Sam looked thoroughly surprised, "You want Anna why?"
Uriel took a step forward, "Out of the way."
Lia wasn't going to let the angels pass, she hadn't gotten much answers today, so she wasn't going to give anyone what they wanted until she got them. She felt like she was living in the dark while everyone else knew all the secrets, she hadn't even got to get Anna to answer her questions yet. They were just too busy with every goddamn thing that kept popping up everywhere.
"Woah, woah, woah, okay I know she's wired and tapped into your angel chats or whatever but it's no reason to gank her," Dean tried to reason.
"Don't worry, I'll kill her gentle," Uriel replied.
Lia felt a growl deep in her throat, she absolutely hated Uriel. Sure, all the angels seemed to be dicks, but Castiel was much better than Uriel. Although, what Dean said was true, it wasn't like Anna was harming the angels, but if that wasn't the case than what was? Why did the angels want to kill Anna?
"You are some heartless sons a bitches, you know that?" Dean asked rhetorically.
"As a matter of fact we are, and?" Castiel asked.
Lia wondered if Castiel was just agreeing with them so that they would get through this quicker. It was either that or Castiel had a very low opinion of angels, or that he was indeed heartless because it was an angel after all. Lia wasn't sure if God -if there was a God- even allowed them to have their own opinions and choices.
Sam looked at Castiel in disbelief, "Anna's an innocent girl."
Castiel shook his head, "She is far from innocent."
What did Castiel mean by that? Anna was innocent! She loved her family and cried when she found out they were killed, she didn't want to hear what the angels were saying, she grew up going to Church for Christ's Sake! What was Castiel trying to tell them? That she had some sort of secret life or something?
"What do you mean?" Lia asked confusedly.
"It means, she's worse than any abomination you've been screwing. Now give us the girl," Uriel ordered.
Uriel was really pissing Lia off with telling her what to do, she glanced at Castiel who had been staring at her. She saw something flicker in his eyes, was it pain? No, angels couldn't feel pain, that was just too weird. Then she watched as Castiel looked away, and Lia looked back at Uriel.
"No, and that's my final decision, now why don't you just go do your holy missions and leave this one alone?" Lia spat.
Uriel took a step towards her, "Who's gonna stop us, you three? Or this deep whore."
Lia didn't flinch when Uriel stepped closer to her, hell she was looking for a fight, although she didn't know how to kill Uriel of course. Though she watched as Uriel stepped towards Ruby instead and threw her at the wall. Then Uriel walked up to her, and he was going to press his hand against her face, probably to send her to hell.
Dean ran up to Uriel and tried to hit him with the gun, Lia wanted to back up her best friend, so she shot her gun at Uriel as he was trying to break Dean's wrist. Then Uriel looked at her and he snarled and sent her flying into a wall. Though Lia got up and she ran up to Uriel and took out her knife and stabbed him instead, trying to get him to stop punching Dean.
This really pissed Uriel off however because he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air, Lia felt her feet dangling and she tried to kick Uriel, though she couldn't breathe. But then there was some sort of noise and a flashing light and all of a sudden Uriel and Castiel were gone, it looked like they were being sucked away. Then Lia fell to the ground and gasped as she tried to catch her breath again.
Dean spat out some blood, "What the-"
Then Dean stood up and he looked at Lia who was still on the ground, her throat was feeling very sore of course, Uriel had a very strong grip. Dean held his hand out to her and Lia took it, then he helped her stand up and she rubbed her neck gently, though she was feeling slightly better. Lia looked over at Sam who was on the ground, Lia figured Castiel did something to him while they were fighting Uriel. So Dean helped him stand up while Lia went to check on Anna.
When Lia opened the door she was very surprised, she saw Anna bleeding and some sort of symbol drawn on the mirror. Lia widened her eyes, she had never seen this strange symbol before, but Anna looked drained. Lia figured that Anna drew the symbol herself with her own blood, but why? Then Lia ran up to Anna quickly and helped her sit down in a chair.
"Are they gone?" Anna asked.
Lia nodded, "Yeah, yeah they are. What did you do?"
Then Lia took out a rag from her pocket and wiped off the blood from Anna's hand. Then she took out a different clean rag and wrapped it around her wound, Lia wondered what Anna had done and how she knew that it would work, she wasn't a hunter or anything. Why did the angel's want her anyways?
"I sent them away, far away," Anna explained.
Lia nodded, "Well thanks for that, I hate those angelic bastards. But... how?"
Part of her wondered if this was a lie. Did she truly hate the angels? Were they all so bad? Well she knew that she hated Uriel of course. But Castiel... that was a different story, she did like him. She didn't exactly know why she did, but she just did. There was just something about him... he didn't seem like the other angels, he seemed more sympathetic and a bit more nice, even if he could be a dick sometimes.
Then Lia glanced again at the symbol, getting a better look at it, it wasn't like any symbol she had ever seen before. Then she looked at the door, seeing Ruby, Sam, and Dean walking inside, looking at the two. But Lia didn't care at the moment, she was much more interested in what Anna had to say. So she looked back at the red haired girl.
"It just popped into my head..." Anna whispered quietly, but her voice seemed to get stronger when she next spoke. "I don't know how I did it. I just did."
"Seems to be happening a lot to you don't it?" Lia asked rhetorically.
Anna looked up at Lia and gave a small smile to her, Lia smiled slightly back. Then she looked at the group, all of them looked a bit surprised and shocked. But no one said a word for a moment, until Ruby stepped forward and walked over to Anna. Lia stepped aside, wondering what the demon was doing.
Then Ruby crouched beside Anna to say some soothing words. So Lia looked back up at the two brothers, and Dean gave her a look to tell her to join their talk with them. Then the brothers walked out of the room and Lia followed, closing the door so that Ruby nor Anna could hear their conversation.
"What do you think?" Dean asked.
"I think Anna's getting more interesting by the second," Sam answered.
Lia did agree with Sam on that all the way. There were so many weird things about Anna, but Lia could never place what it was. First there was the fact that she could listen in on the angels conversations, -and no one knew how she could do that- then there was also the fact that the angels wanted her dead, another thing was how she didn't know how she sent away the angels, but she just knew.
Dean nodded, "Yeah I agree, and what do they mean by she's not innocent?"
Lia frowned, "She means more to the angels than we know and possibly for a good reason. Not just angel radio, but also the whole bloody symbol thing. I really want to know how she knew how to do all that stuff. See what you can find out Sam."
Lia suddenly thought of all the things that Anna had said to them when she first met the girl. She knew who they all were because she had been listening in to the angel's conversations. The angels didn't like Sam, which was sort of predictable, since Sam was using his mind powers against demons to send them back to hell. The angels believed Dean was the one to save all the humans somehow or something. Then Anna told Lia something she never would have believed, that she was in some sort of prophecy. However Lia didn't know what prophecy Anna was talking about because Lia never really got a chance to ask because after Alastair popped out of nowhere and tried to kill all of them.
"What are you two doing to do?" Sam asked them.
Dean answered before Lia could, "Anna may have sent the angels to the outfield but sooner or later they're gonna be back. We gotta get her someplace safe, now."
Then Dean opened the door to where Anna and Ruby where, Lia glanced at Sam who took a big sigh. Then Lia followed Dean into the room.
Of course, the place that Dean had been talking about was Bobby's house. Bobby had let them all in once he opened the door, and Lia led Anna to the panic room. The only other time Lia had been in this room was just after she met the brothers, when they were all fighting spirits of the people whom they couldn't save. Anna sat down in a chair quietly while Lia told her what she knew about the room. Dean stood beside her quietly as he admired the room.
"Iron walls drenched in salt," Lia told Anna as she knocked on the walls, giving off a clanging noise. "Demons won't be able to walk in here."
"Which I find racist by the way," Came a voice from the hallway. "Here."
Lia looked out the door and saw Ruby with her arms crossed, not looking like a happy camper. Which made Lia extremely happy since she didn't like Ruby. Sam definitely trusted her, and maybe Dean did a little bit as well, but Lia didn't. Though Lia was acting like she trusted Ruby, but Lia didn't like any demon, whether they were good or bad. She believed that no demon could be good, because being bad was in their nature, it was practically the natural order. Then Ruby tossed four bags to Lia, and she took one look at them and in a heart-beat she knew what they were.
Dean clearly knew what they were as well, "Hex-bags?"
Ruby nodded, "Extra crunchy, hides us from angels, demons, and all comers."
Lia glanced back at the hex bags, so they hid them from angels as well? Ruby must be a fast learner, since the angels only popped up not very long ago. But she was a bit thankful that the dickhead Uriel wouldn't be poking around any time soon, same thing with Alastair as well.
"Thanks Ruby," Dean said.
Lia handed Dean a hex-bag, then she handed another one to Anna, "Don't lose this."
Anna took the hex-bag quietly and with no objections. Then Lia glanced up at Dean who was putting the hex-bag into his pocket, then he started to look around the panic-room. Lia put her hex-bag into her black leather jacket pocket as well, she would give Sam his as soon as she saw him.
"So Anna, what's playing on angel radio, anything useful?" Dean asked.
"It's quiet," Anna answered simply, then turned to look at him. "Dead silence."
Lia started to wonder if the angels had somehow been able to block Anna out of their conversations now they didn't want her listening in. It wouldn't exactly surprise Lia, especially since the angels very intelligent, in fact, it would be something that she would do if she were an angel. Of course, there was always the chance that the angels were just being plain quiet, but what were the odds of that?
"Well that's nice and not weird at all," Lia replied sarcastically.
Anna turned to look at her, "We're in trouble huh, you guys are scared?"
Was Lia scared? No. Was Lia worried? Definitely. She had no idea what the angels were planning or thinking, she didn't know why the angels wanted to kill Anna, and she was worried that the angels would come and try again to steal Anna. However, Lia only shook her head, not wanting to worry the innocent girl.
"Dean, Lia!" Came a voice, who Lia instantly recognized as Sam's voice.
Lia walked towards the exit of the panic room, she heard Dean telling Anna to stay put and saying to Ruby to keep an eye on Anna. Then the two friends walked up the stairs to see what Sam had to say to them. Lia saw Sam walking through the entrance to the house, he was carrying a bag and Lia was curious to what the contents of the bag were.
"How's the car?" Dean asked instantly.
"I've got her, she's fine," Sam assured his brother. "Where's Bobby?"
Lia walked towards Sam and she handed him his hex bag, he took it without asking questions, and the look that he gave her said his thanks for her giving the hex bag to him. And Lia gave him a slight smile back, then she glanced back at the bag, still wondering what was inside. Though she followed the brothers as they walked to the living room.
"The Dominican," Dean answered, giving his younger brother a smirk. "He said we break anything we buy it."
"Is he working a job?" Sam asked.
Lia secretly wondered what the Dominican was like, she had never been there before. Even though when she was in her early teens her parents traveled quite a bit, they even had an RV for camping. The only thing Lia really liked about camping was the forest, she had always loved the scent of pine and how peaceful everything was. She found it absolutely perfect when it was night and the stars were out, she'd sit by the fire and gaze up at the stars. However she had never been to any place tropical, her parents weren't as fond of that.
"God I hope so, otherwise he's at hedonism in a banana hammock in a tropical cap," Dean said.
Sam gave a pained expression, "Now that's seared in my brain."
Lia gave a soft smile at Sam, even though he was serious most of the time, he did have a sense of humor as well. Lia sort of wished Bobby was here though; helping them. He would be able to help them with what they didn't understand, but sadly he wasn't here, so they would have to do without him.
"Alright what did you find on Anna?" Dean asked Sam.
"Not much, her parents were Rich and Amy Milton. A Church deacon and housewife," Sam explained as he set down a folder and opened a page showing Anna Milton's file from when she was in the crazy ward. "But there is something in her report, turns out this latest psycho episode wasn't her first. When she was two and a half she'd get hysterical any time her Dad got close, she was convinced that he wasn't her real Daddy."
"Who was, the plumber? Little snake in the pipes?" Dean joked.
Lia rolled her eyes at Dean's comment, but she thought about what Sam had said. What he just explained was very curious, she wondered if there was something else instead. She glanced back at the folder and skimmed a couple lines, but didn't find much else so she looked back at Sam.
"Dude you're confusing reality with porn again. Look Anna didn't say, she just kept repeating this real Father of hers was mad, really mad, like wanting to kill her mad," Sam explained.
Dean looked at Sam, "Kind of heavy for a two year old."
Lia blinked, real father? Who could be Anna's real father? None of this was making any sense, she kept getting more questions than answers. She glanced back at the folder, thinking hard about who Anna's real father could be. Unless of course Anna had been lying, but Lia knew she didn't believe Anna had been lying.
"So what's she hiding?" Dean asked.
"Why don't you just ask me to my face?" Came a voice from the doorway.
The three turned and saw Anna who didn't look happy at all, and beside her was Ruby who was leaning against the door frame. Lia looked back at Anna, feeling a little guilty about talking about her behind her back. She knew that they were possibly in some deep trouble with her.
Dean looked at Ruby, "Nice job watching her."
Lia ignored Dean, "Sorry Anna. I guess I'll come right out with it. The angels said you were guilty of something, our only question is why in the world would they say that?"
Lia was really hoping for some answers since she hadn't really got many to her questions. Although, Lia guessed that she already knew Anna's answer, but she just hoped she was wrong because trying only gaining more questions was getting very irritating. Lia just wished she knew.
"You tell me," Anna answered. "Tell me why my life has been leveled, why my parents are dead... I don't know, I swear. I would give anything to know."
Sam nodded, "Okay, then let's find out."
Lia was having a thorough conversation with a physic named Pamela. She had never met this woman, but Lia actually kind of liked her, however, she had managed to get her eyes burned out by looking at Castiel's true form. Soon Lia had to 'end' her conversation with Pamela because they had just pulled up at Bobby's place again. Dean, Pamela, and Lia walked into the house and headed to Bobby's panic room.
"Pamela, hey," Sam greeted once he saw them.
Pamela smiled slightly, "Sam is that you?"
Pamela had reached up towards Sam, and Lia instantly felt sorry for this woman. She obviously hadn't been blind very long and Lia knew she must be having difficulties getting used to it all. Then Pamela put her hand on Sam's cheek, just to check if he was right in front of her.
"Yeah, I'm right here," Sam replied calmly.
"You know how I can tell?" Pamela asked rhetorically. "Your perky little ass of yours. You could bounce a nickel off that thing. Of course I know it's you grumpy. Same way I know that's a demon and that poor girl's Anna; and that you've been eying my rack. Don't sweat it kiddo I still got more senses than most."
Lia smiled warmly and tried not to giggle as Pamela grabbed Sam's ass. Sam, who had not expected this, jumped slightly, and Lia looked at Dean, and they both smirked at each other, then looked back at Pamela and Sam. Lia glanced over at Ruby and Anna, who were just standing and staring. Then Pamela walked towards Anna quietly, Lia flashed a grin at Sam and he just rolled his eyes at her.
"Hey Anna, how are you? I'm Pamela," Pamela introduced herself. "Dean and Lia's been telling me what's going on, excited to help. Any chance I can dick over an angel, I'm taking it."
"Why?" Anna asked.
Lia however, already knew why. On the way over to Pamela's place, Dean had told her everything he knew about the woman. And as charming as she may be, Lia knew that she would definitely want to get revenge on Castiel for taking away her eyesight. It was hard to see what Pamela was doing because her back was facing the trio, but Lia saw her take her sunglasses off.
"They stole something from me," Pamela explained. "Demon-y I know, but they're just plastic. Good for business, makes me look extra physic don't you think?"
Pamela laughed and Anna smiled brightly, which made Lia smile a bit. She looked at her two friends who were grinning and she gave them a playful nudge just for the heck of it. Then she looked back at Pamela and Anna and watched as Pamela put her sunglasses on to hide her 'white eyes'.
"Now, you tell me what your deal is," Pamela told her, then she led Anna into the panic room.
Soon everyone except Ruby were in the panic room. Anna was laying on a bed and Pamela was sitting in a chair in front of her. Lia watched fairly concerned, but hoping to get some answers on what was going on. She traded the brother's solemn looks then turned her gaze back to Pamela and Anna.
"Nice and relaxed; now I am going to count down from five to zero, when we're at zero you'll be in a deep state of hypnosis. As I count down just go deeper and deeper. Five... four... three... two... one. Deep sleep," Pamela hushed in a soothing voice. "Every muscle calm and relaxed, can you hear me?"
Lia watched, she was sitting on a table that was right beside the bed and was watching everything that was going on, Dean was beside her, but on the end that was farther away from Anna and Pamela. Not a single person except Pamela was moving or speaking, then Pamela closed Anna's eyes gently and took her hand away and back into her lap.
"I can hear you," Anna replied quietly.
"Now Anna, tell me, how can you hear the angels?" Pamela asked. "How did you work that spell?"
Lia looked from Anna to Pamela, back and forth, eager and hoping to finally get some answers. She glanced back at Dean who looked back at her, they locked eyes for a moment, as if they were talking to each other without speaking. Then Lia looked back to see what Anna was going to say.
"I don't know, I just did," Anna replied in her quiet trance voice.
Pamela was quiet for a moment, then spoke again, "Your father, what's his name?"
Lia was a bit disappointed that they didn't find out how Anna could do what she could do. But Pamela did ask another question that everyone really wanted to know, so she kept her mouth shut and stared at Pamela and Anna, wondering what was going to happen next.
"Rich Milton," Anna answered quietly.
"Alright but I want you to look further back, when you were very young, just a couple of years old," Pamela told her soothingly. "It'll be okay, Anna just one look that's all we need. What's your Dad's name, your real Dad, why is he angry at you?"
Although, Lia still couldn't figure out who Anna's father really would have been. He could have been some sort of physic or maybe another person who could listen in on angel's conversations. But for some strange reason, Lia found this highly unlikely, but she couldn't think of why she would believe this.
"No," Anna repeated this several times.
Anna started twitching and shaking as she repeated the two letter word over and over again. Lia was starting to get worried and she grabbed hold of the nearest thing she could and gripped it so hard she swore she heard some sort of noise of pain, but it felt a bit warm and soft, but she didn't look at what she had grabbed since Anna screamed and arched her back, making the light in front of her start to flicker she kept screaming awful things, then she sat up straight and made all the lights in the room explode.
Lia instantly let go of whatever it was she had been holding and she jumped off the table with wide eyes, Dean tried to stop Anna but she just hit him hard and he flew into a chair, she was still screaming at the top of her lungs. Then Pamela stepped over Anna and hovered her hand in front of the girl's face.
"Wake in one, two, three, four, five," Pamela said quickly and Anna instantly stopped. "Anna you alright?"
Lia helped Dean up as she looked at Anna, wondering what the hell had happened. The recently screaming girl had just opened her eyes, and Lia looked back at Dean and saw that he was rubbing not his back where he had hit the chair, but his hand. Then Anna sat up straight, it looked as though realization had dawned upon her face.
Anna looked at Pamela, "Thank you Pamela, that helps a lot, I remember now."
"Remember what?" Lia asked.
Anna who had looked as though she had some breakdown, now looked very calm. It made Lia feel slightly uneasy and she shifted a bit on the spot. The question had come out of her mouth before she could help herself, but she felt as though she needed to know what was going on.
"Who I am," Anna explained. "I'm an angel."
Everybody was now sitting in Bobby's living room, staring at Anna as she paced along the room. Dean still was rubbing his hand, and Lia quickly glanced at her friend's hand and saw there were what looked like fingernail marks, and Lia realized that the thing she had grabbed in the panic room and gripped on with all her might had been Dean's hand.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not like the others," Anna told them all. "So Castiel and Uriel, they're the ones who came for me?"
Lia shifted a bit, "So you know them?"
Finding out that Anna was an angel was very surprising and shocking, but yet, it sort of all made sense. It all made sense because she could listen in on the angel's conversations because she was an angel herself, and the only reasonable explanation on how she knew how to send the angels back was because she -being an angel and all- would know how to.
"We were kind of in the same fox-hole," Anna explained.
Lia nodded, "But why do they want to kill you?"
This was the question that was really bothering Lia, the one question that couldn't have been answered after she found out that Anna was an angel. Of course, Lia didn't really mind all angels that much, so she didn't really hate Anna, however the same thing could not be said for demons.
"I disobeyed, which for us is about the worst thing you can do," Anna explained. "I fell."
Sam looked at Anna closely, "Wait a minute, I don't understand. So angels can just become human?"
Lia didn't know that angels could become human. She only knew of one fallen angel, the devil himself, Lucifer. But he wasn't a human at all, she didn't know why an angel would choose to become human anyways, then again... it seemed like angels didn't have any free will like humans do.
Anna nodded, "It kind of hurts, try cutting your kidney out with a butter-knife. That kind of hurt... I ripped out my grace. Its energy, hacked it out and fell, my mother Amy couldn't get pregnant, she always called me her little miracle. She had no idea how right she was. The older I got and the longer I was human I forgot what I really am."
"I don't think you all appreciate how completely screwed we are," Ruby blurted out for the first time in a while.
Ruby's words didn't really make much sense to Lia. How exactly were they in trouble? Then it dawned on her, the angels AND the demons were all looking for Anna, the angels wanted her dead because she disobeyed and the demons wanted her because she was mortal and she knew everything about what the angels were saying.
"Ruby's right, heaven and hell wants me, and so I am going to get my grace back, if I can find it," Anna told the group.
Lia frowned slightly, "If? Well where is it?"
That if did not sound very reassuring at all. Lia wondered how they were going to find Anna's grace anyways, she wondered what it looked like, where it was located, would they be stopped by angels and demons on the way? All of these questions popped into Lia's head at once. She felt like it was too many questions and that she just wished she could get them out of her head.
"Lost track, I was falling about ten thousand miles per hour at the time," Anna told them.
"Wait you mean falling like literally, like the way a human eye can see? Like a comet or a meteor?" Sam asked.
Lia couldn't help but wonder what Sam was thinking. Could he perhaps be thinking that when she fell she looked like a meteor? Of course if she had then they would be able to track around the area that she had fell, and if her grace looked like a meteor as well then they would be able to find her grace!
Dean and Lia pulled up at Bobby's place, they had just came back from dropping Pamela off back at her place. As far as Lia knew, Sam was still trying to figure out where Anna's grace was, or at least the area around where it would be. Then she saw the red hair of Anna, who was looking up at the sky but not facing them.
Lia smiled and walked up to Anna, "Come on kiddo, let's head inside and see if Sam found anything."
Then Lia and Anna walked inside Bobby's house, with Dean following closely behind. Lia was eager to see what Sam had found out about where Anna's grace could be. She did not like the fact that they were practically being hunted by angels and demons, it made her feel uneasy and less safe. Especially since they were fighting against two completely different and strong forces.
When they walked inside, the first thing they saw was Sam, who was standing over a bunch of maps and papers, inspecting and looking at them closely. His face was contorted with concentration as he stared at the papers. Lia wondered why Sam was so serious 24/7, he was so different compared to Dean, and yet, it confused her how they were so alike.
"So?" Lia asked as the three of them joined him at the table, looking at what he had found.
Sam pointed to a spot on the map, "Union, Kentucky. Found some accounts of a local miracle. In '85, there was an empty field outside of town. Six months later, there was a full-grown oak. They say it looks a century old at least."
Lia looked at her friend Anna, of course this was odd. It wasn't possible for an oak tree to look over a hundred years when it was only twenty-three years old. Perhaps this was Anna's grace? Lia sure hoped so, she wanted for her friend to find her grace so that this whole mess would be more resolved.
"What do you think Anna?" Lia asked.
"The grace. Where it hit, it could have done something like that, easy," Anna explained.
That was good enough for Lia, she looked at the brothers and knew they were thinking the same thing. So they packed all that they thought they would need and got into the Impala, Sam, Ruby, and Anna were in the backseat, while Dean was driving and Lia was riding shotgun. They drove all night until they reached the field where Anna's grace should be.
Dean parked right in the field, right in front of them, clear as the day, was the giant oak tree. They all got out of the Impala, but no one could stop staring at the beauty of the tree, the tree itself made Lia smile a little. It was glorious and magnificent, it was like the sun touched down on this tree only, highlighting it from the rest.
"This is where the grace touched down. I can feel it," Anna murmured.
Lia looked at her friend, "Are you sure about this?"
Lia knew that Anna wanted to get her grace back of course, but she wanted to be sure, she wouldn't want to force a friend to do something that they didn't want to do. Plus, this was a huge thing, especially for an angel. Lia couldn't imagine what it must be like for Anna.
Anna just gave a slight shake of her head, yet, she was brave, since she walked to the oak tree. All of them followed Anna in silence, then Anna started to slowly reach out to the tree. Lia couldn't help but wonder what it would be like for her to get her grace back. Would it be painful?
"Anna, what are we even looking for?" Sam said
Anna was silent for a moment, "It doesn't matter. It's not here. Not anymore. Someone took it."
Anna had put her hand on the trunk of the tree before she said this, she was silent for a short moment, as if she was searching for it inside the tree. When Anna said that, Lia looked Dean and Sam and frowned, she had no idea who could have taken it, or why they would take it.
After this Dean drove them to find shelter, which just happened to be a barn, it was now nighttime of course, Anna sat down and was checking to see if the angels were even speaking, while Lia watched Dean pace up and down, talking a bit to himself, Lia frowned, she hated seeing him in this worried state.
"We still got the hex bags. I say we head back to the panic room," Dean muttered.
Ruby frowned at him, "What, forever?"
Lia rolled her eyes at Ruby, wondering why she was such a pain in the ass, then Lia remembered that she was a demon. This basically answered her question all by itself. Dean may trust Ruby a little, but Lia still didn't, she didn't trust any demon, and she had good reason for it.
"I'm just thinking out loud!" Dean yelled at her, out of frustration.
"Oh you call that thinking?" Ruby asked mockingly.
Lia growled at the demon-bitch, it was times like these where she was so tempted to get up and just slap that bitch right across the face. She didn't know what was stopping her of course, then again there was Sam who would probably scold her for it. So Lia just stayed where she was.
At that precise moment, Sam walked in barn, "Hey! Hey, hey, hey. Stop it."
"Anna's grace is gone. You understand? She can't angel up. She can't protect us. We can't fight Heaven and Hell. One side maybe, but not both. Not at once!" Ruby exclaimed.
There was a note of panic in Ruby's voice, and Lia could understand of course. It was true, and Ruby basically took the words right off of Lia's tongue, it was all she had been thinking about since she realized that the demons AND the angels wanted Anna. At least now Lia understood why, but there were still some questions that she wanted answered. Like the fact that she was involved in some sort of prophecy, Lia was about to ask Anna this, but she suddenly spoke before Lia could get the chance.
"Um... guys? The angels are talking again," Anna stated.
Lia grimaced, "What are they saying exactly?"
There was no doubt, that whatever the angels were saying was most likely bad news for them. Lia just had no idea how much longer she could take the angels, they kept butting in and telling them what to do. There was only one angel that Lia sort of didn't mind, and that was Castiel.
"It's weird... Like a recording... a loop. It says, "Dean Winchester gives us Anna by midnight, or... we hurl him back to damnation," Anna told them.
Lia looked at Dean, his face went from curiosity to fear, his eyes went completely wide, some would have thought that it would have been surprise, but Lia knew better. She knew how scared he was feeling, and his fear made the anger boil inside Lia. She grew so angry that she grit her teeth and her hands went to fists.
"You know what? That's it! I'm threw with these dick-wads!" Lia growled angrily. "Anna, please tell me you know how to kill these sonsabitches, it will just make my goal a lot easier."
Anna frowned and shook her head, "Nothing we could get to... Not right now."
At this, Lia felt like throwing something or breaking something, it sort of out of anger and frustration, but more so out of worry, worry that her only best friend was going to hell because they wouldn't hand Anna over to the angels. Lia wouldn't allow them to take Dean though, perhaps she would beg them to send her to hell instead? That could work...
"Okay, wait, wait. I say we call Bobby. We get him back from hedonism," Dean suggested.
"Dean, what's he gonna tell us that we don't already know?!" Sam yelled from worry.
Sam did have a point, Bobby wouldn't be able to tell them anything, basically, Sam was telling them that they had no hope, that they had to give up. Lia closed her eyes with pain, she felt as though it was over, she felt like killing Ruby. After all, it was her fault that they were stuck in this mess in the first place.
"I don't know, but we got to think of something!" Dean exclaimed.
Lia watched Dean walk out of the barn out of anger and worry, she frowned and looked at Sam. Then she followed her best friend, he was sitting on the hood of the Impala with a book in his hands, he was actually reading. Desperately looking for a way to save himself and at the same time, make sure that Anna didn't get taken.
Lia walked up to Dean and put a hand on his shoulder, "Dean... I have this idea, and I know a hundred percent that you're not gonna like it."
Dean looked at her, curiously, "What would that be?"
Lia looked down, she couldn't believe that she was actually going to suggest this, it was so... weird in her mind, for her to sacrifice herself, just for him... she cared about him a lot. Obviously, nothing more than friendship, they both knew this, they both knew that they couldn't be together.
For one, it was because they were just too close as friends, and number two, because of the job, it would be very difficult for one hunter to be with another hunter. Lia wouldn't have to be constantly worrying about him, and him worrying about her if they loved each other. And the final reason, was that they both didn't really know how to keep a relationship, it had been a long time since either of them have been in a relationship. It wasn't really their thing to be honest. However, their friendship was strong, and Lia knew that she would die for Dean in a heart-beat.
Lia took a deep breath, "I was thinking of convincing the angels to put me in hell instead of you."
Dean's reaction was just as Lia expected, "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!? NO WAY! I WILL NOT LET YOU SACRIFICE YOURSELF OVER ME! I'm just not worth that..."
Lia frowned at this, "Dean, you may not allow me, but this is my choice! I would die for you! You are worth everything to me, you and Sam are all that I have and I just can't go living without you."
This was true, there was only two times she was really and truly happy in her life. The first one was when she lived with her foster-father Bob, she missed him every single day, she still regretted not being with him that one night. The second was being with Dean and Sam, all the moments they shared together, all the happiness they had.
Just like that one day, when the three of them were driving to a motel, Dean had popped in some AC/DC, Lia was so happy that she sang along with the song. Dean gave a laugh that sounded of music, then he joined in with her. It wasn't long after, that the temptation finally got to Sam, and he sang with them. In fact, they sang all the songs Dean played until they reached the motel. When they got to the motel, Dean and Lia 'fought' over the couch, Dean wanted her to sleep in the bed, while he would sleep on the couch. However, Lia had won and she slept on the couch. Sadly, she had no blankets to put on herself so she shivered through the night, but when she woke up, she had realized that she had covers all over her, keeping her warm, and then she quickly noticed that Dean had none.
"And you think that I can?" Dean asked frowning.
Lia was struck with the words he just spoke, she had no idea what to respond to that, and clearly Dean didn't know what to say either. They just stared into each other's eyes for what felt like eternity, until Lia almost tackled him in a hug. It took a second for Dean to realize what had just happened, then he hugged her back. She buried her face into his chest, tears stinging her eyes, but she fought so hard to hold them back. She could feel the gentleness of tears slowly fall on the top of her head as Dean rested his chin on her head, him crying, made Lia let her own tears fall and stain his shirt.
"I don't want to lose you," They whispered at the same time.
They pulled away from the hug to look at each other with surprise. Neither of them spoke, until Dean decided to break the silence.
"Lay with me?" Dean asked, then when Lia gave him a look of surprise he went on. "I just mean that- if this will really be your last night on Earth, I want to be with you, and I don't think you want to be alone either."
Lia then smiled softly at him, and gave a short nod. Dean's face lit up a little and he opened the Impala door for her, and she got in. Dean followed and lay down in the backseat. Lia settled herself and lay next to him, she was gently pressed against him, her head rested gently on his chest. She felt one of his arms wrap around her so that his hand rested on her shoulder, while the other hand reached across her belly and held her waist closer to him, so that her front was settled and pressed against his side. She snuggled against him, her head still over his heart, and her hand on the other side of his chest, she listened to the steadiness of his heart-beat as she slowly drifted off to sleep. Her last wakened thought was of him.
They had slept until the morning, Dean had woke up first and tried not to wake her as he got out of the Impala, but as soon as he got out, Lia woke up. She smiled sleepily as the warm sun-rays hit her cheeks gently. She got out of the Impala quickly and saw Dean walking inside the barn, so she followed him. When she walked in he seemed stressed about something, he sat on some crate or hay. She frowned, wondering what was upsetting him.
Soon, Sam had walked in, he must have slept somewhere in the barn of course, since Lia didn't see him come outside. Anna must have slept in the barn as well, when she walked into the room. Lia looked at them for a moment, then she looked at Dean, who was currently taking out a flask and drinking from it.
"Don't you think it's a little too early to be drinking?" Lia asked.
"Its 2 AM somewhere," Dean replied.
Lia frowned at this, she wondered what could be wrong. Everything was fine before this, she didn't think it would be likely for him to start drinking since she was going to sacrifice herself. She thought he would start to drink after she had gone. So something else must have happened. But how?
"What's wrong?" Lia asked him.
"Nothing, I'm fine," Dean lied.
It wasn't hard for Lia to tell he was lying, after all, he was her best friend and she could see through his lies easily. She wasn't sure if she should tell him to tell her what was bothering him, or if she should just leave him alone. She kept debating on this in her head, until she decided to force him to tell her. She was just about to open her mouth, but the doors of the barn blasted open and Uriel and Castiel walked in. Lia knew that whatever they were gonna do, wouldn't be good. As Castiel and Uriel got closer, Sam put his hand over Anna, as if to protect her from them.
Castiel looked at Sam, Anna, and Dean. Then his gaze fell upon Lia, she wondered why he always looked at her, as if he was curious about her or in awe of her. She wondered why he didn't look at the others the same way. However, the moment soon passed and he looked back at Anna.
"Hello, Anna. It's good to see you," Castiel greeted.
"How?" Sam asked. "How did you find us?"
Castiel was silent, he didn't answer Sam's question, but instead he looked at Dean for a long moment. Dean frowned and looked down, not meeting anyone's gaze. Lia widened her eyes with sudden realization, she now understood why Dean had been drinking. One of the angels must have visited Dean in his dream or something!
"Dean?" Sam asked.
Dean looked at Anna, "I'm sorry."
Lia could hardly believe this, Dean had actually sold Anna out. Why would he do that? They had worked so hard to keep Anna safe, and now it had all been thrown away. Lia looked from Dean, to Castiel, then to Anna. Surprisingly, Anna didn't seem offended by this at all. She had a look of understanding on her face.
"Why!?" Sam asked Dean.
"Because they gave him a choice. They either kill me or kill you and Lia. I know how their minds work," Anna said to Sam, then she looked at Dean. "You did the best you could, I forgive you."
Dean stayed silent, and Lia took his hand gently. Dean looked back at her with a little bit of surprise. She knew that would have been a bit of a hard choice for him, since he didn't want to give anyone up. At least this showed that he cared. Dean looked at their hands in silence, then he pulled her into a friendly hug, and Lia hugged him back.
Anna smiled weakly at Lia, "I trust that you will take good care of him."
"Always," Lia whispered softly.
Castiel and Uriel was watching them all in silence. Lia felt this was a little awkward, but she could care less. She watched as Anna walked up to the angels, giving them the look that said she wouldn't run, and that she was ready for them to take her and kill her. Dean slowly pulled away from the hug to watch.
Castiel stared at Anna, "I'm sorry,"
Anna showed no emotion on her face, "No. You're not. Not really. You don't know the feeling."
Although, Castiel did have a look on his face, maybe it wasn't sorry, but perhaps it was remorse and regret. As though he really didn't want to kill Anna. Lia thought this was a bit... odd, perhaps Castiel was actually gaining emotions. Lia thought about this as she watched the two.
"Still, we have a history, it's just-" But Anna cut Castiel off.
"Orders are orders. I know. Just make it quick," Anna told him.
Of course, angels had to follow orders. They weren't as lucky as humans, they didn't get the luxury of being able to feel and have free-will. Perhaps that was why some of them (like Uriel) were always angry all the time, because they were just jealous of the humans for what they had.
In a way, Lia felt sorry for them. Castiel just stared at Anna, however someone spoke behind them, and the voice gave Lia chills. The sound was so familiar that Lia had to look back, and sure enough. There was Alastair. Beside him was Ruby, who was bleeding and two other demons that Lia didn't recognize.
"Don't you touch a hair on that poor girl's head," Alastair ordered.
"How dare you come in this room... you pussing sore," Uriel said, walking closer to Alastair.
The demons that were holding Ruby, keeping her standing up and a bit steady. Let go of her and she dropped to the floor. Lia didn't feel sorry for her, it was obvious that the bitch told Alastair where they were, and Lia glared at Ruby, as though she were a piece of garbage.
"Name-calling. That hurt my feelings," Alastair told him sarcastically. "You sanctimonious, fanatical prick."
"Turn around and walk away now," Castiel ordered.
Lia watched Ruby, she was crawling to get out of the way, for safety. It was clear that Ruby was hoping to heal quickly, and she would need it, because when she did, Lia would kill her for what she did. Then Lia felt hands on her arms, Dean moved her out of the way, so that she wouldn't be in the blast zone.
Alastair nodded, "Sure. Just give us the girl. We'll make sure she gets punished good and proper."
"You know who we are and what we will do. I won't say it again. Leave now... or we lay you to waste," Castiel threatened.
Dean let go of Lia, he was looking at her, but Lia was looking at the angels and the demons. She couldn't believe it. It was like something in a dream, angels and demons warring against each other. Lia, however, knew which side she wanted to win, and even though she hated the angels, it was better than the demons winning.
"Think I'll take my chances," Alastair replied.
Things started to happen suddenly, Uriel leaped at one of the demons beside Alastair, Uriel ended up ramming the demon into one of the wooden posts of the barn. The other demon went towards Uriel to get him from behind, but Uriel saw this coming and he elbowed the demon hard in the face that he fell to the ground.
Castiel went straight to Alastair, he gave him a few punches in the head, which didn't do much since the guy was a demon. Then Castiel pressed his palm to the demon's forehead, Lia knew that he was trying to exorcise the demon with his angel-powers. However, it didn't work.
"Sorry, kiddo. Why don't you go run to daddy?" Alastair mocked.
Alastair then flung Castiel off him. Lia had no idea what to do, she wasn't sure what she could actually do to help the angels. So she, Dean, Anna, and Sam just stood there like dumb helpless idiots. At least Uriel had more luck, he easily managed to exorcise the demon he was currently fighting. It was clearly painful since the demon started to scream loudly. A yellow light erupted from his eyes and mouth, then he was soon on the ground, the body was possibly lifeless now that its parasite had left.
Alastair then grabbed Castiel by the throat, and started chanting something, as if he was exorcising Castiel. Lia couldn't take it, she felt as though she had to do something. So she took a wrench that she found on the ground, and whacked Alastair hard in the back of the head with it. She knew that it was very brave, and also very stupid.
Alastair held his head, then he stood up and looked at Lia, "well, well, you're stronger than I thought you were, I'll give you that. You may be important to the angels, but not to me!"
Lia had a very high sense that this wouldn't end well. She also sensed that Dean and Sam were right behind her, especially since Dean then pulled Lia behind him, as if to protect her, Lia rolled her eyes at this, but she was secretly grateful. The next thing that happened went by so quickly. Alastair had attacked all three of them. He held up his hand and Lia watched as Sam and Dean fell down to the ground, clutching their hearts. Then Alastair turned to Lia and the next thing she knew was that she felt a horrible feeling, as though she was having a heart-attack.
Lia could hear a sound that told her that Uriel had managed to exorcise another demon. Even though she was still in immense pain and on the ground, she managed to look up to see what was happening. She saw Anna run up to Uriel, and grab some glowing necklace around his neck. Lia knew at once that this was Anna's grace.
"No!" Uriel yelled.
It all happened in one swift moment, Anna stood up straight and smashed the necklace onto the ground. There was a great mass of bright blue smoke. Now Lia knew what an angel's grace looked like. Anna stood right in the middle of all the smoke. Lia watched as she opened her mouth and the smoke went into her mouth. When the smoke had all gone, she fell to the ground, something odd was happening that Lia couldn't explain.
"Shut your eyes. Shut your eyes! Shut your eyes!" Anna yelled hurriedly.
Lia of course did what she ordered. She put her arm over her eyes and closed them so that she couldn't see. She couldn't tell what was going on, but she could hear Anna screaming at the top of her lungs. She had no idea how painful it must be for her, but then she suddenly felt her 'heart-attack' leave and the wind blew all around her. Lia now felt it was safe to look, so she slowly moved her arm and looked around, Castiel was still on the ground and Uriel was standing in the same place where he had been.
Everything looked somewhat normal. Castiel and Ruby stood up, as did the brothers. Lia was looking around the barn, but she didn't see Anna anywhere. She felt slightly upset that her friend had just disappeared, but then she looked and saw a hand in front of her. She looked up at Dean, and took his hand, suddenly realizing that she didn't need Anna, even though she was a friend, she had a stronger friendship than the one she had with her. Dean helped her stand up, then he looked at the ground and saw Ruby's demon-killing knife. He bent down and picked it up, then he stood up straight.
"Well, what are you guys waiting for?" Dean asked. "Go get Anna. Unless, of course, you're scared."
"This isn't over," Uriel started towards Dean angrily, but Castiel held him back.
Lia frowned, it was amazing how Uriel was so exhausted, yet he still managed to be an ass at the same time. Lia looked over at Ruby, but the demon-bitch was silent, which was good because Lia didn't want to hear her ever again. Especially right now. She was just so angry with her. She could understand why Dean would sell Anna out, and that was because the angels would kill her and Sam, but Ruby's was just so that Alastair would stop hurting her.
Dean didn't even flinch, "Oh, it looks over to me, junkless."
The angels were silent for a moment, but in a flap of wings, they were soon gone. Dean looked up, thankfully, all of them were absolutely exhausted and still in a little bit of pain, but at least they were still alive. Which seemed like a miracle itself. Then Lia looked at Ruby as she started to limp towards them. It looked painful, which Lia was happy about.
"You okay?" Sam asked her, concerned.
"Not so much," Ruby told him.
Lia was very happy about this, the more she was in pain, the more happy she was. She just couldn't stand even being in Ruby's presence. It was taking every ounce of strength to not take the knife out of Dean's hand and just ram it right through Ruby's cold demonic heart.
"What took you so long to get here?" Dean asked.
"Sorry I'm late with the demon delivery. I was only being tortured," Ruby replied.
Lia suddenly knew what had happened. This was all a set-up, she growled and punched Dean hard in the arm.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me!?" Lia asked angrily.
Dean chuckled, "you were busy at the time. And I got to hand it to you, Sammy. Bringing them all together all at once - angels and demons. It was a damn good plan."
Sam nodded slowly, and Lia knew that he was now thinking about Anna, about the cost of all this. Lia couldn't help but wonder where she was and how she was doing right now. It was sad that they didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to each other. She was kind of missing her friend.
"So, I guess she's some big-time angel now, huh? She must be happy... Wherever she is," Sam murmured.
"I doubt it," Dean replied.
After that, they all got in the Impala -except Ruby, who decided to go- and Dean drove, just anywhere to get away from the barn. Then he drove over to the side of the road. The three of them got out of the Impala, and Dean went to the trunk of the Impala and took out three beers. This made Lia smile, she took it and went to the front of the car and sat on the hood. Sam sat beside her and Dean just leaned on the Impala.
"I can't believe we made it out of there," Dean said, after a moment.
"Well, at least we had fun, right?" Lia joked.
This made Dean and Sam chuckle. Then Dean held out his bottle of beer, and Lia clinked it, they all clinked each other's beers, then they all took a sip from their own beers. Then they were all silent once again, Lia watched as the cars slowly flew by them. Then she looked at Dean.
"I know you both heard Alastair," Dean stated. "What he said... about how I had a promise."
Lia nodded, "We heard him."
Lia couldn't believe that Dean was talking about this. She couldn't help but wonder if he was actually going to start talking about what happened in hell. It did seem like everything was leading that way. However, she wasn't sure if she was ready to comfort him when he talked about it.
"You're not curious?" Dean asked.
"Dean, I'm damn curious. But you're not talking about Hell, and I'm not pushing," Sam stated simply.
Sam gave a small smile to Dean, to show that this was indeed true. That he wouldn't push Dean to tell him about what happened. Dean gave a short nod and he took a sip from his beer once more. Even though there was the sound of birds chirping and the wind, it was amazing how it could be so quiet.
"It wasn't four months, you know," Dean told them. "It was four months up here, but down there... I don't know. Time's different. It was more like forty years."
Lia widened her eyes, "Oh god."
How hard it must have been for him, all that torture and pain that hell must be... not for four months but for forty years. Lia could scarcely imagine, in fact, she didn't even want to imagine what had happened. She knew Dean would keep talking about it, because he needed to get it out.
"They, uh... They sliced and carved and tore at me in ways that you... Until there was nothing left. And then, suddenly... I would be whole again... like magic... just so they could start in all over. And Alastair... at the end of every day... every one... he would come over. And he would make me an offer. To take me off the rack... if I put souls on... if I started the torturing. And every day, I told him to stick it where the sun shines. For 30 years, I told him. But then I couldn't do it anymore, Sammy, Li'. I couldn't. And I got off that rack. God help me, I got right off it, and I started ripping them apart. I lost count of how many souls," Dean told them, his voice was filled with pain, a tear rolled down his cheek. "The-the things that I did to them..."
Lia widened her eyes, then she frowned and put a hand on his shoulder, she couldn't imagine... she couldn't believe... how on earth he managed to do that for thirty years was incredible. She doubted that even she could have lasted that long. In fact, she decided to tell him this.
"Dean... thirty years is a long time, longer than I could have lasted. Dean, you're very strong... and brave," Lia whispered softly.
Lia could hear him crying, she then turned him around gently and saw the tears falling down his cheeks. God, it hurt her to see him cry like this. She wish that he wasn't feeling this much pain. She wanted to take all of his pain away, she wanted him to be happy, so she hugged him once again, and let him cry on her shoulder, and she patted his back gently.
"How I feel... This... inside me... I wish I couldn't feel anything, Li'. I wish I couldn't feel a damn thing."
So that's the end of this chappie :D I hope you enjoyed it. I would like it if you could say what you liked about this chapter and what you found interesting and what you loved about it. I don't own anything from supernatural, I only own one thing: Lia. That is all!