Milly woke up to birds chirping outside and sat up. The sun shone through the window, brightening up the room as the curtains were still pulled back. She looked around the room and the guys were nowhere to be found. She rolled off of the bed and walked over to the window.
No impala.
She stood there for a moment trying to think this through. The day prior, Sam and Dean left to hunt the trickster after hearing something strange on a police radio. She must've fallen asleep waiting for them to come back, and they were just out getting breakfast now.
Yes, that was it.
She picked up the motel phone and dialed Sam's number.
Nothing.
She tried Dean's.
Nothing.
Milly began to panic as she paced around the room. She could call Bobby, but he was hours away and what was he going to do when he got there? Who else was there?
Castiel.
Despite the fact that he supposedly tried to kill her not too long ago, Sam and Dean considered the angel their friend, so she decided she could trust him. Or at least she hoped she could trust him because there weren't exactly many options to go with.
Milly rushed over to the notepad Sam had left her with numbers on it and called the number for Cas. Her anxiety only increased the longer it rang.
"Hello?" she heard his voice say on the other line.
"Castiel? It's Milly Winchester. I-I think Sam and Dean are missing. I need help finding them."
"Missing? Where are you?"
"Uh… Wellington, Ohio. Day-z motel? Room 18 I think."
The line went dead and a few short seconds later, he appeared in the room, just a foot from her. Milly yelped in alarm and jumped back, tripping over the chair behind her. Cas watched her fall to the ground and looked down at her in confusion.
"Why did you do that?" He asked.
"I didn't expect you to just show up like that!"
"Humans do startle easily… even partial humans." He noted to himself before helping her up.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine-"
"When did you see them last?" He cut her off, wasting no time.
"Y-yesterday. They went to go find the trickster."
"Where?"
Milly closed her eyes, trying to remember what the radio had said the day before.
"A-a paper mill I think?"
"Okay," he responded and turned to leave.
"Wait!" She exclaimed, running in front of him. She held her arms out so he'd stop.
"Bring me with you."
"I don't think that's a good idea. This could be dangerous." he lowered his eyebrows, looking down at the girl.
"I know. But they could be in trouble and they said this guy is powerful. I know you are too, but you might need help."
Cas knew tricksters were nothing to mess around with. They were basically pagan gods. He stared at the child for a moment and could've sworn he recognized that intense determination in her eyes.
"Alright, fine."
Milly and Cas stood outside a warehouse beside the impala still parked outside.
"Okay, so they were definitely here," Milly said as she searched for any signs of a fight while Cas stared at the building.
"They might still be inside there."
"You don't think they're…" She trailed off, not even wanting to think of that possibility. It made her nauseous.
"No. Sam and Dean are many things, but easy to kill is not one of them."
Milly nodded, the ache in her stomach subsiding.
"So do we just go in? Sneak in?"
"I'm not sure. It might not make a difference." He responded, heading for the doors. Milly scurried after him, hoping he had a plan because she certainly didn't.
He swung open the doors and suddenly they were in a brightly lit room with upbeat music. She saw Sam and Dean on pedestals with their feet strapped down. It almost looked like a game show she'd seen on tv.
"Cas? Milly? What are you doing here?" Dean asked in bewilderment.
"Looking for you!" Milly exclaimed.
"You've been missing since yesterday," Cas added, looking around in confusion.
"So get us the hell out of here then!" Sam grunted, seemingly in pain.
"Let's go." He said, just before he and Milly were zapped away.
"Cas? Milly?" Dean called, as the host began walking over.
"No, no, no, no. Mr. Trickster does not like pretty boy angels or little children."
The next thing Milly knew, she was in a pitch-black box just tall enough to where she could kneel without her head touching. It was quiet and cold, the walls and floor made out of thick metal panels.
"Hello?" She called out, her eyes trying to adjust to the lack of light. The only response she received was silence.
"Castiel?"
She felt around the walls for a way out but there didn't seem to be one and panic began to set in. She tried to kick the walls open with her legs as hard as she could with no success.
Just as Milly was about to give up, one of the walls slowly swung open like a door and she peered outside to see an abandoned warehouse. One that looked like it should have when she and Cas first arrived. She cautiously stepped out of the cage and began walking, looking for a way out.
"Hello?" She called out again, the fear evident by the weakness of her voice.
"Milly?" She heard a voice call back in the distance.
It sounded like Sam.
"Sam?"
She took off running in the direction of the voice, her footsteps echoing through the huge building as though she were the only one there.
"Sam!"
Milly turned the corner and saw Sam and Dean standing there facing the other direction, perfectly unharmed. She let out a sigh of relief and began making her way over when they turned around. The looks on their faces made her stop in her tracks. Dark and angry expressions masked their faces, as though they were looking at something vile or inhuman.
Something they were hunting.
"You thought you could hide it from us? What you are…" Sam snarled, taking a step towards her.
"What?" she asked quietly, not having the slightest clue as to what he was talking about.
"I cannot believe I was so stupid as to believe you could actually be mine. That I let myself think you were good." Dean added, his tone just as venomous.
Milly's heart was racing in her chest, her hands trembling at her sides.
"You are not good. You will never be good." Sam told her and she shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks.
"You're wrong. I-I am- I can be." She responded, trying to keep her voice even, but it came out mangled.
"Milly, you are a monster and nothing you do will ever change that. It's just who you are."
Hearing that one word come from Dean shattered her heart to pieces. It had been something she'd been grappling with in her own mind, but now it was real. It was out in the open. She kept hearing that word over and over again, not knowing if it was echoing through the building or just through her head. It got louder every time.
monster.
Monster.
MONSTER.
"STOP!" She screamed, the lights in the warehouse above them shattering. She cried out, crouching down and covering her head as glass fell around her. She shut her eyes tight, trying to shrink as small as possible when suddenly everything went quiet.
"So. Boys. Now what? We stare at each other for the rest of eternity?" Gabriel asked.
"Well, first of all, you're gonna bring Cas and my kid back from wherever you stashed them," Dean demanded, circling the archangel they'd trapped in a ring of holy fire.
"Oh am I?"
"Yeah. Or we're going to dunk you in some holy oil and deep-fry ourselves an archangel."
Gabriel snapped his fingers and Milly and Cas appeared out of thin air. The girl still crouched on the ground peeked out from under her arms.
"Hey, you guys okay?" Dean asked, reaching out to help her up.
"I'm fine. Hello, Gabriel." Castiel replied, glaring at the archangel.
"And hey, bro. How's the search for Daddy going? Let me guess. Awful." he quipped.
Milly looked up at Dean with wide eyes, not understanding what was going on. Just a second ago he was calling her a monster. So she didn't take his hand, instead, she stood by herself and took a step back.
"Why are you covered in glass? What the hell did you do to her?" Sam exclaimed at Gabriel, causing Milly to grimace at the volume of his voice.
"All I did was project what was in her head. Whatever she saw was already there." Gabriel responded carelessly, and Dean noticed the trembling of her hands and the tear streak on her face.
"Hey, look at me," Dean spoke gently, bending down to look up at her.
"It wasn't real, Milly. Whatever you saw...it wasn't real. You understand what I'm saying?"
It had felt so real. He and Sam said those things just as clearly as they stood before her now. Yet Milly looked Dean in the eyes and couldn't help but believe he was telling her the truth.
All she could muster was a small nod of her head, but it was enough for him.
He took his jacket sleeve and began brushing away the glass that remained on her shoulders before standing up.
"Okay, we're out of here. Come on, Sam." Dean said, guiding Milly along with him.
"So, so what? Huh? You're just gonna, you're gonna leave me here forever?" Gabriel questioned as the four of them stopped at the door of the warehouse.
"No. We're not, 'cause we don't screw with people the way you do. And for the record? This isn't about some prizefight between your brothers or some destiny that can't be stopped. This is about you being too afraid to stand up to your family." Dean exclaimed and pulled the fire alarm, causing the sprinklers to go off. The ring of fire slowly began to extinguish around Gabriel.
"Don't say I never did anything for you."
On the drive back, Milly hadn't spoken a word and Sam was growing concerned. The kid would normally have a million questions about what went down back there, but there she sat. Completely silent.
"Hey, Mils...what did you see back there?" he wondered, and the girl's eyes fell to her lap.
Dean looked at her in the rearview mirror, curious if she would actually tell them.
"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to, but you can," Sam added, looking back at her but she shook her head.
"I don't wanna talk about it." She replied quietly.
Sam and Dean shared a worried glance but didn't bring it up again. Whatever it was, they could see it had clearly shaken the girl, but they had no idea it was because of them.