Elizabeth's senses trickled back, one after another, as she blinked herself awake. Instinctively, she checked her arm; the restraints were still there, cold and tight against her skin. But this time… she could feel it again.
'It's good to be whole again.'
Somehow, despite what had to be days on that cot, her body felt fresh, loose, almost unnervingly comfortable, as if she had just woken from an ordinary nap instead of what could be days long coma.
Shouts cut through the lingering fog of sleep, sharp enough to make her ears twitch. Elizabeth turned her head and found Tessie in the far corner, her hair in a wild mess, face drawn, and voice hoarse with anger as she yelled at someone just out of sight.
'Who is she angry at now…'
Elizabeth shifted her gaze and saw the other woman. Tall and wrapped in a lab coat, with long jet-black hair threaded with silver, she stood very straight and very still, every movement measured. Her poise looked deliberate, like someone holding themselves together by force of habit rather than ease. Fine lines marked her face, and dark rings pooled under gem-bright green eyes, but none of it dulled the beauty that clung to her like a second skin. She was beautiful enough to pass for an Awakened at a glance, but Elizabeth knew better. She knew that face as well as she knew her own.
After all that woman was her mother. Jennifer.
"Are you serious?" Tessie's voice cracked, raw with exhaustion and fury. "Don't you feel even a little shame showing up now? Your daughter has been trapped in her nightmare for a week. Why didn't you come before she was taken?"
Tessie herself looked wrecked. Her normally soft waves of hair were tangled and frizzy, and the clothes she wore bore the crumpled look of someone who had slept in them too many times. Elizabeth's eyes slid past her and landed on the cluttered desk that she knew had not been there before she started her nightmare. It had scattered paperwork, half-finished forms, and empty takeout containers stacked in a careless heap.
'She… stayed here.'
The realization surprised Elizabeth more than she expected. Saints were the busiest people in the world, always on the move and never have time to remain still, as they are always needed somewhere. For Tessie to spend a week tied to this room was already extraordinary, and Elizabeth was certain she would have stayed longer if Elizabeth hadn't woken up today.
"I apologize," Jennifer said quietly. "I was… not in the area at that time. As you know, getting from LO49 back to Falcon Scot takes a while, especially at this time of year, when we are the bus—"
Tessie's fist slammed into the metal-plated wall. The impact boomed through the room, leaving a deep dent in the reinforced paneling. Jennifer didn't even flinch, as though she had been expecting that exact reaction and had already braced for it.
"You—"
Elizabeth cleared her throat, the sound small in the charged air, but it cut through their argument like a knife. Both women's heads snapped toward her so fast she half-expected something to crack.
"Elizabeth? You are awake—" Tessie's voice cut off suddenly. Her eyes widened, shock rippling across her features. Jennifer stared as well, just as stunned, if not more.
"Uhh, yeah… I'm awake," Elizabeth said slowly. "What's wrong? Why are you both looking at me like that?"
It only took a second for the answer to click.
'My flaw!'
She turned sharply toward Tessie. "A mirror. Quick, I need a mirror."
Tessie blinked herself out of shock, raised a hand, and summoned a memory-construct that took the shape of a polished mirror. She turned it toward Elizabeth.
'Gods…'
Staring back at her was her mother's face. Not an exact match, but close enough to hurt, a healthier, more radiant version of Jennifer, with a few extra strands of gray and slightly deeper wrinkles, as though time had passed differently for the woman in the glass. If not for the reflection mimicking her own startled expression, Elizabeth might have assumed she was looking at some edited image of Jennifer pulled from a photo album.
'How… distasteful.'
She had already disliked her flaw the moment the Nightmare Spell had named it, but seeing what it did to her own face pushed that dislike into something sharper. Was this really supposed to be her in the future? She had always heard people say she looked like her mother, but she could not really see it due to the age difference, but now...
'I really don't like this...'
Tessie dismissed the memory with a slow exhale.
"…Your flaw, I presume?"
Elizabeth nodded, still dazed. "Untie me, please."
Tessie grabbed a set of keys from the desk and began unlocking the restraints one by one. Jennifer, finally shaken free from her daze, walked toward the bed, her steps measured and soft.
"…I am glad you survived, Liz," she said.
Elizabeth studied her mother's face. Jennifer's expression hadn't changed much while speaking remaining cool, and composed. The same distant professionalism she wore like armor. If not for the slight tremor in her hands and the warmth that had crept into her voice, Elizabeth might have believed she didn't care at all. She gave a small nod in response, unwilling to talk to her, she could already feel all the ugly emotion she kept deep within her begin to resurface.
Once the last shackle clicked open, Elizabeth swung her legs over the side of the cot and stood.
'I can't even tell if I really have been in a coma for a week. The wonders of being an Awakened.'
Other than the unfamiliar pull of extra weight on her chest and the odd imbalance of suddenly being three inches taller, her body felt perfect. Better than perfect, actually, it was strong, light, and humming with vitality. Her clothes had tightened in all the right places, hugging a figure that hadn't existed before the Nightmare. She massaged her shoulders, arms, waist, testing the new proportions. Before long, the evaluation drifted into simple appreciation, and she caught herself lingering on the curve of her hips.
'By the dead gods, look at the size of my ass!'
Tessie shot her a strange, vaguely amused look. Elizabeth coughed and forced her hands back to something resembling decency.
"Okay… uhh, first things first, welcome back to the land of the living." Tessie gave a lopsided smile. "Congratulations on surviving your First Nightmare, Sleeper Elizabeth."
Elizabeth answered with a grin. "Sleeper Elizabeth? Oh please, you can call me Elizabeth, Saint Tessie," she replied, voice dripping with exaggerated formality.
One of Tessie's eyebrows twitched. "I see you're in a good enough mood to joke. I guess your nightmare wasn't all that bad."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm in good spirits because I survived that hellhole."
They both laughed, tension draining out of the room by degrees, until Tessie stepped forward and pulled her into a crushing hug.
"Welcome home."
Elizabeth felt the relief pouring off her, and a weight lifting from Tessie's shoulders as surely as if someone had unhooked a burden and let it fall. She leaned into the embrace.
"It's good to be back…"
Over Tessie's shoulder, she saw Jennifer standing a short distance away, watching them with a small, hesitant smile. The watch on her wrist vibrated, and the expression flickered, then vanished, replaced by the usual distant mask.
"Excuse me for a moment…" Jennifer murmured, already turning toward the exit.
A small pang tugged at Elizabeth's chest as she watched her mother leave, but she pushed it down, burying it beneath relief and exhaustion.
A quiet sniff near her ear pulled her attention back.
"…Tessie… are you crying?"
Tessie broke the hug and wiped at her eyes with the heel of her hand. "What a stupid question. Of course I'm crying. You don't know how worried I was… and with my flaw making everything worse, it was practically torture."
Elizabeth sighed softly and patted her shoulder. She knew Tessie's flaw; almost everyone did. It was hard to hide something that magnified every emotion by several orders of magnitude, especially when the person in question already had a short temper. Tessie's infamous outbursts weren't just a personality, they were built into her very soul it seemed.
"There, there. Everything is okay now. I'm okay."
After a while, Tessie steadied herself, sniffing one last time. "Hey… just because you look old enough to be my mother now doesn't mean you get to act like one. I'm the adult here."
Elizabeth burst into laughter. "Aw… is sweet Tessie sad? Want me to make you coffee? Don't worry, mommy is back, okay? Don't be sad."
Tessie slapped her hand off her shoulder. "Fuck off." That only made Elizabeth laugh harder.
"Speaking of flaws," Tessie muttered, eyeing her up and down, "what's going on with yours? There aren't many flaws that alter the physical body like that."
"Yeah… it's not exactly the most ideal flaw," Elizabeth admitted with a sigh. Then a thought struck her like a bolt. Her eyes widened. "Speaking of… when is sunrise?"
Tessie blinked, then glanced at her watch. "Uhh, in a few moments… why?"
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Because I might turn into a toddler. Or a baby. Or something that can't even walk. If that happens, do me a favor and give me a bath, I really need one."
Tessie stared at her, baffled. "What…?"
Right then, the first beams of sunlight crept over the horizon above, unseen to them but not unfelt. Even underground, her flaw responded. Elizabeth felt her core twist, then drop, and her whole body lurched. She collapsed as the world warped around her.
"Fuck." The word came out in a higher, childish voice.
Her clothes, which had fit snugly just moments ago, now hung off her in sagging folds. Her hands were small and soft, with a faint layer of baby fat. Her legs were noticeably shorter, but not so short that they refused to cooperate. After a bit of wobbling, she managed to push herself upright.
'I can walk…'
She turned back to Tessie. The Saint was staring at her as though she had just watched someone grow two head and ripped one of to eat it.
"Never mind," Elizabeth said dryly. "I think I can take the shower myself now…"
*******
Side note: I fixed the description of her flaw into one I was satisfied with, and this chapter should also help in understanding how her flaw works as well. Also, if you can, leave a review on this, it will greatly help me understand how well I am doing with the story, and also areas to improve. Thanks for reading!