Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A Pyrrhic Victory

A victory that is obtained at great cost, making the effort to win not worth it.

“Lenore”- Annabel's voice seemed far, far away. The amount of screams they were surrounded by was making her mind numb, in combination with the amount of pills she had taken.

“Lenore, look at me”- she was trembling, her hand reaching her cheek in a desperate attempt to distract her attention from what was happening on the back. 

She gasped, trying not to let out an uncontrolled sob. Lenore didn't understand, she felt like her brains were blown up. 

“Lenore, I'm sorry”-another gasp-”but please, please take them”- why was Annabel giving her this amount of pills? 

She constantly moved her head and shifted herself in order to avoid swallowing the pills.

“This is not working!”

“Can’t we do something else?!”

Lenore felt a pang on her stomach. She took Annabel’s shoulder with one hand and moved her head to the side. 

Then the sound of gagging made Annabel turn again and try to make Lenore swallow but it was inevitable, she had puked and her nose had started making a trail of red liquid all the way down Annabel’s knees.

“FUCK!”- Annabel took Lenore by the shoulders, lifting her -”Prospero! This is not working!”

“You brought the gun?”- Annabel’s face shifted, she looked at him with disbelief and fear

“What do you mean by that…?”

“the gun is caliber 32 and their old as the gun itself…if we are lucky, this may end it all”

“Prospero, this is insane-”

“She may not die, Annabel”

“But adrenaline would not make an effect if we do that! How are we sure-!?” -

A high-pitched scream made both of them shiver and travel their gaze to the halls. Ada.

“We don’t have time!”

Her eyelids were heavy and she couldn’t stay in place. She felt a cold metal being pressed against her temple and then like a really strong sound, like when heating a kettle. 

Silence.

...

Terribly long car rides, she hated them. 

She didn't have the necessity to do it since she moved out to the city some years ago. 

But her life took a 360-degree turn when she received the news that her father had died, it seemed like an accident but when she got the report, it wasn't as simple as that. 

The only family left for her, her father, the only connection she had with her old town had died. 

He was not a good person. That 's for sure. 

No one could convince her otherwise. The amount of times she had to run out of her house or when she was locked in her “room”…those memories haunted her even if she tried not to. 

The report the police had given her said that he was found in the “attic”. Weird . That was her old room. Why would he even bother to go up there when no one used that room for years by now?

He was on the floor, with no signs of a physical wound or blood. He almost looked like he was asleep. 

Weird…maybe a heart attack? Surely that would be the conclusion of all this. But something didn’t make sense at all for her.

…

Lenore parked the car in the big ol’ house. Big as she remembered it. 

The brown paint was new, making it look even darker from its original look.

Oh, the times in her childhood she had spended in that hell hole. She entered the house, walking to the stairs that lead to the door while her cane clicked the floor tiles. 

Everything was in place, it looked like a dollhouse.

The quiet atmosphere made her stomach twist a little, she was the only one left of all her family. She always thought she would be the first one to go. Not because she didn’t have a hope for her future, no, she simply didn’t visualize herself being all grown up. But there she was, with 30 years and being the last one standing.

She walked towards the big piano placed on a corner. She touched it with caution, like she would be attacked if she wasn’t careful enough. It didn’t even have accumulated dust, it was tidy and splendorous as it had always been. 

From the living room she could see the outside.

The big garden where she climbed the trees and scared the neighbor's kids. She let out a little scoff remembering it.

But her little memories were interrupted when a ‘crick’ sound on the wood floor upstairs made her freeze. The sound being way too similar to someone walking made her squeeze the handle of her cane with nervousness. 

‘I'm just imagining things’- she repeated to herself, trying to gain her breath.

Obviously, her next destination was upstairs. Ironically? well…cautiously, she traveled herself around the stairs until she was in front of the hall full of doors. 

Her parents' room. She placed her finger in the door handle before taking it back, like she was burned by touching the metal. Something inside of her knew she shouldn’t be here, but on the other side, she wanted to stay here forever. She finally opened it, looking around. Everything in that fucking room was tidy, in place. 

She never went there when she was a child, as if it was a prohibited place. 

The figure of her mom curled up on the side of the bed always haunted her. 

Her mom died years ago, she wasn’t a loving mother like others but mainly because she had never seen her sober in her life.

A lot of people told her she would die from sadness…and she did. 

They weren’t close. In fact, not even with her brother. 

She was like a doll, a mannequin, an empty shell. 

She wished she could crawl at her side in the bed and hug her until both fell asleep. 

She shrugged and tried to move to the next room. The bathroom was not relevant in her ‘expedition’ so she moved to the next and last door of the corridor.

Theo 's room. 

They were inseparable. He was the perfect older brother in contrast to her, a riot.

But he was gone, he really was.

Sometimes she felt his presence so near…so there .

She didn't know if it was the place, the circumstances or what but sometimes she could still hear his voice. 

Inside, it was tidy. His violin was always resting on his bed, and as it was placed the first time, it was placed now. 

She missed him everyday, every night and all the time.

But he was gone, and it was all her fault. 

The reminder that he was not here transported her to that day, the downfall of her own life. 

That cursed day when he disappeared out of the blue.

1996

Lenore ran, ran as fast as her legs permitted her. 

If that damned town was known for something it had to be the big forests it had. The rain was like a big wave coming towards her, slapping and hitting directly at her whole body as she ran without a specific destination.

She felt her own body pressing her down, making her palms take all the weight of the fall.

She let the rain drown her on the floor. God, what was she doing? What was she thinking running out like this in the middle of the night storm? 

Her body was trembling, her once tied hair was now over her eyes and face and she could feel a stinging feeling in her knees. 

She gasped and forced her body off the ground, pressing herself in a tree to regain her breath and watch for the first time her surroundings. If she moved some distance from where she was, she will have access to what she thought was the road, so obviously she started running. 

When she was finally there, she pressed her hands on her knees, watching them fill with a reddish tone. She looked like a mess, probably anyone who passed driving would think she was attacked or anything out of a slasher movie, crazy, right?

She needed to think of her new plan, what would she do now that she was waaaay far from her house? Immediately she thought about someone. Her best childhood friend, Morella. 

If she wasn’t wrong, she lived near, maybe some…15 min walk?

She was freezing, the rain had stopped now, being only funny little drops. 

When she was near the edge of the neighborhood, she heard her own name. 

A car was going behind her and she froze in place, fuck, her dad.

But as she turned she heard better, that was not her fucking dad, that was Theo.

Hallelujah 

She probably looked like a deer caught in headlights but she was more than grateful her brother was there. 

He stopped the car, lowering the window to talk.

“Lenore! Why the hell are you all the way down here? What happened?”

“Dad, he-” she could barely breathe, she was in pain and she looked like shit “he-”

Theo didn’t waste any time, opening the copilot door so she could finally sit. They stood for some time in silence, Theo driving and Lenore regaining her compsture, pressing her head on the door.

“What happened?” He finally spoke. He looked worried . The most worried, anxious expression she had ever seen her brother with.

“They say I need help. I'm just not what they want me to be.”

Theo furrowed slightly, pressing her mouth in a thin line. He swallowed and focused on the road.

“They want me to go there”

“Lenore, they will not take you away”

“How did you know I was here?” She changed the topic after a small pause, sniffing and looking through the window. They were in the back of the neighborhood, pressed by the forest's big trees on one side and wooden fences on the other. 

“I just…knew you'd be here” He sounded serious, almost with no emotion in his voice. That made Lenore scoff a little.

“Seriously,-”

“Im serious, Lenore” He interrupted, with the same no emotion from early “I don’t even remember driving all the way from here…maybe was the fright”

Lenore stared at him for a few seconds and swallowed. She didn’t know why this interaction was making her feel uneasy, almost even scared. When she unfocused on her knees to look to the front, she stumbled with the image of a slender black figure in front of the road, just in the middle. 

“Watch out!” Lenore screamed and grasped Theo’s shoulder when his hand pressed her body to the seat. But it was too late. 

They had hit it.

Whatever that thing was, crawled, disappearing and getting inside the woods, only leaving a nasty black liquid on the front part of the car. 

“What the fuck..was that?” Lenore mumbled, trying to watch from inside the damage.

“Don’t move from there” Theo pushed the glove compartment open, taking the revolver their father had hidden there, in his own words, for any inconvenience . 

He opened the door, carefully enough to pass half of his now standing body through it and see the front of the car. 

The black liquid was smudged all over the lights, the windshield and tires. Theo closed the door, walking a little between the front and the main road. Then he turned his gaze to the big trees and obscure ambiance of the forest, standing still.

He slowly started to approach the end of the concrete and got more into where the trees were planted.

Lenore swallowed hard, she was told to keep herself on the car but she just wanted to get the fuck out of there, not caring about what they had hit. 

“Theo, get back here.”

Nothing, not a sound. He just stood there. 

Lenore fought with her belt and opened the car door, stumbling a little when she got to finally put her feet on the floor. 

She turned, finding silence again. 

He wasn’t there anymore.

Chapter Text

…

1999

The CD player was blasting David Bowie on the four walls of Duke’s room.

-“Dude” - Pluto took a puff of his almost finished cigarette - “are we really going to that fucking party?”

The original plan was to have a normal sleepover at Duke’s, watching shitty gory movies and eating gummies or popcorn until the sunrise. What they usually did.

It was already like 9 PM and the three friends were already discarding the initial idea, doing each one a different activity.

“Mon minou, picture me this”- Duke made that damn smirk that he used when he had an stupid idea while putting on a dark purple jacket he adored more than his own family 

-”you can get drunk, laid and high all that in there, AT THE SAME TIME”- He said pointing both of his index fingers up.

“You can’t be serious”- Pluto grimaced as he was thrown his striped t-shirt he packed for the next day -”do you guys even like those shitty parties?” 

Even if he didn't agree, he changed his shirt and made his way to reach his shoes.

“no”- Lenore and Duke said in unison, the girl being in front of the mirror putting on eyeliner and Duke putting on his usual jewelry, that consisted of a million rings and necklaces.

“Remind me at least who told you about it?”

“Bee, obviously. Morella and Eula are coming as well.”-he made a particular emphasis on Eula, making Pluto throw him one of Duke’s purple furry slippers laying on the ground.

“Are you trying to kill me?!”- Duke said while Lenore let out a loud laugh at Duke’s reaction and Pluto’s annoyed face.

“Come on, Pluto. It will be fun!”- Lenore said as she put her black leather jacket over her “The Cure” tank top. 

“Fun you say. I will not be present when one of ya’ll puke!”- Pluto smudged his eyes with his palm, smudging his messy eyeliner.

“Mon minou…last time the one puking was yo-”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”- Pluto interrupted putting his jacket on and walking by Lenore’s side.

Duke was the driver, Lenore was on his side while Pluto had the whole back seat for himself. 

The three of them were shouting the lyrics of some Mariah Carey song that was blasting on the radio (especially Duke).

By some minutes, they had already arrived at the place, a big desolated forest at the back of a neighborhood. It was common for many parties to be thrown in that particular forest.

It wasn't as if it were full of trees and nature; in fact, it was more of an empty field than anything else.

Since many couldn't host their houses, they decided to go out at night to those places and bring all kinds of fun there.

It was like a bonfire, but more out of control and with less food.

The loud music and ambience was heard even from the “parking lot”, making Pluto frown and slightly roll his eyes.

The trio walked into the place, being fastly overwhelmed by the sound of screams, music and poorly controlled teenagers.

Lenore stopped mid track, glancing the trees at the distance and the immense darkness the place offered, 

She was reminded of him. Three entire years.

But Duke squeezed her shoulder, giving her a quiet reassurance that everything was fine.

He knew her too well, damn. 

Lenore met his gaze and took a simple, slow breath, blinking a rather excessive amount of times.

"God, this sucks," Pluto complained, gulping down a can of a strange type of alcohol.

"Let me try."- Lenore positioned her hand so he could hand the can to her but he turned to the other side

"Get your own”- Pluto said, gaining a scoff and a poke on his side, making him almost choke with his strange beverage.

"Do you guys see the girls?”- Duke moved his head to every direction and tip-toeing (like if he wasn’t tall enough to see pass the others heads)

The trio moved through the people. It wasn’t a lot of kids anyways, but it was annoying being hit by elbows of drunk guys and getting a “SORRY” screamed in their faces, followed by laughs.

“Duke!”- a sweet voice was barely heard through the music. Eulalie’s hand was waving from a secluded area. 

She had her hair tied on a high ponytail (unusual to see her like this but never unwelcome) a plum tank top with flower patterns and a different purple tone mid ruffled skirt.

Getting closer they appreciated Morella patting Berenice back, who was gagging a little.

Eula wrapped her hands on Duke’s neck and he wrapped his on her waist, giving each other a tight hug. 

Then she did the same with Lenore (softer this time) and she made her way to Pluto, who was at the verge of having a heart attack when she hugged him.

“Im-Im fine”- Berenice gave a weak thumbs up to Morella while resting her hand on a tree. She had a really pretty wine red short dress and a leather jacket.

“Obviously you’re not. I told you to not drink that” - Morella scolded Berenice but never left her side, putting her short curls behind her ear. Morella had a cream blouse and light jeans, with light brown mary janes she adored. 

“Is Bee okay?”- Pluto asked, looking worried about the scene. 

Morella and Berenice both turned to look at the owner of the voice. Berenice took advantage to turn and breathe properly, making Morella roll her eyes. 

“Hi guys” - Morella greeted with a smile, even though you could clearly see the annoyance in her face.

“You came!” Berenice made the most drunk pose she could ever manage to do unconsciously and rested her head on the tree again.

“How are you feeling?”- Eula spoke when she saw Berenice smiling on the tree

“Wicked, biscuit” - Berenice took dumbly both of Morella’s cheeks and gave her a peck, leaving Morella wide eyed and confused. “I love you, Ella”

Berenice walked to wrap her hands around Pluto’s neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek, leaving the boy kinda tense with the sudden contact. 

Then she did the same with Lenore and Duke, who both smiled at each other at her friend's state. 

In the group it was known that Berenice was a very handsy person but this was multiplied by the amount of shitty alcohol she had taken. 

“I'm so happy you guys are here!”- Berenice managed to say, more loudly than she should but with an immense grin. 

“We’re happy to be here too” - Duke said, gaining a “tsk” from Pluto, who was suddenly interrupted when Lenore poked on his ribs again.

“You will never guess” - pause due to nausea -”what they got here” 

“What?” - Both Morella and Eulalie said in unison, they've been here with her and actually didn't know what she was referring or suggesting.

Berenice smiled and pointed at the other side of the place.

“You see the motherfucker over there?”

“Montressor? what about it?”-Pluto said, kinda skeptical to the man’s sudden mention. He was an asshole and everybody knew it. But why he had that made Berenice's curiosity rise.

“Not him…the one besides him”

“yeah…what about him?”

“Wanna get high?”-Berenice laughed and revealed her bright white smile.

Morella almost gasped at Berenice proposal

“There's NO WAY you are getting high, Berenice” 

“Well, maybe not me but them” - Berenice shrugged a little at Morella and looked (kinda directly) at Pluto, who was a regular smoker.

“Fuck it, im in”- Pluto said raising both of his hands and shrugging his shoulders, gaining all the group to look at him. 

“You?”- Duke raised his eyebrow and laughed a little bit at his friend's surrender to the proposal.

“I will not bear this goddam party without a good smoke, excuse yourself”

“I'm in too”- Lenore said, wrapping her arm around Pluto’s shoulder and almost making him fall with her.

Duke snorted and followed them, being sure the trio behind them was following along.

Walking towards this dude, Lenore could form by the corner of her eye something oddly familiar.

She turned and there it was.

Someone she thought she was never going to see again. 

A long, curled, stupidly perfect and tidy hair she would recognize in a million different timelines was flowing through her shoulders, almost being placed meticulously there.

A beautiful baby blue dress and a white jacket hugging her while her blue mary janes camouflage with the night.

It was her. 

Lenore felt a pang on her stomach, almost as if she had been hit with a bat.

Pluto noticed the shift of her posture as she was pressing her own weight on him. One glance was enough to completely connect what Lenore was reacting like this. 

“No fucking way”- Duke said in desbelief and even almost at disgust, reaching Lenore’s shoulder.

“Morella!”- a high pitched voice could be heard from the same direction, revealing to be a sweet looking girl dressed in pink. 

The girl numbly moved herself to the freckled girl's direction and trapped her in a tight hug.

“I didn't know you were coming!”- Ada almost screamed with a big smile on her face while tugging a can on her hand. Morella smiled back and played a little with her necklace. 

“Yeah, well…it was not my initial idea” - The brunette girl was so excited by the sudden reunion that it took a while to look carefully at her surroundings, finding the group of friends standing kinda awkwardly around.

“Oh. Hi guys”- she briefly looked at the others, side glancing at Lenore and the two others and keeping her gaze mainly on Eulalie and Bee. 

“pretty dress”- Berenice said from Eulalie’s shoulder.

…

“What im saying…don’t get worked up from nothing babe, I know everything ‘s gonna be fine”- The line grew heavier with the sudden silence from the other side of the phone, a simple sigh and a small hesitation.

“I'm sorry I bother you so much with all of this…it’s just…it seems real this time”- 

The last few words left her mouth with heavy exhalations. A significance heavier than a stone. 

It stinged Berenice’s brain just in the right place, just where she felt the last echoes of Morella’s sweet voice proclaiming a reassurance that haunted. But she was here to listen, not to make Morella’s preoccupation grew day by day 

“No worries, angel. I mean it-

Nothing bad is gonna happen”

Berenice didn’t quite remember the last moments of the call. Her brain was too numb too. She just woke up from it when the phone beepings were too loud. 

She moved, slowly as her body allowed her to reach the envelope. 

This morning it was under her apartment door. 

She was familiar with strange messages in her mail, after all, the things they have gone through weren’t something a small town will forget easily. 

But this one was different. 

…

He hated that. Threats.

The envelope was something he probably would have collected when he was younger.

Pretty stamp in the back. No sender address, no name, nothing to quite identify the motherfucker behind. 

Beautiful forest image that gave the impression that it was made in chalk, just the right thing to distract Pluto’s mind from the disturbing message from inside.

…

Duke placed the paper on the table.

It was too early for this shit.

It wasn’t even something he had received in the numerous messages from “fans” he sometimes read. 

It was sent directly to his house.

What made him feel even worse.

…

She knew it.

She had sensed it. Way before the letter was between her fingers. 

This exact letter, the same image, everything…

It was a vivid image that had hunted Eulalie’s dreams a week ago.

She knew something bad was gonna happen.

…

Prospero placed the inside of the envelope over all the papers he had smeared on his desk.

He rubbed his eyes and sighed.

He wasn’t known for losing his calm facade.

But this was playing against everything he had built with effort.

His patience.

…

He just laughed it off, like he would do with everything else.

He laughed at the ridiculous threat he had just read.

Out of everyone. The Priest. The holy one. 

Why was this affecting him so much though?

…

Fuck this she thought.

She wasn’t expecting anything like this this morning. 

She just took the mail, like she always did when Mr. Tamerlane told her to. 

How did they find her?

…

He felt terribly bad.

He was the one closing the store today. 

No one else was there. 

He just saw the card slipping through the door.

Whoever had done this knew the fact he is supposed to be alone by this hour.

…

Annabel placed the inside of the envelope in her pocket.

She swallowed her tea in silence.

1….2…3…4…hold….exhale.

She repeated the process until her mind wasn’t foggy anymore. 

She tasted the remains of her tea as she felt a kiss on her cheek.

“What’s that, honey?” - Her husband smiled at her side. Drinking his own coffee

“Nothing, love”

…

“Pet”- a sweet, almost weary voice reached Lenore’s ears as a haunting melody, giving her shivers. Her face had changed. Her all…it was almost sadness. 

Both girls were behind the cars, behind the trees. Where only the soft light of some of the lamps were able to reach. 

“Weren’t you supposed to be…I don’t even know- in fucking convent?”-Lenore said weakly, not dropping her gaze even if her own body screamed at her to do so. 

Annabel's eyes were the most expressive Lenore had ever seen. Sad, nostalgic, melancholic. 

“It wasn’t a- Im doing my last year here”- She swallowed thickly -”Better opportunities”

Lenore looked at her and laughed. 

“You don’t have to act like this, Pet”

“Don’t. Annabel.”- Lenore looked at her incredulously -”You didn’t really say a word. I mean. you left li-like nothing”

“I tried! I really did, Pet! I-I was scared”-Annabel cried out as she tried to not ruin her composure

“You are always scared! You are afraid what others think, that’s your problem”

Lenore's eyes were intense, at the verge of tears and burning with rage at the same time. 

“You are scared of me…that’s the shit”- Lenore blurred out, making Annabel start to shake her head, decided in denial.

“Im not-”

“But you are! Look at you. You made your decision already… Continue with your beautiful life, I would continue with mine. Just don’t pretend you want or miss me”