Which Monster Is Worse?

Trauma for Two?

Adam opened his eyes to drool and tears staining the wood underneath his head, causing some of his hair to stick and remain stuck to the floor when he rose to a seated position quickly.

The minor inconvenience caused his face to twitch slightly with anger. But following the anger down the road led Adam to a dead end sign with just.... blackness beyond it. Inside of his mind, he couldn't feel the cage present beforehand. This sent worry throughout his body as he rose to his feet, staring at the damage he caused to the cabin wall.

But the worry gave way to a strange numbness Adam couldn't only describe as relief. He had always carried this weight with him, this burden that caused his emotions to flare beyond any reason.

The small show of anger that was inconsequential led to the revelation that the Beast no longer sat within its cage. Something had happened, obviously. But Adam truly couldn't get past the tidal wave of emotions hitting him at once.

Even though he had stood so confidently. He fell back onto the couch again and let out a deep breath interrupted by tremors of his bottom lip.

And then he heard something that brought him back once again to the moments before the gunfire started, before he lost Wanda, Isabella, and himself all in one day. And he suddenly found a bright spark of something so simple as hope in the utterance of a single desperate word.

"Adam?"

As he felt the connection, he couldn't utter a word as her emotions crashed into his, mixing together like a galaxy spiraling into the outer reaches of the cosmos. Anna was gone. Charles was gone. And Adam understood now what had happened.

He didn't need centuries of experience to put the pieces in their place. The fog had finally lifted just enough to give him some sense of clarity. A lot of things had happened recently, and it was clear now that those things were intertwined with one another. Wanda was more scared now than anything Adam could even imagine; just as he had been before the diner, before the destruction of everything he had known to be his life. Adam steeled his resolve if only for the reply to Wanda, and uttered with a genuinely false confidence:

"I'll be right there. Hold on."

After he replied, he terminated the connection and sat back against the couch. As his eyes scanned the room, his thoughts didn't spiral, but remained on his lost friend, Anna, and the memories of Wanda burying her.

He didn't scream, nor panic, nor react in any violent manner. Adam simply closed his eyes and let the years of unfaced anguish begin cascading down his dirty face onto his chest. Once they started, they wouldn't dare stop until each tear added up to the exact volume of metaphorical and literal blood staining his hands. Adam had taken things from people without any intention nor recollection. But now, with this reassurance of the Beast being free and separate from Adam, it was time to stand up to himself. Metaphorically, physically, and in every single way that terrified him.
The Beast had taken so much from him up to this point, but he couldn't dare let this monster steal Wanda away.

The tears stopped after only fifteen minutes, but after the rain came the sunshine of even more clarity inside his head. He had one thing to do now. And one thing only.

Each footstep towards the University was an eternity inside his mind, mulling over what he might find. He knew Charles was dead. He knew Charles was the cause of the Beast getting free. He knew Wanda was alone. But he wasn't in any way aware of the sight beholding him at the end of this 13 hour sprint.

In the dead of night, Adam reached the edge of the University's tree line and stopped dead in his tracks as the wind shifted towards him. The smell of decay struck his nostrils, as well as metal and smoke. As he approached the clearing before the school, he found...nothing. A relatively sized crater of debris with ashes, body parts, and broken belongings remained in the place of a once thriving University.

The horror on Adam's face was evident as he collapsed to his knees, staring down at the literal embers of his past.

Holding his palms against the earth was all he could to keep himself grounded as he let out a wail of misery followed by another downpour of fresh tears. Everything had been taken now. All he had left, the only thing giving him any sort of hope, was Wanda.

After his emotions settled, or rather, numbed, Adam turned his nose to the air, hoping to smell Wanda, or maybe even the Beast. He had to find something.

--

Wanda didn't even go back to the University after she contacted Adam. She just wanted to drive, somewhere, anywhere, to clear her head. Sitting in the car, she felt..... nothing but on the verge of everything all at once. She found herself going more into New York but didn't question it as her mind drifted away, leaving the road in front of her to be an afterthought. She heard Adam's voice softly, but it was distorted and stressed as a glimpse of his own trauma showed itself to her. The sound of bullets reminding her of her brother brought her back to her grim reality as she pushed her foot on the brake pedal to stop at a red light. She refocused on Adam, worrying if he was okay for a moment before-

"Baby, you okay?" she heard from the passenger seat, looking to see an unexpected Adam looking at her with a soft smile. She choked on air and her eyes focused on him.

"Baby?" She parroted brokenly to herself before nodding to him. "Yes, I'm-" She was cut off by a much smaller voice.

"Mommy, are we still going to the park?" It asked softly, making Wanda look at the back seat in shock. She heard a honk of a horn and looked back to see the light had turned green.

"Yes." She almost cried at the sight of the tiny smile beaming up at her. "Yes, we are."

Once at the park, she pushed whatever this was, whatever was happening to her, even further. Her eyes lit up as she got out of the car, watching as Adam helped Isabella out of the car and held her hand. She needed this, whatever this turned out to be. She needed them. She wrapped her arms around herself as she trailed behind them to the playground. She sat on a bench as she watched Isabella begin to play with a little boy and girl from another couple there. Adam joined her and wrapped an arm around her. She leaned into him as she watched Isabella laugh and play, jumping around different parts of the set. Isabella scared the little boy, making him yell out, and Isabella giggled.

"Look at that little girl, Adam." She said, suspicious of the words so easily fitting the scenario. She ignored her own concern as Adam responded.

"She's got the best of both of us. I pray she'll have a mind like her mother." He told her, kissing her forehead. She smiled as she closed her eyes for a moment. It was just him and her for a moment until she replied.

"It doesn't matter whose smarts she gets, love.... she's ours." She felt Adam tense, making her look to his worried expression, and before she knew it she began hearing gunfire.

Her heart stopped and the memory froze as she turned her head to Isabella. She began to react only for everything to be set back in motion and her daughter to be shot down in front of her. The air left her chest as everything went silent. Her feet moved on instinct and she quickly crumbled to her knees at her daughter's side, attempting to put pressure on wounds and help her.

"Shh....sh...Baby, it'll be okay." She tried to calm her, pulling her closer. She looked behind her blindly, screaming for Adam. "Adam!" She screamed brokenly. "Anyone!? Please!?!?" She looked around but couldn't see anyone. She panicked, looking back down to Isabella with shaky hands touching her face. "No, no. Mommy can fix this, I can fix this baby." she mumbled quickly to herself as she forced everything to rewind.

After a few deep breaths, Wanda turned back to Isabella to see her standing by herself. She relaxed slightly and the memory began playing again. Wanda quickly grabbed Isabella and used her body and magic to shield her. The gunfire raged for what felt eternity as Wanda held Isabella close, her own eyes closed.

The gunfire eventually stopped making Wanda drop her magic shield, pulling back to check on her daughter. She paused as she felt warmth soak her front and instead of pulling away, she simply clutched Isabella to her. "Just this." She begged no one in particular. "Just her....please...." She choked on her sobs. "Just my baby... please don't take my baby again..."

----

Two in one day in the hopes maybe I'll remember to post these everyday, lol.

- 01/03/2022