Last Hope (Supernatural fanfic)

Chapter Thirty-Four

The car ride to Bobby's was quiet and Dean turned the music up to hide the incredibly tense silence. He couldn't believe what Hope had done. After she had walked out of that room like the door had never been locked, calmly, quietly and covered in blood, she had told them what had happened. Hope had practically sold herself to protect them. And though he could totally understand sacrificing yourself to save others, Dean couldn't understand why anyone would sacrifice themselves to save HIM.

"You know why, Dean", Hope said quietly from the backseat. Though she couldn't get an actual read on Dean's thoughts, Hope had been practising doing what Cas had called "tasting the air". She hadn't practiced enough to read proper thoughts, but she could sense a persons emotions and now the entire car seemed to be filled with Dean's guilt, confusion, self loathing and anger.

"Dammit, Hope! Stay outta my head!", he yelled over the music. Dean was angry at Lucifer for causing all of this, he was angry at Hope for swapping herself for something so worthless and he was angry at himself for not protecting her. Cas was going to KILL him for this, well, maybe not kill... but he didn't look forward to working with him until the found a way to get Hope back. He took a deep breath as he pulled up outside Bobby's house and they all peered through the rain at the angel standing on the porch impatiently. Hope was the first to get out, she ran through the rain to Castiel and Dean watched as she ran straight into his waiting arms. Castiel noticibly relaxed and Dean decided he wasn't going to be the one to tell Cas about Hope's little deal, she could handle that. Once they were all inside, Dean looked at Bobby meaningfully, "How 'bout we give you guys some time to talk. Bobby, Sam?"

"Oh, yeah, sounds great", Sam said, and quickly wheeled Bobby out of the room and into the kitchen. As Dean left the room, he pointed to Cas who was staring out the window seriously, and Hope sighed.

"Hey, Castiel?"

He turned to look at her, to look right into her with those impossibly blue eyes that never failed to make her heart race, "Yes, Hope".

She swallowed and looked at her hands as she fiddled with a loose thread on the cuff of her coat. "You would do anything to protect Sam, Dean and me, right?"

"Yes, of course. You know that".

Hope finally raised her eyes to Castiel's, but had to lower them again. "I did something stupid, Cas. Something really stupid".

He grabbed her hands, she never called him "Cas" unless she was upset, "What, Hope? We can fix it. Whatever you did".

"We can't fix it, Cas. Nobody can".

"What do you mean, Hope? I don't think I understand".

Hope gripped Castiel's hand so tightly it would have been painfull for a normal human, but he barely registered how tightly she was holding on. Or how close she was to falling apart. "Castiel, I... I met my Father tonight", he sucked in a breath, but she continued, "While Dean and Sam were helping some people, I stayed in the meeting room, but everyone there was a pagan god, and... and one of them called my Dad and he came and he... he killed Gabriel. It felt like I couldn't breath, Cas, it hurt so bad. And I got locked in the room with him and the only way he'd let me out was if I went with him". Hope was shaking, her delicate frame shuddering with every breath she took. She didn't want to leave, she wanted to stay here and eat pie and kiss Castiel and go hunting with the brothers.

"You said no, of course", Castiel chimed in. Hope was silent for a minute, then she finally spoke up,

"Lucifer said, I could only leave the room if I agreed to go with him and he said that if I did go with him then he would leave Dean and Sam and you alone. And... I... uh... I said... I said yes".