Dean always disliked witches. He used to say it was because of their bodily fluids, but there had been more to it back then. They were in the gray area, 'cause they were human and were using demonic powers to cast spells. They were mean and evil, but still human.
Now, though… Now he knew the difference between monsters and supernatural creatures. And while this witch had most definitely been a human, she was a bitch and a monster and deserved to die for the two teens she had killed.
She had been relatively easy to find and regardless of her silly spell casting (come on, they are pros now, they knew how to shield themselves from that crap), she had been swiftly put down with the witch killing bullets. And Dean thought that was that. But nooooo, Sam saw her home as some sort of a treasure chest or some shit and now Dean was stuck going through all her crap like a good little Man of Letters he is.
Sam had already filled the Impala's trunk with her junk when they found a room filled with weird objects. Sam, of course, made them put on gloves and sort through it.
Dean was currently going through a shelf with some nasty jars. Some of them had eyeballs, some had tails, some had tentacles and one had a tongue. He was so close to puking that he had to swallow hard a few times to keep it down. So when Cas offered him to trade, Dean immediately took it.
Figures, Cas got a box of cute little trinkets. There was a little pearl bracelet and a rabbit's foot (could be the real deal), a heart shaped locket, some clearly fake, but still pretty rainbow feathers, and a few cute badges. At the bottom of the box, Dean found a nice, big seashell.
"Hey, Cas, check it out!" He called after the angel and smiled when Cas turned. He came closer, lips quirking a little as he saw what Dean held in his hand. Dean offered him the seashell. "Here, bring it to your ear, you can hear the ocean."
"Dean, that's not the ocean, that is just an echo–"
Suddenly, Dean felt his whole world tilt and the next thing he knew, he was submerged in water. His instincts immediately kicked in and he started swimming upwards, blinking his eyes as he tried to focus through the salty water. Breaking the water surface, he gasped for air, feeling it burn his lungs. Took him a few seconds to even start processing what happened, as he looked around, immediately noticing an island about a quarter mile to his left. Fuck, he was in the middle of sea, god only knew where.
But then something brushed against his foot and he startled, freaking out about all the creatures that lived in the water, those that would love nothing more than to eat him. Looking through the surface of the water, he saw something, a blurry mass and for a second he couldn't recognize it. It was a different color than the water, a contrast, but not yellow, not white. It floated around like a giant seaweed, reaching for him but not getting to him, instead, it seemed to be sinking further into the water. Brief relief washed over Dean before he spotted a strand of the mass and realized it was a belt. A belt of a freaking beige trenchcoat. "Cas!"
Taking a deep breath, he immediately dived under, the silhouette of the angel becoming a little more clear in the salty water the closer he got to it. Cas' eyes were wide and filled with fear and he reached for Dean, but then his hand went adrift as his eyes fell closed. Shit, this wasn't good. Dean reached him and immediately yanked him up, feet kicking, trying to get them both to the surface as fast as he could. Cas was limp in his arms and Dean feared the worst. He just has to be fast.
Dean gasped once again as he resurfaced, struggling to hold both himself and Cas' limp body afloat. He had to get to the island, so he swam as fast as he could while pulling Cas along, really worried about him. Cas was a freaking angel, he couldn't drown. He didn't even need to breathe, for Christ's sake.
"Come on buddy, work with me a little here. Fuck, you're heavy. Come on, Cas, stay with me. We're almost there!"
As soon as he could reach the bottom, he dug his feet and pushed them through the dense water, dragging Cas out of the water as fast as he could. As soon as they were out, he carefully dropped him on the shore, falling on his knees by the angel's side. He felt for a heartbeat, thinking for a moment that was really stupid, because angel's didn't have one, but then he felt it, a slow, tiny pulse, too weak. Cas wasn't breathing, which should be a normal occurrence, but what if it wasn't? Throwing one leg over him, Dean straddled the angel and brought his hands to Cas' chest. And then he started to push. Cas shouldn't need a fucking CPR, but then again, they shouldn't even be in the middle of the ocean either.
"Come on, Cas, come on. Come on." Dean kept working on chest compressions, counting them to thirty before leaning in, pinching Cas' nose and giving him two long breaths before going back to compressions again. He had a fleeting thought that this wasn't how he imagined kissing the angel, before he berated himself for even considering that at a time like this. He was pining after the angel for way too long. "Come on, buddy, come back. Come back to me. Come on, Cas."
Thirty more compressions and two more breaths, still nothing. Dean was halfway through the third set of compressions when Cas suddenly half coughed-half choked, expelling the water out of his system. Dean immediately moved him to the side and helped him get it all out. He kept patting him hard on the back as Cas coughed it all up, drawing harsh breaths in between until it was finally over.
As Cas moved back to look at Dean, Dean collapsed on the sand next to him, completely exhausted. Both of them were panting and just staring at one another, processing what the hell just happened. Dean knew this – that fucking shell somehow teleported them to this island, but not before dumping them into the water first; Cas almost drowned and there was most likely something wrong with his grace; Dean was tired and wet and had fucking sand in the places no sand should ever be. What else could go wrong?