"So, Nero, mind if I ask you something?" Luz asked as they walked the path to Hexside, Hooty having just dropped them off. Normally, Mom and Aunt Eda would have done that, but they were busy trying to figure out the basics of Glyph magic. It was pretty funny, seeing what an overeager teacher's pet Mom turned into when it came to learning.
Focusing on the present and ignoring other passing students, Nero replied, "Sure. What's up, Luz?"
"Well," Luz looked up in thought, like she was trying to find the best way to ask a question, "You know about those glowy ghost arm things you can make with your right arm?"
Nero looked down at his reptilian appendage, "Yeah, what about them?"
"What are they called?"
Nero raised an eyebrow, "Uh...I'm sorry?"
Luz blinked, "Wait, so you're telling me they don't have a name?"
"Never really occurred to me," Nero mused, holding his right arm up and looking over it. "I'd have to name my actual arm first since it's what makes them. Not even sure on what I'd name it to begin with."
It felt extra weird to try and give it a name anyway since it'd been a part of him since he was a kid. Even though it still bothered him, he'd gotten used to it. Sometimes, he'd forgotten that his right arm wasn't exactly normal anymore. He wasn't sure if it felt right or not, but for better or worse, he had a hard time picturing life without it.
"Well's coming up empty on names." Nero shrugged in slight frustration, thinking back to all the cool names he gave his sword techniques as he made them up, "Normally I'm kinda good at this shit. What about you? Any ideas?"
Luz hummed as Hexside came into view, then she snapped her fingers and said, "I got it! So, you know how your arm can bring you closer to demons or bring them closer to you?"
"Yeah?"
"Well why don't we call it... the Devil Bringer!" Luz held her hands in a "Ta-Da!" pose, as if she were expecting some sort of reaction. "Yeah, you're right. It's probably stupid. Just forget I said anything."
"No, wait! I was just thinking the name over. Honestly? I like it."
"Really?" Luz's face lit up like a Krampus tree.
"Yeah," Nero nodded, chuckling as the human fist pumped the air, "You're pretty good at naming shit. Y'know?"
"I thank my many years of writing fanfiction," Luz smiled proudly as Nero stared down at his right hand, flexing his fingers.
Devil Bringer, he thought with a smile, Has a nice ring to it.
"Well, this is it," Luz breathed as they approached the front doors of Hexside, "First day back after the Petrification Ceremony."
"You nervous?"
"What? No," Luz answered in an all too obvious tone, "Of course I'm not nervous. Why? Is it obvious? How do I make it not obvious? Is everyone staring at me or-"
"Okay Luz, you need to chill out!" Nero shook the human's shoulders to calm her down.
"I need to chill out!?" Luz frantically asked, "How are you so chill about this? Please teach me this "chill" you seem to have!"
It didn't work.
Standing up, Nero felt a ghost of a smile, "Believe it or not, I've kinda been looking forward to coming back here."
"Huh?"
"I mean, ever since I started Hexside, I've kinda had to deal with a bunch of assholes wanting to buddy up just because I'm the son of the Emperor's Coven's leader," Nero stared at the height of the doors, "But things are different now. Mom's not with the coven anymore, so I'll never have to put up with that annoying crap ever again."
"Oh," Luz blinked, her face contorting in confusion, "So, you didn't really have any friends before?"
"I mean, unless you count Blight 1 and Blight 2, who more or less welded themselves to me for funsies, not really," Nero leaned against the doorframe, "Why?"
"Just seems kinda lonely," Luz commented with a sad tone, "Didn't really have many friends back on Earth. Most people would rather avoid me if they could."
"Sounds like paradise if you ask me," Nero rolled his eyes, envying the human.
"It wasn't," Luz's sharp tone caught him off guard, as did the light glare she gave. "Nero," her gaze lightened up, "Everyone needs a friend, even "edgy bad boys" like you," she chuckled, but for whatever reason, Nero wasn't sure. Probably an inside joke. Shaking her head, she continued, "My point is, maybe try opening up a bit more. Being all closed up all the time just doesn't seem right. I mean, look at me! I'm probably a bigger mess than most of the isles, but I managed to get Willow, Gus, you, and now Amity in my life!"
You sure you don't want to be more than friends with Amity though? Nero thought, recalling how much Luz liked to talk about the younger Blight back at the Owl House. Seemed pretty obvious to him that she had a crush on her. And if what Edric and Emira texted him about their sister held water, so did she. Not cool to be texting me that shit though, Nero grimaced, imagining Amity having a freak out that involved crushing her siblings with an Abomination if/when she found out they were gossiping about her crush, even if it was just to him.
"Heck, why don't you hang out with me, Willow, and Gus?" Luz offered as she reached for the doorhandle, "I'm sure they'd love to have you around."
"I don't know..." Nero scratched the back of his head, recalling the first time he encountered Luz's two friends. They didn't seem all that bad, though Gus' fanboy reaction did kinda put him off. He'd already had to deal with that shit for years, and it was the last thing he needed right now.
"That's fine. I don't want to force you or anything. Just try to keep an open mind," Luz opened the door, peering inside. Suddenly, she gasped, tears in her eyes as she ran in, shouting, "Hey guys!"
Sounds like her friends, Nero stood alone, staring at the school's front door. Shrugging, he walked into Hexside's halls and took a right to where his first class would be, waving at Luz and her reunion until they were out of sight. But as he made his way through, he felt as if all eyes were now on him. When he became aware of the sound of shuffling feet, he turned and saw the large collective of students following behind him, all bearing excited, awe-inspired faces. "Uh," Nero looked around in confusion, "Can I help you or some-"
"Nero, that was so awesome!" The first of the students ran up to him.
Eh?
"The way you busted up that statue and threw it," another student cheered.
"I heard coven soldiers found what was left on the far shores," chimed another, "That's like, mondo far away!"
"Did you and that human girl fight Emperor Belos?" asked another, "Where you scared?"
"Tch, why would he be scared?"
"Because it's the Emperor. And he said he let them go."
"Oh yeah."
"Who cares? I just think it's cool that someone fought the Emperor and lived!" a boy Nero's age with black hair and four eyes ran up and held out a sheet of paper, "Can I get your autograph?"
"No, mine first," a girl with large, exposed mandibles and cat-like eyes shoved him out of the way. She pointed towards her face, as if asking him to sign it. Then another pushed past, then another, and suddenly the entire thing devolved into a massive brawl that kicked up a cloud of dust, Nero caught in the middle as he was pushed and shoved about.
Nope! Nero cast a spell circle, letting the floor swallow him and spit him out far behind the crowd. Before they could notice him, he was already blazing off for a place to hide. First day back at Hexside, and he somehow hated the place worse than ever.
"Huh, didn't see that coming," Luz said as she, Willow, Gus, and Amity all watched the crowd turn and chase after Nero.
"So..." Willow trailed off, "Should we go help him or-?"
"You can't just barge in here!" Bump said over the intercom, almost making Luz drop the fairy pie Amity gave her.
As they all turned to the speaker, another voice, this one an old, entitled sounding woman, said, "Yes we can! We're the Parent Creature Association! Luz Noceda, Willow Park, and Augustus Porter, report to Principal Bump's office, now!" her voice then gained a low, almost sickeningly sweet tone, "And you too, Amity."
"MOM!?" Amity shouted, Luz's jaw dropping in disbelief.
Oh, this can't be good, she thought as all of them nervously made their way to Bump's office.
Edric stretched as he and Emira got out of their last class for the day, entering the rapidly filling halls. From the looks of it, everyone was scrambling to get to their lockers and go home, though there were some that seemed to be staying behind for rather obnoxious reasons.
"Nero, where are you?" one student went.
"Didn't see him in any of the classrooms-"
"Well, I'm not leaving without an autograph! Or at least a photo op!"
"Right about now I'm sorta glad we never got that popular," Edric commented as they weaved past another group of fanatics, "Still, that is a good question. Where is he?"
"Ed, maybe don't ask those questions out loud," Emira whispered as they headed for their lockers, with Edric clamping his mouth shut. Despite disliking how often his sister proved to be smarter than him (and how much she liked flaunting it), he would admit she was right. Finding Nero would be a lot smoother if they didn't draw the attention of the gaggle of obsessed lunatics.
Once they were out of earshot from anyone, he asked, "Okay, so if I was a tall, dark, brooding, difficult teenager with a glowing demon arm, where would I hide?"
"Behind a gargoyle?" Emira joked.
"Yeah, but that was the first place those guys looked," Edric pointed out, which was true. He recalled seeing students on free period looking around the school gargoyles for Nero. Got to the point where said gargoyles snapped at them to, in their own words, "Fuck off!" It actually surprised Edric that Nero never hung around there, since he had a similar personality to those stone beasts. Then again, maybe he tried to once and they ended up being too similar.
"True," Emira arrived at her locker and got it to open its mouth, taking out her books and putting them in her pack. "So, where's the second place he'd be?"
"Hmmm," Edric hummed, tapping his chin before looking at Nero's locker, "Not sure," he proceeded to poke just the right spots to open it, "But I'll grab his books and drop them off at his aunt's house. If he already left, he could use them." The locker opened, Edric reaching passed the white-haired teen inside, "Excuse me, Nero. Just gotta get your books to drop off at Miss Eda's," pulling the books out, he closed the locker and said, "Thank yo-" before his brain caught up with what he just saw, "Wait a minute."
"Edric," Emira muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose, "By the Titan, you-" she motioned for him to move, which he did, allowing her to re-open the locker. Its jaw unhinged, revealing Nero, cramped inside and looking at them in a mix of fear and annoyance. At the moment, it leaned more towards the former than the latter. "Nero," Emira asked, "What are you doing in there?"
"What the fuck do you think I'm doing?" Nero glared, the annoyance taking over as he punched the locker wall, forcing it to close its maw. Edric just awkwardly looked to his sister, who had that look where she was trying to seem like she wasn't worried. Knowing her long enough to see through the facade, Edric's face mirrored hers, feeling the same way. Looking left and right to see that no students were coming, Edric turned back to the locker, its eye wincing in discomfort. Wasn't hard to guess why.
"Nero," Edric knocked on the locker, "Nero, listen to me. You can't hide in there forever."
"I CAN TRY, DAMMIT!"
"No, I mean the locker's gonna start digesting you eventually."
"Listen to Ed, Claw Boy," Emira added with a playful smirk, "He's speaking from experience."
"One time. It was one time!" Edric whispered to his sister, who looked away and shrugged. Trying not to think of the second most embarrassing moment of his life, he re-focused on his hiding friend, "Look, I get it, you prefer the whole 'lone wolf' thing and the mobs are getting in the way of that, but you really gotta-"
"It's not that."
"Huh?" Edric and Emira said, both equally confused.
"Look, just...I don't really want to talk about it right now," Nero's muffled voice came through, sounding rather sad, "Could you guys leave me alone, please?"
Before Edric could say anything, the sound of clamoring students came in from the right. Turning, he and Emira saw the same fan group from before, all looking around the halls for Nero. Thinking quick, the twins casually leaned against their lockers and tried to look as cool and laid back as possible. They didn't escape the group's attention though, seeing as one of them, a tall insect girl, walked up to them. "Excuse me," her buzzing tone got their attention, "But have either of you seen Nero? You're always hanging around him, so you have to know where he is."
"Sorry," Emira answered casually, "Haven't seen him all day."
"Must have to do with how everyone's been hounding him," Edric shrugged, raising an eyebrow to the bug teen, whose compound eyes glared at him. "What?" he raised his arms in mock surrender, "Just saying, you think he's gonna come out with the manhunt around?"
Keeping up her glare, as everyone else started to leave, bug girl asked, "So you don't know where he is?"
Suddenly, the mouth of Nero's locker opened, causing Edric to panic on the inside. Thankfully, Emira was fast enough to get in the way and stretch to block bug girl's view. "Heh, N-NOPE!" Emira's nervously laughed, "No clue. If I had to guess, he probably went home already. You're out of luck, now learn to live with it." Bug girl didn't reply any further, only glaring at the two as she walked away. Once she was out of sight, Emira sighed, "Phew! That was close."
"Yeah," Edric sighed before giving the locker his full attention. The look in its eye screamed 'Get him out of me right now or I will throw him to the wolves'.
A hand to her chin, Emira pondered, "How exactly are we gonna get him out of here without anyone noticing? Or without waiting until school closes?"
"Hmmm," Edric thought before jumping to a solution, "Wait right here!" He ran down the corner and found the nearest trash can. Grabbing it, he emptied it out and carried it back to the lockers. Making sure no one was looking their way, he said, "Nero, you can hide in here while we get you out of Hexside."
The locker opened just a tad, letting Nero see the plan. He seemed a bit hesitant, but he relented, "Guess I got no choice, huh?"
The twins laughed, "Nope."
With a groan, Nero crawled out of his locker's mouth and fell into the trash can. "Huh, y'know, when you get passed the smell, it's actually not that bad in here."
Chuckling, Edric placed the lid on it, keeping it open just a bit so Nero could get some air. Bending down, he motioned for his sister to go to the opposite side to help him pick it up. "Okay," Edric whispered as they lifted the container, "Now we just have to get you to the front door and-"
"Actually, could you take me to the Grudgby field instead?"
Edric and Emira looked to each other. "Why?" Emira asked, "You've never really been into Grudgby before."
"Not that," Nero sighed in such a way that the twins could almost picture his frustration, "I was thinking that we could...talk while we're there. Need to get some shit off my chest."
Well, that's unexpected, Edric blinked. Usually, they had to coax or bug Nero into wanting to talk with them. Clearing his throat, he replied, "Sure, we can do that. I know a place there that's private enough to avoid anyone."
"Let me guess," Emira smiled, "It's that spot behind the bleachers where you sell fireworks to students?"
"Yup. That's the one," Edric returned with a smirk of his own, proud of the awesome explosions his homemades could make. Sure, none of them were legal and could probably level a forest if they weren't set off carefully, but it was only breaking the rules if you got caught. Besides, none of them started any forest fires yet.
Well, none that he knew of, at any rate.
"Hey, wait a minute," Nero began as the twins hefted the trash can up by its rim, "Isn't this just gonna draw attention?"
"HA!" Edric laughed, he and his sister carrying it through the halls, "Bold of you to assume I haven't stolen a trash can from school before."
"And bold of you to assume I never help him," Emira finished as they walked past a couple students, both of whom looked at them before shrugging and moving on.
"...know what? Fair enough," Nero replied.
Nero let out an "Oof!" as he pressed his hands against the walls of the garbage can, keeping himself still while the whole thing jostled around. He wasn't quite sure if they were at the Grudgby field yet, but he was too afraid to ask the twins. If they got caught talking to a trash can, someone would get suspicious and potentially follow them. Then he'd have to put up with a mob all over again. To make matters worse...
"Hungry..." he groaned, grabbing at his grumbling stomach. Staying in a locker all day didn't leave him with room to eat, and now he was paying the price for it. For Titan's sake, why didn't I run through the cafeteria first? Nero mentally slapped himself, It was right there! I could've grabbed something then hid! Ignoring the stench, he laid down on his side, Not like I can just ask Ed and Em to stop by the cafeteria either. How the hell am I gonna-
Suddenly, his nose picked up on a different smell in the can with him. It was...well, it was still rotten, but a different kind of rotten. Sitting up, he looked around, sniffing for the source, until his eyes landed at the space next to his boots. laying there was what looked like a half-eaten sandwich, bread moldy with a crushed, headless fairy corpse between them. Picking it up as the can's jostling slowed down, he stared at it.
Yeah right, like I'm starving enough to actually consider eating shit I found right out of a- his stomach growled again, prompting him to huff, Oh who the fuck am I kidding?
He brought the sandwich up to his face, ready to take a bite, but then, the lid of the trash can opened. Nero's eyes slowly gazed upward to see the twins peering down at him. Unable to make a retort of any kind, Nero could only give a blank stare, jaw hanging open with the sandwich inches away. The twins, for their part, mirrored his expression until Emira finally broke the awkwardness with a mocking, "Dude, put that thing down. You don't know where it's been."
"Don't care anymore, I'm starving," Nero grunted, his stomach growling to punctuate his point.
"You can't be that hungry," Edric said with a grossed expression, interrupting Nero's second attempt to eat. Feeling his eye twitch, he glared at the twins and almost yelled at them, but Ed held his hands in surrender and pulled out a candy bar from his pocket. "Here," he said, "Definitely better than days old trash." Nero instantly jumped out of the trash can and took the candy bar, not even bothering with removing the wrapper. His hunger satisfied, he turned to Edric and was about to thank him, but then he let out a burp as the wrapper flew out of his mouth. It hit Edric smack on the forehead, causing Emira to burst out laughing while her brother uncomfortably removed it, "Eeeewwwwww."
"Sorry," Nero rubbed the back of his head, face heating up in embarrassment before he shook it off and took in the surroundings. Aside from the bleachers, their only company was a couple buildings used by the Grudgby teams to recuperate after matches. From the looks of things, both were dead empty, not a single sound coming from either of them. Other than the occasional bird tweet and light breeze, the trio were all alone.
"Good news is that school's over, so no more crazy fans," Emira said.
"Yeah," Nero sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Fuck, that was annoying. Hope Luz had it easier."
"Eh, about that, she kinda got ex-" Edric opened his mouth, but Emira elbowed him in the side, shutting him up. Instead, he started whistling while Emira checked her nails with a nervous demeanor.
"Guys, what happened to Luz?" Nero asked, eyes narrowing at the two.
Emira sighed and poked her fingers together, "Okay, truth is that earlier today our mom went to Principal Bump's office. She more or less got Luz and her friends kicked out of Hexside."
"She WHAT!?"
"Yeah," Edric reluctantly confirmed, "I think I saw them try to sneak in a few times. Didn't work, obviously, and I personally would've tried sneaking in by digging underground, but y'know, they tried."
"Dammit," Nero pinched the bridge of his nose, "First the mobs, then the expulsion. Talk about a shitty day back."
"If it makes you feel any better, Luz wasn't putting up with any fanatics when I saw Mittens go up and talk to her. If anything, seemed like they barely acknowledged her," Emira happily pointed out, "I know that's not much at this rate, but you gotta take the good with the bad."
Nero looked at Emira like her head had fallen off, not believing her in the slightest. Turning to Edric, his nod gave Clawthorne the confirmation he needed to know it was the truth. "Well, there's that at least," Nero walked over to one of the steel beams holding the bleachers up and leaned against it, feeling a surge of jealousy run through him, "But why didn't they chase her too?" noticing the look the twins gave him, he backtracked, "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they didn't, it's just...well, everyone saw both of us go against Bellhop's whole petrification bullshit. You'd think people would be clamoring all around her just as much. Doesn't make sense to me."
"I think I can answer that!" Edric took centerstage and pretended like he had glasses to adjust. Then again, Nero did see the concealment stone he was wearing. Maybe he was wearing glasses beneath the glamour? In any case, he took on a more 'lecturer' voice and explained, "See, as someone up there in the chain of high school popularity, I know for a fact that the student body will always consider some people to simply be beneath notice regardless of certain accomplishments. And our sister's dear crush-"
"EHEM!" Emira interrupted her brother before Nero could, "Edric, how about we not mention 'you know what' out loud where anyone could hear it?"
"Tch, like you're one to talk," Nero scoffed.
"Hey! We only sent you the text about it because we knew you'd never tell anyone else!"
"Pretty weird amount of faith for you to have in me, Em."
"Because we know you, Claw Boy."
"Uh, guys?" now it was Edric's turn to interrupt as he cleared his throat, "Anyway, like I was saying, the point is that a lot of the school just sees Luz as 'that human girl' and not much else," he pointed to Nero, "You, on the other hand, are pretty much the strongest guy in Hexside. Not to mention your whole antisocial schtick makes you cool to a lot of students." In annoyance, Edric rolled his eyes, "Though why people think an antisocial grouch is 'cool' is something I'm never gonna get."
"You and me both," Nero grunted, agreeing with him despite the insult.
"To top it off, pretty much all the Boiling Isles saw you chuck a petrification statue over the horizon," Emira added, "Speaking for myself, that was one of the coolest thing's I'd ever seen. I'm sure Luz did a lot, but it wasn't a total spectacle like what you did, so it didn't really change anything for her," she sighed, hands to her hips, "A sad fact of life is that some people are just really superficial. They'll only ever care about how something looks and not much else."
"Speaking from experience?" Nero asked, noting the melancholy in Emira's tone, as well as the bitter, guilty look the twins shared.
"Yeah," Edric answered sadly, "Guess you could say we have some experience on both sides of that mess."
Nero let those words wash over him, his mind flashing back to four years ago. He remembered a high society party he and Mom had been invited to at Blight manor, where he was acquainted with the rest of Edric and Emira's family. He didn't remember much of Alador other than how he looked like he really didn't want to be there and got distracted by something, but he could recall his first meeting with then ten-year-old Amity. Overall, the kid seemed nice, even if she tried talking to him about Good Witch Azura, which he couldn't understand or enjoy for the life of him. In the end, she respected the fact that he just wanted to wait out the storm alone and left him to it, which put her above the twins in his book.
Odalia, on the other hand, was someone he could've gone his entire life without ever meeting, what with how she looked at him like he was some medal. Even the way she talked, what with her praising how "accomplished" he was, comparing his status to her own kids, and asking his mother how proud she was, felt more like she was trying to endear herself to Mom than anything else. The look on his mother's face made it clear she saw through the facade and motioned for him to duck out and avoid the Blight matriarch. Based on the wrathful look she was giving Odalia, Lilith was probably struggling not to throttle the woman.
That just left him wandering around all the grownups in complete boredom, looking for something to do. Then he saw the twins chatting away with the other rich high society kids. He recalled them seeing him and waving hello, asking him to join in, the rest seeming way more eager to want to talk with him. Not wanting to put up with it then, he walked away, but before he did, he noticed something off about the twins' eyes and smiles; the way they seemed almost pleading for him to stick around, how the grins they wore looked almost stapled on. Back then, Nero thought it was just a trick of the eyes.
It was only now that he realized what it actually meant.
"Nero! You still there?" Emira yelled, snapping Nero out of his musings.
"Huh?" he asked, "Uh, yeah, I'm still here," still leaning against the steel beam, he sat down, "Just got lost in something's all."
"Is it about why you wanted to talk?" Edric asked, him and his twin sitting at his left and right respectively.
"No. I mean, kinda, I think? Guess I just needed someone I could vent to about all this shit," he sighed, "Look, remember when you said this shit got in the way of my 'lone wolf' crap?" Edric and Emira nodded, letting Nero continued, "Well, I don't like it as much as you'd think."
Blinking, the twins looked to each other before looking back to Nero, Emira asking, "So, if I were to take a wild guess, I'd say you wanted actual friends who see you for you, right?" Nero nodded, to which Emira groaned, but smiled lightheartedly, "Dammit, this is starting to sound like a friendship plot straight out of Mittens' books."
"Should I be concerned about our lives being a bucket list of cliches?" Nero asked, though even he couldn't help but grin.
"Eh, nothing wrong with cliche if you ask me," Edric started chuckling, Nero and Emira joining him for a bit before things calmed down. "Guess that means you're gonna give finding friends a shot?" Edric asked, "I mean, aside from Luz, Mittens, and her friends, there's bound to be a few people at Hexside who ain't rabid lunatics. Hell, give it a week and I think the hype should die down enough to be tolerable. Maybe you can find people that understand you then?"
"Guess so," Nero leaned the back of his head against the beam, "But first, I should probably start here," taking a deep breath, he looked over to Emira then her brother before leaning forward, resting his chin on his knees and wrapping his arms around his legs, "I'm sorry."
"Excuse me?" the twins asked simultaneously.
"Looking back, you guys kinda already got where I was coming from," he explained, "You already knew what it was like; everyone around you not seeing you, but what you could do for them. And if it wasn't that, it was just them looking at this cool person they could gawk at. Point is, you were kinda going through the same thing I was going through, and I just ignored it. So, I'm sorry."
"To be fair, we didn't really make it easy for you to want to be around us or deal with our problems," Emira reassured, "What with the pranks and jokes and everything an overly serious brooding jerk would hate. Honestly, don't blame you for being so closed off with us half the time."
"Considering what your parents are like, I get it. Everyone's got their ways of dealing with those kinds of things," Nero remarked, looking up at the clouds above, "You have pranks, I have fighting shit."
"To be fair, it's not the only one, but yeah," Edric shrugged, looking at the clouds as well, "In hindsight, we weren't really good friends to each other, were we?"
"Nope. We most certainly were not," Nero bluntly answered, the three of them staring at the clouds in silence as they began forming shapes. For some reason, a couple looked like a winged skull-headed beast standing alongside an equally large, winged warrior with a sword. He wasn't sure what they were supposed to be, but for some reason it felt like both fluffy figures were almost staring at him. Probably just my imagination, Nero blinked and rubbed his eyes, the shape of the clouds becoming something else entirely.
"Know what?" Edric was the first to stand up, "Why don't we just put the past in the past? You're just starting class here again, so let's consider this a fresh start on all accounts and take it from the top," he held out his hand, "My name's Edric."
His twin followed suit, holding out her own hand in a mirror image of his, "And I'm Emira. Want to be friends?"
Nero looked between the twins and, without a moment's hesitation, took their hands as they pulled him up, "Sure. Let's be friends." While he wasn't sure what compelled him, Nero held his arms openly and expectantly, with the twins staring at him in surprise. Thankfully, that surprise turned into joy as the two embraced him in a hug, which he found himself returning with equal vigor. This... he thought, This feels right.
Once they retracted from the hug, Emira asked, "So, what now? Gonna head home? If you have nothing else to do, you could always come with us to hang out. Our mom and dad are putting on their usual weapons showcase tonight that we gotta to attend. But we could find a way to sneak off and do something in town."
Nero thought about it for a second before he shook his head, "Much as I'd like to, I can't really do that. Since Luz got expelled, I want to see if I can help her find a way to get back into Hexside. Besides, I gotta check in on Mom and Aunt Eda." Nero recalled earlier today with Luz teaching them their first proper glyph lessons. While Mom was taking to them like a Selkidomus to the Boiling seas, Aunt Eda was struggling quite a bit. That reminds me, should probably also check in on Selki if Luz hasn't already, he recalled before concluding, "I'll see if we can hang out later. That sound good?"
"Yeah," Edric replied, "Sounds good with us. Right Em?"
"Sure thing. See you around, Nero," Emira started waving goodbye alongside her twin as Nero did the same, walking off to Bonesborough and feeling a lot better. Despite the shitty start to the day, it turned out not so bad.
The sun had was already starting to set by the time Nero arrived back at the Owl House, being greeted by the site of his mom sitting on an ice sculpture that looked like a combination of Hooty and a swan. Gone was her usual two-tone dress, and in its place was a low battery t-shirt and ragged grey skirt. On her lap was Selki, whom, she was hand feeding a snow cone, and hovering near them was-
"Ugh, Hooty," Nero grumbled, watching the Owl House's guardian nibble on a popsicle. The whole friendship his mom recently started with the annoying bird tube was definitely a shock for him. He wasn't sure why Mom had this sudden 180 towards Hooty, with the most she said being that he helped her when she needed it most. Probably had something to do with the Scrying spell she made that let them peer into Belos' castle. If so, then Nero was grateful to Hooty for helping his mom out, but that didn't make the bird brain any less insufferable.
"Hey Nero!" Hooty cheered, dropping the popsicle in the process. Nero did his best to ignore the usual annoyed feeling as the house demon ate it off the floor.
"Hello, my little raven!" Lilith happily greeted as patted Selki's head, the infant Selkidomus finishing the last of the snow cone. Nero gave a warm smile and pushed the rest of his issues towards the house demon down. He reminded himself that, aside from sharing the same roof, Hooty and Lilith were now practically best friends. Much as it bugged him, he'd put up with it for her sake.
"Hey mom," Nero waved as he approached, looking at the ice sculpture with a whistle, "You've been getting pretty good with these glyphs."
Mom leapt off the sculpture, gently putting Selki on the ground and marveling at her work, "Indeed! Experimenting with them has been so delightful as well," her smile morphed into a smirk and she entered what Aunt Eda once called 'nerd mode', "It's quite fascinating, really. Did you know that while glyphs act like the basic elements, they don't contain magic like a witch's Valknut. Instead, they command surrounding magic around them. They actually function similar to words," she pulled out a sheet of paper and started drawing, "And chaining glyph combos together, like so, is like forming entire sentences that can specify what the caster wants," She showed her work, revealing circle with an ice glyph on the top and fire glyph on the bottom. Placing it on the ground, she tapped it, enveloping the immediate environment with a cloud of mist.
"Woah," Nero watched in awe as the mist slowly fade, Hooty cheering and Selki clapping.
"I know! An entire magical language that can potentially create spells never seen before," Lilith's excitement grew as she sighed wistfully and clasped her hands together, "It's just so beautiful."
"Starting to wish I didn't sleep in this morning. Could've attended Luz's glyph lesson before school," Nero admitted, remembering how he forgot to set his alarm.
"Speaking of school, how was your first day back at Hexside?" Lilith asked, snapping out of her reverie. At Nero's silence, her expression turned to worry, "Was it that bad? Were students mean to you because of the petrification day events?"
"No! Just..." Nero sighed, rubbing the back of his head, "Started off shitty, but it had a decent ending." Selki waddled up to his leg and affectionately rubbed her head against it, clearly trying to make him feel better. With a bittersweet smile, he knelt down and petted her, being careful with the sapling atop her head. "Can we talk about it later?" Nero asked as he stood up, "Right now, there's something I want to talk with Luz about."
"Uh, about that," Lilith stammered, "Luz hasn't returned yet."
"What? Then where is she?"
"I have no idea! Hoot!" Hooty chimed in, giving his unneeded, needlessly high-pitched answer, "But don't you worry. If she can handle the Emperor, I'm sure she's fine wherever she is."
"Blegh!" Luz spat out a glob of the Abomination slime that stuck her to the wall, the crowd's applause muffled by how it also covered her ears. As it died down, she overheard Amity's mom say something about peaceful not being someone's thing and tried to remove the gunk from her eyes. The moment she saw the green flames errupt from the gun, she wished she didn't.
Oh crap!
"I guess so," Nero shrugged, trying not to bristle at the mention of the fight against Belos. Thankfully, his stomach rumbled again, letting him focus on his hunger instead. Turning to his mother, he asked, "Think you could show me how you made those ice treats?"
With an excited smile, Lilith pulled out some paper and got to work, clapping two ice glyphs together to form a pair of snow cones. Holding one out, she said, "Here you go, my son."
As Nero took it into his right hand, he noted that both the snowball and the cone itself were made from pure frost, making it cool to the touch. Mom handed the other to Hooty, who nibbled on it as she sat on the ground and let Selki into her lap. While she started drawing up another frozen dessert, Nero took a bite of his own. "Hey, this is pretty good," Nero said as he chewed on the snow. Swallowing, he did note the lack of taste, "Could use some flavor though. I'm gonna head inside and see if there's any syrup."
"Could you ask Edalyn if we have blackberry?" Lilith asked as Nero walked up to the front door.
"I will," Nero replied as he opened the door, "Hey, Aunt Eda, I'm back! Was wondering if-" cutting him off was the sight of a slowly growing, spiky ball of ice at the center of the room; Eda and King were nervously backing away while Graff kept darting along the walls, shifting from "F*CK" to "SH*T" and back again. "If we have...uh..." Nero regained his bearings, "W-What's going on here?"
Snapping her head back, Eda gave him a forced smile, "Hey oh nephew of mine! Just doing some clean up. Nothing to see here! Why don't you go hang out with your mom for now while we take care of the house?"
"Should I do somethi-"
"And don't say a word of this to Lily!" Eda yelled through grit teeth. Without a peep or blink, Nero slowly backed out of the room and closed the door behind him, spending a solid minute staring at the front door trying to figure out what he just witnessed.
Once he figured he was better off not knowing, he clapped his hands and turned. "On second thought," Nero said as he walked back to his mother, "Flavor's overrated. Let's just stay out here and eat flavorless frozen stuff."
Mom looked up at him from the ground, raising an eyebrow, "Nero, is something going on with Edalyn?"
"Uuuuuuuh," eyes nervously darting left and right as both Lilith and Selki gave him scrutinizing looks, he answered, "Nope!"
"...Alright, I'll play along for now," Mom shrugged, forming another snowball for Selki to eat.
With a sigh of relief, Nero sat down next to her, "Okay, good," before taking another bite of his snow cone. A few bites later and he finished it, Mom already making more frozen desserts with a smile on her face. "Y'know mom," Nero grinned in a good-natured manner, "Feels like you're enjoying one upping Aunt Eda at something."
"Hmm, maybe just a bit," Lilith smirked, unable to help herself as she combined two ice glyphs and shot them into the air, letting snowflakes fall down on them.