Not Alone

Morticia's words were not what anyone in the room wanted to hear.

"What do you mean you don't think we can?" Pugsley asked, "Mom, we have to stop it!"

"And we will find a way, Pugsley, I will…" she faltered, tipping forward but Gomez held her steady.

"Take it easy, my love," he said.

"I'm all right," she insisted, though she looked like she had a headache and when he guided her to sit down, she didn't protest. She slumped into the chair with far less grace than Enid had ever seen from her. To be fair, Enid didn't really know them well, but it was clear that Wednesday's mother was feeling awful.

"Are you all right?" he asked again, kneeling in front of her to take her hands as she leaned forward, looking paler than normal.

"I'm fine," she said.

"You're crying blood, Tish, that's not fine," Gomez said, motioning for someone to hand him a box of tissues, and Enid quickly obliged, "I think we should get a doctor to see you." He tenderly dabbed at the red tears falling down her face.

"No," Morticia shook her head.

"We're in a hospital, a hospital that we now own, all I need to do is step outside this room and say the word…"

"That's not necessary," she insisted, and Enid understood where Wednesday got her stubbornness from.

"Tish…"

"Even with the antidote, I can still feel the enhancing effects of the poison. I can feel so many energies in this room, it's overwhelming, but I can also feel it wearing off and I am fine," Morticia promised, "and I think we should move quickly…"

"Tish…"

"…before it wears off completely," she said. "I don't know if we can stop this curse that's ailing Wednesday, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try. For now, I'm hoping that maybe we might be able to contain it, lock it away where it can no longer hurt her. Give her a chance to heal."

"How?" he asked, "What do we need to do?"

"I don't know," Morticia said, her voice weak, but determined, "I've been reviewing all the information I have on hand about Death Curses and how to counter them… but this one in particular is a different beast all on its own."

Enid swallowed hard, trying to keep her anxiety at bay. This was not the time to have another panic attack. Wednesday was not only dying but suffering and Morticia, the only one who seemed able to do anything to help her, did not look good at all.

"But I'm sure there's…a spell I could use…at the Nightshade library…There's a whole section…on…curses…" her voice seemed to fade out and she tipped forward, but Gomez, who was still crouched down in front of her held her steady.

"Mom, are you OK?"

"Yes, Pugsley darling, just…a little under the weather," she said as she clutched her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

Gomez shook his head, "No. This is not 'under the weather', this is more than that. You're scaring me, Tish. I knew you shouldn't have done that. We should've tried something else."

"No Gomez, I'm glad I did," she said firmly, "it wasn't the answer we were hoping for… but I'm glad we have an answer and we are… one step closer to helping Wednesday. And the side effects of this will wear off… I will be fine." She gave him a reassuring smile. "Finding a spell...it will be time-consuming but as long as this poison is still having an effect on me…I think…it may save time if I can get another vision."

"I think you should rest, cara mia, take it easy…"

"No," she insisted, "now help me up. We need to… to go."

"But…"

"Gomez, please! I need you to trust me."

With a heavy sigh Gomez pressed his forehead lovingly against hers and whispered, "I do, I trust you with my life, and I trust that if anyone is going to find a way to save Wednesday, it's you. I suppose it could've been much worse. It just kills me to see you in pain."

"I know, mon cher, I know," she said, "but I promise you, I am all right. The pain I am feeling is nothing compared to the pain of seeing Wednesday like this…and knowing what she went through…and what she's going through now."

Gomez choked on a quiet sob and nodded in agreement.

"I just need to get out of here…" she continued. "It's this room… so many people died in here…so many sick and injured people and their families…there are so many energies imprinted into this room that I am much more attuned to than I'm used to…it's so…draining. But we need to act…before it wears off. Please."

He nodded and kissed her forehead, "OK then. Let's go. I'll ask Lurch to stay and guard Wednesday while we're gone."

"Where is he anyway?" Morticia asked. "I thought he would be back from running errands by now. He knows he's welcome to come in, right?"

"He's just outside keeping watch and was there when Pugsley and I arrived. He didn't want to see Wednesday like this."

"Ah. Can't say I blame him," she sighed, glancing at Wednesday as Gomez helped her to her feet. She sighed, lightly tracing her finger along the new bruise forming on Wednesday's arm from where she had unconsciously grabbed her, there was clear guilt in her bloody eyes. "It's unbearable, seeing her like this and…knowing that she's suff…" Morticia closed her eyes and seemed to fall into a trance that only seemed to last a moment.

"Another vision?"

"Yes, but this one was a little harder to see…" she said, leaning heavily into Gomez for support, "she's scared, Gomez. She's scared and hurting and is convinced she's going to die but…she's fighting," she glanced at Enid gratefully, and Enid couldn't figure out why, "she's not giving up." She then smiled, "And I think you were right, Pugsley."

"About what?"

"This curse has taken on a mind of its own, and that dark energy I was afraid of, that was because it felt threatened," she explained, "and I think we somehow hurt it."

Pugsley grinned, probably for the first time since they arrived. "Good. Maybe we can hurt it some more, let it be the one that suffers."

"That is encouraging," Gomez said, still fussing over Morticia with concern, "but I'm worried it came at a cost to both of you."

"Gomez, darling I am f—"

"You didn't see what we saw after you took that poison," he continued, "I'm not exaggerating when I say I was afraid I lost you."

She seemed to take his words to heart and she nodded, leaning into him, "I don't know what it looked like to you, and I'm sorry I put you through that. But I don't regret doing it."

"So, if we can somehow hurt it, then why can't we stop it? I don't understand," Enid asked, not satisfied with simply containing it. They needed to destroy it and if they can hurt it then why not destroy it? Every moment that went by Wednesday was suffering and Enid wasn't having it. She didn't want to leave Wednesday's side, but if they needed to go to the Nightshade library, then why was no one moving?

Morticia frowned, "Because it has mutated and manifested into something else, and it's taken root so deep into Wednesday's very mind and soul I don't know how we could possibly kill it without causing irrevocable harm. At this point, I fear that only the spellcaster with the same source of magic could possibly stop it – or more accurately reverse it, and we have access to neither."

Enid's breath hitched, it was getting harder and harder to keep her anxiety under control. So, only Joseph Crackstone and his stupid magic staff could save her? That wasn't right. And sure, they could do damage to this curse somehow, but how could they do that without hurting Wednesday in the process? Because whatever happened when Morticia grabbed her arm looked like it was hurting them both.

Clearly sensing her distress Morticia added, "That doesn't mean stopping it is impossible, I just don't know what we can do yet. Wednesday hasn't given up and neither will we. But if we can contain it, if we can damage it, that might be enough, at least for now." She clutched her head, "I can't be in here another minute. The energies in this room are too much."

Gomez nodded, "Then let's go."

"Thing, there's some extra poultice in my bag," Morticia added, wincing, pain evident in her tone of voice, "sooner or later they're going to do more tests and change her bandages. I don't care what the nurse says or thinks, the poultice is working. If they take it off while we're gone, and I'm sure they will, I want you to reapply it to the wound on her shoulder the moment you get the chance."

Thing gave her a thumbs up.

"Thank you, Thing," she said, graciously, "I don't know what we'd do without you." She kissed Wednesday's forehead and silently indicated she was ready to go.

Gomez kissed the back of Wednesday's hand and whispered, "Stay strong my precious scorpion." He quickly swiped away a lone tear in his eye and then put his arm around Morticia, supporting her as they left the room.

Enid and Pugsley lingered behind for a moment, both reluctant to leave Wednesday's side, but the more people searching for the right spell the faster they'd be able to help her. Besides, with Thing there continuing his vigil and Lurch keeping guard right outside her door, at least she would be safe, and she wouldn't be alone. Enid took Wednesday's hand and knelt beside her, "I have to go, but I promise, I'm not leaving you, OK? I'm here. Keep fighting, don't give up. We're going to do whatever we can to help on our end, got it?"

"There's no point," Pugsley muttered, "she can't hear you."

"I think she can, on some level," Enid said, "our friend Eugene could."

"That's Wednesday's friend, the one that was attacked by the Hyde, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he was in a normal coma, she's in Hell," he said angrily. "Or a version of Hell anyway."

"You don't know that," Enid was trying to be comforting, knowing how much Pugsley must've been hurting, but it came out defensive.

"We both know it, admit it," he snapped, his voice breaking as his eyes watered with tears and Enid could tell that he had been holding it in for a while and was about to burst. "It's destroying her as we speak. Even if she survives this and wakes up, what makes you think she'll still be Wednesday?"

He broke down in sobs and Enid pulled him into a hug, trying not to cry herself. She didn't want to entertain the thought, but it was something that crossed her mind. She shoved the throught down and took a shaky breath.

"Because it's Wednesday. She's far too stubborn and determined to not let something as inconvenient as this defeat her," Enid soothed as Pugsley cried into her shoulder, "and she's the strongest person I know. Give her some credit. I'd imagine that if Wednesday were actually in Hell, she'd be the one running the place in no time while the demons bowed to her."

Enid wished that were true. But Pugsley was right. As peaceful as she looked, Wednesday was suffering, fighting a battle she might never understand. She flinched as she suddenly remembered a snippet of her horrible dream where Wednesday was so lost and broken she didn't even know her own name. Enid felt her breath quickening at the thought and the throbbing behind her eyes intensified in retaliation of her growing anxiety. Maybe that was just a dream, one she could barley remember, but it felt real enough.

Pugsley chuckled at that, even as he sobbed, "OK, m-maybe I can…see that h-happening."

"Maybe she can't hear us," Enid said, trying to remain calm because having a panic attack wasn't going to help anyone, "but maybe she can and I'd rather take the chance that she's listening."

"She'd be so ashamed of me right now," Pugsley choked out, trying to calm down.

"Why?"

"Because she thinks emotions are a weakness and she'd be so embarrassed to see me crying over her," he admitted, finally calm enough to pull away from Enid as he carelessly wiped away the tears from his eyes, "and we're wasting time now because of it."

"So let's go," Enid said, quickly trying to shake away the tension building up in her shoulders.

"Thing, keep looking out for her," Pugsley said, starting for the door and then he paused, "and Wednesday? If you can hear me, kick that stupid curse's ass."

With that, he stormed out. Enid glanced at Thing, "Thank you, Thing, for staying with her."

Thing signed that he wouldn't leave her for anything.

Enid wrapped her fingers around his for a second to show support and solidarity and then turned to Wednesday and said, "We'll be back soon. We've got your back. Remember, no matter what, you're not alone, got it?"

~~W~F~A~~

She collapsed to the ground breathlessly, clutching her makeshift spear that she made out of a branch and a sharp rock that she had secured with a torn piece of what was left of her tattered dress.

She couldn't continue, but she didn't have time to rest. It was after her. It wasn't going to stop. But she was so tired, and the pain was excruciating and neverending. She slumped to the side, unsure if she could make it this time.

Her forehead connected with the cold, muddy ground and she curled into a ball, her battered, bloody, and impossibly thin body trembling.

It took pleasure in the chase and she dreaded the thought of it catching up to her; she didn't think she could take much more.

The Dark Thing that Lurked in the Shadows had retaliated with a vengeance the moment she decided that she was not only going to fight back, but she was going to strike first. But despite it being injured as well—though the memory of how it happened had been stolen from her—it was still far more powerful than she was, and it was angry, it was relentless and showed no mercy.

Surrendering, as terrifying as it was, seemed like it would be easier. She was so tired of running, and hiding, and fighting a losing battle. But she couldn't do that. She wouldn't. At this point, she wasn't sure if it was because she was too scared or too stubborn.

Maybe both.

The worst part was, she couldn't even remember why she wanted to fight back so much. Even though it had been mysteriously hurt once before - which had to have been a fluke - fighting back didn't seem to make a difference except to make it angrier. 

There was just an annoying little voice in the back of her mind, begging her to not give up. She didn't know where that voice came from, just that it had to have belonged to someone she once knew long ago because it certainly wasn't her own voice.

It was someone who was looking for her.

And she had to believe that she was still looking.

Because if she wasn't, why else would the Dark Thing that Lurked in the Shadows seem so threatened by it? All that she could recall were fragments, of a rainbow of light and a gentle touch of comfort and another image of a transparent white bird, the rest of her memories of them had been stolen away from her. But those tiny fractured pieces of her memories carried with them a sense of hope and love and a way out.

All things that just could not exist in the black hole of misery that consumed this world.

A part of her questioned if any of it was ever real. Maybe those fragments of images and feelings were something her broken mind conjured up to help her cope and never truly existed.

But at the same time, what if they were real?

…no matter what, you are not alone…

She broke into sobs.

She wanted it to be real.

So, even as she wept, she painstakingly picked herself up, ignoring the screaming agony in her body, checked to make sure her makeshift weapon was still intact and kept going. Once she found a place where she could hide, she would wait and she would strike.

And even though the Dark Thing that Lurked in the Shadows was inevitably going to strike back with much more strength and overpower her easily and the neverending cycle of torture was going to continue, she was still going to fight.

She owed it not only to herself but to whoever it was that was out there, looking for her.

Giving up wasn't an option.