The Romantic Art of Bitchcraft

Apocalypse Now

***Serious spoilers for the finale of AHS: Apocalypse. If you haven't watched it yet, you should definitely hold off on reading this one until you have (it'll make more sense that way anyway). Also, this one is kinda long, but I hope y'all enjoy it!***

  
  

  

   Nothing ever truly dies.
   We are all made of energy, and energy can neither be created or destroyed. It can only be transferred from one form to another. The trick is to be able to go back and pick the right moment in time, and let it play out from there.
   No one knows who I am at Robichaux, but I remember all my sisters. They never knew what happened-- that the world had been destroyed and their lives had all ended.
   Everything is as it should be.
   Zoe is alive and well, teaching the next generation of witches.
   But there were others who would be missed. Without the threat of Armageddon, Cordelia had no reason to bring back her beloved advisor.
   It's strange, knowing you have the power to alter someone's fate.
   I know where Madison is. We'll have to go to Hell and bring her back. But she can sweat it out a little longer.
   Because I killed the spawn of Satan, I got blazing street cred with the demons of the underworld. I guess everyone hates their boss, even in Hell. Everybody wanted to do me a favor.
   The battle between good and evil never ends. The Devil isn't just going to give up.
   And in changing the past, a part of me will always wonder what it truly means for the future.

   Mallory took a deep breath before making her way to the room she knew belonged to Zoe Benson.
   It was weird, knowing so much about her-- all the pain, the strength, the heart, the power-- and realizing that she now knew nothing about Mallory, the girl she'd taught everything to, the girl she'd blatantly called her favorite student, the one she'd admired and believed in...The one she'd died for. She wouldn't remember any of it.
   In fact, Mallory realized as she knocked on the door, Zoe wouldn't even know how Mallory knew which room was hers.
   Too late.
   "Hi," Zoe greeted her warmly. "It was... Mallory, right?"
   "Yes," Mallory smiled. "And you're Zoe Benson, a member of the Council, and one of the teachers here."
   "That's right," Zoe nodded. "Can I help you?"
   Mallory took another deep breath.
   Here goes nothing...
   "You can," she said, her gaze locked on the ground. She didn't want to meet Zoe's eyes; she knew the witch wasn't clairvoyant, yet she still worried her expression might give something away. "I need you to come with me..."
   "Uhm," Zoe coughed, opening her door wider to peek her head out and look around at the empty hall. "Did Cordelia sign off on this?"
   "She's busy with Misty," Mallory explained.
   "M-Misty?" Zoe gasped. "Misty is...back?"
   "Yeah," Mallory nodded. "She was let go."
   "Let go?" Zoe repeated, incredulous. Her eyes were brimming with tears of joy, yet there was a disbelief in them as well; it was as if she didn't dare fully accept that this was true.
   Mallory shrugged.
   "I guess someone found favor with the right henchman of Hell."
   "Yeah, I guess." Zoe bit her bottom lip, deep in thought. A slight blush made its way across her cheeks, and Mallory didn't need mind reading to know who was in her teacher's thoughts.
   "Speaking of Hell," Mallory continued. "I really need you to come with me."
   "To Hell?" Zoe frowned. "It's dangerous and horrible. Why would you ever want to go there?"
   Mallory smiled, sweet and genuine.
   "I know you don't know me, but just try to trust me."

* * * * *

   As experienced as she was with it, Madison thought she'd never figure out the afterlife.
   The first time she'd died-- when Fiona had killed her-- there had been nothing. No light, no flames, certainly no endless line of intolerable customers waiting to complain and whine about things she couldn't care less about or do anything to fix. It was just dark. An empty void.
   When Zoe and Misty had brought her back, that void had stayed with her. Eventually, day by day, Kyle and Zoe were able to bring meaning back into her life. And with that meaning, it was like the void had diminished, and the darkness was pushed back.
   Then she had died again, also by murder, though this time it was Kyle who was the culprit. That time, she had been graced with a light in the dark nothingness, and she had rushed towards it only to find it an endless row of flourescents, where she had been forced to work in a twisted retail Hell. Literally.
   She lost track of the days, wondering if eternity could get any worse or if this was it, forever. Then Michael-- she bristled just thinking his goddamn name. Still, he had shown up, and gotten her out of there. Madison vowed to be good, especially upon being reunited with Zoe and noting her utter lack of a reaction.
   It was that moment that had broken through her stubborn callousness; that moment, when it became clear to her that the girl she loved would prefer her to be stuck in Hell, that had made her decide to be good and selfless. The kind of person Zoe could love.
   It hadn't worked.
   Madison had thought that was the worst it could get.
   But this?
   This was truly the worst.
   Madison remembered everything. She remembered learning Michael's true heritage, she remembered the fear of his threat to kill all the witches, she remembered hearing about the massacre at Miss Robichaux's and the absolute horror upon realizing Michael had obliterated Zoe's soul. She remembered hiding in Misty's cabin, where a dream that night tortured her by showing her what Michael had done through Zoe's eyes-- she'd felt her fear at his arrival, her helplessness and heartbreak over the death of the young witches, and worst of all, the most excruciating pain as her soul was incinerated.
   Madison had woken up sobbing, Zoe's death raw in her heart. She remembered the rest of that day, how she'd had to drop off Coco and Mallory, and hope those two idiots could survive Michael. She remembered the anger she'd felt, realizing it was a fellow witch who had cost Zoe her soul. She recalled being buried alive, where her flesh had melted off from the atomic blast, but Lousiana mud had put her back together.
   Most of all, she remembered the rage.
   Madison had been face to face with Michael, Robot-Mead's gun two feet away, and she couldn't hold herself back. Every time she looked at his face, she heard Zoe screaming, she felt the witch's heart cry out in fear and remorse, and she saw the love of her life drop dead to the floor after a graphic fountain of blood and bits of brain and bone sprayed out from the back of her head, rendered nothing more than a completely empty shell.
   Madison remembered her rage, and her impulsive, emotion-driven decision to kill Michael, and to sacrifice her life to give Cordelia and Myrtle a chance to get Mallory ready for the final showdown.
   Madison remembered dying.
   She remembered being aware of what was at stake when she woke up, once more in Hell.
   She had thought the first time was bad. But this? The not knowing, the hopeless wondering of whether or not Mallory had succeeded-- whether or not Zoe was saved? This was so much worse than anything Madison could have possibly imagined.
   She paced between the shelves, fluffing pillows and stocking certain stands with perfume or soap or whatever it required.
   It all just felt so pointless.
   Why hadn't Michael destroyed her soul?
   Why had he left her alive?
   Or, sort of alive.
   Whatever.
   Madison stopped pacing as a pillow dropped to the ground.
   "Stupid piece of shit!" Madison cursed at it, bending over to pick it up.
   "Don't be so harsh," a voice teased. "It's only a pillow; I'm sure it didn't mean any offense."
   Madison instantly stiffened at the voice.
   She knew that voice.
   Madison closed her eyes, clutching the pillow to her face for a second, trying to control her anger before returning the thing to the shelf and turning to face Mallory.
   "So that's that, huh?" Madison demanded. "The saviour of the world fails and gets sent to Hell?"
   Mallory frowned, evidently not expecting that sort of reaction from Madison.
   "I--"
   "No, you listen here!" Madison growled, her anger winning out. "I gave my life so that you could kill Michael and save Zoe. The rest of the Coven, too, I guess, but I won't lie: Zoe was my main motivation. And, what, you just died and let the world turn to ash? Unbelievable."
   "Madison," Mallory tried again. "I--"
   "Just shut up!" Madison yelled. "I don't know why you got sent here, but we're about to see if souls can die! I trusted you to stop this, because Cordelia believed in you and Zoe died for you! Do you even know what happens now that you failed? Do you even give a shit?"
   "Madison, I didn't fail!" Mallory told her quickly.
   Madison stopped.
   "I'm sorry, what?"
   "I didn't fail," Mallory repeated herself. "And I'm not stuck here. I, uh, I went back to 2015, and I killed Michael, and now I'm living out the current timeline."
   "You...Then why the hell are you here?" Madison questioned.
   "Because," Mallory shrugged. "There was one thing wrong with the new present."
   Before Madison could respond, there was a slight commotion from the next aisle over.
   Two seconds later, pounding footsteps signaled someone's approach.
   "Mallory!" Zoe yelled, making Madison's heart stop. "We might have to get out of here, now! There's this demon manager with a taser, and he...oh."
   Zoe stopped dead in her tracks, catching sight of the older blonde witch from her past.
   Madison stayed still, temporarily frozen as so many emotions boiled up in her mind. She could picture, clear as day, the instant Zoe died from Michael's attack, she could still see the way her soul was burned to ash. Her eyes filled with tears at the mere thought of how close they came to such a dark reality, of a world where Zoe Benson did not exist.
   And Madison Montgomery decided, in that moment, that she was tired of living her life without the younger witch by her side. She finally convinced herself to break down her emotional walls, she forced herself to set aside her dignity and her pride, and for once in her life she allowed herself to react to something real.
   Madison, with tears in her eyes, ran straight into Zoe's arms.
   Zoe was taken aback, definitely not expecting the witch who had left her for dead to react like that. Almost instinctually though, the brunette found herself returning the embrace, even finding comfort in the closeness of her former roommate.
   "I am so sorry," Madison sobbed, burying her face against Zoe's shoulder. "I am so, so sorry for everything, Zoe, I am so sorry! Please forgive me, please just forgive me. I need you so much, I--"
   "I forgive you," Zoe promised, her heart breaking at the raw emotion the witch was displaying. She gently tugged Madison away from her, but only just enough that she could look at her. She brushed some loose hair out of the blonde's face so she could plant a soft kiss on the girl's cheek.
   Madison sighed, leaning into Zoe's lips as the tears streamed down her face.
   This new gentleness, the absence of Madison's infamous stubborn willfullness, left Zoe slightly frightened as she could only imagine what must have happened to the blonde to get her to change so drastically.
   "I shouldn't have left you here," Zoe apologized, gazing at the small witch that stood trembling in her arms.
   "You didn't have a choice," Madison assured her, glancing over at where Mallory stood awkwardly to the side, waiting to take both her sister witches home. Madison smiled, turning back to Zoe. "But we don't have to worry about that anymore. It's all over now; everything is the way it should be."
   Zoe looked between Madison and Mallory.
   "What does that mean?" she questioned. "What happened?"
   "It's like Madison said," Mallory told her. "We don't have to worry about it anymore."
   "But--"
   "I'll tell you about it, someday," Madison promised. "Just not yet. For now, I just want us to be together, the way we should have been."
   Zoe sighed, giving in with a nod. She leaned down to give Madison a gentle kiss on her lips.
   "Then let's go home."