The Romantic Art of Bitchcraft

Not Again

  

***Spoilers for AHS: Apocalypse, episode 9. If you haven't seen it yet, maybe wait to read this one.***

  

   Madison sank to her knees, tears freely flowing down her face. Her whole body shook with the force of her heartbreak.
   She cradled Zoe's lifeless body in her arms, rocking the dead witch back and forth.
   "I should have been here," she sobbed. "I should have protected you from that deceitful motherfucker!"
   She wiped her eyes, laying Zoe down face-up against the cold floor of Miss Robichaux's. Blood pooled from the wound in the younger witch's head.
   Ever since she'd gotten out of Hell, Madison's powers had been going haywire. Her simple spells only worked half the time, and more difficult magic was out of the question for her-- say, for instance, bringing someone back from the dead.
   But she had to try.
   It was Zoe.
   "I can do this," Madison promised, smoothing the dead witch's hair behind her ear. "I can... I can still save you."
   She lowered her head until their lips were almost touching.
   Now would be the part where, normally, there was a slight vibration between the lips of the living and the lips of the dead, a signal that energy was ready to be transferred.
   But that wasn't the case this time. Zoe felt cold, empty. Like there wasn't even a pocket of energy for Madison to tap into; like there wasn't anywhere inside the witch for Madison's powers to go.
   It was weird.
   Madison had never felt such... nothingness before.
   She shrugged off the eerie sensation, choosing instead to simply voice the spell:
   "Vitalum vitalis."
   Madison sat back expectantly, carefully watching Zoe's body.
   Nothing happened.
   Of course.
   Because why would it?
   Because of course, when Zoe died the first time, Madison was still too pissed off at her to save her, and so had left her for dead, despite having the power to save her. So now, in the cruelest form of irony, Madison desperately wanted to bring Zoe back, only now the problem was simply that she just fucking couldn't. Now when Madison needed Zoe to be here, alive, she didn't have the power, the strength, the whatever the fuck was necessary to bring the girl back.
   "Fuck!" Madison cursed, stomping her foot. "Fuck this shit!"
   She started pacing, her pain quickly turning to anger.
   "Fuck these witches!" she roared, gesturing wildly at the corpses in her path. "Fuck Michael fucking Langdon, the fucking antichrist! Fuck the Bible, you piece of prophesying shit! Fuck Cordelia for letting this all fucking happen! Fiona was a bitch, but we all know she would've had the balls to do something about this! If Fiona were still the goddamn Supreme, this stupid war with the fucking warlocks would have been over three weeks ago!"
   She stumbled over a corpse, almost falling to the ground. She glared down at whoever's dumb death had dared interrupt her rant.
   It was Zoe.
   Of course it was Zoe fucking Benson.
   Madison aimed a kick at her corpse's ribs.
   "And fuck you most of all, you worthless piece of shit!" Madison snarled at the dead girl. "Fuck you for leaving me, and getting your fucking soul incinerated! Fuck you for leaving me in Hell, and acting like you didn't give a shit when I came back! And the biggest of fucks to you for choosing fucking Kyle over me in the first place!"
   Madison collapsed again, tears pushing at her eyes so hard, she couldn't see.
   "Fuck you," she sobbed, gripping Zoe's hand. "I loved you."
   Madison turned her head to regard the corpse.
   "Did you know that?" she challenged. "I fucking loved you, and all I needed from you was to stay. You couldn't even do that right."
   Madison focused on breathing, trying to calm herself down.
   Her voice came out in the softest tone when she spoke next:
   "I still fucking love you."
   Madison brought the limp hand up to her face, where she brushed her lips against the knuckles.
   "Maybe Cordelia can fix you," Madison whispered, forcing herself to her feet. "I'll find her. I fucking swear to you, Zoe, I am going to make this right. I won't leave you for dead.
   "Not again."