This was it. Dean and Cas were about to be defeated by a raging army of demons surrounding them on every side. They came closer to each other, ready to die together, knowing it would be slow and painful, but there was really nothing more they could do at that point. Dean was as good as dead, his arms and chest were bleeding from being repeatedly cut into and hit, but there was no chance that he'd give up without fighting 'till his last remaining breath; Cas wasn't in very bad shape, mostly because he still had some healing powers left over from his time as an angel of the Lord, but he was beginning to weaken as well, the cuts had stopped healing as fast as they did before when there were less of them and his blood loss was escalating quickly. The two braced themselves for agony and suffering, but nothing seemed to be happening, other than a few screams coming from the crowd of monsters around them.
Suddenly, Dean caught a glimpse of what was saving them; a girl, not older than sixteen, throwing daggers at the demons' hearts, rendering them unable to move as they hit the ground, fighting for breath. She took a bow and started firing arrows with great precision, killing a dozen demons like it was nothing. Cas and Dean watched in surprise when she started going around in big circles, killing off more demons. Some of them were still trying to fight their way through, but they too were dead at the hands of the two men. As more and more demons came in to replace the dead ones, even more mad than the previous bunch, they started going for the girl, but she was faster than the lot of them, making swift and efficient movements with a knife, she killed half of them before new recruits could come in to replace the fallen.
She took a small knife and cut her palm, letting the blood drip across her hand and onto the ground, making a strangely shaped puddle. She smiled, still holding the knife in hand, waiting for something to happen. As two dozen more demons came rushing in through a cave opening, she cut something into her hand and hit the ground with great force. A flash of light threatened to blind Dean, but Cas covered their eyes with his hands, probably knowing something like this was going to happen. When the light went out and the place was back to its former dark self, Cas took his hand off of Dean's face. They instantly jumped up, ready to fight back more demons, but all that greeted them was the motionless body of their saviour on the ground. Dean ran to her, checking for any signs of life, while Cas examined what she was doing with the blood.
"She's alive."- Dean said anxiously. There was only so many places they could go for safety without risking another demon attack, or something worse.
"She used a banishing symbol for the demons... They're long gone."- Cas concluded after looking at the mark she'd made on her wrist. The symbol was a small pentagram with Enochian signs in front of every tip, finished with a circle surrounding it.
"No wonder she's like this, i guess."- Dean said, looking at the body of the little girl who just saved their lives,- "Can you do anything to help her?"
"I can try."- he hesitated, unsure if they should trust the girl completely. After a few seconds of thinking through his many plans, he took a deep breath and placed his palm on the girl's forehead. A flash of light made Dean's vision blur, but when it came back to normal, she had her eyes wide open in panic.
Her eyes widened at the sight of the two men, and she jumped up with her knife at the ready. Dean approached her with his arms out, trying to let her know that they weren't planning on hurting her. She put her knife back on her belt and examined Dean slowly and surely, circling around him, sniffing the air and touching his clothes and hair. He was hoping that the girl would back off, but what she did next was completely unexpected. She jumped on him and put her arms around his waist, squeezing so hard that it threatened to punch the air out of Dean's lungs. Cas jumped up, startled by the close contact, but probably realised that she wasn't going to fight them.
"Who are you?"- he asked after a few seconds of uneasy silence between the three.
She looked up at Cas, backing away from Dean slowly. She now started to look at him, just like she did the other one moments earlier. And, just as she did with Dean, she jumped into a hug with Cas too. He looked shocked but didn't back away or try to get her off of him, he just stood there completely still until she decided to let go. The two men exchanged worried looks, as they were unsure about what to do next.
The girl smiled softly, and Dean could see that she had dimples on her cheeks, just like Cas did. That was one of the things Dean loved about his angel, along with his deep,blue eyes and dark hair, which, when he looked closer, she had too. The same happened with Cas, as well; he noticed that the girl had freckles on her nose and cheeks, and he could see that she had bowed legs, slightly less than Dean did, but they were still bowed the same way. They looked at each other without a clue about what was going on and who the hell that girl was.
"Who are you?"- Cas repeated louder, which made the girl back a few steps away from them, looking vulnerable in the way her eyes got teary and the warm smile faded away.
"I- I'm your daughter."- she coughed, obviously unfamiliar with talking, which wasn't odd down here; some people, or, the things that were once people, spend so much time alone here that they lose the ability to speak to others, becoming no different from some of the monsters creeping all around them; they become wild, blood-thirsty and evil as they come to adjust to the style of living in a place far worse than Hell; that is, if they don't get captured, tortured ,or just go insane because of the solitude, which is the best out of the three.
"You're his what?"- Dean asked shockingly before looking at Cas, who seemed as confused as anyone.
"I'm not just his... I'm yours, too."- she smiled, allowing herself to get closer again.
A moment of silence fell over this strange trio; Dean was trying to figure out how he and a fallen angel, who was a man, could have a child; Castiel was wondering how she could be down here of all places, all alone and protected by only her killing skills and obvious magical abilities; the girl, however, was wondering why her cuts weren't healed yet, they usually take mere seconds to go back to their normal self. Finally, someone broke the, now, awkward pause.
"Well, we all know that's not possible."- Dean protested.
He wouldn't allow himself to admit this, but part of him wanted it, all of it, to be true; there was really no way that she was their daughter, he thought, but it would be nice if they had one, maybe in the future, if they had one.
"Dean..."- Cas said quietly, pointing at a marking on the girl's right hand wrist, which they both just then noticed. It resembled an anti-possession symbol, but it had wings on the sides. The mark wasn't familiar to Dean, but Cas seemed to know what it was.
"What, Cas?"- he asked, still looking at the mark on the girl's hand.
She looked at them both with anticipation, hoping that they would tell her what she thought was true for all the years she spent in this Hell hole. The hope rose in her chest, threatening to take away her breath, but she inhaled deeply, bracing herself.
"She's a child of the Lord... made of a strong bond between two people and, apparently, we are those two people, in this case."- he answered quietly, not taking his eyes off of Dean's.
"So...So what does this mean then? I have a kid with a dude?"- Dean panicked.
He wasn't ready for a kid with any woman, let alone a man, yet. Granted it is the man that he loves, and he could never have love with a woman, ever. But this was all a bit much to take in at once.
"A dude that you love!"- the girl said cheerfully, now only a few feet away from both of the men, but she made a confused face after she finished the sentence. - "What's a dude?"
"It means male human being."- Cas explained and, after seeing Dean's confused face, added,-"She doesn't understand modern English that well, apparently."
She nodded slowly, seeming confused again,-"What does planet mean?"
Dean gave out an exasperated sigh, looking at the girl and trying to find a sign telling him that this is all a trap, but he couldn't; nothing was wrong with her.
"It's the place where we all live."- he answered instead of Cas, figuring that his answer might lead to more questions, which they really didn't have time for,-"Above here, where there aren't as many monsters."
"Oh..."- she said, nodding her head like she just understood everything there is to know about the topic.
"What's your name, anyway?"- Dean asked curiously, trying to make it seem like he didn't really care when, in fact, he wanted to know everything about his so-called daughter made from nothing except love.
"My name is Anya..."- she answered after a few seconds of hesitating.
"That is a very good name."- Cas said, trying to turn the conversation in a good direction before Dean could make it into a negative one again.
"Thank you...Adam named me."- she smiled at them both, looking at something in the distance.
"Adam?"- Dean jumped up after hearing the name.- "Adam Milligan? Where is he?"
"Adam... I don't remember his last name."- she answered frightfully,- "He found me a while back when a demon was trying to kill me; he saved my life, took me in and gave me a name. We live in a cave near here, do you want to meet him?"
"I know him..."- Dean said quietly. - "I left him here to rot... He was my brother."
"Isn't he still your brother?"
"Take us to him."
The cave where Anya said she and Adam lived was near the place where she saved Cas and Dean. There was a small passage way; a long tunnel in some boulders, dividing their part of the place and the demons'. They passed through it... Well, she passed through, and they crawled, squeezed and barely got through the long space.
"It's there."- she smiled and pointed to a small hole in the rocks that did resemble a cave or sorts.
Dean was a little hesitant when the time came to go inside of the cave but, when Cas went right in there, he decided that it was probably safe to do so too. The cave itself was a rather complex system of passages and tunnels, which would have made it easy for someone to get lost, but Anya seemed to know the way by heart. They made their way into a large, round, room-like space. There was salt on the ground, packed in large boxes and small, portable ones; there were a bunch of guns and knives on the walls as well, which made Dean worried for some reason. He remembered all of their hotel rooms looking like that, back when he was Anya's age... And he couldn't help but wonder if he could have prevented her life being like this in some way. The rough sound of something heavy being moved made both Dean and Cas jump up and ready their weapons, but they put them down after realising it was Anya moving a large boulder, unveiling a hidden opening in the walls of the cave.
She went in, gesturing the two to stay there and wait. They exchanged looks, but decided to listen to her anyway, sitting on the cold stone floor and trying not to snoop as much as they both wanted to.
"Adam?"- she said quietly, looking for the only person to ever make her feel safe, and there he was, reposing on the floor with his body covered in old animal fur that they got from their first hunt together. She could hear his loud breathing breaking the silence in the otherwise very quiet room.
"Adam?"- she repeated louder, hoping it wouldn't be necessary to wake him up forcefully. Instead of hitting him over the head, she laid down next to him, letting Adam's warm breath tingle her cold nose. She never liked Adam in a romantic sense, contrary to what some of the demons would think when they would walk past the two; he was too good a friend to her, more of a brother than a boyfriend; sure, there was an enormous amount of love between her and Adam, but they never explored the option of being together like that in a place as unforgiving as this one. Anya closed her eyes and let the sweet smell of Adam's jacket comfort her.
A flashback took her a few years back in time.
It was the day she and Adam met, back when she was just nine or so years old. A demon had tied her up in chains and was getting ready to peel her skin off with a knife. Before that, he'd cut her stomach and hands so much that she was starting to lose consciousness, feeling weak and tired with every breath she took. Just as he was about to land another cut on her wrist, just where her mark was, an arrow hit him straight in the forehead and he fell to the ground, still shaking and grasping for breath as blood started to drip from the wound. A warm hand touched hers, making Anya jump up in fear.
"It's okay, hey... I'm not gonna hurt you."- a soft voice comforted her. Minutes later, the chains fell to the ground with a loud bang, but she didn't care about the noise. She was free after all those days of torture that seemed more like years down here, and she wasn't going to risk getting chained up again. In a desperate attempt to get away, she started running as fast as possible, but it didn't last for long. The nausea and blood-loss got to Anya as she fell to the ground in agony, screaming the names of people known to both of them; Castiel and Dean. He got to where she fell and immediately noticed a large pool of blood surrounding her body; only, it wasn't making the typical shape of a puddle, no, it was making the shape of wings; bloody and red, stretching ten feet on each side of the , now, motionless body of a little girl.
"Oh shit..."- Adam said desperately,- "No no no, don't die! Don't you dare die!"- he yelled out, trying to stop the bleeding, but it was everywhere.
Suddenly, a flash of white light started gushing through her body, fixing the cuts as it moved from limb to limb. Adam stared in disbelief at the body fixing itself without the slightest idea as to how she was doing so. The healing lasted an hour or so, all the while he was holding her hand and hoping she'd be okay. After a couple of moments silence and darkness, Anya finally coughed and took a deep breath. She sat up instantly, clinging to Adam like he was a life-raft and she was drowning. She remained that way up until she fell asleep, which was when Adam decided it was safe to carry her to where he was staying at the time.
That morning, if you could call it that down here, she woke up in bruises and blood was streaming out of her mouth. Anya looked around for her weapons, remembering that the demon used them to torture her, and dismissed the idea of ever using them again. Adam was in front of her, roasting some animals on a small fire; the smell was intoxicating and made her mouth water. She coughed some blood up, but it didn't hurt; her head was pulsating and so was her chest, but there was no pain what so ever. Adam turned around and his eyes widened when he saw a fresh blodd puddle next to her body.
"It's okay.."- he whispered - "You're okay. I'm here, don't worry."
he covered Anya with his old jacket, making her feel warm and safe by the fire and, from that day, Adam was the only person she could ever trust or love, and the only person to truly make her not be as scared when the nightmares about being back in chains and getting butchered came back to haunt her in her sleep.
A cough made her snap back into reality.
Adam's eyes were wide open and looking at her and, when she opened hers, the warmest smile you could imagine appeared on both their faces as they hugged one another. She instinctively crawled into his jacket, the thing that would always calm her down, as a single tear rolled down her cheek.
"What's wrong?"- he cupped Anya's face with his hands, making her feel better. He was worried, obviously, but she didn't want to burden him with something even she couldn't begin to comprehend.
"Someone wants to see you."- she said, worried about how he would react to hearing Deans name after all this time.
"Who?"- he asked hesitantly, looking around the room, but there was nothing to see.
"My parents... Dean and Castiel."
As soon as he heard the names, Adam jumped up and pulled her, too, looking scared and excited at the same time. They ran back into the larger room, where Dean and Cas were sitting on the floor and whispering about something. Their heads turned to face their hosts; silence fell as Deans and Adams eyes met; Cas pulled away, and Anya followed, because neither of them wanted to get in the way of the 'brotherly' reunion about to begin.
Truthfully, both of them were hoping that Dean and Adam would just shake hands and be done with it,but they also knew that was highly unlikely to happen.
"You!"- Adam yelled with anger.- "You left me here to rot for all this time and, what, now you've come back?"
"Woah, calm down, Adam."- Dean tried to reason with his younger brother, but Adam wouldn't have it.- "I tried, okay, but I could only save one of you... It was you or Sammy."
"Of course it was, you asshole! That's the point of making a deal with Death, you never get all you want!"
"I'm sorry about what happened, but I'd do it all again if I had to!"- Dean yelled back and pointed to Anya who was now hiding behind Cas' back,- "Look at what you did for her, you saved her!"
This made Adam back down. Taking a deep breath and putting on a fake smile, he approached her with caution. She was shivering underneath her angelic dad's trench coat, but when she heard Adams calm voice, she got out and crawled under his jacket instead.
"Why does she do that?"
"I don't know... She just started doing it a few years back. I suppose it's her way of calming down, but she seems to need it every time something bad happens."
Adam looked at her with sadness in his pale green eyes; she lifted her head and looked straight into those eyes, making a faint smile, before burying herself back into the jacket.
"She really loves you, huh?"
Adam nodded with a smile on his face.- "I guess it's because I'm the only thing down here that hasn't tried to kill her."- he answered, putting his hand around Anya's shoulder, which made her look up again.- "She doesn't like to talk a lot, though... Sometimes I talk for hours to her, and all she does is listen. She can talk... Even in more than one language."
"She speaks fluid English and got that from... us, I suppose."
"What is she anyway?"- Dean asked, and after seeing the baffled look on each of their faces, explained his question,- "I mean, is she human or angel?"
"Both, I think. She can heal and, well, you saw how good she is at killing things."
"I speak Latin, also."- she said quietly, somewhere inside of Adam's jacket.
"Yeah, that's right. She can do all sorts of things with her blood; make dozens of demons disappear, heal someone that can't do that on their own. She's got magic, that's for sure."
"It's not dangerous, though."- she said, raising her head and crawling out of Adam's jacket.
"What else can you do?"- Dean wanted to know.
She smiled softly, before taking his hand and chanting something again. Cas looked worried, but there was no reason for him to be.
"What is she doing?"- asked Castiel, looking intrigued by what was going on in front of him.
"She's reading his mind, I think."
A couple of seconds later, she opened her eyes and pulled away slowly, smiling at Adam then at Cas, before looking back at Dean. He looked slightly ashamed for some reason.
"Are there always so many women in your head?"- she asked, and everyone could see that Dean felt uncomfortable.- "And do they always wear so little clothes?"
"Woah, no need for that talk."- Adam laughed and pulled her back, wrapping his hand around her shoulders again.
The rest of the day was spent talking about what was happening back on Earth, and there was really a lot to talk about on that topic. After eating some un-known animal that Adam managed to find outside, they spent an hour making Anja levitate salt and arrange it in the shape of a devil's trap; she got pretty good at it after a couple of tries.
That night, Cas and Dean curled up together in the big space because Adam and Anya didn't have another bed for them, and the other room was small as is without them inside. It was already very late, or at least it felt like it was, and Dean poked Cas to wake him up. His eyes opened and a smile crept up on his face when they met Dean's.
"Cas."- he whispered, hoping that he wouldn't wake the others up.
"Yes, Dean?"- Cas asked, not at all bothered by Dean waking him up in the middle of the night. Angels don't need to sleep, after all, and it wasn't uncommon for Cas to stay up and look after Dean while he got the few hours of sleep he could.
"Can you believe it? We have a freaking kid."
"Well, she is very real... And the resemblance is obvious."
"She's so beautiful..."- Dean whispered sleepily.-"She looks just like you... The eyes and hair...The powers."
"She has your freckles and lips..."- Cas added, focusing on those same lips he just mentioned, hoping that Dean wouldn't push him away after doing so.
"Yeah..."- he agreed.
He looked Cas straight in the eyes, feeling a strange, but warm sensation in his stomach. A chill went down Dean's spine, threatening to take away the moment he was enjoying so much. Dean took a deep breath and braced himself for what he was going to do next; one simple act that would change their relationship forever; ten seconds of bravery that could mean the difference between finally being happy with someone he loves, and forever keeping his feelings locked up. Before he could act, Cas' lips hit his with such softness and warmth than he was prepared for; it was better than Dean ever imagined it would be, kissing Cas, his one and only love. Neither of them wanted to break away from that moment so they fell asleep holding each other like that, their legs tangled up, their arms on the other one's chest and shoulder, and their foreheads touching. Nothing could make Dean feel better than this moment' absolutely nothing.
