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CHAPTER TWELVE the female of the species
warning: this chapter contains sexual harassment and attempted sexual assault.
⋆*✧･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:
THE SOUP HAD gone cold, but it wasn't like Nadine and Molly were eating it, anyway. An hour and a half had passed, and they were still sitting at the dining table, minds awhirl and stomachs shrunk to the size of chestnuts. Nadine's legs had gone numb and her throat was sore and scratchy, but she didn't move, trying to read Molly's face like a book. She'd finally finished weaving the entire long, complicated fairy tale that had become her life five minutes ago, and Molly had yet to say a word. In fact, she wasn't doing anything but staring at Nadine, mouth agape. The sight of it reminded her of the fish she'd used to work with, and she had to resist the urge to burst into hysterical laughter again. This happened, sometimes. When Nadine got too caught up in her emotions, she just... pushed them down. Swept them away as if with a broom, and hid them under a rug. All of her shock, all of her fear, all of her heartache—all of it was cleared away, leaving nothing behind. Her body didn't know what to do with it nothingness, so it laughed. But it laughed in the way people did when they found out their lives had been ruined.
Nadine had always been a little manic. Especially when she was younger. You would take one look into those ocean eyes of hers and know. Bloody fists, bruised limbs, spiders crawling up and down her arms. She'd thought she'd gotten better in the past few years. She was still a seething ball of rage, but wasn't so wide-eyed and frenzied, a wolf-girl who'd stumbled upon human civilization for the first time. Right now, though she couldn't help but revert to her old ways. She wanted to laugh until her stomach cramped. She wanted to scream until she lost her voice. She wanted to get down on her knees, tip her head up to the universe, and ask why it had given her such a shitty deal. Why her? Why not someone else? Why did it have to be Nadine that was sitting here right now, desperately surveying her girlfriend's face as if it was a key that would unlock the secrets of the universe?
She'd told Molly everything. Her childhood with Louise and her teenage fascination with the Umbrella Academy. Everything about her abilities, from the very first day they'd sparked to life. The Incident, with the bullet tearing into her shoulder and her blood spilling like an infinite fountain. Reginald's death, the catalyst that brought Nadine to the Umbrella Academy. How she'd managed to inject herself into the lives of the Hargreeves. The Week of Hell itself, and everything that occurred during it—from Five's arrival in 2019 to Vanya's concert at the end of the world. She described the Commission, and what it did. She spoke of her plunge into 1963, and the scene she'd made at Stadtler's. She explained the day Five had recruited her, and how she'd gotten fired by Leroy. She disclosed what she'd really been doing instead of hanging out with family friends, and how she'd found Molly herself in the footage that had served as their first clue. She left nothing out of the story, not even her feelings for Vanya—though that seemed so unsubstantial compared to everything else.
