OS 3 Part 5 : The monster is back.

RAR :

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Ivy Belfrey was not the kind of person who could easily be afraid.

Except when it was about some things.

Including her feelings.

Her feelings for Gretel, presently.

She was used to get crushes which would fade in the end, but…

What she was feeling for Gretel just didn't want to let her go.

So she does what she always does when she is afraid.

She runs away.

§§§§

It may be the worst idea she ever had.

Gretel looks at her with sadness, with incomprehension, and Ivy just doesn't know what to do about it.

Ivy just wants to take away from her this look she is seeing in her eyes every time she sees her – a thing which doesn't happen quite often at it used to be – and she just wants to kiss her, tell her how much she loves her, to tell her that everything is going to be okay.

She is a damn coward and she doesn't even dare telling her why she doesn't want to see her again.

She had been working for Margot since some months, since enough time, and she is able to get her own place for her.

Far from this.

Far from Gretel, far from the pretty girl who stole her heart and is not going to return her this one, from the one who gave her a home when no one else, not even her mother, was doing this.

Ivy can't even look at Gretel in the eyes, can't even tell her, as she leaves.

She tells her goodbye, and as she does, her heart breaks.

Again.

She tries not to cry.

§§§§

She is at Margot coffee-shop/bar, this time, as a customer, and she is drinking, way too much.

It's the night, and she hates herself.

She just feels so pathetic now…

Margot was here, in front of her, looking at her with disapproval in her eyes, and it seems like she is ready to tell her something, until Ivy sends her death stares.

"Don't. Even. Think. To. Say. Anything. About. It, she warns her.

Despite it, the bartender still manages to say :

- You're an idiot.

- I know…"

It seems like she is drunk enough to let all her walls fall.

To accept the fact that she has feelings she shouldn't have.

Then, the bartender violently put the glass she had in her hands on the counter with anger, almost breaking it, and Ivy started.

"I don't know what the hell you're doing exactly. And I don't know where the problem is. You love Gretel, obviously, and she is in love with you as well.

- Gretel. Doesn't. Love. Me, Ivy said, with the same tone as before.

She then finished her glass, which must be her… fifth or sixth ?

She had actually not counted them, in fact.

Not seeming to be really content of her friend's alcohol consummation, Margot took her glass from her, refusing to give her another one.

"Enough drinking for this night ! Her friend told her. And now, you're going to tell me the reason why you are so damn sure that Gretel can't love you for real."

The two women had been arguing about it for the last two damn hours, and Ivy was tired of it.

They were going nowhere…

Ivy sent her a sad smile.

"Because this is how things work… I am not going to end with the girl in the end of the story… Given to my own experience with you, this is not how things work for me…"

Margot frowned at her remark, and Ivy couldn't help but bite her lip, as she realized what she let escaped.

Given to how drunk she was, it was not surprising.

"What do you mean ?

Ivy sighed.

Maybe it was time for her to tell her friend the truth.

- I loved you, she finally admitted, the weight of her secret finally leaving her shoulders, after all this time. Well, I don't know if it was love, admiration, or just a little silly crush from a silly girl, but… I had feelings for you. And I always knew it was hopeless.

Margot was looking at her with astonishment.

- I'm sorry, I… I didn't know. I never knew.

Ivy had a cynical smile.

- I was always good at hiding myself, hiding my feelings.

- Why didn't you tell me ?

- We were… friends. And then, you began dating Alexandra, and I knew that it was completely over for me.

- Tell me Ivy… How much did I make you suffer ?

- It was not your fault… I decided to shut up myself. It was my choice."

Margot tried to smile to her.

- I'm serious when I am telling you that Gretel loves you.

Ivy shrugged absently.

- Maybe…

- Listen, you're not driving this night, since you're too much drunk, and you will have a freaking hangover tomorrow, so you're sleeping here, at your old place, right ?"

Her friend just nodded.

Some hours passed, and, as it was the day, Margot came at her friend's room, and frowned when she realized that this one was empty.

Ivy was gone.

§§§§

The day before.

"Mrs Belfrey ? Victoria's secretary told her, someone wants to see you."

Victoria looked up and saw a blond woman with a lot of little braids in her hairs who was coming just after Victoria's employee.

"Leave us, the business woman immediately ordered her, sending cold looks at her former lover."

Eloise Gardener smiled at her, being as beautiful as she used to be, not seeming like she had changed or aged in the past ten or more years since they had broken up. Victoria's hands began to tense.

"Eloise.

- Victoria.

- What the hell are you doing here ?"

The member of the cult/sect/whatever twisted thing it was where she was just gave her another smile, and Victoria felt her heart jump in her chest.

God, she hated it, just hated that this woman was still able to have the same damn effect on her, even after all this time.

"Oh, but darling, I just wanted to see you, she told her with the same smooth voice that she both loved and hated at the same freaking time.

- Yeah… For sure… Eloise, it had been since twelve years, and you dare to pretend that you want to talk to me and see me ?"

The other woman put her hand on her chest, faking to feel deeply hurt.

"Oh… how terrible you are toward me, my love, she said with a smirk on her lips. Now, I understand the reason why you broke up with me.

Victoria felt her anger just grow stronger than ever.

- Yes, I did. Because you were in this damn sect, or cult, or anything else, and I don't give a fucking damn about the name of it, and I just want you to leave now, Eloise."

She is hurt, surely.

Her daughter is dying, almost dead, and she had been a horrible mother for the two other one she had.

She just wants the woman she used to love to leave her, forever.

"Actually, I came here to talk about that… I have a proposition to make to you."

This time, Victoria's lips curved into a cynical smile.

"Want to marry me Eloise ? I'm sorry, my love, she said with the same ironical tone used by Eloise, but you're twelve years damn late."

She looks at the woman in front of her, and just thinks that they are both lost, twisted, and so fucked up.

They are destroyed.

They destroyed themselves.

Eloise smiles, and Victoria sees the darkness in her eyes, and remembers again why she left her.

Victoria may be someone bad, but hell, Eloise is so much worse.

She hates her, but :

- Eloise is the same damn beautiful fascinating woman.

- And her, she is so damn alone since twelve years, and it's even worst now that Jacinda had left, that Ana is dying and that she made Ivy leave her. Oh god, she is such a monster.

- She just wants things to be as they were, she just wants to kiss Eloise, right now, she just wants her family to be with her again, to be complete.

- She just wants to stop feeling broken and lost, and alone.

"Not really… not that I am against the idea though…

She doesn't want Eloise to give her false hopes.

- What do you want ?

- I have a way to get your daughter back."

Victoria freezes and frowns, and, as she looks again at Eloise fucking Gardener, she sees nothing but madness, but yet, she wants to believe it, so much.

Her life ended the day Ana had her accident, and even if it's absurd, something in her wants to trust her lover, wants to think that it can be real.

Madness had taken her since this day, so, it's not surprising that she wants to make it real and true.

Eloise approached her, and Victoria fell.

"Alright… What's your plan ?

- I want to help you wake up Ana, by using one of the methods of my… cult.

Victoria paled.

- Human sacrifice, right ?

- Yes, of course… Someone of her blood, of course."

The madness in her eyes had become even more strong, and Victoria just found this even more fascinating.

She shouldn't be listening to her.

But she can't help but do this.

"Ivy, right ?"

Eloise shrugged.

"Well, except if you want to die… Of course it will be her."

Could she really do it ?

Could she sacrifice her own daughter, and do it for something which could not worth it ?

And, by the way…

Since how many time did she believe in these absurd and irrational things ?

Could she do it ?

Ivy was the one who had caused Ana's accident.

It was all her fault.

She had to make her pay.

A grin began to appear on Eloise's lips, as she was realizing what Victoria must be thinking now.

"So, tell me, my love… What will you do ?"

Ten years. Since ten fucking years, she had lost her preferred daughter, and now, she could get her back.

Maybe.

She was crazy, she realized with horror, but it was the only thing she still had.

She just gave in, kissing again Eloise for the first time since twelve years, and she smiled at her, with a crazy smile on her lips.

"I'm in this… What do we have to do ?"

Eloise smirked.

Perfect.

§§§§

Margot's coffee-shop.

Ivy had found it not really difficult to fall asleep, and, being deeply drunk as she was, didn't notice that someone was breaking in the coffee-shop and in her room.

Some hours later, she woke up in a dark room that she didn't know, and she looked around her, terribly afraid, after she realized something was wrong.

The two women had made sure that no one would notice what happened, so, no one would know what happened and they would just think that Ivy had left.

Because yes, Victoria had been spying on her daughter, knowing where she was since she had left her home.

Ivy tried to stand up with difficulty, trying to figure out what the hell had happened, where she was, and who had taken her to this place.

Some seconds later, she realized that her hands were tied-up, and that she couldn't escape from it, and she sighed.

"You see darling, nothing you will try to do will make you escape."

Ivy looked up and met a woman's gaze, woman she recognized pretty rapidly.

Eloise Gardener.

Oh, of course it was her, she should have seen it coming.

She always knew that this woman was a damn creeper.

But she didn't expect what came later.

Her eyes opened wide as she saw another woman come into her direction, kneeling in front of her, putting back a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling at her with an almost tender smile.

"Hello Ivy."

The young woman blinked.

"Mother ?"

Fear came back into her chest, burning her, and she asked herself what they were going to do to her.