Fate Boiling Isles: Book 1

by FinalReviewer

"This is another tale of swords and fate." Follow the story of Luz Noceda and her close friend: Ardyn Pierce as they enter the Boiling Isles via a magic door. However, not everything as it seems on this horrifying yet wonderful world. The wheels of fate are turning. (The Owl House AU. OC x Luz x Amity)

8. Chapter 8

We find ourselves in front of an old house where the Leviathan Axe was lodged in the ground when suddenly a powerful gust of wind blew the battle axe out of the ground through a glowing door.

Through the door we find ourselves in the Boiling Isles as the Leviathan Axe flew into Ardyn's hand and the Owl House Title logo appeared.

Iki wo sutte haitara kurushii koto

Kizu ga hitotsu fueru tabi ikiteiru koto

Looking around Ardyn sees the Owl House with Hooty and King watching Eda teaching Luz magic.

Tsukaifurusareta sonna kanshou mo itsuka kitto

Yoru ni tokete kieru

We then find ourselves at Hexide as Willow and Gus wave at them while Amity merely looks away with a small blush on her face.

"No enough" yugandatte

"No escape" machigattatte

"No fear" koroge mawatte

Susumeba iin deshou

As Eda struggles to fight off the curse she briefly fights off the feathers before we see Romani chained up against the wall before a large shadow grows.

Looking up they saw Emperor Belos glaring down at them with staff at the ready and all his coven ready to attack. Standing behind him is a shadowed figure with a demented grin on his face.

Sore wa marude shinwa no you na

Iro, katachi no jubunairu

Spinning her staff Eda creates a powerful blast blowing the guards away before Lilith leaps in and the two sisters clash making magic explode all around them. From the smoke Ardyn, Luz, Amity, Willow and Gus ran towards the top.

Summoning an ice glyph Luz makes a bridge of ice allowing Amity's abomination to charge forward ramming them away as Willow made a road of vines for Ardyn to run ahead.

Ibitsu na mama hibiwareteiru

Kono sekai de hitotsu kagayaku

Kirei na tsuki

Running to the top, Ardyn and Emperor Belos clashes axe and staff before the shadowed figure fires a powerful blast knocking Ardyn back.

Holding out his hand a gilded sword forms in Ardyn's hand before he thrusts his weapon clashing with Belos and the shadowed figured creating a bright light.

---

FATE/BOILING ISLES

Book 1

Chapter 8: Something Ventured, Someone Fated

---

The last few days we're… interesting, to say the least, for Ardyn and the rest of residents of the Owl House.

While selling human treasures in the market one day, Luz, Eda, and King get into some disagreements about each other's hardships. Luz lets herself get bullied by Boscha and her friends when King insists, she should take a stand only for them to fawn over him when he does so, However she steps back as Ardyn looked at her with a dead-like stare, creeping her out. Eda and Romani try to sell Boscha's gang some human clothes only for them to laugh at the two and leave. Eda then takes down Luz's new light-up sign for her stand, knowing it would attract the law's attention. Luz fails to understand why she worries so much when she is the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles and can simply "magic away" her problems, but that stopped as Ardyn explained that even though Eda has a lot of magic powers, she is still one person against many, including her sister Lilith. King is fed up with everyone pampering him like a baby while Eda thinks it's an easy life, however. Eda proposes that they all swap their bodies for the day and see who has the easiest life. The one who proves it gets out of house cleaning duty and that included cleaning Hooty. Luz switches with Eda, King switches with Luz, and Eda switches with King. Ardyn, Romani, Musashi were quick enough to get out of the way before they got swap because they are not getting involved with this.

Let's start off with Eda's Catastrophe.

Eda (as King) wanders around town, receiving a lot of affection from everyone she passes, even from an Emperor's guard. She then bumps into two elderly ladies, Roselle and Dottie, who take her to a Kitty Cafe they run. Eda enjoys the attention and hospitality the two old ladies provide until they refuse to let her leave, even dressing Eda (as King) in a bee costume. She discovers a room containing all the pets the two ladies have abducted. They're stuck in a trance, their minds turned to mush after being pampered for so long. Eda manages to escape, but the ladies catch her before she can get out of the café, and they lock her up in a room to display her as the best cat in the café.

While that happened, lets look at King's Brush With Death

King (as Luz) usurps command of Boscha's friends and leads them on a spree of mischief and mayhem around Bonesborough. This angers Boscha, and she decides to teach "Luz" a lesson. She challenges King to a race around Dead Man's Curve on giant rat worms. King accepts, but soon regrets it, as he falls on the teens' Treasure Shack, destroying it. Angry at losing the shack, Boscha's friends chase after King. He hides in the same Kitty Café where Eda is and gets caught by the two elderly ladies for violating their "No teens" policy.

And finally, we turn our attention Luz's Deals in Heels

Luz (as Eda), struggling to walk in heels and controlling Eda's magic, uses her newfound abilities to attract more customers to the stand, making lucrative profits. However, she also attracts the attention of the emperor's guards who arrest her and take her to the station. Luz is taken to the interrogation room where she meets Eda's sister and leader of the Emperor's Coven, Lilith. She tries to convince everyone that she is not Eda, but nobody believes her. Lilith reads out the charges against her and offers her a chance of redemption by joining the Emperor's Coven. She almost has her branded, until Luz accidentally casts a fire blast spell when she tries to resist. She flees and helps Eda and King escape from the Kitty Café.

They soon find themselves surrounded by Lilith and the Emperor's guards, Roselle, Dottie, and Boscha's gang. All three of them have come to an understanding that none of their lives are as simple as the others perceive and return to their original bodies. Eda then casts the body-swap spell on everyone else, allowing the three of them to escape in the chaos. However, they are now left with the question of who's going to clean the notoriously filthy Hooty, as both he and the House were long overdue for a cleanup. As Luz is about to suggest working together, Eda and King count themselves out and leave a disgusted Luz to clean. However, Ardyn made sure Eda and King didn't get out of this one, much to Luz's relief.

After the group took care of cleaning the house and Hooty, they all turned in to get some rest. However, for Ardyn and Luz while they slept, they entered their mindscapes while they dream.

---

(Flashback)

[Ardyn's Dream]

Ardyn flopped on his back as he was taking deep breaths from the exercise that he went through training with Charlamagne, Odysseus, and EMIYA. He was training how to use weapons like sword spears and axes from The Holy Roman Emperor, Hand-to-Hand Combat and Riding from hero of the Trojan War, and finally learning ranged combat and assassinations from the Magus Killer, a name that Ardyn shudders at.

Funny enough, when he met him, he learned a lot about who EMIYA was, despite being an Assassin-Class Servant.

During his early years, EMIYA, who was once known as Kiritsugu Emiya, settled on Alimango Island for a year with his father, Norikata Emiya, the fourth family head of the Emiya family and a magus who received a Sealing Designation. He became friends with - and had a crush on - Noritaka's assistant, a local girl called Shirley who was four years older than him. However, disaster struck when Shirley became a vampire after she drank a potion, intending for it to prove that Noritaka's research would save the world. She pled for Kiritsugu to kill her, but he refused and fled. Their village was overrun by Executors from the Church and Enforcers from the Association, both groups had arrived when they heard rumors of a magus researching into vampirism. Kiritsugu was the only survivor of the 'cleansing', saved by Natalia Kaminski, a freelancer and part-time Enforcer who wanted information on the magus responsible.

Returning to the hidden Emiya residence, Kiritsugu confronted his father on his research and Shirley's death. Norikata explained that he wanted to become a Dead Apostle to continue with his research on Magecraft longer. Kiritsugu stabs Norikata with the dagger Kiritsugu received from Shirley and then shot his father, who was highly shocked at his son's betrayal, to death with a pistol that Kiritsugu found in Norikata's drawer. In the end, Natalia figured that the only person who could prevent Noritaka from escaping and ensure his death was his own son and she wound up taking Kiritsugu with her.

Realizing that the tragedies he saw in his childhood were common occurrences in the world, the teenage Kiritsugu became a freelancer like Natalia to hunt down heretical magi around the world. Natalia trained him not only in Magecraft, but in tracking, assassination, and all types of weaponry. At first, he only got in Natalia's way, but he eventually became her partner and equal.

During one mission together, they were hunting down the last Zepter head Heinrich Zepter, who was a magus who mastered the revival of dead flesh. After tracking Zepter to an American village called "Present Mountain", Kiritsugu and Natalia discovered all two thousand members of the community were extensions of Zepter's body. They wound up destroying him by throwing a hand grenade into the core of his body.

During the last mission together, Natalia was positioned aboard an Airbus A300 jumbo jet in flight to track a magus known as the "Demonic Bee User", Odd Borzak. It was said that this magus successfully created Dead Apostles and could manipulate the Demonic Ghoul Bees under his control to use poisonous stings to increase the number of Ghouls under his power. The Ghoul Bees caused a fatal disturbance in the plane after the death of Borzak and began to infect all the passengers one by one until every single passenger had become a Ghoul. Kiritsugu, who was stationed at the plane's destination, elected to shoot down the plane after he deemed the situation too risky to allow the plane to land, sacrificing Natalia in the process. In their last conversation via radio, he admitted that she was like a mother to him. It was then that he became disillusioned with his ideal of becoming a 'hero of justice', as it was impossible to save one person without losing another. However, he continued to fight for this dream, to ensure that everything he had given up would not be in vain. He was eventually branded as the Magus Killer by the Association.

Around eleven years before the fourth Holy Grail War, he took on a younger soldier as his apprentice, who he eventually named Maiya Hisau, training her in much the same way Natalia trained him. She became his assistant in the field and his 'lover', in a purely sexual context.

Two years later, Kiritsugu was hired by the Einzbern family to be their representative in the coming conflict. He entrusted all his equipment, including his Thompson Contender, to Maiya before leaving. Believing that the Holy Grail could grant his dream for world peace, he left behind his work as a 'hero of justice'.

He first met Irisviel von Einzbern in a tank when Jubstacheit von Einzbern made her. Kiritsugu questioned Acht as he viewed Irisviel as useless with no survival skills or defense abilities. Acht took this personally and threw away Irisviel in the disposal yard during a blizzard as a test to determine her durability. Kiritsugu, disgusted, rushed to save Irisviel and took her back to the old von Einzbern castle. When she recovered, Kiritsugu decided to educate Irisviel about the current world with movies, pictures, and music. Gradually Irisviel became more eloquent and expressive, and she became interested in Kiritsugu himself. Despite Kiritsugu's initial hesitation, they eventually fell in love. However, Kiritsugu knew that love between the two would be fruitless, as he was aware that he would sacrifice her for the Holy Grail. For Kiritsugu's sake, Irisviel wanted to conceive a child so her husband would have hope after the Fourth Grail War. He was thus asked to marry into the Einzbern family.

Despite being the true Master for Einzbern family, Kiritsugu operated mostly in the background during the conflict, ambushing other Masters when they were otherwise occupied, while his Servant who is a Saber that was summoned using Excalibur's lost sheath as a catalyst, was partnered with Irisviel and made to act out in the open. This was to avoid conflict between Kiritsugu and Saber, as the methodologies of the two conflicted with each other too much. Saber and Irisviel traveled from Einzbern's castle in northern Europe to Japan by plane, while Kiritsugu took a different route, entering Fuyuki by ship and meeting with Maiya.

It was a long and bloody battle of death and destruction, but with no victor in the end…

In the climax of the war, Kiritsugu fought the last Master, Kirei Kotomine to a standstill, both being consumed by the black 'mud' flowing out from the Holy Grail. There, Kiritsugu met 'Irisviel' again, now completely merged with the Grail. In his mind, he was forced to confront the fact that his methods will eventually lead to him becoming the ultimate enemy of humanity, equal to Angra Mainyu itself - and, 'Irisviel' proclaimed, this path is correct. Kiritsugu, rejected the Grail's argument saying that he sought the Grail because his own methods are insufficient to bring about the utopia he sought, only to have the Grail argue further that it cannot grant a wish without a methodology to realizing it. In other words, the Grail only sought to grant his wish by doing what he has always done in his stead. Now realizing that the Grail was corrupted and false, Kiritsugu rejected 'Irisviel', who placed a curse on him - to never be free of regret until his painful death. Kirei, having gone through the same experience, asked Kiritsugu why he rejected the Grail; Kiritsugu killed him after a vague response.

Kiritsugu appeared during the final battle between Archer: Gilgamesh, The King of Heroes and Saber: a female version of Arthur Pendragon, The King of Knights, without explaining what he just found (which was stupid in Ardyn's opinion, but he can't judge him for thar), used all his remaining command seals to force Saber to destroy the Grail with Excalibur, causing her to fade away. However, Kiritsugu realized immediately after that this was a mistake - by leaving the Greater Grail intact, 'mud' from its core was able to spill onto the streets below, causing a fire that eventually destroyed a large part of Shinto.

With the war's end, Kiritsugu discarded his merciless facade and sought to atone for his gruesome deeds. When he stumbled upon a dying boy named Shirou, seemingly the only survivor after the fire, he was overjoyed at the opportunity to save a life. To revive him, Kiritsugu implanted Avalon into Shirou's body. Kiritsugu later adopted him as a son, settling in the new Emiya residence that he purchased during the war.

He met a young womaan named Taiga Fujimura sometime after, and due to her resemblance to his first love, Shirley, he doted on her a great deal.

Once Shirou was old enough, Kiritsugu left Fuyuki several times, traveling back to the old von Einzbern castle, trying to see his daughter. However, he never managed to find his way past the bounded fields, having lost most of his magecraft abilities. After his betrayal, rather than seeking to punish him, Jubstacheit von Einzbern never again allows Kiritsugu into their Bounded Field and keeps him away from his daughter, who is raised by Acht under the impression that she was abandoned by her father. Kiritsugu believes that Acht either wishes to exile him to carry the deplorable status of traitor for the rest of his life or to impose the most severe punishment that can be inflicted by never allowing him to see his daughter again.

To ensure the destruction of the Great Grail, Kiritsugu used explosives to create a 'bump' in the nearby leyline, which would ensure an earthquake in thirty to forty years' time. By doing so he hoped to prevent a fifth war but did not realize that the incomplete ending of the fourth war would cause the next war to occur in just ten years.

One day, Kiritsugu was awake late at night and Shirou woke up after experiencing nightmares from fire. Shirou would take the medicine that Kiritsugu made with magecraft. Shirou asked Kiritsugu about teaching him magecraft but Kiritsugu was completely against it. The next day, he sparred with Taiga in kendo and complimenting her for her skills. Kiritsugu asked for Taiga's advice and her answer helped his decision about teaching magecraft to Shirou.

Angra Mainyu's curse eventually cost his life, as his limbs were lame, his sight failed, and most of his circuits became useless. His last moments were with Shirou, watching the moon outside his garden. It would be his happiest memory, during which he reminisced on his life, noting that it was full of regrets especially his inability to save his daughter. Revealing his childhood dream to Shirou about becoming a 'hero of Justice', Kiritsugu admitted that the dream was impossible to accomplish as he became an adult. Shirou, who looked up to Kiritsugu, hated the way his dad spoke of his weakness and reassured Kiritsugu that he can accomplish it as he was still a child in Kiritsugu's place.

He died peacefully as he vaguely stared at the moon and commented on how beautiful it is. He died at the age of thirty-four, five years after the end of the War, passing onto Shirou his ideal of a 'hero of justice'. In his last thoughts, he recalled when Shirley asked what kind of adult he wants to become, and he had said: I'll never forget what I felt today. I want to be a hero of justice!

Although he was an individual who murdered many people as an assassin, his existence has been engraved in the Throne of Heroes as one of the "imitation Heroic Spirits" also referred to as Counter Guardians, and someone who would have never existed in the proper human history. Yet, this "if that might have been" possibility exists now only due to the threat that attempts to destroy human history itself from its very foundation. His soul was called out from the circle of deterrence in response to this threat.

"What I don't get is this." Ardyn said as he got up from his position. "You have been summoned as my Servant but also as a Counter Guardian to prevent a threat to humanity. Do you have any idea of who or what this threat is?"

EMIYA looked at him for a moment before he let out a tired sigh. "On that… I don't know. But what I do know is this. Something in this realm is going to become a major threat to humanity. I don't believe it's the witches but something else. Best to keep your eyes open." Ardyn looked a bit depressed as he hopes that he would at least have some info. But alas, no such luck.

Charlamagne notices his Masters state of mind and places a hand on his Master's back. "Don't worry about it, Master! We'll be ready for whatever may come!" The Holy Roman Emperor said as Odysseus nodded at what he said.

"What the Holy Roman Emperor said is true. I may have participated in the Trojan War, but Odysseus, the hero's greatest ambition, was simply to adventure. Specifically, extremely difficult, and dangerous ones. I hear that the word "odyssey" means a long and often difficult journey in your time. Believe it or not, that term originates from my name, which means I'm your senior when it comes to adventuring. So you may rely on me!" Odysseus said as Ardyn smiled and stood up to ready for some more training.

However, a thought did occur thought the hybrid… Was Luz going through this too? IF she was, how's she holding up?

[Luz Dream]

Luz was taking deep breaths as she went through her own training with Nero, Dobrynya, and Scáthach. Nero taught her about the arts and how to use a sword, Dobrnya taught her how to ride and how to use a mace or axe, and Scáthach taught her how to use a spear and rune magecraft. While Luz began to train with them, she began to know who Dobrnya and Scáthach are.

Dobrynya Nikitich who was known as A Dragon Slayer warrior spoken of in Bylina, the heroic epic poems of Russia; one amongst the Bogatyr. Even amongst the warriors who served the wise ruler of legend, Vladimir, the Grand Prince of Kiev, the Sovereign of the Sun, he was said to be a mighty young warrior, unrivalled by any. Born unto a noble house, Dobrynya Nikitich was nurtured in the love of his widowed mother as a graceful youth. Well known by the anecdotes where he defeated the wicked three-headed dragon, Zmei Gorynych and saved a princess of Kiev, the niece of the Grand Prince of Kiev, Princess Zabavushka; and by anecdotes pertaining to his wife, Nastasia. He was a Bogatyr of the Fair Sun, so he has a faint connection to sun goddesses.

However, she is also known as Nastasia Mikulishna and Nastasia Nikulichna. She is the daughter of the Russian hero, the giant Mikula Selyaninovich, and the young wife of Dobrynya Nikitich known in Russian legend to have been persistent in devotedly waiting her husband's return. With an anecdote in the Mikulishna version, Dobrynya Nikitich had successfully finished his battle with the three-headed dragon Zmei Gorynych engaged in battle with the female giant and heroine Nastasia. After suffering defeat, he was placed thereon within her pouch. Thereafter he was married to Nastasia.

Why Nastasia taken up her husband's name, Luz will never know. All that she mention was is that she was summoned in his place. It could be possible that Nastasia was worried that her young and polite husband Nikitich would become popular in the world, or that there was some trouble with the summoning itself. Either way, here she is.

Scáthach, however, was a female warrior-queen from Celtic Mythology's Ulster Cycle. The queen and gatekeeper of the foreign territory/haunted ground called the "Land of Shadows", she is a prodigy of the spear and Rune magecraft. She possesses a power immense enough to obtain control over and close the gate of the "Land of Shadows", which is overflowing with countless ghosts, to ward off the dead. It has been said that she became the mentor of Cú Chulainn - who would later grow into the hero of Ulster - guiding him, teaching all sorts of techniques, and even bestowing his favorite magic spear. She also instructed his son, Connla.

Her story starts like that of a legend….

"Many things- Truly, I robbed many lives. A man. A wraith. A god. I've confronted many existences of a countless number, slaughtering all those near me.

Fight. Fight. Fight. Kill, kill, kill kill kill. In the end, this body was wet with the blood of many victims and became immortal. The territory under my rule, the "Land of Shadows", was ultimately forced out to the Outside of the World, and I ended up being promoted into an existence no different than that of a Divine Spirit.

I will not grow old. I will not die. I've changed into 'that' which is immortal.

Sure enough, I can no longer remember exactly how much time have passed since the first time I picked up a spear in my hand. It is different from something good. I, who stood on the haunted ground and guarded the "gate", already since acquired the wisdom of the abyss, so I can measure the exact time.

However, I simply do not feel like doing it. It is different from melancholy. It is also different from resignation. Regret? I do not understand. I can say that, but I am unable to affirm it.

At least, during the interval where I slaughtered many things, there is certainly something that exists within the present me, something that did not exist within my feelings around the time where I was conducting my teachings towards the brave warriors of Ulster.

Ah, indeed. Guiding the many brave warriors considerably.

Everything should have faded away at the end of the many passing months and years, but in the middle of my memories that is preserved in a condition that is intentionally kept obscure, one person... There is only one person, a man with his figure displayed clearly to me even up to now.

Red eyes- His pair of eyes. Only in the time where that radiance passes by my mind, what's inside this chest calms down. Warmth dwells within myself, which is immutable for eternity. A heart wishing for reunion? That is not the way it is. That I can affirm. If then, what is it there? To say firmly, as thus, to that man-

-I want you to kill. I want death as a person. Of course, if that man who now became a 'Heroic Spirit' talks about having the strength to kill this person who is an existence that already parted with the glimmer of life and slaughtered even gods, then..."

Throughout her battles, Scáthach eventually ceased being human and started to be closed off from the World, unable to die as a human. She was known to be a woman "strong like a monster" who many sought out for apprenticeship. At the age of sixteen, Cú Chulainn traveled to the Land of Shadows in search of fame, and she became his mentor, guiding him in the "secrets of leaping", teaching him runic magecraft, and granting him his favorite demonic spear, Gáe Bolg.

With her serving as the master of many pupils at the same time, Cú Chulainn was close to his fellow pupil Ferdiad, his equal in arms, and both competed for the right to possess Gáe Bolg. During this period, they went to war with Aife from the neighboring country, who in some versions of the legends was her sister, and although Scáthach argued with Cú Chulainn over not letting him into battle, she, Cú Chulainn and Ferdiad eventually "caused hell together." Cú Chulainn captured Aife alive and became involved with her afterward, earning Scáthach's punishment. Upon Cú Chulainn eventually receiving Gáe Bolg, she lamented over her inability to be killed by him since she had already ceased being able to die, wishing that he had been born earlier. Although still young and having arrived at the Land of Shadows by the shortest route, he could only apologize while lamenting the fate of the woman he loved. Cú Chulainn and Ferdiad eventually left the Land of Shadows on the same day, and Scáthach did not see them off due to having already passed down all her teachings to them. Using her foresight, she was able to predict her beloved pupil's final moments. She later taught Cú Chulainn and Aife's son, Connla, as well.

Due to her nature, the Land of Shadows itself eventually became completely sundered from the mortal world, fully becoming a land of the dead. Still existing unto modern times and unable to become a Heroic Spirit on the Throne of Heroes, Scáthach had not ventured outside of the Land of Shadows for two thousand years. Unable to die, she could only wait until the time the World and its outside finally disappear.

"Here's what I don't get though." Luz said as she takes a deep breath before turning towards Scáthach. "How are you able to become a Heroic Spirit? Don't you need to die so that you can become one?" Scáthach placed a finger on her chin to think about what her Master just said.

"Honestly, I don't even know how either. My role is that of guardian and ruler of the Land of Shadows, a foreign land that overflows with ghosts and the dead. After years and years, I turned halfway into a Divine Spirit and became unable to die a natural death or even die at all, as I essentially became connected with the very existence of the Land of Shadows. Over time, that grew to be my wish for the Holy Grail: to be able to train a warrior who would kill me." Scáthach said as she begun to ponder a bit more. "However, I remember that something had incinerated the Land of Shadows and close it off, which allows me to finally die as I was no longer is bound to my own territory. As such, I ascended to the Throne of Heroes."

"Woah! Have you ever found out what happened?" Luz aske as Scáthach just shook her head.

"No. I know that I should feel bad that I failed my duty as the guardian of the Land of Shadows, but I guess I felt relief to be relieved from my duties." Scáthach said as Nero nodded in approval.

"Umu! I know that feeling as well... in some way or another. Being the Fifth Roman Emperor wasn't a cakewalk. I had the reputation of a notorious tyrant whose rule was made up of schemes and poison as I oppressed all religious forces, especially Christians, and the Roman Senate during the period from 50 to 60 AD. During the final moments of my life, I guess I felt relieve from my time as Emperor." Nero said as she, Scáthach, and Luz looked at Dobrynya, who looked at them with a raised brow before she grinned and spoke.

"What are looking at me for? The only thing I had to worry about during my time was my young and polite husband Nikitich becoming too popular in the world." Dobrynya said in a joking tone as she, the other Servants, and Luz started laughing at what the Servant of the Mount said. So far for Luz, this was a good training exercise.

She wondered if Ardyn was going through this as well, but she knew that he was doing fine.

(End of Flashback)

---

Now we return to our story…from another's prospective.

In the wizarding school of Hexside, Gus was standing in the front of one of the classrooms, holding a meeting for the Human Appreciation Society. It was a very small club, with at least four members. As president of the club, he had various human items, incorrectly labeled, on the desk. Among them was a cheese grater labeled as "nail clippers," a bag of chips closed with a flip phone labeled "whoopie cushion," an upside-down umbrella that with filled with leaves labeled "food bowl," a Rubik's Cube labeled "weapon?", and a paper clip labeled "pay-per-clorp."

"Behold. The wonders of the human realm." Gus said, presenting the objects. First, he picked up the paper clip. "This little fella's one of their most valued objects. It aids in the compiling of printed wisdom, the scratching of gunk from under your nails, and my favorite... It even mimics the sounds of the human ocean."

He proceeded to twang it multiple times. It sounded nothing like the ocean, but Gus didn't care. "Aah! The human realm. So beautiful." Gus said dreamingly before walking over to the chalkboard. "It's safe to say that the pay-per-clorp is a stunning testament to human ingenuity. Any questions?"

He turned around to face the rest of the club. Only to see that Eileen, Bo, and the unicorn Bard track student have all fallen asleep. Even the newest member of the club, Mattholomule, looked thoroughly bored.

Mattholomule was a teenage boy with beige skin, dark brown eyes, and straight brown hair which was shaved at the sides. He wore the 'Construction track' school uniform, which consisted of brown sleeves and leggings, which was covered by the school's gray tunic and small darker gray cowl over it. He typically left his cowl on as a hood.

He raised his hand, gaining Gus' attention. "Ah! Our newest member: Mattholomule."

"Ah Augustus, is this what the president of the Human Appreciation Society thinks passes as 'Human Artifacts'?" Mattholomule asked, using air quotes

Gus looked confused and taken aback by the question. With a smug look on his face, Mattholomule walked over to the table.

"Because at my old school…" He pushed aside Gus's stuff, much to the panic of the smaller Mage. Gus rushed over and grabbed the treasure, narrowing his eyes at the new member. "We had real treasures."

Mattholomule emptied his bag onto the desk, dumping out clearly fake and crudely made items. One was a rock painted to look like a cell phone, another was an egg with a skull painted on it, and the last was a shoe made out of mud, leaves, and twigs. However, unlike Gus' items, they were labeled properly to what they are supposed to be. They're labeled "cellular phone," "human skull," and "sports footwear" respectively.

However, it was enough to fool the other members of the club, who gasped and leaned closer to them.

"So real."

"Wow!"

"I want to touch them!"

"Go ahead. In my club, we didn't have any dumb rules," said Mattholomule, pointing at Gus with his thumb.

Gus gasped in shock and turned to his list of rules. "Shh. He didn't mean that." He said, gently caressing it like a baby. Gus glared at everyone touching Mattholomule's objects, then marched over and took them away, much to his club members' displeasure.

"Well, this isn't your club." Gus reminded his fellow wizard. "Thankfully."

"Exactly, who thinks I should be president?"

"I do!" said Eileen in a muffled voice, since her head was a giant eyeball.

"Mattholomule for prez," said Bo.

"I'm an undecided voter. I want to touch all the objects first." the cyclops unicorn said, as he, Eileen, and Bo started talking over each other.

Gus started to panic. If he didn't do something to regain control, he was likely going to be voted out for sure. He picked up the "phone" and took a closer look at it.

"These are fakes!" He said boldly. The other club members gasped, shocked by these allegations, which made Mattholomule freak out and stammer.

"Y-Y-Y-You can't prove that!" He exclaimed, before inhaling and smirking again. "You're just trying to distract these human appreciators. You're afraid of getting kicked out of office. It's your word versus mine."

As the other members started mumbling to each other about who they should believe in, Gus started to become very worried. While smart, he didn't have much of a backbone and slowly walked backwards into the chalkboard. Turning his head, he looked at a newspaper clip with a picture of Luz and Ardyn on it. That's when an idea started to form in his head.

"What if I brought in an expert?" He asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, right. Who can you find that's a bigger human expert than any of us?" Matt rolled his eyes.

"How about a real human, and a human-witch hybrid?" Gus said with confidence. Hearing that got the interest of everyone in the room, and most of the club members were more than excited to hear more. Matt on the other hand wasn't.

"Yeah. Uh-huh. A-And you've never brought your friend here. Why?" Mattholomule asked.

"Well, they're busy. They've got jobs. But I'll bring them in tomorrow. They'll prove I'm right," assured Gus

Mattholomule scoffed and sat back down in his chair. "Ah, sure you will, Augustus. Sure, you will." He mocked the smaller boy, making Gus grow visibly nervous.

---

After school, Gus immediately raced over to the Owl House, where Ardyn and Luz were helping Eda and Romani sort out some boxes that held all sorts of items from the human world. Trying to find things that would be good for selling. Musashi was sitting on the couch with king on her lap and Gus was standing in front of the two friends, having finished explaining to them what his trouble was.

"Let me get this straight," said Ardyn as he fished out a Furby from one of the boxes. By the looks of it, someone had smashed it to pieces. "You need us to come to Hexside because someone's trying to overthrow you in the Human Appreciation Society. So, you told them that you'd bring Luz and me in to prove that you know a human and a hybrid and to verify if some of the items you have are real?"

"Yes." Gus nodded.

Ardyn and Luz looked at one another with guilty looks before turning back to their friend. "Sorry, man. We can't help you with that." He replied.

"Ah, come on! Why not!?" Gus yelled in a panic.

"Gus, we'd love to go to school with you, but I don't know how we can," Luz said, pointing to hers and her friend's banned poster. They were tapped onto Eda's framed wanted poster. "Principal Bump banned me and Ardyn from Hexside."

"But nothing." Eda interrupted, pulling out a coffee mug from her box. "Bump did you a favor. There ain't nothing for you at that dweebus factory." She turned to Gus. "No offense, dweebus."

"Eda… / What the hell!" Both Romani and Ardyn scolded.

"No, it's okay. I come from a long line of dweebuses." Gus said, placing his hand on his chest.

However, it didn't stop Luz from slamming the box she's holding down in frustration, making it clatter. "Well, I would love to go someday!" She declared, standing, and looking at Eda as she gestured to the junk all around them. "Better than unpacking boxes in the Eda Coven."

"Oh, you think you're clever, huh?" Eda questioned, standing up and facing Luz with her hands on her hips.

"Ooh! Fight, fight, fight!" King chanted, jumping over to a nearby stack of boxes.

"Can it, King!" Eda snapped at him, before turning back to her students. "First off, it's the 'Bad Girl Coven' and second off, I guess you don't want in on the T-shirt order, huh?" She pulled out a piece of paper with a t-shirt drawn on it. And on that T-shirt was her riding on a skateboard with the words 'Bad Girl Coven' on it.

How would that even work if Ardyn was a boy?

"We don't care about T-shirts, and personally I don't care if it's a Dweebus factory or not," Ardyn said, joining in the argument as he sided with Luz, naturally. "I want to learn magic, Aunt Eda. Luz wants to learn magic. We're barely learning anything here! Do you even know how to teach magic?"

Eda paused for a moment and averted her eyes. "Well, no…"

"That's right," Ardyn said, before gesturing to Gus. "Look I know that you don't like the idea, but they have professionals that can teach us at Hexside!"

"I mean, yeah, well…" The Owl Lady grunted in frustration before leaving out the front door. "I don't want to hear another word about Hexside, unless it's 'Hexside is on fire' and 'let's grab front row seats'!" The door slammed behind her, leaving Ardyn, Luz, Gus, Romani, Musashi and King inside.

"Aw, look what you did. I'm going to go rub it in. Nyeh!" King laughed as he jumped off the box and went after Eda but was stopped as Romani grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. "Weh?!"

"Leave her alone King." Romani said as he places him back on Musashi's lap.

Luz sighed and sat on the couch, frustrated with her teacher. She then felt an arm wrap around her. It was Ardyn, who gave her a smile. Luz returned the smile. Whenever she was around him, she felt so much better. However, she started to blush because of how close they were to each other. But as she looked at him, Luz couldn't help but notice something about Ardyn. Sure, she considered him to be a cute-looking boy, but now, it was like he's become very handsome.

As he sat and held his crush, Ardyn was also frustrated with his teacher. Nothing she's taught them amounted to anything that would help them learn magic. They've only learned the light spell together and then the power and fire spell from the Covention.

"Sorry, Gus," Ardyn said.

"A-Actually, a-about the ban," said Gus, nervously. "I, uh, used my H. A. S. presidential authority to pull some strings. You've been given a full pardon!"

This surprised Ardyn and got Luz's attention. She turned to him with widening eyes. "You mean…"

"I got the ban lifted!"

"Oh my gosh!" Luz leaped over Ardyn, grabbed Gus by his collar, and started shaking the poor boy. "Yes, yes, yes!"

"Wait, how is that even possible?" Ardyn asked, cutting the excitement short. "I thought your club wasn't that popular. How were you able to convince the school to lift the ban?"

Gus sweated nervously as he tried to think of a lie and think of it quickly. "I...My dad works for the news and I...explained that I could tell him about the monsters eating kids in the bathroom."

"Hmm...blackmailing your school by exposing a very real problem," Ardyn said. He then smirked a sly smile. "Now that's pretty awesome Gus. Alright, I'm in!"

"We'll be there tomorrow! Gus, this will be great!" Luz exclaimed, with excitement as she jumped up and down on the couch, causing Musashi and King to look at her with narrowed eyes of annoyance. "We get to see the school and save the president."

"Yeah!" Ardyn cheered, fist-pumping.

"Great! I'll see you tomorrow!" Gus said before leaving. Once he closed the door, he started to dance and sing to himself. "Yes! You did it, Gus! " You did it, Gus~ You're the smartest You're the best~!"

"Sweet moves, little dude."

Gus yelped when he turned and saw Hooty. "I always forget you're there!"

"I forget I'm here too… Boop."

Gus stared at Hooty for a moment before smiling again. "This is going to work out after all.

---

"This isn't going to work out at all!" Willow disagreed worriedly, paling. The two friends were standing outside of Hexside the next day. Gus explained what he did and his plan to re-establish his position as president of the HAS. Willow was not happy with what he did.

"Well, I feel like I took care of any potential problems," Gus said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"You lied to our best friends and told them you got the ban lifted. That seems like a potential problem to me," Willow said angrily. "What's going to happen if Ardyn finds out you lied to him and his crush?"

"I- Wait? What do you mean crush?" Gus asked, confused.

"Hello, Ardyn's got a massive crush on Luz!" Willow exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. "He doesn't exactly hide it all too well. And I like Luz might like him too."

"Aw~"

"I know, they're adorable together," Willow said with a smile before quickly getting back to the situation at hand. "But just think, Gus! When Ardyn finds out that you lied to him about the ban, who knows what he's going to do!"

Gus could already imagine what Ardyn would be like, with his dark silhouette in front of a wall of fire as his gold glowing eyes glared at him with his Leviathan Axe drawn. After gulping nervously, the young wizard said, "You don't understand! The members were going mad. They were bloodthirsty. They were touching objects! I had no choice!"

"Really? What about all the wanted posters around school?"

With a smirk, Gus reached down and pulled out all of Ardyn and Luz's wanted posters out of his bag. "What wanted posters? I also got these." Gus then pulled out two cowls. "To keep them undercover."

"Undercover from what?" Luz asked as she and Ardyn already arrived.

Startled by their sudden entrance, Gus slammed one of the cowls backwards over her head. Luz squeaked, having no time to react while

Ardyn looked confused. "Gus, what's with the cowl?"

"Uh, behold your new cowl!" Gus said.

"Whoa. I love it," Luz said. Ardyn sighed with a soft smile as he turned the cowl around and pulled the hood down. This again put the two best friends near each other and quickly they pulled away with visible blushes.

Willow leaned towards Gus with a smirk. "Told you."

Wanting to take her mind off the odd feeling in her chest, Luz smelt something odd. She grabbed the cowl and sniffed it, realizing that the smell was coming from it. "On the Boiling Isles, new things smell old."

"Yep, and here's yours, Ardyn." Gus handed him the other cowl. "Put it on and hide your ears." He instructed them with a nervous chuckle.

"Is that really necessary?" Ardyn asked, pointing to his ears. "I'm a half-witch already."

"Yeah, because I want to keep you two under wraps 'till the big reveal."

Willow frowned at the sight of her friends being used in Gus's little plan.

"Oh, a showman. I totally get it," Luz said, buying into the lie. She pulled the hood back up.

"You bring the razzle," Ardyn started with a grin

"We'll bring the dazzle!" Luz randomly threw handfuls of confetti from her hands, much to the confusion of Willow and Gus.

"Do you always have confetti on you or?" Willow asked.

"I don't even know where the hell she gets it," Ardyn said, picking some out of his hair.

Suddenly there was a screaming sound that made Gus jolt and winch before pulling up his sleeve, revealing that it was a small purple demon with a single clock eye that was biting his arm. He poked it in the eye to make it stop.

"What the flying hell is that thing?" Ardyn asked with a shocked expression as Gus pulled his sleeve back down.

"That's my alarm. Uh, we better get going." Gus quickly dragged Ardyn and Luz away. "See you after school, Willow."

"Bye, friend. Be safe. Make good choices," Luz said as they ran.

"Bye Willow!" Ardyn called out before they were too far away.

"Oh, Gus. I hope you know what you're doing." Willow sighed.

---

"Why do they want to go to school so badly," Eda asked no in particular, moping on the stone steps outside the Owl House. For the past few minutes with her knees up against her chest, The Owl Lady's been thinking hard about what was best for her students. King am Musashi were nowhere to be seen, so all she had to talk to was Hooty and Romani. "I may not be the best teacher, but I'm trying to protect him and Luz. Hexside chews up anything unique and spits out bland mush," Eda grumbled, ripping apart a blue rose's petals off.

"Maybe, but perhaps they need to see it for themselves." Romani said as he takes a seat next to her.

"I chew insects. I turn them into mush," Hooty said as flies buzzed all around him.

"But that's my beef. Anna was the only good thing to come from Hexside and now her son's trying to learn magic. His magic and Luz's are so different from how I do it. Do they need to draw their own conclusions?"

"That sounds about right. But like I said, you need to let them try and see where this goes." Romani said with a smile on his face.

"My beef is insects. They're what I eat."

"…While I understand what Romani is saying, you're just going to be unhelpful, huh?" Eda asked the house's guardian with a raised eyebrow.

"All I know is, you taught me, and I turned out just fine." Hooty said. Spotting a fly walking next to his head, he stuck out his tongue to get it, making a gagging sound.

Eda and Romani watched in concern. Good Titan, Ardyn was right. She's a dropout that didn't know a damn thing about teaching magic. The last thing she wanted was for them to end up like Hooty. So, understanding just what had to happen, for the good of her apprentices, Eda knew what she had to do.

"I got get those two into school."

"I'll help."

"Thanks."

---

As Ardyn and Luz walked through the hallways of Hexside, everything seemed as normal as a normal human school. Students were grabbing their books from their lockers and then walking off to class. Some walked alone, while others walked with friends.

"Hey! Give that back!"

And it sounded like the bullies were at it again. Ardyn looked and saw two students playing monkey-in-the-middle with a smaller student's backpack. They laughed while floating the backpack between them.

Feeling the need to intervene and stop them, Ardyn was about to do so when something stopped him. He watched with wide eyes as one of the bullies got hooked by a shepherd's crook and dragged away. He was pulled over to two rather unsettling creatures. The creatures were humanoids, with pale brown skin and pointed ears. They wore black suits with blue robes and gray boots. However, the most noticeable feature was their upside-down, skull-like faces.

The creature that had him in its hook leaned towards the student and sniffed him. "Trouble…" it said in a creepy voice.

The bullied student's backpack fell to the ground as the second bully backed away nervously. He was about to run away when he was also caught by a hook. "No! Detention!" He cried while being dragged off with the other student.

"The only thing I'm guilty of is being too real!" the other bully yelled. All while Ardyn, Luz, and Gus watched.

"That's new," Luz said.

"Well, they kind of showed up after your last visit. They smell trouble. Literally," Gus explained to the two friends.

"Jeez, who's running this school?" Ardyn exclaimed.

Gus was confused. "Principal Bump, remember? He the one with-"

"That was a figure of speech, Gus!"

One of the guards turned towards them. "Trouble…"

Seeing this, Gus gulped and grew more nervous. "Okay, time to run for no particular reason," he said, grabbing their hands and dragging them away as he ran. However, he ended up bumping into someone. As a result, all of Ardyn and Luz's wanted posters and his presidential crown fell out of his bag. He quickly collected the posters. However, he couldn't get them all when he realized that the student, he had just run into was Mattholomule.

"Augustus, you should really watch where you're going," the new kid said sarcastically as he picked up the crown and wiped it off, all while having a very smug look on his face. "Don't want the president of the H. A. S. getting hurt on his last day in office."

He then walked over to Luz and Ardyn with that same smug look that made Ardyn uncomfortable. "This must be your human. Hmm. Looks like another witchling to me," he said, before looking at Ardyn. "And this must be the hybrid, right? Nah, he couldn't be. He's too much of a weakling."

He laughed, while Ardyn quickly got angry. "Who the hell are you calling a weakling, you crayon muncher!" He yelled, jumping at the smaller boy, but was held back by Luz and Gus.

"Quick, Luz. Dazzle." Gus quietly said, struggling to hold Ardyn back from killing Matt.

"Right!" Luz quickly pulled Ardyn back and set him behind her. As he continued to growl. She imitated a trumpets sound and then pulled hers and Ardyn's hood down. "Ta-da!"

Mattholomule gasped when he saw their ears. "A human!"

"And this is only something a hybrid can do. Bam!" Ardyn said with his hands out, creating a light spell and turning it into a hand. The hand-stretched out towards Mattholomule and pulled his hood down over his face.

He leaned towards Luz. "I learned how to do that yesterday," he whispers, making her giggle.

"Not just any human or hybrid. But experts," said Gus as Matt pulled his hood up.

"Yeah. We've been doing this for years," Ardyn said, snatching the crown out of Mattholomule's hand. "Back during the womb!"

"They're here to authenticate your treasures," Gus said as his friend placed the crown back on his head. Ardyn and Luz put their hoods back on as the trio walked past Mattholomule. "See you at the meeting."

The once big-mouthed, confident boy started to panic as he backed up against the lockers. "Oh, no, no, no, no!" He said, sinking to the floor. "They can't know I lied. Then they'll never make me president. Huh?"

Matt stopped when he saw two pieces of paper on the floor. He picked them up and saw they were Ardyn and Luz's wanted posters that Gus didn't pick up. This made Mattholomule laugh evilly as an idea popped into his head. "Ooh, Gus, I have you now."

---

Meanwhile, Gus continued to lead Ardyn and Luz through the school as he said, "As president of the H. A. S., I should feel bad about dunking on one of our own members. But as a Gus I feel like doing this: Oh, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, what, oh." Gus danced as Luz walked over to a trophy case.

"Wow! Who got the trophy for the most bones?" Luz asked, pointing at one of the trophies. She then spotted another one. "Hey, Ardyn! This one has your mom's name on it."

"Whoa, really?" Ardyn rushed over and saw that there was indeed a trophy that his mother won. "Wow! An award for Bravery in the Face of Danger? That's awesome!"

However, as they were looking at the trophies, one of the school guards came around the corner. It turned towards them and sniffed the air, looking for troublemakers.

Seeing this, Gus ran in and dragged Ardyn and Luz away. They ran away down another hallway. "We don't have time for this right now. We got to get to the clubroom," Gus said urgently. Panting as he guided them to the room.

However, they stopped when Ardyn did and pulled his arm back. "Alright, Gus. What's going on, man?" He asked, looking at him with a look of suspicion. "You've been acting weird all day."

"Nothing, nothing's wrong at all," Gus said nervously.

"Then why are you sweating?" Ardyn raised an eyebrow.

Gus was indeed sweating. "Oh, no reason. It's pretty hot in here," he said, trying to shrug off his anxiety.

Ardyn narrowed his eyes at him and was about to say more when Luz interrupted him when she saw the abomination professor. "Ooh. It's the abomination professor. I should introduce myself. Apologize for the incident," she said, much to Gus's panic. Luz stepped away from him and Ardyn and waved at the teacher. "Hey, Mr. Abomination Professor. The 'abominominator. Remember me?" She did her best impression of an abomination. The professor just raised an eyebrow at her.

"Maybe he'll recognize me," Ardyn said. That's when Gus knew he needed to act.

"Oh, wouldn't you know? We suddenly have time for a full tour of Hexside," he said, grabbing them and pushing the two friends away.

---

Never in a million years did Eda think she'd be here again. She's had nightmares of being dragged back to this room in her older years, but now she was sitting in the principal's office of her own will. Facing Bump himself as the outlaw witch sat in the chair she was all too familiar with, while Romani was standing next to her. She took a pencil out of a fleshy mug.

"Been quite a while since I've sat here, huh?" she asked jokingly, putting the pencil on her top lip, and reclining in the chair, propping her leg up and crossing her feet next to Principal Bump's nameplate, causing her roommate to sigh at her action. He stared at her shoes and then back at her, unamused with his former student's attitude. "I got to admit it's extra weird without you yelling at me for picking fights or stealing."

"I can easily change that," Principal Bump said in a flat tone. He then used his magic to shove Eda over, making her fall to the ground. Bump moved his nameplate back to its original place. "What are you doing two here, Edalyn? You both know that you and Romani are criminals in the eyes of the law."

Getting back up, Eda sat down and inhaled as she fixed her hair. "I want to–Prft!" She blew a single strand of hair back into place. "I want to enroll my human and nephew, Luz and Ardyn, at Hexside. And before you get all judgy–"

"That's not a bad idea."

"You are no good son of a–"

"Eda. He said that's not a bad idea." Romani said, causing Eda to stop mid rant.

"...Wait, really?" Eda asked, completely taken aback by his approval.

"Anna Bronwyn was one of the best students that had ever come from this school. It'll be wonderful to have her son here. And I think the student body could learn a lot from having such exchange students," Principal Bump said, getting up and walking over to a file cabinet. "Especially if one of them is a Hybrid."

Eda's eyes widened. "You…You know?"

"I'm a principal, Edalyn. I've read some of the most forbidden texts in all the lands. Not to mention how Anna would have loved it if Ardyn attended. Trust me, when I saw his eyes, I knew he was her son. But you don't have to worry about me turning him into the Emperor's Coven."

Eda and Romani sighed in relief. One of her biggest worries is that if Ardyn did attend Hexside, the Emperor's Coven would be notified and take him away. Knowing that Bump wouldn't turn him in took a lot of weight off her shoulders and Eda reclined on the desk again.

"But before I even consider that, there's a lot to be answered for." Principal Bump magically turned her upside down without looking. Placing her back down on her chair, he pulled a stack of files out of the cabinet.

"Oh right. Yeah," said Eda, righting herself in the chair as Bump walked back over to the desk. "I heard all about that abomination incident. Also heard he went through a transformation as well."

"Oh, I'm not talking about Ardyn and Luz, while I do admit that their powers are interesting. However, what I'm talking about is the necrotic experiments, the graffiti, the scams, the cheating, Miss Jenkinmeyer's teeth," Bump went on as Eda sank down in the chair. "The trouble you caused when you were here, Eda!"

He dropped the pile of paper and books onto the desk. Eda looked at the page on top.

PERMANENT RECORD:

EDALYN CLAWTHORNE

"Huh. I thought there'd be more," Eda confessed as Bump gave her a cold stare, causing her to gulp nervously.

"This is going to be a long day." Romani said with a sigh.

---

The first place Gus showed Ardyn and Luz on the tour was the Grudgby pitch. The layout of the pitch was like a basketball court, with basketball hoops on either side. Skara was on the pitch while Gus, Ardyn, and Luz were in the stands.

"This is where we play the sport," Gus said.

"So it's like basketball?" Ardyn asked, curious.

"What is…basketball?" Gus asked, confused.

"Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball through the defender's hoop high to a backboard at each end of the court, while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop." Luz explained as Ardyn and Gus looked at her with raised brows. This caused her to blush in embarrassment. "What? I watch Basketball from time to time."

"Oh... okay" Gus said as Skara ran at the ball but was picked up by a griffin that came out of nowhere. The witch screamed as she was carried up into the air.

"I hate this game!" She screamed. The griffin roared before dropping her into one of the basketball hoops, making the speakers blare an air horn. Gus, Ardyn, and Luz applauded. Though it was only for a short moment as Gus paled when he saw another school guard sniffing around. He quickly grabbed Ardyn and Luz and dragged them away. This made the hybrid arch his eyebrow at his behavior. He knew that Gus was hiding something, however, he didn't want to pester him about it.

Inside the school, the three of them walked past a door, until Luz doubled back to look through a window. "Ooh. What's in here?" she asked as Ardyn looked inside too.

"Whoa…"

"The Plant Homeroom," said Gus.

Inside, there were various students in Plant uniforms tending to the greenery that surrounded the room. The homeroom was filled with trees that stretched as tall as the roof. Plants growing on the Boiling Isles grew fruits that could have only been found in the demon realm.

One of the students of the Plants track was Amelia, who had been standing next to it with a clipboard. Suddenly, a carnivorous plant next to her opened its jaws and ate her. She screamed and struggled to remove herself from its mouth, but luckily there was someone to help her. Willow ran over and tickled the plant's stem. It laughed and spat Amelia back up, covering her in yellow saliva. Traumatized, she gave Willow a shaky thumbs-up.

"Willow, hey," Luz called out.

"Hi, Willow!" Ardyn smiled and waved at the plant witch.

Willow turned around and waved at Ardyn and Luz. But then Gus looked through the window. "Hi."

Willow's face fell into a frown, and she shook her head.

"Bye." Gus dragged Ardyn and Luz away again.

Later, Gus showed them a room full of mirrors, various cages for birds or other pets, and books about showmanship and illusions.

"And this is where I spend my time. The Illusion Track Homeroom," Gus said as they watched the professor evaluate three students' illusions.

The first up was Emira, who doubled the length of her legs. Edric was second, and he changed his face, outfit, and hairstyle to look like a princess. Both twins got the professor's approval. However, the third student was rather shaky as she drew her spell circle, causing her to accidentally remove their facial features. She dropped her book and panicked, whimpering while trying to feel her face. The professor smiled, drew a spell circle, and returned the student's face. She inhaled deeply, relieved to be able to breathe again.

"Wait, if you're here, who is that?" Luz asked, pointing across the hall, where another Gus is sitting in a class, writing on a piece of paper.

Ardyn blinded and raised his eyebrow. "Is that…"

"Yep, that's one of my illusions. Takes notes for me when I'm not around," Gus explained. His double picked up the paper which read 'I'm not paying attention' on it. He fakes a gasped and laughed as he pointed to it. This made Gus mad, however. "He doesn't always do what he's told."

He marched out of the classroom with Ardyn and Luz following him. "Wow, Gus. You're good," said the human girl, impressed with her friend's abilities.

"Yeah. I moved up a couple grades," Gus said, smiling proudly.

"Ardyn?" said a familiar voice. The blonde boy looked to his right to see Amity walking towards him and the others with a surprised look on her face.

"Amity!" Ardyn smiled and waved at her.

"Hi, Amity!" Luz happily waved at her. After Ardyn was able to finally form a small friendship with the green-haired witch, she's been eager to join in.

"Uh...hi, Luz," Amity said, blushing for some reason.

"How's it going?" Ardyn asked, before pointing back at Edric and Emira. "Everything going well with your siblings?"

"Yeah, however...they did mention something about having a conversation with Ryker," Amity said. "But I got to ask, what are you two doing here? You two were banned from school property."

"It's okay. Gus was able to give us a full pardon," Luz said, gesturing to Gus. This made Gus extremely nervous as the top student of Hexside turned her attention to him.

"You? You were able to get the ban lifted, Augustus?" She asked, extremely skeptical and suspicious that the president of a club that hardly anyone even heard or cared about was able to convince the principal to lift the ban.

Gus gulped nervously, before jolting when his watch started screaming again.

"Dude, seriously, you've got to get a watch that doesn't hurt you, man," Ardyn said as Gus poked the eye, shutting off the alarm.

"Later! Time for the H. A. S. meeting!" Gus exclaimed, before he, Ardyn, and Luz left Amity and ran off. Gus's illusion watched them leave with a smug smile. However, he grew nervous when Gus rushed back to glare at him. The small mage then slid his finger along his neck, mimicking a decapitation, and casually walked away. Now scared of what he might do, the illusion started paying attention to class.

However, Amity was still suspicious of Gus and frowned at him as he ran back to Luz and Ardyn.

---

At the H.A.S. room, the members were starting to grow restless. With the exception of Mattholomule, all of them were eager for Gus to show up and present the human and hybrid to them.

"Human, hybrid! Human, hybrid!" The members chanted repeatedly while waiting.

The door opened and Gus greeted the members with a grin and the crown on his head. "Human Appreciation Society…" He twanged the paper clip. "...it is my distinct pleasure to introduce to you…"

Luz moonwalked into the doorway, spinning around and almost falling if Ardyn hadn't caught her. Both then pulled back their hoods and revealed their ears to the H.A.S.

"Luz, the Human and Ardyn the Hybrid!"

"Hey, y'all. How's it going?"

Eileen squealed.

"Such showmanship," said Bo

"They're horrifying," said the unicorn.

"I take offence of that, good sir!" Ardyn snapped as he, Luz, and Gus approached the desk. Gus then presented them with the items displayed on the table. Mattholomule started to grow nervous.

"Ardyn, Luz, will you inspect the items?"

"Of course, Mr. President," Luz said as Ardyn looked at the table, already raising an eyebrow at all the items. "Allow us to determine if they're truly of my realm's origin."

"Is that a shoe made out of mud?" The hybrid asked as he reached out to grab it.

"STOP!" Much to everyone's surprise, Mattholomule knocks his fake items off the table with a grunt. Everyone else gasped when he jumped onto the table. "Don't make another move, humans!"

Ardyn pulled Luz and placed her behind him. Mattholomule calmed down and said, "I... have something to say. I'm new here at Hexside. M-Making friends has been hard, so I lied. They're all fakes."

Everyone gasped while Ardyn said, "Yeah, I pretty much figured that out." He held up the mud shoe before dropping it back onto the table.

"I thought if I was important enough people would like me. But I've caused enough drama," Mattolomule sighed. Ardyn, Luz, and Gus shared a look. At that moment, the young mage knew what he had to do. "So, I'll go. I'm sorry," Mattolomule said, getting off the table.

Before he could start walking to the door, Luz said, "Hey, man. It's okay. You're only human… Well, you know what I mean."

"We all know a thing or two about not fitting in," Ardyn said, placing his hand on Luz's shoulder.

"Mattholomule, you aren't alone. You have a place here in the H. A. S.," Gus told him with a smile.

"You're not alone," said the unicorn boy. "You're one of us."

"We admire your honesty," Bo said.

Having heard all of this, Mattholomule smiled thankfully. "Thanks, guys. I knew you'd understand."

However, while it might seem like Ardyn was being supportive, he couldn't help but feel suspicious about Mattholomule. He's had to deal with bullies all his life, Ardyn knew that they don't just have a change of heart this quick. But for now, he decided to play along.

---

Meanwhile, down the hallway, Eda groaned in agony and whined. "I don't want to do this!"

"You said you would do anything to get Luz and Ardyn in, Eda. I'm just making sure that you hold up on that." Romani said, causing her to groan again.

Bump patted her on the shoulder. "There's the whiny rebel teen I remember. You'll need this…" He handed her a mop, before gesturing to the graffiti that covered the lockers. "...to clean up all the hexed graffiti you left us. Good luck."

He then left the owl lady to her task. Eda stuck her tongue out at him, before putting the mop in the bucket and then attempted to wipe away graffiti on lockers that read "EDA RULES BUMP EATS STINK." The graffiti, however, moved away from her mop head. Avoiding her attempts to wipe it away as she tried again and again. Eda tried moving slowly towards it, and the graffiti moved away at the same speed. Already fed up with it, Eda tried to wipe the entire row of lockers, only succeeding in making all the graffiti combine and now read, "MOTHER NOOOO!" She slammed at that, and it moved again. Making Eda groan.

It was going to be a long day for her. Something Romani had to guess. With a quick spell, Romani was able to trap the graffiti, which Eda was grateful for as she started to clean up the magic graffiti.

---

Back in the H.A.S. room, the meeting was a complete success. Together, Ardyn and Luz looked over the items that the group had and gave them some proper information on what they really were. For example, Ardyn made sure Gus understood that the sea didn't sound like a paper clip. Once the meeting was done, everyone took their leave with smiles on their faces. Waving to Ardyn and Luz, who waved back at them.

"Thanks for coming," Bo said as Ardyn, Luz, Gus, and Mattholomule stayed behind.

"Come back soon," said the unicorn boy.

Eileen walked up to them and said in her muffled voice, "Thank you." She then giggled and ran off.

Ardyn leaned towards Gus. "How does Eileen eat or breath without a mouth?"

"You don't want to know," Gus whispered causing Ardyn to cringe at the thought of it.

Mattholomule turned to them while rubbing the back of his head. "Hey, Augustus, Ardyn, Luz, thank you for being so forgiving," he said with a smile.

"It's no big deal, Matt," Ardyn said with his hands in his pockets.

"We've all been the new kid before," Luz said, looking at Gus. "Right, Gus?"

Gus smiled. "Yeah."

Mattholomule nodded. "Well, I just have one thing to say…"

All of a sudden, the door banged open and two school guards stepped in. While the others were surprised by this, Mattholomule smirked and pointed at Luz and Ardyn.

"There they are!" He yelled, pulling out their wanted poster. "They're the intruder!"

One of the school guards sniffed the air and looked at the two friends. "Trouble."

Ardyn stepped back nervously, but Luz placed a hand on his shoulder. "No, it's fine. The ban's been lifted, remember? Tell 'em, Gus," she said, gesturing to Gus.

However, Gus didn't say anything and looked panicked.

Ardyn frowned slightly. "Gus?"

Suddenly, he and Luz screamed when the guards hooked both the two. Dragging them away. "Gus! Tell them!" Luz yelled, before she was yanked into the hallway.

However, Ardyn held onto the doorway, but struggled to do so as he was being pulled away. "Gus, you did get the ban lifted, right?!"

"I…I…" Gus couldn't come up with an excuse, leading Ardyn to realize that he lied to him and Luz.

"Oh, you're so getting your ass kick when I get my hands on you!" Ardyn shouted before he was then pulled away.

Mattholomule smirked as Gus looked at him. "Oh, who's the liar now, Augustus?" He asked with his arms folded.

---

Meanwhile, down in the Plant homeroom, Willow cast a water spell to water the carnivorous plant. However, as she did so, the young witch couldn't help but wonder to herself. "Maybe I've been too hard on Gus. I mean, what trouble could they get into?"

"Help!" Willow and even the carnivorous plant were startled by the cry and turned to the door. Through the window, they can see Ardyn and Luz being dragged off by the guards

"We don't even learn here!" Luz cried out.

Willow paled. "Ardyn! Luz!"

At the same time, Amity was walking to her next class when she heard their cries for help. Running down the hall, she quickly ducked behind a corner and watched as the guards dragged Ardyn and Luz.

"Hey, stop! You've got to believe us!" Ardyn yelled. "We didn't know the ban wasn't lifted!"

"Liar, liar…" Said one of the guards. "Little liar…"

"Hey, You guys are just tall and I'm of average height, you jerk!" He snapped angrily at them. "Where are you taking us?!"

"Detention," the other guard said.

Luz smiled nervously. "Oh. That won't be so bad, right?" she asked before they came to a stop in front of a hallway.

The two teens looked down and saw a giant door at the end of the hall. Suddenly, the door opened up with three red and yellow eyes and the bottom of the door lifted up to reveal a mouth filled with sharp teeth.

Ardyn and Luz screamed as they were dragged towards it.

---

Never in his life had Gus felt so much fury towards one person. Shaking with anger, he glared daggers at Mattholomule as the other boy mocked him. "I can't believe you three fell for that. Like I'd actually apologize."

"What. Did you. Do?" He growled.

Mattholomule mockingly looked innocent at Gus and gave him a big-eyed look. "Ah, boo–hoo. I'm sorry. 'I am the new kid.' 'I want friends.' He then returned to his normal voice and laughed out loud mockingly. "Ha! No. I want power. And I want drama. And I got one of those right now." He then got right up into Gus's face, making him back up to the wall.

"So, what are you gonna do, Mr. President?"

Gus glared at him and pulled back his fist, preparing to punch him. "Executive action!" He yelled, and then grabbed the bell's tongue and gave it a hard pull. The bell screamed and rang, shooting out water from its mouth and soaking Gus and Mattholomule.

Soon the two of them were being dragged away by a school guard. As he dragged across the ground, Mattholomule wouldn't stop shouting and protesting. "But I didn't pull the alarm! It was Augustus! Are you even listening to me? I demand justice!"

Willow peeked around a corner as they passed.

---

When the guard dragged them to the door to detention, it growled and opened its mouth again. The guard threw Gus and Mattholomule inside the chamber, both grunting as they landed. The detention chamber had large slash marks on the walls and columns, as well as large pieces of rubble on the ground.

"Wait!" Mattholomule protested, but once they were inside, the door growled and closed itself. Mattholomule got off Gus and ran towards the door, banging on it while pleading. "Get me out of here! Open up, damnit!"

Gus sat up and saw his friends. "Ardyn! Luz!"

Both Ardyn and Luz were hiding behind some rocks. "Gus! You said the ban was lifted!" The girl said, looking at him hurt.

"Yeah! Why the hell did you lie to us, man?!" Ardyn yelled.

"Well, I–" Gus tried to explain himself, but before he could, the ground started to shake. That's when the floor cracked open at their feet. The crack widened until nearly the whole room was a massive hole, making them put their backs to the wall to stay away from it. Inside the hole were rolls of razor-sharp teeth, eyes everywhere on the walls, and blue tendrils and pods, inside of which were the students from before and many more. And down at the bottom was a skeleton of a formerly alive student.

Staring down into the Lovecraftian horror, Luz and Ardyn hugged each other and screamed in terror.

---

In the cafeteria, the doors opened, and a large cloud of fog rolled in. Eda entered, covered in purple slime, and carrying a huge sack filled with ghosts that were struggling to break free with Romani following her with a cup of joe. Some of the ghosts fell onto the floor behind her (just like real ghosts lol) as she walked over to Principal Bump and dumped it at his feet.

"There. The girls' changing room is ghost-free," she strained out, clearly not having a good time.

"Are you ready to give up?" Bump asked in an amused tone, picking a ghost out of Eda's hair. "You've barely scratched the surface."

Eda growled in annoyance and turned away, only to see Bo helping Skara with a spell at a table. "No, like this," Bo said, summoning a ball of fire, which turned into a snowball that splattered onto the table.

Skara gasped. "Oh." She did the same, summoning a ball of fire that turned into a larger snowball. She then hugged her friend, who hugged her back. "Wow. Friendship is the real magic."

Eda sighed. "They're just as bad as Luz and Ardyn. They'd love it here," she said, smirking. And those two making out definitely reminded the Owl Lady of herself and Anna. She then turned back to Principal Bump. "All right. What's next, Bumpikins?"

Principal Bump grinned and held up a plunger, causing Eda to groan while still smiling, as Romani took a sip from his cup of coffee.

'Like I said before, this is going to be a long day...'

---

"This is detection in Hexside?! This is nothing like detention on Earth!" Ardyn shouted as he and everyone backed up against the wall in horror. He was expecting to just be sent to a room where he'll have to stay for a certain amount of time. You know, just like normal detention. Not fight a horrifying monster!

"How is this detention? This is a death sentence!" Luz exclaimed

Gus gulped and fearfully said, "I don't know! I've never been in detention before!"

Mattholomule scooted up next to him. "Welcome to my world. Believe it or not, at my old school I was in detention plenty of times," he bragged as everyone looked at him with glares.

"That isn't hard to believe," Luz commented.

"Yeah, your kind of a piece of crap, kid," Ardyn added.

"Well, down in detention, this piece of crap is king. So, if you want to get out, you better do exactly what I say," Mattholomule said, smirking as he walked forward. "But first, before anything else, we got to–"

He was cut off when a snake with a humanoid face rose out of the hole and turned to the bully. It spat out a slimy blue tendril from its mouth and wrapped it around Mattholomule's ankle, making the boy pale as he yelped, "Already?"

Mattholomule screamed as he was dragged down to the bottom. Ardyn looked down and saw him being engulfed by the slime before being formed into a pod.

Luz looked over to Gus with a hurt look. "You lied to us! You lied about the ban! Why?"

"I was afraid. I acted stupid," Gus said shamefully.

"Yes, you did!" Ardyn yelled.

"Being younger than everyone is hard," Gus said as he made his way over to the human and hybrid. Scooting to them while keeping his back up against the wall. "You're overlooked. Ignored. But at the H. A. S., I mattered. I could make sure no one would ever get left behind. I didn't want to lose that. I'm sorry."

Ardyn and Luz looked at one another. In a way, they could understand. After all, they were outsiders themselves. They never fit in back home, even at their school.

Luz placed a hand on his shoulder. "We get it. I just wish you told us the truth," she said with a smile.

"We're your friends, man. You don't have to lie to us," Ardyn said.

Gus smiled at them.

"But for the record, I might kick your ass when we're done here."

"That's fair," Gus replied. The three of them heard the hissing snake monster and saw several of them slithering up the hole. "We've got to get out of here, but we've got to save Mattholomule."

Some of the snakes shot out of the hole and attacked. Luz kicked one in the face and Ardyn cut the head off another with the Leviathan Axe. "Alright, I've got an idea! Gus, do you have an Illusionist Coven glyph?"

Gus reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled-up paper with the glyph on it. Ardyn took it, tore off the plastic piece, and placed his hand on the sign. When his magical powers copied the glyph, he stepped forward. But Luz grabbed his hand.

"Wait, what are you going to do?" She asked worriedly.

Ardyn grinned. "Even the odds," he said, gently taking her hand on his. Their touching hands made the two blush before quickly turning away from each other. Gus smiled when he saw this.

Oh yeah, now he saw it.

Ardyn turned back to the hole and focus his energy though his whole body, then jumped into the hole, much to the shock of the others. But in the air, before gravity took hold of him, many smaller circles appeared around him.

And those rings turned into many clones of Ardyn!

"This is in no particular reference whatsoever!" Ardyn and his clones shouted as Gus and Luz watched in astonishment. The clones all attacked the snakes and held them off as Ardyn landed on one of the squishy eyes before landing on the ground.

"Come on down, you guys!" He yelled up at the two.

"You've got it!" With newfound bravery, Gus grabbed Luz's hand and leapt down in the hole with her, while she screamed. They landed on an eye and bounced, both grunting when they hit the ground. They regroup with Ardyn and the three of them scanned the area while the clones held off the snakes.

They found Mattholomule in his pod and rushed over to him. They pulled it down to the ground and looked inside. Inside, the pod spoke to him in a deep voice. "You will be a good student."

"I will be a good student," Mattholomule said in a trance-like state with his eyes blank and empty.

Ardyn blinked at that. "You know, this is pretty creepy, but maybe we should leave him in there for a little longer," he suggested. Luz looked at him unamused. "You know, just to make sure."

Luz suddenly tried to bite the pod to rip the blue material open but stopped when it was no use. "You know, it didn't taste as bad as I thought it would," she admitted.

Ardyn groaned pulled out Leviathan's Axe and cut the pod. The hybrid and Gus pulled the opening apart, freeing Mattholomule who was still under the trance.

"Am I a good student?" He groaned.

"Hmm…no," Ardyn said, and Luz giggled.

Luz strained as she tossed Mattholomule over her shoulder. However, she was surprised. "Oh, gosh. He's so little," she said.

The Ardyn clones continued to hold off the snakes but were starting to be killed off one by one. Seeing that they didn't have a lot of time left, Gus picked up a giant bone and the three climbed out of the hole.

The snakes, having killed off the last clone, hissed as they followed. Gus reached the top first, taking Mattholomule from Luz as she and Ardyn climbed out of the hole. Ardyn turned back and saw a snake about to attack Luz, but he quickly protected her and slashed at the snake. Cutting its head off before killing another one. Gus hit a third with the bone, then ran.

"We're going to have to bust down the door," Gus exclaimed.

"Right behind you," Luz said, picking up Mattholomule. She and Ardyn followed him. Three snakes followed them out of the hole, hissing.

However, before anyone could make a move, time came to a halt for Ardyn as a sphere appears in front of him. Without a second thought as he went through this before, he grabbed the sphere and said what he need to say.

"Install: Caster." Ardyn said as a pillar of light surrounded him, causing the others and the snake creatures to stop their movements and look away from the light. After a few moments when the light died out, standing in Ardyn's place is a browned-haired man wearing an outfit that made him look like that of a fantasy wizard, minus the hat, colored in black, red, silver, and gold. Hovering next to him are drones that take the shape of gears.

"Sevant: Caster. Known to the world as Archimedes. Now then, I want to know about how you snake can handle the power of a Servant." The Heroic Spirit of Spells and Sorcery known as Archimedes said as the gear-like drones begun to spin at a fast rate.

---

Outside of detention, Willow nervously looked around as she approached the detention door. She was about to reach out for the crossbar when suddenly…

"Hold it right there!"

"Eeep!" Willow yelped, turning around to see Amity.

"Willow? What are you doing here?" Amity asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Uh…nothing?" Willow said nervously. "Wait, what are you doing here, Amity?"

"I have my reasons. And you're going to need help if you want to get that off the door." Amity walked over to the crossbar and placed her hands on it.

"You…you want to help Ardyn and Luz? Why?" Willow asked, joining her.

"What? Is it so hard for me to want to help other people?"

Willow glared at her and turned away. "As a matter of fact, yes."

Amity glanced at her former friend sadly for only a moment before the two started straining to lift the crossbar off the door, managing to get it half off before freezing when they heard a voice, making them turn to see Eda and Romani talking with Bump.

"I washed off all the graffiti. Apologized to Jenkinmeyer for stealing her teeth. Caught all the wild cerebi," Eda said as she and the principal rounded the corner. "Ah, we should be good."

"It will be very exciting to have a real human exchange student, along with a…talented hybrid from the Bronwyn family," Principal Bump said as he shook her hand.

"And you won't tell the Emperor's Coven about this, will you?" Romani asked, still concerned.

"No. Hexside School is safe for you and those that reside in your home. I'm the principal, not a stooge. Consider your pupil and nephew our pupils," said Bump. Especially after what happened to the Bronwyn family.

The sounds of banging and explosion interrupted them, and they both turned towards the detention door. Amity and Willow backs away from the door as it's hit again from the inside, causing the eyes of the door to flash open.

A third hit shattered the door, Gus and Luz burst through with Archimedes behind them. The three were out of breath but were relieved to be out of danger.

"Eda? Romani? Willow? Amity?" Luz asked.

"Guess who got you and Ardyn into Hexside!" Eda said with a big smile on her face.

"Interesting" Archimedes said in surprise, glad that his Master and friend. Before he could get an answer, the snakes caught up with them and hissed out. Ready to strike at the kids, who screamed in terror, with Archimedes readying his drones again to fight the snake demons. However, they didn't attack, as Bump snapped his fingers. This made the snakes stop and blink as their teeth and eyes became normal.

"Uh, sorry, Principal Bump. Sir…" one of the snakes said quickly before they all slithered back into the door and into the hole, which closed shut. Bump then turned to the Servant with narrowed eyes.

"Before I would ask what happened here, care to explain who you are and how you got into my school?" Principal Bump asked the Servant, who nodded.

"And I am willing to answer. However..." Archimedes said as his body begun to glow. "My time grows short here. Till meet again for future conversations,"

Whit that being said, Archimedes body was surrounded by a sphere of light. After a few moments, The sphere dissipates as Ardyn stood there for a few moments before wobbling forward as he was about to fall if it weren't for Luz and Amity catching him before that happened. Ardyn groaned for a moment before he looked up to see eyeryone looking at him with concern.

"Uhh...What just happened?" Ardyn asked as the Principal of Hexside walked towards Ardyn and Luz.

"That is what I would like to know. What did you two do?" Principal Bump asked, glaring at Ardyn and Luz, who flinched.

"Ugh, kids." Eda groaned and facepalmed with Romani did the same.

"To think that any student of yours would be capable of doing anything but creating chaos, as well as dragging what is perhaps the last Bronwyn into the trouble they caused, just like you did with Anna... Eda, take your students and leave! You are both banned from this campus!"

Eda grunted in annoyance. All that work for nothing. "Come on, you two. Let's go."

Ardyn and Luz looked at one another sadly before starting to leave with Eda and Romani.

"Wait, Principal Bump," Gus said, stepping and making them all stop. "Don't blame Ardyn and Luz. I told them the ban was lifted. We were fighting over the Human Appreciation Society. I brought them in because I wanted to win. This is all my fault."

Principal Bump approached his student. "If that's so, Augustus, would you be willing to accept their punishment as your own?"

Gus nodded firmly. "Yes, Principal Bump. I would."

"Huh. Damn, dweebus," Eda said, getting another nudge from Ardyn. "What?! It was meant as a compliment."

"Very well." Bump turned to Ardyn and Luz. with a smile. "In light of that, barring any more trouble, you both shall officially be enrolled in Hexside School next semester."

"R-Really?" Ardyn asked as Luz gasped.

"Uh, hold on. Hold on." Eda said, walking over to them. She placed a hand on Luz and on Ardyn, before glaring at Principal Bump and gesturing for him to step back. He took exactly two steps back. With privacy to talk to them, Eda knelt in front of the two. "I'm only doing this because I have faith in you both. And I know you're too smart to fall for that One-Witch, One-Coven nonsense. You can learn a lot from the witches here." Eda looked over her shoulder and smirked. "And maybe teach them some of that Bad Girl Coven magic too."

"I don't think that would work for Ardyn and I, Eda." Romani said with a small grin, while Eda stuck her tongue out towards him.

"I agree to what Mr. Romani said and I didn't hear that," Bump said as he walked away to confront Gus. "As for you, I would be saying detention right now but that seems to be out of order. So, as of now, I'm removing you from the Human Appreciation Society." He took Gus's crown off his head, who looked down with a bit of sadness.

Mattholomule, regained consciousness, moaned, "Does that make me president?"

Principal Bump smirked. "Impressive. Still alive. Yes, I suppose you are," he said, throwing the crown on Mattholomule's head.

"Yes!" Mattholomule cheered weakly.

"Now, with that accomplished, Eda, we have some paperwork to fill out," Bump said with his hands behind his back.

"Wait! I got to do more stuff? Ugh!" Eda groaned before turning to her students. "You better enjoy this place, kids."

Eda patted their heads and followed Bump to his office.

Amity walked over to the two with her arms crossed. "It looks like you caused trouble, destroyed property, and managed to somehow save the day and get away with it all…again."

"It's what we do best," Ardyn said with a smirk.

"This is going to be exciting!" Luz said with a grin. "We're going to actually be classmates!"

"We'll see. Just try not to get in any more trouble," Amity said, walking away with a small smirk. As well as with her cheeks flustered.

As Amity walked away, Ardyn and Luz turned over their friends. "Want to finish off that tour?" Gus asked.

"I can show you guys what plants not to touch in the greenhouse. And then I can let you touch them." Willow smirked.

"Yeah! Let's go." Luz cheered as the four of them joined hands and laughed as they ran off. Leaving Mattholomule on the floor in pain.

"Hey! Wait. Take me. I'm your president. Oh. Come on!"

"No chance in hell, kid."

---

When Ardyn, Luz, Romani and Eda returned home while the Male Witch returned to his room to sleep, they sat on the couch while Eda looked over her permanent record. Giving the kids just what kind of trouble the Owl Lady got into, as well as dragging Anna into that same trouble.

Her record includes letting loose a pack of feral ghosts in the girls' locker room and almost leading a full take over, which Ardyn didn't see as Luz covered his eyes with her hands. The next incident was starting an abomination food fight at lunch when Lilith's lunch money was stolen. But then the abominations gained sentience and revolted against Eda, leading to her, Anne, and Lilith forming an alliance and taking on the army. Then she hexed the school bells to play the famous pop song 'SINCE U BEEN CONNED', which lasted for 5 hours. It was only stopped when the bells fought against one another over what songs they liked. Another time, Eda and Anna found these "two giant bug-things" and she brought them to school, and they destroyed classrooms. She even fed the school griffin spicy snacks until it threw up over the Grudgby field. Anna, even though she wasn't involved, was forced to clean up the mess while Bump ate a donut.

Those were just one of the thousands of incidents that she caused, and Eda couldn't help but smile. Looking through the pages and remembering the good times she had, while Ardyn and Luz watched.

"Wow! Bump was not exaggerating. You were a terrible student," Luz exclaimed.

"Yeah. And I thought the snake incident we caused was bad," Ardyn said with a smirk.

Eda chuckled. "I might have been a bad student, but at least I was myself. And it wasn't all that bad. Whenever I wasn't with Lilith, I still had Anna and... another." Setting the stack of papers to the side, she reached into her hair and pulled out a binder full of photos.

"Do you always keep things in your hair?"

Eda sat there with a pause. "...yes." She opened the book, revealing all kinds of pictures of Eda in her younger years doing various activities. Many of which included Anna, Lilith and her.

However, one photo stood out to Ardyn. "Wait, what's that?"

Eda looked and saw it was a photo of not only Anna, but of two others. Standing on his mother's right is a man around Anna's age wearing robes woven with the finest fabrics, though he still looks modest, his long hair appearing with the colors of the rainbow under sunlight. In his right hand was a staff with no Palisman. However, the most disgusting part about him is the fact that his eyes were a royal purple and his ears are slightly pointed. On his mother's left is a man with white hair and tan skin, wearing clothing and robe that are like that of royalty. However, the one thing that stood out was the fact that he doesn't carry a staff and has ten rings, one for each of his fingers, slightly pointed ears and his golden eyes. The three were standing in front of a banner that has a triquetra, which is a symbol of triangular figure composed of three interlaced arcs, or (equivalently) three overlapping vesicae Pisces lens shapes, surrounded by two ravens circling it like a cycle.

"Oh them. They were friends from Anna circle. That one on Anna's right was Mel and the other on her left is Sol. I never did learn their real names because I only met them once." Eda said with a smile.

"They look so cool! They look they came out of a fantasy book!" Luz exclaimed, shocked to see what truly looked like fantasy characters. "But wait, what's with the banner?"

"That's the banner of the Bronwyn Family, one of the most powerful families in the Boiling Isles," Eda said.

"Wait, really? My family was once a powerful family?" Ardyn asked, completely stunned by this revelation.

"That's right," Eda right, taking out the photo and handing it to her nephew. "For many years, the Bronwyns and Goldmarks were once seen as strong, noble, and inspiring leaders throughout the Realm. But if you think that's impressive, wait until I tell you about the time Anna, Lilith, and I caused a tsunami in school."

As Luz listened to the admittedly hilarious tale about the first time Anna got in trouble with Eda, Ardyn looked at his mother and her friends. It was strange to think, but something felt off about these guys, but that wasn't what he was focus about right now.

The one that caught the hybrids attention was the one named Mel or more specifically, it was his staff that got Booker's attention and as he looked closer at it, his eyes widened as he saw a familiar sight.

The staff that the white one was carrying looked like the same one as the man who helped him and his friends during the Moonlight Conjuring.