ratherastory: (Default)
ratherastory ([personal profile] ratherastory) wrote2012-07-13 06:24 pm

The Burning Bridge [Master Post]

Title: The Burning Bridge
Summary: Written for [livejournal.com profile] spn_j2_bigbang. Season 6 AU. With no end in sight on their quest to restore Sam's soul or to figure out just what Crowley is up to in his search for Purgatory, Sam and Dean break off in order to investigate a string of mysterious deaths in which the victims exhibited all the signs of radiation poisoning with no apparent cause before their deaths. The case takes a darker turn, however, when soon after they begin investigating Sam begins to exhibit the same symptoms as the victims. Suddenly Dean finds himself facing the disturbing dilemma of whether it might not be easier to let go of this empty-shell version of his brother and simply let the illness take its course...
Artist: The brilliant and awesomely talented [livejournal.com profile] tripoli8
Link to Art: http://tripoli.livejournal.com/492758.html
Characters: Dean, Sam, Cas, Bobby, OCs
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 21,403
Disclaimer: All recognizable belongs to the CW.
Warnings: Levels of violence commensurate with the show.
Neurotic Author's Note #1: There are several people to thank for this! First off, my fantastically talented artist, [livejournal.com profile] tripoli8, who illustrated this story in such an imaginative way. I am in awe, because she touched on all the important notes of the story in incredibly creative ways that would never even have occurred to me. There's also [livejournal.com profile] rainylemons, who not only beta'd the crap out of this story, but did the usual hand-holding she always does when I wailed unendingly to her about my writing, and once again served as my own personal medical encyclopedia without ever once complaining or balking. I love you, darling! Any mistakes concerning the subject matter found herein should of course be attributed to my lack of understanding, and any remaining grammar/spelling/syntactical mishaps are also all mine. And last but not least, [livejournal.com profile] wendy and [livejournal.com profile] thehighwaywoman for the herculean task of running the [livejournal.com profile] spn_j2_bigbang.
Neurotic Author's Note #2: So this fic has gone through about a million permutations before it ended up here. A long, long time ago, there were conversations with a few people, [livejournal.com profile] de_nugis included, about a story about Sam with radiation poisoning. I kept meaning to write it, and even signed up for a prompt by poor [livejournal.com profile] shangrilada in order to try to get this done, but it never happened. Instead, I started writing it for the [livejournal.com profile] hc_bigbang, but when that challenge didn't work out, I gave myself one last push in order to get it done for the main Big Bang, and here it is!
Neurotic Author's Note #3: Okay, confession time. This story is actually a shameless fix-it attempt on my part. No, seriously, this is the story in which I attempt to fix ALL the things about S6, and a couple of earlier things too. Yeah, I got nothing. On a purely storytelling front, this was a surprisingly difficult story to write, mostly because Soulless!Sam was and continues to be a bit of a mystery to me. That being said, I am quite pleased with how it turned out, in the end. I hope you'll all enjoy it!

[Part 1]
[Part 2]

Click on the image below for the full art post. :)



[livejournal.com profile] dawnmyst has generously provided a .pdf of the story as well! You can get it here, or by downloading any e-format you'd like from my AO3 account.

[identity profile] quickreaver.livejournal.com 2012-07-13 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I am so excited about this! *makes grabby hands* I am SO gonna slap this into my Kindle...

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2012-07-13 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
*bounce*

I hope you like it!

[identity profile] de-nugis.livejournal.com 2012-07-13 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay! I am leaving nothing but "I will read this when life is a tiny bit less crazy" on everyone's fic, but I am REALLY looking forward to reading this one when life is less crazy.

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2012-07-13 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay! I hope you enjoy it when the time comes. Hopefully life will become less hectic for you really soon. :)

[identity profile] callistosh65.livejournal.com 2012-07-14 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
This looks WONDERFUL!! Am on holiday right now, so it'll be something I can look forward to when I get back.

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2012-07-14 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
I hope you do end up enjoying it. Have fun on your holiday! :)
ext_419055: (Default)

[identity profile] dawnmyst.livejournal.com 2012-07-14 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
This looks really exciting!!

Love the Art !

Gonna enjoy reading it at work next week :D

So ... i made you a present ... I usually make my own PDFs cause i increase font and all that so i made one for you too :)

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?a009a41elrkc7jh

Hope you enjoy

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2012-07-14 10:34 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I try to post all my stuff to AO3 as well, so there will be a pdf no matter what, but I very much appreciate your making the extra effort!

I hope you enjoy the story. :D
geckoholic: (Sam3)

[personal profile] geckoholic 2012-07-14 11:14 am (UTC)(link)
Dunno yet when I'll get around to reading, but until then: CONGRATS ON POSTING! :D It sounds really good, too.

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2012-07-14 01:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I hope you like it if/when you get around to reading it. :D

[identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com 2012-07-14 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh it's arrived...dammit I need to read this but I'm in the middle of so many things... I'll be back as soon as I can!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2012-07-14 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Excellent! I hope you enjoy it when you get here!

[identity profile] deadflowers5.livejournal.com 2012-07-25 11:41 am (UTC)(link)
I found this on the AO3. I downloaded it from there. Thank you!

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2012-07-28 03:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Great! I hope you enjoy it! :)

[identity profile] fourtenpm.livejournal.com 2012-07-30 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
psst, errh, sorry, but could you pls. provide the AO3 link here? thanks a billion.

[identity profile] ratherastory.livejournal.com 2012-07-30 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
My AO3 is linked in the sidebar of my LiveJournal, and this fic is, for now at least, the first one on my page. :)