This fic is going to be my take on a Bethyl supernatural type AU. It came at the request of mellymoo13 here on . She thought I could do it justice and I sure hope she was right. Thank you my dear and I hope this does not disappoint. There will be some wizardry and spells and just general magic because it's actually a part of my heritage. But I thought a practical magic AU for Bethyl would be interesting. Warning: This story also contains some Brick at the beginning but its necessary to give Beth's back story with her two young daughters. If you've seen the movie, I am sure you can guess. Also for any Brick readers out there, please know that there is a character death. We will see Rick in flashbacks and that's about it. Just wanted to forewarn everyone so no one is upset or surprised. So without further adieu, here it is:
Amas Veritas
Twenty years ago, Gull Island, Georgia
"I can't wait to fall in love." The brunette girl swung back and forth on the swing tied to the tree in the aunt's yard.
Beth barely glanced at her sister Maggie as she gathered the items she would need for her spell or in her case an anti-spell. She was still heartbroken at the loss of their mother. She had died of a rare heart disorder several months ago after contracting a virus but everyone knew what had really happened. After their father died in a boating accident, their mother had never recovered. In Beth's eyes, she had quite literally died of a broken heart. She was determined she would never suffer the same fate. She would be quite content to live out a life of spells, tea and writing poetry in the old southern plantation their ancestors had settled in over one hundred years ago.
Beth plucked a bright crimson rose petal and placed it into her bowl, beginning the spell.
"He'll hear my call from a mile away." Plucking another she continued down the path of the rosebushes, picking out the brightest and most fragrant petals on the blooms.
"He'll be fiercely protective of those he loves." She hated her voice. Her momma had said she had the voice of a songbird. She didn't know what that meant really, she only knew that the only time she liked her voice was when she sang.
"He will whistle my favorite song." Beth picked another petal.
"He will be marvelously kind." She whispered.
"What are you doing?" Maggie asked her sister. She was so intense sometimes.
"I'm casting a true love spell." Beth informed her primly, picking another petal, this one more vibrant than the last.
"He can flip pancakes into the air." She closed her eyes as she placed it in the bowl.
"He will have wings, large and white, like an angel." Beth whispered to the sky.
"He will be fast and swift and he will carry a bow." Beth placed the final petal into the bowl and with a wave of her hand they began to swirl in a dizzying pattern of reds, candy apple, deep burgundy and crimson. Beth blew gently over the petals and smiled as they swirled up into the night sky, the twinkling stars and full moon a perfect backdrop.
"I thought you didn't want to fall in love." Maggie asked her.
Beth looked at her sister and she felt 80 instead of 8 as one tear slipped out of her eyes. "That's the point, the guy I dreamed up doesn't exist. And if he doesn't exist then I'll never fall in love and die of a broken heart."
Present Day; Gull Island, Georgia
"Momma am I witch?" Annie's voice broke Beth from her reverie.
Beth crouched down in front of her youngest daughter, straightening out her collar on her shirt. The girls had started going to the only Catholic school on the island just yesterday. "What made you ask that baby?" Beth could guess. It was only the oldest news on the island. The Greene family curse and how it was all their fault for being witches in the first place.
Annie brushed her chestnut curly hair back from her face as she looked into her mother's eyes. They were blue just like her daddy's and it nearly took Beth's breath away every time she looked into them. "Girls at school. They said you and aunt Maggie were witches and the aunts too."
"Annie my love don't listen to those girls." She stood back up and muttered under her breath "in twenty years nothing has changed on this island?"
"What dear?" Aunt Hattie walked into the kitchen with fresh herbs from the garden. She was the oldest of the aunts and always the first to rise. Aunt Prue was more of a late riser.
Beth sighed looking at her spinster aunt. It didn't seem that long ago that she'd thought she'd be relegated to the same solitary life. "You'd think they'd find something else to talk about after all these years".
"You know how it is dear. The Greene women have been the talk of this island for the last 100 years". Beth rolled her eyes, though she didn't let her aunt see. She spoke of the Greene family curse as if it was a thing of pride. She guessed to the aunts, the curse their ancestor Katherine placed on the Greene women would be a source of pride. It was their heritage but dammit Beth hated it sometimes.
The story went something like this: Katherine Greene had fallen in love with a sailor and they were deliriously happy but then her husband was killed in a tragic accident. She banished herself to Gull Island where she lived out her days as a spinster. Brokenhearted and bitter, she cast a spell upon all Greene women. Any time they should fall in love, their lover would befall a similar tragedy as her beloved. Upon the toll of the death beetle, they would know that Death was coming for their lover. It was only a matter of time. So far, the curse had never been broken. Both aunts had lost their loves as teenagers. Their mother had managed to keep their father Hershel for longer than most. He had died when she and Maggie were 8 and 10, respectively. Their mother, Annette, was dead within a year.
"Bye Momma." Ella whispered. Her oldest child was more sensitive, quieter and even more so since Rick passed.
"Remember, we don't say goodbye, sweetheart." Beth held her chin in her hand and smiled softly at her daughter. She hated goodbyes it was true, but she hadn't gotten to say goodbye to Rick. She didn't know whether to be grateful or not.
Ella beamed at her then, her smile clenching Beth's heart in a tight grip. "That's right Momma, we don't like good-byes. See you later, I love you." Beth smiled at her daughter, the spitting image of herself if the truth were to be told and kissed her forehead.
"You have a great day at school sweetheart." She leaned over and kissed Annie's forehead as well. "And don't be listenin' to those girls at school. You are not witches."
She knew the aunts went against her word and were teaching the girls some of the spells behind her back but she couldn't be mad. Not really. Her own mother had said the same thing but the thing of it was, the Greene family brand of magic was second nature.
Beth sighed as she watched her girls get on the bus for school. Some days it was hard to put one foot in front of the other. Especially on days like today when she missed her husband so bad she wanted to crawl back in bed and never leave. It had only been two weeks since they came to live with the aunts. Beth couldn't bear moping around the three bedroom cottage she and Rick had gutted and rebuilt one detail at a time the first glorious year of their marriage. Every board, every dish, every piece of furniture was a stark reminder of the life she no longer had and the love she had lost. She choked back a sob, the memory a fresh dagger to her already shattered and bleeding heart.
She tidied up in the kitchen. The aunts had gone to bingo at the community center in town. By 10:00 a.m., she'd taken back to her bed. Sophie and Annie were off to school and for five hours she could pretend she was still waiting on Rick to get home, covers over her head.
She missed her sister. "Maggie". Her name came on a choked cry. She'd know just what to say to make her feel better.
More like twins than sisters they'd always had a special bond. The magic they shared, their gift of the Greene coven only strengthened that bond. She covered her head up and sobbed into her pillow barely aware of the passing time of day.
She awoke later with Ella curled beside her. It was dark out. She gently nudged her daughter awake. "Go get in your bed sweetheart". She kissed her oldest child on the forehead her long straight blonde hair tickling her face. She reminded Beth of herself at the same age. At seven she'd been just as gangly. She watched with a heaviness in her heart as she padded out of the room sleepily. Her daughters missed their dad something fierce.
Beth closed her eyes and tried not to think too hard on how good it felt to be in love, to be loved. She had a life she loved and now? He was just gone.
"Wakey, wakey". The whisper came from beside her and her eyes flew open to greet her sister's deep chocolate eyes, full of love looking back her.
"Maggie" she breathed. She dissolved into tears almost immediately. "I was really happy."
"I know Bethie. I'm so sorry I couldn't get here sooner." Maggie crooned as she pulled her into her embrace. She'd given Shane a sufficient amount of Belladonna to get away for a while. She'd be back by the next night and he'd be upset at her absence, but she could deal with him later.
Maggie stroked her baby sister's hair, soft and smooth, so unlike her own coarser, darker hair. As she held her sister as she cried, she was overtaken by a sense of home. Just like that it was like no time or distance had ever separated them. Just like always.
They laid in Beth's bed she'd barely left the past week and Beth told her how Rick had been killed crossing the street. Just a freak accident they'd called it. Rick had been assisting old Mrs. Wells across the street. He had been the Sheriff in town. The truck had come careening around the corner and clipped him in the back of the knees. He'd hit his head on the pavement. Gone in an instant they'd said.
"It was the curse." Maggie breathed.
"I'll never forgive them. I didn't want to fall in love. I didn't ask for this". The aunts had cast a true love's spell, an Amas Veritas, just like the one Beth had performed herself when she was younger and naïve enough to think that she had some kind of control over her life, her fate. She had fallen in love with Rick and he with her and they had never looked back. Little could Beth know, she'd be looking back on that now as a blessing and a curse.
Maggie looked at her sadly. "Beth Anne Greene, you may not have asked for this but your little girls didn't either. I heard your call."
"I didn't summon you Maggie." Beth's tone was low, a warning. Maggie knew how she felt about magic now.
"You didn't have to Beth. Our bond is strong." Maggie said quietly. "But I do know one thing. Your daughters need you. The aunts do too. And I need you. So you need to get up and get out of this bed. And live. Or you'll never forgive yourself."
Beth looked at her sister, hating that she was right. She nodded.
Maggie grinned, a twinkle stealing into her eyes "And brush your damn teeth because your breath stinks!"
Beth giggled then sat up brushing errant strands from her forehead. "Okay, okay you don't have to be mean about it". Beth pretended to be offended. Heart still heavy, Beth gathered items for a much needed shower.
"I met a guy". Maggie was sitting cross legged on the bed twirling her hair around one finger.
"What's his name this week?" Beth teased.
"Shane Walsh". Maggie feigned a swoon. "He's so hot Beth." Maggie flopped backwards on the bed, recounting all the subtle and not so subtle nuances of Shane that she was so taken with. Magic or no magic that man could make a girl feel things. Maggie shook her head.
"He's hot, he's rich, and smart. And so utterly, devastatingly sexy he can charm the panties right off any girl." Maggie wiggled her eyebrows at her sister.
"Mags!" Beth blushed.
"What? It's true. I know he did mine." Maggie pulled her knees to her chest. "Besides you-" Maggie had been about to refer to Beth being an old married lady. Her worried eyes connected with Beth's and she saw the hurt there.
"It's okay, Mags." Just the two of them together again it was hard to imagine anything bad could happen.
"I hate to run, but I gotta get back. Shane doesn't like me goin' places without him but I couldn't let the aunts see him. They would most definitely not approve." Maggie gave her a wolfish grin as she hopped off the bed and grabbed her bag from the floor. Beth walked her to the balcony off her room where she had likely slipped in.
"I love you Bethie." Maggie threw her arms around her sister's neck.
Beth drew in a deep breath. She would not cry. "Gonna miss you Magpie." Beth used their father's nickname for her.
"I'll be right here." Maggie pulled out of Beth's embrace and tapped her on the forehead. It was true. Ever since they were small, they had been able to communicate somewhat telepathically without ever being told how. No one questioned it. They just knew it. It was a large part of why Beth and Maggie had been teased in school.
If Beth was going to admit it, Ella and Annie were already showing signs of the same thing.
"Love you Maggie." Beth called out into the night, watching her sister walk across the plantation lawn to the waiting taxi.
Beth looked up at the stars and all at once she recalled the night, a night just like this one, where the full moon hung in the sky and she'd cast a spell to never fall in love. Without even thinking about it she chanted a recall of the Amas Veritas, hoping with all her might that she'd remain alone until the day she died. It was the only way she could survive.
"The guy I dreamed up doesn't exist. And if he doesn't exist then I'll never fall in love and die of a broken heart."
Okay I am dying to know what you guys think of this story? Daryl will come in end of next chapter at the earliest, I am still trying to fit it all in. This is where the story will deviate from the movie a bit, how Daryl fits into the picture. But you'll see. ;) And I think you will like it. I have carpediem-365 to thank for her splendid idea there and of course again mellymoo13 for requesting this in the first place.
Heavenly Encounter will be updated later tonight so be on the lookout for it. Until next time, xoxoxoxo
