Title: Keep Your Eyes Open
Summary: Omega Deanna Winchester has a past straight out of every omega`s worst nightmare. Rescued after nine years in an illegal brothel operation, Sam Winchester doesn't think that his sister will ever stop being broken.
One year later, twenty five year old Deanna Winchester tells her story on national television; a story of the horrors of human trafficking and why gender should not determine your worth. In a program the will be translated into hundreds of languages Sam watches as she asks omega from all over the world to join together to make a change.
Warnings: Mentions of nonconsensual sex and sex work, past forced prostitution, and mentions of no consensual knotting and nonconsentual non graphic anal and vaginal sex. A/B/O isn't for everyone! If you are unfamiliar with the alpha/omega/beta universe and would like to know more PM me and I can give you a good link to an article explaining it. Also futures Always-a-Girl!Dean
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize!
Authors Note: I really like the idea of an A/B/O universe. The gender equality issues it presents are very interesting and that's what this fic and its sequal are written for. I will explore the avenues of this universe that are usually pushed aside because the characters are too busy having sex.
I had this idea while listening to NeedToBreath`s "Keep Your Eyes Open" and it kind of grew from there. The song (to me) is about keeping on moving no matter what happens and in this, that is what Deanna has had to do.
I haven't actually read that many alpha/omega/beta fics because most of them are gay porn with little to no plot and that is not really my thing. I have, though, read a couple that were very well done and though I skipped through the smut itself I found it intriguing and wanted to write my own. I wanted to do something new and I know that turning Dean into a female isn't really, but haven't seen one like this yet.
Keep Your Eyes Open
"Open up your eyes
Keep your eyes open
Don't let the night become the day
Don't take the darkness to the grave
I know pain is just a place
The will has been broken
Don't let the fear become the hate
Don't take the sadness to the grave."
December 8, 2003
Sam Winchester stared at the slip of a woman that used to be his sister. She lay in the hospital bed surrounded by beeping machines, covered in bandages and looking up at him in terror. The fear in her eyes hit him so hard it hurt and he was torn between wanting to pull her into his arms and never let go and tear apart the man (men) who had done this to her. He did neither though and instead sat by her bedside, wanting nothing more than for her to be okay.
"Hey, Dee." He spoke softly like the doctors had told him to but she didn't answer, just continued to stare up at him with fear in her dull green eyes as he sat in a chair beside her bed.
God, it hurt to see her like this. She was so different than the last time he had seen her; all bright smiles and sparkling eyes, walking out the door with a "Goodbye bitch." and a cheerful wave. She had been happy and proud of her gender, not afraid of anything. The woman in the bed though, flinched back if he even shifted in his chair and looked at Sam as if expecting him to beat her.
The Deanna that he had known had, much to their father's ire, refused suppressants because she believed that she shouldn't have to hide. She was happy to show who and what she was. His big sister had been full of bad jokes and laughter and was such a contrast to the pale woman in the hospital bed that Sam wondered if she was the same person. Her cheeks were gaunt with malnutrition and blood seeped into the bandages over the burns on her face. Sam's eyes strayed to the empty spot under the white hospital sheets where a leg should have been and had to blink back tears.
"Hey, Dee," he said again, "It's Sammy. I know I grew a bit since you last saw me but I promise it's still me. I always did say I'd be taller than you. I'm so sorry I wasn't here when you woke up. The doctor said you probably won't remember it though, they gave you a lot of pain meds. I just flew in from California." Her eyes flickered with recognition and he felt a wave of hope.
"You probably want to know about the other omega, they're fine. Well, not fine but the doctor said that they should recover. Deanna, you saved them." He failed to keep the awe out of his voice. "I told the doctor I would tell you…" He trailed off and his eyes flicked to where her leg should have been.
"Part of the building fell on you during fire, your leg was trapped. They had to get you out or you would have died. I'm sorry Dee, they couldn't save it. Your face is pretty burned too, the doctor said that you might need skin grafts, but either way you're going to have some pretty badass scars." He tried to smile but it ended up looking more like a grimace. Her eyes widened and she twitched her thigh in an attempt to move a leg that wasn't there, a leg that ended just above her knee.
"Sammy?" Her voice was hoarse and seeking assurance.
"Yeah." She hates platitudes but he said it anyways "It`ll be okay." He looked down at his sister, lying frail and broken in the hospital bed and felt the need to repeat himself.
"It`ll be okay."
He tried to tell himself that he was not trying to convince himself more than her. She just stared at him, and though the fear was mostly gone he had to close his eyes against the burning sting of the tears that threatened to fall.
' It`ll be okay.'
December 8, 2004
"One year ago today twenty two omegas were saved from an illegal brothel by the bravery one one woman. Many suffered lasting injuries, both mental and physical but all are alive thanks to her. Omega Deanna Winchester has agreed to tell us her story. Please welcome her to the stage!" The applause is deafening and Sam watches with pride as his sister walks, only a slight unevenness in her step, onto the stage.
The scars on her face and bare arms are shocking against her smooth skin and though Sam has seen them many times over the last year they never fail to send a shiver down his spine. She has come so far from the broken woman who had been pulled from the wreckage of a burning building only a year before. Deanna smiles now; a bright, happy smile that makes Sam want to smile right along with her.
"Hello everyone." Her voice is clear and strong as she comes to stand in front of the microphone. She doesn't sit in the chair that had been placed conveniently there but instead pushes it away with her leg, causing the cloth of her dress pants to pull up slightly and show a flash of metal.
"How are you today? For those who don't know me, I'm Deanna Winchester; a survivor of the Lilith Dawson Incident. I'm here to tell my story." She takes a breath.
"I'll start at the beginning; my mother died in a fire when I was four and until then we were a perfect family, white picket fence, dog the whole shebang. It was my mother, my father, my little brother and me. We were happy, but after my mother died my father just kind of wasted. He drank and when he did he made up crazy stories of ghosts and demons and we spent out childhood on the road chasing the imaginary killer of our dead mother. He loved us in his own way but wanted revenge even more. We always needed money and I tried as hard as I could to keep Sammy fed and in school.
I was fourteen the first time I traded a sexual favor for money," she took a deep breath and Sam, from his seat in the front row, can smell her distress, and if that wasn't enough; her hands shake slightly, "because my ten year old brother needed lunch money.
As you all know, I'm an omega. We are rare and the society we live in calls us sluts, whores and bitches; it was easy to live up to their expectations and find someone willing to pay for a barely teenage girl.
I was sixteen when I picked up the wrong man. I knew the moment I got in his car. "I changed my mind." I said. "Let me out." I said.
He just grinned and the next time I saw him he had me pinned, still half drugged, against the wall of a concrete cell with his knot in my ass. The third time I saw him, I was shackled face down to a bed as they inserted a hormone implant in the back of my neck to keep me permanently in heat. His name was Alistair Damon and he was Lilith Dawson`s right hand man. She was the queen and he was the king of their cruel operation.
After that it was not consensual sex work. I was raped, beaten, and knotted until I couldn't stand. It was hell. Lilith barely clothed us, kept us only clean enough to please her clients and fed us only enough to keep us alive. All of us, the omegas, knew better than to try to escape; she had a whip and wasn't afraid to use it, she reveled in breaking us."Deanna`s voice cracks and she furiously wipes at her eyes.
"When I got there, there were twenty five of us, all ages and all omegas. I lived in a cell for nine years and the people changed but the number never did.
We got out because someone left a candle burning by some curtains in a 'client room.' Sam can hear the quotes around that. "No one noticed until the fire had already spread.
I escaped my cell, called the fire department and rushed to get the other omegas out of the building. People say that I'm a hero but I'm not. I just did what I thought was right. Lilith tried to stop me and I hit her over the head with a burning piece of wood. Two months ago she was sentenced to three life sentences for murder of the first degree, aggravated assault, and an illegal prostitution business.
I lost my leg escaping but I don't regret it. What I did prevented her from doing anything like that ever again. My scars show the world that even though I am an omega I can still be strong."Deanna leaves the tears on her face this time stares at the crowd with conviction. Sam can see them look back at her and watch as she weaves her story. He glances at Jess beside him and she wipes a tear from her eye.
"I'm telling you this because you need to know. The society we live in works against omegas. In elementary school they teach us gender stereotyping that we carry into our adult lives. We learn the omegas are meant to stay home, have kids, and be cared for! This is not the society that I believe we can have. We are people, and just a capable as any alpha or beta. It`s only because omegas are told that they can`t, that they think it's true-."
"Bullshit!" Someone from the audience yells. "You're all just weak knotwhores! You would be nothing without your alphas!" Sam turns his head toward the sound and fights the urge to stand up and pound him into the ground.
Deanna scans the crowd before she continues speaking. "Exactly what I mean! That man, undoubtedly an alpha, probably wouldn't even believe that if his parents and teachers hadn't told him that at a child.
I believe that we can have an equal system, but I need help, I need volunteers, I need all of the omegas watching this to stand up for themselves, because no matter what anyone has told you, you can. There are hundreds of us who have suffered abuse but never reported it because we believe, and are right to believe, that the system works against us!
We should feel safe to walk on the street alone, we should be able to go into a bar without fear of being raped in the bathroom, we should be able to take our children to the pool without subjecting them to wolf whistles and cruel words, hell, we should be allowed to run for fucking president!" The crowd roars and television cameras swing overhead. Sam whoops along with them and Jess claps. A man, who Sam knows well, walks onto the stage to stand beside Deanna.
"We should have just as many rights as the rest of you, we should be able to marry whomever we want. This is my fiancé Castiel, we are both omega. Should we be forced to split up because of that? Should we be forced to marry alphas and be breeding stock?!"Her voice is strong and clear, the earlier sadness gone as she speaks passionately.
She steps forward and pecks Castiel on the lips, he looks surprised and Sam has to fight the urge to laugh. The crowd shifts uncomfortably but a couple people start clapping and soon they all join in.
"I don't want fame for doing what someone should have done long ago. I want people to get off their asses and make a change! Nothing will get better unless you make it."
Sam joins the crowd in applause as Deanna collapses into the chair and Castiel stands behind her, hands on her shoulders. She isn't supposed to stand on her prosthetic for that long and Sam knows that it must be hurting her.
That was some speech.
"Sam, your sister is amazingly awesome." Jess is equally awed.
"Yeah, she is."
They make their way backstage and meet Deanna as she limps her way off stage, Cas following behind her like a shadow. "Congratulations Sammy!" Deanna exclaims, "Your big sister is officially hated by the alpha portion of the population!"
Sam laughs, a real laugh and he hasn't laughed like this is a long time. "Yeah, but everyone else is going to want autographs."
Deanna scowls.
Sam is suddenly struck by how amazing his sister truly is. He looks at her in awe and is wowed at how truly resilient she is, how truly awe inspiring. He can't help but think it's kind of strange. She has always been just his big sister but now, now she is something much more.
"Dude, Sammy, you're looking at me like I just grew another head."
"Dee, I think you just did."
"Bitch."
"Jerk."
And Sam knows that even if Deanna still wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, even if sometimes the phantom pain in a leg that is no longer there drives her to tears, his sister will be okay. She`s a Winchester and Winchesters are way too stubborn to give up without one hell of a fight. He smiles at her.
"Sammy, you're staring at me and smiling creepily again."
Sam just laughs. Yes, everything is going to be just fine.
THE END (Sequal named Hold Me Together)
Author's Note: I had a lot of fun writing this, and plan to make a podfic out of it but that might not be for a while. I Have written and posted a sequal, it's called Hold Me Together.
I`m sorry that my apostrophies are strange and I might be missing some spaces, all I can say is that Japanese computers are strange...
Please comment!