Maisie Winchester: The Cursed Hunter

.ten.

DISCLAIMER; SUPERNATURAL ISN'T MINE AND THIS WORK IS COMPLETELY FAN-MADE AND HAS NO RELATION TO THE CANON STORY BESIDES THE FOLLOWING OF THE SEASON EVENTS (SEASON 11).

***

TWO MONTHS. THAT'S HOW LONG it takes for Maisie to leave her room long enough to hold a conversation, shuffling down the halls and towards the conversations in the library. The girl is called out like a deer in headlights as soon as she rounds the corner.

"Mai!" Dean exclaims. "You're alive!"

"I... smelled takeout." She says, looking away from the eyes filled with pity. "...and the bread's getting too stale."
"Maisie!" Another voice suddenly yells as a similar figured rounds the corner. Maisie tenses, narrowing her eyes at Tala who then looks in every other direction. "Right... um, sorry."
Maisie glances at the takeaway bag on the table. "On second thought, I'm not hungry." Maisie doesn't even bother faking a smile. She just turns around to head to the only place that has adequately cleared her mind. The training room. She shuts the door behind her before taking a shaky breath, standing still for a long time as Lucifer's words ring through her head.

You used to be strong enough to take on a whole room of monsters... you could take down the darkness with a blink of an eye and go have a beer that same afternoon... you're just not strong enough.

Maisie screams in frustration, grabbing the closest knife and throwing it across the room

***

"Anger." Tala sighs as she pokes at Dean's disgustingly fatty looking takeaway, sitting cross-legged on the table. "At least she has finally moved on from withdrawal."
"You know you can sit on a chair, right?" Sam questions as he looks up from his laptop, sighing and closing the lid. "How are we gonna fix this? I mean, Lucifer broke her to the point she almost said yes. If it wasn't for Cas..."
"This is Maisie we're talking about," Dean dismisses. "She'll be fine."
"I'm not too sure." Tala sighs. "I stand guard by her door at night. I hear her talk in her sleep..."
"And you're telling us this now?" Dean scolds. "What does she say?"
"That she isn't human..." Tala sighs, looking away from the men. "And needs to be put down."

***

After receiving a call for help from an old friend, Dean finds the opportunity to drag his trigger happy daughter out for a hunt.
Maisie paces through the friend's lounge room, having already made hasty greetings to the blonde who had sent out the distress call, introducing her to her twin and is now swirling a dagger through her fingers. "Did you really have to bring me here? I'm- I'm not ready to be back."
"Maisie, would you look at yourself?" Tala asks softly as she stops the girl from pacing. "You've been spinning that knife without focusing on it once and you haven't dropped it, you haven't hurt yourself and you haven't hurt one of us. You took on Lucifer and survived."
"I wouldn't have if you didn't heal me." The girl mutters, causing Tala to sigh in resigned defeat.

"Your injuries weren't that bad..." Tala sighs.

"Every bone in my body, Tala," Maisie spits as she stops swirling the dagger, grabbing it by the handle in attack position. "Everything was shattered, my skin was raw from fire and acid. I was suffocated, strangled, my hair ripped from my head. I don't even know how I survived that."
"Because you're strong," Tala responds immediately. "I don't know what Lucifer told you, but it was all lies. Okay? You're strong. And that strength doesn't come from me or Dean or anyone else. It comes from you."
"It used to." Maisie sighs, shrugging off the girl's hand as a familiar woman walks through the door.
"Well, there goes the neighbourhood." The woman stops as she looks between Maisie and Tala. "Is anyone else seeing double?"
"Jody." Sam smiles as he hugs the woman in greeting. "It's a long story... Here, Let me help you out." Sam offers as he grabs the grocery bags Jody is carrying.
"Oh, thank you!" She smiles before opening her arms to Dean. "Come here."
Dean smiles to her, giving her a friendly embrace. "It has been too long." He points out.
"Yeah, clearly it's been too long, 'cause Alex, that is you, right?" Sam asks with a wide smile before looking to the two girls that are standing in the middle of the room, confused as to who this girl is. "Ah, Mai, Tala. This is Alex. We saved her from some vamps a while back."
Maisie simply nods to the girl, looking out the window to avoid accidental eye contact. Especially from the woman who knows her and has treated her like a daughter in the past.
"Well, it's nice to meet you both." Maisie hears Alex say before returning the conversation to Sam's other comment. "But I don't look that different!" She protests.
"It's amazing what you can accomplish when you spend two hours in the bathroom every morning." Claire snides
"Since when are you even up in the morning, I'm surprised you're awake now." Alex claps back.
"Hey! I'm pretty sure the guys didn't come here to watch you two kill each other. Is everything okay?" Jody silently gestures between the girls, demanding one of the boys give her an explanation. "I didn't accidentally butt dial you or anything, did I?"
"I called," Claire speaks up. "About the monsters. That you refuse to believe are monsters."
"Oh - you gotta be kidding." Jody exasperates. "You know, if you'd checked in with me, I could have saved you a trip."
"Well, we figured we owed you a visit. Might help with her. We're outta ideas." Dean whispers the last bit, gesturing to his daughter.
"And you know what, actually - I could use the backup," Jody says, quickly catching on. "Sam, Dean... can you help me in the kitchen?"
"Yep," Sam says quickly, Dean nodding. The three walk off to have their private conversation while also preparing the dinner for seven.
"First of all, what's going on? Why are there two Maisie?" Jody asks as she starts taking out the ingredients.