Chapter Text
“Hey there, Holly.”
“Stop it.”
“Hollyyy…”
“No. You’re not here…you’re dead.” Miss Holloway’s voice shook. “You’re dead. ”
All she could see was blackness. Endless blackness. Then, a sharp, gnarled, oversized grin peeled itself out of the dark, illuminated by a dull patch of neon green light from above. His grin.
“Wanna bet?”
Miss Holloway jolted back in shock, squeezing her black blade like a lifeline, ready to...to...
No. She couldn’t attack him.
Why couldn’t she? What was holding her back? Maybe it had something to do with the rising ache in the back of her head, where she could vaguely hear a gentle, familiar voice calling to her...
“Holly? Can you hear me?”
Suddenly, the mouth lurched. The voice called to her again, frantically this time.
“Holly!”
But it was tuned out by radio static as the monstrous mouth began to transform before her. Pink mist swirled in the air as its gnarled white teeth warped into rotting yellow ones. A cascading mass of pig carcasses bulged out from a pair of lips, and dark pink fur sprouted around them. As Miss Holloway watched in horror, this... thing let out a short, soft laugh.
“My, my, my. You sure are jumpy today, Holly.”
His voice echoed around the vast void, cracking like shards of glass, mad, manic...and infuriatingly casual. It was still his voice. His voice, but twisted and raspy and wrong. All wrong. He was talking through it. The thing ... a towering, furry pink form with a mouth for a face...stretched its lips out unnaturally, so wide they looked about to burst, and as they opened to reveal the creature’s twisting insides, Miss Holloway could just make out a small, glowing ball of white string falling into its mouth. She froze.
Could it be?
No. She darted forward to grab the precious ball, her heart pounding in her chest, but before she could even make a move, the teeth had clamped down on it and swallowed it whole.
“NO!”
“Holly, wake up.”
Miss Holloway woke with a start in her white wicker bed, panting and clutching her rainbow-stitched comforter. She’s been pulling it so tightly, the seams had started to pop.
“Miss Holloway?”
Miss Holloway turned around. Standing over her with a look of concern was her adopted daughter and fellow witch Hannah Foster.
“Oh.” She dropped the quilt and smiled at her, and all thoughts of the nightmare instantly vanished. “Hiya, Hannah. Are you alright? D’you need anything?”
“Miss Holloway.” Hannah stayed frozen in place. “Were you just...in Nightmare Time?”
She hesitated. “Well...”
“Webby says you were.”
Miss Holloway relented, nodding, as she got out of bed. “Yes. Webby is right, Hannah. I am having Nightmare Time, and I think she and I need to have a talk. Do you mind if I borrow her for a bit?” Hannah shook her head slowly. Miss Holloway saw how scared the girl looked and smiled at her again. “Don’t worry, Hannah, I can handle it. Nightmare Time is old hat for me. It’s nothing you need to worry about.” She took her hand and squeezed it. “Okay?”
Hannah didn’t look so sure, but she nodded. “Okay.”
“Now, how about I make us some pancakes?”
Hannah’s face brightened, and she nodded eagerly. She loved Miss Holloway’s special banana blueberry pancakes; it was her go-to order at Miss Retro’s. “Yeah!”
Miss Holloway laughed. “Well, that was quick. I guess pancakes can solve anything.” She smiled, ruffled Hannah’s hair and started downstairs, but hesitated. “Hannah...you don’t have to block out our voices. But you can if you want to.”
Hannah nodded again, this time more solemn, and as she took refuge in her warm pink kitchen, Miss Holloway mentally prepared herself for the difficult conversation she knew loomed ahead.
She could hear her friend materializing in her mind. A faint jingling sound signified her spindly arms floating around. Miss Holloway plucked a glass bowl from the highest cabinet in the room, started preparing the ingredients, and waited. As always, her friend was the first one to talk.
“Holly?”
Miss Holloway smiled, but felt a weight inside of her. “Hi there, Webby.”
“I’m sorry, ” she said immediately. “ Getting hard. No listening here. Out of control.”
“I know, it’s okay. You’re trying your best,” Miss Holloway reassured her. “But there’s no stopping it now. Not even you can. They’ve gotten too powerful, and it’s because of poor Hannah. First they’ll try to break her, then us, and then…” her voice faltered. “Then they’re going to come for Duke-”
“I can stop it,” Webby cut in desperately. “I can stop them. Keep fighting. Don’t like you in pain.”
Miss Holloway sighed as she turned on the stove and poured the batter in the pan. It began to sizzle. “Webby-”
“Just need time.”
She shook the pan and flipped the batter. It landed with an abrupt splat. “Webby, we’re out of time. You, Hannah, and I all know that. It’s a matter of weeks until they come now.” She felt a pang in her chest. “Until I see him again.” She shook her head, trying to stay vigilant. “That’s why I need a favor from you,” she said. “Please.”
“Of course, Holly.”
“Webby…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I want the memories back.”
There was a significant pause. She could hear the jingling again, this time more clearly. Then:
“Really?” She sounded surprised. “But...they’ll hurt you.”
Miss Holloway sighed. “But it would be better than this, wouldn’t it?” She flipped the now-cooked flapjack onto a plate beside the stove. “I’d rather choose to get them back than have them forced on me when I least expect it.”
Another pause. “You’re sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. It’s not like I’m undoing the whole pact, just one curse, and I can’t keep living like this. It feels like I lost something important…like when I lost him, I lost a part of me.”
Miss Holloway could sense Webby’s mournful eyes staring at her. “Happier this way.”
She nodded. “I know. But being happy won’t do us any good now. They’re going to break me if this keeps up, and it will, so that’s not an option. I have to be stable for Hannah,” she said firmly, more to herself than to Webby. “I have to choose to remember.”
Webby sighed, a prolonged jingling sound following it.
“Which parts do you want?” she asked gloomily.
Miss Holloway’s face hardened. “The good and the bad,” she said. “I need both.”