The group were taking a few minutes to have some peaceful silence. Violetta smiled as she looked on, a hand on her hip. She couldn't wait to see the look on Eda's face when she saw the Nocedas.
"Oh, I have an idea!" Lucila pulled Hunter aside, Stringbean perking up and flying over. She floated between the two and turned into a paintbrush. "Thanks, Stringbean," She smiled as the tip of it turned red and she started painting something on Hunter's arm. He glanced up at his girlfriend, smiling softly at her before he frowned. So many times he had put her through so much, and yet here they were. Sometimes it still seemed like a dream to him, and that he'll wake up with her not wanting anything to do with him.
"Luci...are you okay? After...well, you know," He brought up and she turned to him.
"I'm fine," She smiled genuinely at him. "But Belos and the Collector won't be when we're through with them," She gave a small sinister smirk and he chuckled a bit.
"You're not the only one they need to be afraid of."
"True," She shrugged in agreement as the tip from Stringbean turned black.
"...You still love me, Luci? After what I did? Even when Belos possessed me or...when I kept seeing him whenever I looked at you?" He asked while trying to keep it in. She paused and he stared at her as she seemed lost in thought. He wondered what she was thinking about, but it didn't take too long as she kissed his cheek.
"Yes, and I always will because I know that you would never do it on purpose. So why would I be upset?" She smiled softly; ever since meeting him, she had slowly changed. And she would never forget that, because back then she probably would have given him a harder time. But now, she had seen and been through a lot, so nothing he did anymore would make her be angry at him. Unless there was an exception she wasn't foreseeing.
His eyes softened as he pulled her hand to his cheek, giving a small smile. He then kissed it and she blushed, giving a bashful smile. "Please stay with me, Luci. I need you...and..." He faltered as he tried not to cry. "I don't wanna lose you. You're the one I wanna spend...the rest of my life with," He glanced away, blushing a deep red.
"Carino..." She smiled as she hugged him and he returned it, looking away from her still. "I know how hard it's been for you ever since we found out Belos is alive, and...well, you know," She faltered and his eyes saddened as she meant Flapjack. "But no matter what, I'd never leave. We're in too much to break up."
He froze as his eyes got small, his face a comical frown. He processed those last words and realized that if he ever hurt her again, she might break things off. And he couldn't handle that. He chuckled while pulling away to look down at her.
"B-Break up?" Sweat rolled down the side of his face and she blinked. The girl then realized what he must be thinking and then recoiled back in alarm.
"We're not breaking up!" She clarified in a serious tone. "Trust me, we've been through enough to experience that. And technically, when we had most of our fights, we weren't even dating for those to count."
He held her shoulders with a panicked look on his face. "I'll never let anyone possess me or hurt you again. Just please don't have us go through a break-up," He pleaded with his girlfriend, who looked away in a bit of exasperation.
"That first one isn't really something you can control..." She muttered loud enough for him to hear before turning back to him. "But we're not gonna break up. And why would I ever do that? You're my Grimwalker."
Hunter blinked at her statement and then smiled happily. "And you're my human," He kissed her forehead and she smiled. She took a hold of his hand before looking up.
"I should probably tell you everything I kept from you when this is all over."
"You don't need to worry about that right now," Hunter said in an assuring tone.
"Yeah, but I should. You deserve to know. Ah, don't move too much, you're gonna ruin it," She gestured to his arm, and he shook his head in amusement.
"You wanna tell me what you're doing?"
"You wanna stand still for me and then I'll let you see it?" She replied back sweetly to him and he just chuckled as she focused on his arm. Her glasses then slipped off her face and she caught them. "Nooooo," She complained as some paint dripped on one of the lens. "These glasses were already hard enough to maintain when I first got here with Luz."
"I got it," Luz offered her hand and Lucila gave them to her.
"You could just get contacts," Hunter told her as he stared at her eyes without the glasses on.
"Yeah, but I've never really liked not wearing my glasses," Lucila confessed to him, the others gathering around Luz as she had a mischievous look on her face. She pulled out a black marker and laughed to herself, the others shaking their heads in disapproval.
"But why?" He couldn't help but ask as Luz drew googly eyes on the lenses, chuckling to herself as she was about to hand them off to her sister.
"Luz Noceda, if you don't clean the only pair of glasses I have here-"
"Okay, okay," She relented and Violetta simply snapped her fingers to make the glasses back to normal. Lucila stepped back from her boyfriend and grabbed her glasses to inspect them.
"But Luci, you'll always be the most amazing thing to me on the Boiling Isles, glasses or no glasses," Hunter admitted sheepishly to her and her face turned red. The others looked on with smiles as she waved a hand in front of her face.
"Heh...is it getting hot in here? Anyone feel a draft?" She laughed bashfully and put her glasses back on. Hunter raised a confused brow.
"Huh? Did I say something wrong?"
"No, dude. You said exactly what you needed to," Gus smirked in amusement as skulls popped out from Lucila's lenses into her face and she screamed. She threw them down on the ground, Hunter catching them. Camila looked unamused while the others just looked away innocently and Lucila glared at Violetta. Hunter glared at the woman and examining the glasses.
"Well, that was a close one..." He commented to himself before finally seeing what Lucila had painted. He gasped as it was a red tattoo...a red cardinal tattoo. He sniffed happily while Lucila was chewing out Violetta.
"I can't believe you did that, imagine if those actually broke! I don't like-" Hunter hugged her from behind and she stopped being angry as she gave him a small smile.
"Thank you, esplendida," He murmured happily into her hair and she reached out to his face, her hand touching his cheek furthest away from her. She leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"You're welcome."
"Worth it," Violetta smiled and Lucila put her glasses back on.
"I guess I'll forgive you...eventually," She looked away in annoyance. The ground suddenly shook, alarming all of them as they looked around. Then everything got dark for a brief moment. Pink strings wrapped around Willow, Gus, and Hunter, dragging them off into the skies. It was dark again before Camila and Violetta got snatched along with most of the palismen.
"Mama!" Luz cried out before Amity was captured as well. "Amity!" She held out a hand and Lucila gasped as she looked at the others.
"Hunter! Guys!" She shouted in concern before a light shined on the sisters from behind. Both of them braced themselves, Lucila shielding Luz by hugging the girl. Once they opened their eyes, they were looking at a familiar pattern.
"What happened...?" Luz reached out her hand as she had seen this before...when she and Lucila were in the In-Between Realm trying to use the Titan Blood for the first time. Luz gasped as she remembered her sister, glancing down to see the girl laying down nearby. "Hermana, you okay?" She bent down to her sister, who opened her eyes.
"Oh, my head's not. Hate it when we encounter something that's gonna give me a headache nowadays..." She grumbled as it wasn't the first time something magical happened and her head would hurt because of it.
"Hey!" An unfamiliar voice called out to them in an echo and they looked up in surprise.
"We were just about to enter the Archives..." Luz suddenly recalled as Lucila sat up, trying to see if she could locate the voice. However, she couldn't determine where it was coming from.
"Hey!"
"We were just about to rescue Eda and King..." Luz finally touched the patterns.
"Luz the human and Evelyn Clawthorne!" Lucila gasped from the name and before she could comprehend it, they both saw a skull head. However, it only had one golden eye, the other having a worm. "You have to wake up."
A flash occurred and Luz opened her eyes. She was laying down on the ground in a dark room...a room that just so happened to be Belos' throne room back at the Emperor's Castle. She sat up, but was no longer wearing her Azura outfit. "Uh, how did I get here?!" She gasped as she saw her clothes, which were exactly like Belos' himself. She screamed once she saw herself, falling back onto the ground. "What is this, I-is this a dream?" She stammered as Stringbean popped up, booping her ear. "Oh! Stringbean, it's you! You sweet little power noodle, I'm so happy to see you!" She gushed while holding her palisman in her hands. "Are Mama and the others okay? Wait, where's Luci?! She was right here with me," She glanced around and Stringbean chirped sadly. Unfortunately, she didn't know where the others were, or where Luci disappeared to. Luz glanced down the doorway and walked around. It was eerily quiet, and while the castle did give her those vibes, this was...different. And not in a good way—though when it was Belos, there was no good way to interpret any of this...
She walked past a stained glass window, glancing to the open doorway nearby. All of this was just way too easy...She walked out to the entrance, the cape draped around her body just like Belos'. And considering how she hadn't heard anyone else, she seemed to be entirely alone.
Where is everyone?" She murmured and then looked own the dark abyss underneath the bridge. She gasped in horror...as she found out where everyone was. She could see Morton, Derwin, Principal Bump, Boscha, and Matt...all petrified. However, she wouldn't know it just yet but something was off here...and not just because she woke up dressed like Belos. She could then see the Blight Twins, Alador, and Tiny Nose. "NO! No, no, no! W-When did this happen?!" She covered her mouth in disbelief.
"Don't you remember?"
She flinched at the female voice, turning to her right with wide eyes to see a shadow at the end of the bridge. "This is all your doing," Amity accused her, but she was wearing her old casual outfit, which...she hadn't put on in months. "You helped Belos meet the Collector. Your actions led to this! You've been the real villain this whole time! You and Evelyn!" She pointed angrily at Luz, who was too focused on the accusation rather than the fact that Amity said Evelyn instead of Lucila.
"Wha-Listen, I-I don't know what I missed, but I'd never do this!" She ripped off her cape to let it fall just to show her point. "See?"
"I'm sorry, Luz," Amity stated while shedding tears. "But I have to take you down," She spun a spell circle, aiming abomination goo at the floor. She used it to give herself a boost towards the girl.
"Amity, please!" Luz pleaded, ducking from the slime aimed at her head. Amity zipped past her, keeping her eyes on Luz while aiming a bunch of the slime. Luz activated her staff to fly off, yelping as she flew past Amity, who looked furious. As she attacked again, Luz flew through the doors. "This isn't a dream. This is a nightmare!"
Lucila gasped as she opened her eyes wide. She sat up immediately and panted, looking around as she was in a forest. She slowly calmed down so as not to have a panic attack. Once she was calm, looked around and didn't recognize where she was, looking down at herself. She flinched as she was wearing a red cape with a blue oval-shaped gem holding it together, brown boots, and a purple dress with ¾ sleeves. Her hair was shaped to be like a star, but in a darker brown and she opened her mouth to see a fang poking out. "Huh...?" She murmured in confusion and then looked down at herself. "What the—how did I change clothes?! But also, why does this look so familiar...?" She looked down at the gem in particular, as it was exactly like Eda's, just blue. Lucila looked back up, noticing that she was the only one out here. But then a smell hit her nose and she sniffed it a few times. She gasped as she recognized it.
"That's smoke!" She looked up at the sky to see a trail of smoke in a close area. She was about to run when Flapjack himself came out of hiding from her cape, chirping and forming into the staff. She looked down in shock to see him alive, but snapped out of it. She grabbed the staff and flew off. And when she found the source, it turned out to be a fire, and in the middle of it...
Were two very familiar people.
She landed behind a tree that hadn't caught on fire as she gasped sharply. "No...no way..." She whispered in horror as the two people were Caleb and Phillip fighting.
"It's not what you think!" Caleb grunted as he and Phillip were in a sword fight. "Evelyn and I are in love! It's my life, Phillip, and it's time you start living yours!"
"She's one of them! Lying, scheming filth She can't possibly be your future. I won't let it!" Phillip clashed hard against Caleb's sword, the two brothers gritting their teeth at each other. Lucila looked on in shock as she realized where she was...
It was the day that Belos killed his brother.
She shook her head rapidly and ran forward. "Stop!"
Caleb flinched and turned around, his eyes panicked. "Evelyn, stay where you are with Flapjack! Don't-" A loud shing was heard and Lucila scrambled backwards as she stopped. Caleb looked down...to see the knife Phillip was holding lodged into his back. Lucila screamed as Caleb fell and was soon engulfed by the fire. She covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face. She never thought she'd see it up close...
Phillip looked down at his brother, his eyes the same as Amity's. He seemed to show no emotion for his now dead brother. "And now...onto you, Evelyn," Phillip spit out at her...and she then knew...
That she was in the past as Evelyn somehow.
Eda opened her eyes while laying on the floor, gasping. "Huh?" She stood up, confused as there was a shadow in front of her. She realized that the shadows were from bars of a cell, and that she was in the Conformatorium. She transformed into Harpy Eda to break herself out, seeing that was alone. "Lily? Hooty? King?" Her voice echoed, but just like with Luz, no one else was there. She gave a worried look as something wasn't right, flying off to go search for them. She broke open a door, sliding out into the open and taking flight. She panted while looking back, and when she looked forward, she was confused. A net was thrown at her, tossing her right back to the ground.
"If you think you can keep me from my family, you got another thing comin'!" She threatened to whoever did it.
"Don't worry, Edalyn," Lilith chuckled from above. "We're all present and accounted for." She was in her old black dress from when she worked in the Coven. Her hair was still short, but black, and Gwen was right next to her.
"Lily! Ma! Thank goodness," Eda said in relief to see them. "Hey, help me out. We gotta find King."
"No!" Lilith answered, to Eda's shock. Both of their eyes were wide and narrowed. "You'll be staying right there."
"Huh?" Shadows approached Eda from both sides, and they revealed themselves to be Coven Scouts, all of them pointing weapons at her.
"Dangerous beasts need to be kept in cages, after all," Lilith stated to her shocked sister.
"What are you talking about?"
Instead of answering, both her family members turned to the side. "Why, Eda?" Dell came walking up, holding his right eye. "I forgave you," He moved it down, revealing another scar from it...a scar from her claws. Eda gasped sharply at seeing him.
King opened his eyes, trying to catch his breath. He sat up in front of a door, and as soon as he did, torches lit up on their own. He looked up ahead...and saw skulls, practically everywhere. He stood up in alarm, not even able to comprehend it because someone came up from behind.
"Nice, right?"
King screamed in alarm as it turned out to be Bill, but his eyes were pitch black. "Bill! You crazy jerk. How'd I get here?" King demanded, gesturing to the room behind him.
"I brought you here," Bill revealed, gesturing to all the bones. "I wanted to show you our new collection." King flinched in alarm as the Titan trapper got closer to him. "What's wrong? Don't you recognize your siblings?" He then chuckled a little, towering over the little Titan. "But don't worry. We saved the best spot for you!"
King turned around, seeing a giant platform that had a statue of a sun, but in the symbol of the Collector. A green light shined on it and he whimpered, Bill holding his shoulders from behind.
Luz went past the same stained glass window in the halls on her staff. She leaped off of it and made a break for it, sweating. She didn't understand anything going on. Why was she dressed like Belos and how did she get there? Why would Amity accuse her of such things? Suddenly she went from running through a hallway, to running into a patch of trees.
"Trees...?" She murmured to herself and came to a stop, sweating. She turned around to see Willow sitting in front of a big tree, but the girl was in her Hexside uniform. "Willow! Oh, Willow. I'm so happy to see you. Do you know what's going on? I just saw Amity, and-"
"You know, Luz," Willow interrupted her as she got onto her feet. "My life changed after I met you and Evelyn." She was holding a small root in her hands, the wind blowing as Luz stood there in silence. Although she couldn't help but wonder a bit why both Willow and Amity referred to Lucila as Evelyn, it was as if they acted like they didn't know her actual name. "I finally believe that there was this big, bright future ahead of myself." She let out a sigh as the sapling slowly withered away into dust. "But that didn't last long, did it?" Tears fell from her eyes, her pupils now green. "You destroyed my home and any chance I had at happiness!" She opened her hands, revealing spell circles. "I have no future now. None of us do!" She threw up her hands to attack Luz, who ran off screaming.
She came to a stop, looking around with a whimper as everything got dark. Suddenly a blue light shined on her and she was no longer in the forest. She turned around and flinched as she was actually on a stage now. "Look, everyone. It's good ol' Luz," Gus gestured to her while wearing a tux and everyone cheered with their mouths open, not even moving their bodies. And to Luz, it was honestly kind of unnerving... "And she just might be the biggest hypocrite ever!" Like Amity and Willow, his eyes were different. Then everyone booed at Luz.
"Wh-what?" She stammered in confusion, but also hurt by Gus' words.
"Everyone helped you and Evelyn get back to your mom," He once again threw wild accusations at her just like Amity and Willow. "Meanwhile, because of you and Evelyn, I'll never see my dad again."
"Gus, no. I-I swear, we'll get him back," She backed away, not wanting to be reminded of what she did and how it affected everyone. "We'll get everyone back. I won't stop till we do."
"Tell that to him!" Gus shouted and pushed her into the crowd. But she instead landed on a rooftop. She turned around and realized she was on the roof of the castle, Hunter in the outfit he wore in Latissa, but his hair was still the same.
"I've always just followed orders," He spoke up softly...while looking out to a statue of Flapjack. "I never thought about making friends or going to school or even falling in love with Evelyn." It was just now hitting Luz that aside from maybe Gus, no one had actually referred Lucila as her sister or by name. "Then I met Flapjack. He was more than a palisman. He was my best friend! And then I lost him helping you!" He accused her, clutching his heart where Flapjack touched him while dying, tears in his eyes. "But you still get to have your own Palisman?" He fell to his knees, his voice sounding bitter. "Why, Luz? Why do you get to have it all?!"
"H-Hunter, that's not true. What about the palisman Melody promised you?" Luz stammered, but he didn't answer as the others surrounded him to grieve.
"I'm sorry. But for the sake of everyone you hurt..." Amity pointed her staff at Luz.
"Please...no," Luz looked away as the thing she didn't want to happen...was happening. Everyone suddenly blaming her...and the fact that she didn't see it coming.
"I challenge you to a witch's battle!" Amity declared, Luz's eyes opening as she registered what her girlfriend said. She turned to the group and stared at them.
"Wait...say that again."
"I said, I challenge you to a witch's battle!" Amity repeated, but didn't realize...that she said it wrong. And then it hit Luz.
"A-A witch's...battle?" She got closer, letting her staff disappear. She holds Amity's cheeks, noting her eyes and lips. "Bap. Boop," She flicked the ears, Amity just standing there. "You look like Amity," She lifted the girl's arm, poking her. "You feel like Amity. But you're not Amity...are you? Ha ha! You're not her. None of you are you!"
"How dare you? Of course we're us," Willow defended to her, both her and Gus gripping their staffs.
"It's I challenge you to a witch's duel, not witch's battle," Luz waved a knowing finger. "And the Amity I know would never misquote the Good Witch Azura," She crossed her arms with a small smirk. "Not to mention that even if Lucila is the reincarnation of Evelyn...we've never actually called her Evelyn, have we? Not even you would do that because we all know that she's still Luci," She pointed at Hunter specifically. Plus...he did go through all that drama recently with her sister about her being Evelyn, so she KNEW that he wouldn't put her through that all over by calling her Evelyn. "So come on," Stringbean turned into her staff. "Attack me. I know what's going on," She stated confidently and Amity used her slime to send them forward, but a pink string stopped her from going further. Luz opened her eyes and noticed that all of them were captured by the string, struggling to move. Luz carefully backed away and Amity gasped, her eyes turning back to normal.
"...Luz?"
"Amity, is that you?" Luz asked her quickly. "Is it really you?"
"Yes. We've all been collected, including Camila and Violetta. The Collector came from the sky, and-"
"He's playing games with you, Luz," Gus interrupted her as he, Willow, and Hunter were back to normal as well. "He's trying to keep you away from King, Eda, and Luci!"
"But if you wanna save anyone, you have to wake up," Willow added in urgently.
"How?" She asked in confusion as she wouldn't know how to free them from something of a magical god-child.
"Think about it," Hunter implored her, the pink strings coming to get him. He just smiled, however, as he had faith in Luz. "What's the first thing you do when you wake up from a bad dream?"
Amity shakily let go of her staff, holding Luz's hand. "You turn on the light," She smiled softly at her girlfriend, pulling her hand away to reveal a light glyph. A tear appeared in Luz's eye as she looked up at the four. They all smiled back before their eyes shifted again and they were taken away into the sky. Luz kneeled as she stared to where they disappeared, silently vowing to find them. She pressed her hands together to activate the glyph.
She slowly opened her eyes and then let out a scream as she was back in the Boiling Isles. However, she was surrounded by various toys, and she assumed they belonged to the Collector. She was actually standing on a completed Rubik's cube of all things, a shooting star passing by. She looked up at puppet strings, finding the source as she saw Bill and Tarak, or puppets of them, terrorizing King. He whimpered as he held his head, looking up as his pupils were blood red and he looked scared for his life. Luz turned around to see Eda surrounded by puppets of her family.
"I didn't mean it. I didn't mean. I didn't mean it!" She repeated and Luz looked forward to see her sister surrounded by puppets of Caleb and Phillip.
"No. I'm not who you think I am! Leave us alone!" Lucila held her head while shedding a tear. Melody chirped up at her in concern, pecking at her hand but nothing was working. Luz went to Eda first , grabbing her hand. She placed a light glyph on the woman's palm and a light orb appeared. Eda opened her eyes, and was snapped out of it.
"Huh...?" The puppets then all went up to the sky, Luz running over to King. She gave him a light glyph, the same solution with Eda happening. He looked in confusion as Luz stopped at her sister, giving her a glyph and King looked up at the puppets leaving.
"What...?" Lucila murmured as she looked up. King looked to the side as Luz rushed forward to hug her sister.
"Luci, you're okay!" She said in relief, Lucila patting her back.
"Of course I am," The girl replied with a small smile as Melody nuzzled her in relief.
"Weh?!" King recoiled back in shock upon seeing them. "Luz? Luci? Luz! Luci!" He ran forward and jumped up with tears in his eyes. The two chuckled as he tackled the both of them to the ground in happiness.
"Hey, buddy," Luz giggled and Lucila joined in.
"We missed you too, King," She said as Eda noticed them as well, standing up.
"Is this...real? Is that Luz and Luci? Oh! Are you all really here?" She rushed over to them while crying and the two held out their arms.
"Get over here, you witch!"
"I know you're not just standing there!" Lucila cried out as Eda bent down and hugged them, tears in her eyes. She gave all of them kisses like a mother would and Lucila giggled. "I'm 16, I'm too old for that, Eda!"
"Not with me, you're not!" She playfully told the older girl. All of them cried as they hugged each other, Stringbean and Melody joining in.
The Collector watched them from a star, groaning in annoyance and turning around. "I thought you said this would work, Ray-Ray!" He whined at Raine/Belos. "You said it would make them all 'see the error of their ways'. But King is gonna hate me for this. Now what do we do?" He sat down on his bed with a pout, crossing his arms.
Raine/Belos sighed while standing up, grabbing Francois. "Why bother teaching them anything when you could just wipe them out?" They wondered, the Collector snatching the stuffed bunny from them.
"I want to be their friends," He defended even though earlier, he didn't like Luz or Lucila for how much King adored them. And he didn't even have to tell the Collector this, he knew from the tone of King's voice when he heard the stories. "And besides, my powers don't work on King," He put Francois back on the dresser.
"The dog?" Raine/Belos said in confusion, wondering why the Collector would try to use his powers on him.
"Yeah, cause he's a Titan!" The Collector revealed as several stars soared above him. Raine/Belos just stared as he never would've thought that King was a Titan. "You worked in the castle, Ray-Ray. You've seen the big old heart, still beating too. Titans are amazing!" He let himself float down onto his bed, hands behind his back. "When they're full grown, they're more powerful than anyone."
"...You know, I just had an interesting idea," Raine/Belos stated as a devious plan was forming in their head, and they sat down.
"Yeeeah?" The Collector sat up in interest.
"No, it wouldn't work," Raine/Belos waved it off.
"What? What wouldn't work?" The little child floated off the bed, holding their cheeks aggressively. "Tell me, or I'll hold my breath for a million years."
They chuckled and pushed him off. "Well, if you insist. What if you played with those four yourself?" They had to bite their tongue because they would've preferred to finish off Lucila himself, but they were willing to look past it...just this once. "Showed them just how much fun your games are in person? Then they'll all want to be your friend."
The Collector's eyes shined at his suggestion. "You think?!" Raine/Belos nodded with a hum, holding onto the child's hands. "Alright!" He cheered with a giggle, floating away. The same star appeared as he waved at Raine/Belos. "Wish me luck, Ray-Ray!" He then floated into the star to teleport to them. Once the star was gone, the puppet pushed away Francois and opened up a drawer. They pulled out a star and smirked. "Perhaps this will be easier than I thought..." Their voice changed to Belos'.
"Oh, I thought I'd never see you two again," Eda said happily while still crying. "How did you get back to the Demon Realm?" She pulled away, wiping her tears.
"It's a very long story. We wouldn't know where to begin," Luz looked away sheepishly.
"Well, you could start from when we were in the cemetery," Lucila suggested to her, cringing a bit and hugging her knees.
"There was Belos in the Human Realm," She started off to them nervously.
"There was what?!" Both of them screeched in unison.
"He was basically this sickly-looking monster but with dirty hair, and he even possessed Hunter," Lucila frowned at the memory.
"Then we saw Kikimora. She, uh, was a lot to deal with," Luz looked away with a small frown.
"I can imagine," King deadpanned up at her.
"More like annoying. Wherever she is right now, I don't miss her," Lucila gave a blank look.
"And then our mom decided to—whoa!" Luz exclaimed and her sister gasped as they laid eyes on Eda's missing arm. "How did that happen?!"
"Oh, that's a shorter story," Eda glanced to Stringbean, finally noticing the palisman. "Oh! Is that your palisman?" Luz showed her off and Stringbean examined her. Owlbert came up from Eda's hair, frightening the snake-shifter a bit. The two then greeted each other with smiles. Eda looked up at Melody on top of Lucila's head, seeing her wearing the vest with the three eggs. "Did Melody lay eggs?!"
"Let me see, let me see," King jumped up and down, Lucila smiling and letting Melody land on her hands. She brought her down for them to see, though she did look sad remembering Flapjack. Melody chirped happily up at Eda and King as she was glad to see them again.
"Yeah, she laid them before we got here...and Flapjack was the father," She looked away forlornly, Eda and King telling from her face that something happened to the palisman.
"...Hey, all I wanna do is hear all of you talk over hot choco's milk," He picked up Luz's hat and put it on her, changing the subject for Melody and Lucila's sake. "But first, we gotta find a way out of whatever this is."
The two of them stood up, Lucila looking around. "I think I know exactly who did it, too."
A pink shadow loomed over them and they looked up with a gasp. A giant star formed, and out came the Collector himself. "I don't get it, King," He shook his head in disapproval. "I really don't get it," He landed on top of a giant ball in a cup. "I thought you loved playing our games. Why do you choose these itty-bitty spiders over me?"
"You're not understanding it!" Lucila narrowed her eyes at him.
"And because your games stink, squirt," Eda retorted while her hand turned into a claw. Both Melody and Stringbean turned into their owners' staffs.
"And cause spiders are awesome," Luz defended while King stood in front of the three.
"Yeah, especially the itty-bitty ones!" King pointed up at him.
"Aw, you act like I'm doing something bad. But I'm just having fun," He whined down at them.
"Trapping people and scaring them and controlling them, that's not fun, Collector," King stated while his emotions were being pent up a bit. It was hard watching the Collector turn everyone into puppets and using them as toys. And the fact that he couldn't do anything about it hurt even more.
"And everyone nearly died from the Draining Spell," Eda pointed out, glaring up at the Collector.
"So? Toys break all the time," He summoned a tiny toy figure of himself. "You just fix 'em," He broke it and then tossed it. The doll's head rolled back into the body and then it stood up. Lucila and Luz glanced at each other as breaking a toy and a person dying weren't interchangeable. And it was honestly concerning that this was his mindset.
"Do you...not understand what death means to mortals?" Luz asked slowly and carefully.
"Well, don't worry, cause I don't wanna scare you anymore," The Collector seemed to ignore the question. He floated off of the giant toy. "I think we can all be great friends." His shadow overlooked the concerned group, and some blue swirls appeared around him. "So let me show you some of my favorite games."
Meanwhile, in the Archives, a trail of green goo could be found from Raine/Belos. He dragged the puppet body down the hall. The goo went back into their mouth, shaking as the moon symbol fell off from their forehead. Their eyes turned back to normal and Raine went back to normal as well. "Let. Me. Go!" He demanded as some green tears fell from his eyes. Their body was dragged to a door, and they struggled to gain back control from Belos. They fell to the ground, green goo falling from the mouth. Once they stood up, Belos had control again and he groaned.
"Raine's always been annoyingly powerful," He grumbled and then smirked. "No, I think I'll keep you around a little longer," He walked off while holding the blue star. He enlarged it and hopped on, floating away from the door...
And behind that door were Amity, Gus, Willow, and Hunter with all of them now puppets. Amity's finger twitching and touched the ground.
Luz, Eda, Lucila, and King fell down a red hallway with symbols, Luz looking back in horror. A giant Collector head was following them and she opened her mouth in shock. The head opened up its mouth up and down, following them in a maze like a certain video game. They swerved around, coming to a dead end. The Collector's head caught up with them and then suddenly ate Luz, Eda and Lucila flying away. The head spit her as he felt a pain on his tongue. That pain was from Stringbean's stinger, Luz smiling proud as she nuzzled her palisman. The Collector shrunk down to size, holding his head.
He snapped his fingers and suddenly Luz was trapped in a giant purple ball. She looked to see that Eda, King, and her sister were in giant orbs as well. The Collector's giant body loomed over them and he hit one ball against them, knocking everyone except King around. He looked up with a glare as the Collector laughed. He ran forward inside the ball, staring at the Collector's lifted up foot. He braced himself as he used his momentum to trip the Collector, the god-child falling onto his back. King bounced backwards and looked up, the Collector looking up and snapping his fingers again.
Luz balanced herself while King was on her shoulder, as they were now in a giant game of Jenga. Eda and Lucila were in flight nearby, the Collector knocking down a block. The whole structure shook as it fell to the side, Luz hopping onto her staff in a panic and flying off. Lucila and Eda looked up with wide eyes as the structure was heading towards them. Eda gritted her teeth while Lucila flew off of Melody, holding her up towards the blocks. Eda flapped her wings as Lucila fired a bunch of musical notes, both of them blasting the blocks back. Lucila got back onto her staff just before she could hit the floor, flying back up to high-five Eda with a smile. The pile of blocks fell onto the Collector, Luz and King joining them. The Collector came out of hiding, looking really angry now and his eyes softened. He then looked away as nothing was working like Raine had said...
Luz raised a brow at his reaction and he snapped his fingers, turning everything back to normal. The four all fell to the ground in relief. "Thank...whoever," King said gratefully since there was no god in the Demon Realm. "I think I barfed, like, 12 times."
"And I think I wanted to twice as much," Lucila groaned while holding her stomach.
"Wanna make it a lucky number 13?" Eda teased and tossed King up into the air.
"Eda!" He protested as he floated away from them, laughing as she caught them. Lucila smiled as Luz looked to the side, hearing crying. They looked up ahead and could see the Collector hugging himself, sniffing. She stood up and went over to go comfort him.
"Luz," Eda started off as a warning. Lucila followed after her sister. "Luci, not you too!"
"Eda, let them go," King encouraged while looking up at his adoptive mother. "If anyone can talk some sense into them, it's Luci and Luz," He gestured and the two smiled for his faith in them. They approached the Collector, both of them taking a seat in front of him. He glanced up at the duo sadly.
"Collector. You know this can't last forever," Luz started off to him.
"I know you wanna play, but that's just not how life works," Lucila continued and he let out another sniff.
"Why? Cause you'll know you'll lose?" He retorted back, looking more confident. Eda and King joined them, looking sympathetic for the Collector. He looked away, squeezing his eyes shut as he knew that his bragging wasn't working. "I just wanted a friend who wouldn't lie to me or trick me. But everyone's the same! King lied, Belos lied, even they lied."
"Who's they?" Luz couldn't help but wonder, as she only knew of him interacting with King and Belos.
"The Archivists, my siblings. Oh, let's play a game, they said. Let's play hide-and-seek," He shook his fists and body, looking angry just thinking of them. A noise was heard and they looked up, as it was because of his emotions. "You go down there and see if the Titans wanna play!" A blue light shined on him and they looked up to see constellations of the Archivists along with the Collector. They pushed the little constellation down to a planet, which had Titans surrounding it. "So I played, and it was great," The constellation then showed him playing tag with the Titans. "The baby Titans were the cutest, just like King." The constellations depicted him with the babies. "And they were all so welcoming. But the Archivists were scared of their power." Hands took away the baby Titans, disappointing the constellation of the Collector. "So one by one, they disappeared." A pair of giant eyes loomed over the Collector. "Until there was one Titan left. And he thought I was the bad guy," The Collector himself looked bitter while telling the story, King's eyes looking horrified. He had a good idea of who that Titan was...The constellation of the Titan held out his hand. "He hid his egg from me and trapped me." The hand reached out in a yellow light to touch the Collector. "But I showed all of them. Even when those trapper jerks started acting weird. Even when Belos lied to me! I found King! I found the last Titan, and he's my friend now!" He tugged at the sides of his hat.
"Collector..." King's eyes saddened as they stared at him sadly. The Collector didn't mean any harm, he just wanted to play...he was technically still a child, and it was all just a misunderstanding...something that clearly was still affecting him.
"I know it's just pretend. I don't care! I'll pretend as long as I want!" He shouted like a child with a temper tantrum right into the sisters' faces.
"...But that's not what you want, is it?" Luz asked him softly and knowingly.
"More importantly...that's not what you need," Lucila added in, but he still looked angry.
"What do you know?!" He protested at them.
"We know what it's like to feel alone," Eda started off while looking down at him.
"And abandoned."
"And misunderstood," Luz got onto her feet, Lucila staying on the ground.
"And misjudged," She glanced up a bit with a small smile. King took Luz's hand and she gave a small smile of her own.
"Yeah, right, says the one who's all perfect and smart," The Collector grumbled as he already knew how Lucila lived her life thanks to Belos...well, more so of him grumbling about her more as time went on before he was released. Especially after Hunter gave him the portal key.
"That's actually not true," Lucila kept the smile on her face. "Ask my mama or Luz, I'm definitely not as perfect as you think." True, she was...distant when she first arrived in the Boiling Isles, but now she was fully acknowledging very comfortably how some emotional damage was part of her history.
"Yeah, she's had a lot of issues, but Luci's a trooper," Eda patted her shoulder, Lucila looking up in a bit of annoyance. She then smirked to herself, not letting Eda see it.
"I'm not the one who was insecure about being a mother-like figure, hid a probably 40 decade long curse, and was overconfident waaaaay too many times," She teased, the Owl Lady lightly hitting Lucila from behind.
"Hey! I'm not that old," Eda remarked and earning a laugh from the older Noceda.
"Hey, what if we showed you how we became friends?" Luz offered as Lucila stood up, all of them joining hands. The Collector stared at them for a few seconds and then turned away from the four.
"King already told me about your adventures," He whined a little. "Even about Lucila and Hunter."
"Thanks for telling him that, by the way," Lucila smirked a bit down at King, who gave a sheepish smile.
Luz stepped forward to the Collector. "It's...different when you can see them," She held out a bunch of photos. She held one out and he looked back to it. "What do you think? Can we tell you our stories?" She offered the Collector.
Belos went over to the Emperor's Castle, which had since been abandoned ever since the Day of Unity. He jumped off the star, his body trying to escape Raine as there was a big entity over the Bard witch's back. "I...said...GET OUT!" He demanded and took a deep breath. He let out a strong whistle, managing to get Belos off of them. He fell to the ground, the possession taking a toll on their body. Belos formed into his monstrous form.
"That's fine," He growled out to Raine, turning back and crawling towards the castle. It was honestly sad in a way. "Only one vessel is big enough to do what I need." Raine gasped as they looked up, realizing where he was going.
"No..." They stood up and chased after Belos. They followed the trail of goo, grunting and hugging their waist halfway up the stairs. They shrugged it off and continued running. They opened up the door to the throne room, seeing no one. They pulled out their violin, prepared to attack in case Belos sneaked up on them.
"You know what this is, don't you?" And by this, he meant the beating heart above the throne. "It's the last of many, but it still beats." Raine looked around in a panic since they couldn't see or determine where Belos was right now. Some goop crawled up Raine's body before Belos formed around his neck. "It's the Titan's heart!" He grabbed Raine's arms, and they struggled. Belos then bit their left arm, causing them to drop the violin while screaming in pain. Raine gasped as the monster started to engulf him, another part slipping away to crawl to the heart. Belos grunted while crawling up the throne, Raine on the ground and struggling to get to their weapon. They touched the violin, raising it and then smashing it to give off a sonic shield. Belos jumped through the hole, and when the shield crawled away, he had succeeded in taking it over. "Poor Raine. You tried so hard, didn't you?" Belos mocked them from his spot.
Raine gasped in horror as they weren't quick enough, and Belos' arms merged with the heart. Green moss started to take over not only the heart, but the whole room. Raine ducked for cover as the entire castle started to be affected by it, both inside and out. The Titan's head started to gain a glow around it.
Meanwhile, back in the Archives, the puppet Amity had managed to trace a light glyph onto the floor. It activated and turned her back to normal. She gasped as it affected the others, sitting up. "Oh my gosh. It worked!" She looked up and saw Lilith, Cat, and Amelia in front of her. "Ms. Lilith?" She murmured while rubbing her eye, the others waking up. Gus looked up and saw Bill, Steve, and another witch. He blinked and then screamed from Bill's appearance alone.
"Where the heck are we?" He looked around rapidly.
"These must be the Archives," Willow stated as she stood up, Camila and Violetta as puppets hanging next to each other.
"Camila! Violetta! Willow, help me get them down," Gus got onto his feet, summoning his staff. Willow summoned her own staff as Hunter and Amity realized something.
"Guys...where's Luz?" She asked them in worry.
"And where's Luci?" Hunter looked up towards the sky.
The Collector had asked to go to the Owl House after looking at some photos. And the group were just arriving there as the giant star landed in front of the residence, followed by the four. "Wow. I thought we would just, like, flip through these," Luz stated nervously as she was a bit hesitant bringing him there. Especially after what he did to the Boiling Isles...
"So it all started at the Bird House!" The Collector cheered, hands on his hips.
"The Owl House," Eda corrected him in a bit of annoyance. "Speaking of which, what happened to it?!" She approached her home as she never had the chance to see it after what the Collector did. Plus, if they had gone back, the Collector would've found them and things would've been way worse.
"Oh yeah. You, uh...haven't seen it in a while," King realized as they watched her fly around it.
"Yeah...without anyone maintaining it, it kinda went downhill," Lucila looked away sheepishly, flinching as she saw the glare from Eda. "Sorry," She held up her hands. Luz looked at a photo of her barely in the shot, her tongue out. King was on top of Hooty, Eda had her arms crossed, and Lucila gave a peace sign while standing next to King and Hooty.
"For me and Luci, it started in the Human Realm. Things were...not great, but I found my way here," Luz explained to the Collector. "And we met Owlbert, Hooty, and Eda the Owl Lady," She went over to Eda, King jumping into her arms.
"And the King of Demons!"
"As for me, I had a lot of stuff to shoulder since taking care of her was...a challenge, to say the least," Lucila ruffled Luz's hat, who pouted a bit.
"You didn't have to say it..." She complained at Lucila, who laughed a little.
"Mama...was a bit more tough on me because I guess she never really liked what I wanted to do in life. And I followed Luz here to get her back home safe, but...she convinced me to stay, and I was hesitant at first, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way," She smiled up at the others, Eda wrapping her free arm around her.
"None of us felt like we fit in. So we decided to not fit in together."
The Collector scoffed while looking away. "It was that easy, huh?"
"Oh, easy's definitely the most wrong word here," Lucila snorted a bit.
"Not really," Luz went over and bent down, showing him more pictures. "We had a lot to learn." She showed him a picture of when she wanted to do a quest, doing her placement exam for Hexside, and Willow and Gus. "But after a little while, we met more people who helped us." The next photo was of them playing Grudgby against the Banshees when Boscha wouldn't stop picking on Willow.
"Whoa! That game looks fun. I wanna go there," The Collector commented in excitement.
They went over to the Grudgby station, landing on the eyes. "This is where we play a game called Grudgby."
"The ball can bite you, and the rules are nonsense, but it's still kinda fun," King stated as for some reason, the stadium was lit up even though it was essentially not being used.
"nonsense?" Eda replied in defense since she was a former player after all. "Ha! Hexside lets you play any magic sport these days. Grudgby was all we had, and we made the best of it."
"And you were the star player," Luz playfully patted her head. "We know, Eda."
"At least Willow introduced Flyer Derby and we won our first game as the Emerald Entrails!" Lucila smiled while holding up the photo of her with the team.
"Did you know Lilith was Eda's captain?"
"Really? Now that's a spinoff I'd watch," Luz replied in interest, the Collector staring at them at how they got along so well. Eda and King gasped as they saw Hunter in Lucila's photo.
"Oooh, what do we have here? You never told us about this cute picture," Eda nudged Lucila playfully and she blushed.
"I-I told you already about what happened that day," She stammered in embarrassment, crossing her arms.
"Aww, is Luci being shy now?" King teased her and she giggled while a faint blush was on her face, King landing on her head.
"Oh, come on! Don't I get enough of this from Luz?"
"No!" All of them answered in unison. The Collector noticed three students going away into hiding as they were watching them. The Collector smiled hopefully and went over to Celine, Matt, and Jerbo hiding behind the bleachers.
"Hi! I'm the Collector! Wanna be my Grudgby buddies?" He asked with a beaming smile that nevertheless freaked them out.
"It's him! Run! Go, go, go, go, go!" Matt shouted as they all ran off screaming. The four joined him and he looked upset from this reaction. Lucila sighed as making others see the Collector differently would take more work than that...after all, they had plenty of reasons to fear him.
"I wanna go somewhere different," He lamented and Luz let him take one of the pictures. The picture showed the Knee, and they were there a few minutes later.
"I'm really glad you picked this place, Collector," Luz confided to him as they walked up the hill. "It's really special to me and Luci. It's where Eda helped me make a connection with the Isles."
"And it's where I forgave two friends who I didn't want to be close to," Lucila smiled as she pulled up a group photo of Owl Rocks. The Collector loomed over her shoulder in interest, gasping a little in awe.
"What is it that you guys are doing? It looks like fun!"
"Well, when Luz and I couldn't get back home, I decided to form a band since I missed it so much. Before that, I was writing songs on my own and performing in the market," Lucila smiled softly at him. "And...it was fun," She lamented a little as she didn't know where Edric and Emira were now...probably still at Hexside.
"Perform? You mean like playing music for people? That doesn't sound as fun as I thought," The Collector tilted his head.
"Nah, what are you talking about? Luci's got natural talent at it," King gestured to her and she blushed, a bit flattered.
"Yeah, her songs are sometimes how we get through things together," Luz added in, pulling out Lucila's songbook for the Collector to see. "All of these are inspired by her experiences or her life. I could never do what she does, because she's the best person at it."
"Music has the meaning for me as magic does for Luz," Lucila took the book back with a smile. "It's not just about fun. It's about reaching people in a meaningful way or even just something to help them forget about their own struggles."
"...Could I hear one sometime?" He looked up at her and she grinned.
"Maybe."
Luz bent down and drew an ice glyph, activating. "A baby could do that," The Collector waved it off. "Still, I've never seen an itty-bitty spider do it that way," He sat down and smiled. "Not everyone can recognize Titan magic. He must really like you if he showed you this much." The others glanced at each other at how he was interpreting it. "He never told me about it though," He made a Titan snowman by using his finger. "Did you force him to be your friend too? Like, uh, what are their names? Lilith, Amity, and Hunter?"
"They didn't force anything to do anything!" King exclaimed, a bit annoyed at the Collector still not getting the point.
"Yeah. People are complex. And sometimes they just need a little kindness and forgiveness," Luz suggested gently to the Collector.
"Hunter and I...had a rough start, I'll admit that, but Luz is right. It might've been the same kindness and forgiveness that got us to where we are now," Lucila smiled softly at the Collector. He stood up as he took the words in.
"Kindness and forgiveness, huh?" He smiled a bit at the group, who stared at him happily. He then looked out towards the environment as there was a loud breeze in the air. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Luz asked in confusion as they couldn't hear it. The Collector had a closer listen as birds flew away, and a loud rumble was heard. Suddenly the ground started shaking and his eyes widened in realization.
"Breathing." A green light suddenly shined from the Titan's head. "Those eyes. Don't tell me it's-"
"Belos," Luz and Lucila finished in unison.
"We finally found him..." The older girl murmured in a bit of dismay.
A rat ran off to his hole, kicking Tiny Nose out as the green moss started engulfing the entire Boiling Isles. She looked towards it and ran away in fear. A few Coven Scouts were taking refuge in Eclipse Lake when the moss formed at the entrance. They all ran off screaming, everyone in flight as they went to the source of it.
"It's coming from the castle," Luz narrowed her eyes, diving forward. A loud roar was heard from the castle, something reaching out from it. The moss grew bigger and exploded, revealing wings, thorned limbs, and a Titan's mouth with its eyes glowing blue.
"Finally!" Belos exclaimed as he was basically a Titan now. "I can cleanse this perdition myself!" He emitted a giant blue beam, starting to destroy the Isles. He fired multiple times, the others in hiding so that he didn't see them. They stepped away from their hiding place to look up at him in horror.
"Is that Belos?" Eda asked in surprise.
"How'd he get here without a body?" Luz wondered and the Collector stepped on something. He flinched and picked it up...to reveal Raine's earring. He tugged at Lucila's sleeve and she looked down at him. She then narrowed the eyes at the item.
"The only way he could've gotten there is if he borrowed someone else's body," She held up the earring and everyone gasped.
"...That no-good creepy hypocrite," Eda growled up at Belos after recognizing it.
"What do we do?" King questioned in a panic, holding his head. "There's no way we can stop that!"
"Yes, there is," The Collector said in determination, opening his eyes as he started glowing. "And I know how!" He dove forward, flying up towards Belos. He defended himself against Belos' attacks, knocking away his hand once it was reached out. The Collector picked up speed and a huge light crashed into the nose. They all braced themselves, but once the light was gone, nothing seemed to have happened. Belos stared down at him.
"No. What is he doing?" Luz asked in worry for him.
"I get it now," The Collector smiled up at Belos in sympathy. "You just need kindness and forgiveness, huh?" He then...hugged Belos' nose, all of them staring with wide eyes and looks that said 'what the heck was he doing'? Belos just blinked and said nothing, the Collector turning around and waving to the others. "Luz, Luci, look! We can all be buddies now!"
However, because it was Belos, fire emitted from his mouth, with the god-child being unaware of what was about to happen.
"COLLECTOR!" Luz shouted as she flew off on her staff.
"MOVE!" Lucila hopped on Melody, taking off after her sister.
"No!" King cried out in concern for the both of them. The Collector's smile dropped as he turned around, about to be hit. Luz and Luci raced over to him, and there was a huge explosion. Once the Collector opened his eyes, he was confused as smoke cleared and the sisters were floating in front of him. "But I-I thought I was doing the right thing."
Luz opened her eyes, Lucila holding the shoulder that got hit. "No. No, you did good, Collector," Luz assured him with a weak smile. "But this is a little more...complicated."
"For Belos...it would take more than what you did to ever get him to see reason," Lucila said weakly, grunting a bit. He looked up at them, terrified.
"Don't worry. I think it..." Luz looked up and saw exactly why he was scared. "Missed...us..." Her fingers started turning into moss, Lucila's shoulder doing the same thing. Eda and King could only look up in fear for them. Lucila saw her shoulder, letting out a quiet gasp as it overtook her shoulder, and Luz's sleeve did the same thing. Luz could only watch as her whole arm was affected, her hat falling off. Lucila's glasses fell from her face and the two items landed next to each other.
"Luz? Luci?" The Collector asked in fear as little lights came from Luz's body. Musical notes flew from Lucila's, playing the same song she sung to Luz whenever she was down. "W-What's happening...?"
The moss overtook their arms and head, tears falling from their eyes. Lucila took a deep breath and started singing along to the melody.
A gentle wind from the blue skies
The Collector's eyes widened at her voice as it was calming despite the situation. He felt... an emotion he couldn't describe as she gave a weak smile. "Eda, King," Luz looked up at them as half their faces were gone, Eda's eyes widening. "Looks like we're gonna be split up again.
Softly breezes from over the fields
"I feel like we should be used to this feeling by now, but...we still don't know what to say. Or rather...I don't," She said tearfully as Lucila didn't need to say anything to convey how she felt to them. She just kept on singing, her voice sounding more strained as the music notes floated away.
It fills the leaves of trees that grow
Luz and Lucila closed their eyes as they were completely covered in moss, separating away from the Collector.
Waiting to blow all your worries away
The lights and music notes continued flying away, a bright yellow explosion occurring. The Collector held their hands as it was the last thing remaining of them. But eventually...those dissolved into the lights and music notes too, and now there was no trace of either of them.
We're never far from save haven
The Collector reached out to grab one last light and music note that was a bit slower, holding them in his hands. Meanwhile, the remaining lights and music notes slowly left them.
sAnd your nights go by with stars
As the last of the music notes left, Lucila's voice was more faded since they were farther away. Stringbean and Melody fell as their staff forms, the Collector slowly landing as he looked at the hat and glasses.
The winds of dark so softly waiting
"... Where'd they go?" The Collector questioned slowly while turning around to Eda and King, who stood there in silence. The lights and notes flew above them and into the skies. The two then flew around each other, dancing together in the sky almost.
Soon they will fly with your troubles away
The lights and music notes flew throughout the moss and spread out. They went to Hexside, Skara and Matt looking out the window while the moss engulfed the outside of the building. They went past the window and up towards the Archives.
So don't cry during blue skies
They found their way inside the Archives, Hunter flinching as he could faintly hear Lucila's voice from the skies. Willow and Gus stopped flying as the lights and music notes fell around them. "W-What is this?" Amity asked in confusion, Camila managing to shed tears as she could no longer feel her daughters' presence...
Say goodnight to strains of days
Lucila's voice was much more clearer now to them and they all froze. "That's...!"
Gus didn't finish his sentence because Hunter grunted in pain, clutching his chest. His heart felt like it was breaking inside of him because he knew...he knew that something had happened to Lucila. He kneeled to the ground as he hung his head, tears falling down from his eyes as he shook. He couldn't...he couldn't sense Lucila anymore...he had always been able to sense whether or not she was okay, but now...he didn't feel anything. It was if she had vanished from existence...something he never wanted to acknowledge because it was his worst fear.
Losing his true love to Belos.
"No...No!" He continued to cry and they all surrounded him in concern.
And watch your cries go with the sky
And with that, Lucila's voice finally slowly faded out as the lights and music notes...disappeared into nothing.
Angel: I based the glasses scene off of one of Moringmark's comics where Hunter comments that Willow's beautiful with or without her glasses, because it's just so adorable. And it might be weird to base that off a canon ship versus a ship in a story that basically erases the canon one, but I don't care. It's too good to not reference.
This took longer to get out because it's very emotional for me to write this. Part Two will take me probably a few more days just to get all my emotions out of my system. Because as you can tell, I REALLY don't want to post the finale since it means the end of the story. And also, it might be a weird way to end the chapter, but I had nowhere else to end it since I am NOT writing the entire finale into one chapter. Not only would it be too much to read all at once like the other specials and drive me nuts, but also I'm already getting asked in private messages about why I didn't upload yet or if I had even seen the finale.
Yes, I've seen it otherwise I wouldn't be uploading, but also it's an hour long special that I can't write at the snap of my fingers. Not to mention that it takes time to write these specials, considering that I spent 5 days just to even get Part One out. I've been working on this ever since it was aired, please be patient because I'm not only busy with a job, but writing this is an emotional rollercoaster.