The Runt of the Litter

It Just Looks like I'm Fighting with Me

Note: Hey, loves <3 My insomniac ass has been up for hours, and I'm so tired I can't even open my eyes all the way but it's Saturday which means it's update day! I missed this.

Thank you for all the comments and votes and whatnot. I appreciate you all so so so much 💜

To be honest, I couldn't tell you where this one came from. The idea just kept nagging me until I had it written out. But I wanted to explore Anna and Claire's relationship a little more, and so here you go. A nice long chapter with an actual monster in it :) Maybe this is a Supernatural fic after all

The title is a line from the song "Shadowboxing" by Julien Baker.

Anna is seventeen.

It Just Looks like I'm Fighting with Me

"This is so unfair."

"Yeah, I know."

"No, really," Claire said, pacing back and forth in front of the couch. "This is stupid. I'm the one who found the case. It's my hunt. And now I'm getting benched?"

Anna was sitting with her legs criss-crossed in front of her on Jody's couch, and she leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees, her chin in her hands. "You get used to it," she said bitterly. "I pretty much never get to do anything real, doesn't matter if I found the case or not. It's the chain of command."

"Screw that," Claire spat. She whirled around, hands on her hips. Her eyeliner was smudged and dark, and Anna could tell she hadn't redone it since at least the previous morning. They'd all been awake just about all night trying to figure out who the wraith in town was. "There is no chain of command. They're just treating us like kids."

"Again," Anna said tiredly. "You get used to it."

"Anna, don't you get it?" Claire said emphatically. She dropped down to sit beside Anna on the couch. "Jody and Sam and Dean... It's not just that they think we're too young right now. They don't want us to be hunters. Period. They're trying to choose our lives for us."

The thought had crossed her mind a number of times. But she always shoved it away. There was a difference between trying to control somebody and trying to protect them. Even if the boys didn't want Anna hunting, she was able to trust that their reasons were more benign than what Claire was suggesting. In fact, she didn't like the insinuation that her family was power-hungry.

"They are not, Claire. They're just trying to protect us."

"I don't understand why the hell you're so okay with that excuse," Claire said, shaking her head. She stood up from the couch and went right back to pacing restlessly back and forth. "I'm nineteen. I'm not a kid, and Jody's not my mother. I'm a hunter. I deserve to be out there with them."

Anna sighed again. She wished she could be out there too. Or, hell, she almost wished they would have taken Claire and left Anna alone at Jody's. But alas, here she was, stuck arguing with her really angry sort-of-friend. "Claire, they're gone. We might as well find something to do."

"No," Claire said, determination creeping into her voice.

The sound made Anna wary. She knew where this was going, and she wasn't looking forward to it. "Please don't tell me you're thinking what I think you're thinking."

"It's my case," Claire said. "I'm gonna work it."

"Claire, come on," Anna pleaded. "I don't want to get lectured today. Or murdered," she added as an afterthought.

Claire was already halfway out of the room, so Anna reluctantly dragged herself to her feet and followed. "Nobody's asking you to come with me," Claire said from the next room.