A/N: (will be the same across all three updates) Heyheyhey ya girl is back just as promised! I've actually been working pretty well on this so joke's on anyone who thought I gave up LOL

Not quite on the first day on spring but let's face it, if you live up north in the USA, it's not spring yet. Though I'm sure we've all heard the heart breaking news, spoiler if you haven't but we all need to know, Supernatural is ending after this fall's fifteenth season. So my series won't be eternal since they wanna kill off my hopes and dreams -shrug- lmao jk for real though get the tissues. For those who care in the meantime, you've got this series! Monster is kicking off with it's second half, Dark Paradise, that will take care of seasons five and six of The Vampire Diaries. I will likely reference The Originals from time to time to peek in on Lethia; I have not yet decided if I'm doing a spin off.

Rise II: Devil in Me resumes here with season 10 of Supernatural. A third installment (title TBD) will cover seasons 11 and 12.

And because I realized I hadn't done much with it yet I'm gonna try to shove some of the original Rise in starting today with chapter three.

Side note: there will be a new promo posted to my youtube shortly! Stay tuned for that and more updates!

Thank you to everyone who has been following and favoriting while waiting!
Here's what you were waiting so patiently for.

xoxo
Kuraki-chan

11: There's No Use Crying About It.

Zarya thought she wanted to die after the whole Nick/Lucifer situation. It had been nine days since she watched the light leave Dean's eyes and she had no idea how she was still breathing. She didn't know why she felt such agony but she'd give anything for it to end. She contemplated opening the door to Lucifer again. Was that her own equivalent of shutting her humanity off?

She had taken off before Sam could get to her. Grabbed the bow, got to her feet, and ran without looking back. She ran until her legs and lungs wouldn't allow her to anymore, finally falling to the ground and just sobbing. She had managed to run all the way to the edge of town deep into the woods curled up in the dirt. It was daybreak when she finally picked herself up, the sunlight in her eyes waking her up. Her phone had been in her inner jacket pocket and she woke up to nearly twenty missed calls and texts from Sam. He'd wanted to give her space, but he was coming back for her.

Her heart started to pound wildly again, anxiety creeping up her spine. She couldn't bear to go back. Zarya reacted instantly by throwing the phone as hard as she could against a tree, shattering it. She grabbed her bow and took off running again. First, she found a duffel bag to hold the bow and quiver. Then she bought a bus ticket to Washington. She wanted to feel terrible for abandoning Sam, but she couldn't stand to be around anyone. Not Sam, not Runa, not Nova, especially not Lucifer. She just couldn't do it.

When she got to Washington, she got a new wardrobe. Reasons why she always kept cash in her bra on hunts. Once she was cleaned up with a bag full of new clothes and gear she kept a low profile. She slept maybe three nights, each in a different state. She had to keep moving. If she didn't then she would be contemplating which death she would prefer - suicide by her own hands, probably the revolver to her temple, or letting Lucifer and Remiel have her.

Zarya made it through Idaho and Wyoming over the course of eight days. On the ninth she made it to Hyannis, Nebraska. She wasn't sure where she was going. Mystic Falls, maybe? Could she find solace in the supernatural since she'd lost everything else? Last she had heard Nova was shredding angels without her humanity. Everything seemed to have gone quiet. Part of her wondered if Nova was better, captured, or even dead.

She hitch hiked or walked her way from Hyannis to Deverre. The sun was setting by time she got to that town; she contemplated finding a motel for the night. There were dark circles beneath her tired, withdrawn eyes. Her spark was barely hanging on, if it all. She didn't remember the last time a hair brush had been near her hair.

Walking down a slowly darkening street in Deverre, Zarya started to feel something dark creeping up behind her. She stopped under a street light clutching the strap of her bag tightly with one hand. She wouldn't have the time or cover to grab out the bow and quiver. She thought about reaching for her revolver in her belt, but even that might have been too obvious. As the sensation of being watched and followed grew stronger, something cold slid against Zarya's right arm beneath her sleeve. She almost rolled her eyes when she felt the angel blade in her hand. Whatever; it was a weapon.

Zarya whipped around with the blade out defensively. The tip stopped right up against Saskia's chest. The elder Vasile smirked arrogantly down at her. "Hello, little princess. I'm surprised you're still on your feet. Impressive."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She snarled back. She was borderline feral.

"You truly are clueless, aren't you, child?" Saskia pulled back her left sleeve, showing Zarya the mirrored Mark of Cain on her flesh. It looked as though it had started to fade. "You are tempted by the darkness, are you not?"

"I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about."

"We all are, in our own ways. It's what makes us each the lethal monsters we are. It must be so difficult to be so human. All of those emotions; the pain from losing your beloved. Carina only survived because she's been a vampire a long time. I mean, there is the increasing addiction to demon blood but," she shrugged nonchalantly.

"Get to the point, Saskia. Or I'll ram this one through your heart."

"Go ahead, if it'll make you feel better, little princess. Lucifer's blade can't hurt me. But the pain of losing Dean certainly hurt you deep, did it not?"

"That's certainly none of your business."

"I can make it worth your wild, Zarya. He died with the Mark of Cain. You can die with my blood in your system. Find him again and take my mark."

"Ignoring all of the bullshit, why would you give me or I would take your Mark? Let alone turn? I have no intent on becoming a vampire. Not even after losing Dean. Not ever. That'd certainly be one way to disgrace his memory."

"Sometimes I just can't take your stupidity," Saskia snarled. She slapped the angel blade away, causing it to clatter to the ground and vanish. "You think you're so high and mighty because you're still human? You are weak, Zarya." She grabbed the girl by her throat, lifting her off the ground a few inches. "I can end your life right here with a squeeze. But instead I am offering you a new life. I can teach you how to survive, make you strong. You would flourish as my sire."

A sword went piercing through Saskia's abdomen suddenly, causing her to drop Zarya. She tumbled back, catching herself just before she fell over. "She said she did not wish to turn, ever, motina," came Daciana at the other end of the sword. She ripped the blade from her mother's abdomen and kicked her in the back so she fell to the ground.

Saskia spat some blood on the pavement before glaring up at her daughter. "Says the child who helped begin the entire line of Originals."

Daciana kept her sword pointed at Saskia. She looked to Zarya with a serious expression. "Get out of here and stay safe, sesuo. Go!"

Zarya didn't hesitate; she grabbed her bag and took off running as fast as her legs would take her. She didn't stop until she ended up the 'Leaving Deverre' and 'Welcome to Burwell' signs. And even then she hadn't stopped until she ran into someone. Her first instinct was to jump away and keep running until she felt the warmth of the person. She hadn't felt so warm in a while. She had to force herself to back away and look up at the person, her voice and breath caught in a ball in her throat when she saw him.

Oh, God, her knees almost hit the ground again. Everything was spinning. She couldn't bear to tear her gaze away from the olive green eyes she'd seen the life leave. Tears started pouring down her face without warning. Saskia or Daciana… one of them must have gotten in her head. They were screwing with her. They had to be.

He offered his hand and a half smile. "I've missed you, Zare. Come here."

"You're not real," she gasped. "You can't be. I watched you die. I felt you die. I… I watched the light leave your goddamn eyes."

"Hey," he reached out and grabbed her hand, "it's me, Zare. I promise. I'm right here."

She gave in slowly, easing her way towards him until he pulled her close and wrapped his arms tightly around her. He felt her sob against his chest and gently pet her tangled hair. "How is this possible…?"

"Don't worry about it right now, Zare," Dean leaned his chin on her head. He smirked, eyes flicking entirely black for a moment. "It's still me. I came back for you."

"You look awful."

Zarya scoffed a little, leaning back in the booth. Her leg bounced anxiously. Dean had driven her to a little diner on the highway outside of Burwell. Under the light anyone could see how distraught she really had become. "Yeah, well, this is what happened after I watched you die. Where's Sam?"

"Looking for me," he admitted. "And assumedly you."

"Why? What happened to you?" Her voice started to crack. "How do I know this isn't some overtired hallucination or sick dream because I finally fell asleep?"

He smirked at her, but not in the way she had become used to. Something had changed. "Do you really want to know the answer, Zare? Because I can promise you it's not a hallucination and definitely no dream."

She thought for a moment as she stared at him. Did she want to know? Was she better off in the dark? Dean was there, alive, sitting in front of her. Shouldn't that have been good enough? "Yes," she answered at last. "I want to know how you're alive and why we're here."

He took a sip of his coffee and looked out the window beside them. "I took you here because I found the place yesterday when I came through."

"So?"

He chuckled a little. "Did you even look at the menu, Zare? You look like you haven't eaten in a week at least."

She shrugged, looking around the diner. "I had a burger and fries the other night before I ran into the murder cousins." Or was that the night before? What day was it anymore? "Haven't been hungry."

"Not even for a baked mac n cheese with seven different kinds of cheeses and three flavors of bacon?" He laughed when her face lit up and she immediately grabbed the menu. "That's why I thought of you. And looking at ya, looks like you should be able to devour the whole thing."

"Alright, fine. You can bribe me with mac n cheese." She smiled softly and rolled her eyes. "Now, the real question; how are you alive, Dean? Not even my dreams gave me this kind of solace."

The smirk returned. "Probably because it's more of a nightmare than a dream, Zare."

Zarya's entire body froze solid when his eyes turned black. Her brain literally screamed at her to get running again. Flee from the booth as fast as she could before he caught her. The Mark of Cain had turned Dean into a demon. Could she escape him if she'd wanted to? Had he already been searching for her? Surely it was no coincidence that he'd just stumbled upon her in a small Nebraska town. But good God, Gods, Lucifer, any deity, it was still Dean Winchester sitting across from her. The Dean that knew she adored overloaded, homemade mac and cheese and small diners. He was just… a little darker, more deeply feral. It was still Dean, essentially without his humanity, wasn't it? Whatever it stood to be it still wasn't much different from Nick and Lucifer or the residents of Mystic Falls.

"You're scared," he commented, breaking her from her thoughts.

Slowly but surely she dragged her eyes to meet his. They were green again, which gave her some sort of comfort. She took a deep breath and put her shaking hands around her coffee cup. "I don't know what I am," she replied in a hoarse voice before sipping the coffee. The waitress came by and Dean ordered for them, giving her an extra minute to think.

"Well, we're both running from Sammy." He spoke after the waitress walked away again. "And you know we make a damn good team."

"You're a demon," she breathed, needing to hear the words aloud.

"Technically, I'm a Knight of Hell. But, hey, semantics." He shrugged and smirked. "It's still me, Zare. I'm still Dean. Just… better. Even more fun. We don't have anything to worry about. Just stay with me and have fun. Please, Zare?"

Dean could see her melting like butter slowly. Eventually she just couldn't fight it anymore. Dean was alive. She should be thankful. He could see the defeat in her eyes and felt triumphant. "Alright, fine," she sighed. "What did you have in mind?"

"Are you mad?!" Runa exclaimed. Her emerald eyes shimmered with deep concern and fear. "Dean Winchester, now a Knight of Hell with the First Blade and you have no idea where he or Zarya is?"

Sam sighed. "She took off when she saw Metatron stab Dean… She left with just what she had on her."

"Was she at least armed?"

He laughed humorlessly. "Oh yeah, she's fine. I gave her Remiel's bow."

Runa's legs buckled and she fell back in her seat, sitting with a mortified face. "No. I know that cannot be true. Those were lost ages ago."

"Yeah, well, apparently they got dug up. The guy, Magnus, who had the First Blade also had Remiel's bow and full quiver."

Tears started to slip from her eyes. "How are you certain they're not fake…?"

"Metallic silver arrows with her sigil engraved on them all. It was Remiel's weapon."

Sam watched the tears fall silently down the woman's cheek. Suddenly her irises started to darken and her head lifted slowly to look at the ceiling of the bunker. He looked around the bunker hastily, finding the electronics starting to short. The lights began to flicker. He called to Runa who stared with great adoration at the ceiling. She couldn't hear him. A smile spread across her pale lips, tears slipping off her cheeks.

"Yes."

"Runa, wait!"

He tried to dive around the table for her but it was too late; a great, golden violet light erupted and illuminated the entire bunker. Sam fell to the floor from the overwhelming light and piercing ringing. A moment later it all stopped and cleared. Some glass had shattered and scattered across the floor. Sam stood slowly, surprised his ears weren't bleeding. Runa's eyes were closed, her arms open wide. Her raven hair had fallen from its loose bun in thick waves down her back. When her eyes finally opened and made eye contact with his hazel, her irises had turned entirely black. She smiled warmly at him.

"Remiel…" He breathed, holding the table for support. "The Archangel of Hope…"

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Sam," she replied, offering her hand to shake. "We have much to discuss."

"Why is it always your solution to get me wasted when I'm depressed?" Zarya teased with a smile threatening its way onto her face.

The two had gone driving for a long while, enjoying the open road. She'd been quiet at first, gnawing on whatever was left of her thumb's nail. She heard Joan Jett come on the radio and he noticed the way she tapped her legs to the beat. It gave him an idea. Dean turned up the song and started to sing as loud as he'd turned it up to. It got her to smile at least. It took another Joan Jett song, a Motley Crue, and finally Cherry Bomb got her yelling the lyrics with him. After that she started to warm up to him again, even if slowly.

Somehow they'd ended up in North Dakota at a bar. She let him put his arm around her shoulders, thinking of the way he had at the diner before he died. She'd always reveled in how warm he was, siding right up to him. How she missed the warmth so desperately. What she wouldn't give to keep clinging to it.

Dean grinned at her when he saw a sign posted as they walked in. "How many shots will it take to get you to do karaoke?"

Her eyes widened with horror and she found the sign advertising that it was karaoke night. "Not enough, Dean. Not enough in this entire goddamn world."

"Challenge accepted then, Zare."

Zarya immediately regret her decision to stop at a bar on karaoke night with what she was silently dubbing as Demon Dean. She'd been reluctant to drink at first, but the damn bar had Nouvelle-Orleans Superieure and she couldn't resist. The first shot slid down gracefully, smoothly. She missed her higher shelf absinthe. The first had been so smooth that it was easy for Dean to convince her to take a second with him. She swore it wasn't going to be a wild night of drinking; her mind was still in shambles.

They both knew she was lying through her teeth. When they'd reached ten shots he teased her about the karaoke again.

"It's not happening, Dean," she laughed. "You've gotten me to take ten shots. Ten. I quit. I'm a quitter, okay?"

"Ah come on, Zare," he put an arm around her waist at the bar. "Sing for me."

"I did on the car ride. Not at a random bar in North Dakota."

"That's completely different. Up there you'd sing for real. Like you started to when we were driving to Indiana."

She opened her mouth to argue but closed it when she realized she didn't have one. "You may have a point, but I'm still not doing it." She smiled softly.

"Well, if you're not gonna sing," he smirked and the bartender brought out more shots.

"You know my liver can still fail and kill me, right?" She laughed before taking the 11th shot.

It hadn't been intentional, but as they drank more, more of Zarya's layers came off. First it was obviously her leather jacket, then the black hoodie she had underneath, and after the fifteenth shot she'd taken off her dark purple flannel. She hadn't been wearing a t-shirt underneath, just a black, sweetheart camisole. It had started to rise up over her hips, exposing some of her pale skin.

"Sing for me, Zare," he told her quietly in her ear with his hands so warm on her exposed hips.

Eighteen shots of her favorite absinthe she hadn't drank in some time was severely clouding Zarya's mind. She couldn't feel the pain in her chest anymore; she could barely feel anything except the warmth of Dean behind her. When her eyes fluttered back open after being closed for a moment of relaxation, they were greener than usual. A more Vasile shaded emerald with the blue undertone barely hanging on. A part of her that had been buried deep by the liquor wondered if that was how it felt to be compelled. Elijah Mikaelson had made her forget her entire life before it had truly begun. It wouldn't be that difficult for Dean to make her forget some pain and just let go.

She swore she only blinked and found herself on the stage. Her mind had to think of a song quickly that she muttered to the DJ. The music started and naturally Dean found his way front and center. Thank God for liquid courage.

"Everybody says there's two kinds of hearts where
One loves and one goes to war
Some make peace and others get even
No solid ground to stand for

Surely, it's not easy or too simplified
I'm dying while you walk away
And I, wanna put my boots on and march to the front line

I will be your lover, fighter
Harder, higher
Lover, fighter
I wanna fight for lover, fighter
Under fire
Lover, fighter
I wanna fight for love, love, love.
I wanna fight for love, love, love.

Through the narrowing bullet,
Burn like a bullet
It was love, it was heat, it was true
We were caught in the battle,
And all of it shattered
But I'm aiming high not to lose you

I know, it's not easy or too simplified,
I know but you and I are on each other's side
So, take my hand and we'll march to the front lines

I will be your lover, fighter
Harder, higher
Lover, fighter
I wanna fight for lover, fighter
Under fire
Lover, fighter
I wanna fight for love, love, love,
I wanna fight for love, love, love.

I know, it's not easy or too simplified,
I know but you and I are on each other's side.
I know, it's not easy or too simplified,
I know but don't you know that I lay down my life?

I will be your lover, fighter
Harder, higher
Lover, fighter
I wanna fight for lover, fighter
Under fire
Lover, fighter
I wanna fight for love, love, love
I wanna fight for love, love, love,

I wanna fight for love, fight for love, fight for love!
(I wanna fight for lover, fight for lover, fight for lover)
I wanna fight for love, fight for love, fight for love!"

Zarya had started to actually get into it and feel the music about halfway through. She wondered if it was a Vasile trait to be able to sing. She'd never truly tried before. Even with the drunken applause she went running off the stage. She nearly made it out the door before Dean caught her. "Come on, that was fantastic, Zare. You need to learn to just let go. What is it those Original vamps or whatever do? Shut it off? Try doing something like that."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not a vampire, Dean. I have no intention on becoming one. I don't have that privileged switch to flip off."

He spun her around to the music playing a couple of times before pulling her back against his chest. "Sure you can. People do it all the time. You just have to find the right thing to fix yourself on. Lotta liquor and time with me oughta do it." He smirked.

Being just drunk enough, she gave a small smirk back up at him. "You seem overly confident in your skills."

His hands slid slowly down until they grabbed her ass. "It's not overly confident if it's truth, Miss Knows the Proper Shower Sex Technique."

She knew she was going to live to regret that comment eventually. She forced herself to focus against the alcohol coursing through her rapidly. He was still Dean. Whom she'd thought she lost. Sam might have been looking for the each respectively, but they'd only gotten her back previously because she ended up at the bar Dean was at. If she didn't want Sam to find her, or either of them, then he wouldn't. She'd turned her back on the Vasiles, locked the door on Lucifer, and had nothing else to live for. Deep down she knew how wrong the whole situation was from start to finish, but she just couldn't bear to feel anymore. Perhaps that could be her way to 'shut it off' like Nova had.

Zarya stood daringly on her toes, speaking quietly against his lips. "Let's see if you can live up to those expectations."

He smirked down at her with a great sense of pride. "Let's see if you can handle it."

She only put her leather jacket on before stepping outside. The cool air hit her and she hit the hood of the Impala with Dean's hands on her hips. It had been a secret the two planned to take their graves, but they'd shared a kiss on more than one occasion in Purgatory. That time in North Dakota had been unlike any before; more passionate, heated, possessive. She almost thought her lip might bleed.

What luck that there was a motel near the bar. It wouldn't be long before it became their little vacation spot.