Work Text:
They must have been running for hours when Lavender found her legs growing numb with exhaustion. The adrenaline of the initial shock had worn off, and now Lavender was struggling to keep up with the rest of the group she had banded with. Cora, her wife, would occasionally pause to check on her, but other than that, the second Meyer wife was alone and lagging behind.
It was actually surprising to Lavender that she was the one who was falling out of pace. Even Jasper Wiggin, the upper middle class physics professor with no understanding of athletics but all the understanding of the effects of the asteroid... Even he was sprinting like his life depended on it.
Then again, it did. Everyone had to run to save their life. But judging by how difficult it was for Lavender to keep up, she was losing hope. But the zombie-vamps were still chasing and everyone was still fleeing.
She half-wondered if it was time to simply hand over her earthly belongings to her wife for safe keeping, then let the zombie-vamps do the rest.
“Lavender!”
The artsy Wiccan hippie was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her daughter call out. Alice, though fairly small and lithe, was keeping up quite well. But she was glancing over her shoulder at Lavender with a concern that was uncharacteristic for her. Alice's twin sister, Cassie, was running with Beatrice meanwhile. Probably for the best. Beatrice was the most capable here.
But Lavender tried not to dwell on the fact that she wasn’t the best protector for her children in this situation. Instead, she replied to Alice with no words, but only a smile. To this, Alice yelled out again, and even began to slow down, until Lavender caught up. “Are you okay?” asked Alice.
That was not something that Alice ever asked. Both her and Cassie rarely showed sympathy. But here was the young Alice Meyer, expressing concern for her mom. Frankly, Lavender was touched, and she just beamed at Alice.
“I’ll be alright, dear.”
Lavender took a deep breath and clasped Alice’s hand in hers. “We’ll all be alright.”
That was what Lavender thought until Evan Wiggin, the youngest, was attacked by a lone zombie-vamp. He was dragged off into the distance like a lioness bringing her prey back to her home. Lavender was horrified to see the trail of blood that led off into the distance, dried scarlet staining the ground, the last remnant they had of the young child. And the vision was engraved in Lavender’s mind, even now, as they trekked along. They lost most of the zombie-vamps, thank the God and Goddess, but the virus had spread so quickly even before the asteroid hit that there were small clusters of zombie-vamps every couple miles.
A haze of thick smog left Lavender and several others disoriented, but Charles Wiggin, the son of Beatrice and Jasper, seemed to navigate the darkness rather well… But Lavender was still in the rear of the group.
She hadn't seen them. Barely heard them. The pounding blood in her ears was too loud to know that she was being stalked by a particularly hungry pack of zombie-vampires. She had collapsed on the ground, not that anyone even realized, and she was somewhere between awake and unconscious. Then she felt the light scratch of a crawling zombie-vamp, reaching out for her ankle, and her blood went as cold as ice in her veins. And she wailed. She wailed like a banshee in the night and she wailed like she never had before, because she knew deep down that she had just lost her chance at survival.
Lavender had given one cry, and one of the zombie-vamps lunged forward and struck her chest, then chomped down on her neck. Rivets of blood warmed Lavender’s skin, in a way that was anything but pleasant. Lavender screamed again, and by this time, Cora was already running back to try and salvage her wife. Said wife gave a little wheeze and she tried to reach out. A zombie-vamp was gnawing on her ankle. And Lavender realized that, like Evan, she was to be dragged off into the shadows, to be devoured by the zombie-vamps, and to become one herself. It was a horrific revelation to make. And Lavender knew that Cora, if not discouraged, would take Lavender, who was alive but now infected, and she would unintentionally endanger the whole group. So, when Cora reached out to take Lavender’s hand, the mint-haired woman had to decline and pull her hand back.
“Lavender, sweetness?” At that reaction, Cora grew eerily quiet, and she hesitated. The zombie-vamps were still dragging Lavender away, and Lavender had given up, albeit with sorrowful dignity.
“I’m not safe anymore,” Lavender hoarsely told Cora while Beatrice began to beat a zombie-vamp off of her with a baseball bat. “Do you see me, Cora? I’m infected. I can’t stay with you. I’ll hurt you… I don't want to hurt you.” Lavender then reached for the little bag slung across her shoulder. She slipped it off and then laid it before Cora. “To remember me by.”
Cora recoiled like she had been slapped across the face. “Well, I can’t just leave you.”
“You can and you will,” Lavender responded with a groan of pain. “Please, Cora, dear. I’m already infected. I might as well be left far from anyone that I can hurt.”
A pause. Everyone was now fighting off the zombie-vamps, including Alice and Cassie, and Lavender’s blurring green eyes locked onto the figures of her daughters. She blinked a few times. Then she spoke again. “Take care of our girls, Cora.”
“Always,” Cora promised shakily, “I’d always keep them safe… even if you weren’t…”
Lavender whispered, softly, “I know, dear. I know. …And make sure to take care of yourself, too.” She broke into a weak smile. “I will always love you, Cora. Even at the end of the world. You saved me. I’m indebted to you. Never forget how much I love you, my sweetest, and never forget how lucky we are that the God and Goddess let us meet. Every moment with you was bliss.” Lavender coughed a little, and when she saw blood on the ground where she’d coughed, her stomach sank. “I love you. But you need to run.”
Cora looked like she had just been instructed to commit mass genocide with her own hands. She was horrified. She didn’t seem to move… not until Beatrice grabbed her by the hand and uttered, “There’s no time. She’s right. We have to go.”
And Beatrice sprinted off with Cora in tow. Jasper, Alice, Cassie and Charles followed closely behind. The twins didn’t even pause to glance at their mother. That stung. But Lavender brushed it off, and let her head rest on the ground. The zombie-vamps had been beaten off, so at least there were no more teeth sunk into her skin, but Lavender still felt the dull aches. The grief of losing her own life, and the searing pain of the wounds littering her weak body. With a shuddering moan, Lavender tried to open her eyes, but everything felt too exhausted to move. Everything went dark.
“Just five more minutes.”
Lavender buried her face in her pillow while the sunlight filled her bedroom. She heard a peal of laughter from her aunt, warm and clear as summer skies, and Lavender responded with a grunt. “You can't blame me for wanting to sleep in… Lemme sleep…”
Closer to the side of the bed now, Melissa laughed. “Oh, you’re sure you wanna sleep in? Damn, I thought you would want to go to the aquarium.”
And suddenly Lavender was wide awake.
She always loved going to the aquarium with Melissa. When her own parents shunned her, her aunt had welcomed her with open arms, and even bought Lavender crystals and herbs, and a couple pride flags to hang in her new room. Lavender was infinitely grateful for her auntie. Hell, Melissa was the first to know when Lavender announced her engagement to Cora. Melissa was the first one invited to the wedding.
And the wedding was a fine one, held just before Beltane-Flora, and Lavender always treasured that day. She still owned the loose, flowing dress that she had worn, and her flower crown woven of lavender (of course) and rosemary was kept safe in their home as well. Sometimes, Lavender took Alice and Cassie to the beach on which she had married Cora. The twins, of course, expressed their disgust with sharp insults, but Lavender rarely took their words to heart. The only time she did worry about them was when they were quiet. They liked to talk. Silence was an instant sign that something was wrong. And Lavender picked up on this every time and always sat the girls down to talk through their feelings together.
She had never been one for therapy or giving advice or being a good listener in general. Surprisingly though she had a knack for it. Even her sweet girls seemed to let their guard down when Lavender offered them some warm tea and a hug. Sometimes Lavender would sit them down just to spend time with them, listen to them talk about their special interests, and sometimes, if the twins were in a good mood, their mother would even go into their bedroom to wish them a good night.
Lavender ran a hand through Alice’s dyed hair and hummed a little lullaby under her breath while the young girl drifted off into a slumber that Lavender hoped would be peaceful. Alice’s breathing slowed, and the even rhythm signified that she was asleep. Lavender kissed her forehead and then stood up to go to the other side of the bedroom, where Cassie was laying within a swaddle of soft dark blankets and quilts.
“Good night, sweetheart,” Lavender murmured to Cassie. Carefully, she lowered herself to sit at the foot of the bed, her weight sinking into the soft mattress and causing Cassie's body to slightly dip. She gently played with the brooding child’s hair and continued, “I’m so proud to be your mother, you know. The fact that I get to call you two my children is something that I covet.” She smiled down at her daughter. “You remind me of myself, you know. I remember that by the time I was your age, I had already read quite a few staple Gothic works. I even annotated my own copy of Frankenstein. The one I gave you two for your birthday a few years ago? That was mine.” Lavender sighed. “I’m glad that I can share that with you. Our love for that sort of culture, I mean, the culture which is shunned by our, well, general public. I see so much of myself in the two of you… Yet you’re simultaneously so different from me, and so beautifully unique… I thank the God and Goddess every day for letting me be your mother.” Lavender kissed Cassie’s forehead and whispered, “I love you, Cassie. Sweetest of dreams.”
Cassie didn’t mind the mild affection. In fact, she even replied as she turned over to face Lavender, “Good night. I’ll see you tomorrow if both you and I survive through the night.”
It was so endearing how Cassie and Alice displayed their affection. Odd. But endearing. They'd always been averse to what society considered normal. They were her and Cora's rebellious darling girls.
And Lavender found herself in the present, at the edge of life.
Here lies the ethereal soul of Lavender Meyer, beloved wife, mother, and protector.