"Well this is disappointing," Edric said to himself as he examined the pitiful excuse for an abomination before him. It was about as tall as he was, which meant it was a damn midget. The arms were misshapen and looked way too gooey for his liking. The left leg was definitely at least a few inches shorter than the right. And the face...
"If Darius ever saw this he'd probably disown me as a student on principle," Edric sighed dismissing his creation. "I don't get it. Even the first abomination I ever made was better than this. I figured I probably wouldn't be lucky enough to retain all the skills and power I gained in the future but this is just embarrassing..." The really sad part was that this wasn't even his first try. He'd made four other abominations since getting back to his room and that one was actually the best one so far, even if it was by an admittedly small margin. To make matters worse he already felt exhausted.
His magical power probably wasn't any stronger than a regular seven year old. That was disappointing but not really surprising. There was no reason to assume his memories of the future would directly affect his magic or bile sack. What was surprising was just how little control he had.
Most spells didn't have a static cost. Even with a child's magical power he should've been able to make at least a couple dozen of those low quality abominations before he even began to feel winded. Unfortunately it seemed that on top of his magical power being nerfed, his control and efficiency had also taken a serious hit. Each time he cast a spell he could feel the lion's share of the energy he spent being wasted. But Edric tried not to let himself get too discouraged. The very fact that he could feel the energy being wasted was a good sign after all. He didn't think children his age were normally able to recognize that kind of thing which implied that at least some of the instincts he'd built up had been retained. And even if his experience didn't directly translate to power or skill, he was pretty sure that his memories of learning magic the first time around would still help him grow faster and more efficiently.
Who knows, maybe having to relearn the basics would actually be good for him long term. Edric hadn't considered himself lazy the first time around but he hadn't been particularly ambitious either. He'd only wanted to do well enough at school that his parents wouldn't complain. This time he'd be shooting a bit higher than that.
While children had low magic quantities and efficiency they also had some pretty big advantages over adults. For one thing they recovered magic quickly. Edric's small magic stores would likely be back to full in only a couple of hours. They also grew and learned faster in a lot of ways. Edric could think of quite a few training methods that were far more effective if used at a young age and he intended to abuse that fact heavily.
For now though, he was too exhausted to really do something like that. He could maybe crank out one more pathetic abomination if he was willing to totally exhaust himself but there wasn't much point. While using his magic would cause it to grow faster, totally draining himself on a regular basis would do more harm than good.
This meant that Edric was once again at a loss for how to spend his time. Sure he could just wait in his room for his magic to regenerate but at this point that felt cowardly. If he was being honest, he already knew what he wanted to do right now. It was past 8 AM at this point and he knew Amity would likely be awake at this point. He couldn't really remember a time when she wasn't an early riser.
There was no denying that Edric's main goal in this timeline was stopping Belos and saving everyone's lives. A part of him felt obligated to focus all of his attention on that goal and ignore everything else. But Edric had other regrets too. Ones that weren't really related to the grand scheme of things. His relationship with Amity was one of the bigger ones. He didn't know how things had gotten so bad in the first place, but finding out that one of their 'harmless' pranks had almost gotten their little sister killed had been a massive wake up call for the twins. It honestly surprised him how easily the girl had forgiven them for that.
After their adventure on the Knee, the dynamic between the siblings got a lot better. The twins still pranked and teased their little sister whenever she gave them the chance, but the overall tone of their interactions had changed dramatically. Their jokes became far more lighthearted than before and their little sister actually seemed to enjoy their company more often than not. At some point Amity even started coming to them for help and advice. Emira was probably more helpful than him, but Edric was surprised by how much he enjoyed playing the role of a reliable older brother. Unfortunately it wasn't a role he was qualified for. When the chips were down he'd been less than useless. But things were going to be different this time around. He'd make sure of it.
Edric had already decided not to change anything too important for now since doing so might have unpredictable effects on the timeline. But that was mainly for events that could affect Belos and the Boiling Isles as a whole. Changing how he treated his family shouldn't cause anything that significant. It was also unavoidable on some level. Edric had neither the memory nor the acting skills to recreate his actions from the original timeline and frankly he didn't think he could go through with it if he did. If things were going to change either way then he might as well try to give his sisters a better childhood.
So, in the end, Edric had two major objectives that he wanted to accomplish by the age of 16. The first was to become an incredibly powerful witch who could give even the Emperor himself a run for his money... and the second was to turn the Blights into something resembling a functional family. He could only sigh at the fact that both goals seemed equally daunting at the moment. But even the longest journeys began with a single step. For his first goal that had meant testing out his abomination magic to get a clear view of his current capabilities. Now it was time he took a step towards his second goal.
The walk to Amity's room was like a trip down memory lane for Edric. The halls were lined with a few family portraits and an excessive amount of expensive and, in Edric's humble opinion, tacky artwork. That was a bit unfair. He definitely didn't know enough about art to actually judge any of the paintings and sculptures he passed by. But he was fairly certain the same could be said for his parents, despite his mother's attempts to convince people otherwise.
He didn't run into any Witches on his way but he did pass by a few abomination servants. That wasn't surprising really. Blight Manor was one of the biggest houses in the Boiling Isles and it was staffed mostly with his father's creations. It was honestly kind of eerie how empty this place could feel when you wandered its halls alone.
When Edric finally reached Amity's door he decided not to hesitate this time. He knocked on the door immediately and waited for a response. When no one answered he knocked again, idly wondering if he'd somehow gotten the room wrong. He was certain this was where Amity's teenage bedroom was, but it was possible she had a different one at this age for some reason. Then again it was also possible that even a child as precocious as Amity couldn't resist sleeping in on a Saturday. Edric grabbed the knob and found that the door wasn't locked. Rather than stand around doubting himself he might as well check whether Amity was inside.
Edric slowly opened the door and was slightly surprised to find that Amity was both present and awake. She was sitting at her desk with her back turned to him. Whatever she was reading clearly had her enthralled and it seemed like she hadn't noticed his presence yet.
He wanted to call out to her but his voice caught in his throat. He didn't know what to say to her, but he didn't want to just stand there like a statue either. So he began to walk closer to her, thinking perhaps she'd hear him and start the conversation herself.
Seeing Emira as a child again had been a strange experience to say the least, but it had been somewhat overshadowed by the fact that he was seeing Emira again, period. Maybe it was because Emira had been such a constant presence in his life. He recognized that there were probably some huge differences between the Emira he'd woken up this morning and the older one he remembered losing, but they honestly felt trivial on some level. Emira was Emira. It didn't matter too much that she wasn't a teenager anymore because he knew the child Emira just as well.
Amity's age hit a lot harder. At first he only noticed the physical differences. She looked so small he had a feeling he could pick her up easily despite being a child himself. And her hair was still brown instead of green or lavender. He couldn't recall the last time he'd seen it without any dye. She was also far less observant than her teenage self. She still hadn't noticed him despite the fact that he wasn't really trying to be stealthy at all.
He still wasn't sure what to say and for a moment he considered simply whispering "Boo" into her ear. A childish prank like that would certainly be a simple and natural way to start a conversation with his sister. It wouldn't seem strange or out of character at all. But it also definitely wouldn't endear him to her, so he quickly discarded the idea. And as he got a closer look at her he noticed something that made him very glad he hadn't gone through with it.
Simply put, Amity was not ok. He hadn't been able to notice it from a distance but his little sister was trembling. Her cheeks were wet and her eyes were bloodshot. She looked completely miserable.
When he got close enough he glanced down at her desk, hoping to get some hint as to what was causing her distress. Sadly what he saw only added to his confusion. Amity was staring at the final pages of a familiar children's book. Now personally Edric had some mixed feelings about Otabin. He had nothing against the book's quirky characters or simple themes but it was hard to look at it and not get reminded of the time he'd almost gotten his sister killed by drawing eyebrows on a fictional character. But while Edric might have some slight misgivings about Otabin, it was Amity's favorite book at this age. He couldn't think of a reason why looking at it would make her sad. Honestly Edric wasn't very good at reading people in general. It was clear that if he wanted to know what was going on with his sister, his only real option was to ask her.
"Amity," he said softly as he gently tapped his sister on the shoulder. He hoped his calm voice would prevent Amity from being too startled by his sudden presence, but it seemed he'd underestimated just how agitated his sister was. Her chair clattered to the floor and she fell to the ground with a yelp. She looked up at him.
"Are you ok Amity?" Edric asked as he offered her a hand. She seemed surprised at the question and gazed at the hand with obvious distrust in her eyes. Edric winced at the thought that she'd probably expected some kind of mockery for falling over rather than concern for her wellbeing.
After a few seconds of shocked hesitation, the girl attempted to stealthily wipe the tears from her face before giving Edric a defiant look. "What are you doing sneaking into my room Ed?" Amity asked. "Did you come here to prank me?" Edric knew his sister was trying to sound angry but it was impossible to be threatening with such an adorable voice.
"Just wanted to come see my favorite little sister," Edric replied in a casual tone. He was rather proud of himself for sounding so composed. "And I didn't mean to be sneaky. I knocked on the door but you didn't answer."
"Liar!" Amity accused as she smacked his hand away. "You're just here to mess with me like always. Or you're distracting me so Emira can do something!"
Edric tried not to feel offended by her probably justified suspicion, but he couldn't stop a little hurt from reaching his eyes. He tried to play it off with a joke. "Emira's still resting Amity. You know she needs extra beauty sleep to keep up with my dashing good looks. And I'm not here to mess with you. I just want to talk, I promise." She gave him a skeptical look but he continued. "It's pretty obvious that something's bothering you. If you tell me what happened I'll do my best to help."
Amity seemed to consider his offer for a moment but then she closed her eyes curling up into a ball on the floor. "I don't want to talk to you," she said, trying and failing to keep her voice composed. "Just leave me alone. You wouldn't be able to help anyway."
Edric sighed. "I'm sorry Amity. I know I haven't been the most reliable brother. But please give me a chance here. Even if I can't help, maybe talking about what's wrong will make you feel better."
His sister didn't respond. She just ignored him and curled up even tighter. Edric looked at her sadly for a bit before he had an idea.
"Well if you won't talk to me," he said, before making a spell circle with his finger. "Then maybe you'll talk to my little friend here!"
Amity's eyes shot open as she heard a small poof noise directly in front of her face. When the smoke cleared away she was surprised to see a tiny Otabin standing in front of her. "Howdy Amity," it said in the most goofy, ridiculous, high pitch voice that Edric could think of. "Your big brother told me you were feeling down and he asked me to come over and cheer you up."
"That's not what Otabin sounds like." Amity protested.
"Oh sorry I must have something in my throat," Otabin replied before coughing for a bit. "There that's much better," he said in a deep and burly voice that was somehow even sillier than the previous one. Amity giggled despite herself. "That's wrong too."
"Nonsense. This is what all bookmakers sound like. Now why don't you tell us all about your troubles, Amity?"
The girl briefly turned to glance at her brother who had just sat down on the floor next to her and was giving her a supportive smile. She wasn't a baby. She knew this Otabin was just an illusion he'd created. What she didn't know was why. Why did he suddenly care how she was feeling? Why was he being so nice to her? She knew her brother cared about her on some level but he was rarely this insistent about anything. It felt kind of nice if she was being honest. She still didn't think Edric could help her but maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk about what happened. With Otabin of course...
"Willow and I had a fight last week," Amity started slowly. "It was at my birthday party. I said some really nasty things to her and I told her we can't be friends anymore." Amity's eyes started to tear up again.
'So that's what happened,' Edric thought to himself. That explained why his sister was so distraught. He remembered how close Willow and Amity used to be when they were little. It was almost like Amity had seen how close her siblings were and set out to find a twin of her own. And then suddenly they were enemies. He'd always been curious what had happened between them but he wasn't exactly Amity's confidant back then. Whatever happened between them, he knew it wasn't completely unfixable. They became friends again in the original timeline even if it was years later. Who's to say they couldn't patch things up faster in this one.
"Everyone makes mistakes, Amity." Otabin answered for him. "Sometimes we hurt the people we care about. But just because a friendship is damaged doesn't mean you can't repair it. It's no different than repairing a book. You just have to talk to Willow and apologize."
"That won't work," Amity said sadly. "I can't just apologize. It wouldn't fix anything..."
"I don't know if you know this Amity, but I literally wrote the book on friendship. I don't like to toot my own horn but I'm considered something of an expert on the field. I promise that if you and Willow just talk things out there's nothing you can't fix."
"No! You don't understand. I can't apologize. Me and Willow can't be friends again. Mom said if we were..." She stopped short as Edric let the realization hit him. Of course their parents were involved in this. How could he have ever assumed otherwise?
"What did they threaten you with, Amity?" Edric asked directly, not bothering to use Otabin as a middle man. "Whatever it was, I promise I'll help you deal with it. You don't need to be afraid." Edric had no idea how he was going to keep that promise, but he'd figure something out. He wasn't going to let their parents ruin his sister's childhood again.
"They didn't threaten me..." Amity admitted eventually. "They threatened Willow. They said she wasn't good enough to be my friend, and that they'd keep her out of Hexside if I kept hanging around her."
Edric clenched his fist. He wanted to say he was surprised, but he'd seen his parents get Amity's entire friend group expelled as punishment for some minor slight. The fact that they were capable of something like that wasn't news to him. What bothered him was that something like this had been going on for so long and he'd had no clue about it. It made him wonder what else Amity had gone through without his knowledge. Did Emira ever have to deal with things like this too?
"Edric?" Amity interrupted his thoughts. He hadn't spoken for a while and she was staring at him with a look of concern. He did his best to school his expression into a confident smile.
"Don't worry Amity," he said, gently ruffling his sister's hair. "Mom and dad should be eating breakfast right about now. I'll go talk to them and get this all sorted out."
"What?" Amity yelped in surprise. She'd been expecting some words of encouragement or maybe a hug. She hadn't expected her brother to think he could solve the problem himself.
"Edric no! Please don't mention this to them, it'll only make things worse."
"Amity, trust me. I can handle our parents."
"But what if they get mad? What if they decide to keep Willow out of school?" Amity asked frantically. "You don't need to help me. I didn't have friends before I met Willow. I'll be fine without her."
"But you're not fine," Edric replied firmly, looking his sister in the eye. "And neither is this situation. You understand that this isn't normal right? This isn't how a family is supposed to act."
The only response Amity gave was an unconvincing nod. Edric gave his sister what he hoped was a comforting hug. "I promise that no matter what happens I won't let things get worse for Willow. Just have a little faith in your older brother ok."
"You're only a year older than me..." Amity protested weakly.
"A year and a half," Edric corrected cheekily. "I'm told the half is important. Besides," he muttered in a slightly more somber voice. "You'd be surprised how much a person can change in a year..."
"What does that mean?" Amity asked, clearly perturbed by his tone shift.
Edric grinned as he patted the top of her head. "It means that a year ago I was only a few inches taller than you are Mittens, and now I've got almost a foot on you."
Amity gave him a sour look, but she didn't complain about his use of her nickname. "I'll be taller than you someday" she declared.
"If that's your goal then you should probably try to sleep in more," Edric advised as he got up. "I'm going to go talk to Mom and Dad now. Do you want to come with me or stay here?" he asked, offering her his hand once again. This time she took it.
"I wanna come," Amity confirmed. "Do you really think they'll listen though?"
"Don't worry Amity," Edric reassured her. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve..."
To be honest, Edric had no idea how he was going to convince them. His father probably didn't care too much whether Willow and Amity were friends, but his mother could be ridiculously hardheaded at the best of times. Still, he was confident he'd manage somehow. His parents could be a handful but he'd lived through too much to be intimidated by either of them.
AN: I'm starting to notice this story has way too many sad children. I guess that's my own fault for choosing to have Edric go back to a week after Amity's tragic backstory. Hopefully the sadness will die down soon and I can take a break from having a crying child in every chapter.
Speaking of sadness, we've only got one episode of the actual show left. The second to last episode was pretty great. I was surprised they squeezed a miniboss fight in so close to the end, but they did a really good job using that conflict to progress a lot of different character arcs at the same time. I'm also pretty happy that the episode kind of reinforced my opinions on who both Edric and the Collector are as characters. The Collector in particular could very well have been a heartless monster but I'm glad he's turning out to be more of an overpowered child instead. Also apparently he really did have some kind of assigned purpose that he chose to defy, which matches a part of the poem from chapter 2 that I really had no actual basis for. Overall though, I don't think the second episode will affect this story much.