Always And Forever(Dalador/Aladarius)[The Owl House]

Chapter 3

{Many, Many Years Later}

~Darius POV~

It's been 2 years since Belos was destroyed. That human girl, Luz, did him in. Thank titan. Unfortunately, The Isles were destroyed. We've all been working to rebuild. Alador has been trying to find a way to reverse the 'one witch, one coven' spell. I've been working on the same facility Alador has been since he divorced Odalia about a year and a half ago, he mostly ignores me.

I checked the time. It's midnight, I should probably head home before Hunter notices I'm missing. Hunter is my ward, he was the Golden Guard after Archer's unsavory death. After the covens fell, I took in Hunter. When I met Hunter when he was the Golden Guard, I hated him and thought he was just the Emperor's no good nephew but he surprised me. While he is my ward, I wouldn't say Hunter is my son. I'm just his guardian, not his dad.

As I headed out of the facility, I heard a sound from the main workshop. Curious, I checked inside.

{The Next Morning}

~Alador POV~

I slowly opened my eyes. Quickly, I realized that I didn't recognize the room I'm sleeping in. The last thing I remember is working on one of my projects. I sat up and saw something small with red hair leaving the room. Everything was blurry but not blurry enough I couldn't figure out what things were. As I glanced around, I noticed some things. There were two closets. A magenta cloak, a grom king crown, a French human language book, a golden guard mask, and more. Everything looked clean. I can't be here, can I?

I rubbed my very irritated eyes. I still have yesterday's contacts in.

I stood up and headed out of the room. I walked down the hallway and ended up in the kitchen. The now former head witch of the abomination coven was making coffee and the now former head witch of the beast keeping coven was sitting on the counter kicking his legs like a 5 year old.

"Good morning." Darius said.

"What am I doing here?" I snapped.

"You fell asleep at your workbench. I didn't know where you live and motels are filthy and disgusting so I brought you here." He told me. "Don't worry, I didn't sleep in that bed with you, I slept on the couch. Eber on the other hand, refused to sleep anywhere but the bed."

Eber grinned at me.

"You should've just left me at my workbench." I hissed.

"That's not a very comfortable place to sleep. Or a sanitary place. You make quite a mess when you work." Darius noted.

I scoffed.

"It's in the next room over, by the way." He told me. "The door, I mean. You hate me so you're probably anxious to leave."

"You hate me too." I scowled.

"No. I hated your wife. Well, your ex-wife." He told me.

"You called me a hack." I noted.

"You are. You used to use that brilliant brain of yours to make useful, magnificent, and fun things, now you make weapons and bodyguards." He stated. "Those Abomatons are hideous and by far the worst."

He went quiet for a moment.

"Why do you hate me though?" He asked. "You hated me before I called you a hack. I'm curious."

"You joined a coven after getting pissed at me for joining a coven." I answered. "You're a hypocrite."

He didn't say anything. I started towards the kitchen's exit. I stopped in the doorway. There are too many nosy people at work, this may be my only chance to ask...

"Why did you join a coven?" I asked.

"Do you really wanna know?" Darius asked, turning to look at me. "You'll kick yourself."

"Just tell me." I snapped.

"Fine. I joined a coven for you." He told me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I joined the abomination coven a week before we broke up." He answered.

"Hypocrite. You kept it a secret?" I snapped.

"Yes. It was going to be a surprise." He told me. "I had planned on asking you to marry me. When I asked, I knew you'd ask how we could since you were a coven witch and I was a wild witch. That's when I was going to tell you but you broke up with me the day I had planned to propose. That's why I wanted that day to be perfect, I thought you'd be more inclined to accept."

I stared at him. Is that all true? He's lying, right? Right? He swore he'd never join a coven for anyone. I looked at my wrist.

"I'll...I'll leave you alone." I told Darius.

As I left his house, he didn't say a word and neither did Eber.

{Several Hours Later}

I slouched at the bar. I couldn't focus on my project so I ended up leaving work and going to this bar a few blocks away. To be honest, I haven't been drunk since I was 18 and we were in that hotel but occasionally I do have a glass but even now I refuse to let myself get drunk.

I picked at the abomination coven sigil on my wrist.

"What are you in for?" Edalyn joked as she and Raine sat on either side of me.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"We just came to get a drink and saw you sulking over here; you know us, we're nosy." Raine answered.

"Now tell us what's up or we'll keep asking." Edalyn told me.

"Fine." I sighed. "I'm a bit distracted from my project and I thought maybe if I got a drink I could focus. Ironic, no?"

"Distracted? By what? Or should I say who?" Edalyn asked.

"...Darius." I admitted. "I can't stop thinking about something he told me this morning."

"Which was?" Raine prodded.

"The reason he'd joined the abomination coven." I said.

"Oof. That's rough, buddy." Raine noted. "Didn't you hate him for joining a coven?"

"Yes! Now I don't know what or how to feel about it!" I snapped, putting my head on the bar. "He went against his beliefs for me..."

"Ah. Me thinks our friend here has some rekindled feelings for Darius." Edalyn told Raine.

"I- What- no!" I protested.

"No one believes you." Raine told me.

The two stayed quiet for a minute, though I couldn't see them so I don't know what was going on.

"Darius is currently single. He has been for 10 years since his divorce with Adrian." Raine noted. "You could easily shoot your shot."

"We could help you." Edalyn suggested.

"No." I stated.

{The Next Morning}

Darius came into the main workroom.

"What?" I asked.

He put something on my workbench. My goggles.

"You forgot those when you left yesterday morning." He answered.

He started out of the room. I thought about what Edalyn and Raine had said and what Darius told me yesterday morning.

"Why don't you hate me?" I asked, turning to look at Darius.

Darius stopped walking and looked back at me.

"Why don't you hate me?" I repeated.

"I just can't hate you. I've tried. Believe me, I tried but I couldn't." He answered.

Then he left. My mind started swimming with questions.

"It'd be easier to deal with this if he hated me." I muttered. "It's just my luck he doesn't."