Cas sat on the bed. He was bored quite frequently- back in the castle, he had a huge library all to himself, where he usually passed his time reading everything from ancient scrolls of history to grand tales of travel across the sea.
He heaved out a sigh, and thought back to his wings. More than once, he had cursed Zachariah for provoking that witch into putting this awful spell on him. But it was senseless anger- if Zachariah had never spited Rowena and refused her hand, Castiel himself would have never been born.
Well, maybe that's better, he thought, resting his chin on his fist like a sulky adolescent, What purpose do I serve now, locked up in a tower for my own frivolous mistakes? I'm just a waste of space.
He knew, despite the burning ache of distant hope, that Dean wasn't looking for him, didn't care about him, and it was unreturned love. Everything looked quite dark for him right then and there.
Even if Dean and I were together, he began in his head, laughing suddenly at what miracle could possibly make that happen, if we were... I couldn't hide my wings from him for long. He would find out. And then he would hate me. He would think I'm ugly, and I would be right back where I started.
He looked out his window as he was quite used to doing now as means of personal amusement, and wondered again what Dean was doing.
"Jesus Christ, son of a bitch, god dammit, balls!" Dean exclaimed, looking at the map.
"What is it now?" Gabriel asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Do we want to know?" Crowley muttered. "There's a bridge up here!" Dean growled, crumpling the map slightly in his fist. "Ooookay. And, your problem with this is?" the Pegasus asked, and Dean glared.
"Look at what it's called, feathers." Gabe took a look at the map. "Oh. I see your point." Crowley frowned. "What is it?" "It's the troll bridge, asshat! We're gonna have to answer some stupid friggin' riddle or some shit."
"Wait, wait, wait," Gabriel assured, "I can knock that troll out of its stingy swamp water when it comes to riddles. Yeah, those guys are arrogant S.O.B.s, but we gotta cross 'em one way or another if we want to get Dean's beloved."
Crowley hummed. "Wonderful. A troll bridge. Just what I've been looking forward to."
They walked for about another half hour, and finally came up on the bridge where the troll was said to lurk underneath. It was a stone and cobble bridge, rather small and not that high up over the babbling brook running underneath.
Dean looked around. "Well, where is he?" "Let's go over the bridge, and see." They began to walk over the cobble bridge, but a sudden voice stopped them as they barely set one foot down.
"Ah ah ah!" it cooed, "Not before a good riddle!"
Dean groaned, and they all stepped back, searching to see what the troll looked like. When he appeared, he was very short, had curly salt and pepper hair, and an impish looking face with very, coincidentally, troll-like expression and features.
"Good day to you," the troll grinned mischievously, "I'm Merv. Who might you be?" "Is this a riddle?" Dean whispered to Gabriel, and miraculously, Merv heard. "No, silly, not yet! I'm being pleasant."
Dean feigned a curt smile. "Yeah, okay." He didn't want to piss it off prematurely, since there was no other way around without this bridge, due to the invisible, enchanted blockade that was remnant from the war.
"I'm Dean Winchester. This is Gabriel, the Pegasus, and-" "Fergus McCrowley. Best pawn artist and one of the greatest bounty hunters in these parts." Merv frowned at the cat thoughtfully. "Then why haven't I heard of you?"
Crowley was speechless, and Dean sighed. "Okay. Let's get this shit over with." "Tell me, Dean Winchester- why have you come this far? You seem to me to be a regular person, not a magical creature... you must be from the Kingdom!"
Dean chuckled. "Well, I wouldn't stray that far." Merv looked at him. "What quest do you bear?" Dean hesitated, then decided no harm could come of letting the guy in on a little. "We're on our way to rescue Prince Castiel from Dragon's Keep."
Merv made a face. "Ah, yes, Prince Ass-tiel. I've heard of him. I hate royalty." Dean didn't expect a troll to feel particularly warm toward the royals, but he still felt the need to defend Cas. "Hey! He's a good guy, what do you know, you hobbit?"
Merv waved his hand, somewhat amused rather than miffed at the name. "His family and I go way back. Anyhow, shall we?"
They stepped forward, then Merv tutted again. "One at a time, please. Each person gets their own." Dean paled, and Crowley sighed.
Dean stepped forward, but Gabe nudged him out of the way. "No, I'll go first." Merv eyed Gabriel. "Nasty gash you've got there, Gabriel," he said, "Not so GRACE-ful anymore, are we?"
Gabriel scowled at the pun. "Alright, Chatty Kathy, we've got numero-limited days left to get this prince, so quit being a big bag of dicks, and vamoose!" Merv was quiet, knowing that Pegasus were generally good at riddles.
"Brothers and sisters I have none,
but this man's father is my father's son.
Who is the man?"
Gabriel barely thought about it before he swiftly answered, "Come on, ya can't do any better than that? The answer is, the man is my son." He grinned as he clopped over to the other side. "I told you. I'm too devastatingly intelligent for this." Merv rolled his eyes.
Crowley stepped forward, and listened closely.
"I have a good one for you, my friend.
What is greater than God,
more evil than the devil,
the poor have it,
the rich need it,
and if you eat it, you'll die?"
The cat thought for a second, and Gabriel looked as if he may jump out of his skin to just answer it for him. Crowley furrowed his brow, before answering cautiously but smoothly, "That would be... nothing, yes?"
Merv raised his eyebrows, and nodded.
Dean steeled himself before stepping up. Crowley and Gabriel took a collective deep breath, and Dean frowned, ever glad that his friends had such unremitting faith in him.
"Dean..." Merv mused, "Hmmm... yes. A special one for you." Dean shifted his weight from foot to foot as the troll recited the last liberating riddle.
"Of no use to one,
Yet absolute bliss to two.
The small boy gets it for nothing.
The young man has to lie or work for it.
The old man has to buy it.
The baby's right,
The lover's privilege,
The hypocrite's mask.
To the young girl, faith;
To the married woman, hope;
To the old maid, charity.
What am I?"
Dean silently freaked out. He didn't want to ask him to repeat it- but he had no freakin' clue. He almost panicked, but put his hands on his hips, and clenched his jaw.
"Okay, wait, time out here," he said slowly, "What happens if I answer wrong?"
Merv shrugged nonchalantly. "I smite you." Dean nearly choked, and Gabriel snorted on the other side of the bridge.
The young man smiled. "Well. This should be fun." He decided not to question how a troll could smite someone. "Uh... could you say it again, p-please?"
Merv patiently repeated the long riddle, Dean squinting and analyzing each word spoken- you could almost see the wheels in his head turning. When it was over, he sucked in a breath. He still didn't know.
Gabriel and Crowley were gaping at him, and he held out his arms.
"What?! It's not like I'm a huge friggin' scholar, okay? I dropped out of Far Far Away Academy after..." He shook his head, and went over the riddle again in his mind.
Merv studied him, pausing before speaking. "Listen. I like you, Dean. I can sense that you're a brave young man by nature." Dean scoffed at this. "Then you clearly don't know me." Merv tilted his head quizzically, and Dean waved his hand. "Look, I've spent my whole life running from my problems. I ain't brave, buddy. Er, sir."
The troll sat forward a little more. "But what you are doing now- it is redeeming that, no? You are going after what, I'd assume, you want most. That's especially admirable. Look, I'll give you a hint- which I never do, so I'd say you're implicitly lucky. Think of your dear Castiel- it may have been something you two have done before."
Dean stared blankly.
"Uh... bang?"
If Gabriel could face palm, he would, and Crowley visibly deflated. Merv smirked. "No." Dean grimaced, preparing to be smited, or smote, or whatever. But that never came. "Come on, Dean. Try something a little more PG-13. I know you know this."
Dean thought long and hard. He recounted the things he had done with Cas in the short time he actually had with the Prince- they talked, Dean blew him, Cas fucked him... he didn't really want to give 'blow job' as an answer. Was he missing something?
Just then, a thought struck him, and he replayed the riddle again, adding in his new answer to see if it fit.
"Kiss! A kiss!" Dean nearly shouted, face ecstatic with hope and self accomplishment. Merv grinned impishly, and nodded.
"I must say, you're initial guesses were quite unique... but, you got the riddle right, so I wish you all the best on your quest for true love," he said, giving another smile.
Dean nodded, stopping before he crossed the bridge. "Um... thanks," he said, meaning it. Merv simply smiled more, and disappeared, under the bridge again no doubt.
"He wasn't horrible," Dean mumbled. Gabe cocked his head. "Meh. The ones I've met in the past were worse. Though if you ask me, all trolls are self-centered douchewads- and I wouldn't exactly call him Mr. Rogers."
They continued to walk, and Dean felt as if they had been walking for days- which, evidently, they had been.
Their trek continued until the end of the week, not as especially eventful as the start, passing ponds, passing weeping willows (that actually wept periodically), and here and there, they would encounter the odd creature out for a walk or out hunting or something.
Gabriel also kept his mouth shut every time they met someone, not wanting to risk another Pegasus hunter.
The Pegasus' grace was slowly but surely fading, and though Gabe was worried about it, he said nothing- he convinced himself for the sake of the others that he would be fine.
Cas couldn't help it. He let the tears come. He cried and cried. There was no way out of this wretched tower. It was hell- and he knew the tears were useless, that it wouldn't bring Dean back, that it wouldn't free him of his confines, but... he just couldn't hold it in any longer.
He cried long and hard, shamelessly, for who would hear?
He was only interrupted a time later, when the enchanted stone knight brought his food, showing no signs of empathy for Castiel or acknowledgement of him.
As Dean, Gabriel, and Crowley began to near Dragon's Keep, the geography of the land they were travelling over started to become a tad more barren, sparsely populated patches of green here and there, the only reminder that they were still in Far Far Away.
"We almost there?" Gabriel complained. "Hey! You were the one who begged to come along on this thing," Dean reminded his first companion. "Yeah, because I thought it would be fun! Name the last time we made waffles, huh?!"
Dean rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you what, Gabriel. When we get back to the castle, you can have all the waffles, and candy, and whatever other unhealthy shit you want, okay?"
There was momentary silence, which was strange, because Dean was waiting for Gabe's usual retort of a snarky comment or sarcastic offering. But when none surfaced, he looked over to find the Pegasus looking quite dumbfounded.
"What is it? You seriously never knew those things were bad for you?" Dean asked. Gabriel shook his head. "It's not that. What you said... when we get back to the castle..." Dean blushed slightly. "Oh... that. Yeah, it just slipped out. I mean, I don't care if you... ya know... unless... well, you don't have to... but… if you do..."
"We heard what you said, Squirrel!" Crowley said, smirking slightly. Dean huffed, and Gabe looked down. "Well, the only thing is, I just... didn't think you cared that much about us." Dean looked at him.
"What? Look, I may be an 'arrogant dick,' but I know," he sighed, pre-regretting his use of this word, "Friends, when they come around."
At that, they settled into comfortable silence as they hiked further.
"Dragon's Keep," Crowley announced, looking out over the frighteningly foreboding land.
They had just climbed an impossibly high hill, and were hiding behind jagged rocks. Just a few feet beyond them, the land sloped down, and the ground became a charred black color, covered in ash.
There was smoke and steam everywhere, and it was unbearably hot due to the lava in close proximity.
Dean's eyes travelled along the unwelcoming, hellish land, but when he finally caught sight of the tower in the distance, he felt a pang in his heart- and nothing else seemed to matter but Cas.
"Let's do this," he mumbled, renewed vigor coursing through him as he realized just how close they were. To be honest, it was surreal- the whole time he was on the quest, the whole time he knew what his goal was... but now, he was there. He was so close, and it all felt so sweet, so real.
Gabriel and Crowley reluctantly followed behind Dean, and they all stopped when they came to a rickety bridge, swinging precariously hundreds of feet over top of lava. It was the only way to get to the other side, where the tower was.