A/N:

I wish I knew how to start this, uh…

So, It's been a while, I know. I want to be completely transparent about what happened, and what happened - was I just got burnt. So burnt, I physically could not look at google docs without feeling ill.

Which, sucks! I'm going to be frank: The entirety of this chapter was written before I went on hiatus. I stopped halfway through proofreading it, went "I'll finish it in the morning!" And then "I'll finish it tomorrow!" and it snowballed.

It really sucks, because, I've completely lost all momentum that I had! I forgot the ideas I had for the next chapter, and where I was going next.

I don't know when my next update is going to be. It's probably going to take a few days to remember where I wanted to go…My fault, I forgot to actually keep my roadmap up to date. I do want to thank my loyal readers, and- even one that sent in fanart. Seeing that made me smile so much.

I hope it doesn't take another month. I'm sorry again.

In the morning, Amity decided it was best to bring together her entire friend-group in a conference call to let them know what was going on. Truthfully, She felt bad for leaving Willow out of the loop, so she made sure that anyone who could possibly need to know, knew! This included a few peeps who hadn't been filled in on the situation at all. Ie, Camila, Gus, and Vee.

Upon being told of what was going on, Gus slapped the side of his head and groaned "So that's why you asked about his memories, Luz!" Luz said nothing in her defense, just giving a devious smile.

On the other hand, Camilla put her face in her hands. Grumbling under her breath, "Gringo estúpido tonto, No se quedará muerto…". This was actually a good opportunity. She never got the opportunity to give him a piece of her mind for all the things he's done. For taking her daughter away, even temporarily. For hurting Hunter. "I swear on the titan's carcass…If he even thinks about hurting any one of you, I'm going to send his ass back to the grave, and make sure he stays buried."

After an awkward silence, Luz broke the tension. "No, no, Mama, I swear- He's… He's genuinely trying to turn a new leaf! He doesn't remember that stuff…yet…" She said, trying her hardest to corral the beast that was a mother scorned.

"The second he does, I'm going to have a few stern words with him…" Camila grumbled, Before crossing her arms and giving the phone a stern look.

While she didn't want to admit it out loud, she was proud of her daughter for managing to defrost such an ice king. Luz's was a spirit that simply refused to break, even when it was bearing the weight of the world.

Vee stayed silent during this whole…ordeal. She'd never met the Emperor in person, but his Coven were the ones that carried out those horrific experiments on her, and they had to have come down from somewhere. Plus…The way he hurt Hunter…

They were all apprehensive and on edge, despite Luz's claims that he was going good. Luz finished with a "I'm gonna go talk to him, if anything important happens, I'll call."

The whole group just kind of nodded, before Luz waved goodbye and said "See'yall later!"

Though, after the call ended, Amity quickly redialed Hunter's number. As soon as he picked up, she squeaked "Hunter, Wait, I got- something to tell you!"

"Hm? What is it?" Hunter clearly braced himself for what horrible news she could have.

"Phillip…He really likes his palisman! He named her Currant. I think I even heard call her his best friend once…" She said, still quite tense. "He asked me to thank whoever carved it…"

Hunter sucked in a sharp breath. "Please don't tell me you told him I carved it…"

"No!" Amity squealed. "No, no, I- I kept you anonymous, I swear. Luz can back me up."

Hunter let out a sigh. "I trust you, Amity."

On the other end of the line, Hunter had stars in his eyes. He didn't quite understand why, despite still not knowing what to think about his uncle…It meant so much to him to hear that. "Tell him, I, uh- said, you're welcome." He said, before he hung up the phone.

It felt like Luz was making a trip to the Boiling Isles nearly every day at this point…Which was just fine by her! It was just a strange feeling, the realm that once seemed so foreign and extraordinary, was now as mundane as her home. Not a bad strange, of course, the thought actually made her extremely happy. She used to have had to choose, but now…She could have her cake and eat it too!

She soon arrived at Blight Manor, and then at Phillip's bedroom door. Stringbean curled around her neck, and her hands on her hips, she was confident!

The Phillip that opened the door, though, looked like a wreck. He was wearing the Bad Girl Coven t-shirt, which- Luz had to stifle laughter at, but his hair was all messy and unkempt, and there were dark bags under his eyes. "Good morning, Luz." He said, choking back a yawn. Currant, per usual, was perched on his shoulder and cawed a small greeting.

"It's, uh, actually- almost one, but…Good morning, Phillip! How're you feeling?" She asked, remaining as cheery as ever.

Phillip held his hand to the side of his head. "My goodness, already? Ugh…My sleep's just been getting worse and worse as of late…" But he quickly changed the subject. "I'm fine, but is something the matter? You don't usually come over unless there is.'

She shrugged. "Wuh-weh, no, no, oh- well… I was just coming to see…if you wanted to talk about anything..Any…New feelings, or…Old memories that may have awakened. No pressure, though! But like, I totally think you should. It'd help you feel better."

"How ever could you know about that… wait, those memory prints…But, I thought you'd said they'd come up blank?" He said, raising a confused eyebrow.

"They were…" She squeaked, nervously. "Buuut, as you regain more memories, the prints are beginning to develop properly- if that makes sense." She said, as she walked beside him into his room.

He felt a little upset they hadn't told him of this development before. 'Wait- is that why she visited me the night after I spoke with Hunter?' But, he put that to the side for now as he sat down in his desk chair. "I have a question for you."

'Oh no…' She silently yelped. "What's up?"

After a minute to try and think over the phrasing, Phillip finally asked. "I'm not…from here, Am I?"

Luz's face dropped. "I knew this day would come…" She folded her hands in her lap. "No, uh- you're not. Both you, and me, we aren't witches. We're a very similar species, called 'Humans.' There's two main differences. First…Our rounded ears, and secondly, we can't perform magic."

The first part made him pause, as he held his hand to his head just to make sure he wasn't losing his marbles. "B-but, I don't have round ears…"

"No, you don't, but you did…You, uh, you…You cut them up to try and blend in with witches better." She finally said, eyes nervously darting around the room.

This made Phillip's face curl, but he was stunned silent.

"I know, this must be a lot to take in- are you okay?" She asked, putting a calming hand on his shoulder. He just gave a solemn nod.

"If, maybe, well…It might be too soon for this, but, if you ever want to see your hometown, I can show it to you. Thanks to your journal, I was able to build a portal home, and have been going back in forth.

He'd barely registered what she'd said. His mind was racing. 'But- but, I was a witch hunter! Why would I want to…Wait…Why was I a witch hunter? All these witches have been showing me such…such kindness…?'

"Wait a moment, what do you mean by my journal?" He said, finally snapping out.

She took a deep breath, thinking maybe she'd said too much - "So, back when you first arrived in the boiling isles, you documented all of your adventures in a diary, and eventually donated it to the Library….Where it was promptly eaten by an Echo mouse." She pulled out her phone, and scrolled wayyyy back through her videos. "An Echo Mouse is like, a little creature that eats books and turns them into movies! And I recorded as many as I could! It didn't get many diary entries, only like- ten, but maybe they might jog some memories-"

He just shook his head, and softly pushed her phone away. "No."

"No?" She repeated, confused and concerned.

"I don't want to go 'home' right now, not when I still have unfinished business in the boiling isles." He said as he stood up, grabbing ahold of his journal.

She raised an eyebrow. "What kind of…business?" She silently pleaded he wasn't talking about a second day of unity.

"I told Amity I would help her fathers in removing coven sigils, and I am nothing if not a man of my word." He slid the book into a small satchel on the desk, before turning around to face Luz. Holding out his wrist, showing out the golden Emperor's Coven sigil.

She held her hands over her mouth, shocked. "Where did that come from…?" She squeaked, silently praying that it wasn't from when she slapped one on him to stop the draining spell.

"To better study their effects, I…I decided to brand myself with one. I won't leave the Boiling Isles until I can get it off." He took a deep breath, with a solemn look on his face. "And I need your help, Luz."

"Well, how can I help?" She asked, slightly relieved.

"It all comes down to Glyphs. So far, the only one that's been discovered is Light, correct? That leaves Ice, Plant, and Fire… I need your help discovering the remaining ones." He said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

To which Luz nervously pushed his hand away. "What are you going to do with these glyphs?"

He expected this kind of resistance, so he pulled out his journal and flipped to a couple scratch spells. "I'm working on a formula, a formula that reverse-engineers other spells. If I can reverse engineer a spell, I can cast a counter-spell, and I think the sigils are caused by spells that're choking the connections to the Bile Sac." His eyes lit up a little bit, as he explained.

'Oh, this is a terrible idea.' She thought to herself, slapping her forehead. 'Giving him magic again? Not just that, he could orchestrate some sort of accident to harm us and have plausible deniability…Or just try and run off the second we turn our backs…'

She grit her teeth, shut her eyes, and grabbed Phillip's hand. Forcibly shaking it. "You got a deal."

She just had to trust him, for now.