A sunny Saturday was not a rare sight in New Orleans, but those days in between where the sun occasionally peeked out from a light cloud cover and created something more pleasant than the usual summer heat was. Misty went to gather Cage for their day in the swamp. There was more wildlife when the weather wasn't as dry and harsh and she wanted him to see that. Kyle and Zoe were on their way as well; they had asked if they could come and though Misty was hesitant to let more people into the privacy of her meadow, she didn't mind sharing the rest of the swamp. They would find another good spot.

Cordelia stopped her before she had a chance to tear Cage away from his toys. Her eyes were apologetic, when she put a hand on Misty's arm and Misty knew her plans had just been changed.

"I don't think you should take him out there today."

Misty stopped and turned to look at her. Despite the fragility always present in Cordelia's eyes, whenever they disagreed, she was dead set on this. Misty saw that in the hardness of her gaze.

"It's 'cause of your nightmares, ain't it?" Cage hadn't been to the swamp since the nightmares first started, but now, two months later, Misty thought she had made enough convincing arguments that the trip was safe. But she was apparently wrong.

"Please understand, Misty. We're not as resilient as you. I don't know how much he saw, but he is too young to deal with that anyhow- and I know you did, but he's not you. He doesn't understand nature the way you do."

Misty couldn't quite keep the sulking out of her voice. "Maybe if you let him, he would."

"When he's a little older and we can explain things to him."

"You know I would never put him in danger." She glanced down at Cage and found him looking up at them. Misty had to make sure not to raise her voice, when he sat right there. Angry or not, he shouldn't have to feel it.

Cordelia said: "I know you would never, not intentionally anyway."

"Delia…"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't want him out there."

Misty wanted to ask if she was sorry for making his day boring or for not trusting her, but stopped herself before the words spilled out. Instead she said: "Fine. But I'm still going."

She left them in the living room then and went for some cool water to calm her down. She immediately realized it was a bad choice, as Fiona sat at the kitchen table with a late breakfast.

She looked up when Misty came in and Misty almost growled at her knowing expression. She turned her back to Fiona and filled a glass with water. Took a while to drink it and tried her best to ignore Fiona's presence.

"You don't honestly think she'll ever willingly let Cage out of her sight again after what happened last time you were out there, do you?"

"Stay out of it", Misty snarled. Fiona kept silent, but when Misty turned around again, she caught her eye at once.

"It's hard not being the one she loves the most anymore, isn't it?" Misty paused mid-motion at that, clueless of how to respond. Fiona took a casual sip of her coffee and looked up again. "Don't look so shocked. Take it from someone who's always been in third place."

There was something about Fiona's suggestion that made Misty feel like she had just been degraded. As if Fiona was trying to drag her down with her. It made the heat just below her skin rise again.

"I never say horrible things to her like you do", she defended.

"I didn't say you did. But you don't understand a mother's love, Misty. It makes us just slightly crazy and then we make bad decisions trying to be overprotective."

"Don't you dare use this as an excuse for all your mistakes", Misty snarled at her and then left the room. She went by the living room, where Cordelia sat. She looked up with an insecure glance, as Misty passed them. She couldn't make up a smile, so she waved instead and went for the door. The house was much too small all of a sudden.

She met Kyle and Zoe outside, as they walked up the isle, hand in hand.

"Where's Cage?" Zoe asked.

Misty didn't slow down, but kept walking while she answered: "Delia wants him to stay home. So I'm going alone."

"Oh."

Misty walked past them and was halfway down the isle, when Kyle spoke.

"Can we still come?" He asked. "I kinda want to see all the wildlife you talk about."

"Kyle, I think she wants to be alone", Misty heard Zoe whisper. She stopped then and considered it for a moment. She did like Kyle. She turned again and managed to crank out a smile.

"It's okay. You can come if you wanna. Help me find a good spot for when I get Delia convinced to bring him again."

The three of them walked towards the swamp and Misty's anger slowly dissipated as they started talking. Enjoying the company of someone who wasn't Cordelia was still new to her, but between her friend Jackson at work and this young couple she had grown to like it.

Kyle was a good talker. He told her about his school in the city and then how he had met Zoe, after she snuck into a frat party one evening. "You ever been to a party, Misty? I'm just asking, because you don't strike me as the type."

"I've been to one. Delia took me once, when we were kids. Wasn't for me. Too much noise." She smiled at the memory. It didn't hurt like it used to, now that her love for Cordelia was no longer aching and unrequited.

"It does get very loud", Zoe agreed. "I remember I was looking for the door, when I ran into Kyle. If it wasn't for him I would have just gone home an hour into the party. I like the quiet too."

They reached the forest and went into the cool shade of trees. The familiar noises of nature started emerging form the crooks and curves of the woods and filled Misty with peace. She left the last of her indignation at the doorstep to the swamp.

"So you really lived out her as a kid?" Kyle asked. When Misty looked at him, he shrugged and pointed at Zoe. "Yeah she told me that too. Hope it's okay."

"It's fine, I don't mind. Yeah I did. Mostly stayed at the other end though, but we ain't going there today. The gators are actin' weird."

"Right, that poor little boy they ate", Zoe said. Misty assumed Cordelia had told her.

Kyle startled. "Wait what?"

"Marie Laveau's son." Zoe told him the story. Kyle eyes widened as the short tale of horror went on and at the end they filled with confusion. "Sure he's dead? I mean the rumors says she can heal him."

Misty looked up with a start when he said that, but Zoe beat her to it:

"Laveau? What do you mean she can heal him? Like Misty?" They found a good spot in the shade and sat down. Misty listened to them talk, more alert now than before. She had heard similar rumors from some of the drunks at the bar and she remembered that Fiona had hinted at the same thing some months ago. Fiona had said Marie was presumed to be in contact with Papa Legba and the underworld, but Misty never believed she had gotten her abilities that way. This was different, it had to be. If not Marie would have acted the same way Misty did, whenever she found injury. There was no ignoring damage like that. Yet, Marie had only cried.

"Yeah, or no, not like that I think", Kyle said. "Remember when I told you those rumors I heard from a friend of mine? He said they call Marie Laveau the Voodoo Queen or something. She can do things, like yeah, voodoo or something."

"But voodoo is not healing, Kyle. And I don't think that's true."

Kyle shrugged. He absentmindedly picked a leaf of the nearest bush and then suddenly shot a guilty glance at Misty, as if he thought she might take offence at him stripping the woods like that. She did a little, but the conversation stole her focus. Kyle said: "Okay, I'm just saying that's what they call her. And I figured too, but then Misty here… So why not?" Now they were both looking at her and at first Misty didn't know what to say. She never thought she could possibly be the only strange thing in the world, but this was the first time she had heard of anything else supernatural. And from what she knew of Papa Legba and the deals he made, she didn't like the prospect of anyone borrowing his powers.

Finally, she shrugged and said: "I don't know if the boy is alive, he looked pretty dead to me. I hope he rests." She didn't say more and Kyle nodded and made a grimace as if to say 'fair enough'.

They stayed quiet for a while. Misty laid back and listened for sounds. There weren't much today, but occasionally a bird would sing and flutter about. It surprised her, now that the weather was less hot. But if all the animals of the forest had decided to sleep today, maybe it was okay that Cage wasn't with her this time.

"I'll go look for some berries or something to eat, I'm hungry", Kyle announced and got up.

"You're always hungry", Zoe teased and commented on how he could never sit still.

Kyle only grinned and said: "You wanna come?"

"No, I'll sit here for a while."

"If you find somethin' you don't know, don't eat it", Misty added. "I learned that the hard way. And careful not to go far. We ain't alone out here." She then closed her eyes again. Kyle promised and wandered off.

"So you really never get sick? What if you ate something poisonous?"

Misty opened one eye to find Zoe looking at her with curiosity. It never ended, it seemed. She chuckled and said: "Think I did sometimes. But no, I don't get sick. Hurts my stomach a little, but I don't think it's like that for everyone."

"Can I ask you something else?"

"Sure."

She hesitated for a while. Fidgeted with her hair, while searching for a way to start her questions. Misty sat up, sensing that the conversation was turning more serious. "Okay… Say Cordelia wanted to move to like, she's from Boston right? Say she wanted to move there? Would you leave everything here and go with her so you didn't have to be apart?"

"I did. Don't live in my swamp no more, right?"

"Oh, right. But like if she wanted to move to a whole another state or something, would you do it?"

Misty eyed her. She already knew the answer, but she wasn't sure this was really about her. "Why do you ask?"

Zoe started fidgeting with her hair again. "Um, Kyle said he wants to go to New York for school. He says it's going to be just like when I go away for college, but I'm afraid that once he leaves he'll never want to come back here. He doesn't have anyone but me tying him here. His mom…" She trailed of and her eyes wavered as if she was unsure of what to say. "Well, she's not… she's weird. And she doesn't treat him right. She, um… touched him once. Please don't tell him I told you this, I just need you to know that I understand his need to get out. But now I fear he wants to live in New York, or anywhere else really, but I have my family here. I don't know what to do, because I don't want to lose him. What do you think I should do?" The young girl stared at Misty with pleading eyes and Misty felt uncomfortable at the sudden pressure of the conversation.

"I can't tell you what to do, Zoe. You gotta decide that for yourself. I don't know 'bout family, except Delia and Cage is mine and wherever they goes, I go. Even if I had to not see my swamp. But I know 'bout not wantin' to leave either."

Zoe chuckled with hopelessness. "That doesn't really help." She smiled a sad smile then. "I only have my mom and dad, and I guess they could come visit. But I don't have to decide right now, do I?"

"No, you're still here for the summer, ain't you? So you still have-"

A scream of terror cut Misty's sentence in half, shrill and echoing from the depth of the woods. It took Misty a few seconds to recognize the scream, but Zoe froze up at once. Then a roar followed, then another scream and Zoe let out a whimper of panic. She motioned to get up, but Misty stopped her, a firm grasp on her arm.

"Don't run. Climb a tree. Now."

"What is it?!"

Misty stared towards the spot where the roar had come from, trying to determine if it was coming this way. Suddenly she understood why it was so quiet today.

"I think it's a bear."

Zoe whimpered again and started to cry.

"Zoe, climb."

Misty pushed her towards the nearest tree and waited until she had climbed up and out of view, before she moved herself. Out the corner of her eye, she saw movement of a large animal, something that would be close to her height if it stood beside her. She looked up at Zoe and motioned for her to stay put before she moved to find another tree. She constantly calculated the movement of the bear, trying to figure out if she could get around it without agitating it. She had to get to Kyle, see how bad the damage was. Because there was damage. The first scream was of terror, but the second had been of pain.

The bear came into view and Misty climbed the first tree that allowed her. She climbed on the back so the bear wouldn't see her and sat tight, hoping Zoe would control her crying. The bears of the Louisiana swamp were far too big to climb the trees, but they were the masters on the ground.

The bear wandered around for a bit. It didn't look like it searched for food, which worried Misty more than anything. Rather, it looked like it was out for a stroll. It took a while before it started to wander off again, minutes in which Misty begged for two things: That Kyle was still alive and that Zoe wasn't hotheaded enough to hop down and check.

Once she felt it safe, she snuck down from the tree and ran towards the place where the scream had come from. The bear was far gone, but the sinister hum in her mind didn't stop. The air tasted wrong again.

As soon as she saw him, she knew she was out of luck. He lay flat on the ground and his head turned a certain way, which could only mean that it was no longer rightfully attached to his body. She went to him anyway and kneeled. The damage called to her, begged her. It was her siren again, but it was a broken song, because there was nothing she could do. When she put her hand to his chest, her body told her the same thing.

A lump gathered in her throat. His eyes were open and the glossiness held the last impression of his terror. She could only hope that it had been quick. By the looks of it, it had. The claw marks at his severed throat spoke of one fatal blow. The bear had taken a piece of his left arm too and there was barely any hand left. The grass was wet all around him and colored dark in the pool of blood.

"Kyle…" She whispered with tears in the corners of her eyes. She should have known the forest was acting out. Amidst it all, she couldn't help but be grateful Cordelia had chosen today of all days to be difficult.

With a gentle hand, she closed his eyes. She had nothing more to offer.

"Kyle!" Zoe came out of nowhere and threw herself down beside Kyle's dead body. Her hands and dress were soaked with red in seconds. "No Kyle, no no no!"

"Zoe you have to be quiet or the bear's gonna hear you."

"He can't be dead! Oh God-" Her voice turned so shrill it broke on its own and she sobbed into her hands. Her fingertips left lines of blood on her face and in her hair, smeared it until she looked as if she had been attacked too. Misty shushed her gently, while listening for movement through the woods. She had learned to scare smaller animals away, bluff with her size, but she was no match for a bear.

Zoe suddenly stopped and she looked up at Misty with a manic light in her eyes. The red of her face and the tears streaming down her cheeks, making lines of diluted blood like warpaint, made her look downright insane for a second. "You can heal him, can't you? You can bring him back like you did with Cordelia's ex-husband!"

"Zoe…" Misty said with a defeated voice and hated how the light fell in the young girl's eyes. "I can't put his head back on. Even if I got his heart started, he would die again in seconds. I can't help him."

Zoe's eyes filled with tears again and she gripped around Kyle's remaining hand and held it to her chest. She mumbled something into his pale fist.

"We better get outta-"

"The Voodoo Queen", Zoe said, louder this time. She looked up again and some of the light had returned. She still looked manic. "Kyle just said it. Marie Laveau. She can help!"

"I don't know, Zoe…"

"She has to!" Zoe yelled and Misty shushed her. Zoe didn't listen. Instead she kissed Kyle's hand, wiped her face clean of tears and got to her feet. "I know where her sister's saloon is. Please keep him safe. I'll get her. Please stay with him."

"I don't think-"

"Please!"

"Okay." Misty held up her hands, prayed it would be enough to make Zoe quiet. "Okay, I'll stay. But be careful at least, Zoe. Don't make noise."

Zoe had started running already.

O0O

This wasn't the first deal Marie Laveau had ever made with Papa Legba.

The first time she had given up a good worker for the deal. And he had agreed, he wanted the same revenge. She had agreed to let Papa Legba have his soul for the price of getting back at one Delphine Lalaurie. She had it out for Marie's community, she possessed a hatred Marie had had far too much experience with to tolerate. Maybe she would have if Lalaurie hadn't openly harassed them. If she had kept her hatred to herself, maybe Marie would never have made that deal. But she did and her worker had agreed. He had been the personal target, his own brother beaten up by a man payed by Lalaurie, and he wanted to get back at that pale, hateful hippo of a woman just as much as she did. Only she had the means. She had learned how to contact the underworld. And so she did. A servant for a servant Papa Legba had said. So Madame Lalaurie became Delphine, the personal maid of the house along with her daughter, who was too young to go anywhere alone.

Marie quite liked the daughter. She adapted and she was open-minded. She didn't share her mamas shameless opinions. She was always treated equal and she was never confined to the wooden box as Delphine often was, when Marie had had enough of her behavior. And there was a certain satisfaction in watching her face when she was pulled from that box forty eight hours later, all sweaty and even uglier than usual.

But there was no satisfaction that made up for the price this time. She had been careless with her deals, because the first one had been so costless for her compared to this.

It still didn't work. All the voodoo powers the underworld could give her and she still couldn't do it. She stared at her son's empty face. The emotion had seeped out, the eyes turned blank. He was clean of blood, his little body put back together with stitches, but he was a human doll, nothing more.

"Marie? You in there?"

"Leave me alone, Chantal, I'm workin'!"

She could almost hear her sister sigh through the door. Or at least imagine her do it. "There's a crying girl in the saloon, sayin' she needa talk to you. It ain't about a haircut."

"Let her cry!"

"She got blood all over her face, sayin' her boyfriend got killed by a bear in the swamp and she wants you to voodoo him back alive."

"It can't be done!"

Chantal knocked hard on the door and Marie went to tear it open. "What?"

Her sister didn't react to the aggression, merely looked at Marie with a knowing expression on her face. "It could be practice", she said.

Marie met the mess of a teenage girl by the desk in the saloon. Her eyes were red and swollen, her cheeks covered in blood and she looked at Marie like she expected miracles. Her face reminded Marie of a far too recent pain and she almost went back into her room at the sight. But the girl didn't deserve to know this feeling and Marie simply said: "I ain't makin' promises. But show me the way. And somebody give the girl a damn towel!"

"Thank you", the girl whispered and followed Marie out, after hastily wiping her face with the wetted paper towel she was handed. As they hurried to the swamp the girl, Zoe, rushed through the explanation. Her words were chaotic and muffled by her crying, but Marie caught the most of it. She was oddly relieved it was a bear attack and not the gators again. She wasn't sure she could endure another meeting with them. She wondered in her own mind what it was she expected she could do for this girl. Zoe acted like she was heaven sent, when really she had gotten her gift through death. That should say it all and it had so far.

"It's through here", Zoe said and rushed forward. They made their way through the trees and Marie caught the sight of two people, one sitting with their back turned, hidden in shade and the other lying by the foot of a tree, unmoving. That had to be the boyfriend.

As they closed in, the live one looked up and Marie stopped dead.

"You", she hissed.

Misty looked up. She looked sad and lost, just as she had the day she handed Marie her dead child. Blood on her face and hands as well, as if she was the wild, murderous animal herself. She had had the nerve then to say that it wasn't her gator friends' fault. Maybe she was friends with bears too.

"If you think I'm gon' help you after all you and your family did to me-"

"Please", the Goode girl begged. "This got nothin' to do with me. Zoe ain't part of it."

"She knows you. That's bad enough."

The crying girl looked from one to the other with utter confusion on her face. "Please", she said and looked at Marie again. "I don't know what's going on, but if you can save him, won't you please? He means the world to me." Her voice broke. She started to sob and it crept beneath Marie's skin. An internal battle started, a rushed debate with one voice meaner than the other. The girl associated with the wrong people and she would pay too. Marie wanted to leave them, but Chantal's voice in the back of her mind reminded her he could be practice.

He would be practice alright.

"Fine. But you two needa go. You, girl, go to my sister's saloon again. Tell them all to come here. And you two stay far away."

Zoe sniffled and said: "Please let me stay with him. I'm all he has."

"You want your beau alive or no? I said go! My people will contact you when it's done."

Misty got up and started pushing at Zoe, who refused to move.

"Come one, Zoe, nothin' we can do." She looked at Marie with far too much kindness in her gaze. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet", Marie said in a cold voice. She didn't move until the both of them was out of sight. Then she got to work.

O0O

Hank wavered. Now that he was here, the prospect of facing Cordelia was abruptly terrifying. He felt like a cowardly boy who had run away from duty. He should have stayed with her and he knew it.

Everyone around him had encouraged him to take this trip, talk to Cordelia, make amends or do whatever he could to help. As far as his group for recovering addicts knew the paper filter that hung over his head was just the alcohol and his bad conscience for leaving his wife. They knew she had cheated and they knew she had a psychotic break, but they didn't know why. No one knew Hank had come back from the dead and quite possibly left his rescuer in his place. He had been in a car crash and had been dead for maybe a minute or so before someone had done CPR on him. Maybe it was Misty in the story, he couldn't remember now. Maybe he said that because it came close the guilt he felt. He was the reason she was probably dead now. But it had been her choice. He reminded himself of that.

Still he was afraid to go in there.

He spent most of the day wandering around the city, but avoiding the places he used to visit. All his regular bars were off limits. To be honest, all of them were. He was supposed to avoid temptation. So he stayed on the streets and knew no one would recognize him here. In reality, he didn't have many friends in the five years or so he had lived here. And he couldn't visit those he had, because everyone thought he was dead. Kaylee had been good that way. She had been his friend, his comfort and his distraction when he needed it. But he didn't love her. He thought maybe he could, but not as long as Cordelia still haunted him like this. They both knew that. Not that the knowledge made the breakup any easier. A life lesson: Never break up with a pyromaniac and then leave your apartment, he thought and laughed. Just never, fucking stupid idea.

He hadn't expected it to look different, but it felt different, the city. He felt like a visitor instead of an inhabitant. He was, given that he currently stayed at a hotel, but he thought he would feel a sense of belonging. Yet he felt like a stranger coming here for the first time.

When the time passed dinner, he had worked up enough courage to visit the Goode mansion. He had spent the day dreading the possibility that he would randomly run into Cordelia or her dragon mother somewhere in town. He didn't plan for any big entrance, but he didn't want it to feel like he was backing out either.

There was light in there. So someone must be living and breathing behind the threatening exterior of Fiona's house. With a rising heartbeat he took the steps up the isle and took one deep breath before he knocked. Here goes nothing, he thought.

At first nothing happened. There was a second, in which Hank wanted to use that silence as an excuse to run away and face this another day, but then steps sounded on the other site. All he had time to register was that it wasn't heels and he was a little relieved.

The door opened and Misty appeared.

It was hard to say which face displayed the biggest surprise. It wasn't until he saw her that he realized how firmly he had believed her to be dead. Yet there she was. For a few seconds they just stared at each other. Hank became increasingly unsure of what to say and Misty's gaze grew increasingly spiteful. He hated to admit that he also felt relieved from some of the guilt now that he knew she had apparently survived. He didn't have the mind to figure out how.

A call from somewhere in the depths of the house: "Who is it?" Cordelia's voice. A rock the size of North America fell from his heart at the sound. She sounded well. Steps followed but Hank was less nervous now. The worst seemed over already.

"It's… Hank", Misty said as if she couldn't quite believe it. The door ripped open and there was she was. He had forgotten how beautiful she was. In his stories she had taken on a much more hideous form in order for him to rationalize his own behavior. And maybe Kaylee had let him do it as well. But she was gorgeous and there was light in her eyes. Nothing like the last time he looked at them. He had also forgotten how much he liked that weird two-part colored eye thing.

Right now her eyes shone with astonishment.

"Hank? Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Um, came to say hi I guess. See if you were okay."

"After three years?" Misty's voice was hard and cold and her stare made him feel like he had walked into a wolf's den.

Cordelia gently coaxed Misty's stare away with a hand on her arm. They looked at each other and a quick, silent argument went on between them. Then Cordelia stepped forward and closed the door behind her, leaving Misty on the inside. Hank made space for her. For a second they just looked at each other.

"You look good", Hank finally said. "And well. Are you?"

Cordelia smiled. "I am. And thank you. How are you?"

"I'm…" You know fine, except my crazy ex burned down my apartment and up until now I thought Misty was dead, and the fact that she's not, but alive and breathing and with you makes me hate her a little bit again. "I'm good. I should have come by sooner, but I wasn't sure if I should, and… yeah."

"I'm glad you did. It's nice to see you." Her voice was the softest thing. It made him want to pull her close and it was the strangest feeling, knowing he wasn't allowed to anymore.

"Yeah you too. So are you… I guess I'm trying to ask, what happened that night? After I left? I thought Misty was-" He cut his own sentence off, because the light in Cordelia's eyes changed abruptly. He realized that it still hurt her, whatever had gone down.

"So did we. But she found her way back somehow. And so did I. It took a while, but I'm okay now. I have actually been off antidepressants for three years now." She said it with a proud smile, she tried to hide but couldn't. He saw no reason to, but was too awed to think to tell her that.

"Really? That's so great, Cordelia." He wavered again. He felt like she was hiding something. A secret dragged at the end of her sentence, he could hear it in her voice. It had been a while, but he still knew her after all. Instead of asking head-on, he pointed to the door. "So why all the secrecy? I mean, I know what the house looks like."

She looked back at the door as if her secret was written there, and then turned to him again, suddenly nervous.

"A lot has changed since you left. I should have reached out too, but like you, I didn't know if it was appropriate. But you should know."

Her unease made him nervous. He felt his heartbeat quicken a pace. "What? What should I know?"

She hesitated for just a moment, before she looked him in the eye and said: "You have a son."

A/N: I hope you guys are enjoying it so far! Sorry Kyle had to be collateral again, guess he just can't catch a break, the poor guy. Anyway. I would love to hear your thoughts on it :)