Nuclear
He was standing in the echo. Blinking against the stone grit that hung in the air, confetti suspended. Permafrost clung to all things_dust and ice...
Dean was left standing in the center of it all.
He felt his soul rolling backward in itself.
A sob escaped his throat. How was he on his feet? How was he standing?
He realized then it was because he had been thrown against a tree. A tree that had been torched where it stood. The ashes slid out from under him, and fell away. A sandcastle.
Dean felt his feet move. There was a soft, white light. Infinity falling through the veil.
Dean knew it before the tears came. Then, the scream came rushing back. The stars began to fall. Rain, at first soft and sincere, and then hammering. The stars pelted the earth, the stars rode across the scorched earth as the war horses haste to battle.
Dean swung slowly to look behind him. Only now did he see. Castiel standing in the smoke, his wings dripping with the blood of the slain.
Castiel looked up. The sorrow in his eyes told Dean what he needed to know.
The scream came rushing back. Sam's energy had canceled the Shadeem out. He was destroyed and with him...Eternity.
Purgatory came caving in under the weight of a brother's love.
"We have to go..."Benny's voice was an afterthought in that devastation.
Dean felt them tugging him into the light. Souls were being set free. Souls had been rallied to Castiel's cause. Dean saw the resolve in Cas' face. He'd gone to save Sam, but suddenly, he was gifted an army in the destruction of all essence that he was.
It would be a long time before Dean realized that Sam was not gone forever. There was nothing to prove that he could be revived, when it was his soul that burned like falling stars, and his blood that rolled like oceans through Eternity.
Dean would become a warrior of heavenly wars not realizing that his brother's sacrifice had paved his way to destiny. That he would see him again in another life.
The wellspring of oath would one day draw them back together. This is where our story begins.
