" hopeless wanderer "
"Well, that was...fun." the girl sighed as Dean helped her up, giving the word fun a whole new connotation.
The hunt had gone smoothly; after a few hours of tiresome research, the three had managed to find out where the serpent-like creatures were hiding, and, luckily, they hadn't moved onto their next prey yet, so the number of victims had been minimized.
An almost complete win, you could say; not that it would be anything new - three bright hunters like them, they'd always get the job done, one way or another.
The two Winchesters hadn't had the chance to encounter this side of Aurora before; in all the time they had spent with her, she had been new to all this, eager to learn every single thing and trick. Which made them wonder even more - what had they missed?
Exiting the abandoned building, the change of light made the girl squint her eyes a bit, as she took a breath of fresh air; nothing like the satisfaction of knowing she had freed the world of one more threat.
"So, what happens now?" Dean inquired as they stood alongside the Impala, drinking their well-awaited congratulatory beers. Aurora detected a subtle tone of accusation in his voice; maybe, implicitly, the real question was, 'are you going to bail on us again?'.
"Same old thing, I guess."
As the brothers nodded in response, all she could do was try to make sense of everything that had happened in the past hours. Something had led her there, to see two of the best people that had ever walked into her life, again; she wasn't going to let that slide.
Silence lingered in the air, as well as unanswered questions and doubts. All that broke down as soon as Sam decided to speak, asking something all three of them had been thinking about.
"Listen, Rory, maybe...maybe you could stick around for a while. With us, I mean."
The girl could feel their gazes burning on her; a smirk appeared on her face as she thought about the thing she had wished for, even though she was too hesitant to bring up.
Finally, she looked up at the two boys, their attentive glances clearing her of all doubts, "Yeah, I, uhm...I think I'll do that." and, with that, and a smile plastered to her face, she made her way straight to the backseat of the Impala, a place that would become considerably familiar to her, over the course of the months that were to come.
"Hey," she piped up once they were all inside the car, "we can be the new Golden Trio." she winked to no one in particular, earning a chuckle from Sam and a slightly confused look from Dean, who scoffed as he drove off, "I still can't believe you were going to steal my car."
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A quite large amount of alcohol, a couple of games of pool and some genuine laughter - that's what accompanied the three hunters throughout the night - most of it, anyhow. They wanted to cherish the moments they had together, perhaps subconsciously giving into the feeling that, anytime, something could pull them away from this way too inviting daydream.
Aurora sat at the bar, twirling a freshly opened bottle of beer in her hands - last one for the night, she promised herself. Being repeatedly beaten at pool by Dean had ceased to be entertaining after the first two games - she never really got ahold of the game; however, if she really put her mind to it, she was sure she could kick his ass.
"Are you even old enough to be drinking?" the older Winchester joked as he approached the bar and ordered a beer for himself.
"Shut up, grandpa." the girl retorted causing Dean squint his eyes in offense, to which she just laughed, "I'm only..." she stopped a moment to actually count, "three years younger than you."
He shrugged, taking a sip of his beer, "Still a kid."
All the girl did was smile; she knew Dean, so she knew how protective he could get with the people he cared about. Although safeguarding was not something she particularly needed - being honest, she had faced her fair share of horrible things, out there - she didn't mind, nor did she object. More than anything, she was grateful for the place she had in his heart.
"So," he spoke up after a few minutes, still determined to find out what was going on with the girl he considered family, "are you ever gonna tell us what the hell happened to you?"
Aurora furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, even though, deep down, she knew exactly where Dean was going; a subject she dreaded, but she knew she owed some explanations. Still, she stood silent, hoping the man wouldn't push any further, but waiting for him to continue nonetheless.
"You don't just disappear like that, Rory. No goodbyes, no notes, no calls or visits, not leaving a damn clue on how to find you, for years. Not unless something's up. And I know something, whatever the hell it was, did happen to you, and that you won't talk about it, but— you could've been dead, for all we knew. But here you are, kicking ass and drinking beers with us. So what the hell is going on?"
She owed him this, and she knew it. Had she not been just slightly intoxicated, it would've taken Dean a whole lot more of persuading to get her to divulge everything she was about to blurt out. But, for all she cared at the moment, he was entitled to some truth. So, regretfully looking up at him, finding his eyes already watching her every movement, she decided to tell him everything.
"The night I left, me and Bobby had just finished up a hunt, and, like all the times before, I said my goodbyes and headed back home. My dad and my little brother were waiting for me— we were supposed to have dinner. Our lives were simple - we did what we did, and I might've lied to them about what I did, but I always knew I had someone to go back to, every day, a warm place where we had happy dinners and we smiled and joked. But not that night. That night, when I got there, it was all...gone. Everything was in flames. The house, my car, everything I knew, was just...turning into dust."
"And your dad? Your brother?"
"There were no screams, no cries of pain, no nothing. The only thing I saw, were two...people, in a fight, outside. One of them won, the other didn't. And when I saw him— it, that's when I knew...they couldn't have made it out. So I ran. God help me, I ran, and I didn't stop. I had seen so much ugly, so much evil up to that point, but I never, never even considered walking away from it. But that night I did. Does that seem right to you? I just kept running. I thought...I thought a demon was onto me. So, there's my excuse. I didn't know what to do, but I couldn't have anyone else get hurt. Not Bobby, not you guys, not after that had to happen to my family, not when I could've done something to stop it."
"Aurora—"
"Don't— don't say 'it wasn't your fault'. Who do you think led them there?"
"You don't know that."
"But I got nothing. No leads on who did it, or why, no one to lay the blame on...no bodies to bury. I never got to say goodbye. That morning, I just took off. Sometimes I would make my brother's breakfast, when my dad was at work, give him a kiss goodbye. But that day? I just left. And I never saw them again. And I couldn't even get them justice, something that would give me the peace of knowing that I did something."
By the time she had finished, heavy tears threatened to fall from her weary eyes, but she didn't bother to try and stop them. Dean was right there, feeling Aurora's pain thoroughly, knowing exactly how important family was to her. Still, as much as his heart broke, he knew there was nothing he could do to fix all the things that had gone wrong. But he was there, and the one thing he could do was letting the girl know that she would always have someone to count on.
"Come here, kiddo." he said softly, giving her a shoulder to cry on, which she gladly took, for once allowing herself to feel vulnerable. "It's okay." he spoke softly, kissing the top of her head, "It's alright."
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How people managed to get up early in the morning and actually be productive was beyond her. People, like Sam Winchester, who currently found pleasure in shuffling around the motel room, interrupting Aurora's relatively sweet dreams.
"What is it with this light?!" the girl whined, still half asleep and struggling to get her eyes open. Her head pounded like a thousand hammers were marching in her head and the taste that was left in her mouth was the worst thing she could currently think of. Hangovers were not a legend.
"That's the five beers and half a bottle of whiskey you had last night." Sam chuckled as he fetched a large glass of water and an aspirin for the girl.
"Who the hell let me drink that much?" she finally managed to fully open her eyes, just in time to see Sam pointing at his brother, who was sound asleep and probably not waking up anytime soon, "Right."
Although she felt absolutely awful, it was nothing a cold shower and a nice breakfast couldn't fix. Besides, the things she remembered from the night prior, she did not regret any of them; spilling the beans to Dean being one of them.
The morning rolled by peacefully, with coffee, bacon and eggs, and a few complaints from a very touchy Dean. They had a clear schedule, nowhere to be, and a free day - perhaps, one of the few times that occurred. Yet, all they could think of doing was search for a job, for a new town that needed their intervention. What were they doing, if not saving lives?
"I got nothing guys." Aurora said sighing and putting her computer aside for a second, just to stretch out her legs.
"Hey, check this out." Sam piped up, "Uh, three known victims this last week, all of which had—" he started filling them in, but suddenly halted, having heard a much familiar rustling sound.
A sound that was, however, entirely mysterious to Aurora, just like the person that came with it, who was now standing right next to her.
"Who the hell are you?!" she demanded, rapidly pulling out her hand gun and pointing it towards the dark haired man, whose head was tilted in confusion.
"Woah, woah, woah, he's a friend." Dean intervened, earning a glare from the girl, who was still missing something.
"How the hell did you get in here?"
Dean smirked, "He's got wings."
"He's—" Aurora paused, realizing what he had said, "what?"
"I'm an angel." the man spoke up for the first time, his voice gravelly and husky, earning the girl's full attention.
"You're a— I'm sorry, what?" she raised her eyebrows in disbelief, not really believing a word of what she was hearing.
"Rory, this is Castiel." the older brother proudly took the initiative of introducing his friends, "Cas, this is Aurora, an old friend."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Castiel sincerely told the girl, looking her straight in the eye.
She hesitated, still in the process of taking in the excessive amount of information she was momentarily being given, "Did you say— angel?"
"Yes."
"Angels...are real?" she murmured, a hint of disappointment, hope, and a multitude of other emotions that not even she could decipher hidden in her voice. Finally, she managed to look up at the so-called angel, who gently nodded in response, not taking his eyes off of her.
Slowly, she lifted her hand up to his face, her fingers lightly grazing over his soft features. "I...can't believe it." she whispered as she continued studying his traits, completely in awe and wonder. Meanwhile, he watched her curiously, searching her gleaming eyes, only to find them brimming with so much light and with so much darkness, all at once.
Before Castiel could have the chance to take his attempt to figure her out any further, Dean distinctly cleared his throat, interrupting the silence that had taken over the room.
"Cas, so...what brings you here?"
The angel stepped away from Aurora, in order to move closer to the brothers, so as to be face to face, as he defeatedly looked at the both of them and sighed, "I...need your help."
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— a/n
No joke, I would die for Cas. He's my absolute favorite character, so I was excited to introduce him in this story - although my main worry as I'm writing this is not being able to deliver the characters properly as they are, so I really hope I'm doing that right! Until next time~