Chapter Text
Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Kansas, there lived a family. King John, of the house of Winchester, ruled sternly and well, and the kingdom prospered. His lovely wife, Mary, was the only daughter of one of Kansas’s most influential noble families, the house of Campbell. They had two sons: Dean, the elder, was a prodigy with weapons and a natural leader, a perfect heir for John; the younger, Samuel, was a genius and perfectly content to live in Dean’s shadow.
Naturally, the charmed life couldn’t last. There had been worrying rumors out of one of the neighboring kingdoms, Gehenna, for months. Then the armies started to roll in. John had tried to muster his forces, but Gehenna’s captain was too fast. Their forces swept through the Kansas countryside, reaching the town of Lawrence where John’s primary residence was built in a matter of weeks. The Gehennan army set the town ablaze, and surrounded the castle.
“We’re going to lose this one,” John admitted privately to one of his advisors. Bobby Singer was the royal tutor, and the person he trusted most with the task he wanted done. “Take the princes through the escape tunnel. Burn the supports behind you so these damned Gehennans can’t get in that way. Get those boys to safety. Teach them well, and make sure they know that we went down fighting. When Dean’s old enough, he can come back and retake his kingdom, but he has to live through this first.”
Bobby didn’t like it, and Dean liked it even less, but Bobby knew the trump card. “I know you wanna stay and fight, Dean. But you know your daddy, if he asked me to take you two and get out, he don’t think there’s a chance. You willing to bet that you’re good enough to make enough difference that you ain’t trapping Sam and condemning him to death?”
“What? Of course not!” Dean stared at Bobby in bewilderment. “You’re taking Sammy and getting the hell out.”
“No, he’s not,” Sam said, exactly as Bobby had known he would. “Because I won’t go without you. Dean, please, think this through. We can’t help Dad by staying here. You make me go alone, do you really think the puppy eyes will convince people to overlook the fact that I’m a good enough fighter but no commander? I can’t take Kansas back by myself. And without you, I’m in much more danger from mercenaries looking to end the house of Winchester, and much less protected.”
“Sammy…” Dean found he couldn’t argue with Sam’s logic, and Bobby hid the chuckle. “Fine. I’m guessing we leave as soon as possible?”
“Yep.” Bobby handed them each a backpack. “Got essentials and as much coin as I could stash without making them too heavy for you boys. You should be okay for a few years. Won’t be able to live like you did here, but neither of you ever cared much for the expensive habits anyway.” Bobby led them into the secret tunnel. It twisted and turned a few times, eventually connecting to a natural underground canyon system. Bobby turned around and held his torch to the wooden beams that supported the tunnel entrance, until the support structure caught fire. He led the boys through the caverns, emerging about a mile south of the castle.
“Okay. I haven’t actually planned too far ahead, but for the next few days while we figure out what to do, I’m taking you boys to my place. From there I can get information and figure out the best place to stash the two of you more permanently.” Bobby led the way southwest to Sioux Falls, a village small enough to avoid Gehenna’s attention on its way in.
A little girl came running out to meet them. “Papa? You’re home early!”
“That I am, Josie,” Bobby said, picking the girl up as she stretched her arms up to him. “Where’s your mama?”
“At home.” The little girl stared curiously at the princes. “You’ve never brought people home before. Who’re they?”
“Let’s get home, that way I only hafta introduce them once,” Bobby suggested. “Run ahead and tell your mama we’re comin’.” The girl left, running swiftly through the streets.
A woman met them at the end of the lane leading to a small house. “Bobby, what’s goin’ on?”
“Boys, this is my wife Ellen and her daughter Joanna Beth, Jo for short,” Bobby said. “Ellie, the boys I work with. Big one’s Dean, little one’s Sam.”
“Hello, boys,” Ellen said, bobbing a quick curtsy. “Come on in.”
Once inside, Bobby told Ellen and Jo what had happened, and why Dean and Sam were here and they shouldn’t call attention to that fact. “Gonna spend a day or two sendin’ out pigeons to Kansas’s allies, then we wait and see who’s willin’ to shelter them and what they want for it.”
“Sounds good. M’lords, it’s probably best if you stay inside, we’re close enough to Lawrence that if the Gehennans ain’t total idiots they’d send someone here to ask around, soon’s they know the princes got out.” Ellen dished out some stew and passed out bread. “Sorry, boys, I know it ain’t what you’re used to.”
“It’s better than what we’d have if Bobby hadn’t brought us here,” Dean said. “We’d probably be dead by now.”
Several days later, pigeons began returning. Everyone was grateful; the princes were getting restless, and it was affecting the others. “Okay. Some of your allies write that it would be a great honor to shelter you, but that the forces of Gehenna are strong and after what they did to Kansas, they’re uncertain of their ability to protect you.”
“In other words, please don’t come here we’re too scared, but we don’t want to offend you in case you do win your kingdom back and decide to come after those who outright refused to help,” Dean translated.
Ellen huffed. “Sounds about right.”
Bobby picked up another stack of papers. “On the other hand, there are a few offers of sanctuary. Some of ‘em are askin’ things I’m not sure we can manage, which would mean that when the time comes, you ain’t gonna be able to rely on their help in coming back. One place says they think it would be best if we separated the two of you. Couched in terms of practicality, if you’re in two different kingdoms then Gehenna has two wars to fight to end the house instead of one.”
“I am not leaving Sammy,” Dean snapped.
“My opinion is that your best option is Eden. Their king, Michael, ain’t got nothing to fear from Gehenna since they’ve been at war for so long no one even remembers how it started.” Bobby riffed through the papers until he found the letter from Eden. “King Michael’s proposal is to put Dean to work in one of his armies, one that will fight with him when he’s ready to go home. Sam’ll stay back to continue his education.”
“Sounds great,” Dean said. “What’s the catch?”
“None that I can find,” Bobby said, though he shared Dean’s skepticism. “He’s even promised me a job and a home, because he thinks whoever’s leading this Gehennan army will figure out I’m the one who helped you escape and come after me and mine.”
“He probably would,” Sam agreed. “This sounds too good to be true. There’s gotta be something we’re missing.”
“Not sure about that,” Ellen said. “Long as you expect King Michael to hold sheltering you over you whenever he needs a favor in the future.”
“Well, yeah, whoever we went to was gonna do that,” Dean said. “We’d do the same thing if the situation were reversed. What do you think, Sam?”
Sam shook his head. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, but I can’t put my finger on anything concrete. It may well be I’m just jumpy from not sleeping well, the nightmares I’ve been having. On the surface, it’s a very generous offer and all we could hope for, and we’re certainly not putting any kind of target on Eden or King Michael.”
“Only other offer I’m sure we could do is from Britain, King Isaac says they’ll take you in and train you in exchange for one of you two, Dean for preference, marrying their daughter Bela.” Bobby found their letter and passed it to Sam.
“The problem with that is that so far Britain’s stayed out of Gehenna’s notice, so we’d bring a target on them,” Sam said. “And depending on what Bela’s like, that could suck.” Dean waited, letting Sam think things through. “It’s up to you, Dean, but with Eden we’ve got so much good weighed against my nebulous bad feeling. I’d recommend them.”
“I trust your gut, Sam, there’s some catch we’re missing here,” Dean said. “But I agree that it’s probably the best option we've got.”