Memories (Lilith x Reader) *DISCONTINUED*

Tryouts (Teen Y/N)

Arriving at Hexside School for Magic and Demonics on the day of coven tryouts is nerve-wracking, to say the least. You, your best friend Lilith, her little sister Eda, and your other best friend Odalia Blight have been practicing for this day all year. Despite the age gap, Eda has been deemed powerful enough to take on tryouts early and she will not shut up about it. It makes Lilith feel bad, even if she never tells anyone but you that it does. All around you, kids are buzzing with anticipation, practicing spells, or trying their hardest not to cry. You hold your head high and try hard to ignore them. A future Emperor's Coven leader such as yourself doesn't have time for anyone else, Mother had made sure to drill that into you from a young age. Your face only softens into a smile when you see three heads of bright orange, bright red, and bright green pierce the crowd.
Turning around, those heads spot you as well and Lilith immediately runs up and hugs you. She excitedly starts talking about how today will be the biggest day of your lives and doesn't stop until Odalia pulls her off of you. Her purple lips fold into a smirk as she makes a snarky remark about Lilith being easily excitable. You laugh a little, making sure it's just enough that Odalia thinks you liked her joke and not enough to hurt Lilith's feelings. Eda runs up behind Odalia, signaling for you to not say anything, and pulls her hood over her head as payback for the comment. Odalia cries out and pulls off the hood, but by that time Eda has already run to a secluded spot where she can get in a little more practice.
You see, the Emperor's Coven, which you, Lilith, and Eda are all trying out for, requires a lot more than your average coven. You have to be at least somewhat proficient in all types of magic to have even a chance of getting in, so the three of you practice almost constantly. Odalia, on the other hand, is sticking to her specialty of Abominations. It requires a lot less work, so she's often just hanging around while the three of you are practice sparring. You, Lilith, and Odalia all start to follow Eda, but are stopped in your tracks by an intercom announcement.
"Students of Hexside!" Principal Bump's voice blares, "All classes for the 16-year-old age groups have been canceled today, as today is the day of COVEN TRYOUTS! If you are trying out for one of the main nine tracks, or the emperor's coven, please report to your designated areas. Results will be announced in two weeks' time. That is all, good luck witchlings!" The announcement ends with a click and you, Lilith, and Eda all look at each other excitedly. Odalia rolls her eyes but reluctantly admits that she's excited too. You split to go to your separate tryouts, Odalia heading to a field while you three go to the grudgby court.
When you arrive, you assess your surroundings to try and see what the tryouts will entail. A bunch of masked guards are scattered around the grudgby court, but other than them and a few other Emperor's Coven hopefuls you see no sign of any changes from normal. You're just about to whisper a slightly snarky question to Lilith when one of the masked guards raises his hands for silence. A hush falls over the nervous crowd as the man begins to explain what the tryouts will be. Your eyes widen in shock as he announces that to earn a spot in the Emperor's Coven you must defeat one of its current members in a witches duel.
"Not to the death, don't worry," he finishes, before listing off the pairs that will be fighting. You're going 6th out of the fifteen contenders and you'll be fighting a woman named Marcie, while Lilith and Eda are going 11th and 15th. You're just about to go off to the bleachers with them, as the head guard said that you're not allowed to practice anymore until your match, but one last thing he says stops you in your tracks. "One more thing, everyone, the fifteen of you are fighting for the only two open spots in the coven. Not only do you have to beat out each other, you have to beat the contenders from Glandus and St. Epiderm. This is how we will know that you're really worthy of joining our gracious Emperor Belos' personal coven."
You look nervously at Eda and Lilith, who look just as bad as you feel, and give them each a squeeze of the hand. Even if only one, or two, or none of you get in, you won't let this break your trio apart. You hope. Slightly lost in thought, Lilith and Eda pull you into the grudgby stands. Here, you reflect on all the fun times you've spent cheering on Lilith and Eda, the team captain and star player respectively. It saddens you to think that you may have to give one or both of them up, thereby giving up all the memories you have together. You shake your head. You can't let these kinds of thoughts affect you when you're going to be fighting in five, no four more people. The first fight had ended and you weren't even paying attention.
Refocusing on the field, the second match begins. You note how, even though they're said to be proficient in all types of magic, the coven guard mainly uses magic from one track. As a handicap or a boost, you can't really tell. The fight amazes the three of you, and although you're supposed to be studying for weaknesses you end up too absorbed in what's happening to actually think about it. Soon enough, the head guard is calling your name and you feel Lilith and Eda pushing you down the bleachers. Your feet hit the dirt of the grudgby field and you are immediately in battle mode, almost as if you had been studying the previous fights like you meant to.
When the head guard blows the shrill whistle that signals you to start, you and the coven guard are a blur on the field. She hurls a basic fireball at you and you summon a wailing spirit out of a spell circle to block it. Despite mainly studying potions like Eda and Lilith, you've also been studying up on other types of magic so you could be proficient like a true Emperor's Coven worker. The spirit you summoned, only minorly injured by the fireball it blocked, proceeds to chase after and attack the coven guard while still taking more hits for you. This allows you time to prepare your next attack. Using a sage green spell circle, you slam the ground and vines erupt underneath the unsuspecting coven guard who is still locked in battle with your rapidly fading spirit. The spirit dissipates as the vines lock the coven guard in place. Despite her struggles, two vines erupt from the ground for every one the coven guard breaks, like the many heads of a hydra.
You walk toward your adversary, shaking your head slightly. Why was it that you thought an Emperor's Coven guard would have been a little bit harder for a graduating student to beat? Reaching her across the field, you summon your staff and point it at her throat.
"Yield," you say, your voice like ice. Since your vines are keeping her hands in place, the coven guard has to physically say the words.
"I yield," she says, disappointed in herself for being beaten so easily. Your staff dissipates with your vines as you walk back to Lilith and Eda who are staring at you in awe. All they talk about for the next few battles is how much better you were than the people who went. Reluctantly, you have to agree with them. In no time at all, Lilith is up to battle. With a quick squeeze of the hand that seems to last a little too long, you send Lilith off with all your wishes of good luck. As soon as Lilith steps on the field, it's like she's a whole different person. Instead of the sweet, sometimes clumsy nerd you know well, her presence is dark and commanding. You have to admit, all it does is make you like her more.
The guard she's about to fight seems to notice her aura too, and you notice that on his first attack he seems a little shaky. Lilith easily dodges the vines he sends shooting out at her with a simple sidestep before sending a group of fireballs out at him. The coven guard dodges, but not entirely, and a fireball clips his cape. Not missing a beat, he throws it to the ground and uses a spell circle to create a cage of grass around Lilith. It surrounds her, and it looks like Lilith may be losing. You and Eda yell encouragement from the stands, but as you see in a moment, Lilith doesn't need any of it. The grass cage had obscured her from view, and when she reappears it isn't trapped but rather exploding out of nowhere behind the guard. Summoning her staff, Lilith doesn't even bother to use magic to finish the job and instead just smacks the guard in the back of the head. He crumples to the ground and Lilith is declared the winner. Immediately, her dark persona leaves and she runs up to you and Eda with a huge smile.
"I did it! I did it! Did you guys see that?!" Lilith squeals. You and Eda grin at her excitement and pull her into a hug, deciding not to mention her personality change on the battlefield. The three of you walk back to the stands hand in hand, completely ignoring the other battles at this point because from your experiences Eda should be able to win easily. The other three battles fly by while you, Lilith, and Eda just talk in the stands, and soon enough the head guard is yelling at everyone to quiet down.
"Everyone, we would like to thank you on behalf of the Emperor's Coven for competing here today. Now, it is time for the final battle, although there has been a change of plans. Instead of fighting the coven guard she was supposed to, our young prodigy and final contestant, Edalyn Clawthorne, will be fighting me instead." Eda shakes her head at the use of her full name, not really noting the importance of what the head guard just said until Lilith stands up to protest. Before she can, someone else in the bleachers pulls her down and advises her against speaking out against coven officials. Lilith nods in agreement and resigns herself to the fate of watching Eda fight one of the current most powerful witches on the Boiling Isles.
The head guard hops out of the announcer's box where he had been standing and beckons for Eda to join him on the field. She does, albeit a little reluctantly, and knowing her so well only helps you see how nervous she is. As soon as Eda sets foot on the dirt of the grudgby field, the head guard is up and at her. His first attack hits Eda square in the chest and she falls down, but recovering quickly she manages to summon a glowing blue liquid from a pouch by her hip. The liquid swirls and surrounds the head guard and solidifies around him in a kid of jello brick. You cheer, thinking Eda may have won already, but in a flash the head guard has melted the jello-like substance and is back on the field. They have a few back and forth spells like that, and you can soon see them both tire. Gripping Lilith's hand in anticipation without realizing it, you watch Eda skillfully summon spell circles one after another. Each one sends a different type of magic hurtling towards the head guard. He blocks almost all of them, but one little ice block grazes his arm and draws blood.
"All that for a drop of blood," the head guard sneers. But the attack slows him down enough that Eda has time to summon her lute. One of the kids in the Bard track, you think their name was something like Rain, taught Eda how to play and she was surprisingly proficient. Eda strums, and beautiful music fills the air. Everyone, including the head guard, is so transfixed by the beautiful noises that Eda is able to walk right up to the head guard and hit him over the head with her staff before he even notices that she stopped playing.
The entire stadium bursts into applause, both at Eda's decisive victory and her beautiful music. The head guard tries to hide his embarrassment as he announces Eda the winner before sending her back to her seat and telling all the applicants that results will be announced in a week. The tense atmosphere dissipates quickly now that everyone is done with their tryouts, and the three of you head over to the Abominations tryouts to see if you can catch some of Odalia's trial.
Emerging from the trees, you see that you are unfortunately too late. Odalia is just stepping off the battlefield with a triumphant smile on her face. Spotting you, she runs over, dragging another poor kid along with her who introduces himself as Alador Dixon. The five of you chat for a while, and you learn that for the Abomination trials each contestant had to grow their own abomination and make it follow a series of increasingly difficult commands. If it successfully reached the end of the list, then you were considered good enough to become part of the Abomination Coven. Odalia and Alador were the only finishers, and they easily bonded over that.
Eda relays the events of tryouts in great detail for Odalia and Alador, who seem a bit bored but still interested in knowing what happened. When she gets to the part about her tryout, you and Lilith both interject about the unfairness of it and how just because Eda is younger doesn't mean she should get a harder trial.
"Look on the bright side, guys," Odalia interrupts your griping, "At least she'll be extra ready for two years from now. And she succeeded too, so who knows? Maybe they'll let Eda in early." You nod at Odalia's reasoning, but you still have your private doubts. After all, Eda is a notorious troublemaker, so it's a possibility that when the Emperor's Coven sees her permanent record they may not let her in at all. Deciding not to share your concerns with the group, you grab Lilith and Eda's hands and the five of you walk off together, some excited (Odalia and Alador) and some nervous (you, Lilith, and Eda) for the results to be posted the following week.

So, this was supposed to have been updated over a week ago but my computer decided to no longer let Wattpad load. I gave up and am now just doing this from my phone. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, it's my longest one yet!
-Star