Who: Penny and Open (mostly to family and close friends and anyone who might still be at the reception as a witness). What: :( When: June 21st, after the wedding reception Rating: PG-13
"You tricked me!"
Penny woke that morning with a start. Sebastian Sullivan was not a particularly angry person, but he did choose his words carefully. And if you were lucky, you would see him in his finest moment, when his words stung more than bees. Penny had actually been excited for a while about Alex and Olivia's wedding. She had agreed to help Annie with the music, and Bast had asked her to be his date. Of course, even though she didn't ask, she assumed that offer had been silently revoked after the events that took place Friday evening. It still made Penny's stomach churn every time she thought about it. It reminded her far too much of the Valentine's Day illness she suffered earlier that year.
Though it took her a while to get going, Penny managed to get ready in time for the wedding. Her brother was walking the wedding as the ring bearer, so they had to get there relatively early. Penny felt like the shell of herself. Not only could she not muster a smile, as the only thought that remained lodged in her mind was Bast's face when she dropped the mother of all confessions on his lap, but she felt physically distant, as if she was watching all of this from outside of her body. She had imagined so many moments together with Bast during the wedding ceremony, mostly just holding his hand and sharing quiet smiles with each other. But the only person's hand she held during the service was her mother's.
At this point, the only reason she was still there was because she owed it to Annie to play with her. Annie had been her best friend for as long as she could remember, and she had done so much for Penny. So many had done so much, but despite it all, Annie was always there. Annie always defended her, protected her, loved her like a sister. Penny couldn't let her down, not when she knew this was Annie's dream. Annie had to shine tonight, and Penny was going to do everything in her power to help that happen.
To say the dinner portion of the reception was awkward was the biggest understatement ever uttered. Sitting with Bast after everything they had been through was probably the most difficult part for her. She avoided eye contact at all costs if only to keep her makeup from running. The last thing she wanted was to make some sort of scene here in front of all these people. The last thing she wanted was to ruin Alex and Olivia's wedding. So she held out. She didn't eat, though the food looked delicious. She just couldn't. She felt a hollow where her stomach was supposed to be, and just when she felt as if she couldn't stand it any longer, Annie came around and pulled her toward the stage.
The rest of it was mostly a blur. She played the songs Annie wanted, played them well (as in she hit all the right notes) but detached from the actual music. She was like in a daze, playing most of the songs by memory, out of habit, only because she had played them a million times each and could have probably played them with both her hands behind her back. She wasn't the best musician in the world, but she had innate talent, and she fell back on that tonight, not really trying or putting much energy into it. Every once in a while, she would look up and see Bast's face in the crowd. She tried to shut out the voice in her head, his voice, that repeated over and over again, "You tricked me. You tricked me. You tricked me." They were the most horrible three words she had ever heard.
The people began to disperse. Penny hardly knew what time it was or how long she and Annie had been up there playing song after song. Annie was wowing the crowd as usual, but Penny wasn't paying attention. That far away feeling was getting worse and worse. At one point, she heard someone (probably Annie) say that the bride and groom had retired for the night and that perhaps they should start winding down. Penny had nodded, pulled her guitar off and set it aside gently. Her knees had been wobbly for some time now, but the important thing was that her guitar was safe. The lights in the room looked like supernovas. All colors blended together into one in front of Penny's eyes. And then, she started to sense it.
People's powers in the room were overwhelming her senses for some reason. She looked around the room but saw no signs of Johnny. Johnny. He could help. But why were people's powers flooded into her right now? What wall had come crumbling down to allow all this information to flow through to the front of her mind? Why couldn't she stop it? Why couldn't she control it? Enough was enough. She knew all these powers already. She wanted to make it stop. It was a miracle there was a chair right where she had plopped down, if not, she would have ended up on the floor. She tried to lift the bottle of water that was in her hand to her lips, but it was as if she was lifting a hundred pound weight.
She brought her other hand up to her chest, pressed lightly. There was such a tightness there. It was getting harder and harder to breathe with each passing second. Something was happening to her, something that had never happened to her before. She would have known. She would have understood. She would have been ready for it. But she wasn't. She felt her hands shaking, heard the bottle dropping to the ground with a splotch. She was dying. This was it. This was what dying felt like. Her eyes looked around for the nearest person to her. "Ann..."
Her voice was so unlike her own. It felt like it was reaching out from beyond the crypt already like her own clawed hand that longed to touch Annie to get her attention. A crazy, desperate feeling started to take over her, and she could feel her heart beating as if it was pumping in her head. "Ann... Annie..." But the exertion of even calling out her name was too much. Tiny black dots were already starting to pop up in her vision. She knew what this was. She was blacking out. It wouldn't be long now. It wouldn't be long before she never saw her best friend again, never held her little brother in her arms, never felt Sebastian's lips on hers.
Sebastian.
She had to see him. She had to see him, one last time. Things had ended so badly between them. How had she been such a fool? Didn't she know that this was going to be the end? She could have kept him a little longer, kept the secret, taken it to her grave. But now, instead of the blissful, beautiful, serene face of Sebastian Sullivan floating around in her mind's eye, all she saw was his face the night she had told him she was Songbird. His face and his eyes and the way he looked like she had taken away his innocence forever. And the words she would never forget until she took her last breath.