Work Text:
It was odd, Nikki thought.
To be watching the funeral of the very person who ruined her life and not feel...anything.
She shouldn't be surprised...and yet, she expects it to appear.
For it to cry and beg and just plead for the world to give back the man she loves more than anything in the world.
But it doesn't.
Nikki was free--for better or worse.
The funeral isn't relatively big or packed with friends and family
Only his parents are there, and even then they look too stunned to even say anything: What could anyone say at a murderer's funeral?
They had gotten lucky, Nikki realised.
Both she and Skye had escaped their respective hells by the skin of their teeth, only free and out in society because of wishes.
One wish Willow
How Nikki despised the fact that the very thing that helped ruin her life had essentially also saved it.
It had been Skye's idea to use the wishes. It had saved her from the Entity that was haunting her; then surely it could save them from getting locked up in prison and a mental asylum, respectively.
Nikki hadn't wanted to do it; she had refused to use it.
At the time, she had only thought of using them to save Skye's life. To stop that thing from killing her and keep spreading the curse or whatever to others.
Skye was innocent; she was just dragged into it.
And Nikki...Nikki had been innocent once. But not anymore.
Sarah was dead.
Ian was dead.
...Bear was dead...and so was his cat (She felt particularly bad about that one; she fed him to his own owner)
Everything around her was ruined.
There was no hope for her. And she knew she was going to prison for what it had done.
And she was content with that. Better than just...living and crying and hating Bear for everything that had happened.
At least in Prison she could find a way to kill herself and get it over with.
...Except Skye hadn't let her.
Skye refused to just let her die, refused to let her go. Not when she had been saved, and Nikki was on the verge of her life being ruined...more than it already was.
She still remembers.
The way Skye all but grabbed Nikki by the neck and forced her to look at her.
Amber and Brown eyes locked together.
"Live"
"I Can't-"
"Bullshit. You CAN. You're just choosing to run away from it all." Skye shook the bag that contained the one wish Willow's "You can get your life back."
"What life?" she croaked out
Nikki let out a laugh
"A life where I have to live with the fact that my body killed two people and fed someone their cat? That someone I trusted violated me in so many ways other than just one?"
She shook her head
"I can't...I can't. I don't even think I'm sane anymore. I can't do this anymore....I'm alone."
"I'm here," Skye hissed firmly, "And I'm not leaving you."
"I killed people."
"My hands aren't clean either."
"...I don't know how to be human."
"Then we'll learn together."
Nikki let out a huff
"You're really determined, hm? To...have me here?"
"...You understand," Skye murmured, "What it's like to have to fight for your life...to feel like you have no control at all."
She sniffed
"I need you."
Maybe that thing was still inside her. Because all Nikki could do was nod in silence, willing to obey the request.
Bear had wanted her to love him
And it did.
And now Skye was asking her to live.
She was being given a choice...she could just run, as far as she could go, and end it before Skye could fix the damage it started to begin with.
...And yet she doesn't.
Instead cries on Skye's shoulder and nods again.
She'll live, as much as she hated it.
...Besides.
It was better than letting Bear have the win.
She'd shove this in his face wherever he was burning in hell that she lived. That she escaped. That she didn't need him
Yeah...that sounded like a good enough reason to keep going.
Nikki had broken her head so many times thinking of how things could have been different.
What if Bear hadn't made the wish?
What if Ian had just told him?
What if Sarah had just gained the courage to tell Bear?
So many what-ifs and all ultimately useless.
"I wish...I wish Bear faced the consequences of what happened."
And he did.
By morning, people all over believed Bear had killed Ian and Sarah.
That he had forced Nikki to be in a relationship all due to an obsession of his and killed his friends when they tried to stop it.
Nikki wished (Ha) she felt guilty for putting it all on Bear, but she didn't.
One stupid fucking wish was all it took for their lives to be destroyed.
And in the end?
In the end, he had taken his own.
She remembered the few times she had broken free from the wish. Begging to die, begging him to make it stop.
He didn't.
Not until it began to affect him.
Asshole.
And what came out of all this?
Meaningless death.
The worst part was the whispers
"No wonder she was acting all insane. She was trying to give a sign."
"In the restaurant...that poor girl, if I had known, I would have pulled her out of there."
"That guy was always weird...I always knew he'd do something fucked up one day. I just didn't think it would be like this."
People who had distanced themselves from Nikki were reaching out again.
More apologies.
...More people she either didn't respond to, or simply blocked.
She didn't want to talk to anyone or see anything that would remind her of Bear and everything that happened.
Exactly the reason why she had turned off her phone and had almost thrown it away
...the only reason was because of the memories it held and how much it cost to begin with.
Memories were all she had now.
She remembered meeting Bear, bringing her into their friend group. The four of them becoming close...she remembers when they were happy and just kids having fun and full of life.
Now all that was left was the blood on her hands.
Her hands that couldn't be washed no matter how hard she tried to wash them.
Nikki watches as the casket is buried, watches as his parents eventually walk away; they don't see her; she's hiding as far as she can, wearing a black hoodie she borrowed from Skye and the bandages that the hospital gave to her.
"The wounds will eventually heal...but they'll be scars."
That's what the doctors had told her when she was taken to the hospital.
Bandaged face, bandaged hands, and body altogether.
She'd been too numb to say anything, just hummed and leaned on Skye, who had yet to leave her side since making her wish and escaping whatever was hunting her.
Skye had been there since everything all seemingly ended.
How long had it been now? A solid Month?
A solid month of officers asking her what happened? Dodging constant reporters with the help of Skye and everything all just laying on her shoulders.
She hated every second of it
Nikki pondered how easy it would be to just...end it.
Grab a gun and shoot herself. Easy, quick.
Jump off a cliff. Not as effective; she could survive.
Pills. Nope, it was how Bear went down, and she certainly didn't want any more reminders of him.
It didn't matter.
Skye had been watching her like a hawk, never leaving her alone safe for when she went to the bathroom, and even then there was a time limit for that too.
The irony wasn't lost to her.
Bear who forced her to love him.
Skye who forced her to live.
It hurt.
But at least she knew Skye was doing it for a good reason...at least, she hoped she was.
Even so...Nikki was too tired to even argue and fight Skye. She could use her...and she wouldn't even mind.
It would be infinitely better than all of the shit that happened with Bear.
She sighed and leaned back on the tree she was standing under, tilting her head up and staring up at the cloudy sky.
A shity day for a shity mood.
Nikki snorts and lets herself fall, eventually sit down, and just stares at her hands.
She should get up, find Skye, and figure out what to do next.
But she doesn't.
Nikki eventually turns on her phone and flinches as notification after notification chimes in.
From former friends.
From news outlets.
Her parents
She silences them immediately and breathes a sigh of relief at the silence.
Nikki never liked the silence before, but now she found it comforting.
It gave her time to realize that she was back, that she was in control again.
Her lips tug into a bitter smile as she plays video after video, stares at picture after picture.
And stops as she gets to one with her and Bear in it.
Nikki stared...and stared.
Wondering just how everything went so wrong.
She knows how: A stupid wish made from the darkest desire Bear had.
But Why.
"...Why couldn't you have just asked normally? Just six words...'Will you go out with me?'."
Her finger hovered over the delete button.
She stared- and swiped on to the next.
Bear. Again.
She swiped--Bear.
Nikki hissed under her breath and glared at her phone; she genuinely wanted to destroy this phone.
Don't. You're not gonna get another one.
She controls herself...albeit briefly.
Nikki never noticed how close she was to the three of them, how many years had been spent in that store.
The reveal that she was quitting the store was what started all of this; she realized.
She shouldn't have said a thing.
Should have just left...and forgotten about them.
...
But that's not how it works, does it?
Nikki cared about her friends. They had been there for each other for years.
She couldn't just tell them.
Maybe it was always meant to be like this.
Bullshit
All of this is bullshit.
Time passes, and eventually she hears the sound of leaves crunching as someone walks toward her.
She already knows who it is.
Skye sits beside her, and the two just stare at the grave, still decorated with the small amount of flowers Bear's parents and grandfather brought; a final sendoff to the son and grandson that went down a gruesome path.
"...How was it?"
"Only his close family came," she shrugged. "Nothing else."
Skye hummed. "Nothing compared to Ian and Sarah, huh?"
"Yeah"
"You actually showed yourself back then."
She did. All bandaged and staring at the grave that held the friends she killed...before she walked away.
"By the way, did you manage to get the tattoos off?"
"Mhm," she nodded, "Cost a lot of money."
"I bet."
"I'm permanently broke."
"An interview could fix that."
"You can suck my dick if you think I'm giving myself to those vultures."
Before, Nikki wouldn't say anything like that.
But that was pre-traumatized Nikki: a Nikki who hadn't been violated by her friend and turned into a meatsuit for a toxic wish.
This Nikki?
She didn't particularly care about what she said or did anymore.
...she didn't care about anything anymore. Not really.
Other than Skye, of course.
Skye understood more than anyone the hell Nikki had experienced.
She had gone through her own after all.
Skye snorts at her and nudges her. "Hey, I'm just teasing. Believe me, those people suck. I'm just glad I'm out of the spotlight...for now."
Her lips tugged upward
"How sad, the pop-star is out of the limelight," she teased softly
Skye scoffed and shoved her; Nikki easily fell to the side.
Nikki had lost a lot of weight and muscle; she'd have to regain it all back. She hadn't exactly been 'well' during the whole wish crisis.
Skye winced. "Sorry."
"It's fine," she waved her arm
It wasn't.
It hurt like hell
"I just need to regain my bearings," she murmured and sat back up
They sat in silence before Skye squeezed her hand
"The camper is ready, by the way."
Nikki blinked. "Really?"
"Mhm," she nodded. "We can leave, right here...right now."
Leave...
Nikki liked the sound of that.
She thought of Ian and Sarah, victims of some sick fantasy.
...She thinks of Bear, the wish, the blood, and the pain.
"...I like that idea."
"Yeah?" Skye looked at her
"Yeah"
And Nikki smiled for the first time in what felt like years.
They stood up and began to leave.
Nikki paused and looked over her shoulder, staring at the gravestone, and after taking a look at Skye, who was still walking toward where the camper was...she walked back to the gravestone.
There were no words spoken; she didn't have any.
...She spits on the grave.
And yes.
It did feel damn good.
0
O
o
Leaving was easy.
Soon, they were leaving the place she had spent a lot of time in; Where most of her memories were made.
But she doesn't feel sad.
She felt relieved.
No more whispers. No more stares. No more nothing.
Skye hummed the song she was listening to, and Nikki couldn't help but let out a soft laugh; this was actually happening.
She was leaving.
Her phone was in her hands and, before she could stop herself, she opened her albums.
Eyes locking with one she was all too familiar with.
One titled: These three goobs
Ian, Sarah, Bear.
She stared at the album, filled with videos and photos, and glanced at Skye, who was smiling softly as she drove.
It was a bit unnerving, she thought.
Just how easy Skye seems to be moving on from this.
Then again...she dealt with a demon hunting her down while Nikki essentially was the monster. A wish made one, but still a monster.
Her finger hovers over a button.
"...you know, I was planning on writing a story."
"Really?"
"A love story."
Skye snorts. "That's funny."
Her lips tugged upward. "It is, isn't it?"
The dark humor they shared would concern anybody, but it works for them.
Because it is them.
"Now...I have a new idea."
"Hm?"
"I think...I'm gonna write about what happened."
Skye paused and then whispered
"That could be dangerous."
"Hm"
"You could get sued."
"I know."
"...You're not gonna stop even if I tell you to, huh?"
She shrugged. "Hey, it could give us the money, and besides...the wish keeps me safe."
The irony wasn't lost to either of them.
"What are you gonna call it?"
There's only one word that comes to mind, and it makes her smile.
"Obsession"
Her thumb goes down- she deletes the photo album.