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She looks like Enid.
Blonde hair with the ends still clinging to the last remnants of blue and pink dye. Blue eyes that could unsettle a normie given how husky-like they are. A body that has all the hallmarks of a typical teenage girl, with the strength of a beast lying just underneath.
She looks like Enid, but Wednesday is uncertain whether the soul of friend remains whole.
Ever since pulling her back from her trapped state Enid had either slept, ate or done nothing but stared off into space. Uncle Fester had told her not to worry, that Enid’s mind was simply rebooting.
That had been two weeks ago.
In that time Wednesday had done everything in an attempt to rouse Enid from her mental prison. Daily reports from Agnes about the latest gossip at Nevermore, painting her nails, explicit reports on the various deaths in the area, kicking Thing like a hacky sack and more.
Once, in desperation, she had rang Yoko Tanaka, Enid’s first friend. Holding the phone up to Enid’s face, Wednesday had listened as the vampire reminisced about the past. She heard stories about a time before her stay in Nevermore that Enid surely did not want her to know.
It didn’t work, nothing did.
Wednesday allows herself to feel frustrated, because it distracts from guilt she hasn’t the time nor energy to process.
For ten minutes each day, before Enid awakens, she goes out onto the balcony of the dingy motel they have chosen as their fortress. For those few precious moments she lets herself curse the world, Tyler, Capri, herself and sometimes even Enid for this entire ordeal. It wasn’t fair, at least to her and Enid, but it made Wednesday feel good. If only barely, and only for a small while.
Eventually she comes to the conclusion that she will have to wait. For however long that is, day or months or years. Which means relocation to somewhere permanent.
Home.
Getting Enid there requires only the lightest bit of subterfuge. They travel by private plane, splitting off from Uncle Fester who is delighted by his task in distracting the hunters still pursuing Enid. It is then when she sees Enid’s first reaction to external stimuli that isn’t food. As the engines to the plane begin to start up, the sound causes Enid’s ears to twitch. As the pitch heightens the twitching intensifies, her hands looking as if they wish to move to cover them.
Wednesday is torn, wanting to see if the continued overload of noise will bring out more of her, or if she should help ease Enid’s pain.
In the end, she chooses what she always will when it comes to Enid. The softer option.
A pair of headphones is placed over her head, blocking out most of the noise from the jet engines. In that moment, when they are face to face, is when Enid’s eyes flicker, briefly, to stare into her own before she returns to her mentally comatose state.
That small moment fills Wednesday with a dangerous amount of hope, which she clings to fiercely.
It is when they finally arrive at the Addams manor that Wednesday allows herself to rest. When her parents go to embrace her, likely expecting the usual routine of avoidance, does she let them catch her. Face buried in her Mothers shoulder she can feel their shock for a moment, and then their arms around her. It is then that Enid once more pushes through the mental fog, her lips pulling up even as her eyes shine with longing. It happens too quickly for any to see.
The next few days are filled with lavish attention heaped on their new arrival. Morticia dotes on Enid with all the warmth she can give, while Gomez leaps from hidden places regularly. Wednesday appreciates the help, though she won’t admit it.
While on a walk through the Addams Family grave, does Enid utter her first word in months. They were linked by their arms, Wednesday leading, Enid’s innate instincts stopping her from tripping over her own two feet. They pass by tombs and graves, each one a monument to the individuality of that particular Addams. As they approach the grave of Wednesday’s once beloved pet does, Enid finally speak.
“Nero,” is all she says, her tone flat and voice hoarse from disuse.
The word stuns Wednesday, who comes to a dead stop. Enid continues to walk until their interlinked arms keep her from moving. Her eyes never leave Nero’s grave, and Wednesday has her own fixated on Enid.
Of all the things, why that? Was it because of the moment they shared so long ago? Enid had turned to save Wednesday, and was forced back to humanity under gentle caress. But then, why was their no other reaction to Wednesday’s acts of devotion. Perhaps it was something in Enid’s memory, moments she clung to with the last of dying soul. If Wednesday could trigger more of those memories, perhaps Enid would return with them.
She does what she believes is the most optimal choice. Return to Nevermore. Where her and Enid met. Where Enid had finally been able to grow as a person.
In hindsight, it was a startling poor decision to make so early in Enid’s recovery.
With Lurch behind the wheel, and Morticia and Gomez accompany them, the girls make the journey back to their school. As they draw closer Enid becomes more active. Twitches and sounds at odd intervals.
When Enid is helped out of the hearse after finally arriving, when her eyes take in the vast stone complex, does it all go wrong.
Screams and shouts and whimpers and crying all try to force their way out of her mouth all once. Her claws come out, gouging through steel as she attempts to flee back into the car. It happens so fast that the Addams can barely process it, before they finally react and do all they can to calm Enid down. Mere moments after their arrival they are leaving once more, Enid clutching at Wednesday for comfort. The rainbow claws are embedded in Wednesday’s side, streaks of blood descending down onto the leather seats. The absolute guilt she feels for causing Enid so much distress blocks out the pain.
Nevermore is stricken from the Addams lexicon.
After that moment, even the mere mention of the place causes Enid to collapse in on herself and regress. No matter how much time has passed, or progress has been made.
It is the final blow that kills the long standing institution once and for all. Fearing it might cause Enid too much pain if she were to accidentally hear the name, the decision is made by the Addams to withdraw all funding. Without their support, and lacking any other sources, Nevermore is forced to close. Though Crackstone may have failed that night so long ago, it was through the trauma of a girl most dismissed as unimportant that he achieved some measure of victory.
The resentment Wednesday feels for herself is almost suffocating. In her eyes it was her that ruined a school Enid once loved so passionately. Before her arrival it had been a place of friendship and growth, until it was turned into a nightmare of murder and blood. Those two short years had left mental scars on Enid’s psyche. Ones that would never heal.
Nevermore was to be buried in the past.
As years went by, slowly but surely did Enid return. Bit by bit, word by word she came back to life. In all that time Wednesday was by her side. The affection she felt for her friend grew into love, one that was returned. It lacked the flamboyance of her parent’s love, something quiet forged in small moments that only they would ever know of.
Their new found love carries its own weight however. There are days where Enid will once more return to that quiet state. When Wednesday enters their bedroom and sees Enid staring at the wall with the look of the dead, she can’t help but wonder if Enid will be stuck that way forever. If her healing had only been temporary.
Thankfully, as the decades pass, such fears never come to pass. They grow and wed. Children are raised. Orphans, who grow to be as much of an Addams as any with the name in their blood. They fall back on tradition, teaching them at home and avoiding the consequences of names of places best left forgotten.
Where once was a place of learning is nothing now but empty stone halls and rotting wood. Few would ever thread its grounds again, and the time would remove its existence from memory, and history.
Nevermore.