Project Reaper

11. An Ending

"Asterin, what the hell was all that?" Sam asked.

"I don't know."

"Asterin Haley, you're lying to me."

Asterin pinched the bridge of her nose as she was sitting by Sam at Bobby's table. Neither of them could sleep after what had happened earlier that day. "Look, if we're gonna bicker, we should go outside. So we don't wake anyone when we yell at each other."

"Ash, I'm not-"

"I know how these 'conversations' work. They start with us being passive aggressive, being sarcastic, and then they inevitably escalate to yelling. So march your ass outside so we can have a mostly civilized talk."

The twins walked outside, and after distancing themselves from the house enough so the people sleeping inside wouldn't be woken by them. "So..." Sam asked, holding his hands out, wanting an explanation.

"Look, ten months ago, I was killed by hellhounds."

"Yeah, I gathered as much."

"Don't interrupt me. I was killed by hellhounds and dragged down to hell. I stayed there for...God, I don't know how long. I think Lucifer said 100 years? I dunno, time got screwy. When I first got back, that was the day I was raised. Halfway through my drive back here, I stopped at a motel. Got jumped. Got him to leave, but dude got my shoulder. When I was stitching myself up, there was this silvery light. It did the stitching for me."
"And, what, you didn't think to tell us?"

"It never came up? Look, it wasn't a problem when you didn't know about it. I was perfectly fine with not knowing why I had abilities, now I'm just a reverse demon freak!" She threw her hands into the air, obviously frustrated.

Sam hesitated, but took a step towards Ash. Seeing how she didn't react, he stepped again, pulling her in for a hug that they both needed. "So what if you're a freak? We all are in this family."

____

During the rest of the invasion, Castiel and Asterin remained together, watching each other's backs. She largely ignored the chatter over the coms, until-

"Winchester, do you copy?"

Shit.

"Fury?"

"There's a Nuke set to hit the city. Three minutes at best, Stark's on it, make sure nothing takes him down."

"Copy that." She spread her wings again. Cas looked at her. "Stark needs backup. You can keep helping everyone here." He nodded.

"Be careful."

"You too." She thrust down her wings, taking flight. She flew above the skyline, dodging Chitauri hovercraft, and she spotted Stark flying across the city, aiming for a nuke. "Stark! Behind!" she yelled, propelling herself forward to take out the hover. She landed, her blade falling from her sleeve as she stabbed the pilot and the gunner before leaping to fly again.

"Thanks! Keep them off my tail!"

"That's the plan!" She dodged an energy blast, and pulled out her pistol. She scanned the area, and took aim at another hover. She followed at a distance as Stark aimed for the portal.

She hovered below the portal, wings beating to keep her in place, as she watched.

"Close it," Came Cap's tired order.

The portal began to close.

But not before Stark fell back through.

"Son of a gun," Cap breathed.

Asterin realized something. "He's out!" She yelled, surging forward to catch him.

She overestimated her strength when the force of the fall and the armor came into play, and she fell with him, wings straining to carry both of them. The two tumbled to the ground less than gracefully, but they were both safe.

She placed him down and Castiel raced to her side to assure that she was alright. "I'm fine, might've pulled a muscle or something, but I'm fine."

The Hulk's roar caused them to look back, and Tony gasped on the ground. "What the hell happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me. Asterin, did anyone kiss me?"

Asterin laughed. "No one kissed you."

Cap looked at everyone who had assembled near him. "I think we won."

______

The two remaining Winchesters sat on the ground leaning against the Impala in a field. They hadn't left or moved since Sam had pulled Michael into the pit with him.

Neither had the energy to cry.

That had left them with the loss of their brother.

The fluttering of wings behind them alerted them to the presence of Castiel. "Dean. Asterin. Bobby is worried about you two."

"Let him worry," Dean muttered, adjusting how he was sitting to look down at Asterin, who had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

"Dean."

He looked up, anger in his eyes. He saw Castiel, who looked at him with grief in his eyes. "What."

"Please. You should go back to Bobby's house. At least get in the car. It's going to rain."

"Let it rain."

"Dean," Castiel urged again.

"Go away."

"Dean, it's time to go somewhere else," he said quietly.

Asterin whimpered in her sleep as she burrowed her face into his shoulder.

Castiel walked forward, placing his hand on her shoulder. She stopped stirring. "Dean, we need to go."

Dean sighed. "Fine."

Dean stood, gathering his sister up in his arms. Castiel put his hand on Dean's shoulder, and they appeared in Bobby's foyer. Bobby looked up from his reading. "You two look like shit."

"Happens when your brother dies." Dean walked to a couch and set down his sleeping sister before sitting across from Bobby and pouring himself a drink.

"What now?"

"He wanted me to get out."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Get out, I guess."

"And Ash?"

Dean took a drink. "Dunno. I think Sam left her something, I don't know if he told her to get out, though."

Bobby drank. "Dean...when you died, it did something to your sister. I'm worried about what Sam's going to do to her."

Dean creased his eyebrows. "What happened?"

"She stopped talking after Sam left."

"What?"

"Remember how she doesn't talk unless necessary sometimes? Dean, she barely talked in those months that you were dead."

_____

Little shorter this time.  Hope you guys enjoy!

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