Bewitching Teachings (Story)

It was just an average day for the girl who lived in the haunted mansion. Well.. about as average as it could get, really. The sounds of pottery clanking and overall explosions could be heard from a mile radius, and there was only one source to the commotion.

“ASHLEY! I told you not to add Mandrake to the concoction!” the little imp, Red, screamed about, flailing their tiny arms up and down. The child witch, Ashley, acted as though he had not said anything at all, and continuing honing all of her powers into the magic brew.

“Relax. I know what I’m doing. Who’s the witch here, me or you?” Ashley scoffed as her spread her arms out wide, a dozen sigils popping up around her. Just this little bit more, and she would finally have a potion worthy of calling herself the greatest witch the world has ever seen-

BOOM!

Perhaps predictably, the added Mandrake caused the brew to boil over, the acid lurching and spouting everywhere across the room. Red got knocked into a cabinet containing various utensils, while Ashley merely stood by unbothered by the mess. That did not mean her emotions were unaffected, however.

“Tch. Another failure.”

Ashley wracked her brain. What else was she missing to not cause her cauldron to explode? Surely it wasn’t the Mandrake she incessantly persisted to use, even after multiple precautions from many different sources. No, it couldn’t be that.

Red stumbled out from the broken wood of the cabinet, using his pitchfork as a cane to regain his footing. “Maybe if you, like.. I don’t know.. listened to my suggestion..”

The imp’s words subsided as he noticed Ashley glaring deep into his beady blue eyes, for which he made the safer decision to allow her this brief moment of victory in their bickering. After his collision with the witch’s dinner utensils, he really didn’t want to be turned into a spoon himself.

However, when he went to pick up the mess he inadvertently caused, a small knock was heard at the front door of the mansion. Ashley, ever focused on one single thing at a time, continued her tasks as if nothing had happened. Red did not want to invoke more of her ire, so he gave a little cough to catch at least some of her attention.

“Uh.. heh heh.. Ashley.. someone, um.. someone might be wanting to see you.”

“Hm.”

The witch did not move an inch to the door after her short response to the imp. Figuring she was just in another one of her moods, Red quickly changed the subject. “So, why are you so obsessed with adding Mandrake to everything, anyway? Any special reason behind it?”

Ashley’s scarlet eyes rose to finally face Red, with the imp satisfied that something finally got her to speak to him. “Well, I’ve been meaning to create a unique dish for our next potluck. I’m only saving it for one person to eat, though. I’m sure Wario wouldn’t mind trying a new type of garlic.”

“But I told you it’s dangerous! Wouldn’t that kill him?”

Following his question, Ashley kept her gaze ominously fixated on him. If Red were to squint, he could catch a small grin forming on her face.

“Ashley.. wouldn’t that kill him..?”

“Oh, hear that? Someone’s made their unruly presence known at the front door.”

Completely ignoring the screams back at her, Ashley finally clicked the door open, not exactly in the mood for conversation but needing an outlet in order to torture Red for a while longer. When she opened the door, forever, she was greeted by someone she really did not have the energy for currently..

.. Mona.

“Heya, Ashley! Y’know, I was just thinking.. we never get the opportunity to chat much! I was wondering if you were free today?”

…

“.. No.”

SLAM!

“ASHLEY! You can’t just keep your friend hanging like that! I’ll let your murder comment earlier slide when you actually give Mona a proper answer!”

“I did give her a proper answer. I told her no, and then subsequently ended the conversation.”

“Maybe more than one word would be nice?”

The situation made the young witch feel like tearing her hair out, before she ultimately sighed to herself. That would be more of a nuisance than just some simple words, she supposed.

Creaking the door open, she found Mona standing in the same place prior, beaming after seeing the witch in person again. Narrowing her gaze, Ashley muttered a response to her. “My social battery is insufficient as of the moment. Please go and bother someone else.”

“WAIT!”

As Ashley was about to close the door once more, Mona suddenly thrust her leg forward and lodged it in to keep the door open. The witch showed a rare sign of surprise, backing up slightly from the woman’s sheer display of strength, but not allowing her the satisfaction of seeing her rattled.

Mona, in turn, nervously laughed after her impulsive decision, attempting to shift into a more neutral position while keeping her leg locked in the door. “Haha, s-sorry, sorry. Joe just let me off the job early today, so I really did not have anything to do. You’re always off by yourself, and I do want to get to know you better, y’know? You can just think of this as.. a coworker bonding experience?”

Ashley was visibly not impressed, but paired with Mona’s soul bearing into her own, Red’s stupid eyes not taking themselves off her face from the side, and the foot lodged in her door.. she relented. She will definitely get Red back for this.

“.. You two are insufferable. Fine. Whatever.” She opened the door more for Mona’s foot to finally launch free, and the look on the redhead’s face made her start to regret her decision.

“Wow! I didn’t think that would actually work!”

“So you were deceiving me?”

“No, no, nothing like that! Just a normal hangout for us, honest,” Mona reassured her with a dorky salute, before beginning to kneel down to give the witch a hug.

“No touching.”

“Right! Sorry!”

Keeping her gaze fixated on her, Ashley gingerly navigated Mona throughout the mansion, pointing a finger to the nearby walls and windows. “The place is laced with tranquilizing darts. Just as a countermeasure to make sure no one disturbs me while I work. Try not to get shot during your stay here.”

“For some reason, I expected you to use something a bit more dangerous than just darts.”

The witch merely regarded the redhead with a simple scoff, fidgeting with an end of her sleeve. “I don’t believe in such mundane and routine ways to torture someone. Plus, paralyzing someone with darts makes them do funny things, and I do enjoy being entertained.”

Mona could only laugh off the uncomfortable feeling she obtained after Ashley’s statement, but still stayed true to her wanting to be around the girl. What could be something to the time with her? Did she even like such standard ways to entertain herself besides bodily horror?

“Oh, yeah! Ashley! You should tell her the thing so there’s no complications?”

“‘Thing’? Oh, right.” The witch soon faced Mona with a much more serious expression, catching her by surprise. “Do not me in the cauldron room when I am at work. I suppose it might be a bit of an inconvenience for you to lose some of your skin.”

“N-no, I got it down! Noted!”

Running a glance around the living room, Mona noticed something that she did not fully expect: a full wide-inch TV. She did not take Ashley for someone with broad access to technology, but it did give her an idea.

“Ohhh, we should have a movie night! It might be fun to just sit down and watch something together. Plus, it wouldn’t require much talking from you, right?”

Ashley’s plain gaze veered over to face Red, who was silently pleading for her to take the offer. Letting out a stubborn huff, the witch indulged Mona’s whims for now. “I suppose some mindless entertainment would be soothing to start off this impromptu hangout.”

Mona’s giddy movements were enough to prove that she was satisfied with the answer.

.. Until the movie started.

In all honesty, though, she should have predicted this was Ashley’s preferred movie genre.

“It’s only been two minutes into the movie and someone was already beheaded by the killer?!” Mona exclaimed while shielding her eyes in disgust.

Ashley offered her usual deadpan tone to the conversation, pointing a finger back at the screen as the climax of the intro was beginning to build up. “That’s probably one of the more unexpected things the film has done so far. Watch, the last person is going to explode into a cartoonish amount of blood and gore before the title card pops up.”

It was not long before the girl was proven right, with Mona unfortunately opening her eyes at the worst part and nearly gagging at the sight. Ashley, however, had entered into full critic mode while the other girl suffered.

“You see, this is what’s wrong with most modern horror movies. They ignore the subtle nuance and worldbuilding that is required to tell a succinct story and just focus on how to use the most gore as possible. It isn’t about getting the viewers to care about the characters, it’s about how to push the R rating as far as can go. The death scenes don’t feel special because they are overly campy and played out, which makes them not feel as rewarding even to people who watch the movies for the brutality. How are these directors even allowed to stay in business after creating these ionless projects that appear to be written by fifteen year olds?”

The movie was completely forgotten by Mona at this point, who had begun to just blankly stare at Ashley during her rant. After a period of time past merely allowing the mage to talk, Mona eventually managed out a few words, “I’ve.. never seen you talk this much before.”

Ashley raised an eyebrow, not amused by Mona’s comment. “Hm? Is that so strange? I just enjoy talking about things I actually care about. It doesn’t just magically make me more social in general.”

Red finally chimed back in, enthralled by Ashley’s newfound openness. “You know, Mona’s right! That’s probably the most I’ve heard you talk in.. six months!”

“Shut up. You don’t have a say in this conversation.”

“Okay..”

Mona just let out another nervous chuckle before standing up, moving her hand to turn the TV off. Ashley caught her motion, perking up with a rare almost disappointed look on her face. “Oh. Are you not interested?”

Realizing she had perhaps acted a bit abrasively, Mona waved her hands ahead of herself to derail Ashley’s train of thought. “No, no, it’s not that! I was just.. thinking.. maybe.. we can go outside for some fresh air? With how pale you are, it seems you might be in need of it.”

Ashley chose to temporarily ignore Mona’s thinly veiled insult, her eyes darkening as her bangs covered the front of her face. “I don’t want to. There’s too many people out.”

“Oh, come on! I barely ever see you leave this massive place. At least go out and show the others you’re alive. I’ll be with you the whole time!”

Ashley’s brows furrowed, her pupils dilating as they focused on Mona more intently. “Why are you so adamant on hanging out with me today? I’m not a particularly interesting personality. You’re more likely to have a more lively conversation with.. literally anyone else. Did something happen that led you here?”

The redhead grew uncharacteristically silent, attempting to string together a sentence that would best satisfy Ashley as a response. She acknowledged Red, nodding at the imp before explaining, “I may have a lot of friends, sure, but.. they feel comfortable with how they’re currently spending their day. With you, it feels like you just.. allow yourself to be neglected by everyone. Besides, Red told you at the front door that I was your friend. Is that not true?”

“That’s.. I don’t know.”

Ashley folded her hands in her lap, crumpling her dress as she hesitated on an answer. Why even WAS she hesitating? She only allowed herself to be in the vicinity of her coworkers out of convenience. What Red said was merely a fleeting statement with no true merit. “It’s not as simple as that.”

Adorning a smile on her face, Mona extended a hand down and grabbed onto Ashley’s own. The witch flinched back, ripping her hand out of the other girl’s grip, but Mona maintained her smile. “Come on. It wouldn’t hurt to go out for just a little bit, right?”

She was so close to telling Mona no, so close to forcing her out and slinking back into her habits of solitude. But paired up with the redhead’s confession as well as the pressure of both her and Red likely asking her to do the opposite..

.. She was becoming too soft, wasn’t she?

“You’re on thin ice. Lead the way.”

— :skull: —

Mona led Ashley along the boardwalk of Diamond City with a spring in her step, proud of herself for managing to take the antisocial witch out of her shell. The girl in question, meanwhile, could only glare at subsequent ersby in order to avoid meaningless conversation.

“Isn’t it just such a nice day? Aren’t you happy to get outside for once and appreciate the hustle and bustle of this city?”

“Not particularly. My ears are ringing from the benign screaming of the souls who have the audacity to walk in lockstep with me.”

“You don’t mean that!”

“Yes, I do.”

“Here, why don’t we- oh, look! Guess who I just spotted?”

Ashley was about to retort with a sharp quip of her own, but reluctantly raised her eyes above the fascinating painting job of the road. Running into someone else she was familiar with was not ideal for her, especially when she saw who it ended up being.

“Look, Cricket! A new ally has resurfaced from the ashes in which they reside.”

“Who is it, Master? Ohhh, I see!”

Taking his orders from Mantis, Cricket leapt forward and plunged just in front of the two girls, with Ashley clearly not amused by his antics. Noticing the witch’s glowering, Cricket instead shook hands with Red, who was gladly basking in finally being acknowledged.

“It is a pleasure meeting with you all today! I will say, though, it is a bit of a shock to see you outside and socializing, Ashley. Are you, perhaps.. underneath a sort of spell?”

“It was not my intention to leave the mansion nor do I even want to be out here currently. If you would, please conclude this conversation as quick as possible so I can limit the amount of time needed to spend here.”

Mona shoved a hand in between Ashley and Cricket, desperate to intervene so the witch simmers down just a little. “Uh, sh-she doesn’t mean that! I just wanted to take her outside so she can have some new surroundings for once.”

”Yes, I do.”

The boy, however, appeared to understand.. for the moment. “I have assessed the current situation. You may continue on without much pushback from me. However, if you are in any danger from a spirit, dearest Ashley-“

“Please do not ever call me that.”

“- do not hesitate to me. Master and I will be at the mansion in a flash!”

Following the declaration, Cricket struck one of his many poses before him and Mantis vanished from sight. Blinking at the flamboyant display, Ashley merely shrugged before moving on, bringing a hand to her forward to quell down her frustration.

Mona, catching the girl’s displeasure, coughed into her hand to drive her attention to herself. Smiling, the redhead gestured to the nearby beach, signifying for Ashley to follow her.

“I’ve got a good spot nearby. There shouldn’t be many others around.”

“.. Okay.”

True to her word, the beach was presently unoccupied. Ashley thought it was strange, given how it was located in such a populated area, but perhaps it just wasn’t that time of the year. She tends to lose track of time, anyhow.

“I used to come here all the time as a kid. I mainly used it to unwind after a long and stressful day.” Finding a few lounging chairs on the shore, Mona dragged them back for her little group to use.

Red was heavily impressed by the recommendation, pumping his fist in the air as he ired the glow of the sun on the sparkling waves. “Wow! I didn’t even know such a pretty place was so close! Benefits of being sheltered with Ashley for so long, I guess.”

The witch retaliated by hoisting Red by his pumping arm and slamming him down on his chair, the imp landing with a massive oomph. Mona giggled at the sight, before settling down on her own chair and breaking out a pair of sunglasses.

“Look, just relax. We can chill and get our bearings here, and then later, we can.. I don’t know.. grab something to eat?”

“Sure.. why not?”

Ashley purely acquiesced to Mona’s request, but just the thought of her making a request like that in general.. it made her begin to contemplate. And thinking was something the witch did NOT want to do willingly.

The time spent with Mona, her incessant nature to want to do things with her, the way she didn’t seem to get mad at anything she did.. it just didn’t add up. The probabilities of Mona’s attitude towards her were so far from the usual norm Ashley would suspect.. and it started to get her agitated.

Why couldn’t she understand? Why couldn’t she see through her and realize this was going to go nowhere?

Grumbling, she soon let out a loud growl as she bolted up from her chair, glaring at Mona as she startled the other girl and yelling, “I DON’T GET IT!”

“You.. don’t get.. what?”

“Why you’ve been so nice to me! Why you’ve been wanting to have me you in these mundane tasks you can do yourself. I don’t need to be here, you don’t need to..” Ashley’s words trailed off, an unforeseen expression of hurt invading her eyes, “.. you don’t need to care for me like this. You don’t need to keep on acting like my friend. I-I don’t.. I don’t have those.”

Mona leaned back up on her chair, facing Ashley directly as the girl began to spiral. “What do you mean? Of course you have friends. Red and I are right here.”

“No, you.. you don’t understand! You never do!” The witch took some time to hyperventilate, before calming down once her shame caught up to her. “I’m.. inherently unlovable. No one is supposed to be my friend because no one is supposed to care about what I think. It’s why this whole trip has been so confusing, why I don’t understand how you can keep up with me. I berate you and push you aside but you just come back like it never happened. This isn’t supposed to work out. I’m supposed to be alone and isolated in my mansion while you hang out with your other friends who clearly value you more. Red is a special case because he has been with me since birth, but.. I don’t know. You are making things needlessly complicated.”

She expected Mona to dip and leave her there, that was what she felt she WANTED, but the redhead merely tilted her head as a small grin spread on her face. “Am I, though?”

“Mona, I swear-“

“Wait. Let me finish,” Mona interrupted coolly, completely opposite of how desperate she was interrupting Ashley at her front door. The witch gazed into her eyes, before she allowed the other girl to speak.

“You talk about how you are born to be unloved, but the way you act especially subconsciously tells me that isn’t what you REALLY think. You trust Red with your deepest, darkest secrets and you could have denied me plenty of times earlier but you didn’t. That right there tells me that you are willing to listen to others even when it comes to the detriment of that statement of how you’re not supposed to have friends. I solely want to hang out with you because I LIKE hanging out with you, Ashley. There’s no ulterior motive, no other reason to it. Now, I want that to get through your thick skull so that you can understand that I want to be your friend SPECIFICALLY, not your coworker. Do you think you can trust me?”

Ashley balled her hands into fists. Mona’s confession was earth-shattering to her, but.. maybe it was finally time to stop lying to herself. She had once fantasized about having more friends, but her demeanor allowed herself to determine it wasn’t possible. Who would want to be acquainted with someone like her?

If Mona was willing, though.. she could make an offer.

She rose up from her chair, nodding her head for Mona to rise up with her. Once both girls were up, she spoke to her in an almost muttering voice.

“Let’s go back to the mansion. I want you to do something in the cauldron room.”

— :skull: —

Ashley helped Mona into her own personal hazmat suit, surprised she even had one that was her size. Helping her step over all the tripwires, the two made their way to the cauldron room. It was still pretty beat up from the earlier failure, but Ashley just let that be a problem for the future version of her.

“I want you to add these to the pot,” the witch ordered as she handed Mona a handful of miscellaneous items that appeared to be pure junk. Mona, however, accepted them wholeheartedly. “This is an activity that I.. particularly enjoy. I figured if.. you would be willing.. you would maybe be interested in trying out something I like for once. As long as it isn’t too dangerous for you, hence the suit.”

“Ohh, Ashley, that’s a great idea! Okay, so.. do I just need to put them in any order, or..?”

“Just dump them all in. Orders are for losers.”

“Alright. Here goes, then..”

Cutting away from the two girls and outside the window, two familiar figures would be waiting behind the bushes.. and would come up with a secret plan of their own.

Of course, they would be horribly misguided.

“Now, Cricket! The young Ashley appears to be speaking to a nefarious spirit from the underworld. It is up to you to vanquish the vile creature with the techniques I have taught you from my ancient scrolls!”

The kung fu student proudly posed in front of his master, eagerly ready to battle his fiercest opponent yet. “Yes, Master. Here goes! HAH! ULTIMATE BREAKING AND ENTERING TECHNIQUE!”

Jumping at altitudes too high for any regular human to obtain, Cricket came crashing down while flipping sideways in the air. Launching vertically through the nearby window, he crashed through with relative ease.

That is, until a clicking was heard in the room.

Dozens of darts came shooting out of the walls, sticking into nearly every part of Cricket’s body before he unceremoniously flopped to the ground, not even getting a chance to look at the group standing over his unconscious body.

The sudden surprise unfortunately alerted Mona as she was about to insert the ingredients, causing her to lose her balance and knock something that was hanging off the side of the pot straight into it.

.. A Mandrake root.

Suffice to say, the concoction immediately exploded throughout the room, with Red especially getting the brunt of the acid as he used his acrobatics to attempt to dodge all the liquid hurling his way. Ashley simply stood still as the incident occurred, clicking her tongue as she folded her arms.

“Ah. I forgot that was there.”

“ASHLEY!”

Almost instantly feeling guilty for failing the most basic instructions, Mona rushed over to Ashley, checking her over before profusely apologizing, “I’m sorry, Ashley, I’m sorry! It’s just.. when the windows broke I got so scared and I.. I accidentally knocked it into the cauldron and I.. please don’t be mad, please!”

A cold, indecipherable expression washed over Ashley’s face, before it was all wiped away by a brief sigh. “It is alright. I wasn’t expecting results, per se. I just wanted to have you do an activity I liked. That’s all. The room needed cleaning up, anyway.”

Swamped with relief, Mona impulsively picked Ashley up and hugged her, with the witch’s red eyes growing wide. “Thank you, Ashley! I was worried for a moment there, but I’d never decline something that you seem so ionate about- oh, God.”

The redhead hurriedly dropped Ashley to the ground, the witch almost losing her footing at the force of it. “I-I know you said no touching earlier, I don’t know what I was thinking. I can leave-“

“Stop.” Ashley raised her hand up to quell Mona’s worries, mainly to just sidetrack her so she doesn’t go on another verbal tirade. “I will.. allow it for now. After all, you taught me something very important today, so.. I suppose that is your reward. I will set up a new rule, though: in the future, only perform that gesture when I specifically ask you to.”

Mona vigorously nodded, only seeming to be fazed by whatever Ashley says and not by the war zone of a scene around her. “You got it! Locked in the old memory vault! But.. more importantly.. what do we do about.. him?”

A finger was pointed at Cricket’s highly violated body, still slumped over from the millions of darts sticking out. Red poked at his body with his foot, shrugging as he didn’t seem to be too bothered with it.

“I don’t know! He should probably be okay within, like, a day. Ashley’s darts aren’t TOO fatal.”

Following Red’s assessment, however, another body fell from the ceiling. Mantis landed face first with a dart sticking directly out of her behind. Ashley hummed to herself as the situation was beginning to become more trouble than what it was worth.

“On second thought, perhaps more adequate medical attention would be wise.”

Maybe once all was said and done, she could allow Mona another.. tour around her mansion someday.