A/N: hey, guys! I know I haven't updated this is a while but here's a new chapter so there ya' go! I keep forgetting to put disclaimers on my stories that I do not own any of the characters (except for random OCs that might show up every once in a while) and I am not making any sort of profit from this fic. All that is mine is the story.
XXX
"See, I told you you were holding the map upside down!" Sam snapped, snatching the piece of parchment from his brother's hands and rotating it one-hundred and eighty degrees before shoving it into the half-Orc's chest with a large scowl on his face.
"Oh well sorry! I'm afraid I'm not used to reading maps since I'm usually driving!" Dean yelled, stabbing his finger into his brother's chest.
"Boys, I swear to God if you two don't stop bickerin' I'll-" Bobby was cut off by the sound of laughter, loud cursing and rustling leaves as Dean shoved Sam into the bushes off the left side of the path.
"Are they like this all the time?" Charlie asked Cas under her breath when Bobby had approached the brothers, ranting on about how this was already hard enough without them acting like a couple of children.
"Essentially, yes," he replied with a sigh before moving forward to try and help break up the argument as best he could.
"Okay then..." Charlie thought out loud, shrugging and picking up the map from where it had been dropped on the ground, wiping the dust off before studying it to see which path they should take.
XXX
The fallen autumn leaves crunched with newly laid frost as the small party of adventurers slowly but surely made their way through the rolling, grassy countryside. The worn, well-used dirt road wound through the hills, gaining fresh bootprints, new-
"DEAN I SWEAR TO GOD!"
Oh. Well, I guess that paragraph was getting a little Tolkien-ish anyway... Fine then, let's see what the party is up to since Sam decided to speak up.
"Ugh, what is it now, Sammy?!" Dean said, turning his head to look at his brother who was possibly giving him the best bitchface he'd ever seen.
"If you don't stop making the branches hit me in the face I will drive this god damn battleax into your skull!" Sam groused, making sure to shoot his brother yet another death-glare.
"Dean, Sam, will you please try to refrain from fighting or arguing? I would prefer to spend the rest of our travelling time either in silence or pleasant conversation," Cas spoke up, trying to both politely get his friends to stop fighting and speak sternly to them since they were both grown men and they should know better than to act like this, at least in the company of others anyway.
Dean just blew a raspberry at the Tiefling and crossed his arms in a huff, causing said Tiefling to roll his eyes and turn his attention back to the road ahead.
"Y'know, you guys have a really shitty attitude about our situation..." Charlie piped up, turning around to face the two brothers and beginning to walk backwards.
"Yeah well, we're trapped in a tabletop role-playing game with you as our only source of information, there are monsters everywhere, you and Cas nearly got murdered, I'm stuck in the body of a fucking half-Orc, and Sam's being a bitch. I'd say that's reason enough to have a shitty attitude." Dean counted off his points on his fingers and when he was finished speaking, looked up to find Charlie -as Cas had done- rolling her eyes and turning her gaze back to the road.
"Well, I tried..." He thought he heard her mumble under her breath.
XXX
They stopped under a large fir tree where they'd decided to set up camp for the night, unceremoniously dropping their heavy backpacks and satchels with grateful sighs or pained groans.
"Oh thank fuck!" Dean exclaimed after dumping his backpack with the others'. "I thought I was gonna collapse under the weight of that damn thing! What the hell'd we put in these things, lead?!" He added, glaring at the luggage as though it had just punched him in the face.
"Well, there may be some things made of lead contained within our bags, after all the universe we are currently in seems to be in a medieval-"
"Rhetorical question, Cas."
"Oh. I apologize, Dean..." The Tiefling muttered embarrassedly, tail wrapping around his leg in a rather put-out gesture.
Dean sighed, instantly regretting his harsh tone, "it's fine, Cas. Sorry for snapping at you." He apologized in what was hopefully a softer one.
Cas seemed to relax a little at that, realizing that the half-Orc was probably just tired and cranky from the extremely long walk they had just finished. He nodded and went to help the others with setting up the camp.
XXX
"Charlie, on your left!" Cas notified, falling a couple of steps behind the boar they were hunting so Charlie had time to swiftly chop its head off with her greatsword.
"Thanks, Cas! Let's get this little bastard back to camp," Charlie replied, picking the dead animal up and slinging it over her shoulders, completely ignoring the blood that started dripping down the back of her tunic.
XXX
"Alright! You guys caught dinner!" Dean exclaimed happily when he spotted his friends returning to the campsite.
"Yup. And you guys are cookin' it!" Charlie replied, smirking at the look of indignance on her friend's face.
"Dude, I don't know how to cook a whole boar!" Dean attempted to reason, staring at the dead animal as if it was some great mystery of science he was expected to solve
"Move over then, boy," Bobby spoke up, drawing a dagger out of his boot and moving over to where Charlie had dropped the animal's carcass.
XXX
"Wow, Bobby, this is fuckin' awesome!" Dean exclaimed, tearing another large chunk of meat off the leg of the boar he was eating.
"Thanks, boy," Bobby said, tearing another leg off of the boar and biting into it.
"Yeah, Bobby, s'amazing!" Sam added.
"Thank ya', Sam, now enough with the damn compliments, ya idjits-"
A deafening howl followed by a guttural growl interrupted Bobby's speaking, he turned his head and laid eyes upon a hulking wolf skulk out of the trees, followed closely by a few more.
"Guys! Get in formation, we got wolves to kill!" Dean ordered, grabbing his Morningstar and moving into position with the rest of his party.
Cas readied his glaive and before he managed to swing it, was knocked down onto his stomach by one of the wolves he failed to notice.
"Cas!" Charlie exclaimed, running over and decapitating the creature with her greatsword, reaching out a hand to help the Tiefling up. "You okay?" She added, flashing him a small smile before moving away to keep exterminating the intruding creatures.
Cas raised his glaive again -making sure to keep an eye out for any more wolves this time- and bifurcated a particularly large canine.
"Keep your chin up, kiddo!" Bobby encouraged him, throwing his war pick between the eyes of one of the wolves.
"I am thousands of years older than you, Bobby."
"Shut up and stab!"
XXX
The party paused, all panting from the effort of slaughtering the wolves.
"Did we get 'em all?" Dean inquired, looking around for any traces of the animals.
"I... I think so," Sam replied, still attempting to catch his breath.
"What the fuck did those things want?" Dean queried, relaxing slightly now that he had looked around and seen that all the beasts were dead.
"I got no idea, but somethin' tells me we should leave this damn forest as soon as the sun comes up. Dean, you take the first watch. Sam'll take the second, Cas'll have the third. You'll switch every four hours. Got it?" Bobby said, leaving no argument from any of his boys. The three men nodded, Dean went to sit under the tree they were camped by and the rest of the party got settled in to sleep for at least a few hours.
XXX
"Sammyyyyyy... Come on little bro, I wanna sleep!"
Sam blinked his eyes open and was met with the smirking face of his older brother, gently shaking his shoulder.
"Nnngggg... Okay, hang on a sec, lemme jus'... Lemme jus' get up here..." Sam mumbled, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms.
"You got it, Sammy, I'm goin' to bed, see ya' in the morning," Dean replied, patting his brother twice on the shoulder before getting up and moving towards the pile of furs that had become his bed.
Unfortunately, Sam had already fallen back asleep and never took his watch.
XXX
"SAM!"
Sam blinked his eyes open and was met with his brother's angry green eyes, jaw clenched and a furious scowl on his face.
"Sam... Would you care to explain to me... WHERE THE HELL CHARLIE AND BOBBY ARE, AND WHY CAS IS OUT COLD?!" The elder Winchester shouted, eyes seeming to burn with the pure rage in his tone.
Sam gulped, glancing around their campsite to confirm his brother's statement, indeed seeing that Charlie and Bobbby were nowhere to be found, and Cas was lying, unmoving, in his blankets.
"I'm waiting..." Dean growled.
"I... I fell asleep! Dean, I honestly don't know what to say... I fucked up, man..." Sam stuttered out, giving his brother his best puppy eyes.
"Damn right you did." Came the still growled reply.
"Is... Is Cas okay? I mean like... He's alive right?"
"Far as I know... He's got a steady pulse and he's breathing fine but... I dunno he just won't wake up..." Dean's voice had gradually gotten quieter, almost dropping to a whisper at the last part. His brother was clearly worrying and Sam was honestly right there with him. The younger Winchester got up, now fully awake, and walked over to the unconscious Tiefling, lightly slapping him in the face and frowning when all it did was make his head turn limply to the side.
"What're we gonna do, Sammy?" Dean asked from behind him.
"I have no idea, Dean... I have no idea..."
The glint of something shiny caught his eye, moving over to investigate he crouched down and picked up "a Snickers wrapper?"
A/N: I also don't own Snickers (duh) and I'm pretty sure you guys'll be able to guess who's behind the mysterious reduction in party members... What the hell has Gabriel done now?! (And don't worry, guys Cas is gonna be fine, I'm not that mean...)
XOXO -KittyKat757