Archive of Our Own

Billy was woken up by his phone vibrating. 

He picked it up and his eyes squinted at the bright light. It was a text from Eddie, asking him if he was alright and if he could come over since he was in the neighbourhood. Billy didn’t bother answering; he didn’t have the energy to. It had been a week since the Road, and he just couldn’t forget the feeling of horror that had yet to leave him when he had realized that it had all been him.

He still hadn’t told his parents where he had disappeared to, which made mealtime tense. He could hear their thoughts, wondering where he had gone and why he had changed so much. But how could he explain that magick was real and that he found a coven, a place where he belonged, only for everything to be a product of his powers? He couldn’t tell them, he had to be William Kaplan, not Billy Maximoff. He barely had the energy to go down the stairs, and his parents had thankfully called the school to tell them that he wouldn’t be in that week, which he appreciated. He didn’t trust himself anymore. What if he got mad or stressed and his magick lashed out? He doubted that his classmates were as resilient as Agatha. But then again, Agatha had died too, hadn’t she? 

Speaking of Agatha.

“Morning, Maximoff!” She appeared, shouting at full volume. “Did you get more than three hours of sleep this time?”

Billy glared at her. “Don’t call me Maximoff.”

She smiled at him. “Evidently not. Did you get any sleep?”

He rubbed his eyes, trying to wipe tiredness from his face. “Not enough. Nightmare.”

“The Road? Or the accident?”

Billy didn’t like that Agatha knew his pattern of nightmares; she had picked up on his habits way too quickly. It unnerved him how good she was at reading him, how she knew which buttons to push to get him to react. 

“The Road,” he answered, his hands tightly closed into fists. 

Agatha approached, fabrics floating around her. “You know, I’ve told you before, it’s not your fault, you didn’t even know you were doing it!”

“But I still did it!” He blew up, voice full of frustration. “Everything that happened to them, I created it. Maybe I didn’t kill them firsthand, but I literally made an arena for them to die in, Agatha. An arena made of their worst nightmares.”

The ghost scoffed. “Well, boohoo! You killed your coven; I killed dozens of covens. Newsflash, kid, very few of us have a clean ledger, so congratulations on becoming a real witch!”

Billy stared at her, a look of disbelief on his face. How dare she be so callous about people’s lives? Alice, Lilia, Mrs Davis; they all had lives! Probably people who loved them! And now they would never go home. All because Billy had some big dream about walking the Witches’ Road that never even existed in the first place. 

“William! Time for breakfast!” Called his father.

Agatha looked at the door before looking back at him. “Ready to put on the show?”

Billy rolled his eyes but got out of bed nonetheless. His phone buzzed again, but he ignored it; he did not feel like doing any amount of socializing at the moment. His dad was at the table in his night robe, reading the news on his tablet and sipping a cup of coffee, while his mom was already all dressed up for work and was packing up her bag for the day. Billy grabbed two pieces of toast and spread some jam on them, avoiding the eyes of his parents.

‘He looks tired, did he get any sleep?’ His mom’s thought popped into his head.

‘Why won’t he trust us? Does he think we’ll be mad at him?’ Thought his father. 

“Good morning,” said his father after a few seconds of silence.

He took a bite before answering. “‘Morning.”

“Did you sleep well?”

Billy just shrugged and kept his eyes low.

‘What if someone took him? Is that why he doesn’t want to talk about it? Did they do anything to him?’

He kept chewing as his parents’ thoughts kept invading his head. 

‘Have we made him feel unsafe?’ Wondered his mother, ever the psychologist, even off the clock. ‘We’re giving him space, we’re letting him know that we love him and won’t judge him, is it really enough?’ 

‘Does he just need time? It’s already been a week, how much more time does he need?’

‘Could this be some kind of regression? Did he get into another car accident? It would explain the cuts on his face.’

A knock on the door interrupted the silent breakfast. His mother walked to the front door after sharing a quick look with his father. That was something that amazed him; his parents were so attuned to each other that they often didn’t need words to communicate. He was amazed by how often their thoughts aligned. 

“William! It’s for you!”

He frowned; he didn’t normally have visitors. He put down his breakfast and joined his mom’s side. She moved to the side as she saw him approaching, only to reveal—

“Eddie?”

His boyfriend was standing on his porch, looking as sweet as ever. He had had the week to himself, without any risks of sudden visits because of school. Though, Billy probably should have guessed that his boyfriend would show up as soon as he could, which meant Saturday morning in this case.

“Hey,” he smiled brightly. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“You’re not,” he reassured. “Honestly, I didn’t really plan on doing anything today.”

‘Seeing Eddie will probably do him some good,’ thought his mom.

She clapped her hands together. “Well, I’ll leave you to it, I have to go to work.”

“On a Saturday?” Frowned Eddie.

“I took some days off, so I need to catch up,” explained his mom.

She had. 

His parents had taken the week off to be there for him. The gesture had been sweet, but Billy would have preferred that they hadn’t; all they had done was worry about him. It hadn’t helped alleviate the guilt he felt about killing his coven; now his every thought was about everyone he had hurt, William and his parents included.

His mom went back to the kitchen, and they followed close behind. His dad lit up at the sight of his boyfriend.

“Eddie! How nice of you to drop by. William didn’t tell me you were coming.”

The young man shrugged. “I texted him pretty last minute.”

‘I hope William’s not mad that I showed up unannounced,’ thought Eddie before mentally groaning. ‘Whatever, he can be mad if he wants, but he can’t blame me for being worried.’

Eddie was right; he couldn’t blame him. He’d probably do the same if Eddie had been the one to go missing for 24 hours and then avoided him for an entire week. It was a wonder that he hadn’t broken up with him yet. 

Billy looked at his parents, who did their best at acting as casually as they could, only betrayed by their minds, both hoping that Eddie’s presence would cheer him up and give him the confidence to talk to them afterwards. His boyfriend, for his part, pretended that he wasn’t itching to ask for an explanation. 

He supposed that he was owed one.

“Is it okay if we… go to my room?”

‘Oh no, he’s asking permission again, that’s not a good sign,’ silently panicked his mom behind a facade of calmness. 

“Of course you can,” answered his dad. “You don’t have to ask.”

Billy climbed the stairs leading up to his room, closely followed by Eddie and his fleeting thoughts as he quietly hoped that Billy would have taken his hand, as they often did. Billy couldn’t help the pang of guilt at his boyfriend’s disappointment. Why couldn’t he do anything right?

His room hadn’t been tidied up, he hadn’t had the energy to do anything this week. Every aspect of his room reminded him of what he had done; every poster was proof of his wrongdoings. Nearly every trinket that he found, he could remember from one of the trials; Billy had stopped looking after finding the hourglass from Lilia’s trial on his shelf. 

He and Eddie sat on his unmade bed, and then the unbearable tension began.

“So…” started his boyfriend. “You look… good. Well, tired, but at least you don’t look super hurt.”

“Yeah,” he answered with a tight-lipped smile. “I’m okay.”

“Well, that’s relative,” interrupted Agatha, floating down into his desk chair. 

He pressed his eyes shut at the ghost’s appearance. Non-witch people couldn’t see her, that was one thing he had learned as Agatha had made comment after comment about his family and how his way of life was way too boring for a witch with his amount of power. Billy did his best to ignore the ghost.

“So… Do you want to tell me what happened?” Tentatively asked his boyfriend.

He gulped. “I don’t… I don’t know if I can.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?”

Eddie didn’t sound mad or impatient, but it made him anxious nonetheless. Billy pressed his eyes shut and lowered his head in shame. “Won’t.”

His boyfriend took his hand and squeezed it. “Can you tell me anything? You don’t need to tell me the details.”

“Let’s see how he handles his boyfriend having a body count, and not the fun kind!” Interjected Agatha, her tone gleeful. 

Billy kept his eyes on the floor. “I did meet up with Agatha Harkness and… It didn’t end well.”

“Was she as dangerous as Ralph said?”

“You met up with dear old Ralph?” Cackled Agatha. “Did he recover yet, or is he just as much of a loser as before?”

Billy nodded. “Yeah, he wasn’t kidding.”

Eddie’s worry was obvious. “Did she… do anything to you?”

He thought about the way she had helped him gather the coven, all in the hope that she would get powers at the end of it. How even when the plan had gone off the rails, she had stayed quiet and egged him on and tested the limit of his powers, even though she could have ended the whole ordeal just by telling them of the scam. 

Why hadn’t she just told them the truth about the Witches’ Road?

His throat squeezed up seconds before his eyes welled up with tears. He covered his mouth as he began sobbing, hating the way he couldn’t stop himself. Eddie, ever the perfect boyfriend that Billy could never hope to be, simply held him. He could hear his confused mind, trying to find ways to make him feel better, while horrible scenarios of what he thought he might have gone through flashed through his mind. 

“She didn’t do anything,” Billy eventually said, at least wanting to put these kinds of accusations to rest. “We were trapped, and— and they died.”

Eddie tensed up. “Who died?”

He didn’t want to tell him; he didn’t want to be reminded of what he had done. Except that it was all too easy to want to confess everything. He just wanted to be forgiven, to be accepted and to have somewhere to belong.

“My friends,” he sobbed out. “They died because of me.”

Scenarios flashed through Eddie’s mind. Blurry figures around him, an older woman he assumed was meant to be Agatha, trapped at the end of an alley as the shadows reached for them. Then the surroundings changed to show them trapped in a basement, then a forest. It went so fast, Billy could barely keep up with all the catastrophic scenarios. A headache was growing behind his eyes. 

“Stop worrying,” he begged his boyfriend.

“What’s wrong?” Eddie frowned, trying to make him look up, but his worries hurt so much.

“Please stop.”

Thoughts assaulted his mind, solutions to make him feel better, scenarios where Agatha had taken him hostage, one where they had been attacked and ambushed, another where Billy looked terrified as he was forced to choose who lived and who died within blurry figures that he assumed was meant to represent the coven Eddie didn’t know about. Images of Billy, chained up in a basement, flashed through his boyfriend’s mind, straight out of a true crime documentary. It shifted to him, standing over a pile of bodies, wearing the shocked and traumatized expression of every final girl at the end of slasher movies. The thoughts didn’t stop, scenarios after scenarios mixed in with worries and anxieties that crammed themselves into his head, piling up and up and up and stuffing his head too full until—

“STOP WORRYING!” He screamed. 

Billy didn’t scream often, even with the few disagreements they’d had in the past, he’d been more snappy than actually angry. And yet, here he was, screaming at his boyfriend because Eddie worried too loudly. Billy also noticed, with horror, that his lash out had made the lightbulbs in his room explode. 

Eddie had his eyes looking at the shards of glass in slight panic and confusion. “William?” 

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, shutting his eyes to avoid the shame he felt at Eddie’s fear. “Please just— Please just go.” 

“William, no,” protested his boyfriend. “I’m not scared, I swear. I just— I want to understand.”

Oh, but Eddie was terrified, Billy could feel it. He could hear it. His racing mind desperately tried to find a logical explanation, but it soon became clear that there was only one possible explanation.

‘He said that he had killed people, and now this, does it mean—’

“It does,” Billy answered, because what use was there to deny it?

“I didn’t say that out loud.”

He nodded, body tense as Eddie’s fear grew. “You didn’t.”

No one said anything for a few seconds; it was the longest seconds of his life. This feeling of dread grew as Eddie’s eyes kept observing him, up and down, as though he was trying to solve a mystery.

“What… are you?”

There it was. 

The fear, the uncertainty.

‘Witches have always had a bad rep, Teen,’ Agatha had told him after the Road. ‘The fact that you’re a guy doesn’t save you from the torches and the pyre.’

“I don’t know,” he admitted truthfully. He was a witch, yes, but none of the well known categories fit him. He was the son of the Scarlet Witch, but that didn’t mean anything either in the long run. All he knew was that he was something.

Billy felt so vulnerable, and despite knowing what might happen, he took a step forward to his boyfriend, wanting to be comforted.

Eddie flinched. 

“I’m sorry,” he quickly apologized at his gesture the moment he saw the hurt expression on Billy’s face. “We’re not breaking up, though. Just… give me a few days? It’s a lot.”

A few days.

Billy could deal with a few days.

“Okay,” Billy agreed and Eddie gave him a small, unsure smile, the young witch couldn’t help himself. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” thankfully answered his boyfriend and it made him feel infinitely better.

He watched as his boyfriend left, closing the door behind him. He didn’t move for a moment, trying to convince himself that everything would work out, only to feel a presence next to him.

“Well, that went well,” remarked Agatha. 

He shrugged. “He didn’t run away screaming, so I’ll take that win.”

“He’s not right for you.”

Billy rolled his eyes. “You’d think that Miss I-married-Death. You’re just bitter that I have people who care about me.”

“I’m not,” she denied. “I’m saying that they’re not right for you.”

Billy glared at her, which seemed to make her realize her words.

“That’s not what I—” grumbled Agatha before stopping herself. “Scratch that, it is what I meant, but let me find a better way to phrase it.”

He stayed quiet as he watched his mentor try to come up with something that wouldn’t sound rude; a rare feat in her case. Agatha awed and hummed for long enough that he considered that perhaps she was making fun of him somehow. Except that after a moment, she approached him, hair and fabric floating around her and a serious expression on her face.

“A witch belongs with witches, her coven, not humans.”

He scoffed at her claim. “So I’d be better off just living with you?”

“Yes! You would!” Explained the woman as though he had finally solved a mystery she had long tried to make him understand.

He rolled his eyes, looking away from the ghost. “I’m not giving up the only family I have for you.”

“Then tell them,” Agatha declared.

The sudden tone shift made him whip his head around, wondering if he had heard her correctly. “What?”

“Tell them who you are, tell them what happened to William. And tell them what happened on the Road,” Agatha paused to observe him, her eyes sharp as she continued. “You can never love someone that you don’t truly know.”

His body tensed up at the suggestion. “What if they don’t accept me? What if they only keep me around because they think I’m William? How do you even tell someone that their son has been dead for 3 years and that you’ve been wearing his corpse the whole time?”

The ghost’s eyes seemed to soften, just for a moment, before she blinked it away. “I think they still deserve to know. If Nicky—”

And then she fell silent, but Billy knew what she meant. Agatha never said much about her son, and he never pried. Some part of him still felt guilty for using him to change her mind when she had betrayed him. Some other, scarier, part didn’t care, he had wanted to survive and he had found a way.

“You survived, like witches have been doing for centuries. So you broke the rules, big deal! That’s what kept you alive! That’s what makes you special. That’s what makes you a witch.”

Despite knowing all the horrible things Agatha had done, and her intentions with the coven they had created together, he still felt comforted by her words. Maybe he shouldn’t be, she was a serial killer after all, but wasn’t he too? His body count was lower than hers, but even Agatha had to start somewhere, right?

He had survived, yes.

He had survived because of William’s untimely death. 

Billy’s eyes caught onto his reflection in the corner of his room. Even the teen in the mirror seemed to judge him. The guilt of taking William’s place had always weighed heavily on him; he had carried it every day as he had attempted to mold himself into the child his parents expected him to be. 

Perhaps it was time to come clean.

***

“Mom, Dad, can I… talk to you?”

Billy had mulled over the idea of telling them for an entire day. The radio silence from Eddie had been painful, especially since they usually chatted every moment they could. It had also increased his anxiety and the many consequences that might happen if he confessed everything to his parents. In the end, he figured that Agatha was right and they had to know. 

He had waited until after dinner, when he would usually be doing homework, to confront his parents. They were watching television, but paused it as soon as he entered the room.

‘Is this it? Is he about to explain himself?’ Wondered his father.

‘I knew Eddie would do him some good,’ thought his mom.

Billy bit the inside of his cheek and kept his eyes low. He had to do this, even if it broke their hearts, even if they screamed and threw him out. He doubted that they would, but his mind could only conjure up the worst scenarios. 

“I’m not William.”

His parents grew very still, confusion clear in their features. His mother was the first one to speak. “Who are you then?”

He was a lot of things, wasn’t he? 

He supposedly was Wanda’s son. 

He was a witch.

He was a murderer, a coven killer.

But most importantly, he hoped he was the Kaplans’ son.

“You can call me Billy.”

‘Billy, I can deal with that, a diminutive of William,’ silently decided his mother. ‘Or maybe Billie? Is he coming out as trans?’

“Billy,” smiled his mom with a smile a tad too professional. “Where did that come from?”

“The Westview anomaly.”

The pleasant open mindedness vanished in seconds as the sore subject was mentioned. While his parents hadn’t liked him digging around about the accident and the worst moment of their lives. They hadn’t stopped him, though, something they definitely regretted now.

“What about it?” Questioned his dad. 

Billy took a deep breath as he recalled what Ralph had told him, the rest of his questions had been answered by Agatha. He told them of Wanda, of her magick and her desire to live a normal life, to the point of creating it. He told them of Wanda’s children, without mentioning their names, but making sure to mention their powers. He told them of Wanda having to take down her Hex and losing everything. Throughout his explanation, he could feel how his parents became more and more lost, not understanding how any of this related to him.

“Wanda’s children didn’t have bodies anymore, but their souls were real,” he continued. “And a car accident had just happened right next to Westview.”

His mom swiftly took his father’s hand in a crushing grip as the pieces slowly fell into place in her mind. 

“Tommy and Billy, those were the names of Wanda’s kids’.”

“No…” whispered his mother, eyes full of tears, while his dad still seemed clueless. 

The dread his parents felt was assaulting his mind, but he continued. There was no going back now. “I swear I didn’t know. Something happened and I lost all memories, William’s and Billy’s. I just knew there was something wrong with me. Then I found someone who had been in Westview during the time Wanda was there; that’s where I understood what had happened.”

“And what was that?” Asked his dad, his tone hesitant and mind unsure if he really wanted the answer.

Billy took a deep breath and prepared to deliver the killing blow. “William died in that accident, and I took his place.” 

The tears that had been gathering in his mother’s eyes now fell down her cheeks as she gasped in horror at his confession. 

‘I killed him. I thought I was given a second chance, but William did die.’

‘Is this true? Amnesia is normal, but… how do you even call that?’

“I have magick, just like Wanda,” Billy continued without looking at his parents. He summoned a spark of blue from his fingers. He held his hand in front of him as they watched in horror at the evidence that their normal life was well and truly gone. 

“That’s not real,” denied his dad, noticeably inching away from him.

He bit his cheek and let his magick fizzle out. “It is. I’m a witch.”

Billy gave them some time and kept his eyes on the floor. Agatha had agreed to let him tell his parents alone, no matter what happened, but he was now desperate for her presence. Was this what she had meant about witches belonging with witches? 

After a few minutes, Billy decided to not tell them about the Road, not unless they asked. With how their minds raced with pain and grief, though, he doubted they would ask anything else. Not today, at least. He did his best to give them privacy, but blocking their frantic thoughts was so hard. Eventually, though, his parents snapped out of their shock and turned back to him; their postures were too stiff. 

“It’s okay,” reassured his mom. “We’re not mad at you, we’re just… surprised.”

His father nodded in agreement, his smile a tad too wide to be believable. “We still love you. You’re still our son.”

They walked over to him, and Billy pretended to not notice the hesitation in their steps or the way the hug felt forced. He knew they meant well, and despite their promise that they still considered him as their son, he could feel their doubts creeping at the back of their minds.

He ignored that, too.

***

Billy had spent the entire night trying to ignore the storm of emotions coming from his parents.

Agatha had hounded him for information, wanting to know how it had gone. He was surprised that she hadn’t listened in, as she so often did, but he had done his best to tell her. The ghost hadn’t really said much, not even snarky comments, but she had been there regardless. Billy was terrified of what his parents might decide, of what they might think of him after all this. While he was not William, he still considered them his parents; they had raised him for as long as he could remember, and he loved them. 

The next morning, his parents didn’t wake him up for school, and were already waiting for him in the kitchen. Billy did his best to block their thoughts as he entered the room. 

“Morning,” he greeted, keeping his eyes low. 

‘He looks so small,’ thought his mother, louder than his barriers. ‘Would William react like this if he had survived?’

“Morning,” answered his father.

They watched him as he sat at the table, and he waited anxiously for one of them to speak. 

“Where is William?”

The question made him freeze. “What do you mean?”

His mom scratched the back of her neck uncomfortably. “It’s just… We understand that you’re not… him, but where is he?”

Billy looked at her, and then at his dad, who both seemed ashamed and yet did not take back their question. “He’s dead, I’m pretty sure of that.”

“So you’re not certain?” Perked up his mom. “Maybe he did like you and found—”

“He didn’t,” he interrupted. “He wasn’t magick, or a witch.”

The mood dampened instantly, and he felt awful about it. Just like how he had scared off Eddie, why did he keep ruining everything? 

“Where did you disappear to?”

Now, Billy knew they would probably ask him, but it hadn’t deterred him from hoping that they wouldn’t. If the simple display of his magick had freaked them out, there was no way that him creating an entire pocket reality would go smoothly. 

“I wanted to find out who I was, so I went to find another witch, her name was Agatha Harkness. I convinced her to take me to the Witches’ Road, but we had to gather a coven first.”

“The Witches’ Road? Like the Lorna Wu’s song?” Frowned his mom.

Billy nodded. “It’s a legend amongst witches; you’re granted what you want if you make it to the end.”

“If?” Asked his father with slight panic.

He took a deep breath. “We were seven people in total; only three of us made it out. And even then, I think two is a better guess.” 

After all, while Rio physically made it off the Road, he doubted she had truly survived the experience. How horrible was he if his magick was powerful enough to wound Lady Death herself?

“What did you want at the end of the Road?”

He looked at his mom and clenched his fists. “My brother.”

His dad’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Your brother? The one you mentioned yesterday?” 

Billy nodded. 

“Did you get him back?” Questioned his mom.

“Sort of,” he shrugged. “I know he’s out there.”

There was another moment of tense silence before it was broken once more.

“You’re a witch,” declared his mom, her tone almost reluctant. 

He gave her a nod. “I am.”

“What happened on the Witches’ Road?”

He couldn’t mention that the Road wasn’t real, what if they never looked at him the same again? But then again, shouldn’t he tell them the whole truth? It was like Agatha had told him; you couldn’t love someone you didn’t know.

Billy braced himself for the reveal.

“We went through trials meant to test our knowledge, and it made us face our fears. We lost… so many,” he confessed, throat tight as he thought of Mrs Davis, Alice and Lilia. He then straightened up. “Except it wasn’t real.”

That made both of his parents freeze. “What?”

“The way Wanda changed reality itself to create herself a life? I did that with the Road. I created everything because I was desperate for it to be real.” He struggled to swallow a sob as he turned his tear-filled eyes towards his parents. “I killed my coven.”

“You killed people?” Breathed out his dad, horror clear in his voice.

“I didn’t mean to,” he croaked out. “I swear.”

Under the horrified stares of his parents, Billy burst into tears, shrinking into himself to escape the shame. In normal times, his parents would already be at his side, trying to comfort him, but this time he could sense their hesitation. He could sense their concerns, but most importantly, he could feel their fear.

Billy ran to his room without looking back.

***

His entire day was spent in his room, crying his eyes out as Agatha awkwardly attempted to make him feel better.

The witch had told him that just because they had hesitated now, it didn’t mean that they rejected him entirely. Except that the look of fear on their faces at the sight of his magick, along with their terror as he had told them that he had killed his coven, simply wouldn’t leave his mind. Billy couldn’t hear their current thoughts, Agatha had shown him a few runes that made him unable to hear anyone outside his room; a blessing that allowed him to not hear their nightmares and worries. 

Billy ended up skipping lunch. 

He didn’t go down, and his parents didn’t call him either. 

Once dinner time came around, however, his mom came to get him. She knocked on his door and he walked out, feeling like a prisoner walking to his execution. They ate in silence, and Billy did his best not to listen to their thoughts. His father had made one of his favourite meals and it went down like ash. Still he ate and fought the urge to scream at his parents to say something, anything. Soon enough, though, the plates were empty and Billy quietly rinsed his plate and put it in the dishwasher. His parents didn’t do the same, and Billy looked at his blurry reflection in the window, feeling their eyes boring into his back. 

“Wi— Billy,” his mother corrected herself. “We… uh…”

‘God, how can I even say it without hurting him?’

Billy kept his eyes on his reflection.

“We talked to each other,” she continued. “We talked for hours, we really did, I promise you that.”

‘Please turn around, I can’t do this when you’re facing away.’

After taking a deep breath, he slowly, reluctantly, turned around to face them. 

Their shame was obvious, neither of them would meet his eyes. 

“Yes?” He urged them. Whatever their decision was, he’d prefer they tell him now than drag it out.

Finally, his father (?) met his eyes. “We can’t do it.”

He felt like the ground collapsed under him. His heart burned with a flame so strong, he wondered if he had accidentally set himself on fire.

“We need time,” quickly added his mother Rebecca. Her face was twisted in shame, and full of regrets, but she didn’t seem to want to take back their decision. 

‘Why isn’t he saying anything? Please say something.’

‘He’s showing obvious signs of shock, his fists are clenched so hard, and I’ve never seen him so still.’

‘I hope he understands that we need time. We can’t grieve our son if he’s still there.’

“Okay.”

His response seemed to surprise the adults, but what else could he do? He wasn’t going to scream, or cry, or beg, Billy knew it wouldn’t do anything.

“Okay?” Frowned Jeff.

He shrugged, feeling unexpectedly detached from the situation. “I can’t exactly make you change your mind.”

He could, actually.

He could twist their minds, he could wipe the conversation from their memories, make them forget that he ever went missing. He could make them love him. His magick wanted nothing more, it wanted safety and acceptance, it craved love; Billy could feel it bubbling under his skin. It itched to fix the situation.

Except he wouldn’t do it.

Because this was what Wanda had done, and he wouldn’t be like her.

“I’m sorry,” apologized Rebecca. “But grieving William… We can’t do it—”

“You can’t do it if you have his corpse walking around,” he completed, not caring to sugarcoat the truth. 

The two adults flinched at his graphic description, but Billy couldn’t bring himself to care. He was surprisingly numb. The flame that had burned his heart had now been smothered and left him to feel nothing. He should be devastated, the one fear he had carried for three years; the fear that he’d be abandoned if the Kaplans ever found out the truth, had been justified after all. Despite all that, he just felt tired, and the knowledge that he was unwanted made his skin crawl.

A figure in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room caught his eye. Agatha didn’t say anything, but for as talkative as she usually was, this was as good as an answer. She seemed regretful. 

“Do you have a place to go?” Asked Rebecca. “To Eddie’s maybe?”

No, Eddie needed a few days, he wasn’t an option. And even if he was, he couldn’t take another rejection. He had absolutely no one, he was alone. 

“You can use my house, Teen,” quickly said Agatha. “I did tell you it was yours before the Road.”

Billy could cry, thankful that he wouldn’t be completely abandoned. He looked at his former parents, the pit in his stomach growing heavier as the reality of his situation truly set in.

“I do have somewhere to stay,” he confirmed. “I’ll uh… I’ll go pack a bag.”

‘Oh god, have we broken him?’ Silently panicked his mom. ‘He’s not William, but he’s still a kid. Why am I not feeling more guilty? Should he even be left unattended? He did say he killed people. What if he’s dangerous? But that’s stupid, I still raised him for three years and he’s so sweet. But the boy I know didn’t have magic, so do I really know him?’

He ignored the inner conflict in the adults’ heads as he walked up the stairs leading up to his William’s room. He could hear them following behind him, but his eyes were focused on all the posters, trinkets and clothes around the room. He felt a strong urge to just burn it all. 

He turned his head without turning around. “Do you mind if I do this alone?”

“Of course,” agreed Jeff. He sounded sad.

Sad, but not regretful.

‘He needs us. But he’s not—’ He cut himself off mentally. ‘This is so hard, I just want to grieve my son.’

To make sure they would leave him alone, he let them walk out of the room before closing the door with an upward nod of his head. The terrified look in his former parents’ eyes as the door swung closed was enough to confirm that they’d stay away.

Quietly, Billy grabbed a black duffel bag and started stuffing clothes in it. He grabbed as many items as he could fit, and then some more. He didn’t know how long he’d be away, or if he’d ever come back at all. There weren’t many things he wanted to keep; everything was tainted with the horrors of the Road. Still, he grabbed his spell book, most of his jewelry, especially the pieces Eddie and his parents the Kaplans, had given him, as well as all of his makeup. Billy looked at his bed and hesitated a second before grabbing the thick crocheted blanket Eddie had spent ages making. It was more of a decoration than an actual blanket, since Eddie, the sweet boyfriend that he was, had made it so that the holes in the blanket formed the pattern of a large spiderweb. 

He also hurriedly packed a picture of him, Eddie and the Kaplans during the only vacation they had taken together. The frame was a little large, but he made it fit. 

Billy then looked around the room, his throat tight. 

“You deserve more,” encouraged Agatha. “If they don’t want you, then you don’t stay. You go live your life and don’t look back.”

He swallowed with difficulty and closed his eyes, picturing his surroundings. He didn’t know why he did that, but his magick seemed to have a clear objective. Without thinking, his lips started moving, his skin buzzing with energy he didn’t understand. “Put the room back as it was,” he recited like it was a spell before repeating himself. “Put the room back as it was, put the room back as it was puttheroombackasitwasputtheroombackasitwas.”

A cold shiver coursed through his body, and once he opened his eyes, he nearly gasped. Gone were his candles, his posters, his bed cover, everything he had been given or bought during the last three years was gone. In its place was William’s room, as it had been on the first day he had come back from the hospital. 

The sight made him feel like he had scraped out his insides.

As he walked down the stairs, he noticed the frames that had previously held pictures of him were now empty. Had he really made everything disappear? The Kaplans were waiting at the bottom of the stairs and looked almost… sheepish. Jeff gulped as he spotted his duffel bag. Billy stopped in front of them and stayed silent. He didn’t know what to tell them; he’d often relied on their expectations to dictate his actions, but right now, the only thing on their mind was William.

Eventually, though, the staring was too much. “It’s done, I have everything I need.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Asked Rebecca.

He looked outside, spotting the blue Subaru. Driving to Westview wasn’t too far, Agatha’s house was about 20 minutes from here, except— 

Except he couldn’t take the car; that was the family car.

And the Kaplans weren’t his family anymore.

“Billy?” The name fell out of Rebecca’s mouth with difficulty. 

He shook his head to dismiss the pain. “I’m fine. I’ll… I’ll walk. It’s not too far. I have a friend that can… can take me in.”

“Keep your phone,” requested Jeff. “We’ll keep paying it until… until we’re ready. We’ll write to you.”

Billy hummed in understanding, not truly believing in his promise. He walked down the rest of the steps and hesitated a moment, wondering if the Kaplans would give him a final hug. Except his arms stayed at his sides and he couldn’t take the chance of being rejected again; he didn’t know if he’d survive this one. Agatha materialized next to the door, an apologetic look on her face. 

“Come on, Teen. Time to go.”

Billy opened the door, and just before crossing the threshold, he turned back to the people who had raised him. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be him.”

He didn’t give them time to answer before he closed the door behind him. He started the long walk towards Agatha’s house. He didn’t know how long it would take, but he had to starve off his emotions until he arrived. He’d been numb since their decision, but now that he was out of the house, out of their lives—

Billy made it three blocks before melting into tears.