"What exactly was your plan for my nephew?"

It was a slower day at the Emperor's castle. A raid attempt had been okayed for the next day, but the Coven Heads were all out doing their own things and Hunter was either in the library or training with Flapjack; the Emperor himself was having his occasional day long naps; a day few and far between but that everyone looked forward to.

All in all? The ideal time for Lilith to get an answer that had been on her mind ever since Olivier returned to the Boiling Isles.

"I beg your pardon, Lilith?" Kikimora asked, hiding any shock or fear expertly.

"Oh, hard of hearing down there?" Lilith smirked, not caring if her so called superior punished her for this later. "Then let me repeat myself: What exactly as your plan for my nephew; Olivier Clawthorne?"

Kikimora turned around to leave the room.

"I don't know what…"

"Faust spilled the beans before Edalyn and I killed him." Lilith cut in, letting that sink in.

Kiki froze in midstep, slowly, almost mechanically.

"One would think losing his position and retirement would've humbled the demon, but I suppose the chance of some petty revenge with the backing of the Emperor's aid is tempting enough to destroy yourself." Lilith recounted, remembering how her former prinicpal had been a sobbing wreck

"W-what?"

"You heard." Lilith smiled. "Edalyn. And I? We kill Faust. Messily too, the poor janitors….. I know this may be hard for you to comprehend, having such a unique family structure and all, but my sister and I do not take kindly to threats to Olivier."

It took all Kiki had to not make some sort of retort involving the incidents with the youngest Blight heiress and current Hexside Banshee superstar; while Lilith was speaking calmly and smiled? It was as if she was channelling Belos.

"The thing is, Kikimora: You're not stupid. At least normally." Lilith continued as she manifested her staff. "I remind you of this because for the life of me I cannot figure out why you thought making Olivier disappear was a good idea."

"H-his magic is wild!" The Palm Stings demon weakly retorted. "And he's a crutch to his mother…!"

"A crutch you say?" Lilith asked, seeming to pause and think about that before smirking again. "…Well, I can see why you'd think that. But in all honesty? Olivier was and IS among the only things keeping Evelyn from rampaging wily and nilly across the Isles doing as she pleased."

A white lie; even at her worst Edalyn wasn't THAT bad. Still, Kikimora didn't know that.

"If her son was waiting for her? My sister always played it safe. Well…safer."

That was more accurate; even at her best, Edalyn was a firecracker.

"Permit me a chance to guess what your plan was." Lilith cut off Kiki before the demon could say anything. "You probably thought that with Olivier gone, my sister would be sloppy and easier to capture. You thought I would weaponize his missing status to get her to join the Coven or turn herself in, then forget about him as Edalyn got adjusted to Coven life. Again, cultural differences, so that one is not entirely your fault. What IS your fault..is that you seemed to ignore the possibility that Eda could've figured out someone in the Emperor's Coven…or ANY Coven for that matter, was responsible for his disappearance. Of all the Coven heads, only myself, Raine and Darius have a CHANCE of besting Edalyn at her best. And if and whenever my nephew is involved? My sister goes BEYOND her best. I'll be frank: I don't think I could beat that Edalyn….And you? Oh, you'd have better luck against that mongrel she keeps as a pet."

]….Now that this was all said out loud, the normally proud and petty Kikimora feared for her life…and questioned why she even went through with that asinine plan. Unlike Lilith and the other Coven Heads, she was NOT a powerful magic user. She got her position as part of an alliance with Palm Stings!

"Lilith? You have full permission to take your pound of flesh." Belos' voice suddenly echoed throughout the castle, just as Kiki realized that Lilith was now right in front of her, her stoic face now a glare…that morphed into a smile?

"Now, now Kiki." The Head Witch of the Emperor's Coven smiled as she patted the object of her anger on the head. "I'm not going to do anything today. There are things we need to do in order to ensure the Day of Unity goes off without a hitch; and it IS my one day off; I'll be checking in on Amity."

Lilith then turned and began to walk away, letting Kikimora let oit a breath of relief and clear the sweat off her brow.

"But!" Lilith suddenly cut in. "You are not off the hook. Someday? I will come back to do as the Emperor has granted me. Not today, probably not tomorrow, Titan, probably not this month. But rest assured, Kikimora? This attack against my family? The Clawthornes? It will be avenged."

She then finally left to catch up with her apprentice, leaving the tiny demon frozen in place.

"That is why she's Head of my Coven." Belos said before continuing with his rest.

SEVERAL MONTHS LATER….

This was officially the worst day of Kikimora's life.

Just as she had FINALLY been able to start her own empire after finally riding her of the usurper who'd ruined her disguise and fake story, and after Kiki herself had managed to send Boscha on a delusion-driven chase by convincing her Amity could be hers again? She'd been blasted by the Human's staff and pummeled by the remaining Hexside students, led by the newly reformed Clawthorne Coven.

Her Abomiton was destroyed and her body was battered and bruised. She'd managed to roll away from the students, finding herself deeper in the woods.

Suddenly smelling something cooking and hearing the bubbling of a potion in a cauldron, the diminutive demon forced herself to her feet and made her way to a seemingly empty camp. She'd search and take whatever she could….!

"Hello, Kiki."

Kiki froze. She knew that voice.

"….No…."

She turned to see Lilith, now with short red, curly hair and glasses, smiling evilly at her.

"Oh yes. Its been quite some time, Kiki. Tell me….Have you met my parents?"

Two more witches joined Lilith; one an elderly male with a scared eye and arm needing to use his Palisman as a cane, and the other clearly the mother of Lilith and Edalyn; bulit like a brick house and glaring with such an anger it made what Lilith had done mon ths ago seem like a candle compared to a raging inferno.

"So, THIS…thing….is the reason Olivier went missing?" Gwendolyn asked, cracking her knuckles.

"Indeed." Dell smiled viciously as all three of their Palisman came to life, their angry faces promsing nothing but pain.

All kikimora could do was weakly try to defend herself and scream:

"NO, No! NOOOOOOO!"

3 hours later

Now, Kikimora didn't die. Wrathful as the Clawthornes rightfully were? They held back JUST enough.

"Now, dear. Sweet Flea." Dell had reminded his wife and eldest daughter. "She may be the reason Olivier was taken from us….but in a way, she IS also the reason we'll be getting a beautiful daughter-in-law and great grandchildren in the future."

Lilith and Gwen had pouted and grumbled, but relented and healed the diminutive demon just enough that she'd survived and could crawl.

…And with Olivier, Luz and Eda's luck, we'll probably need all the help we can get when something inevitably goes wrong in their plans." Lilith noted, her parents nodding in agreement.

Kikimora sighed in relief: She was safe now, right?

Not quite.

Hooty, even in his semi comatose state, he managed to whisper:

"…You won't always have them around to protect you. And I WILL be getting back to the old Hooty soon enough. So, when that happens? I suggest you watch your back, hoot, hoot….Cause I'll be snacking on it."

The former House Demon had then been picked up by Lilith, leaving Kikimora to do something she hadn't done in years:

She whimpered:

"…Mother."

OWLPHIBIA

In the end, Kikimora had a very small role in helped repel her former master and was giving praise and medals for her 'bravery.' This in turn, was enough for her family to offer her a chance back…which she declined, deciding to live her own life on the Isles as a storyteller and guide at the Museum, spearheading an exhibit on Belos as a warning for future generations.

She even found love down the line.

But, for all that went right with Kiki? She was NEVER forgiven by the Clawthorne family, nor those closest to them. In fact, she was tolerated at best in the Isles; the closest things she had to friends outside of her love where the holdouts of Belos' followers.'

And until her dying days? The mere sight of an orange mane, or Olivier, Lilith, Gwen, Dell or Eda, would drive Kikimora to scream, tense up and then say nothing but the following for at least an hour:

"EVIL! Evil, evil, evil, evil, evil, evil!"

And when little Ami Boonchuy-Clawthrone and her friends started going to Hexside in the summers and visiting the Isles? Oh the poor demon…

END

Just a one shot that occurred to me. While canon to the 'BTAB' version of this verse, where in chapter five we learnt the demon that sold Olivier the box did so under Kikimora's orders (even if she wasn't outright named), its canonicity in the other timelines depends completely on MertoXLR99's say….and considering how I involved Faust, who disguised himself as a Goat Demon, I don't think it'll carry over. Maybe we'll see something similar down the line, but until then?

I hope you enjoyed it; tried to channel as much of Season1 Lilith's fierce enforcer with a heart of gold and give Gwen and Dell a minute to shine.

Also took from what little we got from Kikimora's conversations with her mother and her choosing the Coven over returning home to try and paint a less than ideal picture of her homelife, along with some of the 'Blue-Orange' morality/family dyanmics of the Demon Relam.

This is NOT meant to excuse what Kiki did and or does in the show, before anyone says that. I've given that idea with Odalia in BTAB and so far, have no plans to redeem either of them.

Belos has also proven to not be the best boss to Kiki, plus with revaltaions down the line that MetroXLR has shared with me (NO SPOILERS, ANYONE WHO KNOWS! I WILL DELETE YOUR REVIEW!) feel he'd be inclined to see her punished for her actions towards the youing Clawthorne boy,

I've also dropped a few hints as to what other changes will show up in 'Thanks to All' down the line; Kiki will NOT be a shadow 'emperor' for very long and neither will Boscha; someone ELSE is going to be in charge of Hexside during 'Season three'; someone arguably better AND worse than them.

While this story is marked as complete and I so far have no plans to continue, I would love to hear suggestions on whatever Ami and her friends do to Kikimora, as well as any other 'karmic' oneshots you lovely readers can think of. If I like any of them enough, I might write them up.

Should be updating City of Angels, Dark Wizard, Thanks and BTAB within the coming days (in that order!) Until we meet again, stay safe, warm and happy!