Lucifer Chronicles

Important

Ariel was behind the wheel, as music blared around them. 

Erin finally turned the music down and looked at her friend. "You want to talk about what happened back there?" 

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ariel shrugged, keeping her eyes on the road.

"Oh, cut the Winchester 'we don't talk about our feelings' bullshit." Erin scoffed. "You would have LOVED to stay and have dinner and see Dean being a family man. So why did you leave so fast?" 

Ariel glanced out her door window, then back to the road, groaning. "Okay, fine. It took Sam and I dying for Dean to get away and find happiness. He finally got out of the hunting life, that we kept him in." 

Erin made a guttural noise of disappointment. "You are really dumb sometimes."

"Wha-" Ariel's jaw dropped. 

"You think you and Sam dying brought Dean true happiness? The man was tortured. He was so torn up about it. The happiness he found with Lisa is a different kind. he found someone to help him grieve. If you and Sam came back and asked him to go back on the road, he would in a heartbeat. He's mourning his old life, but keeping it locked up in his own dean way." 

"When did you get so wise?" Ariel asked, smiling gratefully. 

6 months. 6 months of shitty motels and diner food. 6 months of trying to be just like Sam and Dean. Patching each other up when things didn't go according to plan, and calling Castiel when things really didn't go according to plan. 

Castiel wasn't happy with them, or more Ariel, hunting alone. But he had his own issues he had to deal with in Heaven. He checked in often, but still worried nonetheless. 

6 months had passed, and Erin's heart never stopped yearning for her husband. All she wanted to do was bring him back. Several times while Ariel was asleep, Erin tried to summon a crossroads demon, hoping to make a deal. But every time Crowley showed up, and every time he brought her right back to Ariel. 

Over the past, 6 months, Ariel and Crowley grew a very interesting bond, that she kept a secret from Castiel. It was only a friendship, and nothing more, but she knew it would only make Castiel angry. Erin knew it'd only ever be a friendship, because Ariel's soul was tied to another, but she still worried about keeping a demon so close. She thought it felt oddly similar to Ruby, and she didn't want to go down that path again. 

They promised to keep in touch with Dean, but didn't really. They called about once a month, if that. They usually called Bobby about once a day, and visited often. Turns out Dean didn't talk to him much either. 

"Uh, hey." Ariel greeted as she walked into their room holding food. She set it on the table and sat  next to Erin, who was looking at something on Sam's laptop. 

"Yeah?" Erin glanced across the table at the redhead, closing the laptop. 

"You know how I've been keeping an eye on Dean's town, you know, just in case?" 

"Uh huh." Erin sat up straighter, waiting for the news to drop. 

"I think we need to make a trip, just to calm my mind." 

They pulled up outside Dean's house, only to find a man dead on the front lawn, and the house empty. 

"Oh god. Oh god. Lisa and Ben, they would have been in there. Where are they?" Ariel panicked. There was no way Dean would have let anything happen to them. She ran into the house, Erin in tow, as they tried to find any clues. 

"He probably took them and ran at the first sign of trouble." But Erin knew she was only trying to convince herself as much as she was Ariel. 

"Lisa?" They heard shouts as the front door was pulled open. "Ben!" A flash light shone into the room they were in. Their hands flew up when they saw a gun pointed at their faces. 

"Dean! It us!" Ariel shouted. 

"Put the gun down!" Erin lowered her hands. 

Dean lowered his gun, before quickly pulling out his phone to call Lisa. 

Before it rang, Lisa and Ben walked in, and Dean pulled them into a very tight hug. 

"Go upstairs, pack a bag. We're going to a friends." Dean pushed Ben, who froze when a man came from the shadows. 

"Um..." Ben backed away slowly. 

Erin turned to see what they were looking at and dropped the gun that was in her hand. "Oh. Oh my god." She gasped. 

"Sam?" Ariel asked slowly approaching him. 

"Stop!" Erin called out. "That's not him, that's not Sam. It's not him." 

"Yes, it is." Sam stepped towards her, arms open wide. "Erin, its me." 

"Lets go upstairs and get that bag packed." Ariel led Ben upstairs, Dean following with Lisa to give them some space. 

"No, no it can't be." She began to sob, as Sam pulled her into his arms, hugging her very loosely. "Its not." 

From and outside view, it looked like Erin was sobbing because she was glad to have Sam back. But from the inside, Erin was sobbing because her soul wasn't pulling towards him like it used to. There was nothing, and she was afraid it was because Lucifer was gone.