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Waverly startles awake from the deepest slumber she has ever had, chest heaving and eyes bleary as she tries to focus her vision. She reaches her arm out to feel for her fiancée wondering if Nicole woke with her and finds the other side of the bed is cold. She turns her head and sees the sheets are neatly made it and the spot is cold. So cold. Taking her time to look around more she sees the room also looks tidy and clean, everything but her side of the bedsheets is pristine. The clockface next to her was blank as if it has been unplugged. Odd…. Chalking it up to an accident, possibly a prank by Wynonna or Rachel, she sits up and rubs her eyes and looks around again because something is not sitting right to her. She supposes that Nicole is at work, and everyone is probably doing… something. She really hopes it is not a prank.
She eventually gets dressed for the day and wanders down to the kitchen. Still, there is no one else on the homestead with her. She feels her confidence fall a bit and goes to make coffee with the old coffee maker on the counter. It takes a lot of finagling and patience, but she is able to get a pot brewing. Looking out the window she sees the sun is rising steadily and the fields beyond are still. She frowns and fills her thermos full to take with her to BBD.
Walking through the empty police department was unsettling. Normally on a slow day there was at least one officer at the desk either filing paperwork or chewing on a pen and watching the clock. The sleepy shifts are what Nicole would call them before she became Sheriff. They were not all that common, but a welcomed change to the usual humdrum of the small-town life that would spark a need for some officer to help with. She shook off the unease that has been growing since she woke up. The streets were barren on her way into town, no one in sight as she made her way in the department and now as she is walking into the BBD office she is met with an empty space. Jeremy was not here and there were no signs of Wynonna sneaking more doughnuts or shots from her whiskey stash.
Frowning she looks around the room once more before turning to leave and head over to Shorty’s. Maybe one of them is working there or possibly hiding out and avoiding work. At the very least Nedley should be there setting up for the afternoon opening. She shimmies the door around until it opens for her and is met with dusty chairs turned upside down on the tables and a few stray glasses on the bar. Her frown returns and she looks at her phone before calling Wynonna. The call cuts off after the second dial. Nicole is next and it goes to voicemail. Grumbling as she scrolls through her contacts she lands on Doc, hoping that he will be the one to answer. But that call cuts off too. She sends each of them a text to call her back and waits. Meandering around the bar she wracks her brain for any clue as to what is going on. Could it be the fog again? Or maybe BBD Headquarters enacted something to alter the town or the residents? Waverly would not put it past them to pull a stunt like that when they feel they have not been getting the demon quota they so desire.
The last thing she can clearly recall is flashes of Jolene and pain on her back, the fog lifting and Wynonna’s eyes full of fear as she looked at her baby sister. There was an overall feeling of cold throughout the memories. Cold and hard, like stone, unyielding and stoic. She cannot place much more after that, not until waking up this morning and feeling so drained. Wynonna should be able to fill in the gaps for her since she was there. At least Waverly was sure her sister was there with her for those memories. She is not sure if she can trust a lot of things right now…. Sighing deeply, she texts Doc again with a simple message and steels herself for a hike.
--
Waverly looks around desperately hoping against all odds that Doc will get it. That he might meet her there soon, their spot, after all she knows that he knows on some level. They did seem to have a certain omniscience about each other when it came to the Garden and certain emotions related to it. They had chalked it up to such a long time spent lost together in that realm where they could only trust each other. An hour passes and the wind is still, the woods are quiet, and there is barest noise from birds and critters rustling in the trees. With each look she gives to her phone her hope starts to wane. With a heavy sigh she glances about one more time before making up her mind and standing up to go up the first step.
She falters for a moment, willing her ears to pick up Doc’s rough drawl and his boots crunching the leaves, or Nicole’s sweet voice drawing a blush on her cheeks, or Wynonna’s laughter and clinking flask and gun on her hip. Silence is the only response she gets. It’s deafening.
The sting of tears prick at her eyes when she is hit with the hard truth that she is well and truly alone right now. Frustration rolls around her like the fog she vaguely remembers having surrounded Purgatory when they had come back from the Garden. The fog that made people forget, the way she wishes to forget the isolation she has been feeling all day. She takes another step up and lets out a ragged breath. Another step and another breath. She keeps this up, one step and one breath, dragging this out until she is at the top, her eyes closed tight and trembling. She squints one eye open and sees the door glowing in front of her, waiting to be opened. Waverly reaches out her hands and holds tightly onto the handles. She takes a moment to think of her home, the town she grew up in, the land that raised her, and realizes that this might be the last time she will ever see it. But there is nothing for her here if everyone is absent. How could her house be a home without boisterous laughter and soft words and hard talks and everything in between that added up to make her and her family one?
The last step is easy and with a rush of cold air and a low hum surrounding her she fights the fear that rises within. A dark shadow casts about her before being pierced through with stark blinding light. Just remembering being taken to this place the first time is hard enough to stomach. But now? Well, her empty stomach and teary eyes transition to the barren landscape and the fear comes back in spades. A lifetime ago it feels like, but not really. What is time to an angel, a sentinel who should never have known anything beyond duty? How twisted this all is.
Far off in the distance before her she sees the deep well that chained her and the bloody stairs not too far off. All around her are the scattered obelisks and dilapidated doorways, overgrown and dusty at the same time. And as she turns around, she sees the throne that calls to her yet again. The hum grows louder in her ears and rings in her chest. The pull was enticing the first time and now it feels inevitable. She wants to resist and fall into Wynonna’s arms like before. Lovingly threatened until she was able to leave with her family back to their world, their home. Her feet are moving her forward without her conscious effort, the pull is wrapping around her and taking away the last little bits of fight she has been desperately holding on to. Tears run down Waverly’s cold cheeks and she prays that Doc would be right behind her ready to wrap her in his arms and help her get away. Wynonna would be sneaking up ready to tickle attack and startle her with a wry smile and bright eyes. Or even better, that Nicole would be holding her close and kissing her awake from this nightmare because surely this has to be a nightmare…. Right? The reality setting in cuts deeper than anything she has ever known.
How cruel the universe and fate are to her she thinks as she notices upon the throne is the ring. Julian’s before Bulshar stole it away, it was a promise she gave to Nicole. It is taunting her. Apparently waiting for her from when she had abandoned it the first time she escaped the wretched cage.
She puts the ring on and takes the deepest breath she can. With a resigned sigh and a heavy heart and mind, she sits upon her father’s throne. The humming quiets and all that is left is deafening silence.
--
Her vision swims in and out of focus, her mind grows heavy and she fights against the looming weight that she feels just about to envelope her. Waverly wants to hold on to the hope that one of her family, her team, will come in and make it all better. Her legs seize up and her arms will not move from their spot on the chair no matter how hard she tries. In her haze of dwindling consciousness, she sees the endless span of the Garden in front of her. A blank space devoid of anything other than stoic suffering. Her eyelids are falling shut and a delirium takes hold of her mind.
Has it been hours? More or less than a minute? Could a year have passed already?
She looks up and sees a dark and dim landscape. And she swears she sees something moving, almost swirling in the clouded scene before her. And she does, she hears a rough bark of laughter and sees Aunt Gus and Uncle Curtis. As fast as she sees them, they disappear and it makes her contemplate if that was wishful thinking…. The faint sounds of chatter swim up and she thinks she can see Mercedes and Beth with Chrissy, Nedley not too far behind smiling at the kids he has watched over for years. With a gust of those same clouds around her they disappear as well. It leaves Waverly’s mind reeling and throbbing with frustration. Too cruel is the universe in these tricks, she can never go back to Purgatory and see them again. She does not need to be reminded of that; it was an accepted fact and she wants to just stay sentinel without having her mind tortured.
She shuts her eyes hard and wills her mind to be quiet and her heart to stop frantically raging in her chest. When she next dares to open her eyes she sees Rachel running around, head thrown back in laughter with Jeremy and Robin. Doc is next, clutching something delicately to his chest as he watches on with a soft smile. Nicole flashes by in a blur, chasing after Rachel and yelling something to Doc, her sweet voice lingering on the air and in Waverly’s ears…… But they do not see her. Can they even see her? Is this what insanity feels like for an angel? To watch the ones you love live without you while you must stay silent and invisible?
But now her heart is being cleaved into pieces as she watches Wynonna dance, tenderly held by Xavier while Doc sways along, singing to the bundle in his arms which means… No please, dear Lord please. The tears are running down her face as she sees all of them, her family. She longs to reach out and hold all of them close. She craves to kiss their cheeks and be held by each of them, to see baby Alice again and hold her niece, but she especially wants to kiss Nicole and be wrapped up in her warmth. With an icy terror she realizes that Dolls is among them…… but he has been…. It has been far too long for this to be a glimpse into what she is missing out on. It hits her that she is the last one left. The last Earp to protect them, the last of the team to be on a mission, the last person from Purgatory still in the Ghost River Triangle if everything she has endured recently is anything to go by.
Waverly cries under the weight, buried by the realizations and solitude.
She never got to say goodbye.