Aletheia

(out of the ~150 I've read)

Appoggiatura by ceeainthereforthat (121~ K words, College AU)
Castiel leaves the religious commune of Heaven Farms to study classical piano after winning a full scholarship paid for by the Deanna Campbell Memorial Foundation, and answers an ad in the campus newspaper: 1 bedroom to let. Meals provided. 50mb wifi, quiet odd music student preferred.

Or, that beautiful epic music students AU that made me cry. (It does have a happy ending!) Heaven Farms isn't "religious" per se, so Castiel did not have any self-flagellation re: his feelings for Dean.

You can enjoy this fic even with zero SPN knowledge; I did. I liked Zachariah in this fic because I had zero knowledge of canon!Zachariah.

"You are cooking tomatoes," Castiel said. "Did I interrupt your canning?" He said it like it was a perfectly ordinary thing to do.

"Kind of," Dean said. "I haven't gotten anything in cans yet."

He'd told this guy he canned tomatoes. What on Earth. Castiel, with his slightly just out of time clothes, looked at what he could see of the rooms and the staircase leading straight up just before the door.

"This house has love in its walls," Castiel said. "It's a very good house."

( Four more fic recs + 1 Bonus series rec )

( The Aftermath (implied Merlin/Arthur, PG-13 for gore & implied violence) )

Answers merlin_flashfic's Nightmares and monsters challenge and merlin100's dance prompt.

---

1. What Dreams by suaine, PG
Summary: There was always a price. The balance of nature was transactional - one thing of a certain value required the sacrifice of equal value given up by the one who asked.

But Arthur never finished those thoughts, kept all of his heart locked up tight. Merlin knew what he was going to say anyway, knew of the way Arthur kept looking over his shoulder when he thought no one was watching. Arthur had nightmares, dreams of a world without him in it, all the more terrible for their warmth and muted beauty, hitting like a physical blow when he woke up.

2. merlin_flashfic's AU challenge will run until 22.00BST on Saturday the 13 June.

3. In lieu of #2, please answer this poll on AU Merlin fics =)

[ LJ | IJ | DW ]