Work Text:
I fell in to a burnin' ring of fire
That was the first thing that Dean noticed when he came out of his bedroom, that it was hot. Fire and light and heat washed over him in the hallway, and he was staring uncomprehendingly at the flames that licked out of the door and threatened to reach out and caress him.
Suddenly Dad was in front of him, carrying Sammy, and then Sammy was thrust into Dean's arms and Dad was shouting at him. Take Sammy outside, and his pudgy little baby legs did just that, carrying the baby that weighed about half what he did, doing his best to keep Sammy close to his chest and balanced, just like he'd seen Mommy do.
But the flames drew his attention again, and he couldn't help watching the fire as it licked out of the upstairs windows.
Then, Dad again, picking him and Sammy up both, and then a loud noise as glass was everywhere and Dean was too young to know that the house had just exploded but he knew it was Bad, capital-B bad.
And the next thing that he remembered was the sirens, and the fire trucks, like the one that had come to the pre-school to tell them all about Stop, Drop, and Roll, and he wondered why Daddy hadn't thought to do that, because his bathrobe was singed.
- - -
I went down, down, down, but the flames went higher
"Sam!"
It was deja vu of the worst kind all over again, and all Dean could see was Sam and fire. He knew Jessica was on the ceiling but he didn't dare look; his nightmares about his mother were enough for him; he didn't need to see her burning up there, have realism to add to the night terrors that kept him awake. He just grabbed Sam by the arm, fighting him every step of the way as he forced him out of the room.
A voice in the back of his head; take your brother outside as fast as you can and don't look back! Now, Dean, Go!
He tightened his grip on Sam and dragged him out faster, exerting every bit of physical strength and inertia he had to wrestle him down the flight of stairs and away from the fire.
Dean couldn't help stopping to look back, watching the flames reach out for him and wondering why in the hell fire seemed out to get him.
- - -
And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire, the ring of fire
When he saw Sammy lying there dead in the middle of fucking nowhere, he knew that the fires had finally got him. He'd escaped them twice, with Sam in tow, but this time, it was going to be different. He knew he was going to trade himself to the fires of hell for his brother's life, just like he'd done all the other times that he'd saved Sam from the fires.
take your brother outside as fast as you can, and don't look back!
Orpheus couldn't look back, because then the love of his life would be gone, and Dean only remembers that story because it's the story of his fucking life; everything he's ever loved he can only see in the rearview mirror as he goes forward, but this time, Sam's gonna be different.
"Don't look back, Sammy," Dean warned, on day 364. "Don't look back."