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linsallyworld · 3 years

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Uneven Odds (Lilith Clawthorne x reader fanfic)

Summary: You have fallen into a strange world, but the Owl House residents have welcomed you. You certainly believe you need to find your way home, but each day it’s a little harder to know where home is when you glance at a certain witch with heterochromatic eyes and pointy ears.

Final Chapter

Words: 13k

Anyone who had a glance at Lilith Clawthorne in her coven days would say that she was an unbreakable witch.

She was a witch who knew where she was going. She knew exactly what she was doing. She would never let herself be shaken by anything. She was strong, she was centered, she was the third most powerful witch in the boiling isles, respected where she stepped. She was a brick wall, an unstoppable storm, she answered to no one but Emperor Belos. Nothing deserved her loyalty but the emperor.

Nothing would stop her but the emperor.

Every day she woke up with a focus and a mission in mind. She would not linger observing the lifeless ceiling of her room, or the lifelessness her room had overall. Unstoppable.

She would open her eyes. She would stand up. She would check her duties put in order of priority and start walking around the castle to make sure all the troops were doing their jobs correctly.

She was the inspiration of the new generation of witches. The words success and dedication carried her name.

Anyone who knew her before would say that she was someone impossible to break. Made not of iron but pure steel. Nothing could strike her because she had no weak points.

A perfect soldier. Molded to obey. Molded to do whatever was necessary.

Someone impossible to break in half, who even when on the brink of death in battle would die with a smile on her face.

Someone who could not be struck by love, because she had simply forgotten what that was. And someone who could never be struck by hate because there was no one she hated more...Than herself.

Who could have known that underneath her steel skin, underneath her cold eyes, her sarcasm dripping with venom, her posture as firm as a statue...There was someone who couldn't live with herself?

Lilith hated every second of her existence almost as much as she hated herself.

She stuck her head in paperwork, in training, in missions. She filled her head as much as she could. This is how she lived, trying to survive with the guilt and the fact that no one... No one...

No one would ever look at her with the slightest bit of affection on their face. No one would simply listen to her talk about her day. Because...Who the hell would want to talk to someone as hateful as she was?

She clung to the crumbs Belos offered. She believed that a "well done" and a "very good" was all she needed...But that was all she had. For years.

Years.

For years all she could think about was pleasing that man because it was the only interaction she regularly received from anyone.

Lilith got used to sleeping three hours a night.

She got used to being quiet while the emperor murdered wild witches and broke their palismen to stay healthy. She convinced herself that this was right. Believing that he would save Eda. Believing that he could fix the biggest mistake of her whole life.

Because if he healed her...Eda would be fine. The guilt would go away, the weight on her shoulders would go away. She could have a sister again. They could be united in the coven like they were when they were young. Best friends.

All those dreams, bad dreams... They would stop.

She could keep fooling herself, or trying to fool herself. But it was the only thing that allowed her to sleep. The only thing that would stop the dreams, the dreams that wouldn't leave her alone even when she was awake.

For how long had Eda, Eda's ghost, kept her sane? For how long was that connection lost in time all she had to keep her up every day?

Tomorrow I will be able to bring her in. Tomorrow he will heal her. Tomorrow this will be over.

There were days when she felt that there was only her and Riven. The only being that could stand...Someone like her. She still doesn't understand how he just hasn't flown away over the years. Titan knows he had reasons for it.

She didn't deserve even such a good little bird in her life.

But then...That happened.

The moment the emperor said what he intended. The moment he left the throne room.

She...

She broke, as perfectly as a piece of crystal.

Perfectly.

"You deserved to be petrified. Not Eda." That's what Luz said. And she was never more right. She was that thing with no feelings, while her sister was willing to die for a little girl.

Never.

No one had the right to lay a single finger on her sister.

She broke in half.

She realized that...If Eda had joined the coven. They would have killed her. Not physically, but inside. Eda was free, chaotic, smiling, and kind. A few weeks in the coven, with whispers, nightmares, too many harsh words and...Well, worse things...Things Lilith didn't like to think about. No. She would never allow it.

She betrayed the emperor. She stood by her sister for the first time in years. And she didn't regret it for a single second. It was the least she could do...After so long and after all she had done.

And Eda accepted her.

Even knowing everything. She didn't just forgive her. She accepted her. She took her by the hand and showed her that nothing had to be awful. They could face anything, as long as they were together. It was a slap in the face. More than a slap in the face. It was a punch in the stomach, the kind that steals the air and makes vomit build up in her throat. Her little sister. She didn't hate her, she didn't kick her out of her life for what she did. She simply was Eda...She simply gave her a place in her life.

And she felt like shit for that, every day.

She would choose screams, cuts, eyes glittering with hate. It was what she got used to. After so long you interpret a raised hand as something other than a pat on the back. You get chills just hearing a sharper male voice, even if you know it's the Tv...And not him. You feel that you are not welcome, even when everyone is smiling at you.

She didn't feel she deserved any of what had happened. She was the one who cursed Eda. She was the one who hid it. She was the one who chose the emperor for so many years, choosing poor validation over her family. She was the one who was this horrible creature for so long.

She constantly thought about leaving for another place. She never had a home besides her room in the emperor's castle, but maybe she could have one, somewhere. Just to allow her sister to have her family in peace. She certainly deserved that. Lilith believed that even Hooty would be better off without her, he didn't deserve someone like her as a best friend. She was trying to live one day at a time, trying to deal with everything that her head was thinking about every second of the day.

That was until you arrived. Stubborn. Insistent. Persistent. Kind. Loving.

You were the outlier. Completely outlier. She had nothing against humans before, not really. She made fun of Luz before only because she was still trying to deal with everything she felt about Eda and the curse and the Coven. But she found humans quite fascinating, to be honest. However, she really didn't expect the human girl she helped because she realized she was a lost human as much as her sister's adopted daughter to be her mate.

Lilith is no longer the witch who served in the emperor's coven. She no longer commands troops. She doesn't obey orders anymore. And she doesn't intend to do that ever again.

When her eyes open in the first light of the morning, she doesn't think about her duties, or about troops. She blinks a few times to get used to the brightness and the surroundings she has just woken up to, and the first thing she sees, are shiny objects, producing little rainbows as they receive the first rays of the morning sun. It's a beautiful sight to wake up to.

The somnolence is still taking hold of her, so she doesn't mind considering a few more minutes of sleep.

She moves and her arms unconsciously wrap around the other body in the nest, seeking warmth almost sleepwalkingly. The body is small compared to hers, but it fits so well with hers as if it was born to be so. And it probably was. She breathes in the smell of your hair and wishes she could make a moment like this become eternal or at least long enough for her to carry in her memory.

Lilith doesn't have substantial nice memories if she were honest. She doesn't think that after she left her parents' house she has any worth keeping until she started living with Eda again.

Most of her memories...She'd rather not even touch.

So while she has been living in the Owl House she keeps every one of them.

She keeps the first time she made Eda laugh after discovering about the curse, warm and wide, a laugh that almost made her cry. She keeps when King grabbed her leg in a hug for helping him down from the kitchen table. She keeps the day she and Hooty became best friends. She keeps every time Luz was proud of her for her advances in glyph magic. She keeps every smile she took from you. She remembers and doesn't think she will ever be able to forget. Each one of them.

Lilith Clawthorne used to be unbreakable. But she...She is not. Not anymore.

She has something she can call family now and even if she thinks she doesn't deserve them...They are the people she devotes herself to every day to protect and care for. She will make up for it. Eda, Luz, Hooty, King, and you. She accepts it now. Even if she doesn't feel she deserves it...She accepts the affection. Because she doesn't know if she can live any other way now.

She also doesn't think she's good at showing feelings. She was once a little more open as a child, just a little. People were already cruel when she was young, and she could usually only talk to Eda...And sometimes Raine. This got worse over the years. Now it's extremely complicated to say how she feels or to find out how she feels. In the coven...If you indicated weakness or feelings in general, things didn't end very well.

She's trying, though.

She always tries when she thinks about you.

She hopes that you all know...That you all know how important you are to her. How much she would rather have Belos rip her heart out than hurt any of you again.

"Lith?" She hears you mumble a very sleepy, slow question, but she still understands. "What time is it?" Her eyes move to the window, the sunlight still incipient, slowly creeping over the horizon. Everything still seems a little dark.

"Early." She whispers against the back of your out head, your hair is smelling particularly good. "Go back to sleep." She says next. Lilith is sure her voice sounds awful when it's hoarse like this.

"Okay." She wants to giggle because you didn't even want to question it. You could be a bear when it came to sleep, and she thought that was quite adorable. She didn't laugh, though, because she felt you gripping her fingers gently, entwining yours with hers and then pulling her even tighter against you. You are exuding a very welcoming morning warmth and she can't stop herself from tightening around you.

A small smile threatened to curl across her lips. It had been a few weeks now, but she would be lying if she said she had gotten used to...The touch again.

How important is it to feel someone's touch? How long had she only had the comforting weight of Riven between her neck and shoulder and that was all?

Lilith was once an unbreakable woman. But now she has a weak heart for the simplest things. And when she closes her eyes again, pressing her fingers against yours, smelling her mate...She is sure she doesn't care that her heart has softened.

And when she breathes. Long and soothing. She reckons. How rare and beautiful it is to even exist, how rare and beautiful are the odds of you finding her. Of her finding you. Uneven.

She sleeps more than three hours a night now.

And she is fine with that.

(...)

When she opened her eyes again. The morning is already a little higher than before, the sun is already a little too bright, which tells Lilith that she should get up. It's kind of ironic, but she is a morning person.

She stretches her neck and sighs for a moment. Her eyes fall to you then and the smile slowly spreads across her lips.

Lilith sneaks up to place a little kiss on your forehead before getting up from the nest. She's not sleepy anymore and she didn't want to wake you up by tossing and turning around. So she crawls out of the nest and looks for comfortable clothes to go downstairs and make breakfast.

She doesn't forget to take a bottle of elixir. It tastes awful and burns her throat a little when she swallows it, but it's worth it. Anything to keep the raven beast away from everyone, especially away from you.

She remembers that. Of that thing in her head, enveloping her with that aura, preventing her from controlling herself and her own feelings. And the terror that gripped her whole body when she became conscious again and realized that she was one step away from...

Lilith Clawthorne no longer has duties to perform. She now has chores that she enjoys doing. She pours herself a mug of apple blood and realizes that Luz must have already had breakfast because she left the cereal box on the table.

If a year ago someone asked Lilith to make a hot chocolate...She would ask what the hell hot chocolate was, let alone one with no lactose. Lately, it's almost second nature to her. She walks easily through the kitchen, picking up coconut milk, chocolate, nutmeg, cinnamon, and other ingredients that she wouldn't know the name of if not for this specific thing. She was still learning to cook without using any magic.

She's mixing the darker melted chocolate into the mixture and keeping it warm with a simple glyph combo when her ears move with an intrusive sound.

She feels it more than hears it, to be honest. The leaves move hard, the winds are violent, it rocks the house in a very familiar way.

Her heart...Her heart seems to stop for a moment because years have passed, but she still recognizes it. And when the voice comes. She knows she wasn't wrong.

She's a grown woman, isn't she? So why is it that when she hears her voice it sounds like she's 15 years old again?

Her fingers tremble around the porcelain and she sets it down on the table, afraid it will fall.

Mom.

It's her mother's voice.

Why? Why is she here? Does it really matter? It's your mother. Talk to her. You are no longer a child. You don't need her to look at you constantly anymore.

She's your mother. You haven't seen her for longer than you can remember. You miss her. Lilith takes a deep breath, trying to orchestrate her thoughts, but her legs carry her to the door before she can really form a coherent one.

"I heard all about the petrification ceremony." That's the first thing she hears when she puts a foot out of the house. She remembers that day pretty well. She remembers the fear of dying, not death exactly, but...Dying without being able to redeem herself for anything. She remembers the other fear that still chills her bones. The fear of losing Eda. She would rather someone kill her than have to feel that again.

"Mother!" The word sounds strange on her tongue. After all this time, she still looks...Almost the same. Mother has grayer hair now and her eyes have darkened a bit, looking more like one of her own. But Gwendolyn Clawthorne still looked like the same woman, with a smile that matched Eda's and eyes that reminded her of the person Lilith was. She's wearing an amulet with a strange symbol, but mama has always been somewhat adventurous.

"Oh hi, sweet flea." Sweet flea. Oh. That's nostalgic. It's been years since she heard that. She smiles at it. A single smile. After all this time. Does she notice the changes in her? The heterochromatic eyes? The freckles all over her body? She's probably lost quite a bit of weight since she last saw her mother. "Still dying your hair, I see. It's very sleek." The witch moves closer for just a brief second, just a small touch on the smaller strands of her hair. It's only a delicate touch, but it seems to make a lifetime since her mother last touched her. Because it probably does. It feels like a lifetime since the last time she had a chance to see or hear her mother. She almost closes her eyes with that single touch. "Now give me a moment with Edalyn, dear. It's important." Lilith opened her mouth in pure reflex, but...Nothing came out.

Don't feel that. No. You are a grown woman. You are a grown woman, a grown woman who cursed her own sister. You can't demand more of her, you just don't have the right to do that.

That doesn't stop her stomach from sinking, her eyes itching. She pulls away, wrapping her arms around herself, perhaps trying to keep this feeling from spreading. Her skin creeps with an icy sensation that runs through her entire body. Tighten your arms, keep it inside you, you are no longer a child begging for attention. Eda. Eda deserves better.

Eda deserves this family. You don't. You are only here because she had compassion for you. Don't be like that. Don't be that stupid, spoiled child again. This all happened simply because you were like that.

When will you stop? Will it never be enough?

"Hey, guys. Good morning." She tries to return to her more ordinary mood when you cross the doorway with the hot chocolate in hand, giving her the brightest smile in appreciation. Lilith tries to smile back, it comes out as a grimace.

She knows that the only reason you don't feel everything right away it's because you're still sleepy, but as soon as you fully return to your body, you will. She can't let that happen. Not about that. It's childish, it's stupid. She doesn't want you to see that side of her. It would be better if you only knew the problems with the parents, no more than that.

It's not fair to you.

"I shall be curing your curse!" It's Gwendolyn's exclamation that makes all eyes turn to her. Including yours. Lilith watches your face, she watches you raise your eyebrows in confusion, noticing the obvious resemblance in the woman present there, and then your eyes go to her.

But before you have a chance to ask, Eda's response diverts your attention.

"No, thanks." A chorus of "Whats?" arises, coming from, Luz, Hooty, and you. Lilith dare not open her mouth once more. Not again.

"I said, 'No, thanks'." Repeated Eda simply, while shrugging. Yes, it hurts. It hurts how indifferent Eda is. Because she didn't need mother to look at her. She never needed it and it's not the least bit different now. Lilith wanted to be like her. Eda was so extensively better than her at everything. "I got my elixir system. I'm good." There's a sour taste in her mouth, but she can't tell if it's leftover from the elixir...Or everything.

"But... But who knows what they put in those nasty concoctions?" The matriarch of the Clawthorne family proceeds, her eyebrows raised in complete disbelief. Luz nods her head in agreement and Lilith feels your eyes upon her incisively. You haven't asked anything yet, the bond is in complete silence. She wonders if it's due to the fact you have already sensed how petty she is wanting to behave now.

"Actually, I do." Eda said with her tongue dripping sarcasm. "And... Would you look at the time?" She pretends to look at a wristwatch before simply sitting mother on her staff. "I got a lot to do today. So sad to see you go. Okay, bye!" She hits a resounding slap on the tip of the staff, causing the wings to spread and then the eagle ascends into the sky.

Everyone looks quite indignant. Lilith. Lilith doesn't know what to feel. She...For the first time in a long time, she feels like she is floating in that cloud of emotions that was being in the emperor's coven. She doesn't know what to feel. She doesn't know how she should behave and it scares her...Quite a lot.

"I'd kill to see my mom right now, and you just launch yours into the sky?" Luz's voice is particularly shrill, but Lilith doesn't pay attention. She doesn't think she is paying attention to anything. That's lethargy.

"Oh, listen, she comes around every year, toting a new cure for my curse, but they never work." Every.

Every year? She watches Eda entering the house and the word seems to echo inside her. Every.

Every year.

No. Don't start with that.

You don't have the right.

But if mother had appeared once every two years, or three? Maybe four years? Would it have made things easier when she could barely look in the mirror? Would it have made her less hateful? No. Lift your head, don't cry. This is not the time to cry, even if your eyes water. Even if your heart squeezes until it feels like it's going to turn into a grape. You can't do this.

She didn't even ask if you were okay. How long has it been? 8? 10 years since you last saw her? And she didn't even ask if... if you were okay.

She didn't even look at you.

"Lilith." She feels your touch, slightly hesitant on her shoulder. She has no idea how long she has been staring at the spot in the sky where her mother disappeared. "Everything okay?" The right answer? No. She's not okay. She thought her parents' lack of attention was kind of a Clawthorne thing, they had to pay more attention to Eda because she was chaotic...And she was cursed. But...Decades later. They still pretend they have only one daughter. It's still the same shit.

Stop it. It's not right. If you hadn't cursed your little sister in the first place, none of this would have happened.

"Sure." She swallows hard to manage to say anything. She sees you frown and tilt your head, doubt emanating so evidently. She knows you feel it. You know exactly what she is feeling. She can't allow it now.

When the walls go up around her, she's not even fully aware.

She just needs...She just needs you not to see that side of her. You, a girl who was kicked out of your home by your own parents, who probably never had the slightest bit of love within your own home. You don't need to see this petty side of her that complains even with a...Loving mother. She can't remember the last time she felt this bad.

You don't have to feel that way. You don't need to be around her now.

"I...I'll go see if Eda needs help with anything." That's a lame excuse. She just needed to get away from it all for a second. For a second that was.

She wanted to not exist. For a damn second. For one damn second, she would like to stop thinking.

"Lilith..." But when the word tries to reach her, it hits and doesn't really touch her. She knows how much she must have hurt you.

She hates herself a little more for that.

But now. Now she really needs to hide again. She really needs to not be here.

Fear makes her skin freeze. She doesn't want to hurt you. None of you.

That's why she needs to be alone. Before her poison sprays.

(...)

That. That almost tore you apart. Not the attitude, but the barrier. It was almost physical, your skin froze when you felt the word simply float. It hurt, but it hurt inside. It sank into your stomach, made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

She pushed you away. Again. She...She went to lock herself away. Again. You try not to feel your heart fall to pieces at this, but it's slightly impossible. Your eyes seem to fill with tears as you watch her disappear into the house.

You knew that her relationship with her mother was, to say the least, complicated. But, you had shitty parents as well, you could help. You wanted to help.

But, as always...She didn't want to. Even after everything. Would that ever change?

"Y/N!" You blink several times to push the tears away and then face Luz. It's a bit complicated and you make her frown as she looks at you. You try not to grimace, silently asking what you could help with. "Will you come with me, after Miss Clawthorne?" Your eyebrows pronounce and then you realize that she is pointing to a spot in the forest. The woman had not gone away.

"Why do you want to go after her?" You think it sounded a little too harsh, but it was Lilith. She would do that to you. You'd go into defensive mode when she got like that.

"She's trying to help. If she has some way to actually cure the curse we can't let it slip just because Eda is too proud." She had a point there. If she really could cure the curse...Maybe she and Lilith could establish some kind of connection again. It was a silly hope. But what wouldn't you do for her?

And what other options did you really have? Staying in the Owl House, watching the weather while Lilith didn't want to talk to you?

"Fine. Let's go." Luz raises her arms and you make your way toward the clearing, with quick steps, really fearing that Miss Clawthorne would leave without you having the chance.

"MISS CLAWTHORNE!" Luz's shout makes the woman stop in place and turn around with frowning eyebrows. She's strangely very similar to the two sisters, facially it's like looking at Eda, but her eyes are exactly like Lilith's green eye. "Hi! I'm Luz. Eda's apprentice." She looks at you then and a small smile forms on her mouth. "And this is Y/N, my apprentice." Miss Clawthorne frowns slightly at that but doesn't interrupt. "We think what you're doing is so sweet. Eda can be so... Eda sometimes." The lady smiles now. She doesn't seem bothered by the fact that you are both humans, which is good.

"You may call me Gwen, my dears. But please don't blame Edalyn." She clings to her staff. An eagle. You watch with interest. Owl, raven, eagle. The Clawthornes had something with birds. "It was the curse that created the rift between us." Your tongue curls into your mouth to ask about Lilith. Had she not even noticed that she was cursed too? Had she not even noticed the change in her eyes? The white streak? Oh, this is worse than you thought.

"I understand. Right now, there's an actual rift between me and my mom in the Human Realm." You feel for her. Luz's mother loves her and you can't imagine the pain she is feeling without any word from her daughter.

You wonder if your parents at some point tried to look for you. Probably not.

"Human Realm? Hmm." Miss Clawthorne seems to ponder for a second as she looks at the two of you. "My dear, I may know how to fix both our rifts." You frown, almost to the point of joining your eyebrows together. The human world? "I've heard some information that may assist you on your quest." She's smiling in a rather cheerful way now, but for some reason, you can't smile back. Probably because of the lethargy you are feeling. "Help me cure Eda's curse and that information is yours." You are about to add something. Why would she really need your help to cure Eda if she already said she had the cure? And why would an adult make a bargain with a child?

"Yes, yes, yes!" Luz, on the other hand, doesn't seem too discouraged. Maybe it's just you. You don't even think of the human world as home anymore. Home. That word doesn't belong where you came from. "Where do we start?" She then adds, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"We'll be consulting someone very special." And when she touches the amulet she has on her chest, it glows with a green light that you don't think is very safe.

But when Luz starts walking beside her and chattering, you follow her. Because you see no other option. Going home now and feeling that barrier that almost ripped you in half is not an option.

You follow them. Not before you take one last look at the Owl House and pray to the Titan to take care of her while you cannot.

(...)

Having ice cream of controversial origins with a demon in the middle of the day. Maybe this was the new humiliating one for Lilith. For Titan's sake. Hooty had to tell them to stop. If Hooty became the voice of reason then she was really in deep shit.

But she wanted to stay away and she succeeded. You, Eda, and Luz just disappeared. Which is good. She says to herself as she takes another spoonful that seems to cloud her head even more.

It's good that you are far away and don't get a chance to see her like this. Especially you.

Family issues and night market ice cream do not get along well.

"If my dad doesn't care about me, why should I care about him?" Unfortunately, this is not how things work. Children who are left out are always the ones who are so in need of care. She observed this in Amity for a while, it was almost impossible not to make a self-projection. With you, it was vastly harder to ignore.

That's another reason why she stayed with the emperor for so many years. She was so afraid of leaving him and never having anyone again. Belos did several things that she would rather forget, but he spent more time with her than her own parents. Which is kind of ironic. How ironic is it that the dictator who tried to kill her and her sister, who tor...For years was more present in her life than her parents?

Would it have been the least bit different?

You can't blame them. You can't. They shouldn't even have to look at you in the face after what you did.

"Hmm? Well, I'm not going to him. He's gonna have to come to me." King proceeds, throwing his stuffed animal across the room. He's furious. Lilith is similar. She knows she shouldn't...But that's all she feels. She wishes she could have been the perfect daughter. She wanted so badly to impress them. She wanted so much to give them pride and nothing was ever enough.

She was still second, even though she was first. She will always be...That.

"I have no mother." She mumbles, feeling the burden of the words weigh on her shoulders. She really didn't have one. She can't remember the last time her mother spoke to her before today. She didn't visit her. She didn't call. She didn't send a fucking letter. She didn't care. It was the same as not having a mother.

A thin tear runs down one of her eyes, but she doesn't bother to wipe it away.

"Isn't that taking it a bit too far, Lulu?" Her eyes go to Hooty and it's touching how concerned he looks. If she were still in her body, she would probably caress his head.

"It's not taking it far enough." King rebuts with his paw in a fist. "Go tell her that. Go on. She's right outside." Lilith's eyebrows pronounce as she settles on the couch to look at the little demon.

"She is?" And her voice breaks halfway. She has no idea why.

"Yeah, I saw her go off with Luz and Y/N. I think they're gonna heal Eda's curse or whatever." She hesitates for a moment when she hears your name. You were trying, even after she pushed you away again. You were still trying. It hurts. Her chest tightens. All the pain she's been causing. All the people she's been hurting. You. But indignation blisters it all away so easily. Resentment is such an easy remedy for self-loathing. It doesn't stop her eyes from filling with tears, though.

Again?

"Mother paying attention to Edalyn, again." She says more to herself as a sneering smile begins to appear in her mouth. It's always been like that. Why on earth did you think it would change? "I mean, it's not like I care." And she tries to say it with conviction, but she thinks the way her voice breaks is too obvious, even for a tube bird and a demon kid.

It's like being 15 all over again. Mother was traveling, looking for a cure. Papa had gone to the Mandible, not exactly answering the letter she sent. She hadn't seen Eda for weeks, she didn't know where she was. And she didn't have the right to ask her anything. Alone and standing in that hall full of people with judgmental looks. No familiar faces, no one to guide her. Just judgment, just people with very threatening expressions as that woman pressed the glove on her back.

She was a fucking child. She just wished someone had held her hand. That's all.

"You got, uh... You got a little, uh... Hmm." She frowns when she realizes that King is pointing at her face. She raises her hands, almost feeling what she would find. Feathers. Feathers sticking out of her skin. Her eyes widen. Her chin trembles. She rises from the couch with enough force to push it away and slam it against the wall.

From under the cushions, behind the pot, on the ceiling. Where? Where are they? Eda has scattered hundreds of them everywhere. Where?

"Where are the elixirs?" She runs, her legs almost failing, her limbs no longer wanting to respond to her pleas. She doesn't want to hurt anyone again. Please, not again. She can't take this anymore.

It hurts.

There are no elixirs in the kitchen cupboards, nor in Eda's room, even the ones in her trunk are gone. Despair surges through her veins. No, not again. She tries to calm herself, to take a few deep breaths, but the thought that there is nothing here to stop it...It only increases her agony.

It will consume her. Her lips quiver as hot tears trickle down harder.

She will hurt everyone again.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt any of you.

When King and Hooty appear at the bedroom door, she wants to say that she's sorry. She wants to say that she tried and failed. She wants to apologize if she hurt them.

However, she doesn't have time. It's extensively stronger than her. Everything. Her ghosts are tougher than her. They pull her into them. They grab her hard enough to hurt, they are strands of black dust that clamp deep, like claws, into her skin and drag hard. There is nothing here. There is nothing but pain and anger and resentment. She doesn't want to. She tries.

But what comes out of her mouth is only a cry and everything turns black before her eyes. And then...

She has no body left either.

(...)

You thought it was a shitty idea from the beginning. It didn't matter how shiny that cave was, or that that guy with more than two arms had healed the creature that looked like a rat. It didn't matter. You didn't think it was right to try to cure the curse by pulling it out, through high levels of stress, as your...(Mother-in-law?) claimed was written in that book. It didn't seem right. This is not any kind of traditional medicine, even for the boiling isles, it didn't seem right.

But she was older, right? She was wiser. She was their mother for the Titan's sake.

"Gwen, we tried freezing the curse out, we tried sweating the curse out, we even tried flying snakes for some reason." The lady looks at you, skeptical, as you continue to speak. "I don't think this stuff is working." Eda just flew over your heads and you don't think this was very productive, considering that she was currently running from flying snakes and the curse was perfectly fine.

"Did Wortlop ever say where he learned this stuff?" Luz completed and from the look on her face at you...You understand that she wasn't very confident either.

"Yes, I'm sending it right away." Gwendolyn said as she pressed a button on a phone that was a bird and it flew away. Your eyebrows frowned again, your intuition sounding throughout your whole body now.

"What did you just do?" Luz murmurs with slightly narrowed eyes. You can already sense where this is going. Nobody charges to heal people if they are not licensed doctors. That's one of the basic things you learn in school.

"It turns out the ancient tome is only the first of a series." You look at Luz and she looks at you. You both raise your eyebrows in the same way. "So I'm trading in a few paltry family heirlooms to get the rest." Gwendolyn says as she hands a bag with more jewelry than you've ever seen in your entire life to a bird that immediately takes off flying.

"Let me see that book." And you're not asking. You want to see what the hell is written there. A certain indignation bubbling up the lethargy you've stopped feeling for a while.

"Halt." She pushes the book away from your hands and you feel your jaw lock, hard as a piece of metal. "Only people who have scaled Wortlop's 'Pyramid of Study' can touch the tome." You roll your eyes before Luz uses a root spell to throw the book directly into your hands. "Hey!" Gwendolyn complains in an alarmed tone. But you and Luz are already going through the pages. Every one of your previous misgivings is confirmed.

"Jar of bees for existential dread?" You mutter, hardly believing your own words.

"Aromatherapy for broken legs?" Luz adds, raising her eyes in alarm at the woman. You remember her saying that her mother was a veterinarian. If you were outraged by that, how should it be for a doctor's daughter?

"Gwen, you're being scammed. Wortlop is the worst kind of fake I've ever seen." But you can see the denial on her face as soon as the words come out of her mouth. She...She truly believes in that crap.

"You really think I'd spend my life savings on a fake?" Your immediate response is "yes". Yes, you would spend your life savings on a book that isn't going to help anything because apparently your censorious ability only... But you shut your mouth. Letting Luz do the talking, she has more finesse. She has more patience than you do at the moment, and you don't think that being rude like this to your mother-in-law is going to be very good for the future.

"I know you want what's best for Eda, and so do I." There was no cure. That disappoints you a little. You certainly wanted to give this cure to Lilith if it were possible. But if it isn't. It doesn't matter. Giant claws and all. Always. "But I'm calling this off." Luz pulls an elixir from the fanny pack she was carrying around her waist and starts down the path to get down from the tree. You intend to follow her before you let out all the swear words that are in your head at this very moment.

"Luz, I really thought we were on the same side." And when she grabs Luz's arm, pulling the elixir from her hands, you already have a fire glyph between your fingers. You normally had some in your pockets. And you've never thought you would have to use it against a family member, but you certainly will if she wants you to. "According to Wortlop, poison like this is made by healers and potion makers who simply want money." You again glance at each other before looking again at the Clawthorne's matriarch. How could she be the mother of the most intelligent woman you have ever met? What kind of mist is that around her?

The book floats up to show you an image that shows a witch poisoning herself with the elixir. Oh my Titan. She's an anti-vaxxer. Your mother-in-law is an anti-vaxxer.

"You have to be fucking kidding me." You barely notice as the curse comes out of your mouth and Luz raises her eyebrows at you, but there is a smile at the corner of her mouth that says she loved it. Oh, Eda is going to kill you.

"You just give..." Luz looks as much on the verge of collapse as you do. She sighs deeply and touches her forehead with her fingertips. "Whatever. I'll just get more at the house." She barely has time to say those words before Gwendolyn smiles too broadly.

"I'm afraid that will be a waste of your time." The eagle scraps past your ear before dropping a wide bag in front of you that reveals...A lot of...Elixirs. No.

She didn't fucking do that. Your breathing changes pace. Your face heats up in a rather obvious outrage.

She...Did she leave Lilith alone without elixirs? Lilith who was currently fighting with herself over her feelings? What if...What if she needed it?

"Hawksley cleared out every bottle hours ago." She seems so happy about it. You press the glyph, fire rushing through your fingers. You don't give a damn if she is Lilith and Eda's mother. You will take those elixirs for better or for worse. If Lilith needs them if Eda needs them. There's nothing to discuss.

"Why would you do that?" Luz folds her fingers into fists, looking worriedly at you. You don't remember looking so out of sorts in her eyes. She is right to be worried. Your teeth are grinding, your breathing is changing. You try to look for Lilith through the bond, but your concentration cannot focus to communicate.

"Because I am a mother who will do anything for her daughter." Your teeth grind a little more, you feel like you are almost growling. Anything but talking to them. Or noticing them. Or. You don't have time to complete the thought. Because Luz literally leaps at Gwendolyn and there is a huge crash as they both fall from the branch of the tree.

Your eyes widen and your heart races. But there is no sound of bones breaking, only of glass. The elixirs are gone. You put out the fire on a leaf and climb down the tree as fast as you can, being able to hear the exalted voices below.

"You weren't healing me. You nearly killed me!" Eda's eyes are flickering as she looks at Luz and her mother and when she looks at you soon after. She shakes her head negatively in pure disappointment, the feathers increasing around her hair and limbs.

"Eda, please try to stay calm." You sense in the air that this was completely the wrong moment to ask her to stay calm.

"Why? Why should I be calm?" She almost smiles wryly, as Eda normally would, but her eyes turn black when she blinks, much larger, and a huge shiver runs through your skin. "I have a right to be upset!" And her voice doesn't sound like her. It sounds more like a parrot and a demon at the same time. It's terrifying. It's very terrifying. And when she lowers her arms, it's wings coming up, head triples in size, feathers and more silver feathers, claws, and teeth too sharp. Black, non-human eyes.

And that is the owl beast. The raven one was vastly bigger, but that doesn't stop your limbs from getting jelly-like consistency from seeing her.

"Let's get out of here. Now!" You say too quickly, while Eda is still stunned. Eda is not Lilith. She's not going to court you, she's going to rip your liver out.

"No need to worry, dear. According to this we just have to... Uh..." Gwen flips through her helpful book. Eda's approaching, she's smaller than Lilith's form but still big enough to swallow a hand at once Uh.

"Have to what?" Luz's voice sounds quite shrill now. It's desperation.

"Buy the next volume." You almost curse again. But Eda screeched, too loud. You almost had to put your hands to your ears. And then something stabbed you in the foot. You jumped on the spot in time for King to pull his horn from your shoe. He had just fallen from a bush in front of you, screaming at almost the same cadence as Eda.

Too many things happening at the same time. You feel extremely disturbed.

"So Lilith was feeling stressed and, uh, the light glyph didn't really work. So...uh..." You don't even need him to say anything else. You know what comes next. And you want to punch your mother-in-law in the face right now, so bad.

But Lilith's shrill squeal doesn't let you think straight. The black shape flies through the trees with a ferocity that few things could have.

Your heart sinks in your chest. She was so on the verge of collapse. You should have insisted. You should have tried a little harder.

You should have stayed with her.

When she lands, her claws scrape the ground. She looks even bigger than she did that night, maybe because it was so dark then, but she's easily three times Eda's size. And they are both so furious. This is not going to end well.

"Sweet flea?" You roll your eyes at your mother-in-law. That's not going to help. When Lilith starts running toward Eda, fangs bared, it's you who runs toward her. You don't really think about what you are doing. She could hurt Eda, a lot, but she's still Lilith. You still feel her. If there is any way to stop the disaster. You couldn't care less about what happens to you.

You wedge yourself between the two beasts that could tear you to pieces.

"LILITH!" The bond is there, you know it's her because the thread ends in her. But the other end...The other end seems to be covered in a dark mass of feelings that you can't identify. She's so lost inside her own head. She hardly knows what to feel. And she keeps running. Her claws tearing up dirt everywhere they go, with only one objective, her sister. "LITH! YOU HAVE TO STOP!" You scream at her, you scream in the bond. Stop. For the Titan's sake, stop. Because this isn't you.

This is not you.

This is not my Lilith.

That's the curse talking, be stronger than that. Don't hurt Eda. Don't hurt yourself.

"Y/N! GET OUT!" She won't hurt you. You know she won't. She would never hurt you, right? She would never do that.

Yet her claws rise up, huge. They glow golden in the setting sun. And the fangs look very promising. She truly scared the life out of you. You feel a thrust from the ground, your body is thrown upwards, and a stabbing pain spreads down your right arm. Blood trickles down as your body slams hard against the ground on the other side.

Luz used a root spell. If not for that, it would have been your chest probably.

Uh. It was a nasty cut and it's throbbing like hell, causing hot tears to pool in your eyes. But you don't blame her. You're the stupid one.

You had to try.

You watch as the winged creature that is also your girlfriend picks up her sister as if she were a little keychain and flies away. Just like that. One last loud squeal in the air.

"Y/N!" Luz shouts, coming at you in almost the next second. She pulls a piece of fabric from her fanny pack with ease, tying it around the wonderful new cut you have on your biceps. "That was extremely stupid!" She scolds as if you were the child.

"I had to try." For her. You always do really stupid things for her. Standing in front of her in bestial form and trying to chat is just one of them.

"That was my little sweet flea. That means she's also..." Yes. She's also cursed. Gwen's expressions drop. She...She finally gets it.

"Cursed, yes. Were you not paying any attention to her?" King didn't spare the words you had been thinking all along. She was so focused on trying to heal Eda that she didn't notice anything regarding Lilith.

"I'm going after them." Luz said as she picked Owlbert up. You immediately try to stand, your face contorting with the pain spreading through your arm, it's hot, scalding, and seems to make your skin curl. "You stay." She points at you and it's almost impossible not to roll your eyes.

"I'm not leaving my girlfriend alone, Luz." Gwen's eyes widen even more.

"Girlfriend?" Well, about that you don't blame her for, she hadn't seen that much yet.

"You won't be able to hold a staff with that arm, you stay." You open your mouth again, ready to argue, but Luz won't give you room. "Are you coming Gwen?" She asks then, which makes you widen your eyes in indignation.

"This... This must be part of the process, right?" You don't know if it's the pain of the recently opened cut, but you feel a twinge in your heart. She wants to believe so badly, doesn't she?

"I can see you still need a little time." King climbs on Owlbert and you barely have time to hold the end of the staff before Luz takes flight. You can't believe they left you behind because of a crappy biceps injury.

As if you're just going to sit around in this damn clearing while your girlfriend is in need of all the support in the world.

You turn toward where you know the Owl House was. You wouldn't give up. You don't know if it would work. But you wouldn't leave her.

Never.

You sigh, getting your brain some oxygen, trying to get used to the pain spreading through your member. And then you beg the Titan to make it work.

"RIVEN! RIVEN COME TO ME!" Your scream echoes through the trees echoes through the clearing, it sounds as desperate as you really are. You are not confident, but when the sound of something cutting through the air comes closer you almost let tears of relief and a little pain come out. You make a great effort to ignore the pain in your arm and stand up.

Riven is coming flying in, with...With your case wrapped around his head? Your eyebrows furrow until you realize that this is a great idea. Oh, he took after his mom.

The bird lands and you immediately catch him up. You have never flown by yourself before, and thinking about it now you should have asked Luz or Lilith for some lessons. But it doesn't matter. You slip the case around your chest with your good arm and ride the staff. She's more important than your questionable skills in riding a staff.

"This can't be right." Gwen is still staring at nothing, her hand holding the amulet tightly.

Your anger fades to a slight resentment. She is not a bad person.

She just refused to see...For so long. You take a deep breath.

"Listen, Gwen...I know you tried." Her eyes move to you and you again are taken aback by the intensity of another Clawthorne's eyes. "I wish I had parents who at least tried." And you are not lying. Not really. "But they don't need healing, they need you to see them. I want your daughter, claws and all, and I'm just a human girl who shouldn't even be here in the first place. It would be nice if you did the same." It sounded good in your head. Her eyes look so much like Lilith's when they are filled with tears like that. You hoped she would understand. That she would finally see what she had lost from her daughters.

But now you really needed to go.

"Let's fly, Riven." You tighten your fingers tightly around the staff before the white raven rises and takes off into the sky.

(...)

"You know this is all your fault, don't you?" Lilith crawls. She tries to pull away. She tries desperately to get out of it. She's so exhausted. She's so tired of running. "Little Miss Perfect." The thing taunts as it laughs. She hears the claws scratching the ground, the recognizable sound of too heavy paws hitting the ground. "Look at you!" She knows that. She doesn't need anyone else to say it.

She shrinks away. Leave me alone. I know...I know I'm worthless. Just leave me alone.

Haven't I given enough already?

"It won't be enough until you're left with nothing." She watches. She watches her surroundings change. She's there. She knows it.

She would never forget it.

The huge heart is beating. The ground at her feet feels extremely rough. Not again. Not again.

"You have failed. Again." Vomit builds up in her throat when she hears his voice. Yeah. She has failed. That's pretty much all she's done since the moment she stopped wearing diapers. "Look at me when I talk to you!" And a hand that isn't exactly there makes her chin rise, featureless, no human nor witch blue eyes stare at her, from behind a horned mask made of gold.

She remembers the first time she saw that look. She was a child and could not sleep for a whole month, because she swore those eyes were in her room. She's not 15 anymore, but she's still scary. Extremely terrified.

Don't cry. Don't show weakness. You know what happens. You have experienced what happens.

But she's not the same woman who once knelt before that throne, she doesn't know how to put on that mask anymore.

"I'm sorry." And it comes out as a broken and rather pathetic whisper.

Belos growls. The ground shakes.

Lilith closes her eyes and cringes hard.

She just needs to wake up.

(...)

The sky is in a yellow hue that reminds you a lot of gold. But the landscape is not your focus.

Your heart is beating hard, your breathing is getting more and more labored. It's easy to see them as Riven flies. It's easier to fly when you are not a passenger too. Your fingers are white around the stick with the force you are applicating, but you focus. Lilith. Eda. You need to help them.

You must use your questionable abilities to bring the Clawthorne sisters back.

There is a particularly tall building in the center of the city. You lead Riven there.

They are destroying some of the lower buildings while tearing into a mixture of claws, squeals and growls that makes the people around them scream and run in terror. A black, gray mass.

You get out from Riven. He stops beside you, as if waiting for your next order.

"LILITH! EDA!" Your throat complains for another rather desperate cry. They won't listen to you. You don't know why they would listen while they are killing each other, fangs and claws. So you rip the case off your shoulder. The arm complains, you ignore it. You pull the les paul and wrap it around your neck. Music to play spells, spells that were based on the melody. Okay.

Music. You need music. And you need them to open your eyes.

The chords come out of your fingers. A purplish-red mist takes over the ground around your feet, leaves a warm feeling on the way, and spreads, more and more. The feeling's soothing. That's what they need.

"All this feels strange and untrue and I won't waste a minute without you." Your voice seems to add to the mist, makes her more powerful, more steady. It moves forward, whips of reddish magic chasing, searching. You are not exactly paying attention to the people below, but there is the vague impression that they are stopping running. The mist hasn't yet reached the two huge bodies fighting in the middle of the houses, you play with more impetus. "My bones ache, my skin feels cold and I'm getting so tired and so old." You're stronger than this, I know you are. "The anger swells in my guts and I won't feel these slices and cuts." The rhythm is increasing, and so does the mist. "I want so much to open your eyes 'Cause I need you to look into mine." It finds Eda first, and you can feel through the instrument when it really hits her. She stops for a moment, before Lilith grits her teeth and tries to attack her again. Luz flies past you and she seems genuinely amazed by the magic around her, enough not to comment on the fact that you are there.

They spin around and burst through another building.

"Tell me that you'll open your eyes." Come on, Lilith. Come back to me. You have to come back to me.

(...)

Blood drips and seems to glow in a strange green as it falls on the extremely clean floor of the throne room.

Blood. The metallic taste in her mouth seems horrible enough to make her want to vomit. But she deserves that, doesn't she? She has failed.

As she always does. She is a disaster at everything she tries to do. She doesn't even know why the emperor tolerates her transgressions one after another.

But he was never a merciful man. She has always known that.

"You could end this faster, Lilith." His voice sounds like claws dragging across the floor. He's prowling around her. She can feel this creature of massive height surrounding her like a cornered child. She can't use magic, she can't fight back. She deserves it. Did she think she could make up for everything with a childish spell and some nicer words?

No she couldn't.

"Just accept it. Accept that you can't. Accept that you are weak. Accept that you belong to me because you have no one else. You are as horrible as I am." Was he lying? Why would Emperor Belos lie to her?

He had hundreds and he still chose her. But if he chose her...Why was it always like this?

She spits out the blood, but the taste doesn't go away.

In another life. In another life she would have done so many things differently. She wishes she'd had another chance. She sure did a lot of shit. She's certainly not the best person in the world. She's no angel.

She wouldn't have cursed her little sister. She wouldn't have joined the Coven and been contaminated by those people who slowly erased everything she was. She would have been better. She would have been better for all of you.

But she tries to be better, doesn't she? She's trying so hard. That has to be something, right? That has to be worth something.

She wakes up every day and she wants to be better. She wants to be someone who deserves...The family that she has.

What she feels. What she is building around her new family, that has to be worth something. You are important. All of you. You accepted her.

She... She doesn't need that anymore. She doesn't need envy, resentment, blood and blue eyes anymore. She doesn't need that validation that has consumed her from the inside out for years.

She will never go back to that. She will never again let anyone cut her skin or anyone she loves.

"ADMIT IT!" And when those blue eyes without any trace of kindness appear before hers, she still feels fear. She is still terrified, and all the newly opened wounds hurt like hell itself. But she doesn't stutter.

She doesn't hesitate when she says just two words.

"Not today."

And that's when she hears music.

(...)

"Every minute from this minute now." Your fingers are trembling as the owl beast grabs Lilith with what appears to have been an arm wrench and then falls before you. Only then you noticed the eyes. They are Eda's eyes on that monstrous face. It makes you smile a little, golden, your heart rate slowing a little now that you were sure it was working. "Hey, Eda." She gives you what you think might be a smile, full of fangs, holding her sister down. Mist covers the raven beast's face as she struggles under the owl lady's grip. "We can do what we like anywhere." And now...You actually sing to her. The black mass around the bond still seems quite firm, but you will not stop. It's her. You would play until your fingers turn to ashes for her. "I want so much to open your eyes 'Cause I need you to look into mine." The song seemed to make sense. You need her back. You need her to look into your eyes so you can tell her...That things aren't so bad. "Tell me that you'll open your eyes." The beast stops struggling. But you're not sure what exactly caused it.

Because when you turn your face, just for a brief moment, you notice Gwendolyn.

"I should've listened to you." Her voice is shaky as she approaches the two beasts who are actually her daughters. You don't sing anymore. Your fingers slow down the chords, because you feel that they will no longer be needed. "I know now why you pushed me away." She touches Eda's face with one hand, without any uncertainty and you take a deep breath, feeling that this was finally coming to an end. Your eyes fix on Lilith, though. "I made you think your curse was something to be ashamed of." She is not a bad person. That's what you think as she rests her forehead against Eda's. Not really. "Whether we want it or not, it's a part of you. And I love every part of you." Your eyes fill with tears, too quickly, too hard to control. It would have been nice. That's what you think. It would have been nice if they had at least tried. "And Lilith..." You shake your head, trying to chase away the tears that have accumulated. Them. They are the focus here, not you. "You were always so self-sufficient." You can imagine a younger Lilith, independent, outstanding, always trying to impress. You wish you could have hugged that little girl and told her she was enough. "But I didn't give you the attention you deserved." And when Gwen takes Lilith's face in her hands, tears are glowing in the raven beast's black eyes. She's crying. Thin tears fall from your eyes in the same way. "Shh." Gwen whispers then, wiping away the tears with her thumbs. "NOW!" The shout makes you jump in place. Luz flies with Owlbert, a bottle of golden elixir gleaming between her fingers. The first target is Eda and then...Lilith.

Mist, magic and golden light seem to blend before your eyes as they envelop the two sisters. Following them into the air, surrounding them and then...Transforming them back. The image of a giant bird expanding into the sky as the curse disappeared and brought back the Clawthorne sisters. It looked like that scene from Lord of the Rings that you always thought was so cool. This is beautiful.

You were about to grab Riven to stop them from falling straight to the ground. But...They just go down in the air, float, as if they were flying, and then Gwendolyn picks them up in her arms, as if they were still two little girls.

They were fine now. Their mother was there for them. The bond is clean and all you feel through her is relief. She's so relieved to be back that the tears that fall from her eyes are completely understandable.

"She was trying to do her best, huh?" King whispered then to you and Luz and you smiled with the corner of your mouth, but it probably came out a little sadder than you intended.

Yes. She really was trying her best.

Maybe that is the standard for a good parental figure. Not being the best, but trying your best.

You sigh and the pain in your arm clouds your head enough for you to forget about it. Thinking about it now would be of no benefit.

(...)

Luz makes a very specific bandage on your arm while Lilith and her mother are talking outside. You imagine that she is telling her everything, from the slight tension you feel through the bond, but it didn't seem to be going that bad. It's a modest tension, enough to keep you from worrying, nothing like the incommunicable dark mass that takes over when the curse takes hold. Nothing is as terrifying as that.

"It will heal in a few days...If you don't do anything stupid again." Luz said as she tightened the bandage a little tighter than really necessary. You chuckled softly and nodded.

"Okay captain." You jokingly salute and Luz narrows her eyes at you before letting out a very motherly smile in your direction. She left you alone right after. You, your thoughts and an empty room.

It had been a long day and you couldn't wait to curl up in that nest and forget that there was a world out there. The Titan knows you need a good night's sleep. So does Lilith. So does Eda. In fact, everyone at the Owl House needed a few hours of sleep after all that had happened.

You sit on the edge of the nest and take a deep breath.

There is a great feeling of completeness now.

You believe that Gwen is finally going to communicate better with her daughters. She will finally see them for who they are. And this relieves you. It relieves you that Lilith and Eda don't have to deal with shitty parents, they've been through so much already.

And when you close your eyes, it's like the whole world takes one long breath.

The calm before the storm. You don't want to think about it, you don't want to think about how this day seems just too simple. Okay, you've had an emotional roller coaster, you've had an awful cut, reconciliations have been made. But...It sounds too simple. Or maybe it's you who is being a big fan of literature.

It ended well. That's what you tell yourself. That's enough for now. It ended well.

You don't need to open your eyes to feel when she enters the house again, when she comes up the stairs, when she comes straight to you, without hesitation. A delicate smile takes over her lips when you hear the doorknob turn.

She looks enthusiastic when she opens the bedroom door, there is a small smile on her lips, and her eyes seem to sparkle. You remember thinking that she looks great dressed in black, considering it brings out the color of her eyes as well as her skin. But this all disappears as soon as she lays her eyes on you...More specifically on your bandaged arm. The spectrum glows in a dark shade as she swallows hard. She was still going to blame herself for a while, and you would still have to try to tell her every time that she was not herself and that you don't blame her for anything at all.

"With me, only words bleed, Lith." You whisper, a small smile tugging at your mouth with the reference. She frowns as she closes the door, and you smile a little more before moving closer. "I'll sing that one for you later." She twitches her lips for a moment, there is a slight anxiety now. You sense that she wants to tell you something, something important.

You tilt your head gently toward her, stopping yourself from counting her freckles once more. She knows she can tell you anything. She knows you would listen.

"I..." She cringes a little, looking down at her own feet. It's shame now. She's embarrassed. "I'm sorry, for earlier." You compress your lips, as you swallow a little. Sure it hurt, but after all she's been through during the day, you really didn't expect an apology for something she did.

She really cares a lot about how you feel...It's nice to know that someone cares that much.

And she didn't get down on her knees. That's good too. Never again.

"I should have stayed with you. I'm sorry too." She raises her eyes to you, her eyebrows slightly pronounced. Doubt? Perhaps confusion. "What?" And there's a tiny smile wanting to rise on your lips again because she was so adorable when she frowned like that.

"I don't think anyone ever said that to me." You wish you could have been able to hug that little girl. You wish you could have been there when she was sinking into the Emperor's Coven. She deserved someone who would have stayed. You wish you could take all her pain away with your hand. Your eyes are watering again, so you blink them several times.

You know that you have been repressing a lot of of feelings during this single day. But now is not exactly the time.

"I heard you." Your eyes rise and your heart seems to beat fast, particularly fast. Her lips are contracted into a small smile that warms your whole body. She heard you. Even if she hadn't become aware, she heard you. "The song was beautiful." And your smile must be exceptionally silly because she reaches up to touch the tip of your nose with her finger. "Thank you, for always trying..." Comfort. That's what you feel. That's what she passes on to you. Comfort. That's it.

But there is still something. She still wants to tell you something. That's what makes you look into her eyes, lose yourself in their gleam as she tilts her head in a slightly guilty way in your direction.

She knows that you already know her too well.

"Hmm...Mother invited me to spend a few weeks with her." She says then, while moving her hands to her back in an anxious gesture somewhat like a child would do. You frown just for a moment. "Get back to my childhood home, developing our relationship, you know? Try not to freak out every time she shows up." Now you understand the behavior. She's not saying she will. She's asking your opinion. That's sweet.

"Do you want to go?" You ask as you move a few steps closer so you can look into her eyes without her having to look down, silver and green, they look very unsure now, but also a little excitement exudes from her. You already have the answer. She wants.

"I want to spend time with my mother and...Yes I haven't seen my father in years..." She begins as she lets out a slightly frustrated sigh.

"But?" You raise an eyebrow and her eyes fix on you, you know why, you understand why.

"I don't want to leave Eda...Not when we are sisters again after so many years." She loves Eda so much that she doesn't even need to tell you out loud for you to know perfectly well. Lilith compresses her lips for a moment as she looks at you, she's waiting for your advice. It's almost comical, considering that you're not exactly a role model with family relationships, but she wants to know what you think. Again, it's really sweet.

"Well...It's only a few weeks, right?" She twists her lips next, as if pondering the same thing. "And you can always call or write." You guys would have a serious problem with Hooty on that matter. "I think you should go, it will do you good." And you really think so. Lilith's parents were one of the big reasons she went down the path of the Emperor's Coven, it would be good for her to reconcile with that part of her life and leave those who hurt her so incisively in the dust of her shoes. She nods, but the slight frown does not leave her face when she looks at you again.

"So?" It's your turn to frown as a slight smile forms on her mouth.

"So what?" Lilith raises an eyebrow, as if it's perfectly obvious and you just frown even more.

"Will you come with me?" And when she asks that question, it's only at that moment that you truly reason. It was so obvious to you that you would be with her, that you didn't think it implied that you would go with her at first. Just, wherever she is, I am. It seemed so simple in your head that just the possibility of her thinking that you would stay anywhere without your mate is a little insane.

You don't even ponder it a second time.

"What do you think?" And a humored smile takes over your mouth when you say that. Any and all of her insecurity seems to fade away when you do so. The anxiety is gone and only a relaxing feeling takes over the bond when she smiles wide, teeth and all. Titan...You love that smile.

"I only have a single bed there." She moves one step closer and then there is no more distance. You sigh at the closeness again and how good it is just to feel her. You love to smell her and feel her warmth. It's so comforting to know that she is okay. It's comforting to know you've won. At least today.

"I won't mind if you kick me in the middle of the night." Lilith rolls her eyes, but she's grinning as she leans toward you. Just enough for you to reach her. Your fingers touch her shoulders first and when your mouth touches hers.

It's peaceful.

It's pretty obvious that this isn't exactly a happily ever after. A let's be happy in my parents' country house forever. No.

There are still wounds. There are still traumas. There is still a dictatorship in the world outside.

But In spite of the uneven odds beauty lifts from the earth.

And you find that even though things are still uncertain, when you cling to her shoulders, feeling her hair on your fingertips, it doesn't seem so bad.

You will always go where she goes. Always. And you have to believe that you both against the world has to be enough.

It will be enough. You tell yourself as you rest your chin on her shoulder, tightening your arms around her.

It has to be enough.

(...)

Lilith Clawthorne was once an unbreakable woman.

She breaks now.

She is brittle, completely, the slightest scratch on those she cares about is like a tear in her heart. The sharpest word, the hardest look, everything hits her so deeply that she thinks it might be awkward to get used to.

But she doesn't care.

When she glimpses at Eda laughing and punching their mother in the shoulder. When Hooty clings to her shoulder, refusing to leave throughout dinner. When Luz and King hand her a "Good luck in the new house (which is actually old house)" card. When...When she sees you giggling at a very bad joke Eda had told.

She doesn't mind that she is no longer the lady made of steel. Being brittle, also means being malleable and she really likes the idea of being malleable.

She certainly has parts of her that she wants to protect you and everyone in the family with all her strength.

But she is beginning to feel...That this is not the way.

She thinks...That maybe it's good to let her walls cave in.

For you.

Oh. You are beautiful under the dining table light. Like she've never seen.

#the owl house #lilith clawthorne #toh fanfic #eda clawthorne #lilith clawthorne x reader

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linsallyworld · 3 years

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I'm feeling like you wanna start a war

lilith clawthorne from the owl house is unfuckable! praying we dont anger the lesbians with this one too. sorry in advance if so

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linsallyworld · 3 years

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Uneven Odds (Lilith Clawthorne x reader fanfic)

Chapter 17

Chapter 16

Words:7.700

Warning: NSFW ahead (yeah I know)

You took longer than 15 minutes.

But eventually, you agreed that you should go downstairs and make breakfast. There were five children in the house and Eda needed help. You showered in her bathroom, looking at the products she used, there was one that smelled perfectly like the tulips you smelled on her and it was impossible to resist the urge to use it. Feeling her smell on you, surely one of the best things you have ever felt.

However, and especially alone you can feel the bond better. You feel it stretch to the end of your spine and then feel where it ends, on her. She's moving around the room, doing something, and just relief takes over your mind through the connection. She's calm. She's in peace. You want her to be like this forever. You close your eyes to let the water run down your face, knowing that it will take some time to get used to feeling someone on such a deep level. But you decide to try an experiment.

"Hey mate!" You think in a high pitch if that makes any sense. You feel the slight vibration through the bond and the distinct sound of something falling to the floor in the other room. You laugh softly.

"Your cuteness has its limits." She returns and you hear her voice perfectly inside your head. It sounds a little scolding, but still funny...And beautiful. It's a little awkward. But...Soothing.

"Does it?" You hear her laugh through the bond.

"Hurry up, goofy." You giggle as well and wash your eyes, feeling when she has drifted off to the back of the room.

You rub your wet hair with a towel as Lilith stops in front of the mirror with the pot of concealer in her hand. She seems to ponder for a moment as she looks at herself, almost as if trying to recognize what she's seeing.

It's been years.

A silly smile takes over your mouth as she returns the pot to its place without applying anything, and you can't resist the urge to kiss her cheek. She grins a little uncertainly at you...But cheerful. Small steps, one at a time.

You follow her downstairs. You yawning and wishing the nest back and Lilith perfectly fine as if she had slept her best, even with probably only 3 or 4 hours of sleep. She still has that perfect posture. Impressive.

The kids are all asleep in the living room. Willow and Gus with King in their midst. Amity and Luz slept facing each other and you could swear by the position of their hands...They could have slept holding hands.

Ah, the teenage love. So soft and romantic.

You hoped they would find out how they felt soon enough.

You're still yawning as you start to make toast for the kids. But you feel your tiredness drift away a little when Lilith hands you a mug of hot chocolate, completely lactose-free, in your hands. It smells particularly good. She kisses your forehead almost unconsciously as she walks away with her mug of apple blood.

You remember thinking that you could easily get used to a routine like this. She starts preparing breakfast for witches, pinning her hair up in a bun and she looks beautiful.

"Stop mentally complimenting me, Y/N." She complains back and you chuckle softly before returning to your activity, taking a sip of your particularly good chocolate.

The kitchen smells like chocolate, apple blood, and toast. An interesting mix.

Yeah. You can easily get used to it.

(...)

It's a few minutes later when the owl lady enters the kitchen. She is still in her pajamas and her hair looks a mess, but she seems pleased to see you both.

But then...Eda takes a few deep and fast breaths, and you frown, thinking that she looks like a dog when they smell meat. She looks at you next, at Lilith after, and smiles in a quite mischievous way.

"The shower didn't take away the smell." She stated simply as she walked to the refrigerator. Your ears heat up, but not as much as Lilith's on the stove, completely red. Apparently, it wasn't just their hearing that witches had keen.

Eda pours herself a mug of apple blood and then turns to the two of you. Her smile becomes wider, but...Warmer. She approaches Lilith first, pulling her away from the stove, where she was working on what you think are omelets, to wrap her arms around her sister's shoulders.

"Congratulations, sis." Your heart expands to the point where you think it might burst out of your chest. Lilith opens and closes her mouth, completely shocked for a moment. You don't even wonder how long it's been since the last time they hugged. You feel like...It's been a while. She swallows hard before wrapping her arms around her sister's back, closing her eyes to plunge into the embrace.

You don't know why your eyes are watering. Maybe it's her emotions, or maybe not. But your eyes tickle when you look at them, cuddled in the middle of the kitchen, for much more than a minute. They were becoming those little girls you saw in that picture again. Together. Best friends. And that...That really makes you happy.

"I'm proud of you." She then says, pulling her face away so she can hold Lilith's cheeks between her hands. You notice as Eda traces the freckles with her fingertips, almost mapping them, just as you had done. "It's good to have you back." Your girlfriend smiles, luminous, her eyes seem bright with unshed tears. And you don't think Eda's look much different. You wish you had your cell phone now so you could covertly take a picture, but you think your memory is already decent.

The Clawthorne sisters. Deadly if you were the wrong person, but around each other...They melt.

The owl lady turns to you then and her smile becomes vastly more playful and amused. She lets Lilith's face go and you barely have time to blink.

You widen your eyes as she runs towards you and picks you up in a high, tight hug.

"WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, LITTLE SISTER!" You laugh out loud as Eda takes you in her arms like you weigh nothing and spins around the kitchen. Lilith's laughing and you don't think you've ever had a memory as worthy of a family movie as that. It's just...Pure affection filling your heart as you cling to the owl lady's shoulders to keep from falling.

When Eda puts you down again, your legs are a little soft, but you couldn't care less. You propel yourself to kiss her on the cheek.

"Thank you." Her eyes crinkle at the corners as she smiles broadly. It's different.

You swallow hard. These people. These people really want you.

For the first time in a really long time, you truly feel like you have a family. People who care about you, people who accept you for who you are. You don't have to change.

Not at all.

You're thankful that Eda turned to get some toast because your eyes filled with tears too quickly and you didn't want to ruin this moment just because you were a mess. However, she notices it. Of course, she notices it.

Lilith grins at you before reaching out to curl her fingers into yours, gently squeezing them around yours.

"Everything okay?" She asks, and her voice caresses your nerves from within your consciousness.

"I just didn't expect it." She frowns slightly, her eyes becoming cloudy with doubt. "I didn't expect to find home here." Home. Home it's not the human world. Home it's where they are. Lilith smiles then, wide and warm before moving close enough to touch your cheek with her fingertips. It's just her fingers now that her nails are short but still so good to feel.

"I know it's not the dream family, but..." You just shake your head negatively and lean over to rub your face against her hand.

"It's perfect." Eda's throat clearing is what makes you pull away a little from the other witch.

"As happy as I am, that doesn't mean I'm willing to see you two eating each other around." You try to hold back your laughter at the not-so-good expression Lilith made at her sister, but it slips out eventually.

"As If I was the one with the reputation for getting caught. Should I remind you of that time with Raine in the broom cupboard at school?" You watch the owl lady's face turn completely red as she brings the mug to her mouth, probably to try to cover up the blush.

"Shut up, Lily." You are curious to know who Raine is and what happened in the broom cupboard at school, but decide that can wait when you hear the very clear sound of King complaining about someone stepping on his tail.

Now you had five kids to take care of.

(...)

The house was a real mess during breakfast. Further than during the night, probably because now the kids were all rested and had several plans as they gorged themselves on toast, cereal, and a juice that you didn't risk drinking. You like the noise, the excitement...It's not something you used to have much of, so it's just relaxing to hear the kids talking so much, to watch Eda ruffle Luz's hair, and then help King up to the table. The world's dumbest expression probably appearing on your face when you see Lilith hand a cupcake to Hooty's beak and then stroke his head gently.

Was this how a family was supposed to feel? Belonging? You fell into this strange world...And strangely enough...This is where you belong.

Uneven Odds right? Right.

It's Hooty who brings you out of the reveries that were taking over your mind at the moment. He squeals loud enough to be awkward and then glides back to the door of the living room. You raise your eyebrows, Eda and Lilith do the same before you follow the tube bird into the room.

There are two hooded people in the room. Dementors are your first thought, it sends a chill down your spine. You shake your head negatively next, there was no way it could be dementors, but you still wish you had your glyph pad in your back pocket.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Hooty half shouts, half screeches as all his feathers became ruffled.

There is a humorless laugh that echoes throughout the room before the first person pulls up their hood. It's...A woman. She has a round face with very intense blue eyes and her hair...Oh. Now things make sense.

"Hm. So I suppose you are the owl house?" She asks with a little smirk that for some reason makes all your defenses go up immediately. It looks innocent, but it's the kind of wry smile your mother would have. The kind of fake smile she would put on her mouth to say how proud she was of something you had done for her friends.

"I am a very important house, I control everything." Hooty replied with an excited little peep, not the least bit suspicious of the intruders anymore.

"Mother?" Amity pushes Gus aside to make it into the room. You don't know why, but a rather bitter taste takes over your mouth.

"What did I tell you, Luz?" Eda murmurs in a low tone to the girl who just shrugged her shoulders with wide eyes as if she didn't expect this visit either.

"Amity, dear. Good. You're already here. Get your things. We have an appointment." The second person in the room pulls back the hood to reveal a middle-aged man, square chin, messy, rain-splashed hair, purple-lensed glasses rested on his brown locks.

"Appointment?" Amity doesn't contest, you realize. She starts gathering her things in the room without hesitation, almost worried. You don't like that, for some reason. It hits too close to home, so to speak.

"I'll explain on the way..." The woman stops when she notices that there are at least 6 other people in the room, watching the scene without many reactions to offer. "Edalyn, still without a Coven, I imagine." Sarcasm is quite evident, dripping off her tongue as her blue eyes sparkle with an amusement that seems clear only to her. You did not like this woman. It's impossible for you not to raise your eyebrows, your eyes going to Lilith while Gus, Willow, and Luz go to help Amity. You want to ask her about this extremely humble woman. But your girlfriend is not looking at you and the bond is in complete silence, she seems almost alarmed by this woman's presence. Quite alarmed. Your eyebrows frown slightly. Why?

"When you cast an illusion spell again we can discuss that. Okay, Odalia?" The woman, Odalia Blight, from what you remember moistens her lower lip without dispensing a smile. The man, who appears to be Amity's father doesn't seem too interested in chatting, he looks around and walks over to the first thing that catches his eye. In this case, Hooty.

"You haven't changed a bit, Eda." Her eyes trail across the room, pause on you for a single second, and then simply ignore you as if you simply aren't worth the time. You really didn't like this woman. You feel the uneasiness under your skin at that.

Her eyes widen then, the drawn eyebrows rising on her face as she finally notices the last adult in the room.

"Lilith?!" And it sounds more like an exclamation than a question when she says your girlfriend's name.

It's discomfort emanating from her now. You can perfectly feel the waves of pure embarrassment coming from Lilith, which only increases as the woman leaves her cloak on the hat rack and approaches with a smirk that is just too big. Oh. She has a body...Curvaceous to say the least, thick hips. She is pretty. Exceptionally pretty.

"I haven't seen you since..." She stops then, her eyes glittering with a kind of knowledge you didn't appreciate, her smile opening wider, if remotely possible. "Well..." You don't like how that sounds, honestly. Something incredibly bitter is rising from your stomach to your throat. "You're looking good..." Her eyes roam the surroundings as if analyzing the owl house. "Despite your accommodations." And when her eyes return to your girlfriend's face she seems to frown for a moment, almost as if she sees something on her face. Probably her freckles. Lilith hadn't shown those to anyone in years and you weren't about to let this strange woman make her even more uncomfortable.

"Hi. I'm Y/N, we haven't been introduced. And you are?" You reach out, with your most falsely bright smile, almost slipping yourself between the woman and Lilith, wanting to keep her as far away from her as you can.

Stay away. You try to make your expressions show that. Stay away before I rip out that smirk off your face.

Yet Odalia ignores you completely. A little bug in her way. She is tall enough for you to think that you could actually be a little bug. Why was everyone in the Boiling Isles so tall?

"Not interested." She simply replies, scorn glistening on her white teeth at that comment. You open and then close your mouth again. You are not sure if you really heard that right. She really...Petty woman. Horrible woman. Uh. It takes everything in you not to growl. Who exactly is this woman to act like this with other people? "But I didn't know that this house had become a refuge for humans." She raises her eyebrows at Eda who just rolls her eyes, wordlessly saying that she didn't owe anyone an explanation, let alone her. Apparently, you and your sister-in-law shared opinions about Amity's mother. "Anyway..." She turns her body so she could meet Lilith again and your teeth grit, quite hard. Why is this woman surrounding your girlfriend while she clearly seems totally uncomfortable with her presence?

However, Odalia stops for a moment, silencing whatever she would say next. She frowns pronouncedly as she rests her hands on her hips on the white vest she's wearing. She sniffs the air for a moment and you already know what's coming next. It was predictable. The witch's eyes widen again, first toward you and then toward Lilith once more.

"Even for you, this is too low, Lilith." You've heard worse. A lot worse. It doesn't really hit, you just raise an eyebrow and roll your eyes, almost in the same way as Eda. Still, you didn't expect what happened next. Not really. Because the next thing you know is that Lilith almost growls. A guttural sound that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up at the end.

Fierce. Furious. You like that.

"I'm not in the mood to stand you, Odalia." And her voice sounds like a knife. Sharp and quite powerful. The woman pouts as she shakes her head negatively, almost disappointed. It's disgust that bubbles up in you. She reaches a hand to touch Lilith's chin with the tip of her finger, which she quickly pushes away, pushing her head back as if the touch burned. Good thing, you were already thinking about which object was the sharpest and closest.

"You used to be more flexible with me, Lili." Wha...What? Oh, you're going to be sick. Is she...Is she really...Is she implying? Oh, you're sure to throw up in the nearest garbage can.

"Mom! I'm ready. Let's go!" Amity seems to notice the tension forming in the room. You believe your and Eda's faces glow with the same menacing shade of red. If she...If she really...Oh, that's...You let out a breath through your nose trying to calm your mind, trying to push away the mental image of kicking that woman in the shin.

"Of course, my dear." The girl offers an apologetic look at you, before leaving to pull her father by the hand. You want to wave and say that she doesn't have to apologize for anything, but she's already far away. The kids walk her to the door, probably to say goodbye.

"When you get tired of playing with this little thing..." Little thing. Hm. Height jokes or value jokes. You have no idea, but it doesn't matter to you. The woman who from that day on would be at the top of your Death Note continued. "You can always call me...I really like the ordinary look, it suits you well." She offers a little wink to your girlfriend before dragging her fingers along her wrist gently. Lilith pulls her arm rapidly enough for you to think that the touch could be physically painful. Would she have the power to curse you if you chew on her arm?

Odalia Blight leaves, taking her cloak back. She still looks one last time at Lilith before leaving the house, a too suggestive smile on that mouth. The cloying smell of too expensive perfume lingers in the room as you stop yourself from going to kick the door closed to make sure she wouldn't come back.

"Hmmm...I will..." Eda starts, probably sensing in the air and seeing on your face how aggravated you were."I don't know I'll do anything not to be the third wheel in this discussion." She turns back to the kitchen and your eyes shift to the witch a few steps away. To be fair she looks astonished. Emotions are kind of messed up, you feel a bit of shame, disgust even.

You were about to open your mouth to ask what the hell had just happened when she spoke.

"Can we go upstairs?" She looks at you as she frowns slightly, her breathing a little altered.

"Sure." Her fingers are extremely cold as they wrap around yours and guide you up the stairs. It's a silent walk, the stillness rests both physically and mentally, the bond remains completely wordless.

It's not until you enter her room again and she locks the door that Lilith lets out a long sigh as if she was holding it all the way. And she probably was. She runs her fingers through her hair next, nervously.

"Mind to explain?" You ask, not in an accusatory tone. What you saw was a strange woman clearly flirting with your girlfriend who seemed to want to run to the first hole that came along.

"Hmm..." She takes another breath as she sits down in her desk chair, rubbing her temples with her fingertips. You frown as you lean your hips against the wood. "Do you remember the girl who didn't like my freckles?" Your eyebrows frown for a moment, your neurons taking longer than an inch of a second to make the connection between the two pieces of information rattling around in your head.

But when you finally understand. Your lips part. Your eyebrows drop.

"No...." You begin in a low tone and Lilith lets out a humorless chuckle.

"Yeah..." She confirms and you feel that it's quite possible that your nausea will become physical now. She...She was the girl she dated, one of the bastards who made her so insecure about herself. That girl was Amity's mother. Oh. That is. Ew. Just the image makes goosebumps run the entire length of your spine.

"You dated Amity's mom?" She...And Odalia. Uh. Your skin shivers as the taste seems even more bitter in your throat. You don't care that she's Lilith's ex, not really, not that she's not pretty and stirs up some bad feelings in you. What really makes you feel truly horrible is that...She has changed absolutely nothing from what you could see. She's still a pretty bad person who treats the people around her like nothing.

"She wasn't Amity's mother at the time." Lilith adds then with an amused smile, probably because of the grimace that rests on your face right now. You simply can't control this. Ew. The bond is probably contributing to this feeling, not just a certain discomfort, but a certain clear urge to tear your own skin off at the thought. There is a bit of possession as well. You just shake your head negatively, as if that way you can send that intruding thought away.

You should have kicked her in the shin when you had the chance.

"Ew!" It comes out of your mouth loudly. Even though Lilith has probably heard it a few times.

"She was cute and even kind sometimes." She proceeds as she shrugs. As if she was trying to justify why she would date someone...Like that woman. As if you want to know the least about that woman. Cute. Kind. Oh. Okay. You can certainly believe that. For some reason, your jaw clenches as you cross your arms over your chest.

"Are you really telling me what it was like dating Amity's mother?" The question comes out in a pretty clear tone. You certainly don't need a more detailed mental picture than the one you're already building. You raise an eyebrow, snorting without even realizing it.

Bitterness fills your mouth, while that ugly red feeling takes over you, all over your body. The way she touched Lilith's wrist, the way she seemed to be staring at a piece of meat. Oh. You should have hit her face when you had the chance. Her face, her shin, whatever. Why did she think she had the right to touch Lilith? Your girlfriend? Petty woman, horrible woman. Woman... Argh, you have to hold back your instincts not to snort again. Your face feels incredibly hot as you sink your nails into your palms.

"Y/N." Your eyes go to her again as she calls your name in a precise tone. Lilith has the corners of her mouth twitched in a failed attempt to control a smile. For someone who looked so uncomfortable two minutes ago, she seems even too amused. "Are you jealous?" The question echoes as you stare her in the eye. How could you deny it? You twitch your lips, tempted not to answer the question because just the image of that woman with her hands on her makes you a little sick in your stomach. Your hair stands on end once more and you just look away from Lilith. Yes, you were. Awfully jealous. Because Odalia Blight wanted to eat your girlfriend. "Oh, Titan. Are you?" Her eyes widen and a huge smile expands on her mouth as if it was the most amazing thing in the world that you were jealous.

You know that jealousy is an ugly and stupid thing to feel. But you can't help it. Possession is a horrible thing to feel, but what can you say when that woman touches your girlfriend in front of you, insinuating things without even changing the color of her face...It's not fair. You feel your lips twitching again. Lilith laughs at your lack of response. A delicious laugh that seems to make you feel even stupider than you already do. Your ears are boiling.

"Shut up, Lilith." You mutter between your teeth and sigh deeply afterward. In the end, Odalia was a beautiful woman and she clearly still had some kind of interest in Lilith. It's not as if you were particularly wrong in this story.

You were doing so well 10 minutes ago. Enjoying breakfast at the Owl House, enjoying the familiar feeling. And then this damned woman walks in the house and makes bitterness bubble up in you like soda. The indifference because you are human. The flirting. The superior aura.

You hate how this woman was able to get into your mood and completely ruin it.

You sigh one more time before you move away from Lilith's desk needing to breathe.

"Oh, no. Come here." You feel her hand wrap around your wrist and then pull you hard enough so that you fall sitting on her lap. You don't resist, because you're not sure you can resist. She's stronger and more persuasive. "There is no reason for you to be jealous." Her voice against your ear makes your whole body shudder as her hands wrap firmly around your waist. "She was a part of my life that I would rather forget." Her fingers spread nonchalantly across your belly skin as she speaks, which doesn't stop them from sending shivers down your spine. They seem warmer now. "You...You are my mate." She whispers the word now, rubbing the tip of her nose against your earlobe. "More than girlfriend, you are my mate." Her fingers almost unconsciously caress your ribs, spreading a warm sensation all over your skin. "My beautiful, stubborn mate." She clamps your earlobe between her teeth before pulling gradually. Your whole body trembles with the feeling and your cheeks heat up. It's so easy for her it's ridiculous.

She wraps you around her fingertips like a string. She has so much power over your being that it should be considered strange.

"I hate you." You whisper the same thing you said last night. Lilith lets out a low laugh against your skin, so aware of the effect she has on you.

Her fingers gently reach inside your pants, caressing the curve of your waist with her fingertips. You try to hold back, but the sigh is simply impossible to control. Her fingers are warm and spread a very welcome sensation all over your body.

It's quite easy to forget that you were pissed off in the first place when she touches you so gently like this.

You feel her lips move slowly down your ear to your neck, where she leaves a warm, delicate kiss. You squeeze your fingers against your hand. Why did you have to be so weak for her? Why does she only need a few touches and a few words to have you in the palm of her hand?

Why do you always need her to touch you so badly?

"But I wouldn't mind proving that I'm serious." She giggles again, one of her hands coming up to meet your cheek and then forcing you to turn to face her eyes. They look pretty amused now, slightly aroused. Silver and green, they seem to blend. She moistens her lower lip with the tip of her tongue as she looks at you, and you almost can't hold back the urge to close your legs. Damned woman. She tilts her head as she looks at you, she seems to be pondering for a moment as she gently runs her fingers along your chin. Those fingers. Long, slender ones that were inside you a few hours ago. You shiver at the thought of them returning to where they were.

Your cheeks burn and something tells you that she knows perfectly well what is going on in your head, even though you haven't used the bond.

"Open your mouth." It doesn't sound like a request, not in the least bit like how she asked earlier. Her voice sounds slightly hoarse and her breathing quickens. She's commanding. She's not asking. The brat in you really wants to say "Make me," but you think you can tease her later. Right now you just want to feel that she wants you.

You part your lips for her. Lilith caresses your lower lip with her thumb, gently, as if drawing, marking, and then she pushes it into your mouth. "Suck it", you hear her say without having to speak and immediately follow her request which again sounded like an order. You suck her finger, feeling the skin's softness on the tip of your tongue. Lilith takes a deep breath for a moment before removing her thumb to return with her index and middle finger. You know it's already dripping between your legs.

It's so easy for her.

Those fingers would easily be the reason for your death. And the way those eyes darken with desire makes your cheeks completely red.

She wants you. She wants to fuck you. That's a great stimulant. That's a great way to forget that woman.

When she moves her fingers into your mouth, you find it almost impossible to hold back the moan inside your throat. How? How does she bring out the heat so effortlessly in you? She's just pulling and pushing her fingers into your mouth and you think it's quite possible that you'll pass out.

Oh, Titan. It's hard enough to breathe. It's hard to breathe as your body heats up in flames of need for her. Always and only for her.

When she pulls her fingers back, you barely have time to complain before her mouth hits yours. Her lips are still soft and the taste is still delicious on your tongue. But she's not gentle. She kisses you as if...As if she wants to destroy you. Her tongue glides over yours with such ferocity it's hard to keep up.

This woman. This woman is stealing all your breath, clasping her hands around you hard enough to mark. Her mouth feels like it's boiling, and the breath against your face feels extremely shallow.

You feel her fingers return to where they originally were, playing with the waistband of your pants. Your whole body shivers and you are sure that she is grinning against your mouth. Damn woman. She's having so much fun making you so unstable.

She pulls away, slides her lips down your neck, sinking her nose into your shoulder's juncture.

"Spread your legs for me, love." Oh. Pet name. Her voice sounds against your skin again, and it chills every hair on the back of your neck. You feel extremely overstimulated and she's not even touching you yet. It's just her voice, sounding husky against your skin. Just her fingers playing with the hem of your clothes. You shouldn't have. There was still an amount of resentment bubbling up in you. But how can you help yourself? She only needs a few words for you to melt around her like butter. She only needs a few words to make you dripping and needing her so bad that you think you're going to explode.

Your legs spread almost of their own accord and Lilith lets out a short sigh against your skin. The idea that she's panting, she's panting to fuck you. Oh. That shakes your whole body. This woman really wants to make you come, you know that. And that makes your legs weak.

She slides her right hand into your pants, ignoring any other piece of fabric in her way. When her fingers reach your legs' apex you feel that you have probably lost all capacity for coherent thought. She slides her fingers gently up and down, testing every reaction of your body. Your breath is lost and only becomes weaker when her other hand comes up, with a fairly sure path.

She's like a drug, a numbing mist around you, completely hallucinating, completely addictive. Who needs narcotics when Lilith can make you dizzy with a few touches? She changes the pressure of her fingers as her free hand slides into your bra and you choke. Your hips thrusting toward the touch in a reflex of need that is quite evident. You hear her giggle again, but you're not sure if it was in the bond or not.

You feel that you just don't whimper when she pulls her hand from between your legs because you still have enough presence of mind. Her fingers glisten with your juices.

"Oh, my dear..." She whispers before bringing her fingers to her own mouth. Your eyes follow the movement, but you find that your consciousness does not. Your inner muscles tighten as she sucks on her own fingers. Holy shit, Lilith Clawthorne.

She finds your mouth again. Your taste's in her mouth as she slides her hand to the place it shouldn't have left. Your whole body twitches again. It's too much stimulation, both hands playing with you, the tongue making it so hard to breathe. Her smell. Her taste. The heat that exudes from her in waves and seems to envelop you.

You can barely think.

And you really don't have time to think about it, as two of her fingers slide into you a second later. Your eyes widen. Your heart races fast enough that it feels like it's pounding all over your body. She has made you dizzy. The filling has made you dizzy. You pull your mouth away from hers to try to breathe, to try to do anything but gasp.

"Li-Lilith." You grab her wrist almost to anchor yourself to that reality when her fingers begin to move in and out of you. Your inner muscles contract harder. That, your legs begin to tremble. Oh, Titan. She...You feel that even your fingers are trembling around her. How is that remotely possible?

"There, there." She whispers, moving her lips up to your neck, brushing her mouth across your jugular vein. She isn't really calming your spirits. "Shhh...I'm right here, just breathe." You swallow hard even without realizing it, nodding as you let go of her wrist. You take a deep breath as her fingers pause for a moment. "Good girl." She murmured back, making your whole face turn red at the compliment. That voice. Uh. Damn voice. Damn woman.

Her fingers slide more easily into you and you find that if there is a meaning in life. That's it. It's this woman pumping her fingers inside you as she breathes impatiently against your neck. It's this woman caressing your breast with her fingertips, her body so pressed against yours that you think it quite possible that your heartbeat is perfectly in tune. Heaven is not a place...It's a woman.

It's difficult to reason. Especially when she curls her fingers and reaches for that sweet spot. Your back twitches, the sweat already pooling on the back of your neck. She's a attentive girlfriend. When her fingers return she finds that same spot, her teeth sinking into the jugular vein. Rough. Too much stimulation. You won't last like this.

"Lilith...Lilith I'm..." You can't complete the thought with words but she understands perfectly. You don't need words. Not when she hears you with body and mind.

"It's okay, baby." Another pet name. And her voice sounds like velvet as she soothes the skin she just nearly broke with the tip of her tongue. Her fingers thrust harder. It's so close, a knot in your stomach, about to break. "Come for me." She didn't command it this time, but you don't think it matters.

The knot loosens and the thing between your legs explodes. When you come, it's like being hit on the head. Everything around you seems to spin a bit as your head dives into a delicious lethargic state, the middle of your legs throbs, and you think it's relatively possible that you'll become a jelly on the floor.

Incredibly, that's not what you want to do. You can hardly breathe. But the thought is clear and sounds under your skin.

"You did so great, my dear." She whispers then as she gently pulls her fingers out of you. You're probably a mess. But do you care? Not really.

"I want it." That's the first thing you say, turning your head to look Lilith straight in the eye. Her pupils are twice the size and her cheeks are completely flushed. She frowns as if she really hasn't understood your point.

"What?" She seems genuinely curious about what you want after a mind-blowing orgasm.

"I want to taste you." She opens and then closes her mouth. It's clear that this is not what she was expecting. Surprise settles on her, in her slightly alarmed eyes and her slightly pronounced eyebrows.

Lilith had versatile energy...Just like you, a little more top, but still flexible. Yet, you feel that this is something that she doesn't let anyone give her in a long time. It's something that could be challenging for someone who always wanted to be in control of everything, like her.

"Please." You add next, trying to make your face as adorable as possible. Lilith moistens her lower lip with the tip of her tongue again. You can identify much of her emotions. She looks a little thoughtful. "Please?" You ask again, tilting your head just a little downward.

And you imagine that your puppy eyes convince her because she nods. And there is no hesitation when she does. Your heart pumps faster. That would be interesting.

You rise from her lap quickly, not caring if your legs fail you a little. It doesn't really matter. You pull her by the hand toward the nest, and her fingers feel a little cooler than before.

Due to her large stature, it was usually you who was always looking up to meet her eyes, so it's just interesting to have to look down now. It's very interesting to be on top of her. You like it. Very much.

Your lips meet hers as your fingers slide easily down the sides of her pants. Her hipbones are another of your favorite parts of her body. They are sharp and remarkably sensitive. You pull the pants out of the way, along with any other piece of fabric as your tongue slides into her mouth. You want to take care of her, just as she takes care of you. Your fingers run through her. Lilith shudders, her fingers sinking into your back. She's already soaking wet, which you couldn't say didn't massage your ego. She's like this because she was making you come.

The heat exhaling from her. Her breathing starting to get a little shallow against your face. The way her body feels. You will spend your life pleasing this woman in every possible way and you don't even blink when this information runs through your head. She is yours. You are hers.

She's no angel, but she's my religion.

You pull away for a moment and you look at her. Her cheeks are red and her lips are swollen. She looks beautiful. Still a little ashamed, a little embarrassed. A small worry rests on your shoulders. If she didn't want that...There were other ways.

"I...Lilith if you don't...." But she's already denying it with her head, pushing away any hesitation of yours with just a gesture. She raises her hands, wraps your hair with her fingertips, before simply pushing your head down. Her breathing seems quite short now.

Oh. You came into this world to please, and that's what you're going to do.

You pull the pants down the rest of the legs. And you think you salivate when you see her like that. You could taste it on your fingers. But you want the source.

When you slip between her legs, you're sure you've just found heaven on earth. Her taste explodes in your mouth as her hips contract forward, her fingers sinking into your head. This is simply the most delicious thing you have ever tasted in your entire life. It's dangerous that she can't get you off, ever again.

You sink your fingers into her thighs and do the job you believe you were born to do. You follow her every reaction, every gasp, every breathe, every contraction of her hips as your mouth tries to kiss her as gently and as intensely as possible. She tastes wonderful, and she makes such lovely little sounds.

Again. If there is a heaven. It's not a place. It's a woman. She's Eden. This kind of heresy, tasting heresy on the tip of your tongue is simply the most satisfying thing in the world.

"Use your fingers." You feel a tension in her voice through the bond, she is panting, she is clinging to you as if she needs to anchor herself to this place. And you do as she tells you, as is the usual thing to do. You slide one finger in first and then the second, she receives you with anticipation and warmth. And it's perfect. She's perfect for you in so many ways and nuances.

You know she is almost there when you curl your fingers to try to find the right spot. Her fingers squeeze your scalp tighter as her body begins to tense around you, her powerful thighs closing around you.

You are sure you wouldn't mind if she choked you.

You just have to push your fingers in one more time while sucking at just the right spot so that she lets out a low sound from deep in her throat before she comes apart in your mouth. Your eyes lift to her. And she looks like a goddess when she comes, her cheeks so red, accentuating how pale her skin is, slight signs of sweat, and her breathing completely lost.

Giving her an orgasm is almost as good as having one of your own. Probably because of the relief she gives you through the bond. It feels good. And quite relaxing.

You place one more kiss on her inner thigh before you rise from between her legs to lie down beside her. Her breathing is short, but you find that yours is no different. So you just stay beside her, waiting for whatever comes next. The world could end now, you're not sure you care.

This must be what running a marathon feels like.

"No one..." Lilith mumbles in a slightly husky tone, your eyes go to her, but she has hers on the mobile, which gives you a view of her sharp jaw. "No one has touched me like this...Since...A long time." You weren't wrong. Lilith has shut herself off for years and you imagine that sex wasn't one of her major priorities in the Emperor's Coven.

She's silent for a few seconds as if testing her next words.

"I know that..." You frown slightly as her emotions change a bit, the specter rekindles with a purple that makes you a little worried. "I'm not the easiest of witches." She finally meets your eyes, a small smile rising on her mouth. "And sometimes I'm afraid that I won't be able to be the best for you." Your heart sinks a little in your chest. It would still take you some time to get it into that hard head that she was...Everything. Your religion. "But I like the feeling of trying." It's a little melancholy to put it that way, but isn't that one of the reasons you fell in love with her? You love that melancholy look. One day you'll write a song about it.

And you made her feel good. She is satisfied if a little melancholy.

"I don't know if you noticed." You start as the smile gets incredibly wide on your face with a specific thought. You move close enough to rest your head on her shoulder so that you can look her in the eye, perfectly. There are golden streaks on the green and blue streaks on the silver. The freckles bring out their color so well. "But you are my mate, officially now. No returns accepted." She raises a hand, and your fingers instinctively curl with hers. She's warm now and they look so good together. "It's me. It's you. It's us." You whisper. She raises her eyebrows at you, slightly amused. "It's a quote from a horror show with a heartbreaking story." Lilith tilts her head to rest her cheek on the top of your head.

You can't help but think about how things took different turns that morning. Less than two hours and you were already in the nest again. You also can't help but wonder what Eda must have been thinking.

"Us...I like the sound of that." And her fingers tighten around yours. You can't see her eyes, but you don't need to.

There's nothing in your head when you close your eyes but her and the way her breath rises and falls in a rhythmic sound. It's golden behind them when you allow any mental barriers to fall away.

And then...Two are one. You feel her. You embrace her.

Us.

And it does sound good.

Final chapter

#the owl house #toh fanfic #lilith clawthorne #lilith clawthorne x reader #eda clawthorne

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linsallyworld · 3 years

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I'm a romantic bitch

I get that

saw this from @ao3commentoftheday and it looked fun!

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tagging: @winterrose527 @woodswit @librarian-witchling @sansastarkr @semperlitluv @palominojacoby @saltkettling @kcarreras @amillcitygirl and anyone else that would like to participate!

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linsallyworld · 3 years

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Uneven Odds (Lilith Clawthorne x reader fanfic)

Chapter 16

Chapter 15

Words: 7.200

Warning: NSFW ahead

Lying on a nest is surprisingly very comfortable. You feel like you are inside a warm cocoon, it's soft and quite gentle against your shoulders, better than your mattress and even better than the bed you had at...Home.

"Well?" She raises an eyebrow as she lies beside you. You look at the shiny mobile on the bed and immediately smile. Lilith claps a hand and the lights in the room go out, only the mobile glows now, the crystals mirror the moonlight outside and it looks...Wonderful.

You have no idea if you've ever seen anything this bright.

"Does it help you sleep?" You point to the mobile and she nods her head particularly slowly, almost as if she is analyzing your reactions.

"I like shiny things." So do ravens. You think, but you don't say. You just move a little closer so you can see her eyes perfectly. Five, six, seven. You couldn't stop the urge to count her freckles. It would be your new hobby.

"You're staring at me again." She doesn't say it in the same way as earlier, she looks slightly amused now as a few locks of hair escape from her braid to spread across her cheeks.

"What can I say? You're beautiful." She blushes so easily at compliments that you are sure you will spend your life saying how beautiful she is just to see that slight hue of red take over her ears.

She tilts her head gently toward you just enough, just enough so that if you tilt yours, your mouth will be on hers. You look into her eyes and it's so odd and comfortable to be able to talk without needing a single word. You don't have to say anything at all, and yet she knows what you want.

She brushes her lips against yours, slow and warm. Her mouth feels softer without lipstick and smells strongly of toothpaste. Your fingers immediately reach for her shoulders, pulling her a little closer to you. Her warmth is entirely surrounding now, and you are quite sure that you just want to wrap yourself around her until your death comes.

But she's not moving forward. Not really. Her mouth seems to slide over yours as gently as the first time. It doesn't take. It gives. Your heart is already racing a little in anticipation. You need it.

You need her.

You pull your lips away from hers just enough to be able to speak.

"Kiss me properly." You murmur and Lilith giggles, a laugh that makes your spine quiver softly before she wraps her hands around your hips and pulls you into her arms, firmly.

She kisses you now. One of those kisses. One of those kisses that will steal your breath and your sanity on the way. She thrusts herself almost completely over you as her tongue slides into your mouth. Oh. She turns your legs into jelly in such an easy way.

Your whole body responds to her, moves closer, asks for more. The thread responds in the same way, it seems to be completely aware of what is happening around it.

It's you who pulls her leg between yours this time. Lilith sighs against your face, warm and flawed. You don't want to stop kissing her, not for a single second. You need to feel her skin, every bit of it, your fingers slide up her neck and finally reach the back of her head.

She murmurs into your mouth just for a moment before pressing her thigh firmly against you. You're pretty sure you're already dripping. That's all she needs, a kiss, a touch, and you already need her so bad that it scratches under your skin.

You clutch her sweater between your fingers. What wouldn't you give for a spell to simply make her clothes disappear?

Her lips move down your neck, moist and warm, making you push your hips against her leg with a faltering sigh. Her hands run over the bare skin of your hips, gently moving up and down under the sweater. Her nails scrape your belly and you find it incredibly hard to think or even breathe.

You tug harder at the sweater with real intent to remove it and that's when Lilith's mouth pulls away from your skin with a naughty giggle.

"Are we in a hurry?" She inquires with a slightly raised eyebrow. Your face feels warm under her gaze, everything about you feels quite warm.

"Lilith, please." This need's pumping so hard in your veins now that you think you might actually cry for her to just make you come. You don't even think about the bond.

"I know." She says as she leans in to place a fragile kiss against your neck, making your body twitch with how good her lips feel. "But we drank a lot of wine." You sigh so impatiently it makes her laugh again, the vibrations hitting your skin making it even harder to think.

"Just a few glasses. I am perfectly fine. I want this. I want you." Her eyes sparkle in your direction when you say that. It's clear when her pupils double in size. She leans in to place a short, chaste kiss on your swollen mouth then.

"I want you too..." Your heart beats extremely fast now, to the point that you feel it all over your head. "So much ." She murmurs against your cheek, her breathing a little heavier. You sigh at her voice, at her mouth, at her skin so pressed against yours. "But I want you to be sure." You let out another sigh, completely frustrated, in her face. Your insides were pulsing so hard that you think you were totally likely to explode. "Such a greedy little thing, aren't you?" Her eyes are gleaming in amusement and you feel a little indignation pumping through you. She's having so much fun while you could barely think straight. Well, you're never going to do anything straight. But that's not the point. She's not making it easy for you. You have to close your legs just at the spasm that single sentence and that smile cause in you.

"I hate you." You whisper, completely flustered, and Lilith chuckles before kissing the tip of your nose.

"We've already waited so long, what's a few more hours?" A few excruciating hours you think to yourself before sighing once more. "Come here and be my little spoon and stop being grumpy." You wanted to give her the cold shoulder, but you are weakened by that wide smile, the corners of her eyes crinkling.

So you wrap yourself in her arms, placing your back to her chest. Your body is still throbbing and the warmth of her body doesn't help a lot, it's heated and the fit is perfect against your back. But her arms wrap around you like a pair of wings and she smells so good and everything around you is so comfortable that you think it's not impossible for you to sleep.

It's only long minutes later when your breathing was calming down and your body was getting used to her touch that she speaks again.

"Will you sing for me?" It's simple. It's such a simple request. It's something so...Intimate. She's just asking you to sing for her as her fingers gently move up and down your arm. You don't think anyone has ever made you a request as soft and lovely as that.

"What do you want?" You don't think that you will ever be able to deny any of her requests. You will always give her everything. Lilith yawns behind your head, slow and sleepy.

"Calm and cozy." She replies, her voice sounding perfectly next to your ear. All the hair on the back of your neck stands on end with that, and she giggles against your skin at the reaction. Impossible woman.

You think again how you barely sang at home, only to yourself. And here you are, about to sing, wrapped in the arms of a raven woman, in the boiling isles, inside a nest.

You think it makes sense. For some reason, you think it makes sense.

You imagine the lyrics in your head, the delicate chords before you actually bring the words.

"May these words be the first..." It was one of your favorites, it was pure and the lyrics were sweet. And Lilith leans into the sound as if she appreciates it as well. "To find your ears..." You can feel her nuzzling her cheek against the curve of your neck.

"Don't stop. Please." Her voice drips honey, sleepy and sweet. You curl your fingers around her hands, taking a deep breath before searching for the next words.

Singing to Lilith is as good as simply breathing the first-morning air, as feeling the ocean waves breaking on your feet, as taking a warm bath after an extremely long day. Because when you sing you can feel her emotions become a spectrum of light pink, white, and lilac. Pastel shades that indicate to you how she is simply...Pleased.

"The world is brighter than the sun... Now that you're here." Her arms tighten loosely around you, but you know she's listening. "Though your eyes will need some time to adjust to the overwhelming light surrounding us." The light surrounding you. Adjust. It sounds good. You sing each word, feeling the letters fill the air around you, transforming the atmosphere, making your head light as Lilith's breathing became more and more rhythmic against your neck.

You feel the spectrum slowly losing its color, the sensations of peace and belonging slowly diminishing because... Because she is slowly falling asleep. And this is beautiful.

"With every heartbeat, I have left I'll defend your every breath...I'll do better..." And when the last verses leave your lips, they sound more like a whisper than anything else. Your eyes are almost closed.

You're pretty sure she's asleep. You just know. You don't even have to turn your face.

So you smile. Feeling that every word of that song was as true as it could be. It sounded like a promise.

And only then you close your eyes and sink into her.

Allowing her aura to cover you.

(...)

You smell her before you even open your eyes. Fresh, lemon, and tulips. Sometimes you thought it was all a dream, but it wasn't. You inhale with your eyes still closed and her fragrance almost makes you dizzy for a moment, probably because everything in this nest smells a little like her. It's one of the best smells.

Your eyes open and you blink a few times, getting used to the dim light coming from the window. It was early morning, and the weather seemed a little cloudy, but still, there is enough light for you to look at her.

And she is beautiful.

The black hair caught in a braid thrown behind her back could wrap itself around you so easily. The pale skin, with lovely freckles around her nose and up her cheeks. It's almost impossible to resist the urge to count them again. How she could have the courage to cover them up with make-up? They are perfect. Her long lashes that fluttered slowly while she was still dreaming. The pointed and well-designed nose and ears, the moon earring on the right. Her lips showing a natural pink color.

Pale as a swan. So beautiful. She looks like a painting. Oh Titan, you already want to kiss her again, so bad. A little smirk shapes on your lips at this thought, and you instinctively move a little closer to her.

Your eyes close again as you rest your forehead on the curve of her collarbone. A few more hours of sleep. That's all you want, a few more hours of sleep with Lilith in the nest. Just that.

You must have miscalculated your movements, though. Because you feel her sigh a little and then her arms are wrapping around you, her hands outlining your hips as if they were born for this. Her touch. Her touch is everything.

You lift your chin so that you can look at her. Her eyes are a little watery from sleep, but she is grinning, a wide smile that made your heartbeat so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of your chest.

"Good morning." Her voice, husky with sleep, makes a shiver run down the entire length of your spine.

"Good morning." It's pure instinct when you raise your hands to trace her face. Just feel her. You were deprived of that contact for too long and now that you had it, you wouldn't stop. Her skin is warm and she closes her eyes as your fingers gently glide across her cheeks. She feels so comfortable under your touch, so at home. You like how this feels.

She seems to be as hungry for touch as you are because her next action is to pull you even closer to her until there is no space between your bodies. You can feel her breathing now, rhythmic and heated, as well as the way her chest moves up and down.

"I dreamed of you." She says as she blinks her eyes repeatedly. Green and gray. They stare at you, slightly amused, slightly playful. You can read her so well now.

"May I ask for details?" Lilith moistens her lower lip with the tip of her tongue as she looks at you. She is grinning wider as she leans in a little to reach for your ear as if there is someone else who can hear what she is about to say.

"I can show you. What do you think?" Your spine twitches. It's pathetic the way you get such a chill just at how her voice sounds, just at how close her breath feels to your ear. You move your chin to nod, and you feel her smile as she leans in to rest her mouth against the skin of your neck.

Her lips are warm, and yet you feel your hair stand up on end as if it were cold. Her hands grip you as she carefully kisses the delicate skin, moving her mouth up and down your neck, below your ear, down your jaw. Your fingers slide up her neck, reach the nape, and you feel her sigh against your cheek as you brush your fingers there. Your mouth seems to beg for that kiss.

You trace the line of her chin with your thumb, feeling the lack of resistance in her face. Your tongue slides into her mouth and her fingers sink into you. Heat seems to exude from your face in waves and maybe from her face too due to the fact everything seems so heated all of a sudden. Her taste explodes inside you, her breath becoming a little flawed against your face.

Her lips follow the curve of your chin. She moves past your mouth to kiss the tip of your nose playfully and then your forehead. Her eyes meet yours again and you are sure that you have never wanted someone more than you want her.

She seems to read it in you. Because when you thrust in she receives you. Your eyes close again when your lips finally meet hers. She still tastes minty, fresh, and warm. Your insides throb with just that little contact. Her kiss. Her kiss was enough to make you question the meaning of life. Delicate, soft, and moist lips, her hands holding you like you were something extremely precious. You wanted her and only her.

Maybe you just want her to consume you. Something that feels like begging. You have never felt this before, it's more than sexual desire, you simply need to feel more of her.

A shaky sigh leaves your nose as she slides her thigh between your legs. It's more of her. You can feel her body heat more easily now and it's so simple for you to push yourself down, just a little bit so that the fit is perfect. Her breath changes against your face, as does her tightness.

She pulls her mouth away from yours and you would have whimpered in protest if her eyes hadn't stared at you with such doubt. It's so evident in the way she looks at you right now.

You trace her hair with your fingertips, reaching for the end of the braid so you can pull the hairband, and then you can thread your fingers between them. Lilith murmurs. Just a small sound that sends vibrations through your tongue and your entire being.

"Are you sure about this?" It's a simple question. But you feel the weight of it as soon as it leaves her lips, hitting your face in warm, soft waves. You knew what it meant, you've read a lot about it. "If...If we do this the bond will be consummated. What we have will become vastly intenser." She grabs your right hand, bringing it to rest on her chest. Her heart, you can feel it in your fingertips. It's beautiful, it's the most calming sound you have ever felt. "I don't know how it will be for us, it may be weaker than I imagine or it may not. Either way, it's a perpetual bond, Y/N." It's something that weighs on her shoulders, you realize. She's still thinking that you deserve more. Gosh, why did you have to fall in love with the most stubborn witch in the boiling isles? "Do you want to bond with me, probably forever?" You almost chuckle at how that sounded like a marriage proposal.

Does she really still have the courage to ask?

"Lilith." It's the way her eyes soften when you say her name like that, how they seem insecure. Silver looking like gray. You are so sure you would choose her. Above all things. Overall other options. You have fallen in love with this woman and every layer of her. "I don't think I've ever been so sure of anything in my entire life." Her smile slowly takes over her mouth, delicate and warm, reaches her eyes and you could swear they sparkle.

It's her turn to propel herself towards you, with a lot more purpose shining in those eyes. You can almost feel the seconds before she brushes her mouth against yours. It's almost like getting a shock this time, your whole body shakes, and you could swear she lets out a giggle at this reaction. Her fingertips slip under your sweater, caressing your belly's skin, her long fingernails making a specific space in your spine extremely sensitive.

"Wait." You sigh impatiently this time as she pulls away. Lilith lets out a loud laugh at that. She rises from the nest and the lack of her warmth really startles you this time. Something under your skin almost jumps to reach for her hand. You watch her go first to the trunk and take out a small bottle of elixir. She takes in all the golden liquid with a grimace. This is understandable, high levels of pressure could turn her into a raven beast, and as much as you thought her power was pretty cool...You don't think you're ready to a giant raven flirting with you again. She then goes to the desk and draws on the glyph pad for just a second before slapping one hand on the other with the piece of paper between them. A small blue mist appears between her fingers, the magic is delicate and beautiful, and when it finally fades you notice that her nails are perfectly short.

"I like them pointy." You pout when she approaches again. Eyes playing with yours, amusedly.

"I can return them later." She climbs into the nest again, propelling herself between your legs as if this were her place. And you had to agree that it was. Your legs hook into her hips perfectly, as if they were made for it, and your heart seems to beat so fast in anticipation that you're sure she can feel it. "But I'm not going to risk hurting you." She traces your lower lip with her thumb gently and takes everything in you not to suck it into your mouth. She has an elegant hand, with long, slender fingers. You have always thought her hands were so beautiful and just the thought that she is caressing your mouth with one finger...It's almost too much. Her eyes are sparkling and seem to sparkle brighter now that she is underneath all the objects in the mobile, silver and shiny.

"It's okay. Open your mouth for me." You frown and your cheeks immediately turn red. It was incredibly easy to forget that she could hear you in other ways. Your ears burn, but you would not miss that chance. You part your lips and she is grinning as she slides her thumb into your mouth. Your cheeks boil as you slide your tongue across the soft skin before sucking. Lilith sighs loud enough for you to know that she thought this was hot. "Good girl." If the way your face heated up didn't say enough, you think the way you grabbed the hem of her sweater was quite evident. You were a mess with compliments.

Her finger goes away, only for her lips to replace it. This time without any interruption. You feel that you might as well be trembling.

Her tongue enters your mouth almost at the same second that her hands meet your hips. You don't know what to focus on first. On her mouth that feels even hotter than last time, on her fingers pulling up the hem of your sweater, on her hair falling delicately across your face. They smell so good. She hesitates, only to look up at you when your sweater reaches your chest height. She was so careful around you it was comical. The perfect combination of sexy girlfriend and overprotective girlfriend.

Your arms reach up and she pulls it easily over your head. You pull her sweater off without even hesitating, which makes her laugh before discarding it as well. Lilith is impressive in a lot of ways. Her skin is beautiful, freckles spread across her shoulders, across her belly, it's just gorgeous. Her breasts are perfect, and there is a jewel, a green rhombus attached to her chest, a little above the middle of her breasts. You think it was a little peculiar, but you were dating a witch so you just pulled her back to you by the sides of her face.

When you kiss again it's like feeling the world shake. Something from underneath your skin stirs surprisingly as you feel her bare skin on yours, the thread stretching down your spine, trembling, it's not unpleasant, it's just so unusual. You've never felt it before. It's what makes you cling to her back almost instinctively, almost afraid she'll stop.

Her lips slide across your skin. Your mouth is probably already swollen and she leaves one last delicate kiss on it before sliding down your jaw. Just below your ear. Your neck. Your breath hitches for a second and her eyes meet yours, silver and green.

"Are you okay?" Her eyebrows frown delicately, genuinely concerned about how you feel about her every move. No one has ever treated you like this, no one has ever cared enough to wonder if you were okay.

But Lilith does care.

"Is this okay?" She asks as her fingers reach across your bare belly, brushing her thumbs on your skin. The shudder is impossible to control.

"Lilith..." And you hope that just her name is enough reply. You just want her to consume you, in every possible way. She smiles. Suggestive and quite warm.

"Okay." She murmurs leaning toward you again, to meet your chest. Her mouth is moist and warm as she wraps one of your nipples with it. She's not trying to be rushed here. She is taking her time to run her tongue over your skin, to make it stiff and sensitive to touch. Your insides pulse, the thread trembles. Your fingers dig into her hair and she seems extremely proud of this as she moves to the other breast.

She sucks it as if she were hungry and your hips immediately respond to this, jumping toward her. Her fingers brush your ribs, almost as if to calm your spirits. As if to say, we're just getting started. Or maybe she did, and you heard it. She continues the path with her mouth, between your breasts, down your sensitive rib bones, into your belly. You feel your whole body shiver at the difference in temperature between the wetness of her mouth and the warmth of your skin.

She looks at you again as her thumbs hook into your pants. She's waiting for an answer, a confirmation, and you just nod, not trusting your own voice to say anything.

She pulls your pants out of the way and the thread trembles a little more when she places herself between your legs again. The hair spreads down her back and then you realize...She has a tattoo on her back, there are wings and it looks like a triangle. That's sexy. Uh.

Why did she have to be so sexy?

She looks so good with her swollen lips and dilated pupils. You don't even remember feeling any shame or discomfort. Because it's her. She's your mate. She wants you. That's all that matters.

"Show me how you like it." That is the last thing she says before she simply sinks between your legs.

The first stroke of her tongue at you is like a punch. South and north. You feel as if all the air has been stolen from your lungs. The thread stretches and your fingers sink into her head. All the heat seems to be rushing through your whole body, up and down from your cheeks to the middle of your legs. You think that's not normal, but you couldn't care less as Lilith opened her mouth and sucked you. Your legs begin to tremble around her, and you're sure she's smiling because of it.

A firmer stroke, the perfect pressure change on your clit makes your body jump toward her.

Her eyes lift up to you. Dark and shiny, like a predator's. She wraps her fingers around your hips and sinks you hard enough into the blankets to be a warning.

Quiet.

You stroke your fingers through her hair, so soft, guiding her to the sweet spot, and when she sucks exactly there you almost fall apart. Oh, she knew how to work that mouth well.

Your inner muscles tightened so much that you thought you could have come just with that. Everything was pulsating. Everything was trembling. But you want more, you want more of her. You want to feel her.

So much. It's the desire that screams under your skin, it's this desire that seems to make you blind and deaf.

You need her. You need to feel her almost as much as you need to breathe.

"Li-Lilith." She murmurs against you, without shifting her focus, and your body trembles again, as expected. "Lilith, please." When you pull her gently by the hair she seems to understand. She stands up, kneeling between your legs and you again do not hesitate to rip off the last two pieces of clothing that are preventing you from feeling her fully. It should be a crime to be beautiful like this. The flat, perfectly drawn belly, the smooth, delineated curve of her hips, her thighs, her long legs, freckles spreading all over her soft skin. You would lose yourself in this woman so easily.

She is smiling as she leans over you again, kissing just behind your ear to whisper.

"You're prettier." You feel her nails trailing down your thighs, the hairs seem magnetized now. "And tastes so good." The thread seems tense enough to break now. You need to kiss her, your gasping breath tells you so, your trembling fingers confirm it. You pull her by the sides of her face and she approaches as easily as she can, her fingers curling around your face.

Your taste really is still in her mouth. Something quivers inside you at this. This woman was between your legs, this woman was eating you a few seconds ago, and now she was kissing your mouth with everything she had. Her tongue brushing yours like she was born to do it.

She is still on her knees so it's so easy to bend your knee so that your thigh slides across her. Lilith chokes and the thread seems to extend a little further. She is wet and it's so hot.

When would you have the chance to sink between her legs?

You just feel it, one of her hands moving down your body, until she reaches between your legs again. When she slides her fingers inside you, you have to move your mouth away from hers to breathe, your hands sinking into her hips. The feeling is dominant, the filling makes your legs weak.

Oh she looks beautiful like this. Red cheeks, chest, and ears. Hair sticking to her forehead with sweat. Breathlessness. Suggestive smile on her face. She looks like she's about to make a mess of you, and you're not exactly complaining.

She moves over you and it's very hard to control a pathetic sound from coming out of your mouth as her skin slides over yours and her fingers sink into you. You feel that you won't last long like this, not with her body so close, not with her breath so shallow against your face. She is addictive, she is everything. And you feel her as on the edge as you are.

It's like falling into a vat of steam. Just consume me.

You can almost see, as well as feel, now. Golden threads that seem to wrap around you, that seem to wrap around her. It's like the beginning of a storm, the electricity in the air is very similar, that tension about to break is very similar.

In the first thrust, your eyes don't stray from hers, they are glowing now, you are sure they look much more golden than green and gray. In the second, her mouth falls over yours again, her hair spreading over your face. The third one is tougher, you sink your fingers into her hips to return that because you think it won't last long. And you have to come together. You want this and you know that she wants it too.

She kisses you. Again and again. Her fingers move, she grinds against your thigh. Again and again. The golden threads seem tighter and tighter, shining brighter than the hanging mobile, the energy seems to fill the whole room, expanding, showing itself.

It's going to explode, it's going to break everything around you.

It's hard to breathe. It's hard to hold on much longer.

"Lilith." Her name. That's all she needs. She doesn't need you to tell her you're almost there, she knows. The witch's forehead brushes against yours, her skin seems to be as boiling as your own.

"It's okay, my dear." Your inner muscles tremble with the pet name. "You don't need to hold on." She leans over you and her fingers find that sweet spot inside you that makes your whole body twitch. Threads are swaying around you, they know the moment is so close. "You are so good for me." She whispers against your skin and...That's all you need. You slide your hand to reach between her legs and when your thumb finds the apex of her legs, Lilith murmurs against your throat, her fingers tapping hard enough to move you over the blankets.

When you two come. It's like watching a fireworks display. Everything seems to expand for a moment, even though nothing moves. Your body collapses, so you cling to her, sinking your fingers into her back. She does the same, her arms wrapping around your head like a cocoon, a very protective gesture that makes your heart swell. The golden threads are perfectly visible around you now, floating between your bodies, blending with her extremely white skin and your more tanned one. They are forming a beautiful spiral of golden mist, like Christmas lights around a tree. You think you can touch it. You reach out for one of the little braided strings, and when your fingers touch it, it gently crumbles over your hand, like touching golden dream dust. Like in that movie with the guardians, Sandman.

It's so beautiful.

Your breath seems long lost. But so does hers. You are just panting against each other's face, nothing feels more right than feeling the warmth of her breath.

You can feel her heart beating against your own body and it's like hearing a hummingbird. Wingbeats too fast. Lilith Clawthorne.

You don't want to see. You don't want to hear. You just want to feel her. Just her.

Your eyes close. Nothing in your head but how she is here. Just her. Something tells you that this was literally a point of no return, she's part of you now. You are part of her now. You feel that you need her at that moment almost as much as you need to breathe. I can't seem to not need to need you.

"How do you feel?" She whispered, her voice in a much lower tone than usual. Her eyes are still closed and you just take a few breaths to try to get the maximum amount of oxygen to your brain before answering.

"As if a truck ran me over?" Lilith chuckles. A low, humorous giggle that makes you smile.

"Try to think of something." Gosh, you were hungry, so the first thing that comes to your mind is that chocolate cake in the kitchen fridge. The sweet, soft, smooth taste.

"Why did you think of cake?" She finally opens her eyes to look at you, a giggle in her mouth still. She watches the golden threads slowly fade afterward, she looks delighted and you can't help but find it adorable how her eyes sparkle with that adorable curiosity.

"I'm hungry." You replied simply, your smile getting bigger from seeing that smile you liked so much on her mouth. How beautiful she looked now, eyes soft and bright, smiling, ears still slightly reddened. You raise one hand to trace the tip of the right, Lilith closes her eyes and leans into the touch, almost purring. You completely loved those sensitive ears.

"This...It's incredible." She raises a hand to run through the golden strands, the golden dust easily falling onto her skin. "I didn't think it would be like this, so..." You hear the word before she even says it.

"Enchanted." She looks at you when you say the word, and her eyes seem to reflect the gold. So beautiful.

"You'll have to stop mentally complimenting me." She snuck up to place a delicate kiss on the tip of your nose, before resting her head on your shoulder, her eyes watching the strands slowly becoming thinner and smaller. "It always makes me want to kiss you." You just shake your head negatively, tracing her hair with your fingertips, running them inside of her pointed ear delicately. She actually purrs this time, a low, cooing sound, tilting her head toward you.

"That gem...Did it hurt to be put in?" You feel her frown, even though you can't see it.

"Not at all. It's quite common among witches." You want to frown now as well. "It's quite useful for knowing the level of your magic, as well as, in my and Eda's case for knowing when the curse is very close to taking over your body, the gem darkens and turns black. I put mine on many years ago for control, it turned out to be quite useful." It's instinctive for your hand to trace the small crystal with your fingertips.

"It's pretty." Her eyes meet you again, now from the bottom up. It's impossible not to smile. Part of her. Part of you. You feel the little thread now, it's like a little chain stretched down your spine. it's not trying to steady itself now, it's perfectly in place. It doesn't bother you. Mostly because you feel where it ends. "And that's a tattoo?" You ask with a little giggle as you run your fingers along the scarred skin of her back, it really looks more like a scar than a real tattoo.

Lilith just contorts her lips as she denies it with her head.

"It's my coven sigil. When we join a coven we get one of those, usually on our wrist, but I thought it would look better on my back." You raise your eyebrows and Lilith laughs. "I was a bit of a hardcore teenager okay?" And you weren't judging, it was a beautiful golden tattoo, if it wasn't a reminder of her time in the Coven you would really love it with all your heart.

Lilith stares into your eyes for a moment and then smiles wider.

You frown, and she suddenly pulls away from your arms. She leaves the nest. Completely naked to go to the trunk in the corner of the room. You feel your ears burning because you can't take your eyes off her.

You watch her take something rather large out of the trunk and then turn to you with a huge smile. She walks quickly over to enter the nest again with...A guitar case next to her chest?

Your eyebrows frown almost at the same second. What?

"I read in some books in ancient languages that it was common for mates to give gifts as a celebration for the bond consummation." Now you raise your eyebrows in surprise, opening your mouth to try to add something, but she continues anyway. "The bard coven is one of the nine main covens, they use instruments and music to cast spells." She says as she extends the case between you and opens it, revealing a brown les paul. That would have already made you widen your eyes, but there are runes on it. Runes are intricate and perfectly placed all over the length of the wood. "You would need magic to do this naturally, but I researched and discovered some spells for enchanting musical instruments." She points to the runes. "It's enchanting, well I hope it works, but anyway it's a way to make the instrument work like the glyphs, pretty handy for those who can play." She looks at you expectantly now as she removes the instrument from its cover and places it in your arms. You don't think anyone has ever given you such a specific and thoughtful gift. "I haven't found any spells to summon the instrument as we do with staffs, but you can carry it with the case, still cool right?" You open and close your mouth a few times, not knowing exactly what to say.

Why does she have to be like that? Why does she have to look at you with the world's most childish expressions while grinning from ear to ear?

How could this woman and the cold-expressing witch you tried so hard to understand be the same person?

"I don't have a gift for you. You should have told me." She frowns with real doubt. As if you had just said the stupidest thing in the world.

"You've already given me my gift." You frown. Not understanding what on earth you had given her. She points to her right ear and the moon earring seems to glow.

"I didn't give it to you as a celebration for the bond and it's just an earring." She smirks with the corner of her mouth as she shakes her head negatively. Again as if you have said the world's biggest nonsense.

"It's not just an earring." But she doesn't explain what she means by that. "Try it, I want to see if it worked, and I have no idea how to play string instruments." You smile imagining Lilith on the piano before reaching your fingers into the neck. It's been a while since you've played electric guitar. You imagine that this particular one doesn't need amplifiers. When the first chord leaves your fingers, a bluish haze comes off the instrument, chilling your skin as the whole room fills with light, bright, and extremely beautiful.

Impressive. That is impressive. Your heart races at how thoughtful this gift was. Her eyes glow in different colors as she follows the magic around the room, like a concert smoke machine.

You put the guitar aside so you can propel yourself towards her, taking her face between your hands and placing a kiss on her lips.

"It's perfect. Thank you." Her ears move adorably in a reaction to the unanticipated affection. Her cheeks heat up next, probably from that impulse she couldn't control.

"You're welcome." She whispers. "We should probably go downstairs to make breakfast. Eda and the others are doubtless still in bed after yesterday." You close your eyes and sigh deeply, feeling laziness creep into your bones.

"What if we stayed here all day?" Lilith lets out a graceful giggle before denying with her head.

"As much as I find the idea promising, I believe it would not be very polite of us." You roll your eyes enough to make the other woman pinch your nose as you sit down on the nest.

However, before she can pick up her sweater tossed on the edge, you pull her back by the hand. She taps against your body and has an eyebrow raised slightly in your direction with that gesture.

"One kiss." That's what you say. Even if it's not what you are thinking.

"Then why am I hearing 'please buy it' so loudly?" Damn mating bond, you think with a sigh. Lilith laughs before leaning down, taking your cheeks in her hands, to place an extremely chaste kiss on your mouth. "You're cute when you're needy." You sigh deeply against her face. How could you already want her again? How did her taste seem to awaken things in you that you surely never felt before? It's only a kiss and you already wrap your hands around her. You want her as close as possible. "Y/N..." She scolds in a veiled tone. Your mouth finds the junction of her neck, placing numerous soft kisses that make her let out a sigh against your face.

You feel when she loosens up in your arms, just as her aura becomes much more malleable. This bond thing could have its advantages.

"20 minutes." You ask for, your mouth running along the underside of her chin, almost reaching her mouth again. Your fingers reach down her back, curling the hair at the ends.

"10." She retorts as she leans back toward you, her eyes shining with an amusement you loved.

"Make it 15 and we're even." She doesn't answer, but when she touches her lips to yours again you hear her inside your own mind, no words needed and yet the voice is the same and in the same suggestive tone.

"You're lucky you're cute."

Chapter 17

#lilith clawthorne x reader #lilith clawthorne #the owl house #toh fanfic #eda clawthorne #hooty

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linsallyworld · 3 years

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RAVEN MOM CHAPTER 1

Fancomics in the Owl house’s univers about young Lililth Clawthorne and child Hunter! Maybe AU Mom Lilith IDK ???

I hope you’ll like it! I did something simple than the Prologue haha…

You can tell me if you see some mistake in my text, it can help me a lot :((( I’m not good at it…

PROLOGUE HERE >>>> NEXT CHAPTER (one day haha)

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linsallyworld · 3 years

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🍓 We love a chaotic sibling duo!

🍒 Hopefully the letters aren’t too small heheh, In case you can’t read it just let me know! :) I hope you have a wonderful day!

🍇 The characters are Edalyn and Lilith Clawthorne from The Owl House, and the scene is from Thor: Ragnarok!

🍊 my Instagram is: @lobstterez !

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linsallyworld · 3 years

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This is old but I never posted it on tumblr! I drew this before we found out he had his little type writer! Anyways Hooty can hold a pen and he is learning 😌

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linsallyworld · 3 years

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Lilith and Hooty baking together for another Owl Fight 2021 prompt!!

(for @/eevachu on twitter)

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linsallyworld · 3 years

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Swaunt Lilith and Luz :3

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linsallyworld · 3 years

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Uneven Odds (Lilith Clawthorne x reader fanfic)

Chapter 15

Chapter 14

Words:8.400

You had big plans for your university years. You wanted to get a job, move out of your parents' house, and rent an apartment. Then you would start thinking about your career plan. You thought that maybe you could write professionally, or even become a university professor. Dating was not in your plans, you didn't even like anyone.

But do you know what else wasn't in your plans? Being kicked out of your home, falling into a world completely different from your own, being welcomed by the people of the Owl House, and then finding out that the person you were meant to be with was...Lilith Clawthorne.

Falling into this world brought numerous surprises. You found out that you are good with spells, even though you are human. You found out that witch milkshakes could be surprisingly delicious. And you didn't have to worry due to the fact they didn't use milk.

Also, you discovered, when you fell into this world, that dating Lilith could be one of the most extraordinary things that ever happened to you.

She is a very peculiar kind of girlfriend, which you named soft-hot. She had these two spectrums inside her. She is that kind of girlfriend who will learn how to make hot chocolate the way you like it and give you a kiss on the forehead when she hands it to you while you read about deals in the demon realm on the living room couch. But also the kind of girlfriend who can easily push you into the nearest dark corner to steal a breathtaking kiss, sliding her thigh between your legs when she needed you and couldn't help herself. She noticed, quite clearly the effect her legs have on you, as well as her voice, her fingers. Well, Lilith is a very attentive girlfriend.

Soft-hot. You loved that combination with everything in you. And you were never going to complain, but it was a hard thing to deal with when you hadn't decided yet what to do with the information you had.

Another thing you discovered is that there were several books about mating bonds.

You and Lilith had spent the whole week studying about this. You had been getting books and books about old agreements in the demon realm from the library, as well as about relationships and bonds in general. Some were in different languages so that only Lilith could read. But most of the time you were able to help her with the research and it was particularly fascinating research if you were honest. The first records of mating bonds go back thousands of years, it's an extremely old bond and you have no idea how humans have just been ignoring it for millennia.

Sure there are legends about soul mates since the world is a world. But nothing tangible, nothing like the boiling isles put together in complete volumes.

You got the information you needed from a fairly recent book, actually, that had more in-depth studies on magical covenants. Some pretty interesting pictures made you feel like a girl in sixth grade with her first anatomy book. The thread is something interesting, not everyone has it but it's something relatively common. Anyway, for the mating bond to be consummated, the mates must come together. If one of the mates makes the other come without themselves coming it won't make the bond consummate to pieces but the moment of consummation may be weaker. You regretted not letting go that day for sure.

There are stronger and weaker mating bonds. Only the mates can tell how connected they are to each other. You almost raised your eyebrows as Lilith read this part aloud. You hadn't even consummated the bond yet and you could feel her emotions perfectly, sometimes even hear her thoughts. It was pretty obvious that your bond wasn't poor in any way. Also, and this reminded you of that day at the Knee, other witches can tell the bond by the smell. Not exactly the perfume, but more like the natural smell of two mates becomes quite similar.

In the end, you decided that quickies would not be an option. Lilith wanted the consummation to be perfect, and you couldn't deny that you wanted it too. It was an old bond, and as difficult as it was, you didn't want to waste it because of your sexual urges.

So you chose to wait. The perfect opportunity. Not the wedding, for the Titan's sake, you don't think you can hold out until next week.

"Please, Eda, pleeeeeaaaaaase. I swear, we won't make a mess, we'll sleep in the living room and no one will touch anything." You take your eyes off the fantasy novel about the human world you were reading, Luz's recommendation, to the scene unfolding in front of you. Luz had been begging all week for Eda to let the children come to the slumber party. The owl lady believed she would forget about it by the end of the week, which she didn't.

"Okay, fine. As long as their parents agree. I don't want Odalia Blight, in my house, announcing that I kidnapped her daughter. Okay?!" Luz nods with a small, soft smile. Odalia Blight...Considering her last name you believe she is Amity's mother. But it's not something you pay much attention to.

As soon as she is out of Eda's vision, Luz does a little dance of joy before running up the stairs, which makes you chuckle.

It's almost night, you figure the guys will be here soon.

"I'm going upstairs and have a shower. I'll be right back to help you with some snacks." Eda puts her hands together as if pretending a prayer when you get up from the couch.

"What would I be without you?" You chuckle as you squeeze the owl lady's shoulder.

"Probably a woman with five kids at home and no snacks." Eda twitches her lips in agreement. You close your book with the bookmark and then head toward the stairs.

When you reach the second floor, you sense that Lilith is still in her room, probably studying. You should warn her that there will be three more teenagers in the house in a few hours. You say that this is the only reason to go knocking on her door, but internally you know that this is a lie. Any excuse to see her for a few minutes.

Lilith opens the door almost before you remove your fist from the wood. She has some red paint smeared on her cheek and is wearing classic pajamas with a Dragon Ball Z blouse. She's smiling, teeth and all, and you frown slightly, but don't even have time to ask before she grabs your wrist and pulls you inside.

"I figured it out." Your eyebrows pronounce a little more as she bounces near her desk. She was in the soft mood now, soft and cheerful. You look at what she was doing. There are open books, on geography and relief, as well as some discarded glyph drawings, some papers with her elegant handwriting. But what catches your eye are the two papers placed perfectly in the center of the table. The drawing is pretty similar to the one you saw with Luz at the Knee, but complete. A circle, with a square in the middle and another smaller circle inside, and two lines cutting through it, one horizontally and one vertically. "Try it!" she asks, putting one of the papers in your hand. "But on the floor." She points to a recent scratch on her desk that wasn't there before.

You kneel and look at her once more with that childlike excitement before you touch the glyph. The familiar tingle rises up your arm as the design rises in gold. And so the paper crumbles to make way for a massive ball of stone that weighs down on the floor.

"It worked!" Lilith bounces more behind you and you can't help but smile. It really did work, a stone glyph, Luz would be fascinated with it. Maybe not as much as Lilith was. You can almost feel her excitement in the air, and how happy she is to have finally figured it out.

She helps you to stand again and then she grabs the remaining paper, probably to run after her teacher and show her what she has discovered. But you hold her by the hand.

"Luz has invited Willow, Gus, and Amity to a slumber party." Lilith frowns slightly and then smiles.

"Can you make that cake again?" You shake your head in promise with a small smile spreading on your mouth.

"Sure." And she grins so broadly at such a simple thing that it makes your heart swell in your chest. "I'm helping Eda with the snacks." Lilith nodded and leaned over to place a quick, warm kiss on your cheek.

"I'll show this to Luz!" You giggled as she came out in small steps and bounds into Luz's room. She could be extremely adorable when she wanted to be.

It's so hard to just not grab her and not let anyone else touch her. She is the sunshine that you didn't want anyone else to feel.

(...)

The kids arrived just as you and Eda were trying to figure out if you should bake fairy pies together with human cakes. You heard the sound of the door slamming and numerous voices at once, that's how you knew there were 5 kids in the house now.

"Hey, guys." You greet as you arrive in the living room. Gus waves energetically at you, Willow smiles with her eyes closed and Amity just grins with the corner of her mouth. You can't help but think that the way someone smiles says a lot about that person's personality.

"Do not destroy my house, thank you." It was Eda's greeting that made Luz slap her hand against her own face and you let out a low chuckle.

"Come on! You won't believe it." Luz takes Amity's hand lightheartedly as she pulls her and her friends into the main room. "Lilith discovered a stone glyph, which ultimately demonstrated how our trip to the Knee was not in vain." Amity went increasingly red as she was led into the house and you had to lower your face to laugh.

They were adorable. Watching them interact would be one of your favorite things about that event.

"Sometimes I think I should try to give them a little push." Eda whispers beside you and you turn to her with frowning eyebrows and narrowed eyes.

"And didn't you think to give your sister a little push?" Eda rolls her eyes hard before starting her path to the kitchen, the sound of children starting some sort of game is quite evident.

"You guys are adults. I should have punched each of you to establish my dominance in the sisterhood." It's your turn to roll your eyes briefly before accompanying her into the kitchen. "You know, I never had a younger sister." She is grinning broadly as she looks at you now, wiggling her eyebrows rather suggestively. "I wonder what kind of pranks you would fall for. It was always so hard with Lilith. She's just too smart." You stand in your spot on the countertop to start making some sandwiches and give the owl lady a particularly disbelieving look.

"Thank you for insulting my intelligence and threatening me in the same sentence. I already feel like part of the family." Eda laughs out loud before stroking your shoulder, amber eye glowing gold as she leans against the counter.

"It's actually incredibly nice to have you here." You smile, but find it breaking in the middle, because your heart seems to swell and break a little at the same time. You're not sure how long it's been since you've been truly wanted somewhere. "Well, I'll go find mattresses for the invaders. Can you handle the cooking by yourself?" You just wave your hand. Cooking also relieves the head and you don't mind, you enjoy.

Eda gives you a knowing pat on the shoulder before she leaves.

You smile when you hear laughter around the house.

It's really nice to feel wanted. It feels really good to feel happy maybe for the first time in...who knows how long.

(...)

Cooking things specifically for witches was not your specialty, but it wasn't that bad. You had a recipe book and material to work with.

You are just finishing making some particularly healthy human sandwiches for you and Luz when Lilith enters the kitchen. You don't even see her. You feel when she enters the room as if the thread knew she was near, signaling where she was. You feel like a whale with sonar every time this happens. Her perfume comes to you next, stronger after the bath, warmer. It's refreshing and seems to calm your mind.

She hugs your waist just for a moment to kiss your cheek and then goes towards the refrigerator.

It's such a simple gesture and yet you can't stop your heart from beating a little faster. It's simple, but at the same time, it's almost involuntary. It's involuntary caring, it's routine.

"We should have made plans. I don't think I ever had that many teenagers in a house." You chuckle at this as she rolls her eyes rather dramatically. Considering the voices coming from the living room, you guess they are arguing about which type of magic is the best. Luz's response was the most obvious, "all together."

"Stop. Willow and Gus are great and I know you like Amity or you wouldn't have been her tutor." It's a good thing that Luz had talked so much about her crush because it granted you quite a bit of information about your girlfriend as well.

Lilith leans against the counter and only then do your eyes go to her. She's wearing a black sweater and soft fabric pants that look so good on her legs. Her hair is tied up in a bun, the smaller strands framing her face, and she is sipping a glass of apple blood. Long fingers tapping their nails rhythmically against the wood.

When you look at her like that...It's hard not to think that choosing to wait for the perfect opportunity was a shitty move. You could just go up to the second floor now, lock yourselves in her room and consummate this bond. The possibility is very tempting. And she is too tempting. Oh how you were tempted every goddamn second by that most appraising look, by those black painted lips, by that long neck, by that too white skin that seemed to be asking to be marked, by her fingers, her voice, those legs that she knew how to hide so well.

You don't know how you managed to supervise your self-control for so long.

"Stop staring at me." She says as she turns the rest of the red liquid in her mouth, without removing her eyes from you. You feel the hint of her smile as she washes the glass in the sink, even though you don't see it.

"Does it make you nervous when I stare?" You answer with a slightly raised eyebrow, humor dripping through your voice. She looks at you over the shoulder, her gray eye glinting silver in knowledge. You were playing with fire here, and you knew it.

She takes a breath and then reaches over casually to lean her hip against the side of where you are making the sandwiches. You watch as her eyes travel across your face, down your neck, across your torso, and down your legs. Shameless. You swallow hard as she stares at you like a prey she intends to eat on her nest. Her gaze lingers on your hips before she slowly returns to your face. Her eyes seem darker, pupils slightly dilated, but bright, like a night bird. She smiles, just softly, running her tongue along the corner of her mouth. You can't stop the shiver that runs down your spine.

"You look just about good enough to eat over that counter." You feel any witty response of yours get stuck in your throat. Oh. What an image she has just given you. Your ears are on fire and you have to lower your head because your whole face feels so hot. She, between your legs, against the rough wood, her mouth on you, the hair falling in her face, the smell of sweat. Uh. You have to stop yourself from squeezing your thighs together.

Your inner muscles tighten and you find your fingers trembling around the slices of bread.

Lilith lets out a graceful laugh before leaning over just enough to be in front of your face. She reaches out to lift your chin with the tip of her index finger.

"What's the matter, my darling? I thought you liked teasing." This is the first time she has used a possessive pronoun with you. Your whole body trembles. Her voice has a slight tone of amusement as her breath feels really warm against your own lips. You again watch her eyes play between your mouth and your own eyes.

Your heart could easily escape through your mouth. How does she manage this? She had barely touched you and your breathing was already failing.

"Lilith..." It was the middle of the kitchen. Anyone could enter, including one of the five kids who were currently in the house. It was not a safe place for that kind of interaction. But do you control your body or your mind at that moment? No. She surrounds you, she sinks her claws into you so difficult that it's extremely hard to have a coherent thought when she is close like that.

"Shh..." She whispers getting close enough to lean her mouth against yours "Let me kiss you." And when she speaks in that tone, with those glowing eyes you don't think you can stop yourself.

Her lips fall over yours and you dissolve around her. She seems like a mist, slowly penetrating around you until she has taken you completely inside her.

You think you might as well be consumed. You don't care.

A weak sigh leaves your nose and you wrap your arms around her neck before kissing her back. It always feels more intense than the last time, and it always feels like you can never get enough of her. She thrusts herself against you, her nails sinking into the counter exactly beside your waist, but not touching you except with her mouth.

She's teasing you. You know it. You feel it.

You pull her by the shoulders, trying to feel more of her, trying to stop the pulse that is growing stronger against your skin. The shorter strands of hair rub against your knuckles.

Lilith lets out a giggle against your mouth before pulling your bottom lip between her teeth.

"It's my entertainment to watch your face turn so red." She whispers as she wraps her hand around your chin. You're trembling, aren't you? She has such an effect on you. You are so easily malleable around her it's ridiculous. "Is it good when I kiss you?" You find yourself choking, but the answer doesn't seem to come anyway. This woman. She knows what her voice does to your nerves, she knows perfectly well what her mouth on yours does.

She is learning so well how to take you out of your ordinary state.

She is so aware of the power she has over you and she enjoys every second of it.

"Lilith..." It's just her name and she leans into the sound, breathing deeply against your face. Your thumbs trace her jawline, warm and firm, you want her mouth on yours again so badly it feels like it hurts under your skin. "Please..." She may want to tease you, but she seems to be as weak to your requests as you are to hers. Because in the next second she slams her mouth on yours again, her hands sinking to your hips.

The world disappears. It's just her mouth, consuming yours. It's just her hair between your fingers. It's just her body so pressed to yours that you can feel her heartbeat, it's quite racing, as is her breath on your face, quite irregular. You feel her thrust her hips between your legs, almost pushing you to sit on the counter. You thrust forward to try to climb up.

"Hm-hm!" The intrusive sound makes you jump away from her, slamming your hips against the counter, hard enough to hurt. You almost whimper with the pain spreading through the sensible bone. It's a loud enough throat-clearing sound that makes your heart pound at the possibility of Luz or Amity or Gus or Willow...Oh Titan, don't let it be King.

But it's pure relief that takes your bones when you turn around, there is no kid. And you let out the breath you didn't even realize you were holding. It's Eda who is standing in the archway, with two sleeping bags under her arms.

"Get a room, you two. For the titan's sake and for my sake." She rolls her eyes and you lower your head, feeling your ears reasonably warm, you don't know if it's need or if it's shame. Maybe a little of both.

"Sorry." You mutter, and Lilith just lets out a mischievous giggle before turning away from you to grab a tray of the snacks you had already made.

"Let's take that before you burst with shame." You really want to finger-flick her on the head because she was the one who started it in the first place, but she is already too far away for you to reach so you just take the other tray of cakes and candies and follow her into the living room.

The kids have already made a real mess. There are books in a lot of places, plants that Willow seems to have grown to demonstrate something, board games, and lots of little clothes scattered about. You frown until you realize that they are playing dress-up games with King in different outfits. He was currently dressed like a supermodel on the red carpet, lipstick and all.

You let out a chuckle before placing the tray on the coffee table, taking a seat next to Lilith on the couch. She just gives you a little wink, to which you respond by pushing her shoulders slightly.

"So..." Eda begins, dropping the sleeping bags on the floor and rubbing her fingers across her forehead. She seemed to be having the time of her life. "One of you will have to sleep on the couch I only found two mattresses in my junk rooms." You frown slightly and you don't even see it when you speak.

"I sleep on the couch. You guys take mine, no problem." It's only one night and you really don't see a problem because you have slept in harsher places than Eda's couch. The bed in your grandmother's summer house looked like a board stretched out on springs and they are kids, they are growing up, they need a mattress more than you do.

Slumber parties are also more fun when you all sleep together. And you didn't want to run the risk of Amity sleeping on the couch and Luz missing the opportunity to stare into her eyes until sleep.

"You may sleep with me." And it's as if someone has simply silenced the room.

An embarrassing and extremely unannounced silence spreads through the room in a way that makes your whole body feel very warm and all your hair stands on end. Your ears feel a little numb as well.

Amity, Willow, Luz, Gus, and King stop whatever they are doing to look back at you and then at Lilith and what she just said. You hear Eda let out a not-so-discreet muffled laugh.

If your face was red before, it burns now. Lilith just told you to sleep with her. Sleep with her. Oh. Your fingers look very interesting now.

"Willow and Guz take the remaining sleep bags, Luz with the one in her room, Amity with yours, and you with me." You bite your lips hard enough to draw blood, feeling your ears complain from how hot they are. Your heart begins to beat faster, a lot faster. Gosh, could anyone see it beating through your blouse?

More importantly. Could Lilith feel what you were feeling right now?

"Okay." You say even if you are panicking and your face is so hot right now that you think you might turn into a human tomato.

Well, you were waiting for the perfect opportunity and it sort of...Happened? There was no reason for you to sneak into Lilith's room in the middle of the night and now...There is? The adrenaline seems to run pretty rapidly throughout your body now, your limbs are at the point for you to run out the front door.

"What is that cake made of?" It's Gus who cuts through this extremely awkward moment around you and you take a second to get back into this background to answer him.

"It's chocolate." You reply, more out of orbit than usual.

Titan. You're going to have a breakdown.

"Come pick a wine with me." Her voice sounds low, low enough so that even if everyone was around you, only you could hear. Your head moves affirmatively, but you are not sure if you really respond.

She grabs your fingers and you think that she sort of carries you back to the kitchen, while Eda throws herself on the couch, eyes following you with interest. She's probably wondering if you are going to desecrate her kitchen counter again.

You lean against the kitchen wall, trying to breathe as best you can, trying not to freak out. It's Lilith. It's just Lilith. She's not going to do anything you don't want her to do.

The problem is that you want to and you have no idea how to have sex with someone you really care about. Oh, your first time should have been like this, nervous, worried.

You hear her rummaging through the small wine cellar that Eda has behind the cupboards. She really seems to be choosing. Anyway, her taste in drinks was better than yours, so you don't even think about interfering.

When she comes back to where you can see, she has a dark glass bottle and three glasses in her hands. Why are you panicking anyway?

It's Lilith, for fuck's sake. It's your mate. Probably the person you've most trusted your whole life. You're not sure if you've ever trusted any friends, except for the people who lived in this house. And you certainly trust any of them more than you ever trusted your parents.

You trust her more than you trust yourself. Even in bestial form, you simply know that she won't hurt you. That doesn't stop the thread on your back from coiling, curling, and screaming under your skin.

The witch opens the bottle on the table and then pours just one of the glasses with reddish liquid before approaching you again. Your fingers reach up almost on their own to hold the goblet. Lilith tilts her head then, just enough so that she can look into your eyes without having to lean in.

"You know I'm not insinuating anything, right?" Your eyes rise to her and her head returns to its normal angle. Your heart seems to swell a little in your chest just from looking at her and you're not sure why that happens. "I want you to sleep with me because I have a rather large nest and I don't want you sleeping on the couch." You swallow hard, feeling like you need to breathe properly again. Here she is, proving that she is everything and more. "I slept there while I was finishing my nest. It was a pretty slow torture." You smile a little at that, but that doesn't stop the chill from spreading through your belly at just the thought of sharing a bed, a nest with Lilith Clawthorne. It's not exactly panic now, it's anxiety.

She touches your chin with her fingertip, but this time it feels careful. Her touch feels a lot softer.

"But if you don't feel comfortable, then I'll sleep on the couch or with Eda and you sleep in my nest." Your shoulders fall, and you feel as if your own walls are falling in the same way. Her eyes are sincere, her smile is comforting, and her touch is simply sweet. She knows what you are feeling and she wants to reassure you.

Why did she have to be like this? Why did she have to be this lovely woman on so many levels that you couldn't help but feel any and all of your insecurities melt around her like warm butter?

She made you feel safe like no one ever did. She makes you want to just never leave her arms again.

She surrounds you. Body, soul and being.

If that thread in your back breaks from being so taut. To hell with that. It's only her that will be in your head.

"I'll sleep with you. No problem." She smiles wide now and it's so evident how happy she is...Because you trust her.

Yeah. You two were extremely similar on many levels.

You lean in to kiss the corner of her cheek and your heart pounds in your ears. Because that's the fragrance you'll smell all night long.

Maybe you never wanted to sleep alone again after that night.

(...)

It was easy to forget about the night's biggest event and the slight discomfort in your back because there was so much to occupy your mind.

You played a slightly different version of "double ditto". You had no cards from that game, so Luz suggested a new game, which is not surprising since she's probably the smartest person in the house. The premise is simple. You write categories on the top of the pad each of you has in hand, you all choose a letter of the alphabet, and you have two minutes to fill them all with words that start with that letter. If someone puts in matching words, it's 5 points, unique words are 10 points, and no words are 0 points.

Eda and Lilith got very competitive with this one in particular. You are almost afraid of the way they are writing fast and almost tearing the notepad.

In the end, it was Amity who won, with a 10 point advantage over Lilith. The pupil surpasses the master and they both seemed extremely proud of it. You saw the witch giving the girl a little wink and she smiling afterward.

There was also the blind man's bluff. You weren't too tempted to participate, because you, Eda, and Lilith had already had two whole bottles of wine, perfectly evident on the coffee table. But it was the game you had the most practice at. Even in your drunken state, you let them wrap a blindfold around your eyes and spin you around in the middle of the living room.

Thank goodness that the key to this game was your ears and not your focus.

You won that one, the easiest to find was Hooty who couldn't get out the door.

But after you went to hide near the stairs and the world turned a bit when you crouched down, you decided to sit down and give up the games that involved you walking around the house. Eda seemed to think the same, and you were almost asleep leaning against each other when they finished the last round. It was Gus who won, and you catch yourself wondering if he didn't take off his blindfold and build an illusion one because it was something you would definitely do if you had any focus to do an illusion spell now.

After that, you are just watching the kids' imitation game. Luz is imitating what reminds you a lot of a hot gas balloon, but it could be an elephant too.

Amity is particularly laughing a lot, her hand covering her mouth to avoid a louder sound. A laugh that makes a small smile appear on Lilith's face.

"She never laughed like that, before everything." She whispers to you, overall the noise the children are making.

Before everything...Before Luz.

Luz is the sunshine that basically made all the people in that room become friends. Maybe Willow and Gus and Eda and King were a case apart, but the rest...Nobody would even look each other in the face if it wasn't for Luz. She is an incredible girl. Everyone at the Owl House was an incredible person actually. They weren't just misfits, they were people with unique talents and impressive skills, exceptionally kind and you couldn't understand how that could be considered weird.

You're a little philosophical, aren't you? It's the alcohol stepping into your nerves, making you extremely silly and The Neighbourhood is playing constantly inside your head. Oh. You are so gay.

"I think it's a rat." Eda tries a guess and Luz makes a "what?" face. You wave your hand at the girl to ignore what the woman said, by the way her voice sounded, she was already a little philosophical too.

Your eyes stray to Lilith again. She's braiding Amity's hair, making it perfect for sleeping. You look at her now, and it might be the alcohol, but her hair looks so glamorous, so dark and shiny. It's like the night itself. Elizabeth Bishop had a poem about it, didn't she?

"The shooting stars in your black hair

in bright formation

are flocking where,

so straight, so soon?

- Come, let me wash it in this big tin basin,

battered and shiny like the moon."

Oh, that bitch was gay. Good for her.

"Thank you, Miss Lilith." Amity says as soon as she finishes the little braid by tying it with the hairband the girl used to hold the top of her hair. She smiles in a way that makes you tilt your head. She seems to have a rather motherly glow around her now.

"You should probably drop the Miss." She warns. Amity's eyes soften at the corners as she smiles more. So light.

Why do you get the feeling that this was not something she had much of? An adult who really wanted to give a little bit of affection and care around her?

Maybe it's something about kicked kids. You meet in the middle of the road, you can see the signs in each other.

"I promise I'll try." And she seems really sincere about it.

Lilith is simply relaxed as she leans her back against the couch, her hair brushing your thigh as she lays her head on the cushion.

"May I braid your hair?" Willow guesses Luz's impersonation. That was Principal Bump.

Her eyes go to you, they look softer too, but still bright, silver and green staring at you. Good thing you guys had stopped with the alcohol.

"I'm sorry?" She frowns, just slightly, just as if she really didn't understand the question.

"It's so long and beautiful." You trace your fingertips through her hair, it feels like silk between your fingers. "May I braid it?" She frowns again, but this time it's confusion. Why? She seems to want to ask but gives up when you just smile with a shrug. Lilith giggles next, probably at the immaturity of your request.

"Sure." And you have to remind yourself that jumping around is still a too 2000s teenage movie attitude for you to do.

You jump to the side of the couch and pat where you were previously sitting. Lilith has a small, disbelieving smile on her lips as she sits down with her back to you, facing Eda. She doesn't miss the opportunity to poke her sister with her foot, which makes Eda show her tongue.

Hooty realizes that he finally has a place to lie down and moves closer again to his place on Lilith's lap. She strokes his head in acknowledgement.

You kneel so that you can pull her hair from the front, forming a strand in your hands. She had quite a large amount of hair, it would be enough to play with. You start by braiding the top part, as was common for the French braid. Your fingers glide gently through the dark strands of hair, like the night sky itself. You believe that you can sprinkle her hair with stars and it will look just like the human night sky.

You catch yourself imagining what it would be like to braid her hair if it were still red and voluminous.

Once you finish the top part, you start taking the strands behind her ears, pulling them one by one to join the middle set, crossing over the middle strand. You keep repeating this, it's almost therapeutic. Her hair is reasonably long so it's simply relaxing to go strand by strand. Slow and therapeutic, you can feel your mind becoming more and more relaxed.

It's not until you get more than halfway through the hair that you are surprised by a very noticeable shudder on her part. Lilith's whole body trembles and your eyes widen.

You look at your own hands and realize that you have just taken the locks from the back of her head. The last strands to be placed in the middle strand. Oh. You had already been suspecting this, but now it's a clear confirmation.

"You have a sensitive nape. I'll keep that in mind." You say more to yourself than to her, a small mischievous smile rising on your mouth. You can almost see her rolling her eyes as you pull the last two strands to work with just the middle one. The way down is much quicker now and in less than a minute you manage to finish the braid, tying it off with a rubber band you found on the coffee table, probably holding the cards from some game.

"We also have very sensitive ears. Not that I should be hearing you. You're disgusting." Eda complained then as you placed the braid to fall delicately down Lilith's back. You looked at her curiously over the brunette's head.

"Sensitive ears?" Your eyebrows frown, pure interest coming out of your voice and the owl lady smiles in an almost wicked way. Lilith narrows her eyes in her direction, in a silent threat quite clear to your eyes.

"In the same way that we have keener hearing, we have a slightly more receptive cartilage, so to speak." Oh. That was interesting. Sensitive cartilage where have you ever heard that?

"Oh." Your fingers almost itch to touch her ears. The moon earring shines, perfectly visible on the right now that there was no hair covering it.

"Don't you dare." Lilith replied with a little growl that made you laugh. She had to stop trying to be so grump if her face was red like that, it would never work.

"Please?" You pout as you look at her, resting your chin on her shoulder. She looks at you with the same narrowed eyes, but you know the effect your puppy eyes have on most people. Especially on her now.

She rolls her eyes hard before sighing.

"Fine. Just once." A rather silly grin appears on your mouth, pure excitement pumping through your veins. You raise your hand and trace the tip of the pointed ear between your thumb and forefinger delicately, it's really smoother than the human ear, thinner and even a little softer to the touch.

Lilith sighs, audibly, and it's surprising how she simply sinks between your legs with a soft shudder. Her back leaning against your chest as she closes her eyes and tilts her head toward your fingers, the contractions gone from her face, entirely. Just the slightly irregular breathing.

Her body feels quite warm and it takes everything in you not to wrap your free arm around her.

Certainly sensitive ears. Completely sensitive.

"Thre you go. You're welcome, Y/N." Eda murmurs as she closes her eyes with a giggle still on her lips.

You remove your fingers from her ear and Lilith immediately opens her eyes. Heat rises quickly up to her face, coloring her cheeks red and then the tips of her ears.

She was quite adorable when she was embarrassed.

"Lulu, why did you stop the petting?" She blinks several times before returning to this world and then sitting down again to continue petting Hooty's head. You think her fingers look a little shaky.

When the clock struck two in the morning. Eda decided that the adults should go to bed. It took you a second to remember that this also applied to you because you were currently in an extremely complex discussion with Luz about which was the best anime with girls as protagonists. She would choose Sailor Moon and you obviously Violet Evergarden. She also preferred Levi to Hange, which you thought was almost a crime.

Lilith caresses Amity's hair gently before she takes you by the hand and starts to pull you away from the living room, or else you would be all night proving that Hange Zoë was simply Daenerys from Attack on Titan.

Amity nods as you are heading toward the stairs and Lilith waves her free hand, a simple loving smile on her lips. You remember to think she would make a great mother someday. If she ever wanted to. Luz gives you a rather suggestive look that would have made you shake your head negatively if you had the time.

It's only when you reach the second floor that reality falls on your slightly drunk brain again. You would sleep with Lilith. The thread in your back tightens against your spine a little, but you push everything you are feeling to the back of your mind because Lilith was Lilith.

She wouldn't do anything you didn't want her to do. She was your mate. She holds your wrist with the greatest delicacy in the world.

"You have to get your toothbrush. About the pajamas, I can lend you one." You nod your head, your reasoning probably not understanding that she had her back turned and couldn't see. Let alone that you could just take one of your pajamas.

"I...I'll be right back." Her hand releases your wrist and you walk to the bathroom down the hall in search of your toothbrush.

You find yourself standing for long minutes... Simply standing in her bedroom doorway. Wondering whether you should go in or run out and slam your head against the nearest wall. The latter option was looking rather tempting.

You sigh deeply, trying to stop being a child, and knock on the door.

"Come in." You take a couple of deep breaths before doing as she asks.

Lilith is looking out the window as you enter the room. Arms crossed over the same sweater she had worn during the night, but the pants have changed to pajama pants, at least they weren't shorts. That's what you tell yourself. At least they are not shorts.

There is a pair of pants and another sweater on her desk chair. They look exceptionally soft when you pick them up and they smell like her, fresh and sweet.

Your eyes go to the large nest, it looked quite comfortable, far more comfortable than your bed, but that doesn't stop your spine from quivering at the prospect of sleeping side by side with Lilith Clawthorne.

You must have spent a few seconds staring at the nest because you don't notice when she approaches, a slight smile on her lips, delicate and warm.

"Go get changed, I'll make it comfortable." She touches your face, kisses your cheek, gently and softly. And you have to stop yourself from sighing, her mist around you seems quite firm now. She doesn't need much.

You nod again, not trusting your voice to speak, and then force your legs until they work and lead you to her bathroom.

The bathroom in her room is exceptionally clean. Everything is in its perfect place and you change clothes quickly, getting rid of your jeans and shirt for the more comfortable clothes. You can smell her perfume as soon as the clothes settle on your body, it seems to permeate you now and you're not exactly complaining. The clothes are a little bigger too, considering she's taller, but you feel welcome.

This time you try not to stand in the doorway to go back to the room. Try to be a little more adult so to speak.

Lilith stands in front of the mirror as you get in. You frown slightly because she's running a cotton pad over her shoulders, apparently a small bottle of potion between her fingers on the other hand.

"I can't sleep with concealer on, even though I wish I could, it does a lot of damage if it stays on the skin for more than 24 hours." She says, without turning to you and you find your eyebrows pronouncing even more. Did she wear make-up? Besides eyeliner and black lipstick? Why did she apply makeup to her shoulders?

She still doesn't look at you when she returns the bottle to its place in the trunk. Does she look...embarrassed? That's what you feel at least, shame that exudes from her pores enough to reach you.

"Lilith?" And when you say her name out loud, she finally turns around. Your jaw drops almost in the same second.

She...She has freckles. Freckles that spread down her nose, up her cheeks, some across her forehead, and even above her lips. Some also spread to her shoulders and speckle the skin of her neck, you imagine they must extend up her arms, down her back, even up to her thighs. Which makes you imagine that even on the game day she applied that thing.

You remember thinking...They looked like grains of sand.

"Oh Gosh, you're beautiful." She opens her mouth, slightly pink now that there was no black lipstick, but then she closes it again, her ears completely red. "Why do you cover them?" You take a step closer and can't stop yourself from starting to count them, one, two, three, four. Oh, there were so many.

She is quiet for a moment as she shrugs as if it's no big deal. You think about the Coven again, did those shits really have the courage to look at that face and say she was too malleable? Too weak?

"When I was a kid a girl I liked and who I even dated for a while..." She begins as she crosses her arms under her chest in a protective gesture you already know well. "She...She said it made me look imbecile, some of her friends agreed and suddenly I was the 'scabies'." Your shoulders drop. It was easy to forget that Lilith Clawthorne, the sharp witch was once a nerd who suffered bullying. "But I didn't have the courage to remove them with a spell for perfect skin like some girls did. So I started using a concealer and the mockery stopped." You don't care who the girl is, you know you already hate her with all your heart. Who would have the courage to look at her like that and not say that she was simply beautiful? Simply perfect?

Who would have the courage to look at that cute little girl in that picture and say that she was anything but adorable?

You don't understand why your eyes are tearing up, you have to swallow as your instincts beg you to come closer. So you do.

There is only doubt in her eyes when you take her cheeks in both hands. She looks afraid of what you would say.

But you don't say immediately. You lean in so that you can kiss one cheek and then the other. Her eyes close with the contact of your mouth, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.

"You had a terrible taste in girls." You whisper next, which makes her genuinely laugh softly. "I think they're beautiful. You should let everyone see them." She looks with mild disbelief at you. "I mean that. They enhance your eyes and make your face look a lot less threatening." Your fingertips run through the little dots. Oh, you would spend a lifetime memorizing the place each one occupied on her face.

"Don't you think everyone will think it's weird?" You frown slightly at that.

"Think it's weird that you finally feel comfortable showing them who you really are?" She shrugs again, staring at the floor. "I think they will love it, Lilith, especially Eda. She'll love having her big sister back." A small smile begins to form on her mouth. It's a little odd to see her pink lips when you were so used to the black lipstick, but you love it. "I loved them if that's any encouragement." Lilith's smile widens and it's sheer surprise that takes your face when she simply wraps her arms around you, squeezing gently around your waist. She rests her face on your shoulder, completely leaning against you and you just frown slightly as you hold her by the shoulders.

"Thank you." She whispers then, her voice touching your cheek and making your whole body tremble.

You want to ask why. But you think you understand.

You've seen all of her. The parts she liked, the parts she didn't. And you accepted every one of them. You were willing for each of them. You want to tell her that she really doesn't need to thank you for that.

Because that's what friends should do. That was just you being her friend. As a mate... As a mate, you intended to give her the world.

When did you think of that? Having someone who with one touch tears you apart, who with one word shatters you, who with a single different breath makes you reconsider what you're going to say.

It's just her.

You sigh and stick your nose in her hair.

No one will ever take you out of that embrace. No one will ever touch her again.

And when you promise yourself that, it feels like the thread finally loosens behind your back.

You can breathe again, and you're sure of what you want.

Her.

You just want her.

Chapter 16

#the owl house #toh fanfic #lilith clawthorne #lilith calwthorne x reader #eda clawthorne #luz noceda #hooty

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