In a near future.
One summer night, in a generously sized house on the outskirts of New York.
Enid Addams awoke, feeling the empty space beside her. Wednesday's absence made the bed feel warmer than usual.
Enid's eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the deep darkness. It was pitch dark, well after midnight but still several hours before sunrise on a moonless night. The glow of the stars barely broke the darkness through the bedroom window.
Enid did not feel nervous even though she was alone in bed. She could smell Wednesday's scent. Her wife was close by. Not only that, she could sense her presence almost instinctively. Her lupine senses had always been remarkable since her first transformation, but since her awareness of her Volvaugr status, they were superior to those of any other werewolf in existence.
The she-wolf sat up in bed, stretching awake with a yawn that exposed her now ever-sharp teeth. Glancing to the side, she could see through the large window into the balcony adjacent to her room.
Wednesday was standing there, dressed only in a black nightgown and barefoot, looking up at the sky.
Enid got up, put a long T-shirt over her naked body (for the last few years it had been impossible for her to sleep in clothes) and went out onto the balcony. The air was warm, and the murmur of night birds could be heard in the distance.
Walking with the delicacy of a silent predator, Enid stood just behind her wife and put her arms around her. Wednesday merely smiled softly and leaned back slightly, allowing herself to be picked up by the lycanthrope as she gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
“Trouble sleeping, Weds?”
“Mmm, no, not really,” Wednesday replied, in a tired tone of voice normally unusual for her, “At least I'm not the one having trouble sleeping.”
Enid let out a light chuckle and slid her hands gently down to caress her wife's swollen belly.
“Ah, they're little night creatures. Are the puppies all right?” the she-wolf asked soflty, feeling her children's heartbeats.
“Our little cambions are perfectly fine, mia lupa, just a little restless.”
“You know, if you keep calling them that they're going to end up being born with horns and wings.”
“Wouldn't that be a delight?”
“Oh, I'm sure your parents would love that.”
Wednesday frowned, “On the other hand they'd be insufferable.”
“And Pugsley would send us a fruit basket.”
“Horrifying.”
The two fell into a comfortable silence, one clasped in the other's arms, treasuring the future they were building together as they gazed up at the night sky. Still, Enid could sense that something was on Wednesday's mind.
“Now seriously Weds, what's gnawing on you?” she asked, “I know with the pregnancy you've had to get up more often than usual at night to go to the bathroom because our little monsters love to play soccer with your bladder, but that hasn't been the case now, has it?”
“No... I wouldn't know how to explain it, Enid,” Wednesday began, “I woke up feeling an apprehension similar to what I feel in those few tenths of a second before I have a vision, but no vision occurred.”
“Ooook... that's new.”
“Something is happening... some kind of shift in the very veil that makes up time and space. I am a seer. Although my powers require certain specific conditions to function and are normally limited, that doesn't mean that my senses and my inner third eye can't perceive significant alterations in reality itself.”
“That sounds... that sounds like something big, Weds,” the she-wolf whispered, slightly concerned.
“Maybe. I'm sure somewhere there will be Oracles having profound visions. Signs and portents. Prophecies,” the Addams raven said, almost whispering, “I don't know what it is Enid, but out there, beyond all boundaries, something has moved.”
“But you're all right, aren't you?” asked Enid, “It's not affecting you with strange visions or anything, whatever it is...”
“No, whatever it is... it's beyond my capabilities,” Wednesday sighed, “I'm sorry to have worried you, querida. The chances of it being any of our business are slim to none.”
Enid laughed, “You know by saying that you've jinxed us, don't you?”
“Maybe. But right now there's nothing we can do.”
“Well, I can think of a couple of things,” the she-wolf said, suggestively, “First, I'm going to pick you up in my arms and carry you back to bed, where we'll lie down to sleep. Second, as soon as the sun comes up in the morning and we wake up I'm going to make love to you to take away any stress or worry that still prevails. And third, tomorrow we'll make some calls, to your mother and grandmother, or the girls. See if anyone else has noticed anything.”
Wednesday turned to Enid, giving her a smile, “Sounds like an excellent plan to me, mia lupa.”
“Thanks, I came up with it all by myself.”
“I like step two especially.”
“What a coincidence, so do I,” laughed the lycanthrope taking her wife in her arms and kissing her before walking back into their room.
There would be no more worries that night. In the morning things would be clearer and decisions would be made. But Enid was hopeful that everything would work out, whatever it was. Hopefully, as Wednesday had said, it would be none of their business. Maybe some remarkable event that wouldn't even touch their little corner of the universe.
Maybe.
Obviously, they would have no such luck.
§§§
Beyond.
The Traveler watched with teary eyes as the wall of Nothing advanced. It was impossible to describe it in reality. The closest her eyes could "see" was like a wall of empty white devouring everything in its path. But it wasn't really that. It was nothing, really.
It was Nothing.
Another world erased, another world dead. Another world that she had not been able to save because she had arrived too late.
She was always too late. In a way, she was sure that was her curse.
But at that moment she noticed something.
She had never been... well, she had never been special (she tried to ignore the word freak, which in the past she had used with stupid, hateful comfort). Before everything went wrong her world was mundane, she was mundane. She remained so even after she met them.
After meeting her.
But mundane or not, despite not being special, something inside her told her that this time things would not be the same as before. Like a new, newborn instinct in her gut telling her that something had changed, that this time everything would be different. It wasn't hope, it had been a long time since she had allowed herself the luxury of feeling hope. No, this new feeling was something else.
She adjusted the device on her wrist and prayed that this time she would be able to get there on time, to make things right.
She wiped the tears from her blue eyes, and covered her long blonde hair again with the suit's helmet as she started the countdown to the Jump. The wall of Nothing was getting closer and closer, she knew from the screams. But she had plenty of time.
This time I'll make it, she thought.
The device began to vibrate. The whole suit she was wearing, similar to that of an astronaut or a diver, began to vibrate as well at the same rhythm. Her whole body became transparent. Her outline became distorted, like an image of an old television set suffering from interferences.
Each and every one of her atoms was ready to be shot into another universe. It was never pleasant. Truth be told, it hurt like hell, but she wouldn't have it any other way.
This time I will succeed. This time I'll save Wednesday Addams.
She felt the light burning behind her eyes. A million needles stabbing into her flesh.
Disintegration.
I will save her.
Dimensional jump.
Or my name isn't Amanda Buckman.
§§§
Even further beyond.
A rock, a remnant of a dead world, floating in the void of a forgotten dimensión, detached from the multiverse itself.
On its soil, ruins. Ancient and consumed by time.
The remains of a huge citadel crown the place. On top of that structure, a surface full of rubble, burn marks and crystallized rock.
And near one edge, human remains, bones.
A decomposed and deformed body partially fused to what appears to be fragments of once pristine white armor.
And from that image of death, life.
A flower emerging from between the ribs of the deceased body, tall and defiant. An unnatural rose with black petals born from the corpse itself.
As dark as shadows.
The petals open, and from their center light emerges. A white light, faint and flickering at first, but growing stronger.
More and more every second.
Until all is consumed.
Now only a sphere of luminescence remains floating in the eternal dark. Burning like a small newborn sun.
And then, the silence is broken and a voice echoes throughout the void with the force of thunder.
And she shines.
Bright.
NOTES
😈 Oops.
Ok, people. Let's set the record straight.
First of all, thank you. Thank you all. Thanks for reading my fanfic and thanks for all the good times, thanks for the theories in the comments regarding the identity of TBO, thanks for all the support you have given me all this time. Thank you. A thousand times thank you.
But as Grandmama said, this is not goodbye. It's just a see you later.
I don't know when. Neither do I know how. I need a period of rest first, some time to recharge my batteries. Refresh my ideas. Maybe I'll finally be able to write the Woe and Saint-Clair spin-off.
But one day, we will continue the journey.
And this time...
Well.
The title says it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment