Warnings: Original and Unoriginal Content/Dialogue, Errors of Any Kind, Long Chapter Ahead Peoples and Many More to Come, Unoriginal Not-So-Important Various Character Introductions, Difficulty With Some Descriptions of Character Appearances/Scenery, Possibility of Incorrect Information, Possibility of Out-of-Character Moments, Low Possibility of Unrealistic Actions or Reactions, High Possibility of Realistic Actions or Reactions, Some Violence, Few Scenes From Episode Are Missing, Character Death of Characters We Don't Care Much About (Forgot To List This Last One Previously For Roy's Death; Might Not Continue With Listing This Because This Is Supernatural, Several Someones Die Almost Every Episode), Changes Were Made to Episode (Placement of Buildings or Objects May Be Different to Better Fit Within Chapter, Etc.), Originality May Get A Little Effy Towards The End
The description of this fanfiction has been changed to better fit what this fanfiction is about. And this fanfiction is mainly about Riley Piers and Selena Grant being hunters. Although Juliet Grant will eventually become a starring character in this fanfiction, I did not mention her in the description due to limits for words and due to the fact that she will not be shown often for a while now (these first two seasons). Additionally, this is the only site in which this story will be completely whole. On other sites, it will be shown as separate stories each season. This is my plan for now, though my plans do frequently change. (2018 Added Note) I changed the description again and all sisters are mentioned within it.
Nina Dobrev as Selena Grant
Hayden Panettiere as Riley Piers
I know when you're sleeping
I know the things you're dreaming
I love it when you're weeping
Even death can't stop this feeling
And I know you will never give up and die
(Lullaby of a Dead Man : Elena Siegman)
~(Approximately) November 20th, 2005; Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin~
Dean Winchester pulled his black '67 Chevrolet Impala up in front of a cabin household, the house being made of brown-wood and a red rooftop. Shutting off the Impala's engine, Dean and his younger brother, Sam Winchester, exited the vehicle, closing the doors behind them at the same exact moment. The reason why they were there was really simple; they had found another case and it just so happened to revolve around this location that they currently were walking in. From a newspaper, the Winchester brothers had learnt that a young female named Sophie Carlton had entered the lake but she had never stepped back out, her body never being found and her death was ruled as an accidental drowning. And not only that, but she was the third victim of drowning within that lake, not the first so that rose some extra suspicions.
As they walked up to the cabin household that was surrounded by everything nature had to offer, Dean noticed a very familiar car parked right beside the building. However, he didn't think much of it because all he had on his mind was working this case and killing whatever monster of the week it was, like usual whenever these things popped up in his hunter radar. Stepping onto the wooden porch with Sam right behind him, Dean knocked on the wooden windowed door. Only a few seconds passed and the door was pulled open by a young man dressed casually with dark-colored eyes and short black hair. "Will Carlton?" Dean asked in assumption. Hopefully, he was correct but it probably wouldn't had mattered if he was wrong about the name of this young man.
"Yeah, that's right," Will answered as he opened the door fully, eyeing Dean and Sam. He wasn't certain who they were but based on their attire, which was leather over casual wear, he assumed that either they were professionals that didn't dress very professionally (some professionals were like that sometimes, especially if they were somewhat undercover) or they were up to something that wasn't necessarily good.
"I'm Agent Ford," Dean lied swiftly, introducing himself under a false name. He gestured towards Sam with his right hand, swinging his arm to the left as he did before dropping his arm to his side. "This is Agent Hamill." He pulled a fake ID out of his left pants pocket and raised it, flipping it up to show it to Will. "We're with the U.S. Wildlife Service," he lied in continuation.
A look of confusion appeared on Will's face. "I wasn't aware that you both would be arriving." Dean's right eyebrow raised as he fought the urge to make a confused expression himself. "Your comrades, Agent Dobrev and Agent Panettiere, are waiting inside. I was just about to lead them to the lake when you knocked," Will explained. Dean and Sam exchanged a look with each other as Will took a step back, silently indicating that he was allowing them to come inside the house. Walking into the household, Dean glanced around and immediately made a face as he mentally slapped himself for not realizing why the car outside had looked so familiar to him.
Standing in front of him and Sam were the Grant-Piers half-sisters, Riley Piers and Selena Grant. Riley, attired in a plain short-sleeved gray shirt, classic blue jeans, and knee-length boots, crossed her arms as she smirked at Dean, not only just somewhat pleased to see him there but happy that she and Selena had gotten to the case before the Winchester brothers this time around. Selena, attired in a long-sleeved black shirt, her blue denim vest, purple ombre jeans, and black ankle heels, smiled at the Winchesters, glad to see them both after little over a week. The two females were there for the same reason as Dean and Sam, and it appeared that perhaps they would be working together again.
Not a word was spoken between the agents as they were lead to the lake by Will, taking a not-so-short cut through the house. Upon their arrival at the lake, they found a man with graying hair sitting on a bench that rested atop of a dock, seeing him from a distance. The man was Bill Carlton, father of Will and the recently departed Sophie. He was looking out, looking towards the water of the lake. Will came to a stop, the Winchester brothers and the Grant-Piers sisters coming to a stop seconds afterwards with their attention towards Will and towards the lake. "She was about a hundred yards out," Will explained, turning his head to his right so that his eyes were on the lake. He looked back towards the four and his voice cracked as he spoke further, his pain from the loss quite clear. "That's where she got dragged down."
"And you're sure she didn't just drown?" Dean asked for clarification.
"Yeah," Will answered. He looked back towards the lake, towards where he had last seen his sister alive. "She was a varsity swimmer. She practically grew up in that lake." He turned his attention back towards the two sets of siblings. "She's as safe out there as in her own bathtub."
Dean made a face as he looked towards the large body of water. To his left, Riley and Selena glanced at one another, the both of them remaining silent as of the moment while they waited for a chance to speak up. Sam, on the other hand, spoke up immediately after Will had finished talking, speaking gently. "So no splashing, no signs of distress?" Sam asked, wishing to have some sort of clue as to what they were dealing with. Upon Will shaking his head in response, Sam (and the others) silently came to the conclusion that the creature they were dealing with attacked silently and without any warning whatsoever. "Did you see any shadows in the water, maybe some dark shape breach the surface?" Sam pressed onward, searching for more information that could come in handy for future reference of this case.
Will shook his head again. His arms were now crossed over his chest. "No, again, she was really far out there." He was beginning to appear more distressed as the questions continued further. He didn't know what had occurred. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary. All he knew was that his sister had been out there and then she wasn't out there shortly afterwards. He couldn't explain it. He barely even witnessed his sister's disappearance.
Dean looked back towards Will, looking away from the lake. "You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?" he questioned. Perhaps something was roaming around the lake and it was killing people that stepped within it.
"Have you seen anything unusual at all around this area, before or after what occurred?" Riley asked Will, speaking up as she glanced towards the lake. She felt uncomfortable, her being the one closest to the lake in their little line up. She didn't have a fear of drowning and she didn't have a fear for water, but because of her having the elemental use of fire, water was a weakness of hers. She wouldn't be able to use her power, even if the situation became dire because fire wouldn't do shit against water. She glanced back towards Will, waiting for his answer.
"No, never," Will answered both Dean and Riley at the same time. "Why? What do you think's out there?" He shifted on his feet as he stared at everyone. From his tone, he seemed to have become a little frantic. He had become a tad afraid by the questions he was being asked, now wondering if there really was something out there that had caused his sibling to drown.
"We'll let you know as soon as we do," Dean replied. He began to walk away, prepared to head around the house to return to his vehicle. He appeared to be in some sort of hurry, considering that he didn't bother asking to question Will's father about what had occurred. His mind appeared to be on other things or rather on another person. He seemed to be a bit too eager to get away from the Grant-Piers siblings, despite having kind of enjoyed their company on the previous case. He just didn't want to trust them, he didn't want to bond with them, and he certainly didn't want to work with them a second time because all he really cared about, hopefully, was hunting monsters and eventually finding his father with Sam by his side.
"What about your father?" Sam asked, remaining where he stood. Behind him, Dean stopped in his tracks and he turned back towards where Riley, Sam, Selena, and Will stood, shifting a bit as he waited. "Can we talk to him?" Sam continued. He was curious to know if Bill had witnessed anything at all.
Will looked over his shoulder towards where his father was sitting. He released a sigh as he looked back towards just Sam. "Look, if you don't mind... I mean, he didn't see anything and he's kind of been through a lot." He didn't want them bothering his father, his father going through a rougher phase of mourning than he himself was.
Selena finally spoke up, having remained quiet the entire time of the conversation, and her tone was very gentle. "We understand." She smiled sympathetically at Will as Will's gaze turned towards her. "I apologize if these questions have caused you any discomfort. We merely wished to gather as much information as we could to learn the cause of this situation." She held her right hand out and Will, hesitatingly, uncrossed his arms, grasping her right hand in his own. Together, they gently shook hands with one another. "Thank you very much for your time and do make sure to give us a call if you are to see anything unusual at all or if something else occurs in the area," Selena finished. Will nodded in agreement and he smiled slightly at her as they released each other's hand. Behind Selena, Riley reached by her left shoulder to hand Will a card that held both of their contact information and Will took it gently, the tiny blush in his cheeks going unnoticed by everyone except Riley.
As Will headed back into his home and the two groups of siblings headed back to their vehicles, Riley released a squeal that broke the silence between them. She moved to where she was standing in front of all of them, mainly in front of Selena. She had a large smile on her face and she placed her hands on Selena's shoulders. "Please tell me you noticed that he was blushing." Selena titled her head, confused as Riley squealed again. "He likes you, Selena! He was blushing the moment you both started shaking hands! This is great! No one has ever showed interest in you like that before, not ever!" She paused herself and shrugged her head to the left quickly. "'Least not from the right people." Her hands dropped from Selena's shoulders. Selena continued staring at Riley, confused still while Dean and Sam stared at Riley, Dean making faces at how Riley was acting and Sam looking amused. "You can finally get laid!" Riley exclaimed, clarifying what she was trying to say to Selena.
"Must that always be on your mind?" Selena questioned, letting out a sigh as she looked away from Riley. "I have no such interest in those sorts of mannerisms. These activities may be something much more suited for yourself," she gestured to her right where Dean and Sam were, "and perhaps for these two gentlemen additionally, but not for myself." She looked back towards Riley. "Besides, it would be rather rude to fornicate during a case when lives are at stake." Riley groaned and pouted, instantly giving up on her attempt to get Selena in bed with someone. Selena turned her head towards the brothers whom were shifting awkwardly on their feet now. "I apologize for not only involving you in the short conversation, but for you having to listen in on it." Something very private, that should had been between herself and Riley only, had been made known to the Winchester brothers that they barely knew. If she were anyone else, she would've been embarrassed but she wasn't, just displeased by the information that was recklessly implied. Although, she was at fault for this, too, since she continued with the topic for a single moment.
Dean waved it off, literally, as he began walking again. "Eh, always a pleasure to hear the antics of Thelma and Louise." He didn't really care about what he had just listened in on. He'll forget about it later, probably. He could suffer through feeling awkward for a few minutes. Wouldn't be the first time this had happened.
Riley scoffed as she, Sam, and Selena followed behind Dean. "Thelma and Louise? Like I haven't heard that one before." In the past, people have referred to herself and Selena as that. And as a result of the first few times that had happened, she had to explain the reference to Selena since Selena hadn't seen very many movies. "So," Riley spoke up once they all had reached where their vehicles were parked. Dean groaned as he stopped walking and he turned to face her, Sam stopping beside him as he, too, looked towards Riley. Selena came to a stop behind Riley, rubbing her covered left arm randomly. "Ren and Stimpy, are the four of us working together on this or not?" Riley asked. "Because I don't see the point in working separately on the same damn case."
Dean gave her a look, his left eyebrow raising. "I vaguely remember that you weren't very willing to work together last time." He was surprised that she suddenly was much more willing to work with him and Sam, not that he cared. A very small part of him wanted to work with the sisters again, but that urge was being overcome by his determination to stay away from them.
Riley glared at him. "Yeah, well, I vaguely recall that you weren't so willing to work together, too, jerk-wad. And it appears that the truce we had made is completely void now so fuck you, asshole." Her mood entirely opposite than how it began, she shifted on her feet slightly as she looked away from the brothers. "So, what's it gonna be? A no or a yes? We're wasting time here." She was beginning to slightly regret asking. She should had let Selena do that herself or let Sam suggest it again. Or they could've just said nothing and left. One of those three options would've been better than what just happened. That way, this conversation wouldn't had been drawn out as far as it had gone. Plus, she was feeling slightly embarrassed for asking because of how Dean responded. She had thought they were on slightly better terms after the little moment they shared before parting ways but clearly, she had been absolutely fucking wrong.
Dean opened his mouth to downright refuse, but Sam spoke up before him. "Sure." Dean turned to give Sam a look but Sam ignored him. Sam smiled kindly at Riley and Selena. "We'd appreciate the help." He'd do anything to make this go by faster. Plus, he kind of wanted to see how their interactions would differ this time around; he expected Dean and Riley to remain cold towards each other despite their obvious interest in one another, but he was more interested in how Selena would handle things this time and what she'd speak of if the two of them were to hold a conversation.
Clearly very annoyed with Sam, Dean turned away from the sisters and approached his vehicle further, angrily getting into it and practically slamming the door shut behind him without saying another word. Sam, apologizing for Dean's behavior really quickly, turned from the sisters himself and he, too, was soon within the Impala. Sam watched from inside the Impala as Riley and Selena headed over to their own vehicle. Dean was silent for a moment as he cranked up the Impala and he soon began pulling out of the rocky driveway. "...Why did you have to go and do that, Sammy?" Dean asked after they were well on the road, Riley's car following behind them. "We're capable of doing this ourselves. We don't need their help. We never needed any help."
Sam looked over at Dean. "Look, Dean, the faster we do this, the faster we can get back on the right track of finding Dad. They helped us plenty last time and they can help us now. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be alive right now," he told Dean. Dean shook his head slightly as he stared at the road, his hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel. Sam sighed and he looked away from him. "And it's Sam," he added, disliking being called by the nickname.
The remainder of the ride was completely silent, neither brother speaking and neither moving to turn on some music. Dean eventually pulled up to a police station, parking his vehicle as the sisters soon pulled into the station as well. Upon entering the station together and speaking to the sheriff, the sheriff didn't disagree to speak with the four of them, but he surely did appear to be quite confused with why they were there. "Now, I'm sorry," Sheriff Jake Devins began as he led the four into his office, the middle-aged man carrying a file in his hand. "But why does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?" he asked.
"Are you sure it was accidental?" Sam questioned as he, Dean, Riley, and Selena followed behind the sheriff, in a not-so-orderly fashion, within the slightly overcrowded room. "Will Carlton saw something grab his sister," he continued.
"Like what?" Sheriff Devins questioned as he looked back to stare at Sam. Behind Sam, Dean was glancing around, Riley was staring at Dean with an eyebrow raised as she wondered if he did that often, and Selena had her hands crossed in front of her as she walked with her eyes on the sheriff. "Here, sit, please," Sheriff Devins continued as he gestured to the two chairs that sat in front of his desk. As the sheriff walked forward further to get around his desk with his attention away from the four, Dean sat down quickly in the left chair and he smirked at Riley when he looked towards her, causing her to grimace at him as she moved to stand behind his chair. Sam took a step towards the chair to Dean's right but he moved to stand behind it instead, gesturing to Selena that she could sit within the chair. Selena smiled politely at Sam as she sat down in the un-taken seat. Sheriff Devins looked back towards them and continued speaking as he sat down in his own chair, putting the file in his hand down on the desk. "There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake. There's nothing even big enough to pull down a person, unless it was the Loch Ness Monster."
"Yeah," Dean responded. He scoffed seconds afterward. "Right." He immediately looked towards his right, expecting to see Sam sitting beside him and he was hoping to share the same look with Sam about the suggestion the sheriff had unknowingly made, but upon spotting Selena sitting down beside him instead with her attention on the sheriff, Dean glanced further back until his eyes met Sam's, Sam remaining behind Selena. Dean raised his eyebrow, looking at him questionably as he quickly glanced towards Selena and back at Sam. He felt like he was missing something obvious. Sam sent an annoyed expression Dean's way before both of their attentions returned towards the sheriff.
"Will Carlton was traumatized and sometimes the mind plays tricks," Sheriff Devins said. "Still, we dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep just to be sure, and there was nothing down there."
Dean shook his head slightly as he spoke, leaning forward in his seat. "That's weird, though. I mean, that's, that's the third missing body this year." Mainly, he was playing the part of a confused professional but even then, he actually did find it to be a bit weird that absolutely nothing was found in the lake. Maybe the Loch Ness Monster was able to cloak itself so that it couldn't be found. Man, hunting the Loch Ness Monster would be something. He could only imagine what other hunters would think if he could manage to kill the Loch Ness Monster, if the creature even existed. He hoped that was what they were hunting.
"I know," Sheriff Devins responded. He leaned forward in his chair. "These are people from my town. These are people I care about." Dean nodded. "Anyway," Sheriff Devins sighed as he leaned back into his chair while gesturing, "All this, it won't be a problem much longer." He placed his hands on his legs.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked, staring at the sheriff still. He should've done more research into the matter because what he just did was entirely something a true professional wouldn't do. He was suppose to pretend that he knew what he was doing, fake profession wise, and that he knew what was going on. Asking that question, he did the complete opposite and he was completely unaware of this mistake. For a few seconds.
Sheriff Devins stared at him with suspicion. "Well, the dam, of course."
"Right," Riley spoke up. "The dam. Of course." She placed her hands on Dean's shoulders and while it caused Dean to be a bit agitated, Dean additionally kind of liked that her hands were on him. "Excuse my partner. He's been having a rather rough day. Had a horrible fight with his girlfriend," Riley lied swiftly. "She hates it when he's on the job, you know?" Sheriff Davins nodded understandingly at Riley as Dean's eyebrow raised again before the expression on his face became one of approval for the lie. Riley half-smiled at the sheriff. "Basically, the dam has sprung a leak. One that no one is bothering to fix," Riley said. She was making an assumption and praying silently that she was correct in some way or they were so busted.
Jake half nodded. He leaned forward again as he explained. "It's falling apart and the feds won't give us the grant to repair it so they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake. There won't be much of a town either. But as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that." No, they didn't but they sure as hell knew now.
A tap on the door caught everyone's attention and they all turned to see a young woman with long dark-colored hair walking in. Attire in a white almost-sleeveless shirt, pale pink skirt, and heels, Andrea Barr smiled apologetically as she fully entered the room, Sam having to take a sidestep in order for Andrea to do so because the office was rather small. "Sorry, am I interrupting? I can come back later." Dean and Selena both removed themselves from the chairs they were sitting in as the two of them, Riley, and Sam kept their attention of Andrea. Dean was staring at Andrea like he just got himself a nice home-cooked meal, happy with the new distraction.
Sheriff Davins removed himself from his own seat. "Gentlemen, Ladies, this is my daughter." He smiled as he placed his hands on his hips.
Immediately, Dean stepped towards Andrea with a smile on his face. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he greeted as he held his right hand out. Andrea grasped it into her own. "I'm Dean," he introduced, still smiling. Behind him, Riley was biting her tongue and crossing her arms angrily as she became jealous; when was he ever going to give her this kind of attention? To Dean's left, Sam stood quietly beside the chair Selena had been sitting in as he watched Andrea and Dean, Selena standing close to him and towards his right.
"Andrea Barr. Hi," Andrea introduced and greeted, still smiling. She didn't bother asking him for a last name. She didn't even bother asking for an introduction from Riley, Sam, and Selena, though the three of them didn't seem to be planning on introducing themselves any time soon so it didn't even matter if Andrea wanted to know their names or not. She'd probably eventually learn their names anyways. But her main reason for not asking was because her mind was amongst other things, more important things.
Sheriff Devins began to maneuver around his desk from the right as he explained things to Andrea. If he had tried going around the left side of his desk, he'd be stuck behind Sam and Selena since they'd be blocking his way to his daughter. But then again, now it was Dean and Riley who were blocking his way to his daughter. "They're from the Wildlife Service. About the lake." Andrea nodded her head slightly as she made an oh expression. A young boy with brown hair to his shoulders and with his bangs brushed over the left side of his forehead walked up behind Andrea, lightly brushing up against her left arm as he moved to stand beside her.
Dean stared down at the young boy with a soft smile. "Oh, hey there. What's your name?" Around the room, the Grant-Piers sisters and Sam were eyeing the kid, too, but their reactions varied from each other. Riley was making a face as she quickly came to the conclusion that this kid had to be Andrea's son; not that she didn't like kids but the fact that Dean was flirting with a woman who had a child was making her a tad uncomfortable. Sam was just staring at the kid with not much of an expression on his face, almost as if he didn't fully care about the kid's presence in the room. Lastly, Selena was grinning a little as she stared at the kid.
The young boy didn't say a single word as he turned around and left the room that he had only just entered. Andrea looked away from her son and she smiled apologetically again at everyone before she turned away and followed after her son. Dean, Riley, Sam, and Selena all had a confused frown on their face, each of them sharing a look with one another. "His name is Lucas," Sheriff Devins answered.
"Is he okay?" Sam asked. Dean, Riley, Selena, and himself were staring at the door, looking into the next room. Andrea and Lucas were in their line of sight, Andrea handing Lucas a black crayon along with some paper before pulling a few more crayons out of the box in her hand. The two sets of siblings turned their attention towards the sheriff whom was standing behind Dean and somewhat beside Riley.
"My grandson's been through a lot," Sheriff Devins answered. "We all have." Dean, Riley, Sam, and Selena looked away from him, their attention back on Andrea and Lucas. Sheriff Devins scooted past Riley and then Dean, placing himself by the door as he spoke. "Well, if there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know," he told them as he looked at the four of them.
"Thanks," Dean breathed out as he began walking out of the office. Riley followed behind him, followed by Sam and Selena. Dean eyed Andrea, her back being turned towards him as she watched her son draw. "You know," Dean began after a few seconds, coming to a stop behind Andrea as he turned to look at the sheriff. Riley, Sam, and Selena walked around him, all three of them coming to a stop at certain areas; Riley walked past Dean and turned around so that she was standing behind him, Sam was standing to Dean's right, and Selena was standing in front of Sam but her body was facing towards where Andrea and Lucas were, not towards where the sheriff stood or where the brothers and her sister stood. "Now that you mentioned it, could you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced motel?" Dean asked. Although he was looking at the sheriff and speaking to him, he was actually speaking to Andrea but not openly doing so. Well, he wasn't openly doing so until his attention turned towards Andrea.
"Lakefront Motel," Andrea answered after a moment of thinking. "Go around the corner, it's two blocks up," she instructed kindly.
Sam made a move to start walking again but he quickly realized that Dean wasn't planning on leaving the station just yet and he paused himself, a knowing expression appearing on his face. "Two..." Dean paused his speaking for a second. "Would you mind showing us?" He just wanted an excuse to be around her for a little while longer. Anything to keep his mind off of his attraction towards Riley, whom he had only seen for a total of three times now; he didn't want to like her, he didn't want to find her incredibly sexy, and he didn't want to be around her but he did like her, he did find her incredibly sexy, and he just couldn't seem to stay away from her because she just kept on showing up wherever they went. He hardly knew the woman, other than what Selena had told him during the last case, and yet Riley still had creeped her way into his mind after he just took one damn look at her within a freaking diner. Dean was really hoping that his flirting with Andrea would keep his mind occupied.
Andrea let out a chuckle as she stared at Dean. "You want me to walk you two blocks?" At the corner of her eye, she could see Riley fuming behind Dean. Andrea continued to smile at Dean as she secretly watched Riley from the corner of her eye still, silently wondering if the two of them (Dean and Riley) were dating or something.
"Not if it's any trouble," Dean told her. Behind him, Riley is rolling her eyes as she continues fuming. Beside him, Sam is rolling his eyes. Beside Sam, Selena doesn't seem concerned with what was occurring because it wasn't any of her business on when Dean flirted and who Dean was flirting with.
"I'm heading that way anyway," Andrea answered. Riley scoffed at how convenient that was and she rolled her eyes again. Andrea turned towards her father. "I'll be back to pick up Lucas at three," she informed him. She turned in a full circle, crouching down behind her son. She was unaware of her father looking down at her and Lucas lovingly. "We'll go to the park, okay, sweetie?" She kissed Lucas on the head before she straightened back up, almost releasing a sigh as Lucas continued drawing without acknowledging that he heard her. She walked past Dean and began to head out. Dean waved at the sheriff as he immediately started following Andrea. Sam gave a small nod to the sheriff before he followed behind Dean. Riley didn't follow anyone, instead heading out of the station ahead of everyone.
Selena looked towards the sheriff and nodded shortly. "Thank you for your time," she said to him, catching him off guard because he hadn't heard her speak the entire time she was there. She smiled at him. "Please enjoy the rest of your day." Sheriff Devins smiled back at her after a few seconds and he watched her leave the station, a little ways behind everyone else. As Selena stepped out of the station, she noticed that everyone was waiting for her, considering that they were all looking towards the door that she just exited. She hadn't taken that long so she didn't really see the point in them waiting for her. "I could had easily caught up with you," she stated, tilting her head as she stared at them.
Sam shook his head as he stared at her. "It would've been rude not to wait." Selena began to smile at the nice gesture of everyone waiting for her and her smile brought on the smiles of everyone else. She just had that kind of positive effect on people and most never seemed to realize it until much later, if they stuck around her long enough.
Andrea began to lead the way to the motel, everyone following behind her two at a time; Dean and Riley were right behind Andrea while Sam and Selena were right behind their sibling. As the four followed close behind one another, Dean began to attempt some small talk with Andrea. "So, cute kid," he commented. Riley rolled her eyes beside him as Andrea replied to Dean with a quick thanks. "Kids are the best, huh?" Dean continued as the five of them crossed the road. Andrea looked back towards Dean and gave him some sort of look before she looked back towards where she was walking, Riley bit her lip to keep from laughing her ass off at Dean's lame attempt at flirting, Sam was smiling at said lame attempt, and Selena was looking at the back of Dean's head with a questioning expression.
Andrea slowed to a stop as they reached the motel she spoke of. "There it is." She turned to face Dean as everyone came to a stop. "Like I said, two blocks." She released a sigh as the thanks from Sam went unheard by her. She continued staring at Dean. "Must be hard with your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line." The smile of Dean's face vanished as Riley began to laugh out loud beside him and Sam began to smile more, holding in a laugh of his own. Selena slightly shook her head at the situation, not amused like everyone else. Andrea began walking back the way they had came, calling back to them as she went. "Enjoy your stay!"
Riley called back to Andrea, cuffing her hands in front of her mouth to make her voice appear louder. She was struggling to hold back more laughs. "T-Thank you so much for saying that!" She immediately dropped her hands to her sides as she hunched over, laughing some more. "Oh, man. She told you, Winchester. Oh, she fucking told you. Damn!" She straightened back up and glanced towards Dean to find him glaring at her. She smirked at him as she laughed some more, her laughs being a little less loud. She pointed in the direction that Andrea went. "That automatically made her my new best-friend. Because that was just fantastic and the look on your face was fucking priceless, man." Oh, she was in a so much better mood now after that. Dean had failed at flirting right before her very eyes. She was still kind of jealous that he had been flirting with another woman because he never flirts with herself but seeing Andrea reject him was grand. She hated feeling like a jealous girlfriend when she wasn't even close to being such, but she was almost completely sure that her little crush or whatever it was would go away eventually.
"Shut up," Dean told her, sounding immature. He looked away from Riley and towards Sam. Upon seeing the amused smile on Sam's face, Dean made a face. "Really, Sammy? You too?"
"Kids are the best? You don't even like kids," Sam stated matter of factly. He completely ignored the fact that he was called by the nickname he disliked greatly right now. He was far too amused by what just happened.
"I love kids!" Dean retorted defensively as he angrily stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jacket.
Sam stared at Dean. "Name three children that you even know," he challenged. Riley, Sam, and Selena watched as Dean pulled out one of his hands from his pocket and lifted it as if he was about to start counting with his fingers. However, when he opened his mouth slightly, no words escaped out because no children came to mind. As a vacant expression appeared on Dean's face as he attempted to think of someone that was a kid, Selena shook her head slightly again and she began to head into the motel. Sam waved his hand at Dean as he began heading after Selena, already knowing that Dean would come up with nothing. Riley stayed where she was, snickering as she watched Dean.
Dean pulled himself out of his thoughts and realized that only Riley was still standing by him. He raised his lifted hand to his head, scratching it as he appeared slightly troubled. "I'm thinking," he said loudly but it was likely that only Riley heard him since Sam and Selena had gone inside. Riley scoffed as she walked towards the entrance of the motel and Dean glared at the back of her head as he followed behind her. That had been a bit embarrassing.
In a matter of five minutes, the four hunters found themselves within a motel room together. How this had occurred was rather simple, really. Firstly, Sam and Selena had paused their walking to wait for Dean and Riley to enter the motel. Secondly, once the two had entered the motel, Riley had made sure that she was the one to speak with the desk clerk and she, without fault, managed to make it where the four of them were rooming together in a two bed motel room. While Sam and Selena were unbothered with rooming together, Dean was dismayed. Currently, Sam and Selena were sitting together, side by side, at a small table within the motel room, looking through various articles together on Sam's laptop. Behind them, Dean was being not so productive, throwing around dirty laundry as he waited for information. Sitting on one of the two beds was Riley and she wasn't doing anything productive either as she moved to where she was laying down on the bed.
Dean was quick to notice this and he immediately tossed a dirty shirt at her, hitting her in the face. "Hey!" Dean exclaimed as Riley removed the dirty shirt from her face in disgust. "Don't get comfy because that's my bed you're laying on." While Sam had agreed to either share a bed with Selena or just simply sleep on the floor and allow Selena to take the bed, Dean had automatically claimed a bed and refused to share whatsoever.
Riley scoffed and tossed the filthy shirt to the floor. "Whatever. It's not like you're using it right now." She had a good point. Dean wasn't using the bed right that moment. But regardless of that, Dean threw dirty boxers at her this time and the boxers landed on her face as well. Riley immediately pulled them off her head and jumped off the bed while tossing the boxers to the floor, causing Dean to laugh hysterically. She glared at him immediately. "You are such a pig, you know that?" She made a face like she was going to vomit. "God, it smelt of cum and sweat," she stated, making a face of discomfort as she assumed that the boxers belonged to Dean. She headed towards the bathroom. "I'm just gonna go wash my face and try to get this horrible image outta my head." She closed the door to the restroom behind her as she entered, a frown crossing her face once she was behind closed doors.
Sam cleared his throat as he began to speak up, his eyes on his laptop. "So, there's the three drowning victims this year." On the screen, an article titled DROWNING TAINTS ICE FISHING FESTIVAL is shown. He clicks on another browser window that he had minimized, it appearing on the screen with the main title being 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL DROWNS IN LAKE and the secondary title being Second drowning in 6 months at Lake Manitoc. Silently observing beside Sam, Selena is frowning at the articles as they pop up on screen. "Six more spread out over the past thirty-five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If there is something out there, it's picking up its pace."
Dean tossed another item of clothing after sniffing it, this time it landed on the bed instead of on someone. "So, what, we got a lake monster on a binge?"
"Not necessarily," Selena spoke up as she placed her hands off the table and onto her lap. She turned slightly in her chair so that she could look at Dean while she spoke with him. "Although the Loch Ness Monster could exist, I doubt it is what we are dealing with here in Lake Manitoc. While there are hundreds of eyewitnesses for Loch Ness encounters, there is entirely nothing here. No one living has spoken of any of these encounters because each have died from the events that occurred." She continued to frown as she shook her head, looking down at her hands. "We may not be looking for any sort of large lake monster per se but perhaps maybe a water imp or some sort of rogue siren. Both creatures dwell around water."
Dean stared at Selena, nodding as he acknowledged what she said and he approached her as she turned back in her seat. Dean leaned over her and Sam as he looked at the article. Sam had scrolled down to the comments section of one of the articles, however, so Dean didn't get a chance to read some of what Sam and Selena had read. But that didn't matter because he immediately spotted something that maybe the two hadn't just caught themselves and he pointed at the screen. "Wait, Barr. Christopher Barr. Where have I heard that name before?" The sound of a door opening made Dean look away from the screen and he smirked as Riley exited the bathroom. "Took you long enough. Was beginning to think you fell into the sink."
Riley mostly ignored him as she began walking towards the door. "I'm heading outside. Come get me when you find something useful and when you get your head removed out of your ass." She closed the door behind her, leaving everyone to be slightly confused as to what just occurred while also leaving Dean a little pissed off. Just seconds after Riley had exited the room, Selena stood up from the chair she sat in and she immediately headed after Riley, closing the door behind her in a more gentle manner than Riley had.
Before Sam could begin reading what Dean had spotted a moment ago on the screen, Dean let out a groan as he moved away from Sam, pacing around the room. Sam stared at him questionably and was about to ask him what was wrong when Dean started speaking. "She's so infuriating," he said loudly. He kicked the side of a bed. "I hate her." He was referring to Riley. He hated this, all of it. He hated that she was making him feel two different emotions towards her constantly. He wanted to strangle her, but he also wanted to have sex with her. It was really frustrating.
Sam gave him an oh, really? look as he watched Dean continue pacing around the room. "Yeah," Sam said, dragging out the word. "No, you don't," he continued, smirking a bit at Dean. Dean paused his pacing to look at Sam in dismay. "You like her," Sam added, leaning back against his chair as he continued staring at Dean with a smirk. "Like, you really like her."
"What?" Dean questioned in disbelief. He immediately began to deny it, though he knew it was true. "I do not!" He threw his arms out as he stared at Sam. "Are we even talking about the same person here? Because," he pointed towards the door, "that woman out there has nothing remotely likable about herself."
Sam slid his tongue over his teeth as he shook his head at his brother's denial. "Okay," he said. "What is it that you hate about her, then?" He wanted to see where this went. He wanted to see if Dean could list more than five things that he hated about Riley. Sam already knew that Riley had her moments where she wasn't exactly nice, but she hadn't ever really spoken to him (Sam) much at all so he wasn't sure if being a bitch was something natural about her or not. That moment between her and Selena earlier that day had been a tad bit amusing because Riley was acting very excited, which he hadn't seen from her before so maybe the bitch front really was an act or was mostly an act like Selena had implied to him in the previous case. He didn't believe Dean could list many dislikes and he soon found himself to be correct.
Dean stood where he was for a moment as he began explaining. "Well, she's... She's infuriating!" he exclaimed as he repeated what he said earlier, commencing to pace around the room again. His tone dialed down a bit. "She has no sense of humor." He shook his head, correcting him. "She has some sense of humor. She's extremely annoying." He was repeating himself again, annoying being another word for infuriating. He threw his hands up to his head. "She's inside of my freaking head and she won't go away! Not even after I flirted with Andrea!" he exclaimed, his tone raising up again slightly. He hadn't meant to reveal that to Sam, his frustration getting the better of him. He turned towards Sam and noticed the surprised expression on his face. "What?" Dean asked, not fully realizing what he had stated.
Sam continued to look surprised. "Dude, I thought you just liked her, like a crush or something, but the way you're describing this, it sounds like you're very strongly infatuated with her." Never in his life did he think he'd see the day where Dean would have a girl stuck on his mind. Never in his life did he think that he'd see the day where Dean wasn't thinking about having an one-night stand with a girl he found an interest in. This was new to him about as much as it was new to Dean, considering it wasn't often when Dean would find a woman that he unknowingly and knowingly wanted to have something more than an one-night stand with.
Dean scoffed. "What? Am not." He was being immature about this. He was continuing with his denial of what he knew was true but he wanted to ignore it and maybe, just maybe, it'll go away and he'd have nothing to worry about anymore.
Sam rolled his eyes as he looked back towards his laptop. "Yeah, okay. Whatever. Deny it all you want." Hearing Dean mumble something about ending the chick flick moment, Sam read through the comment that Dean had spotted earlier as Dean re-approached him from behind again. Maybe Dean had found a link to some much needed information.
While the Winchester brothers began to read an article about Christopher Barr (whom they immediately learnt was the deceased father of Lucas Barr), the Grant-Piers sisters gathered outside of the motel itself. Riley was fuming and pacing, her arms crossed over her chest. Selena was eyeing her silently, standing nearby with her hands slightly in her jeans pockets. "God, that Dean Winchester. Who does he think he is?! Ugh, he's so frustrating! I hate him!" Riley was having the same mental meltdown that Dean had endured inside the motel room. She wanted nothing more than to strangle Dean but she additionally wanted to kiss him and wanted to be pinned underneath him on a bed somewhere. Her feelings were so mixed up that it was beginning to annoy the shit out of her.
Selena tilted her head as she watched Riley continue to pace back and forth. "You hate him?" she questioned, confused by this sudden change. "But just the other week, you had been going on and on about his great qualities. Additionally, just last week, you talked about how sweet it was for him to," she began using air quotes momentarily, "play nice with you. I had assumed that your negative behavior was due to you not wishing to bond with him and Sam, and I began to believe that maybe you were simply playing hard to get like I have heard that most girls do, but I suppose I was incorrect." She could had sworn that Riley had stated in the past few weeks that she liked Dean. Maybe she had misheard her.
Riley stopped pacing and she looked at Selena. "That's right! You were wrong! I hate his guts!" She stomped her foot like an immature teenager. "He's annoying, he flirts with absolutely everyone with a vagina except for me, he smirks all the damn time, he never has anything nice to say to me, and his eyes are so wonderful, and so green!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "I want this stupid crush to go away already because this is just torture! I'm gonna go insane if this mess doesn't just stop now!"
Selena was even more confused now. Riley had gone from saying she hated Dean to saying she had a crush on him that she wanted released. Her emotions certainly were all over the place, weren't they? Selena lifted her right arm and rubbed the back of her head, uncertain of what to say for once. It took her a moment to finally come up with something that could be helpful to Riley. "You certainly won't go insane from just a minor fixation. It'll pass as time moves forward." She frowned as she continued staring at Riley, dropping her hand from her head. "I do not see why being infatuated with someone is so displeasing to you so suddenly. You have had long lasting relationships in the past. Why are you dreading the possible occurrences of them now?"
Riley gave her a look. "Seriously, Selena? You want to know why I'm showing dislike for this?" She gestured to herself. "Because I'm a hunter." She pointed towards the motel furiously. "Because Dean's a hunter." She dropped her hand. "Do you honestly believe a relationship will last with this kind of life? Because it won't. It'll end with one or both of us dying and I don't want to be around when it does." She closed her eyes and reopened them as she rephrased her choice of words. "I don't want to be around when Dean gets himself killed or even when Sam gets himself killed. I don't want to witness that. That's why I don't like bonding with others and I had thought that you knew this already." She scoffed as she made another gesture. "Yet, you and Sam were so set on us working together with hunting that Wendigo, and I was forced to endure the fact that my emotions towards Dean increased despite, well, everything that had happened. In fact, working with them made me so confused about what I want that I ended up wanting to work with them on this case and look where that's gotten us. Absolutely nowhere. Dean is back to being a dick and obviously, I'm retaliating because of it. But even then, I still feel attraction towards him and I hate it because I am absolutely terrified that it'll become more, and I'm terrified that I will end up dead because of him. I am terrified of the thought of falling in love with someone again and the thought of just losing them in an instant. I don't want to go through that bullshit again. I can't." Her eyes were watery as she stared intensely at Selena. "And that's why I want these feelings to go away. I can't handle them very well."
Selena stared at Riley, processing what she had just been told and she smiled sadly, her own eyes becoming watery as she nodded slightly. "It is natural for one to be terrified of things that could commence because of something that has occurred in the past," she whispered. She began to speak in a normal tone but her voice tended to crack every other sentence. "Riley, despite these fears of yours, it would be better for you to spend time with someone while you can than spend time away from them and regret what could have been. We are amongst the makings of something beautiful, a friendship that could be everlasting. You must let go of your fear because death is inevitable and you cannot just allow this fear to keep you from having some happiness within your life while you still have one." She sniffled as a few tears dripped down her cheeks. She quickly brushed them away. "Instead of listening to your head, try listening to your heart for once, Riley. You're more likely to find the answers you are looking for that way."
Riley rolled her eyes as she turned away from Selena. "Yeah, I highly doubt that." She took a few steps forward before stopping, releasing a sigh. "But whatever. I'll try to let it go." She didn't want this fear weighing her down for the rest of her life. She did want to be happy and she did, to some extent, want to see where this friendship with the Winchesters went. She wanted a relationship to occur between herself and Dean. But she was preventing all of this from happening because of her fear, a fear that she needed to let go of because Selena was right, death was inevitable...
~(Approximately) November 20th, 2005; Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin~
The Winchester brothers and the Grant-Piers sisters found themselves within a park, having drove there together within Dean's Impala upon Selena's insistence. What had happened was that shortly after Riley and Selena finished speaking with each other, Dean and Sam had walked out of the motel, explaining to the females that Lucas had witnessed the drowning of his father. Upon realizing that they'd have to go to the park where Andrea and Lucas would likely be located, Selena had insisted on them driving together in one vehicle since they were all going to the same location. Reluctantly, Dean had agreed and surprisingly, no arguments between Dean and Riley were had. And now here they were, standing in a park full of laughing children and conversing mothers. After the four of them approached Andrea (she was sitting on a bench) from behind and had spoken to her for just a few seconds, Dean and Selena both began to make their way towards Lucas, whom was sitting at a small table alone with his papers and crayons. As the two of them slowly walked closer to where Lucas was located, Andrea spoke to Riley and Sam as they both sat down on either side of her. "Tell your friend this whole Jerry Maguire thing is not gonna work on me."
"I don't think that's what this is about," Sam told Andrea. Andrea smiled a little, mostly in a sad way, as she looked towards where Lucas was, watching as Dean and Selena grew closer to his location. Riley released a small laugh beside Andrea, causing both Andrea and Sam to look in her direction. "Find something amusing, Riley?" Sam questioned.
Riley shrugged slightly as she eyed Dean and Selena from afar. "Not exactly." She turned to look at Andrea and Sam. She smiled a little. "I'm just wondering if Dean will end up bonding with Selena somehow. No one can escape the vibe that constantly surrounds her. I'm just wondering if he can, somehow." She turned her attention back towards where Dean and Selena were located, Andrea and Sam doing the same seconds later.
Far across from where Andrea, Sam, and Riley were located, Dean and Selena approached Lucas. "How's it going?" Dean greeted softly as he and Selena knelt down next to the bench where Lucas was coloring. Lucas didn't look up from his drawing and Selena tilted her head as she looked down at each of the finished drawings that laid on the table, one being a big black swirl while the other was a red bicycle. Dean released a chuckle as he looked at the little green toy soldiers that stood on the table. "Oh, I used to love these things," Dean commented as he picked one up. He mimicked the sound of gunfire and explosions without a second thought before tossing the toy soldier down onto the bench, a smile crossing his face and a larger one appeared when he heard Selena releasing a giggle. He didn't know why, but he really liked the sound of her giggle and felt unusually happy that he had caused such a sound to escape her. Picking up another toy soldier, he imitated gunfire again only this time, he was facing Selena as he did it.
Selena let out another giggle. "Stop it, Dean. You need to focus." She gently took the toy soldier from Dean's hand and she stared at it as she placed her elbows on the table, smiling a little as she examined it curiously. In a way, she was a child at heart but a mature adult mentally. That was likely why Dean had involuntarily smiled more when he had heard her giggle; she had seemed almost childlike in that moment. She was too busy looking at the toy in her hand to notice that Dean was watching her with a smile for a moment, just for a moment before he realized his actions and stopped.
Dean looked back towards Lucas, noticing that Lucas still hadn't looked up from his drawing. "So, crayons is more your thing? That's cool. Chicks dig artists." He looked at the two drawings Lucas had already made, nodding ever so slightly. "These are pretty good. You mind if I sit and draw with you for awhile? I'm not so bad myself." He picked up a crayon and straightened up, moving around the bench to be beside Lucas. He picked up one of the unused pieces of papers and before he began to attempt drawing, he noticed that Selena was staring down at the pile of paper with her head tilted. "Do you want to draw, too, Selena? There's plenty of paper."
Selena had the brightest of smiles on her face as she looked up at Dean. "Yes, please." She reached out towards the paper and Dean handed her one of them with a slight chuckle. Spotting an unopened box of color pencils, she picked it up and placed it beside her paper, opening it and pulling out multiple colors before she began drawing with a black one first. Drawing was something she always enjoyed doing and it was the only thing she could ever really do for fun during her time with her Immortal family. It was always either training to use her powers or reading up on information about the world outside her home. She didn't have toys to play with or anything really, her childhood not having been average. By the time she joined her father's family, she had chosen to do more productive things rather than doing things normal teens would had done, missing out on many opportunities.
Dean let out another small chuckle before he moved the unused papers aside, sitting on the table. He, then, picked up what remained of the paper and used it as leverage so that he could draw. He began speaking with Lucas as he began drawing, glancing every so often to see if Lucas was listening and to see if Selena was acknowledging anything at all. "You know, I'm thinking you can hear me. You just don't want to talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel. When I was your age, I saw something." He paused, staring off into space as he felt himself becoming emotional. Pushing it aside, he went back to drawing and continued speaking. "Anyway, well, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you, or, uh, or believe you. I want you to know that I will. And that Selena will believe you, too. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw us a picture about what you saw that day, with your dad, on the lake." Lucas didn't respond or even look at him. "Okay, no problem." He held out the drawing that he made, it being just stick people. "This is for you." Lucas glanced towards the drawing for a split second before looking away. Dean pointed to each stick figure as he spoke more, his voice cracking when he mentioned his mother. "This is my family. That's my dad. That's my mom. That's my geek brother and that's me." Lucas didn't show any more signs of listening. "Alright, so, I'm a sucky artist," Dean stated. "Selena, what did you draw?" he asked as he looked over at Selena.
Selena placed down the red color pencil that she had in her hand and she lifted up the paper, turning it towards Dean. Dean's mouth fell slightly open as he stared at the anime masterpiece that Selena had created. On the paper was a silver haired male in a red kimono and a blue haired woman in a black flowery kimono, both of them embraced in a kiss and both had a pair of animal ears connected to their head that appeared to be a part of them. Additionally, the woman had a bandage wrapped around her head and blush in her cheeks, the male having blush in his cheeks as well. "Is it good?" Selena asked. "Did I do good?" She looked nervous, biting her lip. "I'm a little rusty."
"A little rusty? Selena, it's fantastic." Dean reached forward and lightly took the drawing from her hands, looking at it in awe. "I never thought you'd be thinking about things like this in that brain of yours, Selena," he stated, letting out a chuckle. He smiled up at Selena. "So, who's the broad with Inuyasha?" Selena's eyes widened and a smile slowly appeared on her face. Upon realizing what he just said, Dean cleared his throat and placed the drawing on the table. "Don't tell Sammy," he remarked, rubbing his face.
Selena released a giggle and nodded. "I won't tell Sam. The woman is a character I created at the top of my head. I don't have a name for her yet." She looked towards Lucas and clapped her hands together. "I think you should keep it, Lucas. And maybe someday, you'll be a professional artist and you'll live in a big house with your family." She slightly swayed where she was kneeling, a childish and happy aura around her. After a moment, she stood up and brushed off her knees. "Dean and I will be taking our leave now, but we really hope to see you again soon." She looked towards Dean with a bright smile and Dean found himself smiling back as he placed his drawing down on the table when he got off of said table. The two of them began to head back over to Andrea, Riley, and Sam.
"So, uh, what the hell was that back there?" Dean asked Selena as they walked slowly together. Selena looked towards him with a confused expression and Dean began rephrasing his question into several sentences. "You were so childlike, still kinda are at the moment, and I want to know how that suddenly just, well, happened. You're always so formal and you speak intelligently all the time. Why the sudden shift in personality?" He was curious as to what he witnessed.
Selena paused her walking, placing her hand on Dean's right arm so that he stopped walking, too. She turned to face him entirely and he faced her as well, staring back at her. "That is a very simple question for me to answer and the answer is that there was no sudden shift in my personality. Only the awakening of something that was already here, it just merely was hidden all this time." Noting Dean's confused expression, she continued. "I had no normal childhood because of my mother," she revealed. Dean's confusion became a look of both sadness and shock. "She kept me indoors at all costs and my only connection to the outside world were through the many books within her home. All I had for fun was drawing. By the time I met my father and Riley when I was thirteen, I had already grown accustom to being productive; I rarely did anything fun apart from drawing and I very rarely watched television. Only difference between the two locations was that I was allowed to leave the house and my life wasn't being controlled." She smiled sadly at Dean. "I suppose you now know why I am how I am. But in the end, Riley and I found ourselves meeting you and Sam. And I wouldn't change that for anything, even if I could have a better life apart from what I have right now."
Dean stared at her for a moment before he glanced towards where Andrea, Riley, and Sam were located. None of them were looking that way. He looked back towards Selena. "Come here." He held out his arms and Selena stepped forward, allowing Dean to embrace her in a hug. While he had been aware that Riley and Selena had entered a hunter's life only two years ago, he hadn't thought that Selena's life beforehand had been difficult like his own had been since the day his mother had died. He could relate to her in a way, his childhood not being the best either and he missed out on about as much as Selena had. Lastly, he didn't see why her meeting him and Sam mattered at all but he thought it was kind of nice for her to say something like that to him. "Don't tell anyone about this either," Dean mumbled, smiling a little when Selena laughed slightly. He released his hold on her and lightly pat her shoulder. "Come on." He began walking ahead, heading towards the others with Selena following behind him.
"What are the doctors saying?" Sam asked Andrea as Dean and Selena walked up to them. Andrea, Riley, and Sam acknowledged their arrival but not verbally, only just looking in the direction of Dean and Selena before going back to the conversation at hand.
Andrea let out a sigh. "That it's a kind of post-traumatic stress."
Sam shook his head slightly as he placed his gaze elsewhere. "That can't be easy. For either of you."
"No shit, Sherlock," Riley remarked. Everyone looked towards her and she placed her hands up in defense. "What? I'm just saying that it's obvious that," she gestures to Andrea, "Andrea and Lucas are going through a rough patch right now. I'm sorry, but not sorry, that my mannerism isn't as polite as Selena's." She gestured towards Andrea again. "You can proceed with...whatever you were gonna say to us next."
Andrea began to explain what had occurred after her husband drowned. "We moved in with my dad. He helps out a lot. It's just... When I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw..." She stopped speaking as she looked towards where Lucas was. She just couldn't imagine what it felt like for him to have witnessed his father die. While she herself was still mourning her husband's death, what she was feeling couldn't possibly be compared to what Lucas was feeling because he had been there while she hadn't.
"Kids are strong," Dean stated, speaking up. "You'd be surprised what they can deal with." Selena nodded in agreement with Dean's words. Riley stared at Selena questionably, her eyebrow raising but Selena didn't look towards her at all. Riley shrugged it off, planning to ask her what was going on between them later. But she had some sort of idea in mind: the two had bonded with each other after all.
Andrea began to speak again as Lucas began to make his way over to them with a drawing in his hands. "You know, he used to have such life. He was hard to keep up with, to tell you the truth. Now he just sits there. Drawing those pictures, playing with those army men. I just wish-" She turned her attention back to Lucas as he reached where they all were. "Hey, Sweetie."
Lucas didn't say a single word but he did hold up his drawing in between Dean and Selena. Dean took the drawing from Lucas as Andrea looked towards Dean. "Thanks. Thanks, Lucas," Dean told him as he looked at the drawing in his hand. It was a picture of the Carlton household. Dean and Selena exchanged a look with each other as Lucas headed back to the table. Riley and Sam glanced towards the drawing, noting what it was and they glanced at each other themselves, sharing a look with one another before sharing a look with both Dean and Selena. Something had to be amiss...
~(Approximately) November 20th, 2005; Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin~
Within the motel room, Dean was sitting on the bed that was meant to be his own. Riley and Sam were nowhere in sight, Dean not knowing where Riley was but he was aware that Sam had went for a drive in the Impala. Laying in the bed that Dean had originally claimed was Selena and she was sleeping soundlessly, her head resting on her arms as she slept on her stomach. Dean was staring down at her, a tiny grin forming on his face. He removed himself from the bed and he went over to Sam's (the bed that Selena was meant to sleep on), pulling the blanket off of it. Carrying it back over to the bed that Selena was resting on, he covered her up with the blanket since she was laying on top of the other one. Dean was too occupied with making sure Selena didn't get cold that he hadn't noticed Sam walking into the room until he glanced up towards the door after the deed was done. Caught in the act, he sighed and straightened back up, having been leaning over. "Not a word, Sam," he said. "Not a single word."
Sam half-smiled and gestured towards Selena. "Actually, I think anyone would've done what you just did," he told Dean. Dean shrugged slightly, kind of agreeing with him. Sam sighed afterwards and he began to frown. "So," he began, getting to the point of why he was back so quickly. "I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie." Dean looked at him questionably and opened his mouth to speak but Sam continued on talking. "I just drove past the Carlton house. There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead."
"He drowned?" Dean questioned.
"Yep. In the sick," Sam revealed.
"So much for Selena getting laid," Riley commented as she entered the motel room, having heard the last little bits of the conversation that had yet finished. She had been outside, hanging around the front of the motel just walking around aimlessly. She never did like staying in one location for a long amount of time, loving to constantly be moving around. "That poor bastard," she continued as she walked by Sam, moving to sit on Sam's bed. She smiled to herself as she saw Selena sleeping on Dean's bed and she smirked at Dean afterwards. "Oh, so Selena can sleep on your bed but I can't even lay on it? Where's the fairness in that?"
Dean glared at her for a moment before smirking back at her. "Easy. She isn't as annoying as you are." Well, that was part of the reason why he was allowing Selena to sleep on his bed. Dean went back to the matter at hand. "So, this isn't a creature. We're dealing with something else." What kind of creature, with a power over water, could kill someone inside their own home by drowning the person within a sink? That's the first time he ever heard of such a thing occurring to anyone.
"Yeah, but what?" Sam questioned as he gently took a seat on the bed that Selena was sleeping on. He made a panicked face when Selena shifted slightly in her sleep but relaxed when Selena remained sleeping.
"I don't know," Dean answered. "Water wraith, maybe? Some kind of demon? A water imp? Maybe a rogue mermaid or whatever it was called? Uh, a rogue siren like Selena suggested earlier. I mean, it's something that controls water." He immediately paused as he quickly realized something and he shared a look with Sam, Sam coming to the same conclusion as him. "Water that comes from the same source," he finished.
"The lake," Sam stated, on the same page as Dean. "Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time."
Riley made a face. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." She groaned as she placed her head in her hands. "And to make matters worse, the...thing can get through the pipes and it can end up absolutely anywhere, get anyone. And it's likely going to get someone else soon enough." She lifted her head and stared at the brothers whom stared back at her. "I think you both should visit Bill. I mean, his kids died so he has to be connected, in some way, to what's happening at the lake." She wanted to avoid going to the lake at all costs. She was near it once, but she isn't getting near it a second time. She just wasn't.
"What about you?" Dean asked, staring at her. "Aren't you coming, too?"
Riley shook her head and nodded towards still sleeping Selena. "I'm not leaving Selena here alone. I'm just not. You two just... Just go already. The faster you get information outta Bill, the closer we'll get to figure out what we're dealing with in this town." The Winchester brothers nodded and the two of them soon left the motel room, neither of them questioning Riley's decision or her normal attitude. Riley stared at her sleeping sister, frowning as a thought crossed her mind. The only thing she could think of that could kill people by drowning them in their sinks or even their bathtubs was a spirit and spirits were Selena's one true nightmare...
~(Approximately) November 20th, 2005; Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin~
Dean and Sam had no luck with getting any information out of Bill Carlton when they went to question him. As a result, Dean decided that they'd go to the next best person: Lucas. Lucas had drawn a picture of the Carlton house and before long, Will Carlton had drowned within his own kitchen. Perhaps the kid had some sort of psychic connection to the creature, whatever the creature was. Apart from Lucas being a likely helpful candidate, Dean had found himself caring about the young boy a lot, just about as much as he cared for Selena already. While Lucas and Selena were different in age, they both contained innocence that Dean felt he needed to protect. So, Dean and Sam headed to the Barr-Devins household and upon arriving, Dean and Sam had immediately spotted Riley's car in the driveway.
When they entered the house after being invited inside by Andrea, Dean and Sam spotted Riley sitting on the couch. When Dean sent a glare her way, Riley just waved slightly with a half-smile on her face that made Dean drop his glare immediately; something definitely had to be wrong for Riley to be sending smiles his way and not smirks. But Dean ignored the weird feeling in his gut and he explained things to Andrea, telling her that they needed to speak with her son about something important. And the immediate answer he had gotten wasn't something he wanted to hear. "I'm sorry, but I'll tell you what I told your friends. I just don't think it's a good idea," Andrea told him. She didn't know what they were up to and she didn't see a point to it. Lucas wasn't ever going to answer and he'd probably never even speak again.
"I just need to talk to him," Dean told her, not taking no for an answer. "Just for a few minutes." He glanced around the room for any sign of Selena, having learnt that she was there as well, but she wasn't anywhere in sight. Strangely, he already had a feeling as to where she was located. But maybe that wasn't too strange, him knowing exactly where she was, because based on Selena's personality, she'd likely be located in Lucas's room and anyone could have guessed that.
Andrea still didn't see a point in any of this. She placed her hands on her hips. She was dressed in something different than what they had seen her in earlier that day. Her blouse was light pink with a darker shade of pink lightly buttoned shirt over it and her skirt was blue denim. "He won't say anything. What good's it gonna do?" She had no hope in these men or even in the girls. Her son simply wouldn't do anything, she was sure of it. That one drawing that Lucas gave Dean was a fluke.
"Andrea," Sam began, speaking softly. "We think more people might get hurt. We think something's happening out there."
Andrea looked towards Sam, a doubtful and serious look on her face. "That's exactly what Riley told me," she stated. She had gotten into a small, kind of nice conversation with Riley before the brothers arrived and it had turned towards the topic of the 'accidental' drownings. By this point, Andrea wanted nothing more to do with talking about what happened. "But my husband, the others, they just drowned. That's all."
"If that's what you really believe, then we'll go," Dean spoke up, making Andrea look back at him. "But considering you allowed Riley and Selena to stay, you believe that there's a possibility that something else is going on here. So, please let me talk to your son." Andrea hesitated as she stared at him before she nodded slightly, walking past him to lead him towards her son's room. Dean and Sam followed silently behind her, Riley remaining where she was. As they grew closer to Lucas's bedroom, they could hear Selena's voice as she spoke.
"...Oh? This one is your favorite?" Selena spoke in question, her voice gentle and full of kindness. When Andrea, Dean, and Sam appeared at the open door of Lucas's room, the three of them spotted Selena holding a toy soldier in her hand while she remained sitting on her knees across from Lucas, more toy soldiers on the floor in between the two of them along with more drawings that Lucas created. Selena stared at Lucas with her head tilted and Lucas looked up at her for a moment, nodding his head ever so slightly before he looked back down at his drawing. Selena nodded and she looked at the toy soldier. "I see. Mmm. Most would believe that there is not much difference between toy soldiers, apart from their different stances. But to others, they can see the significance that each one holds." She gently placed down the toy soldier, this toy solider taking a stance where its legs were spread out and his arms were towards the air. "Such as this one. It is slightly more worn out than the others but I must say that I am curious as to why you have chosen it as your favorite." She hummed to herself as she tilted her head once more, eyeing the toy she just placed down.
Dean finally stepped into the room, Andrea and Sam remaining by the doorway. "Hey," he greeted in a soft tone, not wanting to frighten either of them. Selena looked towards Dean and she smiled, rubbing one of her eyes as she let out a small yawn. Dean crouched down a little ways beside Selena, remaining by the door. He turned his attention towards Lucas. "Hey, Lucas. You remember me?" Dean paused for a moment, waiting for any sort of reaction from Lucas and when he got none, he looked down towards the drawings and looked through a few of them, spotting the same red bicycle. Dean half-smiled as he looked back up at Lucas. "So, uh, I see that you've taken a better liking towards Selena. I don't blame you. She has a heart of gold," Dean remarked, slightly looking towards Selena as he finished his sentence. Selena smiled happily at him, pleased with the compliment. Dean looked back towards Lucas. "You know, I, uh," Dean continued, shifting to where he was actually sitting on the floor. "I wanted to thank you for that last drawing. But the thing is, I need your help again."
Lucas didn't look up towards Dean as he drew a picture of a person within some water. Dean reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the folded up drawing that Lucas gave him. He opened up the folds and he placed it down in front of Lucas gently. "How did you know to draw this?" Dean questioned him, continuing his speaking. "Did you know something bad was gonna happen? Maybe you could nod yes or no for me?" he continued but Lucas didn't look towards him at all. Dean looked towards Selena, silently asking for some sort of help. Selena just continued to smile, except in a sadder way, and she gestured towards Lucas, silently telling him to continue. Dean nodded shortly, understanding what she wanted him to do; Selena did hear his voice crack earlier at the park when Dean mentioned his mother after all but she just hadn't mentioned it.
Upon looking back towards Lucas, Dean suddenly came to the realization that Lucas had to be scared. And because of this, he knew exactly why Selena wanted him to speak up about something he considered to be private. Well, at the very moment, he didn't care about speaking of private matters. He needed to help this kid. "You're scared," Dean stated. As he continued to speak, his eyes began to appear watery and behind him, Sam had turned his attention away from Lucas and towards Dean. "It's okay. I understand. See, when I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom and I was scared, too. I didn't feel like talking, just like you. But see, my mom, I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day. And I do my best to be brave. And maybe, your dad wants you to be brave, too." Dean stared at Lucas as Lucas dropped the crayon he was holding, his attention finally turning towards Dean. He looked down for a moment, looking through his drawings and he picked up one, looking back at Dean as he handed it to him. "Thanks, Lucas," Dean said as he looked at the drawing of a white church, a yellow house, and a boy with a blue baseball cap beside a red bicycle in front of a wooden fence.
Selena gently stood up from where she was kneeling and she stepped around the toys, leaning over to place her hand on Dean's shoulder. He looked towards her and she whispered to him. "I'm sorry for the loss of your mother. But thank you for speaking of it with him. I had figured you had this...problem in common with him." Upon from what she had overheard in the park, she came to the assumption that Dean and Sam lost their mother at a young age. She was happy, and sad, that Dean had understood what she had wanted him to tell Lucas, happy that he had understood her to begin with and sad that he had to speak of something personal in front of everyone. She wrapped her arm around his and she began gently pulling on it, indicating that she wanted him to stand up and he did so with no questions asked. Without another word being spoken, Dean and Selena exited the room, heading down the hall and Sam followed close behind them, Andrea remaining at Lucas's room. Upon stepping outside the house with Riley in toll, Selena glanced in between the two cars and she followed after the brothers to theirs. "May I ride with you?" she asked quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly.
Dean and Sam turned towards her as they both stopped on either side of the Impala, both of them immediately concerned about the urgency in her tone. "Are you alright?" Sam asked. He felt that maybe she had been effected by Dean's words and she wanted to stick around them for some sort of emotional support. But he couldn't be more wrong, for the most part.
"I am fine," Selena answered. "However, I wish not to ride in my sister's vehicle while I can." She glanced towards Riley's car and rubbed her arms as she shifted slightly on her feet. "It is a death machine. I do not like being within any car but hers gives me the worst case of anxiety and it has not ceased." She gulped as she looked back towards the Winchester brothers, speaking very slowly as she finished speaking. "I suppose you could say that I have a large fear of her vehicle."
"I knew it!" Riley exclaimed as she approached Selena from behind. She had followed behind Selena and the Winchesters when they were exiting the house but she had began heading towards her car until she noticed Selena heading towards the Impala, hence why she was now behind Selena again but by the Impala and not her own car. Riley crossed her arms and smirked, proud that she was correct. "I knew you had a fear of my car this entire time. You're always your happiest when you're rushing to get out of it. I knew you had been lying when you kept telling me you weren't scared."
Selena turned slightly on her heels to look at Riley. "That's incorrect. You had assumed my fear was of death this whole time, not of the car itself." Riley scoffed, making a 'whatever' face. Selena looked back towards Dean and Sam. "Can I please ride with you...?" she asked again, more anxiously.
Dean nodded. "Get in." He watched as Selena quickly headed to Sam's side of the Impala and watched as she got into the backseat. He turned towards Riley. "We have a house to find. So, go do whatever it is you're good at," Dean told her as he got into his car, missing the glare that Riley sent his way. Once Sam had entered the Impala as well, Dean drove away from the house. When they were well on the road, Dean glanced towards the backseat for a split second before looking back at the road. "Doing okay back there, Selena?" he asked.
"Yes," Selena answered after a moment. "I am much less anxious." Her eyes were closed, she was buckled in, and she was leaning against the seat. Her breathing was under control, far more under control than it would had been if she had been stuck in Riley's vehicle once more. She was going to enjoy this feeling while she could. She didn't know when she'd get another chance to rid with the brothers. Her anxiety had been the main reason, earlier that day, for her wanting them to take the Impala to the park.
"Awesome," Dean replied. He began to speaking not only to Selena but to Sam as well. "So, Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died." That was strange within itself, a kid suddenly becoming Picasso the second his father was deceased.
Sam looked down towards the drawing that Lucas had given Dean, having took it from his brother's grasp earlier. "There are cases. Going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions, psychic tendencies." Hearing this made Selena's eyes reopen and she leaned forward in her seat slightly. She didn't say anything in response to what Sam said but she surely was thinking about how the brothers would react if they were to learn that she had powers.
"Look, whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow?" Dean questioned. Hearing Sam made an unsure sound, he continued quickly. "It's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns so if you got a better lead, please."
Selena spoke up. "Finding the house that Lucas has drawn for us should be our top priority as of this very moment." She reached forward, tapping Sam's shoulder. "May I?" Sam headed the drawing to her and she leaned back in her seat, staring at the picture. "There are many yellow two-story homes within this country but there are much less with a white church by its side. That narrows down our search quite a bit, don't you think? Additionally, I..." She paused as she released a sigh. Dean and Sam shared at look with each other before Dean looked back towards the road and Sam looked towards the backseat. "Truthfully, Riley shared this information with me while she drove herself, and myself, to see Andrea and Lucas. And sadly, I have to agree with her on it." She paused again, closing her eyes as she once again sighed. "We believe that what we are dealing with...is a spirit seeking revenge of some sort." She handed back the drawing to Sam as she turned her gaze towards the window on her right, not bothering to mention that Riley suggested for the Winchesters to finish the case alone because of Selena's fear of spirits. But Selena couldn't bring herself to agree with Riley when the suggestion was made because she wanted to get over this fear and she wanted to be of assistance to the brothers that she considered friends.
Sam thought for a moment as he sat correctly in his seat again. "You may be right about that. We'll have to wait and see what we come up with." Dean nodded in agreement with his younger brother's words. Selena hummed in response, a half-smile on her face. Apart from the gentle music playing and the sound of the Impala going down the road, it became silent between the three of them. But only for a few seconds because Sam turned his attention towards Dean. "You know, um... What you said about Mom, you never told me that before."
"It's not a big deal," Dean responded. When Sam didn't reply, he looked over at Sam and immediately caught the look that Sam was giving him. He looked away from Sam and groaned. "Oh, God, we're not gonna have to hug or anything, are we?" Sam looked away from him with a smile, snorting.
Selena tilted her head to the left as she stared at the back of Dean's head. "How come you hugged me at the park if you are against showing emotion through an embrace?" She hadn't meant to reveal this information, the information that Dean wanted her to keep from Sam but she didn't think about it. She was confused as to why she was an exception.
Sam's eyes widened as his smile grew bigger, his attention back on Dean. "You hugged Selena? In the park? Around everyone?" Dean released a second groan and he kept his eyes on the road. Sam looked towards the backseat, towards Selena, for a second before looking back at Dean. "That...actually doesn't really surprise me as much as it does with the whole hugging in public thing." He looked away from Dean and towards his window. "Wow." He let out another snort as he shook his head. Yeah, Dean had definitely bonded with Selena at the park and Riley had been right to assume such would occur. Sam believed that Selena was a good influence on Dean, to be honest, since she appeared to be bringing out Dean's deeply hidden emotions.
Dean groaned a third time. "Thanks a lot, Selena." Though he didn't see it, Selena sent him an apologetic smile.
Before long, Dean pulled up to the first church they spotted. Selena remained in the Impala while Dean and Sam went to knock on the door of the yellow house across from the church. Coincidentally, it was the correct home and they were invited inside where they both learnt information about a young boy named Peter Sweeney, a kid that had gone missing thirty-five years beforehand. After gaining this information and after finding a picture of not only Peter but of Bill Carlton, Dean and Sam returned to the Impala, explaining what they learnt to Selena as Dean began driving the Impala to the Carlton household.
Selena rubbed the back of her head as she sighed. "Riley and I were correct, it appears," she began after the explanation ended. She began summing up what she just listened to. "Peter Sweeney, a young boy, vanishes and his disappearance is connected to Bill Carlton because the victims were his family." She frowned, shaking her head. "For his spirit to come back and seek revenge like this, it is likely that Bill could have killed him."
"That's what we're thinking," Dean remarked. "Maybe now, if we tell him that he's in danger, he'll-" Whatever he was going to say wouldn't had been the best bet either way. Bill had hardly acknowledge Dean and Sam when they visited him earlier so Bill was just about as likely to remain silent, even when given a warning, as he had the first time.
"Drive faster," Selena interrupted him. "If Bill Carlton did indeed kill Peter Sweeney, he must be aware of Peter's presence by now." She was speaking in a very serious tone, more so than she usually did. "He'll likely give Peter what he wants. His own death." With that, Dean sped up as they raced to get to the Carlton home.
Eventually pulling into the driveway of the house, the three of them quickly exited the Impala and they immediately heard the engine of a boat. Turning their attention towards the lake, they spotted Bill pulling away from the dock within the boat that they had heard. The three hunters sprinted down the dock immediately, yelling for Bill to turn the boat around and to get out of the water. As the three of them eventually stood on the edge of the dock still yelling, Bill looked towards them but he made no move to turn around and he continued further out onto the lake. As his boat went a little ways further, the three hunters watched in horror as the boat and Bill were sent flying into the air by a large, and sudden, burst of water that soon submerged them both before the waters of the lake became calm once more. Selena released a whimper as she gripped onto Dean's right arm and Dean found himself pulling her close to him, wrapping said arm around her shoulder protectively when she released her grip as Sam placed his left hand on Selena's right arm gently. Still horror-struck, the three of them stared at the lake...
~(Approximately) November 20th, 2005; Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin~
On the ride back into town, Selena made a call to Riley and informed her of what occurred, still a bit shaken up by what she had witnessed. In response, Riley simply told her that she was waiting at the station. Upon their arrival to the station, Dean, Sam, and Selena spotted Sheriff Devins standing by the entrance with his arms crossed and they all knew, or at least had a feeling, that their cover had been blown. Getting out of the car, the three hunters walked by the sheriff as they headed into the station, the sheriff heading in behind them. Inside the station, Riley was leaning against a desk and she removed herself from it upon seeing them enter. Andrea, holding a paper bag and a plastic container, stood up from the chair she had been sitting in, placing the items onto the chair afterwards. Beside the chair was Lucas, rocking back and forth in a way that appeared to be some sort of anxiety symptom.
"Sam. Dean. Selena," Andrea greeted as she turned towards them. "I didn't expect to see you here, too." She gestured towards Riley as her father, Dean, Sam, and Selena walked alongside the desk, Riley being located on the opposite side of the desk like herself (Riley was standing near her). "Riley didn't mention that you were coming. We were having a really nice chat about cooking." Upon discovering this, Dean sent a really look at Riley and she rolled her eyes in response, half-smiling and nodding afterwards.
"So, now you're on a first name basis," Sheriff Devins stated, sounding like he was accusing them of something. He didn't seem all that happy about this information either. "What are you doing here?" he asked Andrea as he moved around the desk. He hadn't known that she was there because after he had gotten Riley from the motel, he sent her inside the station without following behind her and, apparently, Andrea had already entered the station herself with Lucas sometime beforehand.
"I brought you dinner," Andrea explained instantly, gesturing towards the paper bag and plastic container. Behind her, Lucas was still rocking anxiously in the chair he was sitting in. Selena took notice of this quickly, but she was unable to reach him due to her being towards the back of the line, considering that the sheriff had maneuvered himself from the back to the front just moments ago.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I really don't have the time right now," Sheriff Devins informed her apologetically. He removed his jacket as Andrea turned her gaze towards Dean, Sam, and Selena.
Andrea looked back towards her father, speaking hesitatingly. "I heard about Bill Carlton," she revealed. Her father looked towards her, surprised that she knew this information. Andrea gestured to Riley a second time. "Riley got a call from Selena and after she was informed about it, she told me," she explained. She crossed her arms. "But is it true? Is there something going on with the lake?"
"Right now, we don't know what the truth is," Sheriff Devins began. As he spoke, Selena gently touched Dean's arm and when he looked at her, she nodded towards Lucas with a worried expression. Dean looked towards Lucas himself and he saw that Lucas appeared to be very anxious. "But I think it might be better if you and Lucas went on home," Sheriff Devins finished.
Upon hearing this, Lucas looked up from gazing at the floor and he stood, letting out a whimper as he quickly ran over to Dean, grabbing onto Dean's right arm. Immediately, Dean bent down to almost eye-level with Lucas and he spoke calmly, but urgently. "Lucas, hey, what is it?" Dean asked him. Lucas didn't respond, continuing with his whimpering as he stared at Dean with fear in his eyes. Lucas began tugging on Dean's arm and Andrea moved to pry Lucas from Dean. "Lucas, it's okay. It's okay," Dean stated, his tone growing softer each time he repeated this to Lucas. Eventually, Lucas released Dean's arm and Dean gently brushed his hand against Lucas's head. "It's okay, Lucas." Though he wasn't holding onto Dean anymore, Lucas continued looking at him and when his mother began pushing him forward gently so that they could leave, Lucas looked towards Selena and reached out for her, whimpering again.
Selena crouched down as Dean stepped aside. Andrea seemed hesitate to release Lucas, but Selena gave her a reassuring look. No longer being held back, Lucas ran over to Selena and wrapped his arms around her, whimpering more. Selena wrapped her own arms around him, placing one hand on his back and another on his head. "Shhh," she whispered. "You'll be okay, Lucas. Remember what I told you." She gently pulled him from her arms and he looked up at her with much fear in his eyes still. Selena placed her hands on his shoulders. "Nothing bad is going to happen to you or your mother," Selena continued, still whispering. "I'd never allow that to happen, none of us would." She smiled a little at him. "You need to be brave, okay? For your mom." She gave him another gentle hug and whispered even lower into his ear. "I'll be seeing you again later, I promise." Lucas's whimpers had faded again but the fear remained in his eyes, though it wasn't as bad. Selena looked up and met Andrea's gaze, signaling to Andrea that she and Lucas could leave now.
Watching Andrea and Lucas leave the station was the hardest thing Dean and Selena could do, both of them watching as Lucas continued to look back at them both as Andrea lead him out of the station. Dean and Selena glanced at each other before they turned their attention towards the sheriff. But before their attention was fully on the sheriff, the two of them caught Riley and Sam smiling at them. Dean avoided their gaze immediately as he looked towards the sheriff while Selena shared a smile with Riley and Sam; Dean appeared to be a slight bit embarrassed while Selena was not. Everyone's gaze soon turning towards the sheriff, they all noticed that he seemed more pissed off now with Andrea and Lucas being gone than he had been while the two had been there. He stormed into his office and, after looking at one another, the four hunters entered the office after him.
Dean was standing behind the chair Selena was sitting in. Sam was standing behind the chair Riley was sitting in. In front of the four of them was Sheriff Devins and he didn't seem to believe a word of what they had explained to him for the past hour and a half. "Okay, just so I'm clear, you see something attack Bill's boat, sending Bill, who is a very good swimmer by the way, into the lake and you never see him again?" Sheriff Devins stared at the four in disbelief, still not believing them but waiting for an answer.
Dean glanced towards Sam as Sam glanced towards him. Dean looked back at the sheriff. "Yeah, that about sums it up."
Sheriff Devins spoke again, sounding annoyed and tired. "And I'm supposed to believe this, even though I've already sonar-swept that entire lake and what you're describing is impossible? And you're not really Wildlife Service?" He watched as the four hunters made expressions that showed that they had been caught red-handed. "That's right, I checked. Department's never heard of you four."
"See, now, we can explain that," Dean started, prepared to be the one to explain everything. However, he didn't get a chance to do so.
"Enough," Sheriff Devins retorted. "Please. The only reason you're breathing free air is one of Bill's neighbors saw him steering out that boat just before you did." He had gotten a call while he was waiting for Dean, Sam, and Selena to make an appearance, around when Riley told him that she'd call them. Which she hadn't actually done, but she had gotten a call from Selena and chose to do what the sheriff wanted anyways. "So, we have a couple of options here. I can arrest you for impersonating government officials and hold you as material witnesses to Bill Carlton's disappearance or we can chalk this all up to a bad day, you get into your cars, you put this town in your rearview mirrors, and you don't ever darken my doorstep again."
"Door number two sounds good," Sam answered immediately.
"That's the one I'd pick," Sheriff Devins said angrily. "Now. Get out."
Exiting the office and the station together, the Winchester brothers and the Grant-Piers sisters moved to stand in two separate places. Dean and Sam stood by the Impala while Riley and Grant stood in the middle of the sidewalk in which they were going to head down soon so that they could get to their own car that was still parked at the motel. Both sets of siblings still had to get their belongings out of the motel room, but they were choosing to say goodbye in front of the station. "So, uh," Dean began. "This is it, I guess. Until next time, anyways." Dean was certain that there would be a next time, that this wouldn't be the last he saw of the sisters. Deep down, however, he couldn't shake the feeling that everything still wasn't okay. But he didn't voice this out loud, not to them. Because part of him knew that Riley and Selena weren't about to just up and leave. Dean looked at Selena. "You, uh, you did a great job. Helped us out a lot."
Selena smiled. "Thank you, Dean." Dean nodded slightly.
Riley made a face. "Yo. Stop flirting with my little sister, Dean Winchester, before I shoot off your balls." She placed her hand on the back of her pants for emphasis, her hand over where her gun was located since she didn't have her holster this time around.
Dean instantly covered up the front of his pants reflexively as he saw Riley reached towards her gun. Well, she didn't exactly reach for it but he thought she had. "Whoa, now. Take it easy there, hot shot. I wasn't flirting, I was praising." He lowered his hands to his sides as Riley lowered her hand. "And it's disgusting how you think I feel that way towards her. She's more like a sister I want to protect than anything else."
Riley smirked at him. "I know. I just wanted to get you to admit it out loud." She knew that Selena got to him. She fucking knew it. She called that shit since the Wendigo incident. And knowing this was true made her happy because it meant that there was more to Dean Winchester than he often showed to others. There was hope for their unstable friendship yet.
Dean made a face, not amused by what just transpired. "Oh, that was just dirty." Beside him, Sam was chuckling. "Shut up, Sammy." Sam did not in fact shut up, he continued laughing. "I mean it, Sam. Stop laughing."
Riley shook her head at him and she let out a small laugh. The look on Dean's face softened a bit. "I know what I did was dirty. It's why I did it." She approached him and stopped once she was standing right in front of him, their faces close together. "I always knew you were a softie somewhere behind all of that angst." She leaned up and placed a kiss on his left cheek, the first time she ever showed him this sort of affection. "Hope to be seeing you boys again real soon." She turned and walked away from a surprised Dean whom slowly began to smile. "Because," Riley continued, looking back at Dean and Sam. "Even I have to admit that you both make things more interesting for us." She looked away again and she walked past Selena, making her way to the motel slowly. Waving goodbye to the brothers, Selena turned and followed after Riley. Dean and Sam entered the Impala, driving to the motel and by the time they had their things packed, they were driving away from the motel as Riley and Selena approached it...
~(Approximately) November 20th, 2005; Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin~
Mere coincidence it was for Riley and Selena to arrive at the Barr-Devins home just as trouble was beginning to brew that night. Technically, the two of them had been parked outside for a while, unnoticed by Andrea, and they had been waiting for anything unusual to occur in the most riskiest way because there was no telling when an attack would occur or if they'd even hear it occurring once it did. But thanks to Selena becoming anxious, the two of them had exited the car and approached the front door, ringing the doorbell. When a terrified Lucas opened the door, Riley and Selena sprung into action, leaving the door open behind them as they quickly followed Lucas up to the bathroom that his mother was trapped within.
Water was pouring out from beneath the bathroom door and it continued down the nearby stairs. Riley grabbed ahold of Lucas as Selena attempted to get the door open by slamming herself against it. When the door wouldn't budge, she hit the wall with her fist as she felt herself slowly beginning to freeze up as she recalled what they were dealing with, her eyes looking towards Lucas as she turned. He was staring at her, scared at what was occurring. Seeing this, Selena pushed back her own fear. She was going to save his mother and she was going to have to use her powers to do it. "Lucas, please don't be afraid of me after what you are about to witness." Selena looked away from him and gestured her hand towards the door, the door flying open and it almost became loose on its hinge. Inside the bathroom, Andrea was struggling to take breath as she was dragged underneath the water of the bathtub. Selena ran into the bathroom, immediately sticking her arms into the tub as she tried pulling her out, all while attempting to control the water so that Andrea could breathe whilst still underwater.
As soon as Selena began her attempts to pull Andrea out of the water, she could hear someone running through the house. And soon, Sam appeared behind her and he was helping her with her attempts to pull Andrea out. Outside the bathroom, Dean stood with Lucas and Riley, Lucas having moved into Dean's arms as soon as Dean arrived. Together, Sam and Selena pulled Andrea above the surface of the water but the spirit of Peter was fighting to pull her back down as Andrea coughed out water, panting heavily. Luckily, Sam and Selena were able to pull Andrea out of the tub completely, the three of them falling onto the bathroom floor. Quickly, Riley moved past Dean and she grabbed a towel, wrapping it around Andrea as Sam and Selena released their hold on her...
~(Approximately) November 21st, 2005; Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin~
Dawn was breaking by the time everything had cooled down. Andrea and Sam were sitting within the living room, sitting at a table together. Andrea was wearing more comfortable clothing now, but she still appeared distressed after what she had gone through. Elsewhere, Dean was looking through notebooks on the bookshelves with Riley lending a helping hand. Selena was sitting crisscross on the floor by a window near Andrea and Sam, her back against what little wall there was underneath said window. Lastly, Lucas approached Selena as he moved across the living room, taking a seat on his knees in front of her. Selena gazed at him and when she didn't spot any fear within his eyes, she smiled at him and nearly released a sigh of relief, happy that the young boy wasn't scared of her after what he witnessed her do.
"It doesn't make any sense," Andrea commented. She began to cry. "I'm going crazy." She placed her face into her hands. None of this could be real. She wanted to believe that she dreamt it all up, but she knew that wouldn't be true. She just couldn't believe that all of this was real, that what happened really happened.
"No, you're not," Sam gently told her. He placed a comforting hand on her arm for a second. "Tell me what happened. Everything." He needed to hear the information. Honestly, he just wanted this case to be done with already. The only good thing about it, in his opinion, was spending time with Riley and Selena again. But he even had to admit to himself that he was a bit concerned for this family. He wasn't a total dickhead.
Andrea cupped her hands together in front of her mouth for a moment before moving her hands to her right cheek. "I heard... I thought I heard..." She looked away from the table, her gaze going to Sam. "There was this voice. It said... It said come play with me." She released a sob as tears streamed down her cheeks. "What's happening?"
Dean and Riley headed over to where Andrea and Sam were, Dean dropping a scrapbook onto the table in front of Andrea. The scrapbook was opened to a page where a picture of a large group of boys with a sign sitting in front of them that read Explorers 37 could be seen. "Do you recognize the kids in these pictures?" Dean asked. Standing behind Dean, Riley silently shifted back and forth on her feet, her eyes glancing back and forth between everyone in the room.
"What?" Andrea asked before she processed the question. She dropped her hands from her face and she looked down at the scrapbook. "Um, um, no. I mean, except that's my dad right there." She pointed her father out in the picture before she pointed at a second picture of her father as a child, a close up picture that had Sheriff Devins standing right next to Peter. "He must have been about twelve in these pictures."
Dean looked at Sam. "Chris Barr's drowning," he began shaking his head, "The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton." He pointed to the scrapbook. "It must have been to the sheriff." He was assuming this because the two (Jake and Peter) appeared to have known each other and, well, Andrea was attacked.
Riley shook her head, disagreeing. "No, Dean." Dean turned to look at her. She looked him in the eye. "This is connected to Bill and the sheriff. I think they both were involved with Peter. I mean, they both had to have been or it wouldn't make sense as to why both of their families have been attacked by Peter." She opened her mouth to speak more but she saw movement in the corner of her eyes, turning her head towards the course of the movement. She spotted Lucas looking out the window and Selena was standing beside him, looking down towards him. "What is it?" Riley questioned. She turned her attention to Selena. "Selena?" Selena shrugged slightly as Lucas took her hand and lead her outside. Andrea, Dean, Riley, and Sam quickly followed behind the two of them. Lucas lead Selena a little ways from the house before he stopped and looked at the ground, looking up at Selena afterwards. Selena looked back towards everyone else.
Dean moved to where Lucas and Selena stood, nodding slightly. "Selena, you and Lucas get back to the house." He glanced to Andrea. "Andrea, you too. And stay there, okay?" He didn't want them to see whatever it was that they would dig up from the ground, whether it was a corpse or maggots. They didn't need to see that. They shouldn't ever see something like that. Andrea and Lucas didn't need to get any more tainted by this mess. Selena didn't need to witness something like this ever again; she needed a normal, better life than this mess.
Equipping themselves with shovels, Dean, Riley, and Sam began to dig where Lucas had been standing earlier. After just two movements with their digging each, their shovels banged against something. Dropping the shovels to the ground, the three of them dropped to their knees and began digging with their hands, soon grabbing ahold of what was buried and they pulled it out of the dirt. The object was a bike, Peter's bike. Suddenly, someone spoke behind them. "Who are you?" The three of them turned around as they stood up further and they came face to face with Sheriff Devins. "How did you know that was there?"
"Pure instinct," Riley retorted. Sheriff Devins cocked his gun. "Whoa! Whoa, whoa!" She raised her hands. "Now, you don't have to go and shoot anybody. Just put the gun down and we'll all talk like normal civilized people." Sheriff Devins kept his gun raised at them. "Or you can just keep holding up the gun and I can just hope for the best outcome."
"What happened?" Dean questioned the sheriff. "You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake and then buried the bike? You can't bury the truth, Jake. Nothing stays buried." He didn't seem to falter despite having a gun pointed at his face. Hell, it was like he didn't even give a shit. He had been through enough shit that a cop pointing a gun at him seemed like absolutely nothing.
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Sheriff Devins lied, denying that anything had happened. There really was no point to him lying, however, since the proof was right there on the ground, unearthed by the Winchester brothers and Riley.
"You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney thirty-five years ago. That's what the hell I'm talking about," Dean stated. Andrea, having left the safety of the house, ran towards them and came to a stop nearby. "And now you got one seriously pissed off spirit," Dean finished.
"It's gonna take Andrea, Lucas, everyone you love," Sam began. "It's gonna drown them. And it's gonna drag their bodies God knows where so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt. And then, after that, it's gonna take you and it's not gonna stop until it does because that's exactly what it did to Bill Carlton."
Sheriff Devins scoffed. "Listen to yourselves. You're insane."
"We're insane?" Riley placed her hands on her hips, no longer raising them. "You're the one who's insane for thinking the world is full of lollipops and rainbows. Life as you know it isn't all that exists, my friend." She gestured, raising one hand and pointing her finger upwards, rotating her hand around. "There is so much worse shit than this out here in the world." She dropped her hand to her side, other hand still on her hips. "You were lucky enough to have a spirit that doesn't do anything far more brutal." She had a really good point. He was lucky because there were spirits, even other creatures, that killed their victims in more brutal ways than drowning. Compared to those creatures and other spirits, Peter was a Saint.
Dean looked towards Riley, giving her a hard look. "Not helping, Riley." He looked back towards Sheriff Devins. "Look, I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us. But if we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust. Now, tell me you buried Peter somewhere. Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake." Or otherwise, they were so fucked. There would be no possible way of them getting rid of Peter's spirit if his corpse was lost in the lake somewhere, most likely deeply hidden by Peter himself. Sheriff Devins hesitated, his eyes shifting between everyone that was in front of him.
Meanwhile, back towards the house, Lucas had gone outside and he was silently watching. Selena was standing near him with her arms crossed and she was temporarily distracted by what was commencing in front of her that she failed to notice that Lucas had gotten up and that he had began walking away, going towards the lake. However, it didn't take long for Selena to quickly turned her attention elsewhere and, when realizing Lucas had ran off, she immediately went after him without a moment of hesitation, knowing exactly where he was heading because of Peter. However, once the lake came to view, Selena froze up as the full blast of the situation hit her. This was a spirit they were dealing with. She was terrified of those spirits. Earlier, she somehow had been able to fight back the urge to freeze up but right now, she just couldn't do it...
Back at the digging site, Andrea stared at her father in disbelief. "Dad, is any of this true?" She couldn't believe her ears at what she was listening in on. He couldn't have done something bad, right...?
"No, of course not," Sheriff Devins answered immediately. His gun was still raised, pointing it at Dean, Riley, and Sam but mainly Riley since she was being the biggest loud mouth of them all. "They're liars and they're dangerous." He didn't want her to know the truth. He wanted to protect her from the truth. He didn't understand what was happening but he didn't want to believe that his past was coming back to haunt him, literally. He just wanted to return to the life he was having before Dean, Riley, Sam, and Selena showed their faces in his town.
Andrea didn't want to hear anymore lies. She wanted the truth. "Something tried to drown me," she revealed to him. She had lost her temper with him slightly, snapping at him. "Chris died on that lake. Dad, look at me." She watched as her father turned his gaze towards her slowly. "Tell me that you... Tell me you didn't kill anyone," she pleaded. While she knew that a spirit was after them, she didn't want to believe that her father had caused this. Sheriff Devins looked away from her, taking heavy breaths as he almost said something but didn't. Andrea stared at him with her jaw dropped slightly. "Oh, my God."
The truth finally began to come out as Sheriff Devins began to explain what occurred. "Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time, it got rough." He shifted his eyes back and forth between his daughter and the ground. "We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to, but we held him under too long and he drowned." He paused and he looked towards Dean, Sam, and Riley. "We let the body go and it sank," Sheriff Devins revealed, displeasing the three listening hunters. He looked back towards his daughter, frowning and with tears in his eyes. "Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake. But, Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational."
"All right, listen to me, all of you," Dean said. "We need to get you away from this lake, as far as we can, right now." It's all that they could do at this point. There was no way for them to get rid of Peter.
Meanwhile, while the conversation was taking place, Lucas was continuing to head towards the lake. As he took several steps onto the dock, he felt arms wrap around him and he was turned to face Selena. Selena was catching her breath, having sprinted to catch up to him in time after she willed herself to break free from her frozen-in-fear state. Just the mere thought of a child dying because of her fear keeping her from helping had caused her to gain some of her sense back. "We mustn't be out here, Lucas," Selena told him gently. "It's not safe. We must go back. Whatever it is you wish to see or get, it'll only cause trouble for us all." Beneath them, she heard the cracking of the boards and both of their faces became horror-struck as they heard the calls of their names. "Close your eyes and hold your breath," Selena whispered to Lucas. The very second he did so, the dock collapsed and the two of them were falling into the water.
Just moments before the incident had occurred and from afar, Andrea had turned her attention towards the lake as she spotted Lucas stepping foot onto the dock. She released a loud gasp and everyone's attention was towards Lucas, all of them dashing into a mad sprint as they all began to call Lucas's name. As they attempted to get to him in time, they could see through the trees that Selena had gotten to Lucas first. But by the time they all arrived by the lake, they watched as Lucas and Selena were sent falling straight into the water with the collapsed dock. Neither of them resurfaced at all as Andrea, Dean, Riley, and Sam sprinted to where the dock had been, Sheriff Devins freezing where he was when he caught a glimpse of Peter's darkened, evil spirit. Quickly removing their leather jackets, Dean and Sam jumped into the water after Lucas and Selena. Andrea attempted to jump in herself but Riley quickly wrapped her arms around her, preventing her from putting herself in harms way. Dean and Sam drove down into the water multiple times, coming back for air after a while each time. Neither of them could find Lucas or Selena. They both dove down again as Sheriff Devins began to removed his jacket upon his approach towards the lake and he began to wade into the water.
Meanwhile, deep down within the lake, Selena had her grip firmed around Lucas as Peter dragged them both further down. Knowing that they were running out of air and time, Selena glared down at Peter and raised one of her hands, wrapping some of the water surrounding them around her head and Lucas's head. Selena, then, easily made it where the water inside the orb she made pushed outward, giving herself and Lucas air to breath as they both gasped for it. Lucas stared at Selena with wide terrified eyes but the fear was towards Peter and not towards Selena. Selena kept her hand raised as she focused and if Peter were to do something that would cause her to drop her hand, her focus would not falter and neither would the orb she created.
Above water, Jake was gently swimming further out as he spoke out loud. "Peter, if you can hear me... Please, Peter, I'm sorry. I'm so, I'm so sorry." He ignored his daughter's screams of protest as he continued, Dean and Sam still diving into the lake nearby. "Peter. Lucas, he's... He's just a little boy. Please, it's not his fault, it's mine. Please, take me." He stopped moving, remaining still where he was. Dean and Sam resurfaced, both of them sending their own protests to Sheriff Devins. "Just let it be over!" Sheriff Devins exclaimed as he waited.
Down below the surface of the lake, Peter had released his grip on Lucas and he vanished instantly, relocating to where the sheriff was and as a result, he began dragging the sheriff down into the water instead. Lucas and Selena were deep down in the lake by this point, however, and Selena knew that she would exhaust all of her energy if she were to attempt to swim up, this being a risk to her keeping her water orb up. So, she did the only thing she could do. She wrapped her arms around Lucas fully once more, gripping him tightly and suddenly, water began to pressurize beneath them, the water slowly shooting them up. As the stream rose them up, Selena shared a look with both Dean and Sam underwater as she and Lucas went by them, startling both brothers and causing them both to quickly return to the surface of the water. Seconds after Dean and Sam broke the surface of the lake, Lucas and Selena lightly shot out of the water, both landing on the ground by the edge of the lake as Selena landed on her back and Lucas landed on top of her. Selena released her hold on Lucas as Andrea ran over to hug him, crying her heart out.
Dean and Sam brought themselves to the edge of the lake, climbing out quickly. Riley ran over to Selena and helped her stand up as the brothers quickly approached them. However, the look on Dean's face was anything but pleasant while Sam's was one of shock. Riley pushed Selena behind her protectively as she stood between Dean and Selena once Dean was right in front of them. Dean had his eyes narrowed on Selena, his expression unkind. "What the hell are you?" He pointed towards the lake. "What the hell was that I just saw?" Selena hesitated to speak, remaining behind Riley willingly. Dean stared at her, his expression not faltering in the slightest. He was pissed, pissed that this huge secret had been kept from him. Pissed that he had been tricked. "You're not human," Dean stated. "You're far from it. You're a freak." His voice raised. "This whole time, you were a freak!"
"I am sorry that I did not tell you," Selena apologized solemnly. "I had not wished for you to know and think little of me like you do now." She didn't like hearing him call her a freak. She didn't like hearing him call her inhuman. She was far from being inhuman like her mother and Juliet's father. She was nothing like most of her mother's side of the family. She had her humanity and she was mostly human. She wasn't a monster that wanted to harm others. She was a human that wanted to protect the people she cared about.
Dean glared at her, causing Selena to release a whimper. "This entire time, I thought you were this innocent young woman that needed to be protected. But I was wrong. You're just a monster that gets off with pretending." He turned towards the left and paced a bit before looking back towards the sisters, namely Selena. He didn't think anything of Riley possibly having a power. He assumed it was only Selena. "Don't make me ask you again," he said. Selena lowered her head as she stood behind Riley. Riley was fuming at Dean but she wasn't stepping in just yet. Andrea was watching in confusion and fear, holding tightly onto Lucas whom wanted to go over to Selena. Sam was still in shock, not knowing what to say or how to react to anything that was occurring that very moment. Dean approached Riley and Selena again, roughly pushing Riley aside and nearly knocking her over. Dean roughly gripped Selena's arm and looked her dead in the eyes. "What are you?"
"I'm human," Selena whimpered out. Dean scoffed, shaking his head in disgust at what he believed to be a lie as he released his hold on her. He walked away from her. "It's true. I am human. Just an immortal one," Selena continued. Dean's steps faltered and he turned to look at her. "An offspring of an Immortal Being and a Human. My power over water comes from my mother. My inability to age comes from my mother. But I am human. I'm not a monster. I. Am. Human." Selena stared at Dean with tears in her eyes. She was very sad but she wasn't allowing it to make her any less civil than she always was. "And not for a second did I lie to you about anything, Dean Winchester. I may have hid what I am but I did not lie." Her voice began to crack as she finished up her little speech. "And I am not a monster. Monsters hurt people and I would never do something like that. I'd rather die than do something so horrid."
Dean shook his head. "That makes you no less a freak." He didn't say anything more. He was just so angry, so pissed off that something like this was hidden from him. He didn't know what to believe. He didn't know if he could trust her words and know that she meant well or mistrust her and believe that she was trying to kill him, and Sam, this entire time. He had seen some really fucked up shit in his life so he couldn't help but be negative towards the newfound discovery of Selena's true oddity.
Riley glared at him and spoke up at last. "Don't call her that!" Dean gazed at her, expression unchanging. "If you're gonna call anyone a freak, it should be me. I have a power over an element, too." Dean took a step back, eyeing her warily. "Fire. That's my element. That's why I was acting so strange recently, as I am sure you both noticed. I was uncomfortable. Water makes me uncomfortable," she continued, still glaring at Dean. "So, you can call me whatever the fuck you want. Freak, monster, pyromaniac, lunatic." Her voice darkened. "But don't you dare say anything like that to Selena ever again. She used her power for the well-being of Lucas. Twice. And if for a minute you think that she has been trying to harm you or Sam this entire goddamn time, you are gravely mistaken. If anyone wanted to kill you two, they would've fucking done it by now. But not her, not I. We help people, Dean. We use our abnormal abilities for good." She gave him a look of disgust. "I thought you of all people would accept this, accept that not everyone in this world is entirely normal."
"You thought wrong," Dean responded. He glared at Riley and Selena both. "Go. If I ever see your faces again, I will kill you." His words hit Selena the hardest, making her strode away quickly with tears streaming down her cheeks unknowingly to everyone but Riley. Dean wanted them dead. Dean hated them. However, Dean was only just pissed off right that moment and he was only just very confused with everything.
Riley stared at Dean, not making a move to leave just yet. "So, that's it? After the two cases we helped you with, you're done with us because of what we are?" She shook her head, staring at him intensely. "Selena may be different than everyone else and I may be different than everyone else but guess what, Dean Winchester? My sister and I are far more human than you. So, you can take your feelings of hatred and shove them straight up your ass. Only a decent human being could, at least, try to accept all of this after witnessing the good we do. But you are not a decent man. No. You're pathetic." She turned on her heel and began walking away, heading to her car where Selena was awaiting.
As Riley walked onward, Dean began to feel some regret but he didn't take his words back. He couldn't take them back. The sisters had kept this huge secret from them, the secret that they weren't exactly human. He felt used, he felt like his trust had been betrayed. He felt the emotions any friend would feel towards another friend. He glanced towards Sam and Sam released his sigh, a frown on his face. Dean had no idea what Sam thought of all of this but it couldn't have been any different than what he himself was thinking. He was about to ask Sam what he wanted to do about the sisters when Lucas broke free from his mother's grasp, sprinting in the direction that Riley and Selena went. "Lucas!" Dean exclaimed. Instinctively, he ran after him.
Lucas didn't stop sprinting until he crashed into Selena's legs, Dean stopping a few feet short from them. Riley was standing near Selena, eyeing Dean cautiously as she took a step closer to Selena; she was ready to be provoked into killing him because she honestly didn't care if she liked him or not by this point. Dean watched warily as Selena turned and crouched, Dean's hard gaze softening as he noticed the tears that were streaming down Selena's face. Monsters didn't cry. What the hell had he done...? He was a goddamn moron. He continued to watch as Lucas wrapped his arms around Selena and Selena doing the same to him in return. Dean listened silently to Selena's passing words. "You do not have to be afraid anymore. You shall be safe from now on. You will not have to deal with any of this ever again, Lucas. As I had told you, I would not allow anything to happen to you or your mother, even if it meant the cost of my friendship with the people I care for."
"...Not a freak," Lucas said, speaking for the first time. Selena's eyes widened in surprise as she pulled out of the hug she was giving him. She stared down at him in awe, her eyes wet from her tears but they were shining with little happiness. Lucas was frowning as he stared back at her. "You're my friend," he continued. Selena had saved his mother's life and his own. He didn't care about her powers. She had used them to save what was left of his family. He didn't understand the entirety of the situation that occurred but he did know that Selena was his friend. Selena half-smiled at him and she placed a kiss upon his forehead, whispering a thank you and goodbye to him before she stood up and continued on her way to the car, Riley following behind her. As Lucas watched the two of them leave while his mother and Sam slowly approached where he was, Dean remained standing right where he was as he watched the sisters go with pain and regret in his eyes...
Trivia:
1) The ending scene. I apologize if Dean seems out of character and if Sam not saying anything seems out of character for him. I figured that no matter what, Dean wouldn't take the news of the sisters' powers in a good way and that Sam would be surprised by it all. And from the beginning, I knew that this had to occur before Sam's power showed itself because I wanted Dean's reaction to be very negative and not, like, slightly negative. If you didn't like the scene, I am sorry but whatever happens, happens. The Winchester brothers now know that Selena is an Immortal Being and that she controls water (they'll learn the rest eventually). Additionally, the Winchester brothers know of Riley's pyrokinesis but have yet actually witnessed it and they do not know if she is entirely human or not (while all of us know that she is entirely human but just with powers). In the next chapter, I will be following Phantom Traveler and I will say this: amends will be made and a very slow acceptance towards the powers will begin. Again, if you didn't like the ending, don't make it stop you from reading further. We've all read stories that do something we don't like that makes us wanna stop reading but we make ourselves continue and it makes us love it again.
2) How'd you like that the chapter started off with the Winchesters instead of the sisters? I needed a break from the same routine so I broke it and wrote from the Winchesters point of view of things. By the way, I need to apologize for the previous chapter and perhaps for any confusion in this chapter. I do tend to make it go from one conversation and then backtrack to another conversation that took place during the one that had been written first. I try to give a warning at the beginning to let you know that things are being backtracked but I've heard that it's still confusing. I'll be more careful with that next time, hopefully. You didn't have to deal with that this time around, not really.
3) From what I've seen on a Supernatural wikia, there was no date listed for this episode (and it is the same for a lot of future episodes). After checking to see if there was a date for the next (and there was), I made up my own date for this episode 'cause why not. I won't be doing this every single time, though. Some will just be listed as Unknown Date, 2005/2006. Probably.
4) The drawing that Selena created actually exists. The drawing is fanart for my Inuyasha fanfiction, Falling For A Half Demon: The Remake. The female drawn is Kaori, my original character of that fanfic, and the male drawn is quite obviously Inuyasha. You can find the picture on my Quotev account, via Chapter 21 of said fanfic. I did not create it myself.
5) You've seen more to Selena than what has ever been shown of her. You've seen her intelligent side mainly, but you had a tiny glimpse of the anger within her in chapter one. And now, you've seen her childish side, more of her sisterly side, a tiny bit of her motherly side, more of her anxious side, and her sensitive side. You'll be seeing all of these parts of her throughout the story, some more than others.
Word Count: 24,579
