The Racer and Ryder

1

10 years later...

"Aria! Hurry up!"

"God Cas, I'm coming!" She shouted quickly pulling off the towel that wrapped her hair. The long scarlet locks fell down her back in waves as she grabbed her jacket, opening the door to an annoyed looking Castiel.

"What where you doing?!" He said hand on hip as he drilled holes in her skull with his big brown eyes.

"I went for a longer run this morning and there's no way I was missing my shower after it." She said shutting her heavy door and locking it. Cas looked thoughtful for a moment, his hand still on his hip whilst the other cupped his chin in thought.

"Hmm, alright you have a point." He said, slowly he ran a hand through his long brown hair before looking down at her. "Ohh and happy birthday by the way, can you believe your eighteen?! I mean what the hell?! And you're still teeny!" He said smirking as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"I am not! I'm just vertically challenged..." She said pouting which made him chuckle.

"Yeah right, anyway I got you this." Slowly he passed her a large hair pin, taking it in her hand she smiled up at him.

"Oh Cas, it's beautiful!" She thanked him giving him a tight hug. It really was beautiful, all black, decorated with small diamonds and engraved flowers. She knew why he got it, she was always complaining about her hair falling out of her braid when racing, and now she didn't have to.

"Alright we better get going, don't want to be late." He said, slowly she twirled her hair up and pushed in the pin. She grinned up at him laughing when the usual two strands of hair fell down framing her face.

The village seemed a lot more cheerful today, children ran around laughing and smiling as the sweet aroma of fresh bread and cinnamon filled the air. As they turned the corner hundreds of stalls containing everything from flowers to tools, lined the street as did the crowd. It was market day, the one day that brings out the beauty of the small broken village. chatter, Laughter and the jingles of stalls where all that could be heard, making Aria smile as they continued down the cobblestoned street. Quickly fans began to surround them gasping and calling her racing name. She pushed her way forward slightly embarrassed and awkward in the situation. Aria didn't believe she was a hero, in fact she has done things that are very much the opposite of heroic. But these people looked at her as though she was everything and that infuriated her, because she wasn't. Couldn't they see there was more to life than this? She could be a hero, she could be the person they should look up too. The person who would fight for something other than money and win and feel pride rather than guilt.

Cas kept close as they walked, trying to distance her from there grabbing hands as they tried to touch her scarlet trademark. She began to pick up her pace moving faster through the crowd, when a desperate thought ran through her head, Serena!

A strong wind came out of nowhere as a dark shadow appeared above them, the crowd began to flee screaming as the large dragon landed. Aria ran to her and jumped on, pulling a confused Cas on behind her. With her powerful back legs Serena propelled herself into the air. With a yelp Cas squeezed his arms tightly around Aria making her laugh as the flew higher and higher in the sky. Below the crowd began to cheer as the blue dragon swooped and dived in the air with amazing speed and agility. Aria began laughing and smiling as the wind wiped through her clothes and the feeling of freedom took over. Her heart began to pound pushing adrenaline around her shaking body. It was only when Cas shouted that Aria remembered that she wasn't alone. Alright Serena, enough, she said through the link, patting the dragons scaled neck lightly. With that the dragon opened its wings letting the air glide underneath, slowing them and making the ride more comfortable. Cas slowly loosened his grip around Aria and straightened up.

"Wow," he breathed, Aria smiled as she knew he was feeling the same as she was.

"Wouldn't you want to feel like this all the time?" Said Aria breaking the silence as she rubbed Serena's neck.

"Like what?"

"Free... To do anything you wanted, free from rules, to come and go as you please." The whole thing made Aria want to cry, the fact that freedom of racer life was so close yet so far.

"Of course! But it will never happen, Al has a tight hold on us and to leave would be suicide!" He said shouting over the wind.

"I wouldn't be so sure," she shouted back, with that he was lost as Arias mind began to race. She was going to get out... Soon.