~XIV~ – Mystery Solved (Sort Of)

"Thank you," I tell Alona sincerely. We're in the middle of a clearing, and it's still night. "I knew you would answer."

"You're lucky that I do."

"I'm also grateful."

"What are you getting yourself into, Vera?"

"I'm doing my part in helping save the world."

"No, you're running around with hunters and their demon pet."

Ruby would definitely hate to be called that. She hated me calling her a dog the first time we met. "Who are doing all that they can to save the world."

"Oh, really? If that's the case, how come Lilith hasn't been stopped yet by them? How come you haven't been actively searching for her like we have?"

"I..."

"That's what I thought." Alona shakes her head. "Vera..."

"Are you going to bash me for my involvement with them, too? Castiel and Uriel did a good enough job on their own." I frown. "I'm still doing what Heaven is asking. I'm just doing it in a more...unconventional way."

"This isn't a game, Vera! The world is at stake! And here you are, working with hunters that are capable of murdering you!"

"They wouldn't do that. They don't know how to kill us, Alona."

"But they will. And once they do, you don't think they won't try to kill you?" She raises a brow.

"They won't," I insist. "They're...they're good people. Flawed, sure, but they're good people. They're doing one of the hardest jobs in the world. They fight a hidden war that's not seen by human eyes! They're...they're my friends, Alona."

"By 'they' you're including the demon too?"

"How do you know about her?"

"Angel radio, which you haven't been tuned into, apparently."

"It's too much chatter. I don't like it clogging up my mind. I really do appreciate you pulling me out of that, Alona."

"Don't expect me to do something like this for you again. Once someone finds out, I'll get heat for it. What will happen to me, I can only begin to guess. If I'm lucky, I'll get off with a warning, no punishment. But..."

"But what?"

"With your recent antics, it's...We always knew you wouldn't conform to Heaven's orders. But what you're doing, Vera...it's practically criminal."

"Criminal?" My eyes widen. "How are my actions criminal?"

"You've basically gone rogue. You don't heed any orders from your brethren, or Heaven. And I don't need to repeat myself about your...relationship with the Winchesters."

"If I'm considered a criminal to Heaven, then why haven't you turned me over?" I cross my arms.

"You're my friend," she states. "My friend who has never followed anyone's rules except her own."

"You can do that, too, Alona."

"You know that I can't."

Vera? It's Sam. Vera, hey, I hope you're alright. Try and find us when you can. We just made a major breakthrough with Anna. You need to be here to see for yourself.

"Vera?" Alona asks.

"Message," I say distractedly.

"A Winchester?"

"Lucky guess?"

Alona waves her hand at me. "Go. I'll take the consequences for this one. I won't bail you out from this point on."

"You will," I tease her.

Alona scowls. "I won't."

"You will, because we're friends."

"Are you strong enough to teleport on your own?"

"We'll see in a second. Goodbye, Alona. Until the next bailout."

"I won't do it, Vera!"

I chuckle as I teleport and hone in on the Winchesters' location.

My landing is a little wobbly, but nevertheless I make it. I feel a little nauseous too. I recognize the familiar lineup of homeless, beat up vehicles. I've been here before. I find my way out of the yard before I find myself inside of the house.

"We're in the library," calls out an unfamiliar female voice the second I step inside the house.

I make my way through the kitchen and find myself in the library. Ruby, Anna, Sam, Dean, and a dark-haired woman wearing some sort of contraption over her eyes are already inside. The woman is tense.

"You got my message, good," Sam breathes. "You good, Vera?"

"A little weak, but I'll recover. So, what's this news that I needed to be here to believe?"

Sam looks at Anna, and she looks at me.

"I'm an angel."

I certainly dropped the ball on that one. It makes sense. She can hear the angel radio. She can sense when angels are coming. It's how she knew how to banish Uriel, Castiel, and myself at the cabin.

"You should have told us, feathers," Ruby comments.

"I didn't know," I snap defensively.

"Don't be afraid, I'm not like the others," says Anna.

"I don't find that very reassuring," says Ruby. "I trust Vera more than you."

It's the first time she's used my actual name out loud. To be truthful, it's a bit of a surprise to hear out of her mouth.

"Neither do I," says the woman.

"An angel is why you're like that?" I ask the woman.

"Burned out my eyes, the asshole. Name's Pamela, by the way."

"Vera." I clear my throat. "Whoever caused that, I apologize."

"Don't apologize for what they did. If you did it, then I would accept it. But until I hear it from the ass himself, I'm not accepting it."

"So...Castiel, Uriel—they're the ones that came for me?" Anna asks.

"You know them?" asks Sam.

"We were kind of in the same foxhole."

"So, what, were they like your bosses or something?" asks Dean.

"Try the other way around."

"Look at you."

"But now they want to kill you?" Pamela asks Anna.

"Orders are orders," Anna says. "I'm sure I have a death sentence on my head."

"Why?"

"I disobeyed...which, for us, is about the worst thing you can do. I fell." Anna looks at me seriously, and I begin to wonder about my fate. I've disobeyed, so how come I haven't fallen? Maybe I've fallen through the cracks and avoided that part?

"Meaning?" asks Dean.

"She fell to Earth, became human," Pamela explains.

"Wait a minute," Sam cuts in. "I don't understand. So, angels can just become human?"

"It kind of hurts," Anna says. "Try cutting your kidney out with a butter knife. That kind of hurt. I ripped out my Grace."

"Come again?" asks Dean.

"My Grace. It's...energy. Hacked it out and fell. My mother, Amy, couldn't get pregnant. Always called me her little miracle. She had no idea how right she was."

"So, you just forgot that you were God's little Power Ranger?"

"The older I got, the longer I was human, yeah."

"I don't think you all appreciate how completely screwed we are," Ruby comments.

"Ruby's right. Heaven wants me dead."

"And Hell just wants her. A flesh-and-blood angel that you can question, torture, that bleeds. Sister, you're the Stanley Cup. And sooner or later, Heaven or Hell, they're gonna find you."

"I know. And that's why I'm gonna get it back."

"What?" asks Sam.

"My Grace."

"You can do that?" asks Dean.

"If I can find it."

"So, what, you're just gonna take some divine bong hit, and, shazam, you're Roma Downey?"

"Something like that."

"Alright. I like this plan. So, where's this Grace of yours?"

"Lost track. I was falling about ten-thousand miles per hour at the time."

"Wait," Sam cuts in again. "You mean falling, like, literally?"

"What else would she mean, Sam?" I retort.

"Like the way a human eye can see? Like a comet, maybe, or a meteor?"

"Why do you ask?" says Anna.

* * *

Sam doesn't leave the library; he's up to his eyeballs in books and magazines. What he's looking for, I don't know. I know that he doesn't stop to take a break. He doesn't eat, doesn't drink, and doesn't use the bathroom. It's astounding, the concentration he has. It's also a tad bit worrying.

"You think these are the keys to finding Anna's Grace?" I ask him, touching pages of the closest books. Some have dust on them. I try to hold in the sneezes. Stupid vessel allergies.

"I saw something in one of these, it might help us find it," Sam says half-heartedly.

"You might want to dial the concentration down a bit, Samuel," I tell him gently.

"You haven't used that name for me in a long time. I thought you did only when you were mad at me?"

"I have no reason to be mad at you. Can I help in any way?"

"Look for anything that involves a meteor, or a comet. Something like that."

"Which have you already looked through?"

"Um, good question." He rubs the back of his head. "I've been at this for so long I guess I should have made a 'read' pile."

"It would have been a smart idea."

"Hey, Vera."

"Yes?" I pick up the nearest book and flip through the pages.

"Can't you track Anna's Grace?"

"Angels can do many things, but I believe tracking another's Grace isn't one of those abilities. Nothing here." I shut the book and move onto the next.

"Are you sure you're good, Vera?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Where did you go when Anna sent you away?"

"Wherever she sent Uriel and Castiel, I was there."

"What happened then?"

"Just talk, almost the start of another fight. I got myself out."

"Got a nerd study session going on here?" Ruby interrupts our researching as she walks into the library.

"You might want to get him to stop," I tell her. "He's been at this for hours and has come back with nothing."

"He won't stop until he comes back with something."

"You're not wrong."

"Hey, look at that! We agree on something, again! Yikes, it is the potential end of the world."

I roll my eyes.