Destined

Chapter 3

Balls are not my natural habitat. I'm not good at dancing, large crowds of people make me uncomfortable, and I hate how much I have to scrunch my wings in so I don't hit anyone. Dean and I spoke very little as we walked from my room to the ballroom, and once we got there Dean immediately went off into the crowd, leaving me alone. I didn't mind though, it probably would have been worse if he stayed. I looked around the room, searching for Hannah, but she found me before I found her.

"Oh Brother, isn't it marvelous?" She said as she walked up to me. "I love it here, everything is so beautiful." I smiled at her.

"I am glad you are enjoying yourself," I said. Hannah grinned, her wings fluttering in excitement.

"Have you seen Dean yet? I haven't seen him," she said. I looked around the room, and, spotting Dean not too far away, I took Hannah's hand and pulled her after me through the crowd.

"Dean, if I may beg a moment of your time, I would like to introduce my sister, Princess Hannah," I said. Hannah curtsied to Dean, trying to hide her grin. Dean smiled at her.

"It's my honor. Are you enjoying it here?" he asked. Hannah nodded.

"Oh yes! This castle is wonderful, Charlie has shown me so many amazing things already," she said. I smiled at her, glad to hear that she was so happy.

"I..." I looked at Dean as his voice trailed off to find him looking back at me already. Dean shook his head slightly. "I, uh, am glad to hear that," he said. I blinked, confused, but before I could give it much thought, the music changed, and Hannah's face lit up even more.

"Oh, I love this song! Castiel, dance with me!" she exclaimed. Dean looked back and forth between the two of us.

"Why me?" I asked, my eyes widening. I definitely did not want to dance in front of all these people.

"Because you can do the dance with wings! Please," Hannah begged.

"I do not think- I mean- my wings-"

"Oh relax, no one thinks your wings are ugly but you, let's go!" Hannah said, grabbing my hand and pulling me onto the dance floor. I started dancing rather awkwardly, shaking slightly, very aware of all the people watching us.

"Hey, it's okay. Just dance, don't worry about them," Hannah said softly. I nodded, taking a deep breath and watching her, trying my best to forget everyone else in the room. I quickly found myself caught up in the steps and movements, and before long I was smiling again, not being able to help but think of the time that Hannah had spent hours helping me learn this dance when we were children.

I was pulled roughly from my memories when the song ended a minute or two later and the hall broke out into thunderous applause. I looked around to see everyone watching us, even Dean. My wings snapped in to press tightly against my back self-consciously. I glanced over at Hannah to see her beaming and curtsying, clearly enjoying herself. She looked over at me and laughed a little bit.

"Okay, we'll go now, I won't put you through anymore," she said, taking my hand and leading me into the crowd as everyone went back to their business. Hannah stopped in front of Dean, who was staring at us.

"That was, uh, that was cool," Dean said. Hannah beamed at him.

"Thank you, Dean. Now if only Cas agreed with you," she said, laughing. I blushed a little.

"I think... I think I am going to go back to my room. It's getting late," I said. I wanted to be anywhere but here, my skin was crawling with embarrassment.

"Okay. I am sorry I made you do that," Hannah said. I smiled at her to tell her I didn't blame her, then nodded to Dean and made my way to the door. I was about slip out when-

"Hey." Charlie walked up to me.

"Hello," I said. Charlie smiled.

"Bored so soon?" She asked, leaning against the wall.

"Balls are not my favorite place," I admitted, shifting uncomfortably.

"I know. It's not that hard to tell. I don't really get how people could not like this, but to each his own. I'm not one for balls myself, but the party is nice," Charlie said. "Your dance was beautiful, by the way."

"Thank you. Hannah wanted to... I do not normally dance," I said, slightly confused by her differentiation between a ball and a party.

"But that was amazing!" Charlie said.

"It's not nearly so remarkable in my kingdom. Now if you'll excuse me, I should go," I said. Charlie nodded and I slipped out into the hallway, relishing in the cool darkness outside the ballroom doors. I did not want to admit it to anyone, but I did not like it in the Winchester court very much. The people were friendly enough, but it was such a large place, and no one really wanted me here, it was all for Hannah. But I was stuck there, so I had to make the best of it. I knew I wanted Hannah to be happy, so I would simply deal with it. Maybe something good would come out of all of this, and I would look back and laugh at myself for being so uncomfortable. A boy could hope, anyway. I started down the hallway back towards my room. It was lucky I remembered where it was, this castle was so big. Once I got there I sat at the edge of my bed, thinking. My mind kept going over and over what was happening, and it still had trouble grasping the whole thing. I stood up and walked over to my window. The sun had set and the stars were coming out, making me smile just a little. These were the same stars as I saw at home, the same ones my mothers had shown me the constellations in. Seeing those stars reminded me that although Mother was far away, she was not gone. I would see her again and we would go out and watch the stars together like we used to, just mother and son, and everything would be okay.