Chapter 24 – Susie Allens

Krysta walked out of the motel room wiping the tears from her eyes. She didn't notice Castiel standing in front of her until she bumped into him. She looked up to see his hard and angry eyes.

"You should not have done that," he chastised, his voice low and stern. "What were you thinking?"

Krysta gave the angel an incredulous look. "Do you really think I wanted to?" She shook her head angrily and walked past him. "I had to."

She tried to ignore the fact that Castiel was following closely behind her. "Please, elaborate."

"You wouldn't understand." Krysta could hardly believe that her uncle still didn't trust her. It had her fuming.

She started when Castiel suddenly appeared in front of her, blocking her path. He crossed his arms and glared at her. "Explain. Now."

"Leave me alone," she growled, moving around him once again. She needed time to plan her next move, not to dwell on things that, not only hurt too much to think about, but couldn't be undone.

"Krysta," Castiel warned.

Throwing her hands into the air in exasperation, she spun on her heel to face him. "Fine!" she exploded. "You want to know so badly? Okay! It was Gabriel. Gabriel told me to do it. Happy now?"

Castiel blinked in shock. Gabriel? "Gabriel is dead."

"Yeah, thanks, I know." Krysta huffed. "He showed up in my head after I passed out. Go ahead and check it out if you want," she muttered impatiently.

Cas searched through her memories, his eyes growing wide as he heard the instructions his brother left Krysta. After what seemed like a lifetime, his expression softened. "Krysta—"

"Forget it, Uncle Cas." She waved off his apology and gave him a small smile. "I'm leaving town, anyways." Twisting a strand of her hair around her finger, trying to keep her eyes off of her uncle, she blurted out, "Can you do something for me?" Not bothering to wait for an answer, Krysta continued. "Don't tell Dean and Sam. Just keep this our secret. Please? It's just…it'll make things easier…for me especially. Can you do that for me, Cas?" she pleaded.

As Castiel opened his mouth, the door to room 202 flew open.

"Cas!" hollered Dean as he and Sam left the motel room and walked briskly over to them. "Come on, Cas! We gotta go. Bobby's waiting!"

It broke Krysta's heart when the boys looked at her questioningly and asked, "Who're you?"

Krysta quickly plastered on her poker face, fell into her damsel-in-distress act, and gave them a small smile. "Susie. Susie Allens," she answered shyly, biting her lip. It was too easy to slip back into her old patterns.

Thankfully, Cas went along with her. "I…rescued her from some demons," he lied, nodding slightly in response when Krysta mouthed "thank you."

Always hating to be rude, Sam grimaced. "Uh, look, it's really nice to meet you Susie, but, uh…we have to get going…see—"

"Don't worry," Krysta chuckled. "I was just leaving anyways."

Sam smiled in thanks and got into the passenger side of the Impala; Castiel had already seated himself in the back. After Dean sat down in the driver's seat and started the ignition, Krysta bent down to look at him through the window. "Thanks…for everything," she said sincerely.

Dean cocked an eyebrow up. "What did we do?" When all he got was a shrug and a smirk, he drove off. "Okay then…" he muttered.

Dean's eyes flickered to the rear-view mirror and, for a moment, he could have sworn he saw Susie Allens disappear into thin air…

He sucked in a deep breath and pointed the lolly-pop at her. "Lucy was right. You are very important. But not in the way he thinks. You're important to Dean and Sam. You're gonna have to help them out tonight, they need you."

"Well that's kind of why I'm here, Uncle Gabe." Krysta gave Gabriel her version of the "bitch-face" and the archangel whistled. The kid was good.

His hands flew up in a placating gesture. "Believe me, Krysta, I'm not arguing with you."

"Then why?" she wondered.

Gabriel looked skyward, as if someone was talking to him. "Look," he said, "they're coming. I don't have much time before the chuckle-brothers wake you up so I have to tell you this now. There's something you're going to have to do after tonight." He sucked in a deep breath. "Krysta, they can't remember you." Gabriel's voice was soft but firm.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean? Of course they can—"

"No, you're not getting it." The archangel sighed. "I mean, after tonight, they are not allowed to remember you."

It took a moment for this information to sink in. When it did, Krysta was shocked to say the least. "What?"

Gabriel's eyes were full of pity as he explained everything to his niece. "Look, kiddo, you weren't supposed to meet them. Ever. If they remember who you are, they'll keep you on their team."

"But, I don't get it," she stammered. "That's a good thing, isn't it?"

Shaking his head, Gabriel stuck the lolly-pop back into his mouth and spoke around it. "It might seem like it now, but if you stay with them, everything's gonna go sour. Well," he drew out the word, "more sour than it would without you." Gabriel could see the hurt in Krysta's face and backtracked quickly. "It wouldn't be your fault, kiddo, I swear. It's just how things are gonna happen. I know it's hard kid but—"

Krysta laughed bitterly. "Hard? Hell yes it's hard! Every time—every time—I trust someone, hell, start to like them even, think of them as a friend, as a big brother, I have to lose them! Why? It's not fair!"

There was a pause before she spoke back up. "Uncle Gabe, how bad will it be if I stay with them?" Krysta asked quietly as her eyes started to water.

Gabriel couldn't look at her when he answered. He hated having to spread news like this. Keeping his eyes on a bird that was flying overhead, his answer was hardly a whisper. "End-of-the-world bad."

Krysta clenched her fists and bit the inside of her cheeks, but she couldn't hold back her tears.

"What do I have to do?"

"You're going to have to edit their memories. Just put a hand on each of their foreheads and concentrate on what you want gone. You don't want to kill them, and you don't want them to forget everything that happened, so just focus on taking yourself out of the memories. You'll have to do Bobby's too." Gabriel wrapped Krysta up in a hug and stroked her hair. "I'm really sorry, Krysta."

She crumpled in his embrace, her tears soaking his shirt. "Not as sorry as me."