deancasbigbang:

Title: Show me your secrets and I’ll show you madness
Author: Nera Solani
Artist: Correlia
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Dean/Castiel (hinted Sam/Eileen)
Wordcount: 30000
Warnings/Tags: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Canon typical violence, blood and gore, Post season 13, case fic, Greek mythology, illusions and hallucinations, temporary major character deaths (in illusions), hurt/comfort, angst and fluff, grace sex
Posting: 10/19/2018

Summary:

Are you afraid of the dark? No?

If you ever find a door that leads nowhere, don’t go in.

Four teenagers make the mistake of doing so anyway and don’t come back out. Which is how Dean, Sam and Castiel find themselves investigating a case that leads them right into an ancient Greek myth about a labyrinth housing a monster. But the monster isn’t the only thing lurking in this dark place; the walls are breathing, watching, waiting… Being separated in a giant maze that isn’t attached to our reality isn’t how any of them had envisioned this case would go.

What is real? What is an illusion? Is that blood? What was that shadow?

In every corner awaits a new nightmare, each one worse than the other. The three men need to save the missing teenagers and find a way out — if they can find each other, and live through the terrors the maze shows them. But none of that is easy when you’re being confronted with your worst memories and fears. Especially when you have to lose the love of your life over and over again…

Well? Are you afraid of the dark? Maybe you should be.

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The first corridor seemed almost endless. They walked straight ahead, their flashlights lighting the way. The stone of the floor and walls was cold, smooth and seemingly made from one single piece. Dean almost thought this damn corridor might just go on and on forever, but then it led them into a bigger room. As they stepped out of the narrow passage, they found themselves in a giant dome made of the same stone. Right in front of them was the labyrinth with mile-high walls of solid stone, towering above them like buildings. For some reason it wasn’t dark anymore. The dim light didn’t seem to have a source, but it was enough to light the way sufficiently, so they switched off their flashlights and packed them away. The entrance to the huge maze was impossible to overlook: a wide gap between the high walls. As they stepped closer, Sam noticed the same poem that was carved into the door, written in the stone. Like a warning. A dark promise. It made his skin crawl.

They followed the faint footprints in the low light, each of them constantly on edge. All of a sudden, Dean noticed something on the walls. Scratches, some of them filled with a dark, thick liquid that gave off a rotten smell. When he wrinkled his nose, Cas answered the unspoken question, “It’s rotten blood. Probably from a previous victim considering how old it is.”

Walking slower now, they kept looking at the walls, increasingly disturbed by what they saw. The massive stone walls were covered in increasingly deep scratches accompanied by more and more blood. At some point, the scratches started to form words in capital letters.

NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS

FLEE

GO AWAY

HELP

LEAVE ME ALONE

KILL ME

They looked on in horror as they saw scratches that marked days someone had been trapped there, and that horror morphed into dread when they came across a spot that looked like someone had tried to scratch a hole through the wall. Of course the person hadn’t gotten far, but the shallow notch was drenched in rotten blood. Right below, on the floor, lay a fingernail, coated in dark red.

“Looks like someone tried to dig their way out with their bare hands,” Sam noted.

Dean looked at the messages on the walls, which were even more concerning to him, “Yeah… looks promising…”

They didn’t stay to examine the scene any closer, but as they continued to follow the teenagers’ footprints, they didn’t get very far. The trail ended in a wall. Literally. The trail of footprints led into a wall.

“The hell…?” Dean mumbled.

Castiel looked around nervously. He had a bad feeling about this place. A really bad feeling.