A/N: Thanks for read! Stick with me, chaps!

Chapter 10: Hope

Lumina stifled a yawn as she checked her watch. Good god she needed to get out of this car, she told herself. She contemplated on calling Dean and teaming back up with him, but her heart wasn't in it. They were all separated again, didn't they ever learn? She drove into a tiny town where the streetlights were already diming. She spotted a small motel on the corner of the road and decided it would do.

In her room for the night, she stretched on the bed, groaning in relief. Maybe she could have another dream without the nightmare. The thought of having another dream where her skin peels off made her shudder. Lumina unlaced her boots, stretching out her toes and looked at the emptiness around her. She missed them. She didn't know how to tell them, that she thought of them as her family rather than her friends. Her phone began to buzz beside her, and secretly she prayed it was Dean or Sam asking for them to come find them.

"Hello?"

"Lumina, where are you?" Castiel asked gruffly.

"Um, Moonlight Hotel in Shybrook, Georgia. Room 38."

He appeared before her, closing his phone. Lumina looked at him quizzically. "What's up?"

"Why aren't you with Dean?"

She shrugged. "Haven't you notice that splitting up seems to be what we do best?"

"There is no need to be mad at Dean. Sam broke his trust…"

"Family means sticking together even when things get messy," She growled through clenched teeth.

Castiel took a step back, his face hardening. "I am sorry."

Lumina softened and decided to look at the floor instead of him. "Why are you here, Cas?"

"I was going to meet with Dean, but he wanted to wait till morning."

"So?"

"So, I thought I would take this time to check on you."

Her eyes lifted hopefully. "I'm fine, still in one peace."

"That doesn't mean something isn't wrong." He sat down stiffly beside her on the bed.

"Cas, the freakin apocalypse is among us, of course there is something wrong."

"But you are still blaming yourself for something. Why?"

She shifted uncomfortably. "I keep thinking back, wondering if I could have changed things."

"How could you have changed any of this? It has been planned since the beginning of time."

"I know," Lumina sighed. "I just think about what would have happened if I could have really tried to stop Dean from going to hell. I didn't try that hard, but of course I didn't know what I could do. Or what would have happened if I had stayed with Sam after Dean went to hell."

"None of those things were destined to change," He said quietly.

Lumina swallowed down her tears. "It doesn't mean I couldn't have tried at the time. I'm trying to adjust to this."

"This?"

Her eyes met his reluctantly. "Just because I've been hunting and training doesn't mean I've accepted any of this. What they forget is that I did have a somewhat normal life. They grew up with this, but I've only had a couple of years. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think this is all some weird dream and I will wake back up in my dorm room. I thought…"

His hand covered hers encouragingly. She gave his fingers a slight squeeze.

"I just had thought that my life would be settled after I met the Jacobs," she continued. "I thought I would get to what other people have. But instead, my life gets off the charts weird. I don't want to complain and I know I'm taking these abilities and chances for granted, but it's a big pill to swallow."

"I'm sure if you explained it to them that they would understand." He suggested.

Lumina snorted. "It's hard to understand something you've never had to go through."

"Yet, you seemed to have understood the life of a hunter very quickly. You have adapted to it and you understand what the life means."

She met his eyes quietly. "Was there any way that things could have ended up differently?"

He shook his head grimly. "It was all supposed to come down to this. The only surprise was you."

"Why was I such a big surprise?"

"Amun-Ra had mentioned to my Father several times of creating you, but nothing was ever said. I guess you could say it was a myth among angels as well."

"So," she said carefully. "I'm the one hitch in the big plan."

"That's why a lot of the angels, well most of them, will want you dead. The part of the apocalypse with you in it hasn't been sketched out, meaning…"

"Anything can happen," she whispered. A smile lit her face as she leaned over a kissed Castiel on his stubble cheek. He turned into a statue, his eyes widening.

"Why did you do that?"

"I-I don't know," Lumina blushed furiously. "I guess it was my way of saying thank you."

"No one has ever thanked me like that." His eyes burned into hers. "Why did you?"

"I'm still trying to figure that part out, Castiel." Her mind searched for answers. "Most of the time, I feel alone even when I'm with the people I love. Yet, when you're around, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel."

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Hope, Castiel." Her eyes became serious as they looked straight into his. "I feel hope around you, because of you."

"Why?"

"When I was first introduced into the world of the supernatural, it was dark and scary. We kill and kill, no good in sight. Even the definition of who I am says nothing but doom. Then, I find out that angels exist. I thought they may be good too, but I was wrong."

Castiel flinched, trying to back away but she kept her hand firmly on his.

"I'm sorry, but some of your brothers and sisters scare me."

"Then how could I mean hope?"

"Because," she smiled slightly. "Despite it all, you are good. I know it's cheesy, lumping things into categories such as good and bad. But you are the first bright light I have seen in the world of supernatural. That shows hope to me that things can get better, that maybe there is a little brightness in this world."

"No one has ever said anything like that to me." He mumbled.

"You're a soldier for God, who would tell you things like that but me?" She scoffed.

Lumina froze as he placed his lips onto hers. She felt unsure of what to do, he was an angel. Yet, she let herself close her eyes and enjoy the moment to bask in her hope. His lips moved gently over hers, moving hesitantly. He pulled back till his nose touched hers, both of their eyes opening.

"What was that?" She whispered.

"My thank you."

He vanished, leaving Lumina in a hazy world and a hazy heart.