Supernatural Fan Fiction ❯ Out of the Mouths of Babes ❯ Getting Along With John ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

 

“Yes, that's a fairly close resemblance, but there's more of a curve here, and it's thinner. Like a reed.”

 

John nodded and patiently erased the offending parts of the Wendigo, then traced careful new lines. After a few minutes he sat back again, and Ryuji leaned forward over the drawing and pronounced himself satisfied.

 

“Remember, though, that this is only from my memories of a very long time ago. I haven't seen a Wendigo since my mother was alive and happy. Our memory is long, though—that should be an almost exact copy.”

 

“Can you tell me how they fight?”

 

Ryuji shook his head apologetically. “I only saw the body before my father burned it. I didn't go with the hunt—I was only three years old.”

 

“Why do they do it, anyway? Hunt these things? Do they have them where you live, too?”

 

“They're unable to cross our borders. But contrary to popular belief, Elves and humans have been on the same side since the world was young, and even though you've forgotten that alliance, and our existence, we never have.”

 

John sighed and rubbed his eyes. “So many questions…”

 

Ryuji smiled at him. “Maybe someday I can explain it to you. Would you like to hear about vampires now? They could very well be extinct, but you should still hear about them.”

 

John heaved another sigh—he did that often, Ryuji noticed—and said, “Let me sharpen my pencil…”

 

XXX

 

“Dean, am I gonna be in your class when I go to school next week?” Sam asked, staring up at his big brother as he walked.

 

Dean automatically searched out to keep Sam from stumbling on an uneven spot of the sidewalk and said, “No, Sammy, you'll be in the kindergarten class, but I'll be real close by. We'll see each other at lunch and walk home together and all.”

 

“But you'll be with the fifth-graders, right?”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“That's good. People are scared of the fifth-graders, and I think it'll be cool to have a big brother everyone's scared of.”

 

Dean stared down at him for a second, then burst out laughing and slung an arm over his shoulders, pulling the boy to his side. “You're so weird, kiddo.”

 

“That's not very nice.”

 

In response, Dean got him in a headlock and noogied him.

 

XXX

 

Like Elves, humans seemed unable to resist falling into a routine, no matter how strange a situation was. Even the continued presence of an entirely different species couldn't change that for long, and within days Ryuji and the Winchesters found themselves falling into a pattern.

 

Every morning, Ryuji got up before sunrise, and he used the opportunity to escape the crowded motel room and spend an hour or so just breathing his own air. He liked the Winchesters well enough, but sometimes he craved the solitude he'd gotten used to since his mother died.

 

Once he'd satisfied that craving, he would go back and usually find John Winchester awake. Then he would get the family journal and sit on his bed to study it and find any gaps that needed to be filled, while John went to get that wonderful human invention, “take-out.”

 

Ah, take-out. Humans were so much more advanced than Elves in some ways…

 

After breakfast, Dean and Sam would usually go to the park or to play in the parking lot, and Ryuji would “earn his keep,” as John said, by helping to update the journal.

 

It was…nice, having that routine, but it would have been better if Dean would accept him. But he'd learned not to expect miracles, and instead resolved that if sheer willpower could do it, he would win the elder Winchester brother over.

 

XXX

 

A week after Ryuji arrived, John decided to stay in Baltimore for a while and rented an apartment, and the boys started school the next day.

 

Ryuji, of course, had nothing to learn at a human school, but he couldn't help feeling envious when Sam bounced in at the end of the day, bubbling over with stories about his first day. That feeling disappeared, however, when Dean came in, irritated and announcing that his teacher sucked and he already had homework to do.

 

Maybe it was better that he'd stayed at the apartment, after all. He never could've learned that stuff, anyway.

 

XXX

 

“Do you have any stories, Ryuji?”

 

Ryuji looked up at Sam, who was over in the other bed, and then at Dean, who was doing his homework at a little table in the room.

 

“I know a lot of stories. Why?”

 

“Will you tell me one/ Dean usually does, but I don't wanna int'rupt his homework.”

 

“Well, I don't think I could tell stories as well as Dean can, but I can try, if you like.”

 

He wasn't looking at Sam as he said it, and he was surprised when Dean nodded before hunching over his math problems again.

 

“Okay, then. Get on up here.”

 

Sam immediately leapt to settle himself next to Ryuji, and the Elf rearranged himself until they were both comfortable and asked, “What kind of story do you want to hear?”

 

“Can you tell me about Elves?”

 

Ryuji hesitated, but he saw an opportunity here, and so he nodded and said, “All right. Let me see, what is it you say to begin stories?”

 

“Once upon a tine,” Sam replied helpfully.

 

“Ah, yes. Thank you.” Ryuji paused a moment, casting around for the thread of his story, then began.

 

“Once upon a time, all the way back when the world was young, humans didn't exist. Elves shared the world with all the bad things, but we could find nothing good, and so we were very sad. But then humans were born. They had no language, and were entirely uncivilized, but we saw light in their hearts, and we kept back from them and watched them `grow up,' seemingly before our eyes. Over several lifetimes of my forefathers, the humans learned. They made tools, and art, and then gradually moved on to build houses, then villages, then towns and cities.

 

“It was then that the Elves decided to approach these new creatures, and a friendship grew between us. For thousands of years, we lied side by side, and flourished together. Together, we fought the bad things, and for a long time we were happy.

 

“But then…the war came.”

 

“The war?” Sam asked. “Like the one Daddy says he's fighting?”

 

“Well, yes, but…much bigger. You see, not all Elves and humans are good. You know that. And a long time ago, the good ones and the bad ones made armies and fought each other. It was the First War, and the results were disastrous. Both humans and Elves were very nearly exterminated, and when it was over, we retreated from one another to rebuild.

 

“The Elves went deep into hiding, unable to face the idea of another such war, and by the time we ventured out again, the world was unrecognizable. The people had forgotten us entirely, and we saw little hope of living among you again.

 

“We didn't blame you, of course, Your lives are short, and you are forced to change quickly, and adapt. I think that because of this, you'll be here long after we're gone. We were sad about our loss, but we decided that we could, at least, act as guardsmen.

 

“And so we watch now. We watch for danger, and when we can, we help you. It's difficult, because of where we live, but we do what we can. And we are always admiring your abilities and your advances. We only wish we could live among you again. I consider myself very lucky to be here—it's a chance no Elf has had since before the time of my grandfather's grandfather.”

 

As he finished the story, Ryuji looked over at Dean, who had been listening intently and had abandoned any pretense of writing. Instead, he was studying Ryuji now, his expression unreadable.

 

But when Ryuji met his gaze, he nodded, just slightly.

 

It was a small victory, but it was still a victory, and Ryuji was immediately more helpful.

 

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Author's Note: I wrote this chapter in a little under two hours in the Borders café, so I'm sorry if it's crap. I don't think it is, but if you guys don't agree, well, that's the reason.