“When I get a little money I buy books, and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” ~Desiderius Erasmus
"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're going to get killed by eggs, or beef, or global warming, or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. Like maybe you survive." ~Doctor Who
"Nothing in this world that's worth having comes easy." ~Scrubs
"When you can't run, you crawl, and when you can't crawl - you find someone to carry you." ~Firefly
"Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live." ~Mark Twain
"Porthos dreams of being a bear, and you want to shatter those dreams by saying he’s just a dog? What a horrible candle-snuffing word. That’s like saying, “He can’t climb that mountain, he’s just a man”, or “That’s not a diamond, it’s just a rock.” Just." ~Finding Neverland
"Sometimes our best decisions are the ones that don’t make any sense at all." ~How I Met Your Mother
Quotage
“When I get a little money I buy books, and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” ~Desiderius Erasmus
"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're going to get killed by eggs, or beef, or global warming, or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. Like maybe you survive." ~Doctor Who
"Nothing in this world that's worth having comes easy." ~Scrubs
"When you can't run, you crawl, and when you can't crawl - you find someone to carry you." ~Firefly
"Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live." ~Mark Twain
"Porthos dreams of being a bear, and you want to shatter those dreams by saying he’s just a dog? What a horrible candle-snuffing word. That’s like saying, “He can’t climb that mountain, he’s just a man”, or “That’s not a diamond, it’s just a rock.” Just." ~Finding Neverland
"Sometimes our best decisions are the ones that don’t make any sense at all." ~How I Met Your Mother
It's basically Dean returning from Hell after four years, not four months, and in the meantime there was war between the demons and angels and the angels lost. So it's all very dark and aftermathish.
No, it's not that much of a surprise ;-) Basically, what happened in those four years in between is that Lilith broke the seals and freed Lucifer. Sam was supposed to be Lucifer's vessel (hence why Ruby tried so much to push the demonic side in Sam) but Sam battled Lucifer and defeated him. The world did not entirely end, but it was wrecked by a war that the angels lost and now demons are running free.
Lilith took over command, and the last remaining humans that hadn't been killed or gathered around Sam who they saw as their saviour. So basically Sam was pushed into the role of the leader. At the time that Dean returns from Hell, Sam runs a refugee camp and has been hardened by war and hardship.
The story that evolves is that Dean's just suddenly back, and he doesn't know why. He refuses to believe he's no longer in Hell, and Sam refuses to believe that it's really Dean because he can't deal with the situation. And then I have a mole and people susecting Dean is a traitor and some mor war and Castiel as a coward hiding among humans and lots of old familiar faces. It's growing out of control, really :-)
Ooh, okay, this is sounding familiar. I was halfway through it and I was thinking, "Did somebody else already write this?" and then I remembered that you had told me about it briefly in a long ago email.
But, man, post-ap, heavenly powers coming into play, and brother angst? Oh, me likey. :D