[Don't Starve] Someone I'm Close To {Maxwil}

Chapter 10- Charlie, Charlie

The world seemed to spin for a split second before Wilson sat up. His vision was blurry for a moment but quickly adjusted. Everything around him was dark, darker than the cave they were in just moments before. He surveyed the space around him. Just meters in front of him, he could make out the silhouettes of two dark columns that were likely around one and a half meters tall. To the sides, there wasn't anything he could see besides a darkness so thick you could cut it with a knife. He saw that the others were all sitting up, rubbing their heads and looking around, just as confused and dazed as he was. Wilson groaned as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Is everyone here?" He asked as the others slowly came to.

"I think so." Willow flipped out her lighter but quickly put it away when she saw it had no effect on the looming darkness around them.

"Where are we?" Wigfrid looked around, amazed. Wendy and Webber locked hands for comfort, a bit unsure of their new surroundings. Wes trembled, and Wolfgang attempted to soothe him despite his own fear of the dark. Woodie clutched his axe defensively.

Wilson bit his lip. Now that he thought about it, he recognized this place. A look over at Maxwell showed that he recognized it as well, and the look in his eyes made it clear that they shared a mutual feeling of dread.

"Charlie." The magician mouthed over at him. Wilson nodded.

"It has to be." He moved a little closer, hoping that no one else would hear. "God. Something tells me we just messed up really badly."

His comment was immediately followed by the sound of a woman laughing loudly, and his heart leapt into his throat. That voice was certainly much more chilling in person.

"Wonderful show, all of you!" Atop the columns, flames suddenly burst forth systematically. It started from the first two, and conflagrations quickly appeared on row after row behind them. Standing between the very last two was a woman in a long black dress, arms outstretched. Her cropped black hair hung around her face in a way that was almost beautiful, and she wore a black hat that had a red feather in it.

"Charlie." Wilson swallowed. So this is what she looked like. Admittedly, she was shorter than he'd remembered; she was probably somewhere between Wickerbottom and Maxwell's heights. Her face also looked different than what was expected as well. Her lips were thin and red, drawn into a sly smile against her pale, pale face. Her eyes were a startling robin's egg blue and her lids were powdered with what appeared to be a dark purple powder. Her eyebrows were thin and raised slightly as she sneered at the dazed group standing meters in front of her. She looked surprisingly young, as if the shadows and her time on the Throne hadn't affected her physically the way it had Maxwell.

"Who are you?" Wigfrid slowly raised her spear, a bit unsure of how to feel about the woman. Wilson remembered that the others hadn't a notion of who Charlie was just yet, and knew they were in for a terrible surprise.

"Aww, Maxie, you've told them who I was but not the others?" She crossed her arms over her chest, glancing at the Higgsbury siblings coldly and then back to him. "I'm offended."

Wilson noticed she was imitating Willow's reaction to similar news upon her arrival. 'Jerk.'

"I...uh..." Maxwell faltered over his words.

"Maxwell. Just who exactly is this, and how do you know her?" Wigfrid turned the point of her spear at him, her tone slowly switching from suspicious to both suspicious and mad.

"Wigfrid. Calm down." Woodie prompted, placing a hand on the redhead's shoulder, but she quickly slapped it away.

"No, I want an answer. You kept this from us on purpose, didn't you?" She took a few steps closer to Maxwell, spear out. "Didn't you!"