Chapter Text
May 31st 2018
When you’ve existed for eternity, there aren’t a lot of experiences that are new, but what Rio Vidal, also known as Lady Death, feels when A Mad Titan snaps his fingers, harnessing the power of all six infinity at once, is definitely a new experience.
As the universe unsurprisingly falls into chaos as power that hasn’t been felt since the beginning of time is released Rio realises feels something else that she has never felt before that the vale between life and death is thinner than it has ever been. Not caring about the consequences, not knowing if what she wants to do is even possible but knowing that she has to try, that she can’t pass up this opportunity, Rio puts all her focus, all her power, into one goal; getting to her son who died one hundred and fifty-five years ago.
After spending eternity delivering people to where they need to go after they died Rio has visited the vale many times, what she hasn’t done is cross over it herself. After punching through the already thin vale, making a hole big enough for her to fit through, Rio just focuses on her son, wiling to be with him, and as she travels through the realms she’s spent eons delivery people to but never visiting herself, Rio feels her strength slipping away from her, like she has the weight of everything pushing against her, trying to pull her to back to where she came from, but she doesn’t care, all she cares about is getting to her son, her Nicky, and that gives her the strength to keep going.
Having no idea how much time has passed Rio finally hears a laugh she has never forgotten, and right away she knows she is where she will find him.
“Nicky! Nicky, can you hear me!” Rio exclaims, doing her best to look around, but it’s almost like her eyes don’t work, a sensation she has never experience before.
“Mommy?” Nicky’s voice asks, and Rio sees what she thinks he is, looking just the same as when he died at seven years old, except not sick, and without a doubt Rio knows that is really him, she can feel that his soul feels the same as it did when he first came into existence. It feels like the incredible mix of her and Agatha that he is and because of that she knows, without a doubt, that he is her Nicky.
“Yeah Nicky! It’s me, I need you to come to me, Mi Conejito, follow my voice, can you do that?” Rio asks as and what feels like a couple of seconds later Rio sees him come closer to her.
“MOMMY!” Nicky yells excited, and even though neither of them have physical forms at the moment the only way Rio can describe what she feels next is the feeling of hugging her son once more.
“Oh, I’ve missed you, so much,” Rio says to her son, doing her best to ‘hold’ him close as she knows she is never going to let him go again.
“I’ve missed you too, and Mama,” Nicky says.
“Oh, we’ve missed you too, so much,” Rio says, knowing she can speak for both of them about that even though it has been a very long time since they have seen each other. “Do you want to be with us again, Nicky?” Rio asks, speaking quickly as she doesn’t know how long she has until she is forced out of this realm, all she knows is she can feel an incredible strength pushing against her, trying to force her out of this realm. “Would you like to come with me?” Rio asks, desperately hoping he will say yes, but she won’t force him, even if it breaks her not to.
“I do!” Nicky says without hesitation. “I want to be with you and Mama,” Nicky confirms.
“Then I need you to hold onto me, okay, really tight,” Rio says, having no idea if this is going to work but needing to try, knowing that this is going to be the only chance she is going to get. “No matter what, don’t let go, okay, don’t let go, no matter what, just keep holding on, don’t let go,” Rio says to her son. “Can you do that?” Rio asks.
“I can, Mommy,” Nicky says as he ‘jumps’ into her arms, and as he ‘wraps’ his legs around Rio’s waist Rio holds onto him tighter than she has ever held onto anything in her entire existence, and stops fighting the sensation trying to force her to go back. The second Rio stops fighting she can feel herself being flung backwards, and all she focuses on is holding Nicky, holding him tight, and not letting him go as they are forced out of a place Rio truly believes neither of them belong.
After being flung back the next sensation Rio feels is pain, something she hasn’t felt a whole lot of, but as she opens her eyes and looks around Rio realise two things. The first is that she is lying on her back in a field, clearly back on Earth, the second is that she isn’t alone.
“Nicky! Nicky!” Rio yells as she moves, with some difficulty, to where her son, who once again looks exactly the same as before he got sick, but is actually wearing the pyjamas he was wearing when he died. Getting to Nicky’s side Rio doesn’t hesitate for a second before she reaches out to him to her absolute relief, he is solid, he is real. “Nicky?” Rio asks, her voice breaking. “Nicky, can you open your eyes?” Rio asks and for the first time in over a hundred- and fifty-years Rio sees her son open his eyes, that are so much like hers and look at her.
“Hi Mommy,” Nicky says, smiling at her.
“Hi Mi Conejito,” Rio says, tears of joy coming to her eyes as she never thought this was possible, and she quickly pulls Nicky into her arms.
“Mommy, am I alive?” Nicky asks as he hugs his mother, not even complaining that his mother is hugging him so tightly that it almost hurts, as he understands enough to know that what just happened is amazing.
“Yeah, Nicky, yeah you are,” Rio says as she continues to hug her son, feeling, below the current chaos of the universe, that not only is her son alive, the same age he was when he died, but he is perfectly healthy too; something which means everything to Rio.
“Good,” Nicky says, as he very much wants to be alive. “Mommy? Where’s Mama?” Nicky asks, looking around and not seeing his other mother, who he also deeply missed, who he also really wants to see again.
“I don’t know,” Rio admits, as she forces herself to let go of her son so she can look at him, as seven years after Nicky died her love, her wife, Nicky’s other mother, Agatha Harkness, obtained the Darkhold, the book of the damned, and used it to hide from her; that damn book being the only thing powerful enough to hide a person from Death. “But Nicky, I promise. We’re going to find her,” Rio says, knowing that no matter what it takes she will find Agatha, she will reunite her with their son.
“Pinkie promise?” Nicky asks, looking up at his mother.
“Pinky promise,” Rio says and the two of them do just that.
“Good, I miss Mama too,” Nicky admits.
“Me too,” Rio admits, even though she has spent over a century tyring to not think about that fact, and once she does, she has to close her eyes for a second as her vision has gone blurry.
“Mommy, are you okay?” Nicky asks concerned, as he can tell that something doesn’t seem right, his mother doesn’t ‘feel’ as ‘strong’ as she always used to feel.
“Yeah, I think I’m just a little tired,” Rio tells him, but she has a nagging feeling that breaking through the vale like she just did used more of her strength than she realised. “So how about we find somewhere to stay tonight,” Rio says, being sure that with the chaos of everything that has just happened she is going to be able to find them a place.
“Okay Mommy,” Nicky says, and with some difficulty Rio manages to get to her feet, feeling a little unsteady as she does, but to her relief it passes.
Once Rio is on her feet, she takes off the thin jacket she is wearing and puts it around Nicky who has also gotten to his feet, as while it isn’t much it will give him some warmth, thankfully it’s not that cold so he should be okay.
“Do you think you can walk?” Rio asks Nicky, as considering how she feels she doesn’t think it would be a good idea to use magic to travel.
“I think so,” Nicky responds. While he doesn’t completely understand what’s been going on he knows that he had to leave his moms, that he was in a different place, and that it’s been a long time since he has to do things like walk, and even breathe.
“Okay, let me know the second you need me to carry you,” Rio tells her son, as while she isn’t completely sure she will be able to she knows that if her son needs her to she will find a way.
“I will,” Nicky promises as he reaches out and takes his mother’s hand.
As she once again feels her sons’ hand in hers, something she even let herself believe she would feel again, Rio starts to walk, each step feeling like it is taking everything in her but knowing she can’t stop until she gets Nicky to a safe place.
For almost an hour Rio and Nicky walk together, Rio not letting go of her sons hand for even a split second, as she realises that there is definitely something wrong with her, until they finally they get to a little village. Considering what she knows Thanos has just done Rio isn’t surprised to find that this little village on the Isel of Man is pretty empty.
Using that for her advantage Rio first takes Nicky to market where she collects enough food for a few days as while she doesn’t need food, though she does enjoy it especially when cooked by Agatha, Nicky does, and she knows, without a doubt, that she is always going to make sure her son has everything he needs.
Once food, as well as a few other supplies they may need, is taken care of Rio leads Nicky over to the village inn, where she breaks into a room for them, being pretty sure that no one is going to care about a little breaking and entering with everything else going on. As she wanted to make sure they would be safe Rio broke into the room in a way where she would still be able to lock the door, which is exactly what she does, as Nicky walks over to the bed.
“Mommy? What’s wrong?” Nicky asks worried as he sits on the bed, and Rio, with some difficulty, puts the food, and other supplies, down on the table, and squats down in front of him.
“Mommy’s a little tired, Mi Conejito. So, I’m going to make sure we’re safe, and then I’m going to sleep for a little while,” Rio says, knowing that when he died Nicky was too young to understand that his mommy doesn’t sleep so he won’t find anything odd about her needing to sleep. “While I’m asleep you can’t leave this room, okay? The bathroom is through there,” Rio says, pointing to it, feeling herself become weaker with every word “So use it when you need, and we have plenty of food, but you cannot leave this these rooms, and you can’t let anyone in,” Rio explains, wanting to make sure Nicky is as safe as possible as it’s what she cares about most.
“What if it’s Mama?” Nicky asks, having complete, unshakable faith, in his Mama, he truly believes that she will be able to find them, no matter what.
“If it’s Mama, let her in,” Rio says, though she very much doubts Agatha will suddenly appear, in fact, she doesn’t even know if Agatha survived Thanos’s extermination, something she is doing her best not to think about, as while she always believed, no matter what Agatha did, that she would able to feel it if Agatha as actually died, with the chaos that the universe is currently in that’s not even something she be certain off. “But no one else,” Rio explains, reaching out and pushing Nicky’s dark hair out of his face. “I need you to be brave, Sweetheart, can you do that?” Rio asks.
“I can do that, Mommy,” Nicky promises.
“Good Boy, I’m so proud of you, I love you so much,” Rio says, needing her son to know that.
“Love you too,” Nicky responds, and once he does Rio stands up, stumbling a little as she does.
Once she is standing up Rio uses the last bit of strength, she has to put up runes to keep Nicky safe, knowing that whatever is happening to her is worth it because she knows Nicky is okay, before collapsing on the bed just as the last rune is in place, her last conscious thought being, “I brought him back to us, Agatha, I finally brought him back,”