Hi everyone! I had been hoping to get this out earlier, but things got really bad for me for a few weeks and I couldn't really get myself in the creative mode for a while. But we're back now and as a thank you for being so patient, I'm gifting you with a nice long juicy chapter for the season one finale! I really hope you end up liking how it plays out! I would be very grateful for any and all feedback on it, seeing as it really comes to a climax here. With that said, I'll let you get to it! Enjoy! Xoxo-NickyLynn
Sam and Dean jolted awake to the sound of items being slammed around, followed by John's harsh voice letting out a string of curses. Dean surged upright in alarm, bleary eyes taking in the sight of John rushing around the motel room, tearing through the mess of paperwork and takeout left sitting on the table overnight. "What's going on?" he asked, swinging his feet around the edge of the bed on instant alert.
"It's gone!" John shouted, shoving the contents of the table to the floor before moving onto the nightstand, nearly ripping the drawer off its track as he yanked it open.
"Hold on. What's gone?" Sam asked from the opposite bed, watching their dad storm around the room in a panic.
"The Colt!" John yelled, slamming the nightstand drawer closed before his frenzied eyes swept between Sam and Dean.
"Oh no." Sam breathed out in realization before throwing the covers off himself and moving for the window. He pulled the curtains to the side, letting in the morning light, before muttering his own curse. "Ari's gone." he remarked, her car missing from the spot it had been parked in when they had fallen asleep.
John rushed up to the window in response to that, checking the parking lot for himself. "Son of a bitch!" he hissed.
"What? She took the gun?" Dean asked, pulling a shirt over his head as he stood too.
John yanked his cell out of his pocket without bothering to answer him, punching in a few buttons before holding it up on speaker. "It's me….you know what to do." Ariella's voicemail answered, the line not even ringing once.
"Listen, girl—" John growled, voice vibrating with anger. "I don't know what the hell you think you're planning, but so help me if you don't bring that gun back here, I will rain hell down you." He snapped the phone shut then, burning eyes landing on his sons again.
"You think she's going after the demon alone?" Dean questioned worriedly.
"I think she's being a god damn fool." John snapped.
"What the hell did you expect?" Sam asked, letting out a huff. "Are you really surprised after everything that just happened?"
John's eyes bore into him before he pulled away with a scowl. "Get your things." He ordered. "We're going after her."
"We don't even know where she went!" Sam responded, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. Ever since John had shown up in Chicago, their lives had spun increasingly out of control and he was growing increasingly weary of it. "She probably has hours on us!"
"Damn it, Ari." Dean groaned, raking his hands through his hair as he moved through the room gathering his belongings.
"Can you even blame her?" Sam questioned. "As far as I'm concerned, you drove her into this, Dad!"
"Just get your damn things, Sam!" John barked, refusing to argue with him about it. "We're getting that gun back."
Ariella, however, had already put several hundred miles between herself and the Winchesters, having been on the road well over four hours now. Her mind had become filled with nothing but a dangerous void as she sped north on US-83, the sound of her engine being the only thing filling the silence as she cemented herself in her decision.
After getting her car back and booking her own room the night prior, she had come to the realization that John's plan to hunt the demon down wasn't the only option on the table. He had been busy the past few months tracking down a trail of weather patterns and other signs, trying to determine where yellow-eyes was going to show next, convinced his next target was a town in Iowa. He was going after infants on the day they would turn six months—the same as what happened to Sam, and the plan was to track him down in Salvation and confront him with the Colt before he could take his next victim. The problem Ariella saw with that, however, was that John always seemed to be two steps behind the demon. No matter how quickly he tried to get ahead of him, it was always too late.
Years of hunting had taught Ariella that sometimes blindly chasing after something wasn't always the answer. Sometimes laying a trap and luring the creature to you was more effective. If they could somehow lure the demon into their own trap, they could work the cards into their favor. John had refused to listen to her though. It had always been his way or the highway, so Ariella had taken the latter option. Afterall, she was always meant to be bait…she was just playing the part. She pressed down on the gas pedal, propelling herself down the highway faster as she set her course for South Dakota.
It was well into the afternoon by the time she had all the pieces of her plan laid into place. She knew it was teetering on the edge of insanity with how unlikely it was for everything to play out like she envisioned, but she had to try. John's own plan was riddled with problems, and the way she saw it, at least this way they maintained the element of surprise. She sat in an old, worn chair in the entryway of the abandoned house she had set herself up in, the smell of fresh paint filling her nose as she stared at the number displayed on the screen of her phone. Her finger hovered over the call button, mind spinning in circles as she let herself spiral into thoughts of what would happen if her plan failed. Drawing in a deep breath, she pressed down on it before bringing it up to her ear. The line only rang once before a feminine voice answered.
"Now, who could this be?" Meg taunted. Ariella had found her number stored in Sam's cellphone the night prior while she had been stealing the Colt out from under John, needing it in order send the dominos of her plan tumbling forward.
"I'll give you one guess." Ariella answered, the anger in her gut rolling as her voice hit her ear.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Little Miss Sunshine." Meg said, the smirk practically audible in her tone. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I want to make a trade."
"Oh?" Meg asked, surprise coloring her voice now. "And what exactly are you wanting to trade?"
"The Colt." she said, fingers tightening around the gun sitting in her lap. "That's what has had your panties in a bunch, isn't it?"
"You're lying." Meg accused.
"Maybe I am." Ariella said, bringing the gun up next to the speaker as she pulled back on the hammer, letting the sound of it clicking into place travel through the phone. "Or maybe I'm just desperate enough to make a deal with the devil." A beat of silence passed between them before the gun dropped back down to her lap. "Yellow-eyes must be pretty disappointed in you since that whole embarrassing fiasco in Chicago." She continued, hoping to strike a nerve. "The way I see it, you can't risk failing him again."
"What do you want?" Meg asked again, voice low and demanding.
"There's a house at the end of Miller Road in Sioux Falls." Ariella told her, knowing Meg would have no choice but take the chance in showing up. "I'll be waiting." With that, she hung up, letting out a shaky breath as she let the phone fall away from her ear. She rubbed at her face as her previous anxiety began clawing its way back up her throat before making her next call.
Sam had been in the passenger seat, sitting in silence with a moody Dean while they followed behind John's truck along the busy highway, when his phone rang. His eyebrows dipped together as he pulled the device from his pocket, deepening as he took in the name flashing across the screen.
"Is it her?" Dean demanded, having caught sight of the look that washed across Sam's face.
Sam didn't bother responding before flipping the phone open, putting the call on speaker between them as he answered. "Ari—" he began to say before Dean's sharp voice cut him off.
"What the hell are you thinking?!" he shouted before she even had a chance to speak.
"I'm putting an end to this." was Ariella's hollow response.
"Ari, just tell us where you are." Sam rushed out, pulling the phone closer to him and away from an irate Dean. "You can't go after this thing alone."
"Look…" Ariella said, letting out a heavy sigh. "I just...I wanted to tell you that no matter what happens…I'm sorry. I can't change anything that's happened, but I'm going to do whatever it takes to ensure it ends tonight."
A worried look passed between Sam and Dean at that proclamation. "It's suicide, Ari!" Dean insisted, giving a shake of his head. "All you're going to do is get yourself killed and lose the only weapon we've got against this asshole. Just tell us where you are so we can figure this out."
"Bobby's." Ariella answered after a brief pause of silence, surprising them with how easily she had given up the information. "I'll…I'll see you soon."
The line went dead after that, and Sam's worried eyes flicked from the phone in his hold, over to Dean. "Dean—" he began, snapping the cell closed.
"I know." Dean said in response, foot pressing heavier on the gas pedal. Luckily, they had already been heading north, and could make it up to Bobby's within the hour. "Call Dad."
Sam flipped his phone back open as Dean pushed them down the highway faster, quickly typing in John's number. They brought him up to speed on the conversation, the three of them then heading straight for Sioux Falls. They managed to pull into the salvage yard just over forty minutes later, Ariella's own car nowhere to be seen, however. John was the first one out, storming towards the front door before Sam and Dean even managed to come to a full stop. He practically kicked the door open before disappearing inside as the boys quickly slipped out of the Impala to follow him. John's angry voice drifted over the lawn as the two of them rushed towards the house. "Where is she?!"
Dean and Sam jogged over the threshold of the entryway just in time to watch Bobby level a shotgun on their dad. "I warned you, John Winchester." Bobby said, eyes narrowed down on him. "I told you, you ever set foot on my property again and I'd shoot ya. You might want to reconsider that temper of yours."
"You tell me where she is, Bobby!" John pressed, no less angry than before.
"You ain't got no business dragging Ariella into whatever mess you've got yourself caught up in." Bobby snapped, refusing to lower his weapon. "I don't know what the hell is going on, but I'm putting an end to it. I'm tired of watching you walk over her like a god damn welcome mat."
"Bobby-" Sam interjected hesitantly, moving forward slightly with his hands raised in defense. Bobby's eyes snapped over to him as he stepped up beside John, gun not budging from the older hunter's form. "Ari's in real trouble right now and we're just trying to help."
"Help her?" Bobby scoffed. "The only thing you lot have ever done is that hurt that poor girl."
"Bobby, if you don't tell us where she is, she going to end up going up against that demon alone." Dean said for himself, stepping up to John's other side.
"The hell you talking about?" Bobby demanded, gun lowering to his side.
"She took off with a weapon capable of killing that thing and if we don't find her soon, she's going to end up going head-to-head with it alone." Sam explained, bringing his hands back down as Bobby's previous anger simmered away into worry.
"Damn it, Ella!" he hissed, moving towards the dining room table before dropping his shotgun on top of it. He let out a sigh, rubbing at the greying scruff on his face in frustration.
"Bobby, where is she?" John asked again, anger dropping from his voice as he took a step forward.
Bobby let his eyes trail over John for a moment before letting out another sigh as he moved for a hutch on the other side of the room. "I don't know where she went." He told them honestly, sliding one of the doors open before pulling out a small metal box. "She came rushing in here, told me to protect this with my life, then took off again all before I could even get a single answer out of her."
John took the box from Bobby as he handed it over, opening it up as Sam and Dean stepped up behind him. Inside sat a small bundle wrapped up in a cloth, a notecard resting on top, Ariella's writing scribbled across it. Sam quickly picked up the paper as John reached for the item tucked inside the silk cloth, unfolding it to reveal the Colt.
"What the hell?" Dean breathed out in confusion as John pulled it out, all three of them staring at the gun in shock. "Why would she bother taking the Colt just to leave it here for us to find?" he asked incredulously.
Sam stared down at the words she had written on the small paper, letting out a huff as he put the pieces of her plan together. "Bait." He said, flipping the paper around for them to see what had been written on top. The old abandoned house on Miller Rd. "She's using herself as bait."
After Ariella had ended the call with Sam and Dean, she sat in the same dusty chair, counting the seconds tick by while she waited for Meg to show. After losing track after about twenty minutes, her ears picked up the sound of footsteps on the creaky porch moments before the front door was kicked open, the sound of it echoing through the empty house as Meg stepped into the doorway. Ariella's spine went rigid as she sauntered into the room, keeping the barrel of the gun trained on her as she came to a stop. That smirk of hers wormed its way across her face as her gaze landed on Ariella, poised in the chair directly cross the room from her.
"You're looking pretty good for someone who took a swan dive out of a three-story building." Ariella commented dryly.
Meg's smirk grew, eyes landing on the weapon in her grasp briefly before they flicked back up to hers in delight. Despite the hardened exterior Ariella was trying like hell to exude, she was panicking internally. The success of this whole charade was dependent on Meg not being able to distinguish between the replica in her hold and the real one stored safely at Bobby's. She kept her face devoid of her inner worries, however, only arching a brow at Meg's calculating gaze.
"How'd you manage to get it from John?" she asked, clearly having fallen for the ruse, at least for now.
"Stole it." Ariella answered honestly, giving a shrug of one of her shoulders. "See, I recently came to a realization…..I don't need the Winchesters in order to bring this whole song and dance we've been doing to an end." she explained, giving a shake of her head. "John Winchester sees this gun as a means to kill yellow-eyes." She said, giving the gun a small waggle for emphasis. "I see it as an opportunity to bargain with him."
"A bargain, huh? And what do want to in return?" Meg questioned skeptically.
"My life." Was her instant response. "I hand over the only weapon on the face of the Earth capable of killing your kind, and in return you leave me the hell alone. I'm tired of constantly looking over my shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I want out of this entire fucked up mess. For good."
"And the Winchesters?" Meg pressed. "You really expect me to believe you're content in just feeding them to the wolves?"
"You don't get it, do you?" Ariella tossed back with a humorless laugh. "It's always been the Winchesters…not the Winchesters and Ariella. At the end of the day, it's always going to be them versus the world. I've never been anything more than a side character in their story…..but this isn't their story. It's mine. And I'm done sitting on the sidelines." She rose from the seat then, coming to a stand as she tipped her head to the side, grey eyes swept over the demon. "Now are you going to broker the deal or not?"
Ariella must have been a better actress than she thought, because the look that had taken over Meg's features was all the clue she needed to know she was convinced. At least enough so that she took a step closer to the hunter. Ariella let a satisfied smirk pull up her lips as Meg unknowingly stepped right into her trap. She kicked at the corner of the rug Meg was now standing on top of, flipping it over to reveal the partial outline of the Devi's Trap she had painted onto the floor hours prior. "Gotcha." Meg's face morphed into anger as her eyes fell to the sigils previously hidden under the rug. "And that's how you set a trap, Meg."
"Oh, you little—" Meg seethed furiously, taking another step closer to Ariella so that she was practically nose-to-nose with her. Unfortunately for the blonde, however, she could do no more than glower at the hunter while she was trapped in the circle.
"Why does everyone call me a bitch?" Ariella asked as Meg stepped up to her, cutting her off before the insult could fall from her lips. "I mean, come on, really—you can't come up with any other insult?"
"When I get out of here—" Meg began to threaten instead, eyes burning with anger.
"Oh, don't worry. I'll let you out." Ariella said, waving away the threat with her gun-less hand. "And you're getting a one-way ticket straight to hell."
Ariella began recanting the exorcism without so much as blinking, watching as Meg began jerking and hunching over like she was being kicked in the gut. She screamed in pain, eyes flashing black as she dropped down onto her knees. "Stop!" she screamed. "If you exorcise me, then what do you think's going to happen to the girl who's body you so kindly dropped a few hundred feet onto concrete? I'm the only thing keeping her alive!"
Ariella paused mid-chant, the muscles in her jaw tensing as she let her eyes sweep over the crumpled form in front of her. She knew there was an innocent girl buried somewhere under Meg's control, suffering through the procession helplessly. Her heart clenched at the thought. "You send me back and her blood is on your hands." Meg spit venomously.
Ariella dropped down until she was eye level with Meg, watching as she fought against the power trying to force her out of the stolen body. "There's been blood on my hands for a long time. Your friend made sure of that." She said, knowing the girl's fate had been sealed regardless. "So, I guess I'll see you in Hell." She stood back up in one swift motion then, continuing with the exorcism. "Ergo draco maledicte et omnis legio disbolica adjuramus te. Cessa decipere humanas creaturas, eiisque aeternae Perditionis venenum propinare."
Meg began screaming again, withering in agony as Ariella used the ancient chant to drive her back to the pits of hell. "He's coming after you!" she screamed, glaring up at Ariella with as much rage as she could muster. "You think this is going to stop him?! All you're doing is expediting the process! I'll tell him right where to find you, you stupid bitch!"
Ariella gave her a tight smile in response to that. "I'm planning on it." She said before bringing the exorcism to an end. "Ut inimicos sanctae Ecclesiae te rogamus, audi nos! Terribilis Dues de sanctuario suo. Deus Israhel ipse truderit virtutem et fortitundinem plebe Suae. Benedictus Deus. Gloria Patri!"
The black smoke that billowed out of Meg's mouth following the conclusion of the exorcism sent Ariella dropping down into a crouch as it filled the air above them. She brought her hands up to cover her ears as the scream-filled roar filled the house, the withered walls around them shaking as the bodyless form circled overhead before being driven out the front door and far into the depths of the Earth. Ariella let her hands slip away as the last remnants of the black cloud faded away, taking in a shuddering breath as the screams gave way to silence. After a moment, a sharp gasp filled the room and her eyes dropped down to the woman left crumpled on the floor in front of her, chest left heaving up and down unevenly as she struggled to breath. Ariella quickly scrambled towards her as she tried helplessly to make her damaged lungs work on their own for the first time in far too long. The girl's panicked eyes connected with Ariella's as she pulled her into her lap, hands hovering over her as she watched her struggle in agony. Meg was right. She had been the only thing keeping this girl upright. There was nothing she could do.
"T-thank y…you." she gasped, tears rushing down the side of her face as she stared up at Ariella. "T-th…"
"It's okay." Ariella rushed out, doing her best to give her a compassionate smile despite the crushing eight in her chest. "You don't have to—" she said, shaking her head as a wave of guilt overtook her. "I-it's okay."
The woman continued to gasp under her, giving her the slightest rise of her lips in return before her face went flaccid, chest slowing until it went still all together. Ariella had to pull her eyes away as hers began glazing over, unable to look upon them as she succumbed to the wounds she had inadvertently created. Though, even looking away wouldn't keep them from becoming the next set of eyes to forever plague her. "Don't worry…" she whispered to the sudden emptiness around her. "This will all be over soon."
Ariella had wanted to bury the innocent girl; give her some semblance of respect. With the demon no doubt on his way, however, she instead had time to do no more than pull her to the living room and toss the sheet left covering the couch over her. She pulled her phone out as she made her way back into the main foyer, catching notice of a text from Sam that had come through just a few moments prior.
On our way.
She slipped the phone back into her pocket after letting out a long breath, preparing herself for the next step in her plan. The Winchesters had found the box she had left for them at Bobby's, which meant all she had to do was stall the son of a bitch long enough for them to get there. Heavy footsteps dropping down on the wooden planks of the porch outside had her head whipping up in alarm the next instant. She pulled her gun out, holding it aimed at the front door as her heart rate exploded exponentially. The man who stepped through the broken doorway turned her stomach sour the instant she set eyes on him. He stepped into the house with a smile already in place, amused eyes set on Ariella as she took an unconscious step back.
"It's been a long time…" he said before giving a long blink, the yellow hue taking over his orbits as that smile of his spread into a wicked grin. "Miss Harper."
"Don't call me that!" she snapped, a rush of emotions bubbling to the surface in his presence. "That hasn't been my name for a very long time."
"As you wish." He responded easily, stepping further into the house, notably stopping just shy of the large rug separating them. She knew he wouldn't be falling for the same trick as Meg, but it still worked wonders in keeping him separated from her.
"What is it?" Ariella asked then, doing her best to keep her voice even.
"What is what?"
"Your name!" she shouted with a thrust of the gun. "I want to know the name of the fucker responsible for ruining my life!"
"Azazel." He answered.
Her mother's face filled with those sickly yellow eyes of his washed over her vision and she felt her muscles begin to tremble with the anger brewing just under her skin. "Why did you do it?" she demanded as that rage bit into the back of her eyes. "Why did you kill her?"
"I've killed a lot of people." He answered amusedly. "You're gonna have to be a bit more—"
"My mother!" Ariella yelled, taking a step closer again as she adjusted her aim on him. "You possessed me and forced me to kill her! Why?"
"Oh." He remarked with a small chuckle. "Is that how remember it?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"I only possessed one person that night, Ariella, and it wasn't you." He told her with an incline of his head. "If you're looking for the person responsible for killing mommy, you need only look in the mirror."
"No." Ariella said instantly, shaking her head fervently. "No, you're lying. I…I remember—"
"Oh, there's no need to beat yourself up about it. I hardly gave you a choice in the matter. Either you killed mommy…or mommy was going to kill you. You did what you had to do….but the choice was always yours to make."
"No." Ariella said again, refusing to believe it. "T-that's not—"
She began picking apart memories of that night, however, suddenly finding herself questioning things. She remembered her mother coming after her with the knife…and then…then she could only remember standing over her bloodied body with the blade in her own hand. She had always convinced herself that the demon had slipped inside her head and forced her to do it…but if it had been her all along…
"Why?" she asked then, doing her best not to let the brokenness she suddenly felt slip into her voice. "I was just a little girl…"
"And you were so innocent." he told her with that satisfied grin of his.
"What do you want?!" she yelled through the angry tears that had begun to slip out. "With me…and Sam…Dean…John…what the fuck do you want with us!?"
"What do I want?" he repeated, her outburst not affecting his cool demeanor in the slightest. If anything, it only seemed to please him more. "What I want is to watch the world burn…and you are the match that's going to light the flame. You're all pieces on a chess board…moving around under the guidance of powers you couldn't comprehend. You all have a part to play, and you, my dear, have played your part beautifully."
"What the fuck does that mean?" she asked, feeling herself spinning further and further out of control with every second she spent talking to him.
"You ever wonder why it was you ended up with the Winchesters?" he asked, feet moving around the edge of the rug as he began to circle around the Devil's Trap. "Do you really think John Winchester would have found you if I hadn't first led him right to you? You don't know just how malleable your life was. All I had to do was pluck at a few cords here and there and watch as your fate unraveled into chaos. And now here you are…unequivocally and beautifully….broken."
Azazel stood so close now Ariella could feel his wretched breath brush along her skin. If she were in the right mindset, she would have done more to put more distance between them, but in that moment her mind was an erratic mess. All she could do was reexamine every detail of her life and question it in a way she never had before. The night Luther had tried to turn her flashed across her mind next and her mouth went dry. Maybe he had been right…maybe something was wrong with her.
"What am I?" she whispered.
Unbeknownst to Ariella, the Winchesters had managed to make it to the old house on the outskirts of town and were currently positioned on the porch, trying to get a peek inside while she kept the demon talking. Dean was behind his dad, doing his best to get a good look inside through the window he was crouched under. Ariella and Azazel's voices were drifting through the open doorway every so often, the two of them being so consumed by whatever conversation they were in the midst of, that they hadn't even noticed their arrival. Ariella had the fake gun trained on the demon, standing not even three feet from her, her eyes as frenzied as a wild animal's while he smiled down at her.
A hand signal from John had Dean's focus pulling away from the window, watching as John gave him and Sam the silent order to stay put while he went in. Dean gave him a nod in return, eyes moving back to the window and the scene inside as John began creeping towards the door. Despite how reckless this whole thing had been on Ariella's part, Dean had to hand it to her…she managed to set up one hell of a trap. If she could keep the demon's focus set on her just for a few seconds longer, this could all be over. He stopped breathing as John slipped into view inside, watching with anticipation as he snuck in while the demon's back was to him.
"Check mate, you nasty son of a bitch." John's voice drifted through the glass before the sound of the revolver going off filled the air with a loud bang.
At first, Dean thought he had managed to do it, but the black smoke that billowed out of the demon's mouth just as the gun went off quickly stripped away that brief rise of hope. Dean and Sam rushed inside just as the dark cloud dissipated, wide eyes sweeping from the now empty host body at Ariella's feet, to her own frantic eyes.
"NO!" she screamed as her eyes flicked around the air above them. "No, we had him!"
"Damn it!" John cursed alongside her, realizing he had gotten away…again.
"Hey, you okay?" Sam asked, quickly rushing up to Ariella's side in worry.
"We had him!" she shouted again, bringing her hands up on either side of her head and raking them through her hair, gun still held tightly within her grasp.
"Hey, it's alright." John said as her breathing went ragged. "We still got the Colt, which means we can still manage another shot at this. But for now, we've got to get out of here before he comes back." Ariella's frantic eyes fell on John, watching as he tried ushering her towards the door.
"Come on, Ari." Dean said, knowing they needed to regroup somewhere safe. "Let's get back to Bobby's and figure this out before that bastard has the chance to find his next body."
Ariella reluctantly pulled her eyes off of John and onto Dean after a moment, throat bobbing up and down as she processed things. Dean didn't know what kind of things that demon had been telling her, but she looked down right unhinged. "Y-yeah." She muttered after a moment, letting her eyes fall back on John as Sam began pulling her towards the door. "Yeah, let's get back to Bobby's…"
Neither Sam nor Dean could have predicted what happened next. Just as Ariella was ushered past John, she swung at him, slamming the butt of her gun into the side of his forehead with enough force to split the skin and send him crashing to the floor with a grunt of pain. Before anyone could react, she scrambled for the Colt which had been knocked loose from his grip, quickly aiming it on John before he even had the chance to push himself back up.
"Ari, what the hell—?" Dean shouted in shock, watching as she leveled all that chaos brewing within her eyes on his father.
"Don't!" she shouted, training the replica Colt in her left hand on Sam as he unconsciously moved for her. She let her eyes move between Sam and Dean for a moment before they fell back on John, now letting out a deep chuckle.
A wave of understanding quickly washed through Dean as he watched his father's face morph into amusement. "You're not our father."
"What gave me away?" John's voice asked, blinking to reveal a set of yellow eyes.
"John Winchester spent months working on a plan to bring you down…a plan which I just single-handedly ruined." Ariella told him, gun following as he rose back onto his feet. "He wouldn't be handing out reassurances. He would be absolutely livid."
"So, I was too nice?" he laughed. "Oh, how tragic your lives must have been."
"Shut up!" Ariella snapped angrily, finger twitching on the trigger of the Colt.
"Ari, what are you doing?" Sam asked cautiously, nervous eyes moving between her and John. "You can't shoot him. You'll kill Dad, too."
"Tell you what…" the demon said, keeping his focus set solely on Ariella. "I'll let you do it. I'll give you thirty seconds before I go find another host. You pull that trigger before then, and I'll let you kill me."
"Ari—" Dean warned, seeing the look that washed across her face with those words.
"Oh, you want to do it, don't you?" Azazel goaded with a grin that looked downright unnatural on John's face. "After everything he's done to you, it would be a relief, wouldn't it? Two birds….one bullet."
"Ari, you can't seriously be considering—" Sam tried to say before she cut him off.
"SHUT UP!"
"Fifteen seconds." The demon possessing John pressed. "Tick tock, Ari…"
"Put the damn gun down!" Dean bellowed, seeing the contemplation running through her eyes.
"I said shut up!" she screamed again, hand shaking as she stared at John across the metal barrel.
"Do it!" John yelled, face contorting as he fought to take control of his body. "Pull the trigger!" he told her in a strained voice. In the next moment, he gave a jerk of his head, face falling passive again as the demon took back hold of the reigns. "Ten…nine…eight…"
Dean watched in horror as Ariella's finger began to squeeze on the trigger, but before she could pull down on it, Sam rushed at her, slamming into her side and knocking the two of them to the ground. A cloud of black smoke shot out of John's mouth then, disappearing through the open door as John collapsed.
Dean rushed for his dad as soon as the demon was expelled from him, angry eyes landing on Ariella as Sam helped haul her back upright. "The hell is wrong with you?!" he yelled, finding himself still lost in the disbelief that she had looked ready to do it. "Were you seriously about to kill him?!"
"Dean!" John barked in warning as he struggled back to his feet. "Leave it."
"I'm sorry." Ariella sobbed, face crumpling as a wave of tears flowed down her cheeks. Though, in that moment, Dean wasn't even sure who or what the apology was meant for.
"Come on, we've really got to get out of here." Sam said as he hauled her back onto her feet, Colt now safely in his possession.
"Dean, let's go." John ordered, giving him a shove on the shoulder to get him moving. Dean reluctantly followed everyone outside, still reeling from everything that had transpired. Ariella shook Sam off of her once they were outside, quickly moving for her own car as he moved for the Impala alongside Dean and John.
"We'll meet back up at Bobby's." John instructed loud enough for everyone to hear as he slipped into the passenger seat, Sam taking up the drivers. Dean let his eyes slide over to Ariella's car as the engine rumbled to life, watching as a cloud of dust was kicked up into the air as her tires spun against the dirt.
"Dean!" Sam shouted, pulling his eyes away from her retreating taillights before he slipped into the backseat. They took off after Ariella before Dean could even get the door closed all the way, throwing him up against the seat as they took off down the desolate road.
"What the hell just happened back there?!" he demanded as the house faded into the rearview mirror, throwing the question at a rigid John.
"We lost our only chance to end this, is what happened!" John shouted back, anger rolling off him in waves. "This would have been over if you two hadn't interfered!"
"I'm sorry, you expected us to let her shoot you!?" Sam asked, eyes sweeping from the main road they now drifted onto, over to John in disbelief. "You know how insane that is?!"
"He would be dead!" John defended.
"Yeah, and so would you!" Dean yelled.
"A sacrifice I was willing to make!" John said, turning in his seat to level Dean with a look of disappointment. "All you had to do was follow orders! You let him get away!"
Dean's jaw fell open, but he wasn't even sure what he wanted to say. The fact that his dad was disappointed in them for trying to save his life was baffling enough to render him speechless. The fact that Ariella had been the one ready to pull the trigger even more so. Before he could even formulate his next words, the glare of headlights in his peripherals pulled his eyes over to the window next to him, turning his head to find a cherry red Firebird heading straight for them. He had but the briefest of moments of catching a flash of yellow across Ariella's eyes before she slammed into them.
Dean's senses exploded into chaos. The sound of shattering glass and metal crunching in itself filled his ears. His equilibrium went haywire as they were sent flipping through the air, quickly losing all sense of up and down. It felt like a flame spread across his body as he was thrown about the interior like a ragdoll as they rolled, pain erupting from every inch of him before it disappeared altogether. And then…darkness.