Chapter Text
Emerging from the hall of statues, Raine helped Eda up as Lilith led the way, Lilith watching ever so slightly with her eyes as Raine struggled to get an ashy Eda up the stairs. “Lilith, you were before my time here at the Emperor’s Coven, weren’t you?” they asked. Lilith nodded a little bit as she pressed her back against the wall, her black nails tapping ever slightly against the gray brick. “I can’t imagine it’s been easy for you to come back, given we’re both traitors.”
“Belos is apparently out of service… I suppose his curse has gotten worse,” grumbled Lilith. “If I had known that, maybe I’d be less cautious, maybe we could have gotten this done quicker.”
“Lilith, the fact you were willing to do this at all is good enough for itself. I suppose you’re rather hard on yourself because you lack some sort of purpose, huh?” Raine asked. Lilith’s head swiveled entirely backwards.
“Well, how else am I supposed to feel? I dangled a teenager over a pit of spikes and captured my own sister at her weakest moment… for what? If all I had to was split the pain, I would have.” Lilith replied back, incredulous.
“Had I known what Belos was really planning, I might have not poured over so much of my time and effort into becoming Head Bard. Destiny has a funny way of shaking people onto the wrong path for a while before eventually shaking them onto the path they need to be on, hm?” Raine replied. “Your selflessness comes through. You are a good person.”
Lilith looked at her dismissively. “Well, I’m not sure about that.”
“Fine, you’re as good of a person as me. Am I a bad person?” asked Raine.
“I… mm, fine, you win. “As Raine patted Eda’s sleepy cheek, Lilith held out a invisibility glyph. “I don’t know how long we need to hold our breaths, but this is deep within the castle. There’s been people lurking throughout the halls all day, such as that twerp with the golden mask. A pithy teenager, apparently.”
Raine snatched it from her hands and looked at it carefully. “I’ve used this before.”
“Good, then that’s one less thing I need to explain.” Lilith replied, holding the glyph to her chest, and then taking a deep breath, taking off on her staff.
Raine followed suit, grabbing Eda’s staff from her hair, and wrapping her arms around their own shoulders. Eda held on tight with what remains of her strength she had, feeling the staff float underneath them. “Hey, I need you to hold your breath, okay?” asked Raine. Eda nodded quietly. “Press the glyph against your chest, just like how you showed me…”
Eda did as she instructed and Raine quickly followed suit, and the two began to follow the halls to the entrance- out the way all things in the castle came. Raine had been here enough to know that was about the fastest exit they could take aside from a window, and they weren’t daring enough to go through a barrier of glass.
The weight on the staff began to shift and Raine found themselves veering far more right than they thought was reasonable. It was only then that they saw Eda tumble off the broom and hit the floor with a gasp, struggling to get up. Raine quickly reversed directions.
Lilith looked behind and had to give out her own gasp as she saw Raine and Eda tumble through the hall. Raine picked up Eda’s hand but she could tell it was already far too late as her familiar nemesis- who she could spot a mile away- popped from behind the far wall with her beady yellow eye wide open.
“Grahhh…” Lilith hissed from her mouth as she slid her foot down to the ground, her staff coming to a stop before she turned around and sped towards the two. She needed to catch up, now.
She grabbed some simple fire glyphs and fired them off at her former coworker, Kikimora stirring as she hissed, running towards Eda and Raine faster and faster, which turned out to be faster than Lilith could on foot. As she was about to attack the two, a sudden attack from a white raven Palisman slammed into her head.
“I may no longer be able to cast magic, but it’s not like I don’t have any control over my Palisman, Kiki.” Lilith said as she leaned in on her staff, watching Raine and Eda finally get up.
Kikimora cackled as she got up from the floor, cracking her neck as she began to rise from the floor. Suddenly, notes rose from the air as Raine began to play off their violin, Raine’s fingers finicking against the bow of the violin. Kikimora felt her limbs forcibly snatched from her, contorting away from Lilith as Lilith’s palisman returned to her staff.
“You will never, ever exert control over someone else again so long as I am around.” Raine said with a rasp in their breath. Suddenly, something struck them from the back, a large imposing figure with horns. Raine flew to the floor, rolling to their back as they tried to get up as soon as possible before recognizing the figure. “…Panacea?”
“Ah, Raine… the traitor, I’m told.” Panacea spat from her lips, hoisting Raine with some blue colored magic ribbons, trying around their wrists.
“Ngh…” grunted Raine as she tried to wrestle free. Eda was ensnared up in the ribbons as well as Kikimora resumed control of her body, cackling as she lifted the finger over her covered eye. Golden roots shot from Lilith’s arm.
Lilith thought quickly, familiar with the practice. She then realized the solution was obvious as she tore her arm off and threw it at Kikimora’s head, watching as Kikimora doubled back as the thorns ensnared her. “Ahaha-ACK!” Kikimora laughed before grunting, feeling the barbs entangle around her.
Lilith quickly pressed down some glyphs on the ribbons as Panacea began to approach her, burning them away with fire as Eda and Raine got to their feet. “You two, just gun for the exit, I got this.” she roared with a ferocious tenacity.
“No, I’m not losing someone else.” Eda growled back. She suddenly felt her eyes go black and her pupils go gold as feathers coated her body. She had gone full harpy mode and flew towards Panacea, slamming her against the wall as more Emperor’s Coven guards began to suddenly flood through the halls.
“Ah, we’ve triggered alarms, haven’t we?” Raine asked. “Well, you know me, I don’t do well in crowds.” they teased as they looked to Eda who just got off Panacea, and they began to play off their violin. Guards began to attack at each other with their limbs under the rhythms and strings of Raine’s playing, making their way to the exit with Lilith and Eda coming closer to her as they had begun to disperse the crowd.
Eda grabbed onto Lilith and Raine and flew them away from the fortress, her talons gripped along the arms around Lilith and Raine. Raine held tight to her as Lilith looked to the castle, knowing that they would pursue them until the ends of the Earth unless she had provided a gift in return. Something that would at least please Belos and something he desperately needed in the moment.
Kikimora coughed as she saw Lilith’s arm flop away from her, recoiling and shuddering as she got loose from it's cursed barbs that fell off. “Hm?” she said as something caught her eye, being a white staff with a Palisman adorned at the top of it. The arm crawled away as she became distracted, shambling towards Lilith even as they began to fly miles away.
“Call off the chase for now.” Panacea remarked as she grabbed the palisman forcibly off the staff, telling the other guards. Kikimora wanted to object, but the time for objections had long passed.
Eda crashed on the couch as Raine propped her feet up so that they could at least keep her company. Eda gave Raine a wink as she fell asleep.
It had been not too long ago for Lilith that she had been at the Owl House, but it was already feeling like coming back home for her. The house was maybe becoming a bit too crammed with guests and other stay-home residents alike, but she never regretted her stay here. She did want to keep taking care of dad and mom, though. They could certainly use it.
The door opened with Luz, who put down her backpack by the door as was her routine, before King suddenly scampered into the room to jump on her for a hug. Luz giggled before realizing that there were some people here that weren’t normally here.
“Don’t be too loud, you don’t want to wake Eda after a long day…” Raine said in a hushed tone, picking her feet off her lap and walking over to Luz. “I suppose you’re Eda’s kid?”
“I mean, I’m not her kid kid…” Luz started before Raine nodded.
“I already know. Your um… Boiling Isles mom talks about you a lot.” Raine said, giggling. “How about I make you some tea and we can catch up a little, hm?”
Luz nodded excitedly. She couldn’t believe someone from Eda’s past was here, maybe she could get some additional juicy backstory lore drops from her! She craned her head to the left to see Lilith.
Lilith sat trimming her nails near the fireplace, with one arm one. “Nice to see you Luz, how was school today?”
“Oh… um, pretty good, pretty standard stuff. We learned what hobgoblins are- nasty little pumpkin munchers…” Luz replied before getting lost in her own head before shaking her head. “How’s living with the Clawthorne family going? Where did your arm go?”
“Well, dad’s been working with what little palistrom wood’s been around- kind of a tough industry these days. I suppose me and you should visit him sometime once you know what design you want your palisman to be, hm? Just a little aunt and niece day out, huh?” Lilith chuckled. She ignored Luz's second question in favor of an apology. “…sorry again about the whole incident with the bridge and spikes…” Lilith apologized in a very quiet tone, as if she was reminded of it when she looked at Luz.
“Oh come on, you don’t need to apologize for that every single time you’re here…” Luz replied. “And that sounds great! What’s your job?” asked Luz.
“I… uhm…” Lilith stammered. “You know, it’s been hard… I’ve been trying to apply myself to the glyphs and all, and I’m getting really good at it, but there’s nothing practical I can just apply to a industry, you know? So… jobs are kind of hard…”
“Why don’t you do some historian stuff?” asked Luz, watching as Lilith’s eyes widened. “You seemed pretty knowledgeable back at King’s tower and all…”
“That’s right! I… huh, I wonder why I never thought about maybe applying my passion for history into a job before…” Lilith began, darting her eyes to the kitchen. “I want to join you and Raine for some tea, I think that’d be a good way to keep my mind off some things… it’s been a long day and somebody has to give you the details or you’ll be pestering Eda for them all week.” Lilith chuckled.
"LILITH! YOUR ARM CAME BACK!" Hooty shouted at the top of his lungs.
She watched as the door suddenly opened and her arm came crawling in. "Ah, that's where the bugger's been, I've been feeling it trounce around in the dirt for hours now..." She quickly picked it up and fastened it to her upper arm, now complete. "Come on, let's go into the kitchen."
“Okay!” Luz beamed.
Hunter watched from his room as Panacea grabbed the white raven palisman in her hand, keeping it in it’s inanimate form as she felt Kikimora trying to knock it out of her hands, merely shunting her away with a hand.
“Kikimora, would you quit it? Belos is very sick and yet here you are, still competing to gain his favor. It’s over.” growled Panacea.
Hunter breathed a sigh of relief as he laid back in his bed, Flapjack staring down at him as it suddenly perched on top of his chest. “Now’s not the time, Flapjack, I could have lost you and that would have been…”
He wondered why he cared so much. He didn’t feel this attached to a palisman’s safety before, they were merely tools other witches used, right? Yet this one chose him, for whatever reason. He tried to ask Luz about it on one occasion, and the most she could tell him about the lil’ rascal was that he had been without anyone for a very long time.
Occasionally he’d have dreams. Dreams of a cave in, dreams of a blue lake of blood, dreams of… a brother.
He wondered if Flapjack had anything to do with it. He had tried to mentally ask, but the palisman seemed strangely elusive even as he began to learn more about the strange legacy he was taking on, separate from the one he already had.
His mind flashed with various images of Belos transforming, his body almost appearing to be a sickening meld of mud and flesh. He shuddered at the thought, remembering just how desperate and violent he got into that state.
He could not imagine Belos was all too happy after everything that had transpired. He had stayed in his room, but he could tell intruders had been here and that they had mostly gotten away.
Save for a sacrifice, which he had sighed in relief over, but one that must have not been easy to make.
Eda was finally well rested enough to talk to her sister, who wistfully was outside on the steps of the Owl House. She had been talking to her best friend and catching up over things they hadn’t gotten to in their letters, but there was only so much she could say to one person before she felt like her social battery was too low to carry on.
Eda was sipping some tea from her favorite mug and sat down next to Lilith. “Hey, you got both arms still, that’s good. Where’s your staff?” she asked.
“I left it.”
“Left it?”
“Yeah, intentionally.”
There was a certain kind of sorrowness in her vocal inflection, as if she was leaving behind a large part of her life for good this time.
“You left your palisman?” asked Eda, who dropped her usual sense of fun to talk seriously for a moment.
“There wasn’t exactly much I could do to get out of that decision. We didn’t have much of a chance of not getting followed, not getting raided back- Hooty can only do so much against the will of Emperor Belos. Maybe it won’t even be enough, but I knew from experience that they were going to want a small win over us no matter what. That’s how they operate. They steal that little bit from you.”
“Right, my earring. The key.”
“That palisman… I mean, you saw it, I’m sure. It was constructed before the real palistrom wood crisis began, and the Emperor had a program in place for constructing them in a specific way that sapped their will away and left only their absolute practical purpose. Their personality was locked away, I never really felt comfortable using it. That being said, it was still something with a beating, living heart.”
“Mm, I’m sorry sis, if you need anything…”
“I… don’t think so. It’ll be okay,” Lilith replied as she looked up at the sky, looking at the moon of the Boiling Isles. “For a brief moment inside… I missed it. I missed being part of the Emperor’s Coven. I kind of felt that grief of leaving again when I left it behind, but… Luz really knows how to make you feel like a better future is possible. For a human, she’s a wild witch prodigy.”
“Heh, don’t tell her that or her head will get too big.” Eda chuckled lightly before sighing quietly.
“You still have your things to offer too. In fact, I’m pretty sure you owe me a lesson on how to turn into that Harpy Form of yours…” Lilith smirked.
“Ah, I’m surprised Hooty hasn’t already tried to trick you into learning how I did…” Eda replied.
“Oh, that’s what these were for, hm?” asked Lilith as she picked up a cookie with Hooty’s face inscribed in black frosting. “I wasn’t exactly hungry, but I know sleeping nettles when I see them.”
“Yeah… to be honest, maybe a slower approach might be better for you. There was a lot I had to resolve regarding my feelings towards the Owl Beast, and I’m sure you have your own complicated feelings regarding your half.” Eda held the cookie in her hand and split it in half.
“Yeah, those purple sparkles are sleeping nettles, Eda,” Lilith said as she pointed to the debris. “Watch out for those in literally any other scenario.”
“I knew what they were after I took a bite, you take me to be such an idiot sometimes. I mean, probably doesn’t help I was sleep deprived and in an anxious fit,” Eda replied. “How’s mom and dad?”
“Better… that’s the most I have to report on that. They miss you; you should come to visit.”
Eda nodded and held her palms flat against each other. “Maybe someday. I… need to make sure I’m really in control of myself before going back. I’m almost there, just need a moment.”
“I think we’re all in just a moment, huh? Big changes…” Lilith replied as she looked up at the night sky.
Emperor Belos cracked a iron finger against the machine he had been constructing for weeks… or maybe it had been months, time felt hazy to all of them. Changes kept happening, and Kikimora feared another one as she walked into the room. It felt hot, oppressive.
“Kikimora,” began Belos as he turned to face the small demon where she stood. Kikimora felt her whole body freeze up beyond her control, feeling the intense beating of the pipes above her suddenly kick into a second gear. “I’m glad you are still here.”
She could tell this was a mislead but she had to play into it. “Of course, liege.”
“Panacea told me that you refused to help her find a Palisman for my condition, and I have gotten witness reports that you did nothing about the intruders or for that matter, help Warden Tatter. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was active sabotage.”
“Well, it’s a bit more complicated- you see, it wasn’t exactly like I was aware or for that matter, Panacea wasn’t helping me locate a Palisman… and Hunter! Hunter was hoarding one!” Kikimora hissed.
She heard an awful noise. It was the smile under Belos’ mask. She looked up to him and trembled in fear.
“I have a place I’d like to show you, Kikimora.” he said, holding up his mechanical staff and casting in a sphere that opened up to reveal red portal.
“Step through it.”
Kikimora and Belos pushed through the other side of the portal. They had arrived at a grassy field, with rusted wire fences that had long since fallen into a dilapidated state. The sky was foggy, the light was dim. Belos walked in silence, looking back to Kikimora as if he expected her to follow. Kikimora followed his mute instruction- he was able to command that kind of presence.
“Wait… hold on, where are we?” asked Kikimora. Belos did not answer.
They continued to walk through the mostly empty grassy field, coming up on a chicken coop. Chickens, of the Boiling Isles variety, clucked and strutted as they mostly ignored the two witches. Belos twisted his head to look at Kikimora, who was in shock. She knew exactly what this was- long ago, she had been a House Demon to this very chicken coop. She wasn't quite sure why Belos brought her here, but it couldn't have been good.
“I suppose you recognize this?” asked Belos. “Your old home that you once tended to as a House Demon?”
“It was never home to me,” growled Kikimora as she glared up at Belos. “Why have you brought me here?”
“I can’t afford failure at this point, and a commander more obsessed over getting one over the other commanders is practically mutiny. Replacements, I do not think I need to look very hard for, considering you came from a box.” Belos hissed from under his mask.
“Belos… no, please! Anything but this!” she shouted feverishly, dropping to her knees. "I don't want to be a House Demon again... please! I'll take death, petrification, the Conformatorium, anything but being the House Demon to a bunch of disgraceful hens and chickens!" She shook her clasped hands together, begging for utter forgiveness, but Belos had none left and blasted her against the back of the chicken coop, the chickens squawking and running away as Kikimora was forcefully fused into the chicken coop as it's House Demon.
Kikimora screamed in frantic, horrified shrieks that echoed across the empty land, nobody able to hear her even as she screamed at the top of her lungs. She coughed as the transformation completed, watching Belos walk off in silence. She felt her throat become strained, unable to say anything to him- but Belos was definite and had finished what he set out to do, there was nothing she could do now.
She watched as the portal closed, hanging her head back down, feeling the night air overtake her.