Work Text:
Until the End
Enid waves at Wednesday as the ambulance door closes. She’s safe now and protected by her family. The werewolf and her parents are securely ensconced within the vehicle and on their way to a local hospital to treat her wounds. The wounds that are only superficial because she had help in fighting the other Alpha that had been hunting her. The ambulance pulls away from the remote trailhead in the Canadian mountains and the pair of RCMP vehicles that had also shown up to sort out the commotion follow.
Wednesday turns away from the little dirt parking lot that now only holds the car she’d arrived in. Luckily the local law enforcement had not investigated the ownership of said vehicle, the status of Wednesday’s non-existent driver’s license, or if there were any other dangerous beasts nearby. A murderous Alpha werewolf was dead and a missing young American girl was found safe. That was all they seemed to care about. It was convenient because about a hundred yards away at a vacant campsite, a deranged serial killer is sitting on a picnic table bench nursing his wounds from handling the bulk of the fight with the Alpha that had been set on killing Wednesday’s best friend.
Tyler barely shifts his gaze to watch Wednesday’s approach. He’s in far worse shape than can be attributed to the few muscle-deep gouges and bite wounds he sustained in the fight. Death’s pallor blanches his skin and bruises not associated with trauma rim his eyes. He’s been without a master for about a month now, and his time is running out.
The Hyde commune had been a lie. Capri had set both him and Enid up to fall prey to some trafficking ring that specialized in providing dangerous outcast species to uber rich assholes that want to hunt them for sport or subjugate them as some kind of exotic pet status symbol. By some twisted turn of fate, he, Enid, and Wednesday had ended up arriving at the abandoned campground the traffickers used as a staging facility almost simultaneously. As is tradition when the three of them are in the same place at the same time, things went all to hell. Old grievances were temporarily forgotten in exchange for pooling their resources to save themselves and free the other imprisoned outcasts. They’d taken down the operation easily.
Unfortunately, one of the captured outcasts they freed was an Alpha werewolf that was anything but thankful to have been saved by another Alpha. Once released, he’d followed all natural werewolf instincts to destroy the potential competitor he saw Enid to be. He was huge, experienced at fighting, and half crazed from the torment he’d endured at the hands of the traffickers. Enid hadn’t stood a chance. Tyler had only hesitated for the amount of time it had taken to turn and look at Wednesday. He saw the fear in her eyes and had transformed back into Hyde form for the second time in an hour. It took more effort than it should have and hurt in a way that was far worse than usual. He didn’t have time to dwell on what that meant for him, as he had to bolt and lunge to intercept the Alpha’s attempt on Enid, who had only just turned back into her human form. He ripped into anything he could get a tooth or talon into, and the Alpha went down in short order. He didn’t stop biting and tearing until the body underneath him was barely recognizable, until he could be absolutely certain that Enid and Wednesday were safe. He collapsed and shifted back just as the sound of the first approaching siren could be heard. Tyler had dragged himself into the surrounding woods to hide while Enid and Wednesday dealt with the arriving law enforcement.
With Enid’s safety ensured, Wednesday decides to turn her attention to Tyler. He’s had a chance to redress in the jeans and hoodie he’d discarded before the first time he’d transformed to help liberate the captives. The clothes weren’t his to start with and now he seems to swim in the oversized fabric even more than he did earlier that afternoon. The effort on Enid’s behalf has drained him in more ways than one.
“You look terrible.” Wednesday’s voice is deadpan as she steps up to Tyler’s seated form.
“That tends to happen when you’re dying.”
She doesn’t look at him as she takes a seat on the bench to his right. “How long do you have?”
“It was already bad before you showed up. That last transformation just kind of… sped things up a bit.”
She turns to look at him and there is something approaching true regret in her eyes.
“I won’t make it to tomorrow morning.” His voice is stoically resigned.
“This is because you have no master.” She tries to maintain a purely logical conversation. “Do you want me to…”
“No.” He says quickly. Noticing that she looks slightly hurt, he volunteers. “I’m done with masters and orders, done not being in control of anything I freaking do. Done being used. I’m just done. With everything.”
“You’d rather die on your own terms than live under someone else’s control again?”
“Yeah.”
She processes that for a moment. “That sentiment is understandable, given what you’ve been subjected to.”
He lets out a breath he’s subconsciously been holding while waiting for her response.
“Have you decided how you want to…”
“Here, like this, seems good. Just wait out the clock.” He crosses his arms and tugs absentmindedly at the sleeves of his hoodie. “The view’s not bad and it’s quiet.”
He’s right. The campsite is on the top of a rise that forms an overlook of the peaceful valley beyond. There are no other people visible as far as they can see.
“Would you prefer to be alone?”
He snorts a derisive laugh. “Why should my death be any different than the rest of my life?”
“Is it what you want?”
“No.” He drops his chin to his chest, blocking her view of his face. “But dying alone, no one giving a shit, seems kind of on brand.”
“Lucky for you then that I don’t have anywhere else I need to be tonight.”
“You’ll stay?”
“Until the end.”
He nods silently.
“This is not the fate I envisioned…” She has trouble finding the words. “You deserve better than this.”
“No I don’t.” He admits. He’s done horrible things and they both know it.
She shrugs in tacit agreement.
“But thanks for saying it.”
They sit side by side in a peaceful silence for a long time.
Without a word, she scoots over to close the small gap between them and leans her head against his shoulder.
He turns his head slightly to look down at her with a raised eyebrow.
“This doesn’t mean…”
“I know.” There’s no malice but also no joy in the small grin that tugs at the corner of his mouth as he looks at her.
They sit like that in silence again.
“You hastened your own demise to save Enid.”
He shrugs.
“Why would you do that?”
“I guess I wanted to do at least one thing at the end, when it was actually my choice, to prove I'm not just the asshole loser everyone has always assumed I am.”
“I never assumed that.”
He rolls his eyes and preempts the jab he assumes will come next. “You didn’t have to assume. You had more first-hand evidence than anyone.”
Instead she contradicts him. “You proved to be an entirely formidable nemesis. Suggesting that I could be outwitted and outmaneuvered by some inadequate loser is as insulting to me as it is to you.”
He lets out a soft laugh and leans the side of his face against the top of her head where it still rests on his shoulder.
It’s the most prolonged physical contact Wednesday has ever tolerated from another human in her entire life, and they both know it. Neither shows any intention of moving as the sun dips below the treetops and shadows engulf the empty campsite.
They’ve sat in silence for probably half an hour before she tentatively asks, “Do you ever think about what it would be like if things had been different?”
The wording may be vague, but they both know she means what it would be like between them if not for what he is, who his masters have been, and what they made him do.
His answer is immediate. “All the time.” He takes a deep breath before asking, “You?”
She hesitates. “More than I would ever admit to someone that wasn’t dying.”
Neither speaks again. Though a single tear escapes Tyler’s eye and tracks along the scar just below it before disappearing into Wednesday’s hair beneath his cheek.
The sunset blooms in spectacular shades of ruby, amber, and gold before fading into inky purples, dark blue, and eventually black. The night swallows the two figures sitting mutely on the bench with their heads resting against each other. There is a slight nip in the air, but neither notices. Cicadas harmonize their croaky chirps. A coyote chatters in the distance. The night is as still and final as the star-crossed pair wordlessly saying a long goodbye.
He thinks back on all the worst parts of his life and the terrible things he has done.
She remembers how he charmed her then attempted to kill her or left her for dead multiple times.
He knows he can never separate himself from all that shit.
She knows some of the feelings between them had been real, it was just all so twisted with betrayal.
He considers apologizing to her, but doubts she’ll believe him.
She considers asking him what he’d actually felt, but knows she’d never be able to believe anything he said.
The silence is better. It's more honest than they could ever be with each other.
The night passes around them.
Just before dawn, his breathing becomes raspy.
She feels him tense, can hear his heart rate quicken as he starts struggling to draw breath. He’s scared.
His only move is to brace his hands on his thighs. “You can go if you don’t want to be here for this.” He coughs out.
“I said I would stay with you until the end. I keep my word.”
He leans in against her with all the force he can muster.
Wednesday reaches out and takes hold of the hand on the leg next to hers.
He entwines their fingers and squeezes. She squeezes back.
His breathing worsens, but he steadfastly refuses to move.
She keeps her head on his shoulder and her grip on his hand without wavering.
Just as the first rays of sunlight break through the trees to land on their faces, Tyler lets out a deep rattling sigh, then goes completely still. His grip on Wednesday’s hand slackens. She hears no further heartbeat beneath her ear on his shoulder.
She sits with him for another seven minutes, because that’s how long scientists have determined it takes the brain to fully cease all functioning after complete cardiovascular arrest, and they can only theorize about how much consciousness may remain as the grey matter shuts down. She said she would stay until the end and she’ll not have her word broken on a technicality. She's certainly not taking the time to prepare herself to go on in this new version of the world that doesn't have Tyler Galpin in it. A world that feels oddly hollow now in some way that she does not enjoy.
After releasing his rapidly cooling hand, Wednesday lifts her head from his shoulder and stands. She doesn’t look back as she walks away. It strikes her as odd that she’s not reveling in the demise of her nemesis, but she doesn’t want to see his eyes lifeless, his head lolled to his chest, or his complexion any more sallow and pallid than it was last night. She wants to remember him the way he was in life rather than how he surely appears now. Because, now that he’s dead, she’s willing to admit to herself that he was more than just some violent antagonist in her story.
She walks down the short trail to the trailhead where the car she had procured for this expedition waits in the otherwise empty parking lot. She settles herself into the driver’s seat and pulls on her seat belt.
A familiar voice teases her from the passenger seat she’s sure was unoccupied a second earlier. “Grand theft auto. Nice way to start things off.”
“Tyler?”
He smirks at the way she startles.
“What… How?” She is completely at a loss.
“Word on the street is you need a new spirit guide.”
“Which you cannot be. For so many reasons.”
“A chance to torment you from beyond the grave, potentially forever… What kind of nemesis would I be if I passed that up?”
"This can't be happening." She grumbles. “You are neither a raven, nor of my bloodline.”
“I might not be a dark psychic, but I’ve got some experience in the whole tragically lonely life and uncontrollable descent into madness thing. And as for the bloodline stuff, you can thank the hand.” He playfully lifts an eyebrow at her. “Since Thing’s generally considered an Addams now and he is actually my blood relative, they’re letting it count. That and nobody else wants the job.”
“Great.” She mutters to herself. “And all this time I believed the concept of a devil on your shoulder giving evil advice was merely metaphorical.”
“This is going to be so much fun.” He claps his hands and rubs them together like some cartoon bad guy.
Wednesday rolls her eyes, but can’t help giving him an appraising look as she puts the car in reverse and back out of the parking spot. He looks healthier, ironically enough. His specter has the same golden hue to his skin and the clean but intentionally disheveled brown curls she remembers from when they first met. The scar marring the right side of his face is gone. He’s wearing jeans and a black, fitted, long sleeve Henley shirt with the sleeves pushed back most of the way up his forearms, showing off the physique he had somehow honed while in Willowhill. The most drastic difference, however, is his eyes. Gone is the hollowness that had haunted them for quite some time. Nor is there a trace of the malice or resentment he’d often not managed or not tried to hide. He looks like he has found some sort of peace in the afterlife.
Un-ironically, she tells him, “Death suits you.”
He looks as if he’s about to actually blush at the comment, but quickly pulls himself together. “I’m looking at it as a second chance. An opportunity to do some things better.”
“If tormenting me is your first act in the afterlife, you’ll excuse me if I question your supposed commitment to change.”
He laughs in earnest and the sound is infectious enough that it nearly brings a smile to her face.
“You should be warned, neither of my previous spirit guides lasted more than a couple months.”
“Meh. Same could be said for my masters. You’re not going to scare me off that easy.”
“So I am truly stuck with you?” She nearly manages to hide the excitement in her voice.
He smiles at her. “Until the end.”