An Owl House Fanfiction (Emperor Belos x Oc)

Part 40: Hurt

(10/20/23-minor story and grammar edits done.)

Lilith holds Silbi on her lap with her arms wrapped around the tearful witchling. Hooty wraps himself around them and nuzzles Silbi's face. Silbi hugs Yulong tightly in her little arms and whimpers.

"I can't believe it," said Luz. "First Hunter, and now you two."

"Easy, Luz," said Eda.

Lilith joins in. "So Dawn sacrificed herself to save Silbi . . . Oh, I should've seen this coming!"

King suggests, "What if we take Silbi along with us on our trip? She'll be safe and away from Belos."

Eda sighs and counters, "Silbi's exhausted, both physically and mentally."

Lilith added, "We think she used too much magic after her fight with Belos. She's in no condition to travel."

Silbi did tell them the whole event, but not the part about her other half. Her horns had gone down by the time she arrived at the Owl House. She was also unsure and just assumed she was in her wolf form when she fought Belos. Either way, the witches are right about being exhausted.

Luz groans, "I can't believe Belos would use these dirty tricks! Now Dawn really is his prisoner!"

"Shh! Luz!" said Eda as she glance back at Silbi.

Luz turns back and sighs. "I'm so sorry, Silbi. T-This is all my fault . . ."

"That's not true, Luz!" said Eda, who stands up and goes to comfort her adopted child. "It's no one's fault, alright? Me and Lily here will think of a safe place for Silbi. No doubt Belos will be looking for her, too."

"Oh! What about mom and dad?" suggested Lilith. "They could look after Silbi and restore her energy."

"Now that doesn't sound like a bad idea," said Eda.

Everyone's voice became muffled in Silbi's ears. She wasn't listening and was still worried for her mother. Yulong growls softly and nuzzles her cheek.

Silbi sighed, "I didn't even get to finish mama's cure . . ."

~~~

Meanwhile, the Coven Heads gather for a meeting at the Emperor's Coven. They're informed of Silbi's escape and, more privately, Dawn's betrayal.

Mason was ordered to fix Dawn's room with security upgrades; plus, a special barred room for Silbi. Hettie Cutburn and Vitimir still remain in their current order, which is to find a cure for Dawn's curse. Despite this order, even if they had the cure, Belos had ordered them to keep it on hold. "Titan's orders," he said, "we don't want our disloyal empress stopping us now."

Terra Snapdragon and Darius would help Mason with the rooms while Raine and Eber are assigned to finding Silbi. Osran was assigned to predict where Silbi and, mostly, Delia's experiment was hiding. Adrian Graye Vernworth was given an important job: to search through the empress's memories.

Raine and Darius exchanged glances as they went to work separately.

Mason and his coven members went straight to work while Darius tidies up. Terra went to the sleeping empress and sadly frowns.

"Poor, naive rosebud. She had great potential," commented Terra with a sorrowful expression before quickly turning into a content smirk. "Oh, well. Graye, are you ready?"

"Just about!" replied Adrian. "And this time I'll outdo my last performance."

Darius calmly jumps in and asks, "The empress has been through enough already, Graye. Can't we give her a break?"