Author's Note: We are sad to say we do not own anything having to do with Supernatural only Gabriella belongs to Wandertogondor and me.

Last chapter! Hope you've enjoyed our short story. Huge thank you to wandertogondor for writing this with me and I am so happy to call her a close friend. Give all your praise to her as she wrote like 80 percent of this chapter!

Chapter 3

The cemetery looked the same as it did when we were here the first time. The old headstones still standing, a crow flying overhead and the same deafening silence surrounded us. I couldn't get rid of the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach and the look on Dean's face told me he felt the same way. After years of hunting I should have known to trust that gut feeling but Gabriel had given me a glimmer of hope.

The dead grass crunching beneath our step was the only sound that could be heard as we walked further into the cemetery towards the one place I never wanted to be again.

Tears mixed with my blood as they rolled down my cheeks. The final fight had come and gone and we had lost. I choked out an angry sob as Sam gave Dean and me one final nod before tossing the rings onto the grass next to him. This wasn't how it was supposed to end, Sam was supposed to get his happily ever after. It was the one thing I had promised him, but I had failed as he threw himself into the pit taking Michael with him.

The ground closed back up and the rings of the four Horsemen were all that was left behind as evidence that anything had occurred at all. I pushed myself away from Dean whom I had been leaning on and crawled my way over to where Sam had just been standing. It was all too surreal and I pounded my fists repeatedly in the dirt, the unrealistic notion in my head that I could open it again myself.

"Hey," Dean touched my shoulder and I recoiled from his touch still very wrapped up in my memory. "You still with us?"

I nodded and avoided the questioning, almost concerned, gaze I was getting from Castiel. Thinking back I tried to figure out the moment it all went wrong. After that day in this same cemetery I had clung to Dean like he was my lifeline. He had to pry me away from the ground to get me into the Impala and I had fought hard against him feeling like we were leaving Sammy behind. The days following if he wasn't in the room with me I became nervous, fidgety, and would only relax again when he returned. Somewhere along the way I had branched out away from my oldest brother, the need to save Sam greater and more important than to even breathe in another inch of life.

Castiel had been my gateway giving me the hope I needed to press on. The first couple of hunts I was beyond reckless barely making it out alive and if it hadn't been for my blue-eyed angel I wouldn't have. The days turned to weeks and then to months and we weren't any closer to breaking Sam free. Again, I had the foolish notion that Dean should have made it all better and when he didn't I moved on to the next person that could. In all reality maybe Dean didn't walk away maybe I pushed him out that door.

"We need to find the exact spot, it's the only way this will work," Castiel reminded us about what Gabriel had explained.

I only gave a short subtle nod so he knew I had heard him but I didn't trust my voice to answer verbally in the fear that I would let loose the weakness that I felt crawling under my skin. There were too many emotions swimming around inside of me that there was a very real possibility I would drown. I had listened intently when Gabriel told us what had to be done, Dean had asked a few questions straining to keep the sarcasm out of his voice and when it was all over I asked him to repeat it feeling like there was something he was leaving out. This wasn't something we could go in half-assed about, we needed to make sure everything was as perfect as possible because if this didn't work I wasn't sure what would.

Readjusting the heavy duffel filled with materials on my shoulder, my eyes grazed across the tops of the gravestones in search of my brother's mark. I knew the exact location where Sam was but a part of me doubted that confidence. No one can be that confident, my subconscious thoughts reasoned. All of a sudden I felt a hand catch my elbow.

"Gabby," Dean's voice, etched with surprise, called as he reeled me around.

"What?" I questioned immediately, slightly irritated that he had pulled me out of my thoughts.

He thrust one thumb behind his shoulder. "You missed it."

"Missed what?"

When Dean lowered his eyes and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets I realized what he was talking about. A sharp hiss of air passed through my clenched teeth. "Oh."

A long string of tropical curse words that even sailors wouldn't have the heart to think of raced through my mind as I tried to hide the redness that crept into my cheeks as I followed Dean to the right grave. My gaze remained glued to the grass, thinking how the hell we would possibly be able to reopen the hole.

You two Chiclets, the Trickster had said with that stupid grin on his face, just gotta go to the exact place dear little Sammy took the swan dive and open the hole again.

I threw the heavy duffel on the ground before leaning over to rummage through the contents of the bag, rolling my eyes and continuing to grumble obscenities under my breath. A pair of shoes stopped in front of me. I recognized the shadow immediately but I couldn't find it in myself to answer his curious eyes which were boring down on me.

"Please, talk to me," Cas begged barely in a whisper.

My hands stopped digging through the bags in vain. A sob caught in my throat. "I can't feel, Cas. I can't feel a damn thing! I want to feel something, anything! I want to feel so bad but I can't."

"Shh," he crouched beside me, pulling up a hand to brush away a tear of frustration which trickled down the side of my cheek. "Everything is going to be alright. This is what we've been waiting for."

I heard the rustle of Dean's jacket coming closer and quickly wiped the tears with the back of my hand, standing to my feet with the four Horsemen's rings in my hand. After they trapped Lucifer in hell, Dean and I had buried the four rings across Bobby's property each in a different location. There was still dirt under my nails from unearthing the rings just hours before.

"Everything good?" My brother asked.

"Yeah," I responded, feeling the four rings roll between my fingers. "They're right here."

"I mean with you, Gab," he clarified.

With a roll of my eyes I put the rings into his hand and walked past my brother and my angel to where I had last seen Sam. The grass was greener despite the fact that winter was coming. Leaves were littered about the ground, brown but still alive in a sense. I let the dried leaves crunch and wither away under my step. A few leaves had yet to turn and despite having been cast down and separated from the tree they called home, those same leaves, now so close to death, made no noise on impact…if only to shout to the world in rebellion that they were still alive.

Still alive, my brain turned the words over repeatedly inside my head. Still alive. Still alive.

"Dean," I called back to my brother; he raised his eyebrow, ready to hear whatever I had earnestly began to say. "Let's being Sammy back, okay?"

A glint of a smile shadowed his mouth. His strength made me strong. The confidence he got from my approval gave me all the hope and drive I needed to finally get my brother back. Dean wrapped his arms around my shoulders and placed a kiss on my cheek.

"This is going to work."

I hugged him a bit tighter, looking up over his shoulder at Cas who stood awkwardly watching us. He looked like he was on edge like there was more than he was willing to tell. "Cas," I pulled away from my brother's warm arms.

The moment his icy blue gaze met mine every moment I shared with him whizzed past my eyes. I remembered everything. I felt everything. Every touch, every caress, every sound that came out of his mouth - all of it echoed through my bones the second his eyes locked on mine in that cemetery above Sam's grave.

We'll find a way to bring Sam back…even if it means winning the battle but losing the war…

He blinked cutting off the memories going through me. "Dean," My angel said firmly. "You know what to do."

Reluctantly my brother connected the Horsemen's rings together and carefully threw it down to where it had landed so many months ago. There was a tremor vibrating under my feet before the wind started to blow wildly and a deafening whistling sound shook the entire cemetery. I felt Dean's arm snake around my body and hold me close as I watched Castiel approach the gaping hole.

The angel, my angel, turned around in what seemed like slow motion to take on last look at me, sadness and longing in his eyes. That's when everything came together and crashed down on me with suffocating realization. I pulled and struggled in Dean's arms, desperately trying to reach the angel that held my heart in his hands but it was no use. Castiel gave me one last look before closing his eyes and stepping into the vast hole.

X-X-X

The celebration had become too much for me and I found myself standing on Bobby's back steps staring up at the clouds. This wasn't how it was supposed to end but as a butterfly floated past me I was naïve enough to believe Cas had sent it to show me he was still around. I would never again see the way his head tilted to the side when he got confused, or the way his eyes lit up when it was just the two of us in a room. He had given it all for my conquest of saving my brother. He had given it all for me.

The door behind me opened and I turned to see Dean with a beer in his hands. "Sammy was wondering where you went."

I forced a smile at the lame statement, "just needed some air."

"Gab," he started soft and apologetically.

"Don't," I cut him off with a cynical laugh, "I'm a Winchester. I should have known better than to fall in love."