SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 BELOW
Hollow Mind, huh? I feel like I need to remind you lot that I'm already diverging far away from Canon, especially with the Coven Heads and the way I'm working the Magic system too. That's not to say that the in-show events won't eventually happen, things are different, backstories and backgrounds are all different, and some people don't exist here, so my story isn't terminated. I mean, Belos isn't a psychopathic Human racist Witch Hunter either here (And I'll explain why that is too but not yet, you'll just have to wait.)
A lesser author would crumble under the stress, I and my friend are just excited for what's to come, so no, I'm not going back to square one. All my squares are in place and perfect position.
Anyhow,
Welcome to this in-between chapter. Please, enjoy and remember, everything is only for fun, so don't too much thought into things.
Eda smiled at Luz, bringing over the giant sack of potion material.
"Remember what I taught you before?" Eda asked the young Princess.
"When pickpocketing, always go for their front, because that's where their coin purse is," Luz said with a nod.
Eda rolled her eyes hard enough that she could've sworn that they were going to come out of her head.
"Hardee-har. You know I mean about potions," She said, chopping Luz on the head, "Tell me, what did I teach you before?"
Luz rubbed her head with a tsk, pulling out her journal and flipping to the page she was being quizzed on.
"You don't need much to any magic to make them… All potions are ranked from 0 to 5. 3-5 being illegal to make by my father's orders because using them is super dangerous, depending on the potion." She said, looking up at Eda.
Eda smiled, nodding.
"First time I've seen note-taking come in handy…" She said with a nod, "Today, we're going to focus on making some simple and easy ice potions."
"Are they complicated to make?" Luz asked as Eda opened the potion material bag.
"I don't think so, then again, I've been making them for years so I may be at an advantage."
Eda reached in, beginning to list ingredients.
"Eye of newt," She said, to which Luz corrected her.
"Those are seeds?"
"Toe of Frog," She went on.
"Those are leaves?"
"Wool of bat,"
"Is that moss?"
"Tounge of Dog,"
"That's a tooth!"
"Adder's fork,"
"That's a violet!"
"Blind worm's sting,"
"More leaves!"
"Lizard's leg,"
"Even MORE leaves!"
"And finally, Howlet's Wing!" Eda finished, placing the final ingredient on the counter of the Owl House's Kitchen.
"That's garlic!" Luz said, exasperated, "These just look like a lot of Human ingredients, Eda…" Luz then picked up the garlic, looking it over, "I mean, I used to eat this all the time back home…"
Eda gave her a terrified look, slipping on a six-fingered, yellow latex human glove, grabbing the garlic, putting it back down, and drawing a spell circle, sealing the garlic in a glass container and rubber lid.
"You sure Humans aren't some kind of offshoot of demons or some other kind of monster?" Eda asked, "Because the only thing that can scarf this stuff down are vampires."
Luz gave her a look.
"You're… You're joking…"
"Not at all, Howlet's Wing is toxic to Witches and most demons! I think King can eat the stuff too, gotta hide it from him sometimes, it upsets his stomach if he eats too much," She said with a chuckle.
Luz hummed at that and pulled out her journal.
"Note to self, two theories have been presented at this time… Either, Human realm vampires exist and have lied to humans about their weakness to garlic for hundreds of years… Or Humans got the lore wrong…" She said to herself, writing her thoughts down, "Ask Dad for more information later…" She closed her journal, looking back at Eda.
"Well, Eda, I can at least confirm, that our local Princess won't be keeling over from garlic anytime soon, at least." She said with a smile.
Eda chuckled.
"You continue to be full of surprises… Now, back to the lesson," She turned back to the counter, "While these are some of the most common and basic ingredients, they won't make anything special on their own. Combining all of these just makes such a low-level healing potion, that it couldn't even seal a cut."
Luz looked on curiously.
"If that's the case, why use any of this stuff if stronger stuff exists?" She asked.
Eda snapped her fingers, smiling at Luz.
"That's what I love to hear, but let me tell you a story, Princess-"
"Luz," She corrected.
"Whatever," Eda rolled her eyes, "When I was younger, I thought the same thing, but I had a mentor who taught me that even the weakest ingredient can make the strongest potions."
Luz gasped in shock.
"You had a mentor?"
Eda smiled and nodded.
"Of course I did, all this sweet sweet knowledge came from somewhere, you know." She said, flipping her hair, "She's a witch that your old man's Coven can't even hope to get near, there's wild magic and then there's Her."
"What was her name!?" Luz asked with starry eyes.
Eda smiled, rolling her eyes.
"Alright, Alright, let's relax," She said, ruffling Luz's hair, "Her name was the Great Baba Yaga!"
Luz's eyes seemed to widen even further as if they were turning into flying saucers.
"SHE'S REAL!?" She shouted, a sudden pulse of magic emanating from her and making the ingredients levitate around the kitchen.
Eda placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Kid, calm down, take a breath and settle your magic."
Luz stood straight and held her hands and breathed, deciding that now was a perfect time to practice lowering the level of her magic slowly, instead all at once, and to her credit, Luz was able to lower everything slowly at first, but, suddenly, they all fell at once, some things clattering but nothing was broken yet thankfully.
"So, wait, you're telling me the Baba Yaga was your mentor?"
"Yyyyyup!" She said with a smile, "Taught me how to make a mean potion, how to access my latent abilities and other junk, gave me this old Domus Mactibilis of her," She said with a snort, "Thought I was a chosen one or whatever too…" She said with a laugh.
Luz pulled out her journal.
"First question, what's a Domus Mactibilis?" She asked
"That's what Hooty is," King suddenly said, walking into the kitchen, "A soul, bonded to a structure made of brick and wood, consuming souls and flesh, fueling itself to become even stronger and even more VICIOUS and DEADLY!" King declared, "It's also the scientific name for House Demon, a lot of Demon Land ships have them to act as security systems,"
"And I'm the first one to ever exist!" Hooty said, poking his head in with a smile, turning himself upside down, "Mama is still so mad that the Demon King stole her idea,"
"Hooty, Baba didn't create House Demons," King said with a confused look, "They've been on the Isles and the Demon Lands for centuries, how could she live long enough?"
Eda nodded with a hum.
"He's right, even with how strong Baba was, she can't be that old. Immortality doesn't exist, not without a Sage's power anyway."
"SLANDER!" Hooty shouted, tears going down his face, as he suddenly began to mosh and thrash around the kitchen, "Lies about my Mama!" He said hysterically, beginning to destroy things.
Eda and Luz ducked, while King kept on just side-stepping out of Hooty's rampage, jumping onto the counter and snatching the garlic, laughing like a gremlin at his prize before scampering away.
"KING! Come back here with that Garlic!" Eda shouted, shaking her fist threateningly, before ducking again, "HOOTY!" She yelled, "HOOTY, STOP CRYING! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A LESSON HERE!" She yelled, attempting to get him to calm down but nothing was working, "Alright, I'm left with no choice but to bring out the big guns…"
Luz watched as Eda reached into her hair, searching for something before pulling out a small bird that was chromatically colored and its inner feathers were silver, its beak was golden.
"Oh my gosh, that bird is beautiful…" She said in awe.
"What? They don't have brown birds on earth?"
Luz gave her a look.
"That bird is… Rainbow colored…?" She said.
"What are you talking about, kid? This is a brown bird. As a Clawthorne, I'd know."
"Eda, I'm serious, this is…" She paused, reaching into her bag and pulling out many colored pens, beginning to draw something in her journal, "Alright, what do you see here?" Luz then showed Eda a rainbow she quickly sketched.
"Multiple shades of brown."
Luz raised a brow and scribbled a few separated lines of colors and showed Eda again.
"And this?"
"Red, Green, yellow, blue, purple…"
Luz turned to a new page in her journal and quickly wrote that down.
"Witches can't perceive Chromatic Colors that are bundled closely together, like this bird…" Luz paused her writing and took a picture of the "brown" bird with her scroll, and continued, "Is this just a common condition, or is it unique? Like color blindness? And the bird is hard to find and rare? Could that mean they evolved to hide from Witches and their eyes? Discovering this impairment… So curious…" She commented with a hum, furiously writing in her journal on her discovery.
Eda snapped her fingers, getting Luz's attention back.
"We can talk about this later kiddo, listen, this is a rare brown-"
"Rainbow."
"BROWN bird, super hard to catch on the Isles, it always evades Witches at every moment… But Hooty loves them… They're his favorite…"
Luz gave her a second look.
"What do you mean by that…?" She asked cautiously.
"...HEY HOOTY YOU WANT A SNACK!?" She said quickly, releasing the bird into the air before the Princess could say anything.
"WOULD I!?" Hooty stopped his crying and thrashing, turning and expanding his mouth nightmarishly and shooting toward the poor bird.
"NO!" Luz shouted, jumping higher than expected and catching it and narrowly avoiding getting turned into an owl pellet, "Eda, you can't just feed Hooty birds to make him shut up!" Luz then dodged Hooty's attempt to eat the bird again, holding the feathered friend close to her chest, "Hooty! No!" She said, pointing a glowing finger threatening at him, "I'll do it!"
"But Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuz!" He complained, "They're so tasty…"
"I said no, Hooty, no more bird eating, as Princess, I declare it!"
Hooty groaned, sad he couldn't eat his favorite snack and slumped back into the front door.
Luz sighed in relief and looked around the Kitchen.
"Ugh, Hooty trashed the kitchen and all the potion stuff…" She said with a sigh, going towards the window and releasing the bird, "There you go, safe…" She said with a smile, the rainbow bird tweeted in response at Luz before flying away and back towards the forest.
Luz smiled at that, closing the window before looking towards King who was happily munching on the "toxic" Garlic, being reminded of his nigh acrobatic grace in the kitchen.
"King, how'd you avoid Hooty like that?" She asked.
King took another bite of the garlic and looked up at her.
"A lot of demons have a sixth sense for danger, if you have a tail, it's stronger," He said, swaying his tail for Luz to see it, "As they grow and get stronger, the sense gets stronger and better with practice."
Luz hummed in thought, pulling out her journal and writing that down.
"That's so cool… Do you think that it can be taught?" She asked, curiously.
King hummed at the question, stroking his chin in thought.
"Maybe… It's never been taught before… It'd be doable if you had a tail of some kind."
"Why's that?"
"A tail for a demon is more than a source of balance and…" He cleared his throat, "Mating rituals… It's sometimes used as a source of magic, a lot of demons will hide their tails under clothing, or really powerful Demons will not bother hiding it, like me." He said with a laugh, swaying his tail.
Luz chuckled at that, nodding along as she wrote all of that down.
"Alright…" She stroked her chin in thought, "I wonder if I could form a mental tail of sorts? Or would that be too complicated?" She asked King.
"Yes and no," King said, shaking his head, "As I said, it's more like a sixth sense that most Demons are born with..." He said, swaying his tail around.
"Wait, I just realized, if you could always avoid damage like that, then why do you always get into trouble?" Luz asked, poking him.
King chuckled sheepishly, scratching his neck.
"Believe me, I ask myself that too, it's probably cause I'm still a young demon… My father could never be touched at his peak, no challenger could ever even touch him!"
Eda, now sweeping up the kitchen, snorted at that.
"What? Your pops was a warrior?" She asked.
"The best of the best, only my Mom could ever hope to touch him…" He said with a sad sigh, getting to his feet, "But, I don't want to talk about them! Luz! Come with me! Maybe I can help teach you how to unlock your sixth sense!"
Luz looked towards Eda, unsure for a moment before shaking her head, petting King.
"Not right now, buddy, Eda wanted to show me how to make potions… Maybe later?" She asked with a smile.
King crossed his arms but nodded.
"Fine, reject the teachings of the MIGHTY Demon King! Know this, when your cities are being razed to the ground by my armies, you'll come to ask "Why didn't I take King's lessons…?" Be warned!" He declared.
Luz and Eda both laughed at that, meanwhile, outside, Crow was listening in to them and was resisting the urge to burst in and take out the young Prince then and there for his words.
"Don't do it… Don't do it…" She told herself, clenching her fist as she focused in, "It hasn't happened yet… Just keep watching the Owl Lady…" She sighed, "I wonder what Eagle and Hawk are doing?"
-Across the Isles-
Hawk was currently staring down a demon politician, a horned man who has been campaigning for a democratic Isles, he was making great strides in his goal until the Emperor found out of it and any good royal ensures their seat of power, no matter what the cost.
Hawk and Eagle were sent to watch him until they found sufficient evidence to convict him, not like they needed a reason, it was more like so they could expose him to his supporters and they finally found it in the form of his corruption in many places.
Now, they were confronting him in his office.
"You had a great idea, honestly, but really, what did you think was going to happen?" Hawk asked, lifting her hand and a mechanism activated from her gauntlets, and from it, a dual winged staff with a glowing glass orb extended, and in the center of the orb, a golden light began to glow threateningly.
Eagle came over, having found an old-looking parchment.
"The declaration of independence…" He read out loud before laughing out loud and ripping it up, "No wonder he got this idea, Hawk, he was reading this rubbish…" He said, throwing the pieces behind him.
The politician felt his heart pounding in his chest, both in fear and shock. He didn't even think it would've been possible for the Emperor to have found out about his plans…
"H- How did he…"
Hawk smiled under her mask and tapped her staff on the ground, making him glow and be lifted off the ground and pulled towards her, she held him up by his shirt.
"Don't you know…?" She asked, "The Titan sees all and by extension, so does the Emperor…" She whispered, "Now tell me the absolute truth, I want to hear it…"
"I- I don't know what you're talking about…"
Hawk brought her staff closer to him, the orb glowing brightly, it felt like a sun was being pressed against him.
"I said… The. Truth. Now, before I raze your home with your family in it…"
His eyes widened.
"Y- You wouldn't…"
"I've done so much worse to Demons like you for much less, now, the truth… Or do you want an incentive?" She asked, lifting her staff, causing the curtains in his office to become lit in flames.
"A- Alright! Alright! I admit it! I did everything!"
"Did what?" Hawk asked, looking for clarification.
"I- I stole some-" Eagle drew his sword as a threat, "ALL! I stole ALL of the donations to my cause, I gave them to me and my friends and was using everyone who supported me to push my agenda! I don't care about the people, I just wanted power!" He admitted it all.
Hawk gave a huff, dropping him.
"Your kind are all the same…" She whispered in disgust, looking up, "Did you all hear that?" She asked.
The Politician looked confused, but suddenly, the fire on his curtains went out, and the walls of his office shimmered away, revealing that he was on a stage, in the midst of a crowd. Looking around further, he saw banners with his face on them.
"What in the Abyss…" He hissed suddenly, holding his head as a ringing overcame his head, "I… Never had a family… I was in the middle of a rally for my movement when you two interrupted and…" His face paled, looking towards Eagle, "He put me in an illusion…"
Hawk smirked underneath her mask and pointed.
"Look, it's your adoring fans…"
The politician craned his neck over to look, seeing what were probably hundreds of Witches and Demons, who had been hoping to listen to him to gain a new angle on things but being severely disappointed instead, some were very angry as well. They threatened to climb the stage to strangle him themselves but Hawk rose a wall in response, walking up to the edge of the stage.
"Listen closely and listen well, Witches and Demons," She said, making the politician float to her hands, gripping him by his shirt, looking into his eyes as the eyes of her Hawk mask glowed brightly with her magic.
"Men like this would lead you astray, to the dark and steal your money and make your life a living hell all to line their pockets and to be able to step over your horns and heads." She lifted him, and the entire crowd watched in shock as the politician began to turn to stone at the base of his feet and going up.
"But the Emperor will always guide you all back on the path of light, to Order and Peace, safety and equality…"
The entire crowd watched in shock and awe as the politician was turned to stone before their very eyes, a live petrifaction without a machine… It was unheard of…
Finally, the petrification was complete, and the politician had a face, forever stuck in a look of horror. Hawk showed him off to the crowd, dangling the statue over the stage.
"Know that this is the fate that awaits those who would dare harm the Titan given peace… Eternal suffering, soul bound to stone… Never knowing rest and shattered…"
Hawk then released the statue, letting it fall to the ground and shatter on contact, she didn't need to do that, if she was being honest, but nothing made her angrier than a liar…
The Demon wasn't worth bringing into the castle. She then lifted her dual-winged staff and tapped it on the ground, a golden light covering both Hawk and Eagle and in an instant, they were gone.
Elsewhere, they reappeared, far far away from the rally.
Eagle pulled out a scrap of paper and cast a spell and instantly, the Declaration of Independence pieced itself back together and fixed itself.
"Oh thank Titan…" He said with a sigh, "I thought I ripped it up too much… You know, Sensei told me that there were only 26 of these left on Earth? Well… I guess it's 25 now…" He said, putting it away into his bag, "I'm sure my younger self would love this as a Krampus gift…"
Hawk chuckled at that, walking past him.
"Do not give Gus a copy of the Declaration of Independence, Eagle." She said, lifting her staff once again and sending it away.
"You know, I forgot, what happened to your old staff?" He asked walking with her.
Hawk hummed at the question looking off into the distance for a moment.
"You were there, Eagle… The same battle I lost…" She trailed off, "It was the same battle… Ri Kralj was strong, stronger than we had thought, we were overconfident and we lost everything because of that… Our friends, some family… Palisman…" She said with a sigh, removing her mask and looking at the eyeholes in it, "The son of bitch took the castle in one move…" She said with a deep breath before looking at Eagle again.
Eagle couldn't help but feel conflicted, he remembered meeting Hawk… Luz, for the first time, she was so clumsy and happy… But ever since she had lost Amity, her hatred of Demons and the Demon Lands only grew… It was starting to feel very, very familiar…
"Luz…" He reached out, but Hawk gave him a look with piercing brown eyes, "Hawk…"
Hawk's eyes settled down to brown once more.
"What, Eagle?" She asked, turning away from him, "Getting cold feet again?"
"No, not that, it's just…" He took a breath, taking his mask off to look at her, "Why did you petrify that Demon?" He asked.
Hawk was silent for a moment.
"What do you mean?"
"You know petrification is meant for… "Wild" Witches and the worst kind of criminals, not some random corrupt politician."
"You saw that he would've planned to start a rebellion against the Emperor," She reasoned, "He was a dangerous revolutionary that only would've taken the throne so that he and his friends could rule, not that different from the old emperor, Crisis…"
"Yeah, but who's really acting like Crisis?" Eagle asked, crossing his arms.
Hawk's head snapped towards him, eyes no longer brown but rather a piercing blue.
"What was that…?"
Eagle took a step back, those eyes were never signs of anything good to come, he's learned…
"Y- you heard me, Hawk… Tell me the truth… Why did you petrify him? We could've brought him in, could've sent him to the Conformatorium, you didn't need to execute him!" He yelled.
Hawk fully turned around and clenched her fist, it was glowing with red magic.
"Because I'm a Demon Hunter, Gus!" She shouted at him with glowing blue irises, reaching out to grab him by his neck, gripping it tightly, and pulling him close to stare into his eyes, "They took everything from us, so I'll take everything from them and I'll stop at nothing to rid my home of all of them…"
Hawk then pulled him closer, eyes inches away from his.
"I hate every single one of them… No matter the cost, no matter the lives lost…" She whispered, dropping him onto his back, "Don't ask me stupid questions like that again, Eagle…" She said, putting her mask back on and turning away from him.
"Contact Crow… Tell her to get moving, He should be making his move soon, from what I've seen…" Hawk said.
Eagle coughed, rubbing his throat as he got back to his feet, reaching into his side bag and pulling out a compact mirror, pressing a few buttons on it.
-Owl House-
Crow couldn't help but be impressed.
In no time at all, Eda had managed to clean the entirety of the kitchen and was now teaching Luz how to make basic and harmless potions and the young Princess was getting the hang of it for the most part, but Luz had a habit of grabbing the wrong thing and making something else entirely.
It was pretty fun to watch.
Suddenly, her mirror began to beep at her, reaching into her bag, she pulled it out and looked it over, and answered.
"This is Crow…" She said.
"This is Eagle, we're done here, Hawk says that He's making a move soon, so meet up in Bonesborugh. We need to make sure he doesn't do anything different."
Crow raised a brow underneath their mask.
"Already?" She asked, looking at her watch, checking the date, "He's certainly earlier than last time… Oh does that mean I need to watch myself-"
"Yes, yes it does, don't interfere this time, yeah? You'll mess up the timeline for sure." Hawk's voice cut through, "No telling what'll happen if the Princess doesn't see it happen too."
"We are still talking about Valgur and his- OW!" Eagle asked, before exclaiming loudly, "Why'd you hit me for!?"
Hawk was heard groaning on the other end.
"Don't talk about it out loud, you know that, our presence here is already making big enough changes. Be happy that the Emperor doesn't know our true intentions… Keep your mouths shut and make sure Luz doesn't bite the dust…"
"Understood."
"Copy," Crow said before the call was dropped and she looked at the Owl House once again.
Crow narrowed her eyes at Luz, and more specifically, her bag, and silently cast a spell, seeing through the fabric and seeing the piece of ominous bone resting in her bag, she couldn't help but laugh a bit at the sight.
"Oh Princess, if only you knew what you truly had in your bag…" Crow said, shaking her head with a laugh before turning and taking a step, turning into a cloud of flower petals.
Inside, Luz felt a shiver rise up her spine before she looked towards the window, at the tree that Crow was in a moment ago.
"Hmmm…" She hummed in thought.
"Something wrong, Kiddo?" Eda asked, cleaning her face from what was probably the fourth gone haywire potion.
"No… Thought I saw something…" She turned her attention back to the cauldron, grabbing a small blue vial and pouring about 3 drops of it into the cauldron, "Now what happens if I-"
"DON'T PUT MORE THAN 2 DROPS OF THAT STUFF OR-"
It was too late, for an extremely loud explosion occurred and the windows of the Owl House broke as what appeared to be pink foam shot out of all of them at once.
"-You'll make a mess..." Eda sighed.
Yup, Luz had her work cut out for her but… She was willing to learn and this reaction wasn't entirely useless… She felt it could've been useful in the future…
Only time will tell.
