Fiona had thought to take the ring off her finger again to keep curious gazes away, but the sound of Cometh's voice rung in her ears and she let it be. She even thought she liked the sight of it on her hand. She felt beside herself, unrecognizable even to her own mind in this state. It might have felt just like this the first time, when she was engaged to Cordelia's father, but she had long since forgotten. It made this feeling seem so new and foreign. Yet unbreakable somehow. Nothing could touch it.

Except for Cordelia.

She saw it that night when Fiona came home. Fiona had come into the kitchen for an evening coffee and Cordelia had pointed at it. Fiona hadn't thought she would notice, being so caught up in her anxiety about Misty – which frankly had started to affect Fiona as well – but she took a moment out of her worry to notice the shiny object on Fiona's finger.

"You're engaged", she simply said. For once Fiona found her daughter hard to read and not the other way around. Her voice was soft and even, no sign of distaste in her features. No obvious sign at least, but Fiona knew Cordelia's opinion on Cometh. She looked up to catch Fiona's eye. "So he finally proposed?"

"Finally?"

Cordelia smiled a quiet smile. "I'm not blind to the way he looks at you. And he seems the sort to do that. Very gentleman-like."

Fiona nodded. "He is." She felt odd in a way, discussing her fiancé all of a sudden. It was a change of roles in some way and she didn't like it. It made her feel powerless, a slave to Cordelia's verdict. As if it would matter, because there would be no wedding. It was a different kind of promise, this ring. She considered telling Cordelia this, but kept it in. Fiona wouldn't condemn the both of them to her bed side, when one had already volunteered.

"I know it seems like I don't like him, but in truth I don't mind him as a person. He seems very nice."

Fiona nodded and made her coffee. She had to do something with her hands to withstand this awkward tension.

"So you really love him?" Christ, she wasn't going to stop. But this question was also different. She wasn't poking, merely asking. Fiona turned around again.

"Well we can't all be soulmates like you and the swamp monkey, but yes. I believe I do." Fiona stopped as she realized this was the first time she had said it. Cordelia noticed and she gave Fiona a couple of seconds in silence to absorb it, before she said:

"Congratulations, mom." The smile was real. And Fiona felt one following. The atmosphere grew warmer, but with the sudden ease came Fiona's need to be honest. Damn the weakness, she thought as admission pressed on.

She had shaped her lips around the C of her name, when Cordelia's face changed and Fiona took the way out.

"What's the matter?"

Cordelia shook her head, kept her eyes at her own nails. "I was just thinking of work tomorrow. I've been gone long enough now, but I just don't think I can concentrate. I feel like there's something really wrong." They were back to Misty, Fiona had no doubt. Cordelia looked up. "I know we had it worked out, as much as it could be. She wouldn't hide like this. And I can't just…" She cut herself off again and looked around the room with exasperation.

"You will go to work tomorrow", Fiona decided and held up a hand when Cordelia was about to interrupt. "Nothing good comes of sitting around here, pretending to have a cold and waiting for Misty to show up. You go to work, get something else on your mind and I'll find her and drag her back here. With my bare hands if I must."

"What about Cage?"

"I'll make sure to get him another babysitter, if Zoe is too busy."

Cordelia looked like she wanted to argue more, but silenced herself. "Thank you", she then said. She excused herself for bed not long after. Fiona sometimes watched Cordelia and Misty get ready for bed together, those few nights she was at home at the same time. It made her think of how aimless Cordelia looked now. When she and Misty fought over the space at the sink or just chatted while getting ready, a bit of their childhood atmosphere resurfaced and it gave Fiona peace in a weird way. This just looked wrong. She truly looked like a significant weight was missing from her atmosphere.

Misty had better be hanging from some tree, to excuse herself for leaving Cordelia like this.

The next morning Fiona made sure Cordelia actually left for work – which was completely unnecessary because her daughter was nothing if not responsible – and then took to calling their spare nannies. Zoe had fallen off the radar and Cordelia had made Fiona promise not the bother the girl too much.

By noon she still had no babysitter. And her patience was slipping up.

She glanced sideways at Cage and he stared back up at her. Sometimes she swore he read the room better than a normal kid should be able to, because he asked her: "When mama come?"

No one ever doubted which mother he was referring to and Fiona contemplated his words as if they were suggestions made by an adult.

"I could just bring you with me. The path has always been safe. Do you want to visit mama?"

"Yea!" He squealed and clapped his little hands. He got to his feet at once that clumsy way little children do and asked her: "Say hi to Nick?"

Christ, that woman was something. Letting her child play with alligators. She was something else for sure.

Fiona decided to pack him up and go there herself. She brought the little sling to carry him in, but put him in the stroller for as long as it would go. He might be small, but she was too weak to carry even that. Too much exercise and the sweat broke out like a fever on her skin. She had an appointment with the doctor next week and she knew that when he saw that he would have her admitted. The last thing she needed was for the junior doctor to order her a bed at the local hospital.

Sweat or not she would wait for Misty in that godforsaken shack all day if she had to. She pushed the stroller through the outskirts of town and down along the path leading to the meadow where Misty used to live. Fiona hadn't tread this path many times but it seemed more threatening to her today. Cage did his to make the trip light with his constant chatter and pointing and naming things – none of his mother's fear of the woods seemed to have rubbed off on him and Fiona suspected that was Misty's doing – but the darkness remained. The shadows seemed denser.

"Goddamn premonition again", she muttered to herself.

"What, grandma?" Cage asked and tried to crane his neck to look up at her.

"Nothing, darling. You keep counting the trees for me, okay?"

"Okay", he said and continued counting. He counted the trees all the way to the clearing. He couldn't count further than ten, so he just started over, clueless to the never ending line of numbers following ten. Reading an atmosphere like a page in a book was no hardship, but this, it seemed, was too much for his little mind. When they reached the door, they stopped. Cage's cheerful voice ceased to spit out numbers. They both felt it, that peculiar change in atmosphere. The dark of the house.

Fiona refused to be scared by these little intrusive thoughts. She released Cage from the stroller, which had thankfully made it all the way, wiped the sweat from her forehead and led him to the door. No one knew this place, except for the family, and if the goddamn fox had gone out here, she had only laughter. Him she could handle.

She opened the door and the person sitting in the chair opposing the door wasn't Hank. It was Marie Laveau.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Fiona snapped, but the unease registered in her voice to her own regret. She instinctively tightened her grip on Cage's little hand and her eyes scanned the room. In the corner by the kitchen sat Misty, curled up with her arms around her knees and a look of absolute terror on her face.

"Mama!" The sound of his voice rung clearly through the oppressed air and Misty's head snapped up. Her eyes widened and the fear in them intensified. But she didn't move. She only shook her head very slowly.

"Mama?" Cage started to wiggle his hand out of Fiona's, but she grasped tighter around him in response. The naked fear in Misty's face had her heart beating twice its normal speed and she cursed that premonition inwardly. Then she looked to Laveau again.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?"

"Well hello to you too, Fiona Goode", Laveau said, smiling. There was a mania to that smile and it brought a rush of regret to Fiona's chest. Laveau really had lost her mind in her grief and whatever she had planned for revenge, she would do it now. She had warned Fiona, but Fiona hadn't listened, thought she could ignore the war away. Now she was trapped. The door was open yet, but she knew running made no difference at all.

"Whatever problem you have with me, leave the boy out of it. Let me take him back."

"The boy stays!" Laveau hissed. "You don't make no demands, Fiona. I'm in charge now."

"You are goddamn crazy is what you are-"

Cage interrupted her by yanking at her hand. "I wanna say hi to mama!" He sounded nervous as well, but it was impossible not to pick up on the tension in here. He fought against her grip, but Fiona didn't let him go just yet. She looked at Misty, who stared from her boy and to Laveau. Her eyes were pleading. This above all was what made Fiona scared. Misty never pleaded anyone. She was too fierce to ask permission. Her feral aura had not left her though; she looked more like an animal than ever, but not one ready to defend itself. She looked like a cornered rabbit. And Marie Laveau was a taunting wolf.

Laveau nodded then and Misty looked back at Cage, forced out a smile. She unfolded from the curled up position and stretched his hands out to him. The boy fought Fiona's hand again and only now did she let go. He flew across the room and into Misty's arms. She desperately hugged his little body close, but she said nothing to him. When he stroked her dirty face and asked if she was okay, she only nodded and hugged him again.

"What have you done to her?" Fiona demanded.

Laveau laughed, a cruel, mocking laughter. "I can take slaves too. I can torment your people just like you tormented mine."

"For Christ's sake, woman, would you leave it? Delphine is dead and gone and she was a one-woman hate crime against you. I had nothing to do with it."

She leaned forward in the chair and hissed, almost like a snake: "Doing nothin' makes you an accomplice. Hatin' my kind enough to let it go on doesn't forgive that you never touched any of them."

"I don't give two smoking shits about your kind! But mind you, I don't discriminate, because I don't give to smoking shits about my own kind either! You need to stop punishing me for something your twisted mind made up!"

"Enough!" Laveau hissed. "Bring the boy to me!"

To Fiona's icy terror, Misty got to her feet, picked up her son and walked to the Voodoo Queen. She whimpered when Cage asked her what she was doing, but she didn't answer him. She stopped two steps from the chair, still clutching the child in her arms. There was panic in her gaze.

Laveau looked up at her with a leading gaze. Misty clenched her jaw and shook her head, holding the child tighter. The stare down continued until Misty's eyes fluttered, her grip loosened and she let Cage dump onto Laveau's lap.

"Misty what the hell are you doing?"

Finally she turned her gaze to Fiona. "I'm sorry", she whispered. Fiona had never heard her sound so miserable. Their last conversation in this shack was a completely different kind of pain. Last time she was afraid of losing Cordelia. Now she was just all around terrified. She sounded like the little girl who was scared of nightlights once a thousand years ago.

"So you can speak. I thought perhaps she had silenced you somehow." She ignored Laveau's scoff and looked at Misty.

"Can't speak unless spoken to", she whispered.

"What did she do to you?"

Misty opened her mouth to speak, but Laveau interrupted her: "Enough of this! Misty, close the door."

Misty did. Fiona stepped aside, afraid to touch Misty, as if whatever control she was under might be contagious. In the few seconds where they were close, Fiona notice how much Misty trembled. She heard her breathing too; she sounded utterly breathless, as if she was fighting some war Fiona couldn't see. She looked like she could drop to the ground with exhaustion at any moment. Cage started to whimper, stared at his mama with fright, but Misty shook his head at him, held a finger to her lips. He whined a little, but silenced. Again, he read the room like no other kid Fiona knew and he quieted. Or perhaps his mother's terror rubbed off on him and left him just as stunned as Fiona was.

"Fiona", Laveau drew her attention again. "I'm real tired of your face. You think you own this town with your fancy company and your pet witch here. She my pet now and look what she can do." Laveau looked at Misty instead and Misty drew a sharp, trembling breath. "A choice for you, witch. We're going to cut your family here in half and you get to pick which one to cut down."

Fiona's blood froze.

"You're insane…"

But Laveau only looked at Misty. "Make a choice."

"No", she begged. Her voice was weak, the sound of defeat already in it. She sounded like someone who knew the fight and knew the outcome.

The maddest look yet came over the Voodoo Queen's eyes. "Then I guess I'll make it." She looked down at the frozen boy in her lap and began speaking in a foreign language: "Kill th-"

"No! No no please don't, please!" Misty screamed and Fiona found herself yelling the same words with equal panic. She knew nothing of this language, but she understood enough.

"Well then…" Laveau said.

Misty began to cry. She just closed her eyes for a second and the tears streamed down. Her whole body shook.

Then she opened her eyes again and looked at Fiona.

"I'm sorry", she said and it cramped in Fiona's chest. The fear of the coming yes, but mostly the devastation in the wet eyes of her daughter-in-law.

Fiona drew a sharp breath and braced herself.

O0O

Fiona and Misty looked at each other in silence. Misty's eyes grew hard and she started to move. Fiona flinched, backed up against the wall and then she looked to Marie, eyes wide and wild.

"For love of God, stop this madness! She never did a thing to you. She healed your goddamn men!"

"Liar", Marie hissed. She had shut her mind down. Her humanity lay curled up under the blankets at home. Something had come over her the minute her spy had informed her of Fiona's plans to come out here. Now there was only revenge and better it be something powerful enough to fill the hole inside her. Fiona's weak attempts for salvation helped, because it infuriated her. The witch's tears didn't touch her. The squirming child on her lap had stopped moving and that too helped her focus. The weight of his body brought out too much pain and it too focused her. She would put him to sleep soon. "I have a dead child roaming my halls, tellin' different stories", she said to Fiona.

Fiona's eyes widened further and she opened her mouth to answer, but Marie yelled at Misty instead, urged her forward. Misty lunged, caught Fiona by the neck and smacked her against the wall. The old woman's body caved in an instant, resisted none against the shove. The light in her eyes had changed. The fear had gone out of them and only fury was left. Fury directed at her.

The boy in her lap started to cry.

"Hold on a moment, witch." Misty stiffened, a hand still around Fiona's neck. Marie drew out the potion she had made earlier. She flipped the lit off the bottle and forced it into the boy's mouth before he could object. Fiona yelled out, but Marie tuned it out.

The effect was immediate. His eyes fluttered and he fell back against Marie's chest, fast asleep.

"If that stuff kills him, so help me God, Marie, I will haunt you forever", Fiona quacked in a voice choked by tears and fury and Misty's hands. Marie only laughed at her.

"Unlike you, I'm a woman of my words. It's a sleepin' potion. Bit of forgetful roots as well. He won't remember nothin'. Maybe I take him home with me, forget this ever happened?"

Misty snarled at her, a snarl angry and animal enough that the hairs stood on her arms. It only infuriated her further.

"Now get on with it, witch!" The witch cringed.

Eye contact appeared between the two. Misty's hand trembled around Fiona's neck.

"I'm sorry", she whispered again.

"Better you than my own goddamn body", Fiona said. Her voice sounded more strained by the second. "You take care of my daughter. No matter what she might do."

The witch nodded. Then her whole body tightened up, she whimpered and Fiona stared to gasp for air. At first she appeared to resist fighting back, but as the grip tightened, her instincts took over and she flung her arms around, trying to scratch Misty, hit her, peel her off. But Misty was far stronger. Her right arm trembled harder. Fiona made gagging noises, her eye started to bulge. Misty made a swift adjustment of her wrist, screamed and squeezed. When she let go, Fiona fell to the ground, lifeless.

Marie watched from the chair. Her mind had gone blank. She reached into the pocket of her jacket and drew out a small knife. She pointed at Misty, who looked back at her with an empty gaze.

"I know you can't use your powers. But in the event it wears off, I don't want this one comin' back. So you'll cut her heart out to make sure. If you can't reattach limps, you sure as hell can't regrow a heart."

Misty took it without a word. Stared at it and then at the lifeless Fiona. She might still be breathing, Marie thought. Choking someone with their bare hands is hard. Damian had just tried this on Chinwee the other day and he couldn't do it, despite the extra human strength death had granted his small hands.

Marie looked down at the sleeping child in her arms. Just a few minutes ago, she had been dead set on taking the boy with her. There was no way Misty would pick him for death. And he could be her new child, she could make him forget. Only now when she thought of Damian she saw all the ways this blonde little child could never be hers.

Instead of taking him, she got up from the chair and placed him on the ground. He lay still there by the legs of the chair, sleeping a dreamless sleep of amnesia. The potion was made with the same roots the dust that controlled Misty was. Only now it granted sleep and not control. He would wake up later with no memory of this day. He was just a child, not part of the war.

Marie looked at Misty, who stood over Fiona with the knife clutched in her hand. When she looked up, her eyes shone with the purest form of hate. It flashed with the tears, eluded from her ragged breaths. Marie was sure that if she could, she would have gone for Marie herself with that knife.

"Get to work!" She hissed and Misty did.

When it was done, Marie left the shack without a second glance.

A/N: So I imagine some of you will be less pleased now. Sorry about that, just know that we are far from done. I wish I could write faster, so you didn't have to wait so long, but alas, my stupid hand sets the pace.

To the one asking, I don't hate Misty. I love her, she's my favorite character. She's also the strongest, which is why she gets dealt the hard cards. That might seem unfair, but from a writer's perspective – mine at least – it's what makes the good stuff. I hope you'll bear with my need to push the characters and see where it takes them. As always, any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.