Fic: A Merman's Tail
SPN-Reverse Bang: A Merman's Tail
Art link: Art Masterlist
Artist: terrorinyertub
Author: remivel
Fandom/Genre: SPN, Fairy Tale AU
Pairing(s): Dean/Castiel
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 14,500
Warnings: Explicit sexual content, borrows greatly from the Disney version of The Little Mermaid, Crowley as Ursula
Notes: Many thanks to my betas, Savanna and Kaz, and to my cheerleader, Juliana. And of course, kudos to the lovely artist Terror for the wonderful prompt.
Summary: Castiel was a merman who was born with the tail of a Great White Shark. Treated as an abomination by his own kind, Castiel found solace in observing humans and following their ships. He was content with watching them from afar, until he saved Dean, a human prince, from being killed by a shark. Soon, watching Dean from afar was not enough, and he wished to leave his life under the sea for a chance at being part of Dean's world.
AO3
Or Read Here:
PART 1
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a young merman named Castiel. He was the youngest son of the ruler of the sea, King Triton (more widely known simply as Chuck), and he was unlike any of his kind. While other merpeople had tails that resembled brightly colored fish, Castiel’s tail and coloring was that of a great white shark-a creature feared throughout the undersea kingdom for its power and ferocity. Some believed he was cursed by the sea demon, Crowley, born to bring death and destruction to his father’s reign. Others just saw him as an abomination, something to be rudely stared at and gossiped over.
Despite his strange appearance, Castiel had something no other sea creature had: a voice that sounded like rocks and sand and corals scraping against each other. It was magic to the ears of undersea life… a sound that pierced through the water like a barracuda, bringing a halt to the slow and monotonous sounds of the sea and a stark contrast to the usually soft and melodious voices of the merpeople. To Castiel, however, his voice was not something he was proud of. To him, it was just one other thing that made him different from everybody else.
He felt like an outcast in his own kingdom, and so he grew up preferring to hide in his room or sit in the anemone fields alone. Until one day, as he looked out his window, he saw a massive ship sailing by.
The merpeople held no love for humans. They believed humans were weak and useless creatures. They could not use magic like the merpeople, and yet the humans acted as if they owned the lands and the seas, building docks and ports on the shore and killing off the coral reefs there. Oftentimes, the merpeople found delight in pulling pranks and malicious tricks on the humans-making the fishermen grow barnacles on their legs, pulling down the trousers of swimming men, and making the bathing garments of women disappear.
Castiel, however, shared none of the other merpeople’s hatred towards humans. He followed the ship that day, and became enamored with the humans and their inventions. From then on, he collected human artifacts from sunken vessels and quietly followed ships that passed by the palace. He was content to just watch the humans from afar, until one day he encountered a human that would change his life.
+++
It was dark, and most of the merpeople were already asleep, but Castiel was outside, lured by the looming shadow of a large ship passing by his window. A storm had just passed, and the seas were rough, so Cas had a harder time catching up to the ship. But from afar, he saw a small figure floating on the water, and a tiger shark swimming towards it. Then he smelled it: blood.
It was an injured human!
Cas made a mad dash towards the tiger shark and yelled, “Leave it be!”
The shark stopped and turned around. From afar, Castiel looked like a great white and the tiger shark hesitated. “You are not a White,” the shark accused, before turning around and continuing to swim. Just when the shark was about to bite the human’s leg, Cas barreled towards the shark and knocked it away. A swipe of the shark’s tail knocked the human off the plank he was floating on, and soon he was sinking.
“This human is mine,” Castiel growled, swimming in between the human and the shark.
The tiger flashed its rows of teeth at Castiel. “I’m not scared of you, Merman,” it said before lunging towards Castiel with its jaws wide open.
Concentrating his energy in his palms, Castiel ducked away from the shark’s teeth and pushed his hand into the shark’s jaw, its skin glowing white before the power on Cas’ hand shot it ten feet out of the water. It came back down with a violent splash that made the shark dizzy and aching all over.
“Leave,” Castiel said to the shark, who gave him an angry glare before turning around and swimming away with wobbly strokes.
When he was sure the shark wasn’t about to return, Castiel turned and swam for the human. He had been underwater dangerously long and Castiel feared he had already drowned. His left shoulder was bleeding as well, and Cas pulled him towards him as he swam to the surface. They broke through the surface and Cas looked at the deathly pale face of the man in his arms. “Please be alive, please be alive,” he whispered.
He frantically searched the horizon for the ship, and saw a tiny figure to his left silhouetted by the rising sun. It was heading to the dock on the other side of the cove. Castiel wouldn’t be able to swim that far with the man in tow. He turned to his left and saw the other tip of the cove was closer, and struggled to swim that way, careful to keep the man’s head above water.
Castiel had trouble hauling the man out of the water and onto the beach. Placing his palm on his shoulder, he used his magic to heal his wound. Once the wound was closed and the human was still not breathing, Cas held on. Pushing more of his magic into his palm, he tried to make him breathe.
It was a heart-stopping few seconds when nothing happened, until the man started to sputter and spit up water. Castiel let go of him and he was startled to see an imprint on his palm was left on the man’s shoulder.
He continued to cough up water while he lay on his side, then he turned and collapsed again on his back, groaning. “Ugggghhh… my head…”
Castiel was alarmed. “Do you need me to heal your head?” he asked worriedly.
The man tried to crack his eyes open, but his eyelids were so heavy he only managed to open them halfway, and even then, he could not focus on the man in front of him. “Who…?” he asked.
“I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from the depths of the ocean,” Castiel explained.
The man might not have been able to open his eyes, but his ears were working fine, and that voice in his ears was like magic. It was a low, gravely sound that would have made his toes curl if only circumstances were different. “Y-you saved me?” he asked.
Castiel nodded.
When he didn’t hear a response, the man tried opening his eyes, and he was more successful this time around. Just as the sun continued its ascent in the sky, he was able to see a pair of big, blue eyes. They were bright, electric blue like lightning cutting through the night sky. They held a certain power in their depths, swirling around like stars in his eyes. It made him forget how to breathe.
It seemed like the man was about to speak, but just then, Castiel heard the thundering footsteps of several men shouting and coming their way. He may have powers, but he still could get caught by the humans. Without a second thought, Castiel turned and retreated into the water.
“Wait!” the man called out but Cas was already gone. He tried to sit up but found he was too weak so he lay back down onto the sand. “I didn’t get your name…” he said before letting out another loud groan. “Urgh… my head…”
+++
Castiel’s heroic act didn’t go so well with the merpeople. When the king found out that Castiel fought against a tiger shark to save a human’s life, he was furious. “You could’ve gotten killed, Castiel!” King Chuck growled. He was a small merman, but he was the most powerful merman in all of the sea. He was extremely kind as well, and the only thing that seemed to test his patience was his youngest son.
“I saved a human,” Castiel replied.
“At the risk of your own life. No human is worth that, Castiel,” King Chuck said.
“He deserved to live. I’m not doing anything wrong by showing compassion for humans, father.”
“I can tolerate your interest in humans… but not when it endangers your life. Stay away from humans from now on, do you understand?” Chuck said.
Castiel gritted his teeth before turning around and swimming away.
+++
Meanwhile, the human Castiel saved was no ordinary person. He was Dean, Prince of Winchester, and when he was returned to the palace, safe and suspiciously in perfect health, he would not stop talking about the man that saved him.
“I’m telling you, he’s real,” Dean said as he lay on his bed in the palace, the food tray lying ignored in front of him.
“Right, Dean…” Sam, his younger brother, just nodded. “Eat your breakfast first, okay? You’ve had a rough night.”
“You think? I fell off the ship and you guys didn’t even bother to come look for me!” Dean said. “I had to be rescued by a total stranger.”
“Yeah, a stranger that had amazingly blue eyes and the most captivating voice you’ve ever heard? Dean, you were probably just hallucinating,” Sam said. “And we looked for you, okay? We sent boats to search for you as quickly as we could. I was so worried I couldn’t sleep all night. Ellen and Jo were inconsolable.”
Dean looked up at Sam guiltily. “Alright, I’m sorry,” he said. “But he was real, okay? I wasn’t hallucinating,” he insisted.
“Whatever you say,” Sam said with a smile. “Now eat your breakfast.”
“I want him found, Sam,” Dean said seriously. “I owe him my life.”
“Don’t worry,” Sam reassured him. “Anyone who saves the prince’s life deserves a reward. We’ll let the kingdom know we’re searching for him.”
Dean nodded before finally giving his attention to his food tray.
+++
Castiel went back to the part of the cove where he left the human and found him walking quietly along the beach with his dog. He followed, watching from afar as the man tossed stones into the sea and paced back and forth. He had been watching him for a few days now, and each day the man returned to that shore at exactly the same time and walked around for an hour before leaving.
One day, he came with a giant of a man, and Cas swam as close as he could to listen to their conversations. It was then that he discovered the man’s name: Dean. The other man was his brother, Sam, and they were princes who lived in the large castle by the shore. After they left the cove that day, Cas swam to the castle, hoping to catch a glimpse of him there.
Once he reached the beach by the castle, he could hear the sounds of music and laughter. He hid behind the rocks and watched from afar as the humans danced on the sand, a large bonfire illuminating their happy faces as the sun slowly began to set. They were celebrating the safe return of their prince.
Dean was there, sitting in the sand with his big, black dog, a bottle in one hand and a stick in the other. He threw the stick and the dog bolted after it.
Around the fire, the men and women danced merrily and Cas watched their feet as they shuffled and jumped about. He wondered what that would feel like. To have feet.
These humans certainly didn’t all have legs that looked exactly the same, but nobody seemed to mind. One man had a belly like a puffer fish and he had very short, fat legs. Another man had stick thin legs that looked like they could snap at any moment. And Dean’s brother, Sam, had legs so long they looked like those poles the humans used to build their docks on. Cas shot a sad look at his unusual tail. If he were human and he had legs as well… nobody would think he was different. Nobody would laugh at him or cower in fear at the sight of his tail. He would be accepted. He would belong.
Cas looked back at the humans dancing on the sand. Sam danced merrily around the fire, and he stopped and tried to pull Dean up from where he sat. When Dean stood up, this was the first time Cas realized he had the most curious pair of legs. They looked strong and bowed outward when he stood. And when he walked, he wobbled like his legs were jellyfish tentacles and Cas had to stifle a laugh. He looked up at Dean’s face, and his breath caught in his throat.
He really was a beautiful man. Sun-kissed skin with freckles like bits of shiny coral, hair the color of dark sand, and eyes that shone a bright, bright green. Like the color of towering trees soaked in sunlight on the islands. And when he smiled, it was like sunlight as well, blinding and so very warm. Castiel found himself wishing he could touch Dean’s face, trace those lips as if he could feel the warmth of the sun just from his smile.
“I’m heading to bed,” he heard Dean say, his face looking red from all the liquid he had consumed.
Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, a big, black hairy face appeared before him. Cas looked, startled at the animal panting in front of him. They had a staring contest for what seemed like ages before Cas spoke. “Hello,” he said.
The thing grinned at him, and rather loudly replied, “HELLO HUMAN FISH!!!”
Castiel ducked, hiding from the view of the animal.
“Baby!” he heard Dean call, and the dog bounded back to the shore.
When Cas dared to peek again, the dog was by Dean’s side, and Cas watched as Dean affectionately ran his fingers through the dog’s now wet fur. “What’re you doing barking at the waves?” Dean asked. The dog barked again. “I saw a human fish!” Castiel heard him bark, but Dean did not understand (he was a human, how could he?) and he beckoned for his dog to follow him. Castiel craned his neck to watch them walk away.
+++
The night was getting darker and Castiel swam quickly back to the palace. He had only been sneaking out to see Dean by the shore for the past few days. Had his father found out, he’d be in big trouble.
However, trouble was the one that sought him out that night.
From the darkness of the ocean, a figure with large tentacles emerged and blocked his path home. It was the sea demon Crowley.
“I can’t help but notice your interest in the human creatures,” Crowley said, inspecting a suction cup from his 6th tentacle. “I’ve come to offer you a deal…”
But Castiel was not fooled. “I don’t make deals with demons,” Castiel said directly.
“Oh I’m sure you’ll find my offer quite appealing…” Crowley said. “Since you like humans so much… I thought I’d be so kind as to give you a chance to be one of them.”
Castiel’s eyebrow twitched, the only sign that he was surprised by Crowley’s words. “No such magic exists.”
“Oh but it does, little merman,” Crowley cooed. “What do you take me for? Some half bit sea demon? I am the king of demons, Castiel. I know spells and magic and potions and brews your all-powerful father couldn’t even dream of.”
Something slick slid around Castiel’s tail and he recoiled from it. He looked at his tail and saw two eels slithering around him. No doubt Crowley brought his eels to intimidate him. One shock from these eels could paralyze a merman for hours.
“I can give you a chance, Castiel,” Crowley paused, before focusing his bright red eyes on Castiel. “I can make you human. Isn’t that what you want?”
Clenching his fists to his side, Castiel swallowed. His mind was running in circles thinking what if Crowley wasn’t lying, what if this was his chance to be human, to walk on land and bask in the warmth of the sun-in the warmth of Dean’s smile.
“Think about it…” Crowley said with a sly smile, turning around to leave. “Meg… Ruby… let’s go,” he said, beckoning his eels to follow him. They slithered around Cas’ tail one last time before following Crowley and vanishing in a puff of blank ink in the water.
+++
Castiel returned to the cove to watch Dean again the next day. This time, one of his fish friends decided to follow him. “Why are you watching him anyway?” asked Alfie, a red and white striped fish.
“I’ve never used that much healing magic on someone before. I might’ve ended up hurting him,” Castiel explained, poking his head out of the water to watch Dean again. He ducked his head underwater every time Dean’s gaze went his direction.
“You mean the mark you left on his shoulder?” Alfie said.
“Yes. That has never happened before,” Cas said, stopping again to poke his head out of the water. “What do you think he is doing, Alfie?” Cas asked.
Alfie sighed. He was about to say something when the sound of the man yelling something startled him.
Cas ducked his head underwater quickly to hide. Even below the surface, however, the man’s voice could clearly be heard.
“Hey! If you’re out there… show yourself!” Dean yelled.
Alfie looked at Cas nervously. “He saw you?”
Cas shook his head. “He never sees me, I make sure of it.”
“Then why?” Alfie asked.
The shouting resumed and Alfie watched Castiel’s face as the merman listened to the human’s voice. “Tell me I’m not crazy, okay? Tell me you’re real? That-that I didn’t make you up,” Dean yelled out into the ocean. “That you really did save me… Come out, okay?”
Castiel’s face fell as he realized his heart was beating fast and hard. “Let’s go,” he told Alfie before swimming away. He wanted to come out of the water, he wanted to go to Dean and wrap his arms around him. It disturbed him.
He was falling in love with Dean.
It was a realization that left him reeling. He had never felt this way before for anyone… happy just from seeing their face and hearing their voice. And he wanted to feel that way again.
Clenching his fists, Castiel swam away, Crowley’s voice ringing in his ears. I can make you human. Isn’t that what you want?
+++
“Where did you run off to this time, Castiel?” Balthazar, the king’s crab advisor, asked him the moment he returned to the palace.
“Nowhere important,” Castiel answered before he entered his room.
Balthazar shot Alfie an intimidating look and Alfie just laughed nervously before dashing inside the room.
+++
The next day, Balthazar followed them out into the shore. He saw Castiel swimming dangerously close to the shore… so close that the dog started barking at him and the human almost saw him.
Balthazar panicked.
He rushed back to the palace to inform the King.
King Chuck was so furious he dragged Castiel back into the palace himself and ordered him to be watched by the guards.
Now Balthazar perched on Castiel’s window, watching the young merman sulk on his bed as he toyed with the latest artifact he had found.
“Your father is a kind king. He wouldn’t have been so mad had you followed his orders,” Balthazar said.
“My father wouldn’t have been so mad had I been normal,” Cas retorted. “I know my father, Balthazar. He thinks there’s some truth to the rumors; that I will be the cause of his demise one day.”
“That’s not true,” Balthazar said. “Your father loves you. There’s a purpose to everything he does, Castiel. He only wants you to be happy.”
Cas frowned. “Then why aren’t I happy?”
“Maybe that’s a question you should ask yourself,” Balthazar told him. Then, shaking his claws, he jumped off the window sill and crawled towards the door. “Now if you’ll excuse me… I have a date with a lovely blue crab tonight,” he said, winking slyly. “Wish me luck!”
“Good luck,” Castiel said without much enthusiasm.
+++
When Balthazar returned that night, Castiel was gone.
+++
Despite his doubts, Castiel made a decision. He sneaked out of the palace and went straight for Crowley’s cave to make a deal with him. There, the sea demon gave him a vial with red liquid inside.
“This will make you human. Fully human. That means you will be unable to use your magic,” Crowley explained. “But the spell only lasts for one month… unless you manage to make the human fall in love with you.”
“You mean he has to declare his love for me?” Castiel asked in confusion.
“Essentially, yes,” Crowley replied. “A simple ‘I love you’ would suffice,” he explained. “If you fail, you turn back into a merman once the sun has set on your month on land.”
“Why not a kiss?” Castiel ventured.
“Oh please,” Crowley said, rolling his eyes. “What are you, twelve? Everybody kisses these days. It no longer means anything. A heartfelt declaration of love however… well that’s rare.”
Castiel looked at the vial. “After a month, I will simply turn back?” he asked. “I fail to see how my turning back will benefit you.”
Crowley chuckled again as he settled down on his throne crafted from whale bones. “You were always too smart for your own good, little merman. You don’t simply turn back into a merman. You turn back and you’re mine.”
Castiel’s brow furrowed. “What-“
“I will own you. Well, your soul, actually. You will live the rest of your life as one of my pets,” he said. The eels he called Meg and Ruby slithered in front of him and he petted one affectionately. Cas eyed the eels warily. “Not these pets, no,” Crowley said. “You’re too special to be turned into an eel,” he said. “I think I’d like my very own great white…”
Castiel eyes grew big in alarm. “Once the spell is over, you will turn me into a shark?”
“You’re already half a shark anyway… feared by your people, ridiculed for your difference. At least this time, they’d have genuine reason to fear you… but like I said, only if you fail. If you think that human you saved was worth the risk… then by all means,” Crowley said, gesturing to the vial.
Castiel picked it up and stared intently at the red liquid swirling inside. If he failed to get the human’s love, would becoming a real shark even be a punishment? At least if he became a real shark, he will no longer be ridiculed. Great whites are feared, but at least the creatures of the sea respected them.
“Castiel, don’t!” he heard Balthazar scream.
Whipping around, he saw Balthazar and Alfie by the mouth of Crowley’s cave.
Crowley tutted. “I hate it when I get unwanted visitors,” he said, snapping his fingers. In an instant, his eels were on the crab and the small fish, impeding their movement.
“If I drink this, you promise you will not harm them,” Castiel told him.
“Yes, of course. It’s beneath me to harm such insignificant creatures anyway,” Crowley said.
Cas took a deep breath and uncapped the vial.
“Oh and one more thing,” Crowley said. Cas stopped and leveled his gaze at him. “There’s a certain… side-effect to this potion.”
“Side-effect?”
“Yes… as you drink the potion, something unique to you must be left inside the vial in its place.”
“And what would that be?” Cas asked, though he already had an idea what it could be.
“Your voice,” Crowley informed him, delighting in the look of surprise on Castiel’s face. “It’s a small price to pay for your very own legs, I assure you.”
“My voice…” Castiel said. He never really saw the importance of his voice. To his father, it was probably the only thing he can be proud Castiel had. To him, however, it was just one other thing that made him different from others. “…I have no use for my voice,” he said, and with one final movement, he put the vial to his lips and drank.
Alfie and Balthazar watched in horror as Castiel drank the vile red liquid inside. They tried to scream, but their mouths were covered by the eels. Meanwhile, Crowley’s eyes glowed bright red with interest as Castiel gulped the liquid. As the red liquid began to vanish from the vial, a bright blue light started to replace it. The light grew brighter and brighter until it engulfed the whole cave in its glow.
And then it was gone.
For a moment, nothing happened, and Castiel looked at the vial curiously. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He looked at Crowley in alarm, but Crowley just grinned darkly at him.
Then he felt it: a pain so intense it was like being shocked by a hundred eels at once. The last thing he saw before everything turned black was Alfie and Balthazar’s worried faces.
+++
“It’s been more than a week, Dean,” Sam said as they made their way back to the beach. “Nobody has seen this mystery man with blue eyes you kept talking about.”
“I’m not gonna give up Sammy,” he said, watching Impala run excitedly before him towards the shore. “That man saved my life. I wanna be able to thank him properly.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that you could have been hallucinating then?” Sam asked. When Dean shot him a venomous glare, Sam shook his head. “Alright, alright. I won’t say that again. It’s just every time you describe him, he sounds exactly like your type.”
“I did not imagine him, okay?” Dean grunted. “I wish I did, that way I wouldn’t be so hung up about him.”
“What would you say? If you found him… would you ask how you got this palm mark on your shoulder?” Sam asked.
Dean looked at his arm and frowned. “I have a feeling he’s not just a man, Sammy,” Dean said thoughtfully.
“For the last time, Dean, merpeople aren’t-“
Impala’s loud barking caught their attention, and when the two men walked down to the beach, they saw him-a naked man washed ashore.
“Holy shit,” Dean cursed as they ran towards the unconscious man. Sam helped him drag the man out of the water, and when he turned him around, Dean gasped. “It’s him!”
Sam checked the man for a pulse. He was alive. “What do you mean, him?” Sam asked.
“This is the guy that saved me.”
+++
“They took him!” Alfie said in panic. “Balthazar, the humans took him! What do we do?”
Balthazar watched the two men carry Castiel away. “The only thing we can do make sure the human falls in love with Castiel.”
PART 2
PART 3
Art link: Art Masterlist
Artist: terrorinyertub
Author: remivel
Fandom/Genre: SPN, Fairy Tale AU
Pairing(s): Dean/Castiel
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 14,500
Warnings: Explicit sexual content, borrows greatly from the Disney version of The Little Mermaid, Crowley as Ursula
Notes: Many thanks to my betas, Savanna and Kaz, and to my cheerleader, Juliana. And of course, kudos to the lovely artist Terror for the wonderful prompt.
Summary: Castiel was a merman who was born with the tail of a Great White Shark. Treated as an abomination by his own kind, Castiel found solace in observing humans and following their ships. He was content with watching them from afar, until he saved Dean, a human prince, from being killed by a shark. Soon, watching Dean from afar was not enough, and he wished to leave his life under the sea for a chance at being part of Dean's world.
AO3
Or Read Here:
PART 1
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a young merman named Castiel. He was the youngest son of the ruler of the sea, King Triton (more widely known simply as Chuck), and he was unlike any of his kind. While other merpeople had tails that resembled brightly colored fish, Castiel’s tail and coloring was that of a great white shark-a creature feared throughout the undersea kingdom for its power and ferocity. Some believed he was cursed by the sea demon, Crowley, born to bring death and destruction to his father’s reign. Others just saw him as an abomination, something to be rudely stared at and gossiped over.
Despite his strange appearance, Castiel had something no other sea creature had: a voice that sounded like rocks and sand and corals scraping against each other. It was magic to the ears of undersea life… a sound that pierced through the water like a barracuda, bringing a halt to the slow and monotonous sounds of the sea and a stark contrast to the usually soft and melodious voices of the merpeople. To Castiel, however, his voice was not something he was proud of. To him, it was just one other thing that made him different from everybody else.
He felt like an outcast in his own kingdom, and so he grew up preferring to hide in his room or sit in the anemone fields alone. Until one day, as he looked out his window, he saw a massive ship sailing by.
The merpeople held no love for humans. They believed humans were weak and useless creatures. They could not use magic like the merpeople, and yet the humans acted as if they owned the lands and the seas, building docks and ports on the shore and killing off the coral reefs there. Oftentimes, the merpeople found delight in pulling pranks and malicious tricks on the humans-making the fishermen grow barnacles on their legs, pulling down the trousers of swimming men, and making the bathing garments of women disappear.
Castiel, however, shared none of the other merpeople’s hatred towards humans. He followed the ship that day, and became enamored with the humans and their inventions. From then on, he collected human artifacts from sunken vessels and quietly followed ships that passed by the palace. He was content to just watch the humans from afar, until one day he encountered a human that would change his life.
+++
It was dark, and most of the merpeople were already asleep, but Castiel was outside, lured by the looming shadow of a large ship passing by his window. A storm had just passed, and the seas were rough, so Cas had a harder time catching up to the ship. But from afar, he saw a small figure floating on the water, and a tiger shark swimming towards it. Then he smelled it: blood.
It was an injured human!
Cas made a mad dash towards the tiger shark and yelled, “Leave it be!”
The shark stopped and turned around. From afar, Castiel looked like a great white and the tiger shark hesitated. “You are not a White,” the shark accused, before turning around and continuing to swim. Just when the shark was about to bite the human’s leg, Cas barreled towards the shark and knocked it away. A swipe of the shark’s tail knocked the human off the plank he was floating on, and soon he was sinking.
“This human is mine,” Castiel growled, swimming in between the human and the shark.
The tiger flashed its rows of teeth at Castiel. “I’m not scared of you, Merman,” it said before lunging towards Castiel with its jaws wide open.
Concentrating his energy in his palms, Castiel ducked away from the shark’s teeth and pushed his hand into the shark’s jaw, its skin glowing white before the power on Cas’ hand shot it ten feet out of the water. It came back down with a violent splash that made the shark dizzy and aching all over.
“Leave,” Castiel said to the shark, who gave him an angry glare before turning around and swimming away with wobbly strokes.
When he was sure the shark wasn’t about to return, Castiel turned and swam for the human. He had been underwater dangerously long and Castiel feared he had already drowned. His left shoulder was bleeding as well, and Cas pulled him towards him as he swam to the surface. They broke through the surface and Cas looked at the deathly pale face of the man in his arms. “Please be alive, please be alive,” he whispered.
He frantically searched the horizon for the ship, and saw a tiny figure to his left silhouetted by the rising sun. It was heading to the dock on the other side of the cove. Castiel wouldn’t be able to swim that far with the man in tow. He turned to his left and saw the other tip of the cove was closer, and struggled to swim that way, careful to keep the man’s head above water.
Castiel had trouble hauling the man out of the water and onto the beach. Placing his palm on his shoulder, he used his magic to heal his wound. Once the wound was closed and the human was still not breathing, Cas held on. Pushing more of his magic into his palm, he tried to make him breathe.
It was a heart-stopping few seconds when nothing happened, until the man started to sputter and spit up water. Castiel let go of him and he was startled to see an imprint on his palm was left on the man’s shoulder.
He continued to cough up water while he lay on his side, then he turned and collapsed again on his back, groaning. “Ugggghhh… my head…”
Castiel was alarmed. “Do you need me to heal your head?” he asked worriedly.
The man tried to crack his eyes open, but his eyelids were so heavy he only managed to open them halfway, and even then, he could not focus on the man in front of him. “Who…?” he asked.
“I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from the depths of the ocean,” Castiel explained.
The man might not have been able to open his eyes, but his ears were working fine, and that voice in his ears was like magic. It was a low, gravely sound that would have made his toes curl if only circumstances were different. “Y-you saved me?” he asked.
Castiel nodded.
When he didn’t hear a response, the man tried opening his eyes, and he was more successful this time around. Just as the sun continued its ascent in the sky, he was able to see a pair of big, blue eyes. They were bright, electric blue like lightning cutting through the night sky. They held a certain power in their depths, swirling around like stars in his eyes. It made him forget how to breathe.
It seemed like the man was about to speak, but just then, Castiel heard the thundering footsteps of several men shouting and coming their way. He may have powers, but he still could get caught by the humans. Without a second thought, Castiel turned and retreated into the water.
“Wait!” the man called out but Cas was already gone. He tried to sit up but found he was too weak so he lay back down onto the sand. “I didn’t get your name…” he said before letting out another loud groan. “Urgh… my head…”
+++
Castiel’s heroic act didn’t go so well with the merpeople. When the king found out that Castiel fought against a tiger shark to save a human’s life, he was furious. “You could’ve gotten killed, Castiel!” King Chuck growled. He was a small merman, but he was the most powerful merman in all of the sea. He was extremely kind as well, and the only thing that seemed to test his patience was his youngest son.
“I saved a human,” Castiel replied.
“At the risk of your own life. No human is worth that, Castiel,” King Chuck said.
“He deserved to live. I’m not doing anything wrong by showing compassion for humans, father.”
“I can tolerate your interest in humans… but not when it endangers your life. Stay away from humans from now on, do you understand?” Chuck said.
Castiel gritted his teeth before turning around and swimming away.
+++
Meanwhile, the human Castiel saved was no ordinary person. He was Dean, Prince of Winchester, and when he was returned to the palace, safe and suspiciously in perfect health, he would not stop talking about the man that saved him.
“I’m telling you, he’s real,” Dean said as he lay on his bed in the palace, the food tray lying ignored in front of him.
“Right, Dean…” Sam, his younger brother, just nodded. “Eat your breakfast first, okay? You’ve had a rough night.”
“You think? I fell off the ship and you guys didn’t even bother to come look for me!” Dean said. “I had to be rescued by a total stranger.”
“Yeah, a stranger that had amazingly blue eyes and the most captivating voice you’ve ever heard? Dean, you were probably just hallucinating,” Sam said. “And we looked for you, okay? We sent boats to search for you as quickly as we could. I was so worried I couldn’t sleep all night. Ellen and Jo were inconsolable.”
Dean looked up at Sam guiltily. “Alright, I’m sorry,” he said. “But he was real, okay? I wasn’t hallucinating,” he insisted.
“Whatever you say,” Sam said with a smile. “Now eat your breakfast.”
“I want him found, Sam,” Dean said seriously. “I owe him my life.”
“Don’t worry,” Sam reassured him. “Anyone who saves the prince’s life deserves a reward. We’ll let the kingdom know we’re searching for him.”
Dean nodded before finally giving his attention to his food tray.
+++
Castiel went back to the part of the cove where he left the human and found him walking quietly along the beach with his dog. He followed, watching from afar as the man tossed stones into the sea and paced back and forth. He had been watching him for a few days now, and each day the man returned to that shore at exactly the same time and walked around for an hour before leaving.
One day, he came with a giant of a man, and Cas swam as close as he could to listen to their conversations. It was then that he discovered the man’s name: Dean. The other man was his brother, Sam, and they were princes who lived in the large castle by the shore. After they left the cove that day, Cas swam to the castle, hoping to catch a glimpse of him there.
Once he reached the beach by the castle, he could hear the sounds of music and laughter. He hid behind the rocks and watched from afar as the humans danced on the sand, a large bonfire illuminating their happy faces as the sun slowly began to set. They were celebrating the safe return of their prince.
Dean was there, sitting in the sand with his big, black dog, a bottle in one hand and a stick in the other. He threw the stick and the dog bolted after it.
Around the fire, the men and women danced merrily and Cas watched their feet as they shuffled and jumped about. He wondered what that would feel like. To have feet.
These humans certainly didn’t all have legs that looked exactly the same, but nobody seemed to mind. One man had a belly like a puffer fish and he had very short, fat legs. Another man had stick thin legs that looked like they could snap at any moment. And Dean’s brother, Sam, had legs so long they looked like those poles the humans used to build their docks on. Cas shot a sad look at his unusual tail. If he were human and he had legs as well… nobody would think he was different. Nobody would laugh at him or cower in fear at the sight of his tail. He would be accepted. He would belong.
Cas looked back at the humans dancing on the sand. Sam danced merrily around the fire, and he stopped and tried to pull Dean up from where he sat. When Dean stood up, this was the first time Cas realized he had the most curious pair of legs. They looked strong and bowed outward when he stood. And when he walked, he wobbled like his legs were jellyfish tentacles and Cas had to stifle a laugh. He looked up at Dean’s face, and his breath caught in his throat.
He really was a beautiful man. Sun-kissed skin with freckles like bits of shiny coral, hair the color of dark sand, and eyes that shone a bright, bright green. Like the color of towering trees soaked in sunlight on the islands. And when he smiled, it was like sunlight as well, blinding and so very warm. Castiel found himself wishing he could touch Dean’s face, trace those lips as if he could feel the warmth of the sun just from his smile.
“I’m heading to bed,” he heard Dean say, his face looking red from all the liquid he had consumed.
Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, a big, black hairy face appeared before him. Cas looked, startled at the animal panting in front of him. They had a staring contest for what seemed like ages before Cas spoke. “Hello,” he said.
The thing grinned at him, and rather loudly replied, “HELLO HUMAN FISH!!!”
Castiel ducked, hiding from the view of the animal.
“Baby!” he heard Dean call, and the dog bounded back to the shore.
When Cas dared to peek again, the dog was by Dean’s side, and Cas watched as Dean affectionately ran his fingers through the dog’s now wet fur. “What’re you doing barking at the waves?” Dean asked. The dog barked again. “I saw a human fish!” Castiel heard him bark, but Dean did not understand (he was a human, how could he?) and he beckoned for his dog to follow him. Castiel craned his neck to watch them walk away.
+++
The night was getting darker and Castiel swam quickly back to the palace. He had only been sneaking out to see Dean by the shore for the past few days. Had his father found out, he’d be in big trouble.
However, trouble was the one that sought him out that night.
From the darkness of the ocean, a figure with large tentacles emerged and blocked his path home. It was the sea demon Crowley.
“I can’t help but notice your interest in the human creatures,” Crowley said, inspecting a suction cup from his 6th tentacle. “I’ve come to offer you a deal…”
But Castiel was not fooled. “I don’t make deals with demons,” Castiel said directly.
“Oh I’m sure you’ll find my offer quite appealing…” Crowley said. “Since you like humans so much… I thought I’d be so kind as to give you a chance to be one of them.”
Castiel’s eyebrow twitched, the only sign that he was surprised by Crowley’s words. “No such magic exists.”
“Oh but it does, little merman,” Crowley cooed. “What do you take me for? Some half bit sea demon? I am the king of demons, Castiel. I know spells and magic and potions and brews your all-powerful father couldn’t even dream of.”
Something slick slid around Castiel’s tail and he recoiled from it. He looked at his tail and saw two eels slithering around him. No doubt Crowley brought his eels to intimidate him. One shock from these eels could paralyze a merman for hours.
“I can give you a chance, Castiel,” Crowley paused, before focusing his bright red eyes on Castiel. “I can make you human. Isn’t that what you want?”
Clenching his fists to his side, Castiel swallowed. His mind was running in circles thinking what if Crowley wasn’t lying, what if this was his chance to be human, to walk on land and bask in the warmth of the sun-in the warmth of Dean’s smile.
“Think about it…” Crowley said with a sly smile, turning around to leave. “Meg… Ruby… let’s go,” he said, beckoning his eels to follow him. They slithered around Cas’ tail one last time before following Crowley and vanishing in a puff of blank ink in the water.
+++
Castiel returned to the cove to watch Dean again the next day. This time, one of his fish friends decided to follow him. “Why are you watching him anyway?” asked Alfie, a red and white striped fish.
“I’ve never used that much healing magic on someone before. I might’ve ended up hurting him,” Castiel explained, poking his head out of the water to watch Dean again. He ducked his head underwater every time Dean’s gaze went his direction.
“You mean the mark you left on his shoulder?” Alfie said.
“Yes. That has never happened before,” Cas said, stopping again to poke his head out of the water. “What do you think he is doing, Alfie?” Cas asked.
Alfie sighed. He was about to say something when the sound of the man yelling something startled him.
Cas ducked his head underwater quickly to hide. Even below the surface, however, the man’s voice could clearly be heard.
“Hey! If you’re out there… show yourself!” Dean yelled.
Alfie looked at Cas nervously. “He saw you?”
Cas shook his head. “He never sees me, I make sure of it.”
“Then why?” Alfie asked.
The shouting resumed and Alfie watched Castiel’s face as the merman listened to the human’s voice. “Tell me I’m not crazy, okay? Tell me you’re real? That-that I didn’t make you up,” Dean yelled out into the ocean. “That you really did save me… Come out, okay?”
Castiel’s face fell as he realized his heart was beating fast and hard. “Let’s go,” he told Alfie before swimming away. He wanted to come out of the water, he wanted to go to Dean and wrap his arms around him. It disturbed him.
He was falling in love with Dean.
It was a realization that left him reeling. He had never felt this way before for anyone… happy just from seeing their face and hearing their voice. And he wanted to feel that way again.
Clenching his fists, Castiel swam away, Crowley’s voice ringing in his ears. I can make you human. Isn’t that what you want?
+++
“Where did you run off to this time, Castiel?” Balthazar, the king’s crab advisor, asked him the moment he returned to the palace.
“Nowhere important,” Castiel answered before he entered his room.
Balthazar shot Alfie an intimidating look and Alfie just laughed nervously before dashing inside the room.
+++
The next day, Balthazar followed them out into the shore. He saw Castiel swimming dangerously close to the shore… so close that the dog started barking at him and the human almost saw him.
Balthazar panicked.
He rushed back to the palace to inform the King.
King Chuck was so furious he dragged Castiel back into the palace himself and ordered him to be watched by the guards.
Now Balthazar perched on Castiel’s window, watching the young merman sulk on his bed as he toyed with the latest artifact he had found.
“Your father is a kind king. He wouldn’t have been so mad had you followed his orders,” Balthazar said.
“My father wouldn’t have been so mad had I been normal,” Cas retorted. “I know my father, Balthazar. He thinks there’s some truth to the rumors; that I will be the cause of his demise one day.”
“That’s not true,” Balthazar said. “Your father loves you. There’s a purpose to everything he does, Castiel. He only wants you to be happy.”
Cas frowned. “Then why aren’t I happy?”
“Maybe that’s a question you should ask yourself,” Balthazar told him. Then, shaking his claws, he jumped off the window sill and crawled towards the door. “Now if you’ll excuse me… I have a date with a lovely blue crab tonight,” he said, winking slyly. “Wish me luck!”
“Good luck,” Castiel said without much enthusiasm.
+++
When Balthazar returned that night, Castiel was gone.
+++
Despite his doubts, Castiel made a decision. He sneaked out of the palace and went straight for Crowley’s cave to make a deal with him. There, the sea demon gave him a vial with red liquid inside.
“This will make you human. Fully human. That means you will be unable to use your magic,” Crowley explained. “But the spell only lasts for one month… unless you manage to make the human fall in love with you.”
“You mean he has to declare his love for me?” Castiel asked in confusion.
“Essentially, yes,” Crowley replied. “A simple ‘I love you’ would suffice,” he explained. “If you fail, you turn back into a merman once the sun has set on your month on land.”
“Why not a kiss?” Castiel ventured.
“Oh please,” Crowley said, rolling his eyes. “What are you, twelve? Everybody kisses these days. It no longer means anything. A heartfelt declaration of love however… well that’s rare.”
Castiel looked at the vial. “After a month, I will simply turn back?” he asked. “I fail to see how my turning back will benefit you.”
Crowley chuckled again as he settled down on his throne crafted from whale bones. “You were always too smart for your own good, little merman. You don’t simply turn back into a merman. You turn back and you’re mine.”
Castiel’s brow furrowed. “What-“
“I will own you. Well, your soul, actually. You will live the rest of your life as one of my pets,” he said. The eels he called Meg and Ruby slithered in front of him and he petted one affectionately. Cas eyed the eels warily. “Not these pets, no,” Crowley said. “You’re too special to be turned into an eel,” he said. “I think I’d like my very own great white…”
Castiel eyes grew big in alarm. “Once the spell is over, you will turn me into a shark?”
“You’re already half a shark anyway… feared by your people, ridiculed for your difference. At least this time, they’d have genuine reason to fear you… but like I said, only if you fail. If you think that human you saved was worth the risk… then by all means,” Crowley said, gesturing to the vial.
Castiel picked it up and stared intently at the red liquid swirling inside. If he failed to get the human’s love, would becoming a real shark even be a punishment? At least if he became a real shark, he will no longer be ridiculed. Great whites are feared, but at least the creatures of the sea respected them.
“Castiel, don’t!” he heard Balthazar scream.
Whipping around, he saw Balthazar and Alfie by the mouth of Crowley’s cave.
Crowley tutted. “I hate it when I get unwanted visitors,” he said, snapping his fingers. In an instant, his eels were on the crab and the small fish, impeding their movement.
“If I drink this, you promise you will not harm them,” Castiel told him.
“Yes, of course. It’s beneath me to harm such insignificant creatures anyway,” Crowley said.
Cas took a deep breath and uncapped the vial.
“Oh and one more thing,” Crowley said. Cas stopped and leveled his gaze at him. “There’s a certain… side-effect to this potion.”
“Side-effect?”
“Yes… as you drink the potion, something unique to you must be left inside the vial in its place.”
“And what would that be?” Cas asked, though he already had an idea what it could be.
“Your voice,” Crowley informed him, delighting in the look of surprise on Castiel’s face. “It’s a small price to pay for your very own legs, I assure you.”
“My voice…” Castiel said. He never really saw the importance of his voice. To his father, it was probably the only thing he can be proud Castiel had. To him, however, it was just one other thing that made him different from others. “…I have no use for my voice,” he said, and with one final movement, he put the vial to his lips and drank.
Alfie and Balthazar watched in horror as Castiel drank the vile red liquid inside. They tried to scream, but their mouths were covered by the eels. Meanwhile, Crowley’s eyes glowed bright red with interest as Castiel gulped the liquid. As the red liquid began to vanish from the vial, a bright blue light started to replace it. The light grew brighter and brighter until it engulfed the whole cave in its glow.
And then it was gone.
For a moment, nothing happened, and Castiel looked at the vial curiously. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He looked at Crowley in alarm, but Crowley just grinned darkly at him.
Then he felt it: a pain so intense it was like being shocked by a hundred eels at once. The last thing he saw before everything turned black was Alfie and Balthazar’s worried faces.
+++
“It’s been more than a week, Dean,” Sam said as they made their way back to the beach. “Nobody has seen this mystery man with blue eyes you kept talking about.”
“I’m not gonna give up Sammy,” he said, watching Impala run excitedly before him towards the shore. “That man saved my life. I wanna be able to thank him properly.”
“Has it ever occurred to you that you could have been hallucinating then?” Sam asked. When Dean shot him a venomous glare, Sam shook his head. “Alright, alright. I won’t say that again. It’s just every time you describe him, he sounds exactly like your type.”
“I did not imagine him, okay?” Dean grunted. “I wish I did, that way I wouldn’t be so hung up about him.”
“What would you say? If you found him… would you ask how you got this palm mark on your shoulder?” Sam asked.
Dean looked at his arm and frowned. “I have a feeling he’s not just a man, Sammy,” Dean said thoughtfully.
“For the last time, Dean, merpeople aren’t-“
Impala’s loud barking caught their attention, and when the two men walked down to the beach, they saw him-a naked man washed ashore.
“Holy shit,” Dean cursed as they ran towards the unconscious man. Sam helped him drag the man out of the water, and when he turned him around, Dean gasped. “It’s him!”
Sam checked the man for a pulse. He was alive. “What do you mean, him?” Sam asked.
“This is the guy that saved me.”
+++
“They took him!” Alfie said in panic. “Balthazar, the humans took him! What do we do?”
Balthazar watched the two men carry Castiel away. “The only thing we can do make sure the human falls in love with Castiel.”
PART 2
PART 3