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Emma didn’t know a whole bunch, but there were four things she was absolutely certain of.
1.She Is An Amazon, Born And Bred To Kill Her Father.
2.Dean Winchester Is Her Father.
3.Her Father’s Brother Shot Her In The Back.
4.She Had To Survive.
She didn’t remember much about her first few days in what could only be described as hell. Whenever she had a moment to sit and think, all she could recall was standing in front of her father, prepared to fulfill her duties, make her mom proud, then a piercing pain in the middle of her back, a feeling of falling, and then a feeling of crashing.
She remembered her head feeling fuzzy, she remembered being confused, scared…she remembered sobbing until her chest hurt, making the fuzziness and throbbing in her head worse.
She remembered standing up on wobbly, weak legs, stumbling blindly through thickets of trees, puddles and rivers of water, to where she didn’t know.
All she knew was that she had to run. She had to .
Nowadays she spends most of her time hiding, foraging for food, keeping one step ahead of everyone else. Emma never stayed in one place for too long, never long enough to get comfortable, she didn’t get that luxury. She didn’t have to fight much, but with what little she had been taught by her tutors she knew she needed to have a weapon, just in case. She had managed to sharpen a rock, attach it to a stick with a vine, long enough to not have to get too close but not too long that it would be cumbersome.
Most days she was cold, not wanting to risk drawing attention to herself with the smoke and embers from a fire. All she had on her was a plain gray t-shirt, a thin sweater, blue jeans, and sneakers.
Sometimes she didn’t sleep for days at a time, too scared of being snuck up on and attacked while she rested.
It was cold, lonely, and scary. But she was managing.
Emma was surviving.
All on her own.
Until she wasn’t alone.
It had been like any other day (if you could call the gray, dark haze that seemed to permanently cover this place as day). Emma had been in search of water, or at least a place where she could somewhat clean herself up. She was covered in days worth of grime and dirt, and while she knew it was silly to be bothered by something as simple as dirt, it was starting to feel as if it was burrowing underneath her skin.
As far as she knew it was quiet, almost peaceful. She hadn’t known that something had been following her for miles. Until it was too late.
One minute she was walking towards what she thought looked like a stream, the next she was being tackled to the ground from behind by something that felt twice her size. It flipped her over onto her back, and now she was face to face with something that looked like it had crawled its way out of her deepest darkest nightmares. Wild, depthless, feral eyes. Sharp teeth dripping with thick, foul smelling saliva from its maw, talons as thick as a tree branch. It swiped wildly at her clothes, slashing at her face, she could feel blood dripping down her forehead, down her eyes, the coppery taste filling her mouth as she screamed and fought desperately to get away, but she knew it was no use.
She was going to die. Painfully.
Just as she was beginning to accept her fate, the creature was suddenly pulled off of her and thrown back, so forcefully that she heard it yelp as it hit what sounded like a boulder. She sat up, looking around for whatever had just saved her. Suddenly a burly, broad shouldered man made his way into her field of vision, mouth filled with sharp razor-like teeth as he advanced on the creature.
The creature regained its footing and lunged at the man, but he was ready, and instantly managed to tackle it to the ground despite it being bigger and heavier than him.
Holding the creature down, the man lifted what looked like a makeshift ax in the air, and with one giant swipe slashed its throat, nearly decapitating it.
Emma shuffled backwards on all fours, only slightly aware of the blood still dripping down her face as her chest heaved.
The sound seemed to alert the man, and he turned his face towards her, teeth retracting.
For a few seconds the stranger seemed to collect himself, and then all at once he seemed to…relax. His shoulders slumped, his eyes softened, and he actually got down on his knees in front of her, keeping a distance as if he was being careful not to frighten her.
“You okay chou ?” The man asked, voice thick with an accent she couldn’t place but still soft, almost warm.
Emma glanced at the dead creature then back at the man, deciding whether or not she wanted to speak. Then, slowly, she nodded.
The man nodded, smiled slightly. He took her appearance in, noticing her slashed clothing and the cuts underneath. “Those don’t look too bad, but you’ll need to clean up so you don’t get an infection. If you want I can help you out?”
Emma thought back to everything she was ever taught.
Don’t trust anyone.
You work alone.
Anyone that isn’t us will just try to hurt you.
But Emma was tired. She was lonely, scared, desperate for any kind of company.
Was she desperate enough to trust someone she barely met?
“Yeah. That’d be great.” She said after a minute.
-/-/-/-
It was strange, having company after so many months of isolation. Not bad, but just…strange.
Her savior introduced himself as Benny, and after Emma had agreed to his help he had guided her towards a stream where he carefully washed the blood on her face, the cuts on her stomach and on her arms. After that he had fished something out of his jacket pocket that looked like sap, and at her wary look had assured her that it was a healing salve he had used on himself many times before, even going as far as to apply some on himself to show it wasn’t harmful.
Assured Emma allowed Benny to apply the green tinged substance on her skin, the stinging of the cuts instantly making way for a cooling sensation.
Benny took off his heavy wool jacket and offered it to her, and she took it gratefully, seeing as her own was destroyed beyond repair.
After that he sat three feet away from her, apparently still not wanting to frighten or scare her. One Emma settled a bit, she watched as the stream trickled on by, allowing it to calm her and her thoughts.
“Why’d you save me?” She asked after a moment, still watching the stream.
“Because ya were in trouble.” Benny said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Most people would’ve watched it happen. They wouldn’t care about some random girl getting mauled. You kill, you run, you survive. That’s what you do down here.” She said, turning to fix the man with a steely gaze. “Why would you risk your own skin to save a stranger?”
Benny huffed out a light laugh. “For someone so young you sure do have a grim outlook on things.”
“You have no idea.” Emma mumbled, turning back to the stream.
There was a beat before Benny spoke again.
“I saved you because I wanted to. I’ve seen a lot of monsters down here in my lifetime, but seeing you…I could just tell you were different. I could tell you didn’t belong here.”
Emma scoffed. “You don’t know that. You don’t know what I’ve done, what…” She paused a second, months worth of emotions threatening to spill out of her throat, out of her eyes, onto the dirt floor for everyone to see. She wiped at her eyes, sniffling slightly. “I’m a monster. I don’t deserve to be saved.”
Emma didn’t realize Benny had shuffled closer to her until she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. She whipped her head towards him, vision swimming with unshed tears.
They way Benny looked at her was a way her own mother hadn’t looked at her:
Full of warmth, full of parental care and protectiveness.
“I understand why you may feel like that. Hell, I’ve thought the exact same things about myself.” Benny paused. “But you know what? I met someone, a man who gave me a chance. Someone who didn’t only see the ugly, rough sides of me. Someone who thought I deserved a chance to redeem myself, to prove that I was more than anyone else had said in the past. That man helped me see the good in life, and to him I’ll forever be grateful.” Benny looked at Emma imploringly. “I saved you because I thought that you deserve a chance. You deserve to be seen as more than everyone else has seen you. Cheri mwen , you deserve to be saved.”
Emma didn’t know why, but at that moment, for a fraction of a second, she believed him. Maybe she could allow herself to believe that Benny was right.
Maybe all she needed was a chance. A chance to redeem herself. Not just to herself, but to others as well.
Maybe she was more than what she was bred to be.
Emma leaned into Benny’s touch, leaned into him and allowed herself to relax for a moment as he moved to hold her.
Just for this moment, she allowed herself to let go. To breathe.
To be free.