People have made AUs where Phillip saw the error of his ways and he changed for the better. I decided I'd do one of my own.
Phillip Wittebane spent his life believing that witches were evil and must be destroyed. Once he found himself in a world full of magic, he'd spend the rest of his life trying to "cleanse the perdition". What if he realized that he was crazy? What if he changed for the better? We'll just have to see.
When Phillip opened his eyes, he found himself in this environment that he wasn't used to. The leaves on the trees were purple, the grass was red, and when he looked ahead, he saw what appeared to be a giant skull. He knew that he wasn't in Gravesfield anymore.
"What happened?" he asked himself. "Where am I?"
That's when the memories started coming back. He remembers seeing a witch out in the town, and he and his brother, Caleb, went after it.
Phillip opened his journal and started writing.
May 21st, I think.
My name is Phillip Wittebane, and I found myself in a world so horrid, yet so fantastic.
Phillip instantly realizes what he wrote, and crossed out "yet so fantastic".
I'm certain my brother, Caleb, was taken by that wicked witch. I must find that witch and save my brother before she can do anything to harm him.
Thus starts Phillip's journey to find his brother.
A few years later…
Phillip's been searching this realm for Caleb, but found no sign of him.
Since he couldn't find a place to shave, he's grown a very long and messy beard.
At some point, a witch approached Phillip. She had short, brown, and messy hair. Her skin was a super bright white. She wore a beige shirt with a dark brown jacket over it, and she wore a light brown skirt.
"Going somewhere?" she asked.
He would've asked the witch for help, but right as he considered that, he thought to himself, Remember what the priest said. Witches are just spawn of Satan and want to feast on human souls. Don't trust them.
Phillip walked away from the witch and when he felt he was far away enough, he wrote in his journal when he had the chance.
I've been traveling for a long time yet I still haven't found my brother. It feels like I've been in this world for ages.
This world that's so magical and beautiful.
He instantly crossed out that last part.
Phillip, don't think like that. Don't let this world get to you. Do so, and you'll never find your brother.
Phillip heads to a nearby cave and plans to set up shelter there for the night.
He grabs a picture of himself and Caleb that was drawn by a professional artist from the Human Realm. Phillip holds it tightly and says, "Don't worry Caleb. I'll find you, one way or another, and we'll find a way home together."
The Next Day…
Phillip heads out of the cave to continue his search for Caleb. Since he couldn't find Caleb in Bonesborough, he's off to search elsewhere.
After hours of searching outside of Bonesborough, he saw a man walking by.
The man had short blonde hair with this large strand in the front, and he wore a gray shirt with brown pants and suspenders. His ears were round.
For the first time since he ended up in this world, Phillip felt overjoyed. He finally found his brother.
That happiness was gone, however, when he saw something that shocked him. A witch approached Caleb. Phillip recognized her as the exact same witch that he met the day before. Phillip instantly realizes that that's the witch that he and Caleb were chasing before he woke up in this world.
The witch took Caleb's hand, and they both walked a bit before sharing a kiss.
That witch must have bewitched Caleb, Phillip thought to himself. I must save him.
Phillip brings out a curved dagger and walks to the two as slowly and quietly as possible.
He tries to sneak up on the witch to kill her and free Caleb from whatever curse she placed on him.
Once Phillip got close to the witch, he accidentally stepped on a twig, and it gave him away.
Caleb and the witch hear and turn towards Phillip, but he hides the dagger behind his back.
Caleb smiled and approached Phillip. Once he was close enough, he hugged Phillip, a couple of tears falling down his face.
"I'm so glad to see you again," he said.
Phillip was taken aback. Could it be? Is he not cursed? No. He must be. There's no way he could love that witch.
Caleb takes Phillip's hand and leads him over to the witch before saying, "Meet my girlfriend, Evelyn".
Evelyn brought out her hand to shake, but Phillip wasn't buying her act for one second. He pulls out his dagger and is about to pierce Evelyn's heart. He was about to go for the kill when…
"Phillip, what are you doing?!" Phillip heard his brother shout.
No. Phillip's not falling for it.
"I will not let you harm my brother any longer, witch!" Phillip shouted to Evelyn.
"Harm?" Evelyn reacted. "No, that's not the case. We love each other."
"Demon lies!" Phillip shouted.
"She's not!" Phillip heard Caleb shout. This time, Phillip turned towards Caleb. "Evelyn and I, we love each other… unconditionally."
Phillip didn't want to believe a word his brother was saying. He wanted to kill Evelyn so badly and save his brother, but right as the tip of his dagger touched her chest, he stopped himself.
Deep down, he knew that all these thoughts about witches being bad is just some dumb delusion fed to him by some dumb people. People that fear what they don't understand. People that would rather destroy anything that's different than try to understand it.
Phillip dropped to his knees and sobbed. "I'm sorry, Caleb."
Caleb got down on one knee and looked at Phillip, before leaning in for a hug. "I forgive you."
Phillip gets back up, wipes the tears off his face, and hugs his brother.
Once they break away from the hug, Caleb turns to Evelyn and says, "Evelyn, meet my brother, Phillip."
Evelyn glares at Phillip. "I can understand why Caleb trusts you so much but given what you just tried to do to me, you'll need to earn my trust." Phillip gulped. "To earn my trust, you must… cook us an awesome dinner tonight."
Phillip got a bit worried again. "You mean, with magic, or…"
"Do whatever you need," Evelyn replied.
Caleb looked and saw the sun was setting. "We should head home."
A small cardinal came out of Caleb's shirt pocket. This shocked Phillip. "Did you just stuff a bird in your pocket?"
Caleb instantly realized what it looked like so he assured, "That's not what I did. This is a Palisman. It's a witches lifelong companion. You usually store it in your pocket when you're not using it."
Phillip looked at the Palisman with intrigue. "That's actually interesting. What's the little guy's name?"
"His name is Flapjack," Caleb replied. "I carved him myself?"
"Carved?" asked Phillip.
"Yes," Evelyn replied. "Palismen are made out of a special wood and have to be carved by professionals."
"What exactly can a Palisman do?" asked Phillip.
"I'll show you," Caleb replied.
A split second later, Flapjack transformed into a staff. Caleb climbed onto the staff before turning to his brother.
"Do you trust me?" he asked.
Phillip got a little nervous, but he trusts his brother more than anything, so he climbed onto the staff.
A split second later, the staff took off, lifting the two brothers very high off the ground. Evelyn caught up to them with her own Palisman, Brooke.
"You two have fun," she told the two brothers. "I'll meet you at the house."
She then flies off, leaving the two brothers alone.
At first, Phillip was terrified, and he held on tightly so he wouldn't fall off. After a while though, that feeling of fear turned to a feeling of excitement as he looked around, being so high off the ground.
"This is amazing!" he shouted. "I'm really flying!"
"Yeah, it truly is magical," Caleb agreed.
That's when they reach Caleb and Evelyn's house, and they land.
Phillip stood in front of a fire with a dagger in his hand. His beard is now much shorter and less messy.
"No, Caleb," he said as he narrowed his eyes at his brother. "You can't do this."
"Please be reasonable," said Caleb. "This is my choice. Not yours."
"Fine!" Phillip shouted. "So be it!"
Phillip raises up his dagger before swinging it down…
Onto a steak.
"There, enjoy your juiceless, well-done steak, you savage," said Phillip.
"Yay!" Caleb cheered.
Once Phillip was done cooking steak for everyone, he, Caleb, and Evelyn all sat down at a table eating the steak.
"This is well-done," Evelyn congratulated Phillip. "Well, you earned my trust."
"That's good to know," said Phillip.
"Well," said Caleb. "I hope you don't mind, but Evelyn and I are getting married."
Phillip spit out his steak. "What? Please tell me you've at least dated for a year."
"Three years, actually," Caleb replied.
Phillip sighed in relief, as he didn't want his brother getting married too quickly. "Well, congratulations."
Once they were done eating their steak, Phillip and Caleb were sitting in the Living Room.
Phillip sat quietly, thinking to himself. He really is starting to like this world, but he can't stop thinking about home. He turned to his brother. "Do you miss home?"
"Do you mean Gravesfield?" asked Caleb. "I do not see Gravesfield as home. Not in a million years."
"Why not?" asked Phillip. "That's where we come from."
"Well, home isn't where you're from," Caleb replied. "Home is where you feel belonged. I feel like I belong here with Evelyn."
"In that case," said Phillip. "I feel like I belong with you."
Caleb smiled at that, and he hugged his brother.
A bit later, Phillip entered the empty bedroom to sleep for the night. Evelyn came in to check on him.
"It isn't much, but I hope it will be comfortable," she said.
"After sleeping in caves for years, I think it will," Phillip replied. "And one more thing." He hugged his future sister-in-law. "Thank you for taking care of my brother these past few years."
"Don't mention it," Evelyn replied.
Evelyn left the room and Phillip climbed onto the bed. He pulled out his journal and wrote…
After years of searching, I finally found Caleb. He's dating a witch named Evelyn.
She and I got off on the wrong foot at first, but she did grow on me.
In fact, this whole world has grown on me. I've been hiding it for so long, but not anymore. This place is weird but it has grown on me.
I know I'm gonna love it here.
I don't want to destroy this world anymore, let alone return to the world I came from. I want to stay here with Caleb and start a new life.
This is Phillip Wittebane signing off.
Phillip closes his now full journal and sets it aside. He then falls asleep, now at peace.
A.N.
This was a fanfiction I've been planning for a few months. I know this is my most controversial one yet.
I know a lot of toxic Belos haters are gonna spam in the comments and say things like "Belos doesn't deserve redemption" and "You are not a true Owl House fan". So? So what if I'm not a true fan? So what if Belos didn't deserve redemption in the actual show? Guess what? This isn't the actual show. This is a fanfiction. Also, take it from someone who's spammed in the past. It not only will get you nowhere, but it will also annoy the crap out of the person that's being spammed on.
With that little tangent aside, I have a few things to say.
The scene with Phillip and Caleb arguing over how the steak should be cooked was totally inspired by that one Moringmark comic. If you know, you know.
Just so you know, I'm not going to make a continuation of this. This is just a one-shot I made for fun, and I'm leaving what happens in the present with characters like Luz, Amity, and Eda up to your interpretation.
With that, I wish you all a Happy Halloween.