Author's note:

Guys, I haven't written any fics in over 2 years. My last writing muse was Clexa, and after all that went down, I just kinda lost the desire to write fanfic. But guess what? Wayhaught, that's what. They are the greatest otp and I freaking love this show and I just wanted to get back into writing again, so here we go! This show is filled with incredible characters and fantastic mythology, so this will be a fun sandbox to play in. I'm starting this after 3x03, and it's very likely that all my theories will be disproved by the next episode, but that's why this is an AU and we're just going to roll with it. ;)

And of course, reviews are always appreciated. Enjoy!

Nicole groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Every part of her body ached.

What just happened? Where am I?

The first sensation Officer Haught fully registered was the cold - well below freezing. She was flat on her back and gazed upward. All she could see was a sheer cliff face rising up into the clouds. A storm was rolling in and the sky was so thick she could hardly see.

The memories came flooding back now. There was a car crash. She had been rappelling down the cliff to reach Peacemaker for Wynonna. Something went wrong with her rope, and now she was here.

Nicole did a quick mental inventory of her injuries. No serious damage. But how could that be? She slowly sat up and grabbed the rope that was still attached to her. Nicole gasped when she found the end of it and discovered it hadn't frayed and the knot hadn't come undone. (Not that either of those had been a likely scenario - Nicole was a perfectionist when it came to her gear maintenance.) Her rope had been cut. With a knife. Intentionally. Someone up there had wanted her dead. But who? And what had they done to her friends? Nicole shuddered at the thought.

"Waves!" Nicole called out. "Waverly! Wynonna! I'm down here!" Nicole waited, but heard no reply. "Doc? Dolls?" Still nothing. "Anybody?"

So they had left her? Or had something more sinister happened? Nicole noticed something shiny a few feet away and was surprised to find she had company.

"Peacemaker? What are you doing here?" Nicole was positive she hadn't knocked over the gun as she fell. It should still be sitting on that ledge.

"Did you follow me down?" Nicole shook her head. Why was she speaking to an inanimate object? Maybe she was concussed. Just then, Peacemaker started to glow faintly. And not the usual orange. It was blue.

"FUCK BULSHAR," Waverly screamed, sweeping Doc's shot glass out of his hand and sending it crashing into the wall. "How can we kill him, Doc? Hmm? We don't even have Peacemaker anymore."

Wynonna took another long swig of whiskey, straight from the bottle. "I can't believe that bastard gun abandoned us too."

"The gun may be gone," Doc agreed, trying to keep his tone level, "but it has to be somewhere, and most likely is at the bottom of that cliff. Tomorrow Jeremy and I can go down there to retrieve it and Officer Haught's body..." Doc paused, realizing his mistake too late.

Wynonna winced.

"Well, fuck you too, Doc." Waverly's voice was barely a whisper, and that was more terrifying than when she was screaming. "We don't know that Nicole is dead." Waverly slumped into a chair as a fresh wave of tears burst from her.

"You're right, baby girl," Wynonna said, glaring at Doc. She looked down at the tags in her hand that not long ago had been around Dolls' neck. "And stop trying to make a plan, Holliday, because you're not very good at it. Save it for the rational thinkers."

"Oh, you mean the members of our group who are now gone?"

Wynonna shot him another look, then placed a hand on Waverly's shoulder. "We're gonna get her back, okay? And my stupid gun. Then we're gonna put stupid Bulshar and his stupid cult in the stupid ground."

Jeremy, who had been silent for the past hour, finally spoke up. "What about Dolls?"

Wynonna spun toward him. "Keep your scalpels away, Dr. Frankenstein. Don't you dare touch him."

Jeremy threw his hands up in surrender. "I'm not going to! It's just something we need to figure out. We can't leave him sitting in a fridge."

"We?" Wynonna said. "There is no we in this, Jeremy. You couldn't keep Dolls alive and you didn't have the decency to tell us what was happening. Doc can take you on whatever horribly-planned adventures he wants, but as far as I'm concerned, you aren't a part of this anymore. You can pack your bags and get the hell out of the Ghost River Triangle. Lucky you."

Jeremy opened his mouth to respond but shut it just as quick from a shake of Doc's head. He was probably right. No point talking about this with her right now. Jeremy sighed and walked out the door.

Nicole had to walk with a slight limp, but that wasn't going to stop her. She held Peacemaker outstretched in front of her, watching as its blue glow grew fainter when she turned off track, and brighter as she followed its course. At least, that's what Nicole figured was going on. She really had no idea and certainly wasn't used to being told what to do by a gun. She preferred things the other way around. But for some reason she was calm, at peace, and curious. She assumed she was being led to safety, but it also felt like she was being guided to something more.

After what felt like ages, but was most likely an hour, Peacemaker's glow went out.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked, tapping the barrel. "Run out of batteries?"

Peacemaker flickered blue once, then went back out, and somehow Nicole knew that was a no.

"Okay," she said, looking around. "So you want me to be here."

Two flickers this time. Must be a yes.

"Great, now I understand gun morse code. I must be losing my mind." Nicole yelped and dropped the gun when it seared her hand. "Sheesh, I'm sorry," she said, narrowing her eyes at the weapon lying in the dirt. "Can I pick you up again if I promise to be nice?"

No response.

Nicole sighed. "You can't stay mad at me. You need me to take you back to Wynonna. Are we good?"

A brief pause, then two blue flickers.

Nicole chuckled, then picked up the gun again, tucking it into her belt. She looked at her surroundings and found that she was at the edge of a clearing, which seemed strange considering all the tall trees she had been trudging around for the last hour.

Before the woods started changing, Nicole swore she knew Purgatory like the back of her hand. Sure, she wasn't a native, but she had spent a lot of time in the woods, whether for a leisurely hike or working a case. But since Bulshar had come back, strange things were happening to the trees, and she wasn't the only one who had noticed. The police department was receiving regular reports of missing persons, lost cars, and more because people were suddenly becoming disoriented when they entered the forests. And creepy loner revenants like the cannibal Waverly had just escaped from certainly weren't helping matters.

Waverly.

Nicole tried not to think about the woman she loved, but found that to be pretty damn difficult. Nicole had no idea what happened to them after she fell. She had to assume the best or else she might not have the drive to keep going. And it was so cold. Nicole suddenly realized how tired she was, and thought it might be nice to just lean up against a tree and close her eyes for a few minutes...

Nicole was startled as she felt Peacemaker get warm. Not hot enough to burn her again, but just enough to make her alert.

"You're right," she said. "Falling asleep here would mean frostbite and death. I'm trusting you to get me out of this, you hear?"

Peacemaker shot another pulse of warmth into her and Nicole smiled. "Thanks, buddy. I won't complain if you want to be my personal space heater for a while."

Nicole examined the clearing she was approaching more closely. The area was peppered with young trees, which was odd considering the others around her were at least a couple centuries old. It was as if there had been a controlled burn in this part of the woods not too long ago.

A fire.

But it hadn't been a fire that had killed all those people, including her aunt and uncle. Nicole's parents told her she survived a fire. Looks like someone actually had set fire to the area to fit the cover story. But the new green growth couldn't hide the truth.

A new batch of memories sprang into Nicole's mind. She had been here before. This was exactly where the music festival had been. Nicole walked quicker through the opening as she took it all in. This is where the stage had been, hordes of happy groupies surrounding it. She had been one of them. Nicole spun around, seeing in her mind's eye what the clearing had looked like on that day so many years ago.

A band was playing. People dancing. The smell of funnel cakes and beer in the air. Then suddenly there were screams. Nicole was the tallest kid in her grade, but the swarm of adults blocked her view.

"What's happening?" she asked her aunt, tugging on the hem of her shirt.

"Nicole, come here," her uncle urged. They were next to the stage and he kicked a hole into the wooden base, splinters flying off. "Get in and don't make a sound. We'll come back for you when it's safe."

"No," Nicole begged, her voice sounding small, even to her. "Please don't leave me."

"Shh, my darling ginger. Everything will be okay." Her aunt smiled, but Nicole could tell it was forced. "Just imagine we're playing hide and seek. Hurry now."

Nicole nodded and squeezed into the opening that was barely big enough for her. The moment she was concealed she saw her aunt and uncle's feet run toward the screams. Seconds later someone fell dead right in front of her hole. Nicole clamped her hands over her mouth to muffle her cry. She recognized him as one of the guitarists from the band.

Nicole crawled to the middle of the stage, farthest away from the slits in the wood around her, farthest from the horror. She curled herself into a ball, pressed her hands to her ears, and forced everything from her mind.

Much later young Nicole woke up. She wondered why it was completely dark and why she was lying in grass. Suddenly everything came back and hit her like a tidal wave. She covered her mouth again to keep from crying out. She sat quietly for several minutes, listening intently for any sounds. After hearing nothing she decided she had to get out. The lump in her throat told her that her aunt and uncle weren't coming back for her. And only one thing would have stopped them.

Nicole gagged as she crawled over the dead man in front of the hole. He had been too heavy to push out of the way. She gasped in terror at what the moonlight revealed to her. Bodies everywhere. Blood-soaked grass. Disembodied limbs. Strange symbols carved into flesh. Nicole ran as fast as her legs could carry her, out of the opening and toward the trees. She didn't stop until she reached a river. She knelt and cupped the water to her mouth, the cool autumn air setting in and chilling her to the bone.

Nicole couldn't help herself as she laid down, tucking her arms and legs into herself to stay warm, and sleep found her again.

This time Nicole awoke to a voice. A man's voice. She slowly opened her eyes just enough to see him standing in front of her.

"She's the one?" he asked, seemingly to no one. "But she's just a girl - how can she be the Protector? Ouch! Okay, okay!" He swatted at something at his side. It was a gun. "Message received."

The man helped Nicole to her feet, but her knees buckled beneath her.

"Whoa, there," the man said, catching her and lifting her into his arms. "You're safe now. What's your name, young one?"

"N-Nicole," she managed to say.

"Okay, Nicole, I've got you. Let's get you someplace warm. You're safe now."

Nicole snapped out of her reverie. She could see it now, the resemblance. Not to Waverly, but the older two. And the gun he had apparently been talking to was all too familiar to her now.

Peacemaker.

Nicole glanced down at the same gun that was at her own side.

"It was Wade? Wade Earp?" she asked Peacemaker earnestly. "He's the one who saved me that day? And you're showing me this because you were there too."

Two blue flickers. Yes.