𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐦, supernatural

viii.

"Didn't get much sleep, huh?" Sam sympathized, knowing a thing or two about sleepless nights.

"Nope. I've been reading all night. And," she sighed, tiredness evident in her voice, as well as distress, "I think I might be onto something."

"Something?"

"About...you know." she checked whether or not the two were following her, before continuing, "Are you familiar with the myth of Pandora?"

"Yeah."

"Nerd." Dean mumbled, referring to his brother, who, unlike him, was aware of what the girl was talking about.

Aurora smirked, "Basically...it says the gods created this perfect woman, Pandora, gave her this box, and told her not to open it, no matter what."

"Ah, let me guess, she opened it."

The girl nodded, "After Prometheus stole fire and gave it to humans, Zeus was pissed. Wanting revenge, he placed all evils in that box, knowing that the woman's curiosity would lead her to open it, and unleash them upon the world."

"And only hope remained inside." Sam finished, as soon as everything started to make sense.

"So— what are you saying?"

"I was thinking— Cas said that thing is in me, right? So...what if I'm, sort of, like the box?"

"You might be right." Castiel intervened, for the first time that morning as he walked up to them, causing Aurora to look up in surprise - though her gaze diverged quickly. "It...would be the reason angels were told to keep you safe. You are our hope to keep this world safe."

"Right." Aurora shuddered at his words, intimidated to say the least. What was she even supposed to keep in? What were they even up against? None of this could be characterized as normal; it wasn't just one of their usual hunts, searching for the bad guys and taking them out. They weren't dealing with demons, or angels - which, was already strange as it was. This was different, and it terrified her.

"But, uh, that demon friend of yours mentioned that witch we killed weeks ago."

"Yeah, the one who hexed you." Dean said, giving the girl his typical accusing glance.

"Yes, that one." she rolled her eyes, "Well, whatever she did to me, she said something in Latin. And if I'm not wrong about this, it meant 'reveal yourself'."

"Meaning?"

"I'm thinking she wanted this thing out, so what if she...unlocked a hatch, for it to come out, but it's actually still closed?"

"Because you're keeping it closed." Sam added, with a small smile of relief.

"Yeah." Aurora airily laughed, immediately relaxing, suddenly getting the urge to get up and squeeze the two brothers close to her in gratitude just for how much calmness they were able to give her. They were scared too, undoubtedly, but they knew better than to let it show. And in that moment, even just for a brief instant, all troubles were gone.

"So we're good, right? I mean, it's not like I'm gonna let it out." she spoke sure of herself.

"Well, that's good enough for me." Dean said reassuringly. Things always seemed to go sideways for them; so if he could, just this once, have some peace of mind, he was going to take it. "Now, how about we kill some sons of bitches?" he then piped up, flashing a newspaper in front of Aurora's eyes, who began scanning it intently.