When Billie touched two fingers to his forehead, Dean knew that this was it.

Really and truly. This was the end of the line.

There was an intense fire, raking down his spine, and then a shock like he'd been electrocuted (and Dean actually knew what that was like). Then it felt like someone was reaching down inside him, deep down into the marrow of his bones, and forcibly ripping out his life. Next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of the room, looking down at his still body.

He looked up to meet Billie's eyes. One side of her mouth crooked up in a wry smile, then she stepped through the wall. Dean followed. Even though he knew the wall wouldn't actually affect him, he still had to brace himself as he stepped through the solid surface.

He entered another cell just like his own in time to see Billie pass through the next wall. He continued on, his soul ghosting through the vacant area without a trace. He passed through the wall again, this time without hesitation.

When he saw Sam sitting stiffly on his cot, waiting for Billie's arrival, Dean's chest loosened, and he was utterly unable to stop an enormous breath of relief from escaping. He rubbed his hands over his face, feeling unexpectedly tired now that tension in his muscles he hadn't even been aware of was relaxed. He settled down next to Sam on the bed, his brother completely unaware of his presence.

Billie shimmered and became slightly more substantial in front of Sam, who looked up at her warily. "It's time," the reaper gloated. Sam nodded. Then Billie reached out and touched the tips of her fingers against Sam's forehead, like she had with Dean. For a moment, Sam's face constricted with pain, then his body crumpled lifelessly to the bed.

Sam's spirit-form blinked and looked round the room before spotting Dean sitting next to him.

"Dean," he said, his voice breathy in the way it usually got when he was emotional. "Hey, Sammy," Dean responded, not even bothering to fight the smile spreading over his face. He wanted to reach over and slap Sam on the back or punch his shoulder or some form of contact, but since they didn't technically have bodies at the moment, that would be difficult. He'd just spent over six weeks in solitary confinement, thank you very much, without seeing or speaking to another human being; seeing Sam again alleviated a great deal of the black thoughts that had been swamping every waking moment of that existence.

Sam smiled back, kind of tiny and shaky, but heartfelt. His eyes were a little wet, and Dean had to grit his teeth to hold back his own emotion.

"You have fifteen minutes until a guard comes with food and finds your bodies. I'll be back," Billie explained, raising her eyebrows dryly, before walking into a blaze of bright blue light and disappearing.

"Uh, dude... you should... move," Sam cleared his throat.

"What?" Dean looked down. Sam's body had passed right through Dean's spirit-form as it fell, so now Dean was sitting in Sam's stomach.

Dean jumped off the bed like he'd been burned. "Aghhhh... I could have gone my whole life without that happening, you know."

And then Sam's entire face crinkled up in this huge, brilliant smile. With everything that they'd gone through in their lives, smiles like that were rare from Sam. Scratch that, smiles like that were damn near non-existent for both of them. Dean grinned back broadly, feeling lighter than he'd been since they'd finally shoved Lucifer back in his cage more than a month and a half ago.

And then he remembered the deal. This was their last day. The last day he'd ever spend with Sam. And, if he got his way (which he was determined to do, no matter what Sam might say), then this was his last day alive. That's what they'd agreed. One more day. One more day with Sam. Then one of them would die and go to the Empty, and the other would keep on fighting on this stupid, cruel planet.

For as long as he could remember, there hadn't been a great deal of joy in this life. Just a few things, a few people that he fought and fought and fought to keep, but somehow, they all just kept slipping through his fingers. Sam included. But Sam had always come back. And maybe he'd finally found hope in himself and Sam in that garden with Chuck and Amara. Then along came life - Dean's life, anyways - so here they were again. And he was gonna lose Sam, one way or another, and shouldn't there be a point, somewhere, where the universe realized that it had taken too much, demanded too much from a person?

He wasn't sure what had shown in his expression, but Sam knew him well enough to understand immediately what he was thinking about.

"Dean, about the deal -"

"Can we not talk about it right now?" Dean cut in. He already knew how it was going to go. They'd both want to be the one to go, of course. But Dean couldn't do it, he couldn't be the one to stay behind, and he knew that Sam felt the same, so the only thing they'd do was argue. This was their last day. Dean was not gonna waste that arguing.

Sam looked down at the floor. Dean closed his eyes and bit his lip. Then Sam stood up, rising just those couple of inches above Dean, and gestured with his head towards the hallway. Of course neither of them wanted to stay in that suffocating room after six weeks forced vacation there, so Dean joined him walking shoulder-to-shoulder out into the hallway of the prison.

They settled down on the ground right next to each other, leaning against the wall. There were fifteen minutes till mealtime, when the guards would discover their "deaths".

Dean tipped his head back against the wall. "When we get out of here, we should find a phone and call Cas to come meet us."

Sam shifted against the hard stone, trying to find a comfortable position. His lanky, overgrown frame took up a great deal of room, and his legs were sprawled out, practically reaching the center of the hall.

"If we can find out where we are. What about mom?"

"We might not have time right when we get out. We'll need to make a run for it, probably set up some kind of trap when they come after us. We'll call her before... before."

"Yeah," Sam took a deep breath and let it out slowly. They sat in a companionable silence, each reflecting on the possible ways this day could end, knowing that the other was having very similar thoughts.

Dean had been to heaven and hell and purgatory and pretty much every small town in America. They'd even been to Europe that one time to dig up Crowley's bones. But he didn't know anything about the Empty. What it was, what it was like. If Billie sent him there, would she send Sam as well, when Sam died? Would Dean be able to wait for Sam? Or would he float through the Empty, completely alone, for the rest of eternity?

The thought scared him. Screw that. It terrified him. But it just made him even more determined to be the one to go because there was no way he would ever let Sam go through that. Simply no way. Dean could find a way to survive in the Empty if he knew that Sam was alive and safe here on Earth.

He thought about saying something. Then realized that there wasn't really anything to say. Other than the years Sam spent at college, they'd pretty much spent their whole lives together; every time something tore them apart, whether it was death or an argument or some crazy supernatural influence, they'd always managed to find their way back. But they were sitting here together, knowing that it was the last time. What do you say when you're about to lose the one person you care about more than anything else in the universe? What can you possible say?

Then a guard came down the hall holding a tray of the horrible crappy prison food they'd been eating. He and Sam rose simultaneously from the floor during the commotion that followed the discovery of their bodies, watched as the guard failed to resuscitate Sam, as Dean was found dead, as their bodies were taken to the morgue.

Sam clenched his jaw as the Secret Service agent explained how he'd wanted Dean to die. Then the terrorist expert said, "Well, that's totally mentally normal," which made Sam snort and Dean huffed a small laugh.

When the room was finally vacant, except for their empty bodies, Billie made her reappearance. "You ready?" She asked, clearly not looking for an answer. Sam and Dean looked at each other for a second, and then Sam nodded. "Okay. Do it now."

She took a step towards him, and Sam took in a shaky breath.

"See you on the other side, bitch," Dean said quietly.

Sam gave him a small smile.

"Jerk."