Alright, first off I would like to thank each and every one of you who either left some kind words or left a favorite on this fic! It really means a lot to hear how much you all are enjoying the fic! It's also reassuring to hear I can write fanfiction for a Fandom that isn't +10 years old at a minimum like I usually tend to do. Haha. Anyway, this chapter will be a bit 'different' since we'll be rejoining Hunter and Willow next chapter… I thought we'd go back in time to get a look at a 17-year-old Darius during his time at Hexside. Again, this chapter is also partially just me expressing my secret wish that Dana Terrace will be able to produce a 'spinoff series' to show Eda's generation during their younger years at Hexside. I'll explain more in my ending note but just wanted to put this into perspective ahead of time. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter! :)
29 years ago
({No POV})
It was late afternoon after school and 17 going on 18-year-olds Darius, Alador, and Odalia walked into the Bonesborough Library to get some books they needed for some assignments.
Well, or at least that was what Darius and Alador were going to do just the two of them until Odalia just kind of 'tagged along' with them like she always did ever since she and Alador started dating the previous year.
This was much to Darius's slight annoyance; however, since he didn't really care much for Odalia's 'company' personally but only 'tolerated her presence' and tried to be somewhat 'friendly' toward her just for Alador's sake as his best friend since childhood.
The trio walked through the library hunting down the books they needed, or at least Darius was as he was also trying to ignore Odalia and Alador's usual 'insufferable PDA'. Typically involving Odalia clinging to Alador's arm and trying to keep his attention on her in any way she could.
Eventually, the two started kissing rather obnoxiously right next to Darius as he found the book he was looking for, causing Darius to just stop in his tracks and look away from them to let an annoyed eye roll and 'gagging' expression go over his face before mouthing 'Oh for Titan's sake' to himself.
But, in the process of doing that through his annoyance, his expression shifted when he noticed something else (or specifically someone else) across the library in the 'quiet discussion zone' usually meant for students doing study groups.
Lilith Clawthorne was sitting at a study table and smiling as she was putting together components for a diorama of a building with some of their other classmates, making Darius guess they were working on a project for the Hexside Architectural History Club (of which Lilith was also the President of).
Darius kept watching her until his eyes went wide as she stopped to take off and clean her glasses before putting them back on and adding the piece she just completed to the diorama.
Her eyes lit up and a big and almost giddy 'school girl-like' grin took over her face as she clapped her hands slightly to herself at how the project was coming along. It was honestly something Darius secretly always kind of thought was kind of endearing about his classroom rival's personality that he sees from time to time from her whenever she was proud of herself.
That or the smug grin she'll usually give him when she answers a question correctly before he does… and not that he also didn't do the same to her.
Eventually, Darius couldn't stop himself from 'giving in' a little as he leaned his arm against the bookcase and smiled to himself while letting out a quiet yet amused laugh as he kept looking at Lilith.
Thinking Alador and Odalia were still 'distracted' behind him, he started to straighten out his cowl, smirking confidently to himself, before attempting to walk across the Library toward Lilith.
At least emphasis on 'attempting' since he immediately heard a familiar yet annoyed and posh tone say, "Um, just where are you going?"
He looked behind him to see Odalia looking confused yet critical while Alador just looked confused as Odalia clung to her boyfriend's arm and proceeded to give her boyfriend's best friend a look.
While Darius felt internally annoyed and was fighting off his instinct to tell her it 'wasn't any of her business what he does and to butt out'.
But, not wanting to upset Alador by verbally biting his girlfriend's head off, Darius instead tried to 'bite his tongue' and recompose himself internally (but couldn't hold back giving Odalia an annoyed glare) as he responded, "Oh, don't worry. I'm just going to 'tease' Lilith really quick about her project. I'll be right back."
While that wasn't entirely a lie since anyone who knew Darius and Lilith knew that they both have teased, taken jabs, and tried to one-up each other since Kindergarten levels at Hexside; in more recent years, those same classmates who knew that about the two also knew that these days the jabs weren't as 'cold cutting' as they used to be.
Lilith's own younger sister Edalyn especially is always constantly teasing her (and even Darius too) by referring to Darius as Lilith's 'boyfriend' and also describing their 'petty classroom rivalry' as just their way of 'flirting'.
And even though they both always have outwardly denied 'liking each other', Darius at least more recently since the start of the year two months ago has been having a 'realization' of sorts when it comes to how he actually 'felt' about his classroom rival and Co-Captain.
Especially since Darius started coming to this 'realization' more and more since the previous week when he tried to 'test the water' in a moment of bravery during one of their 'prep-study sessions' for the Academic Trivia Team that they usually did a couple of times a month together.
In said 'brave moment', Darius bit his lip a little and tried to be as subtle as possible and see what would happen when he brushed his foot against Lilith's underneath the study table.
Although inwardly a little 'unsure' and 'nervous' about how she would react, he tried to keep his cool when Lilith's eyes went wide after his 'subtle attempt'.
He tried not to make a big deal about it just in case she 'rejected the advance' and wasn't 'interested'.
Lilith still wasn't looking at him and at that point; however, and looked like she was still trying to focus on making her flashcards.
Feeling a little 'defeated', Darius was about to do the same and just pretend nothing happened… until his eyes widened when he felt something brush back against the outer edge of his right foot.
This caused him to look up to see Lilith with a slight blush on her cheeks and a subtle shy look in her eyes but now smirking at him, eventually giving Darius the confidence to smirk back (seeing now there possibly was 'something' mutual there between them).
The two didn't 'elaborate on it' any further than that though, as much as Darius wanted to try to keep 'pressing his luck' with trying something different, they just kept it at a 'stalemate' and then started studying again like nothing happened.
Even though they did exchange shy smiles and nudged each other's feet every now and then under the table during the rest of that study session.
Well, at least they did until Eda came over and 'killed the mood' entirely like any sibling is naturally prone to do by entering as a third wheel in a 'romantic situation' between two people.
Because as juvenile as it was by just practically 'playing footsie' under the table, to Darius that was all he needed to see that his 'crush' liked him back from his perspective.
In fact, for the past week at school, he was trying to find a good time and opportunity to try and ask Lilith if she wanted to go out with him. But the opportunity never quite presented itself yet.
It was actually what Darius was about to do now since his best friend seemed too busy having 'face time' with his girlfriend in Darius's mind and Lilith just happened to be here to give him the opportunity to try and get her to come with him alone to one of the private study rooms and ask her out.
After giving Odalia one last annoyed glance, he practically did an 'about face' and went to try to talk to Lilith until he heard Odalia let out a snooty and annoyed scoff before commenting, "Ugh, why do you even want to talk to her?"
Under normal circumstances, Darius would have just ignored Odalia's comments on things since he really didn't care about her opinion as an 'annoying interloper' who always had to 'take over' any time he and Alador tried to hang out.
But right now and especially after hearing the snarkiness in Odalia's tone when talking about Lilith… it made Darius come to an abrupt stop as his back became taut, his fists clenching at his sides as he slowly and rigidly looked over his shoulder, and glared at her before questioning in nothing short of annoyed offense, "Why? What… about 'her'?"
Darius at this point looked almost ready to finally snap on her while Odalia just shrugged with a 'stuck up' look on her face as she crossed her arms and responded plainly yet nothing short of rude, "What? I'm just saying. Why would you want to talk to a total brainy freak like her anyway? All she does is 'read boring history books' and hang out with her annoying sister and that stupid Bard. Besides, everyone who's anyone knows the Clawthornes are just a bunch of backwoods, Palisman carving weirdos and her little sister alone is already enough of a 'weird-one' to begin with. Also, she's in the Potions Track? Ugh, that's almost as bad as wanting to be a Bard. Everyone knows those people usually just end up being poor, dirty peddlers on the streets for small-time snails or working selling trash at the night market or something. Association with them is practically a social death sentence if you ask me. Right, Alador?"
Almost as if to punctuate her statement, Odalia was putting herself front and center in front of Alador as she put her right hand on his left shoulder and her left hand on the amulet around her neck as it lit up as she looked Alador right in the eye.
At that moment, Darius (who looked like he was close to exploding after all the awful things Odalia just said about his crush… and also for insulting his 'taste in literature' since he also enjoyed reading history books for fun like Lilith) stopped when he saw something glowing underneath Alador's shirt.
Darius went wide-eyed and tilted his head in confusion as he just saw Alador looking at Odalia in confusion until he saw Alador's eyes go wide and his mouth open slightly as Odalia just smiled at him and maintained 'direct' eye contact.
Odalia was now smoothing her hand down from Alador's shoulder down to his chest before smoothing it back up to his shoulder again with a smile on her face as she kept looking him right in the eye.
Darius continued to watch on in total confusion at 'whatever was happening' between his best friend and Odalia… and especially since Alador just let his 'stupid girlfriend' spout all those awful and rude opinions about Lilith to his face when Alador knew that Darius liked her, or at least that was Darius's opinion on the current and infuriating situation that was happening.
It was almost like for the first real-time in their friendship since almost infancy, Darius was questioning if he even knew his best friend (who he practically also considered like a brother to him) at all?
This was the same Alador Blight he's fought alongside in duels and was also the youngest reigning Bonesborough Brawl Champion to date.
The same Alador Blight who would always sneak out with Darius past curfew to hang out and look at stuff at the night market or pull pranks on classmates' houses.
The SAME Alador Blight who always promised him they were going to have each other's backs and join the Abomination Coven together to revolutionize their craft as Abomination Creators.
But, ever since Alador and Odalia started dating… It was like Darius slowly started feeling like he was questioning their entire friendship and the witch he always thought he knew like the back of his hand.
Alador kept looking at Odalia, seeing him gulp and his face flush slightly before the amulet under his shirt and Odalia's stopped glowing.
Eventually, Alador slowly looked over at a still very agitated and VERY confused Darius with an unreadable expression on his face as Alador walked over and put his hand on Darius's shoulder as he said, keeping his tone hushed as he looked right at him, "Darius, I hate to say it, but… Odalia does kind of have a point. Look, I know you like her, but you remember what the Emperor said in his address last year about making sacrifices to achieve greatness, right? Being with her will just hold you back."
Darius went wide-eyed at what he just heard come out of Alador's mouth but still seemed determined to defend his crush on Lilith as he replied, "You don't know that. Besides, Lilith's already planning to try out for the Emperor's Coven with Eda by the end of this year. She's the top student in our class, there's no way she won't make it in. I mean, not that I'd tell her that personally. But, you know what I mean?"
Alador 'clicked' his tongue to the roof of his mouth as he looked down before looking back up at Darius again before questioning, "Yeah, but… what if she doesn't 'make it in', you know?"
At that moment, it looked like Darius was now slowly yet also oddly now 'questioning himself' and even his 'feelings' on not only just his best friend; but also his crush on Lilith.
Darius looked away from Alador and looked back over his shoulder to see Lilith still smiling to herself as she continued putting pieces together to construct her historical diorama.
He kept looking at her in confliction until Alador put his right arm around Darius's shoulders before playfully punching Darius on the left shoulder with his left fist as he grinned and said, "C'mon, don't waste your time on her. You've always got me and we're still going to take over the Abomination Coven together, right? Besides… you'll have to watch yourself enough with me around to beat you out for Coven Head."
Slowly and although still looking conflicted for a second, Darius eventually smirked before letting out an amused scoff-like laugh at Alador's playful 'threat' since he knows Darius's 'dream' was to become a Coven Head as Darius responded, "Yeah, over my dead body with that ever happening."
The two laughed as Alador grinned and clapped him between the shoulder blades a few times before going back to Odalia and putting his arm around her shoulders as the couple walked off, leaving Darius by himself.
He was about to turn around and walk away until he looked back at Lilith one last time, taking one last long yet unsure look at her before scrunching his eyes and letting out a sigh before walking on and taking the books he needed with him to check out.
Present Day
After her somewhat 'flustering' morning at The Owl House, Lilith was determined to move on with the rest of her day.
Despite her exhibit officially opening 20 minutes ago, Lilith was trying to wrap up the last of the paperwork on her desk. Partially because she wanted it off her desk and out of her hair… but, honestly, she mostly wanted to complete the paperwork to 'stall for time'.
Even though it infuriated and embarrassed her, there wasn't a single person from the head curator to the board of directors to the custodian that didn't laugh at her exhibit idea.
But, she knew she would have to 'face the public' sometime… and also inevitably face Flora showing up to 'belittle her work' at some point.
Lilith sat back, straightening her glasses, and smoothing out her skirt before standing and making her way down to the exhibit.
As Lilith made her way down, she closed her eyes as she turned the corner into the exhibit area and started bracing herself for any reaction she'd receive as she walked into the room.
But right when she walked in… she was surprised by what she saw.
Sure in her 'ideal fantasy' of what her museum exhibit would look like, it would involve people waiting in line just to come in to see her work because the room would be at capacity at all times. People would be asking for her opinions and maybe even asking if she'd want to be used as a historical reference for books and articles.
Again, that's just what it would be like in Lilith's 'ideal world', but what she was seeing… was honestly more than what she was expecting.
The room had about a dozen people walking around looking at her displays, reading the informative plaques she wrote on each one, and some people looking like they were taking notes on things or pictures (making Lilith wonder if they were 'press' or not).
Either way, she was just relieved not to see people laughing at her work and just going about things 'normally' like most people would at a museum.
She kept looking around with a smile slowly taking over her face, clearly feeling a growing sense of 'pride' at seeing her work being appreciated.
Or Lilith was 'smiling' until her expression dropped and her eyes felt like they were going to fall out of her head at who she saw on the opposite end of the room.
Looking over a set of ornately carved Balusters and dressed in a white and purple cloak pressed and tailored to perfection was none other than the same 'familiar face' she talked to and danced with the previous night and who her sister teased her about a mere 2 hours ago.
Darius Deamonne.
Subconsciously Lilith's eyes went wide before saying to herself under her breath in disbelief, "Oh Titan, you can not be serious."
That statement definitely seemed to kick in tenfold when Darius noticed Lilith was there, causing him to smile slightly in her direction before eventually making his way toward her.
Lilith decided to 'keep her composure' despite the fact that she was still in shock that Darius actually came to see her exhibit… and on opening day at that!
Eventually, Lilith settled on folding her hands in front of her to maintain a 'professional air' about her and smiled before saying once he was close enough, "Well, you have me surprised, I'll say that much. I wasn't expecting to see you here this morning."
Darius just grinned before giving her a respectful nod as a greeting (which Lilith also returned) before he responded in a similar teasing tone to hers, "Please, you of all people should know that I don't bluff on things I say I'm going to do. Otherwise, you really must not know me at all after over 40 years of knowing each other."
They shared an amused laugh between them before both of them looked around as Darius explained, "Besides, I had no 'concrete plans' on my agenda today anyhow. And with Hunter out doing his thing with his 'Flyer Derby friend' this morning, I thought I'd 'get out of the house' too. Also, I needed a distraction after that damn 'post' this morning got a rise out of me. Did you see it?"
Lilith had to fight off another blush, not necessarily because of the post (despite that also being infuriatingly embarrassing with being lampooned by a teenager on social media).
But, the blush was mostly due to Lilith stopping herself from thinking about briefly dancing with Darius again last night.
Fortunately, Lilith's annoyance seemed to take over as she rolled her eyes before saying in a tone just as annoyed as she looked, "Unfortunately… My sister just had to make me 'privy' to that this morning. Were we seriously that immature when we were at Hexside?"
Darius shrugged in response before saying, "Well, we also didn't have Penstagram either… which honestly was probably for the best looking back on it now. I know I was having breakfast with Hunter this morning when I saw it and showed it to him and he seemed like he knew which of his classmates posted it. But, he didn't say exactly who. All he did after I showed it to him was scoff and roll his eyes before saying that 'he wasn't surprised she posted it' and that she's 'pretty awful', so… I'm just not going to waste my time on it, and just hope that everyone else doesn't care about this particular teenage brat's opinions and move on with my life. Speaking of 'opinions'..."
Lilith quirked up an eyebrow as Darius looked down slightly and pulled something out from underneath his cloak.
It took a second before Lilith saw what it was and also recalled a portion of their 'conversation' from last night as Darius elaborated, "I made sure to bring you the rough draft of my first in a line of historical texts I'd like to publish. After all, I recall us making an exchange last night in regard to 'critiquing' our respective works. That is… unless you changed your mind?"
She looked down at the book and saw the title: "Abominations: A Historical Insite".
Lilith gave him a 'taken back' look before she smirked and replied, "Well, to loosely take a quote from you… Please, like I'm one to take back my word on these things."
Lilith was about to take the book out of his hands until Darius held it away with a teasing smirk on his face as he started, "Ah, ah… not so fast. I'm not done looking through your exhibit yet. If I'm recalling the 'terms' of our exchange correctly, I'll let you review my work after I review yours. And I am not quite done looking around your exhibit yet, so this can wait until I'm done having a look."
With that Darius flashed one last teasing smirk before putting the book back under his cloak, making Lilith freeze and look at him wide-eyed for a moment.
At least until she smirked back and said, almost in a playful challenge, "Well… then perhaps I should make sure you fully understand the exhibit by giving you a personal tour. This way you're in possession of all the facts before you 'pass unfair judgment' on my work."
It was quiet for a moment as Darius processed Lilith's offer at a 'private tour' of her own historical exhibit until he smirked before remarking playfully, put a hand over his heart on emphasis, "Unfair? Honestly Lilith, you make me sound like I'm completely 'heartless'. Critical yes, but heartless?… Do you think I have no sense of fairness?"
Lilith smirked before teasing back in a similar tone, "Just trying to ensure your honesty before stating the facts. Speaking of, let's go back to the start with the introduction to the importance of Baluster variety in Deadwardian Architecture. The early years of the era were the start of a 'renaissance' in the Boiling Isles in both art and architecture that paved the way for our modern architectural styles in Bonesborough and around the Boiling Isles. One such detail was the extensive variety of Balusters that sprang up in Deadwardian Architecture. As you can see from these models on display, the earliest use of Balusters started with the teeth of large fallen Beasts before slowly transitioning into witch-made Balusters carved by hand that…"
Darius stood there and watched as Lilith presented and seemed almost beaming in both joy and pride at all the hard work she put into the exhibit, causing him to smile slightly to himself as he kept following her along on their 'tour' as they went from display to display in the exhibit.
Alright, now I feel like this is not something talked about enough in this fandom, but… I have always been SO curious about Darius and Alador. The first time we got a mention of Darius and Alador knowing each other was in "Eda's Requiem" when he showed some 'pretty strong' disdain for Alador as an Abomination creator by going as far as calling Alador a 'hack', showing he didn't have much respect for him. This was also shown in "Any Sport in a Storm", when Darius was looking through his feed on Penstagram he let out an annoyed scoff as he 'muted' Alador's posts. And at first, I wasn't paying too much attention to it. After all, they were in the same coven and maybe had a pretty sour competitive rivalry as witches in their craft. But then we got the episode "Them's the Breaks, Kid" and at first glance seemed to just tell the story of Eda meeting Raine and their relationship starting to blossom as friends before eventually dating later on. But, upon watching it a few more times… there are A LOT of subtle revelation bombs in this episode! We saw a witch that looked like Boscha's mother as a student, saw teenage Harvey and Gilbert as Glandus and St. Epiderm students respectively, and then we got a VERY big bomb thrown in there. And that was the fact that Darius and Alador appeared to be good friends back when they were young. This was shown as Darius and Alador were both sitting on the steps of Hexside smiling and laughing as they played a game using Abomination magic together. So, if Alador and Darius used to be friends as teens but now have 'fallen out' as adults, this begs a VERY big question to me that I would LOVE to have answered… what happened to end their friendship? Since we don't have full confirmation from the crew on this subject and most likely probably won't be answered in the main series with only one more episode left in the final season. So, I have taken it upon myself to use the power of fanfiction to show my possible take on how they fell out with each other. And to me, there can possibly be ONE very good and obvious explanation on how, Odalia. Now look, before you judge this theory, then just hear me out on this one! From what we've seen, Odalia is one of the most disliked characters in this entire series if not tied with Belos for her level of being unlikeable. Sure Belos is just being the 'obvious bad guy' and even Kikimora is a bit more of a 'comical villain', but Odalia is kind of in a 'class by herself' since she is a WHOLE different breed of bad. Odalia Blight is just the kind of person who uses her family as a reason to justify her actions that are only meant to actually benefit her and her image. Especially considering she seemed to do nothing but psychologically manipulate and abuse her own children (specifically Amity) just to get her way and is shown to not really care much for Alador as a 'significant other/spouse' on a genuine level and only really cares about him from a 'business perspective' to help her stay on top. To quote Eda, Odalia Blight is BAD… 'and not the hot kind of bad'. Lol. XD But, and this is where my theory comes in, what if Odalia was the 'reason' behind why things went sour between Alador and Darius? Stick with me! It has already pretty much been flat-out confirmed that Odalia and Alador met and started dating while they were at Hexside before eventually marrying and having their children. And when we saw Odalia standing to the side as Alador and Darius were playing around on the school steps, what if that really was 'her place' in the dynamic between the three of them? Alador and Darius would initiate a 'hangout' with Odalia just 'inserting herself' into the situation as Alador's girlfriend to make Darius feel like a 'third wheel', especially later down the line. And if we've seen how horrible of a person Odalia is as an adult, I HIGHLY doubt she got that way overnight. Because I can envision teenage Odalia totally being that kind of 'popular, snooty mean girl' that constantly wanted everything to go 'her way or the highway'. And I can ESPECIALLY see her being the cause of Alador going from this 'cool, vibrant, and mischievous dueling champion' at brawls to becoming this overworked, exhausted man who has just had the 'life' and 'soul' ripped out of him by his wife's manipulation. As you saw in the Library, her 'telepathic amulet' technique was something she hasn't just decided to use on Amity to keep her 'under her thumb screws'. I thought it would seem SO in character if she also used that 'method' before on Alador to make him into her 'ideal boyfriend' to do whatever she wanted him to do through 'threats' and even 'bribery'. In this instance, she was both threatening him to 'cut Darius loose' if he decided not to take her side in the argument and also 'bribed him' that she would 'do something for him' if he did take her side. And you can probably take a pretty decent guess what kind of 'thing/things' Odalia probably offered to do for Alador as her boyfriend. If you don't know… well, then you're probably a little too young to be reading this 'T-Rated' fic if I'm being honest here. Haha. Well, I don't want to say anymore to avoid spoiling Darius's arc in this story that I have in mind, but I just wanted to show you all my take on that start of Odalia being the cause of the 'beginning of the end' of Alador and Darius's friendship by using Alador to keep his best friend from associating himself with someone [i.e. Lilith] that she thought was a 'freak and loser' from her perspective. Well, until Odalia 'changed her tune' on Lilith once she became the head of the Emperor's Coven and even supported her taking Amity under her wing as an apprentice, which you can all imagine probably made Darius even more put out and bitter later on at all the hypocrisy going on there. And even though the 'thing' with Lilith was a big cause of their rift, it wasn't the WHOLE reason why Darius eventually cut himself off from Alador and pretty much 'estranged' himself from their friendship and even Alador as a whole. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and brace yourself for some BIG TIME Huntlow next chapter! ;) Thank you all so much again for reading and constructive feedback is always very much appreciated.
Stay Classy!
Dexter1995
P.S. Just a fair warning, I am going on a week's vacation soon and have some busy weekends coming up. So, if you possibly don't see an update for a week or two… that's probably why. That and I also want to make sure I write the next Huntlow chapter as well as I can. Thanks, everyone for understanding! :)