POV Narrator:
Thursday, 8th January 2004, Dublin, Ireland
Laura was cursed, just like Diana, McLaren moved back to her family home, where she had to explain the whole situation, where she was already preparing to arrange a cure and so who knows also find a way to see her daughter again and leave the family united again, besides also putting Daryl behind the bars, but she didn't expect that things could get worse than they were getting worse.
A few days after Laura's return she ended up having a strange nightmare, where she was relating in a peculiar way with her own sister, even telling the next morning, what she didn't expect was the sign that
would come a few days later.
POV Laura:
I am feeling a bit sick, what a strange ding, I don't know why now I am feeling dis, but I am too shaken, since Bern is separated from me and also from Diana dings only get even more 'orrible... I go running to de bathroom, where I end up vomiting, de nausea is very strong, I don't know what is 'appening, but dis is too strange, I end up vomiting until de soul is out of de body, when I look to the side of see my sister.
"Is everything alright sis?" She asks and I slyly stare at 'er, still looking worried.
"I didn't eat anything too much, I'm just nauseous, it's too weird, it's reminding me of when I was pregnant with Hellene" I tell 'er who gets a shocked face, which I 'ave no idea why she's like dis.
"Chelsea? Do you 'ave something to say about dat?" I ask 'er, already suspicious.
"No, I'm just worried about my sis, you must be suffering a lot with all this, I can still imagine what it must be like to be away from Diana and Bern too, you don't deserve to go through dis, lettle sis" she said and I got a suspicious look on my face.
Taking me from de toilet, flushing, still feeling a bit dizzy, I 'ope it's nothing major, but I 'ave my suspicions, I go to de living room, get my wallet, I see April was around, which is good I need 'er.
"April come here" I say to Jordan.
We walk to my room, I start to get de money, my suspicions are very 'igh, I see in de messages too and as always Bern being attentive and showing 'ow Diana was, what an adorable lettle ding, I miss dem so much... But now it's serious.
"What is it Laura? Is something wrong?" She asks.
"Very suspicious actually, I want you to go to de pharmacy and buy me pregnancy tests, I dink dere is something very strange going on with me"
"You dink you're pregnant? Laura, did you and Bern do it again?" she asks.
"We don't use de fertility stone, it 'as only been used twice, but dere is something strange, it could be my paranoia" I tell April.
Some time later, when April buys the test and Laura goes to the bathroom to test it, she has the biggest fright...
I take dis ding away from me, when I take my finger off de ding I see the lettle red trace, I don't believe it, I can only be wrong about dis, let me see it with another, let's see if dis is really true, den I start to do it with another, I keep waiting to come, when I take it off... Positive, it wasn't the one that was broken... dat nightmare... Dat wasn't a nightmare, it really happened.
I take the test in hand, devastated I walk out of the bathroom, I walk down de 'allway seeing dat Hellene was in bed, I start to cry, I dink of Bern's reaction, I dink of everyone's reaction... I can't believe Chelsea was capable of all dis, I go to the living room and dere was everyone.
"Is everything OK Laura? I know you've been a bit down, boeht join us" My mum said, until I took de pregnancy test off my back.
"What the fuck is dis Chelsea?" I say already getting serious with 'er who gets a shocked expression.
"Laura are you pregnant? You dedn't tell us you were 'aving a third child, you and Bern are really full of love" said my mother who was in shock.
"Dat's wonderful! We are going to 'ave a third granddaughter" said my father, I was quiet in mine, just staring deeply at Chelsea.
"And why aren't you so 'appy with dis news Laura? It could be another way to liven up de 'ouse" Mum said.
"Because de mother of dis child is not Bernadette, why doesn't de mother of dis girl get up right now and reveal 'erself? Or are you not ashamed of what you did to me you bastard" I say right in front of Chelsea who gets scared.
"Chelsea?" Everyone spoke in shock when dey noticed dat I was facing my younger sister.
"Laura... Laura... Please, sis, understand me, I just wanted to 'ave a child, I dedn't imagine dat you would end up being de pregnant one, it was just a lettle accident" She said and I was already clenching my fist.
"Oh so if you got pregnant after what you did to me dat would be fine, wouldn't it? Chelsea do you have any idea what you did, you hurt my consent and my dignity, if you really wanted a child it would be fine, we could donate de blood for you to make yours with de fertility stone you got, but not with my blood, do you 'ave any idea dat de child could be born with some defect because of dat? Do you have any idea dat you... Do you 'ave any idea dat you... I can't even speak de word" I say in disgust.
"Why did you do dis to your big sister? Do you know it is a crime?" said my mother as I burst into tears.
"Sorry sis... I just dedn't want to..." She said and I just turn my back.
"Bernadette will know about dis, I don't want to talk to you anymore Chelsea, what you ded to me was inhuman, I am disgusted with you" I say crying and going to de bedroom.
Laura eventually told her wife about what had happened, but no one expected her to come out the same day, full of fury, especially towards Chelsea, who everyone was kind of still processing the idea of what had happened by then...
I stare at de window, I see dat Bern was coming, she really seems pretty pissed off since she called me, I'm afraid of what will 'appen, I go downstairs, when I get downstairs, I see Bern with de same face dat 'ad been on when Daryl revealed what she did.
"Bern! My little cabbage, you came..." I was going to 'ug 'er, but I was pushed aside.
"Not now Laura" she said in a very serious tone.
I followed 'er, worried, she goes to de living room, seeing dat everybody circulated Chelsea, kind of talking to 'er all upset, in my head de only thing dat I remembered was de nightmare I 'ad, which in reality was something very true? She was capable of something like dat, for de nine witches... My own sister doing something like dat is horrible to imagine, Chelsea stands up and 'olds 'er 'and out to Bern.
"You forgive me Bern, I don't... - What I see afterwards is a well-timed punch, Bern drops de punch on my sister.
I couldn't stay shocked, seeing dat gave me some relief, it was a violence dat I suffered, one of dose dat I will be marked for de rest of my life, seeing dat she was punching very 'ard, to de point dat afterwards my mother and father needed to hold my wife, she still kept trying to get out, until she used 'er magic, but April, April and my mother and I 'eld her back.
"Calm down Bernadette! - We all said.
"I wull nae calm doon fernent that stalker! this trespasser! she invaded mah wife's privacy 'n' pat something in her, a pain that wull lest laura th' rest o' her lee! ye'r a monster! yer a deplorable human bein' chelsea mclaren!" said Bern and I made 'er words mine, although I felt sorry for my sister, who was beaten to a pulp.
After the nerves have calmed down...
Dings got pretty tense, but we could let go of Bern, she kind of noticed 'ow devastated I was and dat it was better to focus on me, so much dat she kept stroking me, everyone around was doing de same, my sister was staying away, good, I don't want 'er near, so much dat she was going towards de exit.
"Where are you going Chelsea?" my mother asks.
"I will do the right ding, I did something 'orrible, I 'ave to pay for it" she said.
"You can't run away, remember what you did to your sister, she 'ad all de good things, you have no idea dat de biggest damage was done to 'er" Mum said.
"I know, dat's exactly why I'm going to prison, I 'ave to pay for de crime I've done, I won't feel clean until I do dis, I'm sorry for everything gingerbread, I overreacted... You know I love you" she said and all I could do was feel disgust.
She was leaving, I even dought it was a lie, so much dat I signaled April to follow, I want to check if she's telling de truth and so she did, I was just a lettle devastated, after everything, my sister lowered de level, I dought I 'ad a sister who was a sweet person, but it turns out I was wrong.
"Sae what are ye going tae do now? The fetus is starting tae develop and it' s on the first weeks, perfect fae ye tae abort love" Bern said and I shook my head in denial.
"I won't go, even though she is de fruit of all this, I prefer dat de child is still born, I want Chelsea to remember every moment of what she did and dat she takes care of dis girl right, that she becomes aware, besides I would never abort a child of mine, it's not 'er fault" I say passing my 'and on my belly.
"Bern is somewhat right, de best thing to do is for you to abort, are you really going to carry dis burden? Chelsea is already paying for what she did, are you goin to suffer for something dat is not your fault?" Mum said.
"I do not want an abortion... I'm very supportive of dose who do, but I'm not goin to... I'm goin to 'ave dis child, give 'er all the love she needs, if Chelsea wants dis child, dis child she will 'ave and I hope she 'as de shame on 'er face to take it on" I say motivated.
"Well it's yer decision love, I won't dictate what ye want, it's yer body, even with what happened she won't stop being yer daughter, ye know that dinnae ye? - said the cabbage.
"Yes and I'm going to be a caring mother, I'm not going to discount anything dat 'appened because she was conceived dat way, I 'ave bigger priorities to do, I'm going to Arcturus to sort something out with Woodward dat needs sorting out" I tell 'er.
"And what name will you give 'er? - Mum asks.
"Dat I leave for Chelsea to decide" I tell everyone.
POV Narrator:
And things became a huge difficulty next, Chelsea confessed to the crimes, she was soon sentenced to 15 years in prison for the non-consensual relationship, since the other crime was not a crime by Irish law, well ironically because the two sisters were of the same sex, in this it was also decided that the child's name would be Holly.
But in prison things did not go well for the newly arrived girl, it was a huge news story as Chelsea was an up and coming actress, being in every tabloid in the news and to make matters worse, soon the people in jail got wind of it too.
On January 21, 2004, Chelsea McLaren was put in an ambush by other inmates, she couldn't escape, being stabbed by sticks of them with improvised knives, what ended up killing the redhead, who couldn't even see her daughter before she died, what was another news that shook the emotional of the whole family, Even Bernadette was shocked, since in prison they didn't forgive the girl for doing what she did, besides that the guards themselves set it up to happen, being even revealed later, with the same guards being expelled, but not arrested, without really paying for what happened.
Laura in this time already very shaken went to Arcturus, to solve a last thing, since she still wanted to find the cure for the curse of the spheres, and that was exactly what she went to do, but for that she would have a
huge cost, while the things in the Cavendish mansion until then were changing, with the absence of Laura the things went very wrong.
Wednesday 4 February 2004, Arcturus
Laura arrives at the forest of Arcturus, already with something in mind, she looks at the tower, where then Woodward appears, in the middle of the sky full of fog and the strong cold that it was already doing, it was the middle of the night, the moon appeared in the surroundings, indicating that it was the right time, which Woodward makes a point of showing his faces.
POV Laura:
Enough of dis, I want to change de world, but dat's not how I'm going to change it, first of all I don't want it to cost me being away from my family, dey deserve to see me, above all I 'ope dis ding ends, I've already been three months without seeing my family and I'm not going to stay any longer than that.
"Laura McLaren, you want to know one more word? Why don't you look it up in books or something, I can't help you, you need to find out the meaning of each one yourself" Woodward said and I nodded.
"I don't want to know any more words or Claiomh Solais, I just want dis to be over, I've suffered too much precisely because of dis shit, I don't want to change de magic, nor be de chosen one anymore, what's de use of all dis and not being able to be close to the one I love?" I tell 'er.
"Do you intend to give up? De chosen one cannot give up, once with Claiomh Solais, always with Claiomh Solais" she said.
"If dat is so I will kill myself after my daughter is born, I will not stay away from 'er, at least dis way de staff passes to the next important witch, my three daughters stay together, I know my wife may not like it very much, but you give me no option" I tell 'er dat passes de hand on 'er face.
"I know you're desperate, but we can do a swap then, just like you can yes quit being the chosen one, but you need to do something big to ditch that, like shoot the moon," Woodward said.
"I would do anything to be able to be with my other daughter and 'er family - I tell 'er.
"So make your request, I'll do it in exchange for your staff, I can have what you so much desire, that's the most I can do, since you found five words, the range is limited to my magical power" I've already gone dinking of something to do.
"I want de cure for de curse of de spheres of enatite, but I don't want to be cured, nor my daughter, I want de knowledge behind the cure, so dat I can spread it and prevent it from ever happening to anyone else but me, I know I can't change de world with de Claiomh Solais anymore, but I can still change it with my actions, de staff is not important, but de actions I take as a witch" I tell 'er and she snaps 'er fingers.
"Okay, if that is your request, it will be granted, it is within my limitations, but know that it cannot be instantaneous as you think it is, anyway, it is a shame really, you have the heart and actions of a chosen one, I even thought that it could be you this witch, one more word came than the previous one, well at this rate it seems that the next one will also come close, anyway, now just shoot the moon and your request will be given" Woodward said.
I felt de power of de magic in my hands, de branches involving 'er, reaching my wrist and den my arms, now it's time to put an end to this, I look up to the sky, I concentrate a lot, I look at de moon, she is beautiful, but it's time to end dis, I feel de power of de ballista, something I haven't felt before, 'itting de moon, forming a crater on it, I am even impressed, den de staff crumbling in my hand.
"I hope de next witch can make it" I say looking at de sky.
Den I see Woodward crumbling into several butterflies, at dat a book appears in de middle of everything, going to my hand, it was what I needed, everything becomes more detailed, at least now I can put an end to dis, for de return to see my daughter... Even if it takes a while, I will spread dis knowledge to everyone.
"Danks for everything Woodward, take good care of de next one" I say looking at de sky.
I grab my broom and fly home, now I just have to solve everything, I 'ope it doesn't take too long, because I don't want to lose my girl's childhood, besides I'm afraid of what Daryl intends to do since Bern is alone dere with Diana, she might try de worst, I'll never doubt 'er ability to cause de worst.
Arriving in Ireland...
I land at home, I see Bern has come to visit me, good to know, I hope Diana is well, I walk over to 'er where I give 'er a nice kiss and soon I put the book on de table, I am filled with excitement, which we soon open de book.
"This is going tae be a new chapter in our lives, ye'll see love, we'll soon all be back together" she said.
"I 'ope so, I 'ave a feeling it's going to be a while" I say dis 'alf still feeling bad, I'm destroyed after de last events.
"Let's see what we have tae do, then we can plan much better" she said.
We opened de page in which it was basically explaining what de curse was and how it worked, even having a recipe of basically 'ow to do it, but my interest was in going drough de pages, where it gets to de antidote, finally what I wanted, it will be quiet.
"Cristyer's Petal a legendary flower found in Arcturus, cannot be plucked, having to be created by a specific type of soil, The soil with the fertilisers present in the faeces of a cockatrice, with much care to be taken, it can only be made from seed, taking 10 years for it to grow and blossom, it is one of the main ingredients along with its pollen"
"10 years! 'Ow are we goin to find dis! How are we goin to do dis?" I say in shock.
"We have tae find the flower, but the important thing is tae have a seed" Bern said.
"With your due care taken, the antidote has to be made within an hour of collecting the flower, and cannot take longer than that or it spoils and does not pass the nutrients on to the other ingredient that ends up taking what is needed from the petals."
"Haera fungus, a fungus that takes the nutrients and ferments the petals of Cristyer's, it can be collected and preserved, it must be used at the time the flower is removed, then requiring the use of mixing with water from the Bagras cave outside Arcturus at a temperature between 50 to 55 degrees Celsius"
"We are screwed, tae find all this will be a huge effort, but it is a worthwhile effort, we have tae take the risk, well we will find the seed of this and the other ingredients" said Bern.
"I am sure we will, even if it takes 10 years, we have to manage somehow, I want to come back to you" I tell Bern taking 'er hand.
"After gathering all these ingredients it will be necessary to stir everything with milk and let it mature for 2 years inside a specific bottle, and then with the liquid maturing the potion is ready for consumption"
"Wow, dis is going to taste really bad, but if we do it right, we'll be able to find a cure in just two or three years, we'll just wait for Holly to be born, I don't want to risk my life in Arcturus 'aving de responsibility of being a mother" I tell 'er who smiles at me.
"Leave it tae me, I'll go fae ye love, I'll get the ingredients and ye go about making things, in the worst case scenario we could lose 12 years of Diana's life, but it could be an expense that will buy itself in the end, I'm sure everything will work out" Bern said.
"I 'ope and pray that I don't lose Diana's childhood, I'll be watching over 'er all dis time" I say looking at de book and we start writing down a list of ingredients.
After leaving everything written down we kissed each other, we went to de bedroom, where Hellene was, she was playing with my mother looking all cute, my lettle girl will be one year old soon, she will be all smart, my other one will be two, I missed de years when Diana was a baby, but 'ope cannot die.
"And den, did you get the cure?" asks the mother.
"It's a long road, it could take two years, or else 12 years, it will all depend on 'ow we 'andle de whole situation," I say to mum.
"I 'ope dey get it soon, Hellene, Diana and Holly deserve to be close to each other, it's too unfair what Daryl did to you" Mum said.
"I will do my best fae us to make it" Bern said.
"I take care of Hellene 'ere, enjoy it and go show a lettle more of dis love, it's been a long time since I've 'eard anything from you, so much time guarding yourselves" Mom said and I even blushed a little.
"Yer mother is right Freckles, I miss feeling ye" She said wrapping me in a 'ug.
And we both walked to my room, but it was a bit messy, I 'adn't tidied up since I arrived, still all knocked down and depressed, I 'onestly got more and more devastated by it all, but seeing Bern, she was looking at me, I don't want to do dese things in dis area.
"I guess we'll have tae clean up this mess won't we Freckles?" she said and I nodded my 'ead laughing.
"Tidy up de mess and then mess everything up, I love dat" I tell 'er and started to put dings back in place, really my room looks like a mess.
POV Narrator:
And Bernadette started doing her research, getting more books to use together, since the book itself only showed ingredients, but it would be necessary to know where each one of them were, including the seeds themselves, one that was bought and was the last one at The Last Wednesday Society, but the rest of the ingredients themselves were still being found one by one, with the seed still kept to be fertilized.
That year Bernadette was alternating between work and the research for the cure, besides taking care of Diana, being very busy, as well as Laura who was taking care of a daughter and was pregnant with another one, it was a complicated year, so much so that the couple decided to wait a little more for 2005, but it was a good year for researching and writing down how she did each thing.
On September 2, 2004, Holly McLaren, Laura's third child, was born, being officially registered as her daughter with Chelsea, after all.
2005 starts, being a year where everything is being new, Laura was starting to start her recovery after the pregnancy, in this starts to catch fire the beginning to find the cure, having the help of a special witch, who is already in Arcturus, where they are communicating, exactly thanks to April's invention that guaranteed the signal to be transmitted between Luna Nova and the rest of the world. Croix Meridies, who had entered the academy of witchcraft in September 2004, she was a vital piece to be able to collect the ingredients, helping the couple as needed.
In the same year also begins new projects, Laura starts to start a game together with April besides Bernadette participating there, to be her definitive game to help to divulge someone that is in the middle, exactly the girl Chariot Du Nord that was already starting to make presentations in the village of Loperec as the Shiny Chariot.
Finally the seed was planted, since they were having trouble finding the plant anyway, they appealed to use a safe approach too and go cultivating the plant, with the frequent harvesting of the Arcturus soil, using the cockatrice droppings as fertilizer and the sacred water of the Du Nord as weekly irrigation of the plant as stated in the ingredients, for more efficiency too, in the worst case scenario the potion would be ready in 2017, but time was starting to show its faces.
One more ally enters in Luna Nova, this time nothing less than the little Chariot, now a much more grown up girl, with 15 years old the young girl was already becoming an adult girl, starting there with Croix a friendship, besides constant visits, where the Irish herself brought Hellene and Holly to Luna Nova from time to time.
2006, nobody noticed, but Daryl started to initiate her plan there, to make Bernadette sick, with her poison that had the effect of exactly killing in one year as it was given, starting to use a maid to deliver the adulterated medicines for Cavendish that didn't care that those pills were killing her little by little, and she kept taking them, what was very strange and there the health condition of the woman herself was getting worse.
As the researches go on and on, and they can't find the petals or the flower to start the potion, they just keep on cultivating the plant that was growing slowly, with a very thorough care by Laura.
Diana was already 4 years old, she was already much smarter, she constantly listened stories from her mother about the past, still without saying directly about Laura, because they still had many things to hide, as
Hellene was getting 3 years old and she was already starting to be a smarter baby and Holly with 2 years old was growing more, feeling happy with the presence of Chariot.
But things are not going well, the year of 2006, is having another roller coaster, where everything is going downhill, Bernadette keeps getting worse and worse without realizing that it was the medicine she took every month given by the maid hired by Daryl, giving a beautiful concern in Laura who found it all suspicious. Little Diana was also starting to suffer bullying
from her aunt and cousins, because of her tastes and because she was Bernadette's daughter.
In the middle of this a good thing is spreading that is Shiny Chariot starting to be more known, besides that she ended up having the biggest luck of all, being the chosen by Claiomh Solais, in the beginning of that year, shocking Croix that ended up being a little bit envied and full of hate for that, but with Laura's presence she controlled herself a lot, but fights were constant between the two friends because of that.
The first fans are appearing, she becomes a success among the kids, specially the young ones, like Diana and Hellene.
2007, Bernadette stops once and for all with the research, debilitated she was moved away from the hospital, barely managing to work properly, it was noticeable that her health condition was getting much worse and with each pill she only got more knocked down, she was already noticing that she was about to leave, in a strange way, since she was always very healthy.
Laura ended up just focusing on growing the plant more, since the other ingredients she already had on hand to keep the plant whole, giving up for a while on finding the long awaited petals, but things were still there to get more tense.
Chariot on the other hand was starting to climb a lot, thanks to Laura's tutoring, the words came with an enormous facility, one by one the Du Nord was discovering, arriving incredibly until exactly the sixth word, but the envy of Croix was growing a lot, she was not satisfied because she was not the chosen one, besides she was getting a lot of Laura and April's attention, since they focused a lot on the help of Chariot seeing her as the possible witch that would change the world, inclusive to the point of preparing to launch a game that was going to be a great release.
This game had a little bit of both hands being prepared to be released in the summer of 2007, that summer that will have one of the worst events to come, since Bernadette kept getting worse, month by month.
It was clear that something very wrong was happening there, but nobody had the notion, Daryl was very surgical in keeping everything very imperceptible, Bernadette's condition was getting a near death condition, she had already lost a lot of weight, besides that she couldn't eat properly, she coughed blood sometimes, Daryl looked at that laughing a lot, nobody expected that the worst would happen, but it did.
See you, breakdown witches...