Chapter Text
“Bridget, please leave me alone,” Agatha says, running off into the thick, new-england forest, hoping a pestering Bridget wouldn’t follow her. Agatha’s wild brown hair flew about her as she fled, flustering her even more. The short girl followed her.
“Agatha, please. I love you.” Agatha stopped in her tracks and turned to face the small, blonde woman before her.
“Bridget, to beg for me is a mistake. My mother would exile us both.” Agatha reasoned dismissively as she walked onward.
“Agatha, I don’t care! I just want you.” Bridget plead. She fell to her knees before Agatha. Autumn’s first victims crunched beneath her wishful knees as her blue eyes filled with tears. Agatha shook her head in disapproval of the sight.
“Bridget, get up!” Agatha flicked her hand upward. A violet aura quickly enveloped Bridget, lifting her off the ground and returning her to her feet. “You are a gifted witch. More so than anyone else in that coven-”
“Besides you, of course.” Bridget interrupted.
“Yes, well, you hear how my mother speaks of me. You have a great advantage. Utilize the gifts of the coven, strengthen yourself, and forget about me! You are wonderful, Bridget. Wish for more than me.” Agatha squeezed Bridget’s shoulder. Bridget looked to her feet, ashamed of the tears escaping her eyes. Agatha pulled at a ribbon hanging from the red embroidery lining Bridget’s corset, bringing her into a hug. After their embrace expired, Agatha looked to Bridget and offered a sympathetic sigh, her hand still resting on Bridget’s shoulder.
“Bridget, it has been a long time since we’ve…” Agatha exhaled staring off into the surrounding wood, adoring how the crisp air gently nestled into the trees. She wondered to herself why humans couldn’t be more like nature. Everyone just exists and shuts up about it. Love is as easy as the breeze.
“We can treasure what we used to have and know that we are grown now, things are different. You know as well as I do that what we wanted is impractical.” Agatha continued. Bridget nodded with her eyes closed, trapping the tears in her eyelashes. “You’ve seen my magic. Chaos lives in me. I could never be what you need. It is like we agreed two years ago. It is for the good of the coven. It is for your good, too… Now, you go back home. I’m off to the river.” Agatha flashed a forced smile and waved awkwardly back to Bridget. She walked off and after fully turning around, she rolled her eyes. She shook her head in absolute annoyance.
~
Agatha sat at the edge of a pool of water. A waterfall they affectionately called Bear’s Den crashed down into the pool below, its stream split in half at the bottom by jagged stone. She twirled one of her long, brown locks around her finger as she enjoyed the silence. The birds sang as they flew between rays of sunshine piercing through the clouds. The wind quietly whistled in her ears. The grass never stopped dancing. They weren’t afraid of her. Nature is indifferent to man. No matter what she did, the sun would still shine on her. The grass would still dance.
She always appreciated the sun more than anything. The sun is the reason for life. Although she never cared much for her own, all her favorite things were because of the sun. The butterfly weed scattered amongst the field behind her danced in unison with the grass. She breathed deeply knowing she was safe.
!BANG! A gunshot echoed in the wind.
“Come on, men! Close in!” rings through after.
Agatha popped up and looked into the forest beyond the bank on the other side of the river. The sun was western-bound and shone perfectly toward the scene of an atrocity. She quickly hopped across the rocks at the bottom of the falls to the other bank. She ran up to apprehend the miscreants responsible for the gunshot. Three men were closing in on a mother bear and her cub. They formed a half-circle around the bears they had cornered against a wall of rock. The forest around them now shrouded them in darkness.
“C’mon Charlie, try to aim this time!” The man on the left chirped. The man in the middle nervously reloaded his musket. He began to aim again when Agatha had seen enough.
"HEY!” she yelled. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” The men turned to her, annoyance apparent on their faces.
“Bother elsewhere, wench!” yelled the man on the left. The man in the middle cracked a scoffing laugh. At the sound of that, her fury burst out of her like a volcano.
“THE DEVIL ROT THEE, DAFT MEN!” Agatha screamed. She opened her palms up to the sky and motioned her hands upward. Purple magic fled from her fingers and consequently, the men flew up as tall as the bear stands. She dropped her palms and watched the men fall back to the ground. The middle man dropped his gun and it fired off into the distance, missing everyone. To Agatha’s relief, that included the bears who scampered off after the second fire. The sounds of the men's bodies hitting the ground and the groans that followed were like music to her ears. She laughed loudly at them as they all tried to gather themselves. The man in the middle crawled for his gun and sloppily shot. Agatha crossed her arms over her chest at the sound of the third smoke. Her eyes were closed, but to the men’s surprise, nothing happened. For a moment they sat in silence.
Agatha opened her eyes and giggled, teasing the men, who hadn’t yet realized that the musket ball the man shot had stopped mid-air. When it hit them, the ball was on its way back, a purple trail following it. The bullet struck the man in the center of his chest and he fell back. The other two men popped up and did their best to trap her on either side. They stood at either side of Agatha, feet away from the inevitable demise.
“Boys, do you really want to do this?” She says in a faux-meek voice. She smiled as she played with her food. The men pulled their swords from their respective sheaths. One man stroked his beard as the other chuckled with a confidence that amused Agatha. She chuckled in return.
“Okay, then. Have it your way.” She teased. Her smile beamed, even in the supposed face of death. The men, now triggered by her demeaning tone, charged at her from opposite directions. At the very last second, Agatha launched upward, hovering above the colliding men. She came back down and stood over them. She watched them as their lives escaped them and their blood alike, entangled by their swords in each other's chests.
“Silly men.” She giggled wistfully. She walked off and approached the edge of the water again.
~
At the sound of the babbling river, Agatha began to cry. The weight of what she had done caught up to her. They were going to kill me she thought to herself. Agatha wrestled with her justification as her mother's words echoed through her head. All of the memories of her mother making it clear that she did not love her ringing clearly in her ears. Her mother telling Agatha that she is unnatural and horrifying. Agatha could still picture the look of rage and envy on her Mother’s face when she used her powers. Agatha worried her mother might be right. At that thought, Agatha’s silent tears became a heavy whimper.
The trees close behind her wrestled with the wind as the falls crashed louder. From a tree escaped a monotonous call.
“If only life had meant something to them,” said a young woman’s voice. A startled Agatha hopped onto her feet.
“Reveal yourself,” Agatha commanded steadily. She looked at the forest around her, examining her surroundings carefully. The only sound to follow was a crunch in the brush beyond. Frightened by the idea of being caught, she ran across the stone path in the pond, back to the bank she had started on, and ran into the surrounding forest. Once she passed a few trees, she looked back to see if someone had followed her, and she tripped on an unearthed root.
Agatha’s body hit the floor with great force, and it knocked the wind out of her. She lay for a moment. When she opened her eyes again, she was startled by a pair of slippers in front of her. Agatha threw herself back in shock, then examined who the shoes belonged to. Before her stood a stunning woman with raven hair. The stranger wore a green hood and her brown eyes shone like amber in the sun’s glory. Agatha sat silent, marveling at the woman standing over her.
After a moment, the woman held out both hands to Agatha. She hesitantly took the woman’s hands, and the woman swiftly pulled her up. The gentle smile Agatha was greeted by remained on the woman’s face.
“Th-thank you,” Agatha stammered. Her hands slowly slipped away from the other woman’s. “What is your name?”
“I am Rio,” The woman replies.
“Well, thank you, Rio.” Agatha nodded at Rio, and with that, Rio took a small step closer.
“And you are-”
“Agatha,” She interrupted Rio abruptly. “Agatha Harkness… Listen, what you saw-”
“You don’t need to explain.” Rio interrupted. “I watched them. They were going to kill you. You did what you needed to do.” She snapped her fingers. Remnants of green magic escaped from her fingertips. “Do not be ashamed, darling.”
Agatha looked down, softly giggling with relief. She still stood ridiculing herself. Wishing she was different. Wishing she was better.
“I do,” Agatha began. “Such darkness is frowned upon.”. Rio lifted Agatha’s woeful chin upward again with a smile on her face.
“Agatha, I do not frown upon you…”
A tear streamed down from Agatha’s watery eye. It passed down her cheek across a weak smile.
“You would be the first,” Agatha responded.
“Well, everybody before me is a fool,” Rio says assertively. She extended her arm out again and wiped the tear off of Agatha’s cheek with the back of her finger. Agatha looked into Rio’s eyes and again her gaze was trapped, enchanted by this mysterious green witch and her kind spirit. Rio’s hand lingered on Agatha’s cheek. They slowly leaned in as they looked deeper into each other’s eyes. They heard another snap in the surrounding brush and jumped at its sudden threat.
“I’m afraid I must go” Agatha declared begrudgingly. She abruptly broke away and stepped to walk away. She stopped and turned back around.
“Thank you, Rio.” Agatha offered, reaching for Rio’s shoulder. She shuttered and turned to walk away again. Rio pulled Agatha back by her wrist before she could escape. Agatha gasped and looked at Rio. Rio smiled.
“I will see you again,” said Rio. She gently kissed Agatha’s hand and let her go. Agatha turned and headed back home.
~
Her journey back felt more dreadful than usual. She felt less of an urge to go back than normal as if she had any at all to go back in the first place. Her feet drug across the dirt with every dreaded pace. She pondered on who the culprit may have been for the ruckus in the brush that surrounded her and her new acquaintance. She thought about Rio’s cheekbones and their admirably sharp ridges. She thought about how kind Rio was to her, and the way that she felt like lighting had crawled through her veins when their hands joined.
The sun was nestled in the trees when Agatha arrived back at the home that she shared with her coven. As she approached the dreadful abode, through the windows she could see her coven sat around a table, each of their faces worry-ridden.
“Oh, this should be good,” Agatha mumbled to herself in disdain. By this point, Agatha had learned that this meant she was probably about to get in trouble. As she peeked into the house, Agatha caught a glimpse of her mother consoling a seemingly very troubled Bridget. At this sight, a shiver crawled up Agatha’s spine. Her intuition shook at the bars of her ribcage, begging her to turn around. She warily opened the door to be met with 8 pairs of eyes staring at Agatha invidiously.