CHAPTER 5

THE REUNION

—

Neptune didn't know who to look at first. Was he meant to look at the unfamiliar children, one of which currently had her arms around Hunter? Was he meant to be looking at how oddly mature Atticus' (old) teacher looked?

Was he meant to look at the sibling he hadn't seen for two - seventeen - years?

He restrained a sob for Hunter's sake, instead watching the witch that had first recognised him. Eda.

Her hair was grey - all the shiny orange strands that she used to have were gone, replaced by sleek silver. One of her eyes was grey, too - only one retained the owlish yellow he had known her for.

One of his hands linked with Atticus', and he squeezed it tight as he waved a tentative greeting.

"Hi," he choked out.

Raine let out a loud sob as they sprinted towards him, and Neptune barely had time to react before they crashed into him, hugging him in a squeeze that pushed all the air out of his lungs. He embraced them back with just as much vigor, and pretended not to notice the water leaking onto his shoulder and into his cloak. Beside him, he saw Darius - man, was he taller - hugging Atticus in a similar fashion, except that the muscular man had picked Atticus completely off the floor to squeeze him. He caught a glimpse of Hunter's troubled expression.

"You're here," Raine cried softly, murmuring things about how they had thought he was dead, how he had been gone for so long, where had he been and how much had changed since he'd disappeared.

He patted the others back comfortingly as the rest of the onlookers watched with expressions varying from melancholy to just plain confused.

"Wait…"

The brown-haired girl from before pointed at the two of them, still being embraced by their friend and family.

"So you're telling me that they're not the enemy? I mean, they're both wearing uniforms from the Emperor's Coven! I-"

She paused when Eda put a manicured hand on her shoulder, stopping her with a weak smile. Neptune couldn't hear what the Owl Lady murmured to the teen, but whatever it was, it made her stop and watch the pair with a vaguely vulnerable expression on her face instead of talking.

After a while - and, thankfully, just before Neptune's ribs cracked - a teary-eyed Raine and a surprisingly sensitive Darius let them free to sit on the floor near the bunk-beds and reconverge.

"So, what's happened in the past fifteen years?"

He supposed that Atticus had been trying for humour, but all it did was make Raine lift their glasses to wipe their eyes, mouth set in a thin, slightly trembling line. A crease lined their face – Neptune was almost completely sure it hadn't been there a day ago.

Eda looked at the girl from earlier (who had round ears - was she one of those weird human lovers?), who gave her a shrug.

"So, let me start," Eda offered, stroking the back of a skull-headed demon who lay in her lap.

The explanation wasn't quick by any means. But, to be fair, they had to learn fifteen years' worth of information in – well, not fifteen years. Less than an hour, actually. Fortunately, he got the gist of it and hoped that Atticus had too. It'd been a while, and a lot of things had happened. Long enough that the Day of Unity was coming close - when the Titan's plans would come to fruition.

Neptune didn't seem to know what to do with all – all this information. He did remember hearing bits and pieces about the Day of Unity when in schooling, and that had almost tripled when he joined the Emperor's Coven. Atticus didn't appear to know where to start either; the other boy's violet-ringed eyes stared down at his lap with an unfocused gaze.

"That's – this is a lot," he said finally. His gaze flicked up at Eda then back, the dimming lights shading his face. He ran a hand through his hair, then whistled lowly, looking to his left at Hunter.

"I assume you guys have a plan," Atticus said, eyes still turned downwards. About halfway through Eda's explanation, Darius had draped a comforting arm around his shoulder, and it rested there now as they conversed.

"We totally do," Luz exclaimed excitedly - turns out she's an actual human, not a crazed fan - and she nudged Eda with an elbow.

"Eda won't tell me about it because it's super big. So if I get captured, I won't be able to give them any information. Y'get what I mean?"

Neptune nodded - that was a good idea. For some of the biggest missions (the ones he'd been in, at least) they would tell certain people specific parts of the plan, so that integrity and security was kept.

Not like anyone in the Emperor's Coven would've betrayed them. Right?

"I'll tell you guys what you have to do later," she said confidently, and he hummed agreeingly.

"What are we doing right now?" he asked, looking around at the band of – dare he say it – rebels.

Enemies of the throne, his mind whispered, sending a bolt of dread through his stomach. He pushed it away, choosing instead to focus single-mindedly on the lamp on the wall.

"Right now, we're just waiting for Lilith to come back with food," one of the Bard Coven members said, pushing small gold glasses up his nose.

"Isn't she-"

"Wanted? Yeah."

He balked a little - since when had goody-two-shoes Lilith been daring enough to do anything so rule-breaking that she'd get on a wanted poster?

Eda summoned her little palisman – Owlbert, if he recalled correctly – and Neptune watched as the little brown owl hopped around her lap, flapping its little wings in his peripherals. The lamp's light shivered.

"She's the person least wanted out of all of us; that's why."

"Well," Atticus looked up at Eda, "maybe Neptune and I could do it next time. As far as anyone excluding you guys knows, we're both dead."

Eda grimaced and made a 'meh' motion before standing up and going to the little kitchenette that he'd first seen. Her heels clacked against the floor with quiet thugs that made Neptune feel as if there were skin-eating fairies lying just under the floorboards.

"Do you both have a place to stay?" one of the Bards asked, and Neptune froze.

Did they?

"Well- uh - Unc- Principal Bump offered us temporary residency with him-"

"That's surprisingly nice," he heard Luz say a little dubiously.

"-but I'm not sure we'll take him up on his offer. It has great protection, yeah, but Neptune has his doubts. And with that stunt the Emperor's Coven decided to pull at Hexside today, I'm not sure if it's entirely worth it. We'd just be painting a bigger target for Bump."

"You could stay with us," Raine said immediately, and Neptune looked gratefully at his older sibling.

"That sounds like a better idea," Neptune said, "What did you call this group again?"

For the first time since Neptune had seven them, Raine smiled widely – oddly enough, Darius groaned and removed his arm from around Atticus' shoulder to smother his face.

"Don't," he pleaded, voice muffled.

"It's the Covens Against the Throne, aka…"

That's not too bad.

"The CATs!"

"Meow-meow!" Luz added.

Okay, no, nevermind.

Neptune looked over at Atticus and was mildly shocked – and a little disappointed – to see the other Officer smiling like a loon at the name.

"I think I agree with Darius on this one," he told Raine, who only grinned wider.

"Aw, why not, Nep? The CATs is an awesome name!"

"We sound like some weird human trend."

"Hey, don't knock the trends! Some of them can actually be pretty good," Luz told him indignantly.

He hummed wordlessly, standing up from beside Atticus and letting Boot out of his pocket to climb up his shoulder.

Bidding a goodbye as the others began arguing about the name, he smiled a little – something told him that this wasn't the first time they had done so.

He followed Eda to the rusty old stove, watching as she rattled around pots and pans, then pulled a little fire salamander out from the stove's lighter, feeding it a couple of pieces of wood before stuffing it back.

"What're you making?" he questioned.

Eda shrugged at the two as she pulled out a large speckled egg from under the counter.

"Food. For Luz. She can't eat a lot of the things that we can – as a human, obviously – but one of the things she can eat is gryphon eggs."

Neptune hoisted himself up onto the kitchen counter, his shoes clattering to the floor, though no one seemed to mind. His mismatched bacon-and-egg socks swung gently, the heel of his foot bumping against one of the cabinets with a quiet thunk as he watched Eda poke the flaming lizard under the pan in an attempt to get it to burn hotter.

The yelling gave way to quiet chatter from the next room as the group made conversation. Neptune watched Eda bustle around the kitchen, adding things to the pan here and there – some gurllo meat, diced, and a couple of what he assumed were human spices. A white, sandy powder, some spicy smelling sauces and one oddly sparkly purple dust.

"Do you cook for Luz often?"

Eda turned her head and looked at him.

"Yeah, usually. I got a lot of time on my hands, and Luz – well – she has a lot of things to do."

He looked down at his feet. "Makes sense."

Eda smiled suddenly as she tossed the omelette with an expert flick of her wrist.

"Want me to teach you something interesting? I learned it from Luz, y'know."

Neptune nodded, putting an attentive expression on his face.

"Why not?" he questioned rhetorically with a smile – the older woman joined him at the counter, setting out an old notebook and a paintbrush.

"Watch this."

Eda tore a piece of paper from the notebook and started drawing some sort of strange abstract piece - a circle with an… arrow in it? A bird? He really couldn't tell.

"I know it looks weird," Eda told him, "but just watch."

She turned the paintbrush over, tapping the wooden tip twice on the paper. The paper crumpled into a ball, riding into the air and gaining a little warmth and glow until it shone on his face, light illuminating the room.

"Whoa," he said, astonished, "What kind of magic is this?"

"Rune magic. It's cool, right? You don't even need to use any magic from your bile sac to activate it – the rune takes magic from its surroundings."

"Can I try?"

Eda nodded with a quick, "'Course," and slid the paper and brush over.

Neptune quickly took them and scribbled the same sign that Eda had, eagerly tapping it with his hand and…

And…

The little light began to rise upwards, much to his delight, but shivered mid-way off the pad, fizzling out with the smell of burned paper.

"Crap."

Eda snorted, laughing and tilting her head back in the way he had seen her do so many times with Raine.

"It's fine, Nep'. I can get Luz to help you with it later, if ya' want."

Neptune was about to nod, excited at the prospect of learning a new form of magic – just as the cupboard door banged. He turned his head to look at the person entering to face a smug looking Atticus, hand in the air and midway through a spell.

"What was that for?"

"Shock."

Neptune balled up a piece of paper from the notepad and threw it at them. Atticus chuckled and ducked under the missile, skipping forward and pushing his way into Neptune's space.

"Whatcha guys talking' 'bout," they asked, a sing-song voice coloring his tone.

Neptune beat him away with the brush, flicking a couple of drops of ink on his cloak. "Eda was showing me rune magic."

"Sounds old." Atticus sniffed as if to emphasise his point.

"You're old."

"You're literally older than me."

"Children, children," Eda shushed with a mischievous grin, "No fighting around me, I don't wanna hear it."

Atticus stuck his tongue out at her. Neptune took the opportunity to shove them back and scribble out the light rune – he could feel the other watching over his shoulder. He was about to tap on the paper when the door burst open for a second time; he barely controlled his yelp, looking over and scowling. That was before Neptune froze with the almost comical frown still plastered on his face, eyes widening until you could see the whites all the way around his pupils.

"Lilith?!"

She seemed just as shocked as he was, looking between him and Eda - then, with a more shocked expression at Atticus.

"Neptune? Atticus?!"

"Hooty!"

Neptune barely had any time to react before that blasted owl tube shot towards him and wrapped around Atticus, squeezing its – its neck? Body? – tight until they flew together unceremoniously, Lilith and him straining away from each other as Hooty yammered on and on about them and how many cool bugs it had seen since it saw them last.

"Hooty?"

Atticus glared at Lilith through his bleach-streaked bangs – she returned the sentiment heartily, even though the two had spoken at the same time.

"Hootsifer, would you do me the favour of putting us down?"

"Oh! Right. Sorry, Lulu."

If there was anything Atticus loved about being at the Emperor's Coven full-time, it was not hearing that house demon's screechy, cracking voice.

As soon as Hooty put them back on the floor, Atticus crossed his arms defiantly, raising a quizzical eyebrow at the older woman, examining the streaks in her hair and her one silver eye as she clenched bags of groceries tightly in pale hands.

"'Lulu?'"

"It's a testament of the relationships that I can make with people."

"Hey, Lilith, don't be so harsh on them," Eda hinted with a wry voice, a slightly screechy tone wrapping through it.

"Harsh? Harsh? These infernal Officers made my life at the Emperor's Coven miserable – they-"

"Lilith."

Eda's voice wasn't so subtle now. She walked over from the kitchen – as did Raine, who'd heard the commotion, from the sleeping quarters – and the two put a hand on each of the younger pair's shoulders. Atticus' hand twitched as he resisted brushing Eda's hand off, and a piece of down floated from her head.

"These two have been through a lot," she reprimanded. Lilith seemed to fume silently, glaring at them before visibly steeling herself and watching the pair owlishly. Hooty's body squeezed just the slightest bit.

"If you two didn't die on that mission, what happened?"

Neptune swallowed, hard.

"We… we fell through a Time Pool."

Atticus nodded, and he felt Eda's grip tighten on his shoulder.

A variety of expressions crossed Lilith's face as Hooty drifted over from behind her, Neptune stroking him as he watched her go through various stages of grief.

Eda let go of Atticus and carefully took the cloth bags from Lilith's hands, crossing to the kitchen. Atticus and Neptune followed blindly, Atticus picking up a bottle filled with an eerily-glowing golden liquid before raising an eyebrow and turning to the Owl Lady.

"Where do I put this?" he questioned, and Eda visibly started, pulling something out of her hair before darting over, uncorking the bottle and chugging it, tossing it aside when it was empty.

"What. What the-"

"Sorry, kid. That's the elixir for my curse. Helps me deal with it, y'know? We're a little low these days."

He hummed lowly instead of answering – honestly, this day couldn't really get any weirder, and there was only so much reaction that all the strange things could get out of him now.

"Hey, Goopy, this reminds me of you!"

Atticus froze. A heavy sigh escaped from his mouth.

"I am not Goopy," he ground out as he turned towards a grinning Neptune, who held a jam jar full of purple liquid.

"Whatever you say, Goopster."

Hunter snorted from the other room as Neptune put the jar on the shelf.

"How'd you get that nickname, anyway, Atticus? Can I call you Goopy t-"

"No."

He cut off Luz with a stern reprimand, and she gave a disappointed, 'aww' before hopping onto the counter and crossing her legs. When she'd gotten there, exactly, he didn't know. Human magic, he'd guess.

"You know, it is getting late. You two have had a very long day, I'm sure – perhaps it's time to head to bed?"

Atticus turned to look at Darius as he finished the sentence, then glanced at Neptune to gauge his expression, putting a tray of gryphon eggs into the cooling cabinet.

"I think… that's – that might be a good idea. I've been up for… a while. And it would be nice to sleep on something that's not the beach."

A mumbled agreement came from beside the sink before Neptune lumbered over to Atticus, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't… think we have any things, right? No change of clothes?"

Neptune shook his head, running a hand through his hair.

"Nah. Nothing – we left all our stuff in our dorms. Thank the Titan that we didn't leave our palismen there too."

"I think you could probably borrow Raine's clothes. Oh, yeah, Atticus – you could probably borrow Darius'."

Violet-ringed eyes flicked from the girl who spoke (Amber, if he recalled) to Darius – who gave a loud, long-suffering sigh.

"Yes. Fine. Whatever – you can take my clothes."

He gave Darius a tired smile, and slowly walked over to the beds.

"My drawer is the one on the left," Darius called irritably – Atticus pulled open the specified cabinet, and raised his eyebrows.

The cabinet was full of various body and skin-care products, with a couple of pairs of purple pyjamas stuffed beside the bottles. Atticus gingerly pulled a set out – a little voice in his head hoped it wasn't too gaudy – and he glanced around.

"Where's the bathroom?"

Raine pointed to a squat wooden door, and he nodded a 'thank you' to the older person, heading into the room and beginning to change.

"Hm."

Staring into the dusty, chipped mirror, Atticus could barely recognise the boy staring back at him. Sure, he looked exactly the same as he had the morning before, but he felt something had changed. Maybe it was the subtle tenseness of his shoulders – the soot and dirt that circled his thin cheeks – maybe the deep purple eyebags that hung under his eyes.

His mullet was messy and a little greasy, and even though Darius was a couple sizes larger than him, the borrowed purple striped shirt hung off Atticus' thinning frame in a manner close to concerning.

So little had changed in the day, yet so much felt different.

He leaned down and splashed his face with water from the sink, gasping at the temperature as it wet his hair and rolled down his cheeks, numbing them. It was uncomfortably cold, but he persisted until the water going into the drain stopped looking copper-brown and started going clear.

Turning the handle on the door, he stepped back out tiredly, face wiped clean. He ignored the silence, then the quiet muttering from the CATs members at the table (man, that was a good name) and dragged himself to the sleeping quarters.

"Which 'ne's mine?"

"Uh… Atticus?"

He turned around, a deadpan expression on his face.

"What?"

Darius gave him a half-smile, but Atticus could see the concern in his eyes.

"Maybe… maybe you could join us for dinner first."

Too tired to complain, he nodded, stalking over to a spot beside the human and sitting down, ignoring Eda's pet's cry of protest.

"Hey! That's my-"

Luz pulled the small demon into her arms and gave him a squeeze.

"It's okay, King," she soothed. "You can sit here, instead."

She plopped the little monarch in her lap, and he grumbled. Atticus diplomatically ignored them, and accepted the bowl that Eda passed him with a small thanks, taking some of the gryphon omelette and putting an experimental piece of fairy stir-fry on the edge of his bowl.

The bathroom door creaked open, and Atticus looked up.

Wow. Did he really look that bad?

Neptune looked plain sickly, Raine's clothes drooping on his skinny frame. His face was thin and pale, cheeks slightly sunken – and what they could see of his chest through his shirt wasn't much better. A bubbling scar stretched across his right collarbone – which jutted out scarily in its own fashion. Yeah, there was definitely muscle on him, but it was just muscle. No fat, just hard, lean muscle that poorly wrapped bone.

He swallowed, and was pretty sure everyone at the table could see his throat bob up and down.

"Come- come sit," he told Neptune, and Katya, bless her heart, summoned a chair beside him at the table.

Neptune nodded and walked over, plonking himself down in the seat and taking a bowl as well, filling it with the same fairy stir-fry Atticus had been so scared to touch.

"How much…"

Atticus watched Neptune's eyes flick up at Raine as the older spoke a little nervously, attempting to reword their phrase. They spun a silver fork in their bowl absently.

"What did you eat? At the Emperor's Coven?"

Hunter was the one to speak next, interrupting the conversation without so much as glancing up from his food.

"Normal stuff. A lot like this," he told his plate, "It's all rationed out for coven members to take, obviously – and people at the top of the Emperor's Coven have regular feasts."

There was silence around the table. Atticus took an awkward sip of apple blood from a juicebox that had appeared near his elbow, and felt a sudden fondness towards the kid for covering for the both of them.

"Yeah. Yeah, what Hunter said."

He gave an awkward smile, before trying the noodles and-

Pfft. Eugh. How did the other Officer stand this? It was disgusting.

He rolled the idea of eating more of that around in his head, then got up with a sigh, pushing back his chair and heading to the sink before discreetly dumping his meal in the bin and washing his dishes.

"I'm going to sleep," he called to a quiet chorus of 'good night's and one directional yell from Eda as to where his bed was.

Atticus' footsteps got heavier and weaker the further he moved into the sleeping quarters, and it was practically all he could do to fall face-first into the lower bunk of the beds he and Neptune were assigned to before shuffling completely onto the bed with a quiet groan.

He lay like that for a few moments before his right hand came up a little to draw a spell circle, the abomination magic moving his limp body upwards before tucking him into his blanket, drawing the top all the way up to his chin.

He had almost made his way to unconsciousness when a quiet chuckle pulled him groggily out of his stupor – Neptune was likely also making his way to bed early, he reckoned.

The other climbed the metal ladder slowly, shaking the bed; Atticus couldn't help but let out a tired laugh as he heard a clunk and a restrained hiss from the top bunk as Neptune hit his head on something.

He listened to the other shuffle around above him in a daze, and by the time that Neptune had stopped moving around, Atticus was already asleep.

—

A bit of canon divergence here, but the next chapter will have a longer flashback, don't worry ;)

Thanks for reading!