The End | {BOOK 5}

64| Broken Toys

"It's not too late, brother," I told him. "You can still choose this world, choose us. It doesn't have to end like this. I-"

"Amos," Chuck cut me off. "Shut up."

From down the hall, we made out the faint sound of the Winchesters arguing.

"You hear that?" he grinned.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Dean. Brought to the edge of doubt. His sense of duty, his rage winning out in the end."

I swallowed hard, looking at the door. The voices were growing louder, but were still indiscernible from where we were located.

"And poor Sam," God continued. "Always gotta know everything. Can't leave well enough alone."

"We don't have time!" I finally made out Dean's voice. "Jack already lit the fuse! We gotta go!" 

"You did what?" Eleanor's voice replied.

"Sam, I'm not gonna ask you again," Dean growled.

"Dean, please," Sam begged.

"This is my ending," Chuck informed me. "My real ending."

"Move," Dean ordered again.

"Dean, don't," Eleanor told him.

"Move, Sam," Dean ignored her. "Move!"

"You orchestrated this?" I asked, turning to face my brother.

"What part of omniscient do you people not understand? So I can't read my 'Death Book'. So what? I control space and time. Just plant a few visions, goad Death a little... Mess with a few outcomes... And... bada-bing! I mean," he laughed. "They think they can kill me?"

"Dean, don't do this," Sam's voice carried through the door again.

"I don't want to do this, but this is everything!"

"No, it's not!"

"They're not going to kill you," I shook my head. "They're going to cage you."

"Oh, brother," Chuck replied as a fight broke out on the other side of the door. "They want to kill me. And... they want to kill you. There's no cage. There never was."

I was ignoring the shouting that continued outside the room, fully focused on what my brother was saying now.

"Sam, Dean, Eleanor, they're using Jack to destroy us."

"No, but..." I swallowed hard, brow furrowed in confusion, "but Eleanor can't hurt me."

"No," Chuck agreed, "but she can lie to you. She could send you into the meat grinder with a wink and a smile."

It was all falling into place in my head. Now that he said something, I realized that whenever I'd been around Eleanor, it had been different. I had chalked it up to how much time had passed since we last saw each other, but that wasn't it. It was like when she came to me while her friends stole Lucifer away from me.

"Look, I get it," my brother continued when he saw my expression. "You wanted her to care about you, but humans... they break your heart every time. I spent so long searching for happiness, contentedness. In creation... or the Winchesters. But the only ones who will ever really 'get' us... is us. You and me. Back together?"

"Balance," I breathed.

"Yes. Think of it. Us starting fresh. Creating something new, something beautiful... peaceful... together. And we can finally forget all this pain. No baggage. Only balance."

Chuck extended his hand to me. Through tears, I reached out and took it, allowing myself to be absorbed into him and creating the balance that existed before we were separated.