Chapter Text
Agatha feels Rio before she even sees her.
"No, no, no. You can't take him. It can't be", she says to her.
Rio walks over to her, "It must be."
"Please don't take him." Agatha begs. "Please, my love."
My love. At that, Rio stops short.
"I can only offer time", she says finally.
"How much time?" Agatha asks, eyes closing from the pain. When she opens them again, she finds that Rio is gone.
But no, Rio hasn't left. She's simply hiding from Agatha. She makes sure that the other witch would not feel her presence. She can't bear to leave her love all alone, giving birth in the middle of the woods but she knows that her presence would only distress the woman further.
So she waits. She waits until the baby arrives.
Nicholas. She hears Agatha call him.
She should leave. Now that she knows that Agatha and the baby are okay, she knows she should leave, but she can't seem to.
I'll leave tonight. She says to herself, her eyes still on Agatha and the baby.
Night falls and Rio is still watching. The mother and son are both asleep now. It took a while for the baby to fall asleep and by the time he did, Agatha was tired.
Rio casts a spell, a simple protection spell on them both and she turns to leave.
As she was about to walk away, she hears Nicholas fuss.
She turns back to look at Agatha, but the other woman was still asleep. She must've been really tired. She thinks.
She walks over to the baby and picks him up and as soon as he is in her arms, he settles.
She sprouts a flower from hand and entertains him with it.
When Nicholas finally fell asleep, she lays him back down beside his mother.
After making sure that the baby was sleeping, she leaves them reluctantly.
Rio comes back.
Nicholas has gotten bigger. It has been a few months since she last saw him.
She watches from the trees, and doesn't approach. She simply watches Agatha with Nicholas. She doesn't know how the woman would react when she realizes that Rio is nearby. She used to love it when Rio visits, but now with Nicholas, it's different. There's fear in Agatha, Rio felt it radiating off her when they last saw each other. Fear that she would take him away.
So she waits, and watches.
Agatha settles Nicholas down, waits to see if he would start crying, but he was easily entertained by the littlest of things, so Agatha starts reading.
Nicholas looks around, watches the leaves falling, a butterfly passing by, the trees swaying.
He spots Rio by the trees and his eyes light up. He starts clapping and babbling.
Agatha looks over to Nicky, and sees that he's smiling.
"Are you happy, little man?" She asks as she looks around to see what made Nicholas happy.
Rio quickly hides when she notices Agatha looking around.
Agatha, seeing nothing unusual, goes back to her book.
Rio comes out of her hiding place, and Nicholas, still looking at her, giggles.
Rio raises a finger and tries to shush him but he just giggles back. Afraid that Agatha would see her, she blows Nicky a kiss, casts a simple protection spell towards the boy and leaves.
Agatha felt magic in the air and she looks around to see where it came from. She sees nothing but starts packing up to leave just to be safe.
Rio comes back when Nicholas turns one.
She watches from afar as Agatha entertains the little boy.
She waits until it was dark to approach them, but still maintaining a safe distance, to avoid being noticed by Agatha.
They were turning in for the day, Agatha laying on her back with Nicholas beside her.
Rio waits. She waits until the other woman is asleep before walking towards them. She stops walking when Nicholas stirs. She sees the little boy waking up. She waits to see if he would start crying but he starts looking around and he sees her.
He smiles and starts to babble.
Rio tries to shush him, afraid that it would wake Agatha, but the boy just continues babbling and raises his arms, wanting to be picked up.
So she does. She picks him up and goes somewhere far where they wouldn't wake Agatha, but still close enough to feel the other witch.
Nicholas continues babbling, like he's updating Rio on all the things she's missed. Rio listens intently, nodding at whatever the boy is saying.
"I'll try to not stay away for too long next time." She promises the boy.
She produces a flower from her hand and gives it to him. Easily impressed, Nicholas claps at the trick before taking it.
Rio brings the boy back to his mother's side. She presses a kiss to Nicky's forehead and whispers a protection spell.
She looks over to Agatha, and sees the woman sleeping peacefully. Couldn't resist, she presses a kiss to Agatha's forehead as well.
Sleep well, my love. She whispers quietly and disappears.
Agatha felt something and jolts awake, instantly looking for Nicky. Seeing him sleeping peacefully beside her, she releases a breath she didn't know she was holding and lays back down.
She didn't see the flower that Nicholas was holding tightly in his hand.
Rio keeps her promise to Nicky and comes back more regularly.
Somehow, Nicholas always knows whenever she's visiting. Pretending to fall asleep so that her mother would, then rises and waits for Rio to come. And when she does, his face lights up.
"Rio!" He says loudly.
"Shh" Rio says with a smile.
The boy walks over and hugs her. "I missed you", he says, still hugging her.
"I missed you too, little one." She answers back.
Nicholas lets her go but takes her hand to pull her by the trees.
"So what have you been up to today?" Rio asks the boy.
"We killed witches today."
"Oh I know all about that."
"Why does Mama kill witches?"
"To survive."
"She said that, but why?"
For you. She thinks she's protecting you. Rio thinks to herself.
"Enough about that, little one. It's a special day today. What kind of flower do you want?" She asks instead.
"A dandelion!" He answered immediately.
"A dandelion?"
Nicky nodded.
They spent the night talking. Nicky telling Rio all about his adventures. He also sings her the song he and his mama were writing.
"Mama told me someone would take me away."
Rio looked down at that.
"Is she talking about you?"
"Yes", Rio said sadly.
"Will you keep Mama safe when I'm gone?"
Rio looks up then, to the boy, and sees no fear, just acceptance of what will happen.
"I'll try." She promises him.
Nicholas wakes up, he feels Rio nearby. He looks around and sees her holding a torch, she waves.
He gets up, rubs the sleep from his eyes and started to walk towards her.
Rio stops him, tells him to go kiss his Mama goodbye.
Nicholas understood what that meant. It's time.
Rio takes Nicky by the hand and walks towards the bridge.
"Where will we go?" He asks her.
"Home", Rio answers.
"When will Mama come?"
"I don't know, little one. It's up to her." She answers. She sees the boy's shoulders drop, "But don't worry I'll keep you company while you wait." She says quickly to reassure him.
Nicholas looks up at her and smiles.
Agatha dies.
When she opens her eyes, she finds herself in the middle of a forest.
She looks around. This looks familiar, she thinks to herself.
She walks, and walks, and walks. She finds a cottage nearby. Feeling relieved, she walks closer.
She sees flowers surrounding the house, a perfect circle. She stops. A protection spell. She thought.
She hesitates, not wanting to be blasted by the spell, she pushes her arms forward, testing if the spell would not allow her to continue. Feeling no resistance, she walks over.
Huh.
She walks towards the front door, and opens it.
"Mom?" Agatha hears someone ask.
She doesn't answer, shocked at the familiar voice.
"Mom? Why are you not...", the boy starts, question cut short when he looks up and sees who was by the door.
"Mama!"
"Nicky!"
"You're here! Mom finally brought you?"
"Mom?" Agatha asked, unsure who he was referring to.
"Yeah, where is she?" Nicky asked, confused why Rio wasn't there with them.
Agatha looks around, taking in her surroundings. She sees plants and flowers everywhere, the cabin looking like it grew from the ground.
Nicky notices her looking around and asks, "You like it? Mom decorated it for me, it reminds me of all the flowers she gave me before."
Nicholas looks to the door, "She should be here by now though. She's always here before bedtime." He frowned but he looked over at Agatha again, "I guess she'll be late. That's okay, I'll just catch you up with everything while we wait for her."
Nicky spent the entire evening talking, catching her up on what she's missed.
Nicholas notices her mother getting sleepy, she pulls her by the hand and brings her to the bedroom. "Let's go to sleep, Mama. We can continue talking later."
I guess, even dead witches need their sleep, she thinks to herself before falling asleep next to her son.
Nicholas woke up a few hours later. He gets up from the bed and walks over to the door.
"Mom, you're late", he says as soon as he opens it. He sees her sitting at the steps.
"I know, little one. I wanted to give you two time to catch up."
"Why aren't you coming in?"
"It's nice out here." She answers the boy. And Agatha's in there she thinks to herself. "Sit with me?" She asks him.
He walks over and sat beside Rio.
Back in the bedroom, Agatha wakes up and notices that Nicky wasn't with her, she starts to panic. She looks around and then she heard it.
Nicholas was laughing.
She quietly walks out of the room, wanting to see what made her son laugh, and she sees him talking with someone.
She walks over and sees who he was talking to. Rio.
They were too engrossed in their conversation, Rio telling him about the souls that she accompanied that day, that they didn't notice Agatha watching them.
When Rio finally noticed Agatha's presence, she tensed.
"Agatha", she says, unable to look at her.
"Mama, you're awake!" Nicky says excitedly.
Agatha smiled at her son.
Rio started to get up, still not facing Agatha. She kissed Nicky on the forehead and whispered, "I have to go, little one."
"So soon?" Nicky asked with a pout.
"I'll be back, my love."
"Promise?"
"I promise. Spend time with your mama. She's missed you."
Rio comes back. At night. When Agatha's gone to bed. Just like old times.
Nicky tells her stories and Rio teaches him magic. That's how they spend their nights together.
And as always, Rio leaves before the day breaks.
"I'll see you soon, little one."
"Bye, Mom."
Agatha and Nicky were having a lazy afternoon, just sprawled on the grass.
"What do you want to do today?" Agatha asks her son.
"Nothing. I just want to lay here with you."
"Okay." Agatha closes her eyes, content to spend a quiet afternoon by her son's side.
She woke up feeling magic in the air. That magic feels familiar, she thinks to herself. She opens her eyes and looks around. She sees nothing unusual. She turns to her son. She sees him concentrating on his hand, a tinge of green aura around it. Suddenly, a flower appears on his hand.
"I did it!" He exclaimed.
"You're practicing magic?"
"Mom's been teaching me."
"Rio?"
He nods, "I can't wait to tell her about it later."
It was then that Agatha realizes that she's not thought of her magic since the day she arrived here. She tries to summon it and sure enough, she has her purple back.
Looking back at her son, she asks, "Want a lesson?"
"Yes, please." He nodded excitedly.
They spent the rest of their afternoon practicing magic. When they got back to the cottage, Nicky was spent. He wanted to wait for Rio, but he's struggling to stay awake.
"Sleep", Agatha says.
"But", Nicky started to protest.
"I'll wake you up when she arrives"
"Promise?"
Agatha nodded.
Rio arrives at the cottage. Not seeing Nicky, she sat at the steps of the front porch, looking out the forest, and waits. She produces a flower from her hand and plays with it.
She feels something shift behind her.
"You're late, little one", she started to tease but when she looked back, it was Agatha standing by the door.
"He tried to wait for you."
"Oh sorry", Rio says as she gets up, wanting to keep to their deal, "I'll leave."
"Wait."
Rio stops.
"He has your magic." Agatha says, not a question
Unsure how to respond, Rio just turns towards Agatha.
"I can't believe I didn't realize this sooner. All those stories that he's told me, when he was growing up, I thought he was making it up." Agatha started. "You've been protecting him. Those little flowers, the protection spells. It was you."
Rio nodded.
"Because he's yours." Agatha said, finally.
Rio smiles sadly and looks down.
They stood there, facing each other. Unsure what to do next.
"Do you want to come in?" Agatha asked Rio, breaking the silence.
Rio looked up.
Forgiveness.
There was nothing to forgive, not really, but they offered it all the same.
Agatha held the door open, and Rio walks in.
"He's in there", Agatha says, pointing to the bedroom, "He made me promise to wake him when you arrive."
Rio goes to the bedroom and walks over to the bed. She brushes his hair out of his face, presses a kiss to his temple and whispers, "Wake up, my love"
Nicky stirs, then gets up suddenly when she sees Rio. "Mom! You're here!"
"I am", she says with a laugh.
"Look", Nicky says and he sprouts a flower from his hand, "I did it!"
"You sure did." Rio says proudly, taking the flower from him.
"What about me?" Agatha asks from behind.
Brows furrowed, nose scrunched, Nicky concentrates on his hand, and sure enough, another flower blossomed.
He offered it to his Mama.
Agatha walks in and takes the flower, "Are you happy, Nicky?"
He looked to Agatha, then to Rio, before he nodded. "Now that we're all together. Yes."