Where the Lines Overlap

Chapter 25: The Point of No Return

September 18th, 2009.

Gabriel was staring down at his feet, his fists clenched tightly, completely and utterly without a clue of how to proceed. Balthazar cleared his throat, awkward and tense as the two angels picked through the ancient rubble, on some stupid mission to find more holy oil. "So… monogamy, Gabriel. Really?"

Stiff and distant, Gabriel replied with a vague, "I guess so." Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Balthazar's expression twisted in slight confusion, his frown deepening.

"Doesn't really seem like you," the blonde angel replied, stepping over a large rock, his airy, casual tone really getting on Gabriel's nerves. " I mean, I thought you liked playing the field?" Balthazar glanced over at him hopefully.

Gabriel swallowed, not entirely sure what Balthazar was aiming to do. "I don't know," he began cautiously, picking his way through the rubble of the ancient temple. "I guess, she's just… I don't want anyone else," he said vaguely, but the words resonated deep within him.

Balthazar snorted, sighing to himself and pinching the bridge of his nose. "You haven't told her who you really are, I'm guessing," he said, smirking like he found the situation amusing.

"I'm trying to figure out how to," Gabriel said tersely in response, bristling at the accusation and continued picking through the rubble. He didn't even notice that Balthazar had stopped in his tracks, his eyebrows climbing so far up his forehead that Gabriel couldn't help but wonder if they were going to climb up into his hairline. The thought struck an odd nerve of humour in such a tense situation.

Balthazar didn't seem to understand his situation even for a second, asking bluntly, "How do you know she'll even still love you once she realises that you've been lying to her?"

Gabriel was incensed, beyond pissed off, but doing his best not to show it. "She's going to understand, Balthazar," he gritted out, staring at his brother in deep, wounded accusation. The thought that she might hate him after he told her the truth was a possibility that he considered often, but not one that he enjoyed thinking about. The longer he left it, the more he would wound her when he finally came to terms with his identity. Filled with hot anger, he stormed past his brother, working his jaw in bitter frustration. He didn't know their situation. It was way more complicated than just telling Ashleigh the truth.

"If you really care about this girl, Gabriel, you'd never have gotten involved with her in the first place," Balthazar called out, his voice echoic in the cavernous temple. As clouds obscured the blinding Jerusalem sunlight streaming through the windows, Balthazar's wings flickered into existence, only just for a second.

His heart pounding a rhythmic beat in his ears, his chest heaving with repressed frustration, Gabriel forced out, "And why is that?"

Balthazar only looked at him sadly, shaking his head in exhausted disapproval, as if he could see a side to this situation that Gabriel couldn't. "Because you're putting her in danger by being selfish," he said in an infuriatingly simple tone, shrugging like it was obvious. Gabriel swallowed a searing lump in his throat as some of his deepest thoughts, darkest worries were voiced by one of the angels he'd been closest to. "Protectors are supposed to watch from afar and only step in when absolutely necessary," he said and Gabriel's mouth fell open, his mind refusing to process what Balthazar was saying. His brother laughed without humour, staring at him with a pitiful gaze, "Now you've got this poor human under the impression that you care about her."

"I do care about her!" Gabriel snapped, indignant anger burning in his veins, scoffing at the accusation.

"And that's your problem," Balthazar retorted instantly, his eyes beseeching him to understand. At his resolute expression, the other angel sighed to himself, "You've always loved humanity too much."

Gabriel laughed bitterly, "Which is exactly what Dad asked us to do."

"And where is he, exactly?" Balthazar paused, cocking an eyebrow.

Infuriated, Gabriel whirled, not sure if he was shaking or if the temple was." Why do you even care so much?" Dust, illuminated by the sunlight, floated down through the air and the ancient building seemed to groan under the charged environment. The smell of ozone was thick in the air and Gabriel could feel his grace stirring, burning, aching with confusion, pain and anger.

"Look, there's no need to get all riled up," Balthazar said quickly, nervous and raising his hands in mild surrender. "I'm trying to save you from making a huge mistake, Gabriel."

Sighing aloud, but still trying to keep a hold of his temper, Gabriel groaned, "I'm not making any mistakes – you're just not making any sense!"

Balthazar stepped forwards, his tone softer and suddenly gentle, "You're not good for her, Gabriel," he said, each word falling from his mouth as if they were heavy and they'd been weighing him down. "Instead of protecting her, you put her in even more danger and then fail to help her when she needs you. She's your charge, and that means saving her from getting her soul ripped out, not making her waffles." Balthazar snapped and Gabriel sat down, putting his head in his hands as he was forced to once again, consider what he was doing to her by being this involved. Balthazar was right, angels and humans were never meant to be together. He'd brought her nothing but pain. "Getting emotionally involved with her is going to be the end of you, brother and I don't want to see you make any more mistakes."

Ashleigh's light hand on his cheek snapped him out of his thoughts. Gazing at him with soft green eyes, she tucked a small piece of hair behind his ear with aching kindness, her touch sending tiny jolts of electricity ricocheting through him. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing," he cleared his throat abruptly, still hearing Balthazar's voice in his head. "Nothing, I'm just tired."

"I thought gods didn't sleep," Ashleigh snorted, pouring steaming coffee into a mug and sliding it over to him. "You look almost as tired as me," she joked, but it fell flat in the silence, bringing back memories of how she'd spent the entire night unable to sleep, sketching pictures of dismantled graves and black, dangerous eyes on whatever surface she could find. Dean Winchester rose from Hell today and Ashleigh's visions had been so intense, so violent that every time he touched her, he could feel it blazing through his thoughts. The first Seal is broken. The Apocalypse has started.

Trying to act like everything was okay and completely failing, Gabriel replied lamely, "Maybe I should start napping."

Ashleigh rolled her eyes at him, shoving a stack of lore books to the side and fixing him with a soft expression. "Seriously though, what's wrong? You've got this weird expression on your face and I can tell when you're lying." Her little smile lit up her face in a way that made pain twinge through his entire being. He wasn't good for her. He was just going to break her heart.

Gabriel scoffed like the idea was ridiculous, "I'm fine, kiddo," he told her, but it was obvious that she didn't believe him.

Setting down her cup, she folded her arms across her chest and leant forwards. "Then why won't you look me in the eye?" He still said nothing, just avoided her gaze and turned around to put her glass in the dishwasher. "Don't shut me out," she murmured softly, gazing at him with an imploring expression. "You can tell me anything."

He couldn't do this to her anymore, he couldn't lead her on and let her believe that he was someone who he wasn't. "I've just been thinking…" he began and twined his fingers together. He could still back out now. But even as he thought that, Balthazar's accusations came back. Don't be selfish, Gabriel.

"Don't strain yourself," she wisecracked and the way she was looking at him wasn't making this any easier.

"…about us," Gabriel finished, a pained ache in his voice.

Her face faltered, confusion flashing across her expression, which she quickly covered. "What about us?"

Gabriel cleared his throat, trying to find the right words. "I've never heard of a god-human relationship that didn't end in flames," he divulged in possibly the most serious tone he'd ever used with her. "What if this – we – weren't a good idea…?" he managed, letting the words hang heavy in the thick, unbearable silence.

Her expression was heart-wrenching. "So you regret this," she managed, looking at him with wounded eyes.

"I'm supposed to protect you," Gabriel began, something burning in the back of his throat, "but all I've done is put you in more danger and I've never been there when you really needed me –"

Ashleigh cut over the top of his tirade, walking up to him and placing her hands on his shoulders, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I – I wasn't there when Crowley took your soul and took you down to Hell," the words seemed to spill out of him now, almost as if he had no control over what he was saying. "I was the reason that Kali was harassing you – you've been hurt so many times and I was never there to help you," he swallowed hard against the lump in his throat, coughing self-deprecatingly as he prepared to drop the final bomb, "I'm not even who I sa—"

Staring at him, mouthing words she didn't have breath for, the only thing Ashleigh found herself capable of doing was walking up to him, placing a hand on either shoulder and shaking him. "Stop – stop! That's all crap and you know it.

"I'm not good for you!" he burst out, tearing away from her and raking a hand through his hair. "This isn't going to work – I'm not good for you," Gabriel told her, his chest rising and falling rapidly, able to pinpoint the exact moment that something inside Ashleigh shattered. "I'm sorry, Ash, I'm so sorry."

Standing before him, feeling small and confounded, she managed, "W-what?"

What could he say to make things right before he left? Gabriel hated seeing her in pain, hated even more that it was his fault, but he didn't see any other way to save her. What was Heaven thinking? Assigning him to protect her? This had to be some kind of joke.

He couldn't stay with her anymore. Balthazar was right and everyone around him had been trying to tell him this ever since he'd met Ashleigh. Kali, Crowley, Heka… they'd all meant the same thing. Gabriel wasn't good for her and if he cared about her, he needed to leave.

"Goodbye," Gabriel managed finally, his voice wavering and just as she reached out for his hand, he closed his eyes and without a particular destination in mind, Gabriel cast himself to the sky, disappearing in a matter of seconds, leaving Ashleigh completely dumbfounded, staring blankly at the spot he'd just been standing in.

...

The newfound silence in her grandmother's cabin was unbearable. Stunned, deeply wounded and feeling hot tears prick at the back of her eyes as she tried to understand what had just happened, Ashleigh stumbled backwards and collapsed onto the couch, curling herself up in a little ball. Silent tears streaming down her cheeks staying unnoticed, Ashleigh clenched her hands into fists, the past events not having sunk in yet.

He was gone, the thought rose to her mind, flat and still. Loki had left. He wasn't coming back. No matter how many different ways she thought about it, the meaning was still the same. The idea just seemed unthinkable and incompatible with her mind. Looking down, Ashleigh felt a small tear rolling off the tip of her nose.

And then all that emotion, all those repressed feelings crashed into her like a tidal wave and tears burned trails down her cheeks, even as she tried to scrub them away furiously, they wouldn't stop coming. She was drowning in a whirlpool of emotion and it felt like her lifeline had been ripped out from underneath her, her only constant in a world full of insanity. He left. Why? What did I do?

Curling herself up into a small ball, twining her arms around her legs in an attempt to protect herself, Ashleigh finally let herself cry. It was the worst kind of crying, the one where her lungs couldn't keep up with the way she wasn't leaving room for breath, horrible silent sobs as she realised she'd just bared her heart to someone who didn't want to be with her.

She was the punchline of yet another joke.

Barely having any time to wallow in a horrible concoction of misery and self-deprecation, pain, acute and fiery, seared through her head. A hand, clawing through the dead grass and parched earth, trees toppled over by some terrifying, unseen force, the sound of someone's ragged, panicked breathing and their screams for help that would never come. She was standing in front of a humble grave, her eyes flickering over the crude wooden cross someone had stuck in the ground, D.W. carved into the mouldy wood. Unable to move, speak or even breathe, Ashleigh watched in a mixture of awe and anticipation as the hand burst through the dead grass, finding purchase on the dry, solid earth. Mouth parted, she could only watch as the ground seemed to crumble away beneath her and a familiar head of dirty blonde hair broke the surface, gasping and panting for breath. His face flushed with effort, his green eyes wide with confusion, Dean Winchester spat out a mouthful of dirt. With one last groan, he hauled himself up out of his grave, his arms trembling with the effort after not being used for four months, and collapsed to the ground, gasping and shuddering.

A voice cut through the buzz, almost like the one she'd heard outside of Sam's house, but fractionally different, "Dean Winchester has risen." Another one called out through the ear-splitting buzz of differing pitches, melodies and rhythms, "The First Seal is broken. The Michael-sword has been rescued." All the different voices swirled around her in a dizzying thunderstorm of noise and she could barely sort through what they were saying anymore. "Castiel," one said, the ear-splitting clarity of the word searing through her head. "Castiel has returned the Michael-sword."

Everything shifted with a stomach-lurching jolt and pain, hot and demanding, seared through her mind again, forcing her to her knees. As she looked down at her feet, clutching her head, her stomach dropped as the grass beneath her faded away to a damp, dirty sidewalk, the fluorescent lights of the skeevy motel signs painting neon streaks across the dark grey concrete. Where was she? The 'Astoria Motel' apparently, she discovered, the blinding light from the tacky motel sign glaring back at her. Light-headed and consumed with dizzy confusion, Ashleigh drifted up the stairs, walking through the empty hallways with a blank expression, coming to a stop in front of room 207.

"Don't lie to me!" Dean's accusation ripped through the murky silence, his words reverberating through her head with sickening anger. The sound was muted, like she was listening to him speak while she was sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool.

"I'm not lying!" Sam's indignant retort made her head swirl and she felt herself collapse in slow-motion to the ground, the red carpet glaring back at her.

"The Apocalypse has begun," another voice called out and the intensity was nearly too much for her, she collapsed to her knees with her hands clapped over her ears, squeezing her eyes shut against the pain –

And the vision was over as soon as it had begun. Abruptly thrown back into her body, Ashleigh doubled over, feeling completely winded. She staggered towards the kitchen bench on shaky legs, collapsing onto one of the rickety stools tucked underneath the table. It was all starting. The thought rose to her mind, cold and terrifying as it always was. Her lungs felt like all the air had been squeezed out of them, her mind was a mess of hurt, fear and confusion and she could only think of one thing that she could do next.

Biting down on her lower lip, Ashleigh swallowed hard against all the pain, heart-break and fear that were clouding her thoughts. Don't think about him, she gritted her teeth, biting back her tears and wiped at her eyes angrily. Don't think about it, you've got work to do.

She was going to go find Dean Winchester.

…

"I mean, it's really weird. All these crazy demonic omens began popping up yesterday, completely out of nowhere. Crazy, right?" Jessie's voice crackled out of Ashleigh's phone and she could visualise the other girl's confused little frown in her mind's eye. Hands wrapped around the steering wheel, biting down on her lip, Ashleigh pressed the accelerator a little harder, heading straight for Pontiac, Illinois.

"Yeah, it's pretty weird," she mumbled back unconvincingly. Should she be telling Jessie about Dean? It would explain a lot of weird happenings, but the last thing Ashleigh wanted to do was involve Jessie in this whole shit-storm.

"You okay?" Jessie's dubious voice snapped her out of her internal musings and Ashleigh started, jolting in shock. She'd been so focused on the road ahead of her that she hadn't heard the other hunter's voice.

"I'm fine," she laughed nervously, "I'm just driving for the first time in a while." Clenching her hands tightly around the steering wheel, she deliberately tried not to think about how Loki was the reason she barely drove anymore. "It's nerve-wracking to say the least."

"Sounds like it," the other hunter commented. "Hey, how's Loki?" she asked offhandedly, her casual tone wrenching through Ashleigh's heart. Stop – no – don't think about it, she thought fiercely.

"H-he's fine. We're just… on a break for the time being," Ashleigh said and felt a cold sort of finality settle in her stomach. Saying it out loud just made it feel real, made her think back over the past few days and remember the look on Loki's face in aching clarity.

"What?! Since when?" Jessie sounded completely aghast, her suddenly high-pitched voice crackling through the speaker of Ashleigh's phone.

"Since yesterday." Ashleigh laughed without humour, swallowing against all the betrayal and self-doubt that was threatening to overcome her. Why'd he leave? They'd been fine, or so she'd thought, but now she was starting to second guess every part of their relationship. Hurt tears pricked at the back of her eyes again and she sniffed, exhaling slowly to try and release some of her frustration. It didn't work, and she felt like kicking every single person who had ever told her to 'just breathe'. In this life full of absolute craziness, Loki had been a constant. He'd been there from the beginning, he'd helped her figure out how to deal with her dreams, introduced her to a whole new side of life, and now that he'd left, Ashleigh was left feeling very small and insignificant in a world that wanted to use her for her visions.

The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth and she choked back a sob.

Suddenly feeling very overwhelmed, like her lungs were too big to fit inside her ribcage and her vision swimming, Ashleigh swerved and lurched to a stop on the side of the highway. Breathing like she'd just run a marathon and trying to ignore the pain shooting through her chest, Ashleigh scrubbed at her eyes, wiping her tears away in futile determination. Jessie's muffled cries of "Ash? Ash – are you okay? Ashleigh?" went completely unnoticed.

Finally giving up and dropping her head against the steering wheel, her hot tears streaming down her face, the world seemed to crumble down around her. Never before had her mind been such a chaotic mess of confusion, fear and wounded anger. Demons were after her, most likely to try and drag her back down to Hell, the Apocalypse had started, she'd been made to say goodbye to her old life and her family, she'd been put through unimaginable horrors and finally, the person who she'd stupidly become dependent on had decided to have a crisis during the home straight.

Just perfect.

Only allowing herself a few seconds of wallowing in self-pity, Ashleigh swallowed hard and picked herself up off the steering wheel, wiping at her eyes and sniffing determinedly. She couldn't think about him now, she couldn't keep doing this to herself. He left, and maybe, if he'd secretly been feeling that way all along, she didn't need him hanging around out of some sort of twisted sense of obligation. Whatever.

Gritting her teeth and toughening the hell up, Ashleigh shoved her foot down onto the accelerator and swerved back onto the freeway, her expression stony. She had work to do.

One Day Later

Dean was freezing. Scowling and shivering, he jammed his hands further into his pockets and ignored Bobby's odd looks. A blast of icy wind cut through his thin shirt and he gritted his teeth, his cheeks pink with cold. If there was one thing that he clearly remembered about his four months – more like forty years – in God's sauna, it was the unbearable, scorching heat. Even now, he swore he could still feel the hellfire burning in his bones, the flames licking at his skin and dancing across the backs of his eyelids every time he closed his eyes.

With his duffel over his shoulder, Dean trailed after Bobby as the old hunter searched for his car, deep in thought. Sam had ran off with the Impala to God knew where, so they were stuck in Bobby's '71 Chevelle until his renegade younger brother decided to come back. Shaking his head, Dean couldn't help but marvel over how different his little brother seemed. He seemed darker, rougher around the edges, he decided, remembering how casually Sam had brushed off his fling with 'Kristy', or whatever her name had been. Dean had always been the casual one, Sam had always been looking for emotional connections, romantic bullshit or whatever. Seeing Sam act like that… it just wasn't like him.

Swallowing hard, Dean looked up, and then froze in momentary shock. A familiar psychic with a head of windswept blonde hair leant against Bobby's Chevelle, inspecting her nails as if she hadn't a care in the world. "Ashleigh?" he called out cautiously, hurrying through the wet parking lot to get to her.

She looked up, an eyebrow raised and as he neared her, he could see that her eyes were red-rimmed and her cheeks were puffy. When she saw him, her face split into a soft, relieved smile tinged with pity. "Hey, Dean."

Glancing at her thin attire – a tank top and a pair of jeans – Dean frowned. "Aren't you freezing your ass off out here?"

Ashleigh raised her other eyebrow, eyeing him critically. "Aren't you?"

Dean swallowed hard, knowing exactly what she was really asking. "Nah," he looked down, feeling flames flicker across his skin again, their scorching fingers lashing across his chest. "I'm fine." He bit his lip, meeting her eyes. "Sam's not, though," he told her in an attempt to both change the subject and figure out what the hell was up with his brother. "Did you find him?"

Ashleigh's answering sigh was accompanied by a puff of icy wind. "Yeah, and what I found wasn't pretty. He was a mess after you died, Dean. I'm pretty sure he hates me," she remarked offhandedly, but her face was drawn with guilt. There was a pause and Dean watched as Ashleigh swallowed hard, bit her lip and pinched the bridge of her nose, her expression pulled taut by guilt."I couldn't save you, Dean, and I'm sorry," she said, and her voice wavered slightly.

Her green eyes watery, her chin wobbling, she looked over at him, determinedly trying not to cry. "I-it's not your fault, Ashleigh," he told her, his hand hovering awkwardly over her shoulder as he tried to figure out if he should hug her or not, fighting back against the immediate no that came after the thought. "It's okay."

It was only when Ashleigh gently touched his hand in silent comfort that he remembered that she had been to Hell as well. "I want to help you," she said after a second, wiping away her tears with a shaky hand. "There's something big coming, Dean, something that could mean the end of all of us. You, me, Sam, Bobby – if we don't stop what's coming next, we'll all die."

Her words hung heavily in the tense silence. "Tell you what," Dean began, a thought striking him. "Why don't you come with me and Bobby? We visited this psychic up in South Dakota and apparently the guy who pulled me out is –"

"Castiel." Ashleigh finished his sentence, nodding to herself. "I know that name. I know him. The voices – they talk about him more often now," she said, glancing over at him with wide green eyes.

Dean's stomach dropped. "Woah woah woah, what voices? And how the hell do you know what a 'Castiel' is and still have eyes?" he burst out, startled by her information.

Ashleigh sighed at him and pinched the bridge of her nose. "They started when you died," she told him bluntly, massaging her temples. "They're always in the back of my mind now, just buzzing away and if I focus hard enough, I can make out what they're saying. They talk about you mostly but Sam comes up a bit. I have no idea what they are," she said, paused for a second and squinted her eyes, as if she was trying to remember something. "I'm pretty sure they tried to talk directly to me too – they nearly blew up the house I was in."

Dean snorted, remembering his own experience in that old dilapidated gas station. "Yeah, 'Castiel' or whatever needs to learn how to use their inside voice," he grumbled to himself, prompting a wry chuckle from Ashleigh.

She cleared her throat, her face etched with confusion. "I've never actually seen them, though," she mused. "I have absolutely no idea what they are."

Dean cocked an eyebrow, his expression daring. "Do you want to?"

Ashleigh's answering smirk told him everything he needed to know.

Several Hours Later

"You burnt out her eyes, Castiel!" one voice reprimanded indignantly, buzzing with irritation and frustration.

"I warned her not to gaze upon my true form!" another, presumably Castiel, argued back, but she could hear chagrin seeping through his tone. Sitting in the back of Bobby's car, her knees tucked up to her chin and her head resting on the window, Ashleigh gazed out the window without really seeing anything. The voices were back and they were louder than ever – they were all she could hear. Within the buzzing in her head, there were threads of conversation, layers and layers of events, circumstances and situations being discussed at top speed and at a nearly inaudible frequency.

Biting down harshly on her lower lip, Ashleigh furrowed her brows in concentration. "You knew what would happen to her." She could practically feel Castiel's frustration seeping through her, feeding her own confusion, fear and loneliness. What are you? she wanted to ask, burning with a desire to understand what the hell was going on. What do you want with the Winchesters? What do you want with me?

Loki would have known what to say. The reminder of the god sent a sting of hurt spiking through her and she bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt not to spiral down into another hour or two of insecurity and guilt. Stop it. Don't you dare do this to yourself again, she reprimanded herself.

"Done. Catch you later," Dean sighed loudly, scrubbed a hand over his face and dropped his phone into his jacket pocket, rolling his eyes. "Sam says he went to get a burger. At 2 in the morning. Yeah right," he scoffed, his irritation palpable.

"Weird," Ashleigh mused aloud, her heart sinking to the bottom of her chest as she predicted what he was about to do: go meet up with his demonic little drug dealer to get his next hit, then pull a couple of those bastards out of their vessels. She had to admire Sam's concern for humanity, but really?! Drinking demon blood? What part of that sounded like a good idea? Blood boiling, she pictured Ruby's smug face. Knowing that the car would probably explode if she tried to tell them what Sam was really doing in the dark, Ashleigh sunk lower into her seat. Fine then. She wouldn't tell them, but they couldn't stop her from guiding them, could they?

"Why the hell didn't you tell him?" Bobby questioned, confusion pulling at his wizened face.

"He'd just try to stop us," Dean told him tersely.

"From what?" Bobby's answering expression was all confusion with a hint of dread.

"Do you really think Sam'd be eager about summoning the thing that burnt out that poor chick's eyes?" Ashleigh cleared her throat, making eye-contact with Dean in the rear-view mirror. "If you want answers, this is what you need to do."

Dean nodded in agreement. "It's time we faced it head on," he said and his face looked like it had been carved out of marble, stony and unyielding.

"You can't be serious!" Bobby exclaimed in disbelief, nearly swerving off the road in his incredulity. "You want to chase after this thing after what it did to Pam?"

"Do you have any better ideas?" Ashleigh shot straight back, trying to push back the insistent buzzing in her mind.

Bobby shot her a withering glance. "Stop encouragin'him," he grumbled, shaking his head at her in dismay. "We don't even know what this thing is – it could be a demon, hell, it could be anything."

Dean raised his eyebrows suggestively, "We've got the big time magic knife, you've got an arsenal in the trunk…" he trailed off. "Now's as good of a time as any." At the older hunter silent answering scowl, Dean sighed. "Bobby, whatever this is, whatever it wants, it's after me. That much we know, right? I've got no place to hide. I can either get caught with my pants down again, or we can make our stand," he reasoned, his expression determined as he trailed his finger across the edge of Ruby's knife.

"We're as ready as we're ever going to be," Ashleigh added, shrugging at Bobby's heavy sigh.

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes and settled back into the driver's seat, edging the gas-pedal down further. "It's still a bad idea," Bobby grumbled to himself, shaking his head.

Ashleigh swallowed back her fear, doubt and confusion and slumped back against the window, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to pinpoint a thread of conversation to latch on to. This whole situation was crazy, but she was only one summoning away from the truth. And the prospect was exhilarating.

…

About an hour after they'd stopped at an abandoned warehouse just off the freeway, Ashleigh dropped her spray-can to the ground and mopped at her forehead in exhaustion. Casting her eyes across the dusty old room, she eyed the intricate warding symbols that she and Bobby had painted the wooden walls with. It'd been a while since she'd worked with spray paint, she mused. She usually used acrylic paint, water-colours or pencils, not having had inspiration for a spray-paint artwork. Stepping backwards and tilting her face up, Ashleigh let her gaze wander across the hundreds of symbols she and Bobby had painted

From where he was standing, arranging the numerous weapons from Bobby's trunk, Dean set down a dangerous looking machete and snorted at the two of them. "That's a hell of an art project you've got going on there," he wise-cracked.

Ashleigh turned and smirked at him over her shoulder. "Thanks. The working title is: Pagan Ritual or Satanic Worship?"

Bobby rolled his eyes at her, ruffled her hair with his free hand. "We've got traps and talismans from just about every faith on the globe." Directing his gaze towards Dean, Bobby questioned in mild suspicion, "How you doin'?"

Dean chuckled wryly, his eyes sweeping over the table. "Stakes, iron, silver, salt, knife," he listed off on his fingers, then shrugged at the two of them. "I mean, we're pretty much set to catch and kill anything I've ever heard of."

"A flamethrower? Really?" Ashleigh raised a brow in disbelief, chuckling to herself as she inspected the singed object.

"Home-made." Dean winked, obviously very impressed with himself, and shot her a smug look.

Ashleigh snickered, "God, you're like our own little pyromaniac-Martha-Stewart, aren't you?" At his withering glance, she knocked her shoulder against his own teasingly.

Bobby groaned aloud and glared at Dean, shaking his head. "This is still a bad idea, boy," he scowled at the two of them.

He rolled his eyes, dismissing the older hunter with a scoff. "Yeah, Bobby, I heard you the first ten times." Fixing both Ashleigh and Bobby with an anticipatory grin, he asked, "What do you say we ring the dinner bell?"

Her mouth parted, a sarcastic response dancing on her lips, a loud screech tore through her mind and she doubled over like she'd been punched, suddenly winded. "You were always too soft on the humans, Castiel," a voice reprimanded bitingly, the sound tearing through her thoughts and reverberating around in her skull. Dean moved towards her, his face filled with concern, but Bobby got there first, his hands grabbing either of her shoulders and propping her up as he guided her to one of the fold out chairs that they'd set up around the room.

The older hunter helped lower her slowly into a chair and Dean crouched down in front of her, green eyes studying her intently. "Hey, hey," he barked, grabbing her face with one hand and shaking her awake. "You okay there?"

Weakly, she nodded, her heart pounding and her hands shaking. "Y-yeah, sorry." Blowing her hair out of her face, Ashleigh tried to calm herself down. "It just happens sometimes; the voices get too loud, or they get angry, and –" she gestured to herself with a deprecating little smile on her face "—this happens."

Dean nodded slowly, not looking like he believed her, and reluctantly stuck out his hand. She nodded her gratitude, grabbed his arm and hauled herself up, taking a second to recover from the resulting head rush. He clapped her on the shoulder, his face splitting wide in a trademark 'Dean-Winchester' smirk and announced, "Well, let's get this show on the road then!"

Ashleigh could see Bobby roll his eyes in her peripheral vision, and say something that sounded suspiciously like 'idjit'. Smiling to herself because their relationship was exactly the same in real life as it had been in her dreams (which was still super weird to think about), Ashleigh pulled her knife out from where she'd tucked it in her belt. If Loki was here, he'd – no. she bit down on her lip, hard and immediately stopped that train of thought. Already, she felt that horribly familiar blend of hurt, anger and betrayal rise up inside her again – why? Something was weird about this, she couldn't help but think. He'd just… left. Had he always been feeling like that? Or had someone said something to him to make him change his mind about her?

She barely noticed as Bobby recited the ritual in a wavering monotone, or as Dean cocked his shotgun for the fifth time. Lost in her own little world, remembering when she'd had at least one constant in this whole world full of craziness, Ashleigh stared down at her hands blankly, wondering where it had all gone so wrong. Had she expected too much too soon? Loki had introduced her to this weird paranormal crap, he'd helped her through her dreams and the paralysing fear that came afterwards, and he just one day decided that he wanted out?

The roof of the warehouse rattled ominously, snapping her out of her reverie and the building seemed to move with the rapidly growing storm. Her breath catching in her throat, her skin practically tingling with how close this creature was, Ashleigh could do nothing but stand and stare, her mouth gaping open. She was so close to finding out who this crazy voice in her head was, so close to finding out what the hell was going on and why she'd been dragged in and the prospect of finally knowing what her purpose was… it was absolutely mind-blowing. Paralysed with a cocktail of fear, anticipation and dread, Ashleigh clutched her knife tighter, although she knew that it probably wouldn't do much good. The doors at the end of the room were shuddering, cracks splintering down the thick wood as they buckled under some unseen force. This felt all too like the time that Death had come bursting into her cell, deep within the pits of Hell.

At that moment, the bolt snapped in half, the lights exploded in a shower of sparks and the doors flung open. Barely able to breathe, Ashleigh squinted, trying to catch a clearer glimpse of the silhouette in the doorway. "Castiel," she breathed, the man inspiring reverence and awe deep inside her as she felt his familiar presence brush past her. He wasn't a demon, he wasn't a run of the mill monster. What was he?

Castiel's expression was stony and completely emotionless as he strode directly towards Dean, the shower of sparks creating a halo of light around his silhouette. Dean, recovering from his momentary shock, opened fire on the creature, and Bobby, who seemed to remember who he was at the sound, followed suit.

He hadn't seen her yet, tucked away in the shadows, holding her knife like it was her lifeline. Unaffected by the bullets, Castiel stared at the green-eyed hunter blankly. "Who are you?" Dean snapped hoarsely, shaken to his very core.

The creature, Castiel, paused, his head tilting to the side ever so slightly. "I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition," he answered, and Ashleigh was frozen in place, her breath caught in her throat because he sounded so achingly familiar.

Dean faltered, thrown completely off guard. "Yeah… thanks for that," he said, after a second of deliberation and then promptly plunged Ruby's knife deep into Castiel's chest. The other man looked down at the handle of the blade sticking out between the lapels of his trench coat and after smiling to himself, wrapped one hand around the hilt, and pulled it out. Dean's jaw dropped.

Bobby had come to his senses apparently, and had decided to catch Castiel off guard, creeping behind him with his crowbar held aloft. But just as he swung, the other man reached out to block the strike, wrenching the bar out of his hands with superhuman strength. In another mind-boggling display of otherworldliness, Castiel turned and touched him lightly on the forehead with two fingers. Bobby collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Dean's eyes grew wide with a mixture of anger and fear, "What the hell did you do to him?!" he thundered, glowering furiously at the other man.

Barely thinking straight and not at all considering the consequences of her actions, Ashleigh stepped forwards, towards Dean. "He's okay," she told Dean, her skin crawling under the sudden attention. "He's just asleep."

The creature's expression had turned from calm, to suddenly frighteningly intense in a matter of seconds. "Ashleigh Waldenberg," he proclaimed in his husky voice, making her skin crawl.

Unable to stop herself because dammit, she was so close to having all the answers, she continued forwards. "I-it was you, wasn't it? You're Castiel. It was you I heard when I saw Sam – it was you," she breathed in pure astonishment, unable to take her eyes off of Castiel. "It was you who told me not to say anything – it was all you…"

Castiel's shocked expression faded into controlled calm very quickly. "Yes," he said tersely and in the blink of an eye, he had one impossibly strong hand wrapped around her forearm. "I have orders to take you with me," he declared stonily.

"No – get off!" Ashleigh's mouth fell open, dread pooling in her stomach as she suddenly really regretted making herself seen.

Dean stepped forward, his face filled with righteous fury. "No way in Hell, chuckles. Let her go, or I swear –"

"You'll what?" Castiel snapped, suddenly very agitated, his grip on her arm tightening as he spoke. "Kill me? How do you suppose you're going to manage that?" Held captive by terror, Ashleigh could barely breathe, the stench of ozone and palpable power becoming unbearable. "You've already made several unsuccessful attempts."

Unable to come up with a response to that question, Dean ground his jaw bitterly and thundered, "You better tell me what the hell is going on –"

Seeming to have run out of patience for Dean's threats, Castiel drew in a deep breath and seemed to square his shoulders. Lightning crackled inside the warehouse and two huge wings, spanning out from either side of his back flashed across the back wall. "I am an angel of the Lord," he proclaimed in a booming tone, his hand tightened in a vice grip around her arm.

"Good for you!" Ashleigh snapped, finally coming to her senses, and tried to rip her arm out of his grasp. "What the hell do you want with me then?"

The look he gave her was positively glacial. "You are no psychic, Ashleigh Waldenberg," Castiel told her, his tone wooden and stiff. "You are a prophet of the Lord."

Author's Note: Weeeellll…. just a slight cliffhanger… ;) Anyways, so much stuff happened in this chapter! Dammit, Balthazar! wHY DID YOU HAVE TO SAY ANYTHIN ASDFGHJK and also… the big reveal! She's a prophet! I wonder how she's going to react…

But this is only the tip of the iceberg, guys, there is so much more stuff to come!

Review Responses:

Novalunni: Thank you so much! You're so sweet – and don't worry, I say the same things every time as well, but I just asdfghjkl; tHANK YOU. Balthazar did end up playing a larger role than I originally expected, but he and Gabriel just work so well together, you know? He's the bomb-diggity and nobody can convince me otherwise. I actually kinda liked Ruby tbh, I mean she was driven, ambitious, super cunning about the whole thing and only ever revealed what she was planning at the end? Idk, I think she was a pretty good villain, but I'd probably hate her if I ever met her in real life (which is thankfully impossible), you know? I love you too and no YOU'RE wonderful! :)

Sleepybutterfree: OMG I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT HOW CRAZY THAT SCENE IS GOING TO BE! Anyways, he's super sassy and grumpy – I find it endearing in a weird sort of way. Hey don't even worry about that, there are literally so many shows that I've just forgotten to keep watching and maybeGossipGirlisoneofthem. Thank you so much! Yesdon'tworryitshere:)

xAeldriaxWinchesterx: Okay seriously replying to reviews is one of my favorite parts of writing fanfiction, you guys are all so sweet! YOUR REVIEW MADE MY DAY THANK YOU! Oooooh… you're writing a Supernatural fic? Tell me when you post it so I can go check it out!

Queen Martha Pond: YESS THAT'S GOING TO BE SO COOL but I'm not sure when exactly they're going to meet, but they're going to have this amazingly intense confrontation later in season 5 which I am entirely unprepared to handle

wolfenergy17: Yeah, the other day I forgot all about the Heka-thing and their trip to Venice and then decided to reread the whole fic, y'know, just because. I know, it's all starting to come together now and I just started free-writing the final chapter and I made mYSELF CRY UGH MY BABIES… Ashleigh really feels guilty about not giving Sam a heads up about Dean's death and she feels like the only way she can help him is by taking care of him, you know? Well… you never know, I may have snuck a little plot twists in the story here and there. I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Tierney MacDonald: Oh shit: aka two word summary of this chapter in general. Yeah, I know right? All that scheming… tut tut. I hope I delivered!

Tesla424: Thank you! Ashleigh really hates the Sam/Ruby relationship and it kills her because she knows what Ruby's planning but she literally can't say anything about it because Castiel then gets pissed.

Ryujin: THANK YOU! I hope you like this one too!

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