A/N: This is just a two-chapter quickie about an idea I had for how the series could end. (Not that I WANT it to end this way. I don't think I could handle that. T_T)

"This is going to work."

Dean's voice was quiet, almost a whisper. Sam looked over at him in the driver's seat and swallowed, his nerves buzzing.

"Yeah," he answered, even though Dean's words hadn't been a question. "Yeah, it'll work."

Dean nodded, not meeting his eyes. Sam knew there was an internal battle raging inside his big brother. Of course he knew they had no choice but to go through with what they were about to do. The entire world, the entire universe, depended on it. Everything would be swallowed by Darkness: Earth, Heaven, Hell, all of it.

Dean would gladly give his life to defeat The Darkness. But he couldn't bear the thought of Sam doing the same.

Sam rubbed his chest and winced. It was still very sore. "Dean, I…"

"I know."

Sam nodded, blinking rapidly. He wasn't scared. Not for his own life, anyway. The only thing that scared either of them more than dying was the thought of failing. They had to lock away The Darkness, and it had to be done now.

They both knew it. There was no need to say anything.

Dean turned to look at him, a cocky grin on his face. "Let's kill this bitch."

-o-

The air slammed out of his lungs as his back crashed against a tree. Dean felt something crack, white-hot pain lancing up his spine. He collapsed to the ground, his mind reeling. He struggled to his hands and knees, but The Darkness was on him once more.

Together the brothers fought The Darkness, an entity of unspeakable evil. The sheer mass of its sinister being was too large to be contained within one vessel, splitting itself in two, with eyes that were merely pools of pure darkness. The field around them was torn up and battle-scarred as their fight raged on.

After months of research, and more than a little help from Castiel, they had discovered that two of the weapons the archangels used against The Darkness so long ago still existed. Armed with twin blades wrought from obsidian and consecrated black steel, the knives were the only thing they had that seemed to hurt or slow down the evil being.

But even with the knives, Sam and Dean could do very little against this foe, who God and his archangels had only been able to contain. What hope did two mere humans have?

The optimistic wager would be "none." And yet the brothers still fought, as was their way.

Dean didn't even have the strength to brace himself as The Darkness mercilessly beat him. Blood poured from his nose and the multiple cuts on his head and face. Blinking against unconsciousness, Dean lifted his head and looked at his brother.

Sam was about fifty feet from him, battling the other Darkness vessel. His little brother was just as cut up and bloody as he was, but Sammy was fighting back with an intensity that made Dean's bruised heart ache with fierce pride. As Dean watched, Sam swiped at the Darkness with his knife. The blade sliced through the vessel's shadowy aura, crackling with blue light on contact. The Darkness hissed in pain and skittered backwards a step.

The vessel that had Dean pinned turned to look at the other fight as well. Then it looked down at Dean with a wicked grin.

"What are you smiling at, ugly?" Dean growled, spitting blood from his mouth.

The Darkness didn't answer. It just left him there and slithered its way over to Sam, coming up behind him while he focused on the fight in front of him.

Dean's blood went cold.

"Sam, look out!" Dean yelled, his voice cracking. Desperately he tried to pull himself to his feet, but he barely managed three steps before his legs caved beneath him.

Sam began to turn, but it was too late. The Darkness behind him grabbed him around the shoulders, and the other drove a razor-sharp tendril of shadow, its own makeshift blade, right through Sam's chest.

"NO!" Dean screamed. "SAM!"

Sam gasped, dropping his knife as his knees buckled. The Darkness tore its blade free with a nauseating crunch. Dark red blood seeped through Sam's shirt.

The Darkness released him and stepped away, allowing Sam to fall to his knees with a thud.

"NO!" Dean cried again, panic flashing through his veins. He forced himself to his feet and staggered to his brother's side just as Sam fell onto his back.

The Darkness, chuckling menacingly, faded into the surrounding shadows.

Dean collapsed to the ground, his body unable to support him any longer. He dragged himself on his stomach the last few feet to his brother.

Sam lay looking up at the starless sky, his breath coming in shallow gasps. His hands covered the gaping wound in his chest, blood blooming between his fingers.

Tears welled up in Dean's eyes, his whole body shaking with rage and with grief. "Sammy," he choked.

Sam's heavy eyes lolled around, following the sound of Dean's voice until he found his brother by his side.

"D…Dea…n…"

"Shhh, don't try to talk, buddy," Dean murmured, trying to stop his voice from quaking and failing. He reached out and placed one of his hands on top of his baby brother's.

"Dean…I…I want… you to…to know…"

Sam's voice was fading away to a whisper, his eyelids growing heavier. Dean pushed himself closer to hear him better.

"I don't…I don't…regret it…Not a…a second…of it…"

Dean nodded, clenching his jaw to keep from screaming. "Yeah, me too," he whispered. "Me too."

Sam choked, his body shuddering. He gasped for air, blood gurgling in his throat.

"It's OK, Sammy," Dean soothed, tears dripping down his face. "It's OK, I'm here. It'll be over soon."

Sam's eyes flickered closed.

"I'll be right behind you," Dean whispered, choking back a sob.

Sam's last breath rattled in his chest, and then stopped. His face went slack, and his heartbeat stilled completely.

Dean squeezed his eyes shut against the wave of sorrow that crashed into him. Gripping his brother's shirt in his fists, he wept bitterly, his heart as utterly broken as his body. He didn't know how long he lay there, how long The Darkness sat and gleefully watched from the side, drinking in his pain and misery.

A seed of fear blossomed in Dean's gut as he lay there next to Sam's body. Something should have happened by now… The spell… But they couldn't have gotten it wrong, they had been so sure…

Dean felt himself being torn from the ground and thrown twenty feet in the air. He felt his arm break when he hit the ground, but he barely felt it. He barely felt anything anymore.

The Darkness advanced on him with its two vessels, triumph gleaming in the shadows that writhed around them. It set to beating him again, kicking and hitting and tossing him about like dogs fighting over a scrap of meat. The whole time, Dean fought to stay awake and kept his eyes on his brother's body, waiting for some sign…

The Darkness grabbed him around the throat and lifted him into the air. Dean wheezed and choked, dangling helplessly. It seemed The Darkness was finally bored of playing with him.

One of the vessels twirled one of the obsidian knives in its hands, the one Dean had lost track of minutes ago. Dean's gaze flicked to it.

"Do it," he snarled, glaring at The Darkness.

The Darkness regarded him for a moment as though intrigued by him. Then it let out a roar of triumph and plunged the blade deep into Dean's gut.

A few things happened all at once.

Behind them, bright blue light erupted from Sam's chest, flaring out painfully bright and engulfing the entire field. A sigil burned white beneath his bloodstained shirt, too bright to look at.

Dean's whole body went numb as The Darkness dropped him. He fell facedown onto the grass and lay still.

Furious shrieks from The Darkness shredded the night air as the light emitting from Sam's body only grew brighter. Dean watched through nearly closed eyes as the shadows writhed and the light shattered them into tiny pieces.

The Darkness was swallowed up, every last wisp of shadow gathered and caged inside a huge ball of blue-white light. Dean watched as The Darkness was sucked inside and trapped there.

Their spell had worked after all.

Now there was just one piece left.