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Sam couldn’t help it. When he saw Dean hauling himself into camp, he dropped everything and ran to his brother, the one person he absolutely could not live without if he hadn’t made it through the final battle. Dean caught him, holding him tight. “Sammy.” Everything that needed to be said was in that one word, and the two held onto each other for what felt like a lifetime.
Eventually, though, Sam had to pull away. “Where’s Cas?” Even though he had a feeling he knew the answer, he refused to let go of hope until he heard it from Dean.
“Dead. For real this time.” Dean turned away, looking out at the horizon. “Made him a promise, Sammy. We gotta let him go. No more stupid stunts. And you saw how he was after we lost Meg, he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. He did. Saved my sorry ass from my own stupid mistake, taking down that alpha.”
Sam squeezed his eyes closed. He’d seen the look in Castiel’s eyes before the battle, and he didn’t need one of his visions to know it was the last time he’d ever see his best friend alive. “I’m really sorry to hear that. Promise me you’re not going to ignore your promise to him?”
It was much longer than Sam would have liked before Dean huffed. “Fine. He’s gone, we’re leaving him gone, but we’re keeping our promise to ourselves and the ladies, too. We’re done. No more hunting. Retire, raise a bunch of baby Winchesters, name our first kids after Cas, Meg, Mom, Dad, Ellen, Jo, Bobby… keep it going till the girls say no more, because we’re not gonna run out of dead friends to name them for.” He looked around. “Speaking of, where’s Ruby? Anna and Gabriel haven’t made it back, but wasn’t she supposed to be with you?”
“She’s with Michael, being forced to prove once again that her loyalty to Anna and the two of us is stronger than her past ties to Lilith and Lucifer.” Sam didn’t even try to keep the bitterness out of his voice, given that Ruby was the only reason Lilith was dead and Sam was alive. She’d had a choice, the perfect opportunity to betray Sam if she’d been on Lilith’s side all along, and she stuck her knife in Lilith instead. “Lucifer’s gone, we won, the battle’s over, why’s Michael so paranoid now? Crowley, maybe, he’s positioned perfectly to try to take over for Lucifer and Lilith, but Ruby’s burned her bridges with that side.”
Arms slipped around Sam from behind, and Ruby planted a kiss on his cheek. “You know Michael hates you, Sam. This wasn’t a loyalty test. This was being given a full official pardon and told that I’m being given official status in his lands. It’s crap status until we officially get married, but it means I’m not an outlaw.”
Sam closed his eyes, leaning back into his girlfriend’s embrace. When he opened them, Gabriel and Anna were headed their way too. Anna flew into Dean’s arms, holding on tight. “I’m so sorry to hear about Castiel. Are you all right?”
“I’ll find a way to go on,” Dean promised. “Hey, Gabe. Glad you survived.”
“Yeah, me too.” Gabriel held out a couple bottles of wine. “I know I’m not one of your family, but other than Michael, I don’t have anyone. And Michael… I love my brother, but he’s such a buzzkill, you know?”
“Of course you can stay with us,” Sam said. “We’re not exactly going to be the most fun, what with mourning Cas and Meg, but I don’t think you’re going to find anyone here who’s not grieving something or someone.”
“No, I’m not, but at least you’re taking the evening to celebrate them instead of immediately plotting our next moves.” Gabriel dug a corkscrew out of his bag and opened the wine, while Dean and Anna dug up five cups.
After pouring, Anna held up her wine. “Here’s to the survivors. We’ve got a long road ahead of us.”
“Here’s to the ones we lost,” Dean added. “Cas and Meg especially. Wish you guys were here to join us.”
“At least it’s over and we can get off this crap road we’ve been on,” Gabriel said. “All I ever wanted.”
Ruby joined in with, “To freedom to find our own way, now that we’re free to do it.”
Sam didn’t know what to say. He thought the others had pretty well covered things. “May our memories be long and our friendships longer.” He could just see them at memorial parties twenty years later while the next generation forgot the lessons and started the same stupid war. That’s how this always seemed to go. But for now, for tonight… there was peace. They remembered.