CAMBIONVERSE

Welcome! Cambionverse is an ongoing Supernatural AU by Liz (@thegeminisage) & Cally (@callowyn) which explores the next generation of hunters, specifically the now-grown Jesse Turner, Ben Braeden, and Claire Novak. This verse splits from canon during 6.21 Let It Bleed: Lisa Braeden dies while possessed by a demon, but Ben keeps his memories of Dean and the supernatural world. Ben goes on to become a hunter himself, and his skills are put to the test when, in 2016, Sam and Dean Winchester vanish without a trace.

A note: This series is currently undergoing rewrites for quality and consistency, meaning some details may conflict between stories at the moment. Some of the older fics have been taken down while we tinker. Please see this post for more details!

« Fics »

62,600 words / published July 12th, 2011 / reduxed August 1st, 2013 / [link]

Jesse Turner has been trying to outrun his half-demon side since the apocalypse that wasn’t, but when a demon kills his parents, the need for vengeance drives him back to the house in Nebraska where he once lived. The absolute last thing Jesse needs is to meet a pair of hunters already at the scene—he’s learned the hard way not to trust anyone but himself. But Ben Braeden and Claire Novak don’t seem like they’ll be leaving him alone anytime soon: the same demon, they think, brought about the Winchesters’ mysterious disappearance three years prior. Pursued by the Queen of Hell and all the power she commands, their reluctant alliance slowly grows into something deeper, and when their path leads them to the gate of Purgatory itself, Jesse has to decide which he’s more scared of: his powers, or what he’ll lose if he can’t face them.

Warnings: This story contains descriptions of panic attacks, suicidal ideation, death by fire, moderate gore, and graphic torture.

20,800 words / published March 29th, 2019 / [link]

The Antichrist is officially shacked up with two hunters, which means it's the perfect time to be wrestling with the unholy amount of hellfire he just inherited—not to mention heartache, haircuts, and strange dreams. What could go wrong?

Warnings: mild references to disordered eating, possession, and self-injury, some light content involving grief, anxiety, and hypervigilance, and some extremely heavy stuff about deep and long-lasting trauma. There are multiple descriptions of smoking (from the smoking character's perspective), multiple descriptions of torture (all as a past event, none in the present), descriptions of beheading and drowning, and graphic details about dead bodies and what people look like when they are burned alive.

46,200 words / published July 26th, 2012 / reduxed January 19th, 2015 / [link]

Now that Ben’s three-year quest to find Dean has finally ended, he sort of figured his life would settle down. But ever since Jesse’s battle with the Queen of Hell, it’s become more dangerous than ever to be the Antichrist’s friend, and Dean seems determined to use his newly-reinstated role as Ben’s father figure to disapprove of all of Ben’s life choices. Worse, now that the Winchesters are back in business, an old enemy with a bone to pick aims to put them down permanently—no matter who gets hurt in the process. Compared to an angel’s ex-vessel, a cambion, and the most legendary hunter in living memory, not much seems special about Ben. But he may be the only one able to keep his family, new and old, from being destroyed.

Warnings: This story contains significant violence, graphic descriptions of severe burns, death by fire, a non-fatal car accident, brief discussions of terminal illness, allusions to torture and its emotional aftermath, and multiple instances of characters being supernaturally drugged to unconsciousness or unpleasant hallucinatory states. While one instance of drugging occurs in the context of a semi-anonymous hookup, this fic does not include rape or threat of sexual violence. There is also depiction of a fake suicide (dying in a dream to escape the dream).

29,800 words / published December 11th, 2011 / reduxed March 29th, 2016 / [link]

March 29th, 2019: The Antichrist comes home to find a pair of hunters in the ashes of the life he left behind.

October 31st, 2016: Ben Braeden and Claire Novak, both looking for their fathers, find each other instead.

March 29th, 2016: Sam and Dean Winchester vanish without a trace.

Warnings: This story includes descriptions of both visual and auditory hallucinations, nightmares, flashbacks, manipulation/gaslighting, torture, heavy suicidal ideation, heavy gore, and the constant stalker-like presence of a past abuser (Hallucifer, whose remarks about his time with Sam can sometimes border on sexual—basically, Sam’s dealing with literal PTSD from Hell). The “character death” warning applies only to characters that have also died in canon (though some of their deaths are different here).

39,000 words / published August 5th, 2011 / reduxed March 29th, 2017 / [link]

For almost half a year, Ben Braeden’s search for the missing Sam and Dean has been as difficult and fruitless as it has been lonely. It’s only when Ben runs into Claire Novak, who claims she met the Winchesters herself once, that things begin to change. Claire is sharp, distant, and impossible to read, but she and Ben have more in common than either of them realize, and slowly, they begin to find their places in the hunting world and with each other. But Claire keeps a lot of secrets—most painful, some dangerous…and some that might tear them apart.

Warnings: This story includes descriptions of graphic violence, gore involving both living people and dead bodies, selective mutism, trauma related to firearms, past parental death, and abandonment issues. There are light mentions of cannibalism, child death, child abuse, and homophobia, and there is a lot of very heavy stuff involving possesion, which is sometimes metaphorically compared to rape/sexual abuse.

10,900 words / published March 29th, 2021 [link]

Jesse Turner left Alliance to protect his parents from the ugly truth that their son is a half-demon. But this story is about what happened before that—and how Bill and Beth Turner were hiding a few ugly truths of their own.

Warnings: This fic contains content discussing past demonic possession, forced self-inflicted injury, infertility issues, blink-and-miss-it suicidal ideation, nightmares, hypervigilance, and general trauma.

5000 words / published August 1st, 2014 / updated August 24th, 2015 / [link]

A collection of short stories.

August 1st, 2014: This might not be where they thought they’d end up, but there are worse places to be.

Antichrist Blues: Some of the antichrist’s human experiences.

A Tent In The Outback: Oliver and Elias Simms, scourge of the outback, have picked up a stray.

Warnings: August 1st, 2014 includes minor references to abuse of painkillers and self-injury.

« Works In Progress »

We have quite a few planned stories that haven’t yet been posted, and we sometimes reference them on the blog—here they are so you don’t get confused!

Envesseled: The big sequel to Cambion and Only Human, Envesseled will be told from Claire’s point of view and round off our main trilogy. We posted a preview of the fic here—but be warned, it’s very spoilery.

To Build A Home: A collection of short stories about the regulars of the Salt Round (the hunters’ bar in Cambion): Haley Collins, Tommy Collins, Ben Collins, Emily Jorgeson, Katie Doolittle, and Aaron & Hunter Birch. Each story is set in a different time period, ranging all the way from Season 1 to after Envesseled.

As Time Goes By*: Our own Ben-centric version of episode 8.12, because we wanted to have the Men of Letters bunker and Henry Winchester in our verse too.

“The Fourth Fic”: Intended to focus on the relationship between Jesse, Ben, and Claire and more or less wrap up the series, we often joke that this fic (which has not yet been officially titled) will be nothing but porn. That joke was the basis of our (now sadly defunct) NSFW blog.

* These may or may not be posted into the Oneshots collection, depending on their length when finished.

« Reading Order »

Currently, the fics are listed here and on AO3 in the recommended reading order, which may change as we add more completed stories. We always strongly suggest reading Cambion first, but if you’d prefer alternate orders…

Chronological Order: A House In Nebraska, August 1st, 2014, A Tent In The Outback, Enter Night, Synchronicity, Cambion, Antichrist Problems, Only Human, Antichrist Blues

Published Order: Cambion, August 1st, 2014, Only Human, Antichrist Blues, A Tent In The Outback, Enter Night, Synchronicity, Antichrist Problems, A House In Nebraska

« Warnings »

— 👀 anon

*to elaborate bc I don’t want you to misunderstand — I absolutely love this whole verse and reading it isn’t what takes energy! What takes energy is actually scouring the text to get the info I need.

— 👀 anon

YAY HELLO EYEBALLS ANON! we would be absolutely blessed to have your fanart :3 also dw the verse is. very long. and you're right that we don't mention outfits very often!

the cambionverse fashionplate is something like this:

jesse: OBVIOUSLY yes the surf naked shirt is iconic!! most of the time he's wearing his red hoodie over whatever else he has on, even though at this point it is extremely sun-faded and dusty. the pouch pocket usually has a pack of smokes, his knife, his dad's wallet, and any odds and ends he's picked up recently. he has held onto the boots he got from the simms brothers for 3+ years and by god he will keep wearing them no matter how mud-crusted they become. jeans are usually a little too big for him. most likely to actually wear a hat if it's cold outside.

hair-wise, jesse wears it close to this length but more in front of his forehead/face (and without the beard). kind of like sam's hair in season 1 depending on how it falls. he has the kind of brown hair that's been lightened simply from spending so much time outdoors, and for similar reasons, his skin is pretty tan from running around the desert in his skivvies. we sometimes imagine him with freckles, since his child actor had them! he's quite tall and wiry and has hazel-green eyes (when they aren't demon black).

ben: wears miscellaneous trinkets a la season 1 dean, of which the most notable is the monster-detecting bracelet that claire takes in envesseled. he goes through thrift store shirts like nobody's business, so he's equally likely to be wearing a cool vintage goku print as a "team building exercise 99" tee in horrible puce. he would probably unironically love sam's purple greyhound shirt actually. has a similar love of weird patterns on boxers. jeans always have either a bloodstain or a torn knee or both. usually wearing at least one flannel over top, again very like the winchesters, and shoes are either crusty sneakers or work boots.

ben has very dark brown eyes, almost black, and his complexion is naturally a bit darker than the other two (he takes after his mother). hair is curlier than our current faceclaim (if you remember a bajillion years ago when we did edits with darren criss that's closer to the hair texture) but he keeps it cut pretty short. he's not quite as tall as jesse but he has more, heh heh, girth.

claire: clothingwise, sun's out guns out except the sun is on the inside; she only wears sleeves/jackets when it would draw unwanted attention to do otherwise because she's hot 110% of the time. tends towards plain black or white tank tops because those are easy to buy cheap packs of. you can see the edge of her anti-possession tattoo poking out above the neckline which the boys are so normal about; when not working, she also sometimes forgoes a bra (sensory issues) which they also have to be real cool about. usually found in jeans, though she switches it up with leggings/cargo pants/whatever fits her as long as they cover the enochian warding scars on her thighs. she sleeps in shorts now that she trusts her hotel companions. sneakers all the time because she wants to be fast & quiet; she lets other people do the kicking in of doors.

12k, rated M, by @thegeminisage & @callowyn

Ten years ago, when Castiel took Claire Novak as his vessel, he unknowingly left a little piece of his grace behind. Now, that grace is killing Claire little by little. Ben and Jesse aren’t ready to let her go, but with their desperate search for a cure leading to nothing but dead ends, it seems her time is finally running out. Then unexpected tragedy strikes, and Claire must race against her own failing body and use her stolen grace one last time to set things right. As it turns out, Castiel may be the answer to all her prayers—but only if Claire finds the resolve to set aside her long-dreamed-of revenge against the angel who killed her father, and let him in one last time.

"The other thing I found," Aaron continues, "is what I wanted to talk to you about." He reaches into his jacket and produces a long, perfect silver blade.

"What are you doing with that."

They both turn at the ringing sound of Jesse's voice. Aaron's eyes narrow, but he moves slowly and calmly, placing the sword across his open palms. "If I wanted Claire dead, I've had plenty of chances before now," he says coolly.

The sword hums to her like grace, like palo santo, like the bracelet around her wrist but even more comforting because it's bright and it's sharp and Aaron is holding it like a gift.

[Read on AO3]

EVAAAAA thank you this was such a nice ask to get 😭 genuinely, there's nothing like people loving and remembering your work so many years later, especially something so niche/that's such a hard sell. never feel bad about sending this kind of ask, it's not pressure-y, we're really really happy that march 29th rolls around and people remember :')

also, to you and to this person:

we are in fact putting out a CHAPTER. so actually, it's great that you're rereading, now is a perfect time to be doing that if you don't remember What The Hell Is Going On.

something small! it has been one of those...years...and we don't want to begin posting more chapters of envesseled until we have the ENTIRE fic complete, because that's gotten us in a little trouble narrative-wise. so one thing we did was edited what we had so far, and those edits have been applied to the version that's on ao3 now! though probably no one will notice but us, lol.

that being said, we can't let the day pass without SOME kind of writing getting posted, so we do have a short excerpt (about 1200 words) that takes place early during chapter 7.

thanks so much for everyone who still cares about and is patiently waiting on an update to this verse <3 it is being worked on!! it'll just take time.

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