Fic: In The Angel's Garden 1/2
Title: In The Angel's Garden
Genre: Slash Fairytale Fantasy AU
Pairings: Dean/Castiel
Other Characters: Sam, Gabriel, Ruby
Rating: PG-13
Length: 10 009
Summary: Inspired by this beautiful piece of fanart. Castiel has been trapped by an evil curse for centuries, with no hope for freedom until the day Prince Dean stumbled into his life. But how can he be saved when Dean doesn't even know that he's in need of rescue?
Castiel had always been a bit odd compared to his brothers. For one, he liked to sit on the edge of Heaven and watch the world go by, rather than sing and bask about on the soft clouds of their home. For another, he actually took the time to listen to each and every prayer that came his way, rather than skim through them with half an ear. His brothers whispered to each other behind their hands about his strange behavior, but because he had always been that way, they just accepted it as one of those things.
It was during one of his vigils over the Earth that he first caught sign of the Enchantress. He did not truly understand what was happening at the time, as pretty much everything on Earth was foreign to him, but he did notice that the other humans were distressed by her. He leaned closer and watched her, trying to understand what she was doing that upset the people so.
He watched as warrior after warrior attacked her, suitor after suitor courted her, peasant after peasant pleaded with her. Each met the same fate. She would twist her beautiful features into a cruel sneer, and then she would turn them into stone statues with a flick of her fingers. He watched as their souls left their stone forms, weeping.
He did not like what she was doing, sensing that there was something terrible to her actions, but he did not want to interfere in something he did not understand without invitation. So he watched and waited until someone asked for him to intervene.
His brothers insisted he was foolish for devoting so much time to the matter. They told him it wasn’t his problem, that it was something the humans needed to deal with. That it was below them. He ignored them, and eventually they all sighed and gave up.
Gabriel stayed with him longest. He too had a passing interest in the humans below, but his attention could not be kept for long and eventually he too wandered off. He did, though, make Castiel promise to keep him updated before he left.
Then, finally, the day came that one of the desperate prayers from the humans below came to him, begging for someone to do something about the Enchantress. Castiel wasted no time at all. He gathered up his sword and garments, quickly informed Gabriel of where he was going, and then dove down towards the Earth.
He landed with a soft tap in the middle of the Enchantress’ garden. He glanced around, tucking his wings back and out of the way, and then started following the winding path through the rosebushes and past a fountain. All around him were the statues of the Enchantress’ victims, frozen in poses of horror or pain. The juxtaposition of the disturbing statue against the beautiful flowers was disturbing him much more than he expected. This was not his first trip to Earth, but it was the first time he had not been completely comfortable.
As he continued on his path through the garden, he kept his senses stretched around him for any sign of his target or potential victims he could save, but the plant life teeming around him was disrupting his concentration. It was for this reason that he did not see the Enchantress until he had turned around the corner of an ivy-covered stone wall.
They both froze at the sight of each other, Castiel taking in her flowing robes and dark hair studded with huge rubies, and then the Enchantress shrieked and lashed out with a powerful spell. Castiel flared his wings and launched himself into the sky, just as the spell collided with the space where he had been just moments before, instantly turning the ivy to stone. He flicked his wingtips and gracefully turned in the air to fly directly behind her, where he landed in a crouch. Before she could fully turn to face him he swept out with one leg, knocking her to the ground. She gasped in pain as she collapsed, but he didn’t pause and pinned her to the ground with his blade poised at her neck. He reached back to deliver the final blow when she suddenly let out a sob beneath him. He paused.
“Why are you crying?” he asked in confusion, watching the tears slide down her face in fascination.
“I knew one of you would come for me eventually,” she moaned. She whipped her head back and forth in despair. “It was only a matter of time. Or one of those men would finally attack me.”
“You have done terrible things,” he told her, wondering if she was even aware.
“Yes, I did, but I regret it now!” She cried out, sobbing even harder. “I regretted it almost immediately, but no one would listen to me! They would just attack, so I had no choice but to defend myself! I would do anything to stop this circle of death!”
Castiel hesitated for a moment longer. He watched her wretched crying and the way it made her entire body shake from the force of it. She was beautiful still, but Castiel could see that she did not cry well. She looked pathetic, and Castiel loved all humans equally. He pitied her.
With a sigh, he rose, releasing her from his hold. She lay on the ground a moment longer, dazed that he had let her go, before she seemed to realize that he was offering her a hand to help her up. She gratefully took it.
“Thank you, my lord!” She simpered. She bowed her head to him and gushed more gratitudes, practically falling over herself with her effort to show him her thanks. She ushered him over to a stone bench nearby, wiping her eyes and insisting that he stay and partake in some food as an offering of goodwill in exchange for sparing her life. She suggested that they discuss options for how to fix her problem over the meal.
Castiel had never tried human food before, and he wasn’t quite sure what the custom was for humans in this scenario, so he followed her to where she indicated and sat down. He felt mildly uncomfortable from all of her frenzied attention, but soon enough she was scurrying off to find some wine to drink and some cheeses and grapes to eat. Once she was gone, he allowed himself to relax and take in the garden around him.
Where he was sitting there were no statues around, so the beauty of the garden was unhindered. The bench overlooked a pond full of lilies and reeds, with a huge weeping willow draping its flowing branches over the shore. The entire area was ringed with ivy-covered walls and iron arches covered in roses. Castiel was fond of all of the Earth, but this garden in particular was very fine. He smiled faintly, watching the water of the pond ripple in the breeze, propping up one leg and bringing his sword to rest point down in the earth next to him. The wind picked up further, ruffling his dark hair.
Then, suddenly, there was a loud sound like lightning hitting rock and Castiel felt as if he had been stabbed in the back. He tried to twist around to see what had attacked him but, to his horror, he found he couldn’t move. He tried flaring his wings, bringing his sword to bear, but he could do nothing. His entire body felt very heavy and cold, and with a sinking sensation he started to understand what had happened to him.
The Enchantress sliding up beside him confirmed it. “You silly, stupid thing. I can’t believe you fell for that.” Her eyes were completely dry now, and there was no sign that she had been crying at all. She leaned further against him, smirking up at his frozen expression of contentment. “Still, I knew I would have to catch you off guard to defeat you. Angels, I hear, are very powerful and very hard to kill. You’re still alive in there, aren’t you? How terrible for you. Now you get to spend the rest of eternity watching me do the same thing over and over again, knowing that you let me go.” She giggled and leaned up to whisper in his ear. “It’ll be all your fault. And who knows. Maybe one of your brothers will come down just like you did. And then you’ll get to watch me trap him too.”
She started laughing evilly, leaping up and twirling away like a dancer. Castiel seethed as he watched her go, trying with all his might to break free of her enchantment. But her spell was very strong and she had caught him off guard. He could not break free.
Instead, he was forced to watch in silence as she disappeared into the garden on her way back to her palace, with her terrible laughter ringing in his stone ears.
*****
Gabriel did not notice at first that Castiel had not returned. He had assumed that Castiel had finished his task and had merely forgotten that Gabriel was interested in the outcome. It was not often that Gabriel took interested in the comings and goings of his younger brothers. So it was understandable that Castiel had not immediately come to see him.
But when a week had passed and no one had seen sign of Castiel’s return, Gabriel began to worry. He questioned all of the angels that Castiel sometimes associated with, all of the angels that had guarded the gates, and all of the angels that watched over Earth. By the end of his questioning he had become panicked. Castiel had left Heaven to deal with the Enchantress. He had not returned.
At once Gabriel knew what he had to do. He had been the last to speak with Castiel, and he was the only one who knew where he had been going. He gathered his armor and spear and marched toward the gate. When Zachariah attempted to impede him with petty tasks needing completion around Heaven, he glared so darkly that the younger angel immediately scrambled out of the way. He was unhindered the rest of his walk.
He spread his six wings wide, and then jumped into a free-fall to the Earth, aiming for the Enchantress’ garden where Castiel had been before. He landed even more silently than his brother, and immediately fell into a crouch. He brushed his fingers over the stones making up the path, searching for some hint of his brother. He slowly rose, sniffing the air and trying to sift through the life forces of the garden for the feel of his brother’s grace. He could not sense anything, and that fact settled heavily in his stomach. He started forward, following a trail of scuff-marks on the ground that he suspected came from heavenly feet.
Staying low to the ground, he slowly peaked around as he went, eventually coming upon a rose covered archway flanked by stone walls covered in ivy. On closer inspection he saw that only one side was covered in actual living ivy. The other seemed to have ivy carved out of the stone itself.
When he felt the way was clear, he trod carefully through the rose archway, waiting for a trap to be sprung. Instead he came out into a lovely grotto, with a large pond and a beautiful willow tree. He peered around the garden, searching for his next hint, and his eyes fell on a statue sitting on a bench staring at the water. Gabriel didn’t want to believe it, but even from a distance he could see the wings arching over the statue’s back. His heart shattered in his chest.
He stared at the statue a moment longer, not wanting to go any closer, but knowing he had to, and then he took a step.
He was immediately forced to jump back when a spell slammed into the path where he had been standing. He whipped his head up to meet the gaze of the Enchantress that had killed his brother. She smirked at him.
“Oh look, another angel for my garden,” she taunted. She laughed and then sent another spell shooting at him. Gabriel cursed and twisted to the side to dodge and then took to the sky. She shrieked in frustration below him, but refused to give up, throwing her spells after him. He ducked and rolled and spiraled through the air to avoid her chaotic spell-casting, becoming increasingly frustrated when it prevented him from getting close enough to attack. He cursed again when one of her spells grazed his wrist, turning his arm brace to stone. He ripped it off just as it finished transforming, and then threw it with all his might at her head.
To his great surprise it actually managed to connect, knocking her down. Gabriel wasted no time, diving out of the sky at her while screaming a war-cry. She screamed back in fear and attempted to scramble out of the way, but he landed heavily on her arm with his foot, snapping it and holding her in place. She screamed again, this time in pain, and began to cry.
He leaned down close and narrowed his eyes at her. “Normally I would punish you in a way befitting your crimes. Turn you into stone yourself, make you clean each and every statue you created, curse you somehow. But I’m not going to do that to you.” He leaned back slightly.
“You - you’re not?” she asked, hope shining in her eyes.
“No,” he smiled down at her, and it was not a nice smile. “You killed my brother. You will not receive a punishment. You will not be allowed to redeem yourself. You will just die.” To punctuate his statement, he reared back and plunged his blade into her heart.
She let out a scream even louder than the others, and it sounded like a dying animal. She writhed and twisted, attempting to dislodge the sword, but Gabriel held on with a stony determination. She gave one last shriek, and then she fell to the ground, dead.
Gabriel stared at her corpse in disgust, and then snapped his fingers, causing it to go up in flames. He didn’t wait to see them die out though, instead he walked over to the statue of his little brother.
He stared up at the peaceful face, perfectly preserved for the rest of time with an expression of contentment, and he felt rage and mourning burn inside of his chest. Hot tears welled up in his eyes as he reached out to brush his fingertips over his brother’s cheek.
“I am so sorry, Castiel. I wish I could have saved you, I wish I had known you were in danger. To die this way? I can’t even imagine it. I am so, so very sorry, my brother.” He bowed his head in misery. When he felt he had collected himself enough, he lifted his head again to stare with determination at Castiel’s eyes. “Although I know this would probably have upset you, I don’t want you to worry about something like this ever happening to one of our brothers again. I will see to it that none of the angels ever leave Heaven again. That way they will be safe.”
He swallowed thickly and brushed Castiel’s cheek one more time, then turned to go. “Goodbye Castiel,” he whispered brokenly, and then he flew away.
Castiel could do nothing but watch as his only hope of rescue left him behind, never to return. He was alone then for a very long time.
*****
Many, many years passed, and eventually the humans forgot the history of the castle and its cursed garden. They forgot that it had once been home to a terrible Enchantress that had abused them and killed them. Eventually, the castle was taken up by the royal family of the house Winchester, and they made it their home.
Castiel watched as generation after generation were born, grew, lived, and died in the castle they now called home, but he rarely got to see any of them up close. Even though no one could recall the Enchantress that created them, everyone was still unnerved by the statues. The gardens were still tended to, retaining their beauty, but very few of the royals or their servants ever came to enjoy them. And because Castiel was resting in one of the deepest parts of the garden, he was rarely visited at all.
One day that changed. If he could have he would have snapped his head up at the sound of two young voices that were slowly making their way closer. Children, from the sounds of it, two young boys. He strained his hearing, trying to get some sense of their presence.
“Dean! Wait for me!” the younger voice whined, sounding slightly out of breath.
“Hurry up, Sammy, or I’ll leave you behind in the garden!” the older voice cackled which caused the other voice to start wailing. “Aw, come on, Sammy. You know I would never actually leave you, right? I’m just kidding.”
The younger boy remained silent, but Castiel could hear quiet sniffles. There was a sigh. “Listen, Sammy. Why did you follow me into the garden? I told you I just wanted to explore, and I know you’ve always been scared of it.”
Castiel could barely hear what the younger boy said. “But what if the statues do come to life? I have to protect you.” He mumbled.
The older boy started laughing loudly, and the sound of it warmed Castiel up inside. It had been so long since he had heard sign of happiness. The younger boy started shouting indignantly, but the older simply started reassuring him. “You don’t need to protect me, Sammy. I’m supposed to protect you, remember? It’s okay, though, I’m glad you came with me.”
“Here,” the older boy said as their voices began to move closer again, “lets go check this area out. There doesn’t seem to be any statues in there, and there’s a pond. Maybe there might even be some fish!”
“Okay,” the younger boy agreed softly, and then they finally moved into Castiel’s line of vision. He looked them over in fascination. He still had a deep interest in humans, and he had never really seen children this close before. They were much smaller than adults, and slightly chubbier. They had their backs to him as they knelt down by the pond, so he couldn’t see their faces, but he could see that they were dressed in finely tailored clothes. So they were royals then, perhaps even princes. The older one had short, scruffy, blond hair and a slightly more developed body. The younger had messy brown locks and still retained most of his baby fat. When they stood, the youngest was comically shorter than his brother.
The older seemed distracted trying to get a fish to appear at the surface of the pond, but the younger was clearly getting bored. He stood and started wandering along the shore, looking around the garden. When he looked back over his shoulder his eyes fell on Castiel.
His eyes widened and he let out a short scream while falling back. The oldest was instantly on his feet and searching for the source of his brother’s distress.
“Dean! You said there weren’t any statues in here!” the younger brother shrieked, scrambling up to hide behind his brother’s back.
“Where? Where’s the statue, Sam?” The oldest, Dean, asked with his eyes darting around. When he caught sight of Castiel, he too showed signs of surprise and startlement, but he didn’t fall over or shout like his brother. Instead he started moving towards Castiel’s alcove.
“What are you doing, Dean?” Sam whispered, still clinging to his brother’s back even as he moved forward.
“There’s something different about this one, isn’t there,” Dean muttered, squinting up at Castiel. Then his eyes widened again.
“It’s an angel!” Sam realized at the same time, squealing in wonderment.
Dean scoffed. “No wonder this one’s so far away. Who’d want to look at an angel statue?” He sounded completely dismissive, but he hadn’t stopped his careful scrutiny of Castiel’s features.
“I would!” Sam snapped, glaring at his brother. “Mom says that angels are pretty. The most pretty things of all, and they’re nice and gentle and - “
“And angels aren’t real, dummy.” Dean punctuated his point by whacking Sam gently over the head. The little boy rubbed at the injured spot and intensified his glare.
“They are too! Mommy said so!”
“If angels are real, why don’t we ever see any?” Dean asked, and his expression turned smug when Sam couldn’t think of a response. “Yeah, see? Angels aren’t real. And even if they were, they abandoned us a long time ago.”
Sam stared up at his brother with his lower lip trembling and angry tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. Then, with a shout and a few weak attempts to punch Dean in the chest, Sam ran off crying.
“Aw, come on Sammy, don’t be like that! Hey!” Dean started to chase after his brother, but he tossed one look back at Castiel. His eyes became uncertain for a moment, but then he shook his head and started running after Sam, calling out to him the whole way.
Eventually Castiel’s little alcove returned to silence, but he felt so much warmer than before.
***
He thought that would be the last he saw of the two boys, but they returned again a few days later. And a few days after that. And a few days after that. It turned out that the boys had decided to make the pond and surrounding garden their new place to play, where they could get away from the responsibilities of royalty and the oppression of the adults. Castiel wasn’t entirely certain that any of the adults in the castle even knew of this place. They could have been frantically searching for the two boys, but if anyone was they never stumbled on the boys’ getaway, so they and Castiel were left in peace.
Castiel soon came to love these days when Sam and Dean would come to play pirates on the shore of the pond or play mountain climbers in the branches of the willow. They would chase each other around the garden, or play ball or roughhouse. Sometimes they would even play knights, and then he got to participate as the evil monster that Dean had to slay to rescue his squire Sam. And usually by the time that they were done playing Sam would go racing back through the garden, eager to beat his brother home.
Dean usually let him go on ahead, unconcerned now about Sam traveling through the garden alone. Castiel still heard him mutter at times about the terrifying statues, but he no longer seemed to find Castiel frightening. Now he was used to the garden enough that he could travel through it without his brother to cling to. Dean seemed to be proud, but at the same time slightly sad to see his little brother going along without him. It was the curse of being an older brother, Castiel supposed. He had often caught a similar expression on Gabriel’s face.
When Sam would go on ahead, Dean would dawdle behind, remaining in the garden by the pond and watching the water ripple. Eventually he would look up at Castiel and start studying him again. Sometimes he would come over and touch, sometimes he would just observe from a distance. Castiel was unsure what the boy was trying to discover, but he relished the contact.
“I know what’s different about you,” Dean whispered to him one day after Sam had raced away. “You don’t look scared like the other statues. You look peaceful. That’s what it is.” He seemed very pleased with himself for figuring this out, and Castiel felt his heart fall a little. Now that Dean’s curiosity had been fulfilled he would quickly lose interest in Castiel. Perhaps he would even stop coming to the garden. He and his brother were getting older, and soon they would be too old for playing games.
But Dean hadn’t left yet. Instead he followed Castiel’s gaze to where it focused on the banks of the pond. “Yeah, I guess it is pretty peaceful here. Not much to be scared of in a place like this.” He smiled softly. “I like it here too. It’s just quiet, no one around to tell you what to do or who you have to be. Just…this,” he gestured to the surrounding beauty, then turned and smiled at Castiel. If Castiel had any breath he would have lost it at the sight of that smile. It was the most beautiful smile Castiel had ever seen.
Suddenly Dean’s smile fell, and he seemed to come back to himself. “Christ, I’m talking to a piece of rock,” he muttered, smacking himself on the forehead. “What’s next, I start serenading a painting? Ugh.” He started his own walk back to the castle. Castiel thought he would just keep going but to his surprise Dean stopped just like every other time before and looked back at Castiel with a small smile. Then he was gone again.
*****
Eventually Castiel’s fears came to pass. Sam and Dean grew older and they stopped coming down to the garden to play. Sam became distracted with scholarly pastimes and politics, Dean with hunting and learning to rule. Castiel saw very little of Sam now, but what he did see filled him with pride. The small chubby boy he had watched over had grown impossibly tall and handsome. Any princess would be lucky to have him.
Dean also grew strong and tall, though to his annoyance and to the amusement of everyone else, not as tall as Sam, and also became quite handsome. Castiel knew that there were probably many women that would give anything to be his bride. He knew this not because he overheard the woman gossiping about it, but because Dean told him.
He had worried that once Dean and Sam grew too old they wouldn’t come to him any more, but it seemed that Dean was determined to prove him wrong. Although he no longer came down to play, he would often come into the garden to get away from everything. He would come to the grotto, walk along the pond and under the willow’s draping branches, and eventually come to rest on the empty space on the stone bench next to Castiel. Then he would pour out his anxieties, his worries, his frustrations, and his joys to Castiel, happy to have an ear that would listen and not turn around and spit out everything that had been said to the nearest person.
Occasionally Sam would accompany him, and on those days Dean would rant even louder, knowing that his brother would keep his secrets and keep him calm. Over time, Castiel noticed that Sam would glance at him curiously every time Dean seemed to speak directly to him, but he never said anything and for that Castiel was grateful.
It was inevitable, Castiel supposed, that he would fall in love with the prince. Dean was the most contact Castiel had ever had since becoming a statue, and he had watched the young man grow up. Dean poured out his soul to him on a regular basis. Castiel knew all of his hopes and dreams and fears. There was no way that he could become so close to a person without becoming very attached. He just wished that he could give something back in return, but he was just stone. He tried his best though. Whenever Dean would lean against him, or touch him, he would spread his grace as far as it would go, hoping to pass some of it along. It was all he had to give.
He didn’t realize that he had been successful until one night, long after Dean had left him, he felt a piece of himself stirring far away from where his stone body rested. He felt panic and a wild hope for a moment, not understanding what was happening, but then he felt a soul brush against that grace and he realized that it was Dean. He had managed to transfer enough grace to Dean that he could feel him even when they were apart. He felt hope blossom; perhaps he could do even more.
He waited a while longer, trying to get a feel for the piece of grace in another body. He waited several nights, and then, when he was sure he had a firm grasp on the piece, he reached out his mind to touch it, and the soul right next to it. Instantly he felt a sharp tug and then he was falling though mists, landing with a thud in a large pile of golden leaves.
He jerked upright in shock, and then stared at himself in wonder. He could move! He was flesh again, not stone! He looked around wildly, trying to figure out where he was when he caught sight of the landscape. He was sitting at the top of a tall hill with a huge maple tree leaning over him. All around him was a beautiful green field, but the edges were misty and warped. He realized with a sinking sensation that it wasn’t real - he had fallen into a human’s dream.
He had never entered a human’s dream before, but he had heard stories of his brothers communicating with them this way, and they had told him what to look for. He sighed, wishing that this was real, but he climbed to his feet. Regardless if it was real or not, he at least felt like he could move, and he would enjoy that to the best of his ability. Once he was upright he started out, looking for the human whose dream he had fallen into.
He didn’t make it very far. “Hey!” someone shouted from above him. He whirled around and looked up. Sitting high in the tree branches, grinning down at him was Dean. He waved, and then launched himself out of the tree. Castiel panicked for a moment, sure that he would break his legs falling from such a height, but his worry was for nothing. Dean practically floated to the ground, and Castiel forcibly reminded himself it was a dream.
“Hey,” Dean repeated, beaming at him and brushing himself free of the golden leaves, “I haven’t seen you in a dream for a while.”
Castiel startled a bit. “You have dreamed of me before?” He asked, voice gruff from years of disuse.
“Yeah,” Dean replied shamelessly with the confidence of the dreaming. “We went flying. Well, you flew, and I somehow followed. It was nice.”
“I’m sure it was,” Castiel responded, trying to smile back, but his face had been frozen in stone for so long he had almost forgotten how. All he could manage was his peaceful expression. Dean didn’t seem to mind. “What is this place?” he asked the human, looking around. “I don’t recognize it from the garden.”
“That’s because it’s not,” Dean revealed. “Come on, I’ll show you around.” He grabbed Castiel by the hand and started tugging him gently along, down the hill and further into the dream. Castiel looked at their joined hands and had to fight down a blush. This was a human sign of affection, he thought he recalled. Dean was showing him affection.
Dean led him throughout the dream landscape, pointing out several things of interest. It turned out he was reliving a field near the castle that he loved to hunt in. There were plenty of rabbits and quail, and even the occasional deer to chase. It wasn’t as maintained as the garden, but it had a wild beauty to it that Castiel felt suited Dean. He could see how this would be Dean’s favorite place.
When he said as much, Dean stopped short and blinked at him. “Sure, it’s nice,” he agreed, “but it isn’t my favorite place. That bench in the garden next to you is my favorite place. It’s where I can be myself, no matter what. It’s where you are.” Dean stared at him with such intensity that Castiel was left speechless. He realized that when they had stopped he and Dean had moved subconsciously closer, now standing almost chest to chest. Dean’s eyes flicked down to Castiel’s lips, and then he licked his own. It made Castiel’s heartbeat quicken further and he suddenly felt very hot.
Dean was just starting to waiver when suddenly there was a loud crashing noise and the dreamscape shattered like glass, throwing Dean into wakefulness and Castiel back into his stone body. Castiel tried to gasp at the stark contrast between the two realities, but once again he couldn’t move. If he could cry, he would have. Dean had woken up, breaking their connection, and Castiel knew that humans didn’t often remember their dreams when they woke. Once again he would think that Castiel was nothing more than a statue, and occasionally a figment of his imagination. He hadn’t had the time to tell Dean anything of his story.
He sat in despair for a while longer before he realized that all hope wasn’t lost. If he had managed to fall into Dean’s dream before, maybe he could again. He didn’t need to give up hope just yet.
He had to comfort himself with that, and even when Dean came down that day to rant, sounding crankier than usual but not giving any hint that he remembered his dream, it was enough.
Next
Genre: Slash Fairytale Fantasy AU
Pairings: Dean/Castiel
Other Characters: Sam, Gabriel, Ruby
Rating: PG-13
Length: 10 009
Summary: Inspired by this beautiful piece of fanart. Castiel has been trapped by an evil curse for centuries, with no hope for freedom until the day Prince Dean stumbled into his life. But how can he be saved when Dean doesn't even know that he's in need of rescue?
Castiel had always been a bit odd compared to his brothers. For one, he liked to sit on the edge of Heaven and watch the world go by, rather than sing and bask about on the soft clouds of their home. For another, he actually took the time to listen to each and every prayer that came his way, rather than skim through them with half an ear. His brothers whispered to each other behind their hands about his strange behavior, but because he had always been that way, they just accepted it as one of those things.
It was during one of his vigils over the Earth that he first caught sign of the Enchantress. He did not truly understand what was happening at the time, as pretty much everything on Earth was foreign to him, but he did notice that the other humans were distressed by her. He leaned closer and watched her, trying to understand what she was doing that upset the people so.
He watched as warrior after warrior attacked her, suitor after suitor courted her, peasant after peasant pleaded with her. Each met the same fate. She would twist her beautiful features into a cruel sneer, and then she would turn them into stone statues with a flick of her fingers. He watched as their souls left their stone forms, weeping.
He did not like what she was doing, sensing that there was something terrible to her actions, but he did not want to interfere in something he did not understand without invitation. So he watched and waited until someone asked for him to intervene.
His brothers insisted he was foolish for devoting so much time to the matter. They told him it wasn’t his problem, that it was something the humans needed to deal with. That it was below them. He ignored them, and eventually they all sighed and gave up.
Gabriel stayed with him longest. He too had a passing interest in the humans below, but his attention could not be kept for long and eventually he too wandered off. He did, though, make Castiel promise to keep him updated before he left.
Then, finally, the day came that one of the desperate prayers from the humans below came to him, begging for someone to do something about the Enchantress. Castiel wasted no time at all. He gathered up his sword and garments, quickly informed Gabriel of where he was going, and then dove down towards the Earth.
He landed with a soft tap in the middle of the Enchantress’ garden. He glanced around, tucking his wings back and out of the way, and then started following the winding path through the rosebushes and past a fountain. All around him were the statues of the Enchantress’ victims, frozen in poses of horror or pain. The juxtaposition of the disturbing statue against the beautiful flowers was disturbing him much more than he expected. This was not his first trip to Earth, but it was the first time he had not been completely comfortable.
As he continued on his path through the garden, he kept his senses stretched around him for any sign of his target or potential victims he could save, but the plant life teeming around him was disrupting his concentration. It was for this reason that he did not see the Enchantress until he had turned around the corner of an ivy-covered stone wall.
They both froze at the sight of each other, Castiel taking in her flowing robes and dark hair studded with huge rubies, and then the Enchantress shrieked and lashed out with a powerful spell. Castiel flared his wings and launched himself into the sky, just as the spell collided with the space where he had been just moments before, instantly turning the ivy to stone. He flicked his wingtips and gracefully turned in the air to fly directly behind her, where he landed in a crouch. Before she could fully turn to face him he swept out with one leg, knocking her to the ground. She gasped in pain as she collapsed, but he didn’t pause and pinned her to the ground with his blade poised at her neck. He reached back to deliver the final blow when she suddenly let out a sob beneath him. He paused.
“Why are you crying?” he asked in confusion, watching the tears slide down her face in fascination.
“I knew one of you would come for me eventually,” she moaned. She whipped her head back and forth in despair. “It was only a matter of time. Or one of those men would finally attack me.”
“You have done terrible things,” he told her, wondering if she was even aware.
“Yes, I did, but I regret it now!” She cried out, sobbing even harder. “I regretted it almost immediately, but no one would listen to me! They would just attack, so I had no choice but to defend myself! I would do anything to stop this circle of death!”
Castiel hesitated for a moment longer. He watched her wretched crying and the way it made her entire body shake from the force of it. She was beautiful still, but Castiel could see that she did not cry well. She looked pathetic, and Castiel loved all humans equally. He pitied her.
With a sigh, he rose, releasing her from his hold. She lay on the ground a moment longer, dazed that he had let her go, before she seemed to realize that he was offering her a hand to help her up. She gratefully took it.
“Thank you, my lord!” She simpered. She bowed her head to him and gushed more gratitudes, practically falling over herself with her effort to show him her thanks. She ushered him over to a stone bench nearby, wiping her eyes and insisting that he stay and partake in some food as an offering of goodwill in exchange for sparing her life. She suggested that they discuss options for how to fix her problem over the meal.
Castiel had never tried human food before, and he wasn’t quite sure what the custom was for humans in this scenario, so he followed her to where she indicated and sat down. He felt mildly uncomfortable from all of her frenzied attention, but soon enough she was scurrying off to find some wine to drink and some cheeses and grapes to eat. Once she was gone, he allowed himself to relax and take in the garden around him.
Where he was sitting there were no statues around, so the beauty of the garden was unhindered. The bench overlooked a pond full of lilies and reeds, with a huge weeping willow draping its flowing branches over the shore. The entire area was ringed with ivy-covered walls and iron arches covered in roses. Castiel was fond of all of the Earth, but this garden in particular was very fine. He smiled faintly, watching the water of the pond ripple in the breeze, propping up one leg and bringing his sword to rest point down in the earth next to him. The wind picked up further, ruffling his dark hair.
Then, suddenly, there was a loud sound like lightning hitting rock and Castiel felt as if he had been stabbed in the back. He tried to twist around to see what had attacked him but, to his horror, he found he couldn’t move. He tried flaring his wings, bringing his sword to bear, but he could do nothing. His entire body felt very heavy and cold, and with a sinking sensation he started to understand what had happened to him.
The Enchantress sliding up beside him confirmed it. “You silly, stupid thing. I can’t believe you fell for that.” Her eyes were completely dry now, and there was no sign that she had been crying at all. She leaned further against him, smirking up at his frozen expression of contentment. “Still, I knew I would have to catch you off guard to defeat you. Angels, I hear, are very powerful and very hard to kill. You’re still alive in there, aren’t you? How terrible for you. Now you get to spend the rest of eternity watching me do the same thing over and over again, knowing that you let me go.” She giggled and leaned up to whisper in his ear. “It’ll be all your fault. And who knows. Maybe one of your brothers will come down just like you did. And then you’ll get to watch me trap him too.”
She started laughing evilly, leaping up and twirling away like a dancer. Castiel seethed as he watched her go, trying with all his might to break free of her enchantment. But her spell was very strong and she had caught him off guard. He could not break free.
Instead, he was forced to watch in silence as she disappeared into the garden on her way back to her palace, with her terrible laughter ringing in his stone ears.
*****
Gabriel did not notice at first that Castiel had not returned. He had assumed that Castiel had finished his task and had merely forgotten that Gabriel was interested in the outcome. It was not often that Gabriel took interested in the comings and goings of his younger brothers. So it was understandable that Castiel had not immediately come to see him.
But when a week had passed and no one had seen sign of Castiel’s return, Gabriel began to worry. He questioned all of the angels that Castiel sometimes associated with, all of the angels that had guarded the gates, and all of the angels that watched over Earth. By the end of his questioning he had become panicked. Castiel had left Heaven to deal with the Enchantress. He had not returned.
At once Gabriel knew what he had to do. He had been the last to speak with Castiel, and he was the only one who knew where he had been going. He gathered his armor and spear and marched toward the gate. When Zachariah attempted to impede him with petty tasks needing completion around Heaven, he glared so darkly that the younger angel immediately scrambled out of the way. He was unhindered the rest of his walk.
He spread his six wings wide, and then jumped into a free-fall to the Earth, aiming for the Enchantress’ garden where Castiel had been before. He landed even more silently than his brother, and immediately fell into a crouch. He brushed his fingers over the stones making up the path, searching for some hint of his brother. He slowly rose, sniffing the air and trying to sift through the life forces of the garden for the feel of his brother’s grace. He could not sense anything, and that fact settled heavily in his stomach. He started forward, following a trail of scuff-marks on the ground that he suspected came from heavenly feet.
Staying low to the ground, he slowly peaked around as he went, eventually coming upon a rose covered archway flanked by stone walls covered in ivy. On closer inspection he saw that only one side was covered in actual living ivy. The other seemed to have ivy carved out of the stone itself.
When he felt the way was clear, he trod carefully through the rose archway, waiting for a trap to be sprung. Instead he came out into a lovely grotto, with a large pond and a beautiful willow tree. He peered around the garden, searching for his next hint, and his eyes fell on a statue sitting on a bench staring at the water. Gabriel didn’t want to believe it, but even from a distance he could see the wings arching over the statue’s back. His heart shattered in his chest.
He stared at the statue a moment longer, not wanting to go any closer, but knowing he had to, and then he took a step.
He was immediately forced to jump back when a spell slammed into the path where he had been standing. He whipped his head up to meet the gaze of the Enchantress that had killed his brother. She smirked at him.
“Oh look, another angel for my garden,” she taunted. She laughed and then sent another spell shooting at him. Gabriel cursed and twisted to the side to dodge and then took to the sky. She shrieked in frustration below him, but refused to give up, throwing her spells after him. He ducked and rolled and spiraled through the air to avoid her chaotic spell-casting, becoming increasingly frustrated when it prevented him from getting close enough to attack. He cursed again when one of her spells grazed his wrist, turning his arm brace to stone. He ripped it off just as it finished transforming, and then threw it with all his might at her head.
To his great surprise it actually managed to connect, knocking her down. Gabriel wasted no time, diving out of the sky at her while screaming a war-cry. She screamed back in fear and attempted to scramble out of the way, but he landed heavily on her arm with his foot, snapping it and holding her in place. She screamed again, this time in pain, and began to cry.
He leaned down close and narrowed his eyes at her. “Normally I would punish you in a way befitting your crimes. Turn you into stone yourself, make you clean each and every statue you created, curse you somehow. But I’m not going to do that to you.” He leaned back slightly.
“You - you’re not?” she asked, hope shining in her eyes.
“No,” he smiled down at her, and it was not a nice smile. “You killed my brother. You will not receive a punishment. You will not be allowed to redeem yourself. You will just die.” To punctuate his statement, he reared back and plunged his blade into her heart.
She let out a scream even louder than the others, and it sounded like a dying animal. She writhed and twisted, attempting to dislodge the sword, but Gabriel held on with a stony determination. She gave one last shriek, and then she fell to the ground, dead.
Gabriel stared at her corpse in disgust, and then snapped his fingers, causing it to go up in flames. He didn’t wait to see them die out though, instead he walked over to the statue of his little brother.
He stared up at the peaceful face, perfectly preserved for the rest of time with an expression of contentment, and he felt rage and mourning burn inside of his chest. Hot tears welled up in his eyes as he reached out to brush his fingertips over his brother’s cheek.
“I am so sorry, Castiel. I wish I could have saved you, I wish I had known you were in danger. To die this way? I can’t even imagine it. I am so, so very sorry, my brother.” He bowed his head in misery. When he felt he had collected himself enough, he lifted his head again to stare with determination at Castiel’s eyes. “Although I know this would probably have upset you, I don’t want you to worry about something like this ever happening to one of our brothers again. I will see to it that none of the angels ever leave Heaven again. That way they will be safe.”
He swallowed thickly and brushed Castiel’s cheek one more time, then turned to go. “Goodbye Castiel,” he whispered brokenly, and then he flew away.
Castiel could do nothing but watch as his only hope of rescue left him behind, never to return. He was alone then for a very long time.
*****
Many, many years passed, and eventually the humans forgot the history of the castle and its cursed garden. They forgot that it had once been home to a terrible Enchantress that had abused them and killed them. Eventually, the castle was taken up by the royal family of the house Winchester, and they made it their home.
Castiel watched as generation after generation were born, grew, lived, and died in the castle they now called home, but he rarely got to see any of them up close. Even though no one could recall the Enchantress that created them, everyone was still unnerved by the statues. The gardens were still tended to, retaining their beauty, but very few of the royals or their servants ever came to enjoy them. And because Castiel was resting in one of the deepest parts of the garden, he was rarely visited at all.
One day that changed. If he could have he would have snapped his head up at the sound of two young voices that were slowly making their way closer. Children, from the sounds of it, two young boys. He strained his hearing, trying to get some sense of their presence.
“Dean! Wait for me!” the younger voice whined, sounding slightly out of breath.
“Hurry up, Sammy, or I’ll leave you behind in the garden!” the older voice cackled which caused the other voice to start wailing. “Aw, come on, Sammy. You know I would never actually leave you, right? I’m just kidding.”
The younger boy remained silent, but Castiel could hear quiet sniffles. There was a sigh. “Listen, Sammy. Why did you follow me into the garden? I told you I just wanted to explore, and I know you’ve always been scared of it.”
Castiel could barely hear what the younger boy said. “But what if the statues do come to life? I have to protect you.” He mumbled.
The older boy started laughing loudly, and the sound of it warmed Castiel up inside. It had been so long since he had heard sign of happiness. The younger boy started shouting indignantly, but the older simply started reassuring him. “You don’t need to protect me, Sammy. I’m supposed to protect you, remember? It’s okay, though, I’m glad you came with me.”
“Here,” the older boy said as their voices began to move closer again, “lets go check this area out. There doesn’t seem to be any statues in there, and there’s a pond. Maybe there might even be some fish!”
“Okay,” the younger boy agreed softly, and then they finally moved into Castiel’s line of vision. He looked them over in fascination. He still had a deep interest in humans, and he had never really seen children this close before. They were much smaller than adults, and slightly chubbier. They had their backs to him as they knelt down by the pond, so he couldn’t see their faces, but he could see that they were dressed in finely tailored clothes. So they were royals then, perhaps even princes. The older one had short, scruffy, blond hair and a slightly more developed body. The younger had messy brown locks and still retained most of his baby fat. When they stood, the youngest was comically shorter than his brother.
The older seemed distracted trying to get a fish to appear at the surface of the pond, but the younger was clearly getting bored. He stood and started wandering along the shore, looking around the garden. When he looked back over his shoulder his eyes fell on Castiel.
His eyes widened and he let out a short scream while falling back. The oldest was instantly on his feet and searching for the source of his brother’s distress.
“Dean! You said there weren’t any statues in here!” the younger brother shrieked, scrambling up to hide behind his brother’s back.
“Where? Where’s the statue, Sam?” The oldest, Dean, asked with his eyes darting around. When he caught sight of Castiel, he too showed signs of surprise and startlement, but he didn’t fall over or shout like his brother. Instead he started moving towards Castiel’s alcove.
“What are you doing, Dean?” Sam whispered, still clinging to his brother’s back even as he moved forward.
“There’s something different about this one, isn’t there,” Dean muttered, squinting up at Castiel. Then his eyes widened again.
“It’s an angel!” Sam realized at the same time, squealing in wonderment.
Dean scoffed. “No wonder this one’s so far away. Who’d want to look at an angel statue?” He sounded completely dismissive, but he hadn’t stopped his careful scrutiny of Castiel’s features.
“I would!” Sam snapped, glaring at his brother. “Mom says that angels are pretty. The most pretty things of all, and they’re nice and gentle and - “
“And angels aren’t real, dummy.” Dean punctuated his point by whacking Sam gently over the head. The little boy rubbed at the injured spot and intensified his glare.
“They are too! Mommy said so!”
“If angels are real, why don’t we ever see any?” Dean asked, and his expression turned smug when Sam couldn’t think of a response. “Yeah, see? Angels aren’t real. And even if they were, they abandoned us a long time ago.”
Sam stared up at his brother with his lower lip trembling and angry tears gathering in the corner of his eyes. Then, with a shout and a few weak attempts to punch Dean in the chest, Sam ran off crying.
“Aw, come on Sammy, don’t be like that! Hey!” Dean started to chase after his brother, but he tossed one look back at Castiel. His eyes became uncertain for a moment, but then he shook his head and started running after Sam, calling out to him the whole way.
Eventually Castiel’s little alcove returned to silence, but he felt so much warmer than before.
***
He thought that would be the last he saw of the two boys, but they returned again a few days later. And a few days after that. And a few days after that. It turned out that the boys had decided to make the pond and surrounding garden their new place to play, where they could get away from the responsibilities of royalty and the oppression of the adults. Castiel wasn’t entirely certain that any of the adults in the castle even knew of this place. They could have been frantically searching for the two boys, but if anyone was they never stumbled on the boys’ getaway, so they and Castiel were left in peace.
Castiel soon came to love these days when Sam and Dean would come to play pirates on the shore of the pond or play mountain climbers in the branches of the willow. They would chase each other around the garden, or play ball or roughhouse. Sometimes they would even play knights, and then he got to participate as the evil monster that Dean had to slay to rescue his squire Sam. And usually by the time that they were done playing Sam would go racing back through the garden, eager to beat his brother home.
Dean usually let him go on ahead, unconcerned now about Sam traveling through the garden alone. Castiel still heard him mutter at times about the terrifying statues, but he no longer seemed to find Castiel frightening. Now he was used to the garden enough that he could travel through it without his brother to cling to. Dean seemed to be proud, but at the same time slightly sad to see his little brother going along without him. It was the curse of being an older brother, Castiel supposed. He had often caught a similar expression on Gabriel’s face.
When Sam would go on ahead, Dean would dawdle behind, remaining in the garden by the pond and watching the water ripple. Eventually he would look up at Castiel and start studying him again. Sometimes he would come over and touch, sometimes he would just observe from a distance. Castiel was unsure what the boy was trying to discover, but he relished the contact.
“I know what’s different about you,” Dean whispered to him one day after Sam had raced away. “You don’t look scared like the other statues. You look peaceful. That’s what it is.” He seemed very pleased with himself for figuring this out, and Castiel felt his heart fall a little. Now that Dean’s curiosity had been fulfilled he would quickly lose interest in Castiel. Perhaps he would even stop coming to the garden. He and his brother were getting older, and soon they would be too old for playing games.
But Dean hadn’t left yet. Instead he followed Castiel’s gaze to where it focused on the banks of the pond. “Yeah, I guess it is pretty peaceful here. Not much to be scared of in a place like this.” He smiled softly. “I like it here too. It’s just quiet, no one around to tell you what to do or who you have to be. Just…this,” he gestured to the surrounding beauty, then turned and smiled at Castiel. If Castiel had any breath he would have lost it at the sight of that smile. It was the most beautiful smile Castiel had ever seen.
Suddenly Dean’s smile fell, and he seemed to come back to himself. “Christ, I’m talking to a piece of rock,” he muttered, smacking himself on the forehead. “What’s next, I start serenading a painting? Ugh.” He started his own walk back to the castle. Castiel thought he would just keep going but to his surprise Dean stopped just like every other time before and looked back at Castiel with a small smile. Then he was gone again.
*****
Eventually Castiel’s fears came to pass. Sam and Dean grew older and they stopped coming down to the garden to play. Sam became distracted with scholarly pastimes and politics, Dean with hunting and learning to rule. Castiel saw very little of Sam now, but what he did see filled him with pride. The small chubby boy he had watched over had grown impossibly tall and handsome. Any princess would be lucky to have him.
Dean also grew strong and tall, though to his annoyance and to the amusement of everyone else, not as tall as Sam, and also became quite handsome. Castiel knew that there were probably many women that would give anything to be his bride. He knew this not because he overheard the woman gossiping about it, but because Dean told him.
He had worried that once Dean and Sam grew too old they wouldn’t come to him any more, but it seemed that Dean was determined to prove him wrong. Although he no longer came down to play, he would often come into the garden to get away from everything. He would come to the grotto, walk along the pond and under the willow’s draping branches, and eventually come to rest on the empty space on the stone bench next to Castiel. Then he would pour out his anxieties, his worries, his frustrations, and his joys to Castiel, happy to have an ear that would listen and not turn around and spit out everything that had been said to the nearest person.
Occasionally Sam would accompany him, and on those days Dean would rant even louder, knowing that his brother would keep his secrets and keep him calm. Over time, Castiel noticed that Sam would glance at him curiously every time Dean seemed to speak directly to him, but he never said anything and for that Castiel was grateful.
It was inevitable, Castiel supposed, that he would fall in love with the prince. Dean was the most contact Castiel had ever had since becoming a statue, and he had watched the young man grow up. Dean poured out his soul to him on a regular basis. Castiel knew all of his hopes and dreams and fears. There was no way that he could become so close to a person without becoming very attached. He just wished that he could give something back in return, but he was just stone. He tried his best though. Whenever Dean would lean against him, or touch him, he would spread his grace as far as it would go, hoping to pass some of it along. It was all he had to give.
He didn’t realize that he had been successful until one night, long after Dean had left him, he felt a piece of himself stirring far away from where his stone body rested. He felt panic and a wild hope for a moment, not understanding what was happening, but then he felt a soul brush against that grace and he realized that it was Dean. He had managed to transfer enough grace to Dean that he could feel him even when they were apart. He felt hope blossom; perhaps he could do even more.
He waited a while longer, trying to get a feel for the piece of grace in another body. He waited several nights, and then, when he was sure he had a firm grasp on the piece, he reached out his mind to touch it, and the soul right next to it. Instantly he felt a sharp tug and then he was falling though mists, landing with a thud in a large pile of golden leaves.
He jerked upright in shock, and then stared at himself in wonder. He could move! He was flesh again, not stone! He looked around wildly, trying to figure out where he was when he caught sight of the landscape. He was sitting at the top of a tall hill with a huge maple tree leaning over him. All around him was a beautiful green field, but the edges were misty and warped. He realized with a sinking sensation that it wasn’t real - he had fallen into a human’s dream.
He had never entered a human’s dream before, but he had heard stories of his brothers communicating with them this way, and they had told him what to look for. He sighed, wishing that this was real, but he climbed to his feet. Regardless if it was real or not, he at least felt like he could move, and he would enjoy that to the best of his ability. Once he was upright he started out, looking for the human whose dream he had fallen into.
He didn’t make it very far. “Hey!” someone shouted from above him. He whirled around and looked up. Sitting high in the tree branches, grinning down at him was Dean. He waved, and then launched himself out of the tree. Castiel panicked for a moment, sure that he would break his legs falling from such a height, but his worry was for nothing. Dean practically floated to the ground, and Castiel forcibly reminded himself it was a dream.
“Hey,” Dean repeated, beaming at him and brushing himself free of the golden leaves, “I haven’t seen you in a dream for a while.”
Castiel startled a bit. “You have dreamed of me before?” He asked, voice gruff from years of disuse.
“Yeah,” Dean replied shamelessly with the confidence of the dreaming. “We went flying. Well, you flew, and I somehow followed. It was nice.”
“I’m sure it was,” Castiel responded, trying to smile back, but his face had been frozen in stone for so long he had almost forgotten how. All he could manage was his peaceful expression. Dean didn’t seem to mind. “What is this place?” he asked the human, looking around. “I don’t recognize it from the garden.”
“That’s because it’s not,” Dean revealed. “Come on, I’ll show you around.” He grabbed Castiel by the hand and started tugging him gently along, down the hill and further into the dream. Castiel looked at their joined hands and had to fight down a blush. This was a human sign of affection, he thought he recalled. Dean was showing him affection.
Dean led him throughout the dream landscape, pointing out several things of interest. It turned out he was reliving a field near the castle that he loved to hunt in. There were plenty of rabbits and quail, and even the occasional deer to chase. It wasn’t as maintained as the garden, but it had a wild beauty to it that Castiel felt suited Dean. He could see how this would be Dean’s favorite place.
When he said as much, Dean stopped short and blinked at him. “Sure, it’s nice,” he agreed, “but it isn’t my favorite place. That bench in the garden next to you is my favorite place. It’s where I can be myself, no matter what. It’s where you are.” Dean stared at him with such intensity that Castiel was left speechless. He realized that when they had stopped he and Dean had moved subconsciously closer, now standing almost chest to chest. Dean’s eyes flicked down to Castiel’s lips, and then he licked his own. It made Castiel’s heartbeat quicken further and he suddenly felt very hot.
Dean was just starting to waiver when suddenly there was a loud crashing noise and the dreamscape shattered like glass, throwing Dean into wakefulness and Castiel back into his stone body. Castiel tried to gasp at the stark contrast between the two realities, but once again he couldn’t move. If he could cry, he would have. Dean had woken up, breaking their connection, and Castiel knew that humans didn’t often remember their dreams when they woke. Once again he would think that Castiel was nothing more than a statue, and occasionally a figment of his imagination. He hadn’t had the time to tell Dean anything of his story.
He sat in despair for a while longer before he realized that all hope wasn’t lost. If he had managed to fall into Dean’s dream before, maybe he could again. He didn’t need to give up hope just yet.
He had to comfort himself with that, and even when Dean came down that day to rant, sounding crankier than usual but not giving any hint that he remembered his dream, it was enough.
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