Chapter Text
It had been a long day for Kat. It was her first day of school. She had only been in this new reincarnated life with the other queens for about six months before Cathy had started pushing for her to get a real education. Weeks had gone by, but it was obvious Cathy wasn't going to stop bugging her about it anytime soon. With a reluctant sigh, Kat finally agreed.
It was stressful, to say the least. The school building felt like a big maze to Kat. Each of her classes were in different hallways, and she couldn't even open her locker. A student had offered to help, but Kat kindly declined.
One thing she had been excited about was the music class Cathy had enrolled her in, but that joy quickly faded when she saw her teacher. It was him. Henry Mannox. Kat blinked rapidly. No. It wasn't him. It was just an average-looking male teacher named Mr. Carmichael.
Kat walked into the music room, her stomach already tied in knots. She had always dreaded classes, but today was different—she felt off, more sensitive than usual. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting a harsh glare on the cracked linoleum floor. The room smelled faintly of sweat and stale air, mingling with the scent of wood from the old, scarred instruments lined up against the wall.
As she took a seat at the back of the room, the noise of her classmates tuning their instruments felt like nails on a chalkboard. The violins screeched, the brass instruments blared off-key, and the percussionists clumsily banged on their drums, each sound digging deeper into her nerves.
The teacher clapped his hands together, trying to restore order, but his booming voice only added to the cacophony.
“Alright, everyone, settle down! Let's start with the scales, shall we?" he called out, his enthusiasm grating on Kat’s frayed nerves.
She picked up the flute in front of her, its cold metal sending a shiver down her spine. As she brought it to her lips, her hands trembled, and she struggled to focus on the notes in front of her. The room spun slightly, and a wave of nausea washed over her. She tried to push through it, but every time she blew into the instrument, the sound came out wrong—shrill, piercing, like a scream in her head.
Mr. Carmichael’s voice boomed again, this time directly at her.
"Kat, that’s not quite right. Try again, please."
His tone was sharp, and the rest of the class turned to look at her, their eyes boring into her like knives.
Kat’s heart raced, her chest tightening as panic took hold. She tried to play again, but the notes were even worse this time, a discordant mess that made her wince. The teacher sighed loudly, his patience clearly wearing thin. "Kat, I need you to focus. This is important."
But she couldn’t focus. The room felt like it was closing in on her, the walls inching closer with every breath. The noise around her grew louder, more oppressive, until it was all she could hear, drowning out her thoughts, her sense of self. The pressure in her head built to a point where she thought she might explode, tears stinging her eyes as she struggled to keep it together.
Just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, someone laughed—a cruel, mocking sound that echoed through the room. It broke her. The flute slipped from her fingers, clattering to the floor as she stood up abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the floor. She didn’t even look at Mr. Carmichael or her classmates; she couldn’t. Without a word, she turned and bolted out of the room, the sound of their whispers chasing her down the hall.
Kat didn’t stop running until she was outside, the cool air hitting her like a shock. She leaned against the wall, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she tried to steady herself. The music room, with its unbearable noise and stifling atmosphere, was far behind her, but the weight of it still pressed down on her chest.
She closed her eyes, trying to block out the memory of the laughter, the judgment, the overwhelming sensation of being trapped. But it clung to her, a persistent, gnawing anxiety that wouldn’t let go. And in that moment, she knew that something had to change, or she might never be able to face that room again.
When the school day ended, Jane was the one to pick her up.
"So, how was it?" the older queen had asked with a smile as Kat got in the car.
Kat shrugged, "Fine, I guess. I had trouble finding some of my classes, and I couldn't figure out how to work my locker, but it was okay."
"Well, I'm sure you'll get around easily soon," Jane said with a sigh.
When the two had arrived home, they were greeted with a loud BANG! from the kitchen.
"Kat!" Cathy exclaimed as she emerged from the kitchen. She reached out to grab Kat's bag but winced as pain seared through her shoulder.
"Cathy, are you okay, love?" Jane frowned and placed a hand on Cathy's shoulder.
"Yeah! I just fell while getting up," Cathy said and turned to Kat, who was not being very discreet about holding back laughter, "Don't laugh at me! It hurt!" she teased. "Anyway, how was school? Was it fun? Do you like your classes? Did you make any friends? How much homework do you have? Are your-"
"Woah, calm down," Kat interrupted with a smile. "It was fine, I had a really good time," she lied.
"Oh, good, I'm so glad."
Their conversation was cut short when Anne came stomping down the stairs.
"Can someone please tell Lina to- oh, hey Kitty Kat!" Anne smiled. Whatever anger she had festering went away as soon as she saw that her cousin had returned from school.
"Hi, Annie! I missed you so much," Kat sighed. She looked over at the other two queens in the room who had a playfully offended look on their faces, "I missed all of you."
They sat down in the dining room and talked about Kat's day as the other queens joined them, but Kat never brought up the music class incident. At dinner time, Anna bought everyone's favorite modern-day food: pizza. Everyone ate as they talked and laughed about their day. After everyone had cleaned up, Kat had decided to go to bed.
Unfortunately for Kat, she had forgotten what was waiting for her as she drifted off into another night of terror.
Kat found herself standing in the middle of a dimly lit music room, one that felt eerily familiar yet unsettlingly wrong. The walls seemed to breathe, expanding and contracting with each beat of her heart. The air was thick with a sickly sweet smell, a mixture of rotting flowers and something metallic, like blood.
She looked around, trying to find an exit, but the room had no doors, no windows—just endless walls that seemed to close in on her with every passing second. The only thing in the room was a grand piano, its keys yellowed and cracked, as though it hadn’t been touched in years.
And then she heard it—a soft, insidious whisper that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. It was a voice she hadn’t heard in years, a voice that made her blood run cold.
“Katherine…” the voice drawled, smooth and venomous. “You haven’t forgotten me, have you?”
She spun around, and there he was—Henry Mannox, her old music teacher, standing in the shadows. His figure was distorted, grotesque, like a twisted reflection in a funhouse mirror. His eyes gleamed with a predatory glint, his smile stretched too wide, too sharp.
Kat’s heart pounded in her chest, her body frozen in place as he slowly stepped forward. His hands—those long, pale hands—were what terrified her most. They seemed to move of their own accord, crawling and writhing like spiders on his arms. The fingers twitched and flexed, each joint cracking with a sickening sound, as though eager to reach her.
“Let’s see if you remember your lessons,” Mannox purred, his voice dripping with malice.
Before Kat could react, the hands detached from his arms, dropping to the floor with a wet thud. She gasped, stumbling backward, but there was nowhere to go. The hands, now crawling on their own like grotesque insects, began to scuttle toward her, their fingers scratching against the wooden floor with an unbearable screech.
She tried to scream, but no sound came out. The hands reached her feet first, climbing up her legs with a speed that defied nature. They dug into her skin, cold and clammy, leaving trails of icy pain wherever they touched. Kat’s breath hitched as she felt them move up her thighs, her stomach, each hand dancing in a twisted, perverse rhythm.
One hand slid around her neck, its fingers tightening just enough to cut off her breath for a moment before loosening, teasing her. Another tangled in her hair, yanking her head back with brutal force. More hands followed, crawling over her chest, her arms, pressing her down, immobilizing her in a nightmarish grip.
Mannox watched from the shadows, his twisted smile never faltering. “You can’t escape me, Katherine,” he whispered, his voice filling her head, making it impossible to think, to breathe. “You’ll never escape.”
The hands continued their dance, their touch growing more invasive, more torturous, as they explored every inch of her skin. She could feel their fingers pressing into her flesh, digging into her ribs, her spine, as if trying to get inside her, to pull her apart from the inside out.
Kat’s vision blurred, her body numb with terror and pain. She wanted to scream, to cry, to do anything to make it stop, but the hands wouldn’t let her. They pressed against her mouth, her eyes, forcing her to see, to feel, to endure every second of their torment.
And then, just as she thought she would lose herself entirely to the nightmare, Mannox leaned in close, his breath hot against her ear. “This is only the beginning,” he whispered, his voice a dark promise.
The last thing Kat felt before she was swallowed by the darkness was the cold, suffocating grip of the hands, their fingers still crawling, still twisting in that sickening, endless dance.
“NO!”
She woke with a start, drenched in sweat, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst from her chest. The room was dark, silent, but she could still feel the phantom touch of those hands on her skin, lingering like a shadow that refused to fade. She felt sweat drip from her face onto her neck.
Her neck.
Her scar- the physical manifestation of her revival that her cousin, Anne, also had- was burning. It had been sore before, but not like this. It felt like someone had set it ablaze.
Tears started streaming down her face not only from the pain but also from the horrors she had relived during the night.
She struggled to calm herself, but the terror clung to her, refusing to let go. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see Henry Mannox’s twisted smile, hear the crackling of his fingers as they danced over her, invading every inch of her being.
A soft knock on the door broke through her spiraling thoughts. It creaked open slowly, and a shadow-y figure stepped inside, its face etched with concern. “Kat?” it whispered, its voice gentle, “Are you alright?”
It’s Mannox again! He’s here to get me. No! No! NO!
Kat let out a scream as she scrambled out of bed. She tripped over her blankets and landed on the floor headfirst. The light flicked on.
"Jesus, Kat, what's gotten into you?!" Anne rushed over to help her cousin who was now cowered against the wall. The young girl was shaking violently, and Anne could hear her struggling to breathe.
"Please don't hurt me," Kat pleaded, her voice a hoarse whisper.
"Hurt you? Kat, why would I- Okay, listen, I need you to take a deep breath for me. In and out. Can you do that for me?" Kat didn't seem to hear her. Her eyes were glossed over like she wasn't seeing what was real. Anne reached out, placing a comforting hand on Kat’s shoulder.
But the moment Anne’s hand touched her, Kat flinched, pulling away instinctively. The warmth of her cousin’s hand was supposed to be reassuring, but all Kat could think about was the cold, clammy grip of the nightmare hands. Her skin crawled with the memory, and she recoiled as if burned.
“Kat…?” Anne’s voice was tinged with worry. She let her hand drop, confusion and hurt flashing across her face. “I didn’t mean to—”
"Don't TOUCH me!" Kat shrieked. Anne jumped back, concern written across her face.
"What's going in here?" Jane asked as she stepped into the room with Catalina and Anna following close behind her.
"I don't know! I heard her yell so I came to see if she was okay, but she screamed again and she fell, and I think she hit her head, so I went to make sure she was okay, but I think she's having a panic attack," Anne tried to tell the story quickly. The other three queens stood with wide eyes. Anne stared at them, waiting for them to say something.
Finally, Lina spoke up.
"Well, why is she having a panic attack?"
"How am I supposed to know? I was going to ask her what was wrong, but I needed to get her to calm down first. I went to comfort her, I guess, but she yelled and told me not to touch her."
It was like something finally clicked in Anna's mind. She let out a small gasp and walked over to the youngest queen. She sat down next to her, making sure to maintain a distance where Kat would feel safe.
"Easy there, Miene Liebe. I'm here. It's me, Anna. You're safe here," Anna said in a soft voice as if she were talking to a baby deer.
"Anna?" Kat questioned, her voice barely a whisper.
"Yeah, it's Anna."
"Anna, you have to go. I don't want him to hurt you, too."
"You’re okay, Kat. No one is here. It's okay. You're safe now. No one is going to hurt you again. I promise. Tiefer atemzug."
Kat dropped her head between her knees and let out a shaky sob. She did as she was asked, though. It hurt a bit, but she took a breath. In for four, hold for three, out for four. Just like she had practiced. She reached for Anna's hand to ground herself, to which Anna responded with a tight, but not painful, squeeze. She repeated the breathing pattern until it wasn't painful anymore. The tears had dried, leaving a weird, sticky feeling on her face. She finally looked up and was met with the other queens. Her heart dropped. They had all seen her at her most vulnerable. She didn't see Cathy though. Where was she? Oh well, one less person to worry about.
"I'm sorry," she had managed to say with a weak voice.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, love," Jane said. Love. Kat cringed at the nickname, but no one seemed to notice. She didn't want to make Jane feel bad by confronting her about it, so she stayed silent about the pain she felt in her chest when that nickname had been used on her.
Kat’s throat felt tight, her voice barely a whisper as she tried to speak.
“I-I had a nightmare.” She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to shake the lingering sensation of those hands. “It was just a dumb nightmare.”
"It wasn't dumb if it had you freaked out that badly," Anne pointed out. The other queens nodded in agreement.
"Well, the show's over." Kat released Anna's hand and attempted to stand up, but her legs were still shaky and weren't functioning properly, much to Kat's frustration.
Finally, Cathy walked into the room.
"It's the middle of the night, why are you-" Cathy took in the sight of the room: Anna on the floor next to a teary-eyed Kat, Jane and Anne looking like they've just seen a ghost, "What's going on? Is everything okay?"
"Kat was just-" Jane started.
"Nothing. I'm fine. Everyone's fine," Kat interrupted with a shaky sigh.
"Kat, you're not-"
"No! I said I'm fine!" Anger towards herself threatened to make the tears flow again. She turned to Anna, her scar making it painful to move her head. "Please help me up," she said in such a quiet voice that Anna almost didn't hear her.
Anna stood up and reached out a hand. Kat grabbed onto her like she was her lifeline and slowly stood up. She looked back at the other queens, "I'm fine. I just want to go back to sleep."
Cathy opened her mouth to say something, but she shook her head and decided against it. She was the first to leave the room with Catalina a few seconds behind her, muttering something in Spanish.
Jane, Anne, and Anna were hesitant to leave. They knew that Kat wanted to be left alone, but they also wanted to make sure she was safe. They decided that privacy would probably be the best option.
Anna gave Kat a quick kiss on the forehead and quietly exited the room. Kat gave a warm smile as she left.
"You know, you can come to us if you ever need anything," Jane reminded Kat. Kat nodded and promised she would. "Sleep well, love." Jane bit her lip as she left the room, worried for the youngest queen.
The only one left was Anne.
"Bad night, huh?" Anne asked with a light laugh.
"Yeah, I guess so," Kat said as she climbed back into bed.
"It's okay, I get them, too. The nightmares, I mean. They can be rough." Anne made her way to the door. "I love you, /chaton/."
"I love you, too."
Anne smiled and flipped the light off as she turned to leave.
"Wait," Kat spoke up.
Anne turned the light back on and looked back at Kat.
"Can you stay with me? Just for tonight. I'm a little bit scared," Kat admitted.
"Of course."
Anne turned the light off again and closed the door gently. She crawled into bed next to Kat.
"My bedroom door is always unlocked," Anne reminded. "You can come in there and sleep anytime you need."
Kat lay back down, her body still tense, her mind racing. But as the minutes passed, Anne’s quiet presence began to calm her, the silence between them soothing rather than oppressive. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to remind Kat that she was safe, that she was no longer in that nightmarish place.
Eventually, her breathing began to slow, and the tension in her body eased just enough for her eyes to grow heavy. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to sleep again, but for now, it was enough just to know that she wasn’t alone.
Together, the cousins drifted off into a dreamless night.