Fic: The Road To Heaven Bestrewed With Amaranth (10/??)
Title: The Road To Heaven Bestrewed With Amaranth (10/??)
Rating: overall R for language, violence, blood and sexual themes;
Genre: romance, adventure, time travel;
Pairing/Characters: Dean/Castiel (pre-slash), Sam, Bobby, OFC;
Spoilers: The fic starts from the middle of season 6 and alternates the end of it, but also has spoilers for 7x1;
Beta: eridanie;
Word Count: WIP (5800 this part);
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Masterpost
Not a Time for a Wedding (part2)
The pictures Bobby taken on his old phone were of terrible quality. The only thing helping the hunter was the fact that Castiel’s handwriting was so clear that it looked like the whole journal had been typed and printed, and not written. Bobby was sitting on his chair behind the desk in the study room. On his left were stacked several books on Enochian, and on his right was a bottle of whiskey, because it was his only helper and companion in his quest to translate from a language no human could speak. None of the human libraries had anything even slightly close to a good Enochian dictionary, so Bobby had to drive himself crazy with having to painstakingly decipher every detail himself.
After several hours spent finding all the words in the entries he could look up in the dictionary, he then tried to guess what the words in between could mean. He wasn’t even sure anymore why he’d started this. Yes, he was curious, yes he knew that he and the Winchester brothers could use the information, and not sit waiting for Mary to decide it was time for them to discover something new, but other than that… Bobby sure had more important things to work on, like the mother of all for example.
His phone rang and the old hunter reached for it looking at the caller ID. Of course it was Dean.
“I’m listening.” Bobby said.
“Umm, hey Bobby!” Dean started, and by the tone of his voice the old hunter already knew that something had happened, Dean wouldn’t be calling him if everything was all right anyway, so he’d known something had happened before he even answered the call. “Would you mind checking into a Khui… Chuli…”
“Chuqui-llantu” Bobby heard Sam’s voice in the background.
“Yeah, that one!” Dean agreed.
“Do I look like your personal reference book?” Bobby asked. “Why do you need it?” He added with a sigh.
“Well,” Dean started and Bobby could tell that he was nearly in a panic even if his voice was mostly calm and even. “Castiel got married.”
Bobby needed a second to comprehend what Dean had said. At first Bobby wondered if he had misheard Dean and he had simply said something else that sounded like… what he’d thought he heard. The old hunter repeated the phrase several times in his head and decided that no, he’d heard it right. Then Bobby thought that Dean was yanking his chain, but if this was the case he’d chosen the wrong topic, because Bobby didn’t give a damn about Castiel getting married. It wasn’t of course that Bobby didn’t like the angel, it just wasn’t any of his business.
“Well, tell him congratulations, then!” Bobby finally managed.
“No, it’s not like that!” Dean protested. “He was forced into it - drank some shit from a cup of love, or whatever it was, and now he’s married.”
Bobby rubbed his forehead as the entire conversation was starting to give him a headache. “And?” He asked.
“And? The bitch took Cas somewhere against his will!”
“First, how the hell could someone do anything to Castiel against his will? And second, why do you care? Are you his mommy? Maybe he’s found happiness!”
Dean actually faltered with his response and… didn’t answer. Well, that was new! Instead the older Winchester took some air into his lungs and finally started to make sense: “All right! We were sitting by the food booths, and this Chihuahua girl came with a bowl of some crap and gave it to Cas to drink. Mary later explained that it was something like a marriage tradition, but no one knew about it when Cas was drinking it. The girl turned out to be some sort of goddess, and she de-powered him and took him somewhere against his will.” He finished in one breath.
“Well I’ll see what I can do to help you to find your angel boyfriend.” Bobby said mockingly and hung up.
And yet again the Winchesters were bringing the old hunter nothing but trouble. Bobby knew that the Dean wouldn’t even thank him for his help. He was the type of person who just believed everyone should help him, should abandon their own business to solve his problems. Bobby turned to his translation, looked at it for a moment and sighed. In a moment he found himself rising from his chair and moving toward the bookshelves to find any lore on Native American gods, because no matter how big of an ass Dean was, he still was like a son to the old hunter.
***Dean was pretty sure that in any other circumstances he would be happy for a friend to get married: for example, if his friend knew beforehand that he was marrying someone, or if it wasn’t a weird goddess as a bride, or if it wasn’t Castiel. Dean’s train of thought faltered there. When he thought about it, he realized that he just didn’t like the idea of Castiel getting married. Well, of course there were many reasons for this. Like that they didn’t have time for this right now, not when the world was going to end if they didn’t stop it, and such dangerous times were not a good time for a wedding.
“Would you stop pacing already, Dean?” Sam groaned tearing his eyes from the laptop, “You’re just making it more difficult to concentrate.”
Dean was about to argue and reply that he wasn’t pacing but truthfully he had found himself in the middle of the room walking from one wall to another for no particular reason. Dean looked around awkwardly and then climbed on the bed, turning on an old looking TV.
They had left the fair and taken a single motel room as a temporary base. Bobby’s house was a good hour and a half driving distance, while this motel was so close to the fair that they could practically hear it from here.
“Are you ok?” Mary asked her father.
“As fine as I can be knowing that goddess bi… a goddess took our most reliable ally in the war against heaven and hell.” Dean complained, but a knowing smirk was the only response he received from Mary. “Whatever.” He sighed turning his attention to a commercial block on the screen.
“Were you able to find anything out?” Mary asked moving closer to Sam.
“Well, a little bit…” Sam explained. “First of all she isn’t actually a goddess, but the daughter of a god. The Sun god, to be more specific. Her story appears to be a classic star-crossed lovers scenario.”
“Anything about ganking her?” Inquired Dean who was still lying on the bed listening to their conversation.
“Not really,” Sam confessed with a sigh.
“All right then,” Dean nodded and stood up from the bed, grabbing his jacket.
“Where are you going?” Mary asked.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I can’t sit here and wait till everything fixes itself.” Dean explained. “I’ll find a bar or something and wait there.”
With those words Dean stepped out of room and closed the door behind him before anyone had time to even open their mouths. The air outside the motel room smelled of fried meat, and a fresh bakery. In any other circumstances Dean would enjoy it, but right now it was disgusting him nearly to the point of nausea. The hunter still couldn’t understand what was going on with him and why all of the sudden he was so upset about the fact that some random bitch had taken Castiel. Of course it was absolutely natural for anyone to be worry in such situation, but Dean’s displeasure reminded more of jealousy. It was really creeping him out, even more than any monster could.
“Shit…”
Dean rubbed his face with his palm, sighing and fished the car keys from the pocket of his jacket, and making his way to the parking lot. He doubted there was a decent bar anywhere around here so he would most likely need to return to the city, but in that case he would need to leave Sam and Mary in the motel with no means of transportation. The hunter groaned in annoyance leaning on the hood of his car, swearing quietly under his breath. Then he climbed into his baby, deciding to at least take a lap or two around the area to clear his head.
Nearly all of his deleterious thoughts disappeared when Dean started the engine. Sometimes he felt like she was the only one who understood him, who could comfort him. Dean started to exit the parking lot, fixing the rear view mirror and…
“Son of a bitch!” He swore slamming the breaks as a random guy jumped right in front of the car holding his hands out.
The hunter didn’t have enough time though, and the car hit the guy with a heavy thud, making Dean nearly fly out of his seat and sending the poor bastard tumbling a good several feet. The hunter rushed out to check on the suicide jumper but was surprised to see him still standing and lacking a single scratch.
“Dude, what the hell?” Dean yelled at him in anger. “Look where you’re going!”
Dean turned to look at the front of his baby noticing that the bumper was slightly bent.
“I highly apologize.” The guy said.
He looked small and fragile and Dean found himself wondering how he’d not ended up not breaking any of the guy’s bones. His hair was dark-brown and his eyes were bright gray.
“My name is Acoya-napa,” the guy continued, “And I require your help!”
***The first thing after leaving the Winchesters that Castiel became aware of was the fact that he was laying on a cold marble floor, in a bright sunlit room. His first thought was that he had somehow ended up in heaven, because the surroundings reminded him of the place he used to call home. On closer inspection the angel realized that it wasn’t actually heaven, but a small room somewhere on earth. His angelic powers were still blocked and he couldn’t tell where exactly on earth he was, nor could he fly away.
The room was small and had nothing but four walls, a floor and a ceiling, not even a single chair. It had two large open windows on opposite sides, but both of them were latticed with massive looking bars, so Castiel assumed it was most likely that he was in some sort of a prison ward. The room also had a wooden door, but it was locked and looked too thick to try breaking through.
Castiel glanced out of one of the windows, noticing a large green field surrounded by mountains on every side. From the other window he could see a sunlit terrace cobbled with white marble. The terrace led to a staircase, and surrounded with neatly cut trees and bushes, four rather large fountains were sitting in each corner of it. Castiel could hear the songs of many different birds some of which weren’t native to the part of the world Castiel was the moment before everything went blank. Several bees and butterflies were flying from one tree to the other gathering the pollen from its’ flowers. In any other circumstances Castiel would feel at peace with this place, but the fact that he was locked in a prison cell made that impossible.
“I’m not familiar with many wedding traditions, but I can’t think of any where a groom gets trapped in a cell.” The angel said calmly, not turning his head from the window.
“There are even more unpleasant traditions in the world.” A female voice said from behind the angel’s back. “It’s not like you have much choice.”
The angel turned toward the voice, spotting Chuqui-llantu standing in the middle of the room with her eyes fixed on the angel. “I always have a choice!” He said and rushed toward her.
Castiel took her by surprise, he was still a trained warrior, fast as a lightning strike. He pressed Chuqui-llantu to the wall pressing his sword to her neck.
“It’s not that difficult to kill me.” She said. “But if you do, you will never get out of here alive.” She added smiling.
Castiel pressed his blade even harder, penetrating her soft skin. A small droplet of blood rolled down her neck. The next moment some kind of force pushed him to the opposite wall.
“Calm your temper down, angel.” Chuqui-llantu said. “I just came to propose a fair trade. One favor for your freedom.”
“And how is that a fair trade?” Castiel said. “You were the one who imprisoned me.”
“You will find out later.” She smirked.
“And what if I refuse?” The angel inquired.
“In that case, you will die.”
“And what if I don’t care?”
Chuqui-llantu seized him in her gaze and continued to smile. “Then the person you love the most will fill in for you. Most likely against their will.”
Anger washed over the angel, “Don’t you dare go near him!” He warned launching toward her once again, but this time she disappeared from view, and reappearing behind him, and now it was her pushing the angel flat against the wall.
“Oh, so you actually have this loved one? And is is 'he'.” She murmured in the angel’s ear, “The older of the two brothers, isn’t it? Well, I can see why!” She chuckled. “But don’t you worry, I promise you won’t regret helping me.”
Castiel tried to break free, but realized that without his powers he couldn’t move a single inch under the pressure of Chuqui-llantu’s body. The angel groaned and said: “What do you want?”
Chuqui-llantu moved away from Castiel allowing him to move. “I need you to save my beloved.” She said.
***“You need us to do what?” Dean exclaimed, glancing at the gray-eyed guy sitting in their motel room with a cup of coffee Sam had made that morning.
After the incident in the parking lot Dean hadn’t wanted to invite the unexpected guest to their motel room because Mary was inside, and if the guy was to turn dangerous and go on a killing spree, the hunter didn’t want him to be anywhere near his daughter. Unfortunately stopping Acoya from going there by himself turned out to be an impossible task.
“I need you to help me return to my bride.” Acoya-napa repeated, not paying any attention to the hunter as he stared at Mary. The girl was staring at him back and both their looks were filled with surprise and confusion at the same time.
“You guys know each-other or something?” Asked Sam who also noticed the staring contest.
“No.” He and Mary replied simultaneously. Acoya turned his head away from her, but Mary continued to stare.
“Anyway,” Dean continued. “You know that your so-called bride just forcibly married our friend, don’t you?” He asked.
“The marriage can’t be completed without her father’s blessing.” He explained.
“Her father, you mean the Sun god?” Sam asked.
“Yes, him.” Acoya nodded. “But to receive his blessing, the chosen of a daughter of the Sun must pass a series of tests.”
“I don’t understand then,” Dean pointed out. “How is that connected to kidnapping our friend?”
“It’s simple. Chuqui-llantu thinks that I’m not powerful enough to complete the tests, while Castiel, an angel, has a better chance.”
“And what,” Sam asked. “You think that the god of the Sun won’t notice the difference between you and Castiel?”
“Not if I will be the one appearing to receive the task and the angel will be the one completing it.” Acoya explained.
That moment Dean lost his control and rushed towards the guy, grabbing him by the lapels of his shirt. “You’re sick bastards, you know that? Who gave you the right to do something like that, without even asking Cas if he would agree?”
Acoya didn’t seem affected by the older Winchester’s rage. He put his hand on Dean’s shoulder and smiled warmly: “I understand, it wasn’t my idea, but hers. I wasn’t afraid of attempting the trials on my own, but she ran away, deciding to do it her way. So right now our only chance is to work together to free your friend and return me to my beloved.” He explained.
***There have been many moments in Dean’s life when the hunter was angry, but this time, he thought, was beat out any other due to the fact that he was being forced into solving something that wasn’t even his problem to begin with. The hunter had no idea why all of the higher forces thought that they could do whatever they wanted with the Winchesters, without even asking for permission, like Dean and everyone he cared for were nothing but pieces on a chess board. It wasn’t the first time Dean and his brother had proven them wrong and the hunter was sure that they would be able to do it again.
After the conversation in the room, Acoya had told them that he would need to acquire several items before they would be ready to move and disappeared. Now Dean was sitting outside the motel room on the hood of the impala sipping a beer. Sam had warned him like a million times that he was drinking too often, but Dean didn’t care, because with the life he led it was impossible to deny himself alcohol.
Mary approached the car settling herself next to her father on its hood.
“It’s crazy, you know.” She whispered.
“Well, yeah, can’t argue with that.” Dean nodded.
“But we will do it, right?” She asked with hope. “We will get Castiel back, no matter what?”
Dean sighed pushing a fake smile onto his lips. Mary was worried about the angel so much that something was aching terribly inside the hunter’s chest. Dean could see how important Castiel was to his daughter, and even if he was still uncomfortably angry with this fact, he knew how much it sucked to lose someone you love.
“Of course we will.” He nodded.
Dean looked around, suddenly finding himself in the middle of a green field surrounded by mountains from every side. It was so unexpected that the hunter opened his mouth in attempt to swear, but no words escaped his mouth. Less than a second ago Dean had been standing in the parking lot next to his baby, talking to his daughter, and now he appeared here, in the middle of nowhere.
Dean glanced around himself, spotting Mary and Sam standing next to him with the same lost expression on their faces.
“What the…” He finally managed to say.
***The air around the field felt clean and fresh, and it was too hot for the beginning of April, but not quite to the point that it was uncomfortable. Far away on the line of the horizon Dean could see a white palace with golden domes, and it felt like someone had just sent them into a crazy fairy tale.
“All right, we are here.” He heard Acoya saying as he appeared right next to him.
The next second Dean found himself clenching the lapels of the guy’s shirt yet again. “What the hell is this?” the hunter yelled angrily. “What, no one taught you that you’re supposed to warn a person before doing something like that?” Dean asked.
Acoya looked at him with surprise and shook his head. “No, not really.” He answered.
“All right!” Mary interrupted. “We are here anyway, so there is no point in arguing.”
Dean glanced at his daughter, but it only made him more frustrated. “Send her back!” He commanded.
“I… I don’t think I can…” He blinked.
“What do you mean you can’t?” Dean groaned.
Acoya reached for his pocket and extracted a small yellow stone demonstrating it to the Winchesters like it could explain everything. Catching their confused looks he sighed and said. “The sun stone… It’s currently drained and needs to be recharged. Then I will be able to send you back.”
“And how long will the charging take?” Sam asked.
The guy glanced at the rock like he was trying to calculate something and then back at Dean. “A day or day and a half, I believe.” He replied.
“Just perfect! That’s exactly what we need!” Dean sighed letting Acoya go.
“Are you guys coming, or what?” Dean suddenly heard Mary saying. When he looked towards the voice of his daughter he saw that she had already started to walk toward the white palace, not paying any attention to Dean’s disagreement.
***The spires of the palace were getting closer and closer with every minute they spent hiking towards it, Dean was surprised by this, because at the start the palace had seemed many miles away.
Even with all the anger Dean was feeling, he couldn’t deny how breathtaking the palace was. The highest spire reached nearly to the clouds, and seemed to be touching the sky itself. The whole construction was made of white marble, and decorated with a metal that looked like gold.
“Are we even on earth?” he asked.
“Yes,” Acoya replied. “We are currently in Peru, not far away from Machu-Picchu.”
“Wait, why have I never heard about this place then? And why doesn’t the palace look anything like Machu-Picchu architecture.” Sam inquired.
“I really can’t explain exactly.” The guy said, “The palace is usually invisible to outsiders and warded very well.”
After several more minutes of traveling they passed a blooming garden and reached the main entrance to the palace. The main gates looked enormous, made of dark wood and engraved with a golden pattern of curving tree branches with a giant golden sun in the very middle. Before the gate stood two guards in light golden armor, which was barely covering their chests and white skirts, which in Dean’s opinion made them look ridiculous.
“So, how are we going to get through?” Sam asked.
“Don’t worry. Just leave it to me.” He said and started to approach the gates.
***“Nice plan!” Dean grinned sarcastically as he was forced on his knees by two guards before a figure cloaked in a golden dress.
“Well, we did get through the gates!” whispered Acoya, his tone unaffected.
Dean glanced away from the unwanted ally and concentrated his attention on the figure before them. The man he saw was dressed in a long tunic embroidered with golden thread. His skin was dark and his head was bald, he was sitting on a giant golden throne, which looked more like a chariot with two giant wheels on each side of it, and he was sizing up the four arrivals with his amber eyes.
Dean tried to straighten up for a better view but was forced back to his knees by one of the guards, the next moment the man before them gestured the guard to let go allowing Dean and the others to stand up.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” The man on the throne smiled. “The famous Winchester boys! And you Acoya-napa, the kidnapper of one of my beloved children!” Then he turned his attention to Mary and raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know who you are, but can see that you did not come from this world.” He gracefully stood from his throne coming closer to the girl.
Dean stepped forward moving in between the weird guy in a dress and his daughter. “Don’t…” he warned.
Dean expected the man to shove him away, but instead he smiled even wider: “A father, I see!” he said.
“And you…” Dean heard Sam speaking, “must be Tawa, the Sun god.”
“Tawa, Helios, Ra, Amaterassu, Khors - I have many names. But yes, Sam, you’re right. I am the Sun god.”
“Well, fancy meeting you,” Dean grinned. “You see, it happened that Acoya over there decided to try the challenges to propose to your daughter...”
Tawa turned his attention back to the older Winchester interrupting him in the middle of the speech: “Your heart is filled with fear of me, but your tongue is still sharp and ill-mannered. What an interesting thing you are!”
“Hey, the only thing here is you!” Dean protested and suddenly received a sharp elbow to his ribs from his own daughter.
“I want to apologize for the behavior of my father.” She said bowing her head. “Sometimes he can be difficult.”
“Well, then maybe he just needs a good lesson?” The Sun god proposed with a knowing smirk.
With those words Dean was ready for something or someone to attack them. The older hunter had already started to calculate all possible ways of escape, as well as possible strategies for fighting back. “A lesson on why you don’t need to be afraid of me. I mean no harm to any of you!” Tawa finished bringing his hands up. “Servants, prepare a good dinner for our guests! And find this angel of theirs, my arrogant daughter thought that I could harm him instead of introducing us to her spouse to be!”
On the corner of his eyes Dean noticed how Acoya tensed at the last words of the Sun god. So, Tawa had already known about Castiel and their plan, and everything turned out to be more complicated than they expected. Well, it’s not like it was the first time things went not according by a plan.
***Half an hour later Dean found himself in a room which looked like the suite in a six star hotel. Although Dean had never been in anything better than four stars (you just can’t bring some women in a moldy motel and expect them to feel comfortable enough to have a good time), and though he wasn’t sure if six stars even existed, he was certain that his rating was right. The room was made of cold white and pink marble, and all the walls were covered in rich tapestries. Several animal pelts were lying on the floor, and this time Dean was certain that the pelts were real. In the middle of the room there was a large bed with a silk canopy above it.
Dean moved around the room to a hardwood bureau examining the objects standing on its surface. First the hunter spotted a small ceramic box with several small holes in it. The box smelled like roses, so the hunter opened it, and noticed that it was filled with red dust. He sniffed it, accidentally inhaling some of the dust and sneezed, then returned the box to the bureau and picked up one of the small golden statuettes, bringing it closer to his eyes - it was a miniature portraying a battle between a ram and a tiger. Not thinking too much about it Dean returned the statuette to its rightful place in his pocket.
“Jeez, man, this place is awesome!” exclaimed Sam who appeared in the doorframe of Dean’s room. His own room was right next door.
“I would still feel safer in a motel.” The older brother said. “Where’s Mary?”
“She decided to try one of those marble baths in her room, she’ll be fine!” Sam reassured.
“Well, unless someone changes his mind and she gets attacked right there, where we can’t protect her!” Dean protested.
“Dean, relax! If they wanted to kill us, they would do it right away. It’s not like Tawa didn’t have the means.”
“So, what, now you’re perfectly fine with our situation? You think we need to get our guard down and go with the flow?”
“No, of course not,” Sam entered fully into the room closing the door behind him and approached the bed taking a seat. “What I’m trying to say, that we still have no idea where Castiel’s at and we can’t do anything before we find him. For now we can pretend to be a bunch of grateful guests and attend the dinner to survey the surroundings.” Sam explained.
“Yeah, I just didn’t really enjoy attending a pagan dinner the last time. Cause if you don’t recall it was us who were supposed to be eaten!”
“Ok, and what is your plan, then?”
Dean sighed reaching for the inner pocket of his jacket and extracted his phone. “We need to find a way to contact Bobby.” He proposed opening the small gray device and looking at its screen. Surprisingly the phone had two lines of signal and the message under the clock was saying ‘Welcome to Movistar’, “The hell is Movistar?” Dean inquired with a hint of amusement in his voice.
“A local network, I suppose.” Sam shrugged his shoulders. “Although I wouldn’t recommend calling right away before we gather more information - it can get pricey.”
Dean nodded in an agreement and returned the phone to the pocket. “So, looks like we have nothing else to do, but wait.” He concluded.
***There weren’t many ways to get Dean Winchester to the level of anger he was at for the past couple of hours, there also weren’t many ways to improve his bad mood. Good food though, was conveniently in category two, so when the three of them had finally been invited for dinner, and he had smelled the whole bouquet of aromas wafting in from the main chamber, and making his stomach growl in anticipation, he had almost forgotten where they actually were.
The room itself was filled with tables holding all kinds of food starting from roasted whole pigs with the classic apple in their mouths, and ending with, what attracted Dean the most, bacon cheeseburgers.
“I decided to bring some of the food you enjoy the most.” Explained Tawa as though he was reading the hunter’s mind.
“Well, thanks for that…” Dean replied with distrust. The food he had at the fair was a fading memory, and Dean was really hungry, but he still tried to be careful in front of enemies, so he was trying to suppress the urge to rush to the tables and stuff his mouth until he couldn’t move.
“Don’t worry, it’s not poisoned.” The Sun God sighed. “If I wanted to kill you, I would simply slit your throat. Poisons aren’t my forte.”
Dean looked through the chamber yet again. There were several servants running around the tables carrying trays with drinks to people sitting behind the tables and eating, not even paying any attention to the Winchesters. Dean hadn’t the slightest clue about who those other quests might be: They were all of different genders, ages, races, styles of clothing- it looked like someone had just picked a whole bunch of random people from all around the world to fill this room up; some of them didn’t even look human, with their lifeless white eyes and sharp teeth. In each corner of the chamber stood the motionless and quiet guards, nearly invisible, but never the less present. Chuqui-llantu and several other women were sitting next to the host, looking nervous. Neither Castiel nor Acoya were here.
“Not exactly the place I wanted to spend Saturday evening…” Dean whispered to his brother and daughter as the three of them moved to the furthest end of the room, trying to find spots as far away of the others as possible. “We need to plan our way out.”
“We still need to find Cas, our hands are tied for now.” Sam hissed in reply.
“Speaking of the angel…” Mary hummed in amusement pointing to the doorway they came from.
There, led by several other guards, both of the missing men entered the room, making Dean nearly choke on the piece of hamburger he’d managed to cram into his mouth a moment ago. Both Castiel and Acoya were bare-chested, wearing similar light brown pants held on their hips by a simple rope, and nothing else.
Dean’s eyes unintentionally traced Castiel’s lean but surprisingly muscular body from his neck and arms, to his chest, and then down to his stomach. Dean suddenly started to feel breathless looking at the light of torches dancing on the skin of his friend. Dean had never expected the angel wearing a body of an average guy who sold ad time for radio, to be built so well. He distantly felt a single droplet of sweat rolling down his neck as his eyes moved lower down his stomach and… Dean nearly jumped from his place as he realized the way he had been looking at his friend less than a second ago. Panic enveloped him, making him sick to his stomach. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Acoya smirking at him, before he turned his head back to Tawa.
“You ok?” Sam asked rising his eyebrow.
“Fine!” Dean snapped hoping his brother wouldn’t push his questions any further. Hoping he didn’t notice the way Dean had been looking at the angel.
Dean hurried to busy his mouth with another bite of his burger - stuffing himself to oblivion seemed right now like a best idea in the world.
“An interesting occasion brought us all together today.” Tawa started. “Today not one, but two competitors decided to try their luck in winning the hand of one of my beloved daughters! As tradition demands both of them will need to face a number of challenges to reach this goal.”
“Wait a second” Sam interrupted suddenly. “You already know everything that happened, you know he doesn’t want to be involved, why do you still want Castiel to participate?”
“Exactly!” Dean joined his brother, indignant because it wasn’t their problem anymore. “Let this Acoya guy do all the challenges, or whatever you have in mind and let us go!”
Tawa looked at the both of them with a smile, pushing a green grape into his mouth. “Well, I understand your concern, but if I simply let you go, it would be less interesting.”
“Really?” Mary said surprised. “You do understand that if both of them participate, Cas can simply lose intentionally, so we would go home anyway, don’t you?”
“And that is why you needed to finish listening first, before interrupting.” The god sighed. “You didn’t hear the most interesting part yet! Whoever wins the competition by completing all of the challenges first, will have to marry my daughter and stay with us forever. The losing participant…”he paused looking at Castiel and Acoya, “…will die.”
To be continued...
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