𝓂𝒾𝒹𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 (𝒶 𝓀𝑜𝓉𝓁𝒸 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉𝓈 𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀)

~The Witches Are In Town P1 (Marellinh)~

So I watched this Saturday Night Live skit and it reminded me a lot of Marellinh, kind of, so I've taken the liberty of making a oneshot to match it. Enjoy!

________________________________________________________________________________

✩Linh's POV✩

There were a lot of things Linh knew. But when it came to herself, those things were unfortunately scant.

For one, Linh didn't know why she didn't love her husband. She didn't know why his small smiles didn't make her heartbeat race, and she didn't know why his brilliant teal eyes didn't spark something inside her. It didn't make sense.

Linh might not have loved her husband, but she never hated him. At least, not until this morning.

She awoke that morning, not in her bed, but in a truck, driving down a windy road away from the cottage. Her eyes widened in fear and she scrambled to see who was in the driver's seat. Her own husband, with a blank expression on his face, completely rid of emotion.

She screamed for him to let her out. He didn't listen. He never did.

"This is for your own good," he explained as the house faded into the early morning fog and vanished from view.

"Where are you taking me?!" Linh screamed. Tears were brimming in her silver blue eyes, threatening to spill onto her nightgown. The crisp breeze blew at the thin fabric, but she was too frightened to shiver. She simply forgot to.

"Lady Redek," Fitz replied, like that clarified anything. Linh felt hot, wet tears rolling down her face. She climbed up from the back of the truck to the wheel, and turned it forcefully. The truck swerved off the dirt path, and into the moist green fields sparkling with dew. Fitz snatched her hands off, and put his own where hers were in order to get the truck back on the road.

"Stop the car!!" Linh screamed over and over again. Fitz showed little to no reaction, and with every little scream, it became a little more clear to Linh that she would never be able to convince him to turn around. But nevertheless, Linh tried. And tried. And tried until her throat burned like it was set ablaze and her nightgown was soaked with her tears.

"Please," Linh whispered helplessly to Fitz. Fitz didn't answer, but she could see glassy drops of tears hanging from his eyelashes.

"I promise you, I'm not trying to hurt you," Fitz said in a cracked voice. Linh was too angry to care. Helpless fear had been taken over by red hot rage.

"You think I'm a witch," Linh confirmed quietly, with a broken smile. Fitz opened his mouth, and then closed it to solidify Linh's answer. Linh was right, Fitz did think Linh was a witch. According to Fitz, he knew she was.

To be perfectly frank, Linh was jealous. At least he knew. Linh only thought.

Linh didn't know why when she saw wanted posters of witches all over the marketplace, she didn't feel a pang of fear or disgust. She only felt admiration.

These were women who were brave enough to answer to themselves, not to their husbands. These were women who laughed in the face of the men with pitchforks all around them. Linh would've chosen burning down buildings and practicing with the dark arts any day.

Linh had heard stories of one specific witch. She never revealed her name, and her face was always covered by a dark red cloak. Her skin was said to burn fiercely hot, and any man to touch it would be cooked to an agonizing crisp. She could breathe fire, and her eye burnt such a vibrant ice blue that even when the cloak engulfed her face in shadows, her eyes were still visible. She called herself Bonfire, and her name caught on quick.

Bonfire was rumored to answer to women only. But only a certain type of woman, a woman who was open-minded enough to see through the fire and shadows.

"We won't be parted for long," Fitz said solemnly. "Just for a year, that's all. Enough for you to be cleansed when I see you again. Lady Redek is gentle, and will care for you well."

"Don't you want to be the one to care for me?" Linh croaked, blinking back tears. Fitz closed his mouth, and once again, his silence answered her question clearer than any words could.

"I can't believe you," Linh spat bitterly as the road disappeared into the woods. Fitz kept his mouth shut. The tears in his eyes had vanished to make room for cold, hard determination.

A small two-story cottage came into view as we winded down the dirt path. Lively summer trees with ripe tangerines made a wall around the house, and hanging vines draped over the windowsills and roof. Pale sunlit wood was coated with moss all around.

"We're here," Fitz said firmly, grabbing two bulky suitcases from the passenger seat of his truck. Linh stumbled out of the back, and turned to look at him.

Fitz's brilliant teal eyes were dulled, and there was not a trace of regret or guilt on his face. Linh blinked at him for a moment, before pulling myself together to manage a murderous glare. Linh wasn't sure if she had imagined the faltering look in his eyes before he snapped back into his cold mask-like expression. He turned away, carrying my suitcases to the pale wooden door and knocking

"Oh, you must be Fitzroy," a crisp voice said, opening the door wide enough to let him in. Fitz's blank expression was masked with a cheerful smile, like how you would conceal bruises with makeup. I only knew that experience too well...

"Yes, Miss Redek, isn't it?" Fitz greeted. "I've brought my wife to you, she's unfortunately been..." He lowered his voice, but not enough so that Linh couldn't hear. "Persuaded."

Lady Redek nodded in understanding, and turned to the other woman. Her luscious blonde hair was weaved into tiny little braids, otherwise puffing out like a storm cloud. She had these mysterious blue eyes that looked unearthly familiar, and tiny freckles dappled over her cheeks like baking sprinkles. She stared at her with a quizzical look, before turning back to Fitz.

"I see," she said. "I'll see what I can do. Well, run along then." She gave Fitz a polite smile, which he returned. He refused to meet his wife's eyes as he closed the door behind him and left for what he said to be a year. A year without your wife should've called for some sort of goodbye, Linh thought wistfully.

"He thinks I'm a witch," Linh whispered as soon as the sounds of the truck pulling away faded into nothingness. "And he wants me fixed." She turned to the petite woman, and looked at her with helpless, pleading eyes. Linh needed someone now, to tell her what she was and what she was not. No, Linh needed to know herself. But she didn't. So getting the answer from someone else was the next best thing. (She already had her answer from Fitz, but while her mind wouldn't trust her own husband, something about the fiery spark in the blonde woman's eyes made her feel like whatever she answered would be true. True sounded good.)

"Do I need to be fixed?" Linh said brokenly, feeling her eyes well up again. Lady Redek's lip opened as she gaped at the other woman. She closed her mouth, and shook her head.

"No," she told Linh, stepping closer to her and cupping her cheeks with her hands. "No, of course not."

Linh's eyes shined with hope. "You really think so?"

Redek giggled softly, and her eyes met Linh's. "Darling, nothing about you needs to be fixed. Now, it's time for you to meet the others."