"Woah. It is dark in here." Catra wrinkled her nose and swiped the space before her, as if trying to clear smoke. "Could someone turn on the lights in here? Sheesh."

A spherical glow shimmered next to her forearm; Catra absolutely did not leap into the air or scream or hiss.

"Sorry, sorry!" Glimmer, balancing an orb of light, came into view. "You okay?"

"Yes!" Catra said, absolutely calm, hair at normal volume, and heart absolutely not thundering in her chest.

"I didn't realize Melog was still keeping me invisible." Melog mrowed, and Glimmer gave the good kitty a pat.

Catra turned left, then right. Frowning, she turned around, then glanced up and down. "Where's Adora? A-and Bow?"

"You're the first one we've found, Catra." Glimmer held the light aloft, but further illumination revealed nothing. "I guess Entrapta's machine didn't put us all in one place."

Catra's tail swished. "Great. Figures our mission would start off like thIIIS! Melog! Ack, Melog, stop, gerroffofme!" Despite Catra's protests, Melog remained balanced with their hind legs on the ground (?), their front paws on Catra's shoulders, and their tongue giving Catra's face a bath. "Glimmer! Stop laughing!" With a final heave, Catra managed to escape. "Now you've given our position away!"

Glimmer raised a brow, then glanced at her hand and back at Catra.

"...fine." Catra sighed. "What now."

Melog took a few steps, looked back at the two, and mrowed. Glimmer nodded. "I agree with Melog. If we keep looking for the others, we should find them eventually."

"Find who?"

Catra, Glimmer, and Melog whipped around to find...

"Castiel?" Catra whispered.

When the trenchcoated shoulders quivered and a cackle scrabbled its way out of a throat, Glimmer frowned. "Uhh, Catra? I thought you said Castiel is this super serious guy. Are—"

Catra put her face in her hands and groaned. "Of course this isn't Cas. Why would it be Cas. When has the universe ever made anything easy for me."

Glimmer winced and decided to leave that conversation topic for Adora. "So this is—"

"I control the Empty." The Entity shrugged. "And here I was, thinking that I was done with Clarence and his poor widdle friends. New management, new rules...not that any of that concerns little old me, of course." He smirked. "And yet. I don't believe we've met, but." He held up a hand. "You'll be gone so soon that dealing with your names and what you are simply isn't worth the effort." He snapped.

Glimmer's light went out.

The Entity sighed and dusted off his lapels. "Much better," he said, as he sank back into the void.

"Well, so much for a stealthy in-and-out." Catra's sigh ruffled the hairs near her forehead. Upon a pointed headbutt from Melog, Catra added, "Glimmer?"

"Still...catching...my breath..."

"Well..." Catra scratched the back of her head. "Thanks for saving us."

Glimmer nudged Catra's shoulder. "Anytime." She shifted around. "Now what?"

"Now, you die."

Catra threw her body into a swipe at what turned out to be empty space beside her. The voice re-emerged from the trenchcoated being before them yet again.

"Well, well, well. Aren't you persistent?" The Entity's lips pulled back to show teeth. "It seems you are a bit difficult to kill. That's...ANNOYING!" He stomped. "But I'm not stupid. I won't make the same mistake, you inconsiderate, noisy, brattish excuses for cockroaches!" He raised a hand and—"Argh!"

Glimmer grinned. "Gotcha!"

"What is this?" The Entity stared at his fingers, which refused to snap. The rune on the floor flared with each grunt. "What vicious mockery is this, you disrespectfu—"

"Here's the thing." Catra walked up to the barrier. "You're really impatient for an eternal cosmic being. I mean." She leaned in, careful to stay on the outside. "Everything dies eventually, right? What's the rush? You'll get your way inevitably. You don't need to prove your power to anyone because you have it, and it's yours. You'll have all the angels and demons; it's not a question of if but when. What's a few millennia for someone like you?" She turned and walked back to Glimmer, holding the barrier, and Melog, standing guard. "Mermista pointed out that the Empty's never come up with earlier resurrections of angels and demons. So, Adora and I got to thinking..." Catra leaned on Glimmer. "...maybe you aren't who you say you are."

"For the honor...of Greyskull!"

Before them landed She-Ra, shining, bright, ponytail and skirts buffeted by eternal wind. She knelt down to the Entity's eye level. "Recognize me?"

He tilted his head. "Ah," he sighed, "my oldest enemy."

"Glimmer, you can let go." The wards dropped, and She-Ra grasped the Entity's face. "I meant what I said before, you know," she continued, "It's time for you to go. And you're not coming back."

A warm glow filled the Empty, and the Entity let out one last scream.

Catra rubbed her upper arms. "This could've gone a lot worse, so I really shouldn't complain, but..." She looked at the veritable sea of angels and demons that engulfed them. "Maybe we could've asked Horde Prime or his weird clone or whatever where Cas was before we killed him?"

"Well, he might've lied to you. Luckily for you, I've been busy making a new friend." With a flourish, Bow gestured to the one, the only holy trenchcoated angel, none other than—

"Hello." A raised hand. "I am Castiel, an angel of—"

"Yeah, yeah, we know." Catra flicked her wrist. "Now, can we please get out of here? We don't have all day."

"Catra." Adora took Catra's hands and kissed her. "Be nice."

"Hmm..." With a grin, Catra pulled Adora into her arms. "Well, since you asked so nicely..." She turned to Castiel. "Hi, I'm Catra. This is my girlfriend, Adora. You've met Bow; the lady swooning in his arms is Glimmer."

"I am not swooning!"

"And that's Melog." Melog chirred. "We're here to get you back to Dean Winchester."

Castiel tilted his head. "But why?"

"Because I'm angry?" Catra marched up to Castiel. "Do you even understand what you've done?"

"I had made a deal and used it to save De—"

"No." Catra prodded him in the chest. "No! You left him."

"I—"

"Don't you get it?" Catra's eyes were not burning. She was not holding back tears. Her voice and breathing were perfectly steady. "He asked you to not do this. He wanted you to stay! And you left anyway." Melog wound themselves between Catra's legs, and Catra took a steadying breath. She turned and rubbed an arm. "Sometimes, people leave you because they don't believe in you. They leave because they don't trust you or need you. Sometimes..." Catra looked off into the distance. "you drive them away. But when they leave to protect you or for the greater good or whatever, it doesn't hurt any less, you know!"

"I would prefer he stay alive without me than be dead with—" Castiel said testily.

"Ugh, you are impossible! Adora, stop trying to hug me and talk some sense into feather brains here. Yes, yes, I'll be fine with Melog and Bow and Glimmer—just go! Talk to him!" Catra disappeared under the hug pile.

"So." Adora shifted. "Uh. Hi, there! Castiel, right? Right..."

When nothing else was forthcoming, Castiel sighed. "Bow told me you are fans. Of Supernatural."

"Kind of?" Adora scratched a cheek. "I think Catra talking up a storm about the ending gave everyone that idea, but we probably spent more time making fun of the writing, especially later on, than anything...uh, no offense to you or anything! You're great!" Adora waved both hands in front of her.

"No offense taken." Castiel tilted his head. "Why did...Catra want us to talk?"

Adora sighed. "Look, Catra and I and the rest of us...we've been through a lot. I guess seeing you and Dean and everyone else...I think she wants to make sure you get it before we just whisk you back. It's important to her." She put a hand to her chest. "Castiel, I was asked to sacrifice myself to save our world. And I was ready to die so my friends could live."

"You didn't die."

"Because Catra asked me to stay...and I did." Adora smiled. "And we saved the world anyway. All of us, all together."

Castiel followed her gaze to the hug pile. "How?"

"It's a long story, but Castiel?" Adora put a hand on his shoulder. "It's over. The old god is done; Jack is the new one. Sam and Dean are still alive, and now you are, too. What do you want?"

"I—" Castiel's eyes filled with tears.

Adora patted his shoulder. "An old friend of mine—sorry." She swiped her face with a forearm. "She's gone, so—anyway. She told me I was more than what I could give to other people. A-And that I deserve love, too."

Cas opened his arms, and Adora hugged him back. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks." Adora wiped away the last of her tears. "She was so brave, and I miss her a lot."

Castiel nodded, and they stood in silence for a while, missing those they'd lost.

"Adora, I—I don't know." He swallowed. "I don't know if I can have what I want."

Adora looked Castiel in the eye. "You're so close, Castiel," she said, "Don't give up yet." She held out a hand and smiled. "Now, let's get you home."

Someone ran right into Dean, who'd been trying to ferry precious cargo to where Sam sat on a bench. So much for that. At least the offender had the sense to stay put and face Dean's wrath. Mourning the loss of perfectly good pie, Dean surveyed the damage as the words spilled out of him. "Hey! Maybe you should get your eyes checked because you really need to wa...tch where you're going," he finished lamely, as the face finally registered.

"Hello, Dean." Cas looked down at the filling smeared down the front of that ridiculous trench coat of his. "I'm sorry about your pie. I underestimated your peripheral awar—oof. Dean. Dean." Cas put a hand on the small of Dean's back. "You're getting pie all over yourself."

"Forget the pie, Cas." He took a shaky breath. "Wher—wha—how—you bastard!" Tears ran down his cheeks. "You can't just drop a bomb like that and leave before I have a chance to respond!"

"I didn't detonate any explosives."

"Shut up, Cas. I—" Dean clasped Cas' face and pulled him in. Their foreheads touched. "Of course I love you, too, dumbass."

"Dean, I—" Cas licked his lips, and Dean's eyes darted there. "Can I kiss you?"

Dean nodded, and Cas brushed his lips against Dean's. Dean deepened the kiss, and wow, they really had been a bunch of idiots, huh; they could've been doing this the whole time, and Cas was crying and smiling—

A wolf whistle pierced the air, and they broke the kiss to Sam's shit-eating grin. Dean flipped Sam off. Around the bench were four teens (was that a real catgirl?) and the biggest cat Dean had ever seen.

"New friends," Cas explained.

Dean took Cas' hand in his. "You should introduce us, then."

"Wait." Cas bit his lip. "The Empty's gone. All the angels and demons are alive again—"

Dean put a finger over Cas' mouth—"Shhhh..."—and sealed it with a peck. "They can wait until tomorrow. Today..." He looked out at the pie festival. "They better let us enjoy some damned pie."

And they did.

The End.

Special thanks to Dreamnorn and to readers like you.