Castiel slowed to a halt as the cracked candy road led them to a rather menacing gathering of black, twisted trees. "Licorice Forest," Cas read aloud- mostly to himself.- off a dilapidated wooden sign hammered to the foremost tree. It dead silent... And surprisingly dark as they progressed. if they didn't know better, it would have been thought Castiel was close to cursing as his blue wings got caught inbetween branches for the umpteenth time.
Sam watched with distaste as the angel slipped his brother into his pocket. The possessiveness he felt was overwhelming! With a huff, Sam pushed forward, trying to ignore the powerful urge to take Dean from the Angel.
As he walked, the trees grew tighter and tighter. Now it was not only the angel who was having problems, but Sam as well. His antlers continued to catch in the licorice, much to his annoyance. He thought about how Dean would probably be laughing at the absurd sight of him yanking at licorice trees, and having his antlers jumbled in their mess. Sam sighed.
"Dean loves this stuff," notes Sam, as he frees himself from another low hanging branch.
"I can't stand it myself..." He back tracks slightly in order to help free the angel from an oddly wrapped piece of candy.
Castiel breathed a word of gruff gratitude as his wings popped free. He felt the poignant weight of Dean's body thus lightly against him in the pocket. But true to his word, the effects of his divine influence kept him unconscious despite the ungodly ruckus.
"It's rather... Cumbersome for a snack." Cas complained, glaring at a little wriggling licorice vine to his right.
"It tastes even worse," laughs Sam, although the laugh comes out forced. As the par venture deeper into the bizarre forest they stumble upon another sign, similar to the first.
Challenge #2
Even as they're reading, thin tendrils of black licorice snake upwards from the ground, claiming the sign as their own. They thickened and constricted until the wooden board broke in two with a loud snap. The men took a few steps back as the wood splintered and sank into the ground.
"This is a children's game?" Castiel sounded extremely skeptical, not to mention alarmed as he looked down at his feet to see the ground coming alive with hungry tendrils.
Grabbing Castiel by the arm, Sam dashed down the path, pulling the angel along with him. He hurtled the snacking strands, as they reached on for him and the angel, all the while desperately looking for something that could be useful.
His eyes fell upon a tree unlike the others. One with green taffy leaves, and candies budding from the chocolate branches, like fruit. Below the tree was another sign:
How desperate are you?
As a tendril of black licorice forced him away from Castiel, the answer become apparent. Very desperate. Sam pulled against the tight grasp the licorice had seized on him, strainging to make it just a little further. His hand reached towards the out-of-place tree that was still out of reach. With one final push, he managed to grasp a single ball of bubble gum. Sam shovedi The candy in his mouth, begging this not to be a trick.
Families and friends cheered on the hot metal bleachers. It was sweaty and crammed with people, but Dean didn't mind. He was sitting right next to Lisa in the third row, watching Ben's baseball game. Ben stepped up to the plate. Dean shouted encouragement, cheering alongside Lisa as the kid swung. Missed. Swung again... Hit a full home-run! He felt as proud as any dad there as he watched Ben slide onto home plate.
"I'm so glad you could be here." Lisa beamed up at him. She stole a quick kiss, and Dean went back to deepen it.
A wolf-whistle sounded out. "Gotta hand it to you.. You know how to pick em." Dean raised his head, dread pooling. Yup.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Nope. Not even in your dreams." Gabriel smirked as the wistful dream faded away to an empty field.
Thunder rolled overhead. Storm clouds Dean were certain hadn't been there a moment ago were now gathering at a rapid pace.
"The Good guys don't always get a happy ending."
"Preaching to the choir on that one." Dean answered readily. He smelled licorice, and realized that must be what the archangel was chewing on.
"I know. But this little fantasy world of yours is holding you back."
"Thanks for the pointer, Yoda. Now get the fuck outta my head."
"tsk tsk tsk" laughed Gabriel, "We have quite a bit of time left together. I think we need to spend it with some quality bonding."
"Great idea. Why don't you start by kissing my ass?" Dean snarled. He stared hard back at the man across him. Wind blew now in strong gusts around them, making heir hair and clothing catch the breeze visibly. But he reused to bend. He refused to break under Gabriel's labyrinth. Thunder cracked like a gunshot. It was so loud, the earth itself shook. Dean threw out his arms to keep his balance.
"See ya soon." Gabriel's eyes darkened with a tinge of sadism as the hints of a smirk faded from his face. Then he disappeared in a gust of wind.
Dean looked up at the sky. A flash of lightning sparked across the sky and the whole world went black. Now it wasn't just the ground shaking- EVERYTHING was in constant, uneven motion. He was flung back and forth in a closed container.. Walls strangely made of cloth. Chaotic noises of something crackling, huge shoes pounding the ground, slipping, Castiel's insanely loud shot ringing out overhead. Dean struggled to piece the barrage of sensory information together.
Castiel was snagged at the ankles, bound by the licorice that rooted him into the ground. His momentum sent him sprawling forward. He shot out his arms so as to not crush dean. The inertia inside nearly sent Dean straight out of the pocket, but it enabled his to stick his head out. It was a distorted angle, but Castiel was on trouble.
"Cas?!" Dean bellowed, starting to get out of the pocket. Castiel's arms were shaking. Couldn't crush Dean. Couldn't...
"Dean, I.. can't.." He gritted out. Dean scaled the trenchcoat to the collar just in time, as Castiel was pulled flat to the ground by twin licorice vines, binding around his back. Dean pulled out his knife, standing on the back of Cas' collar. A new vine tried to snake around the angel's neck, and Dean promptly set to sawing it off.
Similar to the other candy, an energy surged through the flavor. Though, unlike one prior, this one left a strange sticky feeling in his veins. He felt warmth surge through him, but nothing else. Though the candy gave him enough energy to escape the creeping vine of licorice, he could feel no obvious or helpful differences. Pushing his luck, Sam grabbed a handful of gumballs, and shoved them in his mouth viciously.
The energy the erupted from within his mouth was staggering, first a blinding light, than a shrill bizzing in his ears. His legs went numb. As he took in a deep breath, the discomforts subsided. He felt a great power welling inside of him. Something both icy and boiling. As if it were instinct, Sam grasped a vine that had been snaking towards him with lightning reflexes. It froze at his touch, then withered into ash. Sam looked at his hands, both confused and amazed.
He ran forward to Castiel and Dean, knowing all the while something was wrong with him. Things sounded funny. Louder, more clear... And something was making walking awkward...
"What happened to your super-human strength and endurance?" Dean shouted, his arms burning from sawing away at the third licorice vine that was trying to keep Castiel pinned to the ground. The angel kept straining to push himself up, but the vines kept coming and it seemed like no amount of angelic brute force was going to break them.
"I'm... No...Arch...angel." Castiel grunted rather impatiently in reply.
Dean saw Sam in the distance, huge as ever, but he didn't get a good look, as a licorice tendril stole the knife out of his hands and constricted around his tiny wrist. Suddenly the ground shook, and a new darkness fell over him.
"Sam!" Dean's stomach dropped when he looked up at his brother. Was it just him or did the kid look even more colossal than earlier. And was he... Glowing?
Sam ripped off the tendrils of licorice with a burning furiosity that he didn't know he possessed until now. His movements were radical, but held enough logic to avoid touching Dean and Castiel, unsure how his touch would effect them.
His ears were burning, his eyes strained, and his back was arching strangely. The energy crackled in the air around him. He felt dizzy. Very dizzy. As he fell to his rear, he placed his palms to his eyes, immediately regretting it. The brightness from his own hands seemed to momentarily blind him, and he began blinking to clear the spots from his vision.
As Sam spat out the gum, he felled the energy dull, and through closed eyes, he hoped the glow had dulled as well. His attention drifted towards his ears. The itching that covered them was enough to make him grit his teeth. Sam reached to scratch himself, but when his hand connected with his ear, he stopped. His eyes snapped open and though he couldn't see his ears, he could feel them. They ... they weren't his ears. His could feel the different shape... the hair... his hands jumped to his lower back, and once again Sam was met with an unfamiliar form, and a patch of hair.
More moose features. Fucking great.
He shuddered, hoping these were the only changes...
It was worse than a nightmare. Normal nightmares, anyway. Dean watched in helpless horror as his brother was mangled by an animalistic transformation. He was secretly grateful when Castiel's gigantic hand reached up and wrapped around him, blocking the last minute from view. The angel stood, give one good shake to rid the plastic wings from the candy strips mutant Sam had shredded... With his bare hands, Dean recalled with a shudder.
"Dean!" Castiel's voice and face suddenly bombarded him, making the tiny hunter fall back on his butt. "Are you -"
"Peachy. But what-" dean immediately whirled around toward Sam. A disturbing mass of long, skinny limbs and a muscular furry frame was tangled up in its own feet. He watched as the thing tried to get to a standing position on the ground.
"..Sam?"
This was just the cherry on the cake. His brother was officially a moose.
Sam struggled to stand. He legs were long and awkward, while his body seemed hulking in comparison. The lack of fingers was infuriating. Even though he had no use for them at the moment, it was still something that made his skin crawl... or more appropriately, his fur stand on end. A string of curses spilled from his lips as he failed once again to stand. He paused. He could talk?
The sight of a moose with a sailor mouth might have been comical to an external observer.
"Now I've seen it all." Dean glanced up to share a look with Castiel, but he was staring fixedly at Sam. "Can you fix him?" Cas stepped up to the huge creature and stretched out a hand to Sam's head.
Nothing happened.
"I'm afraid I can't reverse the effects." He sighed.
"It's permanent?!" Dean grabbed fistfuls of the trenchcoat. Castiel shook his head.
"Until Gabriel sees fit. We're under his constant influence here."
Sam groaned, rolling to his side.
"I hate this game."
There was so much about this form that he was uncomfortable with, the main thing being he couldn't hold Dean. He felt like it was his duty... his responsibility, and now he couldnt even do that.
In a scrambling motion, Sam was finally able to come to a stand. He was used to being seen as large, but this... this was quite a bit more than he was accustomed to. He stared down at Castiel, and his brow furrowed... or at least it felt as if it did. He avoided looking at Dean, partially due to embarrassment, mostly due to the fact he knew how large he must seem to his minuscule brother.
''Lets get this over with. The sooner we finish, the sooner I get back to normal."
Both Dean and Castiel stared even harder at the moose-er, Sam- when he spoke. So much weird in one sitting... Dean tried to look at him more but he wasn't exactly easy on the eyes. Or the nose.
Finally, they shook themselves from their stupor and started back onto the scattered licorice path. The sky overhead remained overcast, but no longer as ominous. The licorice curse appeared to be broken.
"Maybe we can make a deal with him." Dean suggested as they carried on. "He likes deals."
Sam snorted, hating how animalistic it sounded.
"What do we even have to offer?" Though he addressed Dean, Sam eyes remained focused on his feet... or hooves... as he tried to make his steps less cumbersome.
Dean could hear the despondency in his brother's voice. He hated being small- more than any reason was how helpless he was. He couldn't help Sam or even give him a slap of reassurance.
"Cas. Set me over.. on Sam." He said quietly.
Sam felt his ears twitch at the words. He was nervous about his lack of sure footedness as is, adding Dean into the equation wasn't his ideal. His head shot up to protest, but seeing the determined look that contrasted Dean's small body, Sam felt as if he was forced to comply.
Dean wobbled immediately when placed on Sam's head, so he wisely took a seat between the base of his left antler and ear. He wrapped an arm around the antler to steady himself.
"Who needs the shower now?" Dean nudged him behind the ear. Partially because he really did smell like an authentic moose. And second because he needed to hear more confirmation that it really was his brother in there.
Sam ear twitched from the contact with Dean.
"Not another word." Groaned Sam, trying to keep his head steady. Gabriel was going to pay for this. This was humiliation at its finest, and while Sam didn't know how, he knew he was going to get back at the angel.
Dean patted his moose-brother behind the ear, giving him a little rub if encouragement.
"Hang in there." He muttered.
A few times as they left the woods, he could have sworn he heard a man laughing. But the others didn't seen to hear it, and soon enough the thought was replaced by their bizzare surroundings. They followed a red licorice trail up to a long rainbow bridge. If that wasn't queer enough, they had to wrestle their way through a thick jungle of nerd ropes. Dean was kicking them off Sam's fur for the next half hour.
Dean looked over at Castiel over the arching antler. The angel was staring intently at the ground, as if each step took great concentration.
"What's on your mind, Cas?"
The angel's bright eyes flashed to Dean, burning with intensity,
"I feel useless here, Dean," Begins the angel flatly. "While I'm walking in circles in this wretched place, battles are ongoing." Cas was visibly agitated.
"Sorry to drag you along." said Dean.
Castiel sighed and looked over at the tiny hunter. "It's... not that I'm not happy to help, Dean. But I don't see how I'm any good to you here."
Dean stood and climbed a little higher on the antler so he could look down at Castiel from a more clear angle.
"Saved my ass from those licorice devils back there." Dean pointed out. Castiel gave him a look.
"That was hardly my doing."
Sam snorted, glancing sideways at the angel,
"You saved Dean's ass more than just once since you got dragged into this mess." Adds Sam, while simultaneously hating that it wasn't himself who'd saved Dean. "You healed him when he was poisoned, remember?"
Castiel conceded their point, but he was still very quiet for the next thirty minutes. Dean gave up on trying to get him to be chatty. Sam wasn't much better- and admittedly, talking to a moose was almost as weird as when he had to ride in the Sam incarnation of the Impala.
"No way." As they rounded the corner of a hill, Dean leaned forward. There was an incredible view of a crystalline lake, icecream mounds forming a dam in the west. And in the distance, was a castle.
"Dude, it's candy castle!" Dean chuckled in disbelief. He nudged the side of Sam's furry head with the toe of his boot.
"You think they'll have the princess with a lollipop bra in there?"
Sam was about to tell his brother to dream on, but he reminded himself that he was a moose, in candy land, with a 6 inch tall brother, and that they were dealing with a trickster arch angel, so ladies clad in candy was not that far fetched.
"And what would you do with a lady ten times your size?" chuckled Sam, as he imagined his brother attempting to seduce someone at his current stature.
Dean's enthralled smile drops at the edges as this realization smacks him head-on. Oh yeah...
He recovered quickly, giving a thoughtful shrug. "I'm willing to try the kinky stuff." He convinced himself of new possibilities for his candy land fantasy, and those sinful thoughts raised his spirits.
Sam had stopped at the edge of the crystalline lake. Dean was about to ask what the hold up was, but then noticed the subtle way it shimmered. It wasn't normal water. Who knew what would happen if they stepped foot in it. Then again, there wasn't much around to be used as a raft..
"Cas." Dean said,standing and strutting to the tip of the antler he sat upon. "Put me down, would ya?"
There was only one way to find out.