The Scarlet Apprentice 2: The Multiverse Between Us

Her corner of the world

Over by the street that few dared to go down - where the witch who'd been stripped of her power spent her days - a small bundle of flowers were cooped around a damaged, wooden fence. The fence itself was holding on to its dilapidated parts while the winds harshly blew into it. They creaked in the breeze of the wind, which was the only noise coming from the abandoned street.

From far away, it seemed to be the same as any other house in the town of West View. But, as anyone in the town could confirm, it was nothing similar to normal when it was examined up close. When it was approached, the red layer of the hex that remained was visible, and the memories of what the town had endured remained.

The sun didn't shine on the hexed house the same way it did on the rest of the town. West view - which had now returned to its peaceful prospects - held the suns rays gladly on its land. The people who'd adjusted to their freedom were making their way through the streets, popping in and out of the quaint shops.

It had been only a few months since everyone returned to themselves and, minus the group that had formed to help people get back to sanity, the people were handling it well. Parents could hug their kids again, families could join together at once, and everyone could think their own thoughts without the fear of being heard.

There, in the outskirts of the town, in the forbidden house, in the place no one else dared to go, was agatha harkness; although, of course, she was still living in the shell of her hexed self - agnes.

She was aiding the flowers that no one else wanted to aid, watching anyone who was to walk by. Barely anyone had the nerve to pass what was labelled as 'the reminder' by the citizens of the town, which forced agnes into a loneliness on most days.

The loneliness was something she eventually succumbed to but never agreed with. Her plan for draining the scarlet witch of her power and taking it for herself was still in the back of her mind, she just needed to free herself from the cage she was held in to be able to finish it.

While agnes picked at her flowers in the front garden, two people had finally dared to walk the streets in front of her homely prison. A mother and her child were innocently crossing through by the house as a shortcut to get to where they needed to go. They had no intentions of stopping to talk to the lady they saw in the front garden, which was obvious in the way their eyes avoided even looking over at it.

When agnes noticed the two - which the mother knew would happen - she smiled politely and caught the attention of the mother with an obvious wave.

"Hiya, neighbours." She smiled to the mother.

The mother gripped her hands on the shoulders of her little boy and pulled him round to stand at her other side. "Ignore her, dear." She told him, moments before the two of them briskly walked away.

As the people scurried away, agnes turned her nose up to the flowers she was managing and muttered under her breath, "fucking assholes."

The people of West View were all aware of who agnes really was. She wasn't the sweet but nosey neighbour, they knew of her truth, and of her power. But, luckily for them, her power was encased deeply within the barrier wanda built for her.

After she watched the two of them practically flee from the area, she scoffed and pushed the flowers out of her hand as she turned back to her own house. She walked with frustration and clenched her jaw as she made it to her house, but she didn't enter through the front door. Instead, she snuck round to the side to get through using the cellar door.

Unlike when she had some control over her own home inside wanda's hex, agnes' basement was plain and normal, like every other one in west view. However, every day since the day she was banished to live in wanda's domain, she'd been chipping away at the walls as much as she could.

Once agnes had hidden herself away in the only place she had privacy, she shed the form that had been forced upon her. Even if no one else was around to notice, she was, in that moment, gladly and thankfully, agatha harkness once again.

There was a relieved sigh that escaped her breath and a familiar comfort in her step. She'd missed being herself, but she had to play along with being agnes in front of people. Though she hadn't completely broken through wanda's barrier, she was gaining more and more control due to one thing. The barrier was losing its strength because the witch it belonged to was unknowingly letting her guard down, and that was making agatha more than happy.

She held her breath as she made her way over to the indentation in the wall, where she hoped she'd finally see what she'd longed to see.

Every day since being put in the one sided prison, agatha tried to summon her powers to break herself free, but it never worked. She could tell that the hex around her was weakening and slowly slipping away, but she needed her own strengths to be able to break free from it.

So, as she did every day before this one, the damaged witch returned to the indentation in the wall and held her hands out in front of her. There, she forced her energy into her hands and watched the faint purple glow to begin to form. She didn't think too much of it, at first, because that's what it always did. It always showed up, just to leave again. Except, this time was different.

It stayed within her fingertips. It didn't crackle with a spark and then fizzle away, and it didn't fade the moment it was summoned. There it was. The confirmation of her freedom. Just by looking at it, she felt a joy overcome her, and she let go of the breath she held onto.

The purple energy that sparked from her hand signified that she was able to leave the form of agnes forever, and finally return to what she was inside.

It was supposed to be unbreakable. Impossible, even. But she'd done it. With patience, skill, and effort, she'd done it. And although it was going to take more effort for her plan to succeed, she knew she was willing to do it. After all, she managed to escape the scarlet witch - which proved her own capabilities.

She wandered her restricted corner of the world as agnes no more; for the worst had finally happened.

Agatha Harkness was free.