[h3] Dean Winchester [/h3]

Dean almost didn’t hug Mika back when she hugged him.  He felt like she should have run a million miles away from him, and that the hug was what she felt would make him feel better.  But it did make him feel better.  He needed someone to tell him that what he did wasn’t his fault, and that he deserved to be in the position he was in.  He slowly wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her shoulder, letting out a small sob that he wouldn’t dare let anyone else hear.  Every word she said caused more tears to come, “Thank you…”

When she pulled away and wiped both their tears, he gave a sad smile, doing what he was best at, pushing things down.  In this case, he was pushing it down so the others wouldn’t think anything was wrong.  He nodded briefly, glancing up at the sky for a second and then shaking his head roughly.

“I’m good.  But Sammy can’t know…Mika I mean it.  I don’t know if I’ll tell him, but right now, with everything going on, I need him to think I have it together.  If he found out about any of this, he would want to lock me up, or at least would be so paranoid about my head that he wouldn’t want me to do anything.”, he explained, hearing the voices coming from inside the house, as one of the windows in the kitchen was wide open.  He smiled a bit at the thought of Sam being safe, and at the house.

There was never much time to cry, anymore.  Things happened so fast, that stopping to mourn, or just to feel any emotions seemed like a waste of time.  This felt like one of those moments, as he started to walk back to the house, before stopping and reaching a hand out, “Whenever you’re ready…”

[h3] Cason and Bobby [/h3]

Cason stepped out of the demon trap happily, simply nodding his head at Bobby.  This was Bobby’s house.  If anyone was going to make him wish he was dead, it was this old drunk.  He stretched his shoulders, glad that the power of the trap was no longer weighing down on him, and turned to Esme as she spoke to him.

“I’m well aware.  There’s no telling what kind of traps and sticky bits are around this house.  I think I’ll take a human with me everywhere I go…”, he wiggled his eyebrows at her, leaning in close to speak to her, “Good thing I have a human, right?”

He then turned toward Bobby as the old man walked back to his desk and poured himself a drink, snatching the bottle out of Natalia’s hands.  Bobby smirked at Natalia, shooing her away from his desk as he took the bottle from her, “Now don’t you come up into my place drinking all of my booze.  I’ve got one drink tank already living with me…costing me a fortune with his self pity…”

He spoke with a smile on his face, before reaching up to Nat’s cheek and running a hand along her jaw bone, followed by a soft pat, “Good to have you here, kid…There’s food in the kitchen, if you’re hungry.  Mika’s a picky eater.  So, I’m sure you’ll find something.”

He then turned to Sam and sighed at Nat’s question of them finding anything, “Oh we found a few piles of shit, honestly.  The summoning turned out pretty eventful.  I was asleep through most of it, but Dean can tell you everything. Or he wrote it down, here…”

He handed Sam a manila envelope of Dean’s notes about Castiel, “It feels like the end of days, if I’m honest.  Angels.  Demons scared half to death of angels.  Something big is coming, and you guys are right in the middle of all of it.”

[h3] Annabeth [/h3]

Annabeth stood close to Sam, feeling a bit safer, since he trusted Bobby.  She only broke her attention away from the group when the voice from earlier flashed through her brain again.

[i] [center] Hello, love.
I think we should speak.  There is a crane in the back of the house.  No dogs, no men.  But if you don’t come speak with me, I might have to show you how much I don’t like the word, ‘no’.
You have five minutes.
Or Sam’s femur goes…pop.[/center] [/i] 

Annabeth gasped, pulling her hand away from Sam sharply as she took in the words in her mind.  She knew she couldn’t tell him what was going on.  She didn’t even know, herself.  But she knew that the person who owned the voice would kill Sam.

Plastering a fake smile, she glanced over at Bobby and cleared her throat, “Um…is there anywhere outside I can take a breath?  That was a long drive and…with…my eye situation it was a bit stuffy.”

Bobby nodded lightly, and gestured toward the back door, on the other side of the yard from where Mika and Dean were talking.  Smiling at him she thanked him silently, not touching Sam as she walked away and out the back door.  Almost as soon as she stepped out the door, she felt a warmth step up to her side, breathing against her cheek like a dog.  She brushed it off, figuring it didn’t speak and kept walking, until she saw a tall man in a designer suit standing near a tow truck.  He stood motionless, his hands behind his back until she approached.

“Who are you?”, she asked him, causing him to give a relieved smile and turn around to greet her.  His eyes were bright white, with no irises.  His smile was more of a sneer and he reached a hand out.

“There’s my little girl…”, he sang to her, stepping up to brush her hair from her face and behind her ears.  As he pulled his hands away from her ears, he took her glasses from her face, his face turning to sadness and empathy, “Oh dear.  Oh, my poor baby.  What did those mean old angels do to you?”

Annabeth didn’t know how to respond to the man.  She could feel that he was different, and smelled familiar, but his touch didn’t give her any feelings at all.  She took a step back from you.

“Oh.  Have you talked to Dean?  I’m sure he has just the nicest things to say about me…”, he continued, “But you.  My sweet, little murder machine.  I need you in one piece, before we can start our work…and there’s just one thing I need in return.”

“And what is that?”, she asked innocently, now not able to see at all, only to follow his voice.

“I need you to realize your worth to the Winchesters is your allegiance to me.”, he started, elaborating, “They want you, because you may be a weapon.  Oh yes.  Even Sam.  But I want you to be great.  I want you to fix all of this.  The apocalypse?  That’s no fun, right?”

Annabeth sneered at him, part of her chest feeling like was right.  The thoughts had been in the back of her mind the entire time she had known the Winchesters.  But, she couldn’t leave them…

“And what if I don’t?”, she whispered, causing Alastair to close his eyes and groan.

“Then I kill them all.  Right now.  I’ll make sure to save your Sammy for last, of course.  But hey!  I’ll let you say your goodbyes, before we go.  What do you say?  24 hours? Get all that lovin’ in that you can, and then we’re out of here.”, he finished, causing Annabeth to pause.  She knew that Sam would come after her.  They all would.  But she did want her eyes back.  Maybe she could tell Sam, and they could fix this whole thing.

“Deal…”, she blurted out, which caused Alastair to simply step forward, brushing his hands over her eyes.  When he pulled his hand away, and disappeared, her blue eyes were perfectly intact, and working, “Oh my god…”

She turned and ran back to the house, both scared to death and excited as she stepped back through the door, and ran back through the house.  She had no way to explain to them what had just happened, and now she didn’t have her glasses to cover her eyes.  She skidded to a stop, audibly before she reached the group, and tried to decide on what she could tell them…simply hoping Sam wouldn’t turn or Bobby wouldn’t catch a glimpse of her standing there.