Oh shit, here we go again.
For those of you that have read my one-off Owl house story, you know what to expect. And to those of you from Doc Amish's discord. I hate you all from the bottom of my frozen New English heart.
Content warning (I know who read Owl house fics so I'm covering my bases)
This story contains:
Libertarian political views
Pro-gun/second amendment views
Classical liberal (Neo-Conservative) views
If any of these subjects (or your preconceptions of them) are likely to elicit a volatile response, read on at your own discretion.
These warnings will not appear again.
Amity Blight. Top of her class at Hexide academy. Heir to Blight industries. Youngest lieutenant in the Emperor's coven in the last decade. And a double agent for Lilith and Eda Clawthron's rebellion.
Amity marched down the streets of Bonesborough, a lower-ranking coven scout flanking her as they made their rounds through the city.
A few years ago constant patrols like this wouldn't have been a thing. At least not by the Emperor's coven proper. Guards would handle it.
That was until Edas failed petrification and the riot that had freed the Clawthron sisters from the Emperor's castle.
Since then the Emperor had increasingly used heavy-handed tactics to keep the cities of the boiling isles in line. only further driving those living outside the Emperor's reach further from his control.
Amity glanced around at the witches and demons surrounding her on the streets. Even if she was working for the rebels, not every wild witch knew that. She'd been attacked more than once by someone she'd known in school who's parents had been imprisoned. Or worse…
She shook her head, her shoulder-length brown-green-tipped hair bouncing around with the motion. She had to focus, she had a message and she needed to find a way to shake her second long enough to make the drop.
"So… Steve… How long exactly have you been a scout?" She asked, hoping to distract him or find an opening to slip away.
"Oh, probably since you were a kid."
Amity actually looked at him surprised. He had to be twice her age yet he was still a lowly scout.
"And that doesn't bother you?"
"Nah. I'm not a leader, besides if I took a promotion I'd have less time for my family and-" he started on a long tirade about his kids. While it was kinda wholesome it was the perfect chance for Amity to slip away.
Quickly casting a small blue spell circle, a perfect double appeared between the two of them and began following the spaced-out scout. Giving amity plenty of time to slip away unnoticed.
Slipping into an alleyway she broke off from her subordinate and magic double, her contact was meant to meet her here. She wasn't told who it was, she never was, just that they'd be a powerful illusionist that could blend in. Now she just had to find-
"Amity"
She turned, searching the alleyway, she knew that voice. "Gus?"
With a poof one of the trash cans vanished. Replaced with the dark-skinned witch who smiled at her snuggly. "What are they teaching you, scouts, these days, can't even see through a simple illusion."
Amity rolled her eyes and smiled "Yeah yeah. How are things going out there?"
"Bad, Emperor's found at least a dozen of our camps in the last month alone. They were relay camps for escapees but still… how about you?"
"I've been fine. So far I've been able to avoid detection. Family name has some value, it seems… I heard rumors about another attack on the Knee. And the bounty on the Clawthron sisters is going up again tomorrow."
"Drat, that may put some of our plans at risk… any word on my or willows folks?" Gus' attitude changed suddenly as he brought up his family.
"I-" Amity started. "I haven't gotten anything concrete on any of them but the last I heard the families of wild witches that aren't of any value like mine are still in the Conformitorium… I'm sorry Gus, I wish I could give you more."
"N-No it's fine… at least they aren't petrified or anything… thank you for trying to keep tabs on them." Gus was fighting to keep the tears from his eyes and Amity couldn't blame him. She wasn't a fan of her parents by any means but she could still understand his pain. Even if she had to imagine her brother and sister instead of her mother and father.
"Right, that's all I have for now… is there any word about-" Before Amity could finish Gus shook his head.
"Sorry, no word from the human world… Why do you still think she's coming back?" Gus asked slowly.
"Because… because it's her. She wouldn't run when her friends need her… she's just training or something before she comes back… she has too…"
Gus just stared at Amity for a few seconds before he sighed. "I hope you're right, you and Eda."
"So am I Gus… so am I…"
Lilith stood hunched over a table with maps strewn across it with several other witches standing around her. Among them, the Blight twins and Raine, the former heirs to the blight name and former leader of the Bard coven respectively. All of them were wearing heavy clothes to keep the biting cold of the knee from their bodies.
The knee was one of the few bastions against the Emperor's tyranny Lilith or Eda had been able to secure and keep from his control. While the Owl house was kept safe by Eda publicly distancing herself from Lilith saying she wanted no part in the conflict and that infernal Owl tube. The knee was the main base of operations of their movement and had no such protections and if the information provided by the Blight twins network of illusionists was true then an attack was coming.
"And you two are sure this is right?" Lilith asked.
Emira nodded slowly "According to the information our contact got it's still rumors and hearsay but an attack should be coming soon."
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't take it seriously. How many times have we lost a base or camp because we didn't take a threat seriously." Edric said flatly. Rubbing a faint scar over his right eye he's gotten from one such raid.
"I know. I just wish we had more to go on. Good work you two, keep me informed of any new developments." Lilith said smoothly.
"Yes ma'am!" Edric said, saluting to Lilith while his sister rolled her eyes and dragged him off.
"What do you think, should we scatter?" Raine asked worriedly.
"No. We've held off two assaults from this position already with nothing more than some cheap tricks from Eda and untrained volunteers. Now we've had time to dig in and prepare. We should be able to handle this easily enough. I just wish I could be more helpful…" Lilith said gently touching the pitch-black crystal around her neck showing the curse she shared with her sister.
"Hey. Don't think like that. We wouldn't have gotten as far as we did without you here. Even without innate magic your experience and intellect helped us turn a bunch of scared and hungry witches into a real fighting force. You should be proud." Raine said, placing a hand on Lilith's shoulder to reassure her. "You're the reason I decided to stand up and do something Lilith. Remember that."
"Thank you, Raine. I can see why my sister speaks so highly of you."
"Oh that's… that's nothing…"
"You should speak to her."
"No, I couldn't. If I had contact with her that would just paint a bigger target on her back and she's too valuable as an informant and as a layover for the Network… besides she probably wouldn't want to see me anyway." Raine said, looking down solemnly. They'd used that excuse before to avoid speaking with their school crush and so long as it held up they'd continue to use it.
"Okay, Raine. If that's how you feel I won't tell you how to live your personal life. Now let's finish planning out the defense before the Emperor's coven arrives in force."
Raine nodded before looking back to the maps "Right. So some of the construction witches had the idea of digging tunnels so we could pop up anywhere whenever we wanted-"
Eda stalked into the living room of the Owl house before flopping down into the couch. She'd just managed to help a group of fleeing witches from Bonesborough escape.
Seriously, however, Hooty made those tunnels she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
But now she and King, and technically Hooty, were left alone again. The house just felt empty without her favorite Human around. Even if it was only for a summer and it had been years. She missed Luz.
"King… Does my sister want me to do anything else today or can I go to bed…?"
"It's four in the afternoon!" King said. While Eda had stayed mostly the same, it was hard to improve on perfection, King had gotten much taller, coming up Eda's hips now instead of below her knee.
"Yeah, I know. Just tired after dealing with those newbies." Eda rolled over onto her back with a sigh. She slowly looked around her house, once again much like herself not much had changed. A bit messier due to having a half dozen people hiding out there over the last couple days but otherwise exactly the same as it had been all those years ago.
"Hey, King. Do you ever miss her?"
"Who? You mean Luz? THE KING OF DEMONS MISSES NO ONE! But it would be good to have someone to sleep with again… You think she even remembers us anymore?"
"I hope so, king. It'd be great to see her smiling face again. Ya know?" Eda said with a solemn fondness in her voice.
King climbed up onto the couch next to her and lied back against the armrest. "Tell me about it, sometimes I still expect to wake up to her barging down the door or something to tell us all about her day at school."
"Ha. I can see it too, all hyped up after learning about some new healing potion and going on and on about how it could help so many people in her world. Being all humany and innocent. I hope she's doing okay…"
"Be too Eda… Me too."
Luz lay across her living room couch idly messing with her phone. On the other end of the couch sat her adopted twin sister Vee, who was watching some cooking show with Alten Brown.
The two of them looked almost identical, with some minor differences. Luz had grown out her hair while Vee chose to keep hers short. Luz wore an old army jacket over her normal white and purple shirt with jeans, while Vee had a denim jacket over a solid yellow shirt with a skirt and tights. As Well as half a dozen other things that set them apart.
"So Vee, you excited for tomorrow?"
"H-huh? Oh yeah. Well more nervous than excited. You sure the others are all up for it?"
"Yeah. Lincoln said he was just finishing up with the last of his gadgets and Shaw said she'd have the last box ready to leave by tonight." Luz said offhand.
"And Davon?" Vee asked looking over.
"Said he'd get everything over state lines in time to leave. He's still putting the offer for helmets out."
"I still don't get why all the states are allowed to have rules that contradict the government," Vee said timidly. As much as the shape-shifting demon had learned about Earth, some things still confused her.
"Davon could probably explain it better but it was done since the founders feared a large government and wanted to let regional governments have a say in how they ran themselves," Luz said while taking her brain for what she remembered from history class in high school.
"Yeah I know, Davon's told me all that before, it's still just kinda weird to me."
"Yeah I know, that's why we try not to bring it up too much. Now about those helmets?" Luz said, shifting the conversation back towards its original subject.
"Uh. I'm still good, I'm pretty tough." Vee said proudly, only to blush when Luz started to giggle.
"Vee you still get scared by bees. Maybe something to keep your head safe isn't a bad idea?"
"You're not wearing one…" Vee nervously said. Poking her fingers together shyly.
"Fair enough. Just making sure." Luz started texting her friend, letting him know he didn't need to bring any more helmets when he came over tomorrow.
"Right, now can we watch something else besides the cooking channel already? I feel old just listening to him talk about salts and spices."
Vee nodded and started channel surfing, looking for something they both could agree on.
"Your friends sure they don't wanna come along," Luz suddenly asked while they channel surfed.
"No, they all still have finals coming up before summer and a bunch of family plans after that, they said they'd make sure our supply packages made it through though."
"Alright Vee, just making sure." Luz sat up as. Vee settled on watching old-school cartoons, not her favorite. They could both enjoy it well enough. As they sat together watching, Luz's mind started to drift to what had happened over the last four years.
After her escape from the Emperor after buying Lilith enough time to start a riot, Luz had returned to Earth to make sure Belos could never get his hands on the portal door. While she'd originally intended to go back as soon as she could. That soon became impossible when she returned home only to find herself sitting at the table talking to her Mami.
That had been an awkward conversation and part of it was spent chasing Vee around the house, assuming she was just like the basilisk that had attacked Hexide. When her mother finally managed to stop Luz chasing Vee around with a bat to figure out what was going on. Luz had told her everything. What else could she tell her after Vee had slipped back into her demon form during the chase?
Luz was grounded after that and the portal was taken from her. She'd been upset but she couldn't blame her mother for doing it. Well not after the first week.
Eventually, she settled back into a routine and both she and Vee had started going to school together as summer ended. Luz had been weirded out at first but once she heard Vees and the other basilisk's story she'd started to warm up to the little demon. Eventually accepting her as her sister after a couple of months.
And apparently, her time in the isles really had done her some good, her mother said she'd matured a lot while she was away, and she found it easier to talk to other kids her age and get along. She was still the weird kid but it was more controlled and focused, and she knew when to stop now. Mostly.
Her newfound maturity had even gotten her some new friends. In addition to the three kids, Vee had met at camp. She'd met three new friends.
Lincoln Parks. An African American kid with a love for STEM, especially engineering. He was a genius with a 3D printer and could make almost anything given enough time to design it and print it. With a generally calm and laid-back personality, he was nice just to sit around and work with or talk to.
Katty Shaw, or just Shaw. Was from Taiwan, though she always insisted on calling it the Republic of China, something Luz was more than willing to do once she learned why. She was a genius with anything to do with mixing chemicals and ingredients, both in cooking class and chemistry she almost always got straight As. While she was bossy she always had the best intentions for her friends and would stick up for them when she felt they weren't being treated fairly.
And finally Dovan McKay. A Scottish-American boy from the Midwest, he had high functioning autism meaning he was very narrow-minded but had tons of energy, something Luz found she could relate to given her similar mental state. He was a history geek and could tell you at least one interesting fact you didn't know about any era of history if you asked. He also had a fascination with guns and military history, often getting in trouble for wearing "Nazi" helmets to school, regardless if that was true or not. But he never gave up his passion even when others would belittle him for it and that was something Luz could relate to personally.
She smiled faintly thinking of her new friends, but quickly started to frown when she thought of her friends in the boiling Isles. Were they okay? did they hate her for leaving? Were they even still around considering what had happened when she left?
There was only one way to know. To go back to the realm of demons. And tomorrow, that's exactly what she intended to do.
"I'm coming home guys…"
Right. Why did I write this? Oh yeah. Because I'm an utter weirdo that likes the Owl house and Harry Potter and the second amendment memes.
This is purely a here and there fic between the two I really wanna do so don't expect updates often. And with me that's saying something, considering my normally slow rate of writing.
I hope you enjoyed, and won't leave too many hate comments.