AN: hey everyone! so this is a one shot/ extension of a part of chapter 11 of my other published but in progress Owl House Fic. Distant, Memories of a Life Once Lived. I really wanted to add more to one scene and flesh it out, but how I wanted to write wouldn't work in the context of Chapter 11. so the fleshed out part became this one shot. It can. be read as a stand alone. Also follows my personal head canon so enjoy!!! -Azure
Twenty years. It had been twenty years since her beloved was taken away. Murdered in cold blood by the one person he loved as much as her. She knew she shouldn't have trusted him; she should have never left him alone with him. No one who harbors that much hatred towards witches would change their mind after five years. She hoped he was dead, she begged and prayed to the Titan Philip Wittebane met his end by the hand of the Isles, be it mauled by one of the beasts that call the Demon Realm home, fallen into the boiling sea, or killed by boiling rain. she thought of a thousand ways he could die, and every one would be satisfying. She remembers that night so vividly, coming back and seeing her husband lying on the ground, eyes wide open staring into the sky, laying in a pool of his own blood. Seeing Philip standing there, blood covering his hands, a cold and remorseless look upon his face. Remembering how she cradled her husband's body, tears of anguish stinging her eyes, crying for the loss of the only human who was actually decent, the only human who saw the beauty and wonder her world had. The only human who embraced magic and loved it. She vowed that night if she would ever come across that monster again, she would kill him.
What hurt the most was that she knew how much Caleb loved his brother. Even after reporting him to the witch hunters, he still loved his brother. She remembered the aftermath of the night, she remembered when they got back to the Demon Realm, he was furious, yelling and cursing about how his brother could do this to him. Then the screams of anger turned to heart-wrenching sobs. She remembered him falling to his knees, Caleb was hurt, no, this went beyond just hurt; it was like a deep jagged wound to his soul that not even the best healer could heal. When she traveled the human realm after that night, he would always ask her to check on Philip for him. She would always tell him he was doing okay, and that was enough. She didn't have the heart to tell him that he never got over him leaving, how he stepped up his witch hunting efforts, gladly and proudly calling for the death of anyone who was accused, even becoming their executioner on several occasions, or how he became obsessed with finding a way to the demon realm. She prayed he would never find a way, but he did.
"Mom, are you okay? I know this night is always hard." Evelyn turned to see their now twenty-year-old son standing by the doorway. Looking at her. He resembled Caleb in his looks; he had his chocolate brown eyes, and the same nose. He was also built like him, except he had pointed ears and his mother's auburn colored hair instead of the ash blonde hair of his father. She dried her eyes and smiled at her son, the beautiful gift Caleb had given her. He always stayed the night on that specific day. He hated the thought of his mother being alone.
" I am, thank you for checking on me."
"May I accompany you this year?" he asked. She shook her head. "Why not?"
"I know you want to; you've been asking me every year since you could talk. But this is a very personal visit for me. I need to do this one alone."
'Mom, it's been twenty years. Are you ever going to tell me about what happened to my father?" Evelyn sighed, walking over to her son and gently brushing the forelock out of his face, another trademark of her late husband that he had inherited.
"It's a very hard story to hear... but I can't hide the truth away from you forever. I will tell you the truth about your father when I get back, okay?"
"Pinky swear?" He said, holding out his pinky to her. She laughed, remembering how Caleb used to do that all the time with her. When he first told her about the concept of Pinky swears. She found them to be fascinating. How when two humans linked pinky fingers it symbolically acted as an unbreakable promise
"Pinky swear," she laughed. "I will be back soon, stay here okay?" Her son nodded, "Flapjack, make sure he stays here." Her late husband's Palisman sat on her son's shoulder and chirped in agreement. Her son had a Palisman of his own that he carved himself, but Flapjack liked to hang out with him when he visited. As she walked out the door and down the path behind her house. Unbeknownst to her, her son decided to follow her. He knew he shouldn't, but something told him to follow her; he had a feeling in his soul that something was going to happen. Flapjack hesitated, but he reassured him he would be okay.
As Evelyn got to her clan's burial grounds behind her house, she saw someone standing by her husband's grave, finishing wrapping something up. A pile of earth next to it and a shovel protruding from the hole in the ground where her husband's body should be. She knew exactly who would have the audacity to do such a thing. A burning anger ignited in her chest, a fire that had been slowly burning for the past twenty years turned into a roaring blaze. She let out a primal scream at the top of her lungs. "Philip!!" She quickly charged at him, drawing a spell circle and launching a stream of fire from the center of it. Philip heard her and countered it by summoning an ice pillar to shield himself. He turned to look at her, she noticed his bright cyan-colored eyes that glowed in the darkness. This wasn't the same Philip she remembered from twenty years ago; he was much more dangerous. Then he spoke.
"Oh hello Evelyn, it has been a while hasn't it?" Closing his eyes and smiling at her. How dare he have the gall to smile at her.
"Why are you here?" she said, arming herself with her staff and pointing it at him.
"I'm just here to claim my brother's body that you so rudely kept from me. Besides I need it for something." Evelyn let out a guttural yell as she teleported behind him, striking him in the back with all her strength. Knocking him to the ground, she stood in front of Caleb's remains, defending them. Philip pulled himself off the ground and brushed the dirt off his clothes.
"I should have figured that you would defend his body."
"Shouldn't come as a surprise, After everything you have done, to me, to him, to us! The only way you will ever be able to lay a hand on him is if I'm dead! I make no plans on that anytime soon!" Philip just cocked his head to the side.
"You witches do make everything harder than it needs to be. I do need his body though, so I can arrange that." He teased, as he took a step and he summoned another ice spike at her. She quickly drew a spell circle, casting a blast of fire melting the ice spike. Seeing him use glyphs only enraged her further.
"How are you using Glyph Magic? You have no right to wield it!"
"Oh, I disagree, how else would I have survived in this hellscape for so long as a human? It took me years though, since it seemed the Titan tried to hide these from me. but I have always been a keen observer. " she let out another primal scream and launched another attack. Philip smiled and countered it. Back and forth the two fought, neither giving an inch; fire, ice, and plant magic collided with one another. Evelyn was getting more and more frustrated - there is no way Philip should be that skilled with magic, especially since he didn't have a Palisman. She was kind of thankful he refused the one Caleb had carved for him. As the battle raged on, Evelyn was starting to get tired. She knew she couldn't keep up as effectively if this battle went on longer, but annoyingly, Philip wasn't exhausted yet. However, he was using glyphs that took a lot less energy to perform. "Getting tired already? I expected more from you Evelyn." Evelyn just laughed at his comment.
"No, I have been saving this spell, specifically for you!" Evelyn had been working on a spell of her own design for the past twenty years. In case she was ever to run into the man standing before her again. By combining the wild magic of her Palisman and the elemental magic of fire, this spell should be impossible to dodge or block. She summoned her staff with both hands, drawing a large red and gold spell circle followed by two smaller ones.
Philip was intrigued, but unbeknownst to Evelyn, he had previously set up a teleportation glyph. He knew exactly what he needed to do. As they fought, he dodged and countered her spells in a way that guided him right in front of the glyph. All he had to do was take a single step back, kneel on the ground, and place his hand on it. Then he would teleport behind her. He had initially intended to use it once he dug up Caleb's body to escape, but this would be a much more enjoyable use. Evelyn shouted at the top of her lungs as she slammed her staff into the ground, and from the center of the circles, three large streams of golden fire surged through the circle, creating a spiral of flames aimed directly at Philip. Philip simply smiled and activated the teleportation glyph. As the fire vortex dissipated, she didn't see him standing there; she was happy, her spell had worked! However, her smile quickly faded when she heard his voice.
"I must say, that was very impressive," she heard from behind her. Quickly turning around, she saw Philip standing there. She tried to draw a spell circle to attack him, but she could barely form one; she was exhausted and the spell had taken a lot out of her. "Let's end this already." Philip growled as he summoned another ice spear, sending it directly at Evelyn. But her Palisman sensed her witches' exhaustion and she wouldn't be able to block it. She transformed out of her staff form and flew in front of the spear, willing to lay down her life to save Evelyn's. She screamed as she watched her beloved Palisman fall to the ground as the ice spear struck it through chest.
" These things are quite fascinating. How they are even willing to sacrifice themselves to save their witch." Philip said, picking her Palisman's dying body.
" Get your hands off of her! " She yelled
" No, I need this."
" Why do you need a -" She froze as she watched him break its body in half, Evelyn watched in shock and horror as he inhaled her Palisman essence. His eyes glowed green for a few moments before he sighed, tossing her Palisman's body to the ground, she watched as her Palisman turned to ash
" That's better." He coldly said, before looking down at her.
" You consume… Pallismen? " She managed to get out, before falling to her knees. She was in shock. Not only did Philip take away her husband, he just took away her Palisman, her partner for life and consumed its essence right in front of her.
" Of course, how else do you think I keep this curse of mine at bay."
" Curse? " she was confused, had a witch cursed him? If they did it wouldn't surprise her, he deserved it. Philip smirked and rolled up his right sleeve, revealing a glyph combination carved into his right arm. Evelyn stared in horror at what Philip had done.
"Once I learned the core Glyphs, I wanted to control this magic directly without the need to draw them. So I carved this combination into my arm after several years of research. It worked...sort of. But it had an unintended consequence. My arm now unfortunately contorts into a monstrous form, and it's quite painful if I try to use it. Consuming Palismen alleviates this annoying side effect, plus it allows me to do this, for example."
He raised his arm, making a fist. She noticed it started to glow a crimson red; she had never seen a glyph combination glow red. It was wrong, an affront to the Titan's gift. What made her even more heartbroken and sick was that Philip learned to wield the very thing he was against, the very thing he murdered innocent lives for. The very thing he betrayed his brother over. Evelyn felt her body start to lock up; she looked down and noticed her body was slowly turning to stone. He approached her with the dagger he used to murder his brother. He was about to plunge the dagger into her back, but then she heard a chirp and opened her eyes to see Flapjack flying into the dagger, knocking it out of Philip's hand. However, the blade of the dagger hit the little Cardinal in the eye.
"Flapjack!" She screamed, scooping up the little bird. She couldn't keep the tears back anymore, and she cried. She cried for her fallen Palisman, she cried for Caleb, she cried that the Titan's magic was being used in such a vile way, she cried for her son who was about to lose his mother. Then it hit her; her son was here. It was the only reason why Flapjack would be here. She couldn't let Philip know that his brother's child was here she feared he would kill him too. She had an idea. "Flapjack, you need to get out of here. He will kill you! Please, I know you want to stay by my side, but you need to go. Please, I can't lose you. I love you." The bird nodded, understanding what she meant. Quickly, he flew off to safety. She watched him fly off and smiled, knowing they would be safe. Philip picked up the dagger once more and walked over to her. she watched as her arms turned to stone. She sobbed, realizing she had failed to get her revenge on the monster who took away her husband. At least she was about to be reunited with him. She took solace in that.
" I was always wondering what happened to his Palisman. That thing, I didnt know it had a loyalty to you as well" Philip got down on her level and looked her in the eye, she saw his cold glowing cyan eyes, she saw the monster hidden behind them. " I have always wanted to do this since the moment I met you. After all, you did take my brother away from me. Good bye Evelyn. " He said in an icy tone. Before taking the dagger and stabbing it into her heart, she felt a sharp bolt of electricity course through her body as if every nerve was on fire. She felt him pull the dagger out, she felt her body hit the ground. She watched Philip pick up her husband's body, she felt Philip release her from her partially paralyzed state. She heard another set of footsteps, and her sons voice
"Mom, Mom, wake up!" But it was too late; her world faded to black. As Philip was drawing a new teleportation glyph, he heard a voice call out "mom." He turned to see a man sitting there, holding Evelyn's body. His eyes grew wide as he noticed that the man looked like his brother, but with red hair and pointed ears. Something stirred inside of him; it was a long-lost memory of when their parents had died. He remembered Caleb looking the same way, cradling their parents' bodies the night they died. He thought about killing their son right then and there, after all, he was an affront to God, being half witch and half human. but watching his mother die was punishment enough for his existence.
" Who are you!" The man stood up glaring at Philip. " What are you doing with my father's body!" He yelled with tears streaming down his face.
" I am an old family friend, and who may you be? " He said cordially.
" My name is Hunter. Hunter Clawthorne, and I will make sure everyone in my family knows who you are and what you have done! " Philip smirked at the young man's attempt at a threat.
" Hunter, hmm. I will remember that." He smiled before disappearing in blinding light, taking Caleb's body with him .
( 350 years later. )
Belos sat in a hollowed out room in a cave, surrounded by his books and journals, multiple beds of dirt mixed with other things dotted the floor. One had multiple tubes feeding into it. He had made over 100 Grimwalkers in 350 years and every single one ended up betraying one way or another, it just must be in Caleb's nature to betray him. He patiently waited for the newest one to emerge, hopefully this one would be different. He did purposely make this attempt a child, a child is a blank slate, a child can easily be taught and molded into what he needed it to be. He rolled his eyes when he heard a voice behind him.
" Oooooo this one will be ready soon! Hey I have a fun game. Let's bet on how long this one will last!" The childish voice laughed with glee
" Hopefully longer than the others , it just needs to not betray until the Day of Unity happens. Then I will have no need for these things anymore. But I do have faith it will. After all, when this one emerges it will be a child, I will do whatever I need to make sure it stays in line. "
" Why do you want to keep making these things again? It seems like a hassle and a waste because they keep betraying you."
"Because Collector, I lost someone very dear to me, and I want him back, but you can't bring people back from the dead. So might as well take the next best option. "
" How did you even get the original body anyway? I'm sure it wasn't given to you willingly. Did you kill someone for it?" The Collector slyly said. Belos smirked, closing his eyes thinking back to that night, he remembered the feeling of the dagger plunging into Evelyn's heart. How good it felt to murder her for his brothers remains.
" She fought me for it, but I won in the end." They both heard rustling and a hand shot up from the dirt. They watched as his newest Grimwalker emerged from the ground. It looked to be around six years old, a little younger than he expected but he would take it, the younger it was the easier it would be to keep it in line. As it sat up, slowly opening its eyes. Belos grabbed a cloak from a hanger and wrapped it around the young Grimwalker's body, he was actually Impressed he managed to make this one look almost exactly like Caleb, the only difference being the pointed ears and the signature wine red colored eyes and an annoying gap between it's teeth.
" Wow! He looks just like that guy you have drawings of, is that who you were trying to clone? I am impressed. What are you going to call this one? I'm sure you have run out of names by now." Belos thought for a few moments, thinking back to the night he killed Evelyn, he thought about Caleb and Evelyn's son.
" My name is Hunter, Hunter Clawthorne." He got a wicked smile on his face, the perfect name for the perfect back story.
" Hunter. This one's name will be Hunter, and The Titan has big plans for you, young one."