Battle of Will
Chapter 1
Contractually Obliged
A/N: This has been revised somewhat. Enjoy 3
Anita always hated this part. When the Angels pretended to lend choice to mortals. She had been given the same false illusions that lead her to this point. Now, here she was, in a dingy motel room with Uriel and Castiel, waiting for the Winchester boys to arrive.
She lounged on the sofa, her doc martins hanging over the stiff arm, her feet making a 'V' shape that framed her master, Uriel. She didn't need to uphold the same formalities as her Angelic Superiors, but that didn't mean she was sloppy or unprepared. Her apparently lazy position had her hands inches away from the gun beneath her jacket, knowing how the Winchesters could get.
You see, Anita Winters was a Bound Servant: a mortal who was contractually obliged to do the bidding of a chosen angel. Nothing on this earth could stop her from completing a task given to her by her master, Uriel. Well, almost nothing. Let's just say it was a tough gig. And her boss? A nightmare.
The mortal looked towards Castiel, the other Angel in the room. He was indefinitely nicer than Uriel and, in a way, she felt indebted to him. After all, he was the one who dragged her sorry ass from Hell around the same time as Dean. Unfortunately, Uriel didn't like to share his pets so Anita was forbidden to speak with him. Made the whole 'thank you' spiel difficult.
Castiel caught her gaze in his endlessly blue one, a small frown appeared on his face as he returned her thoughtful stare. He had still yet to grasp human emotion and thoughts, and Anita was the only human he had ever been around for any amount of prolonged time- and he wasn't even able to converse with her. But sometimes, he caught her just staring at him and he couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking.
The door opened, pulling them from their thoughts. The tallest of the Winchesters came through the door first, his posture instantly falling onto offensive as he caught sight of the three strangers. His hand went for his gun, but not before Anita hand hers drawn and pointing lazily towards Sam, not that he saw her, his eyes were trained on the two 'men' in the room…typical.
"Who are you?" he asked, his hazel eyes glaring dangerously. Sam, she knew, was tall. But she hadn't quite been prepared for exactly HOW tall. Bloody giant took up the whole doorframe. His chocolate brown hair was longer than she imagined as well, and hung down to frame his overly chiseled cheekbones.
"SAM! Sam, wait, that's Castiel!" Boomed a voice that Anita knew well, she felt her body tense against her will, and her heart thundered in her chest. An itch began on her trigger finger. Dean stepped in front of his brother and lowered his gun. "The Angel," Dean reassured. Anita almost laughed; did they know any other Castiels? She had never met a single other one than the angel himself. She shook her head, trying to pay attention. Before anyone could notice her drawn gun, she slid it back to its holster and relaxed her posture.
Dean's green eyes eyed Uriel's back apprehensively, "Him I don't know…or her." Oh, so they finally noticed her? Anita nodded calmly and lazily made her way to stand closer to her boss, who was staring oh-so-dramatically out of the window. Anita was contractually obliged to give her life for Uriel, not that the bastard needed it, but she suspected he added that clause for amusement when they wrote up her contract.
While Dean stared at Anita, Sam was acting like starstruck teen towards Castiel.
"Oh my god, er…uh- I didn't mean to – sorry. It's an honor, really, I-I've heard a lot about you," he gushed, holding his hand out to shake. Castiel regarded it for a moment, and after Sam imitated a handshake via mime, Castiel caught on and shook his hand. Anita felt pride for the Angel. He was learning!
"And I, you. Sam Winchester," he paused, "the boy on demon blood. Glad to see you've ceased your extracurricular activities," the dark haired Angel finished blandly. Anita felt a strong urge to face palm.
"Let's keep it that way." Her boss's deep timbre tones caused her back to go rigid, but she recovered quickly.
"Yeah, okay chuckles," Dean quipped before turning to Castiel, "Who are your friends?" Castiel was not subtle as he changed the subject…about as unsubtle as a giant pink elephant.
"This raising of Samhain, have you stopped it?" Castiel asked gravelly. Here was the part of the conversation that Anita hated. The illusion. False choice.
She tuned out and instead focused on her bond. It was a kind of psychic link between Uriel and herself, it allowed her to interpret her Masters mood. Like, right now, he was feeling arrogant, annoyed and sadistic. It was pretty common with Uriel.
She kind of understood, in a way, why they were playing these mind games with the Winchesters. Lucifer rising was not something Anita particularly wanted to witness. She had already put a stop the Apocalypse once and it landed her in Hell. She really didn't want to go round two.
"Enough of this!" Her master's voice sprang her right back into the conversation.
"Okay, who are you and why should I care?" Dean growled. Finally, Uriel turned from the window, revealing his serious, yet arrogant face to Dean and Sam. Castiel spoke quickly.
"This is Uriel, he's what you might call a…specialist." Castiel cast his eyes downward at the word. Uriel stepped closer to the Winchesters, and Anita shadowed him obediently and silently. She always felt stupid acting like a bodyguard for a being that, essentially, could not be killed.
"What kind of specialist," Dean asked apprehensively, the wheels turning in his head, "What are you gonna do?
"You- uh, both of you- you need to leave this town immediately," Castiel warned. Dean crossed his arms defiantly.
"Why?"
"Because we're about to destroy it," he lied. Anita shifted her weight. Even though she liked Castiel a whole lot more than Uriel, she hated how Angels were such…dicks.
"So this is your plan? You're gonna smite the whole friggin' town?" Dean challenged.
"We're out of time. This witch has to die, the seal must be saved." Anita noted how much colder Castiel sounded. Her mind wandered…would he ever be as cruel as Uriel could be?
"We're wasting out time with these mud monkeys," Uriel's voice, once again, breaking her out of her reverie. Anita hated that term. He often called her one as a kind of sick 'pet' name. If Anita had been her old self, she would have tried to deck the Angel, but her bond kept her from harming his ass.
"I'm sorry, but we have our orders," Castiel told the brothers.
"No, no you can't do this, you're angels! I mean…aren't your supposed to- you're supposed to show mercy!" Sam's voice sounded desperate in his plea, and it kind of broke Anita's heart. You should never meet your heroes. Uriel raised an eyebrow, enjoying lording himself over these mortals.
"Says who?" Was the Angel's cold reply. Castiel kept shifting his eyes between Dean and his Heavenly colleague.
"We have no choice."
"Of course you have a choice. I mean, come one, what? You've never questioned a crap order, huh? What are you both, just a couple of hammers?" Dean snapped, anger rolling off him in waves. So much testosterone, if Angels could emit such a thing. But Anita thought about his question and wondered; did these Angels feel the same compulsive need as her to fulfill orders? Because resisting an order for her felt like her blood was boiling and her head was going to explode. Castiel bristled.
"Look, even if you can't understand it, have faith. The plan is just." Anita cocked her head at Castiel, he could be a dick sometimes, but you had to admire his blind faith- or abhor it.
"How can you even say that," Sam questioned softly.
"Because it comes from heaven, that makes it just," Castiel declared matter-of-factly.
"Oh, it must be so nice, to be so sure of yourselves!" Dean argued acidly.
Castiel frowned, "Tell me something, Dean, when your father gave you an order, didn't you obey?"
After a few moments of tense silence Dean huffed, "Well sorry, boys, looks like plans have changed."
Uriel laughed, a very unpleasant sound if you were familiar to his punishments. "You think you can stop us?"
Dean marched over to Uriel, but Anita found herself between the two large men in a flash, barely aware her feet had taken her there to protect her master. Her hand collided roughly with Dean's chest and she felt her skin crawl from the contact, but her arm held strong.
"No, but if you think you're gonna smite this whole town, then you're gonna have to smite us with it, because we're not leaving!" Dean barked over the top of Anita, as though she wasn't there. "See, you went to the trouble of busting me out of hell. I figure I'm worth something to the man up stairs. So you wanna waste me, go ahead, see how he digs that."
Your confidence will get you killed, Anita thought.
"I will drag you out of here myself," Uriel told him calmly. Dean pushed up against her hand, causing Anita to shove him back with surprising force.
"Back off," Anita warning the tall, green eyed man lowly. The hunter ignored her, eyes trained on the dark skinned Angel.
"Yeah, but you'll have to kill me, then we're back to the same problem. I mean, come on, you gonna wipe out a whole town for one little witch? Sounds like you're compensating for something!" Frustrated, Dean turned back to Castiel. "We can do this. We'll find that with and we will stop the summoning," he implored.
Anita felt Uriel frustration just before he shoved Anita roughly to the side, causing her to crash into a table.
"Castiel! I will not let these peop-"
"Enough!" Castiel ordered, his eyes flicking over to Anita's recovering form. His eyes shot to Dean, "I suggest you move quickly."
And suddenly, they were no longer in the Winchester's motel room. Anita always felt nauseous when Uriel transported her somewhere without warning, and now she found herself in some random park, with neither of the Angel's in sight.
Fucking bastards.
Several hours of mindless wandering later, Anita found the Angels in almost the exact spot she had been dropped off. The woman's cheeks enflamed and she marched over to them.
They were watching the children in their Halloween costumes in thought. Anita found their renditions humorous. If only they knew those monsters really were out there in the dark?
Uriel sat on the park bench, while Castiel stood awkwardly to the side.
"The decisions been made," She heard Castiel say as she drew close.
"By a mud monkey," was Uriel's disdainful reply.
"You shouldn't call them that." Castiel's eyes roamed to where Anita stood bristling silently. He knew she hated the pet name.
"Ah, it's what they are, savages, just plumbing around on two legs," Uriel sneered, "Isn't that right, Winters?" The mortal woman smartly said nothing; instead, she glared at the horizon and ignored the arrogant Angel beside her. She felt a promise of pain trickle through the bond at her silence, and her resolve broke.
"Yes."
"You're close to blasphemy," Castiel warned. "There's a reason we were sent to save him. He has potential and he may succeed here. And any rate, it's out of our hands."
There was contemplative silence between them as they stared out at the passer bys who had no idea these celestial beings were planning on killing them.
"It doesn't have to be," Uriel replied finally.
"And what would you suggest?"
"That we drag Dean Winchester out of here and then blow this insignificant pinprick off the face of the map," Uriel said smugly. Castiel's expression darkened.
"You know our true orders, you dare to disobey?" A strange expression passed over Uriel's face before he stood, and straightened his suit.
"Come, Mud Monkey. Let's go." Anita nodded in obedience and shot a look of goodbye over to Castiel, whether he understood the expression or not. Anita could sense that Uriel was planning on taking his frustration of the situation out on Anita. It was going to be a painful night. Who said Hell had the worst torture?
Anita was relieved to find out that the Winchesters had actually come through on their promise. They had kept the town from being destroyed, but Samhain had been raised.
Anita found herself back at the park after Uriel had left to do God-Knows-What whenever he left her. It was a quiet sunset and the sky had a Smokey burnt-orange haze to the sky. Her gaze stared blankly out at the small lake as she leaned against the cool, metal railings. Her thoughts wondered to the Winchesters. They really did have a surprising amount of will.
She heard the soft 'whoosh' of wings and turned, hoping that it wasn't Uriel deciding he hadn't finished with her yet. She felt instant relief at seeing the handsome blue-eyed angel a few feet away.
Castiel regarded her quietly a moment, his eyes taking in all the bruising and swelling that he could see on the woman's face. Her warm, honey coloured eyes softened in relief at his appearance and she smiled briefly before turning away to face the sunset. Castiel stepped up next to her at the railing. His whole body was faced towards her.
"Does it hurt?" he asked, his voice was so low, and Anita felt it vibrate along the base of her spine. As she nodded, unable to speak by some magical force, strands of her almost black-brown hair slipped from their loose confines.
"I wish there was something I could do to help," he confessed. Anita shrugged in response. She was basically just Uriel's plaything now, and it was getting harder to see how this was any better than hell.
They shared companionable silence for a few moments, but Anita knew Castiel was itching to ask something.
"Do you think…that we're hammers?" he asked her, his eyes bore down into hers. She turned her body to face him fully and regarded him, wishing she could speak. He was so much taller than her, and she felt so small next to him. Yet, somehow, safe.
She thought about his question and nodded sadly. A pained expression crossed the Angel's face and he looked to the ground.
"I don't… I don't know if I want to be." It was rare, almost unheard of for an Angel to be having these kinds of…blasphemous thoughts, but Anita knew them well. She didn't want to be the object of orders any more than Castiel. She understood how much it sucked. But, Castiel was loyal to a fault to heaven, and this path would hurt him more than it ever could Anita.
Anita was used to being on her own, not having faith, while she was alive and hunting. Dying had changed many things.
Anita mimed handcuffs and nodded. I understand.
Castiel wished there was something he could do to break Anita from his confines to Uriel. But to do so was worse than betrayal. To break an Angels' contract with his Bond Servant was punishable by extinction. The bond was a prolific thing, and became an almost organic being on it's own. A bond would change; the effects would differ, depending on the relationship between Angel and Servant.
Anita sighed and leant heavily against the rails. Castiel sensed her defeat and stepped away.
"Goodnight, Anita." Then he was gone, and Anita was left to go find a motel. She was never really sure where Angel's went when they vanished like that, but she hoped, for Castiel, it was somewhere nice.
A/N: I know theres a lot of dialogue from the TV series. It's just because of how Anita starts, stick with me a lil' bit and you'll get a lot more original scenes with out beloved Mud Monkey 3