Piper Halliwell is Dean Winchester's Reaper, come to take his soul to Hell, but she'll do whatever it takes to keep it from happening. The beginning takes place during the CHARMED 07x05 episode "Styx Feet Under" and the SUPERNATURAL 03x16 episode "No Rest for the Wicked." Later events occur after the series finale of CHARMED and the beginning of SUPERNATURAL season 5.

Disclaimer: I own none of the rights to CHARMED or SUPERNATURAL. Story intended for entertainment purposes only.

The story title was inspired by the song "Far End of the Black" by J.R. Richards.

"And my greatest fear in the world will be that I won't be there to stop the world if it comes to take you…on the far end of the black there was light and it was you."

Far End of the Black

Dean Winchester

Piper read the name again. It ran laps around her mind before tumbling from her lips on the breath of a whisper. "No," she gasped lightly, in shock.

"No!" Piper said it louder this time, defiantly. She hoped, prayed, she had misread the elegantly scrawled letters but Dean's name remained on the List, the ink as black as what would come for him soon. Hastily, Piper vanished unseen from the bustling emergency room.

"I've got a problem," Piper announced as she reappeared in the Manor attic.

"You mean, other than being Death's slave and having your body on ice at the morgue?" Phoebe commented without looking away from the Book of Shadows.

"Much bigger," Piper replied.

"Yeah…" Paige drawled. "I don't see what could possibly be bigger than that."

"Wait," Phoebe's attention was torn from the Book. "You didn't see one of our names on Death's List, did you?"

"No," Piper's voice wavered slightly. "I saw Dean's."

"Dean?" Paige asked with confusion in her tone.

"Oh, no," Phoebe whispered. Her powers were inactive, but echoes of her Empathy remained. Piper's pain was evident and Phoebe felt it reverberate through the room.

"When you moved in with Richard and Phoebe was in Hong Kong, I met Dean Winchester and his brother Sam. I was looking for a demon and they had it," Piper explained. "We fought over the demon and neither of us wanted to give it up. I was looking out for Wyatt and they were trying to get a lead to avenge their mother's death. But Dean can be very…"

"Persuasive?" Paige supplied.

Rosy color dusted Piper's cheeks.

"Persuasive works. Anyway…" she shook her head to clear away the memories of her time with the Winchesters, "they showed me a few things that came in handy while you two were gone. Dean and I became close. It meant so much to have someone who understands magic and demons and wants a normal life just as much as I do."

"They weren't here for long, were they?" Phoebe wondered.

"Just a few weeks," Piper replied. "But it was enough. Now he's on Death's List and I'm supposed to collect him. I can't do it."

A palpable silence hovered in the air, mixing and mingling with the stench of potions.

"What do you need us to do?" Phoebe finally spoke.

Piper was quiet, her mind simultaneously racing and frozen in place. "I don't know yet. Maybe a protection spell of some kind? See what you can put together and I'm going to go cheat Death."

"You ARE Death!" Paige called as Piper vanished again.

Dean took a long pull from the whiskey bottle clenched in his fist. The fiery liquid burned as it slid down his throat, but he relished the pain. Thirty five hours left until he began his drag race down the highway to Hell.

With a shaking hand, he brought the bottle to his lips again. Dean had made peace with his decision a long time ago, but that didn't mean he wasn't afraid of the terrors that yawned before him. He knew he would have made the same choice all over again.

Sam's life meant more to Dean than his own. His baby brother had wanted to be a lawyer and change the world, but Dean had convinced him to save it instead – save it from werewolves and ghosts and demons, every single day. When saving the world had cost Sam his life, Dean made the crossroads deal and brought his brother back from the dead. Dean didn't regret the cost of the deal. If his death meant Sam would continue to live, then it was for the best.

But more than anything, Dean wished Sam would drop his damn rescue crusade. He wished Sam would let him go in peace, though Dean doubted his demise would be anything but peaceful.

After liberating the final drink from the bottle, Dean returned to his seat at Bobby's rickety table and halfheartedly thumbed through a book of lore and legends as he contemplated how he wanted to spend his final hours.

"Dean?" a female voice said from across the room.

Dean shook his head, trying to clear away the faint buzz the whiskey had given him, and he lifted his eyes. He blinked but hid his surprise upon seeing the black garbed woman standing on the other side of the tome covered table. There was something familiar about her.

"Dean?" she repeated.

He stared a moment longer.

"Piper?" The realization dawned on him as the last sunrise he would ever see dawned outside the grime covered windows.

"Hi, Dean," her lips twisted into a quick, bittersweet smile.

"Don't tell me my brother brought you here to try and save me," Dean demanded incredulously. "Damn it Sam…" his hand pounded the table and he leapt to his feet.

"No," she said. "I came on my own."

Confusion flickered on Dean's face. "How do you even know what's going on?"

Piper gestured toward her bleak attire. "I'm working for Death. I saw your name on the List."

Dean spluttered with astonishment. "Jesus…"

"Not quite," Piper quipped and even Dean had to smile.

"How the hell did you go from kick ass soccer mom to reaping souls? And why are you here now? I've still got thirty five hours left," he wanted to know.

"It's a long story, one I don't want to explain. Right now, I want to know why I'm supposed to collect you. And, what do you mean thirty five hours? You already knew you're going to die?"

Dean heaved a sigh, ran his hand over the back of his close-cropped hair. "Mine's a long story too," he said. After briefly telling the tale, Dean concluded, "I made a crossroads deal to bring Sam back."

"What kind of deal?" Piper asked warily.

Dean hesitated. "His soul for mine. I offered to go to Hell if the demon would bring Sam back to life."

"You did what?" she exclaimed. Her blood began to boil as she waited for his explanation.

"Piper, I couldn't let my brother die," he said plaintively. "How many times have you had to save your sisters? Wouldn't you….haven't you done whatever it takes to keep them safe? What was I supposed to do?"

Piper exhaled a long, steadying breath. "I understand your point," she conceded. "But making a deal with demons? Sending yourself to Hell? And you've had a whole year and didn't come to me about this? Dean, that's just…"

Dean held up his hands to silence her. "Spare me Piper. I've had a whole year of lecturing."

Piper ignored him. "Phoebe and Paige are looking for spells and potions and anything else that might work…"

"Piper…"

"I'll just tell Death that I refuse to take any more souls…"

"Piper."

"…until we get your soul back."

"Piper!"

"What?" she stopped rambling at the sound of his raised voice.

Dean stared at her admiringly. "I appreciate what you're trying to do," he admitted. "Really. But I don't need any help."

Piper pursed her lips. "Hmm… Let's see… You sold your soul to a demon and you're scheduled to die in just over thirty hours. Yeah, you have everything perfectly under control."

While silence hovered, Piper closed the distance between them and she gingerly laid the palm of her hand on his cheek.

Dean resisted a shudder. Her touch was icy and cold, as he expected the fingers of Death to be, yet her warmth throbbed deep beneath the surface. There was something comforting and maternal about the gesture and Dean appreciated the look of loving concern he saw flickering in the depths of Piper's dark eyes.

"I'm a lucky guy to have a reaper on my side," he said after she lowered her hand. "But you can't save me Piper."

He watched Piper's eyes go hard and resolute. "Watch me," she declared and disappeared as quickly as she'd arrived.

Heaving a sigh of frustration, Dean dropped back into his chair.

Piper waited for her summons to be answered. Death might have been the only true certainty besides taxes, but he sure took his sweet time.

"You're falling further behind, you know."

Piper turned to see Death standing behind her. "You can't make me take Dean Winchester's soul. I won't do it."

"We don't get to decide who lives or dies. Only circumstances can change someone's fate."

Stubbornly, Piper crossed her arms over her chest. "Then I won't collect anymore souls. I'll go on strike."

Death took her announcement in stride. "So to save this person, you would stop all death?"

"You got it."

"That's rather selfish of you, don't you think? Unless, of course, you think that death is pointless."

"Well, I…" Piper started to speak.

"It's not, you know. Far from it," Death lectured. "Life only has meaning specifically because there is an end. Death is what forces people to live."

Piper stammered, "Yes, but…"

"Which means," Death continued, "ending death effectively ends life, throws off the whole cosmic design. And for what? A single fleeting life? This is bigger than your friend Piper. Much bigger."

"Can you spare me the circle of life crap?" she demanded angrily. "I have to save Dean. He doesn't deserve this. He doesn't deserve to die and be tortured in Hell."

Death held firm. "He made a choice. It was his decision to exchange his life for his brother's. You can't change that, Piper."

Piper watched Death vanish and she hurried back to her sisters.