A/N: Before we get into the trauma this chapter will undoubtedly inflict on us, can I point out something that has always kind of bugged me about the plot of this episode? Why were the CATTs trying to enter Belos' mind? We never get a reason for it. They somehow already know about the draining spell and what will happen on the day of Unity, with a plan in place to stop it, so they aren't there for information. Also, why the alley? Why do that spell in a public place? I certainly provide some answers, but I'll be making them up, because the show never says why and it bothers me!

Trigger warnings for this chapter: We all know what this episode is about. This chapter adaption of it won't be any better, and will try and explore some stuff in more detail. Please keep that in mind before you start reading.

"Ouch!"

King clutched his paw, a wave of pain flowing through it. From the fleshy pads a large splinter of wood poked through, the shallow wound bleeding out a small splatter of blood onto the ground. Beside him, Vee dropped her hammer, slithering over to take a look, sucking in a breath between her teeth as she inspected the cut. "I'm sorry about that, King. This wood isn't the best quality, I should have warned you before you volunteered to help me."

The basilisk helped pry the sliver of wood out, and quickly pressed a nearby rag to the cut, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. King shook his head, "No, it's not your fault. I haven't been sleeping well, and wasn't paying attention."

The two demons, the Titan and the Basilisk, were out behind the Owl House, Vee once more trying to construct a portal door and hoping whatever she got wrong the first time could be fixed without Philip's notes. That meant trial and error until she could get it right, which meant woodwork, which led to King's accident, which led to precious Titan's Blood dripping onto the ground. An utter waste of something so powerful.

"Well, at least you'll be able to power the door," King forced a laugh, his heart not into it. He had other things on his mind, other reasons to be out here with Vee that he hadn't braved yet.

"Yeah. I wish I didn't need it, though." Vee responded sadly. "It feels wrong, taking it from you."

"But it's the only way to get back home, right?" King fished, looking up at Vee with curious eyes, "Or do you think you'll end up in that other place again? What- what was it like there? You said there were floating cubes?"

Vee nodded, "All over the place. I'm not sure how they worked, but they seemed to let me talk to my girlfriends. I even saw you guys in one of them. I think they can show you whoever you want to see, as long as you say their name."

"That's- that's actually pretty neat," King admitted, kicking his foot and making sure to keep the pressure on his paw. "But did you see anything else in there? Like… another shape? A sphere, maybe?"

Vee's scaly brow furrowed, "I don't think so, no. Why do you ask?"

"No reason!" King spoke quickly, then tried to reign in his nervousness, "I'm just… curious about geometry, is all."

Trying to change the subject, King held up the blood stained rag, holding it out for Vee to take, "uh, so, since you need Titan's Blood, you might as well take this for now. I'm sure you'll need it soon."

Vee was thankful, but pressed the rag back towards King, "Keep it for now. Until I figure out what I did wrong and how to fix it, I don't want to activate the portal. I was lucky to get out last time, I wouldn't want to be trapped in there."

"Yeah, that sounds… terrible," King agreed, thinking of the uncanny being he'd met, trapped in their sphere. Shaking his head, he held the rag out again, "You sure you don't want to keep this? You could, I dunno, snack on it? I'm supposed to be magically delicious, or something, so I think you'd be set for, I dunno, life?"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Vee assured him, "I promised myself I wouldn't take any magic from a living thing unless I absolutely needed to. Right now, I have plenty of magical artifacts I can eat. Maybe if I get my door working again, I'll take some for the road?"

King eyed the rag in his hands, wondering what to do with it then. Seeing his expression, Vee tapped at her chin thoughtfully, "You know, Amity could use it for her Abominations. They've been really weak since I've had to drain those for my door, I'm sure she'd like to have those back at full power. Why don't you go ask her, and put a proper bandage on your boo-boo?"

King gave a nod. "Weh! That's a good idea. Don't want this to go to waste. I'll be right back, and we'll get this door built together, okay?"

"Take your time," Vee waved him off, picking up her hammer and getting back to work.

Inside the Owl House, Amity was parading around her new jacket. Fresh, crisp, clean, she'd finally got her Hexside Grudgby varsity jacket, showing off her Banshee pride as she strutted around the living room, and putting on a one woman fashion show for Luz.

Luz held her scroll up, snapping pictures as Amity posed for her, "Beautiful, hermosa! Just like that, Sweet Potato. Give me a pouty face and a wink, and we're set." The flash went off as Amity struck the pose Luz asked of her, both descending into giggle fits.

As Luz put her scroll away, Amity grabbed her by the collar and dragged her in close, pressing a quick kiss to her mouth. Wiggling her eyebrows, the human spoke in as sultry a voice as she could manage without cracking up, "You know, as much as I like wearing this, there is one thing I've always wanted to do."

"And what's that?" Luz asked, playfully wiggling her eyebrows back.

Amity slipped her jacket off, drapping it around Luz's shoulders instead, "I've always wanted a girlfriend to wear my jacket. It's a human thing, jocks like me do it to let everyone know who they're dating."

Luz blushed, grinning like an idiot, "Oh really? Well, I'll have to show this off to the whole school so they know I'm your girl."

Luz bumped her nose against Amity's, the two laughing together. Suddenly, Luz gasped, getting an idea, "wait, stay here for just a second!"

Without another word, Luz barreled away, running up the stairs on all fours, clattering down the hallway, leaving Amity to shake her head fondly at her girlfriend's antics. Luz returned a moment later, going down the steps two at a time and nearly tripping on her uncoordinated feet, then skidded to a halt. "Tada!" She lifted her prize, and older, much more worn Grudgby jacket, with a big letter E over the left breast.

Luz bounced from foot to foot as she explained, "I know, it's not really mine-mine, but its something my Mom gave me a while ago. In case I ended up playing Grudgby like her. Yeah, that didn't go so well, I had soooo many broken bones after tryouts. But I liked the jacket! So, since I get to wear yoooours…" Luz dragged the last word out, beaming brightly at the idea of swapping jackets.

Amity turned around, holding out an arm, "well, don't just stand there, lets see how it fits."

Luz put Amity's outstretched arm through the sleeve, then followed it up with the other. Turning back around, Amity eyed the fit, surprised someone as tall as Eda was now once had a jacket that fit her almost perfectly when they were the same age. Amity slipped her hands into the pockets, striking a casual pose, "How do I look?"

"Amazing," Luz said truthfully, earning a blush from Amity.

Still, Amity wasn't sure about this, "Is it really okay for me to have this? Your Mom gave it to you."

Luz nodded, "and now it's mine to give to who I please. Trust me, if she hadn't given it to me, she'd have forced you into it the moment you signed up for Grudgby. I'm surprised she didn't ask for it back just for that! Anyway, she gave it to me, and now I'm giving it to you."

Luz eyed the E on the jacket, and stroked her chin, "Though, I can think of one small adjustment to make. Don't want people thinking you're dating my mom, or something." With a twirl of her finger, Luz changed the E to an L. Her arts and crafts skills came in handy, as all the loose threads in the jacket tightened back up, nice and strong. It wasn't going to fall apart anytime soon.

"I love it, Luz," Amity murmured bashfully. She really was living out her little jock fantasies from the human world of one day exchanging sports jackets with a cute girl.

The two leaned forward, intending to kiss again, only to be interrupted by a loud, "Bleuck! You know what, I'll come back later."

Bursting into laughter, Luz backed off, turning to King who'd just come in from helping Vee, "No, don't go! We're sorry we're so mushy!"

"Speak for yourself," Amity elbowed Luz, then pressed the kiss meant for her girlfriend's lips to her cheek instead, "I'm not sorry at all."

Turning her attention back to the demon, Amity smirked, "Now, what did you need?"

King held out his injured paw, giving a little whimper, "I got a boo-boo."

That was all it took for Luz and Amity to be all over him, Luz pressing kisses to his skull and reassuring him he would be fine, and Amity looking for the box of bandages in the kitchen drawers, taking away the rag he'd used and proclaiming it as filthy.

King relished in the attention, happy to still be treated like the little sibling he was content to be, rather than the Titan he truly was. The pain in his paw was long forgotten as he was showered in affection from his big sisters.

He only broke out of his relaxed trance when he saw Amity going to throw the rag of blood into the trash, "wait, that's for you!"

Amity made a face of disgust as she looked at the bloodstained cloth, "Um… thank you?"

King groaned as Luz helped him put a bandage on his hand, "No, I mean, that's Titan's Blood! For your Abominations? They've been looking sick and gross for the past few weeks."

Amity agreed, they hadn't been particularly powerful or useful since they had been drained of most of their Titan's blood. The trace elements of it that held the abominations together was nearly gone, and the goop looked more faded grey than purple, the abominations crumbling apart if given too strenuous a task. Amity had taken to relying on her glyphs more and more as she progressed as a witch for exactly those purposes.

Her hand met the flask at her hip, "That's really sweet of you, King. Thanks."

He seemed pleased with the response. Holding his injured hand out to Luz, freshly bandaged, he gave a simple demand in exchange for his blood, "kiss it better!"

Luz took his paw and smooched it, an exaggerated, "Mwah!" As she did so. Giggling, King scurried over to Amity, and requested the same thing, receiving a fond eye roll and a much tamer kiss on his wound. "Okay, lets see it!

Amity opened her flask, summoning the Abomination within. It sagged under its own weight, looking like a wounded animal that wanted to die. The three winced at the sight of it, with Amity holding out the rag, "Well, here goes nothing…"

The Abomination took the rag, then with zero hesitation, ate it. Amity and Luz exchanged disturbed looks as it chewing on it for a moment, then spat it back out, clean as a whistle.

"Did it… work?" Luz asked, seeing no clear difference in its shape or color.

Before Amity could reply, the Abomination melted into a puddle. The faded purple spread across the floor of the kitchen, Luz, King and Amity leaping up into the counters and tables as it spread throughout. Amity fumbled for her bottle, intending to call it back, but as quickly as it melted, it sprang back together like a coiled spring, reforming into a bigger, more powerful Abomination, with a deep purple shade.

"Yeah, I think that worked," Amity breathed out in wonder, stepping down from the countertops to inspect her goo golem. "He looks… good. Strong. Even stronger than before!"

"That does make sense," Luz said, climbing down off the table herself, and helping King down to the floor. "We estimated the bottle only had a drop or two in there to begin with, and its got a lot more of that now."

Amity returned the Abomination to the bottle, looking down at King with wide eyes. She understood he was a Titan, but to see his blood in action had been something else. "Thanks again, King."

He rubbed the back of his skull, "No problem. We all need to be stronger for when the day comes…"

They each nodded, knowing they had very little time left to prepare for the Day of Unity.

Night fell as it was getting near to when the Carrier was supposed to reveal himself. Eda paced around the living room, worried, and mentally prepared for anything to go wrong. Camila sat on the couch, trying her best to compose herself and failing because of Eda's interference.

"Eda, please." Cam's voice was sharp, nostrils flaring, "can you stay still? I know you're worried, but we have to trust Raine's judgement on this."

"I know," Eda gave a shaky sigh, "I'm probably just being scared for nothing."

"You're not," Camila assured gently, "You have plenty of reason to be scared, or even upset. You didn't get any say in this meeting, and now someone you don't know or trust is going to show up at your doorstep. But lets try not to worry until we have something to worry about."

Eda buried her face in her hands, and let out a weak laugh, "When did you get so cool headed?"

"It comes with the territory." Camila shrugged, "Either things go my way, or they don't and we improvise."

Eda settled in on the couch beside Camila, taking her girlfriend's hand. A bit of her still felt giddy to be able to call Camila that, and she did her best to calm herself down. Now wasn't the time for her to get sappy or sentimental.

Any soothing conversation would have to wait, as a knock landed on the door. Three strikes, followed by a cry of disgust, and a hoot. Wide eyed, Eda got to her feet, "Hooty, don't tick off the guests! Not until I get my camera!"

Swinging the door open, Eda's expression went from apologetic, to apocalyptic. In his haste to greet his new 'friend,' Hooty had tugged the hood off the cloaked figure, cloth still in his beak as they struggled to get it out, and revealing a face Eda hadn't seen since her mission in the forest, where they'd been ambushed by the very man on the other side.

"Can you please get this infuriating bird off of m-" Darius didn't get to finish his sentence, instead grabbed by the scruff of his collar and thrown into the house, where he collided with a wall with a loud thump that left cracks in the drywall. Camila was on him in half a second, pulling up a spell circle, only to loudly curse when her magic sputtered out. Eda came in clutch, pouncing from the door to Darius, claws at his throat before the man could recover. Hooty, in a surprisingly bright move, followed along, wrapping Darius up in his grip, squeezing him tightly.

The Abomination Coven leader held up his hands as best he could, palms up in surrender, "Wait, I know, this doesn't look good-"

"You bet you ass it doesn't," Eda growled.

"- I told Raine this was a stupid idea. Look, I have their letter, and everything, I swear!" Darius spoke quickly, but evenly, his face betraying no fear, though the bead of sweat dripping down his forehead gave away his emotions.

Camila put a hand on Eda's shoulder, pulling her back a few inches, "Eda, give him a chance."

"He cut off your arm!" Eda roared, but did as she was asked. The claws were retracted from Darius's throat, and slowly, carefully, he formed one of his hands into Abomination goop, a letter of introduction rising from the viscous liquid that made up his palm. Camila swiped it, peeling open the envelope and read.

Darius breathed in through his nose, studying the two. "I'm supposed to say a pass phrase as well."

Camila noted the letter didn't mention it like the last one did, a clear sign he had to have learned that from Raine. "Okay, give it to us. It's something only we'd know."

Darius chewed on his lip in distaste, then sighed, "Fine. It's 'Us Weirdos have to stick together.'"

Camila exchanged a look with Eda, who gave a disgruntled sigh, and gave Hooty the go ahead to release the coven head. Darius remained down on the ground for a moment, then carefully and slowly picked himself up, hands still up to show he meant no harm. "I hate that phrase. I'm not a weirdo. I am very normal."

"Says the goop man whose seemingly a traitor and rebel," Eda spat back, still eying him suspiciously.

Darius gave her that, giving a small nod of his head, "Fine, you've proved your point. May I speak?"

"That depends on what you have to say," Camila said simply, crossing her arms.

"An apology would be nice," Eda muttered under her breath, loud enough for Darius to hear.

The man gave a tired groan, already sick of this uphill battle. "This is why I argued Eber should be the one to come… Very well, I am sorry about our scuffle in the forest a few months back. I was undercover and had to make it look real. For what it's worth, the blade was meant to miss, until someone else got in the way."

Eda narrowed her eyes, "Are you blaming me for your little amputation? You looked ready to take Cam's head off, how was I to know you were supposedly going to miss?"

"Please, I was just going to graze her hair. You think a bit of mud on my outfit made me upset, I have a lot harder time getting bloodstains out." Darius rolled his eyes, finally lowering his hands. "With the apologies out of the way, can we get to business?"

"You call that an apology?" Eda grumbled, but Camila silenced her with a look.

"I understand what you did. I don't forgive you, but I understand," Camila took charge, and wore it well. Where Darius seemed prepared to only butt heads with Eda, he stood straight and listened when Camila spoke. He gave a gruff grunt of acceptance, but didn't object. Camila nodded, "Now, Raine said you'd fill us all in on the plan-"

The sound of footsteps hammering down the stairs met their ears, all three adults tensing at the sound. The faces of Amity, Luz, Vee and King peered down from the steps, all looking ready to go to war, "We heard fighting!" Luz called out, a spell circle already drawn.

Amity had a pocketful of glyphs ready to go, while King had his claws out. Vee seemed the least prepared in her witch disguise, but likely had the best chances of winning one-on-one with her ability to drain magic, not that she needed it as Eda facepalmed.

"I told you kids to stay upstairs!" She hollered, making her children frown and deflate.

"B-but fights!" Luz whimpered, having just wanted to help.

"I'm sorry, is this a rebel cell, or a daycare?" Darius chimed in, growing anger in his voice. "Why are they here? Couldn't you have sent them away for one Titan damned night? This is why I only work with professionals…"

"You wanted this meeting to raise as little suspicion as possible," Camila spoke over the man, "So that's what we did. Sending a gaggle of children to stay over at the Headquarters would have raised eyebrows and questions."

Camila paused, then added, "Also, the previous letter said you would meet here. We had to assume the worst, and if it wasn't a legitimate message from Raine, someone could have been watching the house. If we sent the children to HQ, they could have been followed, and the entire rebellion captured."

Darius narrowed his eyes at her, "You're just making that up from the top of your head, aren't you?"

"Just tell us what you know," Camila sighed, gesturing for the kids to take a seat on the sofa while the adults spoke.

Darius stared at her, then crossed his arms, "Raine likely left it out of his introduction, but my assistance is conditional. Raine has accepted those conditions, but I need your word."

Eda let out an annoyed cry, but Camila only gave a short nod of her head, "We're listening."

Darius thought over his next words carefully. After a moment, he spoke, voice giving no room for compromise. "I want you to ensure that the boy, Hunter, is safely retrieved and kept as far away from the Emperor as demonically possible."

A chorus of objections rained down on Darius after he'd spoken, particularly from Eda, Amity and Vee. "Why do you want to save that brat? He backstabbed us big time!"

Amity nodded, agreeing with her mentor "He can't be trusted. Not after everything he pulled. He drugged us-"

"And he stole my way back home!" Vee stomped her foot, "I can't be with the people I love because of him!"

"Enough from the peanuts gallery!" Darius yelled, eyes flashing black as he turned to face them, "Unless I am speaking to you, stay silent and let the adults say their piece!"

His eyes bore into Eda's next, "And yes, I'm adding you to that. You have, and never have been someone I would consider an adult!"

"They make a good point, though, Darius," Camila spoke calmly, holding out a hand to quiet the others objections to the Coven leaders treatment of them. "Hunter can't be trusted. Why ask this of us, of all things?"

Darius seethed silently for a moment, then sighed, trying to calm himself down. Taking in a breath, his voice came out even and controlled when he spoke, "What do you know about grimwalkers?"

Camila blinked, then turned to Eda, who shrugged and shook her head. The children also didn't have an answer, so Camila turned back, "Absolutely nothing. What does this have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to with it." Darius hissed. From his cloak he produced a book, tossing it to Eda, while he kept his eyes on Camila, "You don't know just how engineered the boy's loyalty is to the Emperor. And I don't mean that figuratively."

Eda flipped through the book, lip curled back in a snarl as she read it, "a clone of some kind? Specifically the dead kind."

She passed the book of to Camila, who quickly skimmed through the page, "And you say Hunter is one of these things?"

"He's not a thing," Darius snapped, "And yes. I've known for a while now. He's a grimwalker based of the previous Golden Guard, who was… important to me. He was a friend and mentor in my youth. He's why I'm where I am today."

Darius paced as he explained his statement, "about seventeen years ago, my mentor approached me in secret. Said it was very important. He told me things about Belos, dangerous things. Said he was certain Belos' plans would hurt a lot of people. That that was the whole intent of his operation. And he asked me to fight with him, against the Empire."

Camila looked up from the book, snapping it closed, "What happened?"

Darius shrugged, "I'm not sure. A few days after I agreed to stand beside him, he simply vanished. A funeral was held, and a child with his face appeared a few years later. I didn't put it together until he started becoming a teenager, and I realized it wasn't just strong family genes. He was identical. The last Golden Guard wasn't loyal enough, so Belos disposed of him, and used his corpse to make a new one, one who'd do whatever he asked. He's been trained that way since birth."

"And even knowing that, you want to save him?" Camila asked carefully.

"Yes," Darius spoke with desperation, "I owe it to my friend to try. I couldn't save him, but I can save Hunter. I've done what I can to guide him, to make him question his… 'Uncle,' but I can't get him away without blowing my own cover. As much as I hate to say it, I need your help."

The living room was quiet as everyone took in what Darius had told them. The adults were clearly weighing their options, but one of the children had already made up her mind. "I say we do it."

All eyes turned to Luz, who awkwardly cleared her throat. "We should do it. Save Hunter."

King didn't seem so sure, gripping the side of Luz's shirt, "But, after everything he did-"

"Hunter hurt us, yeah. And maybe he doesn't deserve our help, or want it, but right now, he needs it," Luz's voice didn't waver as she spoke. Beside her, Amity gripped her hand tight, "Maybe he's burned through all his second chances, but I can't turn my back on someone who needs help."

"Luz is right," and everyone jumped to hear who spoke next. Vee stood up, breathing in slowly, aware she was bringing attention to herself in front of a Coven Head, "I don't like Hunter. I actually really hate him. He hurt me, and my girlfriends, and all my other friends. But… I can't leave him to be the next in the long line of Belos' sick experiments."

She gave a shrug, "Besides, this will hurt the Emperor in the long run. I can forgive him long enough to do that," She added spitefully.

Eda looked back at them with a proud smile, then back at Darius with a sneer, "Wait, what, now the peanut gallery can talk all they want?"

"As long as it's things I like to hear, yes," Darius said condescendingly. Going back to ignoring Eda, his eyes settled on Camila's, the fire inside his matching the one in hers, "What do you say?"

Camila gave a nod, "We accept your terms. We get Hunter away from the Emperor, and you will help us stop him. You can start by telling us what the plan is."

Darius shook his head, "I'll leave that to Raine. I'm supposed to bring you to them. They'll explain everything when we arrive."

"You do realize they're following us, right?" Darius didn't bother hiding the annoyance in his voice.

"Yup. They're not exactly stealthy. I'm going to have to scold them when we get back home. Never try tracking people while you're in a group, spread out, Titan!" Eda groaned, feeling ashamed of her children.

"You're not going to send them back?" Darius questioned with a sneer.

"There isn't a point," Camila sighed, "We're trying to attract as little attention as possible, and stopping to scold them in the middle of Bonesborough goes against that. We'll punish them when we get back home, until then, they'll stay far enough away that they won't interfere, thinking we're none the wiser."

The three CATTs(and how Darius hated that name), weaved through the night market, cloaks up and over their heads. Not an uncommon look, most people in the night market wanted to avoid having their faces seen, so they blended right in.

Half a street behind them, four figures in a single oversized cloak trailed after them. Vee acting as the tail, with Amity as the legs, Luz as the middle, sitting on Amity's shoulders, and King up top of her as the head. Their clumsy act wasn't fooling anyone, but most of the passerbys ignored them anyway, figuring they were just kids chasing the thrill of the night market.

King lifted a human walkie-talkie radio to his mouth, "This is Head to Tail, come in Tail, do you copy?"

Vee pulled out her own radio, talking into it, "This is Tail, I read you loud and clear."

"You're starting to become a straggler, Tail, can you scoot up a little?" King requested, and under the cloak Vee slithered forward a bit more, wrapping her arms around Amity's waist to help make a more seamless form under the cloak.

Amity rolled her eyes as she walked, now having to deal with dragging Vee along as well as carrying her girlfriend on her shoulder, and King on top of that. "You guys are really lucky witches weigh so little."

"You're just so strong, mi amor," Luz complimented. At her words, Amity's face turned even redder than it already was with her head squeezed between Luz's thighs.

"I'm that, too, but seriously, why are you guys so light?" Amity asked, trudging forward. "I feel like I can bench press your entire species."

"Now you're just exaggerating. And bragging," King spoke from the top, keeping a lookout for where the adults were heading. "Though, I do have a theory on that! I've put it in my demonology book, want to hear it?"

"Have you been studying us to find our weaknesses, King?" Amity asked playfully.

"Maaaaybe!" King teased, taping his paws against Luz's head.

Luz seemed genuinely curious, and looked up at her brother, "I want to hear. What's your theory on why humans are so strong, and witches so light?"

King bobbed his head as they went, "Well, humans don't have magic. And their ancestors hunted with spears and stuff. They had to get all close up to their monsters, so have denser muscles and bones! Meanwhile, witches have magic, and could attack from a distance. Keeping that distance is important, so you had to be lighter to run away faster. But that's just my theory."

"And what about demons?" Vee asked over the radio, "Where do you and I fit into all of this?"

"Oh, that's easy!" King laughed, "We're just so much better that we got strength and speed! And magic, too!"

"Glad to know you think we're lower on the food chain, King," Amity snarked, "I'll be sure to remember that next time I'm forced to carry you all on my shoulders."

"Shush, look! They're going into that alley!" King pointed ahead of them, with the rest hissing at him that he was ruining their disguise by putting his hand out where their face was supposed to be.

The children positioned themselves at the mouth of the alley, peeking in. They could see bits and pieces of what was going on, but not hear what anyone was saying. King pouted, making no attempts to hide his disappointment, "This sucks, how are we supposed to hear them now?"

"Why do you think we brought the radios?" Amity asked, holding her hand out. King lowered his walkie-talkie down to Luz, who passed it to Amity. As carefully as she could, the human got the two off her shoulders and onto a large wooden box nearby which they could use to keep the disguise up with Amity's missing height. Amity held out her hand, and Luz took a roll of tape out from inside of her hair, and Amity quickly wrapped it around the trigger on the radio so it was pressed down.

After placing an invisibility glyph on herself, Amity held her breath and rushed into the alley, careful about the echo of her footsteps, then found a place to hide the active radio where the adults wouldn't notice, then just as quickly made her back to the group.

She let out a little gasp as she sucked in fresh air, climbing back under the large cloak and took her place beside Vee, who held her radio out for them to listen through. "Shh, they're talking."

"- I almost thought this was all a con about to go bad, but it really is you, Raine." Eda's voice came out of the tinny speaker.

"It's good to see you too, Eda. I'm sorry we had to keep things so secretive from you," Raine's voice joined the conversation, and Luz had to cover her mouth to keep from squealing.

"Luz, you're gonna give us away!" Vee warned, while Amity just gave a shake of her head over her girlfriend's antics.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but that's the Raine Whispers! Oh, I'm such a fan. Do we have a pen? I need them to sign my forehead!" Luz fangirled, lifting her bangs to show off the spot she'd picked out.

"Just be quiet and listen, Batata," Amity sighed, then tried to follow the conversation over the speaker.

Eda, Camila and Darius entered the alleyway. The place was dark, only illuminated by an intricate spell circle carved into the brickwork on the ground, four circles in each of the compass directions, intertwined with another, larger circle, with yet another in the middle.

There was only one other person in the alley, a small figure who pulled back their hood when Darius approached. Eberwolf's cute face and little nose looked up at them, and Darius strode forward, gripping his fellow's hood and pulling it back over his head, "Do you want to be recognized, you fool?"

Eber responded by snapping his jaws at Darius's fingers while they were in reach, not really trying to bite them, but the Abomination leader wasn't taking any chances and quickly yanked his hand away, sneering at his friend.

"Where are they?" Camila asked, using the authoritative voice that made Eda's spine go tingly. "If Raine isn't going to join us, we'll be leaving."

"Don't be in such a rush," Raine's gentle, scolding tone entered their ears, "I'm right here."

Appearing in a puff of smoke, Raine Whispers stepped forth, a small smile gracing their lips, "How have you two been? I've been locked up in the castle for months on end, and it's been great."

Eda barked out a laugh, resisting the urge to stride forward and embrace the sarcastic bard, "You know, I almost thought this was all a con about to go bad, but it really is you, Raine."

"It's good to see you too, Eda. I'm sorry we had to keep things so secretive from you," Raine replied, just as relieved to see Eda and Camila safe as they were to see them.

"All right, so, tall dark and goopy here filled us in partially about what this is all about." Eda gestured to the circle, "Can you tell me exactly what I'm looking at?"

Camila nodded, "I'd also like to know. How is this supposed to help you look into the Emperor's mind?"

"It won't," Raine shook their head, then corrected them, "It'll allow us to enter it. Belos won't be prepared, and won't be able to defend against it. These circles," Raine gestured to the floor, "are positioned just above one of the Titan's petrified organs. We'll have to draw on their power to do this from this distance, because if we do a frontal assault, he'll be able to mentally prepare himself for the invasion. His inner self can't fight back against what it doesn't know is there."

"And we'll just pluck plans out from there to figure out what is happening on the Day of Unity?" Camila questioned, "There must be a lot of stuff to comb through. You know what and who he truly is now, going through nearly four hundred years of memories won't be easy."

Darius and Eberwolf exchanged glances at that comment, making Eda smirk. The harpy stuck out her tongue, and began to chant, "We know something you don't know, na na na na na naaa!"

Raine smirked, but held up a hand to silence Eda, then answered Camila, "We understand. The longer we're in there, the better a chance the Inner Belos will be able to find us. We plan on setting some explosives inside, do what damage we can before we leave, in case we can't get our hands on anything valuable. In the best case scenerio, we remove Belos from power altogether by rendering him a vegetable. Worst case, we all die horrifically in the mind of a mad megalomaniac."

"I've heard crazier plans," Eda admitted, sniffing at the air. Upon getting a questioning glance from Camila she shrugged, "What? I have. Not many, but they exist!"

Raine held aloft a vial, "This is the last ingredient we need to activate this circle. If any of you want out, just step back. You two have kids, and while I could use all the help I can get, I don't want to drag you, or your families, into this."

Camila and Eda glanced at each other, mentally asking themselves the same question. Who should go, and who should stay? Camila opened her mouth first, "Eda, I know you probably want to take this on, but I'm in command, so I should go. I would love to have you at my side, but someone needs to raise the children, if the worst comes to worst."

Eda surprised her by not arguing, just giving a short nod, "Yeah, you're right. This was your fight first. And you're strong enough that you don't need me to watch your back. Besides, you'll have Raine by your side. Oh, and the Team Pet and General Toupee over there as well," Eda gestured to Eberwolf and Darius, neither who looked amused at her nicknames.

Raine gave Eda a lingering glance, a sparkle in their eyes. "I'll keep her safe and bring her back home, don't worry."

Eda snorted, "Psh, honestly, I was going to ask her to keep you safe. You're the only one here with a track record for being kidnapped."

Eda pressed a kiss to Camila's cheek, preparing to depart down the alley and drag the kids home by their ears, when she took a staff blow to the head and buckled to the floor. Above her, a familiar voice echoed in her head, fuzzy from the pain, "Halt! For crimes against the Emperor, you're all under arrest!"

The kids listened intently to the plan, growing excited as they put together just what was about to happen tonight. If things went the CATTs way, there wouldn't be a Day of Unity to stop, and Belos' mind would be too broken to do anything about it.

Of course, things got uncomfortably quiet as Eda and Camila talked things over, and prepared to part ways. King let out a whine in his throat, while Luz wrung her hands, Amity and Vee placing comforting hands on them.

It was only then that they remembered that Eda and Camila had told them to stay home, and Eda was likely on her way back now. Amity clutched the radio close to her as she tried to usher Luz and King back onto her shoulders and into their shared cloak, when a familiar voice rang out over the speaker.

"Halt! For crimes against the Emperor, you're all under arrest!"

Each and every one of them turned to face the mouth of the alley, realizing they'd all been so concerned with listening in that they ended up having their backs turned from the entrance, unable to stop the Golden Guard who had strolled right past them and was now intruding on the plan.

Peeking into the alley, the kids all winced as they saw Eda on the ground, rubbing at her skull. Behind her, Camila was doing her best to hold back against Hunter, but was clearly having problems flair up with her magic again. Amity assumed the Coven Heads would be fine, but they all seemed to be holding back, using standard, easy to defend against spells to ensure their identities couldn't be found out.

Eda grunted, gesturing for them to come over with her hand, "You came all this way to spy on us, but didn't think to guard the entrance? Ugh, you kids… go help restrain that goober."

Luz and Amity nodded, while King and Vee opted to stay with Eda, neither having the skills to stop Hunter. For his part, Hunter seemed to be holding up well, putting everyone else in the alley on the defensive as he used his staff to use the brickwork to his advantage. Eberwolf attempted to flee, but was caught by a hand made of stone that had an iron grip on his arm, which drew Darius' attention as the man tried to free his companion.

Raine, meanwhile took out a flute, playing a few notes to summon up a smokescreen. Hunter flailed around, trying to see, "You can't hide from me! There's only one way out of this place, and the only way you're getting through it is in cuffs!"

He kept his eyes peeled, back to the mouth of the alley, which is how Amity and Luz ambushed him. Taken by surprise, the teenager lurched, trying to throw them off his back, "What the-? Where did you two come from?"

"We're here to help you!" Luz cried, trying her best to hang onto his cloak as he thrashed around, pulling off his hood.

"Yeah, so just surrender before our help gets a lot more forceful!" Amity yelled at him, yanking at his now exposed hair.

"I really don't like your definition of helping!" Hunter grunted, managing to throw Luz off of him. Doing so affected his balance, Amity weighing one side down, and together they fell, smashing into the ground and into the center of the circle. Hunter groaned as he brought a hand up to rub at a goose egg forming on his brow from the fall, only for his glove to come up wet, "What?"

On the ground beside them was a broken vial. Amity's mouth fell open as she realized what that must be, her eyes flashing over to Luz who was safely outside the circle. Both girls had identical looks of frozen terror on their faces, Amity only able to emit an "oh no-" before the rings carved into the ground start to glow so bright that she has to clamp her eyes shut to not go blind.

The now empty circle sizzled with magic as Eda, with the help of Vee, limped back into the alleyway, the harpy looking at a loss of words. Camila's hands covered her mouth as she stared where the two teens had vanished.

Luz picked herself up partially off the ground, dragging herself on her hands and knees over to the center of the circle, "No, no, nonono!"

All that was left was the Golden Guard's mask, and his palisman, who looked just as lost as Luz felt.

King clung to Eda's leg as she addressed Raine, looking to the bard for answers, "You put this all together. Please, please tell me there is a way to pull them back from out here."

Amity woke up with a splitting headache, surrounded by unfamiliar walls. She blinked her eyes until they focused, then slowly picked up her sore body off the ground, wincing as her body protested the movement. "Wh- where am I?"

"Oh, you mean you don't remember?" The half furious, half panicked voice of Hunter asked, "cause I certainly remember you getting us trapped inside of the Emperor's Mind!"

"Oh…" Amity gasped weakly as everything quickly came back to her, "Oh! This is… this is not good."

"You think?" Hunter's sarcasm was thick enough to cut with a knife. "Do you know what he'll do if he finds out we were in here? This is treasonous! Sacrilege! He'll have our heads for this!"

He grabbed Amity by her collar, giving her a shake. That didn't help with her headache, and she quickly smacked his hands away, "Really sounds like your Uncle is a piece of work if you think he's going to execute you for something you got dragged into against your will."

Amity took a few steps back, ignoring the boy's sneer. She patted herself, taking inventory of what she had on her. The radio was in her pocket, but useless to get a signal out until someone found the other radio and removed the tape that kept it broadcasting. Her jacket had a pocketful of emergency glyphs. Not a lot, but enough to get by. Hopefully. Her newly charged flask would come in handy, at least, its weight on her hip bringing some comfort.

She also had her scroll with her. Fishing it out of her back pants pocket, she let out a sigh and chuckle of relief to see she still got signal, and sent Luz a quick message, telling her to find the radio where she'd hidden it, and see if that worked.

"Good news is, we have a line of communication that goes out." Amity turned back to Hunter, holding her scroll up, "I'm sure if we stay put, they can get us out. I don't want to be in here anymore than you do, after all."

Hunter narrowed his eyes at her, but took out his own scroll and confirmed for himself that it was working. Seeing a message on it brought some sense of relief, which showed on his face. Amity cocked an eyebrow, "Who are you messaging?"

"No one!" Hunter quickly replied, shoving his scroll into his own pocket. "It's none of your business who I associate with, anyway."

Amity shrugged, then really took a moment to look around the place. It reminded her a lot of the entrance hall to the castle, from her field trip with Luz. That seemed like half a lifetime ago, even though it had only been a few months. On the walls, there were pictures, tapestries of Belos' accomplishments.

"He thinks pretty highly of himself, doesn't he?" Amity asked aloud, looking at one that showed Belos leading a group of people away from catastrophe. "Real Messiah complex."

She reached out to touch it, but Hunter's hand stopped her, gripping her wrist tightly with a strength that surprised the human, "Are you crazy? Don't touch those."

"Why not?" Amity raised a brow.

"I've read about this kind of stuff. The pictures in one's mind are their memories, their thoughts. By touching them, you can enter and view them more thoroughly." Hunter answered, releasing his grip on Amity's hand when he was sure she wasn't going to try anything.

As Hunter turned away to examine another painting, Amity slyly smiled, taking out her scroll again and holding it aloft, snapping a picture. Hunter froze as the flash went off, then turned back, red in the face, "No flash photography in the Emperor's mind!"

Seeing how angry he was, Amity sighed, holding up her hands in surrender, "fine, fine. No pictures."

He seemed to accept that, or at least was unwilling to take away one of their only lines of communication away from her. When he looked away again, she smirked, opening her scroll and setting it to record instead, stuffing it in her jacket pocket in such a way the top half with the camera hung out, seeing everything Amity would as she browsed around. With it's float feature, it easily stayed aloft inside the fabric of her Grudgby jacket at a stable angle "You didn't say anything about recording." She murmured, knowing this could be valuable to the CATTs.

Hunter was too far ahead of her, pointing to a large painting, "Look at this one! This was when I inherited my staff, and earned my place as the new Golden Guard. You know, I was the youngest scout ever to earn the honor. I… never found out what happened to the previous one."

Amity stayed quiet, biting her lip as he commented on Darius looking sad. Despite wanting to stay put, to stay out of trouble, she gave Hunter a gentle shove at the portrait, expecting him to go through and relive the memory, and maybe help the boy get some answers. Instead, he hit wall, bouncing off the painting and rubbing his nose where it had collided.

"What was that for?" He seethed, voice coming out silly with his nose covered.

"I thought you'd go through it!" Amity cried out in her defense"

"That doesn't make it better! I told you not to do that!" Hunter scolded, gritting his teeth. Then he blinked, realizing that should have worked, and pressed his hand to the painting again, only for it to be completely solid. "That's… not supposed to happen. Not according to the books I've read."

He pulled his hand back, then cupped his chin, deep in thought, "Maybe, The Emperor's mind is just so protected, that nothing can enter his memories?"

Amity, now suspicious, knocked on the wall next to the painting, hearing a hollow sound reverberate through the corridor, "Or, this entire place is fake. These walls are false. Stage props."

Hunter glared at her, "How can you possibly know that?" He questioned, even as a shadow formed behind him. Amity gulped as the silhouette of what had to be the Inner Belos formed, towering over Hunter, though he was ignorant to its presence.

"Hunter-" She tried to warn him, but he spoke over her.

"Maybe this is just how minds work. All the walls might sound hollow. Maybe there's just empty thoughts, or room for more memories back there?" He stopped mid rant, a look of confusion on his face as he pointed behind Amity, "Uh, who is that."

Amity tore her eyes away from the hulking form that was behind Hunter to inspect the one beside her, seeing a child wearing a mask that resembled Belos'. He grabbed onto Amity's hand, tugging at it, trying to pull her away from the other figure. "I- I think this might be part of Belos-"

Hunter cocked his head, but Amity pointed behind him, "And I think that's one as well!"

Hunter whipped around, catching sight of the shadowy form of his Uncle. Unlike Amity, who was preparing to sprint away, Hunter seemed overjoyed, kneeling before him. "Emperor! You're here!"

The Belos that tugged on Amity's hand shook his head, and Amity understood that whatever this other version was, wasn't any good. "Hunter-"

But the teenager just continued to grovel, "We humbly beg you for assistance in returning to the physical world, so that I may capture your enemIES!" Hunter was cut off as Amity lunged forward, grabbed him by the cowl, and yanked him back. The Shadow roared as Amity pulled both Hunter and the child version of Belos down the seemingly endless hallway filled with propaganda, giving chase itself.

"What are you-?" Hunter tried to ask, choking as Amity continued to pull at his cape. With unsteady hands he undid the clasp, freeing himself from the human at the expense of his cloak, "Why are you running away!? He can help us!"

"I'm pretty sure he can't," Amity continued to look for an escape route, but couldn't see one. "No offense, but I trust any aspect of your Uncle about as far as Luz, with her weak nerd arms, can throw him."

Hunter glared, but seeing the worry the child Belos seemed to have, he gave in, "Fine, maybe that's his… I dunno, anger at someone invading his mind? It might not be rational enough to identify friend or foe. Let's say I go along with this, how are we escaping?"

"Like this" Amity roared, taking a step back, then doing a shoulder charge at the wall. She broke through it like the cheap prop it was, only barely stopping herself from losing her balance at the edge and falling into the dark pit on the other side.

Hunter looked down into the abyss, then cast an unimpressed look at Amity, "Great. Not only did you break a piece of his mind, but you accomplished nothing in doing so."

"Do you have to be so negative all the time?!" Amity snapped, baring her teeth.

"Well, I'm sorry we can't all be rays of sunshine like your dumb little girlfriend!" Hunter shouted back.

While they bickered, the shadow approached, and the Child Belos, tired of them getting nowhere, took some initiative and gave both the teens a hard shove on the back, forcing them through the broken wall and into the darkness below, leaping after them soon after.

Amity screamed as she fell, reaching into her jacket pocket for some glyphs, "I wonder which aspect of your Uncle is that, huh? Which part of him shoves people to their dooms again?!"

Hunter pulled at his hair as he fell, "Just shut up and save us! You wouldn't be talking back this much if you didn't have a plan!"

Amity did, taking out a plant glyph and using it, aiming it for some trees she could make out below them. The vines from the glyph wrapped around the branches below, forming a net, which Amity, Hunter and Child Belos fell into, shaken, but relatively unharmed.

Carefully climbing out of the net and onto the branches, then down the trunk, Amity let out a sigh as her feet touched solid ground again. Child Belos tumbled down after her, and Amity, despite herself, offered Hunter a helping hand from the branch he was hanging from, ready to catch him. He dropped into her arms, only for both of them to crash under the weight, Amity groaning, "Why do you weigh this much? Seriously?"

As they floundered to get back to their feet, Amity and Hunter took a look around, seeing a vast, dark and foggy forest filled with crooked, grey trees. On each of their trunks was a painting, a look into Belos' mind. "Well, it's like I said. That hall up there was nothing but a stage show, something he put up to try and fool anyone who got in here."

Hunter growled, opening his mouth to retort, when the Radio in Amity's pocket sounded. "Amity? Amity, can you hear me?"

"Luz!" Amity lips pulled back into a genuine smile full of relief as she pressed the button and answered back, "I hear you. Hunter and I are in Belos' brain. It's dark, and damp, and kind of smells, which is kind of what I expected of the place-"

Hunter yanked the radio away, putting it up to his mouth, "Look, if you can get us out of here, maybe, just maybe, I don't drag you and your friends to jail-"

"We'll get you out. Just let me talk to Amity." Luz cut in, having no time for Hunter's idle threats. "Oh, wait. Flapjack is here, he says hello."

The speaker let out a few short trills, and despite their situation Hunter did feel a bit better knowing his palisman was far away from where his Uncle could find out about him.

Amity stole the radio back, turning her back to the teen to keep him from trying to swipe it again, "Luz, what's going on out there? Can you get us out?"

"We're on our way back to the Owl House now. We're going to need to craft up some magic to poof you out of there." Luz responded, then went quiet.

The voice to come out next was Eda's, "You all are in big trouble when I get you out of there, Boots. Stay right where you are, don't move, and we'll get you out. Don't attract Belos' Inner Self, and you should be relatively safe."

A roar sounded from above them, and the Child Belos gripped onto Amity's pant leg in fear, "About that, Eda… we've already been found. By at least two Inner Beloses."

"Two? That's impossible. One or both might be strong emotions that have materialized in the mental plane. They'll likely be just as dangerous." Eda cursed, the radio cutting to static for a moment, "Look, stay safe. Move when you have to, but try not to mess anything up while you're in there. We'll bring you out safe and sound, just hold on tight."

"Got it Eda, we'll do what we have to to survive," Amity assured her.

"I mean it, no trying to be a hero in there. Don't go looking for information, just keep your wits about you. And don't lose your Radio. Your scroll is useful, but if you need out in a pinch you won't have time to type." Eda ended the call, the radio sputtering to static as Amity repocketed it, saving the batteries for later.

Amity turned to Hunter, who looked as drained as her by the experiences they'd gone through thus far, "They'll get us out. We can sort things through later. Truce for now?"

Hunter seemed unsure as Amity held out her hand, but eventually took it, giving it one, solid pump. Unlike the first time they had called a truce, Hunter didn't have a staff to seal the oath, so no ring of light accompanied the handshake. "Just until we're out. Then I go back to putting your rebellion buddies into jail."

Both of them looked down to the Child Belos who clung to Amity like a lifeline, "So, do you think this is inner Belos, or an emotional aspect of him?"

"I'm going to assume Emotion, I mean, look at him. He's so small, plus he doesn't seem too upset that we're in here. My Uncle would be furious with me." Hunter responded.

Either way, Amity didn't trust the little guy. Not when he was a piece of Belos. Carefully and gently, so as to not upset him, she pried his hands off her pants, "So, since that thing is all the way up there, we should be safe down here, right?"

The question was meant for Hunter, but it was Child Belos who shook his head in response, and another roar sounded nearby, far closer than the last one. "Farts."

Child Belos didn't wait, grabbing both teens by the wrist and dragging them along, leading them down a path and into one of the paintings hung from the trees. The Masked Child didn't hesitate, throwing themself through, while Amity and Hunter hung back. "I don't like this, but I think we need to go," Amity pulled on Hunter, who shook his head.

"I can't just invade his memories! That's sacrilege!" He protested, putting his hands against the frame to block the way.

Amity just gave him a hard shove, sending him through, "We don't have a choice!"

When they came out of the memory, both Amity and Hunter were a little shaken by what they saw. Belos in a crude, cheap outfit he'd clearly made himself, his speech to a small audience about Wild Witches, the supposed made attack by Wild Witches, only to reveal Belos had been the one to stage the attack. To top it all off, the soon to be Emperor had ordered his Golden Guard to finish off the town with the leftover explosives, showing his casual disdain for the life that came from the isles.

"That- That couldn't have happened," Hunter choked, clutching anxiously at his tunic, "Not like that. We missed some context. Maybe the entire town was full of wild witches?"

"He destroyed a town, Hunter. There isn't any defending that." Amity spat, dusting her clothes off. They were once again in the forest that made up Belos' mind, surrounded by trees and paintings of memories.

"Of course there is, he must have done it for a reason!" Hunter cried, but Amity just shook her head. The sound of a twig snapping out in the distance reminded her of why they'd gone into that memory in the first place, and she lowered her voice, "We need to keep moving."

Hunter, pale and clammy, nodded and followed, both teens trailing behind the Child who was leading them. Upon the young boy's back was a sack of things he'd taken from the memory, though Amity hadn't seen what, to preoccupied with the sudden history lesson she'd witnessed.

This was a part of Belos. Of Philip. And she didn't trust that he wasn't about to lead them into a trap in the future. Not when it seemed he was gathering things for his own needs from these memories, showing some clear agency. And despite the danger that followed them, this childlike apparition of Philip seemed to know the way, was leading them somewhere on purpose. And if he was leading them to certain memories…

Amity looked around her, scanning around the trees. Subtly, she turned her body so the scroll in her pocket captured footage for her to bring back to the CATTs. If she wasn't allowed to search for answers, maybe they could get some from these paintings, from the still frames of memories, centuries old.

The sound of footsteps was catching up to them, the beast that hunted them getting closer. At the sound, the masked child sped up, leading them into another painting, one Amity was sure was just as revolting and disturbed as the last one.

Amity was wrong. The second one was even worse than the first. Hunter didn't want to face what he was seeing, running off and looking sick, his face framed with silent horror.

The town Belos had destroyed in this one was familiar. Amity didn't recognize it at first, and why would she? Some old, snow covered city from long in the past wasn't exactly on her sight seeing list of places on the Isles. But she had seen it before. She and her new family had rested in their ruins during her trip to the Knee. People had lived there. People had died there. And it was all this miserable excuse for a human being's fault.

"He destroyed an entire other town. Then left the survivors to die, unconscious and paralyzed in the snow!" Amity called out to Hunter.

The teenager shook his head, "No, that can't- it had to be an accident, while he was perfecting the sigil magic! Belos- My uncle, doesn't hurt people who don't deserve it!"

"So I deserved it?" Amity asked, marching up and getting into Hunter's face, jabbing her finger against his chest. "Luz and Eda deserved it? Vee deserved it? Did you deserve it too, Hunter?"

Hunter backed off, trying to keep Amity out of his personal space. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"The hand on your cheek says otherwise," Amity pointed out. Hunter gulped, realizing his hand had covered his scar without him realizing. He felt shame flow through him, dropping his own arm back to his side and turning away.

"I don't want to talk about this."

Amity clenched her hands into fists, feeling frustrated with the young man. There was something else on her mind, something only she knew after seeing all these memories.

Belos had a Golden Guard by his side in both of them. Each different, ever so slightly, but it wasn't hard to recognize their voice as Hunter's. Darius' talk about grimwalkers echoed in her mind, and she clamped her eyes shut, realizing that the Abomination witch had been right, but so off the mark.

Belos didn't just clone his last guard. He'd been doing it for decades. Possibly centuries. Each one of them was disposable to him, thrown away when they stopped being useful. He clearly had no qualms with hurting his 'nephew,' and Amity needed the boy to see that before it was too late, and he was just another corpse Belos had to bury.

"I know that it's hard to accept," She called out to Hunter. He stopped in his tracks, but didn't turn to face her. "It's hard to acknowledge that people you love, and who are close to you, family even, could hurt you. You put blame on yourself. 'I wasn't good enough, so that's why I was punished.' I know because I suffered through that myself."

Hunter didn't speak, but from his perked ears he at least seemed to at least be listening. Amity took a deep breath, "My name is Amity Blight. I know you know that, but it took a long time for me to use that name again when I got here. I thought I was free of it. My experiences are different from yours. I don't carry scars on my skin. I was never hit. But that doesn't mean I wasn't hurt, or abused, or neglected."

Amity shook, her throat tightening. Hunter was finally looking at her, as was Belos' child form, head cocked as he listened. Amity continued, voice wet, "I come from a long line of successful heirs. Titans of a different type: Industry. And that came with a legacy I had to live up to."

Amity was quiet for a moment, searching for what to say and how to say it. Finally, she settled on, "Any time I wasn't perfect, I had something taken from me, until I was willing to do anything to keep what little I had left. I had to abandon pieces of myself to please my mother. Do everything she asked, and everything she wanted, even if she didn't voice it. I was pressured to join people and groups I cared nothing for, and if I spoke back, if I didn't keep up the family image, I lost one of the fragile, tiny freedoms I had left, until there wasn't anything left for her to take."

"I had to hide the fact that I liked girls, Hunter. You've never grown up in a world where someone, much less your own family, can make you feel ashamed for something like that. But it hurts. It's not the same as what you went through, I know. Pain isn't a contest, but honestly, I think you still have it worse. Because where I used to get locked in my room until I could make things up to them, to 'be better' than I was, I'm afraid for you." She looked the other teen dead in the eye as she spoke her next words, ignoring how wet they were. "I might not like you Hunter. I'd be fine with never having to see your dumb, stupid face ever again. But I want that to be because we mutually hate each other's guts, and not because your Uncle put you in a coffin over a minor mistake that people are allowed to make."

Amity's face was stained with the tears she had fought so hard not to shed as she bore her heart and soul. Hunter gaped at her, looking entirely unsure how to handle someone who had opened up, and cried, for his safety. The boy took a step forward, hand out to reach for her shoulder, but whatever comfort he was going to provide, whatever he was going to say, was drowned out by the roar of the shadow that was tracking them, and once more they were running, keeping pace with the Child Belos, who was cackling like this was all some sort of sick game.

Amity wiped her face with her sleeve as they entered yet another memory. She expected this one to be as mentally scarring as the last two, and wondered why she bothered wiping the tears away before it was over. Hunter was beside her as the memory began to play. He looked uncertain of himself, his mouth moving as he tried to form words, "Hey, back there, I- thank you for telling me, I know it wasn't easy-"

"I can hear you," Belos' voice sounded, and Hunter clamped his mouth shut, covering it with his gloved hands.

They seemed to be in some kind of lab, a place Amity didn't recognize, but Hunter clearly did. There was Belos, as he appeared in the present, and for a moment Amity wondered if this was the inner Belos they were trying to avoid. He was looking right at them as he spoke, and the two teens gulped. Meanwhile, the child version of Belos wandered around the memory, shoving various items into his bag, giggling all the way.

A maniacal laughter echoed throughout the memory, and a flurry of eyes appeared in the shadows, a voice coming from them, "you caught me!"

Amity let out a sigh, feeling the oncoming heart attack pass her by as she realized this was just another memory. The shadowy creature, different from the beast that hunted them and more a living silhouette plastered on the walls, moved around the room, changing shape and casting shadow puppets as he spoke:

"To you who stray so far from home.

To me who's trapped beneath these bones.

We'll play forever, me and you,

when you paint the land in nine bright hues!"

Belos kept his expression neutral as he addressed the being, "What can I do for you, Collector?"

"That's the Collector?" Amity asked, her lips downturned, "I was expecting someone more… intimidating?"

"The who?" Hunter asked, looking entirely lost to why Amity knew someone Belos did, but he didn't.

"The Collector. I don't know a lot about them, but I've heard about them. We were hoping to get their help for our portal, but Belos beat us to it." Amity answered, spying on the scene as it played, listening with half an ear as the Collector complained about being bored, and something about a draining spell.

"When did all this happen?" Hunter was aghast that he had missed what must have been a huge adventure.

"Oh, 340-350 years ago?" Amity shrugged, ignoring Hunter's jaw dropping to the floor as he wondered just how long humans were supposed to live. "Pay attention, this might be important.

"You'll have your fun on the Day of Unity," Belos assured, his voice calm, but clearly at the edge of his patience, only barely putting up with this being who seemed little more than a child.

Bored, and unimpressed with the answer he'd got, the Collector began to rhyme again:

"Betrayed, beguiled,

alone, deceived!

We'll have our revenge on... "

Before giving up halfway through, complaining, "Ugh, "unity" is so hard to rhyme!"

Amity was feeling her headache coming back on hearing all of this, but this was the closest to hearing about the Day of Unity they'd come, so she did her best to listen in, and made sure her Scroll was still recording. Beside her, Hunter gasped, and Amity thought maybe he'd caught on, wisening up to her act and had seen her scroll jutting out of her pocket, but instead she leapt back as a second Hunter ghosted right through the physical one beside her, racing up to Belos.

Oh. She knew what day this memory was from. "Why in the world are you still wearing that?"

"I was in a hurry and forgot," Hunter's face burned red as he watched the memory of himself, still clad in Eda's "One Bitch of a Witch" apron. "Can we not talk about it? I got enough pointing and laughing from the scouts on my way to meet up with the Emperor."

The Past version of Hunter approached his Uncle, panting after running so far. He bowed his head before his Emperor, who curled an eyebrow at his garment, but otherwise said nothing as his nephew approached. Amity grimaced, as from the angle she was standing, she could see that behind his back the Emperor had summoned his staff, still folded, but ready to strike if need be.

"I know you didn't want me going to Eclipse Lake, and it took a little longer than I planned, but if I hadn't, I wouldn't have managed to find this!" Past Hunter held aloft the key to the portal he'd stolen just that night, which was immediately snatched away by Belos, who took a closer look at it, holding it to his face.

Turning his eye back to Hunter, Belos narrowed it in suspicion, "How did you get your hands on this?"

Past Hunter gulped, "I- I infiltrated the Owl House! I'd heard rumors humans had made their way there. I even had to fight a basilisk to retrieve it!"

Belos straightened back up, key tight in his grasp. He summoned the door to him, and his lips curled into a pleased smile. "You've done well today, Hunter. The Titan thanks you. He has very big plans for you, you know."

Pointing to the exit, Belos spoke gently, "Now, go and get some rest. You've earned it."

Past Hunter seemed seemed pleased by the praise, bowing again and heading off. Amity turned to Hunter, "You didn't mention the basilisk you 'fought,' survived. Why didn't you tell him about Vee, anyway?"

Hunter hung his head, seeming ashamed of himself, "I wasn't sure if me bringing the key back would have gotten his full forgiveness. If he hadn't been pleased, I'd have told him about her 'escaping' me, and that I could track her down. As it is, he doesn't know she's still alive."

"You were going to use Vee as a sacrificial lamb to keep yourself out of trouble?" Amity shook her head in disbelief, "Sometimes, I don't know what good Luz ever saw in you."

"I know," Hunter admitted, keeping his head bowed. "I'm sorry. I was scared, and she didn't deserve that. I told her I thought she was a person, and still planned on hunting her like an animal if I had to."

Amity expected the memory to end there, but it kept going. The Collector appeared, his shadow appearing behind the newly summoned door as Belos slotted it into the ring he had created. "For a second there, I thought you were gonna be so maaaad. I thought you were gonna go all 'waaaaahaaa' on that kid!"

The Collectors form turned into a monstrous beast, much like the shadow that hunted them among the trees on the other side of the painting.

Belos turned away from the Collector, his tone back to it's usual cadence, "Not as long as he stays on the right path. I say, 'The Titan has big plans for you,' and he does what he's told. Unlike the previous attempts." He gave a short shrug.

The Collector descended back behind Belos, hanging off the door, "I'm starting to think you make those things just to destroy them. You have fun with it. Admit it!" He let out more childish cackles, as if this was all some kind of game for him to play.

Amity wasn't watching Belos as he spoke, instead watching Hunter with worried eyes, the teens face full of confusion and hurt at his uncle's words, "Of course I don't, Collector. It hurts every time he chooses to betray me."

The memory ended like all the others, Child Belos racing forward with his sack, while Amity and Hunter crawled out of the painting feeling a lot less joyous than the half-pint, who kept laughing over everything the memories showed off.

"Draining spell, the Day of Unity, those witches from the Knee, going on a crusade against 'wild magic'…" Amity was putting everything she'd seen thus far together, "Hunter, I know the last thing you want right now is to hear more bad news, but I'm pretty sure I figured out what the purpose behind the Day of Unity truly is…"

Hunter didn't seem to be listening, gazing off into the trees. Amity frowned, realizing she might have just been insensitive. Everything Hunter had known was crashing down around him, and he'd more or less heard what happened to his predecessors, even if he still didn't know the full truth of the matter. "I'm sorry. Look, Luz and I weren't joking when we attacked you earlier. We want to help you, and get you someplace safe. We can protect you, and get you out of Belos' grip-"

She realized that Hunter wasn't listening to her. He was looking out into the trees, eyes glazed over with horror at what they were seeing, and his breath coming out in unsteady gasps. Amity, worried he was about to have a panic attack, tried to pull him away, only to see what had filled him with such terror.

Masks. Over a dozen of them, easy. Each one golden and identical to the one Hunter himself wore. Each rested at the base of a tree, and on each tree hung a painting, depicting the death and demise of every guard that came before Hunter. Some burned, others blasted with spells. A knife through the back. Another petrified, which had Amity swallowing painfully as she remembered how that was supposed to be a fate worse than death.

Each of these was someone who Belos had murdered. Each a loyal guard, who realized the truth, just as Hunter had, and had died for it. This was the mental shrine Belos had made to his cruel deeds, and it sickened Amity that of all the memories here, these ones had trophies at their feet. Just as Philip had kept Blue Fang's tooth, he now gathered the masks of his so-called 'nephews' to keep in his sick collection.

"We need to get out of here," Amity breathed, reaching for her radio.

The sound of crackling that wasn't radio static alerted her though, and her eyes were pulled to the Child Belos, who was breaking one of the masks with his hands, and feeding it to a fire in the center of the clearing they had just been in. Fearing the worst, and the beast in the trees that would surely be attracted to the light and smoke, Amity rushed forward, shoving the child out of the way and stomping on the fire, trying to put it out. Hunter quickly joined her, having regained a bit of his faculties for the moment, stamping on the fire until it was out.

Around the fire was a rope trap, one Amity was quick to step out of upon realizing, "Something's wrong here. He wasn't like this before."

Attracted to where the fire was, strands of a dark, fleshy substance flew through the air, forming into the shadow that chased them. Now Amity understood how it got around so quickly. But that didn't matter now, as the various lumps and eyes on the creature began to form mouths and faces of animals, screeching and squeaking, barking and meowing, but the message was clear in their voices, as clear as when Ghost spoke to Amity.

"Get away! Danger! Run!"

"Hunter… that isn't Belos… those are the Palisman he's eaten!" Amity backed away, blankly staring at the beast as she tried to wrap her mind around the revelation.

"And if that's not the Inner Belos… then he's been with us the whole time," Hunter put together, not masking the abject terror in his voice.

Amity watched as the small child who had been with them this whole time began to cry. His cries turned mocking, then into laughter as he turned around, plunging a wooden sword against the end of his rope trap, activating a spell. Bottles of elixir that were wrapped in the rope burst, smashing into the palisman abomination, and it thrashed, but was unable to move from its spot.

The child's body twisted, and turned, shifting it's body like putty until it wasn't a young boy, but an old man who towered before them, looking down at them with the confident expression of a man who had planned everything out to the exact detail, who had already won. "Hello Hunter, Hello Amity."

Amity's first thought was to go to her glyphs, but instead her hand grabbed her radio, squeezing it tightly, "get us out of here, get us out of here!"

"Amity? What's happening?" Luz's voice greeted her, but Amity was unable to answer as Belos casually strolled by them, ignoring any threat they might pose. Instead he focused on the screaming pile of Palisman souls behind them.

"Ah. I was finally able to catch it. This thing's been a thorn in my side for years. It took a fake mental labyrinth, full of twists and turns to evade it before now. All these weepy Palismen souls…" Belos chuckled good naturedly, as if he were discussing the weather, "Their voices constantly nagging me. "

He plucked one from the stack, the others shifting and crying at his touch as they faded into ashes. He inspected the bird in his hands, but dismissed it, "Vile. But without them, I wouldn't be able to do THIS." With a sickening crunch, his arm changed, becoming monstrous. He crushed the bird in his grip, destroying it so quickly it didn't even have time to cry out in pain.

Hunter looked on in shock and horror, unable to move, unable to speak, only able to flinch as the palisman, so much like his Flapjack, was ended. Belos stepped in close to him, a smile tugging on his lips, "I must say, I'm feeling so much better already. You two made such a good distraction for it. It was so busy trying to warn you, it stopped pursuing me long enough to cage and kill it."

Hunter fought back tears as he looked his Uncle in the eye, "W-what did you do to the other guards? To our family? It was never wild magic was it?"

Belos' expression turned cold, eyes narrowing at the boy. He twirled a finger around Hunter's messy bangs, curling the hair around his finger, then flicked it away, "it's such a shame, really."

With a sigh, as if this hurt him more than it utterly destroyed Hunter, who had lost his fight with his tears which began to stream down his face, Belos continued, "Out of all the Grimwalkers I've made, you were the most like him."

"What?" Hunter hardly had time to speak before the ground beneath him began to swallow him whole. Ankles, shins, knees, in seconds he was falling, clawing at the ground and screaming.

"Hunter!" Amity cried. She took a step closer to him, but the ground made it clear it would swallow her up next if she got too close. Acting fast, she took off her jacket, whipping it forward by the sleeve to use it as a rope, "Grab on!

Hunter fought, as hard and frantically as he could, which just made the ground swallow him faster. He pulled on the jacket, clinging on for dear life, eyes wide in fright. Amity would never forget those eyes, begging, pleading for her to save him as she dug her heels into the ground and pulled with all her strength.

The aged jacket started to tear at the seams on its arm, but at the rate Hunter was sinking, it didn't matter. Amity's grip was slipping, the stable ground she could stand on shrinking as she was dragged closer to the hole. In the end, the jacket flew from her hands, and Amity watched in stunned silence as Hunter disappeared into the ground, jacket and all.

The ground sealed up again, become solid as soon as Hunter vanished. Belos walked over it, tutting like a disappointed mother who had had to ground their child, "I really expected him to last longer than the others. If only the people around him were better influences…"

Any despair Amity felt faded as she glared up at the man, jaw clenched so hard her teeth made creaking noises of protest. In her eyes blazed anger, fury, hiding the fear she felt at her core to be trapped with this madman, this murderer with no regard or respect for the lives around him. "I'm going to make sure that everyone knows what you're planning. That everyone knows what is going to happen on the Day of Unity, and we are going to stop you."

"Oh, you can try. But better than you have tried and failed to stop me. Never a boring day, being a Witch Hunter," Belos dismissed casually.

Amity fumed, and picked up one of the glyphs that had come free from her pockets when she'd taken her jacket off, slamming it against the ground. Fire roared to life, as fierce as her fury, but Belos casually avoided it. It hit one of the trees that housed his memories, but with a casual glance and a twist of his head the fire faded, leaving the tree unmarked and unscorched.

Amity picked herself up and onto her feet, fists clenched at her side. "Why? Why are you doing this? What in the world did witches do to you to deserve this, Philip?!"

That caught the man off guard for the first time since his arrival. Not shock, but surprise as his face lit up like a birthday candle. Then he laughed. Not the low, condescending laugh he'd used before, but something more akin to the laughter of his child form, loud, boisterous, and scarily normal for an unfeeling tyrant. He recovered, giving the furious girl in front of him an almost genuine smile, "Oh, Miss Blight, I should be upset at you for stealing my thunder, but I'm just so pleased to hear that name again. Belos, the name of a witch, oh it disgusts me to have had to use it for so long. Call me the name I was born with, as a man."

Amity backed away from him, truly disturbed by the figure in front of her. For every step she took back, he took a step forward, "As for your question, they've done nothing to me. I am simply dedicated to protecting humanity from the evils of witchcraft. From the heathens and devils that would tempt men's hearts to darkness."

"You're a maniac," Amity spat. She turned her body so her left hip was out of sight, and she discreetly uncorked her abomination flask, "Completely insane. What year do you even think it is? Do you also think black people deserve to be slaves? That Women have no rights? Let me clue you in, times changed."

She sidestepped, keeping her flask in his blind spot, "The witch trials aren't viewed in a favorable light in the present. All those men who burned witches, every last one of them, history knows them as murderers. And you're no different."

Amity acted quickly, slashing with a whip of goo she summoned, but to her shock Philip simply grabbed it out of the air. Tugging on his end, he pulled Amity towards him, backhanding her face and sending her bottle and radio clattering to the ground several feet away from her.

"I told you before, they have to qualify as people before it counts as murder." Philip said cooly, "These are not people. They are animals for the slaughter."

"Amity? Amity, what's happening?" Luz's voice came out of the radio, desperately calling out to her girlfriend. Philip stepped towards it, putting his boot against the device, and crushed it under his weight, silencing it forever. Bending over, he carefully scooped the Abomination flask up, holding it up to eye level, "Now, this doesn't belong to you, does it? Magic is such a corruptive force, let's remove that temptation."

Somehow, Philip made the flask vanish. Amity wasn't sure, but she was fairly certain he'd plucked it out of his mind, and back into the physical world, depriving her of her weapon. Picking herself back up off the ground, she ran behind the nearest tree, drawing a glyph into the dirt where Philip couldn't see it. "I see how it is. Magic is evil for everyone else to use, but it's fine that you use it for your grand purposes, right?"

"Hiding won't help you, Amity," Philip called out, ignoring her taunt. He'd played this game before, and it would take more than that to lose his patience.

Amity dove for the next tree, carving the same glyph, then repeated the process. Poking her head out from behind her current tree, she called out to him, "And what about Hunter, huh? Or the other Golden Guards? I know he's a Grimwalker, but where does he stand in your 'person or witch' world view?"

Philip stopped in his tracks and cocked his head, "He's… merely a better version of an old friend. But thanks to you, and those witch's corruptions, I'll have to make a new one. A better one."

Amity bit her lip, her fingers digging into the dirt. Another glyph. "You murdered him! You've murdered so many good people!"

Philip rolled his eyes, annoyed that his message wasn't sinking in, "I told you these aren't people!"

"He's heavy!" Amity shouted back, anger and hurt in her voice as it echoed through the forest. "He's heavy, and strong, and- and he can't do magic! You've been murdering another human being, countless times, over, and over."

She glared at him from her hiding spot behind her tree, knowing he couldn't risk attacking without harming his own mind as she taunted him. "Who was he? Childhood friends? Maybe a cousin? I'm betting he was a brother."

Philip stilled, eyes narrowing in anger, "Girl, you hold your tongue-"

"You think you're so smart, so clever, leading me and Hunter around by the nose. You heard me before, when I talked about my parents. I was raised to be perfect. To be able to figure out what my mother wanted of me, without having to be asked or told. That made me very observant, Philip." Amity swallow. Her hand brushed against a shining, glimmering shard of one of the broken masks that littered this section of the forest, as she prepared to activate her glyphs.

"You were so busy taking us places you wanted us to see, so I kept looking in the places you didn't want me to know about. I wasn't able to view them as clearly as the ones we entered, but a picture is still worth a thousand words."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Philip hissed, marching towards the tree she stood behind.

"You cut your ears to a point with a jagged knife to better blend in." Amity used an example, even as Philip shook with indignant rage. "You carved your glyphs into your skin as well, so you could pass it off as normal magic."

Licking her lips, Amity went for the death blow, "And you knew someone that looked so much like Hunter does. He had round ears in those pictures. He was human. He 'betrayed' you, and you killed him. And then you cloned him. Made grimwalkers out of him, things you think of as less than human, so you could kill him again, and again, and again, for whatever sin you believe he committed against you. You're not a man, Belos. You're not even a witch. You're so much lower than either of those. You are a monster!"

Suddenly Belos was right in front of her, morphing out of the ground with maddening rage in his eyes. He grabbed her by the collar, lifting her up in the air, "I was going to let you live, Amity. As sinful and delusional as you are, you were still human. But I'm afraid you've taken all the fun out of this little game we've been playing, and now I've changed my mind."

Amity spat in his face, making him draw his lips back in disgust, while she grinned, "Got you, murderer."

With the tip of her toes she pressed the glyph she had carved into the dirt at the base of the tree's roots, and the tree below burst into flames. Philip dropped her in surprise, the end of his cloak catching aflame as well from the proximity to the blazing heat. Scrambling, Amity retraced her steps, pressing her hands to each of the glyphs she had drawn at the base of over half a dozen trees, each catching another tree on fire.

Individually, the fires were easily taken care of by the Inner manifestation of the person, as long as they knew what was happening. Multiple fires at once spread, catching more trees on fire, and Belos found himself struggling to put them out in time before the next one lit.

Still, Amity had nowhere to go. No scroll, no radio. Weaving through the trees, panting, her victory began to feel fleeting, fading into hopelessness as she realized she was still as stuck as she ever was. Not watching the ground as she sprinted, her foot caught a root of a tree, sending her crashing to the dirt. Another glint of gold was in her version as she squinted at it, body aching from the fall. "Amity!"

She gingerly touched her head, wondering if she'd hit it and was hearing things. "Amity! Get up!" The voice called again.

"King?"

"She's not answering the radio," Luz voiced was panicked as she set the human device down and summoned her Scroll, typing a message in. After a few, painfully slow seconds she whimpered, "she isn't answering her messages, either."

"We're working on it, Luz." Eda had her cauldron boiling up a brew, a teleportation potion that could theoretically pull something from someone's mindscape. Raine was reading off the instructions while Camila gathered ingredients, meanwhile Darius and Eberwolf pacing on the living room floor.

"Well, work faster!" Luz cried, desperation in her voice. "She sounded really scared a minute ago, and now there's nothing!"

Darius himself was trying not to look too worried, though his usual calm expression was marred by a pale complexion. "They're working as fast as they can. Keep trying to get through over the scroll." He grit out through clenched teeth.

Vee was looking through Eda's vast collection of books, the same ones she claimed only nerds read, keeping an eye out for faster alternatives. With no magic, nor formal education in potions, this was the best she could do to help, and that weighed heavily on her heart. The task felt especially hopeless with her lack of reading comprehension, and she silently hoped she hadn't tossed aside a book that could save her friend just because it had a big word she couldn't read.

That left King, who sat on the stairs, watching everyone work together, but still getting nowhere. He sniffled, feeling at fault. If he had helped them in the alley, maybe Amity wouldn't have gotten stuck. Or maybe if one of them had objected to going in the first place, this could have all been avoided. He was supposed to be a Titan, and he couldn't even protect one tiny human?

His sister was becoming frantic the longer Amity went without responding. If only there was some way to get ahold of her. To see if she was safe.

Wiping at his eyes with his injured paw, his gaze fell onto the Azura branded bandage stuck to it from that morning, and suddenly, he had an idea.

Sprinting for his mother's apothecary cabinet, he flung one of the drawers open, ignoring Camila's protests as he snagged a bit of Sleeping Nettles. His breathing was heavy as he weighed the dried plant in his hands, wondering if he'd see that thing on the other side again, and if it would hurt him or not. But he didn't have much of a choice.

Before anyone could stop him, he shoved the nettles into his mouth, chewing loudly. They tasted awful, with a terrible, dry texture, but he forced himself to swallow it anyway, collapsing into unconsciousness before it was even all the way down his throat.

As soon as his body hit the floor, he was rising to his feet again, once more in the place between worlds that Vee had traveled to. The place that had haunted his nightmares for the past week. Cubes floated around him, rising, falling, drifting, all so far above him.

"Alright, I just got to get one of those, and call her name. Got it." King tried to pump himself up as he clambered up the side of the cliff face. Once he was a dozen or so feet up, he reached out pathetically with one claw, his nails tapping the tip of one of the cubes in the air, but unable to grab hold. Whining in the back of his throat, King mentally prepared himself, then hurtled at the nearest cube, throwing himself off the rock and into the air, grabbing the cube and hoping it would support his weight.

His clamped shut eyes opened when he realized he wasn't falling, and was in fact, clinging to the cube in mid air, nearly as weightless as it was. "Weh!"

Quickly, he climbed aboard, riding the cube as it floated towards the others around the sphere. Whoever was inside was silent, and King hoped they were gone, not wanting to deal with whoever it was and their creepy vibes. Taking a breath, he reached out, grabbing one of the many cubes as it drew near, and held it in front of his face. "Uh… Amity!"

The cube did nothing, and King frowned. "Why didn't that work? Uh… maybe I need to use her full name? Amity… Flight?"

Nothing. King stomped his foot in frustration, "She never uses her last name! Uh, Amity Clawthorne! Amity Noceda! Amity Fright? Amity Bright?" Losing the last of his patience, King growled and flung the cube away, where it bounced off another, sending a chain reaction throughout the formally stable cubes.

"Why won't it work?!" He shouted into the void, feeling the last ray of hope inside him fade.

"Hm… have you tried Amity Blight?" The childish voice in the sphere asked, startling King. The cube he was standing on was floating only a few feet away, and inside, the silhouette of a person was staring at him, head cocked to the side.

"H-how do you know that name?" King hesitated to ask, fear making him draw closer into himself.

"Well, my best buddy Belos always asks me to check in on her. On a lot of people really. He calls it the Spy game!" The child giggled, "it's really fun! Is that what you're trying to play?"

"Uh… yeah," King nodded, "I'm looking for my friend. C-can you help?"

One of the cubes that floated nearby stopped in it's orbit, shifting over and flying towards King as his answer. He grabbed it out of the air, looking at the sphere, trying to see past it's frosted surface onto the inside, "uh, thanks?"

"No prob! Anything for a friend!" Was his reply.

King nodded, still afraid, but far from as frightened as before. Holding this new cube aloft, he called out, "Amity Blight!"

Amity held aloft the broken piece of mask, seeing King in its reflective surface, "King? How are you… what are you-?"

"No time!" King answered, "We're working on a way to get you out, but it's pretty exact. You need to stay still, so we can't have you moving around, or you could lose a limb, or an organ, or something! What happened to your radio?"

"It's broken," Amity admitted sadly, "crushed beyond repair."

"And your scroll?" King looked desperate.

Amity bowed her head, "Hunter had it, and he's… gone."

King's breath hitched in his throat, "No… no, I- I'm not ready to lose you. First my Dad, then my supposed tribe… I don't want to lose any more family."

"You won't lose me," Amity tried to soothe, even as she doubted her own words, "They can still try their spell. Maybe- Maybe I lose an arm, but I can make do. We'll make a magic prosthetic one, or something."

"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere," Belos' voice rang from out behind the trees. Amity nearly dropped the shard of mask she was holding as she looked out into the darkness. The trees she'd lit on fire were out, back to how they had been before. She'd managed to slow him down, but he was just too powerful, had too much control over his own mind for her to one up him inside of it.

Amity clutched the piece of mask to her chest as she backed away. Belos cracked his neck, descending down on her, any humor or pleasantries gone from his empty eyes. "Was that really the only ploy you had left? Throw some taunts around, get me angry, light a fire, and run away and hope for the best? You're stuck here, Amity Blight, and you can't outsmart me. You can't stop me, and I think I'm ready to end this."

His arm formed into a crude scythe, which he raised above his head. Amity gulped, knowing there was just no way to outrun this blow. She hugged the shard of mask to herself, and closed her eyes, wishing King were there for her to hold in her last moments instead of a broken piece of polished porcelain.

"She can't stop you, but I can!" Yet another voice broke the silence, and Belos had the audacity to look annoyed that someone was interrupting his business.

"Hunter, however did you-" Belos turned to face his creation, only to choke on his words and pale as he saw the item in the boy's raised hand. Hunter stood a good dozen feet away, bloodied, dirty, and tired. His body was hunched, as if standing straight took too much strength, but despite that, his expression was one of determination and anger. With an arm outstretched, held up above Hunter's head, was Amity's scroll, still recording the events of the night, with his thumb hovering over the button that would post it to Penstagram.

The scythe arm disappeared, and a nervous smile graced Belos' face as he held out his hand, trying to calm his former Guard down "Now, Hunter, my dear boy, please think about what you're about to do. Let's be reasonable here-"

"How many?" Hunter demanded, his voice cracked by fury and heartbreak, "How many did you make? How many times have I done everything you asked, only to be destroyed? Do you even know?"

Amity took the chance to circle around Belos, slowly moving over to stand beside Hunter, whispering to King, "Go, tell them to get us out of here. Now!"

The demon nodded, disappearing from the shard, which Amity let drop to the ground. She grabbed onto her jacket that Hunter held in his hands, seeing glyphs flutter out of the pockets and to the ground, where a large group of vines were sprouting from the dirt. She put together how he had escaped, using her glyphs to make a rope he could climb and get back to the surface with, then clawing his way back through the earth.

Belos swallowed heavily, lips twitching as it was clear he was trying to calculate the sheer number of grimwalkers he had made and exterminated over the years. When it was clear the answer couldn't come to him, his lips twisted into a facsimile of caring smile, hand outstretched, beaconing the boy towards him, "The Titan has big plans for you, Hunter."

Hunter stared down at the man, the monster, who had manipulated his entire being. Conned him out of a childhood, abused him, and laughed behind his back at the pain and suffering he himself had orchestrated in Hunter's life, and the lives of countless other grimwalkers. Hunter glared spitefully, and spoke plainly, "Wrong answer."

Then hit post.

The effects were immediate, as the world around them shook. Belos screamed, his jaw becoming unhinged and his body warping, becoming less human and more monstrous, thrashing around. Amity clung on to Hunter, both of them rocked as the world around them quaked, Amity hollering out, "What's happening?!"

"He's having some kind of breakdown!" Hunter responded, "This entire plain of existence is his mind, and he's losing it!"

Thinking quickly, Amity grabbed the scroll out of Hunter's hand, switching to her messages and sending Luz one, demanding an exit right then and there. She wrapped her arms around Hunter's neck, pulling him close to herself, yelling over the noise, "Hang on and stay still!"

The two held each other and closed their eyes. Belos's transformation was complete, and he let out an ear shattering roar to the skies before refocusing his attention on the two teenagers. He bore his teeth and claws, and rushed at them, getting closer with each step.

Bearing down on them, the monster raises a claw, intending on wiping them both out with one blow. They teens grit their teeth, but remained still, even as their clock ran out on life, striking down from three, two, one-

Zero.

King pulled away from the cube breathing intensely from what he had just seen and heard.

"Ooh, did you see something good? The Amity Blight channel is my favorite! She goes on so many adventures, doesn't she?" The trapped person in the sphere said, kicking his feet playfully.

"I need to go," King cut them off, closing his eyes. He began to slap at his own face with his paws, yelling to himself, "come on, come on, wake up, wake up, P!"

Through sheer force of will, King's body bolted up from where he lay on the floor in the living room, startling everyone who surrounded him. Eberwolf hung over him, chirping and growling nonsense he couldn't understand, while off in the corner of the room Raine and Darius had made a mess, Eda's drawers littered around them and items strewn across the floor. Meanwhile, the others were breathing sighs of relief to see King back in the realm of the waking.

Eda was still looming over her cauldron, but that didn't stop her from scolding, "what were you thinking? Do you know how worried we all were?"

"No time! They need out of there, now!" King barked, only receiving looks of confusion.

"We know that!" Camila answered, stating the obvious, "but we're missing an ingredient."

"No," King shook his head, tears pricking at his eyes. Not after all of this, they needed out now.

"We need something to power the potion. Something with a lot of magic." Raine explained, which explained why they and Darius were tearing through Eda's drawers, looking for anything they could use.

Luz's scroll lit up, and she snatched it out of the air, "guys, she responded! She says she needs immediate extraction!"

"We're trying!" Eda shouted, feeling the strain eat at the last of her patience.

King pulled on his horns, trying not to break down. They needed something, something powerful. Something huge. Something…

He lurched forward, ignoring everyone's cries of protests, climbing up onto Eda's shoulder, and tore the bandage off of his paw, throwing it into the pot, "Now! Activate it now!"

In a flash of light and green smoke, Amity and Hunter appeared in the center of the room. Luz tried to rush for her girlfriend, Camila not far behind, while Darius reached out for Hunter, but Eda held out her arms, and even her wings, blocking them, "Give them some space, don't crowd them!"

Everyone in the room held their breath, watching as the events of the night hit the two teenagers. Amity's wrath and bravado left her when she realized the threat was gone, and she sagged on the floor, fists clenched and eyes wide, tears beading up as everything that had happened in the past few hours hit her all at once. Hunter was no better, his final defiance against the only member of his family he'd ever known having shaken him to his core, he almost didn't seem to realize where he was.

"Amity, what happened in there?" Eda asked gently, startling the girl, who could only look up at her blankly, mouth moving but no words forming. Ghost, her ever faithful palisman, rubbed against her leg, before laying down beside the girl.

Flapjack flew down from the rafters, pulling at a strand of Hunter's hair, which snapped him back to reality. It was as if the entire day's events replayed in front of his eyes, and he started to hyperventilate, "I- I can't go back. He knows we were in there, I-"

He rushed to his feet, intending to rush out the door, but Darius was quicker, blocking his exit. Hunter gasped in horror, seeing the Abomination Coven Head there, and tried backing away, almost tripping over himself in the attempt.

"Calm down, Hunter. I'm on your side." Darius tried to soothe, holding his hands up to show he meant no harm, "take a breath, come on, breathe."

As Darius attempted to calm Hunter into a more stable state, Luz hunkered down beside Amity, "Is it okay if I touch you, Sweet Potato?"

Amity nodded silently, and Luz slipped her arms around her, holding her in the softest, gentlest hug she was capable of. Amity shook, burying her head in the crook of Luz's neck, tears spilling uncontrollably as she began to sob.

A few minutes later, Amity and Hunter had been moved to the couch, warm blankets tossed over their shoulders, with a cup of warm tea placed in each of their hands by Camila. Luz stayed by Amity's side, kneeling at the foot of the sofa with a hand on Amity's lap, while King sat between her and Hunter, leaning against the two of them, still tired from the affects of the sleeping nettles.

Vee watched from across the room, worried, but not wanting to get any closer to Hunter than she had to. Eda paced the room, trying to calm herself and her beastly instincts, wanting to go after Belos herself and slice him to ribbons for hurting her kid.

"Amity, Hunter," Raine spoke softly, kneeling down to be eye level with the two teens as rested a hand on the arm of the sofa, "I know, what happened in there had to be incredibly traumatic. It may seem cruel of me to ask so soon, but this is very important."

Raine took off their glasses, looking both of them in the eyes, "can you tell me what happened inside of the Emperor's mind?"

No words were said from the two on the couch. Amity didn't seem to hear what was asked, and Hunter still looked ready to bolt, his wide, frantic eyes stealing glances at the doors every few seconds. Raine sighed, pinching their brow, "it's alright. Take your time. As long as you need. I can't begin to imagine what happened, but I'll be here when you're ready."

Beside Darius, who was leaning against the wall by the door to ensure Hunter didn't try to bolt again, Eberwolf perked up, grabbing the man's legging and giving it a yank. Looking down, Darius gave a small, frustrated groan, "Really? Now is not the time to be browsing Penstagram. Can't you take this seriously, for once?"

Eberwolf shook their head, tugging harder on Darius' clothing, holding his scroll up for the man to see what was on the screen.

As Raine tried to gently coach the events out of Amity and Hunter, Darius stepped in from behind, giving the bard's shoulder a shake. "We have a situation."

Raine turned to face the man, only to have a scroll shoved into their face. Fixing their glasses back on, Raine blinked, jaw dropping open as they watched what may just be the most viral video to ever come out of the Boiling Isles.

A/N: And there is Hollow Mind. I hope you don't mind that I skimmed over the first two memories, since in canon Luz and Hunter are mostly just watching them, and they wouldn't have been changed in any meaningful way if I wrote them down. Better to just summarize and save myself half a day of writing.

I've more or less had this idea in my head since Hollow Mind aired. I was even prepared to go full AU and ignore the rest of season 2 if it meant I could salvage some of the stuff I wanted to go down in Belos' head. Thankfully I didn't have to go against canon, and I just adapted a lot of stuff from after the episode to happen earlier. I am always worried I make Amity too capable, so giving the win to Hunter was satisfying, as well as a little cathartic in how he gets to be the one to press the button. Plots that can easily be solved by someone having a phone always bug me a little. At least Luz didn't have a scroll, but I gave Amity one so long ago, way before the episode aired, so I had to do it! Also, in case you're wondering, the show never shows people making calls on scrolls. Just messages. Meanwhile, they have those birds to make calls. I stuck to that, so that's why Amity wasn't able to make calls with her scroll while in Belos' mind.

Can you guys tell I'm a Doctor Who fan by this point? I always seem to have someone have their Hero speech(the opposite of a villain monologue), usually tearing down the villain, before doing something epic. I think that's really influenced my writing. Specifically parts of the 12th Doctor's Hero Speech to the Boneless:

"I tried to talk, I want you to remember that. I tried to reach out, I tried to understand you but I think you understand us perfectly. And I think you just don't care! I don't know if you are here to invade, infiltrate or just replace us, I don't suppose it really matters now, you are monsters! That is the role it seems you are determined to play so it seems I must play mine! The man that stops the monsters!"

Everyone gets trauma, meanwhile I'm over here like, "Luz and Amity exchanged their jackets, it's cute, and adorable, and I love it!" Also, Two demons, a witch, and a human in a cloak is the demon realm equivalent of three kids in a trench coat. The Collector's "Spy Game," is maybe fanon, but Kiki did say the Emperor has eyes everywhere, and was able to figure out Raine's plan. We all thought there was a traitor, but none were made apparent, so I'm going with this idea. The Collector can see through the cubes, but can't talk through them, since they're in the ball. He can only talk through his mirrors instead. It's funny, he's trapped in a place where you can talk through people through mirrors, and the only way to talk to him is through a completely different, special mirror. Huh.

Once again, you can find some art I made on the Ao3 version of this fic. I hope you'll check it out!

If you liked this chapter, please leave a comment below! I use them in place of the therapy that I need from the trauma this show inflicts on me.