* ENDLESS .

𝑪𝑵𝑫𝑳𝑬𝑺𝑺𝑾𝑪𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 ` * . ‘ 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒 ’

She had given her the space she assumed the other had wanted, for the sake of the witch and the lives of the Island. Returning home Reggie had cried and cried with utter refusal to leave her room.

Teenaged ‘angst’ her family assumed; whatever–it made it all the more easy to seclude herself in her room as she wanted.

Drawings scattered on the floor, hadn’t been touched for days. The child was almost grateful for the disease that had her bedridden in agony. Depression too had begun to claim her young life.

Hormones, it’s all she heard was that word. Hormones, hormones, and yet no one that could tell her how to handle them, and having lost the only person that could.

Carving marks on paper had lost its satisfaction and relief as Reggie soon found herself returning to Endless with them concealed under her sleeves instead.

A gift she had made she clutches tightly in her arms, quiet. Thoughtful. Hesitant. “I’m sure she loved you as much as you did her. I bet she was wonderful.”

    ‘ Her mother came. ’ While not impossible, adults were rare visitors on the island. She remembers the night vividly when a woman had set foot on sandy shores and left imprints on the beach. At first there was confusion and halfway there was recognition of an old friend that had grown up to be a beautiful woman and yet as the other neared, dread had replaced the happiness in Bellatrix’s heart. She looked on even as they came face to face and as she opened her mouth to speak ---- ‘ I knew her from long ago. She used to be my friend as well but... she’d grown you see. She had a family. Normally adults eventually forget about this place as they’re supposed to but no, not her. She had given her old trinket; her key to Endless to her little girl in hopes of providing her some sort of... hope. ’

    A laugh and tears forces their way out of her system and her shoulders are shaking again as they have during the discovery of her decimated temple. None of it matters now. She’s lost the selfish game she’d made herself play. Decades since she last shed genuine tears. Decades since that horrible night. ‘ She jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. ’ There’s tightness in her chest. A tightness in her throat. The tears weren’t stopping. ‘ I was told that when she washed up ashore she... the flowers I put in her hair were still there. But she was so pale and cold. She wasn’t breathing. She wouldn’t wake up. She just... wouldn’t open her eyes. ’

    ‘ Her name was Zoey. I never knew she was troubled. She never told me. She always seemed so happy and so I was happy. I should’ve tried harder you know? I would’ve tried harder if I knew she was so miserable. ’

‘ And then one day I found this... the bow she’d lost. The ribbon I replaced with those flowers she was found with. It’s almost as if I cursed her with my magic. But I thought I could bring her back... so I buried this bow. I waited and wished. But she wouldn’t come back to me... she wouldn’t rise up from the sand. I couldn’t save her... I couldn’t save her. ’ So she just kept crying.

“Wait–stop!” Reggie shouts, finally finding her voice after moments of terrified floundering. “You’ll destroy it all!” She has to duck one of the collapsed pillars as it’s hurled, and wind slices into her face.

“That’s not true!” she shouts over the roar of the angry sky and distant seas. “You can’t say that–when you’re the one making this decision for me!”

Tears decorate her own youthful face. “No! I’m not–I won’t do that to you! I wouldn’t…do that! I won’t hurt–I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

She won’t give up on her friend. She refuses. No matter how much the other hates her, she won’t let her suffer alone. Even if it risks her death. She’ll stay.

…But not now. If she stays now, Endless will die. The witch will die. They all will die.

Choking on a sob, she mouths three words that can’t be heard over the cacophony of anguish. Then she runs.

    Could you feed off of your own negativity? The answer is that the taste is bitter and strong that’s usually paired with depression as a side dish. As soon as the heroic Twelve had left Endless and the witch sat down in front of the demolished temple the island became the most silent in the passing days and weeks.

    But the witch stayed through the passing days that if one were brave enough to look she could be mistaken for having fallen into a deep meditation. And she wish she had for the days felt like eternity and the weight on her chest only grew each passing day. When her only companion besides Twelve ---- Big Deal made his appearance she spoke only in silence and he too left in defeat with hope of finding aid.

    What help could anyone offer? The tear she had mended and forgotten so long ago had ripped at the seams once more. But of course, as someone approached she felt the apprehension and familiar presence. Bellatrix didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. Instead of shunning them away, however, she finally spoke for the first time in days. ‘ She was my best friend you know. This is the only piece I have left of her’s... ’ casket long discarded, the bow that she holds in her hands brings a genuine smile yet instills sorrow in her heart. Breathing in she tries to force the tears back.

                                                                      ‘ I couldn’t save her. ’

Bile rises to her own throat, thick tears clouding her eyes as breathing quickens realizing that’s a body. A body. The witch is holding a body and she…just desecrated somebody’s grave. She’s repulsed, horrified with her own actions, unintended as they were.

There’s no coming back from this and nothing the girl can do will make up for it, even if her mind is already reeling with ideas to try. She knows she has to leave, or risk death or the island itself collapsing.

“I didn’t mean it,” she whispers. “You know that.” Teeth grit in tearful desperation, although the others back is turned. “You know me.”

Their gentle banter and surprisingly tender moments already feel like a faded memory. The smirk on the other’s face as she tied her to a branch from her laces; the way Reggie had gone to her in tears the day she was sentenced her diagnosis… Everything that they were is in ruins with the temple.

“I’ll miss you.” She turns and quietly begins to walk slowly out.

    Those three words. She let herself get lost in her fury and the world might as well have ended. There was a roar, loud and echoing as it stretches to reach the farthest expanse of the island and the rest of the isles connected. Everything stilled as the wind made its great escape towards the direction of the ocean. With her arms still clutching the casket Bellatrix snarls at Reggie.

   ‘Shut up! You don’t get to say that and leave. You don’t get to have the last words. You’re just like the other girls. You’re selfish, and cruel and you’ve done nothing but hurt me. What are you going to do next?! Banish me?! Is that it ---- now that you’ve seen me like this? Now that you know I can break will you banish me?! Come on banish me! Banish me! Do it! DO IT REGINA! ’

    Her claws extending she slashed at the nearby foliage, screaming hysterics as she picked up the collapsed parts of the ruins and tossed them with all the strength she could muster. Tears soiled her pretty face. When she punched the trees and other surfaces the tears that continued to flow weren’t from her torn and bleeding knuckles. Her hands shook and she just screamed, burying her face in her hands as she finally collapsed onto her knees and all six. She couldn’t save her. She couldn’t save her!

                    ‘ GET OUT! GET AWAY FROM ME!!! ’

    She resorts to scratching beneath the other’s chin. ‘ Hmm. Will a glass of milk displease you as well? Or are you the type to prefer catnip? I’ve got both. ’