I apologize for taking so long with this chapter, I kept getting stuck on it.
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Enjoy~
"Wait until you see my true form." Julius waggled his eyebrows at me in what he considered to be a seductive manner.
"No, that is the worst of the bunch! Nobody wants to see your true form, it's terrifying." I sighed and clapped a hand to my forehead. We had to wait a few hours for Ellen to get ready to talk to us so Julius decided it was a good time for a break. Unfortunately for me, this meant him pestering me with "Reaper pickup lines" instead of letting me sleep. I had to hand it to him though, they were certainly creative.
"You're hotter than Hell. And I would know because I've been there!" He purred and I shook my head at him.
"That might work on Dean Winchester but not any other self-respecting man or woman. What does Ellen have to get ready for? She's dead! It's not like she has to put a fancy dress on or anything."
"I dunno, maybe she's preparing to fight the urge to punch you in the face that moment she sees you. I have that issue all the time." Julius said before slapping a hand down on the table in excitement. "I can bring your beloved childhood cat back from the dead, wanna bang?"
"What if they're allergic to cats?! And that's just freaky not alluring so stop now before you hurt yourself or get arrested." I rolled my eyes at him and stood up, pacing around the room in long strides. "What if she changes her mind?"
"She won't. She promised. I made her pinky swear." Julius checked his watch for the third time in twenty minutes.
"Aha! You're worried about it too! You're just as interested to see what she has to say as I am!"
"So what if I am? This is all new for me. Being a reaper is so monotonous most of the time, it's nice for a change of pace. I feel like a detective!"
"Well then Sherlock, better go get our next case!"
"On it already, Watson. See you in a bit!" He dashed out of the room and I feared he would be back with a magnifying glass and Navy Drew novel in hand. I didn't need that in my life.
I was freaked out about talking to Ellen, I got the sense that she didn't exactly want anything to do with me. I couldn't force these people to understand where I was coming from or just what my endpoint was. I was barely understanding it myself. What if one of them got violent? Or decided to haunt me? I hadn't really put much thought into those kind of issues, I had dived headfirst into the project with a severity that alarmed even my closest friends. My sabbatical was received lukewarm at best. On a daily basis I was fielding concerned and curious texts about me and the mystery man I was working with. I was getting tired of telling people it was 50 shades of not gonna happen. Naturally, no one took my word for it, and I couldn't tell anyone he was a reaper, so I just played aloof and ignored the questions I couldn't and didn't want to answer. It was really only a temporary fix but I had more pressing matters at hand, ones that had just walked through the door.
Julius walked in looking like a puppy that had been scolded one too many times and I imagine the person who had dome it was the woman with him. She looked tough., there was no other word for her. I couldn't have imagined the owner of the Roadhouse any better, Ellen Harvelle embodied it perfectly. I had no doubt that she had put the Winchesters in their place on more than one occasion. She didn't look like one to sugarcoat much of anything which was probably why Julius looked the way he did.
"Lainey is it? Nice to meet you." Ellen spoke before I could and shook my hand with a firm grip.
"Yes, I'm so glad you finally agreed to talk to me! I'm sorry if anyone pestered you about it, that was not my intent at all!" I said meekly.
"No one else seemed to be talking any sense into you so I figured I would try." Ellen said with her mouth set in a thin line.
"Huh?"
"Never mind, just get on with what you have to ask me." She took a seat opposite me.
"Right, ummm...So you knew the Winchesters.." I began.
"Do you begin all your interviews that way?"
"More or less..."
"I'm surprised you've gotten anywhere with any of them."
"Hey now! A broad topic is a great start to anything. It leaves an opening for literally any discussion. I don't just need to know about the Winchesters, it's nice to hear about your life as well. Your daughter and I had a nice conversation about herself."
"Funnily enough she said the same thing. Between her and Ash, the amount of grief I received on not doing this interview drove me nearly insane."
"So that's why your mad?" I couldn't skirt around it forever.
"I'm not mad, I just don't understand why you're doing this but please continue."
"How did you know them exactly?"
"Through their father, John, he hunted with my husband a couple of times. He's the reason my husband is dead as it so happens."
"Runs in the family I suppose. Getting people killed could their family business." I said perhaps a bit too bitterly for someone who has never actually met these people before.
"Sam and Dean never turned a gun on Jo or I. She made her decision and I made mine. We knew what we were getting ourselves into."
"But why? You could've lived, both of you would still be alive had you turned your back on Sam and Dean."
"Because there comes a time when you realize that you can't just back out of things because you're scared. Yeah I had my concerns on where Jo and I would end up once we started hunting again, but I couldn't stop her from hunting anymore than I could stop time. The only thing I could do was lend a hand as best I could and before long I realized I was just as much a part of whatever shit the boys were dealing with as they were. As it so happens we died the way most hunters do; far too young and as violently as possible."
"Jo mentioned that she was happy with dying a hunter's death. I guess it isn't all bad."
"That's her coping mechanism. Don't think for one second that anyone of us are glad to be dead. If you dropped dead right now, if your life was just over in the blink of an eye, what would you do?"
"I suppose I'd go have that drink with Ash."
"Don't. He drinks the cheap stuff, hold out for something a bit better." Ellen smiled for the first time since she entered the room. "But regardless, you don't just get over it. Especially not after what happened."
"What did happen?" I asked cautiously and her smiled faded.
Ellen took a long time to think before answering. "You ever lost someone close to you? Someone you just knew you couldn't live without?"
"A long time ago, why?"
"Because then you know what it felt like for me to lose Jo. She was the best damn thing this world gave me. And naturally, she was the one to get attacked by the hellhounds. She knew she was dying so she made the decision to stay behind and set off the detonator to kill them. I couldn't let her do it alone."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know.."
"Yeah well she was dead before I could hit the switch. That was the worst part, a parent's worst nightmare, having their kid die before them. If there was one thing I could've changed it was that we would've gone together. I wasn't long after, but it was long enough."
"And Sam and Dean got away?"
"Of course they did! I don't think we'd be sitting here having this conversation if they didn't!"
"So you would still be alive if you hadn't've met them?" I furrowed my brow.
"There's no way of knowing that now is there?"
"But do you...would you think..." I struggled to phrase the question as best I could. "Would the world be better off if Sam and Dean Winchester weren't in it?" It was bluntly stated but I needed her opinion on the matter.
"No. Those boys have made their mistakes but they always do what they can to correct them. I could go on for hours about it, but that wouldn't be good for you."
"How so?"
"Because the picture that's being painted for you is one of the heroic men who save the world from every ghoul imaginable. Everyone you've talked to so far has some sort of fondness for the brothers and because of that, everything they say will be delivered to you wrapped up in a shiny bow. I don't want you to be disappointed."
"How could I ever be disappointed with this? From what I've heard of their endeavors, they've done some pretty amazing things."
"But, don't get me wrong I have nothing but the highest respect for those boys, they are still human and not without faults. You're getting one side of the picture, one half of the story. The people who care most about them will always gloss over any rough edges and in the end you might find you didn't get all you were looking for.."
"But I'm getting everything I sought out to find. At this rate there will be no questions unanswered."
"Sweetheart, there will always be unanswered questions, ones that even they cant figure out. And besides, what'll you do once this is all over? Track them down? Show them all you know about their personal lives? You'll be lucky to leave with all your appendages." She was only slightly teasing.
"It'll all come together in the end, you'll see."
"I see I've failed in talking some sense into you." The smile had returned.
"Most people do in some way or another. " I said seriously before looking down at my page. "Based off of what you've told me, I have one more question for you. In your honest, unbiased opinion, off the top of your head, tell me what you think about them."
"The history books will forget about them. Most people have no clue that those boys even exist. But to those of us who do, we know that they're the last hope earth has of any sort of future. And they have yet to let us down."
"That's all I needed to hear." I shut my notebook with a snap.