So this chapter turned out longer than I'd expected. Beware, I put a song from the movie in this chapter because I don't know why. I'm just weird I guess. New character, hurray! :) A lot of storytelling happens in this chapter, Castiel tells his story to Sam and Jess, and we kind of learn the origins of Dean's powers. It's not that fancy, because I suck at writing mysterious things and all that, but at least we got a little bit of background information instead of just not knowing about how Dean got his powers (because how the hell did Elsa receive her powers? Huh? Care to explain that, Disney?)

Please, review if you can, so at least I know that I'm doing a little bit of a decent job. The last few reviews I received were really inspiring and made me smile every time, so thank you for those! :) We're almost through the story though, and no, I'm not planning anything like a sequel or whatever, because I can hardly keep one story going when there's already a storyline ready for me...

Anyways, enjoy :)

Greetz, Emma

*EDIT*: there was a little typo that annoyed me, so I fixed it.

Storytelling

An act of true love can thaw a frozen heart

It was like falling on a pillow, Sam had to admit.

He thought that the snow would be harder, more painful whey they would touch, but it was freshly fallen, untouched, and was soft as soon as Sam landed.

Still, the air had been pushed out of his lungs, and it felt as if he had been unconscious for a few hours, but the sky was still the same, and he saw Garth drop down as well, once again in pieces.

"This sucks," the snowman said as his body tried to crawl back up, and his head was lying face down. Jess was the first one to stand and she walked to Garth, picked up his head, and brought it back to his body. She seemed less disgusted by it now, as she had no trouble holding him in her hands.

"Are you okay?" she then asked, walking to Sam and pulling his arm to help him up. When Sam pushed on his legs to get to his feet, he suddenly felt weaker than before. He was shaking, his head felt like it was spinning, and his lungs suddenly refused any type of air. Sam slumped back against Jess, pulled himself together, and then got up at last. Jess didn't remove her hands from his arms, but he didn't quite care actually. Her touch was reassuring somehow. She smiled lightly at him, and he smiled back.

"I'm okay," Sam said, not really sure if he actually meant it. At this moment, he felt fine. His lungs were able to breathe again, his limbs weren't shaking anymore, and he could think clearly. Whatever he had quickly passed.

Then Jess turned her head, and Sam followed her gaze to where Castiel was lying on the ground, back against the snow and arm behind his head. He didn't make any indication that he was going to stand up. It was as if he was only resting.

"Cas?" she asked, but the man didn't answer. He only sighed loudly, closed his eyes, and nodded. Then he pushed himself in a sitting position, and looked straight ahead, though there was nothing in front of him except for snow.

"Maybe we should give him a minute?" Sam offered. Jess agreed, and both they and Garth sat down again. It was then that Sam noticed Chuck the horse wasn't there with them. Poor horse was left behind at the castle, probably scared out of his mind by the giant snowman that had chased them away.

"Cas, how do you know Dean?" Jess suddenly asked. Sam turned his head to her, and thought about her question. She was right, how did Castiel know his brother? Why did his brother only calm down when the man grabbed him by the arms?

The man didn't answer other than to lower his head and taking another deep breath. He pulled his knees up, and threw his arms around them. Then he rested his chin on his wrists. His silence continued.

"Cas?" Sam and Jess both asked at the same time. This time, though, they got a reaction from him.

"We met when I was five," Castiel said, voice lower than it'd ever been. "The men allowed me to join them to the castle as they were making a delivery, and Dean found me wandering around. We became friends right away."

The look in Cas's eyes was blank. The blue of his irises lost almost all color as he was talking.

"I was invited to play with Dean often after that, and as soon as you two were four, you joined us. You two got along so well it was as if it was meant to be or something," Castiel continued. Sam looked at Jess, and Jess looked at him, brows lifting but neither commenting on Castiel's words. "Even after all those years you two have no problem at all to talk to each other, so that's actually quite amazing."

Now it was silent for a few seconds.

"A while after that, you and Dean had an accident. I don't know really what happened, Dean refused to tell me, but I know that you got hurt Sam. You got hit by his ice, and you were knocked out. Your parents took you to the forest to search for help, Jess and I saw you passing and followed you

"You were pale as ice, and as cold as well. They healed you up, brought you back to the castle, and all of the sudden Dean wasn't allowed to go outside anymore.

"The only way for me to visit your brother was to sneak in, because your parents told me it was safer to stay away. I still continued visiting him despite their warnings. Your brother was very special to me, and I couldn't give up his friendship."

"Dean kept on asking why I continued my visits, but I couldn't really answer him. I didn't know myself.

"When I was about fifteen years old, your brother was sixteen, I finally understood why," Castiel said.

Sam didn't have to think about it. He remembered what Castiel called Dean back in the castle. Dean, love, please… He had plain out said it, but Sam hadn't thought about it. Only now it all came together.

"You were in love with him," he stated. When Castiel nodded, Jess took a deep breath of shock. "But I thought you and Jess were together?" Sam added, to which Jess snorted.

"Don't be so stupid, Cas is like my brother!" Jess said immediately, and Sam's face turned red from shame, realizing only now that, indeed, they had never done things as holding hands or kissing or whatever… When he looked back at Cas, he saw that the man shook his head, but didn't say anything about it. He just continued his story.

"As soon as I understood, I kissed him," he said, face getting paler with every word he was speaking. "He kissed me back, and I think from then on, we were… I don't know what we were, but there was something.

"After a year, Dean had managed to stay on control of his powers for a long time, and he announced that he was ready, so we took our relationship to the next level."

Sam wasn't sure he wanted to hear about how his brother and this man had performed in sexual intercourse. His face pulled a little bit in a disgusted expression, and Castiel chuckled at that.

"I won't go into detail, let's just say that, while we were busy, Dean lost control after all. I don't really remember what he did, only that I was in a lot of pain. After that, Dean sent me away, told me never to come back.

"I obeyed; only saw him again last night. I thought that, after all those years he could've changed his mind. But he didn't, and I left again."

"So that's why you never like to talk about anything related to the castle?" Jess asked, and Castiel nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, Jess, Dean and I are both men," Castiel answered in an irritated voice. "Nothing like us has ever happened before!"

"Not that we know of," Sam said. At that Castiel looked up in surprise, watching the younger Prince closely. "If you two kept it hidden, others probably did too?"

"Could be," Castiel muttered.

"Eh, Sam?" Jess began.

"I mean, okay yeah, I did not want to hear that you and my brother actually had sex with you," Sam continued undisturbed.

"Sam?"

"But in the end, you love him, and if he keeps on pushing you away, at least that means he loves you too, right?"

"Sam!" Jess now yelled, and only then Sam turned to her. She was pointing at his head and frowning. "Your hair is turning white!"

That didn't make sense. Yes, Sam had always had this lighter lock of hair – his parents told him it suddenly came when he was about four years old. Hadn't Jess noticed it before now?

"Eh, Sam, she's right," Castiel added. He crawled closer to him, and took his long locks in his hand. Sam followed his action, and saw indeed that the hair there was no longer brown.

It was white.

"It's because he struck you, isn't it?" Jess asked. Nobody could answer at that. Garth, next to them – who had been awfully quiet – only shrugged at it when they looked at him.

"It's not because I am a snowman that I know all the mysteries of frozen water," he said, rolling his eyes.

Sam now shook his head, and stood up again. But like the last time, he had trouble getting back to his feet. Sam slumped back down, and fell on his ass. His hand reached for his head immediately, and he felt dizzy again.

"I know somebody who can help," Cas said. Then he turned around, and sighed. "Where is that damn horse when you need him?" he cursed, but there was no small miracle. Where-ever Chuck was, it wasn't here. "Let's get you back on your feet; we need to do another little hike."

"You mean those love-experts you were talking about on the sleigh ride?" Sam asked, not really convinced. Cas only held his head high, and smiled despite his difficult confession earlier.

"Yes, the love-experts," he said, nodding forward and indicating the others to follow him.

And at that, the four started walking all the way back in the direction of Moondor.

"I like to consider myself some a love-expert," Garth added proudly.

Ruby couldn't remember the last time that she felt this cold.

Winters in Helleth's Gates were rare; it was mostly a hot climate, and the summers were mostly murderous. Here, it was the biggest contrast. Every little bit of land was covered in snow. The sky was white, the sun nowhere to be seen.

They had been searching for Sam for what felt like hours, but not a single thing indicated that he passed here. Ruby was almost on her way to give up and return home – hoping that the Prince would return – until she noticed the castle at the top of a mountain. At first she wouldn't have noticed it, but while she was walking, the sunlight reflected on the ice, causing a strong light in her view.

She pointed her sword to the castle, indicating the people behind her that they had to go there.

And they followed.

Because, even if she couldn't find the Prince, at least they could negotiate with the King to undo the curse.

Because that was the only way she could save Moondor.

To say it in only one sentence; Dean was having a panic attack.

He had his hands in his hair most of the times, he walked around endlessly, muttering to himself to keep it in, and forced whatever power that caused this curse to turn back, to undo the spell he put on the whole Kingdom.

But it was no use. The curse was stronger than him. It had always been stronger.

A dark shadow spread across the castle, taking over the walls and floors. It no longer looked inviting, but actually terrifying. Any joy he had in building this palace came dripping out, became possessed by the shadow of his fear until nothing was left.

And when there was almost no sign of what he previously build, he looked up, saw the castle that became dark, and breathed out heavily.

"This is pointless!" he yelled, making fists and then actually slamming his hand against the wall, causing the whole palace to tremble. It didn't break down, luckily. But at least, Dean got lost of his anger for now.

He sat down, looked at his hands, and sighed loudly.

"I'm sorry I disappointed you, dad," he said. "I hurt Sammy, again."

It was silent around him. He was all alone.

Or not really. When he heard the large snowman yell again, he knew there were intruders. Would it be Sam again? Would his younger brother really risk his life to come back here?

He was wrong, of course he was. The people that were closing in were all obviously coming from the kingdom. They all had swords drawn out, and were in fighting position. The snowman kicked a few men away, got his leg chopped off, and almost threw Ruby off the cliff. When Dean saw that she was okay, he turned away again, hoping that nobody had seen him.

But they had, because Dean's life was a big disappointment when it came to hoping. Dean heard them kick open the door, and they followed him on the stairs, obviously not slipping on the ice of the castle. Dean panicked; yes, he made this castle, but even he didn't know all the rooms and hallways. He only ended up where they had been earlier; where Dean hit Sam, again.

When the two men – Dean recognized them as Duke Crowley's henchmen – caught up to him, Dean realized his life was one train wreck after the other.

"Leave me alone!" Dean yelled, trying his best to keep the ice in. He was very close to lose control. One of the men walked around him, and Dean followed him with his eyes, only to realize then that it was probably a way to distract him. As soon as he turned his head back to the first one, he heard the arrow being shot. Out of reflex he raised his hands up and a shield of ice followed his movements, causing the arrow to get caught in it, the point only barely touching Dean's face. Dean jumped back in panic, heard the other man raising his crossbow as well, but Dean didn't give him a chance. He shot spikes of ice at him, getting him trapped against the wall, unable to shoot anything again. The other man had reloaded, but once again, Dean was faster. He launched another shot at him, hitting him on the shoulder. The man grunted in pain, but kept standing. Though his weapon was lowered, he was still walking up to the King.

"Go! Away!" Dean yelled, focusing his attention to the ice-shield in front of him, and moving it away, towards the man that was still standing. His face, which was unappealing and every bit unfriendly as could be, looked in shock. The grin he had on his face disappeared when the shield reached him and pushed him back, sliding him to the balcony and not stopping to push.

It was when Ruby came up that Dean regained himself, that he noticed he was doing something very wrong.

"King Dean, don't be the monster they fear you are!" Ruby had yelled, and Dean dropped his hands, gasping for breath as he turned around to look at his brother's fiancé. She was a smart one, that Ruby. And she was also right. If Dean had thrown that man over the balcony, he would have killed him. That was something he couldn't forgive himself for.

"Azazel!" the man on the balcony yelled at his companion, but Dean didn't react. His eyes were still on the Princess, on her strong face, her long brown curls, as if he didn't believe she was really here. When Ruby looked at something next to Dean, the King still didn't move.

"No!" she then yelled. Her eyes looked up for a short second, it was so subtle that dean almost hadn't noticed, and then she was running at something behind Dean. The King followed her movements, only to see the other henchman, Azazel as it turned out, holding out his crossbow and pointing it at Dean. The King loosened his shoulders, and let go of his fists. It was too late anyway for Ruby to stop him. Azazel was ready to shoot, and Dean didn't have any more fight left in him.

But then Ruby grabbed the man's arm just at the moment that he was shooting, and she pointed the weapon up, at the ceiling. Dean followed the arrow to see it crash.

I shouldn't have made that damn chandelier, Dean then thought, silently cursing himself when the ice that was holding the enormous thing up broke, causing it to fall down, of course right above where Dean was standing. Outstanding! Immediately, Dean turned around, facing back to the door where a few citizens of Moondor were standing, reaching out for the King.

Dean felt his heart beat in his ears, and just when he thought he was almost there, that he was almost safe, he slipped over the ice.

When he touched the ground – quite hard actually – everything went black.

"Are you cold?"

Sam looked up at Jess, not realizing he had been shivering loudly only until then. He had his arms crossed, fingers pinching his skin to keep any feeling, and his teeth were clattering.

"It appears so, yeah," Sam said, and just when he thought he saw Jess opening up her arms to embrace him, she seemed to change her mind. Sam tried not to let that strange disappointment show.

"Here, the geysers are warm," she said as she held out her arms over a hole in the ground. Sam saw some sort of smoke coming out of it, and now he was curious.

When he put his hands next to Jess' over the geyser, he felt the heat sinking back into his bones, and he actually moaned of pleasure. Jess giggled at his reaction.

"Try to keep the inappropriate sounds away please," Castiel said when he passed by, a stupid grin on his face. He crossed his arms and had one eyebrow raised when he looked between Sam and Jess.

Jess slapped him on the arm again and looked actually irritated. "Stop it, you're obnoxious," she said, and Sam didn't really understand why she was so defensive.

In the meantime, Garth was talking about the stars and the sky, muttering nonsense about the sky being awake. He had his head so deep between his shoulders that it fell off. Sam kept close to the geyser for a while, and Jess walked up to the snowman to help him get back to his head.

"Okay listen, before we go in, well you know, these friends," Castiel started, and then he stopped, searching for his words.

"They're more like family," Jess then said instead, putting Garth back together and getting a thankful hug from the snowman. She patted his shoulder, hoping he would let go soon.

"Yeah, exactly," Cas said, and now they resumed walking. Sam was warmed up enough to survive for a little while longer.

"Let us just warn you that they could be… loud," Jess said.

"And pushy."

"And inappropriate."

"Also stubborn."

"At times a little overbearing."

"And heavy," Cas concluded, "like, really really heavy!"

"Eh," Sam said, not really understanding where this all came from all of the sudden.

"You know, you'll get it as soon as you see them," Jess said. "They're everything we have. They took us in after we got away from the orphanage, and they took care of us."

"Well, if they took good care of you, I'm sure they are one heck of a family," Sam said reassuringly, putting a hand on both Cas' and Jess' shoulders and smiling at them.

The two nodded, walked forward rather fast, and spread their arms when they reached their destination.

"Let us introduce you to our family," Jess said, smiling as she stood there.

They were rocks.

Round, dirty rocks. Lying variously around on the ground. And the two were looking at them, actually started to talk to those rocks as if they were living.

"They're crazy," Garth huffed next to Sam, and Sam couldn't agree more, only, he couldn't move. He was so surprised with the turn of events that he just kept on looking at the rocks as if somehow they would jump from the ground and actually speak.

"Okay Sam, because I care for you, I insist you run while I'll distract them," Garth then added, walking up to a rock and caressing it gently. "Hello Chuck's and Jess's family! It's so nice to meet you!" he said, pressing his snowy face against the rock.

"Run, Sam," he whispered over his shoulder before caressing the rock again. "I understand your love-expertise," he added.

When, Garth turned back around, he frowned, holding out his hands in surprise.

"Why aren't you running?" he asked, and that seemed to shake Sam from the shock. He shook his head, pressed his eyes close and took a deep breath.

"Okay, so, I think I'll just go now," Sam said, and he was already starting to turn away when suddenly a loud and deep rumbling came from the ground. When Sam looked around, he saw the stones trembling. Garth stood back up in shock, removing his hands from the moving stones in fear. He then ran back to Sam and hid behind him.

Out of those rocks, suddenly little creatures appeared. Their skins still looked like made of stone, and they all had green hair and big noses. They were round, and all stood in front of Jess and Cas.

"Jess and Cas are home!" one yelled, and the others repeated the words, one by one walking closer to the two, arms wide. One of them jumped in Castiel's arms, and the man had trouble keeping it up. Jess' smile only grew wider.

"Jess and Cas are home!" Garth repeated as well, now standing between two other trolls. Then he frowned. "Wait, Cas?" he asked, looking at another troll that nodded at him.

The reunion between the two and the trolls was as any family would act with each other after not seeing each other for a while. One troll wanted to look at them, check if they were healthy. Another offered to wash their clothes – which they politely declined so they didn't have to walk around naked.

"Listen, it's really nice to see you all, but we need to speak to Joshua," Cas said, and at that Sam raised his eyebrows. There trolls had very normal names, then? Who knew?

"He's napping," another troll said, a smaller one – probably a kid. And then, to Sam's disgust, they started showing off things like mushrooms, fire-crystals, and another one his kidney stones. It wasn't at all appealing, and now he understood why Castiel and Jess had been a little bit reluctant to introduce them to him.

"So, your family are actually trolls?" Sam asked, walking up to the others and actually smiling too.

At the sound of Sam's voice, all the trolls turned around to him, strangely all at the same time. Big round eyes were staring at him, blinking totally in sync, and face full of surprise.

Then, out of nothing, a female troll started squeeling.

"Jess brought home a man!" she said, making her round and tiny hands into fists and bringing everybody along with her enthusiasm. Before he could react, the trolls pulled him closer until he stood next to Jess.

"What's going on?" he asked, and Jess only sighed and shook her head in embarrassment.

"I learned to just roll with it," she explained. And right then Sam was abruptly pulled down on his knees.

"Let me look at you, dear," the troll said, putting her round hands on his cheeks. "Bright eyes, working nose, strong teeth!" she exclaimed with her stony fingers in his mouth, which, by the way, ew! "Yes yes! He'll do great for our little Jessica!"

"Wait what?" they both said at the same time, not really expecting them to come to this conversation.

"Oh God no, you got the wrong idea," Jess said, sounding even more embarrassed now. Her face was flushed, and she put her hair behind her ear, taking off her hat. "That's not why we brought him here," she continued.

"Yeah, you see, we-" he couldn't continue his sentence.

"What's the issue dear? Why are you holding back from such a sweet girl?" the troll interrupted, and honest to God they began singing.

And Sam wasn't hallucinating. They were actually singing.

"Is it the clumpy way she walks?" the same troll started, jumping from one foot to another.

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Castiel muttered, putting his hands against his mouth to keep himself from laughing.

"Or the grumpy way she talks?" another one, a male, added.

"Or the pear-shaped, square-shaped weirdness of her feet?" a third one sang, at that, Jess actually looked irritated.

"Hey, stop it!" she said angrily. The trolls ignored

"And though we know he washes well she always ends up sort of smelly. But you'll never meet a woman who's as sensitive and sweet!"

Oh, no, Sam thought as he lowered his head and sighed. The trolls kept on singing about Jess being a fixer-upper, that she had a few flaws, so what? Sam felt sorry for her when he saw Jess' face got even redder than before.

"This is not about me!" Jess tried to say, but they didn't give her a chance and continued singing.

"You can fix this fixer-upper up with a little bit of love!" they sang, and now both Sam and Jess looked at each other in horror. This was so embarrassing that he hoped Dean would never find out about it.

"Can we please just stop talking about this? We've got a real, actual problem here." Jess yelled.I

"I'll say! So tell me, dear," another troll asked Sam, "Is it the way that she runs scared?"

"What?" Jess asked in a squeaky voice.

"Or that she's socially impaired?"

"I think you are mistaking her by my in that case," Cas corrected.

"Or that she only likes to tinkle in the woods?" A kid asked.

"I did not need to know that," both Sam and Castiel said, turning their heads away.

"Are you holding back your fondness due to her unworldly blondness?"

"Or the way she covers up that she's the honest goods?"

"She's just a bit of a fixer-upper, she's got a couple of bugs!"

"No I don't!" Jess yelled while scratching her hair.

"Her isolation is confirmation of her desperation for healing hugs!"

"Oh," Sam said, actually thinking that was kind of adorable. Jess tried to smile a little while maybe ten trolls were hugging her.

"So she's a bit of a fixer-upper, but we know what to do the way to fix up this fixer-upper is to fix her up with you!"

"Okay, ENOUGH!" Jess snapped, gently shoving the trolls off of her. "He is engaged to someone else, okay?!"

And then it was silent for a little while. The trolls were thinking. They walked to each other, formed a circle, and hunched forward. Sam couldn't hear what they were talking about, and he shot another look at Jess.

"So he's a bit of a fixer-upper, his brain's a bit between! Get the fiancé out of the way and the whole thing will be fixed!" the trolls then yelled. Jess rolled her eyes, dropped her face in her hands and sighed loudly.

"We're not sayin' you can change her, 'cause people don't really change. We're only saying that love's a force that's powerful and strange."

The troll now singing to Sam took hold of his hands and looked at Jess. Sam followed her gaze, and when their eyes met, she shrugged lightly. Sam smiled at her, and the troll seemed to like that.

"People make bad choices if they're mad, or scared, or stressed. Throw a little love their way!"

"Throw a little love their way!" a few other trolls sang in the background. "And you'll bring out their best!"

"True love brings out the best! Everyone's a bit of a fixer-upper, that's what it's all about!"

"Father! Sister! Brother! We need each other to raise us up and round us out."

"Everyone's a bit of a fixer-upper, but when push comes to shove."

"The only fixer-upper fixer that can fix a fixer-upper is," Garth rapped. That treacherous snowman…

"True! Love!" they all sang, both words repeating and repeating. It almost didn't seem like they would stop! When Sam and Jess were then finally pressed together again, the Prince saw Castiel in the back, laughing as if he hadn't ever seen something as funny.

"Do you, Jessica, take Sam to be your troll-fully wedded-" a troll began.

"Wait, what?!" both said, frowning again. Sam noticed then that they were holding each other's hands and quickly let go, flushing a little bit.

"Wha- you're getting married!" the troll said as if it was obvious. And at that moment, the cold that Sam had forgotten about came rushing back up, leaving him shivering again. He slumped back, and Jess caught him before he would fall. Castiel in the meantime came walking back up to them, all sign of laughing gone.

"Sam, your hair is turning whiter!" he said as he put Sam's arm over his shoulder. The Prince dropped his head for a little moment, and let out a moan of unease.

To Sam's surprise another troll came rolling up, standing still in front of the three. He looked older, wiser. His green hair was grey, and he had wrinkles on his stone skin.

"There is strange magic here," the troll, Sam assumed it was that Joshua-troll Castiel was asking for earlier. The troll's eyes landed on Sam and he gestured him to come closer, holding his hand.

"Sam, you are in grave danger," the troll said, causing the other trolls to join him in his worried expression. "You have ice in your heart, put there by your brother."

"Is there something you can do?" Jess asked, but Joshua shook his head.

"No, dear, if it was his head, that would be easy," he said, and Sam dreaded the words already. "But with his heart, only an act of true love can save him," he added.

Sam tried to look up, but he felt too weak. His head fell against Jess' shoulder, and he struggled over his words.

"Do you-" he began, closing his mouth again. "D-do you know how D-Dean became like this?" Sam asked. The troll looked at him in surprise.

"Your brother was born like this, Sam," Joshua said. "One of your ancestors must have been from the Enchanted Forests to have passed on a power like that."

"But powers like this one are unseen of?" Castiel asked.

"When Mary was pregnant, the winter was hard, very cold. There were many snowstorms, no-one dared to go out. The day Dean was born, the storm suddenly stopped."

"So, what, he absorbed the weather or something?" Jess asked, not really believing what she was hearing.

"You could call it like that," Joshua said. "The ice manifested itself inside your brother, and after a while, it came out without him having control of it."

Sam tried to nod, but his eyes only closed as he slumped back against the two holding him.

"Okay, enough storytelling today, we need to get you to Ruby," Jess said, and Sam ignored how Castiel was looking at her in confusion. Mostly because he himself wasn't really paying attention.

"Oh, yeah, Ruby," he muttered.

"Do we have a horse or anything here that could give us a ride?" Castiel asked.

"Well, yeah, ever since he was cursed by the witches of the Enchanted Forests, Gabriel has been spending time here," another troll said.

"Gabriel?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, you know, little guy, quite annoying, talks a lot?" was explained.

"He was cursed?" Jess and Castiel both asked at the same time.

"Tried to flirt with a witch back there, she didn't like it," the troll answered as if it weren't that big a deal.

"When did this happen?"

"A few weeks back, right after you two left again."

After that, it was silent. Castiel agreed to bring Gabriel – who had apparently been turned into a reindeer – along, helped Sam on the animal and then Jess too.

When Castiel turned around to help Garth up too, the snowman was standing there petting Chuck. The horse Chuck. Where had he come from? The horse still seemed spooked, but didn't appear to be running away anytime soon. Castiel approached him, putting his hand on the beast's snout and looking it into his eyes.

"Okay buddy, we're going to need you again tonight," he said, and the horse only shook his head before walking forward to allow Garth and Castiel to hop on as well.

"Where to, Cassieboy?" a new voice asked, and Sam looked down at the reindeer who was staring at the man on the horse. So great, the reindeer could talk now too?

"Back to Moondor," he said, nodding at Jess when she looked at him questioningly. Jess took off her hat and put it on Sam's head, warming him up a little bit.

"We'll get you there safely," she said, pressing a soft kiss to his hair before instructing Gabriel to move. The man-turned-reindeer of course protested a little bit.

"I'm not just some way of transportation, missy, I have feelings too, you know," he said, putting his head high. It was really weird to see a reindeer talk.

"I'm sorry Gabriel, now will you move your ass so we can safe someone?" she asked, and Gabriel snorted, shaking his head and started walking.

"Bossy," he said. "I like it!" And every bit of Sam that was wondering where the two met Gabriel was sinking away as he listened to the reindeer talking about things that got more stupid by the minute.

This was going to be a long ride back home.