𝖙𝖍𝖗𝖊𝖊 ▸ VIDEO, sometime after the monster is killed.

[melodramagic]

[ The video blips to life to showcase the familiar interior of Residence #001 in Maurtia Falls, a place some might recognized as Magnus's house if they've been there before. The camera shakes a little, the view of the living room growing distant as someone walks into the kitchen instead. Once the feed stops shaking about and is settled atop the dinner table, Sabrina plops down before it so she's in full view.

She looks different, naturally. Her blond curls now a peculiar shade of platinum and wearing vibrant red lipstick, a stark contrast to her black outfit. For those who pay sharp attention to details, she does look a touch older, as if it's been a few months for a teenager still maturing into her features.

It has, for her anyway. ]

Clearly a lot has happened while I was away. I thought blood loss might have made me hallucinate things, but did I seriously see some sort of Blob-esque monster on the news in De Chima? The reporters said it's gone, but... what the hell happened?

[ Hell's bells, this place.

She clears her throat right after, setting her hands on the table now. ]

Before that though, I need to apologize to those who had a run-in with someone that ran around posing as me a couple of weeks ago. From what I heard, she hurt a few people and caused a lot of trouble for others. I don't know what spells she tried to cast on others, but I'm so sorry that happened in the first place. If I had had my magic...

[ Sabrina's jaw clenches for a moment. ]

If there's anything I can do, I want to make it up to you.

Comments

[melodramagic]

[ She sobers up fast at the mention of the Dark Lord, her expression taut. ]

What? That Dark Lord came to me again? No, I already did his dark bidding once!

[sathan]

And he can ask it of you as often as he chooses.

( the nature of being in charge and ruling through fear )

But-- ( there's a brief pause, a calculation of what she's going to say ) Though you give up your powers it isn't permanent.

[melodramagic]

What's going to happen, Ms. Wardwell? I need you to tell me the truth.

[ If Sabrina of the future had been so scared of these powers, she needs to know if she needs to fear them here. A part of her is convinced she needn't be, not when she's so far from the Dark Lord, far from her friends who she can't hurt across the universes. ]

What does he ask of me this time?

[sathan]

Then I need to tell you a larger truth.

( she wants to be ahead of it, to give this to sabrina before telling her of her future rather than having it come out after. to be revealed later as a lie. honesty helps, right? )

I'm not Ms. Wardwell. ( her words dip a little quieter, carefully threading the truth ) She is alive but-- I needed to appear as someone you knew. I helped you defeat the Dark Lord.

( it may not have been her original intention but it is what had happened in the end )

[melodramagic]

[ There's a guttural sound in Sabrina's throat before she falls silent, only able to stare Lilith down in wide-eyed confusion.

She opens her mouth to say something, her lips curving downward into a harsh frown while her brows knit toward one another, conveying her absolute shock and befuddlement. ]

... what are you talking about?

[ Her voice grows louder as she's able to find it again, her back straight as a board now as she rises from the chair. ]

What do you mean you're not Ms. Wardwell?

[ In a sense it's like déjà vu, having been down this road with her in the past when she had first learned Mary Wardwell was a witch. ]

[sathan]

( she looks up as the girl stands, not yet moving, watching. there is much to say, many ways of explaining it. and she wonders why she's trying to put it in the best light -- for sabrina or to protect herself here? if sabrina pushes her away for her lies why should she care? )

I met Ms. Wardwell after I returned to Greendale. She spoke about witches, more informed than any other mortal would be.

( and it confirmed that she'd found the best person possible )

But-- whilst I'm not the woman you believed you do know me. A story, upbringing-- your own role in the passion play.

( would she ever do this non-crypticly? )

[melodramagic]

[ Sabrina's gaze is sharp and suspicious, but her expression unsettled as she attempts to process this information. ]

... if you're not Ms. Wardwell, then who the heaven are you?

[ Something horrifying crosses her thoughts, an idea that she needs to reel back from momentarily. ]

What did you do to my teacher?!

[sathan]

( apparently trying to go with telling her that her teacher was alive didn't do much, though sabrina would probably work it out that she'd killed her. she wasn't going to specifically admit it.

certainly not when there was a bigger question, something that would take over any other that she gave.

so finally, simply-- )

I'm Lilith.

[melodramagic]

... Lilith.

[ A name that she's heard many a time growing up, a figure in the Church of Night that never seemed to get the credit she deserved, not under Father Blackwood anyway.

Memory pulls her back to the night of the play, her hands in Nick's, she playing the Mother of Demons, the Devil's Handmaiden, while Nick was cast as Lucifer Morningstar himself.

A dark fairy tale of sorts, but Sabrina had never stopped to wonder if Lilith still walked the underworld as the Dark Lord does. The first witch had always been an enigmatic figure in all the stories she heard. ]

You've been pretending to be my favourite teacher this whole time. [ Which can only mean... ] Did you kill Ms. Wardwell? She was the nicest teacher in Greendale!

[sathan]

She was. And is.

( look, sabrina, you bought the whole thing. lilith's good but she barely knew the woman and she's not those levels of nice.

but that isn't the point and whilst she'd said the woman was alive-- )

I brought her back when I left. Because of your help. In getting rid of the Dark Lord.

( she's going to try and keep it on track even if she knows nothing goes to plan with sabrina )

[melodramagic]

[ She balls her fists, the wind in the room picking up slightly as the anger burning in her chest grows. ]

Alright, Lilith. You're going to tell me exactly what happened.

Have you been lying to me this whole time? Did you even know my father?

[sathan]

( trying to paint the best light wasn't going her way, though why she cared-- why she'd been trying to protect sabrina all this time--

because she did care. sabrina had helped to free her, to give her what she'd wanted and she wouldn't ignore that, turning it into protecting sabrina. with no manipulation )

I knew him but not as his acolyte. Just enough to know his beliefs for witchkind. And what he'd done.

( a vague passing but then he'd just been another warlock. she hadn't expected anything more )

He was High Priest.

[melodramagic]

[ None of this makes sense to her, but the notion that Lilith never really know Edward Spellman as she claimed shatters the entire relationship she had felt connected and drawn to in Sabrina's mind.

There was never any "special" connection the two had and she feels played. ]

So you were never a friend of the family. How dare you pretend?

[ Lies upon lies, it's hard for Sabrina to believe the bit about the Dark Lord either, but naturally she's inclined to ask. ]

What are you even talking about? Getting rid of the Dark Lord?

[sathan]

That task he asked of you, the one that caused you to create a mandrake?

( she's glad that they've come back around to this considering that she didn't expect them to. but sabrina was unpredictable )

With your new powers-- he wanted you to be his Queen.

( could she bring herself to mention the parentage? not currently )

You, your aunts, your friends-- none of them would allow that. And neither would I.

[melodramagic]

[ She gags, slow and dramatic, but genuinely disgusted by the idea. ]

His queen? But... why me? And how? The Dark Lord isn't—

[ But Sabrina stalls, her mouth slowly closing as it dawns on her. ]

... he's going to walk the Earth, isn't he?

[sathan]

No.

( casually avoids the other questions in favour of this truth. her story )

He's imprisoned in an acheron. There is no more Dark Lord.

( he may not be dead but if she and nick could hold him-- )

[melodramagic]

[ The confidence behind those words, the way her voice never wavers...

Is it possible? While Sabrina's been dead-set on taking down the Dark Lord, she hasn't come close to discovering his secrets, or even having the power to deal with him directly. With her new powers, maybe it's likely, however... ]

You need to start telling me what happened or I will squeeze the air out of your lungs slowly and painfully.

[ It's tempting to use her magic against her. Lilith or not, Sabrina is gathering she's powerful. Maybe powerful enough to make Lilith do her bidding if necessary. ]

[sathan]

I don't believe you would.

( it's a bet but she feels it's one that is pretty safe. she knows sabrina well by this point, her motivations and how far she'd go. sure, ms. wardwell may have claimed that sabrina wasn't a murderer but was it really murder when sabrina's back up plan was that agatha wouldn't really die?

her expression also hits a little sterner. because you don't threaten her, sabrina. and she's also suffered far worse fates. at the hands of her father )

Not if you did want to know the truth. About where these powers came from.

( is she baiting her to see if she'll do it? maybe. but pain is nothing new and it won't guarantee she'll tell anything. not when she has been so honest so far )

[melodramagic]

[ The thought crosses her mind more than once. It would be so easy, just put a little fright in Lilith, cut her air supply off for a few seconds...

Sabrina makes a motion towards her. It's aggressive, angry, almost imposing... although in the end she stays put, sighing aloud as her eyes roll and her shoulders drop. ]

Fine.

[ Damn you, calling her on her bluff. ]

But start talking.

[sathan]

( sabrina says it as if lilith hasn't been talking, something that eadns her a sharper look before she continues )

You powers. You'd given them up, transferred into the mandrake rendering you mortal. You hoped that it would be enough to hold him away but as you should know he is nothing if not determined.

( there's a brief pause )

After he was imprisoned I restored your magic, gave you that freedom you've been asking for.

[melodramagic]

... so what, that's it? The Dark Lord wanted me to be his queen, I gave up my powers, but we imprisoned him so it's over?

[ It strikes her as... too simple. No, something is amiss. Lilith is omitting a crucial piece (or several pieces). She has to be. ]

[sathan]

That's all I know. I was returning to Hell with our prison when I was brought here.

( it's all that she knows in terms of major details anyway, there's obviously gaps to fill )

With Lucifer gone-- I'd taken the crown. To bring a new, sorely needed era in for witches.

( and hell. men have been in power for too long )

[melodramagic]

You're the Queen of Hell?

[ Not that Sabrina wants that title, though this is a deluge of information her brain can't process fast enough. She feels dizzy, if not a little nauseated. ]

... how do I know you're not lying now? You've lied to me so many times already.

[ The look of pure disgust on her face is hard to conceal consequently. ]

[sathan]

Because being Queen is all I've ever wanted.

( there's a different energy in how she says this, a sort of pureness that comes from the desire of having wanted it.

she isn't lying, not about this )

When I first arrived here, Sabrina, with when you were from-- would you have believed this truth? Accepted it?

( she'd cried at just finding out she'd signed the book. lilith had reason to keep it from her. all in its correct time. she also voluntarily admitted the truth. she could have continued the lie )

[melodramagic]

[ Lying hasn't sat well with her, not when the moment she turned sixteen it was one lie after another being uncovered. The secrets her family kept, her aunts and father, Father Blackwood, now someone she had sought comfort and advice from? Who can she even trust anymore? ]

If you had told me, I would have tried to understand.

[ She says, but the reality is she would have been angered by it then as well. ]

I thought you were loyal to the Dark Lord, like the stories say.

[ But a part of her had always wondered why Lilith bent to his will so easily. Father Blackwood might have "updated" the story, but Lilith's power and bold personality had always stood out to Sabrina when she read the script. ]