#amaranthfics

[amaranthhiding]

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.

[amaranthhiding]

My story for the DeanCas Reverse Bang 2022, with breathtaking art from spiffyflypie!

Map To Yesterday

Artist: spiffyflypie

Author: Hiding Amaranth

Rating: Teen

Pairings: Dean/Castiel

Length: 22976

Warnings: N/A

Tags: Canon Universe, Mass Amnesia on TFW (incl. Rowena), Mystery, Road Trip, Angst&Romance, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Magic, Recovery of Identity

Summary: Team Free Will wakes up with no memory of where they are, or who they are. Left with nothing but some foggy shreds of their identities, they have to rediscover themselves and each other—and team up to piece together what even happened.

Link to Art | Link to Fic

[amaranthhiding]

Read now on AO3!

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.

Taglist: @deancashorrorfest @lamiasage @samsrowena @suninjang @typicalrowena @jomybeloved @butch--dean @thefandomsinhalor

[amaranthhiding]

Indeana Jones and the Tear of Pele

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

Link to Fic Link to Art

Reblogs are much appreciated! <3

Taglist under the cut.

@samsrowena @suninjang @typicalrowena @jomybeloved @thefandomsinhalor @butch--dean @fanficlounge @cocklesdestielfiction @destielficbasket @romachebella

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. :)

[amaranthhiding]

Regarding Sam

by Hiding Amaranth

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?"

Read Regarding Sam on AO3

[amaranthhiding]

Dibs on Samuel

by Hiding Amaranth

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. :)

[amaranthhiding]

Empty Earth - Chapter 22

by Hiding Amaranth

Empty Earth Chapter 22 is online on AO3! Jack POV for this one. :)

Cover by the author (original post with both covers)

Empty Earth Words: 97,192 so far, Chapters: 22/? Relationships: Dean/Cas, Sam/Rowena, Jack & Dean, Jack & Crowley 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, 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

[amaranthhiding]

Empty Earth - Chapter 21

by Hiding Amaranth

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

[amaranthhiding]

Empty Earth - Chapter 20

by Hiding Amaranth

Empty Earth Chapter 20 is online on AO3! Castiel POV for this chapter.

Cover by the author (full size)

Empty Earth Words: 89,566 so far, Chapters: 20/? Relationships: Dean/Cas, Sam/Rowena, Jack & Dean, Crowley & Jack POV: Alternating (Dean, Sam, Jack, Castiel, Rowena, Crowley, 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 20 under the cut

Castiel POV During their escape from the Empty, communication with Dean had felt so easy, so natural. It had almost managed to make him forget about his deep-seated worry over a future where his feelings had been lain out in the open for Dean to see. For him to know the secret that Castiel had kept so closely guarded for years.

Over time, keeping that part of himself restrained had become second nature to him. It had been an immense relief to finally drop all caution. To put into words the truth that had been weighing him down for so long but that also filled him with purpose like nothing else in his existence had ever managed to do.

In that moment, saying it out loud had been incredibly freeing—if only because he'd died knowing that which he'd always taken for a dark, shameful secret to be hidden away would be able to save Dean's life in the end. He was aware what a double-edged sword the truth was, but at the time it hadn't mattered.

He'd taken that risk in the certainty that he'd never have to face the consequences. That he'd never have to see the rejection in Dean's eyes, because he knew fully well that sight would have the capacity to ruin him. All of that stopped mattering, though, the moment Dean was thrown into deadly peril yet another time. In the face of Chuck's wrath, Castiel hadn't dared to hope he'd find Dean alive.

Well, perhaps 'alive' wasn't an accurate reflection of their current reality either. But at the very least, Dean was in a state that was within Castiel's power to fix.

He placed one hand against Dean's cheek, the other over his shoulder. His own relief was too overwhelming to remember his temperance. Nothing mattered other than to mend, to fix, to heal. To restore the person who had taught him what it meant to care.

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. :) @fanficlounge @panthera-dei @samsrowena @succulentsworld @cocklesdestielfiction

[amaranthhiding]

Hiding Amaranth

SPN Fanfic Masterlist 1. Destiel + Samwena combined 2. Destiel only 3. Samwena only

1. Destiel + Samwena combined:

Cover by the author (full size)

Empty Earth

Words: 97,192 (WIP) Rating: not rated yet Relationships: Dean/Castiel, Sam/Rowena, Jack & Dean, Jack & Crowley Bang/Fest: none Tags: Canon Universe, Post-Ep 15x18, Epic, Plotty, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Action, Adventure, Humor, Romance, Slow Burn, Rowena/Sam First Kiss, Consensual Possession, Angel True Forms, Empty Rescue, Witch Sam Winchester, 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, HunterCorp Dean, Michael, Kevin, Balthazar 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

Banner by spiffyflypie

Map to Yesterday

Words: 23,003 (finished) Rating: Teen Relationships: Dean/Castiel, Sam/Rowena Bang/Fest: Dean/Cas Reverse Bang (2022) Tags: Canon Universe, Amnesia, Mass Amnesia on Team Free Will (including Rowena), Mystery, Magic, Road Trip, Recovery of Identity, Angst, Humor, Romance, Castiel/Dean First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, Action, Adventure, Angel Wings, Trapped Together in a Small Space, Caring Rowena, Team Free Will 3.0 Point-of-View Characters: Dean Summary: Team Free Will wakes up with no memory of where they are, or who they are. Left with nothing but some foggy shreds of their identities, they have to rediscover themselves and each other—and team up to piece together what even happened. Read on AO3 ✧ Excerpt ✧ Text Trailer ✧ Art

More of my fics below the cut ("Destiel only" + "Samwena only" categories)

2. Destiel only:

Banner by LamiaSage

A Word in the Mists

Words: 23,968 (finished) Rating: Mature Relationships: Dean/Castiel, Dean&Jo Bang/Fest: DeanCas HorrorFest (2024)

Tags: Canon-Adjacent AU, Ship at Sea Setting, Case Fic, Monster Hunt, Pre-Relationship, Mystery, Suspense, Isolated from the Outside World, Apocalypse, Angst, Sarcasm, Fear of Drowning, Castiel and Dean Save Each Other Point-of-View Characters: Dean 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. But 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.

Read on AO3 ✧ Excerpt ✧ Text Trailer ✧ Art

Banner by Aggiedoll

Indeana Jones and the Tear of Pele

Words: 32,679 (finished) Rating: Explicit Relationships: Dean/Castiel Bang/Fest: Dean/Cas Reverse Bang (2024)

Tags: Canon Universe, Post-Season-11, Beach Vacation, Adventure, Hawaiian Mythology, Humor, Angst with Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Mystery, Fallen Angel Castiel, Castiel's True Form, Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love, Dean in Denial, Dean Makes Up Ridiculous Excuses for Touch, Castiel and Dean Save Each Other Point-of-View Characters: Dean, Castiel Summary: What starts as a relaxing beach vacation in Hawai’i turns into a journey of self-discovery for Castiel and Dean.

To save the world from the Darkness, they both faced what they thought to be their imminent demise and came out the other side very much still alive. So now they have to ponder the really big questions, such as what a bucket list is, what place in the world a fallen angel has, and how Indiana Jones ever managed to keep that hat on his head.

The island seems to have a way of making the barrier of touch crumble to dust until they're sliding toward the edge of something new and fragile between them that neither of them dares to put a name to, lest it might disappear.

When what really disappears is Castiel, there's very little Dean wouldn't do to get the angel back.

Read on AO3 ✧ Excerpt ✧ Text Trailer ✧ Art

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Forest Fever

Words: 8,586 (finished) Rating: Explicit Relationships: Dean/Castiel, Dean & Castiel, Sam & Castiel Bang/Fest: Dean/Cas Stab Fest (2022) Tags: Canon Universe, Post-Ep 12x10, Monster of the Week, Case Fic - Lite, Hunting, Forests, Mystery (a little), Hallucinations, Angst with Happy Ending, Romance, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Castiel/Dean First Kiss, Castiel/Dean First Time Having Sex, Angel Grace, Team Free Will Point-of-View Characters: Dean, Sam Summary: After the crushing events of episode 12x10 "Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets", Castiel is low on grace and morale. In an attempt to restore at least one of these two, Sam and Dean take him on a hunt. Things start going wrong when Sam gets injured and Cas seemingly disappears. They get worse when Dean turns from hunter to prey for something feeling far more at home in this dark, rainy forest than he does. Read on AO3 ✧ Excerpt ✧ Text Trailer ✧ Art ✧ Making-Of

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The Little Issue with the Mission to Perdition

Words: 16,460 (finished) Rating: Teen Relationships: Dean/Castiel, Jack & Amara, Background Sam/Eileen Bang/Fest: Dean/Cas Reverse Bang (2023) Tags: Canon Universe, Post-Ep 15x19, Jack and Amara Try Fixing Things Together but Make Everything Worse, Jack and Amara Family Bonding, Empty Rescue, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Castiel/Dean First Kiss, Team Free Will 3.0 Point-of-View Characters: Jack, Amara, Dean, Sam, Castiel Summary: Chuck is defeated and his power now belongs to Jack and Amara. They struggle with adjusting to their newly-shared existence, and with big questions such as, how can (almost) all-powerful beings avoid becoming what Chuck was?

What even is all that power good for when it doesn't allow Jack to save someone from the Empty who absolutely deserves being saved?

Who thought it was a good idea to hand all that power to two beings who, together, have spent less years on Earth than the average human child?

...And why is there suddenly black goo everywhere? Read on AO3 ✧ Excerpt ✧ Text Trailer ✧ Art

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Empty and (Un-)Out

Words: 2,666 (finished) Rating: Teen Relationships: Dean/Castiel Bang/Fest: none Tags: Canon Universe, Episode 15x18, Humor, Crack Treated Seriously, Misha's Un-Coming Out, Bishagate, The New York Post Article that Claimed Castiel Confessed to Sam, Castiel's Confession Scene, Castiel/Dean First Kiss Point-of-View Characters: Dean Summary: My (probably insane) way of dealing with Misha's un-coming out. Read on AO3 ✧ Excerpt ✧ Text Trailer ✧ Art

3. Samwena only:

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A Metal Pursued by the Witless

Words: 46,556 (finished) Rating: Explicit Relationships: Sam/Rowena, Sam & Rowena Bang/Fest: SPN RarePairTober (2022) (Prompt: "Fool's Gold") Tags: Canon Universe, Post-Ep 13x19, Magic, Witchcraft, Curses, Adventure, Action, Romance, Humor, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Travel to Exotic Location Point-of-View Characters: Sam, Rowena, Dean Summary: Rowena shows up at the bunker after she has been targeted by a lethal curse with the sole goal of destroying her. Under the shadow of this ticking timer of doom, she and Sam are left with a handful of days to prevent a slow, painful death. The search for a cure sees them on a last-minute flight to Central America. (Or my attempt to escape the cold and gray of real-life winter by traveling to faraway places in my mind.) Read on AO3 ✧ Excerpt ✧ Text Trailer ✧ Art1 ✧ Art2

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Regarding Sam

Words: 7,292 (finished) Rating: Teen Relationships: Sam/Rowena, Rowena & Amnesiac Dean Bang/Fest: Sam Winchester Rare Ships Week (2023) (Day 6: Missing Scene / Episode Tag)

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

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!) Read on AO3 ✧ Excerpt ✧ Text Trailer ✧ Art

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Dibs on Samuel

Words: 2,194 (finished) Rating: Teen Relationships: Sam/Rowena Bang/Fest: SPN Royalty of Hell Weekend (2023) (Day 2: Queen of Hell) 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. Read on AO3 ✧ Excerpt ✧ Text Trailer ✧ Art

[amaranthhiding]

Hiding Amaranth ✧ she/her ✧ Sam's age

A Supernatural blog (mostly) ✧ No hate. Everyone is welcome here. Favorite Characters: Castiel ✧ Rowena Ships: Destiel ✧ Samwena But I love all characters and accept other ships. I try my best to tag everything, so you can filter out characters or ships you don't like.

Masterlists: Fics ✧ Videos ✧ Art ✧ Meta

Content Tags: #amaranthfics ✧ #amaranthvids #amaranthart ✧ #amaranthmeta

#wings! ✧ #halo ✧ #angel trueform ✧ #glowy eyes

Links: my AO3 ✧ my Youtube channel ✧ my Twitter ✧ I respect you as a fellow human being, no matter what you ship or don't ship. ✧

[amaranthhiding]

Map to Yesterday

by Hiding Amaranth

Words: 23,003 (finished) Rating: Teen Relationships: Castiel/Dean, Rowena/Sam

Tags: Canon Universe, Amnesia, Mass Amnesia on Team Free Will (including Rowena), Mystery, Magic, Road Trip, Recovery of Identity, Angst, Humor, Romance, Castiel/Dean First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, Action, Adventure, Angel Wings, Trapped Together in a Small Space, Caring Rowena, Team Free Will 3.0

Point-of-View Characters: Dean

Summary: Team Free Will wakes up with no memory of where they are, or who they are. Left with nothing but some foggy shreds of their identities, they have to rediscover themselves and each other—and team up to piece together what even happened.

Written for the Dean/Cas Reverse Bang (2022)

Link to Art by spiffyflypie

Excerpt under the cut

He woke to the sight of a gray brick wall right in front of his face. His head hurt enough that he wasn't sure if he'd had a violent meeting with the frigging thing. The cold floor beneath him wasn't exactly a peak experience either. Groaning, he sat up and found himself in a long hallway clad with nothing but naked stone and the occasional door. Empty and sterile, like in some kind of official building. A hospital, maybe? Though the regular spots of yellow lighting seemed much warmer than the cold, white lights of a hospital.

Clenching his jaw against the stinging pain in his skull, he stumbled along the hallway in the hope of finding out what the hell was even going on. He couldn't remember how he'd gotten here. Actually, he couldn't remember much of anything. Fighting through the haze of his own thoughts was as hopeless as cutting through mist. When he realized that even his name was lost to the fog, he felt panic rise in his chest.

Had he been abducted? Was he in danger? In a rush of adrenaline, he patted down his pants and recognized the shape of a phone in his pocket. Calling the police was an option, but what would he even tell them? That he didn't know where he was, or who he was? Hell, no. He also realized that the phone was not what he'd been looking for, that his first instinct was the need to hold something very different in his hand. A weapon. Feeling for his weapon was an action running on auto-pilot, something he must have done a hundred times before.

When his hand finally closed around the handle of a pistol, he felt the panic abate, replaced by the security that he could deal with whatever life threw at him. Slowly advancing through the corridor, his own heartbeat was loud in his ears—not in fear, but in a deep focus he'd fallen into without further thought. Hunting, the word shot through his mind unbidden. He didn't have to wait long until he heard the rustling of cloth not too far ahead.

One of the doors was left ajar, but whoever was in there, he didn't want to give them a chance to gain the upper hand. He kicked the door fully open and stormed the unlit room, cocking his gun mid-movement. The ease of it all should probably have worried him, but he couldn't afford that line of thinking right now. Instead, he aimed into the darkness, every muscle in his body tensing as he listened.

Read Map to Yesterday on AO3

Link to Art by spiffyflypie

[amaranthhiding]

A Metal Pursued by the Witless

by Hiding Amaranth

Words: 46,556 (finished) Rating: Explicit Relationships: Rowena/Sam, Rowena&Sam Tags: Canon Universe, Magic, Witchcraft, Curses, Adventure, Action, Romance, Humor, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Travel to Exotic Location Point-of-View Characters: Sam, Rowena, Dean Summary: Rowena shows up at the bunker after she has been targeted by a lethal curse with the sole goal of destroying her. Under the shadow of this ticking timer of doom, she and Sam are left with a handful of days to prevent a slow, painful death. The search for a cure sees them on a last-minute flight to Central America. (Or my attempt to escape the cold and gray of real-life winter by traveling to faraway places in my mind.)

Written for the SPN RarePairTober (2022) prompt "Fool's Gold"

Link to Cover by Hiding Amaranth

Link to Art by Suninjang Read A Metal Pursued by the Witless on AO3

Excerpt under the cut

That bloody bird screeched into the night again, somewhere above the treetops and far too close to them. She didn't know what Sam's plan was—if there even was one. Running could only delay their fate for so long. Even if they managed to reach the ruins before Olivette, there was no way in Hell they could figure out the the ancient secrets buried there with the Grand Coven hot on their heels, mere steps behind.

Goddess, Sam was fast, though. Those giant legs of his carried him through the trees at a ridiculous pace that left her panting. One of his steps equaled two of her own, and she'd have been entirely unable to keep up if he wasn't dragging her along haphazardly. The trees thinned as they approached the other end of the narrow strip of forest, and Sam slowed down to glance at his phone while Rowena attempted another time to sense into the darkness behind, trying to determine how closely they were being followed. But without activating her magic, her senses were as dull as a mole's aboveground.

In front of them, beyond the treeline, lay a field of flowers—rows upon rows of them shining bluish-pale in the moonlight, hardly high enough to provide any cover against obnoxious spies from above. Sam must have thought along the same lines, frowning up at the sky before shrugging.

"Guess the only way out is through," he murmured towards her. Even though he kept his voice low, it was clear that this impossible man was barely even out of breath. She wanted to curse him and bless him, all at once—not like things between them hadn't always been as muddy as that from the start.

"What are we waiting for, on with it then!" she rasped in between two heavy breaths, and he gave her a look that meant he'd well taken notice of her breathlessness, more of those worrylines painted all over his face by the moon. That cursed magnetic pull between their eyes had the worst timing, leaving her body in the confused concoction of fear-driven adrenaline and energizing flutters of warmth.

In unspoken agreement, they turned as one and continued their mad run. They left behind the cover of treetops to enter the field ahead, and she was embraced by the intensely sweet scent of countless blossoms in late bloom. To her surprise, the moment they disturbed the carefully arranged rows of flowers, butterflies rose all around them as a cloud of iridescence ascending into the silvery sky with silent wingbeats. Under any other circumstances, the sight would have been breathtaking, one of nature's wonders to be beheld only far away from the tarmaced grand cities of modern civilization.

Read A Metal Pursued by the Witless on AO3

Link to Cover by Hiding Amaranth

Link to Art by Suninjang

[amaranthhiding]

Empty and (Un-)Out

by Hiding Amaranth

Words: 2,666 (finished) Rating: Teen Relationships: Castiel/Dean Tags: Canon Universe, Episode 15x18, Humor, Crack Treated Seriously, Misha's Un-Coming Out, Bishagate, The New York Post Article that Claimed Castiel Confessed to Sam, Castiel's Confession Scene, Castiel/Dean First Kiss Point-of-View Characters: Dean Summary: My (probably insane) way of dealing with Misha's un-coming out.

Banner created by the author Excerpt under the cut

Something in Dean’s chest constricted, preventing him from breathing the same way Billie’s hold on his heart had. He blinked, trying to make sense of this, of anything, while an expression of enlightenment formed on Cas’ face. “I think I know... I think I know now,” the angel said quietly to himself, turning around and shoving his way past Dean in such a hurry that Dean stumbled backwards and sank back against the dungeon wall.

Stunned, he watched from the cold floor as Cas rushed back to the other half of the room. The angel pulled his cellphone from one of the shelves where he must have placed it when Dean was too out of it to notice, and dialed a number. Dean froze when he noticed the bloody traces on his jacket. Was that… a handprint?

“Sam!” Cas said into the phone with an urgency that matched the beating of Dean’s heart. Dean heard the tinny sound of his brother’s voice at the other end of the line that fell silent abruptly at Castiel’s next words.

“Sam, I realize now what it is I have to do.” A smile unlike any Dean had ever seen on the angel’s face ran over it. “I love you!”

Dean’s jaw dropped in time with the door bursting open after the blood sigil had finally lost its doomed battle against Death’s power.

Read Empty and (Un-Out) on AO3

[amaranthhiding]

Empty Earth

by Hiding Amaranth

I'm posting two excerpts under the cut, one for Destiel, one for Samwena. Words: 85,707 (WIP) Rating: not rated yet Relationships: Castiel/Dean, Rowena/Sam, Jack & Dean, Jack & Crowley Tags: Canon Universe, Post-Ep 15x18, Epic, Plotty, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Action, Adventure, Humor, Romance, Slow Burn, Rowena/Sam First Kiss, Consensual Possession, Angel True Forms, Empty Rescue, Witch Sam Winchester, 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 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.

Cover created by the author

Excerpt from Chapter 7 Dean POV Dean turned around, his hand on the hilt of his own useless angel blade in his jacket, but he couldn't see the rift between realms anymore that had brought him here. Nothing but blackness. He clenched his jaw, had to trust that Sam would find a way out of that situation, that he and Jack were alive and safe. They had to be. Sam was the best damn hunter he knew, so if anyone could manage, it was him.

Cas. The thought electrified his body, sufficed to set it into motion on its own. He ran over a floor so smooth under his soles that it reminded him of marble. Keeping his balance at this speed without seeing anything took some getting used to, but the sheer energy pulsing through him kept him from stumbling.

"Cas!" he yelled, but found that he couldn't hear a single sound in the Empty. His throat formed the shape of the name again, with the same result. Screw it. They didn't need words, never had. Cas! A prayer. A summoning.

The deepest, darkest basin of his mind had kept Cas' last words to him out of reach, but now it all came back to him, dragged to the surface forcefully. It was a gasping, thrashing thing that had been close to suffocating. Never before had hope burned like acid in his lungs.

He couldn't breathe, had to fight off a ripple of panic at the thought that there wasn't enough air in this place. Dark, everything was so fucking dark. He should have been lost, but something drenched him in an impossible certainty about where to go, carried him forward like an invisible compass.

CASTIEL! his mind cried out with everything he had. The wordless answering call ran through him like an earthquake, rocking him from inside in a familiar sensation that burned strongest in his left shoulder.

There had never been any doubt about the way, but what had been a mere sense of direction now changed into his gravity in this unplace. He couldn't have resisted the pull even if he had wanted to. The muscles in his legs strained in what felt like the fastest he had ever run. He stopped abruptly when he sensed rather than saw a shift in front of him in a realm that had no use for human eyes.

Excerpt from Chapter 13 Sam POV The clattering of a skull rolling over the wet stone tore Sam out of his haze. He'd accidentally kicked it with the tip of his boot, tripping in his exhaustion. He stopped, lifting his head up into the drizzle of rain from a non-sky in perpetual darkness. His lips parted, letting the raindrops run down over them, but it did nothing against the parched feeling in his throat. A hand touched his left shoulder, the uninjured one.

"Sam, you have to take a break. Even I am starting to feel this in my bones, and I'm dead."

Trying to catch his breath, he used the illumination from one of Limbo's constant lightning flashes to look back the way they had come from. The palace was nothing but a barely recognizable shadow somewhere at the horizon, across a vast plain of uneven rock. Sam nodded and let himself be dragged to the side. They hadn't quite reached the cliffs yet, but outcrops had begun to line their path.

He pressed a hand to his forehead in a sudden dizziness. Rowena's grip on his arm tightened, steadying him as she led him into the opening to a shallow cave. He stumbled over to the far wall. As soon as he reached it, his knees just gave in and he sank down, leaning his back against the rock and closing his eyes.

"Sam?" she asked, her voice soft again in that way that was so unlike her. It sounded smaller than the person she was.

"I'm...," he said, then stopped when he realized what a miserable croaking sound had just escaped his mouth instead of an actual word. He cleared his throat before trying again. "I'm fine." He opened his eyes to give her a look that he hoped was reassuring, though it probably ended up as more of a grimace.

The sparse light from the exit behind her outlined her form as she stood there in the middle of the cave, balancing on shoes that were barely functional without their heels, her clothing and hair clinging to her in wet disarray.

"Liar," she said and the hint of a smile flitted over a face darkened by bruises and smeared mascara.

"Takes one to know one," he shot back, the corners of his mouth twitching weakly.

"I won't deny I am a woman of certain talents, and persuasion happens to be one of them."

Sam snorted softly at that and leaned his head back against the wall. They spent a moment in silence and his eyes shut again on their own accord. "I just... just need a minute," he murmured, each word a sting in his sore throat. Read Empty Earth on AO3

Text Trailer for Empty Earth

[amaranthhiding]

A Metal Pursued by the Witless is FINISHED!

(Yep, you read that right. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s done. I posted all three final chapters in one go.)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43389420

Pairings: Sam/Rowena Rating: Explicit Words: 46,557 Chapters: 11/11 Tags: Adventure & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Action, Humor, Magic, Witchcraft, Curse Breaking, Travel to Exotic Location, Soft Rowena, Protective Sam, Protective Rowena, Mutual Pining, Sam POV, Rowena POV Prompt: SPN RarePairTober 2022 day 19 prompt “Fool’s Gold” Summary: Rowena shows up at the bunker after she has been targeted by a lethal curse with the sole goal of destroying her. Under the shadow of this ticking timer of doom, she and Sam are left with a handful of days to prevent a slow, painful death. The search for a cure sees them on a last-minute flight to Central America. (Or my attempt to escape the cold and gray of real-life winter by traveling to faraway places in my mind.)

Cover created by the author [The hidden jaguar silhouette in the image above is taken from silhouettegarden.com.]

Excerpt of chapter 9 under the cut:

For several long seconds, the silence was broken by nothing but the low hum of magic near the stairway. Then she heard something like a cough, certain it stemmed from the opening in the ground. Oh, bloody Hell. She really had to crawl over there in the most undignified manner, didn't she? At least the Coven wouldn't bear witness. That small reserve of strength she'd found somewhere inside of herself was used up like nothing as she pulled herself through the grass. Despite her own labored breaths, she tried to listen intently so that she wouldn't miss any further sounds from below. Her body seemed to consist of nothing but pain at this point and she just wanted it to stop, to receive a single moment of peace so that she could catch her breath again. But alas, she was well aware there were only two possible paths out of this for her, and one of those ended in Hellfire. The other… She heard a quiet splash, somewhere deep down in the darkness of the lower level of the ruins, followed by another cough. And then a breathless call of her own name, tinged in enough desperation that it touched that frozen spot inside of her which she'd only recently discovered was still alive. If she hadn't made up her mind already, she surely would have now. After one last glance at her dead nemesis who had so kindly shown her the way, she thought, 'To Hell with it all,' and rolled herself over the edge of that dark opening with all the elegance of a felled tree. As she dropped through the air rapidly, she thought that if Sam did even so much as hint again that he didn't have her trust, she'd forever remind him of this moment. Cold water broke her fall none too gently, causing new pain to surge through her body. The waves of her impact crashed down on her, surrounding her from all sides and pulling her deeper, ever deeper. Having lost all sense of direction, she struggled weakly in the doomed attempt to swim with a body that had given up on her. As water rushed into her lungs, she thought that maybe she should have chosen Hellfire after all. Then she felt an arm around her midsection that steered her back to the water surface where she coughed and wheezed for air even more vehemently than before. Sam's body was warm in the cold water, giving her a focal point as she got her bearings, blinking against the drops splashing into her face. Read the full story on AO3. @spnrarepairbunker