Luz, Willow, Gus and Amity made it to the Owl House. They were worried about Maxwell and his emotional state now that he knew what grom really is when it was not just a dance party. They could tell that he was definitely terrified of what's to come and angry at Principle Bump when they saw him not only kick the principle hard in his crotch but the message he whispered for them to give to him was something they all knew was words that children should never say out loud.
"I actually can't believe Maxie kicked Principle Bump in the family jewels." said Gus almost laughing.
"That message he had for Principle Bump though. Back in our grandparent's day, that sort of language would have them wash our mouths out with soap and they'd probably make us eat it." Amity stated.
"What words?" came a a voice.
They turned to see Emira and Edric at the front door of the Owl House. The twins looked confused yet curious.
"What are you two doing here?" asked Amity annoyed.
"We heard that Maxie was the Grom king and we're worried." answered Edric.
"That, and we heard he kicked Principle Bump in the balls." said Emira trying not to laugh. "What did he kick him in the crotch for though?"
"Long story but save it. We need to find Maxie." said Luz.
"Did you see him?" asked Willow hopefully.
The twins shook their heads and they had their answer to that. The six young teenagers walked inside the house after they opened the door and closed it on the way in. They walked into the living room, going towards the hallway, and found the stairs. They went up the stairs and reached the second floor. Once they reached the second floor, they stopped at the double doors to Eda's room.
"Guys, let me talk to Eda first, but only come in if things are getting grim or in case I call for you." instructed Luz.
They nodded. Luz turned to the double doors and knocked on Eda's door, slowly walking inside.
"I'm home!" came Luz's voice.
"Ow!" groaned Eda.
"Guys, we got a situation." said Luz.
Luz walked inside the room and she saw Eda in a brown leather tuxedo with brown pants and dark brown boots to match. King was wearing a green apron as it looked like King was tailoring or managing Eda in her suit as if putting on finishing touches.
"Careful with those pins." said Eda annoyed.
"Why am I doing this? I don't even wear clothes!" said King annoyed.
They turned to see Luz and their annoyed looks turned to smiles.
"Eda, are you chaperoning at the dance?" asked Luz curiously.
"You know it. So I have to look sharp." answered Eda.
"And Gus asked me to co-emcee the fight! We're going to turn this blood-bath into a fun-bath!" said King pulling out a poster.
The poster showed a picture of King and Gus wearing black sunglasses with their backs pressed together and making a cool pose, smiling. Gus holding a microphone as the poster had the words "Grom With Your Grommentators" in red lettering. Luz knew they didn't know about what happened at school that she saw.
"About that, we found out whose going to be Grom king or queen." said Luz looking worried.
"Well, last time it was Amity, but you took her place to help her, than you faced your worst fear, you tried battling against Grom but Amity, me, King and your friends ended up helping you out." said Eda remembering the previous Grom events. "Although, I'm sorry you went through that."
"Well, even days after that, you and my friends did come to comfort me when you and everyone felt guilty about what I went through. Even though you were not too much for hugs." said Luz remembering.
"Well, I did allow hugging during that." stated Eda.
"And you gave her kissie moo moos." chuckled King.
"King, don't make a joke about that." said Eda annoyed.
"Alright, I'll stop. But I also had to hug and kiss Luz to comfort her during the aftermath." said King relenting on the jokes.
They turned to Luz as they were curious about what else she would tell them.
"Have they announced the victim yet?" asked Eda with a grin.
Luz went silent and she knew this was going to be harder to tell her.
"About that, it might be better if my friends come in to talk about this with us." said Luz with a sigh. "Guys, come on in!"
Hearing Luz's call, both Willow, Gus, Amity, Edric and Emira walked inside the room and they stood near Luz while some of them were sitting down. Eda and King were confused.
"Luz, what's going on?" asked King curiously.
"Did someone bully you or Maxie at school today?" asked Eda forming a fist.
"No." answered Luz. "But it's about Maxie."
"Did someone hurt him at school?" asked King.
"No." answered Luz.
"Please tell me that Principle Dweebus didn't kick him out of the dance for a misunderstanding. Because I was going to ask Maxie to the dance." said Eda hopefully. "Also, you guys don't tell Maxie I said that because one, if anyone at school knows me and Maxie are...together, they could possibly leak that out to our enemies and they'd use him to get to me or use me to get to him. And I also want to at least surprise Maxie. Only I'm going to surprise my man, so no blabbing."
"Understood, but he didn't get kicked out of the dance." said Edric.
"But when we said it's something that concerns Maxie and the whole Grom king or queen." paused Luz.
"You told him about the events of what happened last time at Grom and what Grom really is other than a dance and he freaked out?" guessed Eda.
"Well, you're guessing half the truth." Luz replied nervously.
"What's the other half of the truth?" asked Eda now looking worried.
The kids went silent and a look of panic was upon their faces. Eda and King were now starting to really worry. An answer came to Eda's mind along with King.
"Should we tell her?" Emira chimed in.
They nodded and they all looked worried.
"Eda, the person whose Grom king and will fight the Grom demon is Maxie." Luz finally told her.
If Eda or King had anything in their hands right now, they'd drop it to the floor with a loud thud. Their jaws dropped open and they were not only shocked but it felt like their hearts skipped a beat.
"You're telling me that our baby boy, my man, is the one to fight against that Grom monster?" said Eda wide eyed.
The kids were silent again and nodded, having looks of worry, guilt and shame on their faces as they told Eda and King about this without saying a word to confirm it.
"Kids, cover your ears for a moment." Eda instructed.
"What for?" asked Edric curiously.
"Just do it kids. You do not want to hear the words that are about to come out of our mouths." warned King.
Without another word or question. The kids placed their hand over their ears and they saw that Eda and King were yelling out angry words and it appeared as though they were ranting angrily. They couldn't hear what Eda and King were saying but they suspected it was probably just as worse as what Maxwell whispered to them to tell Principle Bump. Eventually, both Eda and King stopped ranting and King gave them the okay by giving them a thumbs up to signal them. The kids removed their hands from their ears.
"Do we want to know what you two just said?" asked Emira hesitantly.
"Lets just say that it's something you should never say out loud, and boy was it nasty." warned King.
"I can't believe Principle Fat Rump has put another one of my own in danger of something that could kill a person if they're not prepared for it. He did this to my Luz, my human, and now he's doing this to Maxie, my man." said Eda sharply. "I'm going to find Principle Bump with the fat rump and I'm going to give him a piece of my mind, he'll be lucky if he's still standing when I'm done with him."
"I think Maxie beat you to it." Luz chimed in.
The look of anger on both Eda and King's faces faded a little and a tinge of unexpected surprise shown on their faces. Eda was now interested in hearing about this.
"What did Maxie do?" asked Eda curiously.
"Promise me you won't freak out?" said Luz.
"I can't promise anything that I have no control over." replied Eda.
They understood and Luz was about to say something but Amity raised her hand to place it on Luz's shoulders.
"I'll tell her." said Amity.
Amity explained everything to Eda and King. She told them how Maxwell reacted from the stoicism to his rage, she even told them about how he terrified Principle Bump with his command and that he kicked the principle in his crotch, sending the adult male falling to the floor in pain. Eda and King were both blushing and tried not to laugh.
"So my man kicked Principle Big Rump in his boys?" said King wide eyed.
"Nice one." replied Eda. "I wish I saw him do that because I knew someone was going to do that one day."
"You knew someone would kick him in the balls?" said Amity.
"Yep! But I never thought that anyone would have guts to do that, well, at least not in my life time." answered Eda.
"You won't believe what Maxie said when he whispered a message for us to tell him. But Amity was the one to inform him about it when ever we had to explain why Maxie reacted that way." said Gus.
"What did Maxie tell you to tell him?" asked Eda showing curiosity.
The kids went silent once more. All of them blushing and almost all of them shook their heads. Now Eda and King were wondering if Maxwell cursed Principle Bump out worse than they did or not.
"What did he tell you guys to tell him?" asked Eda again.
A sigh came from Amity as she knew no one else had the guts to say it.
"Eda, just so you know, Maxie would never say such words to anyone unless they really angered him or unless they really deserved it." warned Amity.
Amity let out another sigh and she told Eda and King what Maxwell told them to tell Principle Bump. When she told them that, even Edric and Emira both were just as shocked as Luz, Willow, Gus and Amity were when Maxwell told them. Eda and King were now as wide eyed with shock as possible, King slapped his hands to his mouth in shocked reaction, both of them were blushing. King eventually pulled his hands away from his mouth.
"Maxie said that about Principle Fat Rump?" asked Eda rhetorically.
The kids nodded and knew they were not feeling good about repeating it when someone asked them what it was Maxwell said to them to tell Principle Bump or any adult that works at a school.
"I didn't know Maxie knew such words like that. Words like that would get someone put through an intervention and possibly taking anger management classes for eight weeks." King said in disbelief.
"I did warn you, didn't I?" said Amity.
"She got us there." said Eda and King in unison.
"Did Maxie come in here yet?" asked Willow.
Eda and King shook their heads.
"Did anyone see him?" asked Eda.
"No!" said the kids.
They all suddenly had a very worried feeling and it felt like an alarm was blaring in their heads like a police car's siren as they all ran out of the room to look for Maxwell. They took a minute or more to search the whole house till they were in the living room. They didn't find him and were starting to panic.
"Did anyone find him?" asked Eda looking alarmed.
"No!" said the kids.
"He's outside." Hooty chimed in.
They turned to Hooty and were seeing he was also trying to help them find Maxwell.
"How long have you known he's been outside and how long has he been out there?" asked Luz.
"I just found out, now. Didn't any of you check the top of the tower? I just found out he was up there and now he jumped off it, landing on his feet and he's outside the door now. But he's not looking happy." Hooty informed.
"Hooty, what is he doing?" asked Eda feeling her mother bear instincts kicking in.
"You might want to find out yourself. I'm not sure what he's doing." warned Hooty.
Eda went to open the door and all of them went outside and they finally found Maxwell. What they saw wasn't what they expected. They expected him to be in a state of fear or rage but he was looking like he was just standing there with his back turned to them. They were now more worried than ever.
"Maxie." called Luz.
Maxwell didn't respond at first but they all knew that even if they didn't see his face, they sensed he wasn't happy like Hooty stated.
"Maxie, we wanted to tell you about the events of Grom from last time or even the one coming up now but the second we wanted to tell you was when you asked us about it." Willow kindly explained.
"But everything happened so fast that it was like time was running faster than we could to tell you." said Gus.
Maxwell was still silent and didn't respond but he let out a sigh. Eda suddenly gotten an idea on how to bring Maxwell out of his despondent state. She walked over towards him and placed her hand on his left shoulder. Within an instant, he turned to her and pulled her in for a hug. She saw that he was afraid but hugged him back.
"Maxie, the kids told me what happened." said Eda.
Maxwell looked up at her and she saw he shed a tear but he wasn't bawling.
"And they told you that I kicked Principle Bump in his crotch and what I said about him?" said Maxwell blushing.
"Yes, although I normally don't tolerate such language like that but I see that was the anger talking and people say and do things in anger they never mean." Eda stated. "But when you kicked Principle Rump in his crotch like that, on one hand, part of me knows that could get a student in hot water, but on the other hand, Principle Dweebus getting kicked right where the sun doesn't shine was super funny and I wish I was there to see it."
Maxwell expected Eda to be really mad at him for what he said or did but to his surprise, she was being calm, cool and collected about it. This gave him some minimal emotional relief.
"Maxie, I know you're afraid of taking on this Grom demon, you're probably really mad at Bump with the big Rump as well." Eda went off to say.
"Well, I'm mad at Principle Bump because of the fact that he put Luz through that situation that could've killed her, or Amity or anyone. I'm mad at him for the fact that now I'm going through this when I was expecting my first dance to be the happiest time of not just my life but also the happiest time of both your life, and Luz, Willow, Gus, Amity, Edric and Emira and others. But now it's probably going to be the last time I'm alive. I don't want to die." said Maxwell sadly.
"Maxie, you're not going to die." called Luz showing support.
Both Eda and Maxwell turned to face Luz and everyone. They released their arms from each other.
"Maxie, do you think this is something about your worst fear?" asked King curiously.
Maxwell was silent at first.
"It's more than that." said Maxwell.
They all at first wondered what else did Maxwell mean by that but were not mind readers like him. Maxwell suddenly felt like he was reliving something he hoped never to relive ever again.
"When you're a kid, you think the universe revolves around you. You think that you'll always be protected and cared for. Then, one day, you realize that's not true." Maxwell stated. "Cause, when you're alone as a kid, the monsters see you as weaker, you don't even know they're getting closer. Until it's too late."
They all were confused at first but than it came to mind as they all suddenly had an idea what he meant by his words.
"Maxie, we want to help you in this. Eda and my friends were there to help me when I went through it. Now we're going to help you." said Luz kindly.
Maxwell looked up and faced them with a stoic expression, no emotion was on his face.
"Maxie, would it help if we told you what we fear most?" Luz suggested. "My greatest fear is my mom finding out about me staying in The Boiling Isles, learning to become a witch instead of going to summer camp that she was sending me to. Mostly because I don't like lying to her and I want her to like my friends."
"My greatest fear is ladybugs. Although, everyone is afraid of bugs but there's always a type of bug people fear most." Willow revealed.
"I'm afraid of clowns. Sure, it's not the scariest fear ever, but not everyone is into clowns, especially the creepy ones." Gus revealed.
"I'm afraid of rejection, especially by someone I care about." Amity revealed.
"I'm afraid of being alone forever. I'd rather be with someone or more than to be alone." Edric revealed.
"I'm afraid of being stuck with Edric forever." Emira revealed.
"Hey!" said Edric annoyed.
"Don't take it the wrong way but it's more like the twin thing. Everyone expects twins to be with each other forever. But I want us to be known for more than that of the twin thing. Sure, I want you in my life but I don't want to be stuck together forever, wouldn't there be times when you want to not be stuck with a sibling and have time for yourself at times? Especially if it's twins." Emira said apologetically.
Edric thought for a moment and understood. Being with your sibling forever would probably get on someone's nerves, especially if people believe that twins are always together when it's considered a stereotype or when it's siblings who don't get along.
"Hard to admit but I suppose you're right." Edric responded.
"I'm afraid of public speaking. You all probably know and understand that without an explanation." revealed King.
"We can relate to that, little guy." said Luz kindly.
They turned to Maxwell as they hoped he felt better in knowing their worst fears.
"Maxie, everyone has a fear or more or their worst fears. It doesn't make anyone any less of man or woman." Luz reassured.
Maxwell seemed to be feeling a bit better but he knew that his worst fear was something he never told anyone but some would've suspected what it was.
"But I know this is none of our business but what's your worst fear?" asked Willow being kind.
Maxwell went silent and shook his head like he really didn't want to tell anyone who or what he feared most.
"No one would understand if I told them. Some children have it better than others while those who are not as lucky as others, they know that those who have it better would never understand because they don't know what it's like to not have the one thing that a kid needs most in their lives. Anything that causes emotional, psychological, mental and physical trauma in the lives of children, that pain never goes away." said Maxwell sadly.
"Maxie, we want you to help us understand." said Luz. "Wait, is your worst fear no one understanding you?"
"Forget about guessing it. Sorry to say this but don't take this the wrong way or anything but everyone is terrible at guessing. Even me. And people have a ninety-five percent chance of guessing the wrong answers. It's like a blind man trying to find a black cat in a dark room with a blind fold. Exaggerated, yes, but it's just to prove a point. I'm sorry." said Maxwell trying not to be rude.
"What about that unevolved vampire? You were afraid of him but you took him down. Just like you said: Mama said knock you out." Emira stated while imitating a punch.
"Understood but that evil man wasn't my worst fear." Maxwell corrected.
Emira seemed to understand but didn't know why Maxwell wouldn't tell her or any of them his worst fear.
"Maxie, who else can you tell if not us?" said Luz trying again.
"Even if I told you, no one would be able to do anything about it." said Maxwell being stubborn.
Eda knew they were getting nowhere with this and she placed her hand on Maxwell's shoulder as she held him in a one armed hug. Maxwell blushed from this gesture and Eda knew that there was a way to help him but there was also a way of coaxing the truth out of him to help him.
"Maxie, would you feel more comfortable if you told me?" asked Eda.
He looked right at her and knew that she was trying to help. Maxwell's unwillingness to tell anyone his worst fear relented and let out a sigh.
"Well, not out loud." said Maxwell relenting.
Eda pulled Maxwell a bit closer to him and lent him her ear as Maxwell whispered to Eda what he feared most in her ear. As she heard what Maxwell told her, she grew wide eyed and her mouth fell open for a bit. She looked at Maxwell and he looked at her with a look of fear and sadness. She pulled Maxwell in both her arms and hugged him, planting her soft lips to his in a kiss.
Luz, King and the other kids didn't expect to see them kissing but they grew curious about one thing. What did Maxwell tell Eda? They wondered who or what Maxwell's worst fear was but they knew that he had to be comfortable with telling them about it but they figured it was alright if he told Eda first since they knew of their relationship. They knew that they had to be their for Maxwell to help him.