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Free Supernatural Fanfiction – Chapter Summary:

As Sam prepares to say yes, the final battle erupts in Detroit—Lucifer rises, sacrifices are made, and Analina’s power changes the fate of the world.

Rating: PG-13/light R
Contains:   For intense violence, emotional trauma, supernatural horror, death, and high-stakes peril

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE:  
The End

 THE NEXT MORNING, DEAN APPEARED MORE RESOLVED. I had hardly slept, and I was pretty sure he’d slept even less. He was pouring himself another cup of coffee when I woke up. He noticed me and came over, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I’m going to take Sam and get us some bagels or something,” he said. “You’ve got time to wake up. I can have Cas or Bobby come over if you want.”

“I think I’ll be fine. They’re right next door, and apparently these walls aren’t that thick.” I sat up a little.

He smiled briefly at that. He started to stand, but I pulled him back down.

“What’s going on?” I asked, searching his eyes. He looked sad—but determined.

“I’m going to tell Sam that I’m in with the plan… for him to say yes.”

I blinked in surprise.

“He could say yes with or without my approval,” he confided. “I think he would do it, especially after last night.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I mean, if he really wants to do it, I should at least be there for him, right?”

I felt his pain like it was my own. Sam had become the brother I never had. I didn’t want him to do this. But Dean was right. Sam could say yes, whether we liked it or not.

I nodded briefly, too afraid to speak.

“And honestly, I can’t think of any other way to get Lucifer in that cage,” he added.

I pulled him into a hug. His sigh hitched slightly, and he tried to cover it with a soft cough. I wished there was another way—but I couldn’t think of one.

He drew back and said he’d be back soon. With a kiss on the top of my head, he grabbed his coat and left. I heard him enter the next room, and soon after, they were gone.

THEY CAME BACK WITH FOOD—and news. Sam would say yes to Lucifer.

I hoped that was the only thing Lucifer had gotten right in his prediction.

I thought back to my own story about the anam cara and the warriors. James’ best friend had died. Could that story be tied more closely to the Prophecy than I’d realized? I wished I’d finished it. Maybe then I’d understand what was coming.

Once the decision was made, there was only one thing left to do: prepare.

We estimated how many demons Sam would need to drink from. The thought made me sick. I insisted the demons be possessing dead bodies. It was the only way I could stomach it.

Bobby stopped back at his house to check on supplies—anything that might help us stop Lucifer.

We hit the road, driving out of downtown Chicago to places where it wouldn’t be so hard to trap a demon and drain its blood. It took time—finding them, trapping them, draining them. We stored the blood in empty milk jugs and kept them in the trunk of the Impala.

Nearing our quota, we started looking for signs of where Lucifer might be.

We met up with Bobby outside an abandoned building, where we’d just drained the last two demons.

“Did you get it?” Bobby asked as Sam and Cas came out with the jugs.

“Yeah,” Dean answered. “All the ‘go juice’ Sammy can drink.”

“You okay?” Bobby asked Dean.

“Not really. What do you got?”

Bobby pulled out some newspapers. I joined them and looked, too.

“Not much,” Bobby replied. “These look like omens to you? Cyclone in Florida, temperature drop in Detroit, wildfires in L.A.—”

“Wait, what about Detroit?” I asked.

Detroit. Was that what Lucifer said just as I was waking up? See you in Detroit.

“Temp’s dropped about 20 degrees—but only in a five-block radius of downtown Motown.”

Dean looked at me.

“That’s it.”

“Really? As far as foreboding goes, it’s a little light in the loafers. You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” I quickly explained that I hadn’t been sure what Lucifer said near the end, so I hadn’t mentioned it. But like other demons, he projected coldness—unlike the warmth of angels. He was the fallen angel. This was what we were looking for.

Cas and Bobby followed behind us as we drove to Detroit.

I lay down in the back seat, semi-awake. They must have assumed I was sleeping.

“Sam, I got a bad feeling about this.”

“Well, you’d be nuts to have a good feeling about it.”

“You know what I mean. Here we are.”

“Here we are,” Sam repeated. His voice sounded strained.

“Maybe he does know something we don’t,” Dean said hesitantly.

“Dean, I’m sure he knows a butt-load we don’t. We just gotta hope he doesn’t know about the rings. Hey, um… on the subject, there’s something I gotta talk to you about.”

“What?” Dean’s voice was defensive. I recognized the tone. Something he didn’t want to hear was coming.

“This thing goes our way and I… triple Lindy into that box… y-you know I’m not coming back.”

There was a slight pause. “Yeah, I’m aware.”

“So you gotta promise me something,” Sam said, more determined now.

“Okay. Yeah, anything.”

“You gotta promise not to try to bring me back.”

“What? No. I didn’t sign up for that.”

“Dean—”

“Your Hell is gonna make my tour look like Graceland. You want me to just sit by and do nothing?” Dean tried to control his voice, thinking I was asleep. Smooth move on Sam’s part, starting the conversation when he did.

“Once the cage is shut, you can’t go poking at it, Dean. It’s too risky,” Sam continued.

“No, no, no, no. As if I’m gonna let you rot there.”

“Yeah, you are. You don’t have a choice,” Sam said firmly.

“You can’t ask me to do this.”

“I’m sorry, Dean. You have to.”

“So then what am I supposed to do?” he argued.

“You and Analina go home. Have the baby. And you—you have barbecues and go to football games. You go live some normal, apple pie life, Dean. Promise me.”

I didn’t hear any verbal response.

But Dean didn’t argue anymore.

WE MADE IT TO DETROIT and aimed for the blocks where the temperature had dropped suddenly.

The air was sickly thick with the demonic scent I now knew too well. Circling the area, I pinpointed the greatest threat to an old apartment building.

“He has to be in there,” I said quietly.

We parked the car in an alley and got out. Dean walked around to the trunk, and Sam looked at Bobby.

“I’ll see you around, kid,” Bobby said awkwardly.

“See you around,” Sam replied.

They hugged. I felt a lump form in my throat.

Bobby said, “He gets in… you fight him tooth and nail, you understand? Keep swinging. Don’t give him an inch.”

“Yes, sir.”

Next, Sam went to Cas and held out his hand. Cas shook it.

“Take care of these guys, okay?” Sam said.

“That’s not possible,” Cas replied honestly.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Then humor me.”

“Oh,” Cas said. “I was supposed to lie. Uh… sure. They’ll be fine.”

“Just—just stop talking,” Sam muttered.

He came to me. I didn’t want to cry in front of him. We hugged.

“Stay safe, Analina,” he said. “Take care of Dean for me… and the baby.”

I nodded. I pulled back. “Sam, don’t give up in there, alright? You’re stronger than you think. You have a good heart. Use it. If there’s anything I—”

“It’s alright.”

He walked over to the trunk where Dean was waiting.

“You mind not watching this?” he asked Dean.

Dean nodded and walked over to me. Sam picked up the jug.

“Dean, please be careful in there,” I said quietly. “I don’t think I can handle losing you, too.”

He pulled me in for a hug.

Finally, Sam drank all the jugs.I had no idea how he managed to keep all of it in him. Dean and Sam went into the building while Cas, Bobby, and I waited outside by the Impala.

We waited for what felt like forever. For as cold as winter was in Detroit, it felt much worse with demons around us. I wasn’t sure if I was shaking from the cold or nerves. I kept feeling out for surprise demons, but Sam handled everything in the immediate vicinity without blinking. There was nothing left.

I was too afraid to reach out to Dean in case Lucifer tried something.

Suddenly, a bright light burst from an upper window. It dimmed into nothing. The air still felt heavy. Lucifer was still there. We exchanged looks. After a few more minutes, the air grew lighter. Warmer.

“Did he do it?” I wondered aloud. “Lucifer is gone.”

We ran across the street. Dean came out of the building with tears in his eyes. He shook his head.

“What happened?” Bobby asked.

I took hold of Dean’s hand.

He looked down and shook his head. “He couldn’t stop him.”

“What?” I whispered.

“Lucifer is riding him to the prom. Sam couldn’t get him to jump—and he has the rings,” Dean said.

He pulled his hand loose from mine and wiped his face. Then he started walking down the street. Bobby, Cas, and I looked at each other before following.

He walked a few blocks in silence before stopping in front of a store with televisions.

“Reports are flooding in—a 7.6 earthquake in Portland, 8.1 in Boston, more in Hong Kong, Berlin, and Tehran. The U.S.G.S. has no explanation, but says to expect a six-figure death toll.”

“It’s starting,” Cas said.

“Yeah, you think, genius?” Dean snapped.

Cas retorted, “You don’t have to be mean.”

Dean ignored him. “So what do we do now?”

“I suggest we imbibe copious quantities of alcohol… and wait for the inevitable blast wave,” Cas answered.

“Yeah, swell. Thank you, Bukowski. I mean—how do we stop it?” Dean asked, looking to Bobby and me.

Cas said, “We don’t. Lucifer will meet Michael on the chosen field, and the battle of Armageddon begins.”

“Okay, well, where’s this chosen field?” Dean asked.

“I don’t know,” Cas mumbled.

“Well, there’s got to be something we can do.” Dean was unraveling.

“I’m sorry, Dean. This is over,” Cas said gently.

“You listen to me, you junkless sissy. We are not giving up! Bobby?” Dean turned when he got no answer. “Bobby?”

Bobby looked defeated. “There was never much hope to begin with. I don’t know what to do.”

Dean looked to me.

“Um… let’s start going back to the car and think about this,” I suggested. “We’re not doing any good just standing here.”

We started walking.

“So first, we need to figure out where this will take place,” I said.

“But no one knows that,” Bobby replied.

Well, I would imagine God would know. Too bad Cas gave up looking for Him after his run-in with Zachariah’s gang. Who else besides Lucifer and Michael would know? I was stuck.

“Dean, let’s just go and get a motel room. There’s not much we can do now,” Bobby tried to reason.

“I am not giving up on my brother,” Dean growled.

Bobby stopped dead on the sidewalk and sighed. “Well, if you want to go on a suicide mission, then go ahead. But I’m telling you—we did all we could. Let’s try to save what’s left of the human population.”

“Fine. You do that,” Dean said.

He studied Bobby for a moment, then turned on his heels and started walking briskly to the car.

I glanced back at Bobby, then hurried to catch up with Dean. He was irrational and shouldn’t be left alone.

Giving us a few minutes, Cas remained with Bobby.

“Dean,” I called out, breathless. “Would you wait for me, please?”

He slowed a little and rubbed his face again.

“Analina, I can’t just let him… I have to…”

“I know.” I finally caught up to him and took a deep breath. “We’ll think of something. Let’s not lose our heads right now.”

He nodded, and we started walking to the car again.

I wracked my brain the entire trip to the car. How would we find out the name of the battlefield? Wait. We reached the car as the thought formed.

“We need to know where the battle will take place,” I said.

“I know, but how do we find that out?” Dean reached the door.

“We ask someone who does know,” I said, grinning briefly.

He waited.

“Chuck,” I said.

A glimmer of hope filled Dean’s eyes, and he hopped into the car.

I took the front seat, which felt strange—Sam had just been sitting there not long ago.

Dean called Chuck.

“Um, no, Chuck,” he said into the phone. “Who’s Mistress Magda?”

I gave him a weird look.

“Yeah, I’ll bet—real close. Whatever happened to Becky?… Boy, you really got a whole virgin/hooker thing going on, don’t you?… Sam said yes…. Did you see where the title fight goes down?… Aw, crap.”

That didn’t sound good. Then his eyes perked up.

“Stull Ceme—Wait! I know that. That’s an old boneyard outside of Lawrence. Why Lawrence?… All right, Chuck. You know of any way to short-circuit this thing?… Well, do you have any idea what’s going to happen next?… All right. Thanks, Chuck.”

He hung up.

“Stull Cemetery?” I asked.

“Yep.”

“The battle is taking place in a cemetery?”

“Seems appropriate,” he said with a shrug.

“And does he have any ideas?”

“No.”

Bobby and Cas walked up to the car.

“You going someplace?” Bobby asked. “You’re going to do something stupid. You got that look.”

“I’m going to talk to Sam,” Dean replied through the half-rolled-down window.

“You just don’t give up,” Bobby said.

“It’s Sam!”

“If you couldn’t reach him here, you’re certainly not going to be able to on the battlefield,” Cas added.

“Well, if we’ve already lost, I guess I got nothing to lose, right?”

Dean started the engine, and we were off to Kansas.

I wasn’t sure how well talking to Sam would work. I kind of agreed with Cas—but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. For once, Dean didn’t insist I stay behind with Bobby and Cas. Not that it would’ve worked anyway. I was standing by him, no matter what.

As we got closer, I felt I should’ve said something to my parents. There was a high probability I wasn’t coming back.

“Dean, I was thinking,” I said. “The Prophecy—as sketchy as it is—seems to point out that to win this thing, it’s going to take the two of us.”

He looked over at me. I could see in his eyes that he was torn—between keeping me far away and needing me beside him.

“I think to stop this, we’re going to have to face Lucifer together,” I continued.

“Remember way back when you said you thought we could win this thing?” Dean asked.

I remembered. It was at the lake, on our mock date. I nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“Do you still think so?”

“I’m not giving up,” I said simply.

He nodded and grabbed my hand.

We saw the sign for the cemetery. My heart pounded. We stopped on the hill overlooking the cemetery. In the distance, we could see Sam and Adam—or technically, Lucifer and Michael. Dean squeezed my hand. I looked at him. I wouldn’t have changed anything to be with him. If we died now, then we died. It was worth the short time knowing him. I could tell he felt the same way. He kissed me hard—like we wouldn’t get another chance. Which was quite possible. He took a second to gather himself.

“We can do this,” I said softly.

He nodded. After a moment of looking out at the cemetery, he said, “Let me try talking to him first.”

I nodded.

“And no matter what… we keep on fighting.”

“Deal,” I said with a small smile.

Dean turned up the music and headed down the hill. Lucifer and Michael looked up at us with confused gazes. I wouldn’t blame them. I’d be surprised to see us, too.

Dean turned off the car and stepped out. I got out too, but stayed close to the Impala. The air was full of electricity. I remained connected to Dean—mostly for myself. I felt stronger that way. Less afraid. And actually, now that we were here, I wasn’t as scared as I’d expected. I felt… empowered.

“Howdy, boys,” Dean greeted. “Sorry, am I interrupting something?”

They both glared.

He walked closer to Lucifer. “Hey, we need to talk.”

“Dean, even for you, this is a whole new mountain of stupid.”

“I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to Sam.”

Michael came over. “You’re no longer the vessel, Dean. You’ve got no right to be here.”

He only glanced in my direction. I guess Adam and Dean sort of looked like brothers—Adam’s hair was blond, but he had the Winchester green eyes.

I wouldn’t have known they were brothers unless someone pointed it out.

“Adam, if you’re in there somewhere, I’m so sorry.”

“Adam isn’t home right now,” Michael retorted.

“Well, then you’re next on my list, buttercup. But right now, I need five minutes with him,” Dean said, pointing to Sam.

Michael was pissed. “You little maggot. You are no longer a part of this story!”

“Hey, ass-butt,” Cas called.

Cas and Bobby appeared out of nowhere.

Cas held up a bottle with a flame. He threw it at Michael—and he went up in flames.

“Ass-butt?” Dean repeated.

Cas ignored the question. “He’ll be back. And upset. But you got your five minutes.”

“Castiel,” Lucifer called, “did you just Molotov my brother with holy fire?”

“Uh… no,” Cas replied.

He wavered a little. He wasn’t supposed to use his powers. He was still too weak.

“No one dicks with Michael but me.”

With a snap of Lucifer’s fingers, Cas literally exploded. Bloody chunks scattered across the graveyard.

My jaw dropped. I shut it quickly before I could puke.

Dean looked a little less confident now.

“Sammy, can you hear me?”

“You know, I tried to be nice for Sammy’s sake. But you are such a pain in my ass,” Lucifer said.

He picked Dean up and threw him onto the windshield of the Impala.

Glass shattered.

I ran toward Dean, but he waved me away.

I looked up to see Bobby fire shots at Lucifer.

Lucifer flicked his wrist—and Bobby’s neck snapped.

He dropped to the ground.

Dead.

Dean yelled, “No!”

“Yes,” Lucifer said.

He pulled Dean up and started hitting him. Dean collapsed again.

I was at a loss. He was going to kill him—slowly and painfully.

“Stop! Please!” I cried out.

Lucifer paused, then laughed. He still held Dean by the collar.

“Stop?” he asked, chuckling. I was surprised Dean was still conscious.

Lucifer turned toward me without letting go of Dean.

“As I recall, I gave you the option to avoid all of this,” he said. “You refused. Did I not say that everyone would die?”

I wished I knew what to do. If I tried to stop him, he’d kill me in a second. I couldn’t let that happen—especially in front of Dean.

Seeing that I wasn’t moving, Lucifer said, “Don’t worry. I’ll get to you. Just wait your turn.”

He started hitting Dean again.

I stepped forward.

Lucifer saw me out of the corner of his eye. “Don’t,” he commanded. I felt a force slam me into the back of the Impala. My head cracked against the metal. I reached up—no blood, but a bump was already forming. My vision blurred.

“Sammy? Are you in there?” Dean asked.

“Oh, he’s here, all right,” Lucifer said, punching him again.

The empowerment I’d felt when we arrived was gone. Was this what battle felt like? That moment of hope, followed by the agony of defeat? I looked up—and swore I saw a large ball of light in the distance.

Relax, Analina, a voice said softly in my head. I almost thought it was me. You know what to do. How do you use your gift?

I tried to block out the brutal scene and think.

When I exorcised demons, I surrounded the soul and pulled the demon away.

But this was Lucifer.

Still… I had to try.

I reached out and found Sam’s soul inside his body. It was surrounded by more coldness and evil than I’d ever felt. I quickly wrapped my energy around it, trying not to get sick. 

I could vaguely hear Dean in the background:

“Sam, it’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here. I’m here. I’m not going to leave you.”

I tapped into Dean’s energy, too—maybe if I gave Sam enough protection, he could fight back. I started to shake as I poured more and more of my protective bubble around Sam. And weirdly, the warmth of his soul began to grow. It started to spread. I didn’t let up, even as I felt myself draining. Lucifer’s punches slowed. Dean noticed—and he felt me. He pushed more of his energy toward Sam.

“No,” Lucifer muttered.

He waved a hand at me. A rush of wind passed—but it didn’t touch me.

The protection I had around Sam must have circled back to me. Maybe even to Dean.

My powers only protected against supernatural attacks—not physical ones. That’s why I couldn’t stop Lucifer from hitting Dean.

Suddenly, Lucifer froze.

He stood there, hand raised, looking between Dean and the Impala.

His fists slowly unclenched.

I could feel Sam’s soul more clearly now. Lucifer was still there—but Sam was fighting back.

Sam let go of Dean.

I stayed where I was, concentrating on strengthening Sam’s protection.

“It’s okay, Dean,” Sam said. “It’s going to be okay. I’ve got him.”

He stepped back and pulled the rings from his pocket.

I stumbled over to Dean. I couldn’t imagine the pain he was in. One eye was completely swollen shut. Blood was everywhere. I was too afraid to touch him.

Sam threw the rings on the ground. He looked back at us.

I held the connection, praying to the light I couldn’t see anymore—asking if there was anything I could do to stop Sam from going down with Lucifer.

I felt something shift as Sam recited the incantation.

Michael suddenly appeared.

“Sam! It’s not going to end this way! Step back!”

“You’re going to have to make me!” Sam yelled.

“I have to fight my brother, Sam! Here and now! It’s my destiny!”

As they argued, I finally understood what I had to do. Now the only problem was doing it.

Sam was ready to jump.

Michael lunged to stop him.

Sam pivoted—and Michael flew into the hole.

He grabbed Sam, and they both started to go over the edge.

I rushed forward and grabbed Sam’s arm. He almost pulled me in, too—but Dean held onto me.

“Analina, what are you doing? Let go!” Sam yelled.

“But you don’t have to go down, too,” I managed to say.

It felt like my arm was going to be ripped off.

I tried to concentrate. I had to get Lucifer out of Sam—and fast. I wasn’t sure how long the hole would stay open. 

Everything around it was chaos—steamy hot air mixed with an Arctic blast. Bits of rock and dirt fell into the pit.

I pulled everything I’d learned over the past year and a half into that moment. It helped that Sam was in control. That gave me an edge. It must have only been seconds, but it felt like hours. Dean pulled on me harder.

“Let him go!” he shouted.

“I can save him. Just hold onto me. Don’t let me fall!” I yelled back.

“How?” Dean asked, gripping me tighter.

“We have to pull Lucifer out. He’ll only go into the cage.”

I wasn’t sure if Dean believed it would work. But if there was any chance of saving his brother, I knew he’d take it. I felt him push his energy forward to help me.

I was so weak. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold onto Sam. But something started to give.

Suddenly, a bright light began to pour out of Sam and fall downward. It was working. I felt dizzy. I wanted to faint, but I held on. Energy surged all around me—overwhelming. I had never experienced anything so intense. My ears rang. Sweat formed along my brow and down my back.

The last of the light left Sam. It latched onto Adam, who was clinging to Sam’s leg. When Lucifer’s light touched Michael, he let go of Sam. For a brief moment, I saw Michael pull out a blade—but the energy from Lucifer knocked him back. He hit the wall and lost grip on the blade. They started to fall.

I felt Dean pull me, then reach down for Sam. I collapsed backward as Dean pulled Sam up.

The ground started to close. 

I felt so sick.

Dean hovered over Sam. He wasn’t moving.

“Is he…?” I started, but couldn’t finish. An immense pain bloomed in my stomach.

“No, he’s unconscious but breathing,” Dean said, relief in his voice. “And Lucifer is gone?”

He looked at me.

I nodded, clutching my stomach. Lucifer was definitely gone.

“Are you alright?” Dean asked.

The pain intensified. I broke out in a cold sweat. I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t even shake my head. It was worse than anything I’d felt before—like something was being ripped out of me.

Dean stumbled toward me.

I put out my arm to stop him—and vomited away from him.

“Analina?” He sounded panicked. He reached for my wrist and held on.

I wanted to say something. Anything. But I was paralyzed with pain. A hollow feeling formed alongside it. Suddenly, I felt something warm land nearby.

Dean looked up. “Cas, you’re alive?”

“I’m better than that,” Cas replied.

He touched Dean’s forehead—and the wounds vanished.

Then he knelt beside me and placed his hand on my forehead. A calming warmth spread through my body, slowly erasing the pain.

Cas dropped his head for a moment.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“She’s gone. The baby is gone,” he said simply.

“What?” Dean asked, coming closer.

“When I was… gone, I found out she wasn’t meant to survive. This wasn’t her time to be born. She was here to make the Prophecy come true,” Cas explained.

“Cas, what are you talking about?”

“When Sam said that being together makes you stronger, he was right. He also used the word ‘bond.’ That’s close to the truth—but it’s actually love. Conceiving a child created a powerful bond between you. Without her, you wouldn’t have been able to do what you did.”

I was stunned.

I didn’t know what to say—let alone what to feel.

Cas noticed we needed a moment and went over to Sam.

“He’ll be alright. It might take him a little while to wake up,” Cas said.

Then he walked over to Bobby.

I looked at Dean.

Dean asked, sincerely, “Cas, are you God?”

“That’s a nice compliment, but no. Although, I do believe He brought me back. New and improved.”

He touched Bobby’s head. Bobby sat up with a gasp. He looked around—clearly aware things were different than when he’d died.

Cas began to update him.

I felt so tired. I leaned against Dean. I should be sadder about losing the baby, I thought. But I hadn’t even had time to think about her. The way Cas spoke… it sounded like she would be back.

“She,” he had said.

It was a girl.

I looked around.

So it was our love—our bond—that fulfilled the Prophecy. Love conquered evil. Was the Prophecy really that simple?

“We did it,” I said quietly to Dean.

He held me tighter. “We did.”

We should be celebrating. We had stopped the apocalypse—and kept Sam from going to Hell to do it. But everything felt subdued.

Cas and Bobby came back over to us.

Dean looked up at Cas. “What are you going to do now?”

“Return to Heaven, I suppose.”

“Heaven?” Dean asked.

“With Michael in the Cage, I’m sure it’s total anarchy up there,” Cas replied.

“So what? You’re the new sheriff in town?”

Cas grinned. “I like that. Yeah, I suppose I am.”

“Wow. God gives you a brand-new, shiny set of wings and suddenly you’re His bitch again?”

“I don’t know what God wants. I don’t know if He’ll even return. It just… seems like the right thing to do.”

“If you need any help, Cas, just let us know,” I said.

He nodded. “I’ll check back later.”

Then he left.

“So what are we going to do with Sleeping Beauty?” Bobby asked, looking down at Sam.

“I guess we, uh… we put him in the car and wait until he wakes up,” Dean said.

He stood and helped me to stand.

I stumbled a little, still feeling weak.

“I’m okay,” I said before he could speak. “Just a little drained. I think I’ll feel back to normal after a nap.”

He didn’t argue.

Bobby and Dean managed to get Sam into the car—sitting up so we could all fit.

We drove to the nearest motel. And waited.

I HAD NO IDEA HOW we managed to get Sam into the motel room unnoticed. Thankfully, the place wasn’t crowded or busy. Sam slept—and looked like he’d stay that way for a while. I was exhausted. I hadn’t realized how much energy I’d poured into that exorcism. After reassuring Dean that I was fine, I decided to take a nap. I must have slept for hours.

Dean woke me gently. I hadn’t realized I’d been out that long.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Better,” I said, sitting up. I looked around, but didn’t see anyone else.

“Bobby and Sam went to get something to eat. They’re bringing us back something,” he explained.

I nodded and looked at him. He looked tired.

“How’s Sam?”

“He’s good. He remembers everything that happened until he passed out—even looking through the Impala at the little army man in the ashtray. But he doesn’t remember the fight or opening the cage as much…. How did you know what to do?”

I rubbed my head. There was a dull ache.

“I’m not sure. I saw… a ball of light. It sort of told me what to do. It might have been James. I’m not sure.”

“Yeah, too bad it didn’t tell us before all of this happened,” he said.

“But without the help, we wouldn’t be here right now—including Sam,” I said. “It took all of us to stop it.”

“Including our baby,” he muttered.

I swallowed hard. We hadn’t talked about it much. If it weren’t for Lucifer, I would’ve never known we lost her.

“Cas said it wasn’t her time,” I said, trying to console both of us. “It sounds like we might see her again—or her soul, I guess.”

He nodded a little.

“Cas stopped by for a few minutes while you were out cold. He wanted to be sure Sam was alright when he woke up. No damage or whatever. He’s fine. But he mentioned something about the pain you had after we pulled Sam up.”

“Yeah?”

“He said that… you felt the soul of our baby being pulled from you. If the soul had gone with the body, you probably wouldn’t have noticed anything.”

“So her soul is still alive?”

He nodded. “Supposedly she’s waiting for her time to be born. He said she probably didn’t want to leave you after the fight. That’s why it hurt. She was trying to hold onto you. To your soul.”

“She held onto me?” I felt tears rise. “B-but… she’s coming back. I’m glad she has a chance. It wouldn’t seem fair…”

“Yeah, I know.” He pulled me against him.

“I was thinking we should do something,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… maybe we could put up a small stone in the cemetery.”

I thought about it. We owed her something. I believed she was one of the main reasons we were able to stop the apocalypse.

“I think that’s a nice idea,” I said softly.

Dean said he would take care of it.

THE NEXT DAY, Dean, Sam, Bobby, and I went back to the cemetery. It was like nothing had ever happened. Hard to believe that not even twenty-four hours ago, we were sure we’d die—and the world would end.

We pulled the car up to the spot where the cage had been opened. Off to the side, we gathered. 

Dean opened his bag and pulled out a small rock.

On it, he’d had a simple engraving done:

Victory Winchester Someday We Will Meet Again

He placed it next to a small tree.

Everyone stood in silence for a few moments.

We debated naming her. It felt like we should—but no name felt quite right. Finally, we decided on Victory. She was our victory over Satan, over the apocalypse, over losing the ones we loved. Her soul might not be with us now. But she’ll be back. I believed that.

Image by Copilot

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