Summary: Parents are a bitch
Owlbert stared at the situation before him, with Lucci, Luz, King, Eda, and the Crystal Devil all sitting in a circle. "Okay, since I can understand you." Lucifer started. "Lets go over with reasons why you should not try to eat Palisman, alright?"
"Krkrkrkr." The devil that haunted the nightmares of all palisman everywhere responded with a lustful look at Owlbert.
"Yes, I know it makes you feel warm inside, but palisman are friends, not food." Lucci explained. "They're to most people what you are to Luz."
"Krkrkr."
"Well it's nice for you to be okay with her eating you in a pinch, but we usually try to avoid eating friends in general." The boy sighed. "Can't you look for some other alternative?"
"Rrrrk."
"What do you mean nothing else stops you from thinking too much?" Lucci questioned.
"I have no idea how much of this is natural and how much I should be concerned with whatever that wailing stone did." His partner deadpanned.
"Be grateful that it did. Now we might have a solution that stops Centi from going out of control again without resorting to poofing." Luz pointed out. "And the less time we have to worry about Centi, the more time I can dedicate to finding a way back to the human realm." True, a portal would be nice now. Money that they lacked, and the ability to see his gal.
"Okay, so from what I can understand." Lucci spoke up. "Unless we can drown Centi in enough comfort and distractions to drown out the buzzing in their head, they'll look for it themselves from the most 'delicious' scents in the house, with Owlbert and Mike being at the top."
" Squaaawwk!" The raven hissed, defensively staring down at all of them from his perch.
"So they just want something to drown the pain?" King asked. "Why don't we just sit them in front of the crystal ball all day and give her apple blood. I know that numb's Eda's brainpower by twenty percent."
"Yeah … funny story." The woman chuckled. "I might have … used up the last of the Apple Blood."
"What!?" Luz exclaimed. "That was supposed to last you two months at least! How many cups do you drink a day?!"
"... Cups?" His partner tilted her head. "I'm more of a drink from the bottle type of gal."
"Mom, if you are going to constantly discourage me from wanting to try a swig, the least you can do is limit your supply by half your usual intake at least." Lucci rolled his eyes. "Alright, you said Owlbert and Mike were the most delicious scents … what about the second most?"
"Rrrmmm." They pointed a leg at King. "Mmmrrr."
"... I don't even want to know how she came to that conclusion." Lucci spoke with wide eyes. "Like….damn, you've planned out everything on the meal prep front."
"My cuteness does not translate to my taste!" King scooted away.
"Krrrk." The small creature rolled it's eye.
"She said she's waiting until you hit your prime … how long would that be?"
"Krkrkrk."
"... She says you've got at least three thousand years before she tries to take a bite out of you."
"...And here I thought I hit the ceiling earlier this week in terms of backstory revelations." Luz grumbled, hitting the floor. "Why can't I just figure out ONE major problem this week? Just one, JUST one, and I won't ask for anymore."
"AAAGGG!!" A scream came from the kitchen.
"Ask and ye shall receive." His partner grumbled as they moved to the kitchen, seeing the sister grab onto her feathered hand.
"EDALYN! I CAN'T HOLD ON MUCH… AGGGGH!"
"Huh, weird being on the other side of this for once." Eda grumbled as she took a vial of elixir from under the floorboard and shoved it into Lilith's mouth. "Bottom's up, sis, drink it all up!"
The sounds of gulping filled the air for tweeny seconds, before Lilith spat the bottle out as the feather's shrank away. "That…that was…extremely unpleasant."
"Yeah yeah, you get used to it." She patted the woman … as both their arms fell off. "And that."
"Why did my arm just pop off?" Lilith asked in horror.
"Side effect of the curse." Eda explained.
"Wait….. so body part's don't fall off and reattach naturally?" Lucci looked at his hands in horror. "How much of my life is a life? The human part is one thing… but this is a fundamental truth I have in my mind…. my whole paradigm shifting upside down."
"Is there anything that you haven't traumatized that child with?" Lilith questioned his partner.
"I never said the forbidden word of H-A-T-E to him, so I say I've done a fairly decent job." Eda shrugged.
"That's the fifth time this morning the curse has flared up." Luz observed. "I don't get it, Eda's never been this active before."
"The curse responds to stress, and given how Lily used to be in the Emperor's Coven, I say that she has a lot of that to unwind."
"Ah, stress." The sister gave a small smile. "My old friend … how you've betrayed me so."
"Ohh, trama party!" The bird demon shouted. "I'll go grab some cake to cry over!"
"Just don't let Lucci's tears fall on it, we don't want it to come alive and invade the town." Luz snickered.
"Haha, very funny." Lucci groaned. "I'll have you know I've been working on not bringing stuff to life with my spit. I haven't buried myself alive a dozen times for nothing." It was concerning just how much punishment the boy was willing to put himself through.
There was a knock on the door. "Um … did we already invite the gang before we planned on inviting them?" Luz questioned. "Did we time travel?"
"Not possible, at least at today's current date." Lilith answered.
"Wait, time travel's poss-" Luz tried to ask.
"Ooooh! Echo mice! Thanks Gwen!" Hooty shouted.
"Gwen? Oh no, oh no, Mom's here!" Eda began making her way upstairs. "Lucci, tell her I'm dead while I jump out the window!"
"I used that excuse three times already, she won't fall for it a fourth time!" He called back. "Eh, guess it's been a while since I've seen Grandma. Might as well make the most of it."
========================================================================
Lilith felt her body tense with excitement, positively giddy feelings welling up within. Mother was here, and most likely, to visit her! She must have heard about the curse splitting up. She ran forward, opening the door. "Mother!"
"Ah, Sweet Flea, this is a pleasant surprise." Her mother hugged her. Finally, genuine appreciation from family-wait, surprise? "Nice to see you and Edalyn have buried the hatchet, speaking of, where is my little Owlet?" Her mother let go and let herself inside.
"Moth-" Lilith tried to speak up.
"Hey Grandma." Lucifer waved, coming right behind her. "Mom's trying to hide again upstairs. Would've given another excuse, but you always see through them."
"Aww, there's my little hatching." Mother continued to ignore her and went up to Lucifer's face, rubbing his cheeks as she patted him affectionately. "You're looking as healthy as ever, though I admit the images of your other form from the petrification ceremony greatly concern me."
"Mother, I happened to be at the petrification too-"
"Relax Grandma, it's a semi-natural thing that happens to me." Lucifer responded, continuing to act like she wasn't there at all. "I got it under control about twenty percent of the time."
"Hhhpph." Her mother didn't seem all that convinced. "Well after today, no one will have to worry about transformations of any kind."
"What do you mean by…" Lilith tried to ask.
"Oh hey Mrs. Clawthorne! Long time no see!" Luz ran up to the woman. "What's shaking? Still as buff and tough a broad as ever?"
"Don't you know it?" Her mother flexed a little, showing off a rather impressively big and heavily scarred bicep. "When you're out in the wilderness as much as I am, it's either go buff or die."
"Everyone on the Boiling Isles is jacked." The girl whispered in awe.
"Yes yes … Edalyn!" The woman shouted upstairs. "Come on down, I already blocked the windows!"
"Give me a second! I'm just holding a giant battle ax for no particular reason. If you hear the sound of a wall breaking down, it's just your imagination!"
"Very well, I'll just complain to the children about that time with the bird in the velvet dress you flirted with!"
"The what in the who now?" Lucifer asked.
"Alright, Alright, keep your kiester's on, I'm coming down!" Edalyn came stumbling down, still holding onto her weapon. "If you go too far, I reserve the right to use this ,Gwendolyn, for invading my home."
"Hardly invading when Lilith opened the front door." Mother chuckled.
"Yes, about that-"
"Now let's talk about my cures."
The room paused. "Cures?" King questioned.
"For Edalyn and Lucci of course, to remove the curses inflicted onto them."
Everyone paused at what her mother had just stated in justified apt confusion… everyone except Edalyn that was. " Huh?"
"Don't listen to anything she says. Gwendolyn here has spent over ten years coming to my house with some vague promise of a cure, and it never works." Her sister groaned.
"Ten years … regularly …" This had to be some kind of joke. Please let it be so.
"But I really have something this time-"
"Save it, I don't wanna hear it." The woman rolled her eyes. "Now scram before you infect my kids."
"Oh come on, if you're going to say no, at least let me try and cure Lucci, he's just a child for titans sake."
"Cure?" Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "But I don't have a curse-"
Mother stopped him from explaining. "I know, I know you're just trying to put on a brave face, little hatchling, and I don't shame you for it. But I saw it on the news. Somehow you were infected with a monstrous Crystal Devil inside of you. Ever since, I held off on coming until I found a method to remove the stone safely from your body-"
"Okay, you know what, I think I just realized I have homework I've been putting off doing all week I should really get to doing now." Her nephew headed towards the stairs. "So, so, so sorry, maybe we can catch up later when you're not planning to rip my guts out. Toodles." The boy ran up, placing a bubble in the way.
"What's he so worried about? I promised it would be done safely." Mother looked confused.
"Lucci doesn't need to be fixed, and I don't need one of your 'cures'. I got my elixirs, so I got it handled." Edalyn crossed her arms.
"Elixirs and potions are just scams to get poor innocent people addicted to horrible concoctions that the rapt up the prices on once they have you hooked." Well, that was certainly a…narrow and judgmental mindset to have about the potions coven.
"Mother, I am a scam artist, I LIVE off scams!" Edalyn shouted. "Hooty, get her out of here before I lose it!"
"Absol-posi-hootly!" Hootsifer wrapped her mother around and took her towards the door. "See you again next month, Gwen!"
"Owlet, please, you have to let me help-!" Their mother cried out, before the door shut.
"Pfft, Mother's, am I right?" She looked at the rest of them.
"I haven't seen my mom in over two months, I'd literally KILL to see her again for two seconds." Luz stated.
"I don't even know if I have a mom. I could've been hatched asexually for all I know." King noted.
"I can list the number of time's I've seen a mother in the past twenty years on a single hand." Lilith said exasperated.
"Trust me, you're the lucky one lilith." Edalyn rolled her eyes. "Also, is anyone else going to acknowledge she planned on ripping Lucci's rock from his stomach?"
"Okay, so she's a little over eager to help, but who isn't every now and again?" Luz argued back. Eda and King both raised their hands, with Owlbert flying on top of her head as a form of agreement. "It's amazing I get anything done around this house with such content people."
"Say you, I have a million things I could be doing right now more important than talking to my mom, like refilling the Apple Blood supply for me-I mean Centi." Eda ran to the kitching. "I'm going to escape out the emergency escape hatch from the back, don't follow me!"
"Can-Can you believe it?" Lilith asked out loud, tiredly laying down on the couch. "Mother visit's Edalyn regularly all year round and offer's help, and she rejects it like it's nothing!"
"Exactly, my mother daughter relationship is strained, yeah, but that doesn't mean I should ignore her …" The human's eyes widened. "That's it!"
"You choose to ignore her?" King questioned.
"No, I'm going to fix Eda and Gwen's relationship!" Luz ran out the door.
"Yes… Help EDALYN and just Edalyn with her maternal issues, because no one else is clearly suffering from a broken bond between parent and child." Lilith was ignored again. By her mother, her nephew, her sort of niece figure, and her sister was the cause of it, because everyone needed to help poor old Edalyn and no one else.
"You alright?" King, the fucking pet was the only one left to hear her rant, because that's how low on the totem pole she was now.
"Gah, I need some ice-scream." She just needed to drown out this entire day.
========================================================================
Eda moved through the forest. "Lets see … it was a right at the tree with the tall head of hair, followed by a left at the one flower who flirts at you."
" You're one fine oak aged to perfection." Said flower winked at her. " Why don't you settle down so we can get comfortable and fertilize each other?"
"Not a chance, bucko." She stepped on the little guy and turned him into mulch. "Of all the day's from Gwen to come, why did she pick now?" Honestly it was more surprising she took this long to visit. Eda expected her to come rushing through the house door the second she escaped Belos. When she didn't show, Eda had hoped this meant Gwendolyn had finally given up on her fool's error.
But of course not, because she had to figure out a cure for Lucci, for what, being BORN!? Eda could suffer a million dissections a million times over, but the second she heard her baby's life being threatened was when all the gloves went off. What was even going through that woman's head half the time if she couldn't figure out Lucci was just half crystal devil like everyone else on the isles concluded, like any SANE witch would.
Well that was it, fuck that woman, and any attempt to bond with her family was null and zip. She'd have to talk with Luz a bit more later to make sure she didn't try to 'fix their relationship' or some bullshit like that. She just…. Eda could not deal with that at the moment, at all. All she needed was a big, heaping bottle of … "Apple Blood?" Eda looked at the sign. 'Apple Blood, this way'.
"... When have signs ever steered me astray?" A million times actually, but she was a creature of habit, and the prospect of having Apple blood in her mouth by the end of the day was just too good to pass up.
The Witch began following the arrow into an uncharted section of the woods. Weird place to put a bar, but she found Lucci in the middle of the woods, a keg of Apple blood wouldn't be the most obscure thing to find in the middle of nowhere. She could practically taste the warm, thick red sensation flowing down her throat already.
"Alright, just keep going, and going, an-AHHHH!" Eda felt a knife graze by her arm, not close enough to cause bleeding, but enough to tear apart her sleeve. "Dang it, I stole this one for my thirtieth birthday." Clothes weren't cheap and stealing them was a task and a half. "I swear Knife season doesn't come this early." And a feather was forming out of her arms, great, just what she needed.
She continued walking, until a pit of spikes opened up underneath her, forcing her to claw her way out with a huf and a pant. Eda looked at her hands. "And there goes this morning's nails." Of course, because why not? The Owl Lady carefully and slowly moved … until shards of ice came charging out from behind her.
"Okay, I KNOW for a fact the freezing season has come yet! This is just the universe being a bitch for no good reason!" She cried out, the icicles ripping out bits of her hair as they passed by, making her arms more and more feathery.
"Great, feathers." She grumbled, reaching into her pockets. "Come on Elixir, you know I have to keep a spare on just in case the curse acts up." And … there was nothing. "Great …" She glanced at the sign of Apple Blood. "Sorry my lovely, we'll have to meet another day." She stood up, making her way back home. She wouldn't turn Owl Beast when Lucci was emotionally vulnerable as it is.
"Now which way was the exit?" She looked back at the signs…which weren't there. "Oh hahah, this was a prank, wasn't it? Well whoever did this, you had your laugh, no could you STOP screwing with me!?"
She got a face full of firebees in response. "AHHHHHHHH!" She screamed, every sting feeling like she was getting her blood replaced with boiling acid. Get out, get out, GET OFF OF M E!"
SCRAAAWWWWAAAAA
Her vision was turning black, her teeth were sharping. " No, no, no, NO! You don't get to show you're ugly head again after all you put me through!" She yelled at the beast/herself, slamming her head against the ground. " I have my kids back, and as long as they're here, you will never take control again!"
Push it down, push it down. That was what she needed to-someone threw a crystal at her. "GRAAA!!!" She was going to eat someone today.
"GIVE ME THOSE ELIXIRS!"
"I WON'T LET YOU POISON MY CHILD!"
CRASH
The sound of several glasses smashing were echoed in the air. Along with two unwelcomed visitors…one of them being very… very… VERY disposable at the moment.
"GWEEEE!!!!" Eda blacked out, nothing but sheer rage existing as her last thoughts.
========================================================================
King groaned. "Life is meaningless, we'll never reap the rewards of the effort we put in." He complained. "Everything we hope to have doesn't exist, ambition is futile, and dreams are meant to die."
"Here here." Lilith unenthusiastically cheered as she clanked spoons with him. "It doesn't matter how successful you get, or how much you try to change yourself, nobody will truly appreciate your actions." She responded.
"You think you're a king, it's a lie." He started the train.
"You work for the goal of the Emperor's Coven, but lose your sister."
"You think your life is in order, but it turns out you're abandoned."
"You try for years to cure them, but all efforts fail."
"You try to put in any effort to help them fight, but you end up a liability on the field."
"You give up your entire status and magic to help everyone, but nobody cares about it."
"Like seriously ... why did the universe make us exist if we're just going to be stepped over?" King groaned, shoving a mouthful of scream-lime pie ice scream in his mouth.
"You just answered your own question, pal. The universe needs people to fall down to get stepped on. Heh, I practically let the Emperor do the Hokey Pokey on my back. I sacrifice… so much… of my life, and no one bothers to ask if I'm okay." Lilith banged her head with her spoon.
"Uh…you guys okay… that's the ice-scream Eda gets from the night market." Hooty asked, as if he actually cared. "So, it's not exactly… made for tea parties."
"Are you my mother, because that's an awful lot of judgment… more judgment then she'll ever give me."
"Okay, I think that's enough of a wait time." Lucci came down. "Hopefully I can explain better ideas than taking out my-KING!" The boy ran over. "Are you eating the 'no touch' stuff Mom said was bad for your health!?"
"Pfft..It's alwight Wucci, I don'd have parents to care if I get intro this stuff." King laughed. "I'm a fweee agent who does whatever he wants because no one cares!"
"I care! I care if your liver dies out from eating too much of this stuff!"
"Shocker. You care about your pet cat more than your aunt. What. A. surprise." Lilith moaned.
The boy looked them both over, glaring as he licked his hands and touched them both. King's head suddenly felt a lot clearer. "What just-"
"Leave." Lucci spoke darkly, keeping his gaze on Lilith.
Lilith, who's relaxed expression didn't leave, just snickered. "Or what?" The woman laughed.
Lucci grabbed her by the shoulder and squeezed it, hard. "The ONLY reason I don't leave you for dead is because MOM wants you here. That only goes so far."
"Oh, really, she has a funny way of showing it." Lilith continued to laugh madly. "But when you're at the bottom, you have to cling to whatever's around you, because even if it's trash, it's still the only thing you have. Why else would she take on three good for nothing brats that only make her life harder?"
King winced at that, recoiling.
"You… take that back!"
"No." She said like a little child. "I've said nothing wrong. The human doesn't belong here, King was left behind in a dinger old building all alone, and you… you're a complete freak also not from this world. You don't belong on earth, and you don't belong here, and you were left all alone because no one ever wanted you."
Lucci gripped the woman's shoulder harder, bringing her close to his face. "Unlike you, I don't act like I'm high and mighty. I live here because I'm loved, you're here because everyone feels sorry for you. You ruined your relationships with Grandma, with mom, with Amity, and you never, ever even came close with being good with me. I would never spend two seconds around someone as toxic and troublemaking as you, even if my life depended on it!" Lucci finished by tossing her into a wall.
The woman groaned. "Listen here young …" Once more, her arm was feathery. "Shoot … Elixir … need an … elixir …"
"Should be some under the couch." Lucci rolled his eyes. "Take it so I don't have to see your ugly mug get uglier.
She reached under … then crawled under. "... Nothing's here." She spoke groggily, and with a hint of worry. "Nothings here for the nobody, nobody wants a nobody around, no one cares, no one care, no one cares…."
"Hey Lilith, relax." King tried to reassure her. "We'll go grab some right away." He grabbed Lucci, pulling him into the kitchen. "Quick, find an Elixir and fast."
"No good guys." Hooty answered.
"What, why?!"
"Because Gwen had her Palisman take them all while you were drunk on ice-scream."
Even Lucci looked taken aback. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING!?" He shouted.
"Because she paid me to not tell anyone she was getting rid of those 'addictive and useless' potions." Hooty explained.
"Let's be mad at the stupidity later, we got bigger problems to focus on!" King shouted. "Lucci, spit on her so we can hold it back!"
"I already spit on her so I could kick her out of the house sober, it didn't do anything."
"What, but those are supposed to be instantaneous! Why wouldn't it work!?"
"...." Lucci whistled.
"What, what!? We need an answer!" He shook his brother from another biological mother.
"Remember when I said I was working on trying to not bring food alive when I use my spit?" Lucci asked hesitantly. "I found out that like most of my powers, it runs on emotion….mainly my desire to help someone…."
"You've used it on Coven Scouts you hit too hard with more efficiency than most people!" King argued.
"Yeah…because I actually feel guilty when I do that….I…don't feel guilty with Lilith….."
"Not the time, make up with her before-!"
CRASH
The two of them paused, slowly looking into the room … with a giant hole where the front wall once was. Hooty resting unconsciously on the ground. "How….. is she…..that…..big?" Lucci asked.
"Say … the curse acted up with stress, right?." He got a nod from Lucci. "So what happens when it is transferred from Eda, a perfectly content woman, to Lilith? A woman who lost her job, lost her student slash daughter figure, almost lost her family, her magic, and denied closure from everyone around her daily?"
"Crrrkkk." The two of them slowly turned to the eye resting outside the window, looking within the house full of hunger.
"...I think I've made a terrible mistake." Lucci squeaked in a low voice, months of guilt, shame, and fear flooding his entire face.
"Yes, yes you did." King bluntly agreed. "Now we can either sit here and let the self pity kill us faster than Lilith ever could, or we find your mom and the others while screaming for our lives."
"SCRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!"
"Count of three, we scream at the same time like little girls?" Lucci asked rhetorically.
"Like there's any other way."
========================================================================"
"LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!" Luz shouted as they ran from the Owl Beast. Luz instantly regretted her plan. Sure, Gwendolyn seemed a little too over eager, and maybe just a tiny bit neglectful of Lilith, but she had a good heart, so Luz excused some of the more… out there… behavior…. until it felt more like they were torturing Eda rather than helping her. "Now Eda's going to kill the both of us, even if she wasn't an Owl Beast, because you can't recognize a scam!"
"This is just all part of Wartlop's process! You'll see! His book perfectly states that the next step is to…" She looked at the end of the book, and a worried frown appeared.
"Let me guess, 'buy the next volume'?" Luz questioned.
"Heh…. have you considered a future in Oracle magic?" Gwendolyn's laughter answered everything Luz needed to know.
"It's actually caused us nothing but pain. Right now I mainly use it to talk to dead animals-Don't get me off topic!" She shouted. "You're causing this because you're looking for cures way too desperately, and Lucci doesn't even need one!"
"Oh, so he doesn't become a giant rampaging Manticore that threatens to eat people?"
"He doesn't try to eat people! The manticore thing is just another part of his life op powered life." Luz clarified. "And we've been able to deal with Eda's curse ever since we split it."
"Split it? What are you talking about?" Gwendolyn questioned
"Luuuuzzz!" They watched as King ran over to them, panting. "We have a major situation right now!"
"Is it worse than that!?" Luz pointed to the Owl Beast charging at them.
"Oh … oh that might make it worse actually." How would it make a situation worse than anything making their situation worse?
Thunk
They watched as Lucci came flying out of the forest, landing on Eda. "Graaa!"
"Lucci!" Luz ran up to him.
"No…stay back , stay back!" Lucci began to glow pink and hair all over. "You're not going to like what comes next."
"Hatchling?" Gwendolyn asked.
"Sorry you have to see this Grandmaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggggghhhh!" The boy's body shifts and morph just as it's done before, growing in size, becoming just a little bit smaller than the Owl Beast. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHH!"
"He's gone feral!" Gwendolyn shouted. "Lucifer… I told you they were both cursed!"
"He's not, it's-aggh! You're impossible to deal with!" Luz was starting to see what Eda was going on about. She'd need space from the woman after just five minutes if she acted like this regularly.
"Believe it or not, he's actually the only thing that's making things slightly less worse… though not by much!" King exclaimed.
"Scrrooooo." It sounded just as animalistic as the Owl Beast and the Manticore … only much, much deeper. And suddenly, with that sound, the area became night.
"Is it really that close to … sunset …" Luz looked up … at the beast reaching the very treetops.
"Not really…. she's just… really…" King gulped loudly, backing away as… itapproached them. "Big."
It looked like the Owl beast, but different, and more raven-like…not to mention much… much… MUCH taller, with sharper eyes and longer claws. "Sw-sweet flea?" Gwen asked weakly.
"She got into the night market Ice-Scream and she and Lucci had a big blow out… and this is the end result of it." King pointed upwards. "Also, she's not light sensitive like Eda is … so that's one less weakness to exploit."
"Any tips on how to avoid its wrath?" Luz questioned as she slowly followed King's lead.
"It's very temperamental, just leave it alone and-"
"SCRAA!" Everyone turned as the Owl Beast jumped forward and bit into the Raven Beast's leg.
"Sccrrrrrrroooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaa!" The raven beast raised their leg and slammed the owl beast into nearby trees.
" RAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGG!" The Manticore jumped on top of Lilith and began scratching at the neck, digging its claws deep into its flesh as hard as he could.
"Scaweeeeeeeeeee!" Lilith fought back, rolling into the ground and pried Lucci from her body, wrapping her talons around his head and constantly slamming it into the ground repeatedly. "SCRROO! SCREOOO! SCREWWAAAAAAAA!"
"Our family is tearing itself apart!" Luz shouted in horror. "We've gotta get them to stop."
"Oh sure, jump into the pile of rampaging beasts whose pinkie toes can slice apart mountains, that sounds like a wonderful idea!" King shouted.
"Not if we have the Elixirs!" Luz shouted. "Gwendolyn, come on!"
"But I can't use Exlirs … wouldn't… this doesn't make any sense." Gwendolyn looks to herself with worry and fear. "My sweet flea's cursed too?"
"Yes! Haven't you been paying attention to anything!?" King exclaimed.
"I …" She got on her Palisman, flying away into the forest.
"... It's just us, isn't it?" She lamented to King.
"Yep."
"And the fight is heading to the city, isn't it?"
"Absolutely."
"And the three of them are too out of it to recognize us as a friendly face and will shred us apart without a second thought?"
"No doubt about it."
"... When this is over, we need to get an elixir for Lucci. The trade off of sanity to raw power is not a decent ratio."
========================================================================
Gwendolyn flew in close, following the trail of destruction. "The Emperor was Right! The Manticore Menace is a devil that will kill us all!"
"Not before I do." She sent a swarm of fire bees at the civilian to hush the nonsense right up. Gwen didn't want it to come to this, this was the last thing she wanted for her children, and especially for her grandchild. All three of them, suffering because she pushed it all too far.
"Ice Block! Vine Trap! Light Grenade!" She turned to the human, Luz, who created construct after construct in order to combat the threat ahead of them. "Seriously you all, can you stop fighting for like, five minutes!?
"GRAA!" Lucci struggled in his bindings, attempting to attack Lilith.
"RAAA!" Edalyn was just trying to unblind themselves and escape all together.
"Scrooo!" And Lilith was largely unphased by the attacks, moving through them on a warpath to harm her own sister.
"You guys are making this needlessly more difficult than it has to be!" King shouted as they avoided being swatted across town. "You guys don't have to fight, you all have so much in common, like being vicious monsters that have no concern for the destruction they cause!"
"Craaw!" Edalyn attempted to stomp on King and turn him into dust.
"See, you're proving my point already!"
"Not exactly the kind of thing families should agree on!" Luz exclaimed as she sent out another attack, an electrical one right at her owlet. "Sorry if this hurts Eda, but I need you to take a nap!"
" Raaaaaggffffhhhhhhhh!" Edalyn's hatchling broke of his binds and jumped in front of the blast, almost like he was protecting his mom, and was hit point blankly in the head. " Aaaaaggggggghhhhhhjhhhhhhh!"
"Aaahhhh! Sorry Lucci! I didn't mean too.." The human backed away as the manticore still moved forward, even as it was getting hit, with all that energy being channeled through his body and into the ground. "He's shock proof!? But Centi isn't! How's this even happening!?"
Well, she's already made enough mistakes, it looked like here was a good of a spot as any to start fixing things. "Luz, King, get them split up! We'll deal with them one at a time!" She shouted down, pulling out a bottle of elixir.
"Start with Eda! If she goes back to normal, then Lucci will calm down when he sees her!" Luz shouted out.
"Screee!" The Raven Beast immediately screamed out, jumping after Luz.
"Well you have fun with Lilly, I'll get Eda!" King jumped off the girl and made his way towards Edalyn.
"Oh cool, Raven Beast, how fun!" Ah, sarcastic screams. She was a clawthorne at heart.
" AwwwwAaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggh!" Her poor Owlet cried out, trying to pounce on the little demon.
"Nice vicious Owlbeast, nice savage monster! Get your fresh furry little demon right here!" King cried out as he brought her closer. "Now Gwen!"
Gwen slammed her staff on the ground, and a swarm of flying snakes flew into the air, wrapping their slithering bodies around every limb of her daughter, causing the owl beast to fall to the ground. "Oh owlett…you tried to tell me everything was fine and I refused to listen. I always blamed the curse for driving us apart, but it was really me who put that wedge between us, wasn't I?"
The owlet immediately ceased its movements, letting out a small but low growl. "You always acted like it was a shame … and I didn't help it at all … you shouldn't be ashamed of being yourself Edalyn … you're a special and strong witch, no matter what form you take on."
"Aaawaaa….awaaaa….." The owl beast sniffed, small tears in its eyes forming as it hung its head low.
"Here, take your medicine, it'll make everything better." She took the vial of elixir and poured it into Edalyn's mouth, making sure every last drop was drunk.
There was a small flash of light, Edalyn falling to the ground. "Gah … worst hangover … ever …"
"Owlet, your back!" She picked her daughter back up. "I'm sorry for pushing you this far!"
"Hey, if I stayed mad at every family member that almost got me killed, I'd have none at all." Edalyn snickered. "Speaking of, that's one down, two to go." She turned to Lucci, trying to slam himself into Sweet flea's back as she attacked Luz.
" Raaaaaaaaaagggffffhhhhhhb!"
"Don't mind me, I'm just in the middle of almost getting killed, take your time!" Luz yelled out.
"I still have more elixir for him if.."
"I keep telling you, Lucci doesn't need Elixir. Just watch." Eda smirked, putting her hands to her mouth. "Lucifer Clawthorne, you get down here right now, mister!"
The rampaging beast was instantly reduced back into a small child. "Yes mom!" Lucci blinked. "Weren't we running at the hou-" Before he was knocked away by Lilith, slammed through a wall.
"... It's not a curse?" She questioned.
"No, it's just a sign of Lucci's mentally instability and how he views himself as a feral animal." King stated plainly.
"….That sounds arguably worse than any curse." Gwendolyn stated fearfully, really regretting how she should've spent more time helping Eda with parental advice instead of her fruitless cure attempts.
"Maybe, but it means it's easier to manage than this!" Eda pointed to Lilith, who's attention was on them now. "Hey Lily, special gift for yah!"
The raven beast took a bite at the elixir bottle, and the face started to shift…before stopping half way. " It's not working! It's not all the way!" Her sweet flea screamed.
"She's too stressed out for the elixir to take full effect." Edalyn summarized. "Mom, time for some emotional resolution!"
"Right." She nodded, running over and holding onto the creature. "Lily … I never paid much attention to you because I never thought you needed it." There was a pause in the movements. "You were always so skilled and smart and determined, you would have done great and amazing things without anyone saying otherwise. As for Edalyn … we both know she needed the push."
"Hey, I slightly resent that." Her owlet grumbled.
" That is…very true.." There were weak cries as the raven beast shrank..but the form still remained. " Wha.."
" I…I think this is where I come in." Turning their heads, they saw Lucci climb out of the walls, pink fur all over his body and horns growing out of his head, but otherwise looking normal. "The reason why you're like this at all now is because of me…like you said, I make things worse." Her sweet flea let out a whimper, curling up tighter.
" Lucifer.."
"Lili-Lilly." Lucci corrected himself as he came close to the Raven beast. "I'm …I'm sorry for hating you all this time. I don't trust easily…not as easily as I used to. I'm a stubborn and stupid brat that gave you a harder time than you deserved. Forgiveness is a two way streak…and I haven't worked for it like you have." He clamped his hands on Lilith's face affectionately. " You took on mom's curse to lighten the load, you sacrificed your status and power for your family, and I'm thankful for all you have done for us…Lilly…I'm glad you are my aunt." The boy finished as he planted a light kiss on her sweat flea's head.
A bright pink sparkle washed over her oldest child's body, shrinking more and demorphing, until the crying form of Lilith came back. Gwendolyn hugged her daughter, remaining in silence for a long while.
"Congrats Luz." An exhausted King spoke. "You solved a non backstory problem, how do you feel?"
"Like I could sleep for the next month uninterrupted." The human groaned, falling forward. "Family's great…but super exhausting."
"Why do you think I told you to not involve yourself with it?" Edalyn groaned as she hit the roof. "Now I spent a whole day dealing with all this, and with fake Apple Blood to boot." Again, a serious addiction. "You're all lucky I have my night market ice-scream in case of emergencies."
"Ah…that wasn't too much of an expense for you, right?" Lilith chuckled nervously
"I had to sell my kidney, and a hand, which was very difficult to sneak back to my body without notice." Eda glared at Lilith. "You're going to pay me back…all of it."
"I suppose I will…though I'll have to postpone that debt for a later date." Her older child turned to Gwen. "I hope that it wouldn't be too bothersome for me to stay with you and father for a while."
"No … that'll be fine." She assured them, kissing her on the cheek. "And Lucci … I'm sorry I thought your savage and feral transformation was a curse, and not a serious mental issue that requires a psychologist to look at." She was really out of her depth on that one.
"I have no idea what a psychologist is, but it's all good. If today taught me anything, it's that you can't stay mad at most people forever, especially when they're just trying their best." He turned back to Lilith. "Don't stay away too long, Lilly, we still have a lot of things we need to make up together."
"I'll do my best … it's going to be tough to say goodbye to Hootsifer." She'd have to meet this lovely friend.
Gwendolyn then turned to Luz. "You're pretty clever for a girl your age."
"Thank you mam." She grinned.
"I guess that's to be expected from the second human to walk to Boiling Isles." Gwen smirked.
"The-the-the-the what!?" Luz practically jumped on her. "Tell me more!"
"It's an old story that my great grandmother use to tell." She recalled. "Back near the deadwardian era, there was a human that lived in the Boiling Isles named Philip Whitabane. He created the portal my Owlett used to own with a special substance called titan's blood. He kept a log he eventually donated to the library.."
"So if I find that log; I can find out how to build a new portal to get back home!" The human concluded with a jump for joy. "I have a clue!"
"Great … can we save it for tomorrow though?" Lucci questioned. "I need to sleep … yesterday."
"Yeah, I need sleepy bear cuddle…" Edalyn fell to the ground, falling asleep instantly.
"Cuddle time…" Lucci followed suit.
"It ain't a bed but it's close enough." King yawned, jumping between the two and curled up in a ball.
"... Yeah tomorrow." Luz joined onto that pile.
Gwendolyn smiled at the family warmly embracing one another. How tender and charming. "Hey, it's the Manticore Menace!" Shouted a Coven Scout. "Take him out now!"
"A mother's work is never done I suppose." She brought out all the firebees in the area. "Lilith, watch them closely if you would. Mama has a few heads to crack open."