Once upon a time, in the sixteenth-century German city of Schönburg, a master craftsman named Isaac lived with his wife Tamara. Isaac created many wonderful toys, but he and Tamara had never been able to create the one thing they wanted most: a child. It caused them great sadness every time children came into the store.

One evening in the middle of winter, however, the Norseman Bobby Singfried brought a great gift to Isaac and Tamara: a tiny baby boy, wrapped up in a basket. When they found him the next morning, they immediately decided to raise him as their own -- especially as the basket contained a gold medallion at the bottom, engraved with the name SAMUEL on one side and the emblem of Hässlichburg on the other: the terrible city to the far north, where everyone was poor and miserable and the children had no toys. Clearly the child was an orphan of this awful place.

So Isaac and Tamara raised Samuel as if he were their own, teaching him the trade of the family: the creation of both toys and real weapons, which the family used to fight off the occasional evil spirit who came their way. They lived in happiness, however, along with the rest of Schönburg--for it was a happy place, unplagued by the eternal winter of the north. And so Sam grew to adulthood, working alongside his father in the shop.

But where Isaac was an expert craftsman, Sam's hands were large and clumsy--the first in the family not to have the gift of craftsmanship. Sam never understood why this should be so.

But one day, when Sam was twenty, a little girl asked him to take the new doll Isaac had made her to Hässlichburg, so that a little girl who had never had a doll might have one. Sam was smart--he had heard that the journey to that place should be impossible to make--but when Sam returned to his parents' home, Isaac let slip that Sam had been there before, that he had come from Hässlichburg as a child, and Sam's curiosity was piqued. He would take the doll to Hässlichburg, if such a thing could be done.

*

Meanwhile, in the city of Hässlichburg, the yellow-eyed Lord Azazel asked his soothsayer Ava to speak his future. But instead of telling him how lovely his future would be, she told of a lost child of Hässlichburg who would return in a sleigh from the sky, bearing great gifts, and who would end Azazel's evil reign. Azazel had her neck wrung, then left her outside the great hall as a warning against those who might defy him. This child of the prophecy could never make it to Hässlichburg, though--the dark witch Meg would be sure of it.

"More mead!" he cried out, just as the servant-boy Dean was closest to him with the bottle of mead--a lad of twenty-four with features finer than those of most servant-girls, tight trousers and a shirt that billowed open as he leaned over Azazel to pour the drink. "Now isn't there something I like to see," Azazel said with a leer, as the servant-boy pulled away, flushed. Oh, he was a fine one, indeed. He reached out to pinch Dean's bottom, but the servant-boy turned too quickly, out of Azazel's reach. He would not stay that way forever.

*

With the help of all the town, Sam collected the provisions he would need for the trip: immense stores of food and fat; a swift-moving sleigh and eight tiny reindeer; toys for all the children of Hässlichburg; and a beautiful fur-lined coat. Finally, the Norseman Bobby Singfried took Sam aside to wish him great luck on his journey. "It is time for you to discover the power that you have held inside you since birth," he said to Sam. "You have been gifted with a giant staff of great power."

"But how shall I know how to use it?" Sam asked.

"Your staff will know when it is time," the Norseman Bobby Singfried replied.

And so it was that Sam set off for the terrible land of the north. The dark witch Meg sent a terrible storm to try to stop him, flinging him off his sleigh, but Sam's staff leapt to life and clung to the railing, keeping him falling into the abyss below. He became lost, but found his way again with the aid of the hermit Dr. Bad-Arsch, who showed him the way to the mountain pass through which he had to travel and told him that one day he should share his staff with someone who was in need of it.

Sam found the pass blocked by a pair of enormous boulders; however, the moment he touched his giant staff to the boulders, they cracked asunder, allowing him and his sleigh through.

The dark witch Meg, becoming angry, sent a second, more powerful storm to stop Sam, and he became separated from his sleigh and reindeer. Luckily, the elves who lived underground took him in. Two of them in particular, Ellen and her daughter Jo, nursed him back to health at their pub, giving him strong mead and fortifying elven cookies and begging him to stay with them forever. Sam refused their kind offer, though--he needed to continue on to Hässlichburg, so that he might deliver the toys and discover who he really was. "But the dark witch Meg nearly killed you before!" Ellen and Jo exclaimed.

"Well, let us then go speak with her, and see if she might let me pass through her circle," Sam said.

"But the entrance to her castle is guarded by the Beast!" they cried. "A terrible beast, who eats elves and men alike!"

"I will find a way past this monster, too," Sam said.

*

Dean had managed to escape Azazel's advances thus far, but with each passing day it became more difficult. Lord Azazel wanted him to parade about in ever-smaller pairs of trousers and ever-more-open shirts, and for Dean to be the only one who served him, so that Dean would be forced to be around him ever more often. Dean did not dare refuse--his father's refusal had cost him his life, and Dean's eternal servitude. There was no way out. He'd managed to escape Lord Azazel's notice until recently, by keeping his head down and doing what he was told. Dean had heard the news that a new leader might be on the way, one who could deliver Hässlichburg from Azazel's tyranny, but until then there was nothing to do but keep his wits about him and hope that it would be enough.

*

The monster Henricksen was huge and terrible indeed, and greatly desired to eat Sam and the elves--but then Ellen had a brilliant idea. "Maybe he's just hungry," she said, pulling out her stash of elven cookies. "Here! Try one of these!"

And the monster stopped its growling and gnashing of teeth and began to eat the cookies instead. "There is more to this world than I ever knew!" he exclaimed, around a mouthful of cookies.

"So you're not going to eat any more elves?" Sam said.

"ELVES NOOOOO. COOOOOKIES," Henricksen roared. "I shall help you on your quest! Climb aboard my back!"

And Sam and the elves rode Henricksen like a toboggan down toward the fortress of the dark witch Meg. When they arrived, Meg became furious at Henricksen for betraying her, and froze him and the elves in a block of ice. She intended to do the same or worse to Sam when he pulled out his giant staff, as a last resort--and it saved him. "What is this?" she exclaimed. "I have not seen a staff so massive since the days of Odin!"

"I could give it to you, if you like," Sam said, watching as Meg's eyes filled with wonder.

"No one has--ever--given me such a--gift before," Meg panted as he presented it to her. "What might I--do for--you in return?"

"No more storms would be nice," Sam said.

"I shall give you more than that," Meg said, adjusting her robe. "I shall show you your family!"

Sam looked into a crystal ball and saw his true parents--John and Mary Winchester--and the elder of their sons, a boy whose name the crystal ball did not know. "Do they still live?" Sam asked.

"The ball does not tell me that," Meg said. "You shall have to discover that for yourself. Here, I shall give you a bag of magical snow, which you shall find a use for sometime, and I shall fly you the rest of the way on the North Wind!"

And so Sam climbed into his sleigh, and the North Wind carried him and his sleigh and his reindeer into Hässlichburg, while Henricksen, Ellen and Jo thawed out below, and followed on foot.

*

A sleigh drawn by reindeer landed out of the sky, and the most handsome man Dean had ever seen alighted from it. "This must be Hässlichburg," the man said. "I am here to bring toys to all the children!"

"It's the deliverer!" the townsfolk cried. "He has come at last!"

"Um," the man said.

In a moment of bravery, Dean approached the man. "There was a prophecy about you," he said. "It said that you would arrive in a sleigh from the sky, and you would deliver us from tyranny."

The man met Dean's eyes, and a shiver ran through them both. "I just came to bring toys to the children, and to discover who my true parents are. I came from Hässlichburg as a baby--"

"It is he!" the townsfolk cried. "It is truly the deliverer!"

"Seize him!" yelled Azazel's guards, appearing in the village square.

"Come with me," Dean said quickly. "I will hide you until they pass."

The shed behind the barn was tiny, far too small for two grown men. The stranger was pressed against the length of Dean's back, and the hardness of the stranger's enormous staff jutting into his back was making Dean flush. Nonetheless, he stayed perfectly still until he was sure that the guards were gone. "You never gave me your name," Dean said. "I'm Dean."

"Sam," the man said, smiling a smile that Dean felt all the way down to his boots. "Perhaps you can help me, Dean. I was raised in Schönburg, but I am in search of my true parents--John and Mary Winchester."

Dean's stomach turned. "I know just where they live," was all he said. "Come with me."

*

Dean led him to a tiny, grim house in the middle of the winding, grim streets of Hässlichburg. "This is the Winchester home," he said, something in his handsome face less friendly than before, less joyous--but then Sam was inside the house, and a woman's voice from the bedroom called out, "Son? Is that you?"

"Yes, Mother," Sam said happily, going to her. "I have finally returned."

The frail, dying woman on the bed stared at him in puzzlement. "You're not--oh, dear Lord! It is Samuel! He has returned to us! Dean, come and see!" She pulled Sam in closer, hugging him.

"I've already met him," Dean said tersely.

"I should think you would show more affection toward your long-lost brother," Mary said. "Come here!"

But Sam had frozen in place, staring at Dean. "Brother?" He hadn't been imagining the effect they'd had on each other; there was no way he'd been imagining it. It was everything Isaac had said Sam would feel for a woman one day, and more--he'd finally found that in a person, and that person was his brother.

"We were so sad to give you up, Sammy," Mary said. "But we knew the Norseman could take you to a better life away from here. It was too late for Dean--Lord Azazel already knew of his existence--but we were able to send you away before Lord Azazel knew you had been born."

"And John?" Sam said, not looking at Dean. "What has become of him?"

"He died a long time ago," Dean said shortly.

"Fighting against Azazel's tyranny," Mary said. "And Dean forced to work as his servant! But all will be well now that you are here. Come, hug an old and dying woman."

"Dying?" Sam said. "But you can't--I just met you!"

But Mary pulled him and Dean both in for a hug and then said, "Make it all better, Sam and Dean. I shall see you in the next life," and then she died.

Dean pulled away first, then Sam did. "So," Sam said, his resolve strengthening, "we've got work to do."

*

With the aid of the magical snow, they delivered a toy to each and every child of Hässlichburg that night--it allowed them to slide up and down the chimneys of the village houses, without anyone ever knowing they were there. In the morning, Lord Azazel was furious, and had all the toys confiscated and burned. Sam and Dean watched it all from an enclave almost as tight as the shed the night before, but Dean was careful to keep from touching Sam--his younger brother.

"Why is Azazel doing this?" Sam whispered furiously. "What harm could toys cause?"

"He's doing it because he can," Dean said.

"We have to stop him," Sam said, and before Dean could tell him not to do it, Sam squeezed Dean's hand tightly and went out into the square, turning himself over to the guards so that he could speak with Azazel. Azazel had him thrown in the dungeons, and Dean was so distracted by it that he let himself get caught by the guards as well.

"But what have I done?" Dean said as the guards led him up to the high tower.

"Nothing yet," the guard said, leering, "but you'll have done a whole lot once Azazel's done with you, I bet."

Dean shuddered and only hoped there would be some way to get out of this, and that he might one day be able to see his brother again.

*

Sam got out of the dungeons with the help of the rioting village mob, Henricksen the cookie-loving monster, the elves Ellen and Jo, and his flying-reindeer sleigh. He flew up to the top of the tower, where Azazel was trying to have his way with Dean, and somehow he didn't even have to think about what to do: he reached into the bottom of the sack that had held all the toys, and pulled out a magical mechanical device, pointed it at Azazel and pulled a lever--and the device exploded, sending Azazel crashing to the ground dead. "Come on, Dean!" Sam said, holding out his arm.

Dean took it, and leapt onto the sleigh--crashing into Sam's chest as he did. Sam pulled him in close and didn't let go when Dean tried to move away, his eyes flaring wide and his breath quickening as Sam dipped his head. "We can't," Dean protested, "we're bro--"

"No one else knows that, do they?" Sam said. "They'll never have to know." He held his breath until the moment Dean gave in, relaxed into Sam's grip and let Sam kiss him, fireworks exploding behind Sam's eyes. Finally he pulled back. "Come on, let's get out of here," he said, throwing an arm around Dean's shoulders and directing the reindeer off into the night.

*

The villagers of Hässlichburg overthrew the rest of the nobility, locking them in the dungeons and forcing them to do hard labor, and there was much rejoicing. Sam and Dean Winchester moved back to Schönburg, and lived happily and gaily there--and if the Norseman Bobby Singfried knew the truth of their relationship, he never said a word.

Deep in the darkest dungeon of Hässlichburg, Lord Azazel's wife Lilith bided her time. "One day I will escape from this prison, and I will make the Winchesters pay for what they have done," she promised.

And in a five-start hotel on an island of his own creation, the Trickster took long sip of his piña colada, smiled to himself and said, "I'd like to see the Winchesters get out of this one. Man, sometimes I love my own brain."