2011
FOCUSED ON THE ROAD AHEAD OF HER, COREY ZONED OUT. The humming from her passenger seat was the only constant besides the Californian desert that surrounded the vehicle. Her fingers tapped against the steering wheel. The beat of the song on the radio thumped through the speakers as she searched the long road before her for the turn she needed to take.
"You know," the familiar voice next to her broke her focus as she blinked back into reality. She turned her head to take a quick look at the blonde that sat with her feet sticking out of the old truck's open passenger window. "If I had half a mind, I'd think you were taking me somewhere to kill me." The laugh that bubbled up from the blonde's chest made her shake her head. A playful smirk slinked across her lips.
"Calm down," Corey laughed. Her head tilted as she continued to focus on the road ahead of her. They'd driven in a straight line for miles. The road continued in the same direction ahead of them for just as long. "We're almost there." She didn't need to look to her side to know that Madison was rolling her eyes at her.
"Can you at least tell me where we're going?" The blonde's pout was audible. Corey gave her a look, one that simply told her all she needed to know; a side eye and with an air of where's the fun in that?
"If I tell you, it's no longer a surprise." She heard the scoff leave the other girl's lips before the scrunching of leather squeaked out as she wiggled into her seat more. Corey reached across the center of the bucket-seat, her hand finding its home against the blonde's thigh. She squeezed once, taking a quick look at the girl who rested with her straw sun hat blocking most of her face.
She knew Madison was frustrated; their schedules hadn't lined up in months. It was enough of a hassle for Corey to have to miss the wrap party for the scripted Scooby-Doo project she was a part of in order to go on tour with her band, but only seeing each other over the screens on their phones was draining. Unfortunately, filming had been pushed back due to flubs in the script and the timing overlapped. When she'd left the filming location in Toronto and touched down in Los Angeles, Madison was filming a project in Barcelona — a visually appealing sci-fi fantasy alongside Milla Jovovich.
This sweltering day in July, the hottest that it'd been all month, was the first day the couple managed to get alone together. And what's the first thing Corey does? Madison thought. Her arms crossed over her chest. Make an impatient Madison Montgomery endure a three hour drive from Burbank into the depths of the California desert.
"We're almost there, Maddie," Corey gave her a small smile before returning her attention to the road ahead of her. "I promise." She felt the blonde's fingers interlock with her own. A light huff of content left her nostrils as her opposite hand remained against the steering wheel.
She swallowed hard. The anticipation got the best of her as the GPS alerted her of her final turn before she reached her destination. As she took her hand back from the actress, she watched Madison pull her legs into the cab of the truck. The girl's face scrunched in confusion. Corey pulled into the open plot of dust and dirt. She turned the truck around so that the bed was facing the mountains, tucked out of direct sight from the road.
"There's nothing out here," Madison noted. Her nose scrunched, her lips forming a pout as she looked over at the redhead. Corey turned the keys, cutting the engine. She laughed, looking at the blonde beside her.
"That's the point." Madison's brow seemed to furrow even more as the words left Corey's mouth. Her tongue jutted out, the hand that previously rested against Madison's thigh moved to brush a loose hair out of her face.
"It's quiet. No flash photography to interrupt anything. The sky is the clearest you'll ever see it; the smog from the city doesn't cover everything in a haze out here." Madison's facial features relaxed. The confusion was slowly replaced with soft eyes and a slight pout. When Corey's explanation was met with a long pause from Madison, she stammered.
"I—I thought we could lay in the bed of the truck and watch the stars?" She panicked. Immediately, she tried to find a way to backpedal. Had she bought the actress out into the middle of nowhere for a date that the blonde wouldn't even enjoy? "I brought blankets and..."
"Stargazing? That's your thing? Seriously?" Madison asked. She was in awe, though it wasn't a look the redhead had yet recognized. "You brought me all the way out here to stargaze?"
"I'm sorry," again, Corey stammered. She couldn't tell whether or not the actress was upset, and it threw her through a loop. "Now that I think about it, it sounds really stupid. I shouldn't have—" Madison cut the other girl off once again. The smile peeked through at the corners of her lips.
"You are such a fucking nerd," Madison laughed. Her head shook back and forth as her gold eyes locked with the musician's green ones. Corey's brows furrowed in confusion and, before she could question or protest the remark, Madison leaned forward. Within a beat, their lips connected. The blonde let out a giggle at the musician's hesitation. She was taken aback slightly before following through with the rhythm and tempo led by the actress.
2013
Corey sat on her bedroom floor. Her feet rested underneath her in the center of a large, seemingly oversized, protection circle. She was working on her last possible option to find Madison Montgomery. The Council had left early on, not finding enough evidence that the actress had been murdered and hadn't just taken off on a bender.
Her last ten days had been filled with numerous locator spells, discovery potions, tracking rituals; each one a failed attempt. In front of her sat a spirit board, surrounded by candles and Madison's belongings. She closed her eyes as she took in a deep breath. One hand hovered over the board against the floor, the other gripped the floppy straw sun hat and folded it against her chest.
"You're being morbid," Zoe's voice pulled her from her concentration, causing her to flinch. Ophelia let out a surprised coo and leapt off the bed. She jingled as she trotted towards Zoe. Corey's green eyes flew open, locking on the brunette that stood in her doorway. "Okay? She's not dead."
"And who are you to tell me my girlfriend isn't dead?" Corey tilted her head. Her hands moved to her lap as she sat up taller. She fiddled with the brim of the hat between her fingers as she looked at the brunette, her jaw flexing. She tried to keep her anger in, to keep her emotions bottled inside of her, but every inch of her wanted to burst completely. Her eyes moved down to the cat that pressed herself against Zoe's legs incessantly.
"I mean, other than the girl who couldn't keep an eye on her at a fucking frat party." The venom was there. It latched onto her words and found its way into the cracks of the brunette's already weak armor. Zoe let out a huff as she shook her head, her hands slamming down against her sides in frustration.
"Look," she sighed. Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip. She crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned against the door frame. "Just because Nan can't hear her doesn't mean she's gone. I mean, we should be out looking for her!"
"Zoe," Corey let out a soft groan. Her shoulders slumped as she tilted her head to look up at the other girl. "I watched Fiona slit her throat with a letter opener. The same one she keeps in her purse and carries with her everywhere she goes. I saw her die. I felt that last breath leave her body. I felt my own chest falter when hers collapsed." If she didn't say Madison's name, she didn't have to face that harsh reality once again. That she'd seen exactly what had happened to her girlfriend, lived through it, felt it, and she couldn't do a single thing to stop it. The brunette's mouth opened and closed, her brow furrowed.
"H-how? If you saw that then why didn't you tell the Council?" Zoe took a step into the room, the panic seeping through her voice. Corey let out a laugh, her head shaking.
"Your mind's eye can't be used in a court of law. Witchy or otherwise." She tilted her head. Her ponytail drifted to the side as she remained seated. "Something about having potentially altered memories and no way to allow others to see them or some shit." She watched as Zoe tried to scramble for the right way to respond. She could smell the wafting stench of alcohol that oozed from the redhead as she continued to move closer. The jingle of the bell on Ophelia's collar let out a soft noise as the cat quietly followed the brunette.
"I— I want to help." She seemed genuine, so much so that Corey pulled the bottle of absinthe from behind her and offered it. She wiggled the glass bottle in front of Zoe's face, a cocky grin gracing her features.
"Well then witch up," she raised her brows at the newest addition, still seated within the circle on the floor. Both girls had a personal connection with the deceased, one more-so than the other. Corey hoped this would mean a higher probability of contacting Madison. As their fingers brushed, Corey held in a gasp.
Misty.
Kyle.
The swamp.
"Misty's alive?" The redhead asked. Her brow furrowed as her eyes scanned back and forth. "How's that possible?" Zoe looked confused as she pulled the bottle of absinthe towards herself. She hesitated, not sure if she should take a sip as she tried to understand what had just happened.
"You tricked me!" The brunette's eyes grew wide. An accusatory finger pointed towards the redhead as her brows furrowed in anger. "You used your magic touch thing on purpose!" Corey let out a laugh through her nose, her eyes rolling at Zoe's tone.
"I have just as much control over my sight as I do the woman I love." The redhead froze. The smug expression immediately wiped itself from her features at the moment the words left her lips. She looked at Madison's belongings, her eyes watering again at the collection before her. They moved from the pile to the black cat who watched her with a tilted head. She wasn't paying attention to the fact that Zoe was watching her crumble.
Corey's bottom lip trembled. It was more than the light quiver she'd managed to hold in with the help of the slight intoxication that had carried her throughout the previous week. She couldn't control the twitching of her lips as the tears started flowing down her cheeks. Unsure if the reaction was amplified by the addition of alcohol or if it was due to the words being spoken aloud for the first time, she panicked.
In the end, it wasn't Stevie, or even Madison, that she said the words to first. It was the nagging witch; the consistent thorn in her side; the black widow who couldn't keep her mouth shut and cracked under pressure. She looked down at her outstretched palms, a shrug of her shoulders accompanying her struggle to breathe.
"I love her, Zoe." One slow, trembling hand pressed against her lips as she coughed out her sobs. The brunette dropped down to rest on one knee as she watched the redhead fold into herself. The girl's knees pulled against her chest as her opposite hand pressed against her forehead.
"I love her, and I never told her. And now I never will." Cautiously, Zoe placed the corked bottle of absinthe against the floor. She made sure to not disturb the protective circle around them as she moved into the other girl's personal space. She wrapped her arms around the sobbing redhead, trying to find the right way to comfort her.
"No," the brunette said simply. "No. We'll find her." She cradled the shell of a witch, the completely broken and hollow frame of the woman she once was. "We're going to find Madison, I promise." She rested her chin against the top of the musician's head. Her arms were a pair of serpents slithering around the shattered pieces of Corey and constricting them back into place.
The only things that held her together were the alcohol adhesive in her veins and Zoe's tight embrace. Even now, in this position, Corey was completely and utterly broken. She was lost, the feeling of having no other reason to exist washing over her.
She wanted her pain to go away, to just disappear. She couldn't let it, though. She couldn't just completely give up. Become some empty vessel for the sake of the coven or her mother. She was human, to an extent, and humans had to live and breathe their worst emotions.
Even when that meant that they had to live with knowing that the path could've diverged and branched off if they had just stepped forward when Fiona had returned.
Especially if it meant that Madison could've still been alive if she'd just told someone, anyone, about own her budding powers.