Sympathy for the Devil (Lucifer, Supernatural)

2014: After the Cage [1]

It was sudden.
A light, a flame. Leila would have sworn she had heard Lucifer shout, outraged.
Leila winced. Her eyes weren't ready to adjust to the light.
Her body hurt: It was heavy and cold.
She was hungry and she really needed to pee.

I'm in my body.
I'm... not in hell anymore.

Lucifer...
Dean?
Sam?
Bobby?

She wanted to jump up, but her muscles felt sinewy and weak. She needed to know where she was.
Instead, she rolled onto her front and groaned, refusing to open her eyes further. When it got gloomier – the sun had gone behind a thick cloud – she dared pry them open. When she rolled again, she felt an uncomfortable shape against her right hip.
Her hand moved down to her jacket pocket.
She hadn't been wearing a jacket in The Cage. She'd been wearing her jeans and tank top with bare feet.
Now, she was back in full clothing, but different to when she had last been on Earth.

The lump in her pocket was none other than her phone.
Of course, it had no battery.
But it meant hope. Leila could charge the phone and call Dean, Sam or Bobby. They were the only contacts she had on the phone anyway. After two years of working with them, she'd realised a phone was important.
Time.
What was the date?
Who cares? I need food.

Finding a bush, like privacy mattered, Leila, to be polite, used the bathroom. Once finished, she vacated the spot and began heading towards where she could hear cars.
Walking felt like each step was through a river of molasses. Her muscles were not used to moving it seemed.

I guess...I can rule out the idea of soulless me running wild while I was underground.

But if her body had been laying there in the dirt for so long, surely it would have been eaten by animals, or altered by the elements? Why had her clothing been different? Had Dean, Sam and Bobby not looked for her?
That didn't seem right. Leila figured she'd been put there recently.
Where had she been before that?

"Ya alrigh there Ma'am?" A tall, thin man who looked to be a ranger stood six or so meters away from her.
Honesty is the best policy, right?

"No," Her eyes widened at the sound of her voice. Her vocal chords hurt. "I got lost last night and passed out, and I haven't eaten in days and I'm so lost," She did, in fact, feel highly emotional when she said the last part of the sentence. She wasn't used to so much space, so much colour, so much light.
"Well, It's a good thing that I came out this way so early in the mornin!" He kept himself cheery for her benefit. "Let's us go getcha somewhere warmer and stuff some carbohydrates in ya,"

The ranger's car smelled of a comforting blend of tobacco and leather.
They drove into a small café which worked out of a cabin on the mountain side.
So, I'm in the mountains...

"Do you have a phone charger?" She asked the ranger when the car came to a halt. "I need to call my brother," She almost felt nauseous after saying the term, but for now Dean would be represented as her brother who she'd gotten lost from.

"I don't have mine with me, but Cyndi will, She's the lovely lady who pours the coffee inside,"

Leila made her best efforts to smile graciously. Getting out of the car was harder than expected. She fell a few inches onto the ground. Thankfully the parking space was on soft earth.
"Ya alrigh there?" The ranger rushed to pick her up, "Ya sure it was only a day ya got lost? Ya seem pretty weedy if I may say, takin' on these mountain parts,"
"Honestly, I don't know, I'm hoping my brother may know when I call him,"

"The names Paul by the way," He grinned, keeping a hold of her as they walked into the café, refusing to let go until she was seated again.
"Leila," She replied, not sure whether it was good to say her real name.
"Mornin' Cyndi, I'll need you to get this girl whatever she wants to eat, and a charger for her phone,"
"Paul," A woman with long brown hair, hourglass figure accentuated by her pink apron and friendly but strong blue eyes, set two mugs on the table. Leila had to thank whoever and however she got out of the cage for giving her luck in the day so far.
Dean would totally flirt with her, hardcore.

Leila chose a sandwich. She didn't want anything too sweet on an empty stomach. She didn't want coffee either. It would probably make her jittery.
"So, your brother and you were on a hiking trip together?"
Leila nodded at Paul's assumption.
The food was off her plate and in her stomach faster than Paul could say 'Ya alrigh there?'
It tasted amazing. It could have tasted like grass and burlap for all she cared but she was hungry.

"No one has been called in as missing for the past few weeks, do you think he might have gotten lost up there too?"
Past few weeks.
Leila needed to check the date.

"Can I see a newspaper?" She asked Paul. She was terrified of what she would find but knew it was of importance.
And it was terrifying.
2014

Leila tried to play cool. Ranger Paul wouldn't understand that she'd been gone for two- nearly three - years and he certainly would want her going to a hospital.

"Honey, your phone is on again if you wanted to make that call, best to keep it on the charger while you do, and we've always got the diner phone on the wall," Cyndi called.
As if the muscles in her legs had restored, Leila jumped up and rushed to the wall with her cell phone.
She clicked on Bobby's number.
'The number you have dialled is unavailable, please check you have correctly inputted the right number.' The mechanical voice told her.
Dean was next on her list. It rang but went to voicemail.
Sam was her only hope.

"Hello?"
Leila felt tears, "Oh God, Sam it's you thank God, Dean and Bobby aren't replying to my calls,"
"L-hold on... L-Leila? Where are you?"
"I'm in... wait, I'm going to hand you over to the ranger,"
She beckoned Paul over who told Sam the address and that he'd found Leila out in the wilderness alone and how her brother ought to keep a better eye on her. Sam said he'd be there in four hours. It was incredibly lucky he wasn't far away.