An expectant silence fell over them all, despite the shouts of jubilation and celebration that had begun to rise from outside. The disappearance of the Shadow Hydes had been appropriately interpreted as a sign of victory.
Maybe a minute or more passed without anyone moving a muscle, all of them on alert waiting for what could happen, watching the inert body of The Bright One. After all, they had already seen their enemy undergo various transformations, overcoming any obstacle to continue fighting with a stubbornness that was almost admirable.
Many of the group were still anticipating that the armored fiend still had another ace up her sleeve. A final unpleasant surprise.
But her body remained lifeless.
After a few moments, Saint-Clair took a few steps forward, separating from the group and approaching The Bright One. Under the watchful eyes of all the others, the werecat stood next to the inert body and squatted down next to it, observing it carefully.
Immediately, she licked the index finger of her right hand and inserted it into the corpse's ear.
"Mmm, zero reaction. Yeah, I think it's dead meat."
"Did you really have to use that option of all possible methods, felina mía?" asked Woe, suppressing the urge to effect a facepalm at her paramour's antics.
"Well, I can try ripping her head off, that's usually more conclusive," replied Saint-Clair, with a sharp-toothed grin despite having reverted to her human form. Her green eyes sparkled with mischief.
"As much fun as desecrating bodies is, I don't think this is the right time," Wednesday interjected, "But as Friday said, it is done. But there's still a lot left to do."
There was a stream of nods and affirmative gestures throughout the group. Friday, who was being hugged by her children after delivering the coup de grace, nodded as she momentarily separated from them to approach the body of the fallen enemy, observing it with an indecipherable expression, "Wednesday is right, there are still plenty of our variants left to get out of those cells," said the Addams in pink. Friday turned back to the group, with a smile on her lips more relieved and lighter than she had felt in a long time, "But I haven't had a chance to say thank you properly yet, for coming to get me... OOOF!"
Her words were cut off short as she was lifted into a very tight hug by the still semi-transformed Enid.
"Miss Enid?!"
"You don't know how glad I am that you're safe," the lycanthrope said, smiling but holding back tears in her eyes, "Really, I can't express how much you had us worried, little one."
Friday laughed as Enid put her back on the ground, "I'm older than you now, Enid," she said, with a serene smile.
The she-wolf merely shook her head, "Nah. To me you'll always be that little gremlin who turned my stuffed animals' eyes into pincushions," she replied, returning to hug her again more calmly.
Theo and the still transformed Dora and Eamon joined in the hug, as well as Pup. Everyone else present merely watched the scene with varying degrees of affection (though if you were to point this out to Woe or Wednesday there would surely be sharp objects in your future).
Suddenly, a tremor was felt rising from the ground, shaking the entire structure of the citadel. The embrace broke, and everyone went back on alert. Taylor immediately jumped up beside Pup, wrapping her in her long arms as a shield. Soft but continuous growls also began to form in the throats of the lycanthropes present.
"Aha!" exclaimed Wod, climbing back onto the back of the also still transformed Eneit and hoisting his sword, "Is our deed not yet finished? Is another challenge awaiting us?"
But Needler, looking completely calm and observing her wristwatch again, clarified what was happening, "Be at ease, my friends. This is only the second phase of my preparations concerning our enemy's pyramid construct."
Indeed, a vibration seemed to run through The Bright One's pyramid from top to bottom. There was a deafening sound with the hissing of the hundreds of thousands of container cylinders that made it up opening simultaneously. From the top of the half-ruined citadel, the group could see disoriented figures emerge from many of the cylinders, especially in the lower levels of the pyramid. Multiple new variants of Wednesday were being released.
But the vast majority of them offered a very different spectacle...
Thousands of trails of light, in multiple colors from a dark green to the brightest white, rose from the overwhelming majority of the open cylinders into the sky, forming a huge column of light that began branching high into the air like a giant tree, attracting the attention of everyone in the area.
"What are they...?" asked Pup, quietly, though a part of her worried she already knew the answer.
"They're souls," replied a voice that until that moment had only sounded inside Wednesday's head. Agent A had materialized again out of the Addams' body, appearing as a semi-transparent, floating torso. Saint-Clair yelped at the sight of her.
"Fuck! Where did you come from?" the werecat asked.
"I've been here all along, Wednesday has been kind enough to let me use her body as a temporary residence."
"It's not like you asked for permission either," replied the Addams heiress, noticing the fatigue returning to her muscles now that the ghost had completely separated from her. All the physical empowerment the specter had lent her had vanished and now only exhaustion remained in a body that had exerted three times as much effort in half the normal time. She noticed a slight trembling in her legs and was pretty sure she would have fallen to the ground if it weren't for Enid standing next to her, holding her with gentle firmness.
Agent A merely smiled slightly, before turning serious again and continuing to speak, "And following up on my answer to your question, Pup, those are souls. The souls of the Wednesdays whose lives we were unable to save."
Friday put her hand to her mouth, a horrified expression forming on her face. Pup's reaction was not much different. Woe's expression became more homicidal than usual, with a furious coldness glinting in her eyes. Needler maintained a mask of calm, but one could see that her lips were tighter than usual. And Shark? Shark was completely serious and expressionless.
"Hell," muttered Theo, shooting another look of contempt at the deceased The Bright One, "What was this madwoman trying to pull?"
Agent A shot a look at Wednesday, "Shall I tell it or shall you?"
"We'll both tell it."
And so, for the next few minutes, as they continued to watch the particles of light rising to the heavens, Wednesday and Agent A explained all that The Bright One had revealed to them. The few sketchy details of her past, the demise of her Wednesday, the destruction of her world by her own hands, her insane plan…
"From what you have described," Woe observed after a moment of silence at the end of the story, "Her tale is full of holes. I think it's obvious that her Wednesday didn't reciprocate, for example."
"And that plan was foolish," Friday added, "You can't force a soul to return. Not even with a séance or invocation, the spirit always has the final say whether it wants to manifest or not. The idea that a perfect body would be an anchor that would attract the spirit of her Wednesday is...it's impossible. It would never have worked."
"All that absurd sense of entitlement," Enid muttered, "And that wasn't love, not really, what you've described sounds more like..."
An idea lit up Enid's lupine eyes.
"Gee, Weds, I think she was both a variant of me and a variant of your stalker," the she-wolf pointed out.
Wednesday nodded. There were certain parallels. Of course, her stalker had been a nobody in the end. It wouldn't be unreasonable to think that he was so inconsequential that in another universe his essence had become part of someone else's counterpart of greater importance in the scheme of things.
"What will happen to them?" asked Pup, pointing to the souls.
"They'll be fine," replied Agent A, "As fine as a disembodied soul can be. The Great Beyond is not constrained by the barriers of the multiverse, each of those souls will sooner or later find their way to their rightful place. I imagine many will pass the final frontier, but they are Addamses so many of those Wednesdays will surely be reunited with their families if only as the new ghostly resident of their respective homes."
The ghost looked down at her own hands. They were beginning to fade and the transparency of her body was becoming more and more accentuated, "Which reminds me, it's time for me too."
"Agent A?" asked Enid. It hadn't occurred to her that the ghost had to leave already.
"I have to depart," the ghost replied. She grew more invisible by the second as a floating crimson sphere of light began to take her place, "I'd love to stay for the final steps of the journey and the celebrations that are sure to come, but I've already prolonged my departure longer than I should. And I have two wives to meet with," she said, casting one last soft glance at Enid and Wednesday, "And one of them I haven't seen in a very long time."
"Agent A," Wednesday said, stepping forward a pace, "It's been an honor. Despite the lack of braided pigtails in your hairstyle, which I still find disturbing because of the Freudian resemblance to mother."
Agent A shot her and some of the other Wednesdays an amused look, "None of you have noticed yet what seeing this flowing mane does to an Enid, right?"
Friday coughed, a slight blush on her cheeks as she looked away while absently stroking Eamon's lupine head, "Like mother speaking French to father," she murmured.
Wednesday's eyes widened in surprise as she suppressed her own blush and cast a questioning glance at Enid. The lycanthrope couldn't return the look directly, "Well... I mean... the truth is... erm... Ireallylikeyourhairandyourloosehairdoesthingstome."
Agent A laughed as her form finally vanished altogether and a sphere of red light took her place, rising into the heights like a flaming crimson comet and joining the tide of souls still ascending.
"Well, there she goes," said Shark, "I'm a little regretful that I didn't get to know her better. But she's gone away leaving us with disturbing information, which I respect."
"Pfff, she didn't quite get it right," said Saint-Clair, "I actually prefer the pigtails, they're like..."
"No!" interrupted Woe, visibly embarrassed, "Don't even think of saying it!"
"...love handles," finished Saint-Clair, tossing a suggestive eyebrow wag at a Woe who looked like she was about to burst, her face with more color than it had ever had.
"Okay, we're getting into the realm of too much information," Theo said, sighing, "I think it's time to refocus on the current situation. Enid?"
"Ah, yes, yes, right, er…" said Enid, "Weds?"
"The first thing will be to finish freeing the rest of my variants," said the Addams, "But this has been your operation, mia cara lupa. We will follow your directions."
"Ah, well... well. Yes, release the rest of you and... Ok. Needler! We're going to have to start opening some portals already. Contact the multiple Grandmamas to start arranging proper transfers and find everyone's homes."
"I'll get on it, and also gather all the variants with good skills for logistics and planning," the mad doctor replied.
"We're also going to need food," Enid continued, "Oh, and medicine and medical care, there's got to be some injuries for sure after all that fighting. And from what you've told us, Weds, some of the still living Wednesdays that have come out of that pyramid may not be doing well at all."
Wednesday watched the whole brief scene with a certain air of pride. It was fascinating how the nervousness in Enid disappeared without her realizing it, giving way to the leader she had become.
At that moment, a loud whimper interrupted the instructions. It was Dora, still transformed, casting an embarrassed glance with an adorably canine tilt of her head.
Enid understood her instantly.
"Oh, and clothes! We couldn't make special outfits for everyone, and there are a lot of were-people who are going to be in the buff when they revert to their human forms. And okay, we werewolves don't usually have much of a problem with the nudity taboo, but things could get a little awkward if there's an army of versions of me running around naked."
Wednesday stifled a choked sound in her throat. Enid heard it just the same and hid a small smile.
"This is all going to take time, considering the numbers we're talking about," Pup ventured, "Given the size of that prison... we may be talking a five-figure number at the very least."
"This is going to take weeks," Woe growled. Her irritation was not so much at the volume of work that awaited them but at the thought of how long The Bright One had been acting with impunity. With a nod toward the fallen enemy, she turned to Enid, "What are we going to do with the body?"
"I don't know, really," Enid said, "I think for the moment it would be best to leave it here. This area is secluded enough from the rest and may well be her final grave. Now, let's get to work."
"Yeah, there is still hard labor ahead of us," Wod added. The Adamo prince had a serious expression on his face as he nodded, "That's why at least tonight, after the first aid and the clothing issue, we should do something else before we start on the rest."
"Oh, I think I know what you're talking about, little prince," said Saint-Clair.
"PARTY!" exclaimed Wodnesdæg, raising his arms, his black armor reflecting the colors of the liberated souls in the sky and Eneit's howl voicing her agreement. Soon, a chorus of hundreds of jubilant howls and roars joined them.
Enid merely shook her head, laughing, "Okay, okay, party. Addams style," she said, and proceeded to join in the howls.
NOTES
A very short chapter of respite after the final confrontation, and with a first farewell. Sorry for the delay, but my day to day life is getting busier lately. Luckily there's not much left, we're already finishing the story. I hope I know how to put the right ending to it.
At least one that is satisfactory :_3
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