ARC IV. SLEEPWALKING TO THE SLAUGHTER.
this is a canon divergent verse, set during eleanor’s life at the ages of eighteen to nineteen. this period is set mostly outside of her hometown of redwater and is flexible to most settings and character interactions.
as the symptoms of her illness worsen, eleanor starts to remember the events of her disappearance in fragments. she slowly begins to realize that she is not the same eleanor that entered the woods, but is instead a host body to a parasite ("the changeling). she comes to the conclusion that the parasite has been feeding off the others around her as well and draining their energy, explaining her mother's illness and father's hostility as well. eleanor has a violent confrontation with her father, where she expresses her long repressed resentment, presumably killing him.
eleanor returns to the forest where it all started and decides it’s time to leave her old self behind. she sets a fire before departing, effectively killing her old self and the child within her. she becomes fully merged with the changeling.
with little resources on hand, eleanor takes to hitchhiking as her main form of transportation and pickpockets her way through the state. she stops using referring to herself as eleanor ainsworth, but has yet to find a new name that fits just right.
despite the acceptance of her true nature, eleanor continues to feel the symptoms of the illness – a side effect of inhabiting a stolen body. this concept will continue to explored throughout the verse.













