It took a few minutes after Loki was gone for Dean to finally run out of curses. The whole time he was running through his list of rather inventive curses, he was checking out Castiel, trying to make sure that the angel was okay. That was always priority one in Dean's books during a crappy situation. Make sure that those around him that he cared about were as safe as could be and okay. He'd already made sure, the instant that Loki had snapped, that Sam was still there and okay. At his brother's nod, he'd been free to check out their angel.

While Dean did that, Sam focused on the rest of it, his brain already working through what Loki had said and pairing it up with what he saw around him. It wasn't all that hard to figure out; Loki had been pretty clear about what he wanted them to do. Survive.

Running his eyes over the beach, the tree line, and then out to the coast—and the storm that was getting bigger out there—the younger Winchester winced. "Crap."

Immediately Dean was looking over at him and bracing for trouble. "What?"

"He mentioned 'TV Land' and then called this Survivor: Trickster Edition." Sam said, turning back enough to look at the other two.

He saw as the same realization hit Dean. "Crap."

Living in motels meant that the two had watched plenty of TV's night time crap. The show Survivor had been one of the many they'd seen. They'd even argued once or twice over a couple beers about the stupid things the players on the show did and how they'd do them better. Apparently Loki was giving them the chance to do just that. "He said we've got no food, no supplies, and no powers." Sam reminded him.

The last part hit them both at the same time and they spun to look at Castiel, who was as stoic as ever. Nothing on his face gave away any emotion as he told them "I cannot reach my grace. I am, essentially, as human as either one of you at the moment." While his voice remained steady, there was a flicker in his eyes, just a small hint of something that said that he wasn't taking this anywhere near as easily as he was trying to pretend.

"Great." Dean growled out. "Freaking great. No mojo, no food, no shelter."

"And a storm coming in." Sam added, gesturing with one hand out towards the ocean. The clouds were getting darker by the minute out there and he had a feeling it wasn't his imagination that they looked to be getting closer. It seemed like something the Trickster would do. "We can bitch about the trickster later. Right now, we gotta find shelter before that thing hits."

This proved to be one of those rare times that Sam found himself actually thankful for some of the survival lessons that his Dad had taught them when they were kids. John Winchester hadn't just trained his boys to hunt monsters – he'd made sure to train them in every way possible. Part of that had involved going out into the woods and surviving on their own. John had always said they'd need to be able to hunt and track and survive if they were out in the woods after a Wendigo or something of the like. Later on, Bobby had taken those lessons and expanded on them. Before Bobby had been a Hunter, he'd been a regular hunter. He'd taught them a few more skills. Sam and Dean put all those skills to use now as they looked around them and tried to figure out how the hell they were going to make some sort of shelter for three before that storm hit.

"What've we got on us?" Dean asked.

The answer proved to be: surprisingly little. Sam understood now what that snap had been that had had Loki grinning. He'd taken every single weapon they carried on them. They still had their flashlights, only because those had been in their hands, but everything else was gone. "So basically we've got the clothes on our backs, two flashlights, and nothing else." Dean spat out. He glared off towards the rock Loki had been on before as if the Trickster was still there. "The little bastard."

"Growl later, Dean." Sam said, snapping his fingers to get his attention. "How the hell are we gonna make a shelter with…this?" He spread his hands wide to gesture around him.

Dean was looking around too, with just as critical an eye. "Against the rocks looks like our best bit. In there, under the trees. We should be able to rig up something."

Another look at the clouds had the brothers moving. They didn't really have time to waste.

They got damn lucky with their shelter and the both of them knew it. Dean and Castiel went to the left—because apparently it took the both of them to look—and Sam the right and they went alongside the tall rock walls that made up the cliffs on either side of the water, the things that created the little inlet they were in. They were looking for the best spot to work with to build their shelter. It was Dean who found one, hollering out to Sam. When the younger Winchester came over he saw what Dean was so excited about.

Just a little ways in from where the sand ended and the forest began there was just enough of a dip in the rocks here to make a half-cave sort of area. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing and wouldn't take too much to make serviceable. Sam couldn't help but think that it was intentionally there; this was a construct, after all. Loki had called it his own made up place. That meant that the things here were the things he wanted to be here. So, he wasn't trying to kill them or anything. He must want them to survive this. He just didn't want to make it easy for them.

The storm was coming in faster and they weren't going to have time to do much. Dean was thinking the same thing. After another glance at the clouds, he told Sam "You go grab as much dry stuff as you can so we can try and get a fire. Cas and I are gonna move a few rocks and try and get some sort of wall set up here before that shit hits. We need to try and stay dry."

They just barely made it. By the time that Sam got back with plenty of things for a fire, Dean and Castiel had a little wall rigged up to hopefully help keep them dry. They'd pulled loose rocks over – apparently Castiel was still stronger than most humans – and had managed to stack them and use sticks and what looked like some kinds of ferns to make sure there were no cracks. It gave them a three sided home that would shelter them just enough that they might stay dry.

They got inside just as the first rain started to fall.

"I'm gonna kill him."

Sam tried not to roll his eyes as he heard his brother voice the same threat for the millionth time. The rain had been coming down hard for what felt like hours now and the three men were huddled together inside their little shelter in an attempt to stay as warm and dry as possible. They had their sticks and kindling and fuel all stacked as far back out of the way as possible, wrapped up in Sam's plaid over shirt to try and keep them dry, and the three of them sat in front of the pile while they waited for the rain to go down enough for them to try and figure out how to even start a fire. They'd sat down together, needing each other's body heat to stay warm.

By silent agreement, they stuck Castiel between them. The angel had been unusually quiet since this whole thing had started. He sat between them now bent in on himself with his arms wrapped around his waist in an attempt to get a little bit warmer. Sam felt sorry for him. The poor guy obviously wasn't coping well without his grace there. Though Sam didn't presume to know what that could feel like for him, he had eyes enough to see that it couldn't feel good. He'd told them earlier that he was essentially human and Sam could definitely see it. He seemed above the lesser things, like needing to use the bathroom, but…Angels didn't get cold. They didn't shiver. And they didn't get tired. Yet here Castiel was, shivering in the cold air, with his head resting against Dean's shoulder and his eyes at half-mast…and Dean wasn't pushing him off. It would've been sweet if it wasn't for the situation they were in.

However, Dean had complained almost the entire time about the Trickster and their situation; a steady stream of curses and grumbles, all directed against Loki. For the most part, Sam tried to ignore it. Tried being the keyword here. There was only so much a person could take, though. "It's not like we haven't tried before." He felt the need to point out after hearing yet another threat to kill Loki. "We've staked him a few times now and it hasn't worked. What makes you think it'll be any different this time?"

"Oh and I suppose you still wanna recruit him." Dean said scathingly.

Before Sam could retaliate, or even come up with anything to say, Castiel shifted between them and spoke up for the first time in hours. "Stakes did not kill him?"

Dean shifted enough to be able to look at the angel on his shoulder – a thought that made Sam snort with laughter. "We've staked that little bastard a few times now and he's still kickin'." Dean said.

"Well, maybe." Sam wasn't quite so sure about that. "We've seen his ability to make illusions. Who's to say he hasn't just sent an illusion of himself to deal with us every time and just watched from the sidelines? It'd explain why the stakes never worked."

Dean opened his mouth like he was going to argue before snapping it shut again. The look on his face clearly said he hadn't thought of that. Not that Sam could blame him for that. Until Mystery Spot, Sam hadn't thought of it either. But he'd had plenty of time to think through things while he'd been hunting the trickster down during those long months that he'd been alone.

"I wondered if you chuckleheads would ever figure that out."

The sound of that voice was enough to have three heads snapping up. Sam really wasn't all that surprised to see Loki sitting just a few feet in front of them. The trickster was sitting in the rain, though it looked like the rain wasn't even touching him.

"Son of a bitch." Dean's furious growl echoed around them. He made as if to lunge forward, only to be stopped by Castiel's grip on his sleeve and Sam's arm flung out in front of him.

Loki laughed, low and delighted. "Better listen to your friends there, bucko. Wouldn't want to get all wet now, would we?"

Bracing himself, Sam kept his arm still and tried to keep his brother in place. "Dean! There's no point in it – he's not actually there. You'd just get soaked." And right now the only thing helping them stay warm was that they were all relatively dry.

"Didn't you three just get through discussing this?" Loki asked, looking to Sam and smirking. He jerked his thumb towards Dean. "A bit slow, this one."

"Are you here to release us?" Castiel asked him, cutting off whatever Dean was about to growl out.

Loki laughed again. "Let you out? Where's the fun in that?"

"Then why are you here?" Sam asked. He slowly lowered his arm, sure that Dean was going to stay still, at least for now. He brought his hands back to his lap and fixed his eyes on the trickster in front of him. Best to keep him in sight at all times. "Are you here to, what – gloat?"

"No. Well… maybe. A little." His smirk grew a little wider. "I'm a bit proud here. You gotta admit, this is pretty awesome."

Thunder rumbled above them and the wind blew in just a bit of the rain that was coming down in torrents just outside their shelter. The trio leaned into one another and tried to keep their faces from getting wet. "Oh, yeah." Dean said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Awesome."

Seemingly unfazed by both the rain and by the death glares he was getting, the trickster snapped his fingers and a tray appeared in front of the three men. On it were a bunch of fruits and a plate of cheeseburgers. The tray was staying just as dry as Loki and was floating right in front of them in easy reach. "I'm here to offer you bozos dinner." Loki said, like it was simple and easy.

No one reached out for it. They didn't even have to look at one another to come to that agreement. Not only had they been raised way better than to take food from any sort of supernatural entity, they knew way better than to trust anything that might come from Loki of all beings. "You really think we're that stupid?" Dean asked.

Loki's smirk turned just a bit devilish and he wiggled his eyebrows at them. "You really want me to answer that?" He leaned back and rested on his hands, leaving no print in the ground under him and reinforcing the image that he wasn't actually here. "Take it, don't take it, it's no skin off my nose. Never let it be said I didn't offer."

"Why are you doing this?" Castiel's voice was hard and harsh, the Warrior-of-Heaven voice that still held some power to it, even with him shivering and mostly human. The deep, gravelly growl had been enough to make even Dean sit up straighter a time or two.

Loki didn't even bat an eye.

The trickster's grin turned just a shade condescending. "Aw, aren't you adorable? Even with no power you're still trying to protect your little humans. You're like the Little Angel that Could." The confusion on Castiel's face and the obvious fact that he didn't catch that reference at all just made Loki chuckle. "Relax, bird-boy. I'm not after harming your boys. I'm helping keep you all safe." The way he said that last word, twisting it until it sounded like nothing more than a mockery, had Castiel sitting up straighter and scowling at him. The angel opened his mouth to say something only to have Loki talk right over top of him. "Have fun, boys!" With a snap, he and the tray were gone.

Quiet fell over their little cave. The three settled back in against one another, pressing just a little bit closer as a sudden gust of wind sent a chill through them.

"I'm gonna kill him." Dean grumbled again.

This time, no one corrected him.

The storm lasted most of the night. By morning, it was finally fading away, the rain slowing down to a drizzle before finally, finally stopping. The sun came out and the clouds cleared away and they were able to step out of their cave and take a real look around.

Sometime during the night they'd come to the conclusion that they weren't going to be getting out of here anytime soon. They had no idea how to stop this, no idea how to actually kill the trickster especially if he was just sending illusions of himself in to them, and none of them knew any way to break out of whatever little pocket dimension they'd been dumped inside of. That meant they had to survive until they either figured out a way out, or they were let out. That meant they needed to take care of important things like food and fire.

Sam was put on fire detail, the skill he'd always been best at during his father's wilderness training, and Dean took Castiel with him to go take a look around and try to find some food.

With the help of the lens from his flashlight and a bit of the dry fuel that he'd gathered yesterday, Sam got them a fire going before his brother and his brother's angel made their way back to camp. When they showed up, Sam had a good blaze going. He looked up from adding a piece of kindling and caught sight of Dean first, followed by a rather…muddy Castiel. It took a lot of effort not to laugh aloud at the poor angel. "What…" Sam had to pause and clear his throat. It looked like Cas had taken a bath in a mud pit. The only clear part of his face was his eyes and a hastily wiped mouth. Forcing back the laugh, Sam straightened up and tried not to look as amused as he felt. "What happened?"

"I, slipped." Castiel answered.

Wiping a hand over his mouth to hide the smile that slipped out, Sam turned away briefly. "Luckily, it's a sunny day." He said before he turned back towards them. Dean was glaring at him like he knew that Sam had been laughing, which he probably did, but Castiel was still standing there looking rather pitiful and Sam couldn't find it in him to mock his friend. His voice softened a little and his face eased into a friendly smile. "Your pants don't look too bad, Cas. You should be able to just strip off your coat and shirts and go wash up your face in the water. One of us can help you wash your shirt and then Dean or I can give you one of our flannels to wear while your shirt dries out."

"I'll help." Dean volunteered immediately.

Sam didn't bother to turn away this time to hide his grin. "I bet you will."

The scowl that earned him was exactly what he'd been aiming for. The two moved down to the water and Sam shook his head. It looked like he was going to have to take a look of his own if they wanted anything to eat tonight.

How on earth could they be on an island with no food? There was nothing to be found out there. Nothing. There weren't even any fish in their inlet. No animals on the island, no fish, not even a single berry. Loki had made an island completely without food.

"That son of a bitch." Dean was absolutely furious. It wasn't the first time that he or Sam had gone without food, but his gaze kept slipping to Castiel, who was seated on a rock in his slacks and Dean's flannel looking far more debauched than Sam was really comfortable seeing. It wasn't just that he was wearing Dean's shirt that gave him that look, though that definitely made it worse. It was more that Sam couldn't remember ever seeing the angel in anything but his suit, trench coat and that crooked tie. Just slacks and a shirt with his hair all slicked back and windblown made him look…human. Human and just a little breakable.

"We'll figure something out." Sam said. He had to be the voice of reason here. Dean was too angry and Castiel was too…they weren't quite sure what. He was quiet. All Sam could do was try and keep steady and calm and hope no one flipped out too much. "For now I think we gotta play along. He doesn't do anything without purpose, right? No matter what, he's always trying to teach people a lesson. We just need to figure out what kind of lesson he's trying to teach us."

"Before we starve."

Sam glared at his brother. "Real helpful, Dean."

The older Winchester shrugged. "Just saying, dude. He's not exactly known for being friendly."

"Rude." Loki called out, not sounding the least bit bothered by the assessment, really. They all spun to find him perched on the same rock he'd been on when they first arrived. The trickster grinned down at them. "Also, hello? I did offer you food last night."

"Like we're gonna trust that!" Dean called out. He strode forward, planting himself at Sam's side and firmly between Castiel and Loki. "Now let us outta here! We don't have time for your stupid games."

"I think you've got plenty of time. In fact, I think you've got all the time in the world." Loki said, grinning at a joke that Sam would've expected from his brother. Really, end of the world jokes? That's what they were sinking to here? Loki's amber eyes turned to him and he arched one eyebrow, expression amused. "Don't knock my jokes, Samster. When are we ever going to get the chance again to use all those fantastic 'end of the world' jokes that are just floating out there? Seize the moment, I say!"

Was this seriously his life? Sam blew out a breath and shook his head. "You're insane."

"Now you're getting it, kiddo."

"Why are you here this time?" Sam asked. "I doubt you're here to let us out – we haven't figured out whatever it is you want here. So, what? Another trick? A game? Going to make us compete in challenges for privileges?" He'd seen Survivor enough to know how it went. They had challenges where contestants could earn things like flint or food or such.

"Why on earth would I do that?" Loki asked. He looked puzzled by Sam's question.

"On Survivor they get to compete in challenges and earn things like flint or food."

"True." Loki conceded. Then he spread his hands out and grinned. "But this is the Trickster Edition, and when have I ever played fair? Besides, it's not like I'm actually starving you guys or anything like that. I'm offering you food. Whether you eat it or not is up to you. It's not like I'm being a bad guy and starving you or anything."

"You're just holding us hostage." Dean snapped.

Loki's grin grew a little wider. "True. But you're safe and fed. I made sure you've got some shelter and I gave you food. What else could you want?" With a snap of his fingers, he was gone again.