Chapter Text
It was finally over. After decades of chasing after the witch that stole everything from him as a child, leaving him to rot in a casket buried under dead trees, he finally got his revenge. They found the leader of the Brimmed Caps, who turned out to be the one, who abducted children and subject them to his silverwood tree experiments. The one who exploited children just to see, what kind of ink the tree would sprout from a being, where the seed would naturally never occur and come forth. How it would affect the magic that it is drawn with. Never minding how it affects it's barer, only focusing on the results it would bring.
It certainly wasn't easy.
It was only possible thanks to Coco, who found out about it on her second test in the Tower of Tomes.
It gave her the necessery information they needed. They finally had a name to the crime that took so much from him, not only his past but also his future.
He recklessly hunted after him, despite Olruggio's protest. He always respected and appreciated his best friend's opinion on everything. But he had to do this. For everyone's sake, so he can have his future with the people he loved so dearly. He just had to get rid of this blasted sapling inside him that threatened to burst out of him everytime he so much as to dared to hope for a peaceful future or accept help and affection. He felt it crawl under his skin whenever one of the girls smiled too brightly at him or when his dear Olruggio touched him anywhere. It made him want to vomit but he tried to conceal it as best as he could.
But eventually Olruggio always found out anyways and he had to use his most hated spell in the end. It made Qifrey want to rip his heart apart but it was necessery to keep the tree at bay.
Apparently Coco told Olruggio about his condition while he frantically searched for a clue on the whereabouts of the leader. He might have neglected his responsibilities for his search, which greatly angered Olruggio, but he couldn't stop, not when his happily ever after was so close he could almost reach it.
And he got his answer when he found one of the Brimmed Caps, the one whose eyes were covered by his hair and donned a patchwork hat. He pretended to be one of the Pointed Cap witch to infiltrate them for the Brimmed Caps.
Qifrey only found out, because he got careless and talked to someone on a talking contraption about their further plans.
With enough pressure and unorthodox methods, he pressed his needed information from him.
Qifrey found him. His focus was so narrowed, that he didn't notice that Olruggio and the girls followed him with Riche's ring that each of them wore.
The fight was tedious and almost fatale for them, but even though they were absolutely furious with Qifrey, they had his back. And they won.
He knew he needed more information from the leader on how to remove the silverwood tree from his system but his hatred ran so deep that something in him screamed to kill him just to get even.
He always preached to his apprentices that mercy is a virtue and to be the bigger person, but he just couldn't.
The screams of Olruggio and the girls to stop fell on deaf ears and his vision became as if he looked through a tunnel. Nothing else mattered in that moment.
And so he had his revenge.
And it felt good. It felt really good. The gratification was heavenly. It gave him an instant relieve, so much so, that he barely registered the branches breaking out of him. First through his missing eye and in a blink of an eye all of his body as enveloped, as the bark of the silverwood tree quickly overtook him. All he could do was open his remaining eye to see the agony in his one true love's face as he lost autonomy over his own body. Olruggio's face was warped and he could see that he was screaming something, but he could no longer make out what it was, for the tree took over all of his other senses.
And suprisingly he didn't feel sadness, devastation or pain, but an oncoming peace. His only regret in his last moments was, that he is truly sorry that he couldn't keep his promise to Olruggio all these years ago and that his loved ones would have to grow old without him.
And on the place where once a white haired one-eyed witch stood, was now a massive silverwood tree surrounded by people it's host hold dear to his heart.