Luz's attire in this story: A red sleeveless open hoodie/hoodie vest, black sports tank top that goes to her stomach, dark blue shorts, black leggings to her calves and black steel toed slip on sneakers.
Luz's Glyph Gloves: Wrist length grayish black gloves with a texture mix of paper and leather, smooth yet tough.
Light Glyph: Located on the palm, below the middle and ring fingers, center.
Fire Glyph: Located on the palm, in the area below the thumb.
Plant Glyph: Located on the palm, above the wrist at the base of the hand below the center of the palm.
Ice Glyph: Located on the palm, in the area between the thumb and pointer finger.
Power Glyph (symbol of Construction Coven): Located on the back of right hand.
Healing Glyph (symbol of the Healing Coven): Located on the back of left hand.
Invisibility Glyph: Located on the wrist of the left hand
Her Kickboxing stance: Fists in front of her face, knees slightly bent, right foot back and her left foot forward.
Eda's and Lilith's Glyph Gloves (1 each):Fingerless gloves that reach the forearm with the four glyphs down the center of the arm in the order of light, ice, plant, and fire.
Eda's Glove: Right hand.
Lilith's Glove: Left hand.
Luz Noceda, The Fighter Opening: Believe in Myself Cover By NateWantsToBattle (I do not own this song)
Luz stands before the cliff over the boiling sea next to the owl house, letting the wind blow through her hair and clothes.
Believe in myself
And my dream this world
It will never end
Luz lifted her hands up, looking at her glyph gloves before she clenched them into fists, gaining a looking of determination.
I'll chase it
I'll speed up!
Speed up!
She activated her fire glyphs and slammed her fists together in a flash!
I'm running faster
Chasing what's in front of me
Now I'll just believe in myself
Luz is now walking through Bonesborough, thinking of her life.
You light my fire
Your touch ignites
The flames in my heart
Makes me want to feel your emotion
Her life on Earth, lonely and full of anger with the only person by her side being her mother, Camila.
Whatever will be, will be
How our hearts are crashing waves
And our souls are vast like an ocean
Her life in the demon realm however, was full of adventures, close friends, and love with Eda, King, Gus, Willow, and Amity by her side.
With the strongest tides we'll drown our sorrows
In a dark void, Eda and Lilith side by side while facing a shadow silhouette of the owl beast, pointing their glyph gloves at it.
Take my hand and tell me
Are you ready to play fair?
Luz and the Golden Guard stood on the battlefield, ready to fight each other!
Believe in myself
And my dream this world
Luz blasted towards G.G., throwing a punch and a kick that he dodged before he jumped into the air.
It will never end
Golden Guard fired a barrage of red energy blasts at Luz, creating a smokescreen!
I'll chase it
I'll speed up!
Speed up!
Luz jumped from the smoke and punched at Golden Guard, clashing her fist against his staff!
Believe in myself
You're not alone now
A transparent silhouette of Luz was running as she passed by all the friends she made (Eda, King, Willow, Gus, the Blight twins, Boscha and her crew, the Human Appreciation Society, the dual track students, and Amity).
And our future is near
It's coming
Luz was now running past a line up of her enemies, the Emperor's Coven (including Kikimora and the Golden Guard).
Let's speed up!
Speed up!
The ultimate enemy rose like a giant, Belos, with his eyes glowing before lightning flashed before him.
I'm running faster
Chasing what's in front of me
Luz was back at the cliff near the owl house, sitting as she looked up to the moon before Amity walked up to her.
Now I'll just believe in myself
She sat down next to Luz before holding her hand, gazing at the moon with her.
An alarm screamed in the owl house as Eda woke up like she always does, afternoon, and shut off the clock. She groans a bit before getting up and grabbing one of her elixirs.
'Down the hatch.' Eda thought as she chugged the elixir whole.
"Ugh." Eda groaned as she dropped the bottle.
She headed over to her vanity and screwed her fang in, yes screwed it in.
"Weh!" She let out, making sure it was tightly in. "Okay, now to business."
Eda reach into a drawer and pulled out a list of either chores or important things to remember.
"Alright. Luz could use a new coat, gotta check King for fleas, pay the house water bill, try to clean Hooty, and burn my old dress." Eda muttered to herself.
It's funny, she never thought she would be the parental type but look at her now. Practically having two kids of her own. She heard some noise outside and opened the window, seeing Luz and King exercising.
"5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10." Luz counted as she was doing one armed pushups with King doing two armed push up. "You have it go all the way down, King, or it doesn't count."
"I am going down all the way!" King said, slightly struggling.
"Come on, King, we need to be in top shape for this, or else we won't get that message out to your father." Luz said.
"I know I know but do you think Eda is gonna be okay with it?" King asked, stopping as he sat up.
"If you're worried about her reaction, then just tell her." Luz said to him.
"I want to but I want it to be a surprise. I wanna see the look on her face when I send my message to my dad." King said, playing with his fingers.
"Trust me, Eda will be surprised." Luz said, patting his back.
Surprised she was, Eda moved to duck under her window as she heard the entire conversation. She couldn't help but assume the worst about this, even if it was a good thing for the kids. It wasn't good for her, it was very upsetting.
"I know this wouldn't last forever but it's happening so soon?" Eda said with a long sigh. "I may look after them but I'm no substitute for a real parent."
She walked to her desk and looked towards a photo of her, Luz, and King from Grom before picking it up. Eda didn't admit to others but She wasn't ready to let them go as she walked to the trunk in her room. She knocked the fake lock off was about to put the picture when she saw something.
"Hmmm?" Eda hummed, looking in.
Inside was an old instrument of hers that she hadn't touched in years, yet is was still in pristine condition. A bell cittern with a raincloud and bolt carved into it.
"My old bell cittern." Eda said, putting her photo in her hair and picking it up. "It sure has been a while. I wonder if I still remember how to play it?"
She began to strum it a bit. The sound of it seemed to calm Eda, taking her mind off it as she began strumming some more and playing a sound. A veil of magic began spreading around the room, surprising Eda as objects were floating as well.
"My magic? But I though the curse took it away." Eda said, looking around the room. "I guess Bard instruments work with anyone."
Unknown to Eda, the gem in her chest began to glow in a dark color. Suddenly, everything that the magic touched began to corrupt. Almost like a black mold was consuming the objects, slowly and surely, until Eda stopped playing her instrument. This made the magic vanish and let the objects all fall down to the ground but the corruption effect was still visible.
"Yikes, guess that's another part of my curse that I didn't know about." Eda said as she put the bell cittern back in her trunk before looking at her hands.
'I need to be careful with this. I don't think it will effect using the glyph glove Luz gave me and the glyph weapons I made but still, I better be more careful today.' Eda thought before walking to get dressed for the day.
After getting dressed, she headed downstairs, where Luz was carrying a backpack far, FAR, away from her.
"Do I even want to know?" Eda asked, catching a whiff of the backpack. "UGH! Nevermind, I can guess what it is."
"Yeah, took King for a test ride on your staff and he vomited into the backpack. Thankfully it was EMPTY." Luz said, walking into the kitchen and dropping it into the trash can.
For extra measure, Luz created a fireball and dropped it into the trash to burn the backpack along with the vomit inside.
"So, do you have any other backpacks?" Luz asked.
"A whole closet but why? You guys going on a trip?" Eda asked.
"Sort of, just a small training outing. King and I are going to be competing in the Gland Prix." Luz said.
"The Gland Prix? That staff race they put on every year?" Eda asked in surprise.
"Yeah, the winner gets an interview that gets shown across the Isles, if we win, we're going to use it to have King send a message to his dad." Luz said with a grin.
"Oh! That's…..great kids! I'm sure your pops will see it in no time." Eda said, putting on a brave face.
"Yeah but first, I need to talk to you about something." King said, walking up to Eda and twiddling his bony fingers a bit. "Something important."
"More important than the Gland Prix? Nonsense, you can tell me after you win." Eda said, patting his head. "But if you want to do that, you'll need to get back to training."
Eda did her best to hide the sadness. She has never really been known for her motherly instincts, but after everything that's happened, she isn't ready to see her owlets leave the nest, regardless if it's for a good reason or not.
"Are you sure, Eda?" King asked.
"Positive. Besides, I was gonna do a little practice with the old glyph glove and maybe make some new glyph weapons while I'm at it too." Eda said, holding up the glyph glove sleeve on her right hand. "You two go on and train."
Though they were hesitant to leave her without telling her, Luz and King left the owl house as Eda slumped onto the couch.
'They're growing up so fast but I'm not ready for them to go.' Eda thought, sulking as she decided to watch some C.B. 'Let's see what's on.'
She grabbed the remote and turned in the crystal ball, coming up right as an Emperor's Coven broadcast was on.
"Ugh... fine, anything to get my mind off this." Eda said, with a groan.
Eda sat in the couch as she watched the broadcast, an inauguration of the latest coven head of the Bard Coven after the last one retired from old age.
"In light of Scooter Crane's retirement, today's ceremony will confirm Raine Whispers as the next head of the Bard Coven." The announcer said, causing Eda's eyes to go wide.
"Raine Whispers?!" Eda said in shock, on the edge of her seat.
A witch walked in on screen with a white clock over their head, hiding from the camera.
"I don't see why I have to this." Raine whispered.
"It's a formality. Just remain calm and accept it." The witch said as he gave Raine a medallion with the Bard Coven symbol on it.
Raine took off their hood, revealing a light brown skinned witch with short whitish silver hair and wearing glasses, fumbled their words.
"H-h-hello, e-e-everyone." They stuttered.
Eda nearly chuckled at them, still as she remembered as the powerful yet socially awkward witch from Hexside.
"I would like to say it is an honor to be the new Bard coven head and help usher in the Day of Unibe." Raine said as they screwed up at the end.
"Pfffft! Ehehehehehe!" Eda laughed as Raine realized their mistake.
"I mean unity!" Raine said, instantly panicking. "Ah, get me out of here!"
Raine put their hood back on and went away from the camera. The male witch groaned before shaking his head.
"Just cut off the camera." He said as the coven broadcast cut off.
Eda chuckled from this as she felt a TINY bit better from her funk.
"Ah, nice to know they haven't changed." She said as she got up from the couch.
Eda decided to head into town to do something instead of sulking all day. Even if she would've made more or tested glyph weapons or practiced with the glyphing gun; Eda's heart wouldn't have been in it.
'Maybe I could use a little drink.' Eda thought.
So she headed to the one place that liked her too much to ask her to leave... she also threatened the owner so that's also part of the reason.
The Grimgrub's Pub, Eda's favorite bar in the whole realm.
"Give me the usual, Kevin." Eda said to the bartender.
Kevin did so.
"Diet apple blood." He said, sliding the drink to Eda. "So, what's in your mind?"
"Just the usual but I don't want to impose." Eda said, taking a sip.
"It's part of my job and I got nothing better to do. So tell me your woes." Kevin said with a shrug.
"My kids are going to leave, I'm going to be all alone." Eda said, becoming sad and mushy. "Ugh, I never thought about being a parent before, but now I don't want it to stop."
"Seems to me like someone's grown. About time." Kevin said with a grin.
"Are you saying I'm childish?" Eda asked with a small glare.
"Yes, and you still are but you're more mature in a way. Maybe mature enough to pay your tab someday." Kevin said with a chuckle.
Suddenly, they heard a noise from outside. It was like someone screaming.
"What was that?" Eda asked, looking to the door.
"Heck if I know." Kevin said, cleaning a glass.
"Put this on my tab." Eda said, quickly finishing her drink.
Eda rushed out of the bar and into the town square, where she could see a wild witch being apprehended by a coven guard and a coven scout.
"Don't fret, citizens! We are helping this wild witch find her place in society! Everything is alright!" the Guard said.
"Let me go! I don't want to join a coven!" The blue haired woman said.
"Hey! Get your hands off her!" Eda shouted, marching towards them.
The guard and scout turned to Eda, the latter scoffing as he crossed his arms.
"Begone, Owl Lady!" The scout said.
"And it's not like you can do anything. Your curse has rendered you magicless!" The guard said to Eda.
Eda growled once again before smirking, moving her left hand to the glyph glove on her right.
"Magicless huh? Then how do you explain this!?" Eda asked, pushing the light glyph and throwing a light orb in the guard's face!
"AAAAAH!" He screamed, blinded as he released the wild witch!
The guards growled at her and were about approach her, when music filled the air.
Everyone turned to see a quartet of bard witches dressed in black boots, red pants, and black vests with gold buttons and maroon collars, standing before a statue of Belos. They also wore large bat masks covering their faces sans their chins and mouths. Magic began to fill the air as everyone was in awe of the bard magic.
The guards also were affected by the bard magic as they couldn't use their own magic. The music was disrupting it. While everyone else was in awe of the group, Eda immediately recognized one of them and surpassed the urge to roll her eyes.
'Oh for fuck sake, Raine! If you're going to be a rebel, then don't wear the same outfit you just wore during a national broadcast!' Eda thought.
"Citizens of Bonesborough, look at this injustice. The emperor's goon, his "keepers of the peace", trying to...ugh...mute the music of our hearts." the leader, a witch with a violin said with a small pause and a blush under their mask.
'I can't believe I just said that.' They thought.
'Raine, that was so corny it's stuck in my teeth.' Eda thought with a small chuckle.
"Blasphemy!" The guard said.
"Blasphem-you!" Raine said as Eda finally rolled her eyes.
'Once again, corny but I like it.' Eda thought, crossing her arms as she watched.
"By putting you in covens, they take your potential." Raine said before plucking a string, making the guard and scout kneel. "They restrict your knowledge."
Another pluck made them rise and march in place!
"Hey! Stop that!" The guard said.
"They say to do it in the name of unity, but the truant is they want to control you." Raine said, feeling inspired by their own speech. "You know what we say to that, folks? Shove off!"
With one final pluck, Raine made the two coven members March around the town square before heading to some garbage cans!
"Stop!" The scout shouted!
"Not the trash!" The guard shouted, before they both crashed into the garbage cans.
Eda slipped away, knowing what's about to happen, easily finding the entrance to the sewer.
"Who are you wonderful heroes?" Tiny Nose asked.
"We are the Bards Against the Throne!" Raine said with pride.
"Wrong! You are under arrest!" A coven guard shouted as he and dozens of scouts and fellow guards rushed into the square. "Put your instruments down and your hands up!"
The Bards Against the Throne wouldn't used their magic but they saw the coven scouts all had ear muffs, this rending their bard magic useless since they wouldn't be able to hear it! Suddenly, the sewer lid below them opened.
"Psst!" Eda said, motioning with a finger to follow, "In here!"
Looking down and acting fast, Raine nodded to the the bassoonist of the group as he takes a breath and blows, creating a smokescreen to blind all of the guards.
"Don't let them escape!" One guard shouted.
They BATs quickly followed Eda into the sewer as smoke cleared, having the coven members see that the group of bard witches were gone.
"Titan damnit!" The leader shouted, throwing his sword to the ground!
Meanwhile, on the edge of Bonesborough near the forest, the large sewer drain was shown as Eda walked towards it and shook a bar lose.
"Watch your steps, rebels." Eda said, stepping aside for them.
"Thanks, owl lady." One said as they walked out.
"You're welcome but word of advice, always have an escape plan when having a rebellion." Eda said as the leader walked out last, crossing her arms with a small smirk. "Also, don't wear the same outfit you wore during a live coven broadcast, Raine!"
The Bards Against the Throne gasped before their leader turned to Eda, groaning as they took off the mask.
"Sometimes I HATE how observant you are." Raine said.
"Yeah, I have these things called eyes, just be glad most Coven guards are dumber than a bag of galdorstones!" Eda said with a chuckle.
"That aside, thank you for helping us." Raine said to Eda.
"Don't thank me yet because if you have anymore outings like that, you'll need someone that knows all the best exits in town." Eda said, smirking a bit.
"Are you saying you want to join us?" One of them asked, causing the others to gasp.
"I've hated Belos more than anyone, and everyone knows that. If I have a chance to stick it to him, then fuck yeah." Eda said.
"That-" The male witch said until Raine cut him off.
"Is out of the question." Raine said, interrupting their team.
"But Raine, we could use her expertise." A male said as they all took off their bat masks.
"Expertise or not, it's too dangerous for her. You know she doesn't have magic." Raine said, thinking of Eda's wellbeing.
"Correct yet wrong." Eda said, raising her right hand and showing her glyph glove. "This little baby helps make up for that."
"I don't think a little glove is going to be of much help." Raine said.
Eda gave another smirk before pushing the plant glyph, placing her hand on the ground and growing a vine cage around the Bards Against the Throne!
"Wanna repeat that?" Eda asked, still smirking.
The Bards look at the glove in awe, while Raine looked away from Eda.
"Why must you embarrass me in front of my crew?" Raine asked, blushing a bit.
"Because you broke up with me." Eda said.
It wasn't exactly mutual but Raine at least hoped they ended on good terms. Guess they were wrong.
"Personal relationships aside, I think we should let her join." the first woman said as she turned to Eda, smiling. "Name's Katya, you and your human freed me from the Conformatorium a while back."
"I'm Derwin." A dark skinned male with small glasses and black hair said, waving
"Amber and no offense, but I already don't like you because of this cage." Amber said, a short, mauve-skinned humanoid with pale gray hair, freckles, and round silver eyes with large, almost bat-like ears, a crooked nose, and black bat wings on her back.
"Well, Rainstorm had to say something and I just delivered." Eda said, flipping her hair.
"Mmm." Raine groaned, still blushing. "Fine, you can join us. After all, this wouldn't be possible without you."
"Me?" Eda asked as she made the vine cage undo itself.
"You... got me thinking about stuff." Raine said, trying not to actually look at Eda.
"Like what?" Eda asked.
"Like how I couldn't run from my fears forever. After we ended things, I decided to stop running from them and joined the Bard Coven to teach others. During those years, I learned that Emperor Belos' recruitment methods. Nearly all of them relying solely on force and getting rid of anyone that resisted" Raine said as they remembered their earlier days in the coven system. "I couldn't stand by that and I worked my way up the ranks to find people that agreed with me. People that saw how corrupt the system was and wanted to change it for the better."
"And that's how she found us, and how the B.A.T.S. came to be." Katya said.
"HISSSSSS!" She, Derwin, and Amber hissed while flapping their arms like wings.
"And I said you needed to get used to big crowds." Eda said, crossing her arms.
"Hey, did you hear that?" A guard said.
The group flinched before looking up, seeing a guard searching around the edge of town. Eda gestured the BATS to run while she follows them.
"Follow is. We'll show you our hideout." Katya said to Eda.
They ran for about 20 minutes before arriving at their secret hideout.
"Raine… are you fucking serious?" Eda whispered with a bland expression.
"What?" Raine asked her.
"You're hideout is next to the police station!" Eda whisper-shouted, gesturing to the back of the hideout.
"Which makes it the last place they would expect us to be." Raine said to her.
"Hiding in plain sight doesn't always work!" Eda argued.
"It does when most guards are dumber than a bag of rock." Raine said, using Eda's words against her.
"Nice snap back but still, are you sure it's okay to have your base here?" Eda asked.
"One hundred percent, Eda. We triple reinforced the wall with sound canceling and strengthening spells. Nobody can break in or listen in without a fight." Katya said as they all went inside.
"Okay, so, this whole rebellion thing, how have you been doing it?" Eda asked
"We're starting slow but we're making an impact. Tomorrow night, I heard word of a group of wild witches is going to be shipped to be forcefully inducted into covens." Raine said, crossing their arms.
"Yeah, I'm sure, he'll probably secretly petrify them." Eda said.
"Either way, we are going to stop that from happening. Can we trust you to help?" Raine asked.
"Oh yeah you can. Mama's already got a few ideas bubbling." Eda said, rubbing her chin.
"You're not our mom!" Amber said but was ignored.
The next day, Luz and King were still training for the Gland Prix, flying around the rocks over the cliff by the owl house.
"Put more weight in the turns, King. It'll help with our speed!" Luz said to him.
"On it!" King said to her!
They managed to slip past all the rocks before flying back up to the cliff, where Hooty was watching, before flying past him to land with a skid.
"Time!" Luz said to him.
"Bleah!" Hooty let out, unrolling his tongue as he held a stop watch. "One minute, 23 seconds!"
"Yes! That's our best time." King celebrated.
"A few more goes and we might be able to get under a minute!" Luz said, sitting next to him. "You feeling good about this King?"
"Yeah, a bit... I'm kind of nervous." King said, looking up to her. "I haven't gotten to talk to Eda about the... thing."
"I get that but don't worry. You'll be able to talk with her soon, she's just been busy." Luz said, patting King's head.
"You know, you've always got good old Uncle Hooty to lean on." Hooty said, stretching over to them.
"Ew, no." King said, pushing Hooty away as he got up.
King began to walk away, only for Hooty to follow him.
"Lean on me!" Hooty said.
"No!" King said, running away.
"Hahahahaha." Luz laughed a bit at their interaction before noticing Eda leaving the house with a cloak on. "Hey, Eda wait!"
Eda stopped and looked at Luz.
"Hey, Kiddo, what's up?" She asked.
"We've been trying to talk to you about something but you keep going on." Luz said, crossing her arms. "Pretty busy for a wanted woman."
"Yeah but recently I learned that having no magic lets me go out more since no coven wants a magicless witch." Eda said before giving a sad smile. "But I'm sorry and I promise to make time to talk with you and King later. Okay?"
"Hey, what about the Grand Prix? You're going to be there, right?" King asked her.
"Of course I'll be there! I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Eda said, tussling Luz's hair. "Now, if you excuse me, I've got some work to do."
"Okay, I guess." Luz said, watching Eda walk away.
The wild witch pulled her hood up once she was far enough away from the house.
'Alright, time to go to work.' Eda thought, pulling out an invisibility glyph. 'I really got to hand it to Luz, this thing is a handy miracle.'
Holding her breath, Eda placed the glyph on and vanished as she made her way to the BATS hideout as fast as she could. Tonight was important, they can't afford to mess up.
Once at the BATS base, Raine was looking over a map that Eda made herself.
"There you go. This is one of my best homemade maps, highlighting every nook and cranny in the city for quick escape or sneak ups." Eda said with a grin.
"This is perfect for tonight, Eda. With this we can stop the wild witch raids taking place here, here, and here." Raine said, pulling out a pencil to circle three spots.
"And if you lead them this way, it will lead to a split road that we can lead them away while the wild witches go the other direction." Eda said, pointing to another spot.
"This is great but what if we run into trouble and our bard magic isn't enough." Amber said, crossing her arms.
"I've got just the thing." Eda said, reaching into her hair and pulling out several weapons with glyphs on them. "Glyph weapons! I made these myself!"
"You made these?" Derwin asked, picking up a sword with light glyph carved in the handle.
"What do they do?" Katya asked, picking up a small dagger with a fire glyph on the blade.
"You tap the glyph and the weapon will be powered up by a certain element." Eda said.
Amber picked up an arrow with an ice glyph on it, looking at it from top to bottom.
"And are they good for one use?" Amber asked.
"Arrows, yes. Everything else, nope." Eda said with a grin. "We are gonna have some fun tonight."
Eda was already having fun being a rebel. It was nice to sticking it to Belos again, hitting him where he's most vulnerable.
"Alright, so here's the plan." Raine said, gaining everyone's attention. "Eda knows the route the best, so she'll be the one that leads the witches away, we're going to provide the distraction."
Everyone nodded to Raine as the time to stop the raids came, rushing out of the base and moving to their positions.
Amber was alone at a street called "Hex and Row," watching from the side as cloaked witches were being lead into a police cart.
"Show time." She whispered, pulling out her flute and playing a song.
It was enough to put the guards to sleep and allowed her to rush to the cart and open it.
"Follow me, hurry!" Amber whispered to them, rushing off as the witches followed.
Meanwhile on another street called "Skinford Avenue," Katya and Derwin watched from a corner as another group of coven guards was trying to call the group Amber knocked out.
"Let's go check on them!" A guard said.
"It's show time." Katya whispered to Derwin as they got out their instruments and used their music to gain their attention. "Let's give them a party."
Derwin began playing his bassoon, staring with a loud note as Kayta slapped her tamborine roughly. This caught the attention of the guards as they rished toward the sound of music as the two bards took off running too. This allowed the others to get the wild witches away to safety.
All that was left was the captain of the raids, who was currently being dealt with by Eda and Raine.
"Don't move, buster. You even twitch and you're dead." Eda said, pressing a dagger with an ice glyph against the back of their neck.
"Y-You won't get away with this!" The man said.
"We already have. Now take a nap." Raine said, playing a tune to knock out the captain.
For extra measure, Eda used her glyph glove to create vines to tight him up.
"Alright, let's go before anyone else shows up." Eda said to Raine.
Raine nodded as they and Eda rushed off, leaving the captain knock out on the ground. On their way back to the BATs base, everyone was exhausted but happy with the work they did.
"Well, I'd say that went pretty well!" Eda said with a small grin.
"Yes, I actually did." Raine said as they reached the rendezvous point.
Where they would lead the wild witches was out of town and into the forest, the further they went the more freedom from Belos they had. It made Eda feel good, unfortunately, it didn't entirely remove the troubles from her. She still had to think about her kids at home and how they might not be her kids anymore some day. A day Eda dreaded was coming closer and closer.
"Eda, let's go." Raine said to her, reminding Eda of where she was.
"Oh, right. Let's head back to base." Eda said to them.
"Is... something wrong?" Raine asked.
"No, no! I'm good. Just got a lot on my mind." Eda said as they walked back to the BATS base.
Raine was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them. So, when they all arrived back to the BATS hideout, Raine invited Eda to their room so they could talk in private.
"Something is wrong isn't it?" Raine asked.
"What? I said I'm fine." Eda said to Raine.
"And I can use bard magic to MAKE you tell the truth." Raine said, sitting down in a chair. "So either you tell me the truth, or I'll make you."
The look in their eyes told Eda they were serious. So, while she was still there, she decided to be honest.
"There's just... a lot in my life right now." Eda said, looking down.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Raine said, patting a spot next to them.
With a small nod, Eda walked to the lounge chair and sat next to Raine.
"Just... some people I've gotten attached too are going to be leaving soon, and... I don't think I'm ready to say goodbye." Eda said.
"And you haven't told them how you've felt? That maybe you want them to stay with you?" Raine asked.
"How could I when what they need is to be with people important to them? Me, I'm just a bad substitute." Eda said sadly.
"Do they think that or do you just assume that?" Raine asked.
"It doesn't matter if I assume or not, they have people that care about them." Eda said, shaking her head.
"And you don't?" Raine asked.
"Of course I do! But if they want to leave, I gotta just…let them go." Eda said, feeling her heart breaking when she said that.
"Just like you let me go?" Raine asked, frowning at Eda. "I learned the truth later on but you still should've trusted me enough to let me in, Eda."
"Maybe but back then, I think it was better if I didn't let anyone in because they'd get hurt." Eda said.
"And you didn't think I was hurt?" Raine asked, leaning upward. "I HATED our breakup as much as you did. You were…..the piano to my to my keys."
"Really? I think I was the Pianist actually." Eda said, slowly smirking. "Because I was stroking all the right kind of keys, remember?"
Raine blushed at the innuendo, groaning as they covered their eyes.
"I was trying to be deep and meaningful but you always make it dirty!" Raine said.
"Hehehe, what can I say? It's a gift like you with your music." Eda said with a small chuckle.
Groaning a bit more, Raine removed their hands and lightly glared at Eda.
"And what about you, still playing?" Raine asked.
"Eh, not anymore, probably lost my touch." Eda said, waving her hand a bit.
Using this information, Raine made a spell circle. In a flash of light, Eda's instrument from her house appeared in her hands.
"Prove it." Raine said, smirking.
"You want me to play for you?" Eda asked, looking at her instrument.
"Yes. Make it a good one if you can." Raine said.
Eda looked at it again before, shrugging and deciding to playing it.
Just like before, Eda's bell cittern gave off a wave of magic as the items in Raine's room began to float. This amazed Raine as they didn't expect this from Eda since she was cursed without magic.
'Could the glyph glove be behind it?' They thought as Eda's chest gem began to glow.
Once again, black corruption began to go through the room and spreading on all of the objects floating in the air while Eda didn't notice but Raine did.
"Eda, stop." Raine said as they put a hand on Eda's, making her stop playing.
Without the magic, the objects started falling to the floor.
Some of them broke and some remained intact.
"Oops, guess I should've warned you about that. Seems more like a requiem than a rhapsody, huh?" Eda asked as Raine glanced at Eda's gem.
The glow was fading but Raine could guess it must've been the cause. Eda's curse combined with bard magic is a powerful but deadly duet.
"Yeah. It is." Raine said.
'I had no idea this curse was so powerful. If this power was in the hands of Belos, it could spell disaster for everyone and everything.' Raine thought and was glad that Eda was on their side.
"Well, I should probably get out of here." Eda said, putting the instrument down.
"I'll walk you out." Raine said, standing up.
"Aww, trying to get a second chance with me?" Eda asked with a smirk.
"Don't joke about that." Raine said quickly. "I'm just trying to be a gentle-witch."
"Then you can just sit your ass back down, because I may look old, but I can still walk." Eda said, getting up.
Eda walked away from Raine, knowing their eyes were watching her leave as they kicked one of the object that "corroded" because of Eda's curse.
"Bye, Mama Eda!" Amber shouted, waving as Eda left.
The very next day, the time had came for the race to end all races. The Gland Prix. And of course, even with all the stuff competition and the pressure to win first place, Luz was still excited for the race to begin.
'Oh, if I didn't have a metal leg I would be jumping for joy!' Luz thought.
All her training and all of her effort, it was all for this. To get first place for King so he could send his message to his father, wherever he was.
'Speaking of parents.' Luz thought, gazing to the stands to find a Eda was there. She's here, good.'
"You ready, King?" Luz asked, looking to her flying partner.
"Ready to win!" King said, pumping his fists.
"That's the spirit!" Luz said.
King looked to Eda, his desire to speak with her still burning brightly as he and Luz walked to the starting line while Peter Porter and his son Gus came onto a stage with a large crystal ball behind them.
"Welcome to the Gland Prix!" Peter shouted to everyone.
Everyone cheered as Gus drew a spell circle, activating the crystal ball to show the event name.
"For those joining us for the first time, here are the rules!" Peter said as a visual showed on the large crystal ball. "Contestants will fly down the right arm to the Cubital Valley and fight for first with their speed, cunning, and magic! Once they reach the checkpoint and back to the finish line, the winners will habe their names etched on the Cup of Ephemeral Glory!"
He then pulled out a win's cup made of green flesh with a hand for the stand and an ugly face on the front. A face that soon open it's eyes to reveal it was ALIVE!
"All victory is fleeting." The cup said with a groaned.
Luz paused for a moment, keeping her eyes locked on the very strange and living victory cup.
"... Cool!" Luz said with a smile.
"Of course it is!" King said, finding the fleshy cup cool as well.
"Alright, come on, let's get ready." Luz said, walking to the starting line.
Every young witch assembled and waited for the signal, glaring ahead or at each other to see who would come out on top!
BOOM!
The signal was shot up and the race began as Luz and King just took off on Owlbert, trying to gain the lead over the other witches!
"Go baby go!" A mother with purple skin, a beak, and fins for ears said as she sat next to Eda. "Which on is yours?"
"The human with rounds ears. She's flying with a small demon." Eda replied, pointing to e duo before hearing an alarm going off. "Sorry, gotta take this."
Eda reached into her hair and answered her crow phone, speaking softly into it.
"Hello?" Eda asked.
"Eda, we've got a mission. Another raid." Raine said over the crow. "I know you're busy with the Gland Prix but we could use your help."
Though worried about leaving, Eda looked at King and Luz flying off in the distance.
"I should be able to get back before the race is over." Eda said to herself before speaking back to the phone. "I'm on my way."
"We'll be waiting." Raine said as Eda hung up and put the crow phone back in her hair.
'I'll be back before they win.' Eda thought, getting up from the stands.
Eda rushed off to met the BATS at their hideout before heading off to the location of the mission.
"So, what we got?" Eda asked them.
"We're heading to a raid sight out of town, a camp in some ruins where some wild witches have taken refuge." Raine said, giving Eda her bat mask.
"Let's go then. Sounds quick enough." Eda said, putting on her mask.
The BATS left their hideout and headed to the ruins sight just outside of town. A destroyed stone bridge in the middle of the forest.
"This is the place." Raine said softly.
"We'll scout ahead." Derwin said as he, Amber, and Katya summoned their instruments and made their way across the bridge.
Raine and Eda waited and watched out for the caravan come by. They waited and waited, gazing around the area with questions popping into their heads.
'If wild witches lived here, why is there no signs of camp?' Eda thought, not seeing any set up for camps or even fire pits.
'Something isn't right.' Raine thought, not seeing the same as Eda. 'Was the intel wrong?'
Suddenly, they heard something... something bad as they turned back to the bridge.
Something purple and liquid formed under the trio and captured them!
"AAAAH!" Derwin, Amber, and Katya shouts.
"No!" Raine said before Eda pulled them back.
"Raine, don't." Eda said.
"But my team!" Raine whispered to her.
"They're still alive! We can save them if-"
Eda was cut off as they both some more purple liquid rise up, molding into a humanoid shape.
"Aaaah, that is much better." A man said.
Raine went pale, du to knowing exactly who that voice belongs to.
"Oh no, not him." They said.
"Wha... is that Darius?" Eda asked, turning to Raine. "Haven't seen him since I dropped out of school."
"Yes, that's him. Darius Deamonne, head witch of the Abomination Coven. But that's only because Alador turned down the position years ago." Raine whispered.
Suddenly, something began burrowing to the trio of bards and jumped out next to them. A small fuzzy creature with wild red hair and a wild man outfit.
"Who is that?" Eda asked.
"Eberwolf, a beast keeping prodigy that transferred right after you left Hexside." Raine whispered.
"So if they're both here, then that means this was a trap." Eda whispered, cursing silently.
Raine cursed under their tongue too, hating that they lead their team into something they should've expected! Now they could only watch as Eberwolf began to sniff the trio.
"Hey! Watch where you put that nose!" Amber said to them.
"Are any of them the leader and traitor?" Darius asked Eberwolf.
Eberwolf makes a gruffing noise, making Darius sigh.
"Typical. At least we can take care of the lackeys." Darius said, pinching his temples before snapping his fingers.
Using his abomination muck, Darius somehow teleported the three BATS away to the Conformatorium! Right into an open cell!
"No! Nononononono!" Katya said, grabbing the cell bars. "Titan NOOOO!"
Raine let out a painful gasp. Feeling great pain at seeing their allies teleported away and into serious trouble. If Darius and Eberwolf find them and Eda, it will be all over! Their rebellion would be over right when it got started and the Day of Unity would go off without any obstacles!
"We need to get out of here!" Raine whispered to Eda.
"I know that but how? If that little thing really is the beast coven head, he'll be able to track us easily!" Eda whispered, watching Darius and Eberwolf begin to search for them.
Raine tapped their chin as they quickly got an idea and made spell circle, summoning their instrument.
"I have an idea but it's risky." Raine whispered.
"How risky are we talking about?" Eda asked.
"Crazy" Raine said before looking at Eda's shoes. "Take off your shoes and no. I do not have a foot fetish."
"Uh, I know for a fact, that's not true." Eda said, but complied.
Once her boots were off, Eda held them up as Raine plucks a few strings on their instruments.
'A little bard magic and instant life.' They thought as the shoes gained a glow and jumped from Eda's hands.
The boots began to walk away and leave a trail, making it so Darius and Eberwolf could pick up on their trail and be lead away.
"Ruff!" Eberwolf barked, following the trail.
"Wait! This attire isn't meant for trails!" Darius said, transforming into abomination muck to follow Eberwolf.
Darius and Eberwolf followed the trail and the footprints, coming upon a shocking sight of Eda's boots walking by themselves.
"Hmm, it seems our little rat is rather crafty." Darius said before the boots turned around, kicking mud in his face.
'Uh oh.' Eberwolf thought, watching Darius growl as the mud slowly leaked off his face.
Darius growled as he raised his hand, clenching it as abomination spikes destroyed the boots in an instant.
"Disgusting!" Darius said, wiping the mud off his face and glaring at Eberwolf! "Find them! NOW!"
Eberwolf jolted in fear before sniffing the ground again, searching for the target again!
Meanwhile back with Eda and Raine, they were doing their best to run from Darius and Eberwolf!
"Why don't you use your staff?" Raine asked.
"Don't have it! Luz and King needed it!" Eda said, looking back. "Kind of regret now since that won't distract them for long."
They could already hear Darius screaming in rage!
"WHERE ARE YOU?!" He shouted as they ran a bit faster!
"What are we going to do?!" Eda asked.
"If they catch us, we have no choice but to fight, but even if I'm a coven head too and you have that glove, we might not stand a chance!" Raine said as they and Eda stopped to hide behind a tree. "We need something to turn the tide, an ace in the hole."
Eda realized something, she remembered how her curse corrupts magic when she was playing the instrument.
"I have an idea." Eda said, looking very serious.
"I'm all ears." Raine whispered to her.
"Get me my bell cittern. We're gonna play a little song." Eda said to them.
Raine was a bit confused but complied, drawing a spell circle and summoned Eda's bell cittern to her hands. Eda smiled sadly at the plan she had in mind, but it had to be done if they were to stop Belos's plan for the Day of Unity.
"So, am I going to do a solo... or a duet?" Eda asked.
"A duet huh? Are you sure?" Raine asked.
"If we're gonna do this, we need to go all out and stop them." Eda said before she plucked a cord, spreading some magic around the area already.
"Then I'll play with you." Raine said, summoning their violin-like instrument again. "On three."
"One." Eda said, nodding.
"Two." Raine said, preparing their bow.
"Three." Eda and Raine said, beginning to play their final duet.
The bard magic amplified and spread around the area, to the tree and to the bridge itself as Darius and Eberwolf saw it.
"There you are!" Darius said, preparing for battle.
That is until they saw a black energy spreading through the bard magic, corroding everything in its path.
"AAAAH!" He screamed in pain as the corrosive corruption spread up his leg, making him try to pull back.
"YiP!" Eberwolf let out before climbing a tree to escape it.
Hearing their pain, Eda smirked.
"It's working!" she said to Raine.
"A little too well." Raine said, looking down to see the corrosion slowly spreading to them. "Listen, we may not make it out of this ourselves."
"I know but…..so long as we stop the Day of Unity, that's all that matters, right?" Eda asked with a sad smile.
"I guess but…what about your kids? They still need you." Raine said to her.
"T-They'll be fine. Trust me, they're strong kids." Eda said, looking away so Raine couldn't see her face.
The wind blew as a photo came from Eda's hair, allowing Raine to see just how close the trio were. Not as friends but as an actual family.
'If we do this... then those kids lose a mother.' Raine thought.
This needed to stop and Raine made it so, stopping their playing and drew a spell circle to take the bell cittern from Eda's hands.
"What the what?" Eda asked, looking to Raine in shock.
"Eda, you can't do this." Raine said.
"What? But we need to do this!" Eda said to them.
"No, I need to do this. You need to stay for your kids." Raine said, handing the picture to Eda.
"But I said-"
"I don't care and neither do they. I'm guessing you mean a lot to them and they mean a lot to you. So you shouldn't do this just because you're afraid they'll cut you out of their lives….like I foolishly did." Raine said to Eda.
Neither of them said anything, simply staring at each other in comfortable silence. It was a sweet moment... until an abomination sword cut through the tree. They both gasped as they saw Darius behind the fallen tree, now as a giant abomination itself and glaring down at them!
"There you two are! So you're the traitor in our midst!" Darius said, looking at Raine.
"Traitor isn't the word I would use." Raine said, glaring at Darius. "You haven't seen the things I've seen."
"I could care less about what you have seen and more about the cell you will see soon!" Darius said as Eberwolf jumped onto his shoulder.
"See this!" Eda shouted, using her glyph and throwing a fire ball at his face!
"AAAAH!" Darius screamed in pain, making Eberwolf hold on as he leaned back in pain.
"Come on!" Eda said, grabbing Raine's hand and pulled them forward!
Eberwolf quickly recovered and jumped off Darius, transforming into a beast and rushing after them!
"RAAAAAAH!" Eberwolf roared as they jumped at Eda, slicing at her.
Eda felt sharp pain and fell to the ground, as blood gushed out of the three long gashes on her back.
"AAAAH!" Eda screamed, falling to the ground!
Eberwolf growled at her before Raine kicked them away!
"Keep away from her!" Raine said, summoning their instrument again!
'I knew this would only get her hurt.' Raine thought, glancing at Eda's bleeding back. 'I know what I have to do.'
Raine began playing and made the area get covered by smoke. Raine then used their magic to lift Eda and carry her away from the area, while they stayed. They had to fight off Darius and Eberwolf so the wouldn't come after Eda.
"Protecting your old flame? How charming." Darius said as he and Eberwolf faced Raine.
"Better to protect someone than oppress like Belos." Raine said, preparing to fight.
"I'm going to enjoy this." Darius said, smirking as he turned both hands into blades.
Elsewhere, Eda groaned as the spell dissipated, meaning only one thing... Raine lost.
'Shit. Fucking shit.' Eda thought, punching the ground as she slowly got up.
She looked around and saw she was back near the audience stands for the Glandus Prix, around the back so nobody could see her being dropped off. Her slashes were even healed but they would remain as very rough scars.
"At least the kids don't know I left." Eda said, leaning against the stands as she watched the race and gained a small grin. "Looks like they're in the final stretch."
"It's gonna be close folks, it's neck and neck!" Peter shouted over the microphone, commentating.
Luz makes it passed the finish line before the glandus student.
"And there it is, Luz Noceda has snatched 3rd place!" Peter shouted as everyone cheered.
"Wait, 3rd place?!" Eda asked in shock.
'What the fuck happened?!' Eda thought as she ran up to Luz and King.
"Kids, what the hell?!" Eda asked them as they got off of Owlbert, who they returned to her. "You both were in first place right out the bat, how did you two get in third?"
"What do you mean? You weren't watching?" King asked her.
"I…..had something to do but still, I thought you two would be a shoo-in. What happened?" Eda asked them.
To answer the question, Luz held up a bag leaking with a certain thing that comes out of the mouth at high speed mixed with nausea.
"Oh." Eda said, flicnhing at the smell.
"Yeah, I'm going to throw this away. I'll be back in a second." Luz said.
Eda nodded to Luz as she left, leaving Eda and King to themselves as they stood in silence.
"So….about what I wanted to talk about." King said to Eda, twiddling his fingers.
Eda sighed sadly, having wanted to avoid this but now was left with no choice but to confront it.
"I get it, you want to find your father and then... you'll leave me." Eda said, looking away sad.
"Leave you?" King said in Suprise. "Is that why you've been dodging the topic this whole time?"
"I mean, yeah. You'd be with your real dad when you find him, so why would you need me anymore?" Eda asked, shrugging.
Suddenly, King collided with Eda's leg and hugged it tightly.
"Because... I want my mom as much as I want my dad." King said tearfully.
"Mom?" Eda said in surprise, looking at him. "But King, you know-"
"I don't care. You took me in and raised me the best as you could. If you think I don't see you as my mom after all that, then I should've said it a hell of a lot sooner, mom." King said to her, grabbing her dress tightly.
"And that's not all." Luz said, walking back over with papers in her hand. "Sign this, and it will be official."
Luz holds out a pen and a stack of adoption papers. All of them signed by King, notarized, and ready to be signed by Eda.
"B-But, what about your message to your dad?" Eda asked, taking the adoption papers.
"We can do that after this. So, what do you say? Do you want to be my mom officially?" King asked, pulling away.
Eda was doing her best to keep the tears of joy in. Why? Because all this time, King just wanted to confirm their connection as family! Not break it! She spent all this time avoiding the subject yet it was all for nothing!
"Eda, please tell me you're not gonna cry." Luz said to her.
"N-No!" Eda said, turning away and wiping away her tears!
"It's okay, if you're gonna cry. I just wanted to know since…..I think this is really beautiful." Luz said, smiling a bit as she sniffed. "I might cry myself."
Eda still held her tears in as she signed the papers, making the long overdue adoption offical.
"There. N-Now your name is…..King Clawthorne!" Eda said, unable to stop herself as she cries and hugged her official son tightly!
king cried as well as he hugged his mother back tightly.
"Well, this looks like a family moment." Luz said, wiping away some of her own tears. "I think I'm just going to head back ho-"
Luz was cut off when Eda grabbed her shirt and pulled her into the hug as well.
"It IS a family moment." Eda said, remindeing Luz she was family too.
Luz smiled, understanding what Eda meant. She hugged them both too, accepting that she was a part of their family and they were a part of hers. It was an inredibly sweet moment but for one person, it was very bittersweet as well.
'Raine, thank you but please, be okay.' Eda thought, worried about the FORMER bard coven head.
Back with Raine, they had put up a valiant fight against the two other Coven Head. Impressing them both before they managed to subdue them. Now, tied up and hanging from some abomination muck as they glared at the two.
"Honestly, I'm surprised it was you of all people to try and rebel, Raine. You don't peg me for the "renegade" type." Darius said, crossing his arms. "It's actually impressive."
"Yip." Eberwolf said with a nod, having newfound respect for Raine.
"What can I say? Hanging out with Eda all those years ago has that effect on people." Raine said with a bitersweet smile.
"Well that effect just turned negative because now you'll be at the mercy of Emperor Belos." Darius said.
"Exactly." A new voice said.
Everyone turned to see Kikimora arriving on the scene while riding on top of an abomiton.
Darius thought it was the most ridiculous looking thing ever.
'Another hack abomination disgrace.' Darius thought.
"Raine Whispers, head of the Bard Coven. I can't tell you how disappointed his majesty will be to find out that you have betrayed everything he stands for." Kikimora said to them.
"I guess I'm just going to have to live with it until my petrification ceremony, huh?" Raine quipped with a grin.
"No, it would be too much of a hassle to find a replacement." Kikimora said, as her hand... hair, raised a finger.
Raine wrist began to burn and They looked at the sigil, seeing it glowing and veins started to spread around Them. Darius and Eberwolf took a step back in shock from this.
"The Day of Unity is too important to be impeded by you, Raine. Until we can rectify that, have a nice nap. Heheheheheh." Kikimora said, waving to Raine as everything went dark for them.
Darius looked at his sigil, would it also be able to do that?
Are all coven marks able to do that? To silence someone if they questioned too much or stepped out of line? Even if they were innocent people?
Kickboxing Class Students: 16
Flicker/Hitman stance: Amity, Boscha, and Edric.
Peek-a-boo stance: Eileen, Asriel (goat cyclops), Willow, and Viney.
Kick stance: Amelia, Skara, Bo, and Emira.
Sway/Step Back stance: Gus, Jerbo, Barcus, Cat, and Kyle (skull cap kid).
Light Glyph Uses: Illumination, blinding light blasts, flashing punches
Fire Glyph Uses: Fireballs, flaming propulsion, fire punches, fire barriers/pillars, fire flight
Plant Glyph Uses: Vine ropes/whips, giant plant constructs like a fist, fixing palismen, plant bomb to capture enemies
Ice Glyph Uses: Ice creation, ice cage, ice spikes/pillars, ice encasing, ice punch, ice wall, ice weapons
Power Glyph Uses: Increased bodily strength and magic output
Healing Glyph Uses: Healing/recovery ability to oneself or to others by touch
Invisibility Glyph Uses: Turns user and anybody they have close by invisible to the naked eyes, so long as their breath is held
Glyph Glove Combo Spells:
Light and Fire = Golden Flames
Fire and Plant = Fire Whips
Ice and Fire = Water Blast
Power and Healing= High Speed Recovery
Ice and Power= Large Ice Gauntlets
Special Moves:
Nature's Wrath: a giant plant arm and fist that Luz can control for a powerful punch.
Esperanza Brillante/Shining Hope: a spiraling orb of all four glyph elements, used as a projectile or as a striking object. Effect may vary.
The Glyphing Gun: a red leaf blower with an empty paint roller was attached with a layer of duct tape at the bottom to the front nuzzle tube while a two point handle is attached to the top of the tube with two screws.
T.P. Glyph Ammunition: Fire Glyphs = Flamethrower
T.P. Glyph Ammunition: Ice Glyphs = Armor Piercing Spikes
T.P. Glyph Ammunition: Plant Glyphs = Grappling hooks or Vine Rope Shots