The Farland Files

Addams Manor, New Jersey

The sharp nails of the girl's hands dug into her arms, her hand fisted in the girl's hair. They toppled to the ground, scratching and snarling at each other like wild animals, not even pausing when lightning cracked across the sky and it started to pour on them.

Magic crackling around them, even if neither used it- Riddle said something in the background but it went unheard as an elbow dug into her ribs and she slapped the girl across the face.

The rain came down harder.

Eventually, both panting and soaked to the bone with mud and rain, they just stared at each other from where they'd both crawled apart in a silent agreement not to fight anymore. Lena's hand was covering where the girl's nails had gouged into her neck, eyes looking at Wednesday blankly. "When Morticia said by sharing space we would be sharpening our claws, I see she meant literally."

Wednesday didn't look too fazed by their tussle, even if her cheek was red, sitting calmly in the mud like it was normal. "Mother said you were being self-pitying and to make you come in before it started to rain." Hands wiping off her dress collar as if that would help anything, the girl looked over herself with pursed lips. "This dress was new."

"Mine too."

Staring at each other for a long moment, the girl smiled thinly, Lena chuckling as she ran her hand through her wet hair, though soon it turned to hearty laughter as she tilted her head back to the rain. It was freeing, the cold rain soaking her to the bone and her neck bleeding even as her lungs tightened with the feeling of laughter.

"You're insane... but you have a good pain tolerance." Wednesday was holding out a hand to her when she wiped the rain from her face and looked at the girl. "Grandma might be right about you yet."

Taking the hand, Lena let the girl pull her up with a thin smile on her lips. "Maybe."

"I cannot believe you just had a fist-fight in the mud- it's cold and raining! What if you get sick! And- and not using your magic? What's that about?"

It felt right.

"Felt- are you out of your mind? You let that girl scratch you! You're bleeding!"

"Mother said you space out sometimes and that means you're talking to that part of your soulmate in the locket." Wednesday gave her a curious look and she noticed they were still holding hands, even as they walked back slowly in the rain, the girl's dark eyes sad with that feral sort of loathing she often saw in the mirror. "What is it like... to be destined for someone?"

Lena knew Wednesday- that was why it felt right. They were a badly told story replicated after each other in such ways that each of their missing pieces aligned. Two different stained glass murals that had broken and ended up mirror images of each other as they lay on the hallowed ground, shattered.

"It's an exhilarating feeling." She wouldn't lie. "But one moment you're flying and he loves you and everything is alright and-"

"And the next second your wings are melting and there's only the cutting wind and the knowledge if you hit that water, it'll kill you instantly." Wednesday nodded, not looking at her. They were silent for a moment as they approached the house, but before they could go in, the girl pulled her to a stop. "It's worse than you think, hitting the water. I- I know how my family frames good as bad and bad as good, trust me, boarding school tends to open one's eyes... but just... it's easier to die than to have to live without the person you had let see every single crevice in your soul, good or bad."

There was no approximation or guesswork to the words, only surety.

Lena squeezed the hand softly. "I didn't mean to move your things."