Chapter 30

Brooklyn

Sam and I rushed our way to Chuck, who still laid on the floor half unconscious. Dean ran to Cas to check on him.

Panic was in our minds at the scene before us.

"Chuck. Chuck can you hear us?" I said, shaking him as Sam called his name as well. Thankfully, Chuck woke up and rolled onto his back with a groan.

"Are you, uh... How do you feel?" Sam asked worried as Cas and Dean walked over.

"You know when you're driving and a bug hits your windshield? I'm the bug," Chuck said, in pain.

"So, what Amara said about you..." I started, unable to finish the words.

"Dying. Yeah, whatever she did to me, I can feel my spark, my light fading. And when it's gone..."

Dean waved his hands in the air, "Okay, well, tell us how to fix you."

Chuck let out a loud sigh, "You can't. I suppose she could, maybe, but that's never gonna happen."

A door slammed in the background followed by footsteps causing Dean and I to stand and pull out our guns. We pointed it at the intruder, only to find Rowena.

"Well, nice to know you two have weapons. That could have been useful," Rowena said, as Crowley walked in behind her.

"Well... that was a complete and utter dog's breakfast, wasn't it?"

Cas squinted his eyes, confused, "I didn't know dogs had breakfast."

"Cas is back," Dean said, looking at me.

Somehow, I had already figured that.

With a smile, I looked at Cas and nodded, "It's good to have you back, Cas."

Grabbing our attention, Rowena pointed back to the door, "Just curious, has anyone bothered to look outside?"

Dean and I looked at each other confused before Sam helped Chuck up and we headed outside. Instantly we were met with a burning red and orange light that was coming from the sun, as if it was on fire and burning the air.

"What is it?" Dean asked, worry in his voice as he stood next to me.

Sam spoke up on the other side of me, "It looks like the sun is-"

"Dying," Cas finished making me glance at him.

"Why would Amara do this?" I thought, only to realize I had said the words out loud, causing Cas to answer.

"The sun is the source of all life on earth. Without it, everything just... wastes away."

Dean put a hand on my lower back, turning to head back inside, "Let's get the hell out of here."

"Don't have to tell me twice," I mumbled.

Suddenly, with a snap of Chuck's fingers, we're all transported to the main room in the Bunker. Chuck smiled faintly, "Still got a few tricks up my sleeve. I'm not dead y-" Before he could finish, Chuck collapse's again into Sam arms.

"Whoa. Okay, I got you," Sam said, helping Chuck into a chair.

"What do we do now?" Cas asked, looking at everyone in hopes of someone speaking up. Instead, I notice Dean stride into the kitchen, causing me to follow. I watched as he pulled out a six-pack from the fridge before turning to find me standing there with him.

Tossing a beer, I catch it and stare at it for a minute before looking back at Dean who has already opened and half drank one.

Sam and Cas suddenly walk in, looking at me before looking at Dean, "Really?"

Dean let out a loud sigh, "Really. We hit Amara with everything we got, and she walked it off."

"So it's last call," Sam asked, shrugging.

Taking another sip of beer, Dean nodded, "That's right." His eyes looked over to me, noticing the sadness in them. I didn't want this. I didn't want to give up and I didn't want to spend the last remaining time I may have with everyone, drunk. And Dean could see that.

Another sigh left Dean's lips, "Look, if you've got something for me to punch, shoot, or kill, let me know and I'll do it. I'll do it till I die. But how are we supposed to fix the friggin' sun?"

Setting his empty beer bottle down, Dean glanced at the rest of the beer. "You know what? This isn't gonna be enough. I better make a run. No reason to die sober, huh?" He looked at me, asking, "You want to come?"

I don't know what to say at first, causing my head to turn to Cas who is looking at me pleadingly. But part of me agrees.

"Yeah, I'm coming," I whispered.

"Awesome! We'll be back, maybe, who knows," Dean says, walking over and taking my hand before we left.

Dean and I sat in the Impala in silence as he drove. Occasionally, I'd find him glancing over at me and I knew eventually he would start talking. And eventually, he did.

"You haven't said much since we left."

"What's there to say? We lost," I said, my eyes looking out the window.

"We did everything and more, Brooke."

I nodded, turning and looking at Dean, "I know, it's just... There has to be another way. This can't be the end."

Dean let out a sigh as he reached over with one of his hands, taking one of mine, and giving it a small squeeze. "I don't want it to be either, but I also don't want to waste my time looking for answers were there isn't. I'd rather be here, with you."

Even I can't help but smile at his words. If this is the end, the all I'd want to do is be here with Dean too.

Lifting up our connected hands, Dean gives mine a small kiss before paying attention to the road. His cell rings though, making him pull his hand from mine and answer it.

"Yo. All right. We're on our way." Dean hangs up and nods his head, "Looks like we will be chasing after all." The tires screech as Dean turns the Impala around to head back to the bunker.

Once we heard Sam's plan, both of us were caught off guard.

"Wait, so now you want to kill the Darkness?" Dean asked then looked at Chuck. "You're cool with this? 'Cause, you know, last time..."

Sam cut off his brother, "Look, Chuck's dying. So, we don't really have a choice. I mean, look. You've got darkness and light. You take one side away and-"

"It upsets the scales, the whole balance of the universe," Cas finished.

Pointing to Cas and nodding, Sam said, "Exactly. But you take both away, and now both sides of the scale are empty, so..."

"It's balanced," Cas said.

I shook my head, putting my hands up, "But what happens when there's nothing?"

"Hopefully better then what's happening right now," Dean said and looked at his brother before looking at the group. "Look, I'm game, but how exactly are we gonna do this? I mean, Lucifer hit her with a Hand of God, and, well, we saw how that turned out."

"Yeah. Chuck?" Sam asked Chuck, who sighed and tilted his, seeming to find the right wording yet saying nothing.

"Chuck!" Dean and I yelled at the same time.

"All right. Fine. The Darkness might, might have a weakness... light."

Crowley spoke up, reminding us all that he was still here. "He tells us now."

Chuck shrugged, "What? I just wanted to trap her. I didn't want to murder her."

"Okay, but now that we're trying to end her, how much light are we talking about?" Sam asked?

"I don't know. 10,000 suns set to supernova."

"Oh, just that?" I asked sarcastically.

Dean gestured to Chuck with a wave of his hand, "Well, you're God. So, just God them up."

Chuck chuckled a little and nodded to himself, "Look at me. I'm... not in the best shape right now."

Nodding in agreement, Sam rubbed the back of his neck, "Okay. Uh, that's all right. Uh, we just need other ideas. Um... Rowena? What about the Book of the Damned?"

Rowena scuffed, "This is beyond..."

Sam cut her off and turned to Crowley, "Okay, Crowley?"

"Oh, I got nothing."

Cas stepped forward, "Well, what about souls? They fuel your demon deals. Souls are living batteries. They're full of energy. They're full of light. Each one is as powerful as... 100 suns?"

Rowena shrugged, "He's not wrong."

"Okay, so if we got this kind of juice, then what?" Dean asked?

"You get me enough souls... I can build a bomb."

I turned to Chuck, "Would that do the trick?"

Chuck nodded, not answering with words, but with his head. It was good enough for me, and it seemed to be good enough for Dean because he jumped at the plan.

"Okay. How many souls are we talking here?"

"The more the better."

Crowley stood up, grabbing a drink and waved it around as he spoke. "Even if you could get that kind of firepower... you really think it would work?"

"I can ask the angels. Heaven is full of souls," Cas said.

Sam nodded, looking like he was getting excited, "Okay. Uh, what else we got?"

Dean shrugged next to me as he mentioned, "Ghosts. Well, they're just souls with baggage, right?"

"Waverly Hills is a good place. They've got ghosts galore," I said, causing Dean and Sam to nod in agreement.

With a scuff, Crowley shook his head and rose his glass to his lips. "This is desperate and stupid."

"Well, desperate and stupid's pretty much all we got right now," Dean said.

"Let's do this, then," I said and clasped my hands together.

Dean, Sam, and I climbed into the Impala and headed to Waverly Hills Sanatorium. I hated this place.

"Really think this is gonna work?" Dean asked as we made our way to the front door.

"Well, Rowena said it would," His brother responded.

Dean scuffed, trying to speak in a Scottish like Rowena. "It's a Book of the Damned spell, boyos. Take this wee crystal. It'll suck up all the blimey ghosts. Just say the magic word." I eye him as Sam unlocks the door. Dean notices my look and smiles, "I know, good impression."

I put one of my hands on his shoulder, "Honey, I love you, but don't ever do that again." My words made him mope, causing me to lean up and kiss his cheek before we headed inside.

The second we headed inside, the EMF detector started going nuts, proving once again how ghostly this place was. As we looked down one of the hallways, a door creaked open and a ghost materializes at the end of the hall and then disappears.

"Yeah, that's not creepy as Hell," I mumbled.

We walked further into the Sanatorium and enter a large room. Dean is carrying a gear bag and Sam has a large container of salt while I have a sawed-off shotgun.

Pulling out the device that is supposed to save our lives, so to speak, Dean speaks up kind of annoyed. "Let's give the magic word a shot, because we're six. All right. Let's bust some ghosts."

Sam surrounded the room with salt lines, before he joined Dean and me in wait. We waited and waited, and as if they knew what was going to happen, the ghost never came.

A loud groan left Dean's lips, "Get your Casper asses out here!"

Grabbing a gun, Sam cocked it before making his way to the end of the room, "You know what? I'm going to go piss them off. Wait here."

The distant sound of shot gun noises could be heard as Dean started to pace around in wait. I leaned against the wall, slightly board as my eyes scanned the room. Suddenly comes up behind Dean, causing me to quickly rise my gun and shoot salt at the ghost. Dean jumped and turned around, looking at me for a moment before looking at Sam who was backing back in the room.

"Okay, I think it worked!" Sam said as more ghost appear in the room.

"Maybe a little too well," I mumbled, shooting off my gun at the ghost while Sam uses an iron rod on them.

Dean tries to get the "bomb" from his pack but ghost keep popping up in front of him, stopping him. I shoot my gun off more times then I cared to count, doing my best to keep the ghost off the boys.

Finally, Dean was able to get the "bomb" and toss it in the air, yelling the magic word.

"Haggis!"

Suddenly all the ghosts morph into streams of light and are absorbed into the bomb which starts to glow as it is filled with more and more ghosts. It falls to the ground once filled with the ghost from here and Dean picks it up.

"Yes!" I yell, jumping up and down happily.

Dean walks over and wraps his arms around me, giving me a hug while Sam stands there with a smile. I look over at him and gesture for him to join us, causing us all to have a group hug.

We needed this little win.

But just as this little win happened, it was taken from us once we returned to the Bunker and Cas said, "Heaven won't help."

Really!

Dean let out a loud scuff, "They know that this is the end, right? Of everything."

"Yes," Cas said with a single nod.

"And they don't care?"

"No, it's not that. It's... They know God is dying and they don't think we can win this. Souls or no souls. They're sealing Heaven, and they're "dying with dignity"."

Crossing my arms, I scuffed, "Well, that's great."

Sam turned to Crowley, "All right, Crowley. What about you?"

"Well, I had all the souls we needed."

Dean glared at Crowley, "What do you mean "had"?"

"While I was indisposed, a few of my demonic pals decided to raid my stash."

"Well, what we have, it's not enough." I gestured to the "bomb".

Suddenly, the electricity buzzes and red lights go on all around the War Room. Out of instinct, my body moved to Dean's and I found myself taking his hand. He quickly took mine, giving it a small squeeze as we watched the door.

Footsteps are heard and the door swings open as a women walks in. She looks around, smirking slightly, "Nice digs."

"Billie?" Sam asked, surprised.

"Who's Billie?" I asked Dean.

"Reaper. She helped me get to Hell to find you and Sam. Tons of fun."

Billie made her way over to us, "I saw you kids at Waverly Hills, and call me a curious kitten, but with, you know, credits about to roll, I gotta ask... why you kids busting ghosts?"

"Why do you care?"

"Dead folks, kind of my thing. So... spill."

Sam spoke up, "We're collecting souls to build a bomb."

"To blow the Darkness to hell," I added., causing her to look at the bomb.

"Okay," She shrugged.

Sam glanced at us, before looking at the Reaper, "Okay? Uh, what does that mean, "okay"?"

"Means way things are going, I'm about an hour away from reaping God himself."

Cas rose with a small bit of happiness, "So you're here to help us?"

"Little tip, you want souls, call a Reaper." Billie walked over and took the bomb from the table, holding it. There is a whooshing sounds as the bomb glows brighter and souls start streaming into the room and into the bomb. The light dies down a bit as it files.

Dena and I look in awe at Billie, "That was..."

"Awesome," I finished, my smile growing.

Cas nodded to the bomb, "How many souls are in there?"

"A couple hundred...thousand. I raided The Veil. Like I said, dead folks... kind of my thing." She handed the bomb to Rowena who smiles wide at it, seeming to confirm it's fullness.

Billie starts to walk out of the bunker, only stopping when Dean said, "See you around."

"Yeah. You will. Just hope it's not today."

Me too, Billie.

Once Billie had left and the door slammed shut behind her, we seemed to be back to business.

Cas asked, "So, what now?"

Dean nods to the bomb in Rowena's hand, "Well, now we have the bomb, so we just got to find Amara."

"I can track her. She's not warded anymore. Why would she be? She won," Chuck said, slumping slightly in his chair.

"We need somebody to get close to her, someone with a... personal connection," Cas said. Suddenly, everyone's eyes turn towards Dean and I. My mouth parts to speak, to agree to doing this, but instead Dean is already speaking over me.

"I'm in. How do I smuggle this thing?"

Crowley smirks, "We could always shove it up your-"

"Hey!" I yelled, directing my anger towards Crowley who made a face and took a small step back.

Rowena, almost saddened by her words, walked up to Dean. "You won't carry the bomb. You'll be the bomb. I'm gonna take what's in there..." She pointed to the bomb. "... And put it in here," Rowena places her hand on Dean's chest, making my own heart race. "Once you get close to her, you press your fingers together and... boom."

I lightly push past Dean, standing in front of him, "What? No way!"

"Brooke-" Dean tries to stop me.

"No, there has to be another way," I said and turned to Rowena. My eyes pleaded with her, begging her to have something up her sleeve. Anything besides this.

Rowena shook her head with sadness, "There isn't my dear, I'm sorry."

I felt a hand take mine and turned, seeing Dean looking at me with hopeful eyes. "It's okay" he mouthed to me, making my heart ache even more.

Sam put a hand on my shoulder, lightly pulling me away from Dean as Rowena got ready. Dean sucked in a breath, giving me one last glance before closing his eyes.

Rowena says an incantation over the bomb, which is in her outstretched hand. As she finishes she pushes her other hand towards the bomb and Dean. A stream of bright, white light hits Dean in the chest for several seconds before vanishing inside him. Dean groans and hunches over in pain, causing me to run to him.

Lightly, I put my hands on his back and arm, helping him stand up straighter and looking at him worriedly. He sees my expression and nods, "I'm good, I mean as good as I can be."

"This isn't right. This isn't fair," I say and shake my head, looking at Rowena.

Putting her hand on arm, Rowena sighed, "Sweetie, we're so far past fair." She looks past me at Dean, "You've got about an hour, maybe a wee bit more, then you're literally a walking ticking time bomb."

Great, no pressure.

We decided to head to the one place that felt more like home right now. Mary and John Winchester's grave sites. Dean and Sam were talking at their mom's grave while Chuck, Crowley, Rowena, and I waited back by the Impala.

This can't be happening. Either, the world ends and I lose Dean, or we save the world and I lose Dean. I'd rather die with him then live without him.

Dean put a hand on his brother's shoulder before turning and walking over to us.

Quickly, I stepped forward, looking at Dean with determination. "I'm going with you. And don't you dare tell me I'm-"

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Dean said, making my mouth part in surprise. Well, I wasn't expecting that answer. Dean took my hand, "We do this together, like it should be." I nod in response, giving his hand a small squeeze before we turn to Chuck, "You cool with this?"

"No. I... Even after everything she's done, Amara's still my sister. She's my family. I can't, I don't want to see her dead, but... I understand."

"Dean. Brooke," Cas said, making us turn to him. He walked up to Dean, giving him a hug which he except with sadness.

Cas then turns to me, giving me a hug, "Take care of yourself, Cas. And thank you... for everything," I said, making him nod.

Dean sighed, "Sam, he's gonna be a mess. So look out for him, okay? Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." As if on cue, Sam walked over, standing next to Cas as Dean and I stepped back together. Dean looked at me for a minute before sighing. "Okay, look. I want a big funeral. All right? I'm talking epic. Okay? Open bar, choir, Sabbath cover band, and Gary Busey reading the eulogy."

I shrugged, "Just make sure there's a taco truck for me."

Sam smiled slightly at my words and nodded, trying to hide his sadness, "Done."

"And for our ashes..." Dean looks at me, making me nod before he looks around. "We want them here. With the rest of our family."

Dean reaches into his pocket and takes out the keys to the Impala. He hesitates a moment, as if collecting himself before walking over to Sam. Sam is already shaking his head with tears in his eyes.

"Come on. You know the drill. No chick-flick moments. Come on."

Sam puts his head down, clears his throat, then takes the keys. "Yeah, you love chick flicks."

Dean chuckles, "Yeah, you're right. I do. Come here." Dean pulls his little brother into a hug, patting his back, before they pull away.

Looking at me, Sam smiles and I can't help but whisper his name before walking over and giving him a hug. Sam's become my brother throughout all of this, and leaving him feels like I'm losing my brother all over again.

Sam sucks in a breath before kissing the top of my head. "Take care of each other."

"Always," I smile before pulling away. I suck in a breath, sucking back the tears that wanted to be shared.

Dean takes my hand and looks at me, giving me a reassuring smile before looking at the group, "Okay. Let's do this."

With a snap of his fingers, Chuck sends Dean and me to a park where Amara is. Dead flowers surround us, seeming to confirm our thoughts of Amara being here. We stepped into the gazebo to find Amara standing there; she looked at us surprised and confused.

"Dean, Brooke. How did you find me?"

With a small shrug, Dean asked, "Does it matter? We're here to give you what you want. Us."

"That's a change."

"We can't just stand by and watch the world, our friends, and our family die. So if becoming a part of you takes us away from that, then we're in."

Amara nodded, "You... and that bomb in your chest?"

I can't help but shake slightly with fear as my nerves try to take over. Thankfully, I'm able to shake my hands and suck in a breath to compose myself.

"Do you think I can't taste the power coming off of you? Please. The problem is you've never been able to hurt me. Neither of you have. So what makes this time any different?"

"We don't have a choice. What you're doing to the sun-" I started but Amara shook her head, stopping me.

"That's not me. With my brother getting weaker, the scales are tipping away from light."

"And into darkness," I said.

"Into nothing. When God's gone the universe, everything, will cease to exist. Including me. My brother betrayed me. He locked me away for billions of years. He sent you two to execute me."

Dean shook his head, taking a small step forward, "No, no. He zapped us here, yes, but he didn't want this. This wasn't his idea. You're family. He doesn't want you dead. He doesn't want any of this!"

"Is this what you wanted? What you truly wanted?" I asked?

"No! I just wanted to hurt him. I wanted to make him pay," Amara said, panicking a little.

Stretching his arms out, Dean said, "Yeah, that's revenge. It'll get you out of bed in the morning, and when you get it, it feels great... for about five minutes. I've been there. Me and Sam, we have had our fair share of fights, more than our share, but no matter how bad it got, we always made it right because we're family. I need him. He needs me. And when everything goes to crap, that's all you've got... family. Now you might be an all-powerful being... but I think you're human where it counts. You simply need your brother."

Shaking her head with a scuff, Amara ordered, "Just stop."

"You don't want to be alone. Not really," Dean said and walked towards Amara. "I mean, hell. Maybe that's why you wanted us. But deep down, you didn't really want us... 'cause we're not him. So maybe I can kill you. Or maybe I can't. Maybe if I pull this trigger, we all live happily ever after, or maybe we die bloody, or maybe it doesn't matter, because maybe there's a different way. So I'm gonna ask you again. Put aside the rage. Put aside the hate. And you tell me... what do you want?"

Amara stands there in silence for a minute, making my heart race. When her eyes look to the ground and she raises her hand, I prepare myself to grab Dean and prepare for impact. Instead, Chuck appears near us, looking weak and confused.

"Chuck?" I asked, surprised.

He looks at us before turning to his sister, "Why did you bring me here?"

Sighing, Amara said spoke, "Brother, I... In the beginning it was just you and me, and we were family. I loved you, and I thought... I knew that you loved me."

"I did... I do," Chuck sighed.

Amara began to tear up as she spoke, "But then you went and you made all these other things. I hated them. I hated you for needing something else, something that wasn't me. And then you locked me away, and all I could think about was making you suffer."

"You had your reasons."

"I did. And I thought revenge would make me happy. But I was wrong. What you've made... it's beautiful. It took me a long time to see that. I know that we can't go back to the way things were. I don't want to, but I wish... I wish that we could just be family again."

"I do too," Chuck said and reaches out, taking Amara's hand. Their hands start to glow and the sky brightens as the sun burns again, going back to normal. Amara holds her hand over Chuck's chest, healing him as waves of energy flow from her hand into him.

Dean and I watched in amazement, at the scene before us. When the task was finished, Chuck turned to us, "I think we're just gonna go away for a while and..."

Putting his hands up, smiling, and nodding in agreement, Dean said, "Hey, yeah. Family meeting. I get it."

"But first..." Chuck starts and walks over to Dean, placing a hand on his chest. Dean gasps and grimaces a little as he holds his chest before relaxing. I can feel the bomb is gone, making me reach up and put my hand on his chest. His heart is beating normally now and I can't help but smile as I look at him.

Chuck turns and heads back to his sister, making me look at him, and lower my hand. "What about us? What about Earth?"

"Earth will be fine. It's got you two... and Sam."

Amara smiled, "You both gave me what I needed most. I want to do the same for you." She snapped her fingers and looked at Brooke. "Your family is now in Heaven."

I'm taken back by her words, unsure what she meant.

"Your bloodline is no longer wanted in Hell," Amara said, making my eyes fill with tears as I look at Dean who looks relieved. He quickly wraps his arms around me, hugging me close as I sniffle a little before pulling myself together.

When we pull away, Chuck and Amara swirl into light and dark smoke. They travel upwards and disappear into the sky.

A small chuckle leaves Dean and I's lips as we watch the scene before looking at each other. Dean takes my hand and we begin our walk, seeming to walk till nightfall and yet not finding anything to help us figure out where we are.

"Couldn't they at least put us in a town or at the Bunker?" I asked, pushing past some branches.

"I guess it's the last "ha ha" moment for them," Dean said as we continued to walk. Suddenly, the sound of a woman's voice yelling makes us pause for a moment before following the sound. We end up on a road, finding a woman standing there in a white nightgown, yelling for help.

I recognize this woman, not by person but by her picture. The same pictures I've seen in Dean's room. The same ones that fill Sam's wallet. And when Dean responses, I know I'm right.

"Mom?"

So sorry it took me so long to update this last chapter, but my grandparents, who I live with, have covid and my grandpa is in the hospital not doing so good.

Anyways, this was the last chapter of this book! Now on to the next, eventually. I'll do my best to get it started but I'll keep you guys updated on when I'll be posting book 4. Hope you enjoyed!