Hope opened her eyes and sucked in a breath. She had died. Like, actual, proper died-and-went-to-heaven death... and now she was an angel. Not part angel, but a full angel, a made-of-grace angel with orders from God.
"Hope? Are you okay?", Castiel's worried voice asked.
As she was about to reply she heard Dean, "You'd better hope she's okay, Cas!", he practically growled, "Telling her it's okay to kill herself! What were you thinking?"
Hope sat up and, finding herself in Castiel's arms, blushed, "I am perfectly okay", she said, looking at Dean with wide, earnest eyes. Castiel wrapped his arms around Hope tighter and shuddered, "Are you okay, Castiel?", she asked. Hope had never seen Cas look so... upset.
"There was so much blood", he whispered, "I thought I had made a mistake. I thought you wouldn't come back".
"I will always come back, Cas", Hope said, looking into her angel's eyes. He gave her a watery smile and she layed a cool hand on his stubbley cheek.
Dean cleared his throat, the level of chick flick in the room was way too high for his liking, "What did Joshua want with you?".
Hope smiled and her happiness stunned Dean, "He explained that I am not what I used to be. He told me what I am now and he gave me a job".
Castiel stood up, slowly moving away from the couch where Hope was sitting, her blinding smile still on her face. The two boys looked suspicious, and the angel looked sad, "Hope, what are you?", he asked, not wanting to know the answer, but knowing it before the words left Hope's lips.
"I am an angel of the Lord".
Cas' face went pale, "I never wanted this for you Hope. I am so, so, sorry", he whispered, with more emotion than Dean had ever heard in a voice. Dean actually thought for a second that Cas was going to faint. Noticing the poor angel was to distrought to ask the question, Dean asked it instead, "What's your job, Hope?"
Her smile shifted into one the screamed trouble. One that would of looked at home on the face of a demon. "Disobey".
"Wait. What?", Cas asked, he seemed angry, and confused, and curious, all at the same time, he was still pale, but now his cheeks were tinged an angry pink.
Hope stood up and twirled around, showing off her perfect health, her perfect not-deadness. "I'm an angel now and my job is to disobey. My orders are to go against the other angels. I was sent to help you", she shrugged her delicate shoulders, "I cannot fall, and I cannot fail, because by rebelling I will be following my orders".
Everyone stared at Hope. She didn't look much like an angel in her bloodstained plaid shirt and her faded skinny jeans. But then neither did Castiel in that constantly filthy coat. "Prove it", Dean barked suddenly, "Prove to us you're an angel".
Hope sighed and ran her hand through her hair, "You went through this with Castiel, Dean".
"Yeah, well, we're goin' through it with you now".
"Castiel", she asked, "How do I...uh... how do I...".
"How do you show your wings?"
Hope nodded. "You have to relax, release everything. But don't relax too much or you will come out of your vessel", he explained helpfully.
"Okay", she said, nodding, "Okay". Hope closed her eyes and imagined a big weight falling off her shoulders and her wings unfolding. She opened her eyes and the lights of the motel room began to flicker, she looked at Dean triumphantly as the shadow of her wings unfurled dramatically across the wall. Dean notice that the shadow of her wings, though impressive, was nowhere near the size Cas' had been and he wondered why that was. Hope's moment of triumph was short lived though, as she opened her mouth to speak to Dean, her right wing struck a table and she cried out in pain. The table fell over, the lights stopped flickering and Hope's wings vanished again. "Ow ow ow!" she grumbled.
"That can happen in enclosed spaces", Cas said.
Hope scowled at him, "Thanks for the warning".
Sam was laughing hysterically and Dean had collapsed in a puddle of giggles. "She... oh my god... her wing... hit the table... so angelic, Hope... so angelic".
Sam stopped laughing, eventually, and blushed, "Does this make you a, uh, baby angel?" Dean laughed even louder at this, but Hope ignored him.
"Fledgling", Cas said.
"What?"
Castiel sighed, "A young angel is called a fledgling". He stood just away from the others and Hope walked over to him. He will still like me now that I'm an angel? she thought, he always seemed to talk about angels like he was ashamed to be one. What if he thought she was like all the others, following orders blindly, emotionlessly?
"She will need to be trained. Her insticts won't be enough in a battle like this", Castiel carried on speaking, not paying any attention to Hope, who was now standing by his shoulder looking directly at him with her wide, unnaturally silver eyes.
Dean stopped laughing, "Wait. You're not seriously gonna let her fight? Cas, you made me leave her behind. You FORCED me to, and now that's gonna count for nothing! I thought you wanted the same thing I did! Nobody should have to live this life, Cas! I thought we agreed on that!"
The trenchcoated angel huffed in frustration, they just didn't GET it! Being an angel was hard enough, but with all these emotions... it was downright torture. He loved Hope, he wanted her safe, but he didn't have that luxury. Hope was a powerful weapon, even before she had been an angel, and she could stop the Apocalypse.
"I will need to talk to Hope, but yes. She is a part of this now, for better of for worse. You do not understand the compulsion angels feel to do their duty, Dean, to follow their orders, it... it is what we were made for", he looked at the fledgling angel beside him, his emotionless mask hiding his heartbreak, "It took me millenium to even begin to question my orders and even now, when I know I am doing the right thing, I still feel compelled to join my brothers, my sisters. They are my family, Dean. Surely you, of all people, know what sort power that has".
Dean didn't say anything, neither did Sam, after being brought back from the dead they just wanted catch some sleep, obviously though, it was going to be a while before they got any of that.
"Hope? Would mind joining me outside?", Castiel said, deciding the conversation was over and that the longer he waited to talk to Hope the more determined to fight she would grow. She didn't reply to his question, but she took ahold of his hand and suddenly they were on the roof. "Show off", he muttered, and Hope laughed lightly. Castiel had never heard her laugh before and he immediatly decided it was a pleasant sound, one he would like to hear again. It was surprisingly still light out and the sun hung lazily above the horizon, stubbornly refusing to go the bed.
"Do you really want to fight?", he asked, an ancient grief pouring into the words as his eyes begged her to turn away, get out before she got in so deep she drowned.
Hope considered this. Did she really WANT to fight? No. Did she need to? Absolutely. She knew there was no way out now, she couldn't turn away, because it was no longer a choice. "Yes. It is something that I need to do". Before Castiel could start talking, she held up a hand, "Not just because I think it is my job as an angel. It is also because of you".
Cas just stared at Hope, any arguement he had devised to convince her to stay out had been blown away. "Me?"
"And Sam and Dean. But, mostly you. I realise that if the Apocalypse goes to plan, then the world will be destroyed. I don't believe for one second that heaven will take us back after all of this. Their rebellious little brother and Lucifer's daughter? No way. Sam and Dean don't deserve this, they have saved thousands of lives and now they're supposed to be used for the Apocalypse. It's not right, nor is it fair", Hope sighed, "I just wanna fix it".
Castiel stared at Hope, she had plenty of reasons to fight, but he still hoped he could find one reason why she shouldn't. "Hope, I... I don't think... heaven... you could get hurt... killed...", but he never got to finish. Because Hope had grabbed the collar of his jacket roughly and was now staring deep into his eyes,
"You don't understand Castiel", she said, in a cold, clear voice, "I don't care if heaven won't take me back. I don't care if I die. You, and Sam and Dean, are the only things I have. I would rebel, I would kill, anything, for you. When I was in heaven, Pamela said something to me, she said, "Before you start a war, you had better know what you're living for". Don't you understand? You are my reason", her eyes flashed dangerously, and she still hadn't let go of Cas. He was forced to stay trapped in the swirling vortex of anger, determination and love that was in Hope's eyes. "Why do you think I started hunting when you left, Castiel? I started because, I thought that if you guys were out saving the world that I might as well kill anything that could get in your way, anything that could hurt you".
"You- you did?" he stuttered, stepping away, thankfull Hope had let him go. He had always assumed she had started hunting because she knew that it's what he wanted her to stay away from. Castiel knew she had killed demons, a lot of demons, but he just thought it was because, you know, they were demons. "But, you could not have known what was a threat to us".
She shrugged, "All the demons are after you guys, and me, which made me pretty good bait. Every demon I killed or excorcised was one less demon that could hurt you", she laughed dryly, "I even killed an angel once".
Castiel couldn't believe his ears, "You killed an angel?", he asked, his gravelly voice sounding, so confused it would have been adorable, if not for the topic he was questioning. "How?... Why?"
"Uh, I stabbed it", she replied thrown off by the curiosity in her angel's voice. Did really matter how she killed him?
"What with?"
"A blade.... one sec, I can show you it", she disappeared, and reappeared in half a second. "Here", she said, talking while Castiel examined it, "I saw it for the first time when we were going after Famine. It is what I threw at that demon. Then I just kept finding them everywhere. In my bag, my pocket, sometimes if I moved too quickly one would fly out my sleeve". Castiel smiled, "It isn't funny! I nearly gave Bobby a heart attack!"
"They are angel blades. You can make them if you need one. Obviously, the grace that was inside you was subconciously making them", he explained, "Which angel was it?"
"I don't know", she admitted,shrugging her shoulders, "He was looking for you". Hope could remember the day like it happened yesterday...
•°•°flashback°•°•
Hope ran down the empty road, wind blowing her hair around wildly as the green trees swayed. She loved running, it had been the one thing she actually enjoyed Dean telling her to do. Adrenaline running through her veins as she ran for her life... Hope could almost hear the gunshots and crashes as the boys fought whatever was after them this time. But, that was all over now, Sam and Dean had been gone four months and she still felt her heart falter when she thought of Castiel. She shook her head banishing the painfull memories, and stopped. Her cabin was two miles to her right, and she considered stopping by to pick up her sketchbook, but suddenly an unfamiliar flutter of wings alerted her to someone behind her.
"Your not Castiel", she said, not bothering to turn around.
"Nope".
Hope turned around to see a tall angel peel the wrapper off a lollipop and pop it in his mouth with a smile. "What do you want?", she asked, trying to get to the bit where she told him to piss off so she could finish her run.
"I'm looking for my dear little brother Castiel. Rumour has it, you're the one to ask", he produced another lollipop, seemingly out of thin air, and held it out to Hope.
She raised an eyebrow delicatly, but accepted the candy and stuffed it in her pocket. "I haven't seen Castiel in four months and twenty one days", instantly regretting showing this unknown angel just how much she missed Cas.
The angel, whoever he was, laughed, "Well... the rumours certainly are true, then".
She frowned, tilting her head slightly, before she realised her mistake and crossed her arms angrily. Hope knew he was trying to stir her up, but she was curious, what exactly were the angels saying? "What are the rumours saying?, she grumbled, ignoring the amused chuckle the mystery angel let out when he saw her picking up some of Castiel's traits.
"Well...", he began, his butterscotch golden eyes glittering mischieviously, "they say that our little Cassie has fallen in love with the Devil's daughter, and even better! That the Devil's daughter loves him too!"
This shocked Hope, if he knew who she was, why wasn't he killing her? She was terrified, not that she let it show of course, "I thought you angels called him Lucifer. I haven't ever heard anyone except Dean call him the Devil actually". Hope nearly sighed in relief as she slipped her hands casually into the warm pockets of her jacket and felt the familiar cool touch of the blade, greatfull, this time, that the silvery blades just kept turning up.
"Oh, I usually do call Lucy, Lucifer. But...", he trailed off dramatically, "the Devil's daughter has a certain... ring to it. Don't you think?", the angel's grin grew wider as he stepped closer to Hope. "But, I came to ask where Castiel is".
"Yeah...", Hope said trailing off. She stepped closer to him, stood on her toes and whispered in his ear, "Not here". Then she stabbed him in the chest. White light burst from his eyes, his mouth and the deep hole now just beside his heart. He collapsed on the ground and Hope finally let a tear escape, "I am sorry", she whispered, leaning over his body, she didn't even know the angel's name. "I didn't want to kill you, you seemed pretty cool, for an angel. But you were looking for Cas, and he's a little busy saving the world right now. I couldn't risk you hurting him". Hope cast one last glance over the angel's fallen body and turned away, running as fast as she could back to the safety of Bobby's.
A/N: Hello again! Sorry this isn't particulary plotty, I just thought I would include something a little different, you know, spice it up a bit. Also... it sort of introduces a character who's gonna show up soon... hinty hint hint...
Love and "Why are you not commenting?"
Grace.