Takes place during Yesterday's Lie.
xxXxx
"I still can't believe that Belos! Doing this to MY grandson!" Gwendolyn exclaimed angrily as she crossed her arms. "I ought to teach that old man a lesson!"
"But why would he even do that? You didn't do anything." Added Lilith in confusion as she held Gwenevere. "It doesn't make any sense!"
"And i get you want to cut ties with that coven, but us it really necessary to remove your arm?" Asked Dell in concern
"To answer everything, my palisman...went into Belos's mind for a while and he knows it and he's evil and coven sigils are dangerous." Said Tate as he worked on a metal prosthetic arm. "Now please, let me concentrate on this."
Gwendolyn growled angrily upon hearing this knowledge while Lilith felt incredibly guilty and...useless.
She was supposed to be his mother and the one to help him, but all she could do is nothing. She wasn't even that close with him.
Meanwhile, Dell looked saddened by remembering and seeing everything that coven did that messed with his family.
But they could only watch worriedly as Tate worked on a replacement to the arm he was planning to remove with no hesitation.
Save for Gwenevere who giggled as if nothing had happened at all.
xxXxx
To say Belos was angry would be an understatement.
Terra failed the mission he gave her. She couldn't kill a single child with a wooden stick for a sword.
If those palismen manage to tell the kid about what they saw in his mind, centuries of work would go to waste.
Alas, he knew the backlash that would occur if he was to declare that child a criminal. But that was it, he was a child. Anything he says should be considered mere ramblings. All he has to do is have the coven scouts bring him in under the pretense of the emperor being worried for his loyal soldier and anything he might say is just a misunderstanding.
It should all work smoothly.
xxXxx
A few days later.
"Alright, that's enough training." Said Dell with a frown
Tate, who was training with his palisman, turned to his grandfather in disbelief.
"Grandpa Dell, I'll have to fight Belos sooner or later. I need to be prepared." Argued Tate as he continued swinging his sword with his new metal arm covered by a sleeve and a glove.
"But tiring yourself out won't do anyone any good. So i brought you these." Said Dell as he showed Tate two tickets that he could easily recognize.
"Aren't these tickets to that weird parent-child contest thing?" Asked Tate narrowing his eyes in disgust.
"I already told Lilith and she was okay with participating as long as you agreed." Added Dell with a smile before making a look that was to urge to Tate to go.
"I have more important things to do, Grandpa Dell." Said Tate with a frown before hundreds of voices assaulted his ears. "Ow, you too?"
His palisman retracted it's blade before flying to his shoulder and nodding.
"C'mon, you've been working yourself too hard lately. You should take a break and relax."
Tate stared at the tickets in Dell's hand for a good minute before sighing.
This was going to be a long day.
xxXxx
"Oooh! I'm so excited! I've watched every episode of this show and i always wanted to participate. I know all the events by heart!"
Tate rolled his eyes and sighed. "Only half a day to go."
"Oh, how about you wait with the others your age over there? This momma is about to hatch a winning plan!" Said Lilith excitedly as she gestured towards a place set up for the participating kids. "Get it? Hatch? I can turn into a giant bird?"
Tate couldn't help but giggle at the horrible joke which cause Lilith to beam. She felt encouraged make more bad jokes.
"Guess you could say that joke was...eggstrodinary? My joke senses are im-peck-able. I hope I'm not being a BIRDen with these-" she said with a bright smile before Tate stopped her.
"Okay, okay!" Said Tate failing at holding back his laughter at his mother's horrible puns as he quickly headed to the kids' area. "I'll go, just please stop."
Lilith watched as Tate and left and waited until he was out of hearing distance before cheering to herself.
"Yes! We're connecting! And he thinks I'm funny!" Said Lilith happily before pausing. "Wait, do i want to be the funny mom or the cool mom? Hmm.
.
.
.
how about both?"
xxXxx
"Hey, I've never seen your face around here. Are you new?" Asked a familiar face cheerfully standing next to another familiar face "We come here every year with our parents so..."
Tate stared wide-eyed at the person greeting him. He never expected to meet two of the main cast here of all places.
"Oh, sorry. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Willow Park. This is Gus Porter." Said Willow cheerfully.
"...Tate Clawthorne."
"As in Eda Clawthorne?" Asked Gus raising a brow and Tate nodded. "Weird, how come we never heard of you before."
Before Tate could reply, Willow jumped into the conversation.
"Well, Eda's a friend of ours. If you're related, we can be friends too." Asked Willow cheerfully
It wasn't long before Willow got Tate to hangout with her and Gus...the same Gus who kept staring at him with clear suspicion.
And his suspicions were, sadly, slightly correct.
xxXxx
Gus stared with wide eyes as Tate walked to his mother upon the calling of the contestants.
He could recognize the previous head of the emperor's coven with ease and he immediately saw the similarities. Mainly the eye color and glasses.
Of course, Willow was the same. They both knew it.
But that wasn't the problem. That came during the first event, the hide and seek maze. An event made to test how well you know your kid and where they'll hide inside a giant maze. The objective is to find your kid before any other parent does. It was supposed to be very simple.
"Alright, contestants, the first event is about to begin." Said the announcer in a bored tone "On your marks, get ready...go-"
"SECURE THE PERIMETER!!!" Everyone turned to the source of the voice and saw a captain of the emperor's coven.
Soon, coven scouts and abomatons swarmed the area and everyone grew afraid. It was then that Gus understood why they never heard of Tate before now.
The coven captain immediately approached Tate and spoke.
"Sir, I'm here to bring you back to the emperor's coven and remove the wild magic placed on you.. Please follow me." Said the captain calmly.
"What? Wild magic? That's the story he's going with?" Said Tate as he summoned his palisman sword and got ready to fight.
"Please, you need to fight the wild magic."
"Are you seriously trying to use the power of friendship right now?" Asked Tate in disgust and the captain went silent in embarrassment.
Tate knocked the captain into a wall with a fire slash and headed inside the maze alone, leaving Lilith behind to try and follow him only to get lost in the process as Tate's speed wasn't something she could handle in her current state.
Meanwhile, two newly acquired friends managed to keep up with him.
xxXxx
"Catch him!" Ordered a coven scout pointing towards Tate and the scouts obeyed immediately.
Tate dodged their attacks with ease and fired an arch of fire that knocked a few of them away.
"Real quick to abandon the power of friendship, aren't you?' Deadpanned Tate. "If only there weren't so many of them here. He must really wants me dead."
Suddenly, he felt someone approaching from behind. But before he could do anything, that someone was covered in vines and thrown away. Showing that they were a coven scout.
"Okay, what's going on and who are you really?" Asled Gus narrowing his eyes.
Tate sighed. "Long story short. I didn't lie about my name. I'm also the silver scout. I left the coven knowing something i shouldn't and now the emperor wants me dead." He said quickly.
"Oh." Said Gus in realization.
"That makes sense." Added Willow nodding with a smile
Ignoring how nonchalant everyone was about the situation, Tate pouted and continued.
"We've got to find our parents and leave." Said Tate firmly. "They won't harm anyone as long as they're out of the way."
Willow and Gus nodded in affirmation.
"Just don't hurt them too much. Not all of them are evil. They just need a good hit on the head."
And with that, they began traversing the maze.
xxXxx
Lilith's will was being drained with every second she spent in the maze.
She couldn't do anything and currently couldn't do anything.
She...failed.
Her sister had a teen with her for a few months and now they're like family. She had a son for 15 years and they feel so distant.
Her sister even made up with her beast and gained some weird...harpy form-
"That's it!" Exclaimed Lilith in realization. "I need to find my harpy form! But...how do i do that?"
Lilith put a hand on her chin and began thinking.
"Do i even have a beast? Edalyn said she met a beast every time she transformed, but i...never actually saw one."
Lilith narrowed her eyes before hearing a coven scout approach her location. She quickly hid and began racking her brain for a solution.
"C'mon c'mon! What kind of mother puts her kid in a situation like this. If Edalyn was here she'd transform and dash in, but compared to her I'm- i'm-" said Lilith losing more and more of her will before noticing a few feathers growing on her. "Could the monster be...me? My inner self?"
Lilith's eyes widened as she began thinking about the possibility. "My beast attacked Edalyn immediately. Is it because i feel...jealous of her? Because i feel like a lesser to her?"
Something clicked inside her mind upon having that thought. Almost as if a connection was made.
Lilith closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Yes, i am jealous of her. Yes, i feel inadequate compared to her. She did everything right and like Tate said i mess a lot of things up. But if i sit here and do nothing, i won't be able to undo what i did. I won't be able to make it up to him. So please, i need your help. We HAVE TO DO THIS!"
And suddenly, her vision went black.
xxXxx
"Damn it, we're surrounded." Said Tate with a frustrated expression as a few sweatdrops fell down his face.
"How many of them ARE there?!" Asked Gus panting in exhaustion.
Meanwhile, Willow didn't say a word as she took down another scout.
"Okay, new plan. You two leave. They want me not you. I can probably beg to be brainwashed and maybe I'll be brought back with the power of friendship or something. Just go!"
"What? No! We're not leaving you!" Exclaimed Willow in disbelief.
"Yeah, and Eda would kill us anyways if she know we let her nephew die." Added Gus tiredly
The scouts and Abomatons got closer and closer and soon it would be a dead end behind the group. Leaving them to fall at the coven's hands.
"Then how are we supposed to win? A miracle isn't going to drop from the sky!" Exclaimed Tate before a bluish black blur fell from the sky, crushing an abomaton under it in the process.
Everyone turned to this new entity and they all could recognize her, it was Lilith in a new harpy form.
"Wow, i wish i was that abomaton." Exclaimed a random scout staring at Lilith's new look before Tate fired an arch of fire at him. "S-sorry."
"Are you three okay?" Asked Lilith in concern and the three kids nodded.
"You look...different." said Tate in disbelief as he stared at his mother's new form.
"I just had a heart to heart talk with myself." Said Lilith proudly. "And i have a way to get us out of here. Just stay back."
Lilith then raised her hand in the air bef slamming it on the ground. Soon, the curse began spreading all over the ground and corrupted the scouts and abomatons without reaching the three teens behind her.
But in this moment of happiness that Gus and Willow had, Tate noticed something. The spell wasn't just attacking the enemy, it was attacking the user as well and from Lilith's expression...it was VERY painful to use.
"When i let go, the spell will deactivate and they'll be free. We need to leave while they're distracted." Said Lilith gritting her teeth in pain as her arm shook as she struggled to keep the spell going.
Everyone nodded and Lilith let go of the ground. The spell and its effects were quickly undone and even Lilith was physically unharmed.
The four dashed and passed the scouts and abomatons with ease. They soon made it outside the maze where Lilith kidnapped Gus's and Willow's parents away from the scouts.
And after that, Tate and Lilith flew back home.
xxXxx
"You know? What you did back there was pretty cool." Said Tate with a smile as he flew on his staff next to his mother who was in her harpy form. "Turning into a harpy and keeping that spell on even when it hurt."
Lilith giggled shyly at Tate's complement. "It was nothing."
"You're so proud of yourself right now, aren't you?" Said Tate happily.
"...YES! OH MY TITAN! DID YOU SEE I! I STILL I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID IT!!" Replied Lilith excitedly
"Yeah and it was pretty awesome...mom" said Tate with a smile.
Upon hearing the word 'mom', Lilith paused and, much to Tate's surprise, began crying in joy...she was literally weeping in joy.
"*sniff* i can't *sniff* believe *sob* this is the best day in my life." Said Lilith in between tears.
In her happiness, Lilith accidentally bumped into Tate; knocking him off balance. Thankfully, she managed to catch him before he could fall.
"How do you people even fly with these things?" Asked Tate with a frown as he slowly regained his balance.
"It's actually pretty easy. Want me to teach you?" Asked Lilith happily.
"Right now?" Asked Tate raising a brow.
"Don't worry, i think i can do it ON THE FLY!"
Unironically, both laughed at that joke before starting their flying lesson.
xxXxx
I wasn't feeling good at some times while making this chapter so do tell me how i did because I'm not feeling very confident.
Toodles.