Jessica Moore died in a fire (Shatter)
TITLE: Jessica Moore died in a fire
FANDOM: shatterverse
WORDS: 538
RATING: PG
DISCLAIMER: These characters aren't mine, and neither is the game.

Jessica Moore died in a fire on the 2nd November 2005 and her headstone confirms this. Headstone on an empty grave, and you can bet your ass that Jess points this out the next time Dean starts the bad cop routine.

(not that it helps)

Jessica Moore died in a fire and the longer that Jessica Winchester is around, the more Ms Moore fades. Although, perhaps fades isn’t the right word. With every kick and punch that Sam teaches her, Jess buries the ruins of her former self; she aims the shotgun at the target and thinks, I will not be helpless, I will not be vulnerable, I will not be that girl burned alive on the ceiling.

She thinks, if I see that demonic son-of-a-bitch again and the bullseye gains another puncture.

Jessica Moore died in a fire and Jess would like her to stay buried so that Jess herself can survive. There wasn’t anything fundementally wrong with Jessica Moore, it’s just that Californian pre-med students don’t live too long in a post-apocolyptical world. They wouldn’t have callouses on their hands from guns and knives and chopping firewood. They wouldn’t have the scars of living rough, but Jess likes to think that she still would have been able to brain that werewolf with her skillet.

She wouldn’t have a ring on her finger courtesey of an abandonded mall, either, even if she and Sam are still finding their feet in a relationship with another person whom they mostly know, but slightly don’t.

Jessica Moore died in a fire and when she’s flung into the wall, Jess thinks Jessica Winchester might join her. Same demon, different body, and from Sam’s stories she’s getting a sense of déjà vu.

Well. More of a sense of déjà vu.

Jessica Moore died in a fire, and the yellow-eyed demon points this out. She manages a grin, even through the pain, and her tone is cheerful as she says nope. The demon monologues, words rolling out of that gravelly voice like he’s just enjoying the sound; Jess and Dean, pinned to opposite walls and with their history of fighting over Sam’s attention, still manage to have a oh god kill me now look.

It’s then that both of them start to scream.

Jessica Moore died in a fire and she’s sure it hurt worse than this. Damn sure and she survived that (with help) and godohgod the lack of pain is even worse. Fall down to the floor, grab the gun, cock it and aim at Sam’s dad because hey, John’s back. Sam’s dad John who tells her to shoot.

She remembers the closed look on Sam’s face when sammy and family came up, she remembers the lies and you can be certain that she remembers the way John never called on Sam’s twenty-first and the way Sam waited and waited without even knowing. She remembers hating his family for his sake, hating them deep and ugly in her stomach and Sam’s dad is telling her to shoot.

Jessica Winchester pulls the trigger.

(later, sitting by the fire and listening to John and Dean and Sam argue, Jess realizes that they’d never know that Jessica Moore would have done the same thing)