A/N: I have stated multiple times I have no clue what to really say here without talking about the chapter, so, since I recently talked about a game I thought deserved more attention, CrisTales, I thought I'd just do that again with another game.

Unsighted is one of the single best games I have ever played, and no one is talking about it. It's an indie metroidvania with an isometric perspective, and it has basically everything I look for in a game. Fast, fluid combat, a really good challenge, smart puzzles, loads of replayability, and lesbian robots. Also, everyone in the game could drop dead the second a timer under their name runs out. What's not to love?

It's brilliant, loved every second of it, will be playing it again in the future, 9/10. Okay, this has been Gemini reviews, now back to the stuff that actually matters and is relevant to the fic.

An artist named Daisy_Sutekina on Twitter did some art based off this fic!

twitter com /daisysutekina/status/1509033695000162305?s=21&t=5t1A8bd3XoPSKcUIKdpOaA

It's a bunch of art of Owlbeast Luz and Human Amity! It's gorgeous, and I hope you guys will check it out.

Today was the first day back to school for Amity and Luz after the petrification ceremony debacle. Both Eda and Camila had wanted to wait, holding them back from returning until they were sure it was safe, and now, after almost three weeks with no wanted posters of the two, nor bounties on their heads, they reluctantly gave the all clear for the children to resume going to Hexside.

The two walked hand in hand down the halls, ignoring the whispers that followed them. None of their classmates had seen them since that day at the Conformatorium, and rumors were abound. To say some were surprised to see them alive was an understatement.

Though nothing beat the surprise that the witch and human felt when they laid eyes on Gus. Amity looked the boy up and down, amazed at his sudden, astounding growth spurt that put him near the same height as her now.

Gus preened, looking proud of himself despite his growth not being something he could actually control, "I know, isn't witch puberty amazing?"

"It really is, Gus. You shot up like a bamboo stalk!" Gus didn't know what that was, but he took the compliment anyway as long as it compared him to something in the human world, and smiled brightly. Amity then leaned in towards Luz and whispered, "Are you going to spring up like that, too?"

"Titan, I hope so," Luz answered back, hoping she wouldn't be stuck with her Mama's genetic shortness, and would instead get her Mom's vertical gains.

Amity gulped as the mental picture of a seven foot tall Luz entered her head, tall and strong enough to scoop her up in her arms, and swing her around like a small child. Her poor heart could hardly take it. "Yes, I hope so too."

Willow rolled her eyes at her friends, "Try to keep the drool in your mouth as you say that, please."

The Plant witch's eyes wandered to the gem pinned to Luz's uniform, the familiar warm amber color she associated with Eda drawing her attention. "I see you've picked up on your Mother's sense of fashion, Luz. Is this some kind of Clawthorne right of passage, or tradition we don't know about?"

"It looks good on you," Gus quickly assured when Luz's grin fell from her face.

Luz clutched the gem tightly in her hand, pressing it harder against her chest, "Um, well, about that… can we maybe go someplace private? There's a lot of stuff that happened, and you need to be caught up for it to make any sense."

The brown haired witch found her free hand wrapped up in Amity's grip, a warm squeeze sending her good vibes. Amity nudged her shoulder slightly, and Luz felt a bit better about all of this. She hadn't really put any thought about what she was going to say to Gus and Willow, about anything, really. Now that they were here, that they probably wanted answers, maybe it was time she came clean.

The bell screamed, calling them all to their classes for the day. Willow reached out, placing a hand of solidarity on Luz's shoulder, "We'll meet up at the secret room of shortcuts at lunch, okay?"

Luz gave a nod, feeling a bubbling in her stomach like she'd eaten dairy as she tried to prepare for the worst.

Amity focused on her history lesson, about the pre-Belos history of the Isles. A frown formed on her face as she took notes as she recognized some pretty blatant propaganda sprinkled through most of the lesson like a bad seasoning. She'd heard enough of this back at the castle, during the field trip.

She'd fought Belos herself, and while he was terrifying, and clearly wasn't going all out, she was pretty sure he wasn't the strongest witch on the isles like the history books claimed. He certainly wasn't stronger than Eda used to be, even on her worst days of suffering the curse.

Why else would he have waited for so long to get Eda's door? It seemed incredibly important to him, and yet he kept sending Lilith after it instead of going himself. Sure, he was the Emperor, and that might be beneath him, but he could teleport anywhere he pleased, or so it seemed. So what kept him from popping inside of the Owl House and surprising Eda with an ambush, and taking the key himself?

And Eda, while Amity would never deny she was a crook, certainly hadn't done anything to deserve a trillion snail bounty on her head for being what amounted to a very showy petty criminal. She had a bounty higher than the Selkidomus had, and that beast had sunk ships that had gone after it, acquiring a body count in the dozens, if not hundreds.

So putting it all together, Amity concluded that Belos had to have given that bounty to her because he wanted her captured for the portal door, and she'd had that door for thirty years and he couldn't take it from her in all that time.

Honestly, her opinion of Belos was at an all time low at this revelation. Not to say it was high in the first place, but he clearly liked stroking his ego to claim he was the strongest witch to ever live, while hiding away like a coward in his castle because he was too scared to pick a fight with a cursed, middle aged mother.

So Amity sat and took her notes, doodling a little on her page pictures of Luz, surrounded by hearts, as the teacher prattled on about the savage ages, and how terrible they supposedly were. How the demons were untamed and aimless without any leadership, and witches went against the Titans wishes by practicing wild magic. Nonsense to Amity's ears.

The bell screamed, signaling lunch, and Amity slammed her book shut. She almost felt ashamed to have done so, she loved books, she worked at a library of all places, but her history book was clearly filled with lies, and deserved it. If she were feeling a bit more vindictive, she'd have slammed it twice, but she had places to be.

She needed to go and be by Luz's side, if Luz was going to come clean about her curse to their friends. This was Luz's longest held secret, and Amity had seen firsthand how it affected Luz's own self esteem and how she believed her friends saw her. She knew Gus and Willow would never hurt Luz, but Luz, on some level, didn't believe that at all. So she'd be there to help support Luz until she could see with her own eyes and hear with her own ears that she was loved.

There was a secret door near her locker that she took, entering the room of shortcuts. It seemed she was the last, as Luz, Gus and Willow were waiting for her, Luz fidgeting anxiously, while her friends waited patiently.

Amity sidled in beside Luz, offering the girl her hand, which the witch took gratefully with a tight squeeze. Taking a deep breath and holding it for a moment, Luz exhaled and began, "Okay, so, you're probably wondering all about what happened…"

Luz explained everything she could remember about the events that led up to the petrification ceremony, only stopping when she needed Amity to fill in some of the details that were still too painful for her to talk about in earnest. She explained her Mom's curse, and how she'd come to be that way because of Lilith, and how it had all come out on that bridge.

When she finished, Willow bit her lip and held out her hand for Luz to take. She gave it a gentle squeeze, trying to send her friend all the comfort she could, "I'm so sorry you had to be in the middle of that, Luz. I know how close you were to your aunt."

Gus nodded sadly, his expression drooping, "You didn't deserve any of that. Neither did your Mom. What Lilith did was really terrible, and super wrong, even if she didn't mean for it to last as long as it has."

Luz shook her head, eyes downcast, "There's… more. I left out a little, but… well, I kept a bit of a secret from you guys. The curse ended up hereditary, and I-"

Willow covered her mouth with her hands, "No… Oh, Luz, how long has this been affecting you?"

"…" Luz didn't look at either of them when she answered, too ashamed of herself, "Since I was six."

She wasn't sure what would come next from her friends, but she hadn't expected two pairs of arms to clamp around her neck as they pulled her into the single tightest embrace she'd ever been in. Luz sniffled, eyes watering, "You guys don't mind? I lied to you for so long, I-"

"Shhh," Willow brushed a hand though Luz's hair, tears pricking at her own eyes, "We're not upset with you at all."

Gus buried his face into her shoulder, thankful that his new height allowed him to do so, "I always knew you were strong, Luz, but I never knew just how much. Thank you for being brave enough to tell us."

Amity stood by her friend's sides as they hugged it out, Luz choking back grateful tears as the dam inside her broke. Her friends didn't think she was a monster. They loved and accepted her. Mixed in with the tears of her sorrow were tears of relief, and they stayed together long after the bell screamed and classes resumed for the day. They could afford to be a little late.

Later in the evening, back at the Owl House, Amity sat hunched over a piece of paper, pen in hand, as she tried her hardest to try and figure out another glyph. It had been almost a month since her discovery of the Light glyph, and despite her best efforts she couldn't seem to find any other glyphs in nature. No patterns forming in the sea foam, no glyphs in rocks and geodes, no conveniently circle shaped clouds above. But there had to be more than this! She couldn't just stick with four spells for the rest of her life. She needed more variety than that if she wanted to survive on the isles.

Well, five spells, really. Her eyes wandered from the paper to the large round vial of Abomination goo she'd stolen from the Emperor's hall of artifacts. She practiced with it every day, finding it came to her naturally, even more naturally than Luz. Despite her girlfriend being a natural born witch, and capable of summoning her own abominations, Luz had less control over her own, or even the ones summoned from the vial, than Amity did.

Still, that was kind of cheating. What Amity really needed was to focus. There had to be more glyphs, or something she wasn't seeing. She just needed a breakthrough and she'd-

A stuffed animal collided with her face, falling to the floor beside her. Amity let out a huff, because as if it wasn't hard enough to try revitalizing an entire dead branch of magic on its own, she had to deal with this mess as well.

King was convinced his once loyal follower, Francois the stuffed bunny, was trying to overthrow him. Edric, always a fool for anything halfway adorable, decided to play along with King, inciting the demon to start a civil war between his inanimate minions, while Luz and Emira cheered them on.

It was as infuriating as it was cute.

Eda had already turned in for the night, citing the Owl Beast's nocturnal habits clashing with her own need to be awake during the day making her groggy and needing a nap. Between her frustration over the glyphs and the noise in the living room, Amity was just about ready to head to bed herself.

With one final throw of a doll, Francois' rebellion was ended, and King, the ever forgiveful, pardoned his former second in command. As they signed the peace treaty, Edric let out a whoop, "We won! Give me paw, little guy!"

King eyed the offered hand, but refused to high five the boy, instead folding his arms, "We? I won, minion, though you did serve your King loyally. Perhaps one day, you can stand in Francois' place as my favored Lieutenant, but today is not that day!"

Ed pouted, lowering his hand in defeat, "How come I come in second to a bunny who betrayed you?"

"Because, as King, I decide who's who, that's why!" King barked back, hugging his bunny tightly against him as he helped the doll sign the terms of surrender.

"You really take your role play seriously, don't you?" Emira smirked, patting her brother's arm to cheer him up.

King's eyes glistened dangerously, "Role play? I'll have you know I take my role as King very seriously, and I won't stand for you bismerching my good name like that!"

Emira held up her hands, trying to placate the tiny terror, "Whoa, hey, it's just a game little guy. And you won, no need to yell."

A doll was thrown in her face, to her annoyance, as King huffed, "You guys never take me seriously! You Blights talk like this is a game, while your sister outright claims she doesn't believe me!"

Luz picked the cranky demon up, coddling him, "I believe in you, my little prince!"

King growled, kicking his legs childishly, "King! And you aren't any better! Constantly undermining my authority and treating me like a soft toy, rather than the fearsome ruler I am!"

Amity raised a brow, looking at her girlfriend, "Wait, Luz, you actually believe he's the King of Demons?"

Luz nodded her head, "Well, yeah. My Mom told me that's what he was, so of course he is!"

"… how old were you when she told you this?"

Luz blinked, then sheepishly responded, "I was seven. That's when she brought King home, and introduced him. He was so widdle back then! Well, widdler." She corrected, eying King's small stature.

Edric and Emira giggled at Luz's expense, earning a glance, "what?"

"Do you believe everything your Mom tells you?" Ed teased.

"S-she wouldn't lie about this, it's been almost eight years, after all. Come on, guys! I know I can be gullible, but I'm not that bad!" Luz defended, before her happy expression drooped, "Am I?"

Amity frowned, knowing that it was her job to defend her girlfriend's honor, "Well, to be fair, the history books all say there wasn't a King of demons… and we all know those are worthless. He could be. Possibly."

King pointed to Amity, as if she'd made a stellar point, "See! The Emperor fears me, and tried to erase my reign of terror from history!"

Amity sighed, already regretting her choice of words, "I said possibly, King. I still don't buy you as the supposed 'King of all demons.' Not without a lot of proof."

"I can show you proof, I just have to take you there!" King insisted, earning a look from everyone in the room. They lapsed into silence, waiting for King to elaborate on where he would be taking them, but before he could a slinking House demon slithered in, pressing his face against King's.

"Can I come too, guys? Hoot!"

Eda's eyes cracked open at the first rising of the sun, wearily wiping the sleep from her eyes with her talons. She was more than a little surprised to have slept through the entire night, but as she sluggishly crawled out of her nest she could only assume the Owl Beast was as tired as she was and needed the rest as well.

She put a claw through the cork in the bottle of an elixir and pulled it out, carefully gulping the liquid inside down as she started her day. With a sniff to the air, she smiled, she could already smell breakfast cooking. Luz must have woken up already and started, such a good kid. Always ready to take care of her mother, she'd really stepped up when it came to household chores these past weeks.

"Is that Griffon eggs and Moblin bacon I smell?" Eda called as she descended down the stairs, not minding the silence that hadn't once overtaken her home since the twins had started living there.

As Eda stepped into the kitchen, she passed right by the stove and the table to get her apple blood from the fridge. Sticking her head in and grabbing a bottle between her teeth, eager to flush out the aftertaste of her morning elixir, she turned back to the table, seeing a plate already laid out for her. As she passed the stove again to get to her food she stopped, and did a double take at who was doing the cooking, her bottle of apple blood dropping out of her maw and smashing against the floor, "You!"

The humming figure jumped, startled by Eda's tone and turned around, only to yelp at what she saw. "Oh, dear, it's worse than I thought!"

"Gwendolyn…" Eda groaned, gritting her teeth. "Ugh, Hooty, you're supposed to warn me when she shows up."

Gwen waved Eda's concerns off, "Oh, please, dear, I keep telling you to just call me Mom. As for your adorable little House Demon, he wasn't here this morning. I assumed you gave him the day off."

"The day off?" Eda asked, aghast at such an absurd notion, "He's part of the house! He doesn't get days off!"

She stalked back to the living room, taking a peek over at the front door, where Hooty was in fact missing, seeing a hole in the door that still had several of his still beating and pulsating organs.

"Well, I hope you don't mind that I showed myself in. I thought I'd cook you up a nice, healthy breakfast," Gwen gestured for Eda to join her at the table, a plate full of her own breakfast in her hand.

Eda grimaced at the plate, now weary of what could be in it, "I'm not sure I want to eat anything you taut as healthy. How do I know you didn't lace it with another one of your bogus miracle cures?"

Gwen rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't put it in your breakfast, dear. At least, not after last time… I'd have put it in your cup of apple blood instead."

Eda grit her teeth in irritation, before taking the entire plate of food and emptying it into her mouth in one bite. "There, I ate it, now leave."

"I'm only trying to help you, you know?" Gwen sighed, sitting down to finish her own meal. "You haven't even tried the cure I brought with me today!"

Eda's eye twitched, her aggravation boiling over, "Help? Your last attempts to cure me almost got me killed. The time before that almost burned my house down, and the time before that I was so stressed from the experience I was sprouting feathers for a week!"

"Is that so much different than what you're doing now?" Gwendolyn asked, gesturing to Eda's new form. "You're almost completely gone now, Edalyn. You need my help! You used to be so forthcoming about my solutions, I don't know what happened…"

Eda had to bite down her rebuttal. She had been forthcoming, had even gone to her mother for help… because Luz had inherited the curse and she was desperate. Not that she ever told her mother that. For a while she'd tried every last miracle cure her mother could force down her throat, all for her little girl, and none of them worked. That didn't dissuade Gwen from still trying, even though Eda had lost her faith in her mothers abilities for a second time since she was a teenager.

The only good thing to come of it, the only one, was that by having to suck up her own issues for Luz's sake, she'd been forced to look her father in the face for the first time in almost two decades while she lived in her parents house. It hadn't been pretty, seeing what she'd done to him. The scars. He still couldn't carve palismans, and never would again, but… it had been nice to talk to him. Even nicer to introduce Luz to him once she'd come back to be in her kids life after finding King.

Eda shook her head to refocus, this wasn't the time to go down memory lane.

"You've been trying for thirty years, and it's caused me nothing but stress, and made you go broke." Eda instead spat, "So no, I will not be taking anything you have to offer me today, mother. So finish your breakfast, and please leave while I still have the patience to ask you kindly."

Gwen stabbed at her eggs, expression guarded. With a sigh, she conceded, "Fine, but I want to see my grandkids before I go. I'm sure Camila's parents get to dote on those two all the time, I need some granny time, too."

She picked at her plate, both witches coming to a realization at the same time, "Where are Luz and King, anyway? They're usually up and making some kind of racket whenever I come over."

Eda's ear twitched as she listened for her kids. Any of them, including the twins, and she couldn't hear anything. You could hear a pin drop in this silence, and she wasn't sure that had ever been the case with the Owl House before this moment. Between them being gone, and Hooty missing from his post…

Eda strode into the living room, looking around the place intently. There on the sofa, pinned to one of King's dolls was a note. Giving it a glance over, her eyes widened, "Oh no…"

Gwendolyn popped her head into the room, seeing her daughter's worry reflect in her feathers, which were beginning to spike upwards, "What's wrong, dear?"

"Why are we stuck with the bathtub boat?" Edric complained, shifting the porta-Hooty strapped to his back. When the House demon had asked to come, he'd been the one to ask how, and after all of them were forced to witness the grotesque task that was Hooty removing himself from his door, his siblings and Luz had burdened him with carrying the bird tube as a punishment for his sins.

Eda's flying bathtub contraption wasn't exactly built for high flying, and had trouble skimming over the water, especially with two people inside. Flying low beside Edric and Emira on a staff were Luz, Amity and King, King mounted on Amity's shoulders, while Luz flew Owlbert. Amity yawned, feeling restless after hours of flying, the morning sun already on the horizon, "Well, do you guys know how to fly a staff?"

Amity had them there, but that didn't mean the twins couldn't be petty, with Emira firing back "No, can you?"

"Nope!" Amity admitted freely, "Only flown in a few emergencies. But Luz does, hence why she's in the driver's seat. Flyers seat. Whatever. And as her girlfriend, I get the privilege of riding shotgun."

"What's a shotgun?" Luz asked, glancing back at Amity with innocent eyes covered by flight goggles.

She received a hair ruffling in return, "Nothing you need to worry about, Luz."

King chose that moment to interrupt, yanking on Amity's hair with one paw as he pointed with the other, "there it is! See, I told you!"

Amity grunted, not appreciating being manhandled in such a way and resisting the urge to shake King off. She couldn't afford to drop him into the ocean below, not unless this was a waste of time. "This had better be it, we've been flying all night!"

They landed on the beach, the trees too dense to safely land and the flying bathtub unable to go any farther than the sand with its current number of passengers. Amity reached into her bag, shifting through the belongings she'd brought with her, from her glyph notebook, to her Abominable flask, until she found what she was looking for, a map of the known islands in the demon realm.

Pulling it out, she opened the aged parchment, blowing a layer of dust off it that had built up, and took a look. "I hate to admit it, but if I'm tracking our course right, this island shouldn't exist. Either that, or we got really, really lost, since there shouldn't be much of anything in this direction."

King practically strutted past them, head held high, "see? I told you, my rule was covered up by Emperor Belos when my power was sealed and I shrank down to this tiny, impotent frame!"

"Your story would be a lot easier to believe if you didn't constantly switch between 'I am all powerful, fear me!' And 'it's not my fault I'm a widdle, defenseless baby.'" Emira lightly mocked, but even she couldn't deny that he'd led them to an island that rightfully shouldn't exist.

The six began their trek through the jungle, trying their best not to trip over any branches and roots that littered their path. Hooty was having the time of his life on Edric's back, spotting and eating many an insect, while the Blight twins themselves, unused to such thick foliage, fought just to keep up with the other three. King was short enough to duck under most obstacles in his path, where Luz, used to the wilderness and forests of the Isles helped clear a path for Amity, who did better than the twins just due to her own exposure to the wilds of the Demon Realm.

Eventually the fog that surrounded the place began to thin as they got closer to the mainland, causing all but King to stop in their tracks when an imposing, mighty tower appeared before them. Gaping up at the sight, none could speak, except of course for the leader of the pack.

"Yup, pretty sweet place I got here, huh? This castle is where I, the King of All Demons, ruled with an iron fist!" He struck a victorious pose, arms outstretched, pausing only to correct himself, "not a literal, iron fist, but a fleshy fist that was strong enough to be compared to iron, because I was just that great!"

"Why don't you still live here, then?" Amity asked, craning her neck up to look at the whole thing. "I mean, how did you even wind up in Eda's care? You seem pretty attached to this place."

He paused, tapping his chin, "Well, it's the strangest thing. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I remember falling from a great height, shrinking from my mighty form. The next thing I can remember is Eda carrying me away in her arms."

"I wonder how tall this thing is?" Luz spoke in awe, mouth still hanging open as she took in the tower.

"Oh, I know, I'll see!" Hooty shouted, his voice startling the birds resting in the trees. The bird tube shot out of his portable backpack that Ed carried, his head careening for the sky, climbing up the length of the tower until he was just a speck. The teens all looked at each other, exchanging glances and shrugged, before just as quickly Hooty returned like a spring that had its coils stretched, slamming into the backpack hard enough to send the blond boy toppling over and onto the ground.

"Well, I don't know how big it is exactly, but I can say with one hundred percent certainty that it is very tall!"

"Very helpful, Hooty, I'm sure," Em droned, stepping over her brother as they continued down the path to the entrance.

When they arrived, the path forward was blocked, part of the entryway collapsed and the stones that made it up filled the gap. King excitedly clapped his hands together, "Hold on a sec, I'm sure I can wiggle inside and push a rock or two! Anything for my loyal minions. Well, anything to prove them wrong, that is."

He took off on his little feet, clambering up a few rocks until he found a gap large enough to fit his small form through, and they could hear the grunts and groans he made as he made his way to the other side of the door.

While they waited, the group inspected the entryway. It was shaped like a giant keyhole, and was lined with runes carved into gold, one particularly large one catching Amity's eye. "I've never seen anything like this before. Luz, does any of this look familiar? Do any other places on the isles have markings like these?"

Luz squinted up at the marks, pursing her lips. "No, I don't think I have before. It's so cool, though! I knew King was, well, a King! It's like I told you, my Mom wouldn't lie about that."

Emira stifled a smile, hiding it behind her hands, "Oh, that's cute. I bet you still believe in Santa, too."

"Who or what is Santa?"

"He comes down your chimney during the winter and decides if you've been naughty or nice." Edric helpfully supplied, still brushing the dirt off of himself from his fall.

Luz's brow furrowed, "Do you mean Krampus?"

The twins paled, "Wait, is he real here?!"

Luz opened her mouth to answer, but didn't get the chance to confirm or deny before the rocks behind them began to tumble down, King having found a weak point in their structural integrity. "What are we talking about?

Luz shrugged, smiling at the little demon, "Turns out humans don't believe in the Krampus."

King blanched, "Whoa, I mean, it's one thing to not believe in me, that thing being really dumb, but it's practically suicidal to not believe in the Krampus. What is wrong with you three?"

The Blight children all glanced nervously at each other, then followed the Demon and witch into the castle. The place was dark and dimly lit, and it wasn't long until one of their feet brushed up against a set of stacked stones and toppled them over. Amity reached into her pockets to pull out a light glyph and passed an orb to each person so they could all see into the depths of the abyss, eyes widening as they saw the entire room was lined with small stone piles that resembled statues. These same rock piles appeared similar to the images on the walls, of various somethings resembling an insect, or a crescent moon.

King swelled with pride as he started to give them the tour, walking past a group of the stones. "This is the chamber where I would devour the hearts of my foes. The taste was cold and bitter, but I bet yours would be sweet, Luz."

Luz cracked a grin, sending him a finger gun and ignoring the unsettling feeling in her gut this room gave her, "With all the sugar I eat, it better be."

"I'm sure Amity think's you taste very sweet, too." Emira teased and made kissy noises, burying her own fears as she brought up the rear behind her brother and Hooty, raising her orb high above her head.

Amity and Luz blushed, beginning to protest, but a dark object zoomed past them, its shadow thrown onto the walls by the lights in their hands. The two girls gasped, Amity shining her lights behind them while Luz aimed Owlbert, ready to blast whatever it was with the staff as they turned to face it properly, only to find nothing there.

King, hearing their panicked gasps, turned towards them, none the wiser about the shadow they had seen, "Can't believe your eyes, huh? My castle does have that effect!"

As they stepped deeper and deeper into the chamber, the natural sunlight from the entryway growing dimmer as they grew more reliant on their light spells to illuminate the path, Hooty burst from his resting place, coiling his neck to look at one of the walls, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Edric looked over to the wall Hooty was pointing at with his beak, lifting his light and paling as he made out a large figure carved into the rock. Towering, fearsome, wearing armor and furs with a familiar skull adorned on his head. "Guys, I think I just found King's deviantArt original character…"

Emira gulped as she joined him, pressing a hand against the stone, "I'm no archeologist, but I think I can say with some certainty that this is… old as dirt. Really, really old. I… probably shouldn't be touching it, actually." She quickly retracted her hand, unsure if the stone would crumble under her touch, or curse her for daring to lay a finger on it.

Edric glanced at his sister, then back to the mural, "You- you don't think he might have been telling the truth, do you?"

Hooty craned his neck, eyes wide, "You don't mean-"

"He could actually be the King of all Demons?" Emira finished in shock, the three turning to cast their eyes on the small demon, who stood majestically on a pile of rocks, wiping at his wet eyes that he denied were from tears, but rather bone dust from his enemy's remains irritating them. Behind him was another mural of what they now believed his uncursed form looked like, posing just as triumphantly as he currently was.

Luz and Amity continued to look around the place, practically bending over backwards to see the large murals on the walls fully. It was then that Amity caught sight of another sealed area of the castle, a hole in the ceiling that had obviously been built, yet was filled with rubble. "What's up there?"

King scratched at his chin, thinking hard, "I don't really remember. I just remember some muffled roar, probably some minion or something praising my name."

Neither human nor witch were able to respond to that before being knocked aside by Hooty, who started declaring himself King's most faithful and loyal servant. As Amity laid flabbergasted on the ground, she became even more confused when Ed and Em joined the bird tube, throwing themselves at King's feet.

"Spare us, o' mighty conquerer! We did not know what we were saying when we doubted you!" Edric lowered his head, pressing a kiss to King's clawed toes.

"We were totally joking about how small and pitiful you are, and never meant anything by it!" Emira insisted, giving a nervous chuckle. "I like my head where it is, so please don't execute us."

King was surprised, but delighted by this turn around, "Well…. Okay, but only after a little more groveling. And a pledge of eternal servitude! That part is really important, my minions."

Amity stood back up, a look of disgust on her face as she watched her siblings beg for forgiveness. She quickly helped Luz back to her feet, and went to scold her brother and sister for shoving them aside when a clicking sound caught her and Luz's ears.

Turning, they looked as one behind them, to an empty corridor. "Did you hear that, Luz?"

The witch nodded, and gave a hum, "I was just about to ask you the same thing."

Seeing as King was too busy regaling the others with tales of his gory days, and wanting to show off his throne of teeth, the two girlfriends were left alone to investigate, walking hand in hand and trying not to tremble from the spooky atmosphere, or the chilling draft that came down the path they followed.

Stepping into the corridor, Amity felt her disgust come screaming back to her as she saw what appeared to be open tombs, sarcophaguses standing upright and each filled with one of the crescent shaped beings from the castle's murals.

"What are these things?" Luz asked, half in wonder, half in distaste as she eyed the almost skeletal remains covered in cobwebs, and dust from ages past.

Amity pressed herself to Luz's side, gluing herself to Luz's form and hoping that kept the goosebumps forming on her flesh at bay. It was a nice attempt, but they remained, her hair standing on edge, "I think these are the remains of King's supposed minions."

They came to the end of the hall, which opened into a small round opening, filled with more sarcophaguses. Squinting their eyes into the dark depths, wondering where that hissing noise could be coming from, they took catalog of the tombs contents, flashing their lights over each, until they landed on one that was barren and empty of any occupancies.

A thud sounded behind them, and the two yelped, quickly turning just in time to see the silhouette of one of the same creatures scurry off on all fours in the direction of the others.

A pit of dread filled the girls as they chased after it, only to lose sight, it vanishing just as they returned to the main hall where King was treating his captive audience to a history lesson about some of his dealings and how he ruled.

"We need to go, now!" Luz cried, putting a stop to King's tyraid.

Ed and Em looked at each other, "but, we were just telling our new lord and master that we're sure to find some way to reinstate his reign here. Then he can take down that Belos guy, and we can all live happy, healthy lives, not being tracked down by his guards!"

"This isn't the time for your newfound sycophantic behavior!" Amity hissed.

"If we don't get out now, we're all gonna die!" Luz wailed, trying to get them all moving.

"Oh, they must have seen the hall of monsters! Don't you two worry, nothing here can hurt you!" King assured, giving a wave of his paw to try and convince them, at least until the hissing that Luz and Amity had heard began to echo through the chamber.

They shined the light above them, cautious and quivering in the dark as the spotlight landed on the creature. A sickening monstrosity of what looked like stone and animated muscles hung from the ceiling like an insect, head cocked and beady eyes stalking them below. Its head twisted and cracked as it eyed its prey, and a clicking noise came from its depths.

Luz and Amity didn't waste any time, Luz scooping up the tiny tyrant and bolting, followed behind by Amity, who had taken each of her siblings by the arm and started dragging them towards the direction of daylight, Ed and Em screaming their heads off the whole way.

They were forced to a skidding halt when the beast leapt, landing right in front of Luz and blocking the way out. Its thin frame towered over the girl, and its claws stretched and lengthened before taking a swipe, which she dodged, if just barely. Another swipe came down, but she deflected it with Owlbert, the force of the blow making her slide backward.

Amity came in next, furious to see her girlfriend attacked, and sent a series of spiked ice at the monster with her glyphs. The monster was pinned momentarily, but its wounds opened and allowed the spikes to pass harmlessly through its body, making the righteous fury leave Amity's body, instead replaced by icy dread in her bones. With the creature's attention on Amity, Luz took that time to use Owlbert to summon fire, hoping to burn the creature to cinders, but any flesh the fire claimed was quickly regenerated, the creature simply too durable to stay down.

Amity took off her backpack, tossing it to Emira to hold so she could more easily scrounge through its contents. While she searched, Ed did his best to help, by means of siccing Hooty on the monster, the House Demon swooping in and distracting the beast, but unable to put a lasting dent in it any better than Luz's fire.

Realizing that nothing they did was capable of hurting the monster, Amity, with shaking hands, pulled forth her Abomination flask, and uncorked it. "Abomination, rise!"

A large Abomination squeezed through the bottle's lip, fully formed and ready to obey. Amity pointed a trembling finger at the creature out of her nightmares, "Abomination, contain that thing!"

Quick to respond to its orders, the Abomination charged, tackling the creature with its gooey body and imprisoning it in its torso's depths. The monster shrieked and thrashed, slashing at the purple Abomination that held it down, striking at it with a hand that was formed with an axe, but the Abomination kept regenerating itself much like the beast had against the flames. Even so, Amity could tell it was losing the battle, "Come on, let's get out of here!"

Daylight was so close, they could practically feel its warming rays, but that's when hope ran out. The creature tore through the Abomination, escaping its hold and hurtling after the teenagers and King of Demons with inexplicable speed, putting itself in between them and the exit. It cast its eyes on all of them, landing back on Luz, who still held King tightly in her arms, and it raised its axe hand to the sky, ready to strike, far too fast for any of them to defend against.

Only for a large hunk of feathers to barrel into it, knocking it aside as teeth and claws descended, sinking into the creature's exposed muscles. "You stay away from my kids!" A Beastial roar sounded, Eda's growls making them all breathe a sigh of relief.

That wasn't all, as another figure joined the teenagers, ushering them to safety, "come on, lets get outside. We'll be safe there!"

King perked up in Luz's arms, as quickly as Luz herself stiffened, "Gam Gam?!"

Luz forced a smile, showing off too many teeth to be natural, "Grandma Gwendolyn! What are you doing here?"

The old woman patted her granddaughter on the head, smiling brightly herself, "Oh, I was just making a social call to your mother's house, and was wondering where my Grandchildren were. Edalyn was quite worried when she saw your note about where you'd left off to."

King leapt from Luz's arms and into Gwen's, as once more she hurried them towards the exit. Leaping over the remaining rocks in the way, they climbed through the hole King had made when they arrived, waiting patiently and worriedly for Eda to join them.

"Shouldn't we get farther away?" Emira asked, worried about Eda but unwilling to put herself in harms way if she didn't need to.

"We'll be safe here. Edalyn told me it can't escape the tower, see, the magic symbols carved into the doorway?" Gwen pointed to the markings Amity had admired, with the others sighing in relief after hearing those words.

Inside, Eda tore into the creature, hoping against hope to put it down for good, but with each slash across its flesh, it recovered, tendons reforming as undamaged as if she'd never struck it at all. "It's been a while since I was here last. You'd think you'd have got a hobby or something. I took up revenge myself, it was nice, you should try it!"

She slammed down the bulk of her form on top of the monster, then turned around, spreading her wings and taking to the air, putting as much distance between her and it as possible. If it wasn't going down, she'd at least get out of the building before it could cut into her itself. If she lost a wing, she wasn't growing it back.

Below her, the creature had already risen to its feet and was racing her to the exit, hoping to cut her off. Eda growled, pushing herself to go faster, to push past her limits, only to realize at the last second she wasn't going to fit through the hole with her wings spread out. Pulling them tight against her body, she dove instead of flew, barely making it through the hole unscathed and crashing fast first into the dirt outside.

"Ugh… whoever said any landing you can walk away from is a good landing needs to be strung up and zapped with curses…" she groaned, pulling herself off of the ground to look behind her and see the creature standing, glaring at her with its beady, emotionless eyes as it was unable to chase her past the entrance.

Amity was still recovering from their escape, breathing heavily, when Luz's hand met hers, wrapping around it tightly and pulling her away. Getting some distance between them and the others, Luz stopped, looking jittery as she looked past Amity and at her grandmother. "Luz? Are you- no, asking if you're okay is dumb, you're not, we just got chased by a monster. Something else seems to be bugging you though."

Luz leaned in and hissed in a low voice, "She can't know!"

Amity blinked away her confusion, "Who can't know what?"

The pressure on Amity's hand tightened, Luz's lips in a tight line as she answered, "My Grandma. She doesn't know about my curse, and she can never know. So shhh, okay? Can- can you pass that on to the twins?"

Amity squeezed Luz's hand back, taking note that this was an entirely different reaction than she had to the idea of telling Gus and Willow. Where she'd been emotional and afraid, here she was anxious and on edge. Amity didn't understand what was so bad about the woman knowing, but she didn't ask, not here at least, and just gave a simple nod. Luz's shoulders sagged, and she gave Amity a grateful hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh my," Gwen's voice rang out, making the two jump apart. Luz quickly grabbed the gem pinned to the front of her chest and pulled it off, stuffing it deep into her hair before her Grandma could notice and call attention to it. "Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt you two dears, it's just…"

Gwen looked between the two, the kiss, the hug, them still holding hands, "My little Luz got herself a girlfriend? Oh, I'm so proud of you! Let me get a look at you, sweetie."

Amity could only describe what happened next as assault, Gwen taking Amity's face in her hands and moving it around to get a good look at her, pinching her cheek and brushing fingers through her brown locks. Amity officially had enough, prying herself away from the older woman when she'd started tugging on Amity's ears

Gwen laughed at Amity's attempts to get away from her, and nudged Luz, "Oh, you've found a good one, Luz. She's feisty."

Despite her discomfort, Luz still looked pleased with herself that her grandmother approved. Amity, shaking off her own embarrassment from being manhandled by the old lady, held out a hand, "my name is Amity. It's very nice to meet you, ma'am."

Gwen cooed, clapping her hands together, before taking Amity's and giving it a hearty shake, "And so polite, too! It's very nice to meet you, dear, you can call me Gwen, or heck, Grandma if you want to, since you're so, er, close to the family." She wiggled her eyebrows, making the two girls blush.

Amity tried to calm herself, only used to this kind of talk when the twins were trying to tease her and not wanting to appear so flustered. Gwen continued, "And a human too! I haven't heard about humans being on the isles in so long."

"Other humans have been here?" Edric interrupted, stepping forward.

"Did they ever make their way back?" Emira asked, eager to find out the answer from this strange new person who stumbled into their lives.

"I think we have more important things to worry about, like what was that thing, and why was it in my castle!" King butted in, pushing past the twins. "My Gam Gam is here, and I want to show her where I ruled from so she can be proud of me!"

He found himself scooped back up into Gwen's arms, "Oh, I'm always so proud of my little man!"

King flailed in her grip, "No, wait, not in front of my minions! They must fear me!"

He was promptly set back down, where he began to brush himself off, "Alright, first things first, we need to go back in there and kick that monster out! I will not be treated like an intruder in my own castle!"

"King-" Amity interjected, not sure how to say this next part without crushing the little guy, "That thing has a magic spell that keeps it inside… It's very likely that you are an intruder."

King looked up at her, hurt and confusion in his eyes, "W-what do you mean? This is my castle!"

She bent down to his level, "King, I've always been straight with you that I never bought your King of Demons thing, so I'm going to keep being straight with you. Those runes, the murals, they're old. Very old. Old enough that I doubt they could have been made about you."

"You think I'm lying?" King's voice broke as he looked up at her in disbelief, "I take you here, show you all this proof, and you still don't believe me?"

"You aren't lying, King," Eda spoke sadly, her large form entering his frame of vision. "You just… you don't know the truth, is all."

He looked up at her with wide eyes as she sat on her haunches. With a sigh she began, "It's time I told you how we really met…"

Eda explained everything. How she'd been on the run from the Emperor's coven and needed a place to lay low. How the Boiling rain drove her into the castle when she'd stumbled onto the island. How upon stepping foot inside the tower she'd almost immediately run into a baby King, who built all the little rock statues they had seen inside of the ruins. How she'd rescued him from the same creature that attacked them today and took him home with her, but that his horn had been broken in the escape.

How everything in his life was a lie that Eda had helped perpetuate, because it had made him happy.

Eda pulled out the half of his broken horn he'd lost all those years ago and handed it to King, a series of memories flooding back to him. "My Army… my feasts… my life…"

He chucked the horn away in a panic, backpedaling as tears pooled in his eyes, "Keep that thing away from me! It's messing with my head!"

Luz looked at her mother in disbelief as her story wrapped up, not knowing what to do with the emotions that bubbled inside of her at this reveal. Instead she focused on King, reaching out towards him, "King, it's gonna be okay."

King's voice was broken as he tried his hardest to hold back dry sobs, "Y-You're all just making fun of me, like usual, right?" When none of them could answer him, he began to hyperventilate, repeating a mantra of "No, no, no," before turning away and sprinting into the growth of the surrounding jungle.

The others called after him, but he gave no reply, even the sound of his sobbing disappearing as he put distance between them.

The group sat in despondent silence for a long moment, the events of the day catching up to them. Amity had no idea what to do, caught in her new family's drama with no solutions to fix it popping into her mind, while the twins stayed quiet beside her. Gwen's lips were pursed, and eyes downcast, while Eda sat, unable to look at any of them.

When Luz turned back to them, forcing her eyes off the spot King had last been visible, there were furious tears in her eyes and she pointed an angry finger in her mother's direction, "you!"

Amity unconsciously took a step back at the fire in Luz's eyes, only ever having seen Luz like this once before, the day after Lilith was revealed to be the one who cursed her mother and they were planning Eda's rescue. This time though, that fury was directed at her mother herself, who didn't back down, and could only hang her head in shame as Luz stomped over to her, getting right up in Eda's face.

"You lied to him! For his entire life!" Luz yelled, making Eda flinch, "And you dragged me into it as well! You made me complicit in your lies!"

Her jaw clenched so tightly Amity could hear it creak, "How could you, Mom? What kind of person does that?"

Eda didn't defend herself, couldn't even meet her daughter's eyes, "I know, Luz. I know, I screwed up, big time. This is probably one of the worst things I've ever done, and the worst part is I did it to the two people I care about most. But you can yell at me later, right now, we have to find him before he gets himself hurt. He's a small little demon in a very dangerous jungle right now."

Luz's cheeks puffed up angrily, like she wanted to continue fighting, but Gwen laid a hand on her shoulder, "She's right, Luz. King is more important right now. Let's focus on that first."

It took a moment for Luz to stop trembling and nod, and together they began their search.

Hooty was weeping, and Edric was right alongside him, "I feel terrible for teasing him about this so much!"

"Is this what regret feels like? I HATE IT!" Hooty wailed, collapsing his neck over Edric's shoulder.

Emira couldn't find it in herself to mock them for crying, feeling awful herself, "Come on, you two, the faster we find him, the faster we can apologize."

Amity pushed through the branches of the jungle, trying not to get caught in any vines, "It'll be alright, you guys. We'll find him eventually."

They fanned out, searching every inch of the jungle, calling out for King as they went and received no reply. Eventually, all paths led back to the beach, where finally King was spotted, sitting by himself on a log, sniffling and wiping at his face.

Luz stepped forward to talk with him, but a taloned hand held her back. "I've got this, kid."

Luz looked at her mother skeptically, anger still bubbling just under the surface, but Eda shot her a look, "I mean it. I'll take care of this. I haven't always been the best mother, and… it's time I remedied that."

Eda walked past the others, who took a step back to give the two some privacy as Eda tried her best to sit beside King on the log, it sinking deeper into the sand under her weight. The cursed witch and the demon sat there, looking out into the ocean, until Eda breathed out, "I'm so sorry, King."

King's voice cracked from shed tears, "So it's all true? I was never the King of anything, was I? I'm just some nobody."

Eda pursed her lips, and jostled him with her paws, "Hey, don't ever talk about yourself like that in front of me. Just because you're not a King doesn't mean you're a nobody. I think you're pretty damn important, just by being in my life. You're way more important to me than any old King could ever be."

Taking her claw, she carefully wrapped it around King, bringing him closer to her, "When I took you in, I had no idea how important you'd become to me. You're a part of my family now, and I never should have made up that story about you being royalty. It just made you so dang happy, and I couldn't resist your adorable face."

She sighed, "That doesn't excuse any of it, though. What I did to you was wrong, on so many levels. I always told myself I'd be a better Mom than my own, and yet here I am, screwing my kids up in new and inventive ways she could never have thought up herself in my attempts to never be her. Isn't that funny, in the worst way?"

King wiped at his tears, "You lied to me, and you had Luz lie to me, and I got so angry at the only people who ever bothered telling me the truth because I didn't want to believe it. I don't know what to do, I'm so mad at you, and I can't tell what's real or what's fake anymore. I'm so confused, Eda!"

Eda scooped King into her arms, doing her best to support him and herself while sitting on her haunches, "I know. And for what it's worth, I'll be there to help you figure everything out, if you'll let me. Because I love you, King, and I want to make things right after hurting you so badly."

She hugged him tightly, and let him cry until he got everything out. "Come on, how about we head home, and I make you some of your favorite fairy pie?"

King nodded shakily, "I'd like that. No more secrets or lies between us from now on, right?"

Eda smiled, gently raking the back of a solitary clawed finger down the side of his skull, "I promise. Only the truth from now one."

Their tender moment however, was ruined by a roar on the horizon.

As Eda walked away, the small group of teens, bird tube, and old woman stepped aside to give them some privacy. Gwen gave a happy hum to see King was safe, "I'm glad those two are talking things out. It's healthy for a relationship between parents and children."

Luz didn't bother to point out the hypocrisy of her statement, instead sitting on a stump as she tried to get a handle over her emotions. Deep inside she could feel the Owl Beast acting up, and while she was still mostly safe from transformation, having taken an elixir a few days previously, high emotions, particularly anger or panic, could tip the scales in favor of the Owl Beast acting up, and she couldn't exactly wear her gem to detect when an attack might flare up.

With everything calmed down, Gwen addressed the oliphant in the room, the twins, "I've been meaning to ask, but who exactly are you two? Are you two friends with Luz?"

Thankful for any change of conversation, especially one where they might be able to liven the atmosphere, the twins brightly answered, "Yes we are!"

"We're also Amity's older brother and sister!"

"We're kinda stuck here at the moment, seeing as the door back to Earth doesn't technically exist in this dimension anymore-"

"-But Eda has been nice enough to allow us to live with her, along with our sister!"

Gwen glanced between both of them, who talked in sync, then laughed, delighted, "Oh, did you two practice that, or is that just a talent?"

The old woman paused, placing a finger on her chin, "Wait, did you say your sister lives with Eda? Isn't that a little inappropriate for her and Luz's ages?"

Amity didn't want to give her siblings any ammunition, and hurriedly interjected, "Yes, we live together, but we were like that before we started dating! I'm Eda's apprentice, you see, and uh, well, I can assure you we're not doing anything we shouldn't be, and-"

Gwen pat Amity's shoulder, amusement on her face, "Well, as long as I don't become a great grandmother anytime soon, things should be fine."

Ignoring Amity's sputtering and red face, Gwen turned her attention back to the twins, "You know, I might be able to help with some information. I mentioned earlier that I've heard a bit about humans on the isles before, and I might be willing to trade what I know for a favor or two…"

The old woman grinned slyly as the twins' expressions lit up, "Anything! We'll do anything!"

Luz's ears perked up as they spoke, her own face burning at some of Gwen's comments, but she was too busy stewing to interject. But she knew her Grandma, and it seemed like-

Gwen pulled some rope out of her hair, tossing it to the twins, "Okay, so, first I need you to tie this to a tree, and help me set a trap!"

The twins were confused at the statement, but were too desperate to argue, tossing the rope above them and around a tree branch. Luz, however, knew exactly what was going on. Standing from her seat on the stump, she stormed over to her Grandma, just as enraged with her as she had been with her mother a few minutes prior, "What in the world do you think you're doing?!"

Gwen turned to face her granddaughter, a smile on her face, "What I've always set out to do! Cure your mother of her curse, which really, if she'd just let me help her she wouldn't be covered in feathers right now. See, I met a new healer, named Wortlop, and he can perform miracles-"

"I don't care about whoever is scamming you this time!" Luz hollered, marching over to Ed and Em and yanking the rope from their hands, winding it up and tossing it into the bushes, "You're really going to do this here, and now, while we're on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere, right after King has had a breakdown?"

Gwen's smile was forced this time, now that Luz put it like that, "Well, you see, your mother is very wily, and I've been having trouble pinning her down. She'd never expect this here, and-"

"Wait, shouldn't you be happy with a cure, Luz?" Ed asked.

"Yeah, aren't you also- mmmph!" Amity made a cutting motion across her neck for them to stop talking, something they missed but Hooty caught, and the ever faithful House Demon quickly covered the twin's mouths before they could finish that thought.

Seeing how wrathful Luz appeared with her actions, Gwen tried to play another card, "I don't know what's gotten into you, dear. I'm just doing what any mother would do, Luz, you'll understand when you're older, and-"

"Enough!" Luz cried, her fists clenched tight to her sides, body shaking, "I don't want to hear any more excuses about being mothers to excuse things! My Mom just showed that she screwed up big time, but at least she isn't covering for her actions! She's owning up to it!"

The witch thrust a finger in her grandmother's face, "You say you're trying to be a good mother, but you haven't once mentioned Lilith since you got here! An entire other child, who lost her job and is on the run from the law!"

Gwen's mouth twitched, too shocked to stick to one expression. She'd never seen Luz act like this before. "I- I've no idea what you mean. Lilith is a big girl. She doesn't need my help anymore. Your mother does, with her curse-"

"She's supposed to be living with you!" Luz cried, "She took half of the curse before she left, and Eda sent her to your house, and you haven't even checked on her? You haven't checked in on Grandpa once, in all these weeks, either?"

Luz's feelings on Lilith were complicated, to say the least, but for Lilith to be mostly alone during this tentative time, waiting for her first transformation, Luz didn't want that even for her worst enemy.

Gwen gaped at Luz, who wasn't backing down, "Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself? Mom doesn't want your help! We don't want your help!"

"Luz!" Amity called out, trying to snap the girl out of her rage induced shouting match.

Luz shot her a glance, eyes maddeningly angry, but ultimately ignored her, turning to stare Gwen down, but Amity tugged on her sleeve, pulling the full force of Luz's attention onto her girlfriend, "Luz! You're arms!"

Luz looked down, staring with wide eyes at the feathers that were beginning to sprout from her exposed skin, and the anger faded into something far worse. Panic set in, and she began to yank at the growths, which only started sprouting faster until they covered every inch of her brown skin, "No, no, nononono, not now! Not here! Not in front of her!"

Gwen covered her mouth, shaking her head as Luz began to lose more and more control, her body twisting and changing, bones cracking as they morphed into entirely new shapes and positions. Amity had already faced this particular Owl Beast once, and knew exactly what they needed to do. Run.

"Come on, we have to go!" Amity yelled, scooping Owlbert up off the ground and grabbing Gwendolyn by the arm, pulling her with all her strength, the older woman nearly tumbling, legs wanting to give out as she watched her grandchild turn into a monster before her.

The twins needed no further direction, turning and bolting in the opposite direction as quickly as possible, putting some much needed distance between themselves and the creature that had taken their friend's place.

Amity cursed herself for not bringing any elixirs on their journey, as Luz let out a mighty roar.

Eda galloped as fast as her four legs would carry her, King clinging to her back, riding her like a noble steed. The two burst into a clearing, almost colliding head first into the twins, Amity, and Gwen, with Eda looking frantically for Luz's head of short brown hair in their little group.

"Where is she? Where's Luz?!" Eda demanded, and their silence confirmed her worst fears. "Alright, fine, don't panic, I always keep an elixir on me, just in case, we'll be fine, just give me a mome-"

Eda stuck a clawed hand into her hair, digging through it and pulling out articles of junk and random trash she'd stored, but no elixirs. She kept searching, until her hair was empty and the jungle floor was littered with various items, yet still no golden potion was among them.

"I don't understand, I always keep a few on me for emergencies, what could have-" Her eyes narrowed, and she turned her gaze to Gwen, "What. Did. You. Do?"

For once in Eda's life, Gwen had the decency to look guilty, flinching before she answered, "I- I may have… removed your elixir stash while we were mid flight on the way here… and dumped them into the ocean."

A bestial growl emitted from Eda's throat and she bared her teeth in frustration, "Do you have any idea what you have done?!"

"I was just trying to help!" Gwendolyn argued, "Don't you know what they put into those things? The Potion coven makes a mint pushing those things on people like you, instead of properly healing them, and I just-"

"Just what? Wanted to force me into accepting another of your cockamany cures?"

Gwen cowered under her daughter's biting comments, "I- I didn't know Luz would be like this! Why didn't anyone tell me she had the curse as well?"

"Why? How about I ask you this instead? When was the last time you came over just to visit her? When was the last time you didn't try to rope her into one of your hairbrained schemes that make her uncomfortable because she'd rather you just left it well enough alone? How many times have you said in front of her that you wanted to cut this thing out of me, and haven't taken no for an answer?"

That last one was aimed at a particular moment in Eda's own past, one that Gwen knew well. The Clawthorne matriarch clenched her eyes closed as Eda spit out, "I ran away from home at her age, and you've only gotten worse as I've got older. You just don't learn anything, and now we're hours away from the mainland, with no way to turn Luz back because of your own Titan damn selfishness and refusal to believe in modern magic!"

Gwen stood shaking, having gone through her second tongue lashing in only a few minutes, the harsh reality of how much she'd pushed her daughter and her family away in her single minded pursuit and denial. Eda huffed, fine with this outcome if it meant Gwendolyn would stay out of the way. Once more, the Blight children were caught in the middle of a family feud that had existed for longer than any of them had been alive, and could only watch.

Amity didn't know what to do. She couldn't leave Luz here on this island, but she couldn't cure her either. Her glyphs were too limited, her Abominations too frail, and her siblings couldn't help either, but she was still the first to stand on her own two feet and be by Eda's side. She trusted her mentor to come up with a plan. "What do we do, Eda?"

"I don't know, Boots." Eda admitted, making the girl's heart sink. "But we have to try something."

"We're right with you, Eda." Edric volunteered.

"Right behind you." Emira agreed, walking past Gwen's prone form, nose turned up at the old woman.

"Porta-Hooty reporting for duty!" Hooty announced, peering over Ed's shoulder.

"We'll bring her back," King spoke softly, running a claw through Eda's hair from his place on her back

It wasn't much, and they didn't have a plan, but Eda had worked with less before. "Thanks, you kids. Now let's go save Luz."

"Edalyn, wait-" Gwendolyn called out, her back turned to them as they started to walk away from her.

"I don't have time for your apologies, Gwen," Eda cut her off, but Gwen fought to be heard.

"You're right. I haven't always been the best mother, nor the best grandmother, and it's time I remedied that." She turned to face the others, expression determined, but her eyes worried, "If you'll allow me to help fix my mistakes, that is?"

Eda's feathers ruffled to hear her own words used against her, and she couldn't really turn down the help. "Fine. But if I see one bottle of snake oil, I'm leaving your ass here on this island with only that giant unkillable cockroach for company."

Gwen agreed to those terms, "That's fair. I'm a Beast Keeper by trade, I'm sure with my knowledge and your experience with the curse, we can work something out to capture and contain your daughter until we can get her some elixir. The Owl Beast is nocturnal, correct?"

Eda scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Well, duh. Owl is in the name. What gave it away?"

Amity seemed to catch on to what Gwen was trying to say, "It's still bright out. It's got to be what, midday? Hours away from sunset, at least. And she didn't try to follow us after she transformed, so she isn't hunting us like last time."

Edric mouthed 'last time?' at Em, his face dumbfounded. Emira could only shrug back, equally disturbed to hear that piece of information and wondering what else their sister hadn't told them about her girlfriend.

Gwen nodded at Amity's observation, "She'll want to get someplace dark, as quickly as she can."

"And someplace high up." Eda added, flittering her wings. "It's a bird thing. We like trees, but being so huge, the Owl Beast will settle for the tops of buildings, or anything else it can find that's tall. It's just instinct over preference."

"Maybe like the top of the castle?" King suggested, looking over and past Eda's head to the main tower, visible from almost every point of the island.

Eda paled, "And to get to that, she's going to have to go through that thing inside of that place."

Amity mounted Owlbert, her feet already hovering a few inches off the ground, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go save my girlfriend already!"

The Owl Beast slunk in the darkness, her eyes giving her an advantage over most other creatures. She sniffed at the air, moving slowly, silently, not making a sound. There was something else in her territory, something other than the other, older Owl Beast, and she wouldn't stand for either of them.

The entirety of these ruins smelled like death and decay, masking the other monster, but she knew it was here, waiting for her. Luz had seen it, and through their connection, strained as it was, the Owl Beast had learned of it too. She just needed to be quiet, and hunt like she always did. She would find it, then she would kill it, then she would eat well and sleep until night came, and hunt some more if it suited her.

Unbeknownst to her, her presence had already been detected, no matter how quietly she stalked these halls. Slinking up in the ceiling, just out of sight above her head, the insectoid creature hunted her in turn, watching for a moment of weakness, when the Owl Beast's guard was down.

She sniffed, black eyes narrowing, and with a snarl she turned her face upward at the creature above her, who pounced.

She slashed with claw, tearing through muscles like a hot knife through butter, while the creature slashed at her face, leaving a shallow cut across her cheek. The creature healed, the Owl Beast did not, drops of blood dripping down her face. Angered by her wound, the Owl Beast surged forward again, biting down hard onto the creature's shoulder, hoping to draw and taste blood of its own.

The monster before her refused to bleed, no matter how deep her teeth sank, but neither could it remove itself from her jaws. It formed its free arm into a crude cudgel, and began hammering against her side, bruising ribs and whatever else it could reach in an attempt to free itself, yet the Owl Beast sensed no panic or fear emanating from it.

Her prey was more like a rock and less like another beast. She got nothing from it, and that was beginning to frighten her.

Releasing her grip on its shoulder, she sprung backward, putting distance between them while she had the chance, wincing as her sides protested the movement.

"Now, while they're apart!"

The Owl Beast screeched and clenched her eyes shut as the room was suddenly illuminated, a bright wall of fire appearing between her and her prey, keeping them apart. Orbs of light joined the fire, further blinding the Beast, who flapped her wings to try and bat them away.

Eda flung herself forward, once more tackling the protector of the castle to keep it away from her daughter, "Try and get Luz contained, quickly! I'll hold this thing off!"

Before the Owl Beast was a familiar head of brown hair, one her host cared deeply for, but she cared nothing about. She was just going to cage her again. Amity tossed her staff to her sister as she rushed at the beast, glyph in hands.

Emira caught Owlbert, holding him stiffly in her hands, "What am I supposed to do with this?!"

"Just keep the wall of fire going! Focus on that, and Owlbert will do the rest!" Amity yelled back, reaching for a plant glyph so she could attempt to wrap Luz up in vines.

"What about me?" Edric argued, his hands empty.

"You have Hooty!" Both his sisters shouted back.

Edric sulked, "Right, I have Hooty…"

"I could use some help over here!" Eda called out, the creature using its superior speed to keep out of her reach. It was bad enough her slashes weren't causing it permanent damage, but now she was hardly touching it.

"Hoot hoot, on it!" Hooty called back, dragging Edric along with him as he answered the call to action, wrapping himself around the guardian.

Amity activated her glyph, sending vines shooting out from the ground and around the Owl Beast, "I'm sorry if this is uncomfortable, but it's for your own good, Luz!"

Gwendolyn was at her side, King dogging her footsteps, "Very good, Amity! Hold her still and I'll try and cast a sleep spell on her. That should knock her out long enough for us to get her some help."

The old woman summoned her staff, the large Hawk sitting on top cawing as they began their spell. From the circle they created a noxious gas began to form, filling the air around the Owl Beast's feet.

The Beast's eyes widened, intelligent enough to understand what was happening to her as drowsiness set in. She thrashed, throwing herself against her bindings, screeching loud enough everyone had to cover their ears, until she managed to free a single paw.

"She's going to escape!" King exclaimed, rushing towards the beast, ignoring the calls of the others for him to stay back.

The tiny demon climbed up on top of Luz's cursed form, gripping her feathers tightly, "Luz, come on! We're just trying to help you! You have to calm down, and-"

Luz began to thrash, trying to knock King off of her back, but the demon held on tightly. With one claw free, she tore into the vines holding her back, roaring freely as her wings broke their restraints, and with a flap she started sending the sleeping gas away from her, dissipating it. She was outnumbered still, and so drowsy, she needed to escape and they all knew it. They all tried to stop it. Amity tried more of her glyphs, but the Owl Beast was ready, cutting down any vines sent her way before they could tangle her up. The wall of fire was easy to ignore, once she took to the air, and there was nothing the others could do to keep her from flying away as she ignored their calls.

Her eyes blinked tiredly as she flew upward, trying to spot the entrance to the tower above her. She could be safe there, they couldn't get her there. The entrance was crumbled, stones blocking the path, but she was too tired to care, careening right towards the rubble.

"Luz! Luz, you're going to crash!" King bellowed from on top of her back, yanking on her ears in an attempt to steer her away, but she wouldn't be swayed. His cries could be heard far below, the Creature battling Eda and Hooty craning its head up to follow the sound of his voice. With a ear splitting shriek, it abandoned its fight, leaping onto a pillar and taking off after the Owl Beast.

"Oh no you don't!" Eda growled, chasing after it herself, while the others tried mounting the palismans available to them.

The Owl Beast's body crashed into the stone with enough force to shift the rock. The delicate balance keeping them in place was broken, and the rubble came loose, crashing to the ground below with a thunderous noise that shook the entire castle down to its foundation. King barely managed to hold on, jostled by the crash as the Owl Beast began to fall with the stone, only to find her second wind, and pushing forward she flew back up into the hole in the ceiling.

Her strength was leaving her though, wings injured from the crash. As she flew vertically up the tower, she drifted to the cylindrical walls, sinking all four claws into them and choosing to climb the rest of the way up, a task that wasn't easy with all the injuries she'd sustained.

The Owl Beast reached the top, panting and tired, from the gas or from the crash, no one could tell. She had made it to the tower, and that was all. She could rest here, and recover.

"Luz!" King's voice echoed off the walls as the Owl Beast collapsed, falling unconscious on the cold stone floor. The demon hopped off her back, shaking her, worried tears in his eyes, "Come on, Luz! Tell me you're okay. You just hit your head, or something, right?"

Behind him, a figure leapt from the hole, landing hard on the ground and tearing King's attention away from Luz. The castle's guardian was here, its arm already forming into an axe before King's eyes. It seemingly ignored him, only having eyes for the Owl Beast, stalking forward as if it hadn't spent the better part of its day repeatedly being torn to shreds.

King felt dread clinging to his heart. What could he do to stop something like this? It shrugged off even the most powerful spells his friends could throw at it, recovered from Eda's mighty claws. He was powerless, not even a king, how could he hope to stop it?

Still, Luz was depending on him, so he threw himself directly in the creatures line of sight, arms spread wide to protect Luz, even as the axe was being brought back to swing, "Stop! I- I won't let you hurt her! I won't let you hurt anyone!"

His eyes shut tight as he waited for the blow that would end his life. Even if it only bought Luz a handful of seconds, those seconds would ensure the others got here to save her, and he made peace with that trade. His life, for hers. She was always the one who believed in him, it was time he repaid the favor.

Death, nor pain came, though. King cracked open an eye, just in time to see the guardian lower his weapon, and get down on one knee, bowing before King, much to his shock.

"I- well, an hour ago I'd have loved this, but now I'm just confused…" He admitted, tapping his claws together.

No sooner had the creature lowered his arms did the others make it up from the bottom of the pit, landing beside the still guardian, who didn't move, flinch, or otherwise acknowledge their presence. Eda tapped at its head with a claw, eyebrow raised, "Well, this is… weird."

With that threat taken care of, her first order of business was taking care of Luz, "How is she, what happened?"

King explained that she'd just collapsed, as Gwen fretted, examining Luz for any harm. The old woman sighed in relief, "I think she just inhaled just enough of my sleeping spell. We should have her looked over when we get back home, but I think she'll be fine."

Amity pushed herself past Eda and Gwen, sitting on the floor and lifting Luz's large head to sit on her lap. Her cursed girlfriend snorted in her sleep, Amity brushing the ruffled feathers out of her face. When she saw the other staring down at her, she blushed, "What? The floor is hard and cold, I don't want her to have to lay on that."

"You are so whipped," Edric chuckled, at the same time Hooty said, "that's so considerate of you!"

Emira looked around the empty, circular room, out of breath and tired of yet another day of almost dying multiple times, "I can't be the only one disappointed that this place is empty, right? Like, I was hoping this would be the treasure room or something."

"Yeah, for a castle, this didn't have a whole lot in it," King agreed, "Which just goes to show it couldn't have been mine. If I was the King of Demons, this place would have been full of treasure!"

He casually leaned against one of the walls, which rippled with magic the moment he touched it. A crack appeared, a door opened, and he stumbled and fell as the wall he was leaning against was no longer there, sending him tumbling into a new room, one with a light shining through a hole in the roof, and plant life growing, forming cracks in the walls.

At the center of it all, was the remains of a shattered eggshell.

When Luz woke, it was in her own bed. Her body was sore all over, and she couldn't remember how she'd got that way. At least, not until the fog in her mind began to fade and she sat up, remembering how she'd transformed in front of the person she wanted to the least.

"Ahhh!"

Amity heard Luz's cry and raced into their shared bedroom, a box of medical supplies in her hand, ready to take care of any pains her girlfriend was going through. Instead, she found Luz staring and pointing at a motionless figure that loomed in the corner, Amity breathing a sigh of relief.

"Luz, it's okay, it's just Jean Luc." She tried to calm the other girl down, but realized Luz likely had no idea what had happened after she'd transformed, or why the guardian of the castle was in her bedroom.

"Where's King? Is he okay? Why is that thing here? Oh, Titan, Grandma Gwen saw me transform, my life is ruined!" Luz spoke frantically, Amity having to physically restrain her.

"Luz! You need to lay down! King is fine! Jean Luc is harmless right now, and I swear we'll explain everything, but Camila will kill us both if you get out of your bed right now."

Luz froze up, tensing at that name. "Mama's here?"

"Si, mija, I'm here." Camila's voice came from the doorway. She invited herself in, stepping beside Amity to inspect her daughter's wounds. "When you arrived, you were pretty beat up, and still in your other form. Thankfully you were out like a light, so I could help heal you a little, but your ribs are still bruised, and you have a minor concussion. You're lucky my beast healing magic works on you."

Luz was even more confused, looking between her mama and Amity. Before she could ask what had happened though, Camila reared up, crossing her arms and glaring daggers at her child, "I don't know what in the world you were thinking, Luz. You leave to go to an uncharted island, without your mother or I's permission, nothing but a note, and not thinking to take any of your medicine with you? And on a school night? You could have been hurt, or killed, or got someone else hurt or killed!"

Luz shrank, slowly hiding herself under her bedsheets at her mother's tirade, "I'm sorry, Mama, it'll never happen again-"

"You're right, it'll never happen again. You are going to be grounded. So don't even think about leaving this bed, because you aren't leaving your room for the rest of the day!" With that all out, Camila breathed, then wrapped Luz up in her arms, giving her a gentle hug. "I was so worried about you when they called me. Never do that again, you hear?"

Luz nodded, hugging her mother back, "I won't. I promise."

Their hug was interrupted when Camila's scroll poofed into existence in front of their faces, alerting the witch to a new message. Camila sighed, and took the scroll, reading through it once, eyes widening, then rereading it twice.

"Is something wrong?" Amity asked at the concerning look on Camila's face.

"No!" Camila replied quickly and unconvincingly, "No, it's just, there's an emergency I'm needed for back at the Beast Healing clinic, I'll need to head out immediately. I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer."

"That's okay, Mama, I'll see you soon, right?" Luz smiled up at her.

Camila looked a bit guilty, "I'm sure you will. I'll let you know, okay? You may need to stay here for a few more days longer than usual, but I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Both teens frowned as they looked at each other, wondering what kind of medical emergency required a few days of Camila's time, but didn't question it. Camila quickly bid them farewell, pressing a kiss to both of their foreheads, earning a bright smile from Luz and an embarrassed, if pleased, blush from Amity at being included.

"You'll take care of her while I'm away?" Camila asked Amity, who gave a nod and lifted her medkit. The Beast Healer nodded, trusting Amity to stay by her daughter's side in her absence.

Camila opened the door, only to see Gwendolyn on the other side, one hand raised to knock, the other arm holding King to her chest. The two women stood awkwardly, mouths agape, before Camila gave a polite, if cold, greeting. "Gwendolyn."

Gwen's lips formed a thin line, and she avoided Camila's eyes, "Camila. It's nice to see you again."

Camila didn't respond to that, clearly not sharing the sentiment, simply brushing past the woman that had nearly been her mother-in-law without another word. Gwen stepped into the room with a sigh, "I suppose I deserve that, after all the years I spent dismissing healers as money grubbing scammers…"

Luz gulped as her Grandma stepped closer to her, doing her best to smile down at the bedridden child, "Luz, I'm happy to see you're awake."

Luz frowned, hands tightly clenching her bedsheets. Amity stood protectively by her girlfriend's side, watching Gwen like a hawk. Gwen breathed in through her nose, and set King down, then sat at Luz's feet. She took a moment to think about what she wanted to say, then, "I've been a pretty terrible Grandma, haven't I?"

Luz bit her lip, but let Gwen continue, "I was so obsessed with fixing something that couldn't be fixed, that instead of supporting you and your mother, I only made you both feel threatened, uncomfortable, and ashamed. And I am so, so sorry, my dear, because that was never my intention."

She reached out gently, slowly, and took Luz's hand, giving it a pat, "I want you to know, I love you. All of you, even the cursed parts. And I'm done falling for every scam in the book chasing after fake cures. I'm done hurting my family when I should be here helping them. I hope someday, you can forgive me for what I've done to you."

Luz felt her throat tighten, and she threw her arms around Gwen's neck, fighting back sobs. The old woman wrapped her arms around her granddaughter, smiling through her own wet eyes as Amity breathed out, giving King a thumbs up.

Gwen spoke to Amity this time, "And don't you worry, I've told your brother and sister everything they wanted to know about getting you three home. About Titan's blood, and a book you might be able to find at the Library."

Amity nodded in acknowledgement, not bringing up that she herself had no intention of ever returning to the human realm at this moment.

Luz broke the hug after a few minutes, wiping at her eyes, "Okay, I'm still so confused. Can anyone tell me what happened while I was out? How long was I out? And… King, did you grow a new horn?"

King shook his head, pointing to a shallow crack where his horn had originally been broken, "Nope, I had Amity help me glue the old one back on! And while it turns out I'm not a King, I might be a prince!"

He took off his collar, showing off the carving work he did on the surface of the tag, the symbol he'd seen repeated all over the castle's interior, "See, I found this chamber that only I could open, with my old egg in it, and Jean Luc obeys my orders, so of course I brought him back home, even though he doesn't work here… But I might have a Dad out there somewhere, and this carving might be my name!"

Luz blinked, mouth hanging open as she looked at Amity, hoping any of this made sense to her, because it certainly wasn't making sense to Luz. Amity however, was busy looking at the collar, face scrunched up in concentration, just like it had at the castle's door. Finally, something clicked in her brain, causing the gears to turn. "Circles… inside of circles…"

"What?" The other three asked at once, looking at the human as if she'd lost her mind.

Amity gestured at the collar, "Circles inside of circles! Glyphs! Inside of other glyphs! Maybe that's how I can make new spells! Combining them to make newer, better, stronger spells! This could change… everything!"

Amity dashed away from Luz's side and over to the desk, grabbing a pen and paper as she began to frantically and messily write down her ideas and how these glyphs could be bound together. Luz stared at her, then looked to her other companions, who looked just as lost as she was, "Oh, good, now we're all on the same page, I thought I was just missing something again."

Gwen landed in front of the little cabin she called home, which she hadn't set foot in in nearly a year. She'd been so busy, scouring every inch of the isles for a cure in that time. Time utterly wasted, when she should have been here at home. To her delight, the house looked exactly as she left it, not a flower out of place in her garden, not a rock moved. Dell was always good with the yard care.

As she approached her own front door, something inside of her tensed up as she remembered Luz's words. That Lilith had come to live with them, and that she too suffered under the curse. Would Lilith have told her had she been here to welcome her? Or would she have kept it hidden, as Luz had, until she couldn't any longer?

She had done her girls so wrong before, she had so many years to make up for. More years than she had left, if she were honest. Still, it was never too late to start, to try to make right by her children. So she opened the door and stepped inside.

Sitting at the table they all used to gather for dinner in better days, sat her eldest daughter, Lilith, just as Luz had told her, as well as her own husband, Dell. The two looked up at her as she walked in, and she felt more than a little guilt as she saw her husband's face again. His once bright orange mane of hair had long turned grey, and the scar over his eye had faded with age. He'd taken care of their home in her absence, like he always had, never a complaint to be heard despite how lonely he must have been waiting for her to come back from gallivanting across the countryside looking for any cure she could get her hands on.

Lilith didn't look her best, grey in her hair, glasses on her face, with clothes that hung off her frame in a way that suggested she'd lost weight. Her body trembled, and the empty vial of elixir on the table in front of her told a story that she too had transformed today, or at least partially underwent the process before she could drink her medicine.

Dell had a hand tightly gripped on his daughter's shoulder, helping keep her steady in her chair, only reinforcing that idea in Gwen's mind. She took a hesitant step forward, then another, until she was in full stride and beside her daughter, cupping a cheek with her palm and lifting Lilith's face to meet Gwen's own eyes.

"Oh, sweet flea… You don't need to worry anymore, Mama's here, and… I'm going to do right by you. I've learned my lesson, and we'll make sure you have as much elixir as you need, okay?"

A/N: I really wanted to do another combo chapter, combining the scenarios of two episodes of canon into one big chapter, and man, I didn't plan this one out enough beforehand. It ended up being almost twice as long as I ever expected it to become, and took me days and days to get through. So much work!

But, it's done. And I hope you all enjoy it, because I certainly do.

Despite being on the TallAmity side of the debate, I will admit that if Luz has Eda as her Mom, she's likely to be taller than Amity. But only in that scenario! Luz should be short and adorable in all other incarnations!

Gwen is a hard character to write, because she is everything I hate in people during her episode. It's hard for me to balance out making her a sympathetic mother who is just trying, genuinely, to do what she thinks is best for her kids, and also not bashing her for being such an unlikable person while doing those actions.

I cried during my first viewing of Echoes of the Past. No shame. Alex Hirsch did an amazing job voicing King during his emotional breakdown and it brought me to tears. I still stand by the idea that that is Eda's worst crime in the show, though. What she did to King was incredibly cruel, but in a way I felt I could tie that to Gwen, and how she does what she does to try and make Eda happy. Eda just doesn't buy into Gwen's delusions, while King does buy into Eda's.

If Luz's anger seems a little out of character, remember that Lilith's betrayal and secret keeping is still fresh for her, and now she has to deal with her Mom, and Grandma on top of it.

If anyone is confused about the timeline of events, since I bring up the past a lot here, I'll spell it out. When Luz was six, Eda left, looking for revenge. She didn't know where to start, and didn't have the Owl House yet, having been living with Camila, so moved in with her parents. Made up with her dad, and had her Mom do whatever she wanted in the hopes for a cure. After a few weeks, she got sick of it and left, even more disillusioned than ever with her Mom, eventually moving into the Owl House. As she looked for revenge, she ended up needing to hide from the EC, and found King. Shortly after finding him, she made visits to Luz and Camila, but mostly kept her distance. They didn't start fully splitting custody of Luz until five years had past and Luz was 11-12ish, in which case Eda gave up looking for the person who cursed her so she could be more active in Luz's life.

I also skipped over King's final memory scene, because it played out more or less exactly like canon, with King realizing the room he was in was important to his past. While there would have been a handful of differences in how he comes to that conclusion, a lot of the dialogue would more or less end up the same, and this was already such a long chapter that I didn't bother.

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