Old AN (6/7/2016): I wrote this little bit because having two brothers destined to be the vessels of two archangels just wasn't enough extraordinary for the Winchester family. Shailene, Dean's twin and my OC, is a Natural-born witch. Anyone who's gotten as far as the end of season 10 would know that a Natural witch is someone born with a natural affinity for magic. (See season 10 episode 7 for clarification). That could be a bit of a problem being born into a family of Hunters. In the flashback, Sam's about 5, and Dean and Shay are 9.
New AN (9/13/2023): Welcome to my "what-if" folder. I have so many what if scenarios for the Shay 'verse, it's not even funny. These are gonna be non-canon for the official Shay 'verse, btw. I have a few more drabbles following this prompt, so I'll likely make this a chaptered fic (FF) and another series (ao3).
Shay remembered the time her daddy came home from a hunt one afternoon and caught her levitating Sammy's building blocks to make her baby brother laugh. She didn't even turn to see who'd come through the door, thinking it was Dean back from his food run. She had barely a second to breathe before a pistol was being pointed at her face.
"Get away from my son," John hissed, voice cold and emotionless, "right now, you freak."
Sammy started crying and Shay, quiet from shock and fear, did as she was told and moved away from her brother. Inwardly, she cursed herself for not listening to Dean when he told her not to use her powers too much. The blonde Winchester held her hands up in a show of surrender, back firmly pressed to the wall, wide greenish-gold eyes trained on the gun that never once wavered from its aim on her.
John hurried to collect his youngest child, cradling him protectively against his chest. When his quick search for Dean turned up fruitless, the hunter checked the salt lines carefully and found them unbroken. His gaze swiftly moved back to the small girl he held at gunpoint, "so you're not a demon, are you? What the hell are you?"
"Daddy–"
"You aren't my daughter," John hissed coldly, "my daughter can't do things like that; she can't make stuff float in the air. So I'll ask again before I break out the silver," the hunter placed Sam on the bed behind him and advanced on Shay, "what. Are. You?"
Shay didn't answer, she didn't dare to even breathe. Everything was frozen, she couldn't even remember how to inhale properly to bring oxygen into her body. Black spots popped before her eyes as, with little ceremony, Dean burst into the room carrying two bags full of fast food. His green eyes landed on his twin sister, held at gunpoint and on the verge of fainting, and he quickly shut the door, dropped the food and hurried to defuse the situation…
A trip to Sioux Falls the very next morning, and a few tests run by Uncle Bobby revealed that Shailene wasn't a supernatural creature, but that iron almost completely cut off her abilities. Regardless, John never looked at his daughter the same.
*~*s*~* Seven Year Later *~*s*~*
"Here," Shay jumped as a trio of metal circlets, one a good bit bigger than the other two, landed on her math homework, "I know your old ones are getting a little small for you." she looked up at John and nodded once before reaching up to undo the clasp of the thin choker around her neck, made of a simple dark metal. A similar pair of metal bands encircled her wrists, close to the skin.
There was a slight greenish-purple sheen to the metal of the newer set, almost like an oil slick. Noting her curious look, John gruffed out an explanation, "I tempered these with Witch-killing brew. Recommendation from a contact who only hunts witches."
Dean clenched his jaw, a disgruntled sound low in his throat as he watched his sister switch out the matching set of pure iron circlets for the new, larger set. Sam, knowing that this fight wasn't one he could win, kept his mouth shut and his nose buried in his book.
Shay could feel her brothers' gazes burning her as she slipped the two smaller bands onto her wrists and the final, larger one around her neck like a choker. The metal burned on contact, even more than the regular iron. The moment she latched the small clasp at the back, John visibly relaxed and nodded once, "I'll be back in a week or two. Remember what I said, Shailene."
"I will Sir." Shay murmured, keeping her eyes on her homework. The moment the door closed, Sam spoke up, "I wish you wouldn't let him push you around like that, Shay."
"Sammy, it's fine," the blonde-haired teen murmured, "it makes Dad more comfortable around me." Never mind that, unless it was Hunter-related or something to do with her bracelets, he never spoke to her directly, instead telling Dean to pass along his missives.
Dean raised a brow in question, "Bug, you told me that being cut off, or whatever the hell those things do to you and your witchy powers," he waved a hand at the iron around her wrists, "felt like cutting off a limb."
"That was ages ago," Shay uttered, "I've gotten used to not having them now. De, it's okay." He looked completely unconvinced, even by the smile she forced as the burning sensation grew from background noise to just the wrong side of unpleasant.
Once her brothers were sufficiently distracted, Shay made her way to the mildew-ridden motel bathroom and locked herself inside. The young Hunter immediately scrabbled at the clasps for the bracelets, the skin around them an irritated bright red from the witch killing brew. She dropped the bracelets in the sink and did the same with the choker. Shay rubbed at the reddened skin, feeling the beginnings of bumps welling up where the metal had been pressed.
I don't know if I can get used to this.
The iron alone had been one thing, like a dull knife sawing almost all the way through a limb in a semi-amputation, but this… with the addition of the witch killing brew, it was like the blade had been doused in acid.
Shay swallowed shakily, trying to steel herself enough to put the torture devices disguised as jewelry back on. Somehow, even years on, knowing that her father was so distrusting of her because of something she'd been born with still stung something awful.
You could leave, a quiet voice hummed from the very back of her mind, be free from all of this.
Shay huffed and quiet, humorless laugh, banishing the thought with a shake of her head. As if she could ever bring herself to leave Sammy and Dean behind. Her relationship with John was pretty much beyond salvaging. He'd never trust her again, even all the pure iron-witch killing brew tempered jewelry wouldn't be enough for him.
She would stay. Long enough for Sam to get old enough to leave, because she'd have to be blind and deaf not to see that John didn't have a chance in hell keeping his youngest son under his thumb once he got old enough to be on his own. Once Sam got out, she'd go her own way too. As for Dean… well, Dean was every inch the loyal soldier John wanted to make out of all three of them. He'd never leave John behind.
Their bond ran deep, being twins and all, and the situation with John and Shay and the iron shackles disguised as jewelry bothered him… but not enough to fight their father on it.
Shoot, she gritted her teeth as she grabbed one of the bracelets and slowly clasped it around her wrist, might even try being a proper witch while I'm at it. Of course, most if not all of the witches she'd come into contact with over the years were evil, but surely she could prove her father wrong. Just because she was born with magic coursing through her veins didn't mean she was a lost cause.
Shay latched the clasp for the choker, lips pursed against the burn on her skin. It'd take a while, getting used to the new irritation, but she'd manage. She had to.
Endings are hard.
I hope y'all enjoyed the read.
*~*CloudSpires1295*~*