Rebellion In The Family

Chapter Thirteen: Nightmares

*Six Months Later*

I had just pulled some brownies out of the oven, when I heard my son begin to cry. I put them on the oven, and wiped my hands off on my apron.

"Coming, Leo!" I called, and headed up the stairs, grabbing his bottle on the way. However, when I opened the door, I dropped his bottle, causing it to shatter on the ground (We had chosen to use glass bottles. They seemed to last longer.) "What...What...We killed you...What the hell are you doing here?!" I screamed. Mother Miranda gave me a smile that sent shivers down my spine.

"Gifts I gave, but more you took, so more in turn is due." She said. To my horror, she was holding my son in her arms!

"Put my son down, you evil bitch!" I growled. She smirked.

"I can't do that. I must take what's due. Since you took my Eva, I will take your Leo. He may not be my Eva, but I think he will be a suitable son." She said, looking down at him and lightly tapping his nose. Leo continued to wail in her arms, reaching out for me.

"No, no you can't take my baby! I won't let you!!" I screamed. She looked back up at me.

"My dear Branwyn...it wasn't a choice. Take this as your punishment for attempting to rebel against me. If you wish to see your son again, you, Heisenberg, and Rose will return to the Village. Of course, you won't be able to keep your son, but you will be able to see him time and again as he becomes a Lord and rules the Village in my stead one day, keeping you three in your place." She said.

"No...no, Miranda, please! Anything but this! Take me instead! Please!" I began to cry. She only smiled.

"I'm afraid we must be going now. Goodbye Branwyn." She said, before turning into a mass of crows, and flying out the window! I ran for the window, throwing it open.

"No! Miranda! Leo! LEO!!!!!" I screamed, but they were long gone.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I jolted awake in a terror. I was in mine and Heis's bedroom. I had been asleep. That didn't decrease my fear. I threw the covers off and practically fell to the floor and knocked my lamp onto the ground, scrambling to get out of the room. I didn't hear Heis startle awake behind me, as I ran from our room and into the nursery. I threw the door open and was mildly relieved to see Leo sleeping peacefully in his crib. However, my terror remained. When Heis opened the nursery door a minute or so later, he was greeted by multiple, flat crystals floating around me, as I cradled our sleeping son to my chest, sobbing my heart out. He lightly pushed the crystals to the side, and knelt in front of me. He placed his hands gently on my shoulders.

"Winnie? What happened?" He asked. I looked up at him, fear gripping my soul.

"I-I-I have to protect Leo! Miranda...Miranda's coming for him, Heis! She's coming for him, and she's going to take him and make us go back to the Village to see him! I'm not letting that happen, she's not taking my baby!!" I sobbed. He quickly pulled me close, and held me as tight as he could, without squishing Leo.

"Shhh, it's alright, Sugar, it's alright. Miranda's dead. We killed her. Winters and I shot her to pieces, then Winters blew her and her damn Village all to hell. Do you remember? That's why we adopted Rosie as our own. Miranda can't hurt us anymore, and she sure as hell can't hurt Leo. Even if she was still somehow alive, I'd kill her if she tried. There is not a damn thing that evil bitch could do to hurt you, or Rose, or Leo, while I'm around. She can't hurt us anymore." He said, and I began to cry more. "You had a nightmare, Baby, that's all. It was a twisted, f--ked up nightmare, but a nightmare nonetheless." He said. 

"Mum? Dad?" A little voice spoke up. Heis looked up and smiled. 

"Hey Squirt. What are you doing up?" He asked. Rose must have woken up.

"Why is Mum crying? Is she okay?" She asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, Mum just had a really bad dream is all. She's alright." He said. He held an arm out to her, and she quickly rushed into the hug. I was finally beginning to calm down, my sobs having dissolved into small sniffles and hiccups, when she looked up at me.

"Mum, was your dream about the mean crow lady?" She asked. Heis and I both froze, as I looked down at her.

"...What mean crow lady, Rosie?" I asked.

"That one that stole me from my real Mommy and Daddy when I was a baby." She said. My eyes widened. How the hell did she know about Miranda?! I decided to choose my next words carefully.

"...Yes, my bad dream was about her. She was trying to hurt you and Leo and it was very scary." I said. She hugged me tightly.

"It's okay Mum! The mean crow lady is gone now! Evie told me so!" She said.

"Evie?" Heis asked. We knew that name. Chris had told us all about her. The poor thing had been created in a lab, as it turns out, for Miranda, to be a possible vessel for her Eva, but Miranda had rejected her. She then became obsessed with the idea of having a family, and when she was given the opportunity, she went berserk and tried to create her own twisted version of a family, much like Miranda had. It was how Ethan and Mia got involved with the Village in the first place. Then, when she had rapidly aged without certain treatments, Ethan had killed her to free the Bakers and save Mia. 

"Yeah! She used to talk to me. She said she was my sister. She doesn't talk to me anymore. She said that since the evil crow lady was gone, she couldn't be with me anymore. She said that she was glad I had a nice family before she left." She said. It didn't take me long to realize what she had meant: Because Ethan's body had been made of Evie's mold, he had been connected to Evie, even after the Baker Family Incident. And because the Megamycete stored people's consciousnesses, even though he had killed Evie nine years ago, she was still technically alive in the Megamycete. So when he and Mia had Rose, it made sense that Rose was connected to Evie as well. And as the years passed, because of the Megamycete's destruction, Rose's connection to Evie lessened to the point that it disappeared altogether. I smiled.

"Well, I'm glad Evie was kind to you. She had it pretty rough." I said, and hugged Rosie.

"So...you know that we aren't your real parents then, Squirt?" Heis asked. She nodded.

"Mhm! I've known for awhile. I remember my real Dad, but I don't remember my real Mum at all." She said. That also made sense. She and Ethan, were he still alive, would have been connected via the mold and the Megamycete, so even though the last time she saw Ethan she was six months old, she still remembers him. I handed Leo over to Heis, who sat back against the crib and laid Leo on his chest, and pulled Rosie onto my lap.

"Well, why don't we tell you all about them? It all started a few years ago in 2017, in an old home in Louisiana, and a girl named Eveline..."