I wanted to draw how I imagined the girls from Entropy Zero 2/Uprising
Valeria Walker
I wanted her to look young, but also with a weakened appearance due to her illness. I feel she was an energetic and cheerful person in contrast to Aiden. The name was also chosen inspired by @/journeysfable's post.
Ava Walker
For her I took inspiration from Ava's joke design. She has characteristic features of both Aiden (such as his hair, facial features, and attitude) and her mother (such as her freckles, eyes, and eyebrows).
Helena
Helena was inspired by the "comfort couple" model from Half Life 2, apart from being the female character with the oldest face, since unlike the rest of the girls, she reached a more advanced age before dying.
The choice of her name was due to the song "Helena" by MCR, since many of the band's songs remind me of Victor and her relationship.
Traitor Leader
I didn't give her a name because I think part of her personality is that "I'll only be someone when others are too." For her physical appearance, I took Helena's model as a reference, since I wanted her to look like her (Why? To induce even more trauma in my poor boy Victor). But no, she's NOT Helena.
I drew Emil + Friend's ocs when they were in their emo phase and trying to think of lil baby versions of them all was pretty fun. I hope I did everyone's ocs justice <3
mod Cat made this incredible poster for our favorite SHIELD agent! Who knew secret government interns still liked to have photoshoots and kept them on Instagram??? We give you the lowdown on the latest Avengers activity and updates in our weekly newsletter we call “Road Less Traveled” found here!
Steve is seriously struggling with adjusting to life in the newly minted Avengers Tower. Luckily, Ava has some perspective for him.
@countessklair and @catgrant are proud to present another installation in our collaborative work. Find the new chapter on AO3 right here or start reading from the beginning right here! Feel free to give us some love.
Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Ava Walker, Garth Fitzgerald (mentioned), Audrey (brief)
Word Count: 1,907
Warnings: Suicide, and obvious angst. I don’t think there’s anything else really, nothing is explained in detail.
A/N: This is it. This is the end. The very first fanfic that got me into this crazy world is finally drawing to a close. I have grown very fond of Ava and her story, and though I’m sad to see it end, I also feel closure for something I never thought I’d finish. Thanks to @wheresthekillswitch for encouraging me to even keep going in the first place, and to @trexrambling and @pinknerdpanda for stepping in after a messy first few chapters and beta’ing it for me. If not for those three…I don’t know. I don’t think the rest of my Masterlist would exist. This chapter is sad and though the ending is not quite how I pictured it when I started…I think it’s a very fitting end. For those of you that have you followed along and fell just as in love with Ava as I have…thank you. So here it is. The final chapter in my first ever fanfic. I hope you enjoy.
As always, tags are at the bottom. If you’d like to be added, let me know. :)
Ava sat quietly against the tree, her eyes on the stars sprinkled across the slowly lightening sky like fading diamonds. The valley below her stretched out, covered by a thin mist that allowed brief glimpses of roof peaks, sharp and dangerous looking in the soft clouds.
The bark dug into the thin shirt she was wearing, and she wished she’d grabbed one of Dean’s flannels before she’d left. The cold was slowly sinking into her bones, but she mostly ached for the warmth he offered, the feeling of home she’d found when she was around him. The cold was the price she’d pay for leaving behind someone who’d risked their own life to save hers.
She’d come here to try to find some sort of peace, maybe a chance at reconciling her old life with what she had now. Instead, all she had found was the whisper of a memory that didn’t even seem real anymore. She looked down at the picture in her hand, of her and Ben, his smile bright and full of love, and sighed. She had loved him. In her own broken way, she had loved Ben more than anything else. A part of her thought he knew that something was missing, that she was being held back by something she couldn’t remember, but he had loved her anyway. Their relationship hadn’t been perfect, but it had been good…it had been safe.
She let the picture fall onto the grass next to her and looked back over the valley. She wished she had a picture of Dean, but she had left her phone at the bunker so she wouldn’t be tempted to answer when he called. She knew he would, and that he would drive like a bat out of hell to find her, so she reluctantly stood up and brushed the grass off of her jeans. It was time to finish what Sebastian had started. She walked back to her car, and the photograph she left behind fluttered in the breeze before being swept off the cliff and towards the still sleeping town below.
“Dean, slow down-”
“The hell I will, Sammy.” The Impala’s tires squealed in protest as he took yet another curve way too fast, and Sam grimaced as his body was thrown into the passenger door.
“Listen, I get it, but if you kill us before we even get there, what good is that going to do?” Dean hit a straight stretch and pushed the pedal as far down as it would go. “It’s going to be fine, she couldn’t have been gone for that long, right? We’ll get to her.”
Dean glared at Sam from the corner of his eye, then looked back to the road. He sped around a Lincoln Continental that looked like it had seen its fair share of Sunday drives and was far too big for the tiny old woman driving it. “It doesn’t matter. She had enough time to get ahead of us. Any amount of time is too much.”
Silence filled the car as Dean sped on, and Sam finally spotted the warehouse in the distance. The last time they saw this building had been tense, but at least there had been a chance of a happy ending. Sam knew that the odds of them finding Ava alive and well were slim, but he couldn’t bare to think of any other outcomes. Dean cut straight through the middle of town, earning several honks, glares, and middle fingers as he hurtled down the main street, and somehow managed to make it to the other side of town without getting stopped by the police. He flew around the side of the warehouse and came to a screeching halt where they had parked previously and jumped out of the car, not even bothering to lock it behind him.
“Dean!” Sam shouted, but Dean was already rounding the corner towards the basement window. By the time Sam made it to the basement, Dean was gone. Sam could hear his echoing footsteps and he chased after them, his heart racing with fear. He realized that the halls had fallen silent, and as he approached the door that led to the chamber Sebastian had been keeping Ava, the first thing he saw was Dean kneeling on the ground, his body curled over itself.
It felt like Sam was trudging through deep mud as he approached Dean and saw the familiar blonde hair hanging across his arm as he picked Ava up and cradled her to his chest. He forced himself to keep moving, consciously lifting one foot and putting in front of the other until he was finally facing Dean and the last thing he would have ever wanted to discover.
If Sam didn’t know any better, he would have thought Ava was just sleeping. Her eyes were closed, and it looked like she was smiling.
“Dean…”
Dean smoothed the hair back from Ava’s face and looked up at Sam, tears flowing freely down his face. Sam opened his mouth to say something else, but snapped it shut. There weren’t any words. No amount of apologies or regrets were going to fix this.
“We were too late, Sammy.” He picked up the bloody demon knife and held it out to Sam, “She must have taken it off of my desk while I was sleeping.” He looked down at Ava and ran a thumb along her jaw. “I’m sorry, Ava…I was supposed to save you,” he muttered.
“Dean, it isn’t-”
Dean jerked his head up, “Don’t. Don’t you dare finish that sentence.” He slowly stood and began to carry Ava back the way he had come, carefully navigating the hallway back towards the basement. Sam pulled his phone from his pocket and stared at his contacts list before taking a deep breath and selecting one.
“Heya, Sam! I didn’t expect to hear from ya! What’s up?”
“Hi, Garth. Umm…I…we need your help. It’s Ava…” Sam couldn’t force the words out. It felt like his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth, and he fell silent.
“What do you mean? Where are you guys?”
“We’re at the warehouse. She took Ruby’s knife and…she’s gone, Garth. She’s gone.”
“She’s gone? What do you mean….” Garth fell silent as the sudden realization of what Sam meant hit him. “Oh, no…oh, I’m so sorry. What do you guys need from me?”
Sam paused in the door as Dean laid Ava down on the table and sized up the distance from the floor to the window again. “We’re going to need a pyre and somewhere to…somewhere to take care of it.” Dean looked back at him sharply and Sam put a hand up and looked at Dean apologetically, “Can we just meet you at the vet’s office?”
“Oh sure! Sure thing, I’ll call Jack. We got you taken care of, just head this way. I’m sorry, man.”
Sam cleared his throat and tried to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat, “Yea, me too, Garth. Me too.” He hung up and looked back at Dean who had quit glaring at him and was staring down at Ava. “Garth said we could meet him at Jack’s and they’d help us.”
Dean swallowed thickly, “That’s…that’s good. Great. Can you help me get her through the window?”
Sam quietly walked over to the window and pulled himself up through it. Dean carefully lifted Ava up to him, and Sam’s heart dropped when he felt how cold she had gotten. He held her in his lap as he waited for Dean to pull himself out of the basement, her small body curled up against him, and it felt like his heart was in a vice.
“Come on, let’s go.” Dean’s gruff voice interrupted Sam’s thoughts and he watched as Dean lifted Ava gently from him and crawled into the backseat with her. He tossed his keys in the driver seat but said nothing as Sam grabbed them. The sound of them sliding into the ignition was deafening in the silence, and Sam glanced up at the rear view mirror one last time. Dean was looking down at Ava, one hand resting gently on her hair as the other cradled her cheek. He wanted to say something, to say anything, but no words could fix it. No words could remotely come close to how Sam was feeling. He put the car into drive and drove off into the night, leaving behind the building that had played such a huge part in changing their lives over the course of just a few weeks.
Dean let the heat sink into his skin, the fire almost too hot as he stared into the flames. He thought about moving, but for a moment he just wanted to feel something other than the raging guilt and anger that was coursing through him. He watched as the orange tendrils licked along the dry wood, scorching and cracking the once blemish free logs, and listened to the groans and pops as the fire settled into the pyre’s bones.
He could just see the blackening fabric as the smoke and fire consumed the small figure wrapped in the once snow white sheet. She seemed too tiny, and Dean wondered how someone so small had held the spirit that she did. He could feel Sam staring at him, and he knew that he probably wanted him to say something. What was he was supposed to say? “Sorry, I did what I could, but just like with everyone that gets too close to me, death was just the next step in our relationship.” He jammed his hands in his pockets and sighed. There was nothing to offer. It was better if he said nothing at all.
After another long moment of staring into the flames, he turned and made his way to the Impala.
Sam turned to watch him in confusion, “Where are you going?”
“To remember,” Dean said without turning around, climbing into the driver’s seat. Sam flinched as the engine kicked over and Dean sped off down the road, the roar of the Impala fading as he disappeared.
Audrey had finished counting the money in the drawer and was getting ready to close it when she heard the loud rumble of a muscle car pulling into the lot. The sound of gravel popping against tires slowed to a stop, and she knew without looking up who had caused the bell above the door to jingle as it was cautiously pushed open.
“I just pulled an apple pie out of the oven, sweetheart. Flip that sign, would ya?”
Dean did as he was asked, then turned the lock and sat at the same stool he had the first time he’d come to Audrey’s. Audrey grabbed a plate and he heard the dull clink of metal against porcelain as she cut and dished out a piece of pie. When she finally turned around to look at Dean, the look on his face broke her heart. She sat the plate down in front of him, then slipped a set of silverware out of the mason jar on the counter next to it. She didn’t say anything; she knew by his expression that no words she could offer would soothe whatever devastation he was feeling.
Dean silently unrolled the utensils, pulled out the fork, and slowly began to eat.
