A/N: Hello. Yes, this chapter is over a month late. I won't bore you with the whos and whys, but let's just say that between this site's glitches and problems and things in my personal life taking a nose-dive, I struggled to get this chapter finished as quickly as I usually do. And I have a feeling that is going to be the case for future updates for the time being as well. Either way, let me once again take the opportunity to thank everyone who has favourited, followed, reviewed and read this story (even though I can't see the stats right now). Your continued support is greatly appreciated. Quick reminder that this fanfic is also over on AO3 too under the same username, just in case this site ever goes down and you need to find me elsewhere. But I digress. Responses to reviews and chapter comments will be at the bottom of the chapter, but in the meantime, I hope you guys like the update despite having to wait over a month for it.


Chapter 59: Reckless Repetition

With King gladly leading the way and the medical supplies box still in her grasp, Lizzie jogged after the little demon through the Owl House and back to the now empty living room, the front door to the cottage still wide open and Hooty's elongated body visibly stretching outside. There was no sign of Eda, Lilith, Xander or Bandit, causing a lump to form in the blonde witch's throat that she was forced to swallow as King led her to the front door. But the situation didn't fully hit Lizzie until she stood with the little demon underneath the canopy outside, her body visibly slumping at the sight she was met with.

'Oh, Titan…'

On the large patch of hardened ground in front of the cottage outlined by what remained of the red grass coating the cliff side, thick white lines were drawn to represent a rectangular grudgby court, split down the middle by a large circle and two smaller vertical lines at its top and bottom. At the end of the court close to the Owl House, Lilith was setting up a goal post with a metal pole base and an upside-down triangular goal constructed of small rectangle strips of wood and rulers tied together by thick red rope. A net was attached to the back of the makeshift goal and the metal pole was being supposed by one silver broom with blue bristles and one wooden broom—Lizzie recognised a lot of those items to be part of Eda's hoarding collection, so she didn't doubt for one second that the Owl Lady had provided all the materials for this crazy scheme of hers. And speaking of Eda, Lizzie spied the Owl Lady on the other side of the court setting up the second goal post, pretty much using the same materials that Lilith had, the only difference being her metal post was supported by red rope tied around a plank of wood placed inside of a dark-green trash can.

But wait! The madness didn't end there! Because one brief glance to her right to follow the direction of Hooty's body revealed the house demon himself lingering a small distance away from the court and hovering over a small section of red grass, watching the court set-up on with a silent and beady stare. His neck was once again coiled around a still unconscious Xander's body, trapping his arms against his limp upper-body and forcing him to sit on the ground with his legs spread out like a motionless puppet. Bandit was currently on his owner's shoulders and gripping something white and square in his mouth, though Lizzie was too far away to properly make out what it was (she had a hunch it was probably Xander's eyepatch, because that was the closest thing she recalled Xander wearing that matched the object from this distance).

The blonde witch released a loud and irritated sigh, her free hand running its fingers through her fringe with a harsh tug. 'I should have seen this coming. If I hadn't been so preoccupied with Lilith and Xander trespassing, I would have connected the dots of Eda's strange behaviour sooner…'

Lizzie's attention was drawn back to the pretend court when she heard Eda shout her way as soon as she spotted her and King under the canopy, seeing the Owl Lady jogging her way over with a goofy grin.

"Ah, Redwood! There you are!" When Eda joined them, she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder in Hooty's and Xander's direction. "If you're looking for Mister Tool, Hooty's babysitting him." She leaned forward a little and cupped the side of her mouth with a palm and winked. "Gotta make sure he doesn't try anything while I show my dorky sister up!"

Sadly for Eda, Lizzie was not amused in the slightest, evidenced by the scowl she gave the older witch as she placed her hands to her hips.

"What are you doing?" she questioned sternly, wiping the grin off the Owl Lady's face when she straightened up with a forced blink.

"What do you mean 'what are you doing'? I'm about to kick my paper-pushing sister's butt at grudgby!"

"And why would you do that?"

Eda crossed her arms against her chest and stuck her nose up to the sky with closed eyes. "'cause for once I decided to take the responsible route!"

Lizzie raised a brow at this, prompting King to place his paw close to his mouth and tilt towards Lizzie with drooped eyes.

"She missed out the part where she got jealous of the attention you gave Lilith and Lilith's teasing for it after you left," he explained in a low voice.

Unfortunately for the little demon, Eda still heard him.

"King!" Eda snapped as she glared down at him, causing King to yelp with a harsh jolt of his body that made his fur stand on end.

"Called it," Lizzie stated monotonously and rolled her eyes, earning herself a flippant wave of dismissal from her technical employer.

"Oh, don't look at me like that!"

"Then don't yell at King for telling the truth!"

"What's the big deal?!" Eda gave an opened-arm shrug. "Luz is always challenging people to things and it usually works out! So, why shouldn't I give it a try?"

"Because you're an adult witch who should know better," Lizzie retaliated while leaning forward on her toes a bit, internally wishing there was a physical way to knock some common sense into the older witch's head.

"You're darn tootin' I know better!" Eda replied defensively and held up her palms with the sharp turn of her head to the left. "That's why my future is the only one being gambled away this time!"

That caused alarm bells to start going off inside of Lizzie's head, making the blonde witch squint and point a finger at Eda accusingly with gritted teeth. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means if I lose, I'll go with Lilith to the Emperor's Coven willingly," Eda explained without missing a beat, as if she'd expected Lizzie to question it. "But if Lilith loses, she and Tool-guy leave my property empty-handed."

King's eyes almost bulged from his bony head at how casually the Owl Lady answered Lizzie's question, having already been aware of the 'deal' due to being witness to the exchange between the Clawthorne sisters. But one brief glance towards the frozen and quiet blonde witch beside him soon had the little demon recoiling stiffly at the sharp twitch her jaw did upon processing the response.

"Please tell me you didn't seal it with an everlasting oath!" she hissed.

"No!" Eda cried aghast and placed a hand to her chest, acting like Lizzie had just shot her with a petrification spell. "Geez, Redwood! I know I'm reckless, but I'm not stupid!"

"Could have fooled me."

Lizzie's grumble earned her a loud snort from King, who wrapped an arm round his middle and pointed a claw at Eda. "HA!"

The Owl Lady's left eye and lips twitched, yet she soon returned her focus to her technical charge with an irritated huff. "Look, I get it." Eda lifted her other hand to eye level and flapped her fingers up and down in time with her next words, as if imitating the movement of a mouth. "That was still a stupid thing to do! What if by chance she beats you?! Yadda, yadda, yadda!"—Lizzie's lips pursed at Eda's terrible impression of her, though her annoyance was short-lived—"Well, you don't have anything to worry about. Because I learnt my lesson from Covention."

Lizzie's expression relaxed at hearing Eda say this, an immense amount of relief washing over her like a calm wave. "You did?"

"Sure!" Eda lazily rolled her hand about with drooped eyes. "Ideally, I would have roughed it out with my sister like we did when we were girls. But I thought this was a more peaceful way of resolving things." Eda reached over to give the front of Lizzie's hair a quick ruffle, earning an involuntary flinch from the younger witch. "Can't have you getting hurt again." She pulled away to point her thumb in Xander's and Hooty's direction. "Also thought it was a good way of keeping Tool-bag under control."

Lizzie allowed her gaze to follow where Eda was pointing with a slight gape, unable to believe what she was hearing.

'Huh. What do you know. Maybe Eda is thinking more responsibly this time.'

"And if things go south,"—Eda continued with a smirk and patted her hand against the back of her grey and white-streaked bushy hair, lowering her voice with a sly wink to match—"I still have my trusty ol' tips and tricks to hand! Lily won't know what hit 'er!"

That shattered Lizzie's expectations faster than the time Hooty smashed through one of the living room windows from overexcitement, twisting the blonde witch's lips and crinkling her nose in disbelief.

"You're still going to—?!" Lizzie shrieked, but before she could finish, Eda clamped her palm over the younger witch's mouth to stop the word 'cheat' (which she knew Lizzie was going to say) from leaving her lips.

"Sssh!" The Owl Lady shushed, only for all three pairs of eyes from our mismatched trio to immediately turn to the makeshift grudgby court where Lilith was lingering by her goal with her arms folded and her back facing them. When she was certain her sister wasn't listening to them, Eda dropped her hand from Lizzie's mouth and resumed her response in a quiet voice. "But yes." She held up a finger. "Only as a last resort. I did play grudgby fairly up to a point, I'll have you know. So, before you start judging—"

Lizzie stopped Eda from continuing with the raise of her palm, her other hand's fingers rubbing at one of her temples. "No, no. I get it. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and all that." She scowled. "Doesn't mean I approve either way."

Eda grinned cheekily and harshly nudged the younger witch in the ribs with her elbow, causing her to jerk and yelp out of surprise. "That's the spirit!" She ignored the eye roll Lizzie gave her and twirled an index finger in the air to conjure a tiny spell circle. "Leave Lilith with me."—A grudgby ball from the makeshift court become surrounded in a golden outline and flung itself towards the Owl Lady from her right, which she managed to snag between her palms and cause the effects of the spell to disperse without breaking eye contact—"You just focus on cleaning up Tool-bag, all right?"

Lizzie relented with a heavy sigh and a tired nod. "Fine." She pointed towards the cottage's second floor. "But only if I can flash them with my potions if you lose so we can make a quick getaway."

Eda snorted and shot Lizzie a wink. "You know me too well, Redwood!"

"It's been three years, Owl Lady," Lizzie deadpanned. "You think I would by now."

The sound of someone loudly clearing their throat interrupted the two witches' teasing exchange, turning the trio's heads to where Lilith was standing beside her goalpost with her arms behind her back and a stoic expression on her face.

"Are you trying to stall your inevitable failure, dear sister?" Lilith said sarcastically and held out her palm at Lizzie. "If you're embarrassed of being shown up in front of your adoring fan, I'll happily take you straight to the emperor now and help Xander deal with Elisabeth at a later date."

"Ha! You wish!" Eda forced out a laugh and swirled to face Lilith with a cocky smile, holding up her index finger to balance the grudgby ball on its tip. "Lizzie doesn't care if I win or lose! Not that I will lose!" Using her other hand, Eda flicked the side of the grudgby ball and allowed it to spin repeatedly on top of her finger, strolling over to her side of the court with her nose to the air and her back as straight as a pin. "I was just making sure King was getting the scoreboard and his 'armour of intimidation' ready."

Lizzie raised a brow at the last thing Eda said, naturally not understanding what she was referring to. "Armour of what—?"

"Oh, yeah!" King exclaimed and smacked his paws to his bony cheeks with a resounding slap. "My armour of intimidation! I almost forgot!" Before Lizzie even had a chance to question the little demon on the matter, he was running back inside the Owl House with excited panting. "I'll be right back!"

Lizzie waited until King disappeared into the living room hallway to look over her shoulder at Eda with a wide blink, who was now standing in front of her own goalpost with the grudgby ball still spinning away on her finger. "What was that all about?"

But Eda only gave the younger witch a devilish smirk and placed her finger to her lips, chuckling to herself for a few seconds. "Oh, just wait and see, Redwood~."

That did nothing to reassure Lizzie in the slightest, but she soon brushed it off with a small huff and shake of the head.

'I should focus on cleaning Xander before he wakes up. He probably won't appreciate seeing me messing with his face.'

As Lizzie started to turn away from the cottage, she caught Eda's dark blue photo album closed on the coffee table in her peripheral vision, bringing her to a screeching halt and her body to face the living room once more. Her previous conversation with Eda before Hooty's unexpected interruption sprung to the forefront of her mind, reminding her that she never got the chance to confirm her suspicions earlier.

'Hm…' The semblance of an idea bubbled away in her head as Lizzie stole one sideways glance at Eda (who was preoccupied with the grudgby ball she was bouncing up and down with her palm) and then the closed binder on the table. Really, Lizzie thought that she should at least ask considering it was Eda's property, but then again… 'I'm sure Eda wouldn't mind if I borrowed that photo album for a little bit, right? Saves me bugging her about the matter later.'


After pinching Eda's photo album from the coffee table, Lizzie headed over to her still unconscious and Hooty-bodied bound cousin, tying his eyepatch over his scarred eye at Bandit's strange—and Eda translated—insistence (though Lizzie assumed it had something to do with Xander not wanting anyone to see it, because why else would he bother keeping it covered otherwise?). In the meantime, while waiting for King, Eda designated Hooty as the referee since King was the score taker, causing the owl demon to excitedly exclaim how he could finally use that new blue cap and whistle he'd supposedly pinched from one of Eda's cupboards upstairs (something Eda and Lizzie were apparently oblivious to until now, which made the former sternly warn Hooty she was taking those back when this was over) and then briefly disappear into the Owl House, only to return with said cap plopped atop his head and said whistle round his neck. Lizzie had no idea how Hooty managed to put those on himself (and really… she didn't want to know), but needless to say, she thought he looked ridiculous. Of course, the ridiculousness didn't just stop at Hooty…

When King eventually returned carrying a small black chalkboard and bright yellow chalk, he was wearing a cheerleader's outfit with a dark yellow and white sleeveless vest and short dark yellow skirt, coupled with a white and dark yellow pair of pompoms under his arms. Needless to say, Eda was the only one muffling her laughter at the little demon proudly showing off his new 'armour of intimidation' ensemble, while poor Lizzie was left bewildered and conflictedly pondering on whether she should say something or leave King to his obliviousness to avoid embarrassing him; she ended up going with the latter upon reminding herself of the whole kafuffle with his 'Crown of Power', the thought of dashing King's confidence and making him fall back into the depressive and sad state he'd been in back then causing a shudder down her spine. At least he had Hooty to be ridiculous with, she concluded as a form of reassurance.

Once King had set up the chalkboard close to where Lizzie was sitting to Xander's right and she helped him neatly write and underline Eda's name on the left side and neatly write and underline Lilith's name on the right side (King could write, but his handwriting was a bit scruffy), the little demon stood next to the board with his pompoms in his paws ready for the game to begin. Lizzie, on the other hand, who was sitting with her legs flat on the ground, was busy using the medical wipes to clear away the dried blood streaking from Xander's nose, ignoring Bandit curiously peeking from where he'd perched himself on her left shoulder. As a result, Lizzie wasn't paying any attention to what was happening on the court, leaving King and Hooty (who had stretched himself around the right side of the court to hover on the line that separated the two halves) as the only witnesses to the Clawthorne sisters simultaneously strolling to the middle from their respective goals. Lilith approached with her hands clasped behind her back, her chin and nose tilted to the sky and her eyes closed, giving off a poised and serious air to the awaiting challenge. In comparison to her older sister, however, Eda made her way forward in a more lax and laidback manner, carrying the grudgby ball under her left arm and giving Lilith the cockiest smile she could muster.

"Yeesh!" King said in a low voice, finally drawing Lizzie's attention towards the court as both sisters stopped on the edges of the circle, with Lilith opening her eyes and lowering her head to Eda with a piercing glare. "I still can't believe those two are sisters! They're so different!"

"Well, King, it's like Eda said earlier," Lizzie responded in kind, her green eyes focusing on Eda when the Owl Lady's smile seemed to widen at Lilith's attempt to intimidate her. "If it hadn't been for the curse, the resemblance would have been more obvious." Her eyes drooped when she briefly glanced at Lilith, her next comment muttered under her breath. "And Lilith probably dyeing and straightening her hair."

King still heard her, evidenced by the evil little giggle he gave her in reply. But at least Lilith hadn't, even though Lizzie was probably right

Hooty's overly enthusiastic voice brought Lizzie's and King's focus to the grudgby court once more. "Are you gals ready to hoot?!" Hooty didn't wait for either Eda and Lilith to respond or react before he continued. "Just like a regular grudgby match, points are scored when a team puts the ball through their opponent's goal. Since we don't have a time limit, the winner of this game will be whoever scores six points first."—Hooty glanced between Lilith and Eda a few seconds each—"Also, we're conducting a nice, clean game here, so there won't be any magic allowed!"

"No magic?!" King exclaimed with a frown, looking up at Lizzie to see her unfazed reaction to this revelation. "But Eda said magic was allowed in the original rules!"

"During an official match, yes," Lizzie clarified as she observed Eda and Lilith spreading their legs apart to get into wide and defensive stances. "But this is just a silly competition. They both agreed not to attack one another to avoid accidentally hurting one of us or causing damage, like they did back at Covention."

"Oh…" King slowly nodded in understanding. "I guess that makes sense." However, his frown deepened when he looked back to the court and scratched a claw at the side of his head, seeing Eda shoot Lilith a smirk while Lilith responded with a deepened and determined frown. "But didn't Eda also say the court had, like… magic traps too? Are those also not allowed?"

"After what happened with Eda's traps back at Covention? No, they're not. But I wouldn't worry about that." The blonde witch's eyes narrowed at seeing Hooty take the whistle into his beak in preparation to blow it, his ever-cheery, semblant smile remaining intact on his circular face all the while. "Apparently, Hooty has that area covered."

King cringed and brought the pompoms in his paws close to his front, his shoulders hunching. "… Should I ask?"

"I wouldn't."

The pair's chatter was interrupted temporarily by Hooty loudly blowing the whistle, signalling for the match to begin. But instead of watching what was happening on the court, Lizzie instantly resumed her earlier task, something King acknowledged the sight of with a raised brow.

"Aren't you going to watch?" he asked.

Lizzie shook her head without breaking eye contact, managing to hear him over the grunts, loud breathing and thudding footsteps sounding from the Clawthorne sisters on the grudgby court. "I'll pass. Unless things turn ugly, there's no need for me to be involved."

'Not to mention it's a little sad watching two middle-aged siblings getting competitive because of childhood jealously.'

For Eda's sake (and in case her 'sharp hearing'—assuming the curse had enhanced that as well—happened to catch that no matter how quiet she said it aloud), Lizzie did the wise thing in keeping that comment to herself. The last thing she needed to do was bruise Eda's pride even further during an already tense situation and accidentally throw her off her game.

But then King caught sight of Eda's photo album closed in Lizzie's lap, causing his head to tilt to the side out of confusion. "What are you doing with Eda's Hexside pictures anyways?"

"Just some sleuthing."

"Oooooh!" From the corner of her eyes, Lizzie saw King's eyes widen with an excited glint and the furious wagging of his tail. "Trying to dig up dirt on Eda, huh?"

Lizzie clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. "You know I'm not that childish, King, especially towards Eda."

"Then what are you doing?"

"I'm just checking if the suspicions I have about something I asked Eda earlier is correct or not."

"Ugh! Sounds boring!" King complained, with Lizzie catching the little demon's skull-like nose scrunching when he crossed his arms across his chest. "I should have expected that from a book nerd."

"I don't recall asking for your opinion," Lizzie jokingly retorted, earning herself a little high-pitched titter from Bandit still on her shoulder. Without breaking concentration, she took one hand away from Xander's face and gave King a shooing gesture, oblivious to the pout and stomp the little demon gave the ferret palisman for his display of amusement. "You just focus on keeping track of Eda's and Lilith's antics, okay?"

"Whatever," he relented with a loud huff, his shoulders drooping as he walked away to the chalkboard and dragged his pompoms with him along the ground. "Watching Lilith and Eda making fools of themselves is much more entertaining than whatever you're doing."

"… Sure," Lizzie said under her breath.

But as she returned her attention to Xander, she paused with her cleaning to take in his slumped form and unconscious face with a deepened frown, Lilith's and Eda's argument about Xander protecting Lilith from Hooty instantly springing to mind.

At the time she hadn't given it much thought, not only because she'd been preoccupied with the current and dangerous situation at hand, but also because part of her wanted to believe that Xander had only done it to keep up a good act around Lilith. She still recalled vividly on 'the-day-that-they-agreed-not-to-discuss' how Xander had practically slandered Lilith right in her face after cornering her in that alleyway, calling the coven leader 'naïve' in threatening whispers and essentially confirming Eda's previous suspicions of him weaponizing Lilith's situation with her to his advantage during Covention. Coupling that with what she knew about him now and how he'd also jumped to Lilith's defence when she'd impulsively fired that fire spell in the older witch's direction protecting Eda, Lizzie wouldn't have been surprised if Xander's actions were fuelled by nothing but reckless actions in the hopes it bloomed rewards towards his overall goal: gaining admiration and love from her uncle. After all, he was the one who had forced Xander to go after her and those palisman despite him not having the authority to do so, and Lilith admitted earlier that she'd given him the opportunity to come along on a mission Eda believed he wasn't supposed to be on. Why wouldn't he snatch up this opportunity if it meant he could get to her and potentially up his ranks playing the hero?

And yet… the other part of her wasn't as convinced by that possibility. For one thing, Hooty was a terrifying opponent. She knew that from the times she and Luz had practiced battling him, and he held himself back a lot during those instances to boot! Not to mention Hooty's over-exaggeratedly friendly and cheery demeanour, plus his lack of boundaries and nosiness, never failed to scare even the most hardened of criminals. The residents of the Owl House had grown accustomed to the house demon's antics overtime despite still occasionally being creeped out by him. But those like Lilith and Xander who had never met Hooty until now? She was certain even those two would have been scared out of their wits! And then there was the fact that Xander had demonstrated empathy towards others when he was out of uniform, the most notable moment Lizzie had witnessed being the day they both protected Xenia from the demon hunters. Not only that, but they'd faced off with the demon hunters twice and both times Xander had never acted recklessly then. The first time he'd attempted to run instead of fight, and then the second time, he stayed back and focused on helping Xenia and herself with her spell casting because she was familiar with their fighting style more so than him. In fact, thinking about it, that was probably the reason why Xander had confronted her during Covention, right? Because she was a familiar face to him.

But he was in uniform this time and he'd confronted an unknown enemy without thinking about it. It could have been chalked down to that excuse Xander had once made to her about why he'd protected her during the basilisk incident: 'a force of habit drilled into him because of his coven scout role'. Yet why did the uncomfortable gurgling in her stomach make Lizzie feel that there was more to it than that?

'Yeah, well, you should know by now that if it had been up to me, I would never have bothered joining them in the first place…'

That's what he'd admitted to her while they were chasing the basilisk on that day, right?

The dull ache gradually growing in her chest the longer she stared at his unconscious face also wasn't doing well to fend off her doubt. It gave rise to a niggling feeling in the back of her head, one that seemed to be suggesting that what she was doing right now was… familiar to her somehow.

But why?

'Xander…' Lizzie paused her train of thought to sideways glance Bandit upon hearing him whimper, watching the ferret palisman's ears flatten and his tail droop with glistening beady eyes of clear concern for his owner. 'Just what were you thinking?'


A sharp poke—that was the first sensation Alexander experienced as he came to, his eyelids twitching at processing the stinging pain from the middle of his forehead.

"Ugh…" a small, pained groan escaped the pubescent witch's lips after a few seconds of delay, yet the action did little to prompt him to open his eyes from where he was lying flat on his front.

An unfamiliar and child-like female voice sounded from above him then, releasing a heavy sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the Titan, he's still alive," she uttered, her words initially appearing to be directed towards herself. But then her voice grew louder and closer when she seemingly started to address Alexander. "Hey, are you okay?"

No response. Alexander didn't move or speak. He just lay there with his legs sprawled apart and his arms stretched out in front of his head, keeping his eyes closed while he tried to remember what had happened to him and where he currently was…

until he felt another sharp poke to the middle of his forehead, this time a little harsher than the previous one.

"Ow!" Alexander cried out in pain and alarm and instinctively turned his head away, burying his face into the hardened floor underneath him.

His reaction caused the unknown voice to let out a startled gasp, swiftly followed by the clattering of wood echoing loudly against the floor beside his head.

"Ah!" she shrieked, finally prompting Alexander to lift his head and blink multiple times to get his bearings.

A quick scan of his surroundings revealed he was lying in one of Hexside School's many narrow corridors, surrounded by hard, reflective flooring, white walls lined with red lockers with monster-like faces and a high and evenly spaced pillar-supported ceiling. However, green eyes soon fell upon a young female witch standing a small distance away on his right with her body recoiled and her arms pulled to her chest, her wide eyes whose colour matched his own staring back at him with a shocked gape. She was the only one in the corridor with him, with another brief scan of the area confirming the corridor was empty outside of them.

An awkward stare down ensued between the two of them, allowing Alexander the luxury of scrutinising the unknown face a little more closely. She looked to be around a year younger than him (he was twelve, so… eleven, maybe?), sporting blonde hair with a bunched-up fringe dangling above her nose that was styled into a low ponytail with a white ribbon (the colour and style matching his). This explained why he didn't immediately recognise her, even though she was bearing the same Potions Magic track uniform that he was wearing. But then the younger student became the first to break eye contact and look down towards a rectangular object on the floor between, causing the older blonde's attention to be drawn to it in turn. A wooden ruler lay at her feet close to where he was lying, making Alexander's eyes widen out of realisation after several seconds of staring.

This witch had just poked him in the forehead with that ruler. Twice.

"What were you doing?!" Alexander suddenly snapped as he placed a palm to his forehead with a scowl.

But all his reaction did was instantly wash away the younger witch's shock with the closing of her jaw, only for her to return the scowl and put her hands to her hips.

"What were you doing?" she retorted with forced emphasis, causing Alexander's expression to relax with the raise of his brows.

"Excuse me?" Alexander growled and pushed himself onto his knees using his other hand for support, eventually pointing towards the ruler still on the ground. "You're the one who poked me with a ruler!"

"And you're the one who was lying unconscious in the middle of the corridor!" the younger witch retaliated with a loud and haughty sniff, tipping her nose up to the air without breaking eye contact with the older blonde. "It's not my fault you looked like you were dead!"

"Dead?!" Alexander repeated aghast, dramatically clutching a hand to his chest with a deepened scowl, as though she'd just mortally wounded him with her words. "How dare you!"

"Well, how could I not think that?!" the younger witch spat sarcastically, closing her eyes and turning her head away with the crossing of her arms. "It's not my fault you look as pale as the school spirits!"

Alexander blinked a few times at the last thing the younger student said, his mouth moving to speak before his brain had the time to process what he'd heard properly. "What?"

His genuine surprise prompted the female witch to partially turn her head to Alexander with one eye open, observing the older blonde looking down at his reflection in the corridor's reflective floor. Sure enough, his green-eyed gaze stared back with a ghostly white face drained of colour, leaving the young Blackwood gawking in horror.

No wonder this student thought he was dead, he thought. He really did look like his days were numbered!

"W-What happened to me…?" he stuttered breathlessly and trailed off, absentmindedly patting at his pale cheeks with both sets of fingers. "W-Why do I—?"

A sharp gurgle erupted from deep within Alexander's hollow stomach and cut off his question, causing the younger witch's brows to raise with a surprised blink when Alexander instinctively clutched at his belly with both arms and hunched over.

"Oof," the female witch commented quietly with a wince while Alexander continued to dazedly stare at his reflection in the floor. "Got an upset stomach?"

"No," Alexander grumbled with the scrunch of his nose, feeling the heat rising to his face and witnessing the cheeks of his mirror double gaining a faint rosy tint. "I'm just a little hungry."

Ah. That's right. He had yet to eat anything today; why was that the case again?

"A little?" the younger witch repeated with a sceptically cocked brow. "You look like you're about to keel over!"

Alexander snorted derisively and rolled his eyes. "At least my ponytail isn't tied like I have a tail growing from the back of my head."

The younger Potions Magic track student released a small, shocked gasp and placed a hand to her chest. "Excuse you! You're one to talk when you literally look like you're on Death's door!"

"Whatever," Alexander said through an irritated huff, beginning to push himself up from the floor and onto his feet. "You know I'm alive now, so just leave me alone."

However, the second Alexander put pressure onto his legs and started to straighten up, his knees violently shook and knocked together, the rest of his body following suit. Light-headedness washed over him like a large wave risen from the Boiling Sea. And then the next thing he knew, he was falling forward to the floor and hearing the younger female witch with him crying out.

"Watch out!" A pair of hands caught Alexander under both of his arms from the front, causing his face to collide with the middle of the unknown Hexside student. "Phew! That was a close one, huh?"

He felt her pull his body upright and keep a tight grip under his armpits to steady him, exposing the single inch difference in their height. It took Alexander a moment to process the fact this witch was touching him, but when it did register, he let out a breathless gasp and instinctively shoved his palms into the student's shoulders harshly, forcing her backwards and releasing her hold on him. She stumbled a little with a loud and ear-piercing squeak from the soles of her boots colliding with the hardened floor, but she was quick to catch and look at Alexander with a gape of her own when he yelled and took shaky steps backwards with bulging eyes.

"Don't touch me!"

The movement caused his legs to tremble once more and knock his balance out of whack, sending the young Blackwood's left side into the wall and forcing him to cling to it with both hands for support. He cried out, startled, and squeezed his eyes shut at managing to catch himself as he slid partway down, leaving him oblivious to the concerned frown the younger student shot him after her shock had worn off.

"When was the last time you ate something?" she enquired, purposely brushing off what had just happened despite having clearly been bothered by his reaction.

Her question prompted Alexander's brows to furrow as he looked to her with a forced blink, the imaginary cogs beginning to turn together inside the confines of his head.

When was the last time he'd eaten, he mused. He recalled he'd missed his dinner yesterday because his father had gotten angry at him for his recent failure on one of his tests and he'd sent him up to his bedroom to study as punishment. Then this morning, he'd purposely missed breakfast and snuck off to Hexside instead because he was too scared to stay in the same room as his father, knowing another lecture about how disappointed he was in him was awaiting—

Oh. That explained it.

But then the younger student's confused voice broke through his daze. "Hello?" She stepped a little closer (but not too close; she'd learnt her lesson from a few seconds ago, seemingly) and waved a palm close to his face, causing him to blink multiple times and straighten up against the wall. "You still with me or has your brain wandered off with the pixies?"

"Uh…" was all Alexander could utter as he tried to formulate an answer to her previous question and ignore the heat slowly rising to his face. "… Yesterday lunchtime," he muttered sheepishly and averted his eyes to floor.

"Does that include snacks too?" Alexander nodded, hearing the unknown student gasp and smack her palms to both of her cheeks with a resounding slap around the corridor. But he didn't look up even as she nearly shrieked her reply. "No wonder you were passed out! Why would you do that?!"

Alexander didn't answer. He couldn't. A lump formed in his throat at the stern reminder his father always gave him each morning he left his home for work—what happens at home stays at home. So, after swallowing thickly to remove the temporary discomfort, he turned his head further away and avoided eye contact.

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"I think you do, considering the state you're in!" the younger witch scolded with a brief jab of her finger into her own chest, followed swiftly by an irritated sigh and her tone growing even once more. "Still, I suppose it's a good thing I found you when I did! You would have missed lunch too."

That soon caused Alexander's head to whip towards the unknown student, his movements and current expression almost mimicking those of an owl with how fast he moved and how wide his eyes grew. "Wait… What time is it?"

"Nearly lunchtime," the younger student answered with a straight face.

Lunchtime? At least that explained why the corridor they were in was abandoned, he mentally remarked. Though, wasn't he originally on the way to his fourth period class before he—?

Oh.

Oh no.

Upon seeing Alexander's body visibly stiffen and heard his breath hitch in his throat, the unknown student squinted and knitted her brows together out of suspicion. "Are you okay?" she asked slowly.

Alexander reached his hands up to the sides of his head and dug his fingers into his scalp, his breathing gradually growing shallow and rapid. "I missed fourth period," he wheezed in a high-pitched voice, sounding like the oxygen had suddenly left his lungs.

And if his father found out he missed one of his classes after yesterday's failure

A sharp pain attacked Alexander's chest and prevented him from finishing that thought, constricting round his heart and bile sac like he'd accidentally swallowed a murderous basilisk. Sweat started to gather across his forehead as his body violently trembled and the palpitations began to pound against his rib cage, this time from the familiar panic overtaking him and not his earlier fatigue. The more his mind dwelled on how much trouble he was going to be in, the more he gasped for air like a fish out of water, not helped by the knowledge that he now had an audience witnessing him at his weakest. Because Alexander knew damn well that he wasn't going to be getting a lecture when he walked through that door later—

"Hey." The younger student's calm and stern voice sliced through his train of thought like a sharp knife. Next thing he knew, Alexander felt a warm but tight grip on his elbows, with the younger Potions Magic track student standing directly in front of him with a frown, even though his lungs continued to beg for the oxygen confined to his throat. The urge to scream at her to release him was there, but her next words stopped him from doing so. "It's okay."

"N-n-no, it's n-n-not!" Alexander stubbornly shook his head, his tone wobbly as he tried to speak past his struggle to breathe. "I-I c-c-can't b-breathe—"

"Yes, you can," the younger student retorted with forced emphasis, her frown deepening as she removed her grip on Alexander's elbows and gently placed her palms to his cheeks, ignoring the startled flinch he gave at the skin-to-skin contact. "Do as I tell you: take a deep breath through your nose, hold it for five seconds, and then breath out through your mouth."

"W-What—?!"

"Just trust me."

But why, Alexander wanted to question. After all, she was just some random student who had found him collapsed in the middle of the corridor! Yet as he stared into the matching green eyes staring intently back at him, the sharp pain in his chest began to ease. There was something different about the way her eyes beheld him—no glistening of fear or cold and glassy detachment, like he was used to witnessing whenever he was left to struggle through his helplessness. No. This student looked at him with genuine warmth and glints of concern, stirring a cosy feeling within his being that felt distantly familiar yet foreign at the same time.

The longer Alexander stared at her, the stronger the feeling became, until a tingling calmness engulfed him, compelling him to listen to the stranger. With the slight slouching of his shoulders, the young Blackwood followed the younger witch's instructions, sucking in a breath through his nostrils and then holding his breath while counting to 'five' in his head.

"That's it!" the unknown student encouraged, smiling proudly when Alexander exhaled with a steady breath. "Now keep doing that until you calm down."

And Alexander did. He repeated the younger student's instructions a few more times, each time loosening the tight grip on his chest little by little and granting him control over his breathing again. The whole time that foreign familiarity continued to linger, the haze formerly clouding his mind clearing enough for him to acknowledge that the student's actions and words did, in fact, remind him of someone. Who, he wasn't sure of at the moment. But his brief pondering quickly ended with the huge sigh he released once the pain in his chest finally dispersed, now free of its constricted prison.

The younger blonde witch removed her hold from Alexander when he reached an arm up to his forehead and wiped away the sweat still lingering. "Better now?" Alexander slowly and stiffly nodded to confirm he was, prompting the younger student to grin out of relief. "Good!" She reached out a hand and gently clutched Alexander by his closest wrist, causing the older blonde to blink widely in surprise as she started to walk forward and lightly tug him along. "Then let's get you to the cafeteria! Can't have you passing out from hunger again, right?"

Alexander staggered with each step as this student pulled him through the corridor at a snail's pace, his mouth remaining gaped open the entire time his mind flooded with the things he wanted to ask her—Shouldn't we return to class? Why are you wandering the corridors and not in class right now? Why are you helping me? What's your name?

Yet despite his jaw's constant twitches with the urge to vocalise his thoughts, the words refused to leave his tongue. Maybe it was because of the weariness he could feel overtaking him with his heavy blinks. Or maybe it was the agonising gurgling from his stomach eating away at his insides making him feel weak. Either way, Alexander had no choice now but to stay in the mercy of this stranger as she led him through the corridor after stopping to collect her ruler from the floor, deciding to get his answers after he silenced his whining belly.


A/N: Yeah, I know, I know. You all thought I was going to end the grudgby match between Lilith and Eda in this chapter. So did I, honestly. But when I was trying to write things out, the transition between the actual game and Xander waking up was... Well, it wasn't great. Very awkward and cheap, actually. Because the focus on the episode is on Luz's grudgby match with Boscha, Lilith's and Eda's match is overlooked. And since Lizzie isn't paying attention to what is going on anyways, it was hard for me to write the match happening in the background without it being too rushed. This is why I implemented the flashback here, because it acts as a better transition for when Xander wakes up. I originally wasn't planning on exploring how Lizzie and Xander met, but I thought it was actually a nice way to work up to the secrets I am building up to in this episode for the finale episodes, so it worked out. Also, I thought the chapter was going to get too long if I attempted to cram Lizzie's and Xander's talk in this chapter, so... yeah. XD I am hoping to end the grudgby match next chapter, but don't hold me to that.

Either way, I will go ahead and answer reviews now. Though I would like to say to the anon reviewers, as a suggestion, that in future if you guys have questions and don't want to wait months at a time for me to answer them here in the author's notes, I would highly recommend posting them in an anonymous comment to The Owlcast on AO3. I am able to respond to you more directly over there and as I am usually fairly active on both sites in between my fanfic writing and reading anyways, I can also respond to your questions more quickly too. You don't have to do this, but I thought I'd throw it out there so you guys have other options. Saves you having to make an account over here just so you can get a PM response from me, after all. XD But anyway, onto the answers:

Gry27: Ooooooh! Yes! I can agree with you on the first bit! One reason being that Lizzie's choice would likely be related to something to do with her parents that I have yet to expose in this series yet (but it will come out eventually; Season 2 - Part 1 most likely). But the other one is definitely because of Eda. Lizzie would gladly follow Eda wherever she goes because of the debt she feels she owes to the Owl Lady, and because she enjoys working under her, so her becoming a potionist teacher at the university would definitely be a possibility I'd consider. Not so sure about the second part, though. Petrification is a tricky concept considering as far as I am aware, you'd die from lack of oxygen the moment you were fully turned to stone. Because it's not the same as being frozen in animation. You're literally trapped in stone. But then again, we don't know how petrification works in the Boiling Isles, so... not entirely sure on that one. Still, good ideas, all the same. I can see the first part definitely being an option Lizzie would choose.

hoothoot: Oh, don't you worry. Lizzie isn't going anywhere. She has plot armour- Kidding. XD Jokes aside, Lizzie is the main character and I have no plans on killing her off. This is her story, after all. She's gonna go through a lot of trauma just like everyone else, but she will make it until the end, rest assured. But thank you for the compliment about my story-style. It means a lot, especially my overly detailed writing isn't to everyone's tastes... ^^'

Heaven's Light: I can vaguely say that nothing that extreme will happen to Lizzie during Season 1. The season finale is definitely going to include tense scenes between Lizzie and Xander, for sure, but it won't involve either of them messing with the brands. As for Season 2... well, there's not much I can reveal regarding that. Though when I do get to Episodes 18 and 19, you may find that they will calm your worries immensely, because things are going to take quite a turn for Xander. Good or bad? Can't say yet~. XD

Guest (Chapter 58 - Sep 13th): Yup. A happy ending will be on the rise. But it will come at the cost of a lot of trauma for my OCs first. XD

Guest (Chapter 58 - Sep 27th): For spoiler reasons, I cannot directly say 'yes' or 'no' to that. But if you pay close attention to the hints I've left in the chapters that involve the palismen and the fictional childhood story of Lizzie's, that should help.