Memories (Lilith x Reader) *DISCONTINUED*

That Fateful Day (Teen Y/N)

A week can take a long time or a short time, depending on what comes at the end. For you, the week after coven tryouts was the longest and most monotonous week of your life. Class after class, all the teachers would talk about was who had made it into their respective covens. Unfortunately, the Emperor's Coven results were the last to be posted. On the day of, you arrive at Hexside a bundle of nerves. This coven was all that you had planned for your future. What would happen to you if you didn't join? Shaking all the bad thoughts out of your head, you find Eda, Lilith, Odalia, and Alador standing outside the school entrance. They wave you over as soon as they spot you, and you walk up with a growing sense of both nervousness and excitement.
     "We waited for you, Y/N," Lilith says, smiling slightly. "We know how much this means to you, and to all of us too, so it made sense that we should all check together." Eda nods emphatically at this, before grabbing both your and Lilith's hands and leading you inside. The three of you walk through the halls this way, Odalia and Alador trailing behind, and notice that a lot of students are staring. The walk from one end of the hall to the other feels like it takes hours, and you can hear other students whispering to each other. Did something happen? All you want is to find out so your curiosity can be quelled.
     Finally arriving at the end of the hall, a crowd of students blocks the list. They part for you, Lilith, and Eda as you approach. You make it to the list first and try to hide it from Eda and Lilith's sight. It may seem a little rude, but you want to potentially shield them from any bad news. Starting from the bottom up, you read the names along the list. Only the top two are the ones who make it, and you want to save them for last to keep the disappointment at bay. However, as you scan the list farther and farther up, you still haven't seen your, Lilith's, or Eda's names. Not being able to take the suspense any longer, you glance at the top and gasp. Not two, but three names are above the line that determines who made it through. Steeling yourself, you finally read them.
     Upon reading, you let out another, larger gasp. Lilith and Eda immediately rush to console you, thinking something bad happened, while also trying to get a look at the list. They hadn't seen it yet, after all. They hadn't seen what you saw. They were still blissfully unaware that the three names at the top of the list, the three - instead of two- people who made it through, were Y/N L/N, Lilith Clawthorne, and Edalyn Clawthorne. Now this may sound like a good thing, but you know that the coven guard at tryouts had meant what he said. Only two people would make it into the coven. But since Lilith and Eda had tied scores, something would have to determine who made it through.
     Your suspicions are answered in a moment when Principal Bump walks up, flanked by two Emperor's Coven guards. They beckon to you, Lilith, and Eda to follow, and you do, a pit growing in your stomach. Whatever they have to tell you, you can't imagine that it will be good. The Emperor's Coven is too strict to make any exceptions for tied scores. Bump leads the three of you back to his office, where he seats you in a row in front of his desk. Clearing his throat, he begins to announce the thing that changes your life from that moment onward.
     "As you know, Lilith and Edalyn Clawthorne received tied scores in second place of the Emperor's Coven tryouts. As you also know, only two people can make it into the Coven, no exceptions will be made. So," Principal Bump turns and looks directly at you. "As the top scoring contender in the tryouts, we thought it only fair for you to choose who to bring with you to the top. Which sister would you like to join you in the Emperor's Coven, Y/N?" You're in so much shock at the question that you don't answer right away. Even if you had been fully there and unsurprised, you still wouldn't have answered right away. The decision the Coven was asking you to make was just too big to answer without thinking and considering.
     Lilith and Eda gape at Bump, but he seems unwavering in his decision, so they turn to you and begin to plead. It's not even for themselves, they both begin to plead for each other. Lilith is listing off all the reasons you should take Eda over her, and Eda is doing the exact same except more emotional and less logical. Despite what they say, and the imminent decision facing you, you remain calm because you already know the answer. Sort of. You know that despite Lilith's logical points and Eda's emotional ones, you will never be able to make a decision. That's why, out of the blue, you cut them all off.
     "I know I'll never be able to decide," you start, and all the attention in the room shifts to you. It's so quiet as they all stare that the sounds of distant classes and training sound deafening. You squirm a little under all their scrutinizing stares, but continue nonetheless. "That's why I've decided to leave it up to the Coven. They would know better than me anyway. Retry the tests, try something new, I don't care, but I can't decide between my friends. Choosing one over the other could ruin me, seriously. I'm putting the burden back on you, and I'm not too worried about you kicking them both out or something like that because I know this coven always has an ace up its sleeve. So have fun with it, I guess," you finish lamely. It wasn't the best speech ever, but it conveyed your point. Eda and Lilith look satisfied, at least, since they know that both that their trialing will be fair and that you don't secretly favor one over the other.
     Smiling as if he expected this, Bump gets up and whispers something to the two coven guards. They nod in understanding, and one grabs Eda while the other grabs Lilith. They get dragged to separate rooms while you are left alone with Bump. He leans toward you across his desk and explains what he told the coven guards to tell Lilith and Eda. Your eyes widen in shock as he explains that they will have to duel each other, and that he had them each accept the news separately so that the coven guards can judge their reactions. You know from the way Bump says it that it isn't just the duel being judged. Emperor's Coven members need to be ambitious and willing to go past their morals for the Emperor, so how they take the news of the duel will reflect how they'd act as future Coven members.
     A few minutes later, both sisters return and eye each other warily, having some sort of silent sister communication about their situation. The three of you are dismissed by Bump, and as soon as you are out the door Lilith starts talking. She tells everything that the Coven guard said to her, as well as how she pretended to take the news well. She, like you, knew that it was part of her test. Eda, on the other hand, butts in and says that she almost broke down crying since this dream is both of theirs and they can't battle each other for it.
     "Right," Lilith says, "we can't," but the way she says that tells you that she's planning something. She stays silent for the rest of the way to your classes, and when you start heading in different directions she still seems deep in thought. You are too, and without realizing it almost walk directly into Odalia and Alador. The two of them look up at you as you slam to a stop, inches away from them both. Odalia sees the look on your face and asks, only with mild interest, what happened. You explain it all to them and when you're done you're surprised at how uninterested Odalia looks. Alador seems more concerned than her, and he wasn't even listening half the time. You're about to confront Odalia about not caring, but the bell screams and you have to go to class. Oh well, you think, there will be time for it later.
     Unfortunately, that time never comes, as the rest of the day is uneventful. But as you lay down to sleep, someone else is just getting started on her endeavors of the night. Pulling up her hood, Lilith Clawthorne shuts the door behind her as quietly as she can. She knows that even if Eda seems against the idea of a duel, she wants a spot in the coven just as much as Lilith does, and although Lilith hates to admit it, Eda is better than her at fighting. So the only logical way for Lilith to win is to find a way to handicap Eda. That's exactly what she plans to do as she slouches down and stalks off into the night.
     The next day passes mostly uneventfully, and it worries you. Shouldn't something have happened by now? You ponder this question as you watch the seconds of last period tick by instead of paying attention. You're too nervous for mundane things like class. The bell screams, snapping you out of your boredom and back into your worries, and the end of the ringing is punctuated with the sound of the intercom turning on. Principal Bump's voice blares over the speakers.
     "Good afternoon, students. If you, like many, are concerned about the future of the Emperor's Coven, please report to the grudgby field for a spectacle." The intercom clicks off, and most of the other students in your class excitedly but confusedly head outside. It seems you are the only one, aside from Eda and Lilith, who knows what's about to go down, and you are seething internally. How could the Emperor's Coven make a mockery of what was about to go down, treating it as a performance when one of your friends' lives is about to be ruined? Still, you follow the crowd and arrive at the grudgby field. Odalia and Alador have already arrived, and you slide in next to them as Lilith and Eda appear on the field.
     They stand at opposite ends, one with red hair and steely eyes, the other with orange hair and fiery determination. They look at each other, and their expressions soften just a bit, but harden once more when the guard announces that the duel will now commence. Eda and Lilith raise their arms, preparing for battle, but just as Lilith begins to rush at Eda, Eda casts her hand aside.
     "No," she says, and the crowd gasps, "I will not battle my sister." Lilith just stands there, in shock along with the rest of you. Eda approaches her carefully, before telling Lilith that being trapped in a coven isn't what she wants to do with her life. She gives Lilith a casual punch on the arm, before turning to walk away. Lilith yells after her, telling Eda to wait and that there will be next year, and the year after too for her to try out again. But Eda doesn't listen, she continues to walk away as the bard coven kids play somber music on the side of the stands.
     Suddenly, Eda stops. She just stands there, and as you're trying to figure out what happened, she falls to the ground. You yell out her name, but as you do, something happens. Eda begins to... transform. You, along with everyone else, watch in horror as she screams, talons emerging from her fingers, wings erupting from her back, and eyes turning as dark as night. She stands there in fear as people begin to yell, calling her a monster and threatening her by throwing rocks. Had you not been so worried for Eda, you would have pointed out that using magic instead of rocks would have been much more effective.
     Eda roars, before turning and running away. Lilith begins to run after her, yelling out her name, but is stopped by four coven guards. They surround her and congratulate her, welcoming her to the Emperor's Coven. The crowd roars, but Lilith looks anything but happy. Slowly, though, the fear leaves her face as she forces her expression into one of determination. Her eyes meet yours, picking you out of the crowd in an instant, and in that moment you see something in her that you've never seen before. This determination, this fire, this passion that you see in her teal eyes makes you feel something for her that may be stronger than the friendship you've known for years.
     You ponder this feeling as Lilith is led away, and you remain in the stands thinking about the day's events long after everyone has left. Night falls, and still you sit, wrapped up in everything. You feel numb, nothing, since it's just easier than dealing with the sadness of losing Eda, the burning of your new feelings for Lilith, or the excitement of being accepted into the Coven. Thinking brings you pain, so you succumb to the numbness and just stare into the void of the night sky. Suddenly, you feel a hand on your back as someone sits down beside you. Lilith. She leans her head on your shoulder, sensing that you don't want to talk, and the two of you just sit there. It doesn't make you feel better, exactly, but it helps to have a comforting presence ease the pain slightly.
     You must have fallen asleep, because the next thing you know you're waking up in the guest bedroom of the Clawthorne house at what appears to be 4 in the morning. Lilith is passed out on a chair beside you, and you smile at how sweet and peaceful she looks while she's sleeping. You roll over to go back to sleep, not quite ready to let go of  this moment, and are enveloped by dreams once again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quick explanation because I feel like I didn't really make it clear, in this story the emperor's coven tryouts were scored on a points based system, and the two highest scoring witches got to join. Since Lilith and Eda tied in second, they had to battle it out while Y/N had the highest score out of anyone so you automatically made it through. Hope that made it a little bit clearer!
- Star