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Supreme

Lena opened her eyes to find herself tied up to a hospital bed. She was naked and covered in blood. She tried to move but she was paralyzed by the same whispers.

It's time. This is not a dream. It's time.

Dark eyes staring back at her and a trickle of blood running down pale cheeks, that's all Lena remembered when she woke up in a paroxysm of cold sweat and tears.

Cordelia was staring at her with concern as she wiped the sweat off Lena's forehead with a damp cloth.

"It's just me." Cordelia reassured her after seeing the confusion in Lena's eyes. "You had a fever."

"Your eyes..." She sat up abruptly as fear crept into her mind when she recognized the eyes from her recurring dream.

Lena felt a pang in her stomach, like needles piercing it. Now she was certain that she not only knew Cordelia from Starbucks, but Lena had been seeing her for months, if not for years. Over and over, the same dark eyes reflecting pain and suffering; eyes that tore a hole in her soul every time she met them in her sleep; haunting eyes.

"I don't— what about them?" Cordelia asked in confusion.

"I've seen them in my visions. I keep seeing them over and over." At this point Lena was staring blankly at Cordelia, she was trying to capture the very moment she saw those eyes for the first time. "So much pain, and tears... and blood."

Lena's voice was like a whisper, as if she feared being heard if she raised her voice. It was an irrational fear, because she had no clue from whom she was running, but the pressure on her gut urged her to be careful.

Cordelia got up from the edge of the bed where she had been sitting, and stepped back. Frowning, she asked, "What visions?"

Lena settled down on the bed and took a deep breath. She didn't want to go over the same dark images from her dreams, but she needed to. If the coven was in danger, Cordelia should know.

"I've had visions for as long as I remember. I could see...things. When I was a child, I knew that my parents were going to divorce. I knew it for years, before it actually happened. I finally saw Dad's suitcase by the door and tears trickling down my mother's cheeks. I saw it in my dreams, and it came true. I dreamt about the man that raped and killed my sister, and I tried to stop it from happening, but I couldn't." Her voice was trembling at that point; she was fighting the tears because she didn't want to look weak. Weak was not a word or a feeling she was comfortable with. "You can alter destiny, but if something is meant to be..." She took a deep breath and stared into space for what seemed hours.

Cordelia sat carefully next to Lena. She listened as if her life depended on it; she felt Lena's pain as her own and she didn't know why. They had just met, but there was a certain feeling of attachment to each other, and Cordelia wondered whether Lena felt it too.

"I ran away from home when I was 18, because I didn't want to witness my family's suffering. I felt like it was my fault. Every bad thing that happened, I blamed it on myself."

Lena's words felt like daggers to Cordelia, she didn't want to see her suffer. In a visceral attempt to take her pain away, Cordelia wrapped her arms around Lena. The young girl finally gave in. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she buried her face in the crook of Cordelia's neck. She felt the witch's fingers lightly brushing her hair, in an attempt to soothe her.

"Lena," Cordelia's voice was warm and steady when she spoke, looking into her eyes. "Don't ever blame yourself again, ok? It's not your fault, none of it was. There was nothing you could have done that saved your family from their fate. I know it sound harsh, but... you are here now. This is your destiny. And this is your time to heal, discover all of your powers and master them, because you, Lena... you are so powerful and you have no idea. I'm gonna change that, I promise."

Cordelia took Lena's face between her hands and wiped her tears. An almost silent whisper left her lips. "You are our next Supreme."