Taylor slept in Annette's arms as they went home.

It was... strange realizing just this body was unlike her own flesh and blood. Her own flesh and blood that was in a cemetery, no doubt rotten and infested by this point. The thought made discomfort and displeasure roll through Annette. Was it normal to feel possessive over your corpse? Was it just a natural thing to want to protect your components? It didn't feel like it. People lost their limbs and missed them, but Annette wasn't upset with the loss of her body, she just wanted her body back. Not in the sense that she wanted to inhabit it either, it was a ruined mess by now, but Annette wanted to have it stored in a little box. That was definitely not normal, but the body was hers damnit.

At least getting home was easy enough. Annette noticed that Danny's truck was gone and frowned. Hopefully he was out looking for Taylor, and she felt awful for worrying him but what exactly could she do? Call the cops and say, no, I found the Hebert girl, I'm her mother back from the dead in a puppet-body? The thought made Annette grimace. She had been a Lustrum henchwoman, she'd seen how capes were handled. The coercion, force, blackmail, and all around abuse of their powers. Parahumans were never mentally well and that made them targets for ostracization and exploitation more than just the tremendous amount of power capes could hold.

Hell, Lustrum's body was a hardlight construct powered by nearby energy, dangerous yes, but not the worst and certainly unworthy of making her public enemy number one and dealing with her politically. Lustrum hadn't been as extreme of a misandrist at the start or even partway through her campaign, it was only when the world turned on her and she was locked up by those who would not see the status quo challenged that she actually developed the violent inclinations presumed of her. That wasn't to say Lustrum was innocent by any stretch, but she was a monster of the government's own making.

The idea of what could happen to her Taylor if anyone found out she was a builder or constructor or whatever the term was, that was horrifying. Her body refused to feel revulsion at the idea of being brought back from the dead but the implications of Taylor's powers were enough to garner international attention and a kill order on the mere idea that any power having her abilities would be too dangerous. That was without Annette even considering the strange silver body she inhabited now. It wasn't human, no, it was distinctively something human-shaped but undeniably inhuman. Annette didn't want to toot Taylor's horn too much but she knew that her daughter was a decent enough artist and what she had produced was certainly art, but Taylor knew how to make a better human figure than Annette's shell well before powers got involved. This had to be a deliberate design choice

Annette brushed a strand of Taylor's hair behind her ear and smiled down at her daughter. Annette always knew Taylor was destined for amazing things. She hated that Taylor was going to be a part of an interesting world now that it was bound to happen, but there was still pride. An interesting world was a dangerous world, one that did not have warmth of kindness enough for Taylor, if only the world could be simple and peaceful. There was a reason it was a curse to wish an interesting lifetime on your enemies.

Without even realizing it, Annette had taken Taylor to the washroom and was gently rubbing her clean with a wet towel. She had entered the house, she remembered stepping past the door, but after that she was too occupied with her thoughts to move and yet her body had functioned automatically, doing what she knew she had to do for Taylor. A bath, then bed. Annette shook her head and focused, frowning at the red dyed towel. It wasn't Taylor's blood, but it was blood nonetheless.

Using a fresh towel to wrap Taylor up, Annette tucked her daughter into bed and kissed her forehead. Fortunately, Taylor still had that clunker of a computer in her room so Annette could explore the internet to catch up on things. What year even was it? Taylor still looked young but she was definitely older than the last time Annette had seen her.

The next few days were a mixture of terrifying and infuriating.

Daniel had come home a handful of times, drank himself to sleep each time after a cursory, clockwork call to Taylor that there was food.

It filled Annette with a sort of hate and despair that burned at her.

She loved Danny, she did, they had made a life together and then made a life together in the form of Taylor. Annette's death had hurt him bad, and he was reeling, still not recovered after months, he was a pitiful mess. That wasn't a bad thing, difficult circumstances were exactly that, difficult.

But seeing him waste away and leaving Taylor unattended was horrific. Danny hadn't even checked on Taylor, he just hollered about food as he dropped a bag of fast food on the counter. The house was accumulating garbage and the environment was nothing that could remotely be called a home.

Annette loved Danny, absolutely, but this was not the Danny she had fallen in love with. This was some horrible mimicry like a first attempt at necromancy. Annette shuddered in disgust at the thought. Taylor had resurrected her into a fine body that could handle itself extremely well after Annette had gotten used to it, but what if Danny was a failed first project? No, Danny was being an idiot and drinking his problems away but he was alive... in the sense that he had a pulse, was breathing, and hadn't been revived.

It didn't help Annette whatsoever that Taylor remained unconscious these days, only waking briefly enough to go to the washroom or eat. Taylor didn't speak during those times and didn't seem to respond to anything Annette said either, but she always insisted on having her mom nearby when she inevitably drifted back to sleep and that was a comfort on it's own.

Annette had learned that it really had been a bit over half a year since she had died and been buried, she even knew the engraving on her own headstone. "She taught something precious to each of us." What was she supposed to think with that knowledge...? The world overall hadn't changed too much but that was six months of her life that she would never get back, six months that she could have spent with Taylor, six months that could have been used fixing Danny, six months that Taylor had been living in such deplorable conditions ruined with neglect.

Four days after Annette's resurrection, Taylor was actually awake and finally she spoke. "Mommy...?" She mumbled blearily, hand slapping about until she found her mother's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as she relaxed slowly. "Oh thank god... oh thank god... I was so scared..." She mumbled, her voice a whimper. The only reason Taylor hadn't started crying was because she was still so exhausted, still so spent from the events of that night that she couldn't cry because she was too tired to do so.

Annette smiled warmly and squeezed Taylor's hand, "Yes, that's right, it's okay, sweetie. Mommy is here, mommy is right next to you and I'm not going anywhere, I promise." She murmured quietly, incredibly pleased with Taylor grinned and snuggled a little closer. Taylor could also actually respond to her properly now and that was fantastic. "Are you hungry, Tay? Why don't I get you some breakfast?" Annette murmured gently, admittedly hoping that Taylor didn't want breakfast so she could just stay here with her daughter and confront all the desperate joy in her chest at having her daughter feeling better. Annette had died, but that was a bump in the road compared to the horrific thought that Taylor had gotten hurt or in some way sacrificed herself for Annette's life. Thankfully, Taylor shook her head and throatily whined.

"Nnh. I'm comfy here... I missed you mom, I missed you so, so, so much, things are gonna be so much better now." Taylor mumbled, yawning and slowly, inevitably waking up. "I'm... I'm so sorry mom, it's my fault you got hurt... but I made it better, I made it better so it's fine, it's alright, we can be a family again." Taylor's words were fast, feverish, as if she was telling herself something to believe more than she was speaking to Annette. It made her Annette's chest hurt like nothing else. Right. Taylor was horribly traumatized and had been through so much, she would say and do some things that seemed peculiar but Annette had died and it had cut Taylor deeply.

"That's right, Tay, everything is okay, everything is fine. I'm right here with you, I'm right by your side, I'm not going to go anywhere, I'm not going to leave you again. We're family, we always will be, you're my little owl, my precious baby." Annette cooed, content with the way Tay whined at the baby talk. "I'm just being affectionate, sweetie, I'm so happy to be here with you again, I'm so happy. So, so, so happy."

Taylor beamed but her eyes flickered open and she bit on her lower lip, squirming a little. "Mhn... mom, uh, I think... maybe we should talk about how I got you back...?" She trailed, voice tiny and so, so afraid.

Annette wanted to say they could put it off, but it was nagging on her mind. "... Yes please, honey, please, talk to me. What... happened? Why were you soaked in blood...?"

Taylor flinched hard. "I had to pay the price." Annette shivered. There was no way that sentence could sound right, but she held Taylor and stroked her back gently, letting her continue when she was ready. "I... I had to kill some people... I chose bad people though! It's okay! I specifically chose bad people, the badder they were the less I needed so I just needed nine this time! I-I had to get a special deal before it was that easy, usually it takes way more than that to take someone's soul, but I made a special one time deal with a devil!" Taylor gushed and each word was more bizarre, scarier than the last. Taylor had killed? Taylor had killed nine people? What did bad people even mean? A deal with the devil? The thoughts about her soul were also not just a fever dream they were a fact that had been carved into her very being. That was... a lot to take in. People had souls. Taylor could somehow interact with souls. Taylor made a deal with something she called a devil.

"Y... yeah? Can you explain the deal to me, please...? You're saying a devil not the devil... Is... is that part of it?" Annette mumbled. What had Taylor gotten into? Annette would stand by her but this was absolutely baffling. There were capes that pretended to use magic before but what else could resurrection like this be called?

"A deal, yeah... It's not as bad as it sounds, yeah! I... I didn't believe it was a devil, or anything like that, I thought all the things I started thinking of were fake! So I wanted proof... and... and part of the proof was that I wanted you back, I wanted you back so, so bad... S-so the devil I spoke to, Shax, said that if I sacrificed twenty people it would be enough...! It... it turns out that bad peoples souls are worth more because of some reason, because I think devils and angels both like to hurt them maybe, and I was able to barter and haggle and I got him to agree to nine people. Nine really bad, really evil people." The words sounded like nonsense, like the delusional thoughts of a traumatized child but Annette was really here. "It was a one time thing, so if I want to ask Shax to do anything next time I need to pay the full price... I-if I want to speak with Shax that is, if it's someone else I can maybe make other deals? I... I know what each devil, demon, angel, and other magical thing likes and how they act! I just need to know how I should behave! I don't need to make deals either, I can mix things together, chant spells, all sorts of things!" Taylor gushed, a bit of brightness returning when she talked about something other than a deal with a fucking devil. "It's really nice, really cool! The information is there in my head, I just need to figure it out and actually use it! I..." Taylor swallowed a lump in her throat and paled. "Oh... oh no, no, no..." Taylor muttered, quickly pushing away from her mother and scrambling to her feet. "No, no, no, no, no, no, how long have I been asleep, mom?" Rapid-fire and clearly panicked, Taylor just shook her head and charged out of her room, gathering something up from the freezer before stomping into the basement.

Annette was frozen for a moment but followed quickly, far faster than she had ever moved, with precision and grace entirely unlike herself, a speed that made it surprising that she hadn't broken anything in the house with her movements. Annette heard Taylor talking to something and quickly descended down the stairs behind her, coming to stare at a... thing.

It looked like someone had tried to recreate Annette from clay and then dunked it in water before just letting it sag. A deformed, fleshy thing, pale that wheezed and shivered. It looked like a human encased in spiderweb, if the web was thick strands of sinew and flesh like rope. It was affixed to one spot in the basement and was entirely incapable of moving from that spot, but it could wiggle and thrash all it pleased. It's skin split and beads of blood escaped countless little wounds as it moved, it's wheezing turning into a louder groaning before it's body erupted. It split vertically from head to pelvis into an endless array of teeth and tongues. It would have been better if the teeth were all animalistic or rib-like, but the teeth that lined the maw of this thing were human teeth of various sizes.

Annette moved quickly, intent on destroying the thing as fast as possible with as much impunity as possible. "No, stop! Mom, stop, please, it's okay, it's okay! She's just hungry!" Taylor yipped, pleading with her mother. Taylor was the only thing that prevented the insatiable need to destroy, kill, pull apart, burn, soak the ashes in oil, burn again, scatter to the wind. Annette's mind filled with thoughts of how best to attack, how she could move her body, how she could inflict pain. It made Annette's head hurt, but not quite as bad as the sound the thing made when Taylor threw chunk of raw chicken into it's mouth. It's mouth snapped shut around the morsel and with a few loud crunches and the shattering of bone, it ate the morsel and was fed another. Taylor smiled warmly like she was feeding a pet as she tossed meat into it's mouth.

Annette shuddered. No. No, no, no, this was wrong. Annette had to take Taylor away from this thing and then come back to destroy it, to remove it from this world, to make sure it was completely and utterly irrecoverable.

"S-so, uh, mom, meet Anne." Taylor mumbled shyly. "She was, uh, supposed to be your body, b-but I kinda messed up. Flesh is harder to work with. She's, a, uh, homunculus...?" Taylor trailed, grimacing a little. "I know she doesn't look so good right now and is a little spooky, but I'm fixing her! I'm making her better! I'm not sure into what but she's getting better! It should just be a few weeks or months now!" Taylor glanced to Annette, all squirmy and abashed. "I-I can't get rid of her, mom, she was supposed to be you..."

Annette took a breath in and forced herself to relax. This flesh creature was supposed to be her body before Taylor messed up in some way to turn a presumably humanish body into this.

Annette would have drank if the thought of leaving Taylor to fend for herself didn't make her want to throttle Danny.

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