- An author has been writing books about Sam and Dean since 2005. Sam and Dean try to figure out how he knows so much about them.
- Sam and Dean investigate a reclusive young author, named Chuck Shurley, who has written a series of books and graphic novels about their adventures since starting out back in 2005, and try to find an explanation why he knows so much about their lives, while trying to find out what lies in store for them when he has a vision about a meeting with the evil Lilith.—Anonymous
- Sam and Dean find a series of unknown books in a comic book store about their saga written by Carver Edlund. They lure the editor to discover the real name of the author and they meet Chuck Shurley, who is surprised to know that the brothers do exist. Dean reads the last pages that Chuck has just written and all the events come true. When Dean finds that Lilith will meet Sam, he prays for God to save Sam. But Castiel appears out of the blue and tells that Chuck is a prophet of the Lord and destiny can not be changed.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- We see a man asleep on his couch and having violent dreams...about Sam and Dean. Hmmm.
Flash to a comic book store. Sam and Dean enter in FBI Agent disguise, identifying themselves as Agents DeYoung and Shaw. They ask the clerk if he's heard any scuttling in the walls like rats, seen flickering lights or felt any cold spots. At first the man's confused, then he grins.
"I knew it. You guys are larping, aren't you?" Dean is confused. The clerk explains that he thinks the Winchesters are live action role playing, and doing a pretty good job of it too, asking questions as if the building's haunted. You know, like the guys in those books, um... 'Supernatural'...what are their names? Steve and Dirk? Sal and Dane?
"Sam and Dean?" Sam asks tentatively.
Yes, that's it! The clerk explains that 'Supernatural' was a series. Didn't sell a lot of copies, which is fortunate because he has a few left over. The guy rifles through a bin until he finds a copy: 'Supernatural,' by Carver Edlund. (A combo of story editor Jeremy Carver's and executive producer Ben Edlund's last names.) The cover art depicts the Winchesters as heavily muscled and shirtless. Sam reads the back cover teaser, and it's a summary of one of their first cases, the Woman in White. Freaked out, Sam turns to the clerk and says, "We're gonna need all the copies of 'Supernatural' that you've got."
Cue the special credits of cover art, showing Sam and Dean as romance novel paintings, and Bobby looking like...well, Bobby.
At a motel, Dean and Sam are reading through the books and wigging out. Dean can't believe the author seems to know everything about them, even when he's had sex. "I'm full frontal in here, dude!" Sam does web research and sees that Carver Edlund only produced a few dozen copies (with the same name as the series episodes, of course) before the publisher went bankrupt. The series even has a fan site. Dean reads the commentary from one fan, Simpatico, who actually isn't. He calls the demonic storylines trite.
"Well screw you Simpatico, we lived it," Dean says. It gets better: There are Sam girls, and Dean girls, and "slash" fans -- as in, Sam and Dean, together. "They do know we're brothers, right?"
"Doesn't seem to matter," Sam says. Dean winces and says "That's just sick!" as he slams the laptop shut. They decide to find Carver Edlund, which is going to be tough, since it's obviously a pen name. First stop: the publisher.
She's a drooling fan girl who's hoping to get some good press so she can start publishing the series again. She tells Dean that the book where he goes to Hell is her favorite, because he's so strong and sad and brave. And Sam! When he had to kill the first woman since Jessica that he really loved...her voice is quivering, but the boys are trying their best not to betray how painful it is to be reminded of the worst parts of their already miserable lives.
"If only real men were so open and in touch with their feelings!" she gushes. Dean doesn't quite get her, and she goes on to say that real men would never cry like that.
"Lady, I'm crying on the inside," he growls. She begins to doubt that they're legit, and they convince her that they're big fans by answering trivia about the characters..er, themselves. (We find out, for example, that tying for Dean's favorite song are Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" and "Traveling Riverside Blues," and that Sam got a 174 on the LSATs.) Sam asks for Carver Edlund's real name. She refuses to give it up at first, saying that he's like J.D. Salinger. "Please," Sam says, pulling down his shirt to show off his demon warding tattoo. Dean rolls his eyes and shows his. The publisher, delighted, drops her panties and shows hers off...located on what it apparently a very cute butt, if we're reading Dean's wide eyed stare correctly.
"Wow," Dean says, "you are a fan." She gives up the author's name: Chuck Shurley. He's a genius, she says, so don't tick him off.
Inside a ramshackle house, Chuck Shurley is surrounded by pages and reading aloud his latest passage: "Sam and Dean approach the ramshackle house with trepidation." The boys are, of course, walking up his front steps at this point. "Did they really want to learn the secrets that lay beyond that door? Sam and Dean trade soulful looks, and then with determination Dean presses the front doorbell. With determination. Blah." He throws down the pages as Dean rings the doorbell.
Chuck answers the door, and Sam and Dean introduce themselves as the Sam and Dean he's been writing about. The guy tells them to get a life, and attempts to slam the door in their faces...except Dean blocks it open. He explains that they have a life, and he's been writing about it. Nobody in the situation finds it funny. They guy becomes afraid that the boys are there to put him in a Misery (1990) situation but, after they show him the car, the guns, and the box of real fake I.D.s, it becomes apparent that they're actually in a Stranger Than Fiction (2006) situation.
Chuck tries to calmly retreat into his house, but Sam asks him if he knows about the angels, or the seals. Chuck is suddenly shocked. "Wait a minute...how do you know about that?"
"The question is, how do you?" Dean retorts. Chuck explains that he wrote about it, even after the publisher went bankrupt, but those books never came out.
"Well, nice to meet you," Dean says again. "I'm Dean Winchester, and this is my brother Sam."
Chuck is really shocked now. "The last names were never in the books," he tells them. "I never told anybody about that. I never even wrote that down."
Inside the house, Chuck decides that the only explanation is that he's a god -- a cruel, cruel, capricious god who killed the Winchesters' father and burned their mother alive. Dean and Sam quickly disabuse him of this notion. He asks if they had to live through the bugs and the ghost ship, and Dean tells him yes.
"I'm so sorry. I mean, horror is one thing, but to be forced to live bad writing!" Chuck says. "If I had known it was real, I would have given it another pass." Sam and Dean ask what he's working on now, and Chuck sinks into a seat. He says it's a Vonnegut type of deal, a story that has him sitting in his house, confronted by his characters.
Cut to a laundromat, where Dean reads that he's in a laundromat reading about himself reading about himself in a laundromat. "My head hurts," he moans. Sam expresses doubt that Chuck is who he says he is. Dean responds by reading a passage about Sam's thoughts as he's stuffing his jacket into a machine, down to the part where he thinks Dean is being a dick. Sam starts to come around.
Back at his house, Chuck is dreaming about a future scene involving Sam and Lilith getting busy in a motel room. He shudders and shakes, waking up with a frightened expression on his face. When the boys come back, Chuck reads them the next chapter with Lilith coming for Sam that night. The details: "Lilith patted the bed seductively. Unable to deny his desire, Sam succumbed, and they sank into the throes of fiery demonic passion." Sam laughed at the idea. Dean tells Chuck that Lilith is a little girl, but Chuck explains that now she's a bangin' dental hygienist from the Midwest. Sam still thinks there's nothing to worry about.
Dean decides to change topics, asking Chuck how his psychic powers work. "You mean my process?" he asks. Dean snorts. Yes, his process. He explains that he has a horrible headache, then he falls asleep and has crazy dreams. "It flowed," he says. "it kept flowing. It still does." Dean asks for the latest pages so they could see what's what.
As they're driving off, Sam reads the text out loud and can believe what's on the page. "The minivan accident wasn't that bad, but Dean was still seeing stars. He scratched absently at the pink flower band-aids on his face." That's the detail Sam can't believe -- pink flower band-aids? Dean counters with, "He's been right about everything. What, you think he's just going to ground out at first now?" Sam goes on to read about a blue tarp on the busted out rear window of Dean's beloved Impala. Dean's faith falters, but he insists that although Chuck might be wrong about the details, he's probably dead on about the end result. The solution, then, is to run. They try to take the road out of town, but a trooper has it blocked. Bridge is out. It's the only way out. They're going to have to spend the night.
They head to a diner and Dean explains that having the pages are a good thing -- if they go off book, maybe they can avoid Lilith. So it's Opposite Day. No research, because that's the in story. They won't have the fight the story says they're going to have, and Dean won't have a bacon cheeseburger. The waitress comes up and informs them that the diner has the best bacon cheeseburger in the country, according to Oprah's girlfriend. Dean grudgingly orders a tofu burger.
While they're waiting for their food, Sam points out that for the first time they have the jump on Lilith. They might see this as an opportunity. Dean almost explodes at Sam, but thinks better of it. "It frustrates me when you say such reckless things," Dean says calmly.
"It frustrates me when you'd rather hide than fight," Sam replies bitterly. That, of course, is when their food arrives. Dean tells Sam that he's not hiding, he just knows when it's better to run than to fight. He takes a bite into his tofu burger and swoons. This tofu is amazing, he says. That's when the waitress comes back and apologizes, telling him that she accidentally gave him the bacon cheeseburger. Upsetting!
The boys drive up to the Toreador motel, a place Dean calls the Hooker Inn. Better than the Red Motel, which is where the pages say Lilith finds Sam. They check in, and Dean tries to demon-proof the room as best he can with hex bags and the like. He takes Sam's laptop away so he can't do any research, and orders kid brother to watch porn. In the meantime, he says, since the pages say Dean drives around all day, he decides to park the Impala somewhere. As he drives away from the motel, we see the several letters of the Toreador's neon sign blink out until only the R,E, and D remain lit.
Dean parks the Impala on a nearby street and goes to walk back the motel, but then he thinks better of it and turns to head back to the car. A couple of guys are at its doors with crowbars trying to break in. "Hey!" he yells, and starts charging back across the street, just in time to be hit by a minivan.
At the motel, there's a knock at the door. Sam opens, and it's Chuck. Sam has called him over. He asks Chuck if he's seen visions of him when he's not with Dean. Chuck knows exactly what he's talking about -- the demon blood. Sam asks Chuck if he's said anything to Dean, and Chuck replies he hasn't even written that detail into the books. He was afraid it would make Sam look unsympathetic. "C'mon, Sam. Sucking blood? You've got to know that's wrong," Chuck says. Sam explains that if the blood makes him strong enough to kill Lilith and stop the Apocalypse, he has to do it. Chuck reminds Sam that stopping the Apocalypse is Dean's job, but Sam tells Chuck that since he got back from Hell, Dean hasn't been himself. He hasn't been strong enough.
Chuck says, "Sorry, Sam. I know it's a terrible burden, feeling that it all rests on your shoulders."
"Does it all rest on my shoulders?" Sam asks, and Chuck replies, "That seems to be where the story's headed."
Sam asks if he's strong enough to defeat Lilith, and Chuck says he doesn't know -- his visions haven't taken him that far yet.
Back to Dean: He's laid out in the street and hears a woman's voice asking him if he's OK. As he opens his eyes, he whispers, "Stars." He really does see stars -- they're her star-shaped earrings. He sits up and the woman explains that her daughter, who's also standing by Dean, is going through a doctor phase. Dean's confused, but then he sits up and see the Impala has had its back window smashed in. He walks over to assess the damage, and in the side window's reflection, he sees the girl has affixed flower-covered band-aids all over his face.
Chuck heads back to his house, where Dean is waiting for him, ticked off. He has the feeling that Chuck isn't telling them everything. He grabs Chuck by the collar and shoves him up against the wall, demanding that he tell him how he knows about everything that's happening to the Winchesters before it happens. Chuck looks genuinely afraid.
"Dean, let him go." Castiel appears behind Dean. "This man is to be protected."
"Why?" Dean asks. Castiel answers, "He is a prophet of the Lord."
Dean looks gobsmacked. "This guy? A prophet? C'mon, he's practically a Penthouse forum writer!" He bellows at Chuck for not saying anything to them. Chuck says he didn't want to believe it himself. "Writing oneself into a story is one thing, but as a prophet? That's like M. Night-level douchiness," he says. Castiel explains that Chuck is a conduit for the inspired truth delivered from on high. One day the 'Supernatural' graphic novels will be known as the Winchester gospel.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Dean and Chuck say in unison.
"I am not," Castiel replies, "kidding you." Chuck runs into his bedroom and shuts the door. Dean says, "Him? Really?" Cas replies, "You should have seen Luke." He asks Castiel how they can get out of the Sam-Lilith love connection, and Castiel informs him that there's no way out of it. Once the prophet has written something, there's no unwriting it. It shall come to pass.
Dean drives back to the motel and sees the RED sign. He heads to room to retrieve Sam, and finds Sam has burned all the hex bags. Sam has decided he's going to stay and confront Lilith. They have words, in which Dean reveals that Castiel told him that Sam's still practicing his demonic powers. But he doesn't know how Sam is getting stronger. Frustrated, Dean asks Sam if he's going to leave, and Sam says no.
Dean stalks outside and reluctantly prays for help. Castiel appears and tells him that his sign of faith is a good thing. Dean begs Castiel to drag Sam away from this place, and Castiel says no, that he can't intervene. Dean tells Cas to screw himself, that after all he's put Dean through, if he can't assist him now, then not to bother asking for his help when the time comes.
Dean starts to walk away as Castiel calls him back. Castiel explains why he can't intervene: every prophet is protected by an archangel. Archangels, Castiel explains, are fierce and absolute -- Heaven's most terrifying weapon. So, Dean asks, if a prophet were in the same room as a demon, the most fearsome wrath of heaven would rain down on that demon? Yes, Cas tells him. "Just so you understand why I can't help." Wink, wink.
Dean dashes over to Chuck's to retrieve him, but Chuck is less than willing to help out. "But...I'm just a writer."
"This isn't a story anymore, man! You're in it! Now," Dean whispers, as the music swells heroically, "Why don't you get off your ass and fight?"
Chuck's eyes glisten with what seems like bravery and he turns to Dean. "No freakin' way."
"OK, well then how about this: I have a gun in my pocket, and if you don't come with me, I'm gonna blow your brains out."
"I thought you said I was protected by an archangel," Chuck counters.
"Interesting exercise," Dean replies. "Let's see who has the quicker draw."
Back at the motel, there's a knock on the door. Sam answers and sees...nobody. He turns around to find a comely dental hygienist in his room. "Hello, Sam," Lilith coos.
"I've been waiting for you," Sam tells her. Lilith asks for the knife, and he tells her it's on the nightstand by the bed. She turns to retrieve it, but stops at the rug. She lifts it and discovers he's left a devil's trap for her. "You're going to have to try a lot harder than that," she says. Sam attempts to exorcise her, but she doesn't move. He asks why she doesn't toss him around, and she reminds him that she can't -- he's immune to her powers. They're at a stalemate.
Lilith has come to offer him a deal: She'll stand down, because as it turns out, she found out that she won't survive the war. She wants everything to go back to the way it was before there were angels on her tail. In return, she wants his head on a stick. Dean's too. Self-sacrifice is the Winchester way, isn't it? Sam asks her why he should believe her, and she reminds him that if they enter into a contract, she has to fulfill it. "Are you so arrogant that you would put your lives before those of 6 billion people?" she asks. "Maybe it's all that demon blood pumping through your pipes. A man after my own heart."
Sam tells her that he's nothing like her, and Lilith tells him to prove it. Sam agrees to her terms. Splendid, Lilith says, adding that making a contract with her will take more than a kiss. She sits down on the bed and pats it seductively. Uh-oh. "Don't worry," Lilith says. "The dental hygienist in her wants it bad."
Sam moves to the bed to make with the fiery throes of demonic passion and all that. He leans over Lilith, but suddenly grabs the knife to stab her. Lilith stops Sam and throws him underneath her, taking the knife and moving to plunge it into his chest. At that moment, Dean runs in with his guest. "I am the prophet Chuck!" Chuck chirps.
"You've gotta be joking," Lilith yells, and the room starts quaking. Dean tells Lilith that she has about 10 seconds before the room fills with wrath and burns her to a crisp. She glares at him and exits the dental hygienist in a tube of smoke.
Their work done, the boys head out of town, tarp flapping from the Impala's back window. Sam fills Dean in on the deal Lilith offered. "You didn't think once about taking it?" Dean asks.
"Are you kidding me? You just spent all day talking me off the Lilith path," Sam observes. Sam goes on to say she'd find some way to weasel out of it. But that's not the point: Lilith's afraid, Sam says. She's running from something, but what? They're going to have to find out.
Sam says that Lilith is right about not surviving the Apocalypse, though. He's going to see to that. Dean turns to see Sam's scary expression of determination, and looks worried.
Meanwhile, Chuck is asleep on his couch when he gets apparently horrifying visions which, naturally, we are not privy to because that would spoil the surprise.
He wakes up. "Did you see it?" a voice asks. There's a man in his room with him. It's Zachariah, Castiel's superior...and one assumes, Chuck's guardian. He asks again if Chuck saw "it."
"Is it true? Is all that really going to happen?" Chuck asks.
"Have you been wrong so far?" the archangel asks. Chuck moves to warn Sam and Dean, but Zachariah says he wouldn't advise it.
"People shouldn't know too much about their own destiny," Zachariah says. "You try, and I'll stop you."
Chuck says he's going to kill himself, and Zachariah tells him not to be melodramatic, that the angels would only bring him back to life.
Chuck asks what the angels expects him to do. Zachariah replies, "What you always do. Write."
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