Chapter Text
A cold night has settled over Bonesborough. Anyone still wandering outside wore something to keep themselves warm from the chill, but most witches and demons were safely snuggled up in bed.
Except for Amelia Blight.
Amelia was walking around the streets, trembling, but more out of fear, than the cold. Her legs led her somewhere and she just went along with it since her brain was unable even to process what happened to her.
Her body was supposed to hurt, but it didn’t. She couldn’t feel it. There was nothing else around her, other than excruciating fear.
Amelia watched her feet shuffle themselves in front of each other on their own, as her mother’s words replayed in her head over and over again.
“What makes you think I ever cared about you?!”
She didn’t even cry. She couldn’t. It would’ve been easier to understand everything if she could let it out. But she just couldn’t.
“I never want to see your face again!”
Amelia stepped in something and lifting her bare feet, she saw blood streaming down her skin. Without any further thoughts about it, she continued walking.
“I tolerated you for longer than my nerves could take it! I’ve had enough of you!”
Her skin was covered in old and new scars, most of them visible now, as the dress she was wearing didn’t fully cover her arms and legs. The fog in her brain affected her vision as well, and Amelia didn’t have any idea where she was or where she was going.
“I knew from the beginning that you’d be hard to deal with, but I tried. It’s your fault you didn’t try to be better! The only one to blame is you !”
Her dyed green hair fell into her face, covering most of it. As Amelia ran through the forest, her hair got stuck in a tree and she lost her hairband. Maybe it was for the better. This way no one could see her face.
“I can’t even look at you!”
Amelia didn’t hear anything else, apart from her mother’s words echoing everywhere in her head. All her senses were dulled down and the focus was placed on the words of a woman she couldn’t even call “mom” anymore. Not like the word ever really applied to her.
“You are my biggest mistake! The only faulty product I’ve ever created!”
Amelia was hugging herself, but that didn’t seem to comfort her. She got so in her head, that she wasn’t even aware of her body and her own touch felt like fire against her skin.
“I should’ve worked harder to shape you into a decent witch!”
Eventually, exhaustion caught up to her and Amelia felt like she could collapse at any second. She noticed a narrow dead-end street right next to her and took a few shaky steps until she leaned against the wall of a building and slipped down on the cold ground.
“You were never deserving of the Blight name!”
Amelia felt like a stranger to herself. As if she was watching someone else hugging themselves in the darkness. She felt completely empty.
“You are a nobody to me!”
She shut her eyes and tried to silence Odalia’s voice. It didn’t work.
“Never dare to show up at this door again.”
The urge to scream grew stronger and stronger with every passing second. Amelia wanted so desperately for her head to stop throwing those hurtful words at her.
“I will burn all their memories of you. They won’t remember who you are.”
Amelia started rocking herself so hard, that her back screamed in pain every time she hit herself against the wall.
“If you ever try to contact them in any way, they will suffer from it. And you know how far I can go.”
She stopped her body from involuntarily hitting the wall behind her and sank her nails into the skin of her arms. Amelia tried her best to focus on the physical pain, hoping that’d help her gather herself somehow. But Odalia didn’t shut up in her head.
“You always took everything for granted. Now you’ll learn your lesson!”
Amelia always knew that her mother hated her. For whatever reason. And she continued that behaviour even after she dyed her hair green. So it wasn’t the hair. It was Amelia herself. But it was still hard to figure out what was the reason exactly. They argued almost every day and it always ended badly on Amelia’s side. Odalia could hurt her more than Amelia was able to protect herself.
She was still a child. Despite being the oldest Blight sibling and always the most responsible one, she was still. Just. A child.
The thoughts in her head stopped making sense. Odalia’s words overlapped each other and they were shouting at Amelia all at once. She covered her ears, but that didn’t seem to help one bit.
It was panic, dread and immense pain rising more and more in her and she couldn’t stop it. She couldn’t do anything. Amelia was helpless.
And she didn’t even get to say goodbye. She couldn’t hug her siblings. She didn’t even remember at the moment, when was the last time she did. Her chest got even tighter and almost no amount of air could get into her lungs.
It took a minute or two to comprehend that before Amelia’s body switched to act on instincts. Her breathing was fast and uneven, but she forced herself to stand up. She had to go somewhere.
It seemed as if all her senses that were dull until now, suddenly sharpened and the amount of information coming from her environment overwhelmed her. The cold cobble under her feet made her tremble even more, the noises around her filled her ears and every wound hurt a million times more than before. Her feet didn’t walk on their own now, she had to drag herself to move forward.
After… a while, Amelia found herself among trees, in another forest. She dropped herself to the ground and rested her back against a log. It was much quieter there, but darker and scarier as well. Now that Amelia was still again, her thoughts smote her. But she couldn’t walk any more, she barely had the energy to keep breathing. She was hungry, she was thirsty and she was cold. Everything seemed fatal to her and even though her brain yelled at her to keep pushing forward, Amelia couldn’t move. She closed her eyes and peace fell over her, as she lost consciousness.
_._._._._._._._._._
The sun shining on her face was what woke her up. Amelia felt even more exhausted and it took her minutes to process where she was and what happened to her.
She was ready for bed when Odalia came into her room and threw a glass at her, kicked her down on the floor, screamed in her face and hit her ferociously. Then she left her own flesh and blood to her fate. Odalia didn’t care for even a second if Amelia lived or died.
That was the moment when the barrier that held her emotions back broke and Amelia let out a scream so loud that it hurt her throat. She was sobbing uncontrollably, choking on her tears.
She wouldn’t get to see her siblings grow up. She wouldn’t be there when they needed her. She can’t protect them from their parents anymore. And they probably didn’t even know who she was by now. And that they had a big sister, someone who did everything she could to make them forget about how terrible their parents were.
“You are not my daughter, nor my kids’ sister!”
Did she really get kicked out because she didn’t show up to the Emperor’s Coven tryout? She did say that she wouldn’t. Odalia even screamed at her for that and beat her until she gave in and lied that she’d go. So when Odalia found out that out of everyone who signed up, her daughter was the one not to show up, she was enraged. For one member’s mistake, the whole family could be seen as unreliable, reckless and weak. And she couldn’t have that. She wanted to send at least one more of her kids to the Emperor’s Coven, and Amelia wouldn’t be the reason for them to have decreased chances. Not if she wasn’t even a part of the family anymore.
And maybe there was a reason why Odalia wanted to send her to the Emperor’s Coven in the first place. Sure, she saw potential in Amelia, otherwise she wouldn’t have risked her to embarrass the Blight name. But maybe there was something else too. The way Amelia made sure to always stand up for her siblings and protect them from their parents. That she was in the way of Odalia shaping her little siblings into “proper Blights”. Or perhaps it was just Amelia’s existence that Odalia couldn’t stand.
And Alador watched this all happen. He didn’t do anything, not even when his wife pushed their daughter against her desk with full force or when she tugged her to get up from the floor. He let her do whatever she wanted. Maybe Amelia still would’ve got kicked out, but at least she’d know there was someone in the world who still cared for her.
But she had no one.
If she had to die like this, her last wish was for Em, Ed and Amity to be safe.
The loud growl of her stomach stopped her thoughts from spiralling. She was highly considering keeping herself starving so that the only thing she’d focus on would be the desperate need to eat something. It wasn’t as if she could get proper food anyway. So she either let her body slowly lose energy to keep itself alive or she could go and find something edible in the forest.
It took her a few attempts to find her balance and safely stand on her feet. Her sole hurt with every step she took, but she ignored it. She had pain everywhere else in her body, so this one didn’t really matter.
Amelia wasn’t too good at plant magic, therefore her knowledge of edible berries was little. She knew some red ones were harmless, but other ones could kill you instantly. Also, the darker purple berries were sweeter and more likely not poisonous, but lighter ones could cause you sickness. But where’s the line? What is “darker” and what is “lighter”?
It just made her even more frustrated. She couldn’t even survive on her own! But was she supposed to survive on her own…?
Amelia caught a bird eating berries from a bush, so she assumed it was okay for her to try them as well. She did so, and even though it wasn’t the absolute best thing she’d ever eaten, it was still something. She spent quite some time analysing the plant, trying to memorise everything about it so that the next time she needed to eat she’d recognise it.
Now that her stomach wasn’t completely empty, Amelia was reminded that she was incredibly thirsty. After walking for a few minutes or maybe hours, she found a small stream whose water wasn’t boiling. She didn’t care if it was clean or not, she just wanted to drink finally.
It didn’t taste good. But it was water at least.
Amelia watched as the stream bickered in its bed and despite everything, she got a little taste of peace. She wasn’t thinking of anything. Her brain finally slowed down and she almost forgot why she was even there, in the middle of a forest.
She was confused. Amelia didn’t know how she was supposed to feel, or how she was actually feeling. She was terrified, angry and sad, but also she felt so much more than that and nothing at the same time. She thought her sanity would last longer, but what did it matter anyway? She had no future, no life in the present and seemingly her past got violently erased as well. So who is she? Who is Amelia Blight?
Amelia Blight doesn’t exist anymore. She’s just a shadow of herself, a teenager who has nothing.
Then suddenly, she was reminded of someone. Amelia jumped up from the ground and started running, Titan knows where.
Her best friend, Wynn still cared about her.
The burst of energy didn’t last long though, as Amelia remembered that Wionna’s little sister was also best friends with her own little sister. So she can’t show up at their door. Amity hung out with Willow at her place a lot and Amelia couldn’t risk meeting her. Since she was sure Wynn would make her stay if she saw the state Amelia was in. So now the last person in the world who loved her genuinely and still remembered her… was out of reach.
Amelia’s knees gave out at the realisation. She collapsed on the ground and she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to get up again.
_._._._._._._._._._
The sun was in a different position when Amelia opened her eyes again. This time she didn’t know why she passed out. It could’ve been hunger, exhaustion or the mental toll the recent events took on her. All the different kinds of pain that were present in her body, made it extremely hard for her to concentrate on anything. All she could see was the blood and the vast amount of wounds on her skin. Some were by Odalia, some by herself and some by the nature around her. The more she looked at them, the more they hurt and she couldn’t do anything about that.
Amelia tried to learn a few healing spells so that she could take care of her siblings’ injuries. Or her own, so they didn’t have to see what their mother did to her. But she was never good at it and now that her body was so drained, she probably wouldn’t have been able to cast a simple spell, let alone experiment with getting a healing spell right without hurting herself even more.
The sun slowly set and darkness presided over the forest. Sounds of the night filled the air, that Amelia found no energy to pay attention to the night before. Now that she did, however, she was frightened. Every little noise made her jump, but that took so much of her remaining energy.
A little while later some other sounds could be heard and Amelia grew curious about it and thought she could try to distract herself from the scary forest. She slowly got up to stand on her feet and walked towards the source of the noises. It sounded like footsteps and chatter. Amelia had no intentions of showing herself to anyone, but perhaps checking out what was going on wasn’t going to hurt her.
She was light as a feather, she didn’t even hear her own steps. The trees hid her from eyesight, so she was free to look around.
There wasn’t any rare event going on. What Amelia found was the Night Market.
The idea of stealing something to eat popped up in her head, but she hushed it a moment later. She didn’t want to suffer the consequences of getting caught due to her lack of energy and she wasn’t sure if she could trust the food that was sold there. So all she could do was to spy, to have a little break from everything that was going on in her head.
Amelia took a few steps closer to have a better look, but a second later she regretted ever considering to come close to other people. A strong vine erupted from the ground and restrained her, causing her body to ache even more than it already was. Amelia cried out in pain.
The witch whose stand she was behind, turned around on her seat with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She wore an enormous hat and dark clothes, and her similarly dark and long hair was almost floating around her. Her stand was open to the back, so nothing was between her and Amelia.
The inability to move made Amelia frantic. She was wiggling as much as she could, desperately trying to get out of the vine’s grasp. At first, the witch thought the girl was just acting, trying to make her believe she was innocent and had no bad intentions of sneaking behind her back. But when she saw how terrified and panicked the young girl was, she loosened the vine’s grip. She didn’t want to let her go until she was calm again, though.
“Hey, it’s okay! I’m sorry, I thought you wanted to attack me or something.”
Amelia looked up at the woman who was standing by now but kept her distance so she wouldn’t scare her even more. She also lifted her hat, so Amelia could look into her eyes.
The older witch was rarely ever lost for words, but seeing how roughed up the girl was, she didn’t know what to say. After a few seconds though, she shook her head and collected her thoughts.
“I’m going to let you go if you promise you won’t run away,” Amelia stayed silent and the witch took that as the promise she was seeking; the vine dissipated back into the ground. “I know you’re scared, but I’m not going to hurt you. My name’s Gwyn. Do you want to tell me yours?”
Gwyn smiled kindly and her voice was gentle too. Amelia still felt like a trapped animal though, and she had no idea what to do with this situation.
“I… I don’t trust you.”
“It’s okay, I wouldn’t trust me either. And I only have my word to prove that I have no intentions to harm you. But believe it or not, I want to help you. Don’t get me wrong, but you look like you need that a lot.”
Amelia looked down at herself and Gwyn was right. She did need help. She was dirty, wounded and trembling.
Gwyn sat back in her chair, giving Amelia space and the choice to stay or leave. She still would’ve preferred if the girl stayed, but she’d get the opposite if she appeared forceful.
“You’re in luck, actually! I sell just what you need. Potions, creams, you name it! I’m also a little bit familiar with healing magic if you want those treated.”
“I’m fine.”
“Sure.”
“I don’t have money either.”
“I offered it for free. Titan, why would I rip you off? You’re a child.”
“You look like you would.”
“Hm, fair enough. But you’ve been through enough already, in my opinion.”
Gwyn knew who this girl was. She didn’t know her name or her exact age, but she knew she was a Blight. She had those of a Blight’s characteristics and the green hair just strengthened that theory. Even if it was dyed.
Something messed up must have happened, she just didn’t know what. She knew Odalia though, and she could totally see her doing something like this to her own daughter.
Amelia didn’t say anything, she was just standing there, trying to guess how would this interaction develop. She really wasn’t in the state or mood to socialise and all she wanted to do was to lie down somewhere and… just exist.
Gwyn pulled back her enormous hat into her face, before she spoke up again, “Listen here, witchling. I’m not stupid, I see the obvious. You went through hell and I don’t have the heart to ignore it. I don’t want to put any pressure on you, the choice is yours. I could take care of your injuries if you want me to or you can turn around and walk away.”
Amelia hugged herself and looked away. While it would’ve helped her a lot, she thought this was too good to be true. Meeting someone who was willing to help her? The witch had absolutely no reason to care about her and that thought didn’t help Amelia trust her more.
“Alright, no problem. At least tell me, do you have somewhere to go?”
“…yes?”
Amelia’s voice was high-pitched and weak, definitely not a tone that would sound convincing. Still, Gwyn didn’t push her any further.
“But thank you.”
Gwyn nodded, “If you ever need anything, you know where to find me.”
The older witch watched the girl disappear into the woods. Gwyn understood her and knew all too well, what living on the streets does to a person. She could only hope the girl’s fate would be kind to her. She didn’t dare to see it for herself in her crystal ball.
The further Amelia got from the Night Market, the stupider she felt. The chance to make her situation at least a bit better and more bearable was handed to her on a silver platter and she didn’t accept it. Could it have been that much worse to let Gwyn heal her than whatever awaited her out in the open? Probably not. She was suffering a lot already, so accepting Gwyn’s help would’ve been worth the risk.
However, that didn’t matter anymore. She declined it, so now she was all alone again.
Eventually, Amelia settled down next to a tree and unfortunately for her, it took hours until slumber found her. And she woke up not long after, unable to force her brain to rest, so she looked at the stars and waited.
_._._._._._._._._._
Amelia watched the sunrise and if she wasn’t in such a horrible state, she could’ve appreciated it more. A loud growl reminded her that she hadn’t eaten anything since the berries and that it was also time to find that stream again.
It took her relatively long to do so and she gave up many times in the process. Amelia was impressed though, by how long her body lasted and how much it was able to survive. A part of her thought it to be a curse that she had to suffer and wait until her body eventually gave up, but the other part was still hopeful that somehow things could get better. Maybe she’ll find a home somewhere. Maybe she can get strong enough to take care of herself! She could even find a job and have a tolerable life. Not everything about her had to be tragic.
But her optimism didn’t last long. The few berries she could find didn’t appease her hunger and the intense headache that attacked her also didn’t go away from the few sips she took from the stream. A few hours later she couldn’t even force herself to stand up.
Amelia passed out and managed to sleep for more hours than she did altogether since she was thrown to the streets.
She completely lost her sense of time, she didn’t even know if it was morning or afternoon when she woke up. Her vision was blurry and the pain she was feeling everywhere was so intense, that it only felt like a distant sensation. She never felt closer to the end.
Amelia felt so pathetic. Just like her mother always said. She was dying only a few days after being kicked out. What kind of witch is she if she can’t even keep herself alive?
She closed her eyes. She had many thoughts in her head, yet none at the same time. Slowly, Amelia accepted her fate and waited. Waited, until it was her time to go.
The noises coming from everywhere around her, though, scared Amelia to the core. Her senses were suddenly sharpened - as if her body wanted to give her one last rush - and even her own sneeze was too loud. That’s when she decided she’d go back to the streets, hoping that the sleeping town would let her in to die in peace.
Amelia somehow got to her feet and dragged herself somewhere. She fell countless times but got up every time just to spite fate. She ended up on the same dead-end street, leaning against the same wall as on the first night. It was even colder now, though that was her smallest problem.
She heard people walking on the street, quietly talking to each other. For a flying moment, she wondered whether anyone saw her. And if they did, did they just assume she was already gone, without even checking?
Not like it mattered, anyway. She didn’t want anyone’s help and certainly didn’t want to seem like she was pleading for it. The familiarity of the town comforted her to the point that she wasn’t scared anymore. Amelia was prepared for whatever awaited her…
And she didn’t expect to be saved.
The people from the Night Market slowly went home and Gwyn decided it was time for her to pack her stuff and leave too. She took her hat off and with an easy swing of her finger, all the boxes and potions flew into it in precise order. Thanks to the widening spell, everything fit into it perfectly and she didn’t even have to strain herself. She put it back on her head and began her walk home.
Gwyn almost didn’t even notice the huddled-up figure of someone in the shadows, leaning against a wall. The street lights didn’t shine into the tiny street, so it took Gwyn a few seconds to notice the dyed green hair. It was the girl from before.
Amelia sensed that someone stopped by, probably just to laugh at her misery or stare at her in disgust. She looked up to see the witch she met… some days ago. From her position Gwyn’s face wasn’t covered by her hat, so Amelia could clearly see her worried expression.
“Witchling?”
Amelia didn’t react at all. She was tired, hurt and way too weak for anything. She just wanted to die in peace.
“I’m sorry, but I won’t leave you here now.”
Gwyn summoned her staff and lifted the girl from the cold ground. She looked almost entirely lifeless in her arms.
The older witch couldn’t help but panic, she wasn’t sure if she was still able to save her. She could only hope she wasn’t too late.
She sat on her staff and held the young witch with her left arm as they took off. Amelia closed her eyes and let the things happen. She looked like a stray cat, and as Gwyn took a better look at her, she almost started crying. She knew how terrible Odalia was, but to get to this extent?
Gwyn made a plan to try to get some life back into the girl, as soon as they got home. Her injuries were serious too, but keeping her alive was the priority now. She never dealt with a situation like this before, so she hoped she was doing the right thing.
As they arrived at Gwyn’s home, she quickly opened the door and sat Amelia on a chair next to the small table in the kitchen. She hoped she wouldn’t slip down.
“I have a mattress that I don’t use, you could sleep on that,” Gwyn started, while she poured a glass of water with shaky hands. “And I made biscuits in the afternoon, I think eating from them would also be nice, don’t you think?”
Amelia looked at her, but she couldn’t really make out anything around her because of the blur in her vision.
“Can you drink on your own? It’s okay if you can’t, just asking.”
Again, Amelia didn’t react in any way. Gwyn raised the glass to her mouth and let her take a few sips. Then she put the plate with the biscuits in front of her, though she wasn’t sure if the girl would eat any.
“You can take as many as you want! In fact, I’m going to crack them into smaller pieces, so it’s easier for you to eat,” while she was doing so, she continued. “I’ll prepare the mattress for you, can you wait for me here? It won’t take longer than a minute.”
It was hard for Amelia to put together the meaning of Gwyn’s words, but she knew that during that mentioned one minute, anything could happen. Anything.
Gwyn left the half-unconscious girl in the kitchen and rushed upstairs. With a swing of her finger, the mattress resting under her bed flew out of its hiding place and landed next to the wall. Gwyn went to her wardrobe to look for a pillow and a blanket and never stopped shaking while doing so. A huge responsibility was put in her hands and she could only hope she wasn’t messing it up.
As she went back downstairs, she found the young witch in the exact same position as she left her, with the biscuits untouched. She could barely keep her eyes open.
“I agree, the biscuits were a bad idea, my apologies! But worry not, I have some apple blood here, that’d do the job too.”
Gwyn was so grateful for that one soft apple blood she bought alongside the hard ones. As fast as she could, she poured it into another glass and helped Amelia drink a little.
“Now I’ll take you upstairs and heal your wounds, but you can fall asleep, it’s okay. It won’t take long anyway, I just want to make sure you stop bleeding. We’ll deal with the rest later.”
The older witch picked Amelia up and brought her to her new bed. Amelia had no idea what was going on, but she could feel the healing magic easing up her pain. Then something soft was gently put on her and in the next moment, she was swallowed by the void whose calling she resisted for so long.
Gwyn was completely under the effect of dread and panic. She wasn’t sure the girl would survive the night.
Then she remembered a spell, that could transfer a desired amount of vis vitae from one body to another. It was a complicated one, definitely not the type she’d use on the daily. But she had to try. Even if it could be fatal to both of them in case she messed up.
Gwyn’s head was full of thoughts and worries that made her unable to concentrate. And the fact that she never actually transferred vis vitae to someone else, only tested how it’d go in theory, didn’t help one bit. However, she had no time to lose and she had to try her best.
So she pushed everything to the back of her head and with a clear mind, she drew a small spell circle in front of her chest and after a few moments of looking for her string of vis vitae, she found it. The sparkly golden thread followed the motion of her fingers and as it reached Amelia’s body, it spread through her, before fading away. The girl took a deeper breath and Gwyn watched as her chest rose and fell steadily. So whatever she’d done, seemed to work.
Gwyn felt a little dizzy and could sense that a part of her vis vitae was missing. Transferring a significant amount of it to someone had permanent consequences. A shorter part of it being taken wouldn’t have much of an effect, but saving a life took more than just a few inches. Although it wouldn’t affect her daily life, Gwyn had to be careful using her magic from now on. If her heart or bile sac got drained too much… it could be fatal.
And she was well aware of that and didn’t regret her decision to help the young witch. What mattered was that now she was safe and had a better chance at surviving. And the cost was to pay a little more attention to her magic? It came almost free.
Gwyn just hoped the vis vitae that the girl received was enough to keep her alive until she got strong again and could depend on her own body and energy.