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Living through Sarah Fier’s head was the most terrifying thing Deena Johnson ever experienced in her entire life, and she has spent the last days running away from literal invincible Satan minions for fuck’s sake.
And yet, as nightmare inducing it was, to be stuck powerless in this weird time period where almost everyone ogled her with fear in her eyes for daring to love otherwise and gladly bellowed in retribution as she was to about be hanged for a crime she did not commit, there were sparks of joy in this life too.
Conniving smiles over whispered promises to meet each other once the full moon was up, satisfaction of a hard work well done, but most of all, the way her heart leapt in her chest as she, Deena Johnson buried deep within Sarah Fier, recognized her own.
Sam, smiling shyly, her blond hair escaping from her pilgrim bonnet, as the two of them were on the verge of flirting in plain sight, Kate and Simon, as stubborn and eager to have fun as ever, whose sudden deaths in her time had left her an aching wound, only kept at bay for the moment by the overpowering need to survive, and Josh, still and forever her rock and voice of reason.
They were called Hannah and Lizzie and Isaac and Henry, but deep down she knew it was still them - that the weird family they all formed powered through in the centuries, by some strange magic only Shadyside kids, fucked up as they were, would be able to appreciate.
Deena thinks about all this, as the rope is set tight around her neck, Hannah Miller’s heart-wrenching screams still vibrant in her head - she sends Simon and Kate silent farewells in the darkness, and holds on to the hope she will get to save the others.
They bury Sarah Fier properly that night, giving her one last homage as they engrave the witch forever lives on that rock, a fuck-off to everyone who thought they could get rid of her so easily.
They don’t remember that night but their blood does, and it is the same one pulsing through Cindy Berman’s veins as she swings the axe at the Nightwing Killer, in Kate’s as she gets everyone in their bus back from the vigil to chant against these pieces of shit from Sunnyvale, in Simon’s as he methodically sorts out the pills which will ensure Sam’s survival.
Shadyside forever lives with them.