On Mean Street, Gabriel and Oswald used the device to scan the Wasteland for the last mirror shard, meaning that the Dream Students had some downtime to cool off from the Museum of the Weird. Toren and Joy went to go watch classic Disney shorts in the theater, Double D and Ben performed some routines by the train station, and Beth and Gadget decided to check in at the local detective agency to see if there were any mysteries they could help solve. As for Aline, she was sitting by the Partners statue, staring up at the sky while petting Mittens.
"Something on your mind, kid?" Mittens asked.
"I was thinking about Fractured Logan," Aline replied. "I watched him get his soul consumed by spirit fire, which is pretty messed up if you think about it. That was a version of my friend, and he died right in front of me."
"To be fair, those Fractured are just summoned from the Stellar Mirror like me and the others," Mittens said. "If we die here, we'll just get sent back to our own worlds. So that Logan is fine… well, as fine as you can be after going crazy and being turned into a monster."
"That's a bit of a relief, I guess, but it also makes me think about how I could have easily turned out that way too if I didn't get away from the neglect of my parents," Aline sighed.
"Hey, I used to be a bad guy too, so I hear that," Mittens said. "I also sometimes think about what would have happened if I didn't turn against Dr. Calico, if Bolt had just left me there instead of helping me when I was hurt."
"Yeah…" Aline said. She looked over to see Belos by one of the projectors, the emperor studying it with his staff. Aline hopped down from her seat and went over to him. "So, whatcha doing?"
"Inspecting how these portals work," Belos said. "If I could copy their magic, I could in theory replicate it when I get back to my world. It would make getting back to the Boiling Isles much easier."
"Speaking of that, something you said before has been bugging me," Aline said. "You told me that Luz in your world isn't good with magic, but that doesn't make any sense to me."
Belos hummed, then set down his staff to cast a projection, showing a younger version of himself and his brother. "To explain, you must know how my world came to be. After reconciling with my brother, Caleb, the two of us went out to explore the Boiling Isles together. On one of our adventures, we met a strange girl and her aunt that helped us to locate an artifact related to the Collector." The projection showed Belos, Caleb, Luz, and Lilith while the Collector loomed over them. "When we found it, the Collector attempted to convince the girl, who I would later learn was a time-travelling Luz, to find a way to set him free. Caleb and I tried to stop her, but in the process of using a complicated sealing spell… Caleb stepped in the way to save Luz, sacrificing himself to stop the Collector."
Aline gasped as she watched the scene play out, with Caleb being consumed by the spell and only leaving a hand behind. "What happened next?"
"I made sure that the artifact was put in a place that no one would ever find it," Belos said. "I then informed my brother's wife of his passing, but she didn't take it well. She blamed me for what happened to Caleb, and I can't hold that against her because I blamed myself as well. I them vowed to protect the place that my brother loved and devoted myself to learning magic and the secrets of the Boiling Isles." The protect shows Belos growing up, learning complex glyphs, and creating his Emperor persona. "I eventually made a connection to the Titan, prolonging my life through a combination of science and magic- without needing to consume Palsmen. I took on the name Emperor Belos and rose to unite all of Witch and Demon kind under one nation."
"Where does Luz factor into this?" Aline asked.
"I'm getting there," Belos said. "I took in the best and brightest witches to become my council, creating the Covens as a way to teach the various aspects of magics. After all, while any witch can use any magic, it's better to have a specialty in one skill than be a master of none. What I didn't know, however, was that Caleb's wife had gone on to have a child, and that family would come back to haunt me for my mistakes. I believe you know of the Owl Lady?"
"Eda Clawthorne," Aline nodded.
"Yes, Eda was always a rebel, skeptical of my rule, even if she didn't know that I was her many-times-great-uncle," Belos nodded. "She is much like how she is in your world, though we normally didn't bother trying to capture her as her "rebellion" was more childish pranks than anything else. I even was going to offer both her and her sister a place in the Emperor's Coven, until Lilith did what she did…"
"Yikes, so her cursing her own sister still happened?" Aline said.
"Indeed, and that convinced Eda that Lilith had betrayed her in favor of me," Belos sighed. He changed the projection to show himself working on a secret project. "As I continued my magic, I still held a regret for what happened to Caleb. Over the years I tried many ways to bring him back, but realized that I never would. Instead, I used what was left of his body and created a new being, one that looked just like him when he was younger. My nephew…"
"Hunter!" Aline gasped, seeing the boy appear. This Hunter looked happier, and without the scarring as well. "You still made a Grimwalker!?"
"I did it out of grief, of wanting my family back," Belos frowned. "I had been alone for so long, and without a hope to get back home I just wanted someone to be there for me and to take over as Emperor when I was gone. I raised Hunter as my own son, and even stopped using magic to prolong my life. I was ready to move on from this world… But then a strange girl appeared alongside the Owl Lady and turned the Boiling Isles upside down."
The projection showed Luz alongside Eda and King, the three of them causing various amounts of mischief around the Boiling Isles. Aline noticed that despite most of their antics being similar to what they did in "The Owl House" show, the effects were much more negative on the people of the Boiling Isles than in the show. "So, you didn't have an endgame? Nothing at all?"
"I was content, but Luz and her friends started causing problems for all of us," Belos explained. "The girl was convinced that she was the "Chosen One" destined to defeat the "Evil Emperor" and free the Boiling Isles. Luz couldn't wrap her head around how, while she was a creative and imaginative person, she had no self-control over her "weirdness" as she put it. Did you know that she brought live snakes to her school once? Did it ever occur to her that what she thought as "fun" might be dangerous or inappropriate for others?"
Aline looked away, deep in thought. "I never thought of it like that, but I guess when you put it that way, her principal did have some good points."
"Eventually, Luz and Hunter got wrapped up in a mind-walk spell and saw some of my memories. It strained my relationship with Hunter since he didn't give me a chance to explain the context behind them," Belos said. "I tried to have Lilith reach out to her sister, but that didn't go as planned either. Luz might not have been able to use Glyph magic, but Eda taught her other ways to do so, like potions and crystal balls and the like. Eventually, Luz's little "resistance" stormed my castle on a "righteous" crusade to end my rule. She found where I had hidden the Collector's relic, and as we clashed, it was Hunter that had to make the final choice."
The projection showed Belos, restrained by vines, and Luz, her lower half turned to stone. Hunter stood between them, holding the Collector's relic in his hands. Belos and Luz both reached out to him, trying to convince them to his side. Hunter looked between them… and gave it to Luz.
"As it turns out, the Collector had been whispering in Luz's ear, talking to her in her dreams and encouraging all of her worst traits in order to free himself," Belos said, turning off his projection. "The Collector was freed, and he possessed Luz so that the two could "play in their fantasy world forever." A few of us managed to escape to the human world through the portal door, but it was destroyed after we got to the other side. Eda was in shock, Hunter was ashamed that he hadn't trusted me, and I… I had let my people down and watched a girl much like myself when I was younger fall prey to an interdimensional psychopath."
Aline didn't know what to say, clutching Mittens to her chest. Now that she knew what Belos had been through, it made her feel guilty about how she had treated him when they first met. "I'm sorry that I judged you so easily," Aline said. "I guess when you wear the face of a villain, it's hard to look past that… Man, this must be how Logan felt when we met during the Magical World Grand Prix."
"I understand your initial distrust, and I do not hold it against you," Belos said. "If I had met this other version of myself, I would have a few words to say to him as well. And a spell or two to knock him around." He put a hand on Aline's shoulder and smiled. "Just remember that everyone is the hero of their own story, but you shouldn't let that blind you to how others feel."
"I see, it's the whole "Do good for others, and you'll get good back in return" thing," Aline said.
Gabriel soon arrived with Oswald and the rest of the Dream Students. "Okay everyone, we've located the final mirror shard," the raven said. "We'll be going north to the land of the Snow Queen and her Enchanted Ice Palace."
"Like Elsa?" Beth asked.
"Not the Elsa you know," Oswald shook his head. "Here she's the Snow Queen, a heartless villain that'll freeze you for just looking at her funny."
"So we should be careful," Gabriel said. "If you're ready, then we'll head out as soon as possible."
Author's Note
So this chapter was mostly giving Mirror Belos his backstory, as well as Aline being a bit reflective on herself. As I have said in the past while I enjoy elements of "The Owl House" I am also critical of it, and that hasn't really changed. One of things that always bugged me about the show is that Luz in the first episode is flat-out in the wrong: she brought live snakes into a school, freaked out her fellow students with her eyelid trick, and caused a disturbance at the school play with her death scene. I'm surprised the principal didn't suspend her, especially after one of the snakes attacked him! Then she gets sent to a new world that rewards her for her behavior, when you think she would learn to be more aware of how her actions affect others (which she does get better at over time, but I think the writers play up her quirky side too much as endearing when to me it got annoying at times).
In Mirror Belos' world, I wanted to as the question "What if Luz was wrong?" She thought she was chosen to be a hero, but in reality, her actions just made things worse and unleashed a monster that destroyed her fantasy. The idea of Luz being possessed by the Collector is one I saw some fan artists draw when the Collector was first teased. As Belos said, who the "hero" is comes from perspective, and just like there is a heroic version of every villain, there is a dark version of every hero as well.
And we're going to the Enchanted Snow Palace for the final mirror shard! It was a scrapped attraction created by Imagineer Marc Davis based on the Snow Queen story from Hans Christian Andersen, which is the same story Frozen is based on. In fact, the Snow Queen from the ride concept art looks startling similar to Elsa's design!
Next Time: Our heroes face the domain of the Snow Queen…
