Chapter Text
Supernatural 15x19
“Empty”
by davidfosterwallaceandgromit & autisticandroids
RECAP
15x04 Becky looks at the laptop in horror. Chuck: “I can see it now… Supernatural: The End. And the cover is just a gravestone that says “Winchester”.” … “Becky: It’s awful! Horrible. It’s hopeless.”
15x18 Billie teleports Jack to the Empty. Empty: “Hey kid, you don’t look so good.”
15x08 Michael hands Dean the cage spell on a piece of paper.
15x09 Castiel pulls the Purgatory blossom out of his coat.
15x04 Chuck: “There, see? It’s making you feel something. That’s good, right?” Becky: “No!”
15x18 Castiel: “When Jack was dying, I made a deal…”
14x09 Jack asks Castiel, “Shouldn’t we tell Sam and Dean about your deal?” Castiel: “No.”
15x18 Castiel: “...The price was my life.”
15x18 Castiel: “Goodbye, Dean.” Shove... Billie bursts through the door. The Empty reaches out and grabs them both.
15x04 Chuck snaps Becky’s children out of existence: “Oh, yeah. I’m God.” Becky looks horrified. “What are you… No. You bring them back. You bring them back!” Chuck smiles. Becky: “Please… you can’t do this.” Chuck: “Oh, Becky. I can do anything.”
15x18 Friends vanish inside the silo. ... Jack and Sam stand outside in the sun, alone, horrified... The Empty portal closes up… In the bunker saferoom, Dean sits alone against the wall, crying.
TEASER
EXT. HIGHWAY. DAY.
Tight on the exterior of a car, older model, rolling slowly to a stop. We pan up to see that there is no one behind the wheel. The sound of the ENGINE slowly dies.
The camera continues to rise, showing a whole highway of empty cars, some still drifting, others already off the road. Where two of the cars collided, smoke is rising. Mournful music plays...
SERIES OF SHOTS: THE EMPTY EARTH
A.) EXT. CITY INTERSECTION. A bus idles. Leaves and garbage blow across the empty street.
B.) INT. CHURCH. The pews are empty. Candles are still lit.
C.) EXT. FISHING BOAT. Floating, unmanned, in an open stretch of water. Empty nets lie in the bottom of the boat.
D.) EXT. PLAYGROUND. Deserted. Empty swings swing in the breeze.
E.) INT. HEAVEN. The sterile white hallways of heaven, empty.
F.) INT. HELL. The dark, vaulted hallway, deserted.
G.) INT. HELL – ROWENA’S THRONE ROOM. Rowena’s chair sits empty.
EXT. BUNKER - ENTRANCE. DAY
The Impala pulls up and stops. Jack and Sam get out. Mournful music ends.
INT. BUNKER – LIBRARY. DAY.
Sam and Jack hurry down the stairs.
SAM
(yelling)
Dean? Dean?
Dean appears in the doorway of the library. He looks shell-shocked.
SAM
Oh, thank God.
Sam crosses the room and hugs Dean. Jack hovers behind, looking at Dean.
SAM
I thought Chuck poofed you, Dean. What the hell happened? We’ve been trying to call you. Why weren’t you answering your phone?
DEAN
(disoriented)
What?
SAM
They’re gone, Dean. Everyone’s gone. Chuck poofed them.
JACK
Where’s Castiel?
Both brothers look at him. Sam looks back at Dean.
SAM
Dean, where’s Cass? Did something happen?
Dean shakes his head.
DEAN
He’s uh — he’s gone. The Empty came for Billie and it — it took him too.
SAM
It took him too? Why?
Dean isn’t looking at Sam.
DEAN
I don’t know.
Jack watches, frowning, upset.
DEAN
I’m sorry, kid.
Dean pats Jack’s shoulder and walks past him, towards the stairs. Sam turns to watch him go. Upset, Jack looks at the floor.
TRANSITION TO:
INT. CHUCK LAIR. DAY.
Chuck stands in front of a wall of TVs, hands behind his back.
He smiles.
Tight on one of the TV screens. It flashes the—
SEASON 15 TITLE CARD
ACT ONE
EXT. INTERSTATE. DAY.
The Impala drives down the sunny interstate, weaving between the stopped cars.
EXT. GAS STATION. DAY.
The Impala stops at a gas station. An auto repair shop is attached to a convenience store, with gas pumps out front. One abandoned car is still hooked up to a gas pump.
The Impala pulls up next to the pump. The car doors open.
CUT TO:
INT. BODY SHOP. DAY
A high SHRIEKING sound is coming from inside. Dean rounds a corner warily, reaching for his gun, before he sees the source of the noise — the angle grinder is still on, shrieking against a piece of metal and sending up sparks.
Dean approaches cautiously and turns it off. The shriek cuts off and echoes to relative silence.
Wide shot as he looks around the deserted shop.
Beat. A GENERATOR HUMS quietly.
INT. CONVENIENCE STORE. DAY.
JINGLE doorbell as Sam enters. The slushie machines are turning. He looks up at the TV behind the counter. An old sitcom episode is playing. Muffled LAUGH TRACK.
EXT. GAS STATION. DAY.
There’s a birdhouse in the shrubs outside the gas station. Jack stares at it, frowning deeply. He closes his eyes.
JACK
(quietly)
Cass? Are you there?
Nothing.
JACK
Castiel?
Jack sighs, eyes still closed, looking crushed. With an almost-crying twitch of the mouth, he goes into the store. As he walks past it, the shrub he was staring at withers and dies.
INT. CONVENIENCE STORE. DAY.
Sam is staring around the empty store. A muffled SHOUT comes from the back door of the store.
DEAN (O.S.)
Sam!
Sam and Jack hurry to the back door.
INT. BODY SHOP. DAY.
Dean is kneeling on the floor.
DEAN
Look what I found!
SAM
(relieved)
...A dog?
A dog. She’s panting while Dean scratches her ears and beams at her. Sam smiles.
SAM
I thought Chuck killed everything. Everything but us.
DEAN
Apparently not. Looks like he missed a spot. Who’s a good girl?
Jack smiles, but still looks like he wants to cry.
DEAN
Come on. Let’s get her home.
He scoops the dog up in his arms, and carries her out of the garage.
EXT. GAS STATION. DAY.
Jack opens the back door of the Impala and slides in. Sam sits in the passenger seat. Dean lowers the dog into the back seat and pets her again.
DEAN
You’re the first good thing to happen to us in days, you know that?
(to Sam)
I’m gonna see if there’s any dog food in the store.
Dean straightens up and SHUTS the door. As the door slams shut, the dog fades and DISAPPEARS. Chuck-snapped.
Dean rapidly cycles through the stages of grief and stops at “anger.” As he looks up over the roof of the Impala, he sees — Chuck, standing on the median strip.
Chuck waves “hello” and grins, then vanishes.
Furious, Dean STRIKES the top of the Impala with the heel of his hand.
DEAN
Dammit!
SAM
Dean—
DEAN
(shouting)
God DAMMIT.
Dean wheels away and with a strangled CRY strikes out at the pyramid of antifreeze bottles next to the gas pump. They cascade to the pavement.
INT. IMPALA. DAY.
Jack and Sam watch in silence as Dean, cursing and yelling, punches the paper towel dispenser, kicks the trash can next to the gas pump, and generally freaks out. Sam closes his eyes.
Jack, sitting in the back seat, leans forward, eyes still on Dean.
JACK
Sam?
SAM
(hoarsely)
Yeah, Jack?
JACK
If the Empty came to take Cass... It could be because of the deal he made.
SAM
The deal? What deal?
JACK
Last year, he made a deal with the Empty, to save me.
SAM
...In exchange for what?
JACK
Nothing. The Empty let him live too. Temporarily. But it said that... when he experienced a moment of true happiness, that’s when it would come to claim him.
Sam frowns, thinking.
SAM
A moment of happiness?
JACK
Castiel told me not to tell you or Dean.
SAM
Why not?
JACK
He didn’t want you to worry.
Sam sighs and turns away, looking back out the front windshield at Dean. Dean is leaning against the wall, his back to the Impala, one arm against the wall and the other covering his face.
“IT’S ALL OVER NOW, BABY BLUE” by Them begins to play.
TRANSITION TO:
MONTAGE: BUNKER DEPRESSION
INT. BUNKER – LIBRARY.
Days pass. Sam and Jack do research in the library. Dean, wearing his bathrobe and holding a beer, walks past. Sam watches him go.
INT. BUNKER - DEAN’S ROOM.
On shelves and the bedside table, empty beer bottles multiply as weeks pass by.
INT. BUNKER – KITCHEN.
Dean cooks. Sam and Jack pore over books at the table, stacks of books around them. Dean sets food down in front of them both, then leaves the kitchen without eating. Sam and Jack look at each other.
INT. CASTIEL’S CAR. DAY.
Jack sits quietly in the passenger seat of Cass’s car, parked in the Bunker driveway.
EXT. CASTIEL’S CAR. DAY.
Through the window, we see Jack lean onto the dashboard and rest his head in his arms. Outside the car, green plants growing on the edge of the driveway shrivel and turn brown.
INT. BUNKER – LIBRARY.
Tight on Jack’s belt loop, where he’s clipped a ring of car keys — Castiel’s. He’s standing at the top of a library ladder, handing books down to Sam, who is holding a comically tall stack. (SONG fades down but does not end.)
SAM
(strained)
Jack, I, I think this is enough for now.
JACK
We have to learn more about the trapping spell.
SAM
We already tried that on Chuck. Remember?
JACK
No. I was dead.
SAM
Oh. Right. Uh, fair enough.
Dean enters, still in his bathrobe.
JACK
You said that Michael and Adam gave us the recipe. Do we still have it?
SAM
I think so. It’s in a file in 7B.
(to Dean, in passing)
Dean—could you grab it out of the saferoom for us?
DEAN
What? Get it your damn self.
Sam makes a “what the hell” face, and Dean keeps walking, towards the door.
SAM
(to Jack)
But anyway, Chuck can always hear us. Remember the dog? We don’t have any way of taking him by surprise.
Jack watches Dean leave, looking disappointed.
INT. BUNKER - HALLWAY. NIGHT.
Music fades back up, montage continues. We follow Dean down the hall. He passes Cass’s door. Hold briefly on Cass’s door. Dean reaches his room, goes inside, and shuts the door on us.
INT. BUNKER – JACK’S ROOM. NIGHT.
Jack goes on reading late into the night, Cass’s keys on his desk.
INT. BUNKER – SAM’S ROOM. NIGHT.
Sam lies down to sleep. Before turning out the lamp on his bedside table, he adjusts a small unframed photo of Eileen that rests against his clock. He turns out the light.
SONG ends.
INT. CHUCK LAIR. NIGHT
Chuck sits in a white armchair, watching his favorite show on a wall of 12 TV screens. Some screens are black, most are paused. On those are frozen frames of other storylines — one white-suited Sam, one black-eyed demon!Dean, one nighttime barn interior with people wearing skull masks, one of Lucifer (or possibly Nick).
Only one screen has any movement. In the Bunker library, Sam and Jack turn pages.
Chuck is holding a glass of whiskey in one hand, and his phone in the other. He refreshes Twitter, bored. But there are, of course, no new tweets.
CHUCK
(sighing)
Nothing.
Chuck sets down his phone and picks up the TV remote. He turns up the volume on the TV showing the Bunker. Jack TURNS a page. Otherwise it’s quiet.
CHUCK
Nothing, nothing, nothing. So you want to sit around doing nothing, huh? Fine. That’s fine. I’ll do something.
Chuck snaps his fingers, and someone materializes in the room with him.
She turns around, looking frightened.
It’s BECKY.
COMMERCIAL BREAK