Welcome to the second last chapter of Labyrinth. I've tried five times to transfer this but stupid host site keeps doing that weird format thingy and now I'm a little over it so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes, also I don't know anything about repelling or rock climbing, I'm just writing and hoping for the best.
Anyhoo, on with the rescue.
When they finally stepped out of the tunnel they found themselves in a large clearing, not unlike the one they were taken from.
"Do you think this is it? The centre of the labyrinth?" Dean asked.
"Dunno. I think so." Sam replied, looking around. "There's no other paths or off shoots, so it must be."
"Okay, so what does this oubliette look like?"
"Essentially it's a hole, so we're looking for a door or a large rock, anything that could be used as a…well, a door." Sam explained.
They scanned the area looking for any type of booby trap or other dangerous things. After finding it all clear they moved further into the clearing, moving through the lush green grass and began their search.
"How long Sammy?" Dean asked.
"Forty five minutes."
Dean nodded and looked around.
"Over there." He backhanded Sam's arm to get his attention then pointed to the left.
On the far side of the clearing there was a small hill. The perfect place to stick an oubliette. They hurried over to search it.
"Here! Look, here!" Sam called.
Dean rushed to his side and looked at what Sam had found. A large stone slab was leaning against the rock, partially covered by grass.
"Help me move it." Sam said.
They each grasped the stone and pushed it sideways to reveal a deep cave. There was some movement at the back.
"Amy?" Dean called and shone his light into the hole. "Amy are you in there?"
A small dirty face looked out at them.
"Dean? Dean is that you?"
"Yeah sweetheart, it's me!" Dean could almost sob at the sight of his friend.
"Please get me out?" Amy pleaded.
"We will babe, we will." Dean promised.
There was something strange about the way Amy was looking at them. When Dean first shone his light into the cave she was curled up on her side and just tilted her head up, but when they started talking she just kind of stretched out along the ground. It should have rang alarm bells in Deans head, and distantly it did, but he thought she was just injured and in his desperation to free his friend he stepped into the cave.
"Dean! Stop!" Sam grabbed at his brother just as Deans foot came down into empty space and he almost toppled forward.
"What the hell!?"
"Look at the way Amy's standing." Sam said.
"She's laying on the ground."
"No, she's not. She's standing."
"How the hell can that be? We're looking straight at her!" Dean was getting frustrated and time was wasting.
"It's refraction, an illusion."
"What the hells refraction?" Dean asked.
"It's like when you put a straw in water and it looks bent. Amy's not right in front of us, she's under us."
"Dean? Sam? What's going on? Please? Please get me out of here? I'm scared."
"We're coming Ames, don't worry, you're gonna be out of there real soon. Don't worry, babe, we're coming!" Dean called down to Amy. He turned to face Sam. "Okay, so it's a bent straw, how the hell do we get Amy out?" Dean asked.
"If I hold on to you, maybe you can reach her?" Sam suggested.
Dean lay on his stomach and Sam took a firm grip of his belt and held his brother as Dean leaned into the pit. The feeling was disorientating as Dean reached down to where Amy was stretching towards him.
"Come on Ames, just a little further. Sam, can you lower me down a bit more?"
"I'm trying Dean, but if you go further in, I'm worried you'll take us both down."
"Dean, I can't reach you," Amy cried.
Even hanging upside down Dean could see there was a good ten feet between them.
"Pull me back Sammy." He said.
"Dean! Were are you going?" Amy screamed.
Dean looked back in the hole.
"It's okay Baby, we're just working on plan B!" Dean called back. "That holes deeper than it looks." He said to Sam.
"One of us is gonna have to repel down." Sam said.
"Okay, I'll do it. You got a rope?" Dean asked.
"Yeah."
Sam dropped his pack and pulled a rope out from the bottom. They set it around a nearby tree and Dean fastened a makeshift harness from one end and with Sam acting as spotter and standing by to feed the rope, Dean leaned into the opening.
"This is weird man." He said as he slowly lowered a foot, deliberately not looking so he had to trust his instincts instead of his eyes, until he found purchase on the wall.
"I know, but this is Amy, Dean. As soon as you get into the hole, everything should balance out."
Dean nodded and put his weight back on the harness. Sam took his weight and Dean began moving down. Sam was right, as soon as he was below the lip of the hole everything turned up the right way. If Dean looked up he saw the sky, when he looked below him he saw the frightened face of his dearest friend.
"I'm coming Ames, just watch out, I'm coming down."
Dean saw Amy nod and move to the other side of the hole. It was slow progress. They didn't want to rush and risk Dean slipping and injuring himself, and neither of them had gloves so Dean wasn't going to risk Sam getting rope burn and not being able to pull them back up.
It felt like hours but in less than sixty seconds Dean had made it to the bottom of the pit.
"I'm down!" Dean called back up to his brother.
The rope went slack and Sam's face appeared over the opening.
"Dean!" Amy sobbed and ran into Dean's arms. "I was so scared. I prayed that you'd come."
"Of course we came Ames. We'll always come for you." Dean held Amy tight and ran his hands over her back as she sobbed into his jacket. "Are you okay?"
"I am now you're here."
"Is everything okay?" Sam called down. "Is Amy hurt?"
"Are you hurt?" Dean asked, gently prying Amy away from him so he could see her face.
She shook her head.
"No, I don't think so."
"All good down here." Dean called back.
Sam gave a thumbs up.
"Let me know when you're ready to ascend." He said.
"Will do!"
Sam's face disappeared and Dean turned back to Amy. He took his jacket off and helped her into it. He did a quick visual assessment of her and nodded. She was standing so it meant nothing was broken, mostly she just looked a bit scratched up, dirty and cold.
"Okay, so this is what we're gonna do. I'm gonna tie this rope around you and Sam's gonna pull you back up." Dean explained untying the rope from around his waist.
"What about you?" Amy asked.
"Sam'll throw the rope back down for me once we get you out safe. Have you ever rock climbed before?"
"No." Amy replied shaking her head.
"Well, this is going to be a hell of a crash course." Dean gave Amy his trademark smirk, forcing a calm exterior even though inside he was still a worried mess. He wouldn't be calm until they had Amy safe and sound, and back above ground.
He tightened the rope around her waist then took her by the shoulders.
"We're getting you out of here. You're gonna be safe, but you need to take this slowly okay?" He said. "Just hold tight and let Sam do the work, you just sit back in the harness and use your feet against the wall to walk up slowly. Sam'll get you at the top, okay?"
"Okay." Amy took a shuddering breath. "Thank you Dean!"
She hugged Dean and then stepped back with a fortifying breath.
"I'm ready." She nodded.
"Sam! Take the slack!" Dean called up.
Sam reappeared and gave a thumbs up. He disappeared again and the rope went taut. Dean helped Amy get into position and called for Sam to begin pulling her up.
It was a nervous few minutes for Dean as he watched his friend being pulled up, but he trusted his brother to get her to safety. Just as she disappeared over the edge the whole pit gave a shudder sending a spray of dirt down into Deans face.
"Dean! We're running out of time!" Sam called down.
"I know! Just get Amy out of here! If you have to leave me behind, leave me behind!" Dean shouted.
"No! I'm getting you out!" Sam shouted as the ground began to shake again. "Watch out below!"
Dean stepped back as the rope flew down and landed at his feet.
"Hold tight Sammy, I'm coming up!"
Dean took hold of the rope, braced his feet against the wall and began his ascent. He pulled himself, hand over hand, up the rope, using his feet against the wall for extra purchase. Amy's worried face appeared in the opening.
"Amy get back! If the ground gives way, you'll end up back at the bottom of the pit!" Dean called.
She shook her head and reached out to Dean. As soon as he was close enough she grabbed at the collar of his shirt and helped him over the edge. Dean stood up and pulled Amy up with him.
"Are you okay?" He asked for the millionth time.
"I am now." She said, tears streaming down her face.
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. Derek and I…" Amy's eyes widened as she looked around. "Where's Derek? Is he okay?"
"He's not here Amy." Sam said.
"Where is he? Did he get taken too?" She asked clearly panicked.
"No he didn't. He..." Sam began.
"We sent him home, Ames. He wanted to come but it was too dangerous." Dean said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Oh, okay." She replied. "Thank you for taking care of him."
"It's what we do." Dean said while Sam snorted.
The ground shook again.
"Okay we had better find a way out of this place before it collapses." Sam said.
"But we got Amy out. The curse should be broken." Dean argued.
"Yes, you got her from the oubliette but you did not free her from the labyrinth." All three of them turned to see Der Einsame standing near them with a sadistic grin. "When the time runs out, you will be trapped here forever!"
As if to confirm the creatures words the ground gave another shake.
"That's not what you said!" Dean shouted advancing on the monster.
"Yes, I cheated. Is my bad." Der Einsame gave a shrug.
"Hey Sammy?"
"Yeah Dean?"
"That dies and the magic dies with it right?"
"Right."
"Well, we got Amy now so…"
Before the creature could even react to what Dean was suggesting, Sam had unsheathed the bronze dagger, flipped it so he had the tip in his fingers and threw it through the air. The monster squeaked once as the dagger lodged itself in its chest.
"You win. Well played." It said as it fell to its knees and disintegrated.
"Well, that was slightly underwhelming." Dean said as he went to retrieve the dagger.
The ground gave one last shake and then the Forest around them melted like a painting left in the rain, and then they were back standing in a forest that was more mid-state Massachusetts and less 'walk in the black Forest'.
"Okay, let's get the hell out of dodge." Dean said and grabbed his pack from the ground.
Amy took a step forward and stumbled slightly.
"Dean, I think we need to let Amy rest for a moment. She's safe now, so I think we can spare a few minutes." Sam said.
Dean looked back at their friend. She looked pale and tired.
"Yeah, course."
They sat her on a nearby log and gave her a bottle of water and a few granola bars. While she rested, Amy told the brothers about hearing the riddles as she hiked with Derek and then suddenly everything going black only for her to find herself in a little log cabin. She didn't know exactly how long she played the monster, she didn't even know what it was until Sam told her, but eventually fear and exhaustion got to her and when she refused to play anymore Der Einsame dropped her into the oubliette. She had no way of tracking time, but estimated that she had been in that hole for at least a couple of days.
She asked again about Derek and Dean repeated the story he'd given Amy when they first pulled her out of the oubliette, stomping on Sam's foot when it looked like he was going to contradict him.
"How are you feeling Amy?" Sam asked when she'd emptied the bottle of water.
"Better, but I'd really like to get out of this place now. It's kind of giving me the creeps." She shuddered and looked around.
"Alright, let's get moving then." Dean said as he stood. He slung his pack on his shoulders and then held out a hand for Amy.
Once she was standing, Amy still seemed a little unsteady but insisted she was okay to walk. Sam took the lead and Dean stayed by Amy's side just incase she stumbled. They made it a few hundred yards and back to a trail when Amy staggered for the first time. Dean grabbed one of her hands and wrapped his other arm around her waist for support. A little further down the track she stumbled again, this time collapsing into Dean. He quickly scooped her up bridal style, despite her weak protests.
"It's okay baby, I got you." He said as he walked along behind Sam.
"Are you okay with her?" Sam asked. "Do you want to stop? There's still plenty of daylight, we can wait until she feels stronger."
"And what Sam? Wait two hours so she can make it another half and hour or so? It would take all day to get her out of here. She needs a hospital, so we keep going." Dean said with determination.
"Okay, but if you need to rest or swap out, you let me know."
"Ten-four."
"I mean it Dean! You're no good to anyone if you collapse and I have to drag your sorry arse out of here! Trust me, I'll be leaving you behind." Sam challenged his brother.
"And that would be the right choice to make, but I hear you. Now put those lumberjack legs to good use and get lumbering."
"What?"
"Just find us a way out of here." Dean jutted his chin forward.
"Right." Sam pulled out his compass and the map.
"I think we need to go this way." He said leading the way.
Dean hoisted Amy higher and followed his brother, determined to get Amy to safety or die trying.
