"Cas? Cas, buddy? Can you wake up for me?"

"No."

"Cas, C'mon... We gotta get moving again, okay?"

Castiel huffed, snuggling deeper into his blankets and pointedly ignoring his half-Orc friend.

"Ugh, fine, if that's how you want it, then, Cas," Dean grumbled before scooping the Tiefling up while he was still swaddled in furs and placing him gently over his shoulder. Castiel huffed again and relaxed into Dean's hold, confident that he wouldn't drop him or jostle him too much.

"You're really just gonna sleep on my shoulder, huh?" Dean asked amusedly, a fond smile on his face as he carried the Tiefling over to where Sam was finishing up the dismantling of the camp.

"Yes, if you don't mind..." Castiel replied sleepily, already starting to drift off again.

"Fine. Sweet dreams, Cas."

Castiel grunted in acknowledgement before his eyes slid shut and he fell asleep on Dean's shoulder.

XXX

"So, Gabriel? How did you survive? I mean I read the book where Lucifer stabbed you, and admittedly I cried," Charlie asked, setting down the cup of tea she was holding in her hands.

"Oh please... How many times have I faked my death? You really think I wouldn't have an escape plan set up, just in case?"

"Yeah, okay, that was a stupid question... But wait, you never showed up again after that until now, right? Why?" Charlie questioned.

"I didn't want to show up again until the apocalypse was over with, eventually I just kinda forgot to talk to the Winchesters or my little bro until now," Gabriel answered with a shrug.

"Wait so were you drawn to us while we were playing DD or did you just decide to pop in, saw us playing and then thought 'oh, they're playing a fantasy RPG, y'know what'd be fun, Transporting them into it'?" Charlie asked confusedly.

"Pretty much, yeah," Gabriel admitted with a shrug, "that and I thought you guys all kinda needed a break, just because I haven't popped in doesn't mean I haven't been keeping tabs on you, more for Cassie's sake than anything, but still."

Bobby gave a snort and rolled over, grumbling something in his sleep about idjits never letting him get any damn rest.

"Okay, that's it I'm waking him up," Charlie said adamantly, "Bobby! Get your lazy dwarven ass off the couch!"

Gabriel burst into laughter at that, clutching his stomach as he giggled for a solid thirty seconds thanks to the redhead, who smiled triumphantly at the fact that she'd made an archangel laugh.

"The hell'd you- oh, Charlie, it was you... I won't mouth off to ya' 'cause I know it won't do anything, but you oughta show me more respect, girlie." Bobby scolded before his eyes landed on Gabriel. "The hell's he doin' here? Where're the boys?"

"Long story short, he kinda snatched us from the camp and apparently knocked Cas out for a couple of days..."

"Speaking of, I should probably let the spell start to wear off properly now, I've been monitoring him and he's been waking up for short intervals and then passing out again throughout the entirety of the last two days," Gabriel said before snapping his fingers and turning to the angry bearded dwarf on his sofa. "And as for you, Thorin." He smirked at his own joke, "chill the hell out, I'm not hurting anyone while you two are here, honestly, me and Charlie have just been talking for the last few hours."

"Fine, whatever, I don't care... Ya' got any booze in this place, feathers?"

Gabriel smiled, "what's your poison?"

XXX

Dean grunted as he shifted Cas slightly on his shoulder, considering moving him onto his back again since at least then the weight would be balanced properly.

"Dean, stop. I hear something..." Sam said abruptly, throwing out his arm to stop Dean in his steps and listen intently to the sunny forest around them.

"I don't hear anything..." Dean said after a few minutes, rolling his eyes at his brother's paranoia and continuing his trek along the path.

Almost as soon as he said this, the sound of a lute filled the area around them. Figures.

"Oh fuck, what now?..." Dean sighed angrily, grabbing the handle of his Morningstar and shifting Cas to a more secure position across his shoulders.

"I dunno, sounds-"

Suddenly, a man that bared a striking resemblance to Robin Hood, except wearing all magenta and pink, jumped out of the bushes, strumming a loot and grinning like a maniac at the three men.

"Oooookay..." Dean said, raising one eyebrow in confusion at the strange sight in front of him.

"Greetings, half-Orcs, Elves, and Tieflings alike! I am Lucius! Lucius Farghorn!" The man greeted, his voice annoyingly chipper.

It took Dean a couple of seconds to remember how to form words again, remembering to rank this pretty high up on the list of weirdest things he'd ever seen. "Can I help you?" He asked, frankly still quite bewildered by this unexpected encounter.

"No, but you can help my friend here..." Lucius said before he smirked and his demeanour turned from happy to sneaky and cunning. A man in dark, mostly leather clothing leapt out from the bushes beside him and began rushing towards the brothers, using their momentary confusion to his advantage.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean cursed, fully drawing out his Morningstar while Sam readied his battleaxe. Although they expected the newcomer to attack them, they were surprised when he jumped over Dean's shoulder, snatching the sleeping Tiefling from the half-Orc's grasp and grinning at his success.

"Hey! Put him down, you rat bastard!" Dean snarled. The rogue's grin widened and he shook his head, maneuvering away from the Winchesters' attempts to tackle him and trotting back over to his companion.

"Pleasure doing business with you, boys! Tieflings are rare where we come from and this one will bring us a pretty penny! Ciao!" Lucius said cheerily, smiling wolfishly and waving at the Winchesters.

It was luckily, at that moment that Castiel started to stir, groaning and wriggling around a little, finally opening his eyes and staring confusedly at the unfamiliar person who had a hold on him.

"Cas! No time to explain right now, just fuck these guys up!" Dean bellowed. That seemed to get the Tiefling's attention, as he immediately wriggled out of the rogue's grip and knocked him to the ground.

"Dean, Glaive!" He ordered quickly, catching the heavy, double-bladed weapon with ease when Dean threw it to him, using it to speedily kill the two men he was fighting. He dropped his fighting stance now that the danger was out of the way and yawned, clearly having used up what little energy he had.

"Whoa... Cas, that was awesome! Sorry that slippery bastard managed to grab ya' from me, kinda took me by surprise..." Dean said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment towards the end of his sentence.

"It's okay, Dean, why didn't you attempt to wake me when they showed up?" Castiel asked curiously, using the cloth of Lucius' shirt to wipe the blood off of his weapon.

"I wasn't sure if you would... I mean you've been sleeping pretty much non-stop since Charlie and Bobby disappeared, figured whatever Gabriel hit you with hadn't worn off yet," Dean explained truthfully.

"It hasn't fully, but I believe I will be able to stay awake for a longer period this time, but I have no idea how long I will sleep for once I lose consciousness again," Castiel replied, securing the glaive to his back and rejoining his companions.

"Sounds like a plan," Dean sighed, "c'mon, let's get going again, don't wanna run into any more weirdos..."

XXX

A/N: Hello! Just a quick little author's note because I should be heading to bed about now, sorry if there are any spelling or grammatical errors in this chapter, my Grammarly is being an asshole and I can't get free premium (WAH!) so I have to stick with the shitty version.