#numericalbridge fic

[numericalbridge]

Title: Caught in the Grip

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: G

Word count: 2684

Characters: Raine and Darius

Summary: Darius is ill. Of course, Raine can handle it.

-

There is a nasal quality to Darius’s voice:

“I was betrayed.”

“No, you weren’t,” Raine really hopes he can hear their exasperated sigh even from the other side of the room.

“Betrayed and abandoned in my hour of need,” he throws one arm over his face and turns his head away from them. From the top of the bed’s headboard a little abomination warbles at him.

Raine crosses their arms, “May I remind you that Eber only had to travel to the Shin because you’ve insisted that there is just one single healing-potion shop on the whole Isles that is good enough for you? And…”

“And should a simple trip to the Shin take this long?” Darius shrugs impatiently, then coughs.

Raine sighs again. “Yes, he had to stop to assist a difficult Terror Tooth birth. He’ll be back soon.”

“Splendid!” Eyes open on the purple scarf wrapped around Darius’s head, and they all roll at once. “The miracle of the Terror Tooth’s birth is sooo important while I am suffering here.” The bed creaks as he shifts uncomfortably. “My face is sticky, and I can’t breathe through my nose,” Darius laments. One of the abominations that cluster around the bed offers him a steaming mug of something, but he waves it away without looking. “I probably have a fever, and my skin feels like it’s about to slough off...”

“You were caught in the Grip,” Raine reminds him. “It sucks, but no need to be this dramatic.” They soften their voice, “You’ll feel better in no time.”

Darius grumbles under his breath. From their place by the door Raine can’t quite hear him.

“Come on, don’t be like this... Do you want me to read to you?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to make an inhalation potion for you?”

“No, it won’t help.” He coughs again.

What else to suggest? Raine tries to think. The windows of the big bedroom are covered by heavy curtains, and a heavy purple duvet is suffocating the bed. There is also the horrid yellowish ointment Darius has smeared onto his face to ‘clear sinuses’. Add that to the gloomy atmosphere of the room, and it’s no wonder he is feeling particularly terrible.

“It’s so stuffy in here, at least let me open the windows.”

“No,” this time Darius actually sits up and turns to face them. “Do you want to get caught too?” A big abomination steps in between Raine and the windows and menacingly raises a spray bottle filled with disinfectant fluid. “Stay out of the gripping range!”

“Fine! If you insist,” Raine returns to their place by the door. Darius re-assumes his sulking position in the bed.

“Do you want me to turn on music or bring you your journals?”

“No.” He pulls the duvet up to his chin and then rolls over, turning his back to them. “Just leave me to suffer alone, in silence...”

Raine feels like they would need to chew over that last bit. “Does this mean you want to rest?” they inquire. “You can just say so, you know?”

No response.

“I’ll make you a Bone and Bile soup with boiled dumplings,” Raine decides. They remember his grandfather used to cook it for special occasions. “Sounds good?”

He mutters something that Raine takes as a ‘yes’. The little abomination babbles excitedly and swings its legs back and forth.

“I’ll send you a message when it’s ready. Now try to sleep.”

They quietly exit the room, leaving Darius in the care of his abomination court.

Their scroll crows.

“2 healthy teethlings,” says the message. Attached is a photo of Eberwolf with a pair of accordion-shaped fanged creatures. All three are covered in a rather slimy substance that makes Raine feel queasy. “Heading back soon. Is it a complete disaster back there?”

Raine throws a quick glance at the door of Darius’s bedroom. Should they choose mercy? “Could’ve been worse. Is he always extra dramatic when ill, or is he just messing with me?”

It takes a moment for Eber to reply. “Idk. Probably both. Not like he would ever show anything in the Coven. See u soon.”

Raine frowns. Covens, it’s always the Covens. Nevertheless they reply with a ‘claws up’ emoji and head downstairs. On the way they nearly collide with an abomination that has its arms full of Darius’s research journals.

Shaking their head in exasperation, Raine wonders whether Darius used to be even more stubborn when he was younger. They... can’t quite remember. They definitely can’t remember him getting ill when they were in school together. Raine themselves were sick often but usually with nothing more serious than a common mold. And Darius had once send them a card that screamed marching songs at them. Raine frowns again, tugs on their earring. First, clean your hands, then prep the soup.

They wash their hands in the first floor bathroom. The sink is unnervingly clean. Can they remember the names of the songs that were on that card? The memories make them feel a little uneasy. It is unlike them to think a lot about their high school days – after all, they were so eager to graduate and leave behind the school that had failed Eda. But Darius tends to dwell on the past, and apparently it can be contagious. Raine always wanted to move forward. They catch themselves touching a scar on their cheek. And to move forward, you need to leave some things behind.

The soap in the bathroom smells of lavender and clover moss. Raine knows that being sick must feel especially unpleasant for Darius, with his particularities about cleanliness. If only he wasn’t always so stubborn. Well, the soup will make him feel better. Raine will make it right.

---

Darius’s cottage is smaller than what Raine had imagined, but the kitchen is very spacious and brightly lit, and everything is, of course, immaculately clean and in perfect order. They have little trouble finding what they need for the soup, and the recipe isn’t difficult. Soon the pot is simmering on the stove while Raine is cutting the last batch of vegetables. The cool evening breeze is billowing the curtains, and in the adjoining room the clock is ticking pleasantly. Raine is humming to themselves, and it feels nice to cook like this in peace.

A year has passed since Belos’s death, but there is still so much work for them to do, and Raine barely has time to relax. They accept it with equal measures of pride and weariness. And the Owl House is always bustling with activity. Raine thrives in the chaos of Eda’s household and embraces the challenges of the new Boiling Isles, but sometimes… sometimes it just feels so right to enjoy the calm and…

“Which cutting boards did you use?”

The knife misses the carrot and clatters to the counter. Incredulous, Raine turns around and peers out of the kitchen. Unbelievable! Darius, accompanied by one of the abominations, has made his way almost to the bottom step of the stairs. He has wrapped a blanket around himself and looks utterly miserable, yet he still manages to sound demanding:

“Please tell me you didn’t use the orange one for the vegetables…”

Honestly, Raine needs a moment to compose themselves. And everything was going so well! “What are you doing here?” they hiss. “You should be resting! And I thought you were all about not spreading the infection everywhere!”

Darius scoffs. Then coughs into an abruptly summoned handkerchief. “Abominations’ll disinfect everything,” his voice sounds uncomfortably raspy. The abomination behind him sprays the wall with disinfectant and starts wiping it with a cloth.

“But I,” Darius slowly makes his way towards the kitchen. His voice is getting raspier and raspier with each sentence, and it’s painful to hear. “Want to be sure you won’t poison us, in addition to everything else.”

“Oh, great!” Raine puts their hands on their hips. “Don’t worry, I used the right boards. It’s not that difficult, considering they all are labeled! Satisfied? Now go and rest!”

Of course, Darius pays no attention to their words. Instead, he uses his magic to move a small sofa closer to the kitchen door. The message is clear, Raine notes darkly. Darius places the sofa at a safe non-gripping distance, and lowers himself into it with a groan. The abomination hurries to help him take off his slippers.

Just ignore him, then. Raine returns to the kitchen to finish the vegetables. It is time to add the last batch to the soup. Raine will make everything right. Despite his efforts.

“Did you trim the tendrils off the beetle-goat meat?”

“Darius!” Raine returns to the door. “I know how to cook! I don’t need your… pestering.”

“Oh, really?” Darius crosses his arms. “You don’t know my kitchen, and you cook like a college student still on the run from the Choosey Hat!”

“That’s not true!” Raine feels their ears warm up. Absolutely not true! Well, maybe sometimes… Just ignore him!

They throw the vegetables into the pot, prepare the dumpling dough, clean up a little and set up a timer. Well! Even he should be satisfied now.

Raine marches back into the room, still fuming. Without looking up Darius raises his hand and creates an abomination chair for them. ‘Beanbag chair’, as Luz would call it. Placed, of course, an appropriate distance away from Darius’s sofa. Scowling, Raine falls into it, hoping that the squishing sound annoys him.

“You’re terrible,” they mutter.

Darius huffs in response.

Raine stretches their arms and settles more comfortably. They watch Darius out of the corner of their eye. Already several more abominations has congregated around him. One of them hands him a warm towel, and he presses it to his face. They really seem to gravitate towards him, Raine muses. Just another thing they failed to notice when they started their Coven Head career.

Darius himself looks awfully uncomfortable, and his breath is definitely labored. Yeah, the Grip sucks. Raine thinks back to their own experience with getting caught in it once or twice in their youth. Not the most pleasant times. Should be even worse for someone who hates everything gross. Why won’t you just let me help? they silently plead. If only he was more understanding and less… him... when they are trying to help. If only he would communicate.

Raine turns on their side and observes the little abomination toddling its way down the stairs. Darius sneezes and mutters in annoyance.

Raine imagines the gripping arms, hands, all around him, invisible but there, stretching out with barely audible squelching sounds. Like mud, stretching towards them.

“Raine?”

They blink the unwanted imagery away. Stupid bout of fancy, they say to themselves in Eda’s voice.

“Raine?” Darius says again. He has lifted the towel from his face. His eyes, despite the feverish glint, are sharp.

Raine feels a twist inside their chest.

“Did you just remember that you used the wrong board?” Darius rasps.

“It’s nothing.” They feel... frustrated. Why does he have to act like that?

The little abomination has made its way to the sofa and babbles to be picked up.

“So, how are you doing?” Raine asks hopefully, trying to calm down their irritation. “Any better?”

“Of course not,” Darius lifts the little abomination up and sets it on the armrest. “I don’t even have my medicine.”

Raine purses their lips and reaches to check their scroll:

“Just passed the Gnawed Bone Village,” writes Eber. “How is patient zero? Insufferable?”

Raine grins. “Eber is asking about you.”

“Traitor.”

“Ah, don’t be like this. Do you really not want to go back to your room and rest?”

“Raine…”

“I’ll bring you your soup when it’s ready.”

“Raine, please, stop being pushy!”

“Pushy?” That’s new. “I am not pushy, I am trying to help you feel better!”

“By being pushy?”

“Oh, fine!” They have half a mind to let it go. But if Raine were ill, they just know he would’ve been hovering over them or sending them stuff they like while acting all unbothered, and it frustrates them beyond reason. “Then why don’t you return to your room to be far away from the pushy me?”

Darius sighs heavily, and Raine realizes he is also trying to keep his temper in check.

“Because it’s so boring there,” he says at last. Raine suspects he is trying to redirect the conversation. “It feels terrible there.” Darius gives his towel to one of the abominations. “At least back in the Castle you could busy yourself with keeping up appearances,” he muses to himself. A different abomination offers him a new towel.

“Must have been tough,” Raine notes. They are still frustrated with him, but they are also a little curious.

“Oh, it was horrible! But it certainly kept you from getting too focused on the aches and all that good stuff,” he waves his hand in the air. “Put on the concealment stone, stay away from Hettie and her ‘unpatientable’ medicines and hope Terra gets gripped. Great times!”

“Look at the bright side,” Raine offers. “Despite my pushy presence everything is so much more hygienic here.”

“And boring.”

“Aww, I always knew you were secretly a workaholic.”

“Don’t,” Darius gives them a look. The little abomination pats him on the shoulder. “But what else am I supposed to do? Wait till one of you gets into trouble?”

“Or,” Raine rolls their eyes, “I don’t know, just try to relax and let me help you instead of annoying me? And then Eber will be back with the medicine.”

Darius purses up his lips. And, oh, now he is going to cross his arms.

Raine raises a finger against potential objections, “No one is getting into trouble, and if someone does – there are others who will help... You know, you are always fussing over everyone... Just let me, maybe, return the favor?”

“I am not fussy,” Darius’s ears twitch. He coughs. Then he gives up. “To be fair, I do appreciate your help and concern and everything,” he nudges the little abomination with his finger to make it warble. “Not that I enjoy all this attention or anything,” Darius quickly adds. So, basically a confession that he does enjoy it.

“Of course.” When Eber gets back he won’t get enough of this.

“But, Raine, you don’t need to… be in such a hurry and push it.”

“I don’t…”

“I get it. You want to help, and we didn’t have a great start back then, and...” Darius stumbles over his words. “Just... it’s all right. I get it.”

After that they fall back into silence. There is still some time left before Raine has to add the dumplings to the soup. Darius seems to doze off. Raine rolls over and puts their hands behind their head. The ceiling is violet and cracked with age. Raine sighs and tries to relax and enjoy the quiet.

Of course, it is not a real silence with Darius’s wheezing breath and the abominations groaning and babbling among themselves, but it is comfortable, and it feels right to be here, and Raine has been missing this, and they’ve almost lost it. But they can be better! They think about what Darius was trying to tell them. And they wonder what would have happened if the two of them had never grown apart. But there is no point in wondering, Raine decides, for it can only lead to heartbreak. More important is what they can do now. And maybe they shouldn’t rush things. Their glasses begin to mist up, and Raine has to take them off.

“What are you doing now?” Darius’s rasping voice inquires. “Don’t tell me you already got gripped.”

“It’s nothing.” Maybe they are out of practice. They put their glasses back on. One eye is opened on Darius's scarf, and it is squinting at them suspiciously. Darius himself has sat up and is also watching them. “It’s just that… I’m glad we are friends again,” Raine admits.

Darius blinks at them, then settles down again. “Yeah,” he says. “I’m glad too.”

[phddyke]

I've posted the complete fic on numericalbridge (although i'll probably move it to ao 3 once i get an account but i couldn't wait, lol)

OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO GOOD. So GOOD, I am speechless. Please send me the link as soon as you get it on AO3, I want to make sure I leave you some kudos and a long, lengthy comment (when I’m feeling less speechless).

Also, Belos was lying to him, right? RIGHT?

[numericalbridge]

This would take me so long to edit and polish (so hopefully the grammar problems and wording choices are to be fixed), but i am impatient, so here is a tiny wip teaser for the King and Darius and Eber fic (AU set pre-canon):

----

Something made a clicking sound above King's head. Eh? The clicking repeated, louder. The ratters raised their hackles and scrambled away, growling in disappointment.

King turned over and looked up. Two glowing eyes opened in the darkness above him. Too big for a ratter.

Suddenly King found the strength to move. He tried to crawl back to the nearest wall. The glow of the eyes settled on him.

"St... stay back! I have a sword!" King patted the dirty ground searching for a weapon. "An evil magic sword!"

The glowing eyes disappeared. Did King's threat work? With a soft thud something jumped on the wall in front of him. King gulped. The eyes opened and stared down at him again. The creature slithered down the wall and landed on all fours. It was... a demon! On the smaller side and covered with orange fur. Dressed like an outdoors-y witch. They sniffed at King.

"Hell-o, fellow demon," King mastered. "As a loyal subject to me... maybe you could be so kind and point me towards the way out of here?" King lowered his head and tapped one of his claws on the back of his other hand.

[numericalbridge]

✨Another fic self-promo✨:

[numericalbridge]

These are super rough, but i just wanted to share some tidbits from the fics i've plotted but not sure whether i would write in full. All are from different stories:

A.

"Darius?! Darius! Please, please, wake up!"

The voice is sending pinpricks of pain right through his brain. Darius opens his eyes. Everything is swaying. It feels like all the energy has been drained out of him. What happened? He blinks groggily and attempts to sit up.

"You're alive!" Eda's human ward - Luz - lets go of his shoulder and mutters something in a language Darius doesn't understand. "Is Eda all right? Everyone else?"

"Where are we?" He doesn't recognize the place. There are lines of strange glyphs around the two of them. "And what are you doing here?" he demands. He doesn't like this. Where are the other kids? His head is still foggy. The Ceremony. The fight. The translocation. "Yes, Eda and the rest should be safe. Are you here alone?"

Luz twists her mouth into a forced smile, "Well, you see... But first ugh..." Her eyes shift. "Please don't freak out..." she mutters.

Is she looking at his arm? He follows her gaze to his sigil...

B.

Raine knew that look. Imperious and somewhat disgusted, as if he had just seen something so beneath him that it fascinated and repulsed him in equal measures yet wasn't worth a verbal reaction. That look was enough to shut up even the oldest Coven Heads. Only... Raine couldn't recall it ever being directed at them.

Then the boy's lower lip wobbled, and the illusion was shattered.

C.

"I assume the Great Demon King has not heard the blood-curdling tale of Brie the Blimp?"

"Brie the Blimp?" Ha! The name was catchy. But King had his mission.

"Oh, yes," the witch said. The abomination on his head shifted. "The mysterious and frightening witch-eating flying apparatus." He raised an eyebrow and then nodded towards the window. "They say she prowls the skies on nights just like this."

"And?" King asked - just in case. He had to find Eda, but this was something new. He needed the intel!

"Oh, I don't know," the witch leaned his head on his hand. "Perhaps this story is too much..."

"No!" King objected. "The King of Demons is not afraid of some old nursery story. I demand to hear the blood-calling... blood-curling tale of the evil Blimp!"

"Hmm, all right," the man smiled, "if you insist."

King grabbed one of the abomination toys closer to himself - also just in case - and plopped down to listen.

"It all started one bright and peaceful morning..."

D.

"Oh my Titan! Are you Perry Porter?!" one of the scouts squealed. "From the Crystal Ball? For real?!"

"Yes, yes," Perry forced himself to say. Normally he would be embarrassed, but this time was different. "Glad to meet a fan..."

"Do you even know who this is?" the scout pestered their colleague who shrugged non-comittally.

"I love seeing you on the Crystal Ball!" the first scout addressed Perry again.

"Thank you. But can I help you?" Perry knew his voice sounded polite, but his heart was pounding. Here we go.

"We are looking for dangerous rebels, potentially wild witches," the less enthusiastic scout announced. "They were seen in the vicinity of your house. Have you noticed any suspicious activity?"

"I don't think so," Perry answered. "But there is a forest behind these houses, it would be easy to hide there."

"Are you sure you didn't see anyone?"

"Come on," the chatty scout interrupted them. "It's Perry Porter! He would've noticed if the rebels were here. Thank you for your time!"

No, thank you.

"No problem."

E.

"Oh, wow, this Construction Coven's book is surely a brick," Luz waved the book in front of herself. Judging by the blank stares, the joke didn't land.

"The most prominent figures of the Construction Craft, tome 2," Skara read the title from below.

"Sounds fun," Luz started - she had a really good one...

"Hey!"

Eberwolf grabbed the book right out of her hands, and she nearly fell down the ladder. Eber hurried to the other side of the room, put the book on the desk and began hastily turning over the pages as if looking for something specific. Then they seemed to find that something. He read the page, chirping almost silently to themselves and tugging on his mane from time to time.

"Eber?" Darius had stopped mending the abominations and came up to stand by them.

Eber shook their head, jumped down the chair and silently trotted out of the room, leaving the book on the table.

Darius sighed.

"What happened?" Skara asked.

Luz leaned to look in the book. There was a portrait.

"Galatea Vault," Darius said. "She was the Construction Coven Head before Mason."

[numericalbridge]

Title: Untitled

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: G

Word count: 224

Characters: Raine, Darius and Eberwolf

Summary:

A ficlet based on this AU.

----

“Come on! Pull!” Raine grabbed Darius’s arms, and Eber jumped onto his shoulders and then onto the wall and tried to dig through the muddy cords that held him in place.

Nothing helped.

Raine pulled. A shoulder seam of their shirt gave way and something snapped in their back. Their breath was catching. Darius was trying to shift into his abomination form, but no magic was working properly in the mindscape. Raine grabbed him across the waist and tried to pull that way, to no avail. Dark spots swayed across their vision.

“Raine!”

Raine raised their head and met Darius’s eyes. They were bloodshot. Sweat was running down Darius's face.

“Raine,” he repeated, softer, and his eyes shifted.

Raine followed his gaze. Eber was still trying to claw through the wall of muck. Raine understood. They nodded. A simple sleeping spell still worked. Eber’s eyes rolled up, then closed, and Raine caught him before he could fall down. They put him carefully on the floor.

“Darius…”

“Go,” Darius rasped. His left arm was half-submerged into the wall. “I’ll try to distract Belos. Stall him, taunt him. Maybe I’ll manage to do something.”

Raine reached out and touched his face.

“You go,” Darius said thickly, “tell his secrets to everyone.”

Raine pressed their foreheads together. Then they kissed him on the cheek, picked up Eber and ran.

[numericalbridge]

Title: Wounded Hearts

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: T/PG-13 (brief descriptions of blood and injury that are more intense than canon, but still on the level of a fantasy book aimed at teenagers)

Word count: 4195 

Main characters: Raine and Darius

Other characters: Belos, Eda, Lilith, Eberwolf, Alador, Katya, Amber and Derwin

Summary:

An AU confrontation between possessed Raine and Darius, and the aftermath. (written before the finale)

1.

The humming in their head, terrible and alien. The thudding of their boots on the castle’s floor. Their vision is tainted with sickly green…

As they lurch forward, helpless, just a marionette at the tyrant’s whims, they can almost feel those decomposing green tendrils infiltrating their mindscape, piercing the trees, leeching out their memories. They can almost hear the creaking and the splintering of their mind. Powerless to do anything. Trapped inside their own body. Helpless, again.

Yet they still try to fight. With every fiber of their being they try to stall, they pray that something, somebody will come and stop them. Stop it! In those jumbled first moments they almost succeeded – they almost managed to throw themselves and the terrible green monster inside them over the railing of a staircase, but at the last moment Belos had wrestled the control.

Oh, they can feel his disintegrating thoughts inside of their very being. He is not long for this world, and he knows it, and it makes him even more dangerous than before. Only now they, who have always prided themselves on their independence from the Emperor’s doctrine, are nothing more than his puppet. And everything is so terribly green, and the smell of the rot and the sound of his hateful thoughts hurt their mind.

“Just give up, go to sleep,” his voice inside their head lulls them, so patient and soothing. “You have nothing to fight for.”

“Fight and you’ll be punished.”

And maybe they would have considered giving up, perhaps if they were younger. Perhaps not, they were always stubborn. But Raine Whispers have gone so far, sacrificed so much. They won’t give up. It’s just so hard to think and stay aware…

“Raine!” They are in a narrow castle corridor, and Darius is in front of them, reaching out his hand towards them, palm up.

Belos stretches their mouth into a leering grimace. Darius’s eyes widen, he must realize that something is wrong.

Suddenly, a memory: Darius, standing just like this, eyes wide in surprise at their silly rebel banner. Darius, offended with their naiveté. Raine, teasing him for the whole week.

“Ah, Darius, my treacherous Coven Head,” Belos croons. Raine is fighting him again, but it is so hard. Why, why are they not strong enough? Never strong enough.

“Raine, come on, fight it!”

“Oh, they can’t hear you.” Raine feels their arm stretching, growing with disgusting creeks into a spiked limb. They feel eyes opening on it, confusing their senses.

No! Raine screams inside their head.

“Fight me again, and he will pay.”

“Raine, you can do it, you are stronger than him!” Darius is still reaching towards them, offering his hand, but his other arm has already transformed into the abomination scythe.

Do it. Stop him.

“Let’s end this,” Belos throws their body forward, surprisingly quick, and they clash together. Green mutated spiked limbs, the abomination scythe.

The fight is brutal. No time to be afraid. Raine tries to fight for control. He is distracted! They try to throw their body into the path of Darius’s attacks, but they are useless. No time to think. No plan. Only desperation and anger.

“Raine! We are the C.A.T.T.s, remember?” Darius’s voice cuts through the haze of their hopeless fury. “Now, listen to my voice, we can defeat him!”

Belos staggers back, and Raine feels their bones and muscles ache. Their breath is catching. Darius doesn’t seem to be able to fully transform — perhaps as the aftermath of the draining spell or the Collector’s influence — yet he is gaining the upper hand. Raine stares into his eyes — green and determined — and wills it: Do it, just do it. End this. I was always prepared. They hope he knows they would never blame him.

And suddenly, as their body stumbles, and the scythe is descending upon their head, the awful green tendrils retreat, and Raine gasps for air, able to move and fully feel again, their hands raising up to protect their head on instinct. They look up, and see Darius’s face contort in fear, as he throws his arm to the side, and the scythe whooshes past their ear, missing them by a hair.

Darius stares at them, panting with exhaustion, but tentatively putting his hand out again. He is starting to ask something, just as the green rot returns, its tendrils piercing Raine’s inner self, and Raine screams, and Belos roars with laughter inside their mind, as they lose control again.

And Darius makes a small, chocked sound.

One of Raine’s spiked arms is piercing through his shoulder. They can feel the shudders of his body as they pull him near.

“Oh, what happened?” Belos coos into Darius’s ear. “Couldn’t hurt your precious Songbird?” Raine can feel their arm twisting inside the wound. The rot twisting inside their memories. Belos smiles wide, “But, you know that in your place they wouldn’t have hesitated?”

He pushes Darius back, and Darius falls off the spike and onto the floor. He tries to get up, but another spike goes through one of his knees.

“Pathetic.”

Drip-drip-drip. Blood. Something inside Raine goes numb. Darius is trying to crawl away. There is a red trail. Belos is savoring his suffering.

“You really are terrified of me, aren’t you, Darius?”

Another memory. That time Eda had exploded pustule-berries across the cafeteria of the Hexside, and everyone got covered in sticky red pus. Darius’s face: Surprise-Disgust-Panic. Raine feels their mind starting to shut down.

“Should I make this quick?” Belos wonders, making their mouth pout. “Or should I do to you what I did to my previous grimwalker?”

Darius looks up, not comprehending. He isn’t trying to get away anymore, and just stares at them from the floor. Drip-drip-drip.

“I mean the previous Golden Guard,” Belos explains, patient like a school teacher talking down to a particularly dull student. “You know, in the end he was offering you in his stead, just to escape from the torture.”

“You, how dare you,” Darius snarls, trying to transform again.

“Yes, I killed the previous one,” Belos’s voice is bleeding with mirth. “But you’ve already suspected it, haven’t you? Oh, and I killed little Hunter too, just so you know. I possessed him, and crushed his annoying little bird with his own little hands, then, when the body wasn’t useful anymore, I drowned him in front of his worthless friends. And now I’ll kill you, and after that I shall destroy the other Coven Heads and the rest of these ungodly isles, and I’ll strip this body I wear to the bones before that, while they see and feel every single moment of it.”

Stop it!

“Are you going to cry now, Darius?”

“We are the C.A.T.T.s, remember?”

Never strong enough.

Darius is not crying. He is staring up at Belos — at them — with an almost childlike expression. Eyes wide, pupils blown, mouth trembling convulsively. Something behind those eyes fracturing irreparably. His whole body is shaking slightly, but he makes no move to fight or escape.

Belos takes his time approaching him, avoiding staining Raine’s boots with blood. Raine has to watch.

The creaking of the mindscape. Memories… they and Eda, in the forest clearing forever.

Raine’s arm is mutating into the spiked weapon again.

“But, if it is any consolation to you, Darius,” Belos’s voice is oh-so soft and so cruel, “I am just finishing what Raine wanted to do.”

2.

The sounds of the world around them are muted. The remnants of the rot are slowly leaving them. They hear soft murmurs of hushed conversations, Eda’s voice standing out even now. Raine blinks slowly. Their vision is blurry without their glasses. They stare at the high ceiling of the castle. The sensations are returning, and they can feel a dull ache all over their body.

Eda’s arm is around their shoulders, holding them close. They are half lying in her lap.

“You are safe now, safe.” “Breathe.”

Then, “He is gone now.”

“Dead? For real?” Raine croaks and cringes at how raspy their voice sounds. So different from the silky fakeness of Belos. Inside, Raine still feels numb. Drip-drip-drip.

“Yeah, for real,” Eda chuckles. “And the kiddos dealt with the Collector.”

Carefully, Raine turns their head. They see King, Luz, and their friends huddled in a group on the other side of the room. Hunter is with them too. Raine exhales in relief, though they can’t see his bird. There are other people around; Raine doesn’t even recognize all of them.

“Everything is going to be fine,” Eda assures them again. “And Amber, Katya and Derwin are safe too, they are with Steve helping everyone outside.”

“The children, are they alright?”

Eda sighs, “Physically at least… But you’ll need some patching up.”

“I’ll find somebody from the Healing Coven,” Lilith’s voice says from the side, and Lilith’s palisman crows in agreement.

Something to remember first. Why did they think about the bird? So much blood…

“Eda…” The memories are coming back. Not like Belos made them forget anything. No, they were there for every gruesome moment. They just went numb at some point, and the world turned hazy.

Raine sits up. Searches the castle hall with their eyes. Children, some adults. Vitimir and Mason. No Terra, good. And Eberwolf, looking around, his ears down in worry. He catches their glance and gives them a small wave. He isn’t rushing to bite their face off, so he doesn’t know yet.

Their heart races so badly, they nearly faint. “Darius?” they rasp.

“Haven’t seen him yet,” Eda replies. “Maybe he is helping outside too.”

“No!” Raine clutches her arm. “No. Eber! Listen! The staircase near the East Wing, there is a small corridor where the old library used to be. Bring someone from the Healing Coven. Hurry!”

Eberwolf’s eyes widen, he nods and scurries away.

Raine falls back into Eda’s embrace. How much time has passed? Hours, at the least. With those wounds — gurgling, tearing, snapping — and without immediate help he can’t still be alive.

Everything is so muted. Voices. Feelings. They wish they could stay cold and hard-hearted forever. “They wouldn’t have hesitated.” Never mind their dreams of being gentle and soft, like before.

“Raine? Raine! Please, don’t space out!”

“Raine, please!” They think Eda is crying. “I’m here with you, it’s going to be alright… right?”

I really failed at everything. Failed as a rebel. Chose to fail as a teacher. Failed as a friend…

“Talk to me, please,” Eda begs.

Silly, silly Sprout, thought they were a hero.

Failed to protect Eda even, that’s why she is holding them with one arm.

They can’t talk. They lay in Eda’s embrace for what feels like hours, while the others leave to find their families or to offer help or just to rest, until suddenly in an explosion of the abomination matter Alador appears by Eda’s side. He looks even more disheveled than usual. Raine feels nauseated at the sight of him.

“I…” he blinks at the pair of them. His voice is shaky, “I wanted to say we found Darius. He is badly injured, the healers are working on him right now. I thought I’d tell you.”

“He’s alive?” Raine blurts out. How?

“Yes. Odalia, of all people, had found him and tried to give first aid.” Alador sighs. The shuffling of his boots irritates Raine’s ears. “Apparently, even she couldn’t just leave him to bleed out.”

Even she… “Just finishing what Raine wanted to do.” Raine feels something rising up in their chest. Why did it have to be Odalia? Alador’s shuffling is unbearable.

Raine braces themselves, gripping Eda’s hand. “How bad is it?”

“Pretty bad, but…” Alador is avoiding their gaze, “I negotiated with the Healing Coven Head, so he should be fine, probably? They say she is the best, right?” Alador blurts it all out in one breath.

“What do you mean? Negotiated?” This can’t be good.

“Well, she won’t be investigated for what she and her coven did under the Belos’s rule, and…”

“And why do you think it was your place to negotiate with her?!” The numbness is replaced with cold, burning fury that threatens to choke them. That… that hack, who’s gleefully supplied the Empire with weapons, how dare he?

“Well, should I have just let Darius die?” Alador snaps back.

Or do you want your own crimes to not be investigated?

Agh, Raine stares at him, seething, searching his face to see if he blames them. Alador lowers his eyes to the floor, all awkward again. Raine wants him, or somebody, anybody, to hurt just as they hurt…

“Alador,” Eda offers, not unkindly, and for a moment Raine almost wants to hurt her too. “Maybe we’ll discuss all of this later? No one is in their right state of mind at the moment. Go check on your kids. King said they all will be at Hexside with Luz’s mom.”

Alador nods, shuffles some more, then finally leaves.

Raine stares at the empty space in front of them.

“Raine?”

“Eda, am I a bad person?” they want to ask, but they know Eda, and what she would say.

“Your ‘Bats’, your students were so worried about you,” Lilith’s voice suddenly interjects. Raine doesn’t even want to look at her. Why is she bringing up their students? “They love and respect you so much. You inspired them so… Even now they are helping others outside. I find it quite admirable… and envy it. Don’t just give up on yourself because of what Belos did.” Lilith then coughs, says the healers are on their way, and murmurs an excuse to leave.

“Oh, wow, that was wordy,” Eda muses. “But Lily’s right. Raine, you can’t let him, Belos, win. That monster would’ve wanted you to blame yourself and…”

“Oh, Eda,” Raine closes their eyes. They feel like crying, but the tears won’t come. Why are they so helpless? Would it ever get better? “Just hold me, please.”

3.

Darius wakes up slowly. Blinks. Stares at the inoffensive beige ceiling of the healing ward. His chest hurts, his whole body aches. He contemplates the insistent, dulled feeling of dread and sorrow. He closes his eyes. His eyelids are crusted, and everything feels gross. He opens his eyes again, unable to fall back into unconsciousness.

He remembers waking up in this ward before — Hettie’s sharp voice admonishing him, the nurses giving him potions and changing his bandages. Pain. Despair. He thinks he remembers Eber talking to him. Bitter taste of medicine on his tongue. Bitter taste of failure. This is the first time since the… injury… that he’s woken up almost completely clear-headed. Yet the feeling of vague terror mixed with helplessness is still there.

He remembers.

Failure, what a spectacular failure.

He turns his head. Eber is sleeping in a chair by his bed, his face scrunched up into a grimace, and ears down.

At least he is here, Darius thinks. At least he is alive. At least Darius is not alone.

Eber’s ears perk up, and he opens his eyes.

“You’re awake,” he chirps. “Want some water?”

This is the most lucid Darius has been in days, yet it takes him a moment to comprehend the beast-speak. He feels shamed. “Yes,” he manages a weak smile. The ache is pulsating through his body. “Thanks,” he adds.

He can barely move his arms, so Eber helps him drink.

“This is humiliating,” Darius complains.

Eber shrugs, “You're going to hate your stay here.”

“I know.”

Eber gives him a weird look. “You scared me.”

Darius turns his head away. Does he feel guilty? “What happened?” he asks.

Eber sighs, “Belos’s dead.”

Dead. Well, Darius supposes he wouldn’t be here otherwise, alive. Eyes burning cold blue on the wrong face. He gulps. His flesh tearing, red and wet… His less injured hand clenches into a fist.

“And the children pacified the Collector,” Eber adds quickly, the tone of his voice suddenly, deliberately upbeat. “Eda’s King and the human with her other friends. And Hunter was with them too.”

“He’s alright?” Darius is looking at Eber again. Of course that titan-damned bastard has lied. Darius’s shoulders sag in relief. Should he allow himself this feeling?

“Mostly alright,” Eber’s ears droop again. “Belos tried to possess and murder him, but the human’s mother, her name is Camila, saved him, and then his palisman sacrificed itself to heal him.”

“Oh.” The thought is cruel, yet for a moment he wonders: Even that little bird did more good.

Eber is eyeing him cautiously.

The failure is so bitter. If he allows himself to feel he will choke.

“Raine is fine too,” Eber offers carefully.

“Ah. Good.” Darius doesn’t know what else to say. He sees their face, contorted into an alien grimace. He pretends he doesn’t have time to think about it. “Well, I’m glad everyone got out of the mess.” Except for that little palisman…

Then Eber is blabbering on about the human’s mother, who is like a healer for beasts, and then some nonsense about Odalia helping him, and, then, of course, he moves on to Darius’s current condition.

Darius just nods along. That poor bird. Flesh tearing. Raine’s face leering over him. Powerless… He wishes he had his gloves.

Eber groans. Darius realizes he stopped talking.

Eber gives him another worried look. But why should Eber be worried? Darius was the one who failed to protect him, and Hunter, and everyone else… “We are the C.A.T.T.s, remember?” All his sacrifices, all the pain for nothing. The worst part is that he lowered his defenses just enough, softened himself just enough to make this sorrow unbearable.

Eber fidgets in his seat. “Are you alright?” his tone is almost tentative.

Darius blinks at him. He is so tired, and so bitter, and broken. A failure all around. And he has no strength to lie.

“No,” he chokes out, “I’m not.”

Eber stares at him for a moment. Then gingerly climbs onto the bed and carefully, gently, puts one paw on his arm.

“It’s ok, I’m not alright either. We can be not alright together.”

And suddenly Darius finds himself nodding, then his shoulders are shaking, and he finds himself crying. He can’t pretend anymore, and his carefully maintained facade is crumbling.

Eber hunches down, nose scrunched up, eyes and ears lowered, still gently holding onto his arm.

“How embarrassing,” Darius mutters. Just seeing Eber like this makes him want to banter to make him cheer up, despite everything. “Look how you made me cry. I’m all gross now.”

Eber raises his head, relaxing his posture a little, then reaches into his mane, and, to Darius’s astonishment, pulls out The Abomination – Darius’s favourite little abomination that he used for spying and sending secret messages. Eber plops it onto Darius’s chest, and it toddles up to his shoulder. Darius looks at it through tears. It creates a small handkerchief out of the abomination matter and tries to wipe Darius’s face with it. That’s just too much…

Darius is laughing through his tears.

“Eber, you absurd creature,” he groans. “Did you have to ruin my emotional moment with this ridiculousness?” He is still crying. While laughing. It is terrible. He can’t even move his hands well enough to cover his mouth. And it is probably not the right way to deal with this ‘outburst’.

Eber cocks his head to the side and chitters in a self-congratulating manner. The Abomination settles in the crook of Darius’s neck. It looks pleased with itself too. Darius was worried about it, after leaving it behind on the Day of Unity, so he is glad it is safe.

“I must look so undignified now,” Darius starts to complain, just to continue with the familiar banter, when Eber yelps and groans, looking in the direction of the ward’s door. Darius follows his gaze. His blood freezes.

Raine is standing in the open doorway.

Darius presses himself back into the pillow. No, not like this. Don’t want to be hurt like that ever again.

A familiar voice, “You are terrified of me, Darius, aren’t you?”

Gentle pressure on his arm, and an almost silent alarmed growl – Eber. The cool touch of the abomination matter on his neck. Darius gulps. He forces himself to look again.

Raine is just standing there, their eyes fixed on him with an unreadable expression. Their ears are drooping. They have scars on their face and neck now, and they are dressed in new, non-coven clothes that fit them badly. But their favourite earring is back, although there is a huge scratch on it. Darius focuses on the earring. It reminds him of something. Something that won’t hurt.

Eber groans again, in low tone, asking whether he is alright.

Then, yes, Darius remembers. The earring. There was paint on it. Red. Eda’s thoughtless little prank that left most of the Hexside’s cafeteria covered in that horrid substance. Darius had a meltdown because it was on his face, and his clothes, and his hands… Raine walked him to the bathroom and helped him clean, no questions asked. Their eyes weren’t so haunted back then.

Darius steels himself, then sighs and gingerly, slowly opens his palm, offering his free hand to them. Raine silently pulls up one of the chairs, sits down and takes his hand. They lower their head, and he can feel their hand shaking in his. They sit like that for a while, in silence. Only Eber is purring softly.

A loud bang of a door slamming somewhere and sounds of footsteps break the tentative peace. Three familiar faces of Katya, Derwin and Amber appear in the doorway.

Oh, no.

“Are we interrupting something?” Katya asks.

Eber chirps happily. He adores the B.A.T.T.s. Raine straightens up and smiles weakly at their students.

Darius makes a grimace, “What are you doing here?”

“We came to visit papa Darius,” Amber declares in the most annoyingly cheery voice possible.

“Don’t call me that!” Darius sputters.

“Well, there were other, worse alternatives we’ve considered,” Derwin explains.

“Ugh.”

“And we brought balloons, since Eber said they don’t allow flowers.”

“How nice, it’s a cat,” Raine offers. At least they don’t look so utterly beat down anymore, and some shaky mischief has returned to their eyes. You couldn’t protect them either.

Eber, meanwhile, looks way too pleased with himself.

“This is a cat, because we are the C.A.T.T.s, and this one is an abomination, for obvious reasons, and this one just looked cool, it has teeth and a tail,” Amber explains as Derwin and Katya wrestle the giant balloons into the room.

“I’m not twelve, you know it, right?” Darius grumbles. He just knows the B.A.T.T.s are playing it up to mess with him.

“You can be just as immature,” Eber growls, signing along for the others. “And the card?”

“Yes!” Katya shoves something into Darius’s face. “Look, we all signed it!”

Darius looks. It is indeed a large greeting card. On the violet background there are 'get well soon' wishes from Derwin, Katya and Amber, and a short one from Steve too. But also wishes from Eda and Luz (a drawing of an abomination with cat ears included), and underneath them a signature from Lilith. To Darius’s surprise there is also a rather formal, but lengthy message from Perry Porter, as well as wishes from Perry’s son, Hunter and the rest of the Emerald Entrails written in an absolutely horrid shade of green ink. Harmless green, though. There is also a scribble from Alador that uses their old inside joke and gives Darius way too much secondhand embarrassment.

“See? How cute!”

Darius feels… something. He looks at Eber’s smug face, then at Raine. Raine is still holding his hand. Darius wishes he was one of those people who can easily tell what emotions they are feeling. But, yes, he is crying again.

“Noo, already? You sap,” Eber grins, pressing his paws onto his arm in affection.

“It’s the medicine! That’s all,” Darius retorts. It is easy to fall back into their old bickering routine.

“I know! What we need is a group hug,” Katya suddenly declares.

“No! Wait!” Darius can just see three grown young adults, and probably Eber too, piling on top of him. He wouldn’t survive it. His body is all broken.

“Come on, Katya,” Raine interrupts, smiling their old smile, although there still an edge to it. “Darius is still healing. Don’t rush at him.”

“Ok then, maybe we can make it a very careful, very gentle group hug?” Amber proposes.

So they do a very soft, very gentle group hug. The Abomination nearly gets squished. Darius is completely overwhelmed. His body still aches all over. He is still not alright.

He looks at Raine, though, their hand still in his, and they share a glance, and there is a sudden, painful, silent understanding between the two of them. Because, yes, maybe they have failed, and maybe the pain would never go away, but there are still people in their lives who they care about and who care about them, and there are always bridges to build... And maybe for now it is enough.

[numericalbridge]

very important reference post for my fics - my fan names for Eber's ratworms.

This one is Gobler:

and this is Daisy-wyrm:

[numericalbridge]

Title: At the Precipice (The Rot AU)

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: G (briefly mentioned and implied character deaths)

Word count: 2464

Characters: various

Summary:

On the Isles plagued with the Rot fourteen-year old Darius spends his morning battling with anxiety and worrying about his relationship with his father, until the routine is interrupted by the arrival of an unusual visitor.

---

In the dream he was running from the Rot. The putrid grayish-green waves threatened to choke out the whole world. He ran until he stumbled and fell to his knees, wheezing. And that’s when the Emperor appeared, the golden cloak billowing in the wind, the mask bright and cold. Radiant light swirled around the jagged staff, and even the Rot retreated before its purifying glory.

Relief washed over the boy, but then the Emperor turned round to face him. Pinkish flood was running down the mask from the empty eye sockets, like tears or blood…

---

Darius woke up in his bed, gasping for air, pressing his hands to his chest. The pale morning light fell through the narrow windows of his room. At the foot of his bed the palismen stirred and murmured. A peahen and a horned crayfish he’d been fostering at Daddy’s insistence. Darius gently swung his feet to the floor, careful not to disturb them any more. He tried to steady his breath.

“A bad dream,” he whispered apologetically to the critters.

He slid his feet under the purple carpet and wiggled his toes. The anxiety was building up. He slid his feet out.

From the heavy dressing table near the bed the new doll stared at him with dead green eyes. Another present from his father. Darius sighed. He had heaps of toys, all kinds of them: cloth and plush, wooden and ceramic, many of them custom-made... most of them purple creatures with blank green eyes. On the shelves and on the windowsills, on the chair and on the dressing table. Rows and rows and rows of them, threatening to take over his small room.

Darius hesitated, then reached for his scroll. Another village on the Southern Condyle had to be evacuated because of the Rot. No fatalities. A band of robber wild witches attacked a military outpost near Bonesborough. A convoy was looted. The restorations of St. Epiderm’s facade were going on well.

Darius patted the palismen on their heads and opened the chat for the Hexside drama club that Raine had recommended to him – the kids were nice, and chatting with them was always fun. Smiling a little, he reread their conversations from previous days. But this morning nobody seemed to be awake just yet.

He put away the scroll.

Careful not to step on the toys that didn’t fit on the shelves or anywhere else in the room, he prepared water and some fruit for the palismen. He wasn’t sure whether the creatures actually needed the food, but they seemed to enjoy playing with it. Their bowls were purple, of course.

He went through the motions of his morning routine. Today was his free day, and he had no classes or training, and so he could take his time.

He carefully chose the outfit for the day. Nothing flashy, but, after studying his reflection in the mirror, he decided he looked good. The frame of the mirror was purple too.

He applied one of the fashionable liquid concealment stones – the product of a rare frivolous collaboration between the Healing and the Illusion Covens – to dye his hair. Now his locs were almost the same colour as his eyes. Cool. He used the stones often, and the effect was always striking.

He whistled while making his bed. The bedclothes, the silken pillows, the quilt – everything was purple. Daddy had assured him over and over again that he could choose any colour he liked, but Darius could tell what Daddy really expected him to pick. But it’s not a big deal, not really.

After saying goodbye to the palismen Darius left his room.

---

The corridors of the Castle were quiet at this time of the morning, and when you looked out of the tall narrow windows you couldn’t see the Rot anywhere. Darius paused briefly, imagining the Golden Guard, in full regalia, saving the common folk and vanquishing the Emperor’s enemies. What would it feel like to be out there? It was foolish to daydream about it, of course. The Rot was not fodder for picture-book adventures. Darius felt the anxiety returning.

He strolled slowly down the corridor, nodding to the passing servants. Should he go and watch scouts train in the yard? The day already loomed ahead empty and purposeless.

The ping of his scroll. A new message from Raine! Darius couldn’t hide his smile. Unlike Daddy or the tutors, Raine always seemed to know what would cheer him up.

He opened the message.

“Good morning, Darius. How are you doing? Busy training?”

“No,” he typed out honestly. “Today’s my free day. Every third day is. Don’t really know what I want to do today,” he couldn’t resist the urge to complain.

They replied almost immediately: “Oh. Then, maybe you could help me out? ^o^” A cat face emoji? Seriously? They really type like an old person.

“Can you look for ‘Music of the early Savage Ages: Concepts and Classifications’ in the Castle’s library? I’ve heard it should be among some of the oldest collections. I can explain some spells from the book to you later.”

Darius considered it. He supposed the book would be in a very remote and, strictly speaking, forbidden section of the Old Library… but he had nothing better to do. “Sure, I can try.”

“Thank you so much! Oh, and you’ll probably find some fascinating works about the Empire’s early history in the same collection. I think they might interest you.” Another cat emoji. Darius rolled his eyes and immediately felt guilty: Raine seems so lonely…

Perhaps he shouldn’t trust them so easily – he still didn’t know them very well after all – but they seemed harmless. He even briefly wondered whether one day he’d be able to visit them… wherever they lived… and maybe they could tutor him in bard magic. Just another daydream. Daddy had made it very clear that these days it was far too dangerous for children to travel because of the Rot and the wild witches.

Still, after this brief exchange with Raine he felt less anxious.

Murmuring his favourite song from the 'Ride the Gryphon' musical, he took the stairs down to Daddy’s study room. ‘The cozy office’ Darius used to call it when he was younger. Unlike the other offices around the Castle or the oppressive Throne Room, ‘the cozy office’ was sunny and comfortably cluttered. There his daddy did paperwork and sometimes accepted visitors with petitions.

The guards stationed at the door let Darius in at once.

“Good morning,” Darius muttered awkwardly. “I hope I don’t interrupt...”

Daddy smiled at him from the messy desk. “Darius! Up so early? You truly are your father’s son,” Daddy laughed at his own ‘joke’. Embarrassing. “Come, give your dad a kiss.”

Tips of his ears twitching, Darius dragged his feet over to the desk. He was fourteen, almost a witch grown, and yet his father didn’t seem to realize it. Darius allowed himself to be babied, and only rolled his eyes a little. Not like his father ever noticed.

From beside Daddy’s elbow his palisman chirped his greeting. He was very old and cracked all over, and he couldn’t really fly anymore, only flutter a little, so he spent most of the time resting on the pillows that Daddy hand-sewed for him. Darius patted the bird on the head. The palisman was made for their family generations ago, Daddy had told Darius, and deserved to rest and enjoy the comfort.

“So, Darius,” Daddy returned to his work, signing and stamping papers, but his eyes were still smiling. “How is your morning? Did you eat breakfast?”

“I’ll eat later.” Darius settled onto a bench by the side of the desk. “You know I never feel hungry early in the morning,” he reminded his father.

“Hmmm,” Daddy hummed. Already immersed in the paperwork.

“The palismen are doing well,” Darius added, trying to get more attention. He used to love to just sit and watch his father work, and help where he could, and talk. Perhaps today Daddy would have time to eat breakfast or dinner together? Or maybe he would tell Darius one of the stories about his glorious younger days. Darius loved those stories, even though sometimes they made his father sad. The story he loved the most was the funny one about the time Daddy had participated in a sports competition. Darius loved it even more than the heroic tale about the slaying of the great basilisk. Perhaps today he will tell it again… but Daddy continued working, nodding to himself and petting his palisman from time to time.

Darius frowned. He was getting jittery again. “Maybe I’ll go to the library today,” he said. It felt awkward, talking to his father like this when he clearly didn’t have time for Darius. “But only if it’s alright with you…”

Daddy looked up from the document he’d been reading. “Of course you can go. Just be careful. And, please, stop being so apologetic. You have to become more confident.”

“Of course, Daddy.” Of course. A true Golden Guard wouldn’t constantly falter and hesitate. “Can we, maybe, go together?”

Daddy’s eyes – their colour the only feature he shared with Darius – softened. “I’m sorry, Darius. I am very busy... as is usual with me...” he chuckled. “I know, I know... But the Rot is spreading rapidly in the South...” Daddy shook his head. “But don’t you worry! We’ll find a way to stop it, as we always do!”

“Of course, I understand.” Darius felt something, not just the usual anxiety or fear, flutter inside his chest – Daddy looked very sad, almost forlorn. He looks old. Darius felt sorry for him.

Daddy shuffled some papers, examined one of them more closely, then sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. “Lilith Clawthorne’s passing had affected me too, I guess,” he muttered. “I didn’t expect that.”

Darius looked down at his feet. What could he say? The apprehension was growing, and it was tiring. Darius pressed his hands to his chest. But Daddy was constantly worried too. Daddy is sad all the time.

Darius shuffled his feet. “I… I’ve made a new spell!” More confident. More Golden Guard-y. “I’ve created it all by myself… well, um, with only a little help from the guys from this chat…” Actually, Raine had given him some tips, but they had insisted that he shouldn’t even mention them.

“Really?” Daddy’s face brightened, his eyes lit up. He pushed his quill aside. Now he looked excited, almost like a little kid. “Show me!”

Darius stood up and straightened his shoulders. A withered goosebump plant was living out its last days on the corner of the desk. Darius pointed at it and whistled while drawing a spell circle with his finger. A familiar deep hum resonated inside his chest, as always happened when he performed complicated spells. The plant responded, its branches spreading and dancing. Invigorated by the tune.

“Ah, a bard spell…”

Darius’s hand froze. The spell faltered. Daddy’s mouth was a thin, stubborn line. His eyes were hard. Disappointed.

Darius lowered his hand. There’s no point. He knew what would follow.

Daddy blinked, catching himself. “Oh. Oh, no, baby!” he hurriedly got up from the desk. “Of course every magic is good! Great, even! Darius!”

Here he goes again. Daddy roughly drew Darius to himself and peppered his temples with quick, smothering kisses.

“My son is so talented! You are wonderful, my baby, it’s your Daddy who is too old-fashioned… But I’m unlearning it!” Daddy laughed nervously. “You know how back in my day the bard magic was considered weak? That's all it is!”

His palisman squawked angrily.

Darius supposed he should expect a new toy very soon. That’s how it always went with his father: first disappointment, then guilt, then suffocating affection and meaningless presents.

“But you’re doing so great!” Daddy had gone red in the face trying to convince himself.

“It’s okay, Daddy,” Darius pulled away from him. “Really. It’s nothing.”

But Daddy wasn’t listening... Then his ears flicked, and suddenly his eyes were sharp. He motioned: Silence.

Darius listened. Sounds of a commotion outside. Shouts?

With a sharp motion of his hand Daddy signaled for Darius to stay back by the wall.

The mechanical staff – tall and imposing, all sharp edges – was already in Daddy’s hand. He put the mask on. Darius hated the mask. Gone was Daddy, and only the Emperor remained. Sharp-witted and coldly playful, the golden feathers of his cloak shining like wyvern scales.

Darius straightened up too, like he was taught to stand at court – still and alert.

“Your Grace!” a red-faced guard opened the door. Someone shouted something from behind him in a language Darius didn’t recognize. “This old woman is causing trouble!”

“Let me through! Let me in!” An elderly woman barged into the study, her walking cane clacking on the stone floor. She was older than Darius’s tutors, probably as old as Raine, and had a bandage covering her left arm. She breathed heavily, as if she was very tired.

“Are you the ruler of this place?” she demanded, adjusting her thick glasses with her free hand.

“A human?” Daddy muttered. Darius stared – yes, the ears! A human on the Boiling Isles? His breath caught. What does it mean?

“Leave us!” the Emperor barked, and the guards bowed and scurried away.

“Yes, I am the Emperor of this Realm. Now. How did a human get here?”

Darius felt an unusual sort of pressure building up in the room.

The woman frowned, “Emperor... You are the one they call Hunter, yes?” She swayed a little, leaning heavily on her cane.

Something strange then happened. Daddy turned away from the woman and leaned his arms on the desk. Like… like he didn’t know what to do or what to say. Like he couldn’t face the woman? Then he tore off the mask. But he almost never exposed his face in front of strangers!

Darius felt something bigger than fear creeping up his spine. He saw that Daddy’s magenta eyes had darkened to an almost amaranth colour.

“Afraid,” someone said. Something soft and heavy bumped into Darius’s shoulder. “He is afraid.” Darius looked and saw that Flapjack had fluttered his way onto his shoulder. Darius cupped him into his hands. The pressure was building up.

The Emperor drew himself up and turned back to the woman.

“Hunter… haven’t heard that name in a long while…” he mused. “How do you know it, human?”

The threat in his voice was obvious, but the woman didn’t react, as if she hadn’t heard him at all. Dread, Darius felt dread.

“My name is Camila Noceda,” the woman said. “I came here searching for my daughter. I’ve been searching for over twenty years, and now I am going to get my answers.”

[numericalbridge]

Title: Mallow (part 1/3)

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: G

Word count: 2922 (Full fic - 9340)

Main characters: Darius, that one little abomination (Mallow)

Other characters: the previous Golden Guard (Virgil); in the full story - Eber, Raine, Luz, various palismen

Summary:

An AU where the little abomination was the previous Golden Guard's palisman

x - [part 2] - [part 3] - [full story]

----

Darkness and the deep connections of the old nerves. Whispers. All of them. Fewer of them. Hands, molding. Then – a shape. The desire: a childhood that never was, days on a beach under the sky that is blue; new places to explore, new magic blends – out of the box, out of the confines; new magic shaped to move; wild curiosity, but anchored by deep, sentimental connections.

Two bright mauve eyes opening, the form unfolding from the wood.

The voice, rendered childlike with wonder: “Wow, you are so unique! Our eyes are almost the same!”

Mallow. The name was Mallow.

----

1. Mallow.

“Aren’t they cute?” There was a hint of an amused smile in the corner of Virgil’s mouth.

Darius stared at the round abomination-shaped creature on his mentor’s palm. They stared back at him with curious eyes. Their colour resembled Virgil’s.

Darius sighed. He was no fool and could see the real pride hiding behind the nonchalant amusement on his mentor’s face. Still…

“Isn’t it forbidden?” Forbidden means dangerous. Surely Virgil understood how risky this was. Nothing is safe.

“Well,” Virgil’s face darkened, “I know you can keep a secret. What’s done is done.”

He shoved the creature at Darius, and Darius took them. They walked up his arm, balancing like an acrobat and murmuring softly. They did look kinda cute, but Darius felt a little bitter that this was an abomination – his domain. And he didn’t talk to you when he decided to create them. Are you already falling behind?

“An abomination but made of wood?” Darius wondered aloud. He sat the palisman down on the only table in Virgil’s Latissa apartment, then created a small abomination of his own – made to resemble Mallow, but with bright green eyes. Mallow gasped and toddled towards it, babbling. They seemed enthralled. Darius snickered.

“I knew you’d like them!” Virgil laughed and roughly shook Darius by the shoulders – an almost brotherly gesture that meant he was extremely happy with himself. Yet he didn’t tell you how he got the palistrom wood.

“Ugh, it’s interesting,” Darius freed himself and adjusted his clothing. Great, now his scarf was all askew. “But why an abomination?”

Virgil shrugged. “You know that I find the magic fascinating. And…” he stared at the two abominations – the palisman and the real one – circling each other on the table, “and it felt like it would mean… But you are evading! Admit that you like cute things!”

“Oh, please!” Now, who was evading? Darius shook his head. He understood that the palisman business was a very personal matter. And a lot of things about Virgil were a mystery. He loves experimenting with magic and discovering new, borderline forbidden uses for it, that’s true… Strange how he trusted Darius with the secret palisman, but not with his deeper concerns and troubles. Darius supposed they were similar in that regard... yet Darius had opened up to him, no matter how hard it had been. At least he will be less lonely back in that place…

“It should be nice to have company in the Castle?” Darius guessed.

“I suppose,” Virgil followed the palisman with his eyes. “Do you ever want to have a palisman of your own?”

Oh. Darius poked at the abomination he had created. That. “No.”

“No? Never?”

“Maybe when I was very young. But I had a rust-toothed cat when I was in school, and she was… she seemed better than any palisman.”

Darius remembered Raine showing off their newly carved Foxglove. That terrible rat Alador had. Nissa was smart too. Darius’s free hand played with his scarf. Perhaps palismen lasted longer than pets, than family even…

“Besides, what’s the point? The whole connection with you, the hidden desire, is sort of creepy. And they would probably outlive me.” He could still picture his great grandmother’s palisman, suffering so. “Figure out your desire, connect with something, leave it behind, alone forever… That is, if they aren’t…”

Confiscated.

The word hung between them, heavy. Virgil’s jaw tightened. Mallow stopped playing with the abomination and stared up at them, their perpetual frown frozen.

“It would just be a bother to make one, anyway,” Darius concluded with a sigh and a mildly annoyed pout.

“Hmm...” Now Virgil looked… sad? Uncomfortable? Because of all the palismen he’d been confiscating while keeping a secret one for himself? Because of what Darius thought about palismen in general?

Darius patted Virgil's palisman on their round bald head. “I think you should’ve carved them some decorations. Their head looks empty,” he graciously suggested in an attempt to change the topic.

Virgil payed him no mind. “I think Mallow is worth it,” he muttered softly.

I hope you won’t get into trouble. Virgil was changing, and it perplexed and troubled Darius, even though he was glad that his mentor’s loyalty seemed to shift towards helping the common witches and demons rather than being just the Emperor’s loyal guard. But gone was the almost boyish, at times almost cruel recklessness. Virgil was now more thoughtful, more composed. Still ruthless. And he still never talked about his personal life, at least not directly. And part of Darius was afraid to prod, to push him towards wrong decisions. And the change... how would it affect their relationship? Wondering this was selfish, but Darius knew very well that friendships didn’t last.

“Have you thought about getting a new rust-toothed cat then?” Virgil asked.

Darius’s grip on the scarf tightened. “No.” He hated the look on Virgil’s face. “I don’t have time for pets.” He doubted that some random cat would be as smart as Nissa.

“Hmm…”

“Anyway, I have to go. I have a report to give at the Coven meeting this evening,” he very timely remembered.

“And you’ll be the best prepared, of course.”

“Obviously.”

“Just don’t get into trouble.”

Darius allowed himself a scoff. “With whom? All those old people?”

He readjusted his scarf one more time and headed towards the exit.

“I won’t let you get hurt, I promise,” a voice whispered, so softly that Darius thought he had imagined it. Yet he turned. Virgil was talking to the little abomination in his cupped hands, and it was cooing quietly back at him.

----

Hurt. Once safe and warm, now hurt, surrounded by cold stone walls. Hiding, hunted. The voices are beckoning – far away yet welcoming. But the secret passages are now as familiar as the old nerve-routes. He had used to send them into the passages – to help, to uncover. But now he is gone. And their head feels strange. Weak. There is a dent, an injury. He had send them away. Follow the voices or stay? What was his wish?

Mallow remembers.

They stay.

----

2. Secrets in the Castle.

Shuffling.

Darius paused and listened. He was on his way back to his rooms after yet another dreary, exhausting Coven Head meeting. He was tired and he needed a bath and his skincare routine to soothe the anxiety that was eating away at him.

Desperate shuffling behind the walls.

He could imagine all the dirt and mold behind the shiny new panels, golden and cold and always damp.

The kitchen staff had complained and complained about strange noises – can’t be just a usual hamsteroach infestation, they insisted – until Terra decided to get rid of the source herself. Not out of generosity, obviously. She just wanted to sic her freshly grown plant monstrosities on something small and defenseless.

The shuffling grew closer, more desperate now. Cornered.

“It’s something the old cook used to feed,” they’d theorized. “Now that she is gone, it is grown hungry.”

Darius hesitated for a brief moment. He could just picture Raine Whispers teasing him if they were there with him. But, of course, they weren’t there. Too damn pure and principled for the Castle. For him. Spoiling Terra’s game would be good, he thought. Only, nothing felt good anymore. These last years – just a hideous blur. The only thing he felt was being tired and being cold. Was it like this for Virgil too?

Sounds of movement farther away – Terra’s thorny snaps gaining on their prey. The thing in the wall thrashed and scratched. An abomination tendril shot towards the brass vent cover and pulled it open. Easy.

Something fell out, dirty and covered in webs. Dark purple like an abomination, but its eyes the colour of a delicate flower.

“Mallow?!” For a brief terrifying moment he almost felt relief… or hope… or... Because if the palisman is alive…

Almost.

He stared at the thing. They scrambled out into the corridor and tried to escape into the vent on the opposite side. Darius caught them with the abomination tendril, and they snarled at him almost like a real animal, like no abomination would have ever done.

“They don’t like you very much,” Virgil’s voice laughed, distorted by time. Never mind. With a snap of his fingers – so easy, so effortlessly perfect – he translocated the palisman to his rooms.

How many years have passed? Were they hiding the whole time? he wondered, horrified. And the thought that if the palisman was alive, then he could be… That thought would have destroyed Darius. What does Mallow know?

The plants, hungry for their prey, reached the vent, and he dispatched them – annoying eyesores – with another twist of his fingers. Perfect. And sometimes almost cruel. Perhaps it was a good thing that Raine wasn’t there with him.

Bile in his throat, he headed for his rooms. Act normal. Perfect, effortless. Practiced ad nauseum. Should be easy. Hand clutching at the cloak. Why now?

Couldn’t he be left alone? Just be left alone to – as his aunt had angrily spat – self-destruct in the cold indifference of the Castle.

Mallow was sitting on his bed, stuck in the abomination matter, once cute downturned squiggle of their mouth melted into an almost sinister grimace. The eyes were dimmer than he remembered… or was he misremembering?

How long had it been? Could they recognize him?

He almost laughed, imagining how he would introduce himself to this palisman. Or was all this part of some particularly cruel trap? Some of the other Coven Heads might know… He turned abruptly, checked the doors and the protection spells. One, two, three, four. And again. Again.

The mauve eyes followed his compulsive writhings until Darius practically fell to his knees in front of the bed, exhausted. He felt like his whole body was trembling, and he couldn’t stop it.

The abomination… the palisman stared and stared.

“Mallow?” There was a significantly sized dent on the side of their normally round head, under all the dirt. “What happened?” To you. To him.

No response.

He released them from the abomination trap. They sprang up and made several wobbly steps as if to escape. But they seemed sluggish, perhaps disoriented. Perhaps they were tired. Perhaps they have been hiding in the walls for too long…

Darius dimmed the lights in the room. The palisman sat down and blinked.

“Better? Now, come here. No need for this attitude, just let me clean you.”

Did they remember how they used to play? Darius’s hands were shaking, and there was an uncomfortable heaviness inside his head, so the little abomination he summoned turned out all wonky. Mallow didn’t react, just stared, but they allowed him to clean them up, and when Darius finally collapsed on the bed, they didn’t run away.

Perhaps they knew what happened to Virgil? He couldn’t bring himself to ask. And how would they even communicate? If only he had paid more attention to Virgil’s talk about the palismen… Was this why Virgil has been so insistent on introducing them?

What did Virgil want? Someone to keep his secret? A co-conspirator in a rebellion?

Mallow shook their head and tried to pat the dent with their stubby hands. Why an abomination?

Perhaps there could be a use for them...

Before Darius fell into an uneasy sleep or a half-dazed stupor, full of echoes of the familiar voices, Nissa’s purring, and Mallow’s eerie staring eyes, he thought: This can be a start of a working partnership.

----

3. The Change.

The new arrangement was strange, but he had wanted Mallow’s help – spying, sneaking, seeing what he couldn’t see. And so they would do it again, even if every memory was painful.

Everything was so different now. Distant. “Run,” the voices whispered. “You can be with us, safe.”

Something compelled Mallow to stay. Maybe the curiosity and readiness for novelty – that desire that had awoken them and gave them their form. But that special love, that longing for a family – that’s what was missing ever since he was gone.

Empty.

“No,” the strongest of the voices insisted, “I’ll give you a home if you come to my Forest. You can’t have that in the Castle anymore.”

Fear and pain and memories, again and again in circles.

Mallow stayed.

Darius said they had an arrangement. That Mallow could still help. At first Mallow didn’t believe him, but then they began to understand what Darius wanted to do. Darius – hollow and cold, frozen by the same moment that had taken him from Mallow. This wasn’t a true bond, oh no. But even Mallow could see that their goal was the same…

-

Fear, pain. Again. Just wanted to help. Almost caught. Almost…

Blindly running. Blindly falling, down and down... then a crack. Hurt. Blinded. Knew the hidden Castle passages so well, yet now down here, can’t see.

Something essential seeping away.

Mallow ran and ran. Hurt, more than before. Why? In the past: his voice ordering them to hide. In the present they ran, and then they stumbled along. No way to escape the blinding hurt…

“Mallow? What happened? Did you deliver my…” Darius rose from the table, eyes round.

Mallow keened in pain. Save me, help me!

What would he think? He’d never begged.

Now Mallow was being undone, and he wasn’t there with them.

Mallow, cracked and seeping green like all their broken brethren who screamed in terror in the Beating Heart Room.

Darius, stooping to pick them up.

Darius, frowning.

“Head hurts,” Mallow moaned, but Darius couldn’t understand them.

Darius, pacing, voice strange, “I can’t trust anyone… Eda, perhaps? No, no. No time.”

Then Darius’s face was set. “Can you… go to your staff form or whatever it’s called?” Impatient.

Mallow raised what remained of their head to look at him… It was so long ago… the old routes called… They could do it. The shell hardened, the consciousness dimmed, but the voices grew louder, soothing them.

Voices, far away and nearby. Even the stooped motionless one from the Castle.

“Just as I thought, that dent was a weak spot…” Then there was scraping, and cursing under the breath, and angry muttering.

Mallow, surrounded by the voices, dreamed of the moment they were given their form. But this was different, artificial – no connection, no calling… Their head hurt less.

“Now, I’ll try something.” Something cool and alien, covering their head, almost soothing, slipping through the wood, merging with it.

“Mallow? Can you hear me? You can, ugh, transform back?”

They sprang back, animated. The pain was almost gone, and Mallow blinked at the suddenly bright room with their one remaining eye. The fracture – where the dent used to be – it felt covered and mended. Artificial… They reached up with their hands, but their arms were too short…

“What are you doing? Ah, fine, look here.” Darius, holding up a mirror.

Mallow squeaked. The abomination cap blended perfectly, reinforcing the wood.

“I did what I could to close the wound. I tried working with the wood, as much as I dared, but there just wasn’t enough, so I reinforced it with abomination.” Darius sighed. “This was too close to a forbidden magic blend,” he muttered. He looked tired and weak, and there was a cruelly sharp vertical crease between his eyebrows.

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry. I didn’t have any spare palistrom wood, so I had to improvise. It should be flexible enough, and it won’t decay – a special formula used for… What?”

Something didn’t look right.

Mallow gestured and gestured. Darius pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed dramatically and shook his head. “I don’t understand… and don’t run around just yet!”

They climbed onto his drawing table and pointed at one of his sketches.

“What? Oh. Oh, really?” Darius looked surprised. Like he couldn’t believe them. “Well, I suppose it could help you to blend in, in a pinch... hide in plain sight and all that, yes? Hmm, and it might help you see.”

He scratched his chin, then drew a spell circle, expanding the abomination on the top of Mallow’s head. An eye opened, and the eye was green.

Changing, changing... shouldn’t be like this. What would he think?

“You all right?” Darius asked. Mallow crooned, admiring their new hair in the mirror. Their own eye – now also green. “Is it a yes?” Darius sighed again. “You surprise me, palisman.”

Mallow had discovered that they liked surprising Darius – he was different then, less cold. Almost like before, with him. They liked the little pals Darius made for them too. They weren’t like Mallow and their brethren, but instead gooey and hollow, yet the way Darius treated them was almost like they were special and dear to him.

“You know,” Darius muttered, setting them down on the sofa beside the table, “my old vice-principal back at school had a palisman that helped him see…”

Mallow settled down, listening.

[numericalbridge]

bye bye to this passage that is getting cut:

Down in the arena Darius easily avoided Terra’s crawling monsters and subdued the raging gull-mole – of course, Luca was always very confident in his student’s ability to overcome the creature... with only a little trouble. He even felt excitement when Darius came face to face with a half-mechanical construct, the abomination magic whirling around them. “How exciting,” Terra sounded genuinely impressed. “Perhaps this will be the first contender to get through all the challenges!” Smile courteous, basking in the approval, Darius vanquished the construct with a flick of his wrist. Then he stepped over his fallen foe and bowed deep in Terra’s direction.

[numericalbridge]

Title: Untitled (dariraine au 0)

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: G

Word count: 2471

Main characters: Hunter, Terra

Other characters (minor roles): Bump, Eber, Flora, Hettie

Summary:

Hunter gets entangled in Terra's plot. (technically part of my dariraine AU)

----

Hurry! Hurry! You can do it! Hunter almost ran down the corridor. He knew he could be there on time! Uncle had promised that he could attend the meeting if he finished all his other duties first. All the Coven Heads and other high-ranking officials and scouts were supposed to be there to discuss the preparations for the Day of Unity, and Hunter had a few ideas about the security measures – and Uncle had said that he would allow Hunter to bring them up in front of everyone. If only he would get there on time!

Post the scouts at the edges of the Outer Area, make a schedule and rotate them so everybody can see a little part of the ceremony… He almost ran into Adrian Graye, who shouldered him in retaliation before briskly walking away.

Was… was the meeting already over?

Vitimir scurried past him.

Hunter was afraid he would be late, but not this late!

Osran glided by, entranced by his Crystal Ball.

The Coven Heads are already leaving...

Hunter made sure to give Alador Blight a wide berth – he still wasn’t certain whether Amity had told her father anything about their altercation at the Eclipse Lake. Hunter didn’t tell Uncle about her involvement, but could he trust the Blight girl to do the same? Yet the Abomination Coven Head didn’t seem to even notice him, completely absorbed by his scroll. They do say his relationship with his family is distant at best… still, Hunter had to be careful.

The other Coven Heads were catching up.

Terra nearly bumped into him, then stopped and gave him a strange, interested look that made him move faster.

Maybe Uncle was still in the Throne Room? Maybe he would listen to Hunter’s ideas?

Much more slowly Mason and Scooter Crane walked on, arm in arm, whispering to each other. Mason was clearly adjusting his pace to old Crane’s painfully slow gait.

In front of the Throne Room doors Hettie Cutburn was giving orders to some scouts. No one paid Hunter any attention.

Is Uncle still inside? Hunter walked into the Throne Room, but only Eberwolf was there, sitting on the table, shuffling through some papers.

“Eberwolf? Is the meeting already over?” Obviously it’s over! He nearly slapped himself in frustration. Stupid! “I mean, why is it over so early?”

Eberwolf yelped ambiguously, yawned, and started scratching themselves behind the ear with their foot.

“When did the Emperor leave?” Hunter tried again.

“Ah, there you are,” a melodic voice interrupted him. Flora!

“What are you doing here?” Hunter demanded. She wasn’t even part of the Day of Unity preparations!

“I was looking for the Beast Keeper,” Flora replied curtly.

“I want to see those new ratworms,” she addressed Eberwolf, who happily jumped down from the table. “And I have no time for children,” she muttered under her breath.

Hunter heard her! He clenched his fists. He was the Golden Guard! He outranked everyone in the room! And Flora wasn’t even a real official or anything.

“Let us not linger,” Flora turned to leave.

Eberwolf trotted out of the room, their face unreadable. This was unfair! Disrespectful! Seething with righteous anger Hunter followed them out.

“I need those worms ready and fit by the time of the expedition,” Flora was saying. The scouts gave her curious looks. Only Hettie didn’t even turn her head – instead the Healing Coven Head continued talking to her subordinates, and her voice grew louder and louder. Flora paused and smirked.

Eberwolf growled something. “Ah? Really?” Flora raised an eyebrow. “Mating season? Well,” for some reason she looked in Hettie’s direction, “I’m sure even the worms have better courtship manners than some.” She winked.

Hettie furiously turned around to face her.

Flora said something else, but Hunter didn’t quite catch it because Eberwolf started to make motions like they were chocking or about to barf out a hairball, while Hettie’s face went completely red, and she stomped off, scowling, not even listening to the scouts who trailed behind her.

“Just as I thought,” Flora laughed, playing with her whip. Eberwolf stopped barfing and sat up, flicking their ears. They chittered.

“Come, Beastie, we have work to do,” Flora said, and, before Hunter could demand an explanation, the duo walked away.

Hunter blinked. “But why… Hettie…” he muttered. He had never seen her like that before. “What just happened?”

“Oh, Dandelion, don’t worry your innocent mind about it,” Terra said right over his ear. Terra! How did she manage to sneak up on him? “This is too much for a fragile young brain,” she cackled.

“I… did the meeting start early? I wanted to propose some plans for the Day of Unity,” he said, failing to stop his mouth from running.

“Oh, yes,” Terra grinned, then frowned. “Did you think it was supposed to start later? Perhaps Kikimora has forgotten to send you a message with the correct time? I swear, she can be so forgetful sometimes,” Terra widened her grin. “Especially when it comes to you, Dandelion.”

Kikimora? Hunter wouldn’t put it past her to mislead him on purpose! “Yes, maybe that’s what happened,” he agreed. Damn that demon!

Terra inched closer. Hunter took a step back. Why did he have to run his mouth around her? They were alone now, and he wasn’t sure whether she was still seeking test subjects for her ‘venomous plant program’.

Terra creeped even closer. “So, what were you saying, Golden Guard? You wanted to show off your ideas?” She pointed at the papers in his arms.

Hunter nodded and took another step back. Now he just wanted to go back to his room and complain to Flapjack.

“You want to be helpful?”

Hunter nodded again, already regretting it.

“Well then, maybe you could help me?” Terra made a face that was probably supposed to be amiable. Hunter simply felt creeped out.

“Eeh, of course?” He remembered himself. “Of course, Head Witch Snapdragon.” He squared his shoulders. “I will be glad to assist you.”

Terra smiled serenely. “How wonderful. Thank you, dear.”

He didn’t have time to reply. A blink of an eye, and vines sprouted out of the floor, surrounding them. A heartbeat, and they were in Terra’s Greenhouse.

“Ah, now we can talk. How nice to be able to breathe again,” Terra inhaled deeply, savouring the rich, earthy smell of her Greenhouse.

“Aah,” Hunter barely had time to dodge a striking whipsaw plant that had lunged at him, rattling in its flowerpot.

Terra hummed to herself, busy checking the leaves on a huge tree-like plant with a hazard symbol on its pot. Hunter struggled with the whipsaw. It hissed and snapped at him. Hunter was grateful for his gloves.

Terra summoned a pair of secateurs. “Oh, what were we talking about?” She started trimming the tree. Hunter finally managed to free himself from the angry plant.

“Ah, yes! You see, Dandelion, I’ve been thinking about the Day of Unity. Oh, what a glorious day! But,” she sighed, “this marvelous future seems really hollow if you don’t have anyone to share it with.” She sighed again. “Perhaps Mason’s prattling about his family got to me, but he has his sprigs, and Osran and that old coot Crane have their grandchildren. Even the Blight has a family, though they can’t stand him. And the others have apprentices…”

Terra snipped off an offshoot from a spiky plant.

“So maybe I need an heir, some budding talent to share the royal future with… Someone skilled and loyal to a fault…”

An heir? “Eh…” Hunter tugged at his collar. “It’s not like I’m not honored, Head Witch, but my Uncle… I mean the Emperor… he says he has plans and I have to help him…”

“Of course I don’t mean you!” Terra snapped. The spiky plant lunged itself after its offshoot that was frantically crawling away. “Obviously.”

“Oh, obviously you don’t!” Phew, Hunter very nearly said. “So, do you have someone in mind then?”

Terra instantly calmed down. “Of course I have someone in mind.” She motioned with her head for him to follow her towards a desk with a surprisingly new version of the Crystal Ball on top of it.

“Hettie had set up this thing for me,” Terra muttered. She summoned a can of repellent. “So it’s probably bugged.”

She sprayed the Ball. Various bugs and worms crawled out from all around it and were promptly gobbled up by the hungry plants.

“Now we can look. My heir needs to be sufficiently powerful but trustworthy…”

Hunter wasn’t sure he really believed that she wanted an heir out of sentimental values. According to the Castle’s rumour mill, ever since she was badly injured during the Incident nineteen years ago, Terra had been gradually losing her health and her magical abilities – something you couldn’t afford to lose when you were one of the Coven Heads. So Hunter decided that the logical conclusion was that she needed a skilled apprentice to help her protect herself. Someone who could be enticed with the promise of the bright royal future as her heir, but who would be loyal enough not backstab her to get the position sooner. That someone would be hard to find.

“And here she is,” Terra turned on the video. A girl in glasses was talking passionately to a crowd.

“From the Owl Lady's petrification ceremony?”

Terra nodded her head. “Willow Park, a student in Hexside.” She pulled out a document folder. “I’ve been keeping an eye on her ever since.”

She dropped the folder into Hunter’s hands. He dutifully flipped through it. Wow, Terra seemed really thorough with her research! Only…

“But, Head Witch, she seems like a real troublemaker, hanging out with…” He remembered his own encounter with Luz… with the human… no, this was different…

“Yes, yes,” Terra shook her head sadly. “Hanging out, as you youngsters say, with that human and the Owl Lady… very, very regretful. What a waste of talent! Tragic really… but perhaps she isn’t a lost cause. She is young enough to be fixable…”

Terra sighed sadly. At this moment she seemed genuine for the first time since Hunter had known her. “Oh, to find someone talented and malleable and loyal… I knew a promising young sprout like this Willow once. Also a bit of a troublemaker, but seemed to grow out of it… only to turn out to be a traitor.”

She frowned and looked down at her arms, and Hunter noticed pale old scars with something darker, almost purplish, embedded under them.

“But perhaps that happened because I have left them alone. If I get to the Park girl before it’s too late, maybe it will be different. But I need to know whether she is worth the risk. Is the flower poisoned to the roots, or can it be saved with the right approach?”

The spiky plant finally caught up with its offshoot and devoured it in a single gulp.

“And,” Terra looked back up at Hunter, grinning again, “That’s where you come in.”

----

“Your grandson, Head Witch Snapdragon?” the principal of the Hexside school raised his head from the application form. The creature on his head twitched its tail in irritation. “I didn’t know you had grandchildren.”

Hunter smiled as wide as he could manage. He was sweating in the uncomfortable crapaud-wool jacket that Terra had forced on him, and the pomade in his hair made his scalp itch. He was 75-85% sure that she had dressed him up like a much younger child, but he didn’t protest. At least he was being useful? Uncle usually seemed to appreciate Terra’s help.

“Yes,” Terra crooned happily. “My dear little… ugh…”

“Caleb,” Hunter reminded her. He wondered how Flapjack was doing. Embarrassingly, Hunter was already missing that bird.

“Yes, my dear Caleb,” she smiled like the most sinisterly proud grandmother on the Isles and kicked Hunter under the desk. “I’ve had the poor child homeschooled on the grounds of his fragile disposition and because schools these days are just fertile grounds for bad influences… Still, we decided to give it a try. But of course,” she narrowed her eyes at the principal. “We first have to see whether your school is worthy of teaching my grandson.”

“Is that so?” the principal looked skeptical.

Hunter really needed to scratch his head. Would be nice to have a head creature to scratch your head for you...

“Just let him walk around for a couple of days and see for himself if this is the right place,” Terra continued. “Obviously, St. Epiderm and Glandus are more prestigious, but I decided to give this…” she pursed her lips and looked around the room, “place a chance, since we go way back.” She smiled sweetly.

The principal knitted his fingers and hummed under his breath. He looked even more skeptical now.

“Of course, there are huge benefits to having my grandson in your school… Oh? What is this?” She dropped something on the desk. “A little donation to help you fix up your auditorium. And of course,” her grin widened, “there are huge downsides of not allowing him in.”

The principal handed the check back to her. “Keep it, Head Witch. I know I can’t stop your… plan. If your grandson likes the school we can enroll him, but he’ll need to pass the entrance exam.”

An exam? Like the scout trial?

“All right then,” Terra got up. Hunter followed. Did he need to say something to the principal? Terra took him by the elbow and half-dragged him towards the door. He only said a single word during the whole ordeal.

“That went well,” Terra decided. “Now, Dandelion, remember your mission?”

“Yes, Head Witch,” Hunter straightened up. “Find the Park girl. Befriend her. Find out whether she is suitable to be your heir.”

“Right, right… Look!” Terra dragged him to the window. There was the girl! And her friend… Gus? And another girl Hunter recognized from Terra’s folder. Good thing that according to the files the human and the Blight should be away training with Lilith Clawthorne.

“Now,” Terra squinted at him. “You, Golden Guard, you do know what normal teenagers your age are like, right? Dandelion?”

“Ah, yes, of course!” This shouldn’t be difficult. “They… they like… schedules? Discipline?” he trailed off. “Sports?”

“No!” Terra slammed her fist on her palm. “Teenagers this age don’t like ‘discipline’.” The leaves on her head rustled menacingly. “Power! Raw ambition! That’s what they are all about. Who gets on the top of the school food chain, no matter by what means! Remember: they are ruthless creatures and would tolerate no weakness!”

Hunter nodded. He wondered what Terra was like in high school.

“You understand?”

“Yes, Head Witch.”

Terra looked out of the window and smiled.

“Oh, I know this will go great.”

[numericalbridge]

Title: Mallow (part 2/3)

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: G

Word count: 3414 (Full fic - 9340)

Main characters: Darius, that one little abomination (Mallow)

Other characters: Eber, Raine, Luz, various palismen; in the first part - the previous Golden Guard (Virgil)

Summary:

An AU where the little abomination was the previous Golden Guard's palisman

[part 1] - x - [part 3] - [full story]

4. Introductions.

“What is this? Who is this?” Eberwolf chirped and pointed at Mallow’s hiding spot.

“Nothing, it’s just…”

“I can smell them!” Eberwolf sniffed the air, intentionally loud. Darius cringed. Disgusting.

“It’s just an abomination of mine. Useful for certain types of covert work.”

“Nah, I can smell the difference. The old wood, hiding under the goo. Smart.” Eberwolf grinned, pleased with herself.

Darius considered her. They were tentative allies for now, and he thought he could trust her… for the most part. “Trust no one in the Castle,” Virgil would’ve said. Open up to no one. And trusting her with Mallow especially…

“Come out, little one,” Eberwolf barked. Then she whistled. Loud.

“What’s this accursed sound?” Darius scrunched up his nose. The damned demon was capable of making noises that would awaken the Titan himself!

“Palismen love the whistling,” Eberwolf chittered. “Oh, Hell-o!”

Mallow emerged, blinking sluggishly in the light of the room, and slowly toddled towards Eberwolf, evaluating her with their perpetually serious green eye. Then they looked at Darius.

“Mallow, this is Eberwolf the Huntsman. She is my ally.”

Eberwolf yelped happily. Mallow considered her in silence. They were thoughtful just like that.

“And this is Mallow...”

“Hi, hi, hi! Nice to meet you,” Eberwolf greeted in a sing-song... growl… and offered them her paw.

Mallow blinked, nodded to Darius, and retreated back to their hiding spot.

Eberwolf stared, crestfallen. Perhaps even a little hurt. Her ears flicked.

Darius snorted, “Oh, they are not like one of your obedient beasts. Mallow doesn’t trust just anybody.” He considered his nails. “I’m sure it’s nothing personal.”

Eberwolf turned her head away. Her ears twitched and lowered in embarrassment. Or shame. Ah.

Ugh, perhaps Darius was far too generous for his own good: “Don’t worry too much about it. They clearly accepted you in their own way.”

Eberwolf gave him the side-eye.

“They don’t really have much experience working with others. So if you want to work together with them, you should be considerate and… Wha...” She was climbing onto his shoulder. She was climbing his cape.

“Stop this immediately!” he spat.

“I just want to hear you better,” she sang innocently.

“No! Behave yourself, you’re acting like some... feral mutt!”

Eberwolf growled into his ear.

“Get down!” He tried to shake her off. “What a nerve!”

She was doing it on purpose! Moreover, he spotted Mallow’s green eye following them with an almost amused expression. Traitor.

----

Something is changing again. Mallow doesn’t know whether they like the change. Before, Mallow and Darius were the same: disconnected from everyone, but united in their strange alliance. Now there are others. Darius is talking more, in a weirdly animated way, and Mallow doesn’t understand what this change in him will bring. In the past, when he was alive, Darius didn’t pay Mallow much attention. He called them ‘cute’, but they weren’t his ally.

Now Darius has new allies.

----

“Foxglove, no! Stop it!”

The fox was clawing at the wall of Virgil’s old Latissa hideout. Titan-damn, Raine and their palisman.

“Rein in your fox!”

“He’s just curious about something,” Raine replied lazily, zero apology in their voice.

“It’s because of Mallow,” Eber offered from the bunk bed where she was lounging and sharpening her claws on a whetstone.

“Mallow?” Raine raised their head and adjusted their glasses, curious.

“Yes, I suppose I should introduce you now,” Darius decided. “Since you’ll be working with them. Just control your uncouth beast.”

Raine clicked their tongue. Foxglove trotted up to them and circled their legs excitedly.

Darius knocked on the secret panel, and it slid aside. Mallow stepped onto his palm.

“Mallow. Raine Whispers.”

Mallow squinted at Raine, then looked up at Darius, questioning.

“What? Yes, this is the Raine I’ve told you about,” Darius admitted in a low voice. Can’t let Raine hear.

“A palisman?” Raine leaned forward to have a good look at them, Foxglove yapping from the floor. “I didn’t know you had one.”

“Well, I don’t,” Darius replied. “Mallow’s not mine.” He set them down on the big table in the center of the room.

Mallow warbled. Foxglove yelped something at Raine that made them look at Mallow even more intently. “Oh?”

Mallow cooed. Eber was staring too. Darius’s ears twitched. Were they all onto something he didn’t know?

“We are working together. I’ll use Mallow to send you and your associates – students or whatever – messages. In the Castle too. You understand?”

Mallow waved at Raine. Eber groaned – still bitter about Mallow’s standoffish attitude towards her.

Raine either wasn’t convinced of Mallow’s abilities or they didn’t get what ‘the palisman is not mine’ meant. Their eyes glinted mischievously. “Why do they have your… em… hair, then?” they asked.

Darius groaned.

“Because,” Raine continued, “I remember you’d thought that Alador’s miserable rat was, I quote, ‘cringe’?”

Darius sighed. Checked his gloves for dust. This meant ‘don’t ask me any more stupid questions, don’t give me a headache’. “Stop being silly, Raine. The hair… that was to make them blend in with my other abominations.”

Mallow warbled again, fast.

“Ah, yes,” Raine grinned, “because all your other abominations having the same hairstyle as you is absolutely not…”

Foxglove yapped and growled.

Raine blinked. “Oh? Emergency operation? Ah, really? He saved you?” Raine addressed Mallow this time, but Darius noticed the quick look they gave him. What was that? Surprise? Of course it was…

“That was very sweet of him,” Raine grinned wider.

Eber jumped from her bunk bed and hopped up to the table. “What? What happened? Because Eber wasn’t told the full story,” she demanded.

Darius paid her no mind. Raine… “How do… how would you know what happened to Mallow?”

Raine reached down and scratched their palisman behind his ears. “Foxglove told me. They have very deep connections of their own, you know? The palismen.”

Darius looked at Foxglove. Then at Mallow, propped up royally on the table, their eye glimmering mysteriously. Darius often wondered, perhaps a little obsessively, what were they thinking about. What do they know?

And now even Raine, who was willing to let him and Eber die just a few weeks ago, could understand them? Raine would have happily destroyed Virgil’s legacy as if it is nothing.

“Wait, how do you communicate with them?” Raine suddenly asked.

“I… we just sort of guess?” Darius squirmed under their stare. No, he couldn’t be bitter over a palisman that wasn’t even his. No way. “They can sign a little, and they can point at writing or pictures to communicate with me. We have a perfectly fine, well-thought-out system,” he assured them.

Mallow nodded sagely.

But this wasn’t a real bond, Darius guessed, looking at Raine and their fox. Was it disappointing for Mallow? Painful? It wasn’t even like the connection Eber had with her beasts.

“Ugh, time to go back,” Raine sighed heavily, checking their scroll. “But I’m looking forward to seeing you again, Mallow.” They winked at the palisman.

Mallow waved at them and then at Foxglove.

Eber copied Raine, but Mallow ignored her as usual. It was a sort of a game between the two... or so Darius hoped.

He translocated Raine and Eber back to their places. Then he finally was able to sink into the bed, groaning.

“Praise the Titan, now I can rest,” he grumbled to Mallow. “But, oh, that bard and their Foxglove…” Of course they had been hiding their palisman successfully, didn’t have to give him up. Just like a real hero.

A tug on his cape. “What?”

Mallow signed: “There is another.”

“This again?” Darius had assumed Mallow meant Foxglove, but now it seemed that they thought there was a different hidden palisman in the Castle, and for some reason it made them nervous.

“Are you sure?”

Mallow nodded, agitated. A bird, very old. A boy.

Darius put his chin on his hands, thinking: the youngest scouts and staff… that one weird guy Steve – it seemed like he wasn’t a complete doormat…

Mallow was very persistent and kinda upset about the palisman, but the limited communication between them just wasn’t enough.

Darius felt another headache coming on. “Well, maybe you can explain all this to Raine’s palisman, and then he will tell them, and then, finally, they will inform me.”

He wasn’t showing his bitterness, right?

“What? Don’t give me that look. I saw it! And don’t pull so hard on the cape, thank you very much!”

Mallow glared at him, then crossed their arms and turned away. Pouting. Or just thinking about something. How could Darius tell?

This was Darius’s closest ally in the Castle for years! Yet, Darius realized, even they were as distant from him as everybody else. What could they be thinking about? He couldn’t even guess.

A palisman, not his own. A rebellion where he was playing a villain. When he was little, he had a bond even with his damn rust-toothed cat. Now?

This was probably concerning. Disturbing even.

Was this what the look Raine gave him after he introduced Mallow was really about? Of course, Raine had had the luxury of staying away from the Castle for so long. They still were able to get bothered and to worry about their secrets from Eda and all that nonsense. Acting like a nice person. Teasing him, like they weren’t looking down on him for all these years.

Eber claimed they were ‘buddies’… Yet just how well did they know each other, really? Darius was always annoyed, and his particularities clashed with hers. How long would she tolerate him once the rebellion is over?

Does any of this matter? The rebellion and the Day of Unity were the only things that mattered. Virgil would’ve thought so too. Looking up to a witch who is long gone.

And what kinds of relationships and bonds did Virgil, ever so secretive, have in his life? Darius wondered, tickling Mallow with an abomination tendril, the way they usually liked. But they were still pouting.

Only the Day of Unity mattered right now. Don’t waver, don’t doubt, don’t get distracted.

Finally Mallow shuddered and tried to push the abomination away, cooing with what – for them – was laughter.

----

There is another palisman in the Castle. He is old and independent in a way that almost scares Mallow. He calls for them just like the others, but there is something else. The loss. It frightens them – the connection so unwanted, yet so familiar.

But it’s all right. Mallow doesn’t want to talk or bond or chirp. They are all right. The others – their brethren in the forests, the bird in the Castle – lose someone, and they find new connections. But Mallow has their job to do.

The Big Day is near, and Darius seems busier, more haunted. Mallow has their own duties – spying, watching, conveying. Always one step away from the Monster of the Heart Room. So it’s all right, even if the promised big changes scare them so much that sometimes they almost forget his wish.

----

Darius was surprised to find the human child in the kitchen in the middle of the night. His aunts surely would have made a great fuss and send her to bed immediately, but, honestly, he had no energy to argue with yet another teenager.

“Are you supposed to be awake at this hour?” he asked just out of obligation. “Any responsible adult would greatly object to you staying up this late. And you will probably fall asleep during the day,” he added.

The girl raised her head. She looked very young and very tired. That little outburst of hers over Eda must have been exhausting. Darius couldn’t imagine how she managed to find the energy to get all aww-y over Raine and some stupid team name… Perhaps Raine does actually possess some kind of teacher’s intuition.

Darius put his hand under his chin and narrowed his eyes. “Although I suppose Eda isn’t one to reinforce the curfew,” he noted. Has Eda actually managed to become some kind of responsible adult? he wondered.

“Oh, I just wanted to sit with…” the girl gestured at the egg-shaped palisman carving on her lap. “I’ll stay just a little longer, if it’s all right?”

Yes, there was a stark difference, Darius decided, between her chirpy, bouncy attitude from before and this more subdued, almost depressed demeanor.

“Hmm, so this is your palisman?” he asked.

“Well, yeah,” she perked up. “They haven’t hatched yet. I decided to give them a chance to decide themselves what to be, right?”

“An interesting choice,” Darius conceded. All he wanted was a cup of char tree tea to drive away the headache. Just two more days… Two more days, and then... it’s over?

“And I wanted to ask,” the human raised her hand like she was in school. “Ah, is this, like, your super secret cool spy hideout or…?” She looked around, as if distracted by a completely different thought. “Because there are all these cool weapons around, and King will, maybe, want to play with them when he isn’t so tired…”

Darius tensed. “No, those aren’t mine.” Should he really explain this? “And I’m just using the place. It used to be Virgil’s… my late mentor’s apartment. He liked to collect old weapons.”

Or he was preparing to arm himself and others in an insurrection against the throne. And was Darius really going to blabber on about his dead mentor and the good old days to this human child? Right now, just before the Day of Unity, when he needed concentration and all the rest he could get?

But the girl sat up like she was waiting for a story. What would be the point? At least when Terra recounted her youthful adventures during the Coven Head meetings, there was always some sort of bloodthirsty moral to it.

Don’t get too attached, it will hurt you and twist you into something you won’t like. Here, the moral.

“But those weapons are certainly not toys,” he forced himself to say instead. He hoped this marked an end to the conversation. He turned to rummage in the cupboard.

“So, was your teacher a rebel too?” The girl certainly didn’t get the hint.

Was he? A rebel? Darius didn’t know. He certainly imagined Virgil as a rebel, but that was just a guess poisoned with sentimentality. Mechanically, Darius pulled a cup from the cupboard. A mournful green eye stared up at him. Mallow! How did they get in there? Were they listening? Did they understand?

“Oh, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Did I ask the wrong thing?” the girl practically leapt out of her seat, fumbling with her palisman carving.

Mallow. The girl. Whatever. He could do whatever Raine could do.

Darius slowly turned the cup upside down, and Mallow fell out.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not a big deal. Please, stop apologizing! He’s gone, and that was a long, long time ago. I don’t know where his true loyalties lay, or what his real motivations were.” Mallow might know. Maybe even other palismen. Darius nearly laughed out loud at the thought, but stopped himself. Ah, yes, do what Raine would do.

“This is Mallow, by the way. His palisman.” He stepped aside so that she could see. “This is Luz the Human, the Owl Lady’s ward... And her future palisman, I suppose.”

“They are sooo adorable!” Luz made a gesture as if to pinch Mallow’s face. “Who is the adorable squishy?”

Mallow cooed, mildly offended.

“Aww, do you work for the rebellion too?”

Mallow nodded solemnly.

“Well, they have a talent for, as you would call it, spy work,” Darius explained. He was glad that the talk about Virgil was seemingly over, yet a part of him, he realized with disgust, yearned to reminisce more. This wasn’t the girl’s problem, though. Judging by her reaction to Eda’s capture, she knew all about loss. How strange, to picture Eda in Virgil’s place. It would have been unsettling to imagine someone in his own role. Trapped by one’s own mind.

“But they are not your palisman now?” Luz asked suddenly, frowning in her sad way. “You don’t have a palisman?”

“No, as I’ve said…” What was on her mind? Her thoughts seemed to move from one thing to another very fast, and he couldn’t follow. And why was this reminding him of that old conversation? Should he talk about his cat now?

“A-ah! I know! Have you heard – I suppose you should’ve, being a Coven Head and all – we have a program at Hexside now, adopting out the palismen who had lost their witches or demons,” she jumped up again, excited. “Sooo?”

“So?” He supposed when everything would be over Mallow might want to find someone new. It would be good for them. Darius didn’t look at them. Then, the last reminder of Virgil will be gone. But Mallow wasn’t Darius’s property. It was ridiculous and cruel to feel bitter. Yet he couldn’t look at them…

“So you can adopt Mallow as your own palisman!” Luz threw her arms wide as if already celebrating the adoption.

Darius startled, yet again strangely and vividly reminded of Virgil. But could he? He met Mallow’s eye. Their expression was as unreadable as ever.

“No.” The connection, the one Hunter had spoken about, the one between Foxglove and Raine, it just wasn’t there. “I think our situation is different.”

“Oh.” Luz’s face fell for a moment, as if this was, somehow, her fault again. “I… I see…”

Darius leaned back against the kitchen counter. “It’s not like it’s a bad thing,” he said. “We already work very well together. Right, Mallow?” They nodded and murmured.

“And…” Darius threw a deliberately exasperated look in the direction of the doorway that led to the main room, “unlike my other colleagues and co-conspirators, Mallow is well-behaved and isn’t prone to bringing in dirt from outside. They definitely have more sense than some people I know.”

Luz giggled, and Mallow muttered in agreement.

And, perhaps, it really wasn’t so bad? Was it weird? Darius supposed it was weird, to seriously ally himself with his dead mentor’s palisman... but it wasn’t bad; and with Eber and the rest of them – he supposed he should’ve given up by now on not being weird. And, if it wasn’t for Mallow he would have…Did he need that special magical bond to connect with the creature? He just wished he knew their thoughts on the matter.

“We can work with what we have…” he concluded. Would have…

“Oh, I get it, I think…” Luz said, now contemplative.

“Still, I wish this little guy would hatch soon,” she added, looking down at her palisman carving and patting it gingerly. “Is it bad? Am I impatient? Or, like, selfish? But humans don’t have palismen, so what if…” she trailed off. What if I did something wrong?

Darius shifted uncomfortably. Titan, even navigating the Coven politics was so much easier than this. “Well,” he started. “You are young, so it is natural that you are impatient…” He knew how to shut his fellow Head Witches up, how to spot a trap… but this? This?

Mallow warbled and gestured with their arms.

“What? Well, I am glad to announce that, if I understand them correctly, Mallow doesn’t seem to think that there is anything wrong with your palisman. So that’s not a problem.”

Luz raised her head. “Ah, thank you, Mallow,” she muttered awkwardly.

Darius hesitated. “And there is nothing selfish in you wanting this, I am sure anyone will tell you the same thing. Look, even adults need time to sort things out – just ask Eda!”

“Yes, I suppose,” Luz looked contemplative again, gently cradling her palisman.

“Now, child, go to bed, it’s too late,” Darius remembered that it was the middle of the night. He made a shooing motion with his hand. “I swear, if my aunts were here, they would have given you an earful.”

----

If there is a change, if there is someone who will call to them again, who will find them again… Mallow trembles at the thought. Is there a future if the Monster is still in the Castle, and his voice still calls to them and orders them to run and hide?

Yet isn’t the Castle their home? The Castle is not as terrifying as the Forest of the Voices or even Latissa where they were given form.

Yet the Castle is a trap.

Both their home and a trap.

[numericalbridge]

Title: Shards

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: G

Word count: 2967

Characters: Darius, Odalia, Alador, the previous Golden Guard (Luca)

Summary:

My take on the friendship break-up between Darius and his friends.

*

He whirled around, his new cloak billowing in a swoosh of fabric. And in the mirror his reflection whirled around, colours bright. Neat. Darius stopped and stroked a gallant pose, just like he’d seen his grandpa do in the old Crystal Ball recordings. Almost right. But for the play he’d need to be even more dramatic.

“Like Flexor the Brave, the hero of Ulna...”

“You mean the loser who threw away his life in that one battle?”

The voice nearly made Darius jump.

“Odalia!”

She stood in the doorway of the prop room, arms crossed, looking smug. “If you ask me, it was a pity his family had to suffer because of him. What a waste of magical talent,” she sighed.

“Do you need to be such a cynic?” He wanted to show off his costume, but he doubted she would appreciate it.

“A cynic?” She put her hand over her heart. “I just payed attention during the class.”

She strolled into the room, and a moment later Alador trudged in after her. He looked kind of uneasy, Darius noticed when they did their special handshake. Odalia raised an eyebrow at the prop swords that gathered dust in the corner, “And here you are, playing pretend in this filthy room like a kid.”

“It’s called acting, Odalia,” Darius scoffed. “You can pretend to be sooo grown up and like everything is beneath you, but guess who got the lead role? I did.”

“Sure. Anyway...” she crossed her arms again, then uncrossed them. “We…” she shot a pointed look at Alador, who had wondered over to the other side of the room, “wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Really? Is this about your future wedding?” he winked at her.

“Darius, please,” she blushed deep crimson. “I swear, you’ve been so unusually childish lately! This is a serious conversation. And I mean it!”

Wow, forceful. For a moment she sounded almost like her grandmother.

Darius looked questioningly at Alador, who squirmed, but nodded and then turned away to inspect some carvings on a small worktable. Strange.

“Alright then, what’s the matter?” Darius relented. He put his hand on his hip, checked the reflection in the mirror. The pose was sufficiently graceful and unbothered. But he just wanted to try on his costume and rehearse the role, and then he wanted to play abomination battles with Alador. He barely had time for anything since his training with Luca had started! Sometimes he even had to skip his walks with grandpa. But Luca would say that avoiding a serious conversation with his friends was immature.

“This is about the Golden Guard,” Odalia's voice was terse.

“Luca?” Why would she bring him up?

“Yes, this Luca... You’re always busy training with him, talking about him, how great he is…” She rolled her eyes. Was she... jealous? So weird. “You even missed my Oracle Convention,” she continued.

“And you never have time for our abomination battles anymore!” Alador chimed in. He created a small shaggy-looking abomination and made it run circles on the table.

“I… Well, OK, I’m sorry,” he supposed he could see why his friends were unhappy, even if he always warned them that he would be busy. It isn’t Luca’s fault, though. “I won’t miss your Convention next time, I swear! And I’ll find time for our battles too.” He pointed a finger and created a small crew of little guys to chase Alador’s abomination. “This whole thing with the mentorship is just a rare opportunity to see by myself how the Emperor's Coven works, Luca says. But I won’t miss another time when you need me to cheer for you…”

“Yeah, there might not be another time,” Odalia interrupted him.

What? That came out of nowhere… Is she… Darius’s stomach dropped.

“Are you, like, fatally ill?!” he blurted out. This can’t be real!

“What? No!” she sputtered. “Of course not!” Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t tease me like this, Deamonne,” she sounded like her grandmother again. “I am thinking about what is best for you here, even if it’s unpleasant to hear.”

“Alright, alright, sorry!” I really thought… his ears burned. “I’m glad you’re OK.” The embarrassment was going to eat him alive.

“And you know what is not good for you? That Golden Guard!” She caught Alador, who was clearly trying to sneak out of the room, by the elbow. “Everyone knows it!”

What?

“My aunt mentioned it too,” Alador whispered.

“What are you two talking about?” Darius clenched his fists. They were surely annoying him on purpose! “Stop being so vague and just explain!”

“We are telling you! My parents, my uncles, Alador’s family – they all say that the Golden Guard has fallen out of the Emperor’s favour, and everyone with connections to the Castle knows it. They say he has angered the Emperor, and his position within the Covens is extremely perilous.”

Was that true? She wouldn’t lie like that, of course, but did Luca know? He promised to show me his favourite fishing spot, he looked happy… Darius’s hand gripped the hem of his cloak. Did he miss the signs of his mentor’s troubles? Just like that, so caught up in the excitement and the novelty of the mentorship...

“If, if it’s true, then we need to warn him!”

“Oh, I bet he knows,” Odalia suddenly leaned in and touched him on the shoulder. “He displeases the Emperor constantly, so he probably doesn’t care, thinks he is irreplaceable. Or... or maybe he believes he is stronger than the Emperor. Won’t surprise me if he thinks himself invincible, that brute...”

“Don’t call him that!” Darius swatted her hand away. How dare she? She liked to tease and was at times judgmental, but not like this! He looked over at Alador for help. His best friend since preschool. Alador was staring at the abominations, mouth downturned like he was solving a difficult equation.

“Luca is smart, and he cares,” Darius insisted. “And all you do is repeat some stupid gossip!”

Odalia groaned. “Listen! This is serious. When he falls, he’ll take you down with him.”

Darius shook his head. Luca would have a plan... Would he? He insists he is a humble soldier, not a politician… Darius’s hand found the side of his cloak again. The fabric was rough to the touch.

“And, maybe it’s just a gossip for now, and maybe he does care,” Odalia shrugged. So confident, even smug. But her speech was getting faster. “Or maybe he won’t hesitate to throw some high schooler under the falling blimp! He is the Emperor's Coven personified, they say, and everyone in the Emperor's Coven is cut-throat.”

“You don’t know him!” Why can’t she just leave him be?

“Well, even if not, he is a danger – to you, and your future career, even to your family’s prosperity! Do you understand, Darius?” she grabbed his shoulders again. “You have to cut your ties with him, until it’s too late!” She shook him. The nerve!

“Ah, stop this, just stop!” He freed himself from her grasp. “He’s my mentor, I can’t just abandon him!”

“And I am your friend!” Her voice became shrill, “Please, I don’t want to… My father was talking about you too.” Her mouth trembled, “You’ve changed, Darius. First you endanger yourself with that transformation-into-abomination nonsense... and I bet your Luca encourages it! It’s like you’re self-destructive or something. Even my parents noticed. So stop all this nonsense, right now! Please, I don’t want to…”

Darius twisted the fabric of his – prop, fake – cloak. “You don’t want to do what, Odalia?” he whispered.

“Well,” she blinked like she was going to cry, “well, my parents say you can’t help someone who won’t help themselves. Soon they will start talking about forbidding me to hang out with you!” she stomped her foot for emphasis. “And I don’t want to…”

Twisting and twisting. This feels so weird.

“But will you?” His temples were pulsing with sudden pain. “Will you just stop being friends with me if they order you?” What was this sinking feeling he was experiencing? “Like I’m nothing to you? Eh?”

“I am your friend,” she insisted. She pointed at Alador, who still stood with his head down, “We are friends! But do you want to drag us into your mess? All because of him?”

“Answer me!” The abominations jumped up and liquefied. Alador flinched.

“If you insist on endangering our future and the success of our families, then perhaps I will.” She jutted her chin out. “If you don’t care about us anyway!”

No crying.

His lips curled into an unpleasant grimace, “You do look just like your dear old grandmother right now.”

She sputtered like an angry cat. Ha, didn’t expect that!

“How dare… well, you know,” she collected herself, “at least she cares about her family’s legacy. You just want to throw it aaall away, like one of those ‘heroes’ from your play pretends.” Odalia shook her head. “But I don’t know what I expected. You were always weird, treating your abominations like pets and clinging to your grandfather like a baby. Bet you’ll be lucky not to get petrified!”

“Well, then,” his voice broke only a little, “maybe then I’ll spare you the trouble and cut ties with you right now!”

She recoiled, shocked. Then she remembered herself.

“Fine, fine,” her smile was a tad too forced. “When you have no future, and you are broke, don’t come begging for my... for our... help,” she hissed.

Darius didn’t grace her with a response.

“Come on, Alador, he’ll regret it!” Odalia turned, and, heels clacking, stormed out of the room.

And good riddance! A wave of abomination hit the wall. Splat! Darius’s anger suddenly dissipated, and he felt exhausted. Purple goo dribbled down the mirror.

Ugh. At this rate he would need to take anti-headache potions like some elderly witch. And what will grandpa think about all of this? Everything is changing so fast... In the dirty mirror the boy drooped his shoulders.

Darius felt sad, and he was anxious about Luca too. Luca was strong and very serious, but he always cared. He wanted to help, even when Darius acted out in frustration. It would be unthinkable to betray him. Of course, Darius wouldn’t know how to explain it to Odalia. She would call me childish again. She just can’t see… More and more she was absorbing her family’s attitudes.

Well, when – if – Odalia calls him, he won’t even answer. Fine by him, if she would just do whatever her parents ordered her to do!

A movement startled him.

Alador froze, his hand near Darius’s shoulder. “Sorry. Odalia didn’t mean it about petrification, I’m sure. And she doesn’t really want to stop being friends with you.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Darius twisted the fabric of the cloak. Fake, just so fake... “But you know that she will, if they tell her.”

Alador looked at him reproachfully. “Still, you shouldn’t have, ugh, insulted her either. Comparing her to old Mrs Blight was too much.”

“Then she shouldn’t act like that.”

“Why are the two of you always so difficult,” Alador muttered under his breath.

“She’s acting like her family put an earwig spell into her brain or something,” Darius summoned a handkerchief to wipe the mirror. “She will stand by them whether they are right or not, and they can’t be right about Luca! You should talk to her later – you are closer, maybe you can talk some sense into her…”

“My family talks about the Golden Guard too.”

Just stop.

Alador sounded like he was reading the news on the Crystal Ball, “Being close to him has the potential to be dangerous.”

“Oh, come on, Al! You were with us during the trip to the Knee. You actually know him. I can’t betray him!”

“I... well... Still, I think maybe Odalia is right. And he isn’t the only way to get those Coven connections...” Alador wasn’t looking in his direction. “I don’t want to stop being friends with either of you.”

“What?” Darius felt like his throat was constricting. Like he couldn’t breathe. Friends since they were six. “Not everything is about your Titan-damned connections...”

He didn’t even shout, but Alador took a step back. Coward.

“You… is this whole mentorship thing really so important to you? If you won’t stop... being like this, Odalia will be angry with me too! And my parents might also see this situation as a problem. They’ll stop liking you! Maybe you’re right about the Golden Guard, but it’s not like he is your family or anything!”

Why does this feel so heavy? Why is everything happening so quickly?

Alador lifted up his hands, as if to plead with him, “Ah, I’m not explaining it right... All this is so much trouble!”

“And you can’t be bothered, right?” Darius wondered. “Too much distraction from your precious studies...”

“Come on, Darius! You should just make up with Odalia and stop the mentorship thing, at least until it’s safe again! Then everything will be just like before,” Alador bobbed his head up and down, like it was so simple.

“What a smart plan,” Darius sneered. The abomination matter around the room was bubbling, and his temples were throbbing.

“Yes!” It was Alador’s turn to stomp his foot. “I just don’t like trouble between my best friends! It’s simple!”

“You don’t even have your own opinion on Luca and whether he is dangerous,” Darius shook his head. Heavy. He still wasn’t crying. “You just want to stay in your little safe bubble like a coward... No trouble for Alador! And I know you won’t break up with Odalia if she cuts ties with me. Admit it! If I were in Luca’s place you would’ve already abandoned me… You are worse than her!”

The abomination matter boiled up and erupted into whirling columns all around the room, scattering the props around. The mirror cracked.

“Please, why are you so mad…”

Why? Well, Odalia was a heartless bitch poisoned by her family, and Alador was a spineless hack with no opinions of his own! Why should he care about them?

Darius darted towards the exit, and when Alador tried to grab him, shoved him away.

“Don’t touch me ever again!” Darius spat. More like sobbed.

“Fine then! Run! Odalia is right about you and your... theatrics!” Alador tried to shove him back. No matter. Darius ran.

He wanted to go back and punch Alador, but he wasn’t crying. He wasn’t acting immaturely! They wanted him to just abandon Luca… It hurt.

He ran out of the school building, tore the – stupid, childish, fake – cloak off and threw it to the ground.

It hurts.

*

Luca found him an hour later at the back of the school grounds, hunched down under the char tree, head in hands. The Golden Guard watched in silence, until Darius reluctantly raised his head.

“Bad day?”

Darius sighed. He didn’t feel so angry anymore. Odalia’s betrayal didn’t seem real now, yet – unlike their previous spats – he couldn’t imagine simply making up with her next day. And Alador… oh, that Alador... Darius’s head still hurt.

“It’s nothing… just my stupid so-called friends,” he muttered.

Luca sat down beside him. “Alador and Odalia?”

Darius nodded, “She can be so stubborn and forceful, but he… he just follows her around, always choosing what will trouble him less so he can quickly return to his abominations. I don’t know... we were friends for so long, but it’s like we are from different worlds…” Like they were always ready to throw me away.

“Then, do you want to try and reach out to other kids? Find new friends?” there was an uncertainty in Luca’s voice.

Darius couldn’t help but snort, “I don’t think it’s that simple. Sorry.”

As if those other kids won’t be the same.

“Oh, was it bad advice?” Luca wondered. “I am not very familiar with, um...”

“Teenager drama?” Darius rolled his eyes. “I know, I know it’s stupid...”

They wanted him to betray Luca…

But was Luca really in danger? And what does it mean? Would he simply be dismissed from his Guard position, and then they’d still be able to train together? “Or he just won’t care about you anymore,” Odalia’s voice offered smugly. Darius dismissed it. He wanted to question Luca, but he didn’t dare – Luca always evaded any talk about his relationship with the Emperor and the Emperor's Coven. He isn't your peer like Al and Odalia.

“Darius?”

Ah, yes, friends...

“I don’t know,” he said bitterly. “We had fights before, but now it seemed deeper, somehow. I just don’t know…”

Luca reached out and hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder, “And it’s scary?”

“I.. guess,” Darius admitted. They made me feel small and useless...

Luca patted him on a shoulder in an almost gentle manner. “It’s alright. You don’t have to find the answer immediately. Talk to your grandfather, he can probably give you better advice,” Luca smiled ruefully. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out. And whether you want to mend your friendship with them or not, I’ll support you.”

“Thanks,” Darius replied weakly. Luca was really trying.

He always cares.

“I’ll stand by you too, no matter what! I swear!”

“Oh,” Luca barked a laugh. “I appreciate the sentiment, but it is my job to keep you safe, you know. Not the other way around.”

Darius blinked. Luca was in a rare sentimental mood. Or you look that terrible. But it sounded nice. Safe.

“It’s getting late,” Luca got up to his feet. “You should go home before your grandfather gets worried. I'll move our training to another day.”

Darius was tired. He hesitated. "Can you walk with me to the town?" I just don't want to be alone.

Luca nodded. "Of course," his voice was almost soft.

Safe.

[numericalbridge]

TOH WIP 1

Rating: G

Excerpt word count: 402 

Characters: Darius, Eberwolf, that one little abomination (Mallow)

Excerpt from the wip. This is an AU where that one abomination that delivered messages to Raine is the previous Golden Guard’s palisman.

*

“What is this? Who is this?” Eberwolf chirped and pointed at Mallow’s hiding spot.

“Nothing, it’s just…”

“I can smell them!” Eberwolf sniffed the air, intentionally loud. Darius cringed. Disgusting.

“It’s just an abomination of mine. Useful for certain types of covert work.”

“Nah, I can smell the difference. The old wood, hiding under the goo. Smart.” Eberwolf grinned, pleased with herself.

Darius considered her. They were tentative allies for now, and Darius thought he could trust her… for the most part. “Trust no one in the Castle”, Virgil would’ve said. And trusting her with Mallow especially…

“Come out, little one,” Eberwolf barked. Then she whistled. Loud.

“What’s this accursed sound?” Darius scrunched up his nose. The damned demon was able to make noises that would awaken the Titan himself.

“Palismen love the whistling,” Eberwolf chittered. “Oh, Hell-o!”

Mallow emerged, blinking sluggishly in the light of the room, and slowly toddled towards Eberwolf, evaluating her with their perpetually serious green eye. Then they looked at Darius.

“Mallow, this is Eberwolf the Huntsman. She is my ally.”

Eberwolf yelped happily. Mallow considered her in silence. They were thoughtful just like that.

“And this is Mallow...”

“Hi, hi, hi! Nice to meet you,” Eberwolf greeted in a sing-song... growl... and offered them her paw.

Mallow blinked, nodded to Darius and retreated back to their hiding spot.

Eberwolf stared, crestfallen. Perhaps even a little hurt. Her ears flicked.

Darius snorted, “Oh, they are not like one of your obedient beasts. Mallow doesn’t trust just anybody.” He considered his nails. “I’m sure it’s nothing personal.”

Eberwolf turned her head away. Her ears twitched and lowered in embarrassment. Or shame. Ah.

Ugh, perhaps Darius was far too generous for his own good: “Don’t worry too much about it. They clearly accepted you in their own way.”

Eberwolf gave him the side-eye.

“They don’t really have much experience working with others. So if you want to work together with them, you should be considerate and… Wha...” She was climbing onto his shoulder. She was climbing his cape.

“Stop this, immediately!” he spat.

“I just want to hear you better,” she sang innocently.

“No! Behave yourself, you’re acting like some... feral mutt!”

Eberwolf growled into his ear.

“Get down!” He tried to shake her off. “What a nerve!”

She was doing it on purpose! Moreover – he spotted Mallow’s green eye following them with an almost amused expression. Traitor.

[numericalbridge]

~it has been 1,5 years and it is still a wip~

---

“Many promising young talents are here today,” Belos observed lazily.

Luca nodded. Privately he thought that half of the children were clearly too young or too timid to participate.

“Perhaps these are the future Coven Heads, even…” There was a subtle change in the Emperor’s tone, although on the surface it was still mild and slightly bored. After years of service Luca noticed it immediately. Always vigilant. Sometimes he wondered whether Belos realized that his dull Golden Guard knew all the little mannerisms and petty tricks of the royal persona. The Emperor certainly likes to play his little games… But this gave Luca time to compose himself and prepare for whatever ploy was coming.

Down below, a child fell, nursing an injured elbow, and was promptly ushered towards the healers by a flock of clucking adults. Nothing serious.

“How unfortunate,” Terra cackled. She seemed a little too pleased with herself. “But illusion traps are the bane of the Construction Track,” she explained.

“I suppose you should be worried too.” Ever so slightly the Emperor’s mask was tilted in his direction.

“My Lord?”

“Your apprentice is participating today, isn’t that right? Do you feel proud and worried?” Belos nodded at a pair of grandparent-looking witches clearly engaged in an arguing match with the referees.

Luca kept his eyes on the arena, face set behind the mask. He wants to unsettle me. A cheap trick.

“I am, of course, confident that my lessons would prove useful to any young witch. And I’ll be glad if my pupil performs well in the competition, so he can serve the Isles in the future.” Voice neutral, not too cold. Not bored, but the Golden Guard has more important things on his mind.

His eyes were studying the area again. Other children were wrestling or hurling spells at each other, or flying around, trying to avoid Terra’s traps. The scouts were all at their stations. In the stands the gnarled-horned demon was eating eye-scream with their supposed family.

And Luca still felt the Emperor’s eyes boring into him. A few years back it would’ve unsettled him badly. Something had changed. No. Stop. Don’t dwell on it. At last, with a pointed huff, Belos shifted his attention away from the Guard.

Luca remained perfectly still and composed, yet he wished they would leave soon. Before it is Darius’s turn. After all, the Emperor almost never sat through an entire event.

Could Luca bring up leaving without raising suspicion? Suspicion of what, exactly? Luca was a soldier, not some antsy prophecy-monger, he just knew that there would be another trap.

Perhaps he could point out the gnarled-horned demon. Simply mention that there was something off about them. Get them arrested, even eliminated…