The heist
Everything felt like it was falling into place, Luz remembered the map, well, snapped a photo of the map on her phone. She knew where the goal was, what was at stake and that she was the only one who could help them with this task. em I need to prove to them I'm trustworthy, I'm meant to be here, this was destiny and I'm bound to learn magic! /em Luz thought as Eda flew them towards their destination.
Earlier – they had spent all day planning, going over and over the routes, distractions, and potential hiccups. As night fell, Eda proclaimed it was time for them to go. "We need to get in and out as fast as possible, you two with be the A team – I fly you in under the cover of night, dropping you in a blind spot behind the first guard tower. While you two infiltrate to get to the vault, I distract the guards. Team Eda, me, will draw out all the guards in on route." Eda nodded to the team as she pointed at the route on her map, em they must have been planning this for a while /em Luz thought as she followed Eda's finger along the designated route.
"Eda, we are supposed to stick together" King briefly protested the idea, obviously uncertain of the new addition to the team. Eda looked at him with sympathetic eyes, "You're in good hands! Look how Eager she is to serve you King, right Luz?" She gave the younger woman a nudge, to which Luz quickly nodded along. "I swear King, I will be your most trustworthy subject! We will get your crown back, and I'll prove to Eda I'm a worthy student as well" Luz stated with gusto, her right arm going up to flex and pose. Eda snorted and shook her head; she might not have been entirely impressed by the speech, but King was staring at Luz with stars in his eyes.
"Now, remember King, Luz has to be the one to get the crown from the vault as there is a forcefield there." Eda reiterated a few times, to the point of making King whine, "I get it Eda" a few times. Once they had the crown, it was up to Luz to use a specially made potion Eda gave her to, 'send a signal' from the window closest to the vault room. "I got you" she said with vigor, her nerves starting to show as the time to go got closer. "Alright Kid, one last chance if you want to back out" Eda said as she packed up their supplies and put the maps away. em I can do this, I'm useful... em Luz thought before standing up, slamming her hand on the table, shocking the other parties. "No way Eda, we're getting that crown, I wont fail you!".
With that the team got ready, just as they were about to leave Eda put a hand on Luz's shoulder. "I think this looks more the part" the older witch said, handing Luz a dark blue cloak with a cowled neck as to hide her face. em My own cloak, a witch's cloak? /em She couldn't help her lip from giving a small quiver, as she took the cloak and sprang to Eda giving her a brief hug before taking off her favourite green jacket. Eda was too stunned by whatever that just was to say much more that a quick, "Move out!" as she summoned Owlbert to fly. Glancing over at Luz as the girl excitedly pulled the cloak over herself, "Looking the part Luz!" King called happily from his spot on Owlbert.
Present – Luz felt a small pang of nerves as they approached the large structure, from the map she knew it was huge but seeing it in person was a whole different ball game. em In and out, follow the plan, get the crown and keep King safe /em Luz thought to herself as she looked down at King who was happily situated between Luz and Eda on the staff. The conformatorium, where anyone who broke the law got locked up, from j-walking, selling illegal curses and potions, to simply getting on the wrong side of the Emperors Coven. The name, which invoked fear when hearing it uttered was truly a fit for the massive prison, it had a large spire that climbed close to the clouds, giving off smoke and an ominous red light. Allowing you to see it from a great distance. Surrounding the spire were high castle-like walls, ballista's on each corner, and a large drawbridge that covered the span of a gigantic chasm.
"Alright, were about to head over the wall" Eda stated, glancing back at the two "I'm ready" Luz said, em as I'll ever be. /em "My crown awaits!" King declared, pumping a paw into the air. With that Eda nodded and lowered herself closer to Owlbert, Luz and King instinctively did the same, lowering their general profile to make them harder to spot. In a flash Owlbert shot over the wall and down towards the guard tower with what felt like renewed speed, much faster than anything she had experienced in her previous ride. em I wish she gave me some warning! /em Luz thought frantically as she closed her eyes and held the staff and King tighter. Just as quickly as the burst of speed happened, they were cruising slowly again, just about to touch down. Eda lowered them to a hovering height, gesturing Luz to step down, the girl quickly complied and jumped down. Carefully lifting King off as well, where he maneuvered to hang off Luz' right shoulder. "You know the plan, be careful, if ANYTHING goes wrong, you use that potion I gave you. Closest window, and I will be there in a flash" The older witch stated with confidence that clearly made both Luz and King feel better.
"You got it Owl Lady!" Luz said as she gave an enthusiastic salute, "You can count on us". With that Eda whirled around and shot through the air, now thinking about it... What was Eda's plan to distract the guards? Luz wondered as she turned to head into the tower, King gripping on tightly. "No need to worry King, I got this" She assured him, to which the demon scoffed "I'm not afraid! I only bring fear..." He started off with confidence but that slowly faded as they walked into the dark halls of the guard tower. Luz nodded, "Of course! You're obviously trying to make me feel better, I appreciate that King." King offered a nod and small "No problem" as the two made their way down the hall. They reached the top of the guard tower with no incident, slipping past the only guard on duty with ease, they were sitting in a wooden chair leaning back in the main hallway. At first both were worried about how they would slip by, but as they got closer, it was clear with how loud the guard was snoring, they could get by just fine. em Okay now that we are at the top, we just make our way across, into the main building, there should be some kind of mechanism to get through... /em Luz thought as she and King fumbled a bit to get the door to the main prison open. "Ah, here we go!" Luz hummed, pulling a latch up and opening the door.
On the other side the walls were all lined with cells, hundreds of them at least, the sizes varied from tiny to big enough to house a dragon. Luz gulped down her fear and started to make her way with King along the cells, trying her best not to spare any glances to what was on the inside. "Pssst" The sound made her skin crawl and King gave a small yelp at the broken silence. Luz put on a brace face and turned towards the closest cell where the sound had come from, inside was a, em regular looking witch? /em Luz thought to herself as she examined the girl in the cell, couldn't have been much older than she was. "Hey you, yeah, you aren't dressed like a guard... Can you get us out?" The girl stepped closer to the cell door, showing her youthful face, the only oddity to Luz was the fangs that poked out on either side of her mouth, she was dressed in a plain dark purple dress that hung just below her knees. "Come on, I swear I'm not some crazy" She insisted when Luz or King didn't reply. "What did you do" Luz finally spoke, still wearily eyeing the girl. "I am an artist! I simply shared my love for vegetable love tales, spreading my fanfiction and fan art across Penstigram and maybe on some public walls... but that's not a fair reason to imprison someone right?" She pleaded, em Did I hear that right? /em as if Luz and King had the same thought, they looked at one another, King jumped down from her shoulder and walked over to the other cells nearby. "What about you?" He asked a small, person, mostly nose looking woman. "I don't think that's fair... I love fanfiction, I mean, I haven't read anything about vegetables or anything but I'm sure it's good!" Luz started and looked around, trying to find either the mechanism that handled the door or maybe a spot where the guards kept the keys. The mostly nose person jumped at the cell, startling King and Luz, "I am full of RAGE! I have done nothing wrong but lived my life under the tyranny of a false lord who insists on bringing the little people down! I WILL NOT SIT BY" The outburst was loud, em too loud /em Luz said and quickly scooped King up, rushing to an empty cell beside the Vegetable lover.
She barely had enough time to close the door before a guard and a really large man ran out into the hall, em from the direction of the vault. /em Luz thought as she crept to the back of the shadows, King securely in her arms. "You cannot silence me! I am revolution! I am-" the voice was quickly cut off as tendrils wrapped around the mostly nose person. "ENOUGH" The large man roared, Luz could feel sweat beading on her forehead as she witnessed the interaction, hoping the shallow cells darkness was enough to conceal them. "Warden sir, I fear there is something a bit more pressing to attend to" the smaller guard spoke, his head down, not wanting to make eye contact with this Warden guy. "What is it?" He snapped, still squeezing the small being in his tendrils. Luz couldn't believe her eyes, this Warden guy was massive, he was at least 5 football players lumped together. A pleauge doctor mask concealing his face and sewn buttons covering his eyes, em I do not want to be on his bad side /em "Uhh.. Well you see Warden, it seems the Uh. The Owl Lady has been spotted on the grounds?" The guard finally blurted out, seemingly flinching as he did so. "The Owl Lady... Why didn't you say sooner!" He growled, tossing the small victim back in her cell and slamming the door. "Lets go, I have a VERY important question for her..." With that the Warden hastily walked down the way Luz and King had come from.
She didn't realize at the time, but she was holding her breath for the last several seconds, she let out a sigh and wiped her forehead with part of the cloak. "Okay King... Eda is in place, let's find this vault" Luz muttered as she helped put him back on her shoulder, "Luz, we can't just leave them and I know you know that too" He was right of course, Luz saw firsthand the treatment of the prisoners, who didn't even fit the bill of real criminals. "You're right King, I just, I can't budge the lever... Stupid weak nerd arms" she cursed, walking over the lever beside the Fanfiction writer's cell. "I'm Katya by the way" She said suddenly, hand extended out of the cell towards the two. "Oh, I'm Luz, This is King... I can't get this open but I'm sure I can find another way. There must be something we can do" She reached back out, giving Katya's hand a firm shake. "Meh, you sound like you're smart enough, nerd arms" Katya teased, leaning back against the wall. "The other guys in here, at least on this block are in the same boat... Stupid crimes, incidents and disagreements. It's just not fair" Her eyes cast downwards as she spoke, giving Luz a renewed sense of urgency on the matter. "I will do whatever I can, but I need to go" She promised and with that dashed away with King towards the door the Warden had come from. em What could I even do... I was barely able to think quickly enough to put King and I in that cell... I can't even image what would have happened if there wasn't an open cell. /em She shuddered at the thought.
King picked up on the slight change in his subject's demeanor and cleared his throat, "remember, Eda is going to come get us, maybe she will know what to do" he said, giving Luz an awkward pat on her beanie covered head. "Thank you King, you're right, she'll know what to do!" They were closing in on the Vaults location at this point, she had to pull her phone out to make sure that this was the right path as it felt longer than what the map indicated but they were right on track. em Must be nerves /em She thought, hoping to shake off this feeling and prove herself. "There, finally" she breathed a sigh of relief that King shared in. As per Eda's warning, she touched the door handle with her cloak, em nothing happened, okay, good sign I think /em using the cloaked hand she turned the knob and slowly creaked the door open, cursing under her breath as it echoed in the room. "Okay King, now one of these doors leads to the vault and then your crown is as good as yours" Luz said happily, carefully reading the description of the few doors that lay ahead of her.
**** Eda's POV
em Ah, whats with this feeling /em I thought bitterly while taking off from the kids, em I'm doing all the work! They just need to get to the room, take the crown and smash the potion. Simple /em And yet, I felt no better with that thought. I refocused my energy on the task at hand, if I was so worried then I had to do the best job possible, easy enough for the Infamous Owl Lady. I wanted to give them a show and I needed their attention. I dropped down closer to my staff and then shot up, whirling around a few guard posts, giving them a small wave. em There, perfect place to draw in good ol' Warden /em I could see from my position in the air an open field, typically used for fights to the dead between prisoners, promises of redemption and release, only to be killed at the end of each fight. em Alrighty, Wardy here I am. /em I landed and leaned on the wall, giving a wave to the clearly stunned guard at his post to the door of the conformatorium. Without breaking eye contact the guard slipped back into the building, "Huh, new recruits aren't what they used to be huh, not searching for glory?" I laughed and crossed my arms, tapping my foot. Moments later the door burst open, the warden and all his glory had finally come to say hello. "Oh how nice of you to join me, you know, you kept me waiting" I teased, giving Owlbert a spin and holding him in front of me, guarded.
It was almost as if the Warden was shocked by this action, "Have you not received my letters, Eda The Owl Lady?" the Warden called to her em Letters? /em "I... I'm afraid I have not." I stated awkwardly, looking at the small group of guards that were slowly emerging from the other entrance to this crude 'arena'. "I thought you came here as an answer to my request!" His voice boomed and he took a step closer, "What request Warden? I'm not getting any younger here with all this suspense" I was getting impatient; he wasn't smart enough for this to be a diversion so more troops could arrive. em right? /em I heard the Warden clear his throat and he took another step towards me, "Thats close enough, what. Was. The. Letter?" I grit my teeth together, and slowly separated my feet into a more battle-ready position. "I request that you Eda, The Owl Lady, go on a date with I Warden Wrath!" His voice echoed in my head for a moment, em did he just say what I think he said? /em "I'm sorry? What?" I couldn't stop the words from falling from my mouth, my face dropping from calm confidence to awkward confusion.
Wrath was clearly uncomfortable with the number of guards around, even in my state of shock I could still hear the mutterings from nearby guard's people wondering what had gotten into the Warden. "I said strong Will you, Eda The Owl Lady. Go on a date, with I, Warden Wrath/strong" I snorted out a laugh, em Oh, whoops /em the sound seemed to echo, and the crowded arena now fell completely silent. "Oh Wrath... I am flattered but. NO. You take innocent witches and demons across the isles and put them here to rot away, for what, drawing some unflattering graffiti of a carrot and tomato?" I couldn't help it, this was preposterous, silly even. There was a clear shift in the air as the Warden spoke next, "Is that your final answer, Eda, The Owl Lady?" The tension in his voice was clear but that didn't change my answer at all, I let out another snort and laugh, em I truly didn't think I would be getting this much entertainment out of tonight! /em without further provocation Warden Wrath ripped the pleauge mask from his face and tossed it aside, letting out an eat splitting roar as he did so. "Let this arena be your funeral then!" He bellowed, sending his tendrils flying toward me.
I huffed at the change and quickly deflected the tendrils, casting a medium sized spell circle that launched a ball of fire at Warden. When another guard went to step in the Warden growled, "She is mine!" em Oh... How chivalrous. /em I mocked internally; it would be lot easier to win a 1:1 than to face numerous opponents at once.
****3Rd POV
Eda made the whole scene look easy, side stepping the various attacks that the warden was springing on her. Breaths of fire, rocks being thrown, his appendages turned into various weapons to use against the witch. Eda was having a great time, feeling in her element as she cast countless spells to mute Wraths various attacks. "Is that all you got?" Eda taunted, shooting a fireball at him as she hopped onto Owlbert getting the height advantage. Wrath let out an audible growl as he negated Eda's fire with his own.
In the vault things were getting dicey, there wasn't supposed to be a guard inside, but I guess they had simply picked 'Inventory Day' as the guard put it when questioned. The whole thing felt like a blur, before Luz could do more than hide King under the desk fire was being thrown at her. "What are you doing in here!" The guard yelled, not giving her a chance to answer as his finger spun in a circle to which another blast of fire came raging out of. Luz jumped to the side, only the edge of her cloak getting caught in the blast. "We just want one of the items, we don't have to fight!" Luz called out, her blood running cold as the guard laughed. "Nothing is leaving here" they spat and shot a bolt of lightning her way, causing the bookshelf she had gone to hide behind to explode. Tossing her painfully to the other side of the room. Before she could collect her thoughts another blast of fire was hurdling her way, this time she barely rolled away her cloak deflecting some of the fire before succumbing to the attack and getting singed.
em I don't know if I can keep this up.. /em Luz let out a huff as she hid behind a bookshelf full of text, as soon as she saw the guard inside, she had hidden King away but he was clearly headed toward him "Come on little girl, if you come out we can forget about this assault and I will walk you right out!" the guard almost sounded friendly, but she couldn't be fooled, they were so close. Luz could see the forcefield in the middle of the room, a pile of loot on the inside. em Think Luz, I don't have magic, He already burned up my cloak pretty good... He is expecting me to surrender... Wait! That's it /em Luz looked around for what she could use as a weapon, her eyes landed on a skinny block of wood that came from a shattered bookshelf from an earlier attack. Luz slunk over to the wood undetected, picking it up and stuffing it behind her between her clothes and cloak. "I'm scared! I thought this would be easy... but you're so strong" she called out to the guard who chuckled quietly, giving away his exact position, which was much closer to the shelf she was standing behind.
"No need to be scared! I won't hurt you, strong anymore... /strongLike I said, I can simply walk you o-" his voice cut out as he saw movement from the corner of his eye, Luz needed him to talk to cover her footsteps. "Eat this sucka" she yelled at the guard, who was halfway through a spell circle before the piece of wood Luz had picked up connected with the back of his head. The spell circle fizzled out of existence as the guard tumbled to the ground hard em I hope I didn't kill them... /em Luz thought with a grim look on her face, able to see a trail of blood coming from the bottom of the guard's helmet. em he tried to kill me, he tried to kill me /em she repeated as she dropped the wood to the ground and rushed over to where King was hiding. "You can come out now, it's okay" she said softly, peering under the desk where King was hiding. "I wasn't hiding!" He insisted as his voice broke a little, Luz put a hand out to him to which he eagerly accepted, "I wouldn't blame you after this event if you needed a hug" King said as Luz picked him up. "How did you know" Luz gave him a small smile, only then realizing how much pain she was in from the attacks.
"Alright, King, My lord. Time to get that crown" Luz struggled to add her usual enthusiasm to that sentence, so tired and sore but she was so close, em I can feel it, were almost done... I hope Eda is ready /em The battered girl thought as she slowly walked over to the center of the room, still holding King close like you would a kitten or baby. "Luz, your hurt and tired, we should call Eda" King insisted, pushing away from her a little bit to look at her. "No King, I promised I would get your crown back. I want to stay a while, I want Eda to teach me magic, I want you to be back to your old self" Luz said, wiping a small tear that was forming in the corner of her eye as she got closer to the light. Once in range, she put King down who was shaking his head "I don't need a crown to be me and, and I think Eda can tell a good apprentice when she sees one" he insisted, holding onto the girls black pant leg, staring up at her. "It'll be okay King, I'll be right back" She said calmly, and walked through the force field, the inside was incredibly bright, and everything was hard to make out.
em Just need to find something... Crown shaped, there can't be more than one right? /em Luz thought as she sifted blindly through the vault treasures. Her hand finally finding something round, but not like a ball, it had a few points but had some soft curves to it as well, em This has to be it... /em Luz thought to herself weakly, em Is this... light making me more tired? I feel like I weigh a thousand pounds /em Luz groaned, grabbing the the crown and clumsily walking and falling through to the other side where King was waiting. His eye went wide at the sight of Luz holding a crown, where there had been dark circles under her eyes before were now deeper and any bruises were more defined. "Draining light" King said in shock as he helped Luz pull herself through and lay on the ground, em I can't stay here... We gotta get Eda and go... WAIT. The prisoners. /em Luz grunted, rolling to sit and look at King. For the first time bringing her hand up to the crown in her hand, something seemed off about it, however in her current state she was in no shape to tell. "Here King, as promised" Luz gave a smile and put the crown down, King had visible tears in his eyes as he pattered over to Luz past the crown. "Lets call Eda" He said calmly, reaching around to the bag luz had and pulling out the purple potions bottle. Luz took this opportunity to stuff the crown inside, to keep it safe.
"Lets go home Luz!" King yelled as he ran towards the vault door, opening it up and tossing the purple potion towards the hallway window. As the glass broke a huge purple cloud sprouted out and snaked out the window, leaving a visible trail. Luz mustered up some strength and walked over to King who was watching the window carefully, eager to go. "How long do you think?" Luz asked, leaning down to pick King back up, feeling better having him in her arms when they are planning to leave. "Eda is always here when I need her" He stated quietly, unable to give the battered girl a time.
Eda saw her signal, fireworks going off in the sky above her and her Owl Symbol illuminated the whole area. em Dang it, I thought I might have some more time... /em The Owl Lady thought to herself as she barrel rolled out of the way of Wraths fire, "Well this has been a great strong DATE /strongeere Wrathy but I'm needed elsewhere. " Eda stuck her tongue out at Wrath who slammed both his large tendrils on the ground, several guards falling over in the process. She was lucky she was already in the air or an escape at this moment would have been a lot more difficult. Eda followed the purple trail, a lot higher up than she thought they would be, em they must be right outside of the vault room... I hope they're both okay /em Eda thought as she reached the window. Slowing down as she entered the hallway, looking around for a moment for the two before finally spotting them sitting against the wall. King in Luz's lap, Luz's hand sitting on Kings back at first this made her smile but as she landed and got off her staff closer to the pair she let out a small gasp. em Luz! Her face, her arms... the cloak!? What happened. /em she thought in a panic as she knelt down to them, King jumped excitedly up at seeing Eda. "Eda!" He called and jumped on her, she quickly put him on the staff and raised an eyebrow. "There was a guard... He hurt Luz but she got him, I think the vaults treasures also had a forcefield with a draining spell" King said trying to give as much relevant information as possible.
The Owl Lady nodded and knelt back down to Luz who seemed to have fallen asleep for a moment, "Luz?" Eda said gently, giving her a small shake, both women gasped loudly as Luz woke up abruptly. "Jeez, are you trying to give me a heart attack" Eda asked exasperated by the shock, Luz gave a sheepish smile and apologized. "Alright Kiddo let's get out of here, Warden knows I'm up here and we don't have much left in terms of distractions" she said as she helped Luz to her feet, Luz wobbled for a moment before catching herself and leaning an arm on the wall. "I have an idea, I found some prisoners, they don't belong here. Maybe if we open all their cells, that will keep him off us?" Luz offered, hopeful that this was a solution to both problems. It was obvious Eda was mulling the information over, a hand subconsciously going up to her face to scratch at her chin as she thought. "Alright Kid, lets do it, but we need to be fast" em Yes! I hope they can stay out of trouble this time.. /em the younger woman thought as she climbed up onto the staff behind King. Grabbing hold of both Eda and King as the staff began moving down the corridor. "I couldn't pull the levers down myself for the blocks..." Luz muttered to Eda, causing the witch to laugh. "I'm working on it okay! Noodle arms..." Luz whined, her face heating up from the mild embarrassment that she felt from Eda laughing at her.
The group quickly descended through the prison and back into the main facility that was lined with what felt like endless cells. "There!" Luz said, pointing at the grouping of cells and all the different levers. "Got it" Eda said with a nod and pushed the staff in that direction. "Put your arm out Luz, I'm gonna help you switch those levers" Eda said and drew a small spell circle that caused Luz to feel a small spark in her arm. She was a bit weary of having her arm pulled off if the spell didn't do the trick but trusted the witch non the less. As they flew by the levers Luz slapped each and every one down with all her strength, causing countless cells to burst open. Most of the occupants just stared at the door at first, unsure if it was a test or if wrath was coming. That is, until Katya ran out of her cell and yelled to the rest of the prison block "The Owl Lady and Luz opened our cells! To our freedom!" she yelled, a small moment of silence made Luz's heart sink but before she could even form a thought she was deafened by the volume of screaming that called back to Katya's call to action. "Thank you Eda" Luz said as they cleared the main building and came streaming out the doors, headed back to The Owl House. em Mission accomplished, not to plan, but it's the outcome that matters right? /em She thought to herself as she leaned a bit more against Eda, feeling a whole new level of exhaustion than she thought was possible.