Chapter Text
A titan will be alive for a very long time. Outliving most of all people and creatures. Since they will have this long life, it also takes a long time for them to be a full grown-up titan. Around twice or triple the time a human or witch needs.
When Eda first met King, she thought about him as a pet. He was in human years something between one or two years old. Soon she realised he was not a pet. He could speak. Ok speaking is the wrong term. More like single words or two syllable sentences.
After all he was just a baby. But there was intelligence behind those little horns.
And he was nearly fully potty trained.
It was late at night when Eda returned home after selling human stuff on the market. Today was not a very lucrative day. She did sell two or three items on some idiot. The wild witch crashed down on the sofa. Normally her little friend would come stumbling down the stairs to greet her. Maybe he was already asleep, she thought.
Today she was later at home as normally. Some guards recognised her from the wanted posters, so she had to keep low in a different part of the town until Eda was able to return home without an uninvited guest. At this time, she would already had dinner with King and put him to bed. She told Hooty to babysit her little friend while she was making some money.
“Hey Hooty. Where is King?” She asked and went into a sitting position. Crossing her long legs. Hooty opened the door and danced around.
“He said he was hungry and asked what he could eat. Hooo. He is outside hunting for echo mouse since he is at the owl house! This is what owls eat after aaaaaall” He said and shook his long body by each word.
“You did WHAT?!” she screamed and jumped from her seat. “He can’t be outside this long all alone! He is a Baby you dumbass! And he can only eat semi solid food. His teeth aren’t fully developed yet!”
“He will be fine. Hoooo”
The owl lady facepalmed herself. “It was my fault to trust you with him. This is the last time you will babysit him! Just last week you nearly drowned him in the bathtub!”
“Accidents happen! Hoooo~” Hooty said and winked at her. Thinking he was doing something cute and quirky.
Eda only cringed. Quickly she took her owl staff, thankfully it was standing beside the sofa.
“Owlbert, I need your help to find the kid.” She gently said.
The tiny owl yawned and stretched his wings before flying outside.
“At least I can trust someone in this house” Eda said and left. But not before slapping Hooty across the face.
“I hope for your health that he is not hurt!” she shouted at him with pure rage flaming in her eyes. The owl door gulped and went into his usual space.
“King! Where are you?!” The wild witch screamed. She and Owlbert have been searching for over an hour.
“Where is he..?” She mumbled and looked between some bushes. This island was huge, and King was so small. Together with the forest it was nearly impossible to find him without any clue.
Eda massaged her temples. Hopefully her little friend was not hurt. She sighed and sat down on the ground. Owlbert landed in front of her. A sad expression on his face. He knew what Eda was about to do.
“We will find him. Seems like I need to do something I’m really not so good at. And I regret not packing some tissues for the aftermath when I do this.” The owl lady smiled a little. She would nearly do anything for her family of freaks.
The tiny owl hung his head and did a small hoot noise.
“I know buddy. It’s only a little bit of blood.” Eda said, closing her eyes and began to meditate.
Looking into distant locations and telepathic communication wasn’t her strongest ability. It takes a lot of her stamina. Sometimes she will get nosebleed. And in worse cases she will bleed though the eyes.
Eda slowed her breathing and tried focusing only on King. She could her whimpering in the distance. Echoing. Maybe he was in a cave or a hollow tree. The vision was distorted. She saw the colours blue and purple. It smelt wet and salty.
A sharp pain went through her skull, blood dripping down her nose.
“M… Ma…” Eda could hear Kings voice. He was scared. “Hurt…” he said and whimpered even more.
The wild witch tried harder to focus. Another pain right behind her eyes. Like someone was stabbing her. She holds her breath and there it was. A cave around half a mile away. Eda didn’t visit this place often. It remembered her of a date she had with Raine.
With a sharp inhale she opened her eyes. Blood mixed with tears running down her face.
“I know where he is!” She said and Owlbert turned back into the magic stick. With the elegance of a 30 something year old she swung onto it. Flying right to the cave while rubbing the blood away in hope not to scare the kid even more.
Quietly they landed in front of the little titans hiding place. There Eda was able to spot him right away. Curled up and hugging the severed head of a stuffed animal. King had some scratches around his knees.
Right. He couldn’t walk on two legs for a long distance. After all he was just a baby.
This picture of the whimpering little King, hurt and all alone, broke something in the wild witch.
“Hey little man. Got lost?” she said and kneeled beside him. The young titan recoiled at the voice but jumped right into Eda’s arm after he recognised her. Stuffed Animal head totally forgotten. Fat tears are running down his skull. Never before she saw him crying that hard.
Deep down she will make sure no one will make him cry like that ever again.
“It’s okay. You’re safe now. Poor guy. You must have been so scared. Let’s get home. A warm bath, some cute bandages for your BooBoos” Did she really just said that? “And Boo Berry mush to fill your tummy.”
King clung to her chest and nodded slightly.
Back home this was exactly what she did. Now they were sitting down at the kitchen table while King slowly ate his Boo Berry mush. Looking tiredly around the kitchen. He was sitting on like eight pillows until he was high enough to sit properly at the table.
This could not be comfortable. And the risk of him falling over was way too big. With a flick she quickly turned the chair into a highchair.
“Isn’t that better?” The wild witch asked and smiled at the young titan. He only yawned and nodded white rubbing his eyes.
King holds his arms up, a signal for Eda to lift him up. He must be super exhausted after that horror adventure.
“I bet you will sleep like a rock this night.” With a tiny glace to the clock “Oh shoot. It’s nearly three in the morning.”
But the child didn’t hear her. He was fast asleep in her arms. Feeling safe around her.
With quiet steps the owl lady went to the designated room of King. There was nearly no furniture. In the middle of the room was a nest of blankets and pillows. She gently put him down, covered him with an extra soft blanked and left the room.
As soon as the door closed, King opened his eyes. Again, he was all alone in the dark. No one was here to protect him. And the doorhandle was way to high for him. So he lied there and quietly cried until the sun finally illuminates his room.