Another chapter! Let's get this show on the road. Hope you like seeing the character that pops up! :)
As always, thanks for taking the time to read, favorite, follow, and review!
Disclaimer: In no way do I have any rights to Supernatural or any of the characters you are familiar with. I only own Amriel and any OCs that pop up along the way.
Chapter Thirty Eight: Recovered
It had been a couple of weeks since Cas and Amriel left the bunker, following leads in an attempt to track down Cain. Sam would call and check in with information for them to follow up on, but they seemed to be closing in on him.
"Castiel, I don't think Cain is on a riverboat," Amriel said with a raised eyebrow as she looked around the vessel they had just boarded.
She looked around the casino, taking in the lights and sounds of slot machines and people gambling at the tables. The room was smoke-filled, and she coughed a little as she peered through the haziness.
"We've been following leads for weeks, perhaps we deserve a small break," he answered with a smile.
"I- I don't think that a break is a good idea," Amriel shook her head, watching Cas frown in response. "Normally I would totally agree, but you're running on a borrowed grace. We don't have a lot of time…"
Castiel cut her off with a kiss before handing her a beer and taking her free hand as he led her to the slot machines.
"I understand your concerns, but this is something we need to do." He handed Amriel a $20 and motioned towards the machines, "I'm going to take a look around. Play one of the games in this area and I'll find you when I'm done."
The blonde huffed, taking the bill and sending him a slight glare. Before she could tell him that she wasn't thrilled, he had disappeared into the crowd of people.
Amriel frowned momentarily and turned around to look at the slot machines. She looked for one to play, noticing that each one seemed to have a different theme. There were ones with fruits, butterflies, dragons, scantily clad women, and more. Amriel spotted one that had chili peppers, and smiled as she remembered the first time she had tried spicy food with Cas.
She sat at the machine, setting her beer down and inserting the money Cas had given her, reading the instructions for how to play. After placing her bet, she pressed a button and watched the images spin, ending up on two chili peppers and a sun. Her total increased slightly, and Amriel smiled brightly when she realized she had won.
Amriel had no idea how much time had passed as she played, but her total had fluctuated, changing drastically as she almost lost everything. When Cas returned, she had won over $3,000.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked, and Amriel nodded as she pressed a button that said cash out.
"Yeah, I just have to redeem my winnings," she smiled, grabbing the ticket that printed from the machine.
When Amriel received the stack of money, she turned to Cas and grinned brightly, "We can have a little fun with this."
The angels continued to travel after their day on the riverboat, following any and all leads that Sam had sent their way.
Castiel had been keeping Amriel out of a lot of the dirty work, sending her on trips to local libraries for research while he handled demon interrogations. He knew that she was averse to torture after what Urim had done to her, and he didn't blame her whatsoever.
He had come across Cain in a wooded area, surrounded by fresh graves. They had spoken briefly, Cas asking why he had started killing again, only to be told that Cain had to take up arms again with Abaddon's army coming after him. He had killed demons, and Cas wanted to know why. Cain had told him that there was no cure, and not to worry about Dean.
"I'll get to him in due time," Cain had told him before he had disappeared, and the frustrated angel had returned to the motel where he promptly told Amriel it was time to go.
They returned to the bunker, and Cas had told them exactly what Cain had told him. Sam and Dean found a lead on Cain's next victim, a 12-year-old boy, and the four got to him as fast as they could. Crowley had shown up, helping them trick Cain so they could trap him.
It had taken a lot, but Dean killed Cain and given the First Blade to Cas. He and Amriel hid it in one of the most remote locations they could find before meeting the brothers back at the bunker.
Things at the bunker had been odd, Amriel noticed as the days went by. Dean was putting on a good front, but she could hear him waking up from nightmares at all hours of the night, yelling for his brother.
The pair of angels had gone out for lunch just to give the Winchesters some space and have time to themselves, since they had been at the bunker for a while now.
"Cas, I'm worried about Dean," Amriel said as she picked at her onion rings. "He's not getting enough sleep…"
"I'm aware, I hear him too. Look, Sam wants us to meet him at some coordinates he's sent me," Castiel explained, his voice lowering as he leaned forward and continued, "We've run out of options when it comes to the Mark, and he wants… He wants to get Metatron."
"N-no, Castiel," she shook her head. "Do you remember what happened the last time you had him in your custody?"
"Of course I remember," Cas snapped, his tone immediately softening, "This time, Dean won't be involved."
The attempt to retrieve Metatron from Heaven had been futile. Hannah had met Sam and the pair of angels at the portal, asking Castiel if his grace was fading. When she discovered that they wanted to speak with Metatron, she denied their request.
After Hannah had returned to Heaven, Sam had introduced a plan "B", which included meeting up with a psychic and enlisting the help of Bobby Singer to break Metatron out. Cas had gone back to Heaven to help, leaving Amriel with Sam, telling her it was too dangerous for the both of them to go.
They reconvened in the playground outside of Heaven's door, where Castiel took Metatron's grace and Sam shot him in the leg, making him unable to escape them.
Metatron revealed that there was nothing in the Angel or Demon Tablets about the Mark of Cain, and Sam was ready to kill him when he told them that Castiel's grace wasn't gone, and that he'd take him to it.
Amriel had wanted to go with them, just in case Metatron tried something or attempted to get away, but Cas made it clear that this was something he had to do on his own. They bickered about it briefly, but Amriel knew he wasn't going to back down.
So of course, she had let him go. She stayed at the bunker with Sam and Dean, helping them research some case they had been consulting on for another hunter.
Sam's phone rang as he and Amriel were sitting in the library, and he answered it when he realized it was Cas, setting it on speakerphone and putting it down on the table.
"Cas?" Sam asked, and Amriel looked up from her laptop with a small smile.
"Can I just kill him now?" Cas' voice rang out through the library and the blonde held back a laugh.
"You know I can hear you, right?" Metatron asked, and Sam rolled his eyes.
"No, we need him alive for now," Sam sighed. "Look, after you get your Grace back, you can do whatever you want with him."
"Well I'd like to kill him slowly," Cas said seriously, and Amriel heard Metatron in the background saying, "I am like two feet away from you."
Cas asked if they had found anything on the Mark of Cain, and Amriel could tell he was disappointed when Sam told him that they hadn't.
Amriel heard Metatron asking about her on the other end of the line, and she narrowed her gaze at the phone. Then she heard Metatron yelp in pain, and Castiel's voice telling him to keep his mouth shut.
"Just.. Just keep digging," Cas finally said, and Dean walked into the library.
"Yeah, uh, no one here by that name. Sorry," Sam quickly hung up, trying to hide his surprise covering his face.
Amriel half-listened to the brothers as they talked about the Mark being a curse, but it piqued her interest when Dean had said that the Mark was an actual curse, and that Crowley had found out about it from the witch Rowena, who had in turn told Dean. The older Winchester also told them that Rowena was Crowley's mother, which surprised both Sam and Amriel.
Sam's phone rang and Dean had answered it, and the men were surprised to hear a female voice on the line.
"Charlie?" Dean had asked, and Amriel's eyes widened in surprise. She had heard Sam talk about her before, and understood that she was a good friend of the Winchesters.
As Amriel listened to the phone call she found herself wanting to help this woman. Charlie had told Dean she had been shot, but stitched herself up with dental floss. Amriel knew that wasn't the item's intended use, but that thought was quickly pushed aside when she heard Charlie say she had found the Book of the Damned, and that she thought she could get the Mark off of Dean.
Sam asked Charlie where she was, and said that they would meet her as soon as they could.
Amriel watched the brothers packing files and books, preparing to leave for Iowa to meet Charlie.
"I want to come with you guys," Amriel finally said, apparently catching Sam off guard judging by the way he flinched.
"Amriel," Sam started, and she could see the conflict clear on his face. "I was actually going to ask if you could stay here and help out on the case we were working on for Garth. It's just answering the phone and helping with any questions he may have. He's still kinda new to the hunting scene."
A pang of disappointment ran through her and she stared down at the table, trying not to let it show. She wanted to put up a fight, but she knew it would be useless. The Winchesters were stubborn men, and if they didn't want her coming along, then she wasn't going to push it.
"Fine," she mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and tucking into herself. Amriel was annoyed with Sam for keeping her out of things and she missed having Cas around. She didn't like being alone for long periods of time whatsoever. It reminded her of when she first took her vessel after the Fall and felt nothing but loneliness.
"Elle-" Sam tried, but she shook her head and cut him off.
"I don't want any excuses, Sam. I'll stay here like you asked."
Amriel got up from her seat and left the library, heading through the bunker and into the kitchen. She didn't want to argue with her charge, so she just removed herself from the situation. The blonde grabbed a beer from the fridge and opened it, downing it quickly. She knew that it wouldn't help her feel any better and that she'd need more than what was in the fridge to actually get drunk, but she didn't know what else to do.
Leaning against the counter, Amriel closed her eyes and told herself she could be doing more productive things than getting drunk. There were so many people she could be helping during her time on Earth, and she had been so caught up with the Winchesters and their problems that she had pushed that to the back of her mind.
When she was in Heaven, Amriel had a purpose. She diligently watched and protected the children of May, but since the Fall, it seemed like she had forgotten her duties. Amriel thought back to the fair she and Cas had gone to, and how she had helped Paige's family by curing her brother's tumor.
"I need a car," she said to herself, deciding that she was going to start helping humans like Davey. "Dean?"
Amriel wandered around the bunker, looking for the eldest Winchester only to find him in the garage, shining up the Impala.
"Hello Dean," Amriel started carefully, knowing how much he adored his car. "I need a vehicle."
Dean looked up from the car's black surface, his gaze narrowed as he threw a rag over his shoulder, "No way, Blondie."
"Sam won't let me come with you to meet up with Charlie, and Cas is off dealing with Metatron, leaving me here with nothing to do," she huffed, feeling like the petulant teenagers she saw on television. "If I'm going to be stuck here, I want access to a car. I'm not going to walk everywhere."
"Why don't you use those wings of yours-" Dean cut himself off when Amriel glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You know exactly why I can't, Dean," Amriel focused her energy and forced the lighting in the garage to flicker so he could catch a glimpse of the shadow of her wings, which she had spread out behind her in an attempt to remind him just how powerful she was.
"Alright, alright, no need to brag," he waved her off as he walked to a workbench that had dozens of sets of keys to the many cars in the bunker's garage. After looking at the keys for a few moments, Dean finally grabbed a set and tossed them to her with a smirk. "Take the Thunderbird, it's the third one down on the left."
"Thanks, Dean," she smiled, not catching his joke, and pocketed the keys before heading over to the car to take a look at what she was going to be driving before returning to her room to find a hospital she could visit.
"Hi, my name is Amy and I wanted to inquire about your volunteer program?" Amriel said with a polite smile as she spoke to the receptionist at a hospital about two hours away from the bunker.
Amriel filled out a basic information sheet that she filled out with fabricated names and addresses, and once that was done she was taken to meet the other three volunteers and they were all given a tour of the pediatric cancer ward.
The blonde looked around at all of the children, taking in their smiling faces and admiring just how strong they truly were. The volunteer coordinator introduced Amriel to a young boy named Hank, and once she was seated next to him at a small table covered in coloring books and crayons, the coordinator flitted off to pair another volunteer.
"Hi Hank, I'm Amy," she introduced herself. "How old are you?"
"I'm 11," Hank answered softly, "How old are you?"
"Wanna guess?" Amriel asked, raising an eyebrow as he grabbed an orange crayon off of the table.
"Uhh, five thousand?" he told her with a shrug, and the angel smiled brightly.
"Close! I'm 24," she lied, wishing she could tell him that she was really as old as time itself. "So, why don't you tell me about yourself. What do you like to do?"
Amriel listened intently as Hank told her all about his family- his parents, his two older sisters, and their cat named Tater Tot. He told her about how he was missing a lot of school, and how a tutor came a few times a week to teach him and the other kids.
"I really miss recess with my friends," Hank sighed, staring down at his drawing and Amriel felt an ache in her chest. She had to help these kids. That's why she was here. That's why she existed.
"I'm sure you'll get back to your friends soon," Amriel told him, setting her hand on his shoulder gently, focusing all of her grace on healing him as quickly and discreetly as possible.
A little girl named Sadie came up to them, tugging at Hank's shirt and asking if she could color too.
"Of course you can," Amriel answered for the boy, pulling out the seat beside her and smiling as the little brunette sat down.
Amriel talked with each of the kids, making sure she made some sort of physical contact with them, whether it was a small pat on the back or a hug, so she could heal them one by one.
She felt a small sense of accomplishment after she told the kids goodbye, hugging him for a little bit longer than the others as she promised they would keep in touch. She had given him the address to Sam's P.O. Box so he could write to her if he wanted, and told him that she would always write him back.
After saying bye to the other volunteers and the coordinator, she left the hospital and got into the car Dean had let her borrow, checking her phone for the first time in hours to find a text from Cas.
I lost Metatron but gained something very important. I'm heading back to the bunker.
Checking the timestamp, Amriel figured that he was either at the bunker or almost there by now, so she texted him back saying she was on her way before starting the car and taking off.
Something felt different when Amriel walked into the bunker two and a half hours later. There was a presence that she recognized, but couldn't pin down how. She heard Sam and Cas talking, then a woman's voice that she knew she had heard before. That must've been Charlie.
Amriel headed down the stairs tentatively, following the voices until she found the three in the war room. The woman was a taller redhead, who was standing at the table and saying to Cas, "I heard you got your mojo back."
The angel immediately turned her focus to Castiel, now knowing where she knew that presence from. It was his grace.
"Cas," she gasped, unintentionally turning everyone's focus onto herself. "It's really your grace, I can see it…"
"You're Amriel?" the redhead blurted out, turning to Sam, "You didn't tell me she was hot!"
Amriel didn't acknowledge Charlie or Sam as she approached Cas and gently took his chin between her thumb and forefinger, feeling a jolt of energy run through her at the contact. She tilted his head up and down, then side to side, checking to make sure he was okay.
"How do you feel?" she asked, trailing her fingers up and along his jaw, into his hair, watching his eyes soften and his shoulders slump a little.
"You weren't kidding when you said they were disgustingly cute together," Charlie's voice filled the silence as Amriel waited for Cas to answer her, and she stared up at him expectantly, prepared to ignore everyone until he answered her.
"I feel like myself," he finally said, and Amriel smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest.
"Sam, this is actually disgusting. I think I'm gonna throw up," Charlie fake-gagged, and Amriel disentangled herself from Cas so she could introduce herself.
"Hi," she greeted awkwardly, holding out her hand, "I'm Amriel, which I guess you already knew… Uh- Sam's told me a lot about you."
"A handshake? No way. You get a hug," Charlie pulled the shorter girl in for a warm embrace. "I know you're a great, sentient, all powerful being and junk, and have this weird, intense relationship with Cas, but if you ever want to have an encounter with someone the same gender as your vessel, feel free to give me a call."
"Charlie!" Sam hissed, but Amriel laughed and shook her head, saying that she'd keep her in mind.
"Well, as Elle pointed out, my grace has been restored," Cas told them, flinching when Charlie squealed in delight at his use of the nickname.
"So, can't you just.. You know.. Cure Dean?" Charlie asked, and Amriel shook her head.
"It isn't that simple," she told the redhead. "The Mark isn't an illness or injury."
"Oh. Never is, is it? Do you think one of you could do anything about my carpal tunnel?" Charlie raised her wrist, shaking her brace-covered arm at the two angels.
Cas placed two fingers on her forehead, and Amriel saw his grace at work. She was absolutely mesmerized by the sight of him, and warmth filled her from head to toe.
"Is that it?" Charlie asked, flexing her fingers as she stared down at her hand.
"Your carpal tunnel and your bullet wound are now healed," Cas told her with a small smile. "You may want to continue wearing your wrist brace at night, though."
"Did we just become best friends?" Charlie beamed up at him, and Amriel smiled at the enthusiasm she radiated.
Dean came in with a few boxes of pizza in his arms, and Amriel caught him doing a double take at Cas.
"Hey, look who decided to show! So, you're back? 100 percent? How did that happen?" Dean asked as he set the boxes on the table.
"Um, it was Hannah," Cas told the older Winchester. "She managed to get the location of the remainder of my grace out of Metatron."
Amriel furrowed her brows, watching Cas stuff his hands in his coat pockets as he avoided making eye contact with Dean— an obvious sign that he was telling a lie. Why was he lying? How had he really gotten his grace back?
"Awesome," Dean gave a rare smile. "I told you we were due for a win. Good to have you back, pal. Plus Blondie over here was going stir crazy without you. She practically threatened me to let her take a car out. Flashed her wings and everything."
"I did no such thing!" Amriel yelped, feeling her cheeks turn bright red. "I didn't want to be alone without transportation."
Dean rolled his eyes and muttered a "sure, sure" as he sat down and opened up the pizza, grabbing a slice. Sam came in with two six packs of beer, opening one for everyone and passing them around.
They were all sitting around and talking, Amriel sitting close to Cas as she talked with Charlie, asking her questions about computers and television shows she had been watching.
"So how does this Smoke Monster exist? There were so many strange things on that island, none of it totally made sense" Amriel asked the redhead, who had been going through plot holes in Lost for the last thirty minutes.
"Oh girl. The Smoke Monster represents all of the evil in the world, and he's being trapped on the island by Jacob, who is pure light. Kinda like you," Charlie winked, making Amriel laugh.
Amriel didn't even notice the obvious tension between the brothers until Sam brought out the Book of the Damned, and she quickly realized that this would probably escalate, so she grabbed Cas' hand and told everyone that they were going to get some air.
She practically dragged Cas out of the bunker, taking a deep breath as soon as the door closed behind them. She spun on her heel, turning to face Castiel and smiling up at him, "You're so bright. It's beautiful."
Watching the moonlight reflect in his eyes, Amriel leaned up and pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips, tugging at the lapel of his trench coat and sighing as she leaned her head against his chest.
"Why did you lie to Dean about how you got your grace back?" she finally asked, not looking up at him but imagining a look of surprise on his face.
"What makes you think I lied?" he answered, and Amriel could feel his deep voice rumbling against her cheek.
"You think I can't tell when you're lying?" Amriel frowned, "It was all over your face and your presence. Just tell me, how did you get it back?"
Cas gave in and told her about how he and Metatron had encountered an angry cupid, and how Metatron had actually saved him from being killed. She listened as he told her about the library, torturing Metatron, and how Metatron had drawn sigils and activated them in an attempt to kill him.
"So Metatron took the Demon Tablet, but I found my grace in a copy of Don Quixote. I wish I had been able to stop him, but I knew you wouldn't be happy if I died," he said with a small chuckle.
"Not funny, but I'll let it slide. I'm just happy you're here with me, with your grace and not someone else's. We'll deal with Metatron some other time," Amriel shrugged. "In the meantime, I'm just going to stand here and revel in the fact that you're at full capacity, which I haven't seen in a very long time. I'm looking forward to getting acquainted with this new you."
She wasn't lying- she hadn't seen Cas with his own grace since before the Fall. She only really knew him as a human, or with stolen graces. This was entirely new for her, and she wondered if it was new or different for him.
"You said that I was bright," he finally said, wrapping his fingers around her upper arms and pushing her back a little bit so they could make eye contact. "I didn't notice it before, with those other graces, but you are so luminous and radiant. It's like nothing I've ever seen before."
Amriel grinned, taking his hands and lacing their fingers together, squeezing gently as she said, "It's overwhelming, isn't it?"
"It is, but it's exciting," he smiled in return, leaning in and pressing a kiss to her lips.
After a few more kisses, Amriel asked if he wanted to go to bed.
"You know I don't require sleep anymore, Elle," Cas told her, making her roll her eyes and kiss his jaw in response.
"Did I say we were gonna sleep?" she breathed against his neck, letting go of his hands and running her fingers under his coat and jacket, playing with the buttons of his white shirt.
She felt him take a sharp breath when he realized what she meant, laughing when he said, "Oh… Yes, let's go to bed then."
"C'mon, Cas," Amriel laughed again, taking his hand and leading him back into the bunker to their shared room.
The pair were curled up together, a tangle of sheets and naked limbs, talking quietly at 5 a.m., sharing stories of their time in Heaven. They had eons of memories between them and it would probably take eons more to share them all with one another. But in the meantime, Amriel was perfectly content lying on Cas' chest, her head tucked under his chin as she traced Enochian on his lower stomach.
"I wish I had known you better in Heaven," she sighed. "I only ever heard of your victories in battle or how successful your garrison was. You were revered, and all some angels could talk about at times."
Amriel felt his fingers that had been trailing along her back stop, and she wondered if she had said something wrong. She shifted so she was looking at Cas now, and noticed that he was staring at the ceiling in an attempt to avoid eye contact with her.
"Cas, I-" she started, but he cut her off, cupping her cheek with his free hand, his thumb grazing her lips.
"I wasn't deserving of that attention. I was ruthless and did whatever my superiors asked of me, because I thought it was what I was supposed to do. I've killed so many angels and done terrible things," he said with a sigh. "I'm glad you didn't see much of me like that."
They were silent for a few moments, letting it sink in that they were totally different since coming to Earth.
"Do you know what I heard about you throughout the eons?" Cas asked, his thumb still tracing the outline of her lips as she nodded. "You were an exemplary guardian. If anything, you were too good. I know you fought for my side against Raphael in the most recent civil war, even though you had never participated in any war before."
"I told you before, after I saw you being disciplined for helping the Winchesters, something changed. Seeing other angels doing things that they thought was right rather than what they were told, I couldn't stand by and let Raphael stifle free will," Amriel explained. "I didn't like being punished for questioning my superiors, and when the war started, I saw a chance to help change things."
"You're magnificent," he mumbled, twirling a strand of her golden hair with his fingers. "I don't know what I've done to deserve having you in my life."
Amriel moved so she was sitting up, using the sheet to cover her chest as she did so, and took his free hand in both of hers, a small smile on her lips.
"Something tells me that we were made for one another, from Sam's research, to Metatron, Crowley, and God's comments, and the fact that right now, your grace is the brightest I've ever seen," she told him. "I really think that means something."
She remembered how her grace had been so averse to the ones he had borrowed, but now she felt it wanting to be near him at all times, trying to reach out to his. It was such a strange feeling, having to control her grace and essentially keep it to herself.
Cas trailed his fingers up and down her arm, electricity following as a shiver ran down her spine.
"You're too much sometimes," Amriel grinned, leaning down and kissing him quickly, only to be pulled back down when she tried to sit up. "Cas!"
He wrapped an arm around her waist, settling her against him and resting his chin atop hers again, "Let's take a trip, just us. No hunting, no Demon Tablet, no Heaven. We'll go wherever you want."
Amriel wondered where this was coming from- he was usually so set on keeping focus on their tasks and only went along with her requests for small trips grudgingly.
"Why do you want to go somewhere?" she asked, curiosity filling her voice as she stared down at his chest and traced patterns on his stomach again.
"Now that I have my grace back, I don't want to take it for granted. I want to spend time with you without having to worry about demons or helping the Winchesters with their minuscule requests. You are what's most important to me," he explained, and Amriel felt her chest tighten as tears welled up in her eyes, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of love she felt for him in that moment.
"I'd really like that," Amriel answered softly, wiping up the tears that had started to spill.
The pair laid like that for a few more hours until the sounds of footsteps and hushed voices filled the bunker, and once they heard pans and dishes clattering in the kitchen they decided to get up and get ready for the day.