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He did not know how he got back to the school so fast. It helped that Thing seemed to have a better understanding of direction than him. Running through the forest until the trees thinned out and he could make out the imposing towers of Nevermore.
He had been lucky, well as lucky as one could get after being incarcerated by the girl he had a crush on for a crime he tried telling her again and again that he had no part in and being abandoned by the chief of police who had to search for his serial killer monster son. Maybe he should reevaluate his definition of lucky.
The branches had slapped his face and the thornes had ripped at his clothes, but he was able to reach the gates Nevermore more or less unscathered. He was so very thankful that Thing found him then he did. After the hand had figured out that the car was locked, he had simply picked up the nearest stone and smashed in one of the windows, unlocking the car from the inside. Thing hadn’t been able to tell him much of what was going on, but the situation seemed dire. After the hand had freed him of his shackles, Thing had taken of further into the forest. Xavier had wanted to yell after him, but he had been gone so quickly after showing him the way, that Xavier had no way of keeping up.
He had taken of towards the school, to see what was going on there. Getting closer towards the school he heard the screams. Masses of Nevermore students running towards him, away from the gates.
„What happened?“ he yelled towards Ajax, who was white with panic, his head that covered his snake hair slightly askew, the body of one of the snakes peaking out. The rest of the nightshades, sans Bianca, followed Ajax and stopped infront of him. All of them looked worse for the way, sheer panic written in their faces.
„There is a undead pilgrim zombie in the quad!“
„That thing is not a zombie, its not eating flesh!“
„Also can something be undead and a zombie?“
Xavier had to suppress the instinct to roll his eyes, even if his inner panic started raising. They seemed to have evacuated the school, from what, he didn’t know. They all turned when more panicked screams echoed in the night. Only now, so close to the school, he could make out the burst of fire coming from the quad.
“What the fuck!?”
One of the girls turned to him. “Okay, so a undead pilgrim, possibly Crackstone himself, with a magical stick is currently in the school, attacking students. He arrived with Miss Thornhill, who apparently is evil, and he is trying to kill us all.”
Oh fuck.
“Where is Wednesday?”
“We haven’t seen her, Tyler and Thornhill took her. Enid and Thing went out looking for her. Have you by any chance seen her?” Xavier had to shake his head, watching how Ajax face fell.
So Tyler was the bad guy, huh? Figures, he always had a bad feeling about the guy. Once everything has settled down, he is so going to needle Wednesday about that. Accusing everyone left and right – well, mostly only him – but her boy toy was the monster, right under her nose? He couldn’t wait to see the displeasure in her face. But where was Wednesday? Was she alright?
After another burst of fire and more screams, everyone jumped a little. The amount of students standing outside the gates became larger, some leaning on others, some crying silently. But he could still see the shadows of people running past the window on the second floor. He new how large the student body at Nevermore was, and the amount in the quad was large, yes, but still not everyone was out here. Xavier made a terrible decision.
“There are more people inside, I’ll see if I can get them out!”
“Are you crazy? That dude wants to kill us! What do you plan on doing, sending your paintings after him?”
Xavier could see sense in that. His psychic abilities, much to his fathers displeasure, where at the moment limited to the animation of things drawn by him – he had tried animating a painting of his godmother after his powers had manifested, but no such luck – and his wonderful dreams.
Not much of a weapon.
Looking around for a possible weapon, anything would do, Xaviers frustrations were rising. The others stood around him, seemingly as helpless as he was.
Divina turned to him.
“If you take the west entrance to the quad, you pass the archery range. I don’t see how a bow and arrows will do much against whatever is running around the school, but it is better than going defenseless.”
Xavier nodded towards her.
“Right, thanks. Go a little further in the forest and wait it out. But don’t go too far! Tyler is loose in the forest.”
Xavier turned and started running towards the archery range.
“He is lose?!” He heard Ajax yell after him, but Xavier didn’t stop.
Running to the archery range and picking up bow and arrow, he ran towards the quad.
The stone hallway he had to run down amplified the sounds coming from inside. So even though he was still far away, he could make out Wednesday.
“Howdy pilgrim.” Her monotonous voice had never sound so sweet to him. She seemed to be save. Well, as save as one can be while facing mortal danger. He had to save her. He rather hate her forever for ruining his life while she was alive, rather than having to grieve her. Xavier came to a stop at the corner of the door, leaning against the stone wall whilst catching his breath. He needed a steady hand to hit whatever was out there.
“How canst thy heart still beat?” An eerie voice sounded, uncomfortable, like raisor blades knicking the skin. Wait, what?
“What demon sorcery is this?”
Xavier had heard enough. Whatever was going on, he was not going to let Wednesday face that thing alone. Notching the arrow, he turned, standing in the doorway and shouted “STAY AWAY FROM HER!”.
He watched with satisfaction how the arrow flew towards the pilgrim-creature threatening his… whatever they were at the moment, jurys still out.
He waited for the satisfying thud what should sounded once the arrow hit his mark. Except it didn’t. The arrow came to a still, hovering in front of the pilgrims face.
Well, fuck.
Wasn’t it ironic that a pilgrim hating everything not normal was using magic to not only halt the arrow, but now turning it midair?
This was going to hurt, Xavier was sure. He must truly be a masochist to not regret saving Wednesday Addams even now. He had no ability to halt arrows midair, no special power, nothing to hide behind. Since his apparent bad luck had last few days and he could believe it magically had turned around in the last, lets say six seconds, he didn’t even hope that the arrow wouldn’t hit anything vital. He could already see his father looking displeased down at his coffin, ashamed that his PR team would have to work hard at covering up his sons death. Pathetic.
Just as the arrow flew towards him and he started to wonder if his godmother would greet him at the other side, Wednesday leaped into the way.
Wednesday Addams, the spooky protagonist of his most treasured nightmares, took the arrow for him.
“No!” He yelled, while jumping down the step and running towards Wednesday, who might not have yelled in pain, but still shock in agony. His brave little monster. Despite panicking at seeing her in pain, and watching her covered in blood – way to much blood now that he took notice of it, the arrow wound could not be the cause of this – his heart warmed. No one took an arrow for someone they did not care for, right?
So then Wednesday send him away to save the rest of their classmates, Xavier left with a heavy heart and a bunch of questions.
Joining the others outside and standing with the rest of his classmates he waited in agony. His heart ached when Enid came from the forest, covered in blood. It was almost sweet how Ajax was the first to run towards her, take her in his arms and leading her to the group. Would Wednesday appear like that, too? Would she run to him, asking to be comforted? Xavier snorted. No, she probably gloat how coming to a magical fight with a bow and an arrow was as stupid as Jeffrey Dahmer keeping the corpses of his victims in his flat and letting the police in, smelling them. He just hoped that Wednesday was alright. All the nightmares about the Hyde were not as torturous as the agony he felt while waiting for news, any news.
Just a short while later he watched how Wednesday, Eugene and Bianca emerged from the fog, how Enid ran towards Wednesday and hugged her, bloody and all. It was surprising to him, how waves of relief crashed into him when he saw her, the worst detective in a hundered mile radius, bloody but walking on her own, a goddess in black in white with blood as her only color. His fingers itched for the coal and paint to draw her.
Still, he was surprised to see Wednesday hugging Enid back, clinging to her friend, watching them all over friends shoulder. Well, at least someone got a hug from the stoic, spooky goddess of dark. Seeing on how much Enid had to put up with Wednesday and the sheer relief the other girl seems to be having at being able to embrace her roomie, he could not even begin to feel jealous. As long as she was not hugging - or kissing - that normie Tyler Galpin, he would be alright. A little obsession doesn’t hurt, does it?
Later, before everyone left for their summer holidays, he went and gave Wednesday the phone he had gotten her from his pocket money. He would have to wait until next month to buy more of his white lead paint, but only the idea that Wednesday might text him and not having to wait until the next year started was enough for him.
He was picked up, of course not, by his dad, who hadn’t even reacted when he had phoned him and told him why the school closed earlier than usual.
Xavier didn’t understand why his father didn’t just let him stay at their town house near New Orleans, the flat in New York or their family home in New Jersey. No, he had to travel to Vegas, too, and be miserable in his hotel room. He wasn’t even allowed to explore the city on his own, since his father expected him to mess up and be a stain on his perfect prestige.
There was no teeth pulling torture like daytime tv. Even sketching (his paints were strictly forbidden since he had spilled some in a hotel in Paris when he had been fourteen or so) took his mind of for more than a couple of hours.
Totally exhausted from doing nothing, Xavier raided the mini bar (the only form of rebelling still possible in this hell hole of a hotel room) and went to bed.
That night, he dreamed. But not his usual, Hyde filled nightmares. But even if the monster didn’t hunt him in this dream, it still did not feel like his usual dreams. No, he knew this kind of dreams; the colors were more bright, the sky was not blue as it usual was in his dreams but red, the color he associated with his vision dreams. Great, whatever vision this was, he hoped this was going to be more pleasant than the constant haunting of the Hyde. Xavier shuttered to think how much time he had spend dreaming about Tyler Galpin of all people. Disgusting.
But it was true, the Hyde had first appeared in a dream similar to this. At first, he couldn’t even remember what he had dreamed about. The dreams started with him waking up, and knowing, that he had a bad dream. The feeling became more intense, and soon flashes of his nightmares followed him into the waking world, the pictures becoming more and more clearer. To process his dreams, he had started painting the creature. His paintings had been the final nail on the coffin for is father to get rid of him. Sorry, dad, your perfect idea of a father and son psychic gig would only stay a dream. He had painted an army of spiders and send them after the PR guy who had suggested that, driving him slightly insane. But only slightly.
In this dream, he was a raven.
That itself was already strange to him. Usually, he saw the raven flying in the blood red sky, seemingly playing with the clouds. Always out of reach, watching the raven had always calmed him. He would lay in the grass and watch it fly above him. The dreams about the raven were always a break from the Hyde dreams, the only reason the rings around his eyes were not purple and black. He had become slightly obsessed with the raven, too, painting it in the mural in the quad. He had started right at the beginning of the year and Bianca had rolled her eyes, hugging him from behind and suggested that he should try some underwater themes. If he wished, she could also be inclined to model for him underwater. They already had issues - the lack of trust on both side, him feeling like her trophy, her constant need to be perceived as the queen of Nevermore, having to be on top of everything and pushing everyone - even him - out of the way - but her trying to tell him what to paint and insulting his raven had been the final blow. He broke up with her the next day. He still did not get why he kept dreaming about the raven, though. He knew because of the sky that these dreams were vision dreams, but there was nothing of substance, no warning, only the raven, unreachable, yet the topic of his most beautiful dreams.
But in this dream, he was the raven. He had never felt so weightless before. Flying through the red sky, a great forest underneath him and the mountains on the horizon. He did not even care why he was having this vision or what it was trying to show him, it was a nice change. Sailing with the wind, he flew where nature took him. He noticed that he started losing altitude, coming closer and closer towards the forest and the mountains. The more he neared he mountains, the more he started to notice what he thought was an abandoned castle. From far away he first made out the towers of the castle, the closer he came, the more he could make out the architecture and how large the castle truly was. The castle was surrounded by walls, the courtyard large with a dead tree in one corner. After he saw movement behind one of the windows downstairs, his curiosity was piqued. Landing on one of the branches of the dead tree, he waited.
The roar of a motor surprised him so badly, he nearly fell out of the tree. An old, vintage rolls royces drove out of a garage he hadn’t noticed before. The driver stopped the car in front of what seemed to be the main entrance. When the door of the car opened and the driver got out, raven-Xavier had the second shock - the driver was headless. He knew, some outsiders had undead butlers, his father had three, too - one in the town house in New Orleans, two in the family home. But headless?
The headless man disappeared in the main entrance of the house, only to return with some luggage. The butler - he most be the butler, right? - started loading the luggage on and in the car, securing the biggest trunk on the outside with ropes.
“Thank you, Moniz.” Came the slightly altered voice he knew. A woman in a black dress, with dark lips and eyes seemingly nearly as black as her hair appeared in the door. In his vision this elder version of her might be different than the girl he had seen just days ago, but he could still recognize her – Wednesday Addams. She was older, but still as beautiful as ever. She carried herself with the same aloofness as she did just yesterday, but the look in her eyes appeared softer. She still looked spooky, simply by not blinking. She wore her hair like she had on the night of the Rave’N, still in braids, but instead of down she wore them across her head, some fly-aways framing her face.
She had come from the main entrance, her hands folded in front of her. The butler bowed his head at her and did Wednesday Addams truly smile kindly at the headless man? Her version of a smile anyway, the corners of her mouth lifted up just slightly, but her eyes expressed gratitude.
Stepping closer towards the car, Wednesday turned around.
“Maurilio.” She called out.
Xavier could hear someone walking down the stairs, and soon enough a boy, thirteen, maybe fourteen (its hard to tell with kids, okay?) appeared.
Dressed in black jeans and a grey shirt, the boy had a sullen look on his face. The boy stopped in front of Addams, kicking at a loose pebble in the driveway.
“What is wrong?”
“You are sending me away.”
“No, my love. Your father and I simply agree, that to fully grow up and becoming a well rounded person you need to leave the comfort zone. Nevermore has been that place for me, too. It’s also the place where your father and I truly got to know each other.”
“After you got him wrongfully incarcerated.”
To raven-Xaviers surprise the elder Wednesday let out a noise that sounded like a laugh. Not a pretty one some girls tend to let out and neither one of mirth, but a deeper and darker sound. Like Schadenfreude.
“Yes, I did. To this day, that decision haunts me and is my greates shame. But, do not tell your father that, I will deny it and give your sisters free range to re-decorate your room in your absence.”
The boy grinned up at her, his mood lifted, but shuddered at the mention of his sisters.
“Speaking of them - Where are your tormentors?”
The boy shrugged his shoulders and started run his fingers through his hair. Xavier knew that gesture well – he did it himself when he was nervous.
Elder Wednesday shook her head, not blinking as always, her face frozen.
“Thursday, Friday! Come, we have to see your brother off.”
Two girls, twins, both clad in black dresses, came skipping arm in arm from the edge of the forest. He hadn’t notice them before. Both seemingly younger than the boy – around seven or eight – both with bangs he had seen on Wednesday, both girls black haired. One with long hair, reaching her waist, while the other had it up in a twist around her head.
Elder Wednesday held out her hands, each twin reaching for one and both smiling slyly towards their brother.
“Where is dad?”
“I am right here.”
Raven Xavier may have heard the implication, but seeing a older version of himself in his vision shocked him to the core. Was this a vision of the future?
The elder Wednesday herded the children with a motion of her hand towards he car, the girls giggling and jumping, while the boy still stood by his parents. Together they watched on how the twins shoved and pushed each other while entering the car, the headless man holding the door open.
“All packed, Leo?“ the elder Xavier asked the boy. The boy rolled his eyes, but nodded. Elder Xavier grinned and put both hands on the boys shoulders.
“You have no reason to worry. Once you have settled in you can call us anytime, and we will visit you. And remember; being at Nevermore means you will finally be free of your sisters until the holidays.“
That made the boy grin. Smiling up at his father and then at his mother, the boy nodded and ran towards the car, kicking at one of his sisters then they tried to stop him from entering.
“He has the same sullen and tortured desposition as you did, back then.”
“He will grow into himself, I am sure.”
“You are a good father, Xavier.”
“Such highly praise coming from you, Addams.”
“Thorpe, and don’t gloat, I detest it.”
Both walking towards the car, elder Wednesday stopped and turned to him.
“¿Ya te cansaste de mí?
Elder Xavier laughed and wrapped an arm around elder Wednesdays waist.
While her face stayed as frozen as ever and she made no move to reciprocate the affectioned gesture, she did lean slightly into him, waiting for his answer.
“Nunca me cansaré de ti, mi amor.”
When he awoke, he could not remember the entirely of his vision dream. It frustrated him, for he knew that he had dreamed had been important to him. The Hyde dreams had started as that too, minus the positiv feeling that lingered. He only remembered that something wonderful was going to happen if he continued to be patient. He could do that.
Still lying in his bed, he reached blindly for his phone. He had missed some text from the Nightshade group, as well as some from Ajax, passing the invitation of his moms to spend the last month of their extended sommer holidays with them. Before checking this private messages, he looked in the nightshade group chat there everyone was seemingly making fun of Ajax due to him having to meet Enids parents, and more stressful for Ajax, her brothers who became increasingly protective of their little sister now that she was considered a “full werewolf” in their eyes and dating a non-werewolf. He grinned at the the groups messages and their suggestions on how to deal with the pack, the ideas becoming more and more ridiculous the further he scrolled down in the chat.
Switching over to the private message his friend had send him, he pondered if he should accept, since he didn’t want to be a burden to him and his family. Still, everything was better than continuing with how his holidays like it was going now. He could use the distraction – still no answer from Addams.
While he was typing an affirmative answer to Ajax, being glad to have an excuse not to travel with his father for the rest of the holiday, a message came through.
From Wednesday Addams.
“Hi.”
“Hey.” He answered straight away.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I was out of line, too.”
Almost immediately came her answer.
“No, it isn’t. And no, you were not.”
He paused to think. Before he could formulate an answer, another text from Wednesday came.
“Are you tired of me yet?”
Xaviers lips curved into a smile.
“Of you, Addams? Never.”