⌜ epilogue ⌟

"What do we do now?" Mary asks as she looks at her husband. He's in the driver's seat right in front of her.

"We have to find my mom." Sophia insists, almost pleading.

"I'm telling you, they'd go back to the highway to wait for everyone." Jess tells them. "It's where we ended up before the farm. It's the one place that everyone would think to go."

"Dad?"

John sighs as he glances at his son in the passenger seat. "Do you know where your sister ended up?" He asks.

"She ran for the barn." Dean tells him. "I lost her after that. But she's smart, she's tough."

He looks at Jessica then​. "And you're sure that that's where they'd go?" He asks, and she nods.

"Positive." The young blonde says.

"Then that's where we'll go." John nods as he starts the car again and heads for the highway.

But the others are already gone.

—

Andrea's running through the woods with three walkers coming up on her. She turns around and bashes in one of their heads with the butt of her gun, then she pulls a small pocket knife out of her sweater.

After stabbing the second walker in the head, the third one attacks her. She falls to the ground with it right on top of her. She's fighting to keep it from biting her, but she lost her weapons. The blonde is screaming and trying to get away from the walker, terrified that this is the moment she dies.

Suddenly, someone uses a sword and cuts off the head of the walker. Andrea looks up to see a hooded figure with two walkers on chains behind her. They're both missing their arms and have had their jaws removed, making them entirely harmless.

Two men walk up on either side of the hooded figure, and Andrea looks between them. One of the men towers over the others and his hair is quite a bit longer than the other man's. He has dark brown hair and a large somewhat overbearing stature.

The shorter man has piercing blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. He's less rugged looking, but you can still see the impact that surviving in this world has had on him.

The two men glance between each other and then look to the hooded figure standing between them. Their eyes settle on Andrea again, and the taller man holds his hand out to her, offering to help her to her feet.

—

"You don't like me much, do you?" MJ asks as she looks at Maggie. The two women are on watch. "It's okay. I know Carol doesn't."

"It's not that we don't like you." The brunette looks at her. "But you kept a pretty big secret."

"I seem to recall you keeping a rather hefty secret yourself."

"That was different." Maggie argues.

"I don't see how." She says. "You thought the walkers were just sick — you were protecting your family. That's all I was doing. I didn't see the good it would do to tell everyone and risk a panic in the camp. Sometimes what you don't know can't hurt you."

"And sometimes it can."

"Very true." MJ nods. "Either way, I made a call. Whether it was right or wrong, I stand by it. I didn't mean any harm. All I've ever done is the best that I can do. I'm well aware that sometimes it's not good enough."

A silence falls over them before Maggie eventually speaks up again. "Can I ask you something?" She looks at her, and MJ shrugs.

"Might as well. We don't have anything better to do until someone comes to relieve us from watch."

"When we first met, you seemed like you were watching me. Why?" She asks.

"Nothing against you." MJ shakes her head. "I knew a woman that I didn't much care for. You look...a lot like her. That's actually an understatement, if I'm being honest."

"What was her name?"

"She used an alias — Bela Talbot." She tells her, and Maggie's face drains of color. "Are you okay?"

"What— H—" She clears her throat. "How did you know her?"

"She stole something from my father's storage unit. The woman quickly became a pain in the ass from then on." MJ watches her with a skeptical look on her face. "You knew her?"

Maggie nods. "She's my sister." She says, and MJ's eyes widen as she looks at the brunette. "Her real name was Abbie, and our mother's maiden name was Talbot... She always had a thing for bad scary movies."

"Bela Lugosi." She nods. "It was another alias that she used."

"She disappeared when we were kids."

"Oh... I'm so sorry."

"What happened to her?"

"I..." She sighs.

Maggie looks down. "She became distant after our mother died. And then she ran away. We looked, but the police never found her." She says. "You have to tell me what happened to my sister. Please."

"Maggie..."

"I can handle it."

MJ takes a deep breath. "She made a deal with a crossroads demon. I don't know the specifics, but I'm guessing she asked for money, or a fresh start, I don't..." She shakes her head.

"It's been so many years since she..." Maggie says. "How long do you get when you make a deal? A year, is that what you said when you were talking to that demon before. But if that... She had to have gotten longer or you wouldn't have met her."

"She got ten years. That's the standard for demon deals." She tells her. "Demons don't like my family, that's why we only got one."

"So, she's...dead?"

"I'm sorry."

"You said that she was a pain in your ass." She looks back up at MJ. "How?"

MJ hesitates before continuing. "She almost got Sam killed, she tried to trick us into giving her something that we needed, she stole a lot of money from us, she got us arrested, she stole a one of a kind gun that we needed, and then she..." The blonde sighs as she looks down.

"She what?" She asks. "I need to know."

"She tried to kill us. But she didn't want to, I know it. She was just scared." She tells her as Maggie starts crying. "My guess is that Crowley told her that if she stole the gun and then killed us, he'd let her out of her deal. She just didn't want to die. She wasn't a murderer."

"I need to..." Maggie walks away from her as tears stream down her face. MJ sighs as she watches her go.

"What'd you do to her?" Daryl asks as he walks over to MJ. He had been on his way to let one of them get some sleep.

"I gave her some bad news." She says as she looks down at the ground.

"Can I ask you something?" He asks, and she looks up at him. "How can you think so little of yourself?"

MJ sighs. "Have I told you the story of how my mom died?" She asks.

"A little, not much."

"It was a demon — Azazel. We called him Yellow-Eyes. We didn't know that he had a name, let alone what it was."

"What does this demon have to do with anything?" He asks, confused.

"He has everything to do with everything."

"How?"

"When I was two, he came to my house. He was in Sam's room, and he... He put his blood in my brother because of a deal that my mom made ten years earlier. See, this demon had killed her parents and my father so she made a deal to bring him back. Only he didn't want her soul. Her deal gave him permission to enter our home and do what he did to Sam. He did it to others as well."

"Put his blood in them?" He asks, and she nods.

"It was to make him stronger, so that he could be Lucifer's vessel when the time came." She explains. "My mom walked in while he was there, and he killed her. He put her on the ceiling and sliced her stomach open. Our dad found her, and he grabbed my little brother. He handed Sam off to Dean, who carried him and dragged me out of the house. A fire started in the nursery, and our mom died. That was the beginning for us."

"Meaning what?"

"Our dad wanted revenge. He became consumed with his hatred and anger for anything evil. He raised us to be hunters, to kill monsters. He taught us to shoot and how to fight. He learned the truth in the myths and legends about these things and he taught us. It became more than just what we did, it became who we were." She says. "Growing up like that... Revenge for our mom was the most important thing, nothing else mattered. Not school, not friends, nothing.

"We hunted. We went from one hunt to the next and we never slowed down. Then Sam left, he went off to college... That was a huge fight, the worst we'd ever had. Dad told him to stay gone.

"We were taught that nothing comes before the lives of the innocent, not even our own life. How do you put yourself first when that is what you were taught by your father? He was the one who was supposed to know best, we were supposed to follow his lead. He was the example of who we were. When that's all you know, how do you do any different?"

"That ain't still what you believe, is it?" He asks, and she shrugs.

"It's kinda hard to find self-worth when all you do is screw up." She says. "I was a shitty wife, I'm a bad mom, I don't know how to be a daughter, I'm an insubordinate soldier, I'm not as good a sister as I thought, I'm apparently a crap leader, I don't seem to be doing well in the friend department either."

"You gotta stop doin' that — looking down on yourself." He tells her. "Ain't nobody's perfect, especially in this world. You need somewhere to find your worth, find it in the people who'll miss you when you're gone. In your daughter, and in Jack. In your parents, and your brothers. Matt. Rick."

"That all in this group?" She asks. "If so, that's kinda sad."

"Me." He adds, and she looks up, surprised by that one. "Yeah, so what? Don't go gettin' all weird about it."

She smiles. "See, I knew I was growing on you." She says, and he looks away from her, a smirk on his face. "Careful, that heart of gold of yours is showing again."

"MJ?"

She sighs at the sound of that annoyingly familiar voice. "Gabriel." She looks at the angel. "It's been a couple months. What do you want now?" She questions.

"Remember that conversation I wanted to have back in Atlanta?" He asks.

"I remember you being a dick."

"I think it's time that you and I had that conversation." He says, and she sighs.

"Feathered douche-nozzle." She mutters as she walks over to him.

She's more than a little annoyed that he interrupted her conversation with Daryl. It was getting to be the most light-hearted moment that they'd had in quite awhile. She's missed talking to him like she used to, teasing him and getting him to smile, even if it is always small.

—

Bobby hears wings flutter behind him and he turns around to see Castiel standing there behind him. His expression hardens and he glares at the angel when he sees that he's come back empty handed. Again.

"Stop looking at me like that." Cas says as he moves to the table in front of Bobby to look at the map.

"Where the hell are they?" Bobby demands.

"I'm working on it."

"Yeah? Well, your search for the Winchesters is going about as well as your search for God." He says as he turns back to the books on his desk.

"They're hidden—"

"Yeah, I know. The Enochian that you carved into their ribs." He cuts him off. "We need to find MJ and Jack."

"I'm aware of that. And I'm trying." Cas tells him. "This is a big country, and they could be anywhere."

"We know where they were headed." He taps the map in front of the irritated angel.

"I've been looking in Georgia. Most of the state has been overrun by the dead."

"You'd think that would make it easier to find the living." He says as he goes back to what he was doing before.

"You don't seem to be having any luck either." Cas says accusingly. "Why are you trying to summon Crowley?"

"If anyone can find them, he can."

"You don't have a soul to bargain with." The angel reminds him. "I don't think he would feel inclined to help us even if you got him to come here."

"Then I'll stick his ass in a devil's trap and torture what I want out of him."

"Good luck with that." He turns away from him. "I'm going back to Georgia."

"Idjit." The older man mutters under his breath.

"I heard that."

"Good." Bobby says, and then Cas disappears.

—

"Jack, you're supposed to fight back." MJ shakes her head as she looks between her kids.

"I don't want to hit her." He says, and she walks over to them.

"Come on." She holds her hand out and then pulls him back to his feet. "Matt, will you come spar with Jack, please?"

"Yeah." He walks over, and they get to work on Jack's stance.

"Can I spar with Ellie?" Carl asks as he walks over to them.

"You have to ask your parents that one, bud." MJ tells him, and he turns to look at his mom.

Lori sighs as she looks at her son, her hand on her ever growing baby bump. "Alright, but be careful." She reluctantly agrees.

The two kids listen to MJ's pointers and then they start sparring. Ellie knocks Carl down, and he lands on the ground with a thud. He groans as MJ walks over to him.

"Damn, peaches." A familiar voice calls from the woods as MJ's checking Carl's back for any small cuts.

"Dana!" Ellie runs over and quickly embraces her older cousin.

The entire group runs over to see what all of the yelling's about, but they stop when they see the two young girls hugging.

"You are your mother's daughter." Dana says with a wide smile. "A Winchester through and through."

"Hey, now. I like to think she learned a little something from Aunt Addy." The blonde says as she steps up beside her daughter.

"She's definitely learned from the Harvelle women." Ellen says. "Her and her mother."

"Are you just gonna sit there staring, or are gonna come say hi at some point?" Jo asks, looking at MJ. "Come on, you had to miss at least me. I'm your best friend for Christ's sake."

"Excuse me?" Addy questions, her eyebrows raised.

"MJ?" Carl places his hand on her shoulder, and she looks up at him. She's still kneeling down beside the kid.

MJ stands up straight and starts walking toward them, her pace speeding up the closer she gets to her family. She wraps her arms around the two sisters, and they both laugh as they hug her back.

"We've missed you too." Jo says.

"That's quite the group that you've got there — big." Addy says as she looks around at each of them. "I don't suppose Dean's with you, and he's just...out at the moment."

"We lost him." MJ says as she pulls back. "I mean, he's alive as far as I know. We just got separated. He's with our parents. And Jess, and Carol's daughter." She motions behind her. "But it's been months now."

Addy nods as she looks at her daughter. "I know my husband. He's alive." She says, and Dana nods, forcing a smile.

"Jo." She looks at her. "God, I'm so sorry. I can't even tell you..." She shakes her head as she hugs her again.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." The blonde tells her, and she pulls back. "I made a decision and I stick by it. I saved my niece's father, my best friend's brother." She smiles. "How could I ever regret that?"

"Look at you." Ellen walks over to MJ, gaining her immediate attention, and she puts her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. "You cut your hair." She says as she looks at the blonde tips in the brown.

"I'm trying to get rid of the blonde." MJ says, and Ellen nods. "It's a long process." Her eyes are now filled with tears.

"I've never seen it this short before. You've always kept it long." She says. "It looks good, I like it. I like the brown better than the blonde anyway. It's much more you."

"I thought I'd never see you again." She says, and Ellen wipes the tears from her cheeks. "That day... I still dream about it. I hate it."

"I'm here now." Ellen says as she pulls the young woman into a hug. "I'm here now. I promise I'm not going anywhere." She tells her as MJ continues to cry.

The group is surprised by what they see. Sure, they've witnessed a more vulnerable side to MJ before, on rare occasions. Like when Kelly walked out of the barn, or after that argument with Gabriel on the highway, but this is different. She didn't even have this reaction when she found her parents. When they would've expected it.

"Grandma Ellen?" Ellie gets her attention, and the two women look down at her. Ellen smiles as she kneels down to greet the girl.

And then it clicks in Daryl's mind. Mary died when MJ was two, she never really knew her mother. Somewhere along the way, Ellen came into the picture and she filled that hole in MJ's life. Whether she knew it or not.

"Come on, you should meet the others." MJ says before taking the four newcomers over to the rest of the group. "Guys, this is Addy. She's one of the only friends that I had growing up, and she's Dean's wife. This is their daughter, Dana. Addy's sister, Jo. And their mom, Ellen." She then introduces the group that she's been with for months now.

⌜ author's note ⌟

book three is up. it's called...
Fight To The End