Errare Humanum Est - Pt.2
Q & A… or more like Q & more Q
Type: series, soulmate AU series (part 1, part 2)
x Supernatural
Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader (past?) Word count: 3050
Summary:
Team Free Will (Dean, Sam and Cas) try to explain the situation and they are not all that great at it. Your amnesia isn’t exactly helping; the words tattooed on your body might.
Warnings: swearing, mention of death, mention of blood, amnesia, Team Free Will being themselves
The briefest guide to SPN characters of Team Free Will (at the end of the post)
Story masterlist
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An ominous silence fell on the motel room for what felt like minutes. The woman was watching them with a mixture of emotions so complicated it was hard to identify them all; but there sure was fear, confusion and hope to be waking up from whatever insane dream this was.
To be fair, Sam wished for the same thing.
Neither of them had such luck.
He blinked several times, but the image remained the same. Wonderful.
“Oh. So we have a Jane Doe,” Dean stated with a sarcastic smile. “With amnesia. That’s… really great, Cas. Thanks for that.”
Both Sam and Castiel shot him a look of disapproval.
“Who are you? Why… why do I look like I’m wearing your clothes?” her trembling voice asked, her gaze shifting from one man to another.
“Cause you are wearing mine,“ Dean hummed proudly and Sam was just so done with the company he kept.
“And why can’t I… why can’t I remember anything?” she sobbed, watching them with terrified and absolutely perplexed eyes.
Sam decided to speak up before any of his tactless companions could. “We don’t know. But I promise you, we’ll do everything to help you.”
“You were… you were soaked in blood,” she choked out, her whole body shaking. Sam grimaced. Well, that… yeah, he imagined that freaked her out even more and he couldn’t blame her. Amnesia, supernatural powers on display, their pathetic explanations… “And he just… snapped his fingers and-“
“Yeah. The truth is, we didn’t quite find you on a side of the road and we’ll get to that. It’s hard to explain and I know this must be so much to wrap your head around, but like I said. We want to help you,” Sam whispered in earnest, holding her gaze and adding what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Are you… aliens?” she breathed out sheepishly, but lost the deadly grip on the covers that had been keeping her knuckles white.
Dean snorted, while Castiel simply answered her. “No. They’re humans. I’m an angel of the Lord.”
Sam hid his face in his palms and let out a silent whine.
“Are you guys crazy?” she continued her questions, eyeing them warily. Sam could tell she had no idea what to think. She had seen Castiel’s powers already. “Or are you messing with me? Am I drugged? I should probably just go-”
“You have no ID, no wallet, no memory and your face looks like you ran away from a costume party for firemen. I don’t think you should be going anywhere, sweetcheeks,” Dean deadpanned, causing the woman to inhale sharply, but not to respond as she realized she had been delivered the harsh truth.
Well, if Dean decided to be the ass of the three of them it looked like Sam had to be the nice guy; just like most of the time after all.
“Are you hungry? We can order something. And you can take a shower-“
“I could just-“ Castiel interrupted and Sam cut him off with a pointed look.
“You can take a shower. I’ll get you a clean towel, alright? And… clean clothes,” Sam hurried, reaching for something from his own-
“Dude. You have a sasquatch size. Just grab something mine… again.”
Alright, that was a good point; maybe they should have thought it through in the first place, cleaning her up with Cas powers as well before dressing her up. Well. Too late.
Sam smiled at the woman apologetically and she unsurely tried to reciprocate the gesture – it came out looking more like a grimace really, but he appreciated the effort and trust.
“You’re… you’re not gonna hurt me, are you?” she asked in weak voice, cautiously climbing from the bed.
“Don’t worry, Fire Princess,” Dean grinned at her, adding a wink and she hesitantly smiled back.
“What…? Please, don’t call me that… or that,” she murmured and Dean rolled her eyes.
“What do we call you then? Until we figure it out?” Castiel inquired gently.
“I’ll… think about it. But… I think I’d like Natasha. I don’t think it’s my name, but… I like it,” she admitted sheepishly and Sam nodded, handing her a pile of clothes and a towel with a spare toothbrush.
“Natasha it is.”
The moment the door clicked behind her, Sam sat down on the bed heavily.
“What are we gonna do?”
“I’d say drop her on the nearest police station, but…” Dean started, only for Castiel to finish.
“…I brought her back from death. I was told to bring her here and take care of her for a reason.”
Dean just pointed a finger at him, smirking as if he wanted to say ‘exactly’.
“And what the reason might be?” Sam asked, not expecting an answer at all. They never got the answers they wanted.
“I don’t know. But…”
“But? Cas?”
Castiel frowned, staring in the direction of the bathroom as if he could see through, watching the woman and hoping to figure her out. The shower started running and Castiel’s gaze shifted back to Sam and Dean.
“But she has a soulmark.”
“A what now?” Dean asked, his forehead crinkled in confusion.
“She has a soulmate?” Sam blurted out, pleasantly surprised for multiple reasons.
That could be a great clue! And also a bummer, because there was someone out there, who had lost their soulmate to what could be a house fire. Sam always liked the idea of the soul bond, rather wounded he didn’t have a soulmate himself. Seeing what he did for living though, it was probably for the best.
“I thought soulmates were just a fairy tale,” Dean exclaimed, dubious. “You’re telling me it’s a thing? Because cupids aren’t enough?”
“Pretty common, actually,” Sam sassed him, remembering the one time they had encountered with a cupid… and Dean punched him in his face. Good times.
“Can you use the mark to find her soulmate?” Sam queried, hopeful.
When Castiel sighed in response, the brothers got their answer.
“I can’t, unfortunately.”
“Of course it doesn’t work like that,” Dean muttered under his breath, falling backwards into his own bed. Right. Beds. There were only two. Shit. The couch in the room was tiny. Plus, she might not be comfortable sleeping in the same room as them – not that she would get a choice. God, Sam just wanted to sleep.
“We’ll figure it out,” Sam groaned, running his hand down his face. “In the morning.”
“You think she’s gonna sleep?” Dean questioned, making space between his feet to see Sam when he raised his head.
“Doubt it, actually. We should prepare for the ‘monsters are real’ talk.”
Dean whined.
“If don’t want to do it, I can-“
“No!” the brothers cried out in unison, causing Castiel to flinch.
“But... you should stay here for it. ‘Cause angels? Good impression. Ever when they can be dicks…” Dean added and Sam rolled his eyes, the corners of his lips twitching. “Hey, can’t you search her mind or something? That would be helpful!”
“I can try,” Castiel replied in mild voice. Sam didn’t believe it could be so easy, but hey, there was usually no harm in trying, right? “Even though I doubt it will work either.”
“Yeah, because that would be too easy.”
“We’ll see,” Sam breathed out, lost in thoughts. Soulmates. What a case. “We need to not to break her trust first.”
“Looking forward to it,” Dean remarked sarcastically as he went to the fridge for a beer and Sam couldn’t quite blame him.
Yeah, he did too.
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She took her time with cleaning up – not that Sam could blame her. He was confident she was also trying to reconcile with what she had learned so far and mostly with what she hadn’t. They all had been there, having their brain scrambled in some way and they knew it wasn’t exactly walk in a park.
While Dean and Castiel went hunting for food, Sam busied himself with searching information on soulmates so he wouldn’t fall asleep. They had never encountered such thing before, which was about as convenient as surprising; after all, soulmates weren’t that rare. He even tried to look into some websites that claimed to be able to find one’s soulmate when being told their words. Hell, Sam even started considering finding one of those dubious forums in which people posted ideas about their other half’s expected words based on the ones they had on their skin.
Of course, they didn’t know Natasha’s words yet.
She emerged from the bathroom, steam following her. Her hair was dripping wet, her figure swimming in Dean’s clothes. Sam attempted not to think about the lack of undergarment; they would have to go shopping. A lot.
The woman smiled at him reluctantly, the gesture not quite reaching her red-rimmed eyes. Sam’s heart clenched; she had been crying in the shower.
“I’m sorry if I took too long,” she murmured, her voice weak.
Sam just shook his head, returning the smile. “That’s fine. How do you feel?”
‘Natasha’ gave an uncertain shrug. “Better than before the shower. I… uhm, I found out I have tattoos. Do you think it might be helpful?”
Before Sam could process her words, Dean and Castiel returned with the groceries.
“Hey. How we’re doing? Magically remembered everything? Please tell me you did…” Dean hummed, clearly not serious. Sam shot him a withering look and he grinned in return. “No? Sorry, just had to make sure…”
Castiel put the plastic bags down, meeting Natasha’s gaze. “We weren’t sure about what you’d like… we have both, the good stuff as Dean calls it and ‘rabbit food’.”
Sam rolled his eyes, not at all surprised at the woman’s confused gaze.
“He means fruit and vegetables.”
“Oh. Thank you. I… I’m not sure either,” she admitted with a sigh, her eyes getting glassy.
Sam quickly cleared his throat, hoping to stop the waterfalls before they could start. “What were you saying before?”
“Uh, the tattoos, yes. I have them on my collarbones, one at each,” she explained, unbuttoning the upper part of the plaid shirt, enough to be able to show them and stay decent at the same time.
Sam’s mind raced as he exchanged looks with the other men. Two soulmarks then? What exactly that meant? Why couldn’t simply have an easy case for once?
Oblivious to their inner mussing, Natasha carefully pulled at the collar, revealing a set of crossed out words. The line over them surprised Sam the most as he reluctantly came closer to read the words.
“But I really am 95,” Sam read out loud, perplexed. Well. He turned to Dean and Cas before looking at Natasha. “Ideas? Anyone?”
“We might have a case of gerontophilia at our hands,” Castiel offered flatly and Sam grimaced. Please let him be wrong. “Or it could mean anything else. A hotel room number, a locker room number, order number in a fast food. Literally anything.”
Sam internally whined in frustration; he couldn’t tell which option he liked better. The one that she had been with someone that old or that this was zero clue.
Natasha sighed and showed Sam the other mark. “I hate dreams like this. Huh.”
“Cause that’s really telling,” Dean stated sarcastically, opening another bottle of beer.
“Why would I have tattoos like these?”
Sam’s eyebrows shot up. She didn’t know about soulmates either.
“It’s not a tattoo, not really. You were born with these – or people who have them usually are,” Sam explained, distancing himself to left her some personal space. It gave him a perfect view of her confused frown.
“I don’t understand.”
“The lines you have written on your body – they are called soulmarks. These are the first words your soulmate told you – or will tell you,” Castiel interjected softly and Natasha’s lips parted.
Sam gulped when her eyes went wide. Did she understand what it meant? Did she have any clue what was the meaning of the word ‘soulmate’ in the first place?
“Soulmates are real?!” she breathed out, astounded. “Like… someone perfect for each of us, but… actually real? These words will help me find them? That’s…” she chuckled incredulously, not noticing their stares. So she did have an idea of what a soulmate meant. “Why do I have two? Why is this one… crossed out?”
“Well, not to be a party pooper, but I’d blame dying, that might be it,” Dean suggested bluntly and Sam mentally rolled his eyes.
Sure, Dean, why beat around the bush…
“Oh?” her face visibly saddened, but then she revealed her uncrossed words. “So why do I have this one? Does that… does that mean that I have… another soulmate? Is that even possible?”
“Or you could meet your original one, supposedly for the first time, since you don’t remember… can I see both of those at once?” Sam scooted closer again, intrigued.
He squinted at the marks. It might have been only a wishful thinking, but… the handwriting looked similar.
“It looks like it’s written by one person,” the younger hunter stated, casting a questioning gaze towards Castiel. “What do you think?”
“Well, it is… unusual for a person to have two soulmates. It is not unheard of, but I only saw it few times in thousands of years of my existence, so it might be just another of their first meetings. Just like Sam said, if you don’t remember them…”
Natasha’s brows furrowed. “Firstly – is that my soulmate’s handwriting? That’s so freaking cool. Secondly… you’re that old? I mean… thousands of years?”
“Well, I am an angel,” Castiel reminded her with a gentle smile and she just shook her head, incredulous.
“Says the girl who has ‘But I’m really 95’ on her,” Dean teased her, wiggling his eyebrows.
“I don’t think I’d be with someone who is-“
The thought struck Sam with a force of a train.
“Maybe they’re not human? I mean, that would explain why you were told to bring her back, right? This might be important-”
“What do you mean that they’re not human? Like an angel then? And bring me back? Bring me back from where?” Natasha took a step back, watching them with sudden wariness.
“Oh, there are many different unhuman things alright.”
“…the death,” said Castiel at the same time and Sam seriously considered having them signed up for some course in communication. How about breaking things to her slowly?!
“I beg your pardon?”
“You’ve been dead, Natasha. I’ve been tasked to bring your soul back from Heaven,” Castiel continued, oblivious to Sam’s exasperation, but at least his voice sounded more… patient. “And we don’t know why.”
“Until now. This might be a thing,” Sam added with a sigh, watching her squirm uncomfortably as she buttoned up the shirt again, looking as if she wished for the fabric to hide all of her.
“I… I was… dead? In… in H-heaven?”
“Yeah,” Sam confirmed, closely inspecting her reaction just in case she was about to a) run away or b) pass out. “We think you died in a house fire or something of that sort.”
Her face suddenly lacked colour so laboriously earned in the hot shower. Her voice was dull, emotionless. “That’s why I was… dirty.”
“And naked.”
“Dean…” Sam scolded him tiredly and his brother shrugged innocently.
“What? She was!”
Luckily – or unfortunately – Natasha chose to ignore the additional information. “I was dead?”
“Hey, that’s okay. It happens. I was dead too,” Dean informed her swiftly, causing her eyes to bulge, and not caring for boundaries he made her way to her and patted her shoulder. She didn’t even flinch when he touched her.
Apparently, openness worked as much as Sam’s lets-break-it-to-her-slowly approach. Huh. Who would have thought…. perhaps it was the combination. There was a reason they always played the good cop-bad cop combo.
“What?! Really?”
“Actually… so was Sam,” Dean pointed at the younger brother, unfazed. “But I made a deal with a demon, which caused me to die and go to Hell, literally, but Cas brought my soul back, much like he did with yours-“
“I was dead too at some point,” Castiel supplied helpfully.
That had the woman finally freeze, blank stare her only reaction. Sam threw his hands in the air. “Really, guys?”
“I’m afraid we broke her.”
“No kidding.“ Sam shot both Castiel and Dean a murderous glare before shifting his attention back to the woman. “Hey, Natasha, you okay? I know this is a lot to take in-“
“Everyone in this room was dead at some point?!” she yelped, her voice unnaturally high-pitched, making everyone flinch. Sam worried his bottom lip with his teeth, dreading her reaction.
“…yeah. The world is a much stranger place then you were led to believe.”
“Not that I remember much from that…” she huffed, sitting down to a couch heavily.
“Yeah, about that. We thought Castiel could try a thing,” Sam remembered, smiling reassuringly when Natasha eyed the angel warily.
“A… a thing?”
“I’d like to try and look inside your mind,” Castiel explained, slowly approaching her, the coat dancing around his feet. “To see if I can do anything about the amnesia or at least find a clue that would lead us to someone who knew you.”
Natasha opened her mouth, no sound coming out for a while. Then she shook her head as if she was trying to get rid of some annoying thought.
“O-okay. I guess… it’s not gonna kill me again, is it?” she joked, her voice too anxious for anyone to actually laugh.
“No. Believe me, if I meet an obstacle and the only way of overcoming it would mean hurting you, I’ll stop. You can trust me, Natasha. I have no reason to cause you any harm.”
Sam was impressed; that was a good speech. Wow. Dean had been right. Angels = good impressions
“Okay. I trust you, Castiel. Do your… thing.”
Cas nodded and smiled at her briefly before placing his hands to hover next to her temples. She automatically closed her eyes with a deep inhale.
“Alright. Tell me if anything hurts…”
The familiar glow of angel grace wrapped her scalp. The brothers held their breath, eyes flickering between the angel and the woman.
Natasha’s features hardened, but she didn’t let out a sound. If she was in pain, it was either bearable or paralysing. Sam really hoped for the first option.
It didn’t even take a minute. Castiel’s hands fell to his sides and he stepped back, his lips in a frustrated line.
“Nothing?” Dean wanted to know, but they all both had a hunch that the question was rhetorical. The answer was written all over Castiel’s face.
The angel only shook his head. “No. Nothing.”
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Part 3
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I’m having fun... are you? ;) Thank you for reading!
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ღ
meme → peek into my character’s past!
topic → ღ for a drabble about a romance/their love life
what business? → queries
notes → I’m cheating a little bit because it isn’t directly romantic yet, but I wanted something where we got Kaz’s perspective of a scene from canon and I feel like seeing it would be really interesting. Also this is a canon memory, because I thought it would be more fun.
warnings → Pretty frank discussion of sex and sex work, as well as slavery
It almost made him angry, that someone had managed to sneak up on Kaz. Almost.
Although he’d been good with numbers and memorization, being so observant had been a learned skill. No one could see everything at all times, but Kaz had done a good job of faking it, convincing everyone nothing happened in the Barrel without his knowing.
Except, apparently, she had.
The Menagerie wasn’t a place Kaz frequented for the girls - though he had seen, on occasion, the way they had looked at him. No, it was the information they could share with him that Kaz had been interested in, and he hated that he had to pay that bitch Heleen for it. She charged too much, and he didn’t like the way she leered at him, the way she’d lean over to show cleavage in the hopes she could catch him like a flailing fish on a hook. But it was one of the nicest brothels - if you could call a brothel nice - which meant it had the wealthiest of the city there on a regular basis.
He had been in the building for that very reason when the Lynx - as he’d known her then - had come up behind him. Snuck up on him like a ghost, practically, despite the bells on her ankles and ridiculous spots painted on her shoulders. And so much silk. I can help you.
After that, he’d gone digging, trying to find information about her. He’d stolen a ledger from Heleen’s office - although she used false names for her girls, she had their true names written in there, and it was Inej Ghafa. He learned that she’d been procured by a group that brought in indentures - a fancy word for slaves, in Ketterdam. Little information else, but enough to go off of. The Suli had performers - he suspected she was one. Had been.
Convincing Haskell to take the risk and buy out her indenture was another difficulty, but nothing that Kaz couldn’t manage. He could smooth Haskell’s feathers, and he had a good feeling about her - even if, perhaps, it was a feeling built upon the knowledge that she had been like him. Someone alone in Ketterdam. Someone who could become dangerous.
So, after the old crow was convinced, Kaz returned to the Menagerie a week later to settle up with Heleen. “I don’t have anything new for you, Mr. Brekker.” Heleen cooed in the manner she always did. Kaz grimaced, all the more disgusted by the woman every time he saw her. It wasn’t just his disdain for touch - it was that Kaz knew she only was interested for the power he held. And he certainly was not about to share.
“I’m not here for information.” He said. He noticed how two of the girls in the parlor, lounging in colorful silks - one of whom wore rabbit ears, this place was truly ludicrous - seemed to pay attention now. “I’m here for a girl.”
“Oh?” Heleen asked. It was practically as if her eyes had lit up with a fervent glow, excitement obvious. The woman’s greed for power might’ve rivaled his own. She waved forward, and the two girls stood, leaning against the counter and too close to him for comfort. A Shu girl with glittering golden eyes, and one with vibrant red hair from the Wandering Isle. The Wandering Isle girl stroked a hand along his spine and Kaz moved away, trying to cover his revulsion to the touch with a growl of annoyance. The woman’s face was struck with terror - although not towards him, he noticed. No - she was looking at Heleen, afraid of what she’d do if a client was not interested in her.
In that moment, Kaz felt - well, not pity. But he recognized the desperation in these women. It wasn’t just her Lynx who had been ‘indentures’, Kaz supposed. “I know which one I want.” He said. The words felt sick in his mouth - the trade of bodies was not one he took part in, nor wanted to. The girls moved back to their couch, but a sickly smile still played on Heleen’s face. “The - ” He paused, a sneer on his face at the animal names of the girls. Who wanted to fuck an animal? Even if he’d been interested in whores, he certainly wouldn’t want to bed a mare or a fawn. “The Lynx.”
Heleen seemed, perhaps, mildly surprised. Kaz supposed that made sense - she had been lovely, but there were others at the Menagerie who were more... Typical feminine forms. There was no rich hourglass figure or pouting lips, and although she certainly hadn’t had a flat chest, she wasn’t endowed in the ways of the other women there. She was, in a word, petite. It perhaps might not have been what men looked for at the Menagerie, but for his purposes, she was perfect.
“Of course, Mr. Brekker.” She said. “One of the girls here will guide you. She is quite flexible, and I am told she is excellent at -”
“No.” Kaz stopped her abruptly, the tip of his cane dropping at her feet. He wasn’t looking for that, and moreover, he didn’t want to hear all about his potential employee’s... Escapades. Least of all when they weren’t consensual. “Not for a night.”
He pulled out a stack of Kruge, setting it down on the counter with one precise and gloved hand. “She will now be under the employ of Per Haskell. I’m buying out her indenture.”
Heleen just gaped at him, and looked like she wanted to argue, but picked up the stack of bills. Kaz knew she would want to haggle, get a better price, but he knew the possibility of getting on the Dregs’ bad side was too much of a risk. “Right this way.” She seemed to stutter, sending one of the other girls to fetch Inej as she led him to the parlor.
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