Chapter Text
On a day that was not particularly unordinary, Raelle found herself looking into a mirror. She looked at her reflection and its features, everything from the scar on her chin to the braids in her hair. Raelle looked behind her in the mirror, watching Scylla sit on the couch. Like she knew, Scylla sent a look her way across the room, looking up from the book she was reading. Raelle wouldn’t understand how sitting like that was comfortable, but many things Scylla did didn’t make sense to her. Raelle looked back at her with a hushed intrigue before walking away. Scylla turned back to her book and flipped to the next page.
Raelle opened the door and walked out to the backyard. The sun was out for now and she wanted to be out in it, even if “in it” meant sitting under the patio cover. She pulled a plastic chair across the patio nearer to the grass. She sat down and propped her feet up on a nearby table, crossing her arms in front of her.
“You doin’ okay?” Willa asked, walking outside.
“Yeah, I’m great. Thanks,” Raelle said without looking at her mother.
“Just let me know if you need anything.”
“Yeah.”
“I know you’re upset with me, Rae. But I –”
Raelle stood up and faced her mother. “There are no buts, Mom. I’m angry and you’re going to let me be angry. I’m here aren’t I? What more do you want?”
Willa looked at her daughter with heavy eyes. She sighed. “Alright, Raelle.” Willa turned around and walked inside. Raelle sat back down, though now agitated. A few minutes later, the door opened again. Raelle turned around, ready to fight with her mother, but it was Scylla she saw standing at the door.
“Are you okay?” Scylla asked. “Willa just stormed upstairs.”
“I’m fine,” Raelle spit. “I just want to be left alone.”
“Okay,” Scylla said. “I’ll be around if you need to talk.” Scylla turned around to go inside, but was stopped by Raelle’s hand on her shoulder. Scylla looked at her blankly, but not without emotion.
“I – I’m sorry, Scyl. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“It’s okay. I understand if you need to be alone.”
“No I – I want you to stay out here. With...with me.”
Scylla was slightly confused, but not enough to show it. She just smiled instead. “I’ll sit with you then,” she said.
Raelle smiled briefly, walking back to her chair just as the smile went away. Scylla took a chair in her hands and walked it over beside Raelle, sitting neatly beside her. They sat in silence for a minute, listening to whatever birds were jolly enough to sing in the sweltering heat. Summer in Massachusetts wasn’t as hot as some places, but it was hot enough. As the day started to end, the temperature dropped, but the lingering summer heat stayed in and around their conversations. At one point, their conversation lulled, though not in a way that left any awkward feelings in the air. The sky was blazing with oranges and pinks when Scylla looked over slyly at Raelle, seeing her arms crossed again. Raelle looked out over the fence surrounding the background, watching the blue sky and all the things that lived in it. Scylla appreciated Raelle’s profile like she always did before. She realized she hadn’t in a while. The thought made her sad, but she was made grateful to be there looking at her at all. She knew she didn’t deserve it. Raelle looked over at Scylla, catching her staring at her.
“Staring at me, huh? Glad to see that hasn’t changed.”
Scylla huffed through a smile. “I wasn’t staring.”
“Sure,” Raelle said, stifling the urge to smile. “It’s, uh, nice to have you around again. Even if I’m still mad at you.”
“I’d expect you to be mad. I’m not in a position to fight that.”
Raelle wasn’t as mad as she wanted to pretend to be. She was more relieved than anything just knowing Scylla was still alive and not imprisoned on some Caribbean island.
“I’d hate for you to miss out on any of the fun just because I’m mad, anyway.”
“And just how much trouble have I missed since you’ve been back in the land of the living?” Scylla asked.
“Not much, actually,” Raelle replied.
“I have a hard time believing that,” Scylla said with a laugh.
“Hey. I’m not always trying to get into trouble.”
“Not always, I’ll give you that.”
The two sat next to each other, watching the face of the person opposite of them, carefully observing to see any strange changes that may indicate what they were thinking. Neither saw a thing, though neither would have had the guts to do anything even if they did. It was easier to pretend they could be friends than admit that they couldn’t be. It wasn’t a feasible option right then; one of them belonged to the Army, and the other belonged to the Spree, a group only allowed to exist while the Camarilla was hunting them all. Witches had to stick together, but once the threat facing them both was gone, it would go back to the way it was. Sarah Alder wouldn’t forget all the Spree did, not even for the sake of their sacrifices against the witch hunters. Despite that, both Raelle and Scylla were still the women they were before, regardless of all that had occurred. None of it changed who they were fundamentally, at their deepest being.
Scylla certainly wasn’t the same furious and painfully aching person she was before, but she was still the bold and brave one who Raelle fell in love with. And Raelle, even through her death and her rebirth, Raelle was still the generous and giving person she was before. Raelle and Scylla were no longer crumbling human beings clinging to what they thought was the truth. They were clinging now to what they felt the future could hold, even if that “could” was something long and far off. The light at the end of the proverbial tunnel for one was dark hair and eyes like the sea, and for the other it was hair bright as the sun and eyes as icy as winters spent in the Cession. But as those torn often do, neither said any of this. They didn’t really need to.
“What do you think is going to happen with all this?” Raelle asked.
“Well, either we’ll defeat them or they’ll burn us all alive,” Scylla responded in a matter-of-fact way.
“I don’t think you’ll go quietly if they took you.”
“I wouldn’t. I’d fight back with everything I have.” Scylla turned to look into Raelle’s eyes, and hers were sharp, though that sharpness was not reserved for Raelle. “I doubt you’d go quietly either.”
“They already killed me once,” Raelle stated. “They won’t get another chance. Especially not after they nearly took Abigail too.”
Scylla turned away from Raelle and looked out the window. Her eyes softened and her brow relaxed once she realized it was tense. “She was brave,” Scylla muttered.
“She was. I knew once I took the charm off something was going to happen.”
“And you took it off anyway.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t blame you,” Scylla said, “I probably would have too.”
“I was so angry at you, Scyl,” Raelle said. She turned to face Scylla. “I was so angry.”
Scylla turned slowly to see Raelle’s demeanor change. It shifted into the realm of anger, but not anger that was directed at anyone in particular. Scylla suddenly felt the urge to take Raelle’s hand, one that was balled in a shaking fist. She did, against all her better judgment. Scylla’s hand carefully moved over Raelle’s, landing softly upon it. The shaking didn’t stop right away, but it did.
“You have every right to be angry at me,” Scylla said in a soft voice. It carried like a whisper through a pine forest. “Not that you need me to say so.”
“It’s still nice to hear it,” Raelle said.
She looked at Scylla’s hand and unballed her hand. Raelle turned her hand outward to hold Scylla’s fingers. It was a careful and deliberate move. It was gentle. Scylla swallowed quietly, watching Raelle’s grasp find a comfortable place. Their hands were locked together at the end, still and steady. Scylla could feel the anxiety and tension dissolve from Raelle, going through her first.
“I was focused that day,” Raelle said with her head hung slightly. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in that head space before. I wasn’t thinking about anything except our mission. I mean, I was worried about Abigail and Tally. I wanted to make sure they were okay, but there were no distractions in my head like there usually was. I even didn’t think about you once after I stepped on the plane.”
Scylla felt a tinge of hurt hit her right then, but she wanted to give Raelle the opportunity to go wherever it was she was going. Raelle sighed once and it was heavy, a sort of purging sigh.
“I remember watching that fog creep in. It made me so sick to look at. I knew it wasn’t natural. I had no idea it was an evil song they were singing, if you can call it that, but I knew it was something twisted. Then I watched them set those Witches on fire...It made me so angry. I can’t even imagine how Tally felt. She probably actually felt the fire burning her body. But watching that just made me more focused. I had to get the Tarim to safety. I had to kill those men. Then I had to keep that boy safe. So I took my charm off. Then the knife went through me.”
Scylla’s eyes had welled with tears, but she hadn’t noticed. Her lip was shaking and every muscle in her body wanted to take hold of Raelle and hold her closely. She didn’t.
“Do you want to know what I thought about? When they killed me?” Raelle asked through a shaken voice. She looked up at Scylla, who only nodded.
“I thought about you. The world stopped. I felt the knife through me, I saw it being pulled back out. But I wasn’t thinking about it. I was thinking about you. When I fell to the ground, I saw you standing there. I saw you looking at me. I was ready to die because I thought you were already dead, and even if you weren’t, I knew you weren’t mine anymore. But Abigail didn’t let me. She wouldn’t let me go.”
“I’m glad she didn’t,” Scylla said. “I’m happy she didn’t.”
Raelle watched Scylla for a moment. “Why?” She asked, tightening her grip just a little bit.
“When I heard you had died, I –” Scylla lost control, only for a second. Her eyes slammed shut and pushed the tears out as she breathed in sharply through her nose. There weren’t words Raelle could say; she knew it was better to sit and listen.
“When I heard you had died,” Scylla managed to say, “I felt like everything I had ever fought for was for nothing. It wasn’t about my parents anymore when I heard the news. I watched them die right in front of me, and even that couldn’t compare to how I felt. It was like my heart was ripped out of my chest. Anacostia had to hold me still so I didn’t hurt myself or anyone else. I remember shaking uncontrollably while she was holding me. I remember her talking, but I don’t know what she said. I let out a howl, but it was something more than that. The whole place started to shake. The Earth. The lights were flickering on and off. Anacostia almost passed out. She put me to sleep before I could bring the house down.
“When I woke up, the pain was still there. I didn’t eat for several days. I didn’t sleep. I just sat in the corner of my room. Your mom tried to talk to me about it once, if you can call it that. I see where you get your fire from. She didn’t come near me. Willa just stood at the doorway and yelled at me. I remember her blaming me because I didn’t just deliver you like I was supposed to. That made it worse, because she was right. I felt this guilt unlike any I’ve ever felt. I didn’t want to do anything. But after a little while, after a few days, the sadness turned into rage like it always does. I wanted revenge.”
“You don’t need it,” Raelle said, “I’m still here.”
Scylla let go of Raelle’s hand and wrapped her arms around her. “I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t,” Scylla stated. Raelle didn’t move right away, a hesitance still living within her. But after a moment, Raelle’s arms wrapped around Scylla too and pulled her closer.
“You don’t ever have to worry about that. They couldn’t even keep me dead the first time,” Raelle said. A slight laugh escaped from Scylla through the waves of emotion that racked her. Raelle opened her mouth to say something but ended up staying quiet. Her journey into Death had taught her that sometimes actions were more beneficial than speaking. So Raelle, just pulled Scylla back in and held her for far too long. Raelle pulled away from her and placed her hand against Scylla’s face. A weak smile grew on her face.
“And they couldn’t kill you either,” Raelle said.
“It wouldn’t matter if they had,” Scylla said. “They need you, not me.”
“It doesn’t matter who needs you and who doesn’t,” Raelle said. “I saw you when I died. You were there at the threshold. That means something. At least to me.”