When we got to the rift with the bus full of the survivors, it was dim and flickering.
"It's closing," Sam observed. "We're running out of time! Come on!"
Just then, the rift that was fading resurged and stabilized itself.
"Oh, hell, yeah," Dean grinned.
"How's that possible?" I asked.
"Lucifer! Let's go!" Dean yelled in the direction of the bus.
Everybody started unloading from the bus and my mom jumped off the back.
"Let's go. Come on," she encouraged.
Sam, Dean and I stood on either side of the rift, shepherding and protecting everyone as they went through.
"Hey, come on! Cass, Ketch, show 'em how it's done," I nodded.
"Follow me," Ketch waved the group forward.
As people started to stream past us, going through the rift, Lucifer tried to slip past as well. Before he could, though, Sam put a gun to his chest to stop him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," he shook his head. "Hold up."
"What?" Lucifer asked in disbelief. "I- I want to be with my son."
"We need you and Gabriel here, in case something goes wrong. Wasn't that the whole point of you being on the team?"
Reluctantly, Lucifer went over to where Gabriel was standing, then stopped as there was a loud boom. Sam, Dean and I joined them, looking up at the sky. A flaming fireball flew out of the sky and hit the ground in a violent explosion. With the exception of the two archangels, we raised our weapons and tried to peer through the dust of the explosion. I gasped as the tell-tale sight of an Apocalypse World angel appeared through the dust. Based on the fact his wings in the blue light were white instead of black, I assumed he must be Michael.
"Gentlemen. Ecclesia," he smirked.
Lucifer took a step forward.
"Lu," Michael greeted him arrogantly. "You don't really want to try this again, do ya?"
"Um... yeah," Lucifer nodded confidently.
The two began to fight, but Lucifer's power seemed to have very little effect on Michael. Michael, however, managed to knock Lucifer to the ground. He smiled down at him, then looked up and noticed Gabriel.
"Can it be? Gabriel?"
"Go. I can buy some time," Gabe addressed us.
"Gabriel, don't," Sam protested.
"All I did on earth was run. I'm not running any more."
He took a few steps forward, yelling back at us over his shoulder.
"Go!"
I turned, hurrying back toward the rift as Dean dragged Sam along behind me. We paused right before we went through, looking back at the fight between Gabriel and Michael. They both drew their archangel blades, sparring against each other. Michael eventually managed to disarm Gabriel and stabbed him through the chest. I started to charge forward, back toward the fight, but Dean grabbed me to hold me back.
"Gabe! No!" I yelled.
"No!" Sam yelled as well.
Michael watched with glee as Gabriel died, his body falling forward. Sam pushed Dean and I through the rift ahead of him, and we landed back in the Bunker where everyone was waiting. After a moment, Sam joined us, the rift closing behind him.
⁘
Sam, Dean, Jack, Cass and I stood in a clearing by a boathouse beside a lake. It had rained recently, leaving the ground wet and muddy.
"Alright, gang's all here," Dean nodded.
"How many are inside?" Sam asked.
Cass furrowed his brow, concentrating for a moment.
"I can hear three. Wait, maybe- maybe four. They're talking about whether Kylie Jenner would make a good mother. The consensus is no."
"Yeah, well, that's why I'm a Khloe man," Dean smirked.
"Alright, we're talking werewolves," I got us back on topic, "which means..."
"Silver bullets," Jack finished.
"That's right," I confirmed.
"So, you know the play," Dean continued. "Let's do it."
We all made our way to the boathouse. A man exited, struggling to light a match for his cigarette. When he turned back in our direction, Cass killed him using his angel blade. While he killed the werewolf, the other boys and I bust into the boathouse. Jack used his powers to hold the wolves inside back while Sam, Dean and I shot and killed them. When we got back to the Bunker, I headed off to check on Maddie and Zep with Dean.
"Kid did great," he made small talk.
"Yeah, no kidding," I smiled a little.
"I mean, he keeps this up, and..."
"And what?" I stopped, turning to face my husband.
"I don't know," he shrugged. "Hey, you remember... remember when we talked about whether or not we could stop it? All the evil in the world?"
"Yeah," I said slowly, wondering where he was going with this.
"If we could... really change things? Well, maybe with Jack, we can."
"Maybe you're right. But then what would we do?"
"Mm. Yeah. This," Dean held up the beer in his hand. "A whole lotta this. But on a beach somewhere, you know. Can you imagine? You, me, Sam and Cass, toes in the sand, couple of them little umbrella drinks. Matching Hawaiian shirts for the guys, obviously. Maybe you could dress like a hula girl... And of course Maddie and Zep would be there, too, building sandcastles or whatever."
"You talking about retiring?" I asked. "You?"
"If I knew the world was safe? Hell, yeah," he nodded. "And you know why? 'Cause we freaking earned it, Ellie."
"Yeah, no kidding."
I leaned up, giving Dean a lingering kiss before continuing down the hall to Maddie and Zep's rooms.
⁘
My mom and Bobby had found Maggie dead in the woods. The weird thing was, it didn't look supernatural. It looked like someone beat on her until she died. When we interrogated one of Maggie's friends, she told us Maggie was talking to a boy that worked at the store on Route 281. She had snuck out to go visit him the night she died. Jack flew ahead to the convenience store, so Sam, Dean, Cass and I hurried after him.
When we arrived, Jack had the boy, Nate, by the throat.
"Jack! No!" Cass yelled.
He put a hand on Jack's shoulder, but Jack used his powers to throw him back into the aisle.
"Jack?" I asked.
"Let him go," Sam encouraged.
"Alright," Dean muttered, grabbing his gun out of his waistband.
"Jack!" Sam tried again.
Sam and I froze as Dean shot Jack three times in the back. The Nephilim dropped Nate, turning back to face us.
"You... you shot me," he stated in surprise.
"To get your attention," Dean defended himself. "You're acting like a psycho!"
"Jack," Cass began.
"He killed Maggie!" Jack argued.
"Maggie?" Nate asked. "Maggie's dead?"
"Jack, listen to me," I spoke gently. "He didn't kill Maggie. Look at him."
Jack turned back to look at Nate's sorrowful expression at hearing that Maggie was dead.
"I'm sorry," he shook his head.
"Jack!" Cass called, moving to rush after him.
Dean grabbed Cass's arm, holding him back.
"No, hey, just- just let him go."