Memories (Lilith x Reader) *DISCONTINUED*

Love and Courage (Teen Y/N)

When you arrive home later that afternoon, having successfully comforted Lilith enough that she was able to go back home and face Eda, you've already forgotten that doing so entailed both spending the night at the Clawthornes' and skipping almost a full day of classes. But that memory comes rushing right back when you walk through the front door. There stands mother, not even pretending like she was worried about your radio silence. The only emotion shown on her face is fury.
     "Y/N L/N, where have you been? It is not ok in the slightest for you to just disappear like that! I had no idea where you were, who you were with, or what you were doing!" Mother screams, although you only take in some of what she's saying. You're not really in the mood for an emotional bombardment from your mother at the moment. Deciding to ignore her, you walk upstairs and flop down onto your bed. Yeah, this will lead to more consequences, but at the moment you don't really care. Eventually, the thoughts in your head quiet and you end up falling asleep.
     When you've woken up, mother is still outside your door demanding that you let her in and talk to her. However, you had cast a simple soundproofing spell on your room ages ago, so all you can hear are some muffled words. No longer physically tired but still quite emotionally spent, you decide to channel your emotions into art. Grabbing a loose piece of paper and a charcoal pencil from your desk, you sit down and just let your hand go through the motions while zoning out. When you finally look back at your paper, you're a little shocked at the final result. It's a semi-realistic portrait of Lilith. Blushing, you quickly sign it and slip it back into your desk. It will make a good gift for when you finally tell her how you feel.
     It's not yet dinnertime, so you have no reason to leave your room and deal with mother, but you're also no longer in a productive mood. For those reasons, you summon your scroll and start, well, scrolling through penstagram. You like a few posts, comment a few times, and even send a cute video to Lilith as a way to help make her feel better. After mindlessly scrolling for a while, you stumble across a post that says 'Top 10 date locations in the Boiling Isles: #4, The Knee'. Underneath the title, there are a few pictures at various times of the day and a little blurb describing the place. You save the post and a plan starts to form in your brain.
     Tomorrow, you will propose a trip to the Knee to Lilith as a little bit of an escape from her daily life, and while you're there, you'll present her with the picture, a picnic lunch, and your feelings. Hopefully, she will feel the same way. You nod at this, thinking that it's a perfect plan. Sure, there are things that could go wrong, but hopefully everything will go right. Thoughts of romance continue to cloud your mind even as you are forced to face mother's wrath at dinnertime, and she continually berates you for daydreaming while she's trying to instill "such an important lesson about the values of honesty and family" into your head.
     As your brain only half processes what she's saying, you suddenly have a revelation. In one year's time, you will be living and working at the Emperor's castle as part of his esteemed coven. You have a safe plan for the future, and mother can't take that away from you even if you call her out on her bullshit. For the first time in your life, you find yourself not fearing the consequences of speaking your mind to mother. You snap back to reality as she asks if you're even listening to her, and you reply with a simple no. Aghast, mother drops the napkin she had been using to wipe her lips. As she bends down to pick it up, you get up and start to leave, but you're stopped when her hand grabs your ankle.
     "Where do you think you're going, Y/N?" mother asks, standing finally with the napkin clutched in her hand. She places it gently on the table before grabbing your wrist to prevent another escape attempt. The confidence you were feeling evaporates as you see mother scowl, but you still stand your ground. At this point, you have no choice.
     "Upstairs," you respond, glad you managed to keep your voice from wavering.
     "And what makes you think that you can do that? I've just been telling you about how important it is to spend time with your family, and to tell them things as well," mother counters, and you sigh internally. You know what's coming next. Guilt trips and crying. Lots of crying. Mother will say how she feels that the two of you are drifting apart, and that she's only worried for your safety, and you'll start feeling like a horrible person for the next few months. But this time, you decide to make the conversation go a different way.
     "You want me to tell you something? Ok, fine," you say, sitting back down. "I have a crush. And I'm going to ask them out tomorrow. And if you try to ground me or keep me from doing that, I will ignore you. This is important to me, and I'm not letting you ruin it all because I slept over at my best friend's house. It's better than sleeping at school, which is what would've happened had Lilith not came to take care of me."
     Mother stares at you for a while, going on long enough for it to become uncomfortable. She barely blinks the entire time and hardly reacts when you finally decide to get up and leave. You feel horrible about lashing out, even if it wasn't that aggressive, but you push those feelings down since you know that they're just a result of mother's manipulation. By the time you've made it up the stairs, you can only think about tomorrow and how you hope it will go. You take a shower to wind down before heading to bed, anxious and excited for what the next day will bring.
     When you wake up the next morning, mother has already left, despite it being over an hour earlier than you usually get up. She's avoiding you for once, instead of the other way around. All the better for you, since it means you get free reign of the fully stocked kitchen. Opening the pantry, you find a loaf of bread, peanut butter, and jelly. You set out a few slices of bread and use magic to start the spreading while you search for fruits and drinks. Strawberries and tangerines seem to fit the mood best, so you're soon magically chopping away at those as well. As for the drinks, you grab a few cans of soda. It's not the most romantic meal ever, but then again neither was that omelette.
     An alarm goes off and you realize that it's almost time for the school day to begin. You quickly pack all the food into a picnic basket and cover it in an ice spell to keep it fresh for later, before grabbing your bag and staff. As soon as you're out the door, you take off at full speed towards Hexside. You're not in any danger of being late, but after having missed a whole day's worth of classes, it can't hurt to show up a little early. Skidding to a stop in front of the school, you spot Lilith and Eda already standing by the front door.
     "Guys!" you yell to get their attention. They turn towards you, both smiling widely, and wave you over. You embrace them both, even though it's been less than 24 hours since you last saw them. The three of you chat for a while, you mostly talking about what happened with mother last night. When Lilith hears that you finally managed to stand up to her, she squeals and grabs your hands. You blush profusely, but she doesn't notice. Eda does, but she stays silent, saving you your dignity.
     "I'm so happy for you!" Lilith says, not letting go. "Now that you've done this, she'll have to rethink messing with you again!" You smile at her, happy to see her beaming after yesterday's... issues. Eda, sensing that something's going on, leaves to go talk to her detention track friends. Your heartbeat quickens as you stand alone with Lilith. Now is the time to ask her. You take a deep breath, trying to calm your nerves. Who knew asking out the girl of your dreams was so difficult? And you weren't even asking her out yet, just asking her to the place you were planning to ask her out at. It takes all of your courage to force the words out, but you do it, blurting it out a little bit louder than you meant to.
     "Lilith, do you want to go on a picnic to the Knee with me?" you ask. A few heads turn at the volume of the request, and Lilith looks at you quizzically. Behind those shining cyan eyes, she's trying to figure out if you're asking her out. "You know, just as a bit of a getaway, to try and escape from the stress of the past few days," you quickly clarify, in a much more normal tone. Lilith's gaze drops slightly, but not enough for the change to be noticeable.
     "I'd love to," she responds, looking up again and smiling. Just then, the bell screams and the two of you take off for your classes, hands still intertwined. You're inseparable the rest of the day, attending all the same classes, walking with each other in the hallways, and sitting together at lunch. The only time you leave each other is when you get called down to the office. As you walk in, the office lady is listening to a message via crow. She gives you the 'one second' sign before stopping it, and you take a seat in front of her. She takes a deep breath.
     "Want to guess who I just got a message from?' she asks, and you're genuinely curious for about two seconds before you realize there's only one person it could be. You shake your head and the office lady nods with understanding, continuing on to say that it was from mother. And that it was nearly half an hour long. You sigh, preparing yourself for the onslaught of threats, guilt trips, and lies that mother may have told the office lady. She asks if you want to know what mother said. This is an easy opportunity to keep yourself in the dark, but the way that she asks piques your curiosity and you nod.
     "Not much of a talker, are we?" the office lady asks, before continuing, "Your mother said quite a few things about you on this call, about how you're a disrespectful, dishonest, immature little girl, but she also said that there was no one better for the Emperor's Coven to take in. She's happy for you, and she wanted me to relay the message." You blink a few times, trying to take that in. Dishonest? Immature? Really, mother? But you're also happy. It wasn't exactly like she never praised you, but it's not like it was often either. "I told her that she should probably get therapy, because she was crying. A lot." You nod, laughing a little bit too, before the office lady finishes up. "That's all, I just figured I'd relay the message as soon as possible. Good luck in the Emperor's Coven, hon."
     You smile at the office lady before leaving the office and making your way back to the classroom. Lilith is waiting, asking you what happened as soon as you step back through the door. You explain the call, and what mother said, and how you think it was her attempt at an indirect apology. Lilith smiles at you when you finish, and takes your hand again, causing you to blush once more. The two of you walk back to your seats, and essentially finish out the school day hand in hand.
     Once the two of you walk out of the doors at the end of the day, you hop on your staffs and head over to your house. Mother still isn't home, but it doesn't bother you much, since you won't be there for long either. Lilith waits in the living room as you go grab the picnic basket, claiming that it's a surprise and she can't see it. The real surprise is the charcoal drawing, which you slip into the picnic basket while out of Lilith's view. You return from the kitchen with it slung over your arm and you grab Lilith's hand, leading her to your staff. After sliding the picnic basket onto the sleek wood and securing it, you and Lilith slide on. With a jolt, you take off, and start towards your destination...

This was kind of a vent and kind of short, sorry, but hey at least the next chapter will finally be your first date with Lilith!
-Star