fic, sleep, repeat

SPN Reclist: Desolate Post-Apocalypse!
There 's this amazing subcategory of apocalypse stories that are dismal, dreary, depressing, and it usually serves to put in sharp, evocative, heartwrenching relief how love is fundamentally vital to survival, to carrying on when you feel all has been lost. I love that whole thing. So here are my favorites.
For epubs of rec 'd fanfic from livejournal or dreamwidth, here

Let 's get started! 🤗 ❤️

Gen

Great Blue World series by vailkagami. Rated NC-17, Gen, 269k words. Summary: A man wakes up in a ruined wasteland, without memories, without a name, without knowing the strange guy who claims to once have been an angel, or that he once had a little brother. All he knows is that the world is dying, everyone is lying to him, and that somehow, somewhere, something went terribly wrong. Because someone said Yes when they should have said No, and someone else paid the price.
ao3.org/series/24515
my thoughts: This fic is in my top favorite spn fics of all time . I think this might be the most bleak and violent dystopia AU I 've ever read yet I 'm recommending it because there was so much love and affection in it at the same time. There aren 't many words for how intense this fic is. My eyes were watering and hands a bit shaky when I finished. It was the equivalent of still being a little drunk with a book hangover.

The Winchester Road by meus_venator. Rated R/Mature, Gen, 20k words. Summary: The world has ended. Lucifer and his legions have moved on, their new battlefield heaven. He has left Earth a barren wasteland, he has also left behind the shattered shell that was once his vessel. This is a story of two brothers finding each other again at the end of the world and facing it 's passing together.A tale of abiding love.Initial concept based on the book and movie The Road.
ao3.org/works/442149
my thoughts: So beautifully written, full of such powerful scenes of evil, graphic torture, and then the sweetness of the brothers together. Sam's mute and childlike in this fic, traumatized beyond belief, but still somehow capable of so much love and trust that keeps Dean going. Both voluntary and survival cuddles in this story. It's truly so desolate which puts their love in such sharp relief. Heart-wrenching in the best way. There's MCD but I'd still call it a happy ending. Loved this fic so much. This fic 's also in my movie fusions reclist.

i have a rendezvous with death by leonidaslion (AO3). Rated R, Gen, 13k words. Summary: Harvie doesn't know what to make of the man who saved her, or his great, yellow-eyed hound, but one thing's for sure: there are stranger things in this rider-ridden world than haunts.
ao3.org/works/193826
my thoughts: Brilliant, interesting OC perspective that 's kind of unraveling the mystery of Sam and Dean. This fic also features animal transformation/shape-shifting tropes and it 's all inside a post-apocalypse AU. Fantastic fic!

Wincest

Treasure by sonofabiscuit77. Rated Explicit, 48k, Wincest. Summary: It’s 2018 and the human race is almost extinct, wiped out by a mutant threat not even the angels saw coming. Sam and Dean live on a military compound, one of the only human communities left still fighting for survival. Dean is one of the military leaders, dedicated to wasting as many of the mutants he can, while Sam, permanently injured and confined to the base, is desperately searching for the answer that will save what’s left of humanity, and finally bring both boys the peace they crave. Spoilers up to ep6-18. Future-fic. This goes au from ep6-19. Written for 2011 spn_j2_bigbang.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/402918
I adore this story I have no idea how it slipped through the cracks but it is the friggin best! An incredibly written fic, and I'm such a sucker for impaired!Sam as the primary researcher in a dystopian post-apocalypse AU. This fic 100% delivers. Added to my desolate post-apocalypse reclist now in addition to my zombie reclist.

The Last Outpost of All That Is by gekizetsu. Rated NC-17, Dean/Sam, 59k words. Summary: For the spn_apocasmut challenge. The world is over, and it 's a Winchester 's lot in life to cope with anything – no matter what. The actual prompt is the first quote below, courtesy of innie_darling. Language, angst, humor; all the usual. NC-17 for graphic Sam/Dean. This assumes Sam was not killed at the end of season 2 and that Dean never had to make the deal. Notes follow the tale.
ao3.org/works/1786042
my thoughts: Incredible, desolate tale featuring a world where all of humanity except for Sam and Dean inexplicably vanish somewhere around season 2 (oddly prescient for what happened end of 15x18 and into 15x19, eh? but not very similar; there 's no answer for why humanity suddenly goes extinct in this story). I adored the author addressed various infrastructure breakdowns and how Sam + Dean studied and predicted ways to protect themselves from like nuclear plants leaking radiation, finding sustainable power once most grids failed, etc. Just really amazing research went into this, I think. Also featuring Sam and Dean as so in character for S2 for me, and so it was a fantastic slow burn.

The Land of the Blind by candle_beck. Rated PG-13, Sam/Dean, 10k words. Summary: Even the post-apocalypse looks good in certain lights.
ao3.org/works/218151
my thoughts: amnesia Sam & post-apocalypse. This story was so gentle and contemplative. Chronicles the first couple times ppl around where they live "at the end of the world" actually see Sam and confirm he's real. The emphasis on no moon was spooky, their house at a still ocean edge spookier still. Fantastic story, so interesting.

the house at the end of the world by urchinesque. Rated PG-13, Dean/Sam, 3k words. Summary: God turns out the lights and leaves twenty-six trees, a sliver of ocean, seventeen stars, two humans, an angel, and a tiny stone house on a spur of rock.
ao3.org/works/6197668
my thoughts: This post-apocalypse is so quiet, ethereal, transcendent. The prose is lovely, contemplative. The 3 of them growing so soft to the point of becoming metaphysical, basically, is amazing. Short fic, but so rich and heavy. Like red velvet chocolate!

The Song of the Treadmill by tabaqui. Rated NC-17, Dean/Sam, 48k words. Summary: When Sam discovers a way to save Dean from his demon-deal, it sends him on an odyssey of alternate worlds and alternate lives, until he finally finds a place to live again. Canon-compliant up to the deal.
ao3.org/works/664071
my thoughts: a brilliantly written sam-centric dimension-hopping nonzombie post-apocalyptic piece of art. I especially love Sam meeting AU!Dean who has a scar across his lips, love that AU!Buffy from The Wish aesthetic hahaha. If you like AmyPond45 's dimension-hopping & time-traveling fics, you 'll definitely love this one by tabaqui.

Cultivating Your Belongings in the After by fogsrollingin, art by @leafzelindor . Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Teen+, 16.6k words. Summary: In the aftermath of asteroids and meteors showering the earth for days on end in 2007, those left behind, traumatized and destitute, must survive and rebuild. The brothers quietly serve their small camp community as they all strive to heal, salvaging comfort and hope from the rubble and ruin.
ao3.org/works/31181519 // art post on tumblr here
my thoughts on me: really proud of this fic. I loved telling these bits and pieces of their atmosphere and story.

J2: Every Old Town's Just Your Past Burning Down by whisperedstory. Explicit, J2, 41k words. Summary: The world ends and those who survive are left with chaos; cities and towns are in ruins and there's a shortage of food and an outbreak of diseases that soon lead to panic and violence. With nothing keeping him in Texas Jensen decides to leave, wandering back roads and wilderness with no destination in mind. His path leads him to a secluded farm in Wyoming and a ragtag group of people. There, he ends up finding more than he dared to hope for: a home, friendships, and maybe even a chance at love with Jared, who Jensen is instantly drawn to even though he can't quite figure him out. [reposted, first posted on livejournal 13/6/2013]
ao3.org/works/4758260
I loved the devastation in this fic and then the slow soft recovery of a small group of survivors. The group dynamic gets stressful for Jared as the leader of their troop and Jensen’s there for him and ahhhh yeah that scene just got me in the feels.