At the same time as Dean and Castiel lay shivering, finally overcome by the hopelessness which saturated the very atmosphere, a young boy with fire-red hair trekked, unnoticed, through a poison forest, alone and confused and determined.

Who are you?

I am Gabriel the archangel. I have work for you.

What do I have to do?

You need to find two people, a human and an angel, and bring them back here.

How will I know them?

You'll know.

How will I find them?

You'll find them.

…It's my birthday.

You'll be home in time for cake and ice cream…Good luck.

Wait!

Aeden wrapped his arms tighter around himself as the temperature dropped to what surely had to below freezing. He was cold and scared and all he wanted was to wake up from whatever nightmare this was and see his dad and have him say that everything was okay. That it wasn't real.

Except he knew he wouldn't wake up until he'd done as Gabriel had said. But how was he supposed to find two tiny people, or a person and an angel, in this pitch dark forest?

Tears stung Aeden's eyes. He just wanted to go home. All around him he could hear feral snarling, see glinting red eyes moving among the rotting trees, but nothing approached him. It was like he was invisible.

He stumbled and tripped through what felt like miles of dying forest, crying and gasping, terrified out of his mind. He had no idea what he was looking for, or where to look. He just ran and ran, until a fallen branch caught his foot and he went sprawling over sharp rocks and mud.

For a moment, Aeden just lay there miserably. The angel had said he'd know where to go, but he just didn't. Slow and laborious, he pushed himself up onto his knees. His pajama pants were torn and they were bleeding badly, as were his palms and forearms. He wiped them off as best he could on his Jurassic Park t-shirt, and got to his bare feet. He hadn't even noticed how scratched up they were until now, and realized that his soles had been completely cut to ribbons. Some angel. Dick, he thought, repeating a bad word he'd once heard Daddy say when he thought Aeden wasn't listening.

There came the sharp snaps of branches from the brambles behind him, and Aeden whipped around, and froze solid. He couldn't move, he couldn't even blink. Every fiber of his body screamed at him to run for his life, but his limbs wouldn't respond. Standing only feet from him was a massive black wolf. Aeden's head barely reached its shoulder. The thing was covered in filthy, matted fur, and its mouth hung open, revealing three rows of crooked, yellowing teeth spotted with dark red.

The smell made Aeden's eyes water, a nauseating combination of month old garbage and something cloying and sweet, but tangy like rust. He gagged and shoved his fist into his mouth, biting down so hard on his knuckles he drew blood, and held as still as he could. The wolf, or whatever it was, sniffed loudly, turning left and right. It tromped forward through the thorns, straight toward Aeden. He couldn't help himself.

Aeden stumbled backwards, overbalanced, and fell with horrible crack! right into a bed of thorns. They pierced through the thin Jurassic Park t-shirt easily and stabbed into his back, and he yelped. The wolf snapped its head around. It was only feet away. Its snout lowered, right over Aeden. He closed his eyes and waited. He was going to die, here in this horrible forest. He'd never see Mommy or Daddy again. He-

All of a sudden, he heard swift, rhythmic crunches, and cracked one eye open. The wolf was gone. Aeden pushed himself to his feet and caught a glimpse of it bounding away through the blackened trees. Impossibly, he was still alive, although bleeding and in pain and still terrified out of his wits.

He continued timidly onward, edging around evil-looking plants and poisonous vines as though afraid he would break them. He chose every step carefully, always turning his head left and right, on the lookout for more monsters. He had no delusions about where he was, or who had sent him. He knew he now hiked through the Place of Evil. Perpetrator, it was called. No, something else that started with a P. When the angel had spoken to him, he had caught a glimpse inside his mind. He saw this place through the angel's eyes, felt the fear it incited. Even God himself could not enter here. But he could. He, Aeden Winchester, could.

Perhaps he should have been vivified so much as terrified by this notion, but the knowledge rekindled his fortitude and he pressed forward with new vigor, stepping easily over roots and snakes and all over manner of sickening creatures, none of which seemed to pay him the slightest of mind. His confidence bubbled, warming him in this coldest and dampest of places. He held his head high and looked forward, gaining in speed, and did not see the wide black hole until he stepped right into it and tumbled to its depths.

oOo

It was sort of ironic, Dean thought with a mental dry laugh, that he should willingly put his life in the hands of the man who had not only betrayed him twice over, but who had let all the damned Leviathans out in the first place, thereby making him the main reason for his being there.

Castiel on occasion still had the strength to stand. He wouldn't go anywhere, just stand sentinel at the mouth of the cave in which they had taken refuge, and watch the ever mutating monstrosity that surrounded them. Neither said a word. There was no more need for them. Conversation was obsolete, confession unnecessary. There was nothing to confess in a place so evil.

Perhaps they didn't notice, or perhaps their eyes were too blind now to see, but in a place such as Purgatory, where the very ground has malice, the soul of a decent man will become visible, a thing of light and hope. It cannot be directly harmed by any of the forces which dwell there, for it draws light directly from its host. Not from the host's hope or life force, for it either were so, the souls of Castiel and Dean would be very dim indeed, but from their goodness.

Everyone has a measure of it, an undulating amount that shifts with every thought, every feeling, every action. Good intentions are there, good deeds brighten the glow considerably. Selflessness and giving, love. But the thing which shines brightest, so much that those who see it directly are often blinded, is forgiveness, the greatest act of love a person can commit. And for this reason, Cas and Dean shone like supernovas.