Castiel, the god of fertility, was loved and respected by mortals because he cared for their young and for their survival by allowing crops to grow and animals to be hunted. He was considered handsome by mortal and god alike and had to evade Mary, the goddess of love, who was Crowley-bent on making him fall in love with someone. He was content, however, to spend his days working and hunting with his friend, Dean, the god of the sea. After killing their prey, the pair would go to a mortal's home to share a meal with the family. The host family would be blessed with plenty of food from land and sea.

One day, on the way to meet Dean at their usual clearing in the woods for hunting, he came across the sea god and Jo conversing on the path. Quickly, the god of fertility hid himself so as to watch the couple.

Jo lightly skimmed her hand down Dean's shoulder to rest at the hollow of his arm. She said something he could not make out, but at the end, she used her hold as leverage to pull his friend closer. Castiel felt the world go hot as he shifted into the ghost-footed panther and twisted away toward the West.

Anger and jealousy had the usually even-tempered god climbing up a tree; literally. There he stayed brooding over the scene he had just seen.

Without their beloved god to help, the mortals soon found themselves in a pretty fine predicament. The crops were beginning to wither and die and the humans were helpless to prevent it. Hopeless and distraught, the finest hunters went out in search of prey, but no matter how far they roamed or trespassed into neighboring countries, not one came back with food.

Families starved for food and hope; calling priests and priestesses to pray for the gods to intercede before everyone died from hunger or another war. But the gods were not ignorant of the events on earth and all but Crowley, and Castiel of course, came up to Heaven to discuss the situation. Poor Crowley was far too busy ferrying souls to be able to leave for a moment.

The goddess of night and ruler of all, Nyx, called the meeting to order by simply opening her mouth to speak. The formerly loud, boisterous hall of confused deities became silent.

"Castiel is missing and humans are killing over the little resources they have left," with a stern glare she looked them over, "Does anyone know why he is angry or where he is?"

Dean stood up and upon being called, "I do not know why he is angry, but I have a few ideas of where he may be. Please allow me to try to find him."

Nyx nodded, "Yes, you of all should be able to find him for you are his good friend. Go and convince him to set the world to rights."

With no hesitation, Dean left worried to find his lost friend. He used his subordinate lesser sea deities to expand his search to all the places he knew his friend could be. He sent a third to the North to see if Castiel was flying the sheer cliffs as a prideful eagle. He sent a third to the South to see if Castiel was swimming the depths as an orca. He sent the last third to the East to see if Castiel was digging the grassy plains as a gopher. He himself went to the West to see if Castiel was prowling the forest as a sure-footed panther.

Dean searched the dusty ground and skeleton hands for any evidence of the fertility god. Eventually, he came across a matted form of a large cat. Knowing it was his friend, Dean called, "Tell me, Cas, why are you hiding from your duties and in your anger have caused so much destruction?"

Lazily the sleek head trained a blue iris to him, before blinking and appearing again upright on the ground in his human form. Silently they eyed each other until, in desperation, Castiel looked down, "You are right that I have let my feelings cause this," he spread his arms as if to hug the land he loved, "But please tell me we shall always remain friends, at least, if I answer you."

After gaining the agreement, albeit warily, Castiel reiterated what he had witnessed two months before.

"So you are in love with Jo," although a question, Dean spoke it as a fact.

"I am in love with," Castiel waited until Dean looked at him with expectation in his eyes, "You."

The shock and confusion on his friend's face, he had expected, but the hope was too much for him to accept.

"You. Love. Me," repeated Dean numbly.

It wasn't a question, but Castiel answered anyway.

His "yes" was cut off by a pair of slightly-salty lips being pressed to his own. Smiling into the kiss, Cas snapped his fingers and the world turned green, vibrant, and positively crackling with energy from the life force around them.

Or it could be that the two had finally found each other.