Chapter Two
The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth.
~Chinese Proverb
When he opened his eyes, it took awhile for everything to come to focus. After he could remember how to work his limbs, he pressed his hands to his forehead, which felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to him.
"Oh, thank the Gods! I thought I might have killed you."
He looked over and saw the unearthly woman sitting in a chair between the bed he was lying on and the bed Cas was lying on.
"Cas!" He sat up quickly and almost instantly regretted it as the act almost sent him back down again.
"He's fine. Just resting as you should be. Lie back down before you fall down."
He did as he was told more because he really was about to fall back down than because he wanted to take orders from the unearthly woman sitting beside him.
"I want answers. Let's start with who the hell are you or more specifically what are you?"
She smiled a cunning and dangerous smile that brought to Dean's mind what a loin might look like before it eats its pray. "What am I? Very good, Mr. Winchester, very good indeed, but let's start with a name, shall we? I think it is more…polite." Dean just stared at her afraid that if he were to look away from her eyes, she would kill him. "Although I have been called by many names, you may call me Atirupa as it is one that I prefer. Now, as to what I am… I am immortal and have lived for some time. The name of my race is the Frays. We are servants of the Fates. Yes, Mr. Winchester, just like the Greek mythology. Well, almost like the Greek myths. While there are two different kinds of servants to the Fates, I am the kind that stirs things up and offers the chosen ones a path different from the destiny pre-given to them. Meaning, if you and your brother don't want to become the angels' playthings, I give you other options besides dying and letting the world go to Hell…literally." She laughed softly at the joke she had made and continued, her gaze suddenly becoming serious and intent, "I am your ally." She said slowly and with great emphasizes.
He snorted, "Yeah? How come it feels like making a deal with a demon?"
Her smile, that Dean could only call as creepy as they come, returned, "Oh, do not be mistaken. I am very, very dangerous, but to only to your enemies if you so choose it. I am bound by ancient law and oath to never harm you or your brother as I will now be serving the two of you, and as you have already excepted my help, you are now bound to me, and I am now bound to you, at least." Dean let out a curse that had her smile growing larger and more predatory. "Don't worry though I am not evil, but neither am I good. I am neutral towards both sides. Besides what would you have done? Let him die? Do you regret your choice, human?"
He glared at her, then sighed, "No, I don't. I would have probably still done it had you told me about you first."
She nodded with a thoughtful expression on her face, "Yes, because you are a pure and honorable human who puts others before himself."
He snorted again although with considerably less humor, "Lady, I'm hardly pure. After all, I've already been to Hell."
Her eyes grew cold and her face devoid of all emotion, "No human is prefect, and you all have both good and evil in you, light and dark. It does not change the fact that you are honorable or even pure. It is true that your deeds define you, but only in part. Another part are your emotions. That you feel regret and guilt for your actions, that you feel yourself unworthy to enter Heaven, that is what makes you pure and honorable, and it is what makes you human. Except the light and the dark together, for they are both part of the great balance, and neither can exist without the other." They stared at each other in utter silence as Dean tried process what she said. "Now sleep. You well feel better when you awake." She pressed her fingers to his head before he could tell her that sleep was impossible at the moment, and he feel asleep immediately.