’t know why, but he really likes these clothes. They feel familiar.

I spent a “normal” amount of time thinking about this next pair.

Bloody and Harvest aren’t ones to change their clothing a lot, but while they were walking around town they saw something that had a cool pattern that they both liked. This is something that rarely ever happens, their clothing tastes are extremely different, so obviously, they had to do something about it. It was later that they realized the cloth they saw was actually a skirt, and they were saddened by this fact for all of five seconds before realizing that it was actually a good thing, they could just wear it over what they were wearing already!

They really don’t look like it, but they’re actually kinda fine with this whole event (even if they really only have one thing to wear)

And the last one for today, Fang.

Fang wanted to participate because Scythe was participating and seemingly having fun, but Fang didn’t know where to get the clothes from. And then Fang remembered that the Sun-Man (Sunset) had a lot of clothes in his room. So Fang stole the dress from the Sun-Man. Fang also saw some pretty flowers on the way back, so Fang took the flowers too. Scythe helped with the hat and ribbons

Ignore the dried blood, Fang got hungry

[kerryweaverlesbian]

They really fumbled the season 14 emotional core specifically by not having Mary be present and recognisably Mary for MOST of the season. It feels like we see more of her after her death than before it, and when we do see her before it she's a completely different character who's their uncomplicatedly loving mom.

Take season 10 Charlie, who was present and dynamic and alive and forming new relationships with other major characters and was generally a big part of the plot for season 10. Take season 12 Mary even! So cool they fridged her thrice. The high level of emotion from Dean and Sam after her (apparent) s12 finale death was meaningful to the audience because Mary IS season 12. Take season 7 Bobby! He is active and present and having an emotional arc and has been consistently a part of the fabric of the show.

And compare these to season 14 where she is living in a cabin with an unimportant side character, she's being sweet and motherly full stop, she's in The Pearl where her husband comes back from the dead and she has NO complicated scenes or emotions to process with Dean or Sam and gets maybe 3 lines in the whole 'pisode. The show doesn't give a fuck about her. And this is after season 13 where she's mostly in another world doing fuck all.

For a death to have weight in fiction you need to remind the audience consistently that THIS CHARACTER IS IMPORTANT by having them form new relationships, do things for the plot and generally be present onscreen. As it stands, even though intellectually I know that if MY mom got killed and her murderer came to see me going 🥺 it was her fault really 🥺 will you comfort me 🥺 and I knew they were going to kill more people, I would probably be easily persuaded to put them in eternal prison or shoot them in the head - the emotional truth of it on the show just doesn't carry through.

It feels like an overreaction for Dean to be so angry about this for so long because the show didn't care about Mary enough to have her around. What is he losing by not having her around? In season 14, they don't show us. They did in s12 - the potential to be seen, and the complex joy of getting to know his actual mother rather than the idea of her. And by not showing us, it makes it not exist, because its a tv show and anything that isn't being depicted implicitly isn't important to the story. If you removed all of Mary's scenes from s14 before her death, what would change? Pretty much nothing.

Now to be clear, I don't think they should have fridged Mary at all. But they could have at least done it properly. The sexism that made the writers less bothered about characterising Mary thoughtfully in s14 is a blight on the show.

[starheirxero]

Yk, I wonder if Eclipse is grieving in some weird way too.

Not grieving in the "I miss him, I cared about him more than I can ever even express" way, but grieving in the "you were supposed to be here too, damnit," way. In the way that he feels unnerved by the empty spot behind the theater counter. In the way that he stares at his workbench and feels an awful mixture of smugness for outlasting his "better" counterpart and anger because he assumed their tense confrontations would always be a part of their shared existence in this universe.

Grieving in the way that is less "I cared about Solar" and more "you were one of the few constants in this universe—someone I could always find, someone I could always predict how to react, someone that was also tied up in the mess of my existence—and you're gone. No one is filling the shoes you left behind. No one could even if they tried."

Not sure if this is what the show is actually going for, but I think it's fun to think about either way......

[wanderingcas]

all right. here it is. i'm still grieving, i'm still.... hm. everything - but this blog will not be. i need a slice of peace. so if you need that slice of piece too, you're welcome here. this is safe space neutral zone we don't think about it. because the world/news/daily reality won't let us think about anything else.

[moonlit-dreamers]

petition to give ruin a hug say i

[imavikingo]

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Pairings: None

Word Count: 2,238 Words

Summary: Ruin accidentally reveals a means to the exact person he shouldn't have.

Warnings: Overworking, Sleep Deprivation, Passing Out, Grief/Mourning, Fluff, Angst, Magic, Stabbing, Injury, Blood (oil), Crying, Touch Starvation, let me know if I should add anything else.

To Give And To Take Back

"I can't figure it out…" Moon finally admitted as he stared at the data.

"I told you." Ruin told him.

"Please… Shut up." Moon sighed as he looked at his battery percentage that had drained to two percent over these last seventeen days. He hadn't bothered sleeping or charging since Solar died, didn't want to be offline for that long when he could be finding a way to reverse this.

Moon sighed and paged Eclipse to come help, to which the annoying orange and black bot showed up to a good two minutes later of Moon basically sitting on fumes of his charge.

"What?" Eclipse asked.

"I'm under two percent, get me to a charger, please." Moon asked him and Eclipse sighed but plucked Moon up easily as the blue bot passed out against his shoulder.

"God, ya didn't have to go deadweight on me!" Eclipse growled, hauling Moon up closer to keep him from just flopping onto the floor and sighing as he readjusted his hands to carry Moon's body like a damsel.

"Still bothering to help them, are you?" Ruin asked.

"What the fuck does it matter to you?" Eclipse growled.

"Such a finicky bot. I knew you'd be a problem from the moment I made you." Ruin gave a simulated sigh of disappointment.

"I wish they'd have let me kill you." Eclipse snapped.

"Oh? Feelings now? You're getting those? I wonder, feelings for the one who put a bomb in your head stressing himself like this or are you sad as well that Solar is never coming back?" Ruin asked.

"It doesn't matter!" Eclipse defensively growled.

"I think you're grieving." Ruin gave a simulated chuckle.

"Like hell." Eclipse shot back.

"You're not denying it, Eclipse." Ruin told him. Eclipse turned around to carry Moon out without another word, refusing to look at the genocidal maniac in the cell.

"You know, not that you can do it, but there is a way to undo what I've done." Ruin told him. Eclipse halted but didn't respond. "Curious are you? You know what it entails, don't you? But you know you can't do it." Ruin taunted.

"Who said I can't?" Eclipse didn't wait to hear the response before leaving with Moon and carrying him to the daycare and into the portal to Moon and Sun's house. Sun was on the couch with old videos of Solar playing on the television with both of Sun's cats curled up on their owner.

Eclipse carried Moon upstairs to his bedroom and laid him in bed, covering the animatronic with the blanket and making sure he wasn't pinching any oil lines in the position he was in.

Then Eclipse went back downstairs and shooed the cats off Sun and hooked his arms under Sun, hauling the yellow animatronic up into his arms and carrying him upstairs to his room. Eclipse did the same process of getting Sun into bed and covering him with the blanket as well.

Eclipse went downstairs as the cats bolted past him upstairs into Sun's room to curl back up on their owner as Eclipse headed to the portal back to the daycare. Eclipse looked at the computer as he sat down at it and sighed.

"You display signs of high stress." The computer announced.

"Fucking great analysis, stupid piece of junk." Eclipse growled.

"You are keeping knowledge to yourself from the others. Shall I alert Moon?" The computer asked.

"No!" Eclipse shouted before realizing how loud he'd been. "No, he needs to charge. He passed out because he hasn't charged. It's…difficult to explain." Eclipse huffed.

"Then try." The computer insisted.

"I know how to undo it. But it's not fully possible." Eclipse told the machine.

"What is the method?" The computer asked.

"That's the issue. If I tell anyone, then it won't work if I do try it." Eclipse put his head against the desk and hid his face.

"Does it involve more death?" The computer asked.

"No. …Maybe if it goes wrong. Only one person, though." Eclipse bit out in annoyance that he was actually thinking about it.

"I understand. I recommend trying it then." The computer announced. Eclipse looked up at the computer.

"Don't give anyone my location tomorrow from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. Once 4:30 hits and nothing's happened or if I don't come back, then immediately tell Moon my location." Eclipse told the computer.

"Understood. Best of luck for your attempt. Get some rest." The computer told him. Eclipse plugged himself in to charge and looked at the time, 2:13am. He had under twelve hours to get this done. Eclipse tilted his head back and slept for a couple hours until he was at a hundred percent, then began looking up internally where exactly he should be for this to work.

Once it hit 1pm and Sun, Earth, and Lunar were in the daycare, surprisingly with Moon, who seemed to be manning the security desk, Eclipse teleported where he needed to be and sat for fifteen minutes, taking out everything he'd teleported to this park this morning before everyone showed up to the daycare around 7am.

With the tiny knife, Eclipse began carving into the grassy field of the park perfecting the runes he needed in the circle around him. Eclipse stabbed the dagger down in the very center like he was supposed to and sat on his knees with it in front of him.

Eclipse grabbed for his magic and pulled it slowly like a tether, bringing the magic pool to the circle of runes he was in, making the outer ring of the rune circle glow. Eclipse looked at the time and saw it was 3pm. Perfect.

Eclipse looked up at the sun overhead, which was partially eclipsed by the moon. Eclipse began pulsing his magic around him to his artificial heartbeat, feeling it thrum with him as he went past it to mentally grasp at the feeling of star power. He had so little time for this before the astral bodies came.

The feeling was so incredibly addicting, like a sweet poison in the back of his throat, the ichor of it tasting a bit like candy as he let the star power and his magic begin thrumming to his heartbeat, Eclipse looked at the time one last time. 3:15pm.

The sun was getting completely eclipse by the moon above, turning the sky dark like it was centered over him, the totality of it blazing overhead. Eclipse, without losing concentration of the magic and star power, pulled the dagger from the ground as the circle around him began to be the only glow around him, beaming like an aurora of mashed colors in a kaleidoscope that pulsed with his heartbeat.

Eclipse turned the blade up and, before he could think beyond it, plunged it forward into his stomach to rip through his center, making oil instantly gush from the wound in his casing and dribble from his mouth. Eclipse pulled it out, covered in his oil, and stabbed it back into the center of the circle in the opposite direction, finishing the circle.

The magic and start power he had kept concentration of melded together in a deep purple color before it seemed to beam up toward the total eclipse above him like a beacon. Eclipse felt the darkness of the eclipse above seem to swallow him whole, as if he was now in its void-like maw.

He simply let it, closing his eyes as he felt it thrum through him like his own artificial heartbeat, making him feel cold and hot at the same time as if he was going through hot and cold flashes and he felt nauseous. The hot and cold flashes passed as he felt like his body had a glow to it now, opening his eyes to see it was, a soft deep purple glow emanating from him.

Eclipse felt the darkness let him go, to stop taunting him as he put his hands against the ground and shone the beacon of his new star power brighter, making it seem to extend to the heavens like a current as it turned brighter, more powerful.

Eclipse didn't have to say anything, his new star power knew what it was doing. He could feel from the magic in his hands the dimensions out there that were slowly coming back to life, all of them. All 5,321 universes that collapsed in the flick of a wrist came back with a bustle, with the damage to the fabric of reality being undone with it.

Eclipse could feel Solar's universe coming back, could feel Solar's panic and confusion as he woke up and every other animatronic, human, and animal waking up in panic and confusion as well. 5,132 dimensions forming back just as they had been before. Over 41.5 trillion lives coming back as they used to be, the multiversal scale righting itself as he did so.

Eclipse felt the darkness lift as the eclipse above him slowly ended and he fell to his side in the circle as it stopped glowing, hands going over his stomach where he'd stabbed it, feeling it healed with phantom pains. He wiped the oil from his face and took the dagger from the circle, using it to carve through the runes to make the circle an unrecognizable patch of newly turned soil mixed with grass.

Eclipse got up, quickly leaving the field, melting the dagger in his hand as he walked out before teleporting back to the daycare once the metal completely melted and the wood crumbled to dust on the ground, leaving no trace of the event that had occurred.

Eclipse put his hands in his pockets as he walked into the daycare, which was bustling with frantic energy. Lunar was running to hide by Earth and Sun was frantically asking Moon what was happening as Sun stood by the ball pit. Moon stood at the computer, eyes panickedly looking over the information the computer was displaying to him.

"Portal open!" The computer chimed happily.

"What dimension!?" Moon asked frantically.

"Unlisted." The computer lied. It lied for Eclipse as it seemed to know just what he'd done. He was sure it did, it had probably had a surge of unlisted dimensions pass through its interdimensional radar.

"Moon!" Sun called to his twin, who was busy looking over what the number of the dimension was. Eclipse pushed him away from the computer to make him go toward Sun, ushering Earth to follow with Lunar as well, giving her a wordless nod.

Moon went to his twin and grabbed Sun's arm, worried about what was happening right now and Earth curiously went over with Lunar against her side. Eclipse followed them with a half-smile on his face, watching as the portal pulsed and then the balls rattled before a very familiar brown and amber face surfaced with an angry grunt, clawing their way to the island in the ball pit.

"Little help here!? My legs still ain't working fully yet! I'm limping like an old man!" Solar called and Eclipse gave a happy half-chuckle hearing him. It was nice to hear his double's voice. It was nice to see his family begin to cry and scream in relief as Moon practically dove into the ball pit followed by Sun to help Solar get out of it.

"You came back…" Moon had amber oil running down his face as tears as he buried his face into Solar's shoulder, probably staining Solar's shirt already but Solar didn't seem to care as he got his footing, standing on the padded floor of the daycare.

"How did you come back?" Sun asked, wiping his face with his wrist ribbons and trying not to cry too much while Lunar and Earth immediately hugged Solar to make sure he was real.

"I don't know." Solar told them. "I just woke up in my dimension and I knew I had to get back here. It was…awful." Solar admitted.

"It was me." Eclipse told them.

"You?" Moon asked.

"I'll probably have astrals on me soon enough." Eclipse went the more roundabout way of telling them.

"You…" Lunar whispered as he realized what Eclipse meant.

"I did." Eclipse confirmed.

"You have star powers?" Moon asked.

"Spatial manipulation. Which I will happily never use again." Eclipse confirmed.

"You brought me back." Solar smiled at him.

"Yeah. Couldn't take everyone crying and moping anymore." Eclipse waved the warm feeling in his chest away, disregarding it.

"Thank you, Eclipse, for letting me come home." Solar loved and hugged Eclipse, which was something he wasn't used to. It made Eclipse's casing tingle and his chest feel warm like he was burning up. Eclipse felt unwilling tears pricking in his eyes and distorting his vision as Moon, then Sun hesitantly joined in hugging Eclipse, followed by Earth and Lunar as well.

Eclipse smiled, feeling his whole body warm with the various hugs. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but he liked this feeling and he felt like he could bask in this feeling for a bit.

It was comforting for his heart having ached hearing Earth sob and Lunar scream and Moon hide and cry himself to sleep, and Sun grieving silently. It felt good to be able to rub it in Ruin's face later. He did the near impossible and survived it too. He was grateful that Solar was back, he missed him just as much as everyone else.

[shallowseeker]

Dean’s grief on speedrun

How long was Cas dead, anyway?

I think they reunited around day 18-24 days ish. The scripts give us some clues. (Based on this post)

==Dean is grieving hard==

He’s not in denial, like Sam seems to be -> “Is he really dead?” “You know he is.”

And because Dean now knows Chuck & Amara, he’s not getting stuck in bargaining stage (his usual MO). There is no door of hope to leave ajar after the cosmic consequences are rendered. (Not even the symbolic going-through-the-motions kind that he never intends to open again.)

No, this time, Dean’s in the throes of an incredibly frightening, paralyzing despair (images).

This is partially due to the fact that he saw it coming, and he fought so hard. He resolved to avoid the looming, cosmic consequences, to “not let Cas walk away, not again (script).” Dean made up his mind to act to protect the, “everything he’s ever wanted (script).”

And still, everything went so wrong.

///

The grief, then, is different. It’s a despair born of crushed hopes and dreams. Not to mention, forgiveness and acceptance—as Dean got onboard to help Cas, regardless of his own misgivings, because Cas “had faith in the kid.” This time, he stood behind Cas when he asked, and it still went rotten.

After everyone dies, Dean pleads with God/Chuck. Chuck is the one who brought Cas back before and the only one who seems able to rebuild angels. He doesn’t answer.

Even though Dean had a special connection to Amara, the one who resurrected his burned-up, supposed-to-stay-dead mother, she doesn’t answer either.

This time, he knows they’re out there, perhaps even listening. And they’re not answering because Dean’s run out of free passes and miracles.

This time, that knowledge crushes him where he stands.

///

DAY 1-2 (Lost and Found)

13x01 starts in the twilight hours after the big Lucifer fight.

Dean takes a shot at Jack, and Jack flees.

Heaven and Hell hunt them relentlessly.

They retrieve Jack from North Cove police station.

An angel stabs Jack in the chest with an angel blade, and he seems astonished to be “fine.”

Sam and Dean take time to grieve and scatter ashes.

The funeral occurs that evening, and they quickly get on the road.

///

DAY 3 ish (The Rising Son)

In 13x02, they're still driving home from the funeral towards the bunker, "12 hours till we get home," and Sam convinces Dean to stop at a motel.

Addition: When they eat, Jack remarks that he's 3 days old. "3 days, 17 hours, and 42 minutes."

Over the course of this episode, per the script, 2 days pass.

They eat dinner, go to a tattoo parlor, meet up with Donatello, and stay overnight in the motel.

Heaven and Hell continue to hunt them relentlessly.

Sam, Dean, and Donatello debate nature vs nurture, with Dean and Donatello leaning towards nature.

Sam psycho-analyzes Dean and delivers euphemisms to Jack about Dean “wanting to protect everyone and getting his wires crossed,” but ultimately, he isn’t forthcoming to Jack about the reality of the situation. (That is, it was Lucifer that killed Cas, and Lucifer who pulled Mary into another world--that Dean's grieving!) These important details might've helped Jack to understand his situation with a lot more clarity and grace. This will cause Jack to cool towards Sam when Dean reveals the truth during an argument.

Demons find them the next morning.

In fact, Dean nearly dies against a common demon, getting cornered on a hotel bed, but he is saved at the last minute by Sam’s interference.

Jack, tricked by Asmodeus, nearly releases the Shadim.

They drive home.

Later, Jack freaks out about being impervious to stabbing. In his new bunker room, he laments, “What the hell am I? I can’t control… whatever this is. I will hurt someone.”

Dean tells him he will be Jack's executioner if Jack loses control.

At most, it's been only 5 days since everyone died.

///

DAY 5 ish (Patience)

13x03 picks up mere hours after they get home, and it covers 5 days total. So, that brings us to a decently solid total of 10-ish days when this episode finishes.

Dean can't bear to be in the bunker with mission-mode Sam and Jack, so he takes off on a hunt.

Clearly in no shape to hunt, Dean dies at the hands of a wraith (and so does Jody). They are both saved by Patience’s interference.

Dean tells Patience there’s no joy in this life. Only pain and death.

Sam and Dean have a huge fight about Jack, during which Dean accidentally gives Jack context to the situation (re: Cas’s death, Mary’s plight). This causes Jack, already exhausted by Sam’s well-meaning training regimen, to cool towards Sam the next morning.

Cas appears to awaken in The Empty on day 9 or 10.

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DAY 10-11 ish (The Big Empty)

13x04 SEEMS like the very next morning, because Dean AND Jack are both still chilly towards Sam. The air is described as arctic, with Dean giving Sam a, "don't even try it, motherfucker," face. Jack accuses Sam of wanting to use him as an interdimensional can opener and "being just like Asmodeus," and Sam comes clean about the truth.

Sam pushes them all to go on a case together. Jack says he doesn’t want to go at first. Sam wants Jack to go with them for the express purpose of forcing Dean to be around him and warm up to him, which isn’t fair to Dean or Jack…not really.

This storyline covers the family therapy scene (great analysis), wherein an interesting attempt at therapy is made under dishonest constraints.

Dean, still clearly in no shape to hunt, is easily overtaken by the shifter and nearly dies. He is saved by Jack’s interference.

According to the script, 13x04 occurs over 4 days. Commentary//

That means that Dean thawed to Jack, after our total of a mere 14 days. By the end of this episode, they're on shaky terms, and by the beginning of 13x06, calling out to each other in a friendly manner, "How was the case?"

Jack "puts a dent in Dean's armor," per the script, even before he saves them with his powers. Dean is doing everything he can not to like Jack, and it’s clear from the script that he’s failing.

At the end of the episode, Dean tells Sam to absorb the weight of the hunting burden, because he’s got no hope left.

Cas appears to awaken in a field on day 14. Presumably, his ashes are in the middle of nowhere, and he starts walking.

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DAY 14-20 ish? (Advanced Thanatology)

Here’s where it gets foggier.

I can't tell exactly when 13x05 picks up with respect to the previous episode, but it seems like only a little bit of time has passed.

I would say a week at most has passed, but possibly as little as a day or two, and the case itself, per the script, covers another 4 days.

However, if Cas awoke in The Empty on day 10, and woke in the field around day 14, I think I favor a shorter timeline here with some of the “days” being overlapping back story from the case itself.

Anyway, Jack has been making his way through Sam's DVDs, "Red Sonja, Beast Master, Beast Master II." Commentary//

Sam does not intuit why Dean is up late at night/early twilight hours, making a PB & J (analysis).

Sam tries to remedy Dean’s overwhelming grief by pushing breakfast beer and strip clubs toward him. Alcohol to numb the pain + sexy stuff as a distraction. Now more than ever, Dean seems to perform those only for Sam’s benefit. (It seems Sam did not pay attention to Mia Vallens's therapy, except as a means to validate his own motives for trying to save Mary. Ouch! Poor Sam!)

Sam is not great with empathy here, bless my neurodivergent man-child. He’s dealing with a loss of his own, of course, and he’s been shown to be an impatient, mission-motivated griever (analysis).

Anyway, he’s completely at sea with Dean’s powerful grief, and he seems tragically unaware of Dean's close calls/being off his game over the course of the last few hunts.

Sam, perhaps understandably, wants Dean to be there for him n’ Jack, as caretaker and comrade, but Dean is too mentally wounded to bear the weight of that expectation. (Btw, I don’t think Sam really “gets” the Cas thing till 15x09 The Trap: Sam’s future is symbolized by Eileen-as-hope (analysis) and Sam realizes Dean’s future is built around Cas-as-foundation.) Dean dies...again//

Dean attempts suicide.

He tells Billie he doesn’t matter.

After he revives, Dean tells Sam, “No. Sam, I’m not okay. I’m pretty far from okay… And I would take the hit… And now Mom and Cas… And I – I don’t know. I don’t know.”

This is an elegant parallel to season 7’s grieving Dean, about his not being able to “shake” what happened with Cas, and admitting, “he doesn’t know why.” (Cas is different. Cas has always been different.) In season 7, he also says, “I’ll do what I can,” in response to Sam telling him to get his head in the game and stay alive. Cas is a core wound in both scenarios.

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==Death & resurrection==

So, that would bring our guesstimate to Cas reuniting with the boys around 20-24 days. So, at most a little over 3 weeks but possibly closer to 4, especially if the backstory timelines of actual “case days” overlap, like 13x05 potentially does.

I am reasonably certain Cas awakened in the field near day 14. I’d personally put the actual reunion at 18-20 ish days, and certainly not longer than a month. They reunite in early June, I think. Blackberries are a summer fruit, and there are wild blackberries in the field where Cas awakens.

Dean drives to Cas and meets up with him, "in the middle of nowhere," so it seems Cas's grave and subsequent walk to civilization was in quite a remote area.

///

Going back through this, I was pretty astounded how Dean kept dying or nearly dying in those days following Cas’s death. He was definitely in no state to be hunting.

(images from CSN, SPN wiki, fangirlism.com)

[declamationark]

Post-bad reveal, Danny is forced to flee into the ghost zone and starts to live with Clockwork. However, it was only a matter of time before the shock wears off and Danny begins to suffer the effects of his parents’ rejection (the degree can be anything, whenever they absolutely loathe him or think he’s possessed their son or etc) and his core begins to crack. Clockwork rushes Danny to Far Frozen to be treated, hoping with everything that ever was and ever will be that Danny would defy expectations and not End, despite the numerous possible timelines that lead to it

Major Lost Time honestly, but there’s this fun little idea I have where this leads to the Fenton parents being put in a journey/trial by fire scenario to see past their prejudice against ghosts and accept Danny for who he is, thus healing his fractured core. Clockwork (and the other ghosts, your pick) could pull all the stops having them confront their hatred in a Ultimate Enemy-like confrontation. But all in all, it could also go the route of Danny’s gradual recovery with the help of his loved ones, Clockwork probably could never replace his parents (even with all their flaws, it’s clear that Danny loves them so much) but him and Danny care for each other and maybe just maybe, that’s enough, the world doesn’t have to End, and time changes all things eventually but also heals and washes away wounds, this hurt will have its place someday. Danny gets pulled into a massive group hug the second he’s discharged from the yeti doctors’ care

[annatartastic]

I don’t knowing anyone remembers this: but when Kol Mikaelson died on The Vampire Diaries… a lot of fans started this hashtag trend on X (twitter back then) and it kept trending and trending. And guess who came back from the dead in The Originals? Kol! I don’t remember if this hashtag campaign was the result of it BUT maybe we Adar girlies (gn) can start a similar trend on X about our favorite dark elf?