Chapter Text
Agatha, Teen and Jen stumbled out onto the road, as they left the iron maiden, collapsing in a heap of tangled limbs and latent rage. They shoved one another pettily, wriggling like children squabbling on the playground in the midday heat. Attempting to break free from their awkward position, but likewise to exert some of the simmering agitation that they felt.
Everyone’s nerves were shot, to say the least, following the previous trial. Most of all, Agatha herself, who was confronted with the sudden unease, for the first time in her life, of having a sense of belonging that extended beyond just herself. Of having a family. A coven.
Gingerly, Agatha pushed herself off the ground, pursing her lips, as she dusted the remnants of the road off of her coat nonchalantly. Jen glared up at her, while Teen, rather dramatically, with his face twisted in concentration, tried and failed, to use his new found power to rise like a witch.
There was a sudden snort in front of them. Someone seemingly amused by his pitiful display. Teen glared at Agatha expectantly, but she merely shrugged at him in return. And despite his reservations about the older witch, Teen could tell that Agatha was telling the truth.
Jen groaned loudly, as she picked herself up. Her bones, aching from the unreasonable amount of times, that she’d been tossed somewhere like a rag doll in the last few hours.
“Tired already, Jennifer?” Agatha teased, with a self satisfied smirk. “What ever would your one million followers say, if they knew you couldn’t even handle a little day’s hike?”
Jen huffed, as she looked at Agatha irritably.
“Firstly, it’s 1.3 million, Agatha, so get your facts straight. And secondly, I don’t HIKE, I do yoga - it’s about flexibility, you ass.”
“Oh!” Agatha gasped, feigning shock, with a hand pressed to her lips. “My most humble apologies, oh great internet influencer, I’m sorry that I didn’t remember the exact amount of people you scammed pretending you actually have a fitness routine.”
“It’s not about the fitness routine, Agatha!” Jen said, her voice bordering on a whine. “It’s about the brand, you idiot.”
“So scamming people with your skin care products,” Agatha replied dryly.
“While serving flawless skin herself,” Teen added helpfully, after he’d finally relented in his quest to rise magically, and hauled himself to his feet like a normal person.
Agatha rolled her eyes.
“As always, your insights are as profound as ever, Teen,” she muttered sarcastically.
Teen only scowled, as the three of them carried on down the road in comfortable silence.
It was only about 5 minutes before Teen had another question, and by this time, a familiar road, with its prominent sign, had come into view, immediately silencing the lot of them.
Agatha and Teen stared at the sign with a strange, almost haunted expression, while Jen just sighed in anticipation. Hands placed firmly on her hips, as she shook her head.
“Well this is going to be a nightmare,” she muttered quietly, to no one in particular.
Jumping suddenly at the sound of a deranged giggle behind her, as her heart leapt to her throat.
“Rio!” She shrieked, agitation seeping into her tone. “You freaky bitch! Can you not just approach us like a normal person?”
Rio smirked, shrugging as she stepped out from behind Jen to properly join them on the road. She twirled her knife between her fingers, humming to herself peacefully, as her eyes zeroed in on Agatha, who had yet to look her way.
“Nah,” she chirped. “It’s more fun this way.”
She smiled at her menacingly.
“Perks of the profession,” she added with a wink.
Agatha scoffed, crossing her arms, as she looked ahead. Rio edged closer, in her usual carefree, somewhat wobbled, gait. Stopping suddenly behind the other witch, as she leaned down to plop her head on her shoulder, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
“Good afternoon, m’lady,” she said teasingly, as she nuzzled against the other witch’s shoulder, while Agatha tried and failed to muster the strength to shove her off. “How fares things with you upon this fine day.”
“Lilia died,” Teen supplied, helpfully.
Rio lifted up her head, as she let out an exaggerated gasp.
“Did she now, teenager? What a terrible, awful thing…”
Jen levelled her with a glare, fingers twitching.
“Have some respect,” she spat. “You may be death, but that doesn’t mean that her life had to mean nothing to us. We’re not all rotten inside like you.”
Rio threw her head back, as she laughed.
“Rotten!” She chuckled sarcastically. “Wow! That’s new. You’re so right, Jen, you’re not rotten.”
She stalked over menacingly, as she whispered to the now stiffened woman.
“Not yet, at least,” she murmured, as she pulled back, giggling again.
Agatha sighed, rolling her eyes, as she grabbed Rio firmly by her cape, yanking her away from Jen. There was a brief moment of shock, and subsequent confusion, that passed over the other witch’s face, before she masked it with her usual cheeky smirk. Widening her eyes comically, as she stumbled backwards after Agatha released her. Excitable energy, radiating off her form.
“Ooo, getting a little kinky, Ags,” she said menacingly, as she stepped closer to the other witch, practically inhaling her hair, as she monopolised her personal space.
Reaching a hand forward teasingly, as Agatha firmly caught her wrist. The grip itself was more bruising than usual, and Rio almost winced at the touch instinctually, based on how it sounded like it should’ve felt. She immediately fell silent. Agatha breathed in stiffly.
“Where is Lilia, Rio?” Agatha asked sternly, causing both Teen and Jen to spin around in shock.
Rio’s face remained blank, as she stepped away from her former lover. Shrugging awkwardly, now that she found herself face to face with the other two.
“How should I know,” she murmured quietly.
Eyes, flickering awkwardly away from everyone around her, as she fiddled with the knife in her hand.
“It’s not like-“ she started dryly.
Immediately cutting herself off, as Agatha shot her an uncharacteristically serious look. She sighed irritably at the expression. Raising her arms stiffly, as she relented.
“Ok, ok,” she muttered boredly, rolling her eyes. “I dropped her off at the next trial.”
There was a pause, as if the others stared at her, as if uncertain how to progress. Teen’s eyes widened more than a fraction, in the period, as he fiddled with his closes, as if looking for his spell book to figure out whether this was the truth. Jen was conflicted, twitching slightly, as if trying to rationalise whether this could possibly be the case.
“She’s alive?” Jen questioned, her voice rising an octave in her disbelief.
Her previous reservations, seeming to dissipate, as the words spilled off her tongue, and she found herself barreling towards the other witch.
She grabbed her shoulders in a bruising grip. Her nails, digging into Rio’s shoulder blades, as if to ground herself, and solidify that what she heard hadn’t been just a dream.
“But,” she started, with her voice beginning to quiver. “But- how?”
“I mean, we watched her-“ Teen interrupted hastily.
“-Isn’t she?” Jen queried frantically.
“No!” Agatha yelled harshly, trying to silence the lot of them, as she watched how Rio was rooted on the spot, as a result of their bombardement. “She’s alive.”
Jen stepped back shakily, as Teen gently comforted her from the side. Rio herself, breathing a sigh of relief, as she finally regained her bearings. She looked up at Agatha softly, a silent thanks, even if the other woman was looking out blankly at the country road.
“You’ll see her soon,” Agatha added stiffly, as she swept her coat aside, taking off walking at a brisk pace.
Pausing, when she noticed the lack of footsteps behind her, as the others gawked at her in shock.
She clicked her tongue irritably, as she rolled her eyes.
“Vamanos, kiddies,” she drawled irritably, as she flicked her hair, while sashaying away. “There’s another trial to be done, and I’m pretty sure, it’s not gonna be a cute one.”
The remainder of her coven trailed along behind her, whispering amongst themselves, while Rio walked a few paces behind sullenly.
She knew the trial that was about to occur would truly test the lot of them, but most of all, the relationship between Agatha and herself. The idyllic little small town, which was beginning to become blanketed with falling snow, that washed over the twinkling Christmas lights in a kaleidoscope of dimmed festive colours, hid an undercurrent of a nightmare for them all.
In the distance, peeping its way out from behind the picket fences, the perfectly trimmed gardens, and windows frosted up with the cold, was a silo so large, that one could scarcely see the top of it. The sound of the grain entering at the top was loud and seemingly never ending, and Rio wondered just how long this trial had to be for all the material that was stored there to be used up all in all.
She glanced back at the sign, shivering at the thought, as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her very hallmark style winter coat.
An all too familiar, irritating, chirpy theme song, beginning to play, as she walked down the road.
“Wandavision, wa- wandavision.”
“Wandavision, wa- wandavision.”
“Wandavision, wa- wandavision.”
“Wandavision!”
“Tonight featuring a two part special episode: Make the Yuletide Gay (or Billy helps Agnes find love again)”