The Sun Never Sets

Something Salvageable

So, this wasn't a show I ever particularly had an interest in watching until I saw the advertisements for season 2 while watching Dark Matter. Since season 1 was on Netflix and other shows I have to catch up on weren't I decided to binge it in one day and prepare to watch it live for 2x02 which I intend to do later. As far as my thoughts on the show go I actually ended up liking it more than I thought I would. I mean it's agonizingly morally black and white at some times and overly hypocritically morally grey at others. And as far as the relationships go absolutely none of them are doing it for me. Dolls is the blandest bland that's ever blanded and he's just not the type of character I like characters I like to get with hence me not liking him and Wynonna. As far as Wynonna/Doc and Waverly/Haught go I almost feel like they should be reversed. In my opinion Wynonna had more chemistry with Haught in that one drunk scene than Waverly's had with her the whole show. And Doc and Waverly is something I find much more believable than him and Wynonna though I think either of them being with him is weird for obvious reasons. And Willa/Bobo was disgusting and stupid and I'm glad I never have to see it on my TV again. And speaking of Willa I think they blew what could have been an interesting storyline with her by first making her in love with Bobo in the first place and then again by having Wynonna just shoot her as if she were any other villain hence the direction for this first chapter. Despite that I still like the overall storyline of the show so far which is more than I can say for a lot of things I watch and look forward to more. I was listening to Damn Girl by The All-American Rejects while writing this, a song which I think describes Willa pretty well.

She hadn't been meant to be the Earp heir, she was an option borne out of necessity fumbling her way through the job. She was the black sheep of the family who was supposed to be traversing her way across Europe doing the things and people that came easiest to her and not giving a fuck about any of it. Regardless of whether the demons turned out to be real she was certifiably crazy, had the paperwork and everything, and didn't do meaningful interactions with people very well. Now though, as she stared down her recently returned older sister who had lived a much harder life than she could have ever imagined, she knew she was right where she needed to be.

"You don't have to do this," she said. "You can come back across the line and we can start again."

"Why would I do that," her sister said smirking. "This is even better than I planned."

It had looked like it was going to be another staring contest to see who would break first, but despite how bad it may have looked to the outside Wynonna didn't feel any real danger. Her sister was still in there somewhere, maybe not as much as Willa had put on when they had initially found her, but in there nonetheless. It was up to her to draw that Willa back out from behind the curtain of lies and false love that Bobo had fed her over the years. At least that had been her plan until Dolls shot her and sent her right into the clutches of the approaching tentacle monster.

After that particular action that she was going to have a stern discussion with Dolls about when this was done, her plan consisted of simply saving her sister now and figuring out the rest once the world wasn't under threat from a demon apocalypse. The monster picked Willa up and there weren't many options available to her so she just aimed and hoped that Peacemaker could save the Earp family one more time. She shot at the monster and for a brief moment it appeared that nothing had happened until where the creature had once been bright fire began consuming it until it dissolved. Willa fell to the ground and without even a second thought she ran towards her and scooped her up bridal style and swiftly began walking back towards everyone else again.

Dolls had one of those looks on his face that she could never quite read as he said, "You should put her down, you have no idea what she's capable of when she wakes up."

"She's my sister and I'm not leaving her behind," she said sternly.

"No she's not Wynonna," he said. "When is that going to get through your head."

"About the same time you stop acting like you control me," she said. "If you want her you're going to have to shoot me."

She began walking back towards town after that as she heard Doc say, "Well I reckon that if Wynonna thinks her kin still salvageable then who are we to stand in her way."

Waverly didn't comment out loud but Wynonna could feel her disapproving stare on her back and didn't much care. This was her sister too and she deserved to get to know the real her, they both did. The Willa they had known was gone, but some fraction of her still existed within the framework of the jaded person in her arms and she was going to find a way to coax it out. They made it back to the house with only minor interruption and she laid Willa in her own bed and began a steady watch, waiting for whatever woke up and preparing for all scenarios.

The eyes that greeted her as she stood leaning against the far wall when that moment finally came were kinder than the ones that Willa had been sporting previously but still not entirely normal. It was progress, but she still kept ready for anything. She hadn't saved her sister from the clutches of a monster just to kill her, but she wasn't stupid and would use whatever nonlethal methods she could to subdue her if things turned ugly again. Bobo was still out there somewhere and the right word or action could still turn her into what she had been before Dolls shot her. As her sister woke up however it wasn't a move towards Wynonna that she made but a move away from her as in terror.

"What did you do," Willa said cowering.

"Saved you," she said. "You're welcome by the way."

"No this isn't right," Willa said. "You should have just left me there."

"You're my sister Wills," she said trying a smile. "I wasn't just going to leave you behind."

"I'm not your Willa though Wynonna, I'm different, broken," Willa said. "You shouldn't trust me."

"Trust you, no way," she said. "Believe there's something still salvageable inside you, yes I do."

"You shouldn't," Willa said.

"Yeah that's what everyone keeps saying," she said. "But I do so you're all just going to have to get used to it."

"What are you going to do with me," Willa questioned.

"Keep you here for now, watch you, until you've proven my hunch right," she said. "Dolls or Officer Haught may shoot you behind my back if we're not careful though."

"Which reminds me," she said moving closer to the bed. "How's your wound?"

"Fine," Willa said as if she was just noticing it for the first time. "I think."

"That's good," she said. "You sit tight, I have to go have a chat with Dolls."

She made sure to lock the door behind her as much to keep Willa in as to keep the others out. She was handcuffed to the bed, but it was best to play it as safe as possible. She didn't need a bloodbath when she had already put so much effort into keeping everyone that mattered to her alive. Dolls was sitting at a table checking his guns when she found him, but didn't offer so much as a glance in her direction until she was practically on top of him. She had a history of running from her problems, but now she was going to face them head on and say what she needed to say, letting the chips fall where they may.

"You shot her," she began.

"I did," he said stoically. "She was a threat."

"She's my sister," she said.

"No she's not, she's a fractured echo of your sister at best and a brainwashed psychopath at worst," he said. "Either way, she should have been put down."

"My sister is still in there and if you hurt her again you won't like the results," she said.

"I think we both know how that fight would turn out," he said. "You've made your position clear, I think we're done here."

"Good," she said frustrated at his nonchalance over the whole thing. He was like talking to a brick wall sometimes.

She was never meant to be the Earp heir, that was Willa's destiny and she was just a marginally successful substitute. Like it or not though Peacemaker had made it clear that it had chosen her and she was going to take on the task with the same vigor that she had been since the beginning. Helping her sister find her humanity again though was a job that only she could do. Dolls might not like it, Waverly might not like it, hell even Willa might not like it, but she had never cared about what people thought about her and her actions before and she wasn't about to start now. Her sister was still alive and if she had to go to the ends of the Earth to get her even marginally back to something resembling a thinking, feeling person then she was going to do it. It wasn't in her nature to just give up on someone she cared about, no matter how far gone they appeared.