Storm's Hand (The Owl House AU)

Not even two days have passed and so much has happened since Sturm left Blight Manor. Alador had already buried himself in his work for many years, but after Sturm's demotion and subsequent departure, he took it upon himself to pick up his pace. Admittedly, he was starting to miss his presence already. Odalia, on the other hand, did not take it well after reading Sturm's resignation letter. It got to the point where she actually shed tears and continuously asked herself, "Why Sturm? How could he do this to me? Why would he turn his back on me? After everything I've done for him!"

The twins were genuinely heartbroken, to say the least. They didn't even speak to him the last time the two saw him. They knew they shouldn't have stayed mad at him. After all, he was the closest thing they had to a brother, and now they lost him. He tried to talk to them again, and they just shut him out because they were too stubborn to let go of his uncalled-for attitude. Now, the twins could only hang out with each other.

Even though she didn't show it, Amity was hit the hardest. She was the one who saw him leave. She was his rival for the longest time. And in the end...it ended on a somber note. She still had complicated feelings about him. Amity was no angel, but Sturm was not free of blame either; he murdered her, after all. She was starting to feel his absence and her head was constantly filling itself with scenarios where things could have gone differently. She became even more overwhelmed with each scenario that passed through her mind.

She needed a distraction. She needed to spend time with someone. Her first thought was Luz, but she always hung out with her, so it wouldn't be special. She thought about hanging out with Edric and Emira, but they'd more likely drag her into one of their escapades as a coping mechanism. Her mom was definitely out of the question.

So only one person was left on the list: her father. But what could they bond over? She and Alador had nothing in common except their aptitude for Abomination magic and their natural hair colors. Just when she ran out of ideas, she saw a poster about an event called 'the Bonesborough Brawl', which would occur later that day. Alador had participated many years ago and even won a champion belt.

She was excited, and since she was old enough to participate, she thought about joining it. When she tried to tell her father about it while he was working, he appeared to not pay attention, which frustrated her. When he did acknowledge her presence, he refuted taking her to the brawl, claiming that not only did he have to pick up where Sturm left off, but that Odalia had signed her up for the tryouts of the Emperor's Coven that same night. When she tried to protest, she also saw that Alador hid a lot of sadness after losing Sturm without so much as a goodbye, even if he didn't outright say it. Nevertheless, he prepared an Abomaton to escort her to the tryouts safely. Before Amity could say something else, she was sent off.

But instead of going to the tryouts, she went to Luz to vent. She confided in her girlfriend about what happened at her house but left out the part about mentioning Sturm. She also revealed that Alador had taken part in the Bonesborough Brawl before he joined the Abomination Coven—and all she wanted was to be on common ground with her father. Luz promised to help her ditch the tryouts and join the brawl, much to her surprise. If Amity could win the brawl, perhaps she could use it as a chance to tell Alador that she didn't want to join a coven anymore. After agreeing with her plan, she tricked the Aomaton into going to the Night Market to find a rare emerald dagger. Even after the Abomaton left, Amity insisted that she could not let Alador find out about her ditching the coven tryouts until she won the belt, and Luz proceeded to assure her that she had her back.

But she would not be the only one to have Amity's back. The brawl venue was set in the forest near the town, and Edric and Emira just happened to be there.

"Hey, Mittens!" they both said, genuinely smiling for the first time in days. Amity was annoyed, but Luz just chuckled while keeping her calm.

"We're proud of you, sis," Emira said.

"Yeah, you're becoming more of a delinquent every day," Edric added.

"Alright, Ed. Hand over your Concealment Stone."

"Like I need one of those- Hey!"

Emira quickly grabbed Edric by the tunic and pulled him over.

"Don't play games, Ed. I saw you take one this morning," she said as Luz and Amity watched the twins in awkward silence.

"Well, you saw wrong!" Edric protested.

"This won't take long," Amity said flatly as her siblings fought.

"Wait. What's that supposed to mean?" Edric asked in confusion as Emira rolled his left sleeve, finding the concealment stone on his wrist.

"Found it!"

Emira then took Edric's concealment stone, causing a poof of blue smoke to appear, and in the next second, Edric's look suddenly changed, revealing his true self. He looked embarrassingly terrible. Instead of his prim and proper outfit, he wore a t-shirt and sweatpants to pass for pajamas. He wore glasses and had his hair pulled back with a headband. He had a little uneven mustache growing out.

He grunted in annoyance before backing off.

"Here's mine too for a little extra flair," Emira said, removing the stone on her chest. One poof later, and she revealed her true self. While she was wearing her usual clothes, unlike her brother, her face was far from flawless. It was covered in acne, her beauty mark was gone, and her hair was messy.

Amity grabbed the stones and promptly combined them. Her whole look suddenly changed with a poof, too. She now wore an abomination-themed dress, boots, golden earrings, and pink shades, and her hair was tied up in a bun. Amity gasped in pleasant surprise at this makeover.

"Not bad!" she smiled, right before Luz ran over to Amity, hugged her tightly, and spun her around.

"Ooh, so pretty!" she squealed, making both Blight girls laugh.

"Great. Now my good looks were the only thing that kept my spirits up," Edric sighed, getting Luz's attention.

"Why, though? Are you sad? Did something happen?"

"Well... How do we say this...?" Emira started, thinking of an easy way to break the news to Luz. "Sturm is gone."

"Wait, what do you mean 'gone'?" Luz asked, surprised. "Is he dead?"

"No! Titan, no!" Amity reassured her. "He just quit his job and left the manor at night while everyone was sleeping."

"And the worst part? We were still mad at him even while he was going through a rough patch...and for what? A crystal ball?" Emira added, starting to feel down. "He was the closest thing we had to another brother, and we lost him because we turned our backs over a stupid mistake... Now we don't have anything to remember him by."

"But he left you his secret stash of chocolate bars, right?" Amity asked. But Edric sniffled a bit and tried to fight the tears.

"They were expired!" he confessed, removing his glasses to wipe the tears as Luz looked at him weirdly, nonplussed by what she'd heard. He then put his glasses back on. "The point is...we already miss him. ... I wonder where he is..."

"Greetings, witches and demons! We welcome you to the Emperor's Coven tryouts!" announced a coven scout who stood below a stage light.

The venue for the tryouts was the same theater/arena in which the Covention took place. The bleachers were packed, with mostly coven scouts, and the rest were either other students from different schools or adults. The crowd applauded, proud to see the candidates begin a new chapter in their lives.

"We have gathered here today to test the strongest and the brightest students around the region through witch's duels. The sign-ups are at an all-time high and the spots within our ranks are limited, so only the best of the best will get to enter our prestigious coven. Today, we have ten participants from St. Epiderm, Glandus, and Hexside!"

The crowd applauded again as their attention was brought to the three schools' headmasters: Principal Bump from Hexside, Principal Rodica from St. Epiderm, and Principal Axel from Glandus, who bowed before the crowd. The announcer continued.

"At the tryouts, there is only one rule! The participants are allowed to use whatever methods necessary to win and even mix whatever types of magic they know – but they are not allowed to seriously harm the opponent or anyone in the crowd. Whoever wins first place, will not only join our ranks right away, but they will also automatically graduate from their school and receive the best training available to serve the Isles!"

The crowd then erupted into cheers, excited to see who would be lucky enough to have such a prestigious future. The announcer then turned to the vomitorium and saw the stage light shine on it.

"For our first round, we have a duel between a student from Hexside's Abomination track and a student from St. Epiderm's Oracle track! First, let's give a big hand for...Sturm!"

The crowd cheered again as they saw Sturm walk into view. He was wearing his school uniform, as per the requirement to represent Hexside. He squinted his eyes from the blinding light and took a moment to adjust. For a few moments, nothing felt real – like he was in a vivid dream, where people were genuinely excited to see him. He felt like at any moment, he'd just wake up and be back at the manor with all of his muscles aching. But he quickly returned to reality and looked around for any familiar faces.

It didn't take long for him to see Principal Bump. The old witch was surprised and somewhat saddened that his best student was going down that path. Since Luz enrolled at his school, he started to see that the Emperor's Coven was not the shining beacon of light and order he once admired. Sturm just looked back at him, giving him a slight scowl before raising his forearm and clenching his fist. The announcer spoke again.

"... Who will be pitted against... Leto!"

And with that, Sturm's first opponent appeared and the crowd cheered harder, for the student actually had people who knew him. Leto wore the St. Epiderm uniform for the Oracle track, but his body was unique-looking. He was around Sturm's height and age. He was completely bald, had large crimson eyes, lacked ears, and his skin was dark gray, but had white paint on his face resembling a skull. It was easy to tell that the 'paint' was part of his skin. Even Sturm thought he looked somewhat intimidating.

Once the two were on opposite sides of the arena, they raised their arms in a dueling pose and waited for the signal so the match could begin. The announcer then blew his whistle and the duel started.

Leto wasted no time preparing his magic. Using his hands, he created multiple spell circles to summon ten spirits, ready for battle. This was impressive to say the least, since most Oracle magic users his age could only summon one spirit at a time. Leto then pointed at Sturm, commanding the phantom-like beings to attack. As the spirits quickly floated toward him, Sturm didn't look concerned. Instead, he calmly raised his arms high in the air and pointed every one of his fingers toward Leto's creations. He summoned a continuous stream of lightning from each of his fingers, hitting all ten spirits, causing them to wail in horrible agony and evaporate.

The crowd gasped in shock at what powers the two combatants displayed. Even Leto was surprised, clearly not expecting his greatest attack to be countered so quickly and easily.

Lowering his arms, Sturm stared directly at Leto and began marching toward him. Leto slowly backed away as he tried to fend off Sturm with multiple blasts of purple fire, but they were all deflected whenever the latter waved his hand.

Eventually, Leto's back was against the wall of the arena. He was hyperventilating at that point. Now looming over him, Sturm inched his face closer to Leto's while electricity crackled faintly around his body. Finally, Leto cracked under the pressure and curled into a ball.

"Alright, alright, I yield!" he cried in a hilariously high-pitched voice that surprisingly didn't fit him. Even Sturm did not expect such a thing.

"I'd be laughing if this wasn't so embarrassing," Sturm said, allowing the electricity to fade and walk away from him. Leto then got in a fetal position as he rocked back and forth.

"I want my mommy..."

Upon winning the first round, it didn't take long for Sturm to enter the second one. He soon learned that the next five opponents would come from St. Epiderm. And each one was harder to beat than the last.

His next opponent was Eli from the Illusion track. He was older than Sturm, possibly around sixteen or seventeen years old. He was a taller and thinner witch, with light skin, spikey cyan hair, and yellow eyes.

Once the duel started, Sturm saw how Eli used his magic to become invisible. This made him a more difficult opponent than Leto... but not by much. Sturm glanced around to look for tracks in the sand, but he could see none. In the end, he had no choice but to focus his senses. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. Upon concentrating his brain enough, he could sense the electrical signals around him and everything that stirred the air, including the crowd. If he could feel the crowd without even looking at it, he could also sense Eli... who was right behind him.

Upon sensing him, Sturm sharply lifted his right forearm and felt the back of his hand hit something. Eli became visible again and was seen stumbling back, holding his face. Sturm quickly turned around just in time to see Eli's once confident expression shift into a scowl.

In retaliation, he conjured multiple spell circles to create dozens of clones of himself. Upon seeing the clones, Sturm smirked. Eli then sent the illusions to attack, but that was exactly what Sturm needed. Having used illusion magic before and even seized control of some in the past, Sturm knew he could use it to his advantage.

Summoning a big spell circle, he flung it forward, making the clones pass straight through it. Suddenly, the clones ceased their advance. Eli's eyes widened at this, and his shock increased upon seeing his illusions suddenly disintegrate when Sturm closed his fist. Eli's fear reached a new level when he saw Sturm smile smugly.

"Did you forget? Illusions cannot harm anyone. But I can harm you!"

Suddenly, Sturm lunged at Eli with electrified fists as the latter screamed in terror.

Adrin from the Potions track wasn't an opponent Sturm had expected. He was a witch around Eli's age, but unlike him, he had darker skin and longer, orange hair. Adrin was the most eccentric opponent he'd ever faced. He was constantly cackling like a stereotypical witch, flying around atop a column of green smoke that covered his lower body, throwing vials of potions that would explode upon impact with various effects. They would either burst into flames, create chunks of ice, thorny vines, or small explosions of light.

Sturm was constantly on his toes because Adrin was moving surprisingly quick. And no matter how potions the latter threw, he never seemed to run out. Fortunately, Sturm was fast and agile enough to dodge all of them.

In addition, Sturm began to see a pattern. The fight started with fire-based potions, then the next potion Adrin threw burst into chunks of ice, then it was followed by thorny vines, and the fourth worked as a flashbang. Upon seeing the pattern, Sturm got an idea: He'd wait to see Adrin prepare to throw the ice potions, and then act.

As predicted, Adrin was about to throw an ice potion. But then, Sturm pointed his finger before shooting a lightning bolt at the potion still in Adrin's hand. The vial suddenly exploded, and Adrin was encased in ice after one second.

Sturm then dusted his hands with a satisfied smile, adding another victory to the list.

The next opponent was Meri from Beast Keeping. She was difficult to fight, not because of her prowess, but because of her good looks. She was a beautiful petite girl with deer-like features, including her furry ears, cute fluffy tail, and a pair of antlers with multiple ends, the former two having white spots over the brown fur. Her face had pale peach skin with black fingers on each hand, her face was round and slightly defined, her brown hair was long and straight, and her big, round eyes were chestnut brown.

She was the type of girl Sturm wished he'd met earlier. If he wasn't fighting her, he'd take his time to look at her. Maybe even ask her out.

She kept summoning different animals to attack Sturm, and they were surprisingly tough, but he managed to bring each one down thanks to his speed, electricity, and strength. During the fight, Meri paused, unknowingly allowing Sturm to try and woo her.

"I gotta say, you're pretty good. And your antlers? They are the cutest I've ever seen," said Sturm with a friendly smile and a wink. Meri caught on to his flirty compliments and gave him the most adorable and enchanting smile he had ever seen.

"Aww, that's very sweet of you!" she giggled adorably before pointing to her head. "But these aren't antlers, silly! They're HANDS."

And just like that, her antlers could be seen moving subtly. And the tips were fingers...

ZAP!

Sturm instantly shot a lightning bolt at Meri, causing her to fly backward to the other side of the arena. Sturm's eyes were wide with absolute horror and he was shaking uncontrollably.

"No! Never! Nope! Nuh-uh! No thanks! Nah! No way! Naw! No siree! Nay! Absolutely not! Not on your nelly! This is why you gotta have limits!"

Sturm's fight with Valla from the Healing track helped him take his mind off what had just happened. Valla was the simplest in appearance: just a light-skinned witch girl with black hair tied in a ponytail and a slight, but noticeable gap in her teeth.

She was surprisingly tough, too. Healing magic gave her access to electricity usually used for defibrillations and she managed to weaponize it. Sturm was able to dodge most projectiles, but lightning was not something he was used to. It took a lot more effort and concentration to avoid the bolts. To make things even more difficult, Valla would summon unbreakable force fields whenever Sturm got close enough to land a punch.

After a while, Valla made her force field explode while Sturm tried to break through, creating a shockwave powerful enough to knock the latter backward. Sturm slid to a stop, and upon looking down, he saw dust fly from under his feet. He suddenly remembered one of the tricks he'd used the last time he played Grudgby.

Sturm then began running in circles around Valla, causing the dust to go higher and higher, obscuring Valla's vision.

"You coward!" she yelled furiously. "Come out and fight like a witch!"

"There's no rule against that, last I checked," said Sturm from behind.

Before Valla could turn around, or react, Sturm placed a hand on her shoulder and zapped her, causing her to scream and fall to the ground with a groan.

If Valla was already tough, Wozart from the Bard track was on a new level. He was easily the fanciest of the students Sturm had to battle: being a witch with pale skin and a white wig worn by 18th-century European nobles.

Unlike the other times, Sturm was the first one to strike first. But while Sturm lunged, Wozart quickly summoned a violin and wasted no time dragging the bow across the strings, creating a magical soundwave powerful enough to knock Sturm back and land on the other side of the arena. Wozart smirked smugly as he watched Sturm try to get up.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you," Wozart said mockingly. "You seem exhausted. Have a rest, my friend."

Wozart then began playing a beautiful and soothing song. It was so relaxing, in fact, that Sturm felt himself doze off. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, Sturm slapped himself to stay awake, and it worked just long enough to allow Sturm to think of a plan. As he accelerated his perception once more to try to think, he realized he could no longer hear the music. And if he could not hear it, it would not affect him.

Using it to his advantage, he got up and moved over to Wozart, still like a statue, holding the violin and maintaining that arrogant smirk. Once Sturm adjusted his perception to normal speed, it took Wozart two seconds to realize that Sturm was right in front of him, and he recoiled in surprise and fear. Sturm stared at him silently before speaking in a low voice.

"Not quite my tempo."

Before Wozart could react, Sturm grabbed the violin from his hands and used it to whack him on the head, causing the young musician to fall to the ground in defeat.

Finally, after a long time, Sturm defeated all six opponents from St. Epiderm. The fatigue was getting to him, but he was still in a condition to fight. There were only three to go, and his best guess was that they were from Glandus High. The announcer began speaking again.

"Magnificent! Sturm managed to defeat all his opponents! There is one round to go! And to truly test him, we will hold one last match! Three against one! And whoever wins will join our ranks!"

"You're here now. This is the end," Sturm thought. "Just one last duel, and then it's all over."

"In this last match, Sturm will fight against Glandus High's chosen three! Bria, Gavin, and Angmar!"

Sturm froze.

"Wait. What?"

He sharply turned around to look at the vomitorium behind him. After a few seconds, he could see three figures emerge from the dark. It was them alright. The same trio of brats he confronted at the Looking Glass Graveyard when they tried to claim the Galdorstones for themselves.

"You..." he growled, glaring directly at the trio, specifically at Bria, who was the first to speak.

"Yeah... Us."

"We remember you, punk," Gavin said, sounding more angry than smug to see Sturm.

"A bit too well," Angmar added. Despite how unhappy he was to see them again, the white-haired teen couldn't help but give them curious looks.

"Strange. Last time we met, you guys didn't seem the type to enlist in a militaristic coven."

"You think being the town heroes is enough for us?" Bria asked rhetorically before Gavin spoke again.

"After the escapade at the ruins, we split up for a little while, until Bria approached us promising glory. The Emperor's Coven will make us more than heroes. We'll be legends!"

"And that's not all..." Angmar added, causing Sturm to cock his head in confusion. Upon seeing his perplexed expression, Bria began explaining.

"You see, you owe my boys an apology for sucker-punching them. Now, you're going to pay them what you owe."

"You snots really think you stand a chance?" Sturm asked, almost amused. "I battled St. Epiderm's finest students by myself and won."

"Haha. Those from that uppity school are a bunch of sissies," Bria laughed. "And that's the point: you had to fight one student at a time. But against three of Glandus' finest? Your chances are pretty slim, wouldn'tcha say?"

Sturm's gaze fell to the floor for a moment, thinking. The last time he faced the Glandus kids, they managed to subdue him while they had the Galdorstones. But that was then. This was now. Sturm has gained considerable knowledge and fighting experience since then – and most importantly, besides the fact that there were no magic-enhancing relics to rely on, he learned from his mistakes.

Whatever came next, Sturm was now wise enough to not lower his guard this time. He looked at the Glandus kids.

"I'll take my chances..."

"Your loss..." Bria smirked.

The students got into their positions and prepared their pre-fight salute before the announcer blew his whistle.

The Glandus kids made the first move by drawing their spell circles and slamming them against the ground. Sturm felt the ground beneath his feet rumble slightly, and his instincts kicked in. He rolled forward, avoiding vines, abomination sludge, and shackles made of solid rock meant for his feet. Sturm then retaliated by shooting lightning bolts from his hands, but the trio managed to avoid them.

And thus, the true rematch finally began.

The fight seemed to be at a draw, and Sturm wasn't slowing down. The Glandus kids tried to tip the scale by gathering close to combine their magic and shoot their own types of spell in one projectile. But Sturm was too fast and did not give them a chance to fully draw their spell circles.

He leaped over them and grabbed Gavin's arms, making him turn to his classmates and force him to make a spell circle and shoot some abomination goo at Angmar before throwing him at Bria, essentially using their own powers against them. It almost seemed like Sturm was dancing around the Glandus kid, using the fact that there were multiple opponents to his advantage. Sturm spent most of the match tossing the kids into each other and timing his dodges so they would accidentally hit each other while simultaneously providing him with openings to pummel them. Whenever the Glandus kids managed to actually hit Sturm, they only made him angrier.

At one point, while Gavin tried to shoot some abomination slime at Sturm, the latter seized control of the projectile and tossed it back at him, trapping his arms similar to a straitjacket. Angmar tried to save Gavin by summoning a strange-looking plant from the ground. That plant shot a large, spherical seed that looked like a cracked cannonball with fire on the inside. Predictably, Sturm caught it in his hand and quickly twirled around and slammed the seed at Gavin, causing a small explosion and knocking Gavin and taking him out of the fight.

Sturm then zipped over to Angmar and headbutted him, causing him to stumble. He then grabbed his arm and tossed him over his shoulder, slamming him against the ground and knocking the wind out of his lungs. With the two boys out of the fight, only Bria remained standing. Sturm was getting tired and was growing sick of the fighting. He just wanted it to end, and Bria got on his nerves by simply being there.

He growled at her, with electricity crackling around his body. Bria grew anxious and raised a wall of rock to defend herself, but that proved useless. One bolt from Sturm, and the wall exploded, sending Bria flying backward. She landed on her feet as she slid to a stop, but Sturm ran over to her at a horrifying speed, grabbed her by the shirt, and violently slammed her against the ground.

After that, there was no more thinking. Sturm began to hit her face repeatedly, causing Bria to cry with each punch. After a while, Sturm stopped punching her and yelled out while raising his right arm as it built up with electricity, preparing to finish her once and for all for the headaches she had caused him.

"Stop! Stop!" Bria cried. "I give up! Have mercy! Please!"

The way she pleaded with him touched a nerve. The way she lay beneath him, on her back, overpowered and begging for mercy...it reminded him of Amity. And the worst thing he'd ever done in his life.

The angry expression suddenly turned to shock as reality returned. He looked down at her horrified, bruised face. What was he doing? He already killed Amity. Was he going to kill Bria as well?

No. He would never repeat that same mistake. Never again.

He quickly got off her and breathed heavily with a look of horror. A loud ringing filled his head. He could not hear the crowd cheer, he did not see the coven scouts, including the announcer, come out of the vomitorium from behind and approach him. Everything ceased to exist for him as his head was filled with anger and remorse for his actions.

Everything came into focus when the announcer grabbed Sturm by the wrist and lifted his arm.

"Sturm, we welcome you to the Emperor's Coven!"

The crowd erupted into cheers, filling the air with loud voices and claps. Sturm looked around, seeing the people applauding him and the coven scouts welcoming him into their ranks. It was the first time in a long while that he saw other people being glad for his success.

It took a while for Sturm to let it all sink in. He did it. He actually did it. He finally accomplished the dream he'd been chasing for the past four years. A new opportunity had opened up for him. His perseverance finally paid off, and his dreams would soon become reality.

So why wasn't he feeling any better?

"Alright, young man. Here's your uniform," said an elderly witch lady behind a desk as she put the nicely folded coven scout uniform and the mask on the counter. She then pointed to another side of the room "Changing room's over there."

Sturm nodded, took the uniform, and headed to the changing room. Upon closing the curtain behind him, he began to discard his old clothes in favor of his new uniform. When he finished, he took a moment to see himself in the mirror. The uniform fit perfectly, even the mask seemed to suit him, though he could see his red eyes through the eye holes.

He couldn't believe how far he's come. Once a slave to a cruel woman, now a soldier on the path to greatness. It almost didn't feel real, like this was all a dream. His heart was beating quickly, but he couldn't move.

But the nervousness made him feel warm inside the mask, so he took it off, along with the hood. That's when he was greeted with a sight that caught him off-guard.

For the first time in a very long while, he could see his own ears again. Small. Round. Ears.

He's been hiding this since the beginning. He waited for his hair to grow so he would no longer need a hood to hide it.

"Ah. I'd almost forgotten..."

The human boy quickly covered his ears with his hair and put his mask and hood back on. He then looked at his left hand where the fingerless glove was supposed to be, now covered completely by his new attire before clenching his fist. Until recently, he thought he was the only human on the Boiling Isles, so he tried to survive by blending in. Even after Luz appeared, he still had to maintain his illusion. Luz would likely call him a hypocrite if she saw him now. Good thing he'd never have to see her again.

The human boy walked out of the changing room without pause, and said to himself, once more, that he was making the logical choice. And that he would never, ever look back.