Chapter Text
Wednesday Addams walked along the floor of Nevermore’s fencing hall, having taken a short break before returning to the mat and readying herself to face off once again against Bianca.
The siren herself had taken a break after several warm ups against other students before the two had decided to go against each other. It was really only a matter of time, Barclay was the only one in this school who could give Wednesday a semblance of a challenge.
Today was different however, Wednesday would not lose, she would not falter in her technique or form.
Because she was watching.
Glancing over to the side of the room, she saw Enid Sinclair seated on a bench. Her roommate had come along to today’s session, which was a first as Enid had never done so before, not in the two months they’d been roommates.
Wednesday hadn’t expressed any real desire for Enid to come and watch her in the fencing hall, she hadn’t even asked her directly to come, but Enid had decided today was the day she wanted to come along and watch. And thus Wednesday found herself filled with a feeling, a feeling of ‘something’ inside of herself that stoked the fires of competition within her even more so than usual.
Which was odd.
She kept having odd feelings lately, specifically feelings that her roommate elicited or evoked within the young Addams that she wasn’t able to comprehend or categorize, and Wednesday didn’t know how to take these feelings.
It was quite perplexing.
A flash of this uncertain feeling flared up when she saw Enid smiling widely at her from the bench, giving her an enthusiastic wave that Wednesday wasn’t sure how to respond to it other than a nod before turning back to face Bianca, who nodded in her direction before putting on her mask.
Wednesday did the same, turning fully to face her as she got into her starting stance, raising her fencing saber as Bianca did the same, a few seconds passed before Bianca took the first step, lunging towards her with a thrust only for Wednesday to lean back, dodging the blade as she swatted it to the side.
The next few minutes began to intensify, which had become the norm between the two, their matches and sparring often going above and beyond the realm of casual fencing and into something more akin to a full on sword fight.
However Wednesday began to find herself becoming distracted, not something she often did while fencing and in fact would have chided herself for, except for the fact that Enid was the cause. Her very presence alone had been enough of a distraction in and of itself, as well as stoking the desire within herself to beat Bianca into the ground all the more.
But this particular distraction came from Enid’s behavior.
Wednesday more than once had caught her visibly squirming in her seat, her hands ringing in her lap as she observed.
She was now standing, having gotten up from the bench, but Wednesday could still see her wringing her hands anxiously, her eyes darting between them as Wednesday couldn’t figure out why.
Enid was in many ways an enigma, one she’d grown more and more curious about over time.
And right now she was once again occupying Wednesday’s thoughts as she stood, preparing to face Bianca again.
It would be simple, a quick and easy maneuver, she would defeat Barclay and then-
And then Wednesday heard it, a small whimper coming from her right, off the mat. It didn’t take long to figure out who, and in the half second it took to glance in Enid’s direction, Wednesday lost her focus.
Bianca seamlessly took advantage, as Wednesday found herself on the other end of her saber before Bianca took it a step further, bringing her foot around and her hand to Wednesday’s chest, she took her off her feet.
The cushioned mat below helped soften her landing as she was laid out on her back, a quiet exhale forced its way from her lips as her eyes darted from the ceiling and looked for Bianca, whose smug grin boiled her blood as she saw her opponent slash her saber through the air before levelling it at her throat.
Whatever mocking and immature comment expected to arise from Barclay’s lips would never come however as a loud and echoing scream filled the room.
“NOOOOOOOOO!”
Before Wednesday could register what was happening, Bianca was gone in a blur of pink, followed by a thud as she looked to see Enid now standing there, her hands outstretched and shaking.
Her gaze instantly searched for Bianca, finding her rolling across the floor after having been sent flying back by Enid’s actions.
Silence filled the fencing hall, which soon was interrupted by whispers and murmurs from the other occupants. Wednesday pushed herself up and stood up, seeing Bianca roll over slowly with a grunt, before her mask was ripped off.
“Enid!? What is wrong with you!” she ground out, letting out a groan as Wednesday saw her clutch at her side painfully.
Wednesday also would like to know, but as she turned to Enid her body froze, her roommate was standing there with wide eyes, her hands still shaking as Wednesday could see her claws slowly retract.
Her eyes…
Wednesday could see her eyes were wide and almost trance like in nature, her brow showed more than a little perspiration as her chest almost heaved in intensity as she let out haggard breaths.
“....Enid.” Wednesday said as she approached, removing her mask just as said girl’s eyes looked at her, almost as if whatever trance she was in had broken by the sound of Wednesday’s voice.
And then came the tears.
Enid’s eyes moistened as she backed away, her head shaking back and forth as she exited the mat, the tears falling down her cheeks as she turned.
“No..I…I’m sorry!” she exclaimed before running off, quickly leaving the fencing hall and leaving Wednesday only more confused at this unexpected and uncharacteristic turn of events.
Wednesday dropped her saber, all thoughts of Bianca and getting her back for the humiliation she suffered fled her mind as fast as Enid had fled the room. Without waiting another second she took off running out of the fencing hall and seeing several students staring down the hallway to the left, one of them picking up what looked like a stack of dropped books.
Making the deductive choice, she continued running in that direction.
Enid may have been going to their dorm, and the closer she got the more she believed it as she crossed the school in the now familiar path that took her to their shared room.
However she stopped only when she saw something glittering on the ground at the entrance to Ophelia Hall.
It was a necklace, and a familiar one at that. Wednesday has seen it every single day since she’d arrived at Nevermore Academy, always adorning Enid’s neck. She had never seen her roommate without it, not even when she slept.
Reaching down, she retrieved the necklace and instantly she could feel it.
Magic.
The necklace was clearly enchanted, Wednesday could tell just from touching it. An enchantment of some kind that wasn’t detectable before, but as she held it, was clear as day. Again Enid became more of an enigma to her than she already had been.
Why was she wearing an enchanted necklace? And why didn’t she ever take it off around her or seemingly anyone for that matter?
Pocketing it, she turned and marched up the stairs and through the entrance to Ophelia Hall, only to come face to face with one Yoko Tanaka.
“Move out of my way.” Wednesday demanded.
“If you’re going to your dorm room, we need to talk.” Yoko replied with a sigh.
“We do not need to do anything. You need to get out of my way and let me pass.” Wednesday countered and attempted to walk around the vampire only for Yoko to hold a hand out, stopping her.
Wednesday’s cold gaze slowly shifted as she looked at the taller girl.
“You have two seconds to move or else-”
Before she could say another word, she found herself pressed into the nearest wall, Yoko having pushed her there and was now holding her hand atop her shoulder.
Wednesday went for one of her blades, preparing to slash at the manhandling pest only for her wrist to be caught in a powerful grip, her other hand similarly held as Yoko leaned closer.
“Shut up and listen for once!” Yoko spat out, the intensity in her tone bleeding through clearly as Wednesday felt her grip remain firm, a flex of her fingers causing Wednesday’s hand to release the blade which fell to the ground.
“Enid is upset.”
“And here I thought my deductive abilities were-”
“What did I say about shutting up!” Yoko once again cut her off.
Wednesday’s eyes only narrowed further.
“Listen! Enid is really upset, I could barely get a few words out of her, but it’s clear there was an incident at the fencing hall. I know she was going to see you there today.” Yoko said before her head tilted ever so slightly.
“What happened?”
“I am not sure.”
“You didn’t see anything?”
“I didn’t say that.” Wednesday shot back as she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I saw everything, Barclay had me…in a compromising position on the mat, and the next thing I know Enid threw her across the room, became overly emotional as she is prone to do and ran off. I’m still uncertain as to what caused it.”
“...Was she by any chance pointing her saber at you?” Yoko asked as her grip loosened, letting go of Wednesday who this time didn’t stop her eyes from rolling.
“It was a fencing hall, we were fencing, of course she was pointing her saber at me.” Wednesday replied before exhaling quietly.
“If Enid hadn’t been there my concentration would have been perfect, and as Barclay no doubt will gossip about, I wouldn’t have had her saber pressed to my throat.”
“Wait! She did…..Oh.” Yoko began before stopping, the words dying in her mouth as her arms went limp.
Wednesday retrieved her fallen blade, noticing the vampire’s sudden stillness.
“...knew it was a bad idea for her to go there.” Yoko muttered before pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Look, she’s upset and now I’m beginning to realize why. Just…if you’re going back to your room, can you just give her some space.”
“The dorm room has space, we’ve divided the rooms equally and-”
“I meant just…let her calm down, don’t try to pump her for information or get her to explain, it’ll only make it worse. Especially coming from you.” Yoko added seemingly as an afterthought, but her words still did not sit well with the young Addams who was close to pulling another blade on Yoko.
“How dare you make such assumptions that I would make Enid’s emotional state worse.”
“....Yeah, cause your whole shtick screams warm and comforting.” Yoko spat out sarcastically.
“Look, just don’t ask her any questions about what happened, let her calm down and cool off.”
“Do not presume to order me around, least of all when it comes to my dorm room, or my roommate.” Wednesday said, giving her a once over before continuing.
“It may not have occurred to you, but I have become more than adept at dealing with Enid’s emotional outbursts and eccentricities.” Wednesday said before she turned and began to walk away.
She did pause however before she reached the end of the hallway, turning back to Yoko with a glare.
“And don’t ever put your hands on me like that again and expect to walk away intact, Tanaka.” she declared before she began to ascend the stairs and head towards her dorm.
Wednesday’s eyes surveyed their dorm room and the various things strewn across the floor, several stuffed plush toys, two jackets, a chair was upturned, and a text book Enid had brought back the day before was laying upside down near the door, as if thrown across the room.
Thankfully the rest of the damage and issues she saw were all Enid’s things, albeit some on her side of the room due to being thrown or tossed aside.
Enid had locked herself in their shared ensuite, Wednesday could hear her muttering and cries coming from inside the bathroom, which paused momentarily when Wednesday closed the door behind her.
She reached into her pocket, a theory coming to mind as she pulled out the necklace, it was nothing extravagant, just a simple looking silver chain with a blue pendant shaped like a tear drop.
“Enid.” Wednesday said aloud as she walked towards the bathroom.
“Don’t come in!” came the desperate plea from her roommate as Wednesday stopped outside the bathroom door.
“As you have locked yourself in, I find myself unable to…Without bypassing the lock, or the door itself.” Wednesday uttered the second part to herself.
She could get inside if she chose to, but right now she was trying an alternate approach.
“I believe I have something of yours, your necklace. I found it outside Ophelia Hall and-”
Before Wednesday could finish her sentence, the sound of the lock unlatching on the other side was followed by Enid’s right hand appearing through the doorway, having opened only enough for her hand to come out, and it was now desperately waving around in the air.
“Give it to me!”
“Enid, I-”
“Please…I..I need it! Please, Wednesday..”
The tone, so soft, so pleading and laden with what Wednesday no doubt suspected were tears and sobs, she could practically hear her shaking.
It wasn’t Tanaka’s earlier words that came to her at that moment, no. She didn’t need the words of a supposed ‘best friend’ to help her navigate this situation.
Enid was upset.
She was sad, more so than that she was in the process of several emotional outbursts if their room’s state was anything to go by.
And Wednesday didn’t like it. Not only would potentially more outbursts like this disrupt their room as well as Wednesday’s later writing hour she had scheduled.
Enid was upset….and she didn’t like it, couldn’t stand it. It wasn't an annoyance at her emotional state, no that feeling had begun to vanish after the first fortnight here, no it was something else now, something she couldn’t explain, again she was at a loss, she couldn’t quite narrow down why.
But she knew she had to stop this, she had to stop Enid from being upset, it was an unpleasant feeling that welled up inside of her stomach.
She didn’t take any pleasure or find any enjoyment out of Enid’s emotional state, not now and not recently whenever she’d been upset over things.
And so she lowered the necklace down into the searching palm of the unseen girl, whose hand retracted behind the door instantly, locking it once more as Wednesday stared silently.
Another two minutes passed before the lock clicked open once again and Wednesday was met with the red rimmed eyed sight of Enid stepping out, her blazer was in her hands, shredded and having several long claw marks torn into the fabric.
Her cheeks were tear stained as she brought her sleeve up to wipe them clean, looking around the room as she sniffled.
“Thanks for finding my necklace. I-I’ll clean up the room, don’t worry I-”
“Enid…” Wednesday said slowly, cutting her off as she noticed Thing coming out from under her bed. The appendage shuffled around, taking in the sight of their living quarters before Wednesday turned her attention back to Enid, still trying to find the words to say, all the while Enid stared at her, she looked…Wednesday wasn’t sure what kind of expression that was.
Concern? Worry? Fear?
Whatever it was, Wednesday didn’t like it, and finally made up her mind.
“Rest, you should rest.” she said with finality. “You’re clearly suffering from some over expenditure of emotions and energy and thus cleaning the room in such a state would be redundant and pointless if you’re unable to compose yourself and work efficiently. Thus, Thing and I shall organize the room.”
“Wednesday, it’s fine really-”
“This is not a request, now sit down and do something you find relaxing…perhaps one of those incessantly annoying hacks you call musicians or bands to entertain yourself with.” Wednesday as she already moved away to begin tidying up. Thing quickly came to her side as she picked up the discarded book she’d seen when entering the room.
She was satisfied when Enid at least sat back on her bed, though her attempts to offer assistance were shot down repeatedly.
Part of Wednesday wished Tanaka was here, just to see how much she had proved her wrong.
Through it all however, Wednesday’s thoughts were drawn to Enid and her earlier outburst and her emotional follow up, and just as importantly the necklace and its function.
Her curiosity only grew stronger in regards to her roommate.
Enid was indeed a mystery and an enigma, and one Wednesday intended to solve.