[Fic] imogenbynight: Dark Side of the Moon

[ghostyouknow27]

[ Dean/Castiel ]

Title: Dark Side of the Moon
Writer: imogenbynight
Status of work: complete
Characters and/or pairings: Dean/Castiel
Rating: R
Warnings, kinks & contents:[Click to read]Graphic Injuries, Minor Character Death, PTSD, Hallucination, Language, Violence
Length: 37,232
Summary: Five months into his six month mission, an accident leaves Flight Engineer Dean Winchester stranded on the moon. It comes down to a man he has never met to bring him home.

Reccer's notes: This story will knock your hat off, emotionally speaking. Dean's an astronaut, working with a close-knit team to set up drilling stations on the moon, when a meteor hits and everything changes in an instant. Alone, stranded, and in shock, Dean starts to lose his grip on reality, with Castiel's voice forming his only tether. The horror of Dean's situation is excellently rendered, with sensory details driving home the harshness of space and human limitation. This story also features an excellent cast of well-rounded minor characters who help the world feel lived-in and real.

[Short excerpt]Before long, shadows fill the room. They melt down through the walls, up through his mattress, touching his face, his hands, his neck. They speak, a susurrus of loud whispers, and the words he picks out are none he wants to hear. Forcing himself back to his feet, he looks out the airlock door and sees the girl, still there, still smiling, happy. Sees her father, hand on her shoulder, whispering encouragement, and he sees the fire. Smells it, smells the hot and acrid stench of burning flesh. He tells himself over and over that it isn't real.

“Oh, we're real,” comes the sing-song voice of the man, and his eyes flicker firelight.

Dean flinches at the sound, turns away from the window and finds them inside the habitat, standing behind him. The man smiles, squeezing the girl's shoulder, and she strikes another match.

“Don't worry, Dean,” she says, softly, “it's just an adventure. This is how it starts.”

“You're already dead,” the man tells him.