Castiel

‘Why do I feel like you’re about to mess up my entire life?”

Hannah’s words were ringing through my mind as I drove us away from the bunker. I didn’t quite understand what she had meant
with that statement but something told me that it wasn’t as negative as it might seem.

Inside of the car was comfortably silent, except for the quiet music on the radio with the occasional addition of Hannah humming
along with whatever song started playing. I was focused on the road ahead of me but whenever I would glance over to the
passenger side I would see Hannah gazing happily out of the window or reading something on her phone.

“What are you reading?” I asked curiously, glancing from her face back to the road again.

“I found some information on this ‘Metatron’ guy you’re taking me to see,” She answered softly, her eyes still fixed on the screen of
her phone “The Scribe of God…” She chuckled a little “A few weeks ago I didn’t believe in any of this crap, now I’m in a car with an
angel and I’m going to meet the freakin’ Scribe of God.”

“I imagine that all of this has been a lot for you to take in over such a short period of time,” I offered “You’re handling everything
remarkably well,”

I glanced back over at her and saw that she was smiling at me and sliding her cell phone back into her pocket. I turned back to
look at the road and saw her in my peripheral vision shifting slightly and getting a little more comfortable.

“What can you tell me about Metatron?” She asked “I figure that my very own angel is a better source of information than the
internet,”

“I only know as much as everyone else at this point,” I shrugged, taking the correct turn in the road “I’ve only encountered
Metatron once before for a rather short period of time, but he did ask to see me again,”

“That’s why we’re going to see him now?” She asked.

“Yes,” I answered.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Third Person

Castiel and Hannah finally reached their destination, and when Castiel parked the car by the sidewalk Hannah just looked out at
the ramshackle house they had parked outside of.

“Is something wrong?” The angel asked, looking over at Hannah.

“No, nothing,” She smiled at him, letting out a chuckle “I just didn’t expect the Scribe of God to live in a freakin’ shack in the middle
of nowhere,”

“Well, when Dean first met Metatron he was living in a hotel room with everything he owned,”

“Oh, well, this is an improvement then,” She joked, winking at Castiel before getting out of the car and adjusting her clothes while
Cas got out of the car himself and then they started walking towards the house.

“Hannah, hold on,” Cas sighed, taking Hannah by the hand and turning her to face him “Remember, I’ve only met Metatron once
before so I don’t really know what to expect when we’re with him so just… be prepared for anything,”

“I can handle it, Cas,” She smiled, reaching out to rub his arm gently “I’m a big girl and I promise I won’t take anything he says to
heart,”

The two of them reached the front door and Castiel reached out to knock on the worn-down wood but Hannah took his hand in
hers and stopped him, turning him back to face her instead. He opened his mouth to ask what she was doing but quickly closed it
when she started fixing his tie and then smoothed it down his chest. Hannah looked up from his tie and immediately met his eye.

“Not that I don’t love your adorableness with the whole messy tie thing, I’m just nervous about making good impressions,”

“I think you’re great,” Castiel admitted without thinking, the words just slipping from his lips and causing Hannah to break out in a
blush that she couldn’t hide.

Hannah opened her mouth in an attempt to respond to him, and Castiel let out a small chuckle when the young woman before him
only opened and closed her mouth repeatedly for a few seconds before stumbling over her words and that’s when Cas realised
what he had just said to her.

“I mean… you’re taking all of this on, you’re changing your whole life and you even want to become a hunter and I have to admire
that because I would be rather stupid if I didn’t notice how great you really are and-“

He stopped rambling when the front door of the house opened and revealed an impatient looking Metatron standing on the other
side of it.

“He likes you, Hannah.” Metatron spoke “You make him rather nervous,”

“I… Uh… I kind of-“

“You obviously like him, too. Now, you two are here for a reason so would you please stop flirting and get inside?”

Hannah swallowed thickly, suddenly more nervous than she had ever been in her entire life. She looked back to Castiel who
offered her a reassuring smile and followed Metatron into the house. He lead the two of them into what was supposed to be a living
room, but it lacked any of the usual living room furniture and contained only a small loveseat, a large armchair, a desk with a
typewriter and lots of clutter and the room was stacked high with large, dusty books that Hannah instantly had the urge to begin
reading.

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Hannah started, taking a seat on the loveseat with Castiel “Where did all of these books come
from?”

Metatron laughed at the girl’s innocence and curiosity, but enlightened her with an answer anyway.

“Hannah, when you spend so many years alone as I have with nobody to talk to and nowhere else to go, you find that the simplest
things in life keep your days occupied and keep you hanging around until someone comes along,” He answered “These books are
some of the hundreds of thousands of books that I’ve read over the years to entertain myself, and I just never could throw them
out once I was finished with them,”

Hannah was more than happy with his answer, but she could only imagine how amazing it would have been to read so many
books, but she would be quite content with the library’s selection back at the bunker.

“Metatron-“

“Please,” Metatron cut Castiel off “In public, it’s Marv.”

“Marv.” Castiel repeated, testing the name out.

“Yes, and you’re Castiel but your friends call you Cas, correct?”

“Yes,” Cas nodded.

“Kevin Tran told me about you.” Metatron admitted.

“He did?” Cas asked, rather confused.

“Yeah. According to him, you and I have a lot in common.” Hannah fought back a laugh of disbelief “We’re both free thinkers, we’re
both on Heaven’s most wanted list. I thought we could socialize, grab a bite.” He gestured around the three of them at their
surroundings.

“We – what?”

“Look, I’ve been on Sabbatical.” Metatron sighed “I’m trying to play catch-up, but I have to talk to somebody about what’s going on
back home.”

“And by home, you mean Haven?” Castiel asked.

“Right. I’ve been looking around, crawling through a few divine nooks and crannies,” Metatron continued “and from what I can see,
without the Archangels; it’s a mess up there. Open warfare.”

“I thought Naomi was running things now.”

Hannah was quickly losing track of this conversation since she had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but she let
them continue.

“Is that what she told you?” Metatron asked with a scoff “I mean, Naomi’s a player – don’t get me wrong – just one of many. There
are factions upon factions, all fighting, betraying each other. It’s just a matter of time before they start ripping each other apart. It’s
all broken.”

“I know,” Castiel sighed, glancing down at his hands “I’m the one who broke it. There was a time when I thought I could lead our
people, but I was mistaken. I spilled so much blood and I’ve tried to atone for my sins and I did penance. I-” Cas sighed “betrayed
my friends to protect our secrets, but I’ve just failed, and now-“

“Look, I know.” Metatron stopped him “but now the angels – heaven – need someone to come to the rescue. They need us.”

“Us?”

“Yeah. Just – just picture it. We ride to the rescue, save the day – make a great story.” Castiel stayed silent, he and Hannah both
just looking at Metatron as though he had grown another head “Look, the angels are like a big, dysfunctional family. We need to
lock them all in a room until we work these problems out – all the factions, you, me-“

“What, like a big family meeting?” Hannah asked, frowning.

“Exactly, which is why we have to shut down Heaven.”

“What?” Castiel and Hannah asked in unison. Metatron just sighed.

“Do you like crepes?” He asked.

“Wait-“

“Eugenie’s in Ojai makes the greatest caramel apple crepes.”

With a rustling of his wings, Metatron was gone.

“Metatron – Marv!” Castiel called out, before sighing and looking to Hannah helplessly.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Metatron was sitting outside the restaurant at a table for three people, reading a newspaper and awaiting the arrival of Castiel and
Hannah. Suddenly, they appeared at the table. Metatron seemed unfazed by their arrival; Castiel looked around to make sure
nobody had noticed and Hannah looked terrified and slightly sick in her seat.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that,” Hannah groaned, clutching her stomach.

“Why did you leave?” Castiel asked, looking at Metatron but reaching out to touch Hannah’s hand for a second and relieve her of
her ill feelings.

“We can’t have this conversation on an empty stomach,” Metatron answered him, still reading his paper.

A young woman, a waitress, approached the table.

“Here you go,” She spoke, placing the plate that she was carrying down in front of Metatron before turning to Castiel and glancing
at Hannah.

“Can I get you anything?” She asked.

“Coffee, please.” Hannah and the angel answered together, sharing a smile once they did so

“Sure. Cool coat.” The waitress commented.

“No, it’s actually quite warm.” Castiel informed her cluelessly.

“Cute and funny – Okay.” The waitress smiled flirtatiously and Hannah’s smile dropped as the woman walked away and she
glared at the back of her head.

“I should have picked a better-looking vessel.” Metatron grumbled, digging into his food.

“What did you mean, we can shut down Heaven?” Cas asked.

“Oh, you know, the trials – God’s little ‘pull in case of emergency’. The Leviathans get out of control, you put them in Purgatory.
Demons get a little too demonic, toss ‘em into Hell. Angels get uppity, slam the pearly gates.”

“Are you saying you know the trials to close Heaven?” Hannah asked, turning to look at him finally.

“I wrote ‘em down, it’s not something you forget. Look, I think a little alone time would be good for the angels. At the very least it
would stop the fighting up there from spilling out down here, which will happen. It always does.”

“You’re going to complete these tests?” Cas asked.

“No.” Metatron answered “I can’t. I’m a pencil pusher, always have been. I’m not strong enough, but you – you are a warrior. I’ve
got the plan, you’ve got the muscle, we can do this. Heaven needs your help, Castiel.”

Hannah opened her mouth to say something but Castiel took her hand again and stopped her.

“I am the one that caused these problems. I should be the one to fix them.” He told her.

“But you understand this is, um, not going to be easy.” Metatron pointed out.

“I understand.” Cas nodded.

“No, you don’t.” Metatron shook his head at the angel and then looked over Cas’ shoulder “See our waitress?” He asked, making
Castiel look over his own shoulder to see her while Hannah tried to look at her subtly “She’s the first trial, gotta cut her heart out.”

Hannah was stunned into silence, dropping her gaze down to her hands which suddenly seemed so interesting. Castiel was
frowning with confusion at the man across the table from him.

“What?” He asked, disgusted “No, she’s – she’s just a girl.”

“No, she isn’t. She’s a Nephilim, an abomination.”

“She’s the offspring of an angel and a human?” Cas asked.

Hannah felt sick, scared, confused and she felt as though she was tied down to the chair.

“I thought that wasn’t allowed.” Castiel continued, completely unaware of Hannah’s inner struggle with everything that she was
hearing.

“It’s not.” Metatron clarified “There’s only one on Earth and you’re looking at it.”

“But she didn’t choose to be a Nephilim, so she’s innocent.”

“Yes, she is. I told you this wasn’t gonna be easy, but if you want to do this, Castiel, if you really want to do this, you’ve got to ask
yourself what’s more important – her life or your family?”

___________________________________________________________________________________

Hannah

There was no way I was going to tag along on Castiel’s mission to cut out some poor girl’s heart, so I had him take me back to his
car so that I could drive myself back to the bunker.

“Hannah I-“

“You have to do this, Castiel.” I sighed, rounding the car to the driver’s side “Whatever’s going on up there, you have to fix it, and if
that mean’s doing these trials then you have to do them.”

“You’re unhappy with this situation,” He observed “It’s understandable, but I would not wish for you to think negatively of me for
any of this.”

“Cas, I could never think negatively of you for trying to help your family.” I told him honestly “I just don’t want to see what you’re
about to do, so I’m going to go back to the bunker and Skype my parents for a while and do a bit of research.”

“Alright,” He nodded, opening the door for me. I slid into the car and rolled down the window as he closed the door and leaned
through so that his face was inches from mine “Let me know when you get home safely.”

“I’ll text you,” I smiled, making him smile at me in return and he nodded.

“I’ll text you right back,” He promised, closing the gap between us and pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of my mouth before
pulling away again.

With a small smile tugging at my lips, I started the car and looked up at him again seeing that he was no longer leaning into the car
but was instead standing upright again. I chuckled and looked out at the road, and when he tapped the roof of the car I drove off,
looking back at him in the rear-view mirror just in time to see him completely disappear from sight in the blink of an eye.

___________________________________________________________________________________

When I got back to the bunker I went to my bedroom for my headphones and my laptop while quickly texting Cas to let him know
that I had gotten back safely, then I grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and made my way back up to the library and set
myself up at one of the long tables. I didn’t go looking for Erin and Dean because I was a little too worried about finding them in a
situation similar to or worse than the one that they had been in before Castiel and I had left. So, while my laptop was turning on I
sent Erin a text message to tell her that I was back and wondering where she had gotten to. Then I saw that I had a message from
Castiel telling me that he would be back tonight and that he couldn’t wait to see me.

I quickly logged into Skype and saw that my parents were signed in on their joint account and I quickly video called them and a few
moments later they answered the call and their faces popped up on my screen.

“Hey!” I smiled widely into the camera, waving at them.

“Hannah, it’s so good to see you!” My mother beamed at me while my father slipped his glasses onto his face.

“I’m sorry it’s been so long since we last video called,” I apologized sincerely.

“Don’t you worry about that,” Dad insisted, waving off my apology “You text and call us on the phone regularly enough to let us
know that you’re alright out there.”

“I know, I just… I really miss you guys, and I wouldn’t turn down a cuddle from the two of you right now.” I chuckled weakly with a
weak smile to match, suddenly feeling emotional now that I could see my parents.

“Is everything alright?” Mum asked “You’re looking a little worn out,”

“Everything’s fine, we just had a pretty drastic change of plans and you know how I get when plans are changed,” I laughed,
calming myself down a little despite not enjoying the idea of lying to my parents.

“Well tell us all about it,” Dad insisted “What’s going on?”

“Well… remember I told you about those guys that Erin and I had met?” I asked. I saw my mum suddenly get a little bit more
excited and my dad suddenly get a little tense “We’re sort of living with them for a while,”

I couldn’t tell my parents what was really going on in my life. I wasn’t about to tell them that everything supernatural was really out
there and that Erin and I were in danger while Izzy had been taken by the King of Hell, whom, oh by the way, we’re freakin’ related
to, so a hunter and an angel have moved us into the Men of Letter’s bunker so that we can be kept safe from the danger that is
now starting to take over our lives, and the only other precaution we can take is to become hunters ourselves.

“What do you mean you’re living with them?” Dad asked, grumbling almost angrily.

I took a deep breath and gave them my best, false explanation of what was going on here.

___________________________________________________________________________________



Third Person

Castiel had gotten back to the bunker rather late at night and found Hannah in her bedroom. Her hair was still damp from the
shower that she had just taken and she was dressed in a pair of shorts and a loose-fitting tank top as pyjamas and she was sitting
against the headboard of the bed with her laptop in front of her – the light from the screen illuminating her face in the dimly-lit room.

Hannah moved over slightly on the bed to create a space for Cas and she patted the space next to her and gestured for him to sit
down. He quickly removed his trench coat and his shoes, loosened his tie and them sat next to Hannah on the bed and dared to
take a look at the webpage she was looking at on her laptop.

“What are you reading?” Castiel asked, glancing at her face.

“Scottish lore,” She answered, closing the laptop and putting it down on the floor “I was doing some research earlier when I got
back and I found a lot of books and even some journals and had a whole load of information on Scottish lore,” Castiel smiled at her,
noticing how her eyes lit up when she started to talk about things that excited her “I was surprised to even find them here, but
when I started reading them I was pretty shocked to find out that almost every single story I was told about Scottish creatures
when I was a kid, were actually true.”

“Could you tell me about them?” He asked her, shuffling down slightly so that he was lounging a little more comfortably.

“Really?” Hannah asked, shifting her position, too, so that she could lean her head on his shoulder “You want to hear about stupid
Scottish lore?”

“It’s not stupid when it’s something that you enjoy, Hannah. I would love to learn about it all from you,”

Hannah was beaming and radiating with excitement at the opportunity to teach an angel. She had a feeling that he already knew
some things, but outside of Scotland not very many people talk about Scotland so she was jumping at the chance.

“Have you ever heard of Kelpies before?” She asked, and Castiel shook his head, resting it on top of hers “Well, they’re
supernatural water horses that haunt Scotland’s lochs and lonely rivers. Kelpies would appear to victims as a lost, dark grey or
white pony but could be identified by its constantly dripping mane. It would entice people to ride on its back, before taking them
down to a watery grave – drowning them,”

“I’ve heard of Selkies before, what are those?” He asked.

“Selkies are creatures who can transform themselves from seal to human form and back again. Tales once abounded of a man
who found a beautiful female Selkie sunbathing on a beach, stole her skin and forced her to become his wife and bear his children,
only for her to find the skin years later and escape back to the sea. Selkie’s who had suffered this way always loved their children,
and sometimes, after they had escaped back to the sea you could see them playing with their children in shallow waters.”

Scottish women are fascinating,” Castiel commented with a smile, looking down at Hannah.

“Well you’re going to love hearing about the bean-sidhe – Banshee. They warn selected members of ancient Scottish and Irish
families of the time of their death. Tradidion said that the banshee was said to only cry for four major families but the list was
extended due to marriage. She wears a hooded cloak or a grave robe meant for the unshriven dead. They can come in the form of
a young woman, a rich middle-aged matron or a fragile old woman. Another form is a bean-nighe which means ‘Washing Woman’
and in this form she is seen washing the bloodstains out of the fated persons clothing. They’re rarely seen but always heard, her
mourning call is often at night when someone is about to die. The quality of her voice varies from region to region Some describe it
as ‘low and pleasant’ which can be used to comfort people or generally just to make them feel good and others say it is a ‘mix of a
wail of a woman and a moan of an animal’ which can hypnotize many people. Some also take to singing well-known Scottish
songs to do the work, and put power into it without changing the sound.”

“What song might they sing?” Castiel asked, feeling himself relax with each passing second that Hannah spoke.

“Well, it would be something well known… like ‘The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond,”

“I’m not familiar with that song, could you sing it to me?”

Hannah took a breath, and with a soft, quiet voice she started to sing the lyrics to one of the most well-know, traditional Scottish
songs ever written.

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,

Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,
Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
O ye'll take the high road, and I'll take the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye,
but me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
'Twas there that we parted, in yon shady glen,
On the steep, steep sides of Ben Lomond,
Where, in purple hue, the highland hills we view,
And the moon coming out in the gloaming.
O ye'll take the high road, and I'll take the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye,
but me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.
The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring,
And in sunshine waters lie sleeping.
But the broken heart it kens, nae second spring again,
Though the waeful may cease frae their greeting.
O ye'll take the high road, and I'll take the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye,
but me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

Notes