The Fifth Archangel

5: Stranded Without an Angel

It was hard to gauge who was more uncomfortable sitting next to Cas in the Impala, me or Gail. Gail was looking at Cas like he was an axe-murderer, Cas was looking at me like I just killed a puppy, and I was staring at the back of the driver's seat trying to ignore them both.

"Can I ask you something, Cas?" Gail spoke up.

He looked at Gail, interested. "Yes, you may."

"Do you have something against me?"

"You're a niphilim. Any angel in their right mind would have something against you."

"Castiel!" I exclaimed, annunciating every syllable of his name. "Take it back!"

He turned on me. "No."

"You're an ass, Castiel. You know that?"

Dean laughed. "Dissed by the archangel, that must be a new low for you, eh Cas?"

"Oh, shut up, Dean." I sighed, annoyed. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Annapolis." Sam said.

"May I ask why?" I asked.

"That was the case we were looking at before you left." Sam replied.

Then, I heard a pop and a sputter. "God dammit!" Dean yelled. Another sputter and the Impala started to decrease in speed dramatically. Dean pulled over.

"Shoot." Gail cursed as we got out of the car.

"Closest town is five miles back." Cas said. "I'll pop over and get someone to come check us out." He teleported away.

"Okay, so what are we going to do in the meantime?" Sam asked to no one in particular.

"I'm going to check out my car." Dean said.

Gail crossed her arms. "Dean, we are stranded, and you're just going to work on your car?"

Sam looked confused, "What are you talking about? Cas'll be back in 10 minutes max."

"There isn't a town 5 miles back." Gail told him. "Check the maps." She held up an atlas.

"Oh shoot, she's right." I said, looking at the atlas. "Dean, come look at this."

He walked over to the map, "Oh, but I saw a town back there. It was there, I know it."

"I saw it too, but it obviously wasn't there." I said, thinking for a second before stating." I'm going to go find Cas."

Sam grabbed my shoulder, "No you're not." He demanded.

"And you're going to stop me?" I asked. "I'd like to see you try, Winchester!"

"Kei, please, now is not the time-"

"How would you feel if Dean was over there, Sam? Wouldn't you want to go after him immediately?"

"Yes, but-"

"But what, Sam? Are you going to spout some nonsense about being logical and making a plan? Because if that's the case, I don't want to hear it."

"Kei, you going after Cas by yourself isn't going to help anyone. If whatever's out there is able to trap Cas, it had to be pretty powerful. You going by yourself is a suicide mission."

"Don't underestimate me, Sam Winchester."

"You don't understand, Kei. That, whatever it is, is able to trick angels into seeing something that isn't there. It's really powerful. We need to prepare and all go together."

"Then why are we sitting here arguing?"

Sam opened his mouth, then shut it.

"That's what I thought. Now." I turned to everyone else. "We need to-"

I wasn't able to finish, because I heard a whooshing noise. Then, blackness.

I came to and sat up. Somehow, I was on the ground. I didn't remember falling.

Dean and Sam were on the ground, looking around in confusion too. Gail was nowhere to be seen.

I stood up. "Gail?" I yelled. "Gail!?"

No, no, no, no. This could not be happening.

"Gail!?" I yelled to the trees. "Gail!?" I yelled to the sky.

A hand clamped over my mouth. I whirled around, sending a kick to my assaulter. Unfortunately, it was Dean.

"Oh. Oops." I said as he crumpled in pain.

"Stop. Shouting." He groaned.

"Oh. Okay."

"Dean's right. We have two missing people. If you keep screeching like that, they might come back for a third."

I wanted to protest. But Sam was right, as much as I didn't want to admit it.

"I- I'm sorry, Sam."

"Wow, she apoligized. It's a miracle." Dean mumbled. I ignored him.

"For what?"

"For shouting at you before. You were right. I was blinded by fury."

"It's fine, Kei."

"And Dean," I turned to Dean, "I'm sorry to you as well."

"For?" Dean rose an eyebrow.

"I, um, might have lost your necklace."

"Really? How?"

"I traded it for information."

"Information? On what?"

"Destiny." I said without explanation. "That's what led me to Gail."

"Oh, well-" Dean didn't finish.

"I guess, I was selfish. But that's what angels are, right? We're just selfish, arrogant balls of light stuffed in humans' bodies."

"That's not true-"

"You know it is, Dean. How many angels have you met that you would characterize as arrogant or selfish? One? Two?"

Dean didn't answer. Sam looked at the ground.

"Exactly." I said.

No one had a response for that. We just sat, consumed in our own thoughts, until I snapped back to reality.

"Alright, if we're done with our little heart-to-heart moment, we have to go rescue Cas and Gail."

No one protested that.

Yeppity, yep, fifth chapter! It was shorter than usual, but I think that can be forgiven. Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed, please vote and comment. It would be great!

Edited: 7/24/16