Chapter Text
This starts at the breakup flashback!
They were sitting on their hill.
Well, it wasn't officially their hill, but they always sat on it, and nobody ever seemed to bother them. Once, Eda swore she could see Darius stopping someone from going up there while they were having a 'romantic moment'.
That was one of the last times she saw Darius before he joined the abomination coven.
She looked at her feet, trying to remember if she had drank any elixir before she left.
"..Eda I- Are you okay?"
"Raine! Haha- yes- right! Everything's fine! Totally normal! I'm fine- haha!"
Everything was not in fact fine and dandy. She could turn into the owl beast at any moment.
"You're lying again! It's like I don't really know you.." They looked like they were about to burst into tears, and took a deep breath.
"So.. I've made a decision. I'm joining the bard coven.. and I think we should see other people. I'm sorry Eda, it's over."
Eda began to make increasingly distressing noises.
Her hands began to turn to feathers and claws.
She blinked, and her eyes became pitch black, as dark as the night.
"Are you okay? Is this the curse?"
Raine began to sound worried.
"It's fine- everything's normal! You can leave now!"
Raine stood. Eda knew they were going to walk away with a, "I can't do this anymore.."
She closed her eyes as tight as she could, bracing herself for the owl beast.
But it never came.
She felt warm, slightly smaller hands in hers. Her normal, non-feathered hands.
She opened one eye. Raine was infront of her, holding her hands, with tears streaming down their face.
"Please Eda, just be honest with me."
"Okay- okay. I will."
Eda sat down, and Raine quickly did the same. She took a deep breath, and began to explain.
"As you know, when I was around 14, I was cursed. The curse is- it's aging me drastically. I mean- look at me!"
Raine laughed slightly at this- they knew Eda was trying to spin an awful situation for her into something to be laughed at. It always made her feel better.
"I think the curse is going to drain my magic, eventually. If I use up my magic, then I'm to probably turn into-"
This was very hard for her to say. Blinking back tears, she continued.
"I'll be the owl beast forever. I don't want to risk hurting anyone I love because of it. Like you, Rainstorm. I scratched out my father's eye. If The owl beast did that to my dad, what will it do to you? Or Lilly? I'm slightly mad at her for being all stuck up and prissy and joining the emperor's coven- so what will the owl beast do?"
(She wasn't mad at Lilith for joining the emperor's coven, but she was mad at her for treating her like she was inferior and 'worse than a rogue abomination' for refusing to join a coven and becoming a criminal.)
"Eda, I don't care about the curse. I don't care that you could hurt me. I just want to be with you. But I can't if you're not honest with me about this."
"Raine.. I'm sorry."
"I know Eda."
Raine leaned in and kissed her. It was just what she needed. Like the owl beast could never get the best of her while she was with them.
"I love you Rainstorm."
"I love you too."
Raine looked her in the eyes, held up their hand, with an extended pinkie finger, and said with a soft smile,
"No more secrets?"
"No more secrets."
Eda wrapped her pinkie around theirs, and they shook. They hadn't done this for a long time, but it was important to both of them.
Raine looked down awkwardly.
"So.. will you take me back?"
Eda thought for a minute.
"Hmm.. I'll have to think about it."
Raine's smile fell from their face.
"Just kidding Rainstorm! Of course I'll take you back!"
"..There's just one issue," Raine said sheepishly, "they already branded me with a coven sigil."
They held out their wrist to Eda, showing her the sigil of the bard coven.
"I'm guessing they won't let you date me because I'm a 'wild witch'?"
Raine nodded.
"Well then let's fake a breakup! Let's make it public and big and messy! Then they'll let you, and we can still secretly date! It'll be fun!!"
The bard grinned at her, with their mischievous little grin that Eda loved so much.
"There's my Edalyn."
Neither of them had realised that they had subconsciously been getting closer to each other while they spoke.
You probably know what comes next.
They leaned in to kiss each other again.
When they were like 3 centimetres from each other's mouths, a bell rang in a clock tower nearby.
It rang three times, and a panicked look flashed onto Raine's face.
"Shoot- three o'clock!? I'm so sorry Eda, but I have to go- like- now!"
"Where do you need to go. I'll give you a lift."
"Outside the emperor's castle- you know, bard coven stuff. I'm meeting with someone there because they want to 'evaluate my strength' or something."
Hopping on Owlbert, Eda signalled for Raine to join her.
Landing a block or two away from where Raine could get a bus to the castle, they both jumped off, and Owlbert shifted out of staff form.
"I'll see you soon then, just shoot me a text when you want me to pick you up, my scroll is always on me, and I'll be somewhere around here. Also, if you see Lilly, tell her I said she's annoying and prissy!"
The pair laughed at this, but Eda knew Raine would probably tell her that if they saw her.
Eda planted a kiss on Raine's forehead, giving them a bright smile.
"Thanks Eda." They murmured, blushing.
"Byeee!"
And she was off, probably to do something stupid in celebration.
Raine watched her go, before remembering they had five minutes before they were late for this interview.
Rushing off themselves, they couldn't help but smile like the most amazing thing happened to them.
Well, technically it did.
Breakup successfully avoided