Author's note – Hey guys! I am SO sorry I took so long writing another chapter. Writer's block is a terrible thing. But I have everything mapped out now for both my stories so hopefully it'll be smooth running from here on out. Fingers crossed!

Chapter Three

Dean's feet have barely touched the ground when he is viciously pulled forward by his saviour, who screams at him to "Run!"

Out of his peripheral vision he sees the ghouls scrambling out of the tunnel after them and he picks up his pace, eager to put as much distance as he can between himself and the man-eating creatures.

They run through a long series of twisting passages before they finally come to a stop, bending over double and heaving hot air into painful lungs.

"Are you okay?" His rescuer gasps and Dean glances up to look at who it is that had actually saved him.

When he sees the fresh, young face of Kevin gazing back at him, he can't help but gape.

"You?" he pants back. "You're still alive?"

Even as breathless as he is, Kevin still manages to look vaguely insulted. "I'm not that easy to kill off," he mutters.

"Sorry," Dean amends quickly. "What I mean to say is…thank you. I owe you one. I'd be ghoul chow right now if it wasn't for you."

"That's what those things were?"

Dean nods and wipes at his forehead with the back of his hand. It was getting hotter, the deeper into the labyrinth he got and all this added exercise wasn't helping. He'd do anything for a glass of water right about now.

"I saw a vampire a while back. At least, I thought I did…but I guess if you're sure that it's ghouls in this place -"

"It's not just ghouls," Dean interrupts. "There is always more than one type of monster in the maze. Makes it more interesting for our viewers. In all probability you did see a vampire. There are also shifters down here."

A sudden unwelcome thought hits him and he cuts himself off with a sigh, remorsefully pulling the sword from his belt.

"Speaking of shifters…" he takes a small step towards Kevin, who seems to notice the sudden change in atmosphere and takes his own step back, eyeing the blade suspiciously. One of his arms twitches back towards the crossbow he had hooked over his shoulder.

"I'm not gonna' hurt you, Kid, I just need to test you real quick. Make sure you're you and not some shifter." Dean explains softly, firmly taking Kevin by the wrist.

Kevin's eyes go wide when the sword is pressed against the flesh of his forearm but he holds still.

Dean cuts him. It's just a small, shallow cut but it is enough to draw blood.

Kevin winces.

Dean watches.

The wound just trickles blood. No fizzing or smoking or anything else equally unnatural.

"You're you." Dean declares with a grin. He wipes the sword on his pants before slicing a small cut on his own arm. "And I'm me, just in case you were wondering."

Kevin just stares at him, eyes pained and accusing. "That is so unsanitary! What is wrong with you? Why would you do that?"

What with the daring rescue and all, Dean had almost forgotten the kid is new at this, that he doesn't know about the different strengths and weaknesses of all the supernatural forces.

"This sword is made of silver," he explains. "And silver is a shifter's greatest weakness."

"Wait, you thought I was a shifter? But I just saved you." Kevin sounds suitably incensed.

Dean shrugs and tries to look apologetic. "Better safe than sorry. I ran into Chuck earlier…or, at least, I thought I had run into Chuck but it was actually a shifter just trying to mess with my head."

"Chuck…that's your friend's name, right? The one they call 'The prophet'?"

"One and the same," Dean confirms.

"I remember my uncle telling me a story about shifters once. He told me they take on the forms of people they've killed. Do you think…"

"I don't know what to think," Dean cuts in quickly. The possibility of what could have happened to Chuck is too painful a thought and he can't afford to think about it right now. "But if there's one thing I've learned about Chuck after all these years, it's that he's a survivor. There's no way he would have been taken down by a single shifter."

There is an otherworldly shriek from somewhere behind them and Dean quickly claps Kevin on the shoulder and marches in the opposite direction of the sound. "Now let's find our way out of here. I don't know about you but I want to be back in time for dinner."

With a low chuckle, Kevin starts to follow.

Ten minutes later, Dean is struggling to keep up the pace. The leg that had been bitten is throbbing painfully in time with his racing pulse. The bottom of the pant leg feels abnormally wet, drenched even, and he's beginning to think that the wound there may be worse than he had originally thought.

It doesn't take long for Kevin to notice. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Dean grits his teeth and nods, "Never better."

"We should take a break."

"We need to keep moving."

"But you're leaving a trail." Kevin argues.

Dean turns sharply and sure enough there are spots of blood dotting the ground behind him, creating an all too easy to follow trail. "Dammit," he grunts.

"Here, let me take a look." Kevin suggests and kneels at Dean's feet without waiting for a response.

Carefully, he rolls the pant leg up to Dean's knee and inspects the back of his leg, wincing in sympathy. "That ghoul took a real chunk out of you."

Dean glances down at it as best he can in his position but all he can see is a red mess.

Kevin tears off the bottom of his shirt, the part that isn't covered by his leather vest, and begins to bind it tight around the injured leg. "This is pretty much all we can do for it right now. We'll have to clean it when we get out."

When we get out. Dean loves the kid's optimism.

"So long as it stops me bleeding all over everything, I'm good." Dean tells him. "Thanks."

"It's not a problem," Kevin replies, expertly tying the makeshift bandage off as though he's done this a thousand times before. Dean makes a mental note to later ask the kid what he used to do before he was taken to the colosseum.

"Hey, I never did catch your name." Kevin says as he stands back up. He says it casually enough but Dean knows he has been burning to ask this question since their encounter in the armoury.

"It's Dean," Dean tells him and the kid practically glows upon hearing the name, like it's the best news he's heard all day.

They start off again, much slower this time, but run into several dead ends and have to keep back tracking. When they hit their fifth one, Dean feels about ready to bash his head against the nearest wall in frustration.

"Maybe we should go further back." Kevin suggests. "We might have missed an earlier passage."

"Awesome," Dean groans, throwing his head back in despair before blinking in surprise. "Oh."

Directly above them is another small tunnel, much like the one he had crawled through earlier, only this time it travels directly upwards and has a ladder running through it. Unfortunately, the ladder only runs from where the tunnel starts and is going to be significantly hard to reach.

Kevin glances up as well and blanches. "You don't think…?"

"I do think."

"There is no way I can reach that far." Kevin grimaces.

"I can give you a leg up." Dean offers.

"But that means I have to go first. What if it's like the last one? What if there are ghouls in there?"

The kid has a point, Dean concedes, in all probability there will be more ghouls up there. The whole point of the labyrinth was to kill off the contestants in horrible, gruesome ways, and getting mauled to death by ravenous ghouls whilst attempting to climb a ladder in the dark would definitely be a bloody way to go. It would be right up the angels' street.

"I can't do it, Dean." Kevin says, pale and shaking like he thinks Dean will force him to anyway.

But there is no way Dean could do that. He knows if something were to happen to the kid on his watch, he would never be able to live with himself afterwards. If there was an afterwards.

"I can go first," a new voice volunteers from behind them.

Kevin gasps, reaching for his crossbow and Dean whirls, bringing up his sword to ward off a blow that never actually comes.

"I come in peace," the newcomer says quickly, raising her hands even though the act does nothing but emphasise the fact that she's holding onto two very lethal looking daggers. "It's just me."

Dean glares and keeps his weapon poised for attack as he takes in the form of The Avenger. She seems to have fared pretty well so far. She's sporting a pretty nasty black eye and a split lip but there doesn't seem to be any life threatening injuries.

He must have been staring too long as she suddenly tilts her head to the side and grins darkly. "See something you like, hon?"

Dean scoffs. "No offence, lady, but you look like you've just gone ten rounds with a golem. It's not something that really turns me on. I'm just trying to figure out if you are who you say you are."

"Oh, so you've seen them too, huh? Those shifters really are a nuisance." Avenger says as she brings one of her daggers down to her arm and slices into it. "See? All me." She grins at them again. "Your turn. A girl can't be too careful."

Dean rolls his eyes but gives himself another shallow cut to prove he's human, then turns to Kevin and holds out his hand.

Kevin blinks. "You're kidding, right?"

"Fair is fair," Dean shrugs.

Kevin grumbles but puts his hand in Dean's and allows the older man to cut him for a second time.

Once they've all established they are who they say they are, The Avenger begins to work on reaching the ladder. She's taller than Kevin but still shorter than Dean by a few inches. Her first couple of attempts to grasp the bottom rung fail but when Dean offers to give her a leg up, she just waves him away, too proud to accept any help.

On her third attempt, she makes an impressive leap into the air and grabs onto the ladder with both hands.

With a sound that is somewhere between a laugh and a cry of victory, she pulls herself further up until she's barely visible to the men below.

"You're next, kid." Dean tells Kevin. "Come here."

Kevin steps closer and Dean squats, wraps his arms around Kevin's knees and then stands, lifting the kid up with ease.

Kevin lets out an undignified squawk and grabs hold of Dean's shoulders to keep his balance. "Little warning would be nice," he whines and Dean can't help the smirk that pulls at his lips.

It takes a bit of manoeuvring and a whole load of griping from Kevin but eventually Dean manages to lift the kid up high enough for him to reach the ladder and start climbing.

Dean follows, jumping up in the same way Avenger had, disregarding the twinge of pain that shoots up his calf, and climbing into the darkness.

It's unsettling; being completely blind to your surroundings when you know with an almost surety that there is something in there with you that wants to eat you alive but Dean forces himself to ignore the unease and focus of climbing the ladder, one rung at a time, whilst avoiding being kicked in the head by Kevin, who really isn't going fast enough for his liking.

But his worry diminishes when he hears The Avenger whisper, "There's a light up ahead," and a minute later, Dean is pulling himself through the tunnel exit and looking around at his new surroundings.

They stand in a dimly lit corridor that splits into two different directions. The walls are lined with stone gargoyles; hideous, grey carvings with misshapen wings, claws and bulging eyes that seem to follow them wherever they move.

The heat up here is searing and Dean swears he can feel the skin on his arms burn slightly. His eyes sting in the sudden dryness of the atmosphere and his lungs seem to be working overtime as they struggle to find enough oxygen in the thin air he breathes in.

"I think we must be on the right track," Avenger grins as she glances around. "But which way now, I wonder?"

She closes her eyes for a moment before snapping them back open again. "We go right."

Dean raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Not at all," she replies breezily. But it's as good a way as any, right? Come on, boys, let's get out of here."

Kevin and Dean glance at each other but then shrug. They might as well follow. Avenger is right.

It's as good a way as any.