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"Is this it?" Hermione asked, as they pulled up to an abandoned restaurant that was at the edge of the woods.

"Yeah. This is the only building that doesn't currently run a business, and this is the only part of town where none of the population resides," Sam explained.

Hermione had woken up after the first deep, long sleep she had in weeks to find herself wrapped in Dean's arms. She smiled and tried to get up without waking him, but as soon as he felt her move, he was awake. He tightened his grip on her, peppering kisses up her neck. She rolled over until she was facing him, and the two had laid in bed, just holding each other for as long as they thought they could before they needed to get up. Hermione rushed back to her room to change and get what she needed for the day, before meeting Dean and Sam in the war room. Once she met up with them, they walked out to the garage and climbed into the Impala. Sam didn't say much as he climbed into the backseat, and he didn't talk the entire forty seven minute drive to Superior. Hermione wanted to ask what was wrong, but she was sure it had something to do with today. If she couldn't do what she needed to do, she was condemning Dean to the death. No pressure.

"Well," Hermione said. "Let's go in and get this started. The sooner we do this, the better."

The three climbed out of the Impala, and walked up to the front of the abandoned restaurant. Hermione pulled out her wand,muttered, "Alohamora," and the door flew open. The three trudged inside, closing the door behind them.

Hermione walked over to a table and began taking things out of her beaded bag, preparing for the ritual. Sam was going to follow, but Dean held him back.

"Hey, man, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sam said with a shrug, trying to walk toward Hermione. Dean held him back.

"Are you sure? Because you've hardly said two words all morning."

"I'm fine," Sam insisted, jerking away from Dean.

"See," Dean said. "This is what I'm talking about. I don't think you're fine."

"Well, we're about to do some ritual that may or may not lead to your death. Did you stop to think that maybe that's what's wrong with me?"

Dean shook his head. "No, that's not it. You won't look me in the eye, and you won't even talk to Hermione. What's going on?"

Sam stalked over to Dean until he was right in front of him. "I saw you," he whispered.

Dean was confused. "You saw me? Saw me where? We live together, Sammy, of course you saw me."

"I saw you and Hermione last night in the hallway," Sam said.

The smile fell off of Dean's face. "Oh."

"Is that all you have to say for yourself? 'Oh?' What happened to waiting until this whole mess went away before we dealt with whatever it is between us and Hermione?"

"I tried," Dean said. "I don't know what it is, but I just can't stay away from her."

Sam frowned and closed his eyes. "How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long have you two been sleeping together?"

"Last night was the first time," Dean said.

Sam glared at him. "Really?"

Dean held up his hand. "I swear. We didn't have sex until last night. But-"

"But?"

"We did have an intense make out session that night after her nightmare."

Sam's frown deepened. "When I went out for the beer run?"

Dean nodded. "And there may have been some hand holding before she went off to Hogwhatever."

Sam shook his head. "I don't believe it. You knew that I had feelings for her. You knew that there was something between us that I wanted to see if there was anything, and yet, you still pursued her."

"Hey," Dean said. "Don't make this out like I acted alone. She was a very willing participant. And I'm pretty sure she enjoyed it. So don't get mad at me. I didn't actively try and pursue her. It just happened."

"It just happened," Sam repeated. "Were you two just walking to her room and she slipped and fell on your dick and you were like 'hm, well, we're here anyway..."

"Fuck you, Sam. This is the one good thing in my life right now, and you want to twist it into that I did something horrible. I know we were going to wait. I know that. But I don't even know how to explain it. She calms me. It's like she puts the Mark on mute when she's around."

"Are you two together now?" Sam asked.

Dean shrugged. "No clue. We haven't really had time to talk."

Sam's eyes narrowed and he frowned.

Dean held his hands up, "Don't look at me like that."

"When this is over, we're going to have a long talk," Sam said. "Until then, we need to get over there and get that damn mark off of you. Then we'll see how you feel. If you're just using her to mute the feeling the Mark puts in you, you won't like what I do to you."

Sam didn't wait for a response, he walked over to the other side of the room where Hermione was taking things out of her bag and setting them up. Dean watched as Sam came right next to her, and turned to look at Dean. While maintaining eye contact with his brother, Sam lifted a hand and put it on Hermione's shoulder. Dean rolled his eyes, not believing that his brother was choosing this moment to become a jealous idiot. He walked over and joined them, just as Hermione was pulling out a small cage.

"What's that?" Dean asked.

Hermione pulled the cover off the cage and inside was a small grey mouse. "This is what we're going to try and attach the Mark to."

Dean crouched over, getting a closer look at the mouse. "A mouse? We're going to attach it to a mouse?"

Hermione shrugged. "It's the only animal I could think of that is small enough that if it gets murderous tendencies it won't do much harm."

Dean smiled. "Well, I'll give you that. So what do we need to do next?"

Before Hermione could say anything the door to the restaurant burst open, and in walked Death.

"What the hell?" Dean exclaimed.

"Or time isn't up," Sam said. "We still have three days."

Death shook his head. "Yes, I'm aware. But I can't let you do this ritual."

"Why not?" Hermione said. "You said yourself that if we bind the mark to someone, then we don't have to worry about the Darkness. We found a loophole, and I know the ritual. We can do this."

Death shook his head. "It's too big a risk. I can't let you do that." He lifted his scythe from where he had been carrying it by his side. "I've come to stop you by any means necessary."

Sam and Dean moved protectively in front of Hermione.

"You'll have to get through us first," Dean said.

"Easily," Death said, and with a wave of his hand Dean and Sam went flying through the air, and he continued his slow walk toward Hermione.

Hermione drew her wand and held it in front of her.

Death chuckled. "You don't honestly think that your wand will stop me?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Immobulous!" she shouted, but Death just waved the spell away. "Incarcerous," she shouted again, but again Death waved off the spell. She was about to cast again, but Death was before her. He reached out and gripped Hermione by the neck, lifting the scythe up, pressing it just below his hand.

"It's unfortunate that I'm going to have to kill you. Brightest witch of your age and all."

Hermione struggled against his grip, but it was of no use. She closed her eyes, and willed herself to be brave. She could feel the sharp edge of the scythe pressing into her, she was sure it was drawing blood. Just as she was sure death was inevitable, the grip left her neck. She looked up to see Dean and Sam both fighting Death. Somehow during the melee Dean had managed to grab the scythe. As Sam and Death were scuffling, Dean moved behind Death, and swung the scythe, stabbing it into Death's back. Death crumbled into dust before their eyes.

"What the fuck!" Sam exclaimed.

"Oh my god!" Hermione yelled. "You killed Death!"

Dean looked down at the scythe in his hands, and the pile of dust where Death had been standing. "Yeah, I guess I did. We better get this ritual done asap."

Hermione turned back to the table where she had everything laid out. She pulled out the vial she had brought back with her from Hogwarts, handing it to Dean. "You need to put three drops of this on your mark."

Dean took hold of the vial, opening it and pulling out the stopper. He very deliberately dropped three drops of the potion on his mark before closing it back up, and handing it to Hermione. She in turn opened it, and put three drops in the bowl of herbs she had sitting on the table, and then three drops on the mouse. She then held up her wand, and closed her eyes. She began chanting, almost singing, in Latin. She was doing it quiet enough that he couldn't quite catch what she was saying. The lights in the building began to flicker, and the windows began to rattle. He looked over at Sam, and Sam was starting to look concerned. Hermione stopped chanting for a second before moving over to Dean, and holding her wand over his arm. She began waving her wand and chanting over his arm. Just when he was starting to wonder if the ritual was working, a bolt of lightning broke through the roof of the building, striking his Mark, and connecting with Hermione's wand. The Mark disappeared off of his arm, but the lightning stayed attached to Hermione's wand. He looked down at his arm and up at Hermione in shock.

She wasn't paying attention to him though, she had her focus on her wand, her hand was shaking, and her forehead thick with sweat. She was struggling to maintain control of the spell. Shit. Out of everything they were concerned about, they never once asked if she would be okay performing the spell. He looked away from Hermione for a second to make eye contact with Sam, but he was staring at Hermione with just as much concern. Hermione started turning back toward the table and the mouse, and just as she was about to bring the lightning bolt into contact with the mouse, transferring the mark, the spell backfired, creating a blinding flash and a loud bang that shook the building.

Once Dean had recovered from the blinding light, he rushed over to Hermione, who lay unconscious on the floor.

"Is she okay?" Sam asked.

Dean reached down and moved her hair from her face, and felt for a pulse. "Yeah, she's alive. But I don't know if she's okay, I guess we need to just wait for her to wake up."

"The Mark?" Sam asked.

Dean held up his right arm. "Gone."

Sam looked over at the mouse. "Think she got it transferred before it went haywire?"

Dean shook his head. "I doubt it."

Sam looked around again. "Well, the world doesn't seem to be ending, so that's a good sign."

"Yeah. But we should get out of here before someone comes and investigates that explosion. Grab the stuff off the table and her wand and put it all back in that bag, I'll grab her."

Sam nodded, picking the wand up off the floor and rushing to the table and putting everything in. Dean scooped Hermione up into his arms and adjusted her against his body. Once Sam had everything they walked out the door. They paused for a second and looked around.

"Everything seems normal," Dean said.

Just then, lightning bolts came out of the sky striking the ground all around them.

"Fuck," Dean said.

"You just had to say something," Sam said.

"The car," Dean yelled, as black smoke began billowing out of the holes made by the lightning.

The brothers ran to the car, Sam throwing open the back passenger side door for Dean before running around to the driver's side. Dean, as gently as possible threw Hermione into the back seat and then climbed in himself before slamming the door shut behind them. Sam slid into the driver's seat and cranked the ignition. Dean looked out the back window to see a sea of black smoke coming toward them.

"Drive!" He screamed.

Sam threw the car into reverse, but the tire fell into a pothole in the worn out parking lot. The brothers could only sit and watch as their car was engulfed in black smoke, with them inside.

The End...Just kidding! LOL Please leave a note letting me know what you thought of this chapter! I have one more pre-written chapter, and then I need to get my ass in gear and start writing again for y'all! I'm trying to decide how close to Season 11 canon I should stick. If you have any opinion, let me know in a review or PM. If you PM, I would love to bounce some ideas around with you!