Disclaimer: Do not read this without having read 'The Ogre and the Bee'. This is a direct sequel to that story and it is required to read it to understand this one. I would link it here but that is not allowed so just find it on my profile instead. Come back when you're done. Enjoy!
Chapter 1 – Descent
Barry is burning. His entire body is on fire. And all he feels is that burning. It won't stop. It likely never will. He'll just keep burning, forever. Burning, burning, burning.
Barry knows he's dead. He died some time ago, now. He knows because the fire just feels different now. Out in the real world, fire is finite. It always burns out eventually. From the smallest ember to the largest star, nothing burns forever. But this fire feels different. It feels infinite. Barry knows that he will never stop burning. And it's as if the fire knows it too. It's as if the fire knows that it can burn as hot as it wants and just keep going. It knows it can burn for an eternity. Just burning, burning, burning.
Barry stops thinking for a while and just burns.
How much time has passed? Barry has long last track. He suspects that he lost track before he had even died. He still remembers dying. Or at least, he remembers the events that killed him. The boundaries between his life and his death are missing. As if they've been burned away as well. He remembers being kidnapped, Shrek gloating in his face, and that fake Donkey starting this eternal burning that he now has to suffer.
Barry doesn't remember how he knows that the real Donkey is already dead. He knows that he killed Donkey, but the strange thing is that he doesn't actually remember doing it. He doesn't seem to remember much at all, actually. Perhaps his memories are burning away with him.
Then for a split second, Barry felt something that wasn't his own soul burning. Wind. Wind? How the hell could he have felt wind without a body? Or does he have some kind of spirit body? No, it can't be that. He doesn't feel a body. All he feels is burning. Or is it? If he focuses, he thinks he can feel something, distant and faint. He focuses his entire mind on it. Or at least, the part of his mind that hasn't burned away yet. He slowly pushes his way through the burning until finally he breaks free. He can feel something else. Something new. He does have a body. And it's falling. Shit.
Barry wants to scream, but he feels more resigned than anything. His soul may no longer be getting slowly annihilated, but he did just go straight from one torment to another. Being dead sucks. This must be his new fate. An eternity of falling. Comparatively peaceful if you don't have a fear of heights, which Barry does in fact have. Wait, was he always scared of heights? Barry isn't sure. He knows he never had any trouble flying, even if doesn't actually remember flying, for some reason. Some dickhead must've given him a fear of heights just to fuck with him. Barry decides to just accept his fate and try to relax as he falls for all eternity. Just falling, falling, falling.
And then he hits the ground.
Barry groans and rolls onto his back before sitting up to get a look at his surroundings. Stretching out in all directions is a seemingly-endless, chaotic landscape of flames and barren earth. As he looks out on what he knows must be Hell, the landscape seems to shift and warp, as if it isn't truly there. Mountains on the horizon rising in and out of existence. Oceans of damned souls washing across vast fields of flame. Forests of bodies warped into tree-like shapes that appear to teleport from hill to hill.
Barry's eyes widen in horror. All that seemingly infinite suffering that he just escaped was only the entrance to Hell. So, he does the only thing he can. He gets to his feet and runs as fast as they can take him.
Barry quickly loses track of how long he's been running. After an unknowable amount of time, but also no time at all, Barry crests the top of a hill and sees a small pond on top. It feels peaceful here. Barry stops running and decides to sit alongside the pond. He just sits and stares into it. It's a strange pond. It has no reflection and, in contrast to the rest of Hell, is a deep, calming blue. Barry feels like he should enter the pond. Like he should be a part of the pond.
Barry starts crawling towards the pond when he hears a distant voice calling out to him. "Hey! Stop! Don't go near that pond!" the voice says. Barry snaps out of it and turns to see who spoke. Running up to him is a tall man with short, brown hair and wearing plain clothes with a leather jacket. "That pond is made of congealed suffering," the man continues. "It lures people in and tortures them until their souls become nothing more than just a part of the pond. Get the hell away from there while you still can."
Barry quickly backs away from the pond before turning to his savior. "Thank you," he says. "I'm Barry B. Benson. May I ask who you are?"
"Dean Winchester," he says stoically. "That was a close call, Barry. Try to stay safe." He then starts to walk away.
Barry quickly follows after him. "Wait, Dean!" he calls out.
Dean turns around to look at Barry and starts to speak when he's almost immediately cut off by a loud roar bellowing out across Hell. "Shit!" he says. "It's the Hell Beast, Lotan! Barry, hide!" He then dives into a nearby Hell Bush, which starts to scream, however Hell Bushes just do that and so Lotan will just ignore it.
Barry quickly rushes to find his own Hell Bush to hide in. He crouches down inside of it just as a large, red, whale-like creature flies overhead. Lotan, the Devil's loyal beast.
Just then, some poor soul comes running up the hill, screaming for help, only for Lotan to swoop down and devour him in one of his dozen mouths, barely slowing down to do so. Barry is sure that if he was still alive, he would have shit himself about now. Lotan continues flying, having ignored the Hell Bushes containing Barry and Dean.
Once Lotan is out of sight, Dean climbs out of his Hell Bush and walks over to Barry, who's still hiding in his. "Need any help?" he asks. "You look pretty stuck right now."
Barry is still shaking from the frightening encounter. "I need to get out of here," he says to himself, before looking up at Dean. "How the hell do I get out of Hell?"
Dean looks at Barry for what feels like minutes and then starts laughing. "Ha! The Devil has the power to let people out, but that never happens!" he says. "Where do you think you are? This is Hell! You can't just leave!"
Barry looks down in embarrassment. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask. Where can I find the Devil?"
Dean shakes his head. "Actually, it can hurt. A lot," Dean explains. "When he declines your request, he's going to leave you with a fate that will make you wish for your soul to get destroyed."
"So, you won't help me?" Barry asks, disappointed.
"I didn't say that," Dean responds. "Tell you what, help me out with something, and I'll take you to the Devil. But when you get turned into a Hell Bush, don't come whining to me."
Barry, now realizing that the Hell Bush he is still crouched in was once a person, quickly climbs out in horror. "Okay," he says after recovering. "What do you need help with?"
Dean grins. "There's someone I need to kill."
