♪♫❝ ᴵ ʷⁱˢʰ ʸᵒᵘ ᶜᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵘⁿᵈᵉʳˢᵗᵃⁿᵈ
ᴵ'ᵐ ⁿᵒᵗ ʰᵃˡᶠ ᵃˢ ᵖᵘᵗ ᵗᵒᵍᵉᵗʰᵉʳ ᵃˢ ʸᵒᵘ ᵗʰⁱⁿᵏ ᴵ ᵃᵐ
ᴵ ᶠᵉᵃʳ ⁱᶠ ᴵ ʷᵃˢ ʰᵒⁿᵉˢᵗ, ᴵ'ᵈ ˢᶜᵃʳᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃʷᵃʸ
ᴮᵘⁱˡᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ᵗᵒ ᵇᵉˡⁱᵉᵛᵉ ᴵ ʷᵃˢ ᵈᵒⁱⁿᵍ ᵒᵏᵃʸ ❞♪♫
- 𝚂𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 ʙʏ 𝙻𝚢𝚗 𝙻𝚊𝚙𝚒𝚍
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
ᴘʀᴇᴠɪᴏᴜꜱʟʏ ᴏɴ ɴɪᴄᴇ ɢɪʀʟ:
"𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚠?" 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝙶𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚍.
𝙰𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚔𝚊'𝚜 𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚛𝚔 𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗. "𝙳𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕?"
𝙷𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚜.
"𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝙺𝚒𝚔𝚒𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚊, 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝙴𝚖𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚛 𝙱𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚜." 𝙰𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚔𝚊 𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝.
"𝙵𝚒𝚗𝚎." 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝙶𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚍, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙰𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚔𝚊 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝙻𝚞𝚣 𝚜𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗.
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
Luz sent the Golden Guard to find her Sleeping Nettles while Annika volunteered to stay with her to draw the glyphs.
"Do you know what a glyph looks like?" Luz asked her.
"Yeah, you'd be surprised at how many books the castle library provides," Annika replied, and the two started drawing the glyphs with chalk on a large but torn wall.
The two girls glanced at one another when the other didn't notice.
"Lilith moved out of the Owl House," Luz informed the older girl after a few minutes of silence.
"Lily already hexed that to me."
"I still don't trust you." The human girl said with furrowed brows.
Annika rolled her eyes. "Wow, it's as if you didn't make it so obvious." She sarcastically retorted.
Luz frowned. "Don't you have compassion for anyone else but yourself... or Lilith?"
The older brunette looked at the girl with slightly wide eyes. "Is that what you think of me?"
"Well, yeah. You trapped those wild witches, and then when me and King confronted you about it, you kept denying it as if we made it up."
Annika didn't answer Luz's accusation, so the human girl continued, her voice slightly rising. "And no thanks to you, those witches were freed with my and King's help."
The crown princess scoffed. "Oh, do you honestly think those witches would've run free without knowing about the glitch?"
The younger girl furrowed her brows. "Glitch? What do you mean?"
"I guess Goldilocks was right? You really don't think things through."
Luz's eyes widened as she let her realization sink in. "You helped out in their escape?"
"No, I floated in the air as I danced around to contact the giraffes," Annika replied-her sarcasm returning.
The human girl ignored her comment and pressed on. "Why didn't you tell us? Does Lilith know?"
"That's none of your business." The crown princess snapped and looked around before muttering. "But yes, I did tell, Lily."
Luz knitted her brows. "How come you told her and not us?"
"Because Lily and I are tight. You, on the other hand, are someone I know because of Lily." Annika explained as she lifted her arm to a higher point of the wall, and for a quick second, Luz thought she saw a sign of a scar on the back of the older girl's forearm.
But the moment was too quick for the human girl to be confident of what she saw.
The younger brunette uttered with realization. "Do you have a hard time trusting people?"
The older brunette didn't answer her question and continued drawing her ice glyph.
"You know, if you don't trust me, then I have no reason to trust you either," Luz frowned after a moment of silence.
Annika looked at the human girl with a sad expression before facing the wall. "This is my way of helping you free those palismen, Noceda. Why do you think I'm using Kikimora as a reason for Goldilocks to comply?"
Luz's eyes widened. "I- I didn't know."
"That was the point, genius." Annika sassily returned before turning her head and pointing her finger at the human girl. "And not a single word to anyone outside the Owl House, especially him." She threatened.
Luz raised a brow. "Wait, he doesn't know? I thought you two were close."
Annika laughed at the girl's assumption. "Me and the loyal Golden Guard, who would do anything for the Emperor?" She tried holding her laughter in but couldn't help herself. "Close?"
"Well," Luz started but was interrupted by her continuous cackle.
"Knowing this shit?" The crown princess wiped the tears that streamed down her face. "You- Are- Hilarious." She said between gasps as Luz frowned and drew the last line of the two glyphs.
"What's so funny?" The Golden Guard queried with a sack in his hands.
"Oh, nothing." Annika waved her hand in dismissal. "She just assumed we were close."
"We're not." The blonde bluntly confirmed to Luz, whose brow raised with suspicion.
She wasn't convinced they hated each other, but the crown princess had a point about the Golden Guard's attitude if he learned of her moves against the Emperor. Though Luz was unsure of how long she had been against the Belos.
"Huh." The Golden Guard looked over at the two glyphs. "I've never seen magic like this. What will it do?"
"Well, we don't want to spook Kikimora's steed because it might drop the nest and hurt the palismen." Luz reasoned and explained while pointing at the glyphs. "So, using these fire and ice spells, I can command the glyphs to produce a thick mist!"
"And the Sleeping Nettles?" He asked and took them out of his sack.
"They're essential!" Luz answered while kneeling and putting the pot inside a round slot in the wall.
The younger teen was about to continue, but Annika beat her to it. "It would create a sleep-inducing smoke." She concluded.
"Forcing Kikimora to land." The blonde crouched with a smile as if continuing the crown princess's sentence.
Luz looked at the boy with surprise before glancing with the same look at the older girl.
"Oh, um, I-" The blonde stuttered as he scratched his cheek. "I- I read a similar spell in the book 'From Bones to Earth-'"
"-'A Study of Wild Magic!" The two girls completed him with a smile.
"Now, that's a classic," Annika said with a nostalgic look.
"Eda once pickpocketed the guy who wrote it," Luz told the two older teens.
The Golden Guard looked up at the drawn glyphs. "I've never seen glyphs before, but it seems very similar to the elemental magic practiced in the Savage Ages." He explained to a curious Luz.
"Really?" She asked.
"Actually, not many people know this, but..." The Golden Guard paused when he realized the crown princess was still present.
"What?" Annika raised a brow when she saw the human and the guard staring at her. "Do you want me to leave?"
"No. No, no, no. I- Never mind." He shook his head and crossed his arms as the older brunette became more suspicious of the boy's behavior.
"Other than Lilith and..." Luz paused, unsure how to refer to the crown princess.
"I have a name; you can use it, Noceda."
"Well,... Other than Lilith and Annika, I've never spoken to someone inside the Emperor's Coven." She turned to the blonde. "What made you wanna join?"
The Golden Guard sighed and sat down against the wall. "You were right before. I'm a powerless witch. A lot of my ancestors were. I never thought I'd have a future in a world like this." He continued while fidgeting with his fingers. "But then Belos found me and gave me a staff with artificial magic. Said the Titan had big plans for me."
Annika widened her eyes when the boy spoke of his past as if she didn't know and looked away with pity or guilt in her eyes.
"What about you?" Luz asked the crown princess.
The older girl hummed out of her thoughts. "What about me?"
"How did you get into the Emperor's Coven?"
Annika was silent, and Luz thought she wouldn't reply but was surprised when she did. "I was born into it," she began and fidgeted with her nails, "so I didn't really have a choice in whether I would join the coven or not. You could say it's my destiny... If that's what you believe in." The older girl commented in a melancholy tone.
"At least you have your futures figured out now," Luz said as she contemplated her life.
"At least you can figure out your own." The blonde returned, and Annika muttered quietly out of earshot.
"At least you had a choice."
Little Rascal landed on the Golden Guard's forearm and chirped at him.
"Hey!" He said with wide eyes and shooed the bird away as if it was an annoying pest. "Stop! Get away from me."
Annika and Luz looked at the interaction in awe. "He's just being friendly."
"I don't care. These things are made from wild magic." He pushed the palisman away with his boot. "It's dangerous."
"And does he seem dangerous to you?" Luz asked.
"Yeah, I'd say you've got palismenphobia, Goldilocks." Annika joked at a frowning Golden Guard.
The human girl chuckled at the crown princess's joke.
"Don't encourage her!" the blonde raised his voice at Luz.
The two girls' laughter soon stopped when the three heard growls from Kikimora's dragon, now carrying the palismen shelter.
The trio looked at each other and knew immediately what to do.
"Masks on," Luz ordered, and the two older teens followed.
"Once they're surrounded by the smoke, we'll need to stay close to see where they land." The human girl explained, and the two nodded.
After a moment of debating, Luz handed the staff to the Golden Guard, who looked at her wide-eyed.
He extended his hand but pulled back with hesitation. "Are you sure?"
"Just take it!" The human girl snapped, and the Golden Guard soon returned his staff.
The three teens saw the hand dragon flying up in the sky, and the younger brunette activated the glyphs that soon produced the mist.
Annika and Luz approached the Golden Guard's staff, who flew them away from the mist.
"I think it's working." He whispered, and Luz activated a small light glyph to catch the hand dragon's attention.
When they landed at the intended spot, the dragon fell into a deep slumber, and Kikimora followed, falling onto the ground as she tried her best to keep her eyes open.
"The palismen!" Luz exclaimed, running over to the shelter and opening it before she greeted the scared palismen.
But the human girl was too focused on the palismen that she didn't notice the Golden Guard raising his staff at her.
"What are you doing?" Annika whispered-yelled to him, trying to hide her panic.
"I'm doing the right thing." The blonde whispered back.
The older girl scoffed, and the boy scowled at her. "I am."
"We'll get you home safe and-" Luz comforted the palismen but stopped when she heard a sound.
She looked over to see the Golden Guard pointing his glowing staff toward the human girl and next to him a conflicted Annika, giving her a guilty look.
Luz let out a nervous chuckle. "Right. I didn't think this through. Again." She closed the shelter door and turned to the two older teens. "So, you're really gonna do this? You're just gonna hand all these innocent little guys over to Belos? I know what he does with them."
Luz frowned and continued. "I thought the both of you might've been good people. But I guess that was just wishful thinking." Her frown soon switched to a scowl. "You're not my friends. You're just the Golden Guard and the Emperor's heir."
The three stood in silence; Annika lowered her mask to speak, but she could only open her mouth and let her wanted words disappear. While the blonde's glower slowly turned into a guilty expression, eventually lowering his staff and mask.
"My name is Hunter." He informed a wide-eyed Luz, who gasped at the name reveal.
Annika soon pushed Hunter from an energy bolt that was aimed at them. The blonde was about to yell at the older brunette but stopped when he saw her grimace at the new scrape on her forehead.
"I can't tell who's there, but I know I got you!" Kikimora muttered with a groan and dopily began shooting more energy beams toward the blurred figures.
Hunter deflected an energy beam that targeted Luz, put his mask back on, and turned to a ready Annika. "I'll distract; you protect."
The older girl nodded and started casting spells that helped deflect Kikimora's energy beams as the teen boy teleported himself closer to the tiny red demon, who began aiming her energy beams at him.
"Luz. Go! Now!" Annika commanded.
"How?" Luz asked with panicked eyes.
Soon enough, Hunter was able to sweep Kikimora off her feet, and Luz took the whistle that fell from the red demon's neck.
The human girl stood still when Kikimora was about to blast another energy beam that was soon deflected by the crown princess-the blonde aiding her.
"This is treason against a Coven official!" The stubborn red demon shouted and cast another energy beam that managed to burn the tip of Hunter's forelock.
The Golden Guard extinguished the slight purple flame that lighted his forelock.
"I will have your heads!" The tiny demon yelled again, landing an energy beam on the blonde's cheek before one of the crown princess's spells knocked her over.
"Are you okay?" The older brunette asked, and the boy nodded in response.
Hunter looked up to the sky as he saw Luz escape with the palismen, Annika joining him soon after with wide eyes.
"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no." The girl muttered to herself as she shook her head, realization dawning on her.
The blonde's eyes widened in panic. "Did someone find us?"
However, Annika couldn't answer as she felt her airway narrow, her body shaking, her face sweating, and her vision blurring.
"I'm gonna get in so much trouble." Her voice cracked.
"Did you only realize this now?" The boy questioned her with an obvious tone.
Annika glowered at him, fear still lacing her features, and in return, Hunter's obvious expression turned into a bewildered one.
Everything about this moment was unexpected for the boy, and he didn't know how to react or what to say. He was speechless. But he knew something was abnormal, wrong.
But before he could do or say anything, the girl ran away from the scene, leaving Hunter dumbfounded, with many other feelings clawing his heart.
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
Just the thought of it dawned on her mind. But Annika knew that she had to calm herself down and look presentable enough that no one would be suspicious of her returning disheveled.
The teen girl summoned her blazer and tie into her arms, cast another spell to straighten her hair, and put on her suit and tie back before dusting any dirt off her.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️🎭⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
"So, you return with nothing." The Emperor rested his hand on his mask and soon stood up. "Is this the thanks I get for taking you in?" He asked after receiving the message of his nephew failing to complete the simple task he had asked of him.
"Of course not." A kneeling and tended Hunter lifted his head. "I want to help. A-A-And if you told me how wild magic did this to you, I might be able to find a-"
The boy was cut off by Emperor Belos, who aimed a sharp spike that barely missed his ear. The blonde closed his eyes instead of dodging the attack-too used to these interactions. "My apologies. I spoke out of turn. It won't happen again."
Emperor Belos groaned in pain and clutched his chest. "These outbursts are painful, and so is watching you fail. I know you can do better, Hunter."
The blonde nodded and stood up from kneeling when Emperor Belos's next question stopped him.
"One last thing before you leave. Did Annika have any involvement with this?" The Emperor asked.
"No." Hunter lied, and the Emperor permitted the boy to leave.
"Golden Guard!" A messy-looking Kikimora gasped at the sight of the blonde when he walked away from the throne room.
"Y-You're alive!" The red demon stuttered. "I mean, I heard about the crash in Latissa."
Hunter smirked at Kikimora's shocked face. "Luckily, her Highness found me, and some travelers picked me up out of the wreckage. So, I'm actually doing great." He spoke as he began walking away. "Looks like you had a rough night, though."
Kikimora grumbled at the boy's comment-leaving him feeling triumphant.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
When Hunter entered his bedroom, he lay down on his bed.
"I can help." The boy said aloud as he covered his eyes with his hands. "If I just knew a little more..."
The blonde soon heard familiar chirping from his window. He looked up to find the red bird sitting on his window sill. "Huh? Palisman!" He accused and wrapped his hands around the red bird.
The bird chirped again when his grip tightened.
"Oh! Sorry." Hunter apologized and let go of the bird.
"You shouldn't be here. It'd be bad if Belos saw you." He warned the palisman with a frown and began to pet it softly.
The red bird chirped again before turning into a staff, surprising the blonde. "Oh! I was not expecting that."
Hunter rose from his bed and gazed outside his window, wondering if Annika was alright.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
Annika was led into the familiar dark chamber once again after Salem, one of the private nurses in the Emperor's castle, had tended to her wound. Usually, she would've put up a fight or a ruckus by now, with guards that would get hurt by trying to hold her down, but the girl quietly complied-the light faded in her eyes.
⬛˚·꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷·˚⬛
When the chamber's doors closed behind, Annika could feel his eyes watching her behind the small slit that the door provided, as if he was waiting for the moment when she'd break down in tears and scream at the top of her lungs.
"You'll stay here until you've learned you're lesson." He said softly, but the girl didn't reply, knowing his soft voice was only a facade to let his poisonous words seep into her mind.
When he closed the slit door and left Annika alone in the darkness, the girl crouched down and hugged her legs, letting out the big tears she had tried so hard to hold in. She knew she'd never get used to this form of torture, but falling deeper and deeper into the dark thoughts that swarmed her head was harder to resist.
It enticed her in a certain way.
However, Annika quickly raised her head when she noticed a blue light in the dark void.
A jellyfish danced in the blackness, swimming toward her-closer and closer. The girl didn't flinch when the jellyfish brushed its tentacles against her face.
For once in her life, Annika giggled in the dark.
"What are you doing here?" She asked it and wiped away her tears.
The glowing jellyfish gurgled as it glowed brighter for the brunette to see her surroundings.
Annika grimaced at some of the things she saw. "Is that a skull?" She shivered at the sight and turned back to the jellyfish, who soon turned itself into a staff.
The girl stared at the staff in her hands with wide eyes.
She did not expect that.
The palisman glowed bright enough for Annika to see but dim enough so that the light would be unnoticeable by anyone else but the brunette.
"Thank you." She softly whispered to the jellyfish, hoping they could hear her in their staff form.
⬛˚·꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷·˚⬛
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𝐀/𝐍: please vote and comment for the sake of my sanity-I'm trying so hard not to pick a fight with Wattpad :) Moving on, hope your having a better day than I had 💫
Meme made by HPTiffany