Featured many times on this blog before, the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) is a bubble floating serenely against a muddy celestial background. Located about 7,000 light years away and stretching about 6 light years across, the "bubble" was created by its central star blowing out the surrounding gas with its stellar wind.
~Y/N has everything she’s ever wanted - the love of a good man, a best friend she can lean on, drama, magic, and heroics. But everyone knows, things aren’t always what they seem.~
Dean Winchester x Reader, Sam Winchester, Rowena, Castiel, Others
Chapter Eleven Word Count: 2468
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! This one's ... intense...
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Y/N perched on the foot of her bed and rubbed her palms down her thighs, nervous and exhausted.
Her room looked sad and abandoned. It had been a while since she’d stayed there, coming in only now and then to grab clothes or switch out toiletries. A few photographs in dusty frames sat atop her desk and her mother’s crocheted blanket hung over the back of the chair. Otherwise, the place was unrecongizable as belonging to Y/N.
Her time was spent with Dean now, cluttering up his room and his life.
Honestly, if she thought about it, she couldn’t remember ever sleeping in her room. Or setting it up, placing the photos on the desk top, folding the blanket. If she really thought about it, it all seemed so foreign, so strange.
Castiel knocked gently and her thoughts shifted to the problem at hand. She smiled softly as he came in, jumped a bit when he shut the door behind him.
“Is this really necessary?” she asked, feeling a little shaky as he walked towards the bed. “We could have just done this out there-”
“I thought you would prefer the privacy.”
His deep voice sent a shiver through her and Y/N laughed awkwardly.
“If you wanted to get me alone, Cas, all you had to do was ask.”
She winked and he frowned, confused.
“I did.”
“Yeah, but- it’s- yeah, nevermind.”
He cocked his head but she waved it off, shaking her head at him.
“Just forget it. So, what do you need me to do?”
Castiel approached the bed, eyes sweeping over her face. “It would be helpful if you lay back,” he said simply. “Get comfortable.”
Her stomach flipped. “Why? Aren’t you just going to slap me with two fingers and get to healing?”
Pulling the chair away from the desk, he dragged it to the side of the bed and sat. “I could, yes. But Dean seems to think that more is needed. We’d like to find out what is going on.”
Tentatively, she scooted up onto the bed, her eyes still locked suspiciously on Castiel. “And how are you going to do that?”
He waited until Y/N’s head was settled on the pillow. “I’m going to take a look inside your dreams.” Leaning forward, he reached his right hand towards her head, but Y/N flinched away.
“You’re gonna what now?”
“I’m going to look inside your mind and follow the dreams back to their source.”
He was too calm, too sure that what he was saying wasn’t insane, and Y/N laughed at the ridiculousness of her life.
“So…” She sat up on her elbows and stared him down. “Your plan is to knock me out and dream walk inside my head with me?”
Castiel pondered for a second and then nodded. “Yes.”
“Don’t you think that could be a little… awkward?”
His brows furrowed. “How so?”
Y/N stammered. “I- well- I mean- I don’t know what’s going on up there. What if there are things you shouldn’t be seeing?”
Castiel smiled warmly and sighed. “Would it help if you swore me to secrecy?”
“Actually, I think it would.” Calmer, she lay back down and folded her hands over her stomach. “And no judging me. Dreams are weird. Do you dream?”
He laughed lightly. “I do not.”
“OK, so you don’t know how weird it can get in there. No judgy. Promise.”
His fingers hovered over her forehead. “I promise. No… judgy.”
Satisfied, she took a deep breath and looked up into his bright blue eyes. “Just be gentle with me, Cas. I’m not sure if-”
“- I’m entirely comfortable with this. What the fuck…”
They stood in the middle of a brightly lit room. The walls were beige, the floors tiled in speckled white. Heavy metal bars hung over the windows on either side of them, and empty chairs were sat next to empty tables.
Y/N looked around, confused.
“Where are we?” she asked, fear making her reach for Castiel’s hand.
He squeezed back reassuringly before letting her go.
“I was hoping you could tell me,” he replied, squinting at the double doors across the room.
Y/N shrugged. “No clue. If I’m dreaming, this is a new one for me.”
“You are dreaming,” he said, taking a step towards the exit.
“So what do we do now?”
“We see what happens.”
“What if nothing hap-”
On cue, the double doors burst open and Dean, dressed in the pale blue uniform of an orderly appeared. He looked past Y/N and Castiel, pushing a sluggish figure in a wheelchair.
“Dean?”
He didn’t respond or seem to notice her there, going about his work of wheeling in the patient.
Y/N looked close as they came near and gasped when she saw herself in the chair. Her hair was down, matted and greasy, covering her tired face; her arms stretched tight around her torso in a straightjacket.
“Well, this can’t be good.”
Castiel was without question or judgement and Y/N was at a loss. She shrugged at the angel and watched as Dean locked the wheelchair’s wheels. When he was done, he turned to leave and Y/N felt a strong urge to follow him.
“I guess this is what we’re doing, Cas. Come on.”
Awake and walking through the dream felt like floating through gelatin. Her legs were weak and each step seemed to bring the world closer but push her goal further away.
Once they pushed through the doors, the hospital was gone, replaced with an open field of purple flowers and a slowly setting sun. The Impala was parked in the middle of the flowers and Y/N smiled, hoping for a lovely scene.
The windows were down and Y/N peered inside, careful not to disturb anything. A blush washed over her face when she beheld a very naked Dean pounding into her dreamself in the backseat.
“Oh… oh my…” She shook her head at Castiel, waving him off before he could reach the car. “You… don’t need to see this one… All good in here.”
Just as she spoke, the sound of her own voice cracked the sky. Y/N screamed from inside the car as Dean ripped into her gut with the tip of the ancient First Blade. His eyes flashed to black and the Y/N outside screamed as well. She could feel the seering pain as the bone cut into her stomach, see the horrific grin on Dean’s face.
She scrambled back and away from the car, slipping down into a patch of thick mud.
The sky faded to pitch as she lay there, coated in the damp muck. The Impala vanished and she struggled to move.
Castiel reached for her and she stood by his side, steady, safe.
“What is going on?” she whispered, breath slowly rushing back into her lungs.
“I’m not sure,” he said sadly. “Just remember, you’re safe. None of this is real. We’re still inside your head.”
Y/N groaned. “Yeah, but I’m not liking what’s in here so far.”
“Neither am I…”
Together, they walked a few paces in the dark, lost without direction or guiding light.
“Well this is just stupid,” Y/N sighed, refusing to take another step into the unknown. “I need a… thingy.”
Castiel balked. “Thingy?”
“You know… a…” As soon as she found the word, it appeared in her hand, fully charged and bright. “Flashlight! Cool.”
Turning, Y/N cast the light across the open field. Not too far away, a large figure was hunched over like a rock in the dark.
Y/N hesitated. “Maybe we just stay here,” she whispered, leaning close to Castiel. “Nothing good can come of going over there.”
Cas cleared his throat and tugged on her sleeve. “We’re going.”
The closer they got, the more the rock moved. As the light shone, Y/N could clearly see that it was less of a rock and more of a Sam Winchester rocking backwards with a barely clothed Y/N in his lap.
Stunned, she stared on as her dreamself tore Sam’s orange plaid open and ran her tongue down his throat.
Castiel turned to Y/N and bit his lip, questioning with a sensitive look.
Y/N clicked her tongue, biding time while she thought of an excuse. “Look, I- I mean… I can’t control what goes on in here! We said no judgy!”
A growl caught their attention and the angel and Y/N looked back to see the other Y/N sink her fangs into Sam’s throat, ripping a chunk of flesh clean away.
Y/N cringed. “Holy shit-”
Sam screamed, clawing at her bare shoulders, trying to push her off as the blood coated his chest.
As she watched, Y/N felt her mouth flood with warmth and Sam’s spicey aftershave and minty taste filled her senses. She swallowed hard and hummed as the sweet blood ran through her system.
“This is fucked up,” she gasped, reaching out to grab a fistful of trench coat, steadying herself.
Castiel agreed. “Very.”
The blood kept coming, pouring into her mouth, thick and as sweet as honey. She shivered as Sam cried out and dream Y/N sat back, laughing at his struggle.
Behind them, Dean appeared out of nowhere, a long blade tight in his fist. He swung and Y/N went down, her head rolling off into the darkness.
“Well… damn!”
Y/N’s jaw dropped as she watched herself die and Castiel pulled her close.
“We should go,” he said, turning with her as the scene faded.
“Go where?”
The world opened up around them and the light returned, blinding and hot.
“This is exhausting,” Y/N sighed, pulling away from Castiel’s side. “Sleeping isn’t supposed to be so traumatic.”
The sun eased behind a cloud and a junkyard appeared around them. Cars and trucks in various stages of repair cluttered a dusty lot, and Y/N sucked in a stunned breath.
“What are we doing here?”
Castiel’s eyes narrowed at the sign above the driveway. “Singer Auto Salvage,” he read aloud. “This is Bobby Singer’s old place.”
Y/N nodded, too stunned and terrified to speak.
Confused, Castiel turned, looking around at the wrecks. “But you were never… how are we here?”
A few yards away, he appeared, stepping into the empty row across from them. His ballcap was dusty and his face was caked with blood. A smile lifted beneath his graying beard and Bobby raised a hand to wave at Y/N.
“Daddy?”
She took off in a flash, kicking at the dry earth as she ran towards Bobby.
“Daddy!”
A shot rang out, stinging her ears, and Bobby’s knees gave out as a bullet burst through his chest. His white tee ripped apart and soaked up the crimson flood. As he hit the ground, Y/N looked up to see her own eyes staring back, a smoking gun held tight in her hand.
“No!”
She hit the ground, fists pounding the dirt.
The pistol clicked, the chamber reloaded.
Castiel dragged her from her knees while the sky shimmered above them.
“Let me go!” Y/N raged at his hand, trying to pry the impossibly strong grip away. “Cas!”
His hands fell away and Y/N hit the ground again. She gasped as her hands hit smooth tile, the dirt gone and forgotten.
Suddenly back in the Bunker, Y/N climbed to her feet and took a heavy breath. “What is going on? None of this has been in my nightmares, Cas. This is all weird-”
The angel was walking ahead, forging on down the twisting hallway.
Y/N followed, holding her breath around every turn, sure she would see some heart-stopping horror at each bend.
As they walked on, a gentle but husky moaning pulsed from somewhere in the Bunker. Y/N blushed, recongizing her own heated noises.
“What the fuck, am I just screwing everyone in here?”
A loud cry echoed down the hallway and she quickly caught up with Castiel.
Y/N cleared her throat. “I don’t think we need to keep going…”
He frowned. “We do. We’re here to do a job and we’re going to do it.”
“Yeah but- do we really need to see- oh god…”
Stepping into the War Room, Y/N and Castiel followed the sound upwards. There, hovering just under the roof, was a very naked Castiel and an equally naked Y/N riding him, her hands pressed into the ceiling, his tie wrapped loosely around her neck.
“Fuck, just like that…” Dream Y/N cried out, hips rolling over Castiel’s.
Embarrassment slapped Y/N in the face and she laughed painfully. “I… um-”
Castiel turned to face her, his cheeks a little pinker than usual. “It’s alright, Y/N.”
“This isn’t- um… I mean…”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “You don’t have to-”
“I’m not gonna say I haven’t seen this one before but…”
Again, Castiel shook his head, stunned into a strained silence.
He turned to leave and Y/N pressed her legs together as a jolt of pleasure struck her.
“Oh god. Cas! I’m sorry!”
Back through the hallway they went, peeking into open doors and pushing at locked ones. Everything they saw was unexpected, every scene slightly worse than before. Y/N’s mind was a catacomb of oddities and Castiel helped walk her through it without a scolding word.
Y/N was growing weary of the entire experience. It was one thing to dream these scenarios, but to see them all laid out one after the other was nearly too much to take.
In one door, she watched herself overdose, bloody spit bubbling from her mouth while Sam struggled to give her CPR.
In another, Dean dressed as Doctor Sexy carved his name into her thighs and chest before fucking her hard, the blood dribbled onto his cock like lubrication.
There were a thousand doors and a million dreams, and Y/N found it impossible to keep going. She could feel everything she saw, good or bad; smell the burning flesh behind the door to Hell, taste the motor oil that Dean poured via funnel down her throat. She was stabbed, shot, hung, pulled apart, fucked, cuddled, kissed, adored. She loved and murdered and cried and laughed. She ran through mist and cowered under staircases. Watched herself die and kill, live and lose; heard the throbbing pulse of the universe as it rang through her mind.
It was all too much.
At the end of the hallway, she collapsed. Her head was spinning and the air was too thin. With her last breath she called out for Castiel and he rushed to her aid, scooping her up into his strong arms.
