Chapter 5.
After the incident at Hexside today. Team RWBY and Luz, Eda and King returned to the Owl House to unwind. The Girls and King all stayed at the house rummaging through some of the human stuff Eda had collected, while The Owl Lady was busy elsewhere.
They were in the living room, with a large cardboard box packed with various items. Ranging from old toys, clothes and a couple of flashlights. But they didn't find anything of great interest. Except Luz who found a video camera.
She began videotaping the girls as they continued to look through the contents of the box. "Greetings viewers! Welcome to the first ever episode of... Owl Cast!" She acted like she was a host on a TV show. "Recorded live from the famous Owl House!"
"Luz. What are you doing?" Blake asked curiously.
"Just having fun, so have you guys found anything else good?" Luz answered the question and asked her own.
"No just more junk and old clothes" Ruby said.
"Does Eda seriously think she can sell this stuff to people?" Weiss questioned why the Owl Lady's profession.
"Where does she get this stuff and how does it wind-up on the Boiling Isles anyway?" Ruby asked holding up a broken lamp.
"There are some witches that managed to leave the Isles to visit the mainland of Remnant, disguised as ordinary humans" Luz said.
"Like your Dad?" Blake asked.
"Huh?" Luz said confused.
"Your father said he visited a Huntsmen academy before" Blake stated.
'Yeah do you know which academy he was talking about?" Yang asked.
"Nope" Luz said. "At least i don't think so?"
Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden 'Weh!'. Everyone turned to the source of the 'Weh' and saw King , who had a sock with duck designs stuck on his nose. The little demon was fighting to get the sock off, but to no avail. The girls looked him, giggling.
Luz was recording the whole thing on the camera. Narrating with a British accent."And here we have the most fearsome creature in the world. The King of Demons. Fighting his natural enemy the ducky sock"
King managed to rip the sock into pieces and off his nose. "Where are you now! Ducky sock!" he proceeded to stomp on the torn pieces, proclaiming victory.
"King your antics are adorable" Ruby said.
"Yup, i could watch you all day" Yang added while looking at him like a puppy.
"Feh, don't underestimate me" King said. "I may be small. But don't forget that demons are grim savage creatures of sulphur and bone"
"And cute little paws" Weiss said in a cutesy voice.
King sighed. "Yes and cute little paws"
"Sorry King. If your anything to go by. A demon from here can't compete with the creatures of Grimm" Yang said.
Luz and King looked at Yang with perplexed expressions. As if she said something in another language.
"Whats a 'creature of Grimm?" King asked.
Team RWBY looked at each other with confusion and surprise.
"You've never heard of the Grimm before?" Weiss asked.
"My Mom has mentioned them before, but no we don't have any on the Boiling Isles" Luz answered.
Team RWBY looked at one another with total shock. No one outside of Luz's mother knew about the Creature's of Grimm on this entire archipelago. But it did make sense. The Boiling Isles originated from another dimension from Remnant. The sound of thunder caught their attention.
"Uh oh looks like its going to rain" King said.
"Ooo I haven't seen it rain here yet" Ruby got up in excitement and ran out the door.
"Hey wait!" King tried to warn her, she didn't hear him.
Luz ran out to get her. "We gotta get in. Now!"
"Oh come on it's just water. A little water never hurt anyone" Ruby knelt down to a flower. "Right little buddy?"
Natural being a plant, the flower didn't respond. A single drop of water fell on the flower, causing it to sizzle and died instantly. "What?!" This freaked out Ruby. Before long more and more rain drops were falling, scorching everything they touched.
"Boiling Rain!" As if on cue. Eda came running towards Ruby and Luz. "Everyone inside!" she scooped them both up as she ran inside. Throwing them in the process. Followed by the sound of things crashing and falling over. "Phew that was a close one. But nobody got hurt"
"Ahem!" Weiss called out. As she was currently buried under a pill of stuff with Ruby and Luz on top of it.
"Oh Sorry about that" Eda apologized.
"I'm okay" Luz said. One of Eda's mugs fell on her head. "Ow!"
All over the Bonesborough, it's citizens were taking cover from the boiling rain. Bringing in plants and objects they didn't want destroyed to hiding in every kook and cranny they could find. Back at the castle, a worried Empress was talking with Luz on a scroll.
"Mija are you okay?" She asked.
"Si Mama. I got inside the Owl House just as it started raining" Luz said.
"Good just stay there for the night until it stops" The Empress said.
"Okay, Te amo Mama" Luz blew a kiss to her, before hanging up.
The girls had gathered outside of the Owl House. King was putting band-aids on Ruby and Weiss, for minor scraps they got went Eda hurdled Luz at them. He also gave Luz one for a scratch on her arm. Then put one on his nose proclaiming. "Look now we're boo boo buddies!"
4 out of the 5 girls squealed at this, with Luz in particular falling on her side. "I love you so much" She said. Blake just stared at him like he was a puppy.
"The weather here sure is weird. I mean scalding hot rain?" Weiss said making an observation.
"We don't have weather here. It's more like plagues" Luz corrected her.
"Really?" Yang asked.
"Yup" Eda said as she was holding a large ball of magic for a spell. "We get gore-nado's, snail hail and pain-bows"
"It's like a rainbow, but looking at it turns you inside out!" King said with glee.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang on the other hand were unnerved by that statement. Ruby in particular pulled her hood over her head in fear.
"Don't worry this force field spell will protect the house from the boiling rain" Eda reassured the girls.
"You want me to help?" Luz asked.
Eda was apprehensive at idea of Luz helping with a force field spell. Chances are that it would turn into a lightning spell or something worse "Uh? Why don't you just let me handle this kiddo"
"Yeah Eda's got this" Blake said.
Eda did indeed had it. With a wave of her staff, the house became covered by a golden force field. Protecting it from the boiling rains.
"Wow!" the girls said in amazement.
"All done. Another successful spell by the Owl Lady" Eda said stroking her ego.
"Hey, that's something I'm curious about. Why do they call you the Owl Lady?" Weiss asked.
"It's because I'm so wise" Eda boasted.
"It's because she coughs up rat bones" Hooty chimed in.
"I think it's because she gets distracted by shiny objects" King added.
"No I don't!" Eda protested that statement. Until King took out a pen with a light at the end and clicked the light on her eyes widened. "It sparkles and shimmers and shines and delights. I must have it for my nesssst" And jumped at King to grab it, but King pulled it away making her miss and hit the ground.
"The rumours of you having a nest are true?" Luz said in amazement.
"What?" Ruby said.
Everyone went back inside. With Eda yawning seeming to be very tired from casting the spell. "That force field really drained me. I'm gonna take a nice long rest"
"Aw i was hoping we could squeeze in another lesson. The seed really came in handy today" Luz said.
"Yeah I'm interested in magic now too" Weiss added.
"No go kids. Mama needs her beauty sleep" Eda went up stairs to go to bed.
"If it's a lesson you girls are looking for. Then Professor King is here to teach you all you'll need to know about Demons" King said putting on a scholars cap.
"Sorry King, but Hexside already covers Demonology 101. Maybe some other time we can compare notes" Luz said.
King was a little upset by that "But i was gonna let you scratch a demons tummy"
"Don't worry little buddy. They'll be plenty tummy scratches later" Yang rustled the small canine's head. Which angered him.
As the girls returned to the living room, to continue rummaging through the box. Weiss spoke. "Luz. You said there aren't any Grimm on the Boiling Isle?"
"Yup" Luz answered. "For some reason they don't appear here. And any flying or sea dwelling Grimm avoid the Isles"
"And you only know they exist because your mom mentioned them?" Yang chimed in.
"Yes and books from the mainland wash up here with info on Remnant. But they're mostly damaged. So some details are muggy at best" Luz said.
"And aside from us and your mom. They are no other humans or even faunus on the Isles?" Blake asked.
"Nope. A faunus is just as rare as a human on the Isles, maybe more so" Luz said.
"Oh. Okay" Blake replied feeling dejected by her statement.
"What's wrong?" Luz asked.
"It' nothing. I was just thinking about something" Blake said in a somber tone.
"Are you upset that there are no other faunus to play with you?" Hooty asked sticking his head through a window into the living room.
"Wha!?" Blake screamed toppling over on the ground.
"Hooty?! What are you doing?" Weiss asked in confusion and slight anger.
"I wanted to see what you girls were up to. And heard Blake was sad that she couldn't make any new faunus friends, to play faunus games with her" The House Demon explained.
"I'm not exactly sad just... wait do you know?" Blake wondered.
"That your a faunus. Oh sure. Yeah i could tell by the way how your cat ears move under your bow and you look at King sometimes" Hooty answered.
"Wait? Cat ears?" a surprised Luz said.
King added a "Weh?"
"Oh right we forgot to mention that" Ruby rubbed the back of her head.
"Blake hides her faunus cat ears under a bow" Yang blatantly said.
"Can we see them?" Luz asked.
"What? You wanna see my ears?" Blake sheepishly said.
"Yes" Luz replied.
"Okay" Blake untied her bow and put in at her side, revealing the pair of black cat ears.
King wasn't really fazed by the reveal. Luz on the other hand was mesmerized. She had never seen a faunus before. She got right close to Blake, which made her a little uncomfortable. "That's amazing!" she exclaimed. "Oh their sooo cute!"
Blake felt a little confused. "You think their cute?"
"Yeah! I wish i had ears like that, the closest i got is my hoodie" Luz said.
"Your hoodie?" Yang didn't understand what she meant.
"Oh right i never showed you" Luz tucked her long hair into her hood and pulled it over her head and a pair of cat ears popped up "Meow Meow"
"Neat" Ruby said.
"I expected you to have something as silly" Weiss commented.
"It suits her" Yang added.
Blake was just staring at Luz, dumbfounded. "You took this better than i thought"
"Hey, I'm not fully human anyway. Us weirdos gotta stick together" Luz replied.
"Yeah. Weirdos" Blake blushed at that comment.
"So, can i feel them?" Luz asked playfully.
"What?" Blake said confused.
"Your ears! If that's alright with you" Luz clarified.
Blake thought about it for a moment. No one ever asked to feel her cat ears before. But what harm could come from just one time. "Okay" She said. "But be gentle" She tilted her head down a little for Luz to touch. A giddy Luz touched the 2 pointed cat ears on top of Blake's head. Luz gently rubbed her fingers on the feline faunus' ears. They felt thin and soft. And her smile didn't leave her face. She let go after she was satisfied.
"Thank you" Luz said.
"You are a weird girl" Weiss commented.
"Hey wait. How come you never let us touch your ears Blake?" Yang asked.
"You never asked" Blake replied.
While the girls were having fun. Upstairs our favourite Owl Lady was tossing and turning in her sleep. Her eyes shot open, waking her up in a frenzy. She clutched her head in pain, screaming. Which turned into the cry of some feral animal. It wasn't clear what was going on in her mind. But what ever it was, it wasn't good.
Back downstairs, everyone heard the scream.
"What the hell was that?!" Yang exclaimed.
"It came from Eda's room!" King said.
They all rushed upstairs to see what the problem was. They ran down the corridor and followed King to Eda's bedroom. The room was a mess, the furniture and floor had claw marks. There were branches and some broken glass, and the eye shaped window was wide open. And there was no sign of Eda. However, the strangest thing in the room was a large bird nest instead of a bed. The girls looked all over the room, but didn't find her. Weiss noticed a shattered glass bottle on the floor, surrounded by a strange gold colored liquid.
Luz in particular was worried for her mentors well being. "What happened here?"
"Did something break in?" Weiss said making note of the open window.
"It was most likely a Snaggleback!" King proclaimed.
"A What?" Blake not knowing what King was talking about.
King began speaking in an eerie voice "It's the most vicious and powerful demon of all! They are said to hunt for prey in the Boiling rains"
"Is that a real demon, or a made up one?" Weiss asked.
"It's a real one, But King is over exaggerating a little" Luz said. "Snagglebacks aren't that dangerous"
"Yes they are. One ate somebody who got lost in the rain!" King protested.
"That was a Draggle Ape. Their a larger subspecies of Snaggleback" Luz stated.
"Same thing!" King exclaimed.
"No their not!" Luz continued to argue with the diminutive demon.
Their arguing was interrupted by the sound of Hooty screaming in pain.
"Now what!?" Weiss shouted.
The group rushed back downstairs as quickly as possible. When they got there, they found the door ripped off with claw marks, Hooty unconscious and silhouette of a large beast hovering over the door. Growling. It stared at our heroes before running off into the boiling rains.
"Hooty!?" Luz rushed over to see is the house demon was still alive. "Hooty? Are you okay? Say something?" Luz poked him, but the normally talkative owl didn't respond.
"What was that thing?" Ruby said completely freaked out.
"It's the Snaggleback, I told you!" King shouted.
"That was way to big to be a Snaggleback!" Luz said to King.
"So was it a Draggle Ape like you said" Blake asked.
"I don't think so, the body structure was too different from what I've seen" Luz said being unsure.
"How did it get in the house?" Yang asked.
"Good question" Weiss wondered. "Hooty would have warned everyone if it was approaching. This is very strange"
"Welcome to the Boiling Isles. Where the supernatural is natural" Yang jokinly said.
"Well what ever it is. I say we catch it, before it hurts anyone else" Ruby said with determination in her voice.
The others looked at her and then to each other, showing the feeling as Ruby.
"Let's do it!" King said.
With all that said. Team RWBY prepared their weapons to hunt down the mysterious monster that tore up the Owl House. Luz and King also armed themselves for battle. More accurately they taped pillows to their chests, and using a broom as a weapons in Luz's case. But with 4 huntresses they didn't have anything to worry about. They were ready to fight.
"Okay, what's the plan?" Luz asked.
"We split up into 2 teams" Ruby said. "Yang, Blake and Luz, you will search outside for that thing . While Me, Weiss and King are going look around the house for Eda"
"Alright fearless leader let's do it!" Yang pumped her fist into the air.
With everything said and done, the 2 teams split up to begin the hunt. Ruby led Weiss and King through the House, searching every nook and cranny for Eda. Yang, Blake and Luz went outside to search for the monster.
Team B began searching around the outside of the house. Yang had her Gauntlets, Ember Celica up. Blake drew Gambol Shroud and Luz was following them with the video camera from earlier.
"We now join our brave huntresses out in the Boiling Rain. On the hunt for the most dangerous prey of all" Luz once again acted like she was the host of a T.V show.
"You really are weird" Yang said.
"I think she's a cute kind of weird" Blake commented.
Back with Team A. Ruby, Weiss and King were in Eda's room looking for clues about the monster that broke in. Ruby was inspecting the window, but didn't find a single clue. Weiss meanwhile was back at the spot with the spilled liquid. She felt it held some importance, but she couldn't articulate way. King walked next to her to see what she was doing. "Why are you staring at a puddle on the floor?" He asked.
"I just feel like this is a clue" Weiss answered and then asked King a question. "Do you have any idea what this is?"
King looked at the puddle. "It actually does look familiar"
"You recognize it?" Weiss asked.
"Sometimes I see Eda drink an elixir that looks like this. But i don't know what it's for?" King answered.
"Why do we always seem to find more questions, than answers?" Weiss ponders a big question.
"Eh? Doesn't bother me" King shrugged.
As Ruby was crouched down at the window looking at the bottom, she noticed some claw marks around the rim. They looked like something was trying to get out, not get in. She called to Weiss. "Hey! Weiss! Take a look at this"
Weiss walked to where Ruby was. "What is it?" She asked.
"Take a look at these claw marks here" Ruby pointed to rim of the window.
Weiss leaned in to get a closer look at it. "Hmm. The marks appear to be slicing inwards as if something was trying to get out?"
"I thought so too" Ruby said. "You think it was Eda trying to escape from that thing?"
"Maybe?" Weiss said.
Ruby got up "Let's look around some more. See if we find anything"
Outside Team B had stumbled on some foot prints in the dirt, and followed them. Hoping it would lead to Eda or the monster. Little do they know something was following them. From some nearby trees, under the cover of shadows. A beast was ready to attack. And it did.
Back inside the house, Ruby, Weiss and King were walking down the hallway when they all heard a loud a scream, followed by gunfire coming from outside. They rushed outside to find the source of the scream. King tripped while he was running and got left behind.
"Guys wait up!" He said running to catch up. But his short legs made this a difficult task. The girls were already outside. Leaving him alone in the dark."It's okay. I can do this" thunder suddenly boomed, which scared him and he quickly ran into a nearby closet in fear. King hid under an old blanket still shaken from the sound of the thunder.
The door to the closet opened and Ruby stepped in. "King you in here?" She called out.
"Ruby?" the tiny demon recognized her voice and jumped out of hiding.
"King!" Ruby excitingly picked up the little dog demon and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry we forgot you. Are you okay?"
"Me!? Okay?! Pfft please I'm the King of Demons! Nothing scares me!" King lied to cover up the fact he was hiding.
Suddenly a box fell over, which spooked King and startled Ruby. "Weh?!"
Ruby wiped out Crescent Rose in gun mode and pointed it at the box. "Who's there?! show yourself!?"
"Don't shoot i surrender!" a strange pink monkey-like creature with a spiked shell on it's back came out from behind the boxes. With it's hands up.
Ruby was confused by the creatures appearance. It looked very weak and cowardly, more than any demon they have seen up till this point. She lowered her weapon seeing it as harmless.
But King seamed to recognize it. "Wait a minute? Aren't you a Snaggleback?"
"Yes" the creature said.
"But you're so small?!" King said confused.
"Yeah? Haven't you seen one before?" The Snaggleback asked.
King felt awkward at this point. Having talked about a Snaggleback, but never seen one in person until now. "Nnnooo" He answered.
"Alright. Now you answer a question. What are you doing here?" Ruby asked.
"I'm just looking for a place to wait out the rain" Snaggleback answered.
"So you're not the monster that attacked Hooty?" Ruby said.
"M-m-m-m-m-onster? W-w-w-hat monster?" he said.
Something went bump right outside of the closet. Ruby readied her weapon hearing it. While the Snaggleback and King coward. Very slowly, Ruby opened the door and took a peak outside. But saw nothing. Whatever it was that made the sound, was nowhere to be found. She took a step out of the closet to get a better look, with King and the Snaggleback following close behind her.
Ruby looked down one end of the hallway for any sign of the thing that went bump "There's nothing here?"
Oh if only Ruby knew how wrong she was. A low growl was made. The silhouette of a huge beast formed behind them and ate the Snaggleback whole.
"Ahh!" Ruby and King screamed in terror from the swift action that took place before them.
But the beast paid to mind to the screams and simply spit up the Snaggleback's shell. King was paralyzed with fear, but Ruby quickly steeled and pointed Crescent Rose at the monster.
"Stay Back! You ugly beast!" She said.
The Monster wasn't fazed by her bravado.
"I'm warning you!" Ruby transformed Crescent Rose into it's scythe mode. "Spit up that poor little demon or else!" and swung the blade at the beast.
The blade narrowly scratched the creatures face leaving a small scar. The monster howled from the sudden pain. Ruby pressed the attack and took another swing at it, this time slicing off what appeared to be fur on the beasts body. Feeling pretty confident in that moment, She then gripped Crescent Rose with tightly with both hands and using all her strength swung it a third time. Except this time, the monster caught the blade in it's clawed hand before it made contact.
Ruby tried to pull her scythe out of the beasts hand, but it's grip was too strong. The monster pulled Crescent Rose out of Ruby's hands and tossed it to the side, into the wall. As the monster loomed over both the young huntress and demon. Ruby's confidence was replaced by panic. She couldn't fight without her weapon or protect King.
"Uh Ruby! What do we do?" King asked fearfully.
"Well, one thing does come to mind" Ruby backed up a little bit before saying. "RUN!"
They did exactly that. Ruby scooped up King and ran away from the monster as fast as she could. But the beast was hot on their tail. In a desperate attempt to escape from the beasts claws, Ruby activated her semblance and dashed through the halls in a cloud of rose petals.
After making a considerable amount of distance between them and the beast. Ruby ran into a room, bumping into something in the process and falling on her butt. "Ow, what did i run into?" She said nursing her sore head.
"Ruby!?" a familiar voice said.
Ruby opened her eyes to see Yang, Blake, Weiss and Luz in front of her. "Yang!" Ruby instinctively got up and hugged her sister. "I'm so glad you're okay"
"Me too" Yang replied.
"Weh!" King who was sandwiched in between the 2 girls, tried to squirm from the suffocating hug.
Both girls stopped hugging and noticed King.
"Oh sorry little guy" Yang apologized.
"What happened?" Ruby asked.
"After you went back to get King, I ran into the others outside and then we we all came to regroup" Weiss explained.
"Did you find Eda?" A concerned Ruby asked.
"Not a trace of her. It's like she vanished into thin air" Blake answered.
"This is starting to feel like a horror movie" Yang commented.
Weiss noticed something on Ruby's left boot. "What's that?" She pointed to Ruby's boot. She bent down to get a better look. Ruby lifted up her foot for Weiss to see. The something in question was a small tag you'd see on an item at a market. She took the tag off of her boot. It had something written on it. "An elixir a day, keeps the curse at bay?"
"What curse?" Ruby wondered.
Weiss was silently thinking. How did that monster get in the house? Where is Eda? And now this tag referring to a curse? What did it mean? 'An elixir a day, keeps the curse at bay' it sounded like a riddle. Could it be part of a spell? Then she thought back to when she asked King about the liquid on the floor. He said that Eda sometimes drink an elixir, but he didn't know why? The golden liquid on the floor in Eda's room. The signs that something was trying to escape from the room. And now this tag that mentioned a curse. She thought back to when they all arrived on the Boiling Isles, in the throne room at the castle. Eda was discussing her terms of being Luz's teacher/mentor with the Emperor and he mentioned healing a curse.
Weiss made a shocking realization "Guys! I think i know who the monster is!"
"You do?" Said a confused Luz. "Wait Who?"
Suddenly the beast that was chasing Ruby and King burst into the room. To total and collected shock, they all got a good and clear look at the beasts appearance. It was a big owl-like monster covered in dark teal fur, a pair of dark gray wings and black feet resembling birds of prey. But the most shocking part of it's body was it's face. It was Eda's face on the creatures body with black eyes and sharp teeth.
Luz was in complete disbelief "Eda?"
Without warning, Beast Eda lunged at the girls. But they dodged out of the way. Beast Eda growls at them. Weiss, Blake and Yang readied their weapons in case Eda attacked again.
"Whoa! Take it easy Eda!" Weiss said.
"I don't think she can hear you Weiss?" King commented.
"Eda! Growl if you can understand us?" Luz said.
Beast Eda let out a loud screech. Everyone covered their ears from the noise, especially Blake.
"I have no idea if that was a yes or a no?" Luz added.
Beast Eda swiped at Yang, knocking her into a wall. She then swatted Blake into another wall. Just as she was about attack Ruby, Luz stepped in between them and unleashed a ball of light. The bright flash caused the transformed witch's eyes to temporarily change back to normal. Beast Eda roared and rubbed her eyes in pain. Taking advantage of the distraction, everybody ran out of the room.
They then proceeded to Hide behind a stone wall on the upper balcony on the outside of the house. Beast Eda was close by, sniffing for her prey. Everyone stayed low and didn't make any noise, hoping she would leave.
Beast Eda left, after failing to find them and searched for new prey.
Yang peaked up to make sure Eda was gone "We're safe now"
"This Is Crazy!" Ruby exclaimed. "How can that thing be Eda!?"
"Don't you get it? That elixir King told me about and the one that tag was referring to, are meant to keep her from turning into that monster!" Weiss explained sounding distressed.
"What do we do?" King fearfully asked.
Ruby turned to Luz "Luz! Can't you call your folks and get help?
"I don't think they'll get here by the time the boiling rain stops" Luz said.
"Ugh! This sucks!" Yang groaned in frustration. "Eda's turned into some kind of monster? And we can't even help her"
"We can't give up yet!" Ruby said.
"Ruby's right. I just met Eda and I'm not ready to lose her to this curse!" Luz stated.
"Me neither!" King joined in.
"Why do you wanna help? A moment ago you were the most scared out of all of us" Weiss questioned.
"Look Eda and I don't always get along. But she's always been there for me, now it's my turn to be there for her" King said.
"Yeah! We're Huntresses and it's our job to help those in need, and Eda needs us! So are you with me?" Ruby held out her palm, Luz and King put their hands on top in a huddle. And they waited for the others to do the same.
Weiss, Blake and Yang looked at each other and nodded, joining their hands with them.
"And Break!" Ruby shouted as they broke the huddle.
"So how are we gonna turn Eda back to normal?" Yang asked.
"Let's make a plan first" Answered Ruby. "King any idea's that can help us?"
King was a little confused by the question "You want my advice?"
"Of course" Ruby said.
"You are the King of Demons right?" Blake inquired.
Everyone started looking at the little dog demon for advice. King saw this and took a deep breath. "Okay. If we're going to help Eda first we need to know what kind of demon she's become" he said astutely.
"She's big" Ruby said.
"She has wings" Luz added.
"And creepy black eyes" Weiss added.
"That's something. Demons with black eyes are sensitive to bright light" King said.
"So if we lure Eda into a dead end and blast her with Luz's light spell we knock her out long enough to find another elixir to change her back" Ruby formulated a plan for them to use.
"That could work" Weiss said.
"Yeah if i could make a light ball that big and not accidentally turn it into a mini sun and kill us all" Luz explained the major flaw with her magic.
"Right i forgot" Ruby said.
"Phenomenal power, small body that can't handle all of it" Yang said sardonically.
"Yeah something like that" Luz said.
King noticed Luz was still carrying around the video camera. "Hey why are you still carrying that thing?" King pointed to the camera in Luz's hand.
"Oh i guess as i was running i forgot i had it?" Luz unfolded the side panel screen on the camera and it began to play what she had recorded. The video had Yang and Blake walking along the outside of the Owl house, with Luz right behind them recording every step they took. It was dark and barely visible.
"I can't see anything, Luz can you give us a little light" Yang in the video said.
"Sure" video Luz said. Extending her index finger a small ball of light began forming. The video started glitching, it stopped play and a symbol appeared in the ball of light. It was a triangle in a circle with a straight horizontal line. With 2 small slanted lines in the middle. And a smaller triangle and circle at the top.
Luz gasped in surprise "There's a pattern in the spell!"
"What? Where?" King and Team RWBY huddled around Luz to see it.
Luz then grabbed a leaf and the pen King had on him "It looks something like this" she traced the symbol. "There and tapped it. Suddenly the leaf began to scrunch up and glow before turning into a ball of light. She gently lifted it in her hands.
"Wow" Yang said.
"Yeah wow, I've never seen magic done this way before?" Luz commented.
"You haven't?" Weiss picked on what Luz said.
"Not entirely. I heard legends about Witches that performed magic differently. But there wasn't a lot of information to go on" Luz explained.
"Another mystery" Blake said offhandedly.
"I don't think a little ball like that is gonna help us very much" Weiss commented.
"Not this no. But a larger spell circle could" Luz said.
"Huh?"
"A spells power and effect is dependant on the size of the circle you form to cast it" Luz explained.
"So the bigger the circle, the bigger the spell" Ruby said astutely.
"Yup" Luz said.
"Okay. Weiss! Yang! go back to Eda's room and look for more of that elixir. The rest of us will set the trap" Ruby gave instructions to her team.
Weiss and Yang jetted off to Eda's bedroom like Ruby told them. King was a little concerned by what was going on. She then turned her attention to King. The little demon looked back at her with a questionable look.
Back with Beast Eda. She was sniffing around a random room for something. A clicking sound caught her attention. She turned her head to see King, holding the pen light.
"Oh look at this shiny thing i just so happen to find" King taunted.
Beast Eda's eyes widened with excitement. She got ready to pounce on the little demon and grab the pen. King dodged out of the way, just as she was about to attack him. He ran down the hall with Eda not far behind. Once he reached a certain point. He took a right down another hallway, Beast Eda followed him. But out of her sight, Blake tossed Gambol Shroud at Eda's hind legs, tying up up and making her collapse on the floor. Ruby and Yang jumped in from the left and right and pinned Beast Eda down. She struggled, but our Huntresses wouldn't let go.
"Weiss! Luz! do it!" Ruby shouted.
Right in front of them, Weiss and Luz were drawing a larger version of the symbol on the wall.
"Ready!" Weiss shouted
Luz looked at her mentor with remorseful expression. "Sorry Eda. This is for your own good"
Both girls slammed their hands on the symbol. It lit up and created a huge burst of light. The transformed Witch screamed as the light enveloped the whole house.
The next time Eda woke up. She was in her nest bed, with a long straw in her mouth feeding her an elixir. She sat straight up and found half her face was still transformed. "Ahh!" she freaked out a little and proceeded to slurp up more of the elixir. As she did the stone on her chest changed back to it's original gold color and the face changed back to normal as well.
"What the hell happened?" She said confused. "I've got a huge headache and my mouth tastes like roadkill" right on cue Eda threw up a large pellet onto the floor. It split in half reveal the Snaggleback was still alive.
"I'm just gonna... lie here.. for a minute" The Pink simian said curling up into a fetal position.
Eda noticed the elixir and picked it up "Hmm? I was wondering where i put that?"
"Actually we found another in the closet" King said walking up to her.
Eda was understandable mad "King?! You stole my elixir?! i outta break every bone in you-"
"Shh! Look" Yang interrupted and pointed to a corner of the room.
Ruby, Weiss. Blake and Luz were sitting together with several little balls of light hovering around them. Each of them had a pen and pad of paper. Each girl then drew the symbol on their respective note pad, she tapped it and 4 orbs of light floated up.
"That's amazing, how are they doing that?" Eda said marvelling at the fact 2 humans were doing magic.
"I don't know how, but Luz saw it and now they can do it" King said.
"It's pretty wild" Yang added.
Blake saw Eda was awake and motioned her friends in the direction of the Owl Lady. They all got up and walked to her nest bed.
"How are you feeling?" Luz asked.
"Alright now. Thanks to this" Eda answered.
"Something you wanna tell us?" Ruby not beating around the bush.
Eda sighed knowing she couldn't hid her secret anymore. "I haven't told you everything about myself" She paused for a moment. "When i was younger, i was cursed. I don't know how exactly" She picked up the vial of elixir, gazing down at it. "All i know is if i don't take my elixir, well. That's why people call me the Owl Lady. Nobody likes having a curse. But, if you take the right steps... it's manageable"
"Why didn't you tell us?" Blake asked concerned.
"Because it's my problem, not yours" Eda answered.
"And my dad?" Luz said.
"He offered to heal it, if i made good enough progress in teaching you" Eda said. "But I'm skeptical if he can"
"Hey! My dad is a powerful Witch! And i know you are gonna teach me to master my powers and become even greater than him!" Luz boldly said.
Eda looked at the half-witch princess with pride, seeing the seriousness in her. "Alright then. Look forward to that day. It looks like your on your way, learning a new way to do magic already. And thanks again for saving me"
"Well... we had a little help" Luz said modestly, while looking at King.
"Oh, you" King gave a playful wave.
"Hey! Hey!" A familiar voice cried out through the house. "Is anyone there? Hello? Hoot. I'm on the floor. It's cold!"
"That Voice!" King said with a twing of irritation. "That horrific Voice!" He exclaimed trudging out of the room.
"We'll take care of that" Weiss said.
"Yeah you get some rest" Ruby added.
"Come on you goopy fella" Luz picked up the Snaggleback as she and the others left the room.
As soon as they were all gone. Eda fell back to sleep. In her dreams, she was in a pitch black void. The only thing there was a door. But where did it lead to Eda wondered. She opened the door to reveal a shadowy amorphous figure with big round eyes, standing in the doorway.
"What the? Who are you? Are you the one who cursed me?" Eda questioned the figure, but it didn't answer her. Eda reached out to grab them, but suddenly woke back up in her room confused by the dream.
Back down stairs Luz, Ruby and Yang were putting band-aids on Hooty, and set the door that the house demons body was in back into place.
"Welcome to the boo boo buddies club" Luz said.
"Finally, I get to be a part of something!" Hooty happily said.
"Did we have to fix him right away?" Weiss asked not to thrilled that the annoying bird tube was back to normal.
"Eh it wouldn't have been the same without him" Yang said.