The Plan
After Eda's transformation was reversed, Luz realises just how bad the curse had been getting, it had taken nearly 15 elixirs and indigo holding back Eda's owl form for nearly ten minutes to turn her back to normal.
Eda removes the bottle from her mouth, looking at Indigo who was in the process of letting her go, who then moved to the couch to slump over it, panting with fatigue.
"Whoa, sorry bout that kids, thanks for this" as she stands she looks down at the other 14 bottles
"And… those, everyone alright?"
Luz nods "Yeah, Indigo kept you in one spot for us to give you the elixirs"
Eda glances back at the exhausted witch on the couch who gives a weary thumbs up before letting the arm fall back to their side, staring at the ceiling.
Luz spots something odd and reaches forward to move Eda's scarf.
"Eda! Your gem is still dark!" Luz exclaims.
"No it's not! You're crazy!" Eda says defensively, but under Luz's scrutinizing gaze, as well as King and Indigo turning to stare at her.
"Alright alright, the curse has been getting worse, I need to conserve more of my magic to keep it at bay, but it's okay, I'm managing just fine!" Eda says.
"Is that why you're making that witches wool you mentioned this morning?" Luz asks.
"Yup, it's to protect me from powerful spells, every witch worth their salt has a cape made of the stuff"
Luz looks very excited "I'm worth salt! I want cloak!" She says excitedly.
"Yes you are worth salt, don'tchu worry some time we'll get you one too, heck maybe we can add those little cat ears off of your hoodie to it too" Eda says and ruffles Luz hair, Luz gives a gigfle but when her eyes fall on Eda's gem, her face loses its light, slipping to a saddened look.
"Ah dont make that face kid, I knoe whats gonna happen, just do it" Eda says and moves her arms so Luz can jump at uer into a tght hug.
"Ugh, alright, time for you to go… i dunno, read to Indigo some more…" Eda says and lets Luz fall off her back to her spot on Indigo's legs, handing her the azura book they had been reading.
Luz watched Eda run off upstairs and glances at Indigo, who had been watxching Eda with her eyes the entire time.
"I know you can't tell me everything but… is Eda okay?" She asks anxiously.
Indigo meets Luz's eye, their hesitation makes Luz nervous until they finally speak.
"She ehs fine Luz" they say and reach out to ruffle Luz's hair "Jus' a lil stressed ou' thah curse and her sister are causin' a loh o' drama for er" they try to assure Luz, not knowing those words make Luz's mind think up a plan, they can only read that Luz isnt feeling as bad now as she starts back where they left off in the book.
-At Blight Manor-
Emira checks her stitching once more, she had finally perfected the circle, despite the Owl Ladys offer to finish it, she was determined to do this, the golden thread became more and more like the image before her, it took hours of work and a lot of redo's but evenrually the cloak now had a wolfbat glyph stitched into the hood.
Emira felt pleased with her work, checking every stitch just to be sure, she really wanted it to work, Edric was so excited about getting it and showing it to Indigo, though he was surprisingly patient as well, not bugging either of his sisters about it, the only reason she knew was how giddy he was being, always having a big smile on his face.
Their mother had had words with Edric when they had gotten home, but even that hadn't made him any less excited, though of course he kept it subdued around their parents, who, while unimpressed with Edric's brash behaviour at school, were seemingly interested in his new telepathic friend, they might be assuming Indigo had some kind of status, which obviously they didn't but none of the siblings were going to say that.
Emira quickly folds the cloak up, peeking outside of her room before sneaking into Amity's room, where Ed was sat, talking Amity though another one of her biology assignments, now that she knew of his knowledge in the field, Amity was a lot more willing to ask her brother for help when it came to that subject on general, which Edric was obviously delighted about.
The two look up as Emira walks in, smiling.
"I'm pretty sure it's finished" she whispers quietly and hands Edric the folded up cloak, moving to close the door and looking back to see him with it open staring at the glyph in awe.
"This is soo cool!" He squeaks quietly.
"Maybe we should go outside" Amity advises wisely.
"Probably yeah, but we can't leave the yard" Emira reminds them, their parents were "concerned" about the Jaguwrath report from school and had surrounded the house in a shield for safety and forbad their children to leave, hence them being called back earlier than normal.
All three siblings made their way nonchalauntly through the halls and out the front door, heading for the wooded side of the house that would face their rooms and the barely used living room.
"Alright Ed, let's see if it works" Amity says and sits on a rock, the two siblings were mostly just there for curiosity.
Edric throws the cloak over his shoulders, clipping the pin on at the front before pulling up the hood, for a moment he wasnt sure if it had even worked, till he looked at his sisters faces, both looking absolutely jaw dropped.
"It worked?" He asks hopefully.
Emira snorts as his voice comes out incredibly squeaky.
"Okay I have to admit, on you it looks adorable" she says.
Edric tilts his head to the side in confusion.
"Go look in the pond Edric" Amity suggests.
Edric walks over to the pond and glances in, the cloak had seemingly vanished, leaving behind a wolfbats head in its place, Edrics face was now more the shape of a canines, though his nose was more bat like, his ears were large, wide and very flexible.
Edrics eyes were still their normal golden colour but the iris was a lot bigger, her couldnt see any of the whites of his eyes anymore, his pupils were sharper as well.
Edric's face and neck were also very fuzzy, it looked less like fur and more like fuzz, it was incredibly soft to the touch, he glances at his arms to find them also covered in the fuzz, it was notably the same colour as his cloak, with flecks of gold here and there, apart from the area around his face, around his eyes and down his chin were a creamy white colour.
Edrics hands now resembled claws, he thankfully still had all five fingers, they all just ended in a long claw, he would have to be very carwful with those, he noted.
There were some new things about this form as well, he also had a tail, like Indigo had had in her "half" form, but Edric had something else, from his wrist to his back, stretched a thick sturdy, segmented stretch of… skin, was his best guess, it was flexible, bending with his arm easily, when he stretches out his arm it becomes clear exactly what it is, the skin spreads out into a long wing, Edric gives it a test flap, not very hard, kicking up a decent wind beneath him, he didnt even realise he was wagging his new tail in excitement till he heard his sisters giggling behind him, looking at them questioningly before he noticed it and promptly grabbed it to stop it.
"Hush!" He says but his usual voice was long gone, he seemed to have gained several octaves, his voice came out squeaky and by the looks his sisters gave he guessed they thought it was "cute"
"Do not call me…"
"Cuuuuute~" Amity and Emira coo in sync, making Edric's eyes roll.
"The books made these things look so dangerous and vicious but you just look…. Fluffy" Amity comments.
"Well duh! They fly so high that they need to be fluffy, do you realise how cold it is up there" Edric asks, not noticing his sisters approaching as he starts on a tangent about the creatures fluff, until he is tackled and ruffled about mericlessly, all three end up laughing loudly.
"Cmon! Get off me!"
"Mmm what do you think Mittens? Should we?"
"Hmm, nah"
"Yeah nah"
"I'm gonna eat both your hairstyles!"
"Time to go!"
"Yep!"
-Several minutes of sibling bonding later-
Edric sits on the ground, puffed.
"Okay, I think it's about time I changed back" he says with a laugh, searching for and finding the hood of his cloak and breaking the illusion, back to his normal self with a good natured glare at his siblings
"You both messed up my hair" he huffs.
His sisters were just as desheviled, they all spent a few moments fixing themselves, not needing to be berated by their parents today for not looking smart enough.
"Once the shield is down we can help you give those wings a test flight" Emira offers and grins when Edric brightens immediately
"Yes!" Emira could swear if he still had the tail it would be wagging madly.
"If it's tomorrow then I cant help I'm afraid,, our class is going on a feild trip to the Emperor's coven tomorrow, well hopefully, so long as the whole "Jaguwrath" thing blows over" Amity adds.
"Oh yeah, you've been looking forward to that trip for ages" Edric says "I wonder if Luz will be going" he adds.
"Hmm I think Indigo is meant to be going too, since our year won't be going again" Emira adds as they head back to the house.
-The next Morning-
Luz had been acting weird all morning, Indigo was getting concerned, Luz would scribble on her notepad, after a long conversation with Willow and Gus about the feild trip today, something about a hat… Luz's emotions were all over the place, she felt excited, nervous, a little worried but also felt responsible in some way, like whatever she was thinking about was something she felt she needed to do, like she owed someone for something…
"Luz, whah 're yeh plannin'?" Indigo flat out asks as she sees Luz jotting in her notebook again.
Luz's emotions immediately settled on panic as she gathered everything into her chest guiltily.
"Planning? I'm not planning! You're planning!" She says and jabs a finger at Indigo in accusation.
Indigo just stares from her to her finger till she drops it "Yeah that didn't make sense I know…"
"So wha so secre'ive?" Indigo asks again.
"I… can't tell you" Luz says quietly "But it's for a really good reason!" She adds quickly, looking at Indigo pleadingly in the hopes they would understand.
Indigo sighs "I can tell you're being honest… but please try not to do anything dangerous, I'm also going so if something goes wrong…." They think, assuming Luz was trying not bto be overhears and sticking to her telepathy.
"It won't! I promise!" Luz says "I'll be super careful!"
Indigo chuckles "Yes I know you will, but I'd rather you promised you'll stay safe over anything else" they say and pull Luz in a playful headlock to ruffle her hair, having seen Eda do it once and it makes Luz laugh.
"Noooo I just got my hair perfect!" She whines and playfully bats at Indigo who lets her go and effortlessly sweeps Luz's hair back into place.
"C'mon yeh sneakeh otter, time teh hea' off" Indigo says as they both stand up.
"Eda we're going now!" Luz calls and gets a yell back from somewhere in the house
"Good go! Don't hurry back! Give em some hell up at the dummies coven!"
"Yeah we won't be doing that" Luz says and Indigo chuckles as they grab their bags and head out.
Amity looked excired as she stood waiting by the large "bird bus" as Luz called it, Indigo could feel her excitement before the two even had her in their sights, she stood with Willow and Gus, all three discussing what they wanted to see.
"I'm sorry Willow but why do trees need to be buff?" Amity asks with a raised brow and a smirk.
Willow just smirks back "Cuz they should and that's all you need to know"
This was followed by a chorus of laughs from the other two till Luz comes running over to hug all three from behind.
"Hug time!"
"Gah!"
"Luz!"
"Ahh!"
Indigo laughs as the four end up toppling over and laughing in a pile.
"Luz, buddy, you gotta warn us before hug time" Gus says as he gets pulled to his feet by the human as Indigo helps Willow and Amity to their feet.
"But it's no fuuuun!" Luz retorts and waves her hands around "You guys always run away!"
Indigo noticed Amity was quite red with both embarrasment and another thing only they could sense, although Willow was looking at her with understanding, perhaps the little plant witch knew as well.
To save the poor witch from more embarrassment, ie Luz noticing her getting all frazzled, Indigo politely steps between Amity and Luz's line of sight, allowing the girl some much needed time to just calm down.
Bump was giving his second to last call to get on the bird bus, so the group made their way to it, they all sat at the back together, chatting quietly amongst themselves as the bus took off.
Indigo watches over the side of the bus, watching the landscape go by below them, taking in all the new sights eagerly.
Luz also sat at the edge, pointing out anything cool, both would ask either Willow or Amity if neither of them knew something.
"Oh, that's a Jackel's ladder!" Willow says and points to a very tall plant off in the distance.
"How can you tell?" Luz asks squinting at it
"Cuz nothing else on the isles can grow so tall and still be standing!" Willow says.
"Those are the ones that thrive off of magic used around them right?" Amity asks as she moves to have a look.
"Yup, you remember your Vine Vault Luz? It actually resembles those kinds of plants up close"
"Wow!" Luz says exciredly "I wanna climb it" she says eagerly.
"Phaha, it'd take you weeks to climb that thing" Amity comments, but has to look away blushing when Luz just grins at her.
"I bet you I could climb it in a day!" She says and puffs out her chest, jabbing a thumb at herself smugly.
"I think you would die if you tried that" Willow adds.
"Yup" Indigo agrees.
"Most definately" Gus pipes up.
Luz looks at them in shock.
"Betrayal!" She says dramatically and clutches her heart, pretending to sink to the ground while the girls and Gus laugh at her antics.
Amity went to sit back in her seat, noticing Luz' notebook on the seat, she had only glances at it for a second to admire the cool looking hat picture Luz had drawn until see saw the word steal and her eyes widened a bit, keeping quiet for now but growing concern in her gut, which she knew for a fact Indigo had picked up on when their head whipped around to check on Amity, who glanced down at the paper again and back at Indigo, who gained a look of understanding and nodded once.
Amity wasn't sure still so Indigo decided to speak to her privately.
"I dont know what she has planned, but she promised to keep herself safe, she has a good reason for whatever it is shes doing, I trust her, if need be I'll protect her" Amity listens and once Indigo stops, she nods once, getting a determined look on her face.
The rest of the flight was spent either sitting watching the view, or watching Indigo and Gus engaging in an "Illusionists battle"
"It's quite simply, two Illusionists create small illusions and have them battle to the death!" Gus says dramatically.
Everyone watches him pose dramatically till he continues unhindered.
"You see, two illusions would find it very hard to poof each other, so the illusionists have to provide them with tools or a terrain advantage to ensure their champions victory, the champion can be whatever the illusionist likes, but mostly I just stick to a generic clone of myself, but tiny!" Gus explains and twirls a finger, making a tiny him which stands proudly on his hand as he sits on the floor and sets it on the ground.
Indigo looks intrigued and sits opposite him, thinking about it and making a tiny clone of themselves as well, making it the same size as Gus' for fairness sake.
"Alright, we each get to pick a generic weapon for our champion, we have to do it at the same time to avoid someone getting an advantage over the other" Gus says and lifts a finger, waiting for indigo to raise theirs as a signal they were ready, Indigo gives it a bit of thought and raises their, the two twirl fingers and their champions poof a bit, Gus' champion holds a sword while Indigo's appeared to have claws strapped to their hands made of metal.
"Oooh that's unique! What are those?" Gus asks excitedly.
"Am no' sure, Luz talked abou' em in 'er Azureh book" Indigo says.
"Ooooooh Sabre claws!" Luz says in delight.
"Yeh, those" Indigo says as her champion flexes the weapon and gets into a stance.
"Alright, first one to poof their opponwnt wins, everything goes, except hurting the other competitors real body, that's the only "no no" in this game" Gus explains before he twirls a finger and a number appears, counting down to 1 before the two tiny figures charge at each other.
Gus and Indigo began spinning their fingers, taking control of their mini champions as they fought, both their eyes closed, faces looking deep in concentration as the tiny figures clashed in a tiny, but epic way, Gus' champion had good balance, combating the claws of his opponent well, backing off when it got too much to get a handle on the situation.
Indigo's champion stayed on the defensive, only attack atyer being attacked, letting the other back off, but never not moving, they moved from side to side in a half circle, watching Gus' champion carefully.
Gus once again sent his champion charging forward to swing at Indigo's wildly, Indigo's champion jumped back, onto Indigo's leg, giving a challenging crook of their finger as Gus' champion hesitates to follow, Gus knew he was disadvantaged going anywhere near Indigo, it would break the one rule if he hurt them, so instead he created a floating platform for his champion, letting him get close without touching the other competitor.
The battle grew more fierce, Indigo's champion took control pretty quickly after getting onto Gus' platform with a well timed jump, there wasn't enough space for them both on the small platform and Gus didnt get a chance to make it bigger, Indigo wasn't giving him the time to think, his champion parried blow after blow until one well times hit landed, sending his champion into a cloud of smoke, along with the platform.
Indigo's hand caught their tiny champion as it took a bow while the tiny crowd of kids that had gathered to watch them cheered.
Gus and Indigo opened their eyes and dispersed any illusions left, standing to bow to one another before laughing giddily
"Thah was fun!"
"Heck yeah! It's much more fun with someone else to play with!" Gus says excitedly.
"Waih, dis is the firs' time yeh goh teh play wi'h someone?" Indigo asks.
"Yeah… the other illusionists are all older than me in my class, I dont really talk to any of them so… there's really no one else I can play with, they'd probably see it as childish and ignore me" Gus says with a shrug.
Indigo snorts and looks at the crowd.
"Any eh yeh lo' think thahs childish?" They asks and the crowd gives a resounding "Now way!"
"That was so cool! I wish I knew illusions!"
"We should have tournaments! Like make an event out of it!"
"Yeah! That'd be so cool to see on a larger scale!"
Gus looks surprised but beams as everyone gather around to talk to him about his game.
Indigo glances back at the others with a grin, seeing them all grinning back with looks of approval.
"I know for a fact my brother and sister would help create a tournament for battling with Illusions, seems right up their alley" Amity says offhandedly.
Luz gets a starry eyed look.
"Oh my gosh! You guys could be a trio…" Indigo clears her throat.
"Oh ah… oh a quartet of Illusion battlers!" Luz corrects eagerly.
"Pfft, sounds like fun" Willow says between giggles as Indigo looks pleased by the idea.
None of them realised that Bump had been listening in, seeming interested as he stroked his chin.
-At the Coven Castle-
The bird bus lands and Principal Bump warns everyone to be on their best behaviour.
The group gathers, Luz smartly puts up her hood, Gus had cast a temporary illusion on her so no one would be able to recognise her at first glance.
Indigo, having felt the immediate effects of this castle's collective emotions, looked visibly pale, somehow paler than usual, their eyes seemed to gloss over and they clung to Luz's shoulder, they seemed to need physical support just to walk.
Luz immediately grew concerned "Indigo are you okay?" She asks and holda Indigo up.
"Yeh jus….. somethin's noh righ' 'ere, ah don' thin' ah can go in" they say and stumble back against the bird bus, noting Willow and Amity also at their sides.
"Sir! Uh, Indigo is feeling flight sickness, I think they need to stay behind" Amity calls, making up an excuse on the spot.
Principal bump looks back disgruntled, but upon seeing Indigo's current condition, his gaze softens "Ah, it would be hard to fake such symptoms" he mutters to himself and walks over.
"You are correct Miss Blight, but I would need someone to stay with her for the duration of the field trip" he says, Amity, Willow and Luz all look at each other.
"Am aigh' alone sir, jus… need a lil time" Indigo assures and waves a hand "No need fer anyehone teh miss de trip" they say and push themselves back onto the bird bus, sitting on one of the seats.
Bump looks uncertain for several minutes, he knew all the maturest students were eager to go on this trip, it would be unfair to make them miss it, plus young Indigo seemed capable of behaving themselves.
"Alright, but contact someone immediately if you need assistance" Bump instructs Indigo who gives a weary thumbs up.
"Will deh sir" they reply a little weakly.
Luz looks back at Indigo in worry as Bump calls the others together to start the trip, Amity, Willow and Gus share her worry, though Willow and Gus had less of an idea of what was really happening to the poor Empath.
Once inside, their tour guide,Ki-Ki Mora, began explaining the history of the isles and the Emperor's coven to the kids, Amity was listening dilligently while everyone else continued to look around in awe, Luz of course took more notice of a vent, trying to pry it open, much to Willow and Gus' confusion.
The group went through the artifact room and Luz was once again blocked by Gus and Willow making her continue before her work was done.
Luz hides as Lillith comes in through a door, forgetting Gus' spell was still active, thankfully she wasnt even glanced at, Lillith made a snide remark after the children wished her luck.
Luz sneaks away from the group effortlessly somwhow, following Lillith off somewhere into the castle.
-At the bird bus-
Indigo was sloely adjusting to this areas horrible feelings, pushing them aside sloely in favour of the tiny resovoir of possitivity which was the field trip kids, clinging to their awe and excitement like the thing Luz called a life preserver, some kind of red and white ring she said would float on water, apparently Eda had found one once.
Indigo glances around the bus, they figured a distraction would help them calm down this queezy feeling, glancing at Luz' notebook and picking it up, Luz never minded her using it to practice drawing glyphs with.
Indigo opens the book and notices a dog eared page, turning to it curiously, the moment their eyes scanned over the page, the sickness became real, their stomach tightened in worry and they dropped the book, breathing hard as they tried to push away all the bad stuff to get moving, they had to get to Luz now!
Luz… meanwhile had met up with Willow, Gus and suprisingly Amity, who had snuck off the moment she had disappeared, Amity explained what she had seen in the notebook and they had all gone looking for her.
"Luz, I saw your notebook, what exactly are you planning on stealing?" Amity asks, once they established that they weren't just going to drag her back.
"The healing covens hat, if I can get it I might be able to heal Eda's curse!" Luz explains briefly.
The three witches look amongst each other for a moment.
Amity sighs "Now I get why Indigo was letting you do this, they said you had a good reason for it"
"Wait Indigo knows?!" Luz asks quickly.
"Well they knew something was happening, I don't think they know your planning to steal the hat, although… where did yoy leave your notebook?"
"On the…. Bird bus…"
"Where Indigo currently is" Gus says and points out the window.
Luz glances out to see the vague shape of Indigo, laying on the back seat, Luz feels guilt eat at her stomach for a moment.
"They really dont look good, I hope they didn't read it and get more worried" she says.
"Either way we cant stick around here, whats the plan here? We cant just walk in and take the hat" Amity says as Luz turns, who just glances to the side and back at her.
"Uh, that waaaas the plan"
"Oh my titan Luz" Amity pinches the bridge of her nose "I can't begin to describe how bad of a plan that is"
"Oh good cuz I'm literally gonna go do it" Luz says and teots around her with Willow and Gus in tow, making Amity squeak and run to join them "Wait up!"
After much shenanigans that should not have worked as well as it did (in Amity's opinion) the four ended up in the artifacts room once again.
Indigo had made an Illusion of themselves, making it lay on the back seat facing towards the seat so others would think they were asleep, the front had been left somehow unguarded and all they had to do to avoid the guards was crawl (literally crawl due to their condition) up to the ceiling, they would never understand why no one ever looked up when guarding somewhere.
The kids had examined a few of the artifacts, Gus had talked to his illusion self from the oracle sphere, ending up crying happy tears when it told him he was his best self.
Willow had tried out the green thumb gauntlet with a cute giggle afterwards.
Amity looks at all the artifacts, they all held a curious past, she sees Luz picking up the healing hat, not long after the other three giggle about something, a voice whispers in their mind, but its not friendly or kind like Indigo's, it's horrible and clearly menacing.
"I will know" was all the voice had to say.
"Guys we need to leave NOW!" Luz says but before the words have even left her mouth the metal doors on either side of the room slam shut on them.
Amity joins the group as Willow reaches for the green thumb gauntlet once again
"I got this guys!" Willow says with confidence, slamming her hand down to summon a large (buff) tree which shoots its huge arms at the door, sending a resounding boom through the castle.
This attracts the attention of both friend and foe.
All the kids immediately cough as dust coats the room from the impact,
When Amity looks up, her ears drop as she recognises the silluette of her mentor, staring down at the four from the doorway.
"Well well well, not exactly who I expected… but I can work with this" Lillith says and walks into the room slowly, summoning her staff.
Naturally all the kids were weary of the coven head, she had very publicly threatened to close down their school if Eda didnt turn herself in.
Lillith reaches forward to take the hat from Luz, but Amity steps between them, raising a protective arm to cover Luz.
"Amity? What in the world are yoy doing? Get out of my way!" Lillith demands and Amity almost complies out of sheer force of habit to do as she's told by those above her, almost.
"No!" Amity bites back "You leave Luz alone!"
"Oh please, I'm not a monster, I'm not going to hurt her, she's far more valuable to me unharmed" Lillith says as if that much is obvious.
"Ugh, you sound like my parents, valuable? Really? She's a person, not an object" Amity spits angrily and takes a step at Lillith, who takes a step back out of sheer surprise at the girl's anger.
"My my, someone has a temper" she comments with a raised eyebrow.
"As your mentor Amity, I would advise against speaking so rashly to your elders and betters, now stop this nonsense and move!" Lillith speaks with unbridled authority and takes a step forward, glowering down at the teenage witch with a cold glare.
Amoty naturally takes one back, she feels a tight grip in her chest, her mind tells her to back down, She couldn't beat Lillith in a fight, Lillith was the head of the Emperors coven for titans sake! What if word got to her parents that she had been so rude to her hard won mentor, what if Lillith banned her from the Emperor's coven?
Amity's mind races and she glances over her shoulder at Luz, Willow and Gus.
Gus and his double were in a fighting stance, glaring daggers at Lillith, Willow still had the green thumb gauntlet, standing in front of Luz, ready to defend her with a frown on her face that just didn't quite fit.
Luz herself was watching Amity, unlike the others whose eyes were on Lillith.
Luz looked at Amity, eyes on hers and gave her a scared but understanding smile, as if to tell her it was okay, she didn't have to fight for her, she could back off and Luz wouldn't hate her for it, this girl really was the most precious thing Amity had ever seen.
Amity closes her eyes and turns back to face Lillith, eyes closed, head tilted forward and ears down, as if surrendering.
"There we go, now step aside my dear, this will be over shortly" Lillith assures and moves to step forward.
A sludge hand grabs Lilliths elbow from behind her, she turns to look to see it emerging from a purple circle in the ground only a few feet back.
Lillith tries to break its grip but it holds firm, when she looks back at Amity, the girls eyes are open and she is mad.
Amity draws a circle and raises an arm, the circle appears on the ground and sloshes with the purple muck of the abominations, but rather than forming a humanoid shape, it took the shape of the raised hand, Amity faced her palm awY from Lillith and pulled her arm back, as if about to back hand the witch.
Lillith's eyes widen "Amity Blight if you dare…"
Amity does the motion and Lillith is sent careening back along the room, barely stopping herself falling to the floor, she had barely raised a shield in time to block the attack, but the force had sent her and it flying back.
Lillith righted herself with as much dignity as she could muster, straightening her hair and trying to act civilised.
"If that is what you wish Miss Blight, have it your way" Lilloth says and spins her staff, before taking a stance.
Neither side moved an inch for a solid minute, Lillith barely managed to slide her foot forward before something shot down form the ceiling on top of her, or more accurately, fell on top of her.
All four kids looked stunned as Indigo lay on top of Lillith, both looked dazed and a little confused, thankfully Indigo was quicker to come around and staggered to their feet.
"Weh gotta…. Go" they say unevenly, they looked physically sick, sweating, glasay eyes and stumbling as if suffering from constant dizziness.
Willow and Gus put their respective artifacts back quickly, running over to help Indigo stand up.
Luz moves next to Amity, still clutching the hat, they two share a look, but it's short lived, Gus and Willow get thrown towards them, a beam blue magic of magic grabs the healer's hat and pulls it out of Luz's grasp.
Before them, Lillith held Indigo inside a magic bubble, eyes furious.
"That. Is. Enough" Lillith snaps her fingers and the bubble shrinks, Indigo curls up inside the bubble, it barely had space for them now but thankfully it stops shrinking.
The four kids stare at Lillith. Amity and Willow took the front in defense of the other two, but Lilloth simply tells them.
"Go, tell Eda I have this one, if she wants them back, she will meet me for a witches duel" she tosses her staff at Amity who catches it in surprise before it scoops them all onto it, it was a tight fit but soon they were all flying through the air towards Bonesborough.
None of the kids really had time to process things fully as they landed.
The staff lands them before the owl house, flinging all of them off into a pile on the grass and floating upright, eyes glowing at the door.
Hooty had opened the door and Eda had come out to investigate, her eyes sharpening at the sight of the staff, upon glancing at who was present, she easily put two and two together.
"Lillith has Indigo doesn't she?" She demands as she walks over to the kids to check them over.
Luz nods, she hadn't said a word the entire time on the flight home, just clinging to Willows back and staring at nothing.
"Alright I'm gonna need to know what happened" Eda says sharply and looks amongst the kids.
Amity was on her feet "We… tried to get the healing hat for your curse" she began but Eda raises a brow
"We?" She asks.
"Yes, we, all of us" Amity says flatly "Lillith caught us, I… may have witch slapped her with an abomination hand…" she mutters the last sentence.
Eda took a moment to absorb this information.
"Well dang girl if you wanted into the bad girl coven that badly you could have just asked" Eda says looking quite impressed before clearing her throat "But this does mean that Lily is quite… ticked off"
"Indigo also… fell on top of her to try and help us, they were really… out of it" Luz finally pipes up.
"Out of it how?" Eda asks
"Dizzy, ill looking, glassy eyes, said they felt sick" Luz describes.
"Oh man, that poor kid... and now they're stuck there without you guys, we gotta get em outta there" Eda says in worry.
Footsteps drew all their attentions to Em and Ed walking up to the owl house with smiles on their faces, which immediately drop to concern when they see tye scene before them.
"Whats… going on?" Emira asks in concern, she noted immediately that Indigo wasn't present.
-One tense explanation later-
The twins sat in the owl house, just as pale as everyone else.
Edric looked sick with worry, excusing himself quickly.
Emira was about to go after him but Amity stopped her.
"Give him a minute" she murmurs.
Emira sighs and nods, sitting back down.
"Eda what are we going to do?" Luz asks
"Well clearly I have to duel Lillith to get the kid back" Eda says carefully.
"But your curse!" Luz argues anxiously.
"I can make it quick, someone just needa to grab the kid away from her, Lilly can be a tricky customer when she's determined" Eda explains
"Edric might be best for that, he can fly" Emira pipes up.
"He won't get close on that staff kid"
"No I mean he has the batwolf cloak" Emira corrects.
"Batwolf… wait… where is that boy?" Eda asks.
"He needed some air" Amity explains.
"Ah come on!" Eda says and looks out the window "He's gone"
Amity and Emira glance at each other before running to the door to look outaide, sure enough, Edric was nowhere to be seen.
"He wouldn't have…" Amity started but gets cut off by Emira sighing heavily in annoyance
"You and I both know he'd do that for them" she says bluntly.
The two walk back in "He's gone there to get them hasn't he?" Eda asks with a hand on her hip
"Most likely" Emira says and pinches the bridge of her nose.
Eda sighs heavily as well "Alright, everyone stays here NO ONE follows me" Eda says sharply and points to all of them, summoninng her staff and heading out
"King make sure they all stay put" Eda orders on her way out.
King immediately jumps from Luz's lap to the table to start strutting around with his eyes closed.
Eda takes Lilloths staff and heads off, jetting towards the castle.
After about ten minutes of flying, Eda spots an odd sight, it looked like a huge bat, but on closer inspection, it was a humanoid wolfbat, that was clearly the boy, Eda flys after him and grabs him out of the air, pausing mid air.
"And just where the in the nine hells do yoy think you are going?" Eda demands as the boy struggles in her grip.
"I have to help them!" Edric barks in the squeakiest voice and Eda almost drops him as she snorts to herself for a second.
"Look kid, Im gonna go and duel my sister, you…" Eda has to pause as she looks at the boy, he was trying to use that face, that puppy dog face Luz would use, but it was far more convincing when actually combined with the boys currently borrowed features.
"Oh for the love of…. FINE, yeesh" Eda lets the boy go, he audibly yelps and flaps rapidly to get back into the air.
"But you are only there to get our empath out of danger, you do NOT try to fight my sister, capiche?"
"Ca-what?" Edric asks in confusion.
"Do ya get it kid?" Eda rephrases.
"Oh yeah yeah, get Indigo out of there, nothing else" Edric nods in understanding.
"Good, grab on, can't have you exhausted when we get there or you won't get the drop on Lily." Eda says and points behind her.
Edric flaps up behind Eda and sits on the staff, they jet off once again.
-Back at the Owl House-
King was currently in a choke hold, Luz was pacing around with him practically glued to her chest with her arms, eyes on the floor as she paced back and forth in front of the coffee table.
"Can someone… please…. Help me" King squeaks and waves his tiny arms in yhe other kids direction.
"You wouldn't let her leave, you knew the price" Gus says with a shrug.
"She did warn you this would happen" Willow says matter of factly.
Amity just looks around at the group, glancing at Emira who was glaring at the window, waiting for her brother to get back.
Amity knew Emira was worried sick, gently nudging her and giving her a smile when the grumpy teen glances her way, her face softens a little.
"Im gonna kill him, how could he be so reckless?" She mutters.
"Like you wouldn't do it if it were Viney being held against her will?" Amity says very quietly, making Emira's ears turn red.
"I… it's not like that…"
"Yet?"
"Mmph shut up"
Amity gives her sister a smile.
At this point King was at his breaking point.
"Alright! Alright! Do what you want just let me go!" He squeaks helplessly.
Luz immediately releases him.
"I'm gonna borrow Indie's staff" she informs no one in particular and picks it up from leaning on the wall, giving it a testing tap on the ground, Mollus' wings spread dilligently.
Emira and Amity stand, along with Gus and Willow.
"Hold up, Eda's already gonna kill me for letting you go, she'll extra kill me if I let all of you just go" he says and stomps a foot.
Luz looks back at everyone, Willow and Gus step back.
"We were no match for Lillith earlier, we would just get in the way" Willow says.
Amity glances at Emira, who nods.
I'Ill go with you Luz" she says.
Luz gives a relieved smile and nods.
"Maybe Edric's palismen will let you use his staff, you are family" she reasons.
"Heh, not because she's family, because she's Amity" Emira says with a smirk, making Amity blush at the praise and the fact that Emira had actually used her real name for once, that in itself was rare enough.
Amity reaches for Edric's staff, doing what Luz had done and tapping the end to the floor, Tolken's wings flared open obediently.
The two teens head off immediately after Eda and Edric, who were now mere moments from getting to the castle.
"Alright kid, here's your stop, pick you moment wisely, I'll get Lily as far back as I can so she cant try to blast at you, once your out of it, get as far off as you can, 'Ill find you once I've finished up this duel" Eda instructs and lets Edric flap off of the staff.
"What if it doesn't go as planned?" Edric asks seriously.
"Listen, you get them, you fly away, I will deal with everything else" Eda says firmly.
Edric stares for a moment before nodding "Okay"
-At the Emperors Castle-
Lillith stood on the bridge waiting, the kid she held within the bubble was rather sickly, even she was beginning to get worried for them, despite being flattened by them not hours previously, a healer had briefly checked them over, determining they were technically physically fit, but if it was an act, it was an all too convincing one, Lillith wasn't without morals, even if they could be shaky ones.
Lillith hears a disturbance and before she knows it, Eda is there, staring at her menacingly.
"So sis, this is your big plan huh? Get me to duel you while that poor kid suffers in a bubble?" Eda asks "I thought you going after Luz was low… but this?" She points a finger at Indigo.
"This Lily… takes all the cake" she growls and twirls her staff, before sending Lillith's jetting right past her head and into the stone behind her.
Lillith looks back at the staff splintering the stone of the castle and summons it to her side before facing Eda.
"I will do what I must to bring you in Edalyn, although given their state, I'm surprised you even came for this one, you tend to stay very… detatched from people" Lillith says coyly.
Eda growls "Well, you wanted a duel Lily, just you remember that when I'm kicking your kester from here to the knee and back" Eda says and twirls her staff, lunging forward as Lillith does the same.
Edric watches from high above, the new Batwolf eyes allowed him to see even further than normal, meaning he could see the fight even from this ridiculous height.
The flash of orange and blue seemed to smack around rapidly, never really staying in one place for long, once the two were well away from the bubble, Edric began his dive, pivoting his body forward and folding in his wings, they detach from his wrist and pin to his back, allowing his to use his arms, something he had picked up during practice with Emira all day.
Edric's eyes narrow as wind flies into his face, his eyelids protected his eyes well from dust and debris at this speed, just as he got to place, his wings flared and he flung his arms and legs into place, effectively grabbing the small bubble and soaring right out of there in a manner of seconds, he wasnt sure if anyone had even noticed him, he chances a glance back at the battlw to see… two staff riders just beyond them in the distance, one black and one white, with two very distinctive people on one each.
"Oh -" Edric is cut off as he rams into a tree, the bubble had saved both him and Indigo from a rather nasty injury as it popped once the two fell to the ground.
Edric groans and sits up, flicking off his cape hood so he could see normally, Indigo lay on the ground near him, their eyes closed and their body slumped completely, were they unconcious?
Edric looks back towards the castle, he didn't think he could fly them both back home like this, nor could he leave Indigo here defenseless to go help his sister and Luz, he would have to wait.
Luz charges through the air with Amity hot on her heels, the two had been completely silent the entire time, both determined to help Eda and save their friends/brother.
Once the battle was in sight however, it was clear who was winning, Luz plummets to land on the ground, Indigo's palisman had let her fly with it, but it did not take her orders, so she couldnt use it to help Eda,
Luz pulls out a pair of glyphs, slapping them together and forms a bridge of lightning between her hands, meanwhile, Amity had landed and summoned an abomination arm to swat Lillith from the sky, Lillith was clearly surprised and as she looks towards the two girls, putting up a full shield and both sides were barraged with attacks.
Lillith looks up at Luz, before she smiles, flicking a finger at Luz, who feels herself being levitated, her eyes widen as she is flung over the edge!
Amity races forward to grab Luz' hand before she's out of reach, grabbing it but getting pulled over the edge herself, grabbing the very edge tightly to stop them both plummeting to the jagged spikes below.
Luz grips Amity' hand tightly, she didn't dare move and put more pressure on the other holding them both up.
Above the two, it was clear Eda was trying to get to them, trying to help them, but Lillith wasn't letting her, a spell is cast and Amity is levitated, but the aura was blue.
The aura pulls the two girls well away from the edge, it then attempts to pull them apart, in which is succeeds despite both girls efforts, before Luz is promptly dropped once again.
A yell is heard throughout the castle ground and Luz is levitated before she hits the spikes.
Eda looks down at Luz, blackness is seeping into her eyes and over her gem.
Amity is helpless to watch as Eda speaks to Luz, Luz pleads with Eda but it's no use, Eda raises a hand, after thanking Luz for being in her life, before raising a hand and screaming, a blinding flash of light errupts from her, Luz is held in the air as Owlbert comes swooping down to her, Lillith has been knocked back and the aura around Amity disappears, letting her fall to the bridge below, looking up to see Eda on the ground, running over to kneel by her as Luz appears beside her as well once Owlbert had her safely on the bridge.
Eda gives an inhuman scream and turns, going full Owl beast, Amity pulls Luz back quickly as the beast lunges at them, but is caught in a blue rope, pulled back by Lillith who glances up at something with a smile.
Amity feels Luz wrench her hand out of hers and charge at Lillith with a yell, Owlbert follows her and pulls at Lilliths hair, Amity made to follow the girl but ends up catching Luz as Lillith tosses her off of her back.
Amity catches Luz with a grunt and stumbles back, Lillith grabs Owlbert from the air and hits her staff against the bridge and it begins moving away from them slowly.
"Go home Human, Edalyn is with her family now, her real family."
Luz gets to her feet and tries to get there before it's too far but doesn't make it.
"Go home Human, Edalyn is with her family now, her real family." Lillith says coldly.
Luz simply has to stand there, watching as Eda is dragged inside the castle and the doors are shut, guards taking place in front of the door immediately, glowering at the girls.
Amity moves forward, taking Luz's arm and pulling her away from the edge of the bridge, she didn't know how tolerant those guards would be to their clearly unwelcome presence.
Luz was reluctant to move, but Amity was persisstant and eventually got her on a staff and heading back, though something didn't feel right and she was forced to speak.
"Where are Edric and Indigo?" She asks quietly.
Luz lifts her head slowly, stopping midflight and looking back at the castle, her eyes follow a path for a moment, as if trying to work something out, before her head moves to the left and she heads in that direction.
Amity blinked in confusion but followed wordlessly.
It only took ten minutes to find the two, sprawled on the ground, Edric was leaning against an indented tree with Indigo slouched against him, he looks up when he sees the two approach, but his relief is short lived as his eyes flicker around them in confusion before he stands, a little stiffly.
"Where's…?" Edric is cut short by Luz landing sharply in front of him, she moves to check Indigo, trying to shake them awake, clearly worried.
Edric looks to Amity, who shakes her head slowly, Esrics ears pin against his head, if he had been more careful…. He could have gone back to help!
Indigo makes an uncomfortable noise as Luz pinches their ear, a last ditch effort to wake them, it works, but Indigo is clearly grumpy at the rude awakening, hissing a little with her eyes still shut.
"Le' meh aloooone" they says and swat at Luz's hand, but the moment her hand touched Luz's, Indigo inhales sharply and their eyes open wide as if they'd just been hit with a wave of ice cold water.
"Hah! Whah! Where am ah!" They say and look around in panic and confusion for several seconds, before their eyes return to Luz.
"Whah happened?" They ask quietly, but Luz just beckons them up, offering a hand.
Indigo accepts the hand and stands, visibly flinching as they stand.
"Ahahaow" they say and their body kind of curls in on itself "Why do Ah feel like ah hi' a tree?"
"Probably cuz we did, but you were in a bubble" Edric says.
Indigo blinks and glances at him, before looking at the tree he was looking at.
"Thah… would explain eh then" Indigo says and slowly moves to stand by Luz.
"Ah think yeh migh' need teh steer fer meh Luz…" Indigo says quietly.
Luz just nods and activates the staff, mounting it and letting Indigo climb on the back.
Edric limps over to where Amity was hovering and hops on behind her, getting a small elbow to the ribs.
"Owwwww" he says and curls forward "Whyyyyy?"
"For making us worry" Amity say sharply, but her face softens as he brother hugs her tightly and murmurs several apologises into her shoulder.
"I probably deserved more than that huh? But can we avoid my ribs for now please?" Edric asks as they take off after Luz and Indigo.
Amity looks back in concern "You said you hit a tree? Was it bad?"
"Not particularly, I was just going pretty fast and the bubble hit the tree and I was behind the bubble so my ribs got the majority of the blow" he explains "I…. I saw you two flying towards the fight…" he says quietly and tightens his grip on Amity protectively.
The four land haphazardly outside the Owl House, Luz helping Indigo inside as Amity offers her brother a shoulder.
Edric hesitates "Maybe I should just wait out here…?" He asks but Amity shakes her head.
"You're hurt Edric, you need to get seen to"
"..." Esric looks at the door anxiously.
"I dont think I should go in…" he states and hobbles to sit on a rock nearby.
"Edric get up and get inside now" Amity orders sharply, but her brother ignores her, putting his head on his knees with his arms wrapped around it.
Amity sighs in worry and heads inside, maybe Emira could convince him to come inside.
Inside was probably not a good idea after all.
Luz was on the couch, explaining everything to Indigo, whose face severely lacked colour, even for them, King and Hooty as well as Gus and Willow were gathered around to listen as well.
Emira was leaning against the divide between the kitchen and the sitting area, her eyes spotted Amity at the door and she got up to head towards her immediately, fire burning in her eyes.
Amity knew she had to stop Emira before she went yelling at their brother, he wasn't in a very good state to begin with, he didn't need an extremely angry sister on top of everything else.
Once Emira was just outside the door, Amity grabs her hand and pulls her aside.
"Emira first off, don't yell at him, he's hurt, second off avoid his ribs if your gonna jab him or something" Amity states quickly "I already elbowed him for sneaking off" she adds as Emira processes all of this and glances at Edric.
Emira's fire simmers down into a gruff huff in her throat before she walks over to flick her idiot brothers ear and get him to look up at her.
"How many times have I told you to stop running off on your own?"
"Counting this time… uh 3? Maybe 4? It has been surprisingly lacking in our conversations, heck I used to think you wanted me to leave you alone" Edric tries to laugh but immediately regrets it in doubles over.
Emira is quick to kneel down.
"What exactly happened?" She asks as Amity walks over.
"I got Indigo out of harms way in that bubble they were in… looked back and saw Luz and Amity going towards the fight, then we hit a tree" Edric croaks softly.
Emira summons her scroll and quickly starts typing.
"What are you doing?"
"Asking Viney if she can come and check you over"
"What? Why?"
"You really think we should let our parents know about all this?"
"No…"
"Then Viney is basically our only option for healers right now" Emira says as her scroll buzzes and she checks it.
"She'll be here soon, c'mon, catching a cold isn't gonna help those ribs, get up and get inside" Emira goes to help but Edric recoils.
"No… I…. I can't go in there" he says quickly.
"Why not?"
"Because I should have been able to stop Eda from getting caught, if I had paid enough attention I could have protected Amity and Luz so Eda could have won that fight and everyone would be fine…. I saw how Luz looked at me when she landed…. I'm not welcome in there"
Emira pauses in her retort, she wasn't sure how to reassure him, Luz was in no condition to speak to anyone rationally right now, Eda wasn't here, Indigo was basically exhausted and potentially concussed.
"Alright Ed, if you're staying out here then so am I" Emira says matter of factly "Budge over would ya? I dont wanna sit on the ground"
Edric looks up in surprise but complied and scoots over so his sister can sit on the rock as they wait for Viney to come.
Amity walks over, putting an arm around each twin's neck and pulling them into a hug, which they both lean in to.
-Half an hour later-
Viney glides on Puddles back, she can see the Owl house coming into view, she was very confused as to why Emira had texted her out of the blue to come there asap and bring medical supplies, but if it was medical, she wouldn't say no.
Viney spots three figures sitting outside the owll house, all with distinctively green hair of some shade, she steers Puddles towards them and lands nearby, grabbing her bag from the griffon's claws and running over, all three Blights were now looking at her.
"Alright who is hurt?" She asks immediately, she couldn't see any outright injuries, but Edric looked pale.
"Uh, my ribs…"
Viney waisted no time and walked over, shooing the other two away and setting down her bag.
"How long ago did it happen?" She asks and she gets out what she needs.
"Uh about an hour or so ago" Edric says anxiously.
"Any other pains or aches? Back, neck, head or hips? Any fever or difficulty breathing?"
"No…" Edric answers.
Emira had backed up with Amity, both watched Viney as she worked, Emira had seen Viney like this a couple of times, she was very proffesonal when it came to healing and very thorough.
"Puddles, come here please" Viney calls and the griffon pads over quickly, after a quick motion, Puddles uses her wings to cover the two from view, presumably to give Edric privacy which Viney applied bandages and glyphs.
Aftwr a few moments, the griffon's wings moved back to her sides.
"Alright Puddles, time for cuddles" Viney says and the griffon immediately goes about nuzzling Edric who gains a bashful smile and cuddles the griffon right back.
Viney walks over to the other two.
"Anyone else?" She asks.
"Indigo…. They might have hit their head possibly" Emira says and points to the owl house.
Viney blinks and nods, glancing at Edric before looking at Emira.
"His ribs are badly bruised, he's very lucky there were no breaks, I expect this wasn't just some prank gone wrong… I may need the FULL story just to be sure both of them are definatly getting all the healing they need" her emphasis made both girls flinch.
"Your reactions aren't filling me with hope for what's to come" Viney says before a thought strikes her.
"Wait… why don't you just ask Eda to heal these two?" She asks and the immediate panic in the two girls eyes makes Viney anxious.
"Okay that's a question for after healing then" she says aloud to herself and walks past the two and into the Owl house, where she was met with confusion and sorrow on the faces of everyone there.
"Viney?" Luz asks.
"Yeah… Emira called me over, said some people needed medical help, said Indigo's head might have been hit" Viney says as she walks towards the couch.
Indigo looks at Viney with a glassy eyed look as she got closer.
"Judging by Edric's injuries, I'm gonna say you will most definataly have a concussion, so just sit back and try to avoid sudden movements while I get checking for other injuries" Viney says before looking at the others around.
"If you all could give us some space that would be appreciated, except you Luz, I might need a hand"
Everyone but Luz quickly left as instructed, Willow and Gus had to head home for the day, promising to come back tomorrow.
Hooty retreated to his door and King went upstairs, muttering about being in Eda's room.
Indigo took a moment to process what Viney had said, trying to sit forward.
"Ed is hurt?" They ask before flinching and clutching their head.
"I've taken care of him, he is perfectly fine right now, Puddles is on cuddle duty outaide with him" Viney assures them.
Indigo lets go of their head and looks at Viney, allowing her to check over her head for cuts or scrapes, before putting a healing glyph on her forehead.
"That should keep the pain at bay for now but please don't go exerting yourself, concussions aren't too serious so long as you rest and let your head recover, get lots of sleep and eat and drink plenty, try to avoid leaving the house for at least a day or two" Viney instructs.
Viney looks over to Luz who is sitting by Indigo but staring at the floor.
"Now for you" Viney says and walks over to Luz, who looks up
"But I'm not hurt" Luz says quickly.
"Not physically no" Viney says and sits down beside her "But something is hurting you, you don't have to tell me everything, but with Eda's absence and what happened at school the other day… well it isn't hard to put the pieces together" Viney says wisely, looking at the young human whose head was down, eyes watering as she hugs herself for comfort.
Viney notices Indigo curling up on themselves as Luz gets more distressed, she had always suspected something about them, but the pieces were starting to click together.
"I'm just gonna take a wild guess here but, the field trip went wrong somehow, someone got in trouble and Eda went to help and didn't come back?" She asks, she had known about the field trip but she had already been.
Luz' eyes widen and then shut tightly as she pulls her knees to her chest and puts her forehead against them, hiding her face from view.
"Alright, your reaction tells me you are probably blaming yourself for what happened"
"Because its my fault" Luz says quietly "I tried to steal the hat for Eda, Indigo got caught because of me, Edric and Eda went to save them and were doing just fine until I went charging off again to try and help, if I weren't there Lillith couldn't have used me against Eda, not to mention Amity almost fell WITH me"
"Wait… Lillith threw Amity too?" Indigo asks drowsily, the glyph had stopped the pain but they simply couldn't sleep yet, they weren't sure why.
"No, just me, Amity grabbed me before I fell, Lillith pulled us both up and brought Amity back over the bridge, then let me fall again, Eda used up her magic to save me, then…." Luz stops there and crumples, she simply couldn't continue.
Viney places a hand on the girls back as she cries into her knees, unable to console her.
"Would you like me to stay?" Viney asks softly.
Luz sniffs and nods into her knees.
Indigo was feeling too much and got shakily to her feet.
"Ah need air" they say quietly and headed to the door, in reality they had figured out why they couldn't sleep.
Outside, the Blights were sitting against the cuddly griffon, who was still nuzzling Edric, who was telling the others about what happened on his side.
"And then we hit the tree, I couldn't move much and Indigo was unconsious, I couldn't just leave them there alone" Edric says quietly as Puddles coos and rubs his head with hers from the side.
"Ed that was the smartest thing to do, if you had tried to go back you could have gotten hurt a lot worse and who knows what creature might've gotten to Indigo" Amity reasons from her spot on Puddles back.
"Yeah bro, you did the right thing, you kept yourself and Indigo safe" Emira says and gets him in a playful but loose headlock to ruffle his already messy hair some more, careful not to make him bend over and hurt him.
"Please tell meh yeh arent gettin' upseh too" Indigo asks as they walk around Puddles, looking a little shaky.
Edric was quick to try and stand to help them, but Puddles didn't allow him to, raising a clawed foot to his shoulder to keep him sitting, cooing softly.
Indigo chuckles as they see Edric huff at the griffon but he couldn't maintain it for longer than a second as the sweet thing cooed and nuzzled him against her cheek again.
"Ehs arigh, Ed, ah'm good, Vineh gave meh a glyph teh stop de pain" they saw and point a thumb at their forehead.
"Now all ah gotta do is rest" they add and before anyone can say anything else, Emira had stood up and pointedly pushed Indigo to sit beside Edric.
"Hey Mittens, I feel like Luz could use a few more friends, let's go see how she's doing huh?" Emira asks and helps Amity off of Puddles so they can walks towards the Owl House.
Edric watches his sisters leave in confusion, before glancing at Indigo, who was leaning against the now apparently sleeping griffon.
"Yeh goh hurt" Indigo says quietly as their eyes move to look at Edric.
"I'm fine, just some bruised ribs, like I said before, I've had worse" Edric assures "But you also got hurt…" Edric says as he looks over at them.
"Heh, can' say I've had worse, cept maybe in thah castle, eh was horrible in theh, ah coul'n think 'er feel anythin' jus this awful feelin thah ah was just rottin' away" indigo physically shivers at the thought.
Edric scoots a little closer and takes their hand.
"Yeh have neh idea how glad ah was when yeh swooped on in teh grab meh, yeh looked pre'eh awesome by de way" Indigo says quietly and grips Edric's hand tightly.
"Yeah… probably the most awesome thing I've ever done in my life…. Can't really feel proud of it right now" Edric adds with a sigh.
Indigo nods "Ah gehcha, hard teh beh happy teh beh free when Eda goh taken" Indigo agrees "An worse yeh ah jus' can' fall asleep, teh many emotions runnin' high, buh ah need teh sleep teh geh be'er apparen'leh"
Edric blinks and gives a smile
"Maybe I can help with that" he says and lets go of their hand "Gimme a hug?" He asks as he puts his arms up for one.
Indigo pauses, glancing at his chest and back at him.
"I migh' hurt yeh more" they say quietly.
"It's fine, you can hug my neck instead" he offers and makes grabby hands at them with a goofy smile on his face.
"C'mon, I promise, its fine"
Indigo gives a quiet sigh and sits forward to turn and sling their arms around Edrics neck as he pulls them into a hug,
Indigo felt their mind begin to relax, Edric had apparently mastered some form of meditation, or at least he had mastered how to channel one of his emotions to be so prominent that it would flood Indigo's mind when they made contact, as of now, he was completely focused on feeling comfortable.
Indigo felt their eyes start to close, Edric was speaking to them, mostly comforting words, trying to help them sleep, but they heard one particular line of speech that stuck out.
"I really like you Indie… maybe one day I'll actually be able to tell you that when you aren't asleep"
Edric probably thought they had been asleep, which is why they didn't speak, not that they really could have anyways, their eyes slid shut slowly, but they made a mental note to tell him they had heard his confession.
Edric guides the now sleeping Indigo into the Owl house, pausing at the door.
The couch was currently occupied by Emira, Amity, Viney and Luz all sharing a hug, which, while very adorable and clearly much needed, kind of hindered Edric's plan to let Indigo sleep there.
Emira spots Ed at the doorway, gently nudging Luz "Go on, ask him"
Luz looks over at Edric, who for a moment freezes before seeing Luz's face looked hopeful.
"Em says I could ask to see your wolfbat form" she says softly.
Emira meets Edrics eye and mouths "It'll distract her"
Edric leads Indigo to the couch and gets them sitting down, before standing and glancing at Viney
"This wont affect the glyph right?" He asks but all Viney could do was shrug.
"If they come off I have more" she assures.
Edric nods and sits in front of Luz before flipping the hood of his cloak up and seeing all the girls eyes light up.
"Aw, he does look cute" Viney coos and Luz giggles a little.
Edrics ears drop to the back of his head as all the girls coo bout how cute he looks, naturally this was followed by many pairs of hands curiously investigating the fluff on his head, Edric just sighs and allows them to mess up his fluff once again, Luz looked so much happier now, if this helped, he would happily put up with it.
Viney was also asking him questions, similar to Indigo's from when she was in that state.
"Oh yeah, I can also deatch my wings from my wrists so i can use my arms when I'm flying" Edrix says and demonstrates, Luz looks at the back of his wings curiously "Hey, the back of them is fuzzy too" she says.
Edric raises a brow and flicks the now free wings forward to inspect the back, as Luz said it was in fact covered in a much thinner layer of fuzz but it was in fact fuzzy.
"Huh, didn't see that the first time, I suppose that's because I was practically mauled by those two" he says and points an accusing paw over his shoulder at his sisters, who were laughing and messing with his fluffy hair, he was sure they were braiding it.
-An hour later-
Indigo opens their eyes to a rather bizzare scene of events, some kind of bat wolf hybrid sat before the group of girls, getting its fur braided, it took them a minute to realise who the wolfbat hybrid was.
"Am Ah dreamin' again?" Indigo asks aloud as they stare at the scene, almost all of the girls and Edric jump in surprise.
"Oh hey, you're awake, how's the head feel?" Viney asks, getting up to walk over and press lightly at Indigo's temples, they felt no pain from the pressure applied.
"Noh hur'in' anymore, thanks Vineh" Indigo replies and Viney nods in satisfaction.
"Good, keep the glyph on for the rest of the night though, it should keep any dizzy spells away too"
"Alrigh' buh Ah still wanna know whahs hapoenin' der" they says and piint towards the scene where the others had begun cuddling the obviously worn out but tolerating it, wolfbat.
Viney lowers her voice to a whisper "Edric used his cloak to turn into a wolfbat to cheer Luz up for a while, get her mind off of the events of the day"
Indigo's eyes lot up with understanding, reaching up to pull up the hood of their cowl
The girls look over as the very fluffy JagIndigo walks over, sitting down on the floor.
"Ah don' think eh 'as aneh fur lefteh braid, wanna try meh now?" They ask and get swarmed quickly.
Indigo sends Edric a amile and he gives a tired smile in return, the appreciation for their noble sacrifice was clear and radiant.
Luz quickly took the spot on Indigo's lap as her own, cuddling into them as they returned the cuddles, the poor girl deserved every second of hugs she received, while the other girls made quick work of braiding any fluff Indigo had to offer.
A buzzing made Amity check her scroll, a moment later Emira's buzzed too.
"Half hour warning to be home" Amity says with a sigh.
Luz looked over and Indigo could feel her worry and disappointment at Amity (and Emira) leaving.
"Hey, yeh cough ask ef yeh cou' stah over, tell em yeh stahen ah mah place" Indigo says "If theh wan' Ed hanging bou' wheh meh then theh can' sah no teh yeh all haning bou' weh meh righ'?" They ask.
Amity looks at Emira "Do you think they would fall for it?" She asks quietly.
"Maybe, I'll send a message to see what they say." Emira replies and shoots a message back.
It took only a moment for the reply to come
"Huh, they said yes, ugh, but we have to ask Indigo's parents to call" Emira says.
Indigo blinks "Geh'meh yer scroll?" they say and hold out an unoccupied paw.
In a few clicks Indigo is soon hearing a voice, a very proper voice, on the other end of the phone, Indigo silently clears their throat before speaking.
"Yes Ma'am this is indeed, might I clarify with whom I speak?" Every jaw in the room drops as Indigo takes on a whole other voice and mannerism compared to their own, they sounded almost… regal.
"Ah yes, our child has told us of your family Mrs Blight, all good things i assure you, we do so hope to meet you soon, after hearing such stellar things about the young master Blight we simply had to invite them all for dinner, though as it may be late by the time they finished and with such a long flight to return we were hoping to seek your permission to allow them to stay the night…?"
Everyone in the room watches Indigo in complete silence.
"Yes of course, I will gladly escort them home, do give my regards to Mr Blight, I look forward to our meeting, till tomorrow" Indigo pulls the scroll away from their ear with a grin as the call ends.
"Where in the nine hells did you learn to do that?!" Emira asks as she takes back her scroll.
"Bard class" Indigo says in the same voice and tone "I can do a lot of different accents, both male and female" as they said each one, their tone changed from one to the other.
"That was so cool" Luz says in a sleepy voice before yawning and slapping her cheeks.
"So we are staying the night? All of us?" Amity asks
"All of you" Indigo confirms.
"Not to sound ungrateful in any way but… where are we going to sleep?" Amity asks.
"Ah… didn' think thah far ahead…." Indigo admits and rubs their furry but now braides neck "Luz are there more rooms upstairs 'sides yours or.." Indigo hesitates, Luz knows why.
"It's okay, Im gonna sleep in Eda's room, Amity you can take my bed if you want, there should be room for you and Emira to share, Ed, uh"
"Ed can have the couch, ah am more en capable oh sleepin' on meh feet" Indigo replies simply.
"No need!" Edric says and seems excited, moving to the wall and running up, using his new feet to hold the ceiling, putting his tail over the beam he clung to and wrapping his wings around himself.
"See?" He says smugly "I always wanted to try sleeping like this" he adds giddily.
Indigo snorts in amusement as the others shake their heads.
"Well, much as I would love to sleep over, there is clearly no room and also my dad was expecting me back an hour ago so I gotta go" Viney says and gives one more hug to Luz "Make sure you sleep well, I want no excuses in the morning" she warns.
"Bye Viney" Luz calls and waves, Viney passes by Emira who gently grabs her arm to whisper something in her ear, Viney nods and smiles before Emira reluctantly lets her go.
Luz slumps back into Indigo's lap.
"So this is the first witch sleepover I've ever been to" Luz says thoughtfully.
"Well we already braided the longest hairs" Emira says with a smirk at Edric who sticks out his tongue comically, he had to open his whole mouth to do it, which looked amusing to all. Especially since he was still upside down on the ceiling, hanging and swinging slightly.
"We could watch a movie on my phone!" Luz says and pulls it out.
Amity and Emira moved to see what Luz was doing, it looked like how a crystal ball would, but flat.
"Weird, but cool" Emira says and sits by Indigo, who playfully headlocks her to pull her close enough to see, gesturing for Amity to join Luz on her lap, who at first went red until Luz practically pulls her beside her, then she wasn't just red, she was several shades darker than red.
Insdgo glances up at Edric and moves an arm out on Amity's side, offering him a place in the obvious cuddle pile that was forming, which he naturally accepted as he dropped to the floor, snuggling up to Amity a bit, making her giggle as all his fluff tickles her.
The group sat there, content to watch the movie until both Luz and Amity fell asleep, Luz was basically cuddling Amity, it took some gentle persuasion to get Luz to sleepily release the girl and curl into Indigo as Emira lifts Amity to take her to bed.
Indigo took Luz upstairs and gently laid her in Eda's bed, King wakes up for a moment to curl up in Luz's waiting arms, both share a hug before drifting off to sleep once again.
Indigo returns downstairs to see Ed on the couch, staring at the floor, his emotions were a little jumbled, mostly worry and fatigue.
"She will be okay" Indigo thinks to him as they sit by him and ruffle his fluff, making him grumble till he realises they are getting it back into shape for him.
"Yeah… We all know Luz isnt just going to sit and wait though. She's gonna try to get her back, Worse yet I can't even help with this" he indicates his ribs.
Indigo nods once and looks down.
"I wanted to tell you something" Indigo thinks quietly and Edric looks over at them.
"When you were helping me fall asleep… I heard you"
Edric looked confused for a moment and then his eyes grew widen.
"Uh… heh, heard… what?" He asks in a higher pitch, which was impressive given his already squeaky voice due to the transformation.
"I heard you say that you liked me" Indigo explains softly.
"Ah… aaaaah, welp I'm gonna go jump off the cliff now scuse me!" Edric says and gets up, but all Indigo has to do is grab his shirt and pull him back down.
"I think that might be a tad dramatic don't you?"
"I'm sorry have you met me? Or my family?"
"Point taken"
"I…. I had a whole thing before I actually told you, I didn't want you to feel like you had to rescipricate just because I said I liked you, like I was ready for you to tell me where to stick it frankly" Eseic says and when Indigo looked confused he added clarification "It means tell me to bugger off"
"Heh, I wasn't going to" Indigo thinks back but Edric doesn't seem to catch on as he continues.
"I mean, you have been outside your cave for…. Uh' a while, but, it wouldn't be fair of me to assume you might like me back, there's a lot of decent people you could end up liking later on so…." Edric pauses, slumping back against the couch with his palms against his face.
"Basically just…. You don't have to like me just because I like you"
"Well what about you?"
"Huh?"
"What if your feelings are due to me being the first person to open up to you, let you talk to me about how you felt, let you cry around me"
"They aren't!"
"How do you know?"
"Because I would be able to tell appreciation from love!"
Indigo pauses for a moment as Edric clamps his mouth shut.
"Uh I mean…"
"So why wouldn't I?" Indigo asks softly.
Edric blinks and looks at them "Uh, I…. I just…"
"It's sweet that you went out of your way to ensure there was no pressure on me whatsoever, I appreciate that very much, and that appreciation… makes me like you more too"
Edric sat in silence for the next ten minutes, he seemed at a loss for words, before shyly wrapping his wings around himself and ducking his head down with a small "mph"
Indigo can't help but chuckle "what is it?" They ask.
"Shush!" Edric whines, but Indigo could see his tail wagging.
"Aw your tail is wagging, are you happy?" Indigo asks teasingly, they knew exactly how happy he was and he knew it.
Edric unfolds his wings and bats at them with his paws, to which they bat back, playfully smacking each other's hands for a moment and giggling quietly at each other before stopping.
"Heh, I… guess I probably should have asked how you felt first huh? Pretty big headed of me to assume you might like me back"
Indigo chuckles "Not really, I believe I also have been very not subtle in that aspect" they say with a smile, finally flicking off their hood to be themselves again.
"Uh… how so?" Edric asks with a quirked brow and Indigo snorts.
"Nah I wanted to see if I had been or not because I didn't know" Indigo says "You seem very good at reading me even without my kinds of powers to aide you"
Edric looks pleased.
"So are you staying as a woofsqueak all night or are you changing back?"
"What… did you just call me?" Edric asks and his eyes flick to Indigo.
"A woof-squeak, wolfbat, woof-squeak"
Edrics ears twitch as they lower and the look on his face screams annoyance.
Indigo just giggles hysterically "You look ready to bite me" they think in amusement before raising their hands "Alright are you gonna spend the right as a wolfbat?" They ask normally.
"Yes I am" Edric says simply "Now if you'll excuse me…" he stands but pauses as Indigo grabs his hand.
"Coul' yeh help meh geh back teh sleep?"
"Sure thing"