┏━━━━⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆━━━━┓

WHATEVER HAPPENS TO ME

THE TWO FIGURES EMERGED FROM THE TREELINE JUST AS THE CLOCK STRUCK MIDNIGHT.

Mary–Anne was pacing on the back porch when she saw them, a rush of emotion absolutely falling over her entire being as she broke into a sprint.

Nelly detached herself from Embry's arm and collided into her mother, the pair wrapping their arms around one another. Her mother held her at arms length suddenly, scanning her for any ailments.

"I'm fine," she sniffled, trying to calm the woman down. "I just needed some air."

Her mother didn't look impressed. "Half a days worth of air, more like," she scowled, flicking her daughter's head. "A little warning would've been nice; that way I could've lied on your behalf while knowing where you were. Had us scared to bits, Penelope."

Nelly sighed out a breath, shooting the woman a meek glance. "Sorry."

"Way to pull a disappearing act on us, Nell."

It was the Uley man, emerging from the back door. Just the sight of him was a large comfort, and Nelly found herself stepping into his embrace. "I'm surprised it took you guys that long to find me," she joked, yet her tone came out weaker than it normally was.

"Where the hell were you, anyway?" he asked, that big brother tone of his seeping into his voice as he looked down at her.

Nelly spared Embry a glance, an unspoken word passing between them. "Nowhere important," she lied easily, shrugging off his evident concern. "Please tell me he got tired and left?"

Sam grimaced. "He's still here," he told her, watching the way her gaze fell to the ground, "but I sent the others home. Figured you'd want your space."

"Thanks Sam," she said, a tight-lipped smile on her face that was obviously forced. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Promise," he told her, knowing she was looking for any sort of reassurance that if this was really it, they would at least get a final goodbye. He turned to Embry, nodding once before he was leaving through the forest.

Mary–Anne went to stand by the door, waiting while Nelly approached Embry. He must've seen the tears well in her lash line because his thumb was brushing something away. "I'll be here tomorrow, crack ass of dawn," he whispered out to her, his lips gently going to her forehead. Her eyes closed for a moment, chasing the peace his presence brought. "Whatever happens, I'll be here."

She nodded. "Whatever happens."

˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚

The energy in the house was nothing short of hostile.

It was thick, seeping into her lungs and settling bitterly in her chest. Though, it wasn't coming from the man standing right in front of her— no, it was coming from Nelly herself.

"We need to talk."

Her father nodded, but remained rooted in place. It was only when Nelly gestured for him to follow that his feet began to move, the pair escaping down the hall into her room. Despite knowing that her mother and grandmother would never spy on them, she still closed the door behind them.

Michael's gaze settled on the mural, a noise of approval leaving him. "I didn't know you picked up painting again," he mumbled, fingers brushing against the dried paint before him.

"There's a lot you don't know," she retorted, leaning against her bed as she watched him. The glow of her bedside lamp illuminated the room, and she noticed the way his brow was pinched. "I know you want me to come with you, but it's not what I want. I can't leave, dad."

"And why can't you?" he asked, turning to the girl.

"It's hard to explain," she grit out, and that evidently earned her a scoff of indifference from the man. "All you need to know is that leaving will hurt me in ways you couldn't even begin to imagine."

She expected her little plan of guilt tripping him would work, but what she certainly didn't expect was the way his posture straightened, his eyes suddenly narrowed in her direction.

"You think I don't know what goes on around here?" the man started to ground out. "You think I don't know about the legends?"

The world did a full stop.

Nelly's eyes widened. "You—"

"Shifters are not above the law," he continued on, and it suddenly sounded like something was lodged in his throat. "I've already lost one child to this curse, and I won't lose another just because she wants to be with her friends."

He knew. Michael Sequoia knew about the Quileute legends and what they entailed.

The way he sounded so assured in his proclamation made Nelly believe that her father was in the know the entire time. And that, the fact that he might've known what she and her brother had been going through, without any help from him, made her blood positively boil.

"It's not a curse," she told him with a sneer. "It's a part of who I am. I'm happier, now."

"Happier? Really?" he questioned, approaching the girl who merely raised her chin in defiance. "Where'd all this happiness get your brother, huh?!"

Her head whipped back, as though she'd been slapped. "You don't even know the whole story," she snapped, "you don't know because you. weren't. here!"

"I know enough," he said with dejection, "but it still doesn't change the fact that you are legally obligated to come back to Lummi. Away from all this... this nonsense."

In that very moment, Nelly physically deflated. She sunk onto the ground, her back against her bed, and put her head in her hands. It finally dawned on her that no amount of excuses could legally pull her from this situation— her fate was sealed.

Then, a presence joined her at her side, knee bones cracking as her father took a seat right beside her. She lifted her head, another mean retort about to leave her lips, when he beat her to the punch.

"I know I haven't been an exemplary father; hell, I haven't even been a good one," his voice was gruff, yet almost defeated, "but I wanna do right by your brother. I want us to have a real relationship, Nell— one that doesn't involve us chewing each other's heads off all the time."

Nelly swallowed around nothing. "Why weren't you here?" she asked, a sharp edge still lingering her tone. "What could've been more important than grieving for your son?"

"You take after your mama," Michael answered, a faraway look in his eye. "Headstrong, never takes no for an answer. That's the Greene in you, not the Sequoia."

The message was clear: he was a coward.

"Trust me, I know," she responded, lips pursed tightly. "Is that why you're trying so hard now? 'Cause you feel guilty?"

"It's not guilt," he denied with a shake of his head. "It's regret."

That was as close as Michael Sequoia would ever get to admitting his faults, and Nelly knew that because she knew her father.

There was a beat of silence. "What happens if I refuse to go?" she asked, albeit a little quietly. "What happens if I send you off, or I run away or some shit?"

"The police would get involved, and so would the judge," he stated, his hand going to rub at his temple. "They could have your mother charged for withholding you, for violating the custody agreement. You need to think about what you're doing here, Penelope."

Nelly's face faltered, her gaze immediately setting itself back onto her closed door. Even if she hid or holed herself up at Sam's, her mother would inevitably take the fall. She couldn't make her mother succumb to a life of paying off fees for a lawyer she couldn't even begin to afford now.

She took a deep breath, one that made her lungs rattle uneasily.

"I do not forgive you, for what you've done," she started, rising to her own feet, "but in the morning, we'll go. And I'm not doing this for you... I'm doing it for mom."

He nodded, and ever so silently, he left the room. Nelly closed her eyes for a second before opening them, gazing upon all the shit she now needed to pack.

Bitterness sat in her stomach like concrete. Like a stone sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆

[ wyn's note ]

one more chapter yall...

nelly's relationship with her dad won't be salvageable until much later in the future cause that's one man whose got a lot of shit to make up for LMAO

and lowkey shivering in my timbers cause i don't want nelly to say goodbye to her pookies :( to say goodbye to her main pookie :(

all my love xo