Mine was that he was hollowed out by everything he was going through, and he wanted nothing. A whole lot of nothing.

Yes, this. Dean is most definitely running on empty emotionally and physically, and he's never considered a spiritual solution. He knows Castiel has some limitations, and with Sam's relapse (not of his own making), Dean's hit bottom. Seems that God is Dean's last card to play - one he's never played before.

Dean can't do this by himself, even with Sam being there and fighting right alongside him and committed to following his lead. For Dean to finally recognize his own humanity, and the necessity to off-load some of his burden to a Higher Power that is not Michael, is a good thing. I hope it will pay off.

There's no doubt in my mind both Dean and Sam have souls.

I just read the most gutting fic about the final scene, that brought up a horribly sinister possibility. It's here.

I'm wondering whether Dean's plea is what brings God out of the woodwork.

I hope that's what happens, actually.

I wonder if Dean knew who he was talking to when he said what he did. Or if he was intending to talk to anyone at all.

There's always someone listening, in the SPNverse.

I was afraid, as the writer of that fic illustrated, that it was Michael who would hear him. But I hope it's the elusive God.

Add me to the list of those who never would have thought that Dean didn't have a soul.

Also, the Horsemen seem very demon-like in most respects to me, and as we all know one of the first tenets to keep in mind when dealing with demonkind is: Demons Lie. Why assume that Horsemen always tell the truth?

I checked. Still harrowing the second time round.

And no, no reason for me to think he doesn't have a soul. He's damaged profoundly, but not supernaturally so.

The funny bits are still funny, the sad bits still sad, and the gross bits--dunno. Fast forwarded.

Yeah, I never thought that he didn't have a soul . . he's dead inside - that's a different thing.

The writer of the fic linked above seems to totally share my mind. Not the Michael/Dean interaction but ...

I've been thinking (probably more than it deserves) about Ana's "All the pain, twice the self-righteousness". (And: quoting from memory.)

And there is a way to reconcile it with getting Dean to torture Alister. The point of that was not that Dean was the only one with the skills (though I'm sure Castiel sincerely believed that.) And it was not just Uriel's little plan for Alister to kill Dean, though I'm sure that was sincere too. What it did to Dean was the point; someone higher up that both Uriel and Castiel intended to make sure Dean stayed broken, had his face rubbed in his time in hell now that he was out. So hell really did learn its torture techniques from heaven. Not canon, but not inconsistent with canon.

Also, (and here again the fic deals with something I've though before) the timing on Dean's rescue is suspicious. No one notices when he goes under that he has the bloodline hell needs to unleash apocalypse. Especially no one notices when unleashing the apocalypse is something heaven and hell agree on. They were sick of haggling over a few souls at a time during the pregame, and wanted to start the big game (which they now seem to have done). That is how they just notice how well Dean fit into prophecy only after he broke and rescued him too late. No accident, Dean's breaking was part of the plan.

And maybe the writers won't go that direction. But it would not be at all inconsistent with the direction they seem to be going.