Yes
On opposite side of the country, Sam and Dean say exactly the same word at exactly the same time. Cue Apocalypse. Alternative 5.19
Dean sat in his beloved Impala, looking across the street at a Jehovah's Witness, who was waving pamphlets in the faces of civilians. He was probably spewing out nonsense about the Apocalypse too, as people shot his odd looks. Dean sighed, swilling the last of his beer around pensively for a moment before draining the bottle. He wasn't drunk enough for this… but he couldn't keep delaying. The bottle was tossed carelessly aside to the seat where his brother usually sat, ignoring the aching feeling of loss.
For a moment he took the time to consider the bustling people on the streets, immersed in their usual lives, with no idea of the impending Apocalypse.
Overhead a streetlamp crackled Dean peered upwards at the dark sky, rumbling with thunder. There was a storm coming, omnipresent and heavy in the air. He could feel it in his bones.
He glanced sideways, mouth opening to confer with a non-existent passenger sitting shotgun, words failing as he noted the empty space next to him. Across the street, the preaching man was still there, waving flyers in the face of anyone who'd listen.
Unable to find a reason to stall any longer, Dean turned off the music, regretfully realising that his car would probably stay here, his baby who had been through so much, and he'd rebuilt from scratch, before deciding that there were worst things to worry about than a car.
And if this was the direction his thoughts had turned in, he must be seriously screwed.
Mentally he apologised to Castiel… to Cass, the fallen angel had sacrificed so much, yet his faith still remained so strong. In his wayward father, in the Winchesters, in Dean, and this felt like the biggest betrayal of all to the angel who had pulled him from Perdition's clutches. Castiel… Cass… he'd become like a brother to Dean… like family even in the short space of time Dean had known him. Cass had discovered how to make his own choices, and he'd chosen the right path. He'd put his trust in Dean to make the right choice too, even when deep inside, the hunter knew he couldn't. He wasn't strong enough and hadn't been since Hell.
He'd admitted it to Anna, the fallen angel who'd seen no other way than to try and end it before it started. But in the end they'd both seen the inevitable. "You can't fight city hall," Michael had told him. Maybe he was right, the cold stoic archangel who saw no other option; had never learned any other option…
So he'd be the good son and play his role. That's what you wanted, right Gabriel? He hoped he was happy, the bitter Trickster, who had run from his family troubles, and thrust them onto someone else. Dean felt a vindictive bit of pleasure from the thought of the archangel being forced to watch his family tear themselves apart as the world burned.
But in the end, it had torn apart his family too: all those deals. Mary for John. John for him. He for Sam. And Sam had nothing left to deal, the crossroads a non-option for him. His family had been set up by Heaven, Cain and Able, coming together once more to make Michael's perfect bloodline. He was nothing more than a pawn for the archangel, his reflection.
For as it is in heaven… so it must be on earth…
One brother had to kill the other brother.
I'm sorry Sammy.
While Dean thinks about the angels, Sam thinks about the demons on the opposite side of the country.
He wondered if this was what Ruby had always wanted… had always been preparing him for ever since she had first waltzed in and helped them kill the Deadly Sins. She'd had him strung along from the beginning with the false promises of saving Dean from the deal, saving Dean from hell, saving Dean from the responsibility of killing Lilith… he'd only been trying to save Dean, but his good intentions were twisted with the demonic power taint and lost somewhere along that road to hell, paved with his many good intentions. Ruby had been nothing more than the sign post at the crossroads, and where his mom, his dad, Dean had all taken the road of righteousness, Sam had followed the path of pride and sin.
Ruby knew, the lying temptress, and he'd love to blame her for everything, for leading him along, but in the end it didn't matter. He was the one who had made the choices, continued on down the darkening path, ignoring his brother, ignoring his own instincts which screamed otherwise. He'd been the one to bust Lilith open, and kick start the Apocalypse and he'd be the one to burn it all down, the devil riding his ass. Maybe he was the reason his mother had burned on the ceiling and then Jessica too, so many years later. He'd left to try and get away from the hunting life, but the supernatural had followed him and never really let go. It had sunk its claws in, hidden, unseen, in Brady and his prom date and his kindergarten teacher… his whole life was just one big game of chess.
Now, like the pawn he was, he was moving to the last row. The little insignificant pawn was about to be knocked away, to be replaced by the queen, the strongest piece on the board.
He leaned back in the moth eaten seat of the stolen car. The hum of traffic was quiet in his ears, the lights dim, and the taint of sulphur and rust still lingering on his tongue. Across the street a man leaned against a doorway, and even from here Sam could feel the darkness in the body. It would be so easy to reach and squeeze… to pull the darkness out and crush it in his grip.
It scared him sometimes… how much he enjoyed the power and thrill of the demon blood high.
Azazel had been planning this for so long… had he always known, when he first met Mary Campbell that she would bear the vessel of Lucifer into the world? Or had Azazel watched over all his psychic kids with equal trepidation, placing bets with himself as to which would make it to the finishing line, which would be strong enough to kill Lilith and gorge himself on enough blood to hold Lucifer's tainted grace?
Pick a hemisphere right Dean? Stay away from each other? Maybe his demonic taint was catching, a disease… something to be purged. Croatoan had no effect on him, and he'd always known he was different. He fiddles with the stole car idly, looking out the window at the building he knows Lucifer to sit in. Waiting. He'd always known it would come to this, this moment, this decision.
No matter what you do… you will always end up here.
I win. So I win.
I'm sorry Dean.
Dean thought of the angels.
Sam thought of the demons.
Dean remembered his brother.
Sam remembered of his brother.
On the opposite sides of the country, two brothers said 'yes' at exactly the same time.
On the opposite sides of the country, the air was filled with a blinding light.
On the opposite sides of the country, two brothers began to burn down the world.
This would be how the world ended.
It was how it was written.
