Author: FriendofCarlotta || @friendofcarlotta Artist: szlez || @szlez Rating: Explicit Archive Warnings: Descriptions of Dead Bodies, Vomiting, Mentions of Suicide, Child Death, Temporary MCD Word count: 36k Tags: Inspired by The Ring, Established Relationship, Alternate Angel Lore Summary:
Never open an email attachment from an unknown sender.
It’s a good rule to live by, unless you’re a reporter and the email makes reference to your investigation of missing persons cases. Maybe even then, because when Castiel Novak opens the attachment, he’s exposed to disturbing video footage that is said to kill anyone who watches it within seven days.
The more Castiel learns about the footage, the more he comes to believe that it’s connected to the case of Anna Milton, one of the people whose disappearance he has been investigating. When his husband Dean is exposed to the footage as well, Castiel becomes locked in a race to save them both before their seven days are up.
Excerpt:
Castiel hung up the call without giving Sam a chance to respond. His cell phone clattered as it hit the kitchen counter. Within seconds, he was outside the door to the office. He didn’t bother knocking. Dean sat in the desk chair, his phone to his ear and a puzzled look on his face. He dropped it when Castiel burst through the door. “Cas, what the—” The question Castiel had been planning to ask died on his lips. He didn’t need to ask it, not when the evidence was right there on the screen: a video player paused on a frozen image of rippling water. Dean had watched the video. “No,” he said, shaking his head convulsively. “No. No.” He strode over to the desk and closed out of the video, as though that could make any difference at this point. Closing the video revealed the work email tab he hadn’t closed out the last time he’d used the computer. That must be how Dean had accessed the video, but it didn’t explain his reasoning. “Why?” Castiel asked. It was the only thing he could think to say. Dean stared up at him with an expression that had started out defiant, but was rapidly shifting to concern. Castiel’s distress must be that obvious. “I wanted to see what had you so spun out,” Dean said. “It was right there, so I figured I’d watch. Ain’t like I can get you to talk about this stuff with me any other way, apparently.” Castiel’s fault. All Castiel’s fault. If he hadn’t let himself get so swept up, if he’d talked to Dean about his concerns from the jump, Dean would have known to be careful. He would have known to avoid watching the video. Fuck. “Cas. Hey. Hey.” Dean held out his hands and offered them to Castiel. Castiel took them and let himself be pulled down into Dean’s lap. It wasn’t until Dean’s thumb brushed a tear off his cheek that he realized he’d started to cry. He tucked his head next to Dean’s, breathing in the warm skin smell of him. Dean’s arms squeezed him around the middle. “I still don’t get what’s got you so upset, hon,” Dean said quietly. “Talk to me.” How was he meant to convey the horrible weight of unease that had taken up residence inside him ever since he’d first seen the footage? Everything he could possibly say would sound ridiculous. Still, he had to try. Avoidance had gotten them into this mess in the first place. “Dean, people who watch this video… they die.”
Posting date: August 2nd, 2026
