Hello hello again lovely readers ^v^ we're back in action with a brand new chapter. Good luck lmao
Song suggestions: Insane by black gryph0n & Bassik
Disclaimer: I own nothing. and fair warning this one may end up being a more psychologically stressful chapter. nothing too horrid for a RE story but I feel I should admit as much after the last fluffier chapter.
A month passed since the Harvest festivities. Charlotte's usual routine of work and visiting lords continued and Miranda was clearly more than content with the results she was seeing on the spreadsheets. The announcement of the vision did exactly what it was supposed to. Now the 5 homes that Charlotte fixed up had newlywed occupants and the 6th she was just about finished working on was set to have a couple move in next week. She would have good news to bring to the meeting, hopefully, the increase in activity would be enough to warrant another visit into town... getting permission for that would require a meeting which Miranda had yet to call. She shook her head at that thought as she walked through the village and worked on updating her map.
Speaking of successful ideas. The compass that Heisenberg gave her was working wonders. Perhaps a bit too well. Some villagers seemed terrified to even approach her now while others. Well.
'So many unions so quickly, Miranda was right this is a blessing for us all' 'quiet so, have you heard the latest rumors?' 'do share' 'That charlotte girl may have caught Lord Heisenbergs attention' 'No, are you sure?' 'well, I heard from a friend of a friend that after Mother Miranda's announcement she started parading around with a token of his around her neck' 'they do run off for days on end sometimes. you don't think' 'hush now' 'How would that work, isn't she under Moreau's fiefdom?'
Yeah, they were being villagers. They didn't have much other entertainment aside from making up stories... Right now that wasn't her main concern. Her map was wrong. how did that happen? she marked off another name and wrote vacant over it. this had to be wrong. If anyone would know it would be Luiza. she nods at that thought and hurries to trudge through the fresh snow to Luiza's home.
Charlotte walked up the rickety stairs of the house porch before knocking on the door. "Luiza? Luiza are you home?" she calls. She'd gotten used to doing as much since this was generally how the villagers went looking for each other.
The door opened as Luiza adjusts her shawl. "I'm here, what is it? You look pale, come in and warm yourself by the fire," she offers and leads Charlotte further into the home.
"Thank you," Charlotte replies with a grateful smile. the snow was clinging to the bottom of her dress and it was starting to sting against her legs.
Once she and Luiza were seated by the fire the village matriarch spoke, "What was it that you needed?"
"I was doing my rounds through the village and I can't find hide or hair of the bakers..." Charlotte replies with a frown.
"Who?" Luiza replies confused.
"I'm not sure..." Charlotte admits before showing Luiza her map where names were crossed out and replaced with vacant. "This is the second time this has happened in a month. two homes I had marked as occupied are now vacant..."
"Gracious how frightful," Luiza says as she looks over the map with a slight frown. "Perhaps the winter spirits are playing tricks on you, dear... I don't recognize either of these names."
Charlotte nods and accepts the map back. "I don't either... I don't know why they're on there in the first place. I don't usually make mistakes like that." She says while looking at the map. Luckily she knew another source of answers. those spreadsheets. she just needed to get back to the Mine later and check. There had to be some record of these names.
"Try not to think on it too much." Luiza offers with a sympathetic expression "Ah. I know. Have you prepared for Boboteaza?"
"Boba teas?" Charlotte replied confused, how did she know about that? It was a bit of a trendy drink she didn't think it was popular here.
"Boboteaza, The holiday where we bless the waters, it's a holiday of purity and Cleanliness," Luiza says with a smile. It was similar to the one Charlotte had when she realized she'd have the chance to explain something new about technology to Heisenberg. "One moment," she says as she gets up and heads back to the kitchen. Luiza eventually returned with a few fresh-picked sprigs of lemon basil. "Here, take these," she says while moving to retake her seat and offering the sprigs to Charlotte. "The holiday isn't strictly observed here, we worship Mother Miranda, may her glory watch over us. However, Tradition states if you put basil under your pillow on the night before Boboteaza you'll dream of your soul mate." Luiza explains with a smile, she hoped the offered distraction would be enough to help keep charlotte from worrying too much about her map. It was an honest mistake considering how hard the girl worked.
Charlotte cautiously accepts the basil and stows it in her pinafore pocket with her phone and a small fun-size candy. Maybe she was overthinking this... She left Luiza's home and started walking back through the village. "This would be so much easier if I had help... I can't possibly learn how to fix all of this." She gave a tired sigh as she locked that thought away. she would have to learn how to do this. She didn't have a choice.
'*'*'*'*'
She made her way up to the gates of the factory for her... she paused to count again. 5th visit to teach Heisenberg? He picked up on the alphabet as quickly as she had thought he would so the next step was working on forming words. Simple ones and rhymes would work best to fill out his vocabulary as quickly as possible. Confusion washed over her face as the gate simply opened. No snide remark about her punctuality or how she was late when she honestly wasn't.
"There you are," Heisenberg says as he waits for her at the factory with the doors already open. "Come on, we have work to do."
"Yeah... look not to beat a dead horse here but where are we at with the army situation," Charlotte asks after the door closed behind her.
"It is what it is," He says as he opens the next set of doors for the two by using his control over metal with a slight flick of his wrist.
"Um yeah that's not a good enough answer where are we with that because things are not making sense anymore," Charlotte says with a concerned expression. "I checked the database. people are going missing. ones that were on my reports before."
"That sounds like a you problem now doesn't it," Heisenberg replies as he stops walking but closes the doors behind her.
"No, this is an us problem, I can't remember who they were. I can't trust my own memories. We need to move quicker, she's getting into my-," Charlotte says but cuts herself short as Heisenberg reached a hand out with a resounding thud against the door behind Charlotte as a rather ineffective pin as he stared her down.
"Us? We?" he gives a short laugh "No. This is MY army. Your problem," He leans forward a few inches from her face as he looks over the top of his glasses at her with a warning expression.
"Yeah and if YOU want MY help with the army to get US out of here then YOU need to take ME more seriously about a problem that will affect both of US." Charlotte counters as she remained resolute and stared him down. She could have sworn they already had this argument.
Instead of a response or retort, his lips pressed against hers in a more aggressive display of dominance, "Just shut the fuck up for 5 minutes," He says in a low growl. Before she could get another word in edgewise he continued to kiss her which she. returned? What in the hell was she doing and why was she into this...
As they continued their moment he picked her up to move her so she could sit on the table next to his laptop. One hand held the hair on the back of her head by the roots and the other gingerly trailed under her skirt and up the side of her leg as he bit at her neck.
"Charlotte?" Moreau asks in confusion.
Charlotte awoke with a gasp as she jolted to sit up and look around. she was in the mines of the reservoir... oh thank the lord. she thought relieved before reaching under her pillow and pulled out the lemon basil to glare at it. It was just her luck that the stupid thing would give her that messed-up of a dream. She looked over to find Moreau cautiously watching her.
"Are you okay?" he asks concerned "You were breathing funny and making weird sounds,"
"Yeah, I'm fine. just a really bad nightmare," she admits trying to hide her embarrassment. of course, she was breathing heavily in her sleep too. faaaa, Why did she have a dream about her and Heisenberg hate F- you know what? She was not putting any more energy into thinking about this. she thought before getting up and walking over to the woodfire stove and starting it up.
"Okay... are you making breakfast?" he asks confused. usually, she just had fruit for breakfast and didn't use the stove.
"Yeah, figured I could use a warm meal and burn away an evil spirit at the same time..." She says with a frown while tossing the basil into the flames and mentally deleting the dream from her memory. That was a whooole lot of nope, likely brought around by daddy issues that she was not ready to unpack.
"Oh..." He replies still a bit confused but he dropped it. "Well... The village is busy with church meetin's n' stuff... do you wants to watch a movie?" he offers instead.
Hearing the offer caused her to finally relax. "Sure, that sounds great. which one do you want to watch?" Charlotte asks as she heads back to her little stash of ready cook meal packets. let's see, grits or oatmeal for breakfast. she ponders as she picked up the last of her water. Oatmeal she wanted something a bit sweeter. if she put one of the tiny candies in it then it would be chocolatey so that would be good. She dug through the collection of wrappers to find one. she only had a few left at this point but a meeting would be called eventually and she'd push for another trip into town to get more. maybe she could get a few of those stovetop tinfoil popcorn shaker things for when she'd watch movies with Moreau. Would he even like popcorn? he seemed to prefer softer foods. maybe soft candies?
Charlotte thought this over as the two of them watched the original animated version of beauty and the beast. Moreau watched intently as he saw the story for the first time.
Tale as old as time, True as it can be, Barely even friends, Then somebody bends, Unexpectedly
To his amazement after the ups and downs of the story, the kidnapped girl smiled at the monster and would agree to have dinner with him. His starry eyes watched in aw as the pretty lady lead the monster into an empty room for the two of them to dance.
Tale as old as time, Tune as old as song, Bittersweet and strange, Finding you can change, Learning you were wrong, Certain as the sun, Rising in the East, Tale as old as time, Song as old as rhyme, Beauty and the Beast
As the two cartoon characters happily danced around Moreau Cautiously allowed himself to glance away from the TV to Charlotte before going back to watching the animated show with talking furniture and happy endings where the monster was allowed to be human once more through the power of love.
They were about to start a second movie when the phone rang. Moreau got up and walked over to get it and frowns. "It's for you." he says and puts the phone down.
Charlotte's eye twitched as the dream reared its ugly head. fine you know what easy enough to avoid... she did need to bring up what she found though... she walked over to the phone all the same. "Hello?"
"Hey. Get over here in an hour. I need your help with somethin'," Heisenberg says as clinks and clanks of metal scraping against metal could be heard in the background
"I'll be right there..." Charlotte agrees, earning her a quiet huff from Moreau who went to start the next movie.
a ping of snapping metal and hiss of steam in the background provided distracting. "Fuck! make that an hour and a half..."
Charlotte couldn't help but laugh. "Okay see you then. bye." She hung up the phone and started packing up her map phone and other odds and ends she'd need for teaching Heisenberg.
"What does brother want?" Moreau asks with a slight frown.
"Oh I think he broke something again is all," Charlotte replies shaking her head as the ping of snapping metal and expletive it caused replayed in her mind. it was kinda funny. She shook her head. she was being ridiculous by giving that nightmarish whatever it was any credence. Besides she was a captive still so technically it wasn't like she could just not go over when she was told to do so.
"He's not very careful with his things," Moreau replies with a tired sigh.
"I gathered that," Charlotte says shaking her head. "If it's not one thing it's another I can barely keep track of it all." She says amused. "I should get over there before he hurts himself."
"We can't die, you knows that right?" Moreau says as he watches her prepare to leave. "He'll be fine."
Charlotte chuckles at that "True. Suppose you guys are immortal huh." she replied to the reminder, honestly she just kinda wanted to see what happened. "I'll be back in a bit."
"Okay..." Moreau replies and goes back to watching his movie.
the woman dawned her coat and went to leave. she wasn't going to take her shortcut in the winter it was far too dangerous with all the ice. that left her to wade through the snow in a dress. She shuffled her way thought and eventually made it to the village where she waited for a bit to catch her breath before heading to the factory. the howls and shuffling in the woods did not make the trip pleasant in the slightest. it's part of why she preferred that shortcut of hers but it wasn't worth breaking her neck to avoid a few jump scares.
"Hey, I'm here," Charlotte called. it took a moment but eventually, she heard the buzzer that announced the factory door was opening. As she makes her way up the hill, Heisenberg can be found using a rag to wipe soot and grime off his face as he waits for her at the factory with the doors already open.
He was filthy. Charlotte moved to hide her mouth to avoid being seen chuckling. Did a waste pipe break or something?
"Laugh it up dumbass," he grumbles but motions for her to follow him. "Come on, we have work to do."
"Yeah..." Charlotte says as some nervousness clung to her mind. you know what this was dumb and she was going to prove it to herself. "Look not to beat a dead horse here but where are we at with the army situation," Charlotte asks after the door closed behind her.
"Well hold your horses then we're getting to that, nosy fuck." Heisenberg replies shaking his head as he leads her back to the room with the table that was now covered in notes.
See? she was being ridiculous. "Take your time then," she says as she waits for any form of instruction.
Heisenberg rolled his eyes before gesturing to the notes. "I need you to look them over. You're good at that new idea shit. what am I missing..." Charlotte walked over to the table and started reading and organizing the papers while Heisenberg moved to take a seat and wait. after 20 minutes he frowns. "Well?"
"Hold your horses," Charlotte parrots back as she continues to organize the information. she honestly barely understood a word of it. these were notes on robots? she wasn't sure. There was a lot of mechanical terminologies that she didn't understand.
"Here I thought they were dead," Heisenberg says as he takes out a cigar with a smirk and lights it.
"You're impossible," Charlotte replies shaking her head. "So is your handwriting by the way I can barely read this," she adds with a smirk of her own.
"Fuck you too, it's better than your American chicken scratch," Heisenberg replies as he leans back in the chair a bit. "Guess I'll just take a nap while you're unlocking the secrets of the universe."
"It will probably take me the same amount of time," She replies before her mind wanders a bit. "Hey, Heisenberg,"
"hmm" he replied bored.
"I think someone is messing with my memories..." Charlotte admits with a frown while continuing to read.
"What?" he asks as he moves to sit properly.
"Yeah, see I kept a map of all the villagers and suddenly there are names on the map I don't recognize and those houses are empty now..."
Heisenberg remained quiet for a bit. "You're spending too much time in that village. Part of Donna's plants. she keeps the status quo so to speak. If someone runs off or dies, usually she covers it up."
"She can just erase memories?" Charlotte asks horrified as she moves to look at Heisenberg to see if he was joking. he wasn't.
"Erase, add, edit. Short of wearing a gas mask, you're not getting around it... Start writing a journal if you're worried about losing something important." He says as if it was normal. "Luckily she usually only does that if she's told to. prefers to keep to herself otherwise."
Charlotte frowns but nods as she picks up a page. "so these Soldat things. you want them to use headsets to get them to activate or deactivate?"
"Yeah, can't seem to figure out how to get them to do that though. I have to be around so that's not great for a large-scale assault." Heisenberg admits. "If i'm focusing on powering their headsets it leaves me vulnerable."
"Okay so attach them to a battery and why not just use the motion tracker..." Charlotte says with a raised eyebrow.
"the who now?" Heisenberg asks with a slight frown.
"Someone didn't read the instruction manual... the motion tracker. It's a part of the headsets. it keeps track of what's going on outside of the device and alerts the wearer if they're going to run into a wall or something. they tend to also pick up if there is a handset around so. maybe use the handset chips as a deactivator. anyone you don't want them to attack carries a chip and that will signal a friend but if the motion sensor is activated without one that's a target. it would take a bit of programming but it's possible."
"Now we're cooking," he says with a smile as he walks over to look over the notes with her and explain portions as needed. he gives a quiet sigh. "Guess that's another set of prototypes to scrap."
"Don't," Charlotte says with a frown which causes Heisenberg to glare at her. "Seriously don't. even an army has foot soldiers. just. here," she takes one of the pages and starts to draw on the back. "you're looking at the prototypes as failures that's not it. they're layers." She explains while drawing a few lines and making each one a bit thicker than the last. "Put the prototypes to the front and each time you make an improvement that's a newer stronger layer. just when she thinks she's gotten through one."
"There's a stronger one waiting after," Heisenberg says with a smirk.
"Exactly," Charlotte says as she taps the pen against the paper, "A battle of attrition starts with breaking down morale. If they get stronger the longer the enemy fights, then the enemy gives up faster."
"Alright, so what about this then," he says as he takes the pen to go over more ideas with her.
'*'*'*'*'
The holidays passed by without much other Fanfare and Charlotte went back to work making repairs around the village though for now, she focused on sprucing up the inside of buildings since it was far too cool to be out on the roof. she'd slip and fall to her death doing that. The small candy in her pocket waited with no owner. it had been weeks since her little helper stopped by. maybe her father was against the idea of her going out in the cold. the snow was getting to be a bit much, she thought as she worked on fixing a loose stair board. As if the universe heard her curiosity, it answered.
"Charlotte, CHARLOTTE!" Called the frightened voice of the Luthier as he trudged through the snow with a bundle of blankets in his arms.
"Alex?" Charlotte says as she peaks out of the door to find the bundle with tiny socked feet sticking out of the end. Her heart sank. "Avey?!" She says and hurries over by stepping on already formed footprints in the snow. "What happened, what's wrong?"
He looked away with sorrow, "She's sick... Bedridden for a week now, I can't get her fever to go down. She's getting weaker."
"What are you thinking bringing her out here, quick, inside," Charlotte says terrified by the news as she gently pulls on the luthier's arm to lead him but he stays in place.
"Charlotte, help her, please" The luthier requests as he offers the bundle out to her. "I don't know what else to do. Miranda said the new generation would bring blessings. maybe if you bring Avey to her she can save Avey."
Oh. oh no. please no, don't make me do that. I can't. Charlotte felt her heart sink into her stomach. "Alex no, that's not going to help. What about the medicine I brought back. have you been giving her that?"
"It's not helping. Please," the teary-eyed Luthier asks once more as he continues to push Avey towards Charlotte. "Take her to Miranda I know she can fix this."
She didn't need Miranda she needed a doctor... but if she argued any further she'd be putting not only him and Avey in danger but herself as well... there had to be a way around this. The child began to cough before whimpering. Charlotte accepted the bundled child.
"Thank you, bless you, I'm sure if you ask she'll save her, please," The luthier says not knowing that his request and actions were not aligned.
She half thought to turn and go to the reservoir instead, hide Avey there and treat the girl herself but the Luthier walked with Charlotte to the stronghold's path. she was stuck. there wasn't a way out...
She trudged up the pathway alone after that as she clung to the child and quickly tried to think of any plan that could save the girl. if she cut through the woods... the Lycans would eat them. Maybe Avey's age would save he- no. She's the same age as the little girl Miranda is trying to bring back that wouldn't be a saving grace it's her damnation. come on. THINK!
"Charlotte?" the girl eeked out.
"What is it baby?" Charlotte asks as failed to hide the sorrow and panic in her voice.
"Do I get to meet Mother Miranda?" Avey asks quietly.
"It looks like it" Charlotte squeaked out as she continued to carry the child through the snow. If she walked slowly her condition would only get worse but rushing was just running to meet the grim reaper.
"Is she nice?" Avey asks sleepily
How did she answer that? the woman was a monster. but the child was sick and thought Miranda was her only option to survive. "Yes. she's very nice." Charlotte lied.
"I'm glad," Avey says with a tired yet excited smile. she was going to be blessed. she couldn't want to brag to her friends. "Charlotte... it's cold."
Charlotte could feel her heart breaking. "I know. hold on we're almost there." She had to think of something. a tear fell down her cheek as her mind came up with nothing. The two eventually made their way into the cold empty building where vacant seats waited. "Cover your ears okay?" Charlotte says and Avey nods to do so.
"MOTHER MIRANDA!" Charlotte shouts. nothing. She repeats the shout and this time a bell tolls as the tolling ends Miranda materialized at the head of the church.
"What is it child," Miranda says with a warning stare. this had better be important.
"A villager has fallen ill," Charlotte says quietly.
Miranda smiles. "I see. I suppose it is time enough for a meeting of the lords. I'll summon the others. Wait here."
Charlotte stood in silence as she ran through scenarios in her mind of how to get out of this. Each one she thinks of ends up rejected as a failure. she only had one try at this it had to be perfect.
Her arms began to burn from holding the 70-pound child but her stubbornness refused to allow her to let go of Avey. She didn't care if her arms fell off she wasn't letting go of the child. She eventually allowed herself the luxury of sitting down in Heisenberg's chair to allow her arms time to rest while she waited the hour for the lords to arrive.
Donna was the first to arrive. upon seeing her Charlotte stood up once more and walked back to where she had been standing before to continue holding Avey. Her arms were still screaming but she ignored it.
Heisenberg arrived shortly after and took his seat, He eyed the bundle with some level of curiosity but a child wasn't his wheelhouse. probably going to Miranda. This could have been an Email. He thought as he takes out a cigar and lights it before giving a slight flick of his hand which caused the Compass to neatly tuck itself into Charlotte's coat and out of view.
Dimitrescu arrived next and smiled at the bundle with gleeful hunger though she remained silent.
Moreau arrived last with notable confusion to see Charlotte was already there. All the same, he took his seat before Miranda appeared.
"I'm glad you all could make it on such short notice," Miranda says while smiling from behind her mask. "As you can see, the village has provided us with an offering."
Charlotte hung her head and said nothing. how did she argue to save Avey without scaring her.
"I want a new plaything!" Angie says as she hurries over to charlotte and starts jumping to try and reach the bundle. "Gimme gimme gimme!"
"Mother Miranda my daughters and I would be best suited for this child," Dimitrescu says with haughty entitlement. "This work requires motherly touch."
"I couldn't agree more Alcina," Miranda replies which caused her to smile though that faded quickly after. "Which is why I will personally be taking the child and overseeing her treatment."
"NO," Charlotte says in an instinctive panic.
"No?" Miranda replies with a sneer.
Charlotte could feel the metal chain around her neck grow tighter as a warning from Heisenberg that she messed up. Say anything or you're going to die. "Mother Miranda, she's a child from the youngest division of villagers, she's vital for the project you assigned me to. She's one of only a handful of women that will be able to continue to correct the issue of the declining population. This isn't completely solved with a few new unions." Charlotte says as she finds herself uttering the thought she promised she'd lock away. "This isn't something I can do alone. The child needs to live. Allow me to go into town and bring back a doctor. Once I get them here Lady Benevento can adjust their memory enough for them to believe they have agreed to live here among the villagers." Charlotte says in her panic. the chain released. "Not only would that assure the health of the villagers but with childbirth, there is a risk to the mother. A doctor would help mitigate that risk so the population can continue to flourish rather than remain stagnant. each union needs to result in multiple children to fix this." Charlotte says and the words sting against her tongue. "Furthermore by bringing in more outsiders in this manner would increase the genetic variance of the village. If you're only working with subjects from the same set of gene pools you're limiting your chances of success." She says while mentally screaming for this to work. "Until that is realized she needs to live."
"I see you've put some thought into this... I'll admit I was beginning to wonder why I let you live. I assumed by now I'd have you killed, but as usual, your insight surprises me. And I can't deny your suggestion for that divine announcement has proven to be been more than fruitful... I'm impressed, Charlotte," Miranda says with a smile. "Your dedication to this matter is admirable. Going forward I'll allow your trips to leave the village when requested so long as you continue to agree to bring back more genetic samples to add to the village. Just try to limit them to once or twice a month. I trust you'll know when is right."
Oh god. What has she done... Charlotte thought as she realized what she agreed to do. At least she and Avey were sa-
"However, I can not turn a blind eye to the fact that the child is exactly what my testing requires. My decision remains. She will go with me," Miranda says as she walks forward to take the shivering bundle.
Charlotte felt the tight pinch of the thin chain against her neck again, holding her head in place to keep her from shaking her head no and warning her to comply. Her arms fell to her side as the weight of the child was taken from her and Miranda walks back to the podium now holding Avey as if she weighed less than nothing. Once Miranda was back in her place the warning pinch was released.
"It has been some time since we last gathered... What about the rest of you. any news to share?" Miranda asks and the others made their usual requests which took maybe a few minutes as Charlotte continued to stand in stunned silence though no one seemed to bat an eyelash at this.. employees, test subjects, and life improvements that Charlotte could gather for them.
"Well, with that concluded. It's imperative that my study begins while she's still fresh and breathing. For now, the meeting is dismissed. Heisenberg, you'll continue to assist Charlotte on these ventures as she sees fit. you have 4 days. I expect you'll return by the 21st of the month before sunset."
"It will be as you say, Mother Miranda," Heisenberg says with a wide grin. The clever bitch actually did it. he held back a short laugh that tickled at the back of his throat. not only did she get them their trip but free reign to leave twice a month. with permission but. HA! Oh and just a cherry on top that they got an extra day this time. This. This was more than a fair trade for a broken compass. His smile faded as he watched Charlotte fall to her knees and hold her face as soon as Miranda was gone.
What had she done... she could have fought back harder. She sold the life of a stranger for her own. What was wrong with her?! Avey...
A tight grip at the back of her dress between her shoulder blades hoisted her back up onto her feet "get up," Heisenberg growled under his breath before leading her out of the stronghold. "How many times do I have to tell you, you can't show weakness here?"
Charlotte remained quiet as she held back any form of emotion or response. If she let anything out she'd break. Once he was sure that Charlotte would continue to walk on her own he released his vise grip to allow her to do so as he led the way to Luiza's.
"Luiza," Heisenberg called and her husband walked out instead.
"Lord Heisenberg, My apologies but Luiza is away. What can I do for you?" he asks with a neutral expression.
"We need the truck," Heisenberg says bluntly.
"Right away sir," the man says with a nod before going around to get the truck. As usual Heisenberg sets his hammer down in the bed of the truck before getting into the driver's seat and waits as Charlotte gets into the passenger side so they can head out.
The ride was in silence which caused Heisenberg to sneer. This was annoying. She needed to get over it. The kid was good as dead, Miranda wasn't wrong it didn't take a genius to see the kid was barely hanging on. They bump along the path and eventually, Heisenberg spoke. "Look. Don't worry about the scraps this time." He offers to try and see if he could at least get her to speak.
"Like hell," Charlotte quietly replies which stuns him a bit. "You want scraps? Let's get 4 batches," she says as he hears a hint of anger in her tone that causes him to smirk.
"Here I thought you were giving up," Heisenberg says amused by her determination as he takes out a cigar since he wouldn't get many of those once they're in town.
"HA! Not a chance. I already told you, this is bigger than just me. She added a few new pieces to the board but this changes nothing," Charlotte says with a sneer, as she worked her way through the stages of grief, currently working through the lovely blinding rage of anger. "I don't want any of this. She took advantage of my desperation, She's pushing me to play the role of a devil to do her dirty work. Fine. I lost a battle but there's still a war and I will make sure she sees hellfire for it."
"So what's the plan, Charlotte?" Heisenberg says with a chuckle. This was going to be fun.
"Go to the scrapyard after dark. it's maybe a 2-hour drive each way and we have 13 hours of night to work with."
"so 4 batches?" Heisenberg asks fully prepared to hold her to that since she said it.
"Easy, we stash them at a halfway point. 2 hours to get there, 2 hours to get to the stash point and back for each load makes 10 hours leaving 3 for selection so just don't take forever loading up and we'll have enough time. We move the supplies from the halfway point to the rust bucket as a secondary collection point that's another 10 hours. We'll gas up the truck on the way there and back. How much can you hold up?"
"You don't have to worry about that," he says still smiling as he listened to the plan to get him more than he was promised. It could work.
Charlotte nods "We wait until dark again and move everything into the factory using the faster truck. No one should be around and even then it will be hard for them to tell exactly what is different if they can barely see. While you put the supplies away I head to the reservoir and pick up my bag using the excuse that I forgot it as the reason we're back early."
Sure enough. that's exactly what they did. after pulling an all-nighter, 4 batches of scrap were added to his collection. He wasn't usually an emotional person but, It was beautiful. he stared at it with a content smile as his glasses hid the bags under his eyes from staying up for 48 hours. It was so much work but it was worth it. Almost brought a tear to his eye. The things he'd make with this. He shook his head with a short laugh as he packed up his modern clothes and walked back to the truck while whistling a little tune to himself.
By the time he made it back to the truck, Charlotte was climbing into the passenger side with her hiking bag. almost 48 hours of no sleep and a traumatic 48 hours at that...She wanted to grieve but she didn't have that luxury. not here. She put her bag behind the seat and shifted to get comfortable as Heisenberg climbed into the driver's side again. He starts making his way out of the village once more and back towards the main road. "That was fucking brilliant," he says still giddy over the collection of parts he just got. he'd be set for quite some time.
"Thank you, thank you," Charlotte says as she makes slight bowing motions before taking out her phone to poke at it.
Sunday, January 19th, 8:23 pm
Seeing that caused her to yawn, they had left around 3 pm the prior day. She tried to ignore how tired and drained she felt to make reservations at the usual motel and set the GPS to give instructions to the location. "There, we're set for the usual place." She says and Heisenberg nods He listens to the instructions. After 45 minutes of following directions, the GPS lead him to the parking lot and he pulls into an empty parking spot before turning off the vehicle.
Finally a chance to sleep. Heisenberg thought only to look over and find Charlotte was fast asleep. He shook his head and got out of the truck to head inside, he knew the process well enough after seeing Charlotte pick up the door keys in the past. he pockets those before heading back to the truck and opening the passenger side door to nudge her awake. "hey, we're here." he says as he grabs her bag and slings that over his shoulder. "Either get up and walk or you're getting carried inside like a sack of shitty potatoes."
Charlotte slowly wakes up and nods to show she heard him then gets out of the truck, following behind him to the room where she kicks off her shoes and crawls into bed. her anger had subsided as she could feel herself shifting into the next stage of grief.
Well, that was a ride lol. Still hanging in there? hope you guys enjoyed it X'D
Review responses:
Black Moons Daughter - Aw thank you as always, you're too kind to me. ^v^ We're certainly a good 12 or so chapters away from freedom. maybe? but I do have a plan that I am excited to share lmao XD I'll do my best to make sure it's not too long of a wait. Miranda has no mercy X'D but hopefully the fluff I was able to add softened the blow a bit from this chapter.
DamationOfTheDead - Thank you so much qvq/ your compliments made my day. I appreciate that you feel like this is a story worth waiting to read, i'll do my best to make sure not to keep you waiting too long though.