It was Wednesday's birthday, so naturally, Enid put together a surprise party for her. Enid and Aria brainstormed for a while, trying to make it so Wednesday would actually enjoy herself. Aria pointed out that she would probably hate it no matter what, but they decided to try anyway.
Enid thought of Crackstones Crypt, but Aria didn't have the heart to tell her that she wasn't sure it was a good idea. She kept thinking about how Wednesday collapsed the last time she was near it.
Either way, Enid got together a small group consisting of Xavier, Ajax,Yoko, and a couple sirens. It felt like an odd group of people, but Aria wasn't complaining.
Aria and Xavier were on cake duty, coming up with a design of a black cake with a plastic toy man oozing red icing. The group decided to not go overboard with decorations or anything extra, not wanting to scare Wednesday off.
Eventually, they all grouped up to head to the crypt, meeting at the docks. Enid was the one that was going to bring Wednesday, so it was just the six of them.
They split into two boats, racing each other to the island. Aria, Ajax and Xavier were together, somehow crushing the other three. They moved the boat out of sight so Wednesday wouldn't be able to see it and headed inside.
"It's so fucking cold in here." Aria cursed, shoving her hands in her pockets.
"My hoodie isn't keeping you warm enough?" Xavier whispered next to her, but she was thankfully the only one who heard.
Aria was glad it was too dark for anyone to see how red her face got. She didn't wear it on purpose, it just happened to be the warmest thing she had.
"Shut up." Aria replies after a moment, using her flashlight to look around briefly.
"Enid's on her way." Yoko says, and the group huddles together behind a statue, keeping them hidden from the exit.
They were silent, listening for any sign that the two were near.
Eventually, the door was opened loudly, and the two girl's voices could be heard through the building. The plan was to wait until she inevitably found the group to jump out and surprise her with the cake, but it was ruined when Ajax almost tripped over a stick, causing Aria to laugh.
Xavier put his hand over her mouth to silence her, but it was too late, Wednesday had heard.
"Whoever you are, show yourself." She called out. "Try anything and you'll lose limbs."
Xavier rolled his eyes at Aria, but kept his smile. He directed for everyone to stand up, and they followed.
"Surprise!" The group chorused, Aria lighting the candles on the cake.
Wednesday's face fell as they started to sing, and Aria would've felt bad if she didn't notice the miniscule smirk on her face when she saw the cake.
"I should have known you were behind this. What part of 'no party under the penalty of death' do you not understand?" Wednesday said to Thing, who Aria had made a party hat for.
"I thought our cake design was pretty good." Xavier smiled, motioning to Aria who was next to him.
"Make a wish!" Enid exclaimed.
Wednesday opened her mouth to speak, but attention shifted when she saw something on the wall next to her.
"Wait, it's latin." She said, approaching the wall. "Fire will rain, when I rise."
Aria's face paled, almost dropping the cake. She handed it to Enid slowly. "That was burned onto Nevermore's lawn."
"That can't be a coincidence." Wednesday said.
"Wait, we're never eating that cake, are we?" Ajax asked sadly.
Aria's throat felt dry, feeling terrible for Enid, but also by the inscription on the wall. Wednesday went to touch the stone, and Aria leaped forward, anticipating a vision.
What she didn't expect was to be in one too.
"Crackstone is coming." Voices echoed through Aria's head as she snapped up. She never remembered laying down.
She turned, finding herself on the grass. Wednesday was next to her, looking much more calm then she was.
Aria looked up, seeing two figures behind a gate. She stood up fully, squinting to decipher what was in front of her.
Two girls that looked remarkably like Wednesday and Aria stared back at them from behind the fence. They were both in all white, making them look like ghosts.
"Goody." Wednesday called out to her, recognizing her instantly.
"You are the raven in my bloodline." Goody said, appearing next to them. "Wednesday."
"I was told you could teach me how to control my ability." Wednesday says to her, but Aria stops listening. Instead, she walks to the gate, looking at the girl who now sat on the ground, carelessly picking at the grass.
"Hello." Aria says softly. "I'm Aria."
"I know." The girl says, not looking up. "I'm Rose."
"What's going on?" Aria asked hesitantly.
"I'm here to show you something." Rose says, pulling Aria through the gates as if they were never there. Suddenly, Aria's view was very different.
She was surrounded by fire, but wasn't able to feel the heat. Her head whipped around, finding Rose running through the flames, screaming something that Aria couldn't decipher.
"I was like you, once." Aria hears Roses' voice, but can't see her. "And I went mad. I destroyed myself, so please, be careful."
Aria looks closer, discovering that the fire was actually a village burning to the ground. There were people screaming, and she stumbled backwards, closing her eyes.
"I thought I could control it, but I couldn't."
Aria watched as Rose tried to use the same powers Aria had to protect a family that was huddled together. Simultaneously, she used her other arm to stop a house from collapsing. Then, she tried to push a young girl out of the way of a falling tree.
Suddenly, Rose's body started to tremble, and there was a burst of light. Aria was blinded for a second, but when she regained her vision, she was standing in ruins. Gray ash fell from the sky, littering the pieces of wood that were sprawled on the ground.
There was a movement a few feet away from her that caught her attention, seeing Rose rise from under a piece of wood, coughing. Her clothes were singed and she was covered in soot.
"No survivors." Rose whispered to Aria, her voice becoming faint. "Don't let your emotions control you. That is your warning."
─•~❉᯽❉~•─
"Why isn't she waking up?!" Xavier exclaimed, feeling the cold skin of Aria's face, her head in his lap.
"I don't think she's ever had a vision before." Wednesday said, much calmer than Xavier, but still worried.
Enid whimpered, crying into Ajax's shoulder. She was terrified, seeing her two roommates collapse.
Xavier was about to pick her up to take her to the nurse when Aria shot up, almost colliding with him. She gasped, then coughed roughly, taking in her surroundings.
She stared at Wednesday, breathing heavily. She nodded at her, and Wednesday helped her stand up.
"I'm okay, I'm okay." Aria repeated, face flushing with embarrassment.
"I'm taking her to her dorm." Xavier said, without waiting for a response from the others. Aria heard Enid sigh with relief, but couldn't hear the conversation that took place after the door was closed.
Xavier opened his mouth to speak as they approached the boats, but Aria cut him off.
"We can talk about it later, just get me out of these woods." She said, keeping her gaze on the water.
He nodded, not saying a word until they were back on campus. They walked briskly to the school, but Aria didn't want to go to Ophelia hall.
"Can we go to your dorm instead?" She asked softly, pulling on the sleeve of his jacket.
"Uh, yeah, of course." Aria didn't take notice of the tips of his ears turning red.
Xavier led them to his dorm, pausing before he opened the door with his keys. "Just, uh, one second." He says before entering his room, leaving Aria out in the hallway. Less than a minute later, he reopens the door, letting her inside.
Acting like she'd never seen his dorm before, she looked around, paying extra attention to his drawings. On the other side of the room, Xavier threw his jacket on the bed, running his hands through his hair as he sat down.
"You can sit." He suggests.
Aria turns around, sitting criss-cross a comfortable distance away from him. They looked at each other for a moment before she told him about what she saw, not leaving any parts out.
By the time she finished speaking, Xavier was now directly next to her, his knee touching hers.
"You're going to be okay." He said.
"How do you know?" Aria whisper-shouted. "In the picture, Wednesday and I are surrounded by fire, just like in the vision. Rowan had to be right. Rose killed an entire village of people by turning herself into a fucking nuke!"
"Aria," Xavier put his hand over hers. "Your fate isn't determined by a picture. You have every ability to change it."
His words caught her off guard, she let them simmer before speaking.
"What if I can't avoid it?" She asks.
"Why wouldn't you be able to?" Xavier retorts.
"If I let my emotions-"
"Exactly, if." He cuts her off.
A silence falls upon the both of them before Aria falls back on the bed, groaning.
"I don't want to deal with this." She says simply, covering her face with her hands.
Xavier follows her actions, now staring at the ceiling. "You don't have to do it alone."
Aria turns to him, very aware of how close their faces were. "Thank you."
Xavier went to speak, but the words died in his throat. He melted at the sight of her, trying to burn this moment into his mind.
Suddenly, Aria shot up, searching for something in her pocket.
"What's wrong?" Xavier asked, masking his disappointment.
"Fuck." Aria cursed, finding her phone and looking at the time. "Curfew."
"Oh," Xavier shrugged. "You can just stay here."
She contemplated it for a moment. Easily, she could sneak past Weems or Ms Thornhill and get back in her dorm, but she didn't want to.
"Are you sure?" Aria asked shyly, not wanting to intrude on his space.
"Of course, let me get you some clothes." Xavier stood, going to his dresser to take out a t-shirt and the smallest pants he had.
He handed them to Aria, pointing to another door. "That's the bathroom."
Aria took the clothes with a warm smile, going to the bathroom and changing. The shirt was huge on her, but slightly smaller than his hoodie. Luckily, the pants had a drawstring on them, so even though they definitely didn't fit anything else, they fit her waist.
She closed the door behind her, seeing that Xavier had also changed. He smirked at her appearance, not being able to suppress his laughter.
"Oh, be quiet." Aria scoffed playfully, putting the hoodie on over the shirt since she was still cold.
"Never." He laughed again, sitting back down on his bed. Aria joined him, and they continued talking for another hour or so. Eventually, neither of them could stop yawning, so they decided to get to bed.
"No offense, but I kinda don't wanna sleep in Rowan's old bed." Aria said hesitantly.
"Yeah, I didn't think you would." Xavier said like it was obvious. "You can take mine."
"We can share." Aria said quickly, surprising herself with her own boldness. "If you're okay with that, of course."
"Yeah." Xavier said, completely flustered. They stared at each other for a moment, both of their faces red.
Awkwardly, Xavier made his way under the blanket of his bed, letting Aria do the same.
For a few minutes, the both just laid there. Aware of the other persons' presence, but not having the courage to do anything.
Eventually, Aria turned away from him, not even attempting to sleep. In the motion, she took the blanket with her, causing Xavier to tug at it back jokingly.
A slight game of tug-of-war began, and Aria was laughing loudly. After a rather hard tug, she flipped around. Now much closer, there was plenty of room for the both of them.
"Better?" Aria asked.
"Sure." Xavier mumbled, his hair falling in front of his face. Aria resisted the urge to brush it out of his eyes.
Instead, she tried to sleep. They weren't touching, but they were less than a foot apart, completely unaware that they both wanted to reach out and hold the other person.
Surprisingly quick, Aria fell asleep, but was woken up by a movement. Opening her eyes slowly, she realized that Xavier had sat up in the bed, breathing heavily.
"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice hoarse. She checked her phone, noting that it was not 2am.
"Just a nightmare." Xavier said, steading his breath.
Half asleep, Aria rubbed his shoulder reassuringly. When Xavier's breathing didn't slow, she sat up more, slowly wrapping her arms around his torso.
Xavier felt himself melting into her touch, holding her waist tightly even though his hands were shaking. She rubbed circles into his back, silently reassuring him.
After a few minutes, she felt his body go limp. Smiling to herself, she went to lay him back down, but when she tried to move, Xavier just hugged her tighter, nuzzling his face on top of her head. Giving in, Aria rested her hand on his chest, embracing the warmth he was giving her.
As much as she wanted to cherish the memory, Aria had never fallen asleep so quickly. She felt safe, the thoughts of her vision evaporating.