Belle huffed at the budding anxiety filling her chest as she entered the classroom. Masks filled the room, some making the young teen shift uncomfortably. The huntress pauses beside her father who had zeroed in a particularly disturbing mask, "bring back memories?" Her uncle asks Dean, who turns, not able to tear his eyes away from it.
"What do you mean?" Came the stiff answer, his jaw ticking with an unknown emotion.
Sam just rolls his eyes, gaze flicking to his niece, "Being a teenager, all that angst." he states, ignoring her huff of annoyance when Dean made a sound of relief, "What'd you think I meant?"
"Nothin," He said, eyes following a teen who was trying to fit a rather large and, if Belle were to say, impressive bong in a kiln, but seemingly unable. "Now that brings up memories." his daughter snorts in amusement, knocking their shoulders together as a voice comes from around the corner.
The trio spin to meet the teacher, whose name Belle had forgotten, "You gentlemen wanna talk to me?" As his eyes fall onto the huntress he flushes, "And lady." He walks over, a large box held precariously in one hand, and what she could only presume to be coffee balanced in a mug on top. His hand reaches out to Sam, the closest one to his person, eyes flicking over to her as he spoke.
"Ah, Mr. Harding," Sam says, Belle, biting her lip to hold back the bubble of laughter, she could practically feel Jaibrian's hum of disapproval, and the angel wasn't even here, or was she? Belle's hand rising to her neck to trace the would-be scar that had killed her... almost killed her? Whatever.
As her uncle shakes the man's hand he corrects them, "Oh, please, Don."
Not waiting for Sam's, 'Okay, Don,' the teacher is already redirecting his attention to Dean, grasping his hand for a shake, "Even my students call me Don." Then he reaches toward Belle who meets him with a firm shake, "Just, uh, yeah, Don."
"Yeah, we get it, Don." Dean snips, Harding walked toward his desk, "I'm Agent Geddy, this is Agent Lee. and Agent Morningstar. We just had a few questions about, uh, Tracy Davis." Belle rolls her eyes slightly as she faced the artwork, one thing that annoyed her was her father's incessant need for rock band names, Geddy Lee, Rush, her Dad was a dumbass.
The man stumbles as he looks at their badges, "Uh, yeah, Tracy, uh, bright kid, loads of talent. It's a shame she got suspended." They put it away and the trio exchange a glance.
"Uh, you two had a... uh, violent altercation?" Belle asked, her lips pouting slightly as his eyes were drawn to her.
The teacher smiled, "Yeah, she exploded." He laughs, shaking his head, "If Principal Murrow hadn't walked by when he did, Tracy would have clawed my eyes out."
As Dean's eyes widen in surprise his brother continues the questioning, "Why?"
"I, uh, you know, I was only trying to rap with her about her work. It had gotten inappropriate and disturbing." With that Dean gave him a bullshit look, eyes flickering around the class.
He turns his body as if to show off the projects, "More disturbing, than, uh, those guys?" His hand fell forward to his leg, confused, masked well with a smirk, almost identical to his daughter.
"She would cover page after page with these bizarre cryptic symbols, and then there were the drawings." He hissed, looking... smug? Suddenly Belle felt uncomfortable, her body freezing up as her eyes dragged over the teacher again, conflictions arising in his body tone and general attitude. "Detailed images of killings, gory, primitive, and she would depict herself in the middle of them, participating."
Dean looked over to Sam his eyebrows raised and the younger grabbed the silver coin that was originally in the hex bag, "Symbols, what kind of symbols? Uh, anything like this?" He presented the coin now in a smaller clear baggie.
"Yeah, yeah, I think that might have been one of them." The teacher says in surprise, nodding as he looked at it.
Belle took a step forward, "Do you know where Tracy is now? Mr. Harding?" She says with a smile, teeth glinting.
"I would imagine her apartment." The teacher replies, his voice raspy, "And it's Don."
Belle just beams sweetly, "Don."
Her father cuts in hastily, "Her apartment?"
"Yeah, she got here about a year ago, alone, as I understood it, as an emancipated teen. God only knows what her parents were like," he states, and with that, the trio was headed back to the motel.
***time skip***
Belle groaned as she came to a stop, the purr of the engine quieting as she cut it off, Jay slowly released her hips and got off, waiting patiently for the huntress to do the same. "You okay Belle?" The angel asks, holding her delicate hand as she got off the contraption.
"Fine, let's get this over with." She grunts, walking over to where her father and uncle waited.
As she walked up, Belle straightened her leather jacket, ponytail swaying lightly in the autumn breeze. Jaibrian walked beside her, ocean eyes scanning for threats as she and her charge approached the Winchester boys. The calming scent of vanilla reached her nose again as the two arrived, Dean waiting impatiently. "You two get anything?"
Belle grunts shaking her head, "Nah, we hit the heavily trafficked areas in the town, we didn't see her, you guys?"
At the dejected look from both, Belle caught on to the unanimous no. Dean shook his head as the group headed back to their room. "Luck is not our style. Her friends don't know where she is. It's like the bitch popped a broomstick."
"She could be making the third sacrifice at any time." Sam groaned, falling into place beside his brother, as the chatter quieted a small, well short, boy headed toward them, he donned a reflective astronaut costume proudly as he approached them.
He stops a few steps away and Belle's hands go into her pockets, catching on to what was in store."Trick or treat."
Her father just points up, "This is a motel." He states dumbly. The young kid looks up and nods, not caring.
"So?" He snaps, eyeing Dean rudely.
Dean continues glaring, "So we don't have any candy."
The young huntress groans as Sam points toward baby, "No, we have a ton in the uh..."
"We did, but it's gone." Her father snaps, ignoring the disapproving looks from his two family members. "Sorry kid, we can't help ya."
This child not giving up pouts, "I want candy." He whines, glaring at the two with distaste.
"Well, I think you've had enough," Dean states, glaring down at the child who equally stares back, them both exchanging looks as Sam continues on, Belle stopping to deposit a handful of treats in the kids bucket who thanks her with a chubby smile and then returns his scathing staredown with her father. Then he starts forward knocking his shoulder with Dean as he starts on down the sidewalk.
Jaibrian suddenly stiffened beside her, her face turning toward the motel room as Sam opened it, hand flying to his gun with a shout. As Belle looked questioningly back at her, Dean bursting in before her. "My brothers," Jaibrian whispers in her ear as they step through the threshold.
"Sam! Sam, wait! It's Castiel." Dean shouts, eyes drawn to the male sitting down as he pushed the gun down, "The other angel." He supplies as Sam stares stunned. Then a figure by the window catches his attention, "Him I don't know."
Cas steps forward looking to Jay briefly and then back to Belle's uncle, "Hello, Sam." He says, voice low.
"h my God – er – uh – I didn't mean to – sorry. It's an honor, really, I – I've heard a lot about you." He stutters out, hand reaching up to shake Cas' and Belle just rolls her eyes, the man had been like this around Jay too until he saw how normal being with a Winchester for a few months could make an angel, but he still had his moments, like these, where he would be stunned for no reason.
Castiel just looks at Sam's outstretched hand, Dean silently shutting the door as the two acquaint themselves, Belle snorts at the little shake Sam gives his hand, trying to get the angel to understand the gesture, Cas finally catches on and places his hand in her uncles and shakes." And I, you. Sam Winchester," Castiel watches him, "the boy with the demon blood." He softly places his hand over their clasped one, Jay groaning at the awkwardness as they continue. "Glad to see you've ceased your extracurricular activities."
The entire room jumps as the unknown man speaks, "Let's keep it that way."
Belle shifted ponderously, twisting her hands slightly under Jaibrian's worried glance, "Yeah okay chuckles," Her dad calls before turning back to Cas, "Whose your friend?"
The angel in question ignores him, eyes still trained on Sam, "This the raising of Samhain, have you stopped it?"
"Why?" Belle asks in sync with her father, all three angels staring at her when she spoke, making her shift awkwardly.
Cas was the first to break the staring match eyes moving to her father, "Dean, have you located the witch?"
"Yes, we've located the witch." He mumbles confused, as he moves to speak on, he is cut off once again.
Blue eyes bore into green, "And is the witch dead?"
"No, but –" Sam starts, eyes furrowed.
"We know who it is." Dean finishes, hands splayed out before him.
Castiel looks as displeased as an unfeeling asshole might, "Apparently the witch knows who you are too." He says walking over to the side table and plucking a hex bag off the surface, "This was inside the wall of your room. If we hadn't found it, surely one or both of you would be dead. Do you know where the witch is now?"
"Brother-" Jay hissed only to get cut off by a seething look from the mystery man by the window. Belle stiffened a surge of protection building in her chest, anger flashing through her veins.
Yet her Uncle exchanged a glance almost sheepishly, oblivious to the storm brewing around them. "We're working on it," Dean states, hand splaying out in exasperation.
"That's... unfortunate. " Castiel grunts, looking away.
Dean scoffed, "What do you care?"
Cas seemed to think before turning his face back Dean, "The raising of Samhain is one of the 66 seals."
Belle immediately stiffened, a chill running up her spine, making goosebumps sprout from her creamy skin. "So this is about your buddy Lucifer."
"Lucifer," Came a deep growl from the window, " is no friend of ours."
Her father eyed the man, already fed up with the tenseness of the room, "It's just an expression." He explains, ignoring the wtf look from his daughter.
Her father's angel glares, frustration bubbling, ever-present on his usually mellow face. "Lucifer cannot rise. The breaking of the seal must be prevented at all costs."
"Okay, great," Dean snapped with his hands swinging out, " well now that you're here, why don't you tell us where the witch is, we'll gank her and everybody goes home."
Belle scoffs, 'You think if they knew where the witch was we'd still be standing here? Jay said she was cloaked. " The huntress snapped, Castiel looking to her and nodding with agreement.
With a hollowing expression, her father narrows his eyes, about to start some argument Sam intervenes, calling out to everyone in the room. "Okay, well we already know who she is, so if we work together –" His words are cut off from a disinterested growl, all eyes turning to the angel by the window.
"Enough of this." He hisses with finality.
Her father obviously pissed off raises his voice, "Okay, who are you and why should I care?"
The figure turns angrily, Jaibrian immediately moves to shield Belle slightly, her fingers itching to pull out her blade as she meets her brother's stare. "This is Uriel," Castiel begins his voice lost in the background of the stare-off between angels, "he's what you might call a... specialist."
Belle echos the word as the man takes a few steps forward eyes not leaving Belle's hidden figure, her father catching where she left off, his jaw ticking with irritation, "What kind of specialist?" The biblical creatures share a look, Jaibrian letting out a disapproving scoff as the two shared glances, "What are you gonna do?" Dean continues, picking up on the tension.
"You – uh, both of you – you need to leave this town immediately," Castiel admits, Uriel nodding his eyes moving to the pair, unfeelingly.
"Both of us?" Dean questions eyes flicking over to his daughter, "Why?"
Belle feels the room shift into anger Sam quietly seething as Dean let out a reproachful huff. Jaibrian shifted uncomfortably when her huntress grabs her shoulder, "Both?" She whispers not understanding, "Blue what's going on?"
She goes ignored as Dean starts spouting furiously, "So this is your plan, you're gonna smite the whole friggin' town?"
"We're out of time." Cas says, face void of sympathy, "This witch has to die, the seal must be saved."
Belle shakes her head stepping out from where she was standing, ignoring the worried glances shot her way, "There are more seals that are to be broken, why is this one so important?" She asks, Uriel raising an eyebrow at her crossed arms.
At the same time, her uncle tries to reason with them, "There are a thousand people here."
Eyes boring into the huntresses Uriel answers him, "One thousand two hundred fourteen."
"And you're willing to kill them all?" He asks in disbelief.
The angel looks indifferent, "This isn't the first time I've... purified a city."
Castiel rolls his eyes at his brother, "Look, I understand this is regrettable."
'Regrettable', her father echos whilst Belle stands her ground, "Are you serious? It's idiotic that's what it is." She spits fiercely, "you can't just purify a city because you don't wanna do legwork dickwad."
"We have to hold the line. Too many seals have broken already." Castiels says trying to reason with her.
Dean shakes his head, "So you screw the pooch on some seals and this town has to pay the price?"
"It's the lives of one thousand against the lives of six billion. There's a bigger picture here.' Cas explains his eyes boring into Deans, pleading for him to understand.
"You know Uriel," Belle inaugurates, going toe to toe with him, "I'm trying to look at this from your perspective but I can't put my head up my ass far enough to see it." She snaps, with a disapproving scold coming from the angel behind her.
Dean nods lips pursed in agitation. "Right, 'cause you're bigger picture kind of guys."
The blue-eyed angel steps closer to her father, "Lucifer cannot rise. He does and hell rises with him." Cas shakes his head, "Is that something that you're willing to risk?"
Sam steps in, speaking for the first time in the argument. "We'll stop this witch before she summons anyone. Your seal won't be broken and no one has to die." The men having a stare off as Dean's tongue flickers out to wet his lips.
Uriel steps forward closer to Belle, watching the men face off"We're wasting time with these mud monkeys."
"Oh, yeah I'll show you mud monkey when I shove my foot up your-" The huntress is cut off by Castiel who steps away from her father regrettably, "I'm sorry, but we have our orders."
Her Uncle shakes his head, "No, you can't do this, you're angels," he says softly, eyes boring into Cas' "I mean aren't you supposed to," Uriel scoffs in amusement, "You're supposed to show mercy." Hos voice breaks lightly, almost unnoticeable.
Almost.
Uriel looks to him smugly, "Says who?"
"We have no choice," Cas states, eyes tiredly looking at Belle, ignoring her Uncle as a whole.
Dean steps forward, "Of course you have a choice. I mean, come on, what? You've never questioned a crap order, huh? What are you both, just a couple of hammers?"
"Look, even if you can't understand it, have faith. The plan is just." Cas gravels, barely sparing them a glance until Sam's challenging words start.
"How can you even say that?" He asks disbelievingly.
Castiel turns, eyes blazing with icy anger, "Because it comes from heaven, that makes it just." He snaps, taking a challenging step. Belle's ears rang as they continued to fight, Heaven, she hadn't even believed in it till Jay came along. Which was better? She wonders. living your life as a test for happiness or to die and be forgotten.
Belle tuned back in as tensions rose, "No," her father walked toward Uriel, " but if you're gonna smite this whole town, then you're gonna have to smite us with it because we are not leaving. See, you went to the trouble of busting me out of hell. I figure I'm worth something to the man upstairs. So you wanna waste me, go ahead, see how he digs that."
"I will drag you out of here myself." The angel snaps.
Belle scoffs, "I dare you cause we ain't moving unless you wanna kill me?" She challenges lips mockingly pouting at the frustrated look growing on his face.
"I mean, come on," Dean adds with a smile, "you're gonna wipe out a whole town for one little witch. Sounds to me like you're compensating for something." They stare holding each other's gazes until Dean turns back, "We can do this." He says to Cas. "We will find that witch and we will stop the summoning."
Uriel shakes angrily, "Castiel!" He shouts, "I will not let these peop–" He's cut off as said angel swings his hand up.
"Enough." He hisses watching Dean, silent until his face breaks, " I suggest you move quickly." Dean nods eyes boring into the angels as Cas speaks again. "Sister you are needed in Heaven."
Jaibrian's eyes look to him, surprised, "I cannot leave my-"
Castiel shakes his head, Belle shall remain with us until you return." This one sentence leads the room to erupt with protests.
"Like hell!" Dean says swinging his arm protectively around his daughter.
Sam nods his head, "Yeah no way."
Belle simply just told him to fuck off.
What? She's classy like that.
But Castiel is not swayed. "My decision is final, we shall stay here with Belle until you return or Samhain is stopped, we can not lose her whilst you are attending duties."
Dean flushes with anger, "Lose her? I can take care of my kid!"
"Can you?" Uriel asks, eyes looking to Belle's neck.
Belle suddenly felt like she was being auctioned off and inspected. Yeah, she was about to fry this bitch.
"Listen here you sonofabitch." Her father starts to be stopped by Cas again.
"It is this condition Dean, or the town will perish." The angel argues.
Belle grunts and nods, "go find the missing hex girl and gank the bitch, I'll be fine." She mutters, ignoring her family's face, "Go."
With that Dean kissed the crown of her head, grabbing his bag and leaving, Jay already was gone and Belle was awkwardly standing, being studied by the two. "Look, I'm not playing spin the bottle so." She jests, sitting on the ugly couch and picking up one of Rossi's books.
Castiel shifts, looking down to the lapels of his coat, walking to Belle and pointing at the spot next to her, "May I?" He questions.
The Huntress sighs, nodding her head, "I'm not your keeper." She snaps, flipping the page.
A few moments pass with Castiel silently looking through Dean's go-bag, she didn't question it, and Uriel staring at her. Finally fed up her forest eyes met his challengingly, "What, I know I'm pretty but you aren't exactly my type."
The angel gets that smug smile again, ignoring her, "You have quite the silver tongue dearest Ecclesia." Castiel let out a warning like growl.
"A." The huntress begins, clasping her book closed, "Don't talk about my tongue, B. My name is Belle, not whatever the fuck you just said."
Uriel looks at her amusedly, "You don't know the part you play, do you dear church."
Cas looks to him again, "Uriel." He snaps again, eyes flickering bright blue, "Enough."
"No." Belle shakes her head, "What is he talking about?"
He swallows shifting lightly, "Belle," He begins, eyes watching her carefully, "Do you know the story of Mary?"
"Yeah." She responds carefully, not trusting the look from dickwad, "Virgin Mary and all that bullshit."
He nods, "Yes but her story is not simply that, Mary is not just a person."
Belle looks at him dumbly, "Okay you fuckin lost me, what?"
Uriel steps forward, "The role of Mary is just that, a role, in the people's time of need she was the only person who could hold the child of God but you dearest Ecclesia," He appears next to her. Hands caressing her cheek, "You can hold the child of Michael or Lucifer and survive" He pets her in awe like fashion, "You are the prize for who wins the war in heaven vs hell.
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."
-Friedrich Nietzsche