#that he thinks he's agatha's son and is going to have to find out that he isn't

[killing-hannibals-body]

I think that I’ll get some flack for this, but I want to talk about it anyways.

I see a lot of people saying that AAA falls into the classic dead lesbian trope, and, if you look at it simply, one of them dying immediately after a lesbian kiss would fit into that trope.

However, in the bigger scope of things: Agatha isn’t dead. She’s a ghost. While being a ghost technically means being dead, it’s not like Lexa from the 100 or Villanelle from Killing Eve. They exist in a universe where they can never, ever come back.

There’s also an established afterlife (if Agatha doesn’t get her body back like she does in the comics). That afterlife ensures that Agatha will be reunited with Nicholas (and once she finds peace with that, reunited with Rio, as it’s established that she was ready to take Rio back when she thought Teen was her son).

Agatha is also shown to already be able to gain some sort of corporeal presence, meaning physical touch is not out of the question. They’re not doomed to never touch again (and if Agatha actually dies, Rio is shown to hold Nicholas’ hand after he’s a spirit, so, once again, physical touch will be possible).

Jac Schaeffer wanted the kiss to be beautiful and tragic and a representation of where their relationship currently is: tender, sexy, but also incredibly toxic. She didn’t intend for it to be some sort of punishment, especially because they were lovers and partners before the kiss. Once again, going back to Lexa and Villanelle: they were killed off almost immediately after the first kiss/first time having sex. While Agatha and Rio’s “kiss of death” was the first we saw as an audience, it was not their first kiss and most certainly won’t be their last.

While everyone is entitled to their opinions (and if you’re upset at the trope being present at all), I feel like this case doesn’t fit the trope completely when taking in the full picture. Not showing their past is unfortunate, but I do believe that it wasn’t the show-runner’s intention to neglect the couple. They had lots of ideas but were limited to the 9 episodes given. When you listen to the writers and the actors, there’s so much love and thought in their relationship. If you recall the interviews with the writers and actors behind Clexa and Villaneve, there wasn’t much thought, love, or care in the relationship (though I do think that Jodie Comer was deeply invested in Villanelle’s character).

Anyway, those are my two cents! Please don’t take this as an offense to how you feel! I just feel like some people don’t remember/weren’t around when being a lesbian was essentially a punishment.

Agatha gave us a gay kiss, a lesbian kiss, a sapphic coven, a “trans live matters” flag, a “if you want a straight answer, ask a straight lady”, I’m the “queer-ent.”

Plus: the gay kiss is a kiss. They allowed two women to literally make out on television. Tell me you’ve seen such a passionate kiss between two women on TV with such deep history.

[aparticularbandit]

Also like - to talk about the brilliance of Jac's writing here.

Jac knew we, the viewers, who found casting calls and are up on our Marvel lore, would know Teen was Billy. Like - it was brought up in interviews, and they avoided it, but we KNEW he was Billy. We knew!

So Jac had the mammoth task of telling a story where she could Red Herring Teen into potentially being someone else enough that even though we knew he was Billy, we might also think he was Nicholas.

I've mentioned this before as masterful storytelling and interacting with fan expectations.

But Jac goes a step farther by having our main character, Agatha herself, going through this same problem. She doesn't know he's Billy, but she knows he can't be Nicholas, he can't be her son. But there's enough there for her to hope that he might be hers, only to be hit firmly with what she already knew.

Jac isn't just playing with fan expectations. She's using them to take fans on the same exact journey that Agatha herself is on.

And that is fantastic.

[rainintheevening]

They're his children of course. Richard still recognizes them; it's only been two years.

And yet...

Peter is a man. Still six months shy of his draft papers, but he stands, walks, sounds like a man. He always has a pocket knife, he tips his hat to all the females, he sings in a baritone that will only get deeper and richer. The tea he makes is decent, but sometimes he drinks coffee now. He talks about horses and crops and reads Augustine. He can drive a car. He gives orders, and expects them to be followed.

They all look to him, to Peter. Helen calls him to open a jar, Susan questions how her hair looks, Lucy runs to him in tears. As for Edmund, he and Peter are curiously joined, they turn to each other with their laughter, their thoughts, their books and newspapers and letters. As often as his family swirls around him, Richard sees them swirl around Peter, a habit, he knows, born of necessity, but that doesn't prevent it from being strange. Even painful.

Peter moves to take the head of table, catches himself. They both start to say grace, stop, glance at each other. Peter takes the newspaper over breakfast, and is a page in before he remembers. And every time he apologises. Each time he smiles at his father, and it is warm, glad, even benevolent.

One of the first nights, shortly after Christmas, Peter finds him sitting in his old armchair, staring into the fire, after everyone else has gone up to bed. "Dad?" comes the question, and he looks up blinking at the tall man, lamplight crowning him in gold, blue eyes deep and dark with knowledge and certainty.

"I'm not who I was," Richard says, a confession, the kind a father shouldn't burden his son with he thinks immediately, but then Peter is down on one knee, reaching for the mangled hand, tender with the three fingers as he clasps strong calloused palms around them.

"Neither am I, Dad. None of us are." Peter's gaze is earnest, bright. "But you are still my father. And I will always be your son. I am forever grateful for that."

It is as if a great burden rolls off of his shoulders, and he finds no shame in leaning on Peter's hand to rise.

When the holidays end, and the four go back to school, Peter says I love you to each of them at the station.

If Peter is a man now, Susan is a lady.

She sits straight, she walks gracefully, she can cook anything as well or better than her mother. She reads the newspapers with Peter, she scolds Lucy for coming home with twigs in her hair and a tear in her stocking and wet shoes.

She talks less than her father remembers, and there is a woman's sadness in her gazing out the window or into the fire. She is also very admiring of the boys in uniforms, and Richard requests her arm on the way out of church with a father's righteous sense of protection.

But she is also gentler than he recalls, she does not shy away from his injured hand, she takes care of him without making him feel as if he needs care. She sits on a cushion by his feet as she braids her hair in the evenings, leans on his knee as she reads aloud, and Richard thinks, Not my little princess, but a queen now.

At the train station, she kisses him goodbye, and he hugs her close, and there are tears in her eyes as she says I love you.

Edmund is the closest to unrecognizable, the once-obvious four year span between he and Peter seemingly halved. He greets his father wordlessly, all shining eyes and bright smile, and his face is so close to Richard's own it makes his heart break a little.

Ed is no more little boy, he is tall, slim, oddly graceful, but his handclasp is strong. He holds himself the same way Peter does, with squared shoulders and lifted head, but he wears that nobility in a quieter fashion. He's quick to see, quick to hear, quick with a wisecrack that makes Peter laugh out loud. He plays the violin now. He returns the family Bible to the living room with an apology for having kept it since the summer holidays. He reads Agatha Christie as a personal challenge, whispers to Susan in French, and his chess games with Peter are fierce battles of strategy that Richard cannot keep pace with.

In discussions of the war and its movements, he is sober and considerate, he meets each of Peter's moods with a balancing counter, he has a way of phrasing questions that pull out stories Richard had never planned to tell.

A few nights before the children return to school, Richard sits up in bed, certain he has heard a faint cry, and he slips away from his exhausted wife to check on his children, remembering how Edmund had suffered from night terrors as a child, imagining little Lucy inflicted with some dark dream.

But all he finds is shadows in the boys' room, and quiet whispers—Peter's apologies, Edmund's reassurance, and allusions to things Richard has no context for. He lingers by the door, an outsider in his home, until silence falls, and he returns with morning light to find them curled together in Peter's bed, Pete with an arm over Ed, and the father's love is bittersweet.

They have fought their own battle over here, on the home ground, Richard reminds himself. In their own way they have each faced terror and learned to conquer or be conquered, but perhaps he can meet them somewhere in between. Only time will tell.

On the train platform, Ed hugs his father tightly, gives him a smile, tells him to keep out of trouble.

Lucy is the least changed, though she too is taller and stronger, and her eyes are deeper. She still sings, still dances, still tries to make friends with all the animals, still smiles and speaks kind and stares dreaming at the Christmas tree.

She still gives fierce hugs, still climbs into her father's lap, though her head comes up higher on his chest, on his shoulder.

But then he finds gaps in his library, and Lucy returns the medical books with a winsome apology, she asks questions about his practices in the field, she winces but does not shy away from the blood and broken things he speaks of.

Then she recites long poems, words spinning off her tongue until they become half song; she dances swift and graceful, she and Peter laughing and stepping and clapping and spinning in intricate patterns to the swing song on the radio; and it is she who, breathless, quotes Byron: "On with the dance! Let joy be unconfined!"

Her comfort is both generous and thoughtful, and she strokes her father's hair with a motherly hand that makes his eyes sting, and he kisses her fingers, looks up at her to whisper, "Don't- don't grow up quite so fast, my darling."

When she hugs him on the platform, Susan waiting for her, the boys already gone, she doesn't want to let go, and there are tears on her cheek, that he wipes away gently. "Be careful, Daddy," she whispers. "Get strong. Take care of Mummy."

"Yes, little mother," he smiles back.

And then they are all gone, and he takes a cab home, weary of his still-recovering body.

He will have to learn his children all over again, he thinks. But he is proud of them still. That has not changed.

[randomshyperson]

Shameless - Milf!Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Summary: The book club forces Wanda to go to a bookstore in downtown Westview, where she meets you. Or the one where Wanda tries a new hobby and finds a reason to end her marriage.

Warnings: (+16), some dirty implications but nothing explicit, mentions of make-out, no cheating (but intent), strangers to lovers, milf-horny wanda, compulsory heterosexuality and mentions of homophobia, an attempt at the 80s scene, some angst but a happy ending. | Words: 7.525k

A/N-> I don’t know where this came from.

General Masterlist | AO3 | Wattpad

-&-

The book club had been Agatha's idea.

A harmless little pastime is how she would describe it during the weekly community meeting. Some short and simple speech about how modern housewives needed distractions while their husbands were at work and the kids were at school, anything that would please the ears of the preacher and the town council enough for the men to ignore the remnants of card games or bottles of alcohol that appeared whenever Agatha organized any “ladies' meetings” - as she liked to describe it.

Wanda and almost all the other women were happy to participate - and that is, almost all of them since Dorothy had not joined anything Agatha was involved in for two years now, ever since the blonde refused to visit the nightclub that was inaugurated downtown, commenting that it was not a suitable place for family ladies, and in Wanda's opinion, missing out on one of the most fun evenings she had ever had.

This time, Agatha's new invention was weekly meetings of a book club, which for the older woman, was the perfect excuse to get away from her husband Ralph and his strong odor of cheap beer and their grumpy son who apparently didn't know how to take glasses to the sink. Two hours a week to stay off chores and focus on her friends, and as a bonus, to read and discuss the literature she would have had access to if higher education was something women were encouraged to earn.

Wanda was one of the few in the quiet Westview who had a degree - It had been a shared dream of her and her mother Natalya, who wished to see both her children off to college and it was a fortunate thing that it happened before her sad passing. The most unfair thing about that was that despite her mother's wishes for Wanda’s independence, once Natalya was gone, all that Erik did was encourage her to leave college and look for a husband, the last of which Wanda eventually gave in to in her senior year. Jarvis Vision Stark was a couple of years older than her and was completing his degree in Engineering, and to almost everyone in her class, that had to be true love. He was a good-looking young man, with a good family and education, and he seemed so in love with her. With that in mind, Wanda tried to love Vision with the same intensity that he said he did, but with the passing of the years, and the arrival of the children, the fantasy dissolved into a boring routine and conformism.

Despite those issues, her twins, Billy and Tommy, were her most precious treasure. And they were also the only thing keeping her marriage on track, Wanda dared to think.

Getting a divorce, in the traditional Christian-Jewish community of Westview, would be a scandal under any circumstances. Sometimes, when she ventured to imagine being someone with this kind of courage, Wanda could only imagine the look of disappointment on her father's face when he heard the news, and the thought was soon shoved away like dirty clothes in the washing machine.

At least Wanda had Agatha. Her long-time, trusting friend, with whom she could share torments like this, and complain about slack-jawed, obstinate husbands.

And there was also now the book club.

Westview only had one library close to home, and well, Agatha had been clear in her instructions. No cheap or religious literature, she warned with a cigarette between her lips, gesturing with one hand when one of the girls asked about what the first meeting would be like. 

"Bring something interesting." Agatha suddenly gave a little smile, the same kind when she managed to bring a bottle of liquor hidden away for the Saturday church service. "Scandalous, if you dare."

They all sighed in surprise, complicit for the whole thing. Some began to whisper among themselves, but Wanda knew what she would have to do. There was nothing of the sort in Westview, so she would have to leave the residential neighborhood.

She woke up on Tuesday, dropped the kids off at school, and made breakfast. for Vision, who didn't even bother to say thank you, not happy to hear that Wanda was going out, but courteous enough to offer her a ride, which she declined almost immediately. She had the distinct impression that it was a way of being monitored, and she couldn't bear to deal with it when she was already so nervous. 

Taking the bus downtown, she went straight to the new commercial village of Westview. She caught a glimpse of some neighbors, who worked in the local shops but didn't say hello to any of them.

She walked until she found a bookstore, a small, old building with carts full of books at the door and advertisements that, although scattered and colorful, were easy to understand. It was a very cozy place, which made Wanda smile for a quick fantasy about having tried to work with books after her graduation if she hadn't been pregnant at the time.

A bell rang when she entered, but no one greeted her for the first few minutes she was inside. It gave her just enough time to go to one of the nearest bookshelves and run her fingers through the rows of books, a smile playing on her lips.

"Didn't you hear the door, Pchelka (little bee)?" A voice caught her attention, and Wanda turned, trying to see between the shelves. At a glance, short, red hair attracted her eye, and she blinked to find the face of a very pretty woman offering her a gentle smile. "One minute, sweetheart. We'll be right with you."

Wanda opened her mouth to say she wasn't in a hurry, sympathetic to the number of books the redhead was carrying, but in the next second, the woman disappeared between the columns and she didn’t have a chance to say anything at all. 

The bookstore remained empty and silent for another half minute, but once Wanda made mention of turning her attention back to the books behind her, a ladder opened from the ceiling, and out of it jumped a figure in an apron, and out of instinct, Wanda hopped away. 

"So sorry for the scare, Miss." You apologized with a soft chuckle at the scene, closing the attic in a single motion and running your hands through your hair and shoulders in an effort to blow off some of the dust. "We are reviewing the inventory. How can I be of assistance?"

Her breath caught in her throat at the image of your gentle and playful smile. She felt so foolish.  In all her 32 years, when was the last time she had been tongue-tied, if ever? 

You raised one of your eyebrows, and repeated the question, bringing a new color to her cheeks. Wanda broke into a clumsy giggle at the same second.

"Sorry, you caught me by surprise." She managed to cover it up, adjusting a lock of her hair and then moving her hands to smooth her clothes, suddenly unsure what to do with herself. "I’m…looking for a book."

You cracked another smile, finding the scene quite amusing. This older, breathtaking woman, all shy and adorable around you. "Well, we have lots of those." You teased, and Wanda felt her stomach do a complete turn at the sound of your raspy giggle. Maybe she was getting sick. Yeah, that would explain her body’s out-of-control reactions.   "What are you looking for, or perhaps a name...?"

"Wanda." She interrupts, and you frown in confusion. Taking a deep breath, she holds out her hand. "I am Wanda Maximoff."

Despite the strangeness of the moment and the fact that she didn't understand that you wanted the name of the book and not hers, you smiled warmly and repeated the gesture. Wanda has never hated work gloves as she does now, a curiosity burning to know what your skin would feel like on hers, the thought bringing such a strong color to her ears that she needs to look away immediately, barely catching the name that you mention next.

She clears her throat, and adds: "I'm actually joining a book club and the only guidance we had was to bring something interesting." And she risks looking you in the eye to add. "Scandalous."

You find it funny, even adorable if you could put it that way. Maybe it's because of the color of her face when she says it. Or maybe it's because these college students - Wanda judges you to be one for your apparent age - are more modern than she would have been and don't bother with this sort of subject.

"Hm, I think I can help with that." You retort with a thoughtful expression, beckoning for Wanda to follow you deeper into the store and she does so only after taking a deep breath.

The columns of poetry make her bite her lip in curiosity, some of the names Wanda recognizes from her own years as a student, but it is only when you are in the last aisle with the little gold plaque labeled "Sapphic Literature" that Wanda thinks she has stopped breathing.

You do everything very calmly. Climbing up one of the stairs, and taking some time to read the titles, you take a small book from one of the higher shelves and walk back to Wanda, whose face is almost Natasha's hair color now.

With a smile, you hold out the book, but don't let go, holding the item as she does. 

"There's nothing more scandalous than this for a small town like Westview." You say. "But if it's too much, Miss Maximoff, I can always suggest something different. You know, like stuff about the first war or Russian philosophy..."

"N-no, this is fine." She interrupts you, grabbing the book strongly and pulling it close to her chest. You don't know if she's trying to hide it or keep it from fleeing, but it makes you chuckle. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem." You reply, studying that face for a moment. Wanda swallows dry but holds your gaze. You clear your throat as soon as you realize you're staring. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

She almost sighs, her knees going weak at just the line her thoughts take. Shaking her head, she offers you a small smile. "No, that will be all." She says and practically runs off to the edge of the store, back to the cashier.

The redheaded woman is taking care of the payment now, and Wanda doesn't notice the look you exchange with her because she's too busy sensing your presence coming behind her.

"Excuse me, Miss Maximoff, let me wrap this up for you." Your whisper near her ear makes her shudder from head to toe, and it is fortunate that you grab the book from her as Wanda is sure she would have dropped it on the floor.

You walking away is the only reason Wanda's legs stop shaking.

"Good choice, ma'am." Commented the attendant as soon as you put the book on the counter to be scanned. Wanda noticed the small badge spelled out in silver letters "Natasha" stuck to her apron. "We are also fond of sapphic literature around here." She added with a complicit smile.  Wanda didn't understand why it seemed like a code for something, she was too distracted by the movements of your hands storing the book in a pretty bag. She remembers forcing a smile, paying with trembling fingers and practically running out of the bookstore, feeling your gaze burning into her back.

The bell made another noise on the way out, and with the bookstore empty, Natasha's laughter filled the air.

"How do you always find our people?" Questioned the other impressed, but you laughed short, shrugging.

"I won't deny that I have this ability, but in this case, how can you say? You saw her for like, three seconds."

Natasha shook her head, checking the cashier. "Oh, please, she was eye-fucking you this whole three seconds.” Declared the redhead, ignoring your protest at her choice of words. "Besides, it's kind of obvious by her not freaking out over sapphic poetry, isn't it?"

You sigh, somewhat disbelieving. "I don't know, people are more friendly nowadays." You try, but Natasha gestures away as if she doesn't agree.

"Your problem is that you're too naive, Parker." Retorted the redhead with an amused expression. "Women like me, experienced not old, are not so friendly. We come from different times, different generations. You couldn't go around reading gay literature anywhere, hardly found any to be fair. If she wasn't like us, she would have caused a scene at the mere suggestion."

"Alright, Romanoff, I believe you." You grumbled begrudgingly while grabbing one of the last boxes to be checked off the desk. "But that doesn't mean she was interested in me." You stated, but Nat snorted incredulously.

"I bet you five bucks she'll be back next week!" Retorted the redhead, but you only chuckled, letting her increase the bet as the distance grew.

-&-

A tense silence grew with every second in the crowded room. 

Wanda sat there, almost not breathing until she finally realized what she had just done. Read. The room began to spin next. She gripped the pages hard enough to wreck the book in her lap, but just as panic was about to overwhelm her, someone sighed loudly.

"Well, that was definitely scandalous." It was Monica, and the good humor of the comment made the room explode into little giggles.

The girls began commenting among themselves excitedly in the same second, some still somewhat hesitant and embarrassed, but definitely thrilled about the whole thing. Wanda felt a gentle hand on the back of her back, through the exposed part of the plastic chair.

"Just breathe, Wanda, everything's fine." It was Agatha, who was still sitting next to her. Who didn't hate her for reading a passage from Emily Dickinson in the middle of the book club, who was still her best friend. Wanda only managed to mumble a weak, whiny yes, and Agatha looked at her with concern before announcing to the entire room that they would take a break before the next reading. Wanda doesn't remember getting up, but she didn't breathe normally again until on the outside balcony of the Harkness Residence. "Here, honey."

The glass of water helped, and Wanda had just returned it to Agatha when the window door opened again. It was Monica, with an almost proud smile, who spoke only after sliding the glass door closed again.

"I have to say, Wanda, you have guts." Her friend joked, and Wanda grimaced.

"What...?"

"I didn't know there were more of us in Westview, Aggie. You could have told me." Monica complained to the older woman, giving Agatha's arm a gentle pat. But the woman just smiled awkwardly, looking at Wanda as if she were seeing her for the first time.

"She never mentioned it, I'm afraid." Agatha commented, and Wanda felt like she might throw up at any moment. "Hey, breathe honey. It's okay, all right? You're safe with us."

But Wanda put a hand over her chest, feeling it tighten. "My god, what I just did... They will tell my husband... my father will hear about it-"

"Hey, Wanda, here. Focus on me, darling, breathe." Agatha grabbed her hands, trying to help her control the panic and tears that began to roll down her face. "Honey, it was just a poem. Nothing is going to happen, okay, you just brought what I asked for, and none of them minded. Nothing has changed, now breathe. You're safe, Wanda."

“Of course, I would ruin the book club.” was the first thought she had hours later when she woke up before the time to pick the boys up from soccer. She didn't have to do it though - Agatha left a little note saying that she had taken care of everything and wished her rest. 

Monica drove her home so that Agatha could close the meeting without raising any more suspicions about Maximoff's state, who had had a panic attack because of a poem read aloud. If the other neighbors knew, it would create chatter, and Wanda simply couldn't handle that.

Monica left her safe and sound in her house, wrapped in blankets, and didn't mind staying until Wanda cried herself to sleep. And Wanda woke up alone, feeling worse than before as if a very embarrassing secret had been revealed to the world and was mocking her outside the bedroom walls.

But her children were back in no time, and as they rushed to the shower, she went to thank a very concerned Agatha Harkness.

"Are you feeling better, sweetheart?" Asked her friend gently holding her arm. Wanda didn't meet her eyes, nodding.

"Thank you for dropping the boys off." Murmured her quietly, swallowing before adding. "And for earlier. I didn't mean to bring any trouble."

Agatha gripped her with more determination. "Listen here, Wanda, it was no trouble at all, okay?" Assured the woman, who although in a serious tone, still had very gentle eyes. "You are my best friend, Wanda Maximoff. Nothing will ever change the care and love I feel for you. When you're ready to talk about today, about this part of you, I'll be here. And Monica too. You are not alone, honey. You never have been." There was a different complicity in the last sentence, but Wanda only sighed in relief, nodding and finally relaxing when Agatha hugged her.

She thanked her again between silent tears and Agatha only left when she was sure Wanda believed her words.

-&-

It took Wanda three weeks to return to the store. Not that you were counting, or thinking every day about the middle-aged woman who had a gay panic attack with your poor attempt at service. Not that Natasha didn't shut up about it.

And as luck would have it, you were alone in the store because your boss, who you also called a friend, was out picking up some orders and her sister at the University of New York, and well, it had been a slow day until the doorbell rang in the early afternoon and it was Wanda.

"You again." That was the first you managed to say, almost sighing and hating how affected it sounded. Luckily, Wanda seemed equally happy and relieved to see you again.

"Hello." She greeted, repeating last week's gesture of adjusting a lock of her hair. She looked different from before, more elegant, with a dark jeans jacket expensive enough to have come out of a magazine, and a dress underneath that made you swallow dry. 

You had no idea how long she spent in front of the mirror trying to choose the right outfit with two neighbors weighing her choices.

Trying to play it cool and sound as casual as possible, you add:  "Wanda Maximoff from the book club, right? Did they like the poems?"

She hesitated in a nervous smile, looking around as if to check if there were no other customers and satisfied with the distant presence of a boy in the Vinyl's Discs area and a lady further down the hall, as she practically whispered, "You were right. It was scandalous enough for Westview." She teased, managing to get a short laugh out of you that made her stomach do flips and her cheeks turn a rosy hue. It was decided, she wanted to hear the sound again and would do anything to be the one to make you laugh.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." You retort with a little smile. "I hope you enjoyed the book too, though." Your addiction makes Wanda's heart skip a beat. So you cared if she was the person who enjoyed the reading, it wasn't all about a professional suggestion on how to make an impact on the book club as she presumed. Well, Agatha was right. 

Risking, probably everything, Wanda commented: "Oh, I definitely loved the reading. I had a good time imagining the scenarios she described." Despite the confidence in saying it, she was blushing, and the way she spoke as if a secret between the two of you and with your knowledge of how erotic Emily Dickinson's stories were, was the reason you knock over half the stack of books you were trying to organize onto the floor.

The noise attracted the attention of the other customers, but you forced a smile and gestured that everything was fine before you ducked down, quickly beginning to pick everything up while Wanda looked at you with a certain amusement, as if she had just confirmed a theory.

"Sorry. You caught me off guard." You mutter in embarrassment, and Wanda chuckles, ducking down as well. She helps you with the last of the fallen books, and in the gesture of returning them, your hands rub together and the whole world stops for a second.  Just long enough for you to look at her, and then to step away at once, clearing your throat. Wanda does the same, and before you have a chance to say anything, the record customer interrupts you.

It has to be the most annoying sale you've ever made. He stalls you for long minutes, and all you can do is watch out of the corner of your eye as Wanda slips further into the back of the bookstore, and you lose sight of her. To make matters worse, when the man finally leaves, familiar vehicle parks in the back of the store, and less than five minutes later, two figures with heavy boxes appear.

Yelena has gotten a haircut, and you have a moment of shock to deal with that. The next, she is making a terrible impression on the other customer in the store, the cookbook lady, who immediately grimaces as soon as your friend practically jumps on you. Whether it's the display of affection or Yelena's tattoos and rebellious posture, the woman leaves the store muttering lowly. 

You pay no attention to this, grinning as you match Yelena's hug before she lets go of you.

"сука, next time you lock up the semester, at least stop at the dorm to smoke with us!" Complained your friend as she leaned on the counter where she had left her magazine supply box. Natasha dropped hers with a tired grunt, and once the books were secured, she gave a warning slap on the feet that Yelena threatened to put on a shelf. 

"There won't be a next time." Natasha answers for you. "She's giving up for good."

Yelena lets out an exclamation, but you grimace. "That hasn't been decided, Romanoff." You defend yourself. "I just needed more time. I think I'll just switch vocations. Again."

Natasha giggled, but Yelena patted you on the shoulder. "Hey, don't look so down. I also think about quitting Fashion every week, and every week I remind myself that no one is as talented as Yelena Belova and the world must not be deprived of my masterpieces." The comment makes you and Natasha laugh and roll your eyes. 

The redhead pushes her sister by the shoulders away from the counter. "You said you came here to work, not get in Parker's way. Find something to do-"

"Oh, sure, I'll get us some coffee." Yelena interrupts, letting go of her sister's hands. She points a finger at you. "Cappucino or-"

"Sorry." Wanda's interruption makes the three of you look at her at once. She is intimidated, but only for a split second. Forcing a smile, she raises the book she holds at face height. "I was hoping to take this one."

You take an awkward step forward, and it is enough for Yelena to acquire an expression as if she just has won the lottery. Busy taking care of Wanda's purchase, you don't even notice the sisters' exchange of glances.

As you wrap up the book, you try to disguise the trembling in your hands. 

"I couldn't really thank you for the recommendation." Wanda speaks suddenly. You smile awkwardly, holding out the bag with the book on the counter.

"It was no trouble at all, Wanda." But she extends her hand over yours, and your heart stops.

"I really appreciated it, sweetheart." That's what Wanda says, stroking your skin with her thumb. "We have meetings every week, and maybe, you could join us in the next…"

You opened your mouth like a fish, babbling like a fool and completely in shock at the invitation of the most beautiful woman you have ever seen in your life. “I-I…”

"Would love to, of course." Yelena elbowed you so hard that you pulled your hand away from Wanda’s to massage the spot. She offered her worst-intention smile to Wanda, the kind she only used at college parties when she wanted guys who would never have a chance with her to buy her drinks. "She's a first-rate nerd, she'll love it, ma'am. I’m Yelena, by the way. My sister, Natasha, is the owner here. And since we’re talking about hanging out, did you know that we do friends' reunions around here? You're more than welcome to join us."

Wanda adjusts awkwardly, a little surprised. "Oh, what kind of reunion?"

Yelena sighs thoughtfully, shrugging. "Well, I don't want to call it a college party, because even though we're all college students, it's not done on NYU grounds and is reserved for fewer people and the drinking is much better..."

Chuckling short, and adjusting the bag on her wrist, Wanda denies it with her head. "It's a kind invitation, but I think I'm too old for such things."

"What nonsense!" Yelena retorts gesturing indignantly. “ "With all due respect, such a beautiful woman will completely enhance the party. And well, my sister always attends with her friends, and you must be the same age..." You bite the inside of your cheek hard, you love your friend but she is charming and beautiful and is clearly flirting with Wanda to annoy you. Wanda blushes, and Yelena knows she's won this one. Emerald eyes search yours, and you find that the one who might have won is actually you.

"Will you be there?" She asks, and having trouble hiding a smile, you nod. With a sigh, Wanda looks at the expectant blonde beside you. "I think I could show up for a little bit-"

"That's fantastic!" Yelena gets excited, not even waiting for Wanda to confirm before she ducks down on the counter and finds one of the invitations to these parties that Natasha hides near the cashier. 

You barely had a chance to say goodbye to Wanda, with Yelena and her party directions, but at least you had confirmation that the woman would be there for the last weekend of the month, the typical date when those meetings were organized. And the realization had you sliding to the floor behind the counter with one hand on your chest.

"My god I think I'm having an anxiety attack-"

"No, that's a gay outburst triggered by a hot milf." Yelena cut in with a roll of her eyes, crossing her arms as she approached you again. "You gonna have to put it together, 'cause we need to pick out what you're going to wear next week, on your hot date with her.”

You're as red as a tomato. "It's not a date! It's a book club!"

Natasha - who hadn't said anything about the interaction until now - burst out laughing, and teased "Hm, that's what young people are calling it these days."

"You two are terrible." You complained embarrassed, shaking your head in disbelief at the giggling sisters. "We don't even know if she's interested."

Natasha chuckled. "Of course she is. Sapphic poetry the first week, and now she comes back just to stroke your hand. Yes, Parker, everyone saw that. If that's not interest, I don't know what else to call it."

Sighing in defeat at the sisters' complicit gaze, you stood up again. "Let me get back to work." You grumbled, but still, Yelena followed you with thousands of ideas about what you could wear.

-&-

Book club sessions allow you to get to know Wanda better. And inevitably fall in love with her as you never had with anyone else, at least not at that intensity.

Unfortunately, a meeting full of middle-aged women with a certain willingness to gossip about any subject, especially the unusual friendship of the young college student from downtown with one of the most respectable ladies in the neighborhood put practically a watch on your back. All your moments with Wanda, stolen touches and long glances between snacks and reading verses for the next few weeks came burdened with the worry, especially for her, that the rest of the world could see all too well what was going on between you two. 

And there was also the great frustration that in fact, nothing was actually happening. Aside from the undeniable attraction and warm affection you developed for each other, you were just book club buddies. You couldn't even call Wanda a friend, in fact, you wouldn't want to. All you knew about her family was Agatha or Monica telling you, the other was limited to any other subject but this one. 

Pretending not to know or just accepting that Wanda had a life beyond the safety of your afternoons together hurt all the same.

Your only hope of progress for what was happening came at the end of the month, with the arrival of the reunion date between your friends. It was the most intimate event Wanda could attend and you had a feeling there would be no going back for whatever might happen that night.

The Thunderbolts was what the group of friends you and Yelena were part of called themselves since the beginning of college. And unlike Peter and Kate, or even the freshmen, America and Kamala, who were all set on what profession they would follow after graduation, you had already dropped three courses in total. Starting out in medical school as your parents would have liked, switching to applied biology with Peter until you tried computer science with America, you finally dropped out to work with books with Natasha. It was the closest thing to happiness, even if it meant lousy pay. 

But ignoring this, what was certain about you and the Thunderbolts was that you guys knew how to throw a decent party. 

The loud music didn't escape much from the top floor of the store because two years ago Natasha had gotten glassware with sound isolation for the rehearsals of the Red Skulls - her ex-girlfriend Carol Danvers' rock band - that kept neighbors from calling the police.

The drinking was taken care of by Natasha's friends, and well, it was always good stuff. There was also plenty of food and lots of weed, grown naturally in T'Challa's private greenhouses.

It was a college party, there was no denying it, but still, you went up to the roof, waiting for a woman twice your age who had a wedding ring mark on her finger.

Wanda almost didn't show up, and when she did, she was accompanied by a very beautiful woman. 

Natasha also had a thing for older women and was half drunk, a dangerous combination. Since Wanda was your flirt, the Romanoff wasted no time in approaching the other one, who introduced herself as Agatha Harkness and was more than happy to accompany the redhead on her tour of the studio apartment that made up the second and third floors of the bookstore.

You were trying to remain calm and mannerly around Wanda, but it was almost impossible not to become a mess when she was absurdly gorgeous in her half-open social shirt, smelling fucking good from yards away. 

As the night wore on and you both struggled to stay included in conversations with other people you knew - from Steve and his military school stories to Kate and her hilarious jokes - you began to wonder whether you were getting drunk on beer or on Wanda's perfume in your senses.

Fleeing back to the roof in the hopes of getting some air, you were about to consider leaving the party when Wanda found you again.

"I lost you for a second down there." She commented as she approached, hugging her body to the cold night around you. Your natural instinct would be to take off your jacket, but it suddenly seemed too intimate.

"Now you've found me." You returned with a small smile, glancing at her when she got close enough, only to find that she was already looking at you.

Swallowing dryly, you grew shy about her intense gaze and shifted to the hands she was smoothing on the ledge beside you. Wanda just stood there, close enough to touch until she leaned in a little to whisper.

"Did I do something to upset you? You're hiding from me."

Closing your eyes for a moment, you sighed before risking a look at her. "Agatha told me about your marriage." You state sincerely, and Wanda swallows dryly. "I'm not stupid, and I'm no good with games either. There's a husband, so I just won’t get involved. I'll only get hurt-"

"I'm very attracted to you." Wanda cut in, also decreasing the distance between your faces. Your heart simply stops and your breath catches. If she kissed you now, you'd probably say thank you. With a sigh, Wanda brings a hand to the collar of your shirt, pushing you away gently as a warning to herself. "She didn't lie. Agatha. I have a family, children, and a husband."

It was like a bucket of cold water on your head. But Wanda didn't let you move, keeping her grip on your shirt, and this was probably the only thing holding your tears too.

"I haven't stopped thinking about you since we met." She continues to confess as affected as you are, her green eyes desperate and hopeful. "I haven't felt this way in such a long time..."

But you choked, pulling away. "I don't want to be some game, Wanda. Some secret. And I hate to share-"

"Oh, darling we're so alike." She interrupted a short, possessive chuckle, grabbing your wrist and putting your arm around her before you could move further. The attraction was almost liquid over your limbs, pulling you towards her and you gasped, pressing your face into her collarbone before you lost control for good and take her for yourself in this roof, damn the consequences. "I thought your friend Yelena was more. My skin itched at the thought of her touching you, I almost came back here and burned the entire bookstore." She confessed in your ear as she slipped her arm around your shoulders to hug you. The intense embrace increased your heart rate, and it didn't help that Wanda was playing with the lobe of your ear between her teeth.

"Stop saying things like that or I just might..."

"What? Tell me what you’ll do with me." Wanda challenges equally affected and you lose it, digging your teeth into her collarbone and sucking hard. She whimpers, knees buckling as her hips thrust up towards yours, but all you do is force her back against the edge, your firm hands on her waist keeping her from gridding herself on you as she wants to.

"I could fuck you right here, Wanda. Send you home smelling of dirty sex." You assure her darkly, your hands playing dangerously on the limits of her blouse. All Wanda does is groan rusky in your ear, wishing you would do as you say. “I bet you’ve waiting for me to.”

The smug phrase almost takes her sanity completely: Wanda grunts needily, trying to grab your wrist and force your hand between her legs, but you pull away hard, leaving her a slack mess trying to balance on wobbly legs with the help of the wall.

"I won’t be your mistress, Wanda Maximoff." You warn hoarsely, yet determined. You adjust your messy hair. "Sorry, but this little game of ours ends tonight."

Wanda hesitates, biting her lip. You hold up your hands, to point at the ring finger, reminding her of her condition and in a way, mocking her as well. Wanda hates the way she feels herself throb between her legs because of your smirk. 

She thinks she would have gone after you if Agatha hadn't appeared on the roof, reminding her with a certain irony that it was time for “respectable ladies” to go home.

In the car, her friend noticed her quiet, sulky posture.

"Did that girl say anything to spoil your evening, dear?" Harkness asked in a mixture of curiosity and concern, and all Wanda could do was let out a wry laugh, one hand adjusting her hair.

"No, Aggie." Wanda retorted sincerely. "I'm more sure than before about what I told you last week."

Agatha hummed in understanding, remaining silent for a long moment of thought. As she passed a sign toward the residential neighborhood of Westview, she spoke:

"I know a lawyer. Miss Walters. Divorce specialist." She began, ignoring the tense posture the other had acquired. “Former family friend, who always said that if I called, she would give me a special discount. Ralph owns the house, so splitting from him would have meant goodbye to Westview, and well, he never bothered me enough to lose you."

Wanda's eyes widen as she understands what her friend is saying, and she stares at her with tears in her eyes. But Agatha smiles through the mirror reflection, shrugging.

"Nicholas may be a difficult boy, but he also deserved to have a mother around." She continues. "And we have fun, you and me and the girls, don't we darling?"

Wanda agrees tearfully, nodding. Agatha chuckles, making the last turn and the landscape becomes several little houses alike.

"Just make a decision while you have time, dear." She continues a bit more hurriedly, stealing glances at the houses that still have lights on. "That beautiful woman today, Natasha, reminded me of a youth I sacrificed. I am old, Wanda. Affairs are fun, but I no longer have time to start a life with someone I really care about. You do, and you don't even have to. You have a chance to be with someone you really feel passionate about, if only for a week."

Agatha parked the car, and the porch light came on. Vision was waiting for her at the door, a half-stern expression due to the exit he didn't agree with - An unusual pastime for a family lady, they had discussed before she left.

With a sigh, she said goodbye to Agatha and got out of the car. Jennifer Walters' phone card was in her pants pocket.

It could take four to five weeks of staring at the bookstore doorbell to finally see the face you wanted to see enter that bookstore. You would be surprised enough that Wanda looked even more beautiful since the last time you saw her, and that this almost made you lose your balance on the ladder you had climbed to organize books on the top shelf.

This time Wanda would ask for a book in the law section, just for the entertainment of studying your reaction when, after demanding that you wait for her to find what she was looking for, she would press a book on divorce against your chest. Wanda would have just over five seconds for you to understand what she was getting at, before she was pressed into the shelf and grabbed by the thighs to be lifted into the air, your mouth glued to hers and her legs locked around you.

The messiest, hottest make-out session she never had as a teenager, but it would make her feel like one again. Hands determined and curious as your tongue ripped out sounds inappropriate for a bookstore, until the bell rang again, and you had to part in gasping breaths.

Wanda would grab your shirt collar before you could go to meet the customer in the lobby to ask you out on a date. On the first date, you could talk about her children, about how the joint custody was going to work out, and how much time you would have to get to know each other. On the second you could go out to eat, and on the third Wanda would feel your fingers on the back seat of the car on the drive home.

Wanda imagined all this on the way, twisting the lawyer's paper between her fingers. 

"Welcome home, Wanda." Vision greeted her, giving her room to enter. Wanda forces a smile, as she removes her hand from her pocket to pass her arm around her spouse for what would probably be the last hug she would give him as his wife. “Did you have fun?”

“I did.”

-&-

It's your night shift.

Natasha has a habit of closing early on weekdays, with the exception of Fridays where she allows reading shifts for all the sleepless geeks, as she calls all the late readers who come to the bookstore after six in the evening.

The day has been quiet so far, and well, you've been too depressed for the past weeks since you decided to move on and get over Wanda Maximoff.

So of course when the bell rings and you lift your eyes from a superhero comic, it's her at the door.

A weary sigh escapes you at the almost apologetic expression of the woman fidgeting with her scarf, and without giving her some other reaction, you lower your eyes again.

"Good evening, Y/N." She greets politely, her voice hoarse.

Turning the page, as if actually reading the words crammed in front of you, you retort, " We're closing soon, so make it quick."

A smile plays on her lips at your response. "Well, I guess that'll be up to you." She retorts, and you frown in confusion, looking up only to watch Wanda turn the sign from open to closed, and lock the door.

You feel your face warm from the lust glint her eyes acquire, but you manage to raise an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you came all this way to murder me."

She chuckles playfully, approaching at a slow pace while her hands work to remove her coat and leave it on top of one of the endless stacks of books in the reception area. "Is the place empty?"

You bite your lip as she puts on a show to remove her gloves, almost losing the train of thought. "Not really." You mumble, catching the other woman's brief disappointment and hesitation. Closing the comics in your lap to store them under the counter, you clear your throat. "There's an employee area behind this door." You let her know in a husky tone, and Wanda glances behind your shoulder for a moment before stepping around the counter. 

You hold your breath at having her so close now, but she doesn't break the short distance between your faces, leaning in to touch the doorknob. You take a deep breath, and her free hand seeks yours in your lap.

She entwines your fingers together and it takes you a full moment to notice the ring missing in hers. Wanda smiles when she realizes you understand.

"I signed the papers this morning." She whispers it as a secret between you, stroking the back of your hand with her thumb and enjoying the way your skin feels warm. "I was going to write, to let you know, but I decided I wanted you to have me entirely."

You swallow dry, shuddering at the confession. "Oh, that's... nice to know." It's all you manage for the moment, surprised you can still hear her speak when your heart is so loud in your own ear drums. Wanda bites back a mischievous smile and opens the door.

"Come, you can show me how much you appreciate my fairness."

You feel your face burn and grunt in embarrassment. "You're so full of yourself." You mumble, not resisting the tug she gives to get you inside. 

Barely inside when the door closes behind you, your back hits the wood and desperate hands tug your uniform jacket open. Wanda's gasping breaths mingle with yours as she kisses you roughly. 

Her hands work at your belt, but you slow the frantic pace to something so intense and intimate that Wanda melts against you, a moment later green eyes staring up at you tearfully.

"I didn't lie." You begin to explain hoarsely. "There are three customers in the café. They'll notice if we... There's no rush, Wanda." You smile at her tenderly, your hands on her cheeks. "Have dinner with me tonight. You can walk me home."

Her eyes sparkle with happiness, and Wanda nods in agreement, kissing you as a promise. One she will never be ashamed to fulfill, doesn't matter if not even the law allows it.

[agatharkn3ss]

Blink and you miss it - clues on Nicholas Scratch

I'm currently working through the episodes looking for clues, trying to make more sense of what could actually be going on. And I've been finding some real gems!

One of them is this short but very interesting moment - when Agnes O'Connor returns to her office at the precinct. One moment we see a plant with a rabbit next to it (see lower left). The next second the plant is replaced with a photo of a young boy. Then, just as quickly, the next time we see that spot, the plant is back and the picture is gone.

I am not quite sure yet of the meaning of this quick transition at this point in the spell.

But it's the only image we have of Nicholas Scratch so far. I don't think it could be anyone else - by now we all probably realise all those images of rabbits around Agatha's house are a link to Nicky - there was even a rabbit right next to his "school award" in his bedroom.

Also, there was another scene just after Agatha came out of her spell and found Senor Scratchy in the basement - just in that briefest of moments we hear the same music that played when Agnes O'Connor was looking into her son's bedroom (I call it now "Nicky's theme").

Nicky must have loved rabbits and Senor Scratchy must have been his pet - I imagine both Agatha and Rio helped him come up with that name. OR Nicky was originally Spanish (maybe he was born there?) and that's why Rio and Agatha sometimes use Spanish phrases, a little memory of their son.

Side-note: Rabbits in some pagan beliefs were associated with fertility, as well as rebirth and resurrection. So I wonder if maybe this is somehow linked to how Nicky was created in the first place?

(Crazy thought - if Agatha did actually walk the Road before - which I still have big big doubts about - how cool would it be if it was her and Rio because they wanted to have a child together? So because they weren't seeking power, the Road looked completely different to them than what they are going through now? Unlikely, but cool! Though it would be that much more heart-breaking to lose their son after that effort)

[mr-ys-phantasma]

🌙 Moon Phases 🌙

Agatha Harkness X Fem!Reader

Chapter 1. - Chapter 2. - Chapter 3. Chapter 4. - Chapter 5. - Chapter 6. Chapter 7. - Chapter 8. - Chapter 9. Chapter 10. - Chapter 11

Word count: 1310

Chapter 11:

Jen grabbed the boy and brought him to her side, instructing him on how to swirl. You were not sure why, but you speculated she was too anxious to focus on it, and you did not blame her.

For a first trial, this was intense, and you did not wish to think of what would come next.

"Eeryone, pull a strand of hair outta your head now." Jen suddenly instructed, and you all obeyed, with Alice even taking a strand from Sharon's head. "A single hair only. Everybody, hurry up."

You all threw the single piece of hair into the swirling boiling water, except for Agatha. As she was ready to do that, she froze and stared at something that you could not see.

It was her time to face her nightmare.

You were not sure what it was, but the fear crawling on her face was not something that you liked. Her illusion was small, but it was enough to send her to the floor with a loud gasp, eyes wide staring at nothing as tears were fighting to escape.

You glanced at the clock, seeing the time being way less than before and you acted on impulse. You stood behind Agatha and after you muttered an apology, you pulled a piece of her hair.

"Ouch!" She exclaimed and looked at you with a hurt expression, but you figured it was mostly shock from your actions.

"Sorry" you said and tossed the hair into the water.

The other witches tried to ask Agatha what she saw, but she refused to answer, turning the focus back on the potion.

Yet you could not help but steal glances at her; seeing her how hard she was fighting to keep her composure in front of the others.

Whatever she has faced has shaken her to the core, and you knew only one thing could truly do that...

Her son

You never learnt what happened to him, and she always refused to tell you, going as far as to raise her tone when you tried to push the topic.

So, you let it go and simply waited, hoped, for the day she would open up to you. You had met that boy when he was very young, and while you never had the chance to bond with him properly, you were always wondering what happened to him.

For the day it all went downhill, that boy took with him the bigger part of Agatha's heart and light.

"We need to clasp hands..." Jen instructed, your focus on her again. "...and clear your minds. Once our intentions are aligned, it will glow bright cerulean."

Alice glanced around her. "Yeah. What're our intentions again?"

"To not die."

And so you did that, pouring all your intentions of surviving the first trial.

You dared to open one eye and once again was disappointed to find that your effort did not work with the first time.

Why? Because the colour of the potion should be blue, and this was clearly a shade of green.

"I must have forgot something." Jen exclaimed as panic started to rise within her.

Teen dared to glance at the clock. "One minute left."

You felt your heart beating faster and you looked at the worried potions witch. "What did you forget?" You asked, hands placed firmly against the marble surface.

Jen, feeling the weight of the situation, took a step back. "I don't know! I've never made this potion before! I make retinol serums, for Christ's sake!"

"Fifty seconds."

You glanced at the boy. "Shouting the time is not really helping here!" You snapped back, realizing that if Jen suddenly got cold feet; you were all dead.

Surpringly, it was Agatha who took the initiative. She grabbed the witch from her upper arms and stared dead into her dark eyes.

"I have always hated you... but I left you alone because what you were doing was important. Not this Kale Kare crap, the real work. You can be that witch again. They can take your power, Jen, but they can't take your knowledge."

Silence enveloped the room, everyone looking at Jen for the missing ingredient; feeling bout to pass out from the worry and the stress they were all experiencing.

"Blood. We need the blood of the unpoisoned."

It was Alice who gathered the courage and checked the clock. "Thirty seconds."

Agatha did not hesitate to grab a huge kitchen knife. With her free hand, she grabbed the boy's wrist and, with the other, cut a deep enough slash. "Thanks for being underage."

The move shocked everyone, but Agatha paid no mind as she guided the boy's hand over the boiling water, letting the droplets of blood fall in.

A sigh of relief left your lips when it turned blue and you wasted no time dunking your glasses into the water before hastily drinking the antidote; just as you were in the last ten seconds of the countdown.

However, the timer did not stop after you drank the antidote and it took you all a few precious seconds to be reminded that Sharon had not taken it since she laid unconscious on the couch.

By the last second, you managed to empty the cup into her lips, and by the faint movement of her limps; it was evident that she was also alive.

A clicking sound startled you all before it was noticed that the oven door had opened on its own.

You were the first to walk toward it, perhaps the bravest, and you were surprised to see some never-ending slide leading Gods knew where.

"I think this is our exit," you said as the others gathered around you.

"I am not climbing in an oven" Lilia argued. "That happened to a friend of mine, she had a lovely house, and she ended up..."

Her storytelling was cut short as the windows broke, and saltwater started to fill the house at a terrifying pace.

You stared at it with wide eyes as the dark blue waters were coming your way. You were a good swimmer and you always found something nice at the salty smell of a sea breeze but even this was out of your league.

Lilia moved first, now longer hesitating to enter the oven and slide down; followed by Jen.

You waited for Agatha to join y before she could, Teen and Alice reminded you that Sharon was still left behind.

"We don't know what happens if we leave her behind." Alice argued.

You knew she was right, and honestly, Sharon should not die like that; not when it was never her fault for ending up on the Road.

You turned to Agatha. "Go, I will go help them"

Surpringly, your lover did not agree as she once again grabbed your wrist. "No, you go down that oven"

Yet you stubbornly stared her in the eye, not moving an inch. "No, you are, or you are helping me with Mrs. Davis"

Agatha wanted to argue, to grab you by the back of your neck and shove you down that slide. She wished to scold you to for suddenly being both selfless and annoyingly stubborn.

In the end, she gave up.

"Fine!" She spat, and you both joined to help carry the unconscious human towards the oven.

By now, the floors had flooded, and the water was rising fast; making your fear it would block your way to the oven and your only exit if you were late.

Thankfully, you all managed to push her down the slide and followed suit. This time, it was Alice who stayed behind.

She watched you go after Agatha, and as she sat by the edge, she grabbed the oven door and closed it behind her before letting gravity and water pull her down the unknown slide.

Chapter 12

[shutupineedtothink]

Billy Theory - That boy and Agatha are the same

I know some people want Billy to have these hidden motivations and secretly he hates Agatha so that’s why he put the sigil on himself. So that he would show up with this false, aw shucks persona of Billy Kaplan and fool her into helping him walk the Road and bring his mother back at the end. Or get power, or his brother, or whatever.

But I want it to be the exact opposite. He did put the sigil on himself to hide his real identity from her, and from the other witches. But it isn’t because he hates them. He’s afraid of them. He actually is Agatha’s fan. And he idolizes and respects all of these women. And he’s afraid if they find out he’s Wanda Maximoff’s son, the ultimate witch gone bad, the personification of every negative, evil stereotype Lilia has been talking about around witches, they’ll reject him.

He’s afraid they never would have taken him on the Road to begin with, because somewhere along the last three years, and after the events of Multiverse of Madness, he realized oh my god, my mom was the evil one. (I’m assuming Wanda’s turn was publicized in the MCU, or maybe he sensed it magically.) And he (somehow) learns more and more about Agatha and realizes that she was never as evil as she pretends to be, or at least she never went on a killing rampage like Wanda did. But surely she must hate him, because she hates his mom. They must all hate him. That’s his motivation for the sigil. Fear, of himself, of what people will think of him, not anger. Starting to sound familiar?

Sure, I think it’s narratively interesting if he hates her and then he has to come to terms with who Agatha really is underneath it all. But it’s way more narratively interesting, for both of them, if his own journey, his own trauma, his own inner dialogue, very closely reflects hers. They’re mirrors.

What does Agatha, at her core, believe about herself? Her mother hated her because her mother believed she was evil. She internalized that and sees herself as evil, plays into that persona even as she tries to be the opposite of that. In her mind currently, she’s so innately evil she (directly or indirectly) caused the death of her own son.

It’s not quite an exact match for Billy, but the result is the same. He sees (or maybe even magically feels) how his mother turned bad, killed innocent people (listen I love Wanda, but she did). He thinks oh my god, I have the same magic. There’s no witch out there who will want to teach me. And probably, on some deep down level he thinks, maybe I’m evil too. Maybe just like my mom, there’s no other path for me.

Bottom line? That boy isn’t Agatha’s. That boy is another version of her own inner story. She and that boy are the same, on a deep fundamental level.

Stop here if you don’t want potential ep 6 spoilers! More specifics for how I think we move forward under the cut.

Where does that leave us after ep 5/going into ep 6? Here’s the breakdown.

Billy does what he does at the end of ep 5, basically becoming his worst fear, turning into the evil witch version of his mother.

But it’s not real (see my other post about the false trial). So Agatha, Jen, and Lilia, wake up from the false trial (thank you Rio), maybe they have to fight the Seven and defeat them together, and let’s say Alice is alive too, because I want her to be. Everyone’s still on the Road.

Billy is still trapped in the spell. They have to wake him up somehow. Jen’s already saying uncertainly, maybe we don’t want to wake him up, but Agatha immediately defends him. No, it wasn’t his fault, it was a trap, and she provoked him. That whole “trial” was a manifestation of her punishment by the Seven, it wasn’t really him. She’s adamant about this and the others (maybe reluctantly) go with it.

They wake him up — and in my head, they wake him up by destroying the sigil (breaking the illusion of his identity and the Seven’s spell in one go). Of course, it’s Agatha that has to do it, because she and Rio are the only ones who know. And really, Agatha’s known all along, right. I think she knew from the second he broke her out of the spell in ep 1. She just wanted to believe otherwise. So after a few failed attempts to shake him awake and probably a line from Rio along the lines of “You know you have to say it Agatha,” she does. “William Maximoff.” It’s sad, and soft, without any intention to hurt him. (A sigil is destroyed when it’s no longer needed.)

So the sigil is destroyed and our boy wakes up. There’s some initial remnants of anger on his face, but then once he sees them all staring at him warily, he starts to get scared. He remembers what he’s done to them, even if it wasn’t real. He scrambles away from them, please no, I didn’t mean to — I swear I want to be good.

It’s Agatha’s trauma, a version of herself, playing out right in front of her. Playing out in front of us, again. Only now she gets to do for him what her mother never did for her, and what the coven never did for her in the false trial either. She sees him. She defends him, his true self, the curious hopeful smart boy he’s been this whole time. (You don’t need to know someone’s name to know who they really are.) She goes to him and she says it wasn’t real. That wasn’t you. It was me, my punishment. Not yours.

But he’s not convinced yet. And now it hits him — But you know who I am. You said my name.

Agatha says, I think I always knew who you were.

Then why don’t you hate me?

She’s genuinely confused. Why would I hate you?

He looks at the rest of them and back to her. Because I’m… Wanda Maximoff’s son. She hurt you, she hurt so many people. And I have her magic. I was born… (evil? Bad? he can’t bring himself to say it.)

And this is Agatha’s big moment, and the big emotional pay off for us. She says, Billy (the first time we hear his casual name spoken) — Never let anyone else’s fear of you decide who you are. Not mine, not anyone else’s. Never let anyone else tell you you’re horrible, or worthless, or evil. You get to decide who you are, and only you. If you want to be good… you can be. Do you understand?

She’s talking to him, but on some level she’s talking to herself, her own inner child. Does she believe that for herself yet? No, but I digress.

And maybe wryly she adds, because Agatha can’t be serious for too long and I want this line, “Besides, as we’ve already established, I don’t punish children for the sins of the mother.”

Didn’t mean to turn that into a whole fic but there you go. Anyway, Billy gets the message. The coven sees him and accepts him. Maybe there’s hugs. I’d like there to be hugs. We move on to Agatha’s real trial.

Tl;dr? Agatha Harkness is walking out of this Road with Billy Maximoff as her apprentice, goddamnit.

[agathasvidal]

below the cut is a short theory/deep dive into how i believe agatha all along is going to end between agatha and rio. it is inspired by one theory that is doing the rounds, and is the one i originally theorised myself after watching episode six last week, but i wanted to depict the how and the why of why agathario is important to the show, and why i don’t think a ‘final battle’ will be clearly cut between a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ side

like many others, i think it’s reasonable to predict that rio is there to take billy, but she does not actually know who billy is because of the sigil. small things to back this up include:

1. agatha asking rio why she’s there in episode one and rio replying “my job”. agatha is like boom she is here to take someone away, and it can’t be me, and there’s only one new person who’s recently appeared in my life so who the f is this kid why is he important

2. rio saying “did you hide evidence?” to agatha. ironically, someone is being hidden in the closet from her…

3.. rio telling lilia “go on tell them what you saw” in the beginning of episode five. we can infer that rio knows that lilia knows who rio is. perhaps we could go one further, and suggest that rio knows lilia helped hide whoever she is looking for, and is almost taunting lilia in an ‘i really do see it all’ way

3. agatha’s “don’t” to rio in episode four, when teen is injured. it’s obvious, and has been spoken about so much, but i really think this is a moment of confirmation from agatha that rio is there for him, and she needs to beat rio in discovering who he is. it’s confirmation that the two are working against each other, but it is so hidden between their flirtation and tension.

4. there’s been a big debate about why rio would be a witch, whilst she’s also *potentially* death, but i think it was important for the show to portray rio as a witch so the audience know that a sigil would also work on rio, so she cannot discover teen’s identity. why else would they make it such a big deal about sigils only working on witches?

5. the significant of the no. 3 and agatha/rio in the show all hinting at the cycle of life, birth and death: maiden, mother, crone; agatha’s shirt in ep 5; the clocks being on 3.33 when rio arrives in ep 1, the amount of rabbits we’ve seen (3 rabbits/hares represent birth-life-death cycle in christianity and egyptian hieroglyphs)

SO,

to agatha, seeing rio means something is about to be taken away from her. i think that is their entire dynamic within this show, and their entire relationship in general, after the loss of nic. agatha is presented with rio which means she must work out what rio is there to take. that’s why she suspected teen was someone important, because rio was there for either her or teen. teen had to be one of two people. that’s why agatha viscerally protested the idea of coming close to death in the first trial. because she does not want confirmation that rio is there to take this boy from her. she does not even know who he is, but he is important enough for rio to involve herself in agatha’s life once more. he is important enough for rio to go out of her way and resurface old feelings that they both know, the other should not be resurfacing. he is important enough to be seeked out.

by rio taking away billy, she not only repeats her and agatha’s history once more, but she completely takes away the possibility from agatha that she could ever find a way to be reunited with nicky. agatha needs billy, like she needed wanda, to end the quest she’d spent centuries on. rio is not JUST taking another child away from agatha, she is completely breaking the entire, vicious cycle of longing and hope for the son they lost.

i think that rio thinks that is for the best. for her agatha. to stop this endless chase for something rio knows she cannot have. rio is doing it out of love, even though it tears them apart more than anything else ever could. that is the lesson that agatha needs to be taught: the cycle of birth, life and death. (yes i could then start hypothesising about agatha dying, but i think it’s been overdone)

so that is our potential final battle. a battle between death and life. they are made for each other, but that is ultimately what tears them apart. one spends their life bound to defying death, and the other does not get life, but is bound to upholding it.

agatha is Death’s life. but all death can do to life, is take from it. in the end, rio will always be agatha’s death. they have always been doomed.

[cassiebones]

Agatha Harkness: Character Study

I'm gonna be real with you: I do not read Marvel comics. I have read some that others have bough for me (Miss Marvel, for instance, which I loved) but I'm not really into comics like that. So I do not know the lore surrounding Agatha. Everything I know is from WandaVision and Agatha All Along and everything I write will also be based on that.

That being said, let's begin.

Agatha is dramatic.

This bitch is the most dramatic person I have ever seen and I love that for her, to be completely honest. She also gives so few fucks sometimes. Like when she was naked in the middle of a residential street, her cheeks just in the wind. Beautiful. Love to see it.

Like every time she wants to make a dramatic exit, she deliberately swishes the tail of her coat as she walks away. Even when there's nobody there to see it. Just for the vibes. Love that.

And she loves deeply and sometimes without her permission. You can just tell. When she's under Wanda's spell, chasing teen down the alley and he gets hit by the car, she is immediately concerned for this random child's safety. She makes sure that he's okay before anything else. You can't tell me that now, in episode four, she doesn't care for this kid like he's her own son (even if he's not). She gives him her coat, leaving her without the ability to swish it dramatically; that's love, bitch.

And I think she has this deep-seated guilt inside her. Like she blames herself for Nicholas's death, which I do think she does. She couldn't save him from his fate, as hard as she tried. I think that a big part of her anger at Rio is directed at herself, as well. She let her son go, which she will never forgive herself for.

And she loves Rio. We can see that so clearly when they share that moment in the woods. She tries not to, of course, but she can't really resist for long. And I don't think it's just because of their sexual past, but their romantic one, as well. There's no doubt in my mind that they were married in their past life. That, despite legality, they probably had a big ceremony, probably with witnesses there. They declared their love and pledged to be with one another, til death, smiling because they know even death won't keep them apart (one of them is Death, after all).

I am not really sure if Agatha was with a man before and that's how she got Nicholas, or if she had somehow adopted him with Rio (???) idk. All I know is she loved her son and she did not give him up for the Darkhold. His death left a pretty sizeable gap in her heart for sure. I feel like, no matter how Nicholas came into their lives, Rio also considered him hers.

(Side note: I need there to be a fight where Agatha takes out all of her grief about Nicholas on Rio, blaming her for his death and reaping his soul and Rio just shouts back "he was my son, too!" Is that too much to ask?)

She loved Rio and Nicholas so much and she lost them both in one fell swoop. When she got her hands on the Darkhold and Nicholas was already gone and Rio was the one that took him completely away, she made herself disappear so that Rio couldn't find her until Wanda took away her magic. Because the second that magic was gone and no longer hiding her, Rio found Agatha, probably yearning for her for however long it had been (decades? centuries?) since she'd last laid eyes on her. I wonder if there were any other "shows" that Rio was a guest star in. Medical dramas? Sitcoms? Dark comedies? Mockumentaries (totally not picturing their Parks & Rec characters rn)? Did Rio come to her as soon as Wanda took her magic? Did she wait a bit, try to play it cool? She definitely did with the crime drama.

Also Agatha's relationship with each of the other coven witches is...interesting.

I feel like Lilia was somewhat of a mentor to her in her early years, when she was still a young child, just learning to do magic. Maybe she was a neighbor. Maybe Agatha's mother detested her, which is why Agatha was fascinated by her.

Then there's Jennifer Kale, who is probably a bit younger than Agatha, but still centuries old. Had they met prior? It feels like they had a situationship that soured quickly. Maybe Jennifer was once a member of one of Agatha's covens, but dipped out before she had her powers - and life - drained. She was bound anyway, but not by Agatha, at least. I feel like they've kissed at least once, anyway.

I don't think Agatha had met Alice before, but maybe she knew her mother. She probably was a fan of the cover (she knew it so well) and might've crossed paths with Lorna once or twice. Lorna, who was terrified of a generational curse that may have been placed on her daughter. I can imagine Agatha saying, a bit callously, "at least you have a child to worry over still." I love that she was the one that figured out the protection spell for Alice.

Agatha is smart. So smart. She has centuries of knowledge, but it's not just that. She also - despite her callousness - is pretty intuitive. She is able to sense when somebody is stressed or double-guessing themselves and say exactly what they need to hear. She shows kindness in those moments. True kindness. For her, I believe it takes effort to be seriously cruel. She might have to justify it to herself.

She's obviously not a saint. She was the villain (yes, villain) in WandaVision. One of them, anyway. The major one. But I really love antagonists like this: complicated, three-dimensional, not completely evil.

When Agatha Harkness cares, she does so deeply and sometimes against her will. I can't imagine she immediately fell in love with Rio Vidal. That was definitely a slow burn, but one that fully consumed her eventually until the only way to really get away from Rio was to shroud herself with dark magic so that Rio couldn't find her. I think she knew that, when and if Rio found her, she would be unable to resist for too long before falling back into her embrace.

I really love this character.

[terapsina]

You know, I can't help but find it interesting the way Agatha is simultaneously really irresponsible about and knee-jerk protective of Teen.

Like. When he asks if he can drink a glass of the wine, every other witch snaps out a "hell no" while Agatha just goes with "sure".

But.

When they find out that the wine is deadly poisonous and Agatha tries to refuse to drink it; when Teen angrily snaps that he will drink it then? At that point Agatha shouts "No!" and actually does drink it herself.

It does seem like kids really might be Agatha's weakness.

And I have to wonder how her son is involved in that weakness. Because I really don't think she knowingly traded her son for the Darkhold... but I'm not ruling out the possibility that she traded him by accident without knowing the price ahead of time.

(also, my prediction - whatever his true identity, Teen is definitely going to betray Agatha near the end of the road).

[fandomshipsandimagines]

my thoughts are too jumbled and incoherent after last night’s finale to get back into fic writing. i need to process before i can sit and write. in return, i offer you the agathario + nicky story how i would have liked to see it:

nicky is not born sick but rio prophecies at his birth that his time will be limited. maybe she tells agatha, but withholds whatever timeline there might be. she has been around the block and knows the devastation it will cause. instead, she gives him more time out of love for agatha, because she can’t bear to see her in pain and knows that agatha will hate her for it. maybe she’s also a little selfish and wants to have time with her own family before it’s all gone. they build a home together, but agatha hears whispers of a book filled with dark magic and the potential of prolonging nicky’s life that sits at the end of the witches’ road. she and rio fight about it, and rio feels better thinking she’s managed to talk her lover out of it. agatha, forever lying and sneaking around, goes on a quest to find it in the middle of the night. she leaves a note saying she will be back soon, but rio knows that the time has come to an end; she has to take nicky. she doesn’t show him her death face because she doesn’t want him to be scared.“you’re being such a brave boy, cariño.” she takes his hand and guides him along on the adventure she’d always promise to take him on. agatha comes back to find rio crying alone in the darkness. she instantly knows, and she didn’t even get to say goodbye. they scream and fight over it; agatha vowing to hate rio with every fiber of her being for taking away their son and destroying the home they’d built; rio hating agatha for seemingly valuing the darkhold over the precious time alloted to them. rio can but won’t see that she tried to do it for them, that she was a desperate mortal, a MOTHER, doing her best for her son. agatha can’t see that rio’s love gave them more time, that it was the only kindness she knew how to show. they go their separate ways, agatha pouring over the darkhold for a way to reverse death and bring him back. it shields her from rio, who doesn’t even go looking at first, but eventually tries to see if she can get through to agatha that nicky’s death couldn’t be reversed, that he was always going to die, that the darkhold destroyed her even more. agatha kills and kills and kills in hopes that it will give her the power she needs to make the darkhold work, but it was never going to do what she wanted it to, and she was never destined to be the strongest witch of all.

she and rio scream at one another.

“you took my son,” “he was OUR son. i lost him, too, agatha.” it was her act of mercy that gave them more time. it was love and kindness that agatha couldn’t see. too wrapped up in her own grief, agatha doesn’t see that rio is as affected by his death as she is; she doesn’t see that rio didn’t want to do it. her eyes are too blurry with tears to see the ones streaming down rio’s face.

the final trial, “sometimes little boys die,” is when she realizes it was a futile attempt and that she contributed just as equally to her family’s destruction. she apologizes to rio, they break down and cry because the natural cycle of life is just as it always has been. it hurt because it’s true that you can never hate anyone as much as the person you once loved, but the love was never really gone, not entirely. it was replaced by anger and rage and sorrow and grief and heartbreak, but it was never really gone.

they have a loooooooong road (see what i did there? 😉) ahead of them, but acknowledging their wrongs and past was the first step in getting anywhere. she may never get to have her son back , but she has a boy she cares about who needs her help. and this one, she’s confident, can hold his own. she was never destined to be the greatest witch of all; maybe she was destined to train him.

[camilaxmartin]

i need to ramble, so-

AGATHA ALL ALONG EPISODE 4 SPOILERS AHEAD

OKAY LET ME START WITH THE FACT HOW AMAZING THIS EPISODE WAS??? I DONT WANT TO SAY IT IS MY FAVOURITE BUT LIKE- IT MIGHT BE.

THE VIBES THE OUTFITS????

okay okay calm down.

RIO CRAWLING OUT OF THE GROUND AND THEN SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT BEING PULLED DOWN OR UP WAS RAAAAH AMAZING I LITERALLY HAVE NO WORDS. I STARTED LAUGHING SO HARD

THE WHOLE MUSIC BOOT SCENE? GOD. THE WAY RIO CARESSED AGATHA’S THIGH AND HER UNDER STOMACH???? HELP ME LORD

I WAS LITERALLY GOING INSANE STILL AM

OKAY OKAY

THE SCENE WITH THE BALLAD WHEN ALL OF THEM WERE SO INTO SINGING AND EVEN TEEN OH. MY. LORD. I LITERALLY STARTED CRYING AT IT FROM ALL OF THE EMOTIONS CAUSE LORD I FELT IT IN MY VEINS LITERALLY. IT WAS SO POWERFUL I WAS LITERALLY STARING AT THE SCREEN WITH MY MOUTH HANGING OPEN. I LOVED IT. IF I EVER DIE PLAY THIS AND IM GONNA COME BACK TO LIFE I SWEAR.

(i love how alice was so into it at the end and destroyed the curse i LOVE HER)

I ALSO NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE WAY AGATHA CARES FOR TEEN. I KNOW SHE THINKS ITS NICHOLAS BUT I JUST FIND IT SO SWEET SHES LITERALLY SO RAAAH LIKE???!! I LOVE SOFT AGATHA FOR LIFE SORRY NOT SORRY. THE WAY SHE WAS PUSHING HIM AWAY WHILE THE CURSE WAS FLOATING AROUND THEM??? THE WAY HER VOICE WAS SO SOFT AND UNSTEADY WHEN SHE LITERALLY BEGGED JEN TO DO SOMETHING TO SAVE HIM??? MY GIRL WAS STRESSING AND SO WAS I (i love him more than my life) THE WAY AGATHA SAT AND WAITED WITH HIM ALL THAT TIME FOR HIM TO WAKE UP?? TO MAKE SURE HES OKAY???

IM SO GLAD HES OKAY LIKE I DIDNT THINK HE WOULD DIE BUT I WAS STILL STRESSED AND SCARED FOR HIM.

okay now,

THE HUG???? IT FELT SO PERSONAL SO PURE SO FUCKING SAFE SO SOFT SO VULNERABLE. I LOVE MY SILLY LESBIANS OH GOD. THE ALMOST KISS?? I LOVE HOW RIO DIDNT WANT HER TO KISS HER SO SHE WOULDN’T THINK LIKE EVERYTHING IS OKAY WITH NICHOLAS. LIKE IT WAS MORE IMPORTANT FOR HER TO TELL AGATHA IT IS IN FACT NOT HER SON THAN GETTING TO KISS HER ONCE MORE. MY GIRL RIO IS STILL FUCKING SOFT AND GENUINE AND GOD I AM LIVING FOR IT. (i hope we get a kiss by the end of the series but literally it is enough for me even now) I NEED TO TALK MORE ABOUT THAT HUG CAUSE IT LITERALLY GRIPPED MY HEART OUT OF MY CHEST STROKED IT AND PUT IT BACK. GOSH IT WAS AMAZING. THE SOFT GESTURES OF AGATHA’S HANDS ON THE BACK OF RIO’S HEAD???? OH IM FUCKING COOKED.

AND I WAS SO STRESSING ABOUT LILIA TOO LIKE I LOVE HER SO MUCH I HOPE NOTHING BAD HAPPENS TO HER PLEASE I NEED HER TO SURVIVE YOU DONT UNDERSTAND. SHES MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT WITCH OKAY. I LOVE HER.

TO SUM UP I WAS LITERALLY GRIPPING MY SKIN FOR THE WHOLE EPISODE AND BESIDE THE PREVIOUS ONE I CANT REMEMBER A TIME THAT A SERIES OR A MOVIE DID SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO ME (the previous one did it a bit less intensely) I AM LIVING FOR THIS SERIES AND I HOPE ITS GONNA HAVE AN ENDING THAT WONT DESTROY ME EMOTIONALLY FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. WHICH MOST LIKELY WONT HAPPEN CAUSE WE KNOW HOW IT IS WITH MARVEL. 10/10 OBVIOUSLY I WAS STRESSING SWEATING SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP. STILL AM.

(i might add something later when i’m gonna need to ramble more/again)

[criticalbeauregard]

how agathario could've won

EDIT: people are taking this post as me saying every ship needs a happy ending to have value or that the ending was bad bc they don’t end up riding off into the sunset. let me clarify this was just an idea i had (also without context for several jac interviews that have since come out)

i've been thinking a lot about the finale and how some people have been saying "what did you think was going to happen? you thought they were going to live happily ever after?" to which i didn't really have a good answer for but i've been collecting my thoughts and i have a bit of a "fix it" or alternate concept for ep 8 & 9 that could possibly turn into a fic down the road:

episode 8 is the earth trial and final showdown. i feel like the earth trial itself was pretty underwhelming in favor of sending jen and billy out of the "road" and also in the larger context of the rest of the episode i'm unsure of the purpose it serves. with the later knowledge that the road is all billy's design this makes sense, but agatha's growth (literally) in that moment alone seems inconsequential and essentially washes away when she exits the "trial" and sees rio. she says, with something that sounds like acceptance, "sometimes boys die." and she's in what would be rio's trial. she talks about life coming out of death, she literally grows a flower from a seed within the momento she carries for her dead son. it feels like an acceptance or understanding of rio's actions in a way. and possibly a nod to nicky not being fully gone. i would've liked (i suppose in a world where the road doesnt hinge on billy's knowledge of the coven members) for rio's trial to be more centered around her loss of nicky and agatha. the other trials focus on the greatest fears of the coven member associated with it after all. perhaps a trial that also forces agatha to reveal the true story of what happened to nicky to jen and billy, even ending similarly with sending the others away and finding true acceptance of what rio is and that she was nicky's mother too. maybe with prompting from the others and reassurance about how the truth is not "too awful" (which i think is a belief born of agatha's shame for not being able to protect nicky).

in the final showdown, rio is expecting a fight since agatha didn't make good on her deal. but agatha is coming to rio with something she doesn't expect, understanding. maybe rio thinks it's a trick and there's still some sparring there, billy then shows up and powers up agatha. rio asks which one of them is coming with her. agatha, injured, yells out "what would our son think of this?" rio falters at that. agatha talks about what she's learned and maybe even how that very nature she's hated for so long is what made her fall in love with rio to begin with. agatha wants to make a new deal, rio lets billy go and when agatha dies (a long long time from now) they will go reunite with their son together. rio regretfully tells her "that balance still must be maintained, i can offer only time" and agatha tearfully says "i know." they kiss, not a kiss of death, but of life. a renewal of their love. flowers bloom around them, all of the ones rio never got to give to her over the years. and when agatha opens her eyes again, rio is gone.

in episode 9 we see agatha and rio meet for the first time, agatha have nicky, rio play with nicky in the woods on some nights while agatha sleeps, everything else we see with nicky and agatha's relationship, rio and nicky's last walk and maybe also rio and agatha's first encounter after nicky's death, perhaps in which we gain some insight into why agatha is keeping up the witches' road con.

having heard the story during the earth trial and through witnessing her deal with rio, billy has a deeper understand of why agatha is the way she is. this reminds him of wanda and he realizes why agatha actually was so interested in what wanda did. she says the bit about him reminding her of nicky and how he always did even when he was young. he thanks her for buying him time, agatha tells him to make the most of it and that things might move quicker with another set of hands. "coven two." they go to find tommy.

idk lmk what you think and if i'm forgetting something very glaring but this idea was heavily inspired by @agatharkn3ss 's nicky's parentage theory post.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Agatha all along ep 6 spoilers.

After the ep 5 ending I was really looking forward to seeing ep 6 and I have to say it did not disappoint. This episode was great and we got some answers but also some more mysteries to solve. I do think this episode had some really dark moments amd themes in it but then that was balanced out with some comedic moments too.

First I want to talk about one of the darker more tragic events of this episode and that's the William Kaplan/Billy Maximoff backstory. This situation is tragic in so many different ways. When it comes to William Kaplan obviously the tragedy is that he is this young 13 year old boy, he has a loving family and has just celebrated this huge milestone and has his whole life ahead of him when there's a car accident that suddenly cuts his life short. I think unfortunately this is a story that happens way too often in real life, and it's always devastating when someone so young is lost like that.

But this situation is made darker because you've then got William's parents who have no idea that their son has died. They know that he is different and that he doesn't remember them, which is really hard to cope with, but they think it's a result of the head injury from the accident, they don't know that their son died and was replaced with Billy Maximoff and how would Billy even begin to explain that to them. But it means you've got these parents who have gone through one of the most devastating things a parent can go through, the loss of a child, but they don't know it has happened and so can't properly grieve for their son. All they know is that he is different than he was before the accident.

Then you have Billy. That moment when he was in the hospital and you could see how terrified he was, well that was heart-wrenching. Billy must have been so confused and scared, one minute he's saying goodnight to his brother and parents, the next he's bleeding in a car, being rushed to hospital and is surrounded by strangers. On top of that he is being told by everyone around him that he is William Kaplan, that he doesn't remember that because he was in a car accident but he himself believes he is someone else, that he's Billy Maximoff, that something isn't right, so he must be really struggling through an identity crisis and trying to figure out what is real and who he really is. On top of that he has memories of his twin, Tommy, he can sense him but can't find him. It's a lot for a young boy to go through and to deal with. He can also read the minds of those around him which adds to the distress he feels. He spends the next three years trying to figure out who he really is whilst also feeling like an intruder and like no one truly knows him which must be really lonely. I think that's why when he hears Eddie thinking about telling him he loves him he confesses to him because he wants at least one person to know who he truly is. I think he struggles with his identity up until his meeting with Ralph and hearing Ralph talk about Wanda and Vision's sons is when he gets that confirmation that the identity he knew, Billy Maximoff, is real and that's when he begins to re-embrace that identity and he becomes determined to find his brother, the last member of his family still left to him.

Another added level of tragedy to this situation is Wanda. She spent the events of MoM desperately looking for her children, wondering why they existed in every other universe but her own, feeling that bitterness and grief and how unfair it was that in every other reality her children exisisted and were with her, so why didn't they exist in hers as well, why was she without them. But the heartbreaking truth was that they did exist in her universe but, Billy at least, was hidden by the sigil. I do wonder why it is no one can find Tommy and what happened to him? Did he also end up in the body of a dying kid? Is his soul just kind of floating around without a vessel and that's why Billy can sense him but not find him? I also wonder if when Wanda could hear her sons calling out for help whether that was real and was her sons in her reality subconsciously calling out to her. We know Billy was going through a bit of turmoil, it's possible Tommy was aswell where ever he is, so maybe Wanda was picking up on that in the post credit scene where she had the darkhold and could hear them, but maybe the sigil prevented her from being able to physically find them/Billy. If that makes sense, so she could hear their thoughts, but when she tried to actually look for them, the sigil plus whatever is hiding Tommy, prevented her from finding them. I will say though that Agatha's line about how every witch with heartbeat can hear Billy now becomes even more heartbreaking when you think that Wanda no longer has a heartbeat and so she'll never know that her son is still alive. Unless of course the mcu find a way to bring her back which I am still holding out hope for.

So speaking of the sigil, out of all the potential characters that could have cast it I was not expecting the reveal to be Lilia. That being said it does make sense to the story, she's a divination witch and clearly saw something that made her feel the need to put the sigil on him. I do wonder what exactly she saw, clearly she saw William dying and being replaced by Billy but I can't help but wonder if there was more to her vision than that and whether the sigil was to protect him or to protect others from him.

Another thing I did like in this episode is how Billy/William came into contact with all the members of the coven at some point, Lilia at the bar mitzvah, Alice at the car accident, Jen on YouTube and Sharon when he ran into her car. It adds to that idea of a coven being brought together by forces of fate.

The relationship between Billy and Eddie was so cute and wholesome and I hope we get to see more of them. I love how supportive Eddie was of Billy when he confessed to him that he wasn't William Kaplan and how he helped Billy try to unravel the mystery around his identity, even going so far as joining him in a creepy parking garage to meet a creepy stranger from online.

Ok kids I do need to say though if you make contact with someone online, especially someone named bohneriffic please don't go meet up with them, especially not in a creepy parking garage, Billy was not deploying street smarts there, the only smart part of that plan was that at least he took his supportive boyf with him. I do have to say that when wandavision first aired, I really, really, really hated the reveal that Evan Peters wasn't another variant of Peter/Pietro but was some random dude named Ralph Bohner, mostly because I really loved Evan Peters version of quicksilver in the xmen films and so was excited to see him in the mcu. So finding out that he wasn't actually quicksilver was like a slap in the face. That being said the scene between Mr bohneriffic, Billy and Eddie was a balm that helped sooth the sting a bit. The scene was very funny and I think Evan did a great job with it. It was also interesting to hear from the point of view of someone who was under Wanda's hex and what that was really like for those who lived in Westview. I'm still hoping that one day we'll see Evan's quicksilver in the mcu though.

Speaking of funny scenes and seeing things from a different pov, getting to see the whole chase and interrogation scene from the first ep from Billy's pov was hysterical, it really did leave me in stitches. Highlights have to be, her using the end of a hose pipe as a gun, when she kicked him out of the chair but actually it was just this really goofy kick she laid on him, the whole poking the bear bit and of course the iconic 'I don't want to go back in the closest' line. Again, though, it was also interesting to see it from outside of agatha's pov and see how different the reality actually was. It's kind of funny how she saw Billy as this mouthy, confident teen when in reality he was actually being really sweet and kind of goofy.

Another interesting scene was the ending between Billy and Agatha. I do think they have an interesting dynamic and they always have had, there does seem to be an affection there between them, like I believed Agatha when she said it was good to see him again, also she didn't want him feeling guilty for taking over William's body and she seemed to have a kind of pride in him and saw him as even more of a witch because he survived, like witches do. But at the same time there is that antagonism between them too, they've wronged each other and Billy does have trust issues when it comes to Agatha, I also wouldn't be surprised if Agatha is now a bit less trusting of Billy after he threw her in the mud. She clearly was enjoying mocking him about his parents and brother and trying to get a rise out of him.

Honestly for me this show just keeps getting better and better, I can't wait for the next episode and to see what will happen next, where Jen and Lilia are now because let's be real they aren't dead. What's rio up to because she's been noticeably absent since Alice died. Is Billy going to be able to find Tommy at the end of the road and what's Tommy been up to since the end of Wandavision. So many more questions I need answering.

[agatharkn3ss]

Hi! Maybe I missed it but how do you think: what could have caused "the battle" between Agatha and Rio? I mean besides the fact that Rio could have done something to Nicholas (as we believe), at the beginning she came to Agatha with a specific reason, was doing her job. And it seems that closer to the end of the show we may see the outcome of this battle.

Does she really want to hurt Agatha or it was just, ahem, foreplay? What if her "job" is a hidden mission like serving someone or following the code of The Death if there is one.

Everything is complicated by the fact that there is obviously a blood or some other marital connection between them because of which they cannot kill each other, therefore, she needs Agatha alive but for what purpose?

AGATHARIO AND THEIR FEELINGS

Hi! Sorry it took me ages to respond! I am still mulling over this and I can only provide some thoughts rather than a coherent theory. The more I rewatch the episodes and read Jac's amazing insights, the more I feel that "the battle" was because of Nicholas.

Agatha and Rio have such an amazing chemistry and it is very clear they have long history and are drawn to each other like magnets. So for them to be apart, something big must have happened. I believe Nicholas died in some tragic circumstances and maybe more recent than we think. I am still torn between what could've caused his death. I don't think any complicated Darkhold trade was involved, but rather it was a much simpler cause, which makes it even more painful to Agatha that she couldn't prevent it. So I think maybe he was hit by a car (which would explain Agatha's extreme reaction when Teen was hit in ep.1). There is a theory that maybe Nicholas, being a Blood Witch, had some powers himself. And that he used them when playing with Agatha. Since she couldn't control it, she syphoned his magic and he died. However, generally in Marvel we see that kids don't get their powers until they become teenagers and it sounds like Nicky was a toddler.

Either way, he dies and Rio has to take him because it's her job as Lady Death. Agatha would be pleading with her not to do it and bring him back, but there is nothing that can be done. So Agatha shuts Rio off, blaming her for taking away her son, but really it's just a way to block the truth that it was her own fault. She hates herself but projects it onto Rio. Runs away, acquires Darkhold and hides from Rio - as a revenge but also to hide from the memory of that tragedy. The only thing that she holds on to is Nicky's hair in that locket. And it HAS to be Nicky's hair, because every single time she pays any attention to it, we hear Nicky's theme playing in the background.

The thing is, Nicky was Rio's son too. She is also in pain and had to go through the torture of sending her own son to the underworld. And yet, instead of finding some comfort in each other, Agatha doesn't even give Rio the chance to express or talk through her grief. Even worse, she acts as if Rio did it on purpose, adding even more hurt. And then just disappears (literally ghosting Rio), without any explanation or hope that she will come back. Rio seems to always be so in tune with Agatha - we see the glimpses of it in the spell reality in ep.1. But when Agatha hides, Rio can't even "feel" her any more (similar to when Wanda cried over Vision's body and said "I can't feel you").

So when Rio can finally feel Agatha again and finds her, her first thoughts are probably that of absolute anger for the pain that Agatha's disappearance caused. But then she realises that Agatha is not herself. She's Agnes O'Connor and doesn't even remember Rio. So for Rio to get her revenge or any kind of closure, she needs to bring Agatha out of it. But in this process, as she gets to spend some the time with her, and she realises how much she missed her companion. And that anger slowly starts to give space to yearning.

So when she finally has the change to confront the real Agatha, she has this total mix of emotions - she is oh so angry and hurt, but she has also remembered why she fell in love in the first place. And that's why we get this "playful" fight.

For Agatha, this is the first time she sees Rio since Nicky's. So her initial reaction is "I hate you". She doesn't know what to expect from Rio and probably doesn't realise her pain - maybe she pushed the truth so far away and still believes that Rio taking Nicky away was a clear sign that she didn't care and didn't have a heart (seems like she only realised that during the "she's my scar" confession). So when Agatha chokes her, she means it, because she thinks she's fighting for her life. She knows she can't actually kill Death, but she will do whatever she needs to buy some precious time.

But Rio states "I missed you" and seems to be toying with her. She seems to be enjoying this because she is no longer as angry as she was when she first saw Agatha. She no longer intends to kill her. But she enjoys the physical punishment, taking the rare opportunity that Agatha can actually feel this pain for once and can't just magic it away. It feels like a little victory to be able to humiliate her.

Yet at the end, she probably realises this victory doesn't actually feel like she thought it would. Maybe she even feels sorry to be taking advantage of her when she's not even able to defend herself. And deep down she recognises that this hate and pain all come from the simple fact that she was denied Agatha's company and maybe there is still a chance to repair that.

So she softens her stance, drops the blade, gives in. Agatha is relieved but surprised (there is a tear). She doesn't know what to think about it. When Rio heals her, she doesn't know if this is an act of love or just to mock her.

I think this is why, when they re-join on the Witches Road, we see a completely different dynamic between them. They are confused. But also maybe enough time has passed that they can be near each other again. I think they are exploring it and are probably surprised at how easy it is and how well they still know each other. So when Rio next threatens her in ep.5, we see Agatha reacts differently - she immediately responds with a joke because she knows Rio is not going to hurt her. They enjoy the fact they can flirt and play with their dark humour "death" jokes again.

I think Jac Schaeffer pretty much confirms this in her ep.5 interview when she says "They’re exes, and so it’s that thing of, like, you haven’t seen an ex in a really long time, there is a lot of anger, there’s a lot of resentment, and a lot of heat in a negative way that comes out at the top. But if you are then put in a situation where there is, like, time in, and exposure to, and feelings are still there, and there’s also the muscle memory of that love, then you slip in to those behaviors."

Now. After all that, I still don't know what Rio's end game is. Why she came to find Agatha and warned her about Salem Seven. I think that maybe she has a job to do, one that Agatha won't like, but she's playing a triple agent so that she can protect Agatha in her own way.

They have yet to reconcile and have a proper conversation about Nicky. I think Agatha holds on to the locket because she still has a hope that she can bring him back somehow. Maybe the hair has some sort of spell that still binds Nicky to this world, making him a ghost. But Rio hates ghosts and could not bear it. She knows this would just hurt Nicky even more, so she needs Agatha to destroy the locket. So I don't expect them to just fall back into each others' arms. But I also think it would be highly inconsistent to just have these two battle to the end again.

Hope this makes some sense! I will have to take a break now and reread it after some time...

[fangirlwitchstuff]

Agatha All Along rewatch (1-5 ep)

So now that we are halfway through Agatha All Along, I just rewatched it all, and here are some things I noticed. I don't know if it's relevant or not.

Episode 1 (Seekest Thou the Road):

Agatha winks at Herb when he tells her the Jane Doe is dead. Then she winks again but this time to Teen on episode three after Saron dies.

When Agatha is talking about the case, she talks about a car wreck possibly being connected. At the end credits, we see a newspaper article about a car accident in Westview.

When talking with Rio about the accident, Agatha tells her two airbags were deployed. Rio says there may be two "perps", then when Agatha is about to interrogate Teen, Rio tells her "Go get your 'perp'". Agatha finds it odd.

End credits song: Season of the Witch.

Episode 2 (Circle Sewn With Fate/Unlock Thy Hidden Gate):

When we see Teen after Agatha gets out of her illusion, he has a tape over his mouth not letting him talk. Later when Agatha asks him his name he has a sigil over his mouth preventing him from saying his name.

When Lilia asks how Teen is and he is about to answer, Agatha stops him because she doesn't want her to know about the sigil.

I think Agatha chose Sharon because Lilia said she wrote a black heart and the first thing that came to her mind was Mrs. Heart.

Instrumental end credits song.

Episode 3 (Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials):

The wine bottle says " Reyns Rioja". I think it could be a reference to Red Queen, Wanda?

When Jenn says Agatha's son could be an agent of Mephisto, Teen makes an angry face. Also, it's interesting that she mentions how Agatha wouldn't recognize her son if he showed up at her doorstep.

End credits song: Head Will Roll.

Episode 4 (If I Can'r Reach You/Let My Song Teach You):

Magic took the path of least resistance, meaning she was already there and that's why Rio was summoned?

Agatha says "I didn't think you had it in you" while looking at Mrs. Davis. When Teen asks who is she talking about, Agatha just winks at him.

"Did you put the sigil on me?".

"You don't have to know someone's name to know who they are" I don't know if she means she knows he is a good person, she thinks he is her son, or she actually already knows who he is.

If it's true that Rio is Lady Death, I'm pretty sure she took Agatha's son, and that's why she hates her.

"That boy isn't yours". Rio picked up on Agatha's interest in Teen.

Instrumental end credits song.

Episode 5 (Darkest Hour/Wake Thy Power):

Rio already knew how Agatha's mom felt about her daughter.

The trial felt like they didn't achieve anything.

Rio hates Agatha's mom.

Nicholas was old enough to speak. Maybe three years old because Agatha was wearing a jersey with the number 03 and the Ouija board said: "ages three and up".

If they were talking to death, and Rio is supposed to be Lady Death, was she answering?

Teen says "So this is what it means to be a witch? Killing people to serve your own agenda? No, not for me." Agatha responds "Are you sure?" I don't know but I feel like teen's been pretending around the coven. That he isn't as naïve as he seems.

Teen is revealed to be Billy Kaplan.

End credits song: You Should See Me In a Crown.

Also, I think Rio brought Teen to Agatha's house and gave him the spell to get her out of Wanda's spell. For some reason, she wants her on the Witches' Road. Or something. I think they are working together somehow.