I have the honor to be

by WriterforFunandBoredum

Your obedient servant. That is what Kikimora is, can, and will ever be for her lord, Belos, as she does her lord's will. However, a chance encounter with a mother and her child seeks to change everything that Kikimora stands for, including herself. Will she remain the same or will the demon find a new purpose in the form of a smiling child?

3. Chapter 3 Your Unlikely Friend

Chapter Summary: When the portal refused to let her go, Luz felt like she lost everything. Never in her life has she felt so helpless and desperate to return to the place that she once called home. For Kikimora, the sight of an adopted daughter she left behind long ago puts her in conflict with herself, after hearing what happened to Luz on Earth. Now, more than ever, they need to help each other but will they come to realize what was truly lost?

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Author's Note:

*Crashes through doors

FINALLY! I am here with the promised chapter within the (admittedly extended post date) month! Sorry for the delay. Being blindsided with schoolwork, writer's block and good ol' writer's block prevented me from uploading this earlier. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it as much I did when I was reading this.

Buckle up.

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G-Good. That's good. We're safe.

Child, you need to eat!

Silly child. What are you trying to say?

I am not your mother. I can never be.

After all these years serving me, you want to throw it all away for this wretched child.

Forgive your mother. Just this once.

"NO, DON'T GO!" Luz bolts out of her restless slumber, a scream tainting her lips as she lurches forward from her bed. Her eyes were wild, darting in every direction as to figure out where she was. In her manic waking, she launches one of her arms forward, leaving it outstretched as if to reach out to something.

"W-What?" Luz looks around hesitantly, her rapid heartbeat slowing down once the adrenaline stopped flowing through her veins. She was safe she tells herself. She was safe. With a small sigh, she lowers her outstretched arm and draws it close to her chest, letting her breath even out while allowing herself to refocus where she was. It was her temporary room that Eda gave her as a place to sleep, something the girl was eternally grateful for after the crushing realization earlier this week.

When it was given to her, the room was bare and was covered with a thin layer dust. After a great deal of cleanup and moving stuff around, the room was at least livable for Luz's standards. A reasonable pile of clutter peppered the brown, dilapidated floor, giving some sense of life and usefulness to the once empty room. Scavenged clothing given generously by Eda were laid in a big, unsorted heap by the open closet, their bright colours and various clashing designs appealing to the eye. Her bag and books were strewn about on a nearby desk by the glass window, it's curtains opene to allow the orange light of the early morning to illuminate the room. Her bed was rather minimalistic, an uncovered mattress, her wool blanket, and pillow. Beside it was a small nightstand with her glasses, necklace, and oversized toque, an item given by Eda to hide her ears, on top of it.

After everything Eda has done and given to her these past few days, Luz was forever grateful. After the portal door refused to let her through, she just shut down, lashing out at both Eda and Hecate with words she didn't mean but can never take back. She should have been grateful that Eda was so willing to give her a place to stay, instead of being angry or rude. Unfortunately, until Eda figures out why the portal door functioned like that, Luz was forced make herself comfortable in the new world.

She may not have shown it at the time but the busywork to make herself comfortable in her new room was nice to have, the hard work distracting her mind from the uncompromising reality.

A gentle knock on her closed bedroom door catches Luz' attention, freezing her in place, "Luz, I heard you shout. Is everything all right? Do you want me to come in?"

Luz lets out a small sigh of relief, berating herself that she was not in the company of strangers. The voice came from her fellow escapee, Hecate, a demon that is as mysterious as her proficiency with magic. During these past five days, Hecate was cordial and friendly to her much like Eda, but the demon's calm and controlled behaviour was a definite contrast to Eda's wild behaviour. It was Hecate who would try to console Luz with her loss the most, often just letting Luz vent while Hecate listened.

However, there were times that Hecate was awfully distant when they were together, often looking at her weirdly or staring at her when she rattled off with her fears and worries. It looked like Hecate was being reminded of something, but Luz couldn't put down what it was. There was a slight inkling on the back of her mind that she should know but nothing seemed to click no matter how hard she thought about it. It was honestly becoming annoying. Those thoughts were easily brushed aside when her mind drifts back to the prison when Hecate used what certainly looked like glyphs in front of her to escape. All those years of being shown these fantastical dreams, all those times drawing what she thought were just harmless sigils were literally symbols of power drawing on the forces of magic to conjure a spell to life.

The question of why, though, was growing. Why did she have these dreams? Why was she sent to this world? Why did the portal not let her through? Why does Hecate know how to draw and use these glyphs? It was always why, why, WHY! The desire was like a raging bonfire burning brighter with every question, only doused with answers that she does not have. But Hecate may have them. It was only a matter on how to ask these questions to Hecate without sounding crazy.

"No thank you, Hecate. You don't need to come in," Luz calls out to the demon behind the door to remove the small bout of silence that permeated the conversation, "I'm fine." A lie. A lie that she tells herself everyday, "Just had a bad dream is all."

"Okay, Luz," Hecate sounded a bit skeptical, but she seemed to accept Luz's answer, "If you need anything, I will be downstairs and preparing your breakfast for the day. Should I leave it behind the door like before?"

"Yes, Hecate. Thank you!"

"Very well. I shall return shortly," Hecate's footsteps grow quieter as she goes down to the main floor, leaving Luz to the growing pool of thoughts whirling through her mind.

She lets out a small sigh, leaning back so that her back touches the wall and drawing her knees to her chest. Her thoughts drift to her rude awakening, the voices echoing in her mind when she concentrates. The voices were distorted and far away, yet they sounded real. For the life of her, she doesn't know why she has these voices recurring when she sleeps, their incessant chatter bringing about blurred flashes of images that was nothing like her vivid artistic dreams. Much like her entrapment in this realm, these dreams started in the first night, frightening her with their bombardment of images. She was slowly getting used to their intrusions, but she wonders what these dreams could mean. Were they someone else's?

A different knock catches her attention, this time from the window. Rubbing her eyes, she notices a blurred, tubular, brown form hitting her window with no intentions on stopping. Grabbing and putting on her glasses, she slides off her bed and makes her way there with a small smile on her face, knowing just who it was who graced her morning.

With a push onto the glass window, she waves at the figure heading her room, "Morning, Hooty! How's it hanging?"

"Morning to you too, Luz!" The tube-shaped bird greeted back, twisting, and turning with happiness. The brown-feathered bird demon of the house turned out to be an odd companion for her in the so-called Owl House, his eccentric demeanor a welcome change to the morose atmosphere that Luz has been putting off lately. Hooty extended into Luz's room, shaking his head happily as he continues talking, "I'm doing great! I had a really good dream last night where I thought I was out hunting, and I caught a were-rat with just my beak!"

"Sounds like you had a nice night! Nothing like mine anyway…," Luz's happy demeanor morphed into a miserable frown, grumbling with annoyance as she crossed her arms.

"Ooh, that sounds bad," Hooty moved his cheerful face closer to Luz, nearly hitting her nose, "Did the insects start inhabiting the mattress again? Oh boy I hope that is true, I can go hunt again!"

"What? No, Hooty, its not bugs or anything," Luz gives Hooty a confused expression and gently pushes him away, "Just had a bad dream is all."

"Oh, I see," Hooty moves back and turns his head, "Did you try casting a sleep spell? I hear from Eda that you can sleep a hundred nights away without even having a single nightmare! Worked wonders for her!"

Luz gives an exasperated sigh, "Hooty, I thought we've talked about this. I'm human, I can't cast magic." Luz then turns on her heel, walking towards her bedside desk before putting on her necklace and grabbing her wool toque, pulling it down her head to cover her ears, "Though I wish I could. That sleep spell sounds like something I would use."

"Aw, it can't be too hard," States Hooty, "Just get a magic bile sac implanted into your heart and you'll be fine in no time! I can even supply the sac, watch! HURGH!" Hooty proceeds to open his mouth to retch, recoiling as he coughs repeatedly and sending spittle in the air.

Luz lets out a laugh, "That's gross, Hooty! I think I can live without a green, grey, muscly thing next to my heart! Although," She places a hand on her chin, quirking her head slightly as she thinks out loud, "If it means getting me to cast magic then maybe…."

"OOH! What are these, Luz?" Hooty stopped his retching and swiftly turned to her desk, his eye catching on one of the open pages of her drawing book, "It looks cool! What is it?"

Luz walks over and notices that Hooty was enthralled with a page filled with newly drawn glyphs, "Oh those things? Just something that came in a dream. Been drawing these since I've been a kid and to make myself feel better really. It's kind of like a comfort thing I go back too." The only difference that now she knows that these call upon actual magic when activated, a thought that acts as a warning when she draws her glyphs now. As far as she knows, completed glyph are activated by physical touch so she now has to be careful when she turns a page, or one stray touch would cause her notebook to become the center of nature's wrath.

"Wow, neat!" Hooty then points his beak at one of her newer additions to her book, the smudging of the lead still fresh from the previous night's late doodle session, "Ooh, that one looks like the one that red demon uses. What was her name again? Hecab?"

"It's Hecate, Hooty, please get it right," Luz then leans over the desk to get a better look at the glyph that Hooty pointed out. It was a rough sketch of the glyph Hecate used back in the prison for their timely escape. Luz's take on the glyph had many erased imprints from her many attempts to get the drawing right, causing the paper to wear thin and at risk of breaking. It was also the first glyph that Luz has drawn that hasn't come from one of her dreams but rather from real life experience, so she was determined to capture its likeness correctly.

"Hecate is a weird person. But she is also good!" Hooty mentions, his eyes filled with delight," I thought I had to eat her but then she gave me a nice potion treat that makes me feel silly so she's on my nice list."

"That's…great, Hooty," Luz, avoiding the feeling of being weirded out, then turns her attention to what Hooty said before, "Wait, you said you've seen her use this? When?"

Hooty gives a nod, causing his entire body to move as if it was bowing, "Yeah, I saw her use it with Eda a couple times these past few days! It was really cool, summoning all those trinkets and stuff from out of nowhere!"

"Summoning? Hooty, its not a summoning glyph. I think Hecate called it a translocation glyph. Don't know what it exactly does but all I know that it moves stuff around."

"What? No, it's a summoning glyph. Here, watch!" Without warning, Hooty lunges beak first towards the glyph, causing Luz to burst into action.

"HOOTY, NO!" Luz immediately swats Hooty away from her book but in her eternal misfortune, she accidently skims the surface of the glyph with the tips of her fingers, causing the page to tear itself from the book and start to glow.

"Oh God," Luz then shuts her eyes when the glow turned brighter but it was different than when Hecate used it. Small flashes of red and blue intertwine with the bright, white glow, shining in a pattern as Luz feels reality distort. Luz then feels the unmistakable lurch of being moved against her will, feeling wind whistle past her ear, and hurtling forward until the world stops around her.

"AAAAHHH, oof!" Unceremoniously, Luz lands on a pile of leaves stomach first, leaving her winded.

"Okay," Luz mutters to herself as she helps herself up, clutching the side of her head from the bout of dizziness waving over here, "Note to self, set boundaries with Hooty regarding my drawing book. Also, never try using glyphs that aren't well drawn or something bad happens. Never want to live through that again…," Her stomach gurgles and she covers her mouth, trying to ride the wave of nausea until it passes.

'Should I try to recreate the glyph and hope that it will send me back to Eda's place?' Luz then feels the urge to heave come up again, this time allowing herself to retch to clear the feeling, 'Yeah, no. Don't want to tempt fate again. Looks like I'm walking back.'

"Now, where am I?" She mutters out loud, wiping away the last of the spittle on her mouth with the back of her hand. She looks around, hoping to see some sign or clue of the Owl House but all that she is greeted with is the looming height of trees and foliage.

"Alright, don't panic, Luz," She tells herself, taking a deep breath to center herself, "You just need to navigate through an unfamiliar forest to a house you barely left from in a whole new world that could probably kill me. Great." She raises her arm and waves a pointed finger in random directions, "All right luck don't fail me now. Eeny meeny, miney, mo and let's go!" With courage in her step, she takes another deep breath and walks forward, making sure to keep her eyes open to any danger that lurks in these woods.

"Urgh," She says annoyingly after walking through chosen path a bit, "I really wish I had my shoes with me right now." She stops and lays herself on the side of a tree, raising one on her feet to remove the larger twigs and pebbles lodged in her before moving to the next.

"Why couldn't I be transported to a beach or city or something," She grumbles as she returns walking, "At least there I could have some fun or have an easier time finding my way back to the house. If I was transported to the city, I could've maybe asked the locals about where Eda's house was but NO! I just had to go through another forest adventure with critters everywhere! It's just like 1st grade all over again minus the zoo animals…"

The morning glow begins to grow larger as Luz tries to make her way back with only the clothes on her back and her diminishing optimism. It was getting tiring seeing only dirt, rocks, and trees, and the, admittedly, weirdly shaped insects she found were no help on finding her way back. She tried talking to them, but they must have been too young to understand her as they just leapt away.

Thinking back, her ability to talk to animals and insects was rather weird in its own way. At first, she thought that she was one of those animal whisperers that just innately knew how to interact and talk to them. Yet, ever since that 1st grade field trip to the zoo, she found herself starting to fully understand animals around her like any other human being. Anytime that those zoo animals screeched, barked, or roared, she would somehow know what they would mean. In her young mind, she thought it would have been rude to ignore such obvious conversations, so she found herself butting into their talks, even mimicking their sounds as a sign of respect!

She doesn't remember much else after hearing that they wanted to get out of their cages and stretch their legs after being cooped up for so long, but she did remember that they wanted to continue talking.

SNAP

The sound of twigs crunching causes her to freeze in place, making her heartbeat skyrocket. She carefully listens if the sound was just from her imagination and not from any large creature prowling through the forest for it's next meal.

SNAP

The second crunch of twigs causes Luz to go in autopilot, causing her to dash behind the large trunk of a tree nearby. She presses herself against the tree, trying to keep as still as possible to make sure that whatever beast that was out there would miss her.

"Stupid Amity, who does she think she is?"

That…That didn't sound like any animal she knows. Peeking from her cover, Luz discreetly tries to see who it was and sighs in relief when the thing she sees wasn't a hungry animal with many rows of sharp teeth.

From where she is, Luz can see a stout looking, glasses-wearing, green-haired girl pacing around in a circle within a small clearing while a cart loaded with a cauldron filled with purple liquid resting on the side of a rock outcropping. Judging by the pointed ears and human-like appearance, Luz mentally concludes that the girl was probably like Eda, a witch from the Boiling Isles. If the stories from Eda were to be believed, of course. The girl was wearing something that looked straight out of a medieval prep-school with its black dress, boots and shoulder cloak, and green sleeves and leggings covering her arms and legs. However, it doesn't look like the girl was handling something well because with the way that she grits her teeth and shuddered with clenched fists, she was furious.

"Who does she think she is for constantly gloating and being so cocky!" The girl ranted, raising her hands in the air, "Its not like being the best student in the track means that she can act like that!" The girl huffs and stops in place, sitting down on the ground and looking at the sky with low spirits, "Why couldn't I be in the Plants track instead of the Abominations track? I'm much better in handling plants then working with this stuff."

Luz couldn't help but feel sad for the poor girl. From what that she can tell, this witch must have been having trouble with something magic related, something that Luz can kind-of relate to with her subjects back home on Earth. She can count the number of times that she felt like the classes she took weren't for her, causing her to struggle through them. She takes a small step to the side, but she quickly takes it back.

'What are you doing, Luz? Get it together!' Luz thinks to herself, her stomach rolling in anxiousness as she internally debates herself, 'Do you want to talk to the girl or not? She seems friendly, I think. Maybe she knows the way back to Eda's?' Steeling herself, Luz goes to confront to the girl.

C'mon, Luz! Let's play, let's play!

"Argh!" Luz clutches her head as she quietly seethes in pain. She slams her back on the tree's trunk, sliding until she touches the ground as her head pulses with agony. In her mind's eye, she sees fleeting images of two children playing in a field enclosed by stone walls, laughing, and tumbling through the dirt without the care in the world. Luz can barely tell what the two looked like, their faces blurred beyond recognition. Every laugh and every cry sounded familiar to her, yet at the same time it felt foreign.

Once the pain was finally ebbing away, Luz fell to on all fours, clutching the dirt as she tries to refocus. 'W-What was that?' She takes several deep breaths, her eyes bulging as she tries to recollect the images that came to the forefront of her mind, 'I…I don't remember any of this. Is this real?' Luz tries her hardest to remember how old she was when this happened, but everything came up blank.

'What is going on with me?' Luz asks herself. She gets back up from the ground and looks at her dirt-covered hands, 'Is somebody trying to tell me something?'

"Well, well, look what we have here?"

"Ah!" Thinking that she was discovered, Luz instinctively ducks into the underbrush, curling herself into a ball so that thick foliage can hide her from whomever discovered her. She waits nervously for the perpetrator to discover her, so she arms herself with the closest thing to fend them off, a long wooden stick from the nearby ground. A moment passes and she hears the grinding of stone but not the rhythmic tapping of feet on dirt and rock. Oddly, it sounded that it was moving away from her rather than moving closer to her. Feeling her curiosity being piqued at the conundrum, she carefully moves the shrubbery in front of her in a moment of bravery to see who or what it was.

Once she cleared the shrubbery with little difficulty, she sees a sight that she was deeply intimate with.

In the clearing where once there was only one witch, there were now two but the newest one stood with pride while the other one was slightly hunched in defeat. The new girl had aquamarine hair, skin as pale as porcelain, and sharp eyes burning with contempt towards the green-haired witch. She also wore the same thing as the other witch, making Luz think that it was something for a school.

"Willow, I didn't see you here. You were just so easy to disregard." The aqua haired witch said haughtily, her arms crossed with a sense of pride as her mouth spits daggers at the now-withering girl, "Its just, you try so hard in our class, but you always end up at the bottom of the rankings. Shame that you had selected this class, you would've done much better somewhere else."

Something inside Luz snapped. A smoldering fury began to rise as she continues to watch this arrogant, pompous neanderthal of a person continue berate and demean this 'Willow'. This anger for someone else, it seems irrational for her, but she doesn't care right now. Maybe it was because of the constant barrage of memories of her classmates always speaking ill of her in the halls, saying that she was nothing more but garbage.

Freak!

Weirdo!

Foolish Child!

There was a feeling of static and a pulse ran through her head, but she wasn't feeling any pain. The only thing that she was feeling right now was anger, anger at the aqua-haired witch.

"Maybe you should just save herself the trouble and just drop out? It would save you and me some good."

Luz was not willing to let history repeat herself in front of her, no one should experience what she had once felt.

"HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Luz burst out of where she was hiding, leaves and twigs sticking to her clothing as she marched towards the two witches with rage in her step. Both witches quickly snapped their heads towards her, the green-haired witch's eyes widening in surprise while the aqua-haired one's face twisted into a snarl.

"Who do you think you-," The aqua-haired one starts with her teeth bared and her eyes narrowing in annoyance. However, when both Luz's and her eyes meet, her eyes quickly morphed into confusion before widening again in surprise.

For Luz, however, the same feeling of static and pain rumbled through her mind once she takes a closer look at the girl. She sees that there was a spot of brown hair growing on the roots of the witch's head and their golden eyes that once held fury were now replaced with a certain sense fragility as if the witch couldn't believe what their eyes were showing. There was another pulse in her head, but Luz couldn't feel the pain, her tirade making her disregard the coming headache. However, the moment that she tries to speak, a brief flash of what she thinks is a memory comes crashing down with full force, overriding anything that she tries to say.

'H-Hello there. My name is Amity. Do you want to play with me?'

hr

"Y'know, no matter how many times I see it, I still won't get used to seeing the Emperor's right hand demon cooking breakfast in my home."

"Former right hand, Edalyn. I also wish to be no longer be associated with Belos so please stop saying that." Kikimora sighs into her coat as tries to cook a wide range of food for breakfast. At first, it was peaceful, the quiet sizzling of the food calming to the senses matched with the mellow hums of the creatures in the distance. However, in the middle of her cooking, that peace was shattered when Eda barged in with her rhetoric and need for Appleblood.

"See, here's what I don't get," Kikimora hears a chair being drawn from behind her and the sound of Eda plopping onto the seat, "I don't get your angle here. One minute I hear you preaching our Glorious Emperor's good graces and trying to get me captured, and the next I hear from every newsstand that you tried to overthrow the Emperor. So, what going really going on here?"

Kikimora pinches the bridge of her nose before moving pans filled with food away from the heat and allowing herself to turn and face Eda, "There is nothing for you to be concerned about, Edalyn. I will not be causing you or your home any trouble while I am here. And to clarify, I did not try to overthrow the Emperor, I merely tried to run away from him."

"I'd say good riddance, but I feel like that was a few years too late," Eda then takes a swig from her mug filled with Appleblood, her eyes sharpening as she opens her mouth to speak, "But then, what caused you to switch teams so eagerly, Kikimora? I can't think of anything that would that drastic to get you to do that."

"That, Edalyn, I cannot tell you. That is something I shall take to my grave," Kikimora states clearly, turning back around to finish cooking the food, "Now, I must finish the food soon or Luz will get hungry. And please, call me by new name of Hecate and not Kikimora when we are in the company of other people, Edalyn. I want ensure that no one would know I have escaped."

"Only if you stop calling me Edalyn," Kikimora hears Eda mutter. Eda then takes another swig of Appleblood and taps her finger on the wooden table as she says, "That's another thing actually. What's with you being so close to the kid, anyways? I mean, I get she helped you escaped but aren't you just being a little bit too much?"

Kikimora stops momentarily, a river of emotions flowing through her as she stays quiet trying to think how to respond to it. Seeing and thinking about Luz always revives memories she long thought buried in the deepest recesses of the mind, ones that would continue to haunt her as the nights grows long. When she was captured and put away to rot, her thoughts always turn back to the little girl that she had raised and what could've have been if she was better prepared for that fateful day. Thoughts of what happened to Luz and if she was okay lurked in her mind, rearing their effect once the Warden was finished in trying to extract information from her. And in the furthest corner of her mind, where anything that was there was left to decay into the vestiges of unconsciousness, was the question of what she did that night was the right choice. She thought she would be spared from that answer and the horrors that she would have to face.

Fate wasn't so kind.

When she heard the prison in an uproar, all that she could think about at the time was if there was someone trying to break out again. It wasn't uncommon to hear the occasional prisoner, who haven't had their will broken into tiny shards, to try to break free and escape. None made it out alive. She would hear several of the grunts brag about how many they had to put down during their tenure and she resolved herself to waste away in this cell to make sure that they don't get the satisfaction of killing a former member of the Emperor's Coven.

Hence, when she saw Warden Wrath in front of her that day unmoving, she was curious as to who would be so bold to do such a thing. After all, it is no small feat to defeat the Warden. So, when someone stepped out of the shadows, babbling with their nonsense, Kikimora thought that this was an easy ticket to escape and finally be free.

But when she finally saw who it was, her heart stopped, and her breath was taken away. It was Luz, there was no way in mistaking that face for anyone else's. The soft brown hair that Kikimora would used to stroke to get the young girl to fall asleep, her large brown eyes used to be filled with wonder and joy, and her face that would smile back as if Kikimora made her entire world. For a moment, Kikimora thought she saw was a figment of her imagination, a cruel joke played by Belos to finally make her break. It almost worked too, as seeing her adopted daughter all grown up and filled with panic and fear made her heart wrench.

Thus, she resolved herself to aid Luz in the girl's quest to escape and return to Earth as the Boiling Isles was much too dangerous for the human to be in. She fought with a fervour that long laid dormant, removing anything in her path so that Luz can stay safe.

When they finally escaped, Kikimora breathed a sigh a relief hidden from Luz, thinking that Luz can finally return to Earth and be with the golem she tasked to keep Luz safe. Yet, when the portal door opened to reveal a shattered stone tower amongst a coastline, Kikimora soon realized that maybe her decision all those years ago was wrong.

And when the portal door refused to let her go through, something that has never happened in the history of the Isles, Kikimora never felt so helpless when she saw Luz cry.

Kikimora promised herself right there and then that she would help Luz get back home, no matter what.

"Luz lost nearly everything that day, Edalyn," Kikimora finally says, albeit quietly, turning just slightly so that her scarred eye was staring into Eda, "The only hope she has that still drives her is of us finding a way for her to return home. This is the least I can do for her."

Eda stares back for a long time before she takes a big gulp from her mug and looks to the side, taking keen interest to the plaster of the wall, "Well, if you put it that way than I can't say I blame you," Eda then rubs the back of her head, running a hand through her grey mane as she gives a small frown, "Geez, now I feel bad."

"It's quite alright, Edalyn. You were fair in your questions," Kikimora plates an assortment of food and places it in front of Eda, "Now, it would be quite rude for a guest such as myself to not repay their debts to their hosts. Please, enjoy the food while I bring Luz her breakfast."

Eda momentarily looked stunned, staring at the plate of food with shock before licking her lips, "Well, if this is what I get for harboring a human then sign me up." As Eda proceeds to dig into the meal sighing with content, Kikimora makes her exit, grabbing a plate filled with food and made her way towards the stairs. From there, she encounters Eda's roommate midway through the flight of stairs who was rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his tiny paws.

"Good morning, little demon. How do you fare this morning?"

The demon yawns, his eyes barely keeping themselves open as he struggles to look at her attention. "Its not 'little demon', its King!" He says tiredly, waving a fist at her before dropping it completely, "And I'm doing just fine. Now what smells so good?"

Kikimora gives a curt nod, "I simply made some breakfast for the entire household. Only fair after you left me to reside here after my escape. Please, help yourself to it if Edalyn hasn't eaten the last of it."

"Waagh?!" With that last cry, the last vestiges of sleep that clung to King's form immediately disappeared as he hurriedly scampered to the kitchen before his meal was consumed by Eda.

Kikimora allowed herself to give a small chuckle at the sight, 'My, what a lively bunch. It is quite the difference compared to when I lived in the castle.' Memories of an older, simpler time re-emerge. One's fraught with both peril and stoicism. One's filled with modesty and decorum. Others filled with happiness and sorrow. There was one time before that she was asked if she ever regretted trading a life of luxury and power for one so meager. That time if was rewound if she would make the same decision.

She had no regrets; she would make the same decision she made in a heartbeat.

Kikimora ascends to the top and walks until she reaches the front door of Luz's room. She raises a fist to knock but she then feels an unmistakable shift of reality course through her body. The world around her dims, the sound quiets, and the walls around her dissolve to reveal the empty landscape of her mind.

"Well, this is certainly a surprise," Unfazed, Kikimora turns around and was greeted with a decrepit, aged skull, a familiar guest in her mind, "It has been quite a while since we last met like this. To what do I owe this pleasure, Titan?" In her years in the prison, when the nights grow long and the scent of death hung in the air, she would be visited by the Titan of the Isles in her mind, much like their first meeting all those years ago. Deciphering the Titan's meanings from their uttering of a single world has taken some time to learn but Kikimora was patient. Yet, unlike her first meeting, these meetings in the prison were brief with no reveal of images and events of the near future. Instead, they were often turned to lessons of the lost magics, the scribing of glyphs. She has learned much under the Titan's tutelage, extensively memorizing the vast arrays of glyphs the Titan has shown her, but she hasn't had opportunity to use it until now. Hopefully, it will be enough to get Luz back home.

TiMe

"Time for what exactly?" Kikimora looks at the skull curiously, crossing her arms as she begins to think, "The only thing that I know that is urgent is making sure we find a way to travel across realms again as the portal door didn't work."

LuZ

"And what do you want with her, Titan," She questions, her tone sharp with warning, "I hope that you aren't thinking of doing something with her. She already suffered enough as it is.

daNgEr

"I am very much aware that she is in much danger here, Titan," Kikimora states, "The Boiling Isles is no place for a witch to roam freely, no less a human. That doesn't even take into account that once Belos knows that Luz is back on the Isles, he will stop at nothing until he claims her as his. That's why I need to know how to get her back to Earth where she belongs."

KeEP

"Keep? What do you mean by-" Her eyes widen once she the realizes what the Titan meant by the word. Her talons curl into a fist as she tries to control her rising anger against the powerful being, "Don't tell me that you were the one to null the travel through the portal door." Her voice turns ice cold and glares directly into the flame-filled eye sockets of the Titan. She conjures flames in the palm of her hand, something that she learned to do after her first few prison meetings and points it at the skull in her moment of ire.

"I will not allow her to stay in this realm, Titan. You cannot be this foolish or senile to believe that this is the best course of action."

TRaIn

"Is this what all those years in that damnable prison has amounted to? As a tangible reservoir to pass on your teachings of the glyphs to my daughter?" Her flames burn brighter, matching the intensity that hid in the pyre within the Titan's eye, "I may have been scarred in one eye, but I have not been left so blind, Titan. I have seen her drawings in her book. I know what those glyphs are. I've seen the way Luz looked at me when I drew your translocation glyph. It wasn't wonder. It was realization!" She points the now incandescent flame towards the skull, the glow illuminating her scarred eye like a jewel reflecting sunlight.

"She will not be made to be another pawn in some grand scheme, Titan. I already defied one near omnipotent being. I can do so again."

Soon

The world around her swirls back into life, as if her threat went unacknowledged. She nearly stumbles forward, almost losing control of the plate in her hands as she tries to regain her bearings from her talk with the Titan.

'I will not allow her to be placed in unnecessary danger, Titan. This I swear to you.' She calms herself, reigning in the whirl of emotions clouding her mind after her meeting with the Titan. Steeling herself, she puts on a neutral face and knocks on the door.

"Luz, it's Kikimora. I've brought you your food and will place it by the door." She hears no answer.

'How odd.' With the growing silence unnerving her slightly, she knocks on the door once again but this time with much greater force, "Luz, is everything alright in there? Luz?" There was still no answer.

With fear growing in her heart, she swiftly opens the door, "Luz, is everything-," Her stomach drops when she sees that no one was occupying the bed, the messy nest of blankets being the only sign of Luz being there. She quickly scanned the room for any evidence of Luz but there was no sign of her. It was like she disappeared into thin air.

However, there was Eda's defense system laying on the floor, dazed and in the perfect position to help her with Luz's open notebook right next to him.

"You, creature," Kikimora puts down the plate and marches towards Hooty, lashing out her hand and grabbing a handful of feathers under his chin, drawing the avian closer to her, "Where is Luz? Where has she gone?"

"Ohhhh," The detestable bird manages to say, his eyes rolling like stars racing across the night sky, "My head is swirling."

Kikimora shakes Hooty greatly to get him to refocus, "I do not need your nonsense right now, you incorrigible bird. I need you to tell me where Luz is right now, or your head is the least of your worries."

"Ohhhh," Hooty's eyes seems to refocus, gaining back glean of intelligence, "Luz went bye-bye in a bright swirl of lights. Used your drawing thing too."

Kikimora paled once she recognizes what Hooty implied and let's go of Hooty briefly to grab the notebook that laid strewn on the floor. Saying a silent apology to Luz, Kikimora quickly tore a page out from the notebook, being careful to avoid the sheer number of glyphs drawn unto the other pages. Using a stray pencil found on the floor, she swiftly scrawled the translocation glyph and shoved the drawing in Hooty's face.

"Is this what she has drawn?"

"Yeah, that!" Hooty answered, making Kikimora's stomach to fall, "I was saying that it was a summoning thing, but Luz said it was a translocation thingy, whatever that means. I tried to show her that she was wrong, but she stopped me from touching it! And then POOF, a big light blinded me, and Luz wasn't there anymore."

"Oh no," Kikimora's worry grew tenfold; Luz could be anywhere right now on the isles with nothing to defend herself with. The glyph was meant to transport things to a clear destination but if drawn incomplete or roughly, the glyph should have gone haywire and forcing her to be dumped on a random patch of land.

However, her hope was sparked anew when she remembered one crucial thought, "Creature, did Luz happen to wear her crystal necklace around her neck?"

Hooty nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! It was so shiny and pretty! Do you know where I can get one?"

Kikimora breathed a sigh of relief once she hears Hooty utter those words, "Thank you for your assistance, Creature. Your help is much appreciated." She quickly makes her way out of the room, ignoring the babbling talk of Hooty behind her and mentally cursing herself for her ignorance.

'I should have been more careful,' Kikimora grimly thinks, making her way towards the front door, 'I shouldn't have just revealed the glyph to her like that. Now she might be in danger and to add to my misery, the Titan gave her the knowledge of the glyphs. Titan, what have you done?'

"Hey, Kikimora, where are you going in such a rush?" Kikimora turns around to see Eda giving her a curious look, "Woah, what's gotten you so grim looking?"

"It's Luz." That immediately caught Eda's attention, her eyes widened briefly before narrowing in anticipation, "She's missing from her room."

"She's missing? How? Did she just magically disappear or something?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Eda raised an eyebrow at that but Kikimora continued, "But I can track her though. She has a shard of a homunculus crystal on her person and I can track her through that."

"I have so many questions regarding our resident human now that it is almost frightening to me," Eda pinches the bridge of her nose, "For one, how did she disappear because last I checked, humans can't do magic. Secondly, how in the Titan's name did she, a person from Earth, get her hands on an artifact found only on the Boiling Isles."

"Look, its…complicated, Edalyn," Kikimora then looks determinedly at Eda, her eyes filled with purpose as she speaks, "But now is not the time for these questions. I have to find Luz before anything happens."

"Not in your state you're not," Eda steps forward and raises her arm with her hand open, summoning her staff from within the inner workings of the house, "You just got out of prison a few days, didn't you? The Emperor's Coven will probably on high alert, and I don't think that they would be fooled by a name change and a cloak."

"I appreciate your concern, Edayln, but you have no need to concern yourself. You can't stop me; I am going."

"Then it is a good thing that I'm tagging along." Kikimora gives Eda a surprised look, pausing in putting on the large shroud over her head. Eda then gives Kikimora a pointed look, "What? You don't think I'm worried about the kid even after what you told me? Besides, you've been stuck in that prison for years and you could use a refresher on how to evade the authorities."

Kikimora relaxes and gives Eda a weary but grateful nod, "Thank you, Edayln. You have no idea how grateful I am for you doing this."

"Let's just say you owe me more of those trinkets that you got from that little heist of yours. Now, you said you can track Luz through that crystal of hers, right?"

Kikimora nods and conjures a purple spell circle, "Yes, I can track the magic signature found in the crystal but even then, it won't be as accurate as I hope. My…condition prevents me from using magic as well as before."

Eda gives a sympathetic look at the demon, her eyes straying to Kikimora's hands, that were covered and scarred with black tendrils, "You don't have to tell me twice. Not often you see someone use Necromantic magic. Or survive."

"Indeed," Kikimora nods solemnly and lets herself fully concentrate at her task in hand. She focuses, allowing her magic to flow through her and direct it to her goal. Her mind orients itself to track the magic imprint she left on the necklace all those years ago when she gave it to Luz; the necklace Luz may be a shard now, but it should still have some vestiges of her magic left in it.

A small tug on her mind causes her to have her hopes up and allows the magic to fully form an image in her hands. Yet, once the image was fully formed, she groans.

"Of all the places that she could be, why is she there?"

Eda peaks over her shoulder, "What? Is it somewhere danger- OH! Oh. I am both disappointed and surprised."

Kikimora sighs, "Indeed. Come along then, Edalyn. We are going to Hexside."

The flight to Hexside wasn't bad per say, the sky was clear, and the winds were fair, but due to increased surveillance by the members of the Emperor's Coven keeping their eyes open for Kikimora, they had to slow down. They had to twist and turn to avoid guard patrols, delaying them further but they finally managed to land near Hexside, sequestering themselves to the nearby forest.

"Tell me again why we didn't use that glyph of yours that got Luz into this mess," Asks Eda, clearly annoyed and starting to regret in joining Kikimora's escapades in finding Luz, "Because I feel like that if we used it, we could've saved a lot of time that was spent on flying."

"Because Edalyn, the glyph unfortunately produces large quantities of light when activated, something that will cause a great amount of attention and something that we don't want to happen right now."

"Sheesh, fine." Eda hops off her staff with Kikimora following suit, dusting herself off with an annoyed huff, "Now, does our handy-dandy tracker spell say anything about where she is inside this place? Cause Hexside is a rather big place to look everywhere for."

"Well," Kikimora conjures the spell again, this time forming a set of large, red double doors, "It says that Luz near some set of doors."

"Gee, how helpful," Eda complains. She then leans in to get a closer look, "Wait, aren't those the front doors of the school? Why would she be-" Eda is cut off when the stone masonry shudders, small specks of stones tumbling of the walls as explosions rock the very foundations.

"What is happening?" Eda finds herself talking to the empty air as Kikimora dashes to the front of the school, subtlety now lost as the demon's mind races to rationalize what could cause this.

'The Emperor's Coven? No, they would have set a perimeter around the school. Perhaps Luz drawing glyphs? Maybe, but she must already know that they are magic.' In her pondering, Kikimora finds herself in front of the steps leading to the doors, thankful that the front courtyard was empty save for herself and Eda catching up to her.

"Sheesh, wait up will you." Eda calls out from behind her, "Give me a warning when you decide to run off, will ya? You're not exactly the easiest to follow."

The school shudders once more and Kikimora can hear screams of terror from inside. She was about to rush in until the front doors explode outward with a familiar figure tumbling down the steps and landing on the ground, purple goo and dirt covering the figure's now ruined clothing.

"Luz!" Kikimora cries out, running over to the prone form of Luz and checking for injuries, "Thank the stars that you are okay!"

"Hecate?" Luz says dazedly. She tries to get up with one arm propped on her hat-covered head, "What are you doing here?"

"We were trying to find YOU, of course!" Luz's eyes snap back with realization, her body stilling as Kikimora continues, "Do you have any idea how worried I was when you weren't there in your room and with Hooty on the ground? With your open notebook no less! I thought the worst!"

Luz shrinks at the verbal dress-down, looking away guiltily before she stills, processing what she heard. Her eyes widen and she turns to Kikimora, "So you really do know what my drawings are."

Now it was Kikimora's turn to look taken aback, "Well, yes but now is not the time!"

"I second that," Eda pipes up from behind Kikimora, bringing her staff to bear, "Whatever is going on with you two can be saved once we get away from whatever is causing this mess in Hexside."

Kikimora turns and gives a nod to Eda before looking back at Luz, "This conversation isn't over, Luz. You will explain why you are in Hexside once we arrive safely at Eda's home. Do you understand, Luz?"

Luz lowers her head with dejection, "Yes, Hecate…"

With everyone mounted on the staff, they took off quickly, barely avoiding the oncoming rush of students running out of the building with smoke billowing from the building's interior.

Eda gave a low whistle when she turned her head to witness the rush, "Wow, kid, didn't think you had it in you to tear down a school. Kind of puts me to shame."

"It was kind of an accident?" Luz winces as she tries to curl up into a ball mid-air while still clutching the staff, "I didn't mean to cause any of this though. I just wanted to help someone."

"While admirable, Luz, it was not exactly wise to cause this much damage." Kikimora states, causing Luz to shrink further.

"Take it easy on the kid, Hecate," Eda says, "The kid knows what she did was wrong, so you don't have to remind her about it. Save that until we get back to my place."

"So be it." The three flew in silence as the wind whistled past their ears, the cries and shouts of terrified students quieting as they flew farther and farther from the school.

It was about the halfway through their journey when Luz decided to speak.

"Hey, Hecate," She says it quietly, "Can I ask you something?"

Kikimora taps Eda on her shoulder, silently conveying the need for privacy before turning her head to Luz, "Yes, Luz? What do you want to ask?"

"Is it okay if I go to Hexside to, y'know, study magic and stuff?" Luz looks awkward as she rubs the side of her arm, "I just…I know I can't cast magic, but I want to find a way back home too. I kinda figured that a magic school is the best place to learn about it so," Luz at Kikimora hesitantly, "Can I please go to Hexside, Hecate?"

Kikimora hesitates in her answer, a rising tide of emotion ebbing and flowing through her as she debates with herself. It was only a few moments later until she gives an answer.

"I'm sorry, Luz, but no, you can't go."

hr

Luz stares into the darkened horizon glumly, her body slouched as looks out from her window.

'Stupid weather.' Luz complains in her head as she witnesses the countless droplets of boiling rain sizzling as they make contact with the environment. She was already in a stupor from three days ago, when Hecate rejected her offer to go to Hexside. The weather certainly wasn't helping her mood.

'Why didn't Hecate want me to go to the school? I just wanted to help them.' Luz crossed her arms and slouched further into the windowsill, 'And I'm still not any closer to figure out these glyphs.' Luz tried to ask Hecate about the glyphs in her notebook and how the demon knows them, but Hecate declined to answer, citing it was for another time.

So, Luz is now mulling over her options. Does she continue to draw her glyphs, knowing that she could accidently cause a black hole, or does she continue to bug Hecate for answers?

Before she could mull it over any further, she spots from the corner of her eye Hecate walking calmy through the rain with an orange barrier surrounding the demon. She snaps to attention, wondering why Hecate would go outside at this terrible time. She soon got her answer when Hecate turns briefly towards Luz, Luz was able to spot something that was clutched in her hands.

'Flowers? Why does she have flowers?' Luz was puzzled over her discovery. Hecate was holding a small bouquet of colourful flowers that was wrapped in a demure purple cloth of binding. The demon was holding the bouquet closely to her chest as Hecate made her way into the forest.

'Where is she going?' Luz wonders, pausing briefly before quickly writing in the margin of her journal to remind herself to talk to Hecate.

Once she finished writing it down, she lets out a brief yawn, feeling a sudden weight come down on her as her eyes struggle to stay open, 'Maybe a quick nap can do me some good?' She soon makes her way to her bed and lays down, the grasps of her sleep quickly taking her in its embrace.

Luz NocEdA

Luz quickly opens her eyes and bolts upright, seeing her entire world crumble into dust before her and revealing the dark mindscape housing the Ancient Skull she met only once before.

And staring right in front of her was the Skull looming over her, its flames staring straight into Luz's soul.

WeLCoME

"Uh, hello?" Luz says hesitantly as she tries to get used to the feeling of weightlessness around her. "C-Can I help you? D-Do you need something?"

The skull creaks with movement, its mouth moving with soundless words. She can see specks of dark-coloured dirt crumble off the worn-looking skull and the fire in its eyes flickers before the world around her rumbles with noise and power.

pRePArE

"Uh, prepare for what, Mr…Scary…Skull…Thing…?" Luz asks hesitantly, making herself smaller with each word she says to the skull, "Prepare to go home? Prepare for the new day? Prepare for what?

LiGhT

The skull's mouth opens and an image flies through the gaping hole, stopping only in front of her. Once she looks down and sees the image, she is taken aback at how this one was easily recognizable with its structured lines and shapes.

"Hey, this is one of my glyphs from my dreams, the one that always appears surrounded by light. How do you know this?" She looks up to the skull, pointing a finger at the image in front of her, "Are you the one that's been sending these?"

Her only answer was the deafening silence that followed her question. Not even the flickering pyres in the skull's eye sockets give any semblance of sound.

"Okay then." She then turns back to the image, "Well, I don't know why you want to show me this. I already drew this several times in my book, but I haven't...really…tested it out." Luz rubs the back of her head as she turns away with embarrassment, "I didn't really know what would happen if I activated it, considering I couldn't really know that what they showed in my dream would be true. Especially after my first, accidental activation with that translocation glyph."

Luz pauses in her ramblings and adopts a thinking pose, her eyebrows knotted with thought, "Wait, is this what you meant? Prepare this glyph? I don't know why I should listen to you though as I don't really trust you. I don't even know if you're really real."

Luz was snapped from her thoughts when the world around her rumbled, something eerily reminiscent to the time when the tower, her home on Earth, crumbled to the ground.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING!"

DANGER

Luz snaps back awake, the black miasma of her surroundings disappearing as she tries to blink awake. However, she was greeted not with the familiar brown wood of her room's ceiling.

But with a creature snarling with a pale array of sharp teeth, and with eyes filled only with the black void.

"AAGH!" She instinctively swings her fist, blindsiding the creature and causing it to recoil. Taking her chance, she scrambles out of her bed and runs out of her room, hoping to escape this dreadful creature.

'Crap, crap, crap, crap!' Luz immediately ducks into a nearby empty but open room, locking the door behind her. She feels the fear setting in as she buckles to the floor and lies with the back to the door, stifling her breath so that the creature can't hear her, 'What was that? How did it get inside the house? Does Eda know about this?'

A sudden cluttering of noise almost causes her to shriek in fear, making her whirl to the source of the noise at the back of the room. However, from the dark shadows of the room emerges a friendly sight for the terrified girl, a skull-masked demon carrying a bag filled with bottles of golden liquid.

"King!" Luz quietly yells as she lunges and wraps the little demon in a hug, "Oh, thank God you are okay. The creature didn't get hurt you, did it?"

"No, Luz, I'm fine. Now please let go before you crush my tiny face!" Luz loosens her grip, allowing King to scamper and perch himself on Luz's shoulder, "Alright, that's better."

"Okay, that's good to hear but do you know how to stop this creature? Or at least fight it?"

"Well," King scratches a talon on his chin, "It had pitch-black eyes, right? Demons with those are typically sensitive to light. If we can stun it with light, I can toss these elixirs to clam it down. Do you have anything in your meager human belongings that can summon a lot of light?"

"No, I-," Luz pauses, realization setting in as she stands up quickly, "I-I think I do actually. I'm not sure it can work but its our best bet."

King looks at her worriedly, "Are you sure about that? We don't really have any other chances."

"Just trust me, King," Luz clutches tightly the necklace around her neck, the familiar hardness of her mother's gift giving her a sense of calm, "I just need to get to my room."

King gulped, "Okay. Let's do this."

Quietly, Luz opens her door and peeks her head out and, after seeing that there was no sign of the beast, silently makes her way to her room with King tightly holding on to her person. As she nears her room, she hears no sound coming from inside, so she peaks her head in, breathing a sigh of relief when nothing was inside.

"Okay, we're in your room," King whispers, "Where to now?"

"To my desk. It should still have some of my supplies there." Luz keeps her breath even, her footsteps silent amongst the floorboards as she makes her way to her messy desk. However, luck was not on their side as once Luz reached her desk, a piercing wail cried out from behind them. Turning around, Luz can see the hulking from of the beast at her doorframe, snarling with bared teeth.

"Hurry, Luz! Do your thing while I distract it!" In a fit of bravery fit for the king of demons, King leapt off her shoulder and towards the beast with bag in tow.

Biting back a response and with worry filling her stomach, Luz turns back to her desk and scrambles for a piece of free paper and a pencil.

'C'mon, c'mon, you've drawn this like a million times already. Hurry!' Luz hurriedly sketches the glyph that both her dreams and the Skull has shown her. In her rush to complete it, she crudely drawing the shapes making up the glyph and makes some errors in the details, but she has no time to fix them.

"Weh!" With that pained cry, Luz turns around, glyph in hand, just in time to see King laying on the ground clutching his head and the creature with its arm raised to strike the blow.

"Look out!" With no hesitation, Luz places herself in front of King and stares down the creature. In the fraction of a second that she places herself in front of the creature, she brushes her crudely drawn glyph with her thumb and the world exploded in a bright, harsh light. The light was nothing like her dreams where once there was the gentle embrace of her dreams was now the harsh radiance of reality illuminating the room with it's incandescence.

WRAAGH!

In a last act of defiance, the beast lashed out, striking Luz with a force of a freight train and sending her flying across the room. She crashes onto the hard wall and crumples to the floor, feeling the world slip away until she blacks out.

hr

"Mama, where are we going?"

"Don't worry, Luz. We are just going on a little field trip, don't worry."

hr

"Luz? Luz, are you alright? Can you hear me?" A muffled sound comes from her side. She tries to recognize the voice but the pain pulsing from her head is acting like a shroud covering her judgement. She tries and she tries but any attempt to listen was met with a painful surge coursing through her head. She attempts to open her eyes, but the encroaching pain forces her to keep it closed. However, she can still sense that someone was beside her, watching her as she wakes up.

"Mama? Is that you?" Luz says quietly, the words slipping out in her delirium of pain. She can feel something shift and she can feel something rugged clutch her hand gently.

"I…I'm here for you, Luz."

"Oh…Okay…" Luz whispers as she soundly drifts back to the soft bliss of deep sleep, relaxing as she falls further and further into her dreams.

When she woke up, it's a shame that she couldn't remember the voice that was beside her.

hr

"Luz, go to your room."

"But-,"

"No buts! We will talk later. Right now, I need to talk with Eda." Luz sulks as she lays her head low and walks up the stairs to her room. Kikimora then turns her attention to Eda who was paying particular attention to her mug of Appleblood, "Care to explain yourself, Edalyn?"

"Explain what exactly?" Eda tries to feign ignorance, but her passive mask of emotion was not fooling someone who lived as a spy for the Emperor.

"You are not fooling anyone, Edalyn." Kikimora's face was filled with an uncharacteristic anger as she points an accusatory talon at the grey-haired witch, "Why on the Titan's name did you think it was a good idea to bring her to this year's Covention? That place is a veritable swarm of Emperor's Coven members."

Eda places down her mug on the table and gives a sigh, "Yeah, I know it was going to be filled to the brim with witches, but can you blame me? I wanted to do something for the kid after I knocked her out by accident when I was in my cursed form. Figured that this was something to bring her out of the dumps."

Kikimora can feel her anger fade away and was filled in with a sense of weariness, causing her to sag her shoulders and sit down on a nearby chair pinching the bridge of her nose, "I…I know, Edalyn, and I thank you for it but there must have been something else that you could've done that doesn't amount to exposing yourself like that."

"Well," Eda scratches the back of her head, "I don't really know, myself. Don't really have much to do around here except brew potions and sort through the veritable mountain of garbage I have. Don't think the kid would like that for long."

Kikimora let's out a breath of acceptance, "I…I understand. Just make sure that this doesn't happen again. I can only hope that you two didn't cause any trouble while I was gone," Kikimora then gets out her chair and makes her way to the stairwell, missing Eda's widening eyes, "I'm going to talk to Luz. We may be long so please help yourself to the food in the fridge." With that, Kikimora makes her way up the stairs, forcing her to confront the veritable stonewall in front of her.

Taking a breath, Kikimora knocks on Luz's door. "Come in," She can hear Luz weakly say as she opens the door and enters. She sees Luz wrapped in blankets and facing the wall, breathing a bit erratically as if on the verge of tears.

"Luz, I-"

"I'M SORRY!" Luz's outburst catches Kikimora by surprise. Luz's body shivers under the blankets as her voice cracks from her shame, "I'm sorry that I went out with Eda and to the Covention. I'm sorry for not following what you said before. I'm sorry." Kikimora's heart breaks as she hears Luz on the verge of tears and from the words pouring out of her.

"I'm sorry, Hecate, for doing that. It won't happen again." Luz sniffs as she curls herself inward, not bothering to look at Kikimora as her shame was too much to bear.

"Luz," Kikimora says gently, startling Luz from her hold who was no doubt expecting a much harsher voice, "You don't have to cry. You're not the one at fault here."

"B-But," Luz shoots up from her bed and spins around so that she looks at the demon, "I went against your warnings and went to the thing with Eda. I thought you would be mad at me for doing that, Hecate."

Kikimora let's out a sigh and sits down on the nearby chair, "To be perfectly honest, Luz, I was mad." Luz deflates once she hears Kikimora say those words, but the demon continues, "I was mad that you put yourself in unnecessary danger by exposing yourself to that many people."

"Wait, was? You're not mad at me now?"

"No, not anymore. Luz looks like a weight was lifted from her shoulders once Kikimora said that, "Once I had my small talk with Eda, I realized that I was more worried that you could've been hurt. I'm sorry for acting like that, Luz. I was just looking out for your won well-being."

"I see," Kikimora looks to see Luz mull something over, biting the corner of her mouth before the girl pipes up again, "Why are you so concerned about me anyway? I get that you want me to keep safe, but this feels a bit much. Why are you protecting me like this?"

Kikimora pauses at her words, her mind a hurricane of activity as she tries to find the best way to answer this, but her guilt gives in and she gives the best answer that she could.

"I…I think its time to tell you something very important. But not here. Please, Luz, follow me.

hr

"Where are we going, Hecate?" Luz stumbles her way through the thick foliage of leaves of branches, barely able to keep pace with the demon in front of her who was walking without hindrance, "This place seems a bit far from Eda's house. Are you sure this is okay?"

"It will be fine, Luz. I can promise you that," Hecate states, deftly moving through another set of bushes. In one of her hands, the same bundle of flowers that Luz has seen Hecate carry during the day with the boiling rain was clutched tightly. The vibrant flowers giving a stark contrast to the purple paper that was bundling them together.

After a few short minutes more, Hecate stops, "We're here."

When Luz caught up to Hecate, she gasped with her eyes sparkling with wonder, "Woah."

In front of the duo was an aged pillar surrounded by creeping roots and weeds, the stone worn from the passage of time. The pillar was about as tall as her, the stone shaped into an obelisk like some monuments back home on Earth. Oddly, there were no marks or signs of damage from the boiling rain and there was nothing to denote an identity save for an aged carving of a blooming flower.

There was a small tug in her mind; this place felt familiar, but she couldn't understand why.

"Is this what you wanted to show me?" Luz asks, turning her head to the now sullen-looking demon.

"Yes." That was all Luz received as an answer. There was something in Hecate's voice, something that sounded like regret intertwined with guilt. With the short time that Luz has known Hecate, she hasn't seen the demon like this before. Just what is this place?

"Come, Luz." The demon beckons as she walks closer to the pillar, stopping just in front of the obelisk's base. Luz stayed close behind, not wanting to be far apart from Hecate and the sense of security she feels when she is close to the demon.

"What are we doing here though?"

"To pay my respects." Hecate then kneels, placing the flowers neatly on the base of the monument. Her eyes were closed in silent contemplation and her breathing slows, much like Luz's mind as Hecate's words sink in.

'This is a grave…' Luz feels something twist in her stomach as she takes a spot beside Hecate, kneeling on the ground as she mirrors the posture of the demon. She begins to fidget and clasps her crystal necklace, feeling the stone's warmth course through her fingers.

"I'm sorry, Hecate," Luz starts. She looks down to the ground racked with guilt, her long hair acting as a shroud covering her face as she clutches the hem of her shirt, "I didn't know-"

"It's okay, Luz," Hecate places a hand over Luz's hand, the warmth of the demon's hand contrasting the encroaching cold creeping up her fingers, "You do not need to feel sorry. You had nothing to do with this."

"Oh." She then looks up at the gravestone, her heart twisting at the sight of the flower, "Were you close with them?"

Hecate let's out a small, tired sigh, "Not exactly. I barely knew the woman."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes. But she was the reason for who I am today."

Luz turns to her head, perplexed at Hecate's words, "What do you mean?"

"She…She showed me something else than the life I used to live. I must confess, Luz, but back then, I wasn't a good person. I…did things that I'm not proud of."

"But you stopped, right? With her help?"

"Not for a long time, Luz." Hecate looks down in shame, staring at the bouquet of flowers fluttering in place from the wind.

"So then how did she help you?"

"By giving me a purpose other than what I was trained for. I lost so much after, but I don't regret a single thing afterwards." There was a shimmer in Heacate's eyes as she continues to speak, as if the very words were sparking long held emotions hidden away in the very corners of the mind.

Luz shuffles closer to Hecate, turning so that she can fully see the demon, "What did you do?"

Hecate hesitates for a brief moment, "I…I took care of her daughter. I raised the child as my own." Luz gasps at the revelation, taken aback by the implication of the said words. Hecate continues albeit with some struggle in her voice, "She lost her life trying to protect the young infant. I…I was there to witness her last moments, but the mother promised me to make sure her daughter was safe."

"Why did she lose her life?" There was a brief moment of anger that tinged in her voice, an anger controlled by clutching her shirt tightly with her other hand, "It sounds like she didn't deserve to die."

"She didn't, Luz. That's why I'm worried for you," Hecate then turns her full attention to the girl, "The mother was…different than other witches. She couldn't cast any magic, so she was targeted and murdered because of it."

"That's horrible! That's just…wrong!" Luz strikes the ground with anger, seething with emotion as she thinks of the stolen future that the mother could've had.

Hecate gives a solemn nod, "It is. That's why I am afraid of you being discovered, Luz. If witches find out that you can't cast magic, then they will harm you in ways I cannot even fathom. Especially if they also find out that you are a human."

"That's why I acted like that when you returned from the Covention, one of the biggest gathering of witches on the Isles. So, promise me, Luz, that you will be more careful from now on?"

"I…," Luz thinks back of what happened earlier. The cascading sounds of the crowd roaring in approval as she fought Amity. The boos of realization when they found the witch unknowingly cheated from a power boost stemming from her mentor, Eda's sister. She remembers the look of betrayal Amity had when the witch found out. If witches hold their honour of casting magic to that high regard, then what would they do to her?

"I promise."

"Thank you, Luz." Hecate then let's go of her hand and stands up, turning and walking away from the gravestone.

"Come, Luz. We stayed too long. It's time to head home."

hr

"Excuse me, Hecate? Can I ask you a favour?"

Kikimora looks up from her magical research to see Luz at her door rubbing her foot on the ground and not looking directly at her, "Of course, Luz. What do you need?"

Luz then shyly walks over and hands her a pair of shears, "I…I'm wondering if you can cut my hair for me. I'm not very good at it and I'm not sure I can trust Eda with cutting my hair."

Kikimora curiously looks at her, "But then why ask me to cut it? I could cast a spell to change it anyway you like."

"Yes, well," Luz looks down, her face red with embarrassment, "I…want to spend more time with you. And I trust you."

"Oh," Kikimora's heart flutters at the words and a wide smile was threatening to spill from the corner of her mouth, "Then I shall see what I can do. I did have to cut my adoptive daughter's hair from time to time so I should be able to make do."

For anyone that walked by one of the rooms of the Owl House, there was a strange sight that would cause anyone to have a double take. A demon and a human, chatting cheerfully and warmly as if they've known each other for a long time. The sounds of scissors expertly cutting through hair could be heard underneath the conversations held between the two.

Yet, the conversation took an interesting turn when Luz asked a certain question, "Hecate, can you tell me more about your daughter? You don't have to tell me though if you're uncomfortable."

Kikimora stops, the shears in her hand forgotten as she looks down at Luz from the mirror in front of them. When the snipping stops, Luz glances up and her mouth tumbles out with apologies but Kikimora silenced her with a raised hand, "It is fine, Luz. I can tell you about the daughter I raised. What do you want me to tell you?"

Luz then gives a thoughtful look, "Well, can you tell me what she's like?"

Kikimora gives a soft chuckle, "She is an energetic child who can't help but brighten the room that she enters. I think you would've liked her, Luz. You two have much in common."

Luz lets out a small laugh, "Stop, you don't mean that! We can't be that similar."

A small smile crept up on Kikimora's face, "Really? Well, my daughter couldn't keep herself out of trouble. She kept playing pranks and did mischief-making around the house when she was younger."

"She sounds like a handful."

"You have no idea, Luz. There was one time where I couldn't get her to eat everything and she just tossed everything to the floor."

Luz gasps in mock surprise, "That fiend."

Kikimora laughs, "She was a demon, alright. I thought I would rip my hair out from the girl's stubbornness. But," Her face softens when the sounds of a laughing Luz rings in her mind, "She slowly crept her way into my heart."

"Do you know where she is now? I kind of want to her now!"

Kikimora pauses, silent for a few good moments before looking at Luz with sadness in her eyes, "I…I had to send her far away from here. Things were getting too dangerous for me to keep her here, so we tried to leave."

Luz looks at Kikimora with sympathy in her eyes. Softly, she says, "Do you know where she is now?"

Kikimora looks at Luz, her stomach twisting at the words, "I do. But I can't meet here yet. It's still too dangerous for the both of us. There are people after us and I couldn't let them get their hands on my daughter." She stretches out her scarred hands and squeezes them into a fist, "So I did what I could for my daughter and stopped anyone from reaching her. Even if it caused me to have great pain, I take solace in the fact that my daughter lives."

Luz gives a sympathetic smile, "I'm sure she will understand."

Kikimora gives a small nod and with one final snip, she gives a confirming hum, "We are done, Luz. Look."

"Woah, it's so pretty…" Luz stands up from her seat and marvels at the image of her hair reflected from the mirror, shortened and styled like a pixie cut. She gives a wide, bright smile and turns around, wrapping her arms around Kikimora with a warm hug.

"Thank you, Hecate! It's perfect!" She let's go and rushes out of the room. However, she then pops her head by the door frame, "Thanks again! Also, I hope that you get to see your daughter again once everything's all done!" Before Kikimora can reply, Luz dashes out, her footsteps thundering in the halls.

Kikimora releases a small sigh before giving a weary smile, "Oh, Luz. I already have."

hr

Luz tosses and turns, restless in her bed as she struggles to stay asleep. A small coat of sweat was covering her forehead as her breathing becomes laboured.

This was no dream or hallucination.

This was a nightmare.

Her mind screams like a Banshee's wail, echoing in distress as her mind tries to cope.

There were flashes of images coursing through her mind, but they did not come with the gentleness found from the Ancient Skull. No, they struck with the force of a hammer striking the walls of her mind.

The constant whispers and yells from these images continue to wear down her walls. The screams of pain echo in concert with her agony. She tries with all her might, but she can't seem to will them away.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU BITCH!"

"There is much more work to do for the Day of Unity and we must not delay."

"It seems that you are having some difficulties."

I. See. You

The last one echoes in the recesses of her mind, rising from a small whisper to a cacophony of discordant sounds. There was image rising from the depths, one of a withered man perched on a golden throne with his blue eyes staring right at her. And above him was a large, rotting, green heart pumping with every second.

It was at this moment that she wakes up with a scream.

There was no one to comfort her this time. No one to come to her aid. It was deathly quiet. She looks around and realizes this wasn't her room. Where once there was wooden walls was replaced with layers upon layers of brick and mortar piled on top of each other.

I see we finally meet, Luz.

Luz whips her head at the sound and sees a figure cloaked in a dirtied robe standing just in front of her. She opens her mouth to scream but to her horror, no sound comes out. She couldn't speak.

My apologies for meeting like this, Luz, but I had no other choice. Forgive me for my lack of discretion.

Luz eyes the figure with caution. Every movement, every step the figure took was met with sharp eyes filled with warning.

You do not need to be afraid of me, Luz. I come bearing a gift to you.

The figure conjures a staff into existence, one made not from wood like Eda's staff, but one made of metal. The staff crackles with energy as an orb of energy rises from the orb on the top of the staff.

I come bearing answers to the questions you seek, Luz. One where I can give you a way back to your home. Does that sound appealing to you?

Luz hesitates, thinking back to the promise she made to Hecate. Yet, the corrupting feeling of desperation was clawing at her to accept it. The thoughts in her mind were at war at themselves, trying to reason and fight each other to find out the best course of action.

She nods.

Good…

The figure points their staff at her, making the orb fly to her, stopping just in front of her.

Place your hands on it and all will be revealed.

Hesitantly, she places a hand on the orb. A sudden rush of energy courses through her body as her body is racked in pain. She opens her mouth in a silent scream and her back was arched from the onslaught of images rampaging through her mind.

It…It was too much. Things were flying past her at a great pace, but she recognizes all of them. It was like a dam was broken in her mind, the memories flowing through her like a great flood.

She remembers.

And she feels betrayed.

Good. You finally remember everything.

Luz looks up, anger still on her face as she stares directly at the figure. She can feel her mind warp from the intrusion of memories, of the poison that leeched from their existence.

The figure raises a mechanical-like hand to her.

I know of your newfound anger. I can help you get revenge. I can teach you how to use the magic given to you, something that your caretakers are refusing to do. I only ask you to accept this offer and we will begin.

Luz looks down at the hand and back at the figure.

hr

"Luz, why are you in such a hurry?" The said girl stayed silent, uncharacteristically so, as both Kikimora and Luz made their way to the stone obelisk that served as a reminder of Camila's sacrifice.

"The marker is not going anywhere. There is no reason for you to rush to go there." In a strange reversal of events, it was Luz who was leading the way with Kikimora trailing behind. The girl was walking in a brisk pace, her eyes staring forward but lacking the mirth that were usually held.

"We're here." Luz utters flatly, her face lacking any sense of emotion. The stone obelisk was in front of them, unchanged from their last visit.

Kikimora's pit of worry grew deeper as she turns confront Luz, "Is everything alright, Luz? Is something the matter?"

"Oh, everything is alright, my dear Kikimora."

Before she could react, a red gout of concentrated flame strikes her on her side, knocking her away hissing in pain.

"Come now, Kikimora. I trained you better than that. Has your time in the prison dulled your senses?"

The crunch of dirt signals someone stepping closer, "Or is it Hecate now?"

Hearing the familiar venom of words come to existence, Kikimora looks up defiantly and sees one of nightmares come true, "Belos."

"The one and only, Kikimora." The grandiose figure clad in white and gold robes steps forward, his staff humming in familiar power. She could feel her burn scars itch from recognition as Belos conjures a small flame in his hand, "To be quite honest, you were astonishingly easy to track. It was like you weren't even trying. How unbecoming."

Kikimora ignores the obvious jabs and gets up, clutching her scorched side with one hand and conjuring a spell circle with the other. She turns her head to Luz, only to see the girl still in place.

"Luz, you must leave!" She shouts, desperation in her voice, "This man is far too dangerous! Get out of here!" However, her stomach falls when Luz stays in place, her face devoid of emotion but her eyes were filled with hate.

"Luz?"

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" A cold revulsion and shock develop in her chest as she sees Belos walks towards Luz and stands beside her, one of his mechanical hands clasping Luz's shoulder, "To think the Emperor's Chief Assassin and Spy could stoop so low."

"What have you done to her!?" Shouts Kikimora, her hand primed to cast a spell but unwilling to do so, or lest her daughter be caught in the crossfire, "What have you done to Luz!?"

"Nothing, my dear. Nothing at all." Belos' grip on Luz's shoulder tightens but it causes no discomfort to Luz, "It was all. On. You."

Kikimora was taken aback, her break in concentration causing her spell to fizzle away, "W-What?"

"You lied to me…" Luz whispers but the words were like a dagger to Kikimora's heart.

"You lied to me!" Luz says even louder, wrenching herself from Belos' grip to walk closer to Kikimora but still keeping a distance away, "That was my mother that died that day! Not some random witch, my MOTHER!"

"I…," Kikimora was at a loss to what to say, the rage in Luz's face causing her to stumble, "I wanted to tell you but-"

"BUT WHAT!?" Luz shouts defiantly as she points a finger at her, "I know what you were doing that day. YOU LEFT HER TO DIE!"

"She was already far to gone, Luz. Please understand!" Kikimora pleads but they fall on deaf ears as Luz shakes her head.

"BULLSHIT! YOU COULD'VE HELPED HER!" Luz then rips her crystal necklace from her neck and lets it dangle from her hand as she continues, "Do you know how hard it feels to know that everything you knew was a lie? DO YOU!?" There were tears in Luz's eyes as she forces herself to continue.

"Because I do now. I was forced to watch and see my life unfold as a lie. I was forced to see my real mother die while you try to murder me and then kidnap to shape me into something. Tell me that was a lie, Hecate. TELL ME THAT WAS A LIE!"

"I…"

And my mother that I knew back on Earth? I learned it was a fake YOU sent after me. Belos showed me the truth, I saw the mother I knew crumple into dust and stone when I went into this realm! NOW THERE IS NO ONE LEFT FOR ME BACK ON EARTH NOW! BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"Luz, please understand I-"

"NO!" Luz shouts, "I will not have you ruin what I have left. Especially since you tried to leave to escape with me long ago."

"I did it to protect you!"

"From what? The bandits that were hunting for you?"

"Bandits?" That takes Kikimora aback before her eyes widen sharply, "Luz, there were no bandits when I left. It was-"

"LIES! ALL LIES!" Luz throws the crystal necklace at Kikimora's feet, the once lustrous gleam now only reflecting a dull glow. Kikimora picks it up carefully in her hands and looks up to see Luz giving a sneer and turning her back to Kikimora.

"I'm done with you, Kikimora. Goodbye."

"Luz, no!" Kikimora tries to run after Luz but she was soon wrapped with magic bindings from several Emperor's Coven members lying in wait in the surrounding overgrowth. She was soon apprehended and stood upright with several members flanking her. She also has the unfortunate view of seeing Belos walk towards Luz and clasp his steely hand on her once again.

"Very good, Luz. Now, can you be a dear and do the honours?" Kikimora could only open her mouth in horror as Luz takes out a translocation glyph. She clasps it between her hand and, with a bright light and lurch, causes a change in location.

With a thud, Kikimora soon finds herself alone in a steel cage without her bindings. She quickly looks around, noticing the stone-walled room with her guards no longer beside her. She manically twists and turns to see any sign of Belos or Luz, but she could find no sign of any of them. Rather, she sees rows upon rows of stone statues in various positions with horrified expressions dotting their various faces. Her eyes then finally land on the final stone statue at the very end of the hall; three maidens with hands clasped in prayer with a green orb above their heads. At an unheard command, all three of their eyes glow in an ominous light.

She collapses in defeat and exhaustion, the necklace that was clutched in her hand giving no sense of security.

She knows what's about to happen.

As if mocking her, Belos' words echo in the chamber, bouncing off the walls in a rising resonance of volume.

We'll take good care of you.

Her vision was then filled with a blinding green glow.

---

Author's Note: The end :D

Nope! Congratulations everyone, you're getting another chapter and an epilogue chapter! I hope you will stick with me and this story in the coming months! So, if you guys like the chapter, please revies, leave favourite/follows, and whatnot cause it really motivates me and gives me a smile when I see you guys like my story.

Until next time!