Fanfic / My Brother Cain, My Brother Abel

Pious Brother, to your vices
You were shunned and burned your cradle,
Claimed killer, you claim martyr,
My brother Cain, my brother Abel

My Brother Cain, My Brother Abel is an Fanfiction of The Owl House by Shady Sadie29, detailing the life of Caleb and Philip Wittebane throughout their childhood up until the eventual murder of Caleb by his little brother.

The tale of the Wittebane brothers has been one drenched in loss since it’s beginning, from their early childhood in England, to their arrival in to the New World. Caleb Wittebane dedicated his whole life to protecting the only family he had left.

In the tiny settlement of Gravesfield, so named after the Colony’s catastrophic first winter left less than 60 of the original 500 settlers alive, Caleb learns that charity is hard to find when everyone is in survival mode and fear is more dangerous than any weapon....

The fic is currently ongoing, and can be found on AO3, with some supplemental drawings and behind the scenes artwork found at tumblr

As this is a fan work, all spoilers for The Owl House will be unmarked.

My Brother Cain, My Brother Abel provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: While it is mentioned that early in Caleb's life his father was a kind and patient man, after his wife died he became short-tempered and cruel often beating Caleb.
• Aerith and Bob: Character names range from William, Evelyn, Jasper, and Henry to Thackary, Beck, Nyx, and Zipporah
• All Just a Dream: Subverted, but not for a lack of trying. After Caleb dies, Evelyn tries really hard to wake up, insisting to her self and her family multiple times that it was just a bad dream and Caleb will be home soon.
  Evelyn: Did you have a bad dream, my Little Love? I did too. But it's okay now. It was just a dream. Daddy will be back soon.
  Mrs. Clawthorne: Evie...
  Evelyn: It was just a dream. It was just a horrible, horrible dream, but it's all over now. Caleb will be home soon. He promised.
• And Then What??: Caleb realizes he is in love with Evelyn long before he has to flee from the Human Realm, while he and his friends attempt to make their own portal, he wonders how he can keep going back and forth once he has a wife and children.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The three Clawthorne siblings constantly squabble over petty annoyances, but at the end of the day they are always there for each other in times of need.
• Awful Truth: After arriving in the Demon Realm, Philip assumes that Caleb must just be putting up a front of liking the witches in order to survive while Caleb believes that Philip is truly willing to accept that witches are not evil. Both of them are devastated when they discover the truth.
• Battle Amongst the Flames: In the final battle between the brothers Caleb activates a fire glyph that gets out of control and engulfed the clearing they were in.
• Biblical Motifs:
  • The title is taken from the story in the book of Genesis of Cain and Abel. During an early chapter the sermon being read at the Grave Field church is the story of Cain and Abel.
  • Caleb often thinks about his namesake who led the Israelites out of the desert when reflecting on his own voyage across the ocean
  • Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live is often quoted
  • While awaiting his trial for conspiring with a witch, the Reverend reads a passage from Isaiah describing all the horrible things that will happen to Caleb's soul in Hell as punishment for his sin
• Big Sleep: Caleb's semi-concious dying thoughts are 'it was like falling asleep, only it was nothing like falling asleep at all'
  • While looking at Caleb in his coffin, Evelyn notes how he doesn't look like he's sleeping because he sleeps on his side, not his back and while he never snored, his breath would make whistling noises when he slept
  • When Caleb and Evelyn's daughter is around five she lays down on his grave because she thinks he is just been sleeping for a long time.
  Rosalyn: Auntie Zip says Daddy is sleeping under the ground. He's been sleeping for a really long time. Sometimes when I'm sleepy in the morning, you lie in bed with me until I'm ready to get up. So maybe if I lie with Daddy, he will feel ready to get up.
• Cain and Abel: Obviously
• Cannot Kill Their Loved Ones: At first in the fight between the brothers, Caleb gains an advantage, pinning Philip down. He repeatedly tells himself that he has to kill his brother, citing that Philip was a danger to everyone in the Boiling Isles. Try as he might he cannot talk himself into it and drops his knife, pulling Philip to his feet and saying that their story will not end like this.
  • Subverted hard when mere moments after Caleb refuses to kill Philip, Philip takes the opportunity to kill Caleb instead.
• Child Prodigy: It is implied that Evelyn's little sister Zipporah is an exceptionally skilled Illusionist from a young age.
• Children as Pawns: After Caleb disappears from Grave Field, the head of the witch hunters takes Philip on as his protege using his grief over Caleb's loss to push him into becoming more and more obsessive and sadistic, as well as using him to hurt Caleb's mentor Mr. Fuller who had promised to take care of Philip in Caleb's stead.
• Cradle of Loneliness:
  • After Caleb dies, Evelyn continues to cling to his body until her parents have to forcibly pull her away.
  • Upon returning to their home for the first time in fourteen years, Evelyn picks up the first gift he ever made her and holds it to her chest while explaining to their daughter, Rosalyn, why she was unable to bear living there without Caleb. Later in the same chapter, Rosalyn picks up the quilt Caleb had sewn for her during Evelyn’s pregnancy and hugs it to her chest before asking if she could take it home.
• Cradling Their Kill: After stabbing Caleb, Philip gently lowered him to the ground, prayed over him and tried to comfort him.
• Crisis of Faith: Meeting Evelyn and all the suffering in the Human Realm leads Caleb to ponder over his Christian faith. Learning about the Titan also causes him some turmoil, as he wonders if such a being could be worshipped as a god or is merely a bigger lifeform.
• Deadly Hug: Philip stabs Caleb while the two are embracing.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: After chasing Philip away and putting out the fire, Evelyn holds Caleb in her arms begging him to hold on until help arrives. His last thoughts as he passes away are that she is warm.
• Dramatic Irony: While walking to his execution in Grave Field, Caleb hopes that his body will be buried and not picked apart by scavengers.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: During their wedding, Caleb reflects on everything that stood in their way and how impossible their relationship seemed when it started, unfortunately their Happy Ending is not long lived.
• Everybody Cries: Following the murder, Evelyn wakes up in her childhood bedroom after sleeping off the shock. She goes into the living room to see everyone else crying, she is initially in denial and remains stoic. She begins crying after her family refuses to let her convince herself it was All Just a Dream.
• Evil Uncle: When he learns of Evelyn's pregnancy by Caleb, Philip outright labels his unborn niece an ungodly freak and has no qualms wishing her dead. Following Caleb's murder, Evelyn takes her maiden name back in order to protect Rosalyn from Philip's insanity.
• Eye Scream: In the final chapter of the first story, Flapjack's eye is gouged out by Philip while trying to defend Caleb's grave. While Flapjack survives the attack, he is left unable to open his left eye.
• Familiar: Like in the Owl House, all witches and demons get a palisman when they are around 14 or 15 years old. Caleb himself bonds with Flapjack, causing him to have to make a new palisman for Evelyn once Flapjack bonds to him.
• Gender-Blender Name: When Evelyn introduces herself to Philip, he grumpily points out that Evelyn is a boy's name (which it would have been at the time) causing Caleb to chastise him. Later, when talking to his mentor, Mr. Fuller, about Evelyn, Caleb says a relationship between the two of them wouldn't work out, to which Mr. Fuller replies 'I think I understand' before promising to keep Caleb's secret. It is slightly implied that Mr. Fuller suspects that Caleb might be homosexual.
• Grave Robbing: Philip desecrates Caleb's grave in order to steal his bones to make grimwalkers.
• Guilt by Association: After discovering Evelyn is a witch, Caleb tries to break off their friendship fearing that if anyone was to find out about her they would both be killed. Evelyn is horrified by the idea that Caleb could get killed simply for being seen with her. This is later almost proven true when Caleb is nearly hanged for their friendship.
  Caleb: We can't keep seeing each other. If the others find out about you, they will kill you. They'd probably kill both of us.
  Evelyn: They would kill you just for speaking with me?
  Caleb: I don't know for certain, but if they thought I was corrupted, tis likely.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Despite the prejudice of the time, Caleb is extremely open-minded and willing to befriend Native Americans, Demons, and Witches alike. He is well liked in Grave Field, and quickly becomes popular in Bonesborough first as an oddity, then as a friend and valued member of the community. He often tells stories of the Human Realm to children and at his funeral several children go up to say he was 'the nicestest person in the whole world'.
• Human Disguise: Evelyn uses an illusion to hide her ears when she is in Grave Field.
• Interspecies Romance: Jasper Clawthorne and Becks Bloodwilliams fall in love and get married despite Jasper being a witch and Becks being a demon, to Caleb's surprise. Becks explains that there are no limitation on love in the Demon Realm. Evelyn and Caleb enter a human/witch relationship. When Evelyn has trouble conceiving a child, Caleb worries that his child may not be able to survive in Evelyn's womb.
• I Reject Your Reality: Philip refuses to entertain the possibility that Caleb is happy, insisting instead that Evelyn has bewitched him.
• It's All My Fault: After Caleb is sentenced to death, Philip repeatedly cries that it is all his fault because he assembled to witch-hunters in order to try and kill Evelyn, not realizing that doing so would also implicate Caleb. Caleb forgives him because he did not want to spend what he believed to be the last few moments of his life angry at his brother.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Philip and Caleb tell each other that they love each other right before Philip kills Caleb.
  Philip: Shhhh…tis okay now, Brother, you can rest. I am right here with you. The pain won’t last much longer. Just close your eyes. Soon you will be free. You shall be safe in the Garden of the Lord, where there is no pain or sorrow. No witch or demon will ever be able to harm you again.
• Last Kiss: Caleb uses the very last of his strength to kiss Evelyn, because he wants the very last thing on his mind to be the feel of her lips on his.
• Like a Son to Me:
  • Shortly after arriving in the New World, Caleb and Philip are found by a widower named Mr. Fuller who promptly takes them under his wing. He regularly checks up on them assuring they are keeping warm and getting enough to eat, when they are hurt or ill he is the one who takes care of them, and should they misbehave he is the one the other residents of the settlement complain about them to. He regularly calls them, 'son' and prior to Caleb's witchcraft trial he tells Caleb that even though they are not blood, he considers him one of his own.
  • After Caleb moved to the Demon Realm the Clawthornes are quick to accept Caleb into their family, when he dies Mr. and Mrs. Clawthorne refer to him as their son at his funeral.
• The Maiden Name Debate: As they are discussing marriage, Caleb and Evelyn wonders if he's going to become a Clawthorne or if she's going to be a Wittebane. They ultimately settle on the latter, only for Evelyn to go back to Clawthorne in order to protect herself and her daughter from the murderous Philip.
• Meaningful Name: Caleb is named after one of the men who led the Israelites out of the desert to the promised land. Caleb often reflects on his role keeping Philip alive and safe on the voyage from England to the New World
• Mercy Kill:
  • In Philip's opinion: he believes killing Caleb will save his soul and allow him to go to heaven
  • A witch-hunter shoots a witch in the chest while Philip is attempting to torture information out of him saying that he has no stomach for such cruelty
• The Nicknamer: Caleb calls Evelyn 'Ev' for sort. He also calls Philip 'Pip'. And while Evelyn is pregnant, both he and Flapjack refer to the unborn child as 'Little Pancake' (much to Evelyn's annoyance). Evelyn's siblings Jasper and Zipporah are also often called Jaz and Zip respectively. And Evelyn's father calls her 'Firebee' while most other characters call her 'Evie'.
• Nothing Personal: During Caleb's witchcraft trial, a panel of town elders must decide whether or not he is to be executed for his crimes. When the vote is tied with two in favor of execution and two against, the deciding vote comes down to the father of Caleb's close friend. After careful consideration he apologetically tells Caleb that it is not personal, but the settlement cannot afford to invoke the wrath of God and casts the final vote in favor of execution.
• Now or Never Kiss: lampshaded, when walking to his execution Caleb wishes he had kissed Evelyn just once, noting that it wouldn't have been proper, but he should have done it anyways.
• Parental Substitute: Mr. Fuller is this to Caleb.
• Playing with Fire: The first spell Evelyn ever shows Caleb is a fire spell, and the fire glyph is the first glyph Caleb discovers, the fire glyph is Caleb's go to in a fight.
• Please Wake Up: After Caleb stops breathing, Evelyn shakes him trying to get him to open his eyes. Later at his funeral she clings to the childish hope that somehow, just somehow, he will feel her presence, open his eyes and apologize for making her cry.
• Promotion to Parent: Caleb and Philip leave England with their father, but he dies on the voyage leaving Caleb as Philip's sole caretaker
• Snicket Warning Label: Given the fact that in canon one of the only things the audience knows for a fact about Caleb is that he is murdered by Philip, there is no hiding the fact that the story is going to end in tragedy.
• So Proud of You: Mr. Fuller to Caleb, 'You don't have to go out of your way to make me proud of you.'
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Caleb realizes he is in love with Evelyn long before he travels to the Demon Realm but he cannot act upon his feelings.
• Talking to the Dead: Evelyn brings her daughter to Caleb's grave at least once a week during her childhood so even though she can not remember her father, she will always know that she has one and that just because she can't see him, he loves her very much. While there, Evelyn updates Caleb on everything going on in their life. As she grows up, Rosalyn also starts talking to her father, telling her all about her life.
• Tear Jerker: This story is a tragedy and the author makes damn sure you don't forget it. Because everyone knows how the story is going to end before they even start reading it even the happiest moments are tainted with a bittersweet vail because we know it can't last. When the final betrayal happens it is extremely visceral.
• Too Injured to Save: Immediately after getting stabbed, Caleb focuses all his energy on simply remaining alive, but upon realizing that help will not arrive in time he instead shifts his focus to comforting Evelyn.
  Titan: Tell her goodbye. Focus your remaining strength. Tell her you love her. You have this one last chance. Say all you need to say.
• True Companions: Jasper, Becks, Caleb, and Evelyn would all risk their lives for one another.
• Trauma Conga Line: In the first chapter alone Caleb: witnesses his older brother die in some sort of bloody accident, watches as his baby sister slowly dies in her crib from an underdeveloped liver, has to pretend everything is okay for Philip's sake as his mother dies in childbirth along with the baby, has to leave his home to travel across the ocean and during the passage his father dies, all before he is 11 years old! He is then robbed of all of his possessions and brought to a small fort in the middle of the wilderness where disease and hunger regularly kills off huge portions of the population. He witnesses the hanging of witches regularly, and is eventually forced to flee after his friends and neighbors turn on him, sentencing him to death. While his life in the Demon Realm significantly improves, he constantly worries about the brother he left behind. Then Evelyn has two miscarriages before they finally manage to conceive their daughter, who Caleb only gets to know for two months before he is murdered by his brother.
• You're Not My Father: Philip shouts this at Mr. Fuller after Caleb disappears in frustration of Mr. Fuller's unwillingness to help search for a way into the Demon Realm
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: And later wife. When Caleb is sentenced to death Evelyn and her siblings attack the settlement in order to save him. After Caleb is stabbed, Evelyn curses Philip as he runs away.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Usually the only witches the citizens of Grave Field are able to capture are either too old or too young to escape. Even Caleb is responsible for the direct murder of a teenager who was only just old enough to get her palisman, which resulted in the capture and hanging of an even younger witch.
  • Philip considers Caleb and Evelyn's child to be an abomination, and briefly ponders killing Evelyn while she is still pregnant to prevent it's birth. The only reason he doesn't is because he does not have a way to escape home. After discovering Philip's plan Caleb sends Evelyn and Rosalyn away fearing that Philip would kill them both. After Caleb's death, Evelyn worries that Philip might still come after her daughter.

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