My Crazy Years

Time Flies

Spring was nearly over, Easter holiday passing as if it was never there. Shade Lord took to living with the others quite well. They loved to lay in your lap while you were doing your homework or climb on your back when you were working in the garden. Them and Kuro cared little for each other, except for when the owl was on your shoulder and would rub his head against your cheek. Then, the Lord of Shades would jump on your free shoulder and would proceed to do the same as the bird, but harder and a bit more aggressive. You noticed that whenever you and the owl were acting friendly to one another, they would interfere, trying to get your attention. You couldn't decide whether to find it adorable or odd, but one thing was sure. Both your shoulders and cheeks needed a break. Ouch! You never found out what happened between them and the other two Higher Beings, Pale King always acting busy whenever you tried to bring it up and Radiance acting like she didn't even hear the question. Asking Grimm was quite useless, the Troupe Master facing his own challenge. Getting his child to school and teaching him how to speak properly. The poor baby was in no way willing to cooperate on any level when it came to the first thing, crying and hiding whenever his parent was trying to talk to him about his studies.

Thanks to Birch's help, the tunnels for the new kingdom were built in no time, together with lakes where the water could gather during rainy days. When Moder and Gertrude left back to Sweden, she waited for her love to call upon her and since then, she moved with them, but dropped by from time to time to check on you and Vlad. As for your cousin, his mother still didn't know that he was coming to visit you every now and then when his parents weren't home, sometimes you even went to pick him up when school was out, and every night Grandpa would go to visit him together with Grimmchild. Vlad was no fool. He knew how Camelia would have reacted if she ever found out about where he was going, the bugs, the Birch and all those magical creatures. He kept it all a secret and with parents that were absent most of the time, that wasn't hard.

Time was going on as always, tests were coming and going, failed and taken, going out with friends when you could, taking care of the house. Mundane things for a mundane life. Not that anyone minded. Winter brought enough craziness as it was, and everyone was thankful for the break. Sometimes, taking things slow was the best thing ever. Still, why did holidays have to pass so quickly?

You came back from the holiday, the time spend with your family draining you more than you thought it would. But at least you weren't forced to attend the family reunion that time, which was a win, judging from the looks of envy May and Rea gave you as they left. This time, no bugs tagged along, Herrah, Pale King and Grimm looking after them like hawks stalking their prey. Shade tried to sneak in your luggage a few times but due to their large mass, you always noticed them right away and so they had no other choice but to stay behind. Eh, at least they could annoy the Wyrm and Moth in the meantime. That was always fun. Only Kuro had the chance to accompany you, and the look on your father's face when you came out of the house with the owl resting in a cage and ready for the road.

"What is that?" he asked, pointing to the bird.

"My friend. He hates being away from me so I'm bringing him along." you answered nonchalantly although you knew what he really meant, but you had to be strong if you wanted Kuro to stay with you.

Your father wanted to argue, but changed his mind at the last second, a grin settling on his face.

"Ok, but you'll have to explain to your mother. Your pet, your responsibility." he said and got into the car.

You gulped when you heard him, knowing that your mother wouldn't be very kin on having another pet in the house, especially one she considered to be wild and needing to be free. During the whole ride home, you thought of all the ways you could explain her the circumstances you and Kuro were in. You never told your parents about the Sweden trip, making some other excuse as to why you wanted to stay at your uncle's place during the last school break. Needless to say, they were still reluctant to let you stay even when they finally agreed. Now you had to explain why you had an owl as a pet. Oh, boy! That would be some conversation.

Just as your father predicted, your mother's face nearly dropped when she saw the bird, cuddled in your arms like a baby, sleeping deeply.

"(Y/N), why do you have an owl?" she asked in a calm voice, but you could hear the tension hiding beneath her tone.

"My friend. His name is Kuro. You don't need to be afraid of him. He's really docile, trust me." you answered, trying to alleviate the mood in the room.

Your sisters were looking at Kuro, Rea unable to decide whether she could care or not, while May was shooting you deadly glares. Your pet your responsibility. No way she would clean up after him. Your mother's expression, however, became sterner the longer her eyes rested on the bird.

"Where did you get him? Owls are wild birds, not pets. Do you have any idea how much harm you're doing to him, by keeping him near you? He might forget how to survive in the wild." she said, glancing accusatory your way.

You kept silent for a while, wondering what to say. You did bring up this subject with Gertrude, worried that indeed you are actually harming Kuro instead of helping him. She laughed hearing it and said that such a thing was impossible since he was not never a wild owl.

"Oh, I never told you about that?" she said looking at your confused face. "Kuro is a familiar. He used to serve an old tree spirit which lived in the forest but who died when the forest burned. Too bad you didn't meet him. He was quite an ok guy. He could have worked more on his humor though. I and Olaf were quite surprised to see him live after the death of his master. Usually familiars die together with the ones they serve. So never fear that he might need to go back to the wild. He never belonged there to begin with."

"Does that mean I'm his new master?" you asked, a bit confused but also mad that no one told you anything about this, and even more so that you couldn't be angry at Kuro for he was too adorable for someone to not love him. Once again, where is the cuteness police?!!

"I'm afraid not, my dear. Kuro is attached to you but that's about it. You two are just friends for now. Familiars feed on their master's magic in order to survive. While humans can have familiars, the process to bind one to them is very dangerous and the chances for it to succeed are quite low and even when it does, the familiar must still be fed. Since humans don't have any magic to offer, the familiar takes something else in exchange for their service. Emotions, lifeforce, blood, sometimes even flesh. As you can see, for humans having a familiar is too dangerous."

"But Kuro's master id dead. He has nothing to feed on now." you said feeling the blood in your face drain.

Will he starve then? Is he in pain? What will be of him?

"As I said, usually familiars die together with their master but there are exceptions. In such cases, the familiars go on with their lives until they find the next master. Their powers are limited, and they live as simple animals with a huge appetite for food. Some, but those are extremely powerful and are mostly demons, simply return to the underworld. So don't worry about him. He's perfectly fine, but only eats a freaking lot." the old woman explained, and her words did offer some comfort, but you still couldn't shake the feeling that maybe Kuro wasn't that alright.

And now another question rose. Will Kuro abandon you when he finds a new master?

"His owner died last winter, mother." you said, unable to utter any other world.

Your mother didn't say anything after that and let you be, but you knew she had her eyes on new.

Fortunately, Kuro grew on your father after a few days and you found him feeding the owl large pieces of meat when he though nobody was looking. May was also beginning to warm up to the bird and would sometimes ask you to let her pet him and even help you with taking care of him, which wasn't much since Kuro mostly took care of himself without bothering you much. His previous master was a tree spirit after all. Overall, the family received him well, and everything went smoothly. You helped around the house, did your chores went to church, stayed home and took long walks through the village, accompanied by Kuro, enjoying the nice air of spring, before the heat of summer kicked in. It was the little things that make you happy.

Now you were back home, surrounded by the bugs and everyone else, enjoying the time you guys had together before summer break came, and you had to leave again, leaving James alone to deal with a mischievous princess, hundreds of children that wanted only to play and tried to escape their teacher's lectures, a black cat which had a strange ire towards curtains and so many other. Or so you thought.

Nothing is ever what it seems, right?