Gift of Avalon

by ChaosComix

It's a simple enough case, in and out before anyone notices anything's off. At least that's what it was supposed to be. On a hunt gone terribly wrong, Dean finds himself hurtled into the world of the fey. Now it's a mad rush to escape, and his only help is one of the realm's own inhabitants. To make things worse, it's none other than Oberon's youngest son, Castiel.

1. Chapter 1

* Gift of Avalon*

Chapter One: Stolen Away in the Night
OR
How Dean's a Dumbass and Got Kidnapped by Faeries

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A/Ns: Inspired by a fanart piece seen on tumblr: post/64617936904
The only things that follow the canon storyline is the fact the Winchesters are hunters and the mythology of the creatures of the SpN universe.

Updates every other Tuesday/Wednesday. Progress/schedule/ramblings/place to send suggestions/etc. is on my writing blog on Tumblr (chaostiel).

Rated T for now, but I can up the rating depending on what people want.

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It was the same as any other, a simple in and out case and then on to the next hunt. That's what Dean kept telling himself anyway, despite his brother's pleas to do more research. They're hunters dammit. The shape shifter needs to be dealt with as soon as possible or more people were going to die, and the creature had already racked up its death count to five in the past week.

Dean and Sam have been in the hunting business for as long as they can remember, coming from a long line of some of the most well-known hunters.

Saving people, hunting things. The family business.

That was the best way Dean described it to his brother, Sam, time and time again. He could tell Sam wanted to have a normal life, but when one knows about all the dangers and evil that goes bump in the night, it's just never in the cards. No matter how much one tries.

Sam tried it once and everything ended badly, worse for some more than others especially Jessica. Poor Jess, Sam's girlfriend, got the worst end of it. The younger brother still has nightmares to this day about her gruesome death. Heartbroken, Sam returned to join Dean and their father for wanting to exact revenge on the creature that took his girlfriend's life away from him. Once they finally caught up and sent the bastard back to the depths of hell from which it crawled out from, Sam didn't feel the satisfaction he thought would come to finally ending that chapter in his life. Instead he felt hollow inside and questioning what else he had left to carry on for. It took Dean days to pull his brother out from his depression. In the end, Sam decided Dean was right, though would hardly admit the fact. While they might not have what Dean called the 'apple pie life,' if they can help the mundane live their own without having to worry about the paranormal interfering, it would be worth it.

But that was years ago, and now the two brothers and their father are starting to feel the wear and tear that comes with the job. There's been several sleepless nights questioning if it's all worth it, people they've helped who are no better than the creatures they fight and wondered why they even bother, and now each of them are just so tired that more monsters have escaped than been killed.

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Tonight is no different. The two brothers are on a hunt while their father is chasing another, and both Sam and Dean are struggling to not only stay alive, but awake. Running three hunts back to back with less than four hours of sleep each night is finally taking its toll on them. Their skin is much paler than the usual sun kissed color, dark circles line under their eyes, and their postures show the fatigue weighing down on them. While the fatigue is dangerous enough, it's nothing compared to the lack of concentration and poor decision making due to lack of rest.

Both Dean and Sam are chasing after the shifter through the woods on foot due to their botched attempt to corner it. Dean's currently well ahead of Sam determined to catch the son of a bitch once and for all so much that he's not paying attention to his surroundings as they race past.

The shape shifter, this time in the guise of the bar waitress and most recent victim, sprints through the forest with its borrowed long, red hair flowing behind it. The shoes have been long abandoned, and the creature has completely disregarded its clothing as it is torn to shreds by branches as it runs past.

It stops abruptly and stares wide-eyed at a small, grassy clearing. Slowly and cautiously the shape shifter inches backwards as it is heaving deep breaths and staring down at small, strange, and the most peculiar looking toadstools forming a natural looking ring over the clearing and hidden in the tall grass. Once it deems itself a reasonable and safe distance from the ring it carefully steps around the circle of mushrooms.

The shape shifter looks up across the clearing when it hears light rustling and notices someone else has joined it in the clearing. Dean is the first hunter to catch up to the shape shifter and is panting even harder than the monster. The hunter lifts his gun loaded with silver bullets and points it at the shape shifter, but what the creature does next confuses him.

Instead of fleeing, the monster takes one more look at the ground between them and looks up with a smile, opening its arms invitingly. Normally, warning bells would be going off in Dean's head telling him something's wrong, but right now Dean is more focused on getting this hunt over with and hopefully catching some much needed shut eye. He takes a few steps forward and ignores the shiver that runs down his spine and the weird humming, near whispering in his ears as he closes some of the distance between him and the shape shifter.

The creature actually starts laughing, and Dean mentally kicks himself for ignoring almost every hunter instinct he has. Dean's had enough though, he pulls back the hammer on his gun and for the first time the creature actually speaks to him, "At least I'm taking you with me."

Dean doesn't hesitate and pulls the trigger and watches as the shifter falls dead to the ground. He steps closer to ascertain the creature's death and at a certain point finds himself to go any further. The creature has most certainly been killed if its unblinking, cold eyes are anything to go by, but the shifter's smile is still affixed on the late waitress' face. That's when Dean notices the strange blue and blue mushrooms hiding in the tall grass. Now that he notices them, he's amazed at how he missed them in the first place. He's never seen anything like them. Each one has a strange and unique shape and in just the right light, or moonlight in this case, they sparkle much like spider webs covered in dew at dawn. Upon closer inspection, the stalks are black or dark blue, Dean can't really tell in this poor lighting. He looks down the line of mushrooms and half way around the circle he notices he's surrounded by them. His eyes go wide when he realizes he's just willingly stepped into a faerie ring.

Dammit.

The humming, no, it's definitely whispering, possibly singing even, is getting louder and looking around he hears and sees rustling from within the ring. This isn't simply a faerie ring, it's a damn rath.

Shit!

Sam bursts through into the clearing and Dean spins around and holds out a hand indicating him to stop. The younger brother looks confused as he tries to catch his breath, but the confusion gives into surprise when glimmering lights start spinning around the circle. The rustling is getting wild and the whispering is so loud the brothers could swear that someone is right next to their ears.

"Dean, what-"

Dean gulps and stares are his brother for what he hopes isn't the last time, "I fucked up Sammy."

The dancing lights are almost blinding now and circling around Dean, and one second Dean is there surrounded by bright mysterious lights and in the next he's gone and the forest has gone dark again.

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A/Ns: What Dean stumbled into is a faerie ring. In this case, I made a faerie wrath that also functions as a wrath. There have been stories and my brother and I have both personally witness animals stop and purposely walk around natural faerie rings. I imagine it would be similar with supernatural creatures as well. The first chapter is short more as an introduction and hopefully they will be longer from now on. It also depends on how quickly I can write and how much people like it.

Faerie rings (aka fairy circles, elf circles, elf rings, pixie rings): this strange occurring phenomenon is rings or arcs of mushrooms that grow naturally in forests and sometimes plains. In mythology (that I used for this story, but please look into the lore as it is extensive and really cool), when someone breaks the perimeter of the ring they become invisible to any and all mortals outside of the ring and in most cases can find it impossible to leave. In Welsh lore the faeries themselves try to lure humans into the circle to dance with them to exhaustion, death, or madness.

Faerie raths: homes of the faerie kind usually circular and in some lore are the only visible portals to their magical realm. The only way to find out if it is a rath or not is by sleeping in one for a full night. (I have heard stories of where in some cases it doesn't have to be a full night and there's been activity minutes after stepping into one.