It was a place beyond time and space.
Yes, it is an extremely cliché description, but that was literally the case.
A piece of reality set apart from all other realities. A small, empty and practically dead universe with barely a handful of matter. In its center, floating on a starless void bathed by the light of auroras of colors like none that had been seen before by human eyes, there was a citadel.
A huge artificial construction, half castle - half mansion, of a black metal that reflected the lights of the abyss around it, sinking on the rock of the great asteroid (or perhaps, dwarf planet) on which it stood. The only thing in sight.
Inside, deep within, was a labyrinth of secret cells and chambers where Friday, Thursday and an impossible-to-determine number of imprisoned Wednesday Addams variants were held. The corridors were patrolled by shadows, artificial constructs fashioned in the form of the most dangerous servile outcast species: the Hyde.
And one of those shadows came home, materializing in an orb of darkness in an extremely brightly lit area of white walls. The being, with its torso split in two and its legs yet to regenerate, fell to the ground and seemed to look around in bewilderment, as if it did not expect to be there.
"Did you expect to be able to sneak off to the kennels to lick your wounds without attracting my attention?" a voice said from behind it.
The Shadow Hyde turned, and despite still lying on the ground, managed to bow its head in deference. The figure before it was humanoid, clad in armor that seemed simultaneously medieval and of the highest technology, of a pearly white material. It was impossible to determine their sex, for their face was completely covered by a visor, also white, which concealed all facial features and camouflaged their voice, giving it a reverberating, artificial cadence.
They were the lord and master of the citadel, a being of enormous power and more ancient than any of their servants would dare venture. The name to them, ever present in the back of their minds, a reminder of whom they served.
The Bright One.
They lived up to the epithet, no doubt. Their armor seemed to radiate light. At every movement, flashes of it gleamed, blinding. The Shadow Hyde couldn't but close its invisible eyes and cringe pathetically as its master stood right in front of it.
"You should have come back with one of them. That's a first for failure," the glowering figure said. Their voice sounded monotone and serene, then immediately resounded with barely contained cold anger as they gave a command, "Explain yourself."
The Hyde spoke, or at least did the closest thing to speaking that it could do, emitting barely articulate guttural sounds that the Bright One seemed to have no trouble at all interpreting.
"An Enid Sinclair? I know they amount to one of the few beings capable of harming you, but it's not the first time you or your brethren have had to deal with one of them... You should have been able to solve the obstacle."
The Hyde said something, in a very low tone of voice, as if it was afraid of provoking its master's wrath by providing new information.
The Bright One did not burst out in anger, but an almost imperceptible shake of their head and the paralysis that seemed to dominate their body denoted that what they had just heard had genuinely surprised them.
"In broad daylight? A full transformation?"
The Shadow Hyde nodded.
"Interesting...," the armored figure said, then promptly knelt before the Hyde and without further regard plunged their fingers into the creature's temple as if it were made of butter. The Shadow Hyde emitted a pitiful groan as its body began to spasm before going limp. The Bright One merely took a deep breath, while their fingers delved into the skull of the creature they had just lobotomized with their hands.
"Interesting memories... yes, I see them... Ah, a Wednesday with a guardian... How serendipitous."
They stood up, dropping the inert body of the dying monster. Other small shadow creatures with barely defined shapes emerged in wisps of gray smoke and proceeded to remove the future corpse and clean up the remains of ectoplasm as the Bright One merely walked towards a huge overlook, with the landscape of the multicolored void in view.
Beneath the mask, they smiled.
§§§
Several universes away, in a world set in the year 1977, Wednesday Addams beheld a gruesome scene.
The Glomp.
One of the most abominable practices Wednesday had ever witnessed in her life. A display of effusiveness in the form of a hug combined with the aggressiveness of a tackle worthy of the most rabid rugby match. It usually consisted of an aggressor jumping on a stationary victim, and on many occasions usually resulted in both of them falling to the ground.
Enid was prone to give them to a select few individuals. Wednesday had learned to avoid them. Even after the establishment of their relationship it was a boundary the she-wolf had always respected. Normal hugs yes, but no glomping.
So she watched in horrified fascination as Enid and Pup ran towards each other and collided in mid-air in a Double Glomp before crashing into the ground in an embrace amidst laughter and tears.
Wednesday looked down at the scorpion she still held in her hands, "Our idiots, right?"
The little creature responded with a quick snap of her pincers.
Before her, rising from the floor, Enid and Pup had become a cacophony of greetings and welcomes.
"OMG! OMG!"
"I've missed you guys so much!"
"Look how much you've grown!"
"You two have hardly changed!"
"How old are you now?!"
Wednesday sighed, struggling to contain the smile that threatened to form on her lips at the scene, which she managed by reminding herself of the urgency of their mission. In a subtle way, Pup had been one of her variants with whom she had connected on a more personal level, and it seemed that the young woman had heeded her advice well, judging by the arachnid the Addams now held in her hands.
Behind her, Dora and Theo approached. The young lycanthrope leaned slightly towards who she perceived to be a variant of her mother with a familiarity that was still slightly disconcerting to Wednesday.
"From the reaction, I'm guessing she's...?"
"One of my variants from the interdimensional incident three months ago, like your mother," Wednesday explained, "This is Pup. She was about six years old and in her dimension it was 1964... I see that just as in your mother's case, time has run faster here for her relative to our reality."
"That's something that worries me when we have to go home," said Theo, "How much time will have really passed?"
"There are methods to resolve that," Wednesday said, "When we get your mother back and send you home it will be as if..."
She was unable to continue, suddenly finding herself enveloped in a hug from Pup. Who was now noticeably taller than her. She tried not to let it affect her too much.
"Wednesday!"
"Wednesday," greeted Wednesday, gently pulling away.
"Better call me Pup, just to be clear," the young woman replied, "That's what we made up nicknames for, right?"
"Since this is your dimension and I'm the visitor maybe you should be Wednesday and I should be the one to adopt a temporary moniker."
"Oooh... Grumpy!" suggested Dora.
"Knives!", added Theo.
"Wifey," finished off Enid, smiling with her arms crossed.
This time Wednesday couldn't help a little jittery twitch in her left eyebrow as she held back an irritated growl, "On second thought, let's just keep it Wednesday and Pup. For old times’ sake."
Pup replied with a grin, then promptly locked her gaze on Wednesday's hands, where the Addams was still gently holding the black scorpion. A faint trace of exasperation crossed Pup's face, like that of a mother ready to scold her offspring.
Nevertheless, when she grabbed the scorpion from Wednesday's hands, she did it with the same gentleness. She held the little creature in the palm of her hands and brought it close to her face, "What do you have to say, missy? Hmmm? I don't know how you manage to keep escaping from your terrarium and sneaking down the fire escape, but one of these days you're going to end up under the wheels of a car and then turned into pigeon food."
Wednesday watched the scene, this time not at all disguising the nostalgic smile that took control of her lips.
"We haven't been formally introduced," she said.
Pup looked at her, with surprise, "Oh!" she exclaimed, pulling the scorpion close again towards Wednesday, "How impolite, accept my apologies... Claudia Augusta, this is Wednesday Addams. Wednesday, this is Claudia Augusta, one of Nero's children."
"Nero... is he...?"
Pup smiled sadly, shaking her head, "He's gone. Natural causes. But he lived many years, and he and his mate left us many little monsters like this one here," Pup said, gently petting Claudia Augusta in its head with the tip of her finger, "There's a whole colony of them in the basement at home!"
"Yikes," whispered Enid.
"Wonderful," remarked Wednesday.
Dora nudged Theo, "Man, how come we don't have a colony of scorpions at home?"
Her intervention attracted the attention of Pup, who watched the twins with a curious look. Enid stepped forward, positioning herself next to her, "Pup, this is Dora and Theo."
"Pandora Enid Addams and Theophrastus Bombastus Addams, it's a pleasure," Theo said, stepping forward with a slight bow.
"Oh, more Addamses!" Pup said, visibly pleased, "It's always wonderful to meet new family members, are they from your dimension too?"
"They're Friday's children," replied Wednesday.
Pup turned her head so quickly toward her dimensional counterpart that Enid feared for a moment for the integrity of her cervicals.
"WHAT?!"
Wednesday merely nodded silently as her only response. Pup turned to the twins again, watching them more closely, "Oh, I can see it. Yes I can see it. And I'm not surprised at all, after all your mother adopted me as a little sister despite only being together for a couple of days."
"Friday and the twins are the reason we're here, Pup," Enid said.
Pup frowned slightly, "I'm afraid it's not a pleasure visit, is it?"
"Our mother...," Dora began, pausing for a moment to catch her breath, "Our mother has been kidnapped by a creature that travels between universes."
"And yesterday in our universe the same being or one of the same species attempted the same thing with me," Wednesday continued, "And our presence here is because by following his trail and that of others like him we can determine that one of them is somewhere in this dimension, ready to hunt you down."
Anyone else would have received such information with disbelief, or fear or panic had they believed it. But Pup merely nodded gravely, demonstrating the composure of character she had maintained since childhood.
"Perhaps we'd better move somewhere more private to talk," she said, as she placed Claudia Augusta in a pocket in the side of her dress.
"Yes. If that thing is anything like the one that attacked us it won't mind doing it in the middle of a college campus," Enid said.
"We can go to my apartment, I live in a penthouse near campus," Pup said, starting to walk. The rest followed her across the cobblestone path in the direction of the exit of the university grounds.
"How old are you now?" asked Wednesday.
"Nineteen," Pup replied, "It's been a lot less time for you girls than it has for me, hasn't it? You're still identical to how I remembered you."
"Only three months," said Enid, "Gosh, you're a year older than us now. This is disconcerting."
"What are you studying?" asked Theo, "I assume you're a student at the university and not just here to snoop around the morgue at the university hospital."
Pup smiled proudly, "Second year of forensic entomology!"
The twins responded with "Oooh's" and "Aaah's" of pure admiration. Wednesday merely raised her eyebrows appreciatively, approving of said career. Enid simply smiled, gently shaking her head, "It really does suit you."
"Although I do visit the morgue sometimes," Pup admitted, with a sheepish grin, "Cold storage is comfortable for a nap between classes."
"Of course," sighed Enid.
"Mmm, by now my roommate should be out, so we can have a chat with no problem," Pup continued. "And perhaps I should make an emergency call home..."
"Warning father and mother may seem sensible, but there's no need to alarm them unnecessarily either," said Wednesday, "You are the main target, after all."
"Yes, but that's the point," replied Pup, "I'm not the only Wednesday native to this dimension. There's Junior, too."
A surprised silence fell over the group for a few seconds. Dora and Theo merely exchanged a glance.
"Who's Junior?" asked Enid, frowning slightly.
Pup shrugged, "Wednesday Jr."
Wednesday's expression was one of indecipherable bewilderment, as if trying to unravel what she had just heard. Enid stared at Pup, dumbfounded.
"...what."
NOTES
A look at our villain and shenanigans with our girls - what more could you ask for?
(If you want to visualize what The Bright One looks like, imagine Sauron from the prologue of The Lord of the Rings movies but in luminescent white armor and looking like it was designed by Tony Stark)
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