#horrorfest

Since it's October (aka Halloween season and Kinktober for the AO3 crowd), I was thinking it might be fun to write a thematic side story this month. I'm torn between going creepy or steamy, so I figured I'd ask what you would actually like to see.

Every character involved would, of course, be an adult (or aged up / set in the future).

Here are your options:

Knew his outfit looked familiar 😂

ROSEWOOD

Art: @witchy-worm

Writing: @withclawsandsympathy (AO3: callsigntango)

Rating: Teen

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Other Tags: Angst, Animal Death, Case Fic, Claustrophobia, Mentions of Torture, Mild Body Horror, We Talk About Purgatory

Word Count: 5.5k

Summary: Months after Mrs. Butters leaves the bunker, intent on finding a home of her own, a peaceful section of pines set deep into the American heartland becomes anything but. Haunted by Purgatory at every turn, and forced to confront the consequences of decades of torture and abandonment at the hands of his predecessors, Dean and Cas set off to solve a string of disappearances in the forest where they stumble across a familiar face -- and an all-too-familiar feeling.

Excerpt:

Dean believes a lot of things. He believes the manner of his death was decided by his father the very night that yellow-eyed demon ripped his mom away from him. He believes he’ll die, broken and bloody and alone on a hunt, and anything Cas does only delays the inevitable. He believes he doesn’t deserve to be saved. Dean knows Cas will do it anyway. He realizes a moment too late that he and Cas have been staring at each other silently for several beats. Dean clears his throat, pushing off from the tree he was leaning against. His jacket, half-stuck to the bark and sap of the pine, makes a ripping sound as it peels away from the trunk. The tree emits an eerie groan with the sudden absence of Dean’s weight against it. Scowling, Dean scrubs a palm against the canvas sleeve to wipe away the sap. His hand comes back dark red. The smell hasn’t quite hit his nose before Cas speaks the word forming in Dean’s thoughts. “Blood.” The tree groans again, the sound cutting through the silence as several more pines join the rising chorus around them. The hairs on the back of Dean’s neck rise in return. The sound Dean had once mistook as trees creaking and swaying in the wind now formed the painful wails of something wounded. Then the trees began to scream.

Rating: Explicit

Major Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Tags: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Alternate Universe - FBI Agents, FBI Agent Dean Winchester, FBI Agent Castiel, Blood and Gore, Dean Winchester has a Crush on Castiel, Castiel Has Self-Esteem Issues, Dean Winchester Has Issues (truly, without saying the plot outright even if it's somewhat obvious, anything else is a spoiler! But Dean has issues. Period.)

Summary: Senior Special Agent Castiel Novak and Special Agent Dean Winchester are partners within the FBI's Criminal Investigation Division. Lately, they've been following a set of murders, cold cases that even Castiel - the bureau's best agent - can't solve. The murders seem entirely unconnected, no string to suggest that they're similar at all - that is until Castiel begins to recognize the victims. Suddenly, things are starting to slot into place, and Castiel isn't sure he likes where the signs are beginning to point.

Teaser: Once at the front desk, Dean worked out what they needed to be allowed access to the back room, and Castiel continued to look over the report. 

The amount of injuries sustained were concerning, especially when Castiel began to wonder how exactly the killer had the time to inflict them all. Dean pulled him along into the back room, allowing Castiel to continue to read. “It’s strange,” he started, lifting up a page and being granted sight to another photo. “All the bruising around these cuts… It’s almost like…” 

“Yeesh,” Dean exclaimed, taking in the sight of the body in front of him. “Looks like she got Tatum Riley’ed.” Castiel looked up from the report to give Dean a confused look, unsure of who Tatum Riley was. Dean didn’t seem too impressed by Castiel’s lack of knowledge, however, giving him a surprised look. “What? C’mon, man! Scream! Ghostface?” Castiel only shook his head. “I don’t understand that reference.” Dean scoffed, pointing over at the wounds. “Dude, I don’t know how you do so well at this job without seeing a horror movie or two. Look– Tatum Riley was one of the people that got killed in Scream, right? She got cornered by a killer in the garage and the door back in was locked. She tried to get out using the doggie door that was on the garage door, but she got stuck halfway through. The killer lifted up the garage door and crushed her in it while she was stuck.” 

Castiel shuddered at the visual. It didn’t seem like a pretty way to go out. 

“Anyway– look at this,” Dean continued, pointing at the bruising and cuts. “I mean, it doesn’t look perfect. There was probably a few knife slashes in there, y’know? The movie never actually showed Tatum’s wounds– I mean, you could see that the head was clearly fake when Sydney saw her later– sorry. We never actually saw how she looked after, under the shirt and all, but I’d imagine it might be similar to that.” Castiel nodded a bit, thinking about the scenario. It did seem probable. 

“I was never actually told where they found her body,” Castiel admitted, looking over the body before back to the report. “I’ll be back. I’m gonna go see what I can find out.” Dean nodded, shooing Castiel away. “Yeah, you go see. I’ll try to get a few other guesses on what might’ve happened to Riley 2.0 here.” 

Making his way towards the front desk, Castiel allowed himself to think. A kill that seemed similar to a horror film? Could it be the same killer that he’d been unable to catch? If so, then the killer must’ve really switched gears — that, or Castiel was incredibly uncultured on horror movies to recognize similar murders (that very well could be the case; Castiel wasn’t one for understanding movie references).

A kill similar to a classic Scream death? The circumstances being different than the other cases? Is it really the same killer, or does the culprit have a vendetta against Castiel, a want to lower his self-esteem through a subliminal message worthy of being compared to Will Graham's first killer in Hannibal?

ART MASTERPOST: The Forgotten Halls by Allthismusic

Strange, dark and endless halls with eerie statues, an Angel and an Entity, whose peace is disturbed by a mysterious Hunter. Let your fantasies unwind and immerse yourself in this gloomy story, The Forgotten Halls by allthismusic on AO3.

I painted this hoping for someone to catch on the gothic vibes and I couldn't be happier to read Laur's vision which captured perfectly what I was feeling making this. It's such an amazing take on the *spoiler*, I loved that twist!!! Plus it's inspired by Susanna Clarke's Piranesi, which I really enjoyed reading last year, so that's awesome too.

Side note for the art: I had some fun with the banner too. If your first thought is that particular scene in Labyrinth with the stairs, you are right. It altered my brain when I first saw it :D

@deancashorrorfest

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.

Title: The Forgotten Halls

Story by: Allthismusic (tumblr: @folkbloodbaths)

Art by: @thestarsmakemedream-art

Rating: T

Word Count: 9k

Summary:

A long time from now — maybe decades, maybe centuries — there are only the Halls, and the Entity, and the Angel. They exist in harmony, mostly. When an outsider changes their routine, a routine so long-standing that the Angel remembers nothing that had come before it, the disturbance will threaten the fabric of their entire universe.

LINK TO FIC | LINK TO ART