The End
Summary: 1-shot. A take on possibly how it might one day end for the Winchesters. *See note*
Warnings: Language, maybe some spoilers but not too many but I will put a tissue warning out just to be safe.
Tags/Spoilers: No tags, maybe some casual, light spoilers but if so not many.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Author Note: The muse started babbling at 3AM with this one & wouldn't shut up. I don't do endings so I'm not sure where this came from but let me assure you that despite the tissue warning or how it starts this IS NOT a death fic so just try it.
SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN
They say no one knows how it ended. That no one knows the final end of the Winchester brothers and the legacy they left behind.
There have been numerous stories, opinions, theories and ideas to how it might have ended. Some say it ended with Dean's dark side returning with a vengeance. They say Sam tried to his best to fight for his brother's life and soul but in the end the darkness won out and the First Blade took the life of Sam Winchester. Then in a brief bout of lucidity, seeing what he'd done Dean forced Castiel to finally take his life, burning both bodies to ensure their final end.
Others believe that after a final betrayal by Heaven's own that cost Sam his life that Dean let the dark side return in order to finally extract revenge on not only Castiel but any angel that had worked to cost them so much over the years and then took his rage out on Crowley's own before ending his own life as he burned his brother's body.
Then there are the whispered theories that the end of the fabled Winchesters was more mundane. That after so many years of sacrificing, fighting and trying to help people and save the world that Sam and Dean finally said enough and slipped off into the shadows to live quietly until the end came to them both.
Some people believe that after an injury sidelined Sam he returned to the Legacy he'd been meant to have if things hadn't gone so badly in their lives and became the first of a new generation of Men of Letters while Dean, refusing to hunt without his brother, went into semi-retirement to train the next batch of hunters.
Few people believe that theory as no hunter, especially Garth or even Cole, would ever admit to seeing either brother after they dropped out of sight; leading back to the more final versions of people's opinions.
There's the idea that the Impala, the heart of the brothers lives in so many ways, lies a burned and wrecked mass at the bottom of the Grand Canyon after Dean ran it off the edge when it became plain that in his bid to actually close Hell, to put Crowley in his place once and for all that Sam lost his battle and Dean made sure they both went out in a blaze of glory.
Most include the belief that one or the other died in a hunt or in a fight with either Heaven or Hell and the other kept the age old promise that if the end, the real end, came to one then it would come to both. They believe that possibly in an attempt to close the gates to both Heaven and Hell fully, to prevent angels or demons from ever stepping foot on earth again that the final sacrifice cost both Dean and Sam their lives. That is the most want to be believed theory it seems as the questions began to surface from those who still knew and cared for them.
Then there are the more out there theories that no one but those fans of Carver Edlund's books believe but very few others do more than roll their eyes at those.
So they say that after five years of wondering, of searching, of hoping that no one knows how it ended for Sam and Dean Winchester but that's not quite true. There is one person who knows the truth, who knows the final outcome that no prophet, angel, demon, witch, or even God himself could have seen coming.
There is one person who was there the day it all stopped. When the hunting, the saving, the family business finally stopped meaning so much and a choice had to be made; when to save his brother's life after an angel's betrayal would have been too costly, Dean made the ultimate sacrifice.
"'You realize if you make this choice that there is no return? That to save your brother, to save Sam, if you do this life as you know it will cease to be?'"
"'Damn it, I've known this moment would come since I carried him out of our burning house! We've given our lives for lies, for others to use us, to use him. You think losing this means more to me than him? If so then you don't know me like you thought you did. Take it, save him and then let me handle the fallout.'"
"'Very well.'"
This person watched as Michael, freed from the Cage in Sam's attempts to free his brother from the Mark of Cain's influence, healed one brother while taking the other in order to take care of his own personal business in Heaven and below.
This person watched as Sam was forced to realize the final sacrifice his brother had made for him and they both watched on as Michael in full Archangel power took his rage out on Lucifer who'd borrowed another vessel as Michael's healing of Sam's injuries from Heavens' torture also shielded him from possession by his brother.
The official records will never explain the seven days and nights the earth tremored and shook. They won't explain the storms that shook buildings with the force of the thunder and lightning or why on midnight of the seventh day it all stopped.
The regular people would never understand that during those days that seemed like the end of the world that a war was being waged in Heaven; that a furious Archangel had taken out his rage, fury, and disappointment on how his lessor brothers and sisters had ruled during God's absence and while he was locked in the Cage with Lucifer. No one but a very few knew the cause or why it stopped and only those very few were there when Michael kept his other bargain.
"'I kept my promise to him and I've kept my bargain with you to return your brother's body to you after my work was done. Do you understand what he gave up or what this means for the two of you, Sam?'"
"'I know he let you use him and I know that means you've probably burned my brother's body and mind out doing whatever it is you've done but he let you so I'd be saved and I'll take care of him now. He always said he'd go out in a blaze of glory but I don't think burning up at the hands of an Archangel was quite what Dean meant. Get the hell out of my brother and leave us alone. You, Heaven, Hell…you've all managed to take your pound of flesh from us. Now I'm done with you all.'"
"'You have ten minutes after I leave this body to make your own choice, Castiel. Choose, because once the gates are sealed no angel will ever step foot physically on this world again.'"
Of course there was no choice for Castiel. He's long since made his decision to release his vessel, Jimmy, so the man could return to whatever life he might be able to build after so many years of being an angel vessel but before he did so he used his waning Grace one more time.
It was said the light rain that fell over the single area around Stull Cemetery in Lawrence Kansas that day were the tears of Heaven as it watched Sam Winchester battle silent tears as Michael left his older brother's body broken and catatonic.
Hunting was no longer an option for Sam. He wouldn't hunt again and accepted that as he said goodbye to the angel who had been friend and ally for several years as Castiel returned to Heaven and Jimmy Novak was free to begin his life anew.
It's been hinted that after Sam put his brother in the Impala and left Stull, left Lawrence that the younger man considered taking them both out in that blaze of glory as he knew his brother and knew Dean would not want to live in a shell but as this person knows in the end that isn't what happened.
Sam didn't take them both out in that literal blaze, nor did he do anything to end either of their lives. Instead, he took them both out of the sight where Sam could help his brother heal and perhaps one day help other hunters but until that day this story will end with the legacy of the Winchester brothers very much intact.
Those who read this final edition to the Winchester Gospels can take from this what they will; assume where Sam might have gone with Dean or how he makes a living or a life for them now. They will know that other hunters, Garth, Cole, and others, as well as other friends and extended family will carry on the legacy that was built around what the Winchesters began.
There might always be those ghost reports of a shiny black 1967 Chevy Impala cruising the highways and back roads with classic rock beating out from the open windows in the hot summer and some might consider those reports wishful thinking or even a ghost car from a lifetime of running those roads with two brothers who ultimately ended up finally giving so much of themselves for the other and never regretting it.
Maybe one day more will come, maybe one day if a case of interest would present it itself or an innocent family naïve of the darkness that still roams out there might be saved or helped by a tall, well-meaning stranger who knows only too well the cost of that darkness and vowed once to never let anyone else suffer the pain or loss he's felt. Maybe one day…
The document was read over, corrected, changed before finally being saved before the laptop case was pushed shut with a deep sigh as the writer glanced over with sad but curious eyes. "Will it ever happen? Will that day ever come? Will you ever hunt again or help people like you used to?"
Sam Winchester turned from the clear view of the lake he'd parked them by to meet Charlie when it became clear that their story needed closure or some part of an ending that told some of the truth but not all of it. "That depends," he finally replied after a long moment of thought; voice still soft and thoughtful like it always had been and like the last five years hadn't been a nightmare for them.
"On what?" Charlie Bradbury asked while chewing her bottom lip and following where Sam's eyes automatically went.
"On him," Sam gave her a soft smile as he bent to kiss the top of her head. "Thanks for meeting me and thanks for doing this. Just make sure this gets out to where it needs to go and…I'll be in touch," he told her, seeing the questions she wanted to ask but held back; something he appreciated. "He's…coping," he replied to the silent worry he could see on her face as they looked at the still figure sitting in the passenger seat of the Impala. "We're okay, Charlie…and maybe, maybe one day I will be that man again but not right now. Take care."
"The bunker is still your home, Sam," she called before he got into the Impala. "You guys belong there more than I do."
"I belong with him and right now I won't take him back there," Sam replied simply and offered a simple wave goodbye before slipping behind the wheel to start the Impala and get them back onto another empty road to the next small town.
It had been five years since he walked away from hunting, away from the so-called Family Business and while Sam wouldn't lie and say he didn't miss it he also wouldn't hunt solo and he'd be dead before ever taking on another partner to hunt with. In his mind, his partner was the man sitting quietly in the passenger seat; another thing that still seemed so wrong to him.
Sam hadn't lied to Charlie. Dean was coping. It was slow but there had been progress. It had taken six months before Dean's eyes had opened, another month before he could start to find Sam by sound and a full year before his brother could walk on his own more than a few steps without help.
It had taken nearly four more years before Sam felt confident in saying that things were slowly looking up but he wasn't ready to take that next step yet.
For nearly all his life all Sam had known was hunting, all Dean had known was hunting. Their lives had been one constant state of pain, loss, and being used so if Sam could give them something else for the moment, for even another few months then he would.
"What story did you spin?"
"The one we agreed on last night," Sam glanced next to him to see deep, sharp, and very alert green eyes watching him. "Charlie knew most of it anyway so I only had to stretch or omit a few things that she didn't know and that no one needed to know but us since Cas won't be back and Adam, while grateful to be free made it pretty plain he wanted nothing to do with us. It's all good."
There was a low grunt before steady fingers that had once been too weak to hold a fork switched cassette tapes. "I also left it that you were still healing. We're tell the truth when you're ready."
Sam knew it might not be fair not to tell their friends or extended family that Dean's mind seemed to suddenly be healing at a faster rate but he also knew his brother wasn't 100% better or at ease with himself or the things Michael had done while in control and Sam wasn't ready to share yet so they stayed moving.
The constant moving from town to town, motel to motel wasn't new for them but the not looking for hunts or actually avoiding them if it looked like something might be off in a town was but Sam merely gave a text to Garth or another hunter in the area before moving on.
It had taken nearly the full five years before he heard his brother's voice and despite everything that Sam had seen and done since leaving hunting to care for Dean it had been the simple use of Dean's nickname for him one evening while Sam had been pretending to sleep that had broken the walls of emotion back down.
In five years there hadn't been a night that Sam hadn't cursed Heaven and those who had hurt his brother and that night was worse because it seemed like Dean was just…off in some way that the former hunter couldn't place.
Dean had been standoffish and unwilling to look at him, things that had worried Sam because he feared what his brother might be thinking but unable to communicate.
That night Sam's emotions had been on the surface but he knew his brother wasn't sleeping so he couldn't slip out to vent or lock himself in the bathroom to allow the noise of the shower to drown the sounds of his tears. He'd been about to break when he felt the light and shaky touch of fingers on the back of his neck and that had surprised him but the voice shocked him.
"Sammy."
As it turned out Dean would tell him slowly over the next few days that he did have his memories and could hear and understand what was happening around him but it was like something was trapping him inside his own skull; unable to speak or communicate with Sam in more than simple ways.
Dean said it seemed like either the spell Michael used wore off or something weakened it but he'd begun to feel the difference six months before he was finally able to speak his brother's name and then it didn't matter because the use of that name caused Sam to break into sobs in his brother's arms that still took months of work to get back his full strength.
The decision to call on Charlie had come when it became plain that too many people, hunter and others, were too curious about their sudden disappearance and rather than allow the worst of the theories to linger the brothers chose to write their own ending.
"You can hunt, y'know," Dean looked out the window as they drove down a highway on the way to Texas; Sam's next location stop to see the sights and live like normal people exploring America for once. "I can play research even with a bum arm."
Dean's right arm, the one that had been home to the Mark of Cain before it's removal by Michael before his possession, was still weaker than his left and it would often cramp and burn so that was another reason Sam refused to hunt; he wouldn't hunt while Dean couldn't even hold his weapon yet.
"I told Charlie maybe one day I'd hunt again and maybe I will but only if and when you can hunt," Sam looked over at his brother to still see the shadows left there by Michael's possession and years of hell that Dean had gone through being stuck in his own thoughts. "The world thinks we're dead or off the grid. Let 'em think that. We did our part. We saved the world now…for once…can we live for us?"
Dean rested his head back against the seat to listen to the music as he thought of Sam's words. All his life he'd lived for someone else or for someone else's vision or dreams. For the past five years he'd fought bitterly to break through the shell to reach for his too stoic, too grim, and way too serious little brother because every day it went Dean could see the pain Sam felt for what he knew his brother thought was his fault.
In the months since managing to do just that, Dean hadn't felt the longing to hunt or the restless need to move or anything like he'd always felt. He was content to just cruise the highways and byways with Sam…though he was itching to get his fingers back on the wheel but knew his arm wasn't strong enough for that yet.
A small piece of the man their father had trained mocked him for failing, for allowing the Winchester duty to fall but then he caught the way Sam would smile at something they'd see or just the ability to choose a spot on a map and explore the area like normal people would or play pool with his little brother again…those were things Dean wanted.
He wouldn't ever say they'd never hunt again if something came up but right then he got Sam's point and finally nodded, meeting hazel eyes. "Let's drive, little brother," he met the open smile fully and actually felt his first real laugh in years come out when Sam willingly changed the cassette in the player to one of the older tapes in the old box. "Let's see where this end leads us."
The End