One moment they were fighting the evil son of a bitch, and then the next moment, everything blacked out.
Dean woke up to unfamiliar surroundings. Startled, he automatically got up and reached for his demon-killing knife.
But it wasn't there.
Dean's memory was a little fuzzy, he remembered fighting off some new demonic creature, using himself as bait while Sammy tried to come up and stab it. However, Dean couldn't remember anything after that.
Was he dead? No, as far as he knew, this place looked nothing like Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory, unless some son of a bitch had decided to do renovations.
While Dean couldn't remember if Sammy stabbed it or not, he prayed for the best and decided to check himself for what he did have, since he apparently lost his demon knife.
Unfortunately, after ten minutes all Dean found on himself was a gold coin. When he flipped it, Castiel's face showed up on it. Dean dropped the coin in astonishment. Leaning down to pick it up, he studied his surroundings.
All around him, he only saw stark white walls branching off in distant directions unknown. When he looked up, he saw the sun in the blue sky with a few fast moving, scattered clouds.
Where was he? The sky above him was from being outside, but there was no breeze; he had different walls all around him, branching off in different directions almost as if he was inside a…giant maze?
The sound of steady footfalls broke his train of thought. Dean tried to listen to whatever monster was coming, but the only thing he could discern was the sound of steady walking and calm, steady breathing.
Rounding the corner of the closest wall, he peeked out into the other corridor. He made out the silhouette of a man, and hid behind the wall with bated breath. Whoever -or whatever- was coming would be greeted by his fist. The footsteps came closer, and Dean spun from his hiding place and punched the intruder square in the jaw.
A gruff 'oof' rewarded Dean as the figure fell to the ground, knocked out cold. He figured he should interrogate the man when he woke up of how to get out, and then probably gank him after he divulged all of his information. However, all of his plans came to an abrupt halt when he stared at the figure on the ground.
"Cas?" Dean said, mortified that he just knocked out his best friend.
When Castiel didn't respond, Dean started to panic, trying to shake Cas awake.
"Dean," Cas groaned, "why did you punch me?"
"I'm so sorry Cas, I swear I didn't know it was you and-"
"DEAN!" Cas suddenly bolted upright, bright blue eyes wide with concern and fear. "Dean, why are you here? Where are we? We have to get out of here now! This place is dangerous, and we need to get back to your brother-"
"Wait, wait, wait! Hold on, Cas!" Dean chuckled, until he turned dead serious. "Wait, why are you here, Cas? And what do you mean that this place is dangerous?"
"I do not know how I came to this place, but the whole place feels unsettling. I have been here for a week and have not seen anyone else except for you, Dean. However, the walls seem to be alive, and spouts hellhounds and other monsters that chase me through the corridors, almost as if directing me to…you?" Cas said, his eyebrows pinched together in contemplation. "But why would the maze want us to be together?"
"I don't know, Cas. All I know is that I'm happy you're here. We can get out of this place, and we will figure it out together, okay?" Dean assured Cas as the former-angel nodded.
"Hey, Cas, do you have…like…a coin or anything on you?" Dean asked hesitantly.
"No, when I woke up, all I found on my being was a piece of paper with the word 'forest' on it. Does it hold any significance to you?" Castiel asked.
"No, but it seems to be a clue of where we are supposed to go. Maybe to help us get out of this maze?" Dean thought out loud.
The former-angel seemed to agree. Dean then pulled out his gold coin that used to have Castiel's face on it, but now it was just a smooth, blank, gold coin. Dean showed Cas and asked him if he knew anything about it. Blue eyes widened in recognition.
"That's an ancient, enchanted gold coin. It's from China, I believe to be called a Ying Yuan, it is supposedly China's oldest coin. When you flip it, it will show what you need on its surface. This is a valuable asset, and would most definitely help us on our journey. From what I know, the coin will grow hot when a new image is ready to be shown on it," Castiel replied in his low timbre.
Wait, Dean thought. If it showed me what I needed, then why would Cas's face appear on the coin? However, Dean shrugged the thought off nonchalantly. The damned piece of gold was probably just showing the angel's face because it would help them get out.
Silence passed for a few moments before either of them spoke.
"Well, Cas, you should lead the way through this rat tunnel. I mean, you have luck to have found my handsome face in the middle of this creepy-ass maze," Dean said.
"Yes, Dean, and maybe the walls will guide us once more, although I doubt I could find anything more beautiful than you in this place," Cas said.
Dean's head whipped up at this, a flattering blush blooming on his face, ears, and neck.
"Uh, yeah. Let's just get going, alright Cas?" Dean said, embarrassed and trying to brush away the subject.
Cas looked at him oddly for a second, which made Dean blush again. Dammit, why are you acting like this? It's Cas, he doesn't know what he's saying. Although, he seemed really truthful about it and- STOP!
Cas was confused at Dean's actions, but soon continued to walk around the maze again.
Cas led the way for what seemed to be hours, making seemingly random turns when one of the walls in front of them started to shift.
"Cas," Dean said cautiously, "are hellhounds going to randomly jump out of those walls, now?"
The Ying Yuan inside of Dean's pocket decided to heat up at that moment.
Great timing, Dean thought.
Dean quickly pulled out the coin and flipped it. Surprisingly, the coin didn't show an image, but rather some weird lettering that Dean vaguely recognized as Enochian.
"Cas! Read this!" Dean shouted over the loud sucking sound the wall was making. He tossed the coin to Castiel who caught it with ease.
"It says, 'Go on,'" Cas replied.
Go on? As in past the wall? The one that was currently howling at them? Dean glanced back at Cas, who looked at him with understanding. They were thinking the same thing-to get past the wall- that was now starting to expel what looked like a pair of Wendigos.
"Cas, RUN!" Dean screamed after he snatched the coin from Castiel and tried to run past the side walls.
Both men were running ahead as if their life depended on it (which it just might) until Dean's leg was snatched by an out coming Wendigo. Dean tried to pry the cannibal's hand off of his leg, but instead of forcing it to go back into the portal, the monster came completely out of the depths that it came from.
Grappling for his life, Dean saw Cas out of the corner of his eye running back to him, Dean tried to shake his head no, but was suddenly being choked by the monster on top of him. Dean struggled and bucked, but was starting to see spots in his vision, just as he was about to fall unconscious, he felt his airways opening up. Gulping in large breaths, he barely noticed the tugging on his hand that pulled him up and led him away from the shrieking creatures behind him.
Once they got past the walls, they made several random turns to lose track of the Wendigos. Panting, both Dean and Cas came to an abrupt halt.
"Thanks, Cas," Dean managed to get out, still struggling to gain control of his breathing.
Cas didn't seem to having as much of a problem as Dean. "Of course, Dean, I would do anything for you."
Dean, having just caught his breath, blushed furiously, his blood now pumping just as fast as before.
"Uh, thanks, Cas," Dean said sheepishly, awkwardly rubbing his neck.
Confused blue eyes met Dean's green ones. "You already said that, Dean."
"Okay. So, uh, where do we go next?" Dean said, trying to make the situation less awkward.
Damn, since when did I become a teenage girl? I mean, Cas is my best friend, and you can say those sort of things to your other best friend without it being gay, right? And what he said is not making my blood rush, it- it's just left over adrenaline.
Somewhere in the back of Dean's mind, a voice was screaming 'LIAR!' That voice really needed to shut its cakehole.
"I think you should lead the way, Dean, seeing as last time I-"
"Shhhh, Cas. Do you hear that?" Dean asked, swearing he heard something.
Castiel stopped talking. After waiting for five minutes, Dean was about to swear that it was all in his imagination, when he heard it.
The tweeting of birds.
"Cas, didn't the piece of paper in your pocket say 'forest,'" Dean asked.
Castiel's eyes widened.
"Yes, Dean," he said, pulling out the paper with 'forest' on it. "Will you flip the Ying Yuan in case the image on it will change?"
Dean flipped the coin obligingly, and on its surface seemed to be a very old tree with lots of branches sticking out of it. Dean showed it to his angel.
He's not my angel, dammit. Well… he isn't exactly mine, or an angel for that matter. I- well I don't care! As long as I don't call him that out loud, I'm fine.
After Dean's internal debate, his brain suddenly wanted to be helpful.
"Hey, Cas, you know where we could find a tree like this?" Dean asked, his eyes lighting up. "We could find a tree like this in a forest."
Cas seemed to agree, straightening his shoulders and motioning Dean to follow the sounds of the birds cheeping. As they started walking, Cas started talking.
"Dean?" Cas asked, slightly wary. "Why do you not like what I say to you?"
Dean obviously knew what Cas was talking about, the blushing, Dean brushing off all of his complements, but didn't have an answer. He wasn't gay, (at least he pushed the thought away), and it's not like Cas would completely understand all of the human standards, despite Dean and Sam teaching him everything. Watching Cas get accustomed to human needs was actually quite funny. Even though Dean still felt like he was doing most of the work, it was still amusing. Sammy never really did much even though he was fully recovered.
Sammy and the secret of his recovery panged Dean. He wouldn't, no, couldn't think about it, especially now. If he and Cas ever got out of this maze from hell, he would tell Sam what really happened. Probably not, but let's push that back for now.
Cas seemed to be waiting for an answer- one that Dean didn't have- until Dean's brain thought of some interesting inquiries that would (thankfully) change the subject.
"Wait, why would the maze first direct you towards me, which was helpful, but then try to divert us from the place where we were supposed to go? And, Cas, if you've been here for a week, what have you eaten? Have you even had to go to the bathroom after all?"
Cas pondered the question. Although it wasn't what he wanted to hear from Dean's mouth, (albeit he really wanted Dean's mouth to do a lot of things) it was a very good observation.
"I don't know the workings of this maze so I cannot answer your first question. The second question, I can. I've never had to do any of the functions you and your brother taught me. I guess you don't have those needs in this skewered maze, which is quite convenient, actually. However," Cas said, stifling a yawn, "I have learned that you do need sleep. While alone, I was painfully vulnerable. Therefore, didn't exactly have good experiences waking up- to the barks of hellhounds greeting you. Nevertheless, now that I'm with you, I believe we can take turns sleeping and keeping guard."
"Okay, Cas. You can sleep first, I'll wake you up when I need you to, okay?"
"Thank you, Dean, it is much appreciated," Cas said, laying down with his back against the wall.
"Sure, get your beauty sleep, princess," Dean joked.
"I don't understand-"
"Just go to sleep, Cas."
With that, Dean sat down with his back against the wall, right next to Cas's head. Cas crawled up on Dean's lap, using his thighs as a pillow. Dean let him, lovingly stroking his hands through Cas's silky brown hair in a relaxing way. Being with Dean made Castiel feel like the safest, most loved person in the world. He craved for this feeling, and only had it when Dean was around.
"Goodnight, Cas."
"Goodnight, Dean."
Author's Note:
Okay, so everything mentioned about the Ying Yuan was true. It really was an ancient coin from China. It's actually not very circular, just sort of like a deformed rectangle or square. I sort of rushed into the maze, but it's the main part of the story! Also, some people might notice the mention of the secret Dean is keeping from Sam about how Sam got better from the trials. I just put that in because it's supposed to be a major part of season 9, and by season 9 starts (WOOO October 15!) I hope to know what the secret is (and hopefully have this story still going so I could incorporate it into later chapters. Beware, updates may be a little slow, and probably will be slower when school starts back up again, but you will definitely get an update at least once a month. SO when some of you have your periods, you can be cheered up by my story :))) So, at the (sort-of) end of this long ass author's note, it would be nice to review on my story, you can say anything and I accept criticism. If you feel like something's missing or find any mistakes, please let me know. If I get enough reviews to convince me to keep this story going, I will. By the way, you can all find me on tumblr (castielanddeanaresexy) that has a lot of Supernatural but a plethora of other shows too!