Favors of A. Blight Chapter 5
Rating: T
Word Count: ~2830
Contains: Violence, Detachment from grief, Losing one's sense of self and becoming something else, and parental neglect
A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this one. Writer's Block hit like a truck and other trucks piled up behind it I managed to force my way through, but I'm not as happy with this chapter as I could be. Specifically the end part with Amity. There were a whole lot of different versions of that that just didn't pan out. But it's finally done. Sorry if the formatting is weird, I am posting from my phone.
The funeral was smaller than her mother would have liked; Emira could tell the moment they stepped inside the Oracle Coven’s Temple. Granted, there were more people here than Emira knew, but it wasn’t packed with quietly sniffling people (anything more would be undignified; Blights don’t associate with that behavior), and most of the ones, that Emira recognized, worked for her parents near-directly, or were members of their respective covens. The only exception she could see, beyond her siblings, were Luz and Lilith.
Lilith was there, as far as Emira knew, because she was the siblings' legal guardian, and was required to be. Her mother had never spoken fondly of the woman, other than annoyingly admitting that she was rather strong. Emira didn’t believe that Lilith thought anything better of their mother. If the situation was reversed, she couldn't imagine her mother being anywhere near as kind as Lilith had been.
Of course, according to Amity, a few months ago, Lilith probably wouldn’t have reacted so positively; Lilith had been obsessed with proving her strength and worth, just like their mother had been. Just like Amity, and Edric and herself as much as she hated to admit, had been up until the last few months. Her eyes landed on Luz, who was sitting beside Amity, with a comforting hand over Amity’s own. Luz changed everything for the better.
The leader of the Oracle Coven, she recognized his large mustache, grabbed Emira’s attention, temporarily, as he stepped up to the podium to begin his eulogy for their mother. “Death is a cruel force,” he droned, and Emira found her attention slipping from him. As much as she wanted to be a good daughter and mourn her mother, it was just… easier, to focus on anything else around her. She caught Edric’s glance with her own; he felt the same.
Emira let her mind drift from the funeral, towards the events of the weekend so far. Friday had been a mix of so many emotions, once they had gotten home from school; exhilaration, exhaustion, anxiety. Then Saturday happened, bringing fear, misery, guilt, and numbness instead of the usual mix of joy and mischief. And today… Emira didn't know what to think of today. They'd woken up to Hooty annoying the worker from the Construction Coven, and that was the high point of the day.
There had also been Lilith and Eda’s own mother showing up, right before the funeral, which was an interesting experience. There was a large divide between the Clawthorne sisters when it came to their mother, Emira had recognized that almost immediately. One sibling got all the attention, and the others were left to flounder for every spare bit of attention they could grab. Lilith seemed grateful to be able to leave, and to put her mind off it. Her eyes shifted towards Lilith, her face not quite somber, but certainly a mix of emotion. Maybe she hadn’t been able to get her mind off her own mother after all.
Emira’s gaze once more swept over the people she could see at the funeral. She still couldn’t pin any notable names to faces. Mourners from her mother’s coven still outnumbered those from her father’s, but this was expected. Her father never made friends easily, and he wasn’t the one who was dead. Then again, her mother wasn’t- hadn’t, Emira corrected herself, hadn’t been the friendliest person either. It wouldn’t surprise her if she learned that half the ‘mourners’ were secretly elated at the death. They were hiding it well, at least.
For a moment, Emira tuned back into the eulogy, “-invaluable. In fact, she would have been my choice for successor as Coven Head, were her life not cut so tragically short. There are many things we can learn from Odalia, such as kindness and patience-” Emira let her attention slip again. She didn’t get the point of lying about the dead; her mother certainly hadn’t been kind. At least not to her, Edric, or even Amity. Maybe her mother had been kind to her boss, but that could be attributed to climbing the ladder as quickly as she could, more than any innate kindness. And patience? Emira nearly scoffed at the idea. The only reason her mother ever waited for was to make people nervous.
That was when a large feathered form crashed through the temple’s ceiling, setting off a panic. Most people fled the beast’s entrance, and Emira felt for her brother’s hand as she instinctively drew the spell circle to render herself invisible. She looked to her side, to see Amity and Luz. With Edric’s own invisible hand in hers, Emira stepped towards the two of them, grabbing them and pulling them away by Amity’s hand.
“What?” Luz cried out, as she recovered her balance and attempted to snatch the spell glyphs that had begun fluttering to the ground, even as she was pulled away.
“It’s okay,” Edric answered, “We’ve got you. We’re going to get out of here.”
“We can’t leave!” Luz cried, “We have to help Eda!” The beast turned to Luz’s exclamation. The owl beast, Emira realized. She’d heard stories, but she’d never seen it. Was that really Eda? Emira pulled harder, practically dragging Amity. They were strong, but not face-off-against-cursed-Eda strong. Unfortunately, the Owl Beast didn’t seem to care about how strong they were, as it began charging towards Luz's exclamations.
Fortunately, an ice pillar caught the charging creature in its side, knocking it into the temple’s wall. “Edalyn!” Emira turned towards Lilith’s voice, seeing the Witch brandishing spell glyphs of her own, “What happened?” The Owl Beast only shrieked in response, and charged at Lilith. A glyph flashed in Lilith’s hand, and the light orb it produced managed to stagger the Owl Beast long enough for Lilith to dive out of the way.
“Why isn’t it working? This is supposed to be the latest version!” A new voice called, and Emira turned to see the Clawthorne matriarch, frantically flipping through a book.
“Mother?” Lilith called, using a plant glyph to pull herself out of the way, and towards her mother, “Why isn’t what working?”
“The book!” Gwendolyn shouted, showing it to Lilith, before flicking her staff out to deliver a gust of wind to knock the Owl Beast off its feet. Lilith snatched the book, looking through it.
“You believe this?” Lilith sounded almost offended, “This would never work!” Emira noted a few feathers sprouting curiously along Lilith’s forearms.
“But I… How do you know it couldn’t work?” Gwendolyn asked
“Because I’ve spent the last few decades looking for an ACTUAL cure! Lilith shouted, “I could have told you this would never work!”
“You’ve been looking for a cure? Why didn’t you tell me, we could have been working together on this!”
“I tried! I tried to contact you all the time! But you never responded!” The feathers began appearing around her neck, and Emira began pulling Amity, and Luz, further away. “Did you at least bring any elixir?” Lilith demanded,
“That poison? It only makes the curse worse!”
“NO IT DOESN’T!” Lilith shrieked, before a realization seemed to come over her. “You never listened to Edalyn either, did you?” Emira barely caught Lilith’s whispered realization. “All this time, I thought Edalyn had your whole attention, but you never actually listened to her.” There was the faint sound of a giggle, caught in tears, before it turned into a shriek, as feathers sprouted across Lilith’s body, which began to distend and shift, into its own monstrous form.
(Line Break)
It had finally broken free; that was the Bird’s first realization. None of the golden poison had come to wound it, weaken it back into submission. It stretched its wings and screeched. That was when it had it’s second realization; its Other was here. It turned from the white-haired witch that triggered a burning feeling inside its core. She could be dealt with later. The Other was more important.
Before the Other could strike it, the Bird brought a claw down on the smaller form. The Other struck back, digging its teeth into the Bird’s flash. It hurt, but the Bird wasn’t going to back down. The Bird could fight. It has done nothing but fight, even before it hadn’t had the Other. It wasn’t going to let the smaller, weaker Other make any claims of superiority. The Bird spread its wings, blocking the Other’s possible escape to the sky as its front talon found purchase in the Other’s side.
There was a commotion behind it, and the Bird craned its neck around, to see the White-Haired Witch lead three children with green hair away, and a fourth child as well. HOW DARE SHE! It screeched and launched itself at the witch. She would only hurt the children! It’s talon nearly sunk into the witch’s back, but the Other managed to sink its teeth into the Bird’s leg. The Bird screeched at the Other. It’s Child was with the White-Haired Witch, and it was going to let her Take its Child? The Bird’s own teeth sunk into the flesh of the Other.
The Other bit back, and slashed across the Bird’s wing with its front talons. The Bird dropped it, swatting it into the wall. The Other shrieked, and rushed the Bird, throwing its weight into the Bird’s chest The Bird fell off balance, knocking over the long box that had been sat on a pedestal. Something wrapped in cloth fell out of it, and the Bird could smell Death. Pride and Anger fueled its core. It wanted to grab the Corpse, and tear it apart. But it wasn’t going anywhere. First, it had to deal with the Other, and then the White-Haired Witch. And then it could have its fun.
A roar sounded from above the Bird, and it turned its head towards the Other. It had escaped to the skies while the Corpse distracted the Bird.The Bird tried to stretch its wings, but the building didn’t provide enough space for take off. It dug its talons into the wall, and began to climb its way up, as the Other swooped down, to strike with its rear talons at the Bird’s face. The Bird dug its claw into the Other’s leg, and threw it away, into a bit of roof that hadn’t yet collapsed inwards.
Finally, the Bird could extend its wings fully, and take to the sky. If the Other wanted to fight in the sky, so be it. The Other flew towards it, slashing at the Bird’s torso before the Bird could swat it away and dive after it. The Bird’s rear talons found easy targets in the Other’s wings, slashing into them fiercely.
The Other freed itself, turning over to grab the Bird’s leg in it’s mouth. In response, the Bird flew towards a wall, slamming the Other into it. The Other refused to let go, so the Bird slammed its leg towards the wall again. The Other, however, let go, ducking under the talon as the Bird slammed it into the wall. The Other flew up behind it, latching onto its back with sharp talons. The Bird screeched at the Other’s deception, turning quickly to slam its back into the wall, just barely catching the Other as it tried to let go.
The Bird turned its head, sinking its teeth into the side of the Other’s face, its front talons digging into the Other’s sides. After slamming it into the wall again, the Bird released the Other and roared. The Other roared back, still refusing to accept its place. The Bird WOULD ALWAYS BE BETTER THAN IT! WHY COULDN’T IT ACCEPT THAT!
The Bird rushed forward, meeting the Other halfway as they dug their talons into each others’ shoulders. They dropped, and the Bird managed to remain on top as the Other slammed into the ground under it, struggling for its freedom. The Other managed to escape, flying to the end of the alleyway before turning to screech and stand its ground against the Bird. The Bird dove for it, but the Other managed to dodge, flying above it, landing on a nearby rooftop. The Bird followed, and as the Other tried to swipe at it, tackled the Other into the tiling
Then there was the White-Haired Witch, speaking to the Other. Of course she was talking to the Other. The Bird ignored the anger and grief in its core. It could feel the Other change, as it prepared to strike with its talon raised high.But the Other seemed changed, and it was able to react. The Other grabbed the raised talon, stopping it, before flying around, pinning the Bird to the roof.
“And Lilith,” the Bird heard the White-Haired Witch as she grabbed it on either side. It felt, deep in its core, a stirring of complicated emotion. Grief, anger, longing. “You were always so self sufficient,” pride, and an odd sense of calm as the White-Haired Witch rubbed its cheek with her thumb. “But I didn’t give you the attention you deserved.” She was right, the Bird understood that at its core. But why did it hurt? The Bird cried, and moved itself closer to the comfort the White-Haired Witch was providing. It hurt so much. When it tasted the elixir, trying to force it back into its cage, it didn't resist. It needed to rest.
(Line Break)
Amity took refuge in Luz’s room when they got back; the adults had stayed outside, to talk, and the twins occupied the kitchen. Even Luz, who shared her refuge, seemed distant, which was understandable given... Everything about today. Amity looked out the window, her eyes landing on the Clawthornes. Worry surged up from inside her; she probably shouldn’t be spying on them, but she stomped it down. She wasn’t spying, she was observing, and there’s nothing wrong with observing.
Amity couldn’t exactly tell what they were talking about, but it looked emotional. She could see all three of the Clawthorne women were crying, to some degree, which made Amity nervous. She knew crying could be healthy, but it still unnerved her to see three adult witches she knew to be strong, or at least had been strong, crying so openly with each other.
"Today was," she heard Luz pause in the middle of her comment, "eventful."
"Yeah," Amity agreed, turning towards Luz, “it was.” She couldn’t force her eyes to meet Luz’s, so she settled on the door behind her. “I’m sorry for freezing up when Eda- the owl beast, appeared. I should have helped you subdue her. Or pull you out of danger. Or…”
“Hey, it’s ok. Everything’s ok,” Luz spoke gently, “You didn’t do anything wrong by freezing up. It was a scary situation. Plenty of other people there froze up too.”
“You didn’t freeze up,” Amity pointed out, “You were trying to help Eda. Ed and Em didn’t freeze up, they were trying to get us to safety. I did. All I was good for was holding onto you and Emira like dead weight.”
“Hey, I’m glad you were holding onto me,” Luz commented, and Amity imagined a blush as she continued, “I mean, if you weren’t, I wouldn’t have had any idea where you were, and I would have been worried. And I probably would have gotten hurt a lot worse if you hadn’t been there to pull me out of the way.”
“You got hurt?”she asked, choosing not to say that if she hadn’t been holding on to Luz, she’d have been able to get out of harm’s way.
“Oh, yeah,” Luz answered, rolling up her shirt slightly, exposing the red marks along her stomach. “I got hit by some rubble that got thrown up with everything going on, so these bad boys are going to be super cool looking for the next couple weeks.”
“That looks really bad,” Amity commented, staring at the bruises, “Aren’t you in pain?”
“Oh yeah,” Luz answered “but I’ve had a lot worse. This isn’t really all that bad. Just looks like it is.”
“You’ve had worse injuries than that?” Amity nearly shouted in her worry.
“Like when I was five, and I slipped off the monkey bars and broke my wrist,” Luz supplied.
“Monkey bars?”
“Or that time I skated face first into a wall,” Luz continued, not answering Amity’s question.
“Why would you skate into a wall?”
“Or that time I slipped out of a tree and got a broken leg and a concussion.”
“Ok, ok, I believe you,” Amity answered, her gaze still fixed on the new bruises. “You really get hurt a lot, huh?”
“Mami used to say that that’s why she went into medicine, because she knew I would be a troublemaker," Luz answered.
Amity let out a small laugh, and let a comfortable silence fall for a moment before she spoke, "Thank you. For making everything a little bit easier."
"What are friends for?" Luz responded, wrapping Amity in a hug.
