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“I’ll go with you.”
“No!” Agatha yells, trying to stand between Billy and Rio. “Don’t! You can’t.”
Death gives Agatha a hard look, “He already volunteered. It’s too late to change the decision.”
“Why did he get a decision and Nicky didn’t!” Agatha screams back.
Rio feels the words go straight to her black heart. She doesn’t respond. She doesn’t have anything to say to that. Nicky’s situation was different, there was no decision that could be made then. Agatha knew this. Rio hoped that one day she’d accept this. But she’s starting to realize that day may never come. The gap between them was too large.
Death motions to Billy, “Come.”
The boy walks toward her in determination, and Rio can see why he reminded Agatha so much of Nicky. It made her chest ache at the memory of the boy who had run to her that night on the bridge, one of the few to welcome her with open arms.
She glances back at Agatha, the love of Death’s life. The purple witch just glares at her in fury that had become familiar to Rio over these centuries, but didn’t hurt any less.
“I swear I will hate you forever.” Agatha grinds out as history repeats itself.
The words sting Death just as hard as they had the first time, if not more. Agatha wasn’t her scar. She was her open wound. Forever gushing.
Rio thought that maybe one day, Agatha could forgive her. Yet it had been centuries, and there was no indication there would be any change anytime soon. Their relationship had never quite been buried, only because Death desperately tried to keep them alive all this time. She supposes Agatha wasn’t the only one living in denial. Rio had to face the truth now. Death doesn’t get a happy ending.
“I know.”
Rio thinks she sees something flash in Agatha’s eyes, perhaps a hint of sadness and guilt under all that anger? She can’t stay long enough to find out though, she has a job to do.
She beckons Billy to follow her to the afterlife, forcing herself to not look back at the eyes she loved so deeply but knew only looked at her with anger and hatred. Eventually Agatha fades away as they get closer to the underworld.
“What really happened to her son?”
Death starts a bit, almost forgetting Billy was there. She blinks and looks at the son of the Scarlet Witch. “What do you think happened?”
“You took him.” Billy doesn’t say it in an accusatory tone, instead, it sounds understanding, almost empathetic. As if he understood Rio’s job in a way Agatha never fully did, or didn’t want to accept at least.
The green witch can only nod, not trusting her voice in that moment.
“Why does she let people believe all those terrible things about him then?”
“She’s complicated.” It’s the understatement of Death’s eternal life. She pauses. “And she’s broken. Broken people do things beyond other’s comprehension sometimes.”
“Sounds like you have experience with that.”
Rio’s eyes flash toward the boy. He was bold, that’s for sure. She wonders what parent he gets that from. The Scarlet Witch and the android didn’t impress her that much. She shrugs, “I’ve seen every emotion and every stage of grief known to man.”
“I meant personal experience.” Billy clarifies.
Death tilts her head, was he calling her broken?
Billy quickly goes on, “I just mean, you have your reasons for how you did things too.”
Death stops and stares at the teen. How could someone who was technically only three years old be so perceptive? She studies the boy and realizes why Agatha had been so drawn to him. He was special, she sees it now. Rio bites her lip, wondering if she’s going to regret this decision. She supposes she already has one giant regret, what’s one more?
“Go.”
“Where?” Billy asks in confusion.
“Back.”
“What? But you said you needed someone to pay my debt. To restore balance.”
Death nods, “I do. But maybe your mother can save you from me.”
Billy blinks, “My mother. Is she alive?”
Death shrugs, “I’ve never met her.”
That technically didn’t mean Wanda was really alive, but Billy supposes it gives him something to work with.
“Hurry, before I change my mind.” Death motions for Billy to return to the physical world.
Billy nods, then hesitates. “Thank you. I’ll…find Agatha.”
Rio can’t help but flinch at the name. “When you do, give her a message from me.”
-----------------------------
When Billy disappears into the night with Rio, Agatha collapses to the ground and sobs. Not for Billy, for the other boy Death had taken away one night long ago. The boy she never got to say goodbye to.
She remembers her words to Rio. I will hate you forever. How Agatha wishes that were true. It would make everything in her life so much easier. She had spent centuries hating Rio. Trying to at least. It was exhausting having to remind herself that she’s supposed to hate the woman, especially on the dark nights where all she wanted was to be in the comfort of Death’s embrace again. She supposes that’s what the rest of her everlasting life would look like from now on.
She also remembers Rio’s response. I know. That had stung Agatha in a way she hadn’t been prepared for. The realization that Rio had finally resigned herself to the fact that Agatha would never accept her again. That Agatha would never want her again. That Agatha would never love her again. It felt like a stab to her gut because in all this time she spent trying to hate Rio, she took comfort in the fact that Rio never fully gave up on her, on them. She was always there in the shadows, waiting to see if Agatha would ever be ready to face the truth. Would ever be ready to let go. Would ever be ready to move on. Now Rio was done waiting, but Agatha wasn’t ready for her to be done waiting, she thought she had more time.
The purple witch doesn’t even realize at first she’s back at her house until she notices she’s staring at the painting on the wall she had once thought was a police window. She sighs, despite finally being free of Wanda’s spell, she feels lonelier and more miserable than ever. She didn’t realize how much she appreciated the distraction and intrigue that stupid road hex had given her. She also sort of misses the community of her coven, but she wasn’t about to admit that.
A knock on the door pulls her from her thoughts and she looks at the door cautiously. The person starts banging louder and she scrambles up. “Okay okay!”
She’ll forever deny the look of pure shock on her face when she opens the door.
“Hey Agatha.” Billy grins and walks past her into the house as if he owns the place. The purple witch was frozen to the spot from seeing Billy, but is soon jolted from her shock by even more surprising appearances at the door.
“Turns out, time indeed is an illusion.” Lilia winks at her as she sweeps inside. Agatha just gives her a confused look.
“Agatha.”
The purple witch resists the urge to groan. “Jen.”
The potions witch gives her an icy look back. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you bound me.”
“Then why are you here?” Agatha spits back. She waves her nearly reclaimed magic through the air. “You’re no match for me.”
Jen shrugs and steps inside, “Maybe not, but you certainly are enough to cause your own self destruction. I’m just here to see the fallout.”
The purple witch glares and grits her teeth. She didn’t have a good comeback for that though. Rio would probably agree with that assessment. The thought just makes her angrier.
The next person at the door alleviates some of her anger though. “Alice!”
“Hi.” The protection witch waves awkwardly.
Agatha feels the weight of the situation as well. Never before had someone she had killed returned from the dead and shown up at her door. “Alice I-”
“We’re cool.”
“We are?” The coven leader’s eyebrows raise.
“Yeah, Rio said I died protecting someone. In the end I suppose that’s what I wanted.”
Agatha hates her stomach flips after all this time at the mention of the green witch’s name. “You saw Rio?”
Alice nods, “You dated Death?”
Agatha pauses, technically they did more than just date, but she doesn’t think the details are that relevant right now. She opts just for a shrug of acknowledgement.
“Don’t blame you.” Alice mumbles as she walks in the house.
A stab of something that Agatha swears isn’t jealousy flashes through her. She shoves it aside. She hated Rio. Why should she care if others found her attractive? Besides, Rio was…was she still Agathas? Maybe not. The thought makes the spirit witch want to throw up.
The coven sits in Agatha’s living room casually, as if none of the last few weeks had happened. As if half of them hadn’t all been dead just hours before. As if Agatha hadn’t hurt each of them in her own unique way.
She sits down on a chair and looks at them. “Okay fine, I’ll ask, how are you all here?”
Billy shrugs, “People don’t die in my hex I guess.”
Agatha’s eyes narrow, “Well how are you here?”
“Don’t you know?”
Agatha scoffs, anger and magic swirling within her. “She just let you go? Don’t you still have a debt to pay?”
“Yes, but she made an exception.”
“Death doesn’t make exceptions!”
“Doesn’t she?” Billy raises an eyebrow pointedly at the spirit witch.
Agatha freezes and clenches her jaw. No one in history has gotten special treatment like you. She pushes the words out of her mind, thinking if she could just forget them, then they wouldn’t be real.
Billy shifts, “Besides, it had more to do with my mother rather than Rio.”
Agatha thinks about casting a spell to force them all to stop saying Rio’s name. It was like a gut punch every time it was uttered.
“Yes, your mother is so special.” The purple witch drawls in disdain.
Billy shrugs, “You knew her better than me. You know, ex…best friends and all that.”
Agatha grits her teeth and avoids the eyes she feels on her. Sure Wanda was fun to play with, but she wasn’t…no. She’s not thinking of that stupid green witch anymore. She throws up her hands, “So what are you all doing here then?”
“We’re a coven aren’t we?” Lilia asks, “Covens stay together.”
“I’ve killed all my previous covens.”
“Then go on, kill us.” Lilia challenges.
“Uh, excuse me?” Jen objects.
“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Alice shrugs.
Agatha rolls her eyes. As much as she hates to admit it, she didn’t really want to kill this coven. Besides, that would mean she would have to see a certain someone that she could absolutely not face at that moment.
She glances at Billy, slowly starting to understand a bit what is going on. “Let me guess, you’re here to find Toby.”
There’s something in Billy’s eyes that makes her pause for a second, as if she didn’t guess right. But then the boy responds. “Tommy. But yes.”
“I know where he is.” Lilia says casually.
“You do??” Billy looks at the oldest witch in surprise.
“Boston.”
Agatha and Jen both groan.
“I am not going back there.” Jen exclaims.
“Then by all means, stay behind Jen.” Agatha retorts.
The potions witch glares, “Just for that, I’ll come along.”
Billy jumps up, “Well come on, let’s go!” He moves to fly off, but then realizes that he has no idea how to get to Boston and doesn’t even know if the others can fly. “Uh, can anybody teleport?”
They all shake their heads and look at Agatha who rolls her eyes. “Amateurs.” She holds up her magic nonetheless, and seconds later they’re all on the streets of Boston.
Jen shivers, “I hate it here.”
Agatha smirks, but her smile quickly fades. She hadn’t been to Massachusetts in a long time. There was too much pain and history here for her. It was where she killed her mother. Where she lost her son. Where she met…Death. It was overwhelming.
“Agatha, you okay?” Billy looks at her in concern.
The purple witch blinks, “I’m fine. Where’s Toby?”
Billy shakes his head, “I can’t find him.”
Agatha sighs, “Alright, we’ll do this the hard way.”
The coven wanders the streets looking for traces of magic that could lead to Tommy. Unfortunately, Boston was seeped in magical traces, and it was near impossible to locate which one would lead to the other twin.
They stumble into an old dingy shop that had magic radiating from it. The woman behind the counter sneers, and they all immediately know she’s also a witch. “Well well, Agatha Harkness in my shop. Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Uh, who are you?” Agatha glances at the unfamiliar woman.
The woman smiles and the rest of the coven feels uneasy. “No one important.” She looks at Billy, “Come, don’t you want to know about your brother?”
Teen’s curiosity is peaked, despite the tell-tale sign of danger. “You know my brother?”
“Oh yes, just look at the crystal ball here.”
“Billy!” Lilia reaches out but it’s too late, the Teen looks.
Immediately the walls of the room start closing in on them with a magical force field as the woman shrieks in laughter. “Agatha Harkness will finally meet her end at my hands!”
“Who even are you?” Agatha yells back.
“Your greatest rival!”
The purple witch pauses and the thought comes to her against her will. “Rio?”
“No, not that bitch. I’m the other great witch serial killer of our generation.”
Agatha blinks, not aware of any other serial killer witches. She’s also enraged at the woman for calling Rio a bitch. Sure she had cursed at and tried to kill Rio hundreds of times, but that didn’t mean anyone else was allowed to.
“Agatha!” Billy yells as they’re about to be squeezed together. None of the other witches could break the spell.
The spirit witch glances at her terrified coven and back at the woman, “Sorry, but there’s only one real serial killer witch here, and it isn’t you.”
Agatha blasts her magic at the walls around them with such force it shatters the magical barrier and all the windows of the shop. When the magic dies down, the other woman lies on the ground, motionless. The rest of the coven staggers to their feet.
“I can’t believe you just bragged about being the best serial killer.” Jen mutters.
“Hey, saved your life.” Agatha shoots back.
“She’s dead.” Teen examines the body.
The spirit witch nods, “Yes, Rio will…” She halts as she realizes her words. Shit. That meant Rio was about to show up any second.
She looks at the rest of the coven in panic, hoping they’d understand her desperation to get out of the place as fast as possible. Unfortunately, they didn’t, or they just liked seeing her suffer. Probably both. A second later a dark haired woman pops up from the ground next to them.
Agatha’s heart races, just as it had all those hundreds of times before as she waited in anticipation for the person she loved and hated the most to appear in front of her. She curses the fact that even just the thought of seeing Rio still held this much power over her.
The woman in front of them turns. Agatha’s eyebrows furrow.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Funny question. Name’s Hela.”
“Who?”
“What, were you expecting someone else?” The woman smirks knowingly at Agatha.
The purple witch feels rage within her as she takes in the figure in front of her which was decidedly not the love of her life. Not that she had one…
“Where’s Rio? Did something happen to her?” Agatha can’t keep the panic out of her voice. She feels the coven’s eyes on her, but she can’t bring herself to care at the moment.
“No no, she’s just busy.”
“Busy.” Agatha says skeptically. In all their centuries, Rio had never been too busy to collect the bodies Agatha gave her. In fact, she’s positive that the infuriating witch loved being able to appear and annoy her on those occasions.
“Yes, something about her not being able to see you again?”
Agatha’s mouth drops a bit as realization slowly dawns on her. She glances at Billy.
“Oh crap!” Billy says, “I forgot on my trip back from the underworld! I was supposed to give you a message from Rio!”
Agatha glares at the boy, “What message.”
“She said that she would still uphold her end of the deal.”
Agatha’s eyes widened. I never want to see your face again. No. Rio wasn’t supposed to take that seriously. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to avoid Agatha for the rest of time now? She supposes that’s what she had asked for. But since when did Rio ever do what she asked?
It hits her then. Rio had finally granted Agatha’s wish to stop chasing her. She had finally given up on Agatha. The realization makes her stumble back and hit the wall. She suddenly feels out of breath, and staggers to the doorway, desperate to get out of the building. She hears Billy calling after her in concern, but it sounds far away.
Out on the streets, she goes down an alley and braces herself against the wall. She feels like she’s been hit by a train, but she thinks that would’ve actually hurt less. In all the lifetimes she had lived, all the pain she had endured and caused, there had only been one constant. Rio Vidal. The green witch was her anchor to this world. The realization that she would never see Rio again makes her feel adrift. Like her purpose in life was gone.
She had finally gotten what she thought she had wanted for so long. Death was no longer chasing her. Be careful what you wish for.
“Agatha?”
The purple witch looks up at the Teen standing at the alley entrance, the rest of the coven behind him. She quickly fixes herself and wipes at her face, cursing the tears she felt there. “Come on Teen, plenty of other places to look for Toby.”
She walks briskly back onto the city streets. The rest of the coven share knowing glances. They hadn’t known Agatha long, but they knew heartbreak when they saw it. Billy vows to redouble his efforts to fix the situation he felt vaguely responsible for. After all, the Road was his creation. Anything that happened there he felt like he needed to fix, even if the feud between Rio and Agatha had started centuries before his existence.
Turns out Agatha was right. There were plenty of places to look for Tommy. Too many. The coven spends months in Boston searching. They end up in some tight spots. Plenty of witches and other beings try to kill them. Apparently a lot of people hated Agatha and also the Scarlet Witch so they were popular targets. Even Lilia had her enemies. It didn’t matter though. Between Billy and Agatha alone they dismantled them all easily.
The problem was though that every enemy they killed, a certain green witch didn’t show up. Instead, it was always Hela. Agatha didn’t have to tell the coven what happened for them to put the pieces together. It was clear Agatha Harkness missed Rio Vidal deeply, even if she used every possible tactic to deny that fact.
They’re almost three months into their search and Agatha is at her wits end. She had never put up with a coven so long before and while she secretly appreciates the community, she almost has the urge to kill them all just out of spite. She’s mostly angry nowadays. Angry at the fact they can’t find Tommy. Angry that the stupid Hela woman kept showing up. And most of all, angry at herself for letting the person she loved most slip through her fingers.
They’re at an abandoned house near the woods now and Billy is rummaging through the garage looking for a magical item he swears is there. Agatha looks down at the body of their most recent attacker that didn’t live to see the light of day.
The ground opens up. Agatha nearly growls as she sees Hela again.
The Goddess of Death smiles coldly, “What, you aren’t excited to see me?”
Agatha just glares.
Hela tuts, “I’m disappointed. I really thought we’d get along considering how well you got along with my minion.” Hela winks.
“Your minion??” Purple magic swirls dangerously in the spirit witch’s eyes. As far as Agatha was concerned, Rio was no one's minion. Not even hers.
Hela just laughs off the response. “Though maybe you two didn’t get along so well, judging by how badly you broke her heart. Honestly I didn’t know she even had one.”
“Of course she does.” Agatha says automatically. The irony hits her a second later as she remembers how she had also claimed Rio didn’t have a heart not that long ago. That was different. That was Agatha. This Hela woman didn’t know anything about Rio, did she? She feels guilt gnawing at her chest. Had she really broken Rio’s heart?
She always knew she hurt the green witch. There had been mutual hurting over the years, that’s for sure. But she had never stopped and let herself think of how deeply she must’ve cut the earth witch. It was easier to hide behind hate, and Rio had let her do that for centuries. But now that Agatha thinks about it, she realizes Rio probably went through even more pain than she had. In the end, she had to walk Nicky away against her own will. She had to be the one to look into their son’s eyes one last time and pass him on. And Agatha had just let her bear that alone, piling massive amounts of blame and anger on Rio to boot.
Hela raises an eyebrow at the pained look on the purple witch’s face. She almost tells the human the truth. That Rio had been even more of a mess than usual these last months. That Rio would break their deal in a heartbeat if she had any hope that Agatha missed her even a fraction as much. That when Death itself becomes heartbroken, it really makes a mess for the Goddess of the Underworld. She doesn’t say any of that though. It isn’t her place to. And ultimately, she didn’t really care much. Mortals could figure out their own problems.
Agatha is snapped out of her thoughts when Billy runs up to her with a grin on his face. She’s relieved to find Hela had left. “What did you find, Teen?”
“Oh nothing,” Billy picks at his sweater. Agatha’s eyes narrow in suspicion but she’s distracted by the rest of the coven clambering up.
“Let’s rest here, I’m exhausted.” Lilia mumbles.
None of them disagree as they file into the most recent house they had taken over. The coven falls into a natural pattern they had built up over time. Alice casts protection charms. Jen tidies up the place and makes it feel homier. Lilia reads tarot, trying to find more information on Tommy. Billy dives into the latest magical artifact he found. And Agatha, on days she was feeling less villainous, would cook. She had perfected the art of it in Wanda’s hex after all. Today though, she just goes straight to her room and slams the door, making it clear she didn’t want to be bothered.
Billy glances at the others. It would seem that his success today had come just at the right time. He holds up the newest book of spells he dug up. “I found it.”
Agatha doesn’t remember falling asleep, but she wakes up to the feeling of powerful magic in the air. She jumps out of bed, realizing someone was casting a spell. She scrambles to the living room where she finds her coven chanting a complicated incantation, Billy leading the charge.
“What are you doing?” Agatha screeches. She wasn’t sure what the spell was, but she had a feeling she wouldn’t like it. The others don’t spare Agatha a second glance as they continue.
“Billy!” The coven leader yells. It’s enough to distract the teen who had the least amount of experience concentrating on incantations. But it’s too late, the spell was complete.
There’s tense silence for a second as all the candles in the room go out and they’re plunged into darkness. For a second, Agatha thinks nothing is going to happen.
“Well that was-”
She’s cut off by a powerful gust of wind in the room that hits her like a brick. She stumbles back. She’d know that feeling anywhere.
“What did you all do?” She screams at her coven.
“Scatter everyone!” Billy yells.
The rest of the coven obeys, all running in different directions and casting charms to stop Agatha from following. The spirit witch pounds on the magical field around her, but the power of the entire coven is too much for even her to overcome.
“I swear I will kill all of you!” Agatha pounds on the magical wall.
Billy has the decency to turn around for a second. “Sorry! But this is for your own good!” He then speaks directly into Agatha’s mind. Don’t be a coward.
Agatha glares and throws a purple blast at him, but it just ricochets off the barrier. Teen runs out of the room.
The gust of wind grows stronger and Agatha’s stomach coils as she feels an all too familiar presence sweeping into the room. She doesn’t want to, but she can’t help but turn around and look wide-eyed at the cloaked silhouette entering through the floor.
“What the hell? That spell hasn’t been used in ages! I swear whoever-”
Rio stops abruptly as she sees Agatha, jaw dropping a bit.
Normally Agatha would’ve been pleased to take Rio by surprise. Most of the time it was the other way around. But she’s too surprised and terrified herself to form many thoughts at the moment.
Her coven, damn them, had literally summoned Death.
Rio recovers first, deflecting her feelings behind her usual banter. “If you wanted to see me so badly, you could’ve just asked.”
“I didn’t!” The purple witch retorts back as a reflex. It wasn’t true. She had spent every day since they last saw each other longing for the green witch. Just like every other day in her centuries-long life. But she’d be damned if she was going to admit that now.
Hurt flashes in the earth witch’s eyes that she no longer tries to cover up. “Then why am I here?”
“I don’t know! The others summoned you! Not me.”
Rio gives the purple witch a hard look, and it pains Agatha to see the realization spread across her face that Agatha hadn’t actually summoned her. She sees the hope leave the green witch’s eyes, and a wall go up on Death’s face she had never seen before, but realizes the rest of the universe had.
Rio draws back to the furthest part of the room, as if to shield herself from the purple witch. She flips her dagger through her fingers as a distraction. “So, what is your request of Death?”
“I…what?” Agatha is confused and reeling from the whole situation. She thought she’d never see Rio again. She had still been mourning it. Now here she was in front of her. Yet the green witch felt more distant than ever.
Death shrugs casually, acting as though this interaction was a mere passing by. It stings Agatha to realize she was now being treated like every other being in the universe. No more special treatment.
“The spell summons Death and lets you ask something of it. Though it’s up to me if I grant it. And no, I can’t bring people back.” Rio’s eyes flash knowingly, as if she’s had this conversation a million times. Actually, she probably has.
Agatha’s brows furrow. She blamed Rio for taking Nicky, but even she knew it was beyond Rio’s power to bring anyone back. ‘
“I don’t want anything from you!” The purple witch snaps, leaning into her ever present anger toward the earth witch and running from the feelings under that.
The green witch clenches her jaw. “Fine.”
She turns to leave, but Agatha’s hands move on their own volition, grabbing Rio’s. “Wait!”
Rio spins around and Agatha sees fury in Death’s eyes she had never seen directed at her before. Rio had gotten angry with Agatha plenty of times over the years, but somehow the woman also always had endless patience for her as well. It certainly took immense patience to wait for centuries while Agatha constantly hated her and blamed her. But now it appears Death’s patience had finally run out.
“What, Agatha!”
Agatha freezes at the fury in Death’s tone. She thinks of a million responses. Why did you take the deal? Are you really done with me? Don’t go.
She says none of these things. Words were always Rio’s speciality. Death could surprisingly be quite the poet. She steps forward, glancing at Rio’s lips a bit, wondering if she could communicate her feelings better physically.
For the first time ever, Rio steps back as Agatha steps forward, looking as if she’s been burned. “Don’t. Don’t keep pretending that you want this.”
The purple witch’s brows furrow, “Who says I’m pretending?”
“You have Agatha! Literally hundreds of times! Most recently when you said you never wanted to see me again.”
“Since when do you honor my requests!” Agatha’s voice cracks as she says it. And it’s clear to both of them she’s not talking about her most recent one. She’s talking about the request she made 300 years ago to let Nicky live.
Rio’s eyes cloud with pain and she takes another step back, shaking her head. “I did everything possible in my power to grant you that. I gave you time no one in history has ever gotten. And I know you’ll still never forgive me for it. So it’s best if I just go. For both of us.”
Agatha panics. She had experienced life thinking she would never see Rio again and she didn’t want to go back to that. She remembers Billy’s words to her. Don’t be a coward. For the last three centuries all she had done was run. Not from Death, but from the one person that made Agatha feel things she never wanted to. From the person that looked so much like her son. From the love of her life.
Agatha was done running. She was done being a coward. She grabs Rio’s hand again. “Don’t!”
Rio grits her teeth. This was already the hardest thing she had ever had to do, besides take Nicky. She hates that Agatha is just making it harder. But it was necessary. They were oil and fire. A disaster waiting to happen. She had to walk away.
“Why Agatha? Just so you can manipulate me more?”
“No.” Agatha whispers.
“Then why!”
“Because I love you Rio! I’ve always loved you!”
The two witches stare in shocked silence at each other. Neither one fully believing Agatha had actually finally said that.
Rio blinks, still slightly unbelieving, “Agatha-”
The purple witch cuts off the green witch with her lips, desperate to feel Rio against her and also desperate to silence the woman’s doubts. She tugs Rio closer by Death’s black cloak with one hand and rakes her nails against the back of Rio’s neck with the other in the way she remembers the green witch likes it from all those years ago.
For a second, Rio freezes, and Agatha wonders if she pushed too far. But then all of a sudden the green witch responds with the same desperation, tugging Agatha as close as possible and pouring all the pain and longing they’ve both felt for centuries into their battle to control the kiss. Agatha is usually the one that wins out, but she can’t help but melt into the kiss this time. She had forgotten how it felt to be with the one person that made her feel truly whole. She couldn’t believe that after all this time, after all she had done to push Rio away, that the green witch still wanted her.
When they pull away, Rio looks dazed, but uncertainty still clouds her eyes. “You said you’d always hate me.”
Agatha scoffs. “Love and hate aren’t mutually exclusive dear.”
The green witch laughs a bit at that. She supposes that was true. Then she shakes her head. “But can you ever forgive me, Agatha?”
The spirit witch’s eyes snap up to Death’s. She gives Rio a look that the green witch doesn’t fully understand until the next words are uttered.
“Of course I can forgive you, Rio. I did a long time ago.” Agatha strokes Rio’s cheek in a tenderness that Death hadn’t experienced in three centuries. The spirit witch pauses and bites her trembling lip as tears run down her cheeks.
“It’s myself I can’t forgive.” She whispers. “I just took it out on you. I’m sorry.”
“Agatha…” Rio’s heart clenches as she pulls the other woman into her embrace. She feels everything at once. Shocked that Agatha had actually forgiven her. Ecstatic that Agatha still loves her. Awful that Agatha blamed herself for something so out of her control.
“It wasn’t your fault.” Rio mumbles as she strokes Agatha’s hair soothingly. She pulls back and tilts the other witch’s chin up with her finger to look in eyes. “Take it from someone who absolutely knows, there was nothing you could have done to change what happened.”
Agatha looks into Rio’s eyes, seeing flecks of green magic dance behind them, and a gaze of love you wouldn’t think was possible for Death itself. She pulls Rio in for another deep kiss, nipping at her lips for access. They spend a while making out like teenagers before Agatha ends up having to pull away first, jealous that Rio technically didn’t need to breathe so never had to break the kiss.
The spirit witch leans her forehead to Rio’s. “I do have a request of Death.”
The green witch raises an eyebrow in curiosity and beckons Agatha to continue.
“Stay.”
A smile of pure happiness comes across Rio’s lips. It makes Agatha melt in a way she hadn’t thought was possible anymore.
“For how long?”
Agatha shrugs, trying to act noncommittal. “I don’t know, maybe a day…maybe forever?”
Rio laughs and kisses Agatha again. “Request granted milady.”
They kiss again, trying to make up for the centuries of lost time all in one go. Billy returns quickly and takes down the magical force field extra loudly to break the couple apart before they traumatized everyone in the house.
Agatha sighs as she reluctantly pulls away from Rio, not really caring about the other coven members at the moment. Then she looks at Billy and remembers how this all happened in the first place.
“You,” She points at the teen, purple twirling around her hand, “Are playing with fire.”
Billy shrugs, no longer fazed by the coven leader’s threats. “I don’t see you complaining about how it turned out.”
Agatha huffs but doesn’t have a response for that. Rio smirks and nods at the teen. So far she wasn’t regretting letting him live.
“Alright, that’s great our dysfunctional coven is back together and all, but can we please eat? I’m starving.” Jen complains. Alice and Lilia nod in agreement.
They all look to Agatha who rolls her eyes. “It’s ridiculous babying you all.” But she can’t help the small smile that comes to her lips as she swirls her magic to instantly create a meal on the table.
Rio smiles and looks over at Agatha as the others grab plates and utensils. “Hela said you missed me.”
“Ugh. She’s insufferable.”
“You think that about me too.”
The spirit witch shrugs. “You have your moments. Plus, she called you her minion.”
Rio raises an eyebrow at the bite, and dare she say, protectiveness(?) in Agatha’s voice. She takes the coven leader’s hand and chuckles a bit. “She’s just jealous I’m more powerful than her.”
Agatha rolls her eyes, “Yes, I know, most powerful being in the universe and all that.”
“No, that would be you.”
Agatha locks eyes with Rio who doesn’t blink. Death was the most powerful being. But there was one and only one that had power over Death itself.
Agatha is filled with emotion and tugs Rio in for another quick kiss. Death still had a way with words.
Finally they all sit down to eat. Jen turns to Rio. “We’re glad you’re back. We couldn’t take much more of Agatha’s moping.”
Agatha glares at the potions witch while Rio just laughs and squeezes her loves hand to calm her down. The purple witch just continues glaring but she feels her heart flutter at the sound of Rio’s laugh all the same.
“So tell us, how did you two become girlfriends?” Alice inquires.
Rio quirks an eyebrow and looks at Agatha who pretends not to notice. “Girlfriends? Is that what you told them?”
“I told them we were enemies but they didn’t believe me.”
“You don’t even believe that.” Rio snickers.
“Wanna bet?” Agatha’s hand dances with purple magic. There’s amusement in her eyes though, both knowing they secretly loved the banter between them.
Rio laughs off the jest and looks at the coven. “We’re not girlfriends, we’re wives.”
Agatha and Rio can hardly contain their amusement at the shocked faces around the table.
“How did Agatha Harkness get someone to marry her?” Jen snidely remarks.
“I can be very charming.” Agatha retorts.
“You mean manipulative.”
“Same thing.”
“Nevermind that, how can Death even get married?” Alice interjects. Then she looks at Rio hesitantly. “No offense.”
Rio just shrugs and looks over at Agatha who can’t help the small smile on her lips. No one else had to understand their relationship for it to be real.
“I think it makes perfect sense.” Lilia says absently, already eating her food. They all glance at the oldest witch who hardly looks up from her plate.
Rio grins and lays her arm on the back of Agatha’s chair casually, leaning over and kissing her cheek and drawing out a smile that Agatha fails to hide. For a second it’s as if they were the same couple they had been three hundred years ago. They weren’t. Far from it. But maybe they could be something even better now.