A/N: And we're back to the knock-off titles that the first two chapters had! Yay! Chapter titles are hard, why bother to try when I can phone it in?
Amity swelled with pride as she palmed the new iScroll she'd purchased in the markets. Well, okay, it wasn't new, it was a used older model that she'd managed to pick up for cheap, but that wasn't the point. What made her feel so proud was that this was something she bought on her own, with her own money, that she had earned by working for Eda. Not her parents' money. Not even Eda's money, bought out of a sense of charity. Hers.
She'd stashed away every coin, every Snail Eda had paid her, saving it for something. She wasn't sure exactly what she'd use the money for, until she realized she was the only one in her friend group who didn't have a scroll. It was basically just a magical smartphone, which had Amity on edge. Phones back on Earth were more trouble than they were worth, a way for Clara to bother her, or her mother to issue orders, or the Twins to annoy her. Phone's were little rectangles of anxiety, wrapped in a time-bomb. A scroll was different though, she'd only let her friends have her runes. A bit of her just didn't want to be left out, but another portion of her…
Her scroll dinged, alerting her to an incoming message. The human girl read it with glee, feeling a warmth spreading through her as she replied.
Luz: What are you up to?
Amity: Oh, just hanging around, hby?
Luz: What does hby mean?
Amity giggled like the schoolgirl she was, clutching the scroll to her chest, right above her heart, as her face flushed. Now, not only could she keep up with all of her friends, but she could keep in touch with Luz while she was staying at Camila's. And that made the scroll worth every copper snail she'd spent.
Luz was a little behind on human text lingo, which was fine with Amity. It gave them something new to discuss, and she hadn't been allowed to use it with anyone but Clara anyway when she had her phone. 'Too unprofessional' Odalia had said. The two texted back and forth, when Amity remembered something, grabbing a piece of paper off the table and using the scroll's camera to snap a picture of it.
It was a new glyph. A plant glyph. She had found it just this morning, after Willow had come over to make sure the fruit and vegetable garden they had grown together had been staying healthy. While inspecting some of the plants, a few of them had bloomed but bore no fruit yet, and on closer inspection Willow had spotted a familiar pattern and pointed it out to Amity. It had appeared on the Earth plants as a sure sign of their magically influenced growth. After a little experimentation, the two confirmed it worked, summoning forth whatever plant Amity could think of from the depths of the paper.
Amity sent the picture, along with a message explaining what it did and how she'd found it.
Luz:OMT!(Did I say that right?)
that's so cool!
I can't wait to see it in person!
That makes three glyphs you've found so far!
You're so awesome Amity!
If Amity felt accomplished before, she was absolutely pluming at her new girlfriend's praise. Her repertoire of spells had grown immensely since she'd found the first up on the Knee, and she was certain there were more to find out there. It just took a bit more practice, patience, and a well trained eye and she was sure she'd have way more glyphs soon enough.
"Ugh, can you not do this at the dinner table?" Eda complained, digging her fork into her Salamander Steak, "Watching you be all sappy is making me worried about having to put up with what's going to happen when she gets here later tonight. My cold, wretched heart can only take so much teenage happiness before it shrivels."
"I agree, this much sweetness is nauseating. I demand normal sweetness, in the form of cakes and pies!" King commented, picking at his own plate. The self proclaimed King of Demons ignored his vegetables in favor of his meat, as he always did.
"You and me both, King." Eda sighed, adjusting the scarf she'd put on sometime in the middle of the day. Amity eyed it suspiciously, knowing it was far too warm for Eda to be comfortable with it on inside the house, and the fact the witch kept scratching at herself only confirmed that the scarf was as uncomfortable and itchy as it appeared.
"Look, I'm sorry, I know I'm all… mushy, and stuff, but tonight is big! Huge! It's Luz and I's first date together." Amity gushed, entirely unapologetic despite her words.
"Yeah, yeah, I'd hardly call stargazing on top of the house a date. Where's the booze? The glamorous meals! The carnage?" Eda rolled her eyes, then sent Amity a smile, "But, I guess I get it. First baby-date, Boots. I'd tell you to have her home by ten, but you guys aren't even leaving, so where's the fun in that?"
"You guys have fun watching the boring old stars. I'll be inside, watching the greatest in Demonic cinema, 'The Kingdom of Bloodshed: The Goreoning!'" King screeched from his chair, fists raised in the air.
"… Maybe I should keep an eye on what he watches from now on," Eda muttered under her breath.
Dinner had hardly finished when Luz arrived, bursting through the front door so fast and frantically she might as well have been running on all fours. No one was willing to toss out the assumption that she hadn't been, either. "I'm here, I'm queer, and I'm ready to… steer us… in the direction of our date!"
Eda groaned, head in her hands at her own daughter's lack of smooth moves. "I helped birth this into the world."
"You didn't birth anything, that was all Camila," King corrected.
"Yeah, sorry, I… didn't think that through." Luz seemed embarrassed for even trying.
"Well, I thought it was great, Hoot!" Hooty commented, slithering from the open door and into the living room.
Amity just laughed, knowing it was a terrible rhyme, but not carrying. Luz was here, and they were going on a date. Together! Sure, maybe it was some of her nerves that made her laugh, but they were happy nerves. "I thought it was just fine too."
"You can't possibly be impartial about that kind of stuff." Eda scowled, already sick of the gooiness that was permeating her living room. "Now don't you two have better things to be doing?"
The two teenagers exchanged a glance, cheeks red, before both bounding up the stairs together, heading for Luz's bedroom. "Hey! Remember what I said, Boots! Door open at all times!" Eda yelled up at them as they went, just to embarrass them even more.
Sitting back down on the couch with her arms crossed, joined by King and Hooty, Eda gestured to the crystal ball. "Well, aren't we going to watch your disgustingly violent movie?"
Climbing out of the opened bedroom window first, Luz offered a hand to Amity, assisting her through it like a gentlewoman until they were both on top of the roof together. The night sky was already dark, stars twinkling up above and helping set the romantic mood.
It had been Luz who had suggested it as a first date. No one had to pay anything, they didn't have to go anywhere, and the stakes were low. Amity jumped onto the idea, because stargazing with the person she liked most sounded so utterly romantic, like it had come straight out of one of the romance novels she used to read at her old school library in the Human Realm.
The summer air was still warm despite the lack of sun, as they settled down on the roof hand in hand. One thing Amity had taken for granted up until this moment was the sheer lack of light pollution the Isles had compared to Earth. Sure, Bonesborough was visible from the Owl House rooftop, it's dimly lit street lamps glimmering faintly like a candle in the far distance, but it wasn't enough to blot out the sky like it had been in the Human Realm. Even a little town like Gravesfield had some issues with seeing all of the night sky in its majesty with the street lights illuminating the roads.
Yet here in the Demon Realm, above them the heavens bloomed, stretching out infinitely in the inky black void. Amity had never gazed long at the stars back on Earth, but she wondered briefly if any of these were the same as the one they had there. "I don't see the North Star…"
Luz glanced her way, then leaned close so she could point it out. "It's over there. And of course, there is the South star that way, and the East and West stars as well."
Amity snorted, "You have other directional stars?"
Luz's brow scrunched up in confusion, "The Human Realm doesn't? How do you guys not get lost all the time?"
"We just follow the North Star." Amity stated, smiling at the girl.
"But, what if you're looking at it from the east? Doesn't that mean it would look like it's pointing west, not north?"
"I'm not a sailor or adventurer, Luz, I don't know how it worked. We have compasses now anyway."
The two giggled, bumping shoulders together as they continued to enjoy their night of pleasant conversation. "So, do you happen to also have constellations here? Pictures up in the sky made by connecting the stars?"
Luz nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, here, let me show you."
Putting an arm around Amity's shoulder and trying to ignore the heat rushing to both of their faces, Luz pointed to a patch near the North Star, "See that one up there, that group of stars makes the Orthrursa Major! See, there's it's arms, and it's legs, and it's second pair of arms, and it's second head!"
Amity nodded, not really seeing the image in the sky any better than she could imagine the ones back on Earth. At least, she couldn't until Luz spun her pointed finger, casting an illusion spell that connected the stars and made them into the image of the fearsome beast. "That's amazing! Is this how witches always stargaze?"
Luz chuckled, "Well, yeah, what, do humans just stare at a bunch of dots in the sky and try to picture it with just their imaginations?"
The look Amity gave her told Luz that yes, that is exactly what they had to do. "Oh my gosh, you've been missing out your whole life. Here, let me show you all the rest of the ones I can remember!"
The next half hour stretched on, Luz pointing out some group of stars to use her magic on, showing some kind of famous Demon warrior, or a monster that made human fiction look tame. There was even a group of nebulous stars that Luz said was Grometheus, though she didn't give it form like the others. Apparently that group of stars looked different to anyone who looked at it for whatever reason.
"What about that group right there?" Amity asked, pointing to a patch of stars right above their heads. They had to crane their necks to be able to view it properly, Luz taking a moment to answer. "Well, that's supposed to be Emperor Belos, casting a spell circle, according to all the stories I've heard, but honestly, I just don't really see it."
Amity's lips downturned, "Wait, but hasn't he only been around for a few decades? Why would he have a group of stars dedicated to him? What was it before he came around?"
Luz blinked, pondering, then shrugged, "I don't know. I never really thought about it. All the books on stars just say it's Belos. Some even say it's proof he's the Voice of the Titan. See, that's supposed to be his head, and that's his cape, and he's standing inside of a spell circle..." Luz made to twirl her finger, bring the image alive with an illusion, but Amity stopped her, hand wrapped tightly around Luz's wrist.
"Luz… wait." An epiphany was hitting Amity as she gazed at that constellation, something clicking in her the longer she stared at it. Without another word, she left Luz's side, excitedly scrambling back through their bedroom window, and grabbed a stack of papers and a pencil. Rushing back to Luz's side, the witch just giving Amity an amused smirk at her antics, Amity began to draw what she could see in the sky.
It took a few tries. She wasn't as good at drawing perfect circles as Luz, and a bit of what the stars were shaped like was up to interpretation without any actual lines, but eventually she got it, tapping a finger to the paper which crumpled up and formed into a warmly glowing ball of light.
"It's a glyph." Amity breathed. "It's a glyph!"
Luz's face was lit with amazement at Amity's discovery, "Oh my gosh, you're right! You just found another glyph, and in the stars themselves! How did you even do that?"
"I-I don't know! It just looked like it had to be one. How did something like that even get up there? Did magic just make it happen?"
Luz frowned, looking back up into the night sky, "I'm more concerned about why they call that the Belos constellation, when it's been an obvious magical glyph all this time…"
The two stared up in the night sky together, squeezing hands together, wondering what it all meant in the grand scheme of things.
Eda's hands shook as she clasped her bottle of elixir and brought it to her lips. It'd been a hell of a morning, with Lilith trying(and failing, hah!) to capture her yet again. That wasn't the issue, though, no. What made it a hell of a morning was trying to keep the kids in the dark about her failing health before they headed off to school.
Her scarf was worn loose now, exposing her gem, which was now more than half inky black even in spite of the elixir. She was thankful Amity had been so busy with her little date that she hadn't questioned the scarf's inclusion. This was her second bottle just since this morning, and it still hadn't cleared fully, but Eda refused to turn into the Owlbeast. She hadn't changed in half a decade, since she'd been allowed back in Luz's life, and she wasn't going to start now. She could hold it back. Just a little longer. She still had work to do.
She couldn't afford to transform. Not when she was pretty sure if she did, she wouldn't be coming back.
She took her pen in her hands as she squinted over the paper on her desk through her reading glasses. The document needed a few changes and additions to update it for recent events, and she needed to do this sooner rather than later.
Updating her Last Will and Testament was a morbid task, but it needed to be done.
She knew she didn't have a lot of time left. Maybe she was being an overdramatic old bitty, but it was starting to feel like she had days left, maybe weeks, if she was lucky. It wasn't a lot of time, but she'd known this was coming. She was losing her fight, and the Owlbeast would take her over full time soon enough. It wasn't death, but it might as well be, and she'd specified that her Will was to be opened the day she lost control and wasn't coming back.
As for the changes… well, she wanted to make sure Amity was taken care of. Before she had left everything to Luz and King. Camila had been adamant that she could take care of herself, and to make sure the kids were taken care of instead of her. And Hooty would be provided for by whoever got the house. Now that Amity was here, now that she was family, Eda wanted to ensure she got her fair share of the loot.
After a bit of talk with Camila in private, where the kids wouldn't overhear, it was decided that Amity would get the Owl House when Eda… wasn't there anymore. It was for the best. She was more responsible than King and could take care of the place, and Camila had Luz down as the inheritor of her place when she kicked the bucket, so it only seemed fair Amity got a house as well.
Besides, with how smitten those two were, it'd still be Luz's house someday, with any luck. If they were better at navigating their feelings than Eda had been, and didn't screw it up.
All she had to do was sign at the bottom, and send this off to Camila's Lawyer(because Eda didn't trust them enough to have her own), and it'd be legally binding. Then she would-
A resounding crash echoed through the house, making Eda flinch.
"I don't want a bath!" King's voice rang out as the sound of footsteps echoed down the hall.
"Well, too bad! The witch lady said we had to give you one while we wait for Mittens, so you're getting one!"
"Yeah, we don't want to be turned into toads, or something!"
"I just might do that anyway if you all can't be quiet!" Eda stood from her chair and yelled, her voice ringing throughout the house. Today would have usually been her trash collection day, which was when those idiot twins that belonged to Amity would visit their sister. Despite deciding to forgo her usual plans to work on settling her affairs, she'd still popped on over for Amity' sake to let them know she wouldn't be able to meet them today, but the two terrors had insisted on coming over to wait for Amity until after her field trip.
Since they were so insistent, Eda had put them to work doing all the chores she didn't want to do, that she couldn't make Amity do. Well, couldn't make Amity do without feeling just a smidge bad about making the girl do them, anyway. It was her own way of getting back at them for being terrible to her new kid before Eda got her hands on her.
It seemed a fitting punishment, considering the two blondes were in front of her bedroom door, covered in mud and paw prints and looking miserable. "We're sorry, he's just so slippery!" Em cried out in frustration.
"At least we're not bathing that Bird Tube thing instead…" Edric shivered.
Eda crossed her arms as she stared them down, "Don't complain about what you're given or else I just might have you do that too. Now go get King before he tracks anymore mud through the house already."
The twins exchanged glances, and sighed, racing down the halls and back after King, who had given up his head start so he could linger behind and tease them for being so slow.
Eda sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she heard yet another crash, "Why do I keep letting teenagers into my house, again?"
Quickly signing her Will and stuffing it into an envelope, she handed it off to Owlbert, the Palisman blinking at her with his wide eyes. "Here. Take this to Cam for me, would you? It's important."
Owlbert gave a soft hoot, taking the envelope in his mouth, hopping off the handle of his staff and out the window. Eda tried hard not to think about how having an Owl deliver her mail was a human stereotype for witches that she hated as she sunk back into her seat, right beside her pot of "magic s'ghetti" as Luz had put it, her witches wool. The last thing she'd likely make for her kids, and she had just enough for two cloaks. Maybe a nice beanie or two to keep their ears warm if she was really lucky, but she wasn't gonna press her luck.
She took her knitting needles in her hands and groaned, "tired, grey, writing my will, and now I'm knitting. When did I get so damn old?"
"You know, Luz, I'm surprised you're going along with us on this trip," Amity commented, sitting beside her girlfriend in the flying boat that made its way to the Emperor's castle. "From what I've seen, these people don't exactly treat your Mom well."
Luz clutched a pamphlet about some of the things they'd be seeing and a notebook to her chest, trying to play it cool. After all, she was only coming along to the castle to attempt to steal the Healing Hat, a magical artifact from the Savage ages that was apparently housed inside the castle. That she'd only learned existed this morning. That wasn't exactly a whole lot of time to make a plan up, but this was likely her only chance, short of joining the Emperor's Coven herself in a few years.
And the way her Mom was acting, she didn't think they had a few years.
Luz wasn't dumb. Maybe if she didn't share the same curse as her mother she wouldn't have caught all the warning signs, but everything about Eda this morning hadn't felt right. Her Mom was running out of time and was hiding that from her, so she wouldn't worry, but that backfired. Luz was even more worried because her Mom was keeping secrets, especially concerning her curse.
"Well, uh, it's educational, and all. What about you, if you think it's so bad, why are you going?" Luz asked, trying not to sweat over lying to her girlfriend not even a day after their first official date together.
"Well, I'm going because it's good to know your enemy." Amity commented easily. "I don't plan on joining a coven when I'm of age, and that will likely make me a target. Best to know what I'm dealing with now."
Luz nodded. That was a lot better answer than her own, "That's really smart, Amity. I should probably do that as well."
Amity waved her notebook in Luz's face, "Don't worry, I'll share my notes. You are my girlfriend now, so you get those kinds of privileges."
"Can they go more than two minutes without exclaiming that they're dating?" Willow muttered from the seat in front of them to Gus, who just shook his head.
The school's flying dragon boat landed just outside the drawbridge of the castle, which extended the bridge outward for them to enter. After a warning from Bump to be on their best behavior, they were allowed entrance by the Emperor's assistant, Kikimora, who greeted them warmly. Amity could see why she was chosen for this role. Her small stature and soft voice made her seem non threatening to those looking to join one day, but under it all Amity could see a solid core of maliciousness. It was the eyes, and in the reverence of which she spoke about her emperor.
Odalia Blight had assistants like her before. Dangerous fanatics who loved her for the wealth and power she had, desperate for her attention, who would probably kill on her orders if asked. Amity was fairly sure one of them might have done just that before, if the jail time he was serving had been any indication. Kikimora just gave off those same exact vibes, and it didn't sit well with Amity at all.
The obvious propaganda they were immediately shown after meeting the diminutive demoness didn't help with that. Amity glanced at the wall sized paintings of the events of the last fifty years on the isles, feeling a little sick on the inside. She knew what happened to the wild witches who refused to bow before the Emperor, though she hadn't seen what was left of them in person. Petrified as a living statue, unable to move or interact with the world, but still fully conscious, with no way of undoing it. That was the fate of those who cowered in those murals of the past. Hundreds, if not thousands of them.
Amity reached for Luz's hand, to draw some comfort, only to find her girlfriend missing from her side. Instead Luz was tugging tightly on one of the vents, clearly trying to pry it off the wall. "What are you doing?"
Luz let go, forcing a smile onto her lips that looked entirely too suspicious, "Nothing! I just love me a well ventilated castle!"
Amity didn't know how to respond to that. If Luz didn't want to tell her what was really going on, Amity wouldn't press her, but she wished she'd just be honest about not wanting to tell her instead of making an excuse. "Well, hurry up. We don't want to lose the group."
Next was the Hall of Relics, which showcased the Emperor's trophies from the Savage Ages. Kikimora explained how they were examples of the Emperor's power, each being an artifact of unparalleled magical ability. Gus openly admired an orb, Willow fawned over a wooden glove, and once more Amity had to stop and pull Luz along when she got too close for comfort to a hat. Amity wasn't sure what any of these things did, but if Belos took them from his days of conquest they were probably better off locked away, not in the hands of school children.
Kikimora continued to guide them, speaking, "Here at the Emperor's Coven, we require members with sophistication, elegance, and grace-"
At that very moment the doors to the front of the castle opened, and in stalked Lilith, looking like none of those things, her white cloak dirty with mud and her hair covered in leaves and feathers from her morning attack on the Owl House.
"Make way for Miss Lilith Clawthorne, students" Kikimora had the students back up, allowing Lilith to pass. With a meep, Amity stepped behind Luz, hands still clasped. Around them, their fellow students all seemed starstruck at the sight of her, minus Gus and Willow who had met Lilith plenty of times through Luz.
Lilith seemed in no mood to put up with the children today, striding past them with hardly a glance. Hardly being the word, as she did pass her eyes over Luz, and in the process, Amity, her eyes narrowing just a smidge as they landed on the human girl dating her niece. Luz stayed in front of Amity, squeezing her hand to reassure her, and soon enough Lilith had moved on, her ire aimed elsewhere today.
Kikimora smiled beneath her raised collar at the mess the Head of the Emperor's Coven was in, speaking once more to her excited students, "Yes, and if I'm not mistaken, Miss Lilith is on her way to speak with the Emperor himself. Let's all wish her luck!"
Amity knew when someone was being mocked, as all the children eagerly, and none the wiser to Kikimora's spiteful little joke, wished their idol luck. Lilith handled it about as well as Amity thought she would, proving she had a bit less grace in her than the demon that assisted her boss, "Thank you students. Good luck with puberty."
With that she resumed her way, and Kikimora continued guiding her students behind her. As Amity made to follow, she was once more stopped by Luz, who hadn't let go of her hand and was locked in place where she stood, looking back at the room they'd just exited, the one filled with Relics.
"Come on, Luz. Let's go." Amity gave a gentle tug, but Luz shook her head, letting go of Amity's hand.
"You go ahead. There's something I need to do."
The human frowned, "What is up with you today? What are you planning?"
Luz backed up a step, "Nothing you need to worry about. I can handle it alone. Now go on, they'll notice if two of us are missing."
Amity crossed her arms, "Not if you send two illusions after them, they won't."
"Really, Amity… you're just gonna try to talk me out of it." Luz started, already casting the spell circle to summon their clones, two of them like Amity said, so the human wouldn't get into any trouble while Luz tried to talk her out of staying with her.
"Maybe I will." Amity admitted, leaning forward with a glare, "Maybe I won't. But I'm certainly not leaving until I know for sure. So, what are you planning?"
"I- there is a relic back there I need to steal. Borrow! I mean borrow." Luz explained, hastily trying to cover up her mistake.
Amity pursed her lips, not liking where this was going one bit. "Alright, you were right. I'm going to have to talk you out of this."
She smacked Luz upside the head, "What are you thinking? Isn't it bad enough that Eda has the Emperor's Coven after her all the time? Do you want them after you as well?"
"But I need it, Amity!" Luz protested, glancing away from her girlfriend and down into the hall, the relics calling her name.
"Why do you need it, Luz? What can be so important about an admittedly fashionable hat that you'll risk this?" Amity argued back, glancing over her own shoulder to make sure Lilith wasn't on her way back, or that any of the guards would hear this conversation.
"It's not just an admittedly fashionable hat, Amity! It's the Healing Hat!" Luz took out the brochure she'd been looking at on the way to the castle, cracking it open and showing the page to Amity. "It could heal any curse! I need it!"
Amity took the booklet, looking it over. It was the same hat she'd seen Luz eyeing in the Relic Room. Still, this was risky, stealing from the Emperor, "Do you think your Mom would really want you to steal this for her, Luz?"
The two lapsed into silence, Amity facepalming at her own question, "Okay, yes, she would. Bad example. But are you ready for the consequences if you get caught?"
Luz nodded without hesitation, "Yes. This… this isn't just for my Mom, Amity. This is also for me. I can't… I'm not- I don't want to be a monster, Amity. Not anymore. Not if I can fix this."
"You're not a monster, Luz! I thought we've been over this!" Amity took both of Luz's hands in her own, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.
"I'm not, I know… but I will be. Forever, one day. The curse will get worse and worse as I get older, until I won't be able to hold the Owlbeast back anymore. I'll be consumed by it, Amity. I'll be gone, and it will be free, and I will be a monster forever. I don't want that. So please, don't stop me." Luz pleaded, steadily losing her composure as she spoke, taking her hands back from Amity and turning around to go back into the Relic room.
Only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder, clamped tightly, "I'm not leaving, Luz." Amity assured her, letting go of her shoulder to step right beside her.
"I may not think this is the best idea, but you're stubborn. I can't talk you out of this, so I'm going with you so if things go wrong I can give you some backup. Because we're a team now. Let's go grab your dumb hat and get out of here before anyone spots us, okay?"
Luz seemed to get teary eyed over Amity's declaration, throwing her arms around Amity's neck in a big hug, "Thank you so much Amity, you won't regret this!"
With a tug on her girlfriend's hand, Luz pulled her into the room, "Come on, lets go get it."
Amity was grateful she'd stopped Luz right after exiting the relic room, otherwise they'd have had to plan an entire heist montage just to get back to it. Instead, the hat was there for the taking, not even a glass case to keep Luz from swiping it. Luz removed it off it's pedestal, examining it with uncontained enthusiasm. "Here it is! I just got to place it on my head, and boom, cured!"
Amity grinned, her own eye pulled over to a glass ball filled with goo and a golden stopper on top with an equally golden stand holding it, suspended above it's own pillar. She took a step towards it, feeling it call her name, but kept her eyes on Luz. "Don't just stand there talking about it, put it on and see if it works!"
Luz did as she was told, plopping it down on her head with an ear to ear grin. The hat began to glow, and Luz clapped her hands together excitedly, "I think it's working! I can feel the magic inside of it!"
Amity clasped her hands around the sides of the glass orb, removing it from it's golden stand, giving Luz a supportive hum. There was something special about this item, something that made it stick out to Amity. It wasn't like the others, like the Green Thumb Glove, which would be handy for helping Amity with her gardening, or as expensive looking as the solid gold Heavenly Harp. Next to the others, this looked rather plain. Inside an ethereal purple liquid floated around, almost looking like a lava lamp in how it moved, unbound by the forces of gravity.
Then there was the magic she felt within it, like it resonated with her, despite not knowing what artifact this was. Well, if Luz was stealing an artifact from the vault, she may as well take one as well. Sphere in hand, Amity returned to Luz's side, "How do you feel?"
Luz paused for a moment, focusing on herself. Then, "Honestly, not a whole lot different? I felt all whooshy for a second there, but now it's just kinda like there is a hat on my head and not much else."
Amity pursed her lip, "Well, maybe it did work and it was just quick? We'll take it to Eda, she'll know better than we will. Now take it off, quickly, and hide it. Let's get out of here before anyone knows we took it."
w
Luz nearly dropped the hat from her hands after taking it off her head, and Amity's hand tightened on her stolen glass sphere. The two trembled, the voice feeling like a hand had phased through their skulls and gripped their brains in it's boney fingers as it echoed through their minds. "We need to get out of here. Now!"
Luz didn't need to be told a second time, racing for the doors. She was too late, for in that moment giant steel gates fell, locking them inside from either side of the room. Luz cast a spell at it, but it bounced off, ricocheting off and around the room before taking a chunk out of one of the marble pillars the relics rested upon.
Amity clutched her artifact to her chest, eyes wide, before remembering this was supposed to be some kind of magical artifact vault. Someway, she'd be able to help get them out. She uncorked the sphere, yanking out the golden stopper and turned the bottle upside down and gave it a shake. Once, twice, three times, with her eyes clamped shut, waiting for something amazing to happen, something powerful. Nothing seemed to happen, except for her girlfriend to give an excited "Whoa! Nice thinking Amity!"
Amity cracked open her eyes to take a look, and found three large, monstrous purple golems in front of her. Abominations, one for each shake she'd given the bottle. Despite their size far exceeding the sphere's contents, there was still plenty of abomination goo left inside of it waiting to be used. She'd seen Jerbo use Abominations a few times, and had gone to class in the Abomination track enough to get a grasp on how they worked. "Okay, uh, gotta give them an order… uh, Abominations! Get us out of here!"
They glanced at each other, confused. Luz shook her head, exclaiming, "Too vague! Give them a simple task!"
"The door!" Amity corrected, pointed at the giant metal slab covering the exit, "Get that door open for us!"
The Abominations moved as one, understanding what they needed to do. With hands of sludge, they easily managed to get them under the minuscule crack that remained under the metal until they could get a grip, and heaved, slowly lifting the immensely heavy door. With each grunt and groan they gained an inch, and before long the gap was just large enough for Amity and Luz to fit.
The two teenagers raced for the gap created, only for a figure clad in white to come in before they could leave. Stopping in their tracks at the sight, they were met by Lilith, a mean gleam in her eye as she strode forth, easily banishing the purple golems with a wave of her staff and sending the door crashing back down behind her, locking the three in the room alone. "I'd been wondering how I'd complete my task. Eda doesn't have any friends to speak of. No family I would be willing to use as leverage. But you, her human pet, you could work."
Luz came to Amity's rescue, parking herself between her girlfriend and her aunt. "I- I don't know what you're going on about, Tia, but if you want Amity, you'll have to go through meeeee!"
With a wave of Lilith's staff, Luz was picked up off the ground and levitated to the side of the room, far away from Amity. Before Luz could crash into a wall, she was brought to a halt, and set down gently on the floor. In her surprise to be dealt with so quickly, the hat had fallen from her grasp, laying on the floor between Amity and Lilith.
The coven leader glanced down at the hat, unconcerned. Amity's eyes flickered between the witch and the hat, before she dove at it, desperately trying to clutch it, only for it to burst into flames. "No!"
Luz let out a gasp from across the room, sinking to her knees, "I needed that to cure my Mom! Why, Aunt Lilith?"
"These are all useless, decrepit relics. You'll have found that hat had little more power than to cure a paper cut these days, Luz. Do you think I wouldn't have tried it if it would have worked?" Lilith answered, dismissing the spell circle she'd used to ignite the hat and stepping closer to Amity, grabbing her by the hood of her uniform.
"E-Eda won't stand for this, Lily!" Amity tried to put on a brave face, despite her growing fear of the woman, and the despair that the hat wouldn't have worked as a cure.
"It's Lilith!" The woman yelled, giving the human a shake, "And that's precisely the point. She won't stand for this at all. Eda's always been possessive of her things."
With Amity in her grip, Lilith gave another wave of her staff, bringing Luz back to her, "And you! What kind of influence is this human having on you if you were really planning on risking your future in the Emperor's Coven to steal from Belos? You should know better."
"I don't care about that! And this was all my idea, you leave Amity out of this!" Luz fought to get out of the levitation spell's grasp, but it was useless, only rendering her upside down as she punched and kicked at the air.
"I'll be happy to leave Amity out of this, dear Niece. Believe it or not I don't like having to stoop so low as to take a hostage, but the Emperor has forced my hand." Lilith snarled, displeased with how her niece was speaking to her. "I need you to deliver a message to your mother. She's to come to the castle to pick up her ward. She can come freely to join the coven with me, or she can just bring along her own chains, and we'll sort it out later."
Luz grimaced as she continued to spin in the air, "Mama and I already told you before, you can't make Mom join your stupid coven!"
"She doesn't have a lot of time left, Luz, and we both know that!" Lilith argued.
"And if she wants to spend it free, then she should be able to do that!" Luz cried back, tears leaking from her eyes. "I'm not dumb, Tia, I know what will happen to her soon!"
"Luz! That's enough!" Surprisingly it was Amity who had spoken, shocking both witches into a mild stupor as they glanced at her.
"Yes, er, what the human said." Lilith said dumbly, gesturing to Amity.
Amity growled at her captor, "Luz, listen to me. Do as Lilith says. Go get your Mom. I trust Eda, she'll make things right. She'll kick her dumb sisters scrawny butt like she always does, and we'll be back home in time for dinner."
"But-" Luz tried to protest, her jaw clenched so tightly it was creaking.
"Luz… everyone in your family is too stubborn to ever change their minds. It's why I knew better than to try to talk you out of this heist." Amity did her best to smile, "Lilith isn't going to change her mind and let me go just because you yell at her a bunch. Go get Eda. I'll be fine."
Lilith sideyed the human, then looked back at her niece, "Seems you found yourself a reasonable enough girlfriend. You should really listen to her." Without another word she swept her staff at Luz, catching the girl in the midriff, and off it went, flying off and out through the gated door, which opened by Lilith's command.
Eda had just put the finishing touches on her pair of magical cloaks, setting them into a gift box with a note, sealing it, and handing it over to would make a decent gift, a final parting present for the girls to enjoy after Eda was gone.
Titan, she was in a morbid mood today. "Just put it in the mailbox for me. You've already had to go to Cam's once already. No rush for these to get to her like the last one."
Owlbert gave an affirmative hoot, lifting the package in his little talons and flying out the open living room window to do as he was asked.
"You know, I don't get what Mittens was complaining about," Edric spoke, stepping into the living room from the kitchen, oblivious to Eda's plight, with a box of crackers in his hand. "This Demon Realm food tastes amazing."
Eda cracked a smile despite herself, "It's not the taste she doesn't like, it's the fact it's all incredibly toxic to humans."
"Wha!" Ed cried, spitting out his mouth full of half chewed crackers onto the floor, all while Eda cackled, "I'm not gonna die, am I?"
"No! At least, I don't think so. Depends on how much you ate." Eda said, vaguely threateningly.
"My life depends on how much I ate? Like, the poison builds up, or something?" Edric seemed close to hyperventilation at the news.
"No, you'll just have a horrible stomach ache. I'm the one who'll kill you if you ate all the snacks in my pantry." Eda warned.
Edric breathed out a sigh of relief, just in time for Emira to come down the stairs and join the conversation, having changed out of her usual day clothes and into some of the scraps Eda had laying around in a closet after King's bath had rendered her usual outfit ruined. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing much," Edric shrugged, then offered her the box of crackers, a sly grin on his face, "Wanna try?"
"Ooh, those look good!" Em took a handful, tossing a few in her mouth, "oh, man, these are delicious!"
Ed and Eda exchanged glances, stifling giggles as Emira took the rest of the box and helped herself.
"This was an indignation! I demand justice! Executions for the both of you!" King barked as he too came down the steps, wrapped in a towel, his hair puffed up and fluffy from the hair drier the twins had forced him under.
"You know, you're lucky you're so cute, or else I'd have drowned you in the bath water," Emira growled at him, setting aside the box and crossing her arms at his sour attitude.
"Yeah, and Amity told us you loved baths. You had just gotten out of one when you two met." Edric chimed in, sitting on the couch beside his younger sister's mentor.
"I like bathing for comfort, not cleanliness! If I want to relax with Pierre the rubber duck, that's my business! But if I want to wear nothing but mud, then I say the emperor has new clothes!" King yelled at them, wagging his little fists in anger.
The front door opened up, and Hooty, oblivious to the yelling on the inside, called in, "I spy with my little eye, something starting with Luz!"
"Ah! They're here!" Eda smiled, sitting up from the couch and making her way to the door. "Finally, I won't need to deal with Thing One and Thing Two by myself anymore.
She snorted at her own joke, then paused, "Wait, just Luz?"
She opened the door to find her daughter looking up at her, tears streaking down her face. "Mom, we have trouble."
Behind her, floating in the air and staring into the depths of her soul was Lilith's pale ivory staff. Eda's mouth turned into a snarl as she put what happened together. "Lilith…"
Without hesitation, Eda put two fingers in her mouth and gave a whistle, Owlbert swooping in, flying back over from the mailbox already in staff form, which she immediately mounted. "Get on the back, Luz, you can tell me what happened on our way there."
Edric and Emira were by her side, confusion on their faces, "Wait, what's happening, where's Mittens?"
"There's no time. My sister's got her, and it's not likely to be good. I'm going to go and rescue her, you two stay here and keep safe." Eda tried to take off, but the twins blocked the door, not satisfied with her answers.
"Wait, 'got her?' Like kidnapped?" Ed cried out in panic.
"We need to go with you, we can help!" Em tried to mount the staff behind Luz, only for Eda to kick her off.
"No you don't! My sister won't care what happens to you in a fight. She's not exactly fond of humans, and she's already using your sister to get to me, I don't need to give her more bait. She won't hurt Luz, not if she can help it, so I can use that to my advantage."
The twins didn't want to accept that, "We should be saving our sister, not waiting around at some stinky old house in the woods!"
Eda wasn't having this argument, "No, what should be happening is me sending you all home before I rescue your sister. I can still do that, and then you'd have to wait a week to hear about her awesome rescue when she goes to meet you again. Or, you can stay here, and we'll celebrate when I get back from kicking Lilith's scrawny butt."
Before anyone could object, she gave a call, "Hooty!"
The House demon answered, wrapping around the twins and keeping them contained. "Hoot! Reporting for Hooty!"
"Keep them from following me. King! You're in charge, don't go mad with power. Come on, Luz, let's go."
"We need to hurry, Mom. I don't know what Lilith plans to do if she thinks we won't show." Luz rushed, just as her scroll dinged, letting her know she had a message. Summoning it, Luz held it aloft and read.
Amity: I'm okay.
I know you can do it
I have faith in you two.
Eda placed a hand on Luz's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze, "Come on Kiddo, let's go save your girl."
Lilith paced the drawbridge of the Emperor's castle, irritated at her younger sister's lateness. Behind her, just beyond the castle's open doors, Amity was trapped inside a bubble, unable to break free. If Eda came, Lilith would honor her deal and allow the human to go free, unharmed, as long as Eda did as she was told. When this was over, they'd all thank her for what she'd done this day.
Above her, on the roof of the castle, Belos watched from black, eyeless sockets in his mask, his very presence a warning about what would happen to Lilith should she fail this evening.
Just as Lilith was beginning to lose patience, a flash of burning yellow electricity ignited the air. Eda had arrived, floating in the air with all the unbridled wraith of a Fury. They stared each other down, and with a flick of her magic Eda sent Lilith's staff right at her, whizzing so close to Lilith's head that it took a few strands of her hair as it pierced the stone of the emperor's castle like a ballista's javelin.
"Sister, I see you got my invitation to a witch's duel-" The words were hardly out of Lilith's mouth before the area around her was blasted by bolts of pure, raw magical energy, which scorched the stone at her feet. She had no time to recover before Eda resorted to physical blows, flying through the air almost faster than the eye could see, seemingly teleporting. Lilith managed to block each blow, keeping her facial expressions cool, but on the inside she was rattled to see her sister so furious. Eda was going for blood.
"Where is she?" Eda demanded, pausing her onslaught just long enough to get the words across before immediately re-rendering the fray.
The Wild Witch was stopped when Lilith raised a hand, "Easy now. She's safe."
The human was summoned, flying from behind Lilith to join her on the bridge. "You can have her back, provided you can do as I say. Renounce your wild ways, and join the Emperor's Coven. He can help heal your curse!"
To say Eda rejected the notion was putting it mildly. She verbally spit in Lilith's face, and resumed her offensive, attacking Lilith in such a way she could barely keep herself from being knocked back. It didn't get any easier when they took to the air.
For each blow Eda delivered, Lilith had to counter or dodge. It was exhausting, and more importantly, it meant she couldn't attack herself, too busy reacting to Eda's blows. Which meant Lilith had to cheat, sending her attacks towards Amity instead and forcing her sister to become the reactive one.
Eda growled at how dirty, how dishonorable this fight was going. Witch's duels were supposed to be something sacred, something between just the two parties, and here her sister was dragging someone defenseless into it to be a shield. If her sister had been anyone else, the Emperor's coven would be arresting her for this, and yet they stayed back, under the watchful eyes of their beloved ruler.
It was one thing for Eda to cheat during a witch's duel. She was a crook, but for her sister to act so high and mighty and doing it so openly, with a hostage no less, it made Eda's skin crawl. "Stop hiding behind Amity, you coward!"
"It's so sad to see you slowing down in your old age, sister? Tell me, is it the curse?" Lilith goaded, trying to make Eda mad. Trying to make her lose what little focus she had so she'd strike out without thinking.
"Maybe it is the curse, but then how pathetic are you if you can't best me at my worst?" Eda readied another volley, and fired it, Lilith moving Amity out of the way so she could throw up a proper shield spell.
Amity rolled inside her protective ball, bruised and jostled, but otherwise fine. She banged against the shield uselessly, wishing she'd brought along any of her glyphs. Instead, spying a spike, she tried to pop the bubble like that, ramming herself into it repeatedly. She still had her Abomination sphere, and while the gunk was useless in the bubble(a fact she learned the hard way, as her purple stained clothes would show) and unable to summon the Abominations outside of the enchanted cage she was in, if she could get out she could still do something to help Eda win with it.
The Bubble popped, and she landed on her back, giving a small cry, but was silenced by a hand over her mouth.
"You always act like you're better than me!"
"I am better than you!" Eda declared angrily, preparing one final strike against her sister's slowly shattering shield spell.
"Then why were you so easy to curse?!"
Lilith's retort sounded across the battlefield, the words harsh, aimed like a weapon with the mindless intent to hurt. Every action paused, every body watching stilled. Even the Coven Guards upon the castle walls seemed to stop breathing. Eda stood with her mouth agape, finally putting the final pieces of the thirty year long puzzle together.
Lilith covered her mouth, shame written on every pore of her face. "A-and I have the power to cure it, if you'd just let me explain!"
Eda didn't respond, simply stood there, the spell she was charging fading into aether in the breeze. Her body felt as if she'd been dipped into an ice bath that soaked down to her very core with it's chill. Then she moved, slowly, to stand straight, looking right past Lilith, and spoke. "Luz. Take Boots and get out of here."
"Luz?" Lilith asked in both confusion and horror as she turned her head, seeing her niece behind her. How she'd got behind Lilith, she didn't know. Luz had always been crafty, knew plenty of illusions, if she felt like she could turn herself invisible to get past the bridge…
Luz had heard every word she had just said.
Luz's face was painted with disbelief, tears dripping from her eyes for a second time that day at her aunt's action. She shook her head slowly, then frantically, "No, no-"
"Luz!" Eda ordered. "Go. Get your girlfriend home. Go to your Mama's place."
Lilith stood to her feet, shield dissipated, "If you think I'm just going to let you leave with my hostage, for you to chase after when you're done-"
"I'm not leaving Lilith. You have my word on that." Eda said, her voice hard. Lilith flinched at the use of her full name. No Lil or Lily. Eda never called her that, insisting she didn't because they were sisters and she'd earned the privilege.
Luz didn't move, still too shaken by the revelation, but where she hesitated, Amity didn't, grabbing Luz by the wrist and yanking her with all her strength, pulling the girl along across the bridge, past Lilith who made no move to stop them. Past Eda, who only gave them a glance, and one small, sad smile.
Amity didn't stop running, Luz in tow, because she remembered what Eda had told her, way back on their staff ride after the Knee, when Luz had been asleep.
"You're gonna kill them, right?"
"There are a lot of things worse than death, kid. And I intend to inflict them all on whoever did this. Slowly."
Whatever happened between Eda and Lilith, Luz didn't need to see it. Not on top of everything else that had happened today. Not after having her hopes squashed with the hat. Not after having her girlfriend taken. Not after learning her beloved Aunt was the one who was responsible for the suffering her mother and herself had gone through with their curse for all these years. So Amity dragged Luz away, the girl to shaken to fight back.
Back on the bridge, Lilith shook, staring at her sister who hadn't made a move. "You're… surprisingly calm about all of this Eda. Has this revelation perhaps made you come to your senses?"
"No," Eda said quietly, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, "I'm just taking a moment to make my peace about what I'm about to do to you."
Then she moved, faster than Lilith had ever seen Eda move before. Gone was the tired witch, slowed by the drain of her magic. She replaced her drive with fury, moving as if unhindered by her ailment. Their staffs slammed against each other, energy flying with each swing. Beneath Lilith's heels the stone drawbridge began to crack. Each blow Eda sent lacked finesse, but behind it was the power of a thousand suns as Eda kept swinging, kept casting spells, each attack backed with enough strength to knock Lilith's head clean off her shoulders if they made contact with her head.
Eda was really trying to kill her.
Lilith skidded back from a particularly hard blow that nearly left her staff in splinters. "Eda, please, this is- your condition is hardly worth killing me over. Just let me help you, and we'll-"
"It isn't just my condition, Lilith!" Eda roared, huffing and puffing, sucking in each breath with immense effort. Upon her chest her gem was darkening, clouding up with more and more inky blackness. "Your Titan damn curse… It's hereditary!"
Her sister's words meaning sank into Lilith's bones, scorching her very soul, and she gave a shake of her head, rejecting the very notion. "No, noo, that- That can't be true! Luz would have told me if she-"
"Like you told her you were the one who cursed me? Or heck, like I told Camila about how I was cursed before we had Luz? Everyone in this family has secrets, Luz isn't any different." Eda adjusted her grip on her staff, ready to strike again, but the weakness wasn't leaving her limbs. "You already badgered her about your damn coven every chance you got, did you really think she wanted you to drag her away, to be poked at like some test subject until you got your cure?"
"I'm sorry!" Lilith cried, tears of guilt and anguish streaking down her face as she readied her own staff, "I never meant for things to go this way!"
"Sorry doesn't cut it." Eda growled, turning her eyes downward to hide her own angry tears. "All this time, you could have told me. You pretended to help me. All those other suspects, five years of my life wasted, because I would never have suspected my own sister of doing this to me."
They came to blows again, Lilith dropping any attempts to attack her sister, only relying on defensive spells and blocking with her staff. Lilith looked to her Emperor for help, to save her, damn it, but Belos stood as still as a statue. A few guards looked like they wanted to step in, but their Emperor raised an arm to keep them still, and Lilith understood there would be no backup for her today. What use was the head of the Emperor's Coven if she couldn't handle one wild witch by herself? It was just Lilith's luck that Eda took the opportunity while Lilith's focus was split to close the distance between them, their staffs locked together until Eda reared back, dropping her grip on the wooden handle with one of her hands to bring a fist swinging.
The blow collided with Lilith's face, sending her reeling. Her vision blurred, she could taste copper from the blood in her mouth, yet despite the pain this helped Lilith out immensely, her stumbling backward from the hit putting some well needed distance from Eda, and helping her steal her focus enough to put up a powerful barrier between them.
Eda sent spell after spell at the shield Lilith cast, the magic absorbing the Owl Lady's blows, but each putting a dent in how much longer Lilith could keep the barrier remaining. Eda didn't seem to care how much magic she was expelling, just as long as it brought the shield down and Lilith was back in her grasp. With a last, might heave, Eda cast one more spell that shattered the barrier between them, leaving both witches panting for breath.
The Owl Lady shook, from her curse or from her rage, Lilith didn't know. The gem on her collarbone glowed a inky black as Eda spoke under her breath, just loud enough for Lilith to hear. "Look… I know we don't always get along, but we need to work together on this."
For a moment, Lilith mistook Eda's words as being meant for her, a sliver of hope building inside of her, until Eda continued, "We're both… furious that you have to be inside of me. So use it. As a last request from the person you hate the most… or maybe second to most now…"
Eda wavered, her legs shaking as her sense of balance waned. She slammed the butt of her staff against the ground, steadying herself before she could fall. "I made a promise to myself, and I'm not strong enough to keep it. I don't care what you do when you get out, as long as the first thing you do is take Lilith out with me, you got that?"
Lilith took a step back when Eda looked back up at her, Lilith's green eyes meeting Eda's now blackened ones. Then the Wild Witch lunged, Eda's hand outstretched as it turned into a claw, nearly tearing Lilith's face clean off. The younger sister let out a bestial, guteral growl, as her body began to change, but the blows didn't stop coming. None of them relied on magic, Owlbert soon clattering from Eda's hands and onto the stone ground, forgotten and left behind as a rain of teeth, claws and feathers came down upon the eldest Clawthorne sister.
Lilith defended herself as best she could against the attack, too drained to summon a proper magical barrier, though Eda's claws still managed to land blows, particularly on Lilith's outstretched arms that held her staff, her only defense. Lilith backed off, trying to put some distance between them, until they had left the drawbridge behind and entered the castle itself. With every passing moment a little more humanity left Eda's eyes, her body twisting and distorting as she shifted from bipedal to quad. Each second was another blow that shed a bit more Clawthorne blood onto the stone floor. The noises from Eda's mouth grew less intelligent, until all that remained of Eda was the Owlbeast, faced with the one who had imprisoned it within it's witchly form.
It seemed keen on fulfilling the last wish it's host had expressed.
But Lilith refused to be bested by a monster, a demon of lesser intellect. Eda may have always been better than her, but this was just an animal, and Lilith was one of the strongest witches in the Empire. As the beast lunged, she raised her staff, wincing as the deep cuts that littered her arms and hands from her attempts at defense cried out in protest of her actions, and cast the same spell she'd used to imprison the human, encasing the Owlbeast into a magic sphere.
Lilith had succeeded in her task, but the fight and the guilt of all she had done had caught up with her. She fell to her knees, wet from a mixture of tears ladened with guilt, and blood that Eda had spilled. Before her consciousness could leave her from the lack of magic in her system, the blood loss, or even just the sheer exhaustion she faced, the last thing her eyes fell upon was her Emperor, striding over to her side to claim his prize, Eda's staff in his hands.
Amity kept dragging Luz, even long after she herself wanted to collapse into a ball and cry. As they departed, even with the distance they'd managed to put between themselves and the castle, they heard the telltale roar of the Owlbeast, the sound tearing through them, rattling in their very bones, and something inside Amity told her that Eda wasn't coming back from it this time. If she had managed to succeed or not in ridding the world of her sister, only time would tell.
Luz didn't seem any closer to regaining her composure the closer they got to Bonesborough, and Amity had no words to offer comfort. As much as she tried, she couldn't think of anything to say. What could you say to someone who's mother was gone, and whose beloved aunt had betrayed them?
It took hours without a staff to get to Camila's house as Eda had instructed. By the time they had entered the front door, it was deep into the night and Amity didn't have to worry about anyone seeing Luz in her state of hysterics as they went through the town. Soon after getting inside the Noceda household, the sound of steps coming down the stairs met their ears, and Camila's voice greeted them.
"Dios mio, do you two have any idea what time it is? Why are you here so late, and- Luz? Luz what's wrong?" Camila set her scolding aside at the sight of her daughter so distressed.
Luz couldn't answer, collapsing to the floor in tears as she wept.
A/N: So, how evil would I be if I just… stopped the fic here? Never uploaded again? Pretty evil right?
Some parts of this are just a little too close to canon, especially the start of Lilith and Eda's fight. But I couldn't think of a good way to change it. And as much effort as I put into the fight scenes for "On Earth and Boiling Isles" That took me days of sitting around and thinking up fight scenes, and then weeks of writing and editing them. That entire fic was more or less finished when I began posting it, where this fic I'm writing as I go, so less time to think and ponder on things like fight scenes. Could I have come up with an entire new fight? Sure! Would it have taken two or three weeks to plan, write and edit, meaning no updates for a while? Also yes. Besides, this was the scene I had in mind when I decided to buckle down and write this fic in the first place, so I had to keep it.
Besides, how else could I have changed this? Not have Luz and Amity go to the castle out of solidarity with Eda? Then how would the plot progress at all? I mean, yeah, Lilith would probably fail to lure Eda away in time, and get kicked out of the coven, then have nowhere else to go but the Owl House to hide from the Emperor, all while feeling guilty about still lying about Eda's curse despite being under her roof and protection, and blaming Eda for making her fail the Emperor so badly she's now covenless, and… wait, that could have been a good idea, why did I shelf that again? Eh, ideas for later… that sounds like an entire fic in and of itself.
My headcanon for why Lilith burned the Healing Hat in canon is that she secretly hated the thing. Much like Luz, she probably thought it would be her best bet to heal Eda before she made the deal with Belos, only for it to not work. She torched the thing out of spite.
Eda's scenes pre-fight are kinda grim, but it's to help reflect a difference in her character. She's a Mom with a kid(s), and needs to make sure they're taken care of when she's gone. It's a lot harder to be nonchalant about your fate worse than death when you have responsibilities to others to think about.