Chapter Text
"Isn't it funny how everything falls into place?" Belos asked the air, with a calm smile.
The Owl Lady may have escaped his petrification, but now she had lost her magic. That human had quite reminded him of himself with her admittedly amateur use of glyphs. Nevertheless, he would have to keep an eye on her.
And how easy that was to do so. Luz Noceda was enrolled at Hexside. She was friends with Willow Park, Augustus Porter, and Amity Blight, according to the faculty of that school. The principal may have tried to keep things secret from the Coven, but the Abominations professor was all too happy to talk, perhaps out of spite one of those friends had dropped out of his class.
The last friend of hers was essential. The Blight family, particularly the mother, were dead-set loyal to Emperor. Of course, Belos couldn't do anything outwardly himself, after he told his citizens the Owl Lady was no longer a threat, it'd cause suspicion if he made any public movement to that trio. Which was why, his perfect weapon would do that work for him.
"Emperor, you called for me?"
Belos turned around to see Hunter entering the room in his Golden Guard attire. "Hunter, I told you that you don't have to be so formal when it's just you and me."
Hunter's breath caught in his throat, he couldn't read the expression of the Emperor under the mask Belos was wearing. But after a few moments with no punishment for his slipup, just the tiniest bit of tension escaped his body.
"My apologies, Uncle. What did you need me for?" Hunter spoke, moving down to bow on one knee.
"As I've told you, we must keep an eye on the Owl Lady and her protege. Even without her magic, she could still be a strong threat to the Day of Unity. That human with her is also a threat, but thanks to knowledge the Hexside facility gave us I've constructed a way for us to keep an eye on them without arousing too much public suspicion."
"What is that, uncle?" Hunter questioned. The mention of Hexside made him nervous. Would he be attending school? He had been taught personally by Belos all his life and the idea of going to a school with other people was anxiety-inducing to say the least. But if his uncle told him to do it, he would- that was how being the Golden Guard worked.
• • •
Well, this wasn't Hexside.
That was really the only thought on Hunter's mind as he stood in front of Blight Manor, a bouquet that a Plant Coven member had made in his hands. There were a few coven scouts behind him, as he knocked on the door.
Soon, it opened, and Odalia Blight stood in the doorway. Her eyes widened seeing the golden mask, not even noticing the bouquet in his hands, forcing an awkward smile. "Golden Guard? For what do we owe the pleasure?"
"I'm here to speak to you about your son- Edric Blight." Hunter, even with the confident Golden Guard facade, felt like he was dying inside with every word spoken. At least he could mask his emotions, but he still was wondering why Belos had thought this was a good idea.
... He immediately felt guilty for thinking that. Belos had already established to him, this was the best way to keep an eye on the Owl Lady and to make sure that Blight Industries didn't get any funny ideas about building a personal army of abomitons.
He was the best fit for this job. Hunter told himself he should be grateful for this opportunity to help his uncle in any way he could.
Odalia clasped her hands together. "Has he been causing any trouble?" The worry in her expression had noticeably increased. Hunter remembered hearing coven scouts whisper before about the Blight twins being an annoyance, many 'Hex Me!' signs stuck to their back after missions in the area.
"No, actually, it's quite the opposite. May I come in?" Hunter's tone made it obvious that hadn't really been a question. Odalia nodded quickly, and mentally Hunter compared her to a bobblehead. "Of course, of course! I'll get Edric, just come into the living room."
She quickly hurried off, and Hunter stepped inside, keeping a tight grip on his artificial staff as the coven scouts followed. An abomination dressed in a butler suit guided them to the living room, where Hunter sat down on the couch, crossing one leg over the other, leaning his head against his palm. He looked around the room, seeing a family portrait on the wall. Odalia was smiling, Alador looked distracted, and the three children, all in uncomfortable-looking outfits, seemed miserable.
• • •
Edric and Emira were in their shared room, watching a drama show on Emira's crystal ball. Edric had accidentally broken his the week before and begged Emira to share until he could get a new one. The volume was so loud they hadn't even noticed everything going on downstairs.
Their peace was interrupted, though, as Odalia almost threw open the door. Their mother looked frazzled and more frightened than they had ever seen her, even on her worst days. "Edric, what are you wearing? Get a Concealment Stone on, now!"
"What? Why?" Edric asked, sitting up as Emira did the same, her face scrunching up in confusion.
"The Golden Guard is here, and he wants to talk to you! I don't know what it's for, but if you get our family in trouble with the Emperor's Coven..."
Both twins started to get off the bed and move the crystal ball away, but Odalia shook her head. "Not you, Emira. He just wants Edric."
Edric knew that wasn't going to deter Emira as he grabbed the Concealment Stone on his nightstand, wrapping it around his wrist as his messy appearance immediately improved to one that seemed more prim and well kept. His sister was probably just going to sneak behind them and listen in anyway, so when Odalia wasn't looking he handed her a stone as well just in case. He had no idea what the Golden Guard wanted from him. He hadn't sold any fireworks recently and had just been pulling minor pranks on the teachers. None of that would be worth a visit from the new Emperor's Coven head.
As soon as he was ready, Odalia practically dragged him down the stairs worriedly. The Guard was sitting down on the couch in the living room, surrounded by Coven Scouts. He was wearing the same mask he did in all the new posters around town, so Edric couldn't see his face or imagine his expression. However, once Edric entered, the Guard stood up, walking over to him.
"Edric Blight."
Edric, in a minor state of stress, only managed to distantly note that the Guard's voice had definitely cracked a bit while saying his name. One of the scouts gave him a thumbs up, even though Goldie definitely couldn't see that.
"Uh...yeah?" Edric asked, before hearing Odalia loudly shush him to let the Guard talk.
"Your family has been a great asset to the Emperor, and the Abomitons have been useful to us. Because of that, he has decided to offer the Blights an opportunity to advance in society-" The Golden Guard held out a bouquet, offering it to Edric. "By uniting us as a pair."
Edric's brain promptly stopped working. It was like he was suddenly submerged underwater, the sound of his mother happily accepting the offer for him was muffled, same with the Guard's reply. He wasn't registering a thing until he could hear Odalia's voice loudly echo in his mind with her oracle magic, snapping him out of it. He realized the bouquet had been put in his hands, he wasn't sure when he had even moved to hold it.
"Edric would be glad to show you around the gardens. Wouldn't you, Edric?" Odalia said in the pointed tone of 'if you mess this up, you are in more trouble than you ever have been'.
He knew that tone meant there was no room to disobey. Hoping that the Golden Guard could see his glare through that mask, Edric nodded. "Just follow me."
The garden was worked on by Abomitons as well. Right now, though, there were none in the area, which probably made it a more enjoyable view. Edric couldn't focus on that, though. His shock at the situation was slowly melting into anger.
Edric rarely got angry- well, genuinely angry. If he was upset, he'd ignore it. It was easier to take things lightheartedly and never be serious, but this was probably the most major way his mother had screwed up his life in a while. A lot of it was in ways Edric had been used to since he was a kid. Forced to wear a Concealment Stone since he could remember to look good, knowing he had to always be top of the class, knowing his future as an Emperor's Coven member had already been planned out for him.
But this?! An arranged relationship with a guy Edric barely knew? He didn't realize he had basically been stomping down the path, walking far ahead of the Guard. Well, he didn't want to be near the guy anyway, but Goldie soon noticed and spoke up. "Are you- alright?"
Edric rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Just peachy." He replied sarcastically, and either the Guard didn't understand, or didn't care enough to press the issue, and fell quiet again, either way that was fine with Edric.
• • •
It felt like that quiet walk through the garden had taken hours. When they had returned back indoors, the Guard hadn't even taken a glance at Edric before gathering the scouts (some of who were messing with the Abomi-butlers) and leaving. Odalia fussed over how it had gone, and hadn't taken Edric's half hearted answers easily. Eventually he had managed to shake her off to go upstairs, but it had been difficult and taken a while. Edric felt like he was barely holding himself together.
As soon as he opened the door to his room, Emira was there. It was clear from her facial expression she had overheard everything. "Ed!" She quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. As soon as the door closed, Edric pulled off the Concealment Stone and threw it on the ground, promptly flopping onto the bed, grabbing a pillow, and screaming into it. Emira awkwardly sat down next to him, usually she was the comforting sibling who could take care of others, but they had never really been in a situation like this before and she was at a loss for words.
"Guys, what's going on?"
Edric and Emira both looked up in surprise to see Amity standing in the doorway. She must have been working very hard on Abominations homework to not notice what had occured, but seeing their expressions it was easy to tell Mittens was worried for them.
"Come on in." Edric answered, sitting up. He was fully aware he must look like a mess right now, his glasses were askew from him burying his face without care and he adjusted them with a sigh. Nervously, Amity walked into the room and sat down on the bed, looking up at her siblings.
Once they were done explaining everything she had missed, Amity's expression was furious. "What?! Mom can't just- do that!"
"She can." Edric sighed, looking away from both of them. Emira frowned and crossed her arms. "She already picks out all our friends for us. No big surprise that she wants to do the same for our relationships."
Amity winced at that, both twins knew that she was thinking of her crush on the human. After what had happened at the petrification ceremony, it was rather unlikely Odalia would approve of it. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"Trying to change her mind is like talking to a brick wall." Emira shook her head. Amity frowned, looking at Edric. There was a few moments of uncomfortable silence between the siblings, before Amity's eyes lit up with an idea.
"If we can't make Mom change her mind, maybe we can make the Guard change his."
The idea immediately caught Edric's attention. "How?"
"Well, if the Golden Guard's anything like the old Coven Head, he's going to be a stickler for rules, right?" Emira seemed to get what Amity was implying and the Abominations student nodded. "There's no one I know better at annoying authority than you two. Just make him regret even coming by, and he'll be begging to cancel the whole thing."
Edric was pretty sure that idea had formed in Amity's mind thanks to the humans influence, but he found himself smiling. He and Emira had pissed off more authority figures than he could count on both hands, surely some kid their age wouldn’t be a problem. And well, this was Amity’s first real ‘scheme’ against a plan by their parents. Edric had to admit he wanted to try it partially just because of how proud he was of his little sister.
The Golden Guard wasn’t going to know what hit him.