Chapter Text
A dark-grey pickup truck cruised along an uneven road, maintaining a smooth and steady pace. The sound of its rumbling engine cut through the otherwise serene backdrop of nature. Ryan was behind the wheel, ferrying three passengers; Ethan sat in the front with Alex and Steph occupying the back seats. They had set out early, much to Alex’s dismay; she was not and never had been a morning person. For most of the journey, they had been one of the only vehicles on the road, mainly sticking to the scenic route. Witnesses to the stunning beauty of Colorado’s verdant forests and distant mountain ranges. The kind of view that an accomplished photographer would proudly display in their portfolio, full of vibrance and life. Maybe even magic.
“Are we there yet?” Ethan whined as he peered out of the window, the fifth time he’d inquired about their destination’s proximity in the past fifteen minutes.
“Not quite, buddy,” Ryan replied as he slowly took the next left turning. “Maybe another ten minutes.”
“At this rate, it’ll be another ten days before we get there.” Steph stared into the overhead mirror, playfully rolling her eyes so he could see. “You drive like an old man, Ryan.”
“Safety first,” he said, gently veering right onto a thin dirt road, “especially on the road.”
Steph scoffed loudly. “Typical boy scout behavior.”
“Well, if you ever get your licence renewed, you can drive,” Ryan replied, sounding confident that it would never happen.
“I’d like to see that,” Alex interrupted sleepily as she rested against her girlfriend, the end of her sentence lost to a yawn.
“No.” Ryan shuddered involuntarily, his expression solemn with warning. “You really wouldn’t.”
“Are you implying that I’m a bad driver, Lucan?” Steph challenged, eyes narrowed at their overly careful chauffeur.
“No…” Ryan broke his concerned facade with a goading grin, “I’m implying that you’re the worst driver I have ever seen.”
“You’re being dramatic. Gabe was worse.”
Ryan tilted his head to the side, then nodded. “Okay, you're the second worst then.”
“You really need to get out of Haven Springs, Ryan. Take a trip to Seattle, or any other city. Then you’ll see what a bad driver really is.”
“I think I’m good with quiet backroads.”
“Fine,” Steph pressed a light kiss to Alex’s cheek, the other girl too tired to get embarrassed about the openly affectionate gesture. “I’ll just have to take Alex on a magical road trip and leave you behind.”
Alex put a hand over her girlfriend’s, offering a dazed smile. “So, we’re actually taking that trip to Salem, then?”
Neither of them had discussed it seriously since the night of the festival, making occasional comments but never solid plans. Their decision to stay in Haven Springs, however, didn’t exclude the possibility of adventure. As much as the sleepy Coloradian town felt like home, and likely always would, there was so much left to explore and experience together. So many memories to make.
“You know it. We need to find a coven to join. It’s like a rite of passage for us.”
A shimmering golden aura radiated from Steph at the thought of resurrecting their travel plans. ‘That and I could literally go anywhere with you and it’d still feel like home.’
Instinctively, Alex nuzzled deeper into Steph’s neck. “We’ll become the best witches in Colorado.”
Steph sighed contently, resting her head against Alex’s. “You’re thinking too small. Best witches in the world.”
“Can I come too?” Ethan asked, eyes wide with hope as he glanced behind his chair.
“Don’t see why not. So long as Charlotte is okay with it, and I’m sure she will be.” Steph squeezed Alex’s hand, their eyes meeting. “Right, Allie?”
“The more the merrier,” Alex agreed, squeezing her hand back. A gesture of mutual agreement.
“Maybe mom can join us!” Ethan exclaimed, already hyped about their potential trip to Massachusetts.
Alex chuckled at his sudden eagerness, glad to see Ethan smiling freely again. Like any kid his age should. “I bet Charlotte will be all over that witchcraft shit.”
“She runs a weed dispensary,” Steph replied without hesitation; that was all the proof she needed. “Of course she will be.”
“It can be one big happy Haven family day out,” Alex suggested. “We can drag Duckie, Elanor and Riley along too. And anyone else who wants to tag along.”
By now, Ethan was practically buzzing with anticipation. “This is gonna be so cool!”
“Ugh, alright,” Ryan finally conceded. “I’ll tag along too.”
“Who says you were still invited?” Steph shot back, trying and failing to keep a straight face as she teased him.
“Ouch, my feelings. So hurt.” His melodramatic display suddenly faltered. “Just to clarify… I am still invited, right?”
Steph caught his gaze in the mirror again. “Ryan. Is that even a question?”
“Yes?”
“You are such a big dork…” Steph cracked a genuine smile, “no wonder Gabe was your friend.”
“I’m… honestly not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or not.”
“Undecided.” Steph’s grin shifted from impish to genuine, voice growing softer. “Still, you’re part of the family, Lucan. Whether you like it or not.”
“Besides, who knows when we’ll need your wilderness skills,” Alex added. “Like figuring out if a bird call is an ill omen or just… you know, a regular bird call.”
“Ah, yes,” Ryan finally smiled, no longer doubting his place in their future road trip plans. “One of the key skills you pick up as a State Park Ranger.”
“Really?” Ethan’s mouth hung open. “That’s so cool! Teach me.”
“If we come across any demonic apparitions, I’ll let you know.”
Ryan pulled into a small dirt parking lot and took a space on the far left side. The four of them piled out of the vehicle, taking out backpacks.
“So, we all ready for the hike?” he asked, quadruple-checking that they had everything they could ever need.
“Yeah!” Ethan declared, thrumming with excitement for the upcoming adventure.
“Loving the enthusiasm, Ethan.” Ryan turned to Steph and Alex, assuming his usual role of calm yet gentle leadership in situations such as these. “Girls?”
“I was born ready,” Steph replied in her usual confident manner, cracking her knuckles. “Bring it on, nature.”
“I’ll…” Alex paused, glancing up at the daunting hike trail, “try.”
Ryan shrugged, taking point. “Good enough.”
With that, they set out into the wilderness. Swathes of bristlecone pines, blue spruces, Douglas-firs and quaking aspen trees formed natural borders around the dusty earth hiking trail. Wispy white clouds lazily floated overhead in the azure sky, the entire area basked in the late morning sunlight. Soon enough, Ethan had overtaken Ryan to bravely lead the group forward, just like Thaynor would. Steph and Alex took up the rear, walking hand in hand along the ever-rising inclines. Almost an hour passed them by in a heartbeat, a peaceful journey punctuated by a spattering of conversation.
“You doing okay there, Allie?” Steph asked, noticing her girlfriend lagging slightly.
“Yeah. Totally,” Alex replied, trying to even out her breathing. “Just… not used to all this fresh air, you know.”
“A good sign that you need to get out of the apartment more.” Steph slowed her pace so Alex could take a breather without letting go of her hand. “So do I.”
"Aw, but I like the hermit lifestyle."
"And you can crawl right back to it when we get home. Promise.” Steph pressed a kiss to Alex’s forehead, which left her feeling breathless for an entirely different reason. “I’ll be pretty wiped out too.”
“So, it’ll be a ‘start watching a movie but unceremoniously passing out after half an hour’ kind of night.”
“You’d better believe it, Chen. Snuggled up in bed, stealing sleepy kisses and waking up in the morning feeling achy as fuck from all this walking.”
“Good thing you don’t have work tomorrow, huh.”
“Fuck, yes.” Steph shuddered at the very thought. “Otherwise, I’d totally be dying in that booth.”
A swirling river of gold surrounded her, enhancing Alex’s already good mood. ‘And it means I get to spend the entire day with the hottest and nerdiest guitarist in the whole wide world… who also happens to be my favorite person ever. No competition.’
Alex grinned so wide that her cheeks began to hurt. “It’s a real privilege, huh?”
“Definitely,” Steph whispered, cupping Alex’s face in her hands before lightly pressing their lips together.
“You two okay back there?” Ryan called over his shoulder, both he and Ethan waiting for them a short way ahead.
“Yeah,” Steph shouted back, slightly frustrated that the tender moment had been interrupted, “quit being impatient.”
Ryan held up his hands in surrender. “Just making sure.”
“We should… get going, probably.” Alex took one final bracing breath, standing tall as she tugged Steph along.
“You’re cute when you’re trying to act tough. Maybe I should carry you the rest of the way.”
“Not that I don’t believe in your strength but… we might just plummet to our deaths.”
“Pfft, no way. Look, I’ll show you.”
When Steph made a move to scoop her girlfriend up in her arms, Alex shrieked, “Steph!”
“Do I even want to know?” Ryan asked, hesitantly glancing back over his shoulder to make sure nothing bad had actually happened.
“Girl stuff,” Steph replied with a grin. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Is that what we’re calling it now?” Alex asked, managing to escape from her clutches.
“I mean, technically it’s not wrong.” Forgoing a second attack, Steph once more took Alex’s hand in hers.
After the slight distraction, the group forged ahead. Eventually, they reached one of the higher points in the trail, stopping to appreciate the scenery. Below them was a large lake, faint waves gliding across its crystalline surface. The entire area was encircled by a thick layer of foliage and steep, craggy rock faces. It looked like something out of a fairytale. Picturesque.
Ryan shielded his eyes, his blond hair shimmering in the sunlight. “Look at that view.”
“Almost worth… passing out for,” Alex managed between gulps of cool, crisp air.
Steph stood in awe, instinctively pulling her girlfriend closer. “Totally.”
“It’s amazing!” Ethan shouted out, his voice carrying across the secluded haven. “Gabe...” Suddenly pausing, he sheepishly glanced around at the others to gauge their reaction before muttering, “he would’ve loved to see it.”
“Yeah, he would,” Alex agreed, resting her head on Steph’s shoulder as she cast her gaze out towards the distant and much taller rock formations. “When he was younger, he loved exploring.”
“Really?”
“Really. Gabe took me on some adventures before we got separated. Always playing the fearless leader, forging ahead.” Alex smiled, focusing on one of the taller trees poking out above the leaf canopy. A Douglas fir. “One time, we got lost in a forest together so he climbed up a really tall tree to see if he could figure out where civilisation was… and got stuck.”
“What happened?!”
Closing her eyes, she pictured the old memory. Gabe, stuck partway up a towering Douglas fir. It seemed so tall, reaching far into the heavens; likely the skewed perception of her younger self.
“I’m going to find dad!” she shouted up, filled with panic.
“No! I don’t…” Gabe cleared his throat, trying to hide the quiver in his voice. “We don’t need dad anyway. I can get down myself.”
“Are you sure?” she asked hesitantly, staring up at where her brother clung tightly to a thick branch. “It’s really high.”
“Y-yeah, totally.”
“Please be careful…”
“Alex, I’m always careful.”
“He fell, broke his wrist.” Alex shook her head, recalling just how much he’d cried and the panic she’d felt. “Not his finest moment.”
“You know, I always thought Gabe was indestructible.” Ryan glanced away briefly, giving a slight sigh. “Guess not.”
“Yeah… he was as indestructible as any overly-confident goofball.” Steph sighed, a flicker of distant melancholy crossing her face as she gripped onto Alex’s hand tighter. “Wish I'd had more time to tease him about shit like that... would've been fucking hilarious."
"Me too," Alex whispered, getting as close to Steph as humanly possible in the hopes to comfort her.
The group stood in silence, all recalling Gabe Chen. A man who once thought killing a Candian goose was a crime against the crown. A man who vowed to become a better father than his own. A man who thrived on competition, a foosball champion. A man who wanted to reconnect and ensure his long-lost sister felt as welcome as he did in a small Coloradian town.
“What do you think he’d say?” Ethan asked, finally breaking the collective quiet. “If he was here now.”
“He’d either be gloating or sulking, because he’d have made some stupid competition to see who could get to the top of this trail first.” Steph suddenly broke out into a watery smile. “And I would totally kick his ass.”
“I don’t know about that, Steph,” Ryan replied.
In a heartbeat, the heavy atmosphere was broken. Where once they all stood in a trance, now the group suddenly sprung to life. After all, Gabe Chen wouldn’t want them to be sad.
“Ryan, are you doubting my athletic skill? If the answer is yes, I'm about to beat your ass.”
“No, I just…” Ryan paused, choosing his words carefully, “you’re both super stubborn and… fight dirty.”
“Can confirm she does that,” Alex chimed in.
“Way to rat me out, Alex.” Steph squinted her eyes at the betrayal. “I thought you were supposed to be on my side.”
“I am, but even you can’t deny the truth.”
Steph stuck her tongue out. “Just watch me.”
“My point is,” Ryan interrupted in a seemingly futile attempt to regain some control over the conversation, “it wouldn’t be a match of pure skill.”
“Maybe I’d sneak in and steal the victory,” Alex declared confidently.
“Pfft, when you almost had a heart attack just getting up here?” Steph shook her head firmly. “No chance.”
“Hey, I wasn’t that bad.” When Steph raised an eyebrow, Alex’s shoulders slumped. “Okay, fine. I need to get out of the house more… but I survived, didn’t I?”
“That’s one thing working in your favor, Chen: you’re very resilient. A good thing, too.” Steph offered up a coy grin, waggling her eyebrows. “You wouldn’t last a week with me otherwise.”
Ryan awkwardly cleared his throat. “Well, I think Ethan would win.”
“Totally. I’d be really fast and strong, just like Thaynor!”
“Brave heroes need to eat,” Ryan replied, taking out a picnic blanket alongside an array of snacks and drinks.
The group sat down to refuel for their eventual journey back down the hiking trail. At a glance, nobody would be able to tell the great hardships that each had suffered to get here. Each day filled with moments of calm and love, not heartache or fear. Now, a future of hope awaited them, particularly the two musically-inclined nerds who had managed to find one another amongst a maelstrom of misfortune. Steph and Alex sat close as they ate from the literal mountain of food that Ryan had prepared, turning it into a competition by stealing bites from each other's food in increasingly devious ways and almost inciting a brutal food fight. They laughed and smiled freely, unable to imagine a better reality than the one they currently occupied.
Whatever came next, good or bad - hopefully more good than bad - they would have each other's backs, just as they always did.