Title: Mr. Invincible
Author: P.L. Wynter (wynter_rebel)
Pairings/Characters: No pairings. Just brothers. :)
Rating: G
Category: Um, General, because no one has told me what "het" means yet. (hint hint)
Word Count: 1,298 or close to that.
Spoilers: Faith, if you live under a rock and don't know what the episode's about. ;)
Summary: All kids have superheroes. Little Sammy had Mr. Invincible.
Notes/Warnings: None really. Just remember that this is a different style of writing, set up to have a certain tone. And don't forget to look at the awesome icon Clarkoholic made for me!!

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Some kids idolized superheroes who run around in capes and masks, who swing down off of buildings to scoop up the damsel in distress, who have mild mannered alter egos. Some kids idolized superheroes who are nothing more than a picture on a page, a character in a movie, a creation of the imagination. Some kids never know who their true superheroes are. But not Little Sammy. Little Sammy knows who the real superhero is. He knows that no comic book character could ever compare to his hero. Because Little Sammy's hero is the all powerful Mr. Invincible.

Mr. Invincible didn't wear masks or capes. He didn't shoot laser beams out of his eyes or have super strength. He couldn't fly, couldn't read minds, couldn't do anything superheroes were supposed to do. Except save the day. Little Sammy learned this at the age of five, when Mr. Invincible stopped three evil fourth graders from stealing his lunch money. He'd swooped in, taking on the evil kids with a ferocity Little Sammy had never seen before. He'd watched as Mr. Invincible scared off those evil fourth graders and then walked Little Sammy home, telling him that should those bullies ever come back, he'd take care of them. That was the day Little Sammy found his hero.

When Little Sammy was seven, he fell out of a tree and broke his arm. It was scary and it hurt, but not for long, because soon afterwards, Mr. Invincible saved the day again. He'd called for backup, as superheroes often do, and sat with Little Sammy until it arrived. He'd told Little Sammy that everything would be all right. He'd joked and laughed and smiled and Little Sammy had learned that day what Mr. Invincible's super power really was. Humor. Infectious humor. Because even through the pain, Little Sammy had joked and laughed and smiled along with him.

Mr. Invincible continued to save the day for years afterwards. Then the day came when it was decided that Mr. Invincible needed a sidekick. At fourteen, Little Sammy was more than willing. He trained and practiced and fought with Mr. Invincible until he was proclaimed ready for the superhero business. It was a privilege, an honor, a dream to fight alongside Mr. Invincible, to help him fight off the forces of evil and save the day. It was all Little Sammy could think about, for a while.

Then the day came when Little Sammy realized he'd never be as good as Mr. Invincible. No one would ever praise him the way they praised Mr. Invincible. No one would ever call on him for help the way they called on Mr. Invincible. No one would ever see him as anything more than a sidekick. And, as sidekicks often do, Little Sammy grew bored of the superhero gig. He began looking to other things to make him happy. He began loving his mild mannered alter ego more than his superhero side. And Little Sammy watched as Mr. Invincible's mild mannered alter ego faded away, while his grew and grew.

So when Little Sammy went solo, it wasn't as a sidekick and it wasn't as a superhero. Little Sammy became just another average Joe, and found he liked it. The League of Heroes said it was forbidden, but Little Sammy wouldn't listen. And as they kicked Little Sammy out, he watched as Mr. Invincible turned his head, choosing to follow orders instead of Little Sammy. So, as he left, Little Sammy didn't look back.

Now, as time went by, Little Sammy soon forgot what it was like to be a superhero. He chose to forget. He found love, life, and everything else that could never be given to a superhero. However, Little Sammy never forgot Mr. Invincible. But he had the forces of time and miles working against him. And soon, Mr. Invincible was a hero of the past. A legend, nothing more. Until the day Mr. Invincible showed up asking for the help of his long lost sidekick.

Little Sammy agreed to help, remembering all the times when the League of Heroes had come to his rescue. He took on the role of sidekick once more. But Little Sammy had forgotten the first rule in the superhero handbook. He'd forgotten that when one was a superhero, it meant one always had enemies. And when Little Sammy tried to return to his mild mannered life, his greatest enemy had attacked. It took away everything Little Sammy had fought so hard to get, and it had nearly taken his life. But the enemy had overlooked one thing: Mr. Invincible.

Just like old times, Mr. Invincible pulled Little Sammy from danger. Like he always did. Like he always would. Bound now by a common cause, Little Sammy had once again taken on the role of sidekick to Mr. Invincible. And like the dynamic duo they were, they took on foes and defeated evil on their quest to bring down their greatest enemy of all. Mr. Invincible had promised that they would conquer it, together. And Mr. Invincible never went back on a promise. Never.

Along the journey, Little Sammy began to learn more about his superhero leader. He began to understand what made him so super. What drove him to fight all the evils of the world. And on one of these quests, Little Sammy even learned why Mr. Invincible had become a superhero in the first place, but it wasn't what he had expected. Mr. Invincible hadn't chosen the life of a superhero, it had been handed to him, in the form of a baby. Little Sammy learned that baby was himself. And his faith in Mr. Invincible was restored. Though they would go through tough times and rocky waters, Little Sammy knew that Mr. Invincible would always be there to pull them out of harms way, because Mr. Invincible promised.

Maybe that's why it hurt so much when Little Sammy learned his superhero was a fraud. All his life, Little Sammy had counted on Mr. Invincible to be there when he needed him. He'd always expected Mr. Invincible to take care of the bad guys, to fix any problems, to heal any hurts. He'd watched as Mr. Invincible had healed his wounds, fought when he had no strength left in him, taken on the toughest of foes and had beaten them against all odds. And Little Sammy had believed him. He'd blindly believed that Mr. Invincible was what he always claimed to be: invincible. He'd never thought him to be a liar.

Through all the years they had fought alongside each other, through thick and thin, through good times and bad times, Mr. Invincible had always promised Little Sammy that he'd take care of things. He said that Little Sammy would always be his sidekick, no matter what. Little Sammy had never once questioned him. So as Little Sammy looked at Mr. Invincible with a tube up his nose and an IV in his arm, he thought it was a joke. He though that any minute Mr. Invincible would stand up and shout that it had all been a funny, lame joke, that he was using his super powers again, that he was trying to make Little Sammy laugh. But it was no joke. And When Mr. Invincible admitted what Little Sammy had never thought possible, Little Sammy knew that it was his turn to be the superhero, to take care of things, to take away the hurts and make everything all right. Little Sammy knew that Mr. Invincible was not Mr. Invincible.

"I'm gonna die. And you can't stop it."

Mr. Invincible was the alter ego, and Little Sammy was staring at the dying mild mannered Dean Winchester, a sidekick looking for a superhero.

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