A new shipping in the making! :D I wrote this chapter long before Claire/Kaia was even hinted at, so please don't go hating on me now. Let's be mature, ok?
(Aprox. date is December 2017. This will be the last time I point it out, since by now there's already nothing remaining of the canon to get mixed with)
Chapter 28
"Are you sure is here?"
Claire voiced out her doubt with a tinge of skepticism, this time not trying to annoy her travel partners but with an honest interest. It wasn't for anything: the town of Carfax had nothing extraordinary, it was just a town like any other thousands that anyone could copy/paste all over the USA map. Not big, not noisy. Usually clean streets and a little church at the end of the lane, youngsters sitting on the Hall's stairs loitering around, while people walked minding their own business.
"These are the coordinates that Sam sent me," Dean answered, parking in front of the first inn that caught his eye. "Don't you feel anything? Some angelic force calling out to you?"
"Can't say I do," the girl replied, getting out and stretching her arms above her head. "Whatever. I'll take a break anywhere from the hours we've been sitting in your damn old car."
"Hey! You should show her some respect," the hunter scolded her, patting Baby affectionately. "Don't hurt her feelings."
While they argued playfully, Kevin opened the trunk and took out their baggage. Since, unbelievably, there weren't cheap motels near enough Carfax to stay in while working in their case, an in-town inn had to be. The prophet definitely wouldn't complain, knowing that at least there they would get recently washed linens and freshly cooked meals. Perhaps there was even air-freshener in the bathroom!
"Good afternoon," Dean greeted the smiling old lady at the counter. "We'd like a room, please. Three beds."
The smile slowly fell from the granny's face when she took in Dean's companions. Her eyes widened a little, and she put on a look as if had bitten a lemon.
"Are... are you sure, sir?" she almost squeaked, looking left and right at the two teenagers, and then at the obviously older adult man.
"Please, Uncle," Claire intervened, faking an annoyed pout. "I'm not a little princess anymore. If you don't want me to sleep with my boyfriend, at least I can pay for my own room. Right, madam?"
"Of course, of course!" the old lady nodded, regaining her welcoming smile. "Carfax isn't very popular at this time of the year, so we have more than enough rooms. Sorry for your boyfriend, dear, but I'm sure your uncle only wants to keep things decent while you're visiting our town during your... family trip?"
"You read my mind," Dean played along, though gritting his teeth for the nasty things that the innkeeper might had thought about him. "These children just grow up so fast, you know."
"Yes, yes, that's true! It feels like yesterday I was changing my grandson's diapers, and look now, he's graduating high school this year! He's very excited for the Winter Ball in two days, since it will be his last." She handed them two keychains after Dean signed a paper. "Here you go, the keys for your rooms! I hope you'll enjoy your stay in Carfax."
After going to their rooms and putting away their luggage, the three of them reunited back in the lobby to go around for a stroll.
"Okay, as far as I can tell right now, the strangest thing in this town yet is that there's not a single Starbucks in sight," Kevin said. "So what we do now? Time to start snooping around?"
"Looks like it," Dean confirmed. "Go easy at first, don't don any suit or badge unless something catches your attention. Kev, to the local library; Claire, search for the fancy places that brats here go to. I'll try to dig up some info from the locals. Meeting here again at 8pm. Five hours should be enough to find something, if there's actually anything to be found."
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Meanwhile, since Dean had gone yesterday to Tennessee, after the breakfast Sam and Castiel had taken everyone just outside the bunker in order to start and try to train the children under their care. Try being the key word, since they seemed to have their own opinion about it, and didn't mind to express it quite clearly.
"This is a waste of time," Kaia sighed, bored but expertly turning and twisting her spear around. "I mean no disrespect, but you can't teach me what I already know, specially if I'm already a better fighter than you."
"I know, Kaia, but you're not the only one here, right?" Sam acquiesced, internally wondering how the heck his brother managed to get the kids to listen, at least most of the time. "We need all of you, and we want you to be able to protect yourselves, as well as protect others. You might have spent centuries fighting for your life against the giant, but your teammates have not."
"Take into consideration that Jack and Jesse are to be trained in battle too, despite their immense power," Castiel added, attempting to appease the avatar girl. "This is not meant to be a disparagement to your own abilities, but if you prefer, you could instead support and help us in teaching these young people how to fight. That would be greatly appreciated."
Kaia huffed in annoyance, but didn't deny her help. She took it as a training for herself, in the sense of how long she could keep someone alive before they got themselves killed. Also, she wanted to express her gratitude to Jody's girls for their acceptance and friendship, as well as Jack's.
"Alright, I'll support you. But at the end of the day, I demand a battle with the seraph," she spoke, pointing at Castiel with her forked weapon. "At least against him I'll feel like actually fighting and not just playing around. I need to hone my skills better in case I face Legion again."
The agreement was made. The nephilim and the cambion were forbidden to use any supernatural power while training, which made Emma and Jacob grunt under their breath. It wasn't like they could deactivate their superior strength too just to match the humans'.
"I thought amazons were supposed to be great warrioresses," Adam spoke kindly to his niece during a break, out of curiosity. "And I've already seen today how strong you are, but your knowledge of combat seems... lacking."
"I was alive only for three days before being killed," Emma explained, sadness tainting her tone. "Amazons are great warrioresses, but I didn't have time to learn anything. Before starting the training, we're expected to complete our rite of passage first, which you already know what it is. Usually, our enhanced strength and a very sharp blade are enough, but it wasn't my case."
At the end of the day, when the sun was about to set, Sam called off the training. While some of the youngsters had kept up pretty well because they were already used to physical exertion, like Jacob and Alex, others like Adam and Patience were almost dragging themselves on the ground.
"Let me tell you, breathe and run is something you don't need to do in Heaven," the Milligan boy said, lying down and popping a few tense muscles back in place.
"I second that," Emma agreed.
"By all appearances, you would greatly benefit of visiting regularly the gym in the bunker," Castiel advised them. "Dean will not be happy if he wants to teach you something and you are not in shape to follow his pace."
After a little while, Kaia approached the angel, intending of making him fulfill his part of the agreement.
"Are you sure you do not want to rest a bit more?"
"I haven't done anything today yet to make me tired," the dreamwalker dismissed, readying herself into a battling pose.
"As you prefer. How do you want to go about it? Only physical combat, or magic included?"
"Magic in this world doesn't work exactly the same as in the Bad Place or my home, as I learned during my encounter with the shedim. I think it's wiser not to rely on it until I'm sure what I'm capable of and what not. Also, I'm aware that your own grace is running low and unsteady, so better for you to save it. However, keep in mind that I don't intend this to be a play-pretend fight: I will attack you as I would do against an enemy, and I expect you to act accordingly."
"I will do my best not to disappoint you," Castiel nodded, accepting the terms and taking out his angel blade from his sleeve.
"Good," Kaia firmly grabbed her spear. "Let's begin."
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That night, while eating dinner together in the quaint small lounge of the inn, Dean tried to make sense of the info that he and the two kids have gathered.
"I tell you, it's not your usual weird stuff. This is bordering creepiness. We totally have a case here, anunnaki key or not."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Claire agreed, stabbing her cheese macaroni. "Everywhere I went, girls and boys only talked about the Winter Ball this and Winter Ball that. Nobody had even a second topic of conversation."
"Well, for high school students it might be a big deal, kinda like a prom?" Kevin opined. "The strangeness is about the rest of the town. The library was full of ads, like it was a big event instead of a mere school party. And the local newspaper, since several days ago other news have been disappearing, and now the pages only talk about the ball. Same with the local radio station."
"Maybe this is a boring, small size town? Nothing of interest happening?"
"There aren't even publicity ads, Dean. They've been removed." the prophet denied. "Every single line is about the Winter Ball. But still I made a little research, just in case, and guess what? There are more things to inform about, they simply don't. Local journals from neighbouring towns wrote about someone important dying, an accident on the road less than fifteen kilometres away, and some poachers that tried to sneak in an animal reserve but ended up trapped in the grid fence."
"Like they don't totally deserve it," Dean snorted. "It's not just me, then. I passed along the bank and I thought half the town was there. When I asked if they were giving something for free, I found out they were bringing out their golds. Like, granny's ring and grandaunt's necklace? Valuable family heirlooms, just so their children could wear them to the ball. All the pieces they had, everyone driven crazy like a second wave of Gold Rush."
They ate quietly for a moment, enjoying their home-tasting meals and thinking of a plan.
"Do you think this is caused by the Seraphim key's influence?" Claire asked.
"Well, the time matches with when we did the spell, more or less," Kevin commented. "We don't know exactly when the key nested, but Carfax is where the dot turned purple in the war room map. I'd say that's our answer."
"Yeah, probably. And that means..." Dean swallowed the food in his mouth and grinned amusedly, "that we need to rent a couple of evening suits for the ball you'll be attending."
"Say what again?!" the huntress shrieked. "I'm not going to a stupid ball!"
"C'mon, you two are barely twenty. What, do you expect me to pull it off? I'm flattered, but not happening."
"I wasn't supposed to participate in this," Kevin frowned, doubtful. "Are you sure you want me involved?"
"It would look pitiful for Claire to show up alone, right? So yes, you're going to be the knight in shining armour for Uncle's little princess," he laughed. "Let's just ask the granny at the desk where we can get some tickets. I hope you two know how to match a corsage and a boutonniere."
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Ruffling her hair with a towel after a very desired shower, Emma was walking through the maze of hallways in the bunker to her bedroom when a few soft laughs caught her attention. Sharpening her hearing, she followed the sound to the room that the nice woman named Jessica had told her they called affectionately 'the Batcave', and found some of her new companions lounging there. Jack, Kaia, Alex and Jesse were watching TV on their pajamas.
"What are you laughing at?" she asked curiously from the doorframe.
"Oh, Emma," the nephilim smiled at her. "Come sit with us, we're watching cartoons."
"What's a cartoon?" the amazon frowned, entering and looking at the screen.
Some moving picture of vivid colours greeted her, about a small blue creature wearing white pants and a white pointy hat.
"This is called a smurf," Jack explained, moving on the couch to free a space for her to sit down. "I believed before that it was a type of fairy or gnome, but Jess told me they're only fictional. A human imagined them, so they're not real, but they tell funny stories."
"Why are you listening to something that isn't real?"
"Because it's entertaining," the cambion answered this time. "When I was little, my favourite was David the gnome. Old version."
"Dean and Sam prefer Scooby Doo, though Castiel favours Maya the bee. There are a lot to choose from, maybe you'll find some that you like too!"
Emma sat there for a while, watching as the many clones of the blue creature lived in their mushroom village and thwarted the evil plans of a bald wizard. She didn't understand a lot, but she laughed a few times and enjoyed the time. The smurf that wore red was the one who caught her attention the most.
"He seems to be very wise," she commented. "And also very caring to the other smurfs."
"Yes, he's like a father to them all," Alex explained. "He teaches and protects them. I wish my vampire mother had been more like this."
"A father..." the blonde girl murmured to herself.
The five teenagers watched the cartoons for a while, until Julia came to pick up her son.
"Jesse, it's almost midnight. Time to go to bed, young man."
"Mum, please!" he whined a little. "Can't I stay a bit longer? It's not like I have school anymore."
"No, but you have lore lessons and training. So stand up, to bed you go."
"And what about them?" Jesse weakly complained, referring to the other children, but obeying his mother.
Julia looked at the four of them, unsure.
"I don't know," she answered. "Certainly it's time for all of you to go to sleep, but I'm not their mum. I don't have any authority over them."
"You don't, but I do," Castiel spoke, appearing beside her. "And Julia is right, it's already late and you all should be resting, Jack. Today was only your second day at training, and your body needs to get used to cyclical turns of exercise and repose. Emma, if Dean was here, I am confident that he would tell you as much."
The young amazon didn't say anything, and for a moment it looked like she wasn't going to listen to the angel. However, after a few hesitant seconds, she stood up too.
"Kaia, for the sake of your wounds, you should go rest too. Since your essence does not seem to assimilate my grace easily, I cannot heal you properly."
"I can heal perfectly fine by myself, there's no need to worry about it," the avatar shrugged it off. "It's good enough that you didn't go easy on me and honestly honoured our agreement. It wasn't a defeat I'm ashamed of."
"It was not such an easy victory for me either, I assure you. The wound that your weapon inflicted me was very painful to sustain, even if it healed fast. That has never happened before."
Their little chat was interrupted by a loud yawn that Jesse couldn't hold in any longer.
"That's it, dear. Off to bed, you go!"
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Dean looked impatiently at the clock in the girl's room, wondering how much longer it would take until she was ready. He and Kevin had been there for an hour already, the boy wearing an elegant dark blue suit with a white shirt and a lilac boutonniere.
"Claire, get out already!" he called impatiently, knocking on the toilet door again. "The damn thing starts in thirty minutes and I need you two inside while I check outdoors."
"I look ridiculous in this stupid thing!" the girl shouted, unlocking. "I warn you, either of you make the slightest comment about it, and I'll cut your ears while you sleep."
The huntress finally came out, squirming uncomfortably in the ankle-long skirt of her evening dress. It was a cute vintage gown, made of lilac satin, with thin straps and a big dark blue sash tied with a bow over her butt. She had braided her long hair and held it in a flowery bun at the back of her head. Her mild makeup made her look like the innocent, naive young girl that she was far from being.
"At last," Dean celebrated, totally ignoring her angry demeanour and putting a lilac corsage on her wrist that matched perfectly her dress and Kevin's boutonniere. "Nobody cares how you look, Claire. This is for the case. Think of it as the same as an FBI outfit."
"Oh, really? I'd like to see you interrogating a witness in these hellish heels, or wearing a skirt that surely got its shape from the highest bell in the church."
"Clock is running, guys," Kevin ignored their quarrel and picked up his coat, walking to the door to make them hurry.
After Dean took a picture of them together with his phone (because of course he totally had to show it to Castiel and Jody) they went down the stairs as fast as Claire's footwear allowed them, but before they could go through the lobby door, the old innkeeper called out to them.
"Oh là là, you two look so dashing! What a cute couple!" she grinned warmly, before noticing something that made her frown. "But wait, you're not wearing any gold? That can't be!"
"Yeah, well... Jewellery isn't something we considered while packing up," Dean explained, rubbing the back of his head in a fake apologizing gesture.
"What a misfortune! You can't go like this, wait a minute." She went back to the storage that seemed to be behind the reception area and returned with a small, old wooden chest in her hands. "Here, you can take this for tonight. I'll lend it to you."
Opening the chest, she revealed several pieces of pure gold to her tenants. Claire suffocated a gasp, hand in mouth, and exchanged confused looks with her supposed uncle and boyfriend. Was this woman for real? Was it normal at all to offer something like this to complete strangers?
"I... I thank you, madam, but this is too much. We can't accept it."
"Nonsense, of course you can! It'll serve a better purpose adorning a pretty young lady like you than being kept forever in a box."
"It's very generous of you, madam, but perhaps you should offer it to your grandson?" Kevin tried to help. "You told us that he was very excited about the Winter Ball."
"Oh, yes, he is. But his other grandfather already gave him a lot of gold," the granny explained, taking out an antique pocket watch with chain and all. "Look, isn't it splendid? Youngsters like you don't appreciate anymore old items like this, but tell me, what else could compare to this lavish elegance? Take it, lad, take it!"
And she practically shoved it into his hands, rummaging through the chest to fish out some more trinkets for them.
"Listen, madam, this is really kind of you, but we have to go," Dean tried to stop the woman. "I think we're already running late."
"WAIT!" she almost screamed, grabbing the hunter's wrist with a lot more strength that would be expected from a senior lady. "You're not going to the ball like this. You MUST bring gold."
Something shifted in the mood then, and the three of them knew it. This was not some random gold fever: it was a subliminal command.
"I like the ring that you have there, madam," Claire spoke softly to her, attracting her attention back. "The one that seems to be braided, just like my hair. I'd be honoured to wear something so beautiful."
The granny immediately perked up, going back to her cheerful self. After she showered the teenagers with a tiny fortune in gold, she was finally satisfied and let them go. When they finally arrived at the high school, Kevin behaved like a perfect gentleman and opened the car door for Claire, immediately offering his arm to her.
"Ok, kids. You know why we're here, so don't get distracted. I'll be watching the surroundings, but the moment anything strange seems to happen, you get out and look for me, understood?"
Both of them nodded, getting into character of lovely sweethearts. They showed their ball tickets at the entrance and joined the party. Blinding disco lights that made them blink several times received them, not really adequate for the romantic atmosphere that the slow music obviously attempted.
"I pray that something strange happens soon," Claire murmured, gripping Kevin's elbow. "I can't get out of here fast enough."
"Tell me about it, catatonia-inducing lights are not my cup of tea either. Let's mix with the people," he suggested, offering his hand. "May I have this dance, please?"
"I'm getting the feeling that you're enjoying this more than you let out," she suspected, but accepting his hand and starting to dance slowly. "Did you miss your own prom or what?"
"Something like that, yes," he looked away mournfully. "I was awaken as a prophet at fifteen, and back then I only cared about studying. I had a girlfriend, Channing, who was in advanced placement with me. She was killed by Crowley before we could graduate, so... no, no prom for us."
Discussing painful memories was not something that the huntress wanted to do in the middle of a case, so she didn't question him further. They danced in silence for a while, all the songs sounding pretty much the same to them.
"Seen anything yet?" she asked, bored.
"I see a guy that has been groping a girl clearly not his date. He's about to get slapped by the other girl," Kevin answered, snickering. "But no, nothing supernatural yet."
"I wonder what's with the obsession for gold. Maybe a dragon?"
"I sincerely hope not, those are almost impossible to kill. But perhaps that exceptional spear that Kaia has could do it." He shut up for a second, unsure of voicing out his curiosity. "Claire, you don't have to answer if you don't want, but... why do you hate Kaia?"
The blonde stopped moving for a moment, looking at him with hard eyes, but eventually she gave in.
"It's not her that I hate, exactly," she muttered. "It's me."
"What?" Kevin frowned in confusion, dancing again.
"Kaia... I mean the first Kaia, she was a poor scared girl. She didn't want to fight, didn't want to get in trouble, but I made her to. I promised to protect her, to keep her safe, and she was stupid enough to believe me. To believe in me, and I failed her," Claire admitted in a broken voice. "I don't care what this other Kaia says about being fate to gather all of her pieces or whatever. To me, I was the one that got her killed. And I can't forgive myself for that."
The young prophet held her tighter, trying to find something in his mind that could make her feel better.
"I'm not a hunter myself, but the first thing that anyone should learn about the life is that you can't save everyone," he reminded her a lesson that she surely already knew. "And I know that it hurts, but sometimes we must do bad things in order to set things right. Even if the Kaia you met died, it was necessary for her to become whole again. If you look at it that way, you actually helped her. You were just the catalyst of something that couldn't be delayed any longer, because it was meant to be."
"Yeah, right. And what would you know about doing bad things to set them right?"
"Oh, for your information I know a lot," he chuckled. "For example, I should tell you how pretty you look tonight but I'm not, out of fear of losing my ears."
Claire huffed, annoyed by the boy's nonchalance, but didn't repeat her previous threat. Instead, she stared at him and graciously accepted the compliment.
Suddenly the mood became heavy between them. Kevin dropped his smile, his heart picking up the rhythm while he gazed all over the girl's face. Claire played with her fingers at the back of the prophet's head, unconsciously tugging him closer. As the music continued to play around them, they lost sight of everything that wasn't each other and breathing the same air, until their lips finally met in an unexpected kiss.
Barely a second after, a deafening roar rumbled through the ballroom.
Thanks for reading and reviewing!
