Nero hummed a tune to himself as he walked through the familiar forests he knew led to his aunt's home, the afternoon sun hanging in the sky. Thus far, it had been a rather uneventful, boring day. He looked through his book to see what other demons lurked in different corners of the isles, he ignored Edric and Emira's calls, which got obnoxiously more frequent as the day went on to the point where he had to outright block them, and he managed to find time to give Red Queen a minor upgrade to increase the amount of Exceeds it could pull off before it needed reapplying.
About the only thing of note that happened was when he was walking through Bonesborough and stumbled on an...odd scene, to put it mildly.
"What the hell?" That was all Nero could really say at the sight of the scene. One of the Coven guards was chasing a Hexside student, another Hexside student was fighting an old lady with a wooden chair, some other Hexside students flying around and fighting each other, and to top it off, his mom was...sniffing the ground?
"Mom?" Lilith looked at him with curiosity more suited for an animal. "The hell's going on?"
"Nero?" Surprisingly, her voice came not out of her, but from somewhere else. "Down here!" He looked down and saw a small, four-mouthed mutt like the ones Coven guards use for tracking. Putting the pieces together, he looked back and forth between the dog and his mother, who looked like she was trying and failing to use her leg to scratch behind her ear.
"Mom?" Nero asked, looking back down at the mutt.
"Yes! It's me my little raven!" his...mother answered, vigorously shaking her head.
"Oookay..." Nero droned out in confusion, "When and how did-"
"Long story short, my sister happened," Lilith snarled out, which was pretty fitting considering she was currently a dog, "We cornered her and she switched everyone's bodies. Now I'm stuck like this!" He looked around at the randomness going on, specifically back to his mother's body, which was walking around on all fours.
A body swap spell? he thought. It was one of the spells he picked up on from experimenting in class; switching the bodies of an echo mouse and a carnivorous plant definitely had interesting results.
"So," Nero said, "I'm guessing you need me to switch everyone back?"
"Yes! And please hurry before that mutt does something while it's in my body!" Lilith said. Nero looked between the two and saw his mother's staff on the floor. He quickly picked it up, but he found himself stopped by the dog who was currently in his mother's body. Said dog picked it up with its mouth and started snarling at him, which would have been intimidating if Nero found mutts intimidating in the first place. That, and it being in his mom's body made the whole thing more ridiculous.
"Look here, ya overgrown pooch, give me the staff so I can put everyone back now!" Nero grabbed both ends of the staff and started wrestling with it. The dog snarled even more, and Nero wasn't inclined to punch it in the face since it was in his mom's body and the idea of punching her didn't sit well with him. Thankfully, he didn't have to, as Coronis came off his end and grabbed at Mom's hair, pulling the dog off as it whimpered in pain. "Thank you Coronis," he said as the Palisman returned to his position at the end of the staff.
Now, let's get to switching everyone back, he thought as he looked to everyone in the immediate area and began spinning the staff with his left hand, Time to see how well I can pull off a large scale body swap.
Aiming the spun stave at everyone as he spun around, he launched an azure colored beam of light, enveloping them all one by one. One full spin later, and he looked back between the dog and his mother, who was currently crouching next to a lamppost with a leg up, making it very clear what the dog was about to do in her body.
Almost immediately, Lilith got up and started shivering before running up and hugging him. "Thank you so much my little raven!" she thanked exuberantly, apparently oblivious to the fact that said hug was damn near bone crushing and causing him to suffocate. Thankfully, she let go and shivered in discomfort once again, "That was...ugh, I don't even want to think about that."
"Yeah..." Nero replied, catching his breath, "I can see that."
"Amen to that Madame Lilith," the sudden voice came down from their feet. Looking, Nero saw that the voice came from the dog, only it sounded more like a coven guard when it spoke again, "Though if it's not too much trouble, any chance I can get a belly rub?"
Both he and his mom looked down at the dog with wide eyes before he looked around to everyone else. The pink-haired tricloptic girl was flying around happily with the voice of an old lady, saying something about having her youth back. A coven guard was now chasing one of the old women, yelling about wanting their body back while the lady screamed for their mother. On top of that, the other coven guard was now sniffing around like a dog.
"Uh...I might have screwed the spell up," Nero admitted while he prepped up the staff, "Alright then, let me try that a seco-"
"No!" just like that, his mother grabbed the staff away from him and hopped on it, grabbing him and forcing him to sit down behind her, "We are leaving right now!"
And before he could get a word out, they flew away with the area they were previously in becoming little more than a speck.
Nero scratched the top of his head since the whole thing was still a confusing blur to him. After they got back home, his mom went straight to her room, saying she was going to spend the rest of the day repressing what just happened. And since she made it clear she wasn't coming out until the whole thing was repressed, Nero figured it best to just give her space and told her he'd be heading out for a few hours. And he figured the first thing he'd do was visit his aunt to open up about a few things. Hence the cloth covered Red Queen holstered on the back of his coat.
"Hoot Hoot!"
And there's the razor wire in my brain again, Nero groaned as the annoying bird tube stretched right in front of him with that dopey ass grin.
"Hiya Nero! You coming over to Eda's?" he asked as Nero resisted the urge to punch him in the face. Instead he just kept walking in the direction he knew it was in while Hooty followed along, "Maybe we could play games together! Luz just gave me a good cleaning, and I'm all up for a game of mud ball fi-"
"Do you ever shut up!?" Nero yelled, wanting that annoying voice to quiet down just enough for him to think for a bit.
"Yeesh, you are such a downer. Hoot!" That wasn't an option, apparently, "Hey, what's that thing on your back?"
"Keep talking and you'll find out the hard way," Nero grunted as the Owl House could be seen in the distance.
"Really!? In that case, what do you want to talk about?" and now Nero shifted from resisting the urge to punch Hooty to resisting the urge to strangle him as he approached the door, "Cause let me warn you ahead of time, I can talk for hours, and hours, and hours, and ho-"
"Oh the FUCK with this!" Nero yelled as he kicked the door open, causing Hooty to let out a loud 'OW!' as he walked in and rubbed the temples of his head.
"Well that wasn't very nice. Hoot!"
"Don't care. Shut up," was Nero's immediate response as Hooty pulled himself back into the door and closed shut.
"Hooty! Who's at the door?" Eda called out from down the hallway, "Did you let some stranger in again?" she asked as she entered the messy living room, "Because I swear to-" whatever else she had to say was cut off when she saw him, "Oh, just you. How's it been, oh nephew of mine?"
"Been fine. Mom's busy repressing shit right now so I figured I had enough time to visit," Nero replied as he looked around, "Where's Luz and King?"
"Oh, Luz's kinda in the repression zone too, since she just finished cleaning Hooty off, and King's in his room gathering his 'army of darkness'," Eda explained before leaning in and whispering, "And by that, I mean all the plushies he's collected," Nero snickered as she asked, "So, what's that thing you're carrying on your back?"
Nero looked back then sighed in reluctance. Guess there's no going back now, he thought as he looked his aunt in the eye and said, "I...guess I brought it with me since I wanted to open up about a few things. Can't really show this shit to Mom since...well, I'm trying to keep her from finding out."
"Ooh! Keeping secrets from Lily aren't we?" Eda asked in a teasing voice as she took her seat on the couch, "Well you've come to the right place. You're speaking to the isle's foremost expert on hiding things from my sister."
"Uh huh," Nero smirked, "And just who gave you that title?"
"Three people of course!" she replied, "Me, myself, and I."
Nero couldn't help but snicker for a bit before he pulled the covered weapon from his back. Taking a deep breath, he unwrapped it and revealed Red Queen to his aunt, who leaned forward and looked at the blade with an impressed gleam in her eyes. "Damn kiddo," she whistled, "Where'd you find this?"
"I didn't find it. I kinda...sorta..." Nero looked away before sighing, "I stole it, okay."
"Eh?" his aunt looked at him with surprise and confusion. Seeing as he was already knee deep in, Nero explained further.
"This used to be my mom's old coven saber, but I took it from her closet and made some modifications to it over the years. Made it into my own weapon and named her the Red Queen."
"Hold up, hold up," Eda stood up and shook her head, "You stole this from my sister!?"
"Look, I know that sounds bad, and yeah, it is, but..." Nero was going to explain further until he saw his aunt gain a teary look in her eyes. At first, he panicked and thought he made her upset, but then saw that she was smiling as she clasped her hands close to her face.
"I am so proud of you," she said with a small sniffle.
"Please don't be," he groaned, not really liking that his aunt was praising him for the theft, "Anyway, I started using it to go out into the woods at night and kick monster ass. Needed something to take the edge off."
"Damn, you're pretty badass for an angsty teenager," Nero didn't know whether to be prideful or offended by his aunt's statement as she continued with a more contemplative tone, "Guess I can see why you wouldn't want prissy ol' Lily finding out. I mean, aside from the whole stealing part of the baggage."
"Yeah, she'd freak out like crazy if she found out I was sneaking out and fighting demons," Nero looked down at Red Queen as he held the blade in his hands, "Guess I felt like I needed to open up about this to someone and, well, you're kind of the only person I can do that with."
"Hm, yeah, I can see that," she said, "If Lily's anything like our mom, she'd definitely have a freak out knowing what you're doing. Hell, I remember one time I got a paper cut when I was six, and Mom treated it like someone attempted to assassinate me."
"You did say you grew up with a smother of your own," Nero said, reminiscing on his first visit.
"Yup. Overprotective moms. Gotta love 'em, gotta be annoyed by 'em."
"Agreed," Nero said as his shoulders relaxed, "I gotta say, feels pretty good to let that out. Y'know?"
"Guess I can see it," Eda answered before she became contemplative for a few moments. Before Nero could ask what she was wondering about, she snapped her fingers in realization, "Say, I think I've got an idea. There's plenty of woods around the Owl House and I've run into my fair share of monsters and beasts while living here, so what do you say to a little aunt/nephew power hour?"
"What are you saying?" in response to his question, Eda simply held her hand out to the side, a series of crashing and clanging noises coming from the background and through the halls. In moments, her staff flew to her hand, which she caught with ease.
"I'm saying that I got nothing better to do, Luz is recovering, King's busy, and you seem bored," she said with a flourishing spin of her staff, "So why don't we go out and kick monster ass? Seems like it'd be a fun way to pass the time."
Nero found himself puzzled by the offer to join him. Truth be told, he hadn't really planned on doing any hunting today and just wanted to get some things off his chest. But at the same time, today had definitely been a bore and he needed something fun to do. And given that he kept what he was doing a secret for so long, he'd never gotten to do it with anyone, let alone an aunt he didn't know he had until recently.
But it could definitely be fun, and I haven't fought anything in this neck of the woods, Nero thought before he came to a decision, "Sure. Not like I know these parts very well anyway, so it'd help to have someone who knows them."
"Well alrighty then! What are we waiting for?" Eda declared as she walked toward the door with Nero following behind her, "Hooty! We're heading out for about an hour. Keep an eye on Luz and King for me, would ya?"
"You got it Eda!" Hooty's statement was followed by him stretching himself into the house. As Nero and his aunt entered the woods, he was pretty sure he could hear girly screaming from the house, and he was pretty sure it was King's and not Luz's.
"You sure you don't secretly hate them if you're having the most annoying thing to ever live watch out for them?" Nero asked.
"No worries," Eda reassured with a playful grin, "Hooty's a lot of things, but I trust him to protect the house and everyone in it."
"If you say so," Nero replied, the only other noise throughout their walk being the rustling of leaves, "Still don't know how you put up with the guy."
"He actually grows on you after a while," Eda answered.
"I don't believe you."
"Eh, just spend more than a few hours with him if you have the patience," Eda snarked, whistling for a good thirty seconds before asking, "So, aside from monster hunting, you got any other hobbies?"
"Well, I liked working on Red Queen over the years, so I'm pretty good with mechanical work," Nero answered, figuring he could try to get to know his aunt further before they ran into something to fight, "But aside from that, I usually just read and listen to music in my free time. Small getaways from everything else, y'know?"
"I here you on that. Except my getaways are way more literal," Eda said, looking wistfully at the sky beyond the trees, her staff rested on her shoulders, "If I had a snail for every time I snuck off to the human world when I was your age just to escape either the Emperor's goons or my mom, I probably wouldn't need to sell anything."
"Huh, y'know, I keep hearing about the human world from this one kid at Hexside. Think his name is Goops or something, but I don't know much about beyond the occasional show that pops up on the Crystal Ball," Nero wondered out loud, feeling rather curious about the realm beyond Hell, before asking, "What about you? You've been there, what's it like?"
"Oh it's definitely a hoot, I'll tell you that much. Even got to go to this place called Las Vegas. Made a crap load of coin that I unfortunately lost in the same day, but thems the breaks," Eda said, describing her experiences on Earth.
"Sounds like a lot of fun," Nero smiled, part of him wanting to see what the human world was like someday if his aunt's stories were any indication.
"Oh yeah, and that was just one of my later ventures. Let me tell you about this time when I was your age and I was flying over an Earth military base," Eda began describing again as they stopped for a second, "I was flying on my own when this human aircraft thing they called a jet came up next to me and-"
Suddenly, Nero felt this odd sensation in his right arm. He looked down at it and noticed it was beginning to glow. Eda noticed it as well and paused her tale. "Uh, is it normal for your arm to glow that bright?" she asked.
"Not usually," Nero answered before he started looking around, drawing Red Queen in his left hand. Before long, a sudden rustling could be heard in the trees surrounding them.
"Finally!" Eda exclaimed, "Was starting to think we wouldn't be getting any company."
"Think you can keep up old timer?" Nero snarked as his back faced Eda's.
"Old! I'll have you know I'm only forty five!" Eda said indignantly as something shot out of surrounding forests, smashing a tree down in the process, another two following after it. The three monsters looked like giant spinning bladed wheels that quickly circled around them. He could make out a few details, but not enough to get a concrete idea what these things were supposed to be. "Hold up, I recognize these things," Eda casually admitted as Nero raised an eyebrow.
Instead of answering, she just walked forward as the circling demons started getting closer. Nero saw her whisper something to her Palisman as one of the bladed wheels diverted right towards her. In a second, she readied her staff and swung it like a club, shouting "FORE!" as it made contact. The demon went flying back, knocking itself right into one of the other demons in the process as they both scattered to the floor. The third spinning blade teetered side-to-side to get out of their path, only to wobble past them and crash somewhere into the frees, out of Nero and Eda's sight.
The other two demons wobbled up, letting Nero get a better view of their appearances. They looked like bigger, uglier versions of the Scarecrows he usually fought, except with a lot more blades in their bodies, three encompassing each arm and a supermassive one on their backs.
"So, you fought these things before. Any advice?" Nero asked his aunt.
"Pretty simple actually," she replied, "Kick their asses!"
Nero grinned as he charged right towards one of the Scarecrows, which he decided to call a Mega Scarecrow for distinction, and slashed at it with Red Queen. However, these guys were a bit faster than the average Scarecrow and managed to block the sword strike, forcing him back slightly as it made its own slash strike at him. Managing to block the attack with his sword, Nero flicked his wrist and set Red Queen ablaze, spinning out of the block and managing a clean, burning slash to its chest.
Nero smirked as the demon went several feet back, getting knocked right into its partner, whose ass Eda just finished handing it. "Gotta admit, pretty badass there, kid," Eda said, walking up next to him, "But that fire spell on your sword could use some work though."
"Tell me about it," Nero replied, rolling his right arm, "I've been trying to make it more permanent, but the most I could do for the Exceed is add one more use before the spell fizzles out and needs to be recast."
"You called it Exceed? Really?" his aunt rolled her eyes, apparently putting together why he called it that, "Guess you've got some of Lily's dorkiness after all."
"Hey! That's a pretty cool name, and it made sense since-" before Nero could continue to defend his naming choice, one of the Mega Scarecrows apparently had enough of their chatting as it rolled back into a spinning blade and charged right towards them. Nero was about to prep up a spell circle to summon a mass of roots to hold it down, but Eda beat him to the punch, stepping between them and using her leg to weave a much larger circle that she backflipped out of just as the demon neared. A large pillar of Earth flew up underneath the Mega Scarecrow and sent it flying into the air, Nero following its path to see it land way behind them and attempt to roll back.
At the sound of another set of spinning blades, Nero turned to see the Mega Scarecrow's partner spin straight towards him. Thinking fast, Nero formed a spell with his left hand and slammed it to the floor, flash freezing the area in front of him as it reached the demon. The sudden shift to a slippery terrain caused it to wobble and fall, sliding right towards him as it was unable to get up. Holding Red Queen overhead, Nero clutched tightly at its grip, causing the blade to burst into flames as he slammed it down, slicing the Mega Scarecrow in two and using all of his sword's Exceed charge to completely incinerate what was left, leaving nothing but ash, melted ice, and burnt forest ground.
"Kid, look out!" Eda's warning came in as he turned just in time to see the other Mega Scarecrow spin right towards him. Before he could bust out his right arm and send a large ethereal punch its way, an oversized construct that looked a lot like Hooty erupted from the ground and grabbed the demon in its beak mid-spin. He then watched as it slammed the demon down into the ground once, then again, then again before finally releasing it and dissipating back into the dirt beneath them. Before anything else, the Mega Scarecrow's blades suddenly flew off its back and landed on its remains, leaving an impaled corpse behind.
"Thanks for that, Aunt Eda," Nero said, cracking his neck.
"Don't mention it, Nero," she replied, staff rested horizontally on her shoulders with her hands draped on it, "Well, that was a blast, don't you think?"
"Hell yeah! It was pretty damn awesome! Never got to fight these guys with someone else before," Nero said, smiling at the whole thing. Getting to kick monster ass alongside his aunt was definitely a fun venture. "Though I can't help but think we missed someth-"
Just then, the spinning of blades could be heard again as another Mega Scarecrow crashed through the trees and charged right at Nero. Oh, right, there were three of these assholes, Nero thought as he manifested an ethereal arm just as it neared, grabbing it into the air and slamming it down before kicking it with enough force to send it flying back into a tree. To top it off, the blade on its back embedded itself into the tree, leaving it to slash and writhe at the air, unable to move.
"So, you want to kill it or you want me to?" Aunt Eda asked, cracking her knuckles. Nero could only grin as he readied Red Queen.
"Nah, how about we double team this bastard?" as soon as he said that, the demon managed to escape from the tree, both Nero and his aunt charging at it, ready to fight.
Luz stood up and stretched herself out. She didn't know how long she was asleep, only knowing she needed to recover from cleaning Hooty; just the thought alone made her shiver in disgust.
"Oh goody! You're awake! Hoot!" Hooty's voice was right next to her ear, frightening her to the floor with a yelp as she fell on her back. "Oops, sorry Luz."
"It's fine, Hooty," Luz said. Hooty stretched further inside through her bedroom window and helped her up. "How long was I out?"
"Oh, just around an hour and a half. Eda left me in charge to keep an eye on you and King," Hooty answered, sounding proud to be left in charge, "She went off with Nero to go fight monsters. Hoot!"
"Wait, Nero was here? And he's hunting monsters with Eda?" Luz asked. Suddenly, Hooty looked left and right, as if someone was listening in, and got way too close to her face for comfort.
"Don't tell anyone, but Nero sneaks out at night to go monster hunting. His mom doesn't know it," Hooty whispered. He narrowed his eyes and said, "You didn't hear it from me. Hoot!"
"Uh..."
"Hooty! We're back!" Eda's voice could be heard outside, prompting Hooty to gasp excitedly while Luz smiled and ran out of her room to greet them. Running through the house and into the living room, she spotted Eda and Nero entering.
"Hi guys!" she greeted, both of them looking to her.
"Hey kiddo," Eda said, walking up and affectionately disheveling her hair.
"Sup," Nero replied, being far more casual as Luz readjusted her hair back to how it was. She was about to say something else before she noticed the large sword on his back.
"Whoa! That's so cool!" Luz zoomed up to behind him and took in all the details of the sword, "Where did you get that? It's almost like the swords that Power Rangers use!"
"First off, long story that Aunt Eda can explain. Second off, what the hell's a Power Ranger?" Nero asked, scratching his head.
Luz looked at him like he grew a second head, which, considering what she'd seen on the Boiling Isles, she was at least 60% certain witches could grow new heads, especially since Eda could just take hers off like it was a watch. "Y-you've never heard of Power Rangers?" she asked, still having a hard time believing it, "You know, Super Sentai? Tokusatsu? Any of this ringing any bells?"
"Nope. Never heard of any of that before."
Luz's jaw dropped before she picked it up and took a deep breathe to put on the most sage-like fantasy mentor voice she could muster up, "I have so much to teach you, my young apprentice," she then ran over to one of Eda's supply closets before Nero could respond and sifted through it, knowing she saw some old VHS tapes somewhere.
"Bingo!" she exclaimed, finding some tapes containing classic Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers episodes. They were a bit out of order, but it didn't really matter where you started enjoying a series.
Grabbing all of them, she ran back to the living room and placed them down on the table before running back to said closet, only hearing a brief 'What?' from Nero that was cut off. She sifted through it a little more and found the old TV with a built in VHS player. It was a little small, but that just meant her weak nerd arms could carry it better. And so long as it played the tapes with decent picture quality, that was all she needed.
It was a bit of a struggle, but she was able to carry the TV over to the living room and place it down next to the VHS tapes before plugging it in, static buzzing on the screen.
"Luz, seriously, what are you doing?" Nero asked.
"Oh, y'know, just setting up a TV so you can experience the awesomeness of Power Rangers for the first time. No biggie!" Luz replied, a little winded from carrying the small television as she inserted a tape into it.
"Luz, I'm not really interested in-"
"Oh come on kid, I'm sure it'll be fun!" Eda interrupted Nero by patting his head and tussling his hair, "I remember seeing a few episodes in my gory days, and it's actually a pretty neat series."
"Uh," Luz began, confused by her mentor's wording, "Don't you mean your 'glory days'?"
"Well, that too," Eda answered.
Nero looked between the two of them and sighed in resignation, "Alright, fine, I'll watch whatever this is," he then took a seat on the couch and grumbled, "Can't be that interesting anyway."
"Come on guys, kick that monster's ass!" Nero shouted as the rangers finished their enemy off. If he was ever glad to be proven wrong about anything, it was this.
"So, what was that you said about it being uninteresting?" Aunt Eda smugly remarked at his right side on the couch as the episode credits started playing.
"Okay, ha ha, very funny," Nero crossed his arms, "But seriously, this is actually pretty awesome."
"Hey, I just noticed something," Luz said, prompting both Nero and Eda to turn towards her. "You guys notice that the Black Ranger, Adam Park, kinda sounds a lot like Nero?"
"Really?" Nero asked.
"Huh, now that you mention it, he kinda does sound like Nero," his aunt mused, stroking her chin.
"Well, I don't hear it."
"You guys still watching that crap?" King walked in from down the hall holding a plush toy. "Why? There's no blood. What kind of violence doesn't have blood?"
"Any TV violence is good violence, if you catch my drift," Aunt Eda retorted. Something about what King said caught Nero's attention, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
"And it has some pretty good moral lessons," Luz said, to which Eda and King just groaned. As they did, Nero thought more about King saying that they were still watching the show, which made him realize that he didn't know how long they had been watching for.
"What time is it?" Nero asked.
"7:30 according to the wall clock," Luz said.
"Shit! I need to go, now!"
"What, why?" Eda asked. She looked at him for a second before she said, "Oh, I get it. Better get going before Lily freaks out." Nero nodded and ran for the door, but stopped when he realized he still had Red Queen on him.
"I don't have time to hide this in its usual spot. How am I gonna-"
"Oh! I have an idea! You can leave it here with us," Luz said. He looked down at the sword, then to Luz's wide-eyed face with a perplexed expression.
"I don't know..."
"You said it yourself. You don't have time to hide it, so why not just leave it here?" she pointed out, "Plus, if you leave it here, you can come back later to get it and we can all hang out some more!"
"Not to mention it ain't like you got time to come up with any better ideas," Aunt Eda brought up, causing him to grumble under his breath.
"No, gimmie that sword!" King practically ran up to try and take it from his hands. Good thing the guy was too short and stubby to jump anywhere past his knees.
"Alright, fine. But first, a few things," he pointed to Luz, "No drawing on it, decorating it, or playing with it," he looked to his aunt, "No selling it for snails," and then he looked to King, "And you're just not allowed to touch it. Lastly, if Hooty eats it, I'm gonna kill him. Got it?"
"You got it, Nero."
"Fine, I won't sell the damned thing or let Hooty's mouth near it."
"No fair!"
After getting the respective answers from Luz, Eda, and King, he gave the sword to Luz, who immediately fell to the floor as she struggled to lift it. "Wow," she grunted through the physical exertion, "This...thing's...really...heavy!"
"Stand back kiddo, I got this," his aunt stood up and took the blade from Luz's hands, effortlessly lifting it to her shoulder before looking back to him, "Now get going before Lily starts sending Coven jackasses out to look for you. Because I'm pretty sure she'd do that."
"Alright. And, uh...thanks, for this," Nero said gratefully, not intending to sound as awkward as he did when he ran out the door, ignoring Hooty's ear-grating voice as he ran back to his house. Hopefully his mom was either not home or asleep, so he started coming up with any excuse he could for why he was out for so long.
As Nero opened the front door and entered his home, he noticed all the lights were off, signifying that his mother was asleep. Good, he thought, Guess I can avoid explaining shit. Better have a good excuse for the morning though.
He walked down the hall and entered the living room, the only light source being his glowing right arm. But suddenly, the lights came on.
"Nero." Nero turned to see his mother sitting in the living room recliner with her staff laying in her lap.
"Uh, hi, Mom," Nero said. He didn't know what to say or do. In an instant, any excuse he could come up with had been forgotten as his mother's face shifted to a mix of worry and subtle anger. Instead of answering, she all but leaped from her seat and ran up to hug him. Nero didn't know how to react at first, but he quickly returned the hug.
"Where have you been?" Lilith asked as she pulled back from the hug; the question sounded pleading, but there was a tinge of demand in it, as well. Nero gave her the first excuse to come to mind, that he lost track of time at the library, and she said, "Nero, I want you to be completely honest with me. You promise you were at the library and you simply lost track of time, right?"
The way his mother asked made it seem like she knew he was lying to her, which he already hated doing. But he couldn't come up with a better answer, not without telling her about either his demon hunting or visiting his aunt without her knowing, possibly making her freak out even more, so he reaffirmed his lie.
"All right, I suppose that happens to the best of us. But please be more mindful of the time from now on."
"Don't worry, I learned my lesson on that end," Nero replied, internally sighing in relief that he managed to avoid his mom finding anything out, "I'm gonna go set up for bed, okay?" After his mom nodded, Nero headed off to his room, and while he still disliked going behind his mom's back like this, he still couldn't help but be glad he kept her from finding out the truth.
Nero, why would you lie to me? That was the only question on Lilith's mind as she watched her son go down the halls to his room, leaving her to sit back down on her recliner and rub at her temples with her free hand. Her son was hiding something from her. She could see it in his body language and nervous tone. But she couldn't understand why he would hide something from her. He didn't hide things from her, that just didn't happen.
But if he is, what could he possibly want to hide from me so badly that he would lie to me about it? Lilith thought. Maybe he met someone and was secretly going on dates? Lilith thought of that first, but her son, much to her dismay, wasn't really a social type and often refused interaction with anyone in school. The only two people he really "hung out" with, as the saying went, were the Blight twins, but he recently stopped interacting with them, altogether.
Lilith leaned back into her chair and allowed Coronis to come off his position and rest on her shoulder. She didn't know what her son was hiding, but she intended to find out.