Gabriel and Crowley followed close behind, Crowley looking around nervously. "This is weird," he mumbled, and Dean chuckled. "That's exactly what I said when I was looking to buy a map around here."

Castiel was the most slowly becoming the most confident of them all as they walked, mostly driven by anger for his family for condemning him to such a fate. He was beyond furious- what kind of family locks their own son up in a tower for some scandal?!

Apparently, Zachariah, Cas thought with a weary huff.

They made it to the gates of the castle, and Thelonius stood guard there, at attention. "Uhhh…. Your Highness?" "Thelonius, let me in." "Uhhh, I don't know if the king-" "I will be your King soon, so I suggest your abide my wishes."

Dean clenched his lips, unable to avoid the thought of how stupidly arousing the commanding tone of Cas' voice just was.

The guard brought his attention to Dean, and Cas realized the truth behind his own words. He would be getting married after all… and his birthday was in three days.

He broke out in a grin, and Thelonius did not stop him as the four walked into the castle, though he did tilt his head in a puzzled expression beneath his headpiece as he saw the two animals. "Uh, your Highness, sir?!" Thelonius asked, "What about these two?"

Cas turned, and smiled. "They're with us."

Gabriel let out a huff as Crowley slung himself up onto his back. "That's right. We're with the Prince. Dickwad."

Thelonius scratched his head.

Castiel felt like he was back in his element as they entered the place, white marble walls towering around them. He was home again.

"Dude, I'm seriously second guessing this," Dean muttered, tilting his head back to take in the huge castle around him, "I lived in a brothel. How the hell am I gonna live in a place like this?!"

"Dean," Castiel said, "Calm down. I live here. As of now… so do you. You'll love it once I show you around," he said in comforting assurance with a lower tone of voice, and Dean had to smile, imagining that. He gazed around with a renewed interest.

Maybe we'll make out there…. We could bang on that thing, whatever that is… we'll make out more over there by that statue fountain-

"Castiel?"

They all turned to see Zachariah standing with Naomi by the top of the grand staircase, unreadable expressions upon their faces. Dean felt a garbled pit of worry in his stomach, and he willed himself not to kick into another full blown panic attack.

Cas looked up. "Mother. Father."

He was expecting a, "But… how?!" or maybe even a call for the guards, but Zachariah just descended, looking down at him. Cas began to get uneasy, and they came right down to them.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally shifted his gaze to behind his son, where Dean was standing, where he was keeping his mouth shut so as not to explode and start cursing this heartless bastard out for hurting Cas.

Zachariah narrowed his eyes over at Dean, and his lips moved. "Do you have something to say?" he asked. Dean couldn't tell if it was a snappy question, or if it was just curiosity. He tried with everything he had to keep quiet, but with an invitation like that, he couldn't help letting loose on the smug king.

"How could you?! He's your son! What kind of cold-blooded douchebag leaves his son in a tower just because he wanted to have a life?! In my opinion, you don't even deserve him as a son- because he is nothing like you. He is honorable, and sweet, and dammit... you don't deserve him."

Behind Zach, Naomi looked down, and Zach stayed silent… until:

"You're right."

Dean closed his mouth, and his frown lines disappeared. "Wait, what?" "What?" Gabriel repeated behind him, and Cas looked down at the horse.

Zachariah studied Dean. "Step forward, please." Dean was about to sputter that he wasn't doing jack squat of what he told him to, but Cas nudged him. "Dean," he murmured, and Dean sighed, doing so only for the Prince.

Zach looked at him, as if scrutinizing every detail. "You… weren't supposed to rescue him," the king mumbled quietly, as if thoughtful about something. Dean raised his eyebrows. "No, really, chuckles?! You put him up in a tower guarded by a fire breathing dragon! I'd say I wasn't supposed to! And you want to know something? I DIED doing it!"

Zachariah frowned in confusion, and Crowley grimaced, pulling on Dean's boot to be quiet and not insult the most powerful figurehead in the kingdom anymore. There was a silence, and Zach turned to Cas.

"Castiel- I didn't intend to keep you there forever." Cas was about to reply to this in incredulity, when an amused smile broke out on Zach's face, and the four of them frowned. "It's the oldest trick in the book, son!" he said, chuckling nervously, "Although, you kind of screwed it up," he added, looking at Dean.

"Uhhh… care to explain?!" Castiel asked, beginning to get angry.

"We wanted you to get married. You didn't want to get married. If the kingdom knew you were locked up, someone was bound to save you! Someone noble. My plan was to show you that your love for this… Dean, wasn't true. I was determined to show you that since he got paid for showing affection, you weren't any different from his other clients. I thought you were too naive to see that. I wanted you to see that it was one sided, that he didn't care about you, and you would see that with your own eyes when he wouldn't come for you."

Cas glared.

"But evidently," Zach sighed, "He did come for you. And while that messed up any and every chance of Castiel marrying someone of high society… he's still got someone, at the very least."

Dean was speechless. "W-wait… so… you're not gonna throw me out?" Zach gave him a slightly displeased, but weirdly respectful glance. "No, I'm not going to 'throw you out.' You saved Castiel, despite your past, and… you proved me wrong. For some reason, Castiel loves you, so to carry on the tradition of this kingdom- you have my blessing."

"And mine," Naomi said, smiling a little as she came forward as well.

Dean opened, then closed his mouth. Cas turned to him, forgetting momentarily how angry he was with his parents. He smiled at Dean, and Dean gave an extremely shocked, lopsided grin back.

Dean would have to get used to living in a place like this, a lifestyle like this so different than before, and most of all, living with someone like Zachariah, arrogant guy that he was. But everything would turn out okay, because Dean had his Prince.

The wedding happened in two days time, just in time for Castiel's birthday.

It was a day hugely anticipated by the entire kingdom- and kingdoms afar that received word.

As promised, the entire extended family showed up to attend the ceremony, and despite his excitement to finally be together with Dean, officially, Cas was a little bit nervous… because as much as he'd have liked to keep it at the back of his mind today, he knew he would have to let Dean see him tonight… let him see everything.

It unnerved him, but all the while, maybe he was over thinking this. He just felt bad… if Dean didn't love him anymore after he saw his flaws, it wasn't like he could just leave after getting married.

Curse Rowena, he thought, wherever she is.

It was early morning as he contemplated all this, birds and palace hands helping and fitting him into everything. He had the white suit on with the gold trim, and as he looked at himself in the mirror, for once he liked what he saw.

He couldn't wait to see how gorgeous Dean looked.

On the west side of the castle, Dean was being fitted into his own suit. It was also a creamy white, with the same gold trim in complimentary spots to match perfectly with Castiel's outfit. He squirmed a little bit, finding that he obviously wasn't used to wearing stuff like this, but imagining how beautiful Cas would look held him over.

It made him anxious- that night would be amazing. But... what if it reminded him of his old job? What if it what traumatic for him when it finally did happen? It could bring back the fear of his self worth...

Due to the pressure of the situation, he started to doubt himself, unwanted thoughts swirling in his head. What if I mess up? What if I blow the one chance I have at a happy ending? Maybe I don't deserve a happy ending... I don't belong here, and everyone knows it... what am I doing?

He thought back to his family, feeling, in some way, that he was betraying them by becoming someone so big. Like they were dead, and he was having a great life without them. It made his stomach churn and he felt a little queasy, the self-loathing coming back like a dam breaking in his mind.

But then he remembered something he had forgotten for too long, what his mom had told him when he was just ten years old:

"Dean," she had said, sitting him in her lap, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Dean had looked to her, and shrugged. "I don't know. Something cool. Like dad." Mary had smiled. "Well, that's not too far off. You're brave, just like your dad. He'll be going to fight soon- he's very brave for doing that." Dean had nodded.

"But I want you to remember something, my darling," she said, touching Dean's cheek, "Whatever you become... Whoever you become... be something that makes you happy every day. Because life isn't worth living if you're not happy."

Sam had come out then, flying like an airplane and catapulting onto the couch. "I wanna be an explorer!" he had exclaimed, wide-eyed, "I want to see the WHOLE kingdom one day!" Mary had smiled, bringing her other son in. "And that you will, Sam. If it makes you smile."

Dean wiped away a small tear that threatened to roll further down his perfectly blotted and touched up cheek. He was happy. And deep down, he knew that he was making his mom happy that way. He wanted this more than anything- so he also knew that he wouldn't mess up if he followed his heart.

He then smiled a little. He had sort of had Sammy's adventures for him, huh? His little brother would have loved going on that quest- he wondered with a laugh what Sam would have done if faced with the quicksand situation... or how he would react to meeting a talking cat and horse... or if he would have jumped through the poison brambles without hesitation.

He would probably have been a better adventurer than Dean, that's for sure.

Dean looked down, shuffling his feet. He would do this. He would do it for his family, and he would do it for himself.

The fairies then combed over his golden hair into a side part, but when Dean saw his reflection, he winced. "Yeeeah. Not gonna happen," he told the fairy that styled his hair, and back with his usual attitude, ran a hand through it, restoring it to its usual glorious unruly spike.

He winked suavely at his reflection, and nodded. "Let's do this."

There were thousands of people at the wedding, standing in the square looking up to the palace balcony, where Dean and Castiel were to be married.

Notable townsfolk attended, such as Pinocchio and Gepetto, the three blind mice, (though they were facing the wrong way), the big bad wolf, dressed in his pink Granny clothes, Gingie the gingerbread man and the Muffin Man, and the three pigs even did the catering, supplying bratwurst and beer from their newly opened restaurant on Main street.

Family stood to the sides of the large balcony, each person with one leg on the stair above. Crowley and Gabriel stood with them as well, newly knighted for their bravery along the way.

Cas stood by the alter, rubbing his palms on his jacket. It was happening. Dean was happening, and ugh- he couldn't contain his bursting emotions.

Just then, he recognized a chatty voice behind him, and turned in surprise to see his brother. "Balthazar," Cas said, and his brother turned. "It is... good to see you again." "My goodness, it is!" Balthazar smiled, coming over, "You're finally doing it, huh, little brother? Getting married. My god, I never thought I'd see it." Cas chuckled. "Neither did I."

There was some silence, and Balthazar put a hand on his brother's shoulder, squeezing lightly. "You know, I'm proud of you, Cassie." Cas looked up, curious as to why his brother was getting so sentimental. "Why?"

Balthazar looked off into the distance. "You found true love. And you're happy." Castiel smiled. "Thank you."

Suddenly, the trumpets sounded. An announcement was made, and everyone stood.

"Announcing: Dean Winchester, soon to be Prince and King of Far Far Away!"

Cas looked over.