AUTHOR'S NOTE: YOOOO, so, very short wait from the last chapter, huh? I was just suddenly "In the mood" and this shi came out perfectly. I was covering a lot of ground at once, but I think it came out well and I hope you enjoy it. It is, of course, a part of the two-part... you know what, I don't know what to call it because it's not a finale and I don't know how far I wanna take the story, but it's the culmination of a lot of what happened in the show and it is HUGE for the plot, so I hope it is as fun for you as it was for me and I'll see you at the bottom of the page, ENJOY!

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It had been silent for a while in the Owl House. Restless eyes yearning to become the opposite stared on into nothing as the hours of the night passed. It had been several hours since Kikimora's speech in the town square and nobody was doing any better. Gus had gone back to his house to be with his parents for the last few hours of peace in his life, knowing that everything would change once he awakened.

Nothing would be the same on the Boiling Isles, in fact, Eda and Lilith weren't completely sure there would be an "after" for the Isles.

Everything had gone badly so fast. First Luz gets thrown out, then Amity on the same night. It had only been two paltry days since then and the effects had been felt. People like Gus wondered how things would have gone if Luz and Amity were there, even if it might have just prolonged the inevitable, he hoped it wasn't just his naivety that told him that things would be better. In all reality, what likely would have happened would be what happened every day, Amity would hopelessly pine after Luz and she would stay oblivious. That's Luz, Gus thought. It was one of those things that were supposed to be a flaw, but he only saw it as fun. Fun was something he was sure he would miss.

He would only have until the morning to hold on to his hope of things being alright. It was time to grow up. There was no turning back now.

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Before she knew it, morning came. The sun rose over the bones of the Titan and the Owl House stood proud in the hidden brush. Inside, all inhabitants were awake, preparing for what would surely be the hardest day of their lives, and yet, all was normal. Eda drank her apple blood. Lilith polished her staff. King demanded food. Hooty ranted to himself. The only thing missing was Luz. Her void put a damper on her roommates more so than anyone, the roommates themselves included, would have expected possible.

If Eda hadn't gotten that call yesterday, she was sure she would have lost it by now. Not like the people of Bonesborough thought she hadn't, but she knew she was right. Those poor townspeople. They were doomed, either to death, or a fate much worse, they didn't even know it. They blindly followed the Emperor like sheep while their Shepard marched them to their demise. Or, rather, Eda wasn't sure what would happen when the "moment of Unity" came, but she was sure that, no, she hoped, prayed, that somehow the people of the human realm would pull through. She had only met two humans, and even if they were the only kind people among them, they didn't deserve to be blindly attacked by forces beyond their comprehension.

The Day of Unity that Belos had promised so long ago had finally come and it would start at any-

BOOM

The thoughts of the collective witches were interrupted by a sound not dissimilar to the one they heard yesterday. They were tampering with the portal. It would happen any minute.

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Luz and Amity were perhaps the only people to sleep that night. They knew that something was coming, but they had nothing, no way to prepare, no way to help their friends. When sleep consumed them, the two were leaned over the coffee table laying out their theories as to what happened back on the Isles. Their call with the witches had ended so abruptly, but the fact that the call happened at all was enough to let Luz know that the connection was healed. The revelation that Willow was involved was one that neither girl could accept. Amity gave her the benefit of the doubt out of guilt, but Luz just thought she knew the girl better. She was wrong about people a lot, but she really hoped that Willow was different.

They couldn't imagine what was going on back at home, or, well, Amity's homeworld that is. All they could do is wait-

BOOM

There it was again.

Out of instinct, Luz threw herself at Amity at the surprise, much to her own surprise, Amity caught her this time, but she seemed just as shocked as Luz about the noise. She almost didn't even panic when Luz threw herself at her, almost. In a flurry of crimson blushes, the two separated. Before things could get too awkward, Luz ran to the front door of the house and peered out.

What she saw was a spectacle. If she didn't know where it came from, it would have been beautiful. A bright red beam shone in the sky, coming from the forest in a strangely familiar place.

Luz didn't put it together right away, but thankfully she had Amity, who immediately figured it out.

"Luz, that's coming from where Belos banished us to. That's where the portal used to be, right?"

Luz gasped at the realization. She was right. She knew where they would be coming from.

"Yeah, it is! That means- oh no- that means that they're coming, and they'll be close."

Amity locked her gaze on Luz, hoping to find some sort of reassurance, but there was none. Luz was just as worried as Amity.

"Amity, we have to go. I- I don't know what to expect, but we can't just stand around while all of this goes down."

Amity's gaze was unwavering. She leered at Luz for a little longer before affirming, "Yes, I know. I'm ready." She looked to the ground in guilt, hoping that the topic of her deal with Belos would somehow stay a secret.

Luz reached for the door handle but heard a voice that she wasn't prepared to, her mother.

"Cariño? What was that noise? A donde vas?"

Luz stopped in her tracks and peered back at her mother.

"Mami, I- I don't know how to explain any of this to you, but- but I have to go. I have people to save."

Her mother wore a worried expression. She looked out a window and saw the beam of magic and was unsurprised.

"I love you, my little Luz. I trust you. Just come back safely."

Luz smiled at her mother's acceptance.

Amity suddenly interjected herself into the conversation.

"Don't worry miss Noceda, I won't let her get hurt."

Camila smiled back at the girl and walked up to her to whisper in her ear.

"I know you won't. Just remember this, if everything goes wrong, he won't hurt her. Trust me."

Amity didn't know how to process that information. Camila knew. She knew it was Belos. How could that be?! Amity wore an expression of horror. Luz, apparently unaware of her panic, pulled Amity by the hand out the front door and toward their destination.

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The path was beaten. Magical creatures walked around the area, generally avoiding the destination that the Porter boy was heading. Gus never went back to the Owl House as he had expected himself to. Instead, he took after Willow, wearing his hood over his head as he steadily approached the Emperor's castle, alone.

There was a rhythmic pattern of the booms that came from the place. Every minute or so he would hear it again

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

To anyone else, the explosions would have been alarming, deterring even, but he was a man on a mission. It was a mission that he deemed more important than any other. He blew off the members of the "Bad Girl Coven" to make sure the mission was done. He needed to save Willow.

He had known her for so long. She had been so kind to him for so long. They had been the best of friends since Amity had left her all those years ago and he deemed himself responsible for dealing with the girl one way or another, whether it meant saving her from imprisonment, or something else, he needed to get his friend back.

It only took about an hour of walking for Gus to arrive at the foot of the drawbridge. He wasn't expecting to be allowed in, but he was Gus Porter, a master-illusionist in the making, and he wasn't going to be stopped. So, with a spin of the finger and a clear mind, Gus was able to pass by the front gate's guards with little to no issue. All he needed was a little spell he had been working on since Luz gave him the idea, invisibility.

That same spell would carry him for the rest of his journey to finding Willow. It got him past the gates, past the quarters, and to the room that he knew he needed to enter, the throne room.

It was by a stroke of Luck that Gus was able to get in the room, following the Golden Guard as he entered the room. The room was far longer than he would have expected, the Emperor sitting in his throne on one end and the portal pulsating in the center of the room.

He wasn't paying much attention to the portal though, his focuses were more on his friend, Willow, who was adorned with a white cloak and a mask, he could tell it was her though, being friends with someone that long would do that to you. She stood at the side of his throne with her arms behind her back. She clearly didn't want to be there, but she still was, and that was what hurt Gus. He needed to know why she did what she did, but that could wait until later.

Before Gus realized it, his focus had gone, causing his spell to fade. If he hadn't noticed, that would have been the end, but he quickly dove behind some crates that sat in the corner of the room, causing a small noise. Both the Emperor and Willow looked over, but he was not seen, very lucky.

The emperor detached his gaze and refocused on the portal, but Willow stared on, Gus would have to wait for a more opportune moment to move in.

Luckily for him, it seemed like that moment would come sooner than later, as the Emperor stood from his chair and walked toward the portal.

"It is time," Belos said, his voice deep and gravelly.

Willow's gaze shifted back to the portal. Gus refocused himself and made himself invisible again so he could watch as the man stepped through the portal. Quickly, in succession, several guards walked through the portal, followed by Kikimora and the Golden Guard. Willow was in the last drove of people, at the very back of the group. Gus saw this as his only opportunity to do something, so he sprang from his hiding spot, illusion long gone, and grabbed her wrist before she could walk through.

"Willow? We have to go, now," Gus pled.

The witch looked back at him and took off her mask, it was indeed Willow, as Gus had suspected.

"Gus, what are you doing here?" Willow asked.

The boy witch didn't release his grip on the girl's arm as he replied, "I could ask you the same thing."

Willow stiffened and adorned a more serious expression.

"You should go," she warned.

"Why?" Gus asked.

"Because I- Just go. I can't let you get hurt," Willow explained.

"I can't let you get hurt either," Gus replied.

Willow facepalmed before replying, "Go! I'm not messing around!"

Gus furrowed his eyebrows and tightened his grip on her wrist.

"This isn't the Willow that I know. You are supposed to stand up to adversity, not cave in to it."

At that, Willow wore an ashamed expression but stood firm once more. After the two stared at each other for a silent moment, Willow pulled her arm back easily and pushed Gus back before jumping into the portal.

Gus got up quickly. In a moment of anger, he punched the console of the machine holding the portal door, causing a flurry of sparks and a sound of crackling.

Oh no.

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Back at the Owl House, Eda and Lilith were getting ready to leave the house. Both of them had their staffs ready and had Hooty in his portable backpack. They took their first steps out of the house and the ground started to shake. They looked at the ground, then each other, then finally at the likely source of the quake, the Castle. Both witches hopped on their respective staffs, Lilith with Hooty on her back and Eda with King behind her.

They shared one last look of affirmation and zoomed on to their destination, the Emperor's castle.

From where they were, they could see the beam of the portal growing unstable steadily. The ground below them shook more violently now. In fact, pieces of rubble started to fly around them and nearly hit them in some cases.

They had to hurry.

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Amity and Luz had long since left the house, they had only a few more minutes of running left and they were getting close. They knew where they were going, it was deep in the forest, but they had both been there, so they would know it when they saw it.

After a few minutes, they could see it through the tree line, a white cabin in the woods, the one they had been searching for, and it was exactly as they feared, infested with white cloaks.

Luz bent over next to a tree to catch her breath while Amity watched out for guards. As hard as she tried, she failed to find the person they were searching for. Belos wasn't there yet, or not anymore, they couldn't know for sure.

After Luz finally caught her breath, she asked "What's the plan?"

Amity, although distracted, still responded, "I thought you had a plan," to which Luz facepalmed.

"I never make plans!" Luz whisper-yelled back.

"That- actually makes sense," Amity deduced.

"Yeah, maybe, but we still have to get to the portal, so what should we do?" Luz asked.

Amity took a second to think before answering, "Well, when I went after you before, I kinda just went through them pretty easily, so… spells blazing?"

Luz smiled at the girl using the new idiom, "Nice one, Blight."

Amity smiled back before giving her a quick "Let's go," and walking in the direction of the cabin.

They snuck up to the side of the cabin and readied themselves for a fight. Amity was worried that her magic wouldn't work because Luz explained that her glyphs didn't, but she pushed her fears aside so she could truly go in "Spells blazing".

With remarkable coordination, the two pushed around the corner and immediately began their assault. At first, it was going well, Luz had to resort to hand-to-hand combat, which she wasn't great at, but the guards were worse and she was good enough at dodging their attacks to stay afloat for a while, but not long. After a while, she became overwhelmed. Luckily, Amity's magic was working and she was doing well to dispatch several guards, it wasn't nearly as easy as it had been back when she was chasing after Luz, but she was still stronger than them either way. That was until Amity turned and saw Luz on the ground on her back, holding back a staff, she was on her last limb, so Amity turned her attention to the guard on top of her and blasted him in the side with a heavy abomination punch. Unfortunately, that decision would cost her.

While she turned her back to the guards she was fighting, she had been hit by a very strong plant attack. It clearly wasn't aimed to do harm, but it still grazed Amity's cheek and cut her pretty deep, the blood that trickled down the side of her face was plenty of evidence of that.

When Amity turned around, she saw something out of her nightmares, Willow, wearing Emperor's Coven apparel, with Kikimora and the Golden Guard by her side.

"Wi- Willow?"

Willow's face turned to one of surprise as she saw Amity's face for the first time. The glow around her fists faded and she turned around, running into the cabin. It was only the Golden Guard and Kikimora left versus Amity and a weakened Luz.

Amity backed up into a defensive position in front of Luz and spoke, "Was last time not enough? Do I need to beat you down again?" Of course, she was referring to the Golden Guard, who grit his teeth behind his mask at the comment. He readied his staff and it started to glow crimson. Luz, after a struggle, managed to get back to her feet. She remained behind Amity, knowing that she was in no position to lead the fight. She wiped some dirt off of the side of her face and added to Amity's insults, "Oh, did you get beat up by a girl? Amity didn't tell me about that one yet."

"Things will go vastly different this time," Kikimora rebutted.

Finally, Kikimora attacked first, sending a great beam of purple behind Amity aimed at Luz. Luz did her best to dodge it, but it grazed her side.

Amity, angered at the targeting of Luz, clenched her fist. It was overcome by an aura of purple and soon an Abomination formed. It was much larger than Amity had ever created before, but she wasn't going to ask questions now. She used her giant creation to attack Kikimora. She was faster than Amity would have thought, making the size of the abomination more of a disadvantage now. Seeing this, Amity split the abomination into three, hoping that the numbers advantage would help them win the fight.

Meanwhile, Luz had managed to sneak behind the two. She used this advantage without hesitation, trying to tackle the Golden Guard from behind. Unfortunately, he was stronger than she thought. He swung Luz over his shoulder using her momentum and pinned her to the ground with his boot on her chest and the point of his staff on her neck.

"NO!" Amity screamed. She threw all of her abominations at him as quickly as she could. That was finally an attack he couldn't take. With all of the combined power of the abominations, he was thrown against a wall of the cabin and incapacitated, knocked out, hopefully for a while.

Kikimora took this as her opportunity to push forward. Amity had fallen to her knees when she used so much power at once, so Kikimora stood slightly taller than her at the moment as she held the tip of her finger inches from Amity's head.

Luz managed to finally get up after being slammed to the ground so hard. She clutched at her side as she slowly approached Kikimora.

"Not another step or I will execute her." Kikimora declared.

Amity wanted to attack, but Kikimora bound her hands magically and every time she moved them, Kikimora pressed her finger against Amity's head threateningly.

Luz stood in place, unsure of what to do.

"So what, the Emperor's Coven invade's worlds and kills children now?" Luz asked.

Kikimora stood firm, holding her finger to Amity's head when she replied, "Only children that try to get in our way."

Luz took another step.

"Bold, but if you do it again, she dies," Kikimora remarked.

Luz stopped in her tracks once more, "Where is Belos?"

Kikimora didn't respond.

Luz took yet another step, there were only mere feet in between her and Amity now.

"That's it. I mean it. One. More. Step." Kikimora announced.

Kikimora drew a circle in the air, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"No! Don't!" Luz pled.

ZAP

Luz heard a blast of magic and closed her eyes, but when she heard Kikimora scream, she opened them again. Kikimora was down for the count. Amity stared past Luz in awe.

Luz turned around and saw the source of magic, some very familiar faces. She fell to her knees and exhaled.

"Hey Eda," Luz let out.

At that moment, the woman ran to Luz and hugged her tight, along with King, who would still swear he didn't miss her.

While Lilith untied Amity, the hug finished and the group was no worse for wear, save for Luz, who took quite the beating in the fight.

"I missed ya, kid," Eda said through the first tears that Luz had ever seen her cry.

In response, Luz simply hugged her again.

"Now, where is Belos?" Lilith asked.

Nobody spoke up, mostly because nobody knew. That was before Eda remembered something that the Emperor had said while they spied on him.

"Luz, I know where he is, but you're not gonna like any part of it," Eda announced.

"Lay it on me, I don't care where he is, I want to stop him," Luz replied.

"He's out, looking for you, and I have a really bad feeling that I know where he went to look," Eda explained.

Luz's expression fell faster than she had in the previous fight. She figured it out right after Eda said that last part, but hearing it only made it worse.

"He's probably at your house right now," Eda finished.

There was a brief pause as Luz took in the news. Amity stood by Lilith in shock, she came to Luz's side to comfort her.

"Then we have to go," Luz declared.

Luz turned in the direction that she came, the direction that her house was in, but she heard a voice, Gus.

"Luz?"

She turned around to face him. If it wasn't for the news that she just received, she would have smiled, but she couldn't.

Suddenly, from the doors of the cabin, Willow walked behind Gus, wearing a guilty expression.

"I'm-" Willow started, but was cut off by Luz.

"Not right now, I have to go save my mother, so we can deal with this later," Luz said. Willow sunk.

Amity grabbed Luz's hand and said "Let's go, we can save her, I promise."

Luz turned and gave Amity the faintest of smiles as thanks, she took it gratefully. Together they went, after Belos.

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"Where is she, Camila?" Belos's hoarse voice sent shivers down her spine.

She hadn't heard the voice in over fourteen years and it still had such a surreal experience. He left when she was born and now he returns to take her back? It was too much to comprehend, and she couldn't. Why did he want her now? Did he know what his absence caused? Did he care?

She found herself believing that he didn't. He gave her no reason to believe otherwise anyway, so why should she. If anything, she was glad that Luz wasn't there. If she knew… it would destroy her.

"WHERE IS SHE!?" He yelled.

Camila flinched at his sudden outburst.

"What do you want with her?" She asked.

Belos took a few deep breaths calming himself down before replying, "That is none of your business."

"She's my daughter, it's only my business!" She yelled back.

Belos clenched his fist.

"She's mine as well,"

Camila slapped the man, right at his mask. His head swung to the side and he growled back at her, but she didn't back down.

"If she's your daughter, where have you been for the past fourteen years?!" She screamed.

"Doing far more important things," He said.

He had no remorse. It almost surprised Camila just how far gone he was. She had painted a picture of the man that was terrible, but he was much worse than even that. All she needed was for Luz to stay away-

CRASH

The front door of the house swung open with Luz kicking it down. Behind her were Eda, Lilith, Amity, Gus, Willow, and King. She wasn't afraid of the man.

"Get. Away. From. My. MOTHER!" Luz yelled as she sprung toward the man. He surprised everyone in the room though, catching her and suspending her in the air with magic.

"Stop." He spoke with little emotion.

Everyone in the house froze as Luz floated in the air, flailing her arms in his direction, just out of reach.

"Put her down, Belos," Eda commanded.

Camila glanced over and spotted the woman that she met so many years ago, they shared a look of understanding and listened as Belos talked.

"Now why would I do that?" He asked with a venomous tone.

Amity was the one to respond, threatening him with glowing purple hands while saying, "Because you don't know how powerful wild magic is,"

At that, Eda snickered for a second.

Suddenly, from the direction that they just came, a loud crash could be heard. The impact of whatever had fallen caused the ground to shake, which happened to be Luz's saving grace. The Emperor lost control of the girl and in the chaos he managed to slip away through the back door, leaving the entire group alone in the house.

It was Lilith to check on what created the quake, to everyone's surprise, she said "It's the titan."

When the others checked outside, her ramblings had been proven true as the skeleton of the Titan lay sprawled out for hundreds of miles. They were lucky it had fallen the way it had, otherwise they would have been flattened. The crew came back inside and noticed both Camila and Amity tending to Luz.

"So, now that we have a moment of peace," Eda started.

She looked around the room taking everything in.

"So, kid, when were you going to tell me that she was your mother?" Eda asked.

Luz looked up at her incredulously for a moment, unsure what she meant until she remembered what her mom had told her the day before.

"Oh, well I didn't know you two knew each other, maybe you should have noticed considering that I look exactly like her," Luz joked.

The group sat silently for a while after that. It had apparently become awkward after only missing each other for two and a half days, who would have guessed? Either way, like the rest of the house, finally started to conversate, Amity tended to Luz alone.

"Are you sure you're okay? You looked like you got pretty beat up back there," Amity inquired.

Luz sat on the ground and smiled back at the girl, "Well, yeah, I think I'm fine, but- I mean- It's not over. And it's just a lot to deal with, you know?"

Amity smiled at the girl, licked her thumb, and rubbed some dirt off of Luz's cheek. Luz blushed deeply and responded, "Okay, so maybe I am a little beat up."

Amity realized what she did and blushed in return.

Luz, less flustered than before, licked her finger as well and cleaned the blood off of Amity's cheek, even Steven.

In the corner of the room, Eda and Camila watched the two. Eda commented, "So, they're even worse in the human realm, huh?"

Camila giggled before responding, "Well if you mean the constant flirting and my daughter being oblivious, then yes, they're terrible."

Eda playfully punched her old friend on the arm.

If the world wasn't ending outside, it would have been fun, but the pleasant moment faded once Luz was on her feet and ready to move again.

Just like that, the group of 7, and Willow, moved out of the Noceda residence and into the street. It was the first time that they saw the damage, really saw it, and analyzed it at least. It was insane, a catastrophic event that the group couldn't begin to consider the consequences for.

It was huge. It stretched across the length of most likely the whole city if not more. Its sudden appearance meant only one thing. The Boiling Isles were being sucked into the human realm. Not only was this something that would indefinitely result in tragedy, but far more repercussions down the line that neither side, humans or witches, would know how to navigate. For all Luz knew, another race war could come as a result. That… wouldn't end well, no matter what.

For now, it was up to Luz to make sure there was no more damage, even if the mass destruction of property had already happened, and that meant that she needed to find Belos, soon.

So, using the two witches' staffs, everyone was able to travel much faster now, and with a bird's-eye view to boot. It was great, except it wasn't. Emperor Belos was nowhere to be seen and Chaos was erupting from everywhere that they could see. Now it was up to them to stop it. The Day of unity had finally come, and its impact was far from over.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, slightly cliffhangery, but I think it leaves plenty of room for the next chapter, which will be even more action-packed than this one. I have all of the plans done and I just have to find the time to write it, but that's my problem. Time has been a scarcity for the past few months and it's only going to get worse for me until about new years. I have school starting this Friday and that means a very high chance that I will have trouble finding time to write these chapters, now, don't fret, for it is a great priority of mine, and I will try to write on the weekends at least, but with football getting ready to get started, things are gonna get hectic for me. So, wish me luck in finding time to make more of this story that I hold so dear, and please leave reviews to help me make this story as great as I know it can be, BYE!

OH, and, thanks for a ridiculous amount of support on the last chapter, it really brightens my day and makes it all feel worth it, so thanks for the views, favorites, follows, and insanely kind reviews, seriously it means a lot. Thanks a ton, BYE!