Chapter Four

If someone had asked Hope what she thought of her life, she'd have said that it was okay. It really was. Sure, life-or-death situations could be described as every Friday night with Hope, but she was used to that.

She didn't understand Sam's desire to be normal. She loved being Hope Winchester the risk-taking pantheon hopper, she loved a good fight now and then and she even liked the burn of her muscles when she used her massive sword.

That sword had a story, to be sure. It had been made by a mediaeval demigod, a son of Athena, to match the ones mortal knights used. As a result, it had languished in the Athena cabin's weapon shed for decades until a ten-year-old Hope had managed to pick it up, much to the Athena camper with her's shock. She'd smiled and asked if she could keep it. It was unconventional, like her.

She'd named it Excalibur 2.0.

It was Celestial Bronze, of course, almost four feet long and heavy with it, with a grip that seemed to belong in her folded hands. People stared, but Hope was used to stares.

Lying awake in bed in their grotty motel room, she felt the soft rays of the sun ticle the back of her neck, and decided it was probably time to get up.

Hope rolled out of bed and fumbled her way over to the sink. The dirty mirror showed her that her hair was flat on one side, so she ran her hand through it and then, when that failed, wet it a little. It was going to have to do. She had a fading bruise on one cheek from a demon a couple of days back, but otherwise she seemed okay.

She decided to take advantage of the fact her brothers were still fast asleep and get dressed. She pulled on a T-shirt with the words 'Heavily armed and in a bad mood' emblazoned across the front; She'd made it at a party she'd been invited to a week before the incident with the Witnesses, and thought the mother of the host might have been a little worried about her, as she'd been asked to see a counsellor.

Over said shirt she put on a checked red one, leaving it unbuttoned, and pulled on a pair of jeans.

There.

She decided to spend the time between the present and her brothers awakening by checking the salt lines, which turned out to be perfectly undisturbed, then resigned herself to waiting, as the words still seemed to be having a field trip racing around the page when she tried to read.

Fortunately for her, someone knocked at the door after five minutes of resisting the urge to wake someone up.

Hope grabbed her handgun (just in case), and cracked open the door. It was Ruby.

She wasn't sure what to think of Ruby, but she was giving her the benefit of the doubt for the time being. Hope had better stuff to do than discriminate.

"Sam's asleep, but you can come in if you want."

"No I'm not…"came Sam's sleepy voice. "Hope?" He seemed to wake up a little and said "Oh, hey, Ruby."

"So what's up seal-wise? I'm guessing this ain't a social call."

The demon and Sam exchanged a look that Hope registered, almost unconsciously, as wrong. In the depths of her subconscious, another piece fell into place. The piece read "Ruby and Sam hang out alone", or would have was it more than a metaphor.

"A couple more have been broken. There aren't that many left."

Dean, who had since risen, swore simultaneously with his younger sister.

"We got any idea which ones are likely to be attempted next? I found a list of seals, got attacked by a Greek hellhound for my troubles, but we don't know all the broken ones and there are so many different combinations. It's pretty random. I don't know what God or whoever was thinking when they built the Cage. This is ridiculous."

She extracted the printed list, which took up several pages that were somewhat bloodstained. "Hellhound got me on my arm," Hope explained. "I verified all these, by the way. They're the right ones.

Ruby took the list. "Do you have a pen?" She asked, and Hope presented her with a ballpoint.

It took several minutes for Hope to get fidgety and she announced that she was going to get breakfast and did anyone want anything?

She actually managed to get Dean's bacon and eggs, Sam's fruit salad and her own pancakes before she was accosted.

"What do you want? I don't want the food to get cold," she told Castiel and Uriel who apparently thought it appropriate to appear right in front of her while she was balancing both hot beverages and lukewarm, decent-smelling food.

"The food is of no importance," announced Castiel. Hope started to protest, but he continued. "What so you suspect? We have been told you're doubting us"

The demigod stiffened. "First off, it's a basic fact of my personality that I suspect everyone. You're not getting any special treatment. Also, I don't like this, and since when do I trust you? Like I just said, I suspect everybody. I'm not your slave. I can doubt all I want, and you're not exactly helping to put my doubts at rest. This is all too vague for my liking. Now, if you don't mind, I have breakfast to deliver, and then eat."

She attempted to step round the two angels, succeeded, to her slight surprise, and strode back to the motel. Hope decided not to mention the encounter to her brothers or Ruby.

She briefly thought of the trench-coated angel. He'd been the first person to ever indicate she was important directly, rather than sidestepping it with terms such as 'not an accident'. She'd liked him for that, even if he was clearly a proud member of the God Squad and she disliked them on principle.

She entered the motel room, where three figures were still poring over the bloody list and a copy of Revelations.

Hope deposed breakfast and coffee, grabbed her pancakes and latte, and decided that, yeah, life was definitely okay.

00000

Not much happens in this chapter, I know, but I had writer's block for some of it and I wanted to have a chapter showing more of Hope's routine and personality.

Also, I had something to tell you guys: I won't be including any episode chapters except season finales and maybe first episodes, UNLESS YOU ASK ME TO! Oh, yeah, I'm taking suggestions. If you have an episode you want to see Hopeified, pray review or PM me and tell me!

I tried description at the beginning of this chapter, and it's dam hard. I've always been a dialogue person. I have entire one-shots of the character talking about their feelings. It's ridiculous. However; I hope (lol) it was okay.

REVIEW? I MIGHT LOVE YOU FOREVER, IT DEPENDS

-threelittleclouds