Angel: I'm sad not only because Flapjack is gone, but because this means we've got one last special to go...which I'm not prepared for at all. If I could, I'd go back in time and make myself a CEO of Disney to fire the person who thought this show didn't fit the brand.
Also *shaking up and down excitedly* Y'all we hit 200 favorites and 500 reviews for this story! Omg, I was not expecting that, thank you so much! Now it beats out TMNT 2003 for most favorited story! Ugh, but honestly it also kinda pains me because of the show's last special coming up...
And I wanna verify something. Apparently it was being tossed around a while ago on Deviantart that Masha and Will are related. And one person came to me saying that it was true because it came from another artist and not me. Um, they're not in the same family? They literally had the least time together as far as I can tell, and even then, I don't think they spoke to each other? Which doesn't support the idea that they are related? I don't understand why this is even a rumor? Pretty sure that they don't even look the same because Masha has more darker skin? And Will is canonically an only child. If you really wanna get technical about this, his friends are his family, so I don't think I need to necessarily suddenly give him a sibling. I have nothing wrong with the idea, but I do have a problem if people are gonna come to me and act like I acknowledged this misinformation when in reality, you could just ask me! Especially since I have not written anything to support this as far as I can tell. I don't even think the two would hang out regularly until Vee asks Masha out or something like that. Then they'd be at least in the same friend group, and Masha would be like an honorary sibling, but that's still not enough to support the rumor. Just because an artist who has not written this story says something is true about a character, doesn't mean it's confirmed information.
At the Titan's Head, it was sitting on ground calmly. "We gotta stick together," Luz said tearfully before the top of the head cracked open like an egg. King held onto Luz while the head was falling apart.
"I'm sorry...not this time," He said sadly to Luz, whose tears fell down her face.
"No..."
"King!" Lucila held out a hand from her spot.
"Luz...Luci..." She dropped her hand as he spoke up, and he closed his eyes. "I'm so happy I had you as big sisters." He then held in a breath, using his sonic scream to knock them all back so strong that they went through the portal door.
"KING!" Luz shouted as the door closed before it exploded, King looking back with tears falling from his face.
"Goodbye..."
Suddenly he was twirled around by pink ribbons, the Collector above him. "I'm free! I'm free!" He cheered as King floated up to him. He took the little Titan and spun him around. "Oh, this is the goodest I've felt in forever and ever! It's like the whole world is singing!" He cheered and they were...but in pain as a bunch of shooting stars fell from the sky to hit them. They all ran away in fear and panic.
"Yeah, I wouldn't call that singing," King looked down in a bit of fear.
"So, tell me about your game The Owl House," The Collector asked him eagerly. "You promised you'll teach me if I stopped the Draining Spell!"
"Well, it's um, like playing pretend!" King lied through his teeth. "We get roles and go on adventures! But this is too crazy!" He gestured to all the mayhem happening down below. "We can't play if you're freaking everyone out."
"King!" They looked to see Lilith using Hooty to fly over to the head. She then noticed him with the Collector. "What are you doing up there?"
"What's happening?!" Hooty added in a panic.
"I don't know what you are, but stay away from my nephew!" Lilith growled as she headed for the Collector. The little god boy then brought himself in front of King.
"That's my best friend you're talking to! Hands off!" He fired a little crescent moon at her and she gasped in alarm.
"Lulu!" Hooty used his body to wrap around her, which when hit by it...turned him into a puppet owl jack-in-the-box. Lilith gasped sharply at him as she started to fall.
"Hootsifer!" She shouted in dismay before being hit by the Collector's magic and going stiff like a puppet. Then both of them disappeared out of thin air.
"You can't hurt people either!" King protested to the Collector, clenching his fists.
"But they're not hurt," The Collector assured him. "They're safe and sound up in our new house." And by new house, he meant a giant crest moon-like building above their heads. "Now, what part do I get to play?" He hugged King, who looked terrified for his life.
Giant stars kept falling from the sky as Eda looked at Raine in front of her. They smiled at each other, Eda looking up as their song played. The Collector danced around with King and Raine nodded at her. She smiled before turning into her harpy form. As she stood up, Raine admired her new look before she flew off into the sky. The Collector danced around pink swirls and stars, his eyes shining. Kikimora looked up from her spot as a star exploded, sending waves of stars throughout the land.
Meanwhile, multiple people on Penstagram were posting about what was going on.
Eda dodged the stars while flying, her sights set on King and the Collector. But then she fell on a rock as her curse was acting out again. She took out the only bottle of elixir...which was near empty. Suddenly the Collector put down the bottle, King looking behind him in worry.
"You look fun. Wanna play?" The Collector asked her with a creepy smile and the Owl Beast immediately taking over Eda upon seeing him. She pounced towards the boy with a screech.
In what looked like the cube dimension from when they wanted to see their mother, the Noceda sisters were lying down in a black lake. "Huh...?" Luz opened her eyes as it was the dimension, but no cubes to be seen. Lucila slowly sat up with a groan as Luz stood up. "You okay, hermana?"
"I'm fine. My head is the opposite," Lucila placed a hand on her throbbing forehead. Luz held out a hand to help her up as they heard something, looking up to see a yellow object. "What is-"
Before Lucila could finish answering the question, they fell through the lake. They found themselves being pulled out the portal door by Amity and Hunter. "Luz! Luci!" Amity looked over them on the floor. "You guys were in there for so long, we thought you got stuck behind."
"Sometimes using the portal door can have that effect depending on witch or human," Violetta spoke up, a hand on her hip.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" Amity inspected her girlfriend, Camila looking over Lucila.
"We're...w-we're fine," Luz assured the purple-haired witch. "We saw something or...someone. But it was probably just in our heads."
"Yeah, that dimension can be pretty trippy..." Lucila rubbed a temple.
"Any sign of...him?" Luz wondered as she refused to say his name.
"Oh, come on!" Hunter scoffed at this, Lucila staring at him in confusion. "It's not like a swarm of ghosts will inexplicably appear if you say his name...I think. Anyway, Belos was here, he's long gone now."
"Well, he better stay out of our way," Camila spoke up with anger, clenching the bat. "This mama is hungry for vengeance!"
"Now that is a fight I'd watch," Gus pointed with an encouraging smile.
"After what she did to Jacob, I'd be in the front row," Lucila smiled with her hands on her hips.
"I wonder if I could make a profit out of that," Violetta mused while rubbing her chin, everyone staring at her. "...What? Oh, I get it. You probably have a lot of questions for me, and I promise I'll answer. But for now, we need to find somewhere to plan out our strategy. And since it's getting dark, we'll have to make camp."
"Make camp?!" Hunter asked her in disbelief. "Belos is out there, probably hurting someone else!"
"If you know Belos or Phillip like I do, and that is the case, then he won't get far in his plans," Violetta placed her hands on her hips with a glare. "In case you haven't noticed, he can't exactly reform his body and this area doesn't seem to be in any more danger than it was when we were gone. We're making camp, Mr. Clone of Caleb," She growled out the last three words to him, everyone shocked at the name drops.
Before he could argue, she turned around and walked off. Everyone stared at the two before Hunter growled in defeat, storming off after her. "Bossy mystery woman who thinks she knows everything..." He grumbled and Lucila sweated nervously.
"Has he ever acted like this?" Camila asked slowly to her eldest daughter, who sighed heavily.
"Well...technically yes, but this time it might be something I have to worry about..."
They walked around the forest while Willow was on look-out. She narrowed her eyes and heard/saw nothing dangerous. "Okay, everyone. Coast is clear," She backed away and noticed the plants next to her. "Oh, hello, red grass. I've missed you!" Violetta stopped to stare at her. "I can't talk for long. We're on a mission to save the Boiling Isles."
Gus waved a finger to make the plants come to life. "Willow's back, hooray!" She giggled and as Lucila stood by Hunter's side, she chuckled with a smile. She turned to her boyfriend while still smiling and he returned it. But suddenly he saw Belos slashing at her and gasped, backing away and confusing her. Hunter suddenly heard a chirp that was similar to Flapjack, looking up to see a red bird that was definitely not him flying away. He growled and held his head.
"We don't have time for wet grass or-or illusions! Belos had a head start, so we should hurry up and make this stupid camp so that we can actually find him!" He stormed off after the still-walking witch leading them.
Lucila sighed as she stared at him sadly, and Gus had the same expression. "Don't worry," Willow spoke up to the both of them. "I bet we'll all feel better when we punch Belos right through the face. And yes, I mean through the face!"
Gus gave out a small chuckle. "Thanks, Willow. You're always looking out for us, aren't you? You and Luci."
"Well, someone has to. And it looks like my job here is done," She spun a finger to make vines appear underneath her. Lucila stared at Hunter, hugging herself as she trailed slowly behind Willow. Gus looked up at the girl and caught up to her.
"Hey, I'm sure after all this, he'll be back to normal," He tried to assure her.
"Will he?" She asked skeptically as she stared at the back of his head, and...unfortunately, he didn't know how to answer that. If there was any word to describe the bond of Lucila and Hunter, it wasn't normal. And yet that was what they were striving for, but just couldn't reach for some reason.
"Oh, wow!" Camila said in awe of her. "You kids were really holding back in the human realm, huh?"
"Maybe a little," Amity answered the woman before seeing some abomination goo, laughing as she made it swirl around her. "Hello, you gorgeous slime!" Luz blushed at her girlfriend before frowning and Camila noticed her expression.
"Mija, you and your sister never told me how pretty this place was. The trees, the sky, que belleza-aaahh!" The last word turned into a scream as she saw a broken Titan head. "Kids, stand back," Camila stood in front of the group in alarm. "Who knows if that monster is alive or not?"
"Actually, the Titan skull is normal. Everything else is..."
"Wrong," Luz finished for Amity as it was all rainbows and stars, which...wasn't the Boiling Isles at all.
"Ew, it's like a unicorn threw up," Violetta scrunched up her nose.
"Guys, what's on top of the skull?" Willow pointed out as they noticed the little castle.
"I don't know, but...maybe we could get some answers from Bonesborough," Luz suggested to everyone.
"Did you lead us here for a reason?" Hunter asked Violetta skeptically, who glanced back at him.
"No, it's a detour," She told him, gesturing to the town. "Whether you wanna trust me or not, we're walking targets right now, so we're still headed to our camp." She walked off, glancing over her shoulder. "Unless you have a problem with that."
"I-"
"We don't!" Lucila covered Hunter's mouth, giving him a warning look. Violetta raised a brow and walked.
"Wow! Skulls, bones, I can really see this place helping you with your taxidermy hobby," Camila placed her hands on her hips as only she and Luz were standing there now.
"Mama, you're pretending to like this place, aren't you?" Luz gave her a knowing smile.
"No!" Camila insisted to her. "I love the fact that you and your sister have been living in a giant...carcass."
"That's sweet of you, really," Luz gave her a small appreciative smile. "...But I haven't changed my mind. After we rescue Eda and King, I'm staying in the human realm. Permanently. It's for the best," She started to leave.
"Wait," Camila held out a hand. "Let's talk first. What about your sister? You're really not going to tell her now?"
Luz stopped in her tracks, taking a deep breath. "I won't tell her until I tell everyone. She'd probably agree with me, anyway."
"Would she really? We don't know that, Luz," Her mother said with narrowed eyes and Luz clenched a fist. "It's not fair to keep her out of the loop about this."
"I know that, Mama. But it's for her own good that she doesn't know. I don't want her getting involved with my mistakes anymore..." She murmured as she kept walking and Camila sighed in defeat, following after her daughter. As they caught up with the group, Lucila glanced back at them, but didn't seem to be questioning what they were talking about.
Meanwhile, somewhere deep in the forest, a star/moon butterfly was looking at the flowers...until it was stomped on by a monstrous hand. The creature walked on the grass, leaving behind what looked like black acid. And that creature was Belos himself. He looked up ahead, and through his blurry vision, he saw...Caleb. And he looked a bit sickly. Then Hunter and Lucila appeared, looking the same way as they held hands, showing to him what he was trying to destroy. Lucila was in her old outfit when she first arrived in Gravesfield, and Hunter was wearing his Golden Guard uniform, except with the mask off.
"Don't mock me," He growled out as the bloody knife, the one he used to kill his brother, was hovering over the ghostly man. "I tried to save your soul, and Hunter's! It's your fault this all happened! And Evelyn's for your betrayal!" He roared and attacked, but of course, he went through the three.
He panted as drops fell from him, a bone popping out from his body. Caleb, Hunter, and Lucila just watched as he fell to the ground. "I need...a new body..." He growled as he went through the forest...heading for Bonesborough.
"Luci." She glanced at her mother approaching as they were a few feet away from the group. "How are you holding up?"
She sighed slowly at the question. "I'm…fine, I suppose. Everything just feels so different lately and it's…something I can't change, no matter how much I want to." Camila glanced up at Hunter and then hugged her daughter.
"If anyone can get through to him, it's you, mija," Camila assured her and she gave a weak smile. "About the whole…demon realm slash human realm deal, what are you gonna do?"
"Hm?" She stares at her mother curiously. "What brought that up?"
"Oh nothing," She looked away with a sigh. "It's just…if you had to choose between the two, which one would it be?"
"Well…I would hope that whichever one it is, it's a place where Hunter and I would be together like we've talked about. We said once that we'd give up the other's home…just to stay together," Lucila smiled at the memory. "As long as I'm with him, and you're happy with it, it wouldn't matter which one."
"But you have friends in both places," Camila raised a brow that she didn't seem too bothered by either choice.
"True…depending on which one I'd choose, I'd bring my friends to whichever side I stay in. Why are you asking me this? Does this have something to do with Luz?"
"I'm just…glad that you're thinking hard about this," Camila told her with a smile, although she could've told her about Luz…and decided not to, because it'd make Lucila change her mind and influence her decision. "You've grown so much, and whichever one it is, I'll be happy as long as you are," Camila kissed her forehead.
"Thank you, Mama." She watched her mother walk up ahead and raised a brow. She then sighed as she decided to put a pin on that topic for later. They had enough on their plate to worry about.
Luz gasped as she saw something, running up ahead and seeing...the Owl House. It had since been graffitied on, and it was unfortunately...abandoned. Lucila ran up with a sad look on her face, Violetta standing in front of the door.
"I thought you said we were making camp," Hunter crossed his arms and she looked back at him.
"We are. What, you think we were gonna slum it up in the woods?" She gestured to the door. "I don't do the whole rustic thing."
"What is this place?" Camila asked as the girls stepped up to Violetta. Luz touched the door forlornly at how it had been desecrated. So many memories here for the both of them...was now relegated to an empty shell. Violetta stepped back from the girls to give them space.
"Welcome...to the Owl House," Luz introduced as she opened the door, her sister standing next to her.
Camila opened up a shelf to see the body of a dead rat and a rotten apple. She grimaced in disgust at it. Willow and Gus watched Lucila step outside to Hunter, who was pacing around alone. Emmiline, Clover, and Melody were following him. Gus and Willow were staring out the window. "Why are you watching Lucila and Hunter?" Violetta couldn't help but notice them.
"Because of the Luci Spell," Gus said simply while still looking. Camila and Violetta glanced at each other in confusion, turning back to him.
"Luci Spell?" They both asked in unison.
"She can't perform magic normally like witches, remember?" Violetta raised a brow at them.
"We know, but whenever Luci does something that Hunter thinks is cute, he'll be so captivated by her that he'll forget what he's doing. Usually it's been subtle because we've rarely seen them. Out of all of them, we've only seen a sneak peek of one at the Noceda house...but today's the day," Willow smiled in anticipation.
"Melody?" Lucila called out as Melody hopped over. Hunter looked to her as she bent down with a smile. She then placed a little vest over Melody with three large pockets. "This is for you to keep your eggs in while you're flying so you can watch over them."
The blue hummingbird palisman chirped happily and tested it out, nuzzling Lucila on the cheek. Hunter looked on with a weak smile. She looked up and then approached him. He flinched as his eyes widened at her. As she walked, her hair flew to the side and she tucked in a bang. Her beautiful eyes sparkled as there were sparkles around her.
"Wow..." His knees felt weak as his face turned red. His forelock moved to be in the shape of a heart. He stared at his girlfriend, completely smitten by her.
"Ohh...that's a moment that needs to be documented," Violetta smirked as she held up her scroll for Penstagram, snapping a quick photo.
"Hunter...?" Lucila blinked as she stared at him, wondering where that reaction came from out of a sudden. His expressions lately had consisted of being grumpy and defensive, not this.
"Yes, my sweet princess?" He asked in a lovestruck way and she blushed deeply, looking away. She then cleared her throat as she looked back at him.
"Um...you're drooling," She told him bashfully.
"Huh?" He looked at his mouth and he was indeed drooling. He yelped and wiped his mouth off, blushing in embarrassment with a sheepish chuckle. "I'm gonna pretend that was never there."
"Sweet princess, huh?" Lucila asked with a hum, a hand on her cheek as she looked flattered. "Since when did you start calling me that?" He snapped out of it and she sighed at him. "Hunter, I saw you look up at the bird...it's about Flapjack, isn't it?"
"...Maybe," He looked away with a sigh. "It's just...what if they don't like me?" He asked in worry and her eyes softened. "What if when they find out what happened to Flapjack...they'll hate me forever? I already killed one palisman, Luci. I don't wanna lose another..."
"Hunter, Melody didn't give you that egg for the sake of it," She said softly, gesturing to Melody on the ground. "It's because she knows that you didn't kill Flapjack. Belos did, and...while yes, their father is gone now, they'll still be a family and have each other."
"You're right. Thanks, esplendida," He gave her a big kiss on the cheek, causing her to smile. "What should we name them?" He couldn't help but ask as he sat on a big stump. She took a seat next to him while watching the palismen.
"We don't even know what they'll look like," She chuckled a bit. "Plus they might take just as long as Luz's palisman to hatch."
"Will they?" He raised a brow at her.
"Well, to be fair, I didn't get Melody until I stated what I wanted for my life. Maybe it's the same thing with her eggs," She rubbed her chin in thought. After all, it had been months since Luz carved her own palisman egg. "Hummingbird eggs usually take 2 weeks to hatch if that's how this works, and it's been only a few hours." But then again, she didn't know how palismen birth worked, she just knew it was possible thanks to the Bat Queen.
"Well, we can still entertain the thought. A-as long as Melody is okay with it," He played with his hands, not even looking at the palismen as he looked towards the ground.
The palisman chirped eagerly in agreement, flapping her wings excitedly. "Well, I'd imagine that at least two of them would look like her and Flapjack. We can start from there," Lucila spoke up and he hummed while thinking.
"How about...cherry I think? Cherry for a red one. That's what they're called, right?" He turned to look at her, for once sounding like his normal self. And it was refreshing to the both of them.
"That sounds adorable," Lucila gushed a bit. "Maybe Lyra for the other one, and..." She rubbed her chin in thought as she tried to imagine what the last one would look like. "I don't even know if these will be all girls, all boys, or a mix in between."
"Oh...I hadn't thought of that," He confessed while he rubbed the back of his neck.
"What about Waffle?" Violetta popped up between them, the two flinching as they recoiled back from her sudden appearance.
"What?" Lucila asked in utter confusion.
"You know, Flapjack, Waffle? It'd...make a good tribute to him," She rubbed her neck a bit awkwardly. "And it's not right to call him Flapjack 2.0 either. Is that what they're called, waffles?"
"We're not naming a palisman Waffle, maybe something else," Lucila glanced away, crossing her arms.
"What you got against waffles?" Violetta protested at the girl, the two starting to argue about the name. Hunter smiled fondly, looking down at Melody holding out the egg she gave to him. He took it carefully in his hands and caressed it with a thumb. Whether it was a boy or girl, he'd make sure to love them as much as he did Flapjack.
"Maybe they'd like to hear some music?" Hunter suggested, getting their attention.
"Oh ho, we have a fellow music prodigy?" Violetta asked in interest with a smirk down at Lucila.
"If you must know, yes, she is," Hunter looked away in defense, Lucila gently pushing them away from each other before things got ugly.
"Sure, why not? After all, I still have this," She held up her lute that Hunter gave as a gift. She tuned it and then started playing a soothing tune. Hunter smiled softly as either her music or voice always had a calming effect to it. The palismen all gathered around to listen in, enchanted by the music. Willow and Gus smiled at them from inside, glad that Hunter seemed more loosened up.
"So...this is the Owl House I heard so much about?" Camila wondered while picking up the rat corpse.
"Yeah, but don't worry. The food's not usually that spoiled."
"Food?" Camila shuddered as she remembered the four showing the Nocedas their local food. She put the rat back down and then held her hands. "I need some advice," She said as Violetta left the couple alone.
"Well, first you have to pluck out all the dire rat's extra heads. The tiny ones that line in the digestive track might still be bitey, so-"
"I..." She then sighed in defeat. "No! I need advice about Luz," She put up a stool for her to sit on, sitting in front of them. "See, she's planning to...make a bad decision for herself. She's determined to make herself sad and to protect Lucila..." She sighed as she didn't want that for either of her daughters. It was as if the sisters' roles had flipped; since Lucila was determined to protect Luz for a while before realizing it wasn't healthy. "I don't know how to help."
"That reminds me of when I failed my first school project," Gus spoke up while Willow looked sympathetic for Camila. "I thought I deserved to be grounded so...I ran off to live in a cave in the most dramatic way possible! Of course, reliable old Willow finds me and says..."
She cleared her throat from his cue. "Augustus, it's okay to fail. Look at me, I fail all the time!"
"Oh yeah, I said, like when?" Camila smiled fondly at the duo. "Suddenly, there's this big slimy explosion in the distance!"
"Tonight, I forgot to chain up my abomination homework." Both of them laughed while Camila cringed a little, since she couldn't entirely relate to that.
"They have to chain up their homework?" Camila murmured to herself over the laughter.
"Maybe Luz is going through something like that," Gus suggested softly to the woman. "My dad didn't care if I failed that project...but I didn't wanna fail him and..." He sniffled as he remembered how long it had been since he had seen his father, tears in his eyes. "Oh man...I hope he's okay."
"Don't worry," Willow hugged him comfortingly. "We'll get him back. I'll make sure of it." Camila watched their interaction, noting that Willow didn't seem to be having the same reaction as him. Camila reached out a hand to them.
As Hunter continued to listen to Lucila's music, he had a flashback of what happened with Belos both before and after they went to Earth. Her getting hurt, him destroying her bracelet, and him killing Flapjack. It was beginning to be too much, and he couldn't let it all happen again. He then grunted as he stood up.
"STOP!"
She played a wrong note as she flinched from his voice, looking up in confusion. "Huh?"
"Just stop, this isn't working! And stop looking at us," He turned to the palismen, running a hand through his hair.
"What are you talking about?" She wondered while putting down the lute, but he didn't pay attention to her.
"Belos could be anywhere by now!" He suddenly shouted at her, and she recoiled back a bit. "Why are we sitting around having fun, cute things happen when we need to stop him?!"
Willow and Gus glanced at each other in concern. "We should make sure he doesn't pace himself into the Boiling Sea. Or say something he might regret to Luci," She suggested to him. Gus wiped away a tear and gave a small smile.
"Good call. And besides her, you're probably the only one who's strong enough to drag him back up."
Before Willow could leave, Camila stopped her. "Willow? Hold on," The woman held out a hand. "How are you feeling?"
"Don't worry about me," Willow smiled at the woman. "You heard what Gus said. I-I'm the reliable one...mostly, Luci's kinda like that too."
"It's okay to be scared too," Camila told her gently. "It's not good if you try to hold it all in."
"...I'm fine," She smiled again, though her eyes looked a bit worn out. "Really. And I think you'll be fine too. You, Luz, and Lucila are a lot alike," She walked off as Camila watched her, looking towards the ground...and seeing little plants sprout up from Willow's steps.
Lucila sighed in dismay as she watched Hunter pace. "All of us just went through a bunch of craziness with Belos! We need at least a plan!" She gestured to the forest behind her, wondering where this all came from and why.
"Okay, so let's hear it," He crossed his arms and she rubbed a temple.
"What is with you? You get all happy with me and then suddenly you don't wanna be around me! Is it…is it me?" Her eyes saddened at him, as almost any time he looked at her, he'd always get defensive for no reason.
"No—yes! I-I don't know! It's just…Belos is dangerous!" Hunter insisted to her.
"And we're going to stop him! You just need to calm down!" She looked at him pleadingly, as it was honestly a bit heartbreaking to see him like this.
"You're just preventing the inevitable, Luci! Are you gonna fight against him or do nothing? We're not getting anywhere like this!" He told her and Lucila dragged a hand down her face as she watched him pace. She tried holding it in as she stared at him, wondering what was wrong with her. Willow and Gus joined her, looking at Hunter as well.
"Is everything okay?" Gus asked softly as he watched her wipe some tears with the back of her hand.
"Everything's…fine," She mustered up to say. "Even people with rough starts have their rough patches to deal with in relationships."
Willow looked between her and the blonde as she could tell that the two weren't exactly in sync right now...and it could potentially get worse.
Amity walked around the halls of the Owl House with Ghost. Most of the doors were closed as she stepped on something. She looked down to see a photo on the floor, picking it up. She then went to the only door with light inside, seeing Eda's room still lit up with glyphs. She stepped over with a knowing smile as she looked down at the nest.
"Hey," She greeted her girlfriend, who had her back turned while hugging her palisman egg.
"Hey..."
"Did you think sitting in the nest was gonna help your palisman hatch?" Amity asked with a small smile as she leaned over the nest.
"Maybe. But nothing's happening..."
"Remember what the Bat Queen said. To connect with a palisman, you need to express your deepest wish," She glanced to Ghost who crawled up next to her.
"I never asked," Luz sat up to look at the purple-haired witch. "How did you connect with your palisman?"
"Well, after being handed a witch's staff, I said I wanted to be a great witch, or...I don't know, I wanna be an author like Mildred Featherwhyle. But she wouldn't move," She looked to her palisman fondly. "Until I admitted that...I don't know what I'm gonna be when I grow up," She nuzzled the top of Ghost's head. "But I wanna choose the path for myself." Ghost stood up and nuzzled her cheek. "And that was enough." She smiled happily while Luz looked down at her egg.
"I wanna be a witch...and help my friends and sister. But doing one always seems to mess up the other. Why did this get so complicated?"
Amity rubbed the top of her head. "You just gotta be patient. I'm sure Luci would say the same thing."
"Yeah, she's always telling me to be patient, even when I get stubborn and just don't listen sometimes. Which results in annoying her," She looked away with a fond smile. "But her looking out for me is one of many reasons why I'm glad I have a big sister like her." Amity kissed the top of Luz's head.
"...And this isn't the only reason you're in here, is it?" Amity revealed the picture to her, which was a photo of her, Luci, King, Eda, and Hooty in matching colors. King looked annoyed while the others smiled.
Luz sat up and looked at the floating lights. "I'll find Eda and King...no matter how long it takes."
"Girls?" Camila spoke up quietly, getting their attention. She held her arm awkwardly. "It seems as if Ms. Violetta's ready to talk."
Everyone was gathered outside the Owl House as Violetta had a chair prepared and dusted it off. They all glanced at each other, Lucila petting her palisman in worry. They still hadn't gotten any answers as to how Violetta got there and how she managed to know what was going on. And...since she was Melody's original owner, Lucila had her doubts. Hunter reached out a hesitant hand to the girl but then took it back as Melody was put to the ground.
"Okay, late recap, but we just faced off a monster who's been targeting most of us for months, and now we're back to go face him. Any introductions?" Violetta spoke up while pacing around, pausing as they all just stared at her. "No? No takers? ...Alright," She sighed out the last word, blowing a bang away from her hair as she crossed her arms over the chair. "I'm sure you guys are wondering 'is she gonna hurt us? Can we trust this person'?"
"We just...are curious as to who you are and why you're here with us," Willow spoke slowly to her, Hunter still pacing around.
"Easy enough. Well, my name is Violetta Fortiharpe...and I used to be like you," She glanced at Lucila specifically. "Strong, smart, but also ruffled a few feathers while being quite a looker," She winked at Luz, who smiled a little at the compliments. "I was friends with someone you kids got involved with."
"Eda," The Noceda sisters murmured in realization.
"But just like you kids, Belos showed his evil side to me...he almost had me petrified until I escaped. So while I was in hiding, I did some digging. I managed to stay in contact with Darius—"
"You were allied with Darius?" Lucila asked in disbelief, although at this point she probably shouldn't be surprised.
"Had to keep it hush-hush so that my location wasn't given away," Violetta waved it off. "But he'd never even think his old friend would get caught up in all this."
"Wait, how long have you known him?" Amity blinked in shock.
"Oh, for years now. We all went to Hexside together...good times. One time I managed to dump griffin saliva all over him as a prank," She chuckled at the memory, hands on her hips. "He's still getting that out of his body to this day."
"But then how do you know about Caleb and Phillip?" Luz wondered to her.
"Inside sources," Violetta smiled, hands behind her back. "But if I tell you, I'd have to kill you."
Everyone looked at her wide-eyed before she laughed. "I'm kidding! Anyway, yours truly is part of a secret rescue team, dedicated to helping out any and all incarnations or relatives of both Evelyn and Caleb." Hunter looked up in interest as he stopped short. "And any affiliated with them except for the obvious scumbag that is Belos. My ancestors have done it for centuries and currently, I am the leader of the Fortiharpe Railway."
"Oh, like the Underground Railroad?" Lucila smiled in interest from the name.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but sure," Violetta shrugged cluelessly and ultimately didn't care.
"You said...centuries, right? And you don't look that much older, so how old are-"
"Ah!" She pointed at Gus in a warning tone. "Didn't anyone ever teach you to not ask a woman's age?" He held up his hands in defense.
"Ms. Violetta, please...what are we dealing with here with...Belos?" Camila wondered in concern, the woman sighing heavily.
"Like you, I managed to escape to the human realm. It was the only place I knew it was safe with all that Day of Unity craziness and that...creepy Collector kid. I used a teleportation glyph, I taught myself how to use them after learning about Philip's past. And then next thing I know, I was tracking down Belos for months. He kept...using innocent creatures from your realm to try and heal himself," Violetta looked away as she had to witness some of the most unsettling animal forms in the human world.
"You couldn't stop him?" Lucila wondered to the woman.
"At the time, I didn't think it was a big deal since he'd just lose power and then leave. I guess when you're old friends with the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles, you tend to pick up some of her tendencies..." Violetta rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Every time he gave up, I'd just take a breather until he showed signs of popping up again. And that's where you guys came in."
"Okay...so why'd you save us?"
"You'd think I'd let friends of Eda get killed? I don't think so," She snorted to Gus, crossing her arms. "Besides...I have my own reasons. As in, like I said before, you two," She pointed one finger each right at Hunter and Lucila, who flinched at suddenly being questioned. "Riddle me this, how'd you come across Melody and become Evelyn?"
"The Bat Queen had her when I got my staff at Hexside," Lucila gripped the staff hesitantly. "I-I don't know how...I became Evelyn, I didn't even know anything about her until I met Hunter. And all of it is still so confusing, it's like I have some memories of her, but not all the pieces are there." She looked again at Melody teary-eyed, worried that her friend would go back to her previous owner. And yes, she was aware that Melody and Violetta went way back, but...if it wasn't for Melody, things would've been different for her.
Violetta hesitated as she clamped her mouth shut. She walked over and bent down across from the two, her wrists over her legs. "Whether I want Melody back or not, I know that she's happy with you. And I couldn't ask for anything more than that."
Melody chirped and flew over to Violetta, nuzzling her cheek. Violetta patted her head with a small smile. "Did you carve her?" Lucila smiled weakly and the woman nodded at her with a small hum.
"That I did. It was a birthday gift from my moms, and so they helped me carve her. And at the time, because my birthday is so close to the beginning of the year, I was one of the few students who had a palisman for a while. But I'm sure you'll know more of our stories in time," She scratched Melody's chin, earning a happy chirp. Everyone except Hunter smiled at the two's interactions. "We'll talk more later. Right now let's take a breather before we start looking for Eda and King."
Hunter looked up to the sky as he heard something and his eyes went wide. "It's Eda and King!" He shouted, Violetta flinching at how fast that was. Everyone stood up and looked in his direction to see a blue star flying away from them. "They were on that shooting star!" He pointed up at it.
"How are we supposed to follow them?" Camila stared at the star getting away.
"Don't worry," Amity assured while walking up to her. She tapped Ghost, who turned into her staff. "I'm a safe flyer," She said while Gus, Willow, and Lucila got out their staffs. Thankfully, Melody was well enough to fly as the girl put the little vest of eggs into her hair for safe-keeping.
"...Flyer?" Camila asked in realization that she was gonna be on a staff.
"Mom's first time on a staff?" Violetta whispered as she got on behind Lucila.
"Yup. This can only end so well," She said wearily as Hunter frowned at not flying with his girlfriend.
They chased after the star with Hunter flying with Willow, Gus with Luz, and Camila with Amity. Camila had her eyes squeezed shut with tears flying from her face. They all landed in the middle of town. "Ooh, those things need seatbelts," Camila got off carefully from Amity's staff. "Oh, hello sweet Earth..." She slid to the ground, but ended up sitting on a creature. She screamed in terror, pulling out her bat. She then noticed everyone looking at her. "I-I mean...hello, good sir," She bowed to it and he seemed to be happy with her being kind to him despite her fear.
"Real smooth," Violetta commented with a knowing smirk. Much like the Owl House, the town seemed to be abandoned as they walked past a park. Lucila stared at Hunter in worry as he took the lead this time, and then Violetta strolled next to him. He grunted as he looked away. "You know, you don't need to make it any clearer that you don't like me. And I'm definitely not fazed by teen angst."
Lucila rolled her eyes to the back of her head, as the woman reminded her a lot about Cori. She could just imagine all the pranks they'd pull off if they ever to meet...and she wasn't looking forward to that possibility.
"What? No," He glanced away as everyone stared at the two, hoping that there was no more negativity between them. "It's just...Luci's told me about you, but the whole...cryptic vibe isn't my thing."
"Fair," She shrugged to him. "But I won't worry, you'll be charmed by me when this whole thing is over."
"Please," He scoffed at her as Lucila sweated a little. At least they weren't at each other's throats right now...
"Ms. Violetta, if I may…were all of your ancestors part of this Railway you mentioned?" Camila asked while they searched down an alleyway.
"Well, not every single one, but we tried our best. We all knew the story of Caleb and Evelyn, so at first that was the only thing to go off of," She gave a small smile, but then it faltered. "We…never knew what happened to all the Grimwalkers until I accidentally teleported to Belos'…place of them when I escaped my petrification."
They saw her clench a fist and they could tell she blamed herself for not knowing the whole time. Gus whined a bit and then hugged her. She patted his back while looking away so that they wouldn't see her face.
"What about us?" Lucila asked her cautiously, gesturing to her and Hunter. "Why didn't you just explain everything months ago?"
"Because we knew if we did, you two would end up the same fate as the originals," Violetta remarked while crossing her arms, looking back to them.
"Who are they? Your ancestors? Are they even still around?" Amity raised a brow in confusion.
"I can't just tell you that!" Violetta exclaimed in disbelief. "I'm already in enough trouble telling you all this stuff. Every single Golden Guard always came to us after betraying Belos, whether there was an Evelyn or otherwise a relative of her. Some of them just straight up came to the truth on their own. But then they always disappeared for months and then come back allied to Belos. None of us made sense of it…"
"Where are Eda and King?" Willow frowned in worry as she and Gus stood in a dark alley.
"Where is anyone?" Gus gestured to the abandoned town center.
"So when it was my turn to lead the Railway, I didn't even know where to start looking," Violetta continued explaining to the others. "No one had any trace of you two, and at the time, both of you weren't any interest to me so I wasn't actively on the lookout. That is until Darius came to me and told me about you," She looked at Lucila, who flinched. "Said that a human he had heard about but never met was involved with a Golden Guard. I did my research and realized that you are Evelyn."
"…And then you just sat around watching us? Waiting for something to happen? You could've helped us!" Hunter asked her angrily while glancing back at her.
"And say what? Oh, you guys are who I'm sworn to protect because you're connected to a dead man and a witch who brought him to the Boiling Isles?" Hunter clamped his mouth shut and looked away as he realized that they probably wouldn't have believed her if she had told them sooner. "Sounds crazy, right? And besides, we weren't strong enough to face Belos. We only focused on getting the current Golden Guard or an Evelyn to safety from him…and now here we are."
"Are you gonna try and stop us from fighting him now that we know?" Lucila wondered skeptically; she definitely didn't want another Eda incident of trying to force them into protection.
"Ha! Please! I'm not that uptight as my ancestors were about it," Violetta waved off with a snort. "Just by looking at any of you, I know not to mess with you. And besides, by telling you, it makes you official members of the Railway!" She told them and they all smiled at her.
"Thanks, Violetta," Luz told her gratefully.
"Call me V," She winked at them. "Now, because I'm the leader of this little party…" All those smiles turned into annoyed looks. "We need to gather more troop members. We may be strong, but this is a witch hunter we're dealing with. Let's start off by finding at least one person in this dump."
Hunter stepped up first to the destroyed statue as all the homes didn't seem to be active, or any shops. Hunter looked around the corner and then held up a hand in warning. "Something's coming."
"Witches?
"Demons?"
"No, it-it's...sparkles?" He looked back in confusion. Suddenly a blue light flashed from the alley and he ran off as the sparkles were heading right towards them.
"Take cover!" Violetta ordered as they gasped, all of them running to an alley. Lucila was the last to get in as she glanced back at the sparkles getting even closer.
"Look out!" Hunter pulled her in by the hand, hugging her close as the sparkles flew right past all of them. Luz stood near Amity protectively and once the sparkles left, Lucila looked up at Hunter. She looked to her left while backing away, and he bit his lip sadly. It was kind of hard to be themselves when there was tension in the air.
Luz and Amity peeked around the corner...as the abandoned town center was now populated? And it didn't look abandoned anymore, it looked full of life, sparkles, bubbles, and rainbows. Some of the people even looked familiar like Cat or Amelia, but something was off about their appearances. It was as if they were real-life puppets.
"Dad?!" Willow saw one of her fathers, but he had a moon crescent symbol on his forehead. He came to life as did the other puppets as they hopped around. Then they all screamed while running around in a panic.
"What is going on?" Lucila murmured in confusion at their reaction. Willow ran up to her father. "Willow!"
"Stop, it's me!" She called out, but he either didn't hear or didn't notice her. Violetta came over and grabbed her hand. "Have you seen Papa? Wait!"
An explosion occurred and Violetta jumped while holding Willow, landing back in the alleyway. "Willow...I don't think that was your father. Well, it is, but he's not in his right mind," She held an arm in front of everyone else protectively.
"What are you talking about?" Willow wondered and she simply pointed up ahead. The thing that had caused the ruckus was...the Owl Beast?
"Eda?"
Violetta shook her head no at this. "Uh-uh..." She simply answered as people ran away from Eda chasing them. Mr. Park hugged a wall and Willow grabbed her staff. "Wait," Violetta stopped her and the girl looked up. A blast occurred right behind Eda.
"Stop right there, beast!" Willow faltered in confusion as the Collector came floating in on a star...with King next to him. "Fear not, citizens of Bonesborough!" He jumped off from the star. "I'm here to stop this beast's mad rampage!"
"I believe in you, Collector!" King encouraged the god-like boy. He was even wearing an outfit similar to the Collector's.
"Thanks, best friend!" The Collector winked at him.
"That's one of the people you're searching for, right?" Violetta wondered to everyone quietly, as she lost touch with Eda before King was in the picture. No one answered and that was enough for her. Luz's eyes widened while Lucila recoiled back in shock.
"Light glyph, go!" He shined a bright light that made Eda fall, and everyone cheered...and then Terra, wearing Eda's dress and having pink hair, crawled out of what was a costume.
"Oh, hooray, I'm back to normal."
"What?" Luz wondered in utter disbelief.
"Okay, that is one of the scariest things that I've ever seen," Lucila looked away while gagging.
"Ugh, Terra, the years have not looked kindly to you," Violetta said in disgust as the woman cracked her back. She even looked like she grew a pot belly.
"Who's got a pint of apple blood? Hoot hoot."
"Ugh, time out, everyone!" The Collector called out. "Time out!" He groaned as he walked up to Terra, King just watching from afar. "Terra, for the last time, Eda doesn't sound like that! She's got more of a...like a-like a cool aunt vibe who pretends to be all cold-hearted but actually cares a lot!" Lucila blinked at that description, deducing that King must've told him about the woman.
"Oh, you're a real thorn in my side, you know that?" Terra growled in annoyance. "I've had it with you and your stupid little dog!" The Collector looked at her with his mouth open wide. He glanced at King and then glared at her. "Ugh, whatever. All I have to do is play Eda the Owl Lady, and I don't get turned into one of those things, right?" She jerked her thumb to a puppet. "Then...let's just continue...ooh, I like musicians!"
Violetta raised a brow and then gave a weak smile as she knew who Terra was talking about.
"You're not being very nice right now," He gave her an angry look as his eyes flashed red.
"Wait!" She pleaded, but he flicked a moon symbol at her forehead. Once it hit her, she turned into a smiling puppet and he walked towards King. Everyone looked horrified at this as they knew now why everyone looked off. The Collector sat on the star while it spun around.
"Collector, buddy," King walked up to him nervously. "You gotta stop doing that. Think about what you're doing to these people."
"You are so boring!" The Collector called out in a bit of annoyance. "I'm just playing pretend!"
"Even playing pretend has consequences. A cranky old witch taught me that," He looked away from his 'buddy.'
"You mean Eda, right?" The Collector smiled happily. "That's what we need! The real thing! A cranky, know-it-all mental figure, no substitutes allowed! Maybe if I ask real nice, I won't have to turn her into a puppet!"
"No!" King sat across from him. "Her curse is still...um, in effect." The Collector looked away, crossing his arms over his knees. "But I can check if she's feeling better."
"...You promise?"
"You can trust me, Collector," King assured him, holding out his pinky. The two did a pinky swear as Camila leaned in towards her daughters.
"Is that the little King guy you were telling me about?"
"Mm-hm," Luz smiled fondly while nodding.
"Ay que lindo," Camila murmured while her eyes shined, as that was the same reaction Luz had. Lucila smiled weakly at her mother.
"And then maybe next time we could get someone to stand in for this Luci girl. I've heard lots of stories from Belos about how she ruined everything," Lucila then winced at being mentioned. "She sounds like fun! Especially with this Hunter guy?" She then gave a blank 'really' look with an annoyed whine.
"Heh...yeah," King looked away awkwardly.
"Come on, King!" The Collector smiled while looking back. "Let's go back to the Archive House." The star started to float.
"Wait, no," Luz ran up to him. "Not yet!" However, neither of them heard her as all the puppets disappeared and the two got farther away. "King..." She lamented as everything went back to its abandoned state, and all the puppets disappeared.
Lucila walked up to her sister, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why King's going along with all this."
"I know, but..." Luz turned around and hugged her sister tight. "He was right there, Luci..."
"Yes, and we'll see him again. We'll find out where he's staying and see him there," Lucila hugged her sister, patting her back gently. "You can count on it, hermana," She looked up towards the sky, her eyes softening. She could tell that King was only going along with it to please the Collector or else obviously he would've been a puppet by now if he didn't.
"Okay, okay," Camila spoke up as the others joined them. "So the bones on the ground are normal, but the little space cherub is the danger?"
"We should follow 'em. Belos is probably trying to get back to the Collector!"
"It looked like they were...playing a game," Gus held his arm.
"Yeah, with some kind of messed up version of our lives!" Luz gestured to herself and Lucila. "King must've told him about our adventures."
"How else would he know about Eda's curse?" Lucila rubbed her chin. "Or about me and Hunter, though I'm pretty sure he's not gonna care about the whole...Golden Guard stuff." She looked away while rubbing a temple, as she couldn't believe King told him about that for some reason.
"Do you think everyone who was turned into a puppet gets locked into the archives?" Gus wondered and Luz stepped onto a large rock. She looked over at the star heading over to the castle above the Titan head.
"If they do, then that's where we have to go," She narrowed her eyes in determination.
"You'll never make it," A new voice spoke up, getting their attention as they looked up to their right. "Cuz you guys are losers!" Mattholomule shouted with Skara and Barcus at his side. All of them were wearing new accessories.
"Oh no, not him! Anyone but that jerk," Lucila lamented at this.
At a forest campsite, Bump prepared sleeping bags for the kindergartners. "Since the Golden Guard, I mean Hunter, told us about the Emperor's plans with the Day of Unity, Principal Bump and teachers took over leading the camp that Luci marked as safe in her notes."
"We thought we could handle whatever the Emperor threw at us...but when the Draining Spell hit..." A red light overtook the area and they looked up at the sky to see the eclipse. They looked over to the teachers and Principal Bump feeling the effects. "We realized things weren't so simple."
Then the moon was pushed over thanks to the Collector. "After the adults recovered..."
"That's when the Collector's spies showed up."
Floating blue stars went over the skies, seeing the camp. Boscha, Cat, and Amelia prepared themselves with Grudgby balls, jumping out of the bushes. "The Grudgby team snuck out and tried to hold them back, but..." One of the stars avoided everything, zipping around to be behind Boscha. A moon symbol appeared from its forehead. Amelia pushed her out of the way while Cat let herself get hit. Amelia also got affected and Boscha looked up as both her friends fell in front of her as puppets.
"Huh?!" Then they disappeared into thin air and she gasped sharply. It was about to turn her into one too until Principal Bump hit it with abomination goo. The teachers ran up while some students rescued Boscha.
"It didn't work." All the teachers got hit, and then Principal Bump was affected. "Bump and the adults were turned into toys and taken away. We went back to Hexside and have been hiding there since."
Mattholomule and Skara led them into the forest. "And somewhere along the way, I went from being Mattholomule...to Manttolomule."
Camila, Lucila, and Violetta all snickered to themselves at how dumb he sounded. Willow and Gus looked annoyed, Hunter was indifferent, and Luz and Amity were just put off by it. "More like Nerdttolomule," Violetta said to the others, Lucila covering her mouth so she didn't bust out laughing. She then cleared her throat, rubbing the back of her neck.
"I'm really sorry, that part of the forest is usually unpopulated..."
"The same thing would've happened whether or not we stayed at Hexside," Mattholomule waved it off.
"Shh!" Skara held out her staff in front of them as they looked up, seeing one of the star creatures looking around. Mattholomule came out of hiding from behind a bush, waving them forward. They walked towards Hexside, and like the Owl House, it had seen better days... There was a sign that said no non-puppets inside, Skara putting away a box and Mattholomule moving the sign. "We did a little redecorating these past few months, so let me welcome you to...New Hexside!"
They all gasped as the place had a bunch of students around, and the entrance was more like a sanctuary than a school. However, there was also a bunch of chaos since there were no adults, such as students swinging from trees.
"This does not smell great," Gus murmured as he smelled something, and was probably better off not knowing what it was.
"Heads up!" Someone called out, Luz ducking from a fireball. They headed into the lunchroom, which was now a traders market of sorts.
"T-shirts! Get your t-shirts!"
"Bootleg candy! Now that your mama's a puppet, time to eat that candy!" A little demon jumped up and bit into his hand, causing him to freak out.
"Eh, I've seen worse," Violetta shrugged it off.
They walked past the kindergarten, where Barcus was dressed up like his father. "I'll save you, father!" He held up a paper throwing star, sticking it to his tongue for a second. When he threw it, it cut off the head of a stuffed animal in the likeness of a Collector spy. All the kids jumped up and started tearing it apart. "Let the blood of your enemies give you strength!"
Camila cringed a bit and left them alone.
"This is a statue of Principal Bump," Mattholomule explained as the trio stood in front of it sadly. "Who risked his life for ours." They all saluted tearfully to it.
"It's so nice to see teachers getting the respect they deserve...I think." The statue...was of the principal skateboarding. In sunglasses and a hat. Violetta laughed out loud and snapped a picture using Penstagram.
"I am so posting this when we save the world."
Some students gathered around whispering as they had finally noticed the former Hexside students. "Hey, where have you guys been? Who's tall Luz?"
"Willow! Luci!" Viney ran up to them, grabbing their hands. "I'm so glad you guys are back! Your orchids have become sentient and have started a war with the robbing gang of kindergarteners! Please help."
Eileen walked up to Gus, holding a paper clip. "No! Human paper clips are not a good meat substitute! Have people been eating those?" Eileen looked away in a panic and then ran off, confirming his suspicion. Lucila sighed while placing a hand on her forehead. "They need you as their human teacher now more than ever..." He commented while shaking his head.
"Ahh...they might seem too far gone for me to help them efficiently. Maybe in like a few months, give or take?" Lucila said skeptically; if the school was like this, learning how humans would survive wouldn't be so easy.
Someone took one look at her and squealed. "It's them!"
Hunter and Lucila were baffled as they were suddenly swarmed by all of Hexside. "Give us all the details!"
"Did you start dating?!"
"Are you guys end game?"
"When did you two start liking each other?"
"Can we have your autographs?"
"You two are so cute!"
"Why can't we have what you have?"
"Um…" Hunter looked nervous while Lucila just smiled in amusement. It would make sense that they'd wanna know everything since the last time the two of them saw the Hexside students, he had kissed her.
"Don't worry, I got this one," Violetta gently pushed herself into the middle of the crowd. "Listen up, kids. I'm gonna be brief but…he basically simped for a girl out of his league but they couldn't suck it up and give into their love until their status wasn't a big deal anymore."
"Hey!" Hunter shouted angrily at her, but she was unfazed.
"That's not how it happened at all!" Lucila argued to Violetta.
"Huh?" The whole crowd asked in confusion as they just watched the three argue. Camila was looking at them as well with a smile.
"Mittens?!"
Amity turned around happily to see her sister running up to her. "Em!" The two shared a big hug, Emira spinning her around.
"Heya sis!" They turned to Edric being wheeled over...with his entire body into a cast. "Amity!" He called out with tears falling from his eyes.
"Oh. My. Titan!" He tried to hug her, but he could barely move.
"Ed, you're gonna hurt yourself!" Emira warned him.
"I don't care, I'm gonna hug my sister!" He screamed in pain while moving his arm to be out of the cast to hug her. "Siblings!"
"What happened?" Amity asked with wide eyes.
Emira pulled him up to stand. "After you and Dad left the factory, I bravely set off to find you. Then I was tragically cornered by one of the Collector's spies."
"When he was running away, he fell into an empty well," Emira continued with a small wince.
"Not empty; there were rocks at the bottom!" Edric revealed with a smile.
"Come here, you weirdos!" Amity held out her hands with tears in her eyes and hugged her family. Emira looked up at the crowd being excited for Lucila and Hunter. Lucila just looked a bit uncomfortable; it was almost as if they were real celebrities...
"Alright, alright, back off," Emira told the crowd while pushing past and giving them a big hug. "Let us hug our friends!"
"We were friends?" Hunter raised a brow in confusion.
"As long as you're dating Luci, you are! Romantic rival or not!" Edric hopped over and Lucila flinched in alarm as Hunter cringed at him.
"Oh...oh no, curse me being gone before I could learn about healing people..." She put a hand over her mouth. She then hugged Edric and Emira tightly with a smile. "I missed you guys so much!"
"We did too. Now, tell us...how does it feel being Hexside's power couple?"
"Please don't-"
"Power couple?!" All the students exclaimed happily as they interrupted Hunter and he flinched back in alarm. Then everyone started taking photos of the two like paparazzi. Lucila flushed in embarrassment, but glared at Emira, who smiled playfully at her.
Violetta chuckled at the crowd throwing a bunch more questions at the two as she walked away into the hall. She pulled out her scroll and logged into Penstagram. Scrolling until she found the name, she tapped it to video call Eda.
When Eda answered, she was looking away in annoyance. "Whoever it is, I'm spoken for. Although I am quite a catch."
Violetta laughed as the Owl Lady looked at her in surprise. Eda had cut her hair and it was now similar to her mother's in a star shape. However, she still had no right arm as it was bandaged. "Still the same Eda, huh?"
"V…Violetta?! Is that really you?"
"V?!" Lilith peeked in from the side. Her hair was cut short and dyed orange. "Oh, we thought you were—"
"Dead? Ha! You really don't know me, do you?" Violetta said boastfully with a wink. "Plus, I'm digging the new looks, ladies." Lilith and Eda both smiled weakly at her.
"…V, where have you been all this time?" Eda asked slowly and her friend faltered, dropping her expression immediately. She looked away guiltily. "Why didn't you reach out to us sooner?"
"…E, I was sent to be petrified by Belos as you probably know." Lilith gasped sharply as she actually did not know this. "I had gotten into the Emperor's Coven like I wanted, but I refused to give up my friend. So he…deemed me a wild witch and I managed to escape. Figures he was too embarrassed to being thwarted by yours truly."
"V…" Eda's eyes saddened as she didn't want to hear this, but at the same time, Violetta just looked so...vulnerable right now. And she knew that Violetta was petrified, but not the whole heartbreaking story…
"I guess I was just…ashamed of it that I…stopped being in contact. That and he'd stop at nothing to find me. So I couldn't risk your lives either, hence why I asked Darius and my old friend to hide me."
"Old friend? But who else—Raine!" She narrowed her eyes in realization. "They helped hide you without telling me?! Oh, they're not gonna hear the end of this from me!" As she ranted, Violetta gave a small smile, glad to be able to talk to her again and that Eda didn't seem mad at her.
"By the way," Violetta spoke up with a knowing smirk. "When we see each other again, I have a surprise for you."
"A surprise?" Eda snorted at her. "Considering what I've been through, I'm probably going to hate it."
"Nah," Violetta smiled a little while glancing to the doors. "It's gonna be a good one. But I can't show it to you now. It's not time yet." She smiled at her while Eda was confused. If she showed Eda to Luz and Lucila now, that'd make it less fun for her. Plus Eda…was showing her feathers again, and she had a feeling the Nocedas would worry themselves to death if they saw her now. "E, you might wanna deal with the whole curse situation," She pointed to her neck.
"Ugh, not again. Wait, how do you know about my curse?!" Eda looked at her wide-eyed.
"Tell you later, gotta go do stuff byeeeee!" Violetta saluted playfully and hung up before Eda could protest. She smiled wistfully as she held the scroll. She then held it close to her heart, shedding a tear as she felt…awful for letting them believe she was petrified.
She heard a chirp and glanced at Melody on the ground. The hummingbird palisman chirped in concern and Violetta bent down, picking her up to muzzle her cheek. "I'll be okay. I'm a tough girl. Besides, Belos will get to know how I feel about him making me suffer," She smiled at her old friend. "And for making you do this whole mother thing alone."
Melody sadly chirped while using her wings to hug her cheek. Violetta chuckled a bit and nuzzled her head with her finger. "Just like old times…"
"No offense, but this seems a bit..." Willow watched an abomination walk over two students, covering them in goop.
"Disgusting," Camila shivered a bit.
"Chaos is the word that you're looking for, actually," Lucila walked over while dusting herself off as she and Hunter had managed to get away from the crowd of apparent fans.
"Yeah, but we're just following orders," Viney explained to them.
"From who?" Luz asked in disbelief and then the intercom came in.
"Ahem. Attention. Would Captain Tholomule escort his guests to the councils' chamber? Do it now!" Boscha's voice rung out as they looked up.
"Captain who?" Willow wondered in confusion.
"Wait! Has Tholomule been your last name this whole time?!" Gus turned to the boy in shock, who just shrugged. Violetta walked past them as she had returned from the hallway.
"Let's get this over with so that we can do what we need," She told all of them.
"You know, I could've sworn this was your adventures," Amity whispered to Luz and Lucila.
"It still is. Otherwise this wouldn't be called Learning How to be a Witch for the Owl House, would it?" Violetta winked to no one, baffling all of them.
"Who is she talking to?" Camila whispered to her daughters.
"I dunno, but it's best that we don't question it," Lucila shook her head slowly.
Meanwhile, in the forest underneath the Collector's castle, Belos was walking around. He grunted while tracing something onto rock. Once he was finished, it seemed to be a glyph. He touched it and the glyph became more clear, opening up a door to a passageway.
It turned out the passageway led to the...Golden Guard graveyard. He crawled past all the bones and broken masks, panting heavily as he was getting weaker. Suddenly Caleb's ghost appeared, along with several other Golden Guards. He looked up at them as they stayed silent before Hunter and Lucila appeared, but this time, Lucila was dressed as Evelyn.
"Oh, shut up," He growled while crawling past them. He came across...where he'd make another Grimwalker when needed. "There has to be one last..." There was a hand poking out of a planted box and he dove straight into it. The hand then twitched a little.
The Collector and King flew on the star, laughing happily as they arrived home.
"Boy oh boy!" King commented as they flew into the entrance. "We were gone for a while." He jumped off the star and it disappeared. "I should probably, uh, check on Eda the Owl Beast. Maybe get her something to eat."
The Collector then floated up to be upside down. "What do mortals eat again? Rocks? Fire? Gravity?"
King just waved him along to get somewhere safer, but it didn't seem to be going that way. Then Odalia of all people walked down the steps. "Welcome home, Collector. Did you have a pleasant adventure?"
"Mama Dalia, we need to feed the Owl Beast," He floated over to the steps while King walked past her. "Mm, how about...oh, pizza bagels?"
"I told you before, Collector," She chuckled nervously to him. "I could be much more use to you than being uh...Mama Dalia. Maybe we can talk about remaking the Boiling Isles into something bigger and better?" Short version, she wanted to form the Boiling Isles into an image that would suit her.
" . Bagels!" The Collector ordered again and she bowed with a grunt. She then begrudgingly left to go do so. "Oh, and one more thing," He spoke up, getting her attention. He snapped his fingers to make all the puppets in town before appear above her head. She yelped as they fell around her and she popped up, her hair a mess. "Drag those back to the collection room, will ya? Kay, thanks, bye!" He called out as he and King floated away.
Then the two floated over to their bedroom, where they were surrounded by space, but a planet had two beds and a desk on top. "We've been playing pretend forever, King!" The Collector whined to him. "It is fun, but...what if we switch it up? We could play Capture the Flag! Us versus everyone on the Isles! We could put the losers on the moon!"
"Wow, that is...an idea. But, don't you think people would have a tough time breathing?" Thanks to Lucila's research during her first few weeks on the Boiling Isles, she found out that while witches had a bile sac to do magic...they still had the same capability as humans in space.
"So they could hold their breaths!" The Collector retorted while floating up and removing his blanket. He floated down to bed and the blanket went over him. He couldn't see King's face, but the little Titan was...definitely a bit disturbed now. "Hey, King," He clapped his hands and then a huge stack of stone fell nearby. "Can you read me a story?" The book went as tall enough to reach the door.
"Heh heh. Easy," He pushed the book to fall around the planet and land right behind him. Some pages fell and he bent down to read. "Okay. Collectors live long, we watch things pass. To preserve, to observe, we must amass. What flies, what swims, be it predator or prey. Seal them up so that they never fade...uh..." He looked down at some writing that was smudged, so he couldn't read it.
"No, no, don't read the next part! Skip to where I fixed it," The Collector explained to him.
"Uh, okay. But playing is more fun, so I'm gonna make friends instead, the others stink boo." He felt a bit concerned, noting to look into that later. He reached up and switched the light to be blue instead of yellow, like the sun and moon.
"King? Can I sleep with Francois?"
He paused as he looked to his stuffed bunny. He only got that because of Luz and Lucila, and he had been the only one to touch it since. Well... "Come on, you know I've only let two other people hold him."
"Right, those humans," The Collector remarked bitterly. "Can you at least leave him to watch over me? I don't like being alone."
King sighed in defeat, putting the stuffed bunny on the desk. The Collector fell asleep and King floated away to leave him be...
Angel: I had no idea where to leave this off since it was more clear in the last special, so I picked a point myself. Also I'm sorry for the info dump with Violetta, but she didn't actually meet the group until the end of the last special, so I had nowhere else to put it.
Also, I kept getting ideas for this episode when I was already working on a bunch of content outside of the episode, and when the episode was already finished. So I only used one since I had enough to deal with in the story, sorry to those who sent them and I didn't use them. Next part is finished, but will probably come out tomorrow because I'm still editing it as of now.