Disclaimer: Don't own any of these character, just playin in the Kripke sandbox.

A/N: Hi everyone! Well I'm back after a very long, dry spell. A shout-out to gr8read for helping in getting the creative juices going to write a story set in Purgatory. Hope you guys enjoy the ride while waiting for the new season to begin.

Black Forest

It's not the monsters. Not at first. In the beginning Dean's terrified of what creatures are lurking behind red eyes or bone-chilling howls. Knowing he is behind enemy lines, far deeper than in Hell makes him feel like a wide-eyed eight-year old boy learning what his dad truly did for a living. Yet like all things, Dean takes a deep breath and forces himself to view it as another hunt, a long never ending hunt. It's just like back home, he chants at the end of each 'day', something else to watch out and deal with one problem at a time.

No, it's not the souls of monsters from eons past that make him pause. It's Purgatory. This new place, this dimension is unlike her sisters.

Hell is full of harsh colors, full or iron and metal. Full of sharpness and agony, Hell cracks, pulses and oozes sulfuric suffering. Nothing's clear, just a mind numbing haze of red and black. In the thick air, slithering smoke forms fight amongst the fissures of the damned.

Heaven's the opposite, no surprise there. With HD picture perfect clarity, memories play in continuous repeat. Sharp in brightness and contrast, Heaven vibrates blazes and morphs. Like a never ending diamond, everything's illuminated in a pleasant wash of white and blue. In the clear wind, bands of lights stand guard against the golden gates of the blessed.

Purgatory though.

She heaves. She rumbles. She's organic, a place of cracking wood and whispering groans.

Even the endless sterile world of the fairies is nothing like this. Purgatory shifts, grows and dies. She's always moving, never staying the same for long. The once thought endless nights burn away into blinding days. There are seasons, times when creatures Dean's never heard of or can even imagine lavish in their time. The most dangerous times are dusk and dawn when all come out to play.

Like any lover, Purgatory teases her residents. The ground swells. The trees grow taller, their branches like claws into the skies. Rivers flood over. It snows, rains, sleets and everything in between. Purgatory is a place of testing elements and unsure ground. It's a place that Dean realizes he can't trust. Home, he never had to think, never had any doubt that Earth would always have his back. Sure sometimes he lost his footing or there would be a road block.

But here, amongst the claws and fangs Dean finds himself eyeing the ground and trees around him. Purgatory keeps changing. None of the rules apply. Sure gravity still works, but not for the souls of the winged creatures that dance in fierce dog fights. Any time, any where, Purgatory reveals to Dean a place that is seething in hurt and rage.

She's not happy.

Trees bend in the quiet wind, leaves rustling, bark creaking like an old rocking chair. There's a faint clattering of rocks trickling down a nearby cliff. Dean huddles deeper into the tiny hovel between a tree and a boulder. A splash signals a creature launching itself, a yelp of joy at finding its prey. Dean swallows, as high-pitched cackles from the rest of the pack fill the air. It's not the monsters say green eyes bright with fear as they snap to the right when the whip-like crack of a branch kills one of the joyful howls into a whimpering dying breath.