andwyrdu /ˈɑndˌwyr.du/
Old English
Definition: Answers
『0』
Billy rested his forehead against the dashboard, both hands holding his head in an attempt to quell the noise from the building Ms. Alice had gone into.
'They can't keep us here forever!'
'I want to see my family.'
'Who knew if that witch might come again? They have to let us out!'
Everyone was complaining about being stuck here, how both the FBI and SWORD should leave them alone after his mo— the witch had tortured them. At the very least there was no mention of him anywhere, but he preferred not hearing at all nonetheless.
Billy purposefully hummed the tune playing on the radio, hoping to distract himself from the endless chatters only he could hear.
Even when Ms. Alice came back and drove them away to their next destination, the chatters were still going about as they passed by rows and rows of houses. His only reprieve was the woman's familiar inner voice that he latched onto to drown out the rest.
The continuous references to her mother Lorna, the cycle of confusion and acceptance towards magic, her concern for Billy as some kind of a kindred spirit... It was still loud, but her inner voice made it bearable.
"You okay?" Ms. Alice tried not to scare him by talking in a quieter voice, worried her usual cop-on-duty voice would make him uncomfortable. Billy gave a non-commital hum, feeling the dashboard vibrating against his forehead all the way to his teeth.
"You don't have to avoid thinking about the witch," he glanced at her with one eye in time to catch her slight flinch. "The more you try not to think about something, the more you do."
He couldn't help but giggle when she thought of his apparently inappropriate question this morning, even more so at her exasperated look.
"I know what it means now. Sorry, couldn't help it."
"...you'll be the death of me," she said, not really upset and even appreciating the change of topic. But her thoughts kept going back to the witch, her made-up image of the woman clouding her mind. Even as she craned her neck to look at the numbers on the houses for the right one, an old lady in black with a tall hat was laughing inside her head.
"She wears red. No hat," Billy said but it seemed to be the wrong idea. She cursed herself again, to which he hoped his smile and shrug would show he didn't fault her for her thoughts. It wasn't like she could control it. For some reason it only made her feel more guilty.
Silently, Billy wondered. If he hadn't been chanting spells yesterday, if he hadn't broken her perception towards witchcraft, would he be sitting right next to her today? Would she even care as much?
He didn't ask, afraid of the answer.
『0』
Billy dreamed of a house, its furniture and carpeted floor dustless like newly cleaned. He sat on the living room sofa, static playing on the television facing him.
He was alone, but beyond his naked sight existed others. Hidden. Watching. Listening.
Beside him, a game controller floated in the air, its buttons pressed aggressively as if played by a person. A newspaper, airborne from invisible hands holding both its ends, flicked by itself with some spots crumpling under unseen fingers.
On a sofa built for four, Billy sat sandwiched between two phantoms, while the fourth spot was void of anything living or otherwise.
He blinked once, noting the blurriness of the world around him. The second time he blinked, he woke up from his nap, yawning as the dream crumbled along with his recollection of it.
He was alone in the car, having passed out waiting for Ms. Alice to visit from house to house. He didn't miss the chatters, planning on going back to sleep while it still danced in his eyes. He made the mistake of glancing out the window however where he noticed something.
While Ms. Alice's inner voice, alongside one other, rang from the house in front of the car, the address next door wasn't even empty. It was literally unbuilt, what little of its existing skeletons were left to the elements.
It felt strangely nostalgic.
He couldn't dwell on it for long, aware of the increasing curiosity of nearby residents at a police car parked so close to their houses. Billy ducked low, shuddering trying to make sure no one could see him from outside.
Ms. Alice had assured him he'd be safe inside the car. It was even locked. But knowing there were people around who wouldn't hesitate to curse him at first sight didn't make him feel any bett—
A face stared at him through the window.
"Ah!" Billy scrambled to the driver's seat, pushing as far back as he could against the door. He punched the honk, crying Ms. Alice's name. His punching became a long press as the neighborhood started to come out to see the ruckus. He didn't
The woman outside was knocking on the window, calling him like a cat.
"Heyya, sweetheart~" the woman taunted in a sing-songy voice. Billy's palm hovered shakily over the honk, ready to press down to alert Ms. Alice. He was half a second away from punching it when she spoke again. "Don't you want to say hello to your auntie Agnes anymore?"
—Billy paused.
Auntie?
He frowned at her, then did a double take upon noticing something. Or rather, the lack of it.
She was quiet on the inside. In a neighborhood whose inner voices overlapped one another, "Auntie Agnes" was like a wall with nothing going on inside her head.
He bit his lip.
"Kidd— Oh there you are, you silly boy," she wagged her finger when he crouched to her side and hesitantly lowered the window, her tone soft. Affectionate, even, with the way she laughed every time she spoke. "What are you doing in a police car, sweetheart? Got caught stealing candies? What a naughty boy you are~" she sang her last sentence.
Billy looked up at the woman, lips twitching, hopeful it was what he thought it was. He restrained himself from immediately opening the door, instead tentatively confirming first if his suspicion was true.
"You know me?"
"Of course I know you. You're—" she paused, haphazardly moving her jaw while glaring at the space in front of her. She gave up whatever imaginary fight she had and instead mouthed his name. "You're [Billy]." She grinned, as if satisfied with herself.
Billy ignored her strange behavior and asked his next question.
"What do you mean by auntie?"
"Why, I'm your mother's ex... best friend, hoho." She laughed at some kind of joke he wasn't privy to, her bright smile ever so trying to break her face in half.
He bit his lip, weighing his options. She didn't seem to hold anything against him, but being best friends with a supposedly evil witch wasn't exactly a good reason to trust them.
Against his better judgment, he opened the door and hesitantly took her outstretched hand, letting her pull him outside.
Billy didn't know what to expect when she invited him inside the house.
Ms. Alice was talking to a man he assumed was Ralph Bohner. His "Bohner Family Reunion" shirt was a dead giveaway. But contrary to that text, the man was going on a rant about why he didn't want to get in touch with his parents.
"Look. My family and I, we didn't get along that great last time we talked." He chugged his beer, giving a fake sweet smile to Ms. Alice. "Tell them whatever. That I died or something. Now if you'll excuse—" he paused when he turned around and saw Billy. Ms. Alice followed his gaze, alarm rising remembering what Billy told her earlier.
It was only natural she and Billy lost all ability to react when that man only deadpanned. He gave one look at Billy, one look at Ms. Agnes, another that said "Really?" to Ms. Alice, and then excused himself to fetch another can of beer.
"Witches," the man grumbled, his thoughts strangely devoid of the hatred everyone else had towards Billy. Just annoyance... and that slight bit of affection he wanted to suppress.
『0』
Billy smiled at the man.
The man glared back, sipping his third can of beer.
Billy smiled harder.
Auntie Agnes's singing voice from the kitchen became a backdrop against the man's groan. He deflated, sighing and letting himself sink into the couch. Ms. Alice leaned on the wall, watching with well-hidden amusement from the corner of the room.
"I don't know what Agatha's been putting in your head, but I am not your uncle," he said. Meanwhile, Auntie Agatha-slash-Agnes playfully chided her Ralphie to not scare this poor boy off. The man rolled his eyes.
"I know." Billy grinned.
He read the man's thoughts about everything he wished to do right now; comically launch Billy out of the house, wrap and call the delivery man to post him to wherever his witch mom was, stuff his mouth with candy so Billy wouldn't ask look at him with those "adorable" eyes...
Suffice to say, this Uncle Raplhie guy was a key to figuring out his missing memories. Ms. Alice telepathically reminded him to watch his manner and not bother the man too much. More than he already was anyway.
"What do you want me to call you?" he asked knowing the man would hate to be called uncle.
"Ralph."
"Mr. Ralph, then."
Mr. Ralph gave him a side-eye, a gesture that'd have made him unapproachable to most people without a mind-reading ability. Because inside, he was harshly criticizing Billy's lack of wardrobe. Apparently, a long-sleeved black undershirt, a red and white T-shirt, and an accompanying pair of jeans were an eyesore when worn days in succession.
"...you're not reading my mind, are you?" Mr. Ralph narrowed his eyes.
Billy kept smiling, a gesture that had the man burying his face in his palm, moaning.
"Good god, will you magical people never leave me alone? How are you even alive?!"
That got Ms. Alice's attention. "Is he not supposed to?" she pulled away from the wall and straightened up, her cop persona taking over.
"Maybe? I don't know. Everyone thought whatever Wanda created inside the Hex went poof when she took it down."
Billy didn't need to beg to make him reveal anything. Any simple question would jog the man's mind into giving Billy everything he needed. So when he lay a palm on Mr. Ralph's thigh, eyes as wide as possible as he gave his best puppy dog eyes, it was all out of amusement.
"Can you tell us about the anomaly?"
Then their eyes met and Billy realized he didn't think this through.
"You scared?" an unfamiliar boy's voice asked, with another voice that suspiciously sounded like Billy's voice replying back.
"He's our uncle, why would I be scared?"
The two voices continued to argue about vampires and whatnot while Mr. Ralph slowly lifted himself up from his sleeping position. With a speed that could only be attributed to a superpower, he went from the couch to the floor right in front of the boys, playfully threatening them. One of them was Billy, the other someone else.
"Blood is thicker than water, I show you!" He shouted, enjoying the scream Billy and the other kid made.
Billy blinked and snapped his gaze away, cutting off the memory. He held his head. "I had a brother?"
"You don't suppose he's out there too somewhere?" Mr. Ralph said out loud the concern belying his aloofness. He ignored the surprised look Ms. Alice gave him, alarms rising inside her at the realization. "You're here. Which means he could be out there, lost or something."
Ms. Alice was about ready to hurry to the door when Billy lifted both his knees to kneel on the couch, facing Mr. Ralph. The man studied Billy's face, answers ready at the back of his mind for any of Billy's questions.
"Am I real?"
If not before, then now he was.
"Is Wanda my mom?"
Inside the hex.
"Is Wanda my real mom?"
...if she didn't create him, then she kidnapped him. Like Agatha did with Pietro.
"Did she love me?"
She did.
"But she threw me away after the good guys came after her?"
No.
"You don't think so?"
She loved him and his brother too much, whether related or not, whether she was an evil witch or otherwise.
"Then I should look for her."
He should. He shouldn't.
Billy frowned. "You think she'd do anything to find me and my brother? Even bad things?"
Yes.
"Do you... do you hate me like the other townspeople do?"
No.
He bit his lip. "Do you love me?"
...nah.
Yeah, Billy figured. He tried again. "...was I a good nephew at least?"
For one day, he was so-so, Mr. Ralph thought, shrugging.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Billy smiled.
The man's expression didn't change but he didn't hide his affection under annoyance like he did before. Whatever frustration he had with his own family, he gave Billy none of it.
"Let's go find your brother," Mr. Ralph stood up and exchanged glances with Ms. Alice. "I know what Tommy looks like. Plus you need someone to convince Westview folks to not sic out their pitchforks on this kid."
Ms. Agnes emerged from the kitchen with a tray in her hands. "My, leaving already. At least take some cookie— Whoop, sweetheart. Don't pull too hard. These things are lava chot," she pronounced it like she was hissing her [h]. Billy had bounded from the couch to tug at her arm.
"Come with us." He turned to Mr. Ralph who was about to argue against it. "She knows what Tommy looks like, right?"
"...she does."
"Then let's go. Come on, Ms. Alice!" He shut whatever protest the man had and pulled Ms. Agnes to the door. Ms. Alice was just glad they were quick with the decision and followed Billy outside. Mr. Ralph liked Billy too much to argue.
The car soon smelled of sweet cookies with four people occupying it. Billy sat with Ms. Agnes at the back, taking comfort in her impenetrable mind as she played with his hair and fed him pieces of cookies, oblivious to the situation at hand.
Mr. Ralph did his best to ignore the woman and instead described Tommy's facial features and attire to Ms. Alice in front.
The pieces weren't all there yet, and Billy was still confused about where he stood when it came to his evil witch mom. But at least he wasn't lost anymore. Once they found his brother, he could decide how to proceed. Whether that was finding their mom or another route entirely.
"What makes you think he's out there?" a nagging voice at the back of his head taunted.
He ignored it.
『0』
As you may have noticed, this story depends on unreliable narrators.
These are the facts we all know:
-Wanda created Billy
-Wanda couldn't sense Billy because of the sigil
-Billy is not a kid she brainwashed to be her son
However, no one in this story knows that. They only know that most people in Westview are forced to act their own roles, and Ralph was even cast as fake Pietro by Agatha (now Agnes). So by that logic, what would stop Wanda from kidnapping a pair of kids to play out her fantasy? The people of Westview only have knowledge of what happens in the sitcom, namely Billy's (and Tommy's) rapid aging that could be attributed to Wanda recasting older and older kids. And of course Billy would latch onto Agnes, they both forgot she tried to choke him :p
Because Billy in this story appeared outside of Westview, it's only natural they'd assume Tommy would too. But would he really?