A/N: Okay, I know I said I'd get this up before Thursday and today is Thursday, but the new episode hasn't aired yet so technically I'm still on time, right? Anyway, hope you enjoy this tag to 12x23!

They had lost. They had lost everything. Sure, Lucifer was trapped in the Apocalypse world, but so was Mom. Crowley and Rowena were dead. And Cas-

Cas was-

Cas was.

No. Dean refused to believe it. He'd seen the blade spear through Cas, and he'd seen the bright light (Cas, that was Cas) spill out from his eyes and mouth, but they'd been down this road before. He always came back. He was going to come back. They just had to wait a little, and then Cas'd bounce right back up, trenchcoat and all, good as new.

Right?

Sam reappeared a little while later. Dean heard footsteps approaching (just one pair; Kelly hadn't made it then), and then come to a stop a metre or so away, like he couldn't bring himself to come any closer. He stayed silent for a moment, then cleared his throat.

"Dean?" he said, his voice quiet and thick. "I think you should maybe come see this."

Dean shook his head.

Sam sighed sadly, resigned, like he'd expected this response. "Look, man, I- I know, okay. I know. But we have to deal with this, then we can help him."

"I won't leave him."

"We have to. Come on, let's get him in the car. He'll be safe in there, right?"

Dean grunted, but the one part of his brain that still seemed to be mildly functioning told him Sam was right, and they needed to move. The sky was still dark, so it obviously hadn't been that long since it'd all gone down, but Dean's knees cracked painfully as he got up, and he swayed a little before righting himself. He looked over his shoulder at Sam, who was still hesitating to move closer.

"Well? Let's move."

The house was a mess. Well, the upstairs part was anyway. Kelly looked so peaceful where she lay, so serene, and Dean almost envied her. He wished he had half the faith she did that everything would be alright. It was probably a good job she had died, seeing as how everything was decidedly not alright, but she should never have been caught up in this mess in the first place. She should have lived a long, happy life, and instead she got to be another casualty of this never-ending war. Such is life.

Bloody footprints were tracked across the hall, growing larger the further they followed them. They led into the room across from Kelly's, immediately obvious as a nursery by the garish colours splashed on the walls. Sam tapped him on the shoulder and, holding a finger to his lips, pointed to the far corner of the room, right next to the cot. A dark shape was huddled there and, as Dean took a few steps towards it, its head turned and its eyes lit up gold. Dean immediately went for his gun, because the last time something's eyes had flashed anything even remotely like that colour, it had tried to kill them.

"Dean, no!" Sam cried, but at that exact moment the thing in the corner screamed and a wave of energy exploded from it, blasting them backwards. Once the immediate shock had worn off, Dean struggled to sit up, blinking a few times to stop his vision swimming. As soon as he was no longer seeing double, and everything was reasonably stable, he searched for the Nephilim, but it was long gone. He growled in frustration and slammed his fist into the wall before forcing himself to his feet. Sam did the same, sighing and shaking his head.

"You shouldn't have done that, Dean," he said quietly.

"Why?"

"He could have helped us!"

"Okay, first of all, it's not a he. It's an it, Sam. Secondly, how exactly could it help us? It's Lucifer's kid. That should mean something, to you of all people."

Sam winced and took a step back. Dean felt a sudden twinge of guilt and cursed softly; that was low, even by his standards.

"Look," Sam tried again. "We don't know what he's like yet. Besides, he might be our only hope of getting Mom and Cas back."

Dean glared at Sam. "No. We find him, we kill him."

"But-"

"We're going to find a way to get them back, we always do. But it's not that."

Dean turned on his heel and marched out the door, leaving Sam staring hopelessly at his back. Maybe he should have listened to what Sam was saying, but he didn't give a fuck that they didn't actually know the thing yet. Far as he was concerned, it was evil, and he killed things that were evil. So.

They had work to do.

A/N: Wow that ending was shit. Sue me, I'm tired. Hope you guys like that, and I'll start my season 13 tags after the episode airs! Please leave a review if you have a moment. Bye!