More Than a Mortal

Brighter You Burn

Acrimon regarded Dean with a patronizing smirk before pointing at the others around them. "There's bite in your words, but I know what you really are. Do they know, Dean? Hmm? Do they know how weak you are? Do they know about the tears? The uncertainties? The anxieties? The panic? Do they know how fear and the lack of confidence have plagued you?" Acrimon shook his head with disgust. Even if he were weak from his transformation, he might still gain some kind of victory if he could just get into Dean's head. "You are weak, Dean! Too sensitive and emotional for this world. It will break something like you. I'm amazed it hasn't already! But I will gladly be the one who does. Because you aren't worthy of the throne. You don't deserve the Inhuman genes within you. You're half of a man! Something like you should just lay down and die!"

A threatening growl came out of Thor and Steve reached over and put a hand on his arm. "This is his fight, Thor," he reminded him. "He needs to do this."

Dean stared up into Acrimon's hateful face as he hurled the words at him like weapons meant to inflict harm on his spirit. Although he should feel anything but calm, that was exactly how he felt. In that moment all he could feel was some strange inner peace. He slowly stood to his feet, his eyes never leaving Acrimon's. "You're pretty good," he said as he shook off the pain. "But you aren't saying anything I haven't already said to myself- in my darkest moments- hundreds of times. Thousands of times." His body began to glow brighter again, first from within, then all around him. The light expanded outside of him until he was engulfed by a brilliant, blue-white radiance. Streams of light reflected off of him and he began to walk toward Acrimon. He lifted his hands and brilliant bursts exploded from his fingertips and lanced across the space between them.

"Foolish," Acrimon muttered as he raised his hands and attempted to deflect the blast. Secondary Terrigenesis had ravaged his energy. His gravity shield was too weak and the attack struck him in the chest, throwing him backward and across the grass. He landed on his back and quickly rose to his feet, his chest smarting from the painful blast.

"I've tormented myself with those same words before," Dean admitted as he kept marching forward, his attacks never wavering. One after the other, blasts rained down on Acrimon. They struck him each time he attempted to stand up. Each time he attempted to gain some sort of composure, Dean's power was upon him again and again.

Acrimon reared up and fired a burst of gravitational energy at him. Dean held out his hands and a wall of photons collected before him. With so many photons so tightly packed into a single space, they formed a solid barrier of light, much to his and everyone else's surprise. The attack struck the barrier and refracted harmlessly before Dean repaid him with another luminous blast.

"He's doing it," Thor whispered, love and pride filling him as he watched Dean continue to walk toward Acrimon unhindered. "My Fair One," he spoke in awe.

"I used to believe it when I told myself I was worthless. That I didn't matter. That I was less than other men. I believed other people when they told my story for me. I minimized myself. Tried to hide my light." Recollections of the little boy whose sensitivity was teased, always counted out, entered his mind and he smiled through his tears. He gazed at the dancing beams as they coursed from his fingertips and Emma's words filled his head once more. He was special. And he was going to do great things.

"This isn't happening! This isn't the way it's supposed to be!" Acrimon cried out as another radiant blast smacked into his chin, knocking him head over heels. He rolled over and wiped the blood from his chin.

"If you'd said any of this to me a few years back...I might have even believed you. But no one else is allowed to tell my story for me anymore. I don't believe those words. I don't believe you." He paused and drew a deep breath. "But I do believe in myself," he declared. And he meant it.

Dean's posture took on one of raw power as he spoke the words from his heart. Tears flooded his blazing eyes and sparkled like diamonds on his cheeks as they captured light and magnified it a thousand times. As he stepped forward, his body suddenly lifted off of the ground. Bursts of light popped around him as he floated closer to Acrimon.

"He's floating," Tony exclaimed. "He can fly too?!"

Thor was silent as he watched in admiration and knew, as he had for some time, that Dean was the most beautiful being he had ever known.

"You don't have what it takes, Dean!" Acrimon grunted as he started to rise to his knees and launched himself across the field. His body was weak from the injuries and he knew that this attempt was the last he could muster. "I know you too well!"

"NO YOU DON'T!" Dean roared as he caught Acrimon in midair with another attack. The burst popped and exploded in a brilliant multicolored light show. The spectators briefly shielded their eyes until it subsided and the prince was sent hurtling across the field. He landed on his back, his tattered clothes and skin sizzling.

In a voice filled with emotion, Dean announced to Acrimon and everyone around them- but mostly to himself- "I know who I am. I know what I'm worth. And nothing anyone says...or does...will ever change that."

Dean raised his hands and an orb of light began to expand in them. It became brighter with each second, pulsating with a light so brilliant it seemed as if Dean were holding the sun itself in his grasp. He glared at Acrimon, who shielded his eyes from the terrifying gleam as Dean drew nearer. A defiant roar erupted from his mouth. Dean fired the blast of light. It slammed into the prince's chest and his roar transformed into a scream of enraged pain as the beam burned his skin and struck him with such force he was thrown clear across the field until he landed on the grass, just a few paces from the barrier.

Acrimon stumbled to his feet and looked up into Dean's illuminated face. He looked behind Dean at the Avengers and the Inhumans and knew that his defeat was ensured. "So, this is my end," he murmured to himself. After so much scheming, so much plotting, it was over. All had been for nothing and he was left with a cold emptiness that spilled throughout him, seeping into his soul. The heavy realization of total and utter defeat shattered the proud prince. A bitter smile graced his lips and he slowly lowered himself to the ground again. "I'll be on my way now. Well-played...your majesty." He bowed deeply before Dean. Then he stood up and, with the posture of a broken man, turned his back on all of them before walking slowly to the barrier. As he crossed over, everyone could see as Uranus's true environment swallowed him up in a cloud of icy pressure that obliterated his body, scattering it to the winds.

Dean slowly drifted back to the ground and the light around him retreated until has body was just faintly glowing. He turned away from the barrier and looked at Thor. The thunder god moved out of the group and took off toward him. Dean moved as well and their bodies crashed into one another. Dean all but collapsed in the Asgardian's arms.

"I'm so proud of you," Thor gasped as he ran his hands through Dean's hair and held his face. "You're incredible." He pulled Dean in for a kiss. As they clung to each other, a halo of light formed around them, and though they were surrounded by Avengers and Inhumans alike, for the time being it was just the two of them.

A/N: This scene was a very emotional one for me to write. It was actually one of the first scenes I wrote for this story- an unusual thing for me because I usually write things in chronological order. For this part I tried to recall all of the bullying I've experienced and all of the things I never said to defend myself. I wanted to channel all of that into Dean's words. I wanted to give him his moment where he declares himself and stands up for himself against a bully because it's something I never did. I'm not going to lie, I cried while I was writing it. I hope it resonates with someone else out there who has been bullied. The music is what I envision playing while Dean is standing his ground.