those hands pulled me from the earth || ethan winters x donna beneviento

iii: metamorphosis.

february 9th, 2021.
around 11:00pm.
satul umbror, romania.

———

have you ever felt like everything you've known is an entire lie? has your life ever been completely flipped upside down from one small, minor inconvenience?

if you have, then that's a great way to explain how donna was feeling right now. she was trying to pack her entire life into one over the shoulder bag. so far, she had decided on claudia's pearls, augusts glasses, her mothers rings, and her fathers journal. she was now debating her own belongings, things she had owned since childhood.

she stuffed her small, worn out stuffed rabbit into her bag, as well as he antique brush and comb, followed by her own journal and letters. she put in an assortment of tea and a little bag of her flower seeds, then grabbed a few tools in case angie would need any work done soon. she made sure to grab her book from the kitchen table, stuffing that into the bag as well.

she didn't tell any of the dolls about her plan other than angie, who had heard all of it. she didn't want to go along at first, but she soon caved after around an hour of begging.

now she and angie were standing at the ceremony site, waiting for ethan to magically appear with rosemary in his arms. when they had arrived, she noticed that the entire site was caved in by thick, dark mold. it made sloshing and cracking noises as it continued to grow and move around itself, as if it were alive.

she stood there, staring up at the moon. ethan should have been here by now.

"let's just go! he's obviously not coming." angie, the doll said from donna's side. her wooden arms were crossed over her chest and her wedding dress swayed in the wind.

"maybe you're right...." donna said, looking down to the doll. just as she was getting ready to head to heisenberg's factory by herself to search, she heard a mumble in the distance.

"rosemary...." a male's voice sad.

donna spun around on her heel, spotting ethan, emerging from the mold. his eyes were droopy and tired, and he had multiple open wounds. he held what seemed to be his infant daughter, rosemary in his arms. donna took angie by the hand and then ran toward the male.

"mr. winters!" she called, running toward him as fast as she could. she reached him just in time, and he collapsed to his knees and into her arms, his breathing shallow and rushed.

"what happened? where is mother?" donna's dark eyes peered around frantically from under her black veil. she crouched down to see him eye to eye and rubbed ethan's shoulders from the front, panicking a bit. she was unsure what to do now.

"gone, finished...." ethan smiled wearily, allowing his eyes to flutter shut.

"you did it, mr. winters!" she said with a smile, continuing to rub his shoulder. "you saved your daughter, we can leave now."

"i-i don't know if i can stand.... i'm so tired— everything hurts." he mumbled, slumping forward a bit and then catching himself with his palm. "t-there should be a guy.... around here, somewhere. chris...." the blond let out a cough. "i need you to take rose— find him. he'll help you,"

"i'm not leaving you." donna said. "you're talking nonsense, now get up." she said and tried to tug him upward. "mr. winters, get up!"

ethan let out a groan, raising a little bit, his legs shaking. "donna.... i can't."