Sam and Max: When I See You Again
Max stood behind Sam watching him look out at the Statue of Liberty. He couldn't see him, not because he was standing behind him but because he was a ghost.
Max had done something self-sacrificial for the first time in his life and it had cost him everything. It should have felt good but his heart was filled to the brim with pain. He would not be by his best friend's side ever again. In this life at least, Satan owed them a favor. He would have to wait until Sam's dementia finally killed him and that would not be for a long, long time.
It was unfair. He and Sam had been together for as long as Max could remember. Every adventure, every case, every memory had been lived together. Sam was closer than a brother, and although he needed to, Max could not bring himself to go to his judgement.
He and Sam had always been together and he did not intend to stop that now. He would only be unseen or seen, depending on his spiritual power. He would be the closest thing Sam would ever have to a guardian angel.
Max started shedding a few tears as he started to walk towards Sam intending to make his presence known as much to comfort himself as to comfort his partner. He was about to touch his arm when he felt someone grab his shoulder. Max turned around and saw an unexpected sight. It was Sam, or rather Sam's ghost.
"Sam?" Max asked turning around and seeing the Sam behind him to be sure. "How? You're standing right here."
"I'm past Sam," Sam said. "Remember?"
"Oh, yeah. What happened to you?"
"I gained psychic powers from the Devil's Toy Box and turned into a rampaging elder god who had to be destroyed."
"Me, too."
Max turned around to look at his Sam some more and said, "What are you doing here?"
"My little buddy got into his time machine so I went on ahead," past Sam said.
"What?"
The elevator time machine from their past adventures opened. The alive Sam looked inside and quickly found past Max.
"What?" Max asked. "What is he doing here?"
"He couldn't take being alone," past Sam said while watching the two of them talk. "I don't blame him. I know I wouldn't either. It's the best thing for both of them and both of us."
"I can't leave him," Max said starting to cry a little again watching the scene play out in front of him. "I can't live without him. I have to wait for him. I don't wanna be alone. He can't be alone. He can't live without me either."
"He isn't going to be, little pal," past Sam said rubbing Max's head. "You won't be either. We'll watch them and wait for them together. Neither of us will move on until the four of us are finally reunited."
Max smiled through the tears and said, "You always have the best ideas, Sam."
Their partners entered the elevator and disappeared.
"Now, you ready to follow our buddies into the unknown and scare the living crap out of the living while we wait," Sam asked.
"Yeah, that sounds great," Max said before he noticed that Sam left his hat behind.
He walked up to it and stared at it in reflection for a while. Max finally climbed on top of the stone wall and looked at it some more.
Suddenly, the time machine came back and Sam left the machine to retrieve his hat.
As Sam picked it up, Max grabbed onto his hand and said, "Thanks for everything, Sam! Don't worry about me. I'll be waiting and watching over both of you, but don't come too soon. Alright? We will tell each other everything when I see you again."
Sam smiled as though he could hear his voice. Sam turned around and walked away looking at his little buddy in the elevator whose head was being rubbed by his Sam. Max followed Sam into the elevator as he would have done in life and the four of them disappeared to go on their next adventure.