The unforgiving waves pushed him further under, arms and legs flailing wildly.
In his panic, he made the mistake of trying to breathe. To scream. All it got him was a mouthful of water and a burning in his lungs.
DeanCas Horrorfest presents:
A Word in the Mists
Author: Hiding Amaranth
Artist: lamiasage
Rating: M
Word Count: ~23,000
Tags&Warnings: pre-relationship Dean/Castiel, Dean & Jo, Canon-Adjacent AU, Case Fic, Monster Hunt, Mystery, Ship at Sea Setting, Isolated from the Outside World, Sarcasm, Angst, Canon-Level Depictions of Blood and Violence, Minor Character Deaths (not TFW), Brief Hints of Suicidal Thoughts, Fear of Drowning, I can't use more tags because I don't want to spoil the surprise
Summary:
Mist as far as the eye can see. A gloomy ocean that seems to swallow up the sunlight like broken dreams. An old, rusty ship that creaks with every inch of movement. And a crew that could compete in an award for grumpiest people alive.
Dean really hates pretty much everything about this case, and would love nothing more than to call it quits and turn this ship around—if there wasn't the little issue of the disappearance of thousands of people across ten different ships on the open sea.
Saving lives is what he does… though he has to question if he isn't doing more harm than good when the disappearances begin on his own ship—and he still hasn't even figured out what kind of monster they're dealing with.
Preview:
Nothingness devoured the horizon. Dean glanced back over his shoulder, but the wafts of mist were too thick to see anything beyond the ship's railing. A chill crept over his skin at the realization that he couldn't even make out the other end of the ship itself. The chain of friendly, orange lights hung across the deck didn't stand a chance, its brightness swallowed up effortlessly by the blanket of fog. It was a mirror to the way this blasted mission seemed to soak all happiness out of him.
Maybe coming up here had been a mistake. He'd hoped the fresh air would help him clear his head—that it could ease some of the tension that had stubbornly settled in his shoulders ever since he'd set foot on the Fate's Whisper. Instead, all he'd achieved by stepping out on the deck was that the tight knot of worry somewhere deep in his chest solidified.
Coming this October to @deancashorrorfest!
The Apocalypse is nigh, and the Prophecy is false.
The unforgiving waves pushed him further under, arms and legs flailing wildly.
In his panic, he made the mistake of trying to breathe. To scream. All it got him was a mouthful of water and a burning in his lungs.
DeanCas HorrorFest presents:
A Word in the Mists
Author: Hiding Amaranth
Artist: lamiasage
Rating: M
Word Count: 23,968
Tags&Warnings:
Canon-Adjacent AU, Ship at Sea setting, Case Fic, Monster Hunt, Mystery, Suspense, pre-relationship Dean/Castiel, Dean & Jo, Isolated from the Outside World, Castiel and Dean Save Each Other, Sarcasm, Angst, Canon-Level Depictions of Blood and Violence, Minor Character Deaths (not TFW), Brief Hints of Suicidal Thoughts, Fear of Drowning
Summary:
Mist as far as the eye can see. A gloomy ocean that seems to swallow up the sunlight like broken dreams. An old, rusty ship that creaks with every inch of movement. And a crew that could compete in an award for grumpiest people alive.
Dean really hates pretty much everything about this case, and would love nothing more than to call it quits and turn this ship around—if there wasn't the little issue of the disappearance of thousands of people across ten different ships on the open sea.
Saving lives is what he does… though he has to question if he isn't doing more harm than good when the disappearances begin on his own ship—and he still hasn't even figured out what kind of monster they're dealing with.
Preview:
Nothingness devoured the horizon. Dean glanced back over his shoulder, but the wafts of mist were too thick to see anything beyond the ship's railing. A chill crept over his skin at the realization that he couldn't even make out the other end of the ship itself. The chain of friendly, orange lights hung across the deck didn't stand a chance, its brightness swallowed up effortlessly by the blanket of fog. It was a mirror to the way this blasted mission seemed to soak all happiness out of him.
Maybe coming up here had been a mistake. He'd hoped the fresh air would help him clear his head—that it could ease some of the tension that had stubbornly settled in his shoulders ever since he'd set foot on the Fate's Whisper. Instead, all he'd achieved by stepping out on the deck was that the tight knot of worry somewhere deep in his chest solidified.
Link to Fic Link to Art
The Apocalypse is nigh, and the Prophecy is false.
Words: 106,445 (WIP)
Rating: not rated yet
Relationships: Dean/Castiel, Sam/Rowena, hints of Michael/Adam, Jack & Dean, Jack & Crowley, Castiel & HunterCorp Dean
Tags: Canon Universe, Post-Ep 15x18, Epic, Plotty, Apocalypse, Consensual Possession, Angel True Forms, Empty Rescue, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Action, Adventure, Humor, Romance, Slow Burn, Rowena/Sam First Kiss, Witch Sam, Queen of Hell Rowena, Rebellion in Hell, Caring Rowena, Caring Crowley, Team Free Will 3.0
Point-of-View Characters: Dean, Sam, Jack, Castiel, Rowena, Crowley, Naomi, Michael, Kevin, Balthazar, HunterCorp Dean, HunterCorp Sam, Mary, John, Meg, Mick
Summary: After Castiel's confession, Dean carries a spark of hope telling him this can't be the end. This spark is the strongest weapon for Dean, Sam and Jack in this final war. The enemy is God. The battlefield is an Earth devoid of humans, a Hell in rebellion, and a Heaven betrayed by its creator. And the stakes are everything and everyone they have ever cared about.
Read on AO3 ✧ Excerpt ✧ Text Trailer ✧ Art1 ✧ Art2
My fic for the Dean/Cas Reverse Bang 2024 that I've been pouring my heart and soul into for the last few months.
Art by Aggiedoll
Castiel POV
"So…," Dean bridged the gap of their sudden silence. "What's on your bucket list?"
"What?" Castiel asked, wondering what would happen if he simply gave in to his fingers' itching desire to reach out and slide over Dean's arm. Now that he'd gotten another brief taste of it, the urge to feel, to sense, to touch was so much harder to rein in, lighting up the nerves in fingertips that were his alone again after all the time he'd spent locked into his own mind without any control over this body.
"Not in general," Dean clarified nothing whatsoever. "I sure hope you ain't gonna kick the bucket any time soon. Or, like, at all. I just mean while we're here."
Castiel had to admit that standing so close to Dean really impacted his ability to focus, celestial being or not. He could only make half a sense out of this string of words. If he didn't know any better, he'd think Dean was covering some kind of nervousness with the way he kept interrupting himself by adding more sentences. Only that there was no discernible thing for him to be nervous about. There was nothing but them and the open sea.
Dean POV
The frog chirped and hopped away with one long leap. Running on intuition more than any logical reasoning, Dean pushed aside the fern that the animal had disappeared behind, uncovering an opening in the ground. He pulled out his phone and activated the flashlight, shining down into what seemed to be a steep, narrow tunnel leading down into pitch black.
He hated narrow fucking tunnels. A small part of his brain still seemed to be functional enough to have his phone send Sam his coordinates with a brief 'Just in case'. Then he stowed the device back in his pocket and covered his face in his hands, dreading what came next.
Cas, he reminded himself. He was doing this to get Cas back.
Words: 32,679
Rating: Explicit
Tags: Canon Universe, Post-Season 11, Beach Vacation, Fantasy Adventure, Humor, Angst with Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fallen Angel Castiel, Castiel's True Form, Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love, Dean in Denial, Dean Makes Up Excuses for Touch, Castiel Uses Sarcasm, Slow Burn, Castiel Goes Missing, Castiel and Dean Save Each Other
Words: 2,194 (finished)
Rating: Teen
Relationships: Rowena/Sam
Tags: Canon Universe, Episode 15x08, Rowena/Sam First Kiss, Angst with Happy Ending, Angst and Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Ruler of Hell Rowena, Sam Using Magic
Point-of-View Characters: Sam
Summary: Now that the fact had sunken in that Rowena wasn't gone forever, that she was only a spell away, he couldn't let it go. He had to return to Hell.
Written for the SPN Royalty of Hell Weekend 2023
Day 2: Queen of Hell
hosted by @spnrareships
Banner created by the author
Read Dibs on Samuel on AO3
Excerpt under the cut
He let himself sink to his knees, pulling the boxes of spell ingredients and Rowena's journals out from under his bed. A sense of calm washed over him the moment his fingers touched the red leather cover, the same way it had for weeks now. Something to cling to in the insanity his life had become.
The magic, all that knowledge right there in front of him, had sucked him in quickly. It had carried him through sleepless nights, most of which had ended with a tear-streaked face—especially whenever he'd stumbled over any kind of personal annotations scribbled onto the pages. Almost as if she'd been right there with him.
He'd been convinced that these journals were all that remained of her, his only way of ever interacting with her again. That's why he'd refused to store them anywhere other than his own room.
Doing what we do, we've had to get used to losing people. Probably too used to it.
When he'd said this to Michael just minutes ago, he'd been talking about Adam. But he realized the statement applied to Rowena as much as to his younger brother.
With Adam, we said goodbye because we thought we had to. We were wrong.
He'd tried so hard to say goodbye, to let go of her. To stop the flashbacks of the moment the dagger had sunken into her stomach. The nauseating squelch still haunted his dreams whenever he closed his eyes.
When he'd used Rowena's spell to teleport Dean, Cas and himself to Hell, he'd done so only in the vague hope of finding Michael. The last thing he'd expected was to find Rowena instead.
Ironically, he'd spent most of the encounter too stunned to say much. And that even though he'd lain awake in the half-dark of his room many nights in a row, imagining all the things he wished he could still ask her, tell her. He hadn't thought he'd ever get a chance to.
Now that the fact had sunken in that she wasn't gone forever, that she was only a spell away, he couldn't let it go. He had to return to Hell.
With any luck, nobody would even notice he was gone. He didn't have the exact numbers to convert Earth and Hell times, but even just ten minutes here should be plenty of time over there. Archangels and God be damned, he'd take the time.
Nobody was there to keep the flame burning in case he'd need longer than the contents of the bowl would last, but he felt that this was something he had to do on his own. In the worst case, he wouldn't exactly get trapped on the other side anyway, not with Rowena calling the shots. He trusted her.
The magic ingredients were exactly how he'd left them, all stacked neatly into a small box next to the spell bowl. It didn't take long at all to prepare the spell for the second time that day. Though he was sure he remembered every word, he still leafed through the journal for confirmation, finding the page blindly. He let his finger pads glide over the elegant handwriting and exhaled with a brief smile, shaking his head about himself.
His blood was the last ingredient missing, so he swallowed and took a deep breath to calm his nerves, then cut into his palm. The feeling of a knife in his hand made him sick to his stomach after what he'd been forced to do to her. A trickle of red fell from his clenched fingers into the bowl, and he had to remind himself that it was his own this time. Not hers.
"Initium ad inferna permittatur," he whispered, his hands trembling as he lit a match to throw it into the mix.
He watched the small flame's descent and rested his fingers against the bowl's edge, the metal cold to the touch.
The explosion of purple was blinding, and he blinked, hastily wiping his sleeve over his face when the by now familiar sensation of tears appeared on his cheeks. He knew better than to think it had been caused only by the brightness.
When his vision cleared, he was standing in one of Hell's dark corridors. He still remembered the way to the throne room from earlier, though he really hoped he wouldn't have to fight his way through.
The alley leading directly to the throne room's gate came into view, framed by golden hooded statues on both sides. Several demons eyed him, and he fell into a combat stance by instinct. But then the demon at the front of the group of guards said, "Let him pass, he's on the list."
He was escorted the short distance to the gate. The demon cleared his throat before pushing it open, then announced loudly, "Milady, Samuel Winchester is here."
And there she was.
Sam had been a fool to think the second time seeing her on that snake-headed throne would be any less breathtaking.
Read Dibs on Samuel on AO3
@spnrarepairbunker @fanficlounge
If you would like to receive an @ tag when I post about my newest Samwena and/or Destiel fics or a new SPN video, let me know in a reply, reblog or personal message and I'll add you to my taglist. :)
Words: 7,292 (finished)
Rating: Teen
Relationships: Rowena/Sam, Rowena & Amnesiac Dean
Tags: Canon Universe, Episode 12x11, Missing Scenes, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Life-or-Death Stakes, Magic, Witches, Rowena Realizes She Cares, Pre-Relationship, Sam Being a Prisoner, Amnesiac Dean Being Chaotic, Humor, Soft Rowena, Rowena Teaching Herself to Drive a Car to Save Sam
Point-of-View Characters: Rowena
Summary: When they hear Sam's blood-curdling scream over the phone, Rowena is far more affected than she thought possible. She has to make up her mind whether or not to turn her back on the Winchesters in their dire need—and how far exactly she'll go to save them.
(Or my version of what happened in episode 12x11 between Sam's scream and the moment we see Dean wake up in the Impala, plus two additional new scenes at other blank spaces where the episode faded to black. And all of that from Rowena's point of view!)
Written for the Sam Winchester Rare Ships Week 2023
Day 6: "Missing Scene / Episode Tag"
hosted by @spnrareships
Banner created by the author
Read Regarding Sam on AO3
If you'd like to be added/removed from my taglist for Samwena and/or other SPN content, let me know in a reblog, reply, or personal message. :)
@spnrarepairbunker @fanficlounge @panthera-dei @samsrowena
Excerpt under the cut
"Age nunc intellectum," Catriona's lilting, obnoxious voice said over the speaker, casting a spell unknown to Rowena despite her vast knowledge of the arcane. Perhaps it stemmed directly from the Grimoire. "Age nunc intellectum atque voluntatem omnem meam."
The spell created a terrible, high-pitched noise, loud enough that Rowena had to lower the phone's volume lest they'd risk damage to their eardrums even from afar.
Sam screamed.
Screamed like she'd never heard him before.
His agony seemed to resonate somewhere deep within her muscles, shaking that barely contained landslide out of its constraints once more. She could swear she felt something shatter inside herself.
Then his scream broke off abruptly.
A blockage in her chest refused to let her breathe. Completely taken by surprise over her own reaction, she didn't know what to do or even think.
Nobody had ever—
She wasn't supposed to—
Clinging to the flickering movement of candlelight on the table, she swallowed against the lump in her throat and tried to make sense of what she was feeling. The weak attempt to ground herself failed miserably.
"Sam?" Dean's quiet, doubtful question condensed her thoughts far more effectively than she herself could have.
Sam, was he truly—
Too overwhelmed by the chaos in her head, the sound of Catriona's voice over the speaker actually made her wince.
"Tie him to that chair before he wakes up. I'll be right back."
Before he wakes up.
Heavens above.
She only just had enough sense to press a hand in front of her mouth to stifle the sound of relief that threatened to escape her.
It took another few seconds and several deep breaths until she regained control enough to think clearly. The first thing she did was mute their microphone, so that the ongoing connection would hopefully remain undiscovered, no matter how much noise they caused.
"What do we do?" Dean asked of her, looking at her with open trust as if she held all the answers in the world.
To the echo of hounds in her mind, she realized how much the lad's behavior reminded her of her time in Scotland, back when Fergus had been but a wee thing.
Casting a glance over to the motel room's door, she knew that she could turn her back on all this and be on her merry way. A past version of her would have done just that.
There was a sensation of wetness clinging to the corners of her eyes. Who knew if it had been caused by the memories of times long gone or by the mistaken conviction that Sam Winchester was no more.
At a distance of just a handful of steps, the door still beckoned her. But she wasn't the same woman anymore.
The things the supposed end of the world did to you.
Getting rid of the unshed tears with a hasty swipe of her hands, she squared her shoulders and straightened her posture before meeting Dean's gaze.
"Why, we save him, of course," she said, as if it was the most logical conclusion in the world. Perhaps it was. Or perhaps she'd finally lost her mind.
Dean smiled like a child who'd found the candy. "Oh, good, yeah, that's—" In a mood change as sudden as a lightning strike, he frowned instead. "How?"
Tags: Post-15x18, Fix-It, Epic, Plotty, Action/Adventure, Apocalypse, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with Happy Ending, Splashes of Humor, Empty Rescue, Protective Dean, Angel True Forms, Consensual Possession, Enochian, Magic, Witch Sam, Queen Rowena, Rebellion in Hell, Samwena First Kiss, Destiel Being Chaotic
Summary: After Castiel's confession, Dean carries a spark of hope telling him this can't be the end. This spark is the strongest weapon for Dean, Sam and Jack in this final war. The enemy is God. The battlefield is an Earth devoid of humans, a Hell in rebellion against its queen, and a Heaven betrayed by its creator. And the stakes are everything and everyone they have ever cared about.
Read Empty Earth on AO3!
Excerpt from Chapter 22 under the cut
The caped stranger ran through the dark tunnel much too fast for them to keep up. It was only thanks to Jack's angelic senses that he saw the man come to a stop somewhere ahead. He managed to prevent Mary from crashing into the wall with a warning hand against her shoulder. A quiet curse near them meant John hadn't been spared from that fate.
A light appeared, and Jack saw that the stranger held a small flashlight between his teeth while drawing another one of those chalk sigils. The outline of a door appeared in the wall of the tunnel, and a short press of the man's hand sufficed for it to open outwards.
One after the other, they stumbled out into the blinding brightness of someone's heaven on a sunny beach. The ocean was impressive and slightly intimidating with its size and the crashing waves. Jack had only ever seen such a large body of water in the split second it had taken him to fly across it in his frenzied escape from his own guilt. Standing right in front of these massive plains of blue reaching all the way to the horizon was on a different level entirely.
"Close the damned door if you got any sense!" the stranger called out to them and Jack turned hastily to press the door closed behind John, watching it merge seamlessly into a changing cubicle.
The man didn't wait to see if they complied, already running further ahead through rows of white sun chairs and colorful parasols.
"Doctor Badass, wait!" Jack yelled, attracting the attention of a woman who must have been the owner of this heaven.
"Who the fuck are you people?" she asked them, sitting up on her sun chair. "You're ruining my vibe here."
Jack noticed only then how much they stood out on this beach, fully dressed among people in swimwear, running when everyone else was just lounging and relaxing.
"I'm sorry. We'll stop ruining… your vibe. We were just leaving," he hurried to explain, throwing a look at Mary and John behind him. Mary seemed confused, John annoyed, but the caped stranger didn't slow down, so Jack had no choice but continue their frenzied run.
They caught up with him in front of a wooden booth selling ice cream, where the man was creating another one of his strange chalk doors on the side wall. He waved them inside and they were once more surrounded by darkness.
"All right, enough of this nonsense! Who or what are we running from?" John asked, his voice echoing in the silence of the tunnel.
"Jack, you said Dean is hurt? Where is he?" Mary talked over him, and the worry in her voice was audible.
Jack never had a chance to reply to either of these questions, though, because Doctor Badass cut him off.
"Listen, there's a time for answers, but this ain't it. Gotta shake off the God Squad before they can track us to Homebase."
Read Empty Earth on AO3!
If you'd like to be added/removed from my taglist for Destiel and/or Samwena content, let me know in a reblog, reply, or personal message. :)
@samsrowena @cactus-79 @typicalrowena @panthera-dei @butch--dean @thefandomsinhalor @fanficlounge @cocklesdestielfiction @destielficbasket
Empty Earth Chapter 21 is online on AO3!
This is the story's first full-chapter Rowena POV, and I'm excited to share it with you all! <3
Cover by the author (full size)
Empty Earth
Words: 93,625 so far, Chapters: 21/?
Relationships: Dean/Cas, Sam/Rowena,
Jack & Dean, Crowley & Jack
POV: Alternating
(Dean, Sam, Jack, Castiel, Rowena, Crowley, Naomi, HunterCorp Dean, Michael, Kevin, Balthazar)
Tags: Post-15x18, Fix-It, Epic, Plotty, Action/Adventure, Apocalypse, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with Happy Ending, Empty Rescue, Protective Dean, Angel True Forms, Consensual Possession, Enochian, Magic, Witch Sam, Queen Rowena, Rebellion in Hell, Samwena First Kiss, Destiel Being Chaotic
Summary: After Castiel's confession, Dean carries a spark of hope telling him this can't be the end. This spark is the strongest weapon for Dean, Sam and Jack in this final war. The enemy is God. The battlefield is an Earth devoid of humans, a Hell in rebellion against its queen, and a Heaven betrayed by its creator. And the stakes are everything and everyone they have ever cared about.
Read Empty Earth on AO3!
Excerpt from Chapter 21 under the cut
The knowledge that she didn't even have her magic to fall back on if something went awry this time was a grasp of coldness in her neck. These corridors matched the ones from her memory far too closely for comfort, whispering of how helpless she'd been during the frenzied run for her life back then. How she was even more helpless now, without her powers. Nobody had made any attempt to disarm her, and she was glad for it, lifting the angel blade a little higher in a semblance of safety.
She sensed a lingering gaze on her and looked up from her morose thoughts to be met with Sam's eyes, softening at whatever he'd seen on her face. It should probably worry her how proficient he'd gotten at reading her—that she'd even allowed anyone close enough to be able to. But when dimples appeared on his cheeks in the shadow of a smile, she couldn't find it in herself to listen to that worry.
This—this thing between them was new territory for her. Loath as she was to admit ignorance, she didn't have the slightest idea how to handle it. After the centuries she'd lived, there weren't all that many things left that still had the ability to throw her for a loop like this.
Read Empty Earth on AO3!
If you'd like to be added/removed from my taglist for Destiel and/or Samwena content, let me know in a reblog, reply, or personal message. :)
@typicalrowena @panthera-dei @samsrowena @cactus-79 @butch--dean @fanficlounge @cocklesdestielfiction @destielficbasket
