ZEN i [JACK KLINE]

E I G H T E E N

18| F A M I L Y T R E E

CASTIEL LOOKS DOWN at her in shock. He never would have seen this question coming. Zen looks up at him expectantly. She needed to know about her heritage.

Castiel went to object but she cut him off. " Listen, I know I told you never to tell me. But that was before I found out about everything else.", she says. Castiel looks at her unconvinced and she pleads again.

Castiel sighed. " Zenja, your family history is...complicated in many ways-"

" I dont care, Cas. I need to know.", She interjects.

Castiel contemplated for a minute before sighing in defeat. " Your father wasn't human.", he says.

" What?"

He looks at her sadly. " Your father wasn't human, your mother on the other hand was.", he states.

" Well...what was he?", she asks, fearing for the worst.

" He was like Jack...a nephilim.", he revealed. Zen couldn't get any words out of her mouth for she was frozen in shock. Maybe this was why she had this pull towards angels. Why she was bonded to one.

" His mother was a friend of mine, Mariel, she was one of the best warriors in the garrison. But one day she rebelled like Lucifer and fell. She loved humans more than our father...and I wouldn't blame her. Back then, I never realised how beautiful human beings actually are. I was loyal to heaven, thinking what they were doing was right...oh how wrong I was.", he mutters sadly. Zen grabs his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

He continued. " We searched everywhere for her but she was no where to be found. Years has passed and we still haven't found her so we gave up and left her alone. Everything was fine until we felt this surge power emitting from Earth. We knew a nephilim had been born."

" So we searched, but she had probably had carved their ribs with enochian sigils like what I had done with Sam and Dean. She was somewhat like you actually.", he mused. " She was smart, resourceful, and powerful. One of the reasons why we looked for her son because nephilms are more powerful than the angel that birthed it. You would think that a person this powerful could be detected from miles away.", he shakes his head. " We couldn't find him...it was like he never existed."

" Until 34 years ago...there was this great power, something we knew nothing about.", he says, looking at her. " It was you. You are a child of a nephilim and a human. Something we called a 'pueri gratiam infectae crispantur' which roughly translates to ' child of tainted grace ' in Latin. The child would be mostly human...but that was what made them even more powerful."

" You see, humans have souls, the most powerful thing in the universe...mix that with humanised angel grace and-"

" A recipe for the worst abomination yet.", Zen mutters sadly. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before continuing, " What happened to my parents?"

Castiel sighed and looked at her with regret. " Zenja, I'm so sorry..."

" What happened to them Castiel.", she looks at him with pleading eyes. " Please...I need to know."

Castiel frowns, his eyes filled with regret. " With the help of a witch we found his location, but it wasn't easy...He was living in an abandoned home in Lawrence,Kansas. The garrison sent me and a few angels to take him and his family back to heaven where he will suffer the consequences..."

Her breathe hitched on her throat as she listened to the rest of the story. " We arrived at his home...but he knew we were coming. So, he sent your mother away with you. She got away but we found her a few hours later, dead on the side of a bus station with you nowhere to be found.", he finished.

Tears were now rolling down her cheeks. " She killed herself?", she asked softly. He nodded solemnly in response.

" W-What about my father? Where is he?", she questions.

Castiel stayed silent for a minute before saying, " My orders were to send him back to heaven...but the other angels had other orders...I'm so sorry Zenja.", he looks at her regretfully.

" They killed him didn't they?", she whispers in sorrow.

He gave her a curt nod. " Before he died, he told me to find you and protect you...And I tried my best to keep that promise. I found you abandoned in an alley, where your mother had probably left you, and carved enochian sigils on your ribs and gave you a charm that could protect you from danger.", he points at the necklace she was currently wearing.

She furrows her brows and clutches the necklace curiously. Before he died, John Winchester had told her an angel was watching over her...she just didn't figure it out until now. It all made sense...why she had this connection to angels, specifically Castiel. She remembered the first time she had seem him and immediately she trusted him. Like she had seem him before...

" You saved me...", she says to him.

" I left you with the Winchesters...they saved you.", he rephrased.

Zenja tackled him in a hug, surprising him. " You saved me Cassy, and I thank you for that.", she mumbles against his chest.

" But-"

" Just accept my thanks Sasstiel and hug me.", she orders with a breathy laugh.

Castiel wraps his arms around her and kisses her head. " You're welcome, Zenja."