Mary Jane Fitzgerald

"*There are moments when we cannot believe that what is happening is really true*".- Mary Jane Fitzgerald

**Mary Jane Fitzgerald** is a beautiful and pure soul holding on for the good and a connection to something beyond understanding. She is one of the main protagonists of The Hawk and The Crow, alongside Abigail Montgomery, where she first appeared in Tome I: A Legacy Beyond Comprehension.

A gentle, pure, and burdened young lady, Mary Jane attempts to thrive in society in order to find her place in the world, but she is unable to do so due to her being constantly haunted by the memorial of her parents and a past traumatic event, to the point of being soon stalked by evil. However, she would be aided by a spiritual entity that encourages her to face her forsaken past in order to see a brighter future.

## Background

Mary Jane Fitzgerald was conceived by Alan and Janet Fitzgerald in San Francisco, California on March 31st, 1987. The couple was relieved that Mary Jane was born, as they previously suffered the loss of their first child in a miscarriage that happened in 1984. A few days later, the spirit of Anastasia Wynter sensed a powerful source in a secluded village in Niagara Falls. Anastasia told Janet that her sister, Melina, has disappeared and that her daughter, Abigail Montgomery, is alive and needed to be rescued. This ultimately caused Janet and Alan to prepare a trip to Niagara Falls. Noticing that their daughter Mary Jane might interest what they are doing, they decided to include her in this situation with the message that she will meet a "very special person" that wanted to see her.

On April 13th, Mary Jane and Abigail met for the first time ever. Abigail's elderly father figure, Preston Daniels wanted Abigail to permanently live with the Fitzgerald Family, knowing the history that they have and that Mary Jane will be a great partner for Abigail in life. On October 30th, 1995, Mary Jane suffered what might be her biggest loss in her life, when Randy Cavanaugh broke into the home of the Fitzgeralds, murdered Alan and Janet and scarred both cousins, before setting the house on fire. During the fire, Mary Jane stood with the bodies of her parents in desperation and sadness, willing to die to protect and reanimate her beloved ones, but not to avail, while Abigail had to escape the house. Mary Jane went to survive the fire with the help of Anastasia, who at the behest of Alan, was chosen to guide and protect the young child through the harsh times she was gonna experience.

After a couple of hours of staying hidden and failing to overcome the grief of her parents' deaths, Mary Jane attempted to commit suicide for the first time, using a glass shard to do the raw attempt. She was found by a group of police officers and rushed her to the nearest hospital. Mary Jane's life was saved and she was hospitalized for five days. After that, Mary Jane was then sent to the Saint Damian Psychiatric Hospital, where she was under constant surveillance by the orderlies. Many psychiatrists diagnosed Mary Jane with multiple disorders, including Major depressive disorder and Psychogenic Amnesia. She was under constant survelliance by the head of Psychiatric Care and Rehab Department, Dr. Franklin Haines.

During the night of April 10th, 1974, Anastasia infiltrated into the psychiatric hospital, leaving a greatly thick fog in the asylum and the orderlies oblivious to her presence. As she was walking on the corridor, Anastasia found Mary Jane's cell room, and with supernatural force efortlessly opened the door, waking up the young girl. Knowing that she suffered enough confinement in the psychiatric hospital, Mary Jane accepted the purpose and silently left the psychiatric hospital with Anastasia without leaving a trace. Soon, the thick fog started to disappear and everything was silent again.

## Appearance

Mary Jane Fitzgerald is an extremely beautiful young lady who is almost pale-skinned and has long wavy blonde hair with platinum underlights, icy hazel eyes and a very slender body. Mary Jane is seen using black outfits, specifically a t-shirt with a lightning bolt design. The jewelry she commonly uses are an iridescent pendant with the portrait of her family, composed by Alan, Janet, Abigail and herself, and a glass-like ring with engravings depicting a hawk. Both of Mary Jane's wrists are cicatrized due to her self-harming tendency. During her childhood, Mary Jane is seen wearing a marine blue skirt with a periwinkle belt and tights combined with white socks, and gray sneakers with turquoise trim. Mary Jane’s hair was much shorter and mostly wore a half updo.

Due to her supernatural heritage, Mary Jane has developed unnatural traits as she began slowly to embrace it. When she uses her supernatural powers, her eyes, the scars in her wrists, and the veins in her arms glow a beautiful and faint light blue.

## Personality

Mary Jane Fitzgerald is a kind, gentle and pure young woman, known for her beauty and inner strength through compassion, kindness, and resilience. She has a strong sense of morality and cares about making the world a better place. Mary Jane has strong convictions that she sticks to and is not influenced by others, and is firm in keeping her beliefs and starts trusting her own instincts and decisions. As a teenager and young adult, she has considered herself sexually unavailable, and often avoids vices like illegal drug use and drinking. When she was a child, Mary Jane was very innocent, curious, and dependent on her parents, where she often remembers the advice that Alan and Janet gave to her. Despite her growth, Mary Jane has still displayed signs of curiosity and cautiousness regarding any threat.

In contrast to her purity, Mary Jane happens to be very shy and fragile, considering that her life was a living hell from the beginning and gets worse for her as time passes. Mary Jane showed signs of instability and low self-esteem, to the point of questioning her life very often and relying on suicidality. She is also deeply remorseful when her actions cause harm to others and does her best to fix things. Mary Jane is also anxious, naive and very closed-off, and is heavily affected by her traumas, where she is described as "a lonely, burdened young girl that is trapped in the life of an adult".

Throughout the story, Mary Jane became the object of attraction for supernatural creatures due to her good and pure attitude towards her surroundings and friends. Initially, Mary Jane has shown fear to the supernatural like everyone would, and thought that she was delusional at thinking that she has lost her humanity due to inheriting the powers from her family. However, knowing that The Otherworld has aided her on multiple occasions, Mary Jane demonstrated empathy and trust in them and slowly started to embrace her supernatural legacy.

### Medical Profile

According to her Psychological/ Psychiatric Evaluation document taken from the Saint Damian Psychiatric Hospital, Mary Jane Fitzgerald was diagnosed with Major depressive disorder at the age of 11, causing her to have an extreme tendency of self-harming. Mary Jane appears to have anxiety attacks before hallucinating, and reacts strongly to things that remind her of her life traumas, showing signs of Post-traumatic stress disorder. From her past experiences, Mary Jane suffered from Psychogenic amnesia, as she was profoundly unable to remember personal information about herself due to the traumatic events, the injuries she caused to herself and the influence of The Memetuo. She was also a victim and survivor of the Septic Touch.

## Powers and Abilities

Although she is human like everyone around her, Mary Jane Fitzgerald was revealed to be a Blessed Human gifted with supernatural abilities that allow her to manipulate her environment and coexist with humans and paranormal beings. These abilities were inherited due to her ties with The Otherworld.

* Empathy - Mary Jane can interpret the emotions, moods, and temperaments of others without reading apparent symptoms, allowing her to understand introverts or discover one emotion is actually hiding another.
* Mediumship - Mary Jane is able to see and comprehend Ghosts and other Spirits from the afterlife, a dimension beyond the human world where all spirits go when the life force is completely extinguished and they leave the corporeal plane.
	+ Sixth Sense - Mary Jane can detect not only Ghosts or Manifestations, but also other supernatural species.
* Healing - The ability of alleviating or ameliorating injury and wounds. This is a separate ability to healing factor or regeneration as it is one being able to heal another.
* Resurrection - The ability to revive the deceased. It is an extremely difficult power to harness.
* Heart of Light - While suffering a near-death state, Mary Jane activated her Heart of Light with the help of Anastasia Wynter in order to gain an extra life-force that forced her to enter into a vegetative state so she can recover her health.
* Clairsentience - The ability to display the uncanny knowledge of her surroundings, such as supernatural energies or sometimes as seeing the history of an object. Mary Jane used this power many times to recover her past and the stories of her family.
* Supernatural Insanity Immunity - Due to her connection with The Otherworld, Mary Jane has become immune to losing her sanity upon interacting with Ghosts and other Manifestations, which is a normal vulnerability for humans.

## Weaknesses

Despite the abilities Mary Jane Fitzgerald has, it does not mean without limitations.

* Anxiety Attacks - Mary Jane can be seriously weakened by anxiety or panic attacks, causing her to experience hallucinations.
* Emotions - Sometimes, Mary Jane's emotions can play odds against her, rendering her unable to take decisions and even impair her supernatural connection.
* Hallucinations - Mary Jane is susceptible to having nosebleeds when using her supernatural abilities, specially while checking past visions. This may be possible due to the little experience she has over the control of her abilities.
* Mortality - Despite her blessed status, Mary Jane is still attached to mortality and her Heart of Light can be weakened by stronger forces.

## Quotes

* **To Alan and Janet Fitzgerald**: "I know you told me to not believe in a world of "what ifs", but what can I do if something bad happens to you?".
* **Mary Jane Fitzgerald, about society**: "We live in a society, where nobody cares about your inner world, your emotions, and what you need. What matters to them is that you dress well, that you laugh at their jokes, and that you fit in their doors".
* **To Jay Ambrose**: "I'm happy that you are actually one of few that understands me".
* **To Anastasia Wynter**: "Is it me? Have I lost that big a step to live? Am I the reason why this stuff is happening?".
* **To Dr. Franklin Haines**: "Why am I seeing things, Doctor Haines?".

## Trivia

* Mary Jane Fitzgerald is the first character to be announced in The Hawk and The Crow.
* She is based on Brooke Thompson from American Horror Story: 1984 (2019), Tina Shephard from Friday the 13th VII: The New Blood (1988), and Sarah Bailey from The Craft (1994) in terms of backstory and personality.
* "Dying Light", which is one of Mary Jane's nickname, served as Don't Let the Darkness Consume You's working title during writing.
* According to Brooke Redwood:
	+ Among the main characters in Don't Let the Darkness Consume You, Mary Jane was intended to portray the role of the Nice Girl / Final Girl.
* Mary Jane's nosebleeds when she experiences strong hallucinations or uses her Clairsentience to check a past memory are based on Eleven’s nosebleeds when she used her powers in Stranger Things (2016-2023).
* She had a prescription of 50 mg of Trazodone.