𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁.

CHAPTER ONE , PILOT

a/n : *CONTENT WARNING* this chapter shows depictions of bulimia.

Please skip if you're uncomfortable! Your comfort is more important than a story 🫶

there are definitely times where you might notice some continuity errors. Like Athena's age. Athena is 10 years old at the beginning of chapter 1. It might be confusing and clashing with other things I've typed, but that's it. I had her as 12 before, but changed it, so there might be some confusion. But I wanted to clear that up 🫶🏾

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Athena Winchester didn't mind sleeping in Motels. They're all she's ever known...all she remembers. She always looked on the positive side of things. If they had people shouting in the room next to them, Athena would say something like, "At least we won't be kept with our thoughts."

It sounds weird, but that oddly comforted Dean. After Sam left, Athena had to start helping Dean and John on cases. She enjoyed helping them with research, but the hunting was not for her.

Athena was a klutz. She would trip over the air every time she would go out. And you know that saying, "Stranger Danger."? Well, Athena never understood that. She always talked to people. But those people would always open up to her. Athena was like a Guru? She took after her mother in that aspect.

There would be times when Athena would ask about her mom. And John would say the same thing every day.

"She abandoned you, Athena. It's time to move on."

Athena always wondered, why John would tell her to move on when he was still hunting a demon that couldn't be found.

But she normally kept that thought to herself.

Every time Athena did ask about her mother, Dean would feel his guilt increase. John told him the real reason why Athena was with them and why she was never reunited with her mother. Sometimes it would keep him up at night, thinking about it.

The sound of repeated tapping is heard on the table and Dean's eye twitches.

"Hey, Athy?"

The tapping doesn't stop. Dean looks up from the laptop and looks at the auburn-haired brunette who had her headphones on, her music blasting. Her eyes were glued to the pieces of metal scraps and screws on the table. Dean rubs his forehead and inhales a deep breath.

There would be times, Dean could watch Athena work on an invention for hours. It was fascinating seeing her focus at the age of 10. When Dean was 10, he was dropping coins on the ground so he could look under girl's skirts.

He taps his finger against the table, in Athena's vision.

She shifts her gaze to him, revealing the steampunk goggles over her eyes. Athena pulls her goggles up, revealing her bright sapphire eyes. She places her goggles on top of her head, and she slips her headphones around her neck.

"What's up, Chuck?"

Dean raises his brows, "You're doing that thing again."

"The mouth clicking?" Athena tilts her head.

Dean nods.

"Yes! That means I'm onto something." Athena grabs the screwdriver and continues to work.

"Yeah? And what are you onto?" Dean inquires.

"Homemade EMF." Athena says.

Dean pulls his brows together, "Homemade?"

"That's what I said." Athena quietly hums.

"You can really do that?" Dean asks.

Athena looks at Dean with a deadpan expression. "Dean. It's me. Of course I can."

Dean cracks a smirk and looks back at his laptop.

"And what are you working on?" Athena asks, her eyes still on her work.

"Research. Dad said he's coming back tonight and we need to be ready for the next case." Dean presses his hand against his face.

"Dad said he would be back each day this week," Athena says.

"He's busy, Athy. Hunting isn't easy."

A quiet breath leaves her lips, "Oh. I know." She holds her hands up, revealing her Hello Kitty bandaids wrapped around each finger. "This wasn't just from my inventions."

Dean winces, remembering Athena almost losing her finger a few days ago. "Yeah, you need more practice with machetes."

"Thanks for that info, Captain Obvious." Athena gives him a cheeky smile.

"Happy to help." Dean scrolls through the PDF.  "Pop Quiz!"

Athena's ears perk and she sets her screwdriver down. "Shoot."

"How do you kill a Ghoul?"

Athena squints her eyes, "Uhhhh...Decapitation...?"

Decapitation was the answer to almost everything. So Athena just went with that.

Dean raises his brows, "You don't sound too sure. So are you sure?" He mimics his little sister and squints his eyes.

Athena swallows, "No--yes. I mean--gimme a second." She presses her thumb between her brows.

Dean leans back and chuckles at Athena's frustration. John told Dean that he needed to get Athena ready and have her become the perfect huntress. Athena was excellent at retaining information, but other things like fighting was something she needed work on. The girl knew the answer, but still. She wanted to be 1000% sure Dean wasn't trying to get her to stumble.

"Decapitation. I'm sure." Athena nods.

Dean lets out a sigh, "Correct."

Athena smiles triumphantly. "So that's 100 me and 0 for you...?" She inquires like she didn't know the answer. She in fact, knew the answer.

"Yeah, yeah--whatever." Dean waves his hand.

Athena purses her lips, "How about 100 me and 1/4 of a point for you?"

Dean pulls his brows together, "I don't need a pity point."

"Seems like you do." Athena shrugs.

Dean pouts and Athena giggles. "It's not a pity point, Dean. Think of it as a 'you made me second guess myself' point?"

Dean thinks for a second and Athena smiles.

"Okay, Fine." He looks at her. "I did stump you, so. I earned that point."

Athena nods her head, "Yes, you did."

Dean closes the laptop and sighs. "I can't work like this." He stands up and grabs his jacket.

"What? Sober?"

"Haha." Dean rolls his eyes. "I was talking about on an empty stomach. Do you want anything?"

Athena shakes her head, "Not hungry." She places her goggles back on, looking back at the EMF.

Dean sighs quietly. Athena usually got so into her work at times that she would just block everything else out. Once Athena set her mind to something, she never backed down from it.

"All right,  well. If you change your mind, just call and I'll pick something up for you." Dean touches the top of her head.

Athena gives Dean a small nod, her eyes on the EMF. He makes his way out the door and Athena looks at it.

Time always got away from Athena when she would work. One second Dean was leaving and the next he was walking back into the room with two bags of food.

"That all better be for you," Athena says, now looking up from her work and at Dean.

Dean sets the food on the table, "I figured you would get hungry later. And leftovers aren't a bad thing to have."

The auburn-haired girl shifts her eyes to the food and purses her lips. She inhales through her nose and plasters a smile on her lips. "Thanks, Dean."

Dean shrugs, "Just doing my part." He grabs his phone and looks through it.

Athena's smile drop and she continues to work. "Dad not answering?" She asks.

"He's just busy." Dean says.

The young girl presses her lips together and nods her head. "Right."

Dean hears the doubt in her voice.

"You could have some faith in him, y'know?" Dean looks at the girl.

"I have a bunch of faith," Athena replies. "I am the Queen of having Faith." She sets the screwdriver down and places her hands on her hips, signaling she was finished with the EMF.

"Is that it?" Dean walks over to his sister and sits at the table.

Athena nods her head and holds it out towards Dean. The older Winchester pinches his brows together and grabs the EMF. Athena rolls her lips into her mouth, trying to contain her excitement.

"Turn it on." Athena urges, waving her hand. Dean frowns and switches the EMF on. The red light flickers on, but no noise comes from it.

"No ghosts here." Athena crosses her arms and leans back in her chair with pride.

"I could've told you that." Dean looks at his sister.

Athena presses her lips together, "So...?"

Dean blinks, "It's cool, Athy. Good job." He turns it off and sets it on the table. He grabs his phone and scrolls through it, trying to find any messages from John.

Athena's smile saddens and she slumps her shoulders. The young girl didn't mind not being noticed, but it's like John and Dean never thought her inventions would work.

Dean places his phone against his ear. "Come on, Dad. Where are you?" He starts to pace the room.

Athena didn't have a reason to feel worried right now. John always disappeared for a large amount of times just to show up again without any explanation.

☆

It's been 2 hours since Dean has started calling John. Athena still didn't feel like there was anything to worry about. That was until Dean come back to the Motel with a recording.

A knock is heard at the door and Athena jumps up. She wipes her eyes and balls the empty bag up and tosses it into the trash. Athena opens the door and Dean quickly brushes past her.

"What's wrong?" Athena follows him.

Dean starts packing his things into his duffel. "We've gotta go."

Athena wipes her mouth. "Uh--why?" She grabs her bag and starts to pack her things.

"Dad's missing." Dean says.

Athena pulls her brows together and looks at Dean. "What? I thought he was just out on a case."

"Yeah, so did I." Dean looks at the auburn haired girl.

Athena's eyes slightly widen when she sees the worry in Dean's eyes. She wanted to continue asking questions.

How do you know he's in trouble?

Did you track him down?

Did he call you?

But she could tell that if she bombarded him with all her inquiries, he would snap at her. That's usually what happened.

So, the young girl presses her lips into a firm line and nods her head. "Okay, we'll find him." She zips her Hello Kitty backpack shut. Athena slips her bag onto her shoulders. "We always do."

Dean nods his head and zips his duffel up. "We have to make a stop first."

Athena raises her brows, "Yeah? Where to?"

Dean throws his duffel onto his shoulder, "Stanford."

Athena's eyes widen and she hangs her mouth open. "He's not gonna want to help us."

"He's going to."

"You can't force him to." Athena follows Dean out of the Motel.

"I'm his big brother, he's gonna listen." Dean says.

"Just because he listens to your explanation, doesn't mean he's gonna drop his life he built for the man who--"

"The man who what?" Dean looks down at the girl.

Athena tenses, "Nothing." She murmurs.

Dean quietly huffs and continues toward the Impala. Athena gnaws on her lower lip and sighs. Dean was already stressed enough as is, he didn't need Athena insulting their missing father. She follows after Dean and gets into the Passenger seat.

"Okay, we shouldn't have to make any extra stops." Dean says. "We've got gas and the leftovers from earlier."

Athena tenses, "Yeah, those are gone."

Dean looks at the auburn-haired brunette, her face was red with embarrassment.

"What? You ate all the food?" Dean asks, his voice was filled with disbelief.

A familiar sinking feeling is felt in Athena's gut and she felt like she wanted to hide under a rock.

"N-No, I threw them out." Athena quickly recovers. She turns to Dean and her face was filled with a false confidence.

"Dean, a vegetable wouldn't kill us now and then." Athena states.

"Okay, Smart Alec." Dean says. "That was a lot of food."

Athena looks out her window and swallows the lump that was painfully forming in her throat.

"Believe me...I know."

☆

"Rotate your wrist."

Athena looks at the knife in her hand and slowly rotated her wrist. She then moves the knife between her fingers.

"Better." Dean frowns. He stops the car at a gas station. "Food stop."

Athena inhales, "I have to go to the bathroom anyway. Can you get me a water?"

They both get out of the car. "You don't need me to wait for you or-"

"I'm good. Thank you though." Athena gives Dean a small smile before leaving.

Athena's smile disappears and she runs to the bathroom. The auburn haired girl softly knocks on the door before opening it. She dives for the toilet, forcing herself to throw up.  She grabs her hair and pulls it out of her face. Athena pulls her head out of the toilet and exhales a sharp breath. The young girl stands up and walks over to the sink.

Athena turns the water on and rinses her mouth out. She unzips her jacket pocket, grabs her toothbrush and toothpaste, and brushes her teeth.

This wasn't the first time Athena has done this. She would eat a lot, but only when no one else is around. Then she'd feel like shit. And in order to make herself feel better she would either exercise or make herself throw up everything she ate a few hours ago.

Athena would look at herself and didn't see perfection. Dean was a great hunter, just like how John wanted him to be.

Sam stood up for himself and left for what he wanted.

Athena...Athena was just there. A living disappointment. John has made that perfectly clear to her.

Athena looks at herself in the mirror. She places a hand over her stomach and exhales a soft cry.

"You're fine, you're fine, you're fine..." Athena whispers, trying to catch her breath. She forces a small smile and inhales.

"You are fine." Athena nods her head. She washes her hands and walks out of the bathroom.

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Author's Note:

I am so ready for this! Also, don't be afraid to vote and comment y'all! I won't bite—I swear! <3

Also here's a helpline for eating disorders if you ever want to talk to someone. You can call or text <3

(800) 931-2237