Chapter Text
"...And with six over three points, unsurprisingly, the victory of this crazy grudgby match goes to… Hexside School of Magic and Demonics! ”
"Wooohooo!"
"Yes!"
"Go Hexside!"
"Congratulations!"
Shouts, roars, and countless cheers could be heard from the audience.
The match result was expected, yet the excitement was noticeable through the field and stands.
"Excellent work, team." The Hexside team Captain, Lilith Clawthorne gathered the team to sum up the game. "You fixed the mistakes from our last match, and now we're in major progress. Keep it that way!'
Right after Captain Lilith finished her speech, Raine and Eda came from behind the team and poured a huge bucket of apple blood on the entire group.
"For Hexside!" They shouted in unison, both amused.
"Edalyn!" Lilith grumbled, all bloody and red from the apple blood.
"What? Already forgot our victory tradition, Lily? It's only been a week since our last win." Eda snickered as she climbed on Raine's shoulder for a team cheer. "When I yell you complete me! He-"
"Xside!"
"He-"
"Xside!"
It was hard to miss the uncontrollable blush on both Eda's and Raine's faces when Eda's on their shoulder and the two of them cheered the entire team.
Another grudgby match, another sweet victory. With Lilith as the captain and Eda and Raine as star players the three of them walked around school like royalty: Eda and Raine holding hands, and Lilith writing down in her notebook.
"Wow, guys! That was an awesome game!" Someone shouted to them in the hallway.
"You rock!" Another one yelled.
Everywhere they went more and more compliments were given to them.
"Wow, that was epic!" Raine was still hyped, and couldn't help but stay excited, as it was one of their best games for the season.
"You're absolutely right, Raine." Lilith agreed, "But there are still some things that can be improved. You should work on your quickness, there were a few obstacles you barely managed to pass, it was quite obvious in this game." She added and kept writing in her notebook as the trio walked down the hall.
"And you, Edalyn–" her sentence was cut short as she noticed Principal Faust was right in front of them.
"Edalyn and Lilith Clawthorne. Raine Whispers…" As the principal opened his mouth, both Lilith and Raine trembled and gulped in fear.
"Hey, Fausty! Did you catch up on our last match? We kicked Glandus High's butt!"
Only Eda would have the nerves and wildness to speak to the principal as if he was a student her age. She turned to him and showed him some moves: paw! Pachaw! Knockdown! Boom!
It seemed like Principal Faust was a second away from evaporating Eda.
But instead, he did... Something completely different.
"Yes, Edalyn. I in fact witnessed your game. Congrats, you were great. You brought me- I mean, the school, a great honor." He ended his sentence with a very strange thing that happened to his face, was it... A smile?!
That thing alone was enough to make Eda freeze on the spot and run to hide behind Lilith like a kitten.
"L-L-Lily… W-W-What is th-that thing he d-does with his face?!" Eda asked in horror.
"I believe it's called a smile…" Lilith whispered to her, a bit shocked herself.
"Well, that is not a smile," Raine Whispered to the sisters.
"Quiet now, don't talk like that in front of the principal." Lilith hushed them and pushed Eda to stand on her side and not behind her.
"Thank you very much, Principal Faust." She thanked him, as politely as she could. "We'll try to keep our winnings as they are." She even bowed in front of him.
Raine and Eda ran at the first chance they had, leaving Principal Faust and Lilith to stand there alone.
Before Lilith could react and stop them so she wouldn't stay alone, Faust took advantage of their absence and turned to speak with Lilith privately.
"Very well, Lilith." He patted her on the shoulder. "At this rate, your chances of getting into the Emperor's Coven are much higher." He said, "Don't let those two troublemakers stand in your way, they are only slowing you down."
The last words were spoken in whispers, then he already was with his back to her and walked away, leaving her confused.
But… Okay, wait! What does it mean that they are slowing her down? Edalyn and Raine? Well, they may cause a lot of trouble but what did Principal Faust mean, that Lilith would ditch them? No way! Lilith and Eda want to be in the coven together, and Raine is with them on the grudgby team!
Maybe it was time to go and find them. Wherever it is that they ran to.
Well, there could only be one reasonable hideout.
"Edalyn." Lilith entered the secret room of shortcuts, as it made sense they'd hide from Faust in there - it's what they always do.
And so they were really there, opening doors and spilling apple blood on the professors.
Eda turned around at the sound of her sister's voice calling her.
"We need to talk. Now." Lilith's expression couldn't be more serious than that.
"Wow." Eda recognized the urgency in her tone. "Sorry, Raine. I'll be right back." She winked at them and went to Lilith, who pulled her out from the secret room of shortcuts.
"Edalyn, what were you thinking? You walk around like the queen of Hexside, showing off your Grudgby skills, and then you embarrass me- I mean, all of us, in front of Principal Faust, and then you run and spill juice on the professors? How do you think you'll be accepted to the Emperor's Coven with this attitude?" Lilith grumbled.
"Ugh, this again? Fine, sorry Mom…" Eda rolled her eyes. Again with those lectures from Lilith about her behavior. "But it helps me to relax! That thing Faust did that was supposed to be a 'smile' gave me the chills so I just had to do something to calm down! And seeing the soaked professors was so satisfying!" She went on and grinned at her last sentence.
"And you pulled Raine into this with you?" Lilith continued questioning, unpleased with her.
"I didn't pull them, they came by their own will! They might don't have the courage to throw the apple blood, but they still laughed and enjoyed it with me. You should've seen that, they gave me those apple blood bags, and every time our fingers brushed against each other it was incredible! Have you ever had so much fun with someone that whenever you're with them you've got butterflies in your stomach and your heart beat fast and you just want to stay with them more and more and more?"
"No. Anyway, you must understand that–"
"Oh, wait, I think I've figured something out… shit, shit, shit! Oh, no no no! I've always feared it'll come to this. No way! No, no, no! No! Eda's out!"
In one surprising moment, Eda ran away with an unexpected discovery of herself, much to her dislike.
"Umm... Edalyn?" Lilith didn't understand what had just happened. Probably just an excuse for Eda to get away from being scolded.
Before Lilith could run after her, Raine exit the room of shortcuts and walked towards her. "Eda, Lilith, you've got to see this! Umm… where's Eda?" Their excitement turned to confusion.
"What? Huh! Never mind that, let her be, for now, she needs some time to herself. What did you want to show me?" Lilith changed the subject.
"Oh, okay, if you say so. Well, while the two of you were talking, I spent the time doing a little tour in this shortcuts room, and I found something you wouldn't believe. Come with me." Raine signaled Lilith to follow them as they entered the room and opened one of the doors, right at the edge of the room.
"Look, a dark room, empty, just imagine it, if we'd repair this place this could be a great secret roo–"
They didn't complete their sentence and Lilith already slammed the door loudly. Raine didn't see it, but inside it there was thick dark liquid, munching on old crowns, that was about to jump on the two of them.
"Grometheus." Lilith explained. "You just opened the shortcut to the den where our school keeps Grometheus in it, the bringer of fear. You don't know that yet because you're still new, but you'll understand it in the future when it'll be time for the annual grom ball."
'Wow,' Raine thought, 'a dark, thick monster who lives right underneath the school? No wonder I wanted to move here from Saint Epiderm!'
"Okay, so this one door is out of use, but I've got something else to show you that will really interest you," they winked at Lilith as they opened another door, one that was located on top of a stairway. "Look at this." They whispered and opened the door to Principal Faust's office, where an honorable guest was standing there - the Emperor.
Lilith's heart skipped a beat the moment she saw him.
Emperor Belos? Here in all his grace? What is he doing here?! So many thoughts passed through Lilith's mind that she couldn't handle it. She stood there frozen and shocked and didn't realize that vice principal Bump had noticed them. He kindly urged them to go away before the principal or the Emperor would catch them.
"Lilith!" Raine quietly pushed her away from the door and closed it.
What was the first thing they did after that? Laugh. The stress of getting caught and the fact they had just witnessed the Emperor? That was huge!
Lilith snapped out of the shock and saw Raine bursting with laughter, which made her chuckle a bit. "Do you realize we had just seen Emperor Belos right in front of us? My heart fell down!" She said with excitement as she giggled.
"And the way Bump signaled us to go away, that was crazy," Raine added in agreement.
“Actually, it's a perfect opportunity for you, Lilith, isn't it?" Raine suddenly realized. "I mean, you could go see the Emperor and ask him about the tryouts! Show him how great and powerful you are and then there's no way he won't accept you into the coven!" They encouraged her and gestured with their hands to demonstrate how strong and smart Lilith is.
Lilith couldn't help but laugh. "Thank you, Raine." She said, "But it doesn't work like that. First of all, it's unfair. It'll be cheating if I'll approach the Emperor in an attempt to convince him to accept me and not the others. Besides, Edalyn and I want to be together in the coven, so I can't do this without her." She explained and Raine nodded, understanding.
"Hey," they said after a few moments, "we still have some time. Do you want to train me so I'll improve what you told me to in the morning?" They offered her a hand to stand up, which Lilith took in approval. "Good idea, let's go practice." She said and the two of them went back to the grudgby field.
"Alright, excellent, now be prepared for this next move, stay alert!" Lilith instructed Raine as she trained them to avoid obstacles in the field, creating especially deadly ones for it. "Good job! Now try to move more with your body!" She sent another obstacle in their direction, and Raine rolled above it and whistled, which helped them to destroy the next obstacle and reach the hoop.
Like that, the two of them trained together until the sun set down and the sky was dark. They didn't notice the time with how much they enjoyed the training, but it was time to separate and return each witch to their house.
"Bye, Raine! You were great! You improved a lot today!" Lilith called, and after that, she went back home.
"Hey, Mother, Edalyn, I'm back!" She entered the house and went straight to her and Eda’s shared room, where she spotted Edalyn lying in her bed with her back to Lilith.
"Hey, Edalyn, are you okay?" She asked, a bit concerned.
"What? Huh… I… I'm not feeling well…" Eda responded in a weak voice.
"Are you sure? It has nothing to do with what happened toda-"
"It's not that! I just don't feel good!"
Lilith was skeptical. She really didn't understand what caused Eda to get so hysteric today at school, but decided to leave it for now and organize her things for tomorrow.
While she did that, her calendar fell, and she realized something important - the coven tryouts were only two months away!
Lilith had to get back to studying immediately!
"O...okay. good night, Edalyn. Get well." Lilith responded to Eda, after the new discovery, and went to bed herself.
From tomorrow she has to study.