Two Peacemakers (Wynonna/ Alice Earp AU)

Chapter Four: Gunslingers

From her perch, Aly watched below. She had spent the night wandering the streets of Purgatory and admiring how much twenty years changed something— or at least she thought it had been twenty years. After humanity fell, no one kept track. For some time, she hadn't even known much time had passed, especially on the days when she didn't seen the sun. Before the fall, everything was so sparkly and new. It brought a smile to her face.

For the night, she didn't know she was going to sleep, but somehow she was used to that. The night before the cross, she had done sleeping for the next few days. While her stomach grumbled, it was easy enough to look through the dumpsters to find wasted food. Now from her perch, the woman took out a half-eaten roll from her jacket and ripped off a piece with her teeth, smacking as her lips. No one looked up, and at one point, Aly was the same. She learned that lesson the hard way.

From across the way, she saw Wynonna Earp exit the police station get into a black car with someone else. It certainly wasn't Doc, and the worst part was that she knew who it was. A pang of guilt and sadness coursed through Aly, but she shut it down like everything else. She had a job here.

Before Wynonna had gotten into the car, she had looked around, and Aly had stared at Wynonna, just wanting those angry eyes to land on her. Aly had even opened her mouth to call out, but what was she going to say? What could she say? What reason did she even have to be here? Aly was just going to give Wynonna the truth, and it wasn't a happy one. Wynonna Earp had failed, and her daughter, Alice Michele Earp, had taken up the mantle.

Aly had heard stories of her mother, which made her hesitant to make contact. Wynonna had enough reasons not to trust a woman who claimed to your daughter who was a month old at this point. There were too many questions to answer, so until that point, Aly hovered in the back.

Realizing she had another option, Aly did think about going to Doc Holiday, but he had been alive long enough to see what bullshit she tried to mask. It was weakness that brought her here, and she didn't want either of her parents to see it. At the same time, if anyone was going to believe her, she had to believe it was him.

Getting down from the roof, she limped across the road, heading toward Shorty's again. Now that it was light outside, people watched her a bit closer, but at least their eyes didn't glow bright red and they didn't snarl at her. These had to be positives signs. People were so normal with the way they walked, but her hard thumping of the leg called people over to her attention. The humans that were left were all injured, worn and torn as an old friend had said, but these humans didn't have the same scars. Aly let her head drop down, and her hair flew across her face.

However, the head down to the ground ran in with its own issues since she almost read head first into an officer of the law. Neither of those things existed anymore. "Hey, ma'am," he said politely, "are you okay?"

Aly was happy to have the hair in front of her face.

"Listen, when is the last time you ate a good meal? Or had a shower?" His nose crinkled. "I'm Sheriff Nedley. Why don't we go to—"

Aly backed away.

"Listen, you're not under arrest, but we can get you help. There's a church up the street that helps the homeless."

Aly's eyes shot up. Homeless was a word that described her, but that was because the homestead had been run over by revenants long ago. Whatever homeless meant here, he believed her to be one. Aly shook her head and walked around him.

"Ma'am," he called after her as she went into Shorty's. The doors squeaked close behind her.

This was what she was used to as she stood in the entryway. It was dark, and the light gleamed with floating dust. The windows were boarded up as if not to be broken. The chairs were stacked, and it looked like someone was recently mopping. The old floors were still damp, and they creaked under we weight. At least her leg wasn't the largest sound.