#i have therapy on wednesday and i'll speak to her about this too

[ornii]

Bitterly Beautiful, Part 7

Chapter 7: I see you for who you are.

Jericho was crying this day, the tears of Rain poured down heavy upon this funeral. Many Nevermore and Jericho residents stand at attention for the funeral of Mayor Walker, Enid being comforted by Ajax, (Y/n) stands next to them, silent. Wednesday was a bit further away, her focus on (Y/n), she wants to take the first steps forward, but it was too late. Yoko, a student of Nevermore and a Vampire with pitch black glasses steps up next to him, she gives him an honest smile and he tries to reciprocate. Unfortunately a certain Wednesday was on his mind too much. Wednesday took a step back, and simply watched.

"I enjoy funerals. I've been crashing them since I was old enough to read the obituary section. Mayor Walker was murdered, and I know the killer is here, standing innocently among us, plotting their next move. And watching everything I do. I know I'm close to the truth. I have all the pieces of the jigsaw. I just need to slot them into place. I must look past the tears and masks of grief. Until now, I may have been outmatched and outmaneuvered, but the final gambit has yet to be played. The killer will make a mistake, and I'll be ready." Wednesday senses someone is watching her, she tilts her head left to a shadowy figure who quickly disperses. She gives chase into the forest. She reaches a clearing and looks around. The man suddenly drops from a tree and Wednesdays Umbrella was a sword, She hurls it at the man, who catches the blade with a form of electricity. Wednesday for the first time smiles wide at this, knowing who it is.

"Uncle Fester." She said, the man removes his hat to a bald head, pale skin and slightly rounded eyes.

"How long have you been stalking me?" She asks.

"Just blew into town this morning and was hit by a wave of nostalgia."

"I thought you didn't go to Nevermore."

"I didn't. Your dad got all the brains. But I used to drop in on him. Usually from the ceiling with a dagger clutched between my teeth. Just to keep him on his toes."

"Of course." Wednesday smirks.

"He filled me in on what's been going on. Monsters, murder, mayhem. What fun! I told him I had a job in Boston, but I'd be checking up on you."

"What kind of job?"

"The kind that means I need somewhere to lay low for a couple days." Fester said, which gives Wednesday an idea. She takes fester to the Bee Hive, without Eugene there; it's dead silent.

"This place belongs to a friend."

"You've actually made a friend. That poor kid will be going home in a body bag." Wednesday and Fester enter the room, and Fester sees the box of bees.

"Oh. I like a hideout that comes with snacks." Fester opens up the hive box..

"Those bees are hibernating. They're practically Eugene's children. That means do not eat them!" She says, and Fester frowns and puts the Bee back.

"You know, when you give me that death stare of disapproval, you remind me of your mother. Speaking of scary things, you know what kind of monster you're dealing with?"

"I haven't been able to identify it." Wednesday shows the accurate drawing Xavier made, Fester gazed at it.

"Ooh. It's called a Hyde."

"As in Jekyll and Hyde?"

"Mm-hmm." Fester nods joyfully.

"You've seen one before?"

"Oh yeah. In '83, during my vacay at the Zurich Institute for the Criminally Insane. Where I got my first lobotomy. But you know lobotomies. They're like tattoos. Can't just get one."

"Tell me about the Hyde."

"Ah. Olga Malacova. Jeez. She had it all. Beauty, brains, and a penchant for necrophilia. Olga was a concert pianist, until one night she transformed in the middle of a Chopin sonata. Massacred a dozen audience members. And three music critics." Fester grins especially at that.

"What triggered her? Or did she just change on her own?"

"No idea. I only saw her in group electroshock therapy."

"There's never been any mention of Hydes in any outcast book. And Nevermore is reputed for having the best collection."

"You try Nathaniel Faulkner's diary? Before he founded Nevermore, Faulkner traveled the world, cataloging every outcast community."

"How do you know this?"

"You think your parents can't keep their hands off each other now, oy vey. I showed up unannounced one night in Gomez's dorm room. Let's just say I wasn't interrupting a pillow fight hehehe—"

"Uncle Fester."

"Right Right Yeah."

"The diary, where is it?"

"Nightshades Library. Your dad parked me there and said I should settle in for a long stretch. And that's when I found this nifty little safe. I was hoping for a stash of cash or jewels but instead I found a diary." Fester explains, Wednesday considers this and nods.

"We'll sneak into the Nightshades Library tonight. In the meantime, lay low...If you are discovered, I will disown you and collect the reward tied to your capture."

"I'd expect nothing less." Fester responds, as Wednesday leaves, he creeps back into the bed box and Wednesday storms back in.

"Leave the bees alone." She says, Fester unfortunately agrees and leaves them alone. Wednesday returns to Nevermore, walking down a corridor past the main lobby, she catches a glimpse of (Y/n) in her eye. She halts and turns her head to his direction, he's sitting alone, until a pair of legs walk over to him as he has his head down.

"This seat taken?" A voice said, he looks up and senses a lingering of, undead. He gave a sorry smile.

"Yoko. No it's open." He says, "Thanks." She replies and sits down across next to him. They begin to chat and Wednesday slowly creeps over to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"So, Enid tells me that you're going though a bit of a "Break up." Yoko Said.

"It's not a "Break up". She Never considered me more than a tool, more like, a difference of opinion I guess." He replies and she gives him a pat on the shoulder.

"Sorry to hear that, look I need some.. help with something and I'd appreciate it if you did. Could take your mind off of Wednesday." She says, he gives a soft smile in response.

"That.. would be nice." He said, and Yoko leads him away, Wednesday fumes as she watches this, but can she truly blame (Y/n) for his actions? She returns back to her Dorm to write her novel.

"My novel started out as a twisted fiction, but somehow reality has turned it into my own personal looking glass. My visit to the Gates mansion has left me with so many questions. If Laurel Gates died 20 years ago, then who's sleeping in her bedroom? Why do they have photos of me? And what is their connection to this Hyde? Whoever it is, they're clearly willing to kill for their secret. Goody predicted this quest for answers would become a lonely pursuit. Of course, Goody's nowhere to be found when I need her. The dead can be just as annoying and unreliable as the living." Wednesday monologues, the door opens and Enid awkwardly steps in.

"Hi. Sorry, I figured you were still at Mayor Walker's wake."

"As soon as the dirt hits the coffin, I'm out."

"I can't seem to find my bottle of silver moon nail polish. Do you mind if I look around? Yoko's hosting a mani-pedi party for her crew, she's busy right now—"

"With (Y/n)." Wednesday said, folding her arms. "This is the third time in 24 hours you've forgotten something."

"So, how is everything going?"

"Solitude suits me. With no annoying distractions, I'm almost finished with my novel."

"Oh, Was I an annoying distraction?" Enid said coldly.

"You definitely had some annoying habits."

"Such as?"

"You giggle when you text, which is a 24/7 addiction."

"At least it's not a migraine-inducing typewriter hammering into my head."

"When not grinding your canines, you growl in your sleep."

"As opposed to late night cello solos?"

"You over-commit to activities, then complain about them."

"I'd take that over your obsession with all things creepy." Enid says.

“(Y/n) Isn’t creepy.” Wednesday quickly fires back.

“What?” Enid says confused and Wednesday quickly changes the subject.

"You could gas an entire village with the amount of perfume you spritz. That's just off the top of my head.l

"Guess I'm lucky with the new roomie that doesn't try to find ways to endanger literally everybody she comes into contact with. In fact, Yoko and I are so in sync that she's begging me to be her new roomie. Permanently."

"Don't let me hold you back. Enjoy your solitude, Wednesday."

"It's not solitude if you're still here." Wednesday says as Enid storms off, she's still alone, still putting up those walls. Wednesday returns back to the secret library. She heads down it, and looks around.

"Uncle Fester?" Wednesday asks.

"And Who's Uncle Fester?" She hears a voice calling and Wednesday turns around to (Y/n), who was carrying a small box.

"What are you doing here?" Wednesday asks.

"We're Not Partners, I don't have to explain myself. What's your excuse for creeping around in the middle of the night?" He asks back.

"Research." She replies.

"On the monster?" He asks.

"It's a Hyde." She responds and (Y/n) stops.

"A Hyde? They've been barred from Nevermore for years.. why would one be here?" He asks, "I assume you're tracking it?" He said.

"We're Not Partners, I don't have to explain myself." Wednesday says with her cheeky undertone. (Y/n) just scoffs at her.

"You're right, why do I even try with you? You know what—"

"I would love to hear your all seeing insight." She says, "People would be more inclined to help you if you never used them. Maybe if you were more honest—"

"Fine. You want honesty? Here it is. Your condescendingly decent attitude, dreadfully annoyingly toxic personality, and your "innocent blind kid" technique to avoid suspicion is commendable, but it's obvious you're letting your feelings get in the way of the truth. There's a monster roaming this town and you're more preoccupied with how I feel about you. It's disgusting, annoying, and tiresome."

"Of course feelings for you are tiresome. That's your problem, you think everyone is some puzzle you need to solve and crack. Humans are a lot more complicated than that, some people genuinely want to be your friend. I did. Even when you went to jail for grave digging, I was by your side. Why?" (Y/n) says.

"Because for some reason I cannot fathom or indulge, you seem to like me." Wednesday fires back. And (Y/n) just smirks.

"Liked... Past tense." He responds coldly and walks away and up the stairs, Fester drops down.

"How long have you been lurking?" Wednesday asks as Fester laughs.

"Long enough to feel the romantic tension between you two. Yowza! Seriously, you could cut it with an executioner's axe! Reminds me of your mom and dad, totally gushing with emotion! I've never seen you this mad!" Fester says smiling, Wednesday just stares morbidly at him. The thumbing of fingers stop him and he looks over at a desk to see Thing, who's less than enthusiastic.

"I'd recognize the patter of those fingertips anywhere. Hello, Thing. You can't still be mad about the Kalamazoo job. It wasn't my fault." Fester said, Thing leaps at him grabbing his neck and strangling fester, they struggle against each other as he gasps for air.

"You said you could crack that safe in 30 seconds. Five minutes later, we were still there. You're all thumbs."

"Enough." Wednesday booms with her voice, the two stop and turn to her. "Let him go. Show me the diary." she said, fester shows Wednesday a painted of an, odd hairy monster.

"Here we are. Iggy was Faulkner's right hand. Trained a generation of Nightshades. And behind Iggy Itt..." he says and pulls on the painting to reveal a safe behind it. Thing crawls along it and cracks his knuckles. Thing begins to attempt to crack the code.

"Do I have time for a snooze, or can you crack this quickly? This is turning into a replay of Kalamazoo." Fester watches until the safe clicks, Thing opens it and inside was a rustic and old journal. Wednesday takes it and they retreat up to her Dorm room.

"These are some sweet digs. How'd you swing your own single?" Fester asks, Wednesday was too busy reading the journal.

"My former roommate couldn't handle my toxic personality. Here it is." Wednesday shows Fester the journal entry.

"Faulkner describes Hydes as artists by nature, but equally vindictive in temperament. Born of mutation, the Hyde lays dormant until unleashed by a traumatic event or unlocked through chemical inducement or hypnosis. This causes the Hyde to develop an immediate bond with its liberator, who the creature now sees as its master. It becomes the willing instrument of whatever nefarious agenda this new master might propose."

"Anyone willing to unlock a Hyde is a next-level sicko."

"That means I'm not looking for one killer but two. The monster and its master." Wednesday said, suddenly there was a knock at the door. Wednesday halted and approached, the door opened to (Y/n), who was pretty calm.

"I didn't want to just barge in, in case you were changing or something. Enid was looking for her full moon silver nail polish or whatever." He says, Wednesday didn't seem too hesitant to push him out, but she was quiet.

"Can I look for it?" He asks, Wednesday side steps.

"Thanks." He says and enters, he walks to her drawer.

"Enid she's un, has requested to room with Yoko for the rest of the school year..." (Y/n) says as he picks up and sniffs a nail polish.

"She did?" Wednesday said.

"Yeah, I just wanted you to know... in case you were wondering if she'd come back."

"I would rather buy a rope."

"Of course you would...Is it really that difficult for you to admit that you made a friend, and now that she's gone you might actually miss her? Miss me?"

"I'll survive alone. I always have." Wednesday responds, (Y/n) gives up and puts on a forced smile.

"Well. I'll let her know.." he says and puts his hands in his pocket.

"Also... a favor. Could you explain to me why someone is hiding in Enids plushies?" He says, Wednesday looks a bit taken aback and (Y/n) shrugs, he turns around.

"Come out. I know you're in here." He said, he senses the odd man's heartbeat and Fester stumbles out laughing.

"Wow! And I thought I was good at sniffing things out! What are you a bloodhound?"

"No, perceptive. Who are you? And what are you doing in a teenagers bedroom?" He says, Fester offers a handshake.

"Fester, I'm Wednesdays Uncle. Nice to meetcha!" Hd says, (Y/n) sighs and accepts the handshake, Wednesday watches the lightning touch him, but (Y/n) doesn't even flinch. Fester looks a bit taken aback, (Y/n)'s grip tightens and he yanks fester in close, they're face to face.

"You touch anything of Enids, even if one plushie is out of place and I will vaporize you. All I need to do is blink and you're gone. Do I make myself clear?" (Y/n)'s demeanor has shifted radically.

"Crystal! That's on the honor of the Girl Scouts I ate!" He says still smiling, (Y/n) let's go and walks away.

"Where are you going?” Wednesday asks.

"Not to snitch on you, whatever you do, as long as Enid is okay, is not my business anymore." He says, but he stops himself and he turns to her, he has this sad longing look on him.

"Just... Be careful, please." He says before leaving, as much as he hated Wednesday for using and getting Enid in harms way, he never wanted any harm to come to Wednesday either. It's a tough spot to hate someone, but also want them to be alright. Wednesday also felt this longing, her actions forced them away from her, while she claims solitude is what she desires, her heart says otherwise. She watches him leave, before fester laughs.

"Hey! Being a solo lobo has its perks. You get to live by your own rules, do whatever you want. Just look at me! And that guys a real charmer! Gives off that real super villain Mood." Fester said, Wednesday began to heavily consider something, and asked.

"Uncle fester.. the journal said that a Hyde can be awoken by traumatic events in a person? Can a person being forcibly blinded by their parents be traumatic?" Wednesday said.

"It's.. definitely possible! I mean I'm all for capital punishment but on your own kid? Just pick random ones off the street." He says, and Wednesday simply dreaded the thought.

The Super strength, the Traumatic events, no, (Y/n), he simply couldn't be...

(Y/n) entered the cafe, and sought after a seat.

"Yo, over here!" Yoko calls out and (Y/n) smiles hearing her voice, he walks over and sits across from her. They begin to chat pretty casually, across from the building, Wednesday was staring from afar. A bit too distracted now on her monster hunting. Fester looks over to where she's looking.

"He must be a Vampire, you know they're notoriously suave."

"He's a Fomorian.."

"Oh! You already know his breed? Aren't you just fawning?" Fester says casually.

"I will make due on my threat to hand you over and get the ransom." Wednesday said, only slightly deterring her Uncle.

"Well you look more gloomy than usual, and that's saying a lot, why don't you go over there and stab her in the heart already?"

"As much joy as that would bring me, it ill use my words." Wednesday stood up and approached. For the first time in her life she felt this toxic emotion, Jealousy.

"So, just be calm, cool about it and just say it." (Y/n) said to Yoko, she nods and they both are approached by Wednesday.

"(Y/n)" Wednesday said.

"Yeah?" He responds, Wednesday looks ready to murder Yoko but keeps her composure.

"I'd... like to speak with you. Privately."

"It's okay I was just going,” Yoko says, "She's here!" She says all giddy and (Y/n) nods.

"Go get Em Tiger." He responds and Yoko leaves to follow a Nevermore girl and speak with her, (Y/n) offers a seat.

"Seats open." He says and Wednesday sits across from her.

"So, what do you want to—"

"You need to stop seeing Yoko.. now." Wednesdays Just blurts it out, which actually stuns (Y/n).

"... talk about." He finishes, he begins to stand up.

"Yeah I'm not touching thay with a ten foot pole." He says, his wrist was suddenly grasped by Wednesday.

"At least listen to what I have to say before making a decision." She says, he slowly sits back down.

"Okay... talk." He says, Wednesday takes a deep breath and can't look him in the eye so she looks down slightly at the table.

"Ever since you and Enid departed from my life things have been.. challenging. I'll admit this form of solitude does not suit me. And after much consideration I will admit it, I used you and Enid and Tyler, I should have been more forthcoming about my plans instead of just manipulating you to do my bidding, but you're no better by using Yoko to upset me." Wednesday said and (Y/n) snickers.

"If you find something about what I said humorous than please share." Wednesday sharply said, and (Y/n) just smiles.

"Wednesday... Yoko swings for the other team."

"... what do sports have to do with this?" Wednesday said and (Y/n) laughs.

"You're so clueless it's actually cute!.." he says, Wednesday's eyes could stare daggers into his chest with her glare.

"Wednesday.. Yoko likes.. girls, Not guys." He says, which shocks Wednesday, she just stares at him.

"I.... Was not informed of that." She said, (Y/n) folds his arms and leans back.

"Everyone knows, You know men live for the day they can make a girl look stupid, and god this was so worth it. Wednesday, Yokos not into guys, she came to me asking for advice on how to ask a girl out, Divina, Kent's twin. That's why I've been hanging around with her so much. So, have any other insightful questions?" He asks smirking, Wednesday sighed wearily and began to muster up the courage to ask him.

"Yes, one more... would you, consider.. would you consider the date you planned?" She says, and he smirks even harder.

"You'll have to say the magic words~" (Y/n) says and Wednesday scowls after him.

"I'll place rusty thumbtacks all over your bedroom floor."

"That's not the word~"

"They'll never find your body.."

"Nope.. cmon I know you can do it." He said, Wednesday fiddles with her dress, gripping it on her hands as she musters up the guts to say it so cutely to him.

"Would you... would.. will you let me go on a date with you.. P-please?" She says, he smiled so honestly and nodded.

"Wednesday I'd love to spend time with you. plus I Figure after what happened last time, you owe me." He says.

"I can't sneak off of campus. All eyes are on me."

"Then we won't...Crackstone's Crypt." He stands up to leave and gives her one last quip.

"And I do forgive you Wednesday..." he said before leaving, and a bit of relief was finally washed over her. Night falls and Wednesday and (Y/n) stand before the crypt.

"Last time somebody threw a surprise for me here, it did not go as planned." She said.

"Yeah.. my bad about that, But you do have to close your eyes."

"Are you serious?"

"Oh you can't see for like 40 seconds? How tragic." He says, Wednesday says nothing and closed her eyes.

(Y/n) slowly leads her inside, "Okay. Watch your step. Wait here. Close your eyes. Okay. Easy. Right here. Okay, you can open your eyes now." He said, she opens them to a Punic, black cloth, even blacker basket of food. And what seems to be a makeshift stage.

"No one's ever taken you on a date inside a crypt before? How do you feel about, Macbeth?" He said.

"It's one of my favorites? Even Thing doesn't know that." Wednesday said.

"I had a feeling you'd like it because someone gets decapitated at the end. Seems on brand for you. But this ain't a movie. .." He said. He cracks his knuckles and smirks, he turns to the Stange and extends his hands. He then takes out a knife and cuts his hand very slightly. He places a drop of blood on the ground.

"ná bac leis an mbás thú! go dúisigh tú ar aird mo ghlao!"

"May death never stop you! May you awaken to the head of my call!"

Wednesday watches as dirt begins to move on its own, piling up and turning into bones! And more bones! Soon skeletons stood before them and Wednesday was actually amazed, she smiles, they even smell like death.

"Now, Macbeth, Please”, he says, one skeleton shifts it's body and begins to speak as if in a play.

"When ...shall we three meet again

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"

The play begins, Wednesday watches with a Ural amazement in her eyes, seeing skeletons made of dirt reenact Macbeth is a treat not many get.

The story ends as per usual, the severed head of Macbeth is presented to Malcom. The play ends and the skeletons crumble into dirt, the two stood up after the play and walk to the exit.

"That was... Horrific..Thank you." She says, (Y/n) sighs and they stop and turn to each other.

"Wednesday, I don't mean to be so abrupt about this but, I think it's best if you know that. I truly do care for you, and I want us to be more than friends, so much more.." he begins.

"You'll snap out of it." She replies, and he gently takes her hand.

"Please...Don't do that don't Discount my feelings as puppy love."

"I'm not friend material, let alone more-than-friend material. I will ignore you, stomp on your heart, and always put my needs and interests first."

"You did.. and I wanted to hate you, but you know I'd stand by your side if you told me the truth, If you let me help you instead of using me."

"It's not going to work. I almost killed you." She says.

"Heh, Formorians Are notoriously hard to kill, but you Genuinely felt bad for it, means you can be better, I want you to be better."

"(Y/n)... we're incompatible.. and I think you'd want more out of life than someone who hates it" Wednesday said, (Y/n) looks down, he's been waiting for this moment and he tilts his head back up to look at her and shoots her right in the heart with his words.

"Well that's too bad Wednesday Addams... you think I'd want someone who wants more out of life ? Well... you're everything that I want!" He responds with so much confidence. She just, looks at him, he slowly leans in, ready to throw everything into the wind for her, Wednesday, almost as if drawn by her own emotion does as well, their lips inches away from finally getting to meet each other, but life has other plans and someone bursts into the crypt, the sheriff. He sees the two teenagers and they quickly turn to him.

"What the hell?" He says, "There's a canoe missing. Figured he might be on Raven Island. I'm not going to ask what this is, but I never saw the two of you here. You got it?" he says before leaving them there. (Y/n) just laughs as Wednesdays pulls her hands from him.

"So... shall I escort you home?" He asks.

"I'll be fine. I need time to.. think." She said.

"Heh, okay.. I'll be seeing you." He says, he cheers slightly under his breath. His first real date and it went perfectly! But some dreams for others, are just nightmares for another.

Wednesday returns to her room to see the place has been ransacked. "Thing?" She asks, and comes across him, stabbed to a pillar with a knife and quickly removed the blade from him. She only had one plan and ran for the bee hive. She storms into the room.

"Fester? Fester, help! Help! Help! Thing's not moving. He was stabbed! Get him on the table!" Fester, a bit confused quickly begins to shock thing. Trying to revive him as only Wednesday can watch distraught. But no avail, his body is still stiff.

"..He's gone, Wednesday."

"No, he's not. Thing. If you can hear me... if you die, I will kill you. Go again. Now! Again, please!" Fester continues to shock him, but it's still silence, a wave of actual pain hits Wednesday, a single tear was beginning to form, until things thumbs began to flex. A look of relief washes over Wednesday.

"For a minute, we thought you'd picked your last lock, buddy." Fester says

"Who did this to you? Knife from behind the back. Cowards. I promise that whoever did this to you will suffer. And it will be slow, long, and excruciatingly painful." Wednesday wipes a tear from her face. "I'll stitch him back up. They found your motorbike, so... the sheriff won't be far. You need to go. Maybe next time steal something a little less conspicuous."

"Where's the fun in that? All right. I'll lay low here tonight, keep an eye on the patient, and I'll skedaddle in the morning."

"I guess I'll see you at your arraignment or the next family reunion."

"You'll always be my favorite, Wednesday."

"Be sure to tell Pugsley that. It'll give him a complex." Wednesday smiles so slightly to her uncle, but she had to face the music, and Weems.

"I'm guessing it's not some kind of random prank." Weems said.

"Whoever ransacked my room also stole Nathaniel Faulkner's diary."

"That's supposed to be safely locked in the Nightshades Library."

"So you do know about that diary, which means you also know the monster we're after is called a Hyde." Wednesday said, it was only her and Weems, which let Weems finally relax.

"Faulkner spent years studying Hydes. He wanted to determine if they were just mindless killers or conscious of their actions."

"What was his conclusion?"

"He was killed by a Hyde before he could reach one. Others tried to carry on his research, but the Hydes were too unpredictable and violent. They were officially banned from Nevermore 30 years ago."

"All of this time, you've known the monster was a Hyde. Why didn't you tell the sheriff?"

"Because then Nevermore is done. Over. Shut for good. And that's not happening on my watch. But I'm not the only one withholding. If you suspect someone, you need to tell me."

"Why? All you've ever done is gaslight and obstruct me. You don't care how many people die, as long as your reputation is safe."

"I am protecting our Nevermore family, which also includes you, Ms. Addams." Weems responds a bit, forcefully, knowing what she's coming across, could finally be the key she needs to take the Hyde and it's master down. The next morning (Y/n) began his walk through Nevermore before being cut off by Bianca.

"Come with me. I have information about Mayor Walker's murder." She says, (Y/n) follows to the library and senses more in the room, Wednesdays and Lucas, the Mayors son. He shows Wednesday the photos.

"Printed these off my dad's computer. Seems he was trying to track down someone. Laurel Gates? Looks like he started right after Outreach Day."

"Must have recognized her there."

"According to British police, Laurel was presumed drowned, but no body was ever recovered."

"The Gates mansion was purchased a year ago by a 90-year-old candy heiress. She then mysteriously died and gave all of her belongings to her caregiver, Teresa L. Glau." Wednesday said, "Who?" Bianca asks.

"It's an anagram." (Y/n) explains. "For what?" Bianca and Lucas ask

"Laurel Gates." (Y/n) and Wednesday say in unison.

"Laurel secretly buys her old house and then comes back to Jericho as someone else. Why?" Bianca asked.

"Revenge on all the people she blames for her family's misfortunes. Your father. The coroner. My parents."

"And Most of all, Nevermore... but How does the monster fit into all of this?" (Y/n) thinks.

"The monster is a Hyde. It's doing Laurel's bidding. She controls it." Wednesday said,

"So, you think Laurel is using a Hyde to kill off Nevermore and Jericho residents responsible? But, who has the power to unlock a Hyde?" Bianca asks.

“The best guess would be a Psychiatrist or a..” (Y/n) says, and stops himself, he turns in the direction of Wednesday.

“Or a Therapist…”

"Wednesday, we don't have an appointment scheduled today."

Kinbott, the therapist stood before Wednesday, a black crow was in the window. Watching.

" I wanted to return something. I found it in your old childhood room." she shows Laurel a Music box.

"I know you're Laurel Gates, and you've come back to Jericho to seek your revenge. And so did Mayor Walker, which is why you had to kill him. Who better to slide in and out of the hospital undetected than a psychiatrist under the guise of visiting another patient?"

"...You're not actually accusing me of murdering the mayor?"

"The roses you left in Eugene's room were your mistake. They're the same variety I found near your childhood bed."

"Wednesday...I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."

"There's only one reason an overqualified psychiatrist like yourself would settle in the inconsequential backwater that is Jericho. It allowed you to crawl through the troubled, young minds of outcasts until you found one that you can manipulate to exact your revenge."

"You know what? I don't have time to deal with your delusional fantasies. I have a patient emergency."

"Who? Xavier? I know all about the secret sessions you've been holding in your car. I also found the cave where you've been holding sessions to unlock his Hyde."

"You are so out of line."

"Do you know how violently unpredictable a Hyde can be? It was your plan to have Xavier committed before he could turn on you too."

"Wednesday, you need help. More help than I can give you." Kinbott begins to dial her phone.

"Who you calling? Xavier?"

"Judge Reynolds. I'm going to recommend you stay in a juvenile psychiatric facility."

"Oh, please. You and I both know I'd be running that place in a week. Time's up, Laurel." Wednesday leaves, as the bird continues to watch. A bit a ways away, (Y/n) sits calmly, awaiting the crow to return.

"Principal Weems, it's Valerie Kinbott. Wednesday Addams just barged into my office. I wasn't aware that Wednesday had a session today. She didn't, and her behavior was completely irrational!" She yells before she hears something in the bathroom. She opens it up, and that spelled her end. (Y/n) stands as Wednesday approaches.

"All went well?" He asks.

"According to plan." She responds, he extends his arm as the crow lands and begins to caw rapidly.

"Yes I saw— what.. when? What!?" (Y/n) yells, which stuns Wednesday. He bolts off back to Kinbott.

"(Y/n)? (Y/n)?!" Wednesday follows suit and they push open the door, blood spilled past it and onto the ground. And Wednesday sees it splatter the walls. (Y/n) smells the scent of blood in the room, and the slowly cooling corpse before them. (Y/n) turns to Wednesday.

"No more games Wednesday, you know who the Hyde is.. we need to stop them. Now.

Xavier returns back to his dark shop and creeps in. He turns on the light to Wednesday sitting there, with a knife in the table.

"You know what? You need to stay out of my space."

"You need to take your own advice. You left that in my room." Wednesday Jams the knife into the table. "Actually, you left it in Thing. How long have you been seeing Kinbott?"

"Have you...What am I saying? Of course you have. You've been having (Y/n) and his creepy crowd spy on me, right? 'Cause I'm the villain in your fantasy. My father thinks that my mental health is a PR problem that he needs to manage. He wanted to keep his troubled son out of the tabloids. I wasn't in your room. Believe me or don't believe me, I don't care."

"Your painting's been improving. I enjoy this one in particular." Wednesday reveals a painting of kimbott, and her face scarred.

"Feels like you really lived it."

"What do you want?"

"I'm asking the questions." Wednesday begins to show Xavier the seeming tokens from Xavier's kills.

"What is Rowan's inhaler doing in your shed? Or Eugene's glasses?"

"Whoa, whoa." Xavier said

"Or these stalker images you took of me?"

"N-No. I..."

"Don't forget your latest addition. Kinbott's necklace."

"Somebody planted that stuff!" Xavier yells walking towards Wednesday, just then, the police barge in.

"Freeze! Drop the knife!"

"Down on your knees. Cuff him." You have the right to remain silent. Appreciate the help, Addams." The sheriff said, which just enrages Xavier.

"You! You framed me! I'm being set up. I shoulda let Rowan kill you." Xavier is cuffed and taken into custody, the night continues and Wednesday returns to her dorm. Which Enid was there.

"Hey."

"You're back."

"I'm gone for a few days, the place gets trashed, and Thing almost dies. Someone's gotta look out for you two."

"What happened to rooming with Yoko?"

"Yoko's great. I just decided I needed a few more boundaries." Enid prepares to tape the floor but Wednesday stops her. "Skip the tape."

"Don't tell me Wednesday Addams is mellowing out."

"Never. More like evolving."

"Well, one inch of duct tape at a time."

"Why the sudden change of heart Enid?"

"Because we work. We shouldn't, but we do. It's like some sort of weird, friendship anomaly. Everything you said about me is true...But I don't apologize for it. Not anymore, when I was first here, (Y/n) told me something that I never understood until now.. that, I'm me, and it's okay to be me, to never apologize for being the person who I am and to never let anyone change that. It's just who I am." Enid says so, confidently.

"Thing said he missed you."

"I missed him too. I'm sorry about Xavier."

"I'm not. He's a liar and a killer. Besides... there's nothing quite like the feeling of being proven right."

"Except maybe someone to share it with. Thing may have blabbed about your date with (Y/n)." Enid says winking, Wednesday just looks at her annoyed, but looks back on fond memories.

"So how'd it go?" Enid asks, Wednesday thinks about informing her of what could have happened.

"Your Surrogate brother knows how to Intrige a girl at least, I can see why you constantly battle the ideals of love and confusion about your feelings regarding him." Wednesday said which stuns Enid. "I-I don't have feelings—"

"It was interrupted." She finishes, Enid tries to play it all off. "Well maybe you should go see him? I mean you did sort of lock up his room mate." She said, and Wednesday agrees.

(Y/n) sits inside his dorm room, sensing the silence inside. He hears the door knock.

"It's open." He said, Wednesday enters and he senses her presence. He walks over and they get a bit, close.

"Are you okay? I know it must have been hard to do that to him." (Y/n) said.

"Not really, he was a murderer."

"Wow, that was a quick turn around... so, dumb question incoming—"

"I find all of your questions dumb, I just indulge you."

"Okay, so.. would you like to pick up where we left off?~" he Leans in, and this time, Wednesday isn't so hesitant herself, allowing his hand to gently caress her cheek, he risks it's all and she does as well. Their lips reach contact, and like a murder of crows their black hearts flock together. The sweet taste of black cherry on her lips, (Y/n) has never felt so happy, and Wednesday has never felt so, alive. And (Y/n) has never felt so, human. Alas, all good things come with a price. Wednesday, on contact had another vision.

She watched as (Y/n) stood to fight someone with his own pet wolf, against., Tyler! who transforms into the Hyde! The vision jumps to him crawling away from someone desperately trying to escape, and the final vision was Wednesday holding his corpse, almost as if fate was telling her that all fairytales come to a bloody end. She snaps out of it to (Y/n).

"Wednesday?! Wednesday what's wrong!" He asks, frantically, and she just stares at him.

"Of course the first boy I kiss would them show me visions of his grueling and painful death...And they say those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, well...

"I hate history."

[ficzhub]

Well Then…

Chapter 1

X

"Is there any particular reason that you can't stand spending any time with me?" I ask finally after an excruciatingly awkward and silent dinner over Zoom. Wondering why my father just couldn't be bothered to see me. Not when I got into Nevermore, not when I got my first award for my art, not when Tyler and his shithead friends assaulted me and I was in the hospital with internal bleeding after they vandalized my mural, not when I and everyone else at school almost died last month because a psychopathic herbology teacher decided to reanimate her bigot pilgrim great-grand daddy.

"Please Xavier, can I be spared the dramatics? I've been very busy, you know this." He says, not even bothering to look up at the camera.

"Clearly, for the last ten years or so." I don't know what I did wrong. My older sisters got time with him.

"Enough with the snide commentary. If all you wanted to do on this call was chide me, this could've been done over text. At the very least that wouldn't have pushed back rehearsals." He whines

"What do you even need rehearsals for, oh Great and Talented Vincent Thorpe?"

"Talent isn't perfection. I hope you take that to heart, winning a handful of trinkets passed off as awards isn't enough to prove any kind of prowess at anything."

I can't help but roll my eyes at that. He wouldn't know what awards I have or haven't gotten, he's never seen them.

"Speaking of lack of prowess, your grandfather will be taking you back to school after the break is done in a few days." His voice coated in derision.

"What?"

"Your mother's father, not mine."

Well no shit, he's dead. "How come?"

"If this is another tirade about how it's traumatizing that I'm not holding your hand at all times-".

"Jesus dad, I just mean how come he's coming around? He hasn't been around much since Mom...you know." He cringed at the sentence, my mother is one of his father's least favorite subjects.

"Oh, I'm not sure. I didn't ask."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know."

"You're welcome. Now, I can't push back production anymore. Your report card was fine, you've been keeping your nose clean at school as far as I know and you ended up being some kind of hero last semester. Good on you for that, son. Anything else I should know about?" He asks uninterestedly

"Nope, you're pretty much caught up."

"Alright. I'll be putting some money in your account for school supplies and whatnot. Don't over do it, like last year..." he says still remembering how much I spent on Bianca "Make sure to call your grandfather and iron out your plans with him. Have a good night." He says and hangs up.

"Good night dad..." I say to a blank screen. I close my laptop and sigh. What did I expect?

I take my plate to the kitchen and clean it off to put in the dish washer. Staying alone at the manor always feels lonely. My father got us a maid but it feels so uncomfortable to have a strange woman washing my underwear and replacing my bedsheets or anything else for me. I'd rather just do it myself. She can busy herself sweeping and mopping or something, it's not like she pays me any mind.

I'll call Grandpa Ron tomorrow, I don't feel like talking to anyone. Well, there's one person, I haven't talked to her since my last day at school.

I can't even begin to wrap my head around what I should feel about Wednesday. Obviously she's not an easy person to deal with, she's selfish, manipulative and abrasive, but she's never pretended she's not. It's not like I didn't know to expect that. She's also brave, loyal and apparently fiercely protective. I don't wanna push my luck with her and make her feel suffocated, I wonder if the phone was too much. I send her a single text the day I got back home. Just a simple "See you when term starts." It hadn't marked at delivered, so either she never turned on the phone or she let it die. I wish I could go to therapy about all this but Wednesday's ex boyfriend killed her so, I'm shit outta luck with that. I haven't found another one near enough to school or home. I can't imagine I'd have an easy time building trust with them if I did anyway. New one might just die on me like the last.

That was crass.

Obviously Kinbott's murder wasn't about me, and her dying was senseless. Like that dick just wanted another body under his belt or Thornhill just felt like killing someone that day. Who knows, but I couldn't ignore that her death while tragic, really sucked for me.

I should just get my supplies and toke up. It's not like my dad would ever know and the help doesn't care one way or the other cause I don't leave a mess. I ran up to the studio and took my stuff out. The stash was still fresh from when I bought some with Ajax from some townie.

Keeping the puff in my lungs for as long as I can, I starts prepping my canvas...

This was a good idea. It had been a while since I'd let myself take a break from my own thoughts.

I painted Bianca. Her bright eyes and dark skin popping from each other. I still had so many unanswered questions about her. Seems minor compared to all the other things that have happened, but it's not nothing. I can't remember much right after meeting her. Getting coffee at the Weathervane before that asshole had gotten a job there and she was there too. We'd gotten the same coffee order and I accidentally grabbed hers. We'd cracked a few jokes with each other and exchanged numbers. Then suddenly I'm in a total fog and she's admitted into Nevermore. I'm paying for all her school supplies, and I don't remember offering, or her asking. Then I'm back to normal, we're chatting, she's joining clubs, making friends, we're bonding over our shared experience in neglectful or abusive parents, then I'm in a fog again and she's Ms.Popularity and we're Nevermore's Power Couple. When Divina told me what had happened after her and Bianca got into an argument, things cleared up. I didn't enjoy breaking up with her, I did care about her. I didn't wanna get her in trouble or kicked out of school either, it's not like she didn't deserve to be there. But I couldn't stand that I'd been manipulated for months. Am I really that bad of a judge of character? I mean, I had Tyler pegged right, but that one was hard to miss considering I'd tasted his shoe and one of his friends almost made my testicles reascend. I never really told Wednesday the whole truth, maybe if I had she'd have gotten it sooner. Violence isn't an issue to her, but bigotry never seemed her style. I partly blame myself for not being entirely honest with her all because I didn't wanna seem like a pussy. Maybe I deserved what happened. The beating, Wednesday ignoring me, the imprisonment, all of it. I could've prevented so much of it.

I'm spiraling. Maybe I should go to bed but painting was supposed to get this off my chest. This? What do I mean this? I wanna talk about a million things, there is no this. Shit maybe I can just text Wednesday's phone number. Kinbott's got disconnected so I get back that error message. Or worse, it could be reassigned to someone new, then I'm just traumadumping on some poor stranger who's probably got their own shit going on. What if they get confused and think they did something to me? What if they actually end up being someone I know that coincidentally got assigned the old number? They could trace back the texts to me if they already have my number. I'd never live it down. I know Wednesday clearly isn't using the phone, so no harm no foul.

W

"I'm so glad to hear that Wednesday!" My mother said emphatically, gently clapping her hands together.

"We knew you'd love it at Nevermore, Tormentita." Gomez brags "The flesh never falls far from the bone." as he continues his chess match with Thing.

"Yes well, it's not as if any other school in the country would admit me or be able to instruct me of anything new or useful to me. Why waste anyone's time." Not relishing in proving my parents right, I start walking up towards my bedroom.

"Darling, I suppose now would be as good a time as any to inform you of some new developments if you're set in returning." Mother says with my back to her.
Turning around I see her looking at my father.
"Mon cher, this is more your news than it is mine. You should tell Wednesday."

My father checkmates Thing and smirks "You almost had me old man. Next time."
Thing shrugs and hops off to reach his magazine.
Facing me he rubs his hands together "Do you remember your Aunt Dolores?" He asks

"Vaguely. She's not much older than me, but she was always busy with school."

"That's right, she's 25." My mother adds "She got her master's degree in phytology. Of course that was basically a formality, she's always known everything she'd ever need about plants."

"I still don't understand how she came to be. Mama Esmeralda and Papa Pancho must've been in their 50s when they had her, at the earliest." I ponder out loud.

"Oh both sides of your family have had abnormally long periods of fertility, Wednesday. Your Great-Grandmama Margaret, had my aunt Celia at 56 years old. Completely baffled the local doctor." Mother adds gleefully.

"Anyway, I bring this up because we've been notified that your Aunt Dolores will be joining you at Nevermore."

"How did that happen?"

"Well, as you know she had that big spat with my parents and ran off when she turned 15. She never really got to experience much time at that school, and despite everything she did love it so there. It was truly a pity I couldn't convince her to keep going there and not disappear on us. Fester tried to nab her and get her to see why they did what they did but to no avail."

"Understandable."

"We thought you'd feel that way." Mother smirks

"I meant more so how did she manage to get hired. They haven't even said they've gotten a new Headmaster or Mistress."

"The board would have to be riddled with complete fools if they pass up on Dolores, even despite her...muddled record." Mother says. She's always had an inexplicable soft spot for her little sister-in-law.

"What was their disagreement about anyway? I've never gotten a whole answer about that." I ask

"It would probably be best for you to ask her directly. We wouldn't want to speak for her." Father explains, shakily.

"Right then, what position will she be taking?" Noting how my father looked away and down when he said that

"The new herbology teacher. Oh, and your new house mother."

"Makes sense, the last one was an incompetent murderer. At least this time the teacher will be adequate. Thank you for letting me know. Will Pugsley be joining me as well?" Would be nice to practice my aim while still at school. He'd have a new selection of road signs to steal from.

"His grades aren't quite up to par, unfortunately." Mother grims "Rather like his Uncle Fester, brilliant but not booksmart."

"Pity. Will I be sent to school with Lurch, or will you two be dropping me off again?" I ask, waiting to turn around to finally get to the solitude of my bedroom.

"Actually Wednesday, you'll be carpooling with your aunt. She's bringing her own car so to not rely on buses and whatnot. She'll actually be fetching you a day or two earlier as she'll need to get situated."

"I thought she had an aversion to driving." I said, remembering how my father had tried to teach her to drive but my grandparents had already embittered her to the idea.

"She eventually got over it, not without struggle." My father winces "She got herself an old, red beetle and she's been using that little thing since she was 18. My parents were furious when they heard, of course I didn't let her know I'd told them. She wanted to be taken as dead to them."

"Can't wait to hear why from the source. When will she be coming?"

"Could you call Dolores about that, Darling? I have to see something about your brother and your father has a meeting to go to."

"A meeting? About what?" My father doesn't work really, not necessary for us.

"Some charity nonsense, I'm not entirely sure if I'm being honest. All I usually have to do is sign a check." My father explains, poorly.

"Fine, could I get her phone number?"

My mother scribbles down on a sheet her ten digits and sends me off. I'll finally have a use for Xavier's gift.

I shut my bedroom door and start looking for my cell phone, Thing has been using it to make a "TikTok" and "IG". I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes every time Enid would send him some asinine little video. I'm sure it's dead now as neither of us remembers to charge it. I find it in the dresser next to my bed, on 5% battery and 27 new text messages from Xavier.

******

I can hear her before I've even seen her. She came in her red Volkswagen Beetle, blaring music from its speakers. I'd hope she doesn't plan on maintaining that obnoxious volume, I can feel the migraine coming on already as she gets out to say hello.


"Wednesday, looking as malcontent and gorgeous as always." with her ever present smirk on her lips.
"Should I come in and say hey to the folks?"

"I'm sure they'd appreciate that, Mother hasn't stopped fawning about you since she knew you'd be my new teacher."

"Ugh, I've missed Tishy. I guess you'll wanna wait out here?"

"I'd prefer it."

"Here then," she hands me the keys, takes off her circular sunglasses and puts them on the neckline of her shirt "roll down the windows and do whatcha want. I'll be out in a few."

"Thank you, I'll be waiting. Thing will also be coming, just so you know."

"Aw, sweet. He owes me the story about the safe," She says, walking inside "besides I'll need me a few minutes to talk to Gomey and Morts about your new therapist situation."

My blood pressure rises immensely as a hear her last little blip.

"What are you referring to?"

She turns around to face me and looks more bemused by my expression than I'd like for her to be.


"What? Did you think that just because you saved the outcast population of New England from a bigoted zombie, his inept however many 'greats' granddaughter and your ex-boyfriend that everyone would forget you almost killed that normie kid from your last school? Law still applies to ya, dollface. Even heroes need therapy." She says, with her hands on her hips.

"This is waste of time. It's not like therapy did much the first time around, besides get the therapist killed by one of her patients." I feel my grip around the keys start pinching into my fingers

"And shockingly that patient wasn't you." She quips, smirk still on her face before it relaxes slightly "Jesus kid, you're acting like therapy is an actual punishment. Your talking out your thoughts with someone for an hour, get over it." As she turns around to walk inside and Lurch comes out to put my bags in her car.

She waltzes out just as chipper 20 minutes later

"C'mon, we're going from Princeton to Killington, Vermont, with any luck we'll make good time and get there by this afternoon."

"Five hours isn't so bad."

"I'm not generally fond of being extended company."

"Oh please, this little ride along could end up being a nice time for you." She says, getting in the car and starting it "Did you already say bye to everyone?"

"Yes, and I doubt it."

"Dude are you always this much of a downer? Get in."

I get settled inside "This whole happy-go-lucky thing you're doing isn't making you any happier."

"Is that so?" We take off into the path by my home leading to the main road into town.

"Yes. Happiness, or at least satisfaction in my experience is an equation: reality - high expectations. If you expect people to disappoint you, experiences to be subpar and life in general to not excite you very much, then you're never really disappointed." I finish matter of factly.

"Is that really happiness then? Or even satisfaction, as you say?"

"Sure. Can't miss what I never thought I had."

"Spidey, a lot of life is what you make it. If you go to a party, or say, a long car ride, with the expectation or intention to have a bad time then you'll just go, be moody and have in fact, a bad time." She counters, putting her glasses back on to shield herself from the sun coming off the rear view mirror.

"So I'm either right or pleasantly surprised? Sounds good to me."

"It's bad vibes." She says flatly

"It's realistic vibes."

"Expecting everything to be bad all the time also isn't realistic, Wen. There are so many reasons to be optimistic."

"Are you serious?" I ask, knowing some of her past.

"Yes! Life can be a wonderful thing, especially when you're the one in control of how you're living it."

"I can't agree, the natural state of things is chaos. Violence, war, rape, murder, abuse. Eventually we all end up ashes or worm food, the sooner we contend with that fact the better it helps me linger in the good times." I say, diddling the charm on my bracelet with Nero's stinger.

"Wens how often do you think about death?"

"All the time."

"Your family's? Your friends?"

"Sometimes, and it upsets me."

"Christ."

"Oh deliberately his. You can't deny that most things just don't work out."

"The magic of pessimism." She says sarcastically

"Almost everyone is mediocre at almost everything they do. All relationships we have will end, in death or in life. The only way to feel satiated and move on is to lower your expectations and not let it get to you. Optimism is stupid."

"But the stupid, optimistic conviction that things can and will get better by making it so is what makes positive change possible in the first place. If everyone walked around being almost certain that everything's going to shit then what's the point of trying?"

"Trying to what?"

"Trying. Period. Just trying at anything. Trying to be cleaner, trying to be smarter, trying to be faster. There would be no clear point and everyone would just settle and progress would stall."

I can't deny this.

"Spidey, I get that pessimism can feel safer."

"It's not my personal well-being I'm concerned about."

"Isn't it? When was the last time you had real hope about anything? Not deterministic persistence, not stubbornness, not pettiness and not settling because hey this is as good as it's gonna get let's hope it doesn't get worse. Real, deep hope about something. Or, someone."

"I don't like how often you're turning your head to give me sideways glance."

"Wednesday."

"Isn't hope just blind faith in a nicer tone?" I ask

"Yes. Can you answer the question?"

"...I suppose I'd hoped that Eugene would recover despite the odds of surviving an explosion not being great."

"Eugene is the little beekeeper friend you made last term, right?"

"The entomopathist, yes."

"Okay, I guess that's a good example."

"I'm not hopeless, I'm just selective in where I put my energy or hope."

"So with the Hyde thing. We're you betting that Xavier Thorpe was the Hyde or we're you hoping he was so you could say you're a good judge of character."

"I didn't really think it had much to do with anyone's character at all. When I was under the impression that Xavier was the monster, I thought he was doing it without knowing it. Or that he was doing it unwillingly."

"Guess it was an ugly surprise when you found out Galpin relished in it."

It bothers me how well she can gage me despite not having spent much time with me recently.

Most of the information she has must be second hand and yet she's reaching accurate conclusions.
We're obviously related, we look enough alike where it's clear by just looking.
Not exactly of course but she's small, only two inches taller than me and wears big shoes to compensate for it. Her hair also helps. A big, curly inch of her skull. But still, black hair, black eyes, and her skin is the color mine would be if my vitamin D deficiency didn't leave me with the grey cast palor I like now. A warm tan brown like Father.

"It was unsettling. Albeit certainly made my first kiss memorable."

"I'm sure. Mine was a shit show."

"What? Did the guy have braces and they got caught in yours?" I ask sarcastically, knowing her attempt as sympathizing won't measure up.

"No. His teeth were perfectly straight and white. He'd long past the age where braces would look acceptable."

"Couldn't have been that bad." I shrug off

"He forced it on me."

"...and I'm assuming you broke his teeth in retribution." I add

"Not even close. In the position I was in at the time it would've completely fucked my life up, I showed some disgust and that was enough for me to get a stern 'talking to' from my parents."

"This has something to do with why you ran off."

"Yeah. Well, this and a ton of other shit I don't wanna get into, no use dwelling on what's done." She mutters that last part.

"I'm never having kids."

"Pfft, me neither kid. Pregnancy and childbirth alone sound like a Lovecraftian nightmare."

"Hm...well when you phrase it like that..."

We spent most of the ride in relative silence, her music making so that it's not completely quiet but clearly neither of us felt like speaking. She let me control the music for a few hours and surprisingly, she introduced me to new music I actually enjoyed. Genres I'd written off and artists I'd misjudged. I found that I can enjoy some pop, like Shakira's older sound. My aunt is also obviously angrier than she'd like to seem, given how taken away she got by She Wants Revenge. We stopped once for a bathroom break and coffee at a small coffee shop in New Paltz ironically called The Bakery. As eye-roll inducing as the name is the coffee was good and the bathrooms were clean, so we couldn't complain much. She was nice enough to pay. "I'm your aunt and the adult" and other such nonsense being the excuse. Around half way through the ride I pick up my cell phone and text two people to let them know I'm coming. Enid, as we're still rooming together and I wanted to
make sure she kept her My Little Pony adjacent decor on her side, and Xavier. Might give him a chance to get his explanation clear about these messages. Altogether the ride went by much quicker than I expected. We'd headed out at 5:04 am that morning and got to the school at 9:50 am. Of course she drives like a mad woman constantly surpassing the speed limit, only pausing for a second at stop signs and hardly getting any red lights helps. Impressive that her car hasn't been totaled.

"So when are the rest of us meeting your aunt?" Enid asks over FaceTime while I unpack, I hadn't realized she wouldn't be at the school for another two days.

"The day you get here, I suppose. Unless you've other plans. I'd introduce you to her now on this call but she's in her room working on the lesson plan, I believe."

"Than to hang out with my bestie and her super cool aunt? Never. Well, except maybe spend some quality time with Ajax."

"Good to know he's still doing well with you."

"Total gentleman, no complaints here. He's been a little worried about Xavier though. I know he's a little moody, tortured artist persona and all. But during the break he barely communicated with Jax, or anyone else as far as I know."

As far as you know is a good way to phrase it, Enid. She doesn't need to know about his messages to me, I'm not even sure how to take them myself. The only thing he responded to me after my text was "Oh, cool."

"I let him know I was on my way here this morning, I didn't get a very enthusiastic responce from. Figured that was just his nature over text." Not even close

"Really? That's surprising. I thought if anyone could get more outta him it'd be you."

"Why's that?"

"No one believes you're that oblivious, Wednesday. His not-so-subtle crush on you? Maybe that's why?"

"Maybe the events last year sobered him up and he got over it."

"Or he's just depressed."

"Also possible. Not necessarily our business though, is it?"

"I mean, it kinda is. We're his friends and all, and most of us know what it's like to not have a whole hell of a lot of support at home. He needs to get it from somewhere." She clarifies

"Wasn't his father with him during this break?"

"Ha, yeah. I'm sure he was a whole lotta help." She says sarcastically

"Wasn't he? Xavier could've died last term." I point out

"Hm, I'm not sure that's all that important to the all too busy Vincent Thorpe."

"Well, that's mildly upsetting."

"Yeah, you could say that. I know he and I aren't close but I know what it's like to feel like the family you were born into isn't the one you're supposed to be in. At least sometimes." I can empathize with that. My parents are the epitome of present, supportive parents. Almost to a fault, that's what makes it strange. In my eyes, they border on intrusive sometimes, and lacking physical boundaries most times.

"I understand. Do you know if he's an only child?"

"Good question. I'll ask Ajax, I'm not sure. I know his mom wasn't his first wife so it's a possibility he's not. Well, I have my flight at 1:00 am tonight so I gotta get going. See ya in the morning, Bestie."

"Goodbye Enid, have a safe flight.”

<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/50759830"><strong>Well Then</strong></a> (69569 words) by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliTerren"><strong>AliTerren</strong></a><br />Chapters: 13/20<br />Fandom: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Wednesday%20(TV%202022)">Wednesday (TV 2022)</a><br />Rating: Explicit<br />Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings<br />Relationships: Wednesday Addams & Xavier Thorpe, Wednesday Addams/Xavier Thorpe, Xavier Thorpe & Wednesday Addams, Xavier Thorpe/Wednesday Addams, Xavier Thorpe/Original Female Character(s), Xavier Thorpe and Original Female Character(s), Wednesday Addams/Original Female Character(s), Tyler Galpin/Original Female Character(s), Wednesday Addams & Enid Sinclair, Ajax Petropolus/Enid Sinclair, Ajax Petropolus & Xavier Thorpe, Wednesday Addams & Original Female Character<br />Characters: Xavier Thorpe, Wednesday Addams, Enid Sinclair, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Original Non-Human Character(s), Ajax Petropolus, Eugene Ottinger, Morticia Addams, Gomez Addams, Tyler Galpin, Donovan Galpin, Garrett Gates, Marilyn Thornhill | Laurel Gates, Vincent Thorpe<br />Additional Tags: Mildly Dubious Consent, Slow Burn, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Sexual Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Wednesday is soft for Xavier, Xavier Thorpe is Whipped, POV Xavier Thorpe, POV Wednesday Addams, Possessive Behavior, Obsessive Behavior, Xavier Thorpe Needs a Hug, Xavier Thorpe switch, Jealous Wednesday Addams, Pining, Yearning, Lonely Xavier Thorpe, Smut, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Smut, Masturbation, Fantasizing, Prophetic Visions, Sharing a Bed, Sharing Clothes, Xavier Thorpe Has Daddy Issues, Xavier Thorpe has Mommy Issues, Xavier Thorpe has a praise kink, Discussion of sexual assault, Discussion of rape kits, succubi, Demonic Possession, Demonic Sacrifice, soul eating, Bisexual Wednesday Addams, Creepy Tyler Galpin, wet dreams, Our season 2, Subby Xavier Thorpe, Sub Xavier Thorpe<br />Summary: <p>New term has started, with it comes new people, new feelings and new duties. Let’s hope the unresolved doesn’t get in the way.</p><p>(This might be a part one, might make sequels. Also, take this as season 2 if you also miss having Xavier in the show.)</p>

[depressionisreal1996]

The Traumatized Omega

Chapter 1

Bold and Underlined=POV Change

Underlined=Line Break

Bold=TV Script

Italics=Thoughts

Narrator's  POV

I'm not sure whose twisted idea it was to put hundreds of adolescents in underfunded schools run by people whose dreams were crushed years ago... but I admire the sadism.

      We see a girl walking down a school hallway, with everyone parting ways in fear and disgust. They could sense the power from this tiny alpha. This alpha is known as Wednesday Addams. With each step is a purpose, she wants them to fear her. The thought makes her smirk internally. After a while, she saw some jocks walking away from a locker, laughing. She walked up to the locker and heard some whimpers coming from it, whimpers that she knows. She opens the locker to see her brother, Pugsley. After the locker was opened, Pugsley fell with a thud.

Wednesday's POV

      "I want names," I told my brother emotionlessly. These people need to know that only I was allowed to torture my brother, I thought in my head.

      "I don't know who they were, honest." Pugsley replied with a scared voice, "it happened so fast," 

      "Pugsley, emotion equals weakness, pull yourself together, now," I told him sternly, he whimpers. He really needs to learn this, if he wants to survive the real world. I went to untie him, when I went into one of my visions.

~Line Break~

      I came out of the vision, which thanks to it, I now know who did this to my brother. It was Dalton, and his stupid jock friends.

      "You okay," Pugsley asked me with a worried tone.

I'm not about to confess to my brother that I've recently been plagued by visions. The come on without warning, and feel like electroshock therapy, but without the satisfying afterburn.

      "Leave this to me," I told him, getting up to put my plan into action.

      "Wednesday, what are you gonna do," my brother asked me. I stopped to look at him, contemplating telling him, but decided not too.

      "What I do best," I told him, then walked off.

Non, rien de rien.

      "Yo, Dalton, look," Dalton's friend # 1 said pointing towards me, "Pigsley's sister."

      "Hey, freak, this is a closed practice," Dalton told me, with a smirk. Everyone smirked at this and laughed.

      "The only person who gets to torture my brother is me," I told everyone with a harsh tone, raising two bags with piranhas in them. Everyone lost their smirks and looked at me with fear. I released the bags into the water, and everyone frantically swam to get to safety.

Non, je ne regrette rien. Car ma vie, car mes joies. Ca commence avec toi.

      It was chaotically beautiful, nothing will top this. I slowly smirked in satisfaction. If I wasn't so adversed to it, I would be laughing right now. Though, as I watch the chaos happening, I knew that would be getting expelled for this.

~Line Break~

I close my eyes. Then I drift away.

     My parents were singing again, and it greatly disgusts me of how much emotions they are showing.

I softly say. A silent prayer. Like dreamers do. Then I fall asleep to dream. My dreams of you.

      I cringed at them, they really need to learn some self-control. This is why I'll never find love/mate. It all seems pointless.

I remember. That you said goodbye.....

     "Mmm," my mother sighed happily after kissing my father. My father did the same. I rolled my eyes at them.

     "Darling, how long do you intend on giving us the col shoulder," my mother asked me.

      "Lurch, please remind my parents that I'm no longer speaking to them," I replied back. Lurch just grunts.

      "Hmm," she hums back.

      "I promise you, my little viper, you will love Nevermore," my father tried to reassure me, though he was failing, "won't she, Tish?"

      "Of course," she said, "it's the perfect school for her."

      "Why? Because it was the perfect school for you," I shot back," I have no interest in following in your footsteps. Becoming captain of the fencing team, Queen of the Dark Prom, President of the Seance Society."

      "I merely meant that finally you will be among peers who understand you," My mother told me, and then she said something I want to protest against, " maybe you'll even make some friends."

      "Nevermore is like no other boarding school, it's a magical place," my father said, "it's where I met your mother, and we fell in love."

      "You guys are making me nauseous, and not in a good way," I told them with disgust in my voice, yet with my face blank.

      "Darling, we aren't the ones who got you expelled. That boy's family was going to file attempted murder charges," she told me, "how would that have looked on your record?"

      "Terrible, everyone would know I failed to get the job done," I said, seething that Dalton is still alive.

      "Hmm," my mother just hummed, and that was it for our conversation.

~Line Break~

Narrator's POV

      Now we see a truck driving by the Addams hearse.

      "Just over here is fine, thanks," a man said to the driver.

      "You sure you want to get out here," the driver asked, "the trail might look pretty, but it runs right past Nevermore."

      "That school for outcasts," the man asked.

      "Huh. That's a polite way of putting it," the driver replied.

      "I never had a problem with outcasts," the man informed the driver," my counselor at summer camp was a werewolf. Great guy."

      "Yeah, they're just like you and men," the driver said trying to scare the man, "until they rip your throat out."

      "Thanks," the man chuckles wryly. He got out of the truck and hiked on the trail. He hiked for a while until he found a good spot to take a break. He was just relaxing, when he heard noises coming up from in front of him. He looked up, only to scream in a panic as he saw something running towards him and attack him.

[moonlight-at-dawn]

Looking for opinions on how to handle a bully’s family

One of my neighbor’s has a kid (C) who is the same age as my own (K). They’ve been ‘friends’ since a few months after we moved into the neighborhood. I use quotations because C has been something of a bully since the beginning, when they were 5 years old.

It started out simple enough, and we tried making gentle corrections when C was here. He would be forceful, refusing to compromise, would use friendship as a bargaining chip (”If you won’t play MY way, then I’m not your friend!”). His idea of fun has never changed from making fun of what the other person likes.

It feels very much like he’s not interested in having FRIENDS but in having MINIONS. Once my kid started putting his foot down and not letting C treat him like this, C started not only distancing himself, but turning the other kids against him. I have heard and had to intervene on multiple occasions when C has told another kid to do something wrong. He likes to make someone else do something bad so he can laugh but not get into trouble.

C also lies about other kids to divert trouble away from him. One of the times I asked him to compromise (”He said he would play this pretend game, he just wants to play as this character, you should let him. It’s more fun to mix these things anyway :)”) he didn’t even respond to what I said or about the situation at all. He lied to me, saying “I’ve seen K’s light on in the middle of the night when he should be asleep!” (”How do you know that, were you up when you shouldn’t be?” “UHHHHHHH” -I knew it was a lie bc my kid was still sleeping in my room at that time, but I didn’t tell C this)

During all this Covid stuff, my kid has been the only one wearing a face mask, and C has made fun of him for it, ripped his mask off his face, and has overall increased his aggression since then. This escalated to him lying to the other kids in the neighborhood, saying that his father told him he couldn’t play with K, even with other kids involved, and so they would have to choose between them. He then also lied to the kids to make them choose him over my kid.

We attempted to speak with his parents so we could resolve this conflict. C went inside for a few minutes, then came out and said “My dad’s asleep and my mom doesn’t want to come out, but I can play with K again.” which is why we feel confident that this “rule” had been a lie all along.

On Wednesday, things escalated to the point that we called the police. We heard a knock at the door. A child left a note that said something like “Do you want a war” and “Take this gun” with a drawing of a sad face kid and a gun pointed their direction. C claims that another kid had left the note for him with a NERF gun, and that they meant for it to be ‘funny.’ However, even if that’s true, with that context removed, it was a threat, not funny at all. C also had done his classic move of being like “Wouldn’t it be funny if YOU did this?” and asked one of the younger kids to actually place the note. Then tried claiming an older kid wrote the note, that none of them could write. He’s 8. Next year is 3rd grade for C and K. He can write, but he told the POLICE OFFICER that he couldn’t. Not sure why he’d claim he can’t write AND that it was a note left by a younger kid without both of those being lies, sooooo......

Before calling the police, 3 of us adults standing in the foyer with the door half open, reading this note, being furious, I snapped a little. I stomped outside with the note. The group of kids was standing in front of C’s house across the street, and I stayed on my side and screamed at them. I’m not proud, but I also don’t regret it, if that makes sense? They even tried saying “We don’t know who did it!” when A) There was no one else who could have, and B) An older and completely uninvolved kid riding his bike around confirmed who had done it. I raised my voice “AND YES, I’M GOING TO SCREAM SO THAT ALL THE NEIGHBORHOOD KNOWS THAT YOU’RE THREATENING SOMEONE WITH GUN VIOLENCE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?!?!?”

C put his face in his hands and made a wailing sound, and this is where I’m not proud but also not regretful. I pointed at him at said “No! No you don’t! I don’t believe that for a SECOND. You have lied to me every chance you get, you are a bully, you are cruel, and you are manipulative!” and while I was shouting this, he dropped his hands and looked me dead in the eye with a completely clean face and annoyed expression, showing he hadn’t been crying at all, and that’s why I don’t regret it. If he’d been actually crying, I’d probably regret it.

After I went in, we hemmed and hawed over calling the police, and decided to do so because we want a file on record. My husband was stalked with racially charged death threats, his dorm rooms broken into, vandalized, things broken, for 6 months. He has been suffering severe physical PTSD responses since this incident on Wednesday. My mother is a domestic abuse survivor, my roommate Mika has had a gun shoved in her face during a bank robbery, and I’ve fought people who intended to rape me (which I’ve never even said this much about my experiences as a teen until this event, bc I don’t want to think or talk about it, but now I can’t NOT). We CANNOT take this lightly, as this violence has come into our lives before, and we intimately know where it leads.

To make matters more complicated, the parents are shit people too, which makes having a reconciliatory conversation difficult. C has quoted bigotry at me (C: ”It’s illegal for boys to marry boys” Me: “No it’s not” C: “Yes it is” M: “No. It’s not. It was made legal several years ago, thankfully.” C: “..........I think it’s weird.” M: “Well, no one is saying you have to do it, it’s for those who want to.” C: “But it’s weird!” M: “You can’t tell someone not to live their life because you don’t like it!!!” C: “....................”)

C’s parents clearly need counseling, and his mom needs some serious therapy. The noise and lights of their middle of the night arguments and the mom trying to drive away, the dad standing behind the car to stop her, has woken up my parents in their street-facing room on more than one occasion. There’s a huge dent in their garage where C’s mom has crashed the car. C’s mom also hit Mika’s parked car, then proceeded to blame Mika for her car being there like “It’s so inconvenient when you park on the road!” ....C’s family has 2 cars parked on the street pretty much at all times. Mika parks on the road only when we need to be able to get out, but she’s usually in the driveway.

The fact that C’s parents are like this makes it very difficult to consider how to go about trying to have a conversation with them. I wrote a short DEAR MAN guided script about the incident on Wednesday, but I’m hesitant to go over there when I feel very strongly that they’ll just go on an unrelated tangent and try to flip the blame around. C’s father has shot us glares from across the street, but has made no attempt to come speak to us about us calling the police on their kid.

The parents of the other involved kids have come spoken to us, were mortified by what had happened, their kids also mortified by what had happened, and were receptive when we explained that C was behind it and what his history of manipulation and making others do his dirty work is like. We were careful about wording, just talking about the situations and trying not to make it a huge judgmental thing, just a “this is what we know” thing.

My current feeling is that I should write a letter and mail it to them (even tho they live across the street), because I feel strongly that I need to take SOME kind of action, as they won’t. But I just don’t know. Should I try speaking in person, even though I feel like they will be aggressive and/or dismissive? Should I write a letter even though I feel like they would read it with bad faith? Have I done enough, is the onus now on them?