Phantom Load Master Fic Post

[lovesrain44]

Title: Phantom Load

Author: lovesrain44

Artist: xterm
Genre: Gen

Characters: Sam, Dean, Dad, OFC's

Fic Rating: NC-17

Art Rating: G

Word Count: 54,000

Warnings:  Weechesters & present day, dark, angst, underage non-con (not wincest).

Summary: Dean and Sam return to Boulder, CO, where they investigate a haunted school. The job seems simple enough to Sam, who has good, although vague, memories of living in Boulder back in 1992, when John Winchester rented a single-wide trailer, and the boys were able to walk home from school together. Dean, however, has altogether different memories, far less pleasant and far more damaging. It's during the investigation that Sam discovers the secret that Dean doesn't realize he's been hiding.
A/N: Sorry, Dean, I was compelled by forces beyond my ken to be really, really cruel to you. 

Part 1     Part 2     Part 3     Part 4     Part 5     Part 6     Part 7     Part 8     Part 9

Thanks to Amothea, here is a link to the whole story in a single file! Click here. (And then click on the link inside the box that displays.)


Here's a link to Xterm's marvelous art!

[Bad username or unknown identity:  and to . They held my hand and listened to me whimper as I wrote, they beta'd and encouraged. And also to big_pink], from whom I learned the art of the outline. 


A phantom load is a concept that I head about one day, and couldn't get out of my head. According to Wikipedia, it refers to the electric power consumed by electronic appliances while they are switched off or in a standby mode. (You can read more about it at their site.)  I mean, who counts the wattage used by a lighted clock face on a microwave oven or stove? I thought it also might refer to an emotional drain occuring to a person that they were unaware of, a constant and irratating problem, or memory, or secret. Long obsessed about Dean's bleeding eyes secret in "Bloody Mary," I wanted to write a story where that secret came to light.

Comments

[clex_monkie89.livejournal.com]

Actually, Dean's eyes didn't bleed in Provenance. They bled in the aptly titled Bloody Mary.

ETA: Also. Your fic is locked.

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the fix! The story should be unlocked now!

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

gonna have to wait until later to read this, but I wanted to say I love the title. great metaphor for what you're working with here.

(also? I didn't know the off-position power sucking had a name. learn something new every day!)

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

Hey, great! I hope you like it.
And yeah, phantom load, everything from your fridge to your computer, to vcrs/dvd players. If there's a little light indicating that it's on? It's using power, and you don't even know. : D

[sheafleur.livejournal.com]

Oh you posted it! I'm so fucking pleased with you!

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

I'm fucking pleased with myself!!! It took two hours to post the thing, I'm all wracked with tenseness. Luckily I have some butter pecan ice cream that'll take care of everything.

[sheafleur.livejournal.com]

Enjoy my friend! You deserve it! ;-)

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

Thank you.
:::Smooch:::

[beth9874.livejournal.com]

wondering, is it wincest or not, because i don't read wincest and you didn't make it clear.

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

No it's not wincest....but it might be that there's too much information on my master fic post, so, to reconfirm, the genre says Gen, the characters are separated by commas, not slashes, (commas indicate no sexual paring and slashes indicate a same sex pairing) and finally, it says in parens (not wincest). Hope this helps!

[beth9874.livejournal.com]

thanks, gonna get reading then, a lot of words, hope i can get it finished in time for Top Gear.

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

You're more than welcome, and enjoy!

[devin-chain.livejournal.com]

Brilliant writing and appropriately painful. I couldn't stop reading once I started, so it's 2:35 a.m., and I've just finished. *hugs* Thank you.

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

You stayed UP?? Oh man, that's the best compliment EVER!! You are more than welcome and thank YOU for the lovely post!!!

[balikpulang.livejournal.com]

This was a fantastic story. And so believeable too! Did you catch the recent Kripke interview on CW where he hinted at an upcoming "after school special" episode that had flashbacks to the boys as teens? I couldn't help think that this story could've easily been made into a script :) Thanks!

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you liked it! It really makes me feel good to hear that. As for the interview, no, I'd not seen it, though I'd seen links for it around. I'm trying to stay spoiler free, as much as I can, though I do LOVE and adore the idea of another flashback. Can't get enough of those!!! (And I'm really flattered that you felt this could have been worked in, I tried to keep it realistic, but, man, poor wee Dean!)

[jaylan121.livejournal.com]

What can I say? I commented for you everywhere & I think your fic deserves it. You're amazing, your fic is amazing, the title is amazing & I'm so thrilled.
Wow

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

I'm so late to say thank you, but yes, THANK YOU!

[maerhys.livejournal.com]

Congrats! ★ Your fic is recced HERE (http://community.livejournal.com/sawedoff_recs/30953.html) at sawedoff_recs.

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

Mercy me, thank you so much! You guys make me want to write more!

[hoodietime.livejournal.com]

Hey, just letting you know that your fic has been recced here (http://community.livejournal.com/sickdean/33088.html). ;) It was such a great, emotional read for me.

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

Hey, thank you! I am so glad to hear that people are enjoying this story! Sick Dean is such a fun flavor to play with. : D

[laru-tan-repus.livejournal.com]

Lately I've been tracking down those precious few First Fics of the Fandoms I read - this was one of them. This read like an episode of the show itself, and I had that feeling when I first read it, even before I knew what Supernatural was. It's a wonderful piece of work, the way the plot is drawn out, and the perfectly timed flashbacks, it's a lot like After School Special and I really enjoyed the read, will enjoy rereading it many times in the future, up on the virtual shelf with many worn-out novels. <3 I want to thank you for writing this because this is a big part of what convinced me to watch Supernatural to begin with, and I'm so glad I did!

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

I don't know how I missed this lovely comment, and I do apologize for not replying sooner. I'd blame real life, except, fandom is FAR more important than that!

And I'm totally flattered that you read this story before you watched the show, and that this was part of the reason you decided to watch. Show has its ups and downs, which is why we write fanfiction, to make it all good again. To have Sam and Dean doing Samish and Deanish things! Thank you so much for reading, and coming by to let me know how much you enjoyed this story. I really do appreciate it!

Congrats!

[theladymeow.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! You've been rec'd!

The Reader's Have Chosen is a fanfiction recommendation community dedicated to finding the best of the best in fandoms across the boards, and sharing them with other authors and avid readers.

Your story, "Phantom Load", has been rec'd and is now being voted on in the Monthly Poll: Supernatural. Fellow fandom-aficionados will vote for their favorites of all the recommendations, and the stories with the most votes will be posted on the front page.

You can find our website at (without spaces): http : // thereadershavechosen . eternflame . com You can find the Supernatural Monthly Poll at (without spaces): http:// thereadershavechosen. eternflame. com/ forum/ index. php? topic= 1597.0

Re: Congrats!

[lovesrain44.livejournal.com]

Thank you SO much. I do adore being rec'd, especially by a site that's not fannish specific - it means the readers are broadly based that the fandom doesn't matter as much as the writing does. And that makes my head swell so much that I can't get through doorways. : D

And plus, now you've given me a new rec site to explore, so thank you for that!