Hey I have a question, have you guys seen Luz's witch attire from Mark's comic? What do you call the part that covers the lower part of her face? The thing that looks like Sasuke's shirt. Do you just call it cowl or mask? Bc I don't know what to call it when I'm describing it, and I tried looking it up but I can't find an answer. Thank you in advance!
I've been waiting to write this chapter for a long time, well this and the bit of Lumity you guys saw in the last chapter. Originally bits of this chapter were supposed to go with the library chapter, but then the whole thing with Eileen happened and it turned into a freaking mini arc.
We got over 230 kudos, 66 bookmarks, and 101 comments in Ao3. We also got 25 reviews and 65 followers in . I'm so happy, thank you for all the support.
The usual crap:
If you could send me a review that would be great! All feedback is appreciated! As long as you don't yell at me XD
English isn't my first language, please tell me if you spot any mistakes!.
Disclaimer: I don't own the owl house, all the characters except my OCs belong to Disney and Danna Terrace. This AU idea belongs to moringmark (Plz go read his comics, I beg you).
-Marcus-
The MCU base in connecticut / Sunday October 23rd 14:00 hs
Marcus leaned on a golden railing from a balcony of their main building as he looked outside. This was the first free time he had in a while, and he was debating if he should go for a walk; It was a cloudy day and it looked like it might rain soon, which was a perfect weather to go outside in his opinion. However he couldn't. Each time he tried relaxing an emergency happened so he learned to stay on guard, even in his free time.
He watched from the balcony as Eileen and her parents left the compound in a car for the first time since they were brought here, almost one week ago. Marcus hoped that the girl would live a long life without encountering anything like this ever again.
"This was the best possible scenario for her" He told himself "If anyone else would be in charge of her interrogation she would've ended up scarred and traumatized" He sighed and looked up to the sky. Maybe if he kept telling himself that he would start believing it.
"What you did was very impractical" He heard Lilith's voice and one second later she wheeled herself in the balcony "I could've done the interrogation quicker and gotten better results"
"Yeah. After you psychologically tortured the girl and threatened to kill her parents"
"What does it matter? You know I never follow my threats and it's not like she will remember it after we are done" She looked at him with that serious glare that he used to do to her when she was a rookie.
"Maybe… maybe I'm just trying to make sure we don't become the same monsters we are trying to hunt" He was also playing to his strength. The three of them had their own areas of expertise: Kikimora was good with organization and logistics, Lilith was good at pursuing criminals, and Marcus was great at dealing with humans.
"That's a nice sentiment. But at the end of the day only results matter" She crossed her arms in annoyance.
"Oh but we got results" He smirked at her.
"You said yourself that the story that she gave you was fake"
"Not all of it. I got a pretty good read on her and I could tell that some parts, if not most, of the story she told me was true. We can work with that"
"Are you sure of it? We can't base our movements entirely on speculations" He scoffed. Seriously, had she forgotten who taught her?
"I am insulted, Lilith. You should know that I am good at reading people and a sixteen year old is no match for my skills" He left the balcony and entered the main building with Lilith wheeling behind him "Some lies were really easy to detect. For example I doubt that she went to the library at night to destroy the place just because the banned her the previous night"
"That is true. The reports said that she was banned for trying to steal a book and assaulting an employee, but we failed on gaining more information about those events"
"True, but it does not matter to me. I am more focused on the bigger picture and the things she told me that were true: She used that magical relic called 'the wailing star' to try to do something horrible, we do not know what it was, but we do know that the item is real thanks to Belos' list"
"And then what? The wild witch appears and steals it for her collection? We already know that she has several relics on her possession"
"Yes, but apparently she also helped her" Lilith immediately frowned.
"How?"
"According to her, the witch stopped her from doing something that she might've regretted and made her realize that the relic was corrupting her. Then she fixed all of the stuff she broke and took her to her house when she passed out"
"Were we able to determine if the witch attacked her at all?" Lilith asked with a skeptic glare.
"There were a lot of traces of magic in her, but no injuries so it's safe to assume she passed out of magic exhaustion"
"Hmmm, I still don't see your point"
"Fine, hear me out: So far the public has treated the witch as a hero because she is seen fighting the monsters, but we have no clue if she did that out of self defense or if she provoked them. There were a lot of theories made on this but we decided not to speculate in this case. However, now we have proof that she does in fact like to help people" He knew that Lilith wouldn't believe him, but it was worth a shot.
"What? Marcus, why do you think that?"
"Eileen mentioned that after the witch took her relic she tried to apologize for hurting her, but the witch said it was fine because 'it was part of her job'. I know she wasn't lying when she said that"
"But we have no way of proving if the witch didn't lie to the girl!" Lilith interrupted him.
"And what reason did she have to do it? The fight was over, Eileen was immobilized and she had her relic. If her only motive is to wreak havoc and steal relics, like the other witches do, then why didn't she leave with her prize? Not to mention that the police reported seeing her fixing the library from the destruction caused by the battle. This is the behavior of a hero"
"Or someone who wants to be seen as one" Lilith looked deep in thought "Maybe you are correct about the events of that day, but I think it's more likely that the witch is trying to make people believe that she is good"
"What? So the witch is doing this for good PR?" He arched his eyebrow.
"I find it more believable than a witch being altruistic just for the heck of it. If you think about it, it's a good plan: If she is seen as a hero by the masses it would be easier for her to move around, since she doesn't have to hide anymore, and people may even try to help her in her quest" Lilith seemed proud of that theory.
Marcus rubbed the bridge of his nose. Sometimes he was fascinated by Lilith's inability to comprehend that magical beings are capable of sentience and compassion. Or maybe it was him, maybe he was the one going soft, who knows.
"Why don't we just put that aside for now, mainly because we have no way of proving her true intentions from here. What I wanted to say is that we can use her heroic tendencies to our favor, even if she is faking it"
"How?"
"Simple, if we fake a scenario where a magical creature from her dimension is attacking humans then she might show up. We can dress our agents as civilians and close the location from bystanders before it happens"
"And then once she comes to do her heroic act we swoop in and ambush her" She stroke her chin to think about it for a while "A solid plan but we would only get one chance with it, if we fail she is going to be on her guard"
"Yes, that's why I wasn't going to suggest we execute it until we are better prepared to deal with it" He sat down on a chair and leaned back "Let's just not worry about that now. It won't be good to speculate since we don't have any new info"
"Fine…" She looked like she wanted to keep discussing it.
"Why don't we change the subject? How is your sister?" Marcus hadn't interacted much with the older clawthorne but he knew almost everything about her because of Lilith. She was a really interesting woman in Marcus' opinion.
"I… I have a niece" For the first time in a while he saw a small smile on Lilith's lips.
"Wait really? Did she finally settle down with someone?" From what she remembered, Eda had always been a wild woman.
"Hah! No, she keeps having adventures with random strangers" Her expression on her face told her that she was annoyed at that "This girl is the daughter of one of her friends from her days of living on the road. The mother thought it would be better for her if she studied here, so she sent her to live with Edalyn"
"I see, but that doesn't mean she is her daughter" Lilith just smiled at him.
"You should see them. Sometimes I pretend to be working just to watch them interact. Luz treats her with a lot of care because of her illness, they bicker and joke it's like a mother and daughter. Eda likes to pretend that the kid is a torn to her side but she care deeply about her, she even got her to school"
"Really? As far as I remember your sister hates school" The stories that he heard about the older Clawthorne's school days were something out of a legend.
"She does and that's the best thing about this. Luz is changing her without even realizing it, inspiring her to be a better person. Something that not even I or mother were able to do" She had a radiant expression on her face that reminded him of when he was a rookie "I apologize for my recent coldness and temper, but this changed things for me. Now I have something else to fight for, this is why I've been so… aggressive towards magical creatures"
Marcus smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. Before he could say anything else the door opened and Steve, Lilith's assistant, entered the conference room.
"Do you know how to knock, lad?" Marcus asked with a raised eyebrow
"Ah right, gotcha" He went back out, closing the door again in his way, and knocked.
Marcus just gave her an incredulous look.
"Don't worry, he's always like that" She sighed "Come in!" With that the young man opened the door.
"Sorry to interrupt. I am here merely to inform you that the mind wipe has been a success. Both the girl and her parents won't remember anything about their time here or magic"
"And about what happened in the library?" Marcus asked.
"We erased that too"
"Good" He wanted the girl to have a long, normal life. But that won't happen if she remembers what happened, it was better this way.
"What memories did you replace those with?" Lilith inquired.
"We fabricated some memories about them leaving town to take care of an out-of-state aunt that got sick. That's the same story we told to their jobs and her school when we took them"
"Good. Make sure to alter the register to match that, we don't want anyone accidentally finding out the truth"
"Will do sir" Steve saluted.
"Please make sure that the blanking services get enough resources" Lilith pitched in "With the amount of eye witnesses of magical creatures they are the only ones keeping all of this a secret"
Marcus stretched and popped his back bones. He felt the age catching up to him, and he guessed that spending most of his time sitting down didn't help that.
"Alright, how much time do we have until that scheduled meeting?"
"About and a half. Why?" Lilith looked at him, confused.
"Perfect" he got up from his chair "I'm going to stretch my legs"
"But… it's raining" She pointed to the window and he could see the pouring rain.
"Yes, and? Rain is the perfect weather to take a stroll"
"I agree boss" Steve gave him a thumbs up "Nothing like a walk in the rain to clear your mind"
Marcus smiled at him and opened the door. Only to crash against someone running. Once he recovered he could see it was Lawrence, the asian man looked in a rough shape: His hair was messy, there were bags under his eyes, and he needed a shave.
"Lawrence! Fuck's sake lad! You almost scared me to death"
"There… is… an emergence" The young man managed to get those words between gasps. It seemed that he came running here "We… have a code red"
Marcus grunted. Of course there was a code red emergency in his free time.
"Jesus man, come sit down" Steve guided him towards a chair and poured some water into a glass "here, drink some water"
"Thanks" He gulped that water in one go.
"Right. Now tell us, lad. What kind of crisis are we facing this week?" A couple of ideas flashed through his mind, none of them were good.
"A max security prisoner escaped this morning" He said with a serious tone.
"Those idiots! I told them that the systems needed maintenance!" He heard her mutter some swears.
"Calm down, Lilith. Tell me Lawrence, which prisoner escaped?" The young man straightened up and looked at his eyes"
"The basilisk sir"
-Eda-
Gravesfield's shopping district / Saturday October 29th 14:00hs
"Move, ya ding-dongs!" She screamed at the driver in front of her and honked at them.
"Eda stop, if you keep fighting with every driver you see we'll never get home" Luz tugged at her shirt with a worried glance "Also could you drive a bit slower? I think Lilith is going to puke"
Right now Lilith, Luz, and her were coming back to the owl house in her car. The three of them had different reasons to to the center of town today so they decided to go together: Lilith had a doctor's appointment for her leg, Luz had to bring King to the vet for his check up(getting him in his carrier had been a real pain in the ass), and she had to do some shopping for her shop.
"Ugh, I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes when you took that corner" Lilith looked completely miserable in the backseat. Her sister had always suffered from motion sickness "Can't you just drive well, Edalyn?"
"I am driving perfectly fine, sis. It's not my fault that you can't handle it" Some jerk in the other lane yelled at her "You better keep driving, asshole!"
"Agh" Lilith grabbed her head "Luz, is she always like this when you go grocery shopping?"
"She literally taught me the definition of rod rage, but this is too much. Eda, are you in a hurry?"
"You could say that. I just didn't remember that today was the day, I only realized once we left the house and it was too late by then"
"By 'today is the day' do you mean halloween?" Luz inquired "But that's two days away!"
That was right. Halloween was really close and the city had already prepared for it. Wherever she looked she could see fake skeletons, pumpkinks, cobwebs, bats, and witches flying on their brooms (Luz scoffed at those). Shops sold accessories and ornaments, signs advertised haunted houses and other attractions, and she could already see some people with costumes.
"What?" Lilith looked at her with disbelief "This madness is for Halloween? But you love Halloween, Edalyn!"
That was true. When she was a brat she loved trick or treating "you get free candy out of that, what's not to love" and when she got older she enjoyed pulling pranks and vandalizing (for some reason people thought this was a halloween thing and she was on board with that idea). Now she discovered that this particular day attracts people to certain places like the owl house, she wasn't sure why, but there was something about christmas and halloween that made dorks believe in magic. So, taking advantage of the situation, every year she puts on her best 'owl lady' act and ends up way richer than before.
"Ok I am not talking about halloween, I can read a calendar"
"Then what's making you so anxious?" Luz asked.
"The mayor's speech!" She said as she honked to a car in front of them.
"The what now?" Luz looked confused.
"Of course" Lilith facepalmed.
"Every year the mayor does this stupid speech to make people believe his fake promises, and for some fucking reason he decides to do it near halloween. During that speech the security is doubled, the roads are blocked, and people swarm the streets. The city is a nightmare to navigate when it happens so I always try to avoid it… until now" She grunted.
"You are just afraid that he'll finally try to arrest you" Lilith commented from the backseat.
"Nah, he doesn't have the balls or the brains to do it"
They finally arrived at the vet clinic: A tiny pink building a few stores tall. Luz exited the car and went to pick up King who was in his crate, but that turned out to be a bit harder than they anticipated. It appears that her cat also hated her way of driving.
"Ack! Eda, I can't calm him down!" The feline was hissing and scratching the gate of his career. All of that made transporting him very hard.
"Just spray some water at him! Hold on a sec, I think I have catnip over here" She turned around to search for the herb "Lily, can you help?"
"Don't talk to me" Her sister looked paler than usual, if that was even possible "I think I will-" She then pulled a hand over her mouth and retched.
"NOT INSIDE THE CAR! Geez Lily, at least aim it outside!" With that her sister opened the door and puked on the floor.
Eventually they managed to calm King down enough for his visit to the vet. Luz approached the door and Eda walked with her, they left Lilith in the car to recover.
"Ok kiddo, remember that you have to do it quickly. We'll come back for you when we are done with our things, remember that we need to get out before that god damn speech
"Don't worry about a thing, Eda. I have… iiit" She trailed off the last word and stopped talking, for some reason she was looking behind Eda "Ok change of plans, can we go to see Lilith's doctor appointment first?" She looked absolutely panicked.
"Huh? Why? This is the closest stop" She turned around to see what Luz was looking at.
Exiting from the vet there was a girl with green hair about her age. She was wearing a pink hoodie with a cat's face on it, some blue jeans, and brown boots. She was carrying a white cat in her arms, probably the reason why she came to the vet.
"Hmmmm" based on her appearance and Luz's reaction she could guess who this was "I see now"
"Yep, so can we go now?" Luz tried to push her away, but it was too late.
"Luz? Is that you?" The girl smiled and waved. Luz, for her part, emitted a squeak and forced a smile.
"Be cool" she whispered to Eda and approached the girl "Amity! What a… surprise! What are you doing here" She said all that with the most nervous expression that she had ever seen.
"God damn this girl is too awkward for her own good, I should give her classes on that"
"I just came to give a ghost here a check up. Say hi, ghost!" The white cat just looked at them and meowed.
The sound seemed to interest the king, who started meowing from his cage.
"Oh what a coincidence! We are here for the same thing. Here's king! Do you remember the pics I sent you?" She raised the cage for her to see.
"Oh yeah! He's a lot cuter in person" Then she took notice of Eda "and this is?"
"Eda Clawthorne, Luz's legal guardian and the owner of the cat" Luz didn't like it when she presented herself with the 'owl lady' persona "Pleasure to meet you, kid. Luz is always talking about you" It wasn't true, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease her.
"She's a lot different than Odalia, I hope that she stays this way"
"Oh, a pleasure miss Clawthorne" She seemed nervous suddenly "What… what things did Luz tell you about me?"
"Oh nothing much" Luz interrupted them. Giving Eda a glare that said stop-it-right-now "I just mentioned that-"
"That you are the top student in each one of your classes and the captain of a sports team. Also a head of the student council, right? Very impressive" She smiled at Luz's mortified look. It seemed that the girl forgot who she was dealing with "She thinks very highly of you"
"Oh really?"
At that moment there was a shift in the air and something changed in the two of them. A predatory smirk formed in Amity's mouth and she took a step forward. Her eyes were gleaming with mischievousness.
Luz, in contrast, looked like an animal that just walked into a trap. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open. She seemed to be paralyzed.
"Oh ok, I see what's going on here" She thought with delight the amount of forms she could tease her apprentice about this "Today's dinner is going to be fun"
"Wow Luz, I didn't know you had such a good image of me"
"Ehh… uh… I-" The young witch seemed to be out of words.
"Hey I just remembered, did you finish the azura book I lent you?"
"Oh, no I've been quite busy. But I love it so far!" She seemed quite pleased with the sudden change of topic.
"Great! I can't wait to talk to you about it, it's so hard to find Azura fans these days…"
They moved on to talk about that dorky book of them and Eda rolled her eyes, it seemed that she was out of entertainment for the day. Just when she was about to tell Luz that they needed to go, something interesting happened.
"...Well this was fun but I gotta go, my mum must be looking for me. Say, do you think we can do this again? Get together to talk about Azura?" Amity had a look in her eyes that told Eda she was planning something
"Oh yes! Can we have an Azura book club in the school?" Her eyes were shining with excitement.
"I wasn't thinking about the school. I think it would be better if we can meet just the two of us, what do you think?" She winked at her.
It seemed that it was too much for Luz's brain to handle. She just stood there, completely frozen.
After a while Amity stepped back and laughed. She seemed to enjoy the state she put Luz in.
"I'll take that as a no. Well I gotta go, see you at school Luz! Pleasure to meet you miss Clawthorne"
Eda waved as the girl left. Luz just muttered a barely audible 'bye' from her spot.
"Luz" she said after the girl disappeared from their sight "You need to take King to the vet, remember?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm going" She took a couple steps towards the entrance and turned to look at her "Can we not talk about this?"
"Oh we are definitely going to talk about what just happened" She could imagine the entertainment it would provide for her. But she also felt that she needed her guidance in this area "Not now tho. Go and remember what I told you"
Luz gulped and entered the vet. Eda laughed and went back to her car, and then she frowned when she saw Lilith in the driving seat.
"Lily, what the heck?"
"From now on I'll be driving. My stomach can't handle your savagery behind the wheel" She said with a serious tone.
"But you have a cast on your foot!" She argued.
"I don't care! Now get in, we are late"
Eda just sighed and entered her hijacked car.
Three hours later
They managed to do everything they had to in that short period of time: Lilith went to her doctor's appointment got her cast removed to her utter delight, Eda managed to buy everything she needed in time, and Luz said the King was one hundred percent flea-free and he only scratched the vet three times.
Right now they were all together in her car. Lilith was behind the wheel again (Eda tried to stop her but now that her sister was fully healed she was no match), and Eda was beside her in the front seat. Luz, for her part, was playing with King in the backseat, they were a bit cramped because Eda shoved all the groceries she bought in there as well.
"Lily, can we go a bit faster? You are driving like an old lady!" She could see the people in the streets making preparations for the Mayor's speech and she was afraid they might be too late to avoid it.
"I am merely obeying traffic laws, Edalyn. Besides" She looked at her with a sly smile "If I'm an old lady, then what are you? You are the older one after all"
Eda grunted but dropped the subject.
"Wait" Luz stopped playing with King and looked through the rear view mirror "Now that I think about it, I don't know how old you two are"
"Because there was no need for you to-"
"Edalyn is 44, and I am 42" Lilith interrupted her with a smile.
"Oh I see" Luz said.
"Alright kid, you better keep that info to yourself and don't make any comments on it" She turned back to threaten her.
"Hey my lips are sealed!" Then the girl looked forward and widened her eyes "Wait, what is that?"
As soon as Lilith turned the corner Eda could see that they were already too late. The main road had been blocked by metal fences and guarded by the police, all the shops had been closed, the buildings had been decorated with balloons and banners, and she could see the face of the mayor literally everywhere.
"God damn it! I told you we needed to go faster"
"All of this, for a speech? This is a full parade" Lilith looked baffled "It seems excessive. I'm usually not around Gravesfield for this part of the year, is it always like this?"
"Nah, never at this level" she looked at the multiple food stalls "That douchebag must be desperate for votes"
"Edalyn! Language" She pointed towards Luz who was looking at the parade with wonder.
"You think she hasn't heard worse? Besides, that dude totally deserves that title" She was glad that the latest poll showed that he was losing popularity.
"Is that an orchestra?" She pointed and Eda looked in that direction. Sure enough, there was a band preparing their instruments to the side.
"Well, I'm glad that the city's money is going to something important" She said sarcastically "Can you use your government pressure to make us pass Liliy?"
"Are you joking? I can't use my influence for something so trivial! I'll get in trouble!"
"Aren't you the boss of your division?" Her sister had told her she had several people under her, so Eda assumed she was someone important.
"That only makes it worse! If people found out and reported it I'd lose my position. Can't we just drive around this?"
"Are you kidding? Do you know how much it'll take us to surround all this and get to the owl house?" She gestured towards the parade.
"Like… less than 20 minutes?" Luz said.
"Ok yeah, maybe. But that would be admitting defeat! Besides, our exit is just right there!" She pointed towards the street in front of them that was also closed with fences "We just have to drive through less than 30 feet and we'll be so close to home! And it's not like we'd have to run over someone, this part of the street is empty! No food stands or stages Either! Just that stupid fence"
"I am not going to run them over if that's what you are implying" Lilith gave her a passive stare.
"Nah, that'd just create more problems in the long run. Park this, Lily. I'm gonna use my natural charms to get us through"
Her sister scoffed but parked anyways. The police at the fence let them pass inside (this was a public event after all) and she started looking for her target.
"So what? Are you just going to walk up to a random cop and flirt with them so they can let us pass?" Luz asked.
"Not just any random cop, the chief of police has a sweet spot for me" She said with a proud smile.
*Hmph* "I imagine this is why you don't have any speeding tickets" Lilith muttered.
"This seems like a big event" Luz commented "Isn't the chief of the police in charge of the security here?"
"Well, he is supposed to"
"And he is going to stop all that and open the gates just for a kiss? Who does that?" The teen seemed disappointed.
"I mean…" She gave her a sultry smile "I could give him way more than just a kiss"
"Edaaaa! Stoop!" Her cheeks turned red and Eda knew that Luz's ears were wiggling beneath her beanie.
"Absolutely not, Edalyn. I came here to make sure that you don't do any of that stuff again. Especially… After last time" Lilith's ears had the slightest blush.
"Hey Luz was in school and you were supposed to be at work, I thought I had the house to myself. It's not our fault that you decided to drop by and enter without knocking"
"Can we please change the subject? I really don't want to hear this conversation" Luz was actually covering her ears.
"Bah fine. Grow up, kid"
"Luz?" A familiar voice spoke.
Amity Blight was standing near them. She was wearing a fashionable blue and white dress and some brown heels.
"I knew you were here when I heard the yelling, we keep running into each other huh?" The Blight girl smiled "Hello Mrs Clawthorne"
"Hey! It's miss Clawthorne for your information" She replied angrily.
"Amity, whoa" Luz looked at her "What's with the get up?"
"Oh this? My mom works with the mayor so we are required to come to these events. And since this is a formal thing I have to wear a dress. Do you like it?" She twirled and grinned.
"I- uh" Luz's brain seemed to have short circuited, again.
Lilith, who until now was behind Eda, stood up and approached the girl. Upon seeing her Amity widened her eyes and opened her mouth, Eda could see a flash of recognition on her face.
"Hello Amity, dear. It seems that you have grown up" Lilith offered her a small smile.
"M-Miss Lilith?" She seemed to be caught off guard, Amity looked like she had seen a ghost "W-What are you doing here? I thought that you moved to a different state?"
"Work brought me back here. I'm staying with my sister Edalyn, I believe you already met her" She said pointing at her.
Eda just shot her an inquisitive stare. She never heard of her sister interacting with Odalia's daughter, not to mention that she called her 'miss'. Lily answered by simply giving her an 'I will tell you later' look.
"I must say Amity" Lilith continued "You have turned into a beautiful young lady, I am really proud"
Amity was paralyzed, it seemed that she was unable to find a proper answer for that. Luckily she didn't have to; a pair of identical blonde kids (a girl and a boy, both dressed with fancy clothing) appeared from the back of the stage and walked right to them.
"Mittens!" The girl called "Mom is almost done with the preparations, she needs us to come with her"
"Hi Ed, hi Em. How is it going?" Luz smiled and waved at them.
"Hi Luz!" The two of them answered at the same time. Then the girl noticed the rest of them.
"Is that… Lilith?"
"Ok, what the fuck is going on? Does the entire Blight household know my sister?"
"Hello to you two! You look so taller! Are you in college?"
"Oh… yeah, we are just visiting for the weekend" the girl answered
"Miss Eda?" That voice was familiar to her. Now that looked at him well, Eda realized that she knew the blonde boy.
"Edric! How is my favorite customer?" Then her brain finally connected the dots upon seeing him alongside his sisters "Wait, you are a Blight too?"
"Oh haha, I don't tend to tell people my last name. Mom's afraid that it'll affect our reputation" He chuckled nervously.
"Wait, customer?" Amity seemed to have snapped out of whatever trance seeing Lily put her into "Are you the infamous Owl lady? The one that sold our brother all of those prank items he's been using on us all of these years?"
"Would you sue me if I said yes?"
"Edric!" The other sister reprimanded him "Don't tell me you still buy things there, you are not twelve anymore!"
Eda chuckled as she remembered the small blonde boy that one day appeared into her shop, asking her for something that could help him prank his sister. Eda could see a bit of her in him so she helped him. The next month he came back for more with all of his allowance money. They were always friendly to each other, even after his visits became sparse as he got older, the last thing she heard was that he went to college.
"Who would've thought that he was Odalia's kid. If I knew he might try to pull a prank on her I would've helped… Wait a minute. If all the baby Blights are here then that means she might be here" A dangerous, but potentially funny, idea started forming in her head.
"Alright guys! This is a heartwarming reunion but I got business to do. Where's your mother?" She turned to face the three Blights.
"She said she was busy" Amity closed her arms in defiance. It seemed that she was still upset about whatever Edric did to her with the things he bought at the owl house.
"Ahh come on, it won't take much of her time. I just want to talk to her about the parade, it's important" It was technically the truth.
"I don't know" the sister whose name she didn't knew pitched in "Mom tends to be easily irritable in these kind of events, you do not want to piss her off"
*Snort* "Trust me kid, I know. Your mother and I used to be classmates, I know how to handle her" Those words seemed to surprise all of the four kids present.
"Wait… You and mom used to be classmates, Miss Eda?" Edric was stunned "She never mentioned it"
"Gee, I wonder why"
"Yep! I've known her since middle school, and I can prove it!" She proclaimed excitedly "Her maiden name was Barnes, she is allergic to dogs, and she hates sweet food"
All three kids were stunned.
"You and Mom were friends?" Amity asked incredulously.
"Pffft, friends? Nah, Odalia doesn't need those. But we all grew up together in this town. Gravesfield used to be a lot smaller back in the day so most of the people knew each other. She also attended school with Lily and me" Amity's eyes widened at that.
"You too miss Lilith?" She asked.
"Yes, although your mother was one grade above me"
"Ok, fine by me" The Blight sister said "She is by the stage, setting things up. Good luck"
"Thank you" She then took her sister and Luz to a side "Ok, listen up. You two can stay here and chit chat with the baby Blights and I will try to solve our issue. If you hear a ruckus leave without me"
"What?" Luz looked at her weirdly.
*Sigh* "Do whatever you want" Lilith seemed to be done with her.
Eda gave her a thumbs up and turned towards that direction. Meanwhile the rest started having a friendly chat. As she left she could hear Lilith asking Edric if he still had a hard time with math, and that left her intrigued. She was so going to drill her with questions when they were done with this.
Eda approached the stage and she could see that they were just about to begin with the celebration: Chairs were put in front of the stage, the technicians were turning on all the electronics, and the organizers started telling people to get closer through the megaphones. It seemed like a nice day, too bad that all of this was financed and organized by two massive jerks.
"Alright let's see. Odalia, Odalia, Odalia. Where are you? Fuck, she is so small that she can dissappear easily in a group of people like this"
"You on the right! Why aren't these signs hanged up on the walls? We are starting this speech in less than fifteen minutes and we need those ready by then" Eda heard a loud voice from the crowd and she knew she was in the right place.
There, standing in the middle of the stage, and with a bitch aura that radiated for miles, was Odalia Blight. Eda could observe that she hadn't changed much since the last time she saw her. Her dark blonde, almost brunette, hair was tied up in a bun that made her look like Eda's grandmother, her blue eyes were as cold as ever, and her face was resting in a permanent scowl. She was wearing a white vest over a purple shirt with a white tie, she also had a dark purple skirt and heels. Right now Odalia was holding a clipboard and yelling instructions to her (probably underpaid) employees that were doing tasks.
Eda thought that the best way of approaching her would be a direct confrontation. So she smiled and went forward.
"Hello there! Long time no see!" She waved to her.
"Who's… Oh, you" her voice was dripping with venom "What do you want?"
"Aww, really? Is this a way to greet an old classmate, 'Dalia?" She grinned "Are those new wrinkles? You gotta stop frowning"
"We are not friends and I will not play a part in your games, Edalyn. Why are you here?"
"I believe this is a public event open to everyone. I'm just here to offer my support to good ol' Grant!" The way she looked at her told Eda she didn't buy it.
"Edalyn, I am in charge of arranging this whole event for the mayor so I don't have time for whatever this is. If you only wanted to say hi then please leave before I call security" She turned around to leave but Eda got in her way.
"Oh come on. You wouldn't call security on an old friend, would ya?"
"You know perfectly that I would"
"Ok fine, call them if you want" She gave her a sly smile "But I don't promise that I'll behave myself if you do. You know that I'm very capable of causing a ruckus, and I'm guessing that having a scandal just before the mayor's speech won't look too good on you, would it? Specially when you are the one in charge"
That made her grunt. Since she didn't say anything else she took it as a chance to keep going.
"Well I did want to say hi to you, but also I need to talk to you about something of big importance. It has to do with the parade" She said with a solemn expression.
The Blight woman put her hands on her hips and gave her a stern look.
"I'm listening…"
"Ok so here is the situation. My house, as you are well aware, it's a bit more than ten blocks in that distance" She pointed to the right "We were having a shopping trip and we forgot that this was today. Because of that, our car ended up there" she pointed to the left "I know this whole thing tends to occupy the entire main street and you guys block other streets for good measure. If I tried to go around it'd take me a lot of time" She put her hands behind her and gave Odalia her most innocent look "Soooo, I was wondering if you could remove the fences and let me pass. Its only to the other end of the street, less than thirty feet on a straight line, and you wouldn't even need to move any of the stands or decorations!" She just stared at her "...please?"
"Edalyn" her tone was serious "This is the matter of big importance? It's just a minor inconvenience!"
"No. A minor inconvenience would be moving those fences for a second, they don't even look that heavy"
"I have ten minutes to finish organizing this entire event for my boss, so I don't have time for you. Just drive around"
"But-"
"End of discussion, now go away" She turned to direct her employees and ignored her.
Eda regretted doing this, she knew that nothing good would come from interacting with Odalia but at least she had to try. She turned around, already thinking about how she could convince the police to let them pass, when she heard of something that caught her interest.
"Has anyone seen Amity? She has to be with me when the speech starts. And where are the twins?" Odalia asked her people but no one answered her.
An idea formed in her head at the same time a devilish smirk appeared on her lips.
"I know where they are!" She proclaimed excitedly. Odalia frowned when she heard her.
"Eda? Haven't I told you to go away?"
"Yep and I was going away till I heard you calling for your children. I know where they are, I saw them on the way here"
"And you want me to clear your way in exchange for that information?" She scoffed "Please, as if I can't find them myself"
"No, I was going to give you that for free. I can tell that you already made your mind about the subject, so I won't pressure it anymore" Odalia narrowed her eyes at that.
"Are you lying?"
"Only one way to find out! C'mon, it's not too far away" She started marching.
Odalia sighed and looked at the sides, probably looking for someone to delegate this task. However, it seemed that all of her personnel was busy doing the tasks she gave them and the police was patrolling the area so there was no one that she could send to search for her children. She muttered something Eda couldn't hear and joined her.
"Heh, all according to plan"
After a bit of walking they reached the part where she left the others and Eda could see the twins talking to Luz while Amity chatted with Lilith excitedly.
"See? I was telling the truth" Eda said
"Edric, Emira" Odalia didn't scream, but her voice carried enough power to make everyone stop talking. The twins straightened up and turned with fear. Meanwhile all of the excitement seemed to drain from Amity's face when she heard her mother talking. And Luz did the smartest thing, which was to hide behind Lilith to make herself less noticeable "What is this? I asked you two to bring Amity to me, not to talk with random people. And Mittens, you know that you need to be at my side when the speech starts"
Edric cleared his throat.
"Sorry mum, it's just that… we-uh, we ran into a familiar face!" He pointed towards Lilith.
"Odalia" Her sister nodded towards her.
"Oh Lilith, it's been a while. Last thing I've heard you were working in a high rank for a government agency, good for you" Then she turned towards her children "Kids, it's fine to socialize but we need to go now. Say goodbye" With that she turned away.
"Goodbye children, it has been a pleasure to see you" Lilith seemed sad.
"By miss Lilith!" The three of them said, almost in union.
"By miss Eda!" Edric added and Odalia frowned at that.
The three of them started leaving, but when they were a few steps away Eda spoke.
"Before you go, do you guys want to know something embarrassing about your mother?" She asked.
"Hell yeah!" Edric said. His sister nodded and even Amity looked mildly interested.
"Edric…" Odalia started but it was too late.
"Did you guys know that when we were in school your mother had a crush on me?" She felt really satisfied when she mentioned it.
It was as if she just threw a bomb in front of them. Odalia jerked back with a surprised look on her face, she was clearly surprised. The twins looked stunned, they were expecting something juicy but not that. Lilith facepalmed while the youngest Blight kept looking between her and Odalia like it was a tennis match. They were all silent for a couple of seconds.
Then everything exploded.
"EDALYN!" Odalia's face was entirely red and she seemed to burst in anger.
"Wow, really?" Edric looked like this was the best day ever.
"Huh- Wha- But" Amity's brain seemed to be in shock.
"Yep! She even pretended to like my sister and went on a couple dates with her just to get close to me" And when Eda discovered that she rejected her. Odalia got mad about that so she broke Lilith's heart in retaliation. Once Eda found out about that things got messy, the Blight ended with a black eye and a knocked tooth.
"Eda!" Lilith gasped "Don't rope me into this"
"Are you serious?" Amity was now looking between all three of them.
"Oh wow" Luz seemed marveled at this new piece of information.
"THAT'S IT" Odalia seemed beyond angry. Her face looked like a tomato and her right eye was twitching "all of you are getting out of my sight and away from my children, RIGHT NOW!"
"Or what?" Eda gave her a challenging smile "you are going to call security? We already went over that, and you said you didn't want a scandal" She pointed at the groups of people that were already looking at them. It seems that Odalia's earlier outburst had attracted them "I still have lots of things to tell your kids about our school days. I'm sure they'll be delighted to hear about your emo phase"
Odalia snarled at her.
"Oh if only there was a way for you to get rid of me without everyone noticing" She added a dramatic gesture and gave her the sad puppy eyes "Something that would only take an order for your men and less than five minutes of your time. Hmmm, I wonder…"
She could've sworn that she saw one of Odalia's forehead veins pop.
Five minutes later they were in her car. Eda had reclaimed her driving seat before Lilith could protest. Luz was on the backseat trying to calm King, apparently the cat didn't like the fact that everyone left him alone for so long.
The police at both sides of the street opened the fences for her and cleared people from her path. Odalia was at the side, looking like she wanted to kill her with just a glare. She couldn't see her children (She doubted that they'd be ever allowed to be near her, but Eda was sure she left quite the impression). The police officers gave her a nod and she drove across the street.
"Bye 'Dalia!" She yelled as she drove past her "Remember to not frown too much, or you'll get more wrinkles!"
"Edalyn, could you stop provoking her? It's bad enough that you talked about that in front of her children, you should not try your luck with her" Lilith looked back with worry.
"Pfft, what's she going to do? Give me a stern glare? She needs to grab a chair to do that properly"
"Edalyn! She works with the mayor, what if you get evicted?"
"I'd like to see her try…"
"Hey, before this goes on" Luz interrupted "I want to know why the Blights knew you, Lilith"
"Oh, right. What was all of that about?" She had forgotten about it for a second.
"Oh, it's nothing big. Back at the beginning of my career I had to do some… odd jobs to gain credibility in my agency, it's the typical stuff that no one wants to do so they leave it to the new person. My job was to act as a security guard for a local CEO, who turned out to be Odalia''
"Ouch" Eda could imagine the situation.
"Exactly. Back then she had received some threats so she asked us for protection. In the end, no incidents happened and I ended up acting as a sort of assistant for her. She would bring me along to events and meetings with the excuse of needing protection, but I'd end up doing chores for her '' Lilith had a bitter expression on her face.
"And one of those chores was to take care of her children, right?" Luz guessed with a smile.
"Yes. Odalia had no patience for them when they were little, so she neglected them. I did not like that so I spent time with them" Her annoyed expression left her face. Now her sister had a fond smile "I liked them. Edric and Emira were ten and Amity only was eight years old. They were my favorite part of being with the Blights. We sadly lost contact after I left, I believe it was Odalia's doing, but seeing them all grown up made me quite happy" Now Eda could see that she had a small tear running down her cheek "Luz, would you mind giving me Amity's number? It has been so long and we didn't have time to catch up in the parade. I don't think that Odalia would approve of that, though"
Eda looked at her. Her sister had told her that she wasn't interested in dating multiple times. At first she thought it was due to her nerves or the leftover bitterness from Odalia, so she kept pushing her to keep trying and kept setting up dates for her. It wasn't until her sister sat her down and gave her a long talk that it got through her thick head: Lilith didn't feel the need to have any of that. She didn't have the necessity, she didn't have the drive. She was fine this way and apparently there were a lot of people that felt the same way and identified with those feelings. Eda apologized for being pushy and they moved on from that conversation.
All this time Eda assumed that she also didn't want children because her job kept her too busy and agreed with that thought, babies were gross anyways. But now after seeing her interact with the Blight children she could distinguish a sad emotion in her eyes, a sense of longing perhaps?
"Pfft, who cares about what she thinks? I can also give you the number of the twins if you want to" Luz started to look for her phone.
"Dang, I'm started to rub in on her"
"So…" she said to break the tension "You ended up babysitting your ex's kids? Dang, that must've been hard"
"Eda!" Lilith covered her face in embarrassment "Could you please stop bringing up that period of my life? I didn't even like her! I just went along with it because I thought she had a crush on me and I didn't have the courage to reject her"
"Hey I'm not judging. If anything, I think you have a great taste, those hips are something else"
"EDA!" Two voices screamed at the same time and she laughed.
-Hunter-
Gravesfield's streets / Tuesday october 31st 19:00 hrs
Hunter had a problem
And it wasn't the fact that he was stuck in another dimension with people that might consider him a monster. It wasn't the fact that one of the only two people he could trust on this planet was a homicidal maniac, while the other person was a plain idiot. It also wasn't the fact that there were apparently a ton of magical criminals with them in this world. It wasn't the fact that the human authorities were after them and each time they got closer to a full blown confrontation with them. It wasn't the fact that they had lost the trail of the plane-shifting staff and the criminal that brought them here. It wasn't the fact that he had to work a part-time job to cover their expenses. It wasn't the fact that he had screwed his last mission and now his companions mocked him constantly. It wasn't the fact that he accidentally released one of the most dangerous creatures filled with wild magic. It wasn't even his lack of sleep, depression or anxiety.
Well, scratch that. Hunter had a lot of problems.
But his main issue right now, the reason why he couldn't sleep, was that he is starting to enjoy the stay in this world.
Here he didn't have to embark on dangerous missions, or deal with monstrous creatures trying to eat him, or work hard every day to gain his uncle's approval. Also, he didn't feel bad for not having magic in this realm, the humans did an excellent job at developing tools to compensate for their lack of magical abilities.
Not to mention that he found things that he genuinely enjoyed here. With no new magical items to catalog, they had a lot of free time for themselves nowadays so Hunter searched for something to occupy his free time with (Otherwise he might've gone crazy) and he found this book called cosmic frontier. It was really good but he also could imagine his uncle's face every time he grabbed it, this was the sort of thing he would qualify as an 'unhealthy distraction'.
So this was his current dilemma: He was stuck in a place with things he actually liked but he couldn't allow himself to fully enjoy, each time he did so he saw his uncle's face. He knew that they should be working hard to get back, but there was nothing he could do! All of their leads were gone and…
"Hey, are you going to eat those?" Wrath's words interrupted his thoughts.
"Huh?"
The demon just pointed at his unfinished plate of french fries.
"Oh. All yours buddy" he moved the plate towards him and Wrath started munching on them happily
Right now the three of them were eating outside of a restaurant in the middle of a human celebration. Hunter didn't know what this 'hal-o-win' was supposed to be about, but everyone around them put on a silly costume for some reason and there were loads of baskets with candy in them, they had the stop wrath from grabbing those multiple times. Eventually they stumbled upon a restorant that held a contest for the best costume, the announcement said that they would give those who win free food for the night. So they signed up Wrath to compete for it, Hunter still couldn't believe that the humans thought it was a disguise, and obviously won.
"Well, I gotta say I'm surprised. This is the first time your ugly face is useful for us! I haven't been this full in weeks!" Abigail pointed at her empty plate. They had gone to see another doctor for her leg (luckily this time she didn't kill them) and she finally had her cast removed, which seemed to put her in a happier mood.
Wrath just looked down sadly and Hunter patted him in comfort.
"If you are finished we should go. Maybe these humans were stupid enough to believe Wrath had a disguise, but we shouldn't try our luck with those on the street" Hunter got out and gestured at how the people outside could clearly see them from their position.
"Fine by me, let's leave" Abigail agreed
"Uh, actually I need to go to the bathroom real quick. I think I ate too much" He got up from his seat and put on his mask to leave.
Hunter sighed and stretched his arms. He decided that enjoying something couldn't be that bad since he couldn't do anything about his situation, and it's not like he was working hard to get them back home. He promised to himself that as soon as they got a new lead on the wild witch or the plane-shifting staff he would dedicate all his time to that, but until then reading a few chapters of cosmic frontier won't hurt anyone.
"I hope that I can bring some books back with me to the boiling isles when this is over. Oh, maybe I can also borrow the internet to show people!" He thought excitedly.
"Guys?" Wrath called them from behind a corner. He looked nervous.
"Did you go already?" Abigail asked "That was quick"
"No, but… I need to show you people something"
"Ew! I am not entering the boy's bathroom" She frowned.
"It's not that!" He looked at the sides and kept talking with a quieter tone "It's something important"
Hunter groaned and got up from his seat. He figured that Wrath was going to keep insisting until they went. And who knows? Maybe this time he'll actually have something important to show them. He followed him around the corner towards the front of the shop where the clients would order their food.
"Ok, what is it? There's nothing special here. And stop walking like that" They gray demon was trying to be sneaky, which was really hard with his big frame.
"Is that… who I think it is?" He gulped and pointed at one of the customers in the line.
Hunter looked where he pointed and felt his heart drop. In front of the counter there was a teenage girl around his age with dark skin, she was wearing a black jacket over a light blue shirt and some green pants. There was nothing notable about her except her hair: It was long, brown, and fell almost to her waist. It was almost familiar to him, like he had seen it somewhere.
"Holy motherfucking titan" He heard Abigail swear behind him "It's her!"
"Shh, she may hear you!" Hunter dragged the two of them to a hidden spot "Ok, are you sure? Because we only saw the top part of the witch's face and I don't want to attack some random human"
"I'm sure it's her, I'd recognize that stupid hair everywhere" She had a malicious glint in her eye "Besides, do you see what's on top of her head?"
"A… hat?"
"That conveniently covers the top of her ears. That is something you or I would use to sneak around this realm without raising suspicions" That was a good point. It hadn't occurred to him that she also had to hide her identity here.
"Have you tried using an oracle spell on her? To see if you could detect magic" Wrath suggested.
Abigail stepped up and looked to the sides to see if there were any people nearby. Once she was certain, she quickly casted a magic circle in the air.
"She is not doing any magic right now so I can only detect small traces in the air"
"Those could be from us" Hunter argued "We did spend a lot of time there"
"Maybe I'm too far away to detect her magic gland in her heart" She glared at the girl "I know that you are going to say that we shouldn't just jump on her right now because there might be collateral damage and we might expose ourselves and blah blah blah. But this is the first chance that we have at finding a lead in weeks! We should at least follow her to see if it's really her"
"Wait a second, I've just thought of an idea" Wrath then scratched his chin and looked at Hunter "Do you have the bug with you?"
"The… bug?" Hunter was confused.
"You know! The scarab!" He nudged him.
"Oh! You mean the magical tracking device! Yeah, I have it. Wait, why do you want it?"
"We could put a tracker on her right now, she seems distracted" He pointed at the girl and sure enough, the girl seemed distracted "If we are going to follow her let's make sure we won't lose her"
They both looked at him with surprised eyes.
"Huh, you are a lot smarter than we give you credit for" He then grabbed his bag and pulled up the golden beetle "Ok if we are going to do this, we are going to do it properly. First of all I'll sneak up on her to implant the tracker, then-"
"Oh wait, hold on a second" the witch interrupted him and snatched the relic from his hands "You are going to do it? After how you screwed the last time? Nah, I don't think so"
"That was an accident! A one time thing! Besides, this is a stealth mission. Those aren't your speciality" Hunter argued.
Abigail raised her eyebrow and traced a spell circle in the air. She became invisible a second later.
"Or you could do that. Yeah, that works"
Wrath and him waited outside for a couple of minutes. They saw the girl order her food and leave. A few seconds after that Abigail materialized in front of them.
"It is done. Now let's follow that bitch"
Fifteen minutes later, after following her from the rooftops, the teen entered an alleyway. Five seconds later, the wild witch came out.
A person asked me how the MCU keeps the magic in secret if people have already seen magical creatures like the plant, well… now you know :3
Also, as an aromantic person with not much experience in the subject it's really hard for me to write flirting. I hope I didn't do it too bad.
I really do not like how the Blight's meeting scene happened, it felt like a clusterfuck. The thing is that I wanted all of those interactions to happen and it was the right place for it to happen, but somehow I screwed it up. I think the way I did the reunion/introductions was wrong but I don't know how to do it better.